seen carrying the news from house to house, and secretly feeding on
it as a sweet morsel! And why should he not? Answer me that, Roman!
Answer me that, Christian! In thee, Piso, and in every Roman like thee,
there is compacted into one the enmity that has both desolated my
country, and--far as mortal arm may do so--dragged down to the earth,
her altars and her worship. Judea was once happy in her ancient faith;
and happier than all in that great hope inspired by our prophets in
endless line, of the advent, in the opening ages, of one who should
redeem our land from the oppressor, and give to her the empire of the
world. Messiah, for whom we waited, and while we waited were content to
bear the insults and aggressions of the whole earth--knowing the day of
vengeance was not far off--was to be to Judea more than Aurelian to
Rome. He was to be our prophet, our priest, and our king, all in one;
not man only, but the favored and beloved of God, his Son; and his
empire was not to be like this of Rome, hemmed in by this sea and that,
hedged about by barbarians on one side and another, bounded by rivers
and hills, but was to stretch over the habitable earth, and Rome itself
to be swallowed up in the great possession as a little island in the
sea. And then this great kingdom was never to end. It could not be
diminished by an enemy taking from it this province and another, as with
Rome, nor could there be out of it any power whatever that could assail
it; for, by the interference of God, through the right arm of our great
Prince, fear, and the very spirit of submission, were to fall on every
heart. All was to be Judea's, and Judea's forever; the kingdom was to be
over the whole earth; and the reign forever and ever. And in those ages
peace was to be on the earth, and universal love. God was to be
worshipped by all according to our law, and idolatry and error to cease
and come to an end. In this hope, I say, we were happy, in spite of all
our vexations. In every heart in our land, whatever sorrows or
sufferings might betide, there was a little corner where the spirit
could retire and comfort itself with this vision of futurity. Among all
the cities of our land, and far away among the rocks and vallies by
Jordan and the salt sea, and the mountains of Lebanon, there were no
others to be found than men, women, and children, happy in this belief,
and by it bound into one band of lovers and friends. And what think you
happened? I need not