"It is better so," John said. "Misery and ruin have fallen upon the
country. As you saw for yourselves, Judea and Idumea are but
deserts, and more have fallen by famine and misery than by the
sword. We would not have our nation blotted out; and as, in the
days after the captivity in Babylon, God again collected his people
and restored their land to them, so it may be his intention to do,
now, when they have paid the full penalty of their disobedience and
wickedness. Therefore, I would not that any should go down to die,
save those who feel that God has called them to do so.

"Already the victims who have fallen in these four years are
well-nigh countless; and in Jerusalem there are a million
people--sufficient, if they have spirit and strength and the Lord
is with them--to defend the walls. Thus, then, however small the
number of those who may gather tomorrow, I shall be content. Had
the Romans advanced against Jerusalem at the commencement of the
war, there was not a Jew capable of bearing arms but would have
gone up to the defense of the Holy City; but now, their spirit is
broken by the woes that have come upon them, and still more by the
civil wars in Jerusalem herself. A spirit of hopelessness and
despair has come upon us. It is not that men fear to die, or that
they care to live; it is that they say:

"'What matters it whether we live or die? All is lost. Why should
we trouble as to what may come upon us?'"

"Then you no longer believe in your mission, John?" one of the
party said, gloomily.

"I have never proclaimed a mission," John said. "Others have
proclaimed it for me. I simply invited a score of men to follow me,
to do what we could to hinder the Romans; and because God gave us
success, others believed that I was sent as a deliverer.

"And yet, I believe that I had a mission, and that mission has been
fulfilled. I told you not, before; but I tell you now, for your
comfort, what happened between me and Titus--but I wish not that it
should be told to others. I told you that I fought with him; and
that, being wounded and insensible, I was carried into his
tent--but that was not all. When we fought, although sorely
wounded, I sprang upon him and we fell to the ground, I uppermost.
I drew my knife, and would have slain him; when the Lord put a
thought into my mind, and I called upon him to swear that he would
spare the Temple.

"He swore that, if it lay in his power, he would do so. Then he was
but in i