Page:Philochristus, Abbott, 1878.djvu/345

Rh the tribes of men move smoothly and easily in the world, until the Son of man be in his place as King of the world over all men and over all nations, and until all men and all nations be in their places as his servants; and then there shall be peace for ever; but not till then.

But all this I write, having been enlightened by the Spirit. But at the time when we were sitting thus round about Jesus, listening to his prophecies, we were not yet enlightened; for the Spirit of Jesus was not yet in the world, because Jesus was yet with us. Therefore were we all greatly dismayed by his words, and our hearts quite failed us; and this, not so much for fear of evil, as for the unexpectedness of the prophecies. For we had expected indeed to have borne hardship, and to have contended against many enemies, and in the end to have prevailed. But behold, instead of contention our Master counselled flight; and instead of valor, patience in the possessing of our souls; and whereas we had thought to have quitted ourselves like heroes for the cause of the Redemption of Israel, he bade us sit still and to wait for the Lord, to note what terrors He would bring upon men. So when he had made an end of speaking, we sat still silent; and the shadow of night, stretching over the face of the earth, seemed unto us like to a shadow of Satan encompassing both us and all the world and our Redeemer himself, in whom we had trusted that he should have redeemed Sion. Thomas at last brake silence, and said, "Alas, O Master, dost thou not remember thine own words on that other mount in Galilee, where thou didst pour blessings on us, and didst strengthen us with comfortable sayings, telling us that the meek should inherit the earth? Verily the prophecies of the Mount of Olives do not accord with the prophecies of the Mount of Blessing." By this time it was become dark,