When the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans was imminent, the local Christians did withdiaw to Pella. Whether this was in consequence of the apocalyptic oracle preserved in the Synoptic tr.adi- tion, or whether this oracle reflects to some extent the cour.se of affairs, it is not easy to say. The main point of interest for us here is the interpreta- tion of the spirit of Jesus upon which the ])rimitive Church acted, and out of which this apocalyptic address arose. The I'alestinian Christians dis- avowed any connexion with the national cause of Judaism. The vultures were gathering over the corpse of Jewish nationalism. Why should they linger beside it? It is possible that this policy was not adopted tinanimously ; the language of Mt 24'"-''-' may hint at Jewish Christians who, in the excitement of the crisis, took a more popular line. 'The Jewish war saw at le.ast one Essene heading the rebels, and others in the ardent ranks of the Sicarii and the Zealots' {Elili: v. 400). If the stress of war produced this cleavage in the ranks of the pacific Essenes, it may have h.ad a simil.ar effect ujion the local Christians. I?ut the majority, or at any rate the vital section, must have been those who fled to Pella and abandoned Jerusalem to its fate. That policy of abstention from the use of force in aid of Jerusalem or in defence of themselves against persecution may have been trying, but it was thoroughly consonant with the trend of the teaching of Jesus. Under no circumstances did He contemplate any active measures on the part of His discijiles as patriots or as attacked persons. The position of aflairs indeed ruled out a militant attitude. The e.schatological outlook rendered the downfall of Jenisalem a fore- gone conclusion, and in this way made for quietism.
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Resides, His kingdom was not of this world ; no Cliristians who had understood His instructions could dream of iillyin;,' themselves with tlie dajiKer- men in .lerusahMii or even with the loyalist Jews wlio manned the walls of the city so heroically, in the spirit, though not with the success, of their ancestors who faced pagans with ' the high praises of God on their lips and a two-edged sword in their hands' (Ps 149'). As for self-defence, His own word in Gethseraane (Mt 26''-"'^) to the disciple who impulsively struck with a sword was sufficient : ' Put your sword back into its place ; all who draw the sword shall die by the sword. What ! do you think I cannot appeal to my Father to furnish me at this moment with over twelve legions of angels ? Only, how could the scriptures be fullilled then — the scriptures that say this must be so?' He had already told the disciples that they were being sent out like sheep among wolves, defenceless against any brutal attack ; He had censured the Elijah-spirit in the two disciples who were in- dignant at the churlish behaviour of a Samaritan village ; He had bidden His followers face arrest, ill-treatment, and deatli itself, rather than be un- true to their confession ; and the refusal of armed help for Himself was only the climax of the regu- lations which He had laid down for their conduct.*
These regulations were followed by the early Church. There was never any serious fear of armed rebellion on the part of Christians against the Roman power. From St. Paul onwards respon- sible Christian teachers inculcated submission to tlie legal authorities. Christians had to accept civil government as tliey had to accept the weather in the world of God. Towards the end of the 1st cent, the insane suspicions of Domitian led hira to arrest some grandsons of Judas the brother of Jesus, on the ground that rumour connected the descendants of David with a revolutionary movement. But, when he found they were horny- handed sons of toil, simple peasants of Palestine, instead of turbulent Jews or influential agitators, and when he heard that Christ's kingdom was a pious dream of tlie far future, he dismissed the alleged revolutionaries with contempt (Eus. HE iii. 20). Malicious cries might be raised by the Jews that these Christians were overt agitators, setting up 'another king, called Jesus' (Ac 17'); but the conduct of the Christians disarmed sus- picion as a rule. It is true that in the 2nd cent. Christianity did seem often to tlie authorities to be a secret, immoral. Eastern society, which might be harbouring political designs. But, whenever investigations were made, the idea of a political menace disappeared. Although the Christians were still regarded as adherents of a perverse superstitio, i.e. a religion which was not the Roman religion, they were steadily drawing away from the Jews, and this heljied to clear their character, so far as the suspicion of rebellion went. Whoever were ' assidue tumultuantes,' it was not they. The authorities did not know much about Jesus, but they knew plotters when they saw them, and Chris- tians had little difficulty in establishing their peaceful character. To the Romans both Jews and Christians seemed obstinate creatures. Only, Jewish obstinacy would seethe into rebellion now and then ; the Christians merely ofl'ered a passive resistance. When they were afterwards put to death for high treason, it was not because they rose in armed revolt. The charge of disloj'alty did not rest upon their disposition to fight for tliem- selves. Their Jesus had not come to draw the sword.t What they believed about His policy is