Page:The Faith as Unfolded by Many Prophets.djvu/174

 land of promise. Did they not say one to another, 'Cursed be he who keepeth back his sword from blood;' and again, 'Because he hath fought the battles of the Lord, he is blessed from the Lord?' The Christians also exhorted one another to bravery and to perseverance in the wars which they called sacred. Their leaders declared that the kingdom of heaven was open to the soldiers of the Cross; and I have been told that the most exalted priests of their church promised that such as died for the defence of their faith and the rescue of the sepulchre of Christ should obtain of God a celestial reward. — The reward of the Faithful shall surely be no less great, if their Prophet and his religion be holier.

Eber replied, There have indeed been multitudes of Christians who fought for the Gospel, not doubting that they should be rewarded for so doing. But such knew not the spirit of the Gospel, nor discerned that it forbids violence, and accounts it a crime to defend the truth of God by the angry passions of men. To me it has ever been strange, that the Christians who carried war to the mouth of the sepulchre for which they fought, should have known so little of Jesus and his followers, as to have testified