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to expect severe treatment at the hand of Roman and Jew alike. They were to go forth as sheep among wolves. 1 Political power and ecclcsiasticism would equally set themselves against them. 2 But there was to be no compromise. He who would be saved must endure to the end. 3 That which they heard in the ear they were to tell on the housetop. 4 They were to be cities on hills, lamps uncovered by bushels, salt that had not lost its savor. 5 There was nothing hidden except that it should be revealed. 6 And still no members of the kingdom were to yield to revengeful feelings and lead revolution. On the contrary their arms were to be prayer and benediction. 7 As the forces upon which he had counted for success were peaceful, so as far as his followers were concerned, was to be the process by which the unwilling world would be transformed into the kingdom. 8
Yet a startling thing in this calm anticipation of a slow and painful process is his recognition of the possibility of a time when the forces of human nature should be insufficient ; when the new social order would be so far established as to have transformed and assimilated all of the transformable material it found in its environment. Until that time, of necessity the two opposing worlds must have existed side by side. 9 Like tares and wheat growing in the same field men were to grow together until good and bad alike had exhausted the possibilities of growth. Then, through some exercise of the supreme power of the heavenly Father and King, the agony and the transforma- tion were to cease together. As tares are separated from the wheat, those incorrigible men who refused to share in the new sonship and fraternity would be removed, and thereafter the
'Matt. 10:16. *Matt. 10:26*?., Mark 4:21 sq.
8 Matt. 10 : 17; 23:34; Luke 12: II; 21 : 12. SMatt. 5 : 13-15.
3 Matt. 10 : 22. 6 Mark 4 : 22 ; Luke 8:17. * Luke 6 : 38.
8 One should not overlook, however, the balance in Jesus' mind throughout all this dark forecast of the future. He cautions his followers against quixotic adventures. They were not to cast their pearls before swine (Matt. 7 : 6). Because of the dangers to which they were to be exposed, while as harmless as doves, they were to be as wise as serpents (Matt. 10 : 16).
Matt. 13 : 24-30.
