Reader

He showed me many trees, without leaves, which appeared to me to be as if dry, for they were all alike. And he said to me: Do you see these trees? Yes, sir, said I, and I see that they are all alike and dry. And he answered me and said: These trees which you see are they who dwell in this world.

Why, then, said I, sir, are they as it were dry and all alike? Because, said he, in this world, neither righteous nor sinners are apparent, but are all alike. For this world is winter for the righteous and they are not apparent, though they are living with sinners.

For just as in the winter the trees which have shed their leaves are alike, and it is not apparent which are dry and which are alive, so in this world neither the righteous nor the sinners are apparent, but all are alike.