Page:Philochristus, Abbott, 1878.djvu/358

350 we that were going with Jesus joined ourselves together around him, insomuch that the guards suffered us to pass; for they could not then have taken him quietly, nor without a tumult; which thing they purposed to avoid. And so it was that, as we closed ourselves together for to encompass Jesus and to guard him, my place was very nigh unto Jesus, even next upon his left hand; and as we went down the steep path which leadeth across the brook Kidron, I chanced to stumble; and Jesus took me by the right hand to stay me from falling. And the touch thereof remaineth with me unto this day; for his hand was not again to touch my hand upon earth.

When we were now going up the hill on the other side of the brook (being by this time quite out of the shadow of the city walls, so that we could see all things in the moonlight very clearly), we perceived that Jesus was still meditating on prophecies; and ever and anon he looked upon us, as though his care for us were a burden on his soul. And perchance he desired to prepare us to live without him in the world; and not to depend upon the exact words of his precepts, nor to make therefrom a rule nor a law unto ourselves, but to obey the Spirit only; making new rules and laws for ourselves if need were, even as the times might suggest and the Spirit might bid us. For he said unto us, "When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing?" And we said, "Nothing." Then said he unto us, "But now he that hath a purse let him take it, and likewise his scrip." Here he paused awhile, and then he added these words: "And he that hath no sword let him sell his garment and buy one. For I say unto you that this that is written, must yet be accomplished in me: 'And he was reckoned among the transgressors.' For the things concerning me have an end." Hereat we wondered, that