The Prince of the House of David

by
J. H. Ingraham

Pudney & Russell
N.Y.
1859

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INTRODUCTION TO THE LETTERS OF ADINA.

Adina, the writer of the following letters, was the only child of Manasseh Benjamin, who, though an Israelite of the tribe of Judah, was a native of the Gracco-Romano city of Alexandria. His ancestor was the learned David Esdras, Manasseh, one of the Septuaginta (or LXX) appointed by Ptolemy Philadelphus in the year B. C. 277 to translate the Bible from the original Hebrew tongue into Greek. Esdras with his companions, having accomplished this important work, was invited by the king to remain in Egypt, where he died at an advanced age, holding an office of trust and honor. His descendants for five generations were eminent men, and shared the confidence of the rulers of Egypt, under whom they accumulated riches which were finally inherited by Manasseh Benjamin, a man not unworthy of so eminent an ancestry. He was revered in Alexandria for his integrity, wisdom and rank, as well as for his learning and wealth, and was honored with the friendship of the Roman

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Pro-consul, Rufus Lucius Paulinus. His love and veneration for the land of his fathers,. for the Holy City and Temple of Jehovah, were not lessened by his nativity as an Egyptian Jew, and as he had been in his youth sent to Jerusalem by his father, to be educated in the laws of Moses, so he resolved that his daughter should share the same privilege, be taught as beseemed a Jewish woman, and the inheritress of his name and wealth.

After a tedious journey of seventeen days by the way of Gaza, the lovely Adina at length came in sight of the walls and tower of the city of Zion. The caravan halted upon the ridge, and the Jewish travelers composing it alighted and prostrated themselves in adoration before the city of David, and the mountain of Moriah, made sacred by the footsteps of Abraham. The maiden unveiled and bowed her head with sacred awe. It was her -first sight of Jerusalem-the city of her fathers, the birthplace of her parent, of which, from her earliest childhood, she had heard him speak with the profoundest reverence. As she gazed upon it, she thought of Isaac, who had been bound upon an altar on yonder height, now glittering with walls overlaid with marble and gold; of Isaiah, who had been sawn asunder in the gloomy valley at her feet; of David and his glory; of Solomon and bis wisdom; of the host of Prophets who had trod its streets or wandered upon its hills. Rapidly her memory brought to her mind the history of the mighty past, of the sieges the city had withstood

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against the Assyrians, the Persians, the Egyptians, and the nations of the earth; of the carrying away into captivity of her countrymen; of the demolition of its walls and of its Temple; and its rebuilding by Ezra. But most of all she dwelt with holy fear upon the thought that the presence of God, of Jehovah, had dwelt there century after century, visibly, in unbearable Fire, within the inner sanctuary of the Temple, and that there He had spoken with man, as it were, face to face. She thought also of the Ark of the Covenant, of the Tables of Stone, of Aaron's budded rod, and of the brazen serpent which were laid up in the Temple; and her heart beat with emotion such as she had never felt before. Lower, and with more awful veneration, she bent her head in grateful reverence to Him who had so distinguished above all nations her nation, above all cities the city of her fathers and of the Prophets! Then she raised her eyes in pride that she was a Jewess, and looked around proudly upon the -noble landscape which, in her imagination, it seemed must be as familiar to the eyes of angels as to men, so closely had Heaven connected itself with that chosen spot.

The Arabs, her attendants, had also bowed and kneeled in the presence of the sacred towers: but it was in honor of Abraham and the patriarchs, their ancestors through Ishmael, who they believed lay with Isaac and Jacob in sepulchres upon Mount Zion.

Adina's proud glance around was arrested by the sight of a cohort of soldiers that came,

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galloping up the ridge from the city, with a glittering eagle carried in advance.

"           The Romani! The Romani!" cried the guides, and rising from their knees they remounted in haste, and used every exertion to leave the road open to the approaching troop of horse. An Ishmaelite muleteer, a few rods below in the path, who could not get out of the way soon enough, was over-run   and thrown to the ground, and the cavalcade swept onward to the summit of the hill, disregarding him.

The cheek of Adina paled at this sight, but it was not from fear. All her pride died away in her heart; and she forgot the glory of the past, in the sense of the present degradation. In the first exultation of her emotions at fastening her eyes upon Jerusalem, she had forgotten that the land of the Prophets and of kings anointed by God, was now a conquered Roman province. But the sight of the Roman cohort brought this painful reality to her mind, and veiling her face, she was overcome by the deepest sadness.

The troops passed her and her escort like a whirlwind of war, with ringing spurs, jingling bits, clashing shields, and the noise of the tramp of five hundred hoofs. She could no longer gaze upon the city with joy and pride. The words of Jeremiah rose to her lips:

"How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger! Is this the city that men call the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth? The Lord hath cast

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us off from being a nation, and the name of Israel is remembered no more!"

Tears, free and bountiful, relieved the fullness of her heart, and like a true daughter of Jerusalem, she mourned over the departed glory of her people.

Once more they rode on, winding down around a hill covered with tombs, one of which was pointed out to her by a Jewish Rabbi, under whose care she was journeying, as that of the prophet Jeremiah. Leaving this tomb on the left, they crossed a small valley, green and beautiful with groves, fountains and terraces, and thronged with a mixed multitude, both men and women, who seemed to be enjoying a promenade there, outside the city walls; there were also booths arranged on one side of the shady walk, where merchants from all parts of the earth were selling. The Rabbi accounted for this concourse by informing her that they had arrived at Jerusalem on a great feast day. Avoiding this multitude they moved on their way to the right, and ascended a low eminence from which Jerusalem, in another point of view, burst upon them in all the splendor of its still unconquerable magnificence; for with all its vicissitudes of misfortune, in wars, sieges and desolation, the Jerusalem of the Romans was still a majestic metropolis, and, in a great degree, meriting its appellation of the "Queen of the nations."

"How beautiful," exclaimed Adina, unconsciously reining up her camel.

"Men cannot destroy the city of God, " said

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the Rabbi, with haughty confidence. She -will stand forever."

 "Point out to me, good Rabbi Ben Israel, the prominent places! What is that frowning castle beyond the Temple which looks so strong and warlike?"

 "That is the 'City of David,' the castle of the kings! It protects the Temple and town. David fortified himself in it, and so did the noble Maccabees. It was built by Melchisedec, the king of Jerusalem and the friend of our father Abraham. It is now garrisoned by a thousand Roman soldiers."

 The Jewish girl sighed, and then her eyes being attracted by a graceful tower which the sunbeams of the west burnished like gold, she inquired what it was.

 "The one with the palm growing by its side and nearly as lofty?" asked the Rabbi,  who seemed to take pleasure in gratifying the curiosity of his lovely protégé.

 "Yes, the same."

 "That is David's Tower. Upon it David's watchmen stood when he was looking for tidings from Absalom; and the wood you see far to the north-east is the 'wood of Ephraim,' wherein Prince Absalom was slain. "

 "And what palace is that which the setting sun lights up so brilliantly, as if it were covered with plates of silver?"

 "That is the palace of the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, who reigns. in Jerusalem as a king. But why do you shudder?" he asked, as he beheld her change countenance; but follow-

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ing the direction of her eyes to their right, he beheld, not far distant, a score of crosses bristling upon a small eminence opposite the city gate; and two of the crosses held bodies nailed to them, while a guard of soldiers and a crowd of people stood near looking on and watching the writhings of the victims. The groans and execrations of one of them distinctly reached the ears of Adina.

 "That is the Hill of Calvary, daughter," said the Rabbi, with a look of outward indifference. "It is where the Romans execute their malefactors. Two have suffered to-day. It. is a cruel punishment, not so mild as stoning to death; but the Romans have little feeling. Let us ride on."

 On the left they wound round the wall of a garden that seemed to be open to the public, as in some places the enclosure was. thrown down. Several persons were seen within, walking up and down, or reclining under the shade of olive trees.

 "That is Solomon's garden, now called Gethsemane, " said the Rabbi; "it is now like all the royal woods, desolate.

 "Yet beautiful in its desolation. How majestically the walls of the Temple rise heavenward , seen from this valley! What noble hill, partly covered with trees, is this behind the garden?"

 "Olivet, also a portion of the king's gardens in the days of Israel's glory. The village beyond it is Bethlehem."

 "What, the Bethlehem of Judah, out of

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which the prophet says shall come a Ruler over Israel?"

"The same! and we look one day to have that prophecy fulfilled. It cheers us with the assurance that Jerusalem shall not forever be trodden down of the nations, but one day have a king and governor of the royal seed of David. "

"And do any of the family of David now exist?" asked Adina, fixing her eyes earnestly upon the bearded face of the Rabbi.

"Yes, or the prophecy could not be accomplished. But they are, as far as known, poor and humble; but I have no doubt that in some part of the world among the nations, exists some of the sacred stock 'who are reigning princes, as Daniel and Joseph reigned in Persia and Egypt, from whence they shall come as conquerors to rule over Israel."

"How then can they spring from yonder little village of Bethlehem?" asked the maiden.

The Rabbi looked a little embarrassed, and was about to make some reply to this difficult question, when their road was blocked -up by a flock of sheep, mingled with a drove of cattle, being driven into the city for the altars of sacrifice. It was with some delay they made their way through these obstacles and came to the gates of Damascus. Here they were detained by the Roman guard and made to show their passports, and to pay thirty sesterces for every camel, and half as many for each mule in the caravan.

The scene in the streets was quite bewilder-

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ing to Adina, who had been journeying so many days through a desert; but as the dwelling of the relations of her father was near the gate, she was soon in the arms of her friends, who, though they had never seen her before, received her affectionately, as much for her father's sake, who had commended her to their protection, as for her own prepossessing loveliness.

Just entering her seventeenth year, the daughter of the rich Alexandrian was in the prime of female charms. Her hair was an auburn brown, long, and shining like gold; her face oval, and transparently olive in its color, tinted with the least perceptible roseate; her eyes large, and of the most splendid light and glory of expression; her nose straight and finely outlined, and her mouth exquisitely shaped with an expression of heavenly sweetness.

Having been kindly welcomed, and finding every preparation made for her comfort and happiness, she gave a few days to repose, and then, on the return of the caravan, addressed the following letter to her father. This letter was followed by many others, all of which it is our intention to give to the reader, as they are written at a period the most interesting of any other of which history takes record. The first letter is dated, according to the Jewish chronology, three years before the crucifixion of our Savior.

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LETTERS FROM ADINA.

LETTER I.

My Dear Father:

   My first duty, as it is my highest pleasure, is to comply with your command to write you as soon as I should arrive at Jerusalem; and this letter, while it conveys to you intelligence of my arrival, will confirm to you my filial obedience.

I will not fail to write by every caravan that leaves here monthly for Cairo; and if there are more frequent opportunities, my love, dear father, and sympathy for you in you separation from me, will prompt me to avail myself of them.

My journey hither occupied many days, Rabbi Ben Israel says seventeen, but although I kept the number up to ten.  I soon became too weary to keep the account.  When we traveled in sight of the sea, which we did for three days, I enjoyed the majesty of the prospect, it seemed so like the sky stretched out upon the earth.  I also had the good fortune to see several ships, which the Rabbi, who was always ready to gratify my thirst for information, informed me were Roman galleys, bound

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some to Sidon and others into the Nile; and after one of these latter, as it was going to you, I sent a prayer and a wish.  Just as we were leaving the sea-shore to turn off into the sea-shore, I saw a wrecked vessel.  It looked so helpless and bulky, with its huge black body all out of the water, that it seemed to me like a great sea-monster, stranded and dying; and I felt like pitying it.  The Rabbi gave me to understand that it had come from Alexandria, laden with wheat, bound for Italia, and been cast ashore in a storm.  How terrible a tempest must be upon the sea!  I was in hopes to have seen a Leviathan, but was not gratified in the wish.  The good Rabbi, who seemed to know all about these things, told me that they seldom appear now in the Middle Sea. but are seen beyond the pillar of Hercules at the world's end.

At Gaza we stopped two days.  We entered the gateway of which Samson carried away the gates, and I was shown the traditional hill two miles to the south-east where he left them.  Many other places of interest were shown me, especially the field, which our path led across, where he put to flight the Philistine hosts with much slaughter.  A lion's cave was also pointed out to me, out of which came the lion which Samson slew, and upon which he made his famous riddles.

A dry well into which the ten Patriarchs lowered the Prince Joseph, their brother, was also shown me by our Arab guide, and also the rock on which the Ishmaelites told down the pieces of silver.  But Rabbi Ben Israel says the true pit of Joseph is north of Jerusalem near the mountains of Gilboa at Dothan.  The traditions of the Arabs are often thus at fault.  I fancied the old

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Arab related the occurrence with more elation than was needful, as if he took pride in perpetuating the fact that our noble ancestor had once been the purchased slave of theirs.  I noticed, several times during the journey, that the Ishmaelites of Edom in our caravan took every occasion to elevate their own race to the disparagement of the sons of Israel; indeed, Aben Hussuff, our white-bearded chief of the caravan, in a wordy discussion with Rabbi Ben Israel, at Isaac's well where we encamped, would have it that Isaac was the son of the bond woman, and Ishmael the true heir, but disinherited and cast out through the wiles of the bond woman, who would have her own son the inheritor.  But of course I was too well instructed in the history of my fathers to give heed to such a fable; though the Arabs took part with their chief, and contended for the truth of what he asserted as warmly and zealously as the learned Rabbi did for the truth of his own side.

The morning of the last day of our journey but one, having lost our way and wandered many hours east-wardly, we caught sight of the Sea of Sodom and Gomorrah, at a great distance to the east.  How my pulse quickened at beholding that fearful spot so marked by the wrath of Jehovah!  I seemed to see in imagination the heavens on fire above it, and the flames and smoke ascending as from a great furnace, as on that fearful day when they were destroyed, with all that beautiful surrounding plain, which we are told was one vast garden of beauty.  How calm and still lay now that sluggish sea beneath a cloudless sky!  We held it in sight many hours, and once caught a glimpse of the Jordan north of it, looking like a silver thread; yet

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near as it appeared to be, I was told it was a good day's journey for a came to reach its shores.

After losing sight of this melancholy lake, the glassy sepulchre of cities and their countless dwellers, our way lay along a narrow valley for some time, and the next day, on reaching an eminence, Jerusalem appeared, like a city risen out of the earth, it stood before us so unexpectedly; for we were still, as it were, in the desert; yet so near on the side of our approach does the desert advance to its walls, that it was not two miles off when we beheld it.

I cannot, my dear father, describe to you my emotions on beholding the Holy City!  They have been experienced by millions of our people--they were similar to your own as you related them to me.  All the past, with its mighty men who walked with Jehovah, came up to my mind, overpowering me with the amazing weight.  The whole history of the sacred place rushed to my memory, and compelled me to bow my head, and worship and adore at the sight of the Temple, where God once (alas, why does He no longer visit earth and His Holy House?) dwelt in the flaming Shechinah, and made known the oracles of His will.  I could see the smoke of the evening sacrifice ascending to the skies, and I inwardly prayed Jehovah to accept it for thee and me.

As we approach the city several interesting spot were pointed out to me, and I was bewildered with the familiar and sacred localities which I had known hitherto only by reverential reading of the Prophets.  It seemed to me that I was living in the days of Isaiah and Jeremiah, as places associated with their names

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were shown me, rather than in the generation to which I properly belong.  Indeed, I have lived only in the past the three days I have been in Jerusalem, constantly consulting the sacred historians to compare places and scenes with their accounts, and so verify each with a holy awe and inward delight that must be felt to be understood; but, dear father, you have yourself experienced all this, and therefore can understand my emotions.

We  entered the city just before the sixth hour of the evening, and were soon at the house of our relative, Amos, the Levite.  I was received as if I had a daughter's claim to their embraces; and with the luxuries with which they surrounded me in my gorgeously furnished apartments, I am sure my kinsfolk here mean to tempt me to forget the joys of the dear home I have left.

The Rabbi Amos and his family all desire to be commended to you.  As it is his course to serve in the Temple, I do not see much of him, but he seems to be a man of piety and benevolence, and greatly loves his children.  I have been once to the Temple.  Its outer court seemed like a vast caravanserai or market-place, being thronged with the men who sell animals for sacrifice, which crowded all parts.  Thousands of doves in large cages were sold on one side, and on another were stalls for lambs, sheep, calves, and oxen, the noise and bleating of which, with the confusion of tongues, made the place appear like any thing else than the Temple of Jehovah.  It appears like desecration to use the Temple thus, dear father, and seems to show a want of that holy awe of God's house that once characterized our ancestors.  I was glad to get safely through the

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Bazaar, which on the plea of selling to sacrificers victims for the altar, allows, under color thereof, every other sort of traffic.  On reaching the women's court I was sensible of being in the Temple, by the magnificence which surrounded me.  With what awe I bowed my head in the direction of the Holy of Holies!  I never felt before so near to God!  Clouds of incense floated above the heads of the multitude, and rivers of blood flowed down the marble steps of the altar of burnt offering.  Alas! how many innocent victims bleed every morning and evening for the sins of Israel!  What a sea of blood has been poured out in ages that have passed!  What a strange, fearful mystery, that the blood of an innocent lamb should atone for sins I have done!  There must be some deeper meaning in these sacrifices, dear father, yet unrevealed to us.

As I was returning from the Temple I met many persons walking and riding, who seemed to be crowding out of the gate on some unusual errand.   I have since learned that there is a very

extraordinary man--a true prophet of God, it is believed by many, who dwells in the wilderness eastward near Jordan, and who preaches with power unknown in the land since the days of Elijah and Elisha.  It is to see and listen to this prophet that so many persons are daily going out from Jerusalem.  He lives in a cave, feeds on plants or wild honey, and drinks only water, while his clothing is the skin of a lion ; at least such is the report.  I hope he is a true prophet of Heaven, and that God is once more about to remember Israel ; but the days of the Prophets have long passed away, and I fear this man is only an enthusiast, like the impostor Theudas, or that Galilear

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Judas, who deceived our people and perished so miserably ; but this man's influence over all who listen to him is so remarkable, that it would seem, and one has almost the courage to believe, that he is really endowed with the Spirit of the Prophets.

Farewell, dear father, and let us ever pray for the glory of Israel.

Your affectionate

Adina.

LETTER II.

My Dear Father:

The excellent Rabbi, Ben Israel, has just made known to me his intention of returning to Egypt to-morrow, and has waited upon me, to inquire if I had any commands to intrust him with, for my friends in Alexandria.  Instead of this letter, which he will be the bearer of to you, I would rather commit myself a second time to his care, and instead of placing this parchment in your hand, let his lay your child again upon your bosom.  But it is by your wish, dear father, that I am here, and though I sigh to behold you once more, I will try to be contented in my absence from you, knowing that my discontent would cause sorrow to bow down your gray hairs.

So far as a daughter can be happy from the home of her youth, I have every thing to render me so.  The good Rabbi Amos, in his kindness, recalls your own mild and dignified countenance, and Rebecca, his noble wife, my cousin, is truly a mother in Israel.  Her daughter

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Mary, my younger cousin, in her affectionate attachment to me, shows me how much love I have lost, in ever having had a sister.  It is altogether a lovely household, and I am favored by the God of our fathers in having my lot, during my exile from my home on the banks of the beautiful Nile, cast in so peaceful and holy a domestic sanctuary.

The street in which we dwell is elevated, and from the roof of the house, where I love to walk in the evening, watching the stars that hang over Egypt, there is commanded a wide prospect of the Holy City.  The stupendous Temple, with its terraces piled on terraces of dazzling marble, with its glittering fountains shooting upward like palm trees of liquid silver, with its massive yet beautiful walls and towers, is ever in full sight.  The golden arc, that spans the door which leads into the Holy of Holies, as it catches the sunbeams of morning, burns like a celestial coronet with an unearthly glory.  I dare not gaze steadily upon that holy place, nor imagine the blinding splendor within, of the visible presence of Jehovah, in the Shechinah once present there.

Yesterday morning I was early on the house-top, to behold the first cloud of the day-dawn sacrifice rise from the bosom of the Temple.  When I turned my gaze towards the sacred summit, I was awed by the profound silence which reigned over the vast pile that crowned Mount Moriah.  The sun was not yet risen; but the East blushed with a roseate purple, and the morning star was melting into its depths.  Not a sound broke the stillness of the hundred streets within the walls of Jerusalem.  Night and silence still held united empire over the city and the altar of God.  I was awe-silent.  I stood

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with my hands crossed upon my bosom and my head reverently bowed, for in the absence of man and his voice I believed angels were all around in heavenly hosts, the guardian armies of this wondrous city of David.  Lances of light now shot upward and across the purple sea in the East, and fleeces of clouds, that reposed upon it like barks, catching the red rays of the yet unrisen sun, blazed like burning ships.  Each moment the darkness fled, and the splendor of the dawn increased; and when I expected to see the sun appear over the battlemented heights of Mount Moriah, I was thrilled by the startling peal of the trumpets of the priests : a thousand silver trumpets blown at once from the walls of the Temple, and shaking the very foundations of the city with their mighty voice.  Instantly the house-tops everywhere around were alive with worshipers!  Jerusalem started, as one man, from its slumbers, and, with their faces towards the temple, a hundred thousand men of Israel stood waiting.  A second trumpet peal, clear and musical as the voice of God when He spake to our father Moses in Horeb, caused every knee to bend, and every tongue to join in the morning song of praise.  The murmur of voices was like the continuous roll of the surge upon the beach, and the walls of the lofty Temple, like a cliff, echoed it back.  Unused to this scene, for we have nothing like this majesty of worship in Alexandria, I stood rather as a spectator than a sharer, as it became thy daughter to have been, dear father.  Simultaneously with the billow-like swell of the adoring hymn, I beheld a pillar of black smoke ascend from the midst of the Temple, and spread itself above the court like a canopy.  It was accompanied by a blue wreath of lighter

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and more misty appearance, which threaded in and out, and entwined about the other, like a silvery strand woven into a sable cord.  This latter was the smoke of the incense which accompanied the burnt sacrifice.  As I saw it rise higher and higher, and finally overtop the heavy cloud, which was instantly enlarged by volumes of dense smoke that rolled upward from the consuming victim, and slowly disappeared melting into heaven, I also kneeled, remembering that on the wings of the incense went up the prayers of the people; and ere it dissolved wholly, I entrusted to it, dear father, prayers for thee and me!

How wonderful is our religion!  How mysterious this daily sacrifice, so many hundreds of years offered up for the sins of our fathers and ourselves!  How, I often have asked myself since I have been here, how can the blood of a heifer, of a lamb, or of a goat, take away sin?  What is the mysterious relation existing between us and these dumb and innocent brutes?  How can a lamb stand for a man before God?  The more I reflect upon this awful subject, the more I am lost in wonder.  I have spoken to Rabbi Amos of these things, but he only smiles, and bids me think about my embroidery; for cousin Mary and I are working a rich gold border in the phylactery of next New-Year's garment.

The evening sacrifice, which I witnessed yesterday, is, if possible, more imposing than that of the morning.  Just as the sun dips beyond the hill of Gibeah, overhanging the valley of Aijalon, there is heard a prolonged note of a trumpet blown from one of the western watchtowers of Zion.  Its mellow tones reach the farthest car within the gates of the city.  All labor at once ceases!

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Every man drops the instrument of his toil, and raises his face towards the summit of the house of God.  A deep pause, as if all held their breath in expectation, succeeds.  Suddenly the very skies seem to be riven, and shaken with the thunder of the company of trumpeters that rolls, wave on wave of sound, from the battlements of the Temple.  The dark cloud of sacrifice ascends in solemn grandeur, and sometimes heavier than the evening air, falls like a descending curtain around the Mount, till the whole is veiled from sight; but above it is seem to soar the purer incense to the invisible Jehovah, followed by a myriad eyes, and the utterance of a nation's prayers.  As the day-light faded, the light of the altar, hidden from us by the lofty walls of the outer court of the Temple, blazed high and beacon-like, and lent a wild sublimity to the towers and pinnacles that crowned Moriah.

There was, however, my dear father, last evening, one thing which painfully marred the holy character of the sacred hour!  After the blast of the silver trumpets of the Levites had ceased, and while all hearts and eyes were ascending to Jehovah with the mounting wreaths of incense, there came from the Roman castle adjoining the City of David a loud martial clangor of brazen bugles, and other barbarian war-instruments of music, while a smoke, like the smoke of sacrifice, rose from the heights of David's fortified hill.  I was told that it was the Romans engaged in worshiping Jupiter, their idol God!  Oh, when, when shall the Holy City be freed from the reproach of the stranger!  Alas, for Israel!  Her inheritance "is turned to strangers, and her houses to aliens."  Well said Jeremiah the Prophet, "The kings of the earth and all the inhabitants of the world

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would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem."  How truly now are the prophecies fulfilled, which are to be found in the Lamentations:  "The Lord hath cast off His altar, He hath given up into the hands of the enemy the walls of her palaces: they have made a noise in the house of the Lord, as in the day of a solemn east."  For these things I weep, my dear father; even now, while I write, my tears drop on the parchment.  Why is it so?  Why does Jehovah suffer the adversary to dwell within His holy walls, and the smoke of his abominable sacrifices to mingle with that of the offerings of the consecrated priests of the Most High?  Surely Israel has sinned, and we are punished for our transgressions.  It becomes the land "to search and try its ways and turn unto God," if perhaps He will return and have mercy, and restore the glory of Israel.  Our kings are the servants of the Gentiles.  Our laws are no more.  Our prophets no longer see visions.  God has gone up in anger, and no longer holds discourse with His chosen people.  The very smoke of the daily sacrifices seems to hang above the Temple like a cloud of Jehovah's wrath.

Nearly three hundred years have passed since we have had a Prophet--that divine and youthful Malachi!  Since his day, Rabbi Amos confesses that Jehovah has ceased from all known intercourse with his people and holy house; nor has He made any sign of having heard the prayers or heeded the sacrifices that have been offered to Him in his time!  I inquired of the intelligent Rabbi, if it would always be thus?  He replied, that when Shiloh came, there would be a restoration of

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all things--that the glory of Jerusalem then would fill the whole earth with the splendor of the sun, and that all nations should come up from the ends of the world to worship in the Temple.  He acknowledges "that we are now under a cloud for our sins; but that a brighter day is coming when Zion shall be the joy of the whole earth."  He then added, that there was a report that thirty-one years before an angel had appeared to a priest when offering incense, who was struck dumb by the vision.

My conversation with Rabbi Amos, dear father, a conversation which grew out of the subject of the Roman garrison occupying the citadel of David, and offerings their pagan sacrifices by the side of our own smoking altars, led me to examine the Book of the Prophet Malachi.  I find that after plainly alluding to our present shame, and reproaching the priests "for causing the people to stumble," and thus making themselves :Contemptible and base before all nations," he thus prophesies: "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple, and he shall sit as a REFINER AND PURIFIER of silver, and he shall PURIFY the sons of Levi, and PURGE them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.  Behold," adds the divine seer, "I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord."

These words I read to-day to Rabbi Amos--indeed I was reading them when Rabbi Ben Israel came in to say that he departs to-morrow.  The excellent Amos looked grave, graver than I had ever seen him look.  I feared

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I had offended him by my boldness, and, approaching him, was about to embrace him, when I saw tears were sparkling in his eyes.  This discovery deeply affected me, you may be assured, dear father; and, troubled more to have grieved than displeased him, I was about to ask his forgiveness for intruding these sacred subjects upon his notice, when he took my hand, and smiling, while a glittering drop danced down his snow-white beard and broke into liquid diamonds upon my hand, he said, "You have done no wrong, child; sit down by me and be at peace with thyself.  It is too true, in this day, what the Prophet Malachi writeth, O, Ben Israel," he said sadly, to the Alexandrian Rabbi; "The priests of the temple have indeed become corrupt, save the few here and there!  It must have been at this day the Prophet aimed his words.  Save in the outward form, I fear the great body of our Levites have little more true religion and just knowledge of the one God Jehovah, than the priests of the Roman idolatry!  Alas, I fear me, God regards our sacrifices with no more favor than He looks upon theirs!  To-day, while I was in the Temple, and was serving at the altar with the priests, these words of Isaiah came into my thoughts and would not be put aside; 'To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?' saith the Lord; 'I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.  Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; I am weary to bear them; yea, when ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers I will not hear; your hands are full of blood! Wash

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you; make you clean.  Cease to do evil; learn to do well!'

"These terrible words of the prophet," added Rabbi Amos, addressing the amazed Ben Israel, "were not out of my mind while I was in the Temple.  They seemed to be thundered in my ears by a voice from heaven.  Several of the younger priests, whose levity during the sacrifice has been reproved by me, seeing me sad, asked cause.  In reply, I repeated with a voice that seemed to myself to be inspired, the words of the prophet.  They turned pale and trembled, and thus I left them."

"I have noticed," said Ben Israel, "that there is less reverence now in the Temple than when I was in Jerusalem a young man; but I find that the magnificence of the ceremonies is increased."

"Yes," responded Ben Amos, with a look of sorrow; "yes, as the soul of piety dies out from within, they gild the outside.  The increased richness of the worship is copied from the Roman.  So low are we fallen!  Our worship, with all its gorgeousness, is as a sepulchre white-washed to conceal the rottenness within!"

You may be convinced, my dear father, that this confession, from such a source, deeply humbled me.  If, then, we are not worshiping God, what do we worship?  NOUGHT!  We are worse off than our barbarian conquerors, for we have no God; while they at least have gods many and lords many, such as they are!  Alas, alas, the time of the judgment of Jeru-

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salem seems to be at hand.  The Lord MUST suddenly come to His Temple, and as a refiner and purifier!  I am deeply impressed with the conviction that the day is very near at hand!  Perhaps we shall see it in our lifetime, dear father!

Since writing the last line I have been interrupted by Mary, who has brought to see me a youth, nephew of the noble Jewish ruler, Ptolomeus Eliasaph, who was slain by the Romans for his patriotic devotion to his country.  He dwells near the Gaza gate, with his widowed mother, who is a noble lady, honored by all lips that discourse her.  Between this young man, whose name is John, and Mary there exists a beautiful attachment, not ardent enough to be love, but sincere enough for the purest friendship; yet each day their friendship is ripening into the deepest emotion.  He has just returned from the vicinity of Jericho, where he has been for some days past, drawn thither by curiosity, to see and hear the new prophet, alluded to by me at the close of my last letter, whose fame has spread far and wide, and who is drawing thousands into the wilderness, to listen to the eloquence that flows from his mouth.  The young man had been giving Mary so interesting an account of him that she desired me also to be a listener!  In my next I will write you all I heard; and I trust, dear father, you will patiently bear with me in all things; and believe that, however I may, from the investigating character of my mind, venture upon sacred mysteries, I shall never be less a lover of the God of our Father Abraham, nor less the affectionate and devoted Adina to thee!  Adieu.

Adina

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LETTER III.

My Dear Father :

This morning as I was coming from the Temple, whither I had gone to worship and witness the imposing ceremony of the presentation of the First Fruits, I notices a vast pile of edifices crowning the opposite rock, which I was told was the Tower of Antonia.  It seemed to frown sternly upon the Temple; and upon its battlements glittered, at intervals, numerous Roman eagles.  I had so often heard you relate historical events connected with this celebrated castle, that I regarded it with peculiar interest.  You, who had so frequently described it to me, seemed to stand by my side as I gazed upon it.  The four towers, one at each corner, are still as they stood when you fought from the northern-most one, and defended it single-handed against the Romans.  But now these barbarians throng its courts, and their bugles, which have sounded from the conquered walls of every land on earth, are even heard in the ears of the citizens of Jerusalem.  The insolence and power of the Roman garrison have made the beautiful walk about the base of the Tower almost deserted; but of this I was not aware; and, attended only by my Ethiopian slave, Onia, I lingered to admire the splendor of the Temple, with its terraces supported by white marble

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pillars, fifteen cubits high, when two Roman soldiers coming from one of the city gates, approached, on their way back to the castle.  It was then that I saw I was alone, the company who had left the Temple with me being gone far in advance.  I drew my veil closely, and would have passed them with a rapid step, when one of them placed himself in my path, and catching hold of my veil tried to detain me.  I left it in his grasp and was flying, when the other soldier arrested me.  This was in full view of the castle, and at my shrieks the barbarians in the castle laughed aloud.  At this crisis appeared a young Centurion, who was on horseback, coming down the rocky path that ascends the Rock of Zion, and shouting to them, he galloped forward, and with his sword put the men, who were drunk with wine, to immediate fight, and rescued me, at the same time sending two soldiers under arrest into the castle.  He then addressed me in the gentlest manner, and apologised for the rudeness I had met with at the hands of his men, saying that they should be severely dealt with.  I was struck with his manly beauty, his civility, and his air of patrician command, although he could not have been more than eight and twenty.  In order to escort me safely to the streets below, he alighted from his horse, and leading him by the rein, walked by my side.  I confess to you, dear father, I had not reached the house of my relative before my prejudices against the Romans were greatly modified.  I had found in one of them as courteous a person as I had ever met with among my own countrymen, and for his sake I was willing to think better of his barbarian land and people.  He saw through my prejudices, and how I shrunk from

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him as he walked by me; and while we descended the height he spoke eloquently in defence of his native land, of its fair daughters, of its wise men, its brave chiefs, its power and glory, and its dominion over the whole earth!

When I heard him use these last words, I sighed deeply, for Judah, it is prophesied, should have dominion over the whole earth, and these Romans, therefore, hold the dominion that rightfully belongs to our people.  How is this, dear father?  How is it that these barbarian men are permitted by Jehovah to hold the sceptre that is the rightful heritage of the Lion of the tribe of Judah?  How many times in a day, since I have been in Jerusalem, have I been reminded of the degradations of my people  How is it that these enemies of Jehovah, these worshipers of false gods, stand in the Holy place, and usurp the power that God has given to us?

I put these questions to Amos, the good priest, after I had returned home; for my account of my adventure naturally led to a conversation upon the Roman dominion over the earth.  It appears that this noble Centurion is not unknown to Rabbi Amos, who speaks of him as one of the most popular Roman officers in command of the city.  I am glad to hear this.  He also gave me warning not to approach again near the garrison points of the town, as the soldiers take pleasure in giving annoyance to the citizens.

While I was writing the above, a commotion without, as if something unusual was occurring, drew me to the lattice, which overlooks the street that goes out of the gate to Bethany, one of the most frequented thoroughfares in the city.  The sight that met my eyes was truly

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imposing, but made my heart sink with shame.  It was a pageant, with banners, eagles, trumpets, and gilded chariots! but not the pageant of a king of Israel, like those dazzled the streets of Jerusalem in the days of Solomon and king David! not the triumphant passage of an Israelitish prince, but of the Roman governor!  Preceded by a cohort of horse, he rode in a gilded war-chariot, lolling at his ease beneath a silken shade of blue silk, fringed with gold.  The horses were snowy-white, and covered  with silver mail, and adorned with plumes.  He was followed by another body of cavalry, chiefly composed of richly attired young men, and at the head of them, looking more like a ruler and prince than the indolent Pilate, I beheld the generous Centurion who had aided me escape from the two soldiers.  His eye sought the lattice at which I stood, and I drew back, but not before he had seen me and saluted me.  Certainly, father, this youth is noble and courteous enough to be a Jew, and should any providence cause us to meet again, I shall try to convert him from his idolatry to serve the living Jehovah.  I was not pleased with the appearance of the governor.  He is a dark, handsome man, but too fleshy, and with the countenance of one given to much wine; and I learn that he is naturally indolent and luxurious, and deficient in decision of character.  He is a particular friend of the Roman Emperor, and to his partiality he owes the governorship here.  It is, however, better to have a table-lover and idle man for our master, than a cruel and active tyrant like his predecessor, in an insurrection against whom was slain the eminent man, that father of John, the cousin of Mary, of whom I spake to you in my last letter.

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And this reminds me that I had something to relate to you.  You will remember, dear father, that I alluded to an excitement that is increasing every day, in reference to a new prophet, who is preaching in the wilderness of Jericho, and whose life is as austere as was that of Elijah!  For three weeks past several parties of citizens have been to the valley of Jordan, confessing their sins.  Among these is John, the cousin and betrothed of Mary, who having heard much said of the power with which this man spoke, by those who had returned, also went to satisfy his curiosity, and, as he says, with a secret hope that God had again remembered Israel, and sent to us a prophet of reconciliation.  Upon his return we saw that his countenance was animated beyond its wont, for he is usually of a sad and gentle aspect, and that his fine eyes beamed with an ardent hope, that seemed new-born in his soul.  He thus recounted to us his visit to the prophet of Jordan:

"After leaving the gate and crossing the brook and valley of Kedron, I encountered a large company, who were ascending the road that winds over the south side of Olivet.  These were men, women, and children, and they were provided with food in baskets, and travel as our people do, when they come up to the Feast of the Passover.  I found, on joining them, that they were directing their steps also towards the wilderness, in order to hear the great prophet, whose fame was in all men's mouths.  Among them were priests and judges, Sadducees and Pharisees, and Esenes, and even men of no faith; for even in Judah we have ,many ten thou

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sands who believe in no God, so long has it been since Jehovah has visited his people!

"Passing on ahead of this company, I being well mounted, and they traveling slowly, I at length reached the summit of the hill, from which I looked back to take a parting glance at the city.  How like 'the City of God' it crowned its lordly hills!  All the glory of Jerusalem, of the past, came before my memory, and I sighed that that glory had departed, not in the destruction of its edifices, for Jerusalem is still magnificent and imposing, but in the downfall of its power.  I heard, distant as I was, the strains of the Roman bugles, echoing over the valleys where the prophets, priests, and kings lay buried, and reverberating from the Temple walls, the sacred echoes of which, aforetime, had been awakened by the voice of God!  Gethsemane, the fair garden of Solomon, where he tried to create a second Eden, lay at my feet, its walls broken, and its walks wild and overgrown; here and there a fig or an olive, or a palm tree only, remaining to tell the passing traveler that here was 'the delight of gardens, the abode of pleasure and of mirth, from which were excluded all who were sorrowful, that no tears might fall upon its enameled floors, dedicated to voluptuous joy.'  This description of it, given by our poets, passed through my mind, as I beheld its melancholy and deserted aspect--looking more like a place of tears than of joy, as if its shades would invite the sorrowful to weep in them, rather than the silvery feet of the dancer!

"I soon reached the pretty town of Bethpage, where, at the inn, I beheld several horsemen just mounting, to go in the direction of Jericho.  Several of them I knew,

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and, on joining the cavalcade, learned they were for the most part drawn out of Jerusalem on the same errand of curiosity with myself.  But one of them, however, a wealthy young noble of Arimathea, was actuated by the same holy desire that burned in my boson, a desire that we might, in the prophet who was called John, discover a man sent from God.  The others were bent on commerce, on pleasure, or mere idle curiosity, to see one of whom every one talked in all the land of Judea.  As Joseph of Arimathea and I rode together, we conversed about the man we expected to see, and the different reports which were noised abroad respecting him.  My companion seemed to believe that he was a true prophet, for being very well read in the scriptures, he said that the SEVENTY WEEKS of Daniel were now about completed, when the Messiah was to come!  I then asked him if he believed that the Messiah, who was to be 'a Prince and King, and have dominion from the sea to the ends of the earth,' would come in the wilderness, clad in the skins of wild beasts?  To this he replied, that he could not regard this prophet as the Messiah, for when the Christ should come, he was 'suddenly to come to the Temple,' and that we should doubtless first see him there; but that he was greatly in hopes that the prophet we were going to see would prove to be the forerunner, foretold by Malachi.  Having a roll of the Prophet Daniel with me, for I took the Prophets along to compare what I should hear the preacher of Jordan proclaim, with them, I saw to my surprise, that not only the seventy weeks had about reached their completion, but that the expiration of the 'thousand two hundred and ninety days' drew presently nigh!  We were both sur-

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prised at this coincidence with the advent of this new prophet; and joy and fear trembled in our hearts, tempered with hopes we dared not utter.

" 'Those who heard him,' said Joseph, as we rode into the village of Bethany,`say that he publicly proclaims himself the forerunner of the Messiah.  The opinion of the more ignorant who have listened to him is, that it is Elijah himself, returned to the earth!  while others assert that it is Enoch himself, come down from heaven; and not a few believe him to be Isaiah.'

"In this manner, conversing, we crossed a hill, where, tradition says, stood the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and also, where rested the foot of Jacob's ladder; and from which place, it is believed by many, all good men after the resurrection shall ascend into the third heaven; for it is the common belief that the throne of Jehovah is directly above it.

"At length, after a long day's ride, during which we had overtaken and passed many large companies hurrying forward to hear the prophet, also meeting many returning, spreading wonderful accounts of his eloquences, wisdom, and power, we came in sight of Jericho.  The city is very stately, with its Roman towers and palaces, it being the favorite winter resort of the governors.  Its situation, in a green valley, was refreshing to the eyes, after our dreary ride all day over the broken and barren hills.  On our left, a mile before you come to the town, we passed the ruins of the tower and house of Hiel, who rebuilt Jericho in the days of the Kings.  To the right was the field where the Chaldean army defeated our fathers in battle, and took King Zedekiah captive; it was now covered with beautiful gardens, and smiled as

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if peace had ever dwelt in its sweet shades.  On an eminence, to the north of us, about half a league off, Joseph, who had often traveled this way, made me take notice of the ruins Ai, and of the hill of ambush, where lay the warriors of Joshua, who surprised and cut off the city.  As we approached the city, I could not but recall the period when Israel's hundred thousands, shod with the sandals they had worn forty years in the wilderness, marched seven times around it.  In imagination I heard their martial tread shaking the very earth, and beheld the princely Joshua, standing aloof on an eminence near, directing the solemn march.  I hear again the thunder of the trumpets of the hosts of God seven times sounded, and saw the proud wall of the city fall, darkening the whole heavens with the clouds of dust that rolled over the heads of awe-struck Israel!  But how different was the reality!  The setting sun gliding the firmly standing towers, turrets, pinnacles, and battlements of the Roman city, lending to it a splendor that moved the soul to admiration; and the blue sky bent serenely without a cloud above it; and the circling vale, instead of echoing to the tread of an armed host, for whom Jehovah fought, was now filled with Roman knights and ladies on gay parties of pleasure, and processions of maidens moving to the cemetery of the tombs, clad in snow-white vestments, casting flowers in their path, and chattering sacred songs; for it was the day in which the daughters of Jericho celebrate the hapless fate of the lovely daughter of Jephtha, by visiting her sepulchre; for she was born and buried in this city, where Jephtha long dwelt ere he removed to Mizpah; and hither her sacrificed body was conveyed to be placed in the tombs of her fathers.

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"At the gate we were stopped by a Roman soldier, who demanded our passports and the traveler's tribute, which humiliating affair settled, we rode into the city; for it was our intention to pass the night there, and early in the morning walk to the banks of the Jordan, where we understood the prophet was teaching and baptizing."

At this point of the narrative of the cousin of Mary, dear father, I will close this letter.  We had all listened with the deepest attention, not so much for the interest it contained in itself, as on account of the manner in which he recited what he had seen; his face being calmly beautiful, his eyes soft and expressive, his voice musical, and his whole aspect the true and expressive manifestation of the intelligence, gentleness, amiability, and noble ardor of piety which belong to his whole character.  In my next I will resume his narrative, dear father; for when I have given it to you wholly, I have many things to ask you to which it gives rise in my mind.  May the blessing of the God of Israel be upon thee, my dearest father!

ADINA

LETTER IV.

My Dear Father:

I have had the pleasure to-day, not only of hearing from you, but of being assured of your continued welfare.  The messages of parental affection contained in your letter are cherished in my heart.  The costly gifts of your generous love, sent by you with the letter, and

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which were safely delivered from your hand into mine, by your faithful servant Elec, will be worn by me with all a daughter's pride.  I regret to hear of the death of Rabbi Israel, while I rejoice that the high office he held with so much dignity, has been bestowed upon you by the Pro-consul; for though you may not need its emoluments, dear father, such selection is a flattering proof of the estimation in which you are held by the Roman Governor.

You need not fear, my dear father, that I shall be carried away from the faith of Israel by any strange doctrines; I will take counsel by your wisdom, and be cautious how I adventure in my inquiries upon sacred ground.  I have freely written to you for your advice, and I trust that you will not look upon my inquiries as expressions of doubt, but as searchings after what is true.  I know you are read in the law above all Jews, and that any difficulties I may meet with in observing things here in Jerusalem, especially in the worship and ceremonies of the Temple, you will remove for me.

In my last letter, which will not reach your hands for some days yet, I commenced giving you the narrative of John, the cousin of Mary, who went down into the wilderness to see and hear the prophet of Jordan.  I will not take it upon myself to decide or form an opinion upon any thing yet, dear father, but state facts, and let your wisdom instruct me into the truths that may grow out of them.  One thing which your letter states gratifies me, and gives me confidence; it is these words:  "Do not fear that the integrity of the laws of Moses, or of the worship of the Temple, or the predictions of the Prophets, can be moved by any investiga-

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tions that man can make into them,  They are founded in truth, and will abide forever.  The worship of Israel fears nothing from inquiry.  But while you ask and question about sacred things, remember that they belong to God, and must be inquired into with awful reverence and profound humility.  Any inquiries made into the prophecies with an eye to search out their day of fulfillment, are proper and useful; and as this day seems to be that of fulfillment rather than that of prediction, your studies may be suggested and directed by heavenly  wisdom, and, if so, they will be guided to their true issue.  As I am so far removed from you, I cannot judge concerning this prophet your first letter named as being in the wilderness; yet I should not be surprised if the fullness of time indicated by Isaiah were near at hand, for the events you enumerated seem to proclaim its approach:  such as the lax worship in the Temple; the worship of the Roman idols on Mount Zion; the profanation of the altar; and the rule of the heathen over the empire of David.  Let us fervently pray, my child, for the fulfillment of the prophecies, which promise Messiah to our stricken people!  Let us supplicate for the rising of the Star of Jacob, the Prince of Peace, who shall erect his throne on Mount Zion, and whose wide dominion Israel shall lift up her head and rule the nations.  My daily prayer, with my face towards Jerusalem, is, that I may live to behold the hope of Israel, and with my eyes see the splendor of the glory of Shiloh."

These words of yours, my dear father, give me courage.  I believe with you that the day of fulfillment of

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The Prophets is dawning; and perhaps is nearer than we believe.  WHen I have completed the history of John's journey to Jordan to hear the prophet, you will understand why I speak with such hopeful confidence; and you will agree with me that this preacher of repentance is not one of the class of false prophets, against whose chimeras your letter so properly cautions me.

"We arose at dawn," said Mary's cousin, in continuation of his interesting narrative, "and leaving the inn, we took our way out of the city, by the eastern gate, which we easily found, inasmuch as a quarter of the city was in motion, and moving in the same direction.  Here we were detained by the Gentile guards for full half-an-hour, fill the multitude had become so immense as to tread one upon another, and fill the whole street.  Nevertheless, we had to wait until the indolent Captain of the Gate chose to be disturbed in his morning repose, and then bathe his dainty limbs. and then break his fast, all which he did very deliberately, before he would suffer the gate to be opened!  Such slaves are we to such masters!  Oh, when shall arrive the day wherein, as saith Isaiah, `our gates shall be opened continually;they shall not be shut day nor night, that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought captives to our feet,'

"Having passed out of the gate, my friend of Arimathea and myself separated a little from the crowd, and crossed the plain towards Jordan.  The morning was balmy; the sun made all nature glad.  The dew reflected a myraid lesser suns, and the earth appeared strewn with diamonds.  For a little way the road lay between fields of corn and gardens; but soon it crossed

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the open plain, on which were droves of wild asses, which lifted their small, spirited heads on our approach, eyed us with timid curiosity, and then bounded off to the wilderness southward with the speed of antelopes.  As the great body of the people took their way obliquely across the plain, we knew the prophet must be in that direction, as it proved, for we at length found him on the banks of Jordan, below the landing and ford, which is opposite Jericho, on the great caravan road to Balbeo and Assyria, that long and weary road so often traveled by our forefathers when they have been led into captivity--the road which so many kings have watered with their tears!  We gazed upon it with emotions of sadness, and with tearful prayers that Jehovah would return and visit once more the remnant of his people, and not be angry with us forever!  After we had approached the Jordan some distance above the ford, we beheld the multitude listening to the prophet far to the south of us, on the edge of the desert, which approaches in this quarter very near Jericho.  As we traversed the banks of the flowing stream, we came all at once upon a pillar of stones partly in the water.  `This,' said my companion, stopping, `is the Mount of Twelve Stones, which Israel set up to commemorate the passage of Jordan.  Here they crossed on dry ground.'

`I counted them, and found but seven of them remaining.  What vicissitudes, I reflected, had not Israel passed through since the hands of our fathers placed that heap together!  Generations of judges and long lines of kings; captivities succeeding captivities; wars, conquests, and defeats, and subjection, finally, till we are no longer a people; having a ruler, indeed, but

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whose power is a mockery--a Herod, holding his authority at the courtesy of the Imperial Monarch of Rome.  Alas, with the end of the reign of such a shadow of a king, the sceptre will forever depart from Judah!" he added, bitterly.

"Then will Shiloh come!" exclaimed my cousin Mary, with animation,

"Yes; Judah must be abased to the lowest step, before she can rise!  and with Shiloh king, her glory will fill the whole earth," responded John, with hope once more beaming in his eyes.  "At length we drew near the dark mass of human beings which we had beheld afar off, assembled around a small eminence near the river.  Upon it, raised a few cubits taller than their heads, stood a man upon whom all eyes were fixed, and to whose words every ear was attentive.  His clear, rich, earnest tones, had reached us as we approached, before we could distinguish what he said,  He was a young man not above thirty, with a countenance such as the medallions of Egypt give to Joseph of our nation, once their Prince.  His hair was long, and wildly free about his neck; he wore a loose sack of camel's hair, and his right arm was naked to the shoulder.  His attitude was as free and commanding as that of a Caucasian warrior, yet every gesture was gentle and graceful.  With all his ringing and persuasive eloquence there was an air of the deepest humility on his countenance, combined with an expression of the holiest enthusiasm.  The people listened eagerly to him, for he spake like the prophets of old, and chiefly in their prophetic words!  His theme was the Messiah:

"`Oh, Israel, return unto the Lord thy God, for thou

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hast fallen by thine iniquity,' he was saying, as we came up, as if in continuation of what had gone before `Take with you words, and turn unto the Lord, and say unto Him:  Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously.  Behold, He cometh who will heal your backsliding, and will love you freely!  He will be as the dew of Israel!  He shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon!  His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his fruit shall be for the healing of the nations!  They that dwell under his shadow shall return and dwell evermore; and it shall come to pass that whatsoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered, for beside Him there is no Saviour.'

"`Of whom speaketh the prophet these things?' asked one who stood near me, of his neighbor, and then of me; for by this time we had taken places as close to the prophet as we were able; for I did not wish to lose one word that should fall from the lips of a man who could thus empty cities, and people the wilderness with their inhabitants.

"`Of Messiah--listen!' answered him a Scribe near, as if not pleased to have his attention interrupted by his side talk.  `His words are plain.  Hear him.'

"`Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, for the day of the Lord cometh!' continued the prophet, in a voice like that of a silver trumpet; `for, behold, the day is at hand when I will bring again the captivity of Judah.  The day is at hand when the Lord shall roar out of Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem.'

"`Art thou not Elias?' asked one, aloud.

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"`I am he of whom it is written, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight a highway for our God.  The day of the Lord is at hand.  I am but the herald who is sent before to prepare the way of the Lord!'

"`Art thou not the Messiah?' asked a woman, who stood near him, and seemed to worship his very lips.

"`He who cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear!' he responded, in the deepest humiliation of manner.  `He who cometh after me hath his fan in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor and father the wheat into the garner; but will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.  Therefore, repent ye, repent ye, take words and return unto the Lord your God.  Repent and be baptized for the remission of your sins; for the day cometh which shall burn as an oven, and take heed that ye be not consumed!  The axe is laid at the root of the tree; therefore every tree that bringeth forth good fruit shall be hewn down and cast into the fire.'

"`Master,' saith a Levite, `dost thou speak these things to us, who are of Israel, or to these Gentiles and Samaritans?' for there were not a few Roman soldiers among the multitude, drawn hither by curiosity, and also many people from Samaria, nay, even from Damascus.

"`Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saith the Lord, for my people hath committed two evils; they have forsaken me, the fountain of the living waters, and hewn them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.  The Lord hath made me this day an iron pillar and brazen wall against the whole land--against

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the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priest thereof, and against the people of the land!  And yet thou sayest, O, Israel, thou hast not sinned!  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backsliding shall reprove thee.  Repent and do works meet for repentance, every one of you, for ye have polluted the land; neither say, where is the Lord that brought us up our of the land of Egypt?  I am provoked to anger every day by your hardness of heart and stiff-neckedness.  Amend, amend your doings! Trust not to lying words, saying the Temple of the Lord, The Temple of the Lord, The Temple of the Lord!  Ye have made it a den of robbers!  Your sacrifices therein are become an abomination to the Lord!'

"`This would touch us who are priests, masters,' said a priest, with a crimson brow.  `We are not robbers.'

"`Thus saith the Lord,' answered the youthful prophet, as if it were God Himself speaking from Horeb, so that we trembled as we heard him:  `Woe be unto the pastors that destroy my sheep; I will visit upon you the evil of your doings.  How is the gold become dim--how is the most fine gold changed!  The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed?  Her priests were purer then snow! they were whiter than milk; they were more ruddy in body than rubies;their polishing was of sapphire!  Their visage is blacker than coal; they feed the children of my people with ashes for bread!  Woe to Zion, for the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests!  Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and seek in the broad places thereof, saith the Lord, if you can find a man that executeth judgment, that seeketh truth!

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Though they say the Lord liveth, surely they swear falsely.  Hear ye this, O priests, and hearken, ye house of Israel!  Woe unto you, ye priests, for ye have transgressed.  I have seen in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing; they commit adultery and walk in lies, saith the Lord.  My people have transgressed for lack of knowledge!  Therefore I will reject thee, saith the Lord; thou shalt be no priest to me since thou hast forgotten the law of thy God.  Like people, like priests!  Therefore doth the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein languisheth.  Therefore do swearing and lying, and killing and stealing, and committing adultery, break our in the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.  Woe unto you, ye priests!'  Many of the Levites then turned and left him, and went away greatly murmuring; and they would gladly have done the prophet a mischief, but they feared the multitude, who said he had spoken only the truth of them,  `But the elders of Israel, who are not priests, who spring from Abraham, shall be saved by Abraham, master?' asserted, or rather inquired, a rich ruler of our city, after the tumult caused by the withdrawal of the Levites had a little subsided.  The youthful prophet rested his dark eyes, like two suns, upon the old man's face, and said impressively, `Begin not to say within yourself, we have Abraham to our father, for I say unto your,' he added, pointing to the pebbles at his feet, `that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.  He is of Abraham who doth righteousness; therefore repent, and bring forth fruits meet for repentance.'

Here was heard some murmuring among a group of

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many Pharisees and Sadducees at these words, when, sending his lightening glance towards them, as if he could read their very hearts, he cried:

"`O generation of vipers!  Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  The day cometh when he who is to come shall sit as a purifier by his furnace.  Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance.  Wash thy heart form wickedness, that thou mayest be saved.  And ye, daughters of Judah, repent ye of the vain thoughts that lodge within you,' cried he, addressing many females in rich apparel and plaited hair; `gird ye with sackcloth, lament and howl; put away these abominations out of my sight, and fear the Lord.  Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thyself with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; for I hear the voice of the daughters of Zion bewailing themselves, and spreading forth their hands in the day when they are spoiled and despised for their iniquities.  Repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!

"`Hear, O Israel!  Am I a God at hand and not a God afar off, saith the Lord.  Hear ye the message of the Most High, for the day hath come when Jehovah shall once more visit the earth and talk face to face with His creatures.  Behold the day hath come saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David, a righteous branch, and a king to reign and prosper, who shall execute judgment and justice on the earth.

"`Behold the day hath come, saith the Lord, in which Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely, when I will set up shepherds over them, which shall feed them, and they shall lack nothing!

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"`Arise! shine, for thy light is come!  Hear, O Israel! for Zion's sake I will not hold my peace; I will not rest until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.  Arise! shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee!  Darkness covereth the earth, and gross darkness the people, as saith Esaias; but the Lord shall rise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee.  The Gentiles shall come to His light, and kings to the brightness of His rising.  He shall be called THE LORD OF OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, and shall be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to proclaim the acceptable year of His coming.  He hath set me a watchman upon thy walls, O Israel, and I may neither hold my peace day nor night, nor keep silence, nor seek rest, till He come, who hath sent me forth His messenger before His face.  How can I refrain from my message of joy?  How shall I not speak of His fame?  His sons shall come from afar, and His daughters shall be nursed at His side.  The people of the nations shall fly as a cloud, and as doves to their windows, to behold, fall down, and adore Him.  The isles shall wait for His law, and kings shall minister unto Him, even unto the Holy One of Israel.  Saith He, I, the Lord, am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.  Say ye to the daughters of Zion, Behold thy salvation cometh; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him.  Ho, every one that thirsteth,' he now cried, raising his voice like the chief of a host, till the farthest heard, `come ye to the waters; yea, come buy wine and milk,

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without money and without price.  Incline your ear and come unto HIm.  Hear, and your soul shall love.  Repent, keep justice and judgment; and prepare a contrite heart to offer Him when thou shalt behold Him; for thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place with him, also, that is of a contrite and humble spirit.  Peace, peace to him that is afar off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord.

"`Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise from the ends of the earth:  for thus saith Cod the Lord, He that created the heavens and stretched them out; He that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; He that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:  Behold my servant whom I uphold--mine elect in whom my soul delighteth:  I have put my spirit upon Him; he shall bring forth judgment tot he Gentiles; a bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench.  I, the Lord, saith Jehovah, addressing the only begotten, I have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thy hand and keep thee, and will give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles, to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison.  I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory will I not give to another; yet have I made Him my first-born, higher than the kings of the earth.  Look unto Him, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for unto Him every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.  Our Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts is His name, the Holy One of Israel!'

"All this was spoken with an enthusiasm and fire that made every pulse bound.

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"Such," said John, "was the extraordinary style of this mighty prophet's preaching; and to those who read the books of the Prophets, every word shone with the brightness of the sun.  I fancied I had only to look around to behold the Messiah!  The immense multitude stood awed and silent when he had ceased.  I gazed upon him with adoring reverence.  My heart filled with holy joy; for I now believed and knew that God had remembered Zion, and was about to display his wonders more remarkable on earth than ever had been witnessed before.  Leaving the eminence, he said, and I thought he fixed his eyes on me, `Ye who desire to be baptized for the remission of sins, that your hearts may be cleansed for the visitation of this Holy One of God, follow me to the river side!'  Thousands obeyed, and I one of the first.  I trembled all over with a sweet pleasure, when he took me by the hand, and asked me if I believed in Him who was to come, and would prepare the way for His abode in my heart by being baptized, which rite also was to be a sign and pledge that when I should behold the Shiloh rising, I should acknowledge Him.  Not less than one thousand were baptized by him that day in Jordan, confessing their sins, and hopes of pardon through the name of the Unknown One, who was soon to come.  Among these were Pharisees and Sadducees, rulers and lawyers, and one gray-headed Roman soldier.  Joseph of Arimathea was not baptized, as he said he wished to examine into the extraordinary subject fully before he could believed.

"After the baptism, the whole company dispersed in groups, and the prophet returned into the wilderness till the cool of the evening, where his repast was locust and

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the wild honey of the desert.  When he re-appeared, he again spoke to an increased multitude.  In this second sermon, he explained more clearly the application of the glittering chain of prophecies he had given utterance to in the morning, to Messias, and thus enabled me to discern more clearly the true character of the expected Messias than I had before done."

With this remark of his, dear father, I close my long letter.  I make no comments.  I will only say, that my expectations are actively awake, and that I am looking, with thousands of others, for the near advent of the Messiah.

Your daughter,

ADINA.

LETTER V.

My Dear Father:

Although but three days have elapsed since I completed my last letter to you, I am so solicitous to have your judgment and counsel upon the remarkable events now occupying the public mind of Israel, that I cannot withhold giving you the further relation of the remaining circumstances connected with the visit of Mary's cousin, John, to the divine prophet of Jordan.  Inasmuch as his words have made a deep impression upon my mind, and moved me to believe with him in the truth of this prophet's words, it is proper that you should know me all that he has told me, and which have influenced my feelings and opinions, in order that you may judge of the weight and value at what all I have

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heard is to be estimated; and be assured, dear father, that I am ready to be governed in all things by your wisdom and learning.  Listen, then, with your usual goodness, to the residue of this young man's narration.

"After the prophet had ended his second discourse, and baptized full two hundred more in the sparkling waters of Jordan," resumed the eloquent cousin of Mary, "he sent them away to the city to lodge and buy meat; for few, in their eagerness to hear him, had brought provisions with them.  Many, before leaving him, drew bear to receive his blessing of love, and it was touching to see venerable men, with locks shining like silver, and leaning upon the staff, bend their aged heads before the youthful Elias, as if in acknowledgment of his divine commission.  Mothers also brought their infants, that he might bless them; and youths and maidens knelt reverently at his feet in tears of love and penitence.  Calmly he stood upon the green shores, like an angel alighted upon earth, and blessed them in words all new to our ears, but which thrilled to our hearts with some secret power that agitated us with trembling joy.

"`In the name of the Lamb of God I bless thee!'

"What can be the meaning of these words?" asked Mary, with her gentle earnestness.  Her betrothed could only reply that he knew not.

"At length, one after another, the multitude departed, save a few who encamped beneath trees on the banks of the river.  Joseph of Arimathea and I were left almost alone standing near the prophet, and regarding him with reverential curiosity.  The sun was just disappearing over the distant towers of Jericho, and painting with the richest purple the hills between the river and Jerusalem.

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Jordan, catching its reddening radiance, rolled past like a river of liquid gold embanked in emerald.  The brow of the prophet, lighted up by a sun-ray that shone between the branches of a pomegranate tree, seemed like the face of Moses when he came down from Sinai, a glory of light.  He appeared rapt in heavenly meditation, and we stood silent and gazed upon him, not daring to speak.  At length he turned towards us, smiled, and saluting us, grasped the crook of staff on which he had been leaning, for he was weary and pale with his labors of the day, and slowly walked down the shore in the direction of the wilderness.  He had not advanced many steps when I felt an irresistible impulse to follow him.  I burned to talk with him--to sit at his feet, and ask him questions about the great things I had heard him utter in both of his discourses!  I wished him to explain and unfold what had seemed mysterious, and yet teeming with mighty revelations.  I panted for light--for knowledge.  I yearned to have him open the Scriptures to me, and give me that unlimited understanding of them which he possessed.  I therefore said to my companion:

"`Let us follow him, and learn more of those great things which we have this day heard.'

"Joseph, like myself, being anxious to hold converse with him, at once assented, and we proceeded slowly after him, as he moved in a contemplative mood along the desert path.  The sun had already gone down, and the full moon rose on the opposite shore, and the prophet stopped as if to gaze upon its autumnal beauty.  We drew near to him.  He beheld us, but did not avoid us; seeing which, I advanced with timid confidence, and said:

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"`Holy prophet of the Most High God, wilt thou permit two young men of Israel to speak to thee, for our hearts yearn towards thee with love?'

"`And we would fain keep thee company in the desert, Rabbi,' added Joseph, `for it does not seem well for thee to dwell thus alone.'

"`But chiefly,'said I, `we would inquire of thee teaching the advent of the Mighty Personage whose near running thou dost foretell.'

"`Friends,' said the prophet, in a calm and serene manner, `I am a dweller in the desert, and alone, from choice.  I approach men only to proclaim my message.  The delights of earth are not for me.  My mission is one.  Its duration is short.  Its aim worthy the greatest prophet of God, yet am I, the least of them, not worthy to be called a prophet; and before the splendor of Him whom I announce to the world, I am the dust of the balance.  If thou hast sought me to search after knowledge, come and sit down with me upon this rock, and let me hear what thou hast to ask of me, that I may answer thee and go my way.'

"This was said softly, gently, almost sadly, and in a tone that made me love him more and more.  I could have cast myself upon his bosom and wept there; for I was deeply touched that one should be chosen by Jehovah to become his prophet to earth, and yet show such lowliness of heart and sincere humility.  We seated ourselves, one on either side of him, for he refused to permit us to place ourselves upon the ground at his feet, saying reproachfully, as he did to those whom we had seen kneel to him, `I, also, am a man!'  The scene and the hour were well fitted for such a converse as we were

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about to hold.  The broad disc of the moon poured a flood of orange-tinted radiance full upon us, and lent a hallowed softness to the divine countenacne of the youthful prophet.  The Jordan, dark as India's dye, darted swiftly past at our feet, between its deeply-shaded banks, sending up to our ears the faintest murmur of its pebbly passage.  Above our heads swelled the vaulted arch of the Temple of Jehovah, with its myriad of altar fires.  To our left lay Jericho, just visible, looking like a black mass of castellated rock, unilluminated save by a single watch-fire which burned upon its loftiest tower.  Behind us stretched the desert waste, cheerless and yet grand, in its desolated distances.

"Afar off rose upon the air, and was borne to us at intervals, the voice of a singer in one of the camps; and near us, upon an acacia tree, sat a solitary bulbul, which ceaselessly sang its sweet and varied hymn to the listening moon.

"`All things praise God--shall we be silent?' said the prophet.  `Let us sing the evening hymn of the Temple.'  He then commenced, in a rich, melodious chant, such as I have never heard from the priests, our sacred psalm to the whole creation of God.  We joined our voices with his, and the tide of praise floated over the waters, and echoed and re-echoed from the opposing shores, as if the banks and stream, trees, hills and sky, had found voice as well as we:

Praise! praise! praise ye the Lord!
Praise Him in the heights! Praise Him in the seas!
Praise Him men of Israel! Praise ye the Lord!
For He exalteth high His people,
And reigneth evermore!

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Praise Him all ye angels! Praise Him all ye hosts!
Praise Him sun and moon, and all ye stars of light!
Praise Him fire and hail! Praise Him storm and snows!
For He judgeth the earth in righteousness,
And reigneth evermore!
Praise! praise! praise ye the Lord!
Praise Him winged fowl, and herds, cattle, and all beasts!
Praise Him kings and people, princes, priests, and judges!
Praise Him youths and maidens, old men, and children!
Praise the name, let them praise the name,
Praise the name of the Lord God of Hosts!
For His name alone is excellent,
His glory above the heavens:
Israel is His first-born--a people well beloved'
Praise! let Israel, therefore, praise Him!
Praise Him evermore,
Evermore.
Ever, evermore!'

"Never shall I forget the effect produced upon my inmost being by this hymn, sung at such a time, and in such a place, and in such company.  The prophet sang as if he was leading a choir of angels.  My heart leaped at the chorus, as if it would break our, take wing, and leave the earth!  When we called on the winds and the fowls of the air to praise Jehovah with us, it may be fancy, but the thrilling voice of the bulbul seemed to pour from its throat a wilder, richer, more joyous tide of song, and the audible wind bent the adoring trees, and mingled its mystic whispers with the psalm of men!  Surely, thought I, it is good for me to be here, for this is none other than the gate Paradise!

"After a few moments' silence, the prophet spoke and said:

"`You sought me, brethren of Israel, can I do aught for you?'

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"`We would hear more, great prophet, touching this mighty man, if man he may be termed, who is to come after thee,' said Joseph.

"`I can tell thee but little, my brethren, save what thou hast heard from me this day.  The future is veiled.  I bear a message, indeed, but I may not break the seal and read.  I am but the courier of God to man.  To you it will be given to know what is now unknown to me.  Happy, thrice happy are ye who will behold, face to face, the Divine One whom I can only behold afar off.  If it be permitted me to see Him, it will be but for a brief space, for when He cometh I depart--my errand is done.  Blessed are those who live to witness His glory, and to hear the gracious voice of God that proceeds from His anointed lips.'

"`When will be His advent, and with what form and power cometh this Divine being?' I asked.

"`As a man, but not with comeliness of form that men should desire Him.  His appearance will be humble, lowly, and meek.'

"`Yet you said to0day, Rabbi,' I continued, `that His power should be infinite, and that of His kingdom there should be no end.  You spoke of the glory of His dominions, and the humiliation of Gentile kings beneath His sceptre.'

"`This I cannot explain--it is a mystery to me!  I speak as God, by whom I am sent, gives me utterance.   I know that He who cometh after me is greater than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose!'

"`You taught us this evening, holy prophet, that He would be the Lord from Heaven; and yet that Esaias saith He will be despised and rejected of men, wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities!'

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"`The Spirit of God teaches me that these words apply to Shiloh; but I cannot comprehend how these things can be,' he answered, with deep sadness.

"`May I remind you, good Rabbi,' said Joseph, `that you taught us how that this Divine Personage should die, though Lord of Life, and be numbered in His death with transgressors, though the Holy one of God!'

"`And such will be the events that are ordained to happen; but seek not to know what no man hath had revealed to him.  The Divine Messiah Himself must be his own interpreter.  Blessed will be the eyes that behold Him, and listen to the wisdom of His mouth, and keep the law of His lips!'

"`May I ask you, holy prophet of the Lord,' said Joseph, `how is it that He whom you are sent by God to bear witness to can be the Deliverer of Israel, when you predict for Him so sad a fate?  Messiah is to restore Jerusalem, and the glory of the Temple, and the splendor of its worship, so saith Esaias, so say Ezra and Jeremiah.  He is called a Mighty Prince, a King, the Redeemer of Israel, who shall rule the nations and have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth!  We, therefore, in the Messias of the Prophets, have looked for a powerful potentate, who shall reign in Jerusalem over the whole earth, and subdue all nations, bringing their kings captive at His footstool, and binding their princes with chains:  before whom every knee shall do homage--a Monarch who shall not leave a heathen sandal to tread on the sacred soil of Judea, and who shall establish the worship of Jehovah in every place where now rises a temple of idolatry.'

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"`His kingdom is not of this earth,' answered the prophet, impressively.

"`How then can we interpret the Prophet David, who maketh the Lord to say:  I have sent my King upon my holy hill of Zion?  Also, how shall we interpret those saying of Esaias, who, prophesying of the blessed Christ of God, hath these words:

"`Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth, even forever?'

"`I know not.  These secrets are with God.  I can reveal nothing.  I am but the trumpet through which Jehovah speaks; I know not the words I utter.  This I know, that the least child and lowliest hireling that liveth in the day of Messias is greater than I.  I am the last of the prophets.  I stand on the threshold of that glorious kingdom, the greatness and brightness of which they saw afar off, like some heavenly, indistinct vision.  Nearer than they, I am permitted to catch clearer glimpses of its glory, and it may be vouchsafed to me to see more than I now see; but of this I have no certain revelation.  It is for me to open the last door that leads our form the night of prophecy into the glorious dawn of the day of fulfillment; but I am not permitted to enter beyond the threshold, or share in its blessings.  All who come after me will be preferred before me.  But the will of Jehovah be obeyed!  I am His creature, and to murmur becomes not dust.  Rather let me rejoice that the day-star is about to rise, though His beams shine on all the earth but me'  This was said with the most touching pathos.

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"We were both deeply moved, I myself even to tears, at hearing these words spoken by him.  My heart yearned towards him with the most sacred sympathy.  I sank on my knees, and kissing his hand, bathed it with my tears.

"He gently raised me, and said in a sweet voice:

"`Brother beloved, thou shalt see Him to whom I bear witness, and He will love thee, and thou shalt repose in His bosom!'  At this saying," continued the cousin of Mary, whose voice was tremulous with lively sensibility as he spoke hereof, "I burst into tears; and, rising, I walked a little ways apart, and lifting up my eyes towards heaven I prayed the God of our fathers that I might be found worthy of this blessed honor."

"`And shall I also behold this mighty Son of God?' asked Joseph, with solicitude.

"The prophet took his hand in his, and fixing upon him his eyes of prophetic brightness, said slowly, and in tones awe-inspiring and painfully sorrowful:

"`Thou shalt one day bear him in thine arms, and lay him upon a couch which thou hast prepared for thine own repose.  Thou knowest not now what I say, but thou shalt remember it when it cometh to pass!'

"When he had thus spoken, he rose, and waving his hand to us both, he walked rapidly away towards the desert, and was soon lost to the eye in the obscurity of the darkness which hung over it.

"`Didst thou hear him?' at length, after some minutes' pause, asked Joseph of me.  `What can his words mean?  They are prophetic of some fearful event.  His eyes betrayed some terrible meaning.  My heart is troubled.'

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"`And mine rejoiceth,' I answered.  `We shall see Him!  I shall be near Him!  Oh, if He be like thus sweet prophet of God, I shall love Him with all my soul's being.  How wonderful that we are to be thus associated with this Divine Person!  Welcome the hour of His blessed advent!'

"`Wilt thou welcome the advent of a sufferer?' said a voice so near that it startled us by its abruptness, and, looking round, we saw, standing within the shadow of a wild olive tree, a young man who was a stranger, but to whom I afterwards became deeply attached.  His face was pale and intellectual, and his form slight, but of the most symmetrical elegance.  His question at once made me sorrowful, for it recalled the sad prophecies of Esaias.

"`He is also to be King and Monarch of the world, and infinitely holy and good,' I said.  `If thou hast been near, thou hast heard the glorious things the prophet has spoken of Him.'

"`I have been near--I was reclining beneath this tree, when you seated yourselves there.  Be not deceived.  The Divine Man who is to come is to be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.  He is to be rejected by Israel, and despised by Judah.  Those whom He comes to bless will despise Him for His lowliness and obscurity.  His life will be a life of tears, and toil, and heaviness of heart, and He will at last be cut off from among the living, with the ignominy due only to a transgressor.  Dost thou welcome the advent of a sufferer?'

"`But how knowest thou this?  Art thou a prophet?' I asked with surprise and admiration.

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"'No, brother, but I have read the Prophets.  I heard, moreover, the words of this holy man, sent from God, and he dwells more on the humility of the Christ that on His kingly grandeur.  Believe me, the kingdom of Shiloh is not of this world.  It cannot be of this world, if such is to be His life and death; and that it is to be His life, Esaias clearly states.  let me read to you his words.'  He then took a roll of parchment from his bosom, and read by the clear tropical moonlight, that mysterious nd inexplicable passage which beginneth with the words: `Who hath believed our report?'  When he had ended, and perceived the assenting impression he had made upon our minds, he resumed: `This is not the history of a prosperous earthly monarch, but rather the painful record of a life of humiliation, of shame, and of contempt.'

"`But thou dost not say, brother,' said Joseph, with some warmth, `that the sacred person borne witness to by this prophet if to be an object of contempt?'

"`Does not Esaias say that he will be despised, beaten with stripes, rejected of men, imprisoned, and put to death like a transgressor of the law?'

"`This prophet of Jordan now bears full testimony to Esaias, and plainly maketh application of his words to Him whom he has come beforehand to proclaim,' answered the young man, with singularly graceful eloquence in all he said.  `Let us who have been baptized this day for the remission of our sins, expect a Messiah of sorrows, not a conquering prince.  Let us behold one who is humble Himself beneath the yoke of human

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infirmities, that He may be exalted and draw all men after Him to a kingdom in the heavens.'

"`But the throne of David'--objected Joseph--

"`Is at the right hand of God.'

"`But Jerusalem, and its rule over the nations--'

"`Jerusalem that is above, will be over all.'

"`But His kingdom that is to be everlasting--'

"`Is where life is everlasting.  How can He rule an everlasting realm here on earth, without living forever, and his subjects also?  Read not the Prophets so.  As Adam fell and lost Paradise, so Messias, like a second Adam, must, as man, humble Himself in human nature, to atone for our guilt; and having made full atonement for us by His life and His death, He will repurchase the kingdom of Paradise for the race of man; but He restores it to us not on earth, but translated on high, where the angels still guard it in the kingdom of God.  It is this kingdom which this prophet proclaims as being at hand, and the path to which our leader and king can only tread through the mire of Adam's sin, which spreads through this world; but without taint of sin upon His robes.  he being the bearer of our iniquities, we shall thereby escape their chastisement.  Healed by His stripes, we shall be free from th penalty which our sins demand.  Laid upon Him will be the transgressions of the world; and by one mighty sacrifice of Himself, thus laden, as a sin-offering, He shall make atonement for the great family of Adam, and restore our race to reconciliation with Jehovah.  Such is to be our looked for Messiah.  Alas, while we look for Him, let us mingle tears with our gladness, and humble ourselves, that one so holy and excellent should be destined to endure these

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things for our sakes; and when we behold Him, let us sink at His feet in grateful adoration of His love and charity, of His mercy and goodness, of His noble self-denial and voluntary upgiving of Himself as a sacrifice for us; for there could be no higher or more valuable victim than Him in the Universe of God, therefore He hath offered Himself, according to the words of the prophet recording His offer, `Lo, I come to do thy will, O God!'

"When the young man had spoken, he walked away.  Impelled by an unconquerable impulse, I followed, and took him in my arms, and embracing him, said: `Of a truth thou art a prophet!  The words come home to my heart like the echo of ancient prophecy.'

"`Nay.  I have learned these things from the study of the Scripture,' he said, with angelic candor and modesty.  `But I have been aided, how much I have no words to tell thee, by one who hath wisdom and truth abiding in him above all men, and whom it is my happiness to have my bosom friend, as he is near my own age.  If I am wise, or virtuous, or good, or know the Scriptures, it is that he hath been my counsellor and teacher.'

"`What is his name?' I asked, `for I also would go and learn of him.'

"`He withdraws from the public eye, and hath little converse but with few, and shuns all notice.  Without his permission I could not take thee to him.  Yet I will ask him, if you desire it.'

"`What is his appearance, and where doth he dwell?' I inquired, more deeply interested.

"` He abides at present at Bethany, my own city

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He is so beloved by us, that we detain him as our guest.  But he dwelleth at other times with his mother, a holy widow of great

sanctity and matronly dignity, living at Nazareth in humble conditions, and he contributes by labor to her support, with the most exemplary filial piety; thus setting an example to the young men of Judah, who in this age make a mock at parental restraint, and under the evil practices which the free license of the wicked custom of Corban giveth, neglect them, and no more do aught for their father or mother.  Indeed, no person ever approaches and speaks with him, without leaving him a wiser and better ,am.'

"`Verily,' said both Joseph and I together, `you have only increased our desire to behold him.  His appearance must be noble.'

"`He possesseth neither beauty of form nor comeliness to strike the eye; but there sits upon his brow a serene dignity, tempered with mildness that commands the respect of age, and wins the confiding love of childhood.  His eyes beam with a light, calm and pure, as if shining from interior holy thoughts, and they rest upon you, when he speaks, with a tenderness that is like the dewy light of the young mother's gaze, when she bends in silent happiness and tears over the face of her firstborn.  He never smiles, or rather his face is one soft sunshine of smiling rays, tempered in an indescribable manner with a settled look of sadness, an almost imperceptible shade of permanent sorrow, that seems to foreshadow a life of trial and suffering.  When he reads from the Prophets, and unfolds to us with wisdom that can regard only as given him from heaven, the great truths that relate to the long-looked-for, and, as we now

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believe, the near-present Messiah, he seems to speak by inspiration, yet without emotion, but calmly and naturally, in a low-toned voice, that is never lifted up at any time, nor ever heard in the streets.'

"`He must be another prophet,' said Joseph, with deep earnestness.

"`He does not prophesy, nor preach,' answered the young man.

"`What is his name?' I asked.

"`Jesus, the Nazarene!'

"We both promised to remember this name; and as our way to Jerusalem lay through Bethany, we wished much to call and see him; but this step the young man mildly objected to, until, he having made known our wishes to him, he then might, if he desired to see us, send into Jerusalem for us to go to Bethany.

"As the young man was then about to move away, I asked him his name, as he had greatly drawn our my heart towards him, and I felt that if I could be his friend, and the friend of the wise young man of Nazareth, who sojourned with him, I should be perfectly happy, and have no other desire--save, indeed, to live till the Messiah came, that I might behold Him, and lay my head upon His sacred bosom.

"`My name is Lazarus, the Scribe,' he answered, as he took his leave."

"What," interrupted Mary, when her cousin had spoken this name, "then I know him well.  It is the brother of Mary and Martha, both my friends at Bethany, where I passed a week last year, just before the Passover."

"I am glad to hear that," said John, "for this will

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be a closer bond of friendship between us.  The next day we renewed our acquaintance, and after three days departed together homeward.  Upon arriving at Bethany Lazarus learned that his friend had gone to Cana, in Galilee, on a visit with his mother, to the house of one of her kinsfolk, whose daughter is in a few weeks to be married."

Having now, my dear father, communicated to you all that John related to us, you will see what grounds there are to look upon the prophet of Jordan as a man sent from God, or to believe that he is the true Elias, whom Malachi hath foretold, and who, as the most learned of the Scribes say, must first come to proclaim the approach of the Prince of Peace, the Shiloh of Israel's hopes.  My emotions, my ideas, my opinions, at present, are conflicting and full of indecision.  On one hand, I am ready to become one of John of Jordan's disciples, and be baptized of him. looking with faith unto Him who is to come after.  On the other hand, I tremble lest all should be a delusion, for it does not seem possible that it is my lot to live in that blessed age when Messiah cometh, a period towards which all the patriarchs and prophets have looked, desiring to see His day, but died without possessing the promise, beholding it only afar off.  The infinite greatness of this privilege is all that causes me to doubt.  Instruct me, dear father; open to me the treasures of your wisdom!  Thou art read in the Prophets.  Doth the youthful prophet of the wilderness truly use their predictions in their applications to Messias?  Is it that the intellectual Lazarus truly drew the sad portraiture of His dark career on earth?  How are the opposing prophecies to be recon-

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ciled in another manner than the young man of Bethany has unfolded them?  Explain to me one other interpretation, dear father, how He can be both king and a prisoner!  Lord of life, yet sufferer of death!  With a kingdom boundless as the world, yet despised and contemned of men!

The account brought by John has set Rabbi Amos to studying the Prophets, and indeed all men are looking into them with interest unknown before; for the multitudes that go away from the new prophet noise his predictions abroad, throughout all the land.  May God be indeed about to bless His people, and remember His inheritance!

Adina.

LETTER VI.

My Dear Father:

Health and peace to thee, and all my friends honored and beloved in Alexandria!  I have again seen the excellent Ben Israel, with whom, four months ago, I came from Egypt, to sojourn to Jerusalem.  He not only delivered to me your letters, with the acceptable gifts you kindly sent by him, but also assured me of your welfare in all things.  He is at present absent at Damascus, whither he went soon after his arrival here, in order to buy the celebrated Syrian blades of that city, which he takes down to Egypt at great profit, with other merchandise.  He assures me that he is gaining much wealth by his caravans of commerce, at which I rejoice, for he is an amiable and worthy man.  His

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entreaties that I would return to Alexandria with him, would nearly have overcome my resolutions of remaining here, but for the commands you have laid upon me to avail myself of the peculiar privileges which Jerusalem affords for improving the mind; and were it not, I am deeply interested in the issue of the great expectation of Israel.  Your letter, dear father, commands me to banish this "novelty" from my mind, and continue humbly to worship Jehovah after the manner of our fathers.  I trust this I shall ever do, my dear father; and did I discover in this prophet any disposition to bring in a new faith, opposed to the ancient faith of Abraham, I should tremble to entertain if for a moment.  You say that this man must be "a false and base prophet" or he would not herald a master so low and despised as he professes will be the Christ he bears witness to. "There have been many false Christs and false prophets, my child," you add, "and Israel has run after them, as they now run after this John of Jordan, and the result has been, that they have either perished in the wilderness of been cut to pieces, with their deceiver, by the jealousy of the Roman Governors, who looked upon such assemblies as seditious.  Hold fast, my child, to the religion of our fathers, and be not carried away, as I fear you are in danger of being, by this wild preacher of repentance.  The kingdom of Messias is not a kingdom of repentance and of humiliation, but one of victory, of glory, of dominion.  Touching those prophecies of humility and abasement, which this prophet of Jordan applies to Messias, they have no application to our expected Shiloh and Prince.  They either apply to some lesser prophet, who will be the forerunner of the true

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Christ (for that he will have a forerunner the Scriptures speak too plainly for doubting), or, as some say and believe, especially do the Pharisees, there are to be two Messias--one who shall come in humiliation and suffering to the Gentiles, as an atonement for the expiation of their sins, and one to come to us in regal power, and in circumstances of glory and splendor, such as no potentate hath ever manifested, and who shall make Jerusalem the metropolis of the globe, and the kings of the earth tributary to his feet.  Such is our MESSIAS, whom the Lord of Hosts send us speedily, to lift Judah from the dust of her humiliation!  If the humble person this prophet of the desert heralds be a Messias, he is one of the Gentiles, only, whose great iniquities need the self-immolation and humiliation of one to come from God, in atonement therefor; but he is not a Messiah to Israel, nor the mighty Prince who shall sit in David's seat on the throne of Zion.  Therefore, my child, you as a daughter of Israel have no interest in this novelty that cometh our of the wilderness, and after which half the land hath foolishly run mad.  Wait, be patient! the day of Israel's glory shall truly arise and shine, and all nations shall see it and rejoice.  Think no more of what thy cousin hath told thee.  When Messias cometh He will be heralded by a more glorious and eminent person than a young man of thirty, clothed in skins, and for food eating locusts and wild honey, whose origin and authority no man knoweth.  Believing that your good sense and sound judgment, my Adina, will at once lead you to adopt my views, I shall not urge them further, as if I seriously feared your defection from the house of your fathers, an event which would bring my gray hairs

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down  with sorrow to the grave.  It is my belief that this prophet preaches only himself, and, under the mysterious and deceitful notions of another to come after him, is but gathering an expectant multitude around him to wield them as instruments, for his own ambitions ends; and, by the time you write me again, I expect to learn from you that he openly proclaims himself THE Christ, after all; or that he, with all who are led by him, will be destroyed by the swords of the Roman legions."

How can I write to you, my dear father, that which is now rushing to my pen, after such an expression of your sentiments as you have made in the extract from your letter?  But I know you are wise, and will not evade truth, in whatever form it may offer itself to you, and I therefore, with confidence in your justice and wisdom, will faithfully make known to you the events relating to the prophet which have transpired, and may take place in Judea during my abode here.  Hear me always with candor, and judge without partiality; for this is, without doubt, a day of wonderful revelations.  I fancy that I can now see your brow darken, and that you say, "enough of this.  Are we to have more of this new prophet?"  Yes, my dear father, more still, and more extraordinary circumstances I am about to relate than I have yet written, for some of the very priests of the Temple have become believers in the youthful Seer.

You will remember how that John, Mary's cousin, stated that many priests and others were offended at the plain preaching of the prophet whom they went out into the wilderness to see.  When they returned to Jerusalem, and made it known to the other members of the House of Priests what had been spoken against

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them, by the application to them of the words of Esaias and Jeremias, and other Prophets, there arose at once a great outcry against him.  Many of the Levites even forgot their duties in the Temple, in holding discourse with the Scribes and Pharisees, and others, in the streets, in the arches of the gates, and in the market-places, touching this new prophet, and his bold denunciations of them; being so much the more grieved at them because they were, alas! but too well merited by the looseness of their lives.  At length Annas, who is High Priest with Caiaphas, sent two of the most learned men of the Temple, Levites of weight of character, to invite the prophet to Jerusalem; for Annas is a wise man, and not easily carried away by popular feeling; and, as Rabbi Amos hath told me, he is disposed to look upon the preaching of John, for such is his name, with a serious and reverential eye.  The messengers returned after the fifth day, and made their report openly in the Court of the Temple, where the High Priests sat to receive them, expecting to behold a prophet in their company.  At length, the assembly being convened, the two learned and venerable Levites both rose up, and declared that they had delivered the message to John, the son of Zacharias, the prophet of Jordan, and that his answer was given with the reverence due to the station of the High Priest who had sent to him:

"Go and say to the noble High Priest," said he, "that I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, as it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the Prophet, who, foreseeing my day, saith, `The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of he Lord, make his paths straight.'  All flesh will soon behold the

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salvation of God.  My errand is neither to city nor temple, nor into any house of Israel will I enter.  He who would hear my testimony to Him who is to come after me, let him seek me in the wilderness, whence only I am commanded to lift up my voice till Shiloh will come."

When the priests heard this answer they were greatly enraged, and many fiercely cried one thing and many another; some that he should be sought out and stoned to death for defying the High Priest (which he did not do, dear father, as it was for him to obey God rather than man); others, that he should be accused to the Procurator, Pontius Pilate, Governor of Judea, as a seditious and dangerous person, and fomenter of insurrections.  Caiaphas was of the latter opinion, and wrote, from his tribunal, and epistle to the Roman ruler, making accusation hereof against the prophet of the desert, and recommending him to secure his person, lest further mischief should come of it; adding, that Tiberius Caesar, hearing of the matter, would conceive it to be a movement of the whole Jewish nation, desirous of casting off the Roman rule, under a new chief, and thus bring down an army upon the land, utterly to destroy it.  But the milder Annas viewed the whole matter in a different light, and said:

"Men and brethren--let nothing be done hastily.  If this man be a false prophet, he will soon perish, and we shall hear no more of him.  If, peradventure, as it would appear, he is sent from God, let us not make haste to do him a mischief, lest, happily, we be found contending against the Lord of Hosts."

This moderation found favor with but few, but of these few, Rabbi Amos was one.  But if the priests

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who thronged the outer court, in presence of the High Priest, were deeply moved at the report of the prophet's answer, their excitement became well nigh uncontrollable when both Melchi and Heli, their messengers, rose up, waving their hands for silence, and declared, that, after having listened to the prophet to whom they had been sent, they were convinced of the truth of his words, and of his divine commission, and had been baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins!

Only the sanctity of the Temple prevented the five hundred priests rushing upon them, and smiting them when they heard this.  They were at once placed under arrest by order of the High Priest, Caiaphas, for acting in a manner unbecoming a priest of the Most High God:  "For," he said, "this is to degrade the Temple to the feet of a wandering impostor, and is an open acknowledgment that virtue hath left the worship of Zion, and must be sought for in the deserts of Jordan.  Which," he called aloud, "which, men of Israel, is the greatest, the altar of the Lord, or the waters of Jordan?--the Priest of the Most High, or he of the wilderness?  Away with these recreant blasphemers, to be tried and adjudged according to our sacred laws."  The people who had heard John preach, hereupon were only prevented from rescuing the two priests by the presence of a guard of Roman soldiers, for which Caiaphas promptly sent.

From this account, my dear father, you can form some idea of the excitement which the preaching of this new prophet is producing among all classes.  The poorer sort of people are his advocates, and all the rich and the rulers, the priests and great men of the nation, oppose him, save a few among the best and wisest.  Of these

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few is Rabbi Amos, who is engaged all the time he is not on duty in the Temple, in searching the Scripture, to see if these things are so; and at every prophecy he reads he is more and more convinced that the day of Messias is at hand, and that this prophet is, without doubt, he who was to be sent from God in the "spirit and power of Elias," to prepare the way before Him.  Every evening there are assembled at our house from twelve to eighteen of the chief men of the Jews, who often pass half the night in warm discussion upon these great things; those among them who have heard John, being disposed to give him the high rank he claims, as forerunner of Shiloh.  Among these is Stephen, a man whose father was High Priest, and who is himself a lawyer and student of no mean repute.  He has not yet heard John the prophet, but he openly said last night that, after the most careful examination of all the Prophets, he was firmly of the opinion that the day of the fulfillment of their prophecies was close at hand; and that, for his part, he was willing to hail the prophet of Jordan as the true herald of Messias.  Hereupon, two-thirds of the company said the same thing, but the others doubted, and cautioned the rest not to be too rash; that it was time enough to believe in Messias when He Himself should come in His own person.

Such, my dear father, is the present condition of the mind of the people of Jerusalem.  If the Prince of Glory should, indeed, suddenly appear, there could be scarcely more excitement, though it would be of a different nature.  There is something sublime to see a young man, who dwelleth alone in the wilderness, poor and unknown, thus moving the great heart of the nation:

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surely his power must be divinely derived.  You ask me, and so is the question constantly put by the Scribes, and the Pharisees, and priests, to the disciples of John:  "Does he perform miracles?  Show me a miracle and I will believe in Him; for this is the only test of a true prophet's Divine commission."  No, dear father, he has performed no miracle, unless it be one continuous miracle, whereby he keeps in the wilderness a multitude, daily enlarged, from the outpouring gates of almost every city in Judah, listening to his words, and bowing their heads to the sacred waters of his penitential baptism.

As next week Rabbi Amos does not serve in his course in the Temple, and as he will have some affairs that take him to Gilgal, where he has three fields now ripe for the sickle, he had yielded to the desire of his daughter Mary and myself to accompany him; for he does not conceal from us that he shall make it a point to visit and hear the prophet, as it will be but two hours travel from Gilgal to the place where he preaches.  You will, I fear me, object to this journey.  But if the worship of our fathers has nothing to fear from falsehood, it surely has nought to fear from truth; and in either case, I, as a true daughter of Israel, have nothing to fear.  If the prophet teach what is false, I shall remain true; and if he teach what is true, shall I not be the gainer?  I hear you say this is but feeble and womanly argumentation.  But as you have given me the credit of, more than once, declaring it to be your belief that I am old and wise enough to judge for myself in most matters, I beg you will suffer me to hear the prophet with my own ears, in order that I may decide whether I ought to give heed to

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his predictions, or reject them as the visions of a dreamer.  One thing is clear--if the Christ that John prophecies be the true Son of the Highest, and is in reality to make his appearance ere long, in humiliation and poverty, his rejection by the High Priests, and by the rich and powerful Judah, is certain.  May God, then, remove blindness from our eyes, that, if this be the very Messias indeed, Israel may recognize their king when He cometh, and not do so fearful a thing in their pride as to reject Him openly!  In this case, who will stand between God and our ill-fated race?  Therefore, my dear father, it behooves every man in Israel to examine this matter with a sober and humble mind, and move with caution in opposition to what may prove the dearest hopes of our people.  When I shall have returned from the desert, whither we are to travel with litters and mules, I will write you all that I have heard.

You will remember the young Roman Centurion, to whose courtesy I was indebted in rescuing me from the rudeness of the two Gentile soldiers.  He has preserved, since then, acquaintances with Rabbi Amos, who speaks of him with respect; and as he has of late expressed some interest in knowing what the studies are which occupy the Rabbi so constantly when he calls to see him, which he has done frequently, a copy of the Prophets was placed in his hands; but as he professed he was not learned enough to read Hebrew, the good Rabbi, who believed he saw in him a hopeful convert to the faith of Judah, called in Mary to read and interpret to him.  But her knowledge of the Roman tongue did not prove sufficient; and at her request, the Rabbi sent for me, to come into the marble hall of the corridor, where they sat by

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the fountain under the shade of the acacia, which Amos says you took with your own hands from Isaiah's grave, and planted here, many years ago, and which I therefore call "my father's tree."

"Come hither, Adina," said my uncle, in his benevolent tones; "here you behold a noble Roman youth whom you must be too generous to have forgotten."  I bowed, and scarcely lifted my eyelids from the tesselated floor; for there was a fire in the glance of the handsome youth that they could not encounter.  He said some words of salutation; but I only heard the voice, which fell upon my heart with a strange vibration, like the effects of music.  Surely these barbarians of Italia have the richest language of all men; compared with it, our Hebrew is harsh and strangely guttural.  "The Roman Centurion," continued Amos, "hath desired to know something of the sacred books of our nation, of which he saith he hath heard much; and of the prophecies, from which he believes the famed Sibylline books were composed."

"I have studied the sacred books of Eturia, of Gaul, and those of the Goths and the Druids, of Egypt, and of Persia, as well as of my own people," said the Centurion, modestly, "but in all these I find rites and ceremonies, doctrines, and laws, that are unworthy to emanate from the supreme Jove of so vast a universe.  We, Romans, in the multiplicity of our gods, in deifying everything, in reality deify nothing!  Everything we call god, but we realize God nowhere."

"Then thou hast well directed thy inquiries touching this book," answered Amos, with warmth, and looking on the Roman with respectful compassion.  "Here is to be

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found the true and only revelation of Jehovah to men.  Here is developed a divine character, worthy of the Creator of the universe.  Here are laid down laws and ceremonies, rites and doctrines, commands and precepts, that are worthy to emanate from the Father and god of all men.  Thou shalt hear and judge for thyself.  I am but imperfectly skilled in the Roman tongue, save for daily intercourse; but here is an Egyptian maiden, who can interpret for thee in the idiom of Grecia, or of Italia, and I will place the sacred scroll in her hands while I listen.  Come, Adina, open and read the beginning of the Book of Moses."

I obeyed, as I would have obeyed you, dear father; and, seated at the feet of Amos, I read and translated aloud into Greek, which the Roman youth had said was even more familiar to him that his native tongue, (as it is to all educated persons in the world,) the first five hundred lines.  These, as you know, give an account of the creation of the world, and of man, of his defection, and his expulsion from Paradise; of the promise of Messias to restore what he had lost; of the curse denounced upon the creation, and the slaying of the patriarch Abel, with the  peopling of the earth, its wickedness, and destruction by the flood.

To all this narrative the youthful warrior listened with the profoundest respect and attention; and when he had thanked me, and asked permission to come and be further taught from the pages which he said seemed, indeed, to be written with the finger of the Supreme Lord of the universe, he asked if the Messias had yet come who was to restore all things; and if not, when was he to be looked for?  This inquiry led to a conversation upon

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the preaching of John in the wilderness, and his predictions of the near advent of Shiloh.  Rabbi Amos, seeing that he was becoming deeply interested in the subject, made me turn to the particular prophecies of Daniel, Esaias, David, and others, and read them to him; both those which described, in golden words, the glory and dominion of his power, and those which represented him as despised and rejected.  After I had read all which the Rabbi directed me to read, the young man remained some time very thoughtful.  At length he said, with animation:  "I can now comprehend why men run into the wilderness.  I should like to hear this prophet."

When Amos told him that he contemplated journeying to Gilgal the next week, and intended to visit the desert to hear him, he at once asked permission to be of his company; but when I remarked that Mary and I were also to go, his dark eyes beamed with pleasure, and he immediately said:

"I will accompany you with a squadron of horse, as the roads are not safe; for no longer than yesterday, we received rumor that the celebrated robber chief, Barabbas, at the head of a large band, has made his appearance again on the hills between Epharim and Jericho, and robbed not only two caravans, but many of those who were traveling to hear this prophet.  I will make and expedition against him, after seeing you safely in Jericho."

When we heard of this robber we were not a little disposed to decline our journey; but Rabbi Amos thanked him, and said he would gladly accept his escort, "inasmuch," he added, smiling, "as I know you Roman

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knights here in garrison have but little to employ your time, and would esteem it a privilege to have an excursion of this kind.  Moreover, you say you must go against this bandit; so we do not so much draw on your courtesy as take shelter under your duty."

It is therefore decided, dear father, that we leave early next week for Jericho and Gilgal, and go also into the wilderness to see and hear the prophet.  On my return, I shall not fail to write you without delay.  Till then withhold your judgment, and have confidence in mine.  With holy aspirations for the coming of the kingdom of David, and the restoration of his throne in Zion, I remain with filial love, your daughter,

Adina.

LETTER VII.

My Dear Father:

My trembling fingers scarcely hold the light reed with which I am about to write you concerning the extraordinary things I have seen and heard; but they tremble only with joy.  Oh, my father, my dear, dear father, Messias HAS COME!  I have seen Him!  I have heard His voice!  He has truly come!  Oh, joy, joy!  My eyes have beheld Him of whom Moses and the Prophets did write!  But let me not anticipate.  In order that you may believe as I believe, though you have seen Him not, I will give to you an account of those events which have happened since my last letter was sent to you.  I will try to write free from emotion, and keep my bounding heart still, and my hand calm, while I set in order

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all that has taken place, that your understanding may judge of them with that candor and wisdom which makes men see in you the wisest Israelite in the land of Egypt.

You will recollect that in my last epistle, which went by the Cairo caravan, I mentioned that Rabbi Amos, taking advantage of the recess in his duties at the Temple, the course of the venerable Elihud being now waiting upon the altar, made up his mind to pay his annual visit to the wheat fields which he has in charge, near Jericho, and which, as you know, are not his own lands, but are in trust to him for the heirs of the brave soldier, Manassch, of the tribe of Benjamin, who was slain in trying to rescue Jericho from the Romans.  Rabbi Amos, also, felt no little curiosity to hear John of Jordan, as he is called, whose fame has spread far and wide.  At the request of Mary and myself, he consented that we should accompany him.  John, the young man who is betrothed to my cousin, having gone to the sea of Galilee to see about certain ships which were there in charge of his brother James and his father, was to meet us at Gilgal, and accompany us to Jordan; for he thinks and speaks of nothing now but the prophet of the wilderness, from whom he feels that he suffers great loss to be absent even for a day.

The road from Jerusalem to Jericho had become recently unsafe, on account of the boldness of an insurrectionary chief called Barabbas, who a year ago made insurrection against the Romans, but was defeated, and his band dispersed into the mountains south of the sea of Sodom; but at last, driven to famine, he has taken to robbing caravans; and since the number of travelers

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has increased so much between Jerusalem and Jordan, to hear John preach, and be baptized of him, he has fallen upon large parties of them, and taken from them all their goods and money.  On this account Rabbi Amos accepted the courteous offer of the escort of the young Centurion, who had been ordered by the Procurator, Pontius Pilate, to keep the road open between Jerusalem and Jericho; for even the Roman couriers have been stopped by this fearless robber, and some of them slain by him.  The pride of Rabbi Amos shrunk from this dependence upon a Roman arm, in making a peaceful journey through his own land; but there is alas! dear father, no one now among the seed of Abraham to assert our natural rights.  We can only bow our heads to the yoke the Lord God has placed upon our necks.

It was faint dawn when we rose from our couches to prepare for the journey.  The mules upon which we were to ride were brought into the court by the two swarthy Gibeonite serfs, whom Rabbi Amos holds in his service, and caparisoned with rich saddles covered with Persian saddle-cloths, embroidered with gold.  The two pack mules were also made ready, on one of which was the traveling equipage of my cousin Mary and myself, which Rabbi Amos smilingly said took up more space than the goods and traveling wares of a Damascus merchant.  At sunrise, after we had kneeled upon the housetop, in view of the Temple, and sent up our prayers with its sacrifices and clouds of ascending incense, we descended to the court-yard to mount for the road.  There was a stout mule for good Rabbi Amos, though the Centurion sent him a handsome Persian horse to ride; but

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my uncle said that he had never trusted himself on so uncertain an animal as a horse in his youth, and he thought he should scarcely adventure such a fear in his old age; so he preferred his mule.

Having got ourselves seated upon our cushioned saddles, and our veils ready to draw over our faces, we expected each moment the arrival of the Centurion and his cohort of horse; but a Numidian slave came running, and bowing to the ground before Rabbi Amos, said that the Centurion would meet us at the corner of the two ways, beyond the walls, near Bethany.  Whereupon we all mounted, and took our way towards the East Gate, which Pilate has recently repaired, and named the Porta Caesar.  We were five persons in all--Rabbi Amos, my cousin Mary and myself, and the two Gibeonites--both of whom were young men, whose fathers for many centuries had been servants in the family of Amos, even from the time of Joshua, when this people deceived him by their craftiness, and were doomed to perpetual servitude.  I am much struck with the appearance of this singular race of men.  They have very dark faces, eagle-beaked noses, flashing black eyes, and slender, lithe forms.  They look cunning and treacherous, but seem to be cowardly, and easily controlled by firmness.  They are incapable of any attachments, and gratitude seems to be thrown away upon them.  I heard a singular tradition about them from one of the Levites who often visits Rabbi Amos, which is, that they are descended from the servants of Noah, which were saved with him in the ark, but who, as being of an inferior rank, were not included in the record of Noah's family.  But doubtless you have heard the same idle tradition.

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The morning was bright and cheerful, with the golden sun pouring its light over temple and tower, castle and roof, wall and rampart, hill and grove, valley and brook, one and all of which were lighted up with the glory of his morning beams,  As we turned the street leading to the Sheep Gate, we passed the house of Caiaphas, the High Priest, whom I saw standing upon the marble porch of his superb palace.  He was not arrayed in his sumptuous robes, with the breast-plate of dazzling stones, and kingly cap, as I had seen him in the Temple, but was dressed in a flowing black robe, over which was thrown a scarf of white linen; and upon his snow-white locks he wore a scarlet hood, a dress common to all the priests, so that if I had not recognized him by his tall and commanding form, and flowing white hair, and piercing eye, as he surveyed us, I should not have known that it was a High Priest.  He spoke to Rabbi Amos, who did him reverence, and lowly did I bend my own head before the majesty of the representative of God on earth.

A little further on we met a party coming from the country beyond Kedron, with large cages upon their mules, laden with turtle doves and young pigeons, which they were carrying to the Temple, to be sold there for sacrifices.  My heart pitied the innocent things, whose blue, pretty heads were thrust by the dozen through the rough bars of their prison-houses, as they cast their soft eyes up at me, as if asking me to deliver them from their bondage.  And when I reflected that they were to offer up their innocent lives for the sins of the men and women of Israel, my cheek burned with the blush of shame, that we were so guilty before the Lord God, that

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the innocent must die for us.  As Mary was riding behind me, in order to let the laden mules pass with their immense cages, one of the turtle-doves, affrighted by the noise of the streets, extricated itself from between the bars, and, spreading its wings, flew into the air, and then taking its flight for the country, soared far above the city walls, and the lofty summit of the octagonal tower of Psephinos, and disappeared in the distance.  I felt rejoiced at the innocent bird's escape, and sent my good wishes for its safe return to its lodge in the wilderness.  Just before we reached the Sheep Gate, by which we were to gain the Jericho road, we met a poor blind man leading a lamb, or rather being led by a tame lamb.  He also had two pigeons in his bosom.  He was asked by Rabbi Amos, who knew him, whither he was going.  He answered, that he was going to the Temple to sacrifice them.  "Nay," said Amos, with surprise, "thou wilt not sacrifice thy lamb, Bartimeus!"

"I have promised them to God, Rabbi Amos, and I may not break my promise without sin."

"But thy lamb leadeth thee everywhere.  It is eyes to thee.  Thou canst not do without it."

"God will provide me another lamb," he answered, his face beaming with hope.

"But thy doves?  Thou earnest by them many a mite in a day, they are so well taught in cunning and pleasant tricks to please children.  If thou must sacrifice according to thy vow, spare these so needful to thee, and here is money to buy doves and another lamb," answered my benevolent uncle.

"Hear what I have to say," answered Bartimeus.  "My father became sick, and was likely to die, and I

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vowed a vow to God that if he would heal the old man, my father, I would sacrifice unto him one of my doves.  The next day my mother, who has nourished my childhood, and loved me, though I was born blind, with all her heart, was also taken sick.  I then vowed my other pigeon.  The same night my little daughter, my little blind daughter, whose face I never saw, and who never saw her father's face, was sick nigh unto death.  Then it was that I vowed all that remained to me, even the lamb of my bosom, whom I love next to my child!  My father, my mother, my child are restored, and in my joy I am on my way to the Temple to offer these gifts of God to Him.  It will be hard, sir, but shall I not perform my vow?  It will be hard to part with them, I shall miss them so much; but God will not let blind Bartimeus suffer, since He will see that he offereth, in offering his two little doves and his lamb, all that he hath."

With these words he moved on, the lamb obeying the string which he held, softly moving on before; while I could see the sightless eyes of the righteous son and pious father trickle tears, as he kissed, and kissed again the precious doves that lay in his bosom.  This little occurrence made me sad; yet I honored the resolute piety of this poor man, whose eyes, though they saw not men, seemed to see God, and feel his presence.  There is still humble piety in the land, my dear father, and finding it not among the proud and splendid priests, we must look for it in the hearts of the poor and humble, like Bartimeus.

Upon reaching the gate we were not detained by the Roman captain, who kept others, examining their pass-

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ports, and taking gate-money from those who were without them; for though foot passengers may pass in and our free, yet from those who ride horses or mules is exacted money, unless they have passes signed by the Procurator.  But the captain of the gate no sooner saw us than he, with great civility, made us pass through the gate in advance of others who were ready to go through, saying that the young Centurion, whose name, I think, I have not told you is AEmilius, had given him orders not to detain us.  The stern, iron-cased Roman soldiers that stood about the gate, struck me as having just the aspect and forms of men who could conquer the world.  When I reflected that there was not a city on the earth, at whose gates did not stand just such men as these, armed, and clad, and bearded like them, I could not but respect the universal power of the Roman empire, while I feared it.

Once outside of the gates, the air blew fresh from the hills of olives, laden with fragrance.  After being so long confined within the walls and narrow streets, it seemed to me that I had just broken out of my cage, like the pretty blue-headed turtle dove, and I felt like winging my way too to the free deserts, if wings of a dove so ardently longed for by King David, could only have been given me.  On our right, not far from the gate, Rabbi Amos pointed out to me the pool of Bethesda, and turning my eyes towards it, I beheld a most touching spectacle.  All the five porches were filled with sick and impotent folk, the lame, halt, blind, and withered, waiting, as my uncle told us, for the moving of the waters; for, at certain seasons, he said that God sends an angel down into the pool to trouble the water,

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when, whosoever steps in first, is made whole of whatsoever disease he may have.  I could not but stop my mule to regard so remarkable a sight as this congregation of miserable people, of whom there must have been no less than four hundred; some leaning, pale and haggard, against the columns; some creeping about it helplessness, like brutes trying to get nigher the pool, from which the stronger thrust them back; some reclining patiently upon their beds, in humble waiting for God's time; and others being borne thither on the shoulders of men.  Suddenly, as I was about to ride on, and shut out this painful sight, one of the most extraordinary scenes that human eyes could witness took place.  The surface of the pool, which was hitherto perfectly placid, all at once became agitated, as if it were boiling, and began to swell, rush, or rather swing from side to side, in a remarkable manner.  No sooner was this seen, than there arose from the throng of wretched invalids who crowded its steps, a cry of four hundred voices all at once, shrieks of joy, shouts of wonder, words of amazed exclamation, while a simultaneous movement took place of the whole mass of human bodies, which became as wildly tossed to and fro as were the waters.  Those nearest plunged madly in, while those behind rushed down, some wildly shrieking in their agonizing haste, and some uttering the most fearful curses, as they found their was obstructed by the impenetrable masses before them.  The most weak and impotent being most eager, and being farthest off, make superhuman exertions to gain the pool, howling, and climbing with hands and feet, over the backs of others, to be hurled to the ground and trampled upon by those who were behind

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them.  Some strong men, who tried to open the way for one whom they were carrying, drew their knives, and proceeded to cut their way through the haggard and mouthing wretches who crowded the way, which violence being seen by the Romans from the gate, they went down, some score of them, with drawn swords, to quell the tumult; for the whole pool was in an uproar.  Unable to endure the dreadful scene, we rode rapidly on; but I afterwards heard that before quiet was restored, several men were slain, and that five of those who had got into the pool were drowned beneath the feet of those people who recklessly leaped in over the heads of others upon them.

"Is it possible," I asked Rabbi Amos, after we had reached the borders of Kedron, "that it is the act of an angel that can produce all this confusion and outbreak of the worst of human passions?"

"There is no doubt that the troubling of the waters is a miracle," he answered.  "The act of the angel is good.  His touch gives healing power to the water that cures diseases; and shall his benevolence be answerable for these dreadful and disgusting consequences which we have just witnessed?"

I was silent; but I sighed for the wickedness of man, that can turn even God's gifts into evils in the reception of them.

We now turned a little to the right, out of the highway; for as the bridge by which the road of Jericho is usually gained was being solidly rebuilt by the Romans, we had to follow the brook-side till we came near Absalom's Pillar, at the sight of which, the whole history of that misguided young prince came before me.  How

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wonderful, that the glorious head of golden hair, of which he was vain, and of which the poets of that day speak more than once, should have been the instrument of his death!  As we journeyed further on there were ancient oak trees in sight, which the Rabbi said were old enough to be a part of the extensive forest through which he rode so fatally, and doubtless were.  He showed me after awhile, and some distance form Jerusalem, the pit into which the ten young men who slew Absalom cast him, heaping great stones upon him.  This prince must have been as brave as he was beautiful and disobedient, that when hanging by his hair in the oak, and incapable of doing them harm, it should require "ten young men to compass him and smite him."  Or, possible, as Rabbi Amos thinks, this number combined to take, together, the blame before King David, which no one of them liked to encounter alone!  How interesting to me is every spot about Jerusalem!  I seem to live in the ancient days, when I see the scenes where have been enacted the great events which constitute the history and glory of our nation.

We had hardly reached the place where the two roads meet, when we heard to the west the sound of the galloping of a large body of horse, and the next moment the young Roman Centurion came in sight, by the road from the Horse Gate, riding at the head of a troop of horse, whose martial appearance, with the ringing of their armor, and the melody of their bugles, made my blood leap; and I am sure if I could have seen my eyes, I should have discovered in them a martial light.  AEmilius looked like a prince, and his burnished armor shone in the sun like armor of fire.  At his side rode a

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youth who bore the eagle of his band; but the Centurion himself carried in his hand only the badge of his rank, which was a vine-rod bound with rings of gold.  He saluted us with that courtesy which distinguishes his every motion, and then dividing his troop into two bodies, half of whom, trotting on a-head, led the van, and the other half, falling behind, served as a rear-guard.  He then gave the word to move forward.  The Centurion himself ode either by the side of Rabbi Amos, or near our bridles, but he did not so far occupy himself with us as to forget his duty as captain, which he fulfilled with the utmost vigilance.

Farewell, dear father, till my next, when I will resume my narrative of the events which have taken place since I left Jerusalem.  The God of our father Abraham be your defence and shield.

Your affectionate daughter,

Adina.

LETTER VIII.

My Dear Father:

The very kind manner in which you have received my communications respecting the extraordinary prophet now drawing all Judea after him into the wilderness, and the assurance that I can obtain from your wisdom, learning, and piety, a solution to all difficulties, and a true guide to the truth, prompt me to continue freely, and in detail, the relation of events that have passed under my experience.  I shall, in my accounts of the marvelous occurrences that I have witnessed, and may

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yet witness, not only convey to you the impressions made upon my own mind, but upon the minds of many others, of the wise and learned, and great, who also have heard and seen these things.  Thus you will have the weight of many testimonies, which you will doubtless hold in respect in proportion to the dignity, and wisdom, and rank of the persons.

My last letter ended with an account of the Roman escort, under the authority of the young Roman Centurion, who, as I have before written to you, with so much courtesy proffered its protection to our little party.  The day was yet early, the sun not having got more than an hour and a half high above the mountains of Moab, and the air was of that buoyant elasticity so agreeable to breathe, and which strikes me as one of the peculiar blessings of this holy land of our fathers.  In Egypt there is a want of life in the torrid air at this season, that we do not here experience; and as I rode along, I felt as if I would gladly mount the Arabian of the desert, and fly across the sandy seas of Edom, with the fleetness which amazes me whenever I see the children of the desert rids; for a band of thirty came boldly near us from a gorge as we approached Bethany, and after watching us a few moments, scoured away into the recesses of the hills, like the wind, as a detachment of a score of our Roman escort was ordered to gallop towards them.  Upon this Rabbi Amos said that we were fortunate in having such strong protection, for this party of the children of Esau would otherwise have attacked and plundered us, as they are wont to do every party of Israelites they fall in with; and the recent concourse of so many people to Jordan, has drawn them, with

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great boldness, close to the walls of Jerusalem, says the Roman Centurion, in great numbers, to lay in wait for, and rob them.  Thus, the hostility which began between the patriarch Jacob and the patriarch Esau, has never yet been healed, but rankles in the bosoms of their descendants even to this day; and still, "Esau hateth Jacob, because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him."  The Romans greatly admired the horsemanship of these children of Esau; and, upon their heavy horses, armed with their iron armor, it would have been vain to have followed them to their retreats.

We soon afterwards reached the summit of the ridge above Bethany, from which eminence, before going down into the village, we had a gorgeous view of the Holy City of god, with its lofty Temple glittering in the sunbeams, like a mountain of architectural silver.  The tower of Antonio darkly contrasted with its splendor, and the citadel of David frowned over the walls with a warlike majesty that deeply impressed me.  Ah, how could I gaze upon the scene, my dear father, without emotions of awe, wonder, adoration, and gratitude!  I drew rein, and entreated Rabbi Amos to delay a few moments while I surveyed Jerusalem, which, familiar as it might be to him from this point, and to all the rest of our cavalcade, was new to me; but he was too far ahead to hear me, for I had already been lingering for some seconds; and the Centurion riding up to my side, stopped respectfully with a portion of his command, and said he would await my leisure.  I could not but thank him for his civility, and then turning towards the city, I was soon lost to all else but the awful contemplation of it.  Irresistibly, as I gazed, I went back, in memory, to

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the time when our father Abraham was met before its gates by Melchisedek, its king, who received regal homage from him.  I saw again, David coming forth from its lofty portals, at the head of armies, to conquer the surrounding nation.  I beheld the splendid trains of oriental monarchs, of the kings of the South, and the kings of the North, and of Sheba, the queen of happy Arabia, winding through its pleasant valley, and entering in to prostrate themselves before Solomon, the prince of wisdom, glory, and power, the fame of whose wisdom and greatness filled the whole earth.  Alas! the whole earth is now filled with the story of the shame and bondage of Israel!  But the day cometh, dear father, when she shall lift up her face from the dust, and put on regal garments, and God shall place a crown upon her head, and her glory and dominion shall be without end.  This certainty quenched the tears that burst into my eyes, as I contrasted the present with the past.  In memory, as I continued to gaze, I say the armies of the Assyrians, and the armies of the Chaldeans, the armies of Egypt, and of Persia, and of Greece, all, each in its turn, encompassing the Holy City, and conquering it even though God dwelt therein, in the mysterious fire of the Shechinah.  But the presence of Jehovah in a city or in a heart, will not save it form its foes, if the city or the heart be not with Cod; and we know from the Prophets that the hearts of our fathers were far from God; and therefore were they delivered up to their enemies to be scourged.  Oh, my dear father, that our people of to-day would learn the fearful lesson that the past teaches them!

"You should see Rome," said the Centurion, who had

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watched my emotion evidently with surprise.  "It is a city of grandeur unequaled.  It covers six times more space than this city, and it contains three hundred and sixty-five temples, while Jerusalem contains but one!"

"There is no God but ONE," I answered, impressively.

"We believe that there is one God, who is the author of a great multitude of lesser gods, and to each we erect a temple," he said firmly, yet respectfully.

Upon this, touched with pity that one so noble in mind and person should be so ignorant of the truth, I began to show him from the Prophets that God was ONE, and that all things were made by Him.  But he, plucking a blossom from a tree which was within reach, said:

"It is beneath the dignity of the Father of the gods, the great Jove, to descend to make a flower like this; or shape a crystal; or color the ruby; or create that golden-dyed humming-bird which flutters among those fragrant blossoms.  He made the sun, and moon, and stars, and earth, but left the lesser works to inferior deities.  Talk to me of the One God, and prove to me, maiden, that He made all things, and is ONE, and thy God shall be my God."

It was then no time for me to endeavor to combat this error, but I have reserved to myself the first convenient opportunity to instruct him in the truth as it is revealed from Heaven to our favored people.  He has already manifested an inquiring spirit into our holy faith, and Rabbi Amos has taught him many things from the Books of Moses, but sufficient only to lead him to desire to know more, but not to eradicate from his

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heart his pagan superstitions.  The gentleness of his nature, his sound judgment, the frankness of his character, the ingenuous temper of the whole man, inspire me with great confidence that he will ultimately convinced of his errors, and embrace the faith of Israel.

We now rode forward through the street of Bethany, and soon came to the house of your former friend, Rabbi Abel, who died many years ago at Alexandria, when he went there with merchandise, and after the welfare of whose children you desire me to make inquiries.  They are now, as you are aware, grown to the full estate of manhood and womanhood, and still dwell at Bethany.  Being friends of my cousin Mary, it was decided that we should stop there to rest half an hour before proceeding on our way.  It was a plain and humble dwelling, before which Rabbi Amos assisted me to alight; but there was an air of neatness and sweet domestic repose about it that at once came home to my heart, and made me love the place even before I had seen the inmates, who had come out to receive, and gone in with my cousin;

but on hearing also of my arrival, there came our a fair young girl of twenty-two, with the most amiable expression of affectionate welcome; and, approaching me with mingled respect and love, she embraced me, while Rabbi Amos pronounced our names to each other.  I felt immediately as if I were in a sister's arms, and that I should love her always.  Next came forth a young man of about thirty years of age, with a countenance of an exceedingly interesting expression, full of intellect and good will.  He was pale and habitually thoughtful, but a fine friendly light beamed in his dark, handsome eyes, as he extended his hand to wel-

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come me.  You have already had a full description of him, and of his character, in one of my former letters, and need not be told that it was Lazarus, the son of your friend.  At the threshold, Martha, the eldest sister, met me, but with more ceremony, and made an apology for receiving into so lowly a dwelling the rich heiress of Alexandria, as she termed me; but I embraced her so affectionately, that this feeling passed away instantly.  Each member of it possessed attractions of a peculiar kind; and in all three I seemed to have found two sisters and a brother.  Martha busied herself at once to prepare refreshments for us, and soon set before us a frugal but agreeable repast; more than we desired, for we all insisted that we needed nothing, as we had not been long in the saddle.  Mary, in the meanwhile, and Lazarus, sat on either side of me, and asked me many questions about Alexandria, and particularly if I had ever seen their father's tomb.  And when I told them that at my father's request I had kept the flowers fresh about it, they both pressed my hands, and thanked me so gratefully, that the tears in my own eyes answered to the emotion in theirs.

How shall I describe to you the loveliness of the person of Mary, and yet not so much the perfection of feature as the soul which animates them, and lends them a charm that I cannot adequately convey to you?  Her eyes are of that remarkable color so seldom seen among our people, and when it is, is of a richer and more cerulean tome than is found in the azure-eyed natives of the north.  They are as blue as the skies of Judea, and yet possess all the starry, torrid splendor of the eyes of He-

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brew maidens.  Her hair, which is a soft, golden brown color, is worn knotted in wavy masses about her superbly moulded neck.  Her air is serene and confiding, and she has so little art that she lets you read all the secrets of her pure soul in the summer heaven of the sweet eyes I have spoken of.  There is an indescribable pensiveness about her that is most touching, and at the same time pleasing.

Martha, the oldest, is of a more lively disposition, yet more commanding in her aspect, being taller, and almost queenly in her mien.  Her eyes and her hair are jet black; the former mild, and beaming with intelligence, like those of her brother Lazarus, whom she resembles.  She has a winning voice, and a manner that leads you to feel strong confidence in her friendship.  She seemed to take the whole management of our entertainment upon herself, which the quieter Mary left to her, as if a matter of course, preferring rather to talk with me about the land of Egypt, where our fathers were so long in bondage, and about which all our young people in Judea have such awful ideas.  Mary asked me if I was not afraid to dwell there; if I ever saw the tomb of the Pharaohs; and if the seventy pyramids of the Niles were the work of our forefathers, or had withstood the flood, like the everlasting hills.  Lazarus conversed chiefly with Rabbi Amos, who questioned him with much interest about the prophet John of the wilderness, to whom, you will remember, I wrote you Lazarus had paid a visit.  After our repast, Martha showed me three beautiful bands of embroidery, which she was working for the new veil of the Temple to be put up next year; for the sisters live by working needle-work for the Temple,

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and Lazarus makes copies of the Law and Psalms for the priests.  He showed me his copying-table, and the rolls of parchment upon it, some partly inscribed in beautiful characters, some quite complete.  He also showed me a copy of the Book of Isaiah, which he had just finished, and which had occupied him one hundred and seven days.  It was exquisitely executed.  Another incomplete copy was thrown aside, and was destined to be burned, because he had made a mistake in forming one letter; for if an iota be added too much, the work is condemned by the priests and burned, so strict are they that perfect and immaculate copies of the Law, and none others, shall exist.  Mary, also, showed me a beautifully embroidered foot-tablet, which the wife of Pilate, when she was last from Cesarea, ordered for herself.

"I shall not receive coin for it," said Mary, "but present it to her, for she has ever been very kind to us; and when, last year, she and the Procurator Pilate, her lord, came up from Cesarea to Jerusalem, about the time of the Passover, she sent her own household physician to heal Lazarus, who was taken sick from over-much confinement to his tasks.  She knew us only by inquiring who it was who worked the embroidery of the altar mantles, which she had somewhere seen before they were placed in the Temple, and much admired."

Seeing upon the table a richly worked book-cover of silk and velvet, with the letters "I. N." embroidered in olive leaves upon it, I asked her if that, it being so elegant, was not for the High Priest.

"No," answered Martha, with brightening eyes, speaking before her sister could reply, "that is for our friend, and the friend and brother of Lazarus."

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"What is his name?" I asked.

"Jesus, of Nazareth."

"I have heard John speak of this person," said my cousin Mary, with animation, and appealing to me, reminded me how John had repeated what Lazarus had spoken to him of his friend from Nazareth, which I have written to you.  "I should feel happy," added my cousin, "to know him also."

"And from what I have heard of him," said I, "it would indeed be a pleasure to see him."

The two sisters listened to us with visible interest, and Martha said:

"If you had been here a few days ago, you would have seen him.  He left us, after being with us three weeks, to return to Nazareth.  But he requested to meet Lazarus at Bethabara, on the third day from this, for some important reason; and my brother will go, for he loves him so that he would cross the seas to meet him."

"Then," said Rabbi Amos to Lazarus, "if you are to journey so soon towards Jordan to meet your friend, you had best join our company and share our escort."  To this Lazarus, after some consultation with his sisters, consented.

What happy family, thought I, is this!  The sisters happy in each other's love, the brother happy in theirs, all three united as one in the purest affection, and yet a fourth is added to the circle, whose love for the three is equal to theirs for him!  Humble in station, poor, and dependent upon the labor of their hands for their daily bread, yet their household is one that kings might envy, and which nor gold nor jewels, could purchase.

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I left this blessed abode of fraternal friendship with regret, and felt that I should be perfectly happy if I could be admitted as a fifth link in the wreath of their mutual love.  Even the Roman Centurion had been struck with the air of peaceful repose reigning there, and spoke of it to me with enthusiasm as we rode away.

About noon we stopped at a caravanserai, half the way to Jericho from Bethany.  Here we overtook a friend of Rabbi Amos, the venerable and learned scholar and lawyer, Gamaliel.  He was, he confessed, also riding to Jordan, to have an interview with the prophet, being persuaded to seek it on account of an extraordinary dream he had, which he repeated to his friend Rabbi Amos, but not in our hearing; but the effect upon my uncle excited a good deal of curiosity to know what it was, but he has been studiously silent upon the subject.  Accompanying the lawyer, Gamaliel, was a young man who was his disciple, and who went with him as a companion by the way.  His name is Saul; and I noticed him particularly, because I overheard the venerable lawyer say that he was the most remarkable young man who had ever sat at his feet to learn the mysteries of the law.  This young law-disciple and Lazarus rode together, and talked long and earnestly by the way, the former thinking that nothing but mischief would come of the new prophet's preaching, while the latter warmly defended him and his mission as divine.  To their conversation the Roman Centurion listened with the closest attention, for Saul was learned in the Prophets, and drew richly from its stores to prove that the true Messias can never be heralded by so mean a messenger

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as this preacher of repentance in the wilderness.  Saul eloquently drew a gorgeous picture of Messias' coming, and the splendor of his reign, and added, that angels and heavenly signs, and not a wild man of the wilderness, with water baptism, should prepare the way before him.

At length, as the day closed, we came in sight of the walls and towers of Jericho; but we succeeded in reaching the gates only after they were closed.  The presence of the young Centurion caused them to be immediately re-opened, and we were admitted, with some hundreds, who having begged, and received, permission to enter in our company.

The next day we proceeded to Gilgal alone, the road being perfectly safe, the courteous Roman having early the same morning issued from the gates, in haste to pursue the famous Barabbas, who had the last night attacked a caravan within four leagues of Jordan, and taken much booty, as well as slain many men.

"I now write to thee beneath the roof of the country residence of Rabbi Amos.  To morrow early," says a passage which I copy from my journal, written there, "we are going to Bethabara, a little village beyond Jordan, but situated on its banks, near which we learn John is now baptizing, he being no longer at the ford of Jordan, where my cousin Mary's betrothed, John, found him, and was baptized of him a few weeks ago.  Lazarus has gone on with Saul and the learned Gamaliel, with many lawyers and doctors in company, who desire to see and hear this prophet of the wilderness."

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Indeed, dear father, the advent of a prophet is of so rare an occurrence among us, that the bare idea that John the Baptizer may be a true prophet of God, has moved the great heart of Israel, and stirred up curiosity, hope, and marvel, in the highest degree ever known in the land.  There seems to be but one subject, and but one thought.  Every man says to his neighbor: "Have you seen or heard the new prophet?  Is he Messias, or is he Elias?"

My next letter will give you a narration, my dear father, of what I witnessed at Bethabara, and will, perhaps, more deeply interest you than anything I have yet written.

That the hope of Israel may not be long deferred, and that we may receive the Messias, when he cometh, in humble faith, in honor, and in love, is the prayer of

Your affectionate daughter,

Adina

LETTER IX.

My Dear Father:

In these letters to you which give an account of my excursion with Rabbi Amos to the Jordan, I hope you will pardon the details which I enter into, for it is my earnest desire that you should see every thing with my eyes, as if you had been present with me,--in order that you may, though absent, be able to judge, as if you had been an eye-witness, of the remarkable events of which I have undertaken to give you a complete history.  I

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know that your liberal mind, and your sense of equity and justice, will lead you to read all I have to write, before you take upon you to make a reply to the facts which, with filial love and reverence, I present to your consideration.

After Rabbi Amos had reached the house in the wheatfields of Gilgal, where he intended to take up his sojourn for the weeks of harvest, and had directed his servants what to do, he kindly told us that he was ready to accompany my cousin Mary and myself to the Jordan, to hear the prophet.  It was with no little gratification, therefore, that my cousin and myself once more mounted our mules, and proceeded towards the place where we heard the great prophet was baptizing.  But we had not ridden a great way from the house when we overtook two men on foot, with staves in their hands and wallets upon their shoulders.  As we passed, one of them bowed with respect to Rabbi Amos, who, from his rank as a priest, and his venerable appearance, always commands the homage of all men.

"Whither goest thou at such a pace, friend Matthew?" said Rabbi Amos, returning his salutation, for he seemed to know him.  "Canst thou leave thy tax-gathering these busy times to go into the wilderness?"

The person, who was a man of stout figure, with dark hair and beard, and a look of intelligence, but whose costume was plain and ill-worn, smiled and answered:

"If a man would find the payers of tribute now-a-days, good master, he must not stay at home, forsooth, but go into the wilderness of Jordan, where all men have gone.  Verily, this new prophet, emptieth our towns, and we publicans must remain idle in our seat of customs, or go with the tide."

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"Thy words are near the truth, friend Matthew," answered my uncle; "but hast thou no other motive in thy heart than looking after thy Roman coins, in taking this journey from Jericho?"

"I have curiosity to see a man whom multitudes resort to from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from all Judea, and from beyond Jordan."

"And thinking thou," continued my uncle, as the two men walked along by the side of his mule, "thinkest thou this prophet is a true son of the Prophets?"

"He works no miracles, unless, indeed, the power of his preaching be a miracle," answered Matthew.

"This man is an impostor.  There can be no prophet unless he prove his mission by miracles," suddenly said the companion of Matthew, speaking up abruptly in a sharp and unpleasing voice.  Now neither Mary nor I liked the face of this man from the first.  He was low in height, was ill-featured, and his attire was mean; but he had a suspicious air, combined with a cringing deference to Rabbi Amos, that made me think he must be a hypocrite.  He smiled with his mouth and teeth, but at the same time looked sinister out of his eyes.  An air of humility seemed to me to be put on to conceal the pride and wickedness of his character.  He looked like a man who could artfully deceive to gain his selfish ends, and who would kneel to you to overturn you.  The sound of his voice confirmed my first impression of him.  Upon his speaking, Rabbi Amos fixed his eyes upon hi, as if he did not like the manner of his breaking in upon the conversation.]

"What is thy companion's name, friend Matthew?" he asked aside, as the other walked on ahead.

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"His name is Judas, called Iscariot.  He hath been engage  by me to bear the moneys I collect in the country villages; and as we are to gather taxes both at Gilgal and Bethabara, he cometh with me."

We now came in sight of the Jordan, but could discover no crowd upon its banks.  While we were wondering at not beholding any signs of the multitude, we met a stranger who was riding a horse, and coming from the northward, who, seeing us apparently in perplexity, inquired with courtesy if we were not seeking John the prophet.  Upon Rabbi Amos replying in the affirmative, the horseman informed us that he had removed up the river, some two hour's ride, and was then baptizing near the little village of Bethabara, on the east bank of Jordan; and he added, that not less than eight thousand people must be thronging the shores.

"Dost thou know this stranger?" asked of Matthew Rabbi Amos, who had gratefully thanked him for his intelligence, looking back after him as he rode on.  "I saw thee salute him."

"He is an officer of Herod the Tetrarch's household," was the response, "a Hebrew of great wealth, and he payeth more tribute-money to the emperor from his lands than any Israelite between Jericho and Jerusalem."

At length, dear father, after hastening the speed of our mules, and riding pleasantly for two hours along the verdant banks of Jordan, we came in sight of a square tower of stone, peering above the trees which marked the site of the village of Bethabara.  "That tower," said Rabbi Amos, "stands over a cave in which Elijah long dwelt, and in which Isaiah at one time concealed him-

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self from his enemies.  It is now called the `Tower of Elijah.'  From the summit of yonder hill, at the left, the prophet was caught up, and ascended to heaven upon the chariot of fire; and near where you see the single rock, Elisha divided Jordan with the fallen mantle left him by the ascending prophet of God."

All these places, with many others which the intelligent Rabbi Amos pointed out to us, were very interesting to me, for nothing commands my attention so profoundly as allusions to the scenes of the olden days of the prophets and kings of Israel.  While my eyes were fixed upon the hill, and my imagination presented to me Elijah standing upon the chariot of heaven, disappearing amid the clouds, there was an opening in the wood before us, and all at once we beheld a scene that made my heart cease to beat, it was so new and wonderful.  Near that place the winding river takes a broad curve, and the opposite village of Bethabara lies in the hollow of it, forming the center of a half a circle.  This widely curving shore was alive with the human heads that filled it.  Not a place could be seen where some one did not stand.  And of this vast multitude every eye was concentrated upon the prophet, as from the crescent tiers of the amphitheatre in Alexandria all gaze at once upon the scenes passing in the arena.  He was standing near the opposite shore, (the Jordan here is very narrow, and can be forded,) in the water, addressing the countless assembly that stood opposite to and half encircling him.  Near him, behind, and on either side, sat his disciples, upon the bank, at least a hundred in number, chiefly young men.  Behind rose the Tower of Elijah, and receding farther from the shore lay the sweet village of Bethabara, with its green gardens and snow-white walls.

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The clear voice of the youthful prophet of the wilderness fell distinctly on our ears, so great was the stillness of the vast audience.  We could not approach very near on our mules; and dismounting at the outskirts of the throng, we left them with the two servants, and on foot drew as near to the place where the prophet stood as we could.  Many of the people, seeing and recognizing Rabbi Amos, respectfully made way for him, so that at length we stood directly opposite the speaker, with a full view of him, so that we could hear every word.  To my surprise I saw John, the cousin of Mary, standing close to the prophet, and listening with the deepest and most reverent attention to every syllable he uttered.  The subject of the prophet's discourse was as before, and as always, the coming of the Messias.  Oh that I could give you, my dear father, the faintest idea of the power and eloquence of his language!

"There is no remission of sin without shedding of blood," he continued, earnestly.  "The baptism of water with which I baptize you is unto repentance; but there must be blood outpoured ere sin can be washed away!  Do you ask me if the blood of bulls and goats take not away sin?  I answer and say unto you, that the Lord hath said that He delighteth not in these rivers of blood."

"For what, then, great prophet," asked one of the chief Levites, who stood near him--"for what then are the sacrifices ordained by the Law of Moses--for what then the altar in the Temple, and the daily sacrifice of the Lamb?"

"For what?" repeated the prophet, with his eyes beaming with the earnest light of inspiration--"for what but as types and shadows of the real and true

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sacrifices appointed by God from the foundation of the world!  Think ye a man can slay the lamb of his flock for the sin of his soul?  If God demands thy life, shall be accept the life of a brute?  Nay, men of Israel, the day has come when your eyes shall be opened.  The hour is at hand when the true meaning of the daily sacrifice shall be understood.  Lo! the Messiah cometh, and ye shall see and believe!"

There now came several persons towards him who desired baptism.  While he was baptizing these persons, both men and women, I saw appear on the little mound near the tower from which Rabbi Amos had said Elijah ascended, Lazarus, the brother of Martha, accompanied by a man of about his own years, of an indescribable dignity and grace of aspect, combined with an air of benevolence and peace that at once attracted me.

"It must be the friend of Lazarus," said Mary to me; for she had discovered him at the same time.  "See with what calm serenity he gazes upon the multitude, yet retiring in his manner, as if he shrank from the common eye!"  He was wrapped in a vesture of dark blue cloth, which was folded about his form; his head was bare, and his hair flowed like a Nazarene's down about his shoulders.  He seemed so unlike all other men, in a certain majesty united with sweetness that marked his whole air, that I could not withdraw my gaze from him.

The prophet at the same moment rested his eyes upon him, and, as he did so, I saw a change come over his face, as if he had seen an angel.  His eyes shone with unearthly brilliancy, his lips parted as if he would speak, yet had lost the power; and then, with his right hand stretched forth towards the noble stranger, he stood for

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a moment like a statue.  All eyes followed his, and the direction of his stretched-out arm.  Suddenly he exclaimed, and oh, how like the trumpet of Horeb his voice rung:

"Behold!"

There was not a face in that vast multitude that was not directed towards the little eminence, where Lazarus, evidently amazed at the attitude and words of the prophet, and the gaze of all that way, stood by his friend.

"Ye have asked wherefore is slain the daily lamb," continued the prophet.  "The day has come when the lamb of sacrifice, which can take away no sin, shall cease.  Behold!"  And here he stretched forth both arms towards the dignified stranger:  "Behold Him who taketh away the transgression of men!  He it is who, coming after me, is preferred before me.  He it is to whom I bear witness, as the Messiah, the Son of the Highest!  There stands the Christ of God! the only true Lamb, whose blood can wash away the iniquities of us all!  He hath dwelt among you--He hath walked your streets--He hath sat in your homes, and I knew him not, till I now behold on Him the sign of the Messiah, and therefore know I that it is He who is to redeem Israel!"

When the prophet had thus spoken in a voice that thrilled to every bosom, we beheld the august stranger advance towards the prophet.  He moved alone.  Lazarus had fallen prostrate on his face when he heard announced that it was the Messiah with whom he had thus been on terms of friendship.  As He continued to come forward, all was expectation in the immense multitude!  Thus the mass of heads swayed this way and that,

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to get sight of His face, which I could see was serene, but pale and earnest.  John, the cousin of Mary, seeing Him approach, lowly knelt, and bowed his head in reverential awe and love.  Those who stood between Him and the prophet moved involuntary apart, and left an open path for Him to the water-side.  He walked at a slow and even pace, with an air of humility, veiling the native dignity of his kingly port.

The prophet, on seeing Him come near, regarded Him, as it seemed to me, with far more awe than all others.

"What wouldst thou of thy servant, O Messiah, Prophet of God, mighty to save?" he said, in tremulous tones, as the stranger came even some paces into the water towards him.

"To be baptized of thee," answered the Christ, in a still, quiet voice, that was heard to the remotest bounds of the crowd.  Never, oh, never shall I forget the sounds of that voice, as it fell upon my ears!

"I have need to baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me," answered the prophet, with the lowliest humility and awe of manner, and with looks expressive of his amazement.

"It becometh us to fulfill all righteousness," answered Messiah, mildly; and when He had said this, the prophet, though still with a manner of doubt, and with the holiest reverence, administered then unto Him, in the sight of all the people, the like baptism which he had administered to his disciples.

And now, dear father, comes to be related the most extraordinary thing that ever took place in Israel since the Law was given from Sinai, and which, it must

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be clear to you, bears unquestionable testimony; that Jesus of Nazareth, the noble stranger baptized in Jordan, and to whom John bore witness, is truly Messias the Son of God.

No sooner did the baptized stranger go up out of the water, than there was heard above all our heads a noise as of rolling thunder, although the sky was cloudless; and when in great fear we looked up, we beheld a dazzling glory far brighter than the sun; and from the midst of this celestial splendor there darted with arrowy velocity a ray of light which descended and lit upon the head of the Christ.  Some of the people said it thundered! and others said it lightened! but judge the amazement and admiration of all, and the dread awe head, was seen the form of a dove of fire, with outspread wings overshadowing Him as it were; and from the heavens what was supposed to be thunder, shaped itself into a voice, which uttered these words in the hearing of every ear:

"THIS IS MY BELOVED SON IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED."

At hearing these words from the skies a great part of the multitude fell on their faces!  Every cheek was pale, and each man gazed on his neighbor in wonder and fear.  When the majestic, yet terrible voice had given utterance to these words, the light disappeared, the dove re-ascended to the skies, and was lost to the sight, leaving a halo of divine glory resting upon the head of this "Son of God."  He alone seemed unmoved and calm amid all this awful scene, and going up the river bank, disappeared mysteriously and suddenly from my earnest

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gaze.  At length, when men came a little to themselves, and would gaze on Him whom all knew now to be the Christ, no one could find Him, so effectually had He withdrawn Himself from their homage.

Your affectionate

Adina.

LETTER X.

My Dear Father:

I will commence this letter by asking your dispassionate perusal of my preceding epistle, and entreating you not to let any prejudice unworthy of the wisdom and liberality by which you are distinguished among men, lead you to reject, without examination, belief of the events which have formed the subject of my recent letters to you, and to close your mind to the convictions to which they may give rise.  Please, my honored and beloved father, please to consider impartially the things of which I have written, the preaching of John, and his baptism of Jesus, whom, before ten thousand people, he declared to be MESSIAS, to whom he bore witness, and how the voice of God, as audible in the ears of all as that which shook Horeb and Sinai, proclaimed from Heaven that He was "His beloved Son!"  Think of all this, and ask yourself seriously, "Is not this the Christ?"

This question need not pass far on its way ere it finds a response from my lips and heart:  "Yes, He is the Christ, and I will believe in Him!"

I can see your face, my dear father, change its express-

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sion of mild benignity, as you read this confession from my pen!  I can see you look both displeased and grieved.  But you have no reason to fear that I shall do or believe aught that will bring shame on your gray hairs, or your name.  If thou art a Jew, and proud of being descended from the lineage of the Patriarchs who walked with the Lord, I am also equally proud of my nation and of my faith.  In believing Jesus of Nazareth to be the Messias of God, I do not make myself less a Jewess; but, without believing it, my dear father, I could not be completely a Jewess.  Has not the Messias of our nation been the burden of Judah's prayer and of Israel's hope, for ages?  Does not the belief that Messias cometh, constitute one of the great characteristics of the Jewish race?  Do the Gentiles look for the Christ?  If not, and we alone look for him, and every mother in Israel hopes tremblingly, with joy and doubt, that he may be found in her first-born son, is it that I am less a Jewess, or rather that I am only a true Jewess, when I believe Jesus to be the Messias, seeing in Him all that a Messias could bring, even the voice of God in testimony of His Mission?  But I sincerely trust, my dear father, that I am defending my belief unnecessarily, and that when you come to read and compare, and examine well, you will rejoice with me that God has remembered Israel, and that He is about to take away her reproach among the nations.

I shall wait for your next parcel of letters with the deepest solicitude, in order that I may know what your decision is in reference to these extraordinary things which are coming to pass.  You will not hear them only from my letters, dear father, for the report of these wonders is

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broad-cast over the land, and men who witnessed the baptism of Jesus, will, no doubt, report in Egypt what then took place, especially the voice of God rolling like articulate thunder along the cloudless sky, and the descent of the fiery dove upon the head of the new Prophet.  Merchants of Damascus and of Cairo were present, leaving their trains of camels a little way off, and Arab horsemen sat in their saddles on the outside of the crowd; while Roman soldiers, strangers from Persia and Edom, and even the merchants from Media, with numerous people, Gentiles as well as Jews, were seen mingled with the multitude.  This thing, therefore, was not done in a corner.  The voice I plainly heard, and understood every word!  It seemed to me to come from the far blow depths of Heaven at an immeasurable distance, but with the clearness of a trumpet, and the sonorous majesty of thunder.  But the light which descended was the most dazzling that human eyes ever encountered; and though when descending with the velocity of lightening, it seemed like a lance of fire; yet, upon reaching the sacred head of Jesus, as He came forth from out of the water, it assumed, as I before stated, the shape of a dove; and, resting upon Him, overshadowed Him with its wings of light, and cast over His whole person a glittering splendor, like the sun.  This lasted for a full minute, so that all eyes beheld it, and then followed the voice from the skies!  The brilliancy of the light from the heavenly dove was so resplendent that I could not behold it; and when I looked again it had disappeared; but a cloud of softened luster shone still around the head of Jesus and his face, like that of Moses, emitted rays of glory.  While thou-

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sands either stood stupefied, or fell upon their faces in adoration and fear, He withdrew himself from the multitude, no one knew how, save two persons, whose eyes never wander from him.  These were the cousin of Mary, John, and Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha.

The people, after recovering a little from their amazement and awe, were looking for Him, and inquiring whither he had gone, some gazing into the water, some towards the wilderness, some even gazing upwards into Heaven, of which last I was one, as if they expected to behold Him ascending upon a chariot of dazzling clouds towards the throne of His God and Father, who had acknowledged Him to be His Son.  The general impression was, that he had been translated to Heaven; and some wept that a prophet was sent to be taken so soon; while others rejoiced that the Lord had not forgotten to be gracious unto the house of Israel: some doubted, and called it magic and sorcery; and others, who were doubtless filled with their own wickedness, mocked, and said the voice was thunder, and the light lightning.  But here they were disputed against, for, said hundreds, "There is no cloud in the sky, then whence could come thunder and lightning?"  But the majority believed, and greatly rejoiced at what they had seen and heard.  The prophet John, of Jordan, appeared to me to be more surprised at what had taken place than any others.  He looked constantly around for Jesus, and then, with his hands clasped together and uplifted, gazed heavenward, as if satisfied, with the thousands around him, that he had been received up into Heaven.

The excitement which the sudden disappearance of

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Jesus produced, led to a universal separation of the multitude, who dispersed in all directions, some to seek for Him, some to spread the news of what they had seen, and all forgetting John the Baptizer, whom they had hitherto followed, in the greater splendor of the new prophet, whose advent had been so remarkable accompanied by the descent of fire and a voice from the sky.

Rabbi Amos and our party remained standing near the water, for he did not wish us to be lost in the retiring throngs, and he also desired to speak with John, who stood alone in the midst of the water, precisely where he had baptized Jesus.  Not one of his disciples remained with him.  Rabbi Amos drew near, and said to him:

"Holy prophet, knowest thou what man, if man he may be called, was just baptized by thee?"

The prophet, whose eyes had been steadfastly raised all the while, bent his looks with tearful tenderness upon Rabbi Amos, and said plaintively and touchingly:

"This is He of whom I spake--After me cometh a man which is preferred before me, for He was before me.  And I knew Him not; but He that sent me, to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him, the same is He that baptized with the Holy Ghost.  And I saw the Spirit descending like a dove, and I saw and bear record this is the Son of God!"

"And whither, oh, holy prophet of Jordan," asked Rabbi Amos, with deep and sacred interest, "whither has He departed?"

"That I know not!  He must increase and I must decrease, whether He remaineth on earth or has been

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taken up into Heaven!  My mission is now drawing to its close; for He to whom I have borne witness is come."

"And is He come to depart so soon forever?" I asked, with deep interest; "shall we behold Him no more!"

"The hidden things belong to God.  I know not whence He came not whither He has gone! for I knew Him not in all His glory, but only as a prophet and son of man, until the Spirit descended and abode upon Him.  Ye have heard my testimony that this is the very Messias, the Christ, the Son of God!"

Thus speaking, he turned and walked out of the water on the side towards Bethabara, and disappeared among the trees that fringed the bank.  I now looked in the face of Rabbi Amos, upon whose arm Mary was tearfully leaning, still under the influence of the terror which the scenes she had been a spectator of, had produced in her soul.  His face was grave and thoughtful.  I said, "Uncle, dost thou believe all that thou hast seen and heard?"

"I know not what to say," he answered, "only that the things which I have beheld this day are evidences that God has not forgotten his people Israel!"  He said no more.  We left the banks of the Jordan in silence and awe, and remounting our mules, which the two Gibeonite slaves held for us in waiting under a palm tree not far off, we returned towards my uncle's house at Gilgal.  On the way we constantly passed crowds of people who were riding and walking; and all were in high talk about the wonderful events which had taken place at the river.  The impression seemed universally to be that Jesus had gone up into Heaven after he was baptized.

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But, my dear father, it is with deep joy that I am able to tell you that this wonderful person is still on the earth, and doubtless permitted to remain thereon for some great purpose.  I stated that my cousin John, and Lazarus, the Secretary of the Scribes, had kept their eyes upon Him from the first, and that they had seen Him pass down the river, where some projecting and overhanging trees hid Him at once from view.  Though they often lost sight of Him, they yet followed Him by the print of His sandals in the wet sand of the shore, and at length came in view of Him, as he was leaving the river bank, and going towards the desert, between two low hills, which hid Him from their eyes.  But one of the young men said to the other, while both were burning with wonder and love:

"Let us not fail to overtake Him, and follow Him whithersoever He may go; for with Him must be the well of life, as He is so highly favored of God."

So they went on; but though they moved forward rapidly, they next saw Him far distant, crossing the arid plain that stretches south towards Jericho and the desert.  They ran very swiftly, and at length coming near Him, called "Master, good master, stay for us, for we would follow and learn of thee."

He stopped, and turned upon them a visage so pale, and marred with sadness and anguish, that they both stood still and gazed upon Him with amazement at beholding such a change.  The glory of His beauty had passed away, and the beaming splendor which shone from His countenance was wholly gone.  The expression of unutterable sorrow that remained, pierced them to the heart.  Lazarus, who had been so long his bosom

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friend, wept aloud.  "Weep not! thou shalt see me another day, my friends," He said.  "I go now to the wilderness, in obedience to the Spirit which guideth me thither.  Thou shalt, after a time, behold me again.  It is expedient for you that I go whither I go."

"Nay, but we will go with thee," said Lazarus, earnestly.  "If thou art to endure evil, we will be with thee."

]   "There must be none to help.  There must be none to uphold," He said firmly, but sadly.  "I must tread the wine press of temptation alone!"

He then left them, waving His hand for them to go back.  They obeyed sorrowfully, wondering what His words meant, and wherefore it was needful for Him to go into the desert, where certain mysterious trails seemed to wait for Him; and they wondered most of all at the change in His countenance, which, from being lustrous with celestial light, was now, said Lazarus, "marred more than sons of men."  From time to time the two young men looked backward to watch the receding figure of the Christ, till they no longer distinguished Him in the distance of the desert, towards the dreadful solitudes of which He steadfastly kept his face.

The two friends came on to the house of Rabbi Amos, at Gilgal, the same night, and then Lazarus made known to us what I have just related.  It affected us all deeply, and we sat together late at night upon the porch under the fig trees, talking of Jesus, and the things that had transpired concerning Him that day; and though we all rejoiced greatly that He was still on earth, we wept to think that He was driven by some destiny unknown and unfathomable by us, to dwell alone in the wilderness.

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Now, my dear father, how wonderful is all this!  That a great prophet is among us, cannot be denied.  The star of John the Baptizer's face dwindles into a glow-worm before the glory of this Son of God!  That He will draw all men unto Him, even into the wilderness, if He takes up his abode there, cannot be questioned.  But all is mystery, awe, curiosity, wonder, and excitement just now.  No one has settled upon any opinion as to what will be the end of these things.  Rabbi Amos advises all persons to wait patiently the issue, for if God has sent a Prophet, He must have a mission, which, in due time, He will come forth from the wilderness to deliver.  In my next I may be able to write you something further touching the development of that which remains so much enveloped in mystery.  May the God of our father's house come forth indeed from the Heavens, for the salvation of His People.

Your devoted and loving

Adina.

LETTER XI.

My Dear Father:

In my last letter to you, I spoke of our return from Jordan, to Gilgal, to the country-house in the wheat fields of Peniel, where Rabbi Amos sojourns during the two weeks of harvest.  At the house were assembled, not only John, the cousin of Mary, and the noble Lazarus, but also Gamaliel, and Saul, his disciple, of whom I have before spoken, all of whom were invited to partake of my uncle's hospitality for the night; besides, the

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court of the dwelling was thronged with strangers, and the common people, who, being far from their homes, and without food, had freely been invited to lodgings and food by the hospitable priest.

As we sat up late conversing, with deep interest, upon the remarkable events of the day, an observation made by John, when speaking of the change in the face of Jesus, that "His visage was marred more than the sons of men," led the venerable Gamaliel to say to us:

"Those are the words of the prophet Esaias, and are truly spoken by him of Messias, when He shall come."

"Let us consult Esaias, then, and see what further he hath said," cried Rabbi Amos.  "Mary, bring hither the roll of the Prophets."

My cousin Mary returned, and placed the book on a small stand before him, for, as I said in my last, we were all seated in the porch, where the evening breeze was cool.  A lamp then being brought, I held it above the rolls of parchment, while my uncle found the portion of the Prophet to which the words belonged.

"Read aloud, worthy Rabbi," said the philosopher Gamaliel, "we will all listen; for though I do not believe this young man who was to0day baptized is Messias and the Christ, who is to re-store all things to us, yet I am prepared to reverence him as a great prophet."

"And," answered Rabbi Amos, "if we find the prophecies do meet in him which we look for to meet in Messias when He cometh, wilt thou believe, venerable father?"

"I will believe and reverently adore," answered the sage, bowing his head till his flowing white beard almost touched his knees.

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"Read, Adina, for thy eyes are young," said my uncle; and obedient, though embarrassed before such an audience, I read as follows:

"Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.  As many were astonished at thee, His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men."

"How completely," said John, "these words describe his appearance on the verge of the desert; and yet I used them unconsciously."

"But," said Saul, Gamaliel's disciple, "if this be prophesied of the Christ, then we are to have a Christ of humiliation, and not one of honor and glory.  Read one part which you have omitted, maiden, and we will see that there are words that import a higher condition than that of this unknown person, whom John the Baptizer himself confessed he did not know, nor ever beheld before."

I read on as follows:  "Behold my servant shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.  He shall sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at Him.  He shall lift up His hand to the Gentiles, and set up His standard to the people.  Kings shall bow down to Him with their faces to the earth, and lick up the dust of His feet!"

"There! such is our Messias," exclaimed Saul.

"Yes, it is a Christ of power and dominion who is to redeem Israel," added Gamaliel; "not an unknown young man, scarcely thirty years of age, who came from whence no one knoweth, and hath gone as he came.  As for THE CHRIST, we shall know WHENCE He cometh!"

At hearing this great and good man thus discourse,

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dear father, my heart sank within me; for I could not but confess that these prophecies of honor and power could not apply to the humble person John had baptized; for Lazarus had already told us that his friend Jesus was of humble birth, a carpenter's son, and his mother a widow; that he had known him from boyhood, but known him only to love him.  I now looked towards him, but I took courage when I saw that the words of Gamaliel did not in the least dim the light of his faith and confidence, which brightly sparkled in his eyes, that his friend Jesus was truly Messias of God.  But my eye fell on what follows, and as I read it gained more confidence:  "He hath no form nor comeliness: and when we shall see Him there is no beauty that we should desire Him."

"If the first part of this prophecy," said Lazarus, his fine eyes lighting up, as he looked at Saul, "be of the Christ, as you have just now confessed, then is this last of him; and the fact that you reject him, is but the fulfillment of this part of the prophecy."

Hereupon arose a very warm discussion between Gamaliel and Saul on one side, and Rabbi Amos, John, and Lazarus, on the other, the former contending that the prophecies referred to two distinct Christs, one of whom was to be lowly and a sufferer, and the other honorable and a conqueror; while the latter maintained, that the seemingly opposite predictions referred to but one Christ in two different periods and circumstances of his life.

"But let this be as it may," said John, after the arguments on both sides had been mainly exhausted, "how will you, O Gamaliel, and you, Saul, get over the extra-

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ordinary voice and fiery appearance which distinguished the baptism?"

"That must have been a phenomenon of nature, or done by the art of the famed Babylonish sorcerer, whom I saw prominent in the multitude," answered the philosopher.

"Did you not hear the words?" asked Rabbi Amos.

"Yes, Rabbi; nevertheless, they may have been thrown into the air form the lungs of this sorcerer; for they do marvellous things."

"Would you suppose that a sorcerer would be disposed to apply the sacred words of the Lord?" asked John, earnestly.

"By no means," he answered, reverently.

"If Rabbi Amos will allow me, I will show you the very words in King David's prophecies of Messias."

All looked with interest on John, as he took from his mantle a roll of the Psalms.  He opened it and read as follows, looking at Gamaliel:

"Why do the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against his anointed?  I will declare the decree.  The Lord hath said unto me, `Thou art my Son.'"

Upon hearing this read, Gamaliel was thoughtful.  Rabbi Amos said:  "Of truth we Jews believe these words were to be spoken to our Christ by the Lord Jehovah.  Have we not heard this prophecy fulfilled this very day in our ears?"

"It is extraordinary," answered Gamaliel.  "I will search the Scriptures when I reach Jerusalem, to see if these things be so."

"And the light in the form of a dove!  Dost thou find an explanation for that?" asked Rabbi Amos.

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"No," answered he; "and I will withhold all further opinion for the present."

"It becomes you, O Gamaliel," said Rabbi Amos, "who art a father and teacher in Israel, to know whether these things be so, that thou mayest teach thy disciples."

"But," said Saul, with some vehemence, "listen while I read some prophecies also."  And he unrolled the book of the Prophets and read these words:

"Thou Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of these shall He come forth unto me that is to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been ever of old, from everlasting."  "Now, you will confess, Rabbi Amos," he added, with a look of triumph, "that this word refers to our expected Messias."

"Without doubt," answered my uncle--"but"--

"Wait, I beseech you, learned Rabbi," said Saul, "until I read you another prophecy, and he read: `I have made a covenant with David, Thy seed will I establish forever, and build up thy throne to all generations.  His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me.  Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous BRANCH.'  Now you will all admit, brethren, that these prophecies refer to Messias,  He is therefore to come of the lineage of David, and he is to be born in Bethlehem.  Show me that this Jesus, the Nazarene, fulfills both conditions in his own person, and I will prepare to believe in him."

This was said haughtily, and with the air of one who cannot be answered.

But immediately Lazarus rose to his feet and said:

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"Although I did not recollect this prophecy, that Christ was to be born in Bethlehem, yet I am overjoyed to find the fact respecting jesus fulfills it.  He was born in Bethlehem of Judah.  This I have known some years; and--"

Here, while my heart was bounding with joy, Gamaliel said sternly, "I thought this man was born in Nazareth?"

"He has lived," answered Lazarus, "in Nazareth from childhood only.  During the days when Cesar Augustus issued a decree that all the world should be taxed, his mother, and Joseph her husband, went up to the city of David to be taxed, which is Bethlehem, and there Jesus was born, as I have often heard from her lips.  But it is on the records in the proper office of the Temple, and can be referred to there."

"Admitting, then, that he was born in Bethlehem," said Saul, who, from his training in the schools, appeared to be much given to disputation, "you have to prove his lineage from David's line."

"Wherefore did his parents go to Bethlehem, David's city, unless they were of his royal line?" asked Rabbi Amos; "for none went to any other city to be taxed than that of their own family.  The fact that they went there is strong evidence that they were of David's house."

"Every one born in the city of David," remarked Gamaliel, "is not of necessity of David's house; but it is surprising if this Jesus really was born in Bethlehem."

"But may not his lineage be ascertained without a doubt from the records of the tribes, and of their families,

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kept by command of the law of the Temple?" I asked of my uncle.

"Without question.  These books of the generations of our people are to be relied on," he answered.

"In fact," said Gamaliel, "they are kept with the greatest of accuracy, and it is so ordained by God, for the very reason that when Messias cometh we may know whether he, who claims to be such, be of the house of David or no.  I will examine the book of the Generations, and see if his mother and father come of the stock and seed of David."

"And if you find that they do," asked John, with emotion, "can you doubt any longer whether Jesus be the Christ?  Will not the fact of his being born in Bethlehem, and of the lineage of David, not to speak of the witness of God's own audible voice, heard by our ears this day--will to these facts lead you to believe that He is the Christ?"

"They will prevent me from actually rejecting him," answered the cold philosopher.  "But every child born in Bethlehem, and of the house of David, and there are many of them in Judah, fulfills, so far, the conditions of these two prophecies; these are not therefore Messias!"

"What more can you ask for?" asked Mary, with feeling; for she as strongly believed that Jesus was the Christ as I did, and was deeply pained by so many doubts, and such subtlety of objection from those who were so learned in the prophets.  But men reason and reason, while women simply believe.

"Miracles," answered the disciple of Gamaliel, and glancing at the face of his master inquiringly.

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"Yes, miracles," also answered the sage.  "the Messiah is to heal the sick by a word, restore sight to the blind, cast out devils, and raise even the dead."  And here he desired Saul to read the particular prophecy giving the power of miracles to the Christ.

"If he restore the blind and raise the dead, I will doubt no longer," answered Saul.

There was at this moment an interruption caused by noisy altercations in the court among some of John the Baptist's disciples, some of whom were disposed to acknowledge fully the superiority of Jesus; while others, still indulging in the full fervor of their first conversion, stoutly contended for the transcendent greatness of him whom they regarded as their own Prophet.  Rabbi Amos, as host, went out to put an end to these disputings, when Gamaliel retired to his chamber; and the conversation was not renewed.

Thus, you see, my dear father, that even on the very day of these marvellous events, by eye-witness themselves, there is much difference of opinion concerning who Jesus is; and therefore I do not expect you, who are so remote from the scene, and who know them only by report, to believe all at once, as I myself do.  Will you write to me and tell me what view you take of all this subject, and what can be brought from the Scriptures to prove that in this wonderful person Messias has not come?

The next morning early the people departed from the court where they had lodged; and when the sun was about an hour high we also took saddle and rode to Jericho, where we passed the day with Miriam, the daughter of Joel, who was cousin to my mother.

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Lazarus has returned to Bethany, where his occupation demands his attendance; but John, the son of Eliasaph, has remained with us, having agreed with Lazarus that he would go again alone into the desert and not give up his search for the Divine Prophet, Jesus, until he had found him; for both young men feel as sad as if they had lost a beloved and honored brother.

Your daughter,

Adina.

LETTER XII.

My Dear Father:

How shall I think you for you forbearance with me, and your kind answers to all my letters, filled as they are with so many inquiries and opinions, which must surprise, and perhaps displease you.  You say that you have read all that I have written with impartiality, and that you do not marvel that "one whom you are pleased to call so imaginative and full of sensibility as myself, should be affected by what has passed under my observation in Judea."  You nevertheless refuse, on your part, my dear father, to listen, with the least proximation towards belief, to the extraordinary recital I have given you.  You are pleased to question the reality of the voice at Jordan, and the presence of the dove of fire, and to refer it, as many others try to do who actually witnessed it, to an illusion of the senses.  You are willing to admit that Jesus may be born at Bethlehem, for many whom you know "who are not prophets, neither sons of prophets, were born

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there."  You are willing to admit that he "may be of the lineage of David, for David's descendants are as numerous as they are poor and obscure, yet they are not Messiahs, nor do they pretend to be Christs."  You are content with doubting the accuracy of the memory of the mother of Lazarus, as to the scene in the Temple, about thirty years ago, described to you by my cousin Mary in her letter, though acknowledging you have often seen both Simeon and Anna in the Temple, and about the time stated by her.  But you main objection to receiving John's evidence that this is the Christ, is, "that he is poor, of humble station, destitute of influence, received baptism of a man, when the Messias was to be the anointed of God."  "Who," you ask, "of the wise, and the venerated, and the learned, and the aged, with years and experience; who of the doctors, and lawyers, and priests; who of the Scribes, and who of the Pharisees, and of the great men of Israel, will agree in acknowledging as Him of whom Moses and the Prophet wrote; as the central sun around which all the dazzling prophecies of Esaias revolve; as the end and fulfilling of the law; as the Lion of the tribe of Judah; as the Shiloh of the nations; as the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the mighty God and the Prince of Peace; as the glory of Israel, and Joy of the whole Earth--an obscure young man of thirty, unlearned in letters, the son of a carpenter, a citizen of Nazareth (a city proverbially mean), a person without a name, character, power, rank, wealth, or influence, and the least that was heard of whom was, that he had fled into the desert?"  You add, dear father, that this mere enumeration of what the true Christ ought to be, with the enumeration of what is

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wanting in this man, should be sufficient to convince me that I have given my sympathies and faith to one who has no claim to them.  You say further, "that you do not call my Messias an impostor, because, so far as you can learn, he has professed nothing, proclaimed nothing, declared nothing, respecting himself.  In silence he appeared, and in silence disappeared, none knowing whence or whither;" and you close your review of my history by saying, "that you shall wait for further development before you can give the subject your serious consideration."

In your next letter, where you again allude to the theme, you say, "that is this prophet reappears, and from his own lips declared himself sent from God, and by an appeal to undisputed miracles gives proof of his divine mission, declaring himself, thereby, to be the Christ, you will then believe in Him, provided the whole of the prophecies can be shown to meet in his person."

On this ground, I am willing that the issue should be met, dearest father; and you add, with your usual candor, "that you will not hesitate to acknowledge as the Christ a man who fulfills all prophecy in his own person, though he come in a state and condition contrary to your preconceived notions of the character of the Messias; for that it would be safer for you to question the correctness of your own interpretation of the Messiac prophecies hitherto, than the identity of one in whom, without question, do meet all the golden threads of the predictions relating to the Christ."  Here I am content, my dear father, to let the question remain, being, however, fully persuaded in my own mind that though this humble young man, Jesus, hath come lowly and ob-

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scurely into the world, yet he will prove himself to that world that He is the true Messias, Christ of God.

Now, my dear father, let me resume the interesting subject, of whicch my letters have been so full:  and, moreover, as you desired me still to keep you informed of all that transpires touching Jesus of Nazareth, and as no theme upon which I can write is so pleasing to me, I will here narrate all that I have heard since I last wrote you.

It is now eight weeks since our return from Gilgal.  For five weeks after we reached Jerusalem, we heard nothing of Jesus, until John, som of Eliasaph, re-appeared.  He and Lazarus came into the city together, and to the house of Rabbi Amos.  Our first inquiry was;

"Have you seen Him?  Have you heard anything from Him?"

"John has seen Him," answered Lazarus, seriously; "aske him, and he will tell you all."

We looked at John, who sat sad and pensive, as if he were dwelling in him mind upon some painful, yet tender sorrow.  The eyes of my cousin Mary, which always caught their lustre from his, were shaded with an inquiring look of sympathy and solicitude.

"You are not well, I fear," she said, placing her fair hand upon his white brow, and putting back the hair from the temples.  "You have been long away, and are weary and ill."

"Weary, Mary?  I shall never complain of weariness again, after what I have beheld."

"What have you seen?" I asked.

"Jesus in the desert; and when I remember Him there, I shall forget to smile more."

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"You found Him, then?" I eagerly asked.

"Yes, after days of painful search.  I found Him in the very centre of the Desert of Ashes, where foot of man had never trodden before.  I saw Him upon His knees, and heard His voice in prayer.  I laid down the sack of bread and fishes, and the skin of water I had brought with me to succor Him, and with awe drew near where He stood."

"How did you find Him there?" I asked, with that painful interest which exacts all details.

"By His footsteps in the sands and ashes.  I saw where He sat down to rest, and where two nights He reposed upon the ground.  I expected to find Him perished, but each day I discovered His progressing footsteps and followed them.  As I now drew near Him, I heard Him groan in spirit, and He seemed to be borne down to the earth by some mortal agony.  He was, as it were, talking to some invisible evil beings who assailed Him.

"Rabbi! good Master, I said, I have brought thee food and water.  Pardon me if I have intruded upon thy awful loneliness, which is sacred to some deep grief; but I weep with fear for thy woes, and in all thy afflictions I am afflicted.  Eat, that thou mayest have strength to endure they mysterious sufferings.

"He turned His pale countenance full upon me, and extended towards me His emaciated hands, while smiled faintly, and blessed me and said:

"`Son, thou art very dear to me.  Thou shalt one day be afflicted for me, but not now, and then understand wherefore I am now a sufferer in the desert.'

"Let me remain with thee, Divine Messias, I said.

"`Thou believest, then, that I am He?' he answered, regarding me with love.

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"I replied by casting myself at His desert-parched feet and vathing them with my tears.  He raised me, and said, `Go thy way presently.  When the time of my fasting and temptation is past, I will see thee again.'

"Nay, I will not leave thee, I asserted.

"`If thou lovest me, beloved, thou wilt obey me,' he answered, with a tone of gentle reproof.

"But thou wilt first eat of the bread I have brought, and drink the water, I entreated.

"`Thou knowest not what temptation thou art offering to me,' he replied sadly.  `Thou hast not enough for thine own needs.  Go, and leave me to gain the victory over Satan, the Prince of this world, for which I was led by the spirit thither!'

"I once more cast myself at his feet, and He lifted me up, kissed me, and sent me away.  Oh, you would not have known him!  Worn and emaciated by long abstinence, weak through suffering, He looked but the shadow of himself.  He could not have lived thus if there had not been divine power within to sustain him!  His existence so long, for He had been in the desert five weeks without food, when I found him, was a miracle in itself, proving the power of God to be in him!"

"For what mighty works among men is God preparing him?" said Rabbi Amos, with emotion.  "Surely He is a Prophet come from God."

"Think you He still lives?" I asked, with anxious fears, scarcely trusting my voice above a whisper.

"Yes," answered John; "I am come to tell you He was divinely sustained through all; and after forty days He came forth from the wilderness, and suddenly presented himself on the banks of Jordan, among John's

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disciples.  I was standing near the Baptiser, discoursing of the Christ, and marvelling when his exile to the desert would terminate, when the prophet, lifting up his eyes, cried with a loud voice full of joy:

"`Behold again the Lamb of God, upon whom the Spirit of God descended!  He hath come from the furnace, like a gold seven times tried in the fire!  He it is who alone taketh away the sins of the world.'

"I turned, and beheld Jesus advancing.  He was pale, and wore an expression of gentle, uncomplaining suffering, on his benign and spiritualized countenance.  His calm, chastened, dignified aspect, the serene composure and peace of his looks, awed me, while they caused me to love him.  I hastened to meet him, and was kneeling in joy at his feet, when He embraced me as a brother, and said, `Faithful, and full of love, wilt thou follow me?'

"I will never more leave thee," I anwered.

"`Where dwellest thou, Divine Master!' then asked one of John's disciples, Andrew by name, who was with me.

"`Come my friends, and see,' He answered; and we went after Him with joy unutterable.

"What passed between him and the Baptizer," asked Rabbi Amos, "at the river side on this meeting?"

"Not a word.  They met and parted like strangers, John going away across Jordan into the wilderness, as Jesus entered the village of Bethabara; and, appraching the house of a widow, where He abode, He went in and we followed Him, and by his request took up our abode with Him.  Oh, how shall I be able to make known by words," added John, "The sweet expression of his dis-

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course?  In one day in his presence, I grew wise; his words filled the soul like a new wine, and made the heart glad.  The next day He wished to go into Galilee, and so on to Nazareth, where His mother dwelleth; and as I have made up my mind to follow Him as his disciple henceforth, I have only come hither to make known my purpose to Mary, and to arrange my affairs in the city.  To-morrow I leave again, to join this, my dear Lord, at Cana of Galilee."

"Oh, happy, and to be envied, friend and brother," said Lazarus.  "How gladly would I go, also, and become one of his disciples! but the care of my mother and sisters cometh upon me, and I must deny myself the happiness of being ever near this divine man, and listening to the heavenly wisdom that flows from his lips.  How blind I have been never to have discovered, under his gentle and loving character, and unobtrusive wisdom, the Messias.  Truly, He was among us, and we knew Him not."

"Canst thou divine at all his purpose?" asked Rabbi Amos of John, "whether He intends to found a school of wisdom, to preach like the prophets, to reign like David, or to conquer like his warrior namesake, Joshua!"

"I know not, save that He said He came to redeem that which was lost, and to establish a kingdom that shall have no end!"

Upon hearing this, all our hearts bounded with hope and confidence in him, and we altogether burst forth into a voice of thansgiving, and sang this hymn of praise:

"O sing unto the Lord a new song:  for He hath done marvellous things; his right hand and his holy arm hath gotten the victory.

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"The Lord hath make known his salvation; his righteousness hath He openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.

"He hath remembered his mercy and his truth towards the house of Israel:  all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

"Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth:  make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing his praise.

"Sing unto the Lord with the harp:  with the harp, and the voice of a psalm.

"With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King.

"Let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therin.

"Let the floods clap their hands; let the hills be joyful together.

"Before the Lord; for He cometh to judge the earth; with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity."

There was this morning, dear father, no little excitement produced among the Chief Priests by a formal inquiry sent by Pilate to Caiaphas the High Priest, asking whether this new prophet was to be acknowledged by them as their Messiah, "for if he is to be, it will be my duty," said the Governor, "to place him under arrest, inasmuch as we understand the Jewish Messias is to declare himself king!"  Upon this, there was a tumultuous assembling together of the Priests in the porch of the Temple, and with many invectives they agreed to send answer to Pilate that they did not acknowledge Jesus of Nazareth to be the Christ.  They were led to this more urgently, inasmuch as they feared the arrest of Jesus would give the Romans occasion for arresting other Jews, and so bring on the nation great troubles; just as, a few years ago, when a certain impostor rose up and called himself the Christ, the Romans were not satisfied with taking and destroying him, but they punished with fines every city in Judah.  Therefore the Priests denied to the Procurator any know-

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ledge of Jesus, and entreated him not to pay any attention to Him, till indeed he should find that he openly took the lead of armed men.  What Pilate will conclude to do, I know not.  Rabbi Amos informed us that the Procurator had got some news by a courier that morning, that Jesus, on his way to Cana, had been followed by full a thousand people, who, having recognized his as having been baptized by John in Jordan, hailed him as the Christ.

Thus you see, my dear father, that this divine person is already taking hold of the hearts of the people, and arousing the jealousy of our enemies.  Be assured that the day will come when He will lift up his standard to the Gentiles, and draw all men unto Him.  The developments of his power are daily taking place; and although He has yet performed no such miracle as would be deemed, by you, a test of divine mission, yet I have no doubt that in due time He will give this proof, and all other needful manifestations, that He is the Christ of Good.

Your loving

Adina.

LETTER XIII.

My Dear Father:

I have received your last letter by the Cairo merchant, Heber, the son of Malchial, and having read it to Rabbi Amos, he says, after careful reflection thereupon, that he cannot agree with you in your opinion touching the undimmed glory of Messiah, viz. :  "that he is to come

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as a King, and Mighty Leader of Hosts, and reign and prosper, and rule the earth, King of the kings of the earth."  He desires me to ask you what is meant by "Messias being a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," as professied of him; and how you interpret, dear father, other than as referring to a violent end, tho words of the wise Daniel, "And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself?"  Uncle also desires me to ask you to examine into the time named by Daniel, when Messiah the Prince is to come, and take note that we live in the day of the close of the threescore and two weeks, whereof the prophet writeth and saith, "Know, therefore, and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks."  Rabbi Amos says, the time for the appearing of Christ is verily come, as all must confess who read the Prophets; and the only reason that Jesus is not believed to be he, is that he comes in poverty and humility, fasting and suffering.  But, my dear father, may it not be ordained that the Christ shall come in lowliness and end in power?  Oh that you could have the faith in Jesus of Nazareth, that He is Messias, that I have, dearest and most honored father!  Since I last wrote you, my faith has been confirmed by the testimony which in one of your letters you demanded.  You said, "let me hear that he has done an authentic miracle in attestation of the divinity of his mission--such a miracle as was prophesied Messias shall do--as healing the sick by a word, restoring the blind to sight, and raising the dead, and I will prepare to believe in him."

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A miracle He has performed, dear father, and one the genuineness of which is not disputed by any one.  I can give you the particulars best by extracting from a letter written by John to Mary, a few days after his departure to join Jesus of Nazareth; for John has joined himself to Him, and become his disciple.

"Upon reaching Nazareth," says the letter, "I was guided to the humble dwelling occupied by the mother of Jesus, by a large concours of people gathered about it, of whom inquiring, I learned that it was to see the new prophet they had thus assembled.  "What new prophet?' I asked, wishing to know what the multitude though of Jesus.

"`The one whom John of the Wilderness foretold.' answered one.

"`They say he is Messias,' replied another.

"`He is the Christ,' boldly asserted a third.

"Hereupon, a Levite standing by said scornfully, `Does Christ come out of the country of Galilee?  You read the Prophets to little purpose, if you see therein any Christ prophesied to come our of Nazareth of Galilee.'  Hereupon, seeing the faith of so many staggered, I said, `Brethren, Christ is truly to be of Bethlehem; and verily Jesus, though now he dwelleth in this place, was born in Bethlehem.'

"`Thou canst not prove it, man,' said the Levite, angrily.

"`The stranger speaketh truly,' spoke up both an old man and a gray-haired woman in the crowd; `we know that He was not born here, and that when his parents moved hither, when He was an infant, they then said He was born in Bethlehem.,  We all remember this well.'

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"Hereupon the Levite, seeing that he had not the people with him, passed on his way, while I went to the door of the house where Jesus dwelt with his mother.  There were two doors, one of which led into a workshop, where I noticed the bench and tolls of the occupation at which He had toiled to support himself and his mother.  This sight made me half question whether He, who was an humble artisan, whose working tools and shop I saw before me, could in truth be the Christ of God, the Prince of Messias whom all the patriarchs and prophets looked forward to with the eye of faith, desiring to see his day! and it required the recalling of the wonderful scenes of his baptism, the Holy Dove and Voice of God, and his miraculous preservation in the wilderness, to revive my assurance; but when, as I entered the dwelling, I saw Him standing, teaching those who hug on his lips, and listened to his calm voice, and heard the sublime wisdom of his instructions, beheld the dignity of his aspect, and felt the heavenly benignity of his manner, I forgot the carpenter, I forgot the man, and seemed to behold in Him only Messiah the Prince, the Son of God.

"Upon beholding me, He extended his hand, and received me graciously, and said, pointing to five men who stood near Him, regarding Him with mingled love and reverece, `These are thy brethren, who have also come out of the world to follow me.'

"Of these, on was Andrew, who had been, as well as myself, John's disciple, and both were talking with him when Jesus came forth out of the wilderness.  Another was Andrew's brother, whose name is Simon, who, hearing his brother speak of Jesus as the Christ, had gone

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with him to see Him; but he had no sooner beheld Him than he joined himself to Him; and Jesus, from the firmness and immovable zeas of his character, which He seemed to understands, called his also Peter, or Stone.  The fourth disciple was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.  His name was Philip, and he followed Jesus from having been prepared by John the Baptist to receive Him.  He was, however, so overjoyed at finding the Christ, that he ran to the house of his kinsman Nathaniel, and finding him in his garden, beneath a fig-tree, at prayer, exclaimed:

"`We have found Him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, the Messias of God!'

"`Where is He, that I may behold Him?' asked his relative rising.

"`It is Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph,' Philip answered.

"Upon hearing this answer, the countenance of Nathaniel fell, and he replied:

"`Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?'

"`Come thou and see for thyself,' answered Philip.

" Nathaniel then went with him where Jesus was.  When Jesus saw him approaching, He said to those about Him:

"`Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile!'

"`Whence knowest thou me?' asked Nathaniel, with surprise, for he had heard the words which were spoken.  Jesus answered, and said:

"`Before Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee.'

"Upon hearing this, Nathaniel, who knew that he

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was all alone in his garden and unseen at prayer, when his brother came, regarded the serene face of Jesus steadfstly, and then, as if he beheld therein the expression of omnipresence, he cried before all the people:

"`Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God!  Thou art the King of Israel!'

"Jesus looked upon him as if pleased at his confession, and said:

"`Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig-tree, believest thou?  Thou shalt see greater things than these.  Verily, verily, I say unto you, hereafter ye shall see Heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.'

"These four, Andrew and Peter, Philip and Nathaniel, were then present in the house with Him; and, to my surprise and joy, with them stood my own brother James, whom Jesus had seen on the lake in his boat, and called him, when James left and followed Him.  Thus we were six disciples in all, bound to Him by ties of confidence and love.  The mother of Jesus, a noble and matronly woman, still beautiful, and with a face of the holiest serenity, was present, and gazed with pride and tenderness upon her Son, listening to his words, as if she also would learn of Him that wisdom which hath descended upon Him from above.  The next day James and I went to the sea of Tiberias, but two hours distant, to see our father Zebedee, and transfer our interests to him; and, during the afternoon, Jesus passed near the shore on his way to Cana, when, calling us, we forever left our ships and our father and joined Him.  His mother, and many of her kinsfolk were of the company, all going to a marriage of the cousin of the family.

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Upon our arrival at Cana, we were ushered into the guest-chamber, and Jesus in particular, was received with marked respect by the Hebrew master of the house, though he was an officer in the service of the Romans.  We here met Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptizer, who is a relative of Mary, the mother of Jesus.  The meeting between these two blessed women was very touching.

"`Ah,' said the mother of John the prophet, as she looked upon Jesus, who was talking with the governor of the feast, `How blessed art thou, O Mary, to have thy son ever with thee! while I am a mother, and yet no mother.  The son whom God gave me He hath taken from me to be his prophet, and he is to me as if he were dead!  Since his twelfth year he has been a dweller in the wilderness, knowing no man, until six months ago he came forth to proclaim, according to the word of the Lord, the advent of the holy Son!'

"The marriage feast at length commenced.  The wine which should have come from Damascus, had not arrived, the caravan having been delayed by the insurrection near Cesarea.  The guests had therefore but little wine, and the chief ruler of the town presiding at the feast, seeing that the wine had given cut, bade the servants to place more upon the board.  The mother of Jesus, who knew that the wine was our, turning to Him, said, `They have no wine!' for it seems that she knew of the mighty power that was within Him, though He had not yet manifested it openly.  I sat next to Him, and heard her when she whispered to Jesus.  The holy Prophet of God looked grave, and said, with a slight tone of respectful reproof, and applying to her that title which

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we in Judea believe most honorable of all others, `Woman,' he said to this purport, `what have I to do with thy private requests for the exercise of my power?  Thou desirest me to perform a miracle before this noble company, that they may behold it and believe on me.  Mine hour for manifesting my glory to the world is not yet come; nevertheless, affectionate, in obedience to thy wish, my honored mother, I will do what I pereive thou desirest me to do.'

"She then thanked him with deep and grateful emotion, and turning to the servants, beckoned to them, while her cheek borrowed a rich color from her hidden joy, and her eyes kindled with the feelings of a mother about to see her son display powers such as only come by the gift of God, and which were to seal Him as a mighty Prophet, before the eyes of Jew and

Gentile.  For myself, not anticipating, or suspecting what was to take place, I regarded the nervous emotions of the joyful mother with marvel.  When two or three of the servants had approached, she said to them:

"`Whatsoever He saith to you, do it.'

"They then fixed their regards upon the Prophet, awaiting his commands, as little suspecting what they would be as I did.  The face of Jesus, ever calm and dignified, now seemed to assume a look of majesty inexpressible, and his eyes to express a certain consciousness of power within, that awed me.  Casting his glance upon several stone vases, which stood by the door empty, He said to the servants:

"`Fill the water-pots with water.'

"In the court, in full sight from the table, was a well, to which the servants forthwith went with jars, which I saw them fill with water, bear it in upon their heads, and pour it out into the water-pots, until they had filled them all, six in number, to the brim.  While this was going on, the governor of the feast was relating to the guests, and fixing their attention, as well as his own, how that Herod and Pontius Pilate had recently become enemies, because the latter, on his way from Cesarea Philippi to Jerusalem, in order to be present with his forces during the weeks of the Passover, having come to a caravanserai, at night, which was occupies by Jerod and his body-guard, turned the latter all out to make room for his own retinue, saying that a Roman Procurator was more honorable than a Jewish Tetrarch of Galilee.  `It will be long,' added the governor, as the last water-pot was filled, `before this quarrel will be made up between them.  But we talk, my friends, and forget our wine.'

"`Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast,' said Jesus to the servants.

"They obeyed, and pouring rich, blood-red wine from the jars which I and others had seen filled up with simple water from the well, the amazed servants bore it to the chief of the feast.  He had no sooner filled his goblet and tasted it, than he called to the bridegroom, who sat in the middle of the table, and said:

"`Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine, and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse, but thou hast kept the good wine unto now.'

"`Who hath brought this wine?' asked the bridegroom, drinking of the water that was made wine.  `Whence it came, sir, I know not.'

"Then the servants and the others told that they had

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filled the six water-pots with water to the brim, at the command of Jesus, the Prophet, and that when they drew out, behold it flowed forth wine instead of water!  Upon this there was a general exclamation of surprise; and the governor of the feast crying out, `A great prophet indeed hath been among us, and we knew it not,' rose to approach and do honor to Jesus; but he had already conveyed himself away, at once rising and passing out through the door, and seeking the solitude of the fatdens.  Thither I followed Him, and worshipping Him, sat at his feet and listened while he unfolded to me wonderful things concerning himself, showing that He is truly the Son of God and the very Christ.  But these things I cannot speak to thee of now, for I do not clearly understand all that He is to be, save that I know He is destined to suffer, and to be exalted.  Doubt not," concludes the letter to Mary, "doubt not that Jesus is the Christ.  His miracle at Cana, of turning water into wine, is a public display of his divine power.  All men at the feast have believed on Him, and his fame is spreading abroad throughout Galilee and Samaria.  He has told me privately that He must soon visit Jerusalem, and He will there openly proclaim his mission as the Christ of God."

In this manner, my dear father, writes the betrothed husband of my cousin Mary; and I have given you the above extract from his letter, in order that you may see that Jesus is already attracting great attention, that He has disciples, and that Je is, by no means, poor, who has the power to convert wells of water into wine!  From this letter you must perceive that Jesus is at least a prophet equal to Elijah, who kept full the cruse of the

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widow of Zarephath.  If, therefore, you acknowledge this much, you must confess that he is a good man.  Now, a good man will not deceive.  Yet Jesus hath plainly said to John, `that He is the Christ!'  How, then, my dear father, can any one deny, who believes Him to be a prophet, that He is even more than a prophet, even Messias?  Pardon your daughter for thus presuming to reason with you; but I am so earnest that you should believe, that I sometimes forget the daughter in the disciple of Jesus.  As for my uncle, the good and learned Rabbi Amos, he is more than half his disciple; and I have no doubt that when Jesus shall present himself in Jerusalem, and he can see Him, and hear his divine teachings, he will cast off all prejudice, and become his open follower.

The rumor of the miracle at Cana has reached Jerusalem since I began this letter, and I hear that it has produced no little excitement in the market-places and courts of the Temple.  Rabbi Amos, on his return from sacrifice, a few minutes ago, said that he saw, in the Court of the Temple, more than thirty priests with rolls of the Prophets in their hands, engaged in looking up the prophecies of the Christ.  So, my dear father, you see that the young man "who came," as you remarked, "no one knew whence, and went, no one knew whither," is already taking hold of the attention of Israel, and stirring up the minds of all men to investigate his claims to being the Christ.

Your affectionate daughter,

Adina.

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LETTER XIV.

My Dear Father:

You will by now require that testimony of my letters to enable you to appreciate the fame of the wonderful young man of Nazareth, Jesus, who is daily proving himself a prophet indeed, and mighty before God, showing all the people that God is with Him.  Not a stanger cometh into Jerusalem who does not bring report of some new miracle that He hath done, some wonderful manifestation of his power.  He still delays coming to Jerusalem, but is engaged in preaching the coming of the kingdom of David and of god on earth, teaching in the synagogues, and showing from the Prophets that He is truly the Messias.  His fame for wisdom, for knowledge of the Scriptures, for power to teach, and for miracles, has gone abroad through all Syria, so that they bring to Him sick persons, both rich and poor, even from Damascus, to be healed of Him; and He heals all who are brought unto Him, whether possessed of devils, lunatic, or having the palsy.  His footsteps are attended by thousands wheresoever He goes, and even the Governor of Philippi, descending by the way-side from his chariot, hath mingled in the throng, and kneeling at his feet, asked the health of his son, who was palsied; and his son was healed by Him by a word, though many leagues distant.  While I now write, a company is pass-

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ing the open window, bearing upon beds two wealthy men of Jerusalem, given over by their physicians, who are going to Him to be cured; for all Jerusalem talks of nothing else than the wonderful miracles of Jesus.  There was a man who wove baskets, who has occupied a stall opposite our house for many years.  He had lost entirely the use of his legs, for twelve years, and had to be carried to and fro.  Hearing of the fame of Jesus, he was seized with a strong desire to have Him perform a miracle upon him.  For this purpose he begged money from the priests, as they went by to the Temple, but though some gave, all laughed, saying that he oculd not be cured, inasmuch as one of his limbs was withered.  But the man had faith, and having begged silver enough for his journey into Galilee.  Lo! at the end of three weeks he returned, walking upright, and well in body and limbs!  All the city flocked to behold him; and he related how, that when he had reached Capernaum, where Jesus was, the crowd was so great that his bearers could not for some time get near Him.  At length Jesus moved on, healing the files of sick as He passed through them by a word.  "Seeing me," narrates the man, "He fixed his eyes upon me, and said, calling me by name:

"`Great is thy faith.  As thou hast believed, be it done unto thee.'

"Immediately my legs and ankle-bones received strength; I leaped from the litter to the ground, and found that I was wholly free from pain or disease, and my shruken limb restored as sound as the other.  I would have fallen at his feet in ecstasy of joy, but the

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crowds which pressed Him separated me from the sight of Him.  But I filled the air with shouts of rejoicing and hallelujahs to the Son of David!"

This man, my dear father, I now see daily, moving about sound in limb and health; but this one instance is but one of a thousand.  John, who follows Jesus everywhere he goes, and is a witness of all that He does and teaches, writes to Mary, that "the sick and afflicted from all parts of the land of Galilee, from Decapolis, from Jerusalem, from beyond Jordan, even from Lesser Asia, come to Him.  When my beloved master," he writes, "comes forth from a synagogue, where He has been reading the Prophets to the people, who hear him gladly, I have beheld two hundred persons, the lame, the palsied, the withered, the blind, the possessed of devils, and persons afflicted with all manner of diseases, laid in rows before the gate of the synagogue, awaiting his coming forth.  Those who bore or held them were standing in eager expectant groups near them.  It was a painful, yet sublime spectacle, to behold the hollow eyes of those wretched sufferers turned towards the door as the people came running forth, shouting, `He comes!  He comes!'  The writhing torments of the possessed with devils ceased for the moment, and groans gave way to expecting silence.  Jesus at length appears, and upon seeing his face, that ever expresses holy benignity and innate power, all set up touching cries of the most thrilling appeal for his aid, and such appeals are never uttered in vain.  Going through the rows of beds and litters, He lays his hand upon some, speaks a word to others, touches the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf, places his hand gently on the head of the lunatice,

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and commands in tones of authority the devils to leave the bodies of the possessed.  And what is extraordinary," continues John, "the devils always conduct with more terrific violence as He draws near, and while they leave the possessed with curses, they confess loudly that Jesus is `the Son of David--the Son of God!' and implore Him, in the most abject manner, not utterly to destroy them!  So great is the multitude which everywhere follows Him, that He is often compelled to withdraw from them by stealth, to get to some by-place of quiet where He can refresh his wearied strength for a few days.  But He cannot remain long away from the people.  They soon penetrate his retirement, and He never can refuse their appeals to his miraculous powers to do them good.  How wonderful is He who thus holds in his hands divine power!  The authority of kings is nothing before that which He possesses in his voice; yet He is serene, humble, oh, how humble! to our shame; and always calm and gentle.  He spends much time in private prayer to God, whom He always addresses as his Father.  Never was such a man on earth.  We, who know Him most intimately, stand most in awe of Him; yet with our deep reverence for his holy character is combined the purest affection.  In one and the same breath I feel that I adore Him as my Lord, and love Him even as my brother.  So we all feel towards Him.  His engaging manners, his patience with our ignorance, his forbearance with our grossness, his ready excuses for us when we are in fault, ere we have time to exculpate ourselves, all have bound us to Him

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with ties that can never be sundered.  When I next write to you," continues John, "I will relate to you, so far as they are understood by me and my fellow-disciples, the things which He reveals respecting himself and the object of his mission on earth.  Many things, however, are not comprehended by us, but He promises that we shall by and by understand what now appears obscure to us."

Such, my dear father, is the tenor of the letters which my cousin Mary receives from John, the disciple of Jesus.  They are all filled with accounts of his miracles, of his teachings, and of his journeyings.  When we shall see Jesus at Jerusalem, I shall be able from personal observation to write to you more particularly concerning his doctrines and miracles.  That He is Christ, thousands now believe; for they ask, very naturally, how could He do these things unless God were with Him?  What is also of importance, it has been proben by the results of the examination made by some of the scribes of the Temple, that He was truly born in Bethlehem, and that both his mother Mary, and Joseph her husband, are lineal descendants of the house of David.  Moreover, Phineas, the venerable priest, whom you know, hath borne testimony to the fact, that when Jesus was an infant, during the reign of the elder Herod, there arrived in Jerusalem three eminent princes, men of wisdom and learning.  One of these came from Persia; one from the Grecian province of Media; and one from Arabia, and brought with them gifts of gold and spices, and were attended by retinues.  These three princes reached Jerusalem the same day by three different ways, and evtered by three different gates, each unknowing to the

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other's presence or object till they met in the city before Herod's palace.  One represented himself descended from Shem, another form Japhet, the third from Ham!  And they musteriously, it is said, typified all the races of the earth who by them recognized and adored the Saviour of men in the child Jesus.  The king hearing that these three strangers had arrived in Jerusalem, sent to know wherefore they had honored his kingdom with a visit.  "They answered," says Phineas, as he yesterday related the narrative in the presence of Caiaphas, and many of the rulers and Pharisees, `that they came to do homage to the young Prince, who was born king of the Jews.'  And when Herod asked what prince they spoke of, they answered, `we have seen his star in the East, and are come to worship Him!'

"`How know you the star you have seen indicates the birth of a Prince of Judea?' demanded King Herod, greatly troubled at what he heard.

"`It had a motion towards this city,' they answered, `and we have been led by a heavenly impulse to follow it, and lo! it has led us to Jerusalem, over which, were it now night, you would see it suspended, burning with the glory of a planet; and it hath been revealed to us that it is the star of the birth of one who is to reign King of Judah!  Tell us, therefore, oh king, where this august Prince is now to be found, that we may worship Him!'

"Hereupon," says Phineas, "the king issued an edict for all the chief priests and scribes of the people to assemble in the council chamber of his palace.  He then addressed them:

"`Ye to whom is given the care of the Books of the

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Law and of the Propets, whose study they are, and in whom lies the skill to interpret the prophecies, search therein, and tell me truly where the Christ is to be born.  Behold here present these august and wise men who have come from afar to do him homage; nay more, as they aver, to worship him as God.  Let us have the courtesy to give them the answer that they seek, and let us not be found more ingnorant of these things than those who dwell in other lands!'

"Several of the chief priests then rose and said: `It is known, oh king, to all who are Jews, and who read the Prophets, that Messias cometh of the house of David, of the town of Bethlehem: for thus it is written by the Prophet: "And thou, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not least among the Princes of Judah, for out of thee shall come a Governor that shall rule my people, Israel!"'

"This question being thus decided," continued Phineas, "Herod dismissed the council, and retiring to his own private room, secretly sent to the three princes of the East to inquire of them what time the star appeared.  And when they had named the very day and hour on which they had first seen it, he was thereby enabled to arrive at the probable age of the infant.  He then said to them:

"`You have my permission, noble stranger, to go to Bethlehem, and search for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also; for it is but meet that we should pay all possible honors to a Prince of our realm, whose birth is heralded in so unusual a manner, and to worship whom even the East sends forth her wise men.'

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They then left the presence of Herod, and it being dark when they left the palace, they were overjoyed to behold the star which they saw in the East, going before them.  They followed it until it left Jerusalem by the Bethlem, and stopped above anhumble dwelling therein.  When they wer come into the house, they saw the rays of the star resting upon the head of an infant in the arms of its mother Mary, the wife of Joseph.  They at once acknowledged and hailed Him as Prince and King of Israel, and falling down, worshipped Him; and opening their treasures, they presented unto Him gold, frankincense, and myrrh, gifts that are offered on the altar to God alone."

When Phineas was asked by Caiaphas how he knew this fact, he answered, that he, himself, prompted by couriosity to see the Prince they had come to worship, had followed them our of the palace of Herod, our of the gate, and even into Bethlehem, and witnessed their prostrations and offerings to the infant child of Mar.  "And," he added, "if this be doubted, there are many Jews now living in Jerusalem, and a certain Hebrew captain, now stricken in years, who can testify to the slaughter, by Herod's command, of the infants of Bethlehem; for this captain Jeremias led on the soldiers."

"And wherefore this slaughter?" asked Caiaphas. "It is not on record."

"Kings do not record there deeds of violence," answered Phineas.  "Herod kept it hushed up when he found that he gained nothing by it but hatred.  He slew them in order that the infant Jesus might be destroyed among them; for the three wise men, instead of returning through Jerusalem to their own country, and in-

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forming him where they had found the child, departed by another way; and when Herod found that they were gone, he became so highly enreaged, that he sent out a party of his household guard, under Jeremias, their captain, who now liveth to testify, ordering them to slay every child under two years of age in Bethlehem, hoping, as I have said, to kill the infant Jesus among the number.  But the child escaped, doubtless by God's powerful protection; and his fame in his manhood this day fills the ears of all Israel.  The adoration of these three men, who were the sons of Shem, Hem, and Japhet, clearly represents the homage of the whole race of mankind that shall yet be paid to him, if he be the Christ Messias!"

"Dost thou believe in him also?" asked Caiaphas, with angry surprise, looking sternly on Phineas.

"I will first see, and hear him speak; and if he be proven to me to be Messias, I will gladly worship him."

"Hereupon," said Rabbi Amos, who gave me the details of the foregoing interview between Caiaphas and Phineas, "there arose a great uproar, some crying that Jesus was the Christ, and others, that Phineas should be stoned to death."

Thus you see, my dear father, how the evidence increased in value and imprtance, proving Jesus to be the Messiah.  Lo! his very cradle bears testimony to his divine character; and surely do his miracles now confirm the pledge given by the remarkable circustances attending his childhood.  The captain Jeremias, now a gray-headed old soldier, having been called upon, testifies that he obeyed such an order of Herod, and that it was given within three days after the three Princes of

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the East quitted Jerusalem for Bethlehem.  Now, my dear father, let me sum up the evidences that go to show that Jesus is the Messiah.  First, his presentation in the Temple, when holy Simeon and Anna worshipped and prophesied of Him!  Secondly, the supernatural star which led the wise men to Bethlehem!  Thirdly, adoration of Him in his cradle!  Fourthly, the testimony of John the Baptist!  Fifthly, the voice of God at his baptism!  Sixthly, the descent of the Holy Ghost upon Him in the form of a fiery dove!  Seventhly, his miracle at Cana of Galilee!  And lastly, the glittering coronet of miracles that now encircles his brow, shedding a light and glory upon his path which it blinds and dazzles the eye steadfastly to behold.  Tell me, dear father, is not this the Christ?

Your affectionate and loving

Adina.

LETTER XV.

My Dear Father:

The inquiry you made in your last letter, "What hath become of the Prophet of Jordan, since the fame of Jesus hath so far eclipsed his own?" I can answer, but with sadness.  Your inquiry seems to infer that he would feel envious of the power and the miracles that distinguish his successor.  But on the contrary, John always plainly declared in his preaching, that "he was not worthy to unloose the shoe latchet of Him who was to come after him;" and he distinctly said many times to all, that "He to whom I bear witness must increase,

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but I must decrease!"  The mission on which John came terminated when Jesus came.  Soon afterwards, he left the wilderness and entered Jericho, where Herod chances then to be visiting.  Here he preached in the public places, and in the market, and on the very steps of the Governor's palace, that God's judgments were coming upon the earth, and that men must, by repentance, appease His wrath; and that the Christ would be the Judge of men!  Now while he was thus speaking to the people, and the officers and soldiers of the Tetrarch's guard, Herod himself came forth upon the balcony to listen, for he had heard in Galile much of John, and had long a desire to hear him.  The prophet no sooner beheld him, than he boldly addressed him, and sternly reproved him for the sin of having married the wife of his brother Philip, contrary to the law.  Now Herod, it is said, did not show resentment at his plain dealing, but inviting the prophet into his hall talked much with him, and in parting offered him gifts, which John refused to touch.  The next day he sent for him again to ask him some questions touching the Messias of whom he preached.  Now Herodia, when it was reported to her, after the return of Herod from Jericho to his Tetrarchy, how that the prophet had publicly spoken against her marriage with Herod, became very angry; and when she found that John was still favored by her husband, she sent for Herod, and said, "that if he would please her he must throw the prophet of Jordan into prison."  Herod would have excused him, asserting that he was a man of God; but Herodia only the more vehemently insisted that he should be cast into prison.  At length Herod yielded, against his own will, and gave

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orders for the arrest of the prophet; who, the same night, was thrown into the ward of the castle.  When this intelligence reached the followers of John, it created great sorrow; and many went to see him and talk with him.  But he told them they must think of him no longer; that his brief life was drawing to its close; but that they must turn their eyes towards the Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, whose rising was unto an everlasting day.  "Said I not unto ye," he asked of them, "He must increase and I must decrease?"  For some weeks this holy man, whose only offence was that he had the courage to reprove sin in high places, remained in bonds, while Herod each day sought to find some excuse for releasing him without displeasing Herodia, of whose anger he stood ingreat fea, bing an abject slave to his love for her.  At length the birthday of Herod arrived, and he conveyed word to John that in honor of the day he would send and fetch him out of prison, so soon as he should obtain consent of his wife, which he believed she would accord to him on such an anniversary.

Now, after the feast, Philippa, the daughter of Herodia and of her former husband Philip, came in and danced before prince Herod; and being beautiful in person and full of grace in every motion, she so pleased her step-father that he made a great oath, having drunk much wine with his guests, that he would give her whatsoever she would ask, were it half of his kingdom.  Her mother than called her, and whispered to her imperatively.

"Give me," said the maiden, turning towards Herod with the demand her mother had commanded her to make, "the head, now, of John Baptist in a charger."

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The Tetrarch no sooner heard this request than he turned pale, and said, fiercely:

"Thy mother hath been tampering with thine ears, girl."  Herodia, however, betrayed no confusion, but sat unconcerned.  Herod, it is said by those who were present, hesitated a long time, and at length said:  "Ask half of my kingdom and I will give it to thee; but let me not shed blood on my birthday."

"Wilt thou falsify thine oath?"  asked his wife, scornfully.

"For mine oath's sake, and for these who have heard it, I will grant thy desire," he at length answered, with a sigh of regret and self-reproach.  He then turned to the captain of the guard, and commanded him to slay John Baptist in prison, and brin presently there his head upon a charger.

At the end of a quarter of an hour, which was passed by Herod in great excitement, walking up and down the floor, and by his guests in silent expectation, the door opened, and the captain of the guard entered, followed by the eecutioner, who carried a brazen platter upon which lay the gory head of the eloquent forerunner of Christ.

"Give it to her!" cried Herod, sternly, waving him towards the beautiful, but cruel and heartless maiden, who stood near the inner door.  The executioner placed the charger in her hands; and, without turning pale, but with a smile of triumph, she bore it to her mother, who had retired to an inner chamber.  It is said, that no sooner did she behold it, that she spat in the face, and setting it up before her, reviled it.  His disciples, when they heard of his death, came to Herod, and asked

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the body of John, and taking it away, buried it; but when they would have asked the head also of Herodia, she answered, "that she had given it to her dogs to devour!"  So terrible can be the revenge of a woman who fears not God!

All the disciples of the murdered prophet then went where Jesus was preaching and healing, and told Him what had been done to John.  "When Jesus heard of the death of John, He was very sorrowful," writes John, his disciple, to Mary, "and went away into a desert place apart, in order to mourn over the fate of his bold and holy forernner."  In the meanwhile, the disciples of John Baptist, believing that the murder of their prophet was but the first blow of a general slaughter, fled, some into the deserts, while others sought Jesus to protect and counsel them.  At length He found himself surrounded by a great multitude, who had fled from the cities, chiefly of John's disciples, besides many who had come to hear Him preach, and be healed of Him.  The place was a desert, and far from any town.  Forgetful of all else, save following Jesus, they were without food.  "Which," sayd John, writing to Rabbi Amos, "we who were his disciples seeing, suggested that Jesus should send them away to the villages to but themselves victuals.  But Jesus answered us, and said quietly:

"They need not go away--give them to eat.'

"And Simon said, `Master, where can we get bread for so many?  There is verily here an army to be fed, and we have among us but five loaves and two small fishes.'  Upon hearing this, Jesus said, `It is enough; bring them hither to me.'

"We collected the bread and fishes, and I, myself,

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laid them upon a rock before Jesus.  He then said to us, `Command the multitude to sit down on the grass.'  And when they were all seated, He took the five loaves, and laying his hands upon them and upon the two fishes, He looked up to Heaven and blessed them; and then breaking them into fragments, He gave them to us his disciples, and bade us distribute to the people.  As often as we would returen for more, we found the loaves and the fishes undiminished, and I saw with wonder how, when this Prophet of God would break off a piece of one of the fishes, or of a loaf, the same part would immediately be seen thereon as if it had not been separated; and in this manner He continued to break and distribute to us for nearly an hour, until all ate as much as they would, and were filled; and when no one demanded more, and He ceased to break, He commanded us to gather up the fragments which lay by his side, which he had piled up about him as rapidly as he broke them off, and there were twelve baskets full over and above what was needed.  The number that were thus miraculously fed was about five thousand men, besides nearly an equal number of women and children.  And this mighty Prophet, who could thus feed an army, voluntarily suffered forty days and nights the pangs of hunger in the desert!  He seems a man in suffering, a God in creating!"

This wonderful miracle, my dear father, is one that has too many witnesses to be denied.  He who could miraculously feed five thousand, could feed all men!  Must not He, then, who could feed all mankind, be devine?  Surely, this must be the Son of God!  If I should mention to you all the miracles which have been

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done by Him, I should fill many letters.  Not a day passes that we do not hear of some still more extraordinary exhibition of his power than the preceding.  Every morning, when men meet in the market places, or in the corridors of the Temple, the first inquiry is, "What new wonder has He performed?  Have you heard of another miracle of this mighty prophet?  Indeed, so great is the interest here felt to see Jesus, and witness his miracles, that where one went to hear John preach in the wilderness of Jordan, ten go to see Christ in Galilee.  The priests alone are offended, and speak evil of Him through envy.  They complain that He draws off people from the sacrifices; that He eats with sinners; that He enters the houses of Samaritans; and that He loveth Galilee rather than Jerusalem, which they contend, is an evidence that He is not the Christ who was "to come to the Temple and send forth his law from Jerusalem."

They even have gone so far as to assert that He performs his miracles by magic, or by the aid of Beelzebub, he Prince of the devils.  "If we suffer Him to take men's minds as he doth," said Caiaphas to Rabbi Amos yesterday, when he heard that Jesus had walked on the sea to join his disciples in their ship, and stilled a tempest with a word, "the worship in the Temple will be at an end, and the sacrifice will cease.  He draweth all men unto Him."

Herod having, as I have said, slain John, and hearing directly after of the fame of Jesus, said to Herodia; "This is John Baptist risen from the dead, and therefore do mighty works show forth themselves in him."

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"If he rise from the dead threescore and ten times, I will as many times have his head," answered Herodia; whereupon Herod privately sent to Jesus, supposing Him to be John Baptist, to keep in the parts of Galilee where He was.  The Levites and Scribes of the city contend that He is Elias, who it is prophesied must come and restore all things before Shiloh come.  Others believe that He is Isaiah, or Jeremiah, raised from the dead; and some say one thing, and others another thing.  They are willing to believe Jesus to be everything but that which He is, viz.: the true Christ and the Son of the Highest.

You have asked, dear father, in your letter, "Where is Elias, who is to precede Messias, according to the prophet Malachi?"  This question Jesus himself has answered, says John, when a Rabbi put it to Him.  He replied thus:

"Elias has come already, and ye have done unto him whatsoever ye listed."

"Dost thou speak of John the Baptist?" asked those about Him, when they heard this.

"John came in the spirit and power of Elias, and therefore was he thus called by the prophet," was the answer of Jesus.

I have written to you mainly of the miracles of Jesus, dear father, as being evidences conclusive of his divine power and authority to teach and restore Israel.  I have said little of his teaching, as I have not yet heard Him; but I have heard those who have listened to Him repeat much that He has taught them.  Such words of wisdom, such pureness of teaching, such holy precepts and divine instruction, never before fell from the lips of man

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Oh, when shall I be so blessed as to hear his voice, and hang on the eloquence of his lips?  I envy all who have heard Him speak.

I did not tell you that besides the six disciples whom I have named, he has chosen six others, which twelve he keeps near his person as his more favored followers and whom He daily instructs in the doctrines He came down from Heaven to teach.  Of the thousands who never weary going from place to place in his train, he has also selected seventy men, whom He has dispatched by twos into every city and village of Judea, commanding them to proclaim the kingdom of God as at hand, and that the time when men everywhere should repent and turn to God, had come.

Thus you see, my dear father, that the solitary and unknown young man, who was baptized hardly a year since in Jordan, is now wielding more influence in the land than the Roman Procurator Pilate, or Herod.  Nay, not many days since, after He had fed another multitude by a miracle, the people would have made Him a king by force; but He withdrew from the press, and retired into a mountain alone to escape this honor.  Therefore, dear father, He is no ambitious leader.  His kingdom, if He is to be a king, is not to be received as the gift of men.  Yet that He will be a king is as certain as that He is the Christ; for the prophecy says, that Messias "shall sit upon the throne of his father David."  Who can look into the future and behold the limit of his glory?  Already by faith I see Him crowned by the same mighty God who proclaimed from Heaven that He was his beloved Son, King of kings and Lord of lords; with his throne upon Mount Zion, and the nations of the

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earth tributary to his sceptre of righteousness, and submissive to his illimitable dominion.  He is the Stone cut out of a rock without hands, that shall fill the whole earth.

You may charge me with being enthusiastic, my dear father; but if Jesus be the Christ, earth has no language that can express the splendor of his reign.

It is now commonly reported that He will be here at the Passover.  I shall then behold Him, and like the wise men, I shall worship Him with mingled awe and love.  I will again write you, dear father, after I see and hear Him.  Till then, believe me your affectionate daughter,

Adina.

LETTER XVI.

My Dear Father:

While I write, the city is agitated like a tumultuous sea.  The loud murmurs of the multitude in the streets, and even in the distant market-place, reach my startled ears.  A squadron of Roman cavalry has just thundered past towards the Temple, where the uproar is greatest; for a rumor of an insurrection begun among the people, has come to Pilate the Procurator.  But th is is no insurrection against the Roman authority, dear father; alas, our people, who were once God's people and the masters of the East, are now too servile and submissive to there pagan masters, the Romans, to lift up a finger to remove their degrading yoke!  Would that it were

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a movement for the liberties of Judea!  The occasion of the tumult, which seems to increase each moment, is an extraordinary act of power on the part of the new prophet, Jesus,--that name become, by means of my pen, so familiar to you,--a name at which, I can say without enthusiasm, every knee will yet bow, both of Jew and Gentile!  I will rlate to you the circumstamces; for this manifestation of power from Him is another proof of his divine mission.

In my laste letter, dear father, I stated that it was commonly reported that this wonderful man would be at the Passover, and that all men were talking of the approaching event, and really thinking more of his presence here, than of the Feast itself.  Nay, it was said that many who would come would not be otherwise in Jerusalem, would come hither in order to see Him, and to witness some new miracle' and to-day Rabbi Amos says the number of strangers in the city is hitherto unprecedented.

Yesterday Mary's cousin, John, returned and came unexpectedly into the hall of the fountain, in the rear of the house, where we were all seated in the cool of the vines, with which Mary's taste has covered a wall of trellis-work.  Uncle Amose was in the act of reading to us from the Prophet Jeremiah, a prophecy relating to the Messias that is to come (nay, that is come, dear father), when John appeared.  Mary's blushes welcomed him, and showed how dear he was to her.  Uncle Amose embraced and kissed him, and seated him by us, and called for a servant to bathe his feet, for he was dusty and travel-worn.  From him we learned that his beloved master, Jesus, had reached Bethany, and was reposing from his fatigues at the hospitable, though

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humble house of Lazarus, Mary and Martha.  When we hear this, we were all very glad; and uncle Amos particularly seemed to experience the deepest satisfaction.

"If He come into Jerusalem," he said warmly, "He shall be my guest.  Bid Him to my roof, O John, that my household may be blessed in having a Prophet of God step across its threshold."

"Oh, by all means do not forget to ask Him to remain through the Passover with us!" exclaimed Mary, earnestly looking up into the yound disciple's face, and laying her hand confidingly upon his wrist.

"I will tell my beloved Master thy wish, Rabbi Amos," answered John.  "Doubtless, as He has no home nor friends in the ciy, He will remain under your roof."

"Say not no friends!" I exclaimed.  "We are all his friends here, and fain would be his disciples."

"What!  Rabbi Amos also?" cried John, with a glance of pleasure and surprise at the venerable Priest of God.

"Yes, I am ready, after all that I have heard and seen, I am ready to confess Him a Prophet sent from God."

"He is far more than a prophet, O Rabbi Amos!" answered John.  "Never prophet did the works Jesus does.  It seems that all power is at his command.  If you witnessed what I witness daily, as He traverses Judea, you would say that He was Jehovah descended to earth in human form!"

"Nay, do not blaspheme, young man," said Rabbi Amos, with some severity of reproof.

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John bowed his head in reverence to the rebuke of the Rabbi, but nevertheless answered respectfully and firmly, "Never man did like Him.  If He be not God in the flesh, He is an Angel in flesh invested with divine power."

"If He be the Messiah," I said, "He cannot be an angel; for are not the prophecies clear that the Messias shall be `a man of sorrows?'  Is He not to be `the seed of the woman?' a man and not an angel?"

"Yes," answered John, "you remember well the prophecies.  I firmly believe Jesus to be the Messiah, the Son of God.  Yet, what He is more than man, what He is less than God, is incomprehensible to me and to my fellow-disciples.  We wonder, love, and adore!  At one moment we feel like embracing Him as a brother dearly beloved; at another, we are ready to fall at his feet and worship Him!  I have seen Him weep at beholding the miseries of the diseased wretches which were dragged into his presence, and them with a touch--with a word, heal them; and they would stand before Him in the purity and beauty of health and strong manhood!  I have seen Him, with a voice of command, as never man spake, expel devils from those who were possessed by them; and I have heard the devils submissively beg not to be sent to their own place, but be permitted by Him to remain roaming wtill in the air and on the earth, until the hour of their final sentence shall proceed from the lips of God.  Even the devils are thus subject unto Him, so mighty is his power; and all diseases disappear before his eye, like the foul air of the fens before the beams of the morning sun!"

`And yet,' said Nicodemus, a rich Pharisee, who en-

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tered as Jphn was first speaking, and listened without interrupting,--for it is his wont to come in and out as he will, being a friend of my uncle,--"and yet, young man, I heard you say the Jesus, of whom you and all men relate such mighty deeds, has remained at Bethany to recover from his fatigue.  How can a man who holds all sickness in his power be subject to mere weariness of body?  I would say unto him, Physician, heal thyself!"

This was spoken with a tone of incredulity by this learned ruler of the Jews; and, stroking his snowy beard, he waited of John a reply; for like many of the chief men, nay most of them, he was slow to believe all he heard of Jesus; for as yet he had not seen Him; nor would he be likely to visit Him were He to come into the city, in order to see for himself, lest his popularity among the Jews be diminshed; for he is a man of remarkable ambition, and aims one day to be the chief ruler of the people; therefore, though he should really be convinced that Jesus is Messias, I fear he would not have candor enough, for fear of the Jews, to confess it.  Such is my opinion of my uncle's friend, the rich and powerful Pharisee.  John answered him, and said:

"So far as I can learn the character of Jesus, his healing power over diseases is not for his own good, but for the benefit of the multitude.  He uses his power to work miracles for the benefit of others through love and compassion, and to show forth the divine power in Him.  His miracles are used solely as proofs of his Messiahship.  Being a man with this divine power dwelling in Him for us, He is subject to infirmities as a man; He

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hungers, thirsts, wearies, suffers, as a man.  I have seen Him heal a nobleman's son, and restore him to strength, and activity by a word, and the next moment seat himself, supporting his aching head upon his hand, looking pale and languid, and without strength; for his labors of love are vast, and He is often overcome by them, those who follow Him to be healed not giving Him time to repose at night.  Once, Simon Peter, seeing Him ready to sink with very weariness, after healing all day, asked Him and said:  `Master, thou givest strength to others, why suffer thuself, when all health and strength are in there, as in a living well, to be weary?'

"`It is not mine to escape human infirmities by any power my Father hath bestowed upon me for the good of men.  It behooves me to suffer all things.  Through suffering only can I draw all men after me!'"

John said this so sadly, as if he were repeating the very tones in which Jesus had spoken it, that we all remained silent for a few moments.  I felt tears fill my eyes, and I was glad to see that the proud Pharisee, Nicodemus, looked moved.  After a full minute's serious pause, he said:

"This man is doubtless no common prophet.  When he comes into the city I shall be glad to hear from his own mouth his doctrines, and to witness some potent miracle."

"Surely," said Amos, "if he be in truth a prophet, we ought not to reject him.  We ought to examine fairly his claims to be sent from God to our people."

"Certainly," answered Nicodemus.  "We Pharisees are ready to give him a fair hearing.  It would seem that,

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by coming to Jerusalem from the provinces, where hitherto he has been preaching and doing miracles, he means to challenge the whole people to acknowledge him as a prophet."

"Prophet he is, without a doubt," answered Amos.  "It is not the question now whether He be a prophet or not; for the hundreds He has healed are living witnesses that He has the spirit and power of the old prophets, and is truly a prophet.  The question that remains is, whether He be the MESSIAH, or not?"

Nicodemus slowly and negatively shook his head, and then answered:

"Messias cometh not out of Galilee."

"He will prove himself the Messias with power," answered my cousin John, with zeal.  "When you hear him speak, Rabbi Nicodemus, the grace of his lips and the depth of his wisdom will charm you into belief; and without miracles, you will acknowledge that He is the Christ."

At this moment a sudden, wild, joyful cry from Mary, thrilled our nerves, and, looking towards the door, we saw her folded in the arms of a young man whom I had never seen before.  My surprise had not time to form itself into any definite explanation of what I saw, when I beheld the young man, who was exceedingly handsome, and the picture of health, after kissing the clinging Mary upon her cheeks, leave her to throw himself into the arms of Rabbi Amos, crying:

"My father, my dear father!"

My uncle, who had stood amazed, and wonderingly gazing on him, as if he could not believe what his eyes beheld, now burst into profound expressions of grateful

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joy, and as he clasped the young stranger to his heart, fell upon his neck and wept, with scarcely power to articulate the words:

"My son! my son!  Lost, but found again!  This is the Lord's doing, and is marvellous in our eyes."

John also embraced the new-comer, while the Ruler stood silent with wonder.  Who the young man was whose arrival was producing such emotion, and why he should be hailed as a son by my uncle, Amos, I had no idea; and while I was looking bewildered upon the scene, Mary ran and said to me, with tears of gladness shining in her dark fine eyes:

"It is Benjamin, my lost brother, beloved Adina!"

"I did not know you had a brother," I answered in surprise.

"We have long regarded him as dead," she replied, with mingled emotions.  "Seven years ago he became lunatic, and fled to the tombs without the city, where he has long dwelt with many others who were possessed with devils.  For years he has been a madman, and has neither spoken to nor known us, and we have tried to forget that he lived, since to remember it made us miserable, without hope of his restoration.  But oh, now--now behold him!  It seems a vision!  See how manly, noble, like himself he is, with the same intelligent and smiling eyes."

She then flew to take him by the hand and lead him towards me, all eyes being fixed upon him, as if he had been a spirit.

When he saw their wondering gaze, he said:

"It is I, both son and brother to those deares to me.  I am in my right mind, and well."

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"Who has effected this change, so extraordinary, oh, my son?" inquired Rabbi Amos, with trembling lips, and keeping his hand on Benjamin's shoulder, as if he feared he would vanish away.

"It was Jesus, the Prophet of the Highest," answered he, with solemn gratitude.

"Jesus!" we all exclaimed in one voice.

"I could have said so," answered John, calmly.  "I needed not to ask who had effected this great work upon him.  Rabbi Nicodemus thou knowest this young man well! thou hast known him in childhood, and beheld him in the madness of his lunacy, among the tombs.  Dost thou doubt now, whether Jesus be the very Christ?"

Nicodemus made no reply; but I saw from the expression of his face that he believed.

"I was wandering near Bethany this morning," answered the lost and restored one, with modesty and feeling, "when I beheld a crowd which I madly followed.  As I drew near, I beheld in their midst a man, whom I had no sooner cast my eyes upon, than I felt seize me an ungovernable propensity to destroy him.  The same fury possessed seven others, my comrades in madness, and together, with one mind and will, we rushed upon him, with great stones and knives in our hands.  The crowd gave way and fell back aghast, and called him to save himself.  But he moved not, but, left alone in a wide space, stood calmly awaiting us.  We were within a few feet of him, and I was nearest, ready to strike him to the earth, when He quietly lifted one finger,

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and said "Peace!"  We stood immovable, without power to stir a foot, while our rage and hatred increased with our inability to harm him.  We howled and foamed at the mouth before him, for we then knew that he was the Son of God, come to destroy us.

"`Come out of the men, and depart quickly!' he said, in a tone of command as if to us, but really to the demons within us.  At this word I fell at hsi feet in a dreadful convulsion, and my whole body writhed as if it had been wrestling with an invisible demon.  Jesus then stooped and laid his hand upon my brow, and said, `Son, arise.  Thou art made whole!'

"At these words a black cloud seemed to be lifted from my mind, and to disappear; the glory of a new existence appeared to dawn upon my soul, while his voice melted my heart within me.  Bursting into tears, the first I have shed for seven years, I fell at his feet and kissed and embraced them, wholly overcome witha  new sense of peace, of inward happiness unspeakable.

"`Go thy way and fear God, that thou fall not a second time into this captivity to Satan!' he said, raising me to my feet.  I then followed him, rejoicing and near Bethany, when I hastened hither, to gladden your hearts with the sight of me restored to my right mind."

When Benjamin had done speaking, we all gave glory to God, who had given him back to us, and who had sent so great a prophet among men.  As the master in Israel took his leave, I overheard him, congratulating the happy father, say, that he should embrace the first opportunity to have an interview with Jesus; and when

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my uncle told him that he hoped to entertain the mighty Prophet as his guest, the ruler desired permission to visit him here upon his arrival, "but secretly," I heard him add, in Rabbi Amos's ear, as he took his leave.

I commenced this letter, dearest father, by an allusion to a great commotion which is agitating the whole city, and which was caused by an act of power on the part of the Prophet Jesus, who this morning, two hours ago, entered the city, and proceeded at once to the Temple, followed through the streets by an innumerable multitude, such as was never known in Jerusalem before.  But as I have taken up so much of this letter in relating what passed yesterday in the hall of the Fountain, I will leave the account of the tumult, the voices of which are still to be heard, for my next letter, which I shall write to you almost daily, that I may keep you advised of all things that come to pass, even as you desired me to do.  This request from you, dear father, filled me with joy.  It was an assurance to me that you have begun to take an interest in these wonderful things concerning Messias, and leads me secretly to hope that you may yet believe in Him, and accept Him as the ANOINTED ONE of God, which without doubt He is, as both his words and his mighty works do testify.

When I get a package of letters made up, I shall send them by Israel Ben Judah, with the caravan that leaves eight days after the Passover.

May the God of our Fathers be with you, and bless you, and the holy people of the Promise.

Your loving daughter,

Adina

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LETTER XVII.

My Dear Father:

The last letter which I sent to you, was written during an extraordinaty tumult which prevailed in the city, an account of which I promised to five you in the present one.  I will do so now.  When, on the morning of the Passover, it was noised abroad that the Prophet of Galilee was entering the city by the gate of Jericho, the whole city was stirred, and from houses and shops poured forth crowds which turned their steps in that direction.  Mary and I went upon the house-top, hoping to see something; but far and near was visible only a sea of heads, from which a deep murmuring arose, like the ceaseless voice of the oceas chafing upon a rocky shore.  The top of the gate-way was visible from the place where we stood; but it was black with the people who had crowded upon it to look down.  There was heard, at length, an immense shout, as of one voice, which was followed by a swaying and onward pressure of the crowds.

"The Prophet must have entered the gate," said my cousin Mary, breathlessly.  "How they do Him honor.  It is the reception of a king!"

We were in hopes He would pass by our house, as we were one of the chief thoroughfares, but were disappointed, as He took the way round the foot of Mount

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Zion, and ascended the hill of Moriah to the Temple.  A part of the ascent to the house of the Lord was visible from our roof, and we had the satisfaction of seeing the Prophet at a distance.  We knew Him, only because He was in advance; and the people, while they walked near Him, yet left Him a little space.  The nighest one to Him, Mary said, was her cousin John, though at that distance I could not have recognized him; but the eyes of maidenly affection, though mild as the dove's, are as piercing as the eagle's.  The head of the multitude disappeared beneath the arch of the Temple, and thousands upon thousands followed after; and in the rear rode the young Roman Centurion, whom I have before spoken of, at the head of four hundred horse, to keep order in the vast mass.  Mary could not recognize him, saying it was too far to tell who he was; but I knew him, not only by his air and bearing, but by his scarlet pennon that fluttered from his iron lance, and which I had bestowed upon him; for he told me he had lost one his fair Roman sister, Tullia, had given him, and as he so much regretted its loss, I supplied its place by another, worked by my own hands.  As this was an act of kindness only to a stranger, dearest father, I know you will not disapprove of it--though being done for an idolator may not please you.  But I am full of hope, dear father, that this noble and excellent youth may yet become a Jew; for he loves to listen to my teachings from the Prophets, and last week he told me that he could never weary hearing me read to him from the Books of Moses, and from the sublime Psalms of Kind David; which, he says, surpass any poems, either in his own tongue or the Greek.  Thus, by attention and for-

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bearance, I assuredly believe that he may be led to renounce his idolatrous faith, and become a worhipper of the God of Hosts.

The multitude, as many as could gain admission, having entered the great gate of the Temple, for a few minutes there was a profound stillness.  Mary said:

"He is worshipping or sacrificing now."

"Perhaps," I said, "He is addressing the people, and they listen to his words."

While I was speaking, there arose from the bosom of the Temple a loud, irregular, strange outcry of a thousand voices, pitched to high excitement.  The people without the gate responded by a universal shout, and then we beheld thos nighest the walls retreat down the hill-side in terrified confusion, while, to increase the tumult, the Roman horse charged up the hill, seeking to penetrate the masses, to reach the gate out of which the people poured like a living and tempest-tossed river, before which the head of the cohort recoiled, or was overwhelmed and down-trodden!  I held my breath in dreadful suspense, not knowing the cause of the fearful scene we beheld, not to what it might lead.  Mary, who knew both her father and her cousin were exposed to whatsoever danger was threatening those who had gone into the Temple, was overcome by her apprehensions of eveil to them, and burying her face in her hands, she sunk down almost insensible by my side.  My attention was then drawn to her away from the scene on Mount Moriah, and leading her down into the apartments of the house, I saw no more of what followed.  But a quarter of an hour had not passed when young Samuel Ben Azel, who had the day before come up from Nain,

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to the Passover, with his mother, who is a distant relative of Rabbi Amos, entered, and explained to us the cause of the scene I had witnessed, assuring Mary at the same time of the safety both of her cousin and her father.  His account was thus:

"The Prophet Jesus having entered into the Temle with the multitudes following Him to see what he would do, found all the courts filled with merchants, changers of money, and sellers of cattle to the sacrificers.  Portions of the sacred place were divided off by fences, in which hundreds of sheep and cattle were stalled; and between almost every two columns of the vast portico sat at their tables men whose business it was to change the foreign money, brought by the Jews from Greece, Egypt, Elam, Parthis, and Africa, who had come up to the Passover, into Jerusalem and Roman coin, which only the sellers of the cattle and sheep will recieve for what they sell.  On his way to the inner Temple, the Prophet found his path so obstructed by the stalls, and the tables of the brokes, that he had to go round them, and often to turn back and take a less hedged up avenue.  At length finding, upon the very lintel of the Court of the Priests, a priest himself engaged at a table as a money-changer, and near him a Levite, keeping a stall for selling doves and sparrows to the worshippers, He stopped upon the step, and, turning round, cast his calm, terrible eye (for it was terrible then, mild as it was before) over the scene of noisy commerce and bartering.  Every face was turned towards Him in expectation.  The half-completed bargain was suspended, and buyer and seller directed their gaze, as by a sort of fascination, not unmingled with a strange awe and fear,

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upon Him.  Those who had crowded about Him, drew bach farther and farther, slowly but irresistibly widening the space between thema nd Him, they knew not by what impulse, till He stood alone, save near Him remained John, his disciple.  The uproar of the buying and selling suddenly subsided, and even the loud lowing of the cattle, and the bleating of the sheep, stopped as if a supernatural awe had seized even the brute creation at his presence; and only the soft cooing of doves stirred the vast, death-like stillness of the place, a moment before a scene of oaths, cries, shouts, of running to and fro, buying and selling, the ringing of money, and the buzz of ten thousand voices!  It was as if a hurricane, sweeping with deafening uproar of the elements over the lashed ocean, had been suddenly arrested and followed by a great calm.  The silence was dreadful!  It stopped the very beating of my heart.  Every eye of the vast multitude seemed to fasten itself on the Prophet, in expectation of some dread event.  I thought of the world hereafter to be assembled before the tribunal of Jehovah, awaiting their sentence.  The step of the Temple upon which He stood seemed to be a throne, and the people before Him expecting judgment.  Suddenly the silence, which had become oppressive, was broken by a young man near me, who gave vent to his feelings by a piercing shriek, and fell insensible upon the marble floor.  There was a general thrill of horror, yet the same awful stillness succeeded this startling interruption.  That one intense shriek had spoken for us all, given expression and outlet to what we all felt.  Suddenly the voice of the Prophet was heard, clear, authoritative, and ringing like the trumpet that shook Sinai when the Law was given, and made all the people to quake:

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"`It is written, my Father's house shall be called a House of Prayer! but ye have made it a den of thieves!'

"He then picked up from the pavement at his feet a small cord, which some one had thrown down, and doubling it in the form of a scourge, He advanced.  Before his presence fled the changers of money, priests, and Levites, sellers of oxen, sellers of sheep, sellers of doves, escaping in such haste from the terrible displeasure of his countenance, that they left their property to its fate, seeking only their personal safety.

"`Take these things hence' cried the Prophet, `make not my Father's house a house of merchandise!'

"Such a scene of confusion and flight was never witnessed as now followed!  The whole mass was in retrograde motion.  I was borne along with the current.  Money-tables were overturned on all sides; but not the most avaricious one present thought, at that moment, of stopping to gather any of the gold and silver which the rushing thousands trampled beneath their feet.  It was not the whip of small cords before which we fled, for He touched no man therewith; but it was from his presence!  We were driven like chaff before him.  To the eyes of all, the little whip seemed to blaze and flash above their heads, as if it were the fiery sword of a destroying angel.  Nothing but terror, flight, escape, was thought of.  In a few moments, the Priest's Court of the Temple was cleared of every soul, and we were driven across the Court of Israel and the broader Court of the Gentiles, towards the sough gate.  On looking back, I saw that the Prophet pursued not, but stood

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alone, Master and Lord of the Temple.  The whip was no longer in his hand; and his whole attitude and expression of face were changed from their late impress of terrible power, to an air of the profoundest compassion, as He looked after us, still flying from his presence.

"But I had no time to marvel at this extraordinaty change, for the multitude still sought escape, and bore me onward, and I lost sight of the mighty Prophet.  At the gate we were met by a cohort of Pilate's cavalry, and pressed backward into the Temple.  The scene now became appalling!  What with the Roman spears in front, and the Prophet behind, the multitude fearing to go either way, trode one upon another, trampled the weak under foot, and filled the air with curses, shrieks, and horrible outcries, of mingled pain, rage, and terror.  How I escaped, I know not," added Samuel, as he completed his narration, "but on finding myself outside the gate, I at once, with hundreds, sought shelter in the city, and happy am I to have reached this place of security; for the Romans are scouring the streets, driving all the people into their houses."

When Samuel had ended, and we were wondering at this new exhibition of the mighty power of the Prphet Jesus, the street in front of our dwelling was filled with persons seeking their homes.  Some cried, "the terrible Prophet!" others, "the Romans!" and some, by their outcries, seemed to fly from equal fear of both.  In the midst of this tumult, dear father, I sat down to write you my last letter, while the incidents were fresh, and lest other events should come in and crowd these from my mind.

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Ah! my dear father, Jesus of Nazareth must be indeed  invested with powers divine!  He who, with a word and a look, for the whip in his hand could not, says Rabbi Amos, have hurt a child, can thus impel thousands of men before Him, could make THE WHOLE world fly from the terrible majesty of his presence!  My uncle, Rabbi Amos, who, on his return from the Temple, corroborated what Samuel had stated, added, that as Jesus stood alone, possessor of the gold-strewn floors of the Courts of the Temple, the Hight Priest advanced towards Him, and with awe, not unmixed with anger, demanded of Him by what authority He did these things, seeing that He took upon himself to purify the Temple.

His answer was, "My Father's House must not be made a house of merchandise.  Zeal for the glory of His Temple hath caused me to do these things."

"Art thou the Christ?" asked the High Priest, still standing some distance off from Him.

"If I tell thee that I am, ye will not believe."

"When Christ shall come, He will restore all things," answered the High Priest.

"And I have begun this restoration by expelling from the Temple those who defile it, and restoring it to be a House of Prayer, according as my Father hath ordained."

"And who is thy father?" asked Caiaphas.

"God is my Father; and to do His will am I sent into the world.  I came not of myself, but my Father who sent me.  It is written of me, `He shall suddenly come to His Temple, and be as a purifier and refiner of silver.'"

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"What sign showest thou that thou art sent, and hast authority to do what thou doest here to-day within the Temple?"

"Hast thou not had proof of my power from heaven?" answered Jesus, stretching forth his hand towards the still terror-stricken multitude; and then laying it upon his breast, He added:  "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up!  Be this to you, O Priest, and to all Judea, the sign that I am sent by my Father, who is in heaven.  As He hath given me commandment, so I do!"

At this there was a great murmuring, said Rabbi Amos, for man of the priests, with Annas also, had got boldness, and drawn near to hear.

"He cannot be a just man," said Annas, "nor doth he honor God, if he would have us destroy the Temple!"

"Yet if he be not sent of God, whence hath he this power over men?" answered another.

"He doeth this by Beelzebub, whose prophet he doubtless is," said Annas, in a loud tone, "for a true prophet would not seek the destruction of God's holy House."

Thereupon there was a multitude of voices, some crying one thing, and some another; but the most part asserting their belief that Jesus was a just man and divine prophet.  Caiaphas at length obtained silence, and said to Him with awe:

"ART THOU THAT CHRIST of the Prophets?"

"I am!" calmly and firmly answered the Prophet; and, raising his eyes to heaven, He added impressively, "I am come down from God!"

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When, adds my uncle, Annas heard this, he lifted up his voice in exclamation of horror and, cried out:

"Hear ye this blasphemer!  Let us cast him forth from the Temple which he pollutes!"

But no man dared approach the Prophet, whose mighty power had so recently been expressed in the expulsion of the merchants and buyers from that sacred place.

"Bear witness," then said He, sorrowfully, rather than in anger, "that I have come unto my own, and ye have received me not!  This Temple of my Father, from which you would drive me forth, shall no longer be the dwelling-place and altar of Jehovah.  The day cometh when your priesthood shall be taken away and given to others, and among the Gentiles shall arise to my Father's name, on every hill and in every valley of the earth, holy temples, wherein he shall delight to dwell; and men shall no longer need to worship God in Zion, but in all places shall prayer and praise be offered to the Most High.  This Temple, which ye have polluted, shall be overthrown, and ye shall be scattered among the nations, because ye knew not the time of God's mercy."

Thus speaking, the Prophet quitted the Temple, leaving the High Priest, and priests, and Levites, standing gazing after Him, without power to utter a word.  Rabbi Amos, who saw and heard all this, says that nothing could have been more striking than the contrast presented between the two men, the High Priest and Jesus, (if it be lawful to call Him a man, dear father,) as they talked with each other; the one clothed in magnificent garments, with a glittering tiara upon his brows, his port lofty and proud, his hair and beard white as snow, and his whole appearance majestic and splendid with out-

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ward richness! the other youthful, clad in coarse garments, with a gray Galilean mantle folded about Him, sandals much worn upon his feet, and his whole garb mean, and covered with the dust of his journey on foot from Bethany; while the severe sadness of his face, which seemed beautifully and touchingly chastened by prayer and suffering, contrasted strongly with the stern, harsh face of Caiaphas, flushed with anger and envious bostility.

"He passed out of the Temple with an even pace, neither looking back at his enemies nor followed by them.  I beheld John join Him, and hastened to ask him to invite Him to my house to sojourn and eat the Passover with me, but He disappeared, and I lost sight of Him.  But at the gate I encountered a man leaping and singing, whom the Prophet had healed by a touch as He passed out, though the man had been paralytic for nearly thirty years.  Thus this mighty person never ceases to do good."

Such, my dear father, is the account given by Rabbi Amos of what passed in the Temple.  That Jesus is the CHRIST, is now beyond question; for He has openly acknowledged it to the High Priest!

Adieu, dearest father.  The servants are bringing in boughs for the booths, and I must close this letter, with prayers to our father's God for your peace and welfare

Adina.

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LETTER XVIII.

My Dear Father:

The last letter which I received by the hands of the Roman courier, filled me with gratitude, at learning from it your recovery.  When I heard from Ben Israel of your ill health, I felt like flying with the wings of a dove to reach your pillow, and administer to the comfort of the venerated and loved author of my being.  The God of our fathers be praised in raising you up: and that He may preserve you long to me, shall be my daily prayer.

You say in your letter, dear father, that you have read with interest all my letters, and more especially those which relate to Jesus of Galilee, the mighty Prophet now vouchsafed to Israel.  You say that you are ready to acknowledge Him as a prophet sent from God, "for evidently no man could do such great works except God were with him."  But you add, "while I am ready, my child, to recognize him as a prophet of the Lord, I am far from seeing in Him the Messias promised to our people!  Aside from the lowliness of his parentage and his humility of condition, traveling on foot, and without retinue (while Messias is to be a Prince and King), He can have no claim to be the Christ, because he comes out from  Galilee.  Doth Messias come out of Galilee?  Let Rabbi Amos, who seems ready, I perceive, to

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acknowledge Him as the Christ, let him examine the writings of the Prophets, and see!  Hath not the Scripture said that Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?  Search and look, for no prophet, much less Messias, cometh out of Galilee.

To this objection, dear father, also made (and answered by me) in a previous letter, Rabbi Amos desires me to say, that he has investigated the records of births kept in the Temple, and finds, as I have before named to you, that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.  He afterwards removed with his parents to Egypt, and thence returning to Judea, settled in Galilee, where He was brought up.  Of these facts in his history, not only Rabbi Amos is satisfied, but Nicodemus also, whose learning you will not gainsay; and the latter, very much to our surprise, and my own delight, added yesterday, when we were talking over the subject at supper, "there is a prophecy, O Rabbi Amos, which strengthens this mighty Prophet's claim to be the Messiah."

"What is it?  Let me hear all that can strengthen!" I asked earnestly; not, dear father, that my confidence in Him needs confirmation, but I wish others to believe.

"You will find it in the Prophet Hoseas," answered Nicodemus, "and thus it readeth:  `I have called my son out of Egypt.'  These words refer to Messias, without question, as say all the doctors of the law."

"It is a new argument for Jesus, then," answered Rabbi Amos.

My heart bounded with joy, dear father, at hearing this prophecy named; but judge my emotion when Nicodemus, taking the roll of the Prophet Isaiah in his hand,

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read the words that follow, and applied them to Jesus:  "Beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the Gentiles, the people which sat in darkness have seen a great light!"  This changes the objection of his coming from Galilee, into addintional proof of his claim to be the Messias.

I hear you now ask, dear father, with many of the rich and influential citizens of Jerusalem, "Have the rulers begun to believe in Him?"  Yes, Nicodemus does begin to believe that He is the Christ, being more and more assured of it the more he examines the divine Scriptures.  O, my dear father, that you could see Jesus, and hear Him discourse, as I have done!  All your doubts would then be dissipated, and you would be willing to sit at his feet, and learn of Him the words of life.  How shall I describe Him--how shall I cause you to hear and see Him, as I have heard and seen?

In my last letter I informed you that Rabbi Amos had invited Him to sojourn with us during the Passover.  John, the cousin of Mary, conveyed to Him the invitation of my uncle, and He graciously accepted it, and came hither yesterday, after He had quitted the Temple, from which He had, with such commanding power, driven forth the merchants and money-changers.

Hearing, while expecting Him, the rumor flying along the streets, "The Prophet comes! the Prophet comes!" uttered by hundreds of voices of men and children, I hastened to the house-top, which commanded a view of the street, to the foot of the Temple.  The whole way was a sea of heads.  The multitude came rolling onward, like a mighty river; as I have seen the dark Nile

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flow when pouring its freshening floods along its confined banks.

Mary stood by my side.  We tried to single out, amid the advancing throng, the central person around whom undulated the sea of heads, and whose progress gave occasion to so mighty a commotion.  But all was so wildly confused with the waving of palm branches, that we could distinguish nothing clearly.  While I was straining my gaze to make out the form of the Prophet, Mary touched me, and bade me look in the opposite direction.  As I did so, I beheld AEmilius Tullius, the young Roman Centurion, of whom I have before spoken, now Perfect of Pilate's Legion, advancing at the head of two hundred horsemen at full spur, in order to meet and turn back the advancing column of people.

As he came opposite the house, he looked up, and seeing us upon the parapet, he gracefully waved his gleaming sword, saluted us, and was dashing pase, when Mary cried out:

"Noble sir, there is no insurrection, as some of the people have doubtless told thee, but this vast crowd moving hitherward is only an escort to the Prophet of Nazareth, who cometh to be my father's guest."

"I have orders form Pilate to arrest him, lady, as a disurber of the peace of the capital."

"Shall a prophet suffer because his mighty deeds draw crowds after his footsteps, noble Roman?  If thy troops advance there will be a collision with the people.  If thou wilt withdraw them a little, thou wilt see that when the Prophet crosses my father's threshold, they will go away in peace."

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The Prefect said nothing, but seeme to look at me for some words, which seeing, I earnestly entreated him to do the Prophet no violence.

"For thy wishes' sake, lady, I will here halt my troop; especially as I see that the people are un-armed."

The Centurion then gave orders to his horsemen to draw up in line opposite the house.  The multitude now came near; but many of those in advance, seeing the Roman horse, stopped or fell into the rear, so that I beheld Jesus appear in front, walking at an even, calm pace, John at his side; also Rabbi Amos was with Him.  As He came nigher, the people, for fear of the long Roman spears, kept back, and He advanced almost alone.  I saw John point out to Him our house.  The Prophet raised his face and gazed upon it an instant.  I saw his geatures full.  His countenance was not that of a young man, but of a person past the middle age of life, though He is but thirty.  His hair was mingled with gray, and in his finely-shaped, oval face, were carved, evidently by care and sorrow, deep lines.  His flowing beard fell upon his breast.  His eyes appeared to be fixed upon us both for an instant, with benignity and peace.  Deep sadness, gentle, not stern, seemed to be the characteristic expression of his noble and princely visage.  There was an air of manly dignity in his carrage and mien; and as he walked amid his followers, he was truly kingly, yet simplicity and humility qualfied this native majesty of port.  He seemed to draw out both awe and love of those who saw Him--to command equally our homage and sympathy.

As He drew near where the Roman Prefect sat upon

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his horse, the Prophet inclined his body slightyly, but with a courtesy indescribable, to the young chief, who bent low to his saddle-bow in acknowledgment, as if to a monarch.  We were both surprised and highly gratified, dear father, at this act of homage from the Roman knight to our Prophet, and I thought more kindly than ever of AEmilius.

Passing the troop of horse, John and Rabbi Amos conducted Jesus to our door; but before they reached it there was a loud cry from several harsh voices to the Roman to arrest Him.  On looking from whence these shouts came, I saw that that they proceeded from several of the priests, headed by Annas, who were pressing forward through the crowd, crying menacingly:

"We call upon you, O Prefect, to arrest this man! Shame on thee, Rabbi Amos!  Hast thou also believed in the impostor?  We charge this Galilean, O Roman, with having made sedition.  He has taken possession of the Temple, and unless you see to it, he will have the citadel out of your hands.  If you arrest him not, we will not answer for the consequences that may befall the city and the people."

"I see nothing to fear from this man, O ye Jews," answered AEmilius.  "He is unarmed, and without troops.  Stand back; keep ye to your Temple.  It is from you outcries comes all the confusion!  Back to your altars!  If commotions arise in the city, Pilate will make you accountable.  All the rest of the people are peacable, save only yourselves."

"We will take our complaint before the Procurator," cried Annas, who was the chief speaker; and, followed by a large company of angry priests and Levites, with

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staves in their hands, he took his way towards the palace of the Roman governor.

I looked my gratitude to AEmilius, for so fearlessly taking part with the Prophet.

The multitude now began to retire as the roman horse slowly moved up the street, and Jesus being received into the house by Mary, who descended to open the door, quiet was soon in a measure restored; though at one one time a large concourse of persons, whose money-tables had been cast down, came to complain of their losses, and would have attacked the house but for Rabbi Amos, who went forth and civilly addressed them; showing them that if they had sold and bought in the Temple, contrary to law, and that if Jesus had driven them forth alone, he must be a prophet, for only a prophet could make a thousand men flee before him; "and if he be a prophet, my friends, he has acted by command of God; and take heed, lest in avenging yourselves against him, ye be found fighting against the Lord of the Temple!"

With such words he caused them to retire, though many sick, lame, halt, blind, and infirm, as well as a groug of lepers, stood a long time without, calling upon the Prophet to come forth and touch them and heal them.

In the meanwhile, Jesus was taken into the inner hall and water being brought, Rabbi Amos himself removed his sandals and reverently washed his feet; while Mary, to do him all honor, dried them with a rich veil, which she had just worked in anticipation of her coming bridal with her cousin John.  It was at this moment I entered the hall.  Desirous as I had been to see and speak with

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the Prophet, now that I beheld him face to face, I shrunk with awe.  He raised his eyes, and beholding me, said:

"Daughter, come thou also and bid me welcome with these dear friends; for I know thou believest in me, and desirest that thy father also should believe.  Be patient, and hope; for thou shalt yet behold him whom thou lovest, my disciple!"

As He thus spake He extended to me his hand, upon which I let fall, like rain, tears of joy.  I perceived that he knew my heart and thoughts, and that his words would prove true.  Yes, dear father, you also will believe, as we all believe!  You also are to acknowledge Him as the Christ.

There were in the room, not only Amos, and John, and Mary, but the Priest Elias, cousin to Caiaphas, who, desirous of hearing from the lips of the Prophet his sublime teachings, had come in with him.  There were also present five men whom I never saw before; but who, as John said, were his disciples.  One of them was tall, spare in person, with high, energetic features, a bold brow and eagle eye, with an air of singular determination, like a soldier.  His name was Simon Peter.  Another was a very intellectual-looking person, with a calm, thoughtful air, who seemed to hang on every word his master uttered, as if he were listening to the very oracles of God.  His name was Andrew, and he is brother to Simon.  But I had no eye or ear for any one but Jesus.  I saw that He seemed weary and pale, and for the first time I noticed He seemed to suffer, as from time to time He raised his hand to his temples.  Desirous of serving so holy a person, I hastened to prepare a restorative, which, bringingit into the hall, I was about to give to

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Him, when the Priest Elias put me rudely back, and said, "Nay, maiden, let us witness a miracle!"  He then turned to the Prophet and said, "Master, we have heard much of thy power to do miracles, but have seen none by thee!  If thou wilt presently show me a miracle, I will believe, I and all my house!  Thou hast a pain in thy forehead; heal it with a touch, and I will acknowledge thee the Christ, the Son of the blessed!"

Jesus turned his eyes upon him and said, "Elias, thou readest the Prophets, and shouldest know whether he who speaketh unto thee be the Christ of no! Search the Scriptures, that thou mayest know that the time of his visitation is come, and that I am He!  One prophecy fulfilled is of more value than many miracles.  But I do no miracles to relieve my own sufferings.  I came into this world to suffer.  Isaiah wrote of me as a man or sorrows, and acquainted with grief!  Blessed are they who not seeing, shall believe.  Ye believe that I am a prophet, and come out from God.  It is well.  Shall a prophet, then, deceive?  If I am a true prophet, (and ye doubt it not,) and I say that I am also the Christ, why will ye not believe me?  If I am a true prophet, come out from God, I cannot deceive.  Yet ye believe me when I say I am a prophet, and ye are displeased if I say that I am the Christ.  If ye believe me at all, then believe what I say unto you, that I am the Christ."

"But, master," said the aged Levite, Asher, "we know whence thou art--even from Galilee.  But when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is!"

"It is true, O man of Israel, ye both know me and whence I am.  Yet ye know not Him who sent me.  Ye do not understand the Scriptures, or ye would indeed

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know me, whence I am, and who hath sent me.  But ye know neither me nor Him that sent me, for I am come out from God.  If ye had known Him, ye would know me also.  The time cometh when ye shall know whence I am and believe in me; but now your hearts are darkened through ignorance and unbelieving.  I have told you plainly I am the Christ."

When He had thus spoken with great dignity and power, there were many present who were offended, and some voices murmured against Him.  Then Rabbi Amos led Him forthto the apartment he had prepared for Him; but the people remained warmly discussing the subject, and were greatly divided about Him, some saying that He was the Christ, and others denying it; while others cried aloud that He did his miracles by Beelzebub, Prince of the devils.

"And so," said my cousin John to me, bitterly, "and so it is wherever my beloved master goes.  Detraction and envy, malice and unbelief, follow his footsteps, and daily his life is menaced, and no place is a place of shelter for his aching head."

In going to his apartment, the Prophet had to cross the court, and as I was watching his retiring footsteps, I saw four men, who had climbed to the house-top from the side street, the doors being closed, let down a fifth in a blanket at the very feet of Jesus.  It was a man afflicted with the palsy, and their own father.  Jesus seeing their filial love, stopped and said kindly:

"Young men, what would ye have me to do?"

"Heal our aged father, holy Rabbi."

"Believe ye that I can do this?" He asked, fixing his gaze earnestly on them.

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"Yes, Lord! we believe that thou art the Christ the son of the living God!  All things are possible unto thee!"

Jesus looked benignantly upon them, and then taking the venerable man by the hand, He said to him in a loud voice, so that all who were looking on heard Him:

"Aged father, I say unto thee, arise and walk!"

The palsied man instantly rose to his feet, whole and strong, and after casting a glance around upon himself, he threw himself at the Prophet's feet, and bathed them in tears.  The four sons followed their father's example, while all the people who witnessed the miracle shouted, "Glory to God, who hath given such power unto men!"

Jesus then withdrew himself from the embrace of the grateful sons, who now embracing their father, wept upon his neck, and then the whole four escorted him, two on each side, with their arms about him, and about each other, into the street, where they were received by the multitude with loud cries of gratulation; for the old man had been well known in the city by all men, as palsied and unable to walk for many years.

Such, my dear father, are the increasing testimonies Jesus bears, by miracles as well as my words, to his being Messias.

The God of our fathers keep you in health.

Your loving daughter,

Adina.

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LETTER XIX.

My Dear Father:

The visit of the Prophet Jesus to the city has produced results of the most amazing character.  His numerous miracles, performed in open day by a word, or by a look, or a touch, or a command; the power of his preaching; the excellency of his doctrines, which are evidently divine; his clear assertions that He si the very CHRIST, have all contributed to bring the first men of Israel, rulers as well as people, to believe Him!  During the four days He remained at the house of my uncle Amos, the chief men of the city came to hear Him, and, if possible, to see some miracle performed by Him. The priesthood is divided.  Caiaphas has publicly recognized Him as a prophet, while Annas has publicly declared that He is an impostor; and thus the two parties are formed in the city, headed by two priests, and most men have taken sides with one or the other.  But the majority of the common people are in favor of Jesus, believing Him to be the Christ.  The Pharisees most oppose Him, because He boldly reproves their sins and hypocrisies; and though they fear Him, they hate and would destroy Him, for He preaches so plainly against their wickednesses, that the people have ceased to respect them.  Even Nicodemus, who at first was inclined to accept Jesus as a prophet, finding the Pharisees

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against Him, and being unwilling to lose his popularity wit them, kept away from the house where Jesus was, by day; but his curiosity to learn more of Him led him to visit the holy Prophet secretly by night.  This he did twice, coming alone in th darkness, and being let in by his friend Rabbi Amos.  What the result of these interviews was, I can only tell you from Mary's account.  She overheard their conversation, her window opening upon the corridor, where Jesus was seated after supper, alone in the moonlight for full an hour, gazing meditatively heavenward.  His pale and chiseled features in the white moonlight seemed radiant as marble, and as cold, when Rabbi Amos came and announced the ruler Nicodemus, as desirous of speaking with Him.

"Bid him come in and seeme, if he has aught to say to me," answered the Prophet, turning towards him.

"Nicodemus," added my cousin Mary, "then came to the corridor, wrapped carefully in his mantle; and, looking about to see if he was unobserved, he dropped it from his face, and, bowing reverently, said to the Prophet:

"`Pardon me, O Rabbit, that I come to thee by night, but by day thy time is taken up with healing and teaching.  I am glad to find thee alone, great Prophet, for I would ask thee many things.'

"`Speak, Nicodemus, and I will listen to thy words,' answered the Prophet.

"`Rabbi,' said the ruler of the Pharisees, `I know thou art a teacher come from God; for no man can do these things that thou doest except God be with him.

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That thou art a mighty Prophet, I believe, as do all men; but art thou Messias?  Tell us plainly!'

"`If I tell thee, Nicodemus, thou wilt not believe,' answered Jesus, mildly.  `I will ask you one question.  Whence cometh Christ?'

"`He is the son of David, and cometh out of Bethlehem.'

"`Thou hast well answered.  Rabbi Amos, here, will tell thee that he has examined the records.  Ask him whose son he is who speaketh unto thee.'

"`The son of Josep and of Mary, of the lineage of David's house,' answered Rabbi Amos.  `The record of this Prophet's birth I have seen, O Nicodemus, and also have Caiaphas and many others.  Thou canst examine for thyself, if thou wilt come to the Temple with me tomorrow.'

"`Thy word suffices, O Rabbi Amos; for who ever knew thy lips to utter falsehood?'

"`The same record shows that the great Prophet, now here among us, was born in Bethlehem in the days of the taxation,' answered Rabbi Amos.

"`Then whence is it, O Prophet, that thou comest out of Nazareth of Galilee?' asked Nicodemus doubtingly.

"`I will tell the, Nicodemus,' answered Jesus.  `My mother dwelt in Nazareth, and as she sojourned at Bethlehem, to be registered in her own family town, David's town, I was born!  Thus am I of the line of David, of the town of Bethlehm, and also as it was prophesied of me, a Nazarene.  Dost thou ask more?  Dost thou believe?

"`Yes, Lord; but how read the Prophets that Messias is to be a king, and to rule the whole earth?'

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"`My kingdon, O ruler of the Pharisees, is not of this world!  I am indeed a king, but of a spiritual kingdom.  My kingdom, unlike earthly kingdoms, has no end; and those who become its subjects must be born again, or they cannot see it!'

"`Born again?' answered Nicodemus, with surprise, `How can a man be a second time born after he is grown to manhood?  O Rabbi, thou speakest in parables.'

"`Art thou a wise man of the Pharisees, and a master of Israel, and knowest not what I say?' answered the Prophet.  `Verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter my kingdom.  He who is born of Adam is of the flesh, and of Satan's kingdom, of which Adam was; but he that is born again is born spiritual man, and is of my kingdom; for I come to build up a kingdom on the ruins of Satan's seat.  Marvel not, then, that I say that the sons of Adam must be born again to be sons of God.  If ye would enter into my kingdom and live forever, ye must be born again, even of water and of the Spirit.'

"`How can these things be?  Pray, master, explain, that I may know what this mystery meaneth.  How can a man be born when he is old?'

"`What! dost thou stumble at the very threshold of the doctrine of my kingdom, O Pharisee?  If ye cannot believe earthly things, how shallye understand the heavenly thins which ye seek to know?  He that would be my disciple must be born again!  Your first birth is under Satan's power, which rules the world, as it now is, in bondage; your second birth will be into His

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kingdom, who has come to destroy Satan's and build up His own.  This birth is spiritual.'

"Upon this Nicodemus rose and said, with an incredulous shake of the head:

"`I will hear thee again, O Rabbi, of this matter touching this new birth, of which thou speakest.'

"`When Nicodemus left Him, Rabbi Amos said, `Is it indeed true, O Master, that thou art to establish a kingdom?'

"`Yes, Rabbi Amos, a kingdom in which dwelleth righteousness,' answered the Prophet.

"`And shall all nations pay us tribute?'

"`Thou knowest not what thou sayest, O Rabbi.  But the vail shall be removed from thine eyes when thou seest the Son of man lifted up on his throne, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.'

"`Where will be thy throne, O Messias?  Wilt thou expel the Romans from the city of David, and reign there?'

"`Thou shalt yet behold me on my throne, O Amos, raised above the earth, and drawing all men unto me.'

"`Wilt thou have thy throne in the clouds of heaven, O Master, that thou shalt be raised above the earth upon it?' asked Rabbi Amos.

"`My throne shall be set on Calvary, and the ends of the earth shall look unto me, and acknowledge my empire.  But thou knowest not these things now; but hereafter thou shalt remember that I told thee of them.'"

Jesus then rose, and bidding his host good night, retired to his apartment which was assigned Him, and Mary remained wondering at his sayings.

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Thus, dear father, it is made certain from his own words, that Jesus is the Christ; that He is to establish a kingdom; that He will stand on "a throne hight and lifted up," as saith the prophet, and all the earth sahll acknowledge Him.  But why his throne should be on Calvary instead of Mount Zion, Rabbi Amos wonders greatly, in conversin with us to-day; for Calvary is a place of skulls, and of publice executions, and is covered with Roman crosses, where every week some malefactor is crucified for his crimes!  And yet it is more mysterious still, his saying that we must be born again.  But John remarked that there are many things which He says to him and his disciples, which Jesus plainly tells them they cannot yet understand, but will by-and-by remember; and that He tells them now, that then, when they see these things fulfilled, they may remember that He told them of them and believe in Him, and so have confidence that other sayings and prophecies of his, yet further in the future, will come to pass.

Jesus, in all that He says, in all that He does, seems both omniscient!  Whatever He wills to do, He doeth.  Never man had power such as dwells in Him.  This morning, as He was going forth from the house to depart in to the country, a man lame from his youth, seated upon this threshold, caught Him by his robe, saying, "Master, heal me!"

"Son, thy sins be forgiven thee," answered Jesus, and then passed on; but, the Scribes and Pharisees who stood about, when they heard this, cried, "This man, be he prophet or no, blasphemeth; for God alone can forgive sins!"

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Jesus stopped, and turning to them, said:

"Which is easier, to say to this man, who has not walked for twelve years, and whose legs and arms are withered, as you see, `Thy sins be forgiven thee,' or to say, `Rise and walk?'  If I can bid him rise and walk as aforetime, and he does so before your eyes, is it not proof to you that I have power to forgive his sins also?  For who could make him to rise and walk but the power of God alone, who also forgiveth men's sins?  But that ye may know that the Son of God hath power on earth to forgive sins--Behold!"

Then, in a loud voice, the Prophet said to the lame man, "Arise, take up thy bed, and go to thine house!"

Immediately the man rose to his feet, leaping and praising god, and taking up the mattress upon which they had brought him to the door, he ran swiftly away to show himself to his kinsfold, while all the people shouted and praised God!

Thus did Jesus publicly show men that he could forgive sins, if He could heal--as the power to do either came equally from God.  Does not this prove that He is the Son of God?

You should have seen Him, dear father, as He left our house, to go away into Galilee.  Mary and I fell at his feet and vathed them with our tears.  Rabbi Amos, and even Nicodemus, kneeled before HIm, with many others, asking his blessing; mothers came with their infants, that He might lay his hands of them; and the sick and impotent were place by their friends in his path, that his shadow in passing might heal them.  Hundreds brought handkerchiefs, amulets, and sprigs of cypress torn from the booths, in order that they might place

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them in contact with his garments.  The street was lined with all the afflicted of Jersulem; and as He moved on between the rows of wretched sufferers, whose hollow eyes and shrivelled arms were turned imploringly towards Him, He healed by words addressed to them as He moved on, so that where He found disease before Him, stretched on beds, He left behind Him health and empty couches.  We all wept at his departure, and followed Him to the Damascus gate.  Here there was assembled a large company of Levites and priests, among whom were mingled some of the most desperate characters in Jerusalem.  Knowledge of this fact reached Rabbi Amos, who at once sent a message to AEmilius, our Roman friend, informing him that he apprehended that there would be an attempt made to assasinate Jesus at the going out of the gate, and asking his aid.

AEmilius placed himself at the head of fifty horse, and reaching the gate, pressed the crowd back, and took possession of it.  When Jesus passed through the armed guard beneath the arch, the young Roman courteosly offered Him an escort to the next village.

Jesus, graciously looking on him, said:

"Young man, I need not thy help.  My hour is not yet come.  They cannot harm me till my hour arrives.  I am not yet given by my Father into their hands.  Take my blessing, and one day thou shalt know to whom thou hast offered the aid of thy troops."

The Levites and their hired murderers now pressed forward, and broke through the cohort to reach Jesus, uttering wild and fearful cries; but AEmilius charging, routed them, and put several to the sword.  He then

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rode up to the side of the Prophet, offering Him the best horse in his company.  This accommodation Jesus refused, but walked by the Roman soldier, who insisted on escorting Him, affably conversing with him, and teaching him wonderful things touching the kingdom of God.

AEmilius who informed me of these things, conducted Him as far as Ephraim, and then was about to leave Him to return to the city, when four lepers came from the cemetery of the tombs, near the village, and crying out afar off, said:

"Thou blessed Christ, have mercy on us!"

Jesus stopped, though his disciple Peter would have bidden the lepers hold their peace, as it was lae, and his Master was weary; but Jesus, who never wearies doing good, called to the lepers to approach.  As they obeyed, the whole company of people, as well as the Roman soldiers, drew back to a distance, in horror at the sight of these dead-living men.  They came timidly within twenty paces of Jesus, and stood still, tremblingly!

"Fear not," said He, "I will make you whole!"

He then advanced towards them, and laying his hand upon each of them, they all, at the touch, were instantly changed to well men, with the bouyant form, clear eye, and rich bloom of health!

When AEmilius saw this miracle, he dismounted from his horse, and falling at Jesus' feet, cried, worshipping Him:

"Thou art Mercury or Jupiter, O mighty god!  Give me wisdom and power from the skies!"

"Rise, young man," answered Jesus, sadly looking

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upon him; thou shalt have wisdom and grace, but not from thy gods; there is but one God, even the Father; worship Him, and He will reward thee!"

AEmilius said to me that his heart thrilled at these words, with others he had spoken in the way, and he promised me that he would henceforth "cast aside his gods and believe in the God of Israel, and in Jesus, his holy Prophet."

Is not this blessed news?  "Lo! He exclaims," as saith the Prophet, "liberty to the Gentiles."

Now, my dear father, I have thus far faithfully written all that I have heard and witnessed respecting Jesus, as you desire.  You must see that He is more than a prophet, and must be the very Christ, the son of the Blessed.  Withhold, oh, withhold not, your belief longer!  Thousands believe in HIm, and love and reverence Him, as Messias.  Daily his power over the hearts and minds of men is increasing.  The common people worship the very dust of his sandals.  The priests believe and tremble; but, like Herod, when He was an infant in Bethlehem, would destroy Him lest He should supplant them.  Theu say the daily sacrifice will cease, the Temple fall to ruins, and the faith of Israel depart, if Jesus be suffered to live and preach, and do these mighty signs and wonders among the people.  But all this establishes his claims!  Did not David prophesy of Messias, that when He should come, "The kings of the earth would set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed?  But He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision."  Thus,

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dear father, all things more and more go to prove Jesus of Nazareth to be the Christ of God.

Your affectionate and loving daughter,

Adina

LETTER XX.

My Dear Father:

It is many months since you have received a letter from me, written with my own hand; and I rejoice that I am so far restored to health as to resume my correspondence with you.  I cannot speak to you too warmly in praise of my uncle Amos and cousin Mary, during my illness.  By their care and nursing, under the blessing of God, I am now nearly well.  The pure air of the mountains of Galilee being recommended to me, they journeyed with me thither, and at the foot of Mount Tabor, in the lovely village of Nain, I have passed many weeks, reviving each day.

We are now at the humble abode of Sarah, a widow, whose husband had been lost on the Great Sea, on which he was a seaman in one of the merchant ships of Cesarea.  The cottage of the widow stands in a garden, from which a sublime view of Tabor, in all the majesty of garden walking, two men, dusty and travel-worn, stopped at the half-open gate, and saluting us, said:

"Peace be to this house, maiden, and all who dwell therein."

"Enter," said the widow, overhearing them, "enter, and ye shall have water for your feet, and bread for your hunger."

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The two men then entered and seated themselves; and having been refreshed by the poor, but hopitable widow, one of them rose and said:

"This day is salvation come to this house.  We are ambassadors of Jesus of Nazareth, and go from city to city, proclaiming the day of the Lord at hand, for Messias is come!"

At hearing these words, Mary and I both exclaimed with joy that we had both seen and heard Jesus at Jerusalem, and believed on Him.  Upon this they looked greatly pleased; and answered our inquiries respecting the Prophet, saying that He was in Samaria, preaching and working miracles, and proclaiming his kingdom.  When we heard this we rejoiced exceedingly, for we had not heard of Him for a long gime.  From them we learned that He had chosen twelve apostles, who always went with Him, and were daily taught of Him: and also, more recently, seventy others, whom He sent two and two into every city to herald his approach.

"Will He then, come to Nain?" siad the widow, with emotion.  "I should be willing to die so that I could lay eyes once upon so great and holy a man!"

"Yes, He will come hither," answered the men; "and when we shall report to Him of your hospitality to us, He will visit you house; for He never forgets a cup of water given to one of his disciples."

The men then departed, again calling the peace of God upon our abode.  They had not been gone many minutes before we heard a great commotion in the market-place near by.  Upon going to the house-top, we beheld these two men standing upon an elevation, and preaching the kingdom of Christ at hand, and calling

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upon all who heard them to repent of their evil deeds and lead a godly life; for Jesus would one day judge them according to the deeds done in the body.  Upon this, some cried out against Jesus, and others threw stones at the two men; and when we reached the house-top, we saw one of them remove his sandals and shake the dust from them, saying, in a loud voice:

"As ye reject the words of life, your sins remain upon you, as I return you the dust of your city."

They then departed, followed by Levites and men of the baser sort, who fairly drove them from the town.  This hostility, we found, was caused by an order from the Great Sanhedrim, to all the synagogues and priests in the land, that they should denounce all who preach Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ.

While we were grieving at this enmity against a prophet sent from God, whose life is a series of good deeds, there entered hastily a fair young maid whose name was Ruth.  She held an open letter in her hand, and her beautiful face glowed rosily with some secret joy, which contrasted strangely with the present sadness of our own.  We knew Ruth well, and loved her as if she had been a sister.  She was an orphan, and dwelt with her uncle, Elihaz, the Levite, a man of influence in the town.  She was artless, unsuspecting, and very interesting in all her ways.

"What good news, dear Ruth?" asked Mary, smiling in response to her bright smiles.  "A letter from whom?"

"For Sarah," answered the pretty maid, blushing so timidly and consciously, that we half suspected the truth.

"But that is not telling us from whom," persevered Mary, with a little playfulness.

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"You can guess," she answered, glancing over her white shoulder, as she bounded away from us into the house.

We were soon after her, and heard her as she cried, on putting the letter into the dear window's hand:

"From Samuel!"

"God be blessed," cried the widow, "My son liveth, and is well."

"Read, dear Sarah," cried the maiden.  "He was at Alexandria when he wrote this, and will soon be at home.  Oh, happy, happy day!" added the overjoyed girl, quite forgetful of our presence.  But we had long known the story of her pure love for the widow's son, whom we had once seen in Jerusalem, as she had made us confidants of all her hopes and fears, and read to us all the letters that came from him on the seas; for he went down to trade in the sea in ships, like his father before him.  We knew, too, that the youthful wanderer loved her with as much devotion as sheloved him, and our hearts sympathized with her in true affection.   "

Nay," said the widow, "my eyes are filled with tears of gladness; I cannot see to read.  Do thou read it aloud.  Let Adina and Mary also know what he writeth.  Is the letter to me, or thee, child?"

"To--to me, dear Sarah," answered the maiden, with a momentary embarrassment.

"Likely--likely; it is most natural thou shouldest get the best part of the epistles.  But so I hear and know that he is well, it is the same, writeth he to me or thee!"

Ruth then cast a bright look upon us, and thus read aloud from the letter from over the sea:

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"DEAREST RUTH:--I fear you have been impatient at my long silence; but I love you not less, though you do not often hear from me.  Now that I am safe I will write to you, which I would not do in a state of uncertainty.  Know that after our ship left Cesarea for Crete, we were caught by a north wind, and in striving to make the east end of the island, we lost way, and were driven upon Africa, where we were wrecked, losing all our cargo, and the lives of many who sailed with us.  With others, I was taken by the barbarians, and carried inland to a country of rocky mountaincs, and there became a bondman to one of the chief men of the nation wherein I was captivated.  At length, inspired by a consciousness of the anguish you and my beloved mother must suffer, should you never more hear tidings of me, I resolved to effect my escape.  After great perils I reached the sea-side, and at this expiration of many days, by following the coast, I was taken on board by a small ship of Cyprus, and conveyed to Alexandria.  The vessel was owned by a rich merchant of my own people, Manasseh Benjamin Ben Israel, who, finding me sick and destitute of all things, just as I escaped, took me home to his hospitable house, and treated me as a son till I recovered my health and strength--saying that he had a daughter far away in Judea, whom I saw at the house of Rabbi Amos, and he hoped that if she ever needed the aid of strangers, God would repay him by making them kind to her."

Here Mary and I looked at each other with agitation and pleased surprise.

"It was my father," I exclaimed, with emotion; "I rejoice that his house became thy son's home, O lady.  Blessed be me father!"

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When Sarah heard that it was at your house, dear father, her son had been so hospitable entertained, she embraced me again and again, and entreated me to convey to you her heartfelt gratitude--which I do herewith.  And it is, dearest father, because you know and love this young man, so providentially thrown upon your care, that I shall be particular in recounting what I am about to do concerning him.

Ruth then ended the reading of the letter, which told that he should return in the first ship bound to Sidon, or Cesarea, when he hoped to behold her and his mother face to face, and to receive as his bride the maiden he had so long loved and cherished in his heart.

Sarah now seemed to be drawn closer to me in affection, and also so did Ruth, since they have leaned that I am the daughter of the noble Jew who did so much for Samuel in a strange land.  At length, as the day drew near for me to leave, in order to return to Jerusalem, my health being quite invigorated, we were all filled with delightful surprise at the appearance of the long absent son and lover in the midst of our happy circle.

Mary and I had once seen him, and we were now impressed with his manly and sun-browned beauty, his bold air, and frank, ingenuous manner.  We could not but agree that the pretty Ruth had shown fine taste.  He gave me the package which you desired him to forward to Jerusalem, and thus we all had reason to rejoice at his coming.  But alas! my dear father, our joy was short-lived!  Little did we anticipate how speedily our rejoicings were to end in mourning.  The very nigh of his return he was seized with a malignant fever, which

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he had brought from Africa with him; and we were all overwhelmed with grief.

It would be impossible to paint the anguish of the mother, the heart-rending distress of his betrothed, as they bent over his couch, and saw the fierce plague burning him, as if he were in a furnace.

Unconscious of their presence, he raved wildly, and sometimes fancied himself suffering thirst on the burning sands of Africa; and at others, battling with the barbarians for his life.  All that physicians could do, and his friends could do--for he was greatly beloved as well for his own sake as for his mother's and Ruth's--all was of no avail.  This morning, the third day after his return, he expired, amid the most distressing of agonies.  Poor Ruth!  She cast herself in perfect abandonment of grief upon his lifeless and disfigured corpse; and now that they have removed her from that chamber of death, her shrieks fill the house.  His mother sits by him, the image of despair, holding his cold hand in hers, and uttering wails of woe sad enough to rend a Roman's heart:

"My son! my son! lost and found, to be torn from me forever!  Oh, that I had died for thee!  Thou and Ruth would then be happy.  Would to God I had died for thee, O my son, Samuel, my son!"  It is like David bewailing Absalom.

I write this sad news to you, dear father, knowing how deeply you will mourn his death; for your letters show me that you have formed for him almost a paternal attachment, carried so far as to promise to provide him with a ship to trade in Egypt, after his marriage with Ruth shall have taken place.  Alas! instead of a

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bridal, behold a funeral.  Already the bearers are at the door, and in a few minutes he will be borne forth upon the dead-bier to the burial-place without the city.

"Oh," sighs Mary near me, as I write, "oh, that Jesus, the mighty Prophet, had been here; He could have healed him!"  John has sent her a message, saying that He is travelling this way, on his mission of healing and teaching, and may be here this evening.  But what will it avail, dear father?  Even Jesus may not return the dead to life!  Oh, if He could have been here yesterday, his power over diseases would have enabled Him to save his precious life!  But regrets are useless.  The noble young man is dead, and will live again only in the resurrection of the just.

I hear the heavy tread of the dead-bearers in the court below.  The shrieks and wails of the mourning women thrill my soul with awe.  But above all, pierces the wild cry of anguish of the bereaved mother!  Ruth's voice is hushed.  She has been for the last hour inanimate as marble, sitting with a glazed eye and rigid features gazing on vacancy.  Only by her pulse can it be said she lives!  Poor maiden!  The blow is too terrible for her to bear.

My cousin Mary has this moment received a small roll of parchment, which, from the flush on her check, I know to be from her betrothed.  She smiles sadly, and with tears in her eyes hands it to me.

I have read it, dear father.  It reads as follows; if i have time I will transcribe it before the call to follow the dead forth to burial is given:

"Gadara, beyon Judea.

"The bearer, beloved, is one of the disciples of Jesus.

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His name is Bartimeus.  He was a blind and poor, and subsisted by begging; and, as you see, his sight is restored, and he insists now on going from town to town where he has been known as a blind man, to proclaim what Jesus has done for him.  He takes this to you.  I write to say that I wish thou mayest prosper in all things, and find the health for which thou and thy cousin sought the air of Mount Tabor.  I have no greater joy than to hear of you welfare.  This letter cometh beseeching thee, maiden, that as we love one another unfeignedly, so may we soon be united in that holy union which God hath blessed and commanded.  I would have thee bear in remembrance that thou gavest thy promise hereto when we last met at Nazareth.  But, having much to say hereupon, I will not commit it to paper and ink; but by to-morrow, or the day after, I trust to come to you, and speak with you, dearly beloved, face to face, upon thos things which come now to my lips.  Farewell, lady, and peace be with you, and all in your house.  Greet thy friends in my name, letting them know that we shall shortly be with you; also Amos, your father, now our dear brother in the Lord.  There are many things which I have seen and heard touching my holy Master, Jesus, and his holy mission to the world, which I will declare unto you when we meet, that you also may have fellowship wih us in those things which we know and believe concerning Him.  My Master saluteth thee and all in your house; Rabbi Amos, also, greeteth thee with a kiss.  This is the second epistle I have written unto you from this place."

"Oh, that the mighty Prophet had come one day sooner!" cried Mary.  "What woe and anguish would

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have been spared poor Ruth and his mother!  But the will of Jehovah be done."

We hear now, dear father, the voice of the governor of the funeral, bidding us come down to bury the dead.

Farewell, my father.  I know you will shed a tear to the memory of the noble youth whose death has this day filled all Nain with mourning.  As I look from the lattice, I see the concourse of people to be immense, filling all the street.  Now, may the God of our father Abraham preserve and keep you, and suffer us once more to meet face to face in joy and peace.

Your dutiful and sorrowful daughter,

Adina.

LETTER XXI.

My Dearest Father:

I seize my pen, which I laid down an hour ago, in order to follow to his burial the son of our hostess, to recount to you one of the most extraordinary things which ever happened, and which fills us all with such joy and wonder, that I fear my trembling fingers will scarcely express legibly what I have to tell you.

As I told you in my letter just finished, I was called away to accompany the weeping mother to the burial-place outside of the gates.  But when I reached the courtyard where the body of her son lay open upon a bier, which the bearers had already raised upon their shoulders, the deep grief of poor Ruth overcame her wholly, and I

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led her to her room, where she sank insensible upon her couch.  I could not leave her in her situation, and the procession went forth from the house without me,--Mary, as she walked, supporting upon her arm the bereaved mother, clad in her mourning weeds.

As the funeral train passed the lattice, it seemed end less, so vast a number of people accompanied the body, to do honor to a widow in Israel.  At length it passed by, and I was left alone with the motionless Ruth.  She seemed to sleep, though every few moments she would murmur the name of the dead.  I sat by her, reflecting upon the mysterious ways of God in bringing this widow's son safely home from the thousand dangers to which he had been exposed, from shipwreck and bondage, to gladden her soul with his presence for a few hours, and then to die in her arms!  As I gazed on the marble countenance of the bereaved maiden, I could not but pray that she might recover from her swoon, to revive to the bitter realization of her loss, and the renewal of her grief.

Suddenly I heard a very great shout.  I started, and hastened to the lattice.  It was repeated louder, and with a glad tone, that showed me that it was a shout of joy.  It seemed to come from beyond the city walls, and from a hundred voices raised in unison.  I knew that the house-top overlooked the walls, and seeing Ruth moved not, I ascended rapidly to the parapet, the shouts and glad cries still increasing as I went up, and exciting my wonder and curiosity.  Upon reaching the flat roof, and stepping upon the parapet, I saw coming along the street, towards the house, with the speed of the ante-loose, Elec, our Gibeonite slave.  He was waving his

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hands wildly, and crying out something which I could not distinctly hear.  Behind him I saw two youths running also, appearing to be the bearers of some great tidings.

I knew something wonderful must have occurred, but could not divine what it could be.  On looking towards the gate, from which direction the shouts at intervals continued to approach, I discovered on the hill-side of the cemetery many people crowded together, and evidently surrounding some person in their midst; for the whole order of the procession was broken up.  The beir I could not discern, nor could I comprehend how the solemnity of the march of the funeral train was suddenly changed to a confused multitude, rending the sky with loud acclamations.  The whole body of people was pressing back towards the city.  The persons whom I had first seen running along the street, now made themselves audible as they drew nigher.

"He is alive! he is alive!" shouted Elec.

"He has been raised from the dead!" cried the young man next behind him.

"He lives, and is walking back to the city!" called the third, to those who, like me, had to run to their house-tops to know the meaning of the uproar we heard.

"Who--who is alive?" I eagerly demanded of Elec, as he passed beneath the parapet.  "What is this shouting, O Elec?"

"Young Rabbi Samuel is come to life!  He is no longer dead.  You will soon see him, for they are escorting him back to the city, and everybody is mad with

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joy.  Where is Ruth, the maiden?  I am come to tell her the glorious news."

With emotion that I cannot describe, hardly believing what I heard, I hastened to Ruth, in order to prevent the effects of too sudden joy.  Upon reaching the apartment, I found that the voice of Elec, who had shouted the news of which he was the bearer into her ears, had aroused her from her stupor of grief.  She was looking at him wildly and incomprehensibly.  I ran to her, and folding her in my arms, said:

"Dear Ruth, there is news--good news!  It must be true!  Hear the shouts of gladness in all the town!"

"Lives!" she repeated, shaking her head; "No--no--no!  Yes, there!" she said, raising her beautiful, glittering eyes to heaven, and pointing upward.

"But on earth also," cried Elec, with positiveness.  "I saw him sit up, and heard him speak, as well as he ever was!"

"How was it?  Let me know all," I cried.

"How?  Who could have done such a miracle but the mighty Prophet we saw at Jerusalem?" he answered.

"Jesus?" I exclaimed, with joy.

"Who else could it be?  Yes; he met the bier just outside the----.  But here they come!"

Elec was interrupted in his narrative by the increased noise of voices in the streets, and the tramp of hundreds of feet.  The next moment the room was filled with a crowd of the most excited persons, some weeping, some laughing, as if beside themselves.  In their midst I beheld Samuel walking, alive and well! his mother clinging to him, like a vine about an oak.

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"Where is Ruth?" he cried.  "Oh! where is she?  Let me make her happy with my presence."

I gazed upon him with awe, as if I had seen a spirit.

Ruth no sooner heard his voice than she utered a shriek of joy.  "He lives--he indeed lives!" and springing forward, she was saved from falling to the ground by being clasped to his manly breast.

"Let us kneel and thank God!" he said.

For a few moments the scene was solemn and touching, beyond any spectacle ever exhibited on earth.  The newly-risen from the dead knelt in the midst of the floor, with his mother on his right, leaning her head upon his shoulder, and Ruth clasped in his left arm, and fast embracing him, as if he were an angel, who would else spread his wings and ascend, leaving her forever.  Mary and I knelt by her side, while all the people bowed their heads in worship, as he lifted up his voice in grateful acknowledgments to the Giver of life and health, for restoring both to him.  When he had performed this first sacred duty, he rose to his feet and received all our embraces.  Hundreds came in to see his face, and every tongue was eloquent in praise of the power of Jesus.

"And where is the holy prophet?"  I asked of Mary.  "Shall He be forgotten amid all our joy!"

"We thanked Him there will all our hearts, and bathed his hands with tears of gratitude," she answered; "but when they would have brought Him into the city in triumph, He conveyed himself away in the confusion, and no one could see aught of Him.  But John, who was with Him, told me he would come into the city after quiet was restored, by-and-by, and he would bring Him to our abode."

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"Oh! I shall then behold Him, and thank Him also," I cried.  "Make known to me, Mary, the particulars of this wonderful miracle," I asked of her; for though I saw Samuel now seated, and even eating in the room food served by his glad mother and the happy Ruth, while all lookd on to see if he really are, and, though I believed in the power of Jesus to do all things, yet I could hardly realized that He whom I had beheld carried out a deadman on his bier, I saw now seated at table, partaking of food, alive and well.

"I will tell thee all," answered Mary, whose face shone with a holy light, radiating from her intense happiness; and, leading me apart, she spoke thus:

"As we went weeping forth, slowly following the bier, and had passed the gate, we saw coming along the path through the valley leading to Tabot, a party of twelve or thirteen men on foot.  They were followed by a crowd of men, women, and children from the county, and were so journeying that they would meet us at the crossing of the stone bridge.  Hearing some one say aloud, `It is the Prophet of Nazareth, with his disciples,' I looked earnestly forward, and joyfully recognized Jesus at their head, with John walking by his side.

"`Oh, that Jesus had been in Nain, when thy son was sick!' I said to the widow, pointing Him out to her as He and his company stopped at the entranceto the bridge, and drew to one side, the way being too narrow for both parties to cross at the same time.  Upon looking up and seeing Him, and marking his benign countenance, and how sorrowfully He gazed upon the widow, and recollecting how He might have prevented her son's dying,

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had He been in Nain, the poor lady could no longer command her grief, which broke forth afresh; and covering her face with her veil, she wept so violently that all eyes were piteously fastened upon her.  I observed that the holy Prophet's gaze rested upon her with compassion; and as the widow came opposite where He stood, He advanced a step towards us, and said, in a voice of thrilling sympathy;

"`Weep not, mother.  Thy son shall live again!'

"`I know it, O Rabboni, at the last day,' she answered.  `He was so noble--so young--he was all to me, and had been so many months absent in far lands, only to come home to die.  I know that thou art a Prophet come from God, and that all good works follow the.  Oh, if thou hadst been here my son need not have died.  Thy word would have healed him.  But not he is dead! dead! dead!'

"The bereaved mother then poured forth her tears afresh.

"`Woman, weep not.  I will restore thy son!'

"`What saith he?' cried some Pharisees who were in the funeral; `that he will raise a dead man?  This is going too far.  God only can raise the dead.'  And they smiled and scoffed.

"But Jesus laid his hand upon the pass over the body and said to those who bore the corpse:

"`Rest the bier upon the ground.'

"They instantly stood still and obeyed Him.  He then advanced amid a hushed silence, and uncovering the marble visage, touched the hand of the dead young man, and said, in a loud and commanding voice:

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"`Young man, I say unto thee, Arise!'

"There was a moment's painful stillness through the vast multitude.  Every eye was fixed upon the bier.  The voice was heard by the spirit of the dead, and it came back to his body.  There was at first visible a living, trembling emotion of the hitherto motionless corpse! color flushed the livid cheek; the eyelids opened, and he fixed his eyes on Jesus; he raised his hand, and his lips moved!  The next moment he sat up on the bier, and spake aloud in his natural voice, saying:

"`Lo! here I am.'

"Jesus then took him by the hand, and assisting him to alight upon his feet from the bier led him to his mother, and delivered him to her saying: `Woman, behold thy son!'

"Upon seeing this miracle, the people shouted with joy and wonder, and there came a great fear on us all; and, lifting up their voices, they who so lately mourned and bewailed the dead, glorified God, sayin, `God has indeed visited his people Israel.  A great prophet is risen up among us.  The Messias is come, and Jesus is the very Christ, with the keys of death and hell.'

"With such words and exclamations, and great shouts of rejoicing, the multitude surrounded the restored young man, and proceeded to escort him back to the city; the great mass of the people being attracted more by the raised-to-life than by the august Person by whose act it had been done.  I sought out Jesus to cast myself at his feet, but He shrunk from the homage and gratitude which his mercy to us had awakened.  Thus, humility is an element of all power."

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Such, my dear father, is the narrative of the restoration to life again of Samuel, the son of Sarah, widow of Nain.  I give it to you in its simple outlines.  It will not fail to command you belief.  The miracle was performed in open day, in the presence of thousands.  The opposers of Jesus, the hostile Scribes and Pharaisees, do not deny the miracle, for they were convinced of the reality of the death of the young man; for he died, as I have before said, of the plague, and his corpse was a loathsome sight to those who behel it; yet, wonderful to relate, when he was restored to life by the power of Jesus, he sat up free from all external signs of the putrid disease, his skin fair and smooth, and his whole aspect that of ruddy health and manly beauty.  No man could doubt, therefore, that a miracle had been performed, and one of the most extraordinary kind; for never was it heard before that the dead were restored to life by the power of a man.  This miracle of the restoration fromt he dead of Samuel, the widow's son, has caused hundreds this day to confess his name, and to believe in Him as the anointed Shiloh of Israel.

Since writing the above, I have conversed with Samuel upon the consciousness which he had of being dead.  He replies that it seemed to him that he had been in a dream, the chain of which was now broken, and could not be recollected again.  "Fragments," said he "of delightful condition; of splendor; of glory and bliss; of music ineffable, and scenes indescribable, passed before my mind for a few moments after standing upon my feet; but they presently melted away, and I can now only recollect that there were such!  When I found myself upon the bier, I felt no surprise; for the fact that

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I was being taken to my burial seemed instinctively to present itself to my re-animated consciousness."  Many of the doctors have been to see him through the day, and have put profound questions to him touching the state of the soul out of the body; but he could give them no satisfaction, all appearing to him like shining fragments of a gorgeous vision.

Jesus came into the town during the evening, and abode with us.  You should have witnessed how the gratitude of the happy mother, and of the no less happy Ruth, exhibited itself.  They anticipated his every wish, and seemed to desire that he had a thousand wants, that they might administer to them.  But his life is simple---his wants few.  He thinks little of comforts; and so that he can speak of the kingdom of God to those about Him, he forgets to partake of the food placed before Him.  We also forget all things else when He speaks, and stand or sit around Him, drinking in the rich eloquence of his wise lips.  The more I see of Him, dear father, the more I stand in awe of Him, and love Him.

Mary is to-morrow to become the bride of John, and Jesus will be present at the wedding, for while He severely rebukes sin and folly, He sanctifies by his presence the holy rite of marriage, which God ordained.  Next month, the happy Ruth will wed the noble youth whom she has so wonderfully received alive from the dead.

On the eve of the eight day from this I shall depart thence, with John and Mary, for Jerusalem, whence I will write you again.

Your loving daughter,

Adina

LETTER XXII.

Once more, my dear father, I address a letter to you from this holy city.  This morning when I awoke at the sound of the silver trumpets of the priests, ringing melodiously from the top of Mount Moriah, I experienced anew that profound devotion which the children of Abraham must always feel in the city of God, and in the presence of His very Temple.  As I ascended the roof of the house to prayer, the gorgeous pile of the Temple towered heavenward from the summit of Moriah, in all the magnificence of its celestial beauty.  The azure wreaths of incense were already curling upward into the still skies, while the murky cloud sent up by the burnt sacrifice rolled darkly above the pinnacle, casting an awful shade above the valley of Kedron, the sun rose and gilded its massive edges as if they had been turned out with gold.  Louder and clearer rang the trumpets, and every house-top soon had its group of worshippers, while along the streets rolled the tide of people, some leading lambs, others driving goats before them, others carrying doves in their bosom, to be offered to the Lord by the priest.

It was a joyous morning to me, dear father, for AEilius, the noble Roman Prefect, was this day volun-

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tarily to present himself at the Temple to be made a proselyte to the holy faith of Israel.  I will not now detain you by recording the arguments by which he was led to renounce idolatry and become a Jew!  Pilate, the Procurator, encouraged, instead of opposing it, believing that it would concilate the Jews in favor of the Romans; he resolved, therefore, to grace the rite with his presence.  I could see him proudly rolling onward toward the Temple in his gilded chariot, escorted by a score of guards, blazing in their Grecian ciurasses.  I sought in vain the form of AEmilius; but he reached the Temple by another street.  The morning was, therefore, additionally lovely to me.  I thought I had never seen the olive groves, nor the harvest so yellow, as they undulated in the soft breeze of the opening morn.  The lofty palms everywhere appeared to bend and wave their verdant fans with joyous motion.  The birds in the palace gardens sang sweeter and louder; and Jerusalme itself seemed more beautiful than ever.

While I was gazing upon the scene, and adoring God, and thanking Him for the conversion of AEmilius, Rabbi Amos came, and said that he would take us to the Temple, for he was at leisure this morning.  We were soon on our way climbing the paved pathway to Moriah.  Oh, how sublimely towered the divine Temple above our heads, seemingly lost in the blue of the far heaven!  The great gates opening North and South to the East and West were thronged with the mulitude pressing through; while from the galleries above each gare pealed forth continuously the clear-voiced trumpets of God in ceaseless reverberation.  My uncle pointed out to me

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the massive doors, all overlaid with sheets of beaten gold, and the floor of green marble on which we trode.  He bade me notice the costly entablature of colored stones, exquisitely worked with the Grecian's chisel; and especially the roof of fretted silver, set with precious stones, the onyx, beryl, sapphire, carbuncle, and jasper.  I was dazzled by the magnificence, and awed by the vast extent of the space of splendor surrounding me; while ten thousands of people were to be seen moving towards the altar of sacrifice.  From that superb court I was led into a hall nearly a hundred cubits in length, its ceiling of pure gold sustained by a thousand and one columns of porphyry and white marble, ranged alternately.  Such richness I had never conceived of, or thought possible on earth.  But when Rabbi Amos explained that they all were made after patterns of heavenly things, I ceased to marvel, and only wished I might one day dwell in those celestial abodes, where, the holy Jesus teaches us, are mansions not made with hands, of endless duration, reserved for the good and virtuous.

I was not permitted to approach the sacred chamber, where stood the four thousand vessels of gold of Ophir, used in the sacrifices on great days; and this being a high day, I saw no less than six hundred priests standing about the altar, each with golden censer in his hand.  Beyond is the holy ark of the covenant, over which the cherubim hovers, their wings meeting, and between them is the mercy-seat!  As this was the Holy of Holies I was not permitted to see it; but its position was pointed out to me with the veil, which conceals from all eyes but that of the High Priest once a year, the

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place of God's throne on earth, alas, now left vacant since the glory of the Shechinah departed from the Holy of Holies!

The air of the vast Temple was delicious with the fragrance of burning frankincense.  As the victims bled, and the smoke ascended, the people fell on their faces and worshipped God.  It was an impressive scene, and made my heart stand still.  I seemed to expect to hear the voice of Jehovah breaking the stillness that followed.  But after a few moments' silence, a startling trumpet note thrilled every soul in the countless multitude.  It was followed by a peal of music that shook the air, from a choir of two thousand singers, male and female, of the sons and daughters of Levi, who served in the Temple.  Entering from the southern court, they advanced in long procession, singing sacred chants, and playing of sacbut and harp, psalter and nebble, chinna and tympana.  As they ascended to the choir, their voices, mingling with the instruments, filled all the Temple.  I never heard before such sublime harmony; especially when, on reaching the elevated choir, a thousand Levites, with manly voices, joined them, and the whole company chanted one of the sublimest of the Psalms of David.  I was overcome--my senses dissolved in a sea of seraphic sounds; my heart swelled as if it would break, and I found relief only in a flood of tears.

When the chant was concluded, the whole multitude responded, "Amen, and Amen," like the deep voice of a mighty wind suddenly shaking the foundations of the Temple.

At length I beheld a train of priests following the High Priest, as he marched thrice around the altar.  In

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that procession I discovered a company of proselytes, excorted by twelve age Levites, with long snowy beards, and clad in vestments of the purest white.  Among the proselytes, which numbered full a score of men, from almost every nation, I discerned the tall and noble figure of the Roman AEmilius.  He was robed in a black garment from head to foot.  But upon approaching the baptismal basin, two young priests removed this outer sable dress, and robed him in white.  I then saw him baptized into the family of Abraham, and a new name given him, that of Eleazer.  I heard the silver trumpets proclaim the conversion, and the multitude shouting their joy!

Of the rest of the ceremony I have no recollection, as, after the baptism of AEmilius, I was too happy to see or think of any one else.  There stands, now, dear father, no further bar to our union.  AEmilius is become a Jew, and henceforth will worship the God of our fathers!  I know you said, in you last letter to me, that you feared the noble young Roman was led by his attachment to me to renounce his religion, and not from honest conviction of its truth and of its falsehood.  But I am assured, dear father, that he acts from conviction.  The conversations he has had with me, and with Rabbi Amos, and other of the learned doctors of our nation, whom he has met at our house, with the careful reading of the Scriptures of the Prophets, have not only convinced him that the Lord God of Israel is the only God of the whole earth, but that the worshippers of idols are the worshippers of Satan, who hath set up that religion in opposition to that of the true God.

While I was lifting up my hearts in gratitude for the

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happy conversion of AEmilius, and while the Jews were crowding about him to extend to him the hand of fellowship, rejoicing that so noted a person should embrace our faith, uncle Amos drew my attention by exclaiming with gladness:

"Behold! there is Jesus, the Prophet!"

"Where?" I cried, trying to discover the divine Prohet among the multitude.

"Standing by yonder pillar of porphyry.  John is on one side of Him and Peter on the other.  He is pointing to the altar, and explaining or teaching them something.  Let us try and approach Him!"

We at once made our way, but with difficulty, towards the spot where he had discovered Him.  The rumor that the Christ was in the Temple rapidly spread, and the whole multitude pressed towards the same point.  At length we attained our object so as to get within a few feet of Him.  Here a tall, richly attired Greek, addressed Rabbi Amos, saying:

"Sir, tell me who that youthful Jew is, whose contenance is stamped with firmness and benevolence, so finely combined in its expression; whose air possesses such dignity and wisdom; whose noble eyes seem filled with a holy sadness, and whose glance is full of innoncence and sweetness.  He seems born to love men and to command them.  All seek to approach him.  Pray, sir, who is he?"

"That, O stranger, is Jesus of Nazareth, the Jewish Prophet," answered Uncle Amos, delighted to point Him out to a foreigner.

"Then am I well rewarded for my journey in turning aside to Jerusalem," answered the Grecian.  I have

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even heard of his fame in Macedonia, and am rejoiced to behold Him.  Thank you He will do dome great miracle?"

"He performs miracles not to gratify curoisity, but to bear testimony to the truths He teaches, that they are delivered to Him of God.  Hark! He speaks," cried my uncle.

Every voice was hushed, as that of Jesus rose clear and sweet, and thrilling like a celestial clarion speaking.  And he preached, dear father, a sermon so full of wisdom, of love to man, of love to God, of knowledge of our hearts, of divine and convincing power, that thousands wept; thousands were chained to the spot with awe and delight, and all were moved as if an angel had addressed them.  They cried, "Never man spake like this man!" and certainly never human lips dispensed such wisdom.

When He had ended, the priests, seeing that he had carried the hearts of all the people, were greatly enraged, and not being able to vent their hatred and fear in any other way, they hited a vile person by the name of Gazeel, a robber, who, taking one of the blood-stained sacrificing knives by the altar, crept towards Him behind the column, to assassinate Him.  The robber drew near, and securing a favorable position to execure the deed, raised his hand to strike the Prophet from behind the column, to assassinate Him.  The robber drew near, and securing a favorable position to execute the deed, raised his hand to strike the Prophet from behind, when Jesus, turning his head, arrested the hand of the assassin in mid-air, by a look!  Unable to mov a muscle, Gazeel sttod betrayed to all eyes in this murderous attitude, like a statue of stone.

"Return to those who hired thee.  My hour is not yet come; nor can they have any power over me until my Father's will fulfilled concerning me."

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The assassin bowed his head with deep humility; the knife dropped from his hand and rang upon the marble floor; and he sank at Jesus' feet, imploring forgiveness.  The people would instantly have torn Gazeel in piesces:  but Jesus said:

"Let him depart in peace.  The day shall come when he will be willing to lay down his life to save mine.  Ye, priests, go about to kill me," he added, fixing his clear gaze upon the group which had sent Gazeel.  "For what do ye seek my life?  Because I bear testimony to the wickedness of you own.  Ye lay heavy burdens on the people, and will not lift them with one of your fingers.  I have come to my own, and to my Temple, and ye receive me not.  The day cometh when this Temple shall be thrown down, and not one stone left upon another; and some who hear me shall behold and mourn in that day.  Oh, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how oft would I have gathered thy children ogether as a hen athereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.  Thou shalt be left desolate and cast out among cities, because thou knewest not the day of thy visitation.  But ye, who would escape these troubls, seek to enter my kingdom, which shall have no end; fly to the Jerusalem which is above, and whichis above all, whose foundation is eternal, and whose Temple is the Lord God Almighty, who is also he light and glory thereof."

Upon hearing these words, there arose a great cry from ten thousand voices:

"Hail to Jesus, the king of Israel and Judah!  Hosanna to the Prince of David!  We will have no king but Jesus."

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At this shout, which was caught and repeated beyond the four gates of the Temple, the priests cried aloud that the people were in insurrecion.

Pilate, who was, with his guard, just leaving the Count of the Gentiles, hearing it, turned to ask what it meant.  One of the priests, desirous of havig Jesus slain, quickly answered, "That the people had proclaimed Jesus, the Nazarene king," and that he was already placing himself the head of the people.

Hearing this, Pilate sent off messengers to the Castle of David for soldiers, and with his body-guard turned back to the Temple gate, charging the people sword in hand.

The tumult was now fearful, and the bloodshed would have been great, but Jesus suddenly appeared before him--none saw how He had reached the place--and said:

"O Roman!  I seek no kingdom but such as my Father hath given me.  Neither thy power nor thy master's is now in peril.  My kingdom is not of this world."

Pilate was seen to bend his proud head with low obeisance before the Prophet, and said graciously:

"I hve no wish to arrest thee.  Thy word, O Prophet, is sufficient for me.  Of thee I have hitherto heard much.  Wilt thou come with me to my palace, but to-day, and thou shalt behold a miracle, but not now."

When Jesus had thus said, He withdrew himself from Pilate's presence; and those who would have sought Him to make Him a king could nowhere discover Him.

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The result of this attempt of the people to make the Prophet their king, and under his direction to overthrow the Roman power, is, that the Roman authorities, instigated by Annas and the priests, look upon Jesus with eyes of jealousy; and Pilate this morning told a deputation of priests, who waited on him to petition him to arrest and imprison the Prophet, that on the first proof they could bring him of his hostility to Caesar, he would send soldiers to take Him.  To-day Jesus was refreshing himself in our house, when several Scribes and Pharisees came in.  I saw by their dark looks they meditated evil; and secretly sent elec with a message to AEmilius, (now Eleazer,) asking him to be at hand to protect Jesus; for AEmilius is devoted to Him, as we are, and Jesus takes delight in teaching him the things of the kingdom of God.

Jesus, knowing the hearts of these bad men, said to them, after they had seated themselves, and remained some minutes in silence:

"Wherefore are ye come?"

"Master," said Jehoram, one of the chief Scribes, "we know that thou art a Teacher come from God, and fearest no man, nor regardest the person of any man."

"Yes," added Zadoc, a Levite of great fame among the people, "we have heard how bodly thou speakest at all times; and that thou shrinkest from no man's power--that not even Pilate, nor Herod, yea, nor Caesar, could make thee refrain from what thou choosest to utter.  Is it lawful for us, Jews, the peculiar nation of God, to pay tribute to Caesay, who is an idolator?  Is it lawful for us to obey the laws of Pilate, rather than of Moses?  We ask this as Jews to a Jew.  Tell us frankly; for thou feares not the face of any man."

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"Let the question rest simple upon the tribute to the Romans," answered Jehoram.  "Master, ought we, the holy nation, to give tribute to the Emperor Caesar?"

Jesus looked fixedly upon them, as if He read their wicked designs, and said:

"Show me the tribute money."

Zadoc handed Him a penny, the Roman coin sent into Judea by Caesar, as our currency, and which we return to Roman again in tribute.  When Jesus had taken the money, He looked at the head of Augustus stamped upon one side, and then turning to them, as they waited breathlessly for his answer, said:

"Whose image and whose name is here impressed?"

"Caesar's," eagerly answered the whole party.

"Then render unto Caesar the things that be Caesar's, and unto God the things that be God's," was his calm and wonderful answer.

I breathed again; for I feared He would answer openly that tribute ought not to be paid, which they hoped.  He would do, when they would immdiatelu have accused Him to Pilate as teaching that we ought not to pay tri