Page:Philochristus, Abbott, 1878.djvu/134

126 keeping time; and when they charge, they charge like ten thousand elephants clad in iron. Moreover, they add to their power so much wisdom, that when they halt for the night, each man setteth up his stake in the ground, and taketh his spade, and diggeth his portion of trench before his stake, and behold, the solitary place becometh in a trice a fortified city, with streets and walls and ditches. Verily these Roman swine are all as children of Satan; but a Roman legion is as Satan himself." By this time our Master had arrived; so I was silent. But when he went into the house, I remained without, musing; for the words of Jesus came into my mind again, concerning the entering into the Kingdom; and methought it would be very hard to overthrow these Thracians, and much more the Romans, by becoming as little children.

While I thought on these things there came to the door of the house Jonathan the son of Ezra; for he knew that I was coming to Capernaum, and he had appointed to meet me there. When he had greeted me in loving terms, he said that he desired to speak with me touching Jesus of Nazareth; "For," said he, "I hear that he turneth from him the minds of many, in that he observeth not the Sabbath." I could not deny this; for indeed Jesus had oftentimes, during our journey in Galilee, broken the Sabbath. Sometimes he had healed the sick on the Sabbath; and but lately on the Sabbath before the Feast of the Harvest, he had healed one that had an impediment in his speech; and when certain of the Pharisees had blamed it, he had said aloud, before all the people, that it was right to do good on the Sabbath, but not to do evil. Moreover, he had not rebuked them that carried the sick to him on the Sabbath, though the bearing of burdens be forbidden. Once, indeed, he had even commanded a sick man to carry with him the bed whereon he lay. I