I know him who paddles against all streams, but never finds the source, who runs with all rivers, but never dares to the sea.
I know him who offers his unskilled hands to the builder of the temple, and when his unskilled hands are rejected, says in the darkness of his heart:
“I will destroy all that shall be builded.”
I know all these. They are the men who object that Jesus said on a certain day, “I bring peace unto you,” and on another day, “I bring a sword.”
They cannot understand that in truth He said:
“I bring peace unto men of goodwill, and I lay a sword between him who would peace and him who would a sword.”
They wonder that He who said, “My kingdom is not of this earth,” said also, “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s”; and know not that if they would indeed be free to enter the kingdom of their passion, they must not resist the gatekeeper of their necessities. It behooves them gladly to pay that dole to enter into that city.
There are the men who say:
“He preached tenderness and kindliness and filial love, yet He would not heed His mother and His brothers when they sought Him in the streets of Jerusalem.”
They do not know that His mother and brothers in their loving fear would have had Him return to the bench of the carpenter, whereas He was opening our eyes to the dawn of a new day.
His mother and His brothers would have had Him live in the shadow of death, but He Himself was challenging death upon yonder hill that He