xt7wm32n6k03 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7wm32n6k03/data/mets.xml Bradley, Samuel Carlyle, 1842- 1908  books b92-185-30607299 English Sherman, French & Co., : Boston : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Jesus Christ. Jesus of Nazareth  : a life / by S.C. Bradley. text Jesus of Nazareth  : a life / by S.C. Bradley. 1908 2002 true xt7wm32n6k03 section xt7wm32n6k03    J ESUS
OF NAZARE:TH










StC. BRADLEY

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JESUS OF NAZARETH

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JESUS OF NAZARETH

              A LIFE


                 BY
          S. C. BRADLEY



" Poetry comies nearer to vital triith than history "
                      PLATO



         BOSTON
SHERMAN, FRENCH  COAMPANY
           1908

 










       Cop-right 190S
Sherman, French 6 Company
Entered at Stationers' Hall



Printed in U. S. A.

 







INTRODUCTION



  The object of this book is twofold.  First, to bring into
prominence the Manliness of Jesus,- to give point and
emphasis to tlhat saying of Paul's which declares that Jesus
was in all points tempted like as we are; and second, to
fill up that gap in the record of Jesus' life which includes
and shuts us out from all its formative period, and which,
in large part, must necessarily be the source and basis of
whatever he said and did.
  That there are other important phases of Jesus' life
may be freely admitted. Very properly, there is a theology
of Jesus, and also a psvichology of him. These will
neither be ignored nor treated separately. They will ap-
pear as fundamental and inseparable outgrowth-s of char-
acter and of life. Whatever may be said of Jesus' divin-
ity, the most partial Trinitarian must admit that he is to
be studied first of all as a man. His outward and dailv
life was that of a man. To the very last, his most intimiate
friends, even his mother and brethren, so regarded him.
Though it be admitted that Jesus was and is God, to many
devout and pious souls it seems presumption to study hin
as God; for it is asked, What do we know about God
If we are to find God in Jesus, we must find Him as the
summing up, the expressed essence, of that incomparable
human life. But here, too, we are much in the dark. If
we accept as inspired the stories of the evangelists, they
are still, mere fragments,- the minutest shards of a
priceless vase. Even if we restore the vase in any way yet
attempted, our bewilderment is but the more increased, and
we are forced to inquire the secret of its origin. Whence
such clay, such form, such tempering in long-drawn fur-
nace-fire There are no inquiries that we more ardently
press upon the silence of history " than these: and it is

 



                   INTRODUCTION
partly to furnish an answer to them that this book is
written.
  Then, too, there tare not a few truly pious souls who from
Jesus as God shrink back chilled and daunted; their amaze-
mcnt is riot that he did so much, but that he did no
more. And is it not true that when we look upon Jesus
as a man, we are awved, inspired, lifted up. We are drawn
and bound to him by the mighty bands of kinship. He is
our brother. What he (lid we may do. The illimitable
realms of spirit are open to us. We, too, may aspire.
We may trust that our Father, God, has sent a AMan
among men to give them an everlasting example of Man-
hood, and to show what capabilities lie in human nature.
We can say, " Thus lived a Man. I am a MaNan."
  Again, in anticipation of the animadversions of ortho-
doxy, one word as to authorities. It will be asked why, if
I am a believer in Jesus, I do not adhere to Scripture. To
this I reply, What Scripture Wnich of the four Gospels
would you have me follow; or would you in some matters
have me reject them all, and stand with Paul or even with
Keim or Edersheimn The disagreements of the Scripture
accounts have come to appear so glaring, and are so un-
denied and undeniable, that the most orthodox writers are
forced to have recourse to the infidel's sorry weapons, cor-
ruption, interpolation, and the like. So evangelical and
erudite a writer as Edersheim naively takes such refuge.
In his two labored volumes on the life of Jesus there are
scores of instances where he declares that the sacred text
has been tampered with. Here it is an " addition " or a
"gloss," there a " subtraction "; it is " spurious," a " para-
phrase," an " interpolation," or " wrongly translated." In
one place he expressly doubts the united testimony of the
three Synoptists, and says that what they record was an
  afterthought " and the real truth was not as stated by
them. It will be found upon examination that this is the
nethod of all writers on the subject, even the most ortho-

 



                   INTRODUCTION
dox. There is indeed no other way. Either they must
accept John and reject Alattliew, or vice versa. They
must say this is text and that interpolation, or this is
interpolation and that text. They adopt a theory of their
own regarding the main subject, and in accordance with
this theory reject or adopt or explain away, as best suits
their theory. The conditions of the case,-the contra-
dictions, crudities, and absurdities of the text,- make such
a course absolutely necessary; and if I in these pages have
made a further and bolder advance into the region of
hypothesis, and have allowed my imagination a higher
flight, it must be seen that I am pursuing a path already
laid out and commended, and I feel sure that I have walked
in it honestly and reverently.
                                              S. C. B.

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CONTENTS



CHAPTER.
       I. 'lIIE RELATIONS OF JESUS TO JOHN
       II. THuE YOUxN   SIHEPHDII:fI.
     III. TIIE FIISIIEIILriAN  OF GALILEE
     IV'. NAZARETH  .  
     V. GOING UP TO JERUSAlEM . . .  
     VI. AT TILE TE3IPLE OF GOD
     ' Il. T'IE 'YOUKNo( CARPIENTER  .
     Vl I . TILE HILL-TOP.
     I X.'ILE MAN.. .  . .  .  . .   .
     X.  'ITIIEIll .S
     XI. 'JIIE ROBnRERS
     XII. VARUS
     XIII. T'IE BOXD WOMAN
     XIV. TIIE MAGI   . . .
     XV. TITE PASSING OF SILILATI-    .
     XVI. PROPHECY
   XVI I. DOUBT
   XVIII. T'IE RETURN . . . .
   XIX. FALLING OFF . . . . .
     XX. THE CHARIOT RACE.
     XXI. 'imE LAST APPEA..   . .  .  .
   XXII. NICODEMLUS  . . . . . .
   XXIII. TILE PLOTTERS . . . . .
   XXIV. TmE BATTLE .   . . . . .
   XXV. THE DESERT .
   XXVI. TARLCIrEA   . . . . . .
 XXVI I. THE BAPTIS-M OF JOILN
 XXVIII. AT TILE FOUNTAIN OF NAZARETIL
 XXIX. To HEAR JOHN . . . . .
   XXX. THE BLACK SHEEP . . .
   XXXI. Ex-o.
 XXXII. TEMPTATION . . . . .
 XXXIII. 'VILE FIRST MIRACLE
 XXXIV'. CLIORAZIN   . . . . . .



          PAGE.





   . ...  . 31


....... .  .... 52
. .  . .  .  _)2


.... . ....... 35





   .104

   .125

.13..2..  . 3
. .  . .  .                    .14
. .  . .  . 148
  .156
  .164
  .169


          .187
. ...                          . 193
          2.5. 0
.9...  . 12L



. .... 255
.... . ..... 1fi4








  .265
.... 1280

  ... .                      .05
....'3......2i
  ..2997

 






CONTENTS



CIrAPTER.
  XXXV. ALONE
  XXXVL. A N-AS    . . .
XXXVII. FISnrERTO   .     .
XXXVIII. 'TmE IDE AA I.L.. . .
XXXIX. WEAKNESS
     XL. TXIAU\ -STION..
     XLI. DEFECTIONx
   XLII. Ix IICIlT       .
   XLIII. ULNFOLDING
   XLIV . C.ESAIIEA PHIIPnPIpps
   XLV . 'HIE IRA \NSIGURATION- .
   XLVI1. SUioN's FEAST
   XLVII. RADICAL
 XLVIII. FANTASY .
   XL1X. PILATE
       L. 'TIIE PLOT TIiCKENS
       LI. "AN EXCEEDING IHI(
     LII. CLE ANSING TIlE TiE3frLE
     L1II. FEAR
     LI V. OLIVET
     LV. SUsSPENSE.,
     LVI. A FALLWNG 0BAROIETER
   LVII. MARY ANt) HELJx--
   LVIII. BETHIANY   . . .
   LIX. JUDAS.
     LX. WAITING . . .
     LXI. TfIE LAST SUPPER
   LXI I. WATCH ASNI IPRAY
   LX111. PEREECTEI7
   LXI V. GETIISEMIANE E
   LXV. NO WXAVEIRING
   LXV1. PETER'S DEN-IAL
   LXVII. FORSNAKEN        .
 LXV1II.   HILE CRUlCIFIlXION-
   LXIX. FATALITIES
   LXX. ECHOES
   LXXI. 'TILE RESURRECTION
   LXXII. OBDURATE    . . .
 LXXIII. FAITHFUL    . . .



                      PAGE.
 ... . .  .  . .  .320

 . .  . .  .  . .  . . 327

      . . ... .  .  . . '33S
                        t 7
 ... . .  .  . . . 3(j 1
 . .  . .  . .  .  . . 36(7


                      .'3..7.
 ........... .  . .  .  .............. 399
 ....... .  . .  .  ....... 40-1
 ....             411
 .....         .,  .. 415


 .........          . 432
 ...  . .  . .  .  .437
 .........         . 444
Mo UNTA IN.S"..  . .  . 4146
... .  .  . .  .  .            .45
.4....        . 66
. .......                       . 470

  .. .  . .  .  . .  ........... 1,  ,
  ..... .  .... . .  .4S6

  ...  . .  . .  .  .491
      . ... . .  .  .  . V41.

 .501........          . 09


 . .....        .  .             . 513
      . ... . .  .  . . 52I3
      .5x18

 ... .  .  . .  . . 526

 ...  . .       31
                       .52I

 . .  . .  .  . .  . . . 552
      .5.59
 . .  . .  .  . .  . . 561
 . .  . .  .  . .  . . 566
 ........         . 573


 








I



                  JESUS AND JOHN

  "There are few questions xxe more eagerly press upon the silence
of history than this."- KEITM.

   The time is about the year 6  A. D. The scene, the
Wilderness of Ziph, not far from   Hlebron. Two half-
grown boys in Jewish garb are making their slow way
from  the high and rocky plateau eastward towards the
valley of En-)edi and the Dead Sea. Except for the rare
trail of conies and wild goats it is a pathless wild, appar-
enitly without inhabitant. High rocky ridges alternate
with tremendous rifts and gorges, with here and there a
narrow valley, watered in winter by mountain torrents and,
rarely, by more enduring springs of warmn or brackish
water. Apparently at no very remote period, a convulsion
of nature had rent and tossed about these huge mountain
masses, and no accumulation of soil has yet found place
on the bare and splintered rocks. It is " Jeshimnon," the
land of " desolation," of " horror," and of " drought."
  Now, in the Spring and the time of rain, there is some
vegetation. From   the crevices of the rocks appears a
scanty growth of cactus, and white flowering broom, with,
more rarely, crocuses, hyacinths, and dandelions. Here
and there are birds of rich plumage and delightful song,
the gaudy bulbul or sunbird and the hoopoe, the night-
ingale and the English lark, the titmouse, the sparrow,
and the song thrush. All of these but the hardy cacti and
perhaps the bulbul and hoopoe will disappear in the fierce
summer heat, and except in the deep wadies and favored

 It should be observed that the birth of Jesus was certainly six,
and perhaps twelve, years before the year 1.
                        1

 



JESUS OF NAZARETH



spots where Essenes and hermits have fixed an abode, the
whole land will be bare, lifeless, and desolate. It was
nearly noon when the two boys, by dint of bold and
skillful climbing, reached the summit of one of the highest
ridges of this whole region. Although it was early Spring,
the sun, shining through the cloudless sky and reflected
from the bare rocks, was very oppressive, and the boys,
panting and perspiring, sought the shelter of an enormous
rock and sat down.
  That these boys are not brothers we may be sure at a
glance. There is not even a family resemblance, and
there is no perceptible difference in age. The stouter,
and apparently the more energetic of the two, is of the
marked Jewish type in every detail,-the fine olive tint of
skin, the black flashing eyes, the teeth, even, regular, and
white as milk, and hair (unshorn from birth) black, wavy,
and shining. The other is so different in feature that we
are forced almost to doubt his Jewish extraction. Ile is a
trifle taller, and less stout and muscular, but drawn upon
lines and cast in a mould that would have put Apelles or
Phidias into transports. The eyes are dark, not black,
looking out dreamily from unfathomable depths, the coIm-
plexion tanned by exposure but pure and clear as alabaster,
and the hair brown, wavy, abundant, and, like the other's,
unshorn. And the face,- surely not Jewish; neither is it
Greek, nor Roman. It is idyllic, even ideal,-the face
we dream of when we see Heaven opened, and the rapt
faces about the Throne.
  The boys sat in silence for some moments, looking out
over the surpassing scene. At length the darker one,
whose name was John, addressing his companion, said,
" Didn't I tell you the view would be glorious Isn't it
wonderful "
  " Yes," answered the other, " it is very wonderful;
but do you think it is good to be much in such places
Somehow I don't like it."



2

 




                 JE1SUS AND JOHN                     -3

  "Father says," replied John, " that solitude has ever
been the school of the prophets, and you know how very
hard it is to keep the Law amon-g the world's people."
    Yes, it is verv bard," said the other, " but what good
can one (lo, living lere "
  "I never thought about that; but a life here might be
a life of preparation, getting ready to do good - when an
opportunity offered."
  " Well, these hermits and Essenes that you tell me of,-
they live here all their lives and are always preparing, but
what real good do they do "
  John did not answer for some moments; then with a
solemn smile and looking up at the other: " I believe,
Jesus, that you are a born philosopher. You are always
studying into things that way; but you wait till you have
seen Father Alenaliecml, CochAia, and the rest. They'll ex-
plain to you better than I can."
  John suddenly sprang to his feet, and pointing with his
hand to a spot a thousand feet below, and a mile or more
away, exclaimed, " There they are now, see, at the foot
of that great hill that stands out by itself and is partly
terraced on one side. See those people moving there!
That's Cochilba and the rest of them. See "
  Jesus put his hand over his eves to screen them from the
sun and looked lono in the direction indicated. " Yes, I
see something that looks like tents, and something moving
there; but they look no bigger than ants from here.
What a view this is! "
  "I am glad if you begin to appreciate it. From here
Sodom and Gomorrab could have been seen before God sent
the fire from Heaven upon them, and where now is the
great Salt Sea was a fertile plain and no doubt, so Father
says, the very garden of the world; and there, twenty miles
away, though you wouldn't think it, is the Great Masada
that King Herod spent so much of Israel's money and
labor upon.  How its great towers glisten in the sun!

 



JESUS OF NAZARETH



And there across the sea, far in the southeast, those white
towers are Kerak, thirty miles away. Here, towards the
sun rising, is Maclherus, another of Herod's strongholds.
It makes one shudder to think of the poor Israelites who
have died chained to the rocks in those dungeons, and how
many are there now, dying by inches and waiting to be
crucified. Father says that God delivered Israel of the
monster Ilerod, but these Romans are scarcely better."
  The boys sat in silence for some moments, then Jesus
said slowly and solemnly: " Your father and my father and,
I think, all good Israelites believe that the time of Israel's
deliverance is at hand. The Messiah will surely come.
In Galilee we have a man whom they call Judas the Gaul-
onite, whose father was the noted zealot Ezekias, who goes
around among the people trying to get them to rise and
fight against the Romans.  He has been at our house and
I have heard him talk to Father and others. I tell you, it
makes one's blood tingle to hear him."
  The black eyes of John began to kindle with the words
of Jesus, and his manner became at once excited and
martial.  Stretching out his clenched hand, he exclaimed
fiercely, " I tell you it is the only way. Our fathers say
'no,' and we must honor and obey, it is true; but thank
God,- and blessed be His name,- the day will come
when we can act for ourselves. We, you and I, have
studied the Scripture, and we can repeat the most of the
Law and the Prophets without book, and we know how it
has ever been. How did Israel become free under Sam-
son or Gideon or Deborah They say that I am a Naz-
arite, and am dedicated to God; but so was Samson a
Nazarite, and the prophet Samuel was a Nazarite. And
didn't Samson figtlt And remnemlber how Samuel hewed
Agag in pieces when the faint-hearted Saul had saved
him  alive. And didn't Joshua and David fight    And
didn't God Himself go with them, putting strength in their
arms and courage in their hearts, so that it was as promised,



4

 



JESUS AND JOHN



one could chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to
fliglht  God always gave -victory, no matter what the
odds, if the men were true, and le will again.  He will
surely raise up another Samnson or Shanigar if only Israel
deserves to have them. Father says that Israel must re-
pent and turn to God before ever a Deliverer can come.
Oh1! if it could only be now. I-low glorious to take part
in stuch a war. Just think of it! Why, I had rather be
a Sainson or a Shaigar than even David or Solomon.
To take just your ox goad or a jawb)one or anything, that
came to hand, and just walk in among those abominable,
heathen homans, breaking heads and piling up the dead
like jack-straws."
  ,John was growing more and more excited as he talked,
walking up and down, raising a clenched fist, and shaking
his black manle of hair, while his keen eves blazed with a
miartial fire, kindled of a thousand years. There was an
answering light in tlie dark eves of his companion and a
quick surge of sym)patlhetic passion curled his lips and
ex1)an(led his nostrils, but it was only for a moment.
  It was with perfect calmness, if also with a little sadness,
thlat lie made answver. " Yon should not allow yourself to
get so cxcited, John," lhe said. " If vou would be a Sam-
son or a Shaniglar, you must kee) a cool head. But come,
we ought to be moiving, if we get back before night."
    Ahi, well, I don't much care if we don't get hoine to-
niglt; we canl stav with Addi or Chicobna," answvered John.
" However," lie added, " we should of course be going,"
and the boys began the slow and perilous descent.
  As they reached the foot of the cliff a small animal
jumped out from a clump of broom close at their feet, and
the boys sprang after it in hot pursuit. Dodging here and
there amon, the loose stones and boulders, the animal at
length took refuge in a crevice of the rocks, and John at
once begaln poking the creature with the staff lhe carried in
his hand.



5

 



JESUS OF NAZARETH



   " It's a coney," he said, " and I can kill it with my
 staff."
   "And why do you wish to kill it" asked the other.
 "Let me put in my hand and catch it."
   " Oh, don't do that," said John, "the beast will tear
 your hand to pieces; you ought to see what teeth and claws
 thev've got."
   " It won't bite me," said Jesus, at the same time thrust-
ing in his hand and drawing out carefully the frightened
and struggling thing. Then he stroked its head ten-
derly, and in a moment it became quiet and began nibbling
at a spray of broom that Jesus offered it. "Nothing
ever bites me," said Jesus. " Once I put my hand in a
hole that way and caught a fox. That was at Uncle
Clopas', and be said the fox would tear my hand off; but
it did just as this coney has done, and I let it go, as I
am doing now," and suiting the action to the word he set
the little animal down. It did not run away at once, but
began nibbling at the green things which here grew in
more abundance.
  " I don't see," said Jesus, " how people can kill things
just for fun; it always seems to me a dreadful thing.
Though of course it is necessary to kill the lambs for sac-
rifice, it seems strange and unnatural."
  The place for which they had started was again lost to
view behind another rocky ridge, and while they were
clambering up and down among the rocks John began
explaining to Jesus how he must conduct himself with the
Essenes whom they were about to visit,- how he must
avoid contact, not only with their persons, but even with
their tools or utensils, for that, he said, would make them
unclean in their estimation and give them a great deal of
trouble to purify. But Jesus said he knew, for he had seen
some of the Essenes at Uncle Clopas', and Uncle Clopas
was quite inclined to be one of them himself.
  At length the boys came out where they could see and be



6

 



JESUS AND JOHN



seen of the Essenes, one of whoni at once came towards
them, making motions as if to warn them away. But
when he saw John and knew him, he came on with a smile
and, though careful to avoid their touch, invited them
cordially to go with him.
   It was the hour of noon when the company of Essenes
 ceased their labors and prepared for the first meal of the
 day. The company consisted of about thirty men and
 seven novitiates, boys of from eight to twelve years. The
 boys were kept by themselves, and ate apart from the oth-
 ers: their touch was pollution to all higher grades.
   There were several tents of camels' hair, into which the
men all retired,-but came forth presently divested of all
their clothing except a short apron about the loins, and
led by a venerable but withered old man with long white
hair and a monstrous beard. They ranged themselves be-
side the small mountain rivulet which here flowed past
and began, with mumbled prayers, and each in precisely
the same form, to bathe themselves from head to foot.
  This, John explained to Jesus, they did winter and sum-
mer in the morning before sunrise, and before each of the
two meals they ate each day, and at very many other times
when they had happened to spit to the left instead of the
right, or touched, or been touched by, anything cere-
monially unclean.
  After completing their ablutions with more prayers, they
retired again to their tents, whence they soon emerged,
each now clothed in a sinale clean, white, linen garment
that was held sacred and was worn only at meal times,
each meal being held as a religious sacrifice and served
by the baker, who was the priest. The meal, consisting of
barley bread, water, one vegetable, and honey, with a formal
prayer before and after, was eaten in silence. After the
meal they retired again to their tents, where they resumed
their white woolen working garments and went again about
their tasks.



7

 



JESUS OF NAZARETH



   Jesus and John were invited to eat with the seven boys,
 who were novitiates and ate by themselves; and in all
 but the bath and the change of raiment they were very
 much at home, for the Essenes were all Jews, differing
 mainly in that they were more strict in their observance of
 the Law and renounced wine and all animal food and all
 blood sacrifices. After their meal Cochiba showed the bovs
 about the place, at the same time cautiously pressing upon
 them the desirability of becoming Essenes.
   First he showed them the immense cisterns, a long row of
them, cut in the soft lime rock at the foot of the hill,
where the terraces were being made. The cisterns were
thirty feet deep and very large. Some of them had al-
ready been filled by turning the little mountain brook into
them; all would be filled that way, to provide for the fierce
drought of the long hot summer, when no rain fell. Now
the men were all at work on the terraces, some building the
supporting walls and others, with baskets woven of wil-
lows, carrying soil that the stream had brought down
from the mountains, up and on to the terrace levels, to cover
thinly the bare rocks. Jesus could not but notice that the
men, and even the boys, seemed very sad and spiritless;
there were no songs or laughter; there were no women or
children; no animals, no instruments of music, or gardens
of flowers,- only solitude and endless toil.
  Then Cochiba took them to a large tent, before which
the old man whom he called Father -Menahem was sitting on
a stone bench, reading from a parchment roll of the Law.
He did not speak or look up for some time after they came
up, but continued to read as if not knowing that they
were there.
  At length Cochiba spoke with reverence. " Father,
these are the children I told you of; will you not speak to
them" The old man raised his eyes slowly and looked
first at John and then long and steadfastly at Jesus. Grad-



8

 



JESUS AND JOHN



ually his dim eyes and wrinkled face brightened and his
whole framie seemed to swell and dilate.
   With eyes still fixed on Jesus, he moved his lips silently,
 as if repeating some secret spell or incantation, and at last,
 with hand upraised in benediction, he spoke aloud, " Blessed
 be the womb that bare thee, and the paps that gave thee
 suck, for thou shalt stand for the fall and rising again of
 many in Israel, and for a light to lighten the Gentiles, for
 thou art beloved of God: blessed be His name. And I see
 the hosts of evil compass thee about: thou shalt be tried as
 in the fires of Gehenna. Wo unto thee, Jerusalem!  Wo
 unto them that buy and sell in the courts of the Most High,
 aand be drunken with the blood and the wine of the Sacri-
 fices. Wo. Wo. Wo."
   The old man, as if exhausted with his effort, bowed his
head upon his breast, and though his lips still moved, he
spoke no more aloud. Cochiba drew the boys away and
told them that Father Menalhein was a prophet of great
authority, having while yet a young man foretold the career
of Herod, and having often been summoned by Herod and
his sons to explain their dreams and reveal to them what was
to come. He was one of those whom Josephus had in mind
when he wrote of the Essene:
  " Consecrated from childhood by many purifications, and
familiar beyond thought with the Holy Books and the utter-
ances of the prophets, they claim to see into the future, and
in truth, there is scarcely an instance in which their proph-
ecies have been found false." Cochiba did not fail to ply
the boys with the usual arguments in favor of an ascetic
life, and at last dismissed them with an earnest invitation to
come again.

  A few hours later, in another part of the desert the same
boys might have been seen making their slow way over the
pathless wild. The sun had set and the sudden darkness of



9

 



JESUS OF NAZARETH



the tropics had come upon them. By extreme daring and
hardihood thev had descended the almost perpendicular wall
of a narrow valley, and were now walking along an almost
level way, shut in on either hand by bare rocky walls that
seemed to reach the sky.
   The boys realized that they were lost, and though they
were yet mere children they did not cry out or complain.
In the loving confidence of childhood they instinctively put
their arms about each other and walked slowly on. Around
and beneath them were only the dark frowning rocks, but
through the clear desert air the stars shone with a brilliance
and lustre unknown in other climes. A great constellation
was blazing over head, and directly before them the distant
east was flushing with the rising moon.
  "And He maketh Orion, the Pleiades, and the Chambers
of the South," spoke Jesus solemnly, and then the boys
together repeated the well-known prayer, familiar to
every Jew. "Blessed be Thou! Lord our God, who
through Thv word didst create the Heavens, and their whole
host by the breath of Thy mouth. He appointed
them a law, and time, that they should not go back fromt
their places. Joyfully and gladly they fulfill the will
of their Creator, whose workings and whose works are
Truth. He spake to the moon and commanded her that
she should renew herself in glory and splendor for those
whom He has carried from their mother's breast, for
they, too, will be one day renewed like her and glorify
their Creator, after the honor of His kingdom. Blessed
be Thou, 0 Lord, who renewest the moons." And the
full moon arose in her glory and splendor, filling the narrow
valley with a silvery flood of light.
  A thousand feet above their heads the chalk cliffs
gleamed white and shining against the blue of heaven, and
lower down, on the dark bosom of the cliffs of flint and lime,
shone like jewels scintillating particles of quartz and spar.
The boys paused and looked up in silent awe. Then they



so

 




JESUS AND JOHN       1



became aware of a change in the aspect of things all round
them. The thorny cacti of the desert had disappeared,
and fresh green herbage grew about their feet. A breath
of wind   came laden with the rich, heavy odors of
oleander and orange bloom. A little farther on, and they
could see the dark foliage of trees and then, as if from
the very body of the rocky wall, a deep voice repeating,
" Hear, 0 Israel! the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou
shlalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thv soul, and with all thy might; and these words which
I command thee this day shall be in thine heart, and thou
shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk
of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou
walkest by the way, and when thou liest down and when thou
risest up."
  The boys could have joined in the prayer, for it was
one repeated by every Jew twice daily, but theyv were awed
into silence.  Wlhen the praver was finished, and they, stood
trembling, there was a movement anmong the shrubbery
and then a naked, hairy, and bearded man came forth into
the moonlight, bearing in his hand a large gourd filled with
water, with which he proceeded. in the set form of the Rab-
binic ritual, to bathe himself from head to foot, at the same
time uttering the set prayer for the occasion. The man
appeared entirely absorbed in his devotions, and did not
notice the bovs till he had finished.
  Then lhe saw them, and without speakingv went back into
the shrubbery. Presently lhe came forth again, girt with
a. mere apron of fig-leaves, and with no other clothing.
Having found that they were only lost children, he blessed
them in patriarchal fashion, and offered them water for a
bath, whiclh they used in the usual formal manner. Then
he invited them into his (Iwelling. It was a smtall natural
cave, or grotto, opening from the perpendicular wall of
rock and so dark within, that the bovs shuddered and drew
back ; finally however, reassured by the words and example



11

 



JESUS OF NAZARETH



of the Hermit, they all entered, lay down on the stone floor,
and slept.
   The faint light of earliest day was stealing into the cave
when the boys were awakened by the Hermit, and all went
forth to renewed ablutions and the same prayers that had
been used at night. The Hermit then caused the boys to
sit down on the ground, and brought forth a bag contain-
ing a dark crumby substance and some honey in the comb:
these, with water, made their breakfast. The dark crumby
substance, already known to John as dried locusts, was eyed
by Jesus with suspicion, and extreme hunger alone induced
him to partake of it.
  After breakfast the Hermit retired to his cell to continue
more mortifying devotions, and the boys, left to themselves,
looked about them. A tiny spring, oozing from the foot of
the cliff, and the same in volume at all seasons of the year,
by husbanding supplied the wants of the Hermit, and made
fertile a few yards of desert about the cave. There was no
attempt at cultivation; some more provident hand may
have planted the seeds, in the years long past, but the pres-
ent occupant only plucked and garnered. The orange, the
olive, the fig, and the vine yielded their fruits in their sea-
son, and what the wild things of the desert,- the birds, the
coney and the fox,- left unconsumed, the Hermit gath-
ered and thankfully used. He drove nothing away; he con-
tended with none, man, bird, or beast, but shared cheerfully
with all; he neither delved nor spun, but ate of the natural
fruits of the desert and clothed himself with leaves and the
bark of trees; he made no use of fire; he had no occupation
but prayers, mortifications, ablutions; no study but to know
the will of God; no reading but the Law and the Prophets,
which, as he truly believed, were the very words of the Most
High. In these, by continually dwelling upon them by
night and by day and through long years, he found mysti-
cal meanings, dark prophecies, and minute directions for all



12

 


                 JESUS AND JOHN                     13
the innumerable details of life. Every word of the sacred
text, even every letter, had a mystical signification which
volumes would be inadequate to explain. So lived the
Hcrmit and Prophet Addi of the desert.


 








II



              THE YOUNG SHEPHERD
  "From the Naza