Page:Philochristus, Abbott, 1878.djvu/68

60 of the multitude; for almost all believed John to be a prophet.

But on the morrow, when we turned ourselves to go northward, heaviness fell upon my heart, and all things seemed flat and unprofitable. All our counsels of action, whether to join ourselves to the army of Herod, or straightway to rise up against the Romans, behold, they now seemed no longer the wisdom of men, but rather the vain talk of children. For what could Barabbas and the sons of Judas do, in comparison with the true Redemption which had been prophesied by the Prophet; or how could they avail to bring about the day of that Redemption? It seemed to be our wisdom to wait for the Lord, who alone could send the true Redeemer. And yet, on the other hand, how was it possible for one that loved Israel and longed after righteousness, to look patiently upon the servitude of his country? Hence I loathed the thought of living in peace at home.

When I returned to Sepphoris, I applied myself to labor and to study, if perchance I might settle my thoughts; but I could not, for I was divided between two minds. At one time I was minded to obey John and his teaching, and to set no store on the teaching of the Scribes, nor to give heed to what were called the "light precepts" of the Fathers, such as those concerning tassels and fringes, and the purification of vessels, and the observance of the Sabbath for things without life, and the like; and it seemed nobler to cast these things away, and to say that mercy, and judgment, and truth, and kindness, were the great commandments, and whoso observeth these, observeth all. But then at other times, when I considered with myself how frail and fitful a thing is man, how impotent for all good ends, and how easily led aside from the right path by passion and by ignorance, then I trembled at the thought