And the voice answered from behind the door and said: “Depart hence! Sinners cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.”
And the sinner answered: “Thy voice I hear, but thy face I see not, and I do not know thy name.”
And the voice answered: “I am John the Divine, the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
And the sinner rejoiced and said: “Now thou can'st not refuse to let me in. Peter and David might have let me in because they knew the weakness of man and the mercy of God. And thou wilt let me in because thou lovest much. Didst not thou, oh, John the Divine, write in thy book that God is Love, and he that loveth not knoweth not God? Didst thou not in thine old age say this one sentence to the people: ‘Brethren, love one another’? How then can'st thou now begin to hate me and drive me away? Either deny what thou thyself hast said, or else let me into the Kingdom of Heaven.”
And the gates of Paradise were opened, and John embraced the penitent sinner, and admitted him into
the Kingdom of Heaven.
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