Chapter I: Front Matter
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WHAT SHALL WE DO?
=The Free Age Press= is an earnest effort to spread those deep convictions in which the noblest spirits of every age and race have believed--that man's true aim and happiness is "unity in reason and love"; the realisation of the brotherhood of all men: that we must all strive to eradicate, each from himself, those false ideas, false feelings, and false desires--personal, social, religious, economic--which alienate us one from another and produce nine-tenths of all human suffering.
Of these truly Christian and universally religious aspirations the writings of Leo Tolstoy are to-day perhaps the most definite expression, and it is to the production of very cheap editions of his extant religious, social and ethical works, together with much unpublished matter and his new writings, to which we have special access (being in close touch with Tolstoy), that we are at present confining ourselves. We earnestly trust that all who sympathise will continue to assist us by every means in their power, and help to make the publications yet more widely known. It is Tolstoy's desire that his books shall not be copyrighted, and as we share this view, all =Free Age Press= translations and editions (with one, as yet unavoidable exception), are and will be issued free of copyright and may be reprinted by anyone. We have already commenced to collect all Tolstoy's essays into more permanent cloth-bound volumes.
Suggestions, inquiries, offers of help and co-operation will be gratefully welcomed. For the hundreds of sympathetic letters and the practical help in making known and circulating the books which we have received already, we are very grateful, and tender our hearty thanks.
Orders and commercial communications should be addressed to "=The Free Age Press=" _English Branch_, 13, Paternoster Row, London, E.C. All other communications to the "Editor of the Free Age Press," Christchurch, Hants.
VLADIMIR TCHERTKOFF, _Editor_.
THOMAS LAURIE, _Publisher_.
Revised and Corrected Translation
WHAT SHALL WE DO?
By LEO TOLSTOY
Edited by A.C.F.
and I.F.M.
NO RIGHTS RESERVED
THE FREE AGE PRESS
13 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
Uniform with this Volume.--
"=What is Religion?=" An entirely New Book just completed. By LEO TOLSTOY. With several new and recent Letters, Articles, and Appeals. Paper, 6d. nett.; post free, 7½d. Flexible cloth, gilt, gilt top, 1s. nett.; post free, 1s. 2d. Leather, gilt, gilt top, 2s. nett.; post free, 2s. 2d.
=What I Believe= ("MY RELIGION") By LEO TOLSTOY. Revised Translation. 224 pages. Same prices as _What is Religion?_
"=On Life.=" By LEO TOLSTOY. A New Translation of this little-known book--"a book which is of especial value as a key to Tolstoy's method and belief" (Mr. H. W. Massingham). Same prices.
=The Kingdom of God is Within You.=
We hope eventually to issue the whole of Tolstoy's writings since 1878 in volumes uniform with this book.
WHAT SHALL WE DO?
"And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then?
"He answereth and said unto them, He that hath two coats, let him
impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do
likewise." (Luke iii. 10, 11.)
"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust
doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
"But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth
nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor
steal:
"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
"The light of the body is the eye; if, therefore, thine eye be
single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
"But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.
If, therefore, the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is
your darkness?
"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and
love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the
other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
"Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye
shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye
shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than
raiment?" (Matt. vi. 19-25.)
"Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What
shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
"(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek): for your
heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and
all these things shall be added unto you." (Matt. vi. 31-33.)
"For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for
a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." (Luke xviii. 25.)
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What Shall We Do?Chapter I: Front Matter
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