Philochristus: Memoirs of a Disciple of the LordAbbott, Edwin Abbott
Religion
Philochristus: Memoirs of a Disciple of the Lord
Abbott, Edwin Abbott
Christian fiction; Jesus Christ -- Fiction
Never before were the minds of the disciples so troubled as now: for we
had all been assured, in the very depth of our hearts, that Jesus had even
for this cause returned to Capernaum, because he purposed now at last to
work a sign in heaven. Neither could we in any way understand why he
should thus suffer the slanderers to triumph, delaying so long the
Redemption of Sion. Judas especially inflamed our grief, saying that all
was now lost, and that one sign in heaven would have been better worth
than a thousand discourses about the Kingdom of Heaven.
But suddenly we were silent; for we heard the voice of Jesus speaking; and
he told us that he had formerly been tempted in a like fashion, even as
the Pharisee had tempted him; for he had been led by the Spirit into a
wilderness, and there in some vision the Evil Spirit had placed him upon
the battlements of the Holy Temple, bidding him cast himself down as a
sign unto the multitudes of them which were walking in the courts of the
Temple; and the Evil One had said unto him, “If thou be the Son of God,
cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give His angels charge
concerning thee; and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any
time thou dash thy foot against a stone.” But Jesus had made answer,
saying, “It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” Now
therefore we all understood (after a dark fashion, and, as it were,
obliquely) that Jesus esteemed the temptation to perform a sign in heaven
to be a temptation from Satan. But why he so esteemed it, was hid from the
most of us, and we feared to ask him thereof.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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