" The title of The Preacher refers, of course, to the author of the text of that name, traditionally identified with Solomon, die wisest man of the past, and so considered to be a title highly appropriate for the former emperor, once Paul Atreides The Hand of God authenticates The Preacher's witness via a more obscure text m fob VII' 11 "I will teach you by the hand of God: mat which is with the Almighty will I not conceal " The speeches of The Preacher are not only full of biblical texts but also redolent of biblical rhetoric The prophetic rhythms are strong m "Thus it is written' They who pray for dew at the desert's edge shall bring forth the deluge' They shall not escape their fate through powers of reason' Reason arises from pnde that a man may not know in this way when he has done evil " The formula, 'Thus it is written," occurs several times in Gospel, but the actual text quoted is not to be found there, nor has it been discovered in any other text after the most prolonged scholarly search Presumably it was once part of a text known to the Fremen and so may be tentatively placed in the half-legendary Shah Nama, the First Book of the Zensunm Wanderers or in some secret text of the old Fremen religion This sermon was addressed particularlj to the ears of Muad'Dib's priesthood, "those who practice the ecumenism of the sword' , and memories of the Gospel text (XXXVI52), "all they that take the sword snail perish with the sword," he closely behind The Preacher's stem words 'They who learn the lesson of self-deception too well shall pensh by that deception " In this sermon, also, The Preacher refers to "the illusion of Maya" and almost reproduces the words of the Commentaries m explaining mat "such thoughts have no independent reality" For a time Paul as The Preacher seems to have cast himself in the role of a Jeremiah or an Elijah, exposing corruption in high places, speaking truth to power, and uttering prophetic warnings of the dire consequences of mat evil-doing performed in the name of Muad'Dib If this is