m 
 
 
 € 
 

 ^ 
 
 •^ 
 
 0- 
 
 
 
 
 .^r 
 
 ro 
 
 
 
 
 
 *_c 
 
 
 
 
 r? 
 
 Q. 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 ladel 
 
 
 
 
 ■^ 
 
 IS 
 
 
 
 
 2~ »-D 
 
 Q- 
 
 
 
 
 
 W 
 
 «-►- 
 
 
 
 
 
 *S> ft 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 to ■ - 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ ft 
 
 a; 
 
 c 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 8 
 
 *^^ rvi 
 
 <. 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 t* 8 
 
 "H3 
 
 3 
 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 E 
 
 
 .^ 
 
 
 
 O M 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 
 ^* PM 
 
 S 
 
 cq 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 -a 
 
 CD 
 
 ■4-" 
 C 
 
 <u 
 «/> 
 
 
 
 
 L * 
 
 dl 
 
 £> 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 L 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^5 
 
 
 
 
%■ 
 

LEA, 
 
 THE BAPTISM IN JORDAN 
 
 A TALE OF THE CHURCH 
 IN THE SECOND CENTURY. 
 
 G. F. A. --STRAUSS, 
 
 AUTHOR OF '"HELEN'S PILGRIMAGE," &C, &C. 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY 
 
 MRS. H. C. CONANT. 
 
 NE W- YO RK : 
 
 LEWIS COLBY 
 
 122 Nassau-street. 
 1846 
 
Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1843, by 
 
 SAXTON & MILES, 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of 
 New-York. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 The " Coming of the Messiah," ... 9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Despondency, 16 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Domestic Trials, 23 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Historical Retrospect, 29 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 pExpectation of the Messiah, .... 38 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 The False Messiah, 43 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 The Outcast 48 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 The Wanderer finds a refuge, .... 54 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 A New Home, . 60 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The True Messiah, 66 
 
f©NTEHTSfe 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 The Predictions of the Prophets, . . . 73* 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Study of the Gospels, . 80 
 
 CHAPTER XIII, 
 Visiters — State of the Country, ... 90 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The Nature of the Presence, . . . . 98 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Departure of the Visiters, . , . . 1 04 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Burning of the Cottage, 103 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 Arrival at Pella. — A Discovery, . . . 1 IS 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Thoughts of Baptism. — Divisions in the Church, 118" 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 The Baptism in Jordan, 127 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 Mournful Anticipations, . . . . / 132 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 The Love Feast, 142: 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 Spiritual Misgiving, 149 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 Visit from Euphemus, . . • . . . 156 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 The Closing Scene, . . . . 15£ 
 

 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 6> 
 
 
 The Author of the following Tale is already 
 favorably known to the American public by the 
 translation of his Helon's Pilgrimage. He is 
 one of the most distinguished among the learned 
 clergy of Prussia, and holds several of the 
 highest offices in the royal gift, — being Court 
 Preacher, Professor in the Royal University of 
 Berlin, Ecclesiastical Councillor, &c. 
 
 In his present commanding position he exerts 
 a wide, and, without doubt, a highly salutary in- 
 fluence ; for the spirit of evangelical piety per- 
 vades both his instructions and his preaching. 
 We cannot but regret, however, that his with- 
 drawal from the comparative seclusion of a 
 pastor's life, has of late years necessarily limited 
 his efforts as an author. During the early part 
 of his public life, he devoted himself with great 
 ardor to the investigation of the history of the 
 church, intending to embody the results of his 
 studies in a series of popular Tales illustrating 
 
Till INTRODUCTION. 
 
 its successive periods. The object dearest to 
 his heart seems to have been, the revival in the 
 church of the spirit and practices of primitive 
 Christianity. He wished to rekindle among his 
 own brethren that pure religion whose home 
 is in the heart, whose element of life is holy- 
 love, while its few and simple but significant 
 ceremonies are efficacious to him only, whose 
 bosom is already the seat of a living faith. The 
 deep spirit of piety which he carried into his 
 favorite studies, glows upon his pages, and we 
 cannot wonder that it awakened an answering 
 fervor in many hearts. The revival of pure 
 religion in the German Church owes much to 
 his writings and active labors ; and it is hoped 
 that this little work, so far as it may find its 
 way in its American garb, may exert a kindred 
 influence among ourselves. 
 
 It may not be amiss to add, that some few of 
 the Author's expressions are not in harmony 
 with the translator's own views. Of course, 
 however, she has not felt at liberty to expunge 
 or soften any of them, and she is confident that 
 to every pious mind these will be overbalanced 
 by the general tone and spirit of the book. 
 
 H. C. C, 
 
LEA: 
 
 
 THE BAPTISM IN JORDAN 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 On the lovely shore of the sea of Gennesareth 
 sat Lea, tending children. She was fifteen years 
 old. One who knew not her highly excitable tem- 
 perament might have supposed her, at that mo- 
 ment, in an unaccustomed situation ; yet was it a 
 familiar one. 
 
 The little ones hung round her, and she laughed 
 and chatted gaily with them. But if, by chance, 
 her eye turned upon her home near by in Tibe- 
 rias, where she lived in the family of an aged 
 uncle, her father's brother, the liveliest expression 
 of bitter sorrow played in her countenance. 
 Then if a cool breeze came floating with its load 
 of fragrance over the glassy mirror of the Gali- 
 2 
 
10 LEA, OR THE 
 
 lean sea, and her enraptured glance swept over 
 the mountains or palm-groves of the sea-valley, 
 it lighted up with a radiance of joy. And again 
 if she gazed along the beach, up to the walls of 
 Capernaum, where, till the death of her parents, 
 she had spent her youth, tears filled her eyes, 
 and it was not to be mistaken that she wept not 
 only over the beautiful past, but also over the 
 bitterness of her present lot in the house of her 
 hard kinsman. 
 
 Thus rapidly alternated, in the expression of 
 her countenance, the purest joy with the keenest 
 sorrow. 
 
 Now she seemed for some moments lost in the 
 consciousness of her extreme WTetchedness. She 
 had risen with the sleeping infant, and stood bend- 
 ing over the clear flood through which one might 
 count every pebble on the bottom, gazing into 
 its depths as if she sought there the lost happiness 
 of her childhood. Fast flowed the tears from 
 her cheeks into the sea. 
 
 But a spectacle caught her eye which gave 
 quite a different tone to her feelings. 
 
 Some boys of Tiberias came out of the city, 
 and began to play The Coming of the Messiah.* 
 That which formed the earnest expectation of 
 * See Appendix, note A. 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 11 
 
 manhood and the impatient hope of youth, natu- 
 rally affected -the children also, and became a 
 part of their sports. Their parents' conception 
 of the coming of the Messiah, according to the 
 instructions of the most learned Rabbis, was car- 
 ried out and represented by them in their childish 
 fashion. 
 
 The boys had scarcely reached the shore when 
 one among them, who had wrapt himself in a 
 rough sheepskin and fastened it with a leathern 
 girdle, sprang upon a hillock. He would repre- 
 sent Elijah the Tishbite, who was to appear three 
 days before the Messiah. He put forth all the 
 strength of his childish lungs to make his voice 
 heard from one end of the earth to the other. 
 He began with a lamentation over the waste 
 mountains of Israel, and announced first peace, 
 then prosperity, and finally salvation. 
 
 While he was yet shouting with wide-stretched 
 mouth, and his hoarse tones had set Lea and the 
 boys laughing, the Messiah appeared with a 
 great train of followers. He was the grandson 
 of Lea's uncle. He rode upon an old ass, and 
 held a staff in his hand. His followers were 
 mounted upon stilts, for the Rabbi had taught 
 them that in the time of the Messiah men should 
 be two hundred ells high. They cried out that 
 
12 LEA, OR THS 
 
 they were come from Rome, where the Messiah 
 had been concealed in the suburbs among the 
 poor. 
 
 As they drew near, the boys who had been lis- 
 tening to Elijah divided into two parties. One 
 of these joined themselves to the men of two 
 hundred ells. The others fled, but soon came 
 back, having twigs hanging from the mouth to 
 represent the teeth of Messiah's enemies, which 
 ■were to grow two-and-twenty ells long. These 
 godless ones were selected from among the 
 younger and weaker children. 
 
 A tumultuous conflict began. The teeth of the 
 foes w T ere broken. Some of the stilts-men, too, 
 tumbled to the ground. A universal shout- 
 ing and yelling arose, and the struggle might 
 have had a serious termination, had not Lea taken 
 part with the little ones and brought the wanton 
 victors to order. Her nephew, wiio had enacted 
 the principal character, was angry at Lea's inter- 
 ference, and was disposed to withstand her. He 
 dismounted from his beast, and overwhelmed her 
 with all the words of abuse which he had heard 
 applied to her by his parents and grandparents. 
 But the other boys pacified him, and bade him di- 
 vide the rew r ard, or they would choose another 
 Messiah. 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 13 
 
 This quieted him. He placed himself in the 
 midst of his followers, and divided to them the 
 treasures of the world. First he plunged his 
 hand into the sea and brought up from the water 
 a handful of sand, because the sea was to restore 
 all the silver and gold, all the pearls and precious 
 stones, which had ever gone down into its depths. 
 Then he dug into the shore, and threw out 
 some stones, because the earth was to cast up to 
 the light of day all the riches hidden in its bow- 
 els. All these he divided among the faithful, 
 who received their several shares with loud and 
 joyful acclamation. 
 
 Now he called out as he had heard from the 
 Rabbi at school, " There stands corn, each stalk 
 as high as a palm. Harvest it ! There is wheat, 
 each kernel as large as the kidneys of the largest 
 ox. Grind it ! There hang grapes, each grape 
 as large as a wine cask. Bear them home on a 
 cart, lay one in a corner of the house, tap, and 
 draw from it ! There hang ripe-red peaches, 
 each one bigger than a cauldron. Cut it up ! 
 Do you wish for honey ? It trickles from the 
 figs ! Do you wish for milk 1 It drops from the 
 goats ! Do you wish for clothes ? They grow 
 upon the branches of the palm-trees I" 
 
 The whole troop rushed tumultously forward, 
 
14 LEA, OR THE 
 
 each one trying to secure the best share for him- 
 self, and each one shouting as if resolved to outdo 
 all the rest. 
 
 It was time to think of Jerusalem. They select- 
 ed the largest of the loose stones which were scat- 
 tered on the shore, and threw them into a heap. 
 When they had collected enough, they leaped 
 upon the pile, and proclaimed themselves mas- 
 ters of Jerusalem. Then they kindled a multitude 
 of little fires about their city, because they had 
 heard from grown-up people, that around Jeru- 
 salem were to be fires w^hich should keep off 
 Nebuchadnezzar, the emperor of Rome, and all 
 other godless foes. 
 
 " There's one thing you've forgotten !" cried 
 one of the boys. " I have heard my father, who 
 is a learned Rabbi, say, that the righteous will 
 walk about in fire just as a man walks now in 
 sunshine." Most of the boys thought they could 
 not go so far as this. But Lea's nephew was so 
 puffed up with his honors, that he leaped forth- 
 with into the fire which blazed highest. The 
 coals burned his feet, the flames caught his gar- 
 ments and singed his hair. He set up a fright- 
 ful scream, and the other boys sprang back from 
 him. 
 
 Lea laid down the infant on the sand, ran and 
 
BArTISM IN JORDAN. 15 
 
 threw herself on the boy, and thus smothered the 
 fire. Then dragging him by the arm into the 
 water, she quenched the glimmering sparks. 
 
 When she saw him out of danger, and happily 
 uninjured, their relation to each other was at 
 once changed. Lea laughed at him, and exhi- 
 bited him to the other boys with his singed hair 
 and half-burnt coat, saying, " There, see now 
 your high and mighty Deliverer !" 
 
 The boys laughed and made game of him. 
 He burst into tears of passion. " Thou blasphe- 
 mous wretch!" he screamed out — "thou Goi ! 
 thou daughter of Seir and Edom ! thou Naza- 
 rene ! thou art viler than a dog I" And he 
 ran off to complain of Lea to his mother. Lea 
 bantered him as he ran away, and the whole 
 troop of boys followed, mocking him till he 
 reached the house. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Lea had taken up the babe which had been 
 waked by the uproar, and as she tried to quiet 
 it, rambled with the smaller children along the 
 delightful shore. 
 
 Foreboding well what awaited her at home, 
 she still lingered by the sea-side, and turning to 
 the north looked across the intervening water to- 
 wards her dear native town. She began to weep 
 bitterly. 
 
 A boat obstructed the view. Just then the 
 fisherman drew up a net full of fishes. " Alas !" 
 cried she, sobbing, " so have I also been taken in 
 a net out of the free, cool sea of my mother's 
 house, and lie gasping for breath upon the shore. 
 Oh, my mother, my mother ! couldst thou know 
 how they afflict thy poor child ! Mother, dear 
 mother ! hear there in thy grave thy wretched 
 orphan child ! O, mother ! it is a fearful lot to 
 be a forsaken orphan ! Didst thou not then 
 know, that for such a child there is no mother's 
 heart upon the whole wide earth ! that to no one 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 17 
 
 can she tell her grief, for she has a mother no 
 more ! O how dreadful to live friendless among 
 hard-hearted men !" 
 
 She cast her eyes upon the waves, which were 
 suddenly roughened by the wind. It brought to 
 her mind the sixty-ninth psalm, and she sung : 
 
 "Save me, God, 
 
 For the waters have come in unto my soul ! 
 
 I plunged in bottomless mire where there is no footing, 
 
 I sunk in deep waters, and the floods overflowed me." 
 
 In the midst of her distress she took notice that 
 her sighs interrupted and marred her singing, and 
 she added : 
 
 " I am weary with my crying ; my throat is dried : 
 
 My eyes fail with waiting for my God. 
 
 More than the hairs of my head 
 
 Are they who groundlessly hate me ; 
 
 Mighty are they that would destroy me, — 
 
 My enemies without a cause." 
 
 " Alas !" added she, " all in the house, from 
 the eldest to the youngest, are my enemies — thou 
 excepted, dear child, whom I carry in my arms !" 
 She pressed the little one more closely, and it 
 smiled upon her. " This has still love for me," 
 said she, " because I love it. How gladly would 
 I love them too, would they but let me love 
 
18 LEA, OR THE 
 
 them ! And yet they are my nearest kindred. 
 But, 
 
 • I am become a stranger to my brethren, 
 An alien to my mother's children !' 
 
 " Yet what avails it to weep ?" interrupted 
 she : and she sung on : 
 
 " ■ When I wept and fasted, 
 
 That was made my reproach ; 
 
 And when I clothed myself with sackcloth, ~ 
 
 I became their by- word.' 
 
 " I will do so no more. They call me taunt- 
 ingly a Nazarene. I know not these people ; 
 but they may perhaps be better than those who 
 dwell in the palaces of Tiberias. I will give 
 their hot zeal enough to do. No Nazarene 
 could keep them so busy as I will." 
 
 " O fye !" — thus chided she herself, — " but 
 this is wicked ! I will rather demean myself 
 according to the Psalm : 
 
 « But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O Jehovah ; 
 Let it be acceptable to thee, God, 
 According to thy great kindness ; 
 According to thy faithfulness in helping, hear me ! 
 Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink : 
 Let me be delivered from those that hate me, out of the 
 deep waters !' " 
 
BAri'ISM IN JORDAN. 19 
 
 " If I were only on the other side of the sea," 
 she continued, " there by Gadara, and could I 
 hide myself in one of the caves upon the eastern 
 shore ! Many such are there, and one alone has 
 contained four thousand poor wretches, who 
 sought refuge in it. But here I stand. There 
 towers Tiberias, my home of misery ! On the 
 graves of the dead, as I have been told, in defi- 
 ance of the law, that wicked Herod Antipas 
 caused this city to be built, and named it in 
 honor of a Roman Emperor. I feel it, — a curse 
 rests upon the place ! One cottage in kindly, 
 beautiful, beloved Capernaum, is a thousand 
 times dearer to me than the palace in which I 
 am here a prisoner !" 
 
 She recovered herself and sang : 
 
 " Hear me, Jehovah, for kind and gracious art thou ; 
 According to thy great compassion look upon me, 
 And hide not thy face from thy servant. " 
 
 " See !" mused she upon the strain, " this is 
 a Psalm in which the Messiah speaks, and I 
 apply his words to myself; I little thought when 
 my father thus explained it to me of the Messiah, 
 that a time would ever come when I should apply 
 it to myself. But quite another Messiah is this 
 from him who burnt his coat to-day," said she 
 smiling. 
 
20 LEA, OR THE 
 
 At this recollection her lively feelings turned 
 lightly to more cheerful fancies. The vapor 
 was ascending from the warm baths below Tibe- 
 rias. As she looked at it, " Come now, good 
 Lea," said she, " be thou too a warm fountain, 
 full of pleasantness and softness, and let thy 
 praise ascend to Jehovah ! 
 
 ■ As for me, who am sorrowful and afflicted, 
 
 Thy help, God, shall set me in safety. 
 
 Then will I praise the name of God in song, 
 
 I will magnify Him in songs of praise. 
 
 This is more acceptable to Jehovah than oxen 
 
 With horns and hoofs. — 
 
 Let heaven and earth praise thee, 
 
 The seas and all that move therein !' " 
 
 With a gay heart she surveyed the Paradise 
 around her. Her singing had in a moment 
 restored to her all her natural serenity. Though 
 it was a necessity of her nature, whatever she 
 felt immediately to express in words ; and though 
 on this account she possessed an uncommon 
 power over language, yet on the other hand the 
 words themselves, the tone, and above all song, 
 exercised an irresistible power over her. The 
 mere act of singing sufficed to restore her to 
 tranquillity of spirit. So it was with much in 
 her life, as she was obliged to play by turns the 
 part of mistress and of servant. 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 21 
 
 What her singing had begun was completed 
 by the view of that incomparable sea-valley in 
 which some have fancied that they found the 
 lost Eden, — so beautiful it was ! She marked 
 the Jordan, that ancient holy stream, as it issued 
 from the region where the snowy summit of 
 Lebanon and the glaciers of Hermon lift their 
 venerable heads over the landscape, and pursued 
 its way through the basin of the Galilean sea, 
 marking by its golden current its course through 
 the clear crystal waters. "Already has he," 
 said she, " after gushing from his mountain veins, 
 submitted to a dark and obscure passage beneath 
 the ground ; but victoriously has he again risen 
 to the light in the sea of Merom, and now rolls 
 through the midst of the Holy Land, until at 
 Jericho, — but no, I will not utter it ! So be it 
 not to me or to my people ! But here behind, 
 what a splendor and power in that mountain 
 region descending in terraces from Tabor its 
 head, — the high plain of Eschaelon and the hills 
 of Cana the lower steps ! And there before me, 
 on the eastern shore of the sea, the majestic 
 features of the last swells of Anti-Lebanon ! 
 What a wonderful, giant-like embrace of the 
 lovely sea and its glassy floods ! happy, that 
 I was born in this valley ! Hail, my noble 
 
22 LEA, OR THIi BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 
 
 Capernaum ! and ye too on that distant shore, 
 Chorazin, Magdala, Gamala, Dalmanutha, and 
 Gadara, to which my mother early directed my 
 childish gaze ; ye on my native side, Bethsaida, 
 Emmaus, and Tarichea ; even thee magnificent, 
 but to me unkind Tiberias, — I bid you hail ! 
 Hail to ye all ! To you, too, dark nut-forests in 
 the gorges of the mountains ! To you, ye open 
 palm groves, with your heaven-high roof work, 
 ye vine-clad hills, yielding ten months in the 
 year your ripened clusters ! ye fruit-gardens, ye 
 groves of olive, citron and pomegranate trees ; — 
 ye murmuring fountains, and ye whispering 
 breezes of the beautiful and cool sea shore ! O 
 this is, — yes, it is still the land flowing with milk 
 and honey, the glorious land above all lands ! 
 Ah, why did Jehovah command His temple to be 
 built on the barren mountains of Judah, and not 
 
 here by the sea of Gennesareth ! But I am 
 
 only a foolish child, and they do well to be some- 
 what strict with me, since I even find fault in 
 my waywardness w T ith the works and will of 
 Jehovah." 
 
 Having thus spoken, she sung a few more 
 strains from the Psalms respecting the Holy Land, 
 and it was not till the infant became restless that 
 she left the shore and returned home. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 She had not been mistaken as to the treat*- 
 ment she would receive on reaching the house. 
 The mother of the enraged boy met her in the 
 outer court, while mother and son joined in 
 heaping abuse upon the poor maiden. She made 
 no reply. But if she was silent, it was sullenness ; 
 if she spoke, it was contradiction. 
 
 " Confess now," cried the woman, " thou art 
 a Nazarene ! How is it 1 It was in Capernaum 
 that your Messiah found the readiest welcome ; 
 in his native city, Nazareth, they would have 
 hurled him down from the mountain ; but at your 
 houses he was a welcome guest, and was per- 
 mitted to teach in the schools ; so that he called 
 the place his own city, and his oldest disciple 
 left Bethsaida and bought a house in Capernaum. 
 Is it not so ? Come, you'll keep up the character 
 of your city ! Speak out now ! it's your best 
 way ! You are a Nazarene. Do you think we 
 were deaf, that we could not hear you jeering 
 about Tiberias, where your Jesus could not come, 
 
24 LEA, OR THE 
 
 because Antipas, who put John his forerunner to 
 death, there held his court ? And hence you've 
 beat and mocked my poor boy because he repre- 
 sented the Messiah !" 
 
 " I did not beat him/' said Lea, at last break- 
 ing silence. " And as for mocking, he deserved 
 it as a false Messiah, who," added she laughing, 
 " burnt his coat in the fires round Jerusalem." 
 
 " Do you hear that ? Hear you that !" cried 
 the woman to the servants who were flocking 
 around. 
 
 " Aye," said Lea, a little frowardly, " and so 
 may it fare with every pretender who plays the 
 Messiah !" 
 
 " Do you hear ? oh, horrible !" cried the 
 whole train. The boy struck her, because he 
 was sure of victory : his mother, who had no 
 disposition to listen to Lea's complaints, think- 
 ing she could best justify her spoiled child by 
 joining in his abuse of the poor defenceless 
 maiden. She menaced her, moreover, with the 
 return of her father-in-law, who had been on a 
 journey to Jerusalem, and was daily expected 
 back. 
 
 Meanwhile she was sent, with the child of 
 three years in charge, to the fountain beneath 
 the palm trees in the central court. She then 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 25 
 
 went up with the child into one of the fragrant 
 arbors, and tended the flowers. While she was 
 thus engaged, the child called upon her to sing. 
 " That will I do willingly," said Lea, " and a 
 beautiful little song too ! When you grow up, 
 you will see that this is our w r ay — the way I and 
 my cousins do — and you must do so too." She 
 began : 
 
 " Behold how lovely and pleasant it is 
 When brethren dwell in union ! 
 It is like the precious ointment upon the head, 
 Flowing down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, 
 That flowed down to the border of his garments : 
 Like the dew of Hermon, that descends on the moun- 
 tains of Zion, 
 For there Jehovah commanded the blessing, 
 Even life for evermore !" 
 
 As she pointed the children, while she sung, 
 to the snowy top of Hermon, which could be 
 seen from the roof, she already repented of her 
 bitter jest, and by the time she had finished the 
 psalm, blows, abuse, lies, and suspicions were 
 all forgotten. With a step light as if she trod 
 on air, she returned with the children to the 
 fountain, laid herself clown with them upon the 
 turf, and seemed, among the playful children, to 
 be the gayest child of them all. 
 
26 LEA, OR THE 
 
 Suddenly she heard the house door shut with 
 great violence, and soon after an unsteady step 
 ascending through the fore-court. The elder 
 children sprung up, and, as a very infirm old 
 man of eighty years came in sight, shouted, 
 u Grandfather ! it is grandfather !" They ran 
 up to him ; one seized his hand, the rest clasped 
 his knees, while the youngest stretched out to 
 him its little hands. 
 
 Lea was moved to tears by the sight, and shl^ 
 thought to herself that this would, for once, give 
 a cheerful tone to the heart of the sorrowful old 
 man. 
 
 But he thrust the little ones aside, as he 
 pushed roughly on, without noting that he had 
 almost crushed the foot of one of his grandsons, 
 or deigning to greet Lea, or his daughter-in-law, 
 w r ho came to meet him. With impatient, though 
 feeble steps, he tottered to the divan in the middle 
 court. It w r as plain that something unusual 
 must have befallen him. Instead of reclining, 
 as usual, he sat upright, and w T ith both hands 
 held his staff before him firmly set upon the 
 floor. He gazed around with an agitated look. 
 The inmates of the house gathered round him, 
 but he greeted no one. At last his son ap- 
 proached, and he burst forth — 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 27 
 
 " Spit at it ! spit at the name of iElia Capi- 
 tolina ! Cursed be he who built it, and blessed 
 be he who shall destroy it ! 'Tis not Jerusalem ! 
 O, wo is me, wo is me, that I have seen the 
 abomination !" 
 
 " Tell us, then, my father, what you have 
 seen," said the son. 
 
 " Horrible things have I seen ! O, that mine 
 eyes had never seen them !" exclaimed the old 
 man. 
 
 "Well, let us hear !" 
 
 " I have been to the city once called the Holy ; 
 it is now called iElia Capitolinn, after its builder, 
 the emperor iElias Adrianus, may God requite 
 him ! Upon Zion, where once stood the tower 
 of David, have I seen brambles ! Upon Moriah, 
 the place of the daily sacrifice, and of all the 
 other sacrifices, the plowshare was driven through 
 the field ! O, wo is me ! in the city called after 
 Jehovah stood a temple of the Olympian Jupiter ! 
 Wo is me, wo is me, that I have lived to see 
 it ! And at this temple must the children of 
 Israel pay the half shekel, which Jehovah com- 
 manded for the place where his honor dwells. 
 Yet more ! yet more ! " 
 
 " I stop my ears I" exclaimed the son. 
 
 " Yea, stop them !" cried the old man ; " hor- 
 
28 LEA, OR THE BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 
 
 rible is it to tell, and horrible to hear ! I will 
 not tell it." 
 
 " Speak ! speak on !" cried the rest. 
 
 " I will," said the old man ; " yet stop your 
 
 ears while I say it ! Daughter, the son thou 
 
 bearest thy husband thou may'st not bring for 
 circumcision !" 
 
 " How ! how is that 1" cried all at once, with 
 looks of dismay. 
 
 " No !" replied he, with quiet sternness, while 
 he assumed the air of a sovereign, " no, I tell 
 you, for it is forbidden. The Emperor, the 
 builder of iElia Capitolina, has forbidden it." 
 
 " Let him be accursed !" exclaimed one after 
 another. 
 
 The old man fell back, exhausted and sense- 
 less, on the divan. 
 
CHAPTER IV, 
 
 The old man at length revived, and the even- 
 ing meal was served. 
 
 The blessing of the bread and wine, as also 
 the reciting of the twenty-third Psalm, he now 
 for the first time left to his son. During the 
 meal, the precept of the oral law to regard the 
 table as the altar of the Lord, was, in form at 
 least, strictly observed. Not a word was spok- 
 en, but whether through reverence, or fear, or 
 embarrassment, was not certain. Even the 
 mother of the boy, full as she was of her mali- 
 cious slanders against Lea, did not venture to 
 bring them forward. 
 
 All kept silence, until thanks were given at 
 the conclusion of the meal. This act of devo- 
 tion was not merely an expression of thanks to 
 the Lord our God, for having satisfied those pre- 
 sent with food and drink : they called to remem- 
 brance, likewise, how He had led their fathers 
 out of Egypt, and had brought them into the 
 good land ; how He had established His cove- 
 
30 LEA, OR THE 
 
 ii ant with them, and given them the Law ; and 
 how He had promised that He would be their 
 shield for ever. Upon this was grounded the 
 petition that Jehovah would have pity upon 
 Jerusalem ; that He would, even in their days, 
 re-establish the temple and the kingdom of 
 David ; and that He would send Elias, as also 
 the Messiah, to bring an end to their captivity in 
 the Holy Land. 
 
 " Amen !" was said aloud by all present at 
 the table. But the old man's voice was loudest 
 of all, and he added, " Yes, that may Jehovah in 
 His mercy grant, that so I, the son of bondage 
 and of misery, who in youth saw the destruction 
 of Jerusalem, may in my age behold the up- 
 building thereof ! God be praised ! the seventy 
 years of this captivity are near their end. I am 
 now eighty and one years old ; seventeen was I 
 when the temple w T as burnt ; there are now 
 wanting, therefore, but six years to complete the 
 reckoning. So soon iElia Capitolina, the city 
 of the devil, may fall, and Jerusalem, the city of 
 God, be built !" 
 
 " Jehovah grant it !" said the others. 
 
 " Children, I should be young again, could I 
 live to see that day ! I would crawl to the 
 Mount of Olives, that I might see this iElia burn 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 31 
 
 as I have seen the holy city bum. Horrible was 
 that sight ! — that shall I never forget so long as 
 I have life ! That should ye, too, not forget till 
 Jerusalem is built again ; nor, indeed, then ; for 
 though we may not, in the new Jerusalem, keep 
 the ninth day of the month Ab, as a day of 
 lamentation for the destruction of Jerusalem, yet 
 must the remembrance of it never pass away." 
 
 " Tell us once more the frightful story," said 
 the grandson, by way of ingratiating himself 
 with his grandfather. 
 
 He would have done it unasked. He adjusted 
 his turban, settled himself upon the divan, and 
 thus began, while the others reclined in a circle 
 around him. 
 
 " The building of the temple, begun by Herod 
 the Great, and continued eighty years, till the 
 reign of Herod Agrippa II., was already com- 
 pleted, when Gessius Floras came as Roman 
 procurator into the country. That was an evil 
 man. When he saw that the land was filled 
 with robbers, murderers, sorcerers, false pro- 
 phets, and Messiahs, he endeavored to stir up 
 sedition among the people, that they might not 
 be able to carry complaints of his oppression to 
 Csesar. His plan succeeded. He demanded 
 seventeen talents from the sacred treasury, and 
 
32 LEA, OR THE 
 
 this was the spark which kindled into a blaze 
 the long standing and carefully cherished hatred 
 of the Jews against the Romans. Cestius Gallus 
 advanced with his arm)' from Syria, where he was 
 Proconsul. My parents were then residing in 
 Gamala. I had gone up with them to the Pass- 
 over, and our relatives in Lydda had invited me 
 to spend the summer with them. At the time 
 of the feast of tabernacles, Cestius arrived at 
 Lydda. The inhabitants had gone, one and all, 
 to the feast at Jerusalem. Only fifty men re- 
 mained still in the city, and on account of sick- 
 ness I was one of the number. Cestius set the 
 city on fire, and put the inhabitants to death. I 
 escaped only by the special providence of God. 
 I arrived at Jerusalem almost at the same mo- 
 ment with the army. As I entered through the 
 water gate, I heard the trumpet already at the 
 gate of Ephraim. A prodigious multitude had 
 gone up to the feast ; and I have seen with my 
 own eyes that w T e can vanquish Romans. Ces- 
 tius fled as if driven by the terrors of Jehovah. 
 We seized his machines of war, and Israel was 
 victor. 
 
 " But the divisions among the people increased, 
 and all who consulted their ow T n safety fled from 
 the city. My parents took me back with them 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 33 
 
 to Gamala. Our kindred in Lydda were all 
 slain, some there, and others at Jerusalem. The 
 time was improved in making fortifications. 
 Now came Vespasian. He had already con- 
 quered Galilee, when he appeared before Gamala 
 with Herod Agrippa. This effeminate wretch 
 called upon us to surrender ; a stone which 
 struck him in the hand was the traitor's answer. 
 " Gamala lay like a camel upon a high moun- 
 tain peak, and its only entrance was closed up 
 by a trench. The Romans forced their way in 
 by a breach in the city walls, but nearly the 
 whole of them fell by our hands, and even Ves- 
 pasian's life was in great danger. But being 
 now threatened with destruction by famine, most 
 of the citizens fled, and I myself effected my 
 escape through an aqueduct. The Romans, 
 having meanwhile undermined a tower, pene- 
 trated into the city, and a violent wind carried 
 their missiles into the citadel, which otherwise 
 they could not have reached. They destroyed 
 the city ; four thousand men fell by their hands, 
 eight thousand threw themselves down from the 
 walls, and two women were all that escaped 
 with life. My brothers were among the slain, 
 and my father, in attempting to follow me and 
 4 
 
34 LEA, OR THE 
 
 my brother, thy father, Lea, perished in the 
 aqueduct. 
 
 " I hastened with my brother to the Holy city. 
 Myself a youth of seventeen years, I led the boy 
 of ten by the hand, and after much peril and suf- 
 fering, we reached the place. Three parties 
 were then raging in the city. Had Israel not 
 been divided against itself, that frightful doom 
 had never burst over Jerusalem. Never did 
 Gentiles contend more fiercely than did the par- 
 ties of the Zelots, the Idumeans, and the loyal. 
 The temple was profaned, and at length the city 
 of holiness might more properly have been call- 
 ed a resort of robbers, a house of harlots, and a 
 den of murderers. Thus did they riot who styled 
 themselves zealots for the law. 
 
 " Vespasian was proclaimed emperor in Cesa- 
 rea, and in Alexandria he received the intelligence 
 that he was acknowledged by the whole empire. 
 He hastened to Rome, and committed to his son 
 Titus the conquest of Jerusalem. 
 
 " Titus arrived with his army when the city 
 was crowded with pilgrims come to the Pass- 
 over, and formed his encampment upon the mount 
 of Olives. Fearful omens had announced to us 
 the issue. A portentous light was seen between 
 the altar and the temple. The huge iron gate of 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 35 
 
 the temple opened of itself at midnight, and 
 blood-red hosts in battle array appeared in the 
 clouds above the city. All this was verified. 
 Titus conquered, after some months' siege, first 
 the new city, then the lower city. "While yet 
 the temple and the upper town were beleaguered, 
 the famine rose to a fearful height. Those who 
 had laid up any provision were deprived of it by 
 force. The robbers broke into the houses of the 
 rich, slew old and young, and dashed the child- 
 ren against the wall. Whoever thought of 
 flight was put to death as a traitor. People fell 
 down dead with hunger in the streets ; the Ze- 
 lots plundered their corpses and stripped the last 
 rag of clothing from the bodies of the dying. 
 Many, in despair, threw themselves down from 
 the walls, and immense numbers, having swal- 
 lowed their gold, went over to the Romans. 
 But the Romans discovered how they had con- 
 cealed their treasure, and the bodies of two thou- 
 sand deserters were searched for it in a single 
 night. The number of corpses became at last so 
 great that they could no longer be buried, but 
 were piled up, one upon another, in the empty 
 houses. The horrors of the famine continually 
 increased. Dung, leathern saddles and girdles, 
 old straw, formed the only means of subsistence, 
 
36 LEA, OR THE 
 
 One woman cooked her only child, and when the 
 soldiers, attracted by the smell of food, broke into 
 the house, she boldly confessed the deed and 
 showed them the remaining half of the child, 
 Oh, it is not to be described with words, what we 
 have endured ! During this distress, the tower 
 of Antonia fell ; then the first, then the inner 
 fore court of the temple. This happened on a 
 Sabbath. A Roman soldier hurled from the 
 northern side a firebrand into the temple. Titus 
 opposed in vain the rush of his soldiers ; on our 
 side arose a fearful shriek, — and soon the won- 
 der of the world, the sanctuary of the Lord, stood 
 wrapt in flames. The ground around the altar 
 streamed with blood ; the flames raged in the 
 wind, and the Holiest itself was laid in ashes. 
 That was on the ninth day of the month Ab. 
 The lower town was by this time set on fire, and 
 the conflagration reached at length the upper 
 town. In this part of the city the houses were 
 crowded even to the roof with the bodies of those 
 who had perished by famine ; and yet there were 
 so many still to be slain that the flames were ex- 
 tinguished in their blood. Everything was burnt 
 down and destroyed, and only three towers re- 
 mained standing. During the war, ninety-seven 
 thousand men were made captive, and eleven 
 
BAPTISM IN JOKDAN. 37 
 
 hundred thousand were killed during the siege 
 and storming of the city. Of the survivors, some 
 perished in gladiatorial combats with wild beasts, 
 others were carried in triumph to Rome, or like 
 me, found refuge in flight. 
 
 " All this with my own eyes have I seen, and 
 with my body and my soul endured. Since then, 
 Israel lies trampled in the dust ; even the temple 
 of Onias at Leontopolis has not escaped the fury 
 of our nation's enemies. The abomination of 
 desolation must have an end. But it seems 
 meet that we, old men, who have been witnesses 
 of this fearful calamity, should commit the re- 
 membrance of it to you our children, that the 
 wrongs we have endured may ever kindle in us 
 anew the desire of vengeance. Yet even this 
 work of destruction is not more terrible than the 
 profanation which I have seen in i£lia. Let us 
 strew ashes on our heads, and put on sackcloth ; 
 let us rend our garments, and pluck out our hair, 
 for the sake of the daughter of Zion ! Cursed 
 be he who thirsts not for vengeance." 
 
 The old man betook himself to his Aliya, and 
 each one retired, thoughtful and silent, to his 
 chamber. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 From this time the old man had frequent and 
 long interviews with his son in the Aliya. The 
 assemblies in the gates of Tiberias became more 
 and more frequented by the men of the city. Upon 
 the by-roads of the country there was great con- 
 versation, and often large companies of men came 
 by night from other cities to Tiberias. Guest- 
 friends arrived whom the old man had not seen 
 in his house for years, and often, though meeting 
 here from places widely separated, became im- 
 mediately acquainted with each other, and held 
 long and secret conferences. 
 
 In this scene of confusion, the mother had so 
 much to do that she thought it best to defer her 
 complaint against Lea to a more favorable time. 
 Meanwhile she continued to oppress the poor 
 girl with heavy tasks and unkind treatment, and 
 Lea still afflicted and comforted herself as 
 before. 
 
 One day there arrived some men from Sepho- 
 ris,* the ancient city of Galilee, who were wel- 
 * See Appendix, note B. 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 39 
 
 corned with unusual respect and joy. They 
 were more communicative than the former visi- 
 tors and allowed the whole family to take part 
 in their conversation. 
 
 As usual, the old man began the conversation 
 with lamentations respecting JElia Capitolina, 
 and with the inquiry what would be the conse- 
 quence of the prohibition to circumcise. 
 
 " But have you heard," said one of the men 
 from Sephoris, " that Adrian is gone from Athens 
 to Rome ? We have now space and time to 
 take breath." 
 
 The other suggested that when Gideon was 
 Judge in Israel, and the people were oppressed 
 by the Midianites, they had prepared for them- 
 selves dwellings and places of security in the 
 clefts and caves of the mountains. " The good 
 land," said he, " is not without design a land of 
 caves. Jehovah has thus prepared it for us, 
 that in the time of need we may again become as 
 the children of Anak. Praised be the sons of 
 Anak !" 
 
 " But where shall we find weapons 1" asked 
 the son of the house. 
 
 " We are required," said the former speaker, 
 " to forge weapons for the Romans. What does 
 not succeed and is rejected by them, we shall 
 make useful to ourselves." 
 
40 LEA, OR THE 
 
 " Ah \ :> exclaimed the old man, " that these 
 dim eyes, which have seen so much misery, might 
 behold the Anointed of God, before they are clos- 
 ed in death !" 
 
 " Do not the sins of Israel delay his coming ?" 
 asked the son. 
 
 " Silence, thou fool I" exclaimed the old man, 
 vehemently. " I was at the destruction of Jeru- 
 salem. The Zelots, by their abominations and 
 sins, are the real authors of our shame and misery. 
 He who has known these, knows that now Israel 
 is a holy nation, whose sins no longer delay the 
 coming of the Messiah." 
 
 " Have patience !" said one of the visitors. 
 " Since Rabbi Akiba has been President of the 
 Sanhedrim at Jamnia, light and truth have spread 
 abroad in Israel. Who knows — the Messiah 
 may even now be walking unknown among 
 his people ; yea, and Elias also !" 
 
 " Then beware lest you take a false Messiah 
 for the true one !" interposed the matron with a 
 spiteful glance at Lea. " What think'st thou, 
 Lea, is there not danger of it V 
 
 The poor maiden blushed in the presence of 
 the men. 
 
 " She V cried the old man hastily, " what of 
 her r 
 
BAPTISM IN JOKDAN. 41 
 
 The mother beckoned to her boy. He stept 
 pertly forward and told the whole story of his 
 game, and the jeers of Lea. He said he had fear- 
 ed to disturb his grandfather in his important 
 business, but now, at his command, he would no 
 longer conceal from him that Lea was a daughter 
 of Seir, and one of the Nazarenes. 
 
 The men looked inquiringly at her. The 
 mother confirmed all that her son had said. 
 
 " Have I then nourished a snake in my bo- 
 som V 9 cried the old man in a storm of passion. 
 " Answer for thyself, Lea !" 
 
 " I only said," replied she timidly, " that a Mes- 
 siah as this lad played him, cannot be the true 
 one." 
 
 u Thou see'st, dear father," said the matron, 
 " that she is of Capernaum, where they are fa- 
 vorably inclined to Jesus, because he loved their 
 city." 
 
 " The Nazarenes are the worst enemies of the 
 glory of Israel," said one of the men of Sephoris. 
 " They are so for this, if for no other reason, that 
 they betray the rights of Israel to the Gentiles. 
 But more than this, they make the hope of Israel 
 a laughing-stock among the Romans, by giving 
 out for the Messiah a man who has been cruci- 
 4* 
 
42 LEA, OR THE BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 
 
 fied. And worse than all, pretending to be Jews, 
 they yet eat human flesh in their assemblies."* 
 
 Lea shuddered, and exclaimed with an expres- 
 sion of abhorrence, " I am no Nazarene, but a 
 daughter of Israel !" 
 
 This occasioned a laugh in which Lea joined. 
 The woman would again gladly have given the 
 conversation a serious turn against Lea ; but the 
 visitors, who had weightier matters in hand, said, 
 "Let her alone!" 
 
 * See Appendix, note C. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 " Wonder ! O wonder ! " the men of Sephoris 
 were heard to cry, some days after this. They 
 came down from the Aliya calling even from the 
 roof to those in the courts and the Armon below, 
 " O wonder ! wonder ! " 
 
 In company with a messenger who had just 
 arrived from Jamnia, they descended into the 
 middle court. Here the whole family had mean- 
 while assembled; the old man in the midst of 
 them, with trembling knees and mouth wide 
 open, foreboding evil. ___ 
 
 " What is it then V 9 cried one to the men ot 
 Sephoris. 
 
 " What is it? " they replied. " There stands 
 the messenger ! Good news ! Glorious news !" 
 
 " Praised be Jehovah ! " said the old man. " I 
 thought surely some new misfortune had befallen 
 Israel." 
 
 " Well, speak now, what is it 1" said the mis- 
 tress of the house. 
 
 " O wonder ! " exclaimed the men. " The 
 Messiah is come ! here stands the messenger ! " 
 
44 LEA, OR THE 
 
 " The Messiah !" they all cried out. 
 
 The old man sprang like a youth towards his 
 guests and embraced them, then to the messen- 
 ger and embraced him, crying, " Now will I 
 cheerfully die, may I with my eyes but behold 
 the Messiah !" 
 
 "O wonder! wonder!'' cried w all the inmates 
 of the house. 
 
 " Sound the trumpets ! light up beacons on 
 the mountains !" said the men of Sephoris; " send 
 messengers abroad ! Usher in the New Year with 
 the blast of the trumpet, for a New Year begins 
 this day !" 
 
 Each one seemed beside himself at the news. 
 They looked at each other and could say no 
 more. The old man began to weep. 
 
 "But you do not so much as know where he 
 is ! or even his name, or the manner of his com- 
 ing !" said the messenger. 
 
 " Oh, if he is only come !" said the old man. 
 " That is the main point. The rest will take 
 care of itself. Yet say on, where is he V 3 
 
 " This messenger," said one of the men, " has 
 hurried hither from Jamnia, where the Messiah 
 has appeared. He has seen him !*' 
 
 " In Jamnia, where the Sanhedrim is ! Then 
 
baptism m Jordan. 45 
 
 he has shown himself to the great council of the 
 nation V asked the old man. 
 
 "That has he. Boldly he entered the Sanhe- 
 drim, and turned not aside for him who has the 
 might and the light in Israel !" 
 
 " And what said the President of the Sanhe- 
 drim ? What said the most worthy Rabbi Aki- 
 ba ?" 
 
 " What should he say ? Into the assembled 
 council the Messiah entered, and placed himself 
 before the President. Then rose up Rabbi Aki- 
 ba and solemnly proclaimed, s This is the king 
 Messiah ! This is the star out of Judah !' " 
 
 " The star out of Judah ! " echoed the old man. 
 
 " Barchocheba, — son of the stars, — for so he 
 styles himself, is the name of the Messiah. And 
 Rabbi Akiba, who knows the law, and is the 
 forerunner of the Messiah, at once perceived that 
 in him the prophecy of Balaam is fulfilled : 
 * There shall arise a star out of Judah, and a 
 sceptre come forth from Israel, and shall dash in 
 pieces the princes of Moab, and destroy all the 
 children of Seth. Edom shall be a possession, 
 and Seir shall be overthrown by its enemies ; but 
 Israel shall have the victory. Out of Jacob shall 
 come the ruler, and shall destroy that which re= 
 mains of the cities,' This Akiba called to re- 
 
46 LEA, OR THE 
 
 membrance, and when he saw the fulfilment, he 
 said, ' This is the star out of Judah !' " 
 
 " Yes, Barchocheba is his name, and he is the 
 promised Messiah, and Rabbi Akiba is his fore- 
 runner, is the prophet Elijah ! " said the old man. 
 
 " Yes, it is he ! it is the Messiah !" cried all. 
 
 The old man laid his hand upon his grandson, 
 and blessed him with many tears. The servant 
 men shouted in the courts, and the handmaids 
 were frantic w T ith joy. 
 
 The messenger hastened from the house, the 
 men of Sephoris, and the old man, following him. 
 To all whom they met in the streets they pro- 
 claimed the joyful message. In a few minutes 
 the gates of Tiberias were thronged with old and 
 young. Over and over, must the messenger re- 
 late the entrance into the Sanhedrim. So soon 
 as one caught it from his lips, he ran in haste to 
 impart the tidings to his family and distant 
 friends. Everywhere were seen in the streets 
 men weeping for joy : the aged.uttering blessings, 
 youths leaping and shouting, and maidens uniting 
 in song. If a Gentile showed himself, they in- 
 sulted him. If they saw a Christian, their insolent 
 joy broke out in fearful threatenings. The young 
 men consulted together respecting a march in 
 arms to Jamnia on the following morning, and 
 
BAPTISM LN JORDAN'. 47 
 
 only the fear of the Roman government here and 
 there repressed the extravagant outburst of joy. 
 
 As once at the feast in Jerusalem, so now in 
 Tiberias, joy reigned among- the children of Israel. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Lea was hurried away with the general enthu- 
 siasm. The appearance in the Sanhedrim of one 
 claiming to be the Messiah, filled her with joy. 
 and she became the gayest of the rejoicing house- 
 hold. 
 
 Her joy effaced from the mind of her uncle 
 every trace of suspicion that she was a Nazarene. 
 Even her mistress was now convinced ; but it only 
 made her the more sorry that she must give up 
 her plan of revenge : for in the midst of her joy 
 it was a bitter thought that Lea should have part 
 in the salvation of the Messiah. 
 
 The old man, w T ho, as the custom was in Israel, 
 still remained master of "the family, had com- 
 manded a sumptuous meal to be made ready for 
 the evening, that this day of gladness might be 
 duly celebrated. Whilst the matron was busy 
 with Lea in the kitchen of the Armon, she could 
 not refrain from tormenting the poor orphan. She 
 well knew how to drive out with her bitter taunts 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 49 
 
 all joy from Lea's bosom, arid to provoke her re- 
 sentment anew. Thus irritated, Lea threw out, 
 unconscious to herself how she came to do it, 
 doubts as to the correctness of the messenger's 
 account ; and when the matron, glad to have 
 provoked her to irritation, defended his integrity 
 with much warmth, Lea went still farther. This, 
 too, was less from reflection than from a disposi- 
 tion to display her own shrewdness, and to keep 
 up the part, at first forced upon her, of a friend of 
 the Christians. In her opinion, even if the mes- 
 senger had made a true report, and Barchocheba 
 had actually given himself out for the Messiah, it 
 did not follow that he was so in truth. At any 
 rate, the true Messiah would not come in pomp 
 and splendor, but, as Isaiah predicted, in sick- 
 ness and sorrow ; for he would be the friend of 
 the miserable and the avenger of the oppressed. 
 Her mistress exulted in the new turn Lea's feelings 
 had taken, and hoped that very day to carry her 
 plan into effect. 
 
 The festive meal had now been served in the 
 great hall, and a conversation was about to com- 
 mence with the Levites of the place, who were 
 present as invited guests. But the old man, at 
 the request of his daughter-in-law, gave permission 
 to the whole household, women, children and 
 
50 LEA, OR THE 
 
 servants, — for to them also, as well as to the men, 
 this great feast-day was a day of joy in Israel, — 
 to assemble in the hall and join in the cheerful 
 conversation. 
 
 After they had expatiated as usual on the glories 
 of the Messiah's kingdom, a Levite gave an 
 account of the Rabbi Akiba. His whole life 
 appeared now in a new light, since he had repre- 
 sented himself as the subject of divine prediction, 
 and as the returning prophet Elias ; and all his 
 actions, and every incident in his history assumed 
 a higher significance. Forty years had he already 
 presided over the Sanhedrim, and not a man of 
 his time, the Messiah excepted, united in himself 
 so much wisdom and knowledge. Since the Great 
 Council first assembled in the hall Gazith, then 
 in the eastern porch, then in Jerusalem ; nay, 
 from the time of Ezra, had there been no one as 
 learned in the law as Akiba in Jamnia. His two 
 books for the interpretation of the law, would be 
 to the end of the world a light for the people of 
 Israel. The number of pupils who of late years 
 continually surrounded him, amounted to four- 
 and-twenty thousand ; and among these were 
 found already such men as Aquila the Nazarene, 
 whom he had converted to Judaism, and so 
 thoroughly instructed that he had made a new 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 51 
 
 translation of the entire Scriptures in the Greek 
 language. The celebrated Tryphon was also his 
 pupil. The whole world is astonished at his 
 learning, and it is said that he can assign the 
 reason for the smallest letter of the law, and that 
 even what was concealed from Moses is known 
 to him. At all this there is so much the more 
 cause to wonder, because he was in his youth a 
 tender of sheep and gave small promise of such 
 high things. But the daughter of his master, a rich 
 citizen of Jerusalem, promised to marry him if he 
 would leave the care of the sheep and devote him- 
 self to learning. He agreed to her proposal, and 
 having espoused her privately, entered the sacred 
 school : and thus in him, as in no man before, was 
 fulfilled the prayer at circumcision, that he might 
 enter into marriage and into good works ; for 
 through marriage he had entered into the best of 
 works, viz. the knowledge of the law. 
 
 Exclamations of astonishment burst from all 
 present, and the conversation became general. 
 The Messiah would have been almost forgotten 
 in this Elias, had not the matron of the house 
 displayed a remarkable zeal for his honor, and 
 continually led the conversation back to him. 
 Her eulogiums, which always bordered on the 
 extravagant, stirred up Lea to contradiction, as 
 indeed they were designed to do. 
 
52 LEA, OR THE 
 
 Among the numerous topics of question and 
 remark, the perplexity of the Nazarenes at this 
 time was not forgotten. 
 
 "They seem, however, not to be so disheartened 
 as you suppose," said Lea, " if we may judge by 
 what one of the servants professes to have heard 
 to-day, from some Nazarenes who were talking 
 together in the street." 
 
 " What said they V 9 asked the old man. 
 
 " He says they called Barchocheba an impostor, 
 for that his name is not Bar Chochochab, son of 
 the stars, but Bar Chosab, the son of Chosab, — 
 if not indeed Bar Chasab, a son of lies." 
 
 " Horrible !" cried all, turning furiously upon 
 Lea, " how will you prove that ?" 
 
 " By his anointing," answered Lea. " For 
 people think that when Akiba anointed him, a 
 divine flame issued from his mouth, whereas he 
 only had lighted straws between his teeth, and 
 puffed out the flame with his breath."* 
 
 The matron rose up in fury. The old man 
 stormed with rage. A confusion ensued, in which 
 everybody took it for granted that this was Lea's 
 opinion, and the story an invention of her own. 
 
 She defended herself as well as she was able, 
 and cried out again and again that this was not 
 • See Appendix, note D. 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 53 
 
 her opinion, but that of the Nazarenes. But no 
 one listened to her. 
 
 " Stones ! bring stones !" cried the matron, 
 " that we may stone the blasphemer according to 
 the law ! Thrust her out, thrust her out ! that 
 the curse rest not on us and on the house where 
 she dwells." 
 
 " Drive her forth like Hagar, for she is a 
 mocker like Ishmael !" said the old man. 
 
 The grandson busied himself with bringing 
 stones, and himself commenced the chastisement. 
 His mother helped him. The others, too, made 
 threatening gestures, and the poor orphan was 
 obliged to flee. She was glad when she saw the 
 house and the city behind her. Harsh words of 
 abuse pursued her till she reached the mountains, 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Lea pursued her lonely way among the moun- 
 tains. She had been obliged without choice to 
 strike into the first path that offered itself as she 
 fled out of the gate of Tiberias. Some few stones 
 had grazed her, and the shouts of her pursuers 
 every moment thickened and grew louder. 
 
 Like a hunted roe she sprang over bushes and 
 tombs ; like a chamois she climbed the hills and 
 precipices. At last she looked round and thanked 
 God that she saw no one in pursuit of her. 
 
 Her first emotion was joy that she was free from 
 Tiberias, her house of Egyptian bondage. She 
 felt that she had been brought out by the mighty 
 hand of Jehovah, as once her fathers were, and 
 she could have raised, like Miriam at the Red Sea, 
 a song of thanksgiving. Purer seemed to her the 
 high mountain air, richer the forest fragrance, more 
 brilliant the reflected light which streamed up to 
 her from the waves of the sea in the valley be- 
 neath. 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 55 
 
 But as she wished herself joy of her new free- 
 dom, her eyes fell upon her own person, and she 
 perceived wilh dismay that she was in her in-door 
 dress without any protection against the night 
 cold. The day declined. The glow of sunset 
 faded into darkness. The roaring of lions, and 
 the screams of night birds echoed through that 
 high, lonely forest tract. Terrified and weeping, 
 Lea fled wildly on from cliff to cliff. 
 
 She stopped before a cave by the side of which 
 gushed a little fountain. She entered and found 
 it clean and dry. Her tears ceased to flow. She 
 gathered together some leaves, drank of the foun- 
 tain, and laid herself down. But she could not 
 sleep, and lay shrinking with terror at every cry 
 of the wild beasts. 
 
 Towards midnight it became colder. Her ter- 
 ror continually increased. She wept and sobbed 
 till she could weep no longer. The twenty -seventh 
 Psalm occurred to her, and she sung : 
 
 "Jehovah is my light and my salvation, — whom shall I fear? 
 Jehovah is the defence of my life, of whom shall I be 
 
 afraid ? 
 When the wicked came upon me to devour my flesh, 
 My enemies and they that hate me, — they stumbled and 
 
 fell. 
 Though a host shall rise up against me, my heart shall not 
 
 fear/' 
 
58 LEA, OR THE 
 
 She felt almost tranquil, and with a strengthened 
 heart proceeded : 
 
 " For He will hide me in His pavilion in the day of trouble ; 
 In the secrecy of His tent will he hide me ; 
 He will set me on lngh, — upon a rock." 
 
 As she gazed upward with animation at the 
 heavens, thick sown with stars, she began again : 
 
 " Hear my voice, Jehovah, I cry unto thee ; 
 
 Have mercy also upon me, and answer me. 
 
 My heart repeats thy word, ' Seek ye my face ;' — 
 
 Thy face, Jehovah, do I seek. 
 
 Hide not thy face from me, 
 
 Put not thy servant away in anger. 
 
 Thou hast been my help ; leave me not, nor for- 
 
 sake me, 
 O God of my salvation : 
 For father and mother have forsaken me, 
 But Jehovah will take me up."' 
 
 At the names of father and mother, her heart 
 dissolved away, her voice faltered and was 
 choked in tears. " Oh my father !" she cried; 
 4< my beloved mother! my dear Capernaum! 
 Whither now shall I go ! I am thrust out into 
 the wide world! no way! no hope!" Again 
 she bethought herself of the psalm : 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 57 
 
 "Teach me, O Jehovah, thy way, 
 
 And lead me in the path of righteousness, because 
 
 of my foes. 
 For false witnesses have risen up against me, 
 And they breathe out cruelty." 
 
 A chilly morning wind swept through the 
 trees. As the first glimmer of early dawn 
 streamed into the cavern, Lea arose and went 
 forth, singing the conclusion of the psalm : 
 
 " Had I not believed that I should see the good- 
 ness of Jehovah 
 In the land of the living ! 
 Wait on Jehovah ! 
 Be strong and of a cheerful heart ! 
 Wait on Jehovah !" 
 
 She washed herself, and slaked her thirst at 
 the fountain. As she was still not far from Tibe- 
 rias and feared pursuit, she wound her way yet 
 deeper into the mountains, and sought to appease 
 her hunger with roots and berries which she ga- 
 thered by the way. The heat became more and 
 more intense and still she wandered on, uncertain 
 whither she went, and with no aim but to shun 
 villages, hamlets, and every trace of human foot- 
 steps. 
 
 Evening again approached ; the pains of hun- 
 ger became more and more severe, and anxious 
 5 
 
58 LEA, OK THE 
 
 forebodings filled her heart. She saw no cave, 
 she knew not whither she should turn. 
 
 Her reflections during the day had often been 
 interrupted by the question, whether she was not 
 herself to blame for her misfortunes. She had 
 tried in many ways to justify herself, but she now 
 exclaimed, " I am the cause of them all ! Had I 
 been more humble, more quiet and obedient, my 
 mistress would not have been so bitter towards 
 me. But I was proud and wilful, and thought 
 myself more knowing than other people. Now 
 I suffer the punishment." 
 
 She was about to shelter herself in a dense thick- 
 et, when she heard within it the growling of wild 
 beasts. As she was exploring another, a serpent 
 darted towards her. She sank on her knees and 
 prayed to God for forgiveness and succor. She 
 lay down under a tree with low branches ; think- 
 ing she might be safer above, she climbed into it, 
 and spent there the sleepless night. 
 
 In the morning, when the beasts of prey had 
 retired to their hiding-places, and the horrible 
 trampling under her feet had ceased, she was in 
 doubt whether to go farther, or to await death 
 where she was. Hunger impelled her forward. 
 
 As she wandered on in mute despair, she sud- 
 denly found herself in the presence of an aged 
 
EAPTISM IN JORDAN, 09 
 
 woman who was gathering sticks. She was 
 frightened and would have fled, but was so ex- 
 hausted that she could not move. She stood 
 trembling, with a half-eaten root in her hand. 
 
 "Fear not, dear child," said the woman. 
 " Thou must be hungry, I think, thou art so 
 pale." 
 
 The old matron looked at her with such a be- 
 nevolent, motherly expression that Lea answered, 
 " Yes, I am very hungry." 
 
 " Here, then, take and eat," said she, offering 
 her bread and dates from her lap. 
 
 " If I might eat it!" said Lea, taking the 
 bread. "Art thou a daughter of our father 
 Abraham ?" 
 
 " I am a daughter of Abraham, of the tribe of 
 Zebulon, a Jewess of the Jews. What I give 
 thee is clean," said the woman. 
 
 "Oh, then, take me with thee to thy home !" said 
 Lea, with the confiding, winning manner which 
 was natural to her. 
 
 " Come, my daughter," replied she, taking her 
 by the hand. " Shelter and food, such as I my- 
 self have, will I give to thee." 
 
CHAPTER IX ; 
 
 The little dwelling into which the aged ma* 
 trc-n — Elizabeth was her name — conducted her 
 guest, had neither fore-court nor middle-court, 
 neither flat roof nor Aliya. But it was the abode 
 of a tranquil and devout spirit, impressing on all 
 around it the image of the purity which reigned 
 within. The cottage with its scanty furniture 
 wore an air of poverty, but at the same time of 
 exquisite neatness and orderly arrangement, 
 which spoke to every kindred heart the pure and 
 domestic feeling of the occupant. 
 
 A strange feeling came over Lea as she enter- 
 ed the cottage. The objects which met her eye 
 seemed familiar to her. Not that she had ever 
 seen them in actual life, but it seemed to her that 
 she must have seen them in a dream. She 
 watched her benefactress, as she moved with 
 quiet and thoughtful promptness through her 
 little round of household duties, and felt like one 
 suddenly escaped from all earthly troubles into a 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 61 
 
 heavenly peace. Elizabeth, majestic in stature, 
 with noble features to which age had imparted a 
 kind of sanctity, seemed to her a Sarah, a Re- 
 becca, — a venerable mother of the patriarchal 
 times. 
 
 All danger and suffering were forgotten, yet 
 her natural sportiveness was repressed. For the 
 first time in her life, she was held in check in 
 her joy by a mysterious but salutary power. As 
 she became conscious of this mild restraint, and 
 yet found herself still happy, her heart yielded to 
 its softening influence, and tears started in her 
 eyes. 
 
 Elizabeth supposed it was the remembrance of 
 some misfortune which thus affected her, and to 
 divert her feelings led her out of the cottage 
 when she had satisfied her hunger, and bade her 
 take a view of the surrounding country. 
 
 The house lay upon a considerable eminence 
 in the neighborhood of Cana. The little town, 
 so far removed that it made a quiet picture to the 
 eye, extended along the declivity of the hill down 
 into the valley. Behind Cana, the majestic 
 Tabor rose from the plain of Esdraelon, towering 
 to the clouds. The hill on which the cottag;e 
 stood made the projection of the second step in 
 the descent, of which Tabor, with its flat level 
 
62 LEA, OK TH£ 
 
 summit, formed the first. Still farther down 
 spread a view of the sea of Gennesareth and of 
 the cities upon its eastern shore. Wherever the 
 eye wandered over this gorgeous Alpine land- 
 scape, whether to the fruitful plains of Jezreel, 
 Esdraelon, and Sharon, to the lovely valley of 
 the Jordan, to the gorges of the wooded hills, or 
 isolated oases on the declivities of barren moun- 
 tains — enclosures of hamlets, walled cities, or 
 Aliyahs of single mansions, greeted the sight. 
 
 Never had her father-land appeared so beauti- 
 ful. Her eyes swam in tears ; she grasped the 
 hand of Elizabeth, and said, " Oh, how lovely is 
 the place of thy dwelling ! Praise to Jehovah 
 who guided me to thee !" 
 
 " Thou art welcome, my daughter." 
 
 " And I have been brought here out of great 
 affliction," continued Lea, " and surely thou doest 
 a good w T ork in the sight of Jehovah, to take pity 
 on a poor orphan who was near being stoned." 
 
 They seated themselves under the palm trees, 
 whose high leafy tops overshadowed the cottage, 
 and Lea, with the artless simplicity of childhood, 
 related her story. 
 
 "But why," asked Elizabeth, after she had 
 expressed to Lea her thanks and sympathy, 
 " why would'st thou not receive the new Mes- 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 63 
 
 siah with the sounding name • The Son of the 
 Stars V " 
 
 "Indeed, I hardly know myself," answered 
 Lea. " If I did, I should be happier. I assure 
 thee the very hearing of his name troubles me, 
 because I cannot tell how I have become, in 
 spite of myself, so strangely affected towards 
 him." 
 
 "In spite of thyself ?" asked Elizabeth. 
 
 " In Tiberias," replied Lea, " they would have 
 it that I was a Nazarene, because I came from 
 Capernaum. At first I looked upon it as a jest. 
 But when they told me so many horrible things 
 of these people, and still persisted in numbering 
 me among them, I grew angry, and, without 
 really meaning to do anything wicked, I sought 
 to punish their folly by acting as if I were truly 
 a Nazarene." 
 
 " But was that right V 9 said Elizabeth, with a 
 searching, but kindly glance. 
 
 " No, it was not ; it was not right. I ac- 
 knowledge my fault. But I could not help it ; 
 especially when that ' Son of the Stars' was 
 announced to us. At first I did certainly rejoice 
 at it from the heart ; but my mistress pressed me 
 with such bitter taunts, that I at last retorted 
 upon her what I heard was said of Barchocheba 
 by the Nazarenes." 
 
64 LEA, OR TEE 
 
 " But art thou not sorry, now that Jehovah 
 has so punished thy revengeful spirit 1" 
 
 " Indeed, I could not hut weep much on account 
 of it, during the two nights which I spent among 
 the wild beasts. But pray tell me thy opinion — 
 is it not contrary to the express predictions of our 
 prophets, that the Messiah should make his 
 appearance in pomp and splendor ? "When, for 
 instance, I heard read in the synagogue the sec- 
 tion from Isaiah, respecting the servant of God 
 through whose stripes we are healed, and who 
 hath borne our sorrows, I asked the Rabbi to 
 whom this related. He said, to the Messiah. 
 From that time, I could never conceive of the 
 Messiah, except as suffering and enduring ; and 
 I have the more delight in this idea, because my 
 oppressors, who lived in happiness and luxury, 
 were continually speaking of his state and ma- 
 jesty. It seemed to me that the unfortunate and 
 miserable must also have a Messiah, and this is 
 the true one, for he is to suffer in order to fulfil 
 w T hat is written of him." 
 
 Lea had not ventured to look up while utter- 
 ing these words. She now raised her eyes, and 
 was awe-struck by the appearance of her aged 
 companion. Her countenance, animated by the 
 deep emotion of her soul, and lighted by the 
 glow of sunset, beamed with an expression more 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 
 
 than human. There was a joy, a love, in her 
 soft glance, .such as Lea had never seen before. 
 
 " What aileth thee V* at length asked Lea. 
 " Art thou, too, one of the afflicted 1" 
 
 " I am a Nazarene !" said Elizabeth ; " and 
 so art thou, though thou knowest it not." 
 
 Lea drew back with a shudder. " No, indeed, 
 thou mistakest me," said she ; " I have an uncon- 
 querable loathing of human flesh. No, I am no 
 Nazarene, nor ever can be. And oh, Elizabeth, 
 is it possible that thou art one ? From the very 
 depths of my heart I hate this sect." 
 
 Elizabeth laughed as she reached out her 
 hand to her, and Lea joined in the laugh in spite 
 of herself. 
 
 " Give thyself no uneasiness, dear child. Thou 
 wilt soon understand this better. But of this I 
 can now assure thee : I have never eaten human 
 flesh, and I know no believer in our Lord Jesus 
 Christ who has ever eaten it. "What thou hast 
 told me is only a pitiful calumny upon our holy 
 Supper. But of this we will speak again ; only, 
 for the present, hold fast to thy Messiah of the 
 miserable, and to the suffering servant of God. 
 Child, that word has won thee my heart !" 
 
 She now rose up, and both went into the cot- 
 tage- 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 A delightful relation was quickly established 
 between Elizabeth and Lea. Elizabeth watched 
 over the maiden with maternal love, and she re- 
 paid it by those ready and affectionate services 
 which could not but be acceptable to her aged 
 friend. 
 
 The benignant seriousness of Elizabeth threw 
 a gentle restraint round the exuberant gaiety of 
 Lea, so that it did not burst its bounds to her 
 subsequent sorrow ; while her own inward youth- 
 fulness of spirit was charmed forth, as it were, 
 into her outward demeanor by the chilcflike glad- 
 ness of the girl. 
 
 Day by day Elizabeth felt herself more strongly 
 drawn towards Lea, and Lea attached herself 
 more fondly to Elizabeth. 
 
 Of the Nazarenes nothing further was said, 
 till accident, one morning, made them the sub- 
 ject of conversation. Lea was accustomed to 
 rise an hour earlier than Elizabeth, in order to 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 67 
 
 gather for her in the neighboring forest a choice 
 nosegay of fragrant flowers, and to bring her 
 fresh gathered dates and grapes from the little 
 enclosure, and warm milk from the stall. As 
 she now came into the cottage with this early 
 repast, she found Elizabeth already engaged in 
 her morning devotions. 
 
 She paused reverently in the doorway, and 
 silently joined in the prayer. When it was 
 finished, she greeted her aged friend with the 
 repast. Elizabeth accepted it with thanks, and 
 both seated themselves" on the threshold of the 
 cottage in the beams of the early morning sun. 
 
 " But tell me sincerely now," said Lea, with 
 her frank simplicity of manner, " thou surely art 
 not a Nazarene 1" 
 
 " Why not ?" returned Elizabeth. 
 
 " Why the Nazarenes are deniers of God, are 
 heathens ; and thou art so pious, and prayest to 
 God every morning after the manner of our peo- 
 ple." 
 
 " Thou may'st remember, dear Lea," replied 
 Elizabeth, " that I told thee on the evening of 
 thy arrival that I was a daughter of Abraham, 
 of the tribe of Zebulon. Since, then, I am of 
 the stock of Israel, I keep the law which was 
 given through Moses to Israel, although I am a 
 
03 LEA, OR THE 
 
 Nazarene. Indeed, for the very reason that I 
 believe in the Messiah as already come, am I the 
 more bound to fulfil that law by which he has 
 distinguished our nation above all believing Gen- 
 tiles." 
 
 " that is good !" cried Lea, " that you keep 
 the law ! Of that, too, I had heard the con- 
 trary." 
 
 " Of much more, dear inexperienced child, 
 thou wilt hear the contrary. Do but inquire dili- 
 gently. I rejoice that thou art so open and sin- 
 cere. Such Jehovah will prosper." 
 
 Lea leaned fondly on Elizabeth's arm, as she 
 said in a winning tone, " Since thou art so kind, 
 I will take courage to ask thee a question which I 
 have never ventured before." 
 
 " Speak on," said Elizabeth. 
 
 " Wilt thou not chide me then for an inquisi- 
 tive girl «" 
 
 " Nay; speak, my daughter." 
 
 " How happened it," asked Lea eagerly, yet 
 in a subdued tone, " that thou art a Nazarene 1" 
 
 " I am pleased with thy question," said Eliza- 
 beth, " and thou dost well to make the inquiry. 
 For one can neither rightly know, nor truly love, 
 another of whom he knows not how he came to 
 be a believer in the Lord Jesus. True, the par- 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 69 
 
 ticulars of every case are not necessary ; for the 
 most part, a general knowledge will suffice ; but 
 mine thou shalt fully understand." 
 
 " That is a strange custom of you Nazarenes," 
 said Lea. "But I interrupt thee; let me hear 
 what thou hast so kindly promised." 
 
 " We will sit then without, that we may over- 
 look the town," said Elizabeth. 
 
 She took Lea tenderly by the hand, and when 
 they had seated themselves on a bank of turf in 
 the deep shade of a terebinth, she thus began : 
 
 " Observe there the smiling village of Cana 
 extending down the hill into the valley. There 
 commences properly the story of my life, and in- 
 deed, wonderful as it may seem to thee, before 
 my life began. In Cana my grandfather and 
 grandmother were a young bridal pair when our 
 Lord Jesus, the Messiah, commenced his ministry. 
 He had been baptized by his forerunner, Elias, 
 who is called John, at the Jordan in the wilder- 
 ness of Bethabara, and came with a few disci- 
 ples — he had not yet many — into Galilee. My 
 grandparents were just then celebrating their 
 marriage festival, and his mother, Mary of Naza- 
 reth (do you see the walls on that high hill north 
 from Tabor ? that is Nazareth) was also there. 
 Few then knew who he was, As their wine 
 
70 
 
 failed towards the close of the festival — for 
 Jesus and his disciples had meantime arrived, — 
 he gave commandment that they should fill the 
 stone jars with water. This done, he bids them 
 draw out, and behold it is wine ! All Galilee 
 was in astonishment at this miracle ; but his dis- 
 ciples and the young wedded pair believed on 
 him. This wedded pair, in whose house the Son 
 of God performed his first miracle, were, with 
 pride I say it, my grandparents. Ah, my grand- 
 mother ! who in her old age was brought hither 
 to her daughter, a thousand times over has she 
 told us on this very spot, of that noble festival ; 
 how the Lord blessed the bridal pair ; how kind- 
 ly, yet how dignified was his demeanor ; how the 
 astonished guests suddenly became serious, and 
 how the Lord instructed them. ' That cannot 
 their children, nor their children's children for- 
 get,' said my sainted grandmother. . . . ' My little 
 Elizabeth,' added she, ' must not forget it ; for 
 as often as the Lord came to Cana, in his journeys 
 through Galilee, he made his abode with us, and 
 so long as our blood flows in human veins, we 
 must love him with a peculiar affection.' I have 
 done so ; and as I from my childhood have loved 
 him and believed on him, so he who now sits in 
 the heavens on the right hand of the Father, has 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 71 
 
 ever been peculiarly gracious to me. He has be- 
 stowed upon me the three choicest blessings, viz. 
 to be assured of the forgiveness of sins through 
 faith ; to bear the cross as an evidence of his 
 love j and to rejoice daily in the hope of being 
 received to his presence and of sharing his eter- 
 nal glory when this poor life upon the earth is 
 finished. 'Tis true, I have often been disobedient 
 to him, and he has been obliged daily to forgive 
 my sins anew ; but my faith has never wavered, 
 and through much suffering and affliction has 
 been sustained by his grace. Of this I could say 
 much, my dear daughter. To love him, and to 
 suffer for him, those two precious privileges of 
 the children of God on earth, have never been 
 denied me. While my dear parents were yet 
 living, he bestowed upon me a beloved husband, 
 who was also a disciple of the Lord, and who, 
 during the years of our long union, helped me 
 much by his example, his instructions, and his 
 prayers on my behalf. Two dear children were 
 given to us, a son and a daughter, who also early 
 sought and found the Lord. These have all gone 
 before me into the eternal joy ; I, the least wor- 
 thy of them all, must stay behind a while longer. 
 But I know that my time too is approaching. I 
 may not be impatient, but how joyful will it be 
 
72 LEA, OR THE BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 
 
 when the Master calls me. Then shall I find 
 again grandparents, parents, children and hus- 
 band with the Lord, and then shall I behold him 
 whom my soul loveth, face to face. Our child- 
 ren had already been some years dead, and my 
 husband and I lived on in this cottage in peace 
 and mutual love, seeking not for riches or vain 
 show, but for our eternal inheritance. It was the 
 greatest joy left us in our age, to sit together on 
 this turf and look across to the house of miracle 
 in Cana, while we talked together of our Lord. 
 He, too, has now been dead a whole year, and I 
 am solitary and alone. An orphan, a widow, 
 childless and old — all these am I at once, my 
 daughter ! But that word has often escaped me 
 since we have been together. My daughter ! be 
 thou a daughter to me, and I will love thee as a 
 mother. Thou too, like me, hast no one left thee 
 in this world. The Lord has brought us toge- 
 ther ; let us abide together, united in love and 
 sorrow !" 
 
 "My mother, my dear, dear mother!" cried 
 Lea weeping, and sunk upon her bosom. 
 
 The mother wept too, exclaiming as she 
 clasped her in her arms, " My dear daughter !" 
 
 Long lay the blooming child on the bosom of 
 the tender mother- 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Wildly raged the tumult in the land. The 
 Jews had taken up arms the more boldly, as the 
 Romans at first thought lightly of their move- 
 ments. Out of all the neighboring reoions were 
 collected those who took part with them, either 
 from patriotism or the hope of plunder. iElia 
 Capitolina had been taken by the insurgents, and 
 Tinius Rufus, the governor, was compelled to 
 take refuge in flight. The Emperor had there- 
 upon sent thither Julius Severus, the commander 
 of his forces in Britain, and whilst the party in- 
 clined to the Roman interest were awaiting him, 
 the Jews, with Barchocheba at their head, pre- 
 pared for a fierce resistance. Barchocheba pro- 
 ceeded with such fury, that no Christian was 
 secure of his life, and was compelled either to 
 deny the Christian faith, or to take up arms 
 against the Romans. 
 
 In the midst of this tumult of war, the mother 
 and daughter enjoyed undisturbed their home of 
 
74 LEA, OR THE 
 
 peace and love upon the mountain "side. The 
 cottage, while it looked out far and wide from 
 its lofty position on the open hill side, seemed 
 itself to have caught no human eye in these un- 
 quiet times. " The angel of the Lord encampeth 
 round about those that fear him, and delivereth 
 them," said Elizabeth. " Of this we have hourly 
 experience." 
 
 "Oh, my dear mother," said Lea," were my 
 eyes but opened as were Elisha's servant's at 
 Samaria, assuredly I should see that far more are 
 the heavenly powers who are for thee, than the 
 earthly who are against thee." 
 
 " Yet it is sad, — the infatuation of the people," 
 said Elizabeth, " that they should not see that a 
 man w T ho comes w T ith fire and sword cannot be 
 the true Messiah. Often when I look down into 
 the valleys and upon the road that leads along 
 the sea, from Damascus to iElia Capitolina, and 
 watch the eager crowds hurrying to the scene of 
 war, I am reminded of the prophetic warning of 
 the Lord : { If they shall say unto you, lo ! here is 
 the Messiah, or there, — believe it not ; for many 
 false Christs and false prophets shall arise, and 
 shall do great signs and wonders, Lo, I have told 
 you before. Therefore, if they say unto you, be- 
 hold he is in the desert, go not forth ; behold he is 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 75 
 
 in the chamber, believe it not; for as the lightning 
 shineth from the east even to the west, so shall 
 be the coming of the Son of Man. For where a 
 carcass is, there will the eagles gather to- 
 gether.' " 
 
 " This indeed seems," said Lea, " the fulfilment 
 of the prediction. Could I but certainly know 
 from the Scriptures that Jesus is the true Messiah ! 
 But yet the predictions of the prophets must be 
 fulfilled in him, and I know not one of which this 
 is true." 
 
 " If thou wilt listen to me, I will tell thee a 
 few of the many, so far as I, an unlearned wo- 
 man, am acquainted with them. If thou could'st 
 but hear a Bishop or an Elder discourse upon it, 
 thou would'st be astonished to see how the whole 
 Old Testament is fulfilled in Jesus. As for me, 
 weak woman as I am, I have only laid up so 
 much as serves for an assurance to myself." 
 
 " 0, do but tell me even that !" said Lea, en- 
 treatingly. 
 
 " Willingly, dear child. First of all is it ful- 
 filled in him, that he is a son of David. Thou 
 know'st that the prophets always so designated 
 him, and we have the genuine register of his an- 
 cestry which shows that he is of the race of 
 David, not only by his mother Mary, but also by 
 
76 LEA, OR THE 
 
 his foster father Joseph. I have a book which 
 contains it, and I will show it to thee. Let me 
 remind thee, moreover, that in our last prophet, 
 Malachi, the mouth of prophecy closes with the 
 declaration that Elias shall come before the Lord, 
 who shall appear in his temple, and shall prepare 
 his way. And so soon as its voice is heard 
 again, the birth of the forerunner is announced to 
 his father Zacharias, as he burnt incense in the 
 temple, by the angel of the Lord who appeared 
 to him on the right hand of the altar of incense. 
 Isaiah prophesied that his mother should be a 
 virgin, and Mary was so. Bethlehem Ephratah 
 was pointed out by Micah as the place from 
 which, though it were small among the thousands 
 of Judah, He should come who should be Lord 
 in Israel, and whose goings forth were from the 
 beginning, even from everlasting ; and in Beth- 
 lehem was he born. Out of Egypt hath Jehovah 
 called his son, said Hosea ; and Jesus fled with 
 his parents to Egypt to escape the massacre, 
 ordered by Herod, of the children at Bethlehem, 
 and returned after some years to the abode of 
 his parents in Galilee. 
 
 " There were to come runners from Midian and 
 Epha, as announced by Isaiah, and from Sebah 
 the multitudes of the Gentiles, bringing gold and 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 77 
 
 frankincense, and proclaiming the praise of Je- 
 hovah; and accordingly, soon after his birth, 
 came the wise men from the East. In like man- 
 ner is that prophecy of which thou hast spoken 
 fulfilled. He was the servant of the Lord, who 
 was wounded for our transgressions, and was 
 smitten for our sins ; upon whom was laid the 
 penalty, that we might have peace. Thirty 
 pieces of silver were they to weigh out, — and for 
 this sum the traitor Judas sold him to the high 
 council. In the Psalms it was foretold that they 
 should part his raiment among them, and cast 
 lots for his seamless mantle ; — and thus the sol- 
 diers did beneath the cross. Moreover it was 
 declared by the dying Jacob in prophetic vision, 
 that the sceptre should not depart from Judah, 
 nor a ruler from his feet, till the Deliverer 
 should come, to whom the people should gather 
 themselves; — and now the sceptre is departed, 
 the ruler fails, and consequently the Deliverer 
 must have come. The temple, too, to which the 
 Lord should come, according to Malachi's pre- 
 diction, is no more ; consequently he must have 
 appeared. It may also be known to thee, that 
 in Daniel mention is made of seventy weeks of 
 years, after which the iniquity was to be sealed 
 up, atonement made for transgression, everlast- 
 
78 LEA, OR THfi 
 
 ing righteousness brought in, the vision and pro- 
 phecy sealed up, and the Most Holy anointed j — 
 and these seventy weeks of years end exactly at 
 the time of Jesus. What think'st thou, my good 
 child ? Has there ever appeared one in whom so 
 many predictions have had their literal fulfil- 
 ment ? And is it not clear to thee, that in these 
 events of his life, the prophecies and their fulfil- 
 ment mutually explain and verify each other V s 
 
 " It swims before my sight ! " said Lea ; " sure- 
 ly this is the Messiah, — or no one !" 
 
 " And, as I said before, I am but a poor, un- 
 lettered woman. But the little I am able to im- 
 part to thee shows how pitiful in comparison is 
 Rabbi Akiba's forced application to Barchoche- 
 ba of a single, indefinite prophecy, and the at- 
 tempt of both to make out with falsehood and 
 deceit the appearance of a miracle." 
 
 u O say no more of them, I entreat thee," said 
 Lea. " We shall yet live to see them come to 
 a fearful end." 
 
 " But the most wonderful of all is this, that at 
 the death of Jesus, the veil of the temple was 
 rent, and the Most Holy exposed to view ; and 
 some tens of years after, the offerings ceased. For 
 all the offerings were merely types and shadows 
 of him, and since he has bv one offering: fulfilled 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN, 79 
 
 them all, he has by the same perfected for ever 
 those that are sanctified. He is the morning and 
 the evening sacrifice, the paschal Lamb, the sin 
 and the thank-offering, the offering of expiation, — 
 all in one ; and therefore, after him, all offerings 
 of necessity cease, and the meat and the drink- 
 offerings receive, in the sacrament of the Supper, 
 a new consecration and a higher significance." 
 
 " Oh, it is too much !" exclaimed Lea ! " I 
 cannot grasp it. Each particular is beyond my 
 comprehension. Aid me, and pray for me, that, 
 by little and little, I may apprehend what now, in 
 its overwhelming vastness, floats before my soul." 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 After this conversation a great change was 
 visibly passing upon the spirit of Lea. A thought- 
 fulness, such as Elizabeth had not before remarked 
 in her, appeared in her whole demeanor. Hours 
 together she wandered in the neighboring thick- 
 ets, or sat on the turf beneath the terebinth, or 
 stood lost in thought over her flowers. 
 
 Elizabeth left her undisturbed to her own re- 
 flections. She made not one inquiry as to the 
 effect of what she had said, and only prayed to 
 the Lord that he would send down his Holy Spirit 
 on this her belofed child. But when, at times, 
 Lea ran up to her, as she often did, in great haste, 
 to inquire respecting this or that fulfilment or 
 prediction, she then gave her a full and cheerful 
 answer. 
 
 Lea's talkativeness had forsaken her ; and they 
 often sat at their morning; and evening: meal 
 without uttering a word. Thus it was one morn- 
 ing when, after the usual prayer in the Jewish 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 81 
 
 manner, they had partaken of their breakfast on 
 their favorite turf beneath the terebinth. Already- 
 had they sat half an hour in silence, side by side. 
 The mother was looking down towards Cana, and 
 Lea, half turned from her, gazed towards the 
 region of Capernaum. 
 
 " Whither lookest thou 1" asked the mother. 
 
 " Towards Capernaum, — His city and mine !" 
 said Lea with a pleasant smile. 
 
 " I am looking towards Cana," returned the 
 mother, — " but thy look and mine are one f" 
 
 " Thinkest thou so V* exclaimed Lea, with 
 mingled surprise and tenderness. 
 
 " It is not the houses and the landscape that 
 we see; we see Him !" said the mother. 
 
 " Yes, I believe it," replied Lea, wondering at 
 herself. " I shall yet become, in earnest, what 
 I have so long been in jest, — a disciple of Jesus !" 
 
 The mother embraced her daughter, while she 
 read in her eyes the conflicting emotions of her 
 full soul. 
 
 " Still, there is little as yet that I clearly under- 
 stand," said Lea. " There are yet many things 
 for thee to explain to me." 
 
 Elizabeth went into the cottage and came back 
 with a scroll, which she handled as carefully as 
 if it were a casket of jewels. " Here is a sacred 
 6 
 
82 
 
 book," said she : " the Gospel of the holy Apostle 
 Matthew.* It is written in the Hebrew tongue. 
 Read it, and thou wilt need no more my explana-* 
 tions. In this book thou wilt find everything 
 thou seekest. I may no longer withhold it from 
 thee, since thou thyself believest that thou mayst 
 become a disciple of our Lord. But, my dear 
 daughter, it is a sacred thing. Wash thy hands- 
 before thou takest it. It is my treasure." 
 
 "But I cannot read," said Lea. "Where is 
 the maiden in Israel, who, like a Rabbi, learns to 
 read?" 
 
 " Thou art right, dear daughter. I look upon 
 thee already as a sister in the Lord. In the 
 churches of the saints, parents labor to secure 
 fpr their children, above every other inheritance, 
 the ability to read the word of life. I was allowed 
 no rest in childhood till I could read the gospel 
 of Matthew. I must teach thee to do so in time- 
 But, for the present, I will read it to thee." 
 
 The mother selected a spot on the summit of the 
 hill, where stood a few palm trees. Hither they 
 repaired every morning and evening, and Eliza-- 
 beth read to Lea the Gospel, explaining the pre- 
 dictions, the fulfilment of which it recorded, and 
 pointing out to her the places where this or that 
 incident had occurred. 
 
 * See Appendix^ note E 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 83 
 
 Those were hours never to be forgotten ! — 
 Elizabeth's joy every clay increased in the beloved 
 child of her adoption, and she often felt as if the 
 freshness and happiness of her youth had returned 
 to her aged bosom. Lea hailed with eagerness 
 the return of the hour, and hung upon the lips of 
 her mother. Again and again would she exclaim : 
 " How happy to have been born in this most 
 blessed of all lands !" 
 
 " Yes, truly ;" said her mother one day, — " the 
 most blessed ! No region of earth has been 
 counted worthy of such high honor as these 
 mountains of Galilee, that sea of Gennesareth, 
 those lofty plains in the land of Zebulon. Here 
 walked the Son of God in the days of his huma- 
 nity. Here opened to him the hearts of the first 
 believers, and here was formed that leaven of the 
 kingdom of Heaven by which all nations of the 
 earth are to be leavened. Upon this mountain 
 he stood and preached; in yonder village he 
 slept ; upon these waves he walked ; the odors 
 we inhale, he breathed \ and here his participa- 
 tion blessed the common air and sustenance of 
 man. In this land was he infant, child, youth 
 and teacher. Assuredly it is for this reason that 
 God has dressed this mountain landscape in such 
 glorious beauty, and has decked with every at* 
 
84 LEA, OK THE 
 
 tractive charm these woods and fountains, these 
 heights and valleys, — because here was to live 
 his only begotten Son." 
 
 " Blessed be ye, mountains of Galilee, ye hills 
 and vales !" exclaimed Lea. " Here may Jehovah 
 command His blessing and life for evermore !" 
 
 They lingered long on the interesting register 
 of births in the beginning of the Gospel, wander- 
 ing together in spirit through the successive ages 
 of their nation, and tracing with delight the long 
 list of worthies from Abraham to Zerubbabel. 
 They could not possibly get farther in the first 
 reading ; and Lea, with the veneration of her 
 people for genealogical records, no longer had a 
 doubt that Jesus was the son of David through 
 Joseph, his foster-father. " There is also another 
 register," remarked Elizabeth, " which traces the 
 descent to Mary." 
 
 At the mention of Joseph's dream in the story 
 of the infant Jesus, Lea's eye was fixed upon the 
 mountain on which Nazareth lay; but at the 
 words, — " He shall be called a Nazarene," — it 
 was turned with an expression of quiet pleasure 
 upon her mother : 
 
 " Thou too bearest that name," said she. 
 
 " Indeed," replied Elizabeth, " I am better 
 pleased with the name of Nazarene, scornfully 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 35 
 
 given as here in Judea, than with that of 
 Christians which the disciples have received at 
 Antioch ; for if we adopt either name, the more 
 humble is the better one." 
 
 " And reminds us of our dear fatherland," 
 added Lea. 
 
 " I confess," said Elizabeth, " that this highly- 
 honored spot of our fatherland has shown itself 
 little worthy of the distinction, and the same is 
 true of Sephoris which lies behind that mountain, 
 just by the sea, whose inhabitants even to this 
 day make little account of the fact that the 
 parents of Mary, Joachim and Anna, dwelt with 
 them. But our Lord has himself taught us that 
 a prophet is not regarded in his own country." 
 
 On another evening they read the account of 
 John the Baptist, and the story of Christ's temp- 
 tation. The Gospel then led them out to Judea, 
 back into their beloved Galilean land. Lea's heart 
 throbbed to hear it named as the free state where 
 the Holy One of God ever took refuge, when in 
 Judea, under the Romans, the Pharisees sought to 
 entrap him. But her countenance glowed with 
 joy when the words were read : " Jesus forsook 
 the city of Nazareth, and came and dwelt in 
 Capernaum which lies upon the sea-shore, on 
 the borders of Zebulon and Naphtali !" Here 
 
LEA, OR THE 
 
 Elizabeth paused and cast a glance at her com- 
 panion. Lea could not speak for joy. She then 
 read th following verse where this is said to 
 have been already foretold by Isaiah : " The land 
 of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali, by the way 
 of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles ; 
 the people that sat in darkness saw a great light, 
 and to thern that sat in the region and shadow 
 of death, light is sprung up." Here she paused 
 again and said, " Thus you see that our beloved 
 Galilee was a subject of ancient prophecy, as the 
 scene of the Messiah's preaching ; and it is our 
 high privilege to behold this light in the very land 
 of prophecy." Then both, unable to read or to 
 hear more, sunk upon their knees, overpowered 
 with joy and gratitude, and praised the Lord. 
 
 At the next reading they again found them- 
 selves in the midst of the region which spread 
 itself before their eyes. It often seemed to them 
 as if they still saw the Saviour, in bodily form, 
 moving from place to place on these mountains 
 and by yonder sea, and gathering his disciples. 
 At another time Elizabeth pointed to a highway 
 which led from Damascus to Jerusalem, along 
 by Tabor and through Tiberias, saying, " That 
 is •the well-known Way of the Sea, and that 
 oblong eminence in the midst of the plain, be- 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 87 
 
 tween Tiberias and Tabor, is the mountain where 
 the Lord uttered the sermon which I am now 
 going to read" to you." 
 
 Now the story brought them back to Caper- 
 naum, where Jesus healed the centurion's servant, 
 a man afflicted with palsy, and the mother-in-law 
 of Peter who had removed thither from Beth* 
 saida ; where also he called Matthew, raised the 
 daughter of Jairus, and sent out the Apostles : 
 now to the sea of Gennesareth where he stilled 
 the tempest, where he consecrated Peter as a 
 fisher of men, and where he walked upon the 
 water : now to the wilderness of Bethsaida where 
 he fed five thousand men with five loaves and two 
 fishes, or to the wilderness in the region of the 
 ten cities where he fed four thousand with seven 
 loaves: now to Csesarea Philippi where Peter 
 made the noble confession that Jesus was the 
 Messiah, the Son of God : and as each event 
 was narrated they turned their eyes to the scene 
 of its occurrence. Seldom indeed has the Gospel 
 of Matthew been read as these two read it, sitting 
 on that sublime mountain height and looking 
 down upon the very scenes of its events. 
 
 Still it was not their greatest joy to contem- 
 plate the Messiah in their own native region. 
 The predictions of the Prophet, whose literal 
 
bO LEA, OR THE 
 
 fulfilment was everywhere shown, filled Lea's 
 soul with devout astonishment. " How is it 
 possible," cried she, " that our nation, to whom 
 the prophecies are familiar, can yet shut their 
 eyes to the fulfilment of them ? How is it 
 possible that they can reject Jesus, and attach 
 themselves to a Barchocheba ? How is it possible 
 that they can pervert so precious narratives ? 
 Indeed I can hardly say which seems the more 
 astonishing, the blindness of our people, or the 
 force of truth, now that I learn from this book 
 how those things actually happened, which 
 hitherto I have heard only in distorted and dis- 
 gusting fables. Truly the veil of Moses hangs 
 before their hearts." 
 
 " That is not strange," replied her mother ; 
 " for all the grace and truth, the kindness and 
 compassion, the condescension and humility 
 shown in the life of our Lord, and especially in 
 his sufferings and death, of which we could never 
 hear from the lips of those who witnessed them 
 without tears, leaves them unmoved. Their 
 worldly heart is hardened, and as they look no 
 farther than themselves and their temporal good, 
 they have neither thought nor feeling for what is 
 divine. One who already loves in Him the friend 
 of children, of the poor and of sinners, — he is 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 89 
 
 prepared to receive from the Prophets still more 
 light respecting the Messiah of the miserable." 
 
 " Praised be Jehovah !" said Lea, " Jesus is 
 the servant of the Lord ; is He who is sent to 
 preach to the afflicted, to bind up the broken in 
 heart, to proclaim freedom to the captives and 
 deliverance to them that are bound, to preach a 
 gracious year of the Lord, and a day of vengeance 
 of our God, to comfort all that mourn !" 
 
 " We feel it !" they both exclaimed. 
 
 6* 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Thus more than ayear passed away. Julius 
 Severus had arrived from Britain, and had again 
 at the head of his legions sustained his military 
 renown. All around them raged the conflict of 
 war ; but it was wonderful how safely they dwelt 
 in their poverty. Now and then indeed the 
 general disquietude affected them also, yet only 
 from a distance. 
 
 In hours of joyful faith they adored the goodness 
 of their Lord which thus shielded them, and such 
 hours were not few. But then came also anxious 
 hours, and then the thought of two weak women 
 living alone in the cottage, without the protection 
 of man, would often shake their trust. This, how- 
 ever, was not of long continuance. They soon 
 called to mind that God's protection is better 
 than man's, and when an anxious night was over, 
 and the cheerful sunlight rose up once more over 
 the sea of Gennesareth ; or several quiet days 
 went by undisturbed as they were wont ; they 
 
feAFTISM IN JORDAN. 91 
 
 reproached themselves with their cowardice, 
 prayed to the Lord for forgiveness, and for a 
 while felt more than ever comforted. 
 
 One evening, when the herdsmen had related 
 to them various frightful rumors, were their poor 
 hearts abandoned to themselves, and, in conse- 
 quence, had to suffer much anxiety and fear. 
 With terror they saw the night close in. Their 
 last look upon the Way of the Sea had showed 
 them great agitation along the road. They gave 
 themselves up to evil forebodings, and admoni- 
 tion and encouragement were of no avail. 
 
 Late in the evening, when it was now dark, 
 they heard the steps of men coming along up 
 the mountain. They trembled and prayed. The 
 men talking loudly, came nearer and nearer to 
 the hut. The women put out their light, and 
 kept perfectly still. At length there was a knock- 
 ing at the door. A shudder* ran over them at 
 every stroke. All was still. Again the knock- 
 ing was heard, and yet again Lea and Elizabeth 
 sunk upon their knees, and besought God for 
 succor and deliverance. Elizabeth then rose ; 
 and as the knocking was repeated yet the fourth 
 time, she went to the door, and cried, " Who is 
 there?" 
 
 " Elizabeth, dear mother and sister," answer- 
 ed a familiar voice : " wilt thou not open to us ?" 
 
92 LEA, OR THE 
 
 As she still hesitated, the voice continued, 
 " Know'st thou not the brother from Flavia Nea- 
 polis, the guest-friend of thy house ? " 
 
 With shame Elizabeth unbarred the door, 
 while Lea relighted the lamp, and the brother 
 from Neapolis entered, conducting another dis- 
 ciple of the Lord. 
 
 " Welcome to us heartily," said Elizabeth ; 
 " and pardon us weak women, that even a bro- 
 ther's voice has terrified us. Ever since we 
 heard your steps coming up the mountain, we 
 have been in great trial of our faith, and — let us 
 at once confess it — we have not stood the test. 
 0, it is but a poor weak heart — the human heart ! 
 A thousand proofs of the daily renewed goodness 
 of the Lord cannot, in the hour of temptation, 
 strengthen and sustain it, if, in its folly, it looks 
 to itself and not to the Lord. But praised be his 
 goodness, He gives the trial such an issue that 
 we are able to endure it." 
 
 " W T e will praise the Lord with thee," said 
 Euphemus ; " but we too much reproach our- 
 selves before Him and thee, that we came so late 
 at night to put thee in fear. But so, alas ! must 
 it be with fugitives." 
 
 "Fugitives.!" asked Elizabeth. 
 
 " Yes, if you will. Such disorder prevails 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 93 
 
 through the land — and since the capture of Bil- 
 ter it seems 'likely to rage still more fiercely — 
 that I have made the proposal to this brother to 
 flee with me to Antioch till the storm is past. 
 To him the church in that place will prove, I 
 think, more than a mere earthly haven." 
 
 " Be that as it may, I greet you in our cottage 
 as angels of God. Now that I have recovered 
 myself, I tremble almost as much with joy at be- 
 holding once more brethren and disciples of the 
 Lord, as I did before with fear. It is long since 
 I have been obliged to forego all visible fellow- 
 ship with the saints ; but how precious to me is 
 communion with the members of the Lord's body ! 
 But first refresh yourselves." 
 
 Lea had then to bring water lor washing 
 their feet, and bread, milk, and fruit, the best that 
 the cottage furnished. 
 
 When the guests had satisfied themselves, 
 Elizabeth inquired after the state of things in 
 the country. 
 
 Euphemus related the arrival of Julius Seve- 
 rus ; how, like an experienced general, in order 
 to spare his already exhausted troops, he had com- 
 menced his military operations on a small scale, 
 routing detached bodies of troops one after ano- 
 ther, and reducing the smaller cities by hunger, 
 
94 LEA, OR THE 
 
 until at length he had made himself master of 
 JEWb. Capitolina. Tinius Rufus, meanwhile, find- 
 ing himself placed in security by the victorious 
 chief, was proceeding with his accustomed cru- 
 elty. In all places the disciples of the Lord 
 found themselves between two enemies, the ad- 
 herents of the false Messiah and the cruel Ro- 
 mans. They were treated by both as adversaries, 
 w T hich had already occasioned many apostasies. 
 Barchocheba had at length thrown himself into 
 the fortress of Bilter ; Julius Severus laid siege 
 to it, and having subdued it by famine, after a 
 long resistance, had made a horrible massacre of 
 the inhabitants. On the day of the destruction 
 of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, and in later 
 times by Titus — the ninth day of the month Ab 
 — on that same day had Bilter also fallen. The 
 insurgents had at last been undeceived, and had 
 themselves put to death Barchocheba, their false 
 Messiah. As for the Rabbi Akiba, the Romans 
 had flayed him alive with iron combs, and burnt 
 up his pupils along with their books. The child- 
 ren, whom, a short time previous, the Romans 
 had demanded, and threatened to slay them with 
 their knives, were made the cruel sport of the 
 soldiery — three hundred children's heads were 
 dashed upon one stone. In all, not less than 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN* 95 
 
 eleven hundred thousand Jews had perished. 
 Mih Capitolina was now levelled with the 
 ground, nearly fifty strongholds destroyed, and 
 over nine hundred towns and villages laid in 
 ashes. Imagination can conceive nothing more 
 terrible than what had actually happened. All 
 Judea was a dreary waste. No place could pro- 
 mise safety, and flight furnished the last means 
 of securing life and liberty. 
 
 Elizabeth and Lea had not imagined so fear- 
 ful a result of this frantic undertaking. Elizabeth 
 lamented over the sad fate of her people, to 
 whom such great promises had been given ; but 
 Lea soon recovered herself, and rejoiced over 
 the speedy downfall of the pretended Messiah. 
 
 The attention of Euphemus's companion was 
 thus directed to her, and he asked, " Who is the 
 maiden, thy daughter, Elizabeth ? " 
 
 Elizabeth briefly related to him her story ; and 
 when he heard that she was a daughter of Abra- 
 ham, and from the city of Capernaum, he said : 
 
 " 0, then, she is one of us." 
 
 " Who art thou, then, dear brother ? " inquired 
 Elizabeth. 
 
 " I am of the tribe of Levi. Rabbi Akiba was 
 my instructor in the law and the traditions ; and 
 if you are acquainted with the famous Tryphon, 
 
96 
 
 I must inform you that he was my most intimate 
 friend. But as I sought for light, it rose upon 
 me ; I believe that Jesus is the promised Messiah. 
 And although I have long since forsaken Rabbi 
 Akiba, I must yet thank him for this — that he 
 has instructed me in the important knowledge of 
 the law. On this point, however, as well as on 
 another, intimately connected with it, we shall 
 not, perhaps, as fully agree, as in the belief that 
 Jesus is the Messiah." 
 
 " Thou see'st, dear sister," said Euphemus, 
 " that here, in this Galilean cottage, are met to- 
 gether, in three persons, the representatives of 
 the three different opinions* respecting the law 
 which still prevail in the churches of the saints. 
 Our brother here cannot forget that he has been 
 a Levite, and is anxious that we poor Gentiles, 
 when we become Christians, should also become 
 Jews, if no more than proselytes of the gate. 
 Thou, worthy Elizabeth, availest thyself of the 
 Apostles' permission, that Jews by birth, although 
 they have become believers, may continue to ob- 
 serve the law. But it becomes me, as a Gentile 
 convert, and a pupil of Justin,f to be simply a 
 Christian, acknowledging no obligation to the 
 ceremonial law of Moses." 
 * Fee Appendix, note F. f See Appendix, note O. 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN, 97 
 
 All smiled, and Elizabeth inquired, " Who is 
 this Justin?" . 
 
 " You must certainly have seen him when you 
 were with us in Sichem," said Euphemus. " You 
 have only forgotten it. He was the brother who 
 went about in the mantle of a pagan philosopher. 
 For having previously worn it, as the pupil of 
 human wisdom, he now continued to wear it, as 
 a means of obtaining a readier entrance for the 
 proclamation of the Gospel. A remarkable man, 
 indeed, is Justin. He had made trial of all the 
 schools of philosophy, and at last devoted him- 
 self to that of Plato; when, as he was walking 
 thoughtfully by the sea, there appeared to him 
 an ancient man, probably of celestial nature, who 
 directed him to Christ. He too has now fled 
 from the war, and has gone to Athens. He has 
 long been meditating a work in defence of the 
 Gospel, against all pagan philosophers and 
 powers. Him and his philosopher's mantle must 
 I thank that I know the Lord. But we are 
 weary. Direct us to our couches." 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Nothing produces so entire a change of cha- 
 racter in man, as the consciousness of the presence 
 of the Divine.^ 
 
 This was seen in Lea. Her hasty, forward 
 manner, with something to say on every occasion, 
 had disappeared. Her voluble tongue seemed 
 fettered by a higher power. The kindly, art- 
 less, and obliging temper remained ; but the often 
 wearisome restlessness, instability, and heedless- 
 ness, were seen no longer. Once she could not 
 have listened to a conversation, so interesting to 
 her, without putting in remarks of her own. But 
 now it had become as hard a task for her not to 
 be silent as formerly not to speak. She felt as 
 if moving constantly under the open eye of 
 Christ; his spirit breathed upon her from the 
 meek and reverential demeanor of Elizabeth, and 
 the deeper her inward happiness became, the 
 more repressed was the outward expression of 
 her feelings. She confessed to herself that she 
 w T as now, for the first time, conscious of the Di- 
 
EAPTISM IN JORDAN. 99 
 
 vine presence, and that formerly, even when she 
 had prayed to Jehovah, she had always conceived 
 of Him as afar off. 
 
 As she awoke on the following morning with 
 these thoughts, the question arose in her mind, 
 she knew not how, whether she should call what 
 she experienced in her heart Jehovah's presence, 
 or the presence of Christ. She felt that the an- 
 swer to this inquiry was still necessary to the 
 clear understanding of what she thus experienc- 
 ed, and therefore longed to question her mother 
 on the subject ; but she restrained herself on re- 
 flecting that Elizabeth might regard it as an at- 
 tempt, not very becoming in a maiden, to rival 
 the critical sagacity displayed by their guests on 
 the preceding evening. 
 
 Her mother remarked a struggle in Lea's feel- 
 ings, and gave her opportunity to disclose the 
 cause of her uneasiness. 
 
 Lea ventured to do so at last, and Elizabeth 
 proposed to ask the opinion of their visitors, who 
 better understood such points. She reluctantly 
 consented, and after breakfast Elizabeth asked 
 the men for their decision. 
 
 " It admits of no doubt," exclaimed the Levite 
 hastily, "that it is the presence of Jehovah. There 
 is but one God. ' Hear, Israel, thou shalt have 
 
100 LEA, OR THE 
 
 no other gods but me.' That is the first com- 
 mandment." 
 
 " But wherever Jehovah is named in the Old 
 Testament, it is always the Son of God who is 
 meant," replied Euphemus, with earnest de- 
 cision. 
 
 " The Messiah is only man," said the Levite, 
 " and as such he is called by eminence the Son 
 of God." 
 
 Elizabeth shuddered, — Euphemus shook his 
 head. 
 
 " I should like to see your denial proved," said 
 the Levite. 
 
 " That will be no hard task,"* returned Euphe- 
 mus. " When Moses, describing the destruction 
 of Sodom, says, e Then rained Jehovah fire and 
 brimstone from Jehovah;' or wmen in the Psalms 
 David says, c Jehovah said to my Lord :' is it 
 not then the Messiah w T ho is spoken of? Does 
 not Micah say that his goings forth are from of 
 old, from everlasting, that he is therefore eternal 1 
 Does not the greatest of the prophets ask, ' Who 
 shall declare His generation?' Is it not He that 
 in the proverbs of Solomon is spoken of as essen- 
 tial, primeval wisdom ? Whom are we to regard 
 as the eternal Word, if not the Son of God who 
 appeared in the Messiah ? You hold with us 
 * See Appendix, note H. 
 
\ 
 
 BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 101 
 
 that Jesus is the Messiah. Have you never heard 
 that he said of himself, ' I and the Father are 
 one,' that the Jews thereupon accused him of 
 making himself equal with God, and that he 
 died because he admitted the truth of the ac- 
 cusation V 9 
 
 The Levite grew visibly uneasy, and tried to 
 cut short the discussion. " All those passages," 
 said he, " were explained to us differently by 
 Akiba. But here is not the place to investigate 
 the subject. When Jerusalem is rebuilt, Christ 
 will return and establish his thousand years' 
 reign* upon the earth, and then he will instruct 
 us on this point." 
 
 Euphemus seemed to follow his digression, and 
 entering upon the new topic, he said, " But you 
 must certainly know, and will pardon a Gentile 
 Christian for reminding you of it in his own favor, 
 that all Israel shall then first be saved, when the 
 fullness of the Gentiles is gathered in." 
 
 " That is your standing theme, which you re- 
 peat after Paul, the renegade from the law," said 
 the Levite, forcing a smile ; " but where, then, 
 are all the great promises which have been given 
 to Israel V 9 
 
 " We Christians are the true Israel," returned 
 Euphemus, " and, as my teacher, Justin, said 
 * See AppendiXj note I. 
 
102 LEA, OR THE 
 
 once, on a similar occasion, ' you have need of 
 our circumcision, but we have no need of yours.' " 
 
 " But God himself gave us the law, and so- 
 lemnly established it." 
 
 " On that point let me say this to you : God, 
 on Mount Sinai, gave, on the third day, the ten 
 commandments, then the civil laws, and lastly, 
 the ceremonial laws. These last, it is perfectly 
 clear, are all of a typical nature, and must end 
 when that comes which they prefigure. The 
 second ceased with the Jewish state; but the 
 first remains binding upon all men. The Apos- 
 tles decided thus in the assembly at Jerusalem ; 
 and this decision, made under the guidance of the 
 Holy Spirit, is the example by which we should 
 learn, in everything, to separate the divine and 
 human, and to follow that only which the word 
 of God expressly requires of us. What sayest 
 thou to this, Elizabeth ?" 
 
 " Since thou askest me I am bound to give 
 thee a frank answer," replied she. " And it is 
 this — that Lea and I cannot conceive how you 
 men can trouble yourselves with such hair-split- 
 ting distinctions, which are the offspring of your 
 own reason* As for us, it is more in love and 
 faith that we hold Christ to be our God ; we call 
 him Jehovah, pray to him, and love him. This 
 is to us, as to Mary, the one thing needful" 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 103 
 
 The men smiled, and pronounced them happy 
 in their faith. - 
 
 Lea, however, was much gratified with hav- 
 ing been present at the conversation. Her heart 
 had been already won for Christ ; and therefore 
 it was enough for her understanding that Euphe- 
 mus, to whom she had felt herself, from the very 
 first, the more strongly drawn, had gained the 
 victory. Now, it seemed to her, the light had 
 reached her understanding also, 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The day flowed by in gentle blessing to the 
 inmates of the little cottage. The air of peace 
 which breathed in this spot shed its mild influ- 
 ence likewise over their visitors, accustomed to live 
 amidst the strife of words and a rms. "Here," 
 they exclaimed again and again, " here, if any- 
 where on earth, is the abode of God with man !" 
 
 It grieved them that they were able to remain 
 this day only, and that with the morning light 
 they must again be on their way. Euphemus, 
 with his sprightly Grecian temperament, was 
 chiefly attracted to Lea ; while the Levite found 
 most satisfaction in the. conversation of Elizabeth. 
 Most of the day was spent, either on the threshold 
 of the cottage, on the turf beneath the terebinth, 
 or on the peak of the mountain, under the palms, 
 in full prospect of that beautiful and hallowed 
 landscape. Here they could discern soldiers, fu- 
 gitives, and troops of travellers, hurrying along 
 the Way of the Sea ; and the more unquiet it 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 105 
 
 seemed abroad, the more deeply did their hearts 
 rejoice in the still and holy repose of this citadel 
 of peace. Accordingly, no one ventured to re- 
 new the dispute upon points of faith. In this 
 atmosphere of peace and love every word of strife 
 died upon the tongue. The whole day they spoke 
 only of Christ, the friend of sinners and of the 
 poor; they recalled this or that imperishable 
 word which he had uttered in one or another of 
 the places which lay in their sight, and each one 
 had something to relate of what he had himself 
 experienced of the truth and grace of his Lord. 
 
 " Oh, if it is always thus in the intercourse of 
 the Nazarenes," cried Lea, " would that I 
 might become one of their number ! Such a life 
 and such communion is indeed a heaven upon 
 earth ! " 
 
 The visitors proposed to Elizabeth to forsake 
 the mountain, in this disturbed and perilous time, 
 and to flee with them to Antioch, which was free 
 fr6m war. 
 
 Elizabeth declared that she could not forsake 
 the turf of her sainted husband, the graves of her 
 kindred, and the sight of the house of miracle in 
 Cana. 
 
 " But to make amends for that," said Euphe- 
 mus, " you will there become acquainted with 
 7 
 
106 lea, or rfis 
 
 the city where Peter, your apostle of circumci j 
 sion, chiefly resided." 
 
 " Take it not ill, dear brother," replied Eliza- 
 beth, " thou knowest how earnestly I strive to 
 honor the decision of the Apostles : I love the 
 Gentile Christians as my brethren. But yet the 
 neglect of the law on the part of those who form 
 the majority of the church in Antioch, would 
 prove a stumbling-block to me. Leave us here ! 
 the Lord, who has hitherto protected us, the 
 guardian of Israel, of the true Israel, sleeps not, 
 nor slumbers." 
 
 The brethren urged their proposal no farther. 
 Early on the following morning they commended 
 to the Lord this peaceful cottage, prayed with 
 their kind hostesses, and set out in the direction 
 of the Way of the Sea. 
 
 The Greek turned as he reached the threshold, 
 and said to Lea, " Our road leads through Ti- 
 berias. Hast thou any message for that city 1" 
 
 " Carry to my enemies the salutation of peace," 
 answered Lea. " Say to them, that the Lord 
 hath done all things well. And as they are now, 
 doubtless, involved in the ruin of Barchocheba's 
 followers, entreat them to flee for refuge with 
 their poor Lea, to the Messiah of the miserable, 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 107 
 
 who has said, ' Him that cometh to me I will in 
 no wise cast out.' " 
 
 Elizabeth extended her hand to the brethren, 
 and said, " Disciples of the Lord never see each 
 other for the last time ! Farewell ! Pray for us ! 
 We shall pray for you !" 
 
 They parted. Tears were in the eyes of all. 
 Elizabeth and Lea looked after the travellers 
 till they could no longer distinguish them, as they 
 proceeded along the Way of the Sea. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 r Ox\ce more alone, the accustomed quiet of their 
 life returned. Lea rose first every morning to 
 prepare breakfast for her mother ; then they 
 read, in their favorite retreat, the gospel of Mat- 
 thew, went through their household duties, sung 
 a Psalm, and gazed at the descending sun from 
 the threshold of the cottage. 
 
 During the visit of the brethren, Lea's con- 
 victions had attained greater certainty and assur- 
 ance ; and as these increased, the loveliness of 
 her disposition developed itself in proportion, and 
 a moral steadfastness gained the ascendency over 
 the apparent volatility of her nature. 
 
 In another point of view, Elizabeth also had 
 gained in firmness. She could not forget how 
 her unbelief had been rebuked on that evening 
 when her fearful heart received as foes those 
 whom the Lord had sent to strengthen her. That, 
 she resolved, should never happen to her again. 
 She exerted all her energy to remain calm and 
 
BAJPTISM IN JORDAN- 109 
 
 unmoved, and — so weak is ever the human heart, 
 and in danger, -whithersoever it turns, of depart- 
 ing from the Lord — she even forgot to pray for 
 protection. When she applied to her Saviour, in 
 regard to all her other wants, this hardly once 
 came into her mind ; and if she noticed the omis- 
 sion, she rejoiced at her forgetfulness, and erro- 
 neously took it for a proof of her strong faith. 
 
 One morning they were both awaked by a 
 violent knocking at the door of the cottage. 
 Lea shrunk with terror at the sound. Elizabeth 
 too was alarmed for a moment, but she soon re- 
 covered her courage, threw her garments hastily 
 ar und her, and opened the door. 
 
 But they were no brothers whom she now saw. 
 Before her stood a troop of frantic Jews, who, 
 having been robbed themselves, now resorted to 
 robbery under cover of the general confusion. 
 They had pitched hoops, burning torches, swords, 
 and axes in their hands, and poured out torrents 
 of abuse, threats, and imprecations. 
 
 " Ha ! thou old Nazarene jade !" they cried, 
 " think you, that you enemies of Israel, you 
 friends of the Romans, you authors of all trouble 
 in Israel, shall alone escape in the universal 
 misery 1 Out now, with all which you possess I" 
 
 Several rushed into the cottage, threw out all 
 
110 LEA; OR THE 
 
 the moveables, and furiously demanded of the 
 half ified females their hidden treasure. 
 
 Lea clung speechless to her mother, who de- 
 clared, that the cottage, and what had now beert 
 brought out, constituted the whole of her poor 
 possessions. 
 
 " Well, then," cried the frantic wretches, " let 
 the dwelling of the cursed Nazarene go up in 
 smoke ! It shall fare no better with that than 
 with the palaces in Bilter, Jamnia, and Tiberias." 
 
 At once lighted pitch hoops were hurled upon 
 the roof of reeds. In an instant the clear flame 
 flared up, and the fierce glow spread through the 
 whole tenement, and seized upon the neighbor- 
 ing palms ; the wild howl of the robbers min- 
 gling with the crackling of the flames. 
 
 Elizabeth's soul was overwhelmed. It seemed 
 to her that this wild uproar only called to her in 
 mockery, " Where is now thy God ? " Scarcely 
 conscious, she sunk upon her knees, exclaiming; 
 " Lord Jesus, my Saviour ! " Lea sunk beside 
 her on the ground, and called with her upon 
 Christ. 
 
 W T hen the fierce robbers saw them kneeling, 
 and heard them invoke the name of Jesus, they 
 grew still more frantic. " Strike her dead ! Send 
 the blasphemer to hell !" they cried on all sides* 
 
baptism in Jordan. Ill 
 
 A wretch, with distorted features, sprang for- 
 ward, and, with all his force, swung high the 
 pole which lay upon his arm, in order to bring it 
 down upon his victim. Lea perceived it, and 
 starting up, bowed herself over her kneeling mo- 
 ther, and covered her with her body. The blow 
 fell upon Lea ; she sunk senseless to the ground. 
 
 At this instant Roman war cries were heard, 
 and the place was suddenly filled with Roman 
 soldiers. A centurion w T as at their head. After 
 a short resistance the robbers betook themselves 
 to flight. 
 
 By the side of the unconscious Lea knelt Eli- 
 zabeth, and seemed no longer to perceive what 
 was going on around her. The smoke from the 
 ruins of the cottage enveloped them. Around 
 them flew cinders from the burning palm trees. 
 The clanking of swords, the cry of the soldiery, 
 sounded through the air. But she w T as unaffected 
 by it all. Her glance seemed to pierce the 
 clouds. Her countenance beamed with a celes- 
 tial peace, and, at intervals, she breathed confid- 
 ingly the name of Jesus! 
 
 The robbers had fled : a part of the soldiers 
 pursued them. Just as Lea was coming to her- 
 self the centurion approached Elizabeth with 
 deep respect. He had heard the name of Jesus, 
 
112 LEA, OR THE BAPTISM IN JORDAN, 
 
 and his martial mien softened into an expression 
 of gentleness and sympathy. He commanded 
 the soldiers to lay Lea down upon the turf, and 
 led Elizabeth to her. 
 
 " Be not afraid !" said he to tnem both. " I 
 also am a disciple of the Lord. Whither shall 
 I conduct you, for here you can remain no 
 longer V 9 
 
 Elizabeth could not, on the instant, resolve 
 what to do. 
 
 " I will have you conducted to Pella then, to 
 the church, to the place of refuge which the Lord 
 himself has appointed." 
 
 " Yes, to Pella, in the name of the Lord !" 
 said Elizabeth. 
 
 The centurion gave orders to some Christian 
 soldiers belonging to his band, who conducted 
 them over Bethsean into the country beyond 
 Jordan, till at length they reached Pella in Gilead, 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 With difficulty they at last reached the church 
 of the saints in Pella. 
 
 Lea had received no outward injury. The 
 first day, in the indescribable agitation of her 
 mind, she had felt nothing of the consequences of 
 the blow. But when she had seated herself in 
 the boat at Tarichea, and was proceeding down 
 the Jordan to Bethsean, the fever of her blood 
 abated, she became more conscious of her real 
 state, and could not conceal from herself that she 
 had received some internal injury. She refrain- 
 ed, for her mother's sake, from mentioning it to 
 her conductors. It had been a sore trial to Eli- 
 zabeth to forsake the hill where her cottage had 
 stood, the turf seat from which could be seen the 
 house of miracle in Cana, and Lea could not add 
 another sorrow by the communication of her own 
 misfortune. She exerted all her energy to per- 
 form the journey on foot with the others through 
 the hills of Bashan. Her mind was refreshed by 
 
114 LEA, OR TfiE 
 
 the enchanting views from the heights, by the 
 sight of the rich forest shades, by recollection s 
 from the history of her people— by prayer. Thus 
 striving with uneasiness and exhaustion, she drag- 
 ged herself along as far as Ophrah. 
 
 It was late in the evening when they arrived. 
 The moment she stepped into the caravansera 
 she fell upon a couch, and her heart foreboded 
 that she should not soon leave it. A thousand 
 times, in the night, she thought of the story of 
 Gideon, and of the Lord's commission, " Go in 
 this thy strength, I have sent thee." She was 
 ready to go, like the warlike champion, who 
 threw down the altars of Baal and smote the 
 Midianites; she too felt in herself a strength, but 
 it was not of the body. In the morning she at- 
 tempted to rise, but could not. She was laid 
 upon a litter, and carried by the soldiers through 
 the mountains of Bashan and Gilead to Pella. 
 It was fortunate that the soldiers were brethren, 
 themselves longing to meet the church, and per- 
 forming with joy this service for their future 
 sister. 
 
 The soldiers sang psalms over the sick maiden, 
 and Elizabeth followed praying behind the litter. 
 In this manner they entered Pella. 
 
 A crowd of brethren and sisters were awaiting 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 115 
 
 them at the gate. The soldiers had sent forward 
 the intelligence of their arrival, and that of Eli- 
 zabeth, who was known in Pella. The litter was 
 set down in the gate. Elizabeth was received 
 by the women and the soldiers by the men, with 
 the kiss of peace. That public gate was as the 
 entrance to a father's house. The citizens seemed 
 like kinsmen. They lamented over the sick young 
 stranger, and pressed forward with offers of assist- 
 ance. The name of Christ, repeated from mouth 
 to mouth, was like a word of magic, which open- 
 ed the heart and united the spirit of the whole 
 assembly. 
 
 Several aged women w r ere soon to be remark- 
 ed around the sick maiden, who were called dea- 
 conesses. They were all above sixty years old ; 
 and, as Lea afterwards learned, were widows, 
 who had been but once married, had brought up 
 children, and had, in all respects, demeaned 
 themselves in a blameless manner. With the 
 blessing of such a life, and the experience of 
 such an old age, they were deemed worthy to 
 receive, through the laying on of hands, an office 
 in which they were to serve Christ in the person 
 of their sick, poor, and inexperienced sisters. 
 
 Lea and Elizabeth were received into the 
 house of one of the deaconesses, who was a rich 
 and honorable widow. 
 
116 LEA., OR THE 
 
 " Thanks be to the Lord !" said the deacon- 
 ess, as Lea lay quietly on the couch in the Ar* 
 mon, while Elizabeth sat beside her. u He has 
 given you to us. The other deaconesses desired, 
 as much as myself, the privilege of ministering 
 to you, but the Lord has himself decided it by 
 lot. No strife, therefore, has arisen among them, 
 and I have the assurance that you are sent to me 
 by the Lord." 
 
 " May he also grant us his grace, that we may 
 show thee, by our demeanor, that he has sent us 
 to thee," said Elizabeth. " His finger has been 
 plainly manifest in conducting us hither." 
 
 The deaconess seated herself beside them, and 
 Elizabeth related the story of her false security, 
 and how the Lord, whose protection she had 
 neglected to seek in this time of danger, had 
 suffered her to fall into the hands of her ene- 
 mies ; and how Lea, forgetful of her own life, 
 had thought only of saving her mother, and had 
 thereby suffered so great misfortune. 
 
 " Welcome then to me, as a martyr of love," 
 said the deaconess, " if thou art not yet deemed 
 worthy to be a martyr of the faith. I salute 
 thee as my sister !" 
 
 " Oh, put me not so to the blulh !" cried Lea. 
 " That is the highest of all earthly names of 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN, 11? 
 
 honor. By that precious name Euphemus ad- 
 dressed my second mother. But I am not yet 
 worthy of this high distinction. Pray for me, 
 that the Lord may yet, before I die, count me 
 worthy of baptism." 
 
 " Is she not then thy daughter 1" said the dea- 
 coness to Elizabeth. 
 
 Elizabeth briefly related her story. When 
 she mentioned Lea's parents, and Capernaum 
 as her birth-place, the deaconess changed color, 
 and seemed to be greatly agitated. To the sur- 
 prise of her guests she then sunk upon her knees 
 and prayed. With tears of joy she arose, and 
 embracing Lea, said, " I am thine aunt, whom, 
 fifty years ago, thy cruel uncle drove from the 
 house of thy grandfather, as he has now driven 
 thee. Oh, that we should meet here, and be united 
 under the banner of the cross ! " 
 
 Both wept in inexpressible happiness, and 
 praised the Lord, in whose church the lost are 
 found again. 
 
CHAPTER XV III. 
 
 Lea was nursed with the most tender love. 
 
 The aunt lavished on her only relative the 
 whole store of domestic affections so long locked 
 up in her own heart, and repaid to the afflicted 
 child all the tenderness which she had owed her 
 from her birth. Even in the bosom of the church 
 she had felt the deprivation of kindred ; and since 
 the loss of her own children it had been her daily 
 prayer, that some one at least of her numerous 
 family might be turned to the Lord, and thus re- 
 stored to herself. 
 
 On the other hand, the mother sought to re- 
 quite her daughter's heroic sacrifice. Often did 
 she burst into tears at the thought, that for her 
 sin the dear child must thus suffer in her tender 
 years; and scarcely could she take comfort in 
 the suggestion of the deaconess, that, in this re- 
 spect, the church imitates the blessed Saviour 
 himself — one suffering joyfully the punishment 
 due to the fault of another. 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN'. 119 
 
 Thus tended, Lea recovered apace ; and her 
 amendment would have been still more rapid, 
 had not the terrors of that day of violence so 
 affected even her physical frame, that she could 
 seldom pass a night without frightful and dis- 
 tracting dreams. 
 
 The aged matrons watched every night in the 
 sick chamber, and often when they saw uneasi- 
 ness come over her, they would fail on their knees 
 beside her couch and pray for her. If she then 
 awaked, in the first transport of joy that it was 
 only a dream which had so terrified her, she 
 called those watching friends her guardian angels. 
 Once, when she had again fallen asleep, Eliza- 
 beth said, " She is perhaps right in a certain 
 sense ; for the angels too have indeed their charge 
 as watchers around us; and when we, tormented 
 with care and anxiety, are affrighted and weep, 
 and shriek out like children, they gently hush us, 
 and breathe into our hearts their own feeling of 
 security and confidence." 
 
 " Oh, how often," replied her friend, "may they 
 smile at our childish fears, which too are but 
 dreams, and press our hand as we do the dear 
 child's." 
 
 " Could we but compose ourselves as easily as 
 Lea does, when she sees that she has only dream- 
 ed !" added Elizabeth. 
 
120 LEA, OR THE 
 
 Another frightful vision meanwhile had arisen 
 before Lea's fancy. She thought her mother 
 again in danger, and shrieked, " spare my mo- 
 ther, ye madmen ! Know ye not that when I 
 was a forsaken orphan she took me to herself? 
 Slay me, but let my mother live !" 
 
 This was too much for Elizabeth. The child's 
 affection only brought to her view her own sins, 
 and, sobbing, she hastened to another apartment 
 to confide her sorrows to her Saviour, to sigh out 
 the pang too tender and too deep for w T ords, and to 
 entreat his help. 
 
 The help came. It came to Elizabeth, for 
 she learnt by experience that the more tender 
 is the conscience in intercourse w T ith Him who is 
 righteousness itself, the more deeply will the con- 
 solation of forgiveness sink into the heart ; and 
 that in this intercourse, love is a plant which at- 
 tains its growth only through the dew of tears. 
 It came to Lea ; for with each day her body in- 
 creased in strength, and her spirit grew more 
 joyful in hope and faith, so that in a few weeks 
 she was already moving cheerfully about the 
 house. 
 
 The deaconesses exercised also a spiritual 
 watch over the female part of the church, for 
 they were nurses not only of the body, but also 
 
EAPTISM IN JORDAN, 121 
 
 of the soul. Only now and then came an elder 
 of the churchy more to rejoice hi the success of 
 this work of love than to satisfy himself whether 
 all was*properly conducted. 
 
 How near to the heart of the pious deaconess 
 lay the eternal welfare of Lea. How did she 
 entreat the Lord that He would bless her with 
 wisdom for the guidance of her charge ! How 
 did she thank him for every new indication that 
 Lea was becoming more confirmed in her faith 
 and hope ! 
 
 At length she said to her : 
 
 " Of baptism thou hast said nothing for a long 
 time, dear child ! Thou believest in Jesus the 
 Messiah. What hinders thee from desiring the 
 holy ordinance V 9 
 
 " Ah, I am not yet worthy," answered Lea, 
 the tears starting into her eyes. 
 
 " Our bishop," replied the deaconess, " is ac- 
 customed to say, that he who holds himself wor- 
 thy of baptism is unworthy of it ; but that 
 conscious unworthiness is a proof of fitness for 
 it." 
 
 " That," returned Lea, " I cannot compre- 
 hend." 
 
 iC But why then do you consider yourself un- 
 worthy of baptism ?" 
 
122 LEA, OR THE 
 
 " I have not fulfilled the law, and the law con- 
 demns me," said Lea, in deep humiliation. 
 
 " What law V 9 inquired the deaconess. 
 
 " Oh, the whole law have I transgressed. We 
 can no longer upon Moriah bring the offering 
 for our sins, and we are not permitted to bring it 
 elsewhere. It has indeed been said to me that 
 the prayers — which were once offered in the 
 temple — -now in our dispersion and captivity sup- 
 ply the place of offerings ; but this seems to me 
 only an unsatisfying evasion." 
 
 " Dear child," replied the deaconess, " the sa- 
 crifice and indeed the whole law were given by 
 God to Israel only on account of the hardness of 
 their hearts. They were but designed to point 
 our fathers to Him, who by one offering hath for 
 ever perfected all who are sanctified. It was 
 long since said by Samuel to Saul, that obedience 
 is better than sacrifice ; surely then faith, the 
 fountain of obedience, is better. Nathan sung 
 that the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit." 
 
 "I recollect now to have heard something 
 similar to this from Euphemus, a pious brother 
 who once visited us in our cottage. He said, 
 however, that the ten commandments are still 
 binding, and these I have not kept." 
 
 " Be it so ; through the law was to come the 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 123 
 
 knowledge of sin, and if thou art become ac- 
 quainted with "thy sin by the law, and desirest 
 forgiveness, then hasten to Him who for thee 
 hath fulfilled the law and borne its punishment ; 
 and then with other strength begin anew the 
 course of obedience. In baptism shall this 
 strength be given thee." 
 
 Lea now ventured to desire baptism. 
 
 Meantime the spirit of peace which reigned in 
 the house of the deaconess, was banished from 
 the church at Pella. The two women often 
 came home in deep affliction from the assembly, 
 lamenting that they had been rather distracted 
 than edified. Every new report w 7 hich was 
 brought to Pella from JEMa. Capitolina, or from 
 the country, w 7 as a fresh spark of dissension which 
 inflamed the parties in the church against each 
 other. 
 
 The matter stood thus. The Lord had given 
 commandment to his disciples, that when they 
 saw the threatened judgment about to burst upon 
 Jerusalem they should flee to the mountains. 
 They had accordingly, on the approach of Vespa- 
 sian, fled to Pella among the mountains of Gilead. 
 On the appearance of the false Messiah, this 
 counsel was again and yet more vividly brought 
 to mind ; and the church at M\ia had removed 
 
124 LEA, OR THE 
 
 thither. This church consisted in part of Gentile 
 Christians, but the majority were converted Jews; 
 and these two parties were agitated by the usual 
 dissensions respecting the observance of the 
 law. 
 
 The city had at length been rebuilt by com- 
 mand of the emperor Adrian, but the Jews were 
 in the strictest manner forbidden to enter it. 
 Only on one day in the year, the day of its over- 
 throw, they were allowed to visit the city for a 
 sum of money, to lament the folly of their rebel- 
 lion. In other respects, also, he had treated this 
 blinded people with unexampled rigor. In the 
 market-place beneath the terebinth of Abraham, 
 at Hebron, and in that of Gaza, he had caused 
 the captive Jews to be sold for paltry sums, and 
 those who found no purchasers he sent to Egypt. 
 And for a still more bitter mortification to them 
 and to the Christians in all future time, he had 
 ordered that a temple of Adonis should be erected 
 at Bethlehem, and of the Capitoline Jupiter on 
 Mount Moriah ; that on Golgotha an altar should 
 be built to Jupiter and Venus, and that the figure 
 of a swine should be set up over the gate of JElia 
 which led to Bethlehem. 
 
 Thus the punishment had fallen not only upon 
 the Jews but also upon the Jewish Christians. 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 125 
 
 The dissatisfaction of the latter was roused still 
 more when the Gentile brethren resolved on re- 
 turning to ^Elia, and planting on that holy though 
 desecrated spot a church of the Lord, which 
 should consist only of Gentile believers. At the 
 same time that this dangerous division was mani- 
 festing itself, the differing parties among the Jew- 
 ish Christians themselves were assuming a hostile 
 attitude towards each other. All abhorred the 
 name of Christians which the disciples had re- 
 ceived in Antioch, and looked upon it as the 
 common name of all Gentile believers. But a 
 part obstinately insisted that the Gentile converts 
 should submit to the law; and as they moreover 
 insisted that Jesus was only a man, they were 
 obliged to withdraw themselves, and received the 
 name of Ebionites. The rest, who adhered to 
 the decision of the Apostles, retained the name of 
 Nazarenes, and separated themselves from their 
 Gentile brethren only in one respect, viz. that 
 they shunned all intercourse with the Gentiles, 
 which was prohibited by the law. 
 
 By these divisions was the church of the Lord 
 rent, particularly in Pella, Cochaba, and the Sy- 
 rian city Berrhea; for in these places the 
 Jewish converts were predominant. In other 
 churches where Gentile Christians were most nu- 
 
126 LEA, OR THE BAPTISM IX JORDAN. 
 
 merous, the converted Jews accommodated them- 
 selves to the majority, and followed the exam- 
 ple of Peter in Caasarea. 
 
 In Pella the Bishop Ariston, in company with 
 all who had the fullest understanding of the na- 
 ture of the Gospel, strove hard to preserve the 
 peace of the church. But their efforts were una- 
 vailing. Early in the following year the Gen- 
 tile believers, one and all, removed to iElia Ca- 
 pitolina ; and it was not till after a succession of 
 fifteen bishops from the circumcision, that they 
 elected the first from among the Gentiles in the 
 person of Mark. The remaining brethren looked 
 with sorrow on their departure. The division 
 extended through all the relations of life, until at 
 length the love of unity and of peace must con- 
 fine itself within the bounds of single churches. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 As the time of Easter drew near, peace and 
 also some degree of union returned to the church 
 in Pella. The deaconess and her female friends 
 had shared in the pain occasioned by the dis- 
 sensions in the church, but had participated in 
 them no farther. In domestic retirement had 
 Lea prepared for baptism, faithfully availing 
 herself of the instructions of the elders and 
 deaconesses. 
 
 On account of her illness she was offered 
 baptism in the house. She felt herself strong 
 enough, however, to undertake a pilgrimage to 
 the Jordan* with the other candidates for baptism, 
 and with deep desire did she long to receive the 
 washing of regeneration in those waves where 
 John had baptized the Lord himself. 
 
 Several weeks previous, she, together with the 
 
 others who desired the holy ordinance, had been 
 
 exhorted to give herself to prayer, and also, so 
 
 far as her bodily health permitted, to fasting, as 
 
 * See Appendix, note K, 
 
128 LEA, OR THE 
 
 a means of securing that serenity of soul which 
 fits it for devotion. The Nazarenes still retained 
 the Jewish fasts ; but the whole church also 
 recognized the dependence of the spiritual frame 
 upon the state of the body : and observing that 
 on momentous occasions in life, the wants of the 
 body are silent, they inferred that in preparing 
 for such occasions the body should be placed in 
 such a condition, that at least its claims might not 
 disturb and distract the soul. The church mani- 
 fested the liveliest sympathy with the candidates, 
 and each member felt himself so closely bound 
 to the whole body, that the entire church united 
 with them in fasting and prayer. 
 
 In Easter week began the pilgrimage to the 
 Jordan.* The august procession consisted of the 
 elders and deacons, accompanied by a large 
 portion of the church. Slowly and solemnly they 
 wound their way over the mountains and through 
 the valleys of Gilead, at intervals singing psalms 
 and hymns. Lea had to be carried rather than 
 led by Elizabeth and the deaconess ; — but a hope 
 unspeakable inspired her soul and bore up even 
 the feeble energies of her body. 
 
 " Thus have I imagined the journeyings of our 
 fathers to the feasts at Jerusalem," said she ; " but 
 then they celebrated only the promise of that 
 * See Appendix, note L. 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 129 
 
 which in its holy fulfilment now blesses us. 
 There was then, therefore, as was meet, more of 
 external pomp; now there is more of inward 
 glory." 
 
 Early on the following morning* they repaired 
 to the shore of the Jordan. The assembly prayed 
 with the candidates. They made the confession 
 of their faith in the triune God, and repeated the 
 Lord's prayer ; then followed the holy ordinance. 
 
 The deaconesses had dressed the female can- 
 didates in suitable apparel. In w T hite garments 
 they went down into the stream. The Bishops 
 dipped them under, and baptized them " in the 
 name of the universal Father and Lord, and of 
 the Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Ghost." 
 
 After this, which w T as called the Enlightening, 
 the deacons conducted the males and the dea- 
 conesses the females into a house, where they 
 changed their clothing. 
 
 When they had returned to the assembly a 
 prayer closed the solemnity, and the procession 
 set out on its return to Pella. Lea did not ap- 
 pear languid, though she was greatly affected. 
 The deaconess had supplied the place of godmo- 
 ther,! and on the way called her with joyful pride 
 
 * See Appendix, note M. 
 f See Appendix, note N. 
 
 8 
 
130 LEA, OE THt 
 
 her sister. Elizabeth, too, addressed her in the 
 same manner. But Lea could not hear the 
 endearing name without tears. She looked upon 
 herself as one new born indeed, and yet it seemed 
 as if this title w r as still too high and too signifi- 
 cant for her. 
 
 The procession on arriving at Pella went im- 
 mediately to the place of assembly. They were 
 received with rejoicings, congratulations, and 
 songs by the church. All kneeled down. A 
 devout prayer was offered for the baptized, for 
 the brethren and sisters of the church, for all 
 churches in all places • and God was entreated 
 to illuminate his young disciples with the light of 
 his Gospel ; that He would strengthen them to 
 lead righteous lives and to obey the divine com* 
 mandments, that so they might attain unto eter- 
 nal life. At the conclusion of the prayer they 
 greeted one another with the kiss of peace. 
 
 Bread was then brought to the Bishop, and 
 a goblet containing water and wine. He took it 
 and praised and glorified the universal Father 
 through the name of the Son and of* the Holy 
 Spirit, and with many words thanked Him for 
 the gifts which He had bestowed on them. 
 When he had ended the prayer and the thanks- 
 giving, the whole church said. Araen ! The 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN*- 131 
 
 deacons then served each person present with a 
 portion of the bread, and of the "wine mingled 
 "with water, and carried it to the dwellings of 
 such as were absent. But not as common bread, 
 and not as common drink, was it received by the 
 members of the church; for they were taught 
 " that this food, for which thanks had been given 
 in Jesus' own words, and which is converted into 
 nourishment of flesh and blood, is the flesh and 
 blood of the man Christ Jesus !" 
 
 After the holy supper, Lea returned home in 
 company with her friends. Her soul was melted 
 in joy and thankfulness. She embraced her mo- 
 ther and aunt, and long lay speechless in their 
 arms. She passed the night chiefly in praying 
 and singing ; though struggling with bodily 
 weakness, the triumph of her soul yet bore her 
 far above all outward infirmities up to the throne 
 of her Lord. 
 
CHAPTER XX: 
 
 As Lea next morning entered the apartment 
 of Elizabeth and her aunt, they were both struck 
 by the unusual expression of her countenance 
 and manner. In every tone of her voice there was 
 a depth, a feeling, which surprised them, and her 
 whole demeanor had a tenderness and warmth, 
 such as they had never observed in her before. 
 The native transparency and gladness of her 
 temper had not disappeared, but they had received 
 from that new depth and intensity of affection a 
 charm almost celestial. It seemed as if her 
 nature had attained its perfect development, and 
 therefore made, like every harmoniously formed 
 character, an impression of majesty. 
 
 The matrons knew not at first how to under- 
 stand it ; but it soon occurred to them that such 
 is often the regenerating and transforming power 
 of baptism even upon the outward appearance, 
 although they had never before witnessed a 
 change so striking. Doubtless it was the influ- 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 133 
 
 ence of baptism. They erred in this, however, 
 that they supposed it to be purely an inward one 
 which was now manifesting itself outwardly. 
 There was indeed an inward influence, but con- 
 nected with it was another, an external one, 
 quite distinct in its nature. 
 
 Lea's soul, both before and at the reception 
 of the holy ordinance, had been in a state of 
 unusual elevation, and she felt that to her it was 
 no mere empty symbol. She perceived in her- 
 self a new spiritual life, full of assurance and of 
 the undoubting experience of divine grace in her 
 heart. Her spirit in its most earnest longings had 
 never imagined, that the assured, the overwhelm- 
 ing feeling of sin forgiven, of purity in the sight of 
 God, and of the divine complacency towards us, 
 could be so unutterably blissful or could produce 
 such an entire change of the whole being. " Yes, 
 surely it is being born again," said she to herself, 
 " for it is a return to the innocence of childhood, 
 to unfading purity before the throne of divine 
 justice. The infant has an innocence before man, 
 but it is only an image of that purity before God 
 which the baptized receives through faith in 
 Christ." It was emotions like these which had 
 produced the wonderful change observed in her. 
 
 But there was, moreover, an external cause 
 
134 LEA, OR THE 
 
 which increased the effect of this inward state. 
 Her improvement in health had been only a tem- 
 porary result of intense desire, and nothing but 
 the enthusiasm of her heart could have concealed 
 from her that the exertions of the journey ex- 
 ceeded her strength. The triune immersion of the 
 whole body in the Jordan, at the hour of sunrise, 
 had completed the ruin of her health. During 
 the journey back, in the assembly, and through 
 the first part of the night, the ever increasing 
 blissfulness of her heart had lifted her above its 
 effects. But towards morning, she had suffered a 
 violent hemorrhage, which at last opened her 
 eyes to her situation. 
 
 Filled with the reflections which her new-born 
 spirit and her shattered body naturally awakened, 
 she had sought her aged friends. Although they 
 ascribed this visible change in Lea solely to her 
 baptism, yet the immediate expression of their 
 surprise was restrained by that natural awe which 
 such an aspect ever inspires. 
 
 " Seat thyself by us, dear sister and daughter," 
 s aid Elizabeth. " We, thy aunt and I, have 
 been contending who should now claim thee 
 properly as daughter. I have formally adopted 
 thee as my child, and thou hast allowed me a 
 mother's rights. Thy aunt, on the other hand. 
 
baptism in Jordan. 135 
 
 pleads the right of blood, and adds thereto the 
 new chain of godmother, as thy spiritual parent. 
 At last we have adjusted it thus, that since God 
 in Christ has adopted thee for His child, we are 
 bound now to honor thee as our sister." 
 
 With a pleasant smile Lea answered, " Let 
 me remain, I entreat you, your own dear daughter, 
 and shame me not with that too honorable name 
 of sister !" 
 
 " Yes, that shalt thou indeed remain, my own 
 dear daughter," said her aunt, embracing her. 
 
 " Now for the first time do I feel what sweet- 
 ness there is in the name of daughter," said Lea, 
 with an unwonted expression ; — " now first, w T hen 
 through the grace of my Lord I bear it in a four- 
 fold sense. The dear parents who in Capernaum s 
 the chosen city of my Saviour, nursed and blessed 
 me, called me their beloved daughter. Next 
 thou, dear Mother Elizabeth, as thy adopted 
 daughter hast loved the forsaken orphan with the 
 love which the Lord giveth. And now my 
 venerable aunt has become my godmother, and 
 calls me her spiritual daughter. But this is the 
 crown — that through the holy washing I am 
 become a daughter of my heavenly Father !" 
 
 " Yes, that is the crown," said Elizabeth. 
 
 a That too alone is abiding," pursued Lea in 
 
136 LEA, OR THE 
 
 deep emotion, " and abides for evermore ! Dear 
 mother Elizabeth, dear mother and aunt, death 
 has deprived you of your own little ones. The 
 Lord took them to Himself, into His everlasting 
 home, and ye can no more address them as your 
 children. And now, this your new child, who 
 should have filled Iheir place, this your adopted 
 and spiritual daughter, will also soon die. Over 
 them ye wept, for ye were tender mothers ; — but 
 weep not over me, but be glad and rejoice with 
 me!" 
 
 She spoke with such confidence, and with such 
 a tender melancholy joy, that the aged pair ven- 
 tured not to contradict her. They both rose, and 
 embraced her with silent tears. 
 
 Like an angel lay the maiden with her pale, 
 radiant, majestic aspect, in the arms of the weep- 
 ing mothers. 
 
 " Oh, my daughter, what aileth thee ? Whence 
 know'st thou this 1" at length asked Elizabeth. 
 
 " Ask me not, beloved mother," answered 
 Lea. " I know it ! It has been this night made 
 certain to me." 
 
 " Wilt thou so soon forsake us ?" sighed the 
 aunt. " O could'st thou but first bury us aged- 
 ones, and then lay thyself beside us, thou precious 
 child I" 
 
BAPTtSM IN JORDAN. 137 
 
 " Oh, chide me not !" said Lea. " The will of 
 the Lord be done ! Cheerfully would I remain to 
 close your eyes, if that were His will. So must 
 ye too cheerfully dismiss me, and close my eyes, 
 since it is His will. For ye know that when we 
 belonged merely to the natural Israel, a ripe old 
 age only was estimated a blessing ; but now that 
 we belong to the spiritual Israel, early death is a 
 blessing also. Is it not true, beloved mothers, 
 that all are blessings which the Lord sends V 9 
 
 " Yes, all are blessings even though they cause 
 the poor heart to ache," they both replied. 
 
 11 That has the baptizer John explained to us> 
 as the Bishop told us, I must decrease, He must 
 increase, were his words. These must go to- 
 gether. The Lord increases in us only when we 
 decrease. The decrease is painful to nature ; the 
 increase is healthful to the spirit, for it becomes 
 everlasting joy and happiness." 
 
 The aged pair were speechless. 
 
 " Oh, it does indeed grieve me to the heart," 
 continued Lea, " that I must go, when I remem- 
 ber that I must leave you behind." 
 
 " Ah, my poor, desolate, w T idowed old age !" 
 cried Elizabeth, with many tears. " I had reposed 
 so many hopes in thee, sweet child !" 
 
 " Alas I" sighed the aunt, " none of my 
 8* 
 
138 LEA, OR THE 
 
 kindred remains to close my eyes, and strangers 
 will lay me in the grave !' 5 
 
 " I entreat you," said Lea tenderly, " make it 
 not so hard for me to fulfil the Lord's will ! Ah, 
 I love you dearly, unspeakably ; — no one but my 
 Saviour do I love more ! How hast thou like a 
 mother loved me, since I was received, a poor out- 
 cast orphan, into thy peaceful cottage, mother 
 Elizabeth ! And thou, my spiritual mother, 
 how did our common blood witness for each 
 other, when sick, and again an outcast, I came to 
 Pell a ! Dear, dear mother, how hard for nature 
 it is to part ! This is the true bitterness of death ! " 
 
 The voices of all were choked in tears. 
 
 " Still, death to ourselves is life in Him who 
 is our head. In that let us comfort one another. 
 Come, dear mother, comfort your afflicted daugh- 
 ter with the comfort wherewith so often the 
 Lord hath comforted you !" 
 
 The aged mother embraced the wondrous 
 child. 
 
 " On the Sabbath," continued Lea, " we saw 
 the Lord's opened grave. That shall be my 
 Nebo, for from it will I look over into the bliss- 
 ful Canaan. Is it not true that to him for whom 
 Christ's grace is not sufficient, whose heart it 
 comforts not in sorrow, to whoa it is not an 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 139 
 
 overflowing supply for every loss— -to him it is 
 unknown ? Now let us sing Mary's hymn of 
 thanksgiving, which you lately taught me." She 
 began — 
 
 " My soul magnifies the Lord 
 And my spirit exults in God r 
 
 my Saviour ! >v 
 
 But she sung only a few w T ords. A pang 
 seized her in the breast, and she only repeated 
 the remainder. With the second line she was 
 again obliged to pause. She was silent a mo- 
 ment, and then said, " This is no self-satisfied joy, 
 but a grateful, happy endurance of His will ! ,J 
 She went on : 
 
 " For He hath looked on the low estate of His handmaid , 
 
 Behold ! henceforth all generations shall call me blessed ; 
 
 For He hath done great things for me, 
 
 He that is mighty and whose name is holy. 
 
 And His mercy endures for ever 
 
 Towards them that fear Him." 
 
 Again she paused for breath, and then con* 
 tinued, " See, this is the light which rose to me 
 over my past life, in baptism, as it arose to Mary 
 in that mysterious hour. Have not ye, too, 
 learned by experience that the Lord does some- 
 thing great for us, when it makes all other things. 
 
140 LEA, OR THE 
 
 even the least, great also ? Yet remember, deaf 
 heart," said she, with childish simplicity, to her- 
 self, u it is one thing to look at ourselves, to 
 whom He has done great things, and quite ano- 
 ther to look at him who has done great things 
 for us." 
 
 Soon she resumed again : 
 
 " He hath showed strength with His arm, 
 
 He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their 
 
 heart. 
 He hath cast down the mighty from their seats, 
 And exalted the lowly. 
 The hungry He hath filled with good things, 
 And seDt the rich empty away."' 
 
 " See," said she, " this is the fervor which 
 that overwhelming joy produces. It is the fer- 
 vor of humility, of self-decrease, while the Lord 
 increases in us ; of the conviction of our sinful- 
 ness and vanity, when in baptism eternal life is 
 bestowed upon us. Of a truth," and with these 
 words her voice grew 7 stronger, " he who in Jor- 
 dan has received eternal life, may willingly lay 
 down on Nebo his earthly life. In that we are 
 happier than Moses." 
 
 After a few moments' rest, she repeated the 
 conclusion of this noble song of praise : 
 
BAPTISM W JORDAN,' 14 1 
 
 '« He hath helped Israel His servant, 
 And hath remembered His mercy ; 
 According to His word imto our fathers, 
 To Abraham and his seed for ever. Amen !" 
 
 " And this is the assurance which the baptis- 
 mal joy spreads over the future. Still a few 
 weeks do I linger with you ; sick, yet joyful ; 
 poor, yet rich ; suffering, but yet beloved. Yea, 
 the Lord will sustain his handmaid. Then shall 
 I hear his call ! Then comes the momentary 
 pang from which the worm shrinks ; but in all 
 that awaits me, both before and in that bitter 
 hour, I know that my Saviour remembers mercy. 
 Hallelujah ! He hath said it to Abraham and to 
 our fathers, and at last through David's eternal 
 Son ! And He performs His word ! Hallelu- 
 jah!" 
 
 Her strength failed her. Recovering herself, 
 she added, " Beloved mothers, this is my baptis- 
 mal joy, my joy of discipleship, my joy in Christ. 
 And ye are witnesses that it gives light, and full- 
 ness of love, and confident expectation. Rejoice 
 with me !" 
 
 Exhausted, she lay silent for a long time, 
 while the weeping mothers gazed at her in 
 speechless admiration. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Only once more was Lea able to be present in 
 the public assembly of the church. It was on 
 the evening of the holy Easter, the festival of 
 the resurrection, where, by the grave of the risen 
 Prince of Life, she desired to ascend her Nebo. 
 On this evening, after the solemnities of divine 
 worship, a love-feast was held, during which the 
 consecrated Paschal lamb was eaten. The festi- 
 val was celebrated along with the Jews, accord- 
 ing to the custom of the East. 
 
 In the morning, the deaconess directed the 
 attention of her young friend to the striking dif- 
 ference between the natural and spiritual Israel, 
 in regard to festivals. "How did they once 
 throng to Jerusalem while the Temple was yet 
 standing !" said she. " Three great feasts, and 
 how many new T moons and other sacred days ! 
 The church of the Lord has but one feast.* That, 
 each one celebrates daily by himself, and the 
 
 * See Appendix, note 0, 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 143 
 
 assembled church from week to week on the 
 Sabbath. Is it not true, Lea, he who celebrates 
 the feast of the Lord's resurrection, and of his 
 own, needs no other feast, or at most only days 
 of remembrance and thanksgiving V s 
 
 At evening the church were all assembled. 
 A psalm was sung. The story of the resurrec- 
 tion was read from the Gospel of Matthew, the 
 Bishop explained it, and then offered prayer. 
 Then followed the love-feast with the Pascal 
 Lamb and the Lord's Supper. 
 
 " In the church the whole life is to be sanc- 
 tified," said the deaconess to Lea, as they were 
 entering the banqueting hall to partake of the 
 love-feast ; " therefore, even the enjoyment of 
 food is brought into the circle of religious ser- 
 vices. The Apostles willingly brought this cus- 
 tom with them from the temple of our fathers, 
 and their sacrificial feasts, into the church of the 
 Lord. You remember that, by eating, Adam 
 and Eve lost eternal life ; therefore, do we, in 
 the Lord's Supper, regain eternal life through 
 the participation of the body and blood of Christ. 
 But there is, moreover, the spiritual life ; and 
 these feasts of fellowship are designed to pro- 
 mote that love which is the element of spiritual 
 
144 LEA, OK THE 
 
 While she was thus speaking, the deacons 
 and a part of the deaconesses bore along the 
 food which the more prosperous members of the 
 church had placed as an offering upon the table 
 in the prayer-room, and which the Bishop had 
 blessed. The poorer members had brought 
 nothing, or very little, but they shared equally 
 with the rest. The rich brought much and yet 
 enjoyed no more. They were brothers and sis* 
 ters of the common household of God, who here 
 sat down together at their Father's table. 
 
 The present love-feast was distinguished by 
 the Paschal Lamb, which constituted the princi- 
 pal dish.* It was pleasant to recall the times of 
 their fathers, and it was, moreover, commanded 
 in the law that at the Passover a lamb should be 
 eaten : and although they knew that the true 
 Paschal Lamb had long since come, they still che- 
 rished the advent feeling of that later time, when 
 in full possession of the promised blessing, the 
 church heightened its joy by a glance backward 
 upon the days of hope and prophecy. It is true 
 that with many it nurtured a superstitious trust 
 in the law, and therefore at a subsequent period 
 this custom was discontinued. But by the en- 
 lightened members of the church it was regarded 
 * See Appendix, note P. 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 145 
 
 only as an edifying and permitted charm of the 
 feast. 
 
 The meal commenced with a prayer, in which 
 all joined.* They ate as much as hunger craved. 
 They drank as much as was becoming for sober 
 people. In all their conversation they kept in 
 mind that God heard them. The enjoyment of 
 food taught them that no pleasure is to be desired 
 without his blessing ; and from the hour they 
 learned, that even the night is to be hallowed by 
 the remembrance of His presence. 
 
 The conversation of the assembly was wholly 
 on religious subjects. The Bishop spoke of the 
 last supper of the Lord with his disciples in the 
 upper chamber, compared it with the first after 
 his resurrection in Emmaus, and closed with the 
 remark, that as Christ had died for us, we 
 must also die with him, in order to be partakers 
 with him in the eternal glory of his kingdom. 
 
 The conversation then naturally turned upon 
 the persecutions w 7 hich the church had to en- 
 dure from Jews and Gentiles, and how blessed it 
 is for the Christian to seal his faith with his 
 blood. An Elder related the glorious death of 
 Stephen, who was counted worthy to lead the 
 noble army of martyrs. A revered brother spoke 
 
 * See Appendix, note Q, 
 
1-iO LEA, Oil THE 
 
 of James, whom Herod Agrippa "put to death. 
 The Apostles Peter and Jude were commemo- 
 rated, also James, Bishop of the Church in Jeru- 
 salem. Ignatius, too, was remembered, w T hom 
 when a child, the Lord had taken in his arms 
 and blessed. But none were heard with such 
 attention as those, now grey-headed patriarchs, 
 who had enjoyed the instructions of the Lord's 
 personal disciples — the Apostolic Fathers as they 
 were called, because they had been the imme- 
 diate disciples of the Apostles. Yet it was 
 worthy of note that the name of Paul was care- 
 fully avoided ; and if they were obliged to men- 
 tion him, it was with an expression of displea- 
 sure, as an apostate from the law. The martyrs, 
 too, among the Gentile Christians, were not re- 
 membered ; and when the teachers from the cir- 
 cumcision were praised, no notice w T as taken of 
 Justin and other distinguished men who had once 
 been pagans. On the other hand, they passed 
 lightly over the case of Cerinthus. In short, to 
 one versed in such matters, the conversation be- 
 trayed in the most striking manner a want of 
 fellowship with the Gentile Christians. But it 
 seemed to be conducted on a concerted plan, so 
 artfully carried out that the inexperienced, like 
 Lea, never once suspected it. 
 
BAPTISM IN JOKDAN. 147 
 
 When at length, towards the end of the love- 
 feast, water had been brought in for washing the 
 hands, the Bishop called upon each one present 
 to sing a hymn. He himself took the lead. 
 This custom had for its object the general edifi- 
 cation, and was also intended to honor the priestly 
 prerogative of the whole church, giving each in- 
 dividual opportunity to teach and exhort. It 
 was also to serve as a public test that each had 
 kept w T ithin the bounds of moderation at the 
 feast. One sung a psalm from the Holy Scrip- 
 tures ; another a hymn of his own composition. 
 Some sung with so much animation and feeling 
 as to affect the whole assembly. It was a church 
 of brethren, where each one was permitted to 
 impart his own experience to the rest, and to 
 speak out all his heart. 
 
 The assembly rose up and partook of the Lord's 
 Supper, as a solemn conclusion of the festival. 
 The deacons were directed by the Bishop, not 
 only to carry bread and wine to the houses of 
 such as were sick, but also, as this was the Easter 
 festival, to send bread by special messengers to 
 the churches at Cochaba and Berrhea, as a token 
 of fellowship. A prayer closed the whole 
 solemnity, and each returned home to imitate in 
 the domestic circle this humility and holy circum- 
 
148 LEA, OR THE BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 
 
 spection, to honor the poor as brothers, and to 
 be mindful at all times of the presence of the 
 Lord ; for, as a contemporary has expressed it, 
 "it was less a banquet which they had attended, 
 than a rich means of religious culture." 
 
 The females kept silent in the assembly. As 
 for Lea, she could not have uttered a word ; for 
 the present had receded from her view, and her 
 spirit w r as absorbed in anticipations of the future 
 and endless blessings of salvation. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 This was the first and the last time that Lea 
 was present at the meeting of the church after 
 her baptism. Her disease so increased in vio- 
 lence that she could no longer leave the house, 
 nor, after a short time, the divan. Still she was 
 not willing to lie down. A spiritual power 
 seemed to attract her upwards, and she sat up 
 continually, her arms supported by pillows. 
 
 It was animating to look upon her. Ever the 
 same remained the triumphant calmness, the 
 winning sweetness, the sublime instructiveness of 
 her demeanor. On this account, too, she was 
 seldom alone, her apartment seeming like a place 
 of meeting for the church, when she could no 
 longer attend its public assemblies. The exhibi- 
 tion of a faith which triumphs visibly alike over 
 earthly suffering and earthly joy, has an attract- 
 ive charm. Each one feels that he needs, or 
 shall need it, for himself. Old and young sur- 
 rounded her, and heard her testimony to the 
 
150 LEA, OR THE 
 
 power of the gospel. The young women and 
 the matrons of the church sat beside her weep- 
 ing, and even grey-headed patriarchs were as- 
 tonished at the high measure of grace and know- 
 ledge which were vouchsafed to her. 
 
 Her external appearance w r as much changed 
 by her sickness. Her arms and hands wasted 
 away, .her form became strangely emaciated, and 
 nothing remained of her former beauty except 
 the long, waving, silken hair, and the black, 
 soul-speaking eye. Occasionally an elder visited 
 her and prayed with her. Then as she lay on 
 the divan in her long white robe, her feeble arms 
 supported on pillows, and her drooping hands 
 piously folded as of one already dead \ a corpse* 
 like paleness on her countenance shaded by her 
 dark luxuriant tresses, while yet her eye kindled 
 with enthusiasm and spiritual energy as it gazed 
 towards the heaven whither her heart already 
 hastened, — and now and then a tear stole down 
 her face, and a faint bloom tinged her cheek ; — 
 that was a sight which spoke more powerful les- 
 sons to the heart than her most persuasive exhor- 
 tations. 
 
 The house of the deaconess was beginning to 
 be thronged with visitors even from distant 
 churches, attracted thither by this edifying ex- 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN". 151 
 
 ample of the power of faith, when suddenly this 
 more than earthly animation forsook the heart of 
 Lea. She was now to learn by experience that 
 even spiritual joy is made subject to change, that 
 we may not confound it with that which is 
 eternal. 
 
 All at once Lea found herself again agitated 
 in that conflict between law and faith which she 
 had supposed was already decided. But this 
 conflict connects itself so intimately with our in- 
 most nature, that it is ever reappearing anew, 
 each time under a more refined and subtle form. 
 
 Her bodily suffering had become on some days 
 almost insupportable. She had easily borne the 
 lighter pains, and the universal love, sympathy 
 and admiration had so accustomed her to agreea- 
 ble emotions, that she had no strength to endure 
 these heavier sufferings. Several days were 
 passed in mute discontent, and as the heavenly 
 radiance which had encircled her head vanished 
 from the eyes of others, she felt too an inward 
 dissatisfaction, which vented itself occasionally 
 in brief but strong expressions. 
 
 The elder to whom was committed the care 
 of her spiritual state, chanced at one of these 
 moments to be standing by her couch. He turn- 
 ed in silence from her, and addressing those pre- 
 
152 LEA, OR THE 
 
 sent said, " We ought not to wonder at such a 
 change, for the Lord often deals thus, that we 
 may not be tempted to deify a poor sinful mortal. 
 He alone is great and good ! To him be all the 
 glory !" added he with devout reverence. 
 
 Lea was as if crushed at these words, which 
 made her conscious of her deep humiliation. 
 Quickly recovering herself, however, she humbly 
 inquired — " And what hast thou to say to me, 
 Father 1" 
 
 " The Apostle James," replied he, " has writ- 
 ten, c Is any among you afflicted, let him pray ; 
 is any joyful, let him sing psalms/ The last 
 thou hast faithfully performed. Now is the time 
 to practise the former." 
 
 Lea prayed. Still she grew continually more 
 restless and unhappy. Elizabeth and the dea- 
 coness were greatly afflicted, and besought her to 
 tell them the cause of her unhappiness. 
 
 " I lie under the law and its curse," said she. 
 And she was right. True, it was clear to her 
 that the sacrificial law had ceased with Christ, 
 and the civil law with the destruction of Jerusa- 
 lem. On this point the decision of the Apostles 
 had long since set her mind at rest. But these 
 Apostles, and the whole church taught that the 
 moral law still remained in force. Lea examined 
 
BAfflSM IN JORDAN, 153 
 
 lierself, and was convinced that she had not kept 
 it perfectly, and that even since her baptism she 
 had fallen into many sins. She imagined that 
 xvhen one receives in baptism the forgiveness of 
 sin, his heart becomes thenceforth a clear, pure 
 foundation, on which to erect with the divine as- 
 sistance a blameless structure of new obedience 
 and Christian virtue. This could she not find in 
 herself. In the sunshine of joy and admiration 
 she had been inwardly proud, in the hour of trial 
 impatient. She felt this and was inconsolable. 
 
 The aged friends knew not how to help her. 
 The elder, a man of much experience but of few 
 words, counselled her to separate the divine and 
 human. Lea did not understand him. There 
 remained for her in her sufferings nothing but 
 prayer. 
 
 One day when she chanced to be alone she 
 caught up the roll of the Gospel of Matthew, 
 which always lay beside her. Her eye fell upon 
 the conclusion of our Lord's sermon on the 
 mount, where speaking of the Pharisees he says 
 that the tree must be known by its fruit. 
 
 At the first moment she was confounded. It 
 
 seemed as if the Saviour's words were meant to 
 
 confirm the decision of her own conscience. "Oh, 
 
 my wretched works !" she cried in deep humilb- 
 
 9 
 
154 LEA,- OR Tfl£ 
 
 ation. She turned away from the roll and look" 
 ed out into the court. A noble grape vine 
 caught her attention ; and on the very same 
 branch she observed, along with a few ripe 
 grapes, many still unripe, and some corrupted and 
 worthless. 
 
 A gleam of heavenly light darted through 
 Lea's soul, and she could not refrain from crying 
 aloud — " Now do I understand the image — and 
 again I have peace ! Works," thus she reasoned 
 with herself, " are only the fruit. To be sure, a 
 tree which brings not forth good fruit is hewn 
 down and cast into the fire ; and certainly one 
 cannot gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles. 
 Still, works are only the fruit and not the tree, 
 The fruit does not make the tree good, but the 
 tree the fruit, although the former is known by 
 the latter. Yonder living branch on the most 
 vigorous grape vine in the whole garden, has in- 
 deed already ripe grapes, but still more which 
 are unripe and can only be matured with time, 
 and even some which are corrupt and worth no- 
 thing. But it is still a living branch ; it remains 
 in the vine and brings forth much fruit. I was 
 indeed a foolish child again, to think of setting 
 my works beside the righteousness of Christ, of 
 mingling the temporal with the eternal, the im~ 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 155 
 
 perfect with the perfect, the human with the 
 divine." 
 
 As Elizabeth entered the apartment, Lea sa- 
 luted her with all the animation which her feeble 
 strength permitted, in the exulting strains of the 
 psalms. 
 
 The good mother wept for joy. Lea had now 
 regained all her wonted serenity, sweetness, and 
 animation, and retained them till her death. The 
 last bitter struggle between law and faith, be- 
 tween the earthly and the heavenly, had been 
 surmounted. Daily the darkness diminished ; 
 daily increased the life of her spirit. The num- 
 ber of visitors increased again, although Lea de- 
 sired more and more to be left in solitary stillness 
 with her Lord, or at most, with only the presence 
 of a mother. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 One day the elder was again praying beside 
 her couch. She lay reclining on the divan, her 
 face towards the door. Visitors were standing 
 round. 
 
 The door opened, and Eupheinus entered. 
 
 Lea remained in the attitude of devotion, her 
 eye directed upwards. She saw not Euphemus. 
 But as he gazed on her, in her long, white, 
 shroud-like garments, with that aspect of life in 
 death, — the eyes so full of lustre, the pale fea- 
 tures wasted and changed by suffering, yet beam- 
 ing with an expression of heavenly softness and 
 elevation, he was struck to the heart. He falter- 
 ed and caught by the door for support. One 
 glance had dashed to the ground all his hopes. 
 His countenance betrayed the bitter conflict pass- 
 ing in his bosom. He sunk upon his knees, 
 bowed his face to the earth and bathed it with 
 his tears. 
 
 The elder closed his prayer, and Lea, with the 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 157 
 
 emphasis of her full heart, repeated the Amen. 
 The tone aroused Euphemus, and he rose and 
 stood up with manly composure. 
 
 Lea beckoned him to her. Summoning all his 
 fortitude he approached her. " Is it thus that I 
 must see thee again, Lea ?" said he, with deep 
 emotion. 
 
 " The offering of my life is brought to the 
 altar, brother Euphemus," replied she. 
 
 " Yes, the offering is indeed brought, beloved 
 
 Lea, now my holy sister in the Lord !" 
 
 * ******* 
 
 After the first greetings were exchanged, and 
 he had had time to recover himself, he was urged 
 by Elizabeth to relate what had befallen him 
 since their parting at her cottage. 
 
 Seating himself in front of the divan, he re- 
 plied briefly ; 
 
 " After we had left you, we pursued our way in 
 safety to Antioch. Our friend the Levite every- 
 where involved himself in altercations ; he has 
 at length gone to Berrhea and joined himself to 
 the Ebionites. To me this sojourn in the Apos- 
 tles' city would have been much more happy, 
 had I not been disturbed by anxiety for your 
 safety. But when I heard of the evil which had 
 befallen you, I could remain no longer. I ar- 
 
158 LEA, OR THE 
 
 ranged my affairs and hastened to your little 
 cottage. The sight of its blackened ruins filled 
 me with agonizing apprehensions ; but I learned 
 that you had taken refuge here, and quickly as 
 my feet could bear me, I hastened hither. How 
 did I rejoice at the assurance of your safety ! 
 How vanished hills and valleys under my feet as 
 I thought of meeting you again ! How did I 
 thank God for the opportunity of performing for 
 you a service of love, — might I be permitted to 
 rebuild your cottage ! But alas !" 
 
 " Nay, dear brother," interrupted Lea. " For 
 me, indeed, thou shalt build no dwelling, for the 
 Lord will take me into his everlasting dwelling. 
 Already do I hear his call. But for this let me 
 bless thee — that thou wilt build again for my be- 
 loved mother the peaceful cottage in sight of 
 Cana. Then think of me, and rejoice in the 
 hope of eternal life !" 
 
 Euphemus knelt before Lea. She laid her 
 feeble hands upon his head and blessed him. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Each of Lea's few remaining days upon the 
 earth was to her and to her friends a festive day, 
 a foretaste of eternal life. 
 
 One Sabbath* evening she seemed unusually 
 strong and cheerful. Only Elizabeth, the aunt, 
 and Euphemus were with her ; the other mem- 
 bers of the church being engaged in preparing 
 for the approaching Sunday. Her heart, melted 
 by the sweet consciousness of her Saviour's mer- 
 cy, seemed to overflow with tenderness towards 
 those beloved friends. Many times she pressed 
 Euphemus' hand, and embraced her aged mothers, 
 who stood by her side, trembling with anguish, 
 yet full of consolation. 
 
 " All love," said she, " is born of sorrow, and 
 then is it full of pure joy ! That has it received 
 from Golgotha, the offering-place of earthly love, 
 the birth-place of our own eternal love. There- 
 fore let us not mourn but hope !" 
 
 * The Jewish Sabbath. 
 
160 LEA, OR THE 
 
 At another time she said, " Here below Fife 13 
 hut a dying ; the earth is a great burial-place, 
 and all that man contrives and enjoys is only 
 food for the grave. Thanks be to God — upon 
 this burial-place stands the cross, the tree of 
 life !" 
 
 After a pause she resumed, " How is every- 
 thing changed and transformed through our Lord 
 Jesus Christ! Once, death was to me the wages 
 of sin. But since life in Him has been bestowed 
 on me as the gift of God, death is to me the wel- 
 come release from all suffering, the entrance into 
 His heavenly rest P' 
 
 At this instant the glow of the setting sun fell 
 upon her countenance. It beamed like that of 
 an angel. 
 
 " She is glorified !" cried Elizabeth. " She is 
 gone !" 
 
 " Not yet, beloved mother \ I must first thank 
 thee for all the goodness which thou hast shown 
 to the desolate orphan, and for all thy guidance 
 to Christ my Lord. My mother art thou — the 
 deliverer of my soul !" 
 
 Elizabeth took her hand and bathed it with 
 tears. 
 
 tt Thou wilt take care of her," said she to Eu- 
 
BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 161 
 
 pheraus. " I will thank thee for it when thou 
 too comest home I" 
 
 He assented with deep emotion. 
 
 " Do thou also, dear aunt, receive my heartfelt 
 thanks. And greet my uncle in Tiberias ; tell 
 him how I entreat his forgiveness for all my 
 faults towards him, and how I pray to the Lord 
 for him." 
 
 Elizabeth took her other hand arnd wept upon 
 it. 
 
 " Nay, weep not/' said Lea. " To-morrow, 
 you know, is the Lord's day, and ye see by the 
 sunset that it will be a beautiful day. Now 
 grant me, I pray you, one more request, — sing me 
 the thirty-fourth Psalm." 
 
 Lea laid herself back. She gazed around her, 
 then fixed her eyes as if in prayer upon the gor- 
 geous sunset clouds, whose full splendor was now 
 poured upon her white robe and pallid features. 
 
 The others composed themselves and sung : 
 
 " I will bless Jehovah at all times, 
 Let His praise be ever on my lips i 
 My soul exulteth in Jehovah, 
 The afflicted shall hear it and rejoice. 
 Magnify Jehovah with me, 
 Let us exalt His name together. 
 I sought Jehovah, and he heard me 
 
162 LEA, OR THE BAPTISM IN JORDAN. 
 
 And delivered me from ail my fears. 
 They look to Him and are lightened, 
 And their faces blush not with shame. 
 This afflicted one cried, and Jehovah heard, 
 And rescued him from all his troubles. 
 Jehovah's angel encampeth about those who fear 
 
 Him, and delivereth them. 
 Taste and see that Jehovah is good ! 
 Happy is he who trasteth in Him !" 
 
 The glow of sunset was fading away. The 
 aged mother looked on the beloved sufferer. 
 There she lay, her hands still folded — but they 
 w r ere lifeless. The face w 7 as directed upward, 
 the dark eye still gazed into the crimson clouds, 
 but it was fixed ! 
 
 Thus this afflicted one cried, and Jehovah 
 heard and rescued her from all her troubles. 
 
 In mild peace reposed the beautiful remains. 
 
NOTES 
 
 Chapter I. 
 
 The appearance of the false Messiah, and the conse- 
 quent final dispersion of the Jews, occurred A. D. 132-136. 
 The foregoing Tale conducts us through this period, and is 
 intended to exhibit the relation of Judaism to Christianity, 
 only hinted at in Helon's Pilgrimage, which belongs to the 
 109th year before the birth of our Lord. The chronology 
 of the learned Bassuage (Annal. Politico — Eccles. torn. II.) 
 has been followed. 
 
 Note A.— p. 10. 
 And played the Coming of the Messiah. — The absurd and 
 childish conceptions, into which the Jewish teachers of 
 this time had transformed the prophecies of the Old Testa- 
 ment relating to the Messiah, is clearly shown by the fact 
 that they occur only in the sports of children. Eisenmen- 
 ger, in his Judenthum Entdectes, has with great pains collect- 
 ed these scattered characteristics. Some of them occur 
 even in the writings of Rabbi Akiba (Part II. pp. 765) ; 
 and as this countenances the supposition that the others 
 also were then recognized, the author has adopted many 
 of them in the representation given in the text. A com- 
 
164 NOTES. 
 
 plete exhibition of them "would only have wearied the 
 reader. 
 
 Chapter V. B.— p. 38. 
 Sephoris. — Tradition makes Sephoris the dwelling-place 
 of the parents of Mary, the mother of Jesus, according to 
 the Protevangelium Jacobi. 
 
 C— p. 41. 
 Eat human flesh. — A crime with which Christians were 
 commonly charged in the first centuries of the Church. 
 
 Chapter VII. D.— p. 52. 
 A divine flame, fyc. — Thus Jerome (Apol. III. adv. Ruf. 
 c. 9) explains the pretended miracle; Eusebius (Hist. IV. 
 6.) also hints at it. 
 
 Chapter XII. E.— p. 82. 
 The Gospel of Matthew. — In Elizabeth we have an ad- 
 herent of the sect of Nazarenes. We learn from Epipha- 
 nius that they had the Gospel of Matthew in the Hebrew 
 language. 
 
 Chapter XIII. F.— p. 96. 
 
 Three different opinions. — Euphemus is a Gentile Chris- 
 tian. The Jewish Christians were divided into those who, 
 like Elizabeth, regarded the continued observance of the 
 law only as permitted (Acts, c. 15); and those who, like 
 the Levite, looked upon it as a duty. The latter formed at 
 a somewhat later period the sect of Ebionites, and held 
 moreover that Christ was only a man. Euseb. Hist. III. 
 c. 27. Orig. c. Cels. 3. 
 
 G.— p. 96. 
 
 Justin. — See Dial. c. Tryph. — He wrote his first Defence 
 of Christianity, A. D. 140. 
 
NOTES. 165 
 
 Chapter XIV. H.— p. 100. 
 That will be no-hard task. — The proof passages for the 
 divinity of Christ are taken from Justin, Dial. c. Triph. 
 
 I.— p. 101. 
 
 His thousand years reign. — This expectation was very- 
 common among Christians, and especially among Jewish 
 Christians, at that time. — Justin, Dial. c. Tryph. 
 
 Chapter XIX. K.— p. 127. 
 
 The Pilgrimage to the Jordan. — According to Jerome de 
 Nominibus Hebraic is, under Bethabara, the Christians of his 
 time still desired to receive their haptism in the Jordan. 
 Even Constantine had cherished this wish. — Euseb. Vita 
 Const. 62. 
 
 L.— p. 128. 
 Easter-week. — The usual season for Baptism in ancient 
 times was at Easter and Whitsuntide. 
 
 M.— p. 129. 
 
 Early on the follovnng morning they repaired to the shore 
 of the Jordan. — The description of the Baptism, as well as 
 of the Eucharist, is according to the account given by 
 Justin, Apologia I. 
 
 N.— p. 129. 
 
 The Deaconess had supplied the place of Godmother. — 
 This relation seems to have existed at this time, although 
 it is first mentioned by Tertullian de Bapiismo [near the 
 close of the second century]. — Suiceri Thesaurus ad voc. 
 Anadochos, 
 
166 NOTES, 
 
 Chapter XXI. O.— p. 142. 
 
 The church of the Lord has but one feast. — It is probable 
 that but one feast, that of Easter, was celebrated at this 
 time ; there is at least no clear intimation of the feast at 
 Whitsuntide. 
 
 P.— p. 144. 
 The Paschal Lamb which constituted the principal dish — 
 Schroch's Church History, III. 83. This custom continued 
 to be observed at a still later period. — Bingham, Origines, 
 vol. VI. 262; Augusti Teste der alten Christen, II. 12. 
 
 Q.— p. 145. 
 
 The meal commenced with a prayer. — The account of 
 the love-feast is given, often word for word, according to 
 the description of Tertullian, adv. gentes, c. 39. 
 

 x X0w.