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JESUS
THE CARPENTER
OF NAZARETH

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DIVINITY SCHOOL
TROWBRIDGE LIBRARY

JESUS, THE CARPENTER OF
NAZARETH

JESUS, THE CARPENTER
OF NAZARETH

BY

A LAYMAN

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SECOND EDITION REVISED

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1891

COPYRIGHT, 1891, BY
ROBERT BIRD.

PREFACE.

This life is written in short realistic pictures, endeavouring
to avoid theology and sectarianism, that mothers of all creeds
may read it to their children, and that children in later life
may read it for themselves. Two points are dwelt on, which
are common to all the Churches — the beauty of the Life of
Jesus, and the personal contact of the Spirit, — beyond that,
lie the dividing walls of creeds and dogmas. Amid the
present day questioning of beliefs, writings, and authorities,
and the ever broadening of common charity, it is well that
our children should begin with Christianity as Jesus left it,
that they may be enabled to judge for themselves how much
of the sectarian structures of the succeeding ages they need
regard as essential to religion, and how much as only
optional. A cathedral is a good place to worship in, but
some prefer the open field. A simpler Christianity is
urgently wanted. The hope of the future is in the young;
and- there is no better way to make good men and women,
than by early training them to look to the highest Example

VI PREFACE.
that they can follow — feeding their minds with the heroism
of His gentle deeds, their hearts with the tenderness of His
love, their spirits with the purity of* His truth — until they
deeply realise that in Divine Manhood, Jesus, the Car
penter of Nazareth, amid the scenery of Galilee, walked in
very truth the path of life before them, through cloud and
sunshine, in joy and sorrow, at once their Hope and their
Guide.

INCIDENTS In Part I.

A Green and Sunny Land .
His Father and Mother .
An Angel's Visit .
His Father's Dream
The Ride to Bethlehem
The Angels' Song
Jesus Born ....
His Name ....
The Golden Temple
The Star of Bethlehem
The Flight to Egypt .
King Herod and the Children
The Return to Nazareth .
Childhood in Nazareth
His First Visit to Jerusalem
The Teachers in the Temple
He Learns to be a Carpenter
He Leaves Nazareth .
Tempted in the Wilderness
He Chooses Five Disciples .
The Marriage at Cana
Clearing the Golden Temple
Nicodemus ....
John and Jesus
The Woman at the Well .
The Nobleman's Boy .
Fishing on the Lake .
He Heals Them All .

PAGE I

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36 39
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45 47 51535863 6669
71 74 77
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Vlll INCIDENTS. PAGE
Walking Through Galilee  88
Let Through the Roof  90
Matthew the Tax-Gatherer  92
The Twelve Disciples  95
Consider the Lilies  98
The Pool of Bethesda  102
In the Barley-fields  106
Stretch Out Thine Hand  108
The Officer's Servant  no
The Widow's Son.  112
John's Message  114
Mary Magdalene  117
False Pharisees  120
The Key of Knowledge  124
Treasures in Heaven  126
Wise and Foolish Servants  128
The Sower  131
The Angel-Reapers  133
The Green Blade and the Ear  135
Birds of the Air have Nests  139
Legion and the Swine  142
The Ruler's Little Daughter  145
Pwo Blind Beggars  148
The Brow of the Hill  150
The Fig Tree in the Vineyard  154
His Disciples Sent to Teach  157
The Princess Salome's Dance  160
The Return of the Disciples  164
Crown Him!  . 167
Be not Afraid!  171
Is not this Jesus?  173
Many Leave Him  177
Spies from Jerusalem  181
The Towns of Tyre and Sidon  184
The Snows of Hermon  .187
On a Brown Hillside . . ... 189
Men like Trees Walking ........ 193

INCIDENTS. IX
PAGE -
Who am I?  197
Get Thee Behind Me, Tempter !  200
.His Face did Shine as the Sun  203
Lord, I Believe!  206
A Child in the Midst  209
Forgive Thy Brother  213
The Temple Shekel  216
The Festival of Bowers  219
Jesus in the Temple  222
Soldiers Refuse to Take Him  225
The Light of Life  228
The Truth shall Make you Free  232
Farewell to Galilee  237
The Ten Lepers . .  241
The Lord's Prayer  244
The Good Samaritan  247

INCIDENTS In Part II.
PAGE
iThe Cottage at Bethany  251
The Beggar and the Priests  254
The Shepherd and the Sheep  . 258
Solomon's Porch in Winter  262
Danger in Jerusalem  265
At the Grave of Lazarus  267
The Council of Priests  271
Sabbath-keeping  273
Kindness and Humility  276
Rejoicing Angels  279
The Erring Brother  283
The Money-God  286

X INCIDENTS. PAGE
The Rich Man and the Beggar  289
One of these Little Ones  291
Heaven is Within You .  293
The Door of Heaven  ... 296
Morning Prayers  299
Wives and Mothers  302
He Blesses the Little Children ... .305
The Rich Young Ruler  308
The Workers and the Vines  312
The Sons of Zebedee .... ... 315
Zaccheus in the Tree  319
The King's Servants .... ... 323
Blind Bartimeus the Beggar  326
He Rides into Jerusalem  330
Children Shouting in the Temple  335
His Last Teaching in the Temple . . ... 340
The Fruits of Heaven  342
The Wedding Garment  346
A Roman Penny  349
As the Angels of Heaven  352
The Greatest Commandment  . 355
Serpents, Vipers, Hypocrites! . . .... 359
The Widow's Farthing . . .... 363
Children of Light .  365
In Clouds of Glory .... . . 369
Learn of the Fig Tree  373
The Ten Bridesmaids  . 375
Hungry and you fed Me  378
She did what she could  381
Thirty Pieces of Silver  383
Preparing the Passover Supper  386
The Last Supper  389
Judas goes out  393
Little Children, love one another . . . . 397
The Spirit of Truth  401
The Vine and its Branches  405

And this is Heaven

409

INCIDENTS. XI
PAGE
The Garden of Gethsemane  412
He is taken a Prisoner  416
Before the Cock crows  420
A Mock Trial . . .  424
Struck by Soldiers  428
The Death of Judas ... . . 432
Before Pilate  435
Mocked by King Antipas ... .... 440
Pilate finds no Fault . . .... 442
The Crown of Thorns .... ... 446
Daughters of Jerusalem  450
Nailed upon the Cross  453
It is Finished !  > . . 456
His Grave in the Garden  459
Jesus Dead !  ... 462
He is Risen!  •'.... 466
On the Road to Emmaus  469
Be not Doubtful but Believing  422-
Lovest thou Me?  474
A Cloud received Him  478
Peter's Defence  481
Peter and John before Caiaphas  485
The Finished Picture  488

PART I.
GALILEE AND THE LAKE OF
GENNESARET.

A GREEN AND SUNNY LAND.
Wouldst thou like to hear about the most wonderful One
that ever lived ? He was beautiful, and kind, and loved little
children. His name is JESUS OF NAZARETH ! But I
wish thee to know all that He ever did or said, and to learn to
love Him dearly, for such knowledge is very precious, and
will become more precious the older thou dost grow.
It is a long story, but thou wilt not tire, for I will tell it
in little pieces, each piece a picture, and very interesting.
The first will be about the Sunny Land in which Jesus lived ;
for, though it is a long time ago, I wish it to seem as though
thou hadst seen Him but yesterday in a green glen of Galilee
with the people round Him.
He never did grow old, and used to gather children about
Him, and speak to them, and take them in His arms, and
thou wilt love Him in return before thou hast heard one half
of the kind things He did, and the cruel things which were
done to Him. He went about teaching and doing wonders,
and was taken a prisoner by soldiers, scourged, and killed
with great pain, and buried in a beautiful garden; but He
rose again, and we are told that, when on a hill-top with His
friends, He was taken up, and a white cloud received Him
out of their sight. On the night when He was born, a band
of angels passed singing through the starry sky ; and when
He went away, a bright angel stood beside the men on the
green hill-top to tell them that He would return.

2 FRUITS AND FLOWERS.
The sunny land of Palestine, in which He lived, is far away
from England. If a man were to walk on in a straight line,
it would take him more than one hundred days to reach it.
But thou canst not walk thither, for the sea is between it and
England, and people have to go in ships, which take fourteen
days to reach its warm shores, at the end of the blue
Mediterranean Sea. In Summer, it is so hot there that thou
wouldst have to wear thin loose clothing; while in Winter,
there is seldom any snow excepting on the high hills, and no
ice, but there are heavy rains that swell" the brooks into
dangerous torrents, during which time cold winds blow,
especially at night. But this soon passes off, and the sun
grows hot, and out come bright flowers among the grass, and
leaves upon the trees, making the land green and sunny again,
till the grass is dried up with scorching heat. Children
should love that country, for it has high windy hills, green
and rocky valleys, dark caves, sparkling springs, fruitful plains,
particularly where Jesus lived ; and there are plenty of sweet
fruits, coloured birds, and wild flowers.
Golden oranges, pale lemons, purple grapes, red apples,
green olives and citrons grow out of doors there, and children
find almonds, figs, walnuts, dates, mulberries, cherries, pome
granates by the roadside. The oranges are not pale like
those which come to England, but are left upon the tree
until large, sweet, and golden they are about to fall off for
ripeness, then the children pluck them. The flowers, too,
are more brilliant than in England. In Spring the ground is
covered with their bright colours, but their shapes would be
strange, and thou wouldst not know their names, but if
thou wert to gather a bunch, there would be some which
thou hadst often seen before. The white daisy, the crimson
poppy, yellow marigolds, blue lupins, climbing convolvulus,
red roses, scarlet geraniums, slender white lilies, tulips,
crocuses, narcissus, and thousands of red anemones that
almost hide the grass with their red heads. Upon the hills,
in the glens, and by the springs and streams, are the silver-
leafed olive tree, evergreen oak, terebinth, cedar, and fir trees,

TREES, BIRDS, VILLAGES. 3
and by the wells and villages, the tall feathery palm, or the
broad green sycamore, cast their shadows over the flat house
roofs, and in the gardens flourish the cypress, myrtle, bay,
and rosy flowering oleanders. The birds of Palestine have
feathers of red, blue, green, and gold ; with lovely wings and
breasts, and strange names — hoopoe, roller, bulbul, sunbird ;
but thine eyes would soon discover a grey lark singing in the
sky, a redbreast or blackbird on the hedge, and the dear
dusty-breasted common English sparrow. There, too, are the
wren, titmouse, nightingale, thrush, wagtail, swallow, eagle,
raven, crow, partridge, and countless beautiful moths and
butterflies. There are wild animals also in lonely places —
the hyaena, leopard, wolf, jackal, boar, gazelle ; and every
village has its yellow dogs, lean and hungry, that bark at
strangers. The country is very hilly, and stretches along by the sea,
with one deep river called the Jordan running through the
middle of it from one lake away down to another. At the
lower end the ground is bare and rocky, but as you go north
ward it grows greener, until at the further end it is all hills
and valleys, streams and fountains. It was in this highland
part, called Galilee, that Jesus lived.
Thou wouldst think His village a very country place, only
a cluster of white houses hid in a hollow of the green hills.
It is there still, and goes by the same name of Nazareth.
Built a little way from the top of the valley, it is sheltered
by the hills, and cannot be seen from the great plain below ;
but if thou wert to climb the hills behind, thou wouldst see
that the little village is a long way from the sea, so that ships
do not come near it, and carriages seldom pass through its
street. If the day were clear thou mightest see the curving
yellow shore and sparkling blue waters of the Mediterranean
Sea, with the white sails of ships ; and beyond the wooded
line of the Jordan, the great mountain of Hermon, capped
with glittering snow. Looking down at the little houses at
thy feet, thou wouldst at once say that this quiet village
would be a choice place in which to spend one's childhood,

4 NAZARETH.
for thou knowest that we do not then need cities, and steam-
engines, so much as green hills, and laughing streams to teach
us. Its name, Nazareth, some say means " Flowery," because of
the wild flowers that bloom around it ; and its houses are still
the same kind as when Jesus was a boy — built on both sides
of the narrow main street, of white stone, small, square-shaped,
like large bricks, with little doors and windows grown over
with creeping vines to keep out the sun, and broad flat roofs,
having an outside stair to go up by. Tall, thick-leaved trees
shade them from the heat ; while gardens fenced with prickly
hedges are full of green shrubs and bright flowers.
The village does not lie upon a busy road, and few
strangers, except curious visitors, go up the quiet street, with
its small crossings branching off. When Jesus lived in a little
house just like one of those, still fewer strangers came, and
the villagers lived a peaceful life. Shepherds and goatherds,
with crook and dog, led out their sheep in the morning to the
hills, and watched them straying up and down till night, when
they brought them home again. Some were gardeners, who
went to the orange and olive groves to trim the trees, or to
the grape-slopes to tend the vines, and made oil and wine
and raisins out of their fruits. Others were small farmers,
who ploughed, sowed, and reaped their wheat and barley
crops. On market days the villagers took their baskets of
grapes, olives, figs, and grain, their bags of wool, bottles of
wine and oil, their eggs, honeycombs, and sheep and goats,
down to the busy crowded towns, by the beautiful Lake of
Gennesaret, to sell them, or exchange them for the few simple
things which they required.
If thou wert to walk up that narrow street to-day thou
wouldst meet tall, dark-faced men, with waving cloaks and
with bright kerchiefs on their heads ; and red-cheeked women
with dresses of blue and red and yellow and with coloured
napkins on their dark hair, and a string of silver coins on their
brow. They wear no shoes, but have a piece of thick leather
tied upon their foot, and their steps make no noise as they

HIS FATHER AND MOTHER. 5
walk over the round stone pavement. Children too, with dark
merry eyes and white teeth, would peep round doors and house
corners to get a glimpse of the little white stranger who had
come to their village.
I have told thee of the flowers, fruits, and hills, and I am
sure thou art curious to know in which of these vine-covered
cottages Jesus lived, but, what thou art to remember is, that
His home was in a peaceful valley in the highlands of a far-off
Sunny Land.
HIS FATHER AND MOTHER.
NAZARETH, B.C. I.
In one of the little houses of Nazareth there lived long ago
a carpenter called Joseph. He was descended from the kings
of that country, but with a heart as good as any king, he
worked daily in a workshop. Though he lived in Nazareth,
his father and mother came from Bethlehem, at the other end
of the country, so that he did not really belong to Nazareth.
Tall, broad-shouldered, and strong, his face was brown with
the sun, while his loose and free dress suited hot weather and
hard work; only a long linen tunic, without sleeves, close
at the neck and coming down to his feet, and a bright girdle
round his waist. Over this, a loose cloak of coarse blue cloth,
and on his head a coloured kerchief — red, yellow, or striped
— bound round his head with a cord, and folded so as to
cover his black hair and part of his brow, and hang down on
either side, falling upon his shoulders to protect his neck and
ears from the sun. He had neither shoes nor stockings, for
these would have been too hot ; but sandals of leather tied on
with thin straps, crossed and wound round his leg and fastened
at the knee, and thus his feet were cool, his arms also bare
when he threw off his blue cloak to work.
Joseph was well known to the people about Nazareth, for he
was a good man and every one employed him; besides, he
was descended from King David, and, like every Jew, he was
proud of his family.

6 JOSEPH.
His carpenter's workshop was open, like a shed, so that the
wind might cool him when working, and the rain be kept off,
and it had a long wooden bench in the middle, upon which to
place the box or wheel he was making. With glancing axe in
the forest he hewed down trees, split them into logs, and with
rasping saw cut them into planks and carried them to his work
shop, there to be trimmed and divided, and with measure,
chisel, and hammer, made into tables, boxes, wheels, ploughs,
saddles, mills, as the villagers wanted. He could make or
mend all kinds of wooden things, and build a boat at the
Lake-side if required. As soon as the sun rose above the
distant hills his work began in the morning, for it was then
cool, and he worked until the heat of midday compelled him
to rest ; but by the afternoon, he was busy again splitting,
sawing, hammering, for he gave good work, and prospered well.
If thou couldst look into his shed this evening, and see how
he stops work only when darkness prevents him seeing any
longer, thou wouldst say his face is contented and kind, and
wouldst wonder why he works so hard. And he had a reason,
for there was a house to build, dishes, jars, lamps, furniture,
clothes to get, and goats, and a donkey and saddle to buy,
before he could marry the sweet maiden who had promised to
be his wife.
In the same village of Nazareth there lived a beautiful
maiden called Mary, a name which she has made dear to us
all, and which thou wilt ever associate with her after thou hast
heard her story. She was not rich, nor yet very poor ; living
with her father and mother and brothers and sisters, she wore
the ordinary dress of a Jewish country girl, yet with a modesty
and charm peculiar to herself. Her face was ruddy, and there
was a gentle look in her large brown eyes, and a sweet sunny
smile on her lip, that showed she was meditative, and had happy
thoughts. Her dress was strong and simple, — a long loose
jacket of striped colours, close at the neck, open in front, and
falling over her bright-coloured lower garments ; a soft scarf
binding in her waist, and spreading down with a fringe at the
ends, while wide hanging sleeves showed her bare arms. Her

MARY. 7
light-brown hair was hidden by a long scarlet or white napkin
that, bound upon her head, hung down her back, and on her
bare feet were loose slippers of yellow leather. Her orna
ments were a few thin rings of brass clasped upon her ankles,
that tinkled as she walked, a narrow bracelet, perhaps of silver,
upon each arm, at her neck a string of glass beads, and in her
hair, and across her brow, a row of coins, lighter than six
pences, that flashed and shook as she bowed or turned her
head. When, with one hand on her waist, and the other bal
ancing a red water-jug upon her shoulder, she walked down the
village street in the evening sunlight, to bring water for her
mother from the spring where the village maidens met to chat
and laugh, she was a pretty sight, loveliest, gentlest of them
all. At home she helped her mother : milking, sewing, bak
ing for her brothers, and gathering firewood ; and she could
sing the songs of her native land, spin wool, weave cloth, dye
bright colours, and make clothing. Strong and light of foot,
she did not fear to go out alone, and climb the hills behind,
or wander down the vale, nor to be out in the dark ; every one
knew her, none would harm her, and so she had grown up
trustful and fearless.
Her home was not far from Joseph's. She knew him well.
Often had he met her in the fields, where the fragrant olean
ders grew, and spoken words of sweetness, till now she knew
no dearer sight than Joseph coming to meet her, for she loved
him with all her heart, and all the village knew that she was
to be his wife. His workshop was close by. She knew it too,
for did not her heart beat faster every time she passed it when
he was there ? Often as she went to the fields, or the goats,
or the spring, she heard his rough saw rasping through the
plank, or the quick blows of his hammer on the wood, and
thought of him with pride and pity. Sometimes, too, she
paused when she came to his shed, and called to him, and
then the carpenter stopped his work, wiping the sweat from
his brow, as he listened to her message, and soon she passed
on in the sunshine with a happy light in her face as she
thought upon his words.

8 AN ANGELS VISIT.
She, too, was busy as Joseph, weaving cloth, making mats,
cushions, curtains, garments, and gathering odd things, for in
a few quick months they would be married and living together
in a small house furnished by themselves.
Thou hast heard much about Joseph and Mary, and I can
hear thee ask, " But who are they? " Canst thou not guess?
They were to be the father and mother of little Jesus, and
I wish thee to remember their names — Joseph, the village
carpenter, and Mary, the village maiden.

AN ANGEL'S VISIT.
NAZARETH, SPRING, B.C. I.
One day, it is thought in the evening, when the shadows of
the hills were falling over the flowery vale of Nazareth, and
the sun's last rays were glittering among the green leaves, for
it was the Spring-time, an angel came with a message for
Mary. Thou knowest that Heaven is the home of angels.
They are God's messengers. Mary was not yet married, and
was alone in the dim room of her mother's house, when sud
denly the angel Gabriel stood before her, the greatest angel in
Heaven, and she was startled and feared to look at him, but
thou knowest what an angel is like ? Tall as a young man,
with a beautiful face, having in it the valour of boyhood and
the sweetness of a girl, bright yellow hair, a soft robe, dazzling
as frosted snow, gathered and clasped at his neck, and flowing
down to a golden fringe at his feet ; at his back two great
shining wings, which shew that he is a messenger of the
heavens ; his face, his feet, his hands, glistering like the sun.
That is an angel.
" Hail ! for thou art highly favoured ! " the angel said, in a
gentle voice, "God is with thee,'' and this was partly the usual
greeting in that country. Mary heard, but was too much
afraid to answer, and sat looking down, wondering what his
words could mean.
" Fear not, Mary ! for thou art a favourite of God," the

THE ANGEL S MESSAGE. 9
angel continued, noticing her fear; and, as she sat in her
little room with head bowed before him, he went on to give
this wonderful message —
" Thou shalt have a son, and shall call Him JESUS. He
shall be great, and people will call Him the Son of God : and
God will give Him the throne of King David, and He will
reign for ever. Of His kingdom there shall be no end." When
the angel ceased there was silence, and he stood looking at
Mary, while she sat wondering and thinking, and looking down
at his shining feet. She knew Jesus would one day be born,
but that she, the village maiden, should be His mother, was a
thing too strange for her to understand : she expected Jesus
would have a queen for His mother. But the angel's voice
was so kind, and what he said was so joyful, that gradually her
fears vanished, and in a low voice she asked —
"How shall this be?" And the angel answered, telling
her that her cousin Elisabeth, who lived in distant Hebron,
would also have a little son, although she was old. Again he
ceased speaking, and Mary, who had been earnestly listening
to every word, felt that he waited for her answer, and in a
low, earnest voice she replied —
" I am the handmaid of God : let it be to me as thou hast
said." Then the angel departed, leaving her alone, wondering
at what had happened.
Now, at this time, the people of that country expected that
a great Saviour of their nation would soon appear, of whom
good news had been written in different parts of the Bible,
in many differeQt ways, hundreds of years before. And
as the people were much vexed and distressed by their
Roman conquerors, they prayed and longed and looked for
this Saviour to come with deep and intense desire. They
called Him the Messiah, and other beautiful names, but He
was best known by the Greek name of the Christ. In the
Bible it was written that He would be born in Bethlehem,
that angels would tell of His coming, that He would be a
powerful Prince, and the people believed He would drive out
the Romans, and be their king forever. Now Jesus of Naza-

IO THE CHRIST.
reth would indeed be the Christ, but a very different kind of
one from what the people expected, and He would indeed
found a kingdom, but not such as they longed for. He
would not fight, nor resist the Romans, nor sit on a throne,
nor wear a crown. The Kingdom which He would found
would not be one of cities, armies, and power, but a Kingdom
of Heaven in the world, of goodness, joy, and peace in the
hearts of men, women, and little children — a kingdom which
cannot be seen, for it is within us. Thou wilt remember
then, that the words Messiah, Anointed One, King of Israel,
Son of King David, Son of Man, Son of God, Lamb of God,
The Lord, Emmanuel, Prince of Life, Prince of Peace, and
the Christ are all different beautiful names in the Bible for
Jesus. And thou wilt understand the great joy of Mary now,
and of Elisabeth, and the shepherds, and John the Baptist,
and many others hereafter, when they heard that Jesus, the
Christ! after so many years of weary waiting, and so many
false hopes, had come at last.
Mary told no one of the angel's visit, but day after day she
pondered over his wonderful words. Something within her
said that they were true, and she rejoiced that she should be
the mother of Jesus, the Christ, who, she had been taught, would
be the Deliverer of her people. She also remembered what
the angel had said about Elisabeth, and thought that, perhaps,
he intended her to go and see Elisabeth, and she resolved to
go and tell her everything. She was a brave maiden, for she
was not long afraid of the great angel, nor of the message
from God, and now she was about to go on a long journey
alone, and she resolved not to tell anyone why she was going
from home.
Hebron, where Elisabeth lived, was about eighty miles
away, at the other end of the country, among the bare, yellow
hills of Judea, and it would take more than four days for
Mary to reach it. But she knew the road, having walked it
before, and trusted that God and His angels would protect
her. With young brave heart, she left her mother's house and
dear Joseph, and started on her journey, hastening through

ELISABETH AND JOHN. I I
flowery valleys, across rushing streams, over dusty roads, and
grassy hills, for it was early Summer. First, down her own
valley of Nazareth, then by pathways through the great fruitful
plains below, on towards the deep white river Jordan, now
climbing into higher ground, now going down into thickly
wooded gorges, now walking with other travellers, now walking
alone, till on the fourth day, she passed the great city of
Jerusalem, which she knew well, and went on and up, among
the wild Hebron Hills. What a walk for one so young, gentle,
and beautiful !
At length, tired and joyful, she reached Elisabeth's home,
in a sheltered vale, and was welcomed with a kiss. It was a
fine house, for Elisabeth was of high family, and was married
to Zacharias, a priest in the great golden Temple at Jerusalem,
and her husband and she were old, and had no children.
Elisabeth bathed Mary's feet with cool water, washed her
face and hands, dressed her hair, and gave her food, while
Mary told the old people how their friends at Nazareth were.
As soon as Elisabeth and she were alone, Mary told her
everything about the angel's visit, and when Elisabeth heard
her story, it so agreed with what she knew already, and with
what she had read and been taught about the coming of the
Christ that was to deliver their nation, that she exclaimed
joyfully —
"Thou art blessed among women!" and rejoiced greatly
at the good news. She also told Mary that what the angel
Gabriel had said about her having a child was true, for the
angel had also appeared to her husband Zacharias, and again
she rejoiced, saying she was not worthy that the mother of
Jesus should come to visit her ; and Mary answered, rejoicing
also, for their hearts were full of gratitude foj: the angel's
message. Now I wish thee to remember the obedience and fearless
ness of Mary, which showed that she was good and trustful.
Just such an one as thou wilt try to be.

12 HIS FATHER'S DREAM.

HIS FATHER'S DREAM.
NAZARETH, SUMMER, B.C. I.

Mary stayed three months with Elisabeth at Hebron till
Spring had passed into full Summer, and the narrow valleys
between the hills, once red as fire with anemones, were yellow
with withered grass, and the vines were budding on the sunny
slopes. Elisabeth was old and quiet, and filled with the Holy Spirit
of goodness, and she knew more than young Mary did. She
knew that Mary had a noble life before her, of great joys and
great griefs ; and they spent day after day quietly together,
preparing each other for the time when their little sons Jesus
and John would be born. A strange pair, the old white-haired
thin-faced Elisabeth, and Mary, young, red-cheeked, learning
the wisdom of life from her. When at length she left Elisabeth,
Mary returned to Nazareth, alone as she had come, thinking, as
she went, that part of the angel's message had already come
true. But she told no other one of the angel's visit ; not even
Joseph, but prayed to God, and felt that it was her duty to
tell no one. So she resumed her quiet village life, doing
her mother's bidding, and preparing for her marriage, for
Joseph and she were betrothed, that is they had promised to
marry each other,
Now a betrothal in Nazareth was almost as binding as a
marriage. It took place solemnly before friends in the house
of the young girl's mother. Joseph would hold out a penny
to Mary, saying, "I betroth thee to myself," to which she
would reply, by taking the money, and agreeing to marry him,
then perhaps they would both sign a paper, and though they
did not yet live together, they were bound to each other in a
way that could not easily be broken.
About a month after Mary returned from Hebron, Elisa
beth's little son was born, and she called him John, as the
angel had said. A few months more and Mary's wedding was
drawing near, but she had not told Joseph yet of the angel's

CALL HIM JESUS. 1 3
message. Some one whispered to him however that his be
trothed was about to have a child. He did not believe it,
and spoke to Mary, who then told him everything, and he
was so vexed and astonished that he did not know what to
think. He had never heard of such a thing, and with a sad
heart, he began to wonder whether Mary was trying to deceive
him, and had done a wrong thing for which the law said she
might be put to death. He was a good man, and was filled
with sorrow when he thought that perhaps Mary was not the
loving maiden he had believed her to be. Perhaps she or
her mother had made up the story about the great angel, in
order to hide her fault? Joseph could not tell, but, deeply
as he loved Mary, he felt that he ought not to marry her now,
still he could not bear to think of her being openly disgraced
and perhaps punished ; so he resolved to keep Mary's secret,
and privately break off their betrothal, telling no one the
reason. And who can tell how grieved was Mary's heart
during these sorrowful days of Joseph's estrangement from
her. Day after day went sadly past. He missed Mary's
bright face and gentle voice from his workshop, and he met
her no more in the fields at eventide, but he could not bring
himself to do the thing that would ruin her life ; and so he
waited on.
One night as he lay, wearied with his day's toil, asleep
and dreaming of her whose soft brown eyes seemed bent
on him in silent pleading; the dream changed. Mary's
face faded away in a golden vision. The room seemed filled
with light, and an angel with shining wings stood beside
him. "Joseph," the angel said, "be not afraid to take Mary to
be thy wife, for her Son is from God," and seeing a glad smile
pass over the sleeper's face, the angel added, "Thou shalt
call the Child's name JESUS, for He shall save His people
from wickedness." And having given this message, the angel
departed, the dream ended, and Joseph awoke, and there was
no one in his little dark room.
He did not doubt that his beautiful dream was a message from

14 THE RIDE TO BETHLEHEM.
God, and that the angel was the same as had appeared to Mary,
and the message filled him with joy, for it restored his beloved
one to him, and raised her to the highest place among women.
He rose very early in the morning, and the sun never shone
so brightly, nor did the birds sing so sweetly, nor was his heart
ever more joyful than when he hastened through the village
to find Mary, and tell her that he now believed every word of
her story, and that they must never be parted. He would beg
her to forgive him for ever doubting her, and thou canst see
the warm blush of joy on Mary's cheek, as, with a kiss of silent
welcome, she tells Joseph she has no fears now. And so they
walked together again through the Summer fields around
Nazareth, talking iii loving whispers of the wonderful mes
sages of the angel, and of their happy marriage, which would
soon be now.
And thou wilt remember to admire and love Joseph for
the kind way he treated Mary, when he was in trouble and
doubt as to whether the story she had told him was true.

THE RIDE TO BETHLEHEM.
NAZARETH, AUTUMN, B.C. I.
Mary's first trial was over. The barley fields were reaped
in the plains, the purple grapes plucked and pressed, and the
ripe red apples and dark green olives shaken from their
branches. For Summer had passed into Autumn. Mary's
wedding day had come, and she would be about fifteen,
for women grow up much sooner in that country than in
England. Now a marriage in Nazareth was a time of great rejoicing,
when children shouted, and youths and maidens danced,
played, and sang. Mary would be married in Joseph's
father's house, whither, by her young companions, she was
brought from her mother's, all dressed in white, and decked
with fragrant flowers and wearing her best ornaments, a wreath
of green myrtle leaves upon her head, and her lovely brown

A MARRIAGE AT NAZARETH. 1 5
hair unbound and hanging loose, but hidden from sight by a
fine white veil that covered her from head to foot. She would
come at night, her path lit by torches and lanterns on poles,
young girls surrounding her, dancing and singing her praises
to the music of flutes, timbrels, castanets, and the drums and
triangl«6 of the young men, while the village people looked on
at the bridal procession of the fairest and best of maidens.
The house where their friends met to see the wedding was
garlanded with leaves and bunches of fresh flowers. The
ceremony was simple. Before them all, they took each other
as husband and wife, Joseph promising to work for Mary and
honour her ; then their young friends showered flowers upon
them as they signed a marriage paper, and sat down side by
side to a merry wedding-feast.
After a week of dancing, feasting, and rejoicing, Joseph took
Mary away to the quiet little house in the village which was to
be her new home. They spent the beautiful Autumn quietly
in Nazareth, and when the Winter time came they had to go
upon a journey to a little town called Bethlehem, near to where
Elisabeth lived, and while they only intended to be away for
a few weeks : they did not return for months. They were
compelled with many other people to take this journey, for
the country had been conquered by the Romans, and the
Emperor Caesar Augustus, who wished to know how many
people there were, had ordered every man to be counted.
As Joseph belonged to Bethlehem, he had to give in his
name there by the command of the Jewish King Herod, and
he took Mary with him, not caring to be parted from her so
soon. Bethlehem was seventy miles off, and it took four days to
go, and as Mary could not walk so far, Joseph got a little
shaggy ass for her to ride on. They started early on a Decem
ber morning, when the trees were bare, and shaken with cold
winds, and the brooks white with dashing water. Joseph, tall
and strong, with his rough blue cloak over his shoulder and
dark red kerchief on his head, guided the ass with one hand,
while with the other he held Mary on its back, as it went

1 6 THE JOURNEY.
halting and picking its steps slowly down the slippery path and
stony watercourse of the vale that widened out into the plain
below ; and soon the white houses of the village were hidden
from sight, as Joseph led the way over turf, stones, and earth,
through the field-paths to the common road across the great
plain of Esdraelon. At the brass-mounted saddle-hung a bag
of clothing and provisions, and on the other side a leather
skin of water from the spring, while the bridle and trappings
were gay with a fringe of knotted and coloured cords that
hung over the ass's nose, with perhaps a red or yellow tassel,
made by Mary's own hands, hanging under its neck.
As they went through the fields on the level plain of
Esdraelon, they saw the rich soil being ploughed up with
wooden ploughs and slow oxen, and the seed cast in by the
people from the small villages of white houses, of which there
were a great number. Behind them were the wooded hills of
Galilee, with Mount Tabor towering above the plain covered
with trees to its rounded top ; before them the Carmel
range and the dim blue hills of Samaria. Joseph would take
the easier but longer road down by the Jordan river, across
and along its Eastern bank, recrossing at the fords, and passing
through the rose gardens and orchards of Jericho. It was
their first trip from home together, and he would take care
not to expose Mary to the cutting winds on the hill-tops, nor
bring the little ass to streams too deep to wade across. From
the high ridges he would point out the scenes below, and tell
her the names of the hills, towns, and villages ; and in the
hollows she would dismount, and they would rest and take
food, while the ass cropped the grass. They had plenty of
company, for thousands. of people were moving about the
country, like themselves, going to be counted.
By day they walked steadily on, and at night they slept in
some friendly house, for the people thought it wicked not to
take travellers in at night. On the fourth day they passed Jeru
salem, the greatest city in that country, and went on towards
Bethlehem, among the hills, six miles along the Hebron road.
The way then grew more uneven, winding along hillsides, and

BETHLEHEM. 1 7
ever getting higher, till at length they saw the low houses and
white walls of Bethlehem, upon the top of a hill some way off.
All around them were hills and valleys, with plenty of grass for
sheep, and trees by the streams, while the hillsides near Beth
lehem were covered with vine terraces and gardens of pome
granates, figs, apples, with walls round them and watch-towers
at the corners. The path was steep and rocky from the plains
below to the walls of the village ; but after a slow and hard
climb, they passed under the stone arch of the gateway, with
its square tower built over it, and were in Joseph's own village,
from the walls o'f which they looked over a country of many
white and grey hills, with spots of green between, the view ex
tending down to the Philistine plains by the sea on one side,
and on the other side down the gorges to the Dead Sea, with
its red granite hills at the edge, and the great blue mountains
of Moab beyond.
Thus far, all had gone well, although it was hard and even
dangerous to travel such roads in Winter. But the village was
crowded with strangers, who had also come to be counted,
and when Joseph went to the friend's house with whom he in
tended to stay, he found it already full. He went to another
and another, but they were also full, and as Mary was very
tired, he resolved to search no more, but go to the village
inn. Leading the ass with drooping head through the stony
streets, at length they reached the inn, only to find it full also.
It was a poor and comfortless place, a few low-roofed houses
built round a square that was open to the sky, with a pool of
water in the middle for the animals to drink at, and all that
strangers could get there was water for the beasts and a place
to sleep in. Entering by the low archway, Joseph found the
open square filled with long-necked camels, horses, asses, goats,
with their loads and saddles lying about, and men and dogs
going to and fro ; but they were so tired that, having got in,
he resolved to sleep in any corner he could get for the night,
rather than walk any more about the streets. There were
places for the horses round the square, some built of stone,
some only shallow caves cut out of the soft limestone rock,

15 THE ANGELS SONG.
and finding an empty stall in one of these cave-stables, thither
he led the ass with Mary, to get them out of the confusion
of the crowd.
Darkness was now coming on, and they had to make the
best of the place they were in for one night, hoping to get
into a friend's house in the morning. An open stall in a
crowded public inn, how different from Mary's httle home at
Nazareth ! No doubt Joseph got straw and mats, and made it
as comfortable as he could, hanging a large mat over the door
way to keep the cold wind out ; but as the dark-faced men
looked in on their way past, they thought it a strange place
for one so gentle and beautiful as Mary to lodge in. And
so the ass was tied close by, and amid the sound of men's
voices, jingling camel-bells, trampling of feet on the pavement,
and yelping of dogs, Mary and Joseph prepared to spend their
first night in Bethlehem.
And thou wilt remember that Joseph had come to Bethle
hem to be counted, and that they had to lodge in a stable,
not because they were so poor, but because the village inn was
full.

THE ANGELS' SONG.
BETHLEHEM, WINTER, B.C. I.
And that very night Jesus was born ! In a stable in the
month of December, among straw, and with animals near.
And Mary took her little child and wrapped Him in baby
clothes, and laid Him softly in a manger — a little box out of
which horses eat — which served for His first cradle. And
Joseph had more mats put up to keep away the cold, and a
little lamp hung upon a string, that those who came might see
their way.
Out in the starry night a band of shepherds watched their
sheep on the green plains below Bethlehem ; hardy men, who
had to guard their flocks, for they were near a desert where
there were wild animals. In that country shepherds think

THE SHEPHERDS ON THE PLAINS. 1 9
nothing of being out all night if the weather be good, for the
sky is of a rich blue with great silvery stars that sparkle and
throb, and a moon clearer and brighter than ever it is in
England, so that things can be seen afar off. The night was
fine, and the shepherds took turn about of keeping awake and
watching with their faithful dogs, that no sneaking wolf nor
shrieking hyena should catch their lambs ; for there were wild
wooded gorges near, where these animals lived. On these
plains, long ago, King David, while yet a youth, had slain a
bear and a lion that attacked his father's sheep. The shep
herds loved their sheep, and even yet in that country, when the
time comes for the sheep to go home, the shepherd-boy does
not set his dog barking at them, but taking out a little whistle-
pipe, he blows a few shrill funny notes, and over hillock and
rock the sheep come bounding and follow him away.
The clothing of these shepherds was of coarse cloth, some
having warm coats made of sheepskin with the wool inside,
and on their heads were bright-coloured kerchiefs that
scarcely hid their tangled hair; and they had large loose
cloaks that they could wrap round them and sleep in. The
night was chilly, and as they sat round the fire which they
had lighted to scare wild animals away, the silence of the wide
plains was broken only by the bleating of the sheep close by,
or the howling of a distant wolf, the clear stars quivered and
flashed, and the moon shone like a bow of crystal in the blue ;
when suddenly one of the shepherds, who had been looking
at the sky, uttered a cry of surprise, and springing to his feet
stood pointing upward. And soon they were all standing
gazing at the figure of a beautiful angel that, with wide out
stretched wings, came swiftly down the skies, making all light
around him. He was coming towards Bethlehem, towards the
plains ! towards them ! and then he came so near that they
could not look upon his brightness, but they knew that he
was standing on the grass beside them, for a golden glory
from Heaven shone round about them.
" Be not afraid," the angel said, " for I bring you good
tidings of great joy, to all people. Jesus, the Christ, is born

20 A BAND OF ANGELS.
to-day in Bethlehem ! and this is how you will know Him.
You will find Him, a little Child, wrapped in baby clothes,
and lying in a manger." And, as he spoke, his face shone,
for this was the most joyful message he had ever carried.
They had never seen such a shining form, nor heard so
sweet a voice, and were filled with amazement that such a
lovely being should give this glorious message to rough men
like them. But he had scarcely ceased, when they heard
the sweetest music in the air that has ever come to earth, like
the singing of a multitude of voices, faint and far away, and
looking up they saw a host of angels, more than they could
count, floating through the stars, down, down towards the
green earth, with white robes trailing, and shining wings out
spread, and it was from them that the singing came. As they
passed down into the open blue sky above the hills, the shep
herds saw how lovely were their shapes, and listening in
perfect silence they heard them singing, and singing again
these beautiful words —
" Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will
toward men! Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
good-will toward men ! " Words which have been sung by
many angel children on many a Christmas Eve since then.
The shepherds had never seen such a glorious sight, nor
heard such sweet and thrilling music. The angels passed over
the towers and roofs of sleeping Bethlehem, and along the sky,
and as they floated over their heads the whole air and earth
seemed filled with the sound of their pure voices, and the
plains were flooded with golden light as if a window in Heaven
had been opened over them. They watched the trail of their
white robes, and saw their joyful faces, and heard the beat of
their great soft wings, but they did not touch the plains, as
the shepherds expected, but leaving the earth, they rose again
above the dark hills into the blue sky, passing through the
throbbing stars, a milky way of angels beating their way up
ward towards the golden gates, the music of their voices
sounding fainter and fainter, now heard, now lost on the
night wind, until their bright trail faded among the lights of

JESUS BORN. 21
Heaven, and the music died away. The shepherds turned to
the angel, but he was gone. Spreading his shining wings he
had joined the bright throng unnoticed as they gazed, and
there was nothing but dewy grass and rosy daisies where his
feet had been.
If thou wouldst remember this scene, learn to sing * the
beautiful hymn which says —
" It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending o'er the earth,
To touch their harps of gold;
Peace be on earth, good-will to men,
And glory to Heaven's King,
And the world in solemn silence lay,
To hear the angels sing."
And when thou hearest songs in the night time at Christmas-
tide, think of the shepherds out on the plains and of the
angels' song, and say these words over and over again to
thyself, " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
good- will toward men."

JESUS BORN.
BETHLEHEM, CHRISTMAS, B.C. I.
When the shepherds on the plains recovered from their
astonishment, they looked up to Bethlehem on the hill, and
the moon was beaming from the blue sky overhead, and
shining on the white houses, and flooding the streets with
silver, and they talked excitedly together. Did the angel
mean them to go and see this wonderful Child of whom he
spoke ? Was it all a beautiful dream ? But each had heard
and seen the same things, so that it could not be a dream.
Now, as thou knowest, the people were expecting the Christ
the Deliverer of their nation to come about this time, and
that He would be born in Bethlehem, and these shepherds
wondered with suppressed joy whether it could really be true
that the Christ had come at last. After talking together,

2 2 THE BABE IN THE MANGER.
they settled that as many as could be spared should go up to
the village and see whether there was a babe in a manger
there, for the angel had said that this would be the sign that
it was indeed Jesus the Christ.
Leaving one or two to watch the sheep until morning, they
hastened across the grassy plains, through the fields and
gardens, and climbing the rugged pathway were soon close to
the white walls of the village. The gates were shut and all
was silent, but they roused the sleeping watchman by their
loud knocking, who looked at them drowsily from his strong
tower on the wall, and recognising the shepherds, came down
and opened the gate. With a short greeting they hurried on
up the main street, for, guessing that the angel meant the
large stable of the public inn, the principal stable in the
village, they went to it.
A lamp hanging from a rope stretched across the open arch
way showed them the square within, where the animals were
resting, kneeling and lying on the ground. Going through
this stone arch, they looked about them and saw a dim light
burning in one of the side stables cut out of the rock, but they
could not see who were in it for a curtain at the entrance.
Whispering together and making as little noise as possible,
with beating hearts they went towards it. They were almost
afraid to look in, for they expected to see a glorious child,
with angels bending over him.
Drawing near on tiptoe, one of them gently and silently
held the curtain to one side, while they all came close to look.
And what did they see? A beautiful young maiden lying on
a rude couch of straw, and a strong young countryman watch
ing beside her. This was not what they expected. In eager
whispers they asked Joseph and Mary, who were startled on
seeing their dark faces peering in, whether there was a babe
there. Joseph pointed to the manger close beside Mary,
and beckoned to them to come in. With noiseless feet they
stepped upon the raised stone floor of the stall, and soon, by
the light of a little rush-lamp that burned near, these dusky-
faced men, some kneeling, some bending, gazed with wonder

THE SHEPHERDS JOY. 23
and awe upon the rosy face of the sleeping Jesus, and they
could scarce draw their breath as they thought that there
lay the Christ, the hope of their nation of whom the herald
angels sung, sleeping like a mortal child.
In whispers and with gestures, their excited faces, their
flashing eyes and strange rough coats but dimly seen in the
lamplight, they told Joseph what they had heard and seen out
on the plains, repeating the words of the angel's message.
Mary, who was frightened at first by their coming, now knew
that they too had seen messengers from Heaven, and was
glad when she thought that the beautiful angels were rejoicing
over the birth of her Child.
When the shepherds withdrew into the courtyard, they told
Joseph the whole story over again of the wonderful vision of
angels, and of their message ; and the people in the court,
attracted by their strange behaviour, came to listen, and also
went and looked at the sleeping Child, and long before day
light all in the inn knew the shepherds' story and wondered
at it. The shepherds did not wait in Bethlehem, but went
away, shouting as they went — " The Christ has come, praise
be to God ! " making the streets echo with their shouts in
the early morning, and sleepers awake to wonder what they
meant, as they returned rejoicing on their way out to the plains
to tell their companions.
And that day many strange faces bent over the little
Child Jesus as He lay in His strange cradle ; some to shake
their doubtful heads as to whether He could be the Christ,
others to whisper a prayer, and many to speak kind words to
the sweet young mother. And what did Mary think? It
was now almost a year since the great angel had come with
the message to her, but she had not forgotten one word, and
the shepherds had repeated much of what the angel had said ;
and now that she held the promised Babe in her arms and
could see Him smile, she felt, with a rapture of joy, that she
was indeed the most highly favoured among women. As thou
knowest, she was a silent, thoughtful maiden, and everything
that happened, and all the heavenly messages, and all that the

24 A JEWELLED CAVE.
people said and did at this time, she laid by in her memory,
and when she was alone with her Child, she looked into His
beautiful face and pondered over these things.
People who go to Bethlehem now-a-days are shown a cave
in the rock, which is said to be the very cave in which Jesus
was born; and while it may not be the exact place, it is
perhaps near it, and for hundreds of years men have sur
rounded it with every mark of tenderness and love, and all for
Jesus' sake. It is at the end of the village nearest to Naza
reth, and people can see the spot from a distance, for there is
a splendid church built over it, standing out upon a rocky
part of the hill whence a view is had of the shepherds' grassy
plains below.
To reach this cave thou wouldst have to enter the beautiful
church and walk over its polished pavement floor, and be
tween its marble pillars, with the light falling softly upon thee
from the richly-coloured windows. A solemn monk, with
white beard and long robe, would meet thee and take thee
to a low door in a side wall, at the entrance of which thou
wouldst see a white marble star in the pavement pointing thee
to the door. Going through that door, thou wouldst find
fifteen marble steps leading down to the wonderful cave, and
he would tell thee that this was the place thou hadst come to
see, and on going down thou wouldst hear distant music
sounding, and wouldst find thyself in a cave underground, cut
out of the white limestone rock, with a floor of black marble,
veined with red, all brilliantly lighted up by thirty-two fragrant
lamps of gold and silver and sparkling crystal, that hang with
silver chains from the roof, and are never allowed to go out
by night or by day. Looking round, thou wouldst not be
able to see any of the white rock, for marble of all colours
with which the walls and roof are covered, and for pictures
made of bright-coloured stones that are upon the walls, and
thou wouldst see that the cave was about the size of a long
narrow room, 13 yards long and 2 yards wide, with a low roof,
not much higher than a tall man. Thy dark-faced guide
would then take thee over to a place hollowed out in the wall,

HIS NAME. 25
in which small hollow a number of little lamps are hung by
gold chains, and there thou wouldst see a magnificent star
of silver, precious stones, and jewels, set in the pavement,
shining and sparkling under these lamps, and written in
Latin round this star are these words
"Jesus was born here of the Virgin Mary."
And thy guide would tell thee that this was the very stall in
which Jesus was born. He would then take thee across the
cave to a hollow in the opposite wall, from the roof of which
more small beautiful lamps are hung, lighting up a pure white
marble manger, shaped like a cradle, and he would tell thee
that on this spot stood the manger in which Mary laid Jesus.
Before the marble manger burn two small fires that are never
allowed to go out, called incense fires, the smoke of which fills
the cave with heavy fragrance.
The monk would also take thee to other parts and show thee
other strange things, but thou wouldst be more interested in
seeing the men with foreign looks and strange bright-hued
dresses, who come down the white marble steps and fall upon
their faces before the silver star or the marble manger, and
with prayers and sighs kiss the pavement, for these men have
travelled hundreds of miles to pray in that cave. They do
not doubt that Jesus was born there. Perhaps He was,
perhaps He was not ; I think very likely not, and would not
have thee trouble thyself much about it, or think more of that
cave than of any other wonderful sight. The thing that thou
art to rejoice in is that Jesus was born, and that thou canst
pray to Him and worship Him as well in thine own little
room, or on the open hillside as in that jewelled cave in
Bethlehem.
HIS NAME.
JERUSALEM, JANUARY, A.D. I.
Every little child in that country had a name given to it
when it was eight days old, and this could be done either in

26 JESUS, SAVIOUR.
the church or at home among friends. The beautiful angel
said to His father and mother, "Thou shalt call Him Jesus,"
so that they had no trouble in choosing His name. Taking
Jesus in his arms, Joseph would tell his friends what His
name was to be, and when they asked why he did not call
Him Joseph, or some other family name, he would say that
he had been told His name in a dream, but more than that
he would not tell.
In those days every name had a well-known meaning. It
was a pretty custom, but although names still have meanings,
very few people care about them now. What is thy name ?
Perhaps thou art a little Harold, or Margaret, or Wilfrid, or
Mary? Thou shouldst learn the meaning of thy name.
Harold means a champion ; Margaret means a pearl ; Wilfrid
means the peace-winner ; Mary means bitterness. But thy
name was given thee not for its meaning, but because it was
some other person's name before thee, or for its pretty sound,
but Jesus got His name because of its meaning only. There
is no other name so beautiful, for it means " Saviour ; " the
angel told Mary so when he said —
" Thou shalt call Him Jesus, for He shall save His people."
And when thou hearest all the kind things that Jesus did, and
understandest that He saves people from wickedness, who
try to be like Him, thou wilt say He well deserves His
beautiful name of " Saviour."
Mary and Joseph lived quietly in some friend's house in
Bethlehem till Jesus was a month old, and her cousin Elisa
beth would come from Hebron to see her, bringing her
little babe John, for it was the rule that Mary should not
go out for a month, and that as her Child was a little Boy,
her first journey should be to the golden Temple, to return
thanks and present Him there. She was glad when at last
she could come out into the early morning sunshine of
January, with Jesus sleeping in her arms, and mounting the
little ass, ride away to Jerusalem, which was only six miles
off. The road descended, winding among the hills, and vales
which were already becoming green with early grass, and

THE GOLDEN TEMPLE. 27
after two hours' riding they approached the city, passing
through the fine houses of rich men, and the king's gardens
with their sheltered flowers and trees, and by the pool of
Gihon in the vale of Hinnom as they came near to the high
walls and great square towers of the city. By a long stone
archway they went through the Bethlehem Gate, and then
they were in a narrow street paved with round white stones,
with houses on each side so high that the sun could not
reach them as the ass toiled quietly on, climbing up towards
a high part of the town called Mount Moriah, on which the
great Golden Temple was built. Passing over the long stone
bridge of the deep Tyropcean Valley that divided the city,
they waited among a crowd of worshippers for the opening of
the Temple doors. It was the rule that Mary should bring
a small present of two turtle doves or two young pigeons.
These could be bought at the Temple doors, and while she
rested on the white marble steps, Joseph, who had not much
money, bought two little pigeons in a small wicker cage.
And thou wilt remember how He was called by the dear
name of Jesus, and that it means "Saviour," because He
saves people from wickedness.
THE GOLDEN TEMPLE.
JERUSALEM, JANUARY, A.D. I.
At length the sound of silver trumpets blown three times
within the Temple, told Joseph and Mary that it was nine
o'clock, and they saw the great doors of the Temple
slowly opened that all might enter in to the morning ser
vice. With little Jesus in her arms, and Joseph at her
side, Mary went up the white steps and into the Royal
porch, which was the most splendid of all the Temple
porches, having four rows of forty marble pillars in each
row, all of different colours, and covered by a richly orna
mented roof; yet this was only one side of the great outer
Temple square. Going through these pillars, they walked out
into the wide court of the Gentiles, which was open to the

28 GATES OF GOLD, AND BRASS.
blue sky, and paved with the finest variegated marble of all
colours, and went towards a magnificent building of pure white
marble with pillars all round it, which rose, terrace above ter
race, from the middle of this open square, the highest terrace
having a peaked roof of cedar wood covered with gold, where
the morning sun was reflected in a blaze of fire. This great
terraced building was the inner Temple, and that roof of
gold covered the Holiest place of all.
They went towards the lower end of this splendid building,
passing through on their way a beautifully ornamented wall-
screen of marble, about the height of a boy, and past which
none but Jews might go, on pain of death, and towards
twelve great white marble steps which led up to the first
magnificent gate of the inner Temple. This gate was made
of bright Corinthian brass, richly wrought, and was so heavy
that it took twenty men to move it, and it was called the
Beautiful Gate, and over it was set a huge eagle of brass,
placed there by King Herod to please the Romans. Going
up these steps they passed through the porch consisting of
two rows of marble pillars, and then they entered the Court
of the Women, which was also open to the blue sky and paved
with coloured marble. Going across this court, they came
to fifteen very broad marble steps, shaped in a half-circle,
on which the Temple singers and musicians stood when
performing, and which led up to the porch of a second gate,
the great Nicanor gate, which was richly ornamented with
silver and gold, the most beautiful of all the gates of the
Temple. Going up these steps, they waited among the pillars
and arches of the Nicanor porch, at the end of which was
this splendid gate, but it was shut, for inside were the courts
of the Men and the Priests, into which no woman was allowed
to go.
When the Nicanor gate was opened, looking in they saw the
white-robed priests and the huge altar built of unhewn stone,
with the smoke of the morning sacrifice rising from it, the great
heap of salt with which every sacrifice was salted, the marble
tables for laying the sacrifices on, and the silver table, covered

VEILS OF PURPLE, AND SCARLET. 29
with gold and silver bowls and the gold shovels, tongs, spoons,
hooks, and knives of the priests. They saw also the great
brass laver for water at one side, shaped like the cup of a huge
flower, and supported on twelve brazen lions, while beyond,
and on a higher terrace still, rose the Holy place, roofed with
gold, and built of huge stones covered with gold, with pillars
of snowy marble, while over the entrance to its porch of pillars,
hung a great outer curtain of blue, scarlet, purple, and white,
beyond which Joseph and Mary could not see. But inside that
porch was a door plated with gold, and covered with a thick
curtain of the same colour as the last, and over it was a great
vine of pure gold, the bunches of grapes being as tall as a
man. Behind these closed doors was the Holy place in
which were two golden tables with golden crowns wrought
round them, on which stood twelve cakes of shew-bread, and
opposite to them stood the golden candlestick with seven
lights shaped like almond tree blossoms, which were always
kept burning. And near to a magnificent veil of blue, scarlet,
purple, gold, and white, richly wrought together, at the fur
ther end, was the square golden altar of incense, on which the
priests burnt incense of sweet spices every morning when
they trimmed the lamps of the golden candlestick and poured
in fragrant olive oil. Within that great veil was a room whose
walls and roof were covered with plates of gold, and which
every Jew regarded with awe and dread, calling it the Holy of
Holies ; and in the midst of that glittering silent place was a
large rough stone, and nothing else.
Mary waited with her little basket of doves until the white-
robed Levites from the Priests' court within, came out to the
woman at the gate, when she handed one of them her present,
which he carried away to be offered on the altar. Then a
priest came out, and all the women went towards him, when
he sprinkled some drops of blood upon them, and blessed
them. Thus was the gentle Mary purified, as it was called.
But Jesus had yet to be presented, for it was the rule that
every eldest boy had to be presented as a gift to God in the
Temple, and if his parents wished it, the priests would keep

30 PRESENTED IN THE TEMPLE.
him and train him up among themselves, but if not, then they
had to pay five silver shekels (worth about ten shillings) to get
their little boy back again ; but only beautiful children could
be so presented.
Taking little Jesus from His mother, Joseph carried Him
away through the Nicanor gate into the Men's court within,
and put Him into a priest's arms, telling him that the
Baby boy was Mary's first Child. The priest asked if he
wished Him back again, to which Joseph said " Yes," hand
ing him the five silver shekels. The priest then gave Jesus
back to Joseph, and putting one hand on the Child's brow,
with the other which held the money, he made a circle round
His head, saying —
" This is instead of this, and this for this. May this Child
be brought to life, to the law, and to the fear of God." And,
putting both hands on the Child's head, he said a short
prayer, commencing thus :
" The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord lift up
His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace." Then
he turned away, and Joseph carried Jesus back to His
mother, whose young face had been watching them at the
gate through which she dared not go. Clasping her little boy
in her arms, and kissing Him, Mary turned away and went
down the great white steps into the Women's court again.
As they went out, an old man of Jerusalem, called Simeon,
who believed that he would not die until he had seen the
Christ who was to save his people, passed by, leaning on his
staff, and with his white hair on his shoulders, and the Spirit
of God told him that little Jesus was the young Christ. Stop
ping Mary, he begged that she would let him hold the Child.
With a surprised glance at his face, Mary put the Child
into his arms. In a voice trembling with deep emotion, the
old man thanked God for that day, saying that he was now
willing to die, having seen Jesus the Christ. Turning to
Mary, he told her that her Child would have a great effect
on the rising and falling of many in their nation, and that
great sorrow would come to her. With one more look at the

THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM. 3 1
face of Jesus, he gave Him back to His mother, and leaning
on his staff moved slowly on to prayers in the inner Temple.
Hardly had he gone, when Anna, an old and very good
woman, who was often in the Temple worshipping, hearing
what Simeon said, came up to Mary, who was to her a mere
girl, for she was nearly one hundred years old, and her hus
band had died when she was only a few years older than
Mary, and looking at the young mother and her Child, she
also recognised Jesus as the young Christ, and gave thanks
joyfully to God that He was born ; and to the people who
were near she said that the Child would be the Saviour of the
nation. And many of the people believed her, and were glad,
for they knew Anna to be a good woman, and came to look
at the wonderful Child Christ that had been presented that
day. Again Mary was put upon the little ass, and taking the
bridle in his hand, Joseph guided it down the steep streets,
out by the city gate and along the dusty road among the hills,
and before night came on they were back again in their friend's
house at Bethlehem.
And thou wilt remember that Jesus was presented by His
mother in the Golden Temple while still a baby ; just as thy
own mother has often presented thee in prayer to God in the
temple of her loving heart.

THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM.
BETHLEHEM, SPRING, A.D. I.
When Jesus was born, a bright new star was discovered
in the sky, sparkling and flashing through the blue night.
There were men then who watched the stars, and said they
could tell from their movements what would happen, and that
stars had a great deal to do with people's lives. These wise
men were called Magi, and some of them lived in an Eastern
city (some think in Persia) ; and one night, as they watched
the same stars which thou seest scattered like chips of silver

32 THE WISE MEN.
over the sky, they noticed this strange bright star shining low
down where they had never seen it before ; and every evening
when it grew dark and the stars began to appear they watched
for it, and there it was in the same place again — low and red
and near the earth — and they wondered what it could mean.
Like old Simeon and Anna, they also believed that the Christ
would be born about this time, and would be the King of the
Jews — perhaps they themselves were Jews who lived in Persia
— and the Spirit of God revealed to them that the Christ had
indeed been born, and that this beautiful star was a sign to
them to go and find Him, and they were glad, and resolved
to go to Jerusalem, although it was far away, and worship
the little baby King and take Him presents.
They were rich men, and ordered their servants to saddle
camels, and get ready at once for a long journey. Now camels
are strange-looking animals, with long thin legs, and can go
very fast over the sand with their broad soft feet, and need
little water, and the servants put large wooden saddles on
them and fringed cloths of crimson and blue, and bridles with
red tassels ; and taking food and water and presents, the wise
men, dressed in their finest clothes, mounted on the best of the
camels, the servants following on others, and rode away, armed
with long spears and swords to scare the robbers. They had
many miles of hot yellow sand to travel over before they could
reach Jesus' country, and every evening when they saw the
bright beautiful star shining red and low in the sky before
them they stopped, and saddles were unpacked, and tents put
up for the night ; and before the star had faded in the morning
light they were up and riding on again. And so day after day,
resting under green trees when the midday sun was hot, they
travelled on, and ever the star that came trembling forth at
eve was their guide and hope. I know not how many days they
travelled ; but if they saw the star on the night that Jesus was
born, and started without delay, they must have travelled for
six weeks, for He had been presented in the Temple before they
reached Jerusalem.
At length they saw the mountain ranges of the country of

SEEKING FOR JESUS. 33
Jesus, and climbing into them found how fresh and beautiful
they were with budding leaves, soft grass, and purple hyacinths,
crocus and tulip, after the deserts of hot yellow sand from
which they came ; a few days more, and they were riding into
Jerusalem, thinking their journey at an end. They were sur
prised, however, to find no signs of rejoicing, no flags or feast
ing, no music or dancing, and stopping a man they asked him —
" Where is He that is born King of the Jews ? We have
seen His star in the East, and have come to worship Him."
The man did not know. He had never heard of it ; and look
ing at the swarthy faces and fine dresses of the rich men, he
wondered who they were as he walked away. Every one they
asked seemed surprised, and gave them the same answer.
But they went from street to street of the city asking the
same thing, and attracting much notice by their strange for
eign looks and stranger question. Their robes were rich,
their saddle-cloths of crimson and blue, fringed with gold ;
they had armed servants, and were plainly important men,
perhaps princes in their own country, and as they went
through the crowded bazaars, all the people of Jerusalem
wondered greatly at them. When night came, they looked,
but there was no star, nor the next night, and they remained
in Jerusalem searching the city day after day.
Some one told the king about the strange visitors who had
come to the city, saying that the young Christ was born King,
and for whom they were searching everywhere. Now Herod
was a wicked cruel king who thought his friends were always
plotting to make some one else king, and when he heard what
these men were saying he was greatly troubled, and ordered
his Council of chief priests and councillors to meet him at his
palace. He believed, and the priests also believed, and
taught, that the Christ would one day be born and save the
people, for it was so written in the Bible which the priests kept.
"Where is the Christ to be born?" the king demanded,
when his Councillors were standing before him.
" In Bethlehem of Judaea," they replied at once, for they
all knew, and sending for the Bible, they unrolled Jt-Garefully_

34 KING HERODS PLOT.
at the book of Micah, and read to the king the following
words which had been written seven hundred years before :
" But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah,
Which art httle among the families of Judah,
Out of thee shall one come forth unto me that is to be
Ruler in Israel ;
Whose goings forth are from of old, from ancient days."
And had the king been a right Jew, he would have known
these words also.
The old white-haired king sat frowning in silence, for he
was thinking of a plan to destroy Jesus. Dismissing the
Council, he sent a messenger to the wise men to say that the
king wished to see them. Putting on their best robes, they
hurried up in the afternoon to the king's palace on Mount
Zion, expecting that he would show them the Baby-King. His
palace was of white marble looking down from the hillside
across the city, and was surrounded with lovely gardens and
fountains, and was even more gorgeously ornamented with
gold and coloured stones than the Temple itself; and they
were taken through a splendid hall and into a private room,
where they bowed themselves to the ground before the old,
sickly, and gloomy king. With apparent kindness he asked
them many questions about why they had come to Jerusalem,
and they told him of the star, and what they believed about
the coming Christ, and their presents. Frowning more
deeply, the king asked them particularly when this star ap
peared ; for the wicked old man guessed that Jesus would be
born about the same time ; and the men told him the exact
day. After thinking again, the king looked up and, pretend
ing to be very friendly, told them they would find the young
Christ in Bethlehem, which was not far off, and to go thither
as his messengers, saying —
" Go and search out carefully all about the young Child ;
and when you have found Him, come back and tell me, that
I also may come and worship Him."
" What a good old king ! how much better than he looks,"

FRANKINCENSE, GOLD AND MYRRH. 35
they thought, as they bowed and retired from the room.
They did not know that he was telling lies, and intended to
kill Jesus.
It was evening when they came down the marble steps of
King Herod's palace, and there, low down before them in
the sky, was the red star again. Mounting their camels at
once, they rode out of the city by the Bethlehem Gate, in
which direction the star was shining, out into the dim country
roads, and up among the dark hills ; and in the silent night,
broken only by the tinkling of their silver camel-bells, they
followed the star over hill and hollow and along green slopes
fragrant with the scent of blossoming trees and sweet-smelling
wild flowers, for Spring had come again, until from the
shepherds' plains, they saw clearly in the moonlight the white
walls of Bethlehem on the hill ; and the star seemed to shine
over one corner of it, and they stopped there.
As soon as the gates were opened in the morning the wise
men rode in, and the villagers wondered at them. They
asked no questions now, but went up the main street talking
together, until they came to a particular house, which they
had marked as the one over which the star had seemed to
rest last night. It looked a very humble house for a King ;
but they got down from their camels, and ordered their
servants to unpack their presents of gold, and frankincense
and myrrh in parcels, and when all was ready they opened the
door of the house and went in.
There they found Mary and Joseph, for that was the house
where they lived, and the good wise men knelt down in their
strange robes before the little Child in Mary's arms, and
worshipped Him as the young Christ, and taking their gold,
and rich sweet spices, they laid them on the floor before Him,
as presents from their far country. Having worshipped the
Child, they rested and took food, and told Joseph and Mary
about the star and about King Herod, and of their great and
deep joy that Jesus the Christ was born. That night they
slept in Bethlehem, intending to return and tell King Herod
next day ; but as they slept they dreamt that they were not

36 THE FLIGHT TO EGYPT.
to tell him that they had found Jesus. And when the
morning came, telling Joseph of their dream, they rode off,
and instead of turning back to Jerusalem, they went on past
Hebron and away, returning to their own country by another
road. So that it was strangers from a distance who first came
to worship Jesus, and in them was the Spirit of God.
And as oft as thou lookest at the shining stars at night,
thick as daisies on a summer meadow, the same stars on
which those wise men looked so long ago, remember the
beautiful story of the red star of Bethlehem.
THE FLIGHT TO EGYPT.
BETHLEHEM, SPRING, A.D. I.
Joseph and Mary intended to stay a little longer in
Bethlehem, and then return to their home in Nazareth ; but
the night after the wise men went away, Joseph had a dream
which frightened him. He had been thinking of King
Herod's message, he knew that he was a cruel king, and that
night he again dreamt that an angel stood at his bedside.
"Rise, and take the young Child and His mother," the
angel said, " and fly into Egypt, and remain there until I tell
thee, for King Herod will seek Jesus to kill Him."
Awaking with a start, Joseph roused Mary and told her that
they must fly at once, for he believed the dream was a message
from God. Lighting a lamp, they dressed themselves and
prepared to start without delay, for they knew that once in
Egypt, King Herod could not touch them. Mary was brave,
and gathering together the clothing of Jesus, and His presents,
and their own things, she was soon ready ; while Joseph
saddled the ass, putting their money into the saddle-bags,
with a little food and water, and taking thick cloaks to protect
them, and his stout staff. Gently lifting the sleeping Child
from His cot, Mary hid Him under her cloak, and, without
telling any one whither they were going, they left the quiet
house, closing the door on their sleeping friends, so that
their flight might not be known ; and putting Mary, muffled

RUNNING, AND RESTING. 37
in her cloak, on the ass's back, Joseph led it down the village
street, making as little noise as possible. They had to rouse
the sleeping watchman at the gate in the village walls, who
opened it and let them out, and soon they were on the road,
past Hebron, which the wise men had taken only the day
before. The stars were shining in the blue sky as Mary looked up
at Bethlehem for the last time, and Joseph, taking the bridle
in his hand, urged the ass into a quick trot, seeing the road
by the light of the moon, and running by its side, in order to
get as far away from the village as he could before daylight
came. Active and strong, he walked only to gain breath and
run again, for the life of his precious Child depended on
his running. Egypt was a long way off — about eighty miles
in a straight line — the road going along the ridge of the hills
then down from the hills to plains and the sea-shore, and
while Joseph kept off the main road as much as possible, for
fear of being overtaken by King Herod's messengers, it served
as a guide to him.
It was now early Spring, the time of flowers and green grass ;
and when they saw the day dawning in gold fringed clouds
and kindling with rose upon the dim range of the distant hills
of Moab, the grey lark caroled in the sky, and Mary rejoiced,
for they were quite out of sight of Bethlehem, lost among hills,
and miles upon their way. As the daylight made the country
clear around them Joseph led the ass off the hard white road,
into the bridle-paths that wound through the green passes in
the hills. From each rising ground they saw ever nearer and
nearer the great blue Mediterranean Sea, towards which they
toiled, and once across the wide Philistine plains, its shores
would guide them further on their way.
Noontide found them resting under the shade of a thick
green tree, in a secluded hollow by a stream, taking their
mid-day meal, with wild lilies of red and gold, purple poppies
and scarlet anemones springing round them ; and in the after
noon, when the heat grew less, they hastened on again, till
darkness caused them to ask for shelter at some house, which

38 IN EGYPT.
was never refused. Each day spent in hurrying over rough
roads, climbing hills, seeking by-paths, and crossing brooks,
made their minds easier, for there was less and less chance of
their being pursued and captured by King Herod ; and every
day brought them nearer to the line between the two countries,
over which, they would be safe under the protection of the
King of Egypt.
A river ran between the countries, and in less than a
week from the night when they scrambled in haste down the
steep path from Bethlehem, the shaggy ass carried Mary and
Jesus over the shallow ford of the river and safely into Egypt.
Oft on that journey had they kept away from villages, lest
their pursuer might hear which way they had gone ; oft had
they thought that persons seen on the hills behind them, were
King Herod's soldiers ; oft had they feared to rest, lest they
might be overtaken and captured. It had been a flight full
of terrors to the young mother ; but at last the slow- footed ass,
tired, patient, covered with dust, stood on foreign ground, and
Mary's precious Child was safe, and she thanked God.
They did not remain long close to Palestine, but taking the
public road without fear, they journeyed on into Egypt, sleeping
in strange villages, buying food of strange people, no longer in
a hurry, looking about them for a place to stop at, among
people who spoke another language, and who wore curious
foreign dresses, quite different from their own; Joseph then
found the benefit of the gold and the presents of the wise
men. Carpenters are of use in any land, and Joseph was not
long in getting work that he could do, hammering and saw
ing, making waggons, ploughs, and saddles, or whatever the
people wanted ; and fixing on a good place, he took, or per
haps built, a little house for Mary, and prepared to wait and
work in that strange country until they got a message to return
home again.
And thou wilt remember that Jesus was only a little Baby
when His young mother had to rise with Him in the night and
fly from Bethlehem for fear of the cruel King Herod.

KING HEROD AND THE CHILDREN. 39
KING HEROD AND THE CHILDREN.
BETHLEHEM, SPRING, A.D. I.
King Herod looked out from his palace windows, looking
for the return of the wise men ; and as day after day went past
and they did not come, he grew impatient. Sending to Beth
lehem, he found that they had left for their own country some
days ago, and this made him very angry. A week had gone
by, a precious week ! for by that time Jesus and His mother
were safe in Egypt. Had the king sent soldiers with the
wise men, he might have taken Jesus ; but by trying to deceive
them, and waiting for their return, he provided the very delay
which favoured His escape. King Herod was the most cruel
king that ever reigned in Jerusalem, killing everyone whom
He suspected, even his own three sons, and his beautiful wife
Mariamne ; and when he found that he had been slighted
and befooled by the wise men, he resolved to do a horrible
thing, to slay little Jesus ; and in order to make certain that
He should not escape, he formed this cruel plan. The wise
men had told him that the young Christ was not yet six
months old. They might be wrong however, and, to satisfy
his rage, the king resolved to kill every baby boy in Bethle
hem, or near it, who was two years old or under that age.
Calling the captain of his guard, he commanded him to
send soldiers at once to Bethlehem to do this dreadful thing ;
and if a single child escaped, the captain would pay for it
with his own life. The stern officer, in his rich dress and
burnished armour, had received many dreadful commands
from this feeble king of seventy years of age, but never a
command so cruel as this ; and, bowing low, he retired,
perhaps considering as he went whether he would not give up
his office rather than obey such a wicked order. But going
to an officer under him, he told him the king's command, and
bade him take a small band of soldiers and carry it out at once.
The soldiers marched out from the king's palace and its
lovely gardens, down into the town and out through the city

40 SOLDIERS MARCHING TO BETHLEHEM.
gate into the quiet country road, and over the hills to
Bethlehem, the sun glancing yellow on their brass-crested
helmets, and flashing blue from their short sharp swords, their
tread raising a cloud of dust behind them. As they neared
Bethlehem, the country people, shepherds, gardeners, farmers,
came out of their cottages, or stood in the fields where the
oleander bushes were crowned thick as flowering thorn trees
with rosy blossoms, to look at the king's soldiers, wondering
why they had come, and feeling safe in their protection ; and
the soldiers smiled under their grim helmets when the little
children, clapping their hands and shouting at the sight of
their flashing and jingling arms, came running along beside
them to imitate their stride, crushing with their bare feet the
red anemones in the grass. The soldiers laughed, for they
did not know why they were going to Bethlehem.
Halting under the village, the officer told them the command
of the king, that they were to go into every house in Bethle
hem, and into each house in the country round about, and slay
every baby boy who was two years old or under, sparing none.
The soldiers were filled with disgust. Had they armed them
selves with breastplate, shield, and spear to slay babes ! And
some who had little lisping children of their own, felt inclined
to fling down their swords and leave the king's army, rather
than obey such a cruel order, and let old King Herod come
and slay the sweet babes himself; far rather would they have
marched* into the thick of battle, than turn their swords upon
the defenceless breasts of tottering children. An awful thing
about soldiers is, that they are trained to obey, and not to
think whether the thing they are told to do is right or is
wrong ; until they get to believe that it is right and noble to
obey any, and every order, and slay or spare, just as they are
told. This is called military discipline ; and these poor men
thought that they were somehow doing their duty when, with
sullen faces and rebellious hearts, they dispersed over the
country and into the village to obey the king's wicked com
mand. Soon the streets were ringing with the cries of
mothers running to and fro, thinking that their children were

THE TRIUMPH OF THE INNOCENTS. 4 1
all to be slain, as the grim soldiers went from house to house,
sword in hand ; and peaceful Bethlehem, which that morning
had smiled with sunshine on its doors, was suddenly filled
with gloom and mourning.
It is all over. Forming their band again, the sullen soldiers
marched rapidly away from the sorrowing village and the peace
ful, beautiful vale of Mamre, cursing their king and blaming
him for what they had done, back to the crowded town, back
to the rich gardens and the splendid palace. And the officer
went up the white stairs, and through the marble pillars and
over the coloured pavement, and was ushered by black slaves
into the king's presence ; and there, old, white, his misery
mocked by a golden crown and a purple robe, upon a chair of
ivory and gold, with richly embroidered curtains behind him,
sat Herod, the man-fiend, the child-slayer.
In answer to his stern question, the officer replied that he
had executed his commands. Had any escaped ? " No, not
one." The king felt relieved, satisfied, almost happy ; and as
he signed to the officer to go away, a grim smile passed over
his white face, for he thought that he had defeated the wise
men, put an end to another danger, and even foiled the
purposes of God, by killing the Christ in infancy. And per
haps the murder of these innocents gave him a little quiet
sleep that night.
There is a very beautiful picture painted by a good, child-
loving Englishman, Holman Hunt, called " The Triumph of
the Innocents." In a lovely group these little children of
Bethlehem, with flower-wreaths on their heads, some of crimson
roses, some of purple pansies and red poppies, with flower-
ropes in their hands and twining arms, are pressing to the
side of the ass that carries Mary and her Child into Egypt,
while the Boy Jesus stretches out hands to them with a look
of joy and welcome in His perfectly beautiful face. It is a
picture full of the perfection of child-life, a vision of the
children of Heaven, and teaches what I wish thee to remem
ber, that neither kings nor sword-blades can mar the triumph
of innocence over cruelty and wrong.

42 THE RETURN TO NAZARETH.
THE RETURN TO NAZARETH.
EGYPT, SPRING, A.D. 2.
Jesus was about a year in Egypt. He was carried in His
mother's arms and on her back for months, then His little
naked feet were put to the ground, and He learnt to walk, and
His. young mother was His constant joyful companion. Joseph
easily found work as a carpenter, and, with the presents from
the wise men, he would buy hammer, saw and axe, chisels and
wedges, and resume his old work of box, plough, and furniture-
maker for the farmers and villagers, living in a small house
which Mary kept bright and clean, meeting him with little
Jesus every night when he came home. And so month after
month went joyfully past in that little cottage in Egypt, but it
was different in King Herod's splendid palace.
Attacked by a terrible disease, the old king tried hot baths
in sulphur springs by the Dead Sea, sea breezes by the Medi
terranean, and the finest food and fruit that could be got ; but
he could not get any sleep. Death came slowly and with
great pain in a magnificent palace which he had built in
Jericho, and to which he had gone in the hope of feeling
better amid the green feathery palms, rose gardens, and per
fume plantations of that loveliest of his cities. He lay in a
splendid bed, hung with richly embroidered curtains ; doctors
came and looked at him, and went away shaking their heads,
for they could do nothing for him, although he offered them
gold and jewels to take away his pain. Messengers came and
went with hushed steps, for the whole land was waiting, was wish
ing for his death. One April morning it was whispered in his
chamber, whispered through the palace, and carried out into
the street that the king was dead ; and every one said it was
good news, for he was hated, although he had reigned thirty-
seven years, and built the Golden Temple.
King Herod dead ! The news was brought by merchants
into Egypt. It would soon be safe for them to return home ;
and one night Joseph had another dream. Again an angel
seemed to stand beside him, and say —

PASSING BETHLEHEM. 43
"Rise and take the young Child and His mother, and
return to thine own country ; for they are dead who sought
His life," and the angel departed, and Joseph told his dream
to Mary ; and they were glad of the king's death.
They did not need to hurry. Joseph would sell all the
things which they could not carry back with them to Bethle
hem, and saddling their ass, and bidding farewell to the
people who had been kind to them, they started for home,
never to return to Egypt. What a different journey from the
last, when Mary had to fly in the night-time with her Babe,
leaving everything behind ; but now she returned with a little
laughing dark-eyed Boy, who could walk a short way on the
soft grass in the Summer sunshine. They would travel with
other people, who were going up to Jerusalem by the well-
known merchants' road, Mary telling her lisping, wondering
Child how lovely was their own country of hill and hollow,
tree and flower, and how pretty their vine-covered home.
Travelling easily, at the rate of the camels of the merchants
loaded with goods, they rested at noon, for it was Summer
time, the weather was very hot, and the grass withering ; and
soon Jesus looked for the first time on the boundless blue sea,
heaving and sparkling in the sunshine.
In a week's time they were within sight of the brown and
white hills of Hebron ; in a day or two more they hoped to
be in Bethlehem ; and everywhere they were told that King
Herod was dead, and that Archelaus his son was now king.
But they also heard that he had already slain a great number
of men, and this made Joseph afraid to go up to Bethlehem,
it being so near to Jerusalem, where the king lived. Now
Archelaus was king over all the country of Judaea round about
Jerusalem ; and although Joseph thought it was not safe to go
to Bethlehem he believed that the angel meant him to go
thither. But one night he dreamed again that he was not
to go to Bethlehem, nor to stay anywhere in Judaea; and
in the morning he decided to keep out of the country of King
Archelaus, and return to their old home at Nazareth, in
Galilee, which belonged to another king called Antipas.

44 HOME AGAIN.
Travelling on for a few days more by the side of the sea,
along the beautiful plains of Philistia and Sharon, they turned
upwards to climb the wooded Carmel hills which looked down
on the rich plain of Esdraelon and across to Nazareth. The
plain was green with waving grain, and the trees were in full
leaf round the villages, and sweet with the rich perfume of
the orange and almond blossom, as they walked along the
bridle-path of hard earth that led to the mouth of the vale
of Nazareth. At length they reach the steep path that winds
up the side of the valley towards the village. Mary sees again
the tall trees, the sweet profusion of wild flowers which spe
cially mark the lovely spot where the village spring is, then
the walls of the village come into view, and soon the ass's feet
are clattering over the stones of the street. There is her
mother's house, with the vine spreading along the white wall
and climbing over the low roof, and her garden of flowers ! —
at last she is home again, safe among friends, with her precious
Child! The ass was let loose to frisk without his saddle-bags, and
Mary entered her mother's house, there to remain till their
own home was ready for them. And thither all the neigh
bours would gather, to hear her story, and look at her lovely
Boy, with His ruddy cheeks and yellow hair, who was just able
to walk with the help of her hand. In a few days she was in
her own little house again. And Joseph returned to his work
shop and, gathering his tools, resumed sawing, hammering,
making and mending, as though he had not been absent from
his bench one day during the long months that had passed, for
he did not intend to leave Nazareth again. A happy life seemed
opening before them and their bright little Child, among green
encircling hills that sheltered them and seemed to shut out the
lower world, its kings and soldiers.
And thou wilt remember why Jesus was taken thither, for
He lived so long in Nazareth after this, that people said He
was born there and not in Bethlehem ; but He was indeed a
little Boy able to walk and talk, and pluck wild flowers when
He first came to Nazareth.

CHILDHOOD IN NAZARETH. 45
CHILDHOOD IN NAZARETH.
NAZARETH, A.D. 2 TO 12.
To His mother, every month made a difference in her
beautiful Boy. From walking, holding by her hand, He
quickly went to walking alone, and then to running, and His
little baby syllables passed almost unnoticed into words and
sentences. Wherever His mother went, He went with her,
holding by her skirt and asking questions about clouds, the
sun, flowers, birds, bees, and running off to chase butterflies ;
and she used to take Him into the woods, where, guided by
the sound of His father's axe, they found Joseph cutting down
a tree, or lopping off the branches. He went with His mother
to the well, and was delighted on looking in, to see His own
sweet baby-face looking up at Him from the dark water, and
when the water came sparkling up in her pitcher He had to
have a drink before starting for home. Thus Summer passed
into Winter, and Winter into Summer, marked to Him chiefly
by the coming and the fading away of the leaves and the sweet
field-flowers. As years went by, little brothers and sisters were born, and
Jesus learned to play by Himself, while His mother took care
of them. Dressed in a white tunic, with bare legs, feet, and
head, he ran about in the sunshine, plucking flowers and
berries for His little brothers, and His mother rejoiced to see
how gentle and loving He was with them. And in the
evenings, when His father came home and the red sun went
down behind the purple hills, He would go up to the cool
flat roof of the house and listen to wonderful Bible stories
about King David the shepherd-boy, and Solomon the wise
king, and the little child Samuel, who lived with the old priest
in the Tabernacle. And when the moon rose, and the stars
.came out in glorious array in the deep blue sky, He was told
about His Father in Heaven, whose Son He was ; and Joseph
also taught Him His letters, His lesson-book being the Bible,
from which alone little children were taught.

46 NEST FINDING.
When he was six years of age, He went with His father to
the village church, and heard the solemn prayers, and reading,
and singing on Sabbaths and on Thursdays; and then He
went to school, to sit with other little boys in a ring upon the
floor, and repeat Bible verses after the teacher, until He knew
them off by heart. But He learnt far more in the open fields,
for there the clouds, stars, wind, flowers, trees, all taught Him.
His little brothers were called James, Joses, Jude, and Simon,
but His sisters' names are not known ; and with them and His
cousins, James and John, and the other village children, He
would run races on the grass, and play games round the
houses, their little bodies barely covered by loose white and
blue tunics in Summer, and in Winter by little lamb-skins with
holes for their arms. And when He stood, with the children
joining hands and dancing round Him, Mary would look from
a distance, and sigh as she saw His joyful face. He was a
thorough Child, who could tumble on the green at sundown
with His companions, and gather in a group with them and
chatter till bed time, as only children do. His school lessons
were no easier to Him than to other children. He grew tired
with running, and others could run as fast as He ; but He
was always happy, — a perfect Child.
As a Boy, He was obedient to His father and mother, and
never grieved to do what they told Him. Taking His little
brothers into the fields and along the hedges, He would show
them the small bird's nest under the green leaves or in the
dry grass with spotted eggs lying among the brown moss, and
would tell them that the little bird that had flown away would
soon return again. At eight years of age He could fetch
water from the well for His mother, and help His father a
little in his workshop, handing him the tools he needed, and
running his messages ; and in the evening He would gather
the chips of wood and shavings into a corner, and put the
tools away into their places. Happy years ! Perhaps the
happiest of His life, when all the world seemed beautiful and
good, and taught Him so much ; His father so wise, His
mother so loving, looking at Him at times with eyes so gentle

HIS FIRST VISIT TO JERUSALEM. 47
and so sad, that He had to run to her side and ask if He had
grieved her. But great thoughts began to rise in His young
mind, and doubts, as to whether all the world was so happy
as He thought ; and why His little brothers could at times be
disobedient, and wilful, and angry ; and why some children had
so much pain, and some looked so old and sad. And when
these thoughts like clouds passed over His clear mind, He
would ask His father about them but could not understand
his answers ; His mother seemed to know better what He
wanted. Who was His Father in Heaven, to whom she bade
Him pray? Could He see Him ? Could He hear Him ? And
yet every time He prayed He was happier, and felt sure that
His Father in Heaven was watching Him and helping Him
to think and to understand. And so the years fled past, and
from a tottering Child He grew to be a tall, thoughtful, dark-
eyed Boy.
And thou my child, be happy ! for thou wilt never be more
like the young Jesus than thou art now. If thou dost obey
thy father and mother, and art gentle to thy little brothers and
sisters, and lovest clouds, flowers, animals, and all beautiful
things, and dost pray to thy Father in Heaven to make thee
good, then thou wilt be like one of the little children written
of in the beautiful hymn, which says : —
And such the child, whose early feet
The paths of peace have trod,
Whose secret heart, with influence sweet
Is upward drawn to God.

HIS FIRST VISIT TO JERUSALEM.
JERUSALEM, APRIL, A.D. 13.
Many Summers and Winters had come and gone with their
flowers and their snows around Nazareth, and the boy Jesus was
nearing manhood. He was now twelve years of age, tall, strong,
beautiful, for boys grow up much sooner in that country than
in England ; and He was said to be old enough now to read the

48 MARCHING SONGS.
Bible for Himself, and to be called a " son of the Law." The
phylacteries, which are little parchment boxes full of verses of
the Bible, had been tied upon His left arm and brow in
the village church, as a sign that He was of age to think for
Himself, and go to the great religious Festivals at Jerusalem.
It was April, and the great seven days Festival, called the
Passover, was near, to which everybody should go, and for the
first time Jesus was to go, with His father and mother, away
beyond the hills, with crowds of people, to the great city — a
memorable event for a boy. Everywhere the people had been
preparing for it for weeks past, sorting the roads, mending the
bridges, and making new clothes and sandals, and cutting fresh
sticks, for it was the most joyful Festival of the year. With
much stir the company from Nazareth, all in their bright holiday
dresses, got ready their horses, camels, and asses, for some one
went from every house ; and in the early morning, Mary riding
on the ass, and Jesus, stick in -hand, walking joyfully by His
father's side, they started, winding down the broad highland
valley, with green fields spreading away, and the bright Spring
wild-flowers nodding in the breeze by the roadside ; while from
the thick hedges came the song of birds. A bend in the road,
and the white houses of the village were hidden from view, and
soon, a joyful company, singing glad songs to the music of the
timbrel, pipe, and drum, they marched across the rich plain of
Esdraelon. Resting at noonday under green trees, in the
afternoon they started refreshed, and travelled until evening,
when white tents were put up and the evening meal prepared.
Tired with walking, Jesus was soon asleep, but with the first
light of day the march was resumed ; and as they went along
the great public roads, they were joined by bands of people
from other villages, all marching to the same Festival at Jeru
salem. The fourth day was the greatest of all, for then they came
within sight of Jerusalem. Having toiled up the wild, hot,
rugged road from Jericho, they climbed the Mount of Olives,
and then Joseph would tell Jesus to look out for the most
glorious sight in the world ; and as they followed the bend of

COMING OVER OLIVET. 49
the road round the shoulder of the hill, suddenly the great city
in all its magnificence appeared, like a dream before them. It
seemed quite near, on an opposite lower hill, with a deep
ravine between, and Jesus could see it all. There, stood the
great thick walls, with their square towers of defence ; there,
the marble palaces of kings, priests, and governors ; there, the
forts and castles for soldiers. But the sun shone most brightly
on the Temple, which was on the side of the city nearest to
Jesus, like a mighty cathedral on a wall of white, built up
from the ravine below — colonnades, cloisters, porches, pillars,
arches, and outer buildings all of white marble ; while within
the great open square stood the Holy place, terrace rising
above terrace in white and gold, and high above all was the
roof of bright gold reflecting the sun. With a shout, the
company from Nazareth burst into a joyous song, waving
green branches as they came over the hill, Jesus singing
with the rest, for truly this was the most glorious sight
the Boy had ever seen. And He gazed at it as they de
scended the hillside, towards the bridge across the Kedron,
near to which green slope of Olivet the people from Galilee
pitched their tents for the night, for they did not intend to
live in the city, which was already crowded with people.
In the morning, as soon as the silver trumpets of the
priests sounded from Mount Moriah, His father and mother
took Jesus into the city, through the streets, and up to the
Temple, pointing out to Him its great brass and silver doors
and coloured marble pillars as they entered, and in the inner
court, the altars and the sacrifices ; while His father told
Him what the hundreds of white-robed priests and Levites
were doing, and why a magnificent coloured curtain hung
over the door of the Holy place, up to which none but the
priests might go. Among the pillars in the great outer
porches, He saw the aged teachers sitting, with people stand
ing round them listening to them as they taught and answered
questions. Day after day the boy Jesus went up to these
courts crowded with gaily dressed people from all parts of the
country, and took part in the responses and singing, and

5°

FIRST PASSOVER FESTIVAL.

listened earnestly to the old doctors of the law, teaching
from the Bible, for they were the greatest Teachers in the
land, and soon He would have to go back to quiet Nazareth
again. He would meet His cousin John there also, who, like
Him, would be old enough to come to his first Festival.
Every day brought something new of which He had often
heard. The great Temple court was hung with beautiful mats
and carpets of all colours, and on the first day of the Festival,
the greatest day of all, at a signal given by the blowing of
rams' horns, He saw lambs being slain in thousands upon
the coloured pavement of the Priests' Court, and their blood
poured from golden bowls at the foot of the high stone altar.
And on that first night, He ate the Passover supper of bitter
herbs and roasted lamb, and drank the wine and water, and
chanted the solemn psalms at His father's side as He had
often done before. On the second day of the Festival He
saw the first sheaf of barley cut on the other side of the
Kedron and carried in triumph into the city amid the shouts
of the people, to be threshed and ground into flour and pre
sented as an offering of first fruits in the Temple. The third
day was a Sabbath of rest and quiet, with splendid Temple
services from singing choirs and instruments ; but the fourth,
fifth, and sixth days were days of rejoicing, dancing, singing,
feasting, buying, selling, and seeing friends, on which days
those who had come from a distance began to leave Jerusalem
and go home again. The seventh and last day of the Festival
was also kept as a Sabbath, although most of the country
people had left by that time. But every day He was in
Jerusalem, and went to hear the old Teachers in the Temple,
for what they said was more to Him than all the priests, and
sacrifices, and singing.
And thou wilt remember that Jesus first went from home
when He was twelve years of age, and that He went to the
great Passover Festival at the Golden Temple.

THE TEACHERS IN THE TEMPLE. 5 1
THE TEACHERS IN THE TEMPLE.
JERUSALEM, APRIL, A.D. 1 3.
By the fourth day, the greater part of the Festival was over,
and in the grey morning, before the first rays of the sun
had touched the Temple's golden roof, the white tents of
the Galileans on the slopes of Olivet were taken down and
strapped upon camels, and when the rosy dawn lit up the
Hebron hills the band from Nazareth was wending its way
homewards over the quiet Mount of Olives. Jesus, being a
strong and quick Boy, had been allowed, during the Festival
days, to go and come from the Temple as he wished, and He
did not care to go anywhere else.
The Nazareth people, having far to go, left at the be
ginning of the half-holidays, on that fourth day, and after
marching down the steep road to the plains near the beauti
ful town of Jericho, they were about to stop for the first
night when Mary recollected that she had not seen Jesus
since the morning, and asked His father if he had seen Him ;
but Joseph answered that he had not. Mary did not doubt,
however, that Jesus was with the other children, and made
inquiry for Him, but every one she asked said they had not
seen the Boy since they started. Getting alarmed, she ran
through the whole company of the people, asking for Him,
but could not find Him anywhere. Jesus was lost ! and at
once all sorts of wild fears rushed into her mind. Perhaps
He had fainted by the way, and was lying on the wild Jericho
road, and Mary wept, as Joseph and she hurried back to look
for their Boy. They asked every person they met if they had
seen Jesus, but no one knew anything about Him. Oh ! why
had she been so careless of Him in the confusion and dark
ness of starting? Perhaps He had gone with the wrong band,
and was now far away on another road !
Next day His father and mother were back at Jerusalem,
searching among the tents and in the city, sorrowing as they

52 ASKING QUESTIONS.
went ; but they could get no tidings of Jesus. They went up
to* the Temple and inquired among the stalls where things
were sold, among the crowds who watched the priests or
listened to the Levites and the white-robed boys singing on
the steps of the priests' court; but Jesus was not there.
Another anxious day went past, and on the third day they
were again in the Temple, seeking Him, among the richly
ornamented porches where the old Teachers sat on bright
carpets, looking out upon the court of the Gentiles, and teach
ing all who came. Mary's heart beat fast. There ! there He
was ! with His bright little holiday jacket which she had made
Him, standing among a group of men, listening with beauti
ful earnest face to all that was being said. She drew near
and listened, and to her surprise heard His sweet Boy's voice
putting earnest questions to the old Teachers, questions which
seemed to puzzle and annoy them as He stood with His ruddy
face and clear dark eyes waiting for an answer. And when the
Teachers did reply, it was with many words in very long sen
tences, to which Jesus listened quietly until they were done,
when to her amazement He put more short simple questions,
which these greatest Teachers in the land seemed to find it
difficult to answer, for they whispered together, and looked at
slips of paper, and opened large rolls of old brown parchment,
which were carried about on sticks, and still they could not
satisfy Him. And all who stood by were astonished at the
answers of Jesus whenever the old Teachers asked Him a ques
tion, for they had never met any one with such wisdom and
understanding as this beautiful Boy. Mary was deeply moved
with what she saw, and bending forward, she stood looking
earnestly at Jesus, till at length He saw her, and at a sign
came over to her.
"Son, why hast Thou done so with us," she said in a low
earnest voice, " for Thy father and I have sought for Thee
sorrowing?" She thought He would know of all their fears
and sorrows. But He answered innocently —
" How is it that you looked for Me ? Do you not know
that I must be in My heavenly Father's house ? " But He

HE LEARNS TO BE A CARPENTER. 53
came away with her, leaving the old Teachers whispering over
their parchments and papers, wondering who He was.
His mother did not quite understand His answer, for He
meant that they should have known to look for Him in His
favourite place in the Temple ; but she thought of the words
of the angel long ago, and knew that her Boy of twelve was
already preparing for the great life which was before Him, and
she pondered much over what she had seen that day. And
as they walked home to Nazareth, He told them that He had
been to the Temple every day while they were away, and
where He had slept at night. And, following the Nazareth
band, they were home not many days after them.
What a memorable visit ! He went away a country Boy,
and returned with a knowledge of the great Temple and
its strange, grand services, and a feeling that for Him there
was more learning out under the bright stars and among the
calm green hills, than in that crowded Temple and among
its confused and unsatisfying Teachers ; and He rejoiced that
He lived in a cottage in a flowery glen, and not in a crowded
city. And thou wilt remember the fair-haired, red-cheeked
country Boy as he stood unconfused and unafraid before the
old Teachers, astonishing them with His wisdom and His
innocence ; for there is not a child but can teach great les
sons to the wisest of men, if he be gentle and good.

HE LEARNS TO BE A CARPENTER.
NAZARETH, A.D. 1 3 TO 31.
Jesus had much to tell His brothers and sisters of what He
saw at the great Festival in Jerusalem, for they were all too
young to go to a festival : of the silver trumpets, the white-
robed singing boys, the smoking sacrifices, and something
also of what He had heard from the old Teachers during the
three days when He was alone.
But now He had to study the Bible, and His daily task

54 LEAVING SCHOOL.
for the next year or two was to learn off by heart the lessons
which His teacher set Him. And so He got to know His
Bible thoroughly. Children had to sing psalms at all times
of rejoicing, and thus He learnt to sing. He also learnt to
write, but His writing was in strange figures, practised with
a sharp stick on smooth sand on the ground, more like print
ing. And it is likely that before He finished learning, He
knew something of three languages — Hebrew, Greek, and
Aramaic; but Aramaic was the one which He spoke. His
amusements were now those of the older boys, hill-climbing,
nest-finding, and games of strength and skill, and going
messages for His parents. But at length the time came when
He had to give up the school and play, and begin to work.
In that country boys soon grow up to be men, and in a year
after His visit to Jerusalem Jesus was thirteen, and then He
was looked upon as a young man, who had to choose what
He would be, for every boy had to learn a trade. Thou
mayest think that Jesus had no need for a trade, or if He
chose one, it would be that of a teacher. But what trade did
He choose? A gardener, a shepherd, a sailor, a carpenter,
a smith ? He chose to be what His father was, a carpenter.
That seems hard work for such a Boy? Wouldst thou like
to be a carpenter, to rise early and go to bed late, and work
all day among rough wood? But He was not afraid of hard
work, nor should any boy be, if it be useful work. So, when
He was about fourteen Jesus left school, and went to be His
father's apprentice, to learn how to use the saw and the axe,
the chisel and the hammer. And then He learnt how to cut
down trees, hew off the branches, and carry the wood to the
workshop, and saw it into planks and blocks, out of which to
make houses, boats, oars, boxes, tables, benches, ploughs,
yoking for oxen, saddles, and every kind of wooden thing that
was wanted. This He found hard and difficult, for at first He
got the coarser work to do, while His father finished it off
neatly, and His arms were not so strong as a man's arms. His
first duty was to do whatever His father told Him, and as He
loved His father, thou mayest feel sure He learnt quickly.

HIS FATHERS WORKSHOP. 55
Take a peep into the open workshop at Nazareth on this
warm Summer day. There is the rough bench in the middle,
to work on, with the tools scattered over it. Planks of wood
are piled up at one side to dry, and the floor is strewn with
shavings, and sawdust, and spales, and ends of wood. Bend
ing at the bench is Joseph the father, with brown face and
strong arms, fitting pieces together into the shape of a box,
and knocking them close with a heavy wooden mallet. On
the other side of the bench is the tall beautiful form of the
Youth Jesus, with His sweet gentle face so like His mother's,
watching closely all that His father does, now holding the
wood to steady it, and now handing him the tool that he
requires ; or going away to measure a plank and cut off a
piece of the right size, and bring it to him. The sun beats
warmly upon the roof of the shed, and as the wind blows
through, it stirs the shavings and cools the workers. Is it not
a pleasant sight ? The strong man and the beautiful Youth,
father and Son, working cheerfully together, Jesus helping His
father to make enough money to buy bread and clothes for
the little brothers and sisters, and gentle mother at home. In
that shed they work until the evening, and when it grows too
dark to see, the sound of the hammer ceases, the saw is laid
aside, the work stops for another day, and they walk down
the village street home to the evening meal which Mary
has prepared. Work like this is good, and thou, my child,
whether thou art rich or poor, prince or peasant, shouldst
learn to do rough work when a boy, nor think that working
with thy hands, which is the hardest and commonest of work,
is too mean for thee to do, for Jesus did it.
Day after day, year after year, Summer and Winter found
Jesus at this work, out fresh and early in the morning, and
returning tired at night, but happy with having done His best.
When His father was not busy He had hours and days to
Himself in which He went where He pleased. And once
every year, in the Spring time, He went again with His father
to the great Passover Festival at Jerusalem, where He would
often meet His cousin John from Hebron, and when His

56 WALKING AMONG THE HILLS.
brothers were old enough they went with Him. He also
went to some of the other Festivals there, and never missed
going to the Golden Temple. And every Sabbath day and
many Thursdays also, He went to the village church in
Nazareth, and took part in the worship.
When He had leisure from His work, He loved to walk
among the gardens, fields, and vineyards in the valley of
Nazareth, learning all He could, for He was fond of flowers,
and talked with the gardeners who were training the roses,
lilies, and hollyhocks, tending the vines and olives, and prun
ing the orange and fig and apple trees. In Spring He
marked the flowers which first appeared, the crocus, hyacinth,
and white wild rose, and saw them increasing in number
and in colour as they spread their red and yellow and pur
ple blooms over the fields and hedges, and He watched them
fade and wither away in the parching heat of Summer. He
saw, too, the farmers ploughing and breaking up the ground,
and scattering the wheat and barley seed, and noticed how
the birds flew down and pecked up what fell on the hard
footpaths through the fields, and saw the countless tangled
weeds, that gave so much trouble. Sometimes He walked
down to the Lake-side and saw the sailors fishing, and the
storms of wind that suddenly lashed the water into hissing
waves. And when He walked among the thymy hills, He
marked the long-eared sheep following their shepherd, and
running to him when he called; and saw him, when a- little
lamb was too weak to walk, carrying it in his arms. Often,
too, He saw the dawn stealing over the sky, flushing the
grey clouds with rose, and fringing them with saffron; and
watched the gathering clouds of evening changing from crim
son to purple, as they rested above the hills where the sun had
gone down, and often, too, He waited out in the dark silent
valley, until the red planets and sparkling stars came out into
the violet sky.
Year after year went by, the Youth became a Man, and at
twenty years of age He had learnt His trade of a carpenter
and was full grown and strong, and able to lift as heavy

GREAT THOUGHTS. 57
weights as His father; and it is thought by some that His
father died about this time. Then Jesus came to be called
the Carpenter of Nazareth. And as He grew older He in
creased in wisdom.
Amid the quiet of the hills He meditated much upon the
life that was before Him, and upon the ways of men. Many
things perplexed, and some things grieved Him. He heard
the religious Teachers say that the people could only be
good by believing their words and obeying their commands.
And they laid so many rules upon the people that they were
oppressed beyond endurance, for their Teachers had some
thing which they said they should do every hour of the day or
night, so that if a man were to try to obey all they said, he
would have time for nothing else. He saw that these were
false Teachers and false priests, who made it quite impossible
for men to be what they called good ; and that they did not
do themselves what they ordered the people to do. This
was hateful and wicked, for Jesus knew that to be good was
a simple and lovely thing, and not a thing which had ten
thousand rules to be remembered and kept, and He thought
that He would like to banish these countless rules of men,
and teach the simple way to be good that was in His heart.
To do this, He would have to give up being a carpenter. And
He thought of the Christ written about in the Bible, and
whom the people believed would be the Saviour of their
nation. But He did not feel that He was ready for this great
task. As He grew older, the state of His fellow-men and their
false priests and Teachers almost constantly filled His mind,
and He prepared Himself in every way for the time when
He should feel called upon to begin this great work as a
Teacher of the Truth, and He read and studied the Bible till
He knew it all, and read other books also. He loved more
than ever to meditate alone in his walks through the fields and
among the hills. There He saw the gardeners in their vine
yards plucking the purple clusters of ripe grapes and casting
them in heaps into their tubs, and crushing the juice from them

58 HE LEAVES NAZARETH.
for wine; and there He saw the wheat fields waving with
yellow grain ready for harvesting ; and at the Lake-side He
saw the fishermen pulling in their nets filled with glittering
fishes. And when evening found Him among the hills, and the
sun went down and the stars came throbbing out, He felt more
than ever alone, and different from other people, and would
sit thinking and praying to His Father in Heaven to make
plain what He should do.
For fourteen years he worked as a village tradesman,
among the hills and fields and country people of Nazareth,
until He was thirty, learning lessons from the clouds and
wind, seed-time and harvest, and waiting on the will of God.
And these, my child, are the best teachers a man can have, if
only his mind is open to their deep influence, and he waits in
silence upon his Father in Heaven to learn what He wishes
him to do.

•HE LEAVES NAZARETH.
FORDS OF JORDAN, WINTER, A.D. 31.
His Cousin John, the son of Elisabeth of Hebron, was now
a man of over thirty, being six months older than Jesus, and
he was of a strange, wild appearance. His tunic was of rough
camel's hair, bound round his waist with a leather belt, his face
was brown with the sun, his eyes dark and glowing, and his
hair hung down on his shoulders, having never been cut. He
lived in lonely places, away from the people, had never tasted
wine, and a kind of large fly called locusts and wild honey were
his food, and at this time he came again among the people,
saying that he had this message from God to tell them, that
the Christ, the Deliverer of their nation, would shortly appear,
and they wondered much at him. He said he had come to
fulfil those words written by Isaiah in the Bible long before.
That he was — ¦
" The voice of one that crieth in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the Lord !

JOHN AT THE JORDAN. 59
Make straight in the desert a highway for our God !
Every valley shall be raised, and every mountain and hill
shall be made low,
And the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough
places plain ;
And the glory of God shall be shown, and all men shall
see it together :
For God hath spoken it ! "
And that he had come to fulfil those words of Malachi
also, in the last book of the Bible.
" Behold ! I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare
the way before me :
And the Lord, whom ye seek, shall come suddenly to his
Temple,
Even . the messenger of the covenant, in whom you
delight :
Behold ! he shall come, saith God."
On the banks of the river Jordan, not far from Jericho, stand
ing upon a raised place above the people, John spoke daily
in the open air with such earnestness, and looked so strange,
that crowds came to hear him. Then coming down from the
higher ground and wading into the river he baptized all who
came to him, bathing them in the water or sprinkling it upon
their heads as a sign that they had repented of their wicked
ness ; which was a common thing for the priests at the temple
to do. And his preaching and his message were so strange
and stirring that the people of the country began to speak
about John, and to call him the Baptist, because of the way
he baptized them.
John knew Jesus. Their mothers were friends, and John's
mother had told him what a wonderful person Jesus would be,
while Jesus had heard of the angel that appeared to John's
father, to tell him that his son would be a great Teacher ;
but John had been living in lonely places, and they had
not met for years. Jesus heard at Nazareth the news that
was stirring the people ; that John, His strange cousin,
had appeared dressed in camel's-hair raiment, and was

60 PARTING FROM HIS MOTHER.
teaching and baptizing at the Fords of Jordan, and telling the
people that the Christ would soon appear, and Jesus felt that
the time had come when he should give up being a Carpenter
and go and teach, for He was now thirty, the age at which
the old Teachers at Jerusalem said a young man might begin
to teach. What a sorrowful hour would the last be which
Jesus spent with His mdther ! He would tell her that John
had been teaching for some time, and that He must go and
do His part of the great work of teaching the people, of which
He had so often told her.
See her, as she comes with Him out of the little door of
their house, along the village street, and down the footpath
through the vale. Her hand is on His arm, and the face which
she turns to His looks older, for she is forty-five now, though
still sweet and beautiful. He is tall and strong and His step
firm, as He gently supports His mother, and speaks words of
consolation to her. They go by field and hedge till a turn in
the path hides them from view. A little later, and the same
bend of the road shows a woman's figure returning alone. It
is Mary. She walks slowly, and her head is bent as though
weeping, for she has parted from her Son, and her heart is
full of fears. It is always very sad for a mother when her son
leaves her to go out alone into the world, and when thou, my
child, art called upon to this, I trust thou wilt treat thy mother
with all the tenderness that thy heart can give, for she will
need it all.
Jesus was going to join John at the Jordan, as many young
men were doing, and it would take Him about three days
to walk thither. He was dressed as a young countryman,
with a long inner tunic of soft white cloth gathered at the
neck and coming down to His feet, and over that a loose
cloak of thick grey or blue stuff to wrap round Him in
cold weather, and He had common Winter shoes buckled
on His feet, and a long stick in His hand. The banks
of the Jordan are often high and rocky, but at some parts
they are in terraces, coming down to low soft, level parts,
overhung with drooping trees, and then the river spreads

BAPTIZED IN THE JORDAN. 6 1
*
out shallow enough for horses to wade through. It was
Winter, and the river was deep and full of water flowing
cold as ice, and day after day John preached at the same
place to fresh crowds.
Another day has begun at the Fords. John is standing
upon the terraced bank, with the broad river flowing at his
feet, his wild figure showing clear against the blue morn
ing sky, a crowd before him. Lawyers, Pharisees, soldiers,
shepherds, fishermen who have walked up from the Lake,
gardeners, carpenters, vine-dressers, dyers, weavers, smiths,
bankers and beggars, rich and poor, women and children,
all listening to the strange young man, who calls upon them
to repent of their wickedness and be baptized " there," and
he points with bare arm to the river below. He had told
them before, that the Christ would soon appear, but to-day
he says —
" Among you there standeth One whom ye know not, He
that is to come after me, the buckle of whose shoe I am not
worthy to unloose." In their midst ! And each man looked
at his neighbour ; — but they would soon know. When John
finished speaking he went down into the river again, and
baptized all who came to him, which was considered a very
solemn thing. While he was doing this a young man,
dressed in the plain white tunic and outer cloak of a country
man of Galilee, came from the crowd and stood at the edge
of the river, quietly waiting and watching John. He had been
in the crowd listening, and now He wished to be baptized.
When He came into the water, John looked earnestly at Him,
and something told him that this was Jesus the Christ, and
he refused to baptize Him, for he knew that Jesus had no
wickedness to confess.
" I need rather to be baptized by Thee," he exclaimed in a
voice of astonishment, "and comest Thou to me?"
"Allow it now," Jesus replied quietly ; " for it becometh us
to fulfil all righteousness."
Then John baptized Him, and as Jesus went up out of the
water He prayed, and the Heavens were opened to Him, and

62 ALONE IN THE DESERT.
He saw the Spirit of God coming down in the shape of a
Dove, and it rested upon His head, abiding with Him. John
saw it also, and the Voice of God spoke to Jesus from Heaven,
saying —
" Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased."
I know not whether the people saw the Spirit-Dove. They
heard the strange thunder-voice ; but Jesus alone understood
the meaning, for it was an answer to His prayer. And min
gling with the people again, He went quietly away. In the dusk
of evening the crowds dispersed to their homes, talking of all
they had seen and heard, and some wondered who this great
Person could be of whom John spoke. Whether the Christ
would come soon, and if He would be a king ; not knowing
that He had been in the midst of them that day. Others
talked of the loud noise they had heard in the skies, and
wondered if it had anything to do with the young Man who
was being baptized at that time. But John remained behind
until darkness came on, and the stars were reflected in the
broad river, thinking of Jesus, of the Dove, of the Heavens
opening, of the Voice — thinking deeply and joyfully, and
worshipping God in silence.
And _ whither did Jesus go, when he walked away alone?
On, on, away from men, away from the people, out into
the wild desert country beyond the Dead Sea. He felt the
Spirit of God strong within Him, and His heart beat fast as
He thought of the message which He had heard that day.
Great and deep thoughts were rising in His mind, and He
wished to go away by Himself, to think and to pray. And
when the moon and stars came out, He was walking alone,
away from the homes of men, led by the Spirit of God into
the wilderness.
Remember, my child, how the Spirit of God came to Jesus,
and know that His Spirit will also come to thee if thou dost
ask Him : not as a Dove, not with a sound, but felt, though
unseen. And in moments of silent waiting upon Him thou
wilt hear a voice within thee saying, "Thou art My child,"
and the voice is the voice of God.

TEMPTED IN THE WILDERNESS. 63

TEMPTED IN THE WILDERNESS.
DEAD SEA, WINTER, A.D. 31.
Jesus went into the wilderness beyond the Dead Sea ; a wild
region of rocky hills and sand. Night came on, and when He
sat down to rest, all was silent, save the wind blowing through
the dry grass, and the scream of a distant wild beast.
When the dawn came, He rose and went deeper into the
wilderness, where the wolf, the wild boar, the tiger, and the lion
walked about in daylight. Day after day passed, and He was
with them alone. The lion would lift his shaggy head and
glare at Him as He passed. Gentleness can tame a lion.
During these lonely days and nights He was thinking, thinking,
and praying to God to make plain the work which He had to
do, until deep in His heart he settled the few great principles
which were to guide Him, which He was to teach, and from
which He never swerved in all His trials. For forty days He
was there, and then He was ready to return, and begin His
work among the people with a calm and settled mind, knowing
that He was the Son of God. But He was to be tried before
returning — He was to be tempted to do wickedness. The
Spirit of Evil, which is called Devil, Satan, Tempter, Lucifer,
Evil One, and by many other names in different countries,
tempted Jesus to give up these good principles, and to take
wicked ones instead ; to be guided by the Spirit of Evil rather
than by the Spirit of Good, as a much more likely way to suc
ceed in the world. For, if He did just a little wickedness, the
Tempter said, He would have many people with Him, while, if
He did good only, many people would be against Him. He
was hungry and weak, and this thought entered His mind —
" If Thou art the Son of God, command this stone to
become Bread."
At first Jesus was inclined to do it, and then He felt that it
would be wrong. His powers had been given Him, not to
make food for Himself, not to work wonders for Himself, but
for far higher purposes, and He found a complete answer to

64 THE SPIRIT OF EVIL.
the wicked suggestion in these words of the book of Deuter
onomy in the Bible.
" Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that
cometh from God, doth he live."
His Father in Heaven could sustain Him, and He ought to
obey Him alone ; and this suggestion was not from God.
But the temptation returned. This time it was a vision.
In it the Spirit of Evil, taking the shape of a Tempter, seemed
to carry Jesus to a high tower of the Golden Temple over
looking a deep valley, and to say —
" If Thou art the Son of God, cast Thyself down, for it is
written in the book of Psalms,
" For He shall give His angels charge over Thee ;
To keep Thee in all Thy ways.
They shall bear Thee up in their hands,
Lest Thou dash Thy foot against a stone."
At first this promise of the Bible seemed an encouragement
to perform the wonder. But no. It was a wicked suggestion.
He would never try to prove by empty display that He was
the Son of God, nor needlessly put Himself in danger. And,
recollecting other words of the Bible in the book of Deuter
onomy, spoken by Moses to the Jews long ago, which answered
these, He banished the Tempter and the vision together, as
He repeated them —
" You shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted
him in Massah." Jesus knew that He was being tempted.
But He was tempted a third time, and in a far more danger
ous way. Again it is a vision. Again the Spirit of Evil,
as a Tempter, seemed to carry Him to the top of a high
mountain, and to show Him the most wonderful panorama
that has ever been thought of. For an instant all the king
doms of the world, their glory of mountains, rivers, plains,
cities, armies, kings, princes, lovely women, riches of gold
and rubies, seemed to spread out glittering before Him, and
vanish again as the Tempter said —
" All these things, and the glory of them, and all this power
hath been given to me, and I can give it to whom I will. I

BEGONE, TEMPTER ! 65
will give it to Thee if Thou wilt fall down and worship me,
and it shall be Thine." Jesus wished to persuade the whole
world to love God and follow goodness, to become a Kingdom
of God, and now He was tempted to take what seemed a
quicker way to bring about this glorious end. But He would
have to begin by acknowledging that wickedness was higher
than goodness. In that panorama of the world, wickedness
seemed the most powerful thing — as though the world were
all governed and moved by it, and that, if He could but get
hold of the springs of wickedness, He might turn them into
goodness and have them upon His side. Was it not hopeless,
with gentle persuasion only, to attempt the struggle? Why
not use force, be a king, and conquer ? But all temptations
are founded on falsehood. Wickedness was not the greatest
power in the world. To conciliate wickedness would never
turn it into goodness. Universal good could never spring
from one wrong act. Thus Jesus combated the suggestion,
while the world's prizes — crowns, kingdoms — seemed within
grasp. While earthly kings founded their kingdoms by force
of war, it was not thus that He would spread the Kingdom of
Heaven in the world. The impulse to wickedness subsided.
Again He recollected a few words of the Bible, also from
Deuteronomy. "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only
shalt thou serve." How could He think of serving the Spirit
of Evil or obeying any but the voice of His Father in Heaven !
" Begone, Tempter ! " And with these words the Spirit of
Evil was silenced and tempted Him no more. Goodness had
triumphed ! In these temptations Jesus felt the impulse to do
evil that good might follow — the form of wickedness which
overcomes many good people. Humility, simplicity, love,
truth, peace, self-denial, persuasion — these Jesus chose. Pride,
riches, hatred, falsehood, war, force — these He rejected. Think
not that this was an easy victory, for Jesus felt the allurements
of the world like an ordinary man, but He resolved to meet
wickedness, not with wickedness, but to conquer it with good.
There is nothing better than silent solitary waiting upon God

66 HE CHOOSES FIVE DISCIPLES.
for making our duty clear, and so Jesus became possessed of
a deep calm certainty of purpose which nothing could shake.
And when the temptations were over, we are told that
angels came with their great white wings and gave Jesus food
and strengthened Him.
And thou, my child, wilt remember thy Bible when thou
art beset with wicked suggestions, for there thou wilt find
precious words that will strengthen thee against them. And
forget not that the best and purest of people are tempted to
wickedness.

HE CHOOSES FIVE DISCIPLES.
JORDAN, SPRING, A.D. 31.
On His return from the wilderness, Jesus went again to
John, who was now at a different part of the Jordan, called
Bethabara, just outside of Judaea. He had been away about
six weeks, and in sheltered parts the fresh green leaves were
beginning to clothe the trees at the river side. During
that time some priests sent from Jerusalem had come to
John, demanding to know what he meant by his teaching, to
which John had replied that he meant to warn them of the
coming of the Christ. There was again a crowd of people
round John, when Jesus came towards him.
" See the Lamb of God which taketh away the wickedness
of the world!" John exclaimed, pointing to Jesus. And all
the people looked at Jesus, as John continued, " This is He
of whom I said, ' After me there will come a man who is
before me : for He was before me.' " Then speaking of the
time when He baptized Jesus, he went on : "I did not
know Him, but I saw the Spirit of God coming down like a
Dove out of Heaven, and it rested on Him, and then I knew
Him, for God said to me, ' Upon whom thou shalt see the
Spirit coming down and resting, that is He.' I have seen it,
and I have said that He is the Son of God." But the people
did not believe John, for they expected that the Christ would

ANDREW, JOHN, PETER, PHILIP. 67
be a king. This was only a young countryman, with com
mon cloak and shoes, and they thought John was speaking
foolishness. In the afternoon of the next day, about four o'clock, as
John was standing with Andrew and John, two of his com
panions, Jesus walked past, and, looking after him, John
said to them —
" See the Lamb of God ! " And these two men left John
and followed Jesus along the road, till turning round Jesus
saw them following, and said —
"What do you seek?" They wished to know where He
lived, and replied —
" Master, where dost Thou live ? " Jesus looked at the men
who thus called Him Master, and said gently —
"Come and see." And thus invited the men went with
Him, perhaps to a small hut of mats, stretched upon sticks,
made by the young Carpenter Himself, and they went in and
stayed with him. Now, these were the first men who came
to Jesus or ever called Him Master. Andrew had an elder
brother called Peter, and both of them were fishermen from
Bethsaida at the Lake-side in Galilee, and Andrew went and
told Peter that they had found Jesus, the man of whom John
spoke, and brought him to Jesus. Looking upon him kindly,
Jesus called him by his name and spoke of his father, and
Peter remained, and afterwards became His chief disciple.
Jesus now decided to return home to Galilee with Peter,
Andrew, and John, and on their way they met a young
man called Philip, also from Bethsaida, whom Andrew and
Peter knew ; and when Jesus saw Philip, He said to him —
" Follow Me ! " And Philip also came with Him. There
were now four disciples, and when they came into Galilee,
Philip thought of Nathanael, a friend of his, and went and
found him sitting reading under .the shade of a green fig tree —
"We have found Jesus of Nazareth," Philip told him
joyfully, " the Son of Joseph. He of whom Moses and
the good men in tke Bible wrote." Nathanael knew the
Bible said that the Christ was to be born in Bethlehem,

68 NATHANAEL.
and he had heard bad things of Nazareth, and answered
doubtfully — *
"Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Philip
would not argue with him. He thought that if he could
only get him to see Jesus his doubts would vanish.
" Come and see," was all he said, and Nathanael rose and
came, and when Jesus saw him, He exclaimed —
" See, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile ! "
Nathanael was surprised, and replied at once —
"How knowest Thou me?" Looking at him with calm
dark eyes, Jesus answered —
" Before Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig
tree, I saw thee."
" Master ! Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of
Israel ! " Nathanael exclaimed, meaning that Jesus was the
Christ, for His answer filled him with wonder and reverence.
" Because I said I saw thee under the fig tree, thou
believest?" Jesus replied, chiding him gently. "Thou shalt
see greater things than these. Heaven opened and the
angels of God ascending and descending upon Me." Then
Nathanael also became one of His disciples, his name being
afterwards changed to Bartholomew. Jesus had now five
disciples. It was Springtime, and as they went through the hill
country, where the fig and olive trees were putting on their
leaves, and the sweet wild flowers were weaving their brilliant
colours through the grass, the men listened to Jesus talk
ing, and thought they had never heard any one speak
like Him, and when they reached the Lake of Gennesaret,
some of them went to their own homes at Bethsaida, and
some went with Him to Nazareth. Home again ! but not
to stay. He had not come to take up His Carpenter's tools.
He had laid them down for ever. And His mother saw
that while He had been away a change had come over
Him, for He seemed even graver and more earnest than
before. Remember then how Andrew and Philip brought their

THE MARRIAGE AT CANA. 69
friends to Jesus. Philip begging Nathanael just to come
and look at Him. And thou wilt tell thy companions about
Him too, for children can get children to do what older
people cannot persuade them to.

THE MARRIAGE AT CANA.
CANA, SPRING, A.D. 31.
There was to be a marriage in Cana, a little village about
four miles from Nazareth, on the road down to the Lake.
His mother and brothers and sisters were going, and Jesus
and the disciples who were with Him, were invited, for it was
the marriage of a friend.
On the wedding morning they walked over the hills, and
saw the pretty bride, with wild flowers twined in her loose hair
— white orange blossom, crimson pomegranate, and delicate
wild rose — and all covered with a white veil, married to
her lover, among rejoicing friends. Then followed the wed
ding supper in the home of the bridegroom's father, which
was gay with festoons of flowers on the walls. — honey
suckle and ivy — rugs on the floor, and coloured cushions,
and couches for the guests at the table. They were in
the land of grapes, and there was wine, and whether it
was that more people had come than were expected, or
that the bridegroom's father was poor, in the course of the
supper the wine was finished, but only trie women who
were serving knew of this, of whom Tesus' mother was one.
Now, it would have been thought a. p;reat Hkgrarf if they
had required to tell the guests that there was no more
wine ; and, seeing the distress of her friends, Mary thought of
her Son, who had ever been her adviser at home. Beckoning
Jesus to come and speak with her, she whispered —
" They have no wine." And He, knowing that she wished
Him to assist them, said gently to her —
" Woman, what have I to do with thee ? My time has not
yet come." And He returned to the table andsat down. He

70 WATER AND WINE.
was not angry ; and, thinking it a favourable answer, His
mother went to the servants and said —
" Whatever He telleth you to do, do it." Now there were
six stone jars for holding water at the house door, and they
were empty, because every guest had washed his feet and left
his shoes at the door, for no one might go into a house in that
country except with bare feet. Rising again from the table
and coming to the door, Jesus said to the servants who were
outside in the sunshine —
" Fill the stone jars with water." And taking up dishes
and pitchers they filled them with water from the village well,
as quickly as they could, and when they were all full, He said
again —
" Draw out now and carry it to the head one at the table."
Now this man sat at the end of the room, and all new things
were taken first to him to be tasted. A servant filled a wine-
flagon from the water-jar, and did as he was told, and when he
reached the head of the table and poured it into a wine cup, it
was red wine. When the master of the feast tasted the wine,
it was so good that he called playfully to the bridegroom's
father —
" Every man who giveth a feast setteth the good wine first
on the table ; and when men have drunk freely, then he
bringeth in the worse wine : but thou hast kept the good wine
to the end." And thus he drew attention to the wine, though
no one knew whence it came.
This, then, was the first wonder, called a miracle, which
Jesus did. And as the supper went on it was whispered from
the servants to the guests, where the wine had come from,
until all knew, and were astonished at His power. After
supper came music, games, and dancing on the earthen floor,
or perhaps in the open court-yard of the house, with Jesus
looking on amid a throng of glad faces.: and under the stars
of night, with the shadows of the dark hills around Him, He
walked hack to His quiet home at Nazareth.
And thou wilt remember that Tesus loves times of happy
rejoicing. And what is more charming and joyful than a

CLEARING THE GOLDEN TEMPLE. 7 1
child dancing — dancing with radiant face, arms and body
swaying to his own time and tune ?

CLEARING THE GOLDEN TEMPLE.
JERUSALEM, APRIL, A.D. 31.
After the marriage, Jesus went down to Capernaum at the
Lake-side with his disciples, His mother and brothers also going
with Him, walking easily there in one day. It is one of the
most beautiful places in the whole country, especially in early
Spring, for the Lake of Gennesaret, which is about the size of
Lake Windermere in England, is deep and surrounded by high
hills, that come close down to the blue water on one side,
while on the other side was a rich fruit and flower-bearing
plain called the "garden of Gennesaret," watered by several
small streams that flow across it from a large, beautiful spring.
The air on this plain is so soft and warm that grapes and figs
ripened there almost the whole year round, and melons, dates,
oranges, citron, wheat, barley, and rice grew more abundantly
there than anywhere else, with scarlet geraniums, purple
hyacinths, golden crocuses, and countless other flowers spread
ing down to the white beach, formed of innumerable small
shells. On the other side of the Lake rose barren hills of
yellow, grey, and black rock, with groves of palms, almond,
fig, and olive trees in the deep gorges. The Lake was then
crowded with fishing-boats, and although it is only thirteen
miles long and six broad, there were ten towns round it,
besides villages. Capernaum was near one end, and through
it passed the great caravan-road from the East to Jerusalem.
It had fine public buildings, broad strsets, and markets, and
squares, in which might be seen Africans, Arabs, and Jews
buying and selling.
Jesus went to live in His disciple Peter's house, near the
shore of black rocks at Capernaum. But he remained only a
few days, for it was time to start for the Passover Festival at
Jerusalem, and it is likely that he only went there to join the

72 SHEEP, OXEN, MONEY-CHANGERS.
band of people who were going from Capernaum. With sing
ing and rejoicing the company left the town, taking the road
along the Lake-side, with green corn-fields and fruit trees on
one hand, and the blue sparkling water on the other ; leaving
the Lake, they wound up through deep green vales sprinkled
with flowers, and over thymy plains, till they could look down
upon the tree-fringed gorge of the Jordan, which remained in
sight day after day, till, with waving branches and a burst of
joyful psalm songs, they looked down once more upon the
great Golden Temple from the Mount of Olives.
The Temple was the centre of the Festival. From their
camp of tents and huts made of mats and branches on Olivet,
they could see the people moving in dark crowds in the streets
about it, and going up and down its great white steps, while
sheep and oxen were being driven in herds towards it.
Going thither on the first morning, Jesus saw a sight in the
great outer Temple court that made him angry. It was a
beautiful place, open to the blue sky and surrounded with pil
lars and porches of red and white marble, with a floor made
of many coloured marbles ; yet the sellers of sheep, oxen, and
doves, and the money-changers, had brought their things into
it, and were shouting and wrangling, buying and selling there,
so that the noise reached even the worshippers in the courts
within. Bleating lambs were penned in one corner here, while
there, was a man struggling to hold an ox, and there, were
dove-sellers with their wicker baskets, and there, behind tables
with little piles of gold and silver upon them, sat the money
changers, the greatest rogues in Jerusalem, who changed for
eign coins into small shekels, the only money which the priests
would take. They had not come to worship, but to buy and
sell ; and Jesus was angry that the priests should allow it, and
taking a number of small cords He tied them together into a
scourge, and drove the keepers of the sheep and oxen, with
their herds, out of the beautiful Court. Astonishment filled
all who saw Him driving them out through the gates, but no
one tried to resist Him or said that He did wrong. Then,
going over to the money-changers, He poured out their money

SCATTERED GOLD. 73
bags and upset their tables, sending their coins ringing and
scattering down on the pavement, and ordered them also out ;
while to the men who sold the caged doves and all the other
traders, He said —
"Take these things hence, and do not make My Father's
house a house of buying and selling." The noise of the low
ing cattle as they were driven away was as nothing to the
shouts and screams of rage and terror with which the money
changers saw their precious money scattered upon the pave
ment, and they tried to clutch and scrape together as much as
they could gather before flying out.
At length all the traders were gone — only the worship
pers remained ; but still they could be heard outside bewail
ing their losses, and demanding what right this young Man of
Galilee had to turn them out, yet none ventured back again.
Cattle were mixed, money was lost, doves escaped, all was
confusion amongst the rogues ; yet not one of them could tell
why he had fled. It was not His scourge nor His few words,
but it was the appearance of Jesus which drove them out.
Then the Temple priests began to ask each other, What right
had Jesus thus to interfere in their Temple ? And coming to
Him they said —
" Seeing Thou hast done this thing, what sign canst Thou
show us of Thy right to do it? "
" Destroy this temple," He answered, " and in three days I
will raise it up."
"This Temple was forty-six years in building," they ex
claimed, "and wilt Thou raise it up in three days?" The
Temple was not even finished yet ; but Jesus did not answer
or explain that He was speaking of Himself; but what He
said that day the priests and traders never forgot, for they
blamed Him for it three years afterwards.
Remember, then, that Jesus does not like people when in
church to think of business or money or even of play and
games ; but to think about God and Heaven, and so truly to
worship there.

74 NICODEMUS.

NICODEMUS.
JERUSALEM, APRIL, A.D. 31.
' Every morning early, when the priests blew their silver
trumpets, a cloud from the morning sacrifice rose into the
blue air above the Golden Temple, and the great courts
echoed with the singing of psalms. Jesus now began to walk
each day among the pillars in the porches round the Temple
courts where the Teachers met, doing wonders and speaking
to the people, and many people believed Him ; but He did
not trust them, and asked none of them to be His disciples.
But they called Him a young Rabbi, which means " Teacher ; "
and old men said they had never heard such speaking at a
Passover Festival.
Now there were men in Jerusalem called Pharisees, which
means " ones separated," proud Teachers, who thought them
selves better than all other men, and Nicodemus was one of
the highest of them. He had heard Jesus speaking in the
Temple, and thought He was the Christ whom they all
expected ; but the Pharisees despised any one who said so,
and though Nicodemus wished much to talk with Jesus, he
was afraid of what the other Pharisees would say. One night,
however, he left his fine house, and went out alone over the
dark Kedron Bridge to the camp of the Galileans on the
Mount of Olives where Jesus lived, and there he found Jesus,
and taking Him aside from among the tents and the people,
he unmuffled his cloak in the full moonlight and showed who
he was.
" Master," he began, as they stood in the shadow of the
olive trees that grew thick on the side of the hill, and whose
thin leaves shone like silver in the moonlight, "we know
that Thou art a Teacher from God, for no man could do the
things which Thou doest unless God be with him." Thus
he told Jesus what the Pharisees thought of Him, and they
talked long and earnestly together, the rich Councillor and
the young Carpenter.

THE SPIRIT OF GOD. 75
" Unless a man be born again from above, he cannot see
God," said Jesus.
" But how can a man be born again when he is old ? " re
plied Nicodemus, in surprise ; and Jesus explained that being
born from above, meant, to have the Spirit of God coming into
us to guide us ; saying, as the warm night wind rustled through
the leaves overhead —
"Be not surprised that I say, 'Thou must be born from
Heaven.' The wind bloweth where it will, and we hear the
sound of it, but know not whence it cometh nor whither it goeth.
So is it with the Spirit of God" — meaning that the Spirit of
God cometh unseen, and yet we know when He is present.
"How is this possible?" said Nicodemus, in astonishment,
for he believed that men only entered Heaven by being Jews
and keeping the whole Law, as taught by the priests.
"Art thou a Teacher in Jerusalem," said Jesus, quietly,
" and understandest not these things ? " Gently rebuking him
for teaching religion to others, and yet not knowing the prin
cipal thing, adding, " I speak of what I know and have seen,
yet thou dost not believe Me. If thou dost not believe when
I speak about the earth, how wilt thou believe Me if I speak
of Heaven ? No man hath gone up to Heaven, but I came
down from Heaven, and am in Heaven. Just as Moses lifted
up the serpent of brass in the wilderness, so must I be lifted
up, that whoever believeth on Me may have Heaven. For
God so loved the world, that He gave Me, His only Son,
that whoever believeth on Me should have Heaven. God
sent Me, that through Me the world should be saved." Thus
He told Nicodemus plainly that He was the long-expected
Christ, the Son of God. And comparing Himself to a light
in darkness, he continued —
" I am the Light come into the world, but men do not
believe in Me, loving darkness rather than light, because their
deeds are bad. Every one that doeth bad things hateth the
light, and cometh not to it, lest his deeds should be reproved.
But he that doeth good, cometh, that his deeds may be seen,
that they are done as God wisheth." A gentle reproof this

j6 HEAVEN.
to the great Councillor who had come in the dark that
night. As they walked together among the fresh grass and wild
flowers of Olivet under the whispering trees, Jesu6 telling him
of Heaven, and of the Spirit of God which cometh unseen,
the eyes of Nicodemus turned from the beautiful face of his
Companion, and travelled the dark blue spaces of the night, as
he wondered whether behind the furthest star, which shone as a
faint white spark, the bright fields of Heaven were outspread
of which He spoke, and he wondered also how Jesus, while on
earth, could yet be in Heaven. And as he listened to His
words he felt the Spirit of God rising in new power within
him, and resolved to follow Jesus. They parted as the rosy
dawn broke over the great city, the one going to his fine house
and silken couch, the other to His simple hut and bed of
leaves ; but Nicodemus never forgot that night with Jesus, as
thou wilt afterwards see.
Now, in talking with Nicodemus, Jesus spoke of Heaven
in two ways which I shall explain, for it will help thee to
understand Him better later on. He spoke of Heaven in
this life, and of Heaven in the life of our spirits after death.
God makes Heaven. To have the Spirit of God in us
— to know and obey God — is to have Heaven here, and
the perfect union of our Spirits with God in His beautiful
Home, is Heaven hereafter. Spreading the knowledge of
God is what Jesus called spreading the Kingdom of Heaven
among men. But the people had been taught to expect
that His Kingdom would be one of cities, armies, and power,
and that He would reign over it from a magnificent Jeru
salem ; but Jesus taught them that His Kingdom of Heaven
was unseen, of goodness, joy, and peace, in the hearts of men,
women, and little children everywhere. Heaven has many
beautiful names in the Bible, and when thou readest. of
the Kingdom of God, Kingdom of our Father, Kingdom
of Heaven, Life, Life everlasting, Life eternal, Paradise, I
wish thee to remember that they all mean Heaven, Heaven
in us here, or Heaven with God after death, and sometimes
both together.

JOHN AND JESUS. jy
Remember, then, that what Jesus called being born again,
is to have the Spirit of God rising within thee ; and that
to obey that voice is to believe in Jesus, and have Heaven.

JOHN AND JESUS.
JORDAN, SUMMER, A.D. 31.
Jesus remained some time teaching in Jerusalem, after
the Festival week was over, and then He went into Judaea,
which is the hill country round about Jerusalem, on his first
journey as a Teacher. The Jordan being shallow with the
heat, John the Baptist had gone further up the river to ^Enon,
where there was still plenty of water in the pools, and crowds
came to him every day ; and after a time Jesus also came
down from the hills to the river, not to John, but to a
shallow place nearer to Jerusalem, where He also taught,
and greater crowds came to Jesus than to John, and His
disciples baptized the people. When John's disciples heard
of this, although Andrew and John were their old com
panions, they were displeased, and complained to John the
Baptist. " Master," said they, " Jesus who was with thee across
the Jordan, and of whom thou spoke, is baptizing, and
everybody goeth to Him." They had just had a dispute
with some Teachers sent from Jerusalem about purifying by
water, and they hoped John would say that the disciples
of Jesus baptized wrongly, and that his was the only true
baptism. But John was a noble man. When his cousin
Jesus was still an unknown Carpenter in Nazareth, John
was a great and famous Teacher, followed by crowds ; but
now, though he taught as well as ever, the people were
leaving him and going to Jesus, and of John's disciples
two had already gone, and the others were grumbling. But
he was not jealous ; and answered them firmly —
" A man can receive nothing, except it be given him
from God. You yourselves have told others that I said,

78 HE MUST INCREASE.
'I am not the Christ, but I am sent before Him.' The
friend of the Bridegroom, who standeth by and heareth
Him speak, rejoiceth greatly because of His voice. My
joy therefore is full." Far from being jealous, John wished
that the people should go to Jesus, and he added these
noble words : "He must increase, but I must decrease." He
meant that he had done his part, in telling the people of
the coming of Jesus, and that henceforth they must look
to Jesus as their Leader, and then he praised Him, saying —
" Jesus who cometh from God is above all, and He
speaketh of what He hath seen and heard, yet no one
believeth His message, but whoever shall believe, maketh
sure of this, that God is true. Jesus whom God hath sent
speaketh the words of God, for God loveth Him, His Son,
and hath given everything into His hand. He that believeth
in Jesus hath Heaven : but he that believeth not, shall not see
Heaven." How soon were the forebodings of John realised !
In a few months King Antipas, the son of the wicked King
Herod, took him with soldiers and imprisoned him in a
castle near the Dead Sea so called because of its horrid
saltness, and from which castle John never escaped.
The priests at Jerusalem disliked John, but Jesus they
now hated, after what He had done in the Temple; and
hearing that even greater crowds were going to Jesus than
to John, and remembering all He had said, they agreed to
try and stop Jesus from teaching, and if possible to have *
Him taken a prisoner. But friends told Jesus that John
had been put into prison, and of the plans of the priests ;
and Jesus resolved to return to the Lake-side, but not before
He had taught for six months in Judaea, and had made a
great stir and won many friends, particularly among the
poor people, with His strange new teaching about Heaven.
I do not think that Jesus saw John at this time, and He
never saw him afterwards ; and thus, from the very start of
His teaching, the priests and Teachers of Jerusalem turned
against Jesus.
Remember, then, John's noble answer, and be not jealous

THE WOMAN AT THE WELL. 79
of others who are able to do more good in the world than
thou ; but keep doing thy best, and rejoice that they can do
better.
THE WOMAN AT THE WELL.
SYCHAR, WINTER, A.D. 31.
Jesus did not return to Galilee by the usual road along the
banks of Jordan, but went up to the hills and through the
country of Samaria, a way which few cared to go, as the people
of Judaea hated the Samaritans, and the Samaritans hated the
Judaeans, but they were more friendly to Galileans. From the
Jordan, Jesus and the disciples who were with Him climbed
the hills, and joined the high-road. Samaria was a fine coun
try, with grassy plains and wooded glens, while the hills were
not steep and bare like Judaea, but rounded and covered with
trees, walnut, almond, pear, plum, and fir ; and the numerous
brooks in the hollows ran sparkling like silver, but some of the
deep and wooded gorges were now difficult to cross owing to
the Winter rains.
By midday they reached the little town of Sychar, in the
midst of the high hills of Samaria, and it was warm, for even
in December the sun is hot there at noon, and a little way
down the vale from the town there was a deep well, built
round with stones, and with water sparkling far down in it, and
Jesus sending His disciples up to the town to buy some bread,
rested in the cool shade of the small stone shed that stood
beside the well. While He waited there, a woman with her
red water-jar on her shoulder, and a cord in her hand, came
down the path from the town for water. Fastening her cord
to the jar, she let it down into the well, and drew it up filled
with clear, cool water. Taking off the cord, she put the jar
on her hand, and was about to lift it to her shoulder and go
away, when Jesus, coming from His seat, said to her —
" Give me to drink." A common enough thing to ask ; but
she was surprised that a Jew should speak to her, and replied
in a distant way —

80 GIVE ME A DRINK.
"How is it that Thou, a Jew, askest water from me, a
woman of Samaria?" She also knew that women were so
much looked down upon by Jews, that a young Teacher was
forbidden to speak to them outside of a house. But Jesus
cared not for such foolish things.
" If thou knewest who it is that saith to thee, ' Give me to
drink,' " He answered, " thou wouldst ask Me, and I would
give thee living water " — meaning the Spirit of God. Seeing
that Jesus was no common Man, she began to speak more
respectfully, although she did not understand Him.
" Sir," she said, " Thou hast nothing to draw water with,
and the well is deep: whence hast Thou this living water?
Art Thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well,
and drank of it, with his sons and his cattle?" She thought
He was speaking against their well, and so she told Him its
age, and the great people who had used it. Jesus then told
her that what He could give her was greater than water out of
any well, saying, as He pointed to her water-jar —
"Whoever drinketh of this water will thirst again; but who
ever receiveth the water that I can give, will never thirst, but
it will be in him a spring of water springing up into Heaven."
Still thinking that Jesus spoke of some wonderful kind of water
for drinking, she exclaimed —
" Sir, give me that water that I may never thirst again, nor
come all the way hither for water ! " Meditating for a little,
Jesus tried her in a different way.
"Go and call thy husband," He said, "and come back
again." " I have no husband," she replied, turning away her eyes
as she spoke. He saw the change, and said gently —
" Thou hast well said, for thou hast had five husbands, and
he with whom thou now livest is not thy husband : thou hast
spoken the truth." In one sentence He reproved and en
couraged her, and, no longer proud, she stood with eyes cast
down, for her whole life seemed known to Him, and replied
humbly —
" I see that Thou art a Prophet." Now the Jews said that

GOD IS A SPIRIT. 8 1
God should be worshipped in their Temple on Mount Moriah,
in Jerusalem, and the Samaritans said, in their Temple, on
Mount Gerizim, whose high wooded top they could see not
far off; and she went on to say, "Our fathers worshipped
God on yonder mountain, but the Jews say that on Mount
Moriah, in Jerusalem, is the right place to worship ? " Jesus
brought her back to the Spirit of God, the spring of all good,
in His answer, the greatest in the Bible —
"Woman, believe me," He said, "the time cometh, when
neither on yonder mountain, nor in Jerusalem, will men wor
ship God. The Samaritans do not know what they worship,
but the Jews know what they worship. But, I say, the time
cometh, yes, and hath come, when the true worshippers shall
worship God everywhere, in spirit and in truth, for God
seeketh such to worship Him." Thus He explained that
God's true worshippers do not need to worship in temples or
in churches, for they can worship Him in spirit wherever they
may be, and He added these glorious words, "God is a Spirit,
and must be worshipped in spirit and in truth."
To what a height had this conversation risen ! which has
come down to us through .the ages, as the greatest recorded
conversation of all time. There, by a lonely well, over a jar
of water, Jesus explained to a woman the true relationship
between God and man, and how they touch and flow into
each other. But a higher point was reached. The conversa
tion had got beyond the woman's understanding, and she
could only answer in a vague way.
" I know that the Christ will come, and when He cometh,
He will explain everything to us," and she looked up at Him,
and returning her gaze with His clear dark eyes, Jesus said
gently —
" I who speak to thee am He." With wonder and amaze
ment the woman heard these joyful words from His lips, and
gazed at His face in silent worship.
By this time the disciples had returned, and were surprised
to find Him speaking to a woman, but none of them cared
to come forward. Leaving her water-jar on the edge of the

82 THE VILLAGE OF SYCHAR.
well, the woman ran back again to the town to tell the people
there the joyful tidings that the Christ had come, exclaiming,
in her excitement, more than was quite correct —
" Come and see a man who told me all that ever I did !
Can thisbe the Christ?"
While she was away the disciples approached Jesus and
asked Him to take some of their bread, but He would not,
saying, as He sat thinking —
" I have food to eat that ye know not of." And they
wondered if some one had brought Him food ; but He added,
" My food is to do the will of God who sent Me, and to carry
out His work." He was thinking of the great task which He
had begun, and which seemed to Him like reaping a great
harvest, and as He looked towards the fields, that were being
ploughed and sown with wheat, He said, " You say that there
are four months yet before the harvest time, but My harvest is
ripe already." Then as He thought of John in prison, He
added, " With us, one man soweth, and another reapeth. I
send you to reap what you have not sown : others have sown,
and you shall get the good of their sowing."
But the woman returned, bringing with her men who asked
Jesus into their town, and He went with them, and they
received Him kindly, and while some of the people believed
He was the Christ because of what the woman had said, far
more believed when they saw and heard Him for themselves ;
and He stayed at Sychar teaching for two days. And thus
driven away by the Jews from Judaea He was welcomed by
the Samaritans.
And thou wilt remember that thou dost not require to go
to church or chapel to worship God, but that the worship'
which He loveth best is the worship and obedience of thy
spirit wherever thou art.
" Come, gentle Spirit, be my guide,
A Voice above the great world's din,
That checks each thought when turned aside
From flowers of light, to thorns of sin,
And gives Heaven's peace within."

THE NOBLEMAN'S BOY. 83
THE NOBLEMAN'S BOY.
CANA, WINTER, A.D. 31.
Leaving the kind people of Sychar, Jesus walked on towards
the hills of Gilboa, whence they could see Mount Hermon
(which means the white hill) towering against the blue sky,
clad in its mantle of Winter snow down to the Lebanon hills.
Descending through the deep vale of Jenin with its green
orchards, to the level plain of Jezreel, in a few hours they were
in Galilee again, where the people in the villages were glad
to see Him, for those who had been at the Festival at Jeru
salem had spread the news of His clearing the Temple and of
His wonderful teaching. And as He went through Galilee
He taught in the village churches. Climbing again into the
hills He passed Nazareth, where He knew they would not
receive Him well, and went on to Cana where His disciple
Nathanael lived.
He was now thirty-one years of age, and had been teaching
the people for a year. And while He was at Cana a nobleman,
who had heard of His return, came to see Him, an officer of
King Antipas, who lived in a splendid house at Capernaum,
with servants and soldiers under him. A much-loved son had
taken fever, and the doctors could not make him better, and
hearing of Jesus, he ordered his horse, and rode up the wild
Vale of Doves, with its overhanging cliffs and deep caves, that
led up through the hills from the Lake-side, to bring Jesus
down to his son. Riding into the village of Cana, with his
sword rattling and servant following him, he asked for the
house in which Jesus lived, and having found Him he sprang
from his horse. Could this be Jesus ! — a tall young man,
dressed in a plain countryman's clothes ? But a glance at His
face convinced him, and in a few earnest words he begged
Him to come to Capernaum at once, and heal his dear son.
Jesus looked at his anxious face, mud be-spattered clothes,
and foaming horse, but He wished to test him first —
"Unless thou seest Me do some wonderful thing," He
said, "thou wilt not believe that I can heal thy son?" The

84 FISHING ON THE LAKE.
nobleman did not protest or argue ; every moment's delay was
anguish to him, and he exclaimed —
" Sir, come down, before my child is dead." He did not
doubt His power, and looking at him, Jesus said in a re
assuring voice —
" Go home. Thy son liveth." The nobleman had come to
take Jesus back with him, but this was enough, and with a few
earnest words of gratitude, he went to the inn to rest his horse
before riding back. His mind was now at ease, and as it was
a rough dangerous road of twenty miles, he did not start until
next morning. As he rode home on the following day, he saw
some of his servants coming in the distance, and from their
signs he knew that they brought good news, and their first
words were —
" Thy son liveth."
"At what o'clock did he begin to improve?" he asked
joyfully. "Yesterday, at one o'clock, the fever left him," they
replied. And he told them that that was the time when he
found Jesus. And they all rode gladly home together to
Capernaum, reaching there in the afternoon. Thou canst
imagine with what joy he would kiss his boy, and tell him
how he found Jesus, what He was like, and what He had
said. And the boy, and his father and mother, and all in
the house, believed in Jesus.
And thou wilt remember that this is the first of a great
many kind acts of healing people which we are told that Jesus
did, and thou wilt learn from this story how great is a father's
love for his little child.

FISHING ON THE LAKE.
CAPERNAUM, WINTER, A.D. 31.
Owing to John the Baptist having been put into prison, and
the means taken by the priests in Jerusalem, who had friends
in every village, to stop the teaching of Jesus, He went from
Cana to Nazareth, and stayed quietly at His mother's house

TEACHING FROM A BOAT. 85
His five disciples going to their own homes. After living at
Nazareth for some months, He came down again to Caper
naum, and began teaching openly among the villages at the
Lake-side, and crowds came to hear Him.
One morning early in Spring He was on the shore of white
shells, at the plain of Gennesaret, teaching at a lovely spot,
where a person can be heard speaking a long way off. Thou
canst see Him as He stands on a high part. Before Him are
the crowd of people sitting on the sloping grass and dark
rocks that rise here and there through it ; behind Him are the
waves rippling on the beach, while the water of the Lake
spreads blue and glittering in the sunshine, away to the other
side where the bare yellow hills are quivering in ajiaze of
heat. As he speaks, two fishing boats come in to the shore,
the brown nets are taken out, and the fishermen begin to wash
them a little way off. The crowd are now pressing so close to
hear Him speak, that they are pushing Him into the water,
and, going into Peter's boat, He asks him to push it a little
way out, and thus anchored, He sits down in the stern, and
from this rough pulpit again speaks to the people, who are
pressing down to the very water's edge.
When Jesus finished speaking, He sent the people away and
left the boat ; and the nets having been put back again, washed
and mended for the next day's fishing, He said to Peter, whose
brother Andrew was helping him —
" Put out the boat into deep water, and let down the nets
to fish." Now, the men were tired, and wished to go home,
and knowing it was little use to fish in the morning, Peter
replied —
"Master, we have toiled at fishing all night, and caught
nothing, yet because Thou sayest it, we will let down the
nets," and he told the men to row out, while Jesus watched
them from the shore. Rowing in a wide ring they let out the
nets again, which hung down into the water, Und Peter soon
saw they had enclosed so many fishes that it seemed as if the
nets would break, and he signalled to James and John, who
were partners in the fishing, to come out at once with the

86 HE HEALS THEM ALL.
second boat. The nets were slowly taken in and the silvery
fish shaken out into the boats, loading them so full that they
seemed about to sink as they rowed back to the shore. On
reaching shallow water, Peter jumped out, and running to
Jesus, knelt down on the beach as he exclaimed —
" Depart from me, for I am a wicked man, O Lord ! " He
was sorry he had spoken against going to fish when Jesus told
them to row out, and thought he was not worthy to have such
a Master. "Fear not, Peter," Jesus said, kindly. "After this, thou
shalt catch men," — meaning, that he would soon give up fish
ing and be a Teacher.
Another morning later on, as Jesus passed the same place,
He saw Peter and Andrew fishing again near the shore, and
called to them—
" Come with Me, and I will make you fishers of men."
And drawing their boats up on the beach, they left them with
the other fishermen, and went away with Jesus. A little fur
ther on they saw the brothers James and John, with their
father, Zebedee, sitting in a boat mending their nets with
string, and Jesus called to them, also, to come ; and they,
too, bringing in the boat, left the fishing to their father and
his hired sailors, and went away with Him. Thus He gath
ered His disciples again, young, hardy men, to begin the great
struggle with the priests and false Teachers, which would end
only with His death.
And thou wilt remember the answer of Peter, " Because
Thou sayest it, we will do it," and whatever may be thy
doubts, learn ever to obey the voice of God within thee, that
telleth thee what is right to do.
HE HEALS THEM ALL.
CAPERNAUM, SPRING, A.D. 32.
The Church of Capernaum at the Lake was a very fine
building of white marble, built on a high part of the town,
the gift of a rich officer, and one Sabbath morning it was

in capernaum's church. 87
crowded, for Jesus was going to speak there. Sitting among
the old Teachers, on a bench at the head of the Church, He
faced the people, who stood between a double row of stone
pillars. Behind Him were the box of books, the curtain, the
seven-branched candlestick, the ever-burning lamp, with the
reader's desk a little way off. After prayers, singing, and
reading, Jesus went forward and sat down on the Teacher's
raised seat in the middle of the Church, and all the people
stood up, and then He spoke to them, and they were aston
ished, for He did not repeat old sayings like the other Teach
ers, but spoke like One having authority from God. Suddenly
a loud cry interrupted Him, saying —
" Ah ! what have we to do with Thee, Thou Jesus of Naza
reth ? Art Thou come to destroy us ? I know Thee, whom
Thou art, Thou Holy One of God." The cry came from a
wild-looking man, a well-known maniac, who had come in
with the crowd, and who was terrified at the words of Jesus ;
and the people shrank back from the man, but Jesus, looking
calmly at him, said in a clear voice —
" Be quiet, and come out of him." Uttering loud cries the
man fell down upon the white stone floor, but rose again ;
and the people coming near and talking to him found that he
was healed of his dreadful trouble. They were amazed at
what had happened, and the congregation soon broke up, and
as they went home, some to distant parts of Galilee, they car
ried the news away, saying to each other —
" What is this ? A new Teacher, who speaketh in His own
authority ; whom even the evil spirits in a maniac obey and
depart ! "
Walking through the sunny streets, Jesus went away with
His disciples to have a midday meal and rest at Peter's house
by the Lake, the house which was henceforth to be His home.
There he found Peter's, wife's mother ill with fever, and they
asked Him to heal her. Going into her room, He stood
beside her bed, and taking her hot hand, bade the fever leave
her, and raised her up ; and she rose from her bed well again,
and helped to prepare the food for them. But the Pharisees

88 WALKING THROUGH GALILEE.
of Capernaum told the priests of Jerusalem that Jesus had
broken their Sabbath rules twice on that day, by healing two
people, and they watched Him closely, for they said it was
wrong to heal any one on the Sabbath. With the people, the
Sabbath ended at sundown ; and then they might work and
walk again ; and when the sun was setting that evening,
throwing the shadows of the Western hills on the mirror of
the still Lake, while the yellow cliffs of Gadara were ruddy
with sunlight, and clouds of red and gold still glowed in the
violet sky above the green ranges of Galilee, the people
brought their sick and laid them in the cool shade at the
door of Peter's cottage. And there Jesus stood, with His
clear, dark eyes and gentle voice, speaking to them and
touching them as they came, blind, lame, deaf, palsied, and
sending them away whole ; and as He healed the maniacs,
they cried out —
" Thou art the Christ, the Son of God ! " But He stopped
them. And fathers took away their sons healed, and mothers
their babes, and in many a poor home there was joy that night,
for He healed them all.
And if thou wouldst remember this sunset scene, for there
is no finer description of it written, learn to sing the beautiful
hymn which begins with these words —
" At even, ere the sun was set,
The sick, O Lord, around Thee lay;
Oh, in what divers pains they met!
Oh, with what joy they went away ! "

WALKING THROUGH GALILEE.
GALILEE, SPRING, A.D. 32.
Early in the morning, before it was light, Jesus rose and
climbed the green hills behind Capernaum, which were now
covered with wild flowers, brighter than any garden, that He
might be alone, a thing which He afterwards frequently did ;
and He saw the golden dawn breaking over the Gadarean

TWO HUNDRED VILLAGES. 89
hills, and pouring light upon the Lake and the sleeping towns
round it. When Peter found that Jesus was away, he went
with Andrew to find Him, for people had already begun to
gather round his cottage door. Knowing His fondness for
hills, they sought Jesus there, and finding Him asked Him to
return with them, but He answered —
" Let us go into the other towns of Galilee, because I came
for that purpose." Then they started on His first journey
through all the villages of Galilee, a journey which took some
weeks, for He went from village to village, of which there
were about two hundred, teaching in their churches and
healing. And people from Syria, Judaea, and Jerusalem,
and across the Jordan, came into Galilee to hear Him. So
many months had passed since He was at Jerusalem that the
priests took little notice of Him at this time. It was the
season for green grass, tender leaves, and sweet flowers, the best
time of the year for walking, and He went over the whole
of Galilee, which was about the size of a large English
county, now speaking in their little white pillared churches,
and now to a larger crowd under the evergreen oak trees by
the wayside.
Near every town there were men called lepers, who suf
fered from a dreadful illness, and were not allowed to come
near people, or into their villages, but had to rattle a clapper
and cry " Unclean ! unclean ! " wherever they went. And one
of these poor creatures, hearing that Jesus was in a certain
town, came into it, sounding his clapper and uttering his cry ;
and the people shrank back from him, and when he came to
Jesus, he knelt down and said —
" Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean ! " With
only one hope left, he had ventured into the town, and Jesus
was sorry for him, and although it was against the law for any
one to touch a leper, He put His hand upon him, and said —
" I will, be thou healed." And the poor man, who was
scarcely able to walk, rose to his feet healed, and began to
thank Jesus, but He stopped him gently, saying —
" Tell no one, but go and show thyself to the priest in the

90 LET THROUGH THE ROOF.
Temple at Jerusalem, and give the present which the law says
thou art to give for thy cleansing, and as a proof of thy healing."
Jesus wished the priests to know what had been done ; for
they would go through a ceremony with the leper beside run
ning water, with sparrows and cedar wood, and scarlet and
hyssop, that would take fourteen days, sprinkling the man
seven times with water, before they would give him a letter
saying that he was healed, without which priests' letter he
dared not go among other men.
The man went away, but he could not contain his joy, and
told every one he met what Jesus had done for him, and the
people came to hear Jesus in such numbers because of this,
that He could not go into the towns for the crowds, but
remained in the open country teaching in grassy places, and
they came out of the towns to listen to Him. But He was
tired, and could get no rest for the crowds that came every
day, and the priests at Jerusalem, hearing of Him, were again
roused against Him, and He went away, without telling any
one whither He was going, into a lonely wild place, to rest,
to think, and to pray.
Remember if thou ever feelest bad, and wicked, and miser
able, what the poor leper did, and bring thy sorrow in spirit to
Jesus, and ask Him to help thee, and thou wilt be strengthened
and made better.

LET THROUGH THE ROOF.
CAPERNAUM, SPRING, A.D. 32.
The fragrant oleanders were now in full flower, in masses
of rose and crimson blossom as high as a house, by the
sides of the Lake and the small water courses that run into
it, and the heavy rich smell of the white orange flower was
wafted across the plain of Gennesaret.
Returning from his place of retirement, Jesus quietly entered
Capernaum, perhaps at night, for it was not known for some
days that He was back, and He was teaching one day in the

ON THE HOUSE TOP. 9 1
open court of a large house, and the people came crowding in
to hear Him. The house was built in the shape of a square,
with a court open to the sky in the middle, into which the
windows looked, so that it held a great many people. Jesus
sat in the shaded gallery that ran round the court ; and among
the listeners were Pharisees and Teachers of the Law, who
had been sent from Jerusalem to watch all that He said and
did, and to tell their masters. But He spoke openly and freely
to the people, who were glad to listen.
While He was speaking, a young man who had palsy was
brought to the house, lying upon a mat ; but his friends could
not get near even the door, and tying cords to each corner of
his mat, and going up the outside stairs of the house, they drew
him gently up to the flat roof. Then they carefully removed
some of the red tiles, making a hole wide enough, and lowered
their friend down to the floor at the feet of Jesus. The Phari
sees were indignant at this interruption ; but Jesus was not.
He was touched with the faithfulness of the man and his
friends, whose faces were peering down through the hole in
the roof to see what would happen, and, looking kindly on the
young man, Jesus said these strange words —
"Son, all thy wickedness is forgiven thee." At first the
people did not understand what Jesus meant, for priests only
used these words in the name of God, but He was no priest,
— only a young Carpenter. " Forgive wickedness ! " And
the Pharisees began to speak to each other indignantly —
" Why doth this Man speak thus ? " said one. " Who is this
that speaketh blasphemies ?" said another. "Who can for
give sins but God alone?" exclaimed a third. They thought
Jesus was only pretending to forgive wickedness. Looking
at these sham-good men with searching eyes, Jesus said to
them —
"Why do you think so in your hearts?" but they did not
answer, and He went on, " Whether is it easier to say, ' Thy sins
are forgiven,' or to say, ' Arise and walk' ? " but still they did
not answer ; and He proceeded, " That you may know that I
have power to forgive sins " — turning to the sick man, He

92 MATTHEW THE TAX-GATHERER.
said, " I say to thee, ' Rise, take up thy mat, and go home ! '"
And to the amazement of them all, the young man rose, and
taking up his mat, walked out, thanking God for his recovery ;
and some of the people followed him, filled with awe, praising
God for giving Jesus such power, and saying to the people
outside —
" We have seen strange things to-day, and have never before
seen a Teacher who could do such things."
The Pharisees also were astonished and offended, and while
some of them believed in Jesus, most of them thought He
should be punished for pretending to forgive sins. Now the
punishment for that was to be stoned to death. And as the
Pharisees walked away from the house with their long flowing
robes and bright turbans, some of them said that any one who
had such power from God was not likely to tell lies ; but others
said that to heal a man was no proof that He could forgive
sins, and so they argued ; and the common people, while
believing in the power of Jesus, yet did not pay much heed to
His teaching. And leaving this house, Jesus went back to
Peter's cottage, where He lived.
Remember from this story how good a thing is a true friend,
for the friends of this young man did not give up when they
could not get in by the door, but worked on till they got him
in to Jesus by another way.

MATTHEW THE TAX-GATHERER.
CAPERNAUM, SPRING, A.D. 32.
In that country there were men who paid money to the
Romans for the right to gather the taxes from the Jewish
people, and who made money by oppressing and taxing them
heavily. These men were called " Publicans ; " and they were
hated, for they charged toll at roads, bridges, quays, and
markets, and asked money for each parcel of wool, cloth,
wood, wine, fish, or other goods that passed through the town ;
and if the tax-gatherer were a Jew, he was hated all the more

MATTHEW S DINNER. 93
for gathering the Roman taxes. Capernaum was a favourite
town for taxes, for the great road from Damascus, and Syria,
to Jerusalem and the sea, passed through it, and Matthew, a
Jew, was the head tax-gatherer there, and he was rich. One
day as he sat busy at his work, checking goods and taking
payment, Jesus stopped at his toll in the sunny street, and
said these simple words to him —
"Follow Me!" Matthew knew who Jesus was. He had
often seen Him in the streets followed by the people, and had
heard Him teach, and he resolved to go at once with Him, and
give up his tax-gathering. He also gave a great dinner, and
invited all the tax-gatherers of the town and their friends to
meet Jesus, and to hear him say that he would no more keep
the toll. His friends came gladly, and filled the house, to eat,
drink, and talk with Jesus and His five disciples ; but the
Pharisees were shocked with Jesus for going with such people.
Yet they were so curious to know what went on at the dinner
that they could not stay away, and while they would not sit
down and eat with Matthew's friends, they came into the large
open square of his fine house, which was a common thing for
strangers to do, and looked in at the doors and windows, to
spy and criticise. When they saw Jesus actually sitting and
eating with such people, though they did not care to speak to
Him, they said to His disciples as they passed out and in —
" Why do you and your Master eat with tax-gatherers and
bad people ! " For they pretended to be too good even to
speak to such people in the street, and whispered to each
other with uplifted hands, as they looked in at the well fur
nished table, " See ! He eateth with tax-gatherers and bad
people ! " The disciples told Jesus what they were saying,
and turning to the Pharisees, He sent them away from the
open door with these words —
" They that are well do not need a doctor, but only they
that are ill. Go away and learn what those words of the
prophet Hosea mean.
' I desire mercy, and not sacrifice ;
And the knowledge of God, more than burnt-offerings.'

94 NEW WINE AND OLD BOTTLES.
For I am sent to call the wicked, not righteous people
to become good." And Jesus took no further notice of
them, and remained at Matthew's dinner, eating of his
meat and bread, his oranges, pomegranates, melons, ripe
purple grapes, and other beautiful fruits, which were on every
rich man's table. And He spoke much to Matthew and his
friends. The Pharisees and Teachers of that time had a strange
custom, which was to take no food for a day or two as a reli
gious duty, and this they called fasting, and made a great show
of it ; and they watched Jesus day after day, and noticed
that neither He nor His disciples had any fast days. Now
John the Baptist's disciples had fast days ; and shortly after
Matthew's dinner, the Pharisees, finding fault with Jesus,
said —
" John's disciples fast often, and pray, so also do the Phari
sees and their disciples ; but Thy disciples eat and drink."
They were annoyed that while they starved themselves, Jesus,
who was now a Teacher, and His disciples also, did not keep
this somewhat unpleasant custom of the Teachers ; but Jesus
answered that His disciples had no reason to fast while He
was with them, but that when He was taken away they would
fast and mourn. He also told them that He taught new
things, and that He would not try to join His new teaching to
their old customs, for that would only make things worse ; and
to make His meaning clear, He told them these two short
stories. " No person mendeth an old cloak with a piece of new cloth,
or else the new cloth will tear the old cloak, and the hole will be
made worse. Also, no person putteth new wine into old leather
bottles, for the new wine will ferment and burst the old bottles,
and both bottles and wine will be spoilt ; but new wine must
be put into new leather bottles, and both will be preserved."
They who listened had often seen new wine bursting old
hard leather bottles, that would not stretch, spilling the red
wine ; and they understood that Jesus meant to be bound by
none of the old forms and customs of their Teachers. And

THE TWELVE DISCIPLES. 95
thus He let the Pharisees know that their rules were nothing
to Him, and that He would teach what He thought was right ;
not what had been laid down by other people.
Remember, then, how foolish it is to think thyself better
than other people, and to refuse to speak with them ; for a
really good person can never appear to be wicked.

THE TWELVE DISCIPLES.
HATTIN HILL, SPRING, A.D. 32.
It was usual for every great Teacher to have some men who
went with him and helped him, and who were called disciples ;
and Jesus was now about to choose twelve disciples from
among His friends, and to explain to them and to the people,
what were the great principles of His teaching. He therefore
went away to be alone, as He often did when He had a
difficult duty before Him. Leaving Capernaum in the after
noon, He walked round by the road along the West side of the
Lake, and turning to His right hand, passed up through the
olives and vines, into a long rocky gorge that led up to a range
of cliffs, beyond which was a great plain covered with thyme,
and grass and wild flowers. From this plain rose a hill called
the " Horns of Hattin," because it had two peaks, like horns,
and a grassy saddle between them. Climbing one of these
peaks, He saw the blue Lake of Gennesaret below Him, and
Mount Hermon capped with snow in the far distance, with
hills, woods, and rivers between. And when the golden sun
set, and sudden darkness came down, hiding the earth from
sight, and opening the blue starry heavens overhead, He re
mained there alone, with the night wind blowing reed-music
in the grass — remained in prayer and meditation all night;
and when the rising sun poured gold over the Gadarean hills,
He came down again towards the green saddle to meet the
people who were coming up from the Lake-side to find Him.
Calling His friends up to Him, He told them that He was
about to ask twelve of them to be His disciples, who would

96 THEIR NAMES.
go with Him everywhere and teach with Him; and as He
called them by their names, they came to Him, and stood
apart from the rest. He chose Peter, the quick-tempered,
warm-hearted fisherman, and Andrew, his younger brother ;
John, the gentle and loving, who, with Andrew, had been
a disciple of John the Baptist ; and James, John's brother,
also a fisherman, and a man of quick temper; then the
young man Philip, from the fishing village of Bethsaida;
Bartholomew, from Cana, also called Nathanael, a learned
man of singular goodness ; Matthew of Capernaum, the tax-
gatherer, who had joined them only a few days before, and
who wrote the finest life of Jesus that can be written. All
these men thou hast heard of before : but He also chose
Thomas from Galilee, a brave man, with much common sense ;
a.nd James the Less, and Jude, two brothers from Capernaum ;
and Simon of Galilee, who had been trained up in a fighting
party, but had left the Zealots ; and twelfth and last, Judas
Iscariot, the only one who did not belong to Galilee, the
country of Jesus, but to Judsea, near Jerusalem, the land of
priests and Pharisees. And He called them Apostles.
Thus He chose the young men who were to be His closest
friends, five, most likely eight of them, fishermen ; five it is
said being His own cousins ; all, but one, men of Galilee, from
near the Lake, free from the fear and influence of the Jerusa->
lem priests, and true to their young Fellow-countryman.
There in the morning sunlight they stood, with the long, stout
sticks of countrymen in their hands, apart from the rest, of
all men the best fitted to spread the new gospel, yet' only a __
band of untrained fishermen. He might have chosen "great
speakers, clever arguers, scholars learned in the Bible, to dis
pute with the old doctors of the Law, or even rich men of the
highest positions He could find. Nicodemus the Teacher, the
friends He made in the Temple, and in Judaea, the officer of v
Capernaum — even the wise men of the East, where were they?
Young fishermen ! how unsuited for subtle theological dis
cussions with learned Lawyers about questions of authority
and tradition ! But were they so unsuited ?

THE HORNS OF HATTIN. 97
Their message was not to be a message of the brain, but of
the heart ; their guide, the in-dwelling Spirit of God. Their
knowledge was to be gathered in humility from the lips and
life of Jesus. Not with subtlety of reasoning, but with sim
plicity of truth were they to teach. Learning, position, would
have been of little advantage to men who had everything to
learn, and had to endure a common, a hard lot. They were
to take His yoke of love and learn of Him, learn to speak in
simplicity of thought and word, heavenly truths that would
strike with all the force and clearness of a revelation which
the wit of man would not be able to refute or withstand. But
they had yet to hear Jesus explain the few great and beautiful
principles which were to guide the disciples, and bidding them
keep near Him, He went down the hill again to the people
on the green level part.
While He was thus choosing His disciples, a large number
had come up to the plain, and among them were people from
all parts between distant Jerusalem and Judaea on the South,
and the foreign cities of Tyre and Sidon ' on the North ; and
many of them had brought sick persons that He might heal
them. Walking among them, Jesus touched their sick, and
many touched Him as He passed by, and He healed them all ;
and withdrawing again with His disciples to a rising ground,
He prepared to teach and to explain His message to this
crowd of people, in the greatest address that has ever been
listened to.
Remember, then, how Jesus prepared Himself for this great
task by solitude, prayer, and thought; and when thou hast
any difficulty before thee, wait thou in silence upon God, and
He will prepare thy mind afresh, and give thee wisdom and
strength, which will keep thee calm and fearless.
Doing God's will as if it were thine own,
Yet trusting not thy strength, but His alone.

98 CONSIDER THE LILIES.
CONSIDER THE LILIES.
HATTIN HILL, SPRING, A.D. 32.
Upon a green mound on the hillside, under the blue
Syrian sky, Jesus sat above the crowd gathered on the
fragrant thymy floor of that great church between the hills ;
and never has there been such an open-air teaching in the
world's history. The young Carpenter of Nazareth, with His
outer cloak of dark blue thrown back, showing the white inner
tunic that came down to His sandalled feet, despised by
the professors of theology and doctors of the Law because
He quoted not from the reasonings of men, yet confident,
because He taught the truths of God, as He explained to the
people the great principles of the new message which He
and His disciples would deliver to the people. I cannot at
this time tell thee all He said. When thou art old enough
thou wilt read it for thyself in the fifth, sixth, and seventh
chapters of Matthew's Gospel ; but I shall give thee parts of
it. His face is calm and beautiful as He looks down upon the
standing people, and in the hush that follows the raising of
His hand, His veice rings out clear and distinct, heard for a
long distance, amid the stillness of the hills —
" Blessed are the lowly in spirit," He began, " for Heaven is
theirs. " Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.
" Blessed are the lowly in mind, for they shall get knowledge.
" Blessed are they who earnestly wish to be good, for they shall
be satisfied.
" Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
" Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the
children of God."
These simple, beautiful words told them of good in .things
which they did not know were blessed before. He did not
stop to prove or explain these truths, but spoke them with
authority. And turning to His disciples, He continued —

THE GOLDEN RULE. 99
" Blessed are you when men shall punish you and say untrue
things about you for My sake ; rejoice then, and be glad, for so
were good men punished before you. You are the light of the
world. Let your light so shine, that men shall see your good
deeds and praise God. Whoever teacheth the truth shall be
called great in Heaven ; but unless you are better than the
Pharisees, you shall not have Heaven." And, speaking again
to the people, He continued —
" Whoever is angry with his brother, doeth wrong ; and if
thou art going to pray, and rememberest that thy brother hath
something against thee, leave thy prayers : go and be friends
with thy brother, and then come and pray." Now, it was a
very common thing for the people to use oaths, and their
Teachers allowed them to do so. But Jesus said to them now —
" Swear not at all, neither by Heaven, nor by the earth, nor
by Jerusalem, nor by thy head " — all of which were common
oaths with the people. " But let your speaking be simple, saying
only, ' Yes ' and ' No,' for whatever is more than that is wicked. "
"Your Teachers have also taught you," He continued, "to
hate your enemies and love your friends ; but I tell you that
you are to love your enemies ; do good to them that hate
you, bless them that curse you, and pray for them that spite
fully use you : and to him that striketh thee on one cheek,
turn the other cheek also. Give to him that asketh of thee,
and from him that wisheth to borrow, turn not away. Do to
others as you would that they should do to you, for that is the
whole Bible ; for if you love only them that love you, or do
good only to them that do good to you, you deserve no thanks.
Even bad people do that. But you should love your enemies,
do good and lend, despairing of no man ; that you may be
true children ©f God, merciful as He is merciful, for God is
kind to the ungrateful and the wicked, making His sun to
shine on the bad and on the good, and sending His rain on
the just and on the unjust. Therefore be perfect, as your
Father in Heaven is perfect." Thus Jesus gave them what
has been called the golden rule of unselfishness, the children's
Bible ; and told them of the beautiful truth that God is His

IOO JUDGE NOT ONE ANOTHER.
Father and our Father. Speaking next about money, He
said —
" Do not heap up treasures on earth where moth and rust
spoil, and thieves break in and steal ; but gather treasures in
Heaven, for where your treasure is, there will your thoughts
be. The eye is the window of the mind : if thine eye be pure,
thy whole mind shall be full of light ; but if it be wicked, thy
mind shall be full of darkness. Take care that the light
which is in thee be not darkened. Thou canst not serve both
the spirit of badness and the Spirit of goodness; one thou
must hate, and one love.
" Do not be too anxious about what you shall eat, and
drink, and wear. Think of the ravens." And as He spoke
He pointed to the passing birds that flew with black wings in
the bright sky overhead — " They sow not, neither do they
reap, nor gather into barns, but your Father in Heaven feedeth
them. Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the
lilies of the field how they grow ; they toil not, neither do they
spin ; yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was
not arrayed like one of these ! Do not say, What shall we eat,
What shall we drink ? How shall we be clothed ? but seek
goodness first, and all these things will follow. Fear not, little
flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you Heaven."
He knew that on their way to the hills that morning they had
seen the wild lilies of the field in all their beauty — sown by
the winds, watered by the clouds, coloured by the sun — in
the green moist hollows by the springs, growing without the
help of man, and from them he drew the finest picture in the
world's books ; for Solomon, in purple robes and crown of
gold, was the wisest, richest among kings, and yet the simple
lily by the roadside was fairer far than he, for the hand of man
could neither paint the scarlet shadows on its velvet flowers,
nor weave the shining texture of its leaves of green. Speak
ing to His disciples again, He continued—
" A disciple is not above his Master, but every disciple,
when he is perfected, shall be like his Master. Do not
judge each other. Do not notice thy neighbour's faults and

THE HOUSE BUILT ON ROCK. IOI
forget thine own, for how canst thou say to him, ' Give up thy
faults,' when thou dost not give up thine own? That is
hypocrisy ; but first give up thine own faults, and then thou
wilt see clearly how to advise thy neighbour." He told them
next how to pray, and gave them a beautiful short prayer, of
which I shall speak at another time ; and He also told them
to ask for the Spirit of God of which He spoke to the woman
at the well of Sychar, and said that all in that crowd who
asked God would receive His Spirit. Of their false Teachers,
He said —
" Beware of false Teachers, who look kind, but are wicked.
You shall know them by what they do, not by what they say.
Good men are known by their good deeds, for grapes do not
grow on thorns, nor figs on thistles." He was now near the
end of His address, and the boldness of the young Carpenter
impressed them all when He said —
" Not every person that saith, Lord ! to Me, shall have
Heaven, but only he that doeth the will of God My Father in
Heaven. Many will say to Me, ' Lord ! Lord ! did we not
heal maniacs and foretell events, and do many great things in
Thy Name? ' And I will answer, ' I never knew you : depart
from Me, you who do wickedness.' " He then put this question
to all who were listening to Him —
"Why do you call Me 'Lord,' and do not what I tell
you ? " In the pause which followed, no one answered Him,
and He* closed His address with a story with two pictures,
which divided the crowd before Him into those who were for
Him, and those who were against Him.
" Every one," He said, " who heareth these words of Mine,
and doeth them, is like a wise man who built his house upon
a rock ; and the rains and floods and winds blew and beat
upon that house, and it fell not: for it was built upon a
rock ; and every one who heareth these words of Mine and
doeth them not, is like a foolish man who built his house
upon sand ; and the rains and floods and winds blew and
smote upon that house, and it fell : for it was built upon sand."
His voice ceased. He had ended His great address ; and,

102 THE POOL OF BETHESDA.
with these warning words ringing in their ears, the crowd began
slowly to break up and scatter homewards down the hill. And
as the people went away, they said to each other what they had
often said before — that they were astonished at His teaching,
and amazed at the grave authority, as of absolute truth, with
which He spoke ; for He spoke not like their old Teachers,
who did not venture to say anything new, and never tired of
quoting the authority of great men for every word they said.
And thou, too, must decide whether thou wilt build thy life
upon a rock or upon sand, on firm goodness or on shifting
wickedness, for one of these thou must do. And go not away,
as many in that crowd did, without settling one thing or
another, for that is weak, if not wicked, but choose thou to
follow goodness.
THE POOL OF BETHESDA.
JERUSALEM, SPRING, A.D. 32.
From the Hill of Hattin, Jesus returned to Peter's house at
Capernaum, where He stayed a few days ; then He went
again to Jerusalem with His disciples to attend a Festival, the
name of which is not known — perhaps the Festival of Purim,
in March, perhaps the Passover in April.
Beside the Sheep Gate at Jerusalem, through which sheep
and cattle were driven into the city, there was a large pool
of water cut out of the rock, called "-Bethesda," meaning
"The house of mercy ; " and at certain times the water moved,
with air bells rising up through it, and the people bathed in it.
There are such pools at Jerusalem still. It had a coloured
pavement all round it, with steps going down into the water,
and a roof over it, with five porches to enter by. And the
people believed it was an angel that moved the water, and
that whoever went in first would be healed ; and every day
poor sick, lame, and blind people lay round the pool, watching
for the moving of the water.
One Sabbath day, as Jesus was going into the city by this
gate, He went over to the pool, where the sick people were,

SABBATH RULES. IO3
and going among them, He saw a poor old man who had not
walked for thirty-eight years — which was seven years before
Jesus was born. For years he had been carried, day after day
in the morning to this pool, and taken back at night, always
failing to get in first when the water moved ; and as he lay on
his mat, with his eyes turned wistfully towards the sparkling
pool, Jesus said —
" Dost thou wish to be healed ? " to which the man an
swered in a hopeless voice —
" Sir, I have no one to put me in when the water is moved ;
but while I am coming, another one steppeth down before
me." He had often tried, but only being able to crawl, while
others walked, he had no chance; and Jesus, pitying him,
said the same thrilling words to him which He spoke to the
palsied young man at Capernaum —
"Rise, take up thy mat, and walk." And the old man
rose to his feet, and stooping down rolled up his mat,
earnestly thanking Jesus for healing him, and walked out
of the porch, carrying his mat, while the people gazed at
him in wonder. But the Pharisees had a little rule that it
was wrong to carry anything on the Sabbath, even a loaf
of bread, but they allowed two persons to carry one loaf
between them ; nor would they allow any one to walk a
mile, or light a fire on the Sabbath, although they contrived
to enjoy good feasts themselves on that day. The man had
not carried his bed far along the street before some one,
intending to have him punished, stopped him, saying
angrily —
"This is the Sabbath day. It is not right for thee to
carry thy mat." To which the old man, excusing himself,
replied —
"He who healed me, told me to take up my mat, and
carry it away." But the Pharisee said sharply —
" Who told thee to do this ? " Now, the man did not know
who Jesus was, and said so ; and although they went back
together to the pool of Bethesda, they could not find Jesus,
for He had gone away. After making the man put down

IO4 GOD IS MY FATHER.
his mat, and promise to tell whenever he found out who
had healed him, he was allowed to go home.
Some days after this, Jesus met the old man in the Golden
Temple, and knowing what kind of man he was, He said to
him —
" Now that thou art healed, be wicked no more, lest a
worse thing happen to thee." The man now knew that it
was Jesus who had healed him, and out of fear, he went
and told the Pharisees. Now the Pharisees were most
particular about their Sabbath rules, and when they heard
that it was Jesus of Nazareth, He who had cleared the
Temple, and had already healed two people on the Sabbath
day at Capernaum, who now dared, in Jerusalem itself, to
break two of their rules in one day by healing a man, and
telling him to carry his mat, they were very angry, and re
solved to watch Jesus, and have Him punished. What
wouldst thou think of men who found fault with a doctor
for curing people on the Sabbath? And yet the priests of
Jerusalem began to follow Jesus about, and to annoy Him.
But He replied to them —
" My Father in Heaven worketh until now, and I work."
This only made them more angry, for they exclaimed —
" He calleth God His Father, making Himself equal with
God ! " And they resolved still more to have Him punished.
Nevertheless He went every day to the Golden Temple
to teach in the great pillared porches, where the other
Teachers were, and there He met His bitter enemies, the
priests, and had discussions with them, defending Himself
for calling God His Father ; and as it was a Festival time,
many people heard Him, as He spoke, saying —
" I can do nothing without the help of God, My Father
in Heaven. He loveth Me, and showeth Me all things that
He doeth, and greater things than those that I have done
will He show Me, that you may wonder. He that knoweth
not Me, knoweth not God Who sent Me ; and he that heareth
My words, and believeth on God Who sent Me shall have
Heaven.

JUDEAN CHURCHES CLOSED. I05
" I judge from what I hear ; and I judge righteously, be
cause I do not seek Mine own way,' but God's way, who
sent Me. He is the witna6s of the truth of what I say,
and not I Myself. You sent messengers to John the Baptist,
to ask if I am the Christ ; and he answered you. He
was indeed a great man, and for a time you praised him.
But the witness which I have is greater even than John,
greater than all men; the things which God hath given
Me to do, they show that God sent Me, and that He is My
Father. " But you Pharisees have neither heard nor seen God, nor
have you His Spirit in you, for you do not believe My words,
whom God hath sent. You read your Bibles, and by them
you hope to have Heaven, and yet you do not see that the
Bible speaketh of Me ; and you refuse to come to Me that
you may get that Heaven for which you seek. You have not
God's Spirit in you, or you would believe Me when I come in
His Name ; but if some other one were to come in his own
name, you would believe him.
" Do not suppose that I will blame you before God. Moses
will do so — Moses in whom you trust ; for, if you believed
Moses, you would also believe Me, for he wrote about Me.
But if you believe not what Moses wrote, how can I expect
you to believe what I say? "
Thus He told the priests, in the presence of the crowds who
were listening out in the open court of the Temple at that
Festival time, that He was Jesus the Christ sent by God, of
whom Moses wrote, and if they did not believe His words, to
believe from His good deeds and good life that He spoke the
truth. But they only hated Him the more, for what He said,
yet they did not dare to touch Him, for the common people
liked Him. But soon the priests and Pharisees forced Him to
leave Jerusalem again, nor could He even teach in Judaea
as He passed through it on His way home to Galilee, for the
priests would not allow Him. And thus early were the
churches of Judaea closed by the priests of Jerusalem against
Him, for although He had only been a Teacher for a little

106 IN THE BARLEY-FIELDS.
over a year, yet they would not allow Him to teach there
again. Remember, then, that Jesus did not care for the little
Sabbath rules of men, who said that what was good on Satur
day was wicked on the Sabbath, and that He broke these rules
to free the people. IN THE BARLEY-FIELDS.
JERICHO, SUMMER, A.D. 32.
Hast thou ever gone through a narrow foot-path in the
barley-fields in Autumn, when the ripe yellow grain, taller than
thy shoulder, nodded to thee from each side, holding out here
and there a heavy spiked head level with thy face, for thee to
pluck it?
On the Sabbath, Jesus and His disciples were walking back
to Galilee, and their path lay through a barley-field, perhaps
in the fruitful plain of Jericho, for although it was still early
Summer, the barley was ripe — it ripens there in April —
and His disciples plucked the ears of barley, and, rubbing
them between their hands, blew off the chaff, and ate the
grain, for they were hungry, and this was a common thing to
do in that country. Among those who followed them were
spies from Jerusalem, sent to watch Jesus, and they were
glad to see this, for they had found Him again breaking
their little Sabbath rules, which said that to pluck an ear of
barley was to reap, and to rub it, was to thresh, and so the
disciples were reaping and threshing, they said, on the Sabbath.
And pretending to be much shocked, they went up to Jesus,
talking loudly, and pointing at His disciples —
" Sir, Thy disciples are doing what it is not right to do on
the Sabbath," they exclaimed, expecting Him to call them
back. But He let them go on plucking and eating, for He was
about to show the spies that He cared nothing for their
foolish and oppressive Sabbath rules, and turning to those who
spoke to Him, He told them that their Sabbath rules were only
small and foolish customs, which did harm; and He gave

THE SABBATH FOR MAN. I07
instances from the Bible in which such customs had been set
aside, saying —
" Have you ever read in your Bibles what King David did
when he was poor and hungry? He went into the Great
Tabernacle, when Abiathar was the High-priest there, and ate
the shew-bread, which none but the priests might eat, and
gave it also to his followers." Now the Pharisees knew of this,
and that no one had ever blamed King David for breaking a
little rule in order to feed his starving men. " Have you not
also read," Jesus continued, " how that the priests work in the
Temple on the Sabbath day, and do no wrong ? I am greater
than the Temple ! " The Pharisees now saw that they had
been too hasty. They did not expect that this young Car
penter would know His Bible so well. But Jesus was not done
with them, for He told them that they did not understand the
most important things in their Bible, saying —
" If you had known what these words of the Bible mean,
' I desire mercy, and not sacrifice ;
And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings,'
you would not have blamed the innocent," pointing, as He
spoke, to His disciples, and adding, " The Sabbath was made
for man, and not man for the Sabbath," meaning that it was
made to relieve, and not to oppress men, — and He ended with
these words, which filled the Pharisees with amazement and
anger, and His disciples with pleasure, " I am Lord of the
Sabbath." Thus, before letting the spies go, He told them
that His disciples were innocent of any fault, and that His
authority was higher than that of their masters at Jerusalem.
With scowling faces, the Pharisees retired, defeated and
humbled before the common people; told that their rules
were wrong, and that they should be more merciful. This
was the fourth time that Jesus had broken their Sabbath rules ;
and He resumed His journey through the fields towards the
Fords of Jordan, and Galilee.
Thus Jesus showed that in the true meaning of the Bible
the Sabbath is as free as any other day for doing what is good
in. There is nothing in the day that can make what thou

108 STRETCH OUT THINE HAND.
doest good or bad, for the day which is now called the Sabbath
is not the same day that was called the Sabbath then ; nor is
it now kept on the same day of the week, nor at the same
hour of the day. Our Sabbath is from twelve on Saturday
night to twelve on Sunday night ; their Sabbath was from sun
set on Friday to sunset on Saturday, and whatever is right to
do at one minute to twelve o'clock, can never become wrong
to do at one minute past twelve, by the mere passing of the
hour. Do thou remember, then, that while the Sabbath is a day
fitted for rest from work and for special worship, that all days
are alike good, and that whatever the Spirit of Jesus in thy
conscience telleth thee is right to do on the Sabbath, that is
right for thee.
STRETCH OUT THINE HAND.
GALILEE, SUMMER, A.D. 32.
It was now warm Summer-time, and the trees were in full
leaf beside the little brooks that had been dried up with the
sun, and the roads were hot and dusty. As Jesus went
through Galilee on His way home to Capernaum, He taught
in the churches of the villages through which He passed,
and one Sabbath day it became known that He was to teach
in a certain church, and a crowd of people came to hear
Him, and Pharisees came to spy. There also came in a
man with a withered hand, and they watched to see what
Jesus would do.
The Pharisees sat in their places at the head of the church,
and looked grim and severe when Jesus with his beautiful face
and white tunic entered and passed up through the people and
sat down beside them — a Teacher also, but of a very different
kind. The service began, and as every one expected, when
the time for speaking came, Jesus rose, and, going to the
Teacher's seat, began to speak to the people, but took no
notice of the man with the withered hand, who was sitting a
little way off. The Pharisees, who could think of nothing but

IS IT RIGHT TO DO GOOD? 109
His breaking their Sabbath rules, soon interrupted Jesus with
this pointed question —
"Is it right to heal on the Sabbath day?" they asked. A
glance at their stern faces told Jesus that again they wished to
dispute the Sabbath question, and that the poor man was to
be the cause of the dispute, and He at once accepted their
challenge, saying to the man —
" Rise up, and stand out on the floor," and the man rose
and stood out in the stone passage, and everybody saw that
his hand was withered by his side.
"Which of you," Jesus said, speaking to all the people,
" whose sheep has fallen into a hole on the Sabbath would not
lift it out ? Is a sheep, then, better than a man ? " And turning
to the stern-faced Pharisees, He said —
" I ask you, is it right to do good or to do wickedness on
the Sabbath day? To save life, or to destroy it? " But they
would not answer. They were afraid to answer Him, lest they
should make some mistake ; and as He looked at the row of
cruel hypocrites who, pretending to worship, had come there
to plot mischief, His face flushed, and His dark eyes flashed
with anger. Sitting with grave, hard faces, not one of them
would say that yonder poor man might be healed ; they
would rather he went maimed for life than admit that Jesus
was right. Looking from one to another of them, Jesus was
grieved with their cruel hearts, but when his eyes turned to
the expectant face of the poor man, He said in a clear ringing
voice —
"Stretch out thine hand!" And at once the man lifted up
his hand, whole and well, and all the people saw it, and the
Pharisees also. Were the Pharisees glad to see it? No !
They could not bear the sight, but filled with anger, rose in
haste, and catching up their long robes, they hurried out of the
church, leaving Jesus to teach what He pleased.
Once more they had been defeated on the Sabbath ques
tion by the young Carpenter ; and they consulted together.
Now, there were certain violent men called Herodians, who
hated Jesus, but they also jeered at the Pharisees, yet the

IIO THE OFFICERS SERVANT.
Pharisees made friends of them, and plotted with them how
Jesus might be destroyed. And while they whispered to
gether outside, Jesus dismissed the people, and withdrew from
the church, and hearing of their plotting, He left that village,
and went on towards Capernaum. And everywhere He went
through the sunny country, the people left their fields and
gardens, their markets and shops, and came to Him, to listen
and to have their sick healed, for they loved Him ; but Jesus
told them not to speak of the wonders He did, for He wished
to go about quietly. This is the only time thou wilt read of
Jesus being angry, though thou wilt hear of Him weeping and
rejoicing, for He could hate and love, and felt anger and grief
and joy, just like thee or me ; but His nature was so beauti
fully balanced, and in such perfect control, that His passions
never carried Him away into wickedness.
Thou, my child, wilt sometimes hear Jesus spoken of as
One who was never angry, but that is not correct. Yet if thou
wouldst be like Him, and do no wickedness when anger is
upon thee, thou must keep quiet, and do nothing until thine
anger has passed away, and then thou wilt be safe to speak
and act wisely. THE OFFICER'S SERVANT.
CAPERNAUM, SUMMER, A.D. 32.
Walking through Galilee and down to the Lake-side, by the
rich plain of Gennesaret, where the grain was standing in
fields of waving yellow that were nearly ready for reaping,
Jesus was soon at home again in Peter's house at Capernaum.
There He remained some days, and then, taking His disciples
with Him, He went on a journey among the towns and
villages round the shores of the Lake. He taught the people
in the open air, and, as before, they came long distances to
hear Him, going with Him from place to place, the crowds
at times being so great, that He told His disciples to follow
Him on the water with a boat, so that He might get into it
when the crowd of people pressing on Him to touch Him,

THE VILLAGES ROUND THE LAKE. Ill
was too great. He also taught them from the boat as He had
done before, and when He healed any one He told them not
to talk about it. He would visit in this way the splendid town
of Tiberias, with its warm springs that flowed steaming into
the Lake, touch the rocky shore of Magdala, and the grassy
meadows of Bethsaida, and sail under the yellow cliffs of
Gadara, and see the tall, feathery palms at the mouth of the
Jordan, and the great oleander bushes that with their 'sweet
scented blossoms of red and white lined the Lake's edge at
the plain of Gennesaret. It would take Jesus several days to
go round the Lake in this way, for it was twenty-five miles
round, and He returned again to Capernaum.
Now there was a Roman officer called a Centurion, for he
had charge of a hundred soldiers, who lived at Capernaum,
whose favourite servant was ill, and though not a Jew, he was
a good man, and was much liked by the people for his kind
ness. And when he heard of the return of Jesus, he went to
the chief men of the town and asked them to get Jesus to
come and heal his servant, as he did not like to ask himself.
And they came to Jesus and praised the good Centurion,
saying —
" He well deserveth that Thou shouldst do this for him, for
he loveth our people, and hath built us the church in which
we worship." And they begged Him to go with them to the
Centurion's house, and Jesus consented, and word was sent
on before, to tell that they were coming. While Jesus was
still on the way, some men met Him, coming from the
Centurion with this message, which they gave before the
people —
" Lord ! our friend bade us tell thee not to trouble to come,
for he doth not think himself worthy that Thou shouldst
enter his house, nor good enough to come to Thee, wherefore
he hath sent us ; but he saith if Thou wilt but say the word,
his servant will be healed. He also saith that he is a man
with soldiers under him, and when he commandeth one to go,
he goeth, or to come, he cometh, or telleth a servant to do a
thing, he doeth it." The message meant that Jesus, being a

I I 2 THE WIDOW S SON.
Jew, might not care to go into a foreigner's house, and that He
could command the servant's sickness, just as the Centurion
did his soldiers. When Jesus heard this message, He won
dered to find so much trust and humility in a foreign soldier,
where it was least to be expected. How different from the
suspicious Jews and fault-finding Pharisees ! and turning
round as He stood on the road, He said to His disciples and
the people who were following Him —
"I say, I have not found so much trust as this among
Jews. And I tell you that many strangers from all parts of the
world shall enter Heaven, and many Jews will be cast out into
darkness." And He bade the messengers go back and tell
the Centurion that because of his trust in Him, He would do
what he had asked. And the men returned to the Centurion's
house and found him no longer sad, for his servant was healed,
and they told him all that Jesus had said. But the people
were displeased with Jesus for saying that strangers would
enter the Kingdom of Heaven and Jews be left out. They
believed that none but Jews would have any part in their
great Kingdom, and that there would be a splendid feast
when it was established, to which Jews only would sit down.
And the Teachers and many of the people were more than
ever set against Jesus for telling them the truth, that the King
dom of Heaven is free to all who know and obey God.
Remember, then, it is not whether a man is black or white,
rich or poor, that is the test of Heaven — for all are equal
before God — but whether thou art good or bad.

THE WIDOW'S SON.
NAIN, SUMMER, A.D. 32.
Leaving Capernaum, Jesus started with His disciples to
walk to the village of Nain, which was twenty-five miles away.
As usual, they left early in the morning, before the Summer
sun was hot, following the path by the shore, and fording
the little streams that flowed from the springs in the plain of

A FUNERAL. II3
Gennesaret, then, leaving the Lake, they climbed up into the
hills by the side of a deep and rocky watercourse among thick
trees, to gain the hot open road leading them round the foot
of the beautiful Mount Tabor that rose high above them,
green to its very top with oak and terebinth, with here and
there a white rock jutting out. Perhaps it was the afternoon
of the second day when they descended into the fruitful plain
of Endor, where the reapers had begun their harvest work, and
towards evening they saw the white houses of the village of
Nain on the side of a hill. It had walls about it, and a gate,
and the sun was setting over the purple Carmel hills as Jesus
and the people who had come with Him climbed the steep
stony road that led up to the village. When they were close
to the gate, they met a funeral procession coming slowly out,
carrying some one to be buried in the burying-ground where
the rose trees grew among the white stones, a little way off on
the hillside.
First came two men blowing doleful flutes, then women who
tossed their arms above their heads, chanting a low sad tune as
they mourned and touched their cymbals, then came a weeping
woman with clothes torn in her grief, the mother of the young
man, her only son, who was being carried behind her on a bier
of basket-work by four men, and after them followed a number
of sorrowing friends. It was the custom for everybody to pay
the greatest respect to a funeral. And Jesus was told that the
young man was the only son of the woman, who was a widow,
and, thinking perhaps of His own mother, He was very sorry
for the poor lonely woman going out in the dusk of even
ing to bury her dear son. Those who were coming up the
narrow path stood on one side to let the funeral pass, but
when the woman came to where Jesus was, He said to
her —
" Weep not ! " And going over to the bearers of the body,
He laid His hand on the bier and stopped them, and the
people gathered round Him as the men lowered their burden
to the ground. Looking into the young man's face, Jesus
said —

114 JOHNS MESSAGE.
"Young man, I say to thee, Rise ! " And the young man
opened his eyes, and sat up, and began to ask them where
he was, and what it all meant ; and speaking gently to him,
Jesus gave him back to his mother. The people were amazed,
and this procession, once so sad, returned rejoicing through
the gate with the young man walking in their midst; and
they praised God, and said, as they went through the
village —
" God hath come down to His people. A great prophet
hath come amongst us ! " But gladdest of all was the
widow-mother, as, kissing her dear son, she took him back
to her quiet home. The news soon spread through the
country, for this was the first person Jesus had made alive
again ; but neither His wonders nor His kindness had any
effect upon the priests, who only hated and feared Him the
more. Remember, then, the pity of Jesus for this poor weeping
woman, for she did not speak to Him, perhaps did not even
see Him in her grief, but He tenderly felt all her mother's
love and sorrow. JOHN'S MESSAGE.
NEAR NAIN, SUMMER, A.D. 32.
John had now been about a year in prison. He had re
proved King Antipas and Herodias his queen, for wickedness,
and this so annoyed the queen that she got the king, who
feared John, to put him into prison in Castle Machaerus, the
Black Castle, near the deserted Dead Sea. It was a huge
tower upon a hill-top. There was a splendid palace and
town for soldiers built lower down, but beyond that, on all
sides, with ravines of black bare rocks, and deserts of sand,
a wild place of banishment ; but by leave of the king, John's
disciples were allowed to see him. Friends coming in told
him what Jesus was doing; of His breaking the Sabbath
rules, drinking wine, and eating food with wicked people,
and John's disciples argued with each other as to whether

THE POOR HEAR OF HEAVEN. 115
He were the Christ or no. John had very little doubt ;
but, in order to settle the minds of his disciples, he sent
off two of them to see Jesus for themselves, and ask the
question, "Art Thou the Christ that should come, or shall
we look for another?" It took them about three days to
go from Machaerus, across the Jordan, and up the hills to
the neighbourhood of Nain, and there they found Jesus,
with a number of people round Him, healing the sick and
teaching, and they stood and watched, and then going for
ward, said —
"We are John's disciples, and he hath sent us to ask
Thee whether Thou art the Christ who should come, or
shall we look for another?" After what they had seen, this
was a foolish question, and Jesus sent them away quickly,
saying —
" Go back and tell John what you have seen and heard :
the blind are made to see, the lame to walk, the deaf to hear,
the dead are raised, while the poor are told about Heaven."
Adding, as a caution to themselves, " Blessed are they who
find no offence in Me." The men left at once with their
message, talking over all they had seen and heard as they
went back to John, for they no longer doubted that Jesus
was the Christ. Now Jesus had not praised John whilst
the men were present, nor said He was sorry for his im
prisonment, but when they were gone, He gave John the
highest praise to the people that a man has ever got ; and
many of the people who stood round remembered John in
his camel hair dress as he taught in wild places, and by the
deep Jordan.
"What did you go out into the wilderness to see?" Jesus
exclaimed. " A feeble reed shaken with the wind ? A man
clothed in soft clothing? They who dress finely and live
delicately, are in kings' palaces. Did you go to see a
prophet? Yes, and much more than a prophet, for there
is no greater man than John the Baptist." There were
some in that crowd who rejoiced, for they had always liked
John, but there were others, Pharisees and Teachers of the

Il6 COME UNTO ME.
Law, who had been against him as they were against Jesus
now, and seeing them standing gloomy and silent, Jesus said
to them — •
"I have seen little children playing at funerals and mar
riages in a sunny market-place, some of whom were gloomy
and would play at nothing, while the others called to them,
and said, ' We have played music to you and you will not
dance, we have sung mournfully to you and you will not weep.'
¦Now, you men are like these children ; for John came neither
eating nor drinking, and you called him mad ; now I have
come, eating and drinking, and you call Me glutton, wine-
drinker, friend of tax-gatherers and wicked people." Thus He
showed that nothing would please these men, for they did not
wish to be pleased ; and as He thought of the learned Teachers
who would not believe anything He told them, and of the
ignorant country people who listened gladly to every word,
He exclaimed, in thankful prayer, as He looked up —
" I thank Thee, O ! My Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth,
that Thou hast hid the things of Heaven from wise and
learned men, and hast made them known to simple people ;
for so it seemeth right to Thee." Turning again to the people
who were earnestly watching everything He did, He exclaimed
in a passionate, yearning appeal, full of tenderest beauty —
"All things have been given to Me by My Father in
Heaven. Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Take My commands upon you
and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you
shall find rest for your souls, for My commands are easy and
My burden is light" Thus He pled with them to come into
His Kingdom of Heaven in the world. How different from
their other Teachers ! whose rules, customs, and laws were more
than the people could bear or ever obey. They had never
asked the people to come to them and find rest as Jesus now
pleaded with them to come to Him. They pointed only to
cold, hard laws, He pointed to His living Self, and many hearts
turned to the young Carpenter of Nazareth, as the people went
away to their homes that Summer day.

MARY MAGDALENE. 1 1 7
Remember, then, that love is the burden which Jesus asks
thee to bear, love which makes all commands light, the love
which makes thee glad to do what thy mother and father
tell thee, that is the kind of love which thou art to have for
Jesus.
MARY MAGDALENE.
NEAR NAIN, SUMMER, A.D. 32.
A wealthy Pharisee called Simon, who was interested in
what Jesus had said, invited Him to dine at his house. He
wished to hear more, and felt bound to extend common
hospitality to this young Teacher, and Jesus went with him.
Simon's house was large, built with an open courtyard in the
middle, into which any person could come, with flowers grow
ing there to make it bright, and trees to shade it, while broad-
leafed vines and other creeping plants climbed up to the flat
roof and round the small windows that looked out into the court.
It was the custom always to take off their shoes before entering
a house, for the floors of rich men's houses were covered with
bright soft mats, and the people lay with their feet upon the
couches. At the house door a servant usually took off the
stranger's sandals, and washed his feet, and dressed his hair,
and when he came into the room the master of the house gave
him a kiss of welcome, saying, " The Lord bless thee." But
when Jesus — hot, tired, dusty — entered Simon's house, He re
ceived none of these attentions from the servants, nor was he
even welcomed by Simon as He went into the fine dining-room,
with its soft silk pillows, scented woods, gilded jyalls. and rare
curtains and flowers. He had been asked in out of curiosity,
not friendship. The guests were on couches round small low
tables, some sitting, some lying, and through the open win
dows people looked into the shaded room from the white,
sunny court outside, and there was a constant going out and
in of servants and friends by the wide-open door.
When the dinner had gone on for some time, from his table
at the head of the room, Simon observed a beautiful young

I 1 8 AN ALABASTER FLASK.
woman whom he knew, come in by the door and with a glance
at the guests, go quietly round, till she stood at the feet of
Jesus ; and he wondered what she meant by coming into his
house. But she had heard Jesus say, " Come unto Me, and I will
give you rest; " she was sorry for her wickedness, and wishing to
show her gratitude and love to Jesus, she had bought a beautiful
and costly alabaster flask of spikenard perfume to give Him.
Now alabaster is a fine kind of stone, white, sparkling like snow,
streaked with clear lines, and so brittle that thou couldst break
it in thy hand. She had this precious little flask hidden in
her breast, and as she stood near Jesus the recollections of
her life came over her, her love went out to the One who had
turned her back, and her hot tears dropped silently upon His
bare feet. Then, kneeling, she clasped His travel-stained feet
in her hands, kissing them again and again, and wiping them
with her long dark hair that fell over them as she bent down.
Grateful that He did not send her away, with a sudden
impulse she took from her breast the little flask of perfume
which she had intended for His head, and breaking the alabaster
between her hands, she poured the precious oil upon His feet,
as with disordered tresses and tear-stained face, she sank
sobbing on the floor. She knew she had nc- right to be
in that room, unyeiling her bgauty before men, but regardless
of what people might say, she had poured out her love
before Jesus, and with dark eyes bent down she waited His
rebuke or praise. The strong sweet smell, drew the attention
of everyone in the room to what Mary had done, but, as is
common in that country, no one took any notice of her, and
Jesus remained silent. Simon was indignant ; for he con
sidered Mary of Magdala too low a person for him even
to speak to, and thought that Jesus was a very strange
Teacher indeed, to allow a woman to touch Him ; but it was
not his place to interfere between Jesus and the beautiful
woman who seemed to love Him, and he said nothing.
" If this young Teacher were really from God," he thought
to himself, " He would know that this is a wicked woman who
toucheth Him." If Simon had met Mary in the street, he

SHE LOVETH MUCH. 119
would have crossed to the other side, for Pharisees considered
themselves top good to speak to a woman in the street. Jesus
knew what was passing in Simon's mind, and, after a little,
looking towards him, He said —
"Simon, I have something to say to thee."
" Speak on, Teacher," was Simon's grave reply.
" A .man once lent money to two persons," Jesus said, "fiveM*, J"1*-'
hundred pence to one, and fifty pence to the other, and when
they could not pay him back, he forgave them both. Tell me,
Simon, which of these men will love him most? "
"I suppose the one to whom he forgave the most," he
replied. "Thou hast answered rightly," and continuing in a voice
which suiprised the Pharisee, Jesus said —
" Seest thou this woman, Simon? " pointing as He spoke to
Mary, who now looked up at Jesus with her earnest beautiful
face. "When I came into thy house, thou gavest Me no_
water for My feet, but she hath washed them with her tears.
Thou gavest Me no kiss, but she hath not ceased to kiss My
feet. Thou didst not put oil on My head, but she hath
poured perfume on My feet. He loveth little who is forgiven
little, but she loveth much, and her wickedness, which is great,
shall be forgiven." Then, turning from Simon to Mary, whose
face was radiant with joy, He continued —
" Woman, thy sins are forgiven." Simon was amazed ! He
had had his house filled with people to meet Jesus, and
through the midst of them had passed this woman ; and now,
caught with a little story by this young Countryman, in words
the wisdom of which he could not dispute, he had been
severely rebuked at his own table ! Mary was also astonished.
She had come to make a humble offering, not expecting
to hear her simple act held up as an example to Simon the
rich Pharisee, nor to be told, with a look from Jesus which she
would never forget, that all the faults of her past life were
forgiven ! Some of the people who were at the table now
began to whisper to each other, saying, " Who is this that can
even forgive sins ? " But Jesus paid no heed to their whisper-

T20 FALSE PHARISEES.
ings, but waiting till the dinner was over, He rose, and as He
went out He sent Mary away with these beautiful words—
"Thy faith hath saved thee : go in peace." And Mary
followed Jesus out into the sunshine a new creature, but not
to go back to her old life, for she followed Him, along with
other women, till His death, and was the first to see Him when
He rose again. And we know her now by the ever beautiful
name of Mary Magdalene.
Remember then how she pressed in to the very feet of Jesus,
and that thou, too, mayest at any time lay thy faults and thy
sorrows before Him, and hear His voice saying to thee, " Go
in peace ! " 'Tis His, the gentle voice we hear,
Soft as the breath of even,
That checks each fault, that calms each fear,
And speaks of Heaven.

FALSE PHARISEES.
GALILEE, SUMMER, A.D. 32.
From the neighbourhood of the village of Nain, Jesus went
on His second journey through the numerous towns and vil
lages of Galilee that were scattered over the hills, valleys, and
plains extending from the Carmel hills to the mountains of
Lebanon. Everywhere He went, He saw the country people
in the fields cutting down the ripe grain. His twelve
disciples and a number of friends went with Him, among
whom were some women, who had joined them, including
Johanna, an officer's wife ; Susanna, the mother of two of His
disciples ; Salome, the mother of two more ; the beautiful
Mary Magdalene, and others. It was now midsummer, with
hot dusty roads, the grass on the hillsides was scorched brown
with the sun, and there was no water in the brooks, yet He
went on foot, teaching now in a church, now under the shade
of a spreading green tree, and it took Him some weeks to
finish the journey.
At one place He healed a blind and dumb maniac, and the

SHOW US A SIGN. 121
people were astonished when they saw that the poor man could
see and speak, and they wondered if He were not indeed
the Christ. But when the Pharisees of the place saw His
power, they made up a wicked falsehood to deceive the
people, telling them solemnly as their old Teachers, that Jesus
had the spirit of evil in Him, which gave Him power to heal
maniacs ; and as the people believed in witchcraft and such
foolish things, they also believed this wicked thing which their
Teachers said. Now, nothing gave Jesus greater pain than this
accusation of evil. To be told that His power was the power
of wickedness and not goodness, vexed and excited Him
much ; and the people also came in such numbers to see and
hear Him, and He had to work so constantly, that He had not
time to take proper food and rest, and it began to injure His
health. Even some of His own friends said that He was going
out of His mind with excitement, and wished for His own
sake, to take Him away by force from among the people to a
quiet place to rest; and they watched Him from day to
day, and sent word to His mother in Nazareth of His danger.
Hearing of this new stir in Galilee, the priests in Jerusalem
sent some of their number to make inquiries and watch Jesus,
and to tell the people that He was a cheat and not a true
Teacher. When they came, they also repeated the same wicked
falsehood, saying that He was helped by the spirit of evil, which
gave Him power to heal maniacs, and coming to Him, they
called upon Him to do something wonderful before them,
knowing that He would refuse, as He had done before.
" Show us a sign," they said, " that Thou art from God."
For a time He paid no attention to them, then He determined
to expose their wicked falsehood, and calling upon the people
and the Pharisees to listen, He said —
" These Pharisees tell you that I have the spirit of evil in
Me, by which I heal maniacs. But why should wickedness
put out wickedness? If that were true, wickedness would
soon come to an end. Now, some of your own good men heal
maniacs also. If I heal them by the power of evil, by what
power do they heal them ? Judge Me by them. But if I, by

122 CHILDREN OF VIPERS.
the Spirit of God, heal them, then the kingdom of Heaven is
come near you. No one can go into a strong man's house
and take his things, unless he first overcome the strong man.
I have overcome the spirit of evil. Whoever is not on My
side is against Me" Then, turning upon the Pharisees who
had uttered the wicked falsehood, He continued —
" You shall be forgiven every kind of wickedness, except
blasphemy against the Holy Spirit of God. Whoever speaketh
against Me shall be forgiven, but whoever speaketh against the
Holy Spirit of God shall not be forgiven. A man is either
good or bad, and a good man is known by what he does. But
you Pharisees ! ye children of vipers ! how can you who are
wicked, say good things, for the tongue speaketh what is in the
heart. But I tell you that for every idle word that you speak,
you shall give an account ; and by your words shall you be
judged." This was a burning rebuke to those mean Pharisees
who had tried to besmirch His purity with their false tongues,
seeking to get the superstitious people to believe on their high
authority that He was only a wicked juggler, a dealer in black
arts, and in league with wickedness itself, that they might
turn the people away from Him. Was there ever a fouler lie
than to say that the pure soul of Jesus was filled with an evil
spirit? He had answered His accusers with such force that a
woman in the crowd exclaimed in her joy —
" Blessed is the woman that is Thy mother, and the breasts
which nursed Thee ! "
"Nay," Jesus answered gently, "say rather, Blessed are the
people who hear My words and obey them." Then one of the
Lawyers and Pharisees in the crowd again called sneeringly
to Him —
" Teacher ! we wish to see a sign from Thee, that Thou art
from God?" But looking at the calm hard faces of these
spies from Jerusalem, He replied —
" This is a wicked age. You ask a sign, but no sign shall
be given you but the sign of Jonah of old. As Jonah was
three days and three nights in the whale, so shall I be three
days and three nights in the grave. As Jonah was a sign to

HIS MOTHER COMES. 1 23
the wicked city of Nineveh to repent of its wickedness, so
am I a sign to you. The men of Nineveh shall condemn
you, for they were sorry when they heard the preaching of
Jonah, and I am greater than he. The queen of the South
shall condemn you, for she came from Arabia to hear the
wisdom of King Solomon, and a greater than Solomon is
here." In the meantime His mother and brothers had come from
Nazareth. They had heard that He was in danger of hurting
Himself with work, and they had come to take Him away with
them, but they could not get near Him for the crowd of peo
ple who were standing closely packed together, and they waited
outside, a middle-aged woman, with a sweet gentle face and
brown hair touched with grey, and her tall sons; for Mary
knew that the people would not think of the health of Jesus.
Word was passed through the crowd that they had come, and
some one, interrupting Jesus, called out —
" Thy mother and brothers stand outside, wishing to speak
with Thee."
"Who is My mother? Who are My brothers?" He re
plied ; and pointing to His group of disciples, " See My
mother and My brothers, for whoever doeth the will of My
Father in Heaven, he is My brother, sister, mother." And
He ceased speaking for that day. He meant that the work of
His Father in Heaven had greater claims upon Him than even
His mother. But when the crowd broke up she found Him,
and tried to persuade Him to come away with her from the
heat and fever of these constant crowds, to the quiet hills of
Nazareth and her little vine-clad cottage, there to rest and
grow strong again, though she soon saw that there was no truth
in what she had been told, that His mind had been affected
with the excitement. Jesus did not go with her, however ; but
she remained with Him for a time.
And thou wilt remember never to mention the names of
God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit, excepting with great reverence
and at suitable times. Some things in life must be kept
sacred and apart, and these are chief among them.

124 THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
GALILEAN VILLAGE, AUTUMN, A.D. 32.
As He taught in the open air one morning, under a green
tree near one of the Galilean villages, the Autumn heat grew
more and more intense, until it came to midday, the hottest
time of the day, when, in that country, all work is stopped on
account of the heat, and people go into their houses to take a
light meal of fruit and bread, which is called dinner, and to
rest till the great heat is over. When He ceased teaching, a
Pharisee asked Him to dine at his house, but did not ask
His disciples, asking instead, a number of his own friends,
Pharisees and Lawyers, who were called Scribes.
The house windows were shaded, and small tables were
spread with grapes, figs, pomegranates, and other fruits, bread,
wine, and water, with couches round them for the guests ; and
as they went in, a servant offered them water in a red clay jar,
with a basin and a towel,,and the Pharisees' friends all washed
their hands with much show and in a particular way, before
going in to take food. Jesus watched them, but declined the
water, and went in to the dinner intentionally without washing
His hands, and when the guests saw Him taking the fruit and
bread, they all pretended to be very much shocked, for it was
one of the little rules of the Pharisees that no one should
touch food until he had washed his hands, and they .said they
would rather starve than break that rule. And the Pharisee
who had invited Jesus looked round upon his friends, as much
as to say, " I am very much shocked to see the conduct of
this young man ! " and they whispered together, and looked at
Jesus, and nodded to each other. Now, Jesus was angry and
indignant, for He knew that many of them were false men,
who did wicked things in private, though they made much
show of being good.
"You Pharisees!" He exclaimed, when He saw their
sneering looks, " you clean the outside of the cup and plate,
but inside you are full of wickedness. You fools ! for did not

FALSE RELIGIOUS TEACHERS. 1 25
God make both the outside and the inside. Woe to you ! for
you are very careful about paying taxes on mint and rue, and
such like small garden herbs, as a matter of religion, but you
forget all about judgment, and the love of God. Woe to you !
for you like the best seats in churches, and to be bowed to in
the markets. But you are like hidden graves, on which the
grass grows green, and over which men walk, and do not
know that they are on graves." Thus He told them that
beneath all their long robes, solemn faces, hand-washings, and
fine words, they were cruel and wicked men. But a Lawyer,
thinking he would help his friends, exclaimed —
"Teacher, in speaking thus, Thou speakest against the
Lawyers also." He had some idea that the Lawyers, or
Scribes, as they were called, who kept the religious books and
who were the learned doctors of the Law and Teachers of the
people, were better than the Pharisees, but in reply to him,
Jesus answered —
" Woe ! to you Lawyers also, for you load the people with
heavy burdens, and you yourself do not touch these burdens
with your little finger " — meaning that they made countless
rules for the people, but did not keep them themselves ; and
after telling them that they had in bygone years killed and
punished good men, He ended with these stinging words,
" Woe ! to you Lawyers, for you have taken away the key of
knowledge, and go not in, and they that would go in, you
hinder " — meaning that they kept the truth from the people,
and taught them wrongly, neither showing them the way to
have Heaven, nor walking in it themselves.
This outburst of Jesus caused great confusion among the
Pharisee's friends. They had brought Him away from His
disciples and followers, to watch Him by themselves, but
instead of being overawed or afraid of them, He had de
nounced the Pharisees as hypocrites and the Lawyers as false
Teachers, in the strongest language He had yet used against
them. They contradicted Him hotly, saying that He had
insulted them, and tried in loud voices to dispute and wrangle
with Him, but He rose from the table to leave the house.

126 TREASURES IN HEAVEN.
Seeing this, the Pharisees and Lawyers rose also and pressed
vehemently upon Him, and when His friends saw Him
coming out of the Pharisee's house, He was followed by a
number of angry men who threatened Him, trying to provoke
Him to reply hastily, but while their faces were distorted with
anger, His was calm and firm as He walked towards His dis
ciples, who with their friends were waiting for Him outside.
But the Pharisees followed Him along the road, till He
reached His disciples, still shouting questions and demanding
answers, and the people gathered round Him, attracted by
the noise of angry . voices ; but He walked on in silence
towards a convenient place, where He could speak to the
crowd. Do thou remember that everything which is done as an
outward sign of goodness like the ceremony of washing of
hands, may be done by wicked men, and cannot therefore be
any proof of real goodness.
TREASURES IN HEAVEN.
GALILEAN VILLAGE, AUTUMN, A.D. 32.
Hitherto some of the Pharisees had been curious about the
teaching of Jesus, and not unfriendly towards Him ; but now
He had shown how impossible it was for Him to have any
thing to do with these Teachers and leaders of the people by
openly denouncing them in stinging words as false guides.
Henceforth they were to be His constant and bitter enemies.
Noticeable by His white tunic, as He sat in the shadow on
that sunny afternoon in the midst of the crowd that had
gathered round Him, Jesus began to speak of what had hap
pened when He was alone in the Pharisee's house. His
enemies hoped He would answer their taunts and gibes, but
He passed them by, and speaking to His disciples, who had
seen their rage, He said —
" Beware of the influence of the Pharisees, which is hypo
crisy, for there is nothing hid that shall not be seen. What
hath been said in darkness shall be told in the light, and what

SUCCESS IN LIFE. 127
you have whispered into the ear in the inner room shall be
told upon the house-top. My friends, do not be afraid of those
who can kill you, and after that, have nothing more which
they can do? but I will warn you whom to fear, fear God."
And again He told the people never to speak against the Holy
Spirit of God ; adding that when they were in any difficulty
His Holy Spirit would guide them ; and many good men have
found the truth of His words.
But a young man in the crowd, whose father had died leav
ing some property, came forward and put a question to Jesus,
— a common thing for the people to do with their Teachers.
He had quarrelled with his brother about the division of the
property, and he hoped to get Jesus on his side against his
brother. " Tell my brother," he said, " to divide with me what my
father hath left." Now, Jesus always refused to take up peo
ple's quarrels, and He saw that the man was greedy.
" Man," he replied sternly, " who hath made me a judge or
a divider among you? " The man, thus rebuked, slipped back
into the crowd, but all had seen his mean nature, interrupting
the teaching of Jesus with his own personal money-quarrel ;
and Jesus proceeded to warn the people against the foolish
meanness of envying their neighbours' things.
* " Beware," He said, " of wishing to have the things which
belong to some one else,/*??- success in life doth not consist in
the number of things which a man hath." And to show more
plainly how foolish it is to spend one's life in gathering wealth,
He told them a story with a meaning, about a rich man who
did so, a story which in these times of dishonesty in business,
should be more thought of ; and this is the story : —
The fields, vineyards, and gardens of a rich man had much
fruit, and he said to himself, " What shall I do, for I have not
large enough stores for all my fruits. I will do this : I will
take down my barns and build larger ones, and will store in
them all my corn and my goods ; and will say to myself, Thou
hast plenty of goods stored up for many years, take thine ease,
eat, drink, and be merry." Now, my child, thou must not

128 WISE AND FOOLISH SERVANTS.
think that this was a good man, for goodness does not consist
in providing for our own happiness alone, but we should think
of the happiness of others ; while the rich man only heaped
up comforts for himself. But Jesus continued —
" And God said, Thou foolish man, this night thou shalt
die, and whose then shall these things be, which thou hast
stored up for thyself?" The morning came, and the rich
man was no more seen among his barns and fields, and stran
gers came and divided among them the riches which he would
not share with them while he lived.
" It is the same," said Jesus, " with those who gather to
gether wealth for themselves, and do not think about God."
And the people who listened understood Him well, for in
many places the harvest had been carried away to the barns,
and the purple grapes and ripe fruits were being plucked and
shaken down. They liked Him to teach them in such stories,
and after this He taught them more by short stories than in
any other way.
When thou art older and engaged in business, thou wilt be
apt to think that the main thing in life is to gather money, but
thou wilt find that thy happiness depends more on goodness
and contentment than on money. Remember, then, to wait
upon the Holy Spirit of God, and let not thy aim in life be to (
gather much wealth, but rather by kind, generous, and good
deeds, to lay up what Jesus loved to call, Treasures in Heaven.

WISE AND FOOLISH SERVANTS.
GALILEAN VILLAGE, AUTUMN, A.D. 32.
Sitting outside the Galilean village, on that hot Autumn
day, in the shade of one of these evergreen oak trees whose
low spreading branches cover a wide circle of ground, Jesus
told the people some more short stories, to which they
listened with great interest. The principal one was about
Servants, and as there were many men from the fields, farms,
gardens, and sheepfolds there, with their bright kerchiefs of

FEW, AND MANY STROKES. 1 29
different colours shading their dark earnest faces, they under
stood Him easily when He said —
"Be like good servants, who with their tunics fastened
up and lamps lighted, are ready waiting in the 'night-time
for their master, who is out at a marriage supper, so that
when he knocketh at the door they may open at once to him.
Happy are the servants whom he shall find watching, for he
will put off his cloak, and make them sit down, and serve
them himself with food ; Blessed are they if their master should
come in the middle of the night or at the early morning and
find them still watching." And He added these warning
words, " Be ye also ready, for I shall come at a time when
you do not expect Me." In the pause which followed this
story, Peter, who was already taking his place as the chief
disciple, asked —
"Master, is this story spoken only to us, Thy disciples,
or to all the people also?" Jesus did not answer Peter
directly, but went on to tell another story about servants,
which showed that He was speaking to all the people who
stood round about Him in the shade and sunshine; but
especially to the disciples whom He had set over His other
followers, saying —
"Blessed is the faithful and wise chief servant who has
been left in charge of his master's house and servants, and
whom his master findeth doing his duty when he returneth,
for he will set him over everything he hath. But if that
servant should say to himself, ' My master is long in return
ing,' and should begin to strike the other servants, and to
feast and be drunken, his master will come when he doth
not expect him, and will scourge him and put him away.
Every servant who knoweth his master's wishes and dis-
obeyeth them, shall be punished with many strokes; but
the servant who doth not know his master's wishes, and
yet doeth things deserving punishment, shall be punished
with few strokes; for to whom much is given, from him
shall much be expected." By this Jesus meant that more
good is expected from clever and powerful people than from

130 CLOUDS AND SOUTH WIND.
ignorant and weak ones. The little child who does not
intend to be bad, will not be punished so much as the
child who doeth wrong knowing all the time that he is doing
wrong. Turning from His disciples to the listening crowd,
Jesus told them that they who followed Him must not
expect peace, but rather trouble, even from their own dearest
friends. "Do not think," He said, "that I have come to give
peace to the world, but rather division ; for fathers will turn
against sons for following me, and mothers against their
daughters." But He told them also that they were not to be
discouraged, and looking towards the Pharisees, who stood
apart by themselves, He said that, clever as they were,
yet they could not see that their power was coming to an
end. " When you see a cloud rising in the Western skies," He said,
"you say there will be rain, and you are right. And when
you feel a South wind blowing, you say there will be great
heat, and you are right. You hypocrites ! you under
stand the signs of coming things in the earth and sky, but
how is it that you do not understand the signs ofthe times?"
He then compared the punishment of wickedness to the
punishment of law-breakers in a court of justice, saying, " If
thou hast a dispute, and art going with the public accuser
before a judge, try to settle with the accuser by the way, lest
he take thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the
officer, and the officer put thee into prison, out of which thou
shalt not come till thou hast paid thy very last farthing."
With this warning He ended His teaching at this place, and
as it was near the end of His journey through the villages
of Galilee, He walked on, perhaps in the cool of that after
noon, towards the Lake-side again, which was not far off.
Do thou remember the faithful servant doing his duty all
the same whether his master seeth him or no ; for thou art a
little servant of Jesus, and in play or at work thou must ever
try to do as He wisheth thee.

THE SOWER. 131

THE SOWER.
LAKE-SIDE, AUTUMN, A.D. 32.
Jesus was again in Capernaum, living in Peter's house by
the side of the beautiful Lake. It was Autumn, and the fields
of Gennesaret were cleared of their yellow crops, and the clus
tering grapes and golden oranges hung ripe in the sunshine, by
the side of the blue waves that sparkled upon the white beach
of shells and pebbles.
He loved to teach at this spot, and as He sat by the water
in the cool early morning, telling the people about Heaven
and God, the crowd became so great that again He had to go
into a fishing-boat, and speak from it. See Him as He stands
in His white tunic in the bow of the swaying boat ! The
crowd, with their blue and brown cloaks and bright kerchiefs,
covering the beach, the rocks, the grass, and many standing
with bare feet in the warm clear water itself, for He speaks as
He never spoke before, in a manner new to Him, but com
mon to the other Teachers, telling them short stories with a
meaning, which are called parables; about fields and trees,
thorns, flowers, birds, nets, pearls, and many other things.
Thou hast seen horses dragging a plough up and down a
field, while the shining share turns over the brown earth —
the farmer is preparing his field for the seed, — and the first
story Jesus told was about sowing seed. It was the time of
year for sowing Winter wheat in the warm plain of Gennesaret
that stretched along the Western side of the Lake, and as He
spoke, the figure of a sower was perhaps seen in the distance
walking over his field of red earth, scattering wheat from a
white sheet tied round his neck, while the black crows wheeled
in hundreds over his head.
" See ! " said Jesus, pointing to the distant fields, " A sower
went out from his house to sow, and it happened that as he
sowed, some seed fell on the hard footpath that led through
the field, and the birds came down and pecked it up ; and
some seed fell on rocky ground, where it had not much

I32 SEED AND BLACK CROWS.
earth, and it sprang up soon because it had no depth of earth,
but when the sun grew hot in Summer it was scorched, and
withered away, because it had no root ; and some seed fell
among young thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and
choked it, and it had no fruit; but some fell upon good
ground, and it grew up, increasing and having fruit, some
more and some less." Thou canst see this field ! It has a
hedge round about it, and at the foot of the hedge is the place
where the prickly briars spring up ; in the upper corner of the
field, black rocks are sticking through the poor shallow earth,
while the rest of the field is red with deep rich soil ; through
it there is a footpath, sun-dried, trodden hard, and as the
sower scatters his wheat, hundreds of black crows are watch
ing him, wheeling and crossing in the air over his head, and
alighting down behind him.
But the disciples and their friends did not catch the mean
ing of this story, and this is how Jesus explained it to them in
Peter's house that afternoon.
"Do you not understand this story?" He asked. "How
then will you understand other stories? " Then He told them,
that while they would understand it, many other people would
not, adding, " Blessed are your eyes and ears, for they shall
see and hear things which many good men have wished to
know. This is the meaning of the story of the sower. My
words are like the seed. When any one heareth My words
and understandeth them not, then cometh the spirit of evil
and taketh away that which he had received, and that is what
I mean by the seed sown on the footpath, which the crows
carried away. When any one heareth My words and at once
receiveth them with joy, and believeth them for a while, but
having no hold of them cannot withstand a time of temptation
— that is what I mean by the seed sown upon rocky places,
which the sun scorched. When any one having heard My
words, goeth away and My words are choked with the cares,
riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to perfection ;
that is what I mean by the seed which fell among thorns that
grew up and choked it. And what I mean by the seed that

THE ANGEL-REAPERS. I 33
fell into good ground, are people who with an honest and good
heart, having heard My words, hold them safely and bring
forth fruit with patience."
How simple now is the lesson ! The crowd of people on
that sunny beach were the field, Jesus was the Sower who was
spreading the seeds of Heaven among men. Some of His
words fell on cold, hard minds, some on shallow, emotional
minds, some on vain and worldly ones that liked His teaching
and resolved to follow it, but whose good resolutions faded
away when they went back to their business and their pleas
ures. But there were good and honest minds in that crowd
too, who kept the words of Jesus and tried to be like Him.
Remember, then, that the best ground for the words of
Jesus to grow in is an honest, good, and gentle heart, such an
heart as any little child may have ; and what child would
not like to have the words of Jesus kept safely in his memory,
to bear precious fruit in his life ?
THE ANGEL-REAPERS.
LAKE-SIDE, AUTUMN, A.D. 32.
The second short story which Jesus told the people as He
sat in the boat that floated by the white beach on that sunny
Autumn morning was about " The Lamp of Light." He told
them that it was like a good person whose beautiful life shed a
bright influence all around him.
" When a man hath lit a lamp," He said, " he doth not put
a cover over it, but placeth it on a stand that all who come
into the house may see." The people were thus not to believe
in Jesus and then hide their belief from everybody, but were
rather to show it and make it known, and He warned them
against thinking they could hide their thoughts from God.
" There is nothing hidden that shall not be seen," He con
tinued, " and nothing secret that shall not be known. If you
measure justly to others, just measure shall be given back to
you. To him that hath, shall more be given, and from him
that hath not, shall be taken even the little which he seemeth

134

TARES AND WHEAT.

to have "—meaning that they who had the light of His Spirit
within them, and who showed it, would receive more of His
Spirit, while they who hid it would have the little taken away
which they had : therefore, let thy little light shine, and more
light will be given thee.
The stories which Jesus told them next on that hot Autumn
day were about God, His Kingdom of Heaven, and His own
teaching. It is not likely that He told them one after another,
but rather at different times of the day. The story about
"The Tares and the Wheat" is again about a farmer who
sowed wheat, and of a troublesome weed called the darnel
weed, which all the people knew.
"My teaching to-day," Jesus said, "is like a farmer who
sowed good wheat in his field, but an enemy came in the
night time and sowed tares among the wheat and went away.
And when the wheat sprang up with the green blade and the
ear, the tares grew up also, and the farmer's servants came and
said, 'Master, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field?
where have the tares come from ? ' To which he replied,
' Mine enemy hath done this thing.' Then the servants asked
him if they should not go and pull up the tares, but he said,
' Nay ! lest while you pull up the tares you root up the wheat
with them. Let them both grow together until the harvest
time, and then I will fell my reapers to gather the tares up
first and tie them into bundles and burn them, and then to
gather the wheat into my barns.' " Now a tare, or darnel
weed, is very difficult to tell from poor wheat until fully grown,
and it is poisonous and fit to spoil any crop, and the country
people knew well how they gathered the weeds and thorns
into heaps in their fields and burnt them up to get rid of them.
In this story the words of Jesus again are the seed of Heaven ;
but the people did not rightly understand what He meant until
later on, when His disciple asked Him to explain it, and this
is what He said —
"The world is the field, and My words are the seed of
Heaven among men. The people who follow after goodness
are the wheat, while they who follow wickedness are the tares,

THE GREEN BLADE AND THE EAR. 1 35
and the enemy that soweth the tares is the spirit of evil ; the
harvest is the end of the world, and the angels are the reapers.
As the tares in the story were gathered up and burned, so
shall it be with the wicked, for I will send My angels and they
shall gather the wicked out of the world, and all things that
cause wickedness, and cast them into fire. And the right
eous shall shine as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father in
Heaven." Whether wilt thou, my child, be among the wheat in this
Kingdom, with a fruitful head of bending gold, or among the
tares, holding up a poor, deceitful stalk? In this story Jesus
speaks of death as His gentle beautiful angels, reaping the
golden fields of the world, and bearing His children home ;
and the poet Longfellow, a true lover of children, has also
spoken of this reaper, Death, as an angel, and of little children
as flowers, in a beautiful poem which thou shouldst learn, for
it is perhaps the gentlest picture of death in English poetry,
and he says this —
" Oh ! not in cruelty, not in wrath
The Reaper came that day,
'Twas an Angel visited the green earth
And took the flowers away."

THE GREEN BLADE AND THE EAR.
LAKE-SIDE, AUTUMN, A.D. 32.
The next story which Jesus told the people that day was
about how the seed grows. Wheat is sown in the late Autumn,
and lies in the earth during all the Wintry snows ; but see the
field in Spring, under white clouds and a blue sky, when the
days are of sunshine and rain. It seems all brown earth, but
if thou wert to turn over a few lumps, thou wouldst see little
white points shooting up ; a few days, and they are through
the ground, tinged with green ; a few days more, and the field
is covered with their soft spikes, giving quite a green shadow
to it ; a few weeks, and these spikes open into emerald sheaths,
that quite hide the old brown earth ; a few more weeks and it

136 MUSTARD SEED.
is Summer, with green blades rising into spear stalks, throwing
out gracefully bending leaves, each stalk crowned with an ear
of wheat that grows thicker as the grain swells ; in Autumn the
stalks are as tall as thyself, dry and rustling in the sunny wind,
heavy with grain, till the reapers come and bear away the
golden harvest to the barn. That is how wheat grows, and
this is the story of " The Green Blade and the Ear."
" My words to-day," said Jesus, " are spreading the Kingdom
of Heaven among, men, just as if a farmer were to sow seed in
the earth, and go away for months, and the seed should grow
and spring up, he knoweth not how, growing of itself, first the
green blade, then the ear, then the full wheat in the ear ; and
when it is ripe, he should come and reap the yellow grain with
his sickle, for the harvest is ready." Thus Jesus scattered
His words like the seed of Heaven, which, falling into honest
hearts, would spring up a harvest of good thoughts and deeds,
in His Kingdom in the world.
The next story He told them is called " The Grain of
Mustard Seed" and is also about sowing, and how His King
dom would spread among men. Thou hast seen the wild
mustard among the corn with its small yellow flower growing
so close and thick that for days the whole field is of buttercup
yellow. But in that country the wild mustard grows to the
size of a little tree, although its seed is as small as a pin's
head. "The growth of the Kingdom of Heaven," said Jesus, "is
like a grain of mustard seed which a man sowed in his garden,
and, although it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it
groweth up it becometh a tree spreading out large branches,
so that the birds can sit in its shade." Little children some
times think they are too small to do any good thing; but if
the Spirit of Jesus, like the little mustard seed, be dropped
into the garden of their heart, it will grow until it fills the little
heart with Heaven.
The people in that country baked their own bread, and the
next story Jesus told them as they stood by the side of the
beautiful Lake was about the "Leaven" with which they

GOLD IN A FIELD. 1 37
baked their bread. He knew that women ground the wheat
into flour between two small millstones, and He had often,
when a boy, seen His mother putting leaven into the flour and
letting it stand covered up for some hours that it might bake
rightly. But what is this leaven which the dark women of
that country hid among their flour? In England it is called
"yeast," and the strange thing about it is that if only a little is
put ki among a heap of flour it will infect the flour with its
own nature until the whole of the flour is leavened.
"The power of the Kingdom of Heaven in the world," said
Jesus, " is like leaven which a woman hid in three measures of
meal, until the whole of the meal was leavened." And if the
words of Jesus are hidden in thy heart, they will change thy
little heart until it becometh like His, a holy temple for God
to dwell in. Now, this was the last of the stories about His
Kingdom among men, which Jesus told the people from the
boat; and standing up He bade them go away home, and
they went away, some along the road by the Lake towards
the towns, some up the green glens to the hills. And the
disciples came into the boat, and as they rowed away
towards Capernaum the setting sun cast the shadows of
the hills upon a calm Lake of deeper blue, while in the
silence, broken only by the dripping oars, Jesus explained to
His disciples what He had said to the people, for He had
spoken in stories all that day : but the story of " The Sower"
He did not explain till they got home to Peter's house.
There he told them more stories, all about His words and the
Kingdom of Heaven in the world, the first of which stories is
called " The Treasure in the Field," and it is about what a man
did who found gold in a field.
"The Kingdom of Heaven," Jesus said, "is like a treasure
which a man found buried in a field, and he was so glad that
he sold everything he had and bought that field." By this
Jesus meant that they were to do all in their power to have
Heaven. But thou knowest that gold cannot buy it, but that
if thou dost ask God, He will give thee this treasure of
Heaven in the little field of thine own heart.

1 38 PEARLS.
Merchants in that country rode long distances on camels
to buy precious things — jewels, spices, silks, rare woods, and
dyes, — and some were pearl merchants, who bought pearls
from men, who dived to the bottom of the sea for them.
Now a pearl is round as a pea, of a greyish-white colour,
beautifully smooth and lustrous, and they are found in shells,
and are much thought of as beautiful gems. And the next
story Jesus told was about " The Pearl of Great Price."
"The Kingdom of Heaven," He said, "is like a pearl
merchant, who having found one pearl of great price, sold
everything he had and bought the pearl." Thus Jesus showed
them that Heaven is above all things to be wished for. And
the words of Jesus ! what beautiful pearls ! what strings of
pearls they are ! When people give so much for jewel-
pearls, which they may lose or break, how much more should
they wish to have the words of Jesus ? See thou that having
got them thou dost keep them safe, that they get not dull, lost,
or forgotten, but are ever bright in thy memory.
.The next story Jesus told in the house is about " The Fishing-
Net" and as Peter and most of His disciples were fishermen,
and fishing-boats could be seen on the Lake from the cottage
door, they easily understood Him. Hast thou ever seen a
fishing-net ? It is made of brown twine knotted into squares
that thou couldst not get thy small hand through, yet the net
could hold twenty children such as thee, and it is let out
between two boats, and hangs down in the water, and the fish
swimming along, run their heads into the little squares, where
they stick fast, and are found when the net is pulled up, some
shining like silver, some dull as lead, some with the colours
of the rainbow.
" The Kingdom of Heaven," said Jesus, " is like a net that
men cast into the lake, that caught fish of every kind, and
when it was full, the fishermen drew it in to the shore, and
sitting down gathered the good fish into dishes, but the bad
fish they threw away. And so shall it be in the end of the
world, when the angels shall come to separate the good people
from the bad." Jesus had now told His last story to the

BIRDS OF THE AIR HAVE NESTS. 1 39
disciples, and had explained the others which He told the
people from the boat, and had answered all the disciples'
questions. " Have you understood all these things ? " He asked them.
"Yes," they replied; and so ended all the beautiful stories
of that remarkable day — stories with a meaning.
And thou wilt not forget that the words of Jesus are precious
seed to thee, precious in that they are His Spirit which will
give thee that Heaven for which all men seek.

BIRDS OF THE AIR HAVE NESTS.
LAKE-SIDE, AUTUMN, A.D. 32.
Evening was now approaching, but the people who had
followed Jesus would not go away from the door of Peter's
cottage, and as most of the villages were on that side of the
Lake, the crowd was large ; but across the Lake was the wild
rocky country of Gadara, and His friends advised Him to go
over to the other side that night if He wished to have rest and
quiet. So Jesus gave orders to get ready the large boat, and
the news spread among the people that He was about to
leave them, and while some begged Him to stay, others went
to get boats and sail across with Him. Walking from the
house to the beach, He was just about to enter the boat, when
a rich Lawyer, a Teacher of the people, who had greatly liked
what Jesus had been saying, came forward to Him.
" Master ! " he said, " I will follow Thee wherever Thou
goest." But Jesus replied in these tired words —
" Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but I
have not a place whereon to lay My head." We know not
whether the rich man went with Jesus. To another man in
the crowd, that pressed round Him, Jesus spoke those old
impressive words which He first used to His disciple Philip —
"Follow Me ! " but the man wished to wait a little.
" Master, let me first bury my father," he said. But Jesus
would not let him go.

140 CROSSING THE LAKE.
" Follow Me ! " He said again. " Let the dead bury their
dead, but go thou and tell My words to others." I do not
know what Jesus meant by these words about the dead, but
He certainly did not mean that a man should not bury his
father. Perhaps the man's answer was only an excuse, for
Jesus did not think it a sufficient reason. Hearing what had
been said, another man came forward and exclaimed —
" I will follow Thee, Master, but first let me bid farewell to
my friends at home." But Jesus would not let him go either,
for he knew that the man might never return if he went back
among his friends, and He took him into the boat, saying —
" No one who putteth his hand to the plough and looketh
back is fit for Heaven." Thou knowest how a ploughman,
when he ploughs, keeps his eye fixed on what is before him,
so any one who follows Jesus must not go unwillingly if he
would be a true follower.
But this farewell-taking at the water's edge was too slow
for Peter and the disciples, for the sun was going down amid
lurid clouds, and they feared a storm, and with gentle urgency
they took Jesus as He was, and hurried Him into the boat.
Counting disciples and the sailors who were to bring the boat
back, there would be about twenty men in it, most of them
fishermen, accustomed to sail in all kinds of weather. The
anchor was pulled up and taken in over the bow, and the
huge peaked brown sail was swung up from the mast, and
as the wind filled it and the boat began to glide through
the water, Peter grasped the tiller, and they were soon sail
ing away from the shore and the people. And the men who
had launched little boats came after them. The sun went
down amid wild fiery clouds, throwing a red glare upon
their high sail, darkness came suddenly over the hills without
starlight, and they had six miles to go, for they were crossing
at the broadest part of the Lake.
Tired with His day's work, wrapping His thick blue cloak
about Him, Jesus lay down in the stern of the boat and was
soon asleep; and some one put the steersman's leather
cushion under His head, and He lay sleeping soundly on

A STORM. 141
His hard bed amid all the noise of wind and waves and creak
ing rigging. Sitting on the raised steersman's seat, Peter's
brown weatherbeaten face was grave and even stern, as he
grasped the rope of the large sail with one hand, and the tiller
with the other, now looking up at the huge bulging canvas, as
a gust of wind bent the boat's edge down to the hissing water,
and now stooping down and gazing steadily under the sail into
the darkness ahead, and again looking at the chasing clouds
in the sky to windward. He was anxious, but Jesus, rocked
by the boat, slept on, with His head close to Peter. The wind
shifted and blew unsteadily, and the boat's course had to be
altered several times in the dark, with rattling ropes and flap
ping sail, and the waves rose, but the boat bounded over them,
and still Jesus slept.
The weather had changed, the wind blew in wild gusts, and
Peter was doubly watchful, for the voyage would be longer
than they had intended. " What is that ? " some one exclaimed,
as they listened to a distant hissing sound. They knew what
was coming ; one of those sudden storms from the Eastern
hills that are common on that Lake, and scarcely had the
boat's head been put round to meet the storm, and the sail
brought rattling down and secured, than the wind struck them,
driving the boat before it with bare mast, the gale increasing
every instant. Oars were put out to steady them, with two
men to each oar, while the increasing waves, rolling up behind,
went hissing and heaving under them, and as the boat rose and
fell their whole skill was needed to keep the water from com
ing in. They were now alone on the dark stormy Lake, for
the little boats had all gone back when they saw the weather
changing; but although the boat was rocking and pitching
wildly, Jesus slept on. The wind increased still more, and
waves began to strike them and leap in, wetting the disciples ;
but they did not mind that, so long as the boat floated well ;
but the waves grew so high and dangerous, that, fishermen as
they were, they began to be afraid. It was an open boat, and
if one of these great waves should break over them it would
sink them, and they held to their seats in silence, till at length

142 LEGION AND THE SWINE.
a wave larger than the rest hit the boat and poured in, and it
began to fill with water, and thinking they were lost, some one
cried in terror to Jesus —
" Master, Master, we are sinking ! " Their cries awoke
Him, although the wind did not, and Jesus rose and faced
the storm suddenly and for the first time, the wind beating on
Him and the spray smiting His face, while the boat heaved
and tossed under His feet. Looking out upon the dark waters,
He rebuked the wind, and said to the waves —
" Peace, be still." His voice was scarce heard by His terri
fied disciples ; but there came a great calm, for storms on that
Lake pass away almost as suddenly as they come, and the dis
ciples were filled with amazement as great as lately had been
their fear, and in the silence they heard Jesus asking them —
" Why are you afraid? Do you not yet trust Me? " They
did not speak. They were afraid of Him, afraid of His
power, afraid of His look, afraid of what He had said, for they
did not yet believe that their own Countryman was the Son
of God. Oars were put out again, and as the men rowed
towards the shore of Gadara, the wind having driven them to
the Southern end of the Lake, the sailors said to each other in
whispers —
" Who is this that commandeth the wind and the waves, and
they obey Him? " Peter knew, as he sat with his hand on the
tiller ; but no one answered.
Remember, then, that in the darkest hour and amid the
wildest danger, there is One, Jesus, who, if thou dost call on
Him, will calm thy fears and give thee strength.
LEGION AND THE SWINE.
GADARA, AUTUMN, A.D. 32.
When the sun rose next morning over the Hills of Bashan,
all was calm and beautiful upon the Lake, with the blue sky
and white clouds reflected on its breast, and no one could
have told that in the night a storm had been raging there.
Peter's boat was rocking at anchor in a little gravelly creek of

LANDING AT GADARA. 1 43
a river close to the shore at Gadara, where, excepting for a
green strip of grass and bushes near the beach, all was wild
and rocky, rising into high flat mountains, with no houses near
the Lake. Roaming among the dry grass and stones were
droves of swine, in charge of swineherds, brought to this lonely
place to feed on the wild roots, for the Jews would not allow
them to be near their villages, nor would they eat or touch
ham or bacon. Tombs also were there, dark caves in the
limestone rock of the hills, in which people were buried.
But there was something even more dreadful. A maniac lived
among these tombs, who wandered among the mountain gorges
and the -caves by day and night, uttering strange cries, and
cutting himself with sharp stones, for he had torn his clothes
to pieces and was naked ; and the people were afraid to pass
that way. He had been caught once or twice and bound, but
he was so strong that he had broken his bonds, and fled back
to these caves by the lonely shore, and no person could tame
him ; and his name was Legion.
When Jesus, and those who were with Him, landed from
the boat, Legion came out from a cave, looking wildly at them
through his tangled hair ; but when he saw Jesus, he ran over
the grass and down the stony beach with his bare feet, and
lying down before Jesus, worshipped Him. Jesus was not
afraid of him, and had pity on his dreadful state ; but Legion,
with his face to the ground, shrieked —
" What have I to do with Thee, Jesus, thou Son of the
most High God. I beg you, by God, torment me not."
"What is thy name? " Jesus asked gently.
"My name is 'Legion,' for we are many," he cried. — Now
Legion means six thousand. — And he begged Jesus not to
send the trouble that was in him into the place of evil spirits.
" Send us to the swine," he cried, " that we may go into them."
" Come out, thou wicked spirit, out of the man ! " Jesus
replied. Now there was a herd of about two thousand swine feeding
near by upon rising ground, that sloped quickly down to the
water, which is deep close to the shore at that place, and when

144 RETURN TO THY HOME.
Jesus spoke, Legion's madness entered the swine, and they
rushed wildly down the slope into the Lake and were drowned.
The swineherds were astonished, for they saw no cause for
this, and fled away to their masters in the town of Gadara,
among the hills, spreading the nsws as they went, that a
fishing-boat had come to the shore in the night time, that
Legion had run to meet the people, and that the swine
were drowned. The people of Gadara were alarmed, and,
guided by the swineherds, they came down to the Lake in
numbers to see what had taken place, and found the strangers
and Legion still there. Some one had given Legion a cloak,
and there he sat at the feet of the young white-robed Stranger,
the terror of the tombs, clothed, and in his right mind, with
his tangled hair swept back from his face, and the people
were afraid when they saw where the swine were drowned,
and heard how Legion had been healed; and soon more
people came down to the Lake from the country round about.
Had this wonderful Stranger come to punish them for keeping
swine ? They were afraid to touch Jesus. He might destroy
them ; and they begged Him to come no further, but as a
favour to go back into the boat and leave their shore. Jesus
did not reply, but ordered the boat to be made ready. There
was one whose heart sank within him at this — Legion. Now,
calm and earnest, he followed Jesus to the water's edge, and
begged to be taken with them. But Jesus had another use
for him, to stay and be His Teacher among those darkened
Gadarenes who would not receive Him, and He said kindly
to Legion —
" Return to thy home and thy friends, and tell them what
great things God hath done for thee, and how He hath had
mercy on thee." Legion was satisfied, and the people stood
sullenly on the shore watching the boat being pushed out from
the creek into the Lake, and the brown sail hoisted ; how
different from the people who bade Jesus farewell upon the
other side the evening before ! And so the Gadarenes pre
ferred undisturbed swine-feeding to the words of Jesus, of
whom stories had been wafted to them across the Lake. But

THE RULERS LITTLE DAUGHTER. 1 45
Legion went about in Gadara and the other nine towns of
the Decapolis in the country East of the Lake telling what
Jesus had done for him, and as people hstened to the sensible
reasoning of the man who was once a terrible maniac, some
believed that only the power of God in Jesus could have made
this change in him.
Remember, then, how these foolish Gadarenes stopped Jesus
on the very edge of their country. Are there no little boys or
girls who are at present refusing to let the Spirit of Jesus enter
their hearts ? Be not thou one of those dark little Gadarenes.

THE RULER'S LITTLE DAUGHTER.
CAPERNAUM, AUTUMN, A.D. 32.
With the morning sun sparkling on the blue water of the
Lake, and lighting up their peaked red sail, Jesus and His
disciples sailed away from the shore of Gadara and the crowd
of sullen people standing there, away towards Capernaum at
the other end of the Lake, passing the towns of Tiberius,
Magdala, and many others, and sailing under the towering
cliffs of weather-beaten rock that rose from the water's edge
near the bay of Capernaum ; and after some hours they neared
the harbour and quays of that town. The storm of last night
had made His friends anxious for His safety, and when Peter's
boat was recognised returning, they came down to the water to
meet Him, until there was a crowd waiting ; and when the
huge sail was pulled down, and the boat glided alongside the
quay, the people welcomed Him back gladly. But a well-
known person was seen pressing through the crowd, Jairus,
one of the chief men of their church and town, and the people
made way for him, for there was a look of distress in his face.
Perhaps his little daughter was worse? To their surprise,
when Jairus came up* to Jesus, the great man bowed down
before Him, like one of the poorest of the people, and said —
" My little daughter is dying. I pray Thee, come and put
Thine hand upon her, that she may live." He knew of Jesus
having healed the nobleman's servant, for he was one of the

146 THE FRINGE OF HIS CLOAK.
elders of the town who asked Him to do its Jesus left the land
ing place and went away with Jairus towards his fine house,
which was outside the town, His disciples and the people
following ; and as they went, they were delayed by the con
stantly increasing crowd who pressed round about them.
Now, in that crowd there was a poor woman, weak with illness,
who by hard struggling had got close behind Jesus, and she
thought if she might only touch His cloak she would be
healed. So when the people were pushing to and fro, and no
one was looking, she touched the blue and white fringe of
His outer cloak, which was thought by good people to be a
very important part of the dress, and immediately she hid her
self among the crowd, for she felt she was healed. But Jesus
stopped, and turning round, said to the people near Him —
"Who touched Me?" for He knew that some one had
touched Him. But everybody denied having done so.
" Master ! " said Peter, " the people press Thee, and crush
Thee on every side, and yet Thou dost ask, ' Who touched
Me ? ' " Peter thought the question a very strange one.
" But," said Jesus, " some one touched Me, for I know that
power hath gone out from Me," and He continued to wait for
some one to speak. Then the poor woman saw that she could
not hide herself, and trembling from head to foot, pressed for
ward through the people, and kneeling down on the dusty road
before Him, exclaimed —
" I touched Thee, and am healed. I have been ill twelve
years, and have suffered much from many doctors, who made
me no better, but rather worse ; and hearing of Thee, I thought
that if I might but touch the fringe of Thy cloak, I should be
healed. So I came behind Thee and touched the fringe, and
am healed." She was but a poor, modest woman, afraid to tell
Jesus of her trouble, and she remained kneeling before Him.
Could He be angry with her?
" Daughter," He said gently, " be comforted, thy trust hath
made thee whole ; go in peace, and be healed of thy trouble ! "
And the woman rose, and followed Him with the rest of the
people, as He turned and walked on again.

NOT DEAD, BUT SLEEPING. 147
Jairus had been standing by all this time, sorry for the
woman, yet afraid of the delay, because it might make them
too late to save his little daughter's life, and they had not
gone far until he saw one of his house servants running to
meet them, and pushing through the crowd the servant gave
him this message which stabbed him to the heart —
" Do not trouble the Master any more. Thy daughter is
dead." With a face of grief, Jairus looked to Jesus, who had
also heard the message.
" Do not fear," Jesus said. " Only believe, and she shall be
made well." The people heard the words, and wondered.
Was this young Carpenter going to restore his little daughter
to life ? When they reached Jairus's fine house, with its bright
garden round it, and thick green trees to keep it cool, they
heard the doleful sound of flutes being blown, that told all
who passed by, that the Ruler's little daughter was dead. The
door stood wide open, and the house was already full of
friends, who were sitting on the floor, the seats having been all
turned upside down, the men with clothes torn, the women
with loosened hair and dust on their heads, rocking their
bodies to and fro, weeping and mourning with the mother,
who was in great distress. Jesus was displeased with this
throng of people and the noise they were making, and as He
went in He said to them —
" Why do you weep and make a noise ? The child is not
dead, but sleepeth," — meaning that she would live again, for
He loved to call death " sleep." But those who had come
to hold a mourning, laughed mockingly at Jesus, showing by
their horrid laughter how little real grief they felt. Jesus then
told Jairus to put out all these sham mourners, and leave only
himself, his wife, and Peter, James, and John in the quiet
house with Him ; and the people outside were most curious
to know what was going to happen. The child was lying in
her own little shaded room, richly furnished with coloured rugs
on the floor, and delicate curtains drawn round the small bed,
where she lay silent and still, with eyes shut, — she was only
twelve years old. Taking her father and mother with Him,

148 TWO BLIND BEGGARS.
Jesus went into the little room, and standing by her bed,
looked at the little girl as she lay quiet and beautiful, and
taking her hand, said —
" Little maid, I say to thee, Arise ! " And her spirit returned,
and opening her eyes, she looked at them, and rose up, and her
mother took her in her arms and kissed her. I know not what
the little girl said to Jesus, but she would ask what had been
the matter with her, and who the strangers were, and what
meant the voices of the crowd of people outside the house.
It is likely that Jesus and His disciples would partake of food
in Jairus's house ; and before leaving, Jesus reminded him that
they should also give the little girl something to eat, and told
them earnestly that they were not to tell the people what He
had done, as He did not wish such things to be talked about,
and he went away to walk back again to the town. But
friends who had seen the little girl lying, and had mourned
for her death, and who saw her going about again, told others
what had happened, and it soon became known and talked
about in the villages.
Thou wilt remember that this little girl owed her life to
Jesus, and that she would love Him ever after ; and there are
many little girls and boys who have got true and kind hearts
from Him, and who must never cease to love and obey Him
also.
TWO BLIND BEGGARS.
CAPERNAUM, AUTUMN, A.D. 32.
It was the afternoon when Jesus returned by the road from
the Ruler's house into Capernaum, on His way to Peter's
cottage at the side of the Lake, and He was followed by a
crowd of people, attracted by all that had happened. Now
there were two blind beggars sitting begging by the roadside,
and hearing the voices and sound of many feet, they asked
what all the stir was about, and were told that Jesus was
coming back from Jairus's house, where He had raised his
little daughter to life. " If He can do that, He can heal us,"
they thought, for they had heard also of Him healing the

WITH STAFF AND WALLET. 1 49
woman on His way out, and they resolved to find Jesus. But
how were they to do so in such a crowd ? It was a chance not
to be lost : one in a lifetime. And they rose to their feet, and
by getting into the crowd, and asking questions, they found
out that the people were returning to the town, and that Jesus
was on before, and as they knew the roads well, they deter
mined to follow with the people and overtake Him. Walking
in the middle of the dusty road, holding each other by the arm,
that they might not be separated with their sticks to feel the
way, jostled on every side, but still keeping their ground, they
tramped stoutly and bravely on, shouting with loud, rough
voices as they went —
" Thou Son of David, have mercy on us ! Thou Son of
David, have mercy on us ! " But no answer came, and they
were often told to be quiet, that Jesus would not trouble with
beggars ; but they who chid them thus had never been blind,
and still they trudged on, knowing Jesus must stop somewhere.
Now " David " was the name of a great king, and the beggars
had heard that the Christ would be called the "Son of
David," and thought Jesus might listen sooner if they thus
praised Him ; but Jesus passed through the town, and did
not stop till He came to Peter's house. Feeling their way
with hands and sticks, the two beggars at length found the
door of the house, and still holding by each other, called
lustily in —
" Thou Son of David, have mercy on us." But getting no
reply, they pressed their way in, until, covered with yellow
dust, with their rags, their beggars' wallets, and stout beggars'
staffs, they stood before Jesus, opening wide their poor blank
eyes that He might see their state. He had heard their
cries. "Do you believe that I can heal your blindness?" Jesus
asked. To which they both replied at once —
" Yes, Master ! " They did not waste words, but stood
perfectly still. Going to them, He touched their eyes with
His hand, saying as He did so —
" According as you have trusted Me, so let it be done to

150 THE BROW OF THE HILL.
you." And immediately they could see, and what they saw
was the dark eyes of Jesus looking calmly into theirs, perhaps
the first face they had ever seen. And He told them strictly
not to tell any person what He had done, for He did not wish
the people to follow Him because of His wonders, but to hear
His words. But the men could not keep it to themselves.
The people had seen them blind and calling upon Jesus, and
now they could see, and so they told them what He had done
for them, until everybody knew.
In the afternoon, as Jesus was going out again, some persons
brought a maniac to Him, another of those poor mad creatures,
whom the people, not knowing what was wrong with them, said
had an evil spirit, and the man could not speak, and they
begged Jesus to heal him, and He did so, and the man's
friends went away exclaiming that they had never seen any
thing like this in all their country before. And some spoke
to their old religious Teachers about it, saying that they had
never heard of a man having such power before, to which the
wicked Pharisees replied by telling the people that the power
of Jesus did not come from Heaven, repeating their old
falsehood. "The king of evil spirits," they said, "giveth Him power
to cast out evil spirits " — intending the people to believe that
Jesus was a wicked person whose power came from the spirit
of evil within Him ; and many people believed this wickedest
of falsehoods.
And thou wilt remember how these blind men did not give
up following Jesus, and when thou art doing what is right, let
nothing turn thee aside, but ever press forward, trusting in
God, who telleth thee what is right to do.

THE BROW OF THE HILL.
NAZARETH, AUTUMN, A.D. 32.
His mother had asked Jesus to come home and rest, and
He resolved to go from Capernaum, where He had been so
well received, and visit His friends at Nazareth, where He

THE VALE OF NAZARETH. 151
had not been for many months, and teach the people there.
Starting in the early morning, He walked again with His
friends round the beautiful Western shore of the Lake, striking
up through the wild, deep valley of Doves, that led to the road
over the hills to Nazareth, and as they went through the fruit
ful country, they saw the pomegranates and apples hanging
red upon the trees, and in every vineyard the people were
busy plucking the purple and green clusters of ripe grapes, and
carrying them away in baskets, to have the sweet juice squeezed
from them, for it was now the end of Autumn, the time of the
vintage and ripest fruits. It was the afternoon when they
descended from the Northern hills into the open valley of
Nazareth, which He knew so well, with its broad terraced
slopes and swelling hills, whose shapes were so familiar to
Him, and the path which wound along the hillside up to the
white houses at the top ; and He went to stay at His mother's
house with the few disciples who had come with Him.
When Sabbath morning came He went to the village church.
It was the largest building in the place, made of the finest
stone that could be got, with pillars at the door, and a climbing
vine with its leaves and grapes and open flowers carved over
it for ornament. Inside it was paved with white stone, and
at the further end stood the familiar silver candlestick, which
was lighted only upon great occasions, and there hung the
mysterious curtain of purple, blue, and white, behind which
was the box that held the rolls of the Bible books ; and there,
also, was the reader's desk, and there, the highest seat where
the Pharisees and Teachers sat, and behind a high latticed
screen, was the place where, as a little boy, Jesus had first
knelt in church by His mother's side.
His brothers and disciples went with Him to church on this
Sabbath, His mother and sisters having to go by themselves
by a back way, and the building was crowded, for the villagers
had heard of His teaching and wonders, and while many
shook their heads wisely, there were some who had not for
gotten His gentle life among them. When Jesus came in, the
people were not surprised to see the young Carpenter go

152 IS NOT THIS THE CARPENTER?
forward and take a seat among the chief men of the church,
and near to the reader's desk. The morning service of sing
ing, reciting eulogies, creeds, and prayers, with responses from
the people went on as usual, until the time came for the read
ing and teaching, then the clerk went in behind the purple
curtain, revealing as he did so, the little lamp which always
hung lighted there, and took out a parchment roll from the
box, and coming down the steps he handed it to Jesus, which
was an invitation to read the portion for that day. Jesus rose,
and going up the steps to the reader's desk, which was about
the middle of the church, unrolled the parchment book called
Isaiah, and read a short portion, containing the words —
" The Spirit of God is upon Me,
" Because He hath appointed Me to bring good tidings to
the poor :
" He hath sent Me to tell of freedom to the prisoners,
" And recovering of sight to the blind ;
" To heal them that are bruised,
" And to proclaim the welcome year of the Lord."
Rolling up the parchment, He gave it back to the clerk,
and sat down, at which all the people stood up, as was the
custom, and remained standing while He spoke.
"To-day," Jesus began, "these words which I have read
have come true in your hearing " — meaning that He was such
a Teacher as Isaiah wrote of seven hundred years before, in
these verses ; and He went on to speak as He had done in
the other churches in Galilee, while the congregation wondered
at His words and manner, for He spoke not like their other
religious Teachers, who repeated the sayings of other men, but
He spoke with authority, as though He had received a mes
sage from God : and when He ended, a murmur of talking
arose in the church. The people could scarcely believe their
ears, and began to ask each other —
"Is not this The Carpenter, the son of Joseph? Is not
His mother called Mary? His brothers, James, Joseph,
Simon, and Judas, and His sisters ; do they not all live here
with us? What is the meaning of the wisdom that is given to

DANGER AMONG FRIENDS. 1 53
this Man, and the wonders which He doeth ? How hath He
these powers?" They were offended that Jesus, the Carpenter
of Nazareth, should return to their village to speak to them as
He had done. He heard what they were saying, and knew
that the people did not believe Him, because they had known
Him before, and when their voices grew quieter, He began to
speak again —
" No doubt," He said, " you will ask Me to do the wonders
here which you have heard of Me doing in Capernaum ; but I
tell you, no prophet is honoured in his own country." Now,
they all expected Him to work some wonder before them, and
show off His power ; but He would not do so, and went on
teachmg, and this the people took as a rebuke, and were
annoyed. He told them about the prophet Elijah, written of
in the Bible, who came only to a widow of Sarepta, and gave
her food when all the people were starving ; and of Elisha,
another prophet, who, although there were many lepers in the
country, healed only Naaman, the Syrian ; neither of which
persons whom the prophets helped were Jews.
The people, who were anxious to find fault, thought Jesus
meant that strangers were to be preferred before them, and
flew into a passion that He should speak so to them, and
crowding round the reader's raised desk, they caught His
white tunic and pulled Him down from the seat, and pushed
Him out of the church, and even out of the village. Incited,
probably by His enemies the Lawyers and Pharisees, the
anger of the people increased with the noise and hustling ; and
they resolved to punish Jesus, or even kill Him, and shouting,
"To the hill ! to the hill ! " and keeping hold of Him, they
led Him round by the back of the village, intending to push
Him over a steep cliff in the limestone hill behind. He did
not resist them ; but when they had led Him up the hill, the
people seemed to realize what they were doing. What had He
done to deserve death? Something in His calm looks made
them afraid to go on, and they took their hands off Him, and
none was found to push Him over the cliff. Turning away
from those who had held Him, Jesus passed through the

154 THE FIG TREE IN THE VINEYARD.
people and went away, no one stopping Him, away down the
hillside, away down the old path into the broad valley, away
from Nazareth, the village of His boyhood, never to return.
A mob is always cowardly, and Mary's heart was pierced
with pain when she saw the people seizing Jesus, hundreds
against One. Where were His friends ? where His disciples ?
As the people went away to their homes, they must have felt
that, in a fit of passion, they had disgraced their village, and
banished the gentlest Life they had ever known. And as
Jesus went away, contrasting perhaps, the kindness of the
people of Cana, of Capernaum, of Sychar, with the violence of
Nazareth, His heart was filled with sorrow for His old com
panions. Why would they not believe Him ? Even some of
His own younger brothers doubted Him.
"A prophet," He said, "is never without honour, except
ing when he is in his own country, among his own relations,
and in his own house." He would gladly have healed the
people, as He had done elsewhere, but they did not believe in
Him ; and except touching a few sick persons, He did no
wonders there. We read that afterwards His mother and
brothers came to Him at Capernaum. Perhaps they, too,
had to leave the village where Mary had lived for over forty
years. Remember thou the folly and cruelty of the sudden anger
which led these men of Nazareth to seek to kill their old Play
fellow and their best Friend.

THE FIG TREE IN THE VINEYARD.
GALILEAN VILLAGE, AUTUMN, A.D. 32.
Leaving Nazareth, from which He had been banished by
His old school-companions, Jesus went with His disciples
down into the lower parts of Galilee, and began a third
journey through all the villages, teaching and healing. The
harvest was over and the fields were bare, some of them
ploughed, harrowed, and sown, and many of the vines had

THE HARVEST IS PLENTIFUL. 1 55
been stripped of their grapes, and the people, being free
from their work, followed Him in crowds larger than ever.
As He looked at them and thought of their false religious
Teachers, He was grieved, and compared them to sheep
without shepherds, and turning to His disciples, who were
soon to take up the task of teaching, which had grown so
great, He said —
" The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Pray
to God, therefore, that He may send out workers into the
harvest fields." With His single voice Jesus had roused
Galilee, and He wished the people taught while they were
willing to listen. For almost a year His twelve disciples had
been going about with Him, learning how to teach, and soon
they were to go out and teach also, the first workers to be
sent into the harvest field.
At this time a piece of news was in everybody's mind.
Some men from Galilee, who had gone to the Festival of
Bowers at Jerusalem in October, had joined in a riot against
the Romans, and Pilate the Roman governor, had sent
soldiers among them, who beat them with clubs, killing some
of them, and some who fled into the Temple for safety, had
been followed and struck down where they stood preparing
sacrifices, so that they bled and died ; and the people were
indignant at this outrage in their Great Temple. Wishing
to know what Jesus thought of it, some one interrupted
His teaching to tell Him what the Roman soldiers had
done. It was commonly believed that the men must have
been wicked, to have been thus killed while worshipping;
but His answer was unexpected —
" You think that these men of Galilee were more wicked
than other men because they were so killed. I tell you no !
but unless you repent of your wickedness you shall all
perish in like manner." To stop their superstitious beliefs,
He also spoke of a great stone tower which was then being
built at Siloam by men of Judaea, to lead water into Jeru
salem, which had fallen, killing eighteen men, and which
accident many people believed was the act of God, because

156 THE TIME OF RIPE FIGS.
Temple money had been taken by King Herod to pay for
the work. But Jesus told them that the men who were killed
were not more wicked than they who were listening to Him,
and that unless they became good they would be likewise
killed. He did not mean that they would all be slain in
the Temple, or by a falling tower, but He did mean to
warn them to become good. He then told them a story with
a meaning, about a fig tree that grew in a garden of vines,
to show the patience of God with wicked people, and they
listened all the more earnestly because it was then the time
of year when the great crop of greenish-yellow figs was ripe,
and being shaken from the trees.
" A man planted a fig tree in his vineyard," He said, " and
every year when the Autumn came he looked for figs, but it
had none. And he said to his gardener, ' For three years I
have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and found none.
Cut it down ; why should it cumber the ground any longer? ' "
Now a fig tree is the most fruitful of all trees, having, in some
places, three crops of figs every year, and should seldom be
without some fruit among its green leaves. But the gardener
replied —
" Leave it for one year more, and I will dig round it and
manure it, and if it hath fruit, all will be well ; but -if not,
then cut it down." And so the tree was spared. The story
meant this. The world is the garden, God is the Master, the
fig tree is some careless one, and Jesus is the Gardener, who
tries in many ways to make people good ; and with this little
story He ended His teaching at that village.
Remember, then, the fig tree which had no fruit, and the
patience of the Gardener, and let it not be said of thee that
thou hast no kind deeds, no loving words, no gentle thoughts
to show as the fruit of the Spirit of God in thee.
And as the path of duty is made plain,
May grace be given, that thou may walk therein.

THE DISCIPLES SENT TO TEACH. I57
THE DISCIPLES SENT TO TEACH.
GALILEE, WINTER, A.D. 32.
Jesus had now been a Teacher for nearly two years, and had
roused and prepared Gahlee, till the crowds of people were so
large that He felt it was time His disciples helped Him. He
had often addressed His teaching specially to His disciples,
He had invited their questions and explained their difficulties
and encouraged them to bring their minds up to His level ;
but chiefly by living with them, and showing them the best
Example that the world has ever seen, did He prepare them,
through love for Him, to teach and to suffer for His sake.
For eighteen months, and some of them for longer, the dis
ciples had been receiving the truth from Him, and now they
were to give it out to others. Most of them were plain un
learned fishermen, who had read few books, learned no Greek
classics or foreign languages, had not even closely studied the
Bible when with Jesus ; how could they teachT But Teachers
of the truth, are not made by studying books or attending
classes. One thing alone is necessary, the Spirit of God in
them, and that, these fishermen had ; the Spirit which was jn.
Jesus, and which would teach and guide them.
To Jesus, it was an important time. He was about to
commit His teaching to other men, who would speak with His
authority ; and gathering His disciples round Him, He spoke
to them earnestly for a long time, telling them much that was
new, and reminding them of things which He had said before.
A group of twelve young men, with bowed heads and grave
faces, they stood around Him leaning on their long country
men's sticks, and listening earnestly, while He addressed them
in some place apart, most likely seeking His favourite solitude
among the hills. He had done much for them, and now they
were to try what they could dofor Him, their young Country
man and Master; Peter, James, John, Andrew, Thomas,
Philip, Bartholomew, James the Less, Jude, Matthew, Simon,
and Judas were their names. He told them that they would

158 HEAVEN IS NEAR.
have power, to heal sick persons and maniacs whom the people
thought had evil spirits, and that they were to teach mainly
in Galilee.
" Go out two by two," He said, " but do not go to strange
countries, nor to Samaria, but to your countrymen the Israel
ites, and say, ' The Kingdom of Heaven is near! ' Heal the
sick, raise the dead : you have received freely, give freely.
Take neither gold, silver, nor brass money in your purses, nor
bread in your bags, nor two, coats, nor a stick, nor shoes, but
only sandals : for the worker deserveth his food. When you
go into a town or village, find out who is a worthy person in
that village, and stay with him, and when you go into a house,
say, ' Peace be to this house,' and if it be worthy of it, peace
shall be upon the house, but if it be unworthy, your peace
shall return to you. If any one shall not receive you, nor
hear you speak, when you go out of that house or town, shake
off the dust from your feet as a sign against it ; and it shall be
better for Sodom than for that town." The disciples were
thus at first to deliver only one simple message, the message
that John and Jesus had spread, " The Kingdom of Heaven
is near ! "
" I send you out," Jesus continued, " like sheep among
wolves ; be harmless as doves, and wise as serpents : but
beware of men, for they will bring you before courts and
judges, and scourge you in churches, yes, before kings will
you be brought for My sake. But, be not anxious about what
you shall then say. The Spirit of God will tell you in that
very hour what to say ; for it is not you who speak, but the
Spirit of God that speaketh in you. Brother shall give up his
brother, and you shall be hated for My sake, but whoever
endureth to the end shall be saved. When they punish you
in one town, fly to another, for you shall not have gone through
all the towns of Israel, till I come again.
"A disciple is not better than his teacher. It is enough
if he be the same as his teacher. If they have called Me
' Spirit of Evil,' much more shall they call you so ; but do not
fear them, for there is nothing hid that shall not be made

A CUP OF COLD WATER. 1 59
known. What I have told you in the dark, tell it in the light,
and what you have heard in private, speak upon the housetop,
and do not be afraid of them which can kill the body but
cannot touch the spirit ; but rather fear God, who can kill
both body and spirit. Are not two sparrows sold for a
farthing, yet not one of them is forgotten by God ? Fear not !
Ye are of more value than many sparrows. Every one who
saith before men that he believeth in Me, him shall I acknowl
edge before God and His angels ; but whoever denieth Me
before men, him will I deny." This then was the simple test
by which the disciples were to know who were for Jesus and
who against Him. If people were for Jesus they would say
so. But He did not wish them to go out to teach thinking
that everything would be easy and pleasant, for that would
end in disaprjohitment and distrust. That they might know
the hardships that were before them, He added —
" Do not think that I came to bring peace to the world, but
rather divisions. I came to make differences between a man
and his nearest friejids, and his enemies shall be in his own
house ; but whoever loveth father, mother, son or daughter,
more than Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life
shall lose it ; but he that loseth his life for My sake, shall
find it. Whoever receiveth you, receiveth Me, and whoever
receiveth Me, receiveth God. Whoever receiveth a good man,
in the name of a good man, shall receive a good man's reward.
And whoever giveth if it be only a cup of cold water to one of
My little ones, in the name of a disciple, shall not lose his
reward." And with these words Jesus eijded His long address
of warning, instruction, prprrn>es, much of which thou wilt
not understand, and some of which I cannot explain to thee,
for Jesus said things which cannot rightly be explained now.
In the presence of the Pharisees and a crowd of people, He
had warned His disciples before, that in following Him they
would set their friends against them, and would even be
punished, and He warned them again, before they took the
grave step of going to teach up and down Galilee in His name,
but not one of them wavered, all were ready to go. They

l6o THE PRINCESS SALOMES DANCE.
were to go in twos ; further on they would go out singly, but
not yet ; and bidding them farewell, He left them to choose
the companions whom they would go with, and went away by
Himself, to teach also.
Remember, then, that as the disciples were guided and
taught by the Spirit of God, and so wilt thou be guided as a
little follower of Jesus, not in teaching crowds of people, but
in doing thy small duty at home in kindand loving services
to all about thee.
THE PRINCESS SALOME'S DANCE.
CASTLE MACHAERUS, SPRING, A.D. 33.
John the Baptist was still a prisoner in the Black Castle of
King Antipas. From his prison window he could see cliffs of
red and black rock deep down, with pathless clefts and gorges,
some filled with drifting sand, some with tangled undergrowth
and tall trees, and far away were the lifeless waters of the
Dead Sea, where no ships ever sailed. At times he heard
shouts in the town below, when the king came, and there
were revels and feasting in the palace, painful sounds to the
man who ate few meats, and never tasted wine, and avoided
company. Did he know that his life was swaying in the balance
of this self-indulgent king? Queen Herodias hated him, and
wished him dead for speaking against her marriage, and now
with smiles, and now in anger, she besought the king to have
him killed ; but he feared the people, and respected John,
and in his better moods the king had him brought down from
his cheerless prison to a comfortable lighted hall, where, stand
ing in his rough hair-cloth coat and belt of an animal's skin,
with a feeling of awe, the king heard him speak of Heaven,
and a world to come. His fearless words perplexed the king,
but that was all, and he kept John safe from harm, and let his
friends see him, yet he would not set him free, and so month
after month passed, until more than a year had gone slowly by
since John was first imprisoned.
Spring had come again, bringing the king's birthday and a
holiday for the people, and King Antipas invited his lords and

THE KING'S BIRTHDAY. l6l
officers to a birthday supper in his palace at Machaerus. They
came in their best robes of crimson and white and blue, their
sword handles flashing with gold and jewels, to recline on soft
silken sofas with the king at the low tables in the banqueting
hall, the roof of which was covered with gold, the floor being
of coloured marbles set in rare patterns and smoothly pol-,
ished. Black slaves held aloft lights, while others served
choice meats on gold and silver dishes, followed by ripe fruits,
purple grapes, ruddy apples, soft peaches from the king's
gardens, and bare-footed servants filled the golden cups of the
guests with red wine as fast as they were emptied. Again
and again they drank the king's health, and the queen's
health, and wished them long life, till the king and his lords
had drunk deeply.
After feasting came music from the king's musicians, who
with psaltery, harp, pipe, castanets, cymbal, viol, flute and
drum played and sung the king's praises. Then a space was
cleared on the smooth marble floor, and dancing-girls in gay
dresses, with tinkling bells at wrist and ankle, waving thin
coloured veils in the air, floated over the polished floor, and
greatly pleased the guests. But it was usual to give the king
a pleasant surprise on his birthday, and when he called for
more dancing, suddenly a beautiful, richly dressed girl of
high birth appeared, who smiled to the king, and he laughed,
for he knew the lovely Princess Salome, the queen's only
child, who had come herself to dance before him and his
drunken lords. The music played again, and with sparkling
eyes, her hair floating loose on her shoulders, her cheeks
blushing to have so many men looking at her, she glided
hither and thither over the shining floor, spinning round on
tiptoe, waving her soft arms over her head and swaying her
body to and fro in graceful gestures, as she performed the
dance her mother had taught her. The lords thought it was
a lovely sight, and the king was delighted that she should do
this strange, this degrading thing, to please him. As, with
movements still finer and steps yet more difficult, she con
tinued to flit before them, they thought that she was the most

1 62 a fool's oath.
charming of dancers ; and when all out of breath, she stopped,
and running forward, knelt down blushing before the king,
to receive his praises, he exclaimed in the highest good
humour —
" Ask anything of me, and I will give it thee ! " Confirming
what he said with a fool's oath, and adding, " I will give thee
whatever thou dost ask, even to the half of my kingdom."
The lords laughed; the princess was young, but she was
clever, and telling the king that she wished to ask her mother
what she should have, she tripped away out of the hall.
Herodias, the queen, knew from the applause, that her sur
prise had pleased the king ; perhaps through a chink of the
door she had watched the princess dancing, and when she
heard the king's promise and his oath, a look of cruel triumph
came into her face as she thought of the lonely prisoner in the
castle. Flushed and breathless with dancing, Salome came to
her mother.
"What shall I ask?" she cried.
"Ask for the head of John the Baptist," was the eager
reply that chilled the girl's heart with horror. Visions of
diamonds, pearls, horses, dresses, all that she loved, vanished
at once. Was this what she had danced for ? A bleeding head ?
She could not carry it ! it would soil her pretty dress ! " Get
it in one of the large gold dishes from the table," her mother
replied with flashing eyes, as she bade her begone at once.
Salome must also have hated John, for she went. But she
was not the bright smiling girl who left the banqueting hall,
when, pale and trembling, she returned and knelt again at the
king's feet with downcast eyes ; but King Antipas was very
happy, and thinking she was only overcome with modesty, he
asked her what she had chosen, and all the lords bent forward
to hear what she would say.
"I will that thou givest me in a charger the head of John
the Baptist." Even the drunken lords were filled with horror
when they heard the low gentle voice of a woman asking such
a thing. Was the banquet to be turned into an execution ?
" The queen hath done this," they whispered to each other.

DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. 1 63
Would the king yield or refuse? He sat silent, astonished,
confused, frowning under his glittering crown, for he
knew it was the work of Herodias. What should he do?
Could he break his promise? He called up his counsellors,
and whispered with them, and concluded that having sworn
an oath before all his lords, he must keep it. Had he been a
good man however, he would have told the girl that his
promise meant gold, jewels, land, not men's lives, and sent
her out of his presence.
Turning to his soldiers, he ordered one of them to take a
gold dish and go up to the dungeon in the castle, and bring
John's head, and give it to this girl. The king sat silent with
Salome crouching before him; and there was no laughter
among the lords, as the slow minutes passed during which
the soldier was away. Soon his footsteps were heard returning,
and all gazed at him as he advanced to the fair kneeling
princess and put the gold dish into her hands, with which she
rose, sick, giddy, reeling, and fled from the hall to fling it at
her mother's feet.
Think of the act and the reward ! A few light steps, a few
smiles, a few gestures of a dancing-girl, rewarded by the head,
the life, of the greatest man that ever lived ! John was thirty-
two when he was killed in the dungeon, for no crime, for no
reason, only to keep a king's drunken promise to a dancing-
girl ! There was no more feasting, no more dancing. Black
ness seemed to fall on the gilded hall, and the guests went
away, leaving the king to his own thoughts, which were bitter
enough, for he never forgot that birthday feast. And often
afterwards, when he heard wonderful stories of Jesus in differ
ent places, he thought that John had come aljve again and
would punish him. And did the princess ever forget the night
when she danced before these lords ?
Do thou remember, then, never to make rash promises, and
that if thou shouldst make a wicked promise, not to be afraid
to say that it was wrong, and to refuse to keep it, come what
may.

164 THE RETURN OF THE DISCIPLES.
THE RETURN OF THE DISCIPLES.
GALILEE, SPRING, A.D. 33.
It was in the Springtime of the year, when the vales of
Galilee were covered with fresh green grass, and wildflowers
coloured field and wood, when the lark and the blackbird were
building their nests under the leafy shadows of tree and hedge,
that in the gilded palace of King Antipas the tragedy of John
the Baptist's death was played out, amid lights, drinking,
dancing. Grieve for him ! True child of the desert and
mountain ! fearless, untamable, he who told the crowds to leave
him and follow his greater Friend Jesus ; he who for many
long months had dreamed of liberty as he watched the crimson
clouds of dawn and of sunset through his prison bars, only
to have his head given at last as a prize to a dancing-girl. His
friends wished to bury him. Some say that the cruel queen
Herodias had his body thrown from the walls of the Black
Castle, others that his friends begged his body ; but they got
it and buried it sorrowfully, and went and told Jesus. With
what tears would Jesus hear of His cousin's death, ominous
indeed of what would happen to Himself !
In six pairs the disciples went about from village to village
of Galilee, doing as Jesus had bade them, healing and teach
ing in His name, and saying, " The Kingdom of Heaven is
near! " The energy of these twelve young men roused in the
people an increasing interest in Jesus, and a keen expectation
of the coming of that glorious Kingdom which every Jew longed
for, till everybody talked of Him. And their words were
carried through the brazen doors of the king's palace, and
found there a#man with a guilty conscience. Some one told
King Antipas that John the Baptist had risen from the dead,
some said that Jesus was the old prophet Elijah come back to
the world, and all seemed certain that Jesus was some great
prophet come alive again. But the king believed He was John
the Baptist come to rouse the people against him with greater
power than before, for John used not to work wonders as Jesus
now did, and the king asked his lords —

THEIR SUCCESS. 1 65
"John I killed, but who is this about whom I hear? It is
John risen from the dead, who doeth these wonders ! " And
the king was anxious to see Jesus, to make sure with his own
eyes. But although he invited, and then ordered Jesus to come
to him, He would not come. His teaching was for the poor,
not for kings — not for the murderer of His cousin John.
it is not known how long the disciples were out teaching ;
perhaps for weeks, perhaps months, but Jesus had fixed a time
when they were to meet Him again on the Western side of the
Lake of Gennesaret, and thither they came, to tell Him, like
children, of all they had done, and of their astonishment at
their power. He heard them, and saw that they needed rest
and quiet. But they had brought many people with them, for
they believed that the people would soon make Jesus King of
that Kingdom of Heaven which they had proclaimed, for, as
thou knowest, the disciples had been taught by their old
Teachers to believe that when the Christ came He would be the
King, and would banish all their enemies, and live in a splendid
palace at Jerusalem, ruling the world. But this was a great
mistake, and soon Jesus would tell them so. The people came
day after day in such numbers that the disciples could not get
time to rest or eat, and they became so roused and excited
with their success that Jesus saw they must be taken away
from these crowds, and one day He said —
" Come away with Me alone into a lonely place to rest for
awhile." And He ordered them to get ready the boat. Most
likely they did not wish to go, but He knew that the calm and
silence of the hills alone with Him, was what the disciples
needed to restore their minds. Besides, King Antipas wished
to take Jesus a prisoner, and it was better that He should
leave this King's country, at least for a time.
The people came to the shore in crowds to see them off,
and hearing that Jesus was going to Bethsaida- Julia, at the
Northern end of the Lake, and in the country of King Philip,
some launched their boats to follow Him, and others resolved
to walk thither to meet Him when He landed, for, going
over the hills it was only about six miles distant. When the

1 66 SAILING UP THE JORDAN.
people saw His boat pointed to the North end of the Lake, in
twos, and threes, and groups — men, women, and children, they
started off to walk by the hill-road, watching the movements
of the boat from each rising ground as they went.
From the boat Jesus saw the people walking along the road,
and knew that they were determined to meet Him when He
landed. Perhaps He delayed the sail in order to speak quietly
to His excited disciples, for, by the time they had sailed to the
top of the Lake, and a little way up the river Jordan to the
landing place, there were already many of the people whom
He had left on the other shore, waiting to meet Him. And
He felt compassion for them, they seemed so much in need of
care and teaching. He spoke kindly to them when He
landed on the beach of gravel and shells that bounded the
plain of Butaiah, for He knew that they had come to hear
Him speak again of things which their own religious Teachers
never told them. Tired as He was, He healed the sick, and
leading the way to a green hillside, followed by a crowd of
over five thousand persons, by the banks of the softly flowing
Jordan, made beautiful by the colours of the Spring flowers
that burned among the grass and blossomed upon the
bushes by the river's side, far away from the towns, He
sat down to speak to the people again, about Heaven and
God. And thou wilt remember how these people followed Jesus
to hear Him speak, and though thou canst never see Him as
He stood in that green place, yet in town or country, alone
or in crowds, thou canst hear His voice teaching thee, when
thou choosest to listen.
Though we may never climb those hills,
Nor see that valley fair,
There's not a scene we look upon
But we may feel Him there.

CROWN HIM. 167

CROWN HIM!
BETHSAIDA-JULIA, SPRING, A.D. 33.
A green hillside, with warm sunshine on it, a stretch of
grass and flowers, a winding river, a blue Lake with moun
tains beyond — that was the quiet spot to which the people
had followed Jesus, where the Jordan enters the Lake.
Sitting on the hillside above them, they all saw Him in
His white tunic, with His disciples standing near, and
they listened in earnest silence to that one sweet Voice
in that quiet place, telling them things which they had
come miles to hear. How different from their old Teachers !
for even children had ran after Him and stood with their
fathers listening. Hours passed, and He who had come
to rest still spoke on, and the river's bank was dotted with
rowing boats that had come from Tiberias, and were pulled up
on the grass while the people went to listen. The great Spring
Festival — the Passover — was again near, and the people were
unsettled and beginning to make holiday ; but the afternoon
was passing, evening was approaching, and the disciples, with
grave faces, talked in a group behind Jesus. The sun was beam
ing low over the purple hills of Galilee, many of the people
had a long way to go home, and having followed Jesus in
haste, they had brought no food, and the disciples feared that
harm might come to the weak ones and the children in
crossing the river Jordan, and on their way home through the
lonely hills in the dark, where wild animals might rush out on
them from caves or thickets.
At a pause in His speaking, one of the disciples, most
likely Philip, went forward and reminded Jesus of the time.
" This place is lonely," he said, " and the time is past.
Send the people away, that they may go into the country and
villages round about and buy food for themselves."
" They need not go," Jesus answered. " Give them food."
"What !" exclaimed the disciples, "are we to go and buy
two hundred pennyworth of bread to give them?" They

1 68 FIVE BARLEY LOAVES.
wished to show that it was impossible to get enough food for
such a crowd, who were now looking at them, and wondering
what they were talking about. Turning to Philip, who be
longed to that part of the country —
"Where are we to buy bread, that the people may eat? "
Jesus asked him, saying this to test him, for He knew what
He would do.
" Two hundred pennyworth of bread," Philip replied with
energy, " would not be enough for this crowd, that each one
may get a little."
"How many loaves have you?" Jesus asked. "Go and
see." They soon returned, and Andrew, speaking for them
all, said —
" There is a lad here who hath five barley loaves and two
small fishes, but what is that among so many people ? "
"Bring them to Me," Jesus replied. And while Andrew
went to get the fishes and loaves from the boy, Jesus turned
again to the people, no longer to teach, but to command
them all to sit down upon the warm grass in groups of
fifty and a hundred, and He told His disciples to go
and see it rightly done. And soon the people were sitting
upon the grass, like a peaceful army, with open path
ways up and down among them, through which the disciples
walked ; and there were about five thousand men, besides
women and children.
When the disciples returned, Jesus took the five loaves
and the two fishes from the Lake, and looking up He blessed
them, and gave thanks to God before all the people, and
broke them, and giving them to the disciples, bade them
divide them among the groups. And they carried them down
the hillside to the people, going through the grassy lanes, and
handing them out until they all had enough, the boy who
had brought them getting some with the rest, and Jesus and
His disciples ate along with them. And as the hungry men
tasted the loaves and fishes, and felt their faintness going away,
they began to be grateful and valiant, and thought what a
splendid King Jesus would make ; and how well He would

TWELVE BASKETS FULL. 1 69
command soldiers, from the way He had ordered them to
sit in companies, and had told His disciples, like officers, to
see His orders carried out. Above all, He could work
wonders ; with such a King they could conquer anything !
Surely He was the Christ who was to come and drive out
the enemies of their nation, found a glorious Kingdom, and
sit upon a throne for ever. And they whispered of these
things to each other as they sat eating the loaves and fishes.
But Jesus had more commands to give. When the people
were done eating, He surprised His disciples by saying —
"Gather up all the broken pieces which are left, that
nothing may be lost." And the people wondered, as
they saw the twelve disciples coming among them again,
asking for all the broken pieces of bread and fish, and
gathering them in a corner of their large cloaks ; and they
were enthusiastic about Jesus, when they heard that He
wished nothing wasted, for most of the people were poor.
And when the disciples were done, it was seen that there
was as much left over as would have filled twelve of the
people's common wicker baskets, and they were more than
ever astonished and delighted, and openly said to each
other —
" Truly this is the promised Christ that should come into
the world." And the men rose to their feet, and began to
talk earnestly together. The Christ, they had been taught,
was to be a King. Why should they not make Him their
King now ? And they resolved, there, in that beautiful lonely
place, away from towns and soldiers, to make Jesus their
King at once. They would crown Him with a wreath of
leaves in this green spot, and march back to-morrow to the
towns by the Lake, rousing all Galilee, with the Wonder
worker at their head ! They knew that His disciples
favoured His being a King. Had they not proclaimed
everywhere that the long expected Kingdom of Heaven
was near at hand? They would make them His twelve
officers! "But," said some one, "will He agree to be our
King?" And some answered "Yes," and some said "No."

170 ALONE AMONG THE HILLS.
"We are a great crowd," said one of the wilder men. "If
He will not consent, we can force Him to be our King ! "
and they all agreed to this, and began to make preparations.
But Jesus heard that they were about to take Him by force
and make Him their King; and, calling His disciples, who
were anxious to see the people have their way, and would
have willingly helped to crown Him, He ordered, He com
pelled them, to go down to their boat in the river at once,
and return to Bethsaida, near Capernaum, as He wished to
be alone with the people. And the disciples went. Return
ing, Jesus told the people that He had sent His disciples
away in the boat, and that they must disperse and go to
their homes ; that He wished to be alone. And without
waiting to argue with them, and forbidding any one to follow
Him, He left them and went up to the higher hills above,
while they stood gazing after Him in wonder.
When the shades of evening crept over the land, Jesus was
once more alone among the silent hills. And well might
He wish to be alone. Never had He been so grievously mis
understood as upon that day. The people thought that the
Kingdom of Heaven in the world, of which He had so often
spoken, was a kingdom of cities and armies like that of any
other king. That excited crowd, these foolish disciples,
would fain have forced into His hand a worldling's sceptre,
and placed upon His head a people's crown, not knowing that
the only crown which He should ever wear would be of plaited
thorns, a blood-stained reed His only sceptre. And yet the
tribute of these men was not a light thing. But how to turn
their minds from an outward earthly kingdom to the Kingdom
of Heaven within them, was the task of the morrow, for which
He had to prepare.
And thou wilt not forget that the people wished to make
Jesus a King of war, with a crown of gold, and He would not ;
but there is a crown which He will not refuse from thy little
hands, the crown of thy love and worship.

BE NOT AFRAID.

171

BE NOT AFRAID!
GENNESARET, SPRING, A.D. 33.
As Jesus slowly climbed the grassy hills above Bethsaida-
Julia, the figures of the people grew less and less upon the
plain below. He saw some of them pushing off their boats
and rowing down the stream, and others walking towards the
road round the head of the Lake ; while others lingered, as if
waiting for His return ; and He saw, too, the large boat with
His disciples sailing out from the river. The sun sank behind
the dark hills of Nazareth, and for a brief time cloud flakes of
red and yellow floated in the purple sky ; then darkness cov
ered the land, and the sparkling stars came out. All was
silent round Him, save for the cry of a passing bird as it
winged its way home ; but Jesus was trained in the highlands,
and loved the loneliness of hills. He had had the highest
honour offered to Him that day, which men give to men — the
'highest which He was ever offered. Five thousand men
wished to bow the knee to Him, and call Him their King ; all
of whom would have fought for Him. Any one would have
been touched by such worship, and Jesus most of all, though
it was but earthly. Be a King and use force, and war, to
found the Kingdom of Heaven ! Oh ! how mistaken were
His followers ! Loving hearts were to be His armies, the
tongue and the spirit, the weapons which would spread His
Kingdom throughout Galilee and the world.
As He prayed and thought of the morrow, the full moon
rose over the black mountains behind Him, rose into the deep
blue sky and shone upon the Lake, laying a pathway of silver
upon the waves, over to the other side. And at midnight He
saw the boat with His disciples being driven by a contrary
wind across the pathway of the moon. The sail was pulled
down, and they were rowing with oars, but were unable to go
against the increasing wind, which was blowing them out into
the Lake and away from the place where they wished to land.
By three in the morning they had rowed only about four miles ;
and Jesus, coming down from the hill, walked upon the water

172 PETERS BOAT.
towards the tossing boat. They did not see Him until He
was near, when one man, looking up from his oar as the boat
rose upon a wave, saw the figure of Jesus on the water, His
clothing white in the moonlight, walking as if He meant to
pass them. An exclamation from this man caused the others
to gaze over the side of the boat at the white figure which
was coming nearer, and they all cried out in terror that it was
a ghost, for at that time people believed in ghosts and wizards.
Jesus heard their cries.
"Be glad. It is I. Be not afraid," He said, being now
close to them. And He was grieved that in their terror they
should not think of Him. Peter was the first to recover from
his fear. He thought the voice was the voice of Jesus ; his
heart beat fast, and standing up in his place at the stern of
the boat, He called through the wind —
" Lord, if it be Thou, tell me to come to Thee upon the
water." "Come ! " was the single word which he distinctly heard;
and, lowering himself down over the side of the boat, he
walked upon the water towards Jesus. But he had not gone
far when he began to look with dread upon the dark, swelling
waves, lest he should be drowned ; and at that instant he felt
himself sinking.
" Lord, save me ! " he called in terror. And Jesus put out
His hand and took hold of him, saying —
"Oh, faithless one, why didst thou doubt?" Peter's only
reply was to cling to His hand until they reached the disci
ples. When they were both taken into the boat, the storm
was spent, and it became calm ; and the others were aston
ished and glad to have Jesus with them again, and in that
rough, open fishing-boat, on that dark Lake, they all wor
shipped Him, saying —
" Truly, Thou art the Son of God ! " and for a time at least,
they believed it.
They soon reached the other side, and moored the boat
in one of the many beautiful bays that form the white shore
at the plain of Gennesaret, not far from Capernaum ; and

IS NOT THIS JESUS? 1 73
when the people came out in the early morning, they recog
nized the boat, and began again to bring their sick to Jesus
on mats, and He healed them. And after this, wherever He
went, in town or country or village, the people gave up what
they were working at, and came to see Him, and laying their
sick outside in the shade of the trees and of the houses, they
begged Him to come near that they might touch the border
of His cloak, and all who touched were healed.
And thou wilt remember that Peter was a brave and con
fident man, but when he became afraid, he grew weak ; and
be not thou too confident in thyself, and when thou art in
fear and danger, turn to Jesus for help, and He will strengthen
thee.
IS NOT THIS JESUS?
CAPERNAUM, SPRING, A.D. 33.
The people who had remained all night at Bethsaida- Julia
began early next morning to look for Jesus to come down from
the hills, and when He did not come, they sought Him but
could not find Him, for by that time He was in Capernaum.
Giving up all hope of making Him their King then, they got
into their boats, and sailed down the Lake to Capernaum,
whither they believed the disciples had gone. There they
found Peter's boat moored to the wharf, and empty, and going
up to the town they heard that the disciples, with Jesus, were
at the Thursday forenoon service in the church, and there they
found Him, sitting on the chief seat with the other Teachers,
and they were surprised, not knowing how He had come.
When the reading was over, and the time came to speak, Jesus
rose, and going to the reader's raised seat in the middle of the
church, He sat down and taught the people ; and when He
ended, one of those who had come that morning from
Bethsaida- Julia, said —
" Master, when didst thou come hither?" But Jesus knew
that they had followed Him because of the bread they ate
yesterday. "You seek Me," He answered, "not because of what you

174 THE BREAD OF LIFE.
saw, but because you ate of the bread and were satisfied ; but
you ought not to seek bread which perisheth, but that thing
which endureth, and which I shall give you " — meaning that
they ought to follow Him for what He taught. Then some
one, remembering the power which His disciples had received
when they went out to teach, and wishing they could also do
great things, asked —
" What must we do, that we may work the works of God ? "
"Believe in Me, whom God hath sent," Jesus replied : "that
is the work of God." But others, when they heard Him say
that God had sent Him, raised the old Pharisee cry for Him
to work a wonder, as a sign of His power.
"What wonder wilt Thou work as a sign," they asked,
" that we may see it and believe in Thee ? What wilt Thou
do ? Our forefathers ate manna in the desert, for the Bible
says, God gave them bread from Heaven. What wonder
doest Thou?" They connected the bread of yesterday with
the manna of long ago, and hoped Jesus would make more
bread then and there, and astonish and convince the congre
gation by a sign, but He refused.
" Moses," He replied, " did not give you the true bread
of Heaven, but God by Me offereth it to you ; for I am the
true Bread of God which cometh down from Heaven, and
giveth life to the world." By "bread" Jesus meant the
words which God had given Him to speak, just as He called
the Spirit " water," to the woman at the well of Sychar.
But the people, thinking He meant only bread for eating,
exclaimed —
" Master, always give us this bread ! " They thought He
would again feed them wonderfully; but He tried to draw
their minds away from the bread which they had eaten
yesterday, to Himself and to His words.
"/am that Bread of Life," He said. "Whoever cometh to
Me shall not hunger, and whoever believeth in Me shall not
thirst. As I have told you before, — you listen to Me, but you
do not believe Me. But I will not turn away any one who
cometh to Me, for I came from Heaven, not to do Mine

BELIEVE, AND HAVE HEAVEN. 1 75
own will, but the will of God, and His will is, that of all those
whom He hath given Me, I should lose none. For it is the
will of My Father in Heaven, that whoever believeth in Me
shall have Heaven." The words of their young Countryman
amazed them. He the Son of God? He the bread of
Heaven? — and yet the more they looked at His calm beautiful
face, the more they felt that He was far above them all. The
silence which followed His long answer was filled by a murmur
of tongues throughout the congregation.
" I am bread ! " " Come down from Heaven ! " " Why,"
they whispered to each other, " is not this Jesus, the Carpenter
from Nazareth, whom we know, and whose father and mother
we know? How can He say He came down from Heaven? "
And they could not think what to make of His words. And
yet how near to the truth they came that day in their blind
ness, calling Him " Jesus," and yet it did not enter their
thoughts that He could be the Son of God, whom He said
He was. Of course Jesus meant that it was His Spirit, the
Spirit of God within Him, not His body, that had come down
from Heaven. And hearing what the people said, He spoke
again, not to answer them, but to tell them that the same
Spirit of God would teach them that He was from God.
"Do not complain to each other," He said. "Nobody
can come to Me unless God draw him. The Bible saith they
shall all be taught by God. So every one who hath heard
and learned from God cometh to Me," — meaning that who
ever listeneth to the voice of the Spirit of God speaking within
him, will believe in Jesus. And then, while the people who
crowded round the walls and pillars and looked in at the open
doors of that little church, listened in rapt silence, Jesus uttered
these great words.
" I say truly, that whoever believeth in Me hath Heaven.
I am that Bread of Life. Your forefathers ate manna in the
desert, and are all dead, but I am the true Bread of Heaven,
which a man may take and not die ; for I am the living Bread,
and I came from Heaven. Whoever eateth of Me shall have
Heaven ; yes, and the bread which I will give is My body for

176 THE LIFE OF THE WORLD.
the life of the world." In these words we have the first
intimation from Jesus that He expected to be killed. Again
the people began to talk. They could not listen any longer
in silence to such strange words, and argued hotly with each
other as to whether He really meant that they would eat Him.
But if thou hadst been there thou wouldst have said, " Cer
tainly not ; Jesus means that we are to receive His words as
though they were bread." But the people still asked each
other, " How can He give us His flesh to eat?" Jesus did
not explain, but went on to speak of His words as if they were
flesh and blood.
" Unless you eat My flesh and drink My blood," He con
tinued, "you can have no life in you. Whoever eateth and
drinketh these, hath Heaven, for My flesh and blood are meat
and drink indeed. Whoever eateth My flesh and drinketh My
blood shall be joined to Me, and My Spirit shall be in Him ;
for, as the living God sent Me, and I live because of Him, so
whoever eateth Me shall live because of Me. This is the true
Bread that cometh from Heaven ; not such bread as your
fathers ate, for whoever eateth this Bread shall have Heaven."
With these words He ended speaking, and the people did
not ask Him any more questions. His answers had gone
deeper and deeper each time, and beyond their understanding,
and they went away, the chief Jews arguing as they went
down the sunny street from the little white pillared church
in the upper town, about the strange, seemingly impossible
things Jesus had said. And to all who would listen to them,
the Teachers said He had spoken nonsense, and that for Him
to say that they could have Heaven by eating His body, was
a falsehood for which He should be punished. But Jesus did
not mean any such thing. He meant that His words were to
be taken in, as one would take flesh, bread, or water, and
that His words would give the Spirit of God and Heaven to
those who believed them. And thus He sought to turn the
people's thoughts away from the bread of yesterday to that
which was alone important, — His words and Spirit.
Remember, then, what He said in that humble little church,

MANY PEOPLE LEAVE HIM. 1 77
and hearken to the voice of God within thee, drawing
thee, turning thy face to Jesus, and bringing thee into
Heaven.

MANY PEOPLE LEAVE HIM.
CAPERNAUM, SPRING, A.D. 33. f
Jesus had now reached His greatest popularity. For more
than twp years He had taught the people and done wonders,
and they believed He would reach a very high position, per
haps would be the King. Everybody at Capernaum talked
about Him, crowds followed Him, and many friends new and
old were round Him, some believing He was the Christ the Son
of God, some that He was a great wonder-working Prophet,
some that He would yet be their King, while many came only
through curiosity to see the wonderful Carpenter of Nazareth.
But He had come to the turning-point in His public life ;
for He was about to tell His enthusiastic followers that He
would neygr be their King, would never be anything but Jesus
of Nazareth, would never have any of the world's prizes to
offer them, and that if they did not follow Him for His teach
ing alone, they had better not follow Him at all. His friends
were full of hopes of advancement, of riches, of power,
firmly believing that in a few months He would declare
Himself to be the natiorj_'s rightful King, and establish a
powerful Kingdom that would last for ever. Following Him
to the church at Capernaum, they expected He would there
have told them something of His future plans, and perhaps
have said when would come the triumph for which the dis
ciples had stirred up the people ; but instead of that He had
held out no prospect, of rewards, no hopes of power, things
which they were all working for, but had spoken of their e^J-
ing_ His flesh and drinking His blood, and of giving His body
for the world, things which they could not understand. This
was very disappointing^ He would not do anything His
followers wanted, but spoke of doing, not His own will, but
the will of God, and when they came out of the church that

178 MY WORDS, ARE SPIRIT.
Spring day, many of those who had followed Him about the
country with such admiration during these latter weeks, began
to change their minds, as they talked over what He had said
in the church. There was evidently to be no rising of the
people, no fighting, no conquests, no rewards, no visible King
dom ; indeed, when they had most expected Him to speak
plainly, He had spoken mysteries which they could not under
stand. And as His friends stood in the shade of the thick
spreading trees to be out of the hot sunshine, and talked over
His sayings with His disciples, outside the church, they shook
their heads, and said —
"These are hard sayings. Who can understand them?"
His followers wished to lead, not to follow, and stood in
groups grumbling and discontented ; but when Jesus heard of
their displeasure, He came towards them.
"Have these things offended you?" He said. "What
would you think if you should see Me going up into Heaven,
where I was before? The body is nothing ; it is the Spirit of
God that giveth Life ; and the words which I have spoken to
you they are Spirit and are Life." Thus He explained that
it was foolish for any one to think He meant them to eat His
fl£gh or drink His blood, for these could do no good. That
He spoke of the Spirit of God, and what He meant by eating,
was receiving, and believing His words, which were the Spirit
of God. Receive and believe His words, and they would
have the Spirit of God dwelling in them, would become sub-'
jects of His Kingdom of Heaven in the world. A child might
understand Him now. But as He looked at the gloomy faces
of the men, shaded by their kerchiefs of yellow, red, or w_hhe,
who only yesterday would have made Him their King, He saw
that the end, of their selfish, mistaken, worldly hopes, had
turned many against Him, and He was grieved and perhaps
angry, as He said to them plainly —
"There are some of you still who do not believe Me!"
But He would not argue longer, or further try to convince
them that He spoke the truth, and turning away, He ad
dressed these last words to His, own chosen disciples, as a

THE FALSE AND THE TRUE. 1 79
test to try themselves by, at this grave turning-point, for He
knew their thoughts —
" As I said to you before, nobody can come to Me unless
the Spirit of God puts it into him to come." And turning
away alone He left them to consider whether they felt drawn
by God to continue with Him any longer, or whether it was
only the hope of money and rewards that had brought them
thus far.
And now came the trial of His followers. They were scat
tered about in picturesque groups, here the rich. Pharisee from
Judaea, in his flowing robes and white, turban, talked excitedly
to the brown-faced country people with their bhj£ and grej
cloaks, who stood listening with doubtful faces ; and there,
seated on the grojjad, their heads covered by their long ,
coloured kerchiefs, other followers talked the matter over
among themselves. Should they go on or turn back was the
question. They who did not believe His words were not
drawn by the Spirit of God ; they who believed Him, were.
They could choose for themselves. The test was simple, and
it is true to this day. But these last words of Jesus had an
astonishing and immediate effect ; for the people began to
disperse and go off to their homes and their villages, their
potteries and tan-yards, fishing-boats, sheepfolds, farms, and
fruit gardens. Some were angry, and went away offepded,
others were glad of an excuse for leaving Him, others were
disgusted that He should fling away such a splendid chance
of being a great King, and helping them all. They would
go no more with Him, and His followers went away in such
numbers, that it seemed as though -nobody would remain
behind. . ^
Standing apart by themselves, with very grave faces, were
His twelve disciples, for they doubted the prudence of the
words which had offended so many. They were sorry to see
the people going away, bitterly disappointed to see this ajn
parent end of their hopes and work, but still they stood firmA
with Peter at their head, for the Spirit of God was in them.
Jesus came back to them, and speaking sadly of those whose

l8o WILL YE GO ALSO?
backs were now turned upon Him, He said with a look that
must have brought tears into their eyes —
" Will ye also goaway ? " Then Peter spoke for the twelve,
Peter, one of the first to follow Jesus, — who had worked for
Him by night and day, on land and water, who had given Him
a home and a boat, and who loved the brave sensitive nature
of Jesus, and worshipped His pure Spirit ; for his bold hasty
temper was roused, roused by the sight of cowards and
hypocrites deserting his young Master and fellow-countryman !
and his reply was a vehement question —
" Lord," he exclaimed impetuously, " Lord, to whom shall
we go but unto Thee ? Thou hast the words of Heaven, and
we believe and know that Thou art the Holy One of God." A
noble answer ! Using Jesus' own words as the best of reasons
why they would not leave Him. With the Spirit of God draw
ing them, Peter asked whether it were possible for them to
follow any other one than Jesus, and He was angry when He
saw the insincerity with which He had been followed by so
many people, and his strong rugged heart was only the more
determined to stand by their young Master, the more he saw
Him deserted by others. His vehement words put courage
into the rest of the disciples, and Jesus was deeply moved.
" Did I not choose you to be My disciples," He replied
sadly, " and yet one of you hath a spirit pf evfl?, " Judas was
the one.
**** The day of trial was over. The test had been applied, the
test of the Sj)irit_: the false had gone, the true remained, and
it was wifti deep emotion that Jesus walked back to Peter's
house. He had made His position clear before all the people,
He could never be their King, nor give them mongy, as other
kings did, for His Kingdom was in their own minds, and all
had not left Him. It was to Him a day of deliverance,
although to some He seemed to have been put back to where
He was eighteen months before, with only twelve men round
Him. Remember, then, the test which Jesus gave the people that
day, and which decided between His false and His true fol-

SPIES FROM JERUSALEM. l8l
lowers ; — whether they followed Him for His words, drawn by
the Spirit of God to love, trust, and believe Him, or whether
they followed Him for some other reason, for that is still the
test of His followers. SPIES FROM JERUSALEM.
CAPERNAUM, SUMMER, A.D. 33.
April had come again. Round every spring and by every
watercourse that wound across the rich plain of Gennesaret the
oleander bushes were again filled with flowers of crimson and
pink, even down to the white shore at the Lake, while the olive
trees were covered white with blossom, thick as the flourish on
our native hawthorn ; the woods rang with the singing of birds,
and the people rejoiced, for the great Passover Festival was
near. But Jesus did not go to it this year. He knew that
the chief Jews at Jerusalem, remembering what He had said
and done at the last Passover, were watching for Him, and
that they had resolved if they caught Him to have Him killed ;
and He remained in Galilee. But when the priests found that
He had remained away from the Festival, and hearing wonder
ful stories about Him from the people who had come from
Capernaum, they held a meeting of their highest council, and
appointed some men to go again to Galilee and follow Jesus
as spies. And when the Festival was over, these spies came
down to the Lake-side, and found Him going about among the
villages teaching with His disciples. They watched Him in
walking, in teaching, in eating, in drinking, these high religious
Teachers from Jerusalem, and they soon found something to
say against Him, — His disciples did not always wash their
hands before taking food ! That was what they discovered,
and though this was nothing new, they thought it would be
enough to report to Jerusalem, that Jesus was still breaking
their rules about hand-washing. For they said that people
must not only wash their hands before food, but wash them
in a particular way, by having water poured on them and rub
bing the back of one hand upon the palm of the other, then
putting both hands together and holding them up, until the

1 82 WASHING AND SPRINKLING.
water ran down to their elbows, then turning them quickly
down before the water could run off, and then up again before
it could pass their knuckles, pouring clean water upon them
once when lifted, and twice as they hung down, repeating
certain words all the time. They had also many other rules,
about sprinkling couches with water before lying on them, and
pots and pans and cups before using them. Now the disciples,
following the example of Jesus, only washed their hands when
they wished. But these spies wanted to catch Jesus, and
meeting Him upon the road one day they stopped Him and
demanded —
" Why do Thy disciples break our rules, for they do not
wash their hands before eating bread? " They did not know
what Jesus had said to the Pharisees and Lawyers in the
Pharisee's house in a Galilean village about nine months
before, or they might not have put this question. His answer
was unexpected —
" You break the commands of God," He said, " that you may
keep your own sayings, disobeying what is written in the Bible,
that you may carry out your own rules." And He showed,
that in order to get money for their great Temple at
Jerusalem, they had made a greedy and cruel rule that broke
one of the most beautiful commands of God. " God's com
mandment in the Bible," He continued, " is,
" ' Honour thy father and thy mother that thy days may be
long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
" ' And he that revileth his father or mother shall surely be
put to death.'
"But you have made a rule which says, that if a man shall give
to the Temple the money which he ought to give to his father
and mother, he is free from giving it to them, thus breaking the
commandment that a man is to give to his parents, by the little
rule which you have set up for yourselves." The spies could
not deny that if a son gave the priests his money, they would
pardon him for not giving it to his father and mother. Now,
it is one of the highest duties of children to honour and love
and support their parents, who have done so much for them,

BLIND GUIDES. 1 83
and nothing can excuse a child for disobeying this, and yet
there are countries called heathen, where this command of God
is better obeyed than in Christian England ! Turning to the
people who had come to listen, Jesus went on to show the
folly and wickedness of these rules of the priests.
" ' The words in the Bible," He said, " written long ago by
Isaiah about the Jews, are true to-day of these Pharisees.
" ' . . . This people draw near Me with their mouth,
"'And with their lips do honour Me, but have removed
their hearts far from Me,
" ' And their fear of Me is a commandment of men, which
hath been taught them.'
" But," He continued, " it is no use their pretending to
worship God when they teach their own rules in place of God's
commandments. Listen to Me, and understand. Nothing
which a man eateth can make him either good or bad, but
what he speaketh may do so." And leaving the Jerusalem
spies rebuked, and their petty rules set aside before the people,
Jesus resumed His walk with His disciples along the sunny
road towards Peter's house.
Now, the people had been taught by their religious
Teachers, and believed very strongly, that it was wicked to
eat certain kinds of food, including rabbits, pigs, and many
other animals, and certain kinds of fish, and birds, and the
disciples also believed it ; and when they heard Jesus say
that a man might eat anything, they were surprised, and
asked Him when they got into the house—
" Dost Thou know that the Pharisees were offended with
what Thou didst say ? "
" Let the Pharisees alone," He answered. " Every plant
which God hath not planted shall be rooted up. These
Pharisees are like blind guides, and if blind guides lead
blind people, both shall fall into the ditch." He meant
that the Pharisees, who had not God's Spirit, taught the
people wrongly.
"Explain to us," said Peter, speaking for them all, "what
Thou saidst to the Pharisees about eating all kinds of food."

184 THE TOWNS OF TYRE AND SIDON.
"Even yet," Jesus replied, " do you not understand Me ?
The food that a man eateth is to keep him alive, and cannot
make him good or bad, but wicked words show a wicked
mind, and from them come wicked thoughts and wicked
deeds. These make a man bad. But to eat all kinds of
food, or to eat without washing your hands, can never make
you wicked." Thus He said that all food was good to be
eaten, freeing the people at once from many hard rules about
food which their religious Teachers had laid upon them. In
His teaching Jesus had now broken through and spoken
against the Sabbath rules of the priests, their meat rules,
their hand and pot washings, their false teaching, their long
prayers, their gifts to the Temple ; and had accused the
Teachers of teaching their own rules and sayings instead of
the laws of God ; and these spies sent word to the council
of priests at Jerusalem of all that this young Galilean was
saying and doing. But Jesus continued calmly to tell the
people about Heaven and the will of God.
Remember thou what Jesus said about loving and honour
ing thy father and mother, and never let a harsh or scornful
word escape thee, nor think that thou canst ever repay their
early love ; for when thou couldst not speak, they fed thee ;
when thou couldst not walk, they carried thee ; when thou
wast ill, they nursed thee, and now that thou canst run, thou
must run for them ; for there is no more heavenly sight than
a joyful child running to .and fro, helping and obeying his
father and mother, as Jesus did, when a child.
THE TOWNS OF TYRE AND SIDON.
PHCENICIA, SUMMER, A.D. 33.
For more than a year the churches of Judaea had been
closed against Jesus by the council of priests, nor could
He safely visit that part of the country ; and now they
gave orders that He should not be allowed to teach in
the churches of Galilee either, and He was daily watched
and annoyed by the Pharisees. He had been unable to get

HIS LONGEST JOURNEY. 1 85
that rest which He wished at Bethsaida-Julia, and He de
termined to go away with His disciples, unknown to the
people, into a part of the country beyond Galilee to the North
ward, where He had not been before. Leaving Capernaum
privately, He walked along the road which led from the
Northern end of the Lake up to the hills about Safed, the
highest town of Galilee. He was going into the district of
Phoenicia bordering on the great Mediterranean Sea, where
there were two large seaport towns, called Tyre and Sidon,
rich and populous ; and where the people did not worship the
God of the Jews, but had gods of their own, and were called
heathens by the Jews. Summer was now advancing, and the
roads were hot and dusty ; but a walk of six miles brought
them to the highest part of the hills of Northern Galilee
called Naphtali, from which they could see the boundless
blue ocean, the small Lake of Gennesaret, and the wooded
Lebanon mountains rising up to snow-capped Hermon. Six
miles more and they were nearly out of Galilee, and it is
likely that they then rested for the night in some friend's
house. But it became known that Jesus was there, and on the
next day, as He walked with His disciples, a Syrian woman,
who had come from a distance, came crying after Him —
" Lord ! have mercy on me, Thou Son of King David.
My little girl is much troubled with an evil spirit." But Jesus
took no notice of her. He wished to test her earnestness.
Did this woman, in her curious dress of bright colours, and
speaking a strange language, really believe that He could help
her? She still continued to follow, and His disciples, dread
ing the notice which her behaviour would bring upon them,
stopped Him.
" Send her away," they said, " for she crieth after us." He
replied that He had been sent to heal and teach Jews, not
strangers ; but He did not say he would not listen to her.
Coming up to Him as He stood, she bowed herself at His
feet, and worshipped Him.
" Lord ! help me ! " she said earnestly, for she believed He
would not send away a sorrowing woman who begged not for

I 86 THE DOGS UNDER THE TABLE.
herself, but for another; but Jesus wished to try her further.
She had heard part of what he had said to His disciples, and
He repeated it to her in a different way.
" The children must first be fed," He said, meaning that the
Jews must be attended to before strangers, whom they were
accustomed to call " dogs," adding, " It is not right to take
the children's bread and give it to the dogs of the house."
But the woman was not to be turned away. She did not say
that the Jews had no right to call them " dogs ; " she only
pleaded for a little kindness.
"Yes, Lord!" she answered, "but even the dogs Tinder
the table eat of the children's crumbs which fall from the
master's table." Thou hast seen how the dogs in a farmer's
kitchen come in and walk round the table at dinner-time.
They did the same in that country. And seeing the woman's
faith, Jesus said —
" O woman, great is thy faith ! Because of what thou hast
said, go away, for I have granted thy wish. The trouble hath
left thy daughter." With glad steps the woman hurried away
to her distant home, thanking Jesus in her heart as she went;
and when she got there she found her little girl no longer
uttering strange cries, but well again.
Soon after this, Jesus and His disciples walked away from
the hills of Galilee down into the lower country of Phcenicia,
by the road which led to the large town of Tyre on the seaside.
They were now out of the country of King Antipas, and if they
continued on the well-known road from Galilee to Tyre, by
the end of the second day they looked down upon a pleasant
green plain, celebrated for its oranges, apricots, peaches, pears,
and other delicate fruits, and saw the splendid buildings and
monuments, smoking chimneys, and masts of the ships of the
town of Tyre, which was built upon an island that jutted out
into a wide blue sea that had no ending but the distant clouds
and sky. It is not likely that they went into this town of
famous dyers in purple, blue, and crimson, and coloured glass-
workers, for He had come to rest. The road from Tyre
lay along the edge of the great sea to the Northward for

THE SNOWS OF HERMON. 1 87
twenty miles, with so many valleys coming down to the sea
that they would have to cross seven rivers on their way, and
then they would reach the second great seaport called Sidon,
well known in Jerusalem for its rich merchants, and for ships
that sailed to all parts of the world. It is not likely that Jesus
went into this town either, or saw its tall houses, its weavers
at their looms, its brass-workers, or its gem-engravers, for the
people sent their art manufactures to all countries. Here there
were no persecuting Lawyers nor spying Pharisees, and as it
was a delightful time of the year, the time of rich fruits, ripen
ing crops, and thick shady trees, with no rain for months, it
is likely that He spent some time in Lower Phoenicia by the
cool sea before turning towards the hills of Upper Galilee
again. Remember how this poor foreign woman persevered in
begging Jesus to help her daughter, and how highly He
praised her ; and do not thou be cast down by little difficul
ties which may oppose thee, but work on and trust in Him.
THE SNOWS OF HERMON.
DECAPOLIS, SUMMER, A.D. 33.
Leaving the neighbourhood of the town of Sidon by the
sea, with its glass furnaces, potteries, and ship-yards, passing
through its flower-gardens and orchards, where pears, and
peaches and lemons grew among leaves of brightest green,
and where sweet perfume was wafted from the white blossom
of the orange trees, Jesus and His disciples went Northward
from the sea to the hills, crossing many rivers and climbing
the steep range of the Lebanon hills, whose slopes were
covered with green tapering cedar trees, whence they could
see the distant mountain of Hermon, with its white peak.
They then descended from the hills to the Lebanon villages,
where they spent some time, and walking on, crossed more
rivers and streams, as they turned Southwards, so as to
approach the Lake of Gennesaret again upon the opposite
side from that which they left. Fording the pebbly bed of

1 88 CITIES OF DECAPOLIS.
the upper Jordan, they passed the foot of Mount Hermon, the
highest mountain in the land, whose crest was covered with
snow, far up, sparkling in the Summer sunshine. Keeping
away from the town of Caesarea-Philippi, the fashionable
capital of Philip's country, with its king's palace, hot springs,
temples, grottos, and statues, they entered the land of Deca
polis, so called because of the ten principal cities, Philadel
phia, Gadara, Hippos, Damascus, Raphana, Dio, Pella, Gerasa,
Kanatha, and Scythopolis, which were scattered over the high
country of green plains and red hills to the East of the Lake of
Gennesaret. It is not known how long Jesus was away upon
this journey. Going from Sidon round by Mount Hermon, and
coming again to the Lake on the Eastern side, He had to pass
through wild hilly country, with marshes and streams to cross,
and no regular roads ; and as He was in no haste to return to
Galilee, He would take some weeks to travel this distance of
over a hundred miles.
At one of the villages of Decapolis, which was regarded by
the Jews as quite a heathen region, a man was brought to
Jesus who was deaf, and who stammered so much that the
people could not understand him when he spoke. His friends
begged Jesus just to put His hand upon him, for the poor
man believed that He could heal him. A crowd of curious
people gathered round Jesus and the man, as they stood in
the hot sunshine, expecting to see a wonder ; but Jesus was
grieved that they should thus come to gaze at Him out of
curiosity, as though He were a wizard and not a Teacher, and
He took the man away privately from among the people ; and
when they were alone by themselves, He put His fingers into
the man's ears, and wetting His finger, touched his tongue,
and looking up to Heaven, sighed as He said —
"Be opened!" And immediately the man was healed.
Why did Jesus sigh? People sigh when they are sad, and He
was grieved and cast down by the behaviour of these people
of Decapolis. When He returned with the man, He told the
people earnestly not to speak about what He had done, for
He never liked them to speak of such things ; but they were

ON A BROWN HILLSIDE. 1 89
astonished, and cared so little for Jesus that they told it far
and wide, wherever they went.
" He doeth all things well," the people cried ; "He maketh
even the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak." They did not
call Him the "Son of God" in Decapolis. He was only a
Wonder-worker to them, and they followed Him in crowds,
out of curiosity, the very thing which Jesus did not like them
to do. Leaving Decapolis, He came to the land of Gadara
again, on the Eastern side of the Lake, where He had healed
Legion about eight months before and left him to teach the
people, and as He approached the Lake there was a crowd of
people following Him, and He rested on a hillside, and looked
down upon the blue waters dotted here and there with the
sails of fishing-boats, and over at the towns of Capernaum and
Magdala on the opposite side, to which He was about to
return. The news spread of His arrival, and the people
gathered in greater numbers, climbing up the hillside in the
hot sunshine with their sick, and He healed them. As each
was brought to Him they went away rejoicing, and the people
wondered when they saw the dumb speaking and the lame
walking. They did not know how to thank Him, but they
heard Him mentioning the name of God as He spoke to the
sick, and as English crowds cheer when they are glad, so did
this crowd upon the warm hillside rejoice and glorify the God
of Jesus.
My child, do not forget to thank God for thy days of
strength and happiness. If thou hast ever been very ill thou
wilt know what it is to be grateful for returning strength, and
will have felt that it is a time, above all, to remember to thank
God for His goodness to thee.
ON A BROWN HILLSIDE.
GADARA, SUMMER, A.D. 33.
Many of the people who were with Jesus on that sunny
hillside overlooking the Eastern shore of the blue Lake of
Gennesaret, had followed Him for three days, and would not

I90 BESIDE THE LAKE.
go away. They delighted to look at Him, and to listen to
His words. It was Summer time, the nights were short
and warm, and the people could sleep in tents and even in
the open air with their outer cloaks wrapped round them.
But they had no food, and there were no places near, where
bread could be bought, and if the people were to start
for their distant homes, what with hunger and thirst and the
great heat, many might faint by the way. This was the
second time that a crowd had followed Jesus into a place
where no food could be got, and would not go away. Only a
month or two ago, amid the fresh spring grass at Bethsaida-
Julia, He had fed five thousand people, who in return had
wished to make Him their King. But when asked in the
Capernaum synagogue on the following day to make bread
again, He had refused. Would He do it now for these simple
people who could not cross the water, as He intended to do?
There, with the lovely scenery of the Lake, its shores, rocks,
cliffs, and the plain of Gennesaret deep down below them,
and the hills and woods of Nazareth and Carmel spreading
far beyond, under a blue sky the hours of sunshine passed,
and night was approaching.
"I am grieved for the people," He said, calling His
disciples aside to speak to them, " for they have been with
Me three days and three nights, and now have nothing to
eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will
faint on the road, for some of them have come a long
way." Thinking He wished them to go for bread, a disciple
replied —
" Whence should we have enough loaves in this lonely place
to feed so many people?"
" How many loaves have you ? " Jesus asked, knowing they
would have some bread for themselves.
"Seven loaves, and a few small fishes," was the reply. He
bade them bring what they had, for He liked them to do
what they could, and standing forth that all might see Him,
He told the people to come near and sit down on the ground,
and they did so, sitting not on green turf as at Bethsaida-Julia,

LOAVES AND FISHES. I9I
but on brown scorched grass, warm rocks, and yellow sand. The
disciples then arranged the people in bands as they had done
before, with spaces for walking about amongst them. When
they were all seated, Jesus took the seven loaves and gave
thanks to God before them all, and breaking the loaves, gave
them to His disciples to give to the people. Then taking the
fishes He blessed them and gave them to His disciples in the
same manner.
There were four thousand men there, besides women and
children, not sitting in a cool green slope as before, but on a
hot hillside, with no trees to shade them, in bright groups,
friends together, families together, with their cloaks of blue
and grey, red and yellow, and heads covered with bright
kerchiefs to keep off the sun, their brown faces all turned
towards Jesus, as He sent out His disciples with fish and
bread. And as they walked down the narrow yellow lanes,
dusky hands were held out and thanks given for the food, and
blessings showered on Jesus in strange excited words. A
clamour of tongues rose from the crowd as they sat eating and
wondering whence the food came. Perhaps some of them had
been among those who were fed at Bethsaida-Julia, and could
tell their neighbours, for it spread through the whole company
that it was the work of Jesus. When the people had all been
served, He and His disciples ate with the rest, and among the
crowd were mothers and little children, who had come from
their homes to see Him, and the little ones ate until they were
satisfied. When all had finished, the disciples, this time with
out being told, went through the people again gathering up
the broken pieces of bread and fish that were left, for they
knew Jesus did not wish any to be wasted, and when the
broken pieces were all put into a heap there was as much as
would have filled seven willow baskets.
Then Jesus stood up and told the people that they were all
to go back to their own homes and villages, for He was going
away from this place. And the people obeyed Him, streaming
down the hillside in every direction, some hoping to get home
before darkness came on. There was no talk this time of

I92 THE RICH SADDUCEES.
making Him their King. The disciples and the people had
learned that He would receive no such honours, and that
love and obedience alone were what He would take from
them. Word had been sent to the other side for Peter's large fish
ing boat, and when the people were gone, Jesus and His dis
ciples went down to the shore, and getting into it, set sail
across the Lake, towards the place whence He had started
some weeks before for Tyre, thus completing the longest
journey He ever took, although He was never further off than
two or three days' walking distance from Capernaum. He
was now refreshed and rested, and better prepared to meet
the attacks of His enemies which He knew would rise around
Him again, as soon as they heard of His return.
Peter's boat, with its great brown sail, was not long in
carrying Jesus and His disciples across the Lake, and before
the anchor was thrown out, there were a number of people
waiting on the beach to meet Him. He landed on a rocky
shore, under high towering cliffs, between the towns of Mag
dala and Dalmanutha, and His old enemies, the Pharisees,
were out spying His movements. They had made friends
of the wild Herodians, and found them of little use, but there
were rich and powerful men, called Sadducees, who did not
care much about religion, but who were against any man who
wished to take away their power, and with them the Pharisees
now made friends, although the Sadducees hated and ridiculed
the Pharisees. When Jesus returned, these Sadducees were
ready, waiting to press Him also to work a wonder as a proof
that He was from God, a thing which they knew He would not
do, and they believed they could thus set the people against
Him. Before He had even walked into the town, the Sad
ducees and Pharisees met Him on the road, and for the
first time He knew that these proud and powerful men had
combined with the Pharisees against Him. When they saw
the common people glad to meet Him, they came forward, and
ordering the people to stand aside, called upon Him to work
a wonder before them.

MEN LIKE TREES WALKING. 1 93
" Show us a sign," they said, " that Thou art from God,"
and, knowing He would not do so, they were bold and
threatening. Now this grieved Him much, for He had often
told the Pharisees that He would not work a sign, and He
sighed deeply as He looked around on the people. His
answer was similar to what He had given the Pharisees
before. With memories of His boyhood among the hills at
Nazareth, when He used to climb the grassy slopes to watch
the crimson clouds of evening in the skies, He replied —
" In the evening you say it will be. fine weather to-morrow,
for the clouds are red, and in the morning you say it will be
bad weather to-day, for the clouds are red and threatening.
You Sadducees understand the look of the clouds, but you do
not understand the signs of the present time. You are
wicked men, asking Me to work a wonder as a sign to please
you, but no sign shall be given you but the sign of Jonah."
And again He refused, and turning from them, walked away
with His disciples and the friends who had come to meet
Him. Then the Sadducees and Pharisees would tell the
crowd that He was not from God, since He would not work
a wonder when they asked Him ; but He paid no further
heed to them.
And when thou thinkest of Jesus, remember His kindness
to the hungry children and fathers and mothers who had
followed Him out from their homes to the warm hill beside
the blue Lake at Gadara.

MEN LIKE TREES WALKING.
BETHSAIDA, SUMMER, A.D. 33.
Jesus found, that owing to the opposition of His enemies,
it was better He should not remain at the place where He
had landed, on the West side of the Lake of Gennesaret, and,
after a short time, He went into the boat again with His
disciples to sail to another place. The great brown sail was
hoisted to the top of the mast, the anchor taken in, and once
more they were gliding along the blue Lake, under the wooded

194 BEWARE OF WICKED WORDS.
cliffs of Magdala where the green branches dipped into the
water, skirting the beach of white shells close to the fruit
ful plain of Gennesaret with the tree-clad hills behind, and
heading away towards the North end of the Lake. He felt
sad, as He looked out upon the shore which He was leaving,
and thought of the wicked combination of the Pharisees and
Sadducees, and how constantly they pressed Him to do that
which He would never do, to show, at their request, by a won
derful sign, that He was from God. How cruel and deter
mined were they to oppose Him and tell the people false
things ! And as He sat with the glow of the setting sun light
ing up the brown sail, with the purple haze of evening settling
upon the hills, and distant sounds coming softly from the
shore, He said to His disciples in a warning voice —
" Take care ! beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and
Sadducees, and the leaven of King Antipas." By " leaven,"
He meant to beware of the words of these wicked men,
because wicked words spread like leaven. The disciples, in
their hurry, had forgotten to take enough bread in the boat,
having only one loaf for them all ; and not understanding
Him, they began to whisper together that He was displeased
with them for forgetting bread. But Jesus overheard them.
" Oh ! you men of little trust ! " He exclaimed sadly,
" Why do you talk with each other because you have no bread?
Do you not see, do you not understand, have your hearts
become hard ? Can you not see with your eyes and hear with
your ears, and do you not remember? When I divided five
loaves among five thousand men, how many baskets full of
broken pieces did you take up ? "
"Twelve baskets full," the disciples answered humbly.
And He went on —
"And when I divided the seven loaves among four
thousand men yesterday, how many baskets did you take
up?" "Seven baskets full," they answered again.
"Then why do you not yet understand?" He continued.
" How is it that you do not see that I speak to you not about

LEADING THE BLIND.* 1 95
leaven, but about words. Beware, therefore, of the words of
these wicked men." The disciples then understood that He
spoke of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees, and
they were sorry when they thought of the little and distrust
ful meaning which they had put upon His words. And again
all was silent, save the plashing of the water at the bow of the
boat and the creaking of the sail on the mast. Skirting the
North-western shores, they sailed on in the calm of evening
past Magdala, Capernaum, and the other towns, where .the
people recognised Peter's boat as it went by, and knew that
Jesus had returned ; but Peter steered for the place where the
river Jordan enters the Lake at its Northern end, and sailing
into the river as far as they could go, they took down the sail
and cast anchor at the green Western bank. Landing from
the boat, they walked up to the quiet little village of Beth
saida, whose houses shone white upon the hillside, there to
stay for a few days.
Like those of Decapolis, the people were very curious to
see Jesus perform some wonder, for they knew of Him feed
ing five thousand people on the plain of Bataiah on the other
side of the river Jordan, and that He healed the sick ; and
one day, when he was teaching in the open air in the village,
they brought a blind man, and asked Him to touch him ; then
they stood round, expecting the wonder to be performed.
Now it grieved Jesus that these people should be so anxious
to see a wonder, and yet He could not leave the poor man
blind. I know not what He said to the man, but He took
him by the hand and asked him to come aside with Him, just
as He did the deaf man in Decapolis. The people were dis
appointed ; but Jesus went away from the crowd, gently lead
ing the way down the main street of the village, with the blind
man's hand in His, who followed on, not knowing whither he
was going, but listening to His words and holding by Him.
The people saw them from their doors and houses and shops,
as they passed by in the sunshine ; and children ran to gaze at
them with loving eyes, for they knew the face of the young
Countryman, and marked the sightless eyeballs of the blind

I96 SEEST THOU ANYTHING?
man ; and while many guessed what was about to happen, no
one followed them. At length they passed out by the gate in
the village walls, and walked on until they were alone in the
fields, and then Jesus stopped.
We do not know what He said, or whether the man told
Him that when he was a child he could see, and knew
what flowers and fields and trees and men were like, and
that he had lost his sight, perhaps in the common way, by
sand blowing into his eyes. Jesus did not heal him at once,
but spitting upon his eyes, He put His hands over them, and
said —
"Seest thou anything? "
" I see men ! for I see them like trees walking ! " the man
exclaimed joyfully, looking towards the village. He had not
forgotten the shapes of men, for blind men do not forget the
world of sunshine which they once knew, though they live in
darkness. Jesus put His hands again over his eyes, and when
He took them away the man looked earnestly towards the
village, and he could see quite well ; and thanked Jesus over
and over again, and wished to go back to the village to show
what He had done for him ; but Jesus did not wish that,
for He never liked the people to talk of His wonders.
He wished to heal the poor man, but not to create astonish
ment among the villagers ; and finding that the man did not
live in the village, He told Him to go away home at once and
tell no one what He had done, adding particularly —
" Do not even go into the village." And so they parted,
the one to go home rejoicing, the other to return quietly to
the village and His disciples ; while the people, who expected
to see a sight when they came back, saw only the young
Countryman returning up the street alone ; and no one asked
Him what had become of the blind man.
What Jesus told His disciples in the boat is also for thee.
Beware of wicked words, for they spread quickly, and entering
the mind, make wicked thoughts. If thou wouldst check
this, refuse to listen to wicked words, for thy mind is the
curtained and holy temple wherein dwells the Spirit of God —
the pure, the heavenly guide of thy young life.

WHO AM I? 197
WHO AM I?
NEAR CESAREA PHILIPPI, SUMMER, A.D. 33.
From the village of Bethsaida, Jesus went away with His
disciples back into the strange country through which they had
lately passed on their road from Tyre and Sidon. Walking
Northwards from the Lake of Gennesaret, they kept along
by the river Jordan with its overhanging trees and tall green
canes, past waterfalls and rapids ; past the small Lake Merom,
round whose marshy shores roamed herds of black buffaloes
among thickets of papyrus reeds whose white flowering
tops waved higher than a man's head. They went up
towards the high country near the foot of Mount Hermon,
where was the gay town of Caesarea Philippi, the favourite
town of King Philip, who had built it and called it after the
Roman Emperor Caesar, and himself. It was built on a
rocky terrace of the great mountain, with a splendid view of
the beautiful country through which the Jordan, springing
from fountains of clear water in a huge cave under a hill,
wanders like bands of silver through the marshy plains below.
And as Jesus walked, along the paved Roman road that led
across the Jordan bridge and towards the city, He saw,
waving in the valleys and plains below, mulberry, oak, and
plane trees, amid richly flowering honeysuckle, clematis,
oleander, and wild roses ; while the wheat crops were already
yellow in the fields, some of which were being reaped. Caesarea
Philippi was only twenty miles from the Lake of Gennesaret,
and as Jesus walked, He taught in the villages by the way, for
the Sadducees who had caused Him to leave Capernaum did
not follow Him out of Galilee. He even went into Caesarea
Philippi itself, that city of palaces, theatres, baths, statues,
and grottos ; the fashionable place to which the rich people
came at that time of the year, when the midsummer heat
about the Lake of Gennesaret was unbearable. But there
were many foreigners in the town, and He does not seem to
have attracted attention.
Jesus had now been a Teacher for two and a half years, and

I98 THOU ART A PROPHET.
He was anxious about the result of all His work. He
thought of the shouts and exclamations of the crowds that had
followed Him : of the persecuting Pharisees who had closed
the churches against Him and roused the Sadducees, so that
He could not return in peace to Capernaum. He thought
also of the work He had yet to do, and that soon it would all
be over. Driven away from His own lovely Galilee, in His
recent wanderings among strange villages, He had had sad
reflections, and now He resolved to ask His disciples what the
people thought and said about Him. Retiring with them to
the quiet of a lonely hill, He prayed to His Father in Heaven
to help Him at this time, for He had to decide whether He
should remain any longer in safety in strange places and
villages, or return to the Lake towns, and face the violence of
the powerful Sadducees.
"Whom do the people say that I am?" He asked His
disciples one day. Now they had heard the people saying a
great many things, and one answered —
" Some think Thou art John the Baptist come alive again ; "
another replied, " Some think Thou art the old prophet Elijah
returned to the earth ; " and another said, " They say Thou
art the prophet Jeremiah." " Other people say that Thou art
certainly one of the old prophets risen again from the dead,"
said another. None of the people said that He was the
Christ. Thus, after all His teaching, healing, travels, and
wonders, He was told that the people did not think He was
Jesus the Christ, but only such an One as the world had seen
before. This was a great disappointment, and with downcast
spirit Jesus began to wonder what His own disciples thought of
Him, for He had never asked them the question. Looking
earnestly at them with His clear dark eyes, He said —
"Whom do you say that I am?" The answer would
either gladden or grieve Him. Peter saw the distress and
disappointment of his young Master. The honest warm
heart of the rugged fisherman had no doubt, and the en
thusiasm of his heart leapt up to his lips in words of rare
grandeur. Looking into the face of the downspirited young

SON OF THE LIVING GOD. 1 99
Carpenter, whose father, whose mother, whose brothers and
sisters he knew, who was clothed in a plain countryman's
clothes like his own, and who was compelled by the Sad
ducees to leave His favourite town of Capernaum, He answered
firmly — '
" Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." The
words rejoiced the heart of Jesus.
" Blessed art thou, Peter," He replied earnestly, " for no man
hath told thee this, but My Father in Heaven." When many
people left Him at Capernaum, He had told His disciples
that only the Spirit of God could draw men to Him, and now
He said that Peter's belief was put into his heart by God's
own Spirit. Still speaking to Peter, while the small band of
disciples stood listening earnestly, Jesus went on to say —
" And I also tell thee that thou art Peter, and upon this
rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall
not prevail against it." He felt that He had now good cause
for confidence and joy. Peter had grasped the great truth
of His life, that the Spirit of the living God will come to men
and dwell in them, and reveal the truth to them, and He joy
fully exclaimed that upon this great and blessed fact, as
upon a rock, would rise a spiritual church, His Kingdom of
Heaven in the world, into which no wickedness should come,
for none should be in it but those who were brought thither
by the Spirit's influence. Wicked persons may, and do be
come members of many churches by passing examinations
and enrolling their names ; but there is no test or certificate
of entrance into His Kingdom, the spiritual church of Jesus,
save the answer of a good conscience toward God. All
are free to enter, poor or rich, and no human devices can
put men in or keep men out, for the communications of the
Spirit of God to man's spirit are revealed in secret, spirit
answering to spirit, and the honesty of a man's goodness is
known to God alone. And yet no words of Jesus have caused
greater bitterness and want of charity among His followers by
the imposition of checks and tests upon each other, trying
to test that which cannot be tested, than those words to Peter,

200 GET THEE BEHIND ME, TEMPTER !
He further said, "I will give thee the keys of Heaven,
and whatever thou shalt bind or loose on earth shall be
bound or loosed in Heaven." It is difficult, if not impossible,
to understand these words. The Pharisaic teachers often
spoke of binding and loosing people, but it is nowhere written
that Peter ever exercised a power like this. Jesus did not
tell him that he would have power to forgive men's sins.
This was a power which Jesus very rarely exercised; and
without words plainly saying so, it cannot be assumed that
He gave such power to Peter, for we never read of Peter
forgiving sins. Whatever power Jesus may have given
Peter at this time, He did not tell him that He would be
able to give it to others, not even to the other disciples.
After these words to Peter, Jesus gave them all strict and
earnest orders that they were not at present to tell any one
that he was the Christ. Why He did so I cannot tell;
possibly He wished to tell the people Himself in His own
way. Thou hast heard of the joy with which Jesus heard Peter
say that He was " the Christ, the Son of God," for He knew
that the Spirit of God had made it known to Peter. Thou,
my child, must search thy heart, and find whether thou also
canst give the same answer, which will mark thee as a little
child of light, one of the children of His Kingdom of Heaven
in the world.

GET THEE BEHIND ME, TEMPTER!
NEAR CESAREA PHILIPPI, SUMMER, A.D. 33.
Jesus was satisfied. Peter's answer that he believed He
was the Christ, He accepted for all the disciples, for Peter
was the eldest, and their steersman, leader, spokesman. But
before they came down from the hill near Caesarea Philippi,
Jesus told them something which filled them with disappoint
ment, wonder, and alarm. Hitherto He had taught them that
He was Jesus, the Son of God from Heaven, the long expected

SPEAKING OF HIS DEATH. 201
Christ, the hope of their nation ; but now, on this lonely hill
side, far away from the people, He told them plainly for the
first time the awful truth that He would be killed. He knew
that the fierce hatred of the priests and Pharisees and Sad
ducees would end in His being put to death. And that His
disciples might be prepared, and not scattered and put down
when it happened, Jesus told them what would come, and
that He had no fear of defeat, for His death would only make
His victory greater. As these young men stood round Him,
on the hillside, listening with sadness and perplexity in then-
faces, their native land spreading in beauty and sunshine
before them, they heard Jesus say that after a short time they
would go back to Jerusalem, that there He would suffer much
from the head priests, Lawyers, and Sadducee Rulers, that
they would reject Him, and put Him to death, and that in
three days He would rise again.
The idea of Jesus, their Leader being killed, was most
alarming to them all. Peter had just said that He was the
Christ ! and the disciples believed, as all Jews had been
taught to believe, that when the promised Christ came,
He would be their King, forever, would sit upon Herod's
throne of ivory and gold, wear his crown, and put down all
enemies. But now He told them He would soon be killed.
They could not believe it, for He had only lately been
telling them, over and over again, how His great Kingdom
of Heaven would spread quickly. They thought He was de
pressed and disappointed through the harsh treatment He had
received and was quite mistaken in thinking any one would
kill Him. But, when they came down from the hill and went
again among the villages, Jesus spoke openly of His coming
death, so that the people heard Him. Peter thought this very
unwise, for he believed Jesus need not go to Jerusalem, unless
He liked, and would not be killed even if He did go ; and he
also believed that what his young Master required was to be
thoroughly roused from His despondency, and encouraged by
His disciples to look for the success of His Kingdom. Peter
had just been told that he was favoured of God, and it made

202 GAIN THE WHOLE WORLD !
him more confident, so he took Jesus by the hand and led
Him aside from the people to a place where only the disciples
could hear what he said to Him.
" Far be it from Thee, Master, this shall never happen to
Thee," he exclaimed in a confident voice. He forgot in his
enthusiasm and love for his young Master, that in this rash
speech he was presuming to know more than Jesus. But
Jesus turned upon him as he walked at His side, and answered
him before all the other disciples in a tone which astonished
them —
"Get thee behind Me, tempter ! " He exclaimed. "Thou
art a snare to Me, for thou dost not care for the things of
God, but only for the things of men." Peter was thinking of
a worldly kingdom, not of the Kingdom of Heaven, and Jesus
called him a tempter ! — adversary, for suggesting that He
should avoid death. It was a severe reprimand to be told
that in wishing Jesus to live and be a great world's King,
Peter was not His friend, but His adversary. Calling the
people to Him, Jesus spoke to them about the mistaken
worldly spirit which Peter had shown, while the disciples
stood by and listened. And as He spoke they heard Him
say that they might banish all thoughts of rank, money, honour,
power, in following Him, and that they must rather expect
to be disliked and put down, and to hear the name of their
young Master condemned, but that in Heaven they would be
rewarded. They were to deny their own wishes and obey
His, and He uttered a saying which should be remembered
as a safeguard against the temptation to money-making in
business, and love of wealth, which often grows on young
people. "If any man wisheth to follow Me," He said, "let him be
self-denying in spirit and come after Me. For, what shall a
man profit if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?
Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ? Whoever
shall save his life here, shall lose it in Heaven, and whoever shall
lose his life here for My sake shall save it in Heaven. Who
ever shall be ashamed of Me and of My words at this wicked

HIS FACE DID SHINE AS THE SUN. 203
time, of him shall I be ashamed when I come in the glory of
My Father in Heaven and His holy angels, to reward every
one according as he hath done good or bad." How beauti
fully does He bring in these shining ones, the angels, the
friends of little children, with their white wings and lovely
faces ! And He finished with these strange words, which
they could not understand —
" I tell you truly, some of them who stand here shall not
die till they have seen the Kingdom of Heaven come with
power." They would see men coming into His beautiful
Kingdom of Heaven in the world, men who learned to know
and obey God. But the disciples thought ' He meant a
kingdom of armies, riches, and honours, like that of other
kings. I trust thou wilt never be ashamed of Jesus, but if thou
shouldst ever feel tempted to think lightly or unlovingly of
Him, or of what He said and did, remember His words,
" Get thee behind Me, tempter ! " for they will guard the
purity of thy mind so that such thoughts may not return
again. HIS FACE DID SHINE AS THE SUN.
MOUNT HERMON, AUTUMN, A.D. 33.
Jesus remained for a week among the villages near Caesarea
Philippi, seeing the villagers cutting down the ripe grain, and
preparing their wine vats and olive presses for the fruit-gather
ing, which was now approaching, and then going further North,
He came nearer to Mount Hermon, which is so very high, that
even in Summer it still keeps its white cap of snow. Again He
wished to retire to a hill to pray, and this time He chose the
slopes of Hermon. Telling the other disciples to wait for Him
below, He took Peter and the brothers James and John up
the mountain with Him. It was evening when they left the
village, and as they climbed the slopes and terraces, they saw*
the red sun going down far over the Lebanon Hills ; and the
village looked like a small white speck in the valley below.

204 GOOD FOR US TO BE HERE.
They did no.t climb to the top of Hermon, but rested on one
of the lower pgaks, very high and bare, to stay there all night.
Soon the growing shadows hid the lower world, blending trees
and rocks in gloomy greyness, then darkness surrounded them,
and they could no longer see to move about. On that high
mountain they were far up in the air, and when the ted
planets and flashing stars came out in the deep blue sky, they
seemed not only to have the stars above them, but all
around them. As the night wore on, the flashing moon rose
above the world, and passed into the sparkling skies until it
hung a cdd pure lan-jp over the mountain, and the Autumn
wind blew chiily upon~them. The disciples were not afraid,
for they were men accustomed to the hills at night.
With sweet sensitiveness, Jesus withdrew a little way that
He might pray unheard, save by His Father in Heaven, and
the three disciples, wrapping themselves in their hgayjf cloaks,
lay down to wait, and, wearied with their day's work, fell
asleep. While they slept they had a vision. A change came
.over Jesus. As He prayed, His face shone like the sun, and
His garments became white as dazzling snow, and two men in
the glory of Heaven stood beside Him ; Moses, the ojd ]Dro_-
phet, who led the Jews out of Egypt, and who had been dead
for fifteen, hjnjdtfid years, and Elijah, another old prophet, who
was taken up into Heaven a thousand years before, neither of
whom had ever been seen dead. The disciples awoke with a
start, and were amazed to see a dazzling light surrounding
Jesus and the two men. They listened and heard them talk
ing of His death ; and there upon that lonely mountain these
three fishermen saw Jesus glorifijd. With eyes dazzled, they
lay and watched and listened, but the time came when Moses
and Elijah were about to go away, and Peter thought he
should do something, and, rising from the ground, he went
towards them, saying — ¦
" Master, it is good for us to be here. If Thou wilt, I will
make here three bgwers of branches, one for Thee, one for
Moses, and one for Elijah." He did not. think what he was
saying, and it is difficult to know what use he intended to

A GOLDEN CLOUD. 205
make of the bowers. No one answered him, for, while he was
speaking, a golden cloud, banishing the midnight darkness,
came over them all, and they were covered with the brightness
of its glory, and the disciples were afraid as they entered the
cloud, and heard a voice from the midst of it, saying again
what was said when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan —
"This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Hear Him." They were greatly afraid, and Peter felt rebuked
for his foolishness ; for it was not a man's voice that spoke,
and they all fell to the ground and hid their faces from the
glory which shone upon them, and lay there, not daring to
rise or even to look up, till one of them felt a hand laid upon
him, and a voice, which he knew to be the voice of Jesus.
" Rise, and be not afraid," He said. And they looked up,
expecting to have their eyes again pained and dazzled with the
bright light, but the strangers and the golden cloud were gone.
and they saw nothing between them and the silent stars but
the figure of Jesus standing alone. They rose as He bade
them, but it was some time before they recovered from their
terror, and were able to talk with Him. They remained on
the mountain till fringes of rose along the Eastern clouds told «
them that the day was breaking, and in the growing light of
morning they went down the rugged hill-path, and, as they
went, they talked about the wonderful vision of the night.
But, as usual, Jesus told them they were not t? spp*jk of it to
others. "Tell the vision to no one," He said, "until I am risen from
the dead." But talking among themselves, they asked each
other what Jesus meant by " rising from the dead," for this
was the first time He had plainly spoken of such a thing, and «
it seemed to be quite opposed to what their early teachers had
taught them, for they said that EJijah must come before The
Christ and the rising from the dead, and they asked Him —
"Why do the teachers say that Elijah must first come?"
To which He replied —
" Truly, Elijah should come to restore all things, but I tell
you that he hath come, and is gone, and the people did not

206 LORD, I BELIEVE.
know him, but did to him whatever they chose. And I also
shall suffer many things, and be thought nothing of." The
disciples then knew that when He spoke of Elijah comipg, He
meant John the Baptist, who had prepared the people for
Jesus, and who was killed by King Antipas.
The pale morning light had grown into full 4ay before they
came down to the nine disciples, who were waiting on the
vjae-hung terraces below. They did not tell them of the
vision of glory which they had seen on the mountain, while
the others were asleep in the village ; for, as Jesus had com
manded them when descending the hill, Peter, James, and
John told no one of it until their dear young Master was dead
and risen again.
When thou seest a mist of gold upon the hills at evening,
or gazest through the crimson clouds of sunset, that seem to
hang like fiery curtains at the door of Heaven, remember the
vision which scajterec^ the darkness on that lonely mountain
when Jesus was seen in His glory.

LORD, I BELIEVE.
CESAREAN VILLAGE, AUTUMN, A.D. 33.
As Jesus and His three disciples walked towards the
Caesarean village to join the other disciples in the morning
after the vision on Mount Hermon, they saw from a crowd of
people that there was something wrong, and hastened on. As
they approached, the people recognised Jesus, and came
running to meet Him, exclaiming that they were glad He
had come, for His disciples were in trouble. And when He
came near, He found that among the people were some of
His enemies the Lawyers, who were putting questions to the
disciples which they were unable to answer. A boy, ill with
epilepsy was there, and the Lawyers were upbraiding the
disciples. And in this out-of-the-way village on that Autumn
morning, once more Jesus met His old foes, and coming in
between them and His disciples, He said in a quiet voice,
turning to the Lawyers —

BRING THE BOY. 207
"What are you disputing about?" They scowled, but no
one spoke. They were afraid to repeat what they had been
saying. But a man in the crowd pushing forward, for he was
the boy's father, said —
" Master, I brought my son to Thy disciples. He taketh
fits and cannot speak, and when a fit is on him he falleth down
and foameth at the mouth and grindeth his teeth, and he is
pining away. And I asked Thy disciples to heal him, and
they were not able." He had brought his son, expecting to
find Jesus, and the disciples had tried to heal him, but had
failed, and then the Lawyers had jeered at them. Jesus was
grieved with all this, and exclaimed —
" O faithless people ! How long shall I be with you ?
How long shall I have to bear with you ! Bring the boy to
Me." He had only been away from the disciples for one
night, yet by talking among themselves, perhaps about His
having said that He would soon be killed, these disciples had
lost trust in Him. The boy, who had been taken out of the
crowd, was now brought back by his father, and as he came
he fell rolling on the ground, while the people stood looking
at him in pity, for he was not yet twelve years old.
"How long is it since these fits began?" Jesus asked,
turning to the father —
"Since he was a child," the man answered. "And often
he hath fallen into the fire and often into water. Oh, if thou
canst do anything, have pity on us and help us." The poor
man had almost given up hope of having his son healed. But
his words did not please Jesus.
"Why dost thou say, 'If thou canst'?" Jesus asked him.
" All things are possible to him that believeth." The man
felt the reproof, and thinking Jesus might refuse to heal his
poor boy, he cried out at once so loud that all the people
heard him —
" Lord, I believe ! Help thou mine unbelief ! " And the
people, hearing the cry, came running to the place where the
poor boy lay on the ground. Speaking to the trouble, as though
it were an evil spirit, Jesus said —

208 REMOVING MOUNTAINS.
" Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I command thee, come out
of the boy, and return no more." The boy gave a cry and
lay so still that the people whispered to each other — " He is
dead ! " The Lawyers were the first to say so, and they said
it with cruel satisfaction, thinking that Jesus had failed, but
He paid no attention to them. Going over to the boy, He
took his hand and raised him up, and gave him to his father
well again. And all who saw it were astonished, for they felt
that He had the power of God.
Leaving the crowd, Jesus went with His disciples to the
house in which they lodged in the village for their morning
meal, and the disciples wondered why they had not been able
to heal the boy, although by a little reflection they might have
remembered that they never thought they could do it. And
as they were talking together in private of what had happened,
they asked Jesus —
" Master, why could not we heal him ? " His answer was
the sharp reproof, which they deserved. Only a few months
ago, He had sent them out to teach throughout Galilee with
great powers, provided they believed in Him, but already they
had lost trust, and did not pray to God.
"You failed," Jesus said, "because you did not trust Me.
For if you have trust as small as a grain of mustard seed,
you could tell Mount Hermon to move to yonder place, and
it would move, and nothing should be impossible to you.
But," He added, " this kind of trouble is only healed by
prayer." Now, when He said the disciples could move
mountains, He was only using a common proverb of the
people, which meant, not that they could shift mountains
about, but that they could remove great difficulties. They
should have known by this time, from the example of Jesus,
to pray earnestly whenever they had any difficult thing to do ;
and their consciences told them that His answer was true —
they had neither prayed nor trusted when with the boy, and
they asked no more questions.
Thou wilt learn from this story not to say, " If thou canst,"
when praying. God can do all things, and it is thy first duty

A CHILD IN THE MIDST. 209
in prayer to believe that thy Father in Heaven can do what
thou askest, for it is worse than foolishness to ask for a thing
which thou dost not believe He can do for thee.

A CHILD IN THE MIDST.
CAPERNAUM, AUTUMN, A.D. 33.
Now we come to one of the loveliest pictures in the life of
Jesus, and in the midst of it is a little child. It is still Autumn.
The grass on the hillsides is scorched and dry, and the fruits
are hanging ripe among the brown leaves in the orchards.
Having spent some more days among the villages at Hermon
and Caesarea Philippi, Jesus turned towards Galilee again.
He knew that the Sadducees and Pharisees who had driven
Him away would be watching for His return, yet He deter
mined to go back, but to go quietly and privately. From the
cool, breezy heights of Hermon they descended to the deep
valley of the Jordan, and crossing it at a shallow place, they
were soon again among the wooded hills and vales of Upper
Galilee. Avoiding villages, for He did not wish it known that
He was in Galilee, He took the lonely paths through the hills,
spreading a tent and camping in the open air at night, and
spending days in quiet places, for the weather was very warm.
Though He did not teach the people on that journey, He
taught His disciples much, telling them about His death,
and preparing them for the time when they would be left
without Him. He knew that when He got back to the
crowded towns by the Lake-side He would be busy again,
and would have few opportunities for speaking privately to
them, and among the dark shadows of the silent and lonely
hills He sought to impress upon them the certainty of His
death. Over and over again He told them that He would be
taken a prisoner and killed at Jerusalem, and would rise in
three days. He wished them to give up thinking that He
would ever be a King such as they thought ; and seeing His
sad, earnest face, and hearing ever of His death, they were
cast down : but they heard Him always say that in three days

2IO WHO SHALL BE GREATEST?
He would rise again, and though they did not understand
what He meant, and were afraid to ask what would happen
when He rose, their hopes returned, and they fully believed
that He would return alive to the world, and be their
glorious King. They thought that the end of their work was
drawing near, that soon they would get high places in His
kingdom as rewards for their hard service — princes, nobles,
governors, at least. And while Jesus tried to get them to
believe that He was really to be killed and leave the world,
they still looked eagerly forward to His death as the triumph
of His work, and were already dividing the riches and honours
which they expected to receive.
They passed quietly through Upper Galilee, with no crowds,
no wonders, no teaching, only thirteen young countrymen,
wearing heavy cloaks, and with long sticks in their hands,
walking among the hills. And on the day when they came
over the high road past Safed in the hills above Capernaum,
and saw again the beautiful blue Lake sparkling in the sunlight
like a silver mirror among the mountains, with the ranges
of Hermon and of Moab beyond, and the rich crowded cities,
and beautiful gardens so close at hand, the hopes of His
disciples rose again. Jesus walked in front thinking of
His coming death, but so little did they believe that He
would be killed and leave them, that they actually began
to quarrel angrily with each other as to who should be
greatest when Jesus was King. Who doth not pity Jesus?
How often were His sorrows deepened and His loneliness
intensified by the secret disbelief, greed, vanity, and mis
understanding of His nearest friends ! But He said nothing,
and soon they were in Capernaum. Perhaps He came
into the town at night, for He was not noticed for some
days. When He reached Peter's house some of the disciples came
to Him, and He knew from their faces what they were think
ing about ; but they did not know what He had heard them
saying on the road. Looking at them sadly, He surprised
them with this simple question —

HUMBLE AS LITTLE CHILDREN. 2 I I
"What were you disputing about on the road?" But no
one answered. The men were ashamed of what they had
been saying ; but they would confess nothing. Sitting down,
which was His usual sign that He would speak for some time,
Jesus told them to bring in the other disciples; and when
they all stood before Him in the room, He said —
" Whoever wisheth to be the first, he shall be the last, and
shall be the servant of all the others." There were little dark-
eyed children in the room, Peter's children, who loved Jesus,
and liked to hide in corners and watch Him and listen. They
were sorry when he was away, and now on His return they
gladly left their games to be near Him. Now Jesus loved
little children more than anything else in the world, and
calling a little one by his name, He bade him come, and the
child ran joyfully across the floor and stood by His side, his
little head not as high as Jesus' shoulder. With kind words
Jesus told him to stand out alone in the middle of the room,
and the child did so. Then, turning to the disciples, who
were looking on, He said —
"Unless you change, and become as little children, you
shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but whoever shall be
humble as this little child," pointing as He spoke to the blush
ing boy, " he shall be greatest in that Kingdom." They all
looked at the boy, as he stood in his small striped tunic, with
bare legs and feet and hanging head, blushing and feeling very
full of love to Jesus, trusting Him, and ready to run to Him
when told. The child did not know what it all meant, but he
knew that he would do anything for Jesus, and not feel proud
at all ; and before this innocent child these bearded men stood
silent and reproved.
Again Jesus called the child, and he ran to Him, and hid
his blushing face in His white tunic. Putting His arms round
him as though both the child and He were giving the lesson
to the hardy fishermen, He set the child down beside Him,
his fair head touching the dark brown hair of Jesus, and
repeating part of what He had told them once before, He
said —

212 AN HUNDRED SHEEP.
"Whoever receiveth a little child in My name, receiveth
Me, and whoever receiveth Me, receiveth God ; but whoever
shall cause harm to one of these little ones that believeth on
Me, it were better for that man that a millstone were hung
round his neck and he were drowned in the sea." He then
repeated to His disciples more of what He had told them before,
saying that they should not hesitate to give up anything that
caused them to do wrong, even to cutting off their hand, add
ing these beautiful words, as though He feared some of them
did not yet think enough of the child now folded in His arms.
"See that you despise not little children, for I tell you that
in Heaven their angels do always see the face of God, My
Father in Heaven." These are beautiful words for children.
Children are to be first, and always see God's face in Heaven,
just as in their pure hearts they hear His voice on earth.
Jesus then told them this story —
" If a shepherd should have an hundred sheep, and one of
them should be lost, if he be a good shepherd he will leave
the flock and search the hills and valleys until he find the
wanderer, and when he findeth him he will rejoice more over
finding the little lost one than over the ninety-nine other sheep
which never were lost." Adding that children are God's little
sheep, that Jesus Himself is the kind Shepherd who wants to
lead them into Heaven, and that God does not wish a single
child not to have Heaven. The disciples now confessed
something they had done that day without His leave. It was
John who spoke.
" Master, we saw a man healing people to-day in Thy name,
and we forbade him, because he cometh not with us."
"Forbid him not," said Jesus, "for there is no man who
doeth a good thing in My name who will ever speak lightly
against Me. Whoever is not against us is for us. And who
ever giveth you but a cup of cold water to drink because you
are with Me, shall be rewarded." And after speaking to them
of other things, He gave them a further warning against ever
again disputing with each other, using the same words which
He had used once before.

FORGIVE THY BROTHER. 213
"Salt is good," He said, "but if the salt have lost its taste
it is of no use. See that you are like good salt, and be at
peace with each other." And still the little ruddy-cheeked
child sat by Him, gazing up into His face with solemn dark
eyes, forgetful of his games, of his companions, of the dis
ciples, listening to every word of his dear Friend, and doubt
ing nothing.
Remember thou how this little child taught these fishermen,
for thou art not too young to show by thy gentleness, trust,
and kindness, what like grown men should be. How did
this child teach these men ? Not by speaking, but by showing
from a pure heart what perfect love and trust are.

FORGIVE THY BROTHER.
CAPERNAUM, AUTUMN, A.D. 33.
As some of His disciples might bear ill-will to each other
after their recent dispute as to who should be the greatest,
Jesus went on to tell them that they must forgive all injuries,
and love each other like brothers. They were still in the
small room of Peter's house, and His arm was round the child
who sat beside Him, as He told them that they should love
their brethren not only when they were kind, but also when
they were unkind, and so win them back to kindness. The
disciples were to behave to each other like brothers, for all
men are brothers in God's great kingdom, and God is the
Father of us all. But sometimes a brother harms another,
and what is he to do then ?
" If thy brother harm thee," said Jesus, " go secretly and
tell him what he hath done, between thyself and him alone,
and if he listeneth to thee and is sorry, then thou hast won
thy brother again, and all is well. But if he will not speak
with thee, then take one or two people with thee and try
again, so that they may be able to say that thou didst try to
make friends with thy brother. But if he shall still refuse to
speak to thee, ask thy friends to speak to him ; but if he will

214 WHERE TWO OR THREE ARE.
not listen to them, or say he is sorry for what he hath done,
thou needst do no more; leave him alone." Thus Jesus
wished His disciples not to quarrel, but if a quarrel should
arise, they were to do all they could to be friends again.
He was anxious that they should keep together, work and
pray and worship together, saying to them also what He said
to Peter when they were alone on the hill near Caesarea
Philippi, a few weeks before —
"What things you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven,
and what things you loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.
And if two of you agree upon anything that you shall ask in
prayer, My Father in Heaven will do it for you. For where
two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in
the midst of you."
Thus He gave them a promise that when they met together
to worship, His Spirit would be especially with them. Some
of them thought that only in churches or in the Temple could
they worship rightly, but He told them differently. In the
lonely valley, on the storm-tost ship, or in the darkness of
the mine, there the Spirit of God is with His worshippers,
as much as in the quiet cathedral. With a desire for more
guidance, Peter, who thought there must be some limit to
forgiving one another, asked —
"Master, how often shall I forgive my brother? Is seven
times enough?" Peter thought he was generous, for he had
been taught, like all Jews, not to forgive even once, but to
pay back injuries.
" I say," said Jesus firmly, " not seven times only, but
seventy times seven shalt thou forgive thy brother ! " mean
ing that there was to be no end to forgiving any one who was
sorry for what he had done, for no one would think of keeping
count of seventy times seven, which comes to four hundred and
ninety times. He then told them a story about a king and his
servants, to show how willingly God forgiveth us, and taketh us
into His Kingdom of Heaven ; for the King in the story is God.
There was once a king who came to examine his servants,
and one of them was brought who owed him ten thousand

THE KING AND HIS SERVANTS. 215
talents of silver — now that is more than a million of English
pounds — and as the servant had not got the money to pay
him with, the king ordered him, his wife and children, and all
that he had, to be sold. When the servant heard this order
he fell down on his knees and worshipped the king, saying,
" Lord, have patience with me and I will pay thee all that I
owe thee." And the king felt sorry for him, and forgave him
the whole debt, and let him off free. After the king forgiving
him so much, we should expect this man to forgive others
gladly, but listen : —
When this servant went out from the king, he met another
servant, who owed him one hundred pennies — now that is less
than four English pounds, and he had owed the king a million
pounds — and he took his fellow- servant by the throat before
the other servants, saying, "Pay me what thou owest." And
the poor man fell down on his kness and begged of him, say
ing, " Have patience with me, and I will pay thee." But the
servant would not, and had him put into prison till he should
pay the debt. Now when the other servants saw what he had
done to his fellow-servant, they were sorry and went and told
the king, and the king sent for the cruel servant and said to
him, " O thou wicked servant ! I forgave thee all thy large
debt of ten thousand silver talents when thou didst ask me.
Thou shouldst have had mercy on thy fellow-servant, as I had
mercy on thee." And the king was very angry, and gave the
cruel man over to be punished till he should pay all that was
due. And the disciples thought that the man was rightly pun
ished by the king, who having had so much kindness shown
to him, could be so very unkind to his companion ; forgetting
that God is the king, who forgiveth us all so much, that we
should gladly forgive each other ; but Jesus reminded the dis
ciples of that in these beautiful warning words —
" And My Father in Heaven will do the same to you, if you
do not every one forgive your brother from your hearts." And
with this, Jesus ended the charming address which arose from
the disciples quarrelling on the road to Capernaum, and they
went out of the house resolving to obey His words. And the

2l6 THE TEMPLE SHEKEL.
little child, who had been in His arms all the while, ran out
again into the sunshine with his companions, and he too
understood that he was to be kind and gentle and loving to
his little brothers.
And thou also wilt remember never to be tired of forgiving,
and of being kind, and if thy brother will not listen to thee,
then forgive him in thy kind little heart and think no more
about it, and so thou wilt be like Jesus who forgave all His
enemies.
THE TEMPLE SHEKEL.
CAPERNAUM, AUTUMN, A.D. 33.
Every man in the country where Jesus lived, who was twenty
years of age had to pay a tax each year, called the " Temple
Shekel," worth about is. 3d. Rich or poor, all had to pay it
to the men who collected it for the priests at Jerusalem, who
said it was paid to God, and that it helped to get the one who
gave it into Heaven ; but really it was put into two great money
boxes in the Golden Temple and spent upon sacrifices and
upon the men and women about the Temple. It should have
been paid in March, and it was now September, and when Peter
returned to his house, the collector came asking for his half
shekel, a small old silver coin, and at the same time he asked
Peter if Jesus paid the tax, for there were some men who
would rather go to prison than pay it. Peter, without asking
Jesus, answered, " Yes," to the man, but he had not enough
money to pay it with, and leaving him he went to tell Jesus
that the collector had called. Perhaps Jesus had heard them
talking at the door, for he said —
" Peter, from whom do the kings of the world ask taxes ;
from their own sons, or from strangers? "
" From strangers," Peter answered, for of course no king
would think of taxing his own sons.
"The sons therefore go free," said Jesus, looking gently at
Peter, who had been too hasty in telling the man that Jesus
would pay the tax. Why should the Son of God pay a tax to

HIS BROTHERS COME. 217
the Temple of God? Why should the pure and good One
pay a tax to priests, to help Him to have Heaven ? Some
Teachers also, were not asked to pay this tax at all, and Peter
was about to return and tell the man that He did not pay it,
when Jesus added —
" But in case we should cause them to do wrong, go down
to the Lake and cast a hook into the water and pull up the
first fish which cometh, and when thou hast opened its mouth,
thou wilt find a shekel ; take that and give it to them for Me
and thee." Jesus knew that after what Peter had told the col
lector, he would press for the tax, which He had paid before
when working as a Carpenter in Nazareth, it being one of
many trifling customs which He obeyed although He did not
defend them. We do not read of Peter fishing, but we hear
no more of the collector or of the Temple tax, and conclude
that he was paid.
The Festival of Bowers was now near, the most joyful Festi
val of all the year, the great glad harvest home kept by the whole
nation in the Golden Temple at Jerusalem, to mark the in
gathering of all the crops of the field — oil, wheat, barley, wine,
dates, figs, pomegranates, flour, some of everything which they
had got they brought to the Temple. It was a time of great
rejoicing, particularly if the year had been a rich one, and all
over the country the people gathered in bands to march up to
Jerusalem, both for company and for safety, for sometimes
robbers attacked them in lonely places. Capernaum was the
gathering place for the Lake district, and as the people came in
to the town from the plains and the hills, the brothers and sisters
of Jesus came down by the vale of Doves from Nazareth.
They were surprised to find that apparently Jesus was not
going to the Festival. While they had cut new sticks, and
mended their sandals, and put on their holiday clothes, He
seemed to be making no preparations, and they began to talk
to Him and give Him advice as to what He should do and
how He should teach. They did not yet believe in Him, and
it is very doubtful if they even loved Him, for they knew that
His life would be in danger if He went to Jerusalem or Judsea,

2l8 THEIR BAD ADVICE.
and yet they pressed Him to go thither. Fresh from their
sheep and vines, they sought out their elder Brother, whom the
people thought so wise and great, to urge upon Him what to
do at this critical time ; for, like His disciples, they hoped that
if Jesus became a King, they would become great with Him.
If He failed, He would be punished, but they His brothers
would escape unnoticed and untouched, back to their sheep
and their fields again.
" Leave Galilee arid go into Judaea," they urged Him, " that
Thy followers there may also see the wonderful works which
Thou doest. For no man who wisheth to become openly
known doeth anything in secret." Thus they advised Him
to go into danger, for they thought little of any One who
could do wonders, but who would not make a show of His
power. "^Thou doest these things," they added, "show
Thyself to the world." Jesus might have answered, "You,
Mine own younger brothers ! who have known Me from
childhood, whom I have carried, whose little feet I have
taught to walk, whom I have never deceived, surely you
believe in Me ! " He did not answer angrily when they
hinted that He was keeping out of the way, but gave a
gentle reply with an edge of irony that must have touched
their hearts. He told them that they were quite safe to go
to Judaea, for they did not teach, but it was different
with Him.
" It is not time for Me," He said, "but you can go at any
time. Those people do not hate you, but Me they hate,
because I tell them that what they do is wicked. Go up to
the Festival in Judaea ! I shall not go yet, for it is not My
time." They made no reply, for what He said of them was
true, that they at any rate could not be accused ¦ of favouring
or helping Him. And when the band of people left Caper
naum to walk to Jerusalem, His brothers went with it, but
Jesus remained behind with His disciples, and they thought
that He was not going, and told all the people whom they
met that He would not be at the Festival.
This is one of the saddest things in the life of Jesus — His

THE FESTIVAL OF BOWERS. 219
brothers — who had played and slept with Him, urging Him to
go into danger. There are no words so bitter as the taunts of
brothers, and if thou canst not help him, never, never do thy
brother any harm.

THE FESTIVAL OF BOWERS.
JERUSALEM, AUTUMN, A.D. 33.
Jesus did not leave Capernaum till more tiRan a %reek after
His brothers had gone to attend the Festal of Bowers at Jeru
salem, and then He followed with a fcw,. of His disciples,
walking quietly and quickly, not teaching anywhere, for He
did not wish it to become known that He would be at the
Festival. The Festival of Bowers was held at the time of the new
moon in October, lasted for seven days, and was one of the
tju£e__great Festivals to which everybody was expected to go,
even women and children. For weeks before, on all the
country roads, bands_ of Rgggje were marching towards Jeru
salem, singing jojful__psalms, while the children danced and
waved green branches, the songs beginning low and growing
loude.r as they ajljpined in, till they made the hills and valleys
ring with their marching music. And when at last they
reached the Mount pjLQjj^gs, and saw on the other side of
the Kedron valley the splendid city and the great Gojdjn
Temple, a shout of joy went up from each band as they came
over the shoulder of Olivet, in which all the children
joined, waving palm branches and shouting until the very
soldiers in the wa&hjjajvers on the walls of Jerusalem heard
them. For weeks the city had been preparing for this joyful time
of music, singing, dancing, illuminations, and fe.asti.ng. It was
the law that the people must all come out of their houses and
live for a week in greer^ bogei^, built in the streets, squares,
courts, gardens, and on the fffl^ roofs of the houses, of great
Vajy branches — palm, olive, myrtle, pine, and willow
branches — woven together, with*" red peaches, yellow citrons,

2 20 WATER IN A GOLDEN BOWL.
and purple grapes hanging among the twigs, to remind them
of the time long ago when their forefathers lived in tejqts. in
the sandy desert and had _no brick, houses. The streets were
decorated with branches of trees and flower stalls with fruits
for sale, until with bower-building, pfllarjwyjing, arch-mak
ing, and ropes of leaves hung across from house to house,
the streets looked like paths in a green fojf,si ; just as thou
hast seen houses hung with evergreens and holly at Christmas
time. The country people who came were taken in by their
friends, until there was nq more room in the city, and then they
built their green bowers in the fields and on the hills outside,
until the Mount of Olives and sides of the brook Kedron
were covered with bowers, whence they could see the Golden
Temple, high up on its rocky height, with the sunlight burn
ing on its golden roof by day, and the moonlight flashing
there by night.
The first day of the Festival began with silver trumpets
blown from the white marble steps inside the Temple, and
then the people, taking in their right hand a yellow citron,
and in their left a bunch of palm, myrtle, and willow tffigs
tied together with a silver or gold cord, crowded to the
" WaterGateJ' of the Temple that opened towards the Pool
of Siloam in the valley of the Kedron, until every point of
rock and hill at that part of the valley, on both sides, was
covered with people. When the gate was opened, a proces
sion, headed by a wbite^rojaed priest carrying a large golden
bowl, came out to the sound of music and went down the
long flight of steps cut out of the rocks that led to the
sweet sparkling pool of Siloam, the favourite spring of Jerusa
lem. There he filled the goldepMbo\id. and returned up the
steps holding it on high, while all the people shook their
green branches above their heads like a forest of waving
boughs, and sang a beautiful song in which were these
words —
" With joy^ shall we draw water out of the wells of salva
tion." And as the priest with the golden bowl entered the
great court of the Temple, the Levites and the people that

SILVER TRUMPETS, HARP, AND FLUTE. 221
crowded there, waved their green branches and sang this song
to trumpets and harps —
" Oh give thanks to God, for His mercy endureth for ever."
The musicians continued playing loudly on trumpet, harp,
flute, cymbal, and drum, and the whole place was filled with
music, as the priest went from court to higher court of the
great Temple towards the large stone altar in the third court,
over which had been erected a bower of green willow branches
from Motza on the Kedron, and there, high above the dense
throng of thousands of people that stood in the hot sunshine,
he poured water from the golden bowl into a silver basin.
and wine into another silver basin, mingling them together,
while all the people shouted joyfully. Then, led by a choir
of Levites and singing boys, the people sang a grand psalm to
the accompaniment of flutes, only ; and soon a grey cloud of
smoke rising into the blue air over the Temple told the whole
city that the morning sacrifice was being offered on the great
altar. This ceremony of water-carrying was one of the two great
sights of the Festival, and it was repeated every morning for
seven days. All day long, the people in their holiday clothes,
carrying their bunches of green twigs, and their yellow citrons.
walked through the streets and up the broad steps of the
Temple, and round the great green-covered altar, waving their
branches, and shouting " Hosanna, Hosanna ! " which means,
" Praise be to God ! " And all day the priests performed in
their court, and the singers and musicians played and sang,
the silver trumpets being blown twent^one times that day
from the marble steps of the Women's court.
Jesus did not find fault with these great Festival rejoicings,
but went to them as He went to the marriage at Cana, to look
on; nor wilt thou judge any one harshly, for the spirit of
Jesus liveth in different manners of worship, and He loveth a
gentle judgment.

2 22 JESUS IN THE TEMPLE.
JESUS IN THE TEMPLE.
JERUSALEM, AUTUMN, A.D. 33.
At night came the strangest scene of all in the first great
day of the Festival of Bowers at Jerusalem. In the large
square of the Women's court, which stood high above the
city, and was paved with many coloured marbles, and was open
to the blue skies, the young priests had prepared and placed
upon the lofty walls four immense golden candlesticks, with
great candles in them, and also four huge golden lamps full of
oil, with wicks made out of the old garments of the priests.
At sundown the people crowded into that court, the women
going up into the dim stone galleries round about to look
down from the windows, and when it grew dark, four young
priests went up ladders to the huge candles and lamps upon
the wall and set them on fire, and soon the flames rose and
flared over the Temple walls, lighting up carved arches, gal
leries, pillars of marble, and doors of plated brass and gold.
Then, with lighted torches in their hands, the chief men of
the city — Teachers, Lawyers, Priests, Rulers — with dusky faces
and robes of flowing white, going out into the middle of the
court, began dancing with naked feet upon the coloured pave
ment under these wild flaring lights, while the singers and
musicians seated on the fifteen great steps of the court, with
silver trumpets, flutes, cymbals, and drums, played and sang
wild and exciting music to the strange dancing, and the women
looked down upon a scene in which they were not allowed to
mingle. The lights were so great and high that they lighted
up all the streets of the city below; but, nevertheless, the
people illuminated their houses with candles in the windows,
and walked about with lighted torches in their hands until far
into the night, and when the time of cock-crowing came in
the morning, two trumpeters went through the dancers in the
Temple, sounding their silver trumpets, which was the signal
for the dancing to cease, the lights to be put out, and the
Temple doors to be shut. These Temple lights were the

WHY KILL ME? 223
second great sight of the Festival, and they were kindled every
night for seven nights.
Three days of the Festival went past, but there was no Jesus.
Where was He? The head priests looked for Him among
the people when the Festival began, but He was not there.
"Where is Jesus?" the people asked; but no one could tell.
His brothers said He was not coming to the Festival. Yet all
the people were talking about Him because of His wonders,
but only in whispers, being afraid lest they might be taken for
His friends and punished ; and while some said Jesus was a
good man, others denied it, and said He was leading the people
astray. Crossing the Jordan at the Fords, to which He had come
from the borders of Samaria, Jesus walked along by the river's
Eastern side, and re-crossing it again, came up the steep
Jericho road to the Mount of Olives, and was in Jerusalem
before the priests knew. Suddenly, on the fourth day of the
Festival, He appeared in the Temple, standing among His
disciples, quietly teaching the people in one of the side arches
of the Women's court, where the Teachers usually stood, and
at once He was recognized as the young Carpenter of Naza
reth, and the people crowded to hear Him. Hearing that He
was there, the chief men of the Temple came from the Priests'
court to listen, and when they heard His wonderful teaching,
they looked at each other in surprise.
" How doth this Man know so much," they asked, " having
never been in our schools or colleges?"
" What I teach," Jesus replied, " is not Mine own, but God's
who sent Me. Any man who wisheth to obey God knoweth
whether My teaching is from God or whether I speak from
Myself. Whoever speaketh from himself seeketk his own
glory ; but He that seeketh the glory of God who sent Him,
He is true, and there is no wickedness in Him. Moses gave
you the law, yet none of you keep it." Then, with sudden
energy, He exclaimed, " Why do you wish to kill Me ? " Now,
while the common people knew that the priests hated Jesus,
they did not all know that they wished to kill Him, and some

224 JUDGE RIGHTEOUSLY.
of them answered, repeating the coarse taunt which the Phari
sees had taught them —
"Who wisheth to kill Thee? Thou hast an evil spirit!"
This wicked saying, which had been flung at Him before by
the Pharisees in Galilee, deeply grieved Jesus ; but He took
no notice of it.
" I healed people on the Sabbath," He continued, " and
you were angry ; but on the Sabbath you work in this Temple
for the good of men, because Moses told you. Now, if you
may do so, why are you angry with Me because I made a man
every whit whole on the Sabbath ? Do not judge by appear
ances, but judge righteously." He wished them to be just
and fair, and not to seek to kill Him because He had healed
the poor man on the Sabbath, at the Pool of Bethesda, on His
last visit to Jerusalem.
Now, when the news of His coming and what He had said
spread through the city, all the people talked about Him, and
it got to be generally known that the priests wished to kill
Him, one saying to another, as they looked at Him when He
came day after day and taught fearlessly in the Temple —
" Is not this the young Man from Galilee whom they are
seeking to kill, and yet He speaketh openly, and they say
nothing to Him ? " To which others replied —
"Perhaps they know that He is the Christ. But others
said —
" No. We know that this Man cometh from Nazareth ; but
we have been taught that when the Christ cometh no one
shall know whence He shall come." But in this they had
been taught wrongly. And so they refused to believe what
Jesus said, not because He did not speak the truth, but
because they knew whence He came. It is not likely that
He went to see the wild dancing of His chief enemies in the
Temple at night. He would sit rather talking with His
friends in a green bower on the side of the Mount of Olives,
looking at the huge wild flames that waved over the Temple
walls, as they kindled with red flare on tower and terrace,
and threw dark shadows into the Kedron valley, while the

SOLDIERS REFUSE TO TAKE HIM. 225
moon in silvery splendour hung above the Mount, pouring
her pure rays through the leaves of His bower to fall like
arrows of hght around Him.
And thou wilt remember what Jesus said to these people in
the Temple, that any one who wished to be good and obey
God would know that His teaching is from God, and thou,
too, wilt find that to know Him is better than the learning of
all schools and colleges.
SOLDIERS REFUSE TO TAKE HIM.
JERUSALEM, AUTUMN, A.D. 33.
The Festival of Bowers was nearly over. Every day brought
waving branches and silver trumpets, and every night more
lighted torches and dancing, and Jesus taught daily in the
marble porches of the Temple to the crowds who thronged
among the pillars. Now, He sat upon a Teacher's wooden
bench in the shade of the outer arches, speaking quietly to
those who stood around Him ; now, He stood, in His white
tunic, at the foot of a great marble pillar in a porch, address
ing the ever-moving crowds from all parts of the country, that,
coming up the steps from the city, thronged through the pil
lared entrance and out into the first great open court. The
people were divided, some for, some against Him ; and while
all agreed that they had never heard such speaking at a Fes
tival, some objected, because they knew Jesus, and that He
came from Galilee, and to these He replied —
" You know Me, and whence I came ? I came, not of My
self, but God sent Me, and He is true, and Him you do not
know. I know God, because I came from Him." When ihe
chief Jews heard Him say this, they were very angry, and re
solved that He should be taken a prisoner ; yet they did not
do it, fearing a riot, for they saw that He was winning the
common people to His side, many of whom were inclined to
think that He was indeed the Christ, notwithstanding what
their own Teachers said against Him.
"When the Christ cometh," they asked each other, "will

226 SCATTERING THE GREEN BOWERS.
He do more wonders than this man hath done?" This
alarmed the head priests. That the people should speak
openly in this way of Jesus being the Christ, in the very
Temple, and of One against whom they had warned them,
was, they thought, a very serious danger. And they called a
meeting of the Temple council of the priests, treasurers, and
rulers, in the Hall of hewn stones, at the corner of the Priests'
court, and told them what the people were saying, and the
council resolved that Jesus should be at once taken a pris
oner ; and calling in the officers of the Temple guard, they
ordered them to go down and take Him, but to do it quietly.
The officers went through the people to the place where He
was speaking, and stood listening, waiting until a suitable time
came to take Him quietly.
" I shall be with you only a little while longer," Jesus said,
" and then I will go to God who sent Me. You shall seek
Me, but shall not find Me ; for whither I go you cannot
come." The officers were astonished at His speaking and
His appearance, as He stood in His white countryman's dress,
young, fearless, strong, His clear dark eyes looking calmly
upon the crowd ; and the priests, thrown into a flutter with
His last words, said to each other —
"Whither will He go that we shall not find Him? Will He
go to the Jews that are in strange countries, and teach stran
gers? What doth He mean? " And that day went past, and
the officers did not try to take Him.
The next was the eighth and last day of the Festival, the day
when the people shook the withered leaves from their willow
twigs round the altar, and beat their feathery palm branches
to.pieces against its rough stones, when the willows over it and
the green bowers in garden and court were pulled down and
scattered, and the people returned to their houses. On that
morning there was no joyous bringing of water in the golden
bowl from Siloam, and that night there were no great lights in
the Temple. All was dark there. Everybody missed these
things, for it was a proverb among the people that whoever had
not seen the bringing in of the water, or the kindling of the

NEVER MAN SPAKE LIKE HIM. 227
lights at this Festival, did not know what joy was. And Jesus
called loudly to the people in the Temple —
" If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink, for
whoever believeth in Me " (as the Bible saith)
" He shall be like a watered garden."
"And like a spring of water, whose waters fail not."
The same as He told the woman at the well of Sychar
about two years before, that the Spirit of God would spring
up within them. But His words caused a fresh stir among
the people, some saying firmly —
"This truly is the Prophet ! This is the Christ ! " Others,
who were doubtful, said, "What? Can the Christ come from
Galilee? Doth not the Bible say that He shall come from
the children of King David, and from Bethlehem, the village
where King David was born?" They did not know that
although Jesus had lived almost all his life in Nazareth, He
was born in this very Bethlehem. The people were thus more
and more divided.
But the Temple council sent the officers again, this time
with soldiers, to take Jesus, and they came to the court where
He was teaching, but again they stood listening, as much inter
ested as any in the crowd, until, what with the temper of the
people and their own changed feelings, the soldiers resolved
that they would rather disobey the council than touch Him.
And when He ceased speaking the' officers returned to the
council, who were waiting in their splendid Hall of hewn
stones, with windows that looked down into the courts. They
had been watching and fretting, while the soldiers stood listen
ing to Jesus, and were amazed that they had not brought Him
up a prisoner.
" Why did you not bring Him ? " they demanded angrily.
The soldiers' answer was short and true —
" No man ever spoke like this Man ! " They would not
touch Him. The priests were enraged. Not only had Jesus
won the people, but He had disarmed their own paid soldiers.
Glaring upon the firm, dark-faced men, who did not fear
them, they exclaimed —

228 THE LIGHT OF LIFE.
" Have you also been deceived ? Have any of the Rulers
or Pharisees believed on Him ? These people who know not
the law are accursed ! " But the soldiers stood silent while
the priests cursed them and the common people. Nicodemus,
the friend of Jesus, was a member of this highest council, and
he could not remain silent and hear it said that no Ruler
believed in Him, and he was ashamed that the council should
blame Jesus contrary to their own rules.
"By our law," Nicodemus said gravely, "we do not judge
a man until we have heard him and know what he doeth."
But the other councillors turned upon Nicodemus, as they had
done upon the soldiers, saying with a sneer —
" Art thou from Galilee ? Search the Bible, and thou wilt
see thai no prophet cometh from Galilee." They taunted
Nicodemus with being a Galilean, and therefore a friend of
Jesus. And the council meeting broke up in disorder, with
out settling anything, every one going home. But Jesus con
tinued teaching that day in the Temple, while many of the
people believed Him, and many did not ; and in the evening
He went out and lived among the friendly Galileans camped
on the Mount of Olives.
The friendship of Nicodemus is a bright spot in that dark
meeting of the chief council, and when thou art tempted to be
silent while those around thee are speaking against Jesus,
remember Nicodemus, who spoke for Him, when the leading
Jews were against Him.
THE LIGHT OF LIFE.
JERUSALEM, AUTUMN, A.D. 33.
Jesus did not leave Jerusalem when the Festival of Bowers
was over, but returned early next morning to the Temple, to
teach. Perhaps He did not know that the soldiers had been
ordered to take Him a prisoner, although He knew that His
enemies wished to kill Him. Gathering the people round
Him, He began to speak to them as though He were in no
danger. The Lawyers and Pharisees finding Him there again,

THE FRIEND OF WOMEN. 229
and having failed with the soldiers, tried another way to get
Him into their power.
As He sat quietly speaking in one of the wide stone arches
that looked out upon the beautiful pavement of the Women's
court, He heard a noise of exclamations and excited voices in
the crowd, and saw the people open up a way to allow certain
Lawyers and Pharisees to pass through towards Him. They
were compelling some one to come along with them, a poor
trembling woman, whom their servants pushed forward until
she stood with disordered clothes and loose hair before Jesus,
for she had been forced into the Temple. What did this
interruption mean? This trembling woman? These girdled
priests in their long robes of white shining linen ? One of the
Lawyers, in a voice of mock respect, pointing to the woman,
whose head was bowed with shame, said to Jesus —
" Master, this woman hath been taken in wickedness.
Now, by the law of Moses, we are told to stone her ; but
what dost Thou say ? " Jesus saw their plot. He was known
to have taught strange and new things about the rights of
women, and to be their friend ; and these Pharisees thought
that if He were now to say, " Stone her," the people would cry
out against His harshness, and if He should say, " Let her
go," then the Pharisees would blame Him for teaching things
different from the laws of the great Moses. But Jesus knew
that killing people in this way had long sincebeen put down
by their Roman conquerors, and He also knew that some of
the chief Jews were very wicked men. He was sorry for the
woman, and was shocked that these men should drag her out
thus before all the people, not because of her degrading fault,
but only that they might use her against Him. The whole
thing was so revolting, cruel, and heartless, that He would not
answer the Lawyer's question. He had before refused to act
as a judge between people, and He would not even look at
these pompous hypocrites as they stood before Him with their
long robes and staring phylacteries on arm and brow ; and
stooping down He began to write on the marble pavement
with His finger ; a sign that He would not speak to them.

23O NEITHER DO I CONDEMN THEE.
Thinking that He was perplexed, the Lawyer urged Him to
answer his question, while his richly dressed friends stood in
a group behind him, the people with their dark eyes and
earnest faces standing silently round to see what would
happen. The woman was now almost forgotten in the strug
gle that was going on between Jesus and His enemies, till,
pausing in His writing, He raised His head, and looking at
the group of Pharisees with eyes that made them shrink with
their stern calmness, He said slowly —
" Whoever is free from wickedness among you, let him cast
the first stone at her." And again Jesus bent down and
resumed writing with His finger on the pavement. The poor
' woman thought that these cruel men would certainly stone
her ; but at first the Pharisees did not quite understand Him,
and in the silence which followed, no one touched her. The
crowd thought that among these fine dressed men there
would surely be one who was not wicked ; but the Pharisees
knew better. First one of the older Pharisees turned and
moved away ; then another followed him without a word, and
then another and another, until they were all gone, leaving
only one who might have gone but did not go — the poor
woman. She stood motionless, her heart filled with gratitude
and thanks to Jesus her Friend. The people waited, watch
ing in silence this strange scene, but Jesus still wrote on. At
length He raised His head again and looked to the place where
the Pharisees had been ; but they were gone.
"Woman," He said gently, turning to her, "where are
they ? Did no one condemn thee ? "
" No one, Lord," was her low reply, speaking for the first
time, and hoping that He might forgive her great fault.
" Neither do I condemn thee," He said. "Go away, and be
wicked no more." He forgave, but He also warned her, as He
sent her away. With a full heart she left the Temple, and went
down to her humble dwelling in the town, to tell her friends
what Jesus had done for her, and the people were astonished
and delighted with His wisdom and gentleness. And so the
Pharisees were again defeated and put to shame in the Temple.

IN THE WOMEN S COURT. 23 1
But Jesus remained teaching in the Treasury, where the
money chests were, at the end of the Women's court, and at
a later part of the day, Pharisees, priests, soldiers, common
people, and disciples were again there, listening to Him as He
sat on a raised portion of the red marble pavement in the open
arch between the pillars. He had spoken yesterday of one of
the two great sights of the Festival, the joyous bringing of the
water in a golden bowl with singing and music into the
Temple ; and to-day He referred to the other, the great light
which had been kindled above the very court in which He sat,
and which had lit up the whole Temple, city, valley, and hills
around. The people could see above them on the walls, the
half-burnt candles sticking still in the huge gold candlesticks,
and the marks where the melted wax had run down, and the
great empty basins of the golden lamps with the traces of oil,
flame, and smoke about them ; but the lights were gone ;
there was nothing left but burnt wicks, grease, and soot ; and
they would not be lighted again for another year. The recol
lection of the light which these great flames had cast over the
city was fresh in every mind, as Jesus exclaimed —
" / am the Light of the world. Whoever followeth Me shall
not live in darkness, but shall have the Light of Life." What
a beautiful thing to say ! That to have the Spirit of Jesus is
to have a light to guide our lives. But some Pharisees who
had not been among those who had brought the poor woman,
interrupted Him rudely, saying —
" Thou speakest about Thyself. What Thou sayest is not
true." " If I speak about Myself," He replied quietly, " what I say
is true ; for I know whence I came, and whither I go, but
you do not know. You condemn Me as men judge each
other. I judge no man ; but if I were to judge, My judgment
would be right, for I am not alone in what I do, but My
Father who sent Me is with Me."
" Where is Thy Father ? " interrupted some one thinking
to catch Jesus by demanding to see His Father.
" You do not understand Me," was His quiet reply ; " nor

232 THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE.
do you know My Father. If you knew Me, you would know
My Father also." Now, God was the Father of whom He
spoke ; but they pretended to think He was speaking of His
father Joseph; but He did not answer them any more at
this time. And when He stopped teaching, and went away
from the Treasury, although the chief Jews wished very much
to take Him a prisoner, yet they were afraid to touch Him,
for the people liked Him so much.
Now, before thou dost blame any one for wickedness, re
member thine own faults, and it will make thee gentle in thy
judgments ; for although Jesus might have treated the poor,
sinful woman severely, He forgave her and spoke kindly to her.

THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE.
JERUSALEM, AUTUMN, A.D. 33.
Although Jesus had come away from the Treasury in the
Women's court, He did not leave the Temple, but later still
in the day He taught again in one of the porches of the great
outer court, where the people in their strange bright dresses,
men, women, and children, were going out and in to the
Temple, through the splendid gates. Again the Pharisees
were there listening to Him, for they always had some one to
watch what He said to the people. Young, beautiful, fearless,
it made no difference to Him, as He stood in His white tunic
among the rows of marble pillars.
" I shall go away," He said, speaking of His death, " and
you shall seek Me, and shall die in your wickedness, for you
cannot come to the place whither I go." When the Pharisees
heard Him say this again, fearing He would get out of their
power, they whispered to each other —
"Whither is He going? Will He kill Himself? for He
saith He is going to a place whither we cannot follow Him."
" You came from below," Jesus continued ; " I come from
above ; you belong .to this world, but I do not, and so I said
that you shall die in your wickedness ; for unless you believe

TEACHING IN THE PORCHES. 233
that I am He, you shall so die." But some one in the crowd
called out —
" Who art Thou ? " Jesus replied by asking them to think
of all He had said and done, saying —
" I am what I have said from the beginning, and I have
many things to tell you. God who sent Me is true, and what
I have heard from Him I speak to you. When you have
killed Me, you will know that I am the Christ, and that I do
nothing of Myself, but, as God My Father hath taught Me,
so do I speak to you. God who sent Me is with Me now.
He doth not leave Me alone, for I always do the things which
please Him." These words of Jesus were more than usually
earnest and touching. No one could deny it when He said
that all He did was good ; and this was so conclusive of His
being the Christ, that a large number of the people who
listened, called aloud to Him that they believed Him, and
among them were a few of the leading Judaeans.
" If you continue to believe," Jesus replied, turning with
a glad look to these new friends, " then are you truly My
followers, and you shall know the truth, and the Truth shall
make you free" meaning that they would receive His Spirit,
the Spirit of Truth.
"We are Abraham's children," replied one of the other
Judaeans, " and have never been slaves to any one. How
canst Thou say that we shall be made free?" They did not
understand that Jesus meant freedom from wickedness.
" Every one," He replied, " who doeth wickedness is the slave
of wickedness ; but if I make you free from wickedness you
shall be free indeed. I know that you all are Jews and
children of Abraham, yet you wish to kill Me because you do
not believe My words. I speak what I have learnt from My
Father, and you do what you have heard from your father."
" Abraham is our father ! " again exclaimed some one,
meaning that they were all descendants of Abraham, a great
Jew who hved a thousand years before.
" If you were true children of Abraham," Jesus replied,
looking at the man who interrupted Him, " you would do

234 HAVE I DONE ANY WICKED THING?
the good things that Abraham did, but instead of that, you
wish to kill Me, a Man that hath told you the truth which
I have heard from God. Abraham would not have done
so. But you do the deeds of your father." His words made
them angry; they did not understand Him. Who did He
mean was their " father "? and some one exclaimed —
" God is the Father of us all."
"If God were your Father," Jesus replied quickly, "you
would love Me, for I come from God. I have not come by
Myself, but God sent Me. You do not understand Me,
because you will not believe what I say." He was roused
against these wicked men, who claimed that they were sons
of God, equal with Him, and, turning to the listening people,
He fearlessly went on to tell them that their Teachers were
followers of the spirit of evil —
" Your father is the spirit of evil," He said, " and you do
what he wishes. He was a murderer from the beginning,
and careth not for the truth, because there is no truth in
him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh what is his own,
for the spirit of evil is a liar and the father of all lies. And
because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me." And
then He calmly asked them this amazing question—
" Which of you can say that I have done any wicked thing? "
He paused. Here was a challenge made in their own
Temple, to all the priests and Pharisees who had watched
Him almost daily for the last two years : a challenge to name
one wicked thing that He had done in all His life. No man
in the world's history has given, could truthfully give, such
a challenge. Jesus waited ; his enemies stood silent ; the
people looked on in wonder and awe, as they compared the
calm, beautiful face of this strong young Countryman, with
the scowling confusion of the Pharisees. Turning away from
His cowardly enemies, Jesus resumed, with a ring of victory
in His voice —
" Since I speak the truth, why do you not believe Me ?
Whoever is a child of God, believeth the words of God, and
that is why you do not believe My words, for you are not

YOU DO DISHONOUR ME. 235
children of God." These words made the chief Judaeans so
angry that they shouted again their old lying insult, now so
plainly false, with another insult added to it —
" Thou hast an evil spirit in Thee, Thou art a Samaritan ! "
They meant that He hated the Judaeans, and was full of wick
edness ; shocking words from men who only a few moments
before could not name one wicked thing that Jesus had done.
Sad and pathetic was His reply to this shameful taunt, a taunt
too vile, too like common brawling for priests to use in their
place of worship —
" I have no evil spirit," Jesus replied, " but I honour God,
and you do dishonour Me. I do not seek Mine own glory ;
but there is One who seeketh and who judgeth — God. If a
man obey My words, he shall never see death." Now, they
thought, we have caught Him at last, for they did not know
Jesus meant that all who had His Spirit would have Heaven —
an endless life of perfect union with God.
"Now we are sure that Thou hast an evil spirit," they
exclaimed with a shout of satisfaction. " Abraham is dead,
the prophets are dead, and yet Thou sayest that If a man
obey Thy words he shall never die ! Art Thou greater than
Abraham — greater than these other good men who are all
dead? Whom dost thou make Thyself out to be?" They
hoped to press Him into saying something about Abraham,
whom the people reverenced greatly, which would set them
against Jesus ; and in this last trick they partly succeeded.
" If I were to praise Myself," He replied, " My praise
would be nothing. It is God who glorifieth Me, and you
say that He is your God, although you have never known
Him. I know God, and if I were to say I do not know Him
I should be a liar, like yourselves ; but I know God and obey
His words. Abraham rejoiced to see Me, and he saw Me and
was glad." Again the chief Judaeans interrupted Him. Think
ing only of His life on earth, they exclaimed with a shout of
contemptuous rage —
"Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast Thou seen
Abraham?"

236 AMONG THE MARBLE PILLARS.
One against hundreds. This word-battle of Truth against
falsehood, ofthe Spirit against wickedness, had to be fought out
to the end, and many who heard, never forgot it. Jesus now
came to His last reply. They had put the question, and He
would fearlessly give them the answer. Standing there, a young
beautiful Countryman, in the finest Temple in the world,
looking calmly at the old mistaken Teachers of the people,
He, not yet thirty-three years old, speaking of Abraham who
had been dead for more than a thousand years ! — As He
reflected upon the Spirit of God which was in Him, He
replied calmly —
" I tell you truly, before Abraham was, I am."
The dispute had now got beyond words. The people
thought Jesus had said something against Abraham. Leading
them on with wild gestures, the chief Judaeans, calling "Stones !
stones ! " rushed out of the court to a part of the Temple
which was still building, for in their rage they intended
to stone Him to death. But Jesus went away and hid Him
self, leaving the Temple, perhaps hurried out into the town
by His friends, so that when the enraged people returned He
was gone.
And so amid shouts and confusion ended His last teaching
in the Temple at this time, a teaching that closed with a con
troversy and a challenge which spread far and wide, and which
the chief Judaeans never forgot, for He had said that they were
liars, and followers of the spirit of evil.
And thou wilt not forget how Jesus, standing among the
marble pillars, looking out upon the crowds who listened in
the court outside, standing among people who had known
Him all His life — He, so pure, so gentle, so sensitive to every
form of wickedness, — challenged them to name one wicked
thing that He had done, and even His enemies could not
do it. And every virtue we possess,
And every victory won,
And every thought of holiness,
Are His alone.

FAREWELL TO GALILEE. 237
FAREWELL TO GALILEE.
GALILEE, WINTER, A.D. 33.
The news of the great dispute between Jesus and the
Pharisees spread over Jerusalem, and He did not go back to
the Temple, but left the city and returned to Galilee. He
went to Capernaum, where those who had left Jerusalem
before Him had told the people all about His sudden appear
ance at the Festival of Bowers, and what He had said and
done there : and when He came back to the Lake-side, His
friends gathered round Him, for some did not expect ever
to see Him again.
He resolved to rouse the country once more before return
ing to Jerusalem, for He had determined to go back and
attend the very next Festival, called the Festival of Dedication,
which would be in about seven weeks' time. Choosing
seventy of His friends, He prepared them, as He had done
the disciples a year before, to go out in pairs through all the
towns and villages of Galilee and Judaea also, into which He
was about to go. Calling them together, He spoke to them
in much the same words : warning and encouraging them, and
this is part of what He said —
There is much to do, and there are few people to do it ;
pray to My Father in Heaven that He may send more helpers.
I send you out like lambs among wolves. Take no purse, nor
bag of bread, nor spare shoes, and greet no man on the road.
When you go into a house, say, ' Peace be to this house,' and
if a good man be there, that house shall have peace, but if not,
then your peace shall return to you. Stay in the same
house eating and drinking what they give you, for you deserve
your food, but go not from one house to another. And into
whatever city you go, and they welcome you, eat what they
give you, and heal the sick that are there, and teach, saying,
' The Kingdom of Heaven is near !' But if you come to a
city and they will not welcome you, go through the streets and
say, wiping your feet, as you leave it, ' The dust of your city
that sticketh to our feet, we wipe off against you, nevertheless

238 SEVENTY MEN SENT OUT.
know this, that the Kingdom of Heaven hath come near you.'
It shall be better for Sodom than for that city. Nowadays
ministers are paid for their work, but these seventy men were
to get no money, only food and shelter.
As Jesus spoke of teaching and healing, He thought of what
He had done in the many towns that were crowded round the
warm Western shores of that beautiful Lake, which He was now
about to leave never to return, and remembering the large
towns which He had seen on His long journey through
Phcenicia, He exclaimed in words almost the same as He had
used before when returning to the Lake from a journey among
the villages of Galilee —
" Woe to thee ! Chorazin and Bethsaida, cities by the Lake,
for if I had done in Tyre and Sidon by the sea, the things
which I have done in you, they would long ago have mourned
for their wickedness. It shall be better for them than for you.
And thou, Capernaum ! shalt thou be raised up ? Thou shalt
be brought low. If I had done the things in Sodom which I
have done in thee, Sodom would not have been destroyed. It
shall be better for Sodom than for thee." Turning again to
the seventy men, He gave them these last parting words of en
couragement : " Whoever listeneth to you, listeneth to Me, for
you speak My words ; he that rejecteth you, rejecteth Me,
for I have sent you out to teach, and whoever rejecteth Me,
rejecteth God, for He sent Me." And thus these seventy men
were sent out two by two, taking the brief message of Heaven
through the highways and lanes and valleys, over hills and
rivers and into every city and village, pondering as they went
the saying of Jesus, that whoever received His words, received
His Spirit.
Having thus sent out these men to prepare the people,
Jesus remained some days longer, and then bidding a last
farewell to His friends at the Lake-side, He started with
all His disciples to go slowly and publicly on His fourth
and last journey through Galilee, back towards Jerusalem,
to attend the great December Festival of Dedication. It
was the beginning of Winter, and cold up among the hills.

THE MIRROR OF THE LAKE. 239
The fields were bare and brown, the last of the purple grapes
and the dark green olives had been gathered and crushed, and
the trees, shaken with the wind, had cast their red leaves upon
the ground, while in the wooded clefts of the hills, the streams,
swollen with rain, foamed and sparkled down to the Jordan,
that plunged and wound through its deep gorge of rocks.
From the white shores of the plain of Gennesaret Jesus and
His friends climbed to the hills, pausing to look for the last
time on the blue mirror of the beautiful Lake, with its undulat
ing margins of white beach, dipping bushes, black rocks, and
steep cliffs hung with trees, all set like a deep cup, amid the
surrounding hills that rose ever higher towards the snow-clad
Mount Hermon — one last look — and then the picture was shut
out from view. Passing round the foot of Mount Tabor, with
its thickly wooded top, Jesus went down to the level plains of
Endor and Esdraelon, where there were broad rivers and
numerous marshy streams to cross, that watered these rich
lands, and hundreds of villages which the seventy men had
prepared for His coming. After spending days, perhaps weeks,
among these villages, He climbed the high range ofthe Carmel
hills, whence, looking across the rich plain of Esdraelon to the
wooded hills of Nazareth, He took His last farewell of His
beloved Galilee, intending to go through Samaria by the most
direct road to Jerusalem.
Now the Judaeans and the Samaritans hated each other
so much that many Judaeans would not go across Samaria,
and the Samaritans liked to annoy the Judaeans and
Galileans by turning them back, particularly if they thought
they were going to a Festival. But Jesus did not care for
these foolish enmities. He had come back from the Pass
over Festival two years ago, through Samaria to Galilee, and
was very kindly received, and, as He had done during the
rest of His journey, He sent two men on before Him, most
likely two of the seventy men, to a village a little way into the
country of Samaria to prepare things for His coming, for He
intended to stay the night there. It was toward evening when
the men reached the village, and going to the inn for strangers,

240 A SAMARITAN VILLAGE.
they asked them to make ready for Jesus and His friends.
The men were asked questions as to who Jesus was, and
whither He was going, and hearing that they were Galileans
going to a Festival in Jerusalem, the people refused to take
them in. When the two men brought this message to Jesus,
He did not turn back, but went on towards the village, and
the villagers came out in their strange dresses, with yelping
dogs and long sticks to meet Him, and, standing on the road,
they said, with threatening gestures, that He was not to come
into their village.
Jesus heard them calmly, but not so His disciples, who were
very angry that these great little-nobodies should refuse Jesus
that common hospitality which was always shown to travellers.
They had read in the Bible, that long ago, in that very
country, a prophet had called down fire from Heaven upon
a captain and his soldiers who had come from a wicked
king ; and His cousins, James and John, going up to Jesus,
exclaimed with suppressed rage as they pointed eagerly at the
villagers —
" Lord ! shall we call down fire from the skies and burn
them up?" Jesus, who had been speaking to the villagers,
turned round and rebuked the cruelty of His cousins. He
had not given them their great powers that they might kill
foolish people who resisted them.
" You do not understand," He said, " what kind of spirit
you are of. I came not to destroy men's lives, but to save
them." And, tired as He was, He turned back and left the
place, walking to another Samaritan village, where they were
received kindly, and stayed the night. But He was obliged
to change his road after this, and instead of going through
that country, He went down by the side of Samaria, intending
to cross the Jordan into the Peraean country. And so, because
of the folly of these villagers, the Samaritans did not see Jesus
on His last journey ; but although they did this to Him, He
always spoke kindly of them.
Learn from this story the wickedness of giving way to sud
den anger ; and that great power must be used with great

TEN LEPERS. 24 1
wisdom. James and John wished to kill these villagers with
fire for not welcoming Jesus, but He saw in. it nothing grand
and fine, only wicked cruelty ; and told them that they did not
yet understand His Spirit, which is the spirit of gentleness and
forbearance.
TEN LEPERS.
SAMARIA, WINTER, A.D. 33.
After staying a night in the Samaritan village, Jesus and
His friends went their way, going slowly towards Jeru
salem. The road from the hills to the valley of the Jordan
passed along the borders of Samaria, and was one often
taken by travellers on the way to Jerusalem. It led down
through rugged clefts in the hills, where the Wintry floods were
rushing, making the streams difficult and at times dangerous
to cross. Jesus and His disciples passed some villages on their
way down, and at one of them into which He intended to go,
they were stopped by a strange sight.
Standing upon the rocks on a rising ground, at a distance
from the road, were ten miserable men clad in white, who were
in different states of pitiful sickness, with little cloths hanging
over their mouths, and bells at their waists. They needed not
to cry, "Unclean, unclean ! " and ring their bells and rattle their
wooden clappers for Jesus to know that they were poor sick
lepers, who were not allowed to enter any village, but had to live
in wretched huts in the fields outside the walls. They had heard
that Jesus healed sickness, and that He was coming that way,
and they had struggled to this high ground that He might see
their misery and pity them. When they saw Him coming they
raised a croaking cry for help, and Jesus stopped and made a
sign to them, and scrambling down from the rocks, they
came nearer."
" Master, have mercy on us ! " they begged of Him. " Master,
have mercy on us ! " When He saw their belief in Him,
He did not touch them, as He did the leper in the Galilean
village a year before, but said to them —

242 THE FORDS AT BETHSHEAN.
" Go and show yourselves to the priests." Now every leper
had to get a letter from a priest that he was healed, before he
could go again into any town or village. The lepers knew in an
instant what Jesus meant. Nine of them had to go to Jerusa
lem, being Judaeans, and one to Gerezim, for he was a Samari
tan, and they all started to go at once, knowing what depended
on their doing as they were told. They had not gone far,
until they felt their tottering legs grow strong, their white
hands, soft and red. They were healed, even before they had
seen the priests ! Then they talked together, and the nine
Judaeans resolved to hasten on to the priests at Jerusalem,
that they might be the sooner restored to their friends. They
did not think of returning to thank Jesus. But when the
Samaritan felt himself healed, much as he wished to see his
friends again, he turned back, rejoicing in the vigour of his
steps, shouting to all whom he saw, and praising God for
His goodness, until he overtook Jesus, and then he knelt
down on the road before Him, and thanked Him earnestly,
although he might have had some hesitation in saluting a
Jew. Jesus saw from the man's dress and manner that he
was a Samaritan.
"Did I not heal ten lepers?" He asked him. "Where
are the other nine? " And looking round at the people who
were there, He added, "Of these ten men, not one hath
thought of giving thanks to God but this stranger ! " And,
turning again to the kneeling Samaritan, He said, " Rise, and
go, thy trust hath healed thee ! " And the man rose, with
gratitude in his heart, at liberty now, to go to the priest and to
his friends.
Jesus walked on with His disciples down a deep gorge
in the hills, towards the fords of Jordan near Bethshean,
where the river was wide and broad with high, thickly-
wooded banks on each side, and there He crossed over from
Galilee into the Peraea, in order to walk up the Eastern side of
the river, keeping out of Samaria until they should reach the
Fords near Jericho, where He would cross the river back
again.

I THANK THEE, O FATHER ! 243
On His way through the villages of Galilee and the Peraea,
the seventy men whom He had sent out some weeks before
gradually joined Him again, each bringing in the same joyful
story, mixed with a touch of childish exultation.
" Master," they exclaimed, " even evil spirits obey us,
through Thy name ! " But Jesus did not like their foolish
words, and spoke to them, saying —
" Be not joyful because evil spirits obey you, but rather
be glad that your names are written in Heaven." But they
had worked hard and with success, and He rejoiced that while
His enemies were powerful within the stone walls and forts of
Jerusalem, in the open country, among the green glens and
wooded hills of Galilee, the people were on His side. Their
success deeply touched Him, and He thanked God for it in
this short prayer —
" I thank Thee, O My Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth,
that Thou hast hid these spiritual things from the men of
learning and of wisdom, and hast made them known to children
and simple people ; for so it hath pleased Thee." He
rejoiced that His spirit was welcomed by kind hearts, more
than by clever heads, and that little children should early
receive Him, for in them he saw angels clad in rosy flesh,
companions in purity with Himself. And continuing, He
said —
"All things have been given Me by God My Father, and
none but God knoweth who I am, nor who He is, but I
His Son, and they to whom I show Him." Then, turning to
His disciples, He told them privately how blessed they were,
saying, "Blessed are the eyes which see the Spiritual things
which yours see, for prophets and kings have wished to see the
things which you see, and have not seen them, and to hear
what you hear, but did not hear them."
Remember how grieved Jesus was that these Judaeans, who
ought to have been grateful, went away in their new strength
without thanking God, while the stranger came back to
do so ; for many people beg blessings, who in the joy and
comfort of enjoying them, forget to return any thanks, but

244 THE lOrD S PRAYER.
Ingratitude though very common and cruel, is a thing which
little children can easily avoid by being thoughtful and kind.

THE LORD'S PRAYER.
JORDAN, WINTER, A.D. 33.
It was now the month of December, the season when heavy
rains soaked the ground and filled the watercourses with
brimming streams, when cutting winds swept down the gorges
of the hills, and the mountains of Northern Lebanon were
white with snow.
Jesus continued walking with His friends journeying to
wards Jerusalem, and, perhaps after He had crossed the Jordan
at the Fords of Bethshean and was on the Peraean side, He
retired with a few of His disciples, as was His custom, to pray.
Jesus prayed in private, and all His prayers that we have
are very short ; but other Teachers prayed before the people,
for ten or twenty minutes at a time. In the crowded Temple,
on the busy street, they liked to be seen praying. Jesus
used to climb a quiet hillside to be alone ; and at this time,
when He returned to His disciples after praying, some of
them who had watched Him from a distance, wished they
could pray as He did, and said —
" Lord, teach us how to pray, as John the Baptist taught his
followers." Now, while Jesus had not taught His disciples any
prayer to be especially their own, less than two years before,
they had heard Him give the people on Mount Hattin a short
prayer to use. But perhaps the disciples thought they
should pray differently from other people, which was a great
mistake. This is what He said to the people and the disciples
on Mount Hattin about praying —
"When thou prayest, do not be like the hypocrites,
who love to pray standing up in churches and standing at
street corners, that people may see them praying ; for in being
so seen they have received their reward. But when thou
prayest, go into thine own room, and shut the door, and pray
in secret to thy Father in Heaven, for He seeth in secret and

OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN. 245
shall reward thee. In praying, do not say the same thing over
and over again, as foolish men do, who think they shall be heard
because they speak so much. Be not like them, for God
knoweth what thou hast need of before thou askest Him."
This seemed strange to the disciples, who had always under
stood that the more men prayed, the better men they were.
The Pharisees had a prayer for every hour of the day, and
the disciples expected Jesus would have given them a long
prayer to learn off: but instead of that, He now repeated over
to them the same beautiful short prayer which He had given
the people before in Galilee. It has only sixty-five words in
it, and yet it has all that Jesus thought His disciples should
say. A little prayer, that for two thousand years has been said
in every part of the world, and in almost every language. A
little prayer, that can all be said in a minute — simple, beauti
ful, earnest — in grave contrast to the long speeches which
some professional prayer-makers say. A prayer, in which we
call God our Father, and ask for only one gift, food for our
selves, and say, that as we do to others so may God do to us.
A little prayer, that seeks to make Heaven upon earth.
" When you pray," Jesus said to His disciples, " say this :
' Our Father which art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name !
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in
Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us
our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And. lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil: for Thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory, for ever.' "
That is the whole of the prayer, the only prayer which
Jesus ever taught, and thou wilt learn it, for it means that
thou dost ask God, whose Name is ever sacred, to spread His
Kingdom of Heaven among men, that we may all obey Him
here, as the angels do in His home of Heaven, that He will
give thee food each day, and forgive thy faults, if thou dost
forgive others, and that He will help thee to resist the spirit
of evil and do good. This little prayer is not difficult to
understand, for Jesus made it short, and simple, and beautiful,
that children may learn it,

246 ASK, AND RECEIVE.
No doubt His disciples were disappointed when, having
asked for a special lesson in praying, they were told to say
only the same little prayer which Jesus had already given to
the people. They saw, however, that the main thing in it is
for men to be good. For if we are good to others, God will
be good to us, and if we are unkind to others we cannot expect
God to be kind to us. But Jesus told them that they must be
in earnest when they prayed, not praying carelessly, nor were
they to grow tired of praying and give it up. And He told
them this story.
" A man had a friend," He said, " and he went to him in
the middle of the night, and knocking at his door, said, ' A
traveller hath come to my house from a journey, and I have
no food to give him : lend me three loaves of bread.' To
which the friend answered from the inside : ' Do not trouble
me. My door is shut ; and my children are with me in bed.
I cannot rise and give thee bread.' Yet," added Jesus,
" although this man will not rise because he is his friend, if he
shall continue to ask and will not go away, the man will
rise and give him as many loaves as he needeth." Jesus
meant that they were to pray as earnestly to God as the man
in the story had asked for bread, but He told them that they
would not find God slow to hear them, saying —
"Ask, and you shall receive. Seek, and you shall find.
Knock, and it shall be opened to you. For he that asketh
receiveth ; he that seeketh findeth ; and to him that knocketh
it is opened." Now, some ofthe disciples had little children of
their own ; and that they might understand the love of our
Father in Heaven, Jesus asked them this question —
"Which of you who is a father, if his son should ask a
loaf of bread would give him a stone?" No one answered,
for there was not one who would do such a thing to a little
child. " Or if he ask a fish," Jesus continued, " would give
him a serpent? Or if he ask an egg, would give him a
scorpion?" Still no one answered. Such things would of
course be cruel, for the scorpion would bite the child's hand.
Looking calmly upon the young men around Him, Jesus ended

THE GOOD SAMARITAN. 247
His lesson on prayer by telling them that much as fathers love
their children, God loveth us more, and is willing to give us
His Holy Spirit, a gift more precious than anything a man
can give to his child.
" If you then, being men," He continued, " know how to
give good things to your children, how much more will your
Father in Heaven give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him ? "
— That Holy Spirit, of which thou hast heard so often, to
dwell in them and bring them into His Kingdom, and make
them good and pure, like Jesus Himself. And thus He told
them that God is far more willing to give us His Holy Spirit
than any man can be willing to give presents to his own dear
children. When thou prayest, remember to say little and to mean
every word. Rather do not pray at all than pray without
thinking. Ask for the Holy Spirit, and that He may never
leave thee ; learn also the prayer of Jesus, and use it when so
inclined. Pray as though Jesus stood beside thee listening ;
and pray anywhere and at any time, especially at evening and
morning, remembering that prayer from a pure heart is sweet
as the fragrance of flowers.
THE GOOD SAMARITAN.
JERICHO, WINTER, A.D. 33.
After crossing the river Jordan at the Fords of Bethshean,
Jesus and His disciples had about Yorty miles to walk along
the Peraean side, with the river Jabbock and at least six other
streams to cross, which in Wintry spate poured through their
rocky beds down to the Jordan's deeper channel. Travelling
was thus very slow and often dangerous, and it would be two
or three days before they re-crossed the Jordan by the well-
known Fords near Jericho, where they were beyond the
boundary of Samaria and into Judaea.
During all this last journey from Capernaum to Jerusalem,
Jesus taught the people at different places. Now Jericho was
a favourite place for priests and Lawyers to live at, and not

248 WHO IS MY NEIGHBOUR?
far from there, as Jesus was teaching one day, He was stopped
by a clever Lawyer, who evidently had carefully prepared him
self. He wished to seem like an earnest enquirer who had
come to ask advice.
" Master, what shall I do to have Heaven ? " he asked
quietly. Like all Lawyers and Pharisees, he thought that
Heaven was to be entered by keeping laws and obeying rules.
"What do thy books of the law say?" Jesus replied.
"What dost thou read there? " This Lawyer's business was
to study these books and to teach others from them, and he
answered smartly —
" As written by Moses, the law is, Thou shalt love the Lord
thy God, with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy
strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbour as thyself."
He thought the discussion was just beginning, but to his sur
prise the young Countryman, who had never been to college,
turned the Lawyer's answer back upon himself as if he had
been a school boy, saying shortly —
"Thou hast answered rightly. Do that, and thou shalt
have Heaven." But the Lawyer did not really wish to know
how to be good ; he wished to discuss theories and supposi
tions. It seemed like telling him that he did not understand
the words which he had repeated like a parrot. His reputa
tion as a Teacher was at stake, and he answered Jesus
quickly —
"But who is my neighbour? " He had now forgotten his
first question, and wished to wrangle about the meaning of
a word. But Jesus would not argue,' and slowly and calmly
to this professional arguer, He began to tell a very simple
little story about a Priest, a Levite, and a Samaritan. They
were near Jericho, and would soon walk up the very road
where the story was supposed to have happened. This is the
story Jesus told.
A man was going down the road from Jerusalem to
Jericho. Now that road is through a wild and rocky gorge,
and was so noted for armed thieves, that men were afraid
to go down it alone. But this man had gone by himself.

PRIEST, LEVITE, SAMARITAN. 249
And he came among thieves, who attacked" him and beat
him, leaving him lying wounded on the side of the road.
While he lay there unable to rise, a Priest from the Golden
Temple at Jerusalem happened to be going down that way,
and when he saw the man lying, he would not go near him
but passed by on the other side, keeping as far off as he could.
In the same way, a Levite, one of the singers from the
Temple, when he came to the place where the poor man lay
wounded and bleeding, went over and looked at him, and
crossing the road again, also passed by on the other side. The
wounded man was a poor Judaean, a countryman of their own,
and yet these professors of religion would not help him. But
a man from Samaria, riding on an ass, far from his home on a
journey, came down next, and when he came to the poor man,
he was sorry for him, and going over to him, poured oil and
wine upon cloth bandages, and tied up his wounds, and lifting
the poor man on to his ass's back, brought him to an inn at
Jericho, and stayed with him there all night. But the man
had been robbed of everything, and next morning, before the
Samaritan left the inn, he gave the landlord some money,
saying, " Take good care of him, and whatever thou spendest
more than this, I will pay thee when I come back again."
Perhaps the Samaritan was a travelling merchant, who was
well-known at the inns, but certainly he was a liberal-minded
man when he was so kind to. a Judaean in distress, for the
Samaritans hated the Juda;ans so much that they could not
even bear their shadow to fall upon them. But, in the poor
man he saw only a fellow-traveller, robbed and wounded. If
he had gone down the road first, it might have happened to
himself. He would not stay his kindness because the man
was a Judaean, and he did his work thoroughly, even to
paying for him at the inn.
As Jesus told this story, the people crowded close to hear,
for He told it in a way that touched their hearts, even the
heart of the Lawyer, and turning to him when He finished,
Jesus asked —
" Which of these three men was neighbour to the one that

250 GO AND DO LIKEWISE.
fell among the thieves?" The answer was plain, but the
proud Lawyer could not bring himself to say the hated word
"Samaritan," so he answered —
" The one who was kind to him, was his neighbour." Then
Jesus sent him away with these words to think over —
" Go thou and do the same." And the Lawyer went away,
feeling that he had been fully answered, for he made no reply.
And many who heard Jesus tell this story felt their hearts grow
more kind and generous, especially those who remembered
that only a few days before, Jesus Himself had been turned
away from a Samaritan village.
And thou, too, wilt try to have the heart of this good
Samaritan to all in distress, whether it be a brother weeping,
a poor boy begging, or an animal in pain — think not of thy
position and of theirs, think only of their distress, and do what
thou canst to help them, looking not for thanks, for, to do
what Jesus loves, is thanks enough. And it is of Him that
the poet Tennyson writes in these beautiful words —
And so the Word had breath, and wrought
With human hands, the creed of creeds
In loveliness of perfect deeds
More strong than all poetic thought.

END OF PART I.

PART II.
JERUSALEM AND THE PER^A.

THE COTTAGE AT BETHANY.
BETHANY, WINTER, A.D. 33.
If Jesus went into Jericho at this time, — the city of towers
and soldiers, whose streets were shaded by the feathery palm,
and fragrant with the scent of roses, — He did not stay long
there, but went on by the stone-paved road that wound over
bare hills towards the rocky gorge that leads up to Jerusalem.
Six hours of hard walking and climbing, brought them to the
top of the gorge, and on the Eastern side of the Mount of
Olives, where they went into the sheltered village of Bethany —
the home of dates — so called because of the tall date palm-
trees which grew among the little white cottages. It was built
in a hollow of the hill, and while only half an hour's walk from
Jerusalem, the great city was hidden from view by a rising
part of the Mount. To this day Bethany is a favoured spot
where the almond tree blows white, and the apricot and olive
grow, and in Spring the fresh green grass is coloured with
wildflowers in rare profusion.
At the beautiful Lake of Gennesaret, the fisherman's house
had been the home of Jesus, and now He was to find His
home in a little tree-shaded, vine-covered cottage, at Bethany.
Lazarus, a rich man, lived there, with his two sisters, Martha
and Mary, and although we now hear of them for the first time,
it is likely that Jesus had stayed with them before, for when He
came to the village, Martha came out and asked Him to live
at their house, and He went. Now, she was the elder sister,
and she at once began to prepare food for Jesus and those
251

252 MARTHA AND MARY.
who were with Him, but Mary, who was young, and who had
heard Him speaking outside, when He came in and sat talk
ing to them about Heaven, went and sat on the floor at His
feet, listening earnestly to every word He said, quite forgetting
that food had to be prepared, and the table arranged for the
hungry guests. Martha had much to do, and as she hurried to
and fro about the house, she wondered why Mary did not help
her as usual, and noticed that Jesus was talking to her, while,
all unconscious of Martha's growing annoyance, Mary sat
listening, and gazing into His beautiful face, until Martha
could restrain herself no longer, and speaking in a practical
way, as if she were speaking to her brother, she said —
" Master ! dost Thou not care that my sister leaveth me to
work alone? Tell her to help me ! " This was her hasty way
of chiding Jesus for keeping Mary listening, for she knew that
one word from Him would send her to help. But she was
troubling herself too much with preparations, and about Mary
not helping her ; and did not consider that she might have
greater things to think about than helping to prepare dishes.
Martha might have seen from Mary's face that she was ear
nestly thinking, but all she noticed was that she was not
helping her as usual. The answer of Jesus is like a brother's
reply. In a half-playful way He pointed out Martha's fault,
and the reason for Mary's forgetfulness —
" Martha ! Martha ! " He said, " thou art anxious and
troubled about many things, but one thing is needed, and
Mary hath chosen the good part which shall never be taken
from her." Jesus always refused to be a judge between
people, and, while letting Martha know that she troubled her
self too much about trifles, and should think more of higher
things, He told the youthful Mary that she was wise in making
sure of that high thing about which she sat thinking ; but He
did not say she was not to help her sister. It is likely that,
having been told she had made sure of the one object of her
thoughts, Mary would rise and help her kind sister Martha
with a glad heart and light step, for they were both good
women, and Jesus loved them. And ever after this, on His

THE POOL OF SILOAM. 253
visits to Jerusalem, He came to live at the vine-clad cottage of
Lazarus ; and how much more like brothers and sisters were
they to Him than His own brothers and sisters at Nazareth
who doubted what He said !
It was still some days from the Festival of Dedication, and
Jesus went into the city every day to teach in the Temple.
Now in Jerusalem there were a great many beggars, especially
at Festival times, when strangers came in from the country.
All who were poor and could not work, begged, and the
favourite place was the great marble steps that led up to the
outer gates of the Temple; there the lame and blind and
poor sat calling to the crowds who were passing up, to give
them something.
Among them was a well-known beggar, an independent,
fearless man, who had begged since he was a child, for he was
born blind, and yet he knew all that was going on in the city,
and was known as " the man who was born blind." In that
country the people thought that such a thing as blindness
must have come as a punishment to the man or his father or
mother for being bad, and the disciples believed this also.
One Sabbath day, as they were going through the city, they
saw this blind beggar, and one of the disciples asked Jesus —
" Master ! who was bad : this man, or his parents, that he
was born blind?" Such ideas were nonsense, and Jesus
answered —
" Neither this man nor his parents have been wicked ; "
adding, " I must work the works of God who sent Me while I
can ; for the night cometh, when no man can work " — mean
ing that we should do good while we can, for death stops all
work ; and while He stood speaking at the steps of the Tem
ple, some one brought the man up to Him that He might heal
him, and soon a crowd gathered. Taking some of the dust of
the street in His hand, and spitting upon it, Jesus made a
little clay with His finger, and rubbing it upon the eyes of the
blind beggar, He said to him —
" Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam," which was the
favourite spring of the city. And Jesus went away with His

254 THE BEGGAR AND THE PRIESTS.
disciples, leaving the man to do as He said. There he stood,
with the yellow clay upon his eyes, blind still; some were
laughing at him, some advising him to try it. But the beggar
never had a doubt. Grasping his staff firmly, and pushing the
people aside, he walked off towards the pool, for he knew the
streets, and the people followed him. Through the winding
streets, out by the city gate, down the road into the vale of
Kedron, down to the edge of the clear, sparkling pool ; and
while some jeered, he knelt quickly and washed off the clay,
and as he did so the light of day dawned for the first time
upon his eyes.
And thou wilt remember, from the pretty glimpse which
thou hast had into the cottage at Bethany, that the first thing
is to get the Spirit of Jesus and after that thou mayest run to
and fro serving Him ; and never let the bustle of the world
rise so high in thy mind that thou canst not see when any one
is sitting in silent worship at His feet.

THE BEGGAR AND THE PRIESTS.
JERUSALEM, WINTER, A.D. 33.
As the beggar stood by the side of the sweet, sparkling Pool
of Siloam, in the valley of the Kedron, with the great white
walls of the Temple towering on the cliffs above him, and the
wild rocks rising on the other side of the stream to the foot
of Olivet, the people pressed round him to see his eyes. He
did not care for them, but pushed his way through the throng,
with his staff dangling in his hand, and looking about him,
returned up the rough path to the city. When he reached his
old haunts, all who knew him exclaimed —
"Is not this he who sat and begged?" And some an
swered, "Yes, it is he ; " and others said, " No, but it is like
him ; " and overhearing them, he exclaimed stoutly —
" I am he ! " Then the people in the city came to look at
him, and some one asked —
" How were thine eyes opened ? " And his answer shows

BAREFOOTED, WITH RAGS AND STICK. 255
that, though sitting blind by the roadside, he had heard of
Jesus. " The man that is called Jesus made clay and put it upon
mine eyes, and said to me, ' Go to Siloam and wash ; ' and I
went, and washed, and see." There were Pharisees among
the people, and when they heard the name of Jesus, one of
them said —
" Where is He ? " The sturdy beggar had an idea that this
sharp question meant mischief, for Jesus had healed him on
the Sabbath day, which, as thou knowest, was against the
rules of the Pharisees, and he answered —
" I do not know." For truly he did not know where Jesus
might be by that time ; and he tried to go away, but the
Pharisees told him he must come with them before the council
of priests, for having had something to do with Sabbath break
ing. They hoped to get him to blame Jesus, but he intended
to do nothing of the kind. He was only a beggar, with nothing
to lose ; but he had a stout, grateful heart, and in cleverness
was equal to the Pharisees ; and at length he stood before the
council, barefooted with stout stick and rags, a fearless
prisoner. The Pharisees could not punish the grateful beggar
for letting himself be healed, but they hoped to turn him into
a witness against Jesus, for this was the sixth healing they
knew that Jesus had done on the Sabbath. Even to make so
much clay as could stand on the finger-tip was, they said, to
work on the Sabbath.
" How didst thou receive thy sight? " they asked the beggar.
He had already told the Pharisees in the street all about it,
and got taken a prisoner through doing so ; and he intended
to say very little now.
" He put clay upon mine eyes," he replied, " and I washed,
and see." There was no doubt of the healing, for many of
the council had seen him blind, before, as he begged at the
Temple, and they discussed the case earnestly among them
selves. " This Jesus is not a good man," said one, " for He keepeth
not the Sabbath." But said another, thoughtfully —

256 ONCE BLIND, NOW I SEE.
" How can a wicked man do a thing like this ? " And so
the council were divided, and disputed with each other, while
the sturdy beggar stood at the bar looking closely at them from
under his tattered turban. Then some one thought they should
ask him whether he thought Jesus a good man, and he put the
question thus —
" What dost thou say about Him who opened thine eyes ? "
And they waited for his answer.
" He is a Prophet," the beggar replied with vigour, mean
ing that Jesus was a good man ; and this set the council talk
ing again. Some said they did not believe the man had ever
been blind, and that he was a cheat ; and then his father and
mother were sent for, and after some delay the two old people,
much afraid, were made to stand beside their bold son.
"Is this your son whom you say was born blind?" the
chairman asked them sternly. He hoped they would say no ;
but they answered humbly —
" We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind ;
but we do not know how he can now see, or who hath made
him see. Ask him, he is old enough, and shall speak for
himself." They were only poor timid people, and knew that
their sturdy son could take care of himself, and had also heard
that some of the council had threatened that if any one said
Jesus was the Christ they would be punished. The beggar
had heard this too. The council were now almost forced to
admit that this man had been healed, for no one would deny
it; but they thought they would hear the man's story over
again. He seemed a bold fellow, and a solemn warning might
frighten him.
" Give God the praise," the chairman said sternly to him,
which was a rebuke for calling Jesus a Prophet. " We know
that this Jesus is a wicked man." They expected the beggar
to deny this, and waited for his reply. But he answered in a
cautious, dogged way that irritated them —
" Whether Jesus be a wicked man or no, I know not, but
one thing I do know, that once I was blind and now I can
see." He kept to the point.

THE BEGGARS LESSON. 257
" What did He do to thee ? " they asked him again. " How
did He make thee see ? " Now this sturdy beggar disliked the
priests. They had shown him no kindness when he was blind,
and now that he could see, he knew that they were hypocrites
who were only seeking for an excuse to punish both him and
Jesus ; and seeing their great eagerness that he should tell the
story for the third time, he asked them all, with a grin upon
his unshaven visage, as he looked at their fine clothes and
gold finger rings —
" I told you only this minute, how He healed me, and you
did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again ? Do you
wish to become disciples of His?" He well knew how they
hated Jesus, that to say such a thing was to insult the whole
council and put them into a passion ; and he was not surprised
when, forgetting their high position, they began to scold with
tongues no better than his old beggar-companions.
"Thou art His disciple !" they cried. "We are disciples
of Moses. We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this
fellow Jesus, we know not whence He is." With another
roguish grin, and lifting his hands in mock astonishment, the
beggar exclaimed, interrupting them —
" Why, this is a wonderful thing ! that you do not know
where He came from, and yet He healed my blindness ! "
And this bold witty beggar in rags, who feared no man, pro
ceeded to give these proud religious Teachers a lesson of his
own thinking, although he knew he would be punished for it.
" We know that God will not hear bad persons," he continued ;
" but if one be a worshipper of God and doeth His will, God
heareth him. Since the beginning of the world a man hath
never been known to give sight to one who was born blind.
If this man did not come from God, He could not do it."
Thus he tried to teach his masters, who had themselves often
said that God would not hear bad men. But to be taught by
a beggar ! however right he might be, was what the council
would not stand ; and, full of superior goodness, they answered
him thus —
"Thou wast altogether bom in wickedness, and dost thou

258 THE SHEPHERD AND THE SHEEP.
try to teach us?" And they sentenced him at once to be
cast out, which was that he should not be allowed into any
church, that people should not speak to him nor in any
way help him ; and calling their guards, they had the man
rudely put out of the council hall. But what did it matter to
a beggar ! who had no wish to trouble the churches of these
hypocrites? If he could meet Jesus Himself, it would be
something more to his mind. And with a cheerful face he
walked away in the sunshine between his old father and
mother. He wished to see Jesus, for he had only heard Him
before. The news of his defence and punishment spread
through Jerusalem, and Jesus heard of it and sought and found
the beggar in the street, and made Himself known to him.
"Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" Jesus asked
him. "And who is He, Master? that I may believe on Him,"
for he was willing to do whatever Jesus told him.
"Thou hast seen Him," said Jesus quietly, "and it is He
that speaketh to thee now."
" Lord ! I believe," exclaimed the beggar, as kneeling down
upon the road, regardless of Pharisees or any one else who
might see him, he worshipped the young Countryman from
Galilee. To be grateful is to be good. Imitate the courage of this
sturdy beggar. He had never seen, he did not know Jesus,
but He had been kind to him, and he would stand up for
Jesus whether in the street or before the council, teaching all
Jerusalem that to be an outcast with Jesus was better than to
win the favour of the Rulers.
THE SHEPHERD AND THE SHEEP.
JERUSALEM, WINTER, A.D. 33.
After speaking to the beggar in the streets of Jerusalem,
Jesus began to teach the people, most likely going into the
Temple. Speaking to those who had seen the joy of the poor
man, He said —

HOW SHEEP FOLLOW THE SHEPHERD. 259
" I came to the world that they who do not see might get
sight, and that they who see might become blind " — meaning
that He had come to make humble people good, and proud
people foolish ; and, hearing this, a Pharisee, who thought that
only the common people could be called blind or ignorant,
exclaimed —
"Are we Pharisees blind also?"
" If you were humble," said Jesus, " you would have no
badness, but now you think you are good, and so you remain
bad." Jesus had come from the green sheep pastures of Galilee,
but the people before Him did not know, when they saw the
poor sheep driven in terror through the stony streets of Jeru
salem, how much the shepherds of Galilee and of Bethlehem
loved their sheep. And he told them a story with a meaning,
about the shepherds who gather their sheep at night into a
fold, which is a large open space with stone walls round it,
covered on the top with strong prickly thorns to keep the
wolves, leopards, or panthers from leaping over. Supposing
the sheep to be all inside, Jesus said —
" Whoever cometh not into the sheepfold by the door, but
climbeth over the wall, is a thief and robber. But he that
cometh to the door is the shepherd, and the keeper within
openeth the door to him." He told them also how the shep
herds of Galilee separated their own sheep from others. " The
sheep know their shepherd's voice, and he calleth his own
sheep, each by its name, and leadeth them out to the pastures."
And then He told them a beautiful thing which would surprise
any one who had only seen sheep in the streets of a town.
" When the shepherd hath got out all his own sheep from
the fold, he walketh before them and they follow him, for they
know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but will run
from him, for they do not know his voice, and are afraid."
Thou canst see the pretty picture. The shepherd in the early
morning, with staff, and cloak, and dog, and the white woolly
sheep running after him, some pressing close to his side, some
with little lambs frisking round them, and all winding up the

260 THE GOOD SHEPHERD.
green sheltered valley to the cool, windy mountain. In Scot
land a sight may be seen not much different from this, as at
the evening hour, when clouds are red and the heather glows
purple in the sunset, the red-cheeked milkmaid, bare-footed,
yellow-haired, goes forth to the hillside, calling, calling and
singing, and soon her dappled cows come lowing up from the
bushy burn, and winding down from the rocky hill, and then
she turns and leads them home to milking. But they will not
come to a stranger's voice.
Jesus next spoke of the Kingdom of Heaven as a great
sheep fold, and called Himself the door of it, by which all
may come in, saying —
" I am the Door of the fold of Heaven. All who enter in
by Me shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find food
and rest." He spoke next of two kinds of shepherds, the
good shepherd who watches his own sheep and loves them,
and the bad shepherd who watches the sheep for money only,
saying, " A good shepherd will risk his life for his sheep. But
the man who worketh for money only, and is not a good shep
herd, to whom the sheep do not belong, when he seeth a wolf
coming, leaveth the sheep, and runneth away, and the wolf
biteth and scattereth them, while he fleeth, because he worketh
for money only, and careth not for the sheep." Then Jesus
told them that He was the good Shepherd who loves His fol
lowers, saying —
" I am the Good Shepherd, and know Mine own followers,
and they know Me, just as God My Father in Heaven knoweth
Me and I know Him ; and I shall lay down My life for My
followers " — meaning that He would not flee when the time of
danger came, but would rather be killed. He had spoken as
if Jews alone were to enter the fold of Heaven, but now He
told the people again what He had told them at Capernaum
eighteen months before, that Heaven is open to all the world.
" I have other sheep, He said, which are not of this fold ;
them also I must lead, and they shall know My voice, and
all shall become one great flock with one shepherd. And My
Father in Heaven loveth Me because I shall lay down My

I WILL LAY DOWN MY LIFE. 26 1
life, that I may take it up again. No one taketh My life from
Me, but I lay it down of My own free will ; for I have power
to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This I
received from God."
Strange things for the people to hear amid the stone arches
of the Temple court, or perhaps in a street of Jerusalem ! A
fresh young Countryman talking of the ways of the shepherds
of His native hills, and in the next sentence saying that He
would lay down His life for His followers, and take it up again.
Die, and yet live ! what did He mean ? Little wonder that
the people were astonished, and talked about Jesus while the
bitter Pharisees, who thought He spoke foolishness, could only
repeat their old cruel lie about Him.
" He hath a spirit of evil in Him, and is mad," and turning
to the people, they said, " Why do you listen to Him ? " Why,
indeed, did the people listen to this plain young Countryman,
rather than to their own trained religious Teachers ? who thought
that all knowledge and all wisdom were bound up in their parti
cular turbans ! But some of the better among them said with
grave faces —
" These are not the words of one who hath a spirit of evil."
Goodness, gentleness, self-sacrifice, these were things which
could not come from a bad spirit ; He must have a good spirit
in Him. And they repeated to each other the question which
the beggar had put to their council that day —
" Can any one who hath a spirit of evil give sight to a blind
man? " But they were afraid to answer the question truthfully.
Remember, my child, to be kind to all living things.
Wouldst thou have the redbreast sing thee his sweetest song?
feed him with crumbs in Winter, and in Summer he will flutter
round thee in the garden. Love thy pony, thy dog, thy canary,
and when thou art a man thou wilt not be found hunting a
frightened hare to death, or pouring bullets into the breasts of
fluttering grouse ; for, as Samuel Coleridge said —
" He prayeth best who loveth best
All things both great and small,
For the great God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all."

262 Solomon's porch in winter.
solomon's porch in winter.
JERUSALEM, WINTER, A.D. 33.
The Festival of Dedication had come. It was held in
December, when the moon was full and lasted for eight days,
during which the people feasted, danced, rejoiced, and lit up
their houses with little candles, while the priests had special
services in the Temple, and illuminations with torches, candles,
and lamps. One hundred and sixty years before, the Temple,
which, as the Jews thought, had been rendered unfit for their
worship, was purified, a new altar built, and the whole re
opened, and dedicated afresh with great joy by Judas Macca-
baeus, a Jewish soldier, and the joyful Festival was in memory
of that event.
The Temple was crowded every day with people from all
parts of the country. Perhaps it rained, perhaps the feathery
snow was falling on the coloured marble of the great open
squares ; but one day the people sought the shelter of the
covered porches. Now Solomon's porch was the most famous
of all the porches, for it was partly built of the same white
marble blocks of which the first temple was made by King
Solomon about one thousand years before. It stood on the
top of the huge wall that was built up from the Kedron valley,
and had in it a double row of splendid marble pillars which
supported a roof of marble and cedar wood ; on one side,
it was open to the great Court of the Gentiles, while on the
other side, windows looked Eastward, out towards the Mount
of Olives and the rising run.
Jesus also sought the shelter of this porch, and walked
between the rows of pillars, upon the red and green marble
pavement, from which He had a view out across the deep and
dizzy valley of the Kedron, that flowed in Wintry torrent, and
over to the terraced slopes of Olivet, with the road to Bethany
winding over its shoulder ; and perhaps He saw the rare sight
of falling snow powdering field and wood, crag and slope,
with dazzling whiteness. But He did not walk there unnoticed

I, AND GOD, ARE ONE. 263
by the Pharisees and their friends. They were celebrating in
this Festival the successful result of a revolt against oppression,
and thoughts of a revolt against the Romans were present in
the minds of the people. The Pharisees hoped that they
might make use of this feeling to tempt Jesus into favouring a
rising of the people against their Roman oppressors, round
Him as the Christ, which would lead to a riot, and His being
taken a prisoner as the leader. Coming to Him as He walked
in Solomon's porch, as though they were His warmest friends,
they said, urging Him —
" How long wilt Thou keep us in doubt? If Thou art the
Christ tell us plainly." Their question looked as if He had
been hiding something from them, whereas it was they who
would not believe Him when He spoke. His reply reminded
them gently of this —
" I have told you," He said, " but you will not believe Me ;
and the wonderful things which I do in the name of God,
they confirm what I say." And He also reminded them of
what He had said a day or two ago about the shepherd and
the sheep, continuing —
" You do not believe Me, because you are not My followers.
My sheep hear My voice and follow Me, and I know My
followers and shall give them Heaven, and they shall never
perish, nor shall any one take them out of My hand. God
who gave them to Me is greater than all, and no one can take
them out of His hand. I and God are One." Having now
been plainly told that Jesus was One in Spirit with God, these
pretended friends of His, instead of rejoicing to hear Him say
so, stopped Him with rude angry cries, and running through
the court to a part of the Temple where the building was
being repaired, they returned with stones in their hands, say
ing they would stone Him. But He did not fear the anger
that flashed in their dark eyes, for He knew that they had
always hated Him.
"Many good things have I shown you from God," He
said, looking calmly at them. " For which of these do you
stone Me?" And He waited for their answer, which was a

264 STONE HIM.
hasty admission that He had only one fault, — He was the
Christ. " For a good thing we do not stone Thee," they replied
hotly, "but for blasphemy, because, being a man, Thou
makest Thyself .equal with God." But He silenced these
learned Teachers of the law by reminding them that in their
own books they called some good men " gods."
" If you call men ' gods,' " He said, " to whom the Spirit
of God came in past time, why do you say to Me, whom God
hath sent into the world and kept from wickedness, that I
blaspheme, when I say I am the Son of God ? " The Phari
sees could not answer this question, and stood silent while He
went on, " If I do not the works of God, then do not believe
that I am from God ; but if I do the things of God, although
you do not believe what I say, believe what I do." He meant,
that if He did the will of God, then it was plain that God's
Spirit was in Him; and He told them why He wished so
earnestly that they should believe Him, in these words, " That
you may know and understand that God's Spirit is in Me, and
that I am in God." The people had been forced to listen
thus far, but when they heard Jesus say that He was in God,
they would listen no longer. And as He pressed His way
through the crowd in the porch, towards the Golden Gate
that led out of the Temple into the city street, His enemies
sought to catch hold of Him ; but His friends were round
about, and they were unable to take Him. Thus the Phari
sees' trick was exposed, for the more He answered them,
showing that He was the Christ, the more they would not
believe either what He said or did.
I trust, after all thou hast heard of Jesus, that thou art not
one of those who would mockingly say, " Tell us more plainly,
art thou the Christ?" but rather, drawn by His love, thou
art one of the little children who know His voice, and who
hear and follow Him.

DANGER IN JERUSALEM. 265
DANGER IN JERUSALEM.
PERAEA, WINTER, A.D. 33.
What Jesus said to the people in Solomon's porch, so roused
His enemies the priests and Lawyers, that it was no longer
safe for Him to go into the Temple or even to remain near
Jerusalem. He was not allowed to teach in the churches of
Galilee or in Judaea ; He had been turned back in Samaria,
and now, after what had happened, He did not try to return
to Jerusalem, but bidding farewell to His friends at Bethany,
He went with His disciples .once more down the Jericho road,
across the fords of Jordan, and into the Peraean country, on
the other side of the Jordan. In that part of the land
the people were not so much under the rule of the priests,
as at Jerusalem, and He was still free to teach in the villages
and even in their churches. He was going to the village of
Bethabara, on the banks of a stream that ran into the Jordan,
where John the Baptist had lived and taught ; and as it was
mid-winter, with the roads rough and broken with streams of
water that dashed across them down from the hills, it took
several days to reach the village. There the people received
Him kindly, and He lived there for some time, teaching in safety.
Jesus was now thirty-three years of age, and had been three
years a Teacher, and the people of Bethabara remembered how
John had baptized Him, and, how, standing in his strange rough
dress and hairy belt, he had told them that he was not good
enough to loosen the buckle of Jesus' shoe. They had loved
John, and believed what he said, and remembered with anger
how he had been killed in prison by King Antipas, and were
glad that Jesus, of whom they had heard so much, had come
to live with them; and they came in crowds to hear Him
speak, and to have their sick healed, and as they compared
John and Jesus, and thought of what John had told them of
Him, they exclaimed —
" John did no wonders, but all the things that he said about
this Man are true ! " But this was not all. Instead of shout
ing at Jesus, and lifting stones against Him, the people listened

266 A MESSAGE FROM BETHANY.
to His words, and many of them believed that He spoke the
truth. And from Bethabara He went to other parts of the
Peraea, teaching in their villages.
But one day a man came from Bethany, with a sad message
from Martha and Mary —
" He whom thou lovest is ill," it said. They knew Jesus
would know they meant Lazarus, but they did not care to ask
Him to come back into danger at Jerusalem, nor did they even
suggest what He might do. It had taken the messenger two
days to come from Bethany, and on the day he arrived Lazarus
died ; but Jesus said to the messenger —
" This illness is not unto death, but for the praise of God,
and that I may be glorified by it." And the messenger re
turned to Bethany with this answer ; but although Jesus loved
Lazarus, He remained two days longer in the same place, and
on the third day He said to His disciples —
" Let us go back into Judaea." They were astonished that
He should wish to return into danger so soon.
"Master," they exclaimed, "only a short time ago the
Judaeans wished to stone Thee, and wilt Thou go back to
Jerusalem again?" Jesus replied, that as long as He had
work to do, His life would be safe ; and while they were pre
paring to go, He explained —
" Our friend Lazarus is fallen asleep, but I am going that I
may awake him out of sleep." They did not know that this
was His gentle way of telling them that Lazarus was dead.
Long ago He had said that the ruler's little daughter was
"asleep," when she was dead, for death to Him was as
sleep. But the disciples, thinking only of His danger, replied —
"Master, if Lazarus hath fallen asleep, he will get well
again." For they thought He spoke of taking rest in sleep,
which is always a good sign of a sick person.
" Lazarus is dead," He replied gently, " and I am glad for
your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe in Me.
Let us go to him." The disciples hesitated, but Thomas, the
brave fisherman, urged them to stand by Jesus to the last, in
these dogged words —

AT THE GRAVE OF LAZARUS. 267
" Let us all go, that we may die with Him." And, believing
that the council in Jerusalem would certainly take Him and
kill Him if He came near their city, these twelve men resolved
to go with Jesus, even if they should be killed also. The
same Wintry roads were traversed again, the same cold rivers
forded and dangers faced, that Jesus might visit the little
home in Bethany, where the sisters were weeping.
The example of brave, plain-spoken Thomas, put courage
into the others, and telleth us that it is better to go into
danger, following the path of duty and love, than to win
safety by deserting a friend; for true friendship does not
change with danger.
AT THE GRAVE OF LAZARUS.
BETHANY, WINTER, A.D. 33.
What was happening in the little vine-clad cottage at
Bethany while Jesus was in the Peraea ? The sisters sent off
the messenger in haste, and anxiously watched their sick
brother Lazarus ; but instead of getting better, he grew worse
and died, and the man returned with this message from
Jesus —
" This illness is not unto death, but for the praise of God,
that Jesus may be glorified by it." What could it mean?
For their brother was already dead. Why had Jesus not done
something? Was He coming? His message did not say so,
and the sisters wept again. They were rich people, and the
news of the death of Lazarus was soon told in Jerusalem ; and
their friends came out to Bethany to the funeral, and Lazarus
was laid in a grave in their beautiful garden, at the part where
the roses and myrtle grew. Women wept and mourned in the
house, sitting on the floor with torn clothes and dust on their
heads, and doleful flutes, the sign of death, were blown ; and
friends came to sit day and night with the sisters for the first
seven days of mourning. Three days went past, spent in
sitting upon the floor wrapped in veils, or in weeping at the
stone covered door of the grave ; while the sad flutes sounded

268 IF THOU HADST BEEN HERE.
and the mourning women wept and praised their dead brother.
At first their hope was strong in Jesus, but now it seemed as
though He had forgotten them.
On the fourth day, in the afternoon, as they were sitting in
the cottage, with all the seats and couches turned upside
down and the door wide open, weeping still with their friends
round them, some one entered quickly and whispered to the
sisters that Jesus had come and was close to the village.
Mary paid no heed. He had come too late she thought.
But Martha rose, and telling no one, went out, and when she
met Jesus on the road, with a fresh outburst of weeping, she
exclaimed —
" Lord ! if Thou hadst been here, my brother would not
have died. Even yet I know that whatever Thou dost ask of
God, He will give Thee."
" Thy brother shall rise again," Jesus said, gently.
" I know he will rise again," replied Martha, in passionate
grief, "when all that are dead rise at the last day." She
thought He was trying to console her, but He replied in
words the full weight and mystery of which I cannot explain
to thee —
" I am the Resurrection and the Life ; whoever believeth
on Me, though he die, yet shall he live ; and whoever liveth
and believeth on Me, shall never die." One thing He did
mean, that death cannot destroy the spirit of man, nor put
an end to that Heaven, — that union with God, — which men
get by believing in Jesus. And looking kindly upon the
sorrowing face of Martha, He asked —
" Dost thou believe Me? " For she seemed in her grief as
though she no longer trusted Jesus ; but she answered with
a confession of her simple woman's faith, which was still
unchanged. "Yes, Lord. I have believed that Thou art the Christ,
the Son of God, that should come into the world " — the pro
mised Christ. He then asked for Mary, and hearing she was
at home, bade Martha go for her, while He waited there.
Martha found her still sitting on the floor.

WHERE HAVE YOU LAID HIM? 269
" Mary, the Master is here, and calleth thee," she whispered.
Then Mary rose quickly and went out after Martha ; and the
friends, thinking that she was again overcome with grief, and
was going to the grave to weep, followed her, weeping and
lamenting through the village. When Mary came to where
Jesus waited with His disciples, she went forward and' knelt
down upon the road before Him, and the first words which
rose to her lips were what she and Martha had often exclaimed
in their grief —
" Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother would not have
died." When Jesus heard the loud weeping and wailing of
those who had followed Mary, some of whom were paid to wail,
He was indignant ; but when He looked at the real grief of
the youthful Mary as she sobbed and wept, with her hands
over her face, bowed down in the dust of the road, her yellow
hair falling in loosened tresses over her mourning dress, and
saw the tears of Martha, who stood by, He was deeply moved,
for they had been as sisters to Him.
"Where have you laid him?" He asked gently.
"Come, Lord, and see," was their simple answer. And as
He walked towards the grave between the weeping sisters, the
people saw that Jesus also wept"* Young, strong, fearless,
shaken with sobs, silently weeping on the open road ! No
wonder that those who saw it said with hushed voices —
" See how He loved him ! " And yet, among the Jews who
had come out from Jerusalem, there were enemies who said —
" Could not this Man, who gave sight to the blind beggar,
have kept Lazarus from dying? " Thus, in their desire to find
fault, admitting that Jesus had healed the blind beggar. But
even His sorrow did not shield Him from their hatred ; and
Jesus sighed with grief and indignation as He listened to their
reproaches. When they reached the grave, it was in their beautiful
garden of rare trees and flowers by the side of the hill, in
which a cave was cut out of the limestone rock, as a burying
place ; and there was a stone laid against the entrance to the
cave.

270 LAZARUS, COME FORTH.
"Take away the stone," Jesus said, to the men who were
standing by. Thinking that He wished to see Lazarus, Martha
remonstrated hastily.
" Lord, by this time he is not fit to be seen," she exclaimed,
" for he hath been dead four days."
" Did I not say to thee," Jesus replied, putting her aside
gently, " that if thou didst believe thou wouldst see the glory
of God? " The stone was then taken away, but Jesus did not
go into the open cave as all expected He would do, but while
they stood silently watching, He looked up to Heaven, and
praying, said —
"Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me, and I
know that Thou hearest Me always ; but because of the people
who are standing here, I say it, that they may believe that
Thou, God, didst send Me." The green hillside, the motion
less trees, the trailing flowers hanging over the dark door of
the open cave, the pale sisters, the silent crowd — Jesus wished
to impress the scene upon all who saw it ; then, looking towards
the cave, He cried with a loud voice —
" Lazarus, come forth ! " and Lazarus came ; a white figure,
wrapped in the linen clothes of the dead.
" Loose his bandages and let him go," Jesus said, and with
hands trembling for joy, Martha and Mary loosened the wrap
pings which they had tied in tears four days ago, and clasped
their living brother in their arms. From the grave they re
turned to the little cottage, no longer now the place of mourning,
while the people looked in silent wonder at Lazarus and Jesus.
Now there were some leading men of Jerusalem there when
this happened, and they were so impressed that they no longer
doubted that Jesus was the Christ. But there were others
who were not convinced by what they saw, but rather made
more unbelieving, and they went back to the city and told the
leaders of the council of priests that Jesus had returned to
Bethany, and all that had happened.
If ever thou thinkest that Jesus does not feel for thy little
griefs, think of Him weeping with these sisters before all the
people, and it will teach thee that His feelings are like thy

THE COUNCIL OF PRIESTS. 271
feelings, and that His Spirit will soothe thy sorrow, if thou
tellest thy grief to Him.

THE COUNCIL OF PRIESTS.
JERUSALEM, WINTER, A.D. 33.
When the news about Lazarus became known in Jerusalem,
many people came over Olivet to Bethany to see him, and went
back talking about Jesus, and many of the common people
believed that He was the Christ. Hearing of this, the priests
grew uneasy, and Caiaphas, the High priest, called together
his council of chief priests, rulers, Lawyers, Pharisees, and
Sadducees, to consider what should be done. There were
about seventy men in this council ; twenty-four were called
chief priests, because they were heads over the twenty-four
courses of priests who took week about to serve in the Temple,
and there were fourteen other leading priests ; the rest were
leading citizens of Jerusalem, some of whom were friendly to
Jesus. They sat in rows in the hall of hewn stones, in the
Priests' court of the Temple : the proud, wealthy Sadducee,
his rich robes showing him to be of the very highest rank ; the
pale, sanctimonious Pharisee, who with upturned eyes pre
tended to despise money and honour ; the grave, thoughtful
Lawyer, who felt it his duty to remove difficulties from the
law, and to make more ; the priest, with his dress of a shape
different from all the rest ; and in the middle, the president's
chair, on which sat the white-faced, cruel Caiaphas, in his
dark blue robe, bordered with purple, gold, and scarlet — rich
Sadducean High priest, and most powerful Jew in Jerusalem.
They had met to decide what was to be done to stop at
once the rapidly growing popularity of Jesus. A few words
explained the business. Jesus, the young Carpenter of Naza
reth, who hurriedly left the city after the last Festival of
Dedication, had returned, and had performed either a great
trick or a great wonder at Bethany, for all the people were
saying He had raised Lazarus to life. What was to be done ?

272 RESOLVE TO KILL HIM.
The friends of Jesus in the council spoke in His favour, and
His enemies spoke against Him ; but all seemed to agree that
it could no longer be denied that He was a wonderful Person.
"What shall we do? " said one. "This man doeth many
wonders." Some were for leaving Him alone, but one of His
enemies said —
" If we let Him alone as we are doing, everybody will
believe He is the Christ, and follow Him, and the Romans
will send soldiers and put an end to both our city and
nation." Evidently this councillor believed that either they
must put Jesus down or they would get into trouble with the
Romans. He meant that Jesus would raise the people to
fight against their Roman conquerors, as false Christs had
done before, and that they would send an army to destroy
Jerusalem and take away all their liberties. And the council
thought him a wise speaker, for these risings of the people
had always brought severe punishment. Jesus, however, had
never spoken of doing such a thing.
Caiaphas meanwhile sat silent and frowning in his pres
ident's seat. Not only was he a great Sadducee, but he had
been made High priest by the Roman emperor, Tiberias
Caesar, and he was annoyed that the council should find so
much to say in favour of Jesus. It was his duty to listen
to all, before he spoke, and at last his turn came. He had
heard, with suppressed anger, some one saying that Jesus
had done nothing to deserve death, and with a look of scorn,
as though he despised the whole council, and thought no
more of destroying Jesus than of killing one of the animals that
were daily sacrificed in the great Temple, he exclaimed—
" You know nothing ! Do you not think that it is better
for us that one man should die for the people than that our
whole nation should perish?" The president had spoken!
reminding them of a common proverb of the people — " better
one man die, than a nation perish ; "—and his advice became
the finding of the majority of the council. Jesus shall die,
and die for the people ; but these words of Caiaphas, which
seemed like a prophecy, were only the expression of a mur-

SABBATH-KEEPING. 273
derous purpose which he afterwards did his utmost to carry
out. This was the end of the meeting, and the people were
told that the council had decided that Jesus was to be taken
a prisoner, and given up to them. And Caiaphas and his
friends planned how they should have Jesus put to death when
they got Him, for, while they could condemn prisoners to
death, the Romans had taken away their power to kill them.
The friends of Jesus told Him of all that had happened in
the council, but He was not alarmed. While Caiaphas was
delivering his bombastic advice to kill Him, Jesus knew what
that advice would certainly be, but His time had not yet come
to die, although He had now not four months to live. But
He could no longer go about openly, because of the Judaeans,
many of whom would have gladly tried to get Him taken a
prisoner, in obedience to the wish of the council, who would
have rewarded any one who did so, and He quietly withdrew
from Bethany, and again crossed the Jordan, going over the
Mountains of Gilead to Ephraim, a distant hill town on the
far-off borders of the Peraea, next to the wilderness.
Thou wilt learn from this the wickedness of using a high
office for purposes of malice and oppression; and wilt take
care never to use thy religion as a cloak for saying or doing
cruel things to those who think differently from thee ; for true
goodness is never cruel.

SABBATH-KEEPING. PER/EA, WINTER, A.D. 33.
In the Peraean country, Jesus again went about with His dis
ciples from village to village teaching, although it was still the wet
Winter season, and on the Sabbaths He taught in the churches,
and the country people came in crowds to hear Him, the men
sitting together, while the women with their children sat by
themselves behind a stone screen. On one of these Sabbaths,
as He was speaking, there was visible behind the screen the
figure of a poor bent woman, and stopping teaching, Jesus

274 WOMAN, THOU ART HEALED.
asked her to come out to Him, and she slowly made her way
towards the entrance to the men's part, and came up the
church to where Jesus sat. The chief men, who sat at the
head of the church, were shocked that He should thus bring
her out among the men ; but Jesus, coming down from the
Teacher's place, met her as she came forward, and putting
both of His hands upon her, said —
" Woman, thou art healed from thy trouble." And to the
wonder and joy of the people, she stood upright again, and
began to praise God for healing her, and all the people praised
the good deed. Now this was the seventh time Jesus had
publicly broken the Sabbath rules of the Pharisees, and the
Ruler of the -church, who had charge of the service on the
Sabbath, was angry when he saw what Jesus had done. Being
a strict man, he thought He should have waited until Mon
day before healing this poor woman, and being annoyed with
the people and the woman for praising this breach of the
Pharisees' rules, he exclaimed —
" Are there not six days in the week in which men ought to
work ? You should come on them to be healed, and not on
the Sabbath." But Jesus would not allow such bad and cruel
words to pass, for they were false teaching. Turning to the
Ruler, and to those who sat on the chief seats with him, He
rebuked them, as He had done the Pharisees in a Galilean
church less than two years before, when He healed a man's
withered hand —
" You hypocrites ! " He said. " Do you not on the Sabbath
loose your ox or ass from the stable, and lead him away to
get water ? And shall not this woman — a daughter of Abra
ham — who hath been bound with this trouble for eighteen
years, be loosed from it on the Sabbath day?" The Ruler sat
silent on his crimson cushion facing all the people, and could
not answer Jesus, for this good woman deserved to be healed,
and the people rejoiced when they saw that Jesus prevailed.
The woman went back to her place behind the screen, and
Jesus resumed teaching, telling them the stories which He had
told the people in Galilee, about the Kingdom of Heaven in the

AN OX, AN ASS, OR A MAN? 275
world being like the little Mustard-seed, and about the Leaven
in the meal, for Jesus now began to repeat to the people of the
Peraea many of the things He had told the people of Galilee.
In another Peraean village, on another Sabbath day, after
the forenoon service in the church, the chief Ruler invited Jesus
to a mid-day meal of bread and fruit in his house, but it was
not through any love for Jesus that he asked Him. There
were Lawyers and Pharisees among the guests, and, as was
common, poor people came into the open court, and looked
in at the windows, and listened and watched at the door.
Among these was a man who had dropsy, and when the
Pharisees saw him they watched Jesus closely to see if He
would do anything to him on the Sabbath. The dinner had
not yet begun. The man had evidently followed Jesus in, for
he moved about till he stood right before Him, and Jesus
knew that the Pharisees were watching Him.
" Is it right," He asked, looking round on all the Teachers
and learned men, as He put the same question to them that
He had put to the Pharisees in Galilee — " is it right to heal
people on the Sabbath day, or is it wrong? " How could they
say " No," with the poor suffering man standing before them?
yet they dared not say " Yes," and support what Jesus taught ;
and so they kept silent. With a glance of anger, and without
saying one word more, Jesus walked over to the poor man, and
putting His hand upon him, healed him, and told him to go
home. Turning to the Pharisees, He put the same plain,
almost ridiculous question to them which He had put to the
Pharisees in other places —
" Which of you, whose ox or ass hath fallen into a well on
the Sabbath day, will not at once pull him out on that day?"
Now, strange to say, these very men taught the people that
one might help a suffering ass, but not heal a sick man on the
Sabbath. Again they kept silence rather than answer, for the
truth would have helped Jesus. But all who saw them thus
silent, knew that Jesus was right, and they were wrong. And
this was the eighth time that Jesus publicly broke the Sabbath
rules ofthe Pharisees.

276 KINDNESS AND HUMILITY.
Be not thou like these Pharisees, who were afraid to speak
the truth, but speak it, even if it should tell against thee at
the time, for it will tell for thee in the end; and do not
forget what Jesus taught — that a good act, a good thought,
are right at all times, whether it be on Saturday or on the
Sabbath.

KINDNESS AND HUMILITY.
PER/EA, WINTER, A.D. 33.
When all was ready in the Ruler's house in the Peraean
village, the guests began to take their places for the dinner.
The principal table was low, and shaped like a hollow square,
open at one side to let the servants go out and in to the middle
by, and the guests lay on couches all round the other sides,
with their feet pointing towards the wall, their left arms
resting on the table, leaving their right arms free. The side
of the table at which the master of the house lay was the best
side, and it was considered a thing of the greatest consequence
in that country that the man of the most importance should have
the highest place, and that the man of next importance should
be next to him, and so on to the end : but this etiquette of the
table was very difficult to arrange without displeasing some one,
for among the Pharisees, each thought he deserved a high place.
When the guests came to the table, Jesus noticed that instead
of giving way to each other, each grave Teacher did all he could
to secure a good place for himself and get above the others.
Knowing that it made no real difference where He sat, Jesus
took the place that was given Him. When the meal of bread,
wine, water, figs, raisins, dates, oranges, and other Winter fruits
was over, the time for speaking came, and knowing that this
scramble for places was only a sign of the foolish pride of
these men, Jesus began to tell them what He thought of it,
saying —
" When thou art asked by any one to come to a marriage
supper, do not go to the highest seat at the table, for perhaps
a greater man than thou may come, and he that invited thee

DINNERS TO THE POOR. 277
and him will ask thee to give the greater man thy place, and
then, feeling ashamed of thyself, thou wilt go and take the
lowest place." He thus told them how very foolish their pride
looked to those who watched them, and proceeded to tell
what they ought rather to do. " When thou art asked to a
great supper, go and sit down in the lowest place, and when
he that invited thee cometh round to see how all are seated, he
will tell thee to go up higher, and then thou wilt be thought
well of by all who are at the table." It was the host's duty to
see that all were in their right places before the meal began ;
and Jesus told them the conclusion of the whole in these
vigorous words, " Every man who putteth himself forward
shall be brought down, and he that is of lowly mind shall be
raised up." Now these Pharisees were no believers in humil
ity; for, however meek they tried to appear, they were full
of religious pride, thinking themselves better and holier than
other people, which is pride of the very worst kind. But
there were other men there. Rich men, proud of their
money, horses, houses, fine clothes, jewels ; and clever men,
conceited about their titles, learning, speaking, wisdom ; and
to them Jesus spoke also, telling them that in all things,
humility of spirit is good, and pride is at all times bad. But
they did not believe Him. Noticing that all at the table were
rich people, friends and relations of the Ruler, who no doubt
thought he had done a generous thing in asking this young
Stranger, Jesus spoke particularly to him.
"When thou givest a great dinner or a great supper," He
said, " do not ask only thy brothers and relations, thy friends
and rich neighbours, lest they also ask thee to dine with
them, and so pay thee back." And then He told him that a
rich person should give, not dinners to the rich, but dinners to
the poor. "When thou givest a dinner," Jesus continued,
" ask poor people to it, — the hurt, lame, blind, — and it will
make thee truly happy, for they have nothing to pay thee back
with, but thou shalt be rewarded in Heaven." This seemed
quite shocking to these fine persons, for they believed that to
have the hands of such poor people upon theh table would

278 HIGHWAYS AND HEDGES.
defile it. But it was true kindness which Jesus taught, to feed
those who had no food, and not those who had plenty. Hear
ing Him mention Heaven, one of the guests, perhaps wishing
to change the subject, exclaimed —
" Blessed is the man who shall eat bread in the Kingdom
of Heaven ! " Now, as thou knowest, the Pharisees believed
that when the Christ came to the world, His great Kingdom
would begin with a banquet to His friends, and they longed
to be at it. Jesus did not answer him directly, but told this
short story with a meaning as He rested on His couch, at the
Ruler's table —
A rich man gave a great supper, and invited many respect
able people, and when all was ready, he sent out his servant
to tell them to come in, but they all began to make excuses.
The first said, ' I have bought a field, and must go to see it,
and I hope he will excuse me.' The next said, 'I have
bought five pairs of oxen, and I must go and try them ; I
hope he will excuse me.' And another said, ' I have married
a wife, and therefore I cannot come.' But none of these
were sufficient reasons for staying away. And when the ser
vant came back and told his master all the excuses he had
received, his master was angry, and said to him, ' Go out at
once into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring all the
hurt, blind, lame, and poor people thou canst find.' And the
servant did as he was told, but still there was room for more ;
and he said to his master, ' I have done what thou didst tell
me, and yet there is room for more.' And his master said,
Go out into the country, into the highways and hedges, and
make the people come in, that my house may be full, for
not one of the men whom I first asked, shall taste of my
supper.' And the servant did as he was told, and the poor
came gladly to the supper which the rich had rejected.
Jesus did not explain the meaning of this story, which some
of the guests thought was only a pretty tale, but this is its
meaning. He spoke of the true Kingdom of Heaven, which
He was spreading in the world. He was the servant in the
story, for He had first spoken to the Jews, Pharisees, priests,

REJOICING ANGELS. 279
about Heaven ; but they would not hear Him, and then He
had turned to the poor people, who heard and followed Him.
After this the guests rose and went away, Jesus joining His
disciples, who were waiting for Him outside, not having been
invited in.
And thou wilt remember that Jesus does not wish thee to
be kind only to those who can be kind to thee, but to be kind
to those who never can repay thee — the poor hungry boy, the
mother and her starving children, the blind, the lame. If thou
art ever rich, I trust thou wilt show thy friends what is true
kindness, by helping those who need help. For the gratitude
of the poor is one of the few blessings which money can obtain.
REJOICING ANGELS.
PERffiA, WINTER, A.D. 33.
While some parts of the Peraea bordering upon the sandy
desert to the Eastward were wild and lonely, other parts were
not so. The Peraean country is about the size of the county
of Cumberland, and a range of high hills runs down the middle
of it parallel with the Jordan, with grassy glens and rocky gorges,
vine terraces and olive groves, and many mountain streams.
Where the land was good there were villages, and in some
places large well-built towns, Philadelphia, Gerasa, Bozra,
Hesbon, Ramoth-Gilead, with theatres, temples, and fine
buildings, and while there were a good many Jews there, most
of the people were Arabs and Syrians, who did not worship
the God of the Jews. Wherever Jesus went, He continued
to be well received, and in the towns and villages large
crowds came to hear Him, and many wished to become His
followers ; but, like the people of Galilee, they expected that
if they followed such a wonderful One, He would reward them
in the day of His success with honours and money. Jesus saw
that the people of the Peraea must be checked and put right
regarding this, as He had done the Galileans at Capernaum ;
and turning upon them one day as they crowded round Him,
He astonished them with words which meant this —
If any of you follow Me, and doth not love goodness

280 TASTELESS SALT.
more than his own father, mother, wife, brother, sister — yes,
more than his own life itself, he cannot be a true follower.
He had said the same to the people at the Lake of Gennesaret,
and He went on to discourage still further, those who for
wrong reasons followed Him. " Whoever.is not willing," He
continued, " to bear trouble, and come with Me, cannot be a
true follower of Me." He had stopped His thoughtless and
false followers at Capernaum, and He would do it here also,
for He knew that many of those around Him were not truly
on the side of goodness above all things, and He warned them
in two stories to consider well what they were doing.
"Which of you," He said, "who is going to build a house,
doth not first count up what it will cost, and see whether he
have enough money to finish it, lest after he hath laid the
foundations he may find that he is not able to finish it, and all
who see it will laugh at him, and say, ' He began to build a
house and is not able to finish it.' " They were thus to apply
common sense to the question of whether they had considered
all the difficulties of following Jesus and obeying Him. In the
second story, He said —
" What king, before going out to fight, doth not first con
sider whether with ten thousand men he would be able to beat
the king who cometh against him with twenty thousand men ;
and if he cannot do so, he sendeth messengers to the other
king while yet he is a long way off, and asketh for peace."
They were thus not to be less wise in measuring the dangers
and difficulties of being like Jesus, than kings are in playing
the awful game of war. And he added this warning. " Who
ever he may be among you that is not ready to give up all that
he hath for My sake, cannot be a true follower of Me. Salt is
good, but if it have lost its taste, it cannot be made salt again,
and is good neither for the land nor for the rubbish heap ; but
is only fit to be thrown away."
His followers were, therefore, to test themselves, and see
whether they were so anxious to be good that they would wil
lingly do whatever Jesus might tell them. No doubt, as at
Capernaum, many in the crowd thought that He would never

MEETING WITH BAD PEOPLE. 28 1
do any good with such teaching, and would turn and leave
Him, going back to their hoeing in the fields, their vine-plant
ing, their sheep-rearing, thinking how much better they were,
poor, and in a cottage of their own, than trying to follow the
teaching of Jesus, with no prospect of tangible rewards before
their eyes ; but there were some who felt that what He had
given them was more than pearls could buy, and that they
would never turn their backs upon Him, nor cease to strive
after goodness as He taught it. He was so different from
their own Teachers. He spoke to the poor and the bad, and
went into their houses, and ate and drank with them ; whereas
the Pharisee Teachers taught only the well-to-do and the re
spectable, those who went to church, who gave money to the
Temple, who acknowledged all their teaching to be right in the
abstract, who gave right answers to their questions, and only
needed looking after in such matters as hand-washing, Sabbath-
keeping, fasting, praying, and tithe-giving, which they were
apt to neglect. But the outcasts who gathered the taxes, who
begged, who stole, who did not go to church, who worked on
the Sabbath, who paid no attention to the little rules of the
Pharisees — these men were called accursed, lost in badness,
and they would not speak to them ; while in return the peo
ple hated their proud sanctimonious Teachers. And when the
Pharisees saw the tax-gatherers and bad persons crowding to
Jesus, and He going with them, they exclaimed, just as the
Pharisees at Capernaum did when He went to dine in the tax-
gatherer's house —
"This man meeteth bad people, and eateth with them." They
could not get near Him for the numbers of people with whom
they would not mix lest their clothes might touch them, and
they be defiled ; and yet Jesus touched them and ate food with
them ! But He answered them with the story about the shep
herd and the sheep, which He had told to His disciples in
Galilee over a year before, and which meant, that if the Phar
isees thought themselves so very good, there was no use in
coming to Him, for He only cared to speak to those who felt
that they were bad and wished to be good. And many of the

282 THE LOST PIECE OF SILVER.
men who listened were shepherds, who fed their sheep upon
the hills of Gilead, of Pisgah, and of Ammon, or in the wilder
ness down by the Dead Sea, where they were in danger from
wild animals attacking them.
" Which of you," He said, " that hath an hundred sheep, if
he should lose one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine
in the lonely place and seek for the lost one until he find it?
And when he hath found it, would not put it upon his
shoulders and carry it back rejoicing?" What a pretty
picture? The shepherd leaving the flock crowded together,
guarded by his fierce yellow dogs, to follow the footprints and
listen for the bleating of the straying one. The strong man
returning with the young sheep on his shoulders, climbing up
from a deep tangled gorge, or coming cautiously down the
rocky hillside, to restore the wanderer to its companions.
"And when he getteth his flock home," Jesus continued, " he
calleth his friends and neighbours together, and telleth them to
rejoice with him, for he hath found the sheep which was lost."
Then, turning to those Pharisees who were standing listening,
" I tell you," He said, " there is more joy in Heaven over one
bad person that becometh good, than over ninety-nine good
persons who do not need to change." This story displeased
the Pharisees, for they thought in their pride that they of
course were the good people who did not need to change, and
that the common people were the bad ones ; and they were
annoyed to hear Him say that one of these despised people
would enter Heaven with more joy than they, and they turned
away in anger ; but Jesus went on to tell this other short story
about a lost silver coin — like a shilling —
" What poor woman who hath only ten silver coins, if she
should lose one, would not light a lamp, and sweep the house,
and search carefully until she find it?" Now the houses of
these poor people had only one room, with an earthen floor,
and no windows, and only lighted by the door, and a shilling
was a large sum to them. " And when the woman hath found
her silver coin," Jesus continued, "she will ask her friends
and neighbours in to rejoice with her because she had found

THE ERRING BROTHER. 283
the money which was lost." Then, looking to the Pharisees,
He added, " I tell you, in the same way, there is joy among
the angels of Heaven over one bad person that becometh
good." And thou wilt remember that pride is to be put away from
thee as thou wouldst put away anything that would destroy
thine eyesight ; and that thou shouldst take to thee lowliness
and modesty, and be like the silver star that is content to
light up its little corner in the blue sky, though no eye should
ever single it out from the thousands of others that sparkle
round it.
THE ERRING BROTHER.
PERAEA, WINTER, A.D. 33.
Jesus told yet another story to the people in the Peraean
village in the presence of the Pharisees, to show the difference
between persons who have been bad and are sorry for it, and
those who have never done such wicked things. It was about
a son who behaved very badly, and yet who was forgiven by
his kind father. And this is the story.
A rich man had two sons, and the younger of them came
and said, " My father, give me now the share of thy money
that will come to me." Now the share that he would get
when his father died would be one-third of all that his father
had, his elder brother getting two-thirds.
And the father gave him his share of all that he had, and in
a few days the younger son gathered it together and went away
into a distant country, and there he spent and squandered it
among bad people who were glad to help him to spend it.
And when it was all gone, food became scarce in that country,
and he could not get anything to eat without working for it. His
friends left him, and he had to go to one of the people of the
place and offer to work, and he sent him out into the fields to
herd swine. Now that was the lowest kind of work that a Jew
could be set to, for they hated swine ; and what he was paid
for his work was not enough to buy food for himself. Some
days he was so hungry that he would like to have eaten the

284 THE SWINE HERD.
husky pods of the carob tree, which the swine ate, for nobody
gave him food, and often he thought of his father's rich house
and well-fed servants, but he was afraid to return home, after
what he had done. So he followed the swine over these
strange fields and through the woods, until one day as he sat
tired and starving, with his swine stick in his hand, he came
to his right mind, and resolved to return home, saying to
himself —
" My father's paid servants have plenty of food, and here
am I, perishing from hunger ! I will rise and go to my father,
and say, ' My father, I have done wrong against Heaven and
thee, and do not any more deserve to be called thy son ; make
me one of thy paid servants.' " He now felt how foolish and
cruel he had been, and was sorry for his badness, and he gave
up herding the swine, and set out to walk wearily back to his
father's country. Now in some parts of that country the
ground is so flat and the air so clear, that a friend can be seen
at a long distance, and his father, who had been watching every
day for his son to come back, while he was still a long way off,
saw him returning wearily home, and knew his own boy, and
ran to meet him, and put his arms about his neck and kissed
him much.
" My father," said the son humbly, as he stood before him
in his ragged swine-herd's clothes, "I have done wrong
against Heaven and thee, and do not any more deserve to be
called thy son  " But his father would not let him say any
thing more, but seeing his sorrow and regret, he called joyfully
to his servants at the house —
" Bring out the best cloak quickly and put it on him, and
put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet ; and bring in the
fatted calf and kill it, and let us feast and make merry to-night,
for this my son whom I thought was dead is alive again, and
he who was lost is found ! " His joy was so great that he
would not let his son finish his sorrowful speech, but took him
into the house to have him bathed and stripped of his rags
and properly dressed, and ordered a feast, and called in his
friends to rejoice with him over his son's return.

FEASTING, MUSIC AND DANCING. 285
Now the elder brother was out working in the distant
fields when his brother returned, and when he came home
from his work in the evening, and got near the house, he heard
the sound of music and the shouts of dancing in the open
court, and asked a servant what it meant, for he had not heard
of his brother's return.
" Thy brother hath come back," replied the servant, " and
thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath him back
safe and sound again." This should have been glad news to
the brother who had stayed at home. But no ! He was angry,
and would not go into the house, and some one told his father
that his elder son was offended and would not come in. And
the father came out and begged him to come in and welcome
back his erring brother, but he answered gloomily —
" I have served thee for many years, and have not disobeyed
thee, and thou hast never given me even a young goat that I
might feast and make merry with my friends ; but when this
thy son cometh back, after spending thy money in bad com
pany, thou killest for him a fatted calf ! " This was only a
childish excuse, for he could have had a kid at any time if he
had wished, and he showed his dislike to his brother by calling
him " thy son," as though he did not think him fit to be his
brother. But the kind father was as gentle with the one
erring son as with the other.
" My son," he replied, " thou art always with me, and all
that I have is thine. It is right that we should make merry
and be glad, for this thy brother was as one dead and is alive
again, and was lost and is found." How gently the father
reminds him by the words " thy brother " that he had spoken
unkindly. The Pharisees listened for more, but the story was ended,
and they were left to wonder what it meant, and whether
it was pointed at them. Who was the erring brother, and
who was the sullen one? Surely the sanctimonious brother
was the Pharisees, who said they kept all the commandments,
and were too good to eat food at a table with tax-gatherers
and common people, and who would not rejoice when bad

286 THE MONEY-GOD.
people became sorry for their faults. Jesus Himself was the
kind father, who wished both Pharisees and tax-gatherers to
meet together as brothers.
And do not thou forget that though a person may be as
foolish and bad as this younger son in the story, if he be truly
sorry for what he has done, and asketh to be forgiven, God
will welcome him to a hfe of goodness, for He loveth us all,
both bad and good.
THE MONEY-GOD.
PER^A, WINTER, A.D. 33.
Two things the Pharisees loved — respectability and money.
They believed that rich people were the favourites of Heaven,
and sought after money so much, and took such bad ways to
get it, that Jesus told them money was their god, and the
cause of wickedness. Even His disciples had wrong ideas of
the use of money, and the next story which Jesus told as He
went among the Peraean villages, was about the dishonest
servant and money, and He told it to His disciples before the
Pharisees. " There was once a rich man," He said, " who had fields,
gardens, and houses, and he had a chief servant to whom he
gave charge of everything while he was away — lands, rents,
crops, wine, oil, — with power to take less from those who
could not pay their whole debts ; and some one told him that
this servant was wasting his property. And the rich man
called the servant before him, and said, ' What is this I hear
of thee ? Give me an account of thy management, for thou
canst no longer be my servant.' " He was thus to give an
account of all he had done, before being sent away. And the
servant thought —
" ' What shall I do when my master hath put me away? I
cannot dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I know what- 1 will
do ! so that when I am put away I may have friends who will
take me into their houses.' " And he resolved to give presents
of his master's things to people, and so make friends of men
as bad as himself, who would think him a kind man. So the

CHEATING. 287
servant ordered every one who owed his master anything to
come and see him.
" 'How much owest thou my master? ' " he asked the first
who came. Now this man was a tenant of an olive-garden,
who paid his rent in oil, and he answered —
" ' An hundred measures of oil.'
"'Take thy paper,' said the dishonest servant to him,
kindly, ' and sit down quickly, and write fifty instead of an
hundred.' " And the tenant who was as dishonest as the
servant, did as he was told, and gave him the paper back to
show to his master. Thus the servant made one friend ; and
turning to another —
'"And how much owest thou?'" he asked graciously.
And this tenant, who grew grain on his land, answered —
" ' An hundred measures of wheat.'
" ' Take this paper and pen, and write eighty instead of an
hundred,' " the servant said. And the man did as he was told,
and handed the servant back the paper. And the servant did
the same with all who owed his master anything, and made
quite a number of friends by giving away what was not his
own to give. Having arranged all his papers, he then made
up a false account, and gave it to his master ; but his master
knew all about his last acts of dishonesty, and sent him away
with sharp words of mock praise for having been so clever
at his expense, saying that men like him thought they were
wiser and cleverer than honest men. And so ended the story
of how a man by wicked cleverness thought he could preserve
his respectability in the world ; but that kind of cleverness is
not wisdom, it is only foolish wickedness. Then speaking
directly to the Pharisees, Jesus upbraided them, telling them
that they were trying to reconcile badness with goodness,
worship of money with worship of God, in words which made
them angry, for it was like telling them to imitate the dishonest
servant of whom they all had disapproved.
" I say to you," Jesus said, " make friends to yourselves
by means of the money-god of wickedness, so that when
it shall fail you, these friends may receive you into their

288 MONEY- WORSHIP.
homes." They hated to hear Him speak of their love of
money in this way; but He continued, "Whoever may be
trusted in a very little, may be trusted in much ; and whoever
is bad in a very little will be bad also in much. If you have
not been faithful to your money-god, who will trust you with
true riches ? And if you have not been faithful in the things
which belong to another, who will trust you with that which is
your own?" Thus far He had been taunting these money-
worshippers with their own folly, pointing out the stupidity of
their belief in riches as a sign of God's favour; but now His
tone changed, and with a warning voice He said —
" A servant cannot obey two masters, for either he will hate
the one and love the other, or keep to the one and leave the
other. You cannot serve both God and money." They were
thus left to choose whether they would love God or love
money, for they could not do both. But the Pharisees only
shouted mocking and impudent things to Jesus, for they be
lieved that money would help them to have Heaven ; and they
would not change for anything He might say. To their scoffing
He replied in words which stung them back —
"You are the men," He said, " who make people think you
are good, but God knoweth your hearts, for badness like yours,
though it is thought much of by men, is hateful to God.
Before John came, men had the Bible ; but since then I have
spoken of the Kingdom of Heaven in the world, and men
think they can press into it. But it is easier for sky and
earth to pass away, than for any part of God's law to fail.""
And in a few more words He told these Pharisees, who pre
tended to be perfect keepers of God's law, that they broke it
when it suited themselves, putting away their wife and taking
another on very slight excuses, and that this was shameful
and wicked conduct. And He went on to speak of the rights
of women in a way which had never been heard of before,
and which with what He said about a month afterwards, made
Jesus the special friend of the women of the country.
And thou wilt remember that badness, however secret
and successful it may be, is only cheating and folly, although

THE RICH MAN AND THE BEGGAR. 289
it may pass for cleverness ; and choose early, betwixt loving
money and loving true goodness, for thou canst not love them
both.

THE RICH MAN AND THE BEGGAR.
PERAEA, WINTER, A.D. 33.
Jesus had warned the Pharisees of the Peraea against their
love of money, and their belief that it would help them to be
good and have Heaven, and they had only laughed at Him ;
but now He told them a story of a rich man and a beggar, and
of how the beggar entered Heaven after death, but the rich
man did not. This was to show that wealth makes some
people bad rather than good. Heaven He pictured in the story
as a place of joy and beauty, the house of God, and Hades as
a place of sorrow and gloom ; and this is what He said —
There was once a rich man who dressed himself in purple
cloth and fine hnen, and lived surrounded with splendour, and
ate the choicest food. Now purple cloth and white linen was the
dress of princes, and he spent his days in looking after his own
comforts. And a poor beggar, called Lazarus, was often
carried to the gate of this rich man's house and laid there ; and
he was ill with sores on his body, and begged that he might
get the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table ; and the
street dogs used to come and lick his sore places. The rich
man saw him lying helplessly there in the sunshine, as he rode
out and in by the gate of his fine gardens, and he was not kind
to him, and did not think of his misery. But the street
dogs, poor harmless brutes, were the poor man's friends, and
he used to stroke them with his feeble hand, and give them
a few of his crumbs to eat. And so the days went past in
feasting and pleasure to the rich man, and weariness and
pain to the beggar.
But at length the beggar died, and his spirit entered
Heaven ; and perhaps the rich man missed him from the
gate one morning, but he soon forgot all about him. Time
passed on, and the rich man also died. All that money could

29O HEAVEN, AND HADES.
do was done for him. Paid mourners gave him a splendid
funeral and made speeches at his grave, praising him ; while
others wept and mourned and played wailing music upon
flutes and beat melancholy drums; and others turned the
seats and tables in the house upside down and tore their
clothes and hair, and put dust on their heads, in imitation of
sorrow, for about a month ; and then there were rejoicings in
honour of his brother the heir.
But his spirit did not enter Heaven. In Hades he lifted
up his eyes in pain, and saw Abraham far away in Heaven,
and the beggar Lazarus with him. Now Hades is the place
to which men's spirits go that do not enter Heaven after
death; and the rich man who had not been the beggar's
friend on earth, wished to claim friendship now.
" Father Abraham ! " he cried, " have mercy on me, and
send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water
and cool my tongue, for I am in great pain in this fire."
" My son," Abraham replied, " remember that thou hadst
riches during thy life, and that Lazarus had poverty ; but now
he is comforted and thou art tormented. Also between us
and thee there is a great deep space, so that they who wish to
pass hence to thee are not able, nor can any one come from
thee to us." Loving spirits would have come down even from
their beautiful Heaven, to sooth these spirits in Hades, but
they could not, for it was impossible ; and while these in
Hades could see those pure spirits in Heaven, they could not
go near them. But the selfishness of the rich man became
changed. He thought of his brothers who were living, as he
had done, in the world, and he cried again to Abraham —
"Father," he said, "I beg thee to send Lazarus to my
father's house on earth, for I have five brothers, that he may
warn them, lest they also come to this place of pain." He
was sorry for his selfish life, and wished his brothers to
change and become good while they lived. But Abraham
answered —
" They have the words of Moses and the good men in the
Bible ; let them read them." But the rich man remembered

ONE OF THESE LITTLE ONES. 29 1
what little thought he had ever given to all the wise and good
things in the Bible.
" Nay, Father Abraham," he pleaded, " but if a spirit from
the dead were to go to my brothers, they would change."
"If they pay no heed to Moses and the prophets," re
plied Abraham, "they would not be persuaded to change,
even if a spirit were to go to them from the dead." His words
quenched the little flame of hope that had flickered over the
head of the rich man, and as he sank back among the com
panion spirits of Hades, he thought with horror of the careless
lives which his brothers were living in the world, under the vain
behef that they were making merry and enjoying life. This was
only a story with a meaning, a sort of vision, but it is one of
the most startling of the stories of Jesus, in which He opens
the golden gates of Heaven and the leaden doors of Hades, as
a warning to men to be good. Told in the presence of the rich
and the poor, it must have had a strange effect, for He let
them know that to be rich did not mean to be good; nor
being poor, to be bad ; but that the opposite was oftener the
case. And that after death men will be in joy or in pain
according as they have lived good or bad lives here.
Therefore, be thou kind to the poor, and if thou canst not
give them food, clothing, or money, give them gentle words ;
and may it never be said of thee that thou didst add one grain
of misery to the heavy burdens which the poor have to bear.
Little deeds of kindness,
Little acts of love,
Make the world around us
Like the Heaven above.

ONE OF THESE LITTLE ONES.
PER/EA, WINTER, A.D. 33.
After telling the story of the rich man and the beggar to
the Pharisees who trusted in riches, Jesus ceased speaking in
the open air and went into a house with His disciples. In
private with them, perhaps sitting in the evening in a quiet

292 IF THY BROTHER HURT THEE.
room, with the stars sparkling in the sky and the sharp crescent
of the moon seen through the open door, He explained some
of the things which He had said, with fuller confidence than
He could have used before the Pharisees. He warned His dis
ciples that they would be tempted by bad people to do wrong.
" It is not possible," He said, " but that temptations to do
wrong shall come to you, but woe ! to him through whom
they come ; " repeating, as He pointed to the little children
on the floor, the same words of caution which He gave them
before in Peter's house. " It were better for a man that a mill
stone were tied round his neck, and he thrown into the sea,
than that he should cause one of these little ones to do wrong."
He also repeated to them the warning to forgive each other,
which he gave them on the same occasion after their quarrel
on the road to Capernaum —
" Take care what thou doest. If thy brother hurt thee, tell
him what he hath done, and if he is sorry for it forgive him.
And if he hurt thee seven times a day, and seven times turn
again to thee and say that he is sorry, thou shalt forgive him."
He meant that they were always to be willing to forgive an
injury. Talking among themselves over this, the disciples felt
that they needed help if they were to live the good life which
Jesus continually set before them, and not to be tempted from
goodness, and like children they exclaimed —
" Master, give us more faith ! " To which He replied, using
a figure of speech that He had often used before about remov
ing mountains —
" If you had faith, even as small as a mustard seed, you
could tell this sycamore tree," pointing as He spoke to a large
green tree which grew near them, " to be rooted up and
planted in the sea, and it would obey you." He did not mean
that they could cause trees to leap into the sea, but only that
they would be able to do great things if they trusted in good
ness. Lest they might think that they deserved much praise
for being His disciples, He told them this story about not
expecting praise for doing what is right, and what they ought
to do, saying —

HEAVEN IS WITHIN YOU. 293
" Which of you that hath a servant ploughing or watching
sheep in the field, would tell him when he cometh in from his
work to sit down at the table and eat. Wouldst thou not
rather tell him to make ready food that thou mightest eat, and
prepare himself and wait upon thee till thou wast done, and
after that to eat and drink himself? " — meaning, that though
this might seem hard, still it was only the servant's duty to do
so ; adding this question : " Would the master thank his
servant because he did what he was told to do? " And on the
disciples answering " No," He went on to tell them that they
must be like good servants, doing what is right, because they
love right and hate wrong, and not doing it for praise and
thanks. "And so you," He continued, "even after you have done
all that I have told you to do, may say, 'We are unprofitable
servants, who have done no more than it was our duty to
do.' " And yet, while the disciples were not to feel proud
in having done their duty, there is no doubt that their duty,
humbly done, was the best service which they could render
Jesus. And thou, too, must do thy little duties to the best of thy
strength, and in thy sweet child's struggle to do right and keep
from wrong, Jesus will help thee. But what is thy duty? Hurt
no living thing, spoil no beautiful thing, say no unkind thing ;
forgive, be kind, be loving, be truthful, be joyful, and do not
think thyself very good, but be good.
HEAVEN IS WITHIN YOU.
PER/EA, SPRING, A.D. 34.
We are coming to the last weeks of Jesus' life. I have
hitherto tried to explain all His sayings, but in these latter
weeks He spoke much of future things, in language which I
cannot understand and shall not guess at ; but I shall give as
plainly as I can His sayings as they have come down to us from
those who heard Him speak. It is not of much moment, nor
can it be expected, that we should understand all that Jesus

294 SPREADING HIS KINGDOM.
said, particularly about the end of the world, and His coming
again. If it were so, He would have made His meaning
plainer ; but yet, while not attaching too definite meanings to
things which are like visions, and have no close relation to
us, it is right that thou shouldst know about them.
He had now been teaching in the Peraean village for over two
months, and was about to begin His last, slow, memorable
journey back to the fords of Jordan, and up by Jericho to Jeru
salem, which He would enter at the approaching Passover Festi
val amid great rejoicing — a journey marked by gentle teaching,
loving incidents, and stories by the way. The curiosity of the
Pharisees increased every day, for Jesus had said that His
Kingdom would be declared at Jerusalem; and one day a
little group of them came to ask Him yet one more question.
They wished to know what would be the sign of the coming
of His Kingdom of Heaven, for they believed it would be
accompanied by many wonders, if He were the true Christ.
But they could not understand His answer. It was too deep ;
and went against all their ideas.
"The Kingdom of Heaven," Jesus answered them, " cometh
not with looking for it, neither shall men say, Look here ! or
Look there ! for Heaven is within you." He meant that the
Kingdom of Heaven was not a thing outside of them, which
they could see, as the Pharisees thought, but that it was a
state of the mind and spirit, a change from bad to good, which
would be felt, but could not be seen, for it was witnin them.
Through Him their spirits would learn to know God, and
become obedient to Him — which is Heaven. And so His
Kingdom would spread among the people and over the world,
as men, women, and little children entered it, and became His
subjects. A very different kind of Kingdom from what the
Pharisees looked for, of cities, riches, and power, who thought
that the Kingdom of Heaven in the world would be estab
lished by a king with armies, not by going about healing and
teaching the common people. When they went away, Jesus
spoke gravely to His disciples, telling them that He would be
killed at Jerusalem, whither they were going, but that He

STRANGE SAYINGS.

295

would rise from the grave, and go to His Father in Heaven,
and would come again. But His words are so strange and
mysterious, that even after all that has happened since then,
it is impossible to tell clearly what He meant. He said that
after He was dead, men would come time after time, saying
that they were the Christ, but that people were not to be
deceived by them.
"The time will come," He said, "when you shall wish to
see one of My days and shall not see it. They shall say to
you, Look here ! and Look there ! but go not away to follow
after them. For like the lightning which flasheth out of one
part of the sky and shineth unto the other, so shall my coming
be. But first I must suffer many things, and be rejected by
the men of this time " — meaning that He would be killed at
Jerusalem, for He knew that if He continued His great work
of teaching, the priests would have Him put to death for it.
He spoke also of what would happen when He should come
again. That there would be many bad and few good men, as
in the time written of in the beginning of the Bible, where it
says a flood came upon the world, and only Noah and his
family were saved in a great boat called the Ark; and like the
time also mentioned there, when two wicked cities were de
stroyed by fire, saying —
" As it was in the time of Noah, so shall it be in My day.
Men ate, drank, and married, until the day that Noah went
into the ark, and then the waters came and drowned all
the people. And as it was in the time of Lot, men ate,
drank, bought, sold, planted, and builded, until the day that
he went out of Sodom, when it rained fire and brimstone from
the skies, and destroyed all who remained ; so shall it be in
the day when I shall be made known. In that day, whoever
shall be on the house-top, let him not go inside to take things
out of his house ; and whoever is in the field, let him not
return home, but flee. Remember Lot's wife ! Whoever
shall seek to save his life, shall lose it; but whoever shall
lose his life, shall save it." The story about Lot's wife is,
that as they were flying away from Sodom, she looked

296 THE DOOR OF HEAVEN.
back, wishing to return, and became a pillar of salt. Jesus
told them then how people would be separated ; continuing,
" In that night there shall be two men in one bed, and the one
shall be taken and the other left. Two women shall be grind
ing at the mill stones together, and the one shall be taken and
the other left. Two men shall be in the field together, and
the one shall be taken and the other left." The disciples
were listening with breathless interest to these strange sayings,
and when they heard Him speak of people being taken away
to meet Him, they exclaimed —
"Where, Master?" But He did not tell them, only
answering —
"Where the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered
together." Referring to the great birds called vultures that in
that country come flying in crowds to the bodies of animals
that have died in lonely places.
The lesson for thee, my child, in these strange sayings, is to
be watchful not to attach exclusive importance to a few words
or even lines of the Bible, but ever to believe and trust the
whole1 broad spirit of that Book. When thou art older, men
may tell thee that these strange words of Jesus are foolishness ;
but wise people think very reverently of every word which
Jesus spoke. If they cannot understand them, they may put
them on one side ; for thou wilt remember that it is not neces
sary that thou shouldst understand all that is written of Him,
but it is well for thee to know every word.
THE DOOR OF HEAVEN.
PERAEA, SPRING, A.D. 34.
Another Winter had gone, and Spring returned, with green
grass and young wheat springing in the fields, and birds
singing as they built their nests in the forks of the trees amid
bursting buds and soft green leaves. The gardens were sweet
with the scent of blooming fruit trees, the fields again beautiful
with wild flowers, but Jesus would not see the coming Summer,
for in about six weeks' time He would be killed. As He went

GODS HOME. 297
slowly through the green paths of the Peraea, walking towards
the Jordan river, He told those who followed Him of the
difficulties that were before them all, but that they would have
Heaven ; and as they talked over His words, some thought
that very few people would have Heaven, while others thought
that many would do so, and one day they asked Jesus this
question —
"Master! do only a few enter Heaven?" He did not
answer "Yes," or " No " ; but told them to be careful more
about having Heaven themselves than curious to know how
many others would do so, adding, that Heaven was like a
beautiful house with a narrow door.
"Strive," He said to the people, "Strive to go in by this
narrow door, for many shall try to enter in, but shall not be
able." He then told them that He was at the door to open it,
and that they should listen to Him before it became too late.
"When I," He said, the Master of the House of Heaven,
shall rise and shut the door, and you shall begin to stand out
side and knock, and say, ' Lord ! open to us.' Then I shall
answer, ' I do not know you, nor whence you are.' And you
shall begin to say, ' We ate and drank with Thee, and Thou
didst teach in our streets.' But I shall answer, ' I tell you
I do not know you, nor whence you are. Depart from Me,
all you who do wickedness.' " And He told them that they
who were shut out would weep for sorrow when they saw
those whom they knew, in Heaven, while they were not ; and
that people would come from all parts of the earth, East,
West, North, South, into God's beautiful House of Heaven,
which the Jews thought was for them alone. Thus He told
them once more what had so enraged the people of Galilee,
that Heaven was not for Jews only, but for the people of all
nations. While the Pharisees in the Peraea did not like the teach
ing of Jesus, they did not behave so harshly to Him as the
Pharisees of Judaea and Galilee. They listened, and differed
from Him, but they did not try to catch Him with their
rules, nor to persecute Him with petty annoyances ; but now

298 AS A HEN GATHERETH HER CHICKENS.
that He was leaving their country, they sought to hasten His
going. He was in the country of the cruel King Antipas, the
wretch who killed John the Baptist, and who wished Jesus to
come and visit him ; and the Pharisees, knowing something
of the king's intentions, came to Jesus with a show of real
friendliness, and said —
" Get away from here, and out of our country, for the king
wisheth to kill Thee." This did not frighten Jesus. Turning
calmly to them, He gave them this message to deliver to their
weak and wicked king, if they chose.
" Go and tell that cunning fox, that to-day and to-morrow I
shall heal people, and the third day I am perfected. I must
go on My way to Jerusalem, to-day, to-morrow, and the day
after, for it cannot be that I shall die outside that city."
And as He named the name of Jerusalem, a crowd of memo
ries came over Him, of all that He had tried to do for the
people of that city, of how they had killed good men in the
past, and would kill Him too. He loved the city which was
the hope of all good Jews, and which held the Temple of their
God. "O Jerusalem ! Jerusalem ! " He exclaimed, "which killed
the good men of the past, and stoneth them that are sent to
thee ! How often would I have gathered thy children together
unto Me, even as a hen gathered her chickens under her wings,
and thou wouldst not. See how thy house is left desolate ! I
say thou shalt not see Me, until thou criest, ' Blessed is He
that cometh in the name of the Lord.' " Thou hast seen a
hen calling her chickens when a dog, or hawk, or other
danger is near. How they creep under her wings and remain
there safely sheltered. These words of Jesus are taken from
the 1 1 8th Psalm, one of the favourite Psalms which the people
sung at their Festivals, and are the words which His friends
from Galilee shouted about a month later at the Passover
Festival as He rode into Jerusalem.
And thou, my child, wilt remember that there is a time
when thou canst hear the voice of Jesus calling thee to enter
Heaven, but if thou wilt not listen nor be guided by Him,

MORNING PRAYERS. 299
the time will come when that gentle voice will cease to move
thee.

MORNING PRAYERS.
PERffiA, SPRING, A.D. 34.
' Jesus had told His disciples that they ought to pray fre
quently and earnestly, because praying to and trusting in God
would make them strong, brave, and faithful, and that they
were not to cease praying if they did not get what they wanted,
for whether they got what they asked or no, praying itself
would do them good. But they were to use common sense
in praying; and He told them this story with a meaning,
about An unjust fudge ; and thou wilt bear in mind that there
were then two judges in Jerusalem who were each paid more
than ^200 a year for doing justice, and that they did not
always do it.
"There was in a city," Jesus said, "a judge who cared
neither for God nor for man ; and there was a widow in that
city, and she came often to him, saying —
"'Do justice for me, against mine opponent.' " She asked
only what was fair and right, but perhaps the judge was lazy,
perhaps he wanted a present of money from her, but day
after day she came and asked the same thing, until the judge
saw that he must attend to her.
"Though I care neither for God nor man," he said to him
self, " yet because this woman troubleth me every day I will
do justice for her against her opponent, lest she weary me with
coming so often." And so to stop her from annoying him
with her prayers and tears, this unjust judge did as she wished.
And Jesus called the attention of His disciples to what the
judge in the story did, saying —
" Notice what this unjust judge said and did ; " meaning,
that even a bad judge will listen to one who will not stop nor
be turned away. " And shall not God," Jesus added, " do
what is right for His own ones who pray to Him by day and
by night, and whom He loveth? I say to you, that God will

3OO PHARISEE, AND TAX-GATHERER.
do justice quickly for them." And then, as if thinking over
all that He had said and done during His three years of teach
ing, with a touch of sadness He asked His disciples this
strange question —
" And yet, when I come again, shall I find any faith in the
world? " And He left them to think over it ; but they could
give Him no answer, for this is one of His sayings which we '
do not understand.
Among those who came to listen, to Jesus on this His last
journey towards the Fords of Jordan, were some people, most
likely Pharisees, who thought they were so good that they did
not need any teaching from Him, nor to have His Spirit, and
that they were sure of Heaven; and they looked down on
other people as being far beneath them. They were very
careful to obey all the rules of the Lawyers, particularly the
rules about the Sabbath. They would not eat an egg which a
hen laid on the Sabbath, nor would they carry a loaf of bread,
nor wear shoes with nails on that day ; but they enjoyed them
selves on the Sabbath all the same, and had many ingenious
ways of avoiding keeping rules which they did not like.. See
ing some of these cold, self-righteous men listening, but still
keeping out of the crowd lest their cloaks might be defiled by
the common people, Jesus turned to them, and told them a
beautiful story about a proud Pharisee and a humble tax-
gatherer, who went together to the Golden Temple to pray.
This is the story —
Two men went up to the Temple to pray. The one a
Pharisee, and the other a tax-gatherer. They would go up in
the morning, at the hour when, at the sound of silver trumpets
blown by the priests inside, all the beautiful doors were thrown
open, when the morning sacrifice smoked upon the great stone
altar, and the white-robed priests, putting aside the outer
veil of blue and scarlet, showed the golden door of the
sanctuary with the golden vine over it, through which they
passed into the holy place to trim the lighted candles, and
throw incense upon the fire that glowed upon the altar of
gold until the whole gilded chamber was filled with a sweet

THE LEVITE CHOIR. 3OI
heavy odour. The Pharisee, with white turban and naked
feet, would walk to the utmost limits of the men's court, the
numerous blue and white threads of the tassels of his cloak
reminding him of the many commands of the Law ; while tied
upon his brow and left arm were little vellum boxes containing
verses of the Bible, called his phylacteries, made large, as a
special sign of his goodness. Coming after him, the tax-
gatherer stood at the back of the court, not caring to go
further in. With faces turned towards the golden splendour of
the Holy place, the two men waited the signal for prayer.
When it came, the Pharisee stood, and lifting up his eyes to
the sanctuary that shone on the terrace above them, he prayed
thus with himself —
"God, I thank Thee that I am not like other men, op
pressors, unjust, wicked, or even like yonder tax-gatherer.
On two days of the week I take no food, and I give one-
tenth part of all that I get, to the priests and the Temple."
And then he ended. But, had he been praying? He had
only been talking to himself, saying how good he was, and
how much better than other people. But the tax-gatherer,
standing far off from the Holy place, and not so much as
lifting up his eyes to it, struck his breast with his hand, as he
said —
" God be merciful to me, a sinner," for he felt that he was
bad, and was very sorry for it, and prayed earnestly to God to
forgive him. Again the silver trumpets sounded, and with
beating cymbals, the immense choir of Levites and singing
boys, who crowded the fifteen marble steps that led to the
Priests' court, sang the psalms for the day, filling the whole
Temple with music. And the Pharisee walked past the tax-
gatherer with sweeping robes and head high, cold and proud,
away to his beautiful house in the upper part of the town ;
while the tax-gatherer, resolving to be a better man, went
away down to the lower streets of shops and markets to do his
daily work. And Jesus told the people what was the differ
ence between these two men.
" I tell you," He said, " that this tax-gatherer went down

302 WIVES AND MOTHERS.
to his house justified rather than the Pharisee. For every one
who is proud shall be humbled, and every one that is lowly
shall be raised up " — using nearly the same words as He used
to the Pharisees when they were trying who should get the
highest seats at the Ruler's table a few weeks before.
And thou, my child, wilt remember never to compare thy
goodness with thy neighbours' faults, but to compare it with
the pure life of Jesus, for that will make thee gentle in judg
ing thy companions ; for thou never canst tell how they have
been taught or tempted, or whether thou wouldst have been
any better than they, hadst thou been in their place.

WIVES AND MOTHERS.
PER<EA, SPRING, A.D. 34.
Once more the Pharisees of the Peraea came to Jesus with
a question, and it was the last they would ask Him before He
left their country. A little over a month before, He had
spoken about married people, and had said that the Pharisees
put away their wives whenever they wished, in a way that was
very wrong. Now the question of marriage had caused much
wrangling amongst Pharisees, their two chief teachers taking
different sides. Hallel said that a man might put away a wife
for very slight reasons, such as, if she had cooked his dinner
badly, or if he liked another woman better, or had ceased to
love her ; while Shammai said that a husband could only put
away his wife for being unfaithful. They never thought of
discussing for what reasons a wife might put away her hus
band; for women were looked upon as the toys, slaves, ser
vants of men, and a wife could be bought for money. Girls
were taught that their husbands were to be their masters, and
women were not allowed to sit with men in Church, nor even
to walk with them to it, but had to go by a back way, and no
one thought of saying that woman was man's equal.
But Jesus had already shown that He thought differently of
women. At Sychar He astonished His own disciples by talk-

MARRIAGE. 303
ing to the woman at the well ; in Galilee He shocked Simon
the Pharisee by allowing Mary Magdalene to kiss His feet ; in
the Temple He surprised the people by speaking kindly to the
poor woman who had been brought for punishment ; a month
ago He blamed the Pharisees for treating their wives so cru
elly ; and now He was asked to say what He thought of the
rights of women in marriage. Spring time is advancing, and
the sun is hot in the valley of the Jordan, and He stands in
the shade of a green tree speaking to the people, as the Phar
isees come to Him.
" Is it right," they asked, " for a man to put away his wife
for any reason? " They wished to put Jesus into a difficulty,
for most of the men there, thought that they had a right to put
away one wife and marry another, just as they might change
a servant. Jesus answered with a question, asking them if
they had not read in their Bibles how that God when He
made the world, made also men and women, and that when a
man married he was to leave his mother and father and live
with his wife, and they were ever after to be like one person.
So that men were not to think that they could be separated
from their wives whenever they wished ; and He added these
solemn words —
" What God hath joined together, let not man separate."
And thus He answered the Pharisees out of the same Bible,
which they pretended to know and teach to others. But the
Pharisees could quote a rule of Moses against the Bible, and
replied briskly, saying —
" Moses hath allowed us to put away our wives, if we give
them a letter saying that we have put them away forever."
But Jesus answered that it was because of their hard selfish
hearts towards women that Moses had given them such a
rule; that it had not always been so, for there was the
Law of God, of which He had already spoken, which had
been from the beginning of the world, and which was higher
than the rule of Moses, and it said that a man must be to
his wife as if they were one person. And He repeated
again what He had told the people on Mount Hattin, three

304 FACES OF FAIR WOMEN.
years before, that there was only one thing for which married
people could be separated — unfaithfulness to each other — and
that if a man were to send away his wife for any other reason,
she would still be his wife, and he might not marry another
woman. His words were so just and so wise, that the Pharisees could
make no reply, and went away in silence. Thus we find Jesus
telling these proud Pharisees that their wives were as good as
they — that a wife has a claim upon her husband, equal to the
husband's claim upon her ; for, to Jesus, woman was not man's
inferior, or servant, or toy, but a living soul, and man's equal.
And this truth has so spread, that wherever Christianity is
taught, one of its first effects is to place woman upon an
equality with man, and to establish her moral and intellectual
independence. When the crowd went away, and Jesus went
into the house to rest, His disciples came round Him to ask
questions about this strange new thing which Pie had said
about the rights of women ; for they too had always regarded
a wife as the servant of her husband, a thing to be bought for
little or much, according to her beauty and cleverness, and to
be sent away at any time the man wished, with a letter in her
hand, and some money.
" Since it is so," the disciples said, " that a man cannot put
away his wife, it is not wise for men to marry at all? " The
idea of being married for life to one woman was so new to
them, that they seriously asked Jesus whether it would not be
better for men never to marry. Evidently they could not be
got to understand how this could ever be right, for, after
repeating to His disciples much of what He had already told
the Pharisees, Jesus said —
" Everybody cannot understand this, but only they to whom
it is given." And he named a few kinds of men who ought not
to marry, all others being free to marry if they wished.
When thou, my child, seest the sweet faces of fair women
in our streets, and hearest their gentle voices wherever thou
dost go, I would have thee remember how much our mothers
and sisters owe of the liberty and happiness of their lives, and

HE BLESSES THE LITTLE CHILDREN. 305
of the sanctity of their homes, to Him who so long ago
spoke to the Pharisees of the Peraea, of their equal rights
with men.

HE BLESSES THE LITTLE CHILDREN.
PERAEA, SPRING, A.D. 34.
We come now to another very beautiful picture in the life
of Jesus, and in it He is surrounded with children.
The news of what He had said to the Pharisees about a
man having no right to put away his wife whenever he liked,
was carried into the homes ofthe people, and there the mothers
heard, and talked about it. The women of that country loved
Jesus. Amid all the unkindness shown to Him during the
three last years of His life, we do not hear of an unkind word,
deed, or thought, from a woman ; but, on the contrary, we
read of them following Him, giving Him presents, inviting
Him in, blessing Him, bringing their children to Him, ex
claiming against His death, weeping for Him, and mourning
at His grave. Their hearts pitied the young Teacher, so
gentle, so beautiful, who bade their husbands love and respect
them, and said that Heaven was the home of little children.
Their purer spirits seemed clearer to discern the Spirit of God
that was in Him.
It was a common thing for mothers to bring their children
to an old Teacher that he might put his hands upon their
heads and say that he hoped they would be good children ;
and the mothers of the Peraea wished to bring their children
to Jesus that He also might bless them. They heard He was
about to leave their country, perhaps to be killed in Jeru
salem, and with a strange show of interest and affection, these
humble enslaved mothers of the children of that land, bade
him farewell. Spring was advancing. The prickly bushes of
the pomegranate were bright with bell-shaped flowers of
orange-red, swallows with white breasts and flickering wings
were skimming the tree shaded pools, and as He passed through
one of their villages, and sat by the wayside in the shadow of a

306 COME UNTO ME.
green sycamore tree, the women came forth from their little
white houses, calling their children after them, leading some,
carrying others, for they brought their babes also. See them
as they come, small dusky boys with very scant clothing, little
red-cheeked girls with bright garments thrown round them, all
glad to go pattering through the yellow dust of the road, to see
the kind Teacher who had made Himself their Friend. In
twos and threes came the mothers, with bright kerchiefs on
their heads, and coarse red or blue garments, for they were
only village women, yet they dared not speak much to Jesus,
for their husbands would not allow them to speak to a man
on the road ; but they did what they were at liberty to do, and
it was a beautiful thing. Bringing their children to Him as
He sat in the shade, pushing forward the shy ones, with
low soft voices, and modest eyes cast down, they made this
gentle request —
" Before Thou goest from among us, bless our little children,
and put Thy hands on them and pray for them." He did as
the women asked Him, and blessed their children ; but more
mothers came, with more children, yellow heads and dark,
blue eyes and black, a little crowd of pure spirits that filled
the heart of Jesus with joy, as they pressed round Him in the
sunshine and the shadow.
But when His disciples saw the number of mothers and
children who were coming, thinking that He was being fool
ishly troubled by these women, they began to stop the mothers
and forbade the children to come any nearer. Jesus noticed
the disciples turning away the women and keeping back the
children, who stood aloof with hanging heads, and He was
much displeased with them for stopping His little friends,
and told the disciples to cease doing so in these words, which
should be hung up in every nursery in England —
"Suffer the little children to come unto Me" He said, " and
forbid them not, for of such is The Kingdom of Heaven." Joyful
words to those mothers who with downcast hearts and averted
eyes were turning to go away with their children unblest. The
disciples, at the sound of His voice, ceased to interfere, and

OF SUCH IS HEAVEN. 307
with humbled looks stood by, a body of gruff men, corrected
before these loving women. While the children, freeing them
selves from their mothers' skirts, ran forward, a troop of glad
faces, eager to be touched by Jesus. And there upon that
open way He not only blessed them as He sat with the leaf-
shadows flickering over His white tunic and calm sweet face —
truly an elder Brother to these innocents — but He took the
babes up in His arms, and on the heads of the little boys and
girls He laid loving hands, and blessed them all. And as He
blest them, He said to His disciples, who were standing a short
way off with their skirts girt up and long sticks in their hands,
ready for the journey —
" Whoever is not willing to receive Heaven as a little child
shall not enter it." This was the second time He had taught
His disciples a lesson on purity and trust from little children,
having said almost the same words to them in Peter's house
less than a year before. And looking round upon His little
friends, who had striven to sit upon His knee and put His
hands upon their heads, and whose faces were shining with
happiness, He said —
"Whoever shall receive one of these little children in My
name, receiveth Me, and whoever receiveth Me, receiveth not
Me only, but God who sent Me " — also words which He had
used about children before, and while the little ones did not
understand Him, the mothers' hearts were glad, for they knew
that the goodness of Jesus was in their dear children.
This was one of the last things Jesus did in the Peraea, for,
when He had blessed all the children who were brought to
Him, little children who belonged to His beautiful Kingdom of
Heaven in this world, He rose, and with His disciples left the
village on His way to the Fords of Jordan. And the mothers
led their children home, looking over their shoulders at the
retreating figure of Jesus their King, and wishing they might
go with Him.
No sweeter fruit could have been offered to Jesus of His
teaching in the Peraea, than that the mothers should bring their
children to Him, nor can any better fruit come of His mes-

308 THE RICH YOUNG RULER.
sage to us, than that little children should early learn to come
to Him, to love Him, and to ask His blessing on their
heads. And thou, too, hast been brought by thy mother to
Jesus, and though thou canst not see His face nor feel His
hand, thou canst hear His voice that whispers of goodness in
thy heart.
THE RICH YOUNG RULER.
FORDS OF JORDAN, SPRING, A.D. 34.
Having said farewell to the women and children at the vil
lage, Jesus and His disciples walked down from the hills
towards the valley of the Jordan ; but, looking back, they saw
a young man hastening after them, one of the Rulers of the
church of the village through which they had just passed.
He was a good man, and very rich, and had heard Jesus
speaking, and he wished to ask Him one thing before He
went away. Kneeling upon the road, he asked earnestly
almost the same question as the Lawyer had put a few
months before near Jericho —
" Good Master," he said, " what good thing shall I do that
I may have Heaven?" He was in a high position, and
thought that he might do some great and good thing and so win
Heaven ; for although he had tried to be good all his life, yet
hearing Jesus speak had roused a strong wish to be better.
Jesus looked at him as he knelt, waiting for a command, and
said gently —
" Why dost thou ask Me about what is good ? One alone
is Good." And the young man knew that He meant God.
" But if thou wouldst have Heaven," Jesus continued, " keep
the commandments of God." The young man expected to be
told to do some grand and heroic thing, but he was told only
what he had learnt when a boy at school.
" Which commandment? " he asked earnestly, thinking that
Jesus might have something new to tell him about obeying
them. Jesus liked his earnestness, and told him the principal
commandments, thus —

WHAT NEED I YET? 309
" Thou shalt not kill ; thou shalt not steal, nor be unfaith
ful to thy wife, nor give false evidence ; honour thy father and
thy mother, and love thy neighbour as thyself." Now these
commandments were against doing wicked things which this
young man would not be likely to have done, and he answered
truthfully —
" I have kept all these commandments since I was a youth.
What do I require to do still? " That is, since he had begun
to think for himself he had kept them, but he felt that he
needed something more. And as Jesus looked at him, so
eager to make better his already good life, He loved him, and
wished him to become one of His friends, and looking kindly
at him, He said —
" One thing thou needest, if thou wouldst be perfect. Go
and sell everything thou hast, and give the money to poor
people, and thou shalt be rich in Heavenly things, and come,
follow Me." Now, he had got the answer which he so much
wished, and the young Master had offered to take him with
Him ! Thou hast heard of the sunshine of this young man's
life. What was its shadow? When he heard this answer his
face changed, became perplexed and sorrowful; and as he
wavered, Jesus saw the spirit of evil overcoming the spirit of
good within Him. He longed to have Heaven, but he loved
his wealth. He had to say "Yes" or "No" at once. Give up
houses, horses, lands, money, and be laughed at by his friends,
or tell Jesus that he loved something else better than His offer.
Perhaps he satisfied himself with a middle course, hoping to
keep his wealth and still try to be good, to be contented with
less of goodness than Jesus offered. He did not speak, but
rose and turned sorrowfully, for he could not give up his
wealth, being so very rich.
When Jesus saw the young man turning thus sadly away
from entering His Kingdom when the one fault of his life was
pointed out to him, He was grieved, and speaking to His
disciples who were near, He said —
" It is difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of
Heaven." And they were astonished to hear Him say this,

31O THE DANGER OF RICHES.
for they admired rich people. The men who were considered
holiest in Jerusalem were rich, while poor men were pushed
aside for being poor, and the disciples themselves hoped to be
made rich in the Kingdom of Jesus, for following Him as
they were doing.
"Children," said Jesus, seeing their surprise, and as though
drawing them closer to Himself, " it is difficult for them that
trust in their riches, to enter the Kingdom of Heaven." And
then they understood Him better ; that men must not trust
to money to make them good and bring them into Heaven,
for that is impossible, Jesus adding, in one of the proverbs
of the country, " It is easier for a camel to go through the eye
of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of
Heaven." But these words again perplexed the disciples, for
they knew that rich people gave much money to their churches,
and they all hoped to be rich, and Jesus had promised that
they would enter His Kingdom of Heaven.
"Who then, can enter the Kingdom of Heaven? " asked
one of them in a surprised tone, for he thought that if rich
men could not easily get in, no others could do so. Jesus
did not wish to speak further, and looking at them, He an
swered quietly —
"Things which seem impossible with men, are possible
with God, for all things are possible with Him." But this
answer did not satisfy them. They talked over it, and thought
over it, and although Jesus had taught them that He had come
to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to the poor, they were
anxious at that moment to have a clear understanding about
the riches which they expected to get from His Kingdom.
Peter spoke for the rest, who pressed round to hear the end
of this thing in which they were so deeply interested, and he
began earnestly addressing his gentle Master —
" See us," he said to Jesus, " we have all left our homes
and followed Thee, and what are we to have for it?" The
first part of the answer of Jesus is one of those sayings reach
ing into the future which I cannot explain to thee, and which
it is not necessary that thou shouldst understand ; but it must

¦ RICH AND POOR. 3II
have filled the minds of these Galilean fishermen with splendid
dreams. " I say truly," said Jesus, " that you who have followed Me,
when I sit in Heaven on the throne of My glory, you shall
also sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel. And," He added, " every man who hath left his
brothers, sisters, mother, father, wife, children, house, or lands,
for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake, shall receive much more
in this world, with punishments, and Heaven in the world to
come." Thus, whatever thou givest up — like the young
Ruler's riches — for Jesus' sake, thou wilt have greater happiness
than if thou hadst kept them ; and have Heaven hereafter.
And He added this old short warning to those who thought
they could count up their good deeds, and fix their reward —
" But," He said, " many that are first shall be last, and last
shall be first." Thus a pure childlike service, which counts
on no reward, will be put before the worship of those who do
no good thing without thinking how good it is of them to] do
it ; so that many who have seemed great and good to them
selves and other people, and who came first on earth, may
find that some who were never noticed and least thought
of in this world, will for their purity of service be first in
Heaven. What a hope this is for children ! Not riches,
not cleverness, not knowledge, not power, but purity of
mind and simplicity of heart, these are the treasures of
Heaven. Therefore, my child, let rich and poor be all alike to thee.
Measure people by their goodness, not by their money ; and
if thou art ever tempted to seek after wealth and to forget
God, remember that wealth is too often like gold in the
pockets of the shipwrecked sailor, which cannot save, but may
sink him.

312 THE WORKERS AND THE -VINES.
THE WORKERS AND THE VINES.
JERICHO PLAIN, SPRING, A.D. 34.
The road from the foot of the Peraean Hills to the Fords at
Jericho passed through sandy and uncultivated country,
gradually down to the deep terraced valley of the Jordan,
that was lined thickly with trees along the banks up to which
the water rose at flood times. The trees were now in full
green leaf, and when Jesus and His disciples waded through
the water at the wide, shallow ford, and went up the steep
road that led to Jericho, they were then in the most fruitful
district in the land, where flowers first bloomed, and barley
first ripened, and grapes and figs were soonest ready.
Although the sun shone hotly now, the grass was fresh and
green, and the leaves of the sycamore and fig and palm trees
cast their shadows on the road, while the fragrant blossom
of the flowering fruit trees — apple, apricot, almond, and
balsam — scented the air. Wheat and barley were already
waving in the fields like billows upon a yellow sea, while by
the roadside the daisy fringed its white star, the red anemone
spread its flowers in thousands through the grass, and in the
tangled wood the damask rose and scarlet geranium grew
wild ; and while in the deep blue air the lark hid itself
singing by the snowy cloud, twittering sparrows held their
councils in the hedge, and thrush called to thrush where trees
were thick.
On the slopes and terraces of the Jordan valley the disciples
had seen the vines in thousands, with their broad green leaves
and slender tendrils twining round poles, where the little
grapes were forming. They also saw the broad well-hedged
gardens, where among the green- vines, with bare and dusky
arms, the labourers were at work thinning the fruit and clean
ing off the insects. But the busiest time was in Summer,
when the heavy bunches of rich black grapes were gathered
into baskets and carried to the wine tubs to have the juice
pressed out, and then the whole vineyard was busy as an
English harvest field.

IN THE MARKET PLACE. 313
As they went through this rich country towards Jericho,
Jesus told them a story about The Workers and the Vines,
which is part of His answer to Peter's question when he asked
what the disciples were to get for following Him. He said
that The Kingdom of Heaven is like a rich man who had a
fine house and large vineyard, and he required more workers,
and went out early in the morning to the village market-place
to get men to work, and they made a bargain with him,
agreeing to work all day for one penny each, which was
counted good payment in that country, and all the idle men
who were there, went away to work for him, commencing
about five in the morning, while the day was cool. But he
found that he had not enough workers, and about nine o'clock,
when the sun was growing hot, he went back to the market,
and again hired all the idle men who were standing in the sun
shine, saying —
" Go you also into my vineyard and work, and I will pay
you whatever is right." And they also went away and began
to work, trusting that he would give them what they deserved.
The first men, however, would not trust him so ; they bar
gained for a penny each. But he had so much to do in his
large vineyard, that twice, at twelve and at three o'clock in
the afternoon, he went back again to the market-place, and
each time he found more men, who went gladly to work for
him, with no better bargain than the rest, trusting that he
would treat them fairly. Again he went to the market, and
by this time it was five o'clock in the afternoon, the heat of
the day was over, and the working day was nearly past, for
darkness came on about six, and finding still some idle men,
he said —
" Why do you stand here all the day idle ? "
" Because nobody hath hired us," they replied.
" Go you also into my vineyard," he said, and although he
did not promise them anything at all, and they were not
likely to get anything for working so short a time as one hour,
they obeyed him willingly. In an hour's time the red sun was
setting over the purple hills, and all work had to be stopped

314 EVERY ONE, A PENNY.
among the vines, and the master told his servant to pay
the workers as they went away, saying —
" Call the workers and pay them their hire of one penny
each, beginning at these who came last, and ending with these
who came first." And the servant did as he was told. He
called up first these who came at five o'clock in the afternoon,
who had not been promised anything, and who hardly hoped*
to get money, and to their surprise each one got a penny put
into his hand. The other workers who had been promised
what was right were called next, and each one got a penny
also, and they were much pleased. Last of all came the
workers who had bargained before they would begin, to get a
penny for working all day, and who now expected to get more,
but each one got also a penny. But when they received it
they would not go away, and flung their pennies on the ground,
and spoke against their master to his servant, saying that he
was not a just man.
"These last men have only worked one hour," they ex
claimed, " and thou hast made them equal with us who have
worked all through the heat of the day." When this was told
to the master, he came and spoke to them, but he was not
angry ; and calling them his friends, he showed them that
they were quite wrong in what they said.
" Friend," he said to one of them, " I have done nothing
unfair to thee. Thou didst agree with me to work all day for
a penny ; — take it up and go away, for it is my will to give to
these men who came last, the same as to thee. Is it wrong
for me to do what I will with mine own money ? Hath my
kindness made thee jealous? " The sight of his generosity to
the other workers, instead of exciting the admiration of these
men had only made them envious and angry. But how could
it be fair to pay all these workers alike ? They were paid,
not for the work they did, but for the way in which they did
it. They who bargained for a penny, got it, while they who
trusted their master and gave him willing service, because of
the way in which they worked, got far more than they ex
pected. God measures all work done for Him by the love
with which it is done.

THE SONS OF ZEBEDEE. 315
Having told His disciples this story, Jesus explained that
it was intended to show what He meant by the words " The
last should be first, and the first last."
And thou, my child, wilt* rejoice that Jesus puts such value
upon small services, if they are given in love and trust ; for all
that children can do with hand or voice is little compared
with what great and clever men can do ; but in sweet single
ness of heart the loving service of a child is a pattern to the
greatest of men.
THE SONS OF ZEBEDEE.
PLAIN OF JERICHO, SPRING, A.D. 34.
Jericho was six miles from the Fords of Jordan, and as
Jesus climbed up the steep road from the river, behind them
lay a stream winding down to the Dead Sea, with the green
hills of the Peraea and the purple mountains of Moab in the
background ; before them were the bare limestone hills of
Judaea, and all around spread the well-watered plain of Jericho,
stretching for twelve miles, so thick with fruit trees and rich
crops, that it was called the Paradise of Judaea. When cross
ing the river, they were accompanied by numbers of joyous
people on camels, asses, and horses, going to keep the Pass
over at Jerusalem, for it was the caravan road from Arabia,
and most of the people from Galilee and the Peraea, came
over this Ford to go to the Festival. The road was now full of
pilgrims in little family groups, pedlars with their packs of
wares, fruit-sellers with their baskets, priests riding on asses,
and country people walking, all toiling onwards towards the
gates of Jericho, whose houses of red brick and palaces of
white marble rose from among the feathery palm trees and
beautiful gardens, which gave it the name of the perfumed
city. The disciples knew of the danger into which Jesus was
going, for the council of priests at Jerusalem, in view of
the approaching Passover, had given notice that if any
person knew where Jesus was, he was to tell them that He

31 6 HIS COMING DEATH.
might be taken a prisoner wherever He could be found.
Perhaps the priests hoped to frighten Jesus away, but the
disciples were astonished to see that instead of walking
as usual along with them, He went on before, as though
anxious to meet danger, and they followed, although they
would willingly have turned back. They did not know, they
could not tell, that He had now reached the last fortnight of
His life. Never again would He walk through those warm
country lanes which He loved, where the tangled wild flowers
grew, and gum trees flung their shadows on the yellow path
way. And as He walked, He told them that this would be His
last journey. He knew that His enemies the priests would
again try to take Him a prisoner, and this time He would not
avoid capture, but would rather invite it by going openly
into the city, and speaking against the chief men in their
own Temple with even greater force than before ; and He
knew that when they took Him a prisoner they would have
Him put to death, which meant that He would first be
scourged and made sport of by the soldiers. And so, taking
His disciples aside by themselves, He again told them plainly
and earnestly what would happen to Him, so that they might
not be afraid when it came. He had told them before at
Mount Hermon, on the road from Cesaraja to Capernaum,
and in the Peraea, what would be the end of His work, and
they would not believe Him, but had begun to quarrel over
who should be greatest when He was King over Jerusalem
and the world.
" We are going up to Jerusalem," He told them now again,
" where everything will happen that hath been written about
Me in the Bible. I shall be given up to the chief priests and
the Lawyers, who will say that I should be put to death, and
will give Me over to the Roman soldiers, who will mock and
scourge and spit upon Me, and nail Me upon a wooden cross
to die, and on the third day I shall rise again." But the dis
ciples did not understand Him. They firmly believed that
the coming of His great Kingdom was very near now, and as
what He told them now did not suit the splendid plans which

A MOTHERS REQUEST. 317
they had made for themselves and for Him, they again refused
to believe Him. A kingdom such as they expected, without a
king, was to their minds ridiculous. They felt sure that He
was mistaken in what He said ; and that the people at the
Passover would gather round Him and make Him their King,
and that the priests would not be able to take Him a prisoner.
They could not understand that His Kingdom was in their
hearts only, and that it would never put money into their
pockets nor crowns upon their heads.
Two of the disciples, James and John, felt certain that
crowns and thrones were near. They were the sons of
Zebedee the fisherman at the Lake of Gennesaret, cousins of
Jesus, and were rather better off than the other disciples.
Why should they not be His chief Princes ? They told their
mother Salome, who along with other women had come from
Galilee, that the kingdom of heaven was near. Salome knew
what her sons had done for Jesus during the three years that
they had been with Him, and she thought that now had come
the time when a private word would secure for them the
highest places in His great kingdom. She told her sons of
her plan, and despite all that Jesus had said against seeking
to be the greatest among the disciples, these two men agreed
to her proposal. An opportunity soon arrived when Jesus
was alone by Himself, and, bidding her sons follow her,
Salome came, and kneeling, worshipped Him.
" Master," she said, " we wish Thee to do for us whatever
we shall ask."
" What do you wish Me to do for you ? " Jesus replied.
And thinking only of her sons, Salome answered —
" Command that these my two sons shall sit the one
on Thy right hand and the other on Thy left in Thy
Kingdom." She did not think this unreasonable. Some
person would be highest, she thought; and, like a true
mother, she asked nothing for herself, although she believed
Jesus would soon sit upon King Herod's royal throne of
ivory and gold. Jesus was not angry. He knew that her
mother's heart meant well, although it grieved Him to see

318 WHO SHALL BE GREATEST.
how these disciples had misunderstood all His teaching about
His Kingdom of Heaven among men.
"You do not know what you ask," He replied gently.
And turning to James and John, He added, " Are you able
to bear what I am about to bear? "
" We are able," they replied, although they did not know
what He meant, and Jesus pitied their foolish bravery. He
knew they would be true to Him ; but He sent them away
with an answer the reverse of what they hoped for.
"You shall indeed share My sufferings," He said, " but to
sit on My right hand and on My left, is not Mine to give you ;
but it shall be given to them for whom it hath been prepared
by God." And indeed these two young men did suffer for
Jesus, for James was killed in Jerusalem, and John was ban
ished to the lonely island of Patmos, in the Mediterranean.
Some of the disciples heard about what had been asked,
and when they told the others, they all spoke very angrily
to James and John, for they thought they had made a
shameful attempt to get the chief places in the Great
Kingdom of Jesus, which they felt more certain than ever
would be set up in a few days. Jesus had only that day
told them that He was walking towards death ; and yet
they were again quarrelling over the old dispute as to who
should be the greatest in His Kingdom, and on this last sad
journey He had once more to interfere and stop their quarrel.
How bitter for Him, and how shameful of them, after all
He had said to them ! and calling all the disciples towards
Him, He spoke to them about the Romans, but only to point
out that they should do differently from them.
"You know," Jesus said, "that the princes of foreigners,
rule harshly over them, and that their great men oppress the
common people. But it shall not be so among you ; for who
ever would be great among you should be as a servant, and who
ever would be first among you should be the slave of all."
He meant that humility made a man truly great, and that the
poorest servant might be better than the richest master. He
reminded them also of His own beautiful life among them,

ZACCHEUS IN THE TREE. 319
saying that He had come to serve others and not to be
served, and that He would die for all men ; and then, without
even once naming James and John or Salome, He turned,
and walked on towards Jericho, which was now not far off.
And the disciples followed Him in silence and in wonder.
And thou, my child, wilt learn from this not to be proud,
wishing to rule with power over others, but rather to be quiet
and gentle, willing to serve, and leading them by thy example ;
remembering that Jesus called Himself not king, prince, lord,
or even ruler, but, servant.
ZACCHEUS IN THE TREE.
JERICHO, THURSDAY, MARCH, A.D. 34.
Weary with their journey in the burning sun, at length
Jesus and His disciples reached the grey stone walls of
Jericho, with its towers and battlements from which the watch
men watched the houses and gardens of the rich Priests,
Levites, and Tax-gatherers, who lived there within easy reach
of Jerusalem. A thicket of brown tangled thorns grew round
the foot of the walls, and at other parts, green creepers
climbed almost to the top or hung over from the inside, and
the heads of the green feathery palms that grew in the streets
of the town, could be seen spreading above the roofs of the
highest houses, for it was a city of palm trees. When they
came to the low stone archway of the city gate, what with
people who had come out to meet them and those who had
journeyed up with them there was quite a crowd, filling all
the narrow paved road. The news had gone on before, that
the young Prophet of Galilee was coming to the town on His
way to Jerusalem, and the people of Jericho were curious
to see Him, and pressed close round about Him. Men
have often wondered what Jesus was like. He was tall, strong,
and beautiful, for even when He was not speaking, men and
women came crowding just to look at Him as He walked
along the road.
Jericho was an old and rich town. Not only was it in the

320 A CROWD IN JERICHO.
midst of the richest land in the country, but it was on the main
road from distant places to the great city of Jerusalem, and
many merchants with their goods passed through it, and all had
to pay a toll to the Romans before they were allowed to pass.
The toll-keepers or tax-gatherers, as thou knowest, were
called " Publicans," and in Jericho there were a large number
of them, many of whom were rich, for they used to cheat and
oppress the people, and were heartily hated and despised in
return, for collecting the taxes of the Roman conquerors.
The chief and richest of the Jericho tax-gatherers was a
little man called Zacchaeus, who was like Matthew of Caper
naum, a Jew, and was much hated in consequence. Like
many little people he was exceedingly curious to see sights,
and when he knew that Jesus was coming, — Jesus of whom
he had heard so much, and whom the proud Pharisees called
" the friend of tax-gatherers," — he had a strong wish to see
Him, and went to the principal street up which Jesus was to
come. But when the crowd came, packing the street with
people taller than himself, Zacchaeus was pushed aside, none
the less roughly that he was the chief tax-gatherer; and
although he heard that Jesus was passing, by his utmost
efforts, rising on tiptoe, he could not see Him, but he heard
the people say whither He was going. When free to move,
Zacchaeus started off and ran like a school boy by side ways,
so as to get ahead of the crowd and be in a good place to
see Jesus when He should pass again. Now there were trees
growing in the streets and gardens of this old town, and
among them was the green fig tree called the sycamore, with
a short rough stem, and long branches spreading low down
over the roadway, thick with broad green leaves ; and looking
about him for a good place to see from, Zacchaeus, with
comical boyishness for a man of his importance, climbed
nimbly up a sycamore tree, and seated himself upon a large
branch, whence, partly hidden by the leaves, he had an open
view. Soon the crowd came filling the street and pressing round
Jesus, who walked among His disciples, easily recognised by

COME DOWN QUICKLY. 32 I
His white tunic, brown hair, and beautiful face. Zacchaeus
gazed at Him as He approached, and felt that all he had
heard of His wonderful appearance fell far short of what he
now saw, and he was filled with admiration for this plainly
dressed young Galilean. Holding the twigs aside with eager
hand, the dusky countenance and twinkling eyes of Zacchaeus
looked sharply down through the green leaves to get a near
and full view of Jesus' face as He passed under ; but, to his
amazement,, Jesus stopped and looked up.
"Zacchaeus," He said, "come down quickly, for to-day I
shall stay at thy house." Jesus knew who he was, and Zac
chaeus rejoiced that He should speak thus to him. Since
Jesus had asked him for hospitality, he would be His friend,
and open his fine house to receive Him ; and quickly he
climbed from his branch and slid down the tree, and passing
through the people, greeted Jesus in the street, and after the
manner of the time, conducted Him by the shortest way to
the gate of the gardens which surrounded his house. And as
they went, Jesus talked with the little tax-gatherer ; but there
were Pharisees in the crowd, who when they saw whither He
was going, said with a sneer, just as they said about Matthew's
supper —
" He has gone to live with a bad man." And they would
not enter even the courtyard of Zacchaeus's house. But Zac
chaeus ordered a dinner to be made ready for Jesus and His
friends, and saw their hot feet bathed with the coolest of
water, for Jesus had won his heart. He also asked many of
his own friends to come in and dine with Him.
The dinner passed pleasantly, and when it was over and while
the guests rested on rich couches taking fruit and wine, Jesus
talked much to them, and Zacchaeus, listening, felt that his own
life was not what he now wished it had been. He thought of
his successful business as a tax-gatherer, in which he had often
been tempted to take more money from people than he ought
to have taken : and he feared that he had been harsh and up-
just. But he wished that no man should suffer from anything
he had done ; and, standing up, he openly declared his firm

322 AT ZACCHEUS S HOUSE.
belief in what Jesus taught, that the news of it might be car
ried through the city and country as a notice to all who did
business with him.
" See, Lord ! " he said, addressing Jesus, " one-half of all
that I have, I now give to the poor; and if I have taken
anything wrongly from any man, I shall give him back four
times as much." How generous and how humble has this little
business man become ! One-half of all the money he has he
gives to those who have no claim upon him, excepting that
they are poor. He cannot recollect any man whom he has
cheated, but if there should be one, let him come forward,
and he will pay him back four times over. Had Zacchaeus
been dishonest in his past life he would not have dared thus
to pretend before Jesus with an " if," that he had cheated no
one ; and Jesus was pleased with him, and speaking before
them all, He said —
" To-day hath salvation come to this house, since Zacchaeus
also hath become a son of Abraham. I came to seek and to
save the wicked." And Zacchaeus did not give up his busi
ness, but. went back to his tax-table with a fresh determination
to deal justly with all men.
And thou wilt remember not to judge any one harshly
because of the trade he maybe in, for in this little tax-gatherer
Jesus saw a good heart and a struggling soul, a man worthy
of His friendship ; and do thou learn these lines of Robert
Burns — " Who made the heart, 'tis He alone
Decidedly can try us;
He knows each chord, its various tone,
Each spring, its various bias :
Then, at the balance, let's be mute,
We never can adjust it, —
What's done, we partly may compute,
But know not what's resisted."

THE KINGS SERVANTS. 323
THE KING'S SERVANTS.
JERICHO, THURSDAY, MARCH, A.D. 34.
After dinner, Jesus talked a great deal with those who were
at Zacchaeus's house, where He was to spend the night, for He
was now within an easy day's walk of Jerusalem. To-morrow
He would sleep at Bethany, and two days thereafter He would
ride into the city and into the midst of His enemies. Looking
round upon His friends at the table, He saw from their faces
that they confidently expected Him to be declared King at
the coming Passover Festival, King of that Kingdom of cities,
thrones, armies, and power, which they believed would come
with the Christ, and that they would all share in His success ;
for they would not believe that He would die, and leave them
neither poorer nor richer, to carry on His teaching and spread
His true Kingdom of Heaven among men. And Jesus told
them another story, in which He compared His coming death
to a king who went away for a time, leaving his servants be
hind to work. The story was very like what had really hap
pened with Archelaus, king of Judaea, who went to Rome to
beg for his kingdom from the Emperor Caesar and whose
subjects sent men to oppose him ; and all in the room knew
about King Archelaus.
"A nobleman," said Jesus, "was going into a far-off country
to ask the kingdom for himself, and to return, and he called
ten of his servants, and lent them a golden pound each,
saying —
"'Trade with this money till I come back.' But the people
of the country hated the nobleman, and sent messengers after
him into the far-off land to say — ' We will not have this man
to be king over us.' But he got the kingdom, and when he
came back to his own country, he ordered the servants to
whom he had lent the money, to come before him, that he
might know what they had made by trading with it. And the
first servant who came said —
" ' Lord, with thy pound, I have made ten pounds more.'

324 WELL DONE, GOOD SERVANT.
" ' Well done, thou good servant ! ' replied the king, ' be
cause thou hast been so faithful with a very little, thou shalt
rule over ten cities in my kingdom.'
" ' With thy pound, Lord, I have made five pounds,' said"
the second servant.
" ' Be thou also a ruler over five of my cities,' said the king
to him. But when the third servant came he said —
" ' See, lord ! here is thy pound, which I have kept rolled
up in a cloth,' unrolling it as he spoke, ' for I was afraid of
thee, because thou art an hard man; thou takest up that
which thou didst not put down, and reapest that which thou
didst not sow.' ' And the king was angry with this impudent
servant. " ' I will judge thee by thy own words, thou wicked servant ! '
he exclaimed. ' Thou hast said thou knewest that I am an
hard man, taking up what I did not put down, and reaping
what I did not sow ; why, then, didst thou not put my money
into the bank, that on my return I might have received it back
with interest ? ' The servant could not answer him, and turn
ing to those who stood by, the king said, ' Take the pound
away from him, and give it to the servant that hath ten pounds.'
And they who stood by exclaimed —
" ' Lord, he hath already got ten pounds ! ' But the king
replied —
" ' I say, that to every one that hath made much, shall more
be given, but from him that hath not made anything, even the
pound which he hath shall be taken away from him. And
bring out mine enemies, the men who would not have me to
be king over them ; bring them hither, and slay them before
me.' "
And thus Jesus ended the story, and those who were listen
ing remembered, as they thought over it, how King Archelaus,
about thirty years before, had slain and punished all the people
who had opposed his being king of Jerusalem. But the true
meaning of the story is this. All that Jesus had taught His
twelve disciples in the last three years was like money lent to
them, and they were to use what they had learned, in teaching and

SERVING JESUS. 325
spreading His Kingdom among men after He was dead, and
some day they would be asked what good they had done with
all that they had learned from Him. But the disciples did not
understand the story in that way. They had begun by refusing
to believe that Jesus would ever die, and starting with this error,
they read everything wrongly. They could think of nothing
but a great earthly kingdom — honours, armies, thrones, cities,
riches, war, conquests, and this crowded common sense from
their minds.'
Jesus spent the night in Zacchaeus's house ; and early in the
morning the whole town was astir with people who had come
in to sleep within its sheltering walls, preparing to start as
soon as it was light on the long hot walk of about fifteen miles
up to Jerusalem. They were saddling their camels and asses,
and forming into bands to march up the steep and dangerous
ravine among the rocky hills, for this was the favourite time of
year for robbers to rush out on people who were travelling
alone. The beggars too were busy, and were out earliest of
all, to sit at the gates of the city and beg from all who went
out and in, and by the roadside also, with loud cries, they
begged the passing strangers to remember them.
But what has been lent thee, my child ? Let us count up.
A loving heart, a quick mind, a clever tongue, a strong body,
willing feet, a glad face and bright eyes. Surely these are as
good as pounds of gold ! What wilt thou do with them?
With thy kind heart thou wilt love Jesus, with thy quick mind
thou wilt think about God, with thy clever tongue, speak of
Him, with thy strong body serve Him, running His messages
with willing feet, and day by day thou wilt find this service
more and more joyful. God intrusts to all,
Talents few or many,
None so young and small
That they have not any.

326 BLIND BARTIMEUS, THE BEGGAR.

BLIND BARTIMEUS, THE BEGGAR.
JERICHO, FRIDAY, MARCH, A.D. 34.
The news of what Zacchaeus had said at the dinner in his
house the night before, that he believed in Jesus and His
teaching, spread among the people, and when the time came for
Jesus and His disciples to leave Jericho, there were a great
many people wishing to go up to Jerusalem in His company.
And when in the bright sunlight of early morning, He left
Zacchaeus's house and walked through the tree-shaded streets,
the people looked at Him from the doors and windows of
their houses, in even greater numbers than they had done
yesterday, and when He reached the stone archway of the
city gate, there was a large crowd following Him. Now there
were two blind beggars sitting by the roadside near the gate,
blind Bartimaeus and his companion, for blind beggars often
went in pairs, holding by each other as they walked along.
With their quick ears they heard from the sound of feet and
voices that there was an unusual crowd coming out of the
town this morning, and knowing that it was the time for the
people to go up to the Festival at Jerusalem, they shouted
loudly for gifts. But Bartimaeus became convinced from
what he heard that there was something more than a crowd,
and he shouted questions to those who were passing, asking
what it all meant.
"Jesus of Nazareth passeth by," some one answered from
the crowd. "Jesus of Nazareth!" thought Bartimaeus.
" Was it not He who healed the blind man at Jerusalem on
the Sabbath and so enraged the priests, and is He not
called the Friend of the poor and the blind? " Now seemed
to be a chance to recover his sight — now or never ! and he
began to cry constantly, and stirred up his companion to cry
also, as loudly as they could — ¦
" Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on us ! " was
what they cried. "Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy
onus!" Now Jesus had not yet come to the place where

JESUS CALLETH THEE. 327
. the two beggars sat in the sunshine, with their rags and staffs,
and their white eyes looking upward, but seeing nothing;
and the people who came before Him rebuked them for
making so much noise, and told them to be quiet. But
Bartimaeus thought it was all very well for them to say that,
but they had never been blind ; and he shouted louder than
ever —
" Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on us ! "
When Jesus came near, He heard the cries of Bartimaeus
and his friend, shouting now turn about and now both to
gether ; and He stopped.
" Bring him to Me," He said. And they went over to the
blind men, who were shouting still.
" Be glad ! rise ; Jesus calleth thee ! " they said to them.
Then Bartimaeus, casting away his beggar's-cloak for joy,
sprang to his feet, and pushed his way through the crowd
followed by his friend, until they both stood in the middle
of the roadway before the young Countryman, trembling
with earnest expectation although they could not see
Him. " What dost thou wish that I should do to thee ? " a gentle
voice asked, while the crowd seemed hushed around them.
" Lord, that our eyes may be opened, that we may see,"
exclaimed Bartimsus earnestly, speaking for them both.
Their eager faces told how sure they were that Jesus would
do it, and He pitied the poor men.
" Receive thy sight," Jesus said ; " thy faith hath healed
thee." And as He spoke, they felt His hand touching first
the eyes of one man and then the other. They had never
felt so gentle a touch, and at once they could see ; and
the first thing they saw was a beautiful face, whose dark
eyes seemed to look into their very souls. Jesus moved
on, and the crowd went with Him ; but the beggars would
not be left behind, and followed in the crowd, praising
God for what Jesus had done for them. And the people
praised God also, for they believed that God was with
Jesus.

328 ANOTHER PASSOVER FESTIVAL.
This is the last special act of healing which we are
told that Jesus did, for the threads of His life are now
drawing to a close. His teaching in Galilee, in Judaea, in
Samaria, in the Peraea is over, and His special acts of
wonder-working, which began in the village of Cana, end
now at the gates of Jericho in healing two blind beggars ;
for, great as His power was, it was never used to punish
people or in acts of display, but only in kind and lowly deeds,
of which it was His strong wish that no one should speak.
Jerusalem was again in a stir with preparations for another
great Passover Festival. Although it would not begin for
a week yet, many people had arrived in the town who re
quired to come early to prepare themselves, and the streets
were busy with shopkeepers bringing their wares to sell
to the crowds who would be there ; and every day fresh
bands of people, from distant towns and villages, came
marching over Olivet, singing joyful psalms and waving
green branches when the splendid city came in sight. And
the Temple began to be filled with people waiting to see
the priests, and get leave from them to attend the Festival;
and many persons who came from Galilee expected to find
Jesus there, for He had not been in Galilee for months.
But they were told that He had had to fly across the Jordan
to the Peraea, and that the council of priests had issued a
notice to the people, some weeks before, that if any person
knew where Jesus was, they were to tell them, and they
would have Him taken a prisoner at once ; which was like
offering a price to His friends to betray Him, for it was a
great matter to be in favour with the priests, who thus hoped
to keep Him away from this Festival. In view of this,
the common talk among the gossips who stood talking in
the Temple was —
"What do you think? Will He come to this Festival?"
They wished to hear Him again, and some said "Yes," and
some said " No ; " but no one could tell.
But while they talked, Jesus was on His way up from
Jericho, walking in front of His friends up the hot and stifling

IN BETHANY AGAIN. 329
road among -the hills, a climb which is usually done riding ;
but He had no horse, and had to be in Bethany before
it was dark. After about six hours' hard climbing, He reached
the green Mount of Olives with His friends, and before
three o'clock of that afternoon they were in the little tree-
shaded village of Bethany again, for He had come to stay
in the cottage of His friend Lazarus — the last house in which
He would live. The disciples also found lodgings in the
village, but most of His friends from Galilee went further on,
some into the city of Jerusalem, some to put up their white
tents and build their mat huts on the hillside near the
walls ; and they carried the news into the city, and told it to
the crowds in the Temple, that He had come, and was living
at Bethany with Lazarus.
Jesus had now entered upon the last week of His life. The
following day (Saturday) was the Jewish Sabbath, which He
spent quietly in Bethany, but His friends in Jerusalem came
out in numbers to see Him and also to see Lazarus, for it was
a favourite walk of the people of the city through the groves
and flower gardens of Olivet and on to Bethany, by the three
paths which led over the hill. When the priests heard of His
return, they met and consulted together. They thought their
public warning would have kept Him away. But He and
Lazarus were together again, and the people were already
going out in numbers to see them. What were they to do ?
for it had become a common thing for people who went
out to Bethany and saw Lazarus, to come back believers in
Jesus. "Put them both to death," said a priest. And without
more ado this small meeting resolved that it would be best for
everybody to have Lazarus again in his grave ; and they went
away satisfied with their wisdom.
Having made up their minds to kill Jesus, how easy it
seemed to them to resolve to kill Lazarus also, or to kill even
more, if necessary, to get Jesus out of their way ! It is a
terrible thing when violence and cruelty take possession of the
mind, for they know no limit.

330 HE RIDES INTO JERUSALEM.
And thou, my child, wilt beware of the first blow. It is
the first blow which shatters the fair mirror of peace ; the
second breaks only a fragment ; and the third, fourth, fifth,
will follow without thought or feeling. Stay thy hand at
the first thought of hurting another, for then thou canst easily
do it. HE RIDES INTO JERUSALEM.
JERUSALEM, SABBATH, APRIL, A.D. 34.
Early in the morning the people were out in Bethany, for
Jesus had said that He would that day go up again to the
(golden Temple with His disciples. At other Festival times
He had gone quietly, but this time He would allow any one
who wished, to come with Him ; nor did He start early in the
morning as usual, but waited until the cool of the afternoon.
And during all that day His friends spread the news among
the Galileans who were in Terusalem and camped on the
green slopes of Olivet, that Jesus was coming to the Temple
in the afternoon, notwithstanding that the council had said
they would take Him a prisoner.
With a blue April sky overhead and sunshine flickering on
<* the leaves of the date palms. Jesus, with His disciples and a
' number of friends, left Bethany, walking, and as they wentjp
the hillside from the village to the main road over Olivet they
were joined by more friends ; but when they came near to the
village of.Bethpha.ge. Jesus decided that He would ride into
Jerusalem, and saiH rn two of His disciples —
" Go to the village over yonder, and as you enter it you will
find an ass tied, and a colt with her, on which no man has yet
sat ; loose them and bring them to me. And if any one shall
ask you why you do so, say that the Lord rgquireth the colt,
and the man will send him at once." And He waited there
until the two disciples should return, and while He waited,
people who were going in numbers bj-_Jhis_j-oad to the
/ Festival, gathered* round Him ; and His friends went and cut
down branches of the broad feathery palm, to wave in the air.

WAVING GREEN BRANCHES. 33 1
And soon the disciples returned leading the colt, for when
they went to Bethphage they found everything as Jesus had
said. The man was friendly to Jesus, and when he heard that
He was going into Jerusalem, he gladly lent his young ass
for Him to ride on.
Having no saddle, a disciple cast his rough blue cloak over
the colt's back to do for one. Thou mayest wonder that
Jesus should ride upon an ass, but a white ass was the
favourite animal for prophets and even kings to ride on in [(
that country ; horses were used. by fighting-men ; and Tesus was 1
the Prince of Peace. And when He mounted the young ass,
His friends shouted and rejoiced, believing that His triumph
was near, and when He rode on. some ran before Him and
spread their great outer cloaks — blue, yellow, brown — upon
the dustv road, that He might ride over them, while others
laid their broad green branches on the way, a common
thing for people to do before a king ; and the villagers of
Bethphage came out to look at Tesus as He rode away. The
beginning of the ride was a gentle rise, the path winding South
wards to the shoulder of the Mount of Olives, and the fields on
each side were green with spring grass and bright with wild
flowers, while the trees grew in thick clusters not far from the
road. As they went up, the crowd grew larger, each person
getting a green palm branch to wave, a thing which the people
were accustomed to do when joyfully marching over that hill
to Festivals in Jerusalem, and the hot and dusty road was at
times green as a pathway through the woods, when with shouts
of rejoicing, the people pressed forward and threw down their
green branches in front of the ass. Every time the people
shouted loudly the delighted disciples again spread their
cloaks upon the ground, that Jesus might ride over them,
and children climbed the trees in the fields and brought
more branches, and ran out and in among the people re
joicing with the rest.
The friends of Jesus in Jerusalem and among the Galileans
in their tents outside the city walls, had determined to go out
to meet Him with shouts and waving branches, as bands of

332 BLESSED IS HE.
people from the country were often met on Olivet as they
came to Festivals ; and cutting down broad nalm branches.
they went up the path on the Jenisakm_side of the Mount
to meet Him near the top. When Jesus and His friends
reached the shoulder of the hill, they saw the people from
Jerusalem coming up the 'other side, who welcomed Him
with shouts and waving branches, which were answered by
His rejoicing friends. He had now come to the tog of the
hill, and was about to go down through olive groves and rose
gardens, down the winding ^tonv path to the bridge across
the brook Kedron. Full before Him was the splendid city.
with its watch-towers on the walls, its gardens and palaces on
Mount Zion, its Temple on Mount Moriah, with its walls, pil-
lars, and cloisters of white marble, its roof of bright gold as if
on fire, and with sunshine upon its pinnacles, spires, and gates
of gold and burnished brass ; over all, spread the blue cloud
less sky, and beyond, were the bare purple and red hills of
Judaea, fading in a haze of distance. It was a sight which no
Jew could see without emotion, a sight which made the
Festival bands shout and sing for joy when they beheld it, and
when the disciples saw it at this time, with loud voices they
began to rejoice and praise God for all Jesus had done, singing
loudly —
" Hosanna to the Son of King David ! Blessed is the King
that cometh in the name of the Lord ! Peace in Heaven,
and glorv in the highest ! " part of which was from the 118th
Psalm, which was_a favourite song of the people at Festival
times, until the whole crowd sang, and those who came up
from Ternsalem also took up the song and sang it as the
two crowds met with waviny palms and great rejoicing. But
amid it all Tesus sat silent, going slowly forward at the pace
of the crowd. At any oti^er time He would have told them
to be quiet, but not now. He let them silicon. Mingling
with those who had come out from Jerusalem to meet Him
were the usual watchful Pharisees, friends of the priests, and
they were angry when they saw the joj. of the people, and
heard them calling Jesus a King, and forcing their way near

HADST THOU BUT KNOWN. 333
enough Him to be heard above the singing, with threatening
gestures they screamed, pointing at the disciples —
" Teacher, stop Thy disciples ! Teacher, stop Thy dis
ciples ! " continuing to shout, until turning calmly to them,
He said —
"I tell you if these men were to cease, the very stones'
would cry out." a common proverb of the country, meaning
that it was a time when joy should not be restrained. And
on hearing this the disciples shouted louder than ever. And
when they passed the tents and huts of the people from
Galilee who were camped on the sunny Western side, they
also waved branches an"d shouted, for they were glad to see
Jesus going again to the Temple, and many of them came and
joined the crowd on the road. But as He rode on, looking
over at the great city spread out on the other side of the
narrow valley. He 'was thinking, not of the shouts around
Him, but of the future of the city which might have been so
truly great ; for He seemed to see it surrounded with soldiers.
who were battering down its walls, and pouring in through
the openings sword in hand with waving flags and shining
armour, to slay men, women, and children in thousands,
while the Temple itself seemed to burst into flames ; and His
eyes filled with tears, and stopping. He exclaimed with deep
emotion —
" O Jerusalem ! hadst thou but known this day the things
which belong to peace ! For the day will come when thine
enemies will throw up banks about thee, and surround thee
with soldiers, and press thee in on every side and shall dash
thee to the ground, and thy children with thee ; and they
shall not leave in thee one stone standing upon another,
because thou knewest not the time when thou wert visited."
Within fifty years Jerusalem was taken and the Temple burned
by Titus, the Roman general ; — but the people who were with
Jesus thought He need not weep when they were all rejoicing.
And He rode on again, down the steep path into the Kedron
Valley, passing through the city gardens, and near to the
Garden of Gethsemane which He loved, while the people

334 WH0 IS THIS ?
kept scattering olive, fig, walnut, and palm branches on the
road, as they continued to sing —
" Hosanna ! Blessed is He that cometh in the name of
the Lord ! Blessed is the kingdom which cometh of our
father, King David. Hosanna in the highest ! " And sweetest
of all in that psalm were the voices of little children running
and shouting what they heard the others saying. And now
numbers of the people ran on before Jesus, across the narrow
bridge over the Kedron. and into the city by the St. Stephen's
gate, and up the narrow street that led to the Temple, shout
ing as they went, that a Prophet was coming. The city was
very full of people who had come for the Festival, and soon the
roofs and windows of the houses were covered with on-lookers,
for the whole city was roused, and this was its busiest part.
And when at length Jesus came riding upon an ass up the
Temple street, they saw a tall, beautiful young Man, with
dark eves, and a sad face, dressed in the white tunic and
coarse blue cloak of a Countryman of Galilee, who sat calm,
amid all the stir and noise and danger around Him ; and
those who had not seen Him before were struck with wonder,
exclaiming —
"Who is this? " and Galilean voices in the crowd answered
as they pressed up the narrow way —
" This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth, of Galilee."
And the Pharisees, when they saw the crowds that had come
to welcome Him, turned upon each other in dismay and vexa
tion, exclaiming, as they upbraided one another —
" See how vou have no power ! All, the world hath gone
after Him." This was what had come of their threats and
proclamations against Jesus — only greater popularity.
Onward still the people pressed, up the winding, steep,
and narrow streets, until they reached the white steps of the
Templ'e, and while some went inside to see what would
happen there, others waited to watch Jesus dismount.
Leaving the little ass, He went up the great steps with His
disciples, and taking ^ff_Fiis^sandals, passed through the
Temple gate and into the first porch and through among the

CHILDREN SHOUTING IN THE TEMPLE. 335
tall marble pillars, standing once more within the place whence
He had had to fly only a few months before, amid threats of
" Stone Him ! " but now His friends shouted " Hosanna ! "
"Hosanna ! " until the Temple arches rang again. From the
outer porch He went first into the open court, with sunshine
on its coloured pavement, and thence through the upper
courts, looking round Him, and saw that the buyers and
sellers with their animals and goods, were trespassing again.
Still He said nothing ; but having gone into every part, He
returned to His friends, and with His disciples, walked out of
the Temple and out of the city back again over the hill to
Bethany as the sun was setting, for it was toward evening.
And though the priests had resolved to take Him a prisoner,
they were so surprised with the love of the common people
for Him, and the number of His friends, that they feared to
touch Him that day lest there should be a fight with the
quick-tempered Galileans who had come to the Festival.
Remember as the greatest thing in this day, that Jesus rode
into Jerusalem upon an ass, dressed in a plain white tunic, as
the Messenger of Peace ; for thou wilt read of many proces
sions of kings, with soldiers, banners, drums, cannon, and
cheering, but this ride of Jesus, amid gentle songs and waving
branches, is more glorious than them all ; for while they ride
as kings of armies and of power, He rode as a Prince, who
would not fight, and whose command is love.

CHILDREN SHOUTING IN THE TEMPLE.
JERUSALEM, MONDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
Every morning after this, the rising sun found Jesus and
His disciples walking over the Mount of Olives to teach in
the Temple, and every evening they returned at sundown by
the same hill path, to sleep in Bethany. On Monday morning,
as they walked towards Jerusalem, Jesus was hungry, and they
had nothing to eat, and looking about them for trees with
fruit, they saw by the roadside at some distance, a fig tree

336 THE WITHERED FIG TREE.
with branches thickly covered with broad green leaves;
and although it was not yet time for that year's figs, it was
just the kind of tree on which to find some of last year's fruit
still hanging under the leaves. The disciples knew well the
tree on which to look for such figs, but when they came to
it and had shaken some of the branches, although there were
plenty of strong leaves, they did not find any fruit. And
Jesus said —
" Let no fruit grow on thee for ever." The tree withered,
though not at once, and the disciples asked each other —
" How did the fig tree wither away? " And Peter spoke to
Jesus about it, and His reply was a rebuke to them all, for
they had begun to doubt.
"Trust in God," He said, adding the words that He had
used in the Peraea, when they asked for more faith. " If you
have faith, and do not doubt, you shall not only do what
hath been done to the fig tree, but if you tell this mountain
on which we stand, to be taken up and cast into the sea, and
do not doubt in your hearts, but believe, it shall be done." I
have told thee before that when Jesus spoke of moving moun
tains, He was only using a common expression of the time,
meaning to do great things ; but He certainly did mean that
these men would receive power of a kind greater than we can
ever receive. And Jesus added, to strengthen their trust still
more —
" I say that whatever things you shall ask in prayer, believ
ing, you shall receive. And when you pray, remember to for
give any one who may have injured you, that God may also
forgive you your faults. For if you do not forgive others, God
will not forgive you." Thus repeating to them a little bit of the
beautiful prayer which He taught them near the Fords of
Jordan a few months before. But thou must not think that
all that Jesus said to His disciples is meant for thee, especially
His promises of wonderful power to them ; for they had a
work.io do which thou wilt never have, and they were pro
mised and did receive power which thou must not expect to
get. Thou wilt hear it said that Jesus destroyed the fig tree

CLEARING THE TEMPLE AGAIN. 337
as a punishment ; but it is not right to say so of one so gentle
as He.
Four years ago, at this very Passover Festival, Jesus had
cleared all the sellers of cattle and sheep, and other dealers
and money-changers out of the Golden Temple ; and when
there yesterday, He noticed that they were all back again.
For some time they had kept away, but gradually, as the time
passed, first one and then another dealer had got in, until at
this Festival there were as many there as ever. And when
Jesus and His disciples reached the Temple on this Monday
morning, He found them there, filling the beautiful outer
Court of the Gentiles with disorder and noise — lowing cattle,
pens of bleating lambs, men calling upon the strangers to
come and buy — more like a market than a Temple, while in
shelter of the porches the money-changers had set up their
tables, and sat close by the Teachers of the law, to change
foreign coins, and cheat the strangers if they could. And
people who had not come to worship, but wished to go from
one part of the city to the other, crossed the great court as a
short way, coming in by one Temple gate, and going out by
another. And that morning, so near the end of His teaching,
Jesus did as He had done at the beginning of it; He
turned both the sellers and the buyers out of the Temple to
make their bargains in the street ; and upset the tables of
the money-changers upon the smooth marble pavement of
the porches, and overturned the seats of them that sat selling
doves, and told them to go out. And soon it became known
that Jesus had come back, and was clearing the Temple
again, and then He had no need to touch any one, for they
hurried out, all the faster that this was the second time He
had found them making a market of the outer court. Thus
He cleared the Temple a second time, and looked round
upon broad pavements, uncrowded steps, and quiet porches
and cloisters, with only the peaceful worshippers left, who
walked to and fro in the sunshine in the great wide courts
with noiseless naked feet on the beautiful coloured marble.

338 HOSANNA.
And Jesus said that nobody should be allowed to carry a
dish through the Temple ; which stopped all those who had
made a short way across the large court. He then began to
teach in one of the .porches, and the first thing He said was
to upbraid the Temple council for letting the place be so
degraded. " Is it not written by Isaiah in the Bible ? " He said —
" ' Mine House shall be called a House of prayer for all
people?'"
" But you have made it a den of thieves."
Now the Temple was under the care of hundreds of priests
and Levites, with many servants and guards to help them,
and these were ruled over by fourteen head priests, who
formed the Temple council. Many of them had seen the
two clearings of the Temple by Jesus, and some of the chief
priests and chief Lawyers, when they heard what He said to
the people, were very angry, and wished to have Him taken a
prisoner at once ; but, like the lesser rogues whom Jesus had
turned out, they found that they were afraid of this calm,
young Countryman, and listening to Him as He spoke, they
were astonished at His wonderful teaching.
And as the day went past, blind and lame persons were
brought to Him in the Temple, and He healed them; and
the people were glad, and rejoiced, and the children who
were there ran in and out among the beautiful pillars, repeating
the joyful cries of yesterday when Jesus rode into the city —
" Hosanna to the Son of King David ! " they shouted.
" Hosanna to the Son of King David ! " But when the chief
Lawyers and priests saw what Jesus was doing, and heard the
children shouting "Hosanna!" till the courts echoed, they
were very angry; and pretending it was not Him but the
children they were annoyed with, they came to Him, exclaim
ing angrily —
" Dost Thou hear what these children are saying ? " No
doubt in their long white robes and strange linen bonnets,
they had solemnly scolded the children, and tried tcTshow
them that they did wrong ; or they may have caught and cuffed

ANGRY PRIESTS. 339
them. But even the children had lost respect for the priests,
and felt that Jesus was better than they, and they would not
cease to shout their joyful " Hosannas ! " wherever they went.
To see these bright little boys with lithe limbs and dark eyes
praising Jesus, and defying them within their own Temple, was
more than the priests could bear ; and in a moment of weak
ness they asked Him to help them to put down this insurrec
tion of infants, this open rebellion of babes. His answer
annoyed them, for He used the very words of die Bible —
" Have you never read these words, ' Out of the mouth of
babes and little children cometh perfect praise ? '" Jesus was
not the One to bid the fresh sweet lips of children, His dearest
friends, cease praising God ; for, compared with the shouts
of the crowd which followed Him yesterday, the children's
" Hosannas ! " in the Temple were purity and innocence
itself, and once more He gave them the highest place
of all. And the priests went away, doubly annoyed because
He would not help them.
On Monday evening Jesus again went out of the city with
His disciples, and before the sudden darkness fell upon the
land He had passed over the ridge of Olivet, to spend the
night once more at Bethany.
Remember that no one can praise Jesus better than a
bright sunny child. Boys are the sweetest singers in any
choir. Children's voices were ever dearest to Jesus, and
these little fellows knew that He loved them, and ran about
among the Temple porches shouting praises, sweeter far
than all the music and singing of the great Levite band, or
the silver trumpets of the priests.
Hosanna ! loud hosanna
The little children sang,
Through pillared porch and temple
Their happy voices rang;
To Jesus, who had blessed them
And clasped them to His breast,
These children's joyful praises
Were sweetest and the best.

34O HIS LAST DAY IN THE TEMPLE.
HIS LAST DAY IN THE TEMPLE.
JERUSALEM, TUESDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
Early on Tuesday morning Jesus came again with His
disciples from Bethany, walking over the hill to Jerusalem
before the sun was high, while yet the heavy dews of night
sparkled in the grass, and the morning song of birds came
up from the olive groves and distant rose gardens ; and as
they went, they passed the witheredfigtree. which reminded
the disciples of their want of faith yesterday. With the
earliest of the worshippers they entered the Temple, into
which the buyers and sellers and money-changers were now
afraid to go ; but which was soon crowded with the fresh
arrivals of country people, who increased every day as the
Festival came nearer. Walking up and down between the
pillars of the jperch, Jesus spoke to the crowds, and people
came to listen who had never heard Him speak before, and
those who had heard Him came again, delighted with His
words, and He was soon the principal person there. The
priests wished to have Him stopped, for their pwn Teachers
were deserted when Jesus began to speak ; but they were
afraid to touch One who was so much liked, for fear of
a riot, which would bring the Roman soldiers down upon
them from the tower of Antonia through the private passage
into the Temple, to punish them for not keeping better
order at a Festival. The priests consulted with the Lawyers
and the Temple authorities, who would do nothing while
Jesus was surrounded with so many friends ; but they re
solved upon a plan which they thought would expose Him
to the people as a false Teacher. He was not a member
of the council that had charge of the Temple, nor had He
ever been examined or ordained by any Doctors of the Law
and declared fit to. teach, as all their recognised Teachers had
to be ; and they would show the people that He had thus no
right to order the buyers and sellers out, or to be a Teacher.
And so a few were chosen to go to Jesus, of chief priests,
in their curious .linen dresses, of chief Lawyers, in long robes,

WAS JOHN FROM GOD? 34 1
and head men of the city, rich Sadducees, well known to the
people as men of high position and great power. They wished
to put Jesus down, to silence Him by superior authority,
and have Him turned out of\the Temple as a cheat. As
He walked on the marble pavement in the porch, they came
through the people, hugging their garments about them, lest
they should be defiled at this important time by touching
a common person, and standing before Him, one of them
spoke to Him loudly, saying —
"Tell us by what authority Thou doest these things"
— meaning, what right had He to say who should come
into the Temple? What right had He to teach at all?
And the people crowded nearer to hear the answer of Jesus.
But this young Countryman, this barefooted Galilean, was
not afraid of their show of power. He had a question to
ask them first —
"I will ask you one question," Jesus replied, "and if you
answer Me, I also will answer you what right I have to do
these things." And the chief men began to feel uncomfort
able, as He looked calmly at them. " Was the teaching of
John the Baptist, from God, or of men?" adding, as a
challenge before all the people, "Answer Me!" And at
once a hum of conversation rose from the crowd, as the
priests and, Lawyers drew closer together and argued with
each other with finger on palm, and grave shaking of heads,
for they could not agree about the answer. The calm gaze
of Jesus confused and flurried them as He waited to hear
what they would say about His dead Cousin ; and they forgot
to press their own question in discussing His one, — Was John
the Baptist a Teacher from God who spoke the truth, or did
he tell lies ? was the question.
" If we say John was a Teacher from God," they whispered
to each other, " then Jesus will say to us, ' John told you that
lam the Chris.t, and why do you not believe the message of
a Teacher from God ? ' and if we should answer that John was
not a Teacher from God, then this crowd of people, into which
we have come, will set up a cry, and stone us, for all the

342 FRUITS OF HEAVEN.
people believe that John the Baptist was from God." And
they resolved to say they did not know whether John the
Baptist was a Teacher from God or no, and then to press Jesus
to answer their first question ; forgetting that this would be a
strange confession of ignorance for Teachers of the people to
make. Having all agreed upon one answer, they turned to
Jesus again —
" We do not know," was the short reply of their spokesman.
" Neither will I tell you, by what right I do these things,"
was the equally short answer of Jesus ; and, turning to the
people, He resumed teaching, with a direct bearing on the
chief men who stood by. And thus, once more, in their own
great and impressive Temple, the priests and Lawyers were
silenced and humiliated, all the more so that they had come
with such a show of learning and authority to stop Jesus,
and they had to choose between waiting there to be further
rebuked by Him, or slipping away back to theh companions
in the council hall to tell them of their defeat.
Learn from this, the shamefulness of hypocrisy and false
hood, for these men, as all the people knew, had often said
that John the Baptist was not a Teacher who spoke the truth,
and yet they thought to dissemble and to deceive Jesus ; but
they must have winced under His dark eyes. Keep thou truth
in thy heart and on thy tongue, and thou wilt have the joy of
knowing that the eyes of Jesus would have ever rested lovingly
on thee. In the words of William Shakespeare —
" To thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man."
THE FRUITS OF HEAVEN.
JERUSALEM, TUESDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
Having silenced the men who had come to stop Him from
teaching any more in the Temple, Jesus went on to tell the
people a story with a meaning, to show how wicked the Pharisees
were ; and yet, that even Pharisees, might change their lives and
become good. And the story is very interesting to little boys,

TWO boys. 343
for it is about two sons, one of whom had a quick temper, but
a good heart, while the other had fine manners, but did not
speak the truth. Their father had a small vineyard, and
needed their help to dig it, and to dress the vines, and gather
in the ripe purple grapes. And some Pharisees stood near
to hear what Jesus would say next, and this is what they
heard —
What do you think? A man had two sons; and he came
to the first one and said to him, ' Child, go and work in the
vineyard to-day.' But this son was quick-tempered, and
wished to do something else, and he refused, saying shortly,
' I will not.' Now, his father was grieved, but he said noth
ing, and the son went off to do something else of his own.
But as he went, he was sorry for what he had said to his
father, and after a little, he gave up what he was at of his own,
and slipped away into the vineyard, and began to work as his
father had asked him. Now when the first son refused to go,
the father went to his other son and said the same thing to
him, ' Go and work in the vineyard to-day.' ' I go, sir,' this
son replied, as if paying great respect to his father's wishes ;
but he said what was not true, for he did not intend to go,
and went away to do something else, and did not go near the
vineyard. Turning to the Pharisees, Jesus asked —
" Which of these sons did what his father wished ? " The
question was not which had said he would do it ; and there
was only one answer, and afraid to blunder again, a Pharisee
replied —
"The first son did what his father wished." He had an
swered rightly, but he did not know that his answer would
bring such a severe rebuke upon them. For Jesus told the
Pharisees in grave tones, as a warning against their pretended
goodness, that the worst people in the country would go into
the Kingdom of Heaven before them, and He told them why ;
and they could not deny it. John the Baptist, He said, had
c'ome to them as a guide and Teacher of the people, telling
them of the Kingdom of Heaven among men, and they would
not listen to him ; while some of the worst people in the land

344 THE VINEYARD.
had listened and believed, and turned to goodness. Jesus
said also, that worst of all, when the Pharisees saw the people
changing and becoming good, who were openly bad, they
were not even then ashamed of their own secret wickedness.
Thus He made the meaning of the story plain, that the bad
people were like the son who was sorry; while the secretly
bad Pharisees were like the son with fine manners, who did
not obey his father.
And so the Pharisees could tell their companions in the
council hall, that Jesus had said again that the worst people in
the land were better than the Pharisees ; and each message
like this was a fresh faggot on the fire of their hatred of Him.
It was the time of year when much work was being done in
the vineyards, in the vales, and on the terraced hill-sides, pre
paring the springing vines for the growth of Summer, and as
there were many countfy people in the Temple who had come
to the Festival from the hills and valleys where the grapes
grew, they all understood the next story which Jesus told. He
told it standing amid the marble pillars of the outer porch,
listened to by those who were close round Him, and heard by
the hundreds of people who moved about in the sunshine in
the open court beyond. The story was about a rich man who
lent his vineyard to some bad men who were to give him the
fruit, and of what those bad men did. And this is the story —
There was once a man, who planted a piece of ground with
vines, and put a high prickly hedge round it, and dug a
place in the ground in which to press the juice from the
ripe grapes, and he built a watch-tower to guard it from
thieves, and he lent the vineyard to men who were to attend
to it, and went away to travel in a far distant country. When
Autumn came and the time for ripe grapes was near, he sent
servants to get the fruit from these men. But they took the
first servant who came and beat him, and sent him away with
nothing. And the owner sent a second servant, and him the
men wounded on the head, hurting him shamefully, and
sent him also back with nothing. Then the owner sent a
third servant, and him also they wounded, and put out of the

FRUITS IN THEIR SEASON. 345
vineyard. But the owner sent yet another servant, whom
they killed ; and many more he sent, some of whom the men
beat, and some they killed. And the owner said to himself,
" What shall I do ? I will send my much-loved son ; perhaps
they will honour him?" And he sent his only son, as the last
of all, saying, "They will respect my son." But when the bad
men in their watch-tower saw him coming, they said to each
other — " This is the heir ! Let us kill him, and we shall get
the vineyard ! " And they dragged him out of the vineyard
and killed him. Then Jesus paused in His story, and asked
this question of those who were listening —
"When the owner of this vineyard shall come to visit it
what will he do to these men? "
" He will miserably destroy those bad men," some one
answered at once, " and will let the vineyard to other men,
who will give him the fruits in their season." But others
called out —
" God forbid it ! " They had guessed the meaning of the
story, which was this. The world was the vineyard, the servants
were God's messengers, of whom John the Baptist was one, and
Jesus Himself was the much-loved Son, while the priests and
Lawyers, some of whom were now before Him, with murder
in their hearts, were the cruel and bad men of the story.
Turning to the place where the last speaker stood, Jesus
warned them all, saying earnestly —
"What is that which is written? Did you never read in
your Bibles in the n 8th psalm :
" ' The stone which the builders rejected, hath been made
the chief stone in the corner of the house.'
" ' This is God's doing. It is wonderful to us.' "
The people understood Him at once. He was the One
whom they were rejecting, but God would lift Him up to the
highest place. And as they looked at Him, some were angry,
and some wondered, for instead of being afraid, His
words were growing bolder. Turning to the Pharisees and
Lawyers who were there, He continued, " Therefore I say to
you that the Kingdom of Heaven will be taken away from

346 THE WEDDING GARMENT.
you, and given to them who bring forth good deeds, which
are the fruits of Heaven. Whoever falleth upon this corner
Stone of which I speak, shall be broken to pieces, but upon
whom It shall fall, It will scatter him like dust." And Jesus
ceased speaking for a time.
When the priests heard Him say that the Kingdom of
Heaven would be taken away from them, and that He would
crush them like a great corner stone, they became more angry,
and sought to have Him taken a prisoner at once. They may
even have given orders for this to be done, but again they
changed their minds for fear of the people, who now looked
upon Jesus as a man sent from God, and they gave up the
thought of taking Him that day. But the Pharisees would
listen to no more of His teaching, and withdrew to their com
panions in the council hall, to tell them that it would not be
safe to try to take Jesus a prisoner just now, and that the only
way was to find some method by which to get the people to
turn against Him. But Jesus continued where He was,
apparently not caring what the priests might do.
Remember what are the fruits of the Kingdom of Heaven
here, — love, truth, gentleness, peace, hope, joy, reverence,
hanging like ripe apples amid the green leaves of thy young
life. These thou wilt give in faithful service to Jesus, who
asketh thee often what thou art growing as fruit for God in
thy little part of His Kingdom.

THE WEDDING GARMENT.
JERUSALEM, TUESDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
Sitting in one of the arches of the Women's court of
the great Temple, Jesus resumed teaching, and the people
pressed closer round Him to hear what He would say, now
that the Pharisees and Lawyers were gone. Would He speak
of their attempt to stop Him, or their threats to take Him a
prisoner, which the looks of the people had made them afraid
to carry out? Would He cease telling stories, and say when

THE KINGS MESSENGERS. 347
He would declare Himself King ? The arches were higher than
the pavement, and the people stood out in the great square,
with theh bright kerchiefs shading their eyes from the sun, as
they looked up at the white figure of the young Galilean.
In" a low voice Jesus began, and they could hear that He
was speaking once more of that beautiful Heaven, into which
His dark eyes seemed to gaze, with a calm abstracted look,
as He thought out the story. The priests were gone. He
thought but of the people before Him, who had long been
taught that Heaven was for Jews only ; and that was not true.
The truth about Heaven was to be told by Him to the Jews
first, but it would spread to all nations. He said again that
the Kingdom of Heaven among men was like a great marriage
feast, to which those who were first asked, would not come,
and that the Master would fill His house with others — a story
in some parts like the one He told at the Ruler's dinner-table
in the Peraea about three months before, and this is it.
The Kingdom of Heaven is like a King who gave a great
feast at the marriage of his son, and sent his servants to call
in all the people that had been asked to the feast, but they
would not come. Then he sent out other servants with this
message —
" Say to them that are asked, ' I have made ready my house,
mine oxen and my lambs are killed, and all things are pre
pared ; come in to my marriage-feast.'" And the servants
took the King's message to them that were asked, but they
paid no heed to it and went other ways, the farmer to his
farm, and the merchant to his goods. But some did much
worse, for they took hold of some of the King's servants, and
treated them very cruelly, and killed others. Now this was
what the Jews had done to John the Baptist when he said that
the Kingdom of Heaven was near, and to other good men,
who had come with a message from God. But the story went
on to tell how the people who would not come to the feast
were punished.
Now the King was very angry, and sent out his soldiers, who
punished these bad men, and burned their towns. And he

348 IN ROBE AND CROWN.
said to his servants again : " The marriage-feast is ready, but
those whom I first asked to come did not deserve it, go there
fore to the places where two roads meet, and ask all the people
whom you see, to come to my marriage-feast." And the ser
vants went out to the roads and gathered together all whom
they could find, good and bad, rich and poor, Jew or stran
ger, and brought them in, and so the great hall was filled with
guests. This was the first part of the story, which meant that the
Jews had refused to listen to men like John the Baptist, who
came to tell them the truth about the Kingdom of Heaven.
And Jesus went on to tell the people the second part of the
story about the marriage garment. Thou wilt now suppose
that the guests are all reclining round low tables in a brightly
lighted hall. Each one as he came in at the door had re
ceived a white wedding-robe to wear, which they all took
but one man, who would not wear it, thinking he was good
enough without it ; and he came in also and sat down at a
table in his own clothing. It was night. All was dark out
side, while the banqueting hall within was warm and bright,
and when the great door was shut and barred, people gath
ered outside crying to be let in, but they were too late ; and
they wept.
When the feast was about to begin, a beautiful curtain was
drawn aside, and the King in richly embroidered robes of
purple, and wearing his gold crown, came in and sat down on
a white ivory throne, and looked over the hundreds of guests
who had come to his son's marriage-feast all with their white
robes on, — all but one. He noticed at once the man who had
on no white robe.
" Friend, how didst thou come in hither, not having on a
wedding garment?" the King asked, looking at him sternly.
And he waited for a reply, but the man had none to give. He
dared not look at the King and say he was good enough with
out the King's robe ; for he had no right to be there without
it. He wished to enter the Kingdom, but he would not wear
the robe.

A ROMAN PENNY. 349
" Servants ! " said the King angrily, " tie his hands and
his feet, and cast him out into the darkness, where there
is weeping and mourning." And the servants at once
did as they were told, and the man was put out. That was
the end of the story. The people did not need to be told
that God was the King, and that all who would have Heaven
must obey Him ; and Jesus added, as a warning to those
who heard Him, " Many are asked, but few are chosen."
And thou, my child, wilt learn the meaning of the wedding
garment. It means love and obedience to God, without
which no one can have Heaven. See, then, that thou hast
this life-wrought wedding-robe, adorned with pearls of good
thoughts and kind deeds, and embroidered with the gold of
truthful words ; a robe fit for an angel.
A ROMAN PENNY.
JERUSALEM, TUESDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
While Jesus was speaking to the people who crowded round
Him in one of the side porches of the Women's Court of the
Temple, the priests were holding a small meeting in one of
their rooms in the Priests' Court above. They had failed to
stop Him by asking for His authority, they were afraid to take
Him a prisoner openly because of the friends He had among
the people, and what were they to do ? because, almost within
hearing of where they sat, He was at that moment speaking
against them to a large crowd of listeners. As a council of
Pharisees and Sadducees, they found themselves unable to with
stand Jesus, and so they asked in some Of their old enemies
the political Herodians to help them, for they also hated
Him. Jesus had disregarded the authority of the Pharisees,
and they thought that if they could get the Roman power to
bear on Him, that would quickly crush Him. They talked
of sending spies into the crowd to overhear Him speaking
against the Romans, for they felt sure He would do that as
the Christ, when He thought no one was listening who would
tell. Some one proposed rather that a spy should go down into

350 THE POLL TAX.
the crowd and pretend to be a friend, and entice Jesus to speak
against the Roman Emperor, by asking Him a direct question,
and then thev would tell Pilate, the Roman Governor, what
He had said, and have Him taken by Roman soldiers. This
was agreed to, for they believed that as the Christ, He would
stir up the people lo fight the Romans. What should the
question be ? It must be one that whether Jesus answered
" Yes " or " No " would get Him into trouble with either the
Romans or the people. Now there was a tax of one penny for
each man, called the poll tax, which the people had to pay the
Romans, and which they hated to pay, and though the Phari
sees said it should be paid and the Herodians said it should
not, they thought it would be a good question to catch Jesus
with. If He should tell the people that they ought to pay the
tax, the people would cry out against Him ; while if He
should say that they should not pay it, the Roman governor
jyflujd, fo once take Him a prisoner for speaking against the
Roman tax. The Pharisees remembered how He had put
them into iust such a difficulty in the morning with His
question about Tohn the Baptist. And so they chose some of
the voung Pharisee scholars who were not well known, and
told them to pretend they were friends of Jesus, and ask Him
to tell them whether He thought the Pharisees or the Herod
ians were right about paying the Roman tax. And thus
these old Pharisees instructed their scholars in the art of
deception and lying.
As the fjirfipoo" o.f Tvtl;'j;'y advanced, these young spies
mixed with the ever-moving and strangely dressed crowd in
the Woirieri's Court, until, quite unknown to the people, they
were standing apparently listening earnestly to Jesus. As
usual with Teachers, questions were put to Jesus by His fol
lowers, which He answered ; and when the proper time came,
a smooth-tongued young Pharisee, indicating that he spoke
for those near him, addressed Jesus in these fine words —
" Teacher ! we know that Thou art true, and that Thou
dost speak and teach the_way of Gorj in truth and art not
.afraid of any man, for Thou carest not for the rank of men, —

WHOSE HEAD IS THIS? 35 1
tell us, therefore, what thou thinkest. Is it right or is it not
right for us to pay the penny tax to the Roman Emperor,
Caesar? The young Pharisee had begun as he was told, by
praising Jesus for His good teaching, and for not being afraid.
and then as if a friend, he asked for His private thoughts
about the Roman poll tax. They believed that Jesus secretly
intended to be declared King by the people, and as the Christ,
tofight against the Roman power, and they hoped by getting
Him to speak against the Romans in the Temple, to have
Him captured at once and put to death by the governor as a
stirrer up of sedition. Jesus looked calmly at these foolish
young men, the weak tools of older hypocrites. He knew
that such a question as this was not put by true friends of
His. They praised Him overmuch, and sought to entangle
Him with politics and the hated question of the poll tax.
"Why do you tempt me, you hypocrites? " He exclaimed,
with a glance of His dark eyes that made the young men
shrink back. They were discovered ! He knew they were
enemies ! " Show me the tribute money," Jesus continued,
not waiting for their answer. " Bring me a Roman penny,
that I mav see it ! " None of the young Pharisees had a
penny, and while one was being got, Jesus stood silent and
angry, and the young men, ashamed to go away, wondered
what He would do, but the people knew it was another plot
of the priests. The penny was brought and handed to Jesus ;
of brown copper, with the head of the Emperor Augustus
Caesar, upon it, and words round the edge, just like an English
penny. " Whose head and whose words are these ? " Jesus asked
the spies, holding up the penny that all might see the head of
the Roman Emperor upon it.
" Caesar's ! " the young men answered, not knowing what
would follow.
"Then," said Jesus, "give to Caesar what belongeth to
Caesar, and give to God what belongeth to God." He did
not answer " Yes " or " No." for He would not interfere in
the jx)litics_-pf the country and the strife of rival parties ; nor

352 AS THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN.
would He be a judge between disputants. He had told
Peter at Capernaum to pay the Temple tax ; He would not
decide between the young man and his brother in the Galilean
village ; He would not judge the woman brought to Him in
the Temple, and now He would take no part in this burning
dispute about the poll tax. The Christ would not be a
prince of war, who would fight the enemies of His nation, but
a Teacher of the will of God to men, who would raise up
goodness and conquer evil within them. He had come to
speak of Heaven to the people, not to settle disputes ; and
His answer meant that they were to obey the Romans, but to
obey God jnore.
It had been arranged what the spies were to do, if Jesus
answered "Yes " or " No ; " but they could make nothing of
His reply, and remained silent and confused, defeated again
bjsfore the people, and they went off as soon as they could, to
tell their masters what had happened. The Pharisees and
Herodians were much surprised in their private room to hear
the answer, for they had felt certain they would get Jesus
into txauhle-this time. But He resumed teaching as though
nothing had happened.
Remember, then, how foolish and wicked it was of these
young men to come to Jesus and praise Him in words which
they did not mean, and all because they were told by older
men to do so ; and be thou careful, in song or in prayer,
never to use .insincere, words to God, which thou dost not
think about, or mean. _

AS THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN.
JERUSALEM, TUESDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
The Sadducees of Jerusalem had up to this time taken no
special interest in Jesus. They were the aristocracy of the
nation, rich and powerful, who cared little for religion, and
despised tile strict rules of the Pharisees, Essenes, Zealots,
Herodians, and other sects, and they had treated the young
Carpenter of Nazareth as quite beneath their notice. They

A SADDUCEAN INSULT. 353
did not believe in the rising of the dead, or in Heaven, or in
the hfe of the spirit after death; and knowing that Jesus
taught such things, they thought they could _easily show the
misguided people that this young Teacher from the country
could be silenced at once, by putting one of the questions to
Him which old grey-headed doctors of the Law could not
answer. To show their contempt, they selected a question
which was commonly looked upon as ludicrous, so that they
might cause the people to laugh at His teaching about Heaven.
They also wished to show the Pharisees how easily they could
dispose of this Man of the people.
And as Tuesday advanced,- a group of these great men, with
embroidered robes and turbans, jewelled finger-rings, and hair
fragrant with costly oils, came through among the pillars of
the porch, and stood a little way off listening with smiles on
their faces as they heard Jesus speaking earnestly of Heaven
to the people. Stepping forward, one of them, with an edu
cated tone and face of mock gravity, put the absurd question
to Him which they had made up. He first spoke of a law
of Moses, made fifteen hundred years before, and then told
a story about a supposed woman who had had seven
husbands. " Teacher," he began, " Moses wrote that if a man should
die without children, his brother should marry his widow and
have children. Now there were_seven brothers, and the first
married a wife and died without children, then the second
brother married the widow and died without children, and the
third brother did the same, and so did all the seven brothers,
but they left no children, and last of all the woman died also."
That was the Sadducees' made-up story of the seven men who
had died one by one in proper order, and of the woman who
died last, and it was so silly that the people smiled who heard
it, and the other Sadducees laughed ; but his question was
even more foolish.
" Whose wife will she be in Heaven," he asked sharply,
" for all the seven brothers had her as a wife ? " And some in
the crowd thought this very clever, and in the pause which

354 LIFE AFTER DEATH.
followed, the people set themselves to answer the riddle, not
without mirth, as they went over the ridiculous story again.
Whose wife ? The first, or the last ! For many of the people
thought that they would have bodies of flesh and blood in
Heaven after death, and that their clothing and armour and
jewels, if buried in the grave with them, might perhaps go
to Heaven also. But the Sadducee had been too careless,
too insulting in his story. A woman with two husbands in
Heaven, was a common joke among them, and he had added
other five husbands to make it more amusing. They would
gladly have allowed Jesus time to consider His answer, but
He needed none, and replied at once, rebuking their folly
with calm seriousness.
"You do not know the Bible, nor the power of God," He
said, " and so you are mistaken. The men of this world
marry, and women are given in marriage, but they that are
thought worthy to enter Heaven hereafter neither marry nor
are given in marriage, but are as the angels in Heaven, sons
of God, and sons of the rising again who cannot die." Thus
they were answered in so unexpected a way that they forgot
to ask Jesus how He knew that there was no marrying in
that Heaven, and that men were as angels there ; but they
accepted His answer with silent respect. He had something
more, however, to say to these haughty men who did not
believe in Heaven after death or in any future life. They had
spoken of Moses, as though they believed him when he
wrote about marriage. Did they believe him when he wrote
about a life beyond the grave, which was something of far
greater importance ?
" But, about the rising again of the dead," Jesus continued :
" That the dead are raised. Moses showeth ; for have you not
read in Exodus, his second book, in the place where he writes of
the burning bush in the wilderness, that God said to him, ' I
am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ' ? Now God is
not the God of their dead bodies, but of their living spirits,
for all men live unto God. You Sadducees do err greatly in
saying there is no life. after death." Again they could not

THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT. 355
answer Him, but stood astonished, a sight for the common
people, convicted of trifling with great and solemn things, and
of not knowing theh own Bibles. For they could not deny
that God could not mean that He was the God of the dead
bodies of these good men of old, but rather of their living
spirits, like the angels in Heaven. And the people who stood
by were amazed at the teaching of Jesus, for they had never
heard anything like it. There were Lawyers there also, who
knew every word of the books of Moses by heart, and when
they heard His answer they were astonished at His wisdom,
and how well He understood the Bible. Nor were they sorry
to see their haughty enemies the Sadducees convicted of
error, and forgetting for a moment their hatred of Jesus in
.their satisfaction at the defeat of the Sadducees, a Lawyer
called aloud —
" Teacher, Thou hast answered well. Thou hast well said."
And the Sadducees went away very much amazed, for they
were afraid to ask Jesus any more questions after this their
first and last encounter in the Temple. And thus the second
move that day in the combination of His enemies to ridicule
the teaching of Jesus before the people, ended in they them
selves being made ridiculous.
And thou wilt remember, from these solemn words of Jesus,
that there is_a life beyond the grave, where the spirits of good
people shall be as the angels of Heaven. More than that
thou needst not know, for that is enough to make thee do thy
best in thy life here, to prepare thyself for the perfect life of
thy spirit with G5"d hereafter.

THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT.
JERUSALEM, TUESDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
Some of the older Lawyers and Pharisees were listening
when Jesus answered the Sadducee. as He taught in the great
Temple Porch where the people thronged and crowded among
the splendid marble pillars, and forgetting their own former

356 ON THESE HANG THE BIBLE.
defeats, they thought they would make one more atternpt to
catch Him with a careful question. These Lawyers, who were
the Teachers of the people, taught what was called "the Law"
from the five books of' Moses, which contained the Ten Com
mandments, and round' these Books thev had made, it is said,
quite .ten thousand rules of one kind or another, by arguing
and discussing for. many years in their schools_and colleges.
Some of these rules were of more irnpprtance than others.
They were of two kinds — rules to do certain things, and rules
to keep from doing certain things ; and some men spent their
whole lives in studying and explaining and trying to add to
them. It was their Jewish theology.
A Lawyer had called out to Jesus, "Thou hast answered
well ! " when the Sadducees were defeated, and perhaps it was
he who asked the next question. It was a common thing for
them to dispute as to which is the greatest of the jen com
mandments, and he wished to hear what Jesus would say
about it.
"Which is the greatest commandment?" he asked. Jesus
did not hesitate, for He had answered almost the same ques
tion to a Lawyer 'at Tericho only a few months before.
" Hear, O people ! " He replied, speaking loud enough for
the hundreds who were standing ont in fjip ffrea^nnny court
to hear Him. " The Lord is one God ! Thou shalt love God
with all thy heart and soul and mind and strength. This is
the first commandment." He had answered the Lawyer's
question, but He went on to do more, saying, " And this is
the second commandment, which is like the first. Thou shalt
love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments
hang all the Bible." He answered this Lawyer fully, because
He saw from his face that he really wished to know the right
answer, which was, that if a man loved God and loved man,
he needed no more commandments, nor any of the ten thou-
sand rules of the Pharisees, which were only useless amplifica
tions, of the two great commandments on which the Bible
rested. "Love thy neighbour," thought the Lawyer; and he

NOT FAR FROM HEAVEN. 357
knew how these Pharisees hated each other, and liked to find
out their neighbours' faults. And, touched with the manner
of Jesus, who looked to him so young and sincere, and dif
ferent from the Pharisees, in a subdaed voice frankly con
fessing the great fault of his sect, — forms and ceremonies, —
and that true rehgion is very simple, needing neither rules,
ceremonies, nor sacrifices to keep it alive, but only guidance
from God, he exclaimed —
"Truly, Teacher, thou hast said rightly that God is One,
and that there is no other God than He. and that to love
Him with all my heart, understanding, and strength, and
to love my neighbour as myself, is greater than all the
burnt offerings and sacrifices of the priests." The words
of Jesus had appealed to the Lawyer's sense of honesty
and fair play, and out of pure admiration for the simple
truth of the young Teacher's answer, he thus spoke out
his mind, condemning his own Teachers, and saying that
these two plain rules were worth all the learning of their
religious schools, and all the services of the splendid Temple
in which they stood, with its altar-fires and sacrifices,
which they could see smoking in the Priests' Court above
them. It was. a bold and daring thing to say under the very
arches of the Temple, and while His companions looked
at the Lawyer_in dismay and wonder, Jesus saw the change
in his mind, and said these few earnest, thrilling words
to him —
"Thou art not far from the Kingdom of Heaven," mean
ing that the Spirit of God was rising in him. After this
strange scene, in which, before their very eyes, the Pharisees
saw one of their own side changed into an admirer of Jesus.
theyjgve_up_all hope of trying to catch Him with questions,
for His wisdom and knowledge made them afraid to try
again. Ndw, after answering a question, Jesus frequently
asked another back, and before the Lawyer and his friends
went away, He asked them a question out of the Bible which
put them again intoj, difficulty, for they said they were able
to teach and to explain all the Bible,

358 king david's son.
"What do you think about the Christ?" He asked.
" Whose gon is He?"
"The Son of King D.avid," some one answered, meaning
that the Christ would be descended from him.
" How is it, then," Jesus asked, " that if the Christ is
King David's son. King David should, in the noth Psalm,
call Him ' J.ord/ saying —
" ' The Lord said to my Lord.'
" ' Sit Thou on My right hand, till I make Thine enemies
Thy footstool?'
"If King David caUeth the Christ 'Lord,' how can the
Christ be his Son?" Now this was a very confusing
question, for no Jew would ever think pf calling his son
"Lord," and why then should King David call the Christ
"Lord," who was to be descended from him like a son?
And the Lawyers remained silent, for they could not answer
the question. The answer, of course, is that King David
called the Christ " Lord " because He is also the Son of
God. And thus Jesus showed these Lawyers that He could
put questions to them out of their own Bible, that with all
their learning they were not able to answer. And they were
so surprised at His wonderful knowledge and power that
from that Tuesday neither Lawyers, Pharisees, Herodians,
Sadducees, nor any other of His enemies ever tried to catch
Him again with questions. He had npatpn them gi) in open
digcussion, and they were afraid of Him.
And thou, my child, wilt remember what is the whole
duty of man, — to love God and love men, — for if we do
these, all other good will follow from them. No one could
be crueL-or untruthj'uJ_or proud, if he truly loved God and
loved men ; and remember that these two things are greater
than all , services in chu-rchjy*a_aMah sermons, and even
prayers, for they are the true life-service of thy spirit toward
God.

SERPENTS, VIPERS, HYPOCRITES ! 359
SERPENTS, VIPERS, HYPOCRITES!
JERUSALEM, TUESDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
Jesus had now publicly put to shame the Pharisees, Herod
ians, Sadducees, Rulers, Lawyers, Priests. Three times on
that Tuesday they had tried to have Him stopped, and every
time He had defeated them before the people, with increasing
force, winning praise and admiration even from His enemies.
During the past three years of His teaching through all Judaea,
Gahlee, Samaria, and the Peraea, and particularly whenever
He came to Jerusalem, the Pharisees and Lawyers had watched
Him and tried to entrap Him into offences for which He
might be punished. Their highest council had resolved that He
should be killed, and had issued orders to the people to help
to have Him taken a prisoner. He was now about to close
His teaching in that grand Temple. Never again would
His voice ring through the beautiful marble arches and
the pillars of its porches, and out into the great crowded
courts, or His feet tread their rich coloured pavements. He
had met and defeated His enemies again and again in different
parts of the country. Now He was about to denounce and
unmask them in their own magnificent Temple, in language
which would fall like scourge strokes upon them, heaping
upon their heads many of the severe things which He had said
about them throughout the country, and adding more. He
knew it would make them hate Him with fiercer hatred, but
He had made up His mind to die, in order to finish His
work, and was resolved that the people should know the kind
of men who ruled over them and taught them falsely, and that
they should carry His words far and wide away from this
great Festival into every house in the country.
It is towards the afternoon. The sky is still blue overhead,
but broad cool shadows are cast from the high walls and towers
of the Temple, into the great open court. The porch is
thronged with dusky-faced people, who have followed the con
troversies of that day with increasing interest, amazed at and
admiring the daring of this young Countryman, who could

360 FATHER OF SPIRITS.
speak thus, with the sentence of death already gone out against
Him. He sits, strong, earnest, beautiful, clad from head to
foot in His white Galilean tunic, His dark eyes melting at
times with pity, and again flashing; with indignation and anger,
while around Him stand His weather-beaten disciples, them
selves young, and awestruck with His fearless bearing, and in
a wider circle still are His wild, excited, and determined
Galilean friends. His face has lost some of the ruddy hue
which it wore amid the hills of Nazareth ; but His voice has
still its wonderful charm, as in loud tones He warns all who
hear Him, disciples and people, against false Teachers.
"The Lawyers and the Pharisees," He said, "sit in the
place of Moses as your religious Teachers. Do what they tell
you, obey their words ; but do not copy their deeds, for they
speak well, but do ill. Whatever they do, they do it to be
seen ; for they like to walk about in long robes and to wear
broad phylacteries, as a show of goodness ; they like to be
greeted in the market, and to sit in the highest seats in the
church, and in the best places at feasts ; but they rob widows'
houses, and for a pretence of goodness make long prayers ;
but they shall only receive the greater punishment." Thus
Jesus calmly warned the people against Teachers who taught
one thing and did another : the only true Teacher being he
who joes what he tells others to do.
"These Lawyers," Jesus continued, now speaking mainly
to His disciples and those close about Him, " like to be called
' Teachers ' by their fellow-men ; but be not you called
Teachers, for I alone am your Teacher, and you are all
brothers. And call no man the father of vour spirit, for One
only is the Father of your spirit, God in Heaven. Neither be
called 'Masters,' for I alone am your Master. He that is
greatest among you shall be as your servant ; whoever setteth
himself up, shall be brought down; and whoever is lowly,
shall be raised up." Thus they were not to set up one man
over another in religious things, for in such matters all men
are equal with each other and before God. There were to be
no fathers, teachers, nor masters among men in religion; but

THE GOLD OF THE TEMPLE. 36 1
they who wished to help others in such things were to be
called servants. God was to be their Heavenly Father,
Jesus their Teacher. And now He changed His manner, as
He turned from His disciples to the Lawyers and Pharisees,
who had come hack again to listen. His voice ringing far out
into the crowded court, as He cried, so that people stopped
to listen.
" But woe to you ! ye Lawyers and Pharisees, hypocrites !
for you shut the Kingdom of Heaven against the people, and
neither go in yourselves nor allow them that are entering, to
go in. You would go over land and sea to get one follower.
and when you have got him, you make him twice more a child
of badness than yourselves/' Thus He touched upon the
young Pharisees who had been sent by their masters that
forenoon, to praise Him with lying lips. And, speaking of
what the Pharisee Teachers taught, He showed how bad was
their teaching about oaths.
"Woe to you, ye blind guides ! " He said, "who teach that
a man who sweareth by the Temple, is not bound to keep his
oath ; but that he is bound, if he sweareth by the gold of the
Temple. You fools and blind ! for which is greater, the
Temple or the gold upon the Temple? You say also that
whoever sweareth by the great altar in the Priests' Court, is
npt bound, but whoever sweareth by the gift upon the altar, is
bound. You fools and blind ! for which is greater, the gift,
or the altar which maketh the gift sacred? Now, whoever
sweareth by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all that is upon
it. And whoever sweareth by the Temple, sweareth by it, and
God, who dwelleth there. And whoever sweareth by Heaven,
sweareth by the throne of God, and by Him who sitteth
upon it." Thus Jesus exposed the foolish and bad teaching
of the Pharisees which allowed the people to make certain
kinds of oaths : for He had told them before that men were
not to swear bv anything, or make oaths at all, and that all
such things are bad.
" Woe to you ! ye Lawyers and Pharisees, hypocrites ! "
He resumed, "you are blind guides who, as the proverb

362 STRAIN OUT THE GNAT.
saith, 'Strain out the gnat and swallow a camel !' "—meaning,
that they were very particular in keeping their own little rules.
but that they broke the Jaws of God. " You are like white
washed graves," He continued, "which look clean outside,
but inside are full of dead men's bones. So also you aeem
to men to be good, but are really wicked hypocrites. Woe
to you ! ye Lawyers and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for you orna
ment the graves of the men of God of the past, saying that if
you had lived when your fathers lived, you would not have
killed these good men. But you are true sons of your fathers
who killed these men. Fill up, then, to the brim, the measure
of your fathers' cruelty ! You serpents ! You children of
vipers ! you shall not escape punishment ! "
Jesus said much more, but this is enough to show how He
scourged these bad men before the people ; and it is a remark
able sign of the fear of the priests and the sympathy of the
people, that He was not once interrupted by His enemies dur
ing this scathing attack upon the Teachers, some of whom were
at that moment teaching in the porches, within sight and hear
ing of what He said ; but they laid by His words in their
memories, and made a deep resolution not to rest by night or
by day till they had Jesus taken a prisoner and saw Him dead,
for they knew that as long as He lived He would continue to
speak against them. And these words of Jesus are all the
more terrible and impressive that they came from One so
gentle and so kind, the Friend and Lover of little children.
Still He had nothing but scorn and anger for the hypocrisy of
bad men. And so truthfully did He measure these false
Teachers that the word " Pharisee " has since become only
another name for " hypocrite."
When He stopped speaking, many of the people went away,
and as they went, they talked over the manner in which He
had denounced the Teachers and Pharisees, and many shook
their heads, thinking that soon He would pay for this with His
life ; but they did not know that He whom they saw that day
so full of life and power had only three more days to live.
And thou, my child, wilt remember that of all the forms

THE WIDOW'S FARTHING. 363
of wickedness, hypocrisy is the worst. That men should
teach falsely is bad, but that men should pretend to teach
good things and be good men, while all the time they live
bad lives, is to place badness in the seat of goodness, and to
defile the very springs from which goodness should flow.

THE WIDOW'S FARTHING.
JERUSALEM, TUESDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
It was now Tuesday afternoon, the teaching of Jesus in the
Temple was over, and the sun in the Western sky, that
kindled with slanting rays on the golden spikes on the Holy
place, told that the hour was near when the services would
end for the day and the Temple gates be closed. Never
again would Tesus go up those broad marble steps that rose
from court to court, nor pass through those great doors
overlaid with gold. As He went out of the Women's Court,
He paused at that part called the Treasury, where were the
thirteen large money chests, into which the people put their
gifts as they passed into the Temple, and He sat down for a
little to watch the people there. These chests were placed
along the wall, to gather money for the Temple and its ser
vices, each chest having a name upon it, saying what it was
for — "Incense," "Gold dishes," "Wood," and other things;
and on the top of each was a brass mouth shaped like a
trumpet, and all who came to the Temple were expected to
put money into some of them.
As Jesus sat there, He saw the rich Sadducee with his fine
robes, come forward and fling in a. handful of money, looking
round him, as with the sound of gold it fell ringing into the
money-box ; then came the city merchant, who carefully dropped
in silver, that fell pattering on the gold ; and country people too,
who slipped in heavy copper money, that fell with a noisy clang
into the box. But Jesus noticed that the rich made far more
sound and show with their money, pouring it into the brass
trumpets from a height, that alljriight observe that they gave

364 MORE THAN THEY ALL.
gold, and He could plainly see that those who were rich cast
in much money. While He looked, a poor woman came
forward, and He saw from her dress that she was a widow.
Coming timidly up to the boxes, she carefully took from her
pocket two copper mites, which she put into one of the large
brass trumpets, and they were scarcely heard, as they fell
tinkling into the box, for they were so thin, and small that it
takes two of them to make a farthing ; but they were all she
had. When Jesus saw what she had done, and how differently
she gave her money from the rich men, who made so much
show of their giving, He said to His disciples, as she was
going away —
" I tell you truly, yonder poor woman hath cast into the
Treasury more than they all : for they have cast in money
which thev do not need, but she who needed it hath cast in
all the money she hath, even all that she hath to live on." He
put a different value on money from that of the keepers of the
Treasury. They valued the gift, by how much money was
given. He valued it by how much the giver needed the
money he gave. Those who did not need the gold had given
but a small gift, while she who gave jll she had gave much,
though it was but one farthing.
Rising, Jesus passed on through the great pillars towards
the Beautiful gate of cedar wood and gold, and down the
broad white steps that led into the large outer court of the
Gentiles. Before Him were the rows of coloured pillars
and arches, which formed Salomon's magnificent porch.
while rising in terraces behind Him were the inner Temple
buildings of huge stones, with the Holy place of gold crown
ing the whole. He was going out of the Golden Temple for
the last time, and His disciples knew it.
" Master," said one of them, " look at what costly stones,
and what buildings are here ! " Now the buildings were as
high as York cathedral! built of white stones, some of the huge
blocks being thirteen .yards Jong and four j-axds thick, while
the tall pillars were of different coloured marbles, rare and
costly. There were rich gifts also in the Temple, hung upon

CHILDREN OF LIGHT. 365
the walls of the Priests' Court, the gifts of kings and soldiers ;
the people also gave more money to the Temple than the
priests could spend, so that a law had to be made to limit
their giving. This magnificent place was the idol of the
Jewish people.
" Look thou at these great buildings," Jesus replied, " and
at all these things, for the day will come when there shall not
be left here. one stone standing upon another that shall not be
thrown down ! " The disciples did not expect such an answer.
Had He said that nothing could ever throw down these im
mense blocks, they would have believed Him ; and yet men
who go to that place now, can scarcely tell the spot where
these huge stones once stood.
These were the last words of Jesus as He left the Temple to
go down through the streets of the city and across the Kedron
bridge to the Mount of Olives.
And what is it that can make the gift of a farthing richer
than a gift of gold ? It is the feeling with which it is given.
And thus the rich and the poor stand equal before Jesus, for
the penny of a child, given with kindness, is more than the
treasures of a gold mine given without it. .
CHILDREN OF LIGHT.
JERUSALEM, TUESDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
About the time when Jesus was leaving the Temple for the
last time, some strangers came wishing to speak to Him. They
were foreigners, Greeks, who had come to the great Festival,
for they had given up their own, and accepted a great part of
the Jewish religion, and so were called " proselytes," and were
allowed into the outer Court of the Temple, and up to the
marble wall that divided it, but no further. One of them
knew Philip, whose name is a Greek one, and they found
Him, and said —
"Sir, we wish to see Jesus." Now Philip was not sure
about bringing these strangers to Jesus, after all that had
taken place that day, so he went to Andrew and told him

366 THE TIME IS COMING.
what they had asked, and Andrew thought they should be
taken, and they brought them to Jesus, most likely while He
was still upon the Mount of Olives, with a number of friends
and people. The coming of these men to Jesus moved Him
strangely and deeply, and made Him think of His approaching
death. "The time is coming," He exclaimed, "when I shall be
glorified ! I have told you truly, that unless a grain of wheat
falleth into the earth and dieth, it doth not increase ; but if it
falleth into the earth and dieth, it shall grow and have much
fruit" — meaning that His death would cause His followers to
increase greatly ; and He proceeded to repeat again some of
the things which He had told the people in other places.
"Whoever loveth his life, shall lose it," He said, "and
whoever hateth his life in this world, shall keep it unto
Heaven. If any one wisheth to serve Me let him follow Me,
and where I am there shall he be also, and God will honour
him." Thus He told His friends, that they must both serve
and follow Him, even through the dark door of death which
was now so near. And as He thought of death, one of those
rapid painful changes came over Him, which sensitive minds
feel. Not fear, not regret, but a strange dread of the horror
of death, as He thought how time was sweeping on, years into
days, hours, minutes ! And with clasped hands and bowed
head, He said, as though talking with Himself —
" Now is my Spirit troubled — and what shall I say ? Shall
I say ' Father, save me from this hour of death ? ' " And He
answered Himself, saying, " It was for this that I came into
the world." Then, looking up, He cried — "Father, glorify
Thy name ! " The people who were there heard His cry, and
in the silence which followed, there came a sound, echoing
down the sky, until it passed like rolling thunder over His
head, which seemed to say —
" I have both glorified My name, and will glorify it again ! "
And the people asked in whispers of each other —
" What is it? " for they were astonished. And some said it
was thunder, and others said —

IF I BE CRUCIFIED. 367
"Nay, but an angel hath spoken to him." And Jesus,
hearing their questions, said —
" This voice did not come for My sake, but for your sakes."
And then He spoke again about His coming death in strange
mysterious language such as I have spoken of before.
" Now is the judgment of this world," He said. " Now
shall wickedness, the prince of this world, be cast out. And
I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me." Thus re
peating what He had said elsewhere, that His death would
not be defeat, but would be victory over wickedness, and
that it would have a world-wide influence in drawing men in
love, sympathy, and belief to Him. The people understood
that He was now speaking of Himself as the Christ whom
all the Jews expected, and some one exclaimed —
"We have heard out of the Bible that when the Christ
cometh, He shall live for ever, and how dost Thou say that
Thou shalt be nailed upon a wooden cross and killed ? Who
art Thou? " For the people had been taught that the Christ
would never die, but be their King for ever. Jesus did not
answer ; but spoke of Himself once more as the Light of the
World. " For a little while is the Light with you," He said, " Walk
while you have the Light, lest darkness come upon you, for
he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither He goeth.
While you have the Light, believe in the Light, that you may
be the children of Light." Thus He spoke of His Spirit as
Light, the Light which will guide every man who walks by it.
And about the same time He cried loudly, calling Himself
again the Light of the World, and repeating words about God
and Himself which He had said at other times.
" Whoever believeth on Me," He said, "believeth not on
Me only, but on God who sent Me, and whoever seeth Me,
seeth also God who sent Me. I am come as a Light into the
world, that whoever believeth in Me, may not live in dark
ness." And now He gave them a warning, which applies to
all who know the words of Jesus. " If any one heareth My
words, and doth not obey them, I do not condemn him ; for

368 I CAME TO SAVE MEN.
I came not to judge, but to save men. But all who reject
Me, and will not believe My words, have something that will
judge them : the very words which I have spoken, they shall
judge them in the last day." Thus will their own conscience
blame and condemn those who, having heard the voice of
truth, do not listen to it, for it is the voice of God. And
Jesus went on to repeat to the people some of the things He
said in the Temple not long after He began to teach there —
that His words were a message from God which He was sent
to deliver —
" I have spoken," He said, " not of Myself, but God
who sent Me, telleth Me what to say, and I know that
His commandment is to offer you Heaven. The things,
therefore, which I speak, I say them as God hath told them
to Me."
These are His last words of teaching to the people, which
have come down to us. The remainder of His sayings were
spoken to His disciples and friends only. He now withdrew
from among the people that they might go away, hiding Him
self, most likely in one of the private gardens with high walls
and hedges, that were on the slopes of Olivet near to the road
from the Kedron bridge. What would the Greeks who were
brought to Him, think of His last words ? Surely, that they
had never heard any one speak like Him ! and when they
came to hear of His terrible death, they would remember His
strange earnest warnings. But there were other people there
who believed on Him, and among them were some of the
chief rulers in the city churches, yet they were afraid to say so
openly, because their own friends the Pharisees, were so bitter
against any man of position who sided with Jesus, that they
would have put them out of their churches ; and that was a
punishment of which all leading men were afraid, for it was
considered a great disgrace. And many of the common
people also believed in Him.
And thou, my child, wilt learn a lesson from these chief
rulers, who were afraid to say that they were on Jesus' side.
The clay is long gone by, when, to say thou art for Jesus

IN CLOUDS OF GLORY. 369
would cause thee any harm in England ; yet there are people
who will laugh at thee for having a simple trust in God and
in all that Jesus said. But I hope thou wilt never fear to
confess that Jesus is thy Friend and Guide, and that thou art
glad to be known as one of His followers.
IN CLOUDS OF GLORY.
JERUSALEM, TUESDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
Some of the things which I am now going to tell thee, thou
hast heard before, for in those last days of His life Jesus
repeated to the people at Jerusalem many things which He
had said in other parts of the country. And some of the
things which I shall tell thee belong to those wonderful and
mysterious sayiags of His, about .the end of the world, the de
struction of Jerusalem, HJs coming a^ain. and the future,
which we do not understand, and which it is not profitable to
guess at.
It was well on in the afternoon of Tuesday when He went
with His disciples up the winding path by the Western slope
of Olivet, on the way to Bethany, and as they climbed gradu
ally higher, they came again opposite to the Temple, which
was not half a mile distant across the deep Kedron valley, up
from whose deeps a massive white wall was built to support
the splendid buildings that stood on the top. And Jesus sat
upon the green side of Olivet to gaze and meditate. The
sun was going down over the great busy city, striking upon
spike and plate of gold, and upon dazzling marble of Temple
and Palace, while afar off, the distant mountains of Tudah were
fading in a haze of rose and purple. The hill on which He
rested, clad in its natural beauty of Spring grass, wild flowers,
and boughs of the silver leaved olive ; the hill opposite, with
its strong walls and hundred battle towers, its rich buildings
and thousands of lives : the white foaming Kedron in the
gloomy gorge below ; the hour of declining day,— all filled
Him with strange thoughts. He had left yonder Temple for
ever, and as He sat, retired from the rest, His four principal

370 FALSE CHRISTS.
disciples — Peter, James, Andrew, and John — came to break
His reverie, and speak with Him privately. They had heard
with astonishment what He said when leaving the Temple.
about the huge buildings being all thrown down.
" Master ! " they said, " tell us when these things shall be,
and what will be the sign that they are coming? " This was
almost the same question as the Pharisees asked Him when
He was leaving the Peraea, and He answered it in the same
way. The disciples thought that the end of the world would
be soon, and they wished to know the exact time when Jesus
would come again, if He were killed; but His answer was
followed by such strange and difficult sayings that they could
not understand Him.
"Take care," He said, "that you are not led astray; for
many men shall come using My name, and saying that they are
the Christ, and that the end is near, and they shall lead many
wrong, but go not after them. If any man shall say the Christ
is here, or there, do not believe him ; for false Christs shall
come, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and
wonders in order if possible to lead even my chosen followers
astray. Now I have told you before it cometh. If, therefore,
they say to you that the Christ is in some lonely place, go not
thither, or that He is in the inner room, do not beheve it, for
as the lightning in the sky is seen from the East to the West,
so shall I be when I come." His disciples were still hoping
for an earthly Kingdom with rewards of riches and of power,
and He went on to warn them that after His death they would
not have peace, but would rather be persecuted.
"When you hear of wars," He said, "be not afraid.
Nation shall fight against nation, and there shall be famines,
pestilences, and earthquakes in different places, with terrors
and signs from the skies ; but these will be only the beginning
of troubles." Then He told His disciples, who had now all
gathered round Him, what would be done to them for follow
ing Him, saying, as He said to them in Galilee —
" But before all these things, men shall take hold on you
and persecute you, giving you up to councils, churches, and

THE GOOD TIDINGS OF HEAVEN. 37 1
prisons ; you shall be beaten in churches, and they shall kill
you, and you shall be hated by all nations for My sake, and
before governors and kings you shall stand as My witnesses.
When they lead you away and deliver you up, be not anxious
in your hearts, nor think beforehand how you shall answer
them, nor what you shall say, but speak whatever cometh into
your minds at the time, for it is not you that speaketh, but the
Spirit of God that speaketh in you. For I will give you words
of wisdom which all your opponents shall not be able to resist
nor overcome." Thus in all their troubles His Spirit would
be with them ; but He again reminded them that they would
find opposition in their own homes.
"You shall be given up even by your fathers, brothers,
friends, and relations, and some of you shall be put to death.
Then shall many go wrong, and give up one another, and hate
one another, and because badness hath increased, the love of
many shall grow cold ; but he that endureth to the end shall
be saved. By patience you shall win your souls. For the
good tidings of the Kingdom of Heaven shall be told over
the whole world for a message to all nations, and then shall
the end come." He now came to speak of their question, the
destruction of the Temple.
" When you shall see Jerusalem surrounded with soldiers,
know that her ruin is near. Then let them that are in the
low country of Judaea fly to the safe places of the mountains,
and these that are in the city run out, and those that are in the
country not go in. For then will be the days of punishment,
when all the things that are written of Jerusalem shall happen.
Pray that the flight from that city be not in Winter, neither on
the Sabbath, when men travel .only a little way ; for there
shall be great distress, such as hath never been since the
beginning of thfr wo-rlH, nor ever shall be. There shall be
distress upon the land and wrath on the people, for they shall
be slain with the sword, and taken away prisoners into other
nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down by strangers
until the time of their occupation shall be fulfilled." Thus
He spoke of the destruction of Jerusalem, which, when it did

372 HOLD UP YOUR HEADS.
come, was the most terrible destruction of a city that has ever
been. Last of all, He told them of other things, the meaning
of which it is useless for thee to attempt to understand, or even
to guess at.
" There shall be signs in the sun, moon, and stars," He
said ; " the sun shall grow dark, the moon shall not give light,
the stars shall fall, and the powers of the skies shall be shaken.
Upon the earth shall be distress of nations, and fear and
doubt, because of the roaring and billows of the sea, men
fainting with fear of the things about to come upon the world.
Then shall they see Me coming in the clouds with power and
great glory. And I will send out My angels with a trumpet
of great sound, and they shall gather together My followers
from the furthest parts of the earth to the furthest parts of
Heaven. And when these things happen, look up and hold
up your heads, because your deliverance is near."
His disciples had asked to know hidden things, and there,
sitting under the whispering leaves, with the glory of the
setting sun upon His face, Jesus told them mysteries. One
thing was plain, that His death was not to be followed by His
throne being set up in Jerusalem, and all nations being put
under Him, as they still hoped. First the disciples themselves
were to" be beaten and slain, from cottage to palace, then
Jerusalem was to be destroyed, and in time, after there had
been many wars, and the whole earth was at peace, and the
message of Heaven had been carried to all nations, the end
would come. A strange, lurid phantasmagoria, incompre
hensible, and without a key.
And thou, my child, wilt learn from the words of Jesus to
His disciples, that if ever thou art called upon to speak in
His name, not to prepare what thou art to say. If thou art
to speak at all, God's Holy Spirit will give thoughts to thy
mind and words to thy lips ; for it is idle to speak in thy own
wisdom, without His Spirit teaching thee, and if thou hast
the Spirit of Jesus thou hast all.

LEARN OF THE FIG TREE. 373
LEARN OF THE FIG TREE.
JERUSALEM, TUESDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
Jesus sat at sundown on the Mount of Olives with His dis
ciples looking across at the beautiful Temple, and while they
were still amazed and wondering at the strange things which
they had heard from Him, He told them some more short,
simple stories. It was the time of year when the slopes of
Olivet were at their freshest, in garden, field, and grove, and
where they sat they were surrounded by mulberry, olive, fig,
oak, cypress, pine, myrtle, and cedar trees, of all tints of leaf
age, from dark green to golden yellow, some in full leaf, some
only bursting their buds ; and on the sunny slopes below, were
the king's gardens brilliant with flowers.
" Look at the fig tree," Jesus said, " and all the trees, and
from the fig tree learn her story. Her branch has now become
tender, and her buds are putting forth green leaves. When
the trees put out their tender leaves, you can see it for your
selves and know that Summer is near." The disciples were
men from the country, who knew that one of the surest signs
of Summer is when green leaves are upon the tree. " So,"
Jesus continued, " when you see these things happening of
which I have told you, know that the end is near, even at the
door, for truly I say to you that there are men living now who
will not be dead before these things will have happened. The
earth and skies shall pass away, but my words shall not pass
away. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, not even
the angels in Heaven, but God only. Watch, therefore, for
you know not when your Lord shall come."
He told them also another short story, one of warning to
them to live good lives, so that the dread hour of death, of
which none knoweth the time, should not find them unprepared ;
for to each man death is the coming of Jesus, and the passing
away of earth and sky.
"Be careful," Jesus said. "Watch and pray, for you do
not know the time nor the day when God will come. Be
ware, lest your hearts be taken up with feasting and drink-

374 WATCH.
ing and the things of this life, and that day come upon you
suddenly, catching you as in a snare ; for so it shall be to
all people. But watch always, and pray that you may escape
these things, and stand before Me. Be, then, like the
faithful and wise servant whom his master put in charge of
his whole house, to give the other servants their food at proper
times? Blessed is he if his master, when he cometh, shall
find him doing so, for he will give him charge over all that
he hath.
" It is," He continued, " as if a master were to leave his
house and go away on a journey into another country, giving
power to his servants, and to each one his work to do, and
telling the door-keeper to watch. Watch, therefore," Jesus
added earnestly to His listening disciples — " for you do not
know when the Master shall come, perhaps at evening, or
midnight, or when the cock crows at dawn, or in the bright
morning. What if He should come suddenly and find you
sleeping? What I say to you, My disciples, I say to all men,
Watch ! " He had told them before, that His death would
be like a master going away upon a journey to return again,
and that they must teach and work as He had taught them
to do during the years that He had lived with them; and
now, four days before His death, He repeated it, with warnings
more solemn than ever.
And thou, my child, mayest wonder what thou art to
watch for. Is it for wars, famines, dark miseries, sieges
of Jerusalem, falling stars, or what? Thou needest trouble
thyself with none of these things, but thou must watch and
pray and keep thy heart pure, a little temple of Heaven
in which dwelleth God's Holy Spirit, so that when death
cometh it may be to thee a white-robed angel, sent to take
thee to that Heaven beyond of which Jesus hath told thee so
much. He leadeth me, Oh happy thought !
And words with heavenly comfort fraught,
Where'er I am, whate'er I be,
By His own hand He leadeth me.

THE TEN BRIDESMAIDS. 375
THE TEN BRIDESMAIDS.
JERUSALEM, TUESDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
As Jesus sat on Olivet, looking over the deep ravines of
crag, cliff, and tree that surrounded the city of Jerusalem,
whose walls cast gloomy shadows into the deep Kedron
vale, and over on the Mount, He told His disciples another
story with a meaning, and it was about ten young girls who
were bridesmaids. In that country it was the custom for
the bride to ask a number of her young friends to be her
maids at the wedding, just as they do in England ; but
bridesmaids got much more to do there. It was part of
their duty to watch in the bride's house, and be ready to
go out dressed in gay white dresses, with their hair floating
loose on their shoulders, and wreathed with flowers, to
welcome the bridegroom, and dance before him, as they
brought him into the house, with music of pipes and cymbals,
praising the bride, their young companion, in songs, and
telling him how lovely she was. If he came at night, they
had to go out all the same, each carrying a pole with a
little lamp hanging from it, to light the way. It was common
for ten of the bride's young companions to do this, and as
she was usually about fifteen years old, her bridesmaids would
be younger still. It was of this pretty joyous custom which
Jesus spoke in His story.
The coming of the Kingdom of Heaven, He said, is
like ten_ young bridesmaids, who took their lighted lamps
and went out at night to meet the bridegroom. Five
of them were foolish, and five were wise. Now the five
foolish maidens took no oil with them when they took their
lamps, but the wise ones took oil in bottles along with their
lamps. They had gone out a good way upon the road to
meet the bridegroom, and as he did not come, they went
into a house to wait for him, but he was long in coming,
and it grew very late, and while they waited the young
bridesmaids fell fast asleep, leaving their lamps still burn-

376 THE BRIDEGROOM COMETH.
ing. But at midnight, some one came in from the road
crying —
"The bridegroom cometh ! Come out to meet him." He
had heard the voices of the young men in the distance
who were bringing the bridegroom, and perhaps had seen
their lighted torches. Then all the bridesmaids rose in haste,
and began to trim their lamps, pricking up the wicks, and
pouring in oil, to make the flame burn brightly.
" Give us some of your oil," the foolish maidens said to
the wise ones, " for our lamps have gone out, and we have no
oil to pour into them? " But the wise maidens replied —
" Perhaps there will not be enough for both of us. Go
rather to the people that sell oil and buy some for yourselves."
Then the five foolish maidens went out to find some one
who would sell them oil ; and while they were away, the
bridegroom came, and they were not there to meet him. But
the five wise maidens met him with their lamps burning
brightly, and danced before him, and lighted the way to the
bride's house, and went in with him to the wedding supper,
and the door was shut. And all was light and joy, for the
door was the door of Heaven, all glittering within, but dark
without. After a time, the five foolish bridesmaids, having got oil,
lit their lamps, and hurried on to overtake the others ; with no
dance or song, but with sinking hearts, which are so heavy
for young people to bear. They were lonely and afraid, in the
darkness which pressed around them and which their small
lamps could not dispel, and when they found the door of the
bride's house, it was shut, dark, and gloomy, for all were in but
they ; and pressing against it in terror, they cried —
" Lord ! Lord ! open to us ! " But the answer that came
from wit! in. was from the bridegroom —
" Truly I say to you, I do not know you." And the five
foolish maidens had to go away into the darkness. Thus
ended the story of the ten bridesmaids, and Jesus added these
warning words to His disciples, "Watch, therefore, for you
know not the time when you shall be called."

THE SILVER TALENTS. 377
Jesus also told the disciples another story about the King
dom of Heaven as they sat on the hillside that evening, called
" The Silver Talents" but as it is almost word for word the
same as the story of " The Pounds," which He told in
Zacchaeus's house at Jericho less than a week before, I will
not give thee it all over again. It was told to impress more
and more upon His disciples that although He was going
away, they were to work with the power which He had given
them, like faithful servants for an absent master in the King
dom which He had spread among men. In this story He
said the master lent one servant five silver talents, another
two, and another one, according as they were clever or not.
Now a silver talent was worth about two hundred English
pounds. And the first two servants traded with the money
and had doubled it by the time the master came back, but the
third servant buried his silver talent in the ground, and did
nothing. To the good servants, on his return home, the
master said, " Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord," but he
ordered the lazy, idle servant to be punished, in the same way
as the bad servant in the story of the pounds. But the word
" talent " has now got to have a higher meaning than money.
We have all talents. Thy talents are, all the advantages and
powers which thou dost possess of mind and heart and body,
as well as wealth and position. These things are the talents
which God has entrusted to thee to use in doing good all the
days of thy life.
And thou, my child, wilt remember that there are two ways
of doing wrong, one way is by trying to do it, and the other is
by being thoughtless and careless ; the one is wickedness, the
other foolishness. These foolish young maidens did not
think of oil. If they had been at all anxious about what they
were doing, they certainly would have taken enough ; but
they were careless; pleased more with twining flowers in
their hair. Remember, then, that the boy who kills a
sparrow with a stone, may say he did not think he would
hit it, but the bird is dead, and nothing can make it alive

378 HUNGRY, AND YOU FED ME.
HUNGRY, AND YOU FED ME.
JERUSALEM, TUESDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
It was now almost sundown, which is followed very quickly
by darkness in that country. The evening skies in the West
were barred with crimson, rose, and saffron, through which
the sun darted level rays of gold at the pinnacles of the Holy
place, while the shadows cast by the Temple crept swiftly to
the top of Olivet. Jesus could not remain any longer ; and
we now come to His last story, and of all the strange and
wonderful things which He told the disciples there, this story
about Heaven after death, and the vision of Judgment, is the
strangest and most difficult to understand. In it He spoke of
sitting upon a throne surrounded by angels, with all the
people who have ever lived standing before Him. He had
already told the disciples to use their powers in doing good,
and to watch and pray, and now He spoke of His coming
again. " When I shall come in My glory," He said, " with all the
angels of Heaven, then shall I sit upon a throne of glory, and
before Me shall be gathered all the people of the world, and I
will separate them one from another as a shepherd separateth
the sheep from the goats, and put the good people on My
right hand, and the bad people on My left. Then shall I, the
King of Heaven, say to them on My right hand —
" ' Come, you blessed of My Father, enter the Kingdom
prepared for you from the beginning of the world. For I was
hungry, and you gave Me food; thirsty, and you gave Me water;
a stranger, and you took Me in ; naked, and you clothed Me ;
sick, and in prison, and you visited Me? " Now, all truly kind
things which good people do, are done without hope of praise
or reward, only through kindness; and Jesus went on to
say that the good people would reply to Him in astonishment.
saying —
" ' Lord ! when did we see Thee hungry, and fed Thee ? or
thirsty, and gave Thee water ? or a stranger, and took Thee into

SUNSET ON OLIVET. 379
our homes ? or naked, and clothed Thee ? or sick or in prison,
and came to Thee ? ' " Comparatively few of the good people
of the world saw Jesus as He went about in that far-distant
country. And Jesus continued —
" Then I, the King, will answer these righteous ones, and
say, ' Because you did it to one of the least of My followers,
it is as though you did it to Me.' " Thus He showed that
to be kind to one of His followers, is like being kind to
Him. And He went on to tell them that He would turn to
the people on His left hand, who had no such happy memo
ries, and say —
" ' Go away from Me, you bad people, into the punishment
which is prepared for the spirit of evil and his followers ; for I
was hungry, and you gave Me no meat ; thirsty, and you gave
Me no water ; a stranger, and you did not take Me in ; naked,
and you did not clothe Me ; sick and in prison, and you did
not come to Me.' " These are woeful words ; and Jesus told
His disciples what the answer would be.
" 'Lord ! ' they would say, 'when did we see Thee hungry,
or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison,
and did not help Thee ? ' " But the same reply which
made the good people happy would make the bad people
miserable. " ' Truly, I say, that because you did not do it to one of the
least of these My followers, you did it not to Me.' " And
indeed, there are many people who saw Jesus as He walked
about in Galilee, spreading His Kingdom among men, foot
sore, thirsty, hungry, and heard Him speak, and many who
have not seen Him, have heard His voice whispering to
them, and have read of Him, but have not done one kind thing
for His sake. His story seemed to open the door of Heaven to
His disciples as He spoke, but He shut the scene with those
awful words which we shall never understand in this world.
" And the bad shall go away into never ending punishment,
and the good into Heaven."
This is the last of His marvellous sayings upon Olivet
The red sun had sunk behind the distant hills, and the lights

380 LAST WALK TO BETHANY.
of the city were twinkling forth across the valley, as the
shadows of night falling into the gulf of the Kedron, grew
darker still, where in the deeper distance the vales of Kedron
and Hinnom mingled in rugged gloom — a scene of black
rocks and night shadows. And the birds were hushed as He
walked for the last time, after His long and tiring day, over
the shoulder of the hill to Bethany's cottage among the green
fig trees. And as they went, their pathway lighted by the
shadowy moon, Jesus told the disciples again in a few simple
words that His death was near.
"You know," He said, " that in two days is the Festival of
the Passover, and I shall be given up to be crucified."
" Crucified ! " each would exclaim in a whisper. Our loving
Master, so young, so kind, Crucified ! These hands, these
feet, nailed to a coarse wooden cross ! They could not bring
themselves to believe that the hatred of His enemies would
go so far, for that was how the very worst criminals in the land
were put to death. But Jesus knew that His enemies would
mete out to Him the most cruel death.
While Jesus rested with His disciples on Olivet that after
noon, a very different kind of meeting was being held in
Jerusalem. After the failures of the day, as soon as the
Temple services were over, Caiaphas, the Chief Priest, called
together the priests and elders to meet him in his palace on
Mount Zion, the high and fashionable part of the town, there
to consider what should be done regarding Jesus. Those
who had been defeated that day in the controversies in the
Temple, told it all over again to the others, and the question
was, How long was this to continue ? When would it be safe
for them to have Jesus taken a prisoner and put to death, as
they had resolved so long ago to do? After some talk, it
was settled that, seeing the people were so much on His side,
they should leave Him alone for one week more, until the
Festival was over, and His friends the exciteable Galileans
had left the city for their distant homes. Then they would
have Him taken a prisoner, but not by force openly, for fear
of the people rescuing Him, but taken in some quiet place.

SHE DID WHAT SHE COULD. - 38 1
And so they went home, not intending to do anything for
eight days.
Thou wilt not be able to understand the full meaning of
this strange story, but part of it thou canst easily grasp. As
a little follower of Jesus, thou art to be kind to all people in
distress, whether hungry, sick, or naked. Do to them as thou
wouldst that they should do to thee if thou wert in the same
sad state ; and if thou canst not do much, thou canst always
think and speak kindly of them, and thou wilt do so for the
sake of Jesus, whose Spirit is Love and Gentleness.

SHE DID WHAT SHE COULD.
BETHANY, WEDNESDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
Jesus did not go to the Temple on Wednesday, but re
mained quietly with His friends in Bethany. The priests
blew their silver trumpets, and flung open the brazen gates
in the morning, and cast sweet incense on the altar fire in the
Holy place, and the people came in crowds seeking Jesus, but
He was not there. He was behind the green hill of Olivet,
perhaps walking in the fields with His mother, who had come
up from Galilee, and telling her that soon He would be killed.
And people who missed Him from the Temple came over the
hill and found Him in Bethany, and told Him of the meeting
of priests in the palace the night before ; for He had friends
among the chief men. Thus He and His disciples heard that
the priests wished to have Him taken secretly in a way that
would not rouse the people.
That evening a supper was given to Jesus by His friends at
Bethany, in the house of one called Simon. Martha helped
to prepare it, but Mary watched Jesus with loving eyes, and
spent much of her time in listening to His words. Some days
before, she had formed a plan, and was waiting to carry it out.
Like Mary Magdalene, she wondered what she could do to
show her love for Him. She knew that, as a sign of honour
to kings and great persons, it was a usual thing to pour sweet

382 ALABASTER AND SPIKENARD.
smelling oil upon their heads before the people, and she re
solved that this was how she would show her love for Jesus.
Taking money, she went into Jerusalem to a shop where
sweet perfumes were sold, and bought a flask of the rarest
Indian ointment she could get, made from the spikenard
plant that grows high upon mountains, and the flask in which
it was sealed was of thin shining alabaster, brittle and white as
snow. The price of this flask of precious perfume was about
ten pounds of our money, for it contained about a pound
weight of rich perfume ; and she carried it home secretly, and
hid it.
The table was spread for the supper, and the guests had
taken their places on the low couches round it, with Lazarus
there also, and while Martha served, Mary stood back watching
Jesus. Soon something in the conversation told her that now
was the time to do what she intended. Leaving her place,
she went round the table to where Jesus was, and taking the
white alabaster flask from the folds of her dress, and bending
down behind Him, she broke the slender flask between her
hands, and poured the precious perfume upon His head, and
then going to His feet with the dripping flask, she poured
what was left of the perfume upon His feet ; and soon the
whole house was filled with the rich smell of the spikenard.
But that was not all, for kneeling down, she loosed her bright
hair and wiped His feet with her hair, as Mary Magdalene
had done ; and, drawing back, she stood with blushing cheeks
behind Him, but not afraid, for she was among her own
friends. Yet the guests thought it strange that the youth
ful Mary should do this ; pouring out costly perfume so
lavishly. And there was one who was angry, when he
saw the precious spikenard running upon the floor and
lost. "Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred
pence, and given to the poor?" grumbled Judas Iscariot,
as he frowned angrily at Mary. He was treasurer for the
disciples, -and wished that the money had been given into
his care, for he loved money, and was not honest. And

THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER. 383
some of the guests thought Judas spoke sensibly in chiding
Mary for this apparent waste, and they said to her —
"For what purpose hath this waste of ointment been
made ? " And others also spoke harshly to her as she stood,
now trembling and afraid, with her tearful eyes looking to
Jesus. She had meant to do a good thing, but they said she
had done wrong. What would He say ?
"Let her alone," said Jesus sternly to Judas, in a tone
which showed him that He knew how mean was the motive
for his harsh words to Mary. " She hath done a good thing
to Me," He continued. "The poor you have always with
you, and whenever you wish, you can do them good, but Me
you shall not always have." Then looking from the frown
ing Judas to the blushing maiden, He said, " She hath done
what she could. She hath anointed Me, preparing Me before
hand, for burial." And turning to the rest, He said these
words, which filled Mary with wonder and astonishment,
" I say truly, that wherever My teaching is preached through
out the whole world, what this woman hath done to-day shall
be spoken about in memory of her." This was the second
time that Jesus had praised the gentle Mary, and, as the
supper went on, her young heart went out to him with ever
increasing love and gratitude.
Turn thou, my child, from the gloomy face of Judas to
the gentle maiden, who did what she could for Jesus. And
yet, until He spoke to Mary, the tongues of all the others
said she had done wrong. Thou wilt often find thy best
deeds misinterpreted and misunderstood by others, but let
not that discourage thee, if thou hast done thy best, Jesus
will speak to thee and comfort thee, as He did Mary.
THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER.
JERUSALEM, WEDNESDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
All were now glad, at the supper in Lazarus's house, that
Mary had done such a good thing with her white flask of per
fume, all save one, whose anger was turned from her to Jesus,

384 JUDAS THE TRAITOR.
by what Jesus had said to him. Judas had been rebuked,
and rebuked before all who were there, and as he sat frown
ing at that supper table he thought of the last few years.
All his life as a disciple passed before him. With the
other disciples, he had loved and admired Jesus, and had
expected to be rewarded with honours and money for
following Him. Like them, he had been disappointed and
grieved when Jesus said that they would get no rewards
in this world, but rather punishments ; and he would not
believe it. He was made treasurer for the disciples, but
so little money came in, that it was hardly worth the trouble
of keeping. And now, when he had grumbled at a young
girl for wasting a large sum of money that might have gone
into his empty purse, Jesus had rebuked him, as if they
did not need money, while they were more like beggars
than followers of a coming King. Also Jesus kept telling
them, over and over again, that He would soon die, and
certainly the priests seemed bent upon taking Him a
prisoner. Judas had not got what he wanted in following
Jesus. The whole thing was a great disappointment to him,
and evidently, like many other popular movements, it was
soon coming to an end, when each one would have to look
out for himself. He had heard that the priests wished to take
Jesus secretly, and would likely give money to any one who
helped them. He would tell them how to do it, and if
Jesus were indeed the Christ, he would thus force Him to
exert His great power and scatter His enemies, and if Jesus
did not do so, but let the priests take Him, then He could
not be the Christ, and it was time that everybody knew
it. Besides, had Jesus not rebuked him before them all
for greed — greed, and He so poor ! And Judas resolved,
for better for worse, to get Jesus into the power of His
enemies. And that evening he stole out unseen from the shadows
of Bethany, and hurried over the familiar path to Jeru
salem, with his head bent in dogged thought, the great white
moon looming behind him. Once within the city gate, he

WHAT WILL YOU GIVE ME? 385
went quickly to the Temple, and asked to see the captain of
the Temple guard, and by him he was taken before the chief
priests and Temple rulers that were there, and to them he told
his strange errand of treachery, an errand fitly told in secret
and at night. That he was one of the twelve disciples of
Jesus; that Jesus whom they had missed from the Temple
that day was staying quietly at Bethany ; and that he, Judas,
had come secretly over the hill to offer to tell them how they
might capture Him quickly and quietly. The priests looked
closely at his grim face, and remembered having seen him
among the disciples, and were glad, and talked eagerly
with him as to how Jesus could be best taken. Judas
told them, and they thought they had arranged it all with
him, when —
"What will you give me if I deliver Him up to you?"
Judas asked grimly, and the priests were taken aback, and talked
vaguely of rewarding him well. But no ! it was Jew against
Jew, and Judas would promise nothing until they weighed him
out there and then thirty pieces of silver from the Temple
money-box, with perhaps more if the plan succeeded. Now
thirty pieces of silver was the common price of a slave, and
Judas sold Jesus, his Master, for that. And as he counted the
silver over into his purse, he promised to come and tell the
priests whenever Jesus was in a place where He might be sur
prised and taken a prisoner with no people near. And they
promised to be ready with soldiers.
With the money in his pocket, Judas left the Temple, and
walked back to Bethany, feeling perhaps light-hearted as he
went, for he had made his peace with the priests, and was now
an important man to them, and the money made up a little for
what he had lost by Mary at the supper. As for Jesus and
his old companions the disciples, now that he had quite
broken away and turned against them, he thought how poor,
foolish, and to be despised they were, for Jesus, who could do
so much, would do nothing to make them rich. And as for
what the priests would do to Jesus when they got Him, that
was'theh business. But they could not do much, he thought,

386 PREPARING THE PASSOVER SUPPER.
for Jesus had done no wrong against the state or any man.
They might perhaps scourge Him and let Him go again.
On the other hand, perhaps Jesus would declare His great
Kingdom of power, and defeat them all, and then he, Judas,
would have brought it about. Thus, after three years of
cramped and simulative goodness, Judas found it easy, indeed
pleasant, to be openly bad. And while it was still dark, he
crept back to the village of Bethany and got quietly into the
house where he lodged. From that time he watched and
planned how he could let the priests know when Jesus could
be safely taken a prisoner.
And thou wilt remember the wickedness and treachery of
Judas in what he did. We wonder how he could do it, after
living day after day for years with such a gentle and loving
Friend, and thou wilt remember that however close thy com
panionship may be with Jesus, thou must ever be on thy
guard against the temptings of the spirit of evil.
PREPARING THE PASSOVER SUPPER.
JERUSALEM, THURSDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
Thursday morning dawned calmly over Bethany, with a
rose blush upon the hills of Moab, and sun-gold upon the
clouds. It was the last day of His freedom, and again Jesus
remained quietly at Bethany with His friends. His work in the
Temple was over. He walked and talked with those who loved
Him, while all day long the dark lurking eyes of Judas watched
his Master's movements for the opportunity when he might
run and tell the priests where Jesus could be safely taken.
It was the First day of the great Festival, when all the
people were busy with preparations for the joyful Passover
supper of which every man, woman, and child, of the many
thousands who had come to Jerusalem, would partake in fami
lies, and in groups of friends. That day was called the first
day of Unleavened Bread, for all leaven had been put away
from their houses the night before, searching for it with candles ;
and no leaven might be used for eight days. In the morning,

HERBS, CAKES, FRUIT, AND WINE. 387
intending again to eat the Passover supper with His disciples,
as He had done for the last three years, Jesus said to Peter
and John —
" Go and make ready the Passover supper that we may eat
it together." For a lamb had to be brought from the Temple,
and things bought, and it would take them all day to prepare
it. "Where dost thou wish that we should make ready the
supper?" they replied, thinking Jesus would have it in some
house in Bethany ; but they would need to go to Jerusalem
for the lamb all the same.
" When you go into the city," said Jesus, " you will meet a
man carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him to the house
whither he goeth, and when he entereth in, say to the owner
of the house, ' Jesus saith to thee that His time is near, and
He wisheth to keep the Passover at thy house, show us the
room where He may eat it with His disciples.' And the man
will himself show you a large room upstairs, furnished and
ready, there make ready the supper for us." The disciples
then saw that He wished to have the Passover supper in
Jerusalem and not at Bethany ; but none of them knew where,
so that Judas could not tell in what house it would be.
Peter and John then went away to Jerusalem, and as they
entered the city gate they saw a man carrying a pitcher, and
followed him until he went into a house, and they went in
after him, and gave his master their message ; and, as Jesus
had said, he received them gladly, being friendly to Jesus, and
took them by an outside stone stair up to his best room, which
was large and ready furnished for a supper to be held there
that night, with mats upon the floor, and a low table and
couches round it, large enough for thirteen people. Then
Peter and John got earthenware jugs for water, and cups for
wine, and put them upon the table, and large jars of water
and basins and towels for washing feet at the door ; and going
out, they bought unleavened cakes of bread, and bitter herbs,
• lettuce, endive, horehound, and salt, vinegar, oil, dates, raisins,
apples, nuts, and red wine. The salt and the bitter herbs and

388 THE ROAST LAMB.
cakes of bread were put into dishes, and placed upon the
table ; and from the dates, raisins, apples, nuts, crushed and
mixed with salt and vinegar into a stiff paste, they made a
bowl of what was called " Charoseth," to remind them of
the clay with which their forefathers made bricks in Egypt
long ago, and it was also put upon the table with the water
and the wine. Then the hanging lamps were filled with oil,
and trimmed, and all was ready for the Supper, excepting the
lamb. John and Peter went out again and bought a little lamb of
one year old, examining it to see that it had no fault, and
about three o'clock they carried it up to the Temple, among
thousands of others, for every family had to have a lamb
killed in the Temple. In the course of the afternoon they
took their lamb into the Priests' Court, and there, when
the gates were shut, at the sound of silver trumpets, with
hundreds more, they killed their lamb and skinned and
prepared it for roasting, giving a part to the priests who were
helping them, and carried it away, taking care to break
none of the bones. Then they roasted it whole, upon a
pomegranate stick, either in a hole in the ground or in an
oven, which it was not allowed to touch. It was evening,
therefore, before they had everything ready for the joyful
supper, which was so important to all Jews, for it reminded
them of the time, long, long ago, when their forefathers ate
the same kind of supper in Egypt, on the night when the angel
of death passed over the land, sparing all the houses whose
doors had been marked on the sides with the blood of the
little lamb, and entering all those which were not so marked.
The sun was setting behind the great city of Jerusalem when
Jesus, with His ten disciples, came again, and for the last time,
over by the hill path from Bethany. The streets were thronged
with people, all in gay holiday clothes, the houses brightly
lighted up, and they were met by John and Peter and taken
to the friend's house, where everything was ready, and where
Jesus ate the last meal which He took on earth, and which
has ever since been called "The last supper."

THE LAST SUPPER. 389
And thou wilt remember that this meal which Jesus took
was the great Jewish Passover supper, which He had often
taken before in His father's house, or with His disciples, and
of which every Jewish family ate all on the same night ; for it
is well for thy right understanding of all that Jesus did and
said at it, that thou shouldst remember how He and His
disciples came to take supper together in that particular way.

THE LAST SUPPER.
JERUSALEM, THURSDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
Going up by the outside stone stair of the friend's house in
the narrow street of Jerusalem, Jesus and His disciples,
entered the large upper room where the supper table was
spread, and the supper ready, each one taking off his sandals
and washing his feet as he went in. They were all dressed
in their best holiday clothes, and the room was brightly
lighted with the hanging lamps, for the Passover supper was
ordered to be held as a joyful feast in memory of God's good
ness to His own people. In Egypt they had first eaten this
supper standing, with long sticks in their hands, and their
shoes on, ready for a journey ; but now they were commanded
to eat it lying upon thick mats and soft cushions, in their best
clothes, as a sign of rest, prosperity, and gladness.
When the first three stars appeared in the sky, they heard
the priests' silver trumpets ringing out from the Temple
the signal for the supper to begin all over the city. On the
table, which was partly covered with a white cloth, was the
bread, wine, water, and herbs, the other things being on a
small side table. But, strange and sad to say, when the dis
ciples came to take their places on the couches, they began
to quarrel, just as the Pharisees had done, about who was
greatest and who should have the highest seat. Jesus noticed
them quarrelling, but said nothing. When they were all in
their places, they were arranged round three sides of the
table, lying on their left sides, with their left elbows upon the

39O AT THE TABLE.
table, and their right hands free to take things. Jesus lay at
the right hand end, looking up the table, and John lay next in
front of Him, and so on all round, Judas being near Jesus, and
Peter at the foot of the table, right across from Jesus and John,
all with their outer cloaks off, and wearing tunics of striped
colours bound with a sash, and kerchiefs on their heads, red,
purple, white, green or yellow — all bright and cheerful. Being
so high above the street, when the door was shut, no one could
see in or hear what was being said, and Jesus was well
pleased with the arrangements that Peter and John had made,
and was very glad that they should all take this joyful supper
together once more, and He said to His disciples —
" With a great wish I have desired to eat this Passover
supper with you before I suffer ; for I tell you I will not eat
it again until it be fulfilled in Heaven."
Now this supper had been kept in the same way for hun
dreds of years, by drinking cups of wine and water mixed,
and eating unleavened cakes, herbs, and roast lamb. Bless
ings and thanks were spoken, and psalms sung, while the head
one at the table, usually the father, explained what all the
different things meant, and went over the history of the Jews
from the time when they came out of Egypt. The first thing
done was to fill a large cup with one part of red wine and two
of water, over which Jesus would say the usual double thanks
for the wine and for the return of the Passover day, and tast
ing it, He would hand it to the others, who would pass it
round the table, all drinking from the cup.
Then it was usual for the father to rise from the table and
wash his hands, and Jesus rose, and going over to the place
where the red clay basins and jugs of water stood, He took off
His white tunic, leaving on only His thin under dress, and
taking a large towel, tied it round His waist, His arms being
bare. From one of the jars He filled a red basin with water,
and carrying it over to the couches, He knelt down and began
to wash John's feet, and dry them with the towel, while the
others looked on in astonishment. He then went to the next
disciple and did the same to him, and passed on to the next,

WASHING THEIR FEET. 39 1
taking them in their order as they lay round the table. Wash
their feet ! A thing which only slaves did ! There was now
no more talk of who was greatest, for here was the greatest
of them all, doing a slave's work. But Peter looked on with
growing feelings of shame and indignation, as he saw the other
disciples allowing their dear young Master to do this thing
for them; and when Jesus came at last to him, as though
reminding Jesus of His position, he exclaimed —
"Master, wouldst Thou wash my feet?" And he held his
feet away.
"Thou dost not understand why I do this," Jesus said
quietly, "but thou shalt know afterwards." But Peter was
not satisfied, and answered hastily —
"Thou shalt never wash my feet." He believed that
nothing could persuade him to allow it ; but Jesus looked at
him and said in tones which thrilled the heart of His old
disciple— "If I do not wash thee, thou shalt have no share with
Me." " Master ! " exclaimed Peter, whose hasty temper leapt at
once into the opposite extreme, " wash not my feet only, but
also my hands and my face," which was the customary wash
ing before food. Peter thought he could not be washed too
much now ; but Jesus explained that the extent of washing
made no difference, saying —
" He that I bathe, needeth only to have his feet washed,
and then he will be all clean," and added these words, which
must have startled Judas, " And you are clean, but not every
one." For Jesus knew what Judas had done. He had been
told that Judas had made offers to the priests to betray Him.
Most likely He was told by a message from the same men
who warned Him before that the council had resolved to take
Him a prisoner and kill Him ; but He did not tell His disci
ples, nor did He intend this time to fly from Jerusalem. He
had made up His mind to die ; but Judas did not know that
He knew of his villainy. Having washed all their feet, as they
rested like princes on their soft cushions, Jesus put back the

392 KNOW YOU WHAT I HAVE DONE t
basin and towel, and putting on His white tunic, took His
place at the head of the table again.
The next thing at such a Supper, was for Jesus to take some
of the lettuce and other herbs and dip them in the salt and
vinegar and eat a little, giving thanks, and then to hand some
to the- disciple next Him at the table, reminding them all as
He did so, that the herbs and vinegar were in memory of
the bitter slavery in Egypt; and after that, to break a cake
of the bread. The second cup of wine and water would then
be filled and placed on the table, while Jesus reminded
them briefly of how the first Passover supper was held, long
ago, and why they now killed and ate a lamb, the lamb being
then put upon the table before them, to remind them that
God had spared the blood-sprinkled houses in Egypt, and that
their forefathers ate of roasted lamb on the night before they
left Egypt forever.
"Do you know the meaning of what I have done for you?"
Jesus said, referring to the washing of their feet. " You call
Me Master and Lord, and you are right, for I am your Master
and your Lord. If I then, the Head and Master of you all,
have washed all your feet, you ought also to wash one another's
feet. For I have shown you an example that you should
do to each other as I have done to you. Whoever is great
est among you I wish him to become as the youngest, and he
that is chief among you to be like a servant, for among you
I am as if I were a servant." No plainer lesson could have
been given to the disciples, never again to dispute about who
was greatest, and telling them of rewards, Jesus continued —
"You are the men who have remained with Me in My
temptations, and I shall give you a Kingdom, just as God hath
given a Kingdom to Me, that you may eat and drink at My
table in My Kingdom ; and you shall sit on thrones, judging
the twelve tribes of Israel. A servant is not greater than his
Master, nor a disciple who is sent with a message greater than
His teacher who sent him. If you understand these things
anddo them you shall be blessed." Then, thinking of Judas,
who lay listening with the rest, Jesus said, " I do not speak

JUDAS GOES OUT. 393
of you all. I know whom I have chosen ; but it is as King
David wrote in the 41st Psalm —
" ' Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I have trusted.
"'Which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel
against me.'
I tell you of this now, before it happeneth," referring still to
Judas, " so that when it cometh, you may believe that I am
the Christ. Truly, whoever receiveth those whom I send,
receiveth Me, and he that receiveth Me, receiveth God."
And thou, my child, wilt learn from Peter's words, the
mistake of turning quickly from one thing to another without
thinking, for both in refusing, and in asking to be washed,
Peter was wrong ; but be thou calm and clear, and make sure
that it is Jesus who guideth thee, and then do His will quietly,
firmly, and with all thy might.

JUDAS GOES OUT.
JERUSALEM, THURSDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
The night was dark, for the moon had not yet risen over
the city ; but the upper room in which Jesus and the disciples
were met was cheerfully lighted. Having explained what He
meant by washing the disciples' feet at the commencement of
the night, Jesus went on with the rest of the supper. I
cannot tell thee what He said as He explained the different
things that were done, but this was what was usually done at
such a supper, and I will tell thee what Jesus said later on.
After reminding them why the supper was held, and what the
different things on the table meant,— the "bitter herbs," their
fathers' bitter lives in Egypt; the "unleavened bread," the
haste with which they escaped from Egypt ; and the " Charo
seth," the clay with which they toiled in Egypt, — it was usual
to sing the 113th and 114th Psalms of King David, called the
first part of the joyful Hallel, in which are these words —
" When Israel went forth out of Egypt,
" The house of Jacob from a people of strange language ;

394 x SHALL BE BETRAYED.
" The mountains skipped like rams,
"And the little hills like young sheep."
A short prayer was then said, and the second cup of wine and
water drunk, and then they all rose and washed their hands.
On returning to the table more brief thanks were given, and
the bread-cakes were broken, and putting some herbs and
roast lamb between two pieces of cake, and dipping it in the
bowl of " Charoseth," a piece was handed to each by the
father at the table, and this was the " sop " which Jesus gave
to Judas. The general eating of roast lamb, bread, and herbs
was then begun, while the third cup of wine and water was
filled and placed upon the table. All then rose and washed
their hands again, for they ate the food with their fingers. On
returning to their places, they drank of the third cup, which
was the principal one, and was followed by a blessing. Then
came the fourth and last wine cup, and the singing of the rest
of the joyful Hallel, the 115th, 116th, 117th, and 118th Psalms
of King David, in which are these words —
" I love the Lord, because He hath heard
" My voice and my supplication.
" Oh, give thanks unto the Lord ; for He is good,
" For His mercy endureth for ever."
A blessing of praise came last of all, and the joyful Passover
supper was over for another year.
Having told thee what was always done, let us now return to
what Jesus said at this supper. While it was usual for the
father at the table to speak a great deal about what took place,
Jesus spoke much, but not about the supper so much as about
what would soon happen to Himself and to His disciples.
Before the time came to eat of the roast lamb, which was the
principal thing at the supper, knowing that Judas was false to
them all, and wishing he would go away and leave them,
for He had to except him from what He said, Jesus spoke
these words in a quiet voice—
" The hand of the man who shall betray Me is with Mine
on this table. I shall be betrayed, but woe to the man who
doeth it." This was a warning enough to Judas, who lay with

LORD, IS IT I? 395
his left arm resting on the table, but he took no notice of it.
Perhaps he did not think Jesus knew of his treachery, perhaps
he did not care, at any rate he determined to appear innocent,
and took part with the other disciples in asking each other
in whispers, who could possibly be so wicked as do such a
thing, when at that very moment he had the silver pieces of
the priests in his pocket. He was determined to stay and hear
all he could.
Jesus, who had been cheerful with the others, now became
troubled and anxious in spirit. He wished Judas to go.
He had washed his feet with the rest. Would he never go?
And the disciples were concerned to see from the silence
of their gentle young Master that He was grieved. After a
pause, He said again —
" I say truly that one of you shall betray Me." This was
plainer still ; but Judas did not move or show a sign of guilt,
as the disciples looked in each others' faces in wonder to
see who looked like the one that would do such a cruel
thing. " One of you that eateth with Me shall betray Me," Jesus
said again, and the disciples were deeply grieved to hear Him
say so again, and each one began to be afraid of himself, and
to ask Him one after another —
"Lord, is it I? Lord, is it I?" And Judas asked Him
among the rest, for not to have done so would have been
suspicious. " It is one of My twelve disciples," Jesus replied. " One
who hath dipped his hand with Me in this bowl of Charoseth.
I go, as it is written of Me, but woe to the man by whom I
am betrayed. It were better for him if he had never been
born." These are words which only a cruel hypocrite could
hear unmoved, but Judas heard them and said not a word.
Now John, who was much loved by Jesus, and who lay next
Him at the table, by leaning back could rest his head on
Jesus' breast, and this he often did in the course of the supper,
talking quietly to Jesus his cousin ; and Peter, who sat across
the table, and was impatient of this suspense, believing that

396 HE IS THE ONE.
John must know who Jesus meant should betray Him, beck
oned to him across the table, and said —
"Of whom doth He speak?" But John did not know,
and made a sign to Peter. After a little, John, leaning back,
asked Jesus quietly —
"Who is it?" Jesus did not care to say the name of
Judas. Without telling the others, He had let Judas know
that He knew of his treachery. Still Judas showed no signs
of going. But leave them he must, for the supper could not
go on with him there.
"He is the one," answered Jesus, loud enough for them all
to hear, " for whom I shall dip a sop of bread, and give it to
him." And putting some herbs between bread, He dipped it
in the bowl of " Charoseth," and gave it to Judas.
" Is it I, Master ? " Judas exclaimed, with a pretence of
surprise as he took the piece. His respect for Jesus having
fallen so low that he thought he could turn Him off with sham
astonishment. But Jesus wished no more hypocrisy, and since
He had had to point Judas out before them all, He replied
plainly —
" Yes, as thou hast said." And now the spirit of evil against
Jesus rose stronger than ever in the breast of Judas. All were
looking at him now as he sat revealed, the traitor among the
twelve. But they did not know that he had already betrayed
Jesus, and even yet intended to stay and hear more ; but
the clear dark eyes of Jesus were on him as he sat
irresolute. " What thou intendestto do, do. quickly," Jesus said, speaking
to Judas in a tone which was an order to leave the room,
and it smote the note in his mind like a secret message.
"That I will," Judas thought fiercely, as without a word he
rose with flushed face from the table, and hastily putting on
his sandals and cloak, stumbled out with dazzled eyes from
the lighted room into the dark night, a deserter. Had Peter
known for what purpose Judas was going out, he might not
have let the traitor go so easily. None but Jesus knew that
Judas had already been to the priests ; some thinking that he

LITTLE CHILDREN, LOVE ONE ANOTHER. 397
had gone out to buy something, while others thought that he
had gone to give money to some poor people.
In open rebellion, wrapping his thick cloak round him, and
keeping in the shadow of the houses, Judas walked down the
street, away from his Passover Supper, away from Jesus, away
from them all ! feeling more and more angry with Jesus and
with all His works. He had been discovered, pointed out,
bid go, expelled, before his plans were complete. " Better he
had never been born, indeed ! " He would see about that !
he would not thus be defeated. That very night, while the
people of the city were within doors feasting, he would watch
Jesus as He left that supper-room, and have Him taken a
prisoner with soldiers as He went over the lonely hill to
Bethany. All the disappointed hopes, the rebukes, the fancied
wrongs which Judas believed had been heaped upon him,
ending in that night's banishment from the great Supper,
thronged and crowded in his darkened mind, and, as sure as
yonder moon shone in the skies, he would be revenged. He
would go at once to the Temple and warn the priests to be
ready to capture Jesus that night, perhaps to take the dis
ciples also.
And thou, my child, wilt remember from this sad story how
the gentle words of Jesus only stirred up greater hatred in
Judas ; and wilt guard thy sweet spirit from the passion of
hate, which turns all the goodness of the person hated, into
greater cause for hating, just as a twisted mirror makes the
fairest face seem ugly. Ruled by evil, the sole passion of
Judas was to bring punishment upon Jesus for His goodness,
and upon all who were like Him.

LITTLE CHILDREN, LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
JERUSALEM, THURSDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
The disciples heard the footsteps of Judas going down the
outside stair of the house, and dying away in the street below.
They did not know why he had gone, but somehow the trouble

398 BREAD, WINE, AND LAMB.
that had been upon their young Master seemed to depart
with Judas. He became cheerful again, and they soon forgot
about the absent traitor. Jesus felt that the circle of His
friends was now drawn closer. There was no longer the spy,
with gloom in his dusky face, watching and listening to every
thing. There were none but honest men there now.
The supper was hardly rightly begun when Judas left, and
as Head of that little company, Jesus took the large cup of
wine and water, perhaps the second, perhaps the third cup,
and giving the usual thanks for the wine, handed it to John,
who was near to Him, saying —
"Take this, and divide it among yourselves, for I will not
drink wine after to-night, until Heaven shall come." And the
wine cup went round the table again from one to another,
every disciple drinking from it. Next, as Head of the table,
Jesus took a cake of the unleavened bread, and giving thanks
for it, broke it and handed a part to John as a sign that they
should now begin the real supper of bread and lamb and
herbs, saying as He did so —
" This is like My body which is given for you. Do this in
memory of Me." And then they all, putting herbs between
pieces of the bread, and dipping them in the bowl of
" Charoseth," began to eat their real supper. The hot lamb
was on the table, roasted whole, with its head and feet still
on, for not a bone of it might be broken ; and from it they
all took pieces with their fingers, dipping them in the bowl of
" Charoseth " and the salt, and eating them with bread and
herbs until they were satisfied. And they were all hungry, as
it was the rule that they might not eat anything after noon of
that day, in order to come hungry to the glad Passover supper.
In the course of the evening, Jesus talked of many things, and
the disciples asked many questions. Judas being away relieved
His mind, and made Him feel glad, as He exclaimed —
" Now am I glorified, and God is glorified in Me ! Soon
will He glorify Me." Then, speaking in tones of the tenderest
endearment, as He looked on these men, some of them older
than Himself, with clear dark eyes glowing with passionate

AS I HAVE LOVED YOU. 399
love, and using childlike words, which He could not have used
with Judas present, He said —
" Little children, for a little while longer I will be with you,
and then you will look for Me ; but, as I have told the people,
— whither I go, you cannot come." Then, as He thought of
their quarrels with each other, He added, " I give you a new
commandment, that you love one another. As I have loved you,
so must you love one another. By this shall the people know
that you are My disciples, if you have love one to another." As
the disciples thought over this, the most beautiful command
that has ever been given by a Leader to his followers — a com
mand from God — Peter also thought of what Jesus had said
about going away whither they could not follow. Over hill and
dale, sea and desert, he, the hardy fisherman, could go any-
whither that Jesus could ; for death did not enter his mind.
"Whither art Thou going? " Peter asked, wonderingly.
" I am going whither thou canst not come," Jesus replied
gently, " but afterwards thou shalt follow Me " — for Peter
would also die ; and looking round upon them all, Jesus
added, "You shall all be displeased with Me to-night. It
shall be as is written in the Book of Zechariah —
" ' Awake, 0 sword ! against My shepherd,
" ' And against the man that is My fellow,' saith the Lord
of Hosts :
" ' Smite the shepherd ! and the sheep shall be scattered :
"'And I will turn Mine hand upon the little ones.'
But," Jesus continued, " after I am raised up, I will go before
you into Galilee." Thus telling them where they would see
Him again. " Peter, Peter ! " He exclaimed, " the spirit of
evil hath asked to have thee, that thou mayest be sifted like
wheat. But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not under
the trial, and when thou hast turned again, strengthen and teach
thy brother disciples. " Peter was thus to be the chief disciple ;
but his hasty temper rushed on too fast, causing him to con
tradict Jesus.
" Why cannot I follow Thee now ? " Peter asked. " Although
all the others be displeased with Thee, Master ! yet I will not

400 WE WILL DIE FOR THEE.
be displeased. I am ready to go both to prison and to death
with Thee. I will die for Thee." Jesus answered this hot
outburst quietly. He knew that Peter had not yet been tried,
and He understood his nature.
"Thou wilt die for Me?" He asked, repeating Peter's own
words. " I tell thee, Peter, that to-day, even this very night,
before the cock croweth in the morning, thou shalt three times
deny that thou knowest Me." Resting at the cheerful supper-
table, in that brightly lighted room, Peter felt confident and
brave, and protested of his courage and faithfulness with a
loud voice, exclaiming, as he contradicted Jesus again —
" Even if I have to die with Thee, I will never say I do not
know Thee." And the other disciples, not to be behind Peter,
said the same thing, as they lay upon their comfortable couches,
with no thought of swords, soldiers, and darkness, that they
were willing to die for Jesus. He did not answer their brave,
foolish words, but went on to remind them of the time, about
two years before, when He sent them out two by two to teach ;
and He told them that they would go out again, but in a very
different way.
" When I sent you out," He said, " without purse, bag, or
shoes, did you want for anything?"
" Nothing," they replied ; and He continued —
" But now I say that whoever hath a purse or a bag, let
him take it ; and whoever hath no sword, let him sell his
cloak and buy one. For these words of Isaiah must happen
to Me —
" ' He hath poured out His soul unto death.
" ' And He was numbered with the transgressors.'
And the things about Me must have an end." Hearing Jesus
speak of swords, one of the disciples rose and made inquiry
in the house for such things ; and thinking that Jesus really
wished swords with which to defend Himself that night, he
said, holding them up —
" Master, see ! Here are two swords." Jesus looked at
them, saying as He did so —
" It is enough ! " — meaning that He did not wish them to

THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH. 4OI
get swords, for that would have been contrary to all His
teaching. But Peter the brave, took one of them and used it
afterwards, and was very severely rebuked for doing so, Jesus
Himself healing the injury which Peter did. It was not by
swords that they were either to defend themselves or to attack
others, but by truthful words and good lives.
And thou wilt learn something from this that is far above
swords and fighting, the command which Jesus gave to all
His followers. For if men would only obey it, there would
soon be no more quarrels, no more wars, no more swords ;
and the test of His followers is not, Do you go to church ? do
you pray ? do you read your Bible ? but, " Do you love each
other? "

THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH.
JERUSALEM, THURSDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
In that quiet room upstairs in Jerusalem, with the door
shut and the lamps burning brightly, Jesus had His last oppor
tunity for talking privately with His disciples. The things
which He said there, are the greatest sayings of His life, for,
in answer to their childlike questions when they could not
understand Him, He opened His heart to them, and. I shall
try to explain much of what He said. He was grieved at the
prospect of leaving the disciples, for He saw in their faces
that they were afraid to be left alone, and He spoke words of
encouragement and comfort to them —
"Let not your hearts be troubled," He said, kindly.
" You believe in God, believe also in Me. There are many
places in My Father's House of Heaven. If it were not
so, I would have told you, but I go to prepare a place for you
there, and will return and take you to Myself, that where I am,
there you may be also. You know the place, and you know
the way." He paused, and they sat thinking for a little, and
then the plain-spoken Thomas asked —
" Lord, we do not know whither Thou art going, and how
can we know the way ? " He had not understood that Jesus

402 THE WAY, THE TRUTH, THE LIFE.
was speaking of Heaven after death. But looking at him,
Jesus replied —
" Thomas, / am the Way, the Truth, and the Life ; no one
cometh to God, but by Me." For three years Jesus had taught
His disciples that to have His Spirit was the only way to have
Heaven, and gently chiding Thomas, He added, "If thou
hadst known Me rightly, thou wouldst also have known God.
Know therefore after this, that in Me thou both knowest and
hast seen God My Father." Again Jesus paused, and the
disciples wondered what He meant ; for they had already
forgotten that He had told them before, that God and He
were of one Spirit, so that they did not understand Him when
He said that in Him they had seen God. It was the youthful
Philip who spoke next, and he said earnestly —
" Lord ! show us the Father, and it will satisfy us." Jesus
did not allow this request to pass unnoticed, and He asked
Philip in a tone of surprise —
" Have I been so long with you, and yet thou dost not
know Me, Philip? " As though He had said, " I have shown
thee by My life during these past years that the Spirit of God
the Father is in Me, and yet thou askest who am I ! " and
Jesus explained once more how the Spirit of God was in Him.
" Whoever hath seen Me," he continued, " hath seen God
the Father ; and how then dost thou ask Me to show thee the
Father ? Believest thou not, that I am in God, and that God's
Spirit is in Me? " Receiving no answer, He went on. " The
words which I speak to you, I do not speak from Myself, but the
Spirit of God that dwelleth in Me doeth God's will through
Me." And He went on to plead with them as Pie had pled
before with the people in the Temple, to believe what He told
them, saying —
" Believe My words when I say that I am in God and that
God's Spirit is in Me ; or else believe My words because of
the things which you have seen Me do. Truly, he that be
lieveth on Me, the things that I do, he shall do also; and
greater things, because I am going to My Father in Heaven."
Then He gave them a promise, to encourage them when He
was gone, saving —

IF A MAN LOVE ME. 403
" Whatever you shall ask of God in My name, I will do it,
that God may be glorified in Me. If you shall ask anything
in My name, I will do it." And He gave them also another
promise, the promise of His Spirit to dwell in them, saying,
" If you love Me, you will keep My commandments, and I will
ask God, and He shall give you a Helper, other than My
presence as a Man with you, a Helper that will be with you
for ever. And the Helper of which I speak, is the Spirit of
Truth, which the world will not receive in Me, for the world
neither knoweth nor seeth Him in Me, but you know Him,
for the Helper is My Spirit, which remaineth with you and
shall be in you. I will not leave you forsaken, but will come
to you.'* His was the sweet Spirit of Truth, of which His
disciples had received, but which would come more and more
to each of them as they kept the commandments of Jesus, to
comfort and teach them from God. Speaking next of His
coming death Jesus said —
" In a little while the people will see Me no more, but you
will see Me, and because I live, you shall live also, and
then you shall understand how that I am in God, and you are
joined to Me, My Spirit being in you." And this is how the
disciples were to show whether they truly loved Jesus. "Who
ever hath My commandments," He continued, " and keepeth
them, loveth Me truly ; and he that loveth Me shall be loved
of God in Heaven, and I will love him, and will make Myself
known in Spirit to him." Having thus told them that after
He was gone His Spirit would be in every one who loved
Him, Jesus paused, and Jude, thinking Jesus meant that He
would return again, and be seen only by those in that room
and not by all men as Jude thought He would be, he asked —
" Lord, what has happened that Thou wilt make Thyself
known to us Thy disciples, and not to all the world ? " But
Jude was wrong, and Jesus at once told him that He was
speaking of His Spirit and of how any one may have Him.
" If a man loveth Me," Jesus replied, "he will obey Me, and
God will love him, and We will come and dwell in Spirit with
him. But he that loveth Me not, will not obey My words,

404 MY PEACE I GIVE UNTO YOU.
which, as I have said, are not Mine alone, but the words of
God My Father who sent Me." Having thus corrected Jude,
Jesus went on to say that His Spirit would teach them more
than He had yet told them —
"I have told you these things," He said, "while still liv
ing among you, but the Helper, that is, the Holy Spirit of
which I spoke, and which God will send to you in My name,
He shall teach you all things, and cause you to remember all
that I have said to you." Then, as though blessing them with
that sweet inward peace and strength, which they had seen
Him have all His life, He said, " Peace I leave with you ; My
peace I give to you ; but not as the world giveth, give I this peace
to you. Let not your hearts be troubled nor afraid." He
continued. " You have heard Me say, that though I go away
now, I shall come in Spirit again. If you really loved Me,
you would have rejoiced to hear Me say so, because I am
going to My Father in Heaven, who is greater than I. Now I
have told you before it happeneth, so that when it cometh, you
may all believe." He wished them, when His Spirit took fuller
possession of them, revealing all His will afresh, to remember
that He had told them on that night, alone in that room, that
it would be so. And He added sadly and regretfully, as He
thought of the sweet time they had had that night together —
" I will not speak much with you any more, for the prince
of the world, the spirit of evil, cometh, who hath nothing in
Me ; but he cometh that all men may know that I love God,
and do what He commandeth. Rise," He added, "let us go
out," for it was now getting late. But no one in the room
seemed willing to rise and put an end to what might be their
last quiet meeting together, and they remained, waiting for
Jesus to speak again.
Now much of this, my child, thou wilt not understand, but
what is simplest in it is also greatest — how to have the Spirit
of Jesus within thee, guiding thee. For He said to His dis
ciples that if they loved Him, they would try to do what He
told them, and that His Holy Spirit would be with them more
and more, teaching them all their lives what God's will is,

THE VINE AND ITS BRANCHES. 405
and helping them to obey Him. And what Jesus said to
them, He meant for thee also ; and the more thou givest up
thyself to His gentle guidance, the more wilt thou be guided.
THE VINE AND ITS BRANCHES.
JERUSALEM, THURSDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
Seeing that His disciples did not wish to go out yet, Jesus
resumed speaking to them, as they lay on their couches in the
large room upstairs in Jerusalem. I cannot tell thee all He
said, but will continue to explain parts of it ; and trust that
when thou art older thou wilt read every word often for thy
self, in the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel written by His
favourite disciple John, who was there and heard Him speak
ing. He told them a beautiful story about the vine tree, the
emblem of the Jewish nation, with its thick brown stem, from
which slender branches spread out, covered with broad green
leaves and bunches of purple fruit. He said that He was the
Tree, and the disciples His branches, who drew their life from
Him— I am like a vine, He said, and you are like the branches, for
I am the True Vine, and God is the Gardener. Every branch
that hath no fruit on it God taketh away, and every branch
that hath fruit He traineth that it may have more fruit. You
are My branches because of the words which I have spoken to
you. Continue joined to Me, and My spirit will live in you ; for
just as a branch cannot have any fruit unless it be joined to the
tree, so you cannot have good deeds unless you be joined to Me.
Whoever liveth joined to Me, and hath My Spirit in him, shall
do much good, but separated from Me, you can do nothing.
If a man be not joined to Me, he is like a dead branch of a
tree, without sap, cast off and withered, that is gathered up to
be flung into the fire and burned. But if you live joined to
Me, and My words which are My Spirit live in you, then you
may ask what you will of Me, and it shall be done. By hav
ing much fruit, you shall glorify God, and be My disciples.
Having told this beautiful story about the Vine and the sap, to
show how His disciples were to be joined to Him, Jesus re-

406 ABIDE IN ME.
turned again to His favourite subject, His love for them, and
their love for each other, saying, as He tried to make these
great things as plain and simple to them as they were to Him —
" In the same way that God loveth Me, do I love you —
continue then in My love. If you keep My commandments,
you shall be loved by Me, just as I have kept God's command
ments and am loved by him." Then He told them why He
repeated His sayings so often to them. " I have spoken these
things to you that My joy may be in you, and that you may be
full of joy." Thus telling them that His Spirit was not a sad
and sorrowing one, but a joyful Spirit. And again He re
peated His great commandment of love, saying : " This is
My commandment, Love one another, as I have loved you.
No man can love his friends more than this, that he is willing
to die for them. You are My friends if you do what I tell
you. I shall call you servants no longer, for a servant knoweth
not what his master doeth, but I have called you My ' friends,'
for I have told you all that I have heard from God." Think
ing of the time, now more than three years ago, when on the
green hill by the blue Lake of Galilee, He first chose them to
be His disciples, He said —
" You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and I appointed
you to be My disciples that your good deeds should live. I
command you," He said with energy, returning for the last
time, and with even greater force, to His great commandment,
" T command you, that you love one another. If bad men hate
you, you know that they hated Me before they hated you. If
you were like these bad people, they would love you, but be
cause you are not like them, and because I chose you out from
among them, they will hate you." And then Jesus reminded
them of how much He had been hated, saying, " If I had not
done things which no other one ever did, these men would
not have hated Me ; but now they have both seen and hated
Me and God also, and the words of King David in the 69th
Psalm are true :
" ' They that hate me without a cause, are more than the
hairs of my head.' "

THE HELPER. 407
And once more He spoke to them of what they would have
to suffer from bad men, and of His Spirit, which would help
them, saying —
" But when the Helper is come to you, whom I will send
from My Father in Heaven, even the Spirit of Truth, which
cometh from God, He shall be a witness for Me in you, and
you all shall be witnesses for Me, because you have seen Me
and been with Me in all My journeyings from the beginning
of My teaching. But the day will come that whoever killeth
you will think that he is serving God ; and they will do this
because they have not known God nor Me. I have spoken
of these things that when your hour of trial cometh you may
remember that I told you of them beforehand. I did not tell
you all these things when you first came to me, because I was
with you Myself, but now I am going to God, who sent Me,"
and with a sudden break in His line of thought, Jesus added
sorrowfully, " And not one of you asketh Me whither I am
going," then noticing the sad look which came into the faces of
His disciples, He continued gently, as He looked at them
with compassionate eyes, " Because I have spoken of these
things, sorrow hath filled your hearts ; but I tell you truly, it
is better for you that I should go away, for if I were not to go,
the Helper, the Spirit of Truth, would not come to you ; but
if I go, I will send Him."
It was now late at night, the supper was over, and the sor
rowful faces of His disciples told Jesus that the evening which
had begun so cheerfully, was ending in fear and doubt for
them, and He saw that their minds were not able to take in
all that He could yet say. His near approaching death was
also pressing heavily upon Him, but He loved them so, that
all His thoughts were for them, and He was reluctant to end
this, the most solemn, tender, and memorable, outpouring of
His heart.
" I have still many things to say to you," He said tenderly,
" you cannot bear them now ; but when the Spirit of Truth
cometh, He shall guide you into all Truth. He shall glorify Me,
for He shall take what is Mine and tell it to you, for all the

408 INTO ALL TRUTH.
things that God hath, are Mine." Repeating again the words
He had used in the beginning of the evening, He said, " In
a little while you will see Me no more ; and in a little while
you shall see Me again." And He paused, silently thinking
while His disciples, filled with awe of Him, began to whisper
to each other —
" What is this He saith to us ? 'A little while and you shall
not see Me ! ' We know not what He meaneth  "
"Why do you ask each other about My saying, 'A little
while?' " Jesus said gently, and then added, referring to His
death, " I tell you truly that you shall weep and be sorrowful,
but bad men will be glad. You shall be sorrowful, but your
sorrow will be turned into joy. Now you are sorrowful, but
I will see you again in Spirit, and your hearts will rejoice, and
no one shall take that joy away from you. In that glad day
you shall have no more questions to ask Me. But if you shall
ask anything of God He will give you it in My name. You
have asked nothing yet in My name. Ask, and you shall
receive, that your joy may be full." Before ending all His
sayings, He reminded them of the many beautiful stories with
a meaning which He had so often told them.
"These things I have told you in stories," He said, "but
the time will come when I shall no more speak to you in
stories, but will tell you plainly about My Father in Heaven.
He loveth you because you have loved Me, and because you
believe that I came from God. I came out from God into the
world, and now I shall leave the world and go again to Him''
And some of the disciples who had been trying to understand
where Jesus was going to, exclaimed with satisfaction —
" Now thou speakest plainly, and not in stories. Now there
is no need that any man should ask Thee questions, for we
understand that Thou knowest everything, and by this we
believe that Thou earnest out from God." Once more, for a
time at least, the disciples firmly believed that Jesus was from
God ; but He knew that their confident belief would fade
away as it had done before.
"Do you now believe?" He said to them gently, adding

AND THIS IS HEAVEN. 409
in tones of sorrowful warning, " But the time cometh, yes, and
hath now come ! when you, My disciples, shall be scattered,
every one returning to his own people, and shall leave Me
alone. And yet I shall not be alone, for God is ever with
Me." And looking at them tenderly, He uttered these last
words to the downcast men, words of gladness, strength, and
peace, spoken in the very face of death —
" / have told you of these things, that, trusting in Me, you
may have peace. In the world you shall have trouble, but be
glad ! for I have overcome the world."
And thou, my child, wilt try to remember the last words
of Jesus to His disciples on that memorable night, and never
lose thy peace and gladness of heart, for if thou hast His Holy
Spirit, then thou hast in thee the Spirit of Him who overcame
the world, and greater is He that is in thee than any that can
be against thee.
Far, far away, like bells at even pealing,
The voice of Jesus sounds o'er land and sea,
And little feet in thousands meekly stealing —
Kind Shepherd ! turn their little steps te Thee.

AND THIS IS HEAVEN.
JERUSALEM, THURSDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
When Jesus had finished all that He had to say, the disci
ples rose from their couches round the supper table and stood
ready to go out. He had poured out His heart to them in all its
womanly love, and although His tone had been one of gladness
and of confidence, He was sorry for them, telling them to love
Him and love each other, and trust in God, and that His
Holy Spirit would guide them when they could no more see
His face, nor hear His human voice. The solemn moment of
parting had come, and ere they left the table there was a hush
of silence, for they saw that Jesus was about to pray. He
prayed aloud, a beautiful gentle prayer, for His disciples, and
as His wonderful voice rose calm and clear in the silent room,

410 TO KNOW GOD.
they bowed their heads in reverence and listened. With
hands clasped before Him their young Master stood, His
beautiful face upraised, His brown hair falling on His white
tunic, and His clear dark eyes gazing as though He saw the
very face of the Father in Heaven to whom He spoke in such
passionate words.
" Father ! " He prayed, " the time hath come. Glorify Thy
Son that I may glorify Thee. Thou gavest Me power over
men, that I should give them Heaven." And with low earnest
voice He uttered these precious words : " And this is Heaven,
to know Thee the only true God, and Me the Christ whom
Thou didst send. I have glorified Thee on earth, and have
finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. And now,
O Father ! glorify Me with Thine own self, with the glory
which I had with Thee before the world was." And thus the
amazed disciples heard Him tell His Father in Heaven that
His work was done, and ask God to glorify Him in death.
Then speaking of His disciples, who stood around Him with
bowed heads, Jesus continued —
" My Father ! I have made known Thy Name to the men
whom Thou gavest Me out of the world. They were Thine,
and Thou gavest them to Me, and they have kept Thy words.
Now they know that all that I have is from Thee. The words
which Thou gavest Me I have given to them, and they have
received them, and know it is true that I came from Thee.
They believe that Thou didst send Me. I pray for them.
I do not pray for the world, but for the disciples whom Thou
gavest Me. They are Thine. All things that are Mine are
Thine, and all things that are theirs are Mine. I am glorified
in them. I shall live no more in the world, but these men
shall live in the world. I come to Thee.
" Holy Father ! in Thy name keep these My disciples which
Thou hast given Me, that they may be all of one spirit, as we
are of One Spirit. While I was with them, I kept them in
Thy name, and guarded them, which Thou gavest Me. Not
one of them hath gone wrong, but Judas Iscariot. But now
I come to Thee; and I say these things that My disciples

MY SPIRIT IN THEM. 4II
may have joy in themselves. I have given them Thy words.
Men hated them because they were not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. I do not ask Thee to take My
disciples out of the world. I ask that Thou shouldst keep
them from the spirit of evil. Purify them in the Truth. Thy
word is Truth. As Thou didst send Me into the world, so do
I send them. For their sakes I purify Myself, that they also
may be purified in Truth." Having thus prayed for His
disciples that they might be made ever purer by the Spirit of
Truth, Jesus widened His prayer to cover all people who should
come to love Him and love the Truth, saying —
" Not for these My disciples alone do I ask, but for all
people who shall believe in Me throughout the world, that
they may all be of one spirit. As Thy Spirit is in Me, and I
am united to Thee, so may they be united in Spirit to Us,
that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me." Then
Jesus again prayed to God that all people who believed on
Him might become one in spirit with Him, saying, " The glory
which Thou gavest Me, I have given to My disciples, that they
may be one in spirit with Me, just as We are One Spirit. My
Spirit being in them, and Thy Spirit in Me, that so they may
be made perfect in one spirit, that the world may know that
Thou didst send Me, and lovest them as Thou lovest Me."
And in this beautiful ending of His prayer, He asked that
His disciples should have Heaven, in these words —
" My Father ! I wish that those whom Thou hast given Me,
may be with Me where I am ; that they may see the glory,
which Thou hast given Me, for Thou didst love Me before the
world was. O Righteous Father ! the world knew Thee not,
but I knew Thee, and these My disciples know that Thou
didst send Me. I have made known Thy Name to them, and
will make it known, that the love with which Thou lovest Me
may be in them, and My Spirit also."
And with these pleading words, that the Spirit of God
should be as strong and deep in His disciples, as it was in
Him, the voice of Jesus ceased. The last prayer was spoken ;
all was now over. But before going out from a Passover supper

412 THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE.
the usual fourth cup of red wine and water was poured out
and handed round to be drunk, a short psalm was sung, and
blessing said, and then, taking again their cloaks, sandals, and
long sticks, the door was opened, and they all went down
the outer stair into the moonlit street of Jerusalem. Jesus
calm and confident, the disciples fearful of something myste
rious hanging over them, which filled the dark shadows with
shifting forms, and the air with strange sounds. And did not
a cloaked figure retreat into the darkness, as the door opened
and in a flood of light the white form of Jesus stepped forth
into the night — the lurking figure of Judas Iscariot?
There are many things in this beautiful prayer of Jesus
which thou, my child, wilt not understand, but thou canst
easily remember to call God thy Father in Heaven when thou
prayest, as Jesus did, and to ask that all men may be of one
spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, which is the Spirit of God. Then
indeed would He be King over all, reigning in the hearts of
men in His Kingdom of Heaven in the world.

THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE.
JERUSALEM, THURSDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
It would be about eleven o'clock at night when Jesus and
His disciples left their friend's house in Jerusalem. As they
turned to go back through the streets by which they had come
into the city from Bethany, they were met by crowds of
people coming joyfully in, for the Passover night was a night
of great rejoicing. The houses were lit up with festive
lamps, the streets thronged with sightseers, and at midnight
the Temple gates were opened wide, that the people might go
up in their best dresses, with gifts in their hands for the priests,
and continue their joyful feast in the great Women's court,
which was made almost as bright as day by the dazzling light of
the full moon. It was a night when few people went to bed.
But Jesus preferred to go away into the quiet country. Pass
ing out by the city gate and across the Kedron bridge, He

GOING INTO THE GARDEN. 413
saw the wild water flashing in the moonlight, deep down
below. On the other side of the valley, at the foot of the
hill, there was a sheltered spot, laid out in flower gardens and
olive groves, a favourite place for the people of Jerusalem to
walk in the cool evenings ; and there was a lonely garden
there called Gethsemane, the garden of the " Oil Press," into
which Jesus often went with His disciples. It was large and
noted for its low- spreading, silver-leaved olive trees, that
blossomed white in early Spring, and whose dark green fruit,
when ripe, was gathered and pressed for oil ; and it belonged
to a friend of Jesus who allowed Him to come and walk
among the flowers and grass under the green trees, whenever
He liked.
And as they walked this night along the road from the bridge
to Olivet, Jesus, who was in front, turned aside from the people
and went through the gate into this Garden of Gethsemane, and
His disciples followed Him into the shade of the olive trees,
through which the moonlight fell in broken patches on the
flowers and grass. And all was still and hushed around them,
as they walked into the deeper solitude. But there was one
who saw them go in, and he turned and ran back to the city
with the news — Judas Iscariot. Following the winding path
way into the depths of the garden, they came to a grassy place,
and Jesus turned round and faced His disciples, and they saw
that He was sad and troubled, as He said to them —
" Sit you here, while I go yonder and pray," pointing to a
place a good way further into the garden ; and taking Peter,
James, and John with Him, He walked away. And as they
went, they saw His face in the moonlight that a great change
had come over Him, for He began to be amazed and deeply
troubled. At the supper He had been cheerful and calm,
on the road He had gone in front of them, but now He seemed
in greater trouble than they had ever seen Him before ;
oppressed with the deepest pain and sadness, and stopping,
He said, in a voice of emotion —
" My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even to death. Wait for
Me here, and watch." And His face was pale as He turned

414 PRAYING AND SLEEPING.
from the three men, and walked with bowed head deeper into
the garden, about as far as one might throw a stone. Wrap
ping their thick cloaks about them, they lay down on the grass
to watch Jesus, and to keep guard of any one coming. In
the glimpses of the moon breaking through the olive trees they
saw Him moving on. He stood still. He fell upon His face.
And they heard Him praying to His Father in Heaven, as
though in the greatest agony of soul, and saying —
" Father ! if it be possible, let this pass away from Me.
But not My will, but Thine be done." Something was caus
ing Him the most exquisite torture of mind. What it was,
the disciples did not know, and we cannot tell. He re
mained a long time upon His face in prayer, while the silver
leaves whispered round Him, and when He rose and returned
to the three men, He found that their eyes had grown weary
with watching, and they were all asleep.
"What! Peter! dost thou sleep?" Jesus said in surprise.
" Couldst thou not watch with Me for one hour? " Peter, who
had promised so much, already asleep at his watch ! Then
more gently Jesus said to them all, " Your minds are will
ing, but your bodies are weak. Watch and pray, that you
may not be tempted." And the three men were deeply
grieved to see the sorrow of their young Master, as He turned
and walked back into the shadowy depths of the garden, where
He again fell upon His face, and they heard Him again
praying to His Father in Heaven, and saying —
" O My Father ! if this cannot pass away from Me unless I
do it, then, Thy will be done." I cannot tell thee what led
Jesus back into these dark shades thus in agony to pray and
implore ; but it was with pain unspeakable that He besought
God a second time regarding this awful thing. Again He
remained a long time in prayer, prostrate on the sweet Spring
grass, for when He returned to His three disciples, they were
again asleep, and awoke with a start to find Him standing
beside them, pale and sad, looking down at them, but saying
nothing. They did not know what to say. They were filled
with shame and grief that they should enjoy refreshing sleep

JUDAS AND THE SOLDIERS. 415
while Jesus was suffering such agony. Without saying a word,
He turned and went back into the dark depths of the garden
for the third time, to pray the same beseeching prayer —
" 0 My Father ! if this cannot pass away from Me except
I do it, then, Thy will be done." A short, brief, intense cry
to God, uttered with even greater agony and earnestness than
before, for as Jesus continued praying the sweat of His brow
ran down in drops of red blood, dropping upon His white
tunic, dropping upon the quivering grass. He grew weak
with anguish, and through the black olive branches there
appeared the figure of an angel from Heaven, with moon
light on his wings, that stood beside Him strengthening
Him. When Jesus at length rose to His feet He was strong
again. The trial was over. He had defeated all the terrors
that had assailed Him. Calm and confident now, He re
turned once more to His three disciples, to find them again
asleep for sorrow, and looking at them in pity as they lay
unconscious at His feet, He said —
"Sleep on now, and take your rest," then added quickly, as
He saw the light of a torch flashing through the trees, " See !
I am betrayed into the hands of wicked men. Rise ! let us
go, the betrayer is near." They were surprised — caught !
Springing to their feet, the bewildered disciples looked at
Jesus, but no longer to see in His face the signs of trouble
and almost terror. He was calm now, and His clear dark
eyes had again that light in them with which He used to meet
His enemies in the Temple — but those blood red spots on
His white tunic ! What were they? And what these voices,
and moving lights out upon the road ? And they all hastened
forward through the garden to rouse the other disciples.
My child, we know not with what awful thing Jesus was
tried in that garden, but it was for us He bore the bitter
agony. Perhaps the spirit of evil tempted Him with terrible
energy, not to let Himself be taken a prisoner, not to die at
thirty-three, but to finish His work some other way — by fleeing
from death. But Jesus ever left His will with God, and in
the end He had strength given Him which never wavered

41 6 HE IS TAKEN A PRISONER.
through all that dreadful night, and which raised Him far
above His judges, their insults, their scourging — above death
itself.

HE IS TAKEN A PRISONER.
JERUSALEM, THURSDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
While Jesus was praying in the moonlit olive garden,
Judas was at the Golden Temple. He told the priests in
breathless haste that now was their time to take Him, and he
found everything ready. The priests had been to Pilate, the
Roman governor, who had agreed to let a guard of Roman
soldiers go with them to keep order. Their own Temple guards
were ready, and when Judas came running, hot and excited,
with the news that Jesus was in a large hedged-in garden only
a little way from the city gate, and that he would take the
soldiers to the very place; believing that they might never
have such a chance again — in a lonely garden and at midnight
— the priests decided to have Jesus taken a prisoner at once.
They sent for the Roman soldiers, they sent for the Temple
guards, with orders to bring lanterns to see Him, and cords
to bind Him, and clubs, — for the guards might not carry
swords. When all was ready, they marched quickly down the
streets from the Temple, some of the priests going with them
to see Jesus taken. On the way, a number of people, attracted
by the sight of armed men at night, followed after them, and
Judas went in front, to lead the way. It was about midnight
when the priests and soldiers came outside the garden of
Gethsemane, and they stopped in the road, while lanterns
were lit and hung upon poles — although it was full moonlight
— and torches were beaten and shaken into a flame, so that
every shadow and recess under the trees might be carefully
searched. Judas arranged that he should go first into the
garden, as though he were still a friend, and speak to the
disciples, and that the guards should follow him and keep him
in sight, and when they saw him kiss some one, they were to
rush forward at once and secure Him, for that one would be

WHOM SEEK YE? 417
Jesus. Perhaps in his secret thoughts Judas hoped that by
this scheme, his old friends the disciples might never know
that he had had anything to do with the capture of their young
Master. He accordingly went in first, and he had not gone far until
he saw the little group of Jesus and His disciples standing to
gether in the moonlight, and he went towards them as though
he had finished what he had been sent out from the supper-
room to do, and was joining them again. But before he
could reach them, the band of priests, soldiers, guards, people
with smoking torches and lamps above their heads, turned
also into the gate, and came crowding through the garden,
lighting up with lurid glare the black tree stems and the
silvery leaves. Judas, hearing them coming behind him,
hastened on, and ^s soon as he reached the little group,
he went hurriedly up to Jesus, and with a beating heart
exclaimed —
"Hail, Master !" greeting Jesus as they all used to do, and
pressing forward his dusky face, he would have kissed Him
again and again with great effusiveness. But Jesus stepped
back. " Judas ! " He exclaimed, " wouldest thou betray Me with
a kiss?" The thing was too horrible. To use this old sign
of trust, the sign of greatest love, a kiss ! as the signal to His
enemies to set on Him! "Frie»d," Jesus added, as Judas
stood, not knowing what to do now, for the guards were near,
"do that for which thou art come out." By this time the
soldiers and. others, hurrying forward, were close behind Judas,
standing in a mixed crowd of priests, guards, idlers, with their
lights smoking uselessly in the moonlit air ; they also were
in doubt, for they had not seen the signal — Judas had kissed
no one.
"Whom do you seek?" said Jesus, turning to them and
standing in front of His disciples, and several voices answered
from the crowd —
"Jesus of Nazareth !"
" I am He," was His clear reply, which caused the foremost

41 8 LET THESE MEN GO.
of them to stagger backward and fall, for there was no fear in
that face and voice, but rather commanding boldness. They
were afraid to touch Him of whom they had heard such
wonderful things, and kept back, while the Roman soldiers
looked on, for they were there to keep order only, not to
arrest Jesus. The people looked to each other, and in the
confusion —
"Whom do you seek? " Jesus asked again, for He wished
to make sure that His disciples would not be taken.
"Jesus of Nazareth," was again the answer.
"I have told you that I am He," Jesus answered again;
adding, in a tone of command, " If you seek Me let these men
go," pointing to His disciples as He spoke.
His words gave courage to the guards, for evidently there
was to be no resistance, and coming nearer, they were going
to take hold of Jesus, but when the disciples saw what was
about to be done, some of them exclaimed —
"Master ! shall we strike with the sword?" and Peter and
another man held up their two paltry swords. Jesus did not
answer, for the guards were upon Him, but Peter did not wait
for orders, his temper was up, and from behind Jesus he
aimed a hard blow at the head of the first man who attempted
to touch his young Master, a blow so sudden that it cut off
the man's ear. Then a tumult of cries arose, the Roman
soldiers who stood by with the lights reflected on their
shining armour grasped their short swords, and there would
have been fighting and bloodshed, for Peter was ready for
another stroke, had not Jesus called to him in a voice of
command —
" Peter, put up thy sword into its sheath." With a scowling
face Peter did so ; and Jesus continued, " All who take the
sword, shall perish with the sword." And, to put an end to
all thoughts of fighting, He said to His disciples as they
saw Him being roughly held by the men round Him,
"Thinkest thou that I cannot ask My Father in Heaven,
and He shall even now give Me more than twelve legions of
angels?" Then, turning to the wounded man, who was one

WITH SWORDS AND CLUBS. 4I9
of the high priest's servants, called Malchus, He gently
touched his ear and made it whole again. And as the guards
held Jesus firmly and tied His hands with rough cords, He
saw among the dusky faces about Him, some of the chief
priests and captains of the Temple, and also elders — the men
whom two days before He had called vipers and hypocrites
in the Temple itself. Looking round upon the brass helmets
and shields, the iron pikes and swords of the silent Roman
soldiers, who stood by in the moonlight, and on the clubs of
their own Temple guards, Jesus said with stinging irony —
" Have you come out against a robber with swords and
clubs to take Me? I sat every day teaching in the Temple,
and you did not put out your hands against Me. But this is
the hour of your triumph, and of the power of darkness."
Now when the disciples heard Jesus say that there was to be
no resistance, and that His enemies had triumphed, they grew
afraid, and getting out of the crowd as quickly as they could,
they all forsook Him and fled, some hiding in dark parts of
the garden, some running out to the roads and the hills as if
for their lives, while some fled to Bethany to tell them there,
that Jesus had been taken a prisoner by the priests.
A Captive ! with His hands tied, and guarded by soldiers,
as though He had been secured after a desperate struggle,
Jesus was led away ; and soon the lights and the clamour of
tongues passed out of the moonlit garden, leaving it silent and
deserted, save for the voice of the sad night wind, and the
whispering of the leaves together, and for the crouching,
trembling figures of a few hiding disciples. Out into the
road He was taken, deserted by all His friends, and yet there
was one who followed — a young man, supposed to have been
called Mark. Roused from his sleep by the noise, and hastily
casting on a thin white robe, he had come out to see what it
all meant, and hearing that his friend Jesus had been taken a
prisoner, he followed in the crowd. But it became known
that Mark was a friend, and hands were laid on him to take
him a prisoner also, but loosening his white robe he left it in
their hands as he fled away and disappeared in the dark.

420 BEFORE THE COCK CROWS.
Peter and John also, coming out of their hiding-places in the
garden, followed the guards into the city a long way behind,
to hear where Jesus was taken to.
And thou, my child, wilt remember, that it is not by swords
and by fighting that any good thing is to be done for Jesus.
His power is far above swords, and it is nobler to bear violence,
than to meet blow with blow.

BEFORE THE COCK CROWS.
JERUSALEM, FRIDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
The streets of Jerusalem were comparatively quiet, when
the guards brought Jesus a prisoner into the city, for many of
the people were at the midnight services in the Temple or in
their own houses. They did not take Him to the Temple,
for that would have been to tempt a riot, but they took Him
across the great high bridge over the Tyropcean Valley which
ran through the city, and to the palace of Annas in the upper
town on the side of Mount Zion, behind the Temple. Now
Annas was a great man, chief of the most powerful of the Sad
ducee families. He was seventy years of age, and had at one
time been high-priest for over seven years, and he had five
sons who had each been high-priest in turn after him. He
was also father-in-law to Caiaphas, the present high-priest,
who was completely under his influence. Rich and greedy, he
hated Jesus for the way He had spoken of the priests, and the
traders in the Temple from whom he made money, and when
Jesus was brought in by the guards to stand before him with
His hands tied, the eyes of Annas glittered with wicked satis
faction, as he looked at His pale face and blood-spotted tunic.
As soon as the armed guards had left the Temple to take
Jesus a prisoner, the chief priests arranged that whenever Jesus
came into the city, their council should meet at the palace of
the high-priest, and have Him at once brought before them for
examination. And now while the guards kept Him safely a
captive at his palace, the old man Annas sent messages to the
Temple and to Caiaphas and the other councillors, to tell

AT ANNAS S HOUSE. 42 I
them that Jesus, their enemy, had been taken, and to come
immediately to the high-priest's palace on Mount Zion.
They were to meet there to try Jesus, chief Priests, Lawyers,
Elders — serpents ! vipers ! hypocrites ! — to be at once His
accusers and His judges, for they had power to find Him
guilty of breaking their religious laws, and deserving of death,
and then they thought they could get the Roman governor to
put Him to death. They would try Jesus at once before their
small council, although it was in the night time, and at day
break they would get the large Council to confirm their sen
tence, hurry Him before the Roman governor, and have Him
put to death before His friends could be able to raise the
people in His favour. But to do this, they would have to set
aside the rules of their Council for all such trials and the laws
of their country, among which were the following : That every
prisoner must have some one to speak for him ; that the
prisoner was innocent until witnesses proved him guilty ; that
no trial could go on in the night ; that the sentence could
not be given till the day after the trial; that an execution
could not take place till the day after the sentence ; that there
must be some one to accuse the prisoner ; that it needed two
witnesses to prove a thing, and that an enemy could not sit
in the council to judge him ; and all the rules were to be
observed with extra care in cases of life and death. But the
chief Priests resolved that the trial of Jesus must go on at
once, night or no night, and having broken this important
rule, they found no difficulty in setting the other rules aside,
as they came up, until the whole trial of Jesus became such
a mockery, that very soon after it began He refused to speak
again, letting them do as they pleased.
Having sent for the councillors, Annas ordered the guards
to take Jesus, bound, to the high-priest's palace, which was
higher up the hill among the gardens and palaces on Mount
Zion. Out of the lighted courtyard of Annas's house the
guards conducted Him into the main street, and marched up
the hill till they came to the gate of the gardens round Caia-
phas's palace. Going through the beautiful gardens, they

42 2 AT CAIAPHAS S PALACE.
came to the gate of the outer court of the palace, through
which they passed. Crossing this court they went through a
low, strong stone archway, which was the entrance to the
inner court, that was planted with shady trees and sweet
flowers, round which the palace with its pavements, terraces,
arches, and pillars of marble, was built. The people who
followed the guards crowded into this open inner court to see
what would be done with Jesus, but the guards took Him up
some broad marble steps to a terrace above, there to wait
until the councillors were ready inside the palace.
Peter and John had followed Jesus into the city, and also
from Annas's house to Caiaphas's palace, and John, who knew
the doorkeeper at the stone archway, got into the inner court
yard with the crowd ; but Peter was stopped at the inner gate,
because he was not known. When John missed Peter, he
went to the young girl who kept the gate, and got Peter in as
his friend, and they went over to a large fire of glowing char
coal that the guards had lighted in an iron brazier in the
palace yard to warm themselves, for the night was cold.
While they stood there, the girl who kept the gate, coming
over to the fire, noticed that Peter was a stranger, and going
up to him, looked closely at his face, lit up by the red glare
of the fire, and said to the guards who were near —
" This man was also with Jesus of Nazareth," for she recog
nised Peter. Her careless remark, which may have meant
little, frightened him.
"Woman ! I do not know Him," Peter exclaimed hastily;
"nor do I understand thee," he added, telling a double lie.
The girl turned away, but Peter felt very uncomfortable stand
ing there among the guards. And leaving the fire, he went
over to the dark stone archway at the entrance gate, to stand
where he would not be so much noticed. But the servants of
the high-priest were there, talking about Jesus, and of how all
His disciples had fled and escaped, and that some of them
might be lurking about to see what was done, and the same
girl, seeing Peter again, and not believing what he had said at
the fire, said to her friends, as she pointed to him —

WITH OATHS AND CURSES. 423
"This is one of them." But Peter denied it, exclaiming
with an oath, as was the fashion among the common people
of the time, that he was not ; and so he escaped again.
From the gateway he went away uneasily to another part
of the court, from which he could see Jesus standing with
His guards on the terrace above, and he waited there a good
time. While he stood watching what was being done, the
girl told some of the men about her, and they began to think
that Peter had no right there at all, and some of those who
had heard him speak at the fire came over to him again.
" Indeed thou art one of them, for thy way of speaking
showeth thee to be from Galilee," said one of the men.
"Did I not see thee in the garden with Him? " exclaimed
another, going close up to him, a relation of the very servant
whose ear Peter had cut off in Gethsemane.
"Man," exclaimed Peter in fear, "I do not know what
thou sayest ! I do not know this man Jesus of whom you
speak." And with oaths and curses he swore that what he
said was true. With doubtful looks the men went away, leav
ing Peter standing alone ; and in the silence which followed
his loud curses, he heard for the first time, far away outside
the palace walls, sounding weirdly in the night wind, the dis
tant crowing of a cock. At once he looked to Jesus, and at
that instant Jesus also looked, — perhaps He, too, had heard
the oaths and the cock-crow, their eyes met for an instant,
and Peter turned suddenly away. The sight of that calm
pale face brought back with a rush what Jesus had said in
the supper-room — That Peter would three times deny that
he knew Him ; and overcome with shame and sorrow, Peter
hurried out of the lighted courtyard, out into the dark street,
and wept bitterly, as he thought again and again of what he
had done.
My child, it is not likely that thou wilt ever have to risk
thy life or liberty by acknowledging that thou art a follower of
Jesus, but often thou wilt have to choose whether thou wilt
deny Him and have a little more money, a little more praise,
a little more pleasure, or idleness, or power, or by acknowledg-

424

A MOCK TRIAL.

ing Him lose some of these ; and I trust thou wilt not hesitate
which to do.
" Jesus bids us shine, with a pure, clear light,
Like a little candle burning in the night;
In the world there's darkness, so we must shine, —
You in your small corner, I in mine."

A MOCK TRIAL.
JERUSALEM, FRIDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
It took some time to get the council of priests gathered to
gether in the middle of the night. Some were in bed asleep,
and others were at the midnight Temple services ; but while
they were gathering, Caiaphas sent for other men from different
parts of the city ; men who had before said things against Jesus ;
that they might come and be witnesses at the trial which was
to go on at once. The members of the council came in by
the arched gateway, and hurrying up the broad steps, went
into the palace, which was now lighted up, but the witnesses
waited in the palace yard below, where there were a good
number of people and guards.
It was past midnight. At length Caiaphas thought that a
sufficient number of Priests and Lawyers had arrived to go on
with the trial, and going into the lighted council hall, they all
took their places. Jesus was sent for. The guards led Him
up the broad marble steps, through the splendid palace, and
into the council hall. With His hands still tied with cords,
although He had made no attempt to escape, and with an
officer standing beside Him, He was placed before His judges.
There, in a half circle, the old men sat cross-legged upon their
red cushions, with Caiaphas in the middle, and Annas beside
him, and his brothers, John and Alexander, scowling under
their priests' hats — the men whom He had called vipers and
hypocrites, — His judges !
Pale, tired, fearless, Jesus stood silently facing them, His
tall strong figure clad in a countryman's simple white tunic,
alas ! now blood-spotted and soiled with the hands of His

THE FIRST BLOW. 425
captors, His hands still tied tightly in front of Him. As He
looked round at the show of formality with which His judges
were arranged, He thought He was to be lawfully and pro
perly tried, and was ready to answer any charge that might be
brought against Him, but He must first hear of what He was
accused. There, in fine white robes, as His principal judge,
sat Caiaphas, who, about three months before, had advised the
council that Jesus should be killed for the public safety,
and round him, as junior judges, sat the men who had then
agreed that He must die.
The trial began. Caiaphas, as president of the council,
first asked Jesus what had become of His disciples, their
names, and all about them ; and Jesus answered these
questions. Caiaphas perhaps expected the disciples would
have been taken prisoners with Him. He then asked Jesus
to tell the council what He had secretly taught the people,
and what was the object of His teaching. He believed He
had been secretly telling the people that He was the Christ,
and stirring them up to support Him. But, before any of
these questions were put, Jesus should have been told of what
He was accused, and He now saw that this haughty priest
Caiaphas was artfully trying to get Him to say things on
which to found a charge against Him, of secretly setting
the people against the Roman power; and He answered
him calmly, by asking for His accusers, saying —
"I have spoken openly to all men, in the Temple and
in the churches, where the people meet. I have said nothing
in secret. Why, then, dost thou ask Me what I have taught ?
Rather ask the people who have heard Me, to tell what I have
said to them. They know all that I have said." The reply
that Jesus got was a heavy blow from the hand of His guard,
who exclaimed —
"Dost Thou answer the high-priest so?" And Caiaphas
saw the blow given, but said nothing. It was usual for
prisoners to cringe and whine before him, and he was not
sorry to see Jesus struck in this outrageous manner for
speaking like his equal. This blow, passing unrebuked, told

426 MANY WITNESSES.
Jesus only too plainly that the whole proceedings were a
mockery, — that He was there to be punished, not to be
tried. And it was the first of many blows that He would
receive that night.
" If I have ever spoken wickedly to the people," Jesus
said, turning to the officer who struck Him, " come forward
as a witness and give evidence against Me. But if I have
not done so, why didst thou strike Me?" No one replied to
this appeal, but the officer did not forget the rebuke of Jesus
when afterwards he had Him in his power.
Caiaphas now ordered evidence to be brought, since Jesus
would not confess to any fault, and called for the witnesses
to come in who had before spoken against Him. True or
false, they must come and speak. Men were accordingly
brought in, one by one, and questioned as to what they had
to say. The first man who came said a trifling thing and
went out. The next man who came would not say the same
thing as the first, but said some other trifling thing, and
went out ; the third man said something quite different from
the other two, and would not support what they had said
— and so the trial went on. But no two men could be got
to accuse Jesus of the same thing, and the council became
very uneasy, and some of the judges rose and went quietly
out, to look for more and better witnesses and to prepare
them beforehand. Going into the palace yard below, they
sought for men to speak against Him, and though many
false witnesses came and spoke, yet even the council saw
that the men had said nothing against Jesus which deserved
the death sentence. At last two men came forward who
remembered the words that He had used in the Temple
three years before, and they said this —
"We heard Him say that He was able to destroy the
Temple, and to build it in three days, or that He would
destroy the Temple that was made with hands, and build a
temple without hands in three days, or words like these;''
but even about this thing the two witnesses did not quite
agree. The night was passing, and Caiaphas got impatient

ART THOU THE CHRIST? 427
and angry with the stupid men. He was angry that Jesus
had not asked the witnesses any questions, and even when
these two men so nearly agreed in what they said, He
seemed as though He would take no notice of them also.
Ordering the men to remain, Caiaphas demanded of Jesus —
"Answerest Thou nothing? What hast Thou to reply
to what these men say against Thee?" Jesus knew that
it was useless to speak about accusations, defences, rules
of court, false evidence, or justice, at a mock trial in the
middle of the night, and before His bitterest enemies, itself
an outrage of all law ; and He remained silent.
Caiaphas trembled with anger. Not answer him ! the
high-priest of Jerusalem ! It was an insult ! What was to
be done? Should they find Jesus guilty of these confused
sayings about the Temple? The councillors whispered to
each other with heads together, and the people looked on, for
evidently the trial had come to a standstill. Caiaphas and
Annas whispered together. They wished to have it proved
that Jesus had told the people that He was the promised
Christ, and that the people expected Him to free them from
their Roman conquerors. Why would these stupid witnesses
not say what was wanted ? Caiaphas knew that Jesus had said
He was the Christ, the Son of God, which by their law was
blasphemy to say ; and he could bear this delay no longer.
Sweeping aside the few paltry rules of prudence which they
had been pretending to observe, he sprang to his feet iij, a
passion, and exclaimed loudly to Jesus —
" I adjure Thee by the living God to tell us whether Thou
art the Christ the Son of God? " There stood the eager high-
priest, trembling with anger through every fold of his rich
white robe ; there stood Jesus, the Carpenter's Son, strong,
bound, meeting his stare calmly ; and there sat the council on
their cushions, while dusky faces crowded at the door, watch
ing the two as they faced each other.
" I am," said Jesus, calmly. " And you shall see Me sitting
at the right hand of God, and coming with the clouds of
Heaven." Seizing his linen robes suddenly with both hands

428 STRUCK BY SOLDIERS.
on his breast, Caiaphas rent them in twain to his innermost
garment, exclaiming with ill-concealed joy as he did so —
" He hath spoken blasphemy ! making Himself equal with
God. We need no more witnesses ! " And he sank down
upon his rich soft cushion as though deeply shocked. It was
now his place, as president, to take the vote of the council as
to the guilt of the prisoner.
"You have heard the blasphemy?" he said, looking to
right and left of him. "What do you think? Doth He
deserve death?" And with great gravity all the council
answered that Jesus deserved to die for speaking blasphemy —
for saying He was the Son of God. Orders were then given
that He should be taken away and kept safely, to be brought
again before a meeting of the whole council at daybreak, to
have the sentence of death confirmed. And as the councillors
left the adjourned meeting, they thought that Caiaphas had
managed the trial splendidly, for when the accusation had
broken down, by one master-stroke he had forced from the
lips of the Prisoner an admission that put the matter beyond
a doubt. And as Caiaphas went away to get a few hours',
sleep on his silken couch before daybreak, he felt very proud
and satisfied with the part he had taken that night.
And what thinkest thou, my child, of the officer who struck
Jesus, bound and in the power of His enemies ? How mean !
how cruel ! how cowardly ! Beware, then, of the bad spirit
that would inflict humiliation, annoyance, or pain, upon any
one who may be placed in thy power ; but rather be the
soother of the sorrowing heart, whether of the innocent or of
the guilty, and withhold not from them thy sympathy and
kindness.

STRUCK BY SOLDIERS.
JERUSALEM, FRIDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
Condemned ! Jesus was led away from the lighted council
hall in charge of the officer who first struck Him, out through
the thronged doorway, and down the broad crowded steps to

IN THE GUARD ROOM. 429
the palace-yard below. And as He passed through the guards
on the stairs they struck at Him, as they had seen their officer
do in the hall, and which had seemed to please Caiaphas.
Now, a man condemned to die was always an object for cruel
sport to these Temple guards, and seeing the officers striking
Jesus, the men struck Him too, as He was led in cruel pro
cession across the palace-yard to the guard-room. But He
said not a word, not even shielding Himself from their
blows. The search for false witnesses had not passed unobserved
by the people, and they soon guessed that their masters
would not be sorry to see Jesus degraded and ridiculed.
There were still some hours before daybreak, when the
council was to meet again ; and, regardless of His pale,
tired face, the Temple guards and servants of the high-
priest, imitating their masters, began, amid shouts of hideous
laughter, to make Jesus the Christ! the Son of God! the
butt of their coarse wits. But still He remained silent,
answering not a word ; and as with Caiaphas, so with the
guards — His silence made them the more angry. They
hated to see His mind so calm and untouched by all their
rude insults and impudent jeers ; and first with words, then
with blows, they tried to force Him to speak, His silence being
their point of attack. They would make Jesus speak.
"Prophesy who struck Thee," said one coming behind
Him and smiting Him upon the back, while the others laughed
at the brutal wit. Others followed in the same way with differ
ent questions. But still He remained silent. Growing tired of
this, and to show their contempt for such silence, some one
stepped up to Him and spat in His face — the greatest insult
that a Jew could give ; and others came and did the same,
while their companions laughed at the patience with which
Jesus bore it. The shouts of laughter in the lighted guard
room attracted the attention of those who were out in the
palace-yard, and soon the room and doorway were crowded
with lookers on.
At length a kind of game was got up, with Jesus as the

43O BLOWS, JEERS, LAUGHTER.
victim. He had been called a Prophet by His friends the
Galileans. The guards whispered together. They would
try Him. Binding a napkin over His eyes, so that He could
not see, they pushed Jesus out into the middle of the
floor, where He stood, with His hands still bound with
cords. " Prophesy, thou Christ ! who struck Thee," said one,
stepping up to Him as he spoke, and giving Him a sudden
buffet on the face which made the strong young Countryman
stagger. But Jesus answered not a word. And others came
up, and still He stood, pale, silent,' blindfolded, bound, while
they struck Him surprising cuffs and sudden blows, to the
amusement ofthe rest. And though there were many hands
to strike, there was not one voice to say that there had been
enough of this shocking cruelty. Surely the officer whom
Jesus rebuked in court had had his revenge !
At length a grey streak appeared in the Eastern sky beyond
Olivet, and the torches in the palace-yard and the lamps
in the guard-room grew yellow, feeble, smoky, as the merciful
angel of the dawn, with fingers dipped in rose, drew aside the
curtain of that dreadful night, revealing a pure blue heaven
beyond the world. The messengers of Caiaphas had been sent
to all the members of the great council of Priests and Rulers,
pressing them to attend an important meeting at daybreak.
Some time before the dawn, they were gathered in the council
hall ; and Caiaphas, rising from his couch of silk and carefully
dressing himself, went in and took his seat again upon his
crimson cushion, in the midst of the full council. Close
beside him sat the old serpent Annas.
In a few words Caiaphas explained to the large council
what had taken place at their midnight gathering, and that they
were summoned in haste to condemn Jesus to death, as had
been arranged at previous meetings ; and it was resolved to have
Him brought in to repeat what He had said before. They
all looked to the door, and soon they saw Jesus led into the
beautiful hall of marble and gilding — wearied, with hair dis
ordered, clothes soiled, face unwashed. He came forward and

CONDEMNED AGAIN. 43 1
stood calmly facing the council, among whom He recognised
more of the vipers ! serpents ! hypocrites ! of the Temple.
"Art Thou the Christ? tell us," said Caiaphas once more.
Jesus, who had been silent for hours, spoke again.
"If I tell you, you will not believe Me," He answered
wearily, for He knew it was all a mockery. " And if I were
to ask you anything, you would not answer Me," He added
sadly. " But after this, I shall be seated at the right hand of
the power of God." And He stopped. The council of not
less than twenty-three councillors whispered together. The
answer was not satisfactory. It was not what they wanted.
Another question must be put.
"Art Thou, then, the Son of God?" Caiaphas demanded
again, and all were silent as they leant forward to catch the
answer. " Thou sayest it, because I am," Jesus replied. Then all the
judges pretended to be very much shocked, and were very well
pleased, as they sat back and said to each other —
" We do not need witnesses, for we have heard it ourselves
from His own mouth." And, with the early sunlight stream
ing in upon their white hairs, the great council agreed to con
firm what Caiaphas and the smaller meeting had done in the
night time. Condemned to death again ! Jesus was ordered
away while they consulted what they should do next, for it
was now about six o'clock in the morning. And they resolved
that Jesus should be taken at once to the Roman governor,
and that some of the council should go and tell Pilate of what
they had found Him guilty, and accuse Him of other things,
and demand that Pilate should order Him to be killed, which
he alone could do. And the great council separated, some
to mingle with the crowd and stir them up with cries before
Pilate's palace.
And thou, my child, wilt learn to avoid all cruel and
thoughtless amusements. To these soldiers, their jeers and
bufferings were coarse fun ; but to Jesus they were exquisite
pain and sorrow. Guard thou thy lips, that no foolish
jeers or loose ribaldry shall ever escape thee. Thou

432

THE DEATH OF JUDAS.

knowest not upon what pure ear or tender heart thy words
may fall. " A foolish act, or an idle word,
Too lightly done, or too deeply heard;
A harsh reproof, or a look unkind,
May spoil the peace of a gentle mind."
THE DEATH OF JUDAS.
JERUSALEM, FRIDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
After Jesus was taken a prisoner in the garden, Judas was
pushed aside by the priests, for he was of no more use to
them. No longer praised and talked to, not even noticed,
he followed, as one of the crowd into Jerusalem, to see
where they would take Jesus to. From the house of Annas,
he went to Caiaphas's palace, and there he saw Peter and
John, and kept out of their way ; and when he heard that
Jesus was to be tried in the night-time, and that witnesses
had been sent for, he was surprised and felt uneasy. While
the trial was going on, he waited in the palace-yard below
to hear the result, and as he stood there, he heard himself
called the false disciple who had betrayed his Master, and
began to feel uncomfortable and wish that he had not done
it. He saw Jesus, with His hands tied, led up the broad
steps, between two guards ; and when some councillors came
out asking eagerly for witnesses, he would not go as one. He
next heard that no more witnesses were needed, and there
was a long pause. He then saw the white figure of Jesus
coming down the broad steps again, and what ! the guards
were striking Him ! and the word " Death ! " seemed to hiss
through the air. A cold sweat broke out on his brow, as he
heard some one distinctly say that Jesus had been condemned
to death. He watched them take Jesus across the palace-
yard to the guard-room, and peering in at the ruddy door,
saw his young Master, pale and silent, being buffeted and
spat upon by the brutal guards. This was indeed, too bad !
but he felt certain that the larger council would never confirm

RUNNING TO THE TEMPLE. 433
the spiteful sentence of Caiaphas. In the grey light of dawn
he saw Jesus go up into the palace again, then there was a
dreadful half-hour of suspense, and again he saw Him com
ing down the great white marble steps, with the golden sun
light falling softly upon His brown hair and white robe, and
again, "Death! death! death!" seemed hissing in the air.
He made rapid inquiry, and found that the priests had con
demned Jesus again, and were going to take Him at once to
Pilate to have Him killed. Then Judas grew alarmed. He
could no longer deceive himself into the belief that all was safe,
that the priests would not, and could not, kill Jesus. " These
cruel men will do anything," he thought, " after such an out
rageous trial ; " and a wild desire came over him to have this
shameful injustice stopped. He believed all the people knew,
as he did, that Jesus was innocent of any crime. Now he
realised what he had done in putting Him into the power of
these wicked men ; and he resolved at all risks to undo the
share he had taken in this terrible night's work, and, if pos
sible, by declaring the innocence of his young Master to save
His life.
From Caiaphas's palace Judas ran down to the Temple,
where he asked to see the men with whom, in his anger, he
had made the bargain to betray Jesus. Not finding them at
once he went in to look for them, going from court to court
of the Temple, until he got as far as he dared go ; and seeing
some of the priests whom he sought, in the Priests' court
within, he called to them. With wild eyes he told them what
was being done to Jesus, who was innocent, that Caiaphas had
condemned him to death, and he asked them to take back
their thirty pieces of silver, holding them out in his hand,
while he implored them to help him to undo the mischief he
had done, as he exclaimed —
" I have been wicked ! because I have betrayed the inno
cent One." The priests looked coldly at him as he stood
holding out the money at the edge of their court, past which
it was death for him to go. But his haunted looks and im
ploring words could not move these calm, cruel men. What

434

FLINGING BACK THE MONEY.

Judas had done, whether bad or good, was nothing to them,
and keeping him at a distance, they answered coldly —
" What doth that matter to us? See to it thyself." And
with a gesture to be gone, they turned away. Judas had
served their turn, and might perish now for aught they cared.
But Judas would not go. Tortured by the thought of what
he had done, and their refusal to help him to save Jesus, he
became reckless. What was life to him now? He hated
these priests in their white linen dresses and broad hats, and
raising the money aloft in his hand, he hurled it with all his
force after them as they walked away towards the awful Holy
place, and it fell jingling and clashing on the rich marble
pavement with a loud jarring sound that echoed through the
silence of the court ; and, turning, he fled from the Temple.
Hated by his old companions the disciples, hated by the
priests, despised by the people, Judas could not bear to think
of his young Master being slowly killed and he powerless to
save or help Him, and getting a rope, he crossed the deep,
gloomy vale of Hinnom, and among black and jagged rocks,
from the branch of a low tree, he hanged himself that very
day, and was dead before Jesus.
The priests in the Temple thought it better to take no
notice of this confession of his guilt by Judas, and they
allowed him to escape, while they gathered up the silver
coins. But what should they do with the money ? Some said
they should put it back into the Temple money-box whence
it was taken, but others said no, because it was the price of
Jesus' life. And these very righteous hypocrites, who could
take the money out to bribe Judas, would not put it in again,
and resolved rather to buy, from a Potter, a piece of ground
which they wanted as a burying place for strangers.
And such, my child, is the awfulness of remorse. Judas
tried to stop the consequences of his wicked act, but alas !
the power had passed into other and crueller hands, and all
the sorrow that his heart could hold, would not move these
cold priests to mercy. And so Judas died, the to»l of wicked,
cruel men, for in the end his love for Jesus had returned.

BEFORE PILATE. 435
BEFORE PILATE.
JERUSALEM, FRIDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
It was now past six o'clock in the morning, and the court
yard of Caiaphas's palace was in a stir, for a strong guard was
preparing to take Jesus to Pilate. Pilate was the Roman
governor over the whole country, who usually lived at the
gay Roman town of Caesarea by the side of the blue Medi
terranean sea, but at the Passover Festival he came up over the
hills of Samaria with a number of soldiers to keep order in
the crowded city, and lived in the finest palace in Jerusalem,
built by King Herod on the top of Mount Zion, with rich
gardens within its walls, and three strong towers of defence.
He was a haughty man, who despised the Jews and all their
ways, but the subtle priests understood him, for he hated
clamour and noise, and feared his master, the Emperor
Caesar. Once he had brought the standards of the Roman
soldiers into Jerusalem — silver eagles on the top of poles,
and would not take them away ; but the Jews had sur
rounded his house at Caesarea in thousands, yelling inces
santly for six days and six nights, till at last he had to yield to
them and take the standards out of the city. At another
time he hung up golden shields on the walls of his palace
on Mount Zion, with the Emperor Caesar's and his name upon
them, and would not remove them till the Jews wrote to the
Emperor complaining, and Pilate had to take them down.
At another time he took some of the Temple treasury money
to build a water-course into the city, but the people, stirred up
by the priests, again yelled in crowds round his palace, till he
had to put the Temple money back again ; so that the cunning
priests knew how to deal with Pilate.
His palace in Jerusalem was called "The Praetorium,"
which means, the chief place for soldiers. King Herod had
lavished much money on its terraces, with carved pillars and
arches, and on its floors laid with different coloured marbles,
while the roofs of the large halls were so richly gilded as to

436 THE JUDGMENT HALL AND PAVEMENT.
look like solid gold. Joined to it was the Hall of Judgment,
where the king or governor heard cases, with a door that led
out to a raised place called the " Pavement," on account of
the different coloured stones with which it was paved, where,
under a shade and overlooking the great city, stood a white
ivory judgment-seat, on which the Governor sat to hear cases
in the open air ; for it was a Roman rule that justice was open
to everyone.
The morning sun was kindling with early splendour on the
golden roof of the Temple, when, bound and surrounded by
guards, Jesus was led out from Caiaphas's palace gardens "up
the steep and winding streets of the upper city to Pilate's
palace on the top of Mount Zion. Many of the chief priests
and Lawyers of the great council went with the guards to
accuse Him before Pilate, as they had arranged. And also in
that crowd were the mother of Jesus and Martha and Mary of
Bethany, and other women, who wept and cried as they saw
Him coming out to the street guarded and with His hands
tied, and who followed weeping, with such of the disciples as
were not afraid to come into the city. When the guards
reached the grounds round Pilate's palace, they went in by
the gateway, and a message was senf to Pilate, who replied
by telling them to bring Jesus into the judgment hall, and the
guards did so. Now Pilate was a Roman judge, and was
answerable to the Emperor Caesar that no one should be put
to death in Jerusalem without open inquiry, and sitting down
in the judge's seat, he asked the usual questions. The first
was that the accusers of Jesus should come forward and state
their accusation against Him, that he might consider it. But
the guards replied that His accusers, the priests, would not
come into Pilate's judgment hall during the Passover Festival
week, lest they should be made impure and unfit for the great
services in the Temple. They thought there might be some
leaven left in Pilate's palace, and that, they said, would defile
them, and they believed they were keeping themselves pure
and clean by remaining outside in the open air. With a
frown, Pilate sent word to the priests to meet him at the

HE IS A BLASPHEMER. 437
Pavement. And the priests led the people round to that part
of the palace, ranging themselves so as to be near Pilate when
he came out, and thither the guards took Jesus also.
After a little, Pilate came out by the door from the palace,
with stern face and short black hair, and wearing a white
cloak, embroidered with a broad purple border ; and he sat
down on his white ivory chair that had been carried out and
placed upon the raised Pavement, while Roman soldiers kept
the people back with their long spears.
"What accusation do you bring against this Man?" asked
Pilate bluntly of the priests, and they thought he seemed
cross. " If He were not an evil-doer we should not have delivered
Him up to thee," said one of the old Lawyers gravely. " Evil
doer ! priests ! " thought Pilate ; and, guessing that it was
some religious dispute arising out of the Passover Festival,
which he cared nothing about, and would never understand,
and that probably all they wanted was power to give Jesus
some sharp punishment,, he said —
"Take Him away, and judge Him by your own law." And
Pilate was about to rise and go into the palace again, when he
was stopped by the reply from one of the councillors —
" It is not lawful," he said, " for us to put any one to
death." " Death ! " thought Pilate ; " this is a more serious matter."
And he sat and listened while the priests began to accuse
Jesus of many things.
" He is a blasphemer," they said. But Pilate smiled grimly.
He thought nothing of that, and they went on to say — " We
have found Him taking away the obedience of our nation
from Rome, and telling the people not to pay tribute-money
to the Emperor Caesar, and saying that He Himself is the
Christ, a King." Now Pilate already knew all about Jesus
and the crowds that followed Him, and how much was false
of what the priests now said. He may even have seen Jesus
at the Lake-side on his way to the fashionable town of Caesarea-
Philippi near Hermon. He knew that Jesus spoke openly

438 ART THOU A KING?
against the priests, and that the Pharisees hated Him. He
knew that only a week ago He had offended the priests and
the rulers by ordering all the traders out of the Temple. He
had heard, also, that Jesus could do wonders, and was a good
man ; and his wife, too, had sometimes spoken about Him.
Most important of all, he had mads inquiry for himself among
the people, as was his duty, and was satisfied that Jesus of
Nazareth was not plotting against the Roman power.
Rising in silence from his seat, Pilate went into the judg
ment hall, and ordered a Roman soldier to bring Jesus to
him. With His hands free, now that He was in Roman
custody, pale and haggard with the cruelties of the night, His
soiled white tunic in sad contrast to the magnificent hall
of marble and gold, the pride of Jewish kings, but with a calm
look in His face that won the respect of Pilate, Jesus stood
before him, a sad, a touching sight.
"Art Thou the King of the Jews? " Pilate asked when they
were alone, with a slight touch of scorn as he looked at Jesus
in His simple peasant's dress.
"Dost thou ask this thyself; or did others tell it thee of
Me? " Jesus replied, looking calmly at Pilate.
"Am I a. Jew?" exclaimed Pilate, scornfully, meaning that
personally he took no interest in the matter ; adding, " Thy
own people and the chiefs of the priests have delivered Thee
up to me to be punished. What hast Thou done?" Evi
dently Pilate did not believe what the priests had told him at
the Pavement outside.
" My Kingdom," said Jesus wearily, " is not of this world.
If it were of this world, then My followers would fight for Me
that I should not be delivered up to the Judaeans. But My
Kingdom is not of this World." Thus Jesus spoke in weari
ness and sorrow of that Kingdom of Heaven among men,
of which He had spoken so often to the people. Pilate
thought He was a religious enthusiast — a dreamer — and
asked out of curiosity —
"Art Thou, then, a King?"
"Thou sayest rightly," Jesus replied, "because I am a

WHAT IS TRUTH ? 439
King. I came hito the world and was born to be a Witness
to the Truth, and every one that is of the Truth, listeneth
to Me."
During this answer of Jesus, Pilate looked keenly at Him
with brows knit. Jesus seemed to him to be a very remark
able but a harmless Person who did no wrong, claiming only
to be the King of Truth-seekers. " Truth ! " thought Pilate,
" He little knows of the great men of Rome who have tried,
and have failed to fix the meaning of that little word."
"What is truth?" he said to Jesus as he rose and left Him,
to go out again to the people at the Pavement. There was
silence when Pilate came out and sat down on his ivory
seat. " I find no fault in this Man," he said in a loud voice to the
priests. " I find no crime in Him." But before he could say
more, a clamour of tongues arose of Priests, Lawyers, Temple
Traders, followers, crying out against what Pilate had said.
When the noise grew less, some one shouted to him —
" He stirreth up the people, teaching through all Judaea,
from Galilee to Jerusalem." Pilate kept a grim silence till
they were done shouting, and then asked, with a quick glance
at the priests —
" Is He from Galilee? " And when they answered " Yes,"
he quietly made up his mind what he would do. He would
rid himself at once of this mob and of Jesus, by sending Him to
Antipas, King of Galilee, who was then in Jerusalem, for him
to try the case. Now King Antipas hated Pilate, and they had
quarrelled, but Pilate thought that by thus giving him power
to try one of his own people in Jerusalem, he would please
the King, and make him his friend again. And amid the
grumblings of the priests, Pilate told them firmly that he
would send Jesus to King Antipas, to be tried by him, and that
they must go thither. And he retired into his splendid
palace again.
And thou, my child, wilt learn from this not to avoid thy
duty, for it was Pilate's duty to make inquiry and see justice
done, and help the innocent ; and it showed a weak and

44O MOCKED BY KING ANTIPAS.
bad mind, when, believing Jesus to be innocent, he. sent Him
away to another judge, just as a compliment, and to save
himself trouble.

MOCKED BY KING ANTIPAS.
JERUSALEM, FRIDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
Once more a guard of soldiers was formed round Jesus,
this time armed with brass helmets, short swords and spears,
that glittered and flashed in the morning sunlight, for they were
Roman soldiers who took Him from Pilate to King Antipas.
And again the weeping women saw Jesus, coming out of the
gate of Pilate's palace gardens, but noticed that His hands were
free. They followed Him to the old palace of the Maccabaeans,
which was not far away, also on Zion hill, and there they saw
Him taken into the courtyard, and the priests, His accusers,
this time went in also, for it was the palace of a Jew. King
Antipas had come up to the Festival, and lived in this old
palace when in Jerusalem. When Pilate's message was given
to him he was pleased that he had given him power to judge one
of his own people, and he was specially pleased that the Pri
soner was Jesus, for he had long wished to see Him, and
expected He would work some wonder before him. When
in Galilee, he had sent word for Jesus to come to him, but
Jesus had refused. This was also the king whom Jesus had
called a fox, the wretch who had ordered John the Baptist to
be killed to please a dancing-girl — surely not the man to sit
in judgment upon Jesus !
King Antipas, in a richly embroidered robe, sat with his
chief men round him, while Jesus, pale and wearied, was
brought in to be tried — tried for the fourth time in six hours.
The king was surprised at His appearance, and gazed at
Jesus with wonder and satisfaction, as he explained that
Pilate had sent Him to be tried by him as king of Galilee,
with full powers. He then asked the priests what they had
to say against Jesus, and they replied by accusing Him of
breaking the laws of their religion and of the Temple, of

AN OLD PURPLE ROBE. 44 I
stirring up the people against the Romans, and of everything
else they could think of that would influence King Antipas,
adding that their great council had found Jesus guilty of
blasphemy. They hoped to get the king to sanction His
death at once.
But King Antipas was struck with the silence of Jesus.
He had never seen a prisoner who did not deny what
his accusers said. Stopping the priests, he asked Jesus a
question about what they were saying against Him, and
waited for an answer. But Jesus remained silent. The
king spoke to Him again and again, asking Him many
questions, but Jesus would answer nothing. Then the king
flew into a passion of anger, and began to threaten Jesus with
punishment, and to call Him names and mock Him, while
the priests clamoured for him to sentence Jesus to death.
But King Antipas saw that he could do nothing in such
a case, and resolved to treat the whole thing as one of
Pilate's practical jokes. Pilate had sent him a man to try,
who would not speak. He had heard Jesus called a " King,"
and that He had spoken of His Kingdom of Heaven among
men, and he would send Him back to Pilate dressed up as a
King, with no other message than that of mockery. He
ordered his servants to bring one of his old purple robes
and put it on Jesus, and they did so. And whan he saw
Jesus standing silent and weary, dressed in his cast-off finery,
the king bowed low to Him, as though Jesus were a world's
king, and laughed and spoke mockingly to Him, and then,
ordering Him to be taken away back to Pilate, the king left
the room.
Then the soldiers, imitating King Antipas, mocked Jesus
also, pretending that He was a king, laughing at His
sad wearied face, as He stood dressed in their master's
old robe. And the priests felt that they had triumphed
before King Antipas. And His friends in the crowd that
stood at the gate saw Jesus coming out again from the
palace of King Antipas, dressed in the purple robe of a
mock king, to walk through the street back again to Pilate's

442 PILATE FINDS NO FAULT.
palace. The faded robe was intended to be a humorous
message from King Antipas, and when Pilate saw Jesus so
dressed, he thought he understood the king's joke, particu
larly when he was told that Jesus would not answer a single
question that was asked Him, and Pilate and King Antipas
after that became very good friends.
Do thou, my child, learn from this never to make sport of
another's suffering. Jesus had spoken of His Kingdom of
Heaven among men, and a paltry worldling thought it clever
to make Him walk through the streets wearing a king's old
robe. And thus, with a heart that could see nothing better
than fine dressing and feasting and sport, King Antipas
ridiculed a Sufferer whose greatness he could not comprehend.
PILATE FINDS NO FAULT.
JERUSALEM, FRIDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
On His return from King Antipas, and while it was still
early morning, Jesus was taken into Pilate's palace on Zion
hill, that he might see Him with the king's old robe on.
But the chief priests would not go in, and went round to
the Pavement as before, to wait for Pilate to come out to
them. Pilate now saw that he could not get rid of this
troublesome affair, and must hear all that the priests and
councillors had to say against Jesus, and decide what was
to be done with Him. In a short time he came out again
by the door on to the Pavement, looking in rather better
temper, followed by Jesus, no longer wearing the purple robe,
and in charge of a Roman soldier, who stood a little way off.
Sitting down on the white judgment-seat, Pilate began to ask
Jesus questions before the people, in the usual way when
trying any matter.
" Art Thou the King of the Jews?" he asked in a loud
voice, expecting Jesus again to speak of His Kingdom of
Truth. "Thou sayest it," Jesus answered. When the priests
understood that the answer of Jesus meant " Yes," they

ANSWEREST THOU NOTHING? 443
began to shout against Him, as they had done before King
Antipas, accusing Him of everything they could think of that
would influence Pilate. When they stopped, Pilate looked to
Jesus to answer them, as was the custom, but He remained
silent, and Pilate wondered.
"Hearest Thou how many things they say against Thee?"
Pilate asked grimly. "Answerest Thou nothing?" He
knew that the priests were telling lies. But Jesus would not
speak, and as Pilate looked at His beautiful, pale face, he
was astonished and could not understand it. Jesus was inno
cent, and yet He would not speak ! What should he do ?
These priests would not be satisfied without some punishment.
He would scourge Jesus to please His enemies, and then set
Him free. Rising from his seat and speaking to the chief
priests, he gave them his decision as a Roman Judge.
"You have brought this Man to me," he said, " saying that
He is one who stirreth up the people against the Roman
power. I have examined Him before you and I find no fault
in Him regarding the things of which you accuse Him.
Neither did King Antipas find any fault, for he hath sent Him
back to me. He hath done nothing deserving death. I will
therefore scourge Him and set Him free." These last words
were received by the Priests, Lawyers, and Temple Traders
with shouts of disappointment and rage, and Pilate, who
should have left the Pavement at once, remained standing and
irresolute. But other shouts were heard coming from the
common people which attracted notice, and soon there were
many voices calling for the Governor, as usual, to set free a
prisoner whom they would name. Pilate, thinking that this
cry had been got up by friends of Jesus, made a sign for
silence, and turning to the common people, he said—
"You have a custom that I should set free a prisoner to
you at the Passover Festival. Whom do you wish? Do you
wish me to set free the King of the Jews "—for he knew that
it was only the priests who through envy and hatred had
brought Jesus to him that morning — " or do you wish Barab
bas ? " Now, Barabbas was a violent, bad man, who had got

444 WHAT EVIL HATH HE DONE?
up a rising of the people against the Romans, that ended in
murder and robbery, and had been put into prison.
But a messenger came out quickly by the door to the Pave
ment, who wished to speak with Pilate as he sat there, and
while he was speaking, the priests told their guards and ser
vants to get the people, when the right time came, to shout
for Barabbas to be set free. The message was from Claudia
Procula, Pilate's wife. She knew about Jesus, and had heard
of the guard going the night before to take Him prisoner.
The shouts of the people round the Pavement had come up to
the palace windows, and on being told what was going on
below, she sent this message to her husband —
" Have nothing to do with this good Man, for I have
suffered much this day in a dream because of Him." Pilate's
face grew troubled as he listened to this warning, pressing
message from his wife, for, like her, he had a half belief in
dreams. If only to please her, he would set Jesus free, and he
turned to the crowd again.
" Which of the two do you wish me to set free to you ? " he
asked the people, for they seemed to have agreed upon some
one. " Barabbas ! " answered a voice.
" What, then, shall I do with Jesus, who is called the
Christ?" Pilate foolishly asked, to which some one replied —
" Away with Him, and set free Barabbas ! " Others cried,
" Not this Man, but Barabbas ; " and a priest hissed through
his teeth, " Crucify Him ! " Pilate was astonished at this
fresh demand, and began to argue with the crowd, which was
now large.
" What then shall I do with Jesus the King ofthe Jews?"
" Crucify Him ! Crucify Him ! " the crowd replied, taking
up the priest's cry. Now this was most revolting to Pilate's
Roman sense of justice. There was no logic or fairness in
this brawling crowd, and rising to his feet he continued to argue
excitedly with them.
" Why," he shouted in a loud voice that was heard above
the noise, " what evil hath He done ? I have found nothing

CRUCIFY HIM. 445
in Him deserving death. I will scourge Him and set Him
free." But the judge who argues after pronouncing sentence,
is lost. The Priests and the Temple Traders knew a better
way to overcome Pilate than arguments. They continued to
shout at the top of their voices, and stirred up the people to
shout also —
" Crucify Him ! Crucify Him ! " and nothing but, " Crucify
Him ! " as loud as they could. And Pilate, looking anxiously
down, saw a crowd of angry faces, and men with waving
threatening arms, growing every moment fiercer, as they
pressed agamst the pikes of the Roman soldiers, that kept
them back, lest they should clutch at the robe of Jesus and
drag Him off the Pavement. Jesus, too, looked down,
but with no trace of fear in His face ; although they
did not cease to shout fiercely " Crucify Him ! Crucify
Him ! " as long as Pilate stood trying to speak to them.
Should he order his soldiers to drive this wild mob out of his
sight at the point of theh long spears, Pilate thought ? That
would mean bloodshed, and would be reported to the Em
peror Csesar at Rome. Was one Man's life worth all this
trouble? Pilate wavered and sat down; again the clamour of
the people of Jerusalem had conquered him.
But there was still his wife. Her dream might be a message
from their gods. He resolved to have nothing to do with the
death of Jesus, and this is how he thought to clear himself.
He ordered a basin of pure water to be brought out to him on
the Pavement, and while a kneeling slave held it up, with
much show he washed every bit of his large white hands
before the people, who looked on in silence ; and having
wiped them dry with a towel, he said in a loud voice, pointing
to Jesus, and holding up his clean hands —
" I am innocent of the death of this good Man. See you
to it!" *
"His death be on us, and .on eur children," the crowd
replied defiantly. Then Pilate ordeied his officer to set free
Barabbas, and to scourge and crucify Jesus ; and with a scowl
ing face and mind full of anger and great doubt, he rose from

446 THE CROWN OF THORNS.
his ivory seat and went into the palace. The yells of the*
people had conquered him once more. And the priests and
their followers shouted wildly as they saw Jesus taken away
by the Roman soldiers, and again they shouted when Barabbas
was brought out and set free.
And thou wilt learn from this how dangerous and foolish
it is to deceive thyself. Pilate thought that with a few pints
of water he could wash away the guilt of what he was doing ;
but he was only trying to deceive himself. He knew that
it was his duty to do justly, and not to yield ; and soon he
felt the folly of this hand- washing show, for it gave him no
peace of mind.
THE CROWN OF THORNS.
JERUSALEM, FRIDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
The women of Bethany were there that morning, watching
what went on at the Pavement where Pilate pretended to be
trying Jesus. Hope rose in their breasts when they heard
him say that he would scourge Jesus and let Him go, but
when he changed his mind, and they saw Jesus calm and
pale, led away from their sight through the door into the
judgment hall, to be scourged, perhaps killed ! they could
only weep and gaze in speechless horror at the cruelty of the
men who were round Him. For, what had He done, but
bless their children, heal their sick, and blame their wicked
Teachers ?
It was the Roman law that every one who was to be cruci
fied should first be scourged. The prisoner, stripped to the
waist, was tied to a post in a stooping position while a soldier
scourged him, striking where he pleased, on head or body,
with such force that many fainted and some died under the
scourging. The scourge was made of strips of leather tipped
with bits of lead or ragged bone. It was usual for the judge
who had condemned the prisoner, to see the scourging done,
so that Pilate would be there while Jesus was tied to a post in
the open palace-yard and a soldier scourged Him with cruel

hail king! 447
thongs until the red blood trickled to the ground. But Jesus
bore the bitter pain in silence.
To the Roman soldiers, a man condemned to die, and par
ticularly a Jew, was an object for ridicule and brutality. They
thought it mattered little what was done to one whose life was
to be taken away. There were five hundred Roman soldiers
about Pilate's palace — mostly Syrians who had joined the
Roman service. Some of them had seen Jesus dressed in
King Antipas's old robes, and had laughed at Him ; and they
resolved to have the play over again ; and all the soldiers
gathered together in one of the halls of the Praetorium to
have more soldiers' sport. His clothes were not given back
to Jesus after He was scourged, but a Roman soldier's short
scarlet cloak was thrown over His bleeding shoulders. Faint
ing with pain and exhaustion, He was led to a raised place
and made to sit down in sight of all the men. Jesus had
called Himself a King ! of a Kingdom that could not be
seen ! There He sat with a scarlet robe on. But He had
no crown ! And a soldier, cutting some long twigs from a
jagged thorn that grew among the shrubs in the palace
garden, taking care not to prick his fingers as he did so,
twined the thorns into a round wreath large enough for a
man's head. With much mock ceremony he came forward to
Jesus and placed it with its sharp thorns upon His drooping
head, amid the laughter of the other soldiers, who praised his
cleverness, in thus crowning the King. But Jesus had no
sceptre ! And another soldier cut a tall reed from a pond in
the garden, and going up to Him put it into His open hand.
Thus Jesus was dressed for the play. And, one after another,
the soldiers came up before Him with grave faces, and kneel
ing on one knee, said in mock reverence —
" Hail, King of the Jews ! " and as each one rose and went
away, the others laughed loudly, enjoying this ridicule of the
bare idea of the Jews ever having a king, while Jesus sat there
in silence, leaning for support, very sick, very faint and grieved,
dimly seeing the men in that splendid hall as they came and
went before Him like a strange, wild dream, and wishing it

448 BEHOLD THE MAN !
would soon be all over. But again His silence irritated the
soldiers, and first one and then another gave Him a blow with
his hand as he rose from before Him. Others spat in His face
after kneeling to Him. But most of them took the reed from
His faint hand, and hit Him over the head with it, for they
liked to see Jesus wince with silent pain as the thorns of the
crown pierced His brow. And there, amid the blows, laughter,
revelry, and devilry of these armed men-slayers, Jesus — the
Friend of little children — sat, pale, bleeding, suffering, while,
within hearing, the Roman carpenters hewed and hammered
at the rough wooden cross on which He was to be nailed.
But Pilate's mind was ill at ease. It had changed again,
although his hands were washed clean. Coming into the
soldiers' hall, he saw Jesus, the Innocent, sitting there, blood
stained and fainting, looking such a picture of pathetic sad
ness, with His scarlet robe, His crown, His sceptre, while the
soldiers called Him King, that Pilate thought if the crowd
outside could Only see Him now, they would cry out that He
had been punished enough. Ordering the soldiers to stop
their play, and bring Jesus after him, he walked into the judg
ment hall, and out again to the Pavement and the priests, who
were waiting to see Jesus killed.
" See," said Pilate, " I have brought Him out to you, that
you may know that I find no fault in Him," and he pointed
to Jesus, who was brought forward between two soldiers, faint
and stooping, with the crown of thorns and the scarlet robe
still on. " Look at the Man ! " Pilate said, that all might see
what a Roman scourging had done to the strong young
Galilean. The people were silent, but the priests and their
servants raised the old cry —
" Crucify Him ! crucify Him ! " they shouted, and Pilate
again grew weak before such fierce blood-thirstiness.
"Take Him yourselves," he said, "and crucify Him, for I
find no fault in Him." But the priests dared not do that.
They had no power, and they replied — ¦
" We have a law against blasphemy, and by that law He
ought to die, because He calle th Himself the Son of God."

NOT CESAR S FRIEND. 449
When Pilate heard this, he wished more than ever to have
nothing to do witu the death of Jesus, for he had heard of the
sons of gods coming to the world, and he remembered his
wife's dream. Rising from his ivory seat, he beckoned to
the soldiers to bring Jesus after him into the judgment hall
again. "Where dost Thou come from? " he asked Jesus anxiously,
as soon as they were alone inside. But Jesus remained
silent. "Why dost Thou not answer me?" Pilate demanded,
adding in a threatening tone, " Knowest Thou not that I
have power to set Thee free or to crucify Thee? "
"Thou wouldst have no power against Me," answered
Jesus wearily, "unless it were given thee from above. The
men that have given Me up to thee have done the greater
wickedness." Pilate was so much impressed with the look
and words of Jesus, that once more his mind altered, and he
firmly resolved to set Him free. Going out to the Pavement
again, he told the priests that he had resolved to set Jesus at
liberty. But the priests knew their power, and hinted that if
Pilate did this, they would bring the matter before his master,
the Emperor Caesar, at Rome.
" If thou settest this man free," they said, " thou art not
Caesar's friend ; for whoever saith that He is a King, is against
Csesar." Pilate wavered yet again, as he recollected that
Caesar had already suspected his honesty, and* might punish
him if the Jews complained against him. But to call Jesus
a " King " was, he thought, absurd, and ordering Jesus to
be brought out, he pointed to Him as He stood, soiled,
suffering, weak, saying with grim irony —
" Look at your King ! "
"Away with Him! Away with Him! Crucify Him!"
yelled the priests and the people.
"Shall I crucify your King?" shouted Pilate above their
voices. "We have no King but Caesar," replied- the priests, as
though fighting for the Roman Emperor against his own

45O DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM.
Governor. Then Pilate finally gave up the struggle. He
was no match for these crafty Jews. He had tried to put
right the blunder he had made in ever condemning the inno
cent Jesus, but they had caught him in his own net. Jesus
must die. And reluctantly he gave orders to his soldiers to
carry out the terrible sentence of crucifixion. "After all,"
he thought, " it is the priests who are putting Him to death.
I am only consenting." But he dared not look at the face of
Jesus, as with eyes bent upon the ground he left the Pavement
for the last time and went into the splendid palace, to the
silence of his own thoughts.
And thou, my child, wilt remember the awfulness of giving
way to cruelty, for men who do so know not when to stop.
Some people have rejoiced to see men slaying each other in
an amphitheatre ; others have made torches of living people
tied to poles ; some love to see bulls killing horses ; others
are against such things, but like for sport to shoot the timid
deer upon the heathery moor, — but there is cruelty in it all.

DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM!
JERUSALEM, FRIDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
Condemned to be crucified ! Jesus was taken away by the
soldiers back to the yard of Pilate's palace, where His mock
King's robe of scarlet and His crown of thorns were put
away, and His own clothes given to Him. A Centurion of
the Roman soldiers was ordered to carry out the crucifixion,
and soon the nails, hammers, spades, ropes, food and water
for the soldiers, and the terrible cross were ready. The crosf
was made of a rough log of wood, with a cross-bar near the
top, and a thick wooden pin about the middle of it, for the
sufferer to sit astride upon. A black board was also prepared
to hang round the neck of Jesus, or to be carried through the
streets in front of Him, on which His supposed crime was
written in white letters. And Pilate told the officers to write
this on it in three languages — Latin, Aramaic, and Greek.

CARRYING HIS CROSS. 45 1
" This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews."
When all was ready, the soldiers, with brass helmets and
spears glittering in the sunshine, were drawn up in the palace
yard, with Jesus in their midst, specially guarded by four men,
and when the cross, which He had to carry Himself, was laid
upon the shoulders of the young Carpenter, — He who had
carried many a load of wood, — it bent Him down till the end
touched the ground. Beside Him were two thieves, miserable
men, going to be crucified with Him, and who also had to
carry their terrible crosses. And as the guard marched out
into the sunny street, tears leapt afresh to the eyes of the
women, when they saw Jesus with a heavy cross tied upon His
shoulders surrounded with soldiers, and trying to keep up with
them, and their cries of pity reached His ears, as with dizzy
head bent down, He stumbled on.
Down the rough stone-paved streets of Zion hill they
went, past palace gates and splendid houses, followed by a
crowd of people attracted by the sight, while on the raised
footpaths at the side of the street, walked the priests, holding
up their long robes from defilement, determined to see Jesus
die. From the upper city of palaces, they went down to the
lower town of bazaars, shops, and poorer houses, for they
were going out to the common place of execution beyond
the walls, out by the gate on the opposite side of the city
from the Galilean encampment on the Mount of Olives.
And more people joined the crowd. But soon it was seen
that Jesus was getting too weak to walk much further, for He
was going slower and slower, struggling still to go the distance
required, and the soldiers urged Him on, until, when near
the Damascus Gate, He sank down upon the street under
His heavy load. Just at that time, Simon, from Cyrenia, in
Africa, a strong man, was coming in at the city gate, and
seeing he was a stranger, the soldiers stopped him and bade
him carry the cross for Jesus, which he did, partly from
pity. While they were standing there, voices in the crowd began
to speak against the cruel treatment of Jesus, and loudest

452 WEEP NOT FOR ME.
among them were women who wept and lamented at the
sight of His blood-stained face and tunic, His terrible weak
ness and sorrowful state — so young, so beautiful, so good,
going to be crucified ! They were only women, but they
were not afraid, as the men seemed to be, to cry out against
the horrid cruelty of the priests, and all the way from Zion
hill they had filled the streets with their wailing cries. That
One who had done nothing but good in their city should be
killed in this way, was a shameful thing which these women
would cry against to the last, and above the shouts of the
crowd, and the urging of the soldiers, Jesus heard the women's
voices, and their cries were the only touch of pity which He
received in that long terrible walk. Turning towards them
His pale blood-stained face, with a look of sorrowful tenderness
in His eyes, He exclaimed —
" Daughters of Jerusalem ! weep not for Me, but weep for
yourselves and for your children. For the time is coming
when they will say that the women are blessed who have no
children. And they will cry to the mountains to fall on them,
and to the hills to cover them." At the siege of Jerusalem,
in later years, the Roman soldiers spared neither women nor
children. And when the women heard this message of Jesus,
they broke out into fresh weeping and wailing, and followed
Him again, when the crowd started, out through the city gate
and into the country.
The common place for crucifixions was a grassy mound,
called Golgotha, or Calvary, at a little distance from the
road into Jerusalem, where all the passers by might see the
criminals hanging, and take warning. Leaving the road, the
soldiers went over to this spot. Now it was the custom for
the ladies of Jerusalem, out of kindness and pity, to make a
drink for the prisoners, of wine and something like opium,
which made the poor men feel dull and stupid, and which
the women were allowed to give them before being crucified,
that they might not feel the terrible pain so much. This
cup was offered by some gentle hand to Jesus, and He took
it, but when He tasted it, thirsty and weak as He was, He

NAILED UPON THE CROSS. 453
would not drink. He wished to have a clear mind amid all
His suffering, and did not fear the pain. And the women
pitied Him the more, as they withdrew to a little distance,
and stood weeping as they watched the dreadful preparations
of the soldiers.
And thou wilt not forget how that when Jesus was deserted
by His men friends, persecuted by the priests, howled at by
the crowds, struck and mocked by soldiers, given up by
Pilate, brave, gentle women did not cease, in the open streets
of Jerusalem, to cry shame upon work which their hearts, with
unerring truth, told them was wicked and unpardonable
cruelty.
NAILED UPON THE CROSS.
JERUSALEM, FRIDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
It was between nine and ten o'clock in the morning when
Jesus reached the place of crucifixion, and the sun was hot on
Calvary. A ring of Roman soldiers, with glittering brass
armour, was formed, to keep the people back. Within that
ring lay the wooden crosses beside the prisoners, while with
spades the soldiers dug three deep holes in the earth to set
them in. When all was ready, the outer garments of Jesus
were taken from Him, and He was laid upon His back on the
rough wooden cross, with His arms outstretched along the
bar, to which they were tied with ropes ; cruel nails were
driven through His hands and His feet, nailing them firmly to
the strong wood, and then, amid the cries of the pitying
women, two soldiers on each side of the cross slowly raised it
upright, with Jesus on it, and carrying it over, dropped the
end into the hole in the ground with a torturing shock, and
held it there while the earth was shovelled and packed and
trodden firm around the foot of the cross to keep it standing.
" Father ! forgive them, for they know not what they do,"
Jesus groaned, as He looked at the hired soldiers at work
below Him, His feet being only a few inches from the
ground.

454 THUS WAS HE CRUCIFIED.
Thus was the purest Being that ever lived on earth crucified
upon the bitter cross at the age of thirty-three ; the torture of
His pierced hands and feet being intensified by the weight of
His body, while the blood dropped slowly from them — the
work of priests, councillors, and hired murderers. Awful
must have been the sight, as His head turned from one side
to another, in mute search for the faces of His friends in the
hushed crowd which stood a little way off — silent, save for the
wailing of the women, and the shouts and oaths of the
soldiers. They did not kill Him at once ; but nailed Him
there to die slowly of thirst, pain, and heartbreak. Well has
it been written of this scene, by a loving woman's hand —
" We may not know, we cannot tell
The pains He had to bear,
But we believe it was for us
He hung and suffered there."
And by England's greatest poet —
" Those blessed feet;
Which, fourteen hundred years ago, were nail'd
For our advantage, on the bitter cross."
Over His head was put the black board with these words
on it —
"This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews."
It was usual for the four soldiers who crucified the sufferer
to have his clothing given to them, and sitting down on the
dry grass before Jesus the soldiers divided His clothes amongst
them until they came to His inner dress of fine white wool,
which was all of one piece without any sewing in it —
perhaps the work of His mother — and for it they drew lots
and one of them got it untorn.
The two thieves were also crucified there, one upon each side
of Jesus, and when the crosses were all raised up, the people
came closer, and the vitriol-hearted priests, wagging their heads
and spreading out their robes, strutted to and fro in front of

HE TRUSTED IN GOD. 455
Jesus that His closing eyes might see their triumph. Again
His silence annoyed them, and they began to jeer and to re
proach Him, and of all the mockings of that terrible day this
mocking of the dying Jesus was the most viperously cruel, as
with poisonous tongues the priests levelled their triumph and
His punishment at His drooping head.
" He saved others, let Him save Himself," said one.
" He called Himself King of the Jews. Let Him now
come down from the cross, and we will believe on Him," said
another — adding a lie to a taunt.
" He trusted in God," said another, " let God save Him
now, if He wisheth Him, for He said, 'I am the Son of God,' "
and so also said some of the Lawyers and Elders ofthe people,
while some of the crowd shouted —
" Ha ! Thou that wouldst destroy the Temple and build it
in three days, save Thyself! "
" If Thou art the Son of God, come down from the cross,"
shouted another.
And some of the priests, when they saw the black board
with its white writing placed over His head, were much dis
pleased, and went away at once to Pilate to get it changed,
saying —
" Write on it, not ' King of the Jews,' but, ' He said, I am
King of the Jews.' "
" What I have written, I have written," answered Pilate,
and he refused to change it. He was tired of these cruel
priests. And their servants and guards, taking up the cries of
their masters, mocked Jesus also, as He hung there silent,
tortured, and dying in the fierce blaze of the sun. They
offered Him vinegar to drink, to see if He would not speak,
saying as they came up and read the writing over His head —
" If thou art the King of the Jews, save Thyself." And
one of the thieves, perhaps thinking that Jesus was the cause
of their being sooner put to death, exclaimed —
"Art Thou not the Christ? Save Thyself and us." And
though like cruel arrows piercing His breaking heart, Jesus
heard all their bitter taunts, yet He remained silent.

456 IT IS FINISHED !
"Dost not thou even fear God," exclaimed the other thief
to his companion, who was still calling Jesus names, " seeing
thou art in the same punishment as He? And we are
punished rightly for what we have done, but this Man hath
done nothing wrong." And turning his head, that his eyes
might see Jesus, he said imploringly, " Remember me, when
Thou comest into Thy Kingdom." Then the parched lips of
Jesus moved again as He slowly replied —
"Truly I say to thee, to-day thou shalt be with Me in
Heaven." And thou, my child, wilt learn from this, the awful wicked
ness of taking away the life of any one. Nothing raises
wicked passions in us more than sights of killing, whether by
soldiers or by executioners ; and if thou bearest in mind the
terrible cruelty of the death of Jesus, all thy life long thou wilt
set thy face against taking away human life, — the sacred gift
of God. IT IS FINISHED!
JERUSALEM, FRIDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
It was about ten o'clock when Jesus was put upon the
cross at Calvary, to hang unshaded in the hot April sun that
burned from a cloudless blue sky, while the priests came in
front of Him, to watch Him dying, and make sport of His
agony. Nor did they spare Him, although His mother came
near and stood at His feet, weeping with a breaking heart.
At a distance stood a group of Galilean women, the faithful
Mary Magdalene, Salome, Mary the wife of Cleopas, the
gentle Mary and Martha from Bethany, and others from
Jerusalem, who were weeping and watching also.
John is the only disciple who is mentioned as having been
there, and the soldiers allowed him to stand at the foot of the
cross and support Jesus' mother, now a widow, weeping, with
pale sweet face. Jesus heard and knew His mother's voice,
and amid all His anguish was sorry for her, and looking down
at her and John, He faintly said these few words —
" Woman, see thy son ; son, see thy mother ! " giving her

my god! my god! 457
into John's keeping. And ever after that she lived in John's
house like mother and son. Hour after hour passed slowly
by, the people looking on, women weeping, soldiers guarding,
priests watching like vultures to the last ; and when twelve
o'clock drew near, one of those rapid changes came over the
sunny day which are not uncommon in that country in Spring.
Black clouds, foreboding a storm, rolled up over the moun
tains and the blue sky. The sun loomed red through them
until it was hidden in the grimy darkness, and then there was
a brooding gloom over everything, with strange stillness and
stifling heat. And the people were silent and afraid, as they
looked up at the three crosses dimly seen against the horizon,
and expected something to happen. But the hours passed
slowly, and the clouds began to clear again ; until about three
o'clock, when the people were startled by a loud voice which
cried, in intense anguish —
" My God ! My God ! why hast Thou forsaken Me? " It
was Jesus crying in the gloom, crying to God in the language
of His childhood, and in tones of bitterest grief. Why He
cried thus, what He meant, we cannot tell ; but we can stand
in awe, with bowed heads in the presence of such anguish and
despair, — for it was for us He suffered.
"He calleth for Elijah from Heaven," said some one, for
His first two words, " Eli ! Eli ! " sounded like " Elijah ! "
And a soldier took a sponge and, pouring some water and
vinegar from his drinking-flask upon it, put it on the end of a
reed, and holding it up pressed it to the parched lips of Jesus,
and He drank a little of it.
" Let Him alone now," said another. " Let us see if Elijah
will come from Heaven to save Him." And the people stood
watching and waiting. But time passed slowly on, minute by
minute, each bearing its load of agony, amid the depressing
gloom of thunder-clouds and hot, windless silence, as though
all nature were hushed, listening, waiting for the brooding
storm to break. Again there was a movement among the
soldiers round the cross, for Jesus had with difficulty asked
for water, saying —

458 HIS DEATH.
" I thirst ! " and again a sponge of vinegar, on a hyssop
reed, was pressed to His dying lips. Scarcely had it been
lowered when a sudden cry —
" It is finished ! " uttered loudly by Jesus, rang with start
ling force in the stillness, followed by these faint but no longer
despairing words, as He looked up to Heaven — •
"Father, into Thy hands I give My Spirit!" And He
bowed His head. Jesus was dead ! The people looked at
each other in amazement. What ! Dead ! Dead so soon !
But still the whisper went from lip to lip. He is dead!
Dead, in six hours ! Even the Roman officer who stood
before the cross, and who had seen many a crucifixion, was
astonished, and exclaimed —
"Surely this was a good man — the Son of God." And
when He died, the trouble that seemed brooding in the
darkened skies of that Spring day, smote the world in
an earthquake that made the ground tremble under their
feet, shaking graves open and rocks asunder; and in the
Temple, the thick veil of purple and gold, sixty feet high,
that hid the Holy of Holies from the eyes of men,
was torn from top to bottom, showing the emptiness of
the gold-walled chamber in which God was thought to
dwell. Jesus was dead ! and in wonder, and great doubt the people
began to go away and leave the place, returning to their
homes in the city, many of them in remorse and perplexity
like wretched men, beating their breasts with their hands, as
they thought that, perhaps, after all, it might be that they
had helped to crucify Jesus, the Christ, the Hope of their
nation !
How did He die so soon, when others have lived on for
three days hanging on the dreadful cross ? He was young —
only thirty-three — strong, and had lived a temperate country
life. How did He die so soon ? He had something to bear
greater far than the pain of His pierced hands and feet.
The wickedness, the ingratitude, the cruelty of men, — the
future of the world, pressed on His heart with agony inex-

HIS GRAVE IN THE GARDEN. 459
pressible, and He died more of sorrow than of pain. The
people went away, but the soldiers had to remain, for the two
thieves who were crucified with Jesus were still hanging there
in agony. And the women of Galilee remained also. The
men might go back to the city to work, to eat, to forget, but
they stayed on ; for some one had gone to beg for the loved
One's body.
My child, I have told thee of the most awful thing that has
happened in the world's history. That Jesus, the perfect One,
should have been set upon by fiendish men, and, in the name
of religion, killed by torture in our beautiful world, we cannot
understand ; but we know why He let Himself be so slain, for
He has told us it was, " That He might draw all men unto
Him."

HIS GRAVE IN THE GARDEN.
JERUSALEM, FRIDAY, APRIL, A.D. 34.
A short time before Jesus died, some more priests had gone
to Pilate. The next day (which is our Saturday) was their
Jewish Sabbath. It began at sunset on Friday evening, and
it was a great day of services in the Temple, for it was the
Passover Sabbath, and the priests said to Pilate that it would
hurt their feelings and was against their rules, to have three
bodies hanging on "crosses almost within sight of the Temple,
where they were rejoicing and worshipping God ; and they
asked that Jesus and the two thieves should be gut to death
at once, that their bodies might be taken down and buried in
the vale of Hinnom, — the valley of fire, before the Sabbath
began. Yes, they were very anxious not to have their Sab
bath rules broken ! Pilate, who wished to have no more
trouble with them, gave orders that the three sufferers should
be killed, in the usual way, which was by breaking their legs
with heavy wooden clubs, the shock killing the exhausted man.
This was accordingly done by the soldiers to the two thieves ;
but, when they came to Jesus, He was already dead; but, -to
make quite sure, a soldier stabbed Jesus in the side with his

460 JOSEPH BEGS HIS BODY.
spear, and blood and water came out; but He showed no
sign of life.
By this time, Joseph of Arimathaea (a place in Enhraim), a
rich and good man, had also been to Pilate: He was a mem
ber ofthe great council that had condemned Jesus, and although
he had not voted for His death, he had not opposed it ; but
now that Jesus was dead, his conscience was roused. He was
determined that His body should not be put into the black and
smoking vale of Hinnom, in which all criminals were buried,
and he begged Pilate to let him have the body that he might
bury Jesus that evening before their Sabbath began. Pilate
was pleased with Joseph's request ; but was surprised to
hear that Jesus was already dead, and as he could not trust
to any friend of Jesus in such an important matter, he sent
for the officer in. charge of the crucifixion, who told him that
it was quite true, then he gave orders that Joseph should have
His body. Joseph then found Nicodemus. another friend of
Jesus in the great council, and together they went to the shops
and bought fine linen cloth to wrap the body in, and sweet
myrrh and bitter aloes to prepare it, and hastened back to
Calvary. The Galilean women were still there, but there were
few other friends. The soldiers dug up the cross, and laid it
gently on the ground, and carefully drawing the nails from the
feet and hands, and untying the cords, the body of Jesus was
tenderly taken from the rough wood and laid upon a light
piece of basket-work, and His friends carried Him sorrowfully
away. Now Joseph had a large garden a little way from the city
and close to Calvary, beautiful with flowers, grass, and rare
trees, kept by a gardener ; and like most rich men, he had
caused a burying-place to be made for himself and his family,
among the roses in a quiet part of that garden. It was a cave
cut out of the soft white rock, with a small entrance, and a
large chamber within ; and it was new, no one having yet been
buried in it. From the green mount of Calvary to this quiet
and beautiful place the friends of Jesus carried His body, and
few were the feet that followed Him in death, though many

BURIED AT SUNDOWN. 46 1
had crowded after Him in life ; but among them were two of
the women of Galilee — Mary, the sister of His mother (who
had been taken home by John), and the faithful Mary Mag
dalene. With footsteps treading softly upon the daisied
grass, through the bright flowers and the scented shrubs,
under the whispering leaves, with flakes and shafts of evening
sunlight falling round them like benisons from Heaven, they
bore the beautiful, the blood-stained body of their Friend and
Master to the loveliest spot in the corner of that garden.
And Joseph and Nicodemus, hastily sprinkHng the linen
cloths with their spicy mixture, wrapped the body of Jesus in
them, and laid Him tenderly down within the chamber of
that cave, there to rest in darkness and in silence, safe from
all His enemies, until the Saturday should be over, when they
would return again. Coming out again they took the large,
flat stone that was at the opening, and rolled it up to the
mouth of the grave, and by that time the setting sun was
"burning and glittering through the trees, for the Jewish
Sabbath had nearly begun. And the women who had sat
weeping. at a- distance, noting the place where the men had
laid Jesus, rose and went away, intending to prepare spices
and return on the Sabbath and dress His body properly, as
it was the custom for women to do, for careful burial in
the Jewish manner, and for which there was no time that
evening. Who can picture the feelings of these few men and
loving women, as they left the still garden, with the shadows
of that sorrowful night falling round them ! For Jesus lay
dead, and all their hopes seemed scattered like a dream.
Thus ended the day which men call " Good Friday."
Next day (which was our Saturday, but the Jewish Sabbath) ,
hearing that Joseph and Nicodemus, two of their own council, ,
had buried Jesus, the priests held a short meeting, and, fearing
some trjcjf, they resolved to fasten the body of Jesus into the
grave for safety, at least until three days had gone by ; and
going with the Pharisees to Pilate, they sent him this message,
for they said they were tQp pjjte to go into his palace —
" Sir, we remember that Jesus, the deceiver, said, while He

462 JESUS DEAD !
was alive, that after three days He would rise again. Com
mand, therefore, that His grave be made secure until the third
day, lest His friends come and steal His body away, and tell
the people that He is risen from the dead ; when the last
error would be worse than the first."
" Take a guard of soldiers, and go away and make it as
secure as you can," was Pilate's short message back. And
again the strange sight was seen of Roman soldiers and head
-priests entering a beautiful, peaceful garden; but now they
sought not the'place of the living, but the grave of the dead.
And it was the Jewish Sabbath day when they did this thing.
They found the stone there, closing the mouth of the grave,
and in order to seal Jesus in, they fastened the stone, perhaps
with clay round the edges, perhaps with a feeble string
stretched across it, sealed at each end with a priest's finger
ring ; and then they went away to their priestly duties at the
Golden Temple, for it was a high day with them, leaving
Roman soldiers to watch by night and by day that no one
should touch the stone. And as the soldiers paced to and
fjo. on guard, with their armour on and their weapons at hand,
their footsteps echoed in the silent hollow of the dark cave
where the body of Jesus lay.
The kindness of Joseph is like a shaft of light at this time.
It was no small thing for him to face the anger and the jeers
of his rich friends for being kind to the body of Jesus. To
touch a dead person would prevent him, as impure, from join
ing' in the Passover Festivals for the week, and to have a
criminal buried in his garden would be called a disgrace;
yet Nicodemus did not hesitate. And thou wilt learn, like
him, to do what is right when thy duty is made plain to thee,
letting them jeer who will.
JESUS DEAD!
JERUSALEM, SABBATH, APRIL, A.D. 34.
Jesus dead ! The news spread dismay among His disciples,
and there was not one who believed He would ever rise again.
They hoped He would have been the Saviour of, the nation,

GUARDING HIS GRAVE. 463
and found a great Kingdom of cities, armies, and soldiers, but
His power seemed_to be at an end. Their dream of a splen
did kingdom, money, and power was scattered by His death,
and they thought He would henceforth be remembered only
as a singularly pure young Maa of God who worked wonders,
and spoke things which people could not understand, and who
through envy was crucified by the priests without resistance.
If He had only done as His disciples wished, how different
things might have been, they thought ! There was nothing
Jeft for them now but to go back to their boats and their nets,
their tools, gardens, fields, and try tojive the good life which
He had pictured to them, telling their children of the rare
and gentle One whom they had followed for a while until He
was killed.
This Jewish Sabbath was kept by the priests in Jerusalem
with extra high and joyful ceremony in the Golden Temple,
with chaagJEg of rich dresses, trumpet-blowing, chorus-singing,
incense-burning, and altar fires. The old Teachers could
speak as they liked now in the beautiful marble porches, with
out fear of interruption, for the young Galilean who used to
teach there in His simple white tunic, lay cold and still in the
hollow cave in the beautiful rose garden, securely sealed in.
But how was it with the friends of Jesus? The Galilean
women, gifted by nature with greater constancy than the men,
speM the, long sad day in preparing spices and ointments and
hnen with which to dress His gentle body for regular Jewish
burial on the morrow. His disciples said, Jesus would never
rise again, but despite His terrible death and awful lying in
the grave, something made the women hope and feel that the
dawning of to-morrow would bring new things. And chief
among these believing, loving women was the beautiful Mary
Magdalene. Saturday, which was their Tewish Sabbath, went slowly
past, and all through the cold, dark night the Roman
soldiers watched the grave by the light of a large fire, and
when morning drew near, they looked towards the dark
hflls_of_JIaab_ for the_first si^ns of the coming day. Sud-

464 THE GRAVE EMPTY.
denly, a little, before the dawn, an earthquake shook the
ground, and an angel with shming raiment passed through the
men. Going towards the grave he rolled the great stone away
from its opening, and sat down on it to wait. He was like a
beautiful youth, and when he turned his face towards the
soldiers it shone like lightning, and his raiment was dazzling
as snow, and they were so afraid, that they fell down and lay
with their faces to the ground. When they recovered from
their fright and looked up again, the grave was empty. Jesus
and the angel were gone. And rising in haste, the soldiers
fled into the city.
While it was still rjark. Mary Magdalene had timidly left
her house in Jerusalem, and hastening along the silent streets
had found her way alone into the star-lit garden, for she was
determined to be the first at the grave with her spices and
ointments. She heard the drowsy challenge of the blackbird
as he awoke in the yew tree. Her feet brushed the glitter
ing dewdrops from the wild flowers as she hastened over the
grass, for the night was passing away, and the silver streaks of
the dawn were shining along the skies when she reached the
beautiful part of Joseph's garden where the grave was, — but her
heart stopped with horror. The grave was open ! — empty !
deserted ! — the guards were gone. And while she stood wait
ing there, and not knowing what to do, MaryL Joanna, Salome,
and other Galilean women came, also bringing spices and
ointments ; and they went into the grave, and were astonished
to find that the body of Jesus was .away. Then Mary Magda
lene, who was young and strong, fled away from the garden to
the house in the city, where Peter and John lived, to tell them
what had happened, and as she ran, the golden dawn of a new
and glorious day spread, kinrljjng over the heavens, until the
shadows fled, and radiant clouds hung bosomed with crimson
above her,- — a day which has ever since been called our
Sabbath. " They have taken away the Lord out of the grave, and
we do not know where they have laid Him," she exclaimed
with panting breath, to the two astonished disciples, who

WOMEN AND ANGELS. 465
sprang to their feet at once and ran to Joseph's garden as fast
as they could, and Mary followed them back again.
Now while she was away, and as the Galilean women waited
near the open grave in the garden, sweet with the dewy fra
grance of the roses, suddenly two angels stood beside them,
with dazzling robes, and the women hid their faces in fear,
and heard one of them say —
" Be not amazed ! Be not afraid ! I know that you seek
Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He is not here . He is
risen ! Remember what He said while He was in Galilee
with you. That He would be given into the hands of cruel
men, and be crucified, and^on the third day would rise again.
Come and see where the Lord lay," pointing to that part of
the cave where Joseph and Nicodemus had tenderly laid His
body.. The trembling women went into the large dim chamber
andNjpbked. " Go quickly," the angel continued, " and tell
His disciples and Peter that He is risen from the dead, and
will go into Galilee before you, where you shall see Him as
He said. Now I have told you."
And the women hastened away from the grave to tell the
disciples the joyful message ; and as they went they tried to
recollect what Jesus had said about rising again. And this
was Sabbath, the morning of the third day after His death,
for he died on Friday afternoon.
In the meantime John and Peter were hastening out from
the city, and John, who was the younger man, ran faster than
Peter, and came first to the open grave in the garden ; and
bending down he looked in, and saw the pieces of linen cloth
lying which Joseph had brought, but the body of Jesus was
gone ; and he was afraid to go in. But when Peter came, he
went in at once through the low door and into the dim.
chamber, and John followed him. They looked at the pieces
of blood-stained linen cloth which lay folded on one side, and
thought it seemed as if Jesus had gone out alive, or why
should the pieces of linen cloth be so taken off His body and
left behind ? Coming out into the sunshine again, they walked
away back to their house together, wondering very much at
what they had seen.

466 HE IS RISEN !
And thou wilt remember how the Jewish Monday became
our Sabbath, and the great things which happened on that
day so long ago, when from the sorrow of these faithful
women there rose a glorious hope of life beyond the grave.
HE IS RISEN!
JERUSALEM, SABBATH, APRIL, A.D. 34.(3o)
Peter and John went back to the city, but Mary Magdalene
waited behind in the garden. She could not leave the grave
of Jesus until she jaiew what h_ad become of Him whom she
loved so much. Had He gone forth alive, or — dreadful
thought ! — had the priests taken away His body to bury itin
the smoking vale of Hinnom ? And she went over and stood
besideJhe open grave among the roses, that hung their green
flowering streamers over the hard, grey rocks, and she wept
bitterly, — faithful through death. But what could she do, a
poor, despised woman from distant Galilee? Bending low
down she looked again with tearful eyes into the dim cave,
into which she feared to go, and instantly her sobs ceased, for
she saw two angels sitting there in dazzling robes, the one at
the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body
of Jesus had lain, and she started back with a cry of astonish
ment. " Woman, why weepest thou ? " asked one of them in a
gentle voice. Mary hesitated ; but her love for Jesus con
quered her fears, and she answered from without the grave —
" Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not
where they have laid Him." And having answered him, she
burst again into tears, and as she turned away, she saw some
One standing near, whom she took to be the gardener.
" Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou?" He
asked. Thinking that the gardener would be sure to know
what had become of Jesus, she exclaimed in words of passion
ate entreaty —
"Sir, if thou hast carried Him out, tell me where thou
hast laid Him, and I will take Him away." She, with her poor

MARY AND JESUS. 467
woman's strength, would carry the dead body of Jesus to a
place of safety, if only he would tell her where to find Him !
The reply was but one word —
"Mary!" spoken in a tone that made the blood mount in
crimson blushes to her face as, turning to Him, she exclaimed — ¦
" Rabboni ! " for it was Jesus whom, in the language of their
childhood, she called her " Master." And sinking down she
would have clasped His feet with her hands.
"Take not hold of Me," Jesus said, "for I have not yet
gone up to My Father in Heaven, but go to My disciples and
tell them that I shall go to My Father and your Father, to
My God and your God." And He departed, leaving Mary
alone amid the flowers and trees of that quiet garden, with a
heart bursting with joy, for she was the first to see Jesus.
The news of the empty g^ave had now spread among His
friends, and Mary, sister to the mother of Jesus, returning
back to the garden, found Mary Magdalene there ; and as they
were walking together, Jesus appeared to them and said — ¦
" All hail ! " which was a common manner of greeting ;
and the women worshipped Him, and as they knelt down
and clasped His feet, they heard Him say, " Fear not ! Go
and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and they shall see Me
there." And when Jesus was gone they rose and went into
the city, to tell as many of their friends as they could.
They found some of them in a house where they had met
together to talk over what had happened, but they were all
very much cast down, thinking that the body of Jesus had
been stolen out of the grave ; and they would not believe
Mary Magdalene and the other women when they came in
and told them that they had seen Jesus, and angels, and gave
them a message to go to Galilee. They said that their story
was only women's foolish tales.
What did the Roman soldiers do who had fled at daybreak
from that green garden? They resolved to return to their
quarters in the city, as though their watch were over at day
break, and to sav_ nothing to their officers about the open grave.
They would have been severely punished, and perhaps killed,

468 STRANGE STORIES.
by the Governor Pjlale, for failing to keep a proper guard had
they told him what had happened. But they also thought
that some of them should go and tell the priests who sealed
the stone. And early that day they went to the priests and
told them about the angel appearing, and about the body cf
Jesus being away when they recovered from their fear. Caia
phas, the High Priest, at once called together his small council
of chief men, and sitting in private they talked over the strange
story. Some of them would not believe it, thinking that the
soldiers had been persuaded to let some friends of Jesus take
away His body, and had made up this tale to deceive them ;
but they decided that what they had said must not become
known, and they resolved to give the soldiers money if they
would tell a different story.
Calling in the men, they pretended not to believe their story,
and perhaps threatened to tell Pilate, and said that if they
would say to people that the disciples of Jesus came and
took away His body while they were asleep, they would give
them money to divide among themselves and their com
panions. But the soldiers replied that the punishment for
sleeping while on guard was instant death ; and how could
they say that Jesus had been taken away by His disciples, and
-also say that they were asleep at the time. But the priests
told the soldiers never to mind that, and made light of their
fears, and offered them more money, until it came to a very
large sum, promising at last that if Pilate should come to
hear of their made up story, they would get him not to punish
them. Now the men in that council who offered bribes to
these poorly paid soldiers were the richest and most powerful
Jews in Jerusalem, and at last the soldiers took the money
and promised to tell the required nu2ib_er of ligs. And when
the news began to be known throughout the city that the
grave of Jesus was empty, the priests and the soldiers also
spread their story that the disciples had stolen His body
while the guard were asleep. And for years this story of the
priests was commonly talked about and was believed by many
people.

ON THE ROAD TO EMMAUS. 469
And thou wilt remember how Mary Magdalene stood weep
ing among the roses at the door of the empty grave, and
heard Jesus speaking her name, and turning, called Him
" Master." And may thou, too, hear Jesus calling thee,
and turn to Him with all the love and worship of thy young
heart.

ON THE ROAD TO EMMAUS.
JERUSALEM, SABBATH, APRIL, A.D. 34.
And during all that long Sabbath, which was the Jewish
Monday, the disciples and friends of Jesus were meeting
with each other and talking over the strange rumours and
stories of the day. It was reported that not only had Jesus
appeared to Mary Magdalene and the other women, but that
He had also appeared to Peter, but we are not told whether
it was in the garden. Two men also, Cleopas and his com
panion, said that He had appeared to them that afternoon in
the following manner —
They were going from Jerusalem to Emmaus, a little
country village about eight mjles Westward over the Judaean
hills towards the sea. They were on their way home, think
ing that the death of Jesus had put_an^end to all their hopes
and plans, and as they walked they talked of all that had
happened to Jesus, and whether He could be the Christ,
and of the strange stories of the women, who said that He
had appeared to them early that morning in Joseph's garden.
While they were thus talking earnestly a young Stranger over-
1-ooJt them, and walked beside them, listening to what they
said as they argued together.
" What are those sad things about which you talk with each
other as you walk?" the Stranger asked, for He saw they
were much cast down. They were surprised that, coming
from Jerusalem, He should put such a question.
"Art Thou a stranger in Jerusalem," they asked, "that
Thou knowest not what has happened there in these days? "
"What things?" was the simple question.

47O ABIDE WITH US.
" About Jesus of Nazareth," they both answered, " who was
a Prophet, great in deed and word before God and all the
people, and how the chief priests and our rulers gave Him up
to Pilate to be put to death ; and they have crucified Him
whom we thought was the Christ, and trusted should have
saved the nation. Besides all this," continued the men
earnestly, "this is the third day since it happened. Yes,
and some of our women who were early at His grave this
morning, came and amazed His friends by saying that His
body was gone, and that they had seen a vision of angels,
who said that Jesus was alive ; and some of us went to the
grave and found it empty as the women had said, but we
did not see Jesus." The two men did not believe the story
of the women about the angels ; and when they were done
speaking, the Stranger replied in a way which showed that
He did not see why they should doubt that Jesus was the
Christ. " Oh, foolish men ! " He said, " and slow to believe after
all that the prophets have said. According to them, ought
not the Christ to suffer these very things which Jesus hath
suffered, and enter into His glory?" The men were not
able to answer, and as they walked on, the Stranger began
at the first book of the Bible, and going through all the
books, pointed out the things which applied to Jesus as
the Christ, and which had been written many years before ;
and as they listened, they thought that He must be
some great Teacher, and their hearts glowed with joy at
what He said. They walked for two hours together, and
the afternoon \vas far on before they reached the pretty
village of Emmaus, with its white houses set upon a rising
ground, in a district of orange and lemon groves and olive
trees ; and when they came to the low flat-roofed house where
the men lived, they stopped, and the Stranger was about to
bid them farewell and go further on, but they asked Him to
come in, saying —
" Abide with us, for it is near evening, and the day is now
far spent." The red sun sinking over the hills of Ephraim

DID NOT OUR HEARTS BURN? 47 1
told them that it would soon be dark, and the Stranger
accepted their invitation and went into the house. When
the evening, meal was ready, they sat down at the table,
and the Stranger, taking up the bread, blessed it, and break
ing it, held it out to them. Something in His manner of
doing this told the two men that He whose appearance was
so different from that of their young Master before His death,
was none other than Jesus Himself, — and instantly He van
ished from their sight.
" Did not our hearts burn within us, as He talked with us
by the way and explained the Bible?" they exclaimed ; and
they wondered how it was that they did not know Him
soorier. Hastily finishing their meal, Cleopas and his com
panion walked back again to Jerusalem, arriving there in the
dark ; and they went at once to the house of their friends,
and found a number of them still there.
"The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Peter,"
was the first thing they were told when they went in ; and
then, amid hushed attention, they also told how Jesus had
appeared to them, and what He had said. But the people
who were in the house would not believe their story. And when
they were done, they all remained together talking, with both
the inner and outer doors closed, for fear of the priests, who
had spread the report that they had stolen the body of Jesus.
But the stories of all those who said they had seen Jesus that
day were so strange, that there were some among His
friends who refused to believe that He had been se#n at
all. And thou, my child, wilt think of how Jesus was with these
two men and taught them ; and wilt remember that, while
thou canst never see Him, yet He will give thee views of
truth and golden openings of heaven, in a companionship
closer even than they had, —
" For though His face we cannot see,
Nor touch His human hand;
He dwelleth with the pure in heart
Of every clime and land."

472 BE NOT DOUBTFUL, BUT BELIEVING.
BE NOT DOUBTFUL, BUT BELIEVING.
JERUSALEM, APRIL, A.D. 34.
As the friends of Jesus sat in that upper room, said to be
in Mark's mother's house, on this first Sabbath evening after
His death, they found much to talk about, for Jesus was re
ported to have appeared four different times to people that
day, some of whom brought messages from Him, and all of
whom had something strange to say of His appearance, and of
His coming and going. All the disciples but Thomas were
there, and there would also be the Galilean women, and
Mary, Martha, and Lazarus from Bethany, Nicodemus, Cleo-
pas, and Joseph, and they had the door securely shut, lest
their meeting should become known to the Pharisees. Those
to whom Jesus had appeared, firmly believed that He was
risen, but those to whom He had not appeared said that the
others had only had visions or had seen a ghost, and they would
not believe ; for the dreadful spectacle of Jesus -hanging dead
upon the cross had crushed out all their hopes. With lights
dim, so as not to"' attract notice, they sat talking on that Sab
bath evening, and some of them were having a little food,
when suddenly the form of Jesus appeared in their midst, and
He saluted them in His old way, saying —
" Peace be to you." But they all gazed at Him in silent
terror and amazement, thinking they saw a ghost, for the doors
were barred and the windows shut.
" Why are you troubled ? Why do doubts rise in your
minds? See," He said, holding out His hands, which the
cruel nails had pierced on the cross, " see My hands and My
feet, that it is I myself. Handle Me, and see ; for a ghost
hath not flesh and bones, as you see Me have." And He
showed them His pierced hands and feet, and the wound in
His side, which the soldier's spear had made. But yet some
of the people there, out of very joy, could not believe that it
was Jesus whom they saw, and continued to gaze at Him in
wonder. " Have you here anything to eat ? " Jesus asked. And

PREACH THE GOSPEL. 473
some one gave Him a piece of broiled fish and some honey
comb, which He ate. Then He upbraided His ten disciples
for their want of faith and hardness of heart in not believing
those who said they had seen Him, and by whom He had
sent a message ; and He reminded them of how He had told
them that He would be killed and would rise again, and, after
speaking of other things, He said —
" Go you into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every
one, and whoever believeth shall be saved, and he that
believeth not shall be punished. Peace be with you. As
God sent Me to teach, even so send I you." And when He
had said this, He breathed upon them, saying, " Receive
the Holy Spirit." Then He vanished from their sight, and
they were left wondering at what they had seen and heard.
After this the friends of Jesus did not at once go home to
Galilee, but stayed on in Jerusalem for more than_a week,
meeting- daily together in the same upper room, in Mark's
mother's house, expecting to see Jesus again, and they told
Thomas about Jesus appearing among them on the first
Sabbath evening. But Thomas was an independent, strong-
willed man, and he would not believe their stories. He
thought that the teaching of Jesus was at an end, and with
sorrow he had made up his mind to go back to the Lake of
Gennesaret and his fishing-nets, and when the others pressed
him to believe that Jesus was indeed risen, he replied —
" Unless I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and
put my fingers into them, and shall put my hand into the
spear-wound in His side, I will not believe." His strong
nature had received such a shock from the death of Him
whom he thought armies could not have conquered, that
he demanded such proof as he believed would never be
given. He came, however, to their meetings in the room
above the street in Jerusalem. A week went past without
Jesus being seen again by any one ; till one evening, as His
followers were met together in the same room, with closed
doors, suddenly Jesus stood in the midst of them, and said as
before —

474 LOVEST THOU ME?
" Peace be to you," and holding out His hands, He said to
Thomas, " Reach hither thy finger, and see My hands, and thy
hand, and put it into My side, and be not doubtful, but be
lieving." Thomas was filled with grief at those sad words;
and the thought covered him with shame and confusion that,
in moments of bitter hopelessness, he had spoken ever so
lightly of his dear Master.
And he exclaimed in deep earnestness, " My Lord, and my
God ! "
" Because thou hast seen Me hast thou believed ? " Jesus
asked His strong-willed disciple, adding, as a gentle rebuke,
" Blessed are they who have not seen Me, and yet have believed."
Meaning that it is but a weak trust and a narrow spirit that
will not believe what it has not seen. And again Jesus
departed from among them as strangely as He had come.
And thou, too, wilt remember the lesson given to Thomas,
that they are greatly blessed who have faith in the unseen, but
not unknown. Thou wilt meet with men who will deny this
saying of Jesus, and tell thee to believe nothing that thou
canst not see, but they may as well ask thee to believe that
Jesus never lived, for the greatest things are those which we
cannot see and yet believe, — wind, thought, heaven, life, spirit,
Jesus, God, — all are unseen.
LOVEST THOU ME?
LAKE-SIDE, APRIL, A.D. 34.
A f£w weeks have passed since the death of Jesus, and the
scene is once more by the blue Lake of Gennesaret, amid the
familiar green hills, and in the loveliest time of all the year —
Spring — the time of wild flowers and blossoming fruit trees.
When the Passover Festival was over, the bands from
Galilee walked home again to their villages among the green
hills, spreading the news of the sad death of Jesus. And the
disciples followed them, for they had been told that Jesus
would meet them on a certain hill in Galilee, and until that
day should come, Peter and some of the others went to their

I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS. 475
homes by the Lake-side, and began again their trade of
fishermen. During the six weeks that followed that Sabbath morning
when the grave of Jesus was found open and empty, we are
told that He appeared and spoke to many of His disciples and
friends, and showed Himself alive by many proofs. His
appearing to James, to abouf hve^hupdred people in one place
in Galilee, to the ^disciples upon' a hill there, to Peter andl
others on the shore of the Lake, and to the disciples again in
Jerusalem, are specially mentioned. We are also told that Hetj
did many signs before them. Yet we are told there was/
always something so strange in His appearance, and in His
coming and in His going again, that His friends sometimes
failed at first to know that it was He, and many doubted if
He were really risen in bodily form at all. But the faith of
the eleven disciples grew stronger every day, and they began
to hope again that Jesus would yet come to remain and
establish a great kingdom upon the earth.
When the appointed day came, the disciples gathered to
the hill in Galilee which Jesus had named, and which would
not be far from the Lake of Gennesaret, and He appeared to
them there, at first a little way off, and they worshipped Him,
then coming towards them, He repeated some of the things
which He had told them before, adding —
" All power hath been given to Me in Heaven and on earth.
Go, therefore, and make followers of Me in all places, teach
ing them to do all the things that I have commanded you.
Lo ! I am with you always, even to the end of the world."
And after remaining a short time with them, He again
departed from their sight. But even yet, some who were
there, doubted whether they had seen their own dear
Master, or only a vision, for they could not understand
why He should come and go in this strange way. They
were being taught to do without His presence, and to be
lieve Him alive, though unseen. And from that hill the
disciples went back again to their boats and their fishing at
the Lake.

476 IT IS THE LORD.
A few days later Peter, James, Thomas, John, Nathanael,
and two others, had gone out in Peter's boat to fish all night,
which was the usual time for fishing, and though they rowed
up and down the Lake, putting out and taking in their nets,
when the red dawn burned along the edges of the hills and be
gan to lighten upon the water, they had caught nothing, and it
was no use trying any longer. As they rowed to the land, the
growing day was breaking over the purple hills of the Jaulan,
and steeping the lake with rose and gold, and they saw a
Stranger, whom they did not know, standing on the white
shore by the water's edge, and He called to them —
"Children, have you anything to eat?" and when they
answered " No," He replied —
" Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you shall
find fish." The men stopped rowing. Perhaps He had seen
fish moving there, and they quickly lowered their net once
more, rowing round in a ring until it was hanging in a circle
in the water, and when they began slowly to pull it in,
they found it heavy with fish, and the truth flashed on
John. " It is the Lord ! " he exclaimed. And when Peter heard
John say this, he looked, and binding his fisherman's coat
about him, for he was naked, having perhaps swum round
with the net, he sprang into the water to swim to the shore,
which was only a hundred yards off, and with swift strokes he
was soon at the feet of the Stranger. The other men, getting
into a little boat, rowed slowly towards the shore, dragging
the full net after them, and when they came to the beach,
they found a fire burning, with fish laid on it to cook, and
bread to eat.
" Bring the fish which you have caught," the Stranger said,
and the men pulled in the net, and shook out a hundred and
fifty-three large fishes upon the pebbly beach. And they were
surprised that their slender net was not broken.
" Come ! break your fast — eat," the Stranger said, and
taking the fish and the bread in His hands He broke them,
and gave them to the hungry disciples. And while they

FOLLOW THOU ME. 477
wished much to make certain who He was, yet none of them
cared to ask Him, for they knew it was Jesus. After they had
breakfasted, turning to Peter, Jesus said —
"Lovest thou Me more than these?" pointing to the other
disciples. " Yes, Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee," Peter an
swered humbly.
" Feed My lambs ! " was the reply, meaning, teach My
followers. And after a pause He asked again, " Lovest thou
Me much ? " to which Peter replied anxiously —
"Yes, Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee much."
" Feed My sheep," was the reply. After another pause,
He said a third time, " Lovest thou Me very much? " Now
Peter was deeply grieved that he was asked thus a third
time, and he replied earnestly —
" Lord, Thou knowest all things ; Thou knowest that I love
Thee." " Feed My sheep," was again the reply. Had not Peter
in the courtyard of Caiaphas's palace three times denied that
he even knew Jesus? But Jesus was not unkind, and looking
on Peter's troubled face, He added gently, " I tell thee, that
when thou wast young, thou didst bind up thy robe and walk
whither thou wouldest ; but when thou art old thou shalt stretch
forth thy hands and another one shall guide thee and carry thee
whither thou wouldest not." This was a gentle rebuke for
Peter's fault of too much self-confidence.
" Follow Me ! " said Jesus, and He turned and walked away
from the Lake, and as they went, John walked behind, and
Peter asked, pointing to John —
" Lord ! and what shall this man do? "
" If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to thee ? "
was the reply. " Follow thou Me ! " But the disciples did
not know what Jesus meant by His answer, nor can we under
stand it ; and soon after that He parted from them.
And thou, my child, canst ask thyself the question which
Jesus asked the rough, warm-hearted Peter, "Lovest thou
Jesus." Peter had his faults, and so hast thou ; but I think

478 A CLOUD RECEIVED HIM.
that thou canst answer as truthfully as he — " Lord, Thou
knowest that I love Thee," for to love Jesus is to love all that
makes life good and beautiful and happy.
A CLOUD RECEIVED HIM.
JERUSALEM, MAY, A.D. 34.
It was early Summer, the trees were in thick green leaf, and
wheat was waving in the fields when the disciples returned from
Galilee to Jerusalem to live together in the same large upper
room above the street, reached by a stone outside stair, in which
they had lived before. They were now full of hope that Jesus
would come again, and drive out all the enemies of their
country, and live in the king's palace at Jerusalem, to remain
with them, and establish His great kingdom of cities and
armies on the earth.
We now come to His last appearance. It happened
about six weeks after His death, and in the same strange
manner as before. The disciples were all met together in the
same upper room, in Jerusalem, and Jesus was again seen
by them there, and spoke much to them. We are not told all
that He said, but He reminded them of what He had said
about His death, before it happened, saying —
These were the words which I told you while I was living
with you, that everything must happen to Me that is written
about the Christ in the Books of Moses, the Psalms, and the
Old Prophets of the Bible. And then He explained the Bible
to them, causing their minds to understand what they had not
understood before, just as He had done to the two men on
the Emmaus road, showing them the parts which applied to
Him as the Christ, adding — For it is written there that the
Christ should suffer death, and rise again from the grave
on the third day ; so that repentance and forgiveness should
be afterwards taught in His name to all nations of the world,
beginning first in Jerusalem. And you are the witnesses of
these things — witnesses that I am Jesus the Christ, of whom
the Bible speaketh. Then, speaking of the Spirit of Truth,
which He had promised them, He added — Behold I shall

ON OLIVET. 479
send the promise of My Father upon you, but you must
remain in Jerusalem until you receive that promise from God.
In a few days you will be filled with the Holy Spirit.
He then told them to follow Him, and led the way out of
the city, over the bridge, past the dark ojjxe grove of Geth
semane, and up to, the Mount of Olives, by the Bethany road.
Once more, from the other side of the deep, dark Kedron
valley, they saw the splendid city outspread, with its great
Temple of white and gold. The men knew that this was to be
the last appearance of Jesus, and they wished to ask one ques
tion before He left them. In what year, on what day, would
He return to the world to establish His great kingdom ? For
they still believed that He would drive out the Romans with
soldiers, and give the Jews back their country, in which
triumph they would all share, and they put this question —
" Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore the kingdom to the
Jews?" " It is not for you to know the times and seasons which
God hath appointed," was His only reply. And He told them
of other things which they should think about. Of the Spirit,
which would teach them that His Kingdom of Heaven was a
Kingdom in the hearts of men, not a Kingdom of cities and
soldiers. "You shall receive power," He said, "when the
Holy Spirit is come upon you, and you shall be witnesses for
Me, not only in Jenisalem, but also in Judaea and Samaria,
and the furthest parts of the world." Thus speaking of the
long journeys which these disciples would go when spreading
His message of Heaven.
Slowly they climbed the hill to the highest point of Olivet,
from which they could see the splendid city of Jerusalem, and
the spot beyond tljg Western wall where Jesus was killed. To
their left hand they could trace the outline of the yellow He
bron hills towards Bethlehem, where thirty-three years ago
He was born. And there upon His favourite place of retire
ment, a silent, wind-swept hill, under His feet the simple
flower-strewn grass, over His head the fair blue sky with white
clouds bending low, clouds cloven with the snowy wings of

480 WHY STAND YE GAZING?
angels, whose radiant faces looked down upon this the last
scene of all, lifting up His hands He blessed the group of
Galilean fishermen ; and while He yet spoke He was parted
from them, and taken up into Heaven ; and as they looked,
a cloud received Him out of their sight, and they worshipped
there. "You men of Galilee," said a voice beside them, " why do
you stand gazing up into the sky? " J?he men turned to the
speaker, and were amazed to see two angels standing beside
them, who continued, " This Jesus, who hath been received
up from you into Heaven, shall come in the same way as you
have seen Him go." This was their message, and the angels
also departed. Then the eleven disciples returned into the
city and to their friends whom they had left in the upper room,
and told them what had happened, and that Jesus would
appear no more.
The followers of Jesus waited on in Jerusalem for the com
ing of the Holy Spirit in full measure, as they were told to
do, and continued to meet in their large room day after day ;
Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew,
Matthew, Simon, Judas, James the Less, Joseph, Nicodemus,
Mark, Lazarus, Matthias, Cleopas, Mary, the mother of Jesus,
and her sister Salome, Mary Magdalene, Martha, Mary, Jo
anna, and the brothers of Jesus and others who joined them,
would all be there. And they continued together praying,
and going daily to the Temple to praise and bless God ;
and soon their numbers increased to over an hundred per
sons. My child, thou wilt hear it said that the body of Jesus
did not come to life again after His death, but that only
His Spirit lived, and that these strange appearances to His
friends were visions. Some even of those who saw Him
would not believe that they saw Jesus ; and it is indeed
true that He did not seem the same as before. But
let not that disturb thy mind. The great truth remains,
that the Spirit of Jesus lives after His death. And the
effect upon His disciples was to change them from terrified

peter's defence. 481
and despairing men to brave and confident teachers, such
as the world had not seen. In thy thoughts about His
life, thou wilt not fail to catch the golden thread of absolute
spiritual truth which runs through it all ; and, having that,
thou canst afford to let alone many of the unexplainable
things round which controversy so fruitlessly and harmfully
wages.
PETER'S DEFENCE.
JERUSALEM, MAY, A.D. 34.
During the days that passed while the followers of Jesus
waited in Jerusalem for the fuller gift of the Holy Spirit,
Peter became the chief disciple, and did all he could to
encourage the rest, as Jesus had told him to do. He thought
they should appoint another disciple in the place of the
dead Judas Iscariot, and so have twelve again ; and at a
meeting in Jerusalem, when there were one hundred and
twenty persons present, so rapidly did others join them,
Peter stood up, and having told them about Judas Iscariot,
urged strongly that his place should be filled, saying —
" Of the men who have been with us all the time that
Jesus went about among us, one must become a witness with
us the other disciples, of His rising from the dead." And"
the ten disciples agreed that this was right, and put forward
two men, Joseph and Matthias, that Peter might choose one
of them. And they prayed to Jesus, saying that He knew the
hearts of all men, and asking which of them He wished.
They then drew lots between the men, and the lot fell on
Matthias, who became one of the twelve disciples. The upper
room soon became too small for their meetings, and they
went to a larger and more public place, where they met with
open doors, for the cruel death of Jesus, instead of putting
down His followers, had caused many secret friends to come
publicly forward and join the disciples, and they no longer
feared the priests, but met openly as followers of Jesus who
had been crucified.
Another Festival came round, the Festival of Weeks, when

482 WE ARE NOT DRUNK.
first fruits were offered in the Temple, and on a day in the
end of May, called the Day of Pentecost, as these early Chris
tians were met together in Jerusalem, in a large public room,
which could easily be found, a strange thing happened.
Suddenly there came a sound from the skies as of a storm
of rushing wind and lightning, and it seemed to fill the place
where they were sitting, and they saw what looked like flaming
tongues of fire dividing up among them, and resting on each
of them. And as they sat there in awe-struck silence, they
were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and one after another they
began to speak in strange tongues, and were full of great joy
and enthusiasm, and praised and thanked God for His gift.
Now there were in Jerusalem at that time many good Jews
who had come to the Festival from foreign countries, and
some of them were at this meeting, and when they heard the
disciples speaking of Jesus and His death, they were surprised,
and asked —
"Are not these men who speak all Galileans? And yet
we hear them speaking of the mighty works of God each in
our own language." But other Jews of the city came, who
disliked Jesus and His followers, and when they heard the
disciples speaking of His death and rising again, they mocked
at them, and said loudly to each other —
"These men are drunk with wine." Perhaps they inter
rupted Peter, for he heard them, and, bold, now that he had
received in fuller measure the Spirit of his Master, Peter stood
up and calmly and in a loud voice, as the chief of the disciples,
made his defence to these Jews of Jerusalem.
"You men of Judaea, and all who live in Jerusalem," he
said, "listen to my words, and let this be known. These
men," pointing as he spoke to the other disciples, " are not
drunk, as you suppose." Then at some length he proceeded
to show from the Bible that this strange scene was the coming
of the Holy Spirit of which the prophets had spoken ; and he
went on openly to accuse these Jews of Jerusalem of the most
shameful cruelty in killing Jesus, saying —
"You men of this nation, hear these words. Jesus of

HIM YOU DID CRUCIFY. 483
Nazareth, a man proved to be from God by the great works,
wonders, and signs, which God did through Him among you,
as you yourselves well know. Him you did crucify and kill
by the hands of unlawful men. But God hath raised Him up
again from the grave, because it was not possible that it
should hold Him." And saying that King David wrote of
Jesus in the 16th Psalm, Peter continued, "This very Jesus,
God hath raised up, of which we all are witnesses," pointing as
he spoke to those around him. " He therefore being raised
to the right hand of God, and we having received from Him a
promise of the Holy Spirit, He hath poured out this power
upon us which you now see and hear." And Peter ended his
speech, parts only of which I have given thee, with these
solemn words, " Therefore let every house in the country
know as a certainty, that God hath made both Lord and
Christ this Jesus whom you crucified."
Thus did Peter, the fisherman of Galilee, show, in that
noble, fearless speech, that he was no longer the same kind of
man who denied Jesus with oaths, but that by the influence of
the Holy Spirit he was changed, and had a power guiding
him to eloquence and truth such as he never had before.
And as the people looked at him standing there in the rough
clothing of a Galilean peasant, and heard his fearless elo
quence and convincing reasoning, some of those city Jews
felt pricked to the heart when they thought of the shameful
death of Jesus not two months ago, and they asked the
disciples, saying —
"Brothers, what shall we do?"
" Be sorry for your wickedness," Peter replied, speaking for
all the others, " and be baptized every one of you in the name
of Jesus the Christ unto forgiveness, and you also shall receive
the gift of the Holy Spirit." And now that they were begin
ning to be sorry, Peter went on to speak of the goodness of
Jesus, and to urge them to leave their old Teachers, and join
the Christians. And many who heard Peter that day believed
his words and were baptized, and joined the disciples as
followers of Jesus.

484 LEARNING THE TRUTH.
This was the first public teaching of the disciples after the
death of Jesus of which we are told, and the bravery of Peter
gave courage to them all. They now saw the error of their early
training, in confounding material and spiritual things in con
nection with the Christ and His Kingdom. The long-mistaken
dream of an earthly kingdom of cities, soldiers, riches, faded
away as the reality of the higher Kingdom of Heaven among
men, the kingdom of the Spirit, took hold of them. They
served Jesus no longer in hope of rewards, of money, or of
high positions. All such thoughts were gone for ever. They
served Him now out of pure love for their dear Master, and
His words. And, as the truth broke over them, they under
stood the true nobility of His lowly life, the deep beauty of
His teaching, the true meaning of His sayings about Heaven
and God, and their life was henceforth to be spent in spread
ing His truth, spreading God's Kingdom of Heaven in the
world, and in getting men, women, and little children to
believe in God and serve Him. They spoke so openly and
fearlessly now, that before many months were gone three
thousand persons joined the Christians, and followed their
teaching, among whom were three hundred young priests
from the Golden Temple in Jerusalem, who separated them
selves from their false religious Teachers who had put Jesus to
death. And thus were the disciples rapidly changed from worldly,
self-seeking men of very limited spiritual sight, to men of fear
less courage and great self-denial, seeking the things of
Heaven and God, with a knowledge of spiritual things such as
they could never have learnt, but which was given them
through Jesus.
And thou, my child, wilt remember .that all true speaking of
the words of Jesus is done under the direct guidance of God's
Spirit, as Peter spoke. Not all theology, metaphysics, science,
exposition, distilled together, can avail to teach without the
Spirit, and having the Spirit, thou hast all.

PETER AND JOHN BEFORE CAIAPHAS. 485
PETER AND JOHN BEFORE CAIAPHAS.
JERUSALEM, JUNE, A.D. 34.
It is well for thee to know how fearlessly the disciples
taught the people, and how the followers of Jesus increased
and spread. Having become the chief of the disciples, Peter
went every day with others to the Golden Temple, where he
taught in the beautiful marble porches of the large outer court,
as Jesus had done. And one day, as he and John were going
up the great white steps at the Beautiful gate of the Temple
to afternoon prayers, a beggar asked them for something.
Peter replied to him in these noble words —
" Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I give
thee." And taking him by the hand, he raised the beggar to
his feet, and the man walked in with Peter through Solomon's
porch, praising God as he went, and the people wondered and
came to look at him, and Peter said to them —
" You men of Israel, why do you wonder at this man, and
look at us as though by our own power or goodness we have
made him walk? God in this hath glorified His servant
Jesus, whom you delivered up and accused before Pilate when
Pilate wished to set Him free. But you denied the Holy and
Righteous One, and asked that Barabbas, a murderer ! should
be given to you, and so you killed the Prince of Life, whom
God hath raised from the dead, as we have seen. Faith in
Jesus hath made this man strong, whom you see and know.
Yes, the faith which is through Jesus, hath given him this
perfect soundness in the sight of you all. And now, brethren,
I know that in ignorance you killed Jesus, not knowing that
you were fulfilling the prophecies in thus putting the Christ
to death. Turn ! and repent of your wickedness, that you
may be forgiven, and that there may come to you times of
refreshing from God, and that He may send the Spirit of
Jesus to you all."
Peter said more, but he was being watched as he spoke, for
the Priests and Sadducees were greatly concerned when they

486 IN THE NAME OF JESUS.
heard Peter and John teaching the people that the dead would
rise again. And they ordered the temple guards to take them
both prisoners, and they were put into prison, but that only
caused the people to believe the more what they had said
about Jesus.
Next morning Caiaphas, the chief priest, again called his
great council of priests and rulers together in his palace on
Mount Zion, this time to try Peter and John, as they had
tried Jesus before, — but not at midnight. In the day time
they met, and Caiaphas sat on his crimson cushion, with
Annas beside him, and his brothers Alexander and John, and
all the chiefs of the priests and other councillors round him,
and Peter and John were brought from the prison into the
splendid hall, with their hands tied and in charge of the
guards. The beggar was also brought in whom Peter had
healed, that all might see him.
" By what power, or in what name have you done this
thing?" asked Caiaphas, looking at them sternly. As Peter,
the rugged fisherman, faced the cold proud murderer of his
dear young Master, standing on the very spot where Jesus had
stood not three months before, he was deeply moved, but
not with fear — he felt the Holy Spirit within him moving him
to speak, and looking boldly at Caiaphas, he replied —
" You rulers and elders of the people, if we are here this
day to be examined about a good deed done to a lame man,
and how he hath been made whole, be it known to you all,
and to all the people, that in the name oi Jesus of Nazareth,
the Christ whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the
dead, doth this man stand before you whole," and he pointed
to the lame beggar, continuing, "And in none other than
Jesus is there salvation ; for there is no other name under
Heaven, given among men, wherein we must be saved."
When the council saw the boldness of the two men, openly
telling their belief in Jesus in language truly wonderful for
Galilean fishermen, they were much surprised, and noted that
they had been with Jesus ; and seeing the lame man there,
they could not deny the healing. Caiaphas then ordered

OBEY YOU, OR GOD. 487
them to be taken out again, that the council might talk
together in private. And they were taken out.
" What shall we do with these men? " asked one councillor.
" That a wonderful thing hath been done through them is
known to all Jerusalem," said another, " and we cannot deny
it." "That it may spread no further among the people," said a
third, " let us threaten them with punishment and order them
to speak no more to any man, in the name of Jesus ; " and this
very moderate advice pleased the whole council. And calling
back Peter and John, Caiaphas in a solemn voice told them
their decision, that they would be punished if they spoke any
more to the people about Jesus.
" Whether it is right before God," answered Peter at once,
" to obey you or to obey God, you can judge for yourselves ;
but we cannot do anything else than speak of the things which
we have seen and heard of Jesus." And thus they refused to
obey the council. What was to be done ? They defied these
murderers of their dear young Master ; and Caiaphas, being
afraid to punish them because of the people, threatened them
again, and set them free. How different from their treatment
of Jesus ! And Peter and John returned to their friends and
told them all that Caiaphas had said, but though they were
afraid, yet they continued to teach as openly as before.
And thus were the people taught about Jesus, by His brave
disciples and friends. And, as months passed into years, not
only did they teach in Jerusalem, but they went into Samaria,
Judaea, and Galilee, and while the priests and rulers punished
many of them, and killed others, still great men like Stephen,
Paul, Barnabas, joined them and travelled into Rome, Athens,
Italy, Greece, Macedonia, Egypt, and other countries and
cities, spreading the knowledge of God and of His Kingdom
of Heaven among men. And it is said that one of these early
Teachers came even to England itself, but of that no one can
be certain.
And thou, my child, wilt admire the courage of the fisher
men, Peter and John, standing before these terrible men who

488 THE FINISHED PICTURE.
had killed Jesus, and speaking fearlessly the truth as the
Spirit taught them, — the friends and defenders of Him whom
their judges hated.

THE FINISHED PICTURE.
In the beautiful church of St. Mark's at Venice, high over
the main doorway, there is a large picture of Jesus sitting upon
a throne, with His mother, and Mark standing beside Him.
It is a wonderful picture, made of many pieces of coloured
stone and glass, — red, blue, yellow, green, — shading into each
other and fitting so closely together that the joinings cannot
be seen, and the picture looks as if it had been painted with
a brush upon a background of gold, and set in a frame of red
marble. Through this door the young people come into the
church, and as they enter they turn and look back upon the
figure of Jesus shining and sparkling in gold above them, and
read these words written upon the red marble fillet — " Who
He was, whence He came, . . . Do thou remember ! " And
thou, my child, hast heard all about Jesus in one hundred and
fifty-three little stories, following Him over the green hills
and by the blue Lake, and the end is the Finished Picture
looking out upon thee from a background of sunshine and
flowers. He was the Child of poor people, and angels sang to
gether at His birth. He was carried to Egypt and brought
back again to a home in the flowery valley of Nazareth, where
His parents taught Him. In boyhood He climbed the hills
behind the village, to look out upon the blue sea, played games
with other children, and went to school, and learned to read.
At twelve He went to the great Golden Temple in Jerusalem
and questioned the Teachers of the Law. At thirteen He
began to work in His father's workshop, learning to be a
Carpenter, carrying wood, and toiling with hammer and saw,
and He had brothers and sisters, and cousins, who also lived
at Nazareth. He was never at a college, but learned His

WHAT JESUS TAUGHT. 489
Bible, and when He grew to be a man He was the Carpenter
of Nazareth, until He was thirty.
He then laid aside His Carpenter's tools, never to take
them again, and left Nazareth to be a Teacher of the will of
God to men. He went into a lonely desert to prepare Himself,
and was there tempted, but resisted the Spirit of Evil. He
was baptized in the Jordan by His cousin John, and, gathering
twelve disciples round Him, began to teach. He was a strong
young countryman of a calm, happy nature, with a beautiful
face, clear dark eyes, and most winning voice and manner.
At the time when He began to teach, the people believed
that there were laws made by God and many rules made by
their religious Teachers, and that no one could have Heaven
who did not obey them. And while these Teachers laid
heavy commandments upon the people, they themselves did
not keep them. They favoured the rich and oppressed the
poor, and taught that only Jews could have Heaven. They
also taught that good people should not speak to bad people ;
that friends should be loved and enemies hated ; that women
were far beneath men ; that a wonderful One called the Christ
would soon come to the world and with soldiers drive out
the Roman conquerors, establish a great Kingdom of cities,
armies, and power, and sit on a throne, to live and reign as
King of the Jews for ever. But Jesus said that the poor and
the rich are all alike before God ; that in religion, God's com
mands are few and simple, and that men's commands need
not be obeyed ; that all days are alike good ; that men are
not to hate their enemies ; that woman is man's equal ; that
Heaven is not for Jews only ; that men can worship God
without priests or temples ; He also said that He was the
Christ; that God was His Father and our Father; that
God's Spirit was in Him, and that His Spirit would be in
every one who believed in God and tried to live like Him,
and that He would never be a King like the kings of the
earth, that His Kingdom of Heaven in the world is not a
kingdom of cities, armies, and power, but of goodness, peace,
and joy in the hearts of men, women, and little children.

490 MOW HE TAUGHT.
He went from village to village, and taught, now standing
under a shady tree, now by the Lake's white shore, now on a
green hill, now in a cottage, now in the village church. When
in Jerusalem, He taught in the marble porches of the Golden
Temple. He also sent out men to spread the good tidings of
Heaven. He had many friends who followed Him, some of
the most faithful being women ; and wherever He went He
was kind and gentle, healing the sick, and speaking loving
words to little children. He worked hard, but was full of
health, and deep, peaceful happiness, and day after day He
tired Himself with walking over the hot dusty roads. He
was the most touching speaker that the world has ever
heard, so that when He spoke the people left their work,
and stood in crowds to listen, and followed Him into -lonely
places to hear Him again. His teaching was full of stories
with beautiful references to flowers, trees, birds, clouds, truth,
love, gentleness, Heaven, and God His Father. While the
stories are all beautiful in themselves, the most of them never
happened, and it is the teaching that surrounds them that they
were told for. In some the teaching runs all through them with
a double meaning, and these we call parables. Latterly His
speaking was full of strong denunciation of the hypocrisy of
the Judaean priests and Rulers, whom He called vipers.
Many wonderful things, which are called miracles, are told
of Him, such as quieting a storm, creating bread, healing the
sick, raising the dead. But we never read of Him doing
these things for Himself or to show off His power ; and
the teaching which accompanies each miracle is ever of
far more consequence than the miracle itself. Like His
stories, the miracles are also parables, intended to explain
and convey His beautiful teaching. Yet He was hungry and
tired, and wept, and slept, and bled like other men, and,
through weakness, became too faint to carry His wooden
cross through Jerusalem. And His teaching is more won
derful than any miracles, for He spoke the truths of God
with a marvellous knowledge of man's nature and of his
highest good. What men call miracles may have been but

LOVE TO GOD AND MAN. 49 I
a fuller knowledge of natural laws, or things misunderstood or
incorrectly reported, but His teaching stands sure, confirmed
by all the highest aspirations of mankind, full of absolute and
universal truth.
He loved all men, and women, and little children, and had
a wonderful power of causing them to love him. His purity
— for He did no wickedness — did not keep bad people
away from Him, but rather attracted them to Him. In His
body He was as other men are, but in His Spirit He had the
presence of God. He had a penetrating power of gathering
the thoughts and intentions of men, but there were things
which He did not know, nor wish to know. He specially
loved His mother and His disciples. He loved the faithful
Mary Magdalene and the rich young Ruler. He loved and
praised little children more than all else on earth, and told
His disciples to be like them, for Heaven is theirs.
He spoke much of His Kingdom of Heaven among men,
and set an example to all the world of a perfectly good and
beautiful life, but we know of nothing that He ever wrote.
All His sayings and doings were written by His disciples and
friends from notes and from memory years after His death,
so that His very words, in the Bible, are not to be so much
looked to, as their broad Spirit. Of love to God, love to
man, self-denial, rewards for being good, and punishments
for being bad, He often spoke, and bade each man watch and
judge himself and not judge others, Himself refusing to be
a judge between people. He said that His followers
would be known by their loving each other and keeping
His commandments; a good life, a life like His, being
the beginning and end of all religion. Wickedness He
hated, and looked upon hypocrisy as the worst kind of
wickedness, for it pretended to be goodness, and the Priests
and Rulers of the Jews He called hypocrites. He sought to
free the people from the power of their religious Teachers,
their errors regarding the Christ and His Kingdom, and
their forms, their ceremonies, their empty shows, which
may be only the cloaks of hypocrisy. Their Sabbath

492 THE PRIESTS HATED HIM.
observances, church-going, long prayers, gifts to the Temple,
feasting and fasting, sacrifices, sad faces, sober dressing, good
appearances, and calling Him '" Master " ; these, He said,
were not religion. A man might do all these and still be bad,
while a man might do none of them and yet be good. The
test of goodness, He said, is within us, and of it God is the
sole judge. Thus He taught the people a way to have
Heaven by obeying God, without the help of priests or
creeds, saying that men must feel drawn to God, and receive
His Spirit direct, if they would have Heaven, and that without
His Spirit all else is useless.
He had not taught for many months until the Priests and
religious Teachers of the Law, who had friends in all the
villages, said He was breaking their rules, and watched Him
to have Him punished. They found fault with Him for not
washing hands before eating food ; for letting His disciples
pluck wheat, for healing sick people on the Sabbath day,
and for being an unlearned young Carpenter who presumed
to teach. Most of all they found fault with Him for saying
He was the Son of God. But His power with the people
grew, and He set Himself against the Sabbath rules of their
hard Teachers. The poor heard Him gladly, and the Priests
were annoyed to find that the people were turning against
them. At one time He was such a favourite that the people
wished to make Him their King. As His favour grew, the
hatred of the Priests increased. They frequently challenged
Him to prove that He was from God, by working a wonder
before them, but this He always refused to do ; and they
caused the churches of Judaea and Galilee to be shut against
Him, and then in Council at Jerusalem they resolved that He
must be taken and put to death. They set spies, and made
bargains even with their own enemies, to have Him injured,
or taken a prisoner. They asked Him tricky questions
to entangle Him, but were defeated so often in public discus
sions in the Temple that they gave that up, and soldiers sent
to take Him, when they heard His wonderful voice, refused to
touch Him. They tried to keep Him away from their great

THREE YEARS A TEACHER. 493
Festivals at Jerusalem, but still He came. His twelve dis
ciples kept close to Him, but misunderstood greatly what He
taught. They believed He had come to be a great world's
King, and whenever they thought things were prospering in
that direction they quarrelled as to who should be His greatest
officer, two of them giving great offence by asking to be put
over all the rest. Yet none of them left Him, helping Him
all they could until near the end, — excepting one.
After a little over three years of work, walking about the
country in Summer and Winter, teaching everywhere, during
which He travelled over many hills and valleys and through
hundreds of towns and villages, although He never was
further away than one hundred and fifty miles from the village
where He was born, He felt that His work was done, the seed
of Christianity sown, that would flower over all the world;
His Kingdom of Heaven among men. He knew that the
hatred of the Priests and Rulers would bring about His
death. But death had no terrors for him, and though His
body would feel all the pains and His mind all the shrinkings
from death, and strong temptations beset Him, yet to Him life
and death were one — He had Heaven within Him. When
His time was come to die, He went to Jerusalem, when
thousands were there at a Passover Festival, and rode into the
city amid the shouts of the people, and a second time drove
out the traders from the Golden Temple, and taught there in
defiance of the Priests, who tried to stop Him, but were afraid
to touch Him because so many of the people were on His
side. Judas betrayed Him, and was sorry for it when too late,
and He was taken a prisoner by a band of armed soldiers at
midnight in a moonlit garden. He was tried by the Priests
and Rulers at a mock trial in the night-time, for His judges
were His bitterest enemies, who condemned Him to die for
calling Himself the Son of God, which they said was blas
phemy. He was then taken from one palace to another, and
Pilate, the Roman Governor and judge, while saying He
was innocent, gave authority for Him to be killed, but Jesus

494 HIS DEATH.
rose superior to them all, refusing to plead any defence.
Even when scourged and buffeted and spat upon by the
soldiers He did not complain, and only when He sank under
the weight of His rugged cross did they spare Him. He was
crucified while still a young man — thirty-three years and four
months old. In no way did He try to escape that death of
the Innocent, which He knew would gain the sympathy of the
world, and turn the eyes of all men towards Him, and when
dying He prayed His Father in Heaven to forgive His
murderers. By good men He was buried in Joseph's garden,
but His Spirit did not die, and to many people in the weeks
that followed, He was made manifest in different ways, some
believing that they saw His body alive again, while others
doubted. After Plis death His Spirit, which is God's Spirit,
came to His followers in increased measure, making them
bold, enabling their minds to understand what He had said,
showing them their errors, and convincing them that the
Spiritual Kingdom which Jesus had founded, the Kingdom
of Heaven among men, was far more glorious and enduring
than any other kingdom could ever be.
His teaching made plain the religion which the Priests and
religious Teachers had made so difficult ; making it so simple
that a child can understand it. His life and death made God
and His love to men more fully known, and drew men to Him,
enabling them to live good lives, and thus He is the Saviour
of mankind. Thou wilt hear it said that He died to satisfy
God's anger against men, but Jesus never said so ; saying
rather that He died to draw men to God. The Jewish
Priests and religious Teachers with their creeds, rules, cere
monies, and symbols, had strangled and stifled the true wor
ship of God, and Jesus set it free, showing that God by His
Spirit speaks direct to men and will dwell in them, and teach
them His will, and help them to obey it. Thou thyself art
a temple of God, and the worship of spirit answering to spirit
is within thee.
The effect of His death upon His disciples was as thou hast
heard, to banish all foolish dreams, and to open to them the

WHAT WAS HE? 495
true meaning of His beautiful life. From self-seeking they
became self-sacrificing men, teaching whatever the Spirit of
God prompted them to speak, first in Jerusalem, denouncing
the powerful men who had killed Jesus, and then all over the
country, and into foreign lands, and His simple Gospel of
listening to and following the voice of God as our Father in
Heaven, spread, and was welcomed by true spirits everywhere
like light from the sun. They taught that by believing in
Jesus as the living Example of God, men would be saved
from wickedness and would follow righteousness. And by
these men, the Bible, which had been closed for five hun
dred years, was opened again, and chapters and books added
to it of the life of Jesus and His teaching — a new portion,
which transcends the old as the sun the moon. And such
power is in His life and words that Jesus has become the
central figure of the religions of many nations, and influences
the religions of many more.
What was He? thou dost ask. God or man? If God,
why is He called man ? If man, why is He called God ? My
child, He is both God and man. God is a Spirit, and God
was in Jesus to the fullest extent that a man's body can have
His Spirit. God was in Him, and yet, having a man's body
and a man's feelings, He was liable to be tempted to wicked
ness just as we are. He showed us how pure and beautiful
and good a perfect man is, so to draw us nearer to the Spirit
of God which made Him so. Why God chose this way of
showing Himself to men we can never know. It is enough
that He did so. And we must listen to the teaching of Jesus
as to the voice of God, for He Who never spoke a false thing,
said that His words were the Spirit and Truth of God.
Thou, my child, canst never be as good as Jesus, nor have so
much of the Spirit of God in thee, yet, though far behind,
thou canst follow after and look up to Him, and as God's Spirit
groweth in thee, making thy life better, thou wilt gain and
come closer to Jesus, still seeing Him, with clear dark eyes
bent upon thee, His loving hand outstretched, leading thee
onward and upward into God's Kingdom of Heaven. And.

496 WHAT IS HE TO THEE?
remember, that of all who follow Him, He loveth little
children best. He told in human words what the Spirit of
God in all lands whispers to man's spirit, that men may hear,
and read, and believe, and feed upon His words, and learn to
trust in and pray to God and get guidance from Him. And
by His sorrowful death He sought to win men, so that they,
by loving Him, may turn away from wickedness and follow
goodness as seen in Him ; for it is of the essence of love to
turn the lover into the nature of the thing beloved, and if the
thing beloved be Jesus, the perfect One, thou canst not stand
still, but must evermore grow liker Him, and so liker God.
And now, my child, what is He to thee ? Whether thou art
a gentle fair-haired girl or a dark-haired valiant boy, His life
and death are all for thee, as though there were none else but
thee in the world. And His life should be especially dear to
little children. They cannot understand the creeds, rules, and
forms of religion which older people may learn, but the small
est child can believe in the beautiful life of Jesus, and can
trust what He said, and try to be patient, gentle, self-denying,
good, as He was. And how He loved children ! and clasped
them in His arms and blessed them in the presence of their
mothers, and set them before His disciples as examples of
the kind of minds that have Heaven. How art thou to love
Him in return ? Listen to His words as they are read to thee
or as thou dost read them. Listen to God's voice within thee
guiding thee into right. Obey Jesus, for that is to have faith
in Him. Pray to God to help thee, and give thee more of His
Spirit, and when in doubt, ask Him to tell thee what is right
for thee to do, and do what His voice in thy conscience tells
thee is right. Strive against wrong, for to do wrong is to dis
obey God's voice. Try to do right, for that is to obey and to
believe in Him. And the more thou doest right and refusest
wrong, the easier will it become to thee, and the Holy Spirit
within thee will grow stronger, and thy little life will become
purer and more like Jesus.
To imitate His life, thou must try to spread His Kingdom
of Heaven among men, of goodness, gentleness, and peace,

THY HOPE AND GUIDE. 497
by thought, word, and deed. Love all people, judge no one,
be thy own priest, and pray to God and have thy spirit
strengthened, for that is worship. Let no one come between
thee and God, for none can hinder thee from worshipping
Him, whether it be in church or on the silent moor, and very
few can help thee. Set thy face against all men, creeds, or
ceremonies, that would seek to limit thy worship or to
mediate between thy spirit and God, for His Spirit can only
come to thee direct. Lay thy past deeds in prayer before
Him, and ask forgiveness for thy faults ; lay also thy future
plans, and ask strength to do what is right. Give up every
thing that would hinder His truth, love, and peace from being
highest in thy heart, and thou wilt find that it will raise higher
all true love of men and women, all true work, and all true
pleasure in life. Strive to let the Spirit of Jesus, and His life
and words, flow in upon thy spirit, until His Spirit becometh
thine. Then wilt thou be one in spirit with Him as He is
One with God.
And what child would not try to be in some part like The
Carpenter of Nazareth? To have the gentleness which
blessed the little children; the courage which faltered not
before Pilate ; the wisdom that spoke the Address on Mount
Hattin; the self-denial which demanded the escape of His
disciples ; and the love that gave up His young life to save
us all ; — virtues which were shared in by John, Peter, James,
Paul, and the Marys — names that are far above kings or
queens — names which love crowns with a diadem, richer than
gold and purer than diamonds — names such as thou mayest
win by the help of God's Spirit dwelling in thee. Then the
dark door of death will be to thee the gate of Heaven,
all glorious within, where children and angels are — children
of His Kingdom, who followed these blessed feet that
walked the flowery vales and hills of Galilee so many
years ago — angels of God that watched Him there. And
looking down from the gardens of God's beautiful Home,
thou wilt rejoice that by early turning to Him, thy life
on earth was spent not in gathering a heap of gold, not

498 THE LORD BLESS THEE.
in winning medals on the awful fields of war, not in idle
pleasure-seeking, or in doing or saying harmful things; but
that by following His righteousness, gentleness, and peace,
thou didst what thou could to leave in the world a little
more of the flower and seed of goodness and beauty, grown
openly, scattered freely in the name and for the sake of
Jesus, the Carpenter of Nazareth. For the sum of all religion
is to live a good life in the fear of God. And now, my child,
farewell. " The Lord bless thee, and keep thee :
" The Lord make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious
unto thee :
" The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee
peace."

THE END.

Typography by J. S. Cushing & Co., Boston.
Presswork by Berwick & Smith, Boston.

JESUS, THE CARPENTER OF
NAZARETH.

BY A LAYMAN.

One Volume. 12mo. $1.50.

EXTRACTS FROM ENGLISH REVIEWS OF THE WORK.
" The spirit in which it is written is excellent for its theological breadth
and ethical elevation. The pictures are admirably drawn, and cannot
fail to interest children.'' — Manchester Guardian.
" The child into whose hands this book may be put, or to whom it
may be read, will probably learn many things which are new to him. He
will, however, be a lucky child, for a ' Layman ' has succeeded admirably
in his purpose of retelling the Gospel story in a style adapted to the
capacities of children. He has evidently studied very carefully the
scenery and costumes of the Bible land and time, and is able, by a few
vivid touches here and there, to call up the successive scenes of the sacred
drama, and give them life and reality, in a way that has not often been
surpassed." — Scotsman.
" We desire to commend this book most heartily to our readers. We
have submitted it to the best of practical tests by placing it in a mother's
hands, and her quick discovery of the fact that ' it was the very book she
had long been wanting,' coupled with her eager admiration of its refined
and truly spiritual character, embolden us to recommend it with absolute
confidence." — Literary World.
" We believe that children will listen to it with interest and that their
parents will read it with improvement." — Belfast Witness.
" To every mother we would recommend the volume as one of which
her little folk are not likely to tire, and which will be helpful, beyond any
similar aid we have seen, in making the Sabbath evenings in the home a
delight." — Christian Leader.
" The book is certainly written in a style calculated to interest, and to
hold the attention of those for whom it is intended." — Graphic.
" It is one of the very best of the kind we have seen." — Glasgow
Herald.

" A boon to parents and Sunday-school teachers." — Liverpool Post. n
" One of the most truly noble and beautiful books we have read for
a long time." — Scots Magazine.
" We hope it may be widely circulated, so that many further editions
may be required." — The Friend.
" It will abundantly repay perusal by those especially who from long
familiarity with the words of the Bible, or from any other cause, have
failed to be impressed with the beauty and reality of the story." —
Friends' Quarterly Review.
" The narrative is given in terms which are vivid and reverent, free
from all artificiality and familiarity, and in natural harmony with the sub
ject. A book for mothers of all creeds to read to their children." —
Critical Quarterly Review.
" Anything more delightful for children, young and old, has not seen
the light for many a long day." — Sunday School Magazine.
" It comes very near the ideal of that kind of non-doctrinal religious
teaching which children of all ages should receive." — National Observer.
" The author has done with singular grace and poetic feeling a task
which sorely needed doing." — Christian World.
" Experiment has proved that the book meets the approval of children,
both of younger and of older growth. A single expression often breaks
out a window for us, and gives quite a new glimpse into the real atmos
phere of the life of Jesus. The book deserves a place in every Christian
family." — Rev. Dr. Marcus Dods, in the Expositor.
"I think the idea of this book — the aim and intention — excellent
and the execution beautiful. The author has caught the lyric simplicity
of the Gospels, and largely succeeded in telling the story in the same
quaint unworldly way. I like much the last paragraphs of the chapters.
The lesson is always apposite, important, and happily expressed. I wish
ministers were acquainted with the book. Nothing could be more use
ful than to have a chapter out of it read to the young in church." — Rev.
Professor Bruce, D.D.

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YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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