How entrancing is the
lesson to this seeking soldier from beyond the Adriatic!
Then does the Christ add another word more surprising than the
rest. To men who are his sheep he makes a promise that compasses
the furthest limit of the eternities. Of such he says: "Unto those
who follow me I will give the Life of the Ages. Beyond the tomb
they are to live on forevermore." Nor to the Jews alone, amid the
maze of those Corinthian columns, does the coming Shepherd speak.
The listening Roman soldier, wearing the armor of the empire on the
Tiber, comes within the circle of his promise. Into the face of
Quintus he looks and benignly says: "There are other sheep not of
the Jewish pasture, to whom I shall give this unending life. I
covet your great empire as my own. O soldier of the Caesars,
follow after me!"
Back to the camp on Scopus the soldier goes, moved to his deepest
soul. Impossible it seems to longer worship the Roman gods. When
he has described to Aulus the Feast of Dedication, he repeats the
words he has heard in the Temple cloister, and says in deepest
seriousness:
"Most unearthly is the Man on whom I have looked to-day.
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