JAMES



could not adjust herself to it. We all looked
forward to the Sabbath as the day which would
bring some development either for the better
or worse.
  During the intervening days, Jesus visited
some of the homes where people were sick. He
knew all these sick people. Some of them He
had known all His life. I believe He had
come back desiring above almost anything else
to help those of His old neighbours whom He
knew to be in need. But His efforts failed. A
very few people said they felt better after He
had called, but most of them asked, "Is not this
the carpenter Who taught Him to be a pro-
phet or a rabbi  Is not this the son of Joseph,
and is not His mother's name Mary And do
we not know His brothers, James and Simon
and Joseph and Judas Why should He pre-
tend to be any better than the rest of us He is
no rabbi! He is no prophet! Do not let Him
deceive you! He is only Joshua, the carpenter.
If you look at His hands, you will find the
calouses that were made by the hammer and the
saw. He shall not deceive us, for we know all
about Him."
  There is no place more critical, more skep-
tical, more lacking in readiness to believe any-
thing great of one of its own citizens, than a
small town. It is not so in cities. There men
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