Sometimes strange temptations crossed his mind.

In the desert of Judea, Satan had offered him the kingdoms of the earth.

Not knowing the power of the Roman empire, he might, with the enthusiasm there was in the heart of Judea, and which ended soon after in so terrible an outbreak, hope to establish a kingdom by the number and the daring of his partisans.

Many times, perhaps, the supreme question presented itself--will the kingdom of God be realized by force or by gentleness, by revolt or by patience?
One day, it is said, the simple men of Galilee wished to carry him away and make him king,[3] but Jesus fled into the mountain and remained there some time alone.

His noble nature preserved him from the error which would have made him an agitator, or a chief of rebels, a Theudas or a Barkokeba.
[Footnote 1: [Greek: Apochatastasis panton], _Acts_ iii.