Page:Philochristus, Abbott, 1878.djvu/304

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PHILOCHRISTUS.

or they will not fall upon us to-day, but to-morrow at the seventh hour, naming the place and time exactly:" and this, said Judas, would have been far better than that our band should thus be thrown into a confusion upon a mere rumor.

We said nothing against Judas; for we knew not what to say: neither do I perfectly know even to this day. But Quartus saith that "Jesus knew not all these things exactly, but only generally, and as it were on a large scale; as if a pilot, piloting a vessel into an haven, should know the winds, and the currents, and the shoals, and the aspect and form of the coast, but not all the pebbles upon the strand, nor even the very moment that the ship should come into the harbor. For by certain signs of the times," said Quartus, "Jesus discerned of that which was to come, even as a wise mariner foretelleth the weather by the clouds, and winds, and the other signs in the heavens. Neither was Jesus like unto a magician or common enchanter, who pretendeth to change the course of things by his enchantment; but he was even as a Son of God, who can read what is in the book of the future, yea, and can shape the future, because he doeth all things in accordance with the invisible laws of God."

Thus far Quartus; but concerning these things I know not, neither pronounce judgment. But let us return to our journey. Soon after these things, going to John the son of Zebedee, I found him conversing with his mother; and he received me with a constrained countenance not according to his custom. Presently I perceived that his mother desired him to do a certain thing, which he was loath to do. It seemed that Judas had been speaking to her, saying that it was fit that strife should be quenched among the disciples by determining once and for all who should have the first places in the Kingdom; for, said he,