He told of the appearance to the Ten, and the words of peace; and again, on the next Sunday, to the Eleven, when He convinced the doubting Thomas, and bade him to be not faithless, but believing.
He told them of the appearance on the shore of the misty silver sea, and of His last behest to Simon Peter; and he corrected the false impression as to what had been said concerning himself, which had not been, as had been mistakenly reported, that he should not die, but ‘If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?’
And as he spoke these words, in a voice which rose like a divine melody, the attention grew more and more rapt, and, as he ended, the awful, penetrating, thrilling sound of the tongue began to be heard. But John checked it by a gentle lifting of his hand, and Linus said, ‘Let the spirits of the prophets be subject to the prophets. Let us rather hear the witness of the Lord.’
Then Hermas, slave of Pedanius Secundus, the City Prætor, rose, and asked, ‘What meant the Lord by those words, “that he tarry till I come”? When should be the day of His coming?’
‘That question we also asked,’ said John, ‘before His death; and though He spake of signs of the times, like the redness and lowering of the sky, yet He added to us, “Of that day and that hour knoweth no man—no, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father.”’
‘And are there no signs of the time now?’ asked Linus.
‘There are many,’ he answered, ‘by which we may know that the coming of the Lord is even at the door. I have walked through this Babylon, and have seen all the splendour of her merchandise, as of Tyrus in old days, and amid it all—slaves and souls of men. Yea, and as I have witnessed all the cruelty and all the vileness, like the scum of that seething caldron which the prophet saw of old, I feel compelled to ask with him, “Shall I not judge for these things?” saith the Lord; “shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?” Yea, sometimes a voice seems to ring within me which says, “Woe, woe! to the dwellers upon earth!” The great tribulation must come of which the Lord spake and the Antichrist must be revealed, and God must accomplish the number of the elect.’
‘The night is drawing in, O brother, revered in the Lord,’ said Linus; ‘and it were well that we should speedily separate to our homes. But ere we part give to us one word of exhortation of how we are to save ourselves from this untoward generation.’
The Apostle raised his hands towards heaven, and his eye seemed to be lit with heavenly ecstasy as he answered in this brief exhortation: ‘My children, love one another. Love is the fulfilling of the law. There is no fear in love. Perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. And this commandment have we from Him, that he who loveth God love his brother also.’
When he had thus exhorted them they broke out with passionate jubilance in the hymn—