of sight or purblind, his disciples, or many among them, fell to disputing among themselves as to what might be discerned by human eyes in the cloud; till John, thinking to raise himself in the Master’s sight, so it seemed to Joseph (who dared not raise his eyes to the sky, but bent them on the earth), said that he could see a chariot drawn by seven beasts, each having on its forehead seven horns; the jaws of these beasts, he averred, were like those of monkeys, and in their paws, he said, were fourteen golden candlesticks.  Andrew, being misled by the colour of the cloud which was yellow, said that the seven beasts were like leopards; whereas Philip deemed that the beasts were not leopards, for him they were bears; and they began to dispute one with the other, some discerning the Father Almighty in a chariot, describing him to be a man garmented in white; his hair is like wool, they said.  And seated beside him Matthew saw the Son of Man with an open book on his knees.  But these visions, to their great trouble, did not seem to interest Jesus; or not sufficiently for their intention; and to the mortification of Peter and Andrew, James and John, he turned to Thaddeus and Aristion and asked them what they saw in the clouds, and partly because they were loath to say they could see naught, and also thinking to please him, they began to see a vision, and their vision was an angel whom they could hear crying:  at thy bidding, O Lord; on which he emptied his vial into the Euphrates, and forthwith the river was turned to blood.  The second angel crying likewise, at thy bidding, O Lord, emptied his vial; and when the third angel had emptied his, three animals of the shape of frogs crawled out of the river; and then from over the mountains came a great serpent to devour the frog-shapen beasts, and after devouring them he vomited forth a great flood, and the woman that had been seated on it was borne away.  It was Thaddeus that spoke the last words, and he would have continued if Jesus’ eyes had not warned him that the Master was thinking of other things, perhaps seeing and hearing other things.  It is known to you all, he said, that Jeremiah kneels at the steps of my Father’s throne praying for the salvation of Israel?  Therefore tell me what is your understanding of the words “praying for the salvation of Israel”?  Was the prophet praying that Israel might be redeemed from the taxes the Romans had imposed upon them?  Being without precise knowledge of how much remission Jeremiah might obtain for them, it seemed to them that it would be well to say that Jeremiah was praying to God to delay no longer, but send the Messiah he had promised.  At which Jesus smiled and asked them if the Messiah would remit the taxes; and the disciples answered craftily that the Messiah would set up the Kingdom of God on earth:  in which kingdom no taxes are levied, Jesus replied.  Come, he said, let us sit upon these rocks and talk of the great prophecies, for I would hear from you how you think