XII.

1.  "O just man," said the disguised servants of the Governor of Jerusalem, "tell us should we do the will of Caesar or await our near deliverance?"

2.  And Issa, having recognized in his questioners the spies sent to watch him, said to them: "I have not said that you should be delivered from Caesar; it is the soul plunged in error which shall have its deliverance.

3.  "There can be no family without a head, and there would be no order in a nation without a Caesar, who must be blindly obeyed, for he alone shall answer for his actions before the supreme tribunal."

4.  "Does Caesar possess a divine right," again questioned the spies, "and is he the best of mortals?"

5.  "There is no perfection among men, but there are also some that are sick whom the men elected and intrusted with this mission must care for, by using the means that are conferred upon them by the Sacred Law of our Heavenly Father.

6.  "Clemency and justice, these are the highest gifts granted to Caesar; his name will be illustrious if he abides nearby.

7.  "But he who acts otherwise, who goes beyond the limit of his power over his subject, even to placing his life in danger, offends the Great Judge and lowers his dignity in the sight of men."

8.  At this point, an aged woman, who had approached the group that she might better hear Issa, was pushed aside by one of the men in disguise who placed himself before her.

9.  Issa then said: "It is not meet that a son should push aside his mother to occupy the first place which should be hers.  Whosoever respecteth not his mother, the most sacred being next to God, is unworthy of the name of Son.

10.  "Listen, therefore, to what I am about to say: Respect woman, for she is the mother of the universe and all the truth of Divine Creation dwells within her.

11.  "She is the basis of all that is good and beautiful, as she is also the germ of life and death.  On her depends the entire existence of man, for she is his moral and natural support in all his works.

12.  "She gives you birth amid sufferings; by the sweat of her brow she watches over your growth, and until her death you cause her the most intense anguish.  Bless her and adore her, for she is your only friend and support upon earth.

13.  "Respect her, protect her; in doing this, you will win her love and her heart, and you will be pleasing to God; for this shall many of your sins be remitted.

14.  "Therefore, love your wives and respect them, for tomorrow they shall be mothers, and later grandmothers of a whole nation.

15.  "Be submissive toward your wife; her love ennobles man, softens his hardened heart, tames the beast and makes of it a lamb.

16.  "The wife and the mother are the inappreciable treasures given unto you by God. They are the fairest ornaments of existence, and of them shall be born all the inhabitants of the world.

17.  "Just as the God of armies separated day from night and the land from the waters, so woman possesses the Divine Talent of separating good intentions from evil thoughts in men.

18.  "Therefore I say to you; after God, your best thoughts should belong to women and to wives, woman being to you the Divine Temple wherein you shall most easily attain perfect happiness.

19.  "Draw your moral strength from this temple; there you will forget your sorrows and failures, you will recover the wasted forces necessary to help your neighbor.

20.  "Do not expose her to humiliation; you would thereby humiliate yourself and lose the sentiment of love, without which nothing exists here below.

21.  "Protect your wife, that she may protect you and all your family; all that you shall do for your mother, your wife, for a widow, or another woman in distress, you shall have done for God."