Page:Philochristus, Abbott, 1878.djvu/319

Rh, but would have told them to us; and he thinketh that Jesus spake concerning his coming from the grave, when he said that the day of the coming of the Son of man was not known to any, neither to the angels, nor even to the Son himself, but only to the Father.

"Therefore in my judgment," saith Quartus, "when Jesus spake about the fire which should consume his enemies, and concerning his death and lifting up or glorifying, and concerning his departing and coming again, and concerning the giving of the Holy Spirit, he knew indeed that all these things must needs come to pass, because they were according to the pattern and ordinance of things invisible; but when, and where, and how they should come to pass, he knew not. Neither did he hide that which he knew, cloaking it from you his disciples, for to keep you in ignorance and in suspense; but he spake as he knew, and all that he knew, so far as ye could understand it."

Thus wrote Quartus to me; and sometimes I incline to his words, but at other times I do not. Howbeit, to whichsoever opinion I incline, it mattereth little; for whether Jesus knew little or much of that which was to come (and he himself told us that he knew not all), my love for him is the same: save that sometimes it seemeth to me as if he were almost more lovable and more divine, going forth into the darkness of death in trust and faith, and knowing not every thing that was to betide him, than if he had had the descents and ascents and all the paths of Hades marked out for him exactly beforehand as in a chart.