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they hated: and if Jesus had spoken the word, they would have made him a king, and have followed him, full of faith, to the field. When he went forth to preach to them on the mountain where armies had often been gathered together, they followed him, eager to make a camp about him, and send a defiance to their enemies: but Jesus spoke of peace with strangers as well as with countrymen, and of love to enemies as well as friends. He gave blessings to the meek and to the peace-makers, and taught to seek after holiness rather than glory. Thou hast read for thyself what followed. The pure who sought God, the gentle who loved, the sorrowful who mourned, the penitent who feared, clave to Jesus: the proud and the cruel, who thirsted for glory and for war, forsook him, and thenceforth persecuted him to death.
It is strange, said Aza, that his Gospel has endured to this day, if such despised persons alone were his followers.
Others soon joined them, said Eber, who saw his miracles, and devoted themselves to share his labors: yet these, though they lived with him, and saw how holy and how peaceful he was, still hoped that the time would come
