CHAPTER VII

[pg 90]CHAPTER VIIWhen I drew nigh to Capernaum, it was about the eleventh hour; so I hasted that I might inquire where Jesus of Nazareth abode, before the sun went down: for it was the day before the Sabbath. But as I journeyed down the valley, called the Valley of the Doves, and came to the place where the road turneth round to the right, I could not forbear to draw rein for a while, so beautiful was the sight; and though I had seen it often-times before, yet never before, methought, had it seemed so beautiful as now.On the tops of the hills were walnut-trees; lower down fig-trees; and below them grew luxuriant palms. For the place hath, as it were, several climates suiting several trees and plants; corn also aboundeth in those parts, and flax is not wanting; but the olive-trees (as elsewhere in Galilee) stand so thick together, and so thriving, that it was a common saying,“Thou mayest sooner rear a forest of olive-trees in Galilee than one child in Judæa;”fruit-trees also of all sorts grew there without number, laden with the goodliest fruits, exceeding the fruit-trees of any other part of Galilee; insomuch that the place was justly wont to be called the Garden of Abundance. But the city itself was as a[pg 91]half-circle of pearls, encompassed with gardens as with a circlet of emerald. A multitude of ships and fishing-boats bestrewed the surface of the lake, which was of a deep blue colour, as blue as sapphire; and the waves thereof were very still, because no wind at all was blowing. But as I looked towards Chorazin, the sight in the surface of the waters surpassed the sight of the land. For there, as in a mirror, one might see by reflexion in the water below, all that was on the land above; the walnut-trees and fig-trees and palm-trees, and the oleanders on the border of the waters, and the white pelicans watching for their prey upon the brink thereof, and the hedges of cactus, and the cottages of the husbandmen; all these things were to be clearly seen as if painted on the waters of the lake.Then came into my mind certain words which my Master had said to me when we went forth from Sepphoris together; how that our Father in heaven provideth for the adornment even of the grass of the fields, and how He hath made the simple flowers of the fields more beautiful than Solomon in his glory. And so it was that, as I thought on these words, I praised the Lord of Hosts, who hath made the world so beautiful; and though I had seen this sight many times before when I had come down from Sepphoris, yet now mine eyes seemed, as it were, to be opened to discern a new beauty therein. But I thought also on Israel and of the blessedness that was in store for this goodly land, if only the Roman could be driven forth. As I thought on these things, an east wind sprang up; and lo, where there had been but a moment ago so fair a sight, naught was now to be seen save troubled waters of many divers colours.[pg 92]Then I hasted onward, purposing to inquire concerning Jesus of Nazareth first, and afterwards to go to the house of my uncle.But when I was now at the going down to the city, my cousin Baruch was come forth to meet me, saying I was stayed for at a feast in the house of Manasseh. So I went straightway with him, and the sun set and the Sabbath was begun; and I had not yet seen Jesus of Nazareth. During supper time I would have inquired of Manasseh concerning Jesus; but Baruch had forewarned me that I should be silent. For my uncle, (he was a dyer by trade, and had many slaves and more than one house of merchandise, there and at Magdala, and elsewhere round about the Lake,) being fond of peace and wholly given to traffic, feared Jesus, lest he should beguile the people of Capernaum to take up arms against the Romans. Also he feared for Baruch, lest he too should be led away by Jesus. This I learned from my cousin after supper; howbeit he said not much about Jesus, for my uncle watched us. Only he said that Jesus had been now a full week in Capernaum, and that he was said to be able to work signs, and that certain of the fishermen had joined themselves unto him; but the most part still held with John the Prophet, saying that John was greater than Jesus; neither believed they that Jesus was the Messiah.On the morrow, about the sixth hour, we went to the synagogue. There was a great throng, so that we were fain to sit in the farthest seats from the Ark of the Law; neither could we discern who sat in the chief seats, nor who read, because a pillar stood between us and the pulpit. Now first the Law was[pg 93]read and prayers were offered up according to custom; but by reason of my sadness, because I desired to have seen Jesus again, I was even as the parched ground, and no moisture fell upon my soul. But when the Prophets were read, then it was as a shower of heaven on the congregation, and the dew of the Lord upon our souls; for the voice of him that read was the voice of Jesus of Nazareth.When he had made an end of reading, Jesus began to exhort the people, saying that he was sent to proclaim good news, to release the captive, give health to the sick, and light to the blind, and to bring Redemption to Israel. God, he said, loved all; not the good alone, but even the bad: yea, God was in very truth our Father in heaven. Therefore how much soever the kindest father on earth may love his children, albeit they transgress against him, much more is the love of God toward us though we be sinners. He did not tell us that we were not sinful; nay rather, he made it clear to us that our sins were as red as blood in the sight of the All-seeing; but none the less, he called us the children of God. As many as would repent should be forgiven; and he spake as if he himself had a certain divine power of forgiveness whereby he might purify the soul and bring us close to God, one family in the presence of our Father. One thing was needful, that we should trust in him and in his message. This day, he said, this very day, are the prophecies of Redemption fulfilled in your ears. Then he cried aloud unto all that were hungering or thirsting for righteousness, all that were weary of the burden of their sins, all that felt themselves utterly hopeless, friendless, and[pg 94]vile, bidding them resort to him as their refuge:“Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”While he was speaking, methought I was not hearing words, but seeing somewhat that might be seen and touched; so solid seemed the mercies of God, even as a rock whereon one standeth. For Jesus ever testified of the Father as one testifieth that knoweth by experience, and spake of heaven as of that which he had known and felt. Yea, and more than that; a certain strange power was in him to make things invisible to seem visible by his discourse. Wherefore, albeit Moses had called God the Father of the spirits of all flesh, and the Prophets also had taught Israel to say unto God,“Thou art our Father,”and all this doctrine was well known and trite among us; yet now, for the first time, the doctrine seemed to be no more a mere dead letter, but a living word. Such a life did Jesus of Nazareth breathe into it, insomuch that his Good News (for so he called it) came upon our hearts as news indeed, never heard before among the children of men.This long while (since Jesus had first begun to speak), a certain youth whom I had before noted, sitting not far from me, had been muttering and moaning gently to himself; but I was rapt in the words of Jesus, wherefore I had given the less heed to the boy. But now, he stood up, and cried aloud in a deep hollow voice, as of a full-grown man,“What hast thou to do with us? Let us alone, let us alone.”Then in his own voice he cried again,“I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.”Immediately I perceived that it was the demoniac, even Raphael the son of Joazar,[pg 95]whom Theudas the Exorcist had adventured to heal; but a great fear fell on all the congregation, and the women rose up from their places, shrieking for terror. But Jesus, without use of charm or gesture, rebuked the unclean spirits and bade them come forth. Then they tare the youth, so that he shrieked with a piercing shriek; and so they came forth. And Jesus delivered the boy to his father; who would scarce suffer Jesus out of his sight, between joy that the devils were gone forth, and fear lest they might return. Howbeit, now the spirits were driven out so that they returned no more. For the boy lived to be a man; nor did he die (as it hath been reported to me) till he numbered fifty years, dying about twelve years ago, two years before destruction came upon the Holy City.When Jesus departed from the synagogue, the people thronged him, bringing to him divers requests, some concerning their friends that were diseased or lunatic, or afflicted with devils; others begging him to come and bless their children; others asking him that he would lodge in their houses, or at the least sup with them. For at this time all men, rich and poor, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Galileans, inclined to follow Jesus. But he would go to none of the rich men’s houses, but only to the house of Simon the son of Jonah (whom he afterwards called Peter); he was one of the fishermen of the place and had joined himself to Jesus. But Jesus suffered me to accompany him.But when we were now entering into the house, behold all things were full of disorder and lamentation. For Simon’s wife’s mother (who abode in the house) had been suddenly afflicted with a grievous sickness, so that,[pg 96]instead of serving the guests, she was laid speechless upon a bed in an upper room. Then they spake to Jesus concerning her. Now I was not myself present when the thing took place; but (as it was reported to me) Jesus healed her after the same manner as he had healed my mother; for he took her by the hand and lifted her up, and she arose whole and free from her disease, and ministered unto the guests.Jesus straitly charged us that we should tell no man; whereat we marvelled not a little. But howsoever we obeyed him, it could not be hid. And besides this, the fame of the healing of Raphael the son of Joazar had been noised abroad through the whole of the city, insomuch that at sunset, when we went forth, the Sabbath being now ended, we saw great multitudes of demoniacs, lunatics, and some also sick of the palsy and of fever, laid in their beds along the road through which we would have passed. Some also, that were afflicted with incurable diseases, had been brought notwithstanding, because of their entreaties; if perchance Jesus might heal them; and I saw one man that had been blind from his birth.Now it came to pass that when Jesus came forth from Simon Peter’s house, and saw the faces of all these sick people, and the faces of their friends, all waiting if perchance he would help them, his countenance was altered, and the shadow of sorrow fell upon him, and he sighed and said,“Verily for the sorrowful I am sorrowful, and for the sick I am sick.”4Then he passed along the ranks of the sick people; and wheresoever he perceived that any could be healed, he laid his hands on them,[pg 97]and lo, they were at once freed from their infirmities; and many unclean spirits were driven out from those whom they had possessed. Now most of them that were healed had been possessed with evil spirits; but others were lunatic, or sick of the palsy, or of fever, or had impediment in their speech. But Jesus had a marvellous power to discern, methought, not only them that had faith from them that had not, but also such diseases as were to be cured, from such as were not to be cured, because it was not prepared for him that he should cure them. But when Jesus had made an end of healing, the multitude still followed us; and the friends of such as had not been cured, vexed us with importunities; and others, whose friends had been cured, called down blessings on Jesus, and refused to leave him. Thus, go whither we would, we could not be alone. So Jesus returned to the house, and I went back to the house of Manasseh.I opened my mind to my uncle that night, and said to him that I purposed to go with Jesus of Nazareth whithersoever he went; and Baruch said the same. But my uncle no longer opposed himself against our wills; only he forewarned us that evil was in store for us;“For,”said he,“I have sojourned in Italy among the Romans three years, and I know well that nothing can withstand their power. But whoso gainsayeth them gainsayeth the strength of a king: according as it is written,‘Where the word of a king is, there is power; and who may say unto him, What doest thou?’”All the night long no sleep came to my eyes for musing on all the things that I had seen and heard that day:“For this day,”said I,“is, as it were, the birthday of[pg 98]the Redemption of Israel,”But when I thought thereon, and considered with myself that I had now joined myself unto Jesus as the Redeemer, and when I compared Jesus with the image of the Redeemer of Sion (such as I had framed it in my mind from the reading of the Prophets, and such as my countrymen expected), then was I as one astonied and amazed to find myself believing in Jesus, and standing on his side. For I had imagined unto myself one that should perchance appear, riding on the clouds of heaven, encompassed by thousands of angels, taking vengeance upon the enemies of Sion, according to the word of the prophet Daniel; or else I had thought to see a royal deliverer, even such another as David himself, mighty with the sword, riding at the head of his ten thousands, ruling the Gentiles with a rod of iron, or breaking them in pieces like a potter’s vessel; or else I had fashioned in my mind a Deliverer after the manner of Elias, rebuking kings in their pride, and calling down fire from heaven for a sign, or for the destruction of the Gentiles.Now before this time, I had had no leisure to consider the matter; for, in the presence of Jesus, I had been drawn towards him as by an enchantment: but in the stillness of the night, Jesus being no more before my face, I thought on all the signs and wonders wrought by Moses and Elias aforetime, and doubt fell upon me; and it seemed to me not possible that Jesus of Nazareth could be greater than they, so as to be the Messiah. But when I asked myself,“Could it then be that Jesus is a deceiver?”my heart made answer,“Nay, that could not be. And if thou trust not in Jesus, there is not any one in the world in whom thou canst trust.”So I comforted myself in my perplexity, saying to myself,[pg 99]“Perchance the time hath not yet come for Jesus to manifest himself as the son of David, nor as the Son of man spoken of by the prophet Daniel: but doubtless that time will come; and then shalt thou see Jesus, as the Messiah indeed, in power.”But on the morrow, very early, when we went forth to the house of Simon Peter, behold, a mixed multitude had gathered round the doors waiting for the coming of Jesus. And I also waited, standing with them, and heard how they conversed with each other. But it seemed that one had but now come forth from the house of Peter, saying that Jesus could not be found in the house. Then arose a murmur in the crowd; and a certain man from Antioch said that Simon had set a snare for Jesus of Nazareth, and had betrayed him to Herod the Tetrarch. But there was in the press one Gorgias the son of Philip, a man well known to Simon; and he laughed the man of Antioch to scorn. He had been in the army of Herod the King in former times, and his father was a Greek; but he conformed himself to the Law and joined himself to the sect of the Galileans; and his word prevailed greatly with them, because he was versed in warlike matters. This man declared that Jesus had withdrawn himself, that he might not be shut up in prison by the Tetrarch:“And no marvel,”said he,“for, seeing that the tyrant hath but now taken John the son of Zachariah, why should he not also adventure to take the new prophet?”Others, beside myself, had not heard before that John had been cast into prison. So we questioned Gorgias, and heard that the prophet had been cast into prison in the Black Castle at Machærus three days ago. Many[pg 100]of them that were in the crowd had been disciples of John; and they cried aloud that the men of Galilee ought to rise up and deliver the prophet. But Gorgias beckoned with his hand that they should be silent, and when silence was made, he said,“Let us rise up, indeed, but not without a leader. Now the Lord hath sent to us this Jesus of Nazareth: and that he is a prophet sent from God none can deny.”The multitude shouted that it was even so, and one or other uttered praises of Jesus; and a certain man said,“Yea, never man spake as this spake.”But Gorgias answered and said,“It is known to all that I am a soldier, neither do words prevail with me without deeds. Wherefore I also, until yesterday, did but lightly esteem Jesus of Nazareth. But now he hath shown forth his power in deeds. And he that can do such deeds as Jesus hath wrought in our streets, shall he not do even greater deeds than these when the time shall come for them? Yea, doubtless, all things are possible to him. And what will avail squadrons of horse, or legions of foot, against one that can call down fire from heaven, or cause the walls of a city to fall to the ground? Choose we therefore Jesus to be our leader, and no one shall be able to stand against us.”At this instant Simon Peter came forth, and he confirmed what had been said, to wit, that Jesus of Nazareth was not in the house: but he thought that he was gone forth to be alone. And so it was. For when we had made diligent search for him we found him alone on a mountain, about three miles from the town. We besought him to return; but he answered that he must proclaim the Good News in other villages also, for to that[pg 101]end he had been sent. So Simon Peter and the rest of the disciples accompanied him, and Baruch and I went with them; and for the space of four or five weeks we continued with him, going from town to town in Galilee; and Jesus preached the Good News, and healed the sick; and a great multitude of all sorts was added to our number.Now the greater part of our band were honest people, hungering and thirsting for the Redemption of Sion: but some were vain men, children of iniquity, seeking the wages of unrighteousness. Especially they that had been formerly soldiers resorted to Jesus, as to a prince or general, like vultures hasting to the prey, supposing that they should gain much spoil if he prevailed against the Romans. And so it was that once when Jesus spake to his disciples, saying that they must be“fishers of men,”then Baruch, being offended by the presence of these children of mammon among us, answered and said,“But must the fishers catch vile fish as well as good?”Hereat Jesus turned and looked sorrowfully on Baruch, and said,“The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the age. The messengers of God shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”Another parable spake he to the same effect, that the tares must needs grow with the wheat till the day[pg 102]of harvest, for not till then can the division be made between good and evil. When we heard this, we grieved thereat; for we had supposed that none save the faithful should have been admitted into the Kingdom, and we marvelled why Jesus should first suffer the bad to enter, and then drive them forth. Howbeit, we besought him that he would give us ordinances which we might observe, to the intent that we might not be cast out of the Kingdom. For some of our number had begun to say that Jesus had come to destroy the Law, so that every one might do what he listed; as though Jesus had said that God loveth the wicked as much as the righteous, even though the wicked abide in wickedness. Thus they brought shame upon us, and they set stumblingblocks in the path of many that had otherwise believed. Moreover the disciples of John the Baptist compared us with themselves, and asked us concerning our laws and customs and prayers; and, when they found that we had none of these things, then they despised us, saying that our Master was not equal to John. For at this time the fame of John the son of Zachariah overshadowed the fame of Jesus; yea, and for some time after this, even after John had been cast into prison. For this cause we intreated Jesus that he would both teach us how to pray, as John also had taught his disciples, and also that he would lay down laws for the new Kingdom, even as Moses had laid down laws for the kingdom in old times.Jesus hearkened to our petition in silence. Then he said that he must depart from us for a season and go to the top of a certain mountain; but he appointed the third hour of the following day that we should come to him.[pg 103]Certain of the Scribes that followed with us murmured at Jesus, because he had appointed that we should come to him on the mountain: and one, finding fault for that Jesus was often wont to spend the whole night praying alone on some mountain, said,“It is written,‘Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord;’therefore it is good to pray from a low place, and not from a high place.”ButNathanaelanswered and said that Jesus loved to be alone on the mountain by night, to meditate on the greatness of the Lord and how He hath exalted the Son of man, according as it is written,“I will consider thy heavens, even the works of thy fingers, the moon and stars which thou hast ordained:”and“these very words,”said Nathanael,“I heard the Prophet but yesterday repeat, when we were upon the top of yonder mountain.”Hereat the Scribes murmured the more, saying that it was not written that any prophet in old times thus took counsel with the heavens after the manner of a Chaldean. But Gorgias the son of Philip murmured for another cause, saying that the Prophet ought not thus to mistrust his followers, nor to be so fearful for his own safety, and that it behoved the friends of Jesus to take him by force, if need be, and to make him a king. And to this Judas of Kerioth consented and some others.But to the most of us the words of Gorgias seemed an abomination; for we knew that Jesus did not depart for fear: for indeed fear was not in him. But he desired to be alone because he wished to pray, and because of the burden of his heart. For it grieved him, more than can be told, to see the misery and wretchedness, yea, and the ignorance and the sinfulness of the mixed[pg 104]multitude which pressed round him. All their pains pained him and all their sufferings he suffered, insomuch that more than once I have heard him saying in a low voice to himself,“For them that are hungry I hunger, and for them that are athirst I thirst, and for them that are sick I am sick.”5Notwithstanding he was not so much distressed with the pains and diseases of the body as with the pains and diseases of the soul. For the sins of souls seemed to him as real and loathsome as the diseases of the flesh to us; and oftentimes a transgression that would appear slight to us, he counted as a work of Satan; so that whithersoever he moved, he saw sins more than could be seen of common men, yea, a very sea of sinfulness; albeit, underlying the sea of sin and sorrow, he still discerned the Everlasting Arms.Moreover, because he loved all men with an exceeding great love, for this cause every hour in his life brought unto him a burden passing the power of words to describe. For the sins of men were not unto him as the sins of aliens and strangers, but as the sins of his own brethren: yea, they were even as his own sins; for, although he himself sinned not, neither knew sin, yet what pain cometh from the bearing of a brother’s sin, that he knew full well. Wherefore in him was fulfilled the saying of the prophet Isaiah; who prophesied that the Messiah should be a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs, and that he should carry our sins and bear our iniquities.[pg 105]CHAPTER VIIIOn the morrow, about the second hour, we began to go up the mountain which Jesus had appointed. But having strayed from the path, we knocked at the door of a house which was near the foot of the mountain, and besought the goodman of the house that he would guide us. There opened the door a man of churlish appearance; but he would neither come out, nor so much as speak with us. This delayed us for a time, but we soon found the path, and the way became steep. The sun shone, but not with too fervent a heat, and the north wind blew gently from Hermon, whose top we saw clearly toward the north, clad in snow. On the west was the Mount Carmel, shining with a brightness as of purple; and further off the Great Sea, resembling a blue plain, whereon appeared many sails, almost too small for sight by reason of the distance. We climbed upward through groves of terebinth and oak. As often as we turned round to recover breath, the houses and fields grew smaller, till, at the last, when we drew nigh unto the top, the whole plain of Esdraelon seemed but as a small ground-plat; and large towns appeared as little hamlets, and all the works of man became very small in our eyes, as though we were leaving earth and approaching heaven.[pg 106]Then said Baruch,“Is not this a second Sinai? For verily Jesus of Nazareth is about to give us a new law.”But Eliezer the son of Arak, the principal Scribe of Capernaum (for he at this time followed Jesus and was now with us) rebuked him, saying,“Even though Jesus of Nazareth were the greatest of prophets, yet were he not equal to Moses; for it is said, Sinai is to be preferred even to the uprooter of mountains!”And another said,“Behold, the Word of God, when it went forth from Sinai from the mouth of the Holy One (blessed be His Name), was like sparks, and lightnings, and flames of fire; a torch of flame was on his right hand, and a torch of flame on his left hand: it flew and hovered in the air of the heavens, and returned and graved itself upon the tables of the covenant which were given into the hands of Moses. How then is it possible that the like wonders should be wrought on this mountain?”Then said Nathanael to Simon Peter that it might perchance please the Lord not always to speak by the whirlwind or by the fire, but, as in the days of Elias, by the still small voice. And to this Peter agreed, but others did not agree: for though they inclined not to Eliezer the son of Arak, yet it was because they thought that Jesus would of a surety soon work some sign in heaven to prove that he was the Redeemer. But Judas of Kerioth affirmed that Jesus would not, at this present time, lay down laws for the Kingdom, but only ordinances for a season, to instruct the host in the journey towards Jerusalem; but until Jerusalem should be ours, lasting laws would not be made.While we were disputing among ourselves concerning the saying of Judas, Peter cried“Peace:”for, said he,[pg 107]“yonder is the Prophet:”and looking upward, we saw Jesus on a rock stretching out his hands in prayer. When he had made an end of praying, Peter approached him and besought him a second time to teach us to pray; and Jesus gave us that well-known prayer which is used in all the churches. Afterwards he beckoned to us to follow him, and he came down and stood in the bed of a torrent, which was dry by reason of the drought. While we were following him, I heard the companion of Eliezer murmuring because there were no words in the prayer concerning the Redemption of Israel;“moreover,”said he,“albeit the prayer asketh for bread, yet is there no mention of wine, nor oil, nor even of raiment. But how can a man sit and search the Law and the Traditions, and know not whence he is to drink as well as eat, and whence to be clad and covered?”To this I would have made reply; but Peter again cried to us to hold our peace, for Jesus was beginning to speak.When he opened his lips, every one was silent for expectation; but, as he proceeded, the silence was a silence as of them that are astonished and disappointed. For he began with setting forth in his discourse a character and image of a citizen of the New Kingdom; and lo, it was not the image of a conqueror, but of one conquered. Also he drew as it were a model of the palace of the Great King, and of the princes and nobles which stand about His throne; and behold, when we compared the model with that which we had imagined in our hearts, and with that which we had read of in histories, the model of Jesus was in all things contrary to the model in our hearts. For in old times men had done reverence unto the valiant, the proud, the strong, the rich[pg 108]and the wise; but Jesus said that the chief places about the throne of God should be given to the hungry and thirsty, and poor; to them that were innocent and simple; to them that made not war, but peace; yea, even to them which resisted not evil, but rewarded evil with good. Upon all these, as being the nobles and princes of the New Kingdom, Jesus pronounced a blessing; to wit, that all things should work together for good to them, so that they should have all that they needed, according to the words of the prophet,“Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed.”Even so did Jesus ordain that they which hungered should be satisfied, and that the makers of peace should conquer and inherit the earth.Next, he described the statutes and judgments of the New Kingdom; and, behold, instead of an easier yoke, he seemed to be placing upon us a yoke even heavier than the yoke of the ancient Law, too heavy to be borne. For the old Law forbade us to commit murder; but the new Law forbade us even to hate our enemies. Again, the old Law forbade us to commit adultery; but the new Law forbade us even to entertain a lustful thought in our hearts. In a word, the old Law laid down certain ordinances, which if a man obeyed, he should live therein; but the new Law laid down nothing fixed nor certain for us, so that we might say“I have done this or that, and therefore I have fulfilled the Law of Christ.”For the Law of Moses touched the life of man, as it were, in certain points; as for example, in sacrifices, and feasts, and purifications, and[pg 109]Sabbaths, and in the obeying of the Ten Commandments: but the Law of Christ covered the whole of the state of man, the thoughts as well as the deeds; even as the encompassing air, which pierceth into every corner and cavern of the earth, wheresoever human life is. In fine, whereas the Law of Moses commanded us what we should do, the Law of Christ commanded what we should be. For this cause Jesus set himself against all bookishness, and against all worship of Traditions, and even of the precepts of the Scriptures; for he taught that precepts, howsoever they may shape the outward action, shape not the inner man.Again, as concerning the laws, and the judgments, and the rewards, and the punishments, in the New Kingdom, he spake as if they were not laws of man’s device, but rather Laws according to the nature of things, like unto the ordinances of the rain and the sunshine, the harvest and the seed-time. For he said that righteousness was not any such thing as could be attained by a price, nor by the doing of deeds; but that it consisted in a seeing of that which may be seen of God. He also spake of a certain eye of the soul, which, if it were clear, the man would be righteous; but if it were darkened, the man would be unrighteous. Also he spake of a certain law of retributions, which decreeth that whoso judgeth shall be judged, whoso forgiveth shall be forgiven, whoso giveth shall receive: adding thereunto this most strange doctrine, that if we would go forth into the world, giving and ready to give, then, from all sides, the world would give to us again; yea, the angels of God, and the elements of the world (which are His ministers) and even the children of men, should[pg 110]make us marvel by reason of their gratitude, giving us back good measure pressed down and running over. Now there is a saying in the Traditions that,“Whensoever a poor man standeth at thy door, the Holy One (blessed is He) standeth at his right hand. If thou givest him alms, know that thou shalt receive a reward from Him who standeth at his right hand.”Jesus therefore added to this doctrine, teaching that God standeth at the right hand not of the poor only, but of every one that is in need of aught, that is to say, of every one of the children of men: wherefore whatsoever is given to men, is given to God, and from God cometh back multiplied to the giver. Howbeit, we were neither to give alms, nor to do aught else, for hope of reward; but only out of love.Concerning citizenship in the Kingdom and how men should become citizens therein, he spake little to us, as being already citizens therein: save only this, that whoso would come, must come unto him; and through him, as through a door, they should pass into the Kingdom. And behold, the Kingdom was no other than a family, wherein God was at once Father and King, and all men were as children of the Father in Heaven. For the foundation of all was, that the heart and not the hands shaped the goodness and badness of all deeds, and made men to become citizens of the Kingdom: wherefore the heart and not the hands must be purified; nor could any be in truth citizens of the Kingdom except they had the thought of the Kingdom always in their hearts, so that their hopes and treasures were all stored up, not in the banks of money-changers, but in the Kingdom of Heaven.[pg 111]Then he spake of the exceeding joys of the citizens of the Kingdom of God, and how they are free from all troubles and all disquietudes. But none, he said, could serve God and Mammon at one time; neither was it possible to serve God aright and yet to be distracted and torn asunder by cares concerning meat or raiment. Hereat the companion of Eliezer murmured again, saying that Jesus had before spoken blasphemously in joining the forgiving of sins by God with the forgiving of sins by men, and now he had spoken as a madman, in forbidding us to be careful about food and raiment;“Can a man sit,”said he,“and search the Law, and not know whence he is to eat, and drink, and to be clad?”Now whether Jesus perceived his murmuring I know not: but he pointed, first upwards to the birds (for even at that instant there was a flight of pelicans above us) and then downward to the flowers, which bestrewed the side of the brook, and he said that our Father in Heaven fed the birds and clothed the flowers; and should He not much more care for us? Then he bade us seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all things else should be added unto us.Now concerning this Kingdom of God (or Kingdom of Heaven, for he called it by both names) we understood not much at this time: but my judgment now is that Jesus desired that all the Lord’s people should be as Prophets, not teaching one the other and saying“Know the Lord,”but all knowing the Lord from the least to the greatest. For he perceived that all the tribes of the earth were joined together under one emperor through desire of wealth and ease, and that Israel was joined together through hatred of the Romans[pg 112]and through desire to be rescued from them; but he saw that neither love of ease nor hatred of enemies could bind men together in an enduring Kingdom: but that which bindeth men together is the Spirit of love, which is a Spirit of brotherhood among men and of childhood unto God. For all nations begin with being first families, and then many families together; helping one another by reason of kindred, and not by reason of manhood. Now such a nation as this, and all men of such a nation, Jesus called“born of flesh and blood:”and he said that no nation could leave off to be a tribe and become a nation indeed, except it were born again, not of flesh and blood, but of the Spirit; so as to enter into a certain government of God, which the Greeks calledtheocratia, but Jesus called it the Kingdom of God. Such atheocratiaMoses had partly established in old times; howbeit the King in the kingdom of Moses was the God of Abraham, but the King in the kingdom of Jesus was the Father of the Son of man.But now to return to the words of Jesus. He ended his discourse with warning. First he warned us to beware of the common saying,“Give judgment according to the greater number”; for he said that the path to destruction is broad, and many go thereby. He bade us also try teachers and prophets by their works. Last of all, he spake very earnestly against certain which pretended to obey him but obeyed him not. We were the salt of the earth, he said, but if we lost our savour, how could the world be salted, and to what end could we serve, but to be cast out and trampled under foot? Whoso heard him and obeyed him not, such an one he likened unto a foolish shepherd (and even as he[pg 113]spake, there was nigh, within a bow-shot of us, a sheep-cote that had been cast down by the swollen waters of the brook) which built his house upon the sand, so that it fell: but whoso heard and obeyed, he likened him unto a wise shepherd, which built his house upon a rock so that it fell not. This parable Jesus did not at this time interpret to us, but afterwards he made it clear. For even as the Psalmists of Israel spake often of a certain Rock of Salvation, even so was it afterwards a common saying with Jesus both that each citizen of the New Kingdom must build his house upon a Rock, and that the Kingdom itself must be founded on a Rock, so that the gates of Hades or Destruction should not prevail against it. Howbeit what this Rock might be, we did not as yet understand; for he had not at this time revealed it unto us.[pg 114]CHAPTER IXWhen Jesus had ended all these words, he came down from the mountain, and we followed, reasoning much among ourselves. Baruch spake first, complaining that the new Law was full of hard sayings.“For,”said he,“when the Prophet proclaimed a blessing on the poor and hungry, that was easy to understand, and I rejoiced thereat: but afterwards, when he bade us bless them that cursed us, and do good to those that injured us, yea, and turn the left cheek to him that had smitten us on the right, and give our coat to him that had taken away our cloak, then indeed his doctrine seemed too wonderful for the mind of man to fathom.”Then a certain Essene (who at that time followed with us) made answer and said,“This world is but as a vestibule before the world to come: therefore the Prophet’s intent is to instruct us how to prepare ourselves at the vestibule so that we may find grace to come into the King’s presence: and his words enjoin on us to abstain from all earthly cares and pleasures, and to withdraw ourselves from the cities of men.”But to this Simon Peter made answer that Jesus had taught us to live in the sight of all men, like a city on an hill or like a candle on a candlestick: moreover, he had promised that we should inherit the earth.[pg 115]But here Eliezer the son of Arak could no longer constrain himself.“I marvel,”he said,“that we listen so long without first asking this Prophet by what authority he sayeth these things, or what sign he can work in Heaven to prove his authority. For other teachers received of teachers before them; as, for example, Hillel and Shammai received from Shemaiah and Abtalion; and Shemaiah and Abtalion received from Jehudah the son of Tabai, and Simeon the son of Shatach; and so on successively; but this teacher maketh mention of no teachers from whom he hath received his doctrine: neither worketh he any sign in Heaven. But whence doth he draw his knowledge about the Unapproachable (blessed is He)? Even from the creatures; even from the weeds of the field, and the silly birds that are caught in the snare of the fowler; from the senseless rain and from the shining of the sun; yea, and from the nature of the heart of man, which is evil from his youth! But how much better than all these is the Law, whereby was created all that is; according as it is said,‘Beloved are the children of Israel, in that there was given to them the instrument by which the world was created.’”No answer was made to the words of Eliezer: but Barabbas took up the words of Baruch, and said,“If we are to turn the left cheek to him which hath smitten the right, and if we are to do good unto them which do us harm, who shall cause injustice to cease in the world? For verily the unjust will wax fat in their injustice and will go on from oppression to oppression.”But said Judas of Kerioth,“Listen unto me, O foolish ones, and take counsel from me: for is it not even as I foretold?[pg 116]Did not I say unto you that the Prophet would not at this time make laws that should endure for ever, but only ordinances for a season, till we had gained the upper hand? Wherefore ye must know that it is in the mind of the Prophet to draw unto himself the hearts of all people by fair words and gentle dealing: but when the time is come for different policy, then we shall take fresh counsel according to our needs. But now hearken. Did not the Prophet prophesy woe to the rich and the powerful? These are the Romans; and in foretelling woe to them, he foretold woe against the Romans. Again, did he not prophesy blessing for the poor? And we are poor: and in every city of Israel the poor are the greater part, and will fight on our side, and will have a part in our blessing. I grant, he said not that we should be judges and princes: but he promised that we should have that for which we asked; and is not this enough for us? Yea, and albeit he mentioned not expressly money, or lands, or houses, yet he said that our reward should be great. But if persecution or the shedding of some of our blood must needs come before our success, who is so fainthearted and womanish as to draw back for such a cause? Therefore, I say, be of good heart; and though there be some dark sayings of the Prophet, let us be content to stand fast on those sayings which are plain. But as touching the words of Eliezer, we all know in our hearts that Jesus is not a man as other men, but that he is a leader sent from God; and howsoever he teacheth, and whithersoever he leadeth, it is our wisdom to obey him and to follow him.”The words of Judas pleased us: and we all agreed[pg 117]to them. Only a certain Alexandrine (whose name was Quartus) said to Baruch that he judged not that the words of Jesus were intended to be merely transitory ordinances. Now this Quartus was a man of no common understanding and discernment; and inasmuch as his father had been a Greek and had caused him to be trained in the Greek learning and philosophy, he spake with more art and subtlety than most of my companions. Howbeit he lacked not faith and the love of righteousness; and, his mother being of our nation, he had been circumcised, and had conformed himself to the worship of Israel; but having been bred up in the schools of the Greeks and in the school of Philo, he was at all times desirous to compare the teaching of other philosophers with the teaching of Jesus. He was a merchant, and his business brought him oftentimes to Capernaum, where I had met him; but I had also met him before in the house of my uncle at Alexandria. So when I overheard Quartus saying these words to my cousin, I questioned him how he interpreted the sayings of Jesus, and in particular, that saying concerning the turning of the cheek to the smiter.Then said Quartus unto me, after some pause,“Be not displeased if I speak in a parable. Many times in Capernaum have I seen mariners (such as know not your waters) grievously tossed by a storm while they strove to enter into the harbour by a straight course, and toiling hard for many hours, but all to no purpose; but others (which know the secret) leave the straight course on one side, and stand far out to Taricheæ. Thence floweth a current toward Capernaum, strong at all times; but in stormy weather it cannot be resisted.[pg 118]Falling into this current therefore, the wise mariner needeth but to row softly, or scarce at all, and lo, he entereth into Capernaum as it were upon wings. Now even such a wise mariner doth Jesus seem unto me.”I marvelled at his words. But Quartus perceived that I understood him not; and he continued,“I speak as one groping in the dark. But the meaning of my parable is this: The lake is the world; the vessel is Israel; and Capernaum is redemption. Other pilots have striven to guide Israel to redemption by dint of force, but they have failed: Jesus is the true pilot, and knoweth the currents and streams in the nature of men and things; and by his wisdom he thinketh to guide us aright.”“But what,”I asked,“are these streams and currents?”Again Quartus was silent for a while, and longer than before, so that by this time we were almost come down from the mountain; but at last he said unto me,“What seemeth to thee the strongest current in the nature of men?”But, when I held my peace, not knowing what to answer, he spake again very earnestly,“Thou art a student of the sayings of the Wise, O Joseph, and canst answer with discerning. Tell me, then, on what standeth the earth?”Then I replied according to the saying,“Upon the pillars; and the pillars upon the waters.”“Yea,”replied Quartus;“and after these cometh the wind; and what after the wind?”Then I said,“Beneath the wind is the storm, and beneath the storm is the arm of the Holy One; for it is said,‘Underneath are the Everlasting Arms.’”Then said Quartus,“It is so; and verily the foundations of earth are the Ever[pg 119]lasting Arms of the Father in Heaven: but if the Fatherhood of God be the strongest thing on earth, and if this be the mightiest stream or current in the nature of men, then how may we best sail with that current?”I remembered the words which Jesus had spoken that we were to become as little children; so I answered,“I suppose, by approaching Him as children.”Here Judas interrupted us and said,“Nay, but wisdom is the strongest thing in the world, for it is written of wisdom,‘The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old. When He appointed the foundations of the earth, then I was by Him as one brought up with Him.’”“Thou sayest well,”said Quartus,“but what human wisdom is like unto that wisdom which revealeth God to men? Now as no child can understand his father unless he love his father, so no man can know God (who is our Father in Heaven) unless he love Him; but whoso loveth, understandeth; therefore to love God is the highest wisdom of man.”Then Judas scoffed at him and said,“This is nothing but repeating in new words the old saying of the Law,‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.’What! do ye then deem our Master to be naught but a merchant that retaileth old wares as if they were new?”So he left us and went on before.But Quartus continued,“Judas saith truly that the new Law aimeth at the same mark as the old Law. But the means are diverse. For the old Law worketh by purifications and feasts and sabbaths; but the new Law belike worketh in part by these means,[pg 120]but in greater part by other means. And, as I judge, Jesus goeth toward the end of the old Law; but by a path that is new, yea, altogether new. For I have myself heard him say that the redeemers of old were like unto thieves and robbers, using force and violence; but he himself cometh not like a thief over the wall, but like the true shepherd through the door of the fold, that is to say, through the path of Redemption which God hath appointed. Now this path is kindness or love. And Jesus saith that the former redeemers failed of their purpose, for they thought to redeem men by force; but he will not fail, for he purposeth to redeem men by gentleness. And he saith that God ordaineth strength out of babes and sucklings, and that the spirit of childhood is the conquering spirit of the world. Rememberest thou not how our teacher Philo said some things not much unlike to these, teaching that the highest revelation of God is through love? Howbeit, none methinks, save Jesus only, can reveal this revelation. For Philo testifieth of that which is behind the veil; but Jesus of Nazareth hath power to lift up the veil.”By this time we had overtaken the others, whom we found all sitting, and Jesus in the midst of them. By the side of Jesus was a man bearing in his arms a little child. He was come forth from a house nigh to the place where Jesus sat, bringing a cup of water for Jesus to drink. While Jesus was drinking, the father still kept his eyes upon the child in his arms, and his face was full of compassion and tenderness; for the child was very sickly. We soon perceived that it was the same man that had denied to give us[pg 121]guidance in the morning; but at first we knew him not; pity and love had so transformed his countenance. Now it came to pass that when Jesus had given back the cup to the man, he laid his hands on the child and blessed him. And as he blessed him, his face shone as with the glory of the Lord; and the little one also seemed to rejoice and to partake in the brightness of our Master’s countenance.We both stood still, beholding Jesus. Then said Quartus unto me,“Did not Eliezer the son of Arak say truly, that‘Jesus looketh upon the book of the world as well as upon the book of the Law, and seeth in all things God’? For even as Elias the Prophet loved to commune with God on the tops of mountains, and in deserts, and in caves, and received revelations of the Lord from earthquakes and fires, but most of all from the still small voice; even so doth our Master look upon all things that are, yea even on the smallest things that live or grow, and from all, he heareth a still small voice that speaketh of the Father. Yea, and there is yet more than this. For whithersoever he turneth his face, methinks he giveth of his love to all things, whether they be the flowers of the field, or the birds, or the mountains, or the children of men: and because he thus giveth, it is given to him again; yea, wisdom and joy and peace are given back to him, even from things that have not life; but most of all from the children of men, which are made in the image of God. Therefore said I that Jesus seemeth as the wise mariner of whom we spake but now; for, by the Word of God in himself, he hath haply hit upon a certain current in the nature of created things, whereby he will easily[pg 122]prevail over the blasts of all opposing storms, and be carried into the haven of God, both he and all they that put their trust in him.”“Thy words are fair,”I replied,“but they do not persuade me. That the love of children doth bind husband and wife together, and that the bond of families is the bond of nations, this I deny not. Perchance also the love that parents have to their children may have lifted up the hearts of many in Israel, during many generations, to the true God. But how we are to take Jerusalem or thrust forth the Romans from Syria by becoming as little children, this passeth my understanding. Or dost thou not believe that Jesus will lead us against the Romans in Jerusalem?”“I know not,”replied Quartus (who spoke as one musing, and not giving heed to my question);“but what troubleth me most of all is the fear lest the knowledge of Jesus may haply perish with him; for if he hath (as I judge that he hath) a certain inborn power of winning men over to his will by kindness and gentleness, then, as it seemeth to me, this power may be likened unto the fabled ring of Solomon, which gave unto the owner well nigh whatsoever he desired. But there is this difference. The ring could be delivered from one man to another; but the art or secret of Jesus is, in all likelihood, not able to be delivered to them that shall come after; but it will perish with him. And then what becometh of his Kingdom of God?”As long as Quartus was speaking I heard him gladly: but when he had ceased, his words seemed like mist in the morning sun; but the words of Judas seemed[pg 123]as the solid ground from which the mist rolleth away. For what Quartus said was hard to understand; but the words of Judas seemed according to reason, and very plain to be understood; to wit, that the ordinances given on the mountain of blessing were transitory, and that we were still to wait for the New Law: and to this I agreed, and not I only, but the most part of the disciples.

[pg 90]CHAPTER VIIWhen I drew nigh to Capernaum, it was about the eleventh hour; so I hasted that I might inquire where Jesus of Nazareth abode, before the sun went down: for it was the day before the Sabbath. But as I journeyed down the valley, called the Valley of the Doves, and came to the place where the road turneth round to the right, I could not forbear to draw rein for a while, so beautiful was the sight; and though I had seen it often-times before, yet never before, methought, had it seemed so beautiful as now.On the tops of the hills were walnut-trees; lower down fig-trees; and below them grew luxuriant palms. For the place hath, as it were, several climates suiting several trees and plants; corn also aboundeth in those parts, and flax is not wanting; but the olive-trees (as elsewhere in Galilee) stand so thick together, and so thriving, that it was a common saying,“Thou mayest sooner rear a forest of olive-trees in Galilee than one child in Judæa;”fruit-trees also of all sorts grew there without number, laden with the goodliest fruits, exceeding the fruit-trees of any other part of Galilee; insomuch that the place was justly wont to be called the Garden of Abundance. But the city itself was as a[pg 91]half-circle of pearls, encompassed with gardens as with a circlet of emerald. A multitude of ships and fishing-boats bestrewed the surface of the lake, which was of a deep blue colour, as blue as sapphire; and the waves thereof were very still, because no wind at all was blowing. But as I looked towards Chorazin, the sight in the surface of the waters surpassed the sight of the land. For there, as in a mirror, one might see by reflexion in the water below, all that was on the land above; the walnut-trees and fig-trees and palm-trees, and the oleanders on the border of the waters, and the white pelicans watching for their prey upon the brink thereof, and the hedges of cactus, and the cottages of the husbandmen; all these things were to be clearly seen as if painted on the waters of the lake.Then came into my mind certain words which my Master had said to me when we went forth from Sepphoris together; how that our Father in heaven provideth for the adornment even of the grass of the fields, and how He hath made the simple flowers of the fields more beautiful than Solomon in his glory. And so it was that, as I thought on these words, I praised the Lord of Hosts, who hath made the world so beautiful; and though I had seen this sight many times before when I had come down from Sepphoris, yet now mine eyes seemed, as it were, to be opened to discern a new beauty therein. But I thought also on Israel and of the blessedness that was in store for this goodly land, if only the Roman could be driven forth. As I thought on these things, an east wind sprang up; and lo, where there had been but a moment ago so fair a sight, naught was now to be seen save troubled waters of many divers colours.[pg 92]Then I hasted onward, purposing to inquire concerning Jesus of Nazareth first, and afterwards to go to the house of my uncle.But when I was now at the going down to the city, my cousin Baruch was come forth to meet me, saying I was stayed for at a feast in the house of Manasseh. So I went straightway with him, and the sun set and the Sabbath was begun; and I had not yet seen Jesus of Nazareth. During supper time I would have inquired of Manasseh concerning Jesus; but Baruch had forewarned me that I should be silent. For my uncle, (he was a dyer by trade, and had many slaves and more than one house of merchandise, there and at Magdala, and elsewhere round about the Lake,) being fond of peace and wholly given to traffic, feared Jesus, lest he should beguile the people of Capernaum to take up arms against the Romans. Also he feared for Baruch, lest he too should be led away by Jesus. This I learned from my cousin after supper; howbeit he said not much about Jesus, for my uncle watched us. Only he said that Jesus had been now a full week in Capernaum, and that he was said to be able to work signs, and that certain of the fishermen had joined themselves unto him; but the most part still held with John the Prophet, saying that John was greater than Jesus; neither believed they that Jesus was the Messiah.On the morrow, about the sixth hour, we went to the synagogue. There was a great throng, so that we were fain to sit in the farthest seats from the Ark of the Law; neither could we discern who sat in the chief seats, nor who read, because a pillar stood between us and the pulpit. Now first the Law was[pg 93]read and prayers were offered up according to custom; but by reason of my sadness, because I desired to have seen Jesus again, I was even as the parched ground, and no moisture fell upon my soul. But when the Prophets were read, then it was as a shower of heaven on the congregation, and the dew of the Lord upon our souls; for the voice of him that read was the voice of Jesus of Nazareth.When he had made an end of reading, Jesus began to exhort the people, saying that he was sent to proclaim good news, to release the captive, give health to the sick, and light to the blind, and to bring Redemption to Israel. God, he said, loved all; not the good alone, but even the bad: yea, God was in very truth our Father in heaven. Therefore how much soever the kindest father on earth may love his children, albeit they transgress against him, much more is the love of God toward us though we be sinners. He did not tell us that we were not sinful; nay rather, he made it clear to us that our sins were as red as blood in the sight of the All-seeing; but none the less, he called us the children of God. As many as would repent should be forgiven; and he spake as if he himself had a certain divine power of forgiveness whereby he might purify the soul and bring us close to God, one family in the presence of our Father. One thing was needful, that we should trust in him and in his message. This day, he said, this very day, are the prophecies of Redemption fulfilled in your ears. Then he cried aloud unto all that were hungering or thirsting for righteousness, all that were weary of the burden of their sins, all that felt themselves utterly hopeless, friendless, and[pg 94]vile, bidding them resort to him as their refuge:“Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”While he was speaking, methought I was not hearing words, but seeing somewhat that might be seen and touched; so solid seemed the mercies of God, even as a rock whereon one standeth. For Jesus ever testified of the Father as one testifieth that knoweth by experience, and spake of heaven as of that which he had known and felt. Yea, and more than that; a certain strange power was in him to make things invisible to seem visible by his discourse. Wherefore, albeit Moses had called God the Father of the spirits of all flesh, and the Prophets also had taught Israel to say unto God,“Thou art our Father,”and all this doctrine was well known and trite among us; yet now, for the first time, the doctrine seemed to be no more a mere dead letter, but a living word. Such a life did Jesus of Nazareth breathe into it, insomuch that his Good News (for so he called it) came upon our hearts as news indeed, never heard before among the children of men.This long while (since Jesus had first begun to speak), a certain youth whom I had before noted, sitting not far from me, had been muttering and moaning gently to himself; but I was rapt in the words of Jesus, wherefore I had given the less heed to the boy. But now, he stood up, and cried aloud in a deep hollow voice, as of a full-grown man,“What hast thou to do with us? Let us alone, let us alone.”Then in his own voice he cried again,“I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.”Immediately I perceived that it was the demoniac, even Raphael the son of Joazar,[pg 95]whom Theudas the Exorcist had adventured to heal; but a great fear fell on all the congregation, and the women rose up from their places, shrieking for terror. But Jesus, without use of charm or gesture, rebuked the unclean spirits and bade them come forth. Then they tare the youth, so that he shrieked with a piercing shriek; and so they came forth. And Jesus delivered the boy to his father; who would scarce suffer Jesus out of his sight, between joy that the devils were gone forth, and fear lest they might return. Howbeit, now the spirits were driven out so that they returned no more. For the boy lived to be a man; nor did he die (as it hath been reported to me) till he numbered fifty years, dying about twelve years ago, two years before destruction came upon the Holy City.When Jesus departed from the synagogue, the people thronged him, bringing to him divers requests, some concerning their friends that were diseased or lunatic, or afflicted with devils; others begging him to come and bless their children; others asking him that he would lodge in their houses, or at the least sup with them. For at this time all men, rich and poor, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Galileans, inclined to follow Jesus. But he would go to none of the rich men’s houses, but only to the house of Simon the son of Jonah (whom he afterwards called Peter); he was one of the fishermen of the place and had joined himself to Jesus. But Jesus suffered me to accompany him.But when we were now entering into the house, behold all things were full of disorder and lamentation. For Simon’s wife’s mother (who abode in the house) had been suddenly afflicted with a grievous sickness, so that,[pg 96]instead of serving the guests, she was laid speechless upon a bed in an upper room. Then they spake to Jesus concerning her. Now I was not myself present when the thing took place; but (as it was reported to me) Jesus healed her after the same manner as he had healed my mother; for he took her by the hand and lifted her up, and she arose whole and free from her disease, and ministered unto the guests.Jesus straitly charged us that we should tell no man; whereat we marvelled not a little. But howsoever we obeyed him, it could not be hid. And besides this, the fame of the healing of Raphael the son of Joazar had been noised abroad through the whole of the city, insomuch that at sunset, when we went forth, the Sabbath being now ended, we saw great multitudes of demoniacs, lunatics, and some also sick of the palsy and of fever, laid in their beds along the road through which we would have passed. Some also, that were afflicted with incurable diseases, had been brought notwithstanding, because of their entreaties; if perchance Jesus might heal them; and I saw one man that had been blind from his birth.Now it came to pass that when Jesus came forth from Simon Peter’s house, and saw the faces of all these sick people, and the faces of their friends, all waiting if perchance he would help them, his countenance was altered, and the shadow of sorrow fell upon him, and he sighed and said,“Verily for the sorrowful I am sorrowful, and for the sick I am sick.”4Then he passed along the ranks of the sick people; and wheresoever he perceived that any could be healed, he laid his hands on them,[pg 97]and lo, they were at once freed from their infirmities; and many unclean spirits were driven out from those whom they had possessed. Now most of them that were healed had been possessed with evil spirits; but others were lunatic, or sick of the palsy, or of fever, or had impediment in their speech. But Jesus had a marvellous power to discern, methought, not only them that had faith from them that had not, but also such diseases as were to be cured, from such as were not to be cured, because it was not prepared for him that he should cure them. But when Jesus had made an end of healing, the multitude still followed us; and the friends of such as had not been cured, vexed us with importunities; and others, whose friends had been cured, called down blessings on Jesus, and refused to leave him. Thus, go whither we would, we could not be alone. So Jesus returned to the house, and I went back to the house of Manasseh.I opened my mind to my uncle that night, and said to him that I purposed to go with Jesus of Nazareth whithersoever he went; and Baruch said the same. But my uncle no longer opposed himself against our wills; only he forewarned us that evil was in store for us;“For,”said he,“I have sojourned in Italy among the Romans three years, and I know well that nothing can withstand their power. But whoso gainsayeth them gainsayeth the strength of a king: according as it is written,‘Where the word of a king is, there is power; and who may say unto him, What doest thou?’”All the night long no sleep came to my eyes for musing on all the things that I had seen and heard that day:“For this day,”said I,“is, as it were, the birthday of[pg 98]the Redemption of Israel,”But when I thought thereon, and considered with myself that I had now joined myself unto Jesus as the Redeemer, and when I compared Jesus with the image of the Redeemer of Sion (such as I had framed it in my mind from the reading of the Prophets, and such as my countrymen expected), then was I as one astonied and amazed to find myself believing in Jesus, and standing on his side. For I had imagined unto myself one that should perchance appear, riding on the clouds of heaven, encompassed by thousands of angels, taking vengeance upon the enemies of Sion, according to the word of the prophet Daniel; or else I had thought to see a royal deliverer, even such another as David himself, mighty with the sword, riding at the head of his ten thousands, ruling the Gentiles with a rod of iron, or breaking them in pieces like a potter’s vessel; or else I had fashioned in my mind a Deliverer after the manner of Elias, rebuking kings in their pride, and calling down fire from heaven for a sign, or for the destruction of the Gentiles.Now before this time, I had had no leisure to consider the matter; for, in the presence of Jesus, I had been drawn towards him as by an enchantment: but in the stillness of the night, Jesus being no more before my face, I thought on all the signs and wonders wrought by Moses and Elias aforetime, and doubt fell upon me; and it seemed to me not possible that Jesus of Nazareth could be greater than they, so as to be the Messiah. But when I asked myself,“Could it then be that Jesus is a deceiver?”my heart made answer,“Nay, that could not be. And if thou trust not in Jesus, there is not any one in the world in whom thou canst trust.”So I comforted myself in my perplexity, saying to myself,[pg 99]“Perchance the time hath not yet come for Jesus to manifest himself as the son of David, nor as the Son of man spoken of by the prophet Daniel: but doubtless that time will come; and then shalt thou see Jesus, as the Messiah indeed, in power.”But on the morrow, very early, when we went forth to the house of Simon Peter, behold, a mixed multitude had gathered round the doors waiting for the coming of Jesus. And I also waited, standing with them, and heard how they conversed with each other. But it seemed that one had but now come forth from the house of Peter, saying that Jesus could not be found in the house. Then arose a murmur in the crowd; and a certain man from Antioch said that Simon had set a snare for Jesus of Nazareth, and had betrayed him to Herod the Tetrarch. But there was in the press one Gorgias the son of Philip, a man well known to Simon; and he laughed the man of Antioch to scorn. He had been in the army of Herod the King in former times, and his father was a Greek; but he conformed himself to the Law and joined himself to the sect of the Galileans; and his word prevailed greatly with them, because he was versed in warlike matters. This man declared that Jesus had withdrawn himself, that he might not be shut up in prison by the Tetrarch:“And no marvel,”said he,“for, seeing that the tyrant hath but now taken John the son of Zachariah, why should he not also adventure to take the new prophet?”Others, beside myself, had not heard before that John had been cast into prison. So we questioned Gorgias, and heard that the prophet had been cast into prison in the Black Castle at Machærus three days ago. Many[pg 100]of them that were in the crowd had been disciples of John; and they cried aloud that the men of Galilee ought to rise up and deliver the prophet. But Gorgias beckoned with his hand that they should be silent, and when silence was made, he said,“Let us rise up, indeed, but not without a leader. Now the Lord hath sent to us this Jesus of Nazareth: and that he is a prophet sent from God none can deny.”The multitude shouted that it was even so, and one or other uttered praises of Jesus; and a certain man said,“Yea, never man spake as this spake.”But Gorgias answered and said,“It is known to all that I am a soldier, neither do words prevail with me without deeds. Wherefore I also, until yesterday, did but lightly esteem Jesus of Nazareth. But now he hath shown forth his power in deeds. And he that can do such deeds as Jesus hath wrought in our streets, shall he not do even greater deeds than these when the time shall come for them? Yea, doubtless, all things are possible to him. And what will avail squadrons of horse, or legions of foot, against one that can call down fire from heaven, or cause the walls of a city to fall to the ground? Choose we therefore Jesus to be our leader, and no one shall be able to stand against us.”At this instant Simon Peter came forth, and he confirmed what had been said, to wit, that Jesus of Nazareth was not in the house: but he thought that he was gone forth to be alone. And so it was. For when we had made diligent search for him we found him alone on a mountain, about three miles from the town. We besought him to return; but he answered that he must proclaim the Good News in other villages also, for to that[pg 101]end he had been sent. So Simon Peter and the rest of the disciples accompanied him, and Baruch and I went with them; and for the space of four or five weeks we continued with him, going from town to town in Galilee; and Jesus preached the Good News, and healed the sick; and a great multitude of all sorts was added to our number.Now the greater part of our band were honest people, hungering and thirsting for the Redemption of Sion: but some were vain men, children of iniquity, seeking the wages of unrighteousness. Especially they that had been formerly soldiers resorted to Jesus, as to a prince or general, like vultures hasting to the prey, supposing that they should gain much spoil if he prevailed against the Romans. And so it was that once when Jesus spake to his disciples, saying that they must be“fishers of men,”then Baruch, being offended by the presence of these children of mammon among us, answered and said,“But must the fishers catch vile fish as well as good?”Hereat Jesus turned and looked sorrowfully on Baruch, and said,“The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the age. The messengers of God shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”Another parable spake he to the same effect, that the tares must needs grow with the wheat till the day[pg 102]of harvest, for not till then can the division be made between good and evil. When we heard this, we grieved thereat; for we had supposed that none save the faithful should have been admitted into the Kingdom, and we marvelled why Jesus should first suffer the bad to enter, and then drive them forth. Howbeit, we besought him that he would give us ordinances which we might observe, to the intent that we might not be cast out of the Kingdom. For some of our number had begun to say that Jesus had come to destroy the Law, so that every one might do what he listed; as though Jesus had said that God loveth the wicked as much as the righteous, even though the wicked abide in wickedness. Thus they brought shame upon us, and they set stumblingblocks in the path of many that had otherwise believed. Moreover the disciples of John the Baptist compared us with themselves, and asked us concerning our laws and customs and prayers; and, when they found that we had none of these things, then they despised us, saying that our Master was not equal to John. For at this time the fame of John the son of Zachariah overshadowed the fame of Jesus; yea, and for some time after this, even after John had been cast into prison. For this cause we intreated Jesus that he would both teach us how to pray, as John also had taught his disciples, and also that he would lay down laws for the new Kingdom, even as Moses had laid down laws for the kingdom in old times.Jesus hearkened to our petition in silence. Then he said that he must depart from us for a season and go to the top of a certain mountain; but he appointed the third hour of the following day that we should come to him.[pg 103]Certain of the Scribes that followed with us murmured at Jesus, because he had appointed that we should come to him on the mountain: and one, finding fault for that Jesus was often wont to spend the whole night praying alone on some mountain, said,“It is written,‘Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord;’therefore it is good to pray from a low place, and not from a high place.”ButNathanaelanswered and said that Jesus loved to be alone on the mountain by night, to meditate on the greatness of the Lord and how He hath exalted the Son of man, according as it is written,“I will consider thy heavens, even the works of thy fingers, the moon and stars which thou hast ordained:”and“these very words,”said Nathanael,“I heard the Prophet but yesterday repeat, when we were upon the top of yonder mountain.”Hereat the Scribes murmured the more, saying that it was not written that any prophet in old times thus took counsel with the heavens after the manner of a Chaldean. But Gorgias the son of Philip murmured for another cause, saying that the Prophet ought not thus to mistrust his followers, nor to be so fearful for his own safety, and that it behoved the friends of Jesus to take him by force, if need be, and to make him a king. And to this Judas of Kerioth consented and some others.But to the most of us the words of Gorgias seemed an abomination; for we knew that Jesus did not depart for fear: for indeed fear was not in him. But he desired to be alone because he wished to pray, and because of the burden of his heart. For it grieved him, more than can be told, to see the misery and wretchedness, yea, and the ignorance and the sinfulness of the mixed[pg 104]multitude which pressed round him. All their pains pained him and all their sufferings he suffered, insomuch that more than once I have heard him saying in a low voice to himself,“For them that are hungry I hunger, and for them that are athirst I thirst, and for them that are sick I am sick.”5Notwithstanding he was not so much distressed with the pains and diseases of the body as with the pains and diseases of the soul. For the sins of souls seemed to him as real and loathsome as the diseases of the flesh to us; and oftentimes a transgression that would appear slight to us, he counted as a work of Satan; so that whithersoever he moved, he saw sins more than could be seen of common men, yea, a very sea of sinfulness; albeit, underlying the sea of sin and sorrow, he still discerned the Everlasting Arms.Moreover, because he loved all men with an exceeding great love, for this cause every hour in his life brought unto him a burden passing the power of words to describe. For the sins of men were not unto him as the sins of aliens and strangers, but as the sins of his own brethren: yea, they were even as his own sins; for, although he himself sinned not, neither knew sin, yet what pain cometh from the bearing of a brother’s sin, that he knew full well. Wherefore in him was fulfilled the saying of the prophet Isaiah; who prophesied that the Messiah should be a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs, and that he should carry our sins and bear our iniquities.[pg 105]CHAPTER VIIIOn the morrow, about the second hour, we began to go up the mountain which Jesus had appointed. But having strayed from the path, we knocked at the door of a house which was near the foot of the mountain, and besought the goodman of the house that he would guide us. There opened the door a man of churlish appearance; but he would neither come out, nor so much as speak with us. This delayed us for a time, but we soon found the path, and the way became steep. The sun shone, but not with too fervent a heat, and the north wind blew gently from Hermon, whose top we saw clearly toward the north, clad in snow. On the west was the Mount Carmel, shining with a brightness as of purple; and further off the Great Sea, resembling a blue plain, whereon appeared many sails, almost too small for sight by reason of the distance. We climbed upward through groves of terebinth and oak. As often as we turned round to recover breath, the houses and fields grew smaller, till, at the last, when we drew nigh unto the top, the whole plain of Esdraelon seemed but as a small ground-plat; and large towns appeared as little hamlets, and all the works of man became very small in our eyes, as though we were leaving earth and approaching heaven.[pg 106]Then said Baruch,“Is not this a second Sinai? For verily Jesus of Nazareth is about to give us a new law.”But Eliezer the son of Arak, the principal Scribe of Capernaum (for he at this time followed Jesus and was now with us) rebuked him, saying,“Even though Jesus of Nazareth were the greatest of prophets, yet were he not equal to Moses; for it is said, Sinai is to be preferred even to the uprooter of mountains!”And another said,“Behold, the Word of God, when it went forth from Sinai from the mouth of the Holy One (blessed be His Name), was like sparks, and lightnings, and flames of fire; a torch of flame was on his right hand, and a torch of flame on his left hand: it flew and hovered in the air of the heavens, and returned and graved itself upon the tables of the covenant which were given into the hands of Moses. How then is it possible that the like wonders should be wrought on this mountain?”Then said Nathanael to Simon Peter that it might perchance please the Lord not always to speak by the whirlwind or by the fire, but, as in the days of Elias, by the still small voice. And to this Peter agreed, but others did not agree: for though they inclined not to Eliezer the son of Arak, yet it was because they thought that Jesus would of a surety soon work some sign in heaven to prove that he was the Redeemer. But Judas of Kerioth affirmed that Jesus would not, at this present time, lay down laws for the Kingdom, but only ordinances for a season, to instruct the host in the journey towards Jerusalem; but until Jerusalem should be ours, lasting laws would not be made.While we were disputing among ourselves concerning the saying of Judas, Peter cried“Peace:”for, said he,[pg 107]“yonder is the Prophet:”and looking upward, we saw Jesus on a rock stretching out his hands in prayer. When he had made an end of praying, Peter approached him and besought him a second time to teach us to pray; and Jesus gave us that well-known prayer which is used in all the churches. Afterwards he beckoned to us to follow him, and he came down and stood in the bed of a torrent, which was dry by reason of the drought. While we were following him, I heard the companion of Eliezer murmuring because there were no words in the prayer concerning the Redemption of Israel;“moreover,”said he,“albeit the prayer asketh for bread, yet is there no mention of wine, nor oil, nor even of raiment. But how can a man sit and search the Law and the Traditions, and know not whence he is to drink as well as eat, and whence to be clad and covered?”To this I would have made reply; but Peter again cried to us to hold our peace, for Jesus was beginning to speak.When he opened his lips, every one was silent for expectation; but, as he proceeded, the silence was a silence as of them that are astonished and disappointed. For he began with setting forth in his discourse a character and image of a citizen of the New Kingdom; and lo, it was not the image of a conqueror, but of one conquered. Also he drew as it were a model of the palace of the Great King, and of the princes and nobles which stand about His throne; and behold, when we compared the model with that which we had imagined in our hearts, and with that which we had read of in histories, the model of Jesus was in all things contrary to the model in our hearts. For in old times men had done reverence unto the valiant, the proud, the strong, the rich[pg 108]and the wise; but Jesus said that the chief places about the throne of God should be given to the hungry and thirsty, and poor; to them that were innocent and simple; to them that made not war, but peace; yea, even to them which resisted not evil, but rewarded evil with good. Upon all these, as being the nobles and princes of the New Kingdom, Jesus pronounced a blessing; to wit, that all things should work together for good to them, so that they should have all that they needed, according to the words of the prophet,“Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed.”Even so did Jesus ordain that they which hungered should be satisfied, and that the makers of peace should conquer and inherit the earth.Next, he described the statutes and judgments of the New Kingdom; and, behold, instead of an easier yoke, he seemed to be placing upon us a yoke even heavier than the yoke of the ancient Law, too heavy to be borne. For the old Law forbade us to commit murder; but the new Law forbade us even to hate our enemies. Again, the old Law forbade us to commit adultery; but the new Law forbade us even to entertain a lustful thought in our hearts. In a word, the old Law laid down certain ordinances, which if a man obeyed, he should live therein; but the new Law laid down nothing fixed nor certain for us, so that we might say“I have done this or that, and therefore I have fulfilled the Law of Christ.”For the Law of Moses touched the life of man, as it were, in certain points; as for example, in sacrifices, and feasts, and purifications, and[pg 109]Sabbaths, and in the obeying of the Ten Commandments: but the Law of Christ covered the whole of the state of man, the thoughts as well as the deeds; even as the encompassing air, which pierceth into every corner and cavern of the earth, wheresoever human life is. In fine, whereas the Law of Moses commanded us what we should do, the Law of Christ commanded what we should be. For this cause Jesus set himself against all bookishness, and against all worship of Traditions, and even of the precepts of the Scriptures; for he taught that precepts, howsoever they may shape the outward action, shape not the inner man.Again, as concerning the laws, and the judgments, and the rewards, and the punishments, in the New Kingdom, he spake as if they were not laws of man’s device, but rather Laws according to the nature of things, like unto the ordinances of the rain and the sunshine, the harvest and the seed-time. For he said that righteousness was not any such thing as could be attained by a price, nor by the doing of deeds; but that it consisted in a seeing of that which may be seen of God. He also spake of a certain eye of the soul, which, if it were clear, the man would be righteous; but if it were darkened, the man would be unrighteous. Also he spake of a certain law of retributions, which decreeth that whoso judgeth shall be judged, whoso forgiveth shall be forgiven, whoso giveth shall receive: adding thereunto this most strange doctrine, that if we would go forth into the world, giving and ready to give, then, from all sides, the world would give to us again; yea, the angels of God, and the elements of the world (which are His ministers) and even the children of men, should[pg 110]make us marvel by reason of their gratitude, giving us back good measure pressed down and running over. Now there is a saying in the Traditions that,“Whensoever a poor man standeth at thy door, the Holy One (blessed is He) standeth at his right hand. If thou givest him alms, know that thou shalt receive a reward from Him who standeth at his right hand.”Jesus therefore added to this doctrine, teaching that God standeth at the right hand not of the poor only, but of every one that is in need of aught, that is to say, of every one of the children of men: wherefore whatsoever is given to men, is given to God, and from God cometh back multiplied to the giver. Howbeit, we were neither to give alms, nor to do aught else, for hope of reward; but only out of love.Concerning citizenship in the Kingdom and how men should become citizens therein, he spake little to us, as being already citizens therein: save only this, that whoso would come, must come unto him; and through him, as through a door, they should pass into the Kingdom. And behold, the Kingdom was no other than a family, wherein God was at once Father and King, and all men were as children of the Father in Heaven. For the foundation of all was, that the heart and not the hands shaped the goodness and badness of all deeds, and made men to become citizens of the Kingdom: wherefore the heart and not the hands must be purified; nor could any be in truth citizens of the Kingdom except they had the thought of the Kingdom always in their hearts, so that their hopes and treasures were all stored up, not in the banks of money-changers, but in the Kingdom of Heaven.[pg 111]Then he spake of the exceeding joys of the citizens of the Kingdom of God, and how they are free from all troubles and all disquietudes. But none, he said, could serve God and Mammon at one time; neither was it possible to serve God aright and yet to be distracted and torn asunder by cares concerning meat or raiment. Hereat the companion of Eliezer murmured again, saying that Jesus had before spoken blasphemously in joining the forgiving of sins by God with the forgiving of sins by men, and now he had spoken as a madman, in forbidding us to be careful about food and raiment;“Can a man sit,”said he,“and search the Law, and not know whence he is to eat, and drink, and to be clad?”Now whether Jesus perceived his murmuring I know not: but he pointed, first upwards to the birds (for even at that instant there was a flight of pelicans above us) and then downward to the flowers, which bestrewed the side of the brook, and he said that our Father in Heaven fed the birds and clothed the flowers; and should He not much more care for us? Then he bade us seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all things else should be added unto us.Now concerning this Kingdom of God (or Kingdom of Heaven, for he called it by both names) we understood not much at this time: but my judgment now is that Jesus desired that all the Lord’s people should be as Prophets, not teaching one the other and saying“Know the Lord,”but all knowing the Lord from the least to the greatest. For he perceived that all the tribes of the earth were joined together under one emperor through desire of wealth and ease, and that Israel was joined together through hatred of the Romans[pg 112]and through desire to be rescued from them; but he saw that neither love of ease nor hatred of enemies could bind men together in an enduring Kingdom: but that which bindeth men together is the Spirit of love, which is a Spirit of brotherhood among men and of childhood unto God. For all nations begin with being first families, and then many families together; helping one another by reason of kindred, and not by reason of manhood. Now such a nation as this, and all men of such a nation, Jesus called“born of flesh and blood:”and he said that no nation could leave off to be a tribe and become a nation indeed, except it were born again, not of flesh and blood, but of the Spirit; so as to enter into a certain government of God, which the Greeks calledtheocratia, but Jesus called it the Kingdom of God. Such atheocratiaMoses had partly established in old times; howbeit the King in the kingdom of Moses was the God of Abraham, but the King in the kingdom of Jesus was the Father of the Son of man.But now to return to the words of Jesus. He ended his discourse with warning. First he warned us to beware of the common saying,“Give judgment according to the greater number”; for he said that the path to destruction is broad, and many go thereby. He bade us also try teachers and prophets by their works. Last of all, he spake very earnestly against certain which pretended to obey him but obeyed him not. We were the salt of the earth, he said, but if we lost our savour, how could the world be salted, and to what end could we serve, but to be cast out and trampled under foot? Whoso heard him and obeyed him not, such an one he likened unto a foolish shepherd (and even as he[pg 113]spake, there was nigh, within a bow-shot of us, a sheep-cote that had been cast down by the swollen waters of the brook) which built his house upon the sand, so that it fell: but whoso heard and obeyed, he likened him unto a wise shepherd, which built his house upon a rock so that it fell not. This parable Jesus did not at this time interpret to us, but afterwards he made it clear. For even as the Psalmists of Israel spake often of a certain Rock of Salvation, even so was it afterwards a common saying with Jesus both that each citizen of the New Kingdom must build his house upon a Rock, and that the Kingdom itself must be founded on a Rock, so that the gates of Hades or Destruction should not prevail against it. Howbeit what this Rock might be, we did not as yet understand; for he had not at this time revealed it unto us.[pg 114]CHAPTER IXWhen Jesus had ended all these words, he came down from the mountain, and we followed, reasoning much among ourselves. Baruch spake first, complaining that the new Law was full of hard sayings.“For,”said he,“when the Prophet proclaimed a blessing on the poor and hungry, that was easy to understand, and I rejoiced thereat: but afterwards, when he bade us bless them that cursed us, and do good to those that injured us, yea, and turn the left cheek to him that had smitten us on the right, and give our coat to him that had taken away our cloak, then indeed his doctrine seemed too wonderful for the mind of man to fathom.”Then a certain Essene (who at that time followed with us) made answer and said,“This world is but as a vestibule before the world to come: therefore the Prophet’s intent is to instruct us how to prepare ourselves at the vestibule so that we may find grace to come into the King’s presence: and his words enjoin on us to abstain from all earthly cares and pleasures, and to withdraw ourselves from the cities of men.”But to this Simon Peter made answer that Jesus had taught us to live in the sight of all men, like a city on an hill or like a candle on a candlestick: moreover, he had promised that we should inherit the earth.[pg 115]But here Eliezer the son of Arak could no longer constrain himself.“I marvel,”he said,“that we listen so long without first asking this Prophet by what authority he sayeth these things, or what sign he can work in Heaven to prove his authority. For other teachers received of teachers before them; as, for example, Hillel and Shammai received from Shemaiah and Abtalion; and Shemaiah and Abtalion received from Jehudah the son of Tabai, and Simeon the son of Shatach; and so on successively; but this teacher maketh mention of no teachers from whom he hath received his doctrine: neither worketh he any sign in Heaven. But whence doth he draw his knowledge about the Unapproachable (blessed is He)? Even from the creatures; even from the weeds of the field, and the silly birds that are caught in the snare of the fowler; from the senseless rain and from the shining of the sun; yea, and from the nature of the heart of man, which is evil from his youth! But how much better than all these is the Law, whereby was created all that is; according as it is said,‘Beloved are the children of Israel, in that there was given to them the instrument by which the world was created.’”No answer was made to the words of Eliezer: but Barabbas took up the words of Baruch, and said,“If we are to turn the left cheek to him which hath smitten the right, and if we are to do good unto them which do us harm, who shall cause injustice to cease in the world? For verily the unjust will wax fat in their injustice and will go on from oppression to oppression.”But said Judas of Kerioth,“Listen unto me, O foolish ones, and take counsel from me: for is it not even as I foretold?[pg 116]Did not I say unto you that the Prophet would not at this time make laws that should endure for ever, but only ordinances for a season, till we had gained the upper hand? Wherefore ye must know that it is in the mind of the Prophet to draw unto himself the hearts of all people by fair words and gentle dealing: but when the time is come for different policy, then we shall take fresh counsel according to our needs. But now hearken. Did not the Prophet prophesy woe to the rich and the powerful? These are the Romans; and in foretelling woe to them, he foretold woe against the Romans. Again, did he not prophesy blessing for the poor? And we are poor: and in every city of Israel the poor are the greater part, and will fight on our side, and will have a part in our blessing. I grant, he said not that we should be judges and princes: but he promised that we should have that for which we asked; and is not this enough for us? Yea, and albeit he mentioned not expressly money, or lands, or houses, yet he said that our reward should be great. But if persecution or the shedding of some of our blood must needs come before our success, who is so fainthearted and womanish as to draw back for such a cause? Therefore, I say, be of good heart; and though there be some dark sayings of the Prophet, let us be content to stand fast on those sayings which are plain. But as touching the words of Eliezer, we all know in our hearts that Jesus is not a man as other men, but that he is a leader sent from God; and howsoever he teacheth, and whithersoever he leadeth, it is our wisdom to obey him and to follow him.”The words of Judas pleased us: and we all agreed[pg 117]to them. Only a certain Alexandrine (whose name was Quartus) said to Baruch that he judged not that the words of Jesus were intended to be merely transitory ordinances. Now this Quartus was a man of no common understanding and discernment; and inasmuch as his father had been a Greek and had caused him to be trained in the Greek learning and philosophy, he spake with more art and subtlety than most of my companions. Howbeit he lacked not faith and the love of righteousness; and, his mother being of our nation, he had been circumcised, and had conformed himself to the worship of Israel; but having been bred up in the schools of the Greeks and in the school of Philo, he was at all times desirous to compare the teaching of other philosophers with the teaching of Jesus. He was a merchant, and his business brought him oftentimes to Capernaum, where I had met him; but I had also met him before in the house of my uncle at Alexandria. So when I overheard Quartus saying these words to my cousin, I questioned him how he interpreted the sayings of Jesus, and in particular, that saying concerning the turning of the cheek to the smiter.Then said Quartus unto me, after some pause,“Be not displeased if I speak in a parable. Many times in Capernaum have I seen mariners (such as know not your waters) grievously tossed by a storm while they strove to enter into the harbour by a straight course, and toiling hard for many hours, but all to no purpose; but others (which know the secret) leave the straight course on one side, and stand far out to Taricheæ. Thence floweth a current toward Capernaum, strong at all times; but in stormy weather it cannot be resisted.[pg 118]Falling into this current therefore, the wise mariner needeth but to row softly, or scarce at all, and lo, he entereth into Capernaum as it were upon wings. Now even such a wise mariner doth Jesus seem unto me.”I marvelled at his words. But Quartus perceived that I understood him not; and he continued,“I speak as one groping in the dark. But the meaning of my parable is this: The lake is the world; the vessel is Israel; and Capernaum is redemption. Other pilots have striven to guide Israel to redemption by dint of force, but they have failed: Jesus is the true pilot, and knoweth the currents and streams in the nature of men and things; and by his wisdom he thinketh to guide us aright.”“But what,”I asked,“are these streams and currents?”Again Quartus was silent for a while, and longer than before, so that by this time we were almost come down from the mountain; but at last he said unto me,“What seemeth to thee the strongest current in the nature of men?”But, when I held my peace, not knowing what to answer, he spake again very earnestly,“Thou art a student of the sayings of the Wise, O Joseph, and canst answer with discerning. Tell me, then, on what standeth the earth?”Then I replied according to the saying,“Upon the pillars; and the pillars upon the waters.”“Yea,”replied Quartus;“and after these cometh the wind; and what after the wind?”Then I said,“Beneath the wind is the storm, and beneath the storm is the arm of the Holy One; for it is said,‘Underneath are the Everlasting Arms.’”Then said Quartus,“It is so; and verily the foundations of earth are the Ever[pg 119]lasting Arms of the Father in Heaven: but if the Fatherhood of God be the strongest thing on earth, and if this be the mightiest stream or current in the nature of men, then how may we best sail with that current?”I remembered the words which Jesus had spoken that we were to become as little children; so I answered,“I suppose, by approaching Him as children.”Here Judas interrupted us and said,“Nay, but wisdom is the strongest thing in the world, for it is written of wisdom,‘The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old. When He appointed the foundations of the earth, then I was by Him as one brought up with Him.’”“Thou sayest well,”said Quartus,“but what human wisdom is like unto that wisdom which revealeth God to men? Now as no child can understand his father unless he love his father, so no man can know God (who is our Father in Heaven) unless he love Him; but whoso loveth, understandeth; therefore to love God is the highest wisdom of man.”Then Judas scoffed at him and said,“This is nothing but repeating in new words the old saying of the Law,‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.’What! do ye then deem our Master to be naught but a merchant that retaileth old wares as if they were new?”So he left us and went on before.But Quartus continued,“Judas saith truly that the new Law aimeth at the same mark as the old Law. But the means are diverse. For the old Law worketh by purifications and feasts and sabbaths; but the new Law belike worketh in part by these means,[pg 120]but in greater part by other means. And, as I judge, Jesus goeth toward the end of the old Law; but by a path that is new, yea, altogether new. For I have myself heard him say that the redeemers of old were like unto thieves and robbers, using force and violence; but he himself cometh not like a thief over the wall, but like the true shepherd through the door of the fold, that is to say, through the path of Redemption which God hath appointed. Now this path is kindness or love. And Jesus saith that the former redeemers failed of their purpose, for they thought to redeem men by force; but he will not fail, for he purposeth to redeem men by gentleness. And he saith that God ordaineth strength out of babes and sucklings, and that the spirit of childhood is the conquering spirit of the world. Rememberest thou not how our teacher Philo said some things not much unlike to these, teaching that the highest revelation of God is through love? Howbeit, none methinks, save Jesus only, can reveal this revelation. For Philo testifieth of that which is behind the veil; but Jesus of Nazareth hath power to lift up the veil.”By this time we had overtaken the others, whom we found all sitting, and Jesus in the midst of them. By the side of Jesus was a man bearing in his arms a little child. He was come forth from a house nigh to the place where Jesus sat, bringing a cup of water for Jesus to drink. While Jesus was drinking, the father still kept his eyes upon the child in his arms, and his face was full of compassion and tenderness; for the child was very sickly. We soon perceived that it was the same man that had denied to give us[pg 121]guidance in the morning; but at first we knew him not; pity and love had so transformed his countenance. Now it came to pass that when Jesus had given back the cup to the man, he laid his hands on the child and blessed him. And as he blessed him, his face shone as with the glory of the Lord; and the little one also seemed to rejoice and to partake in the brightness of our Master’s countenance.We both stood still, beholding Jesus. Then said Quartus unto me,“Did not Eliezer the son of Arak say truly, that‘Jesus looketh upon the book of the world as well as upon the book of the Law, and seeth in all things God’? For even as Elias the Prophet loved to commune with God on the tops of mountains, and in deserts, and in caves, and received revelations of the Lord from earthquakes and fires, but most of all from the still small voice; even so doth our Master look upon all things that are, yea even on the smallest things that live or grow, and from all, he heareth a still small voice that speaketh of the Father. Yea, and there is yet more than this. For whithersoever he turneth his face, methinks he giveth of his love to all things, whether they be the flowers of the field, or the birds, or the mountains, or the children of men: and because he thus giveth, it is given to him again; yea, wisdom and joy and peace are given back to him, even from things that have not life; but most of all from the children of men, which are made in the image of God. Therefore said I that Jesus seemeth as the wise mariner of whom we spake but now; for, by the Word of God in himself, he hath haply hit upon a certain current in the nature of created things, whereby he will easily[pg 122]prevail over the blasts of all opposing storms, and be carried into the haven of God, both he and all they that put their trust in him.”“Thy words are fair,”I replied,“but they do not persuade me. That the love of children doth bind husband and wife together, and that the bond of families is the bond of nations, this I deny not. Perchance also the love that parents have to their children may have lifted up the hearts of many in Israel, during many generations, to the true God. But how we are to take Jerusalem or thrust forth the Romans from Syria by becoming as little children, this passeth my understanding. Or dost thou not believe that Jesus will lead us against the Romans in Jerusalem?”“I know not,”replied Quartus (who spoke as one musing, and not giving heed to my question);“but what troubleth me most of all is the fear lest the knowledge of Jesus may haply perish with him; for if he hath (as I judge that he hath) a certain inborn power of winning men over to his will by kindness and gentleness, then, as it seemeth to me, this power may be likened unto the fabled ring of Solomon, which gave unto the owner well nigh whatsoever he desired. But there is this difference. The ring could be delivered from one man to another; but the art or secret of Jesus is, in all likelihood, not able to be delivered to them that shall come after; but it will perish with him. And then what becometh of his Kingdom of God?”As long as Quartus was speaking I heard him gladly: but when he had ceased, his words seemed like mist in the morning sun; but the words of Judas seemed[pg 123]as the solid ground from which the mist rolleth away. For what Quartus said was hard to understand; but the words of Judas seemed according to reason, and very plain to be understood; to wit, that the ordinances given on the mountain of blessing were transitory, and that we were still to wait for the New Law: and to this I agreed, and not I only, but the most part of the disciples.

[pg 90]CHAPTER VIIWhen I drew nigh to Capernaum, it was about the eleventh hour; so I hasted that I might inquire where Jesus of Nazareth abode, before the sun went down: for it was the day before the Sabbath. But as I journeyed down the valley, called the Valley of the Doves, and came to the place where the road turneth round to the right, I could not forbear to draw rein for a while, so beautiful was the sight; and though I had seen it often-times before, yet never before, methought, had it seemed so beautiful as now.On the tops of the hills were walnut-trees; lower down fig-trees; and below them grew luxuriant palms. For the place hath, as it were, several climates suiting several trees and plants; corn also aboundeth in those parts, and flax is not wanting; but the olive-trees (as elsewhere in Galilee) stand so thick together, and so thriving, that it was a common saying,“Thou mayest sooner rear a forest of olive-trees in Galilee than one child in Judæa;”fruit-trees also of all sorts grew there without number, laden with the goodliest fruits, exceeding the fruit-trees of any other part of Galilee; insomuch that the place was justly wont to be called the Garden of Abundance. But the city itself was as a[pg 91]half-circle of pearls, encompassed with gardens as with a circlet of emerald. A multitude of ships and fishing-boats bestrewed the surface of the lake, which was of a deep blue colour, as blue as sapphire; and the waves thereof were very still, because no wind at all was blowing. But as I looked towards Chorazin, the sight in the surface of the waters surpassed the sight of the land. For there, as in a mirror, one might see by reflexion in the water below, all that was on the land above; the walnut-trees and fig-trees and palm-trees, and the oleanders on the border of the waters, and the white pelicans watching for their prey upon the brink thereof, and the hedges of cactus, and the cottages of the husbandmen; all these things were to be clearly seen as if painted on the waters of the lake.Then came into my mind certain words which my Master had said to me when we went forth from Sepphoris together; how that our Father in heaven provideth for the adornment even of the grass of the fields, and how He hath made the simple flowers of the fields more beautiful than Solomon in his glory. And so it was that, as I thought on these words, I praised the Lord of Hosts, who hath made the world so beautiful; and though I had seen this sight many times before when I had come down from Sepphoris, yet now mine eyes seemed, as it were, to be opened to discern a new beauty therein. But I thought also on Israel and of the blessedness that was in store for this goodly land, if only the Roman could be driven forth. As I thought on these things, an east wind sprang up; and lo, where there had been but a moment ago so fair a sight, naught was now to be seen save troubled waters of many divers colours.[pg 92]Then I hasted onward, purposing to inquire concerning Jesus of Nazareth first, and afterwards to go to the house of my uncle.But when I was now at the going down to the city, my cousin Baruch was come forth to meet me, saying I was stayed for at a feast in the house of Manasseh. So I went straightway with him, and the sun set and the Sabbath was begun; and I had not yet seen Jesus of Nazareth. During supper time I would have inquired of Manasseh concerning Jesus; but Baruch had forewarned me that I should be silent. For my uncle, (he was a dyer by trade, and had many slaves and more than one house of merchandise, there and at Magdala, and elsewhere round about the Lake,) being fond of peace and wholly given to traffic, feared Jesus, lest he should beguile the people of Capernaum to take up arms against the Romans. Also he feared for Baruch, lest he too should be led away by Jesus. This I learned from my cousin after supper; howbeit he said not much about Jesus, for my uncle watched us. Only he said that Jesus had been now a full week in Capernaum, and that he was said to be able to work signs, and that certain of the fishermen had joined themselves unto him; but the most part still held with John the Prophet, saying that John was greater than Jesus; neither believed they that Jesus was the Messiah.On the morrow, about the sixth hour, we went to the synagogue. There was a great throng, so that we were fain to sit in the farthest seats from the Ark of the Law; neither could we discern who sat in the chief seats, nor who read, because a pillar stood between us and the pulpit. Now first the Law was[pg 93]read and prayers were offered up according to custom; but by reason of my sadness, because I desired to have seen Jesus again, I was even as the parched ground, and no moisture fell upon my soul. But when the Prophets were read, then it was as a shower of heaven on the congregation, and the dew of the Lord upon our souls; for the voice of him that read was the voice of Jesus of Nazareth.When he had made an end of reading, Jesus began to exhort the people, saying that he was sent to proclaim good news, to release the captive, give health to the sick, and light to the blind, and to bring Redemption to Israel. God, he said, loved all; not the good alone, but even the bad: yea, God was in very truth our Father in heaven. Therefore how much soever the kindest father on earth may love his children, albeit they transgress against him, much more is the love of God toward us though we be sinners. He did not tell us that we were not sinful; nay rather, he made it clear to us that our sins were as red as blood in the sight of the All-seeing; but none the less, he called us the children of God. As many as would repent should be forgiven; and he spake as if he himself had a certain divine power of forgiveness whereby he might purify the soul and bring us close to God, one family in the presence of our Father. One thing was needful, that we should trust in him and in his message. This day, he said, this very day, are the prophecies of Redemption fulfilled in your ears. Then he cried aloud unto all that were hungering or thirsting for righteousness, all that were weary of the burden of their sins, all that felt themselves utterly hopeless, friendless, and[pg 94]vile, bidding them resort to him as their refuge:“Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”While he was speaking, methought I was not hearing words, but seeing somewhat that might be seen and touched; so solid seemed the mercies of God, even as a rock whereon one standeth. For Jesus ever testified of the Father as one testifieth that knoweth by experience, and spake of heaven as of that which he had known and felt. Yea, and more than that; a certain strange power was in him to make things invisible to seem visible by his discourse. Wherefore, albeit Moses had called God the Father of the spirits of all flesh, and the Prophets also had taught Israel to say unto God,“Thou art our Father,”and all this doctrine was well known and trite among us; yet now, for the first time, the doctrine seemed to be no more a mere dead letter, but a living word. Such a life did Jesus of Nazareth breathe into it, insomuch that his Good News (for so he called it) came upon our hearts as news indeed, never heard before among the children of men.This long while (since Jesus had first begun to speak), a certain youth whom I had before noted, sitting not far from me, had been muttering and moaning gently to himself; but I was rapt in the words of Jesus, wherefore I had given the less heed to the boy. But now, he stood up, and cried aloud in a deep hollow voice, as of a full-grown man,“What hast thou to do with us? Let us alone, let us alone.”Then in his own voice he cried again,“I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.”Immediately I perceived that it was the demoniac, even Raphael the son of Joazar,[pg 95]whom Theudas the Exorcist had adventured to heal; but a great fear fell on all the congregation, and the women rose up from their places, shrieking for terror. But Jesus, without use of charm or gesture, rebuked the unclean spirits and bade them come forth. Then they tare the youth, so that he shrieked with a piercing shriek; and so they came forth. And Jesus delivered the boy to his father; who would scarce suffer Jesus out of his sight, between joy that the devils were gone forth, and fear lest they might return. Howbeit, now the spirits were driven out so that they returned no more. For the boy lived to be a man; nor did he die (as it hath been reported to me) till he numbered fifty years, dying about twelve years ago, two years before destruction came upon the Holy City.When Jesus departed from the synagogue, the people thronged him, bringing to him divers requests, some concerning their friends that were diseased or lunatic, or afflicted with devils; others begging him to come and bless their children; others asking him that he would lodge in their houses, or at the least sup with them. For at this time all men, rich and poor, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Galileans, inclined to follow Jesus. But he would go to none of the rich men’s houses, but only to the house of Simon the son of Jonah (whom he afterwards called Peter); he was one of the fishermen of the place and had joined himself to Jesus. But Jesus suffered me to accompany him.But when we were now entering into the house, behold all things were full of disorder and lamentation. For Simon’s wife’s mother (who abode in the house) had been suddenly afflicted with a grievous sickness, so that,[pg 96]instead of serving the guests, she was laid speechless upon a bed in an upper room. Then they spake to Jesus concerning her. Now I was not myself present when the thing took place; but (as it was reported to me) Jesus healed her after the same manner as he had healed my mother; for he took her by the hand and lifted her up, and she arose whole and free from her disease, and ministered unto the guests.Jesus straitly charged us that we should tell no man; whereat we marvelled not a little. But howsoever we obeyed him, it could not be hid. And besides this, the fame of the healing of Raphael the son of Joazar had been noised abroad through the whole of the city, insomuch that at sunset, when we went forth, the Sabbath being now ended, we saw great multitudes of demoniacs, lunatics, and some also sick of the palsy and of fever, laid in their beds along the road through which we would have passed. Some also, that were afflicted with incurable diseases, had been brought notwithstanding, because of their entreaties; if perchance Jesus might heal them; and I saw one man that had been blind from his birth.Now it came to pass that when Jesus came forth from Simon Peter’s house, and saw the faces of all these sick people, and the faces of their friends, all waiting if perchance he would help them, his countenance was altered, and the shadow of sorrow fell upon him, and he sighed and said,“Verily for the sorrowful I am sorrowful, and for the sick I am sick.”4Then he passed along the ranks of the sick people; and wheresoever he perceived that any could be healed, he laid his hands on them,[pg 97]and lo, they were at once freed from their infirmities; and many unclean spirits were driven out from those whom they had possessed. Now most of them that were healed had been possessed with evil spirits; but others were lunatic, or sick of the palsy, or of fever, or had impediment in their speech. But Jesus had a marvellous power to discern, methought, not only them that had faith from them that had not, but also such diseases as were to be cured, from such as were not to be cured, because it was not prepared for him that he should cure them. But when Jesus had made an end of healing, the multitude still followed us; and the friends of such as had not been cured, vexed us with importunities; and others, whose friends had been cured, called down blessings on Jesus, and refused to leave him. Thus, go whither we would, we could not be alone. So Jesus returned to the house, and I went back to the house of Manasseh.I opened my mind to my uncle that night, and said to him that I purposed to go with Jesus of Nazareth whithersoever he went; and Baruch said the same. But my uncle no longer opposed himself against our wills; only he forewarned us that evil was in store for us;“For,”said he,“I have sojourned in Italy among the Romans three years, and I know well that nothing can withstand their power. But whoso gainsayeth them gainsayeth the strength of a king: according as it is written,‘Where the word of a king is, there is power; and who may say unto him, What doest thou?’”All the night long no sleep came to my eyes for musing on all the things that I had seen and heard that day:“For this day,”said I,“is, as it were, the birthday of[pg 98]the Redemption of Israel,”But when I thought thereon, and considered with myself that I had now joined myself unto Jesus as the Redeemer, and when I compared Jesus with the image of the Redeemer of Sion (such as I had framed it in my mind from the reading of the Prophets, and such as my countrymen expected), then was I as one astonied and amazed to find myself believing in Jesus, and standing on his side. For I had imagined unto myself one that should perchance appear, riding on the clouds of heaven, encompassed by thousands of angels, taking vengeance upon the enemies of Sion, according to the word of the prophet Daniel; or else I had thought to see a royal deliverer, even such another as David himself, mighty with the sword, riding at the head of his ten thousands, ruling the Gentiles with a rod of iron, or breaking them in pieces like a potter’s vessel; or else I had fashioned in my mind a Deliverer after the manner of Elias, rebuking kings in their pride, and calling down fire from heaven for a sign, or for the destruction of the Gentiles.Now before this time, I had had no leisure to consider the matter; for, in the presence of Jesus, I had been drawn towards him as by an enchantment: but in the stillness of the night, Jesus being no more before my face, I thought on all the signs and wonders wrought by Moses and Elias aforetime, and doubt fell upon me; and it seemed to me not possible that Jesus of Nazareth could be greater than they, so as to be the Messiah. But when I asked myself,“Could it then be that Jesus is a deceiver?”my heart made answer,“Nay, that could not be. And if thou trust not in Jesus, there is not any one in the world in whom thou canst trust.”So I comforted myself in my perplexity, saying to myself,[pg 99]“Perchance the time hath not yet come for Jesus to manifest himself as the son of David, nor as the Son of man spoken of by the prophet Daniel: but doubtless that time will come; and then shalt thou see Jesus, as the Messiah indeed, in power.”But on the morrow, very early, when we went forth to the house of Simon Peter, behold, a mixed multitude had gathered round the doors waiting for the coming of Jesus. And I also waited, standing with them, and heard how they conversed with each other. But it seemed that one had but now come forth from the house of Peter, saying that Jesus could not be found in the house. Then arose a murmur in the crowd; and a certain man from Antioch said that Simon had set a snare for Jesus of Nazareth, and had betrayed him to Herod the Tetrarch. But there was in the press one Gorgias the son of Philip, a man well known to Simon; and he laughed the man of Antioch to scorn. He had been in the army of Herod the King in former times, and his father was a Greek; but he conformed himself to the Law and joined himself to the sect of the Galileans; and his word prevailed greatly with them, because he was versed in warlike matters. This man declared that Jesus had withdrawn himself, that he might not be shut up in prison by the Tetrarch:“And no marvel,”said he,“for, seeing that the tyrant hath but now taken John the son of Zachariah, why should he not also adventure to take the new prophet?”Others, beside myself, had not heard before that John had been cast into prison. So we questioned Gorgias, and heard that the prophet had been cast into prison in the Black Castle at Machærus three days ago. Many[pg 100]of them that were in the crowd had been disciples of John; and they cried aloud that the men of Galilee ought to rise up and deliver the prophet. But Gorgias beckoned with his hand that they should be silent, and when silence was made, he said,“Let us rise up, indeed, but not without a leader. Now the Lord hath sent to us this Jesus of Nazareth: and that he is a prophet sent from God none can deny.”The multitude shouted that it was even so, and one or other uttered praises of Jesus; and a certain man said,“Yea, never man spake as this spake.”But Gorgias answered and said,“It is known to all that I am a soldier, neither do words prevail with me without deeds. Wherefore I also, until yesterday, did but lightly esteem Jesus of Nazareth. But now he hath shown forth his power in deeds. And he that can do such deeds as Jesus hath wrought in our streets, shall he not do even greater deeds than these when the time shall come for them? Yea, doubtless, all things are possible to him. And what will avail squadrons of horse, or legions of foot, against one that can call down fire from heaven, or cause the walls of a city to fall to the ground? Choose we therefore Jesus to be our leader, and no one shall be able to stand against us.”At this instant Simon Peter came forth, and he confirmed what had been said, to wit, that Jesus of Nazareth was not in the house: but he thought that he was gone forth to be alone. And so it was. For when we had made diligent search for him we found him alone on a mountain, about three miles from the town. We besought him to return; but he answered that he must proclaim the Good News in other villages also, for to that[pg 101]end he had been sent. So Simon Peter and the rest of the disciples accompanied him, and Baruch and I went with them; and for the space of four or five weeks we continued with him, going from town to town in Galilee; and Jesus preached the Good News, and healed the sick; and a great multitude of all sorts was added to our number.Now the greater part of our band were honest people, hungering and thirsting for the Redemption of Sion: but some were vain men, children of iniquity, seeking the wages of unrighteousness. Especially they that had been formerly soldiers resorted to Jesus, as to a prince or general, like vultures hasting to the prey, supposing that they should gain much spoil if he prevailed against the Romans. And so it was that once when Jesus spake to his disciples, saying that they must be“fishers of men,”then Baruch, being offended by the presence of these children of mammon among us, answered and said,“But must the fishers catch vile fish as well as good?”Hereat Jesus turned and looked sorrowfully on Baruch, and said,“The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the age. The messengers of God shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”Another parable spake he to the same effect, that the tares must needs grow with the wheat till the day[pg 102]of harvest, for not till then can the division be made between good and evil. When we heard this, we grieved thereat; for we had supposed that none save the faithful should have been admitted into the Kingdom, and we marvelled why Jesus should first suffer the bad to enter, and then drive them forth. Howbeit, we besought him that he would give us ordinances which we might observe, to the intent that we might not be cast out of the Kingdom. For some of our number had begun to say that Jesus had come to destroy the Law, so that every one might do what he listed; as though Jesus had said that God loveth the wicked as much as the righteous, even though the wicked abide in wickedness. Thus they brought shame upon us, and they set stumblingblocks in the path of many that had otherwise believed. Moreover the disciples of John the Baptist compared us with themselves, and asked us concerning our laws and customs and prayers; and, when they found that we had none of these things, then they despised us, saying that our Master was not equal to John. For at this time the fame of John the son of Zachariah overshadowed the fame of Jesus; yea, and for some time after this, even after John had been cast into prison. For this cause we intreated Jesus that he would both teach us how to pray, as John also had taught his disciples, and also that he would lay down laws for the new Kingdom, even as Moses had laid down laws for the kingdom in old times.Jesus hearkened to our petition in silence. Then he said that he must depart from us for a season and go to the top of a certain mountain; but he appointed the third hour of the following day that we should come to him.[pg 103]Certain of the Scribes that followed with us murmured at Jesus, because he had appointed that we should come to him on the mountain: and one, finding fault for that Jesus was often wont to spend the whole night praying alone on some mountain, said,“It is written,‘Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord;’therefore it is good to pray from a low place, and not from a high place.”ButNathanaelanswered and said that Jesus loved to be alone on the mountain by night, to meditate on the greatness of the Lord and how He hath exalted the Son of man, according as it is written,“I will consider thy heavens, even the works of thy fingers, the moon and stars which thou hast ordained:”and“these very words,”said Nathanael,“I heard the Prophet but yesterday repeat, when we were upon the top of yonder mountain.”Hereat the Scribes murmured the more, saying that it was not written that any prophet in old times thus took counsel with the heavens after the manner of a Chaldean. But Gorgias the son of Philip murmured for another cause, saying that the Prophet ought not thus to mistrust his followers, nor to be so fearful for his own safety, and that it behoved the friends of Jesus to take him by force, if need be, and to make him a king. And to this Judas of Kerioth consented and some others.But to the most of us the words of Gorgias seemed an abomination; for we knew that Jesus did not depart for fear: for indeed fear was not in him. But he desired to be alone because he wished to pray, and because of the burden of his heart. For it grieved him, more than can be told, to see the misery and wretchedness, yea, and the ignorance and the sinfulness of the mixed[pg 104]multitude which pressed round him. All their pains pained him and all their sufferings he suffered, insomuch that more than once I have heard him saying in a low voice to himself,“For them that are hungry I hunger, and for them that are athirst I thirst, and for them that are sick I am sick.”5Notwithstanding he was not so much distressed with the pains and diseases of the body as with the pains and diseases of the soul. For the sins of souls seemed to him as real and loathsome as the diseases of the flesh to us; and oftentimes a transgression that would appear slight to us, he counted as a work of Satan; so that whithersoever he moved, he saw sins more than could be seen of common men, yea, a very sea of sinfulness; albeit, underlying the sea of sin and sorrow, he still discerned the Everlasting Arms.Moreover, because he loved all men with an exceeding great love, for this cause every hour in his life brought unto him a burden passing the power of words to describe. For the sins of men were not unto him as the sins of aliens and strangers, but as the sins of his own brethren: yea, they were even as his own sins; for, although he himself sinned not, neither knew sin, yet what pain cometh from the bearing of a brother’s sin, that he knew full well. Wherefore in him was fulfilled the saying of the prophet Isaiah; who prophesied that the Messiah should be a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs, and that he should carry our sins and bear our iniquities.

When I drew nigh to Capernaum, it was about the eleventh hour; so I hasted that I might inquire where Jesus of Nazareth abode, before the sun went down: for it was the day before the Sabbath. But as I journeyed down the valley, called the Valley of the Doves, and came to the place where the road turneth round to the right, I could not forbear to draw rein for a while, so beautiful was the sight; and though I had seen it often-times before, yet never before, methought, had it seemed so beautiful as now.

On the tops of the hills were walnut-trees; lower down fig-trees; and below them grew luxuriant palms. For the place hath, as it were, several climates suiting several trees and plants; corn also aboundeth in those parts, and flax is not wanting; but the olive-trees (as elsewhere in Galilee) stand so thick together, and so thriving, that it was a common saying,“Thou mayest sooner rear a forest of olive-trees in Galilee than one child in Judæa;”fruit-trees also of all sorts grew there without number, laden with the goodliest fruits, exceeding the fruit-trees of any other part of Galilee; insomuch that the place was justly wont to be called the Garden of Abundance. But the city itself was as a[pg 91]half-circle of pearls, encompassed with gardens as with a circlet of emerald. A multitude of ships and fishing-boats bestrewed the surface of the lake, which was of a deep blue colour, as blue as sapphire; and the waves thereof were very still, because no wind at all was blowing. But as I looked towards Chorazin, the sight in the surface of the waters surpassed the sight of the land. For there, as in a mirror, one might see by reflexion in the water below, all that was on the land above; the walnut-trees and fig-trees and palm-trees, and the oleanders on the border of the waters, and the white pelicans watching for their prey upon the brink thereof, and the hedges of cactus, and the cottages of the husbandmen; all these things were to be clearly seen as if painted on the waters of the lake.

Then came into my mind certain words which my Master had said to me when we went forth from Sepphoris together; how that our Father in heaven provideth for the adornment even of the grass of the fields, and how He hath made the simple flowers of the fields more beautiful than Solomon in his glory. And so it was that, as I thought on these words, I praised the Lord of Hosts, who hath made the world so beautiful; and though I had seen this sight many times before when I had come down from Sepphoris, yet now mine eyes seemed, as it were, to be opened to discern a new beauty therein. But I thought also on Israel and of the blessedness that was in store for this goodly land, if only the Roman could be driven forth. As I thought on these things, an east wind sprang up; and lo, where there had been but a moment ago so fair a sight, naught was now to be seen save troubled waters of many divers colours.[pg 92]Then I hasted onward, purposing to inquire concerning Jesus of Nazareth first, and afterwards to go to the house of my uncle.

But when I was now at the going down to the city, my cousin Baruch was come forth to meet me, saying I was stayed for at a feast in the house of Manasseh. So I went straightway with him, and the sun set and the Sabbath was begun; and I had not yet seen Jesus of Nazareth. During supper time I would have inquired of Manasseh concerning Jesus; but Baruch had forewarned me that I should be silent. For my uncle, (he was a dyer by trade, and had many slaves and more than one house of merchandise, there and at Magdala, and elsewhere round about the Lake,) being fond of peace and wholly given to traffic, feared Jesus, lest he should beguile the people of Capernaum to take up arms against the Romans. Also he feared for Baruch, lest he too should be led away by Jesus. This I learned from my cousin after supper; howbeit he said not much about Jesus, for my uncle watched us. Only he said that Jesus had been now a full week in Capernaum, and that he was said to be able to work signs, and that certain of the fishermen had joined themselves unto him; but the most part still held with John the Prophet, saying that John was greater than Jesus; neither believed they that Jesus was the Messiah.

On the morrow, about the sixth hour, we went to the synagogue. There was a great throng, so that we were fain to sit in the farthest seats from the Ark of the Law; neither could we discern who sat in the chief seats, nor who read, because a pillar stood between us and the pulpit. Now first the Law was[pg 93]read and prayers were offered up according to custom; but by reason of my sadness, because I desired to have seen Jesus again, I was even as the parched ground, and no moisture fell upon my soul. But when the Prophets were read, then it was as a shower of heaven on the congregation, and the dew of the Lord upon our souls; for the voice of him that read was the voice of Jesus of Nazareth.

When he had made an end of reading, Jesus began to exhort the people, saying that he was sent to proclaim good news, to release the captive, give health to the sick, and light to the blind, and to bring Redemption to Israel. God, he said, loved all; not the good alone, but even the bad: yea, God was in very truth our Father in heaven. Therefore how much soever the kindest father on earth may love his children, albeit they transgress against him, much more is the love of God toward us though we be sinners. He did not tell us that we were not sinful; nay rather, he made it clear to us that our sins were as red as blood in the sight of the All-seeing; but none the less, he called us the children of God. As many as would repent should be forgiven; and he spake as if he himself had a certain divine power of forgiveness whereby he might purify the soul and bring us close to God, one family in the presence of our Father. One thing was needful, that we should trust in him and in his message. This day, he said, this very day, are the prophecies of Redemption fulfilled in your ears. Then he cried aloud unto all that were hungering or thirsting for righteousness, all that were weary of the burden of their sins, all that felt themselves utterly hopeless, friendless, and[pg 94]vile, bidding them resort to him as their refuge:“Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

While he was speaking, methought I was not hearing words, but seeing somewhat that might be seen and touched; so solid seemed the mercies of God, even as a rock whereon one standeth. For Jesus ever testified of the Father as one testifieth that knoweth by experience, and spake of heaven as of that which he had known and felt. Yea, and more than that; a certain strange power was in him to make things invisible to seem visible by his discourse. Wherefore, albeit Moses had called God the Father of the spirits of all flesh, and the Prophets also had taught Israel to say unto God,“Thou art our Father,”and all this doctrine was well known and trite among us; yet now, for the first time, the doctrine seemed to be no more a mere dead letter, but a living word. Such a life did Jesus of Nazareth breathe into it, insomuch that his Good News (for so he called it) came upon our hearts as news indeed, never heard before among the children of men.

This long while (since Jesus had first begun to speak), a certain youth whom I had before noted, sitting not far from me, had been muttering and moaning gently to himself; but I was rapt in the words of Jesus, wherefore I had given the less heed to the boy. But now, he stood up, and cried aloud in a deep hollow voice, as of a full-grown man,“What hast thou to do with us? Let us alone, let us alone.”Then in his own voice he cried again,“I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.”Immediately I perceived that it was the demoniac, even Raphael the son of Joazar,[pg 95]whom Theudas the Exorcist had adventured to heal; but a great fear fell on all the congregation, and the women rose up from their places, shrieking for terror. But Jesus, without use of charm or gesture, rebuked the unclean spirits and bade them come forth. Then they tare the youth, so that he shrieked with a piercing shriek; and so they came forth. And Jesus delivered the boy to his father; who would scarce suffer Jesus out of his sight, between joy that the devils were gone forth, and fear lest they might return. Howbeit, now the spirits were driven out so that they returned no more. For the boy lived to be a man; nor did he die (as it hath been reported to me) till he numbered fifty years, dying about twelve years ago, two years before destruction came upon the Holy City.

When Jesus departed from the synagogue, the people thronged him, bringing to him divers requests, some concerning their friends that were diseased or lunatic, or afflicted with devils; others begging him to come and bless their children; others asking him that he would lodge in their houses, or at the least sup with them. For at this time all men, rich and poor, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Galileans, inclined to follow Jesus. But he would go to none of the rich men’s houses, but only to the house of Simon the son of Jonah (whom he afterwards called Peter); he was one of the fishermen of the place and had joined himself to Jesus. But Jesus suffered me to accompany him.

But when we were now entering into the house, behold all things were full of disorder and lamentation. For Simon’s wife’s mother (who abode in the house) had been suddenly afflicted with a grievous sickness, so that,[pg 96]instead of serving the guests, she was laid speechless upon a bed in an upper room. Then they spake to Jesus concerning her. Now I was not myself present when the thing took place; but (as it was reported to me) Jesus healed her after the same manner as he had healed my mother; for he took her by the hand and lifted her up, and she arose whole and free from her disease, and ministered unto the guests.

Jesus straitly charged us that we should tell no man; whereat we marvelled not a little. But howsoever we obeyed him, it could not be hid. And besides this, the fame of the healing of Raphael the son of Joazar had been noised abroad through the whole of the city, insomuch that at sunset, when we went forth, the Sabbath being now ended, we saw great multitudes of demoniacs, lunatics, and some also sick of the palsy and of fever, laid in their beds along the road through which we would have passed. Some also, that were afflicted with incurable diseases, had been brought notwithstanding, because of their entreaties; if perchance Jesus might heal them; and I saw one man that had been blind from his birth.

Now it came to pass that when Jesus came forth from Simon Peter’s house, and saw the faces of all these sick people, and the faces of their friends, all waiting if perchance he would help them, his countenance was altered, and the shadow of sorrow fell upon him, and he sighed and said,“Verily for the sorrowful I am sorrowful, and for the sick I am sick.”4Then he passed along the ranks of the sick people; and wheresoever he perceived that any could be healed, he laid his hands on them,[pg 97]and lo, they were at once freed from their infirmities; and many unclean spirits were driven out from those whom they had possessed. Now most of them that were healed had been possessed with evil spirits; but others were lunatic, or sick of the palsy, or of fever, or had impediment in their speech. But Jesus had a marvellous power to discern, methought, not only them that had faith from them that had not, but also such diseases as were to be cured, from such as were not to be cured, because it was not prepared for him that he should cure them. But when Jesus had made an end of healing, the multitude still followed us; and the friends of such as had not been cured, vexed us with importunities; and others, whose friends had been cured, called down blessings on Jesus, and refused to leave him. Thus, go whither we would, we could not be alone. So Jesus returned to the house, and I went back to the house of Manasseh.

I opened my mind to my uncle that night, and said to him that I purposed to go with Jesus of Nazareth whithersoever he went; and Baruch said the same. But my uncle no longer opposed himself against our wills; only he forewarned us that evil was in store for us;“For,”said he,“I have sojourned in Italy among the Romans three years, and I know well that nothing can withstand their power. But whoso gainsayeth them gainsayeth the strength of a king: according as it is written,‘Where the word of a king is, there is power; and who may say unto him, What doest thou?’”

All the night long no sleep came to my eyes for musing on all the things that I had seen and heard that day:“For this day,”said I,“is, as it were, the birthday of[pg 98]the Redemption of Israel,”But when I thought thereon, and considered with myself that I had now joined myself unto Jesus as the Redeemer, and when I compared Jesus with the image of the Redeemer of Sion (such as I had framed it in my mind from the reading of the Prophets, and such as my countrymen expected), then was I as one astonied and amazed to find myself believing in Jesus, and standing on his side. For I had imagined unto myself one that should perchance appear, riding on the clouds of heaven, encompassed by thousands of angels, taking vengeance upon the enemies of Sion, according to the word of the prophet Daniel; or else I had thought to see a royal deliverer, even such another as David himself, mighty with the sword, riding at the head of his ten thousands, ruling the Gentiles with a rod of iron, or breaking them in pieces like a potter’s vessel; or else I had fashioned in my mind a Deliverer after the manner of Elias, rebuking kings in their pride, and calling down fire from heaven for a sign, or for the destruction of the Gentiles.

Now before this time, I had had no leisure to consider the matter; for, in the presence of Jesus, I had been drawn towards him as by an enchantment: but in the stillness of the night, Jesus being no more before my face, I thought on all the signs and wonders wrought by Moses and Elias aforetime, and doubt fell upon me; and it seemed to me not possible that Jesus of Nazareth could be greater than they, so as to be the Messiah. But when I asked myself,“Could it then be that Jesus is a deceiver?”my heart made answer,“Nay, that could not be. And if thou trust not in Jesus, there is not any one in the world in whom thou canst trust.”So I comforted myself in my perplexity, saying to myself,[pg 99]“Perchance the time hath not yet come for Jesus to manifest himself as the son of David, nor as the Son of man spoken of by the prophet Daniel: but doubtless that time will come; and then shalt thou see Jesus, as the Messiah indeed, in power.”

But on the morrow, very early, when we went forth to the house of Simon Peter, behold, a mixed multitude had gathered round the doors waiting for the coming of Jesus. And I also waited, standing with them, and heard how they conversed with each other. But it seemed that one had but now come forth from the house of Peter, saying that Jesus could not be found in the house. Then arose a murmur in the crowd; and a certain man from Antioch said that Simon had set a snare for Jesus of Nazareth, and had betrayed him to Herod the Tetrarch. But there was in the press one Gorgias the son of Philip, a man well known to Simon; and he laughed the man of Antioch to scorn. He had been in the army of Herod the King in former times, and his father was a Greek; but he conformed himself to the Law and joined himself to the sect of the Galileans; and his word prevailed greatly with them, because he was versed in warlike matters. This man declared that Jesus had withdrawn himself, that he might not be shut up in prison by the Tetrarch:“And no marvel,”said he,“for, seeing that the tyrant hath but now taken John the son of Zachariah, why should he not also adventure to take the new prophet?”

Others, beside myself, had not heard before that John had been cast into prison. So we questioned Gorgias, and heard that the prophet had been cast into prison in the Black Castle at Machærus three days ago. Many[pg 100]of them that were in the crowd had been disciples of John; and they cried aloud that the men of Galilee ought to rise up and deliver the prophet. But Gorgias beckoned with his hand that they should be silent, and when silence was made, he said,“Let us rise up, indeed, but not without a leader. Now the Lord hath sent to us this Jesus of Nazareth: and that he is a prophet sent from God none can deny.”The multitude shouted that it was even so, and one or other uttered praises of Jesus; and a certain man said,“Yea, never man spake as this spake.”But Gorgias answered and said,“It is known to all that I am a soldier, neither do words prevail with me without deeds. Wherefore I also, until yesterday, did but lightly esteem Jesus of Nazareth. But now he hath shown forth his power in deeds. And he that can do such deeds as Jesus hath wrought in our streets, shall he not do even greater deeds than these when the time shall come for them? Yea, doubtless, all things are possible to him. And what will avail squadrons of horse, or legions of foot, against one that can call down fire from heaven, or cause the walls of a city to fall to the ground? Choose we therefore Jesus to be our leader, and no one shall be able to stand against us.”

At this instant Simon Peter came forth, and he confirmed what had been said, to wit, that Jesus of Nazareth was not in the house: but he thought that he was gone forth to be alone. And so it was. For when we had made diligent search for him we found him alone on a mountain, about three miles from the town. We besought him to return; but he answered that he must proclaim the Good News in other villages also, for to that[pg 101]end he had been sent. So Simon Peter and the rest of the disciples accompanied him, and Baruch and I went with them; and for the space of four or five weeks we continued with him, going from town to town in Galilee; and Jesus preached the Good News, and healed the sick; and a great multitude of all sorts was added to our number.

Now the greater part of our band were honest people, hungering and thirsting for the Redemption of Sion: but some were vain men, children of iniquity, seeking the wages of unrighteousness. Especially they that had been formerly soldiers resorted to Jesus, as to a prince or general, like vultures hasting to the prey, supposing that they should gain much spoil if he prevailed against the Romans. And so it was that once when Jesus spake to his disciples, saying that they must be“fishers of men,”then Baruch, being offended by the presence of these children of mammon among us, answered and said,“But must the fishers catch vile fish as well as good?”

Hereat Jesus turned and looked sorrowfully on Baruch, and said,“The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the age. The messengers of God shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

Another parable spake he to the same effect, that the tares must needs grow with the wheat till the day[pg 102]of harvest, for not till then can the division be made between good and evil. When we heard this, we grieved thereat; for we had supposed that none save the faithful should have been admitted into the Kingdom, and we marvelled why Jesus should first suffer the bad to enter, and then drive them forth. Howbeit, we besought him that he would give us ordinances which we might observe, to the intent that we might not be cast out of the Kingdom. For some of our number had begun to say that Jesus had come to destroy the Law, so that every one might do what he listed; as though Jesus had said that God loveth the wicked as much as the righteous, even though the wicked abide in wickedness. Thus they brought shame upon us, and they set stumblingblocks in the path of many that had otherwise believed. Moreover the disciples of John the Baptist compared us with themselves, and asked us concerning our laws and customs and prayers; and, when they found that we had none of these things, then they despised us, saying that our Master was not equal to John. For at this time the fame of John the son of Zachariah overshadowed the fame of Jesus; yea, and for some time after this, even after John had been cast into prison. For this cause we intreated Jesus that he would both teach us how to pray, as John also had taught his disciples, and also that he would lay down laws for the new Kingdom, even as Moses had laid down laws for the kingdom in old times.

Jesus hearkened to our petition in silence. Then he said that he must depart from us for a season and go to the top of a certain mountain; but he appointed the third hour of the following day that we should come to him.[pg 103]Certain of the Scribes that followed with us murmured at Jesus, because he had appointed that we should come to him on the mountain: and one, finding fault for that Jesus was often wont to spend the whole night praying alone on some mountain, said,“It is written,‘Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord;’therefore it is good to pray from a low place, and not from a high place.”ButNathanaelanswered and said that Jesus loved to be alone on the mountain by night, to meditate on the greatness of the Lord and how He hath exalted the Son of man, according as it is written,“I will consider thy heavens, even the works of thy fingers, the moon and stars which thou hast ordained:”and“these very words,”said Nathanael,“I heard the Prophet but yesterday repeat, when we were upon the top of yonder mountain.”Hereat the Scribes murmured the more, saying that it was not written that any prophet in old times thus took counsel with the heavens after the manner of a Chaldean. But Gorgias the son of Philip murmured for another cause, saying that the Prophet ought not thus to mistrust his followers, nor to be so fearful for his own safety, and that it behoved the friends of Jesus to take him by force, if need be, and to make him a king. And to this Judas of Kerioth consented and some others.

But to the most of us the words of Gorgias seemed an abomination; for we knew that Jesus did not depart for fear: for indeed fear was not in him. But he desired to be alone because he wished to pray, and because of the burden of his heart. For it grieved him, more than can be told, to see the misery and wretchedness, yea, and the ignorance and the sinfulness of the mixed[pg 104]multitude which pressed round him. All their pains pained him and all their sufferings he suffered, insomuch that more than once I have heard him saying in a low voice to himself,“For them that are hungry I hunger, and for them that are athirst I thirst, and for them that are sick I am sick.”5

Notwithstanding he was not so much distressed with the pains and diseases of the body as with the pains and diseases of the soul. For the sins of souls seemed to him as real and loathsome as the diseases of the flesh to us; and oftentimes a transgression that would appear slight to us, he counted as a work of Satan; so that whithersoever he moved, he saw sins more than could be seen of common men, yea, a very sea of sinfulness; albeit, underlying the sea of sin and sorrow, he still discerned the Everlasting Arms.

Moreover, because he loved all men with an exceeding great love, for this cause every hour in his life brought unto him a burden passing the power of words to describe. For the sins of men were not unto him as the sins of aliens and strangers, but as the sins of his own brethren: yea, they were even as his own sins; for, although he himself sinned not, neither knew sin, yet what pain cometh from the bearing of a brother’s sin, that he knew full well. Wherefore in him was fulfilled the saying of the prophet Isaiah; who prophesied that the Messiah should be a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs, and that he should carry our sins and bear our iniquities.

[pg 105]CHAPTER VIIIOn the morrow, about the second hour, we began to go up the mountain which Jesus had appointed. But having strayed from the path, we knocked at the door of a house which was near the foot of the mountain, and besought the goodman of the house that he would guide us. There opened the door a man of churlish appearance; but he would neither come out, nor so much as speak with us. This delayed us for a time, but we soon found the path, and the way became steep. The sun shone, but not with too fervent a heat, and the north wind blew gently from Hermon, whose top we saw clearly toward the north, clad in snow. On the west was the Mount Carmel, shining with a brightness as of purple; and further off the Great Sea, resembling a blue plain, whereon appeared many sails, almost too small for sight by reason of the distance. We climbed upward through groves of terebinth and oak. As often as we turned round to recover breath, the houses and fields grew smaller, till, at the last, when we drew nigh unto the top, the whole plain of Esdraelon seemed but as a small ground-plat; and large towns appeared as little hamlets, and all the works of man became very small in our eyes, as though we were leaving earth and approaching heaven.[pg 106]Then said Baruch,“Is not this a second Sinai? For verily Jesus of Nazareth is about to give us a new law.”But Eliezer the son of Arak, the principal Scribe of Capernaum (for he at this time followed Jesus and was now with us) rebuked him, saying,“Even though Jesus of Nazareth were the greatest of prophets, yet were he not equal to Moses; for it is said, Sinai is to be preferred even to the uprooter of mountains!”And another said,“Behold, the Word of God, when it went forth from Sinai from the mouth of the Holy One (blessed be His Name), was like sparks, and lightnings, and flames of fire; a torch of flame was on his right hand, and a torch of flame on his left hand: it flew and hovered in the air of the heavens, and returned and graved itself upon the tables of the covenant which were given into the hands of Moses. How then is it possible that the like wonders should be wrought on this mountain?”Then said Nathanael to Simon Peter that it might perchance please the Lord not always to speak by the whirlwind or by the fire, but, as in the days of Elias, by the still small voice. And to this Peter agreed, but others did not agree: for though they inclined not to Eliezer the son of Arak, yet it was because they thought that Jesus would of a surety soon work some sign in heaven to prove that he was the Redeemer. But Judas of Kerioth affirmed that Jesus would not, at this present time, lay down laws for the Kingdom, but only ordinances for a season, to instruct the host in the journey towards Jerusalem; but until Jerusalem should be ours, lasting laws would not be made.While we were disputing among ourselves concerning the saying of Judas, Peter cried“Peace:”for, said he,[pg 107]“yonder is the Prophet:”and looking upward, we saw Jesus on a rock stretching out his hands in prayer. When he had made an end of praying, Peter approached him and besought him a second time to teach us to pray; and Jesus gave us that well-known prayer which is used in all the churches. Afterwards he beckoned to us to follow him, and he came down and stood in the bed of a torrent, which was dry by reason of the drought. While we were following him, I heard the companion of Eliezer murmuring because there were no words in the prayer concerning the Redemption of Israel;“moreover,”said he,“albeit the prayer asketh for bread, yet is there no mention of wine, nor oil, nor even of raiment. But how can a man sit and search the Law and the Traditions, and know not whence he is to drink as well as eat, and whence to be clad and covered?”To this I would have made reply; but Peter again cried to us to hold our peace, for Jesus was beginning to speak.When he opened his lips, every one was silent for expectation; but, as he proceeded, the silence was a silence as of them that are astonished and disappointed. For he began with setting forth in his discourse a character and image of a citizen of the New Kingdom; and lo, it was not the image of a conqueror, but of one conquered. Also he drew as it were a model of the palace of the Great King, and of the princes and nobles which stand about His throne; and behold, when we compared the model with that which we had imagined in our hearts, and with that which we had read of in histories, the model of Jesus was in all things contrary to the model in our hearts. For in old times men had done reverence unto the valiant, the proud, the strong, the rich[pg 108]and the wise; but Jesus said that the chief places about the throne of God should be given to the hungry and thirsty, and poor; to them that were innocent and simple; to them that made not war, but peace; yea, even to them which resisted not evil, but rewarded evil with good. Upon all these, as being the nobles and princes of the New Kingdom, Jesus pronounced a blessing; to wit, that all things should work together for good to them, so that they should have all that they needed, according to the words of the prophet,“Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed.”Even so did Jesus ordain that they which hungered should be satisfied, and that the makers of peace should conquer and inherit the earth.Next, he described the statutes and judgments of the New Kingdom; and, behold, instead of an easier yoke, he seemed to be placing upon us a yoke even heavier than the yoke of the ancient Law, too heavy to be borne. For the old Law forbade us to commit murder; but the new Law forbade us even to hate our enemies. Again, the old Law forbade us to commit adultery; but the new Law forbade us even to entertain a lustful thought in our hearts. In a word, the old Law laid down certain ordinances, which if a man obeyed, he should live therein; but the new Law laid down nothing fixed nor certain for us, so that we might say“I have done this or that, and therefore I have fulfilled the Law of Christ.”For the Law of Moses touched the life of man, as it were, in certain points; as for example, in sacrifices, and feasts, and purifications, and[pg 109]Sabbaths, and in the obeying of the Ten Commandments: but the Law of Christ covered the whole of the state of man, the thoughts as well as the deeds; even as the encompassing air, which pierceth into every corner and cavern of the earth, wheresoever human life is. In fine, whereas the Law of Moses commanded us what we should do, the Law of Christ commanded what we should be. For this cause Jesus set himself against all bookishness, and against all worship of Traditions, and even of the precepts of the Scriptures; for he taught that precepts, howsoever they may shape the outward action, shape not the inner man.Again, as concerning the laws, and the judgments, and the rewards, and the punishments, in the New Kingdom, he spake as if they were not laws of man’s device, but rather Laws according to the nature of things, like unto the ordinances of the rain and the sunshine, the harvest and the seed-time. For he said that righteousness was not any such thing as could be attained by a price, nor by the doing of deeds; but that it consisted in a seeing of that which may be seen of God. He also spake of a certain eye of the soul, which, if it were clear, the man would be righteous; but if it were darkened, the man would be unrighteous. Also he spake of a certain law of retributions, which decreeth that whoso judgeth shall be judged, whoso forgiveth shall be forgiven, whoso giveth shall receive: adding thereunto this most strange doctrine, that if we would go forth into the world, giving and ready to give, then, from all sides, the world would give to us again; yea, the angels of God, and the elements of the world (which are His ministers) and even the children of men, should[pg 110]make us marvel by reason of their gratitude, giving us back good measure pressed down and running over. Now there is a saying in the Traditions that,“Whensoever a poor man standeth at thy door, the Holy One (blessed is He) standeth at his right hand. If thou givest him alms, know that thou shalt receive a reward from Him who standeth at his right hand.”Jesus therefore added to this doctrine, teaching that God standeth at the right hand not of the poor only, but of every one that is in need of aught, that is to say, of every one of the children of men: wherefore whatsoever is given to men, is given to God, and from God cometh back multiplied to the giver. Howbeit, we were neither to give alms, nor to do aught else, for hope of reward; but only out of love.Concerning citizenship in the Kingdom and how men should become citizens therein, he spake little to us, as being already citizens therein: save only this, that whoso would come, must come unto him; and through him, as through a door, they should pass into the Kingdom. And behold, the Kingdom was no other than a family, wherein God was at once Father and King, and all men were as children of the Father in Heaven. For the foundation of all was, that the heart and not the hands shaped the goodness and badness of all deeds, and made men to become citizens of the Kingdom: wherefore the heart and not the hands must be purified; nor could any be in truth citizens of the Kingdom except they had the thought of the Kingdom always in their hearts, so that their hopes and treasures were all stored up, not in the banks of money-changers, but in the Kingdom of Heaven.[pg 111]Then he spake of the exceeding joys of the citizens of the Kingdom of God, and how they are free from all troubles and all disquietudes. But none, he said, could serve God and Mammon at one time; neither was it possible to serve God aright and yet to be distracted and torn asunder by cares concerning meat or raiment. Hereat the companion of Eliezer murmured again, saying that Jesus had before spoken blasphemously in joining the forgiving of sins by God with the forgiving of sins by men, and now he had spoken as a madman, in forbidding us to be careful about food and raiment;“Can a man sit,”said he,“and search the Law, and not know whence he is to eat, and drink, and to be clad?”Now whether Jesus perceived his murmuring I know not: but he pointed, first upwards to the birds (for even at that instant there was a flight of pelicans above us) and then downward to the flowers, which bestrewed the side of the brook, and he said that our Father in Heaven fed the birds and clothed the flowers; and should He not much more care for us? Then he bade us seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all things else should be added unto us.Now concerning this Kingdom of God (or Kingdom of Heaven, for he called it by both names) we understood not much at this time: but my judgment now is that Jesus desired that all the Lord’s people should be as Prophets, not teaching one the other and saying“Know the Lord,”but all knowing the Lord from the least to the greatest. For he perceived that all the tribes of the earth were joined together under one emperor through desire of wealth and ease, and that Israel was joined together through hatred of the Romans[pg 112]and through desire to be rescued from them; but he saw that neither love of ease nor hatred of enemies could bind men together in an enduring Kingdom: but that which bindeth men together is the Spirit of love, which is a Spirit of brotherhood among men and of childhood unto God. For all nations begin with being first families, and then many families together; helping one another by reason of kindred, and not by reason of manhood. Now such a nation as this, and all men of such a nation, Jesus called“born of flesh and blood:”and he said that no nation could leave off to be a tribe and become a nation indeed, except it were born again, not of flesh and blood, but of the Spirit; so as to enter into a certain government of God, which the Greeks calledtheocratia, but Jesus called it the Kingdom of God. Such atheocratiaMoses had partly established in old times; howbeit the King in the kingdom of Moses was the God of Abraham, but the King in the kingdom of Jesus was the Father of the Son of man.But now to return to the words of Jesus. He ended his discourse with warning. First he warned us to beware of the common saying,“Give judgment according to the greater number”; for he said that the path to destruction is broad, and many go thereby. He bade us also try teachers and prophets by their works. Last of all, he spake very earnestly against certain which pretended to obey him but obeyed him not. We were the salt of the earth, he said, but if we lost our savour, how could the world be salted, and to what end could we serve, but to be cast out and trampled under foot? Whoso heard him and obeyed him not, such an one he likened unto a foolish shepherd (and even as he[pg 113]spake, there was nigh, within a bow-shot of us, a sheep-cote that had been cast down by the swollen waters of the brook) which built his house upon the sand, so that it fell: but whoso heard and obeyed, he likened him unto a wise shepherd, which built his house upon a rock so that it fell not. This parable Jesus did not at this time interpret to us, but afterwards he made it clear. For even as the Psalmists of Israel spake often of a certain Rock of Salvation, even so was it afterwards a common saying with Jesus both that each citizen of the New Kingdom must build his house upon a Rock, and that the Kingdom itself must be founded on a Rock, so that the gates of Hades or Destruction should not prevail against it. Howbeit what this Rock might be, we did not as yet understand; for he had not at this time revealed it unto us.

On the morrow, about the second hour, we began to go up the mountain which Jesus had appointed. But having strayed from the path, we knocked at the door of a house which was near the foot of the mountain, and besought the goodman of the house that he would guide us. There opened the door a man of churlish appearance; but he would neither come out, nor so much as speak with us. This delayed us for a time, but we soon found the path, and the way became steep. The sun shone, but not with too fervent a heat, and the north wind blew gently from Hermon, whose top we saw clearly toward the north, clad in snow. On the west was the Mount Carmel, shining with a brightness as of purple; and further off the Great Sea, resembling a blue plain, whereon appeared many sails, almost too small for sight by reason of the distance. We climbed upward through groves of terebinth and oak. As often as we turned round to recover breath, the houses and fields grew smaller, till, at the last, when we drew nigh unto the top, the whole plain of Esdraelon seemed but as a small ground-plat; and large towns appeared as little hamlets, and all the works of man became very small in our eyes, as though we were leaving earth and approaching heaven.

Then said Baruch,“Is not this a second Sinai? For verily Jesus of Nazareth is about to give us a new law.”But Eliezer the son of Arak, the principal Scribe of Capernaum (for he at this time followed Jesus and was now with us) rebuked him, saying,“Even though Jesus of Nazareth were the greatest of prophets, yet were he not equal to Moses; for it is said, Sinai is to be preferred even to the uprooter of mountains!”And another said,“Behold, the Word of God, when it went forth from Sinai from the mouth of the Holy One (blessed be His Name), was like sparks, and lightnings, and flames of fire; a torch of flame was on his right hand, and a torch of flame on his left hand: it flew and hovered in the air of the heavens, and returned and graved itself upon the tables of the covenant which were given into the hands of Moses. How then is it possible that the like wonders should be wrought on this mountain?”

Then said Nathanael to Simon Peter that it might perchance please the Lord not always to speak by the whirlwind or by the fire, but, as in the days of Elias, by the still small voice. And to this Peter agreed, but others did not agree: for though they inclined not to Eliezer the son of Arak, yet it was because they thought that Jesus would of a surety soon work some sign in heaven to prove that he was the Redeemer. But Judas of Kerioth affirmed that Jesus would not, at this present time, lay down laws for the Kingdom, but only ordinances for a season, to instruct the host in the journey towards Jerusalem; but until Jerusalem should be ours, lasting laws would not be made.

While we were disputing among ourselves concerning the saying of Judas, Peter cried“Peace:”for, said he,[pg 107]“yonder is the Prophet:”and looking upward, we saw Jesus on a rock stretching out his hands in prayer. When he had made an end of praying, Peter approached him and besought him a second time to teach us to pray; and Jesus gave us that well-known prayer which is used in all the churches. Afterwards he beckoned to us to follow him, and he came down and stood in the bed of a torrent, which was dry by reason of the drought. While we were following him, I heard the companion of Eliezer murmuring because there were no words in the prayer concerning the Redemption of Israel;“moreover,”said he,“albeit the prayer asketh for bread, yet is there no mention of wine, nor oil, nor even of raiment. But how can a man sit and search the Law and the Traditions, and know not whence he is to drink as well as eat, and whence to be clad and covered?”To this I would have made reply; but Peter again cried to us to hold our peace, for Jesus was beginning to speak.

When he opened his lips, every one was silent for expectation; but, as he proceeded, the silence was a silence as of them that are astonished and disappointed. For he began with setting forth in his discourse a character and image of a citizen of the New Kingdom; and lo, it was not the image of a conqueror, but of one conquered. Also he drew as it were a model of the palace of the Great King, and of the princes and nobles which stand about His throne; and behold, when we compared the model with that which we had imagined in our hearts, and with that which we had read of in histories, the model of Jesus was in all things contrary to the model in our hearts. For in old times men had done reverence unto the valiant, the proud, the strong, the rich[pg 108]and the wise; but Jesus said that the chief places about the throne of God should be given to the hungry and thirsty, and poor; to them that were innocent and simple; to them that made not war, but peace; yea, even to them which resisted not evil, but rewarded evil with good. Upon all these, as being the nobles and princes of the New Kingdom, Jesus pronounced a blessing; to wit, that all things should work together for good to them, so that they should have all that they needed, according to the words of the prophet,“Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed.”Even so did Jesus ordain that they which hungered should be satisfied, and that the makers of peace should conquer and inherit the earth.

Next, he described the statutes and judgments of the New Kingdom; and, behold, instead of an easier yoke, he seemed to be placing upon us a yoke even heavier than the yoke of the ancient Law, too heavy to be borne. For the old Law forbade us to commit murder; but the new Law forbade us even to hate our enemies. Again, the old Law forbade us to commit adultery; but the new Law forbade us even to entertain a lustful thought in our hearts. In a word, the old Law laid down certain ordinances, which if a man obeyed, he should live therein; but the new Law laid down nothing fixed nor certain for us, so that we might say“I have done this or that, and therefore I have fulfilled the Law of Christ.”For the Law of Moses touched the life of man, as it were, in certain points; as for example, in sacrifices, and feasts, and purifications, and[pg 109]Sabbaths, and in the obeying of the Ten Commandments: but the Law of Christ covered the whole of the state of man, the thoughts as well as the deeds; even as the encompassing air, which pierceth into every corner and cavern of the earth, wheresoever human life is. In fine, whereas the Law of Moses commanded us what we should do, the Law of Christ commanded what we should be. For this cause Jesus set himself against all bookishness, and against all worship of Traditions, and even of the precepts of the Scriptures; for he taught that precepts, howsoever they may shape the outward action, shape not the inner man.

Again, as concerning the laws, and the judgments, and the rewards, and the punishments, in the New Kingdom, he spake as if they were not laws of man’s device, but rather Laws according to the nature of things, like unto the ordinances of the rain and the sunshine, the harvest and the seed-time. For he said that righteousness was not any such thing as could be attained by a price, nor by the doing of deeds; but that it consisted in a seeing of that which may be seen of God. He also spake of a certain eye of the soul, which, if it were clear, the man would be righteous; but if it were darkened, the man would be unrighteous. Also he spake of a certain law of retributions, which decreeth that whoso judgeth shall be judged, whoso forgiveth shall be forgiven, whoso giveth shall receive: adding thereunto this most strange doctrine, that if we would go forth into the world, giving and ready to give, then, from all sides, the world would give to us again; yea, the angels of God, and the elements of the world (which are His ministers) and even the children of men, should[pg 110]make us marvel by reason of their gratitude, giving us back good measure pressed down and running over. Now there is a saying in the Traditions that,“Whensoever a poor man standeth at thy door, the Holy One (blessed is He) standeth at his right hand. If thou givest him alms, know that thou shalt receive a reward from Him who standeth at his right hand.”Jesus therefore added to this doctrine, teaching that God standeth at the right hand not of the poor only, but of every one that is in need of aught, that is to say, of every one of the children of men: wherefore whatsoever is given to men, is given to God, and from God cometh back multiplied to the giver. Howbeit, we were neither to give alms, nor to do aught else, for hope of reward; but only out of love.

Concerning citizenship in the Kingdom and how men should become citizens therein, he spake little to us, as being already citizens therein: save only this, that whoso would come, must come unto him; and through him, as through a door, they should pass into the Kingdom. And behold, the Kingdom was no other than a family, wherein God was at once Father and King, and all men were as children of the Father in Heaven. For the foundation of all was, that the heart and not the hands shaped the goodness and badness of all deeds, and made men to become citizens of the Kingdom: wherefore the heart and not the hands must be purified; nor could any be in truth citizens of the Kingdom except they had the thought of the Kingdom always in their hearts, so that their hopes and treasures were all stored up, not in the banks of money-changers, but in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Then he spake of the exceeding joys of the citizens of the Kingdom of God, and how they are free from all troubles and all disquietudes. But none, he said, could serve God and Mammon at one time; neither was it possible to serve God aright and yet to be distracted and torn asunder by cares concerning meat or raiment. Hereat the companion of Eliezer murmured again, saying that Jesus had before spoken blasphemously in joining the forgiving of sins by God with the forgiving of sins by men, and now he had spoken as a madman, in forbidding us to be careful about food and raiment;“Can a man sit,”said he,“and search the Law, and not know whence he is to eat, and drink, and to be clad?”Now whether Jesus perceived his murmuring I know not: but he pointed, first upwards to the birds (for even at that instant there was a flight of pelicans above us) and then downward to the flowers, which bestrewed the side of the brook, and he said that our Father in Heaven fed the birds and clothed the flowers; and should He not much more care for us? Then he bade us seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all things else should be added unto us.

Now concerning this Kingdom of God (or Kingdom of Heaven, for he called it by both names) we understood not much at this time: but my judgment now is that Jesus desired that all the Lord’s people should be as Prophets, not teaching one the other and saying“Know the Lord,”but all knowing the Lord from the least to the greatest. For he perceived that all the tribes of the earth were joined together under one emperor through desire of wealth and ease, and that Israel was joined together through hatred of the Romans[pg 112]and through desire to be rescued from them; but he saw that neither love of ease nor hatred of enemies could bind men together in an enduring Kingdom: but that which bindeth men together is the Spirit of love, which is a Spirit of brotherhood among men and of childhood unto God. For all nations begin with being first families, and then many families together; helping one another by reason of kindred, and not by reason of manhood. Now such a nation as this, and all men of such a nation, Jesus called“born of flesh and blood:”and he said that no nation could leave off to be a tribe and become a nation indeed, except it were born again, not of flesh and blood, but of the Spirit; so as to enter into a certain government of God, which the Greeks calledtheocratia, but Jesus called it the Kingdom of God. Such atheocratiaMoses had partly established in old times; howbeit the King in the kingdom of Moses was the God of Abraham, but the King in the kingdom of Jesus was the Father of the Son of man.

But now to return to the words of Jesus. He ended his discourse with warning. First he warned us to beware of the common saying,“Give judgment according to the greater number”; for he said that the path to destruction is broad, and many go thereby. He bade us also try teachers and prophets by their works. Last of all, he spake very earnestly against certain which pretended to obey him but obeyed him not. We were the salt of the earth, he said, but if we lost our savour, how could the world be salted, and to what end could we serve, but to be cast out and trampled under foot? Whoso heard him and obeyed him not, such an one he likened unto a foolish shepherd (and even as he[pg 113]spake, there was nigh, within a bow-shot of us, a sheep-cote that had been cast down by the swollen waters of the brook) which built his house upon the sand, so that it fell: but whoso heard and obeyed, he likened him unto a wise shepherd, which built his house upon a rock so that it fell not. This parable Jesus did not at this time interpret to us, but afterwards he made it clear. For even as the Psalmists of Israel spake often of a certain Rock of Salvation, even so was it afterwards a common saying with Jesus both that each citizen of the New Kingdom must build his house upon a Rock, and that the Kingdom itself must be founded on a Rock, so that the gates of Hades or Destruction should not prevail against it. Howbeit what this Rock might be, we did not as yet understand; for he had not at this time revealed it unto us.

[pg 114]CHAPTER IXWhen Jesus had ended all these words, he came down from the mountain, and we followed, reasoning much among ourselves. Baruch spake first, complaining that the new Law was full of hard sayings.“For,”said he,“when the Prophet proclaimed a blessing on the poor and hungry, that was easy to understand, and I rejoiced thereat: but afterwards, when he bade us bless them that cursed us, and do good to those that injured us, yea, and turn the left cheek to him that had smitten us on the right, and give our coat to him that had taken away our cloak, then indeed his doctrine seemed too wonderful for the mind of man to fathom.”Then a certain Essene (who at that time followed with us) made answer and said,“This world is but as a vestibule before the world to come: therefore the Prophet’s intent is to instruct us how to prepare ourselves at the vestibule so that we may find grace to come into the King’s presence: and his words enjoin on us to abstain from all earthly cares and pleasures, and to withdraw ourselves from the cities of men.”But to this Simon Peter made answer that Jesus had taught us to live in the sight of all men, like a city on an hill or like a candle on a candlestick: moreover, he had promised that we should inherit the earth.[pg 115]But here Eliezer the son of Arak could no longer constrain himself.“I marvel,”he said,“that we listen so long without first asking this Prophet by what authority he sayeth these things, or what sign he can work in Heaven to prove his authority. For other teachers received of teachers before them; as, for example, Hillel and Shammai received from Shemaiah and Abtalion; and Shemaiah and Abtalion received from Jehudah the son of Tabai, and Simeon the son of Shatach; and so on successively; but this teacher maketh mention of no teachers from whom he hath received his doctrine: neither worketh he any sign in Heaven. But whence doth he draw his knowledge about the Unapproachable (blessed is He)? Even from the creatures; even from the weeds of the field, and the silly birds that are caught in the snare of the fowler; from the senseless rain and from the shining of the sun; yea, and from the nature of the heart of man, which is evil from his youth! But how much better than all these is the Law, whereby was created all that is; according as it is said,‘Beloved are the children of Israel, in that there was given to them the instrument by which the world was created.’”No answer was made to the words of Eliezer: but Barabbas took up the words of Baruch, and said,“If we are to turn the left cheek to him which hath smitten the right, and if we are to do good unto them which do us harm, who shall cause injustice to cease in the world? For verily the unjust will wax fat in their injustice and will go on from oppression to oppression.”But said Judas of Kerioth,“Listen unto me, O foolish ones, and take counsel from me: for is it not even as I foretold?[pg 116]Did not I say unto you that the Prophet would not at this time make laws that should endure for ever, but only ordinances for a season, till we had gained the upper hand? Wherefore ye must know that it is in the mind of the Prophet to draw unto himself the hearts of all people by fair words and gentle dealing: but when the time is come for different policy, then we shall take fresh counsel according to our needs. But now hearken. Did not the Prophet prophesy woe to the rich and the powerful? These are the Romans; and in foretelling woe to them, he foretold woe against the Romans. Again, did he not prophesy blessing for the poor? And we are poor: and in every city of Israel the poor are the greater part, and will fight on our side, and will have a part in our blessing. I grant, he said not that we should be judges and princes: but he promised that we should have that for which we asked; and is not this enough for us? Yea, and albeit he mentioned not expressly money, or lands, or houses, yet he said that our reward should be great. But if persecution or the shedding of some of our blood must needs come before our success, who is so fainthearted and womanish as to draw back for such a cause? Therefore, I say, be of good heart; and though there be some dark sayings of the Prophet, let us be content to stand fast on those sayings which are plain. But as touching the words of Eliezer, we all know in our hearts that Jesus is not a man as other men, but that he is a leader sent from God; and howsoever he teacheth, and whithersoever he leadeth, it is our wisdom to obey him and to follow him.”The words of Judas pleased us: and we all agreed[pg 117]to them. Only a certain Alexandrine (whose name was Quartus) said to Baruch that he judged not that the words of Jesus were intended to be merely transitory ordinances. Now this Quartus was a man of no common understanding and discernment; and inasmuch as his father had been a Greek and had caused him to be trained in the Greek learning and philosophy, he spake with more art and subtlety than most of my companions. Howbeit he lacked not faith and the love of righteousness; and, his mother being of our nation, he had been circumcised, and had conformed himself to the worship of Israel; but having been bred up in the schools of the Greeks and in the school of Philo, he was at all times desirous to compare the teaching of other philosophers with the teaching of Jesus. He was a merchant, and his business brought him oftentimes to Capernaum, where I had met him; but I had also met him before in the house of my uncle at Alexandria. So when I overheard Quartus saying these words to my cousin, I questioned him how he interpreted the sayings of Jesus, and in particular, that saying concerning the turning of the cheek to the smiter.Then said Quartus unto me, after some pause,“Be not displeased if I speak in a parable. Many times in Capernaum have I seen mariners (such as know not your waters) grievously tossed by a storm while they strove to enter into the harbour by a straight course, and toiling hard for many hours, but all to no purpose; but others (which know the secret) leave the straight course on one side, and stand far out to Taricheæ. Thence floweth a current toward Capernaum, strong at all times; but in stormy weather it cannot be resisted.[pg 118]Falling into this current therefore, the wise mariner needeth but to row softly, or scarce at all, and lo, he entereth into Capernaum as it were upon wings. Now even such a wise mariner doth Jesus seem unto me.”I marvelled at his words. But Quartus perceived that I understood him not; and he continued,“I speak as one groping in the dark. But the meaning of my parable is this: The lake is the world; the vessel is Israel; and Capernaum is redemption. Other pilots have striven to guide Israel to redemption by dint of force, but they have failed: Jesus is the true pilot, and knoweth the currents and streams in the nature of men and things; and by his wisdom he thinketh to guide us aright.”“But what,”I asked,“are these streams and currents?”Again Quartus was silent for a while, and longer than before, so that by this time we were almost come down from the mountain; but at last he said unto me,“What seemeth to thee the strongest current in the nature of men?”But, when I held my peace, not knowing what to answer, he spake again very earnestly,“Thou art a student of the sayings of the Wise, O Joseph, and canst answer with discerning. Tell me, then, on what standeth the earth?”Then I replied according to the saying,“Upon the pillars; and the pillars upon the waters.”“Yea,”replied Quartus;“and after these cometh the wind; and what after the wind?”Then I said,“Beneath the wind is the storm, and beneath the storm is the arm of the Holy One; for it is said,‘Underneath are the Everlasting Arms.’”Then said Quartus,“It is so; and verily the foundations of earth are the Ever[pg 119]lasting Arms of the Father in Heaven: but if the Fatherhood of God be the strongest thing on earth, and if this be the mightiest stream or current in the nature of men, then how may we best sail with that current?”I remembered the words which Jesus had spoken that we were to become as little children; so I answered,“I suppose, by approaching Him as children.”Here Judas interrupted us and said,“Nay, but wisdom is the strongest thing in the world, for it is written of wisdom,‘The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old. When He appointed the foundations of the earth, then I was by Him as one brought up with Him.’”“Thou sayest well,”said Quartus,“but what human wisdom is like unto that wisdom which revealeth God to men? Now as no child can understand his father unless he love his father, so no man can know God (who is our Father in Heaven) unless he love Him; but whoso loveth, understandeth; therefore to love God is the highest wisdom of man.”Then Judas scoffed at him and said,“This is nothing but repeating in new words the old saying of the Law,‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.’What! do ye then deem our Master to be naught but a merchant that retaileth old wares as if they were new?”So he left us and went on before.But Quartus continued,“Judas saith truly that the new Law aimeth at the same mark as the old Law. But the means are diverse. For the old Law worketh by purifications and feasts and sabbaths; but the new Law belike worketh in part by these means,[pg 120]but in greater part by other means. And, as I judge, Jesus goeth toward the end of the old Law; but by a path that is new, yea, altogether new. For I have myself heard him say that the redeemers of old were like unto thieves and robbers, using force and violence; but he himself cometh not like a thief over the wall, but like the true shepherd through the door of the fold, that is to say, through the path of Redemption which God hath appointed. Now this path is kindness or love. And Jesus saith that the former redeemers failed of their purpose, for they thought to redeem men by force; but he will not fail, for he purposeth to redeem men by gentleness. And he saith that God ordaineth strength out of babes and sucklings, and that the spirit of childhood is the conquering spirit of the world. Rememberest thou not how our teacher Philo said some things not much unlike to these, teaching that the highest revelation of God is through love? Howbeit, none methinks, save Jesus only, can reveal this revelation. For Philo testifieth of that which is behind the veil; but Jesus of Nazareth hath power to lift up the veil.”By this time we had overtaken the others, whom we found all sitting, and Jesus in the midst of them. By the side of Jesus was a man bearing in his arms a little child. He was come forth from a house nigh to the place where Jesus sat, bringing a cup of water for Jesus to drink. While Jesus was drinking, the father still kept his eyes upon the child in his arms, and his face was full of compassion and tenderness; for the child was very sickly. We soon perceived that it was the same man that had denied to give us[pg 121]guidance in the morning; but at first we knew him not; pity and love had so transformed his countenance. Now it came to pass that when Jesus had given back the cup to the man, he laid his hands on the child and blessed him. And as he blessed him, his face shone as with the glory of the Lord; and the little one also seemed to rejoice and to partake in the brightness of our Master’s countenance.We both stood still, beholding Jesus. Then said Quartus unto me,“Did not Eliezer the son of Arak say truly, that‘Jesus looketh upon the book of the world as well as upon the book of the Law, and seeth in all things God’? For even as Elias the Prophet loved to commune with God on the tops of mountains, and in deserts, and in caves, and received revelations of the Lord from earthquakes and fires, but most of all from the still small voice; even so doth our Master look upon all things that are, yea even on the smallest things that live or grow, and from all, he heareth a still small voice that speaketh of the Father. Yea, and there is yet more than this. For whithersoever he turneth his face, methinks he giveth of his love to all things, whether they be the flowers of the field, or the birds, or the mountains, or the children of men: and because he thus giveth, it is given to him again; yea, wisdom and joy and peace are given back to him, even from things that have not life; but most of all from the children of men, which are made in the image of God. Therefore said I that Jesus seemeth as the wise mariner of whom we spake but now; for, by the Word of God in himself, he hath haply hit upon a certain current in the nature of created things, whereby he will easily[pg 122]prevail over the blasts of all opposing storms, and be carried into the haven of God, both he and all they that put their trust in him.”“Thy words are fair,”I replied,“but they do not persuade me. That the love of children doth bind husband and wife together, and that the bond of families is the bond of nations, this I deny not. Perchance also the love that parents have to their children may have lifted up the hearts of many in Israel, during many generations, to the true God. But how we are to take Jerusalem or thrust forth the Romans from Syria by becoming as little children, this passeth my understanding. Or dost thou not believe that Jesus will lead us against the Romans in Jerusalem?”“I know not,”replied Quartus (who spoke as one musing, and not giving heed to my question);“but what troubleth me most of all is the fear lest the knowledge of Jesus may haply perish with him; for if he hath (as I judge that he hath) a certain inborn power of winning men over to his will by kindness and gentleness, then, as it seemeth to me, this power may be likened unto the fabled ring of Solomon, which gave unto the owner well nigh whatsoever he desired. But there is this difference. The ring could be delivered from one man to another; but the art or secret of Jesus is, in all likelihood, not able to be delivered to them that shall come after; but it will perish with him. And then what becometh of his Kingdom of God?”As long as Quartus was speaking I heard him gladly: but when he had ceased, his words seemed like mist in the morning sun; but the words of Judas seemed[pg 123]as the solid ground from which the mist rolleth away. For what Quartus said was hard to understand; but the words of Judas seemed according to reason, and very plain to be understood; to wit, that the ordinances given on the mountain of blessing were transitory, and that we were still to wait for the New Law: and to this I agreed, and not I only, but the most part of the disciples.

When Jesus had ended all these words, he came down from the mountain, and we followed, reasoning much among ourselves. Baruch spake first, complaining that the new Law was full of hard sayings.“For,”said he,“when the Prophet proclaimed a blessing on the poor and hungry, that was easy to understand, and I rejoiced thereat: but afterwards, when he bade us bless them that cursed us, and do good to those that injured us, yea, and turn the left cheek to him that had smitten us on the right, and give our coat to him that had taken away our cloak, then indeed his doctrine seemed too wonderful for the mind of man to fathom.”Then a certain Essene (who at that time followed with us) made answer and said,“This world is but as a vestibule before the world to come: therefore the Prophet’s intent is to instruct us how to prepare ourselves at the vestibule so that we may find grace to come into the King’s presence: and his words enjoin on us to abstain from all earthly cares and pleasures, and to withdraw ourselves from the cities of men.”But to this Simon Peter made answer that Jesus had taught us to live in the sight of all men, like a city on an hill or like a candle on a candlestick: moreover, he had promised that we should inherit the earth.

But here Eliezer the son of Arak could no longer constrain himself.“I marvel,”he said,“that we listen so long without first asking this Prophet by what authority he sayeth these things, or what sign he can work in Heaven to prove his authority. For other teachers received of teachers before them; as, for example, Hillel and Shammai received from Shemaiah and Abtalion; and Shemaiah and Abtalion received from Jehudah the son of Tabai, and Simeon the son of Shatach; and so on successively; but this teacher maketh mention of no teachers from whom he hath received his doctrine: neither worketh he any sign in Heaven. But whence doth he draw his knowledge about the Unapproachable (blessed is He)? Even from the creatures; even from the weeds of the field, and the silly birds that are caught in the snare of the fowler; from the senseless rain and from the shining of the sun; yea, and from the nature of the heart of man, which is evil from his youth! But how much better than all these is the Law, whereby was created all that is; according as it is said,‘Beloved are the children of Israel, in that there was given to them the instrument by which the world was created.’”

No answer was made to the words of Eliezer: but Barabbas took up the words of Baruch, and said,“If we are to turn the left cheek to him which hath smitten the right, and if we are to do good unto them which do us harm, who shall cause injustice to cease in the world? For verily the unjust will wax fat in their injustice and will go on from oppression to oppression.”But said Judas of Kerioth,“Listen unto me, O foolish ones, and take counsel from me: for is it not even as I foretold?[pg 116]Did not I say unto you that the Prophet would not at this time make laws that should endure for ever, but only ordinances for a season, till we had gained the upper hand? Wherefore ye must know that it is in the mind of the Prophet to draw unto himself the hearts of all people by fair words and gentle dealing: but when the time is come for different policy, then we shall take fresh counsel according to our needs. But now hearken. Did not the Prophet prophesy woe to the rich and the powerful? These are the Romans; and in foretelling woe to them, he foretold woe against the Romans. Again, did he not prophesy blessing for the poor? And we are poor: and in every city of Israel the poor are the greater part, and will fight on our side, and will have a part in our blessing. I grant, he said not that we should be judges and princes: but he promised that we should have that for which we asked; and is not this enough for us? Yea, and albeit he mentioned not expressly money, or lands, or houses, yet he said that our reward should be great. But if persecution or the shedding of some of our blood must needs come before our success, who is so fainthearted and womanish as to draw back for such a cause? Therefore, I say, be of good heart; and though there be some dark sayings of the Prophet, let us be content to stand fast on those sayings which are plain. But as touching the words of Eliezer, we all know in our hearts that Jesus is not a man as other men, but that he is a leader sent from God; and howsoever he teacheth, and whithersoever he leadeth, it is our wisdom to obey him and to follow him.”

The words of Judas pleased us: and we all agreed[pg 117]to them. Only a certain Alexandrine (whose name was Quartus) said to Baruch that he judged not that the words of Jesus were intended to be merely transitory ordinances. Now this Quartus was a man of no common understanding and discernment; and inasmuch as his father had been a Greek and had caused him to be trained in the Greek learning and philosophy, he spake with more art and subtlety than most of my companions. Howbeit he lacked not faith and the love of righteousness; and, his mother being of our nation, he had been circumcised, and had conformed himself to the worship of Israel; but having been bred up in the schools of the Greeks and in the school of Philo, he was at all times desirous to compare the teaching of other philosophers with the teaching of Jesus. He was a merchant, and his business brought him oftentimes to Capernaum, where I had met him; but I had also met him before in the house of my uncle at Alexandria. So when I overheard Quartus saying these words to my cousin, I questioned him how he interpreted the sayings of Jesus, and in particular, that saying concerning the turning of the cheek to the smiter.

Then said Quartus unto me, after some pause,“Be not displeased if I speak in a parable. Many times in Capernaum have I seen mariners (such as know not your waters) grievously tossed by a storm while they strove to enter into the harbour by a straight course, and toiling hard for many hours, but all to no purpose; but others (which know the secret) leave the straight course on one side, and stand far out to Taricheæ. Thence floweth a current toward Capernaum, strong at all times; but in stormy weather it cannot be resisted.[pg 118]Falling into this current therefore, the wise mariner needeth but to row softly, or scarce at all, and lo, he entereth into Capernaum as it were upon wings. Now even such a wise mariner doth Jesus seem unto me.”

I marvelled at his words. But Quartus perceived that I understood him not; and he continued,“I speak as one groping in the dark. But the meaning of my parable is this: The lake is the world; the vessel is Israel; and Capernaum is redemption. Other pilots have striven to guide Israel to redemption by dint of force, but they have failed: Jesus is the true pilot, and knoweth the currents and streams in the nature of men and things; and by his wisdom he thinketh to guide us aright.”

“But what,”I asked,“are these streams and currents?”Again Quartus was silent for a while, and longer than before, so that by this time we were almost come down from the mountain; but at last he said unto me,“What seemeth to thee the strongest current in the nature of men?”But, when I held my peace, not knowing what to answer, he spake again very earnestly,“Thou art a student of the sayings of the Wise, O Joseph, and canst answer with discerning. Tell me, then, on what standeth the earth?”Then I replied according to the saying,“Upon the pillars; and the pillars upon the waters.”“Yea,”replied Quartus;“and after these cometh the wind; and what after the wind?”Then I said,“Beneath the wind is the storm, and beneath the storm is the arm of the Holy One; for it is said,‘Underneath are the Everlasting Arms.’”Then said Quartus,“It is so; and verily the foundations of earth are the Ever[pg 119]lasting Arms of the Father in Heaven: but if the Fatherhood of God be the strongest thing on earth, and if this be the mightiest stream or current in the nature of men, then how may we best sail with that current?”I remembered the words which Jesus had spoken that we were to become as little children; so I answered,“I suppose, by approaching Him as children.”

Here Judas interrupted us and said,“Nay, but wisdom is the strongest thing in the world, for it is written of wisdom,‘The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old. When He appointed the foundations of the earth, then I was by Him as one brought up with Him.’”“Thou sayest well,”said Quartus,“but what human wisdom is like unto that wisdom which revealeth God to men? Now as no child can understand his father unless he love his father, so no man can know God (who is our Father in Heaven) unless he love Him; but whoso loveth, understandeth; therefore to love God is the highest wisdom of man.”Then Judas scoffed at him and said,“This is nothing but repeating in new words the old saying of the Law,‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.’What! do ye then deem our Master to be naught but a merchant that retaileth old wares as if they were new?”So he left us and went on before.

But Quartus continued,“Judas saith truly that the new Law aimeth at the same mark as the old Law. But the means are diverse. For the old Law worketh by purifications and feasts and sabbaths; but the new Law belike worketh in part by these means,[pg 120]but in greater part by other means. And, as I judge, Jesus goeth toward the end of the old Law; but by a path that is new, yea, altogether new. For I have myself heard him say that the redeemers of old were like unto thieves and robbers, using force and violence; but he himself cometh not like a thief over the wall, but like the true shepherd through the door of the fold, that is to say, through the path of Redemption which God hath appointed. Now this path is kindness or love. And Jesus saith that the former redeemers failed of their purpose, for they thought to redeem men by force; but he will not fail, for he purposeth to redeem men by gentleness. And he saith that God ordaineth strength out of babes and sucklings, and that the spirit of childhood is the conquering spirit of the world. Rememberest thou not how our teacher Philo said some things not much unlike to these, teaching that the highest revelation of God is through love? Howbeit, none methinks, save Jesus only, can reveal this revelation. For Philo testifieth of that which is behind the veil; but Jesus of Nazareth hath power to lift up the veil.”

By this time we had overtaken the others, whom we found all sitting, and Jesus in the midst of them. By the side of Jesus was a man bearing in his arms a little child. He was come forth from a house nigh to the place where Jesus sat, bringing a cup of water for Jesus to drink. While Jesus was drinking, the father still kept his eyes upon the child in his arms, and his face was full of compassion and tenderness; for the child was very sickly. We soon perceived that it was the same man that had denied to give us[pg 121]guidance in the morning; but at first we knew him not; pity and love had so transformed his countenance. Now it came to pass that when Jesus had given back the cup to the man, he laid his hands on the child and blessed him. And as he blessed him, his face shone as with the glory of the Lord; and the little one also seemed to rejoice and to partake in the brightness of our Master’s countenance.

We both stood still, beholding Jesus. Then said Quartus unto me,“Did not Eliezer the son of Arak say truly, that‘Jesus looketh upon the book of the world as well as upon the book of the Law, and seeth in all things God’? For even as Elias the Prophet loved to commune with God on the tops of mountains, and in deserts, and in caves, and received revelations of the Lord from earthquakes and fires, but most of all from the still small voice; even so doth our Master look upon all things that are, yea even on the smallest things that live or grow, and from all, he heareth a still small voice that speaketh of the Father. Yea, and there is yet more than this. For whithersoever he turneth his face, methinks he giveth of his love to all things, whether they be the flowers of the field, or the birds, or the mountains, or the children of men: and because he thus giveth, it is given to him again; yea, wisdom and joy and peace are given back to him, even from things that have not life; but most of all from the children of men, which are made in the image of God. Therefore said I that Jesus seemeth as the wise mariner of whom we spake but now; for, by the Word of God in himself, he hath haply hit upon a certain current in the nature of created things, whereby he will easily[pg 122]prevail over the blasts of all opposing storms, and be carried into the haven of God, both he and all they that put their trust in him.”

“Thy words are fair,”I replied,“but they do not persuade me. That the love of children doth bind husband and wife together, and that the bond of families is the bond of nations, this I deny not. Perchance also the love that parents have to their children may have lifted up the hearts of many in Israel, during many generations, to the true God. But how we are to take Jerusalem or thrust forth the Romans from Syria by becoming as little children, this passeth my understanding. Or dost thou not believe that Jesus will lead us against the Romans in Jerusalem?”

“I know not,”replied Quartus (who spoke as one musing, and not giving heed to my question);“but what troubleth me most of all is the fear lest the knowledge of Jesus may haply perish with him; for if he hath (as I judge that he hath) a certain inborn power of winning men over to his will by kindness and gentleness, then, as it seemeth to me, this power may be likened unto the fabled ring of Solomon, which gave unto the owner well nigh whatsoever he desired. But there is this difference. The ring could be delivered from one man to another; but the art or secret of Jesus is, in all likelihood, not able to be delivered to them that shall come after; but it will perish with him. And then what becometh of his Kingdom of God?”

As long as Quartus was speaking I heard him gladly: but when he had ceased, his words seemed like mist in the morning sun; but the words of Judas seemed[pg 123]as the solid ground from which the mist rolleth away. For what Quartus said was hard to understand; but the words of Judas seemed according to reason, and very plain to be understood; to wit, that the ordinances given on the mountain of blessing were transitory, and that we were still to wait for the New Law: and to this I agreed, and not I only, but the most part of the disciples.

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