overspread the earth, and the strayed flock will
reunite around their shepherd.

8. "Wander not in the darkness, seeking the way, lest ye fall into the
ditch; but gather together, sustain one another, put your faith in your
God and wait for the first glimmer of light to reappear.

9. "He who sustains his neighbor, sustains himself; and he who protects
his family, protects all his people and his country.

10. "For, be assured that the day is near when you will be delivered
from the darkness; you will be reunited into one family and your enemy
will tremble with fear, he who is ignorant of the favor of the great
God."

11. The priests and the elders who heard him, filled with admiration for
his language, asked him if it was true that he had sought to raise the
people against the authorities of the country, as had been reported to
the governor Pilate.

12. "Can one raise against estrayed men, to whom darkness has hidden
their road and their door?" answered Issa. "I have but forewarned the
unhappy, as I do here in this temple, that they should no longer advance
on the dark road, for an abyss opens before their feet.

13. "The power of this earth is not of long duration and is subject to
numberless changes. It would be of no avail for a man to rise in
revolution against it, for one phase of it always succeeds another, and
it is thus that it will go on until the extinction of human life.

14. "But do you not see that the powerful, and the rich, sow among the
children of Israel a spirit of rebellion against the eternal power of
Heaven?"

15. Then the elders asked him: "Who art thou, and from what country hast
thou come to us? We have not formerly heard thee spoken of and do not
even know thy name!"

16. "I am an Israelite," answered Issa; "and on the day of my birth have
seen the walls of Jerusalem, and have heard the sobs of my brothers
reduced to slavery, and the lamentations of my sisters carried away by
the Pagans;

17. "And my soul was afflicted when I saw that my brethren had forgotten
the true God. When a child I left my father's house to go and settle
among other people.

18. "But, having heard it said that my brethren suffered even greater
miseries now, I have come back to the land of my fathers, to recall my
brethren to the faith of their ancestors, which teaches us patience upon
earth in order to attain the perfect and supreme bliss above."

19. Then the wise old men put to him again this question: "W