ffi m A LIFE OF JL5US FOR BOYS AND GIRLS BY MARIANNA S. RAWSON a T—r B^M— (Sebright N° COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls Voi th of Jesus i ■ .. g \ v Oopyright, J. J. Timot, 1895, 1888 A LIFE OF JESUS FOR BOYS AND GI RLS By Marianna S. Rawson PHILADELPHIA THE BIDDLE PRESS 1911 This book was inspired by the boys who have attended my Sunday morning class for the last four years. I dedicate it them and To my husband but for whom I should never have had the courage to write it. Copyright. 1911 THE BIDDLE PRESS JJ.Y CIA 30 *- *< CONTENTS. CHAPTER. i. The Boyhood of Jesus. 2. John the Baptist. 3. The Story of the Temptation. 4. Jesus' Disciples. 5. Jesus' Work as a Physician. 6. Adventures. 7. Jesus' Work as a Teacher. 8. Jesus as a Story Teller. 9. Jesus' Travels. 10. Jerusalem. 11. The Passion Week. 12. Wonder Stories. 13. Later Stories. 14. Sir Galahad and the Holy Grail, LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Youth of Jesus Christ and the Doctors John the Baptist Christ and the Fishermen Jesus and the Rich Ruler Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane Arrival of the Shepherds The Wise Men on Their Way to Bethlehem Sir Galahad Tissot Ho/man Andre del Sarto Zimmerman Hofman Hofman Lerolle Tissot C. F. Watts v MAPS i. Palestine in the Time of Jesus 2. Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives and Bethany 3. The Temple (Herod's) Ltofirud* Etit fiom 0r*ro«1ck Palestine in the Time of Jesus Prei THE REASON FOR IT. My only excuse for adding to the numerous lives of Jesus for children already published is that I have sought in vain, in my work as a teacher, for one which presents his character in its simplicity and nobility, shorn of theo- logical trimmings. This collection of stories was written primarily for the class of boys whom I have met on Sunday mornings for the last four years. I have emphasized the strong bond of sympathy which I believe existed between Jesus and his father, Joseph, because it seems to me the only logical explanation of the portrayal of the blessings of fatherhood and sonship which Jesus gave to the world. The idea of the Fatherhood of God was not a new one. The belief that kings were descended from gods existed among heathen peoples cen- turies before Jesus was born; but never the conception of that close relationship which in my opinion could come only through the experience of love and companionship with an earthly father. Jesus, I believe, had the rare and priceless experience of a perfect understanding with his father, Joseph, which ripened in his mature years — when his father was dead and he sought that close communion with God which his parents had fostered in him — to a perfect under- standing of God the Father. It was the result of those beautiful years together at the carpenter's bench coupled with a thoroughly religious nature. The expression of this understanding of the Fatherhood of God came as a new revelation to the world and the end of its teaching is not yet. Could we have had fatherhood portrayed in art and literature as motherhood has been in the persons of Mary and Jesus, what might not have been the regenerative influ- ence ! We find in the Talmud, "Blessed is the son who has 8 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls studied with his father, and blessed the father who has instructed his son.'' My knowledge of fathers and sons furnishes endorsement of this, as well as reason for my explanation of Jesus' revelation of the fatherhood of God, — an explanation I find suggested in "The Man Jesus," by John YV. Chadwick. "The indignity which Christian mythology has done to Joseph, the father of Jesus/' says Mr. Chadwick, "Jesus himself has recompensed to him a thousand times over by naming the divine providence, and love, and pity, Abba, Father. Never would this name have been so frequently upon his lips, as the expression of his highest spiritual ideal and with such an accent of tenderness, if his own filial experience had not led him to associate with it a hundred thoughts of gratitude and joy." I have emphasized also my belief that Jesus and John the Baptist were acquainted from their youth up, because that too seems the logical conclusion from a study of the characters of the two men. Their appreciation of each other and their devotion to the cause of righteousness makes theirs a friendship typical of all such highminded sympathy between young men. Blessed are we that such still exists. I have tried also to set before the children the trans- cendent character of Jesus' teaching. Other men had taught that right conduct only is necessary to salvation. Other men, also, had taken a higher step and suggested that right feeling should be back of the conduct; but this belief dominated Jesus' life and teaching in a peculiar manner. With him it was a deep-seated conviction that one must not only do right — he must feel right; that it was not enough to deal justly, one must love one's enemies and desire their welfare. This conviction so filled Jesus' heart with love for his fellowmen that there was room in it for no meaner feeling. He therefore taught that the motive for one's actions must be a perfect, Godlike love. This is certainly the highest ethical ground one could take. Such trans- cendent teaching must yet regenerate the world. Preface 9 My great hope has been to set forth Jesus' ideal of peace and brotherhood in such a way that it may appear a desirable thing to young people whose ideals are in the formative stage. No doubt there is a great world move- ment in this direction — though it is hardly perceptible on the surface — a movement toward a better understanding and appreciation of people not like ourselves. The goal seems ages distant when we consider the people of different nation- alities, religions, traditions and ideals of which our world is composed ; and with a recent poet one can but "Marvel at Christs with their messages tender, Their daring dreams of a world of brothers. " Such are the men and women who, animated by a religion freed from theological impediments, are working with con- secration and an everbroadening understanding and sym- pathy for the uplift of their fellowmen. For such — and I rejoice in their increasing number — let us make a new beatitude : Blessed are they that serve, for they shall understand. I acknowledge with gratitude my indebtedness to Pro- fessor Nathaniel Schmidt, of Cornell University, and to Dr. Elbert Russell, of Earlham College, for their sane and lofty interpretations of Jesus' life and teachings. zc Z u. U o w I I u Chapter I. THE BOYHOOD OF JESUS. Hundreds of years ago, long before America was dis- covered, there lived on the other side of the world from us a family in whom all Christian people have a very great interest. This family lived in a little country which isn't any larger than our State of New Hampshire, and a queer little country it is, for its hills are so high and its valleys so low that although it is as far south as some of our Southern States, one may often find snow at an incredibly short dis- tance from really tropical fruits and flowers. There is only one river of any consequence in this country, but there are a number of fine springs or fountains which seem to come right out of the rocks ; and there is a queer salt sea which is so salty that one couldn't sink in it if he tried — which of course he wouldn't be likely to do. It is said that a Roman Emperor once tried the experiment of throwing several slaves, chained together, into this sea, but they would not drown. It was in this queer little country of Palestine, on the other side of the world from us, in a queer little hillside town, that Joseph and his wife, Mary, lived with their family of children. We should think the small one-storied house, built of stone and plastered with mud and with only a hole in the roof to serve for both window and chimney, a very queer house indeed, and we should think the furniture in it queerer still. In the first place, we should be much surprised to find how few things seemed to be necessary for the family comfort. The furnishings of this Eastern home probably consisted of beds which were no more than 12 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls thin mattresses to be spread out on the floor at night and rolled up in the day-time ; a chest in which clothes were kept and the top of which was used for a table; a few wooden bowls and cups and some earthen pitchers in the way of dishes, but no plates or forks or spoons; leather bottles in which water was carried from the fine large fountain in the center of the town ; a mill for grinding grain, a lamp, and a broom ; and a sort of furnace which was used for a stove. We should take more of an equipment than this if we went camping in these days, but for the family in Nazareth 1,900 years ago this seems to have been quite enough. Still another surprise is in store for us, for this house which seemed quite small enough for the accommodation of so large a family, served another purpose as well. It was the carpenter shop in which Joseph worked at his trade — right at home. I sometimes think this was one of the best things about the life of the family, and a most fortunate thing for the children, especially for the oldest one who, as you all know, was the boy Jesus. What a busy life they must have led here in the hillside town of Nazareth ! The family was quite large; there were several little boys and girls younger than Jesus, and the father didn't make very much at his trade, for most of the people of the town were like himself — not very well-to-do. Jesus helped his father in the shop a great deal of the time, and there he learned to do very careful, honest work; for his father was a just and honest man, and he would allow no careless work to go out from his shop. Right there with them must have been the mother, busy with her household cares, and the younger children playing with the blocks and chips which fell from their father's bench. Often Jesus must have had to stop his work with the tools to shoulder the leather bottles and bring water from the fountain for his mother. His time was not all spent in the work at home, how- ever. He went to school at the church or synagogue, as it was called, and was taught by the old priest in charge. He had only one school book and that was the Old Testament. The Boyhood of Jesus 13 I was going to say that he learned it from cover to cover, but that wouldn't be true, for it hadn't any covers such as our books have. It was a roll of paper made from the papyrus plant which grew in Egypt, and each end of the roll was attached to a stick and the paper was rolled tightly about these sticks. Jesus must have known the contents of very nearly the whole roll, for he was eager to learn. He knew all the stories of his country as they were told in the Old Testament; all about his great ancestors David and Solomon from whom his father was descended; about the friendship between the boys David and Jonathan; about Joseph in Egypt, and Moses, and Joshua — they were all as w r ell known to him as our multiplication tables are to us. Out of school hours and work hours, Jesus roamed over the hills outside of the town or played in the streets with other children. He knew all about the animals and birds and trees and flowers of the neighborhood. He liked to go hunting around in out of the way places for the holes of foxes and other small animals of the region just as boys to-day do. He probably knew where to look for every kind of bird's nest and for each flower in its turn. I've no doubt he came back from his tramps laden with a miscellaneous lot of findings in the shape of plants and stones and flowers and fruits — each with its own special meaning for him, for he was keenly alive to all the pleasing things of life and the flower-decked hillsides and orchards of wide-spreading fig trees, graceful palms and silvery olive trees furnished pic- tures in which he took the keenest delight. He never tired of the stories of his people and he no doubt often stood upon the hills back of the town from which he could see for miles around and tried to imagine how it w r as in times gone by when Israel was a great nation. Toward the north he could see Mt. Hermon in the Lebanon region with its cap of snow; to the west was the dazzling blue of the Mediterranean with purple Carmel on the horizon ; in the east he could see the wooded heights of Mt. Tabor and to the south the fertile plain of Esdraelon — 14 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls every foot of ground with its stories of ancient victories and defeats. But perhaps the thing that interested the boy as much as the varied landscape around him was the long caravan road from Damascus to Egypt, miles of which he could see. Here he must have beheld frequently caravans of people of all nationalities in fantastic costumes making the journey, for purposes of trade, from Damascus to the sea ports of the Mediterranean or to the south. These foreigners even appeared at times in the streets of Nazareth, when the boy had a chance to examine them more closely and perhaps to learn something of the places from which they came. Many times in his tramps over the hills he must have stopped to picture to himself the great armies fighting for the very land on which he stood ; for time after time had the valley at his feet been the scene of bloody battles. His nation's history no doubt filled a large place in the boy's thoughts, and with it must have also been the hope that one day she would again occupy a commanding place. It was a happy life that the family lived in the simple home full of work, but no less full of pleasure, but I fancy that the best part of it for the boy was the hours spent working beside his father in the shop. There, I think, he talked over the things he was learning at school — the stories and laws of the Old Testament, and his father explained to him what they meant. There, I think, he told his father all about the things he discovered in his tramps over the hills ; there, in fact, I think Jesus told his father just about every thing that ever came into his mind, and Joseph w r as glad to hear his son's thoughts and to tell him a good many of his own in return. I am much inclined to think that there never was a boy who had a better time with his father than Jesus had with his; for he must have worked right with him several hours every day. I know boys who think that the finest thing in the world is to have a week ofif somewhere with their fathers, and a whole day together in some jaunt is an immense delight; but for a boy to have his father right The Boyhood of Jesus 15 beside him three or four hours every day, doing the same thing he is doing and ready to talk with him about any of his interests — well, I imagine there couldn't be anything much more satisfying than that— and that is the great privi- lege that I believe Jesus had. Boys don't often have such an opportunity in these days — at least in our country. Girls more often have the companionship of their mothers, but very few boys can be with their fathers as I believe Jesus was with his. When Jesus was twelve years old he went with his father and mother to the great city of Jerusalem, three days' journey to the south, to attend the feast of the Passover — and there a curious thing happened. The boy became so much interested in hearing the discourses of the learned priests of the temple that he lingered near them a great deal of the time and finally began to ask them questions about the things they said. They in turn began to take an interest in him, and were greatly surprised to find how much he knew of the history of his people and of their laws. And well they might be, for besides being faithful in his work at the synagogue school, I believe Jesus had talked all of these things over with his father, and his father had helped him to understand them. When the party from Nazareth started home after the Passover, Jesus' parents supposing him to be with some of their relatives or friends who were making the same jour- ney, were dismayed when they reached the camping place for the first night, to find that he had been left behind. In great alarm they retraced their steps. Three days they looked for him and finally found him in the temple talking again with the doctors. He had been so much interested in the discussions of these priests that he had entirely forgot- ten about the time of going home. He was surprised that his parents should have looked for him anywhere else but in the temple, for he thought they knew that he cared more to learn about the religion of his people than for any of the sights which the great city offered. 16 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls Jesus then returned to Nazareth with his parents, and he must have been very thoughtful after that, for the Bible tells us that he was always obedient, and as he grew older he "increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man." fOHN THE BaI'TIST Andre del Sarto John the Baptist 17 Chapter II. JOHN THE BAPTIST. The Bible doesn't tell us that the boy Jesus was ac- quainted with his cousin John who was a few months older and whom we know by the name of "the Baptist," but it is quite possible that the two boys met at the Passover Feasts in Jerusalem when Jesus was old enough to attend. John's parents lived in one of the little towns in the uplands just south of Jerusalem in what was called the hill country of Judea. His father, Zacharias, was a priest, and his mother, Elizabeth, came of a priestly family. They showed the greatest devotion in carrying on the Jewish temple service and believed in all that was best in the religion of their people. They were kind to the poor, patient, self-denying and careful of the feelings of others. Their home was of the simplest kind, but they loved each other and the God of their fathers and tried in every way to do His will. Their son was the delight of their hearts and they did all in their power to train him so that he would want to live in accord- ance with the religion of Israel. Jesus came of royal ances- tors, but not less to be prized was the priestly ancestry of John. John was a strong, fine fellow, as Jesus was, and like Jesus he was a boy who did a great deal of thinking. He, too, was deeply interested in the history of his people and shared with the Jews of his time the hatred and distrust of the Roman rulers into whose hands, after long years of distressing history, the Jordan countries had fallen. I like to think that Jesus and John did know each other as boys, although the Bible says nothing about it. I like to think that they met every once in a while and had a good time 18 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls together just as such boys would be likely to do. We know that they must have been interested in the same sort of things — the out-of-doors around them; the stories of the Jewish people of bygone days and their welfare in their own days. Both boys were serious minded and both looked for- ward to the time when they should be men and able to do something for the country they loved. Just as Jesus was growing to manhood a sad thing happened. He lost the father whose companionship and counsel had been so much to him, and he in turn had to take the position of head of the family and provide for his mother and the younger children. John, who had no such demands upon him, felt that he must get away from people for a while and work out his thoughts in solitude. He accordingly went to the wilder- ness not far from his home, the wilderness of Judea which lies along the western shore of the Dead Sea, and there, alone and in the quiet, with only the brown cliffs with their scrubby bushes, the stars and the sky for company, he pondered over the things which troubled his mind. He must have had courage to live'there alone where wild beasts prowled around and food was scarce and hard to get. The Bible tells us that he lived on locusts and wild honey, which could not have furnished a very full table. John had lived near the great city of Jerusalem all his life. He had seen the wickedness and folly of the inhabi- tants and it troubled him greatly. How to make them see their faults and desire to live righteously was the question which was always in his mind. He had had the same schooling as Jesus, the same text book; and the result of his knowledge of the Old Testament was that he was a hero worshipper and the prophet Elijah was his hero. Like Elijah he wore a suit of camel's hair with a leather girdle; and like him he sought the solitude of the wilderness in which to plan his work. Stern and unrelenting in his manner as Elijah was, full of hatred for the wickedness of his time as Elijah had been, he yet recognized the lesson of John the Baptist 19 the prophet's later years and realized that the hate in his heart must not lead him to deeds of violence ; and that only the slow method of teaching could have any real effect upon men's characters. Jesus, working at his carpenter's bench in Nazareth amid very different scenes, — a man among men in the busy activities of life — was no doubt pondering the same sort of questions and coming to the same conclusions. Perhaps the young men were friends at this time as we know they were later. I like to think of this friendship between Jesus and John because it was a right friendship. David and Jonathan loved each other, but they had not such high ideals. Theirs was a more selfish friendship ; but besides loving each other, Jesus and John felt a brotherly kindness for all men and the greatest desire of their hearts was to be of service in the world. I like to think that sometimes Jesus got away from the carpenter's bench for a day or two and spent some time under the stars with John, talking over this great subject which was more to them than anything else — how they could help people to be good. We can well imagine that with royal blood in his veins, Jesus did not fail to consider the warlike methods by which his great ancestors extended the religion of Israel; but we can almost follow the course of their reasoning as they recalled the history of conquests which did not last and made their final decision that theirs must be the slow and peaceful method of teach- ing. Certain it is that at sometime they had the opportunity of becoming well acquainted, for otherwise they would never have cared so much for each other. Possibly it was only during their public ministry together, but it seems more likely that it was because of a life-long friendship that Jesus could say that no greater man ever lived than John; and that it was because of years of admiration and under- standing of Jesus' character that John, with a following of multitudes demanding to know if he was the Saviour for whom they were looking, humbly declared that a greater man than he would come, the latchet of whose shoes he was 20 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls not worthy to unloose. In nothing more than in this did John show his greatness. The scene of John's work was somewhere along the Jordan river. There he baptized those who wished it and preached to large numbers of people about doing right in the simple, everyday occupations of their lives ; for only in that way could they prepare for the kingdom of heaven which he hoped would soon be established upon the earth — a kingdom in which right would prevail and not wrong, as he felt was the case in the Israel around him. John's teaching had a wonderful influence upon the common people. So great was it that those in authority began to fear lest he should stir up some sort of insurrection among them ; and that, perhaps, more than anything else, led to his arrest and finally to his death. Jesus was profoundly interested in John's work and for a time worked with him at the Jordan, even being baptized by him. It was when John was put into prison that Jesus left the region and went northward to the towns around the Sea of Galilee. Jesus' Temptation 21 Chapter III. JESUS' TEMPTATION. Just after Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan, he went to the wilderness as John had done to plan in the quiet the best way to proceed with his work ; for he now felt sure that he must give his life to teaching the people of his country a better way of living. Forty days and forty nights, the Bible says, he stayed alone and thought about the great work he wanted to do. He was so busy with his plans that either he forgot to get something to eat or felt that if he fasted he might do better thinking. Fasting was a common custom among religious men in the early days. All at once he became conscious that he was very hungry; and then came his first temptation. All about him in the scrubby grass lay the common round stones of the region. His eye fell upon them as he was looking for something he might use for food. He may have thought of the story of Moses with the Children of Israel in that other wilderness hun- dreds of years before, how the manna seemed to fall from heaven when food was needed. The great men of his race were no doubt much in his mind during these days of soli- tude. He felt that he too was to be great in his nation's history; that he too had unusual powers. Suddenly he seemed possessed to command these stones to turn into bread, and something within him told him that if he gave the command it would be obeyed. All that was necessary was for him to say the word and without more ado he would have food enough and to spare. People before his day had done wonderful things, so could he. Stronger and stronger became his desire to try his powers. Only speak, urged this voice within him, and the miracle will be performed. But 22 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls just as he was on the point of giving the command, for his hunger was very great, another voice seemed to speak and to remind him that any selfish use of his powers would be wrong. Perhaps he remembered that it was when Moses was helping other people that the manna came at his need, and that he was great because he gave up his own comfort to help his people in their distress. Slowly but resolutely Jesus turned his thoughts away from his own desires back to the great problem he was trying to work out — how he could help the people of his time to a better kind of life. Possibly he satisfied his hunger with the locusts and wild honey John had lived upon, or he may have procured food from a neighboring village. The Bible says, "angels came and ministered unto him," for people in those days believed in ministering angels who brought about good things and evil spirits who caused misfortune. At any rate, he refused to use his powers in a selfish way, saying to the spirit that seemed to be speaking to him, "It is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God." Soon there came another temptation. He may have been thinking that if he could only do some wonderful and surprising thing before the people, they would believe in him more quickly, and as soon as they believed in him and trusted him he would be able to help them. Suddenly he felt possessed as he had before by something that told him to go to Jerusalem, climb to the pinnacle of the temple, and then astonish the citizens by jumping down into the valley of the Kidron below. No harm could come to him, the voice insisted, for angels would support him so that he would come down very gently and easily ; but when the people had seen him perform this wonderful feat, they would acknowl- edge that he had some miraculous power which made him great enough to be their leader. Surely he must do this thing. It was right that he should publicly show his great- ness. How could he expect to win people's confidence unless he in some way gave proof of his power? Quite convinced that it was his duty to make this public exhibition, he was Jesus' Temptation 23 on the point of starting for Jerusalem when again came the warning of the other voice. "Just for show/' it seemed to say, "and things that are done only for show are worth nothing at all." Again he turned away from the tempter, saying, 4 Tt is written again, 'Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God/ " Now he knew that after all the only way to do effective work among these people who needed his help was not to make them think that he was some smart fellow who could work wonders, but to show them that he cared for them just as much as if he were their brother. Because he cared for them so much, he knew how to help them. His temptations, however, were not over. The greatest one was yet to come. Jesus belonged to a people who had a great national sorrow. Once they had been strong among nations — an empire that made other peoples tremble. Now they were weak and suffering under the yoke of foreign oppressors. As Jesus thought of the great nations around him with their wonderful civilizations, all now in the hands of Rome, — Egypt, Greece, Syria and his own Palestine, — he seemed possessed again by the tempter who asserted that all these great countries might be his. He was strong enough and great enough to be king of them all if he only would. If he would but gather together an army and fight these miserable Roman invaders he could make his country as great as, yes, and much greater than, it had been under the mighty kings David and Solomon, whose blood he had in his veins. He could conquer the world, if he would, and make an ideal empire where no one should be oppressed and where justice should reign at all times. He could surely lead an army to victory, for he was strong with such strength as a mighty conqueror has. It was such a conqueror and such a king that his people were looking for ; a messiah who would be their saviour. Why should he not be their king and their deliverer? Never before had he felt so eager to match his strength with that of the leaders in the world's conquests. It must have cost a mighty struggle to say "no" to this temptation, but he did it; for the warning voice 24 A Life of Jesus for Boys axd Girls again reminded him of the great empires which had crumbled to the ground, conquests which had not lasted. The only thing which is sure to live is right teaching, and that Jesus decided must be his aim. To teach the world, not to conquer it, must be his work. God's lasting Kingdom can only be established by right teaching. Conquest by means of war is Satan's method and is not lasting. Then a great hope filled Jesus' heart — the hope that he would be able to teach enough people the right way of living so that they in turn might teach other people and so perhaps in time all the world would learn the great lesson of brotherly love and helpfulness. "Get thee behind me, Satan," he said to the thoughts that had threatened to lead him away from a life of real helpfulness, and with the great hope still in his heart he left the wilderness to take up his work in Galilee. N on. Ui X £ X Q < a: X U Jesus' Disciples 25 Chapter IV. JESUS' DISCIPLES. While Jesus was preaching in Galilee, attracting crowds of listeners, there gradually formed about him a little com- pany of men who became his constant companions, going with him wherever he went. The Bible tells us that he made these men his disciples. A number of them were fishermen from the towns around the Sea of Galilee. Per- haps their free out-of-door life, subject to few convention- alities and full of manual w r ork, made them more ready to understand what Jesus meant w T hen he described the new kingdom to which he and John the Baptist were looking forward; for several of these fishermen had been disciples of John before they became followers of Jesus. These men seem to have formed with Jesus a little community as nearly like what he thought the world ought to be as they could; and while they lived together Jesus tried to prepare them for the work he expected them to do in teaching people about the new kingdom, which he and John had called the kingdom of heaven. There were a number of women also in the community, some of them relatives of the disciples, and others who were especially attracted by Jesus' teaching. The community lived simply — their few needs being supplied by the efforts of the fishermen, by contributions from friends of the cause, and by the money of those members who had property. What money they had was held in common, one of the disciples acting as treasurer. The Bible speaks of just twelve disciples — just as many as there were tribes in Israel ; but twelve was a favorite num- ber in olden times, and had been from the earliest days 26 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Giri when the study of the stars was thought to be so important and one's life was supposed to be effected by the position of the planets in the twelve constellations of the Zodiac. If visitors came at meal time — people who wanted to learn of Jesus — the community food was gladly shared with all present. This led to the most exaggerated account of Jesus' ability to make a little food go a long way. According to one story 4,000 people were fed abundantly with seven loaves of bread and three little fishes, and another story tells of 5,000 people being fed with five loaves and two small fishes; and in both cases a number of basketfuls were left over. Each one did what work he could in the community, and all worked for the good of their fellowmen. No one insisted that his will should be the law, not even Jesus himself; and the consideration of the feelings of each member of the little colony was felt to be of the greatest importance. If one needed to go off and be alone for a while, as Jesus often did, he had the opportunity to do so, or if he needed to talk things over with one or two, the other disciples did not interfere. Those disciples who best understood Jesus' teaching soon began to help him in his work. They, too, addressed crowds of people, and when they were successful in healing diseases, as they sometimes were, they reported their suc- cess to Jesus with great rejoicing. He shared their joy, for it was just such helpfulness that he knew would bring about the heavenly kingdom. The Bible tells us a number of interesting stories about this community life. As reports reached Jerusalem of the large numbers of people who were attracted by the preaching of the young prophet, priests from the Southern capital began to visit Galilee, probably in order to find out whether Jesus was teaching a dangerous doctrine. One of the first things these learned men discovered was that the disciples ate with unwashed hands. To wash one's hands before meals was considered a religious duty rather than an act of Jesus' Disciples 27 cleanliness, and any Jew who did not do it committed a sin. When they questioned Jesus about it he promptly told them that he believed in no such act as a religious performance. Here was a chance to teach a much needed lesson, for, although the Jews made such an important matter of the ceremony of washing their hands, their hearts were often very far from clean. Although they thought it most impor- tant to put their food into their mouths with clean hands, they were often not at all particular that their thoughts and their conversation should be clean and pure. Calling all of the people to him, Jesus said, "Hearken unto me, every one of you, and understand. Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. For those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart ; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands defileth not a man." "Blessed are the pure in heart," said Jesus at another time, and by the pure in heart he meant people who would not tell or listen to impure stories, or use impure language in any way. Jesus knew, as we know now, that it is such language that defiles people and leads them to more defiling conduct. One Sabbath day Jesus and his disciples were walking through a field of grain. The disciples, being hungry, picked the grain, husked it between their fingers and ate it. This greatly shocked some of the Jews who saw it because they believed it to be Sabbath breaking. One of the most sacred laws of the Old Testament was, "Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy," and many of the Jews of Jesus' day — as has been the case with people of every age — had a super- stitious regard for the words of the law. Its real meaning was not so important. Jesus declared to those who criticised this action of the disciples that the Sabbath day was made that man might rest one day in seven and so be strong for 28 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls his work the other six. That the day was made for the convenience of man instead of man's being made for the day, as they seemed to think. That man has a right to decide what he will do on that day as on any other provided it be nothing wrong. Above all, let him never omit tc do a kindness whatever the day. Jesus himself healed people of diseases on the Sabbath, and did any other helpful thing he saw to be done. As it became more and more evident that Jesus put no faith in Jewish traditions, forms and customs, the priests and elders of the church had a great deal more to say against him, and he was constantly asked to explain his conduct. They found it impossible to understand why he should go exactly contrary to the customs of the people around him. He was especially criticised for his friendli- ness to Matthew, or Levi, the customs officer at Capernaum. We conclude from the story that there w r as a customs house at Capernaum at which travellers crossing from the other side of the Sea of Galilee paid toll. An officer whose duty it was to receive such toll was hated and despised, especially if he did his work honestly. This hatred was due in part to his being employed by the Roman rulers whom the Jews felt to be their enemies; in part to the fact that the tax- collectors were often unfair and even extortionate in their demands; and in part to the dislike that all people seem to have to paying taxes, especially the taxes of a government not their own. Customs officials are not looked down upon in our day, but the great majority of people have an objec- tion to paying duty on goods which they take from one country to another, and a great many people seem to feel that it is not dishonest to cheat the government, even though it may happen to be their own. In Jesus' time customs officials were social outcasts, and respectable people would have nothing to do with them. Such an outcast was Levi, or Matthew, as he was sometimes called, when Jesus who had just come across the Sea of Galilee, probably went to him to pay his toll. This slight Jesus' Disciples 29 business transaction would give quite enough time for a man of Jesus' keen perception to see the discontent in the heart of the tax-collector. And Levi, no doubt, was ac- quainted with the new teaching, for Jesus had frequently worked with the fishermen down on the shore where Levi was stationed to receive the customs. At any rate, he responded to the simple command, "Come and follow me," and he became one of Jesus' leading disciples. More than that, he was the means of many more men of the same occupation coming to hear Jesus. In spite of the common feeling of dislike for such men, Jesus entertained them with the customary Eastern hospitality, — a thing which the Jew- ish authorities could in no way understand. They accord- ingly questioned the disciples as to why their master ate and talked with people whom no one respected. Jesus' answer to the question was just what we should expect from one who was always trying to give comfort where it was most needed. "It is the sick who are in need of a physician," he said, "not those who are well. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance!" It was the cause of great sorrow to Jesus that his people had for their teachers such men as these sleek, well-fed officials of the church. Very strict were they in the observance of all of the forms of their religious worship. Every sacrifice was made in accordance with the Jewish customs of centuries before; but they gave no thought to the needs of the suffering men and women around them. Truly with such as these in charge his people were as sheep without a shepherd ; and so it was that he lived with these chosen followers in order that he might teach them to be helpful friends to the people around them. "Come with me," he said to the fishermen disciples, "and I will make you fishers of men." 30 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls Chapter V. JESUS' WORK AS A PHYSICIAN. Perhaps by nothing so much as by the healing of diseases did Jesus endear himself to the people around him. The Bible tells of many cases where people were sick and Jesus was able to cure them, and there is no reason to doubt his ability in this line. In every age there have been people who were able to cure bodily ailments without medicine. In this day we call it mental healing, and we find people more interested in it now, perhaps, than ever before, for scientists are studying more and more the power of the mind over the body, in the hope that they may learn to help people in the same way Jesus did. A number of churches have added mental healing to their work, and doctors and ministers are working together to help people to have better health. Sick- ness and suffering are everywhere, and to make people well and strong is to do them a very real service. The Bible writers have a quaint way of telling of these times when Jesus made people well. They tell of one time when he was preaching in the synagogue in Capernaum when there was a man in the congregation who had an "unclean spirit" in him. From the description given of the man's behavior, we conclude that he had some sort of nervous trouble which made him hysterical at times. At any rate, he made a great disturbance in the synagogue and Jesus was able to calm him and cure him of his attacks. The Bible writer speaks of such cures as "casting out devils," and surely the man must have felt in his relief as if he had gotten rid of some dreadful spirit which had had possession of him. We can well imagine that the people who knew of this cure thought it a very wonderful thing, and talked a great Jesus' Work as a Physician 31 deal about it, so that many sick people came to Jesus to be healed. On that same day, the Bible tells us, after Jesus was through preaching in the synagogue, he went with two of his disciples, James and John, to visit at the home of two other disciples, Simon and Andrew, who were brothers. There he found the family in great distress, for the mother of Simon's wife was very sick with some sort of fever. James and John, who had witnessed the cure of the man in the synagogue, eagerly pressed Jesus to use his power here also. Accordingly, he went into the sick room, gently took the hot hand of the sufferer in his own, and lifted her until she stood upon her feet. From that moment the fever left her and she was able to take her place in the family and serve her guests in the hospitable manner which we know was common in that Eastern land. Indeed it must have been a busy time in the Capernaum household that Sabbath day, for after the sun had set so that the heat was not so great, all the sick and suffering people of the city were brought to Jesus in the hope that he might cure them. They gathered in great numbers around the doorway while Jesus went about among them, giving them words of comfort and encouragement, healing many of their diseases and casting out "unclean spirits" from some who were afflicted as the man in the synagogue had been. Jesus must have felt the need of quiet and rest after meeting and helping so many people, for very early the next morning he left the city and went away into a desert place where he might be alone to pray to God for strength to do the great work he had to do. Certainly nothing in his life could have brought him greater satisfaction than his ability speedily to relieve sickness and suffering, but that was not the thing he longed most to do, and we can well imagine him alone in the desert, praying fervently for the greater power which would enable him to teach these people who trusted him to so love each other that the great desire of their hearts would be to lessen suffering in the world as he was doing; for he knew that if they 32 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls really loved each other as he loved them, they too would be able to do the things they thought so wonderful in him. Jesus was not allowed to remain in solitude very long. His disciples soon came to look for him, telling him that everybody was eagerly watching for his return; for the people realized that they had never known anyone before who could help them and comfort them as he had done. The Bible gives us a number of other stories about Jesus healing people who were sick. Once when he was teaching in a house in Capernaum in a room so full that no one else could enter, four men arrived carrying a sick man on a bed. The sick man had the palsy. When the men who were carrying him found that they could not bring him in by the door, they uncovered the roof of the house and let him down into the middle of the room where Jesus sat. Their efforts were certainly rewarded, for the story tells us that at Jesus' command the palsied man stood up, and when he found that he could not only stand, but walk, he picked up the cot upon which he had been carried, and took it home. There are also stories about blind men who were made to see and deaf and dumb men who were made to hear and to speak. So great was the enthusiasm of the people for these works of Jesus that we find things recorded that seem to us impossible. There are stories that tell how Jesus brought people back to life after they had died. When we read of such things we must remember that these accounts were written a good many years after Jesus' death, and possibly those referred to were not really dead but were only asleep as Jesus sometimes said they were, although their friends believed them dead. It has frequently happened that people have been apparently killed by drowning and then resusci- tated several hours after they were taken out of the water. Something of this kind may have occurred in the case of Lazarus, and the widow of Nain's son, and the daughter of Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue in Capernaum. Jesus' Work as a Physician 33 However that may have been, the people were certainly filled with enthusiasm for this new friend who seemed to be able to help them in any emergency. Some said, "A great prophet has arisen among us," and others, "God Himself has visited His people/' It is little wonder that they thought so, for never before had they met anyone whose love for them was so great that he could understand just how to help them. Surely it seemed as if God Himself had come to live among them. 34 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls Chapter VI. ADVENTURES. One of the most thrilling experiences recorded of Jesus and his disciples in the Bible is the story of the tempest on the Sea of Galilee. This sea is 682 feet below the level of the Mediterranean and the climate on its shores is tropical; but a number of high mountains rise from its sides and on these heights the air is cold. This great differ- ence in temperature in the region of the lake makes it subject to sudden and exceedingly dangerous storms. Tour- ists tell us that the natives will take one all around the lake, skirting the shore, for a couple of dollars; but they can hardly be hired to attempt the trip across — a much shorter distance — because of the sudden storms. The boats on the lake are broad with easily shifted sails. Of course the fishermen disciples were well acquainted with these boats and knew how to handle them. Jesus, too, was acquainted with them, for he had been on the lake frequently with his friends. He often preached from their boats while the people stood around him on the shore. One evening, after a very full day spent in preaching and helping the many people who had come to him, Jesus asked his disciples to take him across the lake for a little rest. As soon as they left the shore he lay down in the boat and went to sleep, exhausted after his great labor. Hardly had they gotten out into the lake when the clouds gathered above them in a thick, black mass and dropped lower and lower until they seemed about to smite the sur- face of the water. The waves became furious and these hardy sailors who were wont to feel as much at home on water as on land, found themselves almost unable to manage Adventures 35 the boat. Suddenly their courage left them and terror- stricken they called to Jesus to save them. Jesus sprang to his feet. The sail was already closely furled, but the waves were dashing furiously over the sides of the boat and the men seemed unable to keep it steady with the oars because of the high wind. Jesus took in the situation at a glance. He w r as a man of action, and in this case he acted so quickly that in an incredibly short time the men found themselves in calm water and the danger past. It seems probable to us who look back over nearly 2,000 years to this incident on the Galilean lake that Jesus grasped an oar and, shouting to his companions to pull for their lives, filled them with fresh courage; and together they quickly pulled the boat into the calm water in the lee of the shore. It may have been, however, that the wind dropped as quickly as it had arisen, for that sometimes happens in these storms. At any rate, safety was gained so speedily that the sailors thought Jesus had saved their lives by a miracle, and when they told the story afterwards they said he commanded the winds and the waves to be still and they obeyed him. We can well imagine that as they rested on their oars in the grateful calm, these companions in peril eagerly thanked Jesus for bringing them safely through the great danger; but Jesus was disappointed. These were strong men, used to hardships. He had thought of them as cour- ageous, as having a confidence in their own strength which would never let them give way to fear. He received their thanks coolly and with a fine scorn for their weakness. There are times in every man's life which call for the utmost cour- age, and if he allows fear ever to have a hold upon him he will lack that courage at the moment when he needs it most. His courage must be so great at all times that there is no room in his heart for fear. Jesus had expected of these hardy fishermen a bravery that would never leave them — a courage that would make them strong in any emergency. "O vou of little faith!" he exclaimed, "Why are you so fearful?" 36 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls The disciples felt the rebuke. They had been weak when they should have been strong; cowards when they should have been heroes. Ashamed and in silence they rowed to the shore. Here another thrilling adventure awaited them; for just as they landed there came to meet them a man who was a fearful maniac. Time and time again he had been bound with chains to keep him from doing injury, but he was so strong that he broke all the chains and escaped to live in the tombs in the neighboring mountains. Here he lived almost naked and alone in a horrible condition, a constant terror to the people of the vicinity. Believing as they did in those days in possession by evil spirits, they thought that he must be possessed with a great many such spirits, for he spent his time wildly crying and wounding himself with stones. It was this dreaded creature who met Jesus and his disciples as they pulled their boat up to the shore. Here again was need of great courage and Jesus' courage was not wanting. Quietly he faced the maniac, and in a calm, com- manding voice ordered him to sit down beside him. Then in the coolness of the evening he talked to the man and cured him of his awful infirmity. When the people of the neighborhood saw him again he was clothed like themselves and in his right mind. So grateful was he for his release from what seemed to him the torment of great numbers of evil spirits that he besought Jesus to let him go with him and be one of his disciples; but Jesus advised him to go home to his friends and tell them what a great thing the Lord had done for him. We can well imagine that he also advised him to use his health and strength in the service of the people to whom he had so long been a terror. The Bible tells us that the man did return to his friends, and he must have prepared the way in some measure for Jesus' later teaching on that side of the lake by telling of the wonderful power that could help one, even in such a sad plight as his had been. It is probably due to the fact that swine were consid- Adventures 37 ered unclean animals by the Jews that we have the tradition that these demons or "unclean spirits" which were supposed to afflict the man fled from him into a herd of swine feeding nearby and caused them to run into the sea and be drowned. 38 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls Chapter VII. JESUS' WORK AS A TEACHER. We sometimes hear Jesus spoken of as "the great physician/' but more often he is called "the great teacher." Sometimes he preached to the people around him, but his sermons were more like the talks of a teacher to his pupils than the discourse of a minister to his congregation. He was always telling people what they should do and how they should live, for his one desire was to teach them to live in such a way that the new kingdom — the kingdom of heaven — would be established upon the earth. He felt sure that the time had come for it, for the world as he knew it in the little country of Palestine was evidently in need of a better kind of life. His work was to show the way to find it. The Bible tells us that when Jesus saw what large numbers of people were coming to hear him he realized that he could not do all of the teaching himself, so he gathered his disciples about him on the side of one of the mountains near Capernaum and told them just what the new kingdom would be like and how to prepare for it in order that they might help him teach other people about it. These instruc- tions are called "The Sermon on the Mount," and in them we find a large part of Jesus' teaching. We can imagine him seated on the mountain side with his disciples facing him and just back of them several rows of other interested people ; while a miscellaneous crowd was scattered about the outskirts of the group, some attracted by the reports of Jesus' ability to heal sick people, and others there simply because it was the popular thing to follow the young prophet. It is quite possible that Jesus sat in silence for a while, absorbed in thoughts of the great Jesus' Work as a Teacher 39 work he had planned to do. Perhaps he was thinking of the men who would never know the kingdom he was trying to establish. Everywhere in his country he saw the proud citizens of Rome — men who could witness bull fights and great gladiatorial combats with never a sympathetic thought for the unfortunate victims. Such as they would never know the heavenly kingdom. Perhaps he thought also of the scribes of the temple, his own countrymen, men who were so intent upon the written laws of the Old Testament that they were blind to the needs of the people of their own time. The kingdom was not for such as they. He may have thought also of those other countrymen of his, the self-righteous Pharisees, men who were so absorbed in carrying out the forms of the Jewish worship that they failed to hear God speaking in their own hearts. No, the kingdom was not for the proud, the cruel, the careless. They could never know the happiness of the kingdom of God. Presently Jesus began to speak, and his first words seem to show that he had been thinking of these men who would never live in the new kingdom, for he said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is for them." Then he proceeded to tell his disciples who the "poor in spirit" are. They are people who are as sorry for others in distress as they would be for themselves if they had experienced some great sorrow. We call it being sym- pathetic. They are people who are meek and forgiving and who are always wanting to be good and to do good — Jesus called it hungering and thirsting after righteousness. They are people who are kind and merciful and pure in heart; and they are people who work to bring peace on the earth. These people whom Jesus called the poor in spirit and whom he said would know the happiness of the kingdom of heaven are people who are so brave that they will do what is right even though they know they will have to suffer for it. Pain and death, even, are easier for them than wrongdoing. Then Jesus told his disciples that they must help him spread a knowledge of this new kingdom; that they must 4 o A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls tell people what kind of men and women they must be in order to have the happiness of this new kind of life. "Ye are the salt of the earth," he said to them, "but if the salt has lost its savor, it is good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under the foot of men." In Jesus' time, salt was the only substance to be had for preserving food. It was taken from the ground and was always mixed with earth instead of being in pure crystals as we have it. If for any reason the salt became dissolved, the earth which was left was useless and was thrown away. It w r as to this kind of salt that Jesus compared his disciples and told them that if they failed to teach other people as he had taught them, they would be like the salt that has "lost its savor." He told his disciples, moreover, that not only were they to teach men that they must be kind and forgiving and pure in heart and peaceable in order to live in the new r kingdom, but they must set an example by being so themselves. "Let your light so shine before men," he said, "that they may see your good works: for you are the light of the world." Next Jesus told his disciples that they must live accord- ing to a fuller, better law than the laws of the Old Testa- ment. Those had been good for the old days, but the time had come for one which was more just than any of those had been. "Whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them," said Jesus, and although he said it nearly 2,000 years ago, the world has never found a better law than this which well merits the name of the Golden Rule. Jesus then showed his disciples in what way his law was better than the Old Testament laws. In former times if a man killed another man he was brought up for trial before the little court of seven judges in his community, but Jesus taught that if a man became angry with another man he committed a fault great enough for such a trial. He believed that every effort should be made to put an end to anger before it leads to deeds of violence and in the hope of doing this he would bring the matter before the Jesus' Work as a Teacher 41 court. He saw that if the first anger could be stopped, the dreadful crimes which are the result of anger would never be committed. He went even further than this. He saw that the anger itself might be prevented if every one would try to right the wrongs he sees, even though he is not to blame for them. If people had disagreements of any kind, Jesus advised them to come to some understanding with each other if possible without taking the matter to the court, for lawsuits in his day as in ours meant great expen- diture of time and money and more often resulted in lasting ill-feeling than perfect justice. Jesus then instructed his disciples about the taking of oaths. In olden times a great deal of dishonesty was due to the fact that some oaths were considered binding and some were not. Jesus saw that the only way to be rid of this kind of injustice was to insist upon the telling of the truth at all times, regardless of the taking of oaths. "Swear not at all," he said, "but let your communication be, Yea, yea; nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than this cometh of evil." Jesus believed that people should have such a kindly feeling toward one another that they would always want to be helpful. If a man wrongs you in any way, whether he strike you in the face, or take away your coat, or compel you to go a mile with him, do not hate him because of it, and try to get even with him as people were taught to do in the old days, but try to find out why he has wronged you, and lead him if possible to want to do better things. If a man is so angry that he hits you on the cheek, don't hit back, advised Jesus, and make him more angry still. Try the plan of turning your other cheek also, for perhaps you may in that way convince him that you will have no quarrel with him. At least he will understand that you do not mean to fight. If in a lawsuit he has succeeded in taking your coat from you, give him your cloak too. Far from being a fool, you may by your kindly spirit make a better man of him. If he makes you go a mile with him, go further, in 42 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls order to talk matters over and see if you can help him. "You have heard it said/' continued Jesus, "that you should love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I say unto you, love your enemies, do good to them that hate you." Only in this way, Jesus told them, could they be children of the Father which is in heaven, and belong to His kingdom, for He has a perfect love for everybody, and to be His children their love must be perfect like His. A neighbor in Jesus' time meant a person of one's own race. According to the Old Testament law a Jew must love a Jew but hate a Gentile. According to Jesus' new law, one must love everybody, whatever his nationality, for only in that way can the world be a really good place in which to live. Jesus taught us to look forward to the time when not only individuals but nations would want to be friendly and helpful to each other. No war will then be possible and each nation can devote itself to the best development of its people and its country instead of, as in our time, spending vast sums of money upon armies and navies w r hile the people often suffer for want of food. Nations now spend millions of dollars making and fitting up war vessels when vast numbers of their own people are paid too little for their labor to buy the necessaries of life. Jesus' great desire was to teach the people to so love each other that such a condi- tion of affairs could not exist. He lived nearly 2,000 years ago and the world has not yet learned his lesson, but the time is coming when all nations will see the folly and waste of using money for preparations for war and turn their resources to the good government of the people at home instead of to the destruction of people abroad. Already, in spite of this immense outlay for war preparations, there is a great world movement toward peace. Peace Confer- ences have been held at The Hague and have created a permanent Court of Arbitration before which any nations of the world can appear to settle their disputes by peaceful instead of warlike methods, and the usefulness of such a court will no doubt increase as the years go on. Jesus' Work as a Teacher 43 Jesus instructed his disciples that when they helped people who needed financial assistance they must do it so quietly that no one else would know about it — so that the feelings of the persons in distress would not be wounded. He told them that when they prayed to God it was better to do it when no one would see or hear them, that God knows what we have need of before we ask it, and that it is because it strengthens our desire to do right that prayer is a good thing. Jesus objected very much to the public prayers of the priests of the synagogues because he knew that they prayed in order to impress people with their goodness and not to make themselves better. He told his disciples that they should pray for four things : the coming of the new kingdom, bread enough for each day's food, a forgiving frame of mind, and strength to resist temptation ; and these are just the things needed to make men good men and the world a good world. This prayer, which we know as "The Lord's Prayer," is used a great deal in our church services, but Jesus emphasized the fact that we must pray for these things when we are alone rather than when we are with people, for it is when we are alone that we are more likely to really feel the desire for help from God. In Jesus' time, as in our own, the corrupting influence of seeking riches was very apparent. Jesus knew that the people who were intent upon getting rich were not the kind of people who would know the happiness of the kingdom of God. They were often so selfish that they were cruel in their treatment of others. They were so intent upon their own welfare that they did not see the sufferings of others. Jesus watched their selfishness and injustice with deep sorrow. "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth," was his warning to the disciples, "where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through and steal, for where your treasure is there wall your heart be also. Seek first the kingdom of God and his 44 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls righteousness and all the other things will then be added." According to Jesus' new law, one cannot seek anything first but the kingdom of heaven, for if he treats other people as he would like to be treated he cannot try in a selfish way to get riches or anything else. He will try to be very just in everything he does. Think for a moment what a difference it would make in the world if Jesus' new law were followed in men's business transactions. The men who dig the iron, coal and silver from our mines are exposed to the greatest peril and often suffer terrible deaths because the mine owners will not spend the necessary money for proper precautions against accident to their workmen. Money to them is of more importance than human lives, and because of their selfish desire for wealth they are not willing to treat the men who work for them and who make their wealth possible as they themselves would like to be treated. In the factories of our country there are thousands of little children working long hours over tasks which prevent them from growing up into well developed men and women because the men who make their money from these factories do not live by the golden rule. In very many of our depart- ment stores there are women and girls working for wages which are too small for them to procure the bare necessaries of life because the men who own the stores are selfishly trying to get wealth instead of seeking the kingdom Jesus taught about. All over the country, this fine, big, free United States of which for many reasons we may well feel proud, men and women are working long weary hours with little pay in order that others may have great fortunes. It was the same sort of injustice that filled Jesus' heart with sorrow in Palestine. It was a dream of a world of brothers where men would be just to one another that filled his life with a love of doing good. When we study Jesus' teaching we cannot help seeing how strongly he felt that in order to really do right one must feel right. In order to treat others as we should like to be treated we must have the best of feelings toward them. Jesus' Work as a Teacher 45 Jesus taught that one must not feel angry no matter how unjustly one is treated. He believed that thoroughly and he believed it to the bitter end; for in the face of the terrible injustice of his cruel death he prayed to the Father to forgive those who were killing him. Never did he allow an evil to continue when he could put a stop to it; but he taught men that to overcome evil in the world they must have right feelings toward the evildoers — they must love their enemies. Right feeling is necessary to right doing. One's con- duct is only half right unless one's feeling is right, too. This is the most important point in Jesus' teaching. 46 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls Chapter VIII. JESUS AS A STORY TELLER. Among the crowds that gathered around Jesus to see his wonderful works and hear about the new 7 Kingdom were people of all ages — old men and young men, old women and young women, boys and girls and even little children. Everyone liked to be near him and to hear him talk. He especially liked to have children about him, and mothers often brought their little ones to him because they knew it would make them happy to look into his kindly face and hear the stories that he told to help the people under- stand about the Kingdom of Heaven. They were stories that everybody liked, for they were about the things they were all acquainted with and they could understand just what he meant. After he had instructed his disciples about the behavior necessary for the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus told them a story to show the difference between the men who live according to his new law and those who know the law but do not try to follow it. Jesus himself had been a carpenter and knew all about building houses. He knew how necessary it was to have a firm foundation upon which to build, and so did his hearers. What he wanted to teach them was that a good life, like a good house, must have a firm foundation. "Whosoever cometh to me/' he said, "and heareth my sayings and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like. He is like a man which built a house and digged deep and laid the foundation on a rock : and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house and could not shake it, for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth and Jesus as a Story Teller 47 doeth not is like a man that without a foundation built a house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great." Jesus told the people a number of stories to show them that life in the new Kingdom would be much better than the kind of life they were then living. Once he compared the Kingdom to a rich treasure which a man found hidden in a field. So great was his joy that he hid it again and hastened to go and sell everything he owned in order to buy the field and possess the treasure. In Palestine there were few places beside the Temple where one could deposit valuables. Many people, therefore, buried such things in the ground for safe keeping. It frequently happened that the person who buried the treasure never dug it up and someone else found it. Even at the present time there are often found in Palestine little heaps of money which have lain buried for hundreds, or even thousands of years. Another time he compared the Kingdom to a beautiful pearl. There was once a merchant who was trying to find "goodly" pearls. At last he found one which just suited him, but it was held at a very great price. So great was his desire to possess it, however, that he sold everything that belonged to him and bought the pearl. Such will be the Kingdom of God — a most valuable treasure, a pearl of great price! So great will be the joy of the new life that men will be willing to give up everything else in order to possess it. Then he told them some stories to show how the King- dom would increase when others began to help him teach about it. All over Palestine the mustard plant grew, a familiar plant to everyone. It comes from a very small seed, but grows to be a large, leafy shrub or small tree, which birds often use for their nesting places. "How shall we liken the Kingdom of God?" said Jesus. "It is like a grain of mustard seed, which when it is sown upon the earth, though it be less than all the seeds that are 48 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls upon the earth, yet when it is sown groweth up and beareth greater than all the herbs and putteth out great branches; so that the birds of Heaven can lodge under the shadow thereof. ,, And another time he said : "The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till all was leavened. " Everyone knew how the leaven or yeast worked in bread, for every house- wife made her own bread, even grinding the grain for it; and the dough set to rise in a wooden bowl, with a cover which looked like a closely woven basket, was a familiar sight in Palestine. When a boy, Jesus watched the shepherds with their flocks of sheep or goats on the hillside around Nazareth. Armed with a long staff, each shepherd called his sheep from the fold in the morning, and each sheep responded to its name and in a long line they followed their shepherd to the green patch of pasture land where they were to spend the day. At midday the shepherd led his flock to some spring or well for water. After a little rest he led them back to the feeding place, and at night they were taken to the fold again. The shepherd had to be very watchful for wolves, jackals and bears were always lurking around to carry off any member of the flock that got a little separated from the others. Often the younger lambs found it hard to keep up with the older and stronger sheep. These the shepherd had to carry in his arms, giving each one in turn a little rest. The grassy shrub-clad hillside on which the sheep fed was called the wilderness, and was used in com- mon by all the shepherds from the neighboring town. When the people expressed surprise that Jesus should entertain the hated tax collectors, and even people who were known to be wicked, he answered them in this way : "What man of you having one hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost until he find it? And when he hath found it he layeth it on his shoulders, Jesus as a Story Teller 49 rejoicing. And when he cometh home he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost/' Because Jesus cared for sinful and outcast people in much the same way that a shepherd cares for the sheep who stray from his flock, he is often called 'The Good Shepherd/' In order to show the women who were listening to him that there were people whom they should care for in the same helpful way, he continued : "What woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle and sweep the house and seek diligently till she find it? And when she hath found it she calleth her friends and neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I had lost." The poorer people in Palestine lived in houses that had no windows and so were very dark. The women wore what few coins they possessed strung on a string around their necks, and Jesus had prob- ably seen their careful searching with candles when they were so unfortunate as to lose some of their small store, and their rejoicing when it was found. It was such care as a shepherd used in finding his lost sheep and as a woman used in finding a lost piece of money, that he believed everyone should use in bringing back to the right path those who had gone astray and done wicked things. A joy such as the shepherd and the owner of the silver felt should be in the heart of everyone who has been able to so help his unfortunate or sinful fellowmen that they have been re- stored to right ways of living. Here, again, the world has not yet learned the lesson Jesus tried to teach. When a person is arrested for wrong- doing, he is shut up in a cell in a prison, to stay a certain number of months or years for punishment. Often the cell is dark and damp and the confinement works great injury to his health. In many of our prisons almost no provision is made for bathing and the cells are often full of vermin. Little nourishing food is provided, and there is absolutely no chance for a man's becoming better from such a punish- 50 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls ment. Nearly always he returns to the same kind of life, or a worse one. Time after time he is arrested and placed in the same unwholesome confinement. Governments will learn some day that only cleanly, wholesome, sunlit prisons, with every effort made upon the part of the authorities to teach a better life, can be effective in making right doers of people who have done wrong; and only such treatment of criminals can preserve the safety of the community at large. There are people who have learned Jesus' lesson as to the proper care of the sinful and unfortunate, and they are trying to make things better; but they need the assistance of every citizen. Everyone should take the trouble to find out whether the prison of the community in which he lives is clean and well kept, and whether the people who have charge of it are people who will make the prisoners better men and women. There should be people in charge who will take as much care in their efforts to change people from wrong doers to right doers, as the Good Shepherd takes to find His lost sheep. The criminal is truly a lost man unless some great-hearted, kindly person becomes a friend to him and helps him to find the right path of life again. Because Jesus knew how to be such a friend, he was called ''The Good Shepherd. " The best story Jesus told to illustrate the joy that every- one should feel when a wrong doer changes to a right doer is the Story of the Prodigal Son. Jesus and his father had loved each other so dearly, that after he w r as grown up and his father was dead and he felt God speaking in his heart and telling him to be kind and helpful to the people around him, it seemed to him just as if his father were speaking to him and telling him to be kind and helpful to his brothers and sisters. Because of this, he often spoke of God as his father and of his fellowmen as his brothers. The Story of the Prodigal wSon shows how close Jesus felt to his own father, and how as a boy he must have told him all of his troubles. It shows, also, how near he believed God to be to him, and how glad he felt God always was when anyone Jesus as a Story Teller 51 who had been doing wrong changed and began to do right. This is the story: There was once a man who had two sons, and the younger one said to his father, "Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me," and the father divided his fortune between the two. Not many days after this the younger son took all of his money and went into a distant country. There he lived in a most extravagant way, wasting his wealth and spending his time in careless, and even sinful, behavior. At last his money was all spent and there came a great famine in the land, and he suffered for want of food. In great distress he finally went to a citizen of the country and hired himself as a servant. He was em- ployed to feed the swine in the fields, but he was still very hungry; so hungry that even the husks that the swine fed upon looked good to him. But still no one gave him any- thing to eat. While he was watching the swine eat the husks, he suddenly remembered who he was. The Bible says "he came to himself." He remembered that he had a father at home and that in his household there was always plenty to eat. Every servant, even, had enough and some to spare, while he, the son, was perishing with hunger. How foolish he had been to leave the father who loved him, and go away and live the selfish, useless life he had lived. He decided that he would go immediately to his father again and tell him how foolish and sinful he had been and ask him to let him be one of his servants, for he felt that he was not worthy to be his son. So he went back to his own country and to his father's house. His father saw him coming when he was a long way off, and he was overjoyed, for he had missed him sadly. He ran to meet his son and embraced him and kissed him, for he loved him very much. The young man's behavior had been such, however, that he could not share his father's joy. He said to him sorrow- fully, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants." But his father would 52 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls listen to no such proposal. He called a servant and said to him, "Bring forth the best robe and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet. And bring hither the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and be merry. For this my son was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found/' And they began to have a great celebration in honor of the young man's return. In the meantime, the elder brother had been at work in a field some distance from home. When he had finished his work and was returning to the house, he heard the music and the dancing, and called one of the servants to ask what it meant. "Thy brother is come," replied the servant, "and thy father hath killed the fatted calf because he hath received him safe and sound." At this the elder brother became very angry and refused to go in the house and take part in the festivities. When his father learned this, he came out to his son and entreated him to go in and join in the merrymaking. But the son answered, "Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment, and yet thou never gavest me a kid that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this thy son was come which hath devoured thy living, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf." His father looked upon him sorrowfully; his words troubled him greatly. He knew that what his son had said was quite true. His elder son had always been a comfort to him. Together they had lived and worked and he loved him with a love such as only a parent can give to the child who has always been honest, straightforward and loving in return. It distressed him greatly that his son did not realize how dear he was to him, — dearer to him than his own life. "Son," he replied, "thou art ever with me and all that I have is thine. It is meet (right) that we should make merry and be glad for this thy brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found." In this great world where God is our Father and all men are our brothers, Jesus would teach us that God needs good men to make the world into a heavenly kingdom. Jesus as a Story Teller 53 They are his elder sons who are always with him, and all of his Kingdom is theirs. They are the elder brothers whose privilege it is to guide the younger ones and help them "come to themselves" when they have gone astray and done evil things. It is right that they should be very glad when any of these younger brothers change from wrong doers to right doers, for it is only the right doers who can make the world a good place to live in. Jesus found as he continued his teaching in the towns and villages of Palestine, that the crowds that followed him grew larger and larger. In every place he stopped some people became his followers. One day, when an unusually large number were gathered to hear him, he told them a story, or parable, as it is called, to show that among so many people there would be some who would hear his teaching but not understand it, and evil thoughts would come into their minds and crowd out the teaching and they would forget it. There would be some who would hear the teaching gladly, but when they had to suffer because of their right-doing they would become discouraged. There would be some who would hear the teaching, but their desire to get riches would be so great that they would be too selfish to follow it. But there would be some who would hear the teaching, understand it and follow it, and they would teach other people to live by the Golden Rule and so help the world to grow better. It was these last w r hom Jesus ex- pected to help him bring about the new kingdom. This story is called the Parable of the Sower. Jesus had often watched the farmers sowing their seed in the fields around Nazareth, when as a boy he roamed over the hills outside the town, and many of his hearers were farmers, so they could understand his story perfectly. "A sower went out to sow his seed, and as he sowed some fell by the wayside ; and it was trodden down and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock, and as soon as it was sprung up it withered away, because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns and the 54 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls thorns sprang up with it and choked it. And other fell on good ground and sprang up and bare fruit an hundred fold." Jesus was trying to plant the seed of his teaching in the hearts of his hearers, but he knew that many of them would not receive it. He longed to plant it where it would increase a hundred fold, so that the new r kingdom might be speedily established, and looking into the faces of his hearers, men and women, boys and girls, and even little children, he taught them by telling them stories of the everyday things around them that all might understand. Jesus told a number of other stories which are recorded in the Bible, some of which we shall have later. - • - - ' --: A - I'O V 11 T or TjiE G K X T 1 L E S, fc?> ;,;;; < ■ ? « 1 » ,-• o ,«"» o « e « <> -o « a o a -o * '.« * * » * : ,« $ ■* : > *'.'«'•..» * »">' : » *',•"£!!<«;.'■» * « n * b. >«««•» .» -a "■« * *!':$JJ.1jjhl|j li 6 VAL i 1 O K C H . The Temple (Herod's) JESUS 1 Travels 55 Chapter IX. JESUS' TRAVELS. We have seen that Jesus first went to the great city of Jerusalem to attend the Passover Feast when he was twelve years old. He may have gone many times after that while his father was still living. It was after his father's death that he began his work, first with John the Baptist and then with his disciples. The next trip to Jerusalem recorded in the Bible was when he was thirty years old. This time, also, he went to the Passover Feast, and some of his disciples went with him. Together they walked down the Jordan Valley and up over the hills to the great city. Prob- ably they camped two nights on the way, building campfires to take off the chill of the night air. Probably, also, they met old friends making the same journey, friends whom they had not seen since the last Passover, a year before. No doubt they watched for each historical spot with as much interest as Jesus had looked for them twenty years before, when as a boy he had attended the Passover Feast for the first time; for they were deeply interested in the former greatness of their country and were eagerly hoping for a time when she might again have a commanding place among nations. Finally they reached the great city, their country's capital, and there before them, high above everything else, loomed the magnificent temple of Herod, which had been forty-six years in the building and was even then not quite finished. Its front was covered with plates of gold which threw back the rays of the morning sun and formed an object of splendor which could be seen for miles around. It was built of the whitest marble, and a large part of its 56 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls side walls was also covered with gold. No one could see it without being impressed with its grandeur, and we can well imagine that Jesus and his fisherman friends felt as much pride in it as we do in our own capitol at Wash- ington, with its dome showing white against the blue sky. Only they must have had different feelings from ours, for here they yearly attended a religious feast — a feast cele- brating the emancipation of their people from slavery more than iooo years before, — and now they felt that their peo- ple were again enslaved. Jesus knew that the greatest wish in his heart was to be able to set them free again, free from every kind of bondage; to make them a strong, free, righteous people. It was such thoughts as these that were probably in his mind w r hen he caught sight of the gold and white temple glistening in the sunlight. But Jesus' thoughts suffered a rude interruption when he and his disciples entered the outer court of the temple, that part meant for strangers who wished to come to learn about the God of the Jews, for instead of the calm and silence which would befit such an impressive exterior, they found the noise and confusion of a market place. The rules of the temple were such that the animals used for the sacrifice must be inspected by the priests and pro- nounced satisfactory. If they were bought down in the town and found unworthy, a second trip and purchase had to be made ; and so it had come about that merchants were allowed to sell within the temple enclosure, so that the worshippers might be sure of buying satisfactory animals. In time this custom became much abused, as large prices were charged and the merchants paid big fees to the priests for the privilege of carrying on the trade; while the Jews who came to worship were powerless to help themselves. More and more heavily were they taxed each year in this unlawful manner. In these days we should call it graft. It was also necessary that the worshippers who came from foreign countries — as many of them did — should have their money changed for the particular kind of coin Jesus' Travels ~,j that was accepted in the temple. Every man was required to pay annually a half-shekel for the maintenance of the public temple service. If he were a foreigner he must have his money changed for Jewish money before he could make the payment. The wrangling of the money changers added much to the confusion in the temple court, and the poor and ignorant Jew was often sadly imposed upon in this exchange of coin. Jesus knew of this condition of affairs before he reached the temple. It had frequently been the topic of conversation among his companions on the way, and he found a great discontent among the people just outside the temple gate — the Jews who must have dealings with the merchants and money changers inside. Jesus had lived in a country community far removed from the great church centre, and among his associates little attention was paid to animal sacrifices. As he looked upon the scene around him, the animals herded together, the men wrangling about the exchange of money, a feeling of great pity came over him that men should think that by such means they were serving God. His study of the Old Testament prophets had led him to believe that such observances were entirely unnecessary, that God did not ask for that kind of sacri- fice, and it troubled him greatly that in this beautiful place which they were pleased to call God's house, and where his children should come to learn his lessons of goodness and truth and love, only injustice and empty forms were to be found. He had longed to see it a house of prayer for all nations, and yet the only place where other people besides the Jews could assemble was made loathsome by the preparation of animals for the sacrifice. Jesus knew that outside the Roman soldiers were on guard and that they would probably uphold the tradesmen in any disturbance. Nevertheless, he took the part of the downtrodden and oppressed, as he always did. Quickly he climbed to the topmost step of the portico leading to the inner court of the temple. Catching up from the floor a 58 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls bunch of the rushes with which it was carpeted, to make his gestures more effective, and calling in a loud voice to secure attention, he bade the merchants and the money- changers to depart. "Make not my Father's house a house of merchandise!'' He commanded. "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer'? But you have made it a den of thieves." For a moment only the throng of tradesmen hesitated. They knew they were dishonest and extortionate. One look into Jesus' face, flaming with indignation, was enough. They needed no second warning. Oxen and sheep were driven out as quickly as possible. Money tables were upset in the haste of their owners to depart. Everyone knew that this man, who had dared to speak out against injustice, had the right to be obeyed. The occasion was only waiting for the man who dared to stand alone — and Jesus was that man. Jesus probably spent several months in Jerusalem and the surrounding country of Judea at this time, teaching people about the new kingdom and healing them of dis- eases. It was during this visit to Jerusalem that he made the acquaintance of Nicodemus, one of the lawyers of the Sanhedrin, or supreme court of the Jews. This lawyer was greatly interested in Jesus' work among the people, but he seems to have been afraid to let his interest be known because of the high position he held. Such cowardice we often see among people who hold responsible positions in our own day. Nicodemus wanted to know more about this man who evidently had a great power for doing good, and so he went to see Jesus secretly, at night, when no one would know of his visit, and asked him to tell him more about this new kingdom he w r as trying to estab- lish. Jesus told him one's heart must be right before he could live in God's kingdom, and expressed his surprise that Nicodemus should hold such a high position as teacher and lawyer among the Jews, and yet not feel God speaking in his own heart and telling him how to teach rightly. This talk seems to have been the beginning of a friendship Jesus' Travels 59 that lasted until Jesus' death. At the time of his trial before the great Sanhedrin, Nicodemus made an effort to secure justice for him, and after his death it was the great lawyer, who. with Joseph of Alimithea, cared for Jesus' body and buried it. At the end of this stay in Jerusalem and Judea, Jesus and his disciples returned to Galilee, going through maria. In Jesus' time the western side of the Jordan River was divided into three provinces. Between Judea in the south and Galilee in the north was Samaria, a region inhabited by people who were not Jews, but who were closely related to them and had many of the same forms in their religious worship. They had for their sacred book the first five books of the Old Testament, so that the laws of Moses were sacred to them as to the Jews. Samaria is possibly the most fertile part of Palestine. It is a land of well wooded hills, fertile valleys and uplands. The rich soil yields abundant harvests of wheat, oats and corn, while orchards of fig and olive trees abound and grapes grow in profusion. A Jewish writer of about the time of Jesus says that the grass that grew in Samaria was so fine that the cows of that region gave more milk than cows elsewhere; and we learn from the same writer that the country was quite as fertile then as now, and that there was plenty of good water. Indeed, one of the famous places in Samaria is Jacob's Well, a well no one knows how old, but which is believed to have been made by the patriarch Jacob when, after his long exile in Haran, he settled in the region with his large family and his wealth of flocks and herds. It is quite possible that the belief is correct, for no doubt when Jacob pitched his tents in fertile Samaria, he found the plentiful streams in the pos- session of those who had been long in the land, and to avoid trouble he may have dug a well of his own. When one visits the spot now he finds a small en- closure built over the well, and it is the duty of a priest who keeps the key to show the place to visitors. The 60 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls mouth of the well is small, but it opens out about four feet below, into a much larger part, y l / 2 feet in diameter. Both the mouth and this larger part are lined with rough masonry. It is now about 75 feet deep, but originally it was much deeper, for a great deal of rubbish has fallen into it, and travellers who wished to guess at its depth have thrown many stones down it. For a part of the year the w r ell is dry, the water lasting from the rainy season until the month of May. Probably when it was kept cleaned out the water lasted much longer. This well was made famous by an incident in the life of Jesus, and because of that it is now considered one of the sacred spots in Palestine and is very carefully guarded. In Jesus' time the Jews and Samaritans were enemies. Five hundred years before, when the Jews returned from their exile in Babylon and sought to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem which had been demolished by their Babylonian captors, the people of Samaria offered to lend them aid. This the Jews refused to accept, because the Samaritans were not pure Israelites, and furthermore, they refused to allow the Samaritans to worship with them at all. The Samaritans were thus driven to provide their own place of worship, so they built a temple upon Mt. Gerizim, where they carried on an elaborate service much like that of the Jews in Jerusalem. From this time on there was much hostility between the two peoples, the Samaritans in every way possible harassing the Jews. Not being allowed to assist in rebuilding the temple, they tried to interfere with other building operations in Jerusalem. Sometimes they seized Jewish lands and carried their owners off as slaves. Once in the early morning while it was still dark, but just after the temple doors had been opened, they placed the bodies of dead men in the temple to defile it; and finally they killed some Jews from Galilee who were on their way to Jerusalem. Jews who had to make the journey from Galilee to Judea, unless they went in large parties, as they did at the Passover times, generally avoided the shorter Jesus' Travels 6i road through Samaria, because it was beset with danger from the hostile inhabitants. Crossing the Jordan they went through the friendly region of Perea, the province to the east of Samaria, where a number of Israelites were settled. Jesus, as we have seen, was going through Samaria on his way home to Galilee after his stay in Judea, he and his disciples having decided to take the shorter way. After a long morning's walk the company rested at noon at Jacob's Well, which is possibly about five miles from the northern boundary of Judea. When they had rested a little the disciples went into the town nearby to procure food, leaving Jesus by the w r ell. Directly there appeared a woman with her water bottle, and Jesus asked her for a drink. The woman was much surprised at this, for she saw that Jesus was a Jew, and it was a very unusual thing for a Jew to ask anything of a Samaritan. Her surprise was so great that she ventured to ask him how it was that he, a Jew, was willing to ask a Samaritan woman for even so small a thing as a drink of water. Jesus was a man of keen perceptions. He could see after a very few minutes' conversation with the woman that she was a poor, mis- guided creature who was in need of help. The great love he had in his heart for everybody prevented him from feel- ing the dislike for the Samaritans which his people usually felt. Here was a woman in need of his teaching. It mattered not that her ancestors and his had been foes, that her people and his had nothing but hate for each other. His heart went out to her because she was a poor, sinful woman, and so to her immense surprise, and to the evident displeasure of his returning disciples, he took the pains to tell her about the God in her own heart and how she might receive help from Him there. Neither in Jerusalem nor in Gerizim, he told her, would true worshippers worship the Father, for He is a spirit, and they that worship him truly will find Him within themselves : and it is of such worshippers that the Father is in need. Perhaps it was 62 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls the assurance that even she, sinful though she had been, might have this communion with God in her own heart and be of some help to the world because of her new understanding of this new kind of worship, that gave her a new faith and filled her with a desire for better things. At any rate, after the conversation with Jesus, she had a different feeling about life, and forgetting her water bottle, she hastened to the town to tell the people of the man whose heart was so large that he had sympathy even for such as she. Later, the people had a chance to learn for themselves of Jesus' great sympathy, for he stayed in the neighborhood two days, teaching them about the God who is a spirit and whose dwelling place is the hearts of men. Perhaps the thing that touched them as much as anything else in his teaching was the fact that he, a Jew, instead of hating them as they believed all Jews did, evidently cared for them and was filled with a desire to do them good. In him they saw the Jewish hate changed to a love that was broad enough to take in all mankind, and the revelation filled them with an enthusiasm which made them eager listeners to his words. The Jews, in their treatment of the Samaritans and also of other neighboring peoples, showed a strong race prejudice. We find such a prejudice among different peo- ples of every age. We are apt to feel some distrust of people not like ourselves, because we do not fully under- stand them. Because they are different from us in behavior or customs, we naturally conclude that they are not so good. Perhaps they have given us cause to dislike them, as the Samaritans had the Jew r s. Whatever the reason, there seems to be a tendency in human beings to distrust people of other races. In our time we find it expressed in our Chinese Exclusion laws, in our objection to the colored people, and, curiously enough, to the very people to whom Jesus belonged, to the Jews themselves. But there are people w r ho try to understand the Chinaman and give him fair treatment, although he belongs to another Jesus' Travels 63 race and has a very different education from ours; and there are people who try to understand the Negro and to educate him so that he may become an acceptable citizen in the country where his ancestors were very unwillingly made slaves two or three hundred years ago ; and there are people who recognize in the Jew a man who deserves the consideration we ourselves desire. These people, and fortunately their number is increasing, are the people who really comprehend the meaning of Jesus' work in Samaria. Jesus certainly wanted very much to establish friendly relations between his own people and the Samaritans. The hatred and distrust with which the two peoples regarded each other were a great sorrow to him, for he had no- room in his heart for hatred. Not only was he friendly and helpful to the Samaritans, but he tried to teach his people that the hated Samaritan might even be a better man than the Jew. One day a man who was very learned in the Jewish laws had been listening to Jesus' teaching, and he asked him how he might prepare himself to live in the new kingdom. Jesus replied by asking him which was the most important of all the e.ws. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind," replied the lawyer, "and thy neighbor as thyself. " Jesus assured him that he had answered rightly, and that if he obeyed those two laws he would live in the new kingdom. "And who is my neigh- bor," continued the learned man, hoping to show Jesus that he really had obeyed the laws, for neighbors, to him, meant only the Jews. Jesus answered his question by telling him the parable of the "Good Samaritan. " "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment and wounded him and departed leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way; and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him and passed by on the other side. But a 64 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was; and when he saw him he had compassion on him and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And on the morrow, when he de- parted, he took out two pence and gave them to the host and said unto him, Take care of him, and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again I will repay thee. Which now of these three thinkest thou was neighbor unto him that fell among thieves ?" The lawyer replied, "He that showed mercy on him. ,, Then said Jesus, "Go thou and do likewise. " After the short stay in Samaria, Jesus and his disciples continued their journey northward. The public work of Jesus may have lasted as much as three years, though according to the oldest accounts it was only about a year. According to these accounts, Jesus made only one trip to Jerusalem during this time, driving the money changers and traders out of the temple soon after his arrival, and paying for the act a few days later with his life. It is a later account that states that Jesus' public min- istry lasted three years. This writer records at least three visits to Jerusalem, placing this temple experience at the time of the first visit. All of these accounts were written so long after Jesus' death, and differ in so many points, that it is impossible for us to find out the exact truth about Jesus' travels. I have mentioned all of the journeys re- corded in the Bible, because each has some interest for us. According to the earlier writers, most of Jesus' work was in Galilee, but according to this latter account he spent most of his time in Judea. Twice during his labors in Galilee he stopped his work and went out of his own country alto- gether, into Phoenicia and Syria, for rest and quiet. The first time he visited the ancient cities of Tyre and Sidon, on the Mediterranean coast. He must have been greatly interested in these old cities, for more than once they had Jesus 1 Travels 65 played an important part in the history of his nation. The immense cedar logs for the Temple of Solomon were shipped at Tyre and landed again further down the coast, at Joppa. Hiram, King of Tyre, had been a friend of Jesus' royal ancestors, David and Solomon, and a later king of Israel had married a Tyrian wife. From these cities by the sea Jesus and his disciples went inland, probably following the road to Damascus until after it crossed the Lebanon mountains, then turning south and finally reaching the Sea of Galilee again. We may be sure that Jesus found every step of the way interesting. From his boyhood days he must have longed to see the Cedars of Lebanon, and a nearer view of snow-capped Hermon must have been a great delight to him who had always loved beautiful things. But his interest in the new country did not in any way interfere with his work with his disciples. One of his reasons for getting away from the multitudes who thronged about him in Galilee, was to have a chance to talk more freely with his disciples and give them further instructions about the teaching they were to help him do. The Bible tells us of only one instance of his healing anyone on this journey, and that was the little daughter of a Greek woman who found out that he was in her neighborhood. He tried to keep his whereabouts as quiet as possible, for he needed rest and he wanted time to teach his disciples. Soon he returned to the region around Galilee, and for a little time we find him as busy as ever; but soon again he makes another journey to the northward. This time he and his disciples follow the Jor- dan River upward to its sources in the Lebanon mountains. For twenty-five miles the party climbed up an ascent of 1700 feet, to the region of the city of Caesarae Phillippi, a City which lay at the foot of Mount Hermon. Here they were 1050 feet above the level of the sea, but white-capped Hermon was still 8000 feet higher. Jesus must have found this retreat to the mountains a most refreshing change, but his heart must also have been very sorrowful, for he 66 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls learned at this time that although he had been successful in teaching his disciples about the new kingdom, they were still eager for him to be their king and lead the Jewish people to a commanding place among nations. To his dis- ciples who were in truth his loyal subjects, he possessed all the qualities necessary for the king their people had sc long looked for. They found it hard to understand why he did not assume this kingship and wear a crown. Jesus had conquered that temptation in the wilderness, more than a year before. He knew that no such move as that would bring about the heavenly kingdom. Again he said, "Get thee behind me, Satan," though no doubt it cost him a struggle to say it this time, as it had before. Not long after his return to Galilee from the Northern mountains, Jesus and his disciples went again to Jerusalem to attend the Autumn feast of the Tabernacles. This was the last of the harvest celebrations and came at the end of the grape harvest. At this time the Jews celebrated the wandering of the Children of Israel in the wilderness. The people were required to live in temporary houses, made of the branches of trees and thatched with leaves. The cele- bration lasted a week and each day had its appropriate exercises. During the week of the Feast of the Tabernacles Jesus taught in the temple, where many people came to hear him. Some declared that "of a truth" he was a prophet, and others that he was really the Christ; but still others found it hard to believe that so great a person as the Mes- siah they were looking for could come from the unim- portant province of Galilee, so far from the great city of Jerusalem. So while there were many who found comfort in his words, there were many who wanted to have him arrested and tried before the chief priests. But the author- ities were not quite willing to take this step, perhaps fearing an uprising of the people he had helped, and who trusted and believed in him. His friend the lawyer Nicodemus especially opposed his being interfered with, maintaining that it was unlawful to judge a man when they knew so 3 X U Jesus' Travels 67 little about him and his work; and so for the time Jesus was left free. After the Feast of the Tabernacles Jesus returned again to Galilee, but not for very long. The Bible indicates that he spent some time in Samaria and Judea during the Winter, and in the Spring directed his steps again toward Jerusalem for the Passover, stopping for a while in Perea and working among the people there. His disciples were becoming more and more anxious about him, because the authorities were watching him more closely all the time, with the evident desire to prove that he was teaching a dangerous doctrine. It may have been during the Winter months, before the Passover, that Jesus made the acquaint- ance of Mary and Martha and Lazarus, two sisters and a brother who lived in Bethany, near Jerusalem. With these friends he seems to have found a home during his visits to the great city. It was probably during his stay in Perea that Jesus met the rich young ruler who desired to know what good thing he could do to prepare himself for life in the new kingdom. Jesus asked him if he knew all of the commandments. He replied that he did, and that he had kept them ever since he was a boy, but he didn't feel satisfied. He had listened to Jesus' teaching and was interested in the new kingdom he wished to establish. Perhaps there was some good thing he could do which would make him enjoy this new kind of life. Jesus looked into his handsome, eager face and at his costly and beautiful clothing, and his heart went out to him as it did to everyone who seriously wanted to do good in the world. He was young himself, and although he had never been rich, he could well understand the feelings of one who had riches. It was Jesus' ability to understand all kinds of people that made it possible for him to give help wherever it was needed. So it was that he understood just how this young man with his abundant means and his high position longed to do some good thing which would insure him the happiness Jesus talked about. Position and 68 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls wealth are powerful forces in a man's life, — why should they not bring the greatest happiness? We can readily imagine that Jesus laid his hand lovingly upon the young man's shoulder, while sympathy shone in both his face and voice as he said: "Thou lackest one thing yet! Sell all that thou hast and distribute unto the poor." It was cer- tainly with a loving desire that he might do the one good thing that could bring him the happiness of the new king- dom, that he added the entreaty: "Then come and follow me!" But this was more than the young man could do. To give up his wealth and his position for a life of service among the poor and suffering of the earth, seemed to him too great a sacrifice. Sorrowfully he shook his head and turned away, and sorrowfully it was no doubt that Jesus watched him go, for he knew that it was the care of his great wealth that was crowding out the care for his fellow- men ; and that great though his riches were, and important his position in his country, it was not by means of these that he could gain the happiness for which he longed. Many a man of wealth and position since Jesus' day has hoped to find the happiness of the kingdom of heaven by doing some great good thing, but it is as difficult now as when the young ruler of Perea tried it, to buy happiness in such a way; and the words Jesus spoke to his Disciples at that time are as true now as then. "Verily, verily, I say unto you that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God." To accumulate great riches, and yet follow Jesus' rule of treating others as one should like to be treated, is a difficult thing to do; but he who would gain the happiness of the Kingdom of God can obey no other law. As Jesus proceeded to Jerusalem, people gathered to see him and to hear his teaching at every town along the way. The Superintendent of the Customs Department in Jesus' Travels 69 Jericho was a man who, even though he was despised and looked down upon, tried to be just to everybody. Every year he gave one-half of his income to the poor, and if he made a mistake and charged anyone too much duty on his goods, he always returned to him four times as much as he had taken. This man's name was Zaccheus. He had heard enough about Jesus to lead him to think that he was teaching the same kind of justice that he himself believed in and practised. Zaccheus was eager to see Jesus and hear for himself the things he said; but he was a short man, and he feared that in the crowd which had gathered to see the young prophet from Galilee, he would not be able to see him at all. He therefore climbed into a syca- more tree which grew by the wayside, in order to be sure of seeing him. Jesus noticed him as he came along and in- quired who he was. When he learned that he was a customs officer he called to him to come down, for he desired to stay at his house while he was at Jericho. Zaccheus was overjoyed at this and hurried down to lead Jesus to his home. Here as in Galilee the people were much surprised that Jesus should associate with the despised pub- lican, for they had not learned his lesson of brotherly love. Jesus found in Zaccheus a friend whose life was in accord with that necessary for the new kingdom; and it rejoiced him greatly to find a man who, even though people despised him and looked down upon him, returned justice for their injustice, and spent his time and his means in helping those in need. Among the many who misunder- stood his teaching, it must have been a most comforting thing to Jesus to see in Zaccheus a man who not only under- stood him, but was living the very kind of life he desired all men to live. As Jesus neared Jerusalem the crowds grew larger and larger. The great city was full of people who had come to attend the Passover Feast, and many who heard that Jesus was coming went out to meet him, so that it was quite a large procession which escorted him into the city. yo A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls Still hoping for a Messiah, they began to hail him as king. "Blessed be the king that cometh in the name of the Lord," they cried. "Blessed be the kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!" Some of the people broke off palm branches and strewed them along the way, adding much to the festiveness of the scene. Palm Sunday, which is celebrated the week before Easter by the churches, has its origin in this triumphal procession. Just why Jesus allowed himself to be hailed as king at this time, we cannot tell, for it was certainly opposed to his purpose before this ; but here, as at many other points in the Bible narrative, we much remember that Jesus had been dead at least thirty years before the accounts of his life were written, and they were written by men who desired to prove that he was the Messiah of the Jews. It is quite possible that Jesus would have much preferred to enter Jerusalem quietly, or that he was willing to do so publicly only in order to appear as the friend of the poorer people whom the chief priests of the temple either oppressed or paid little heed to. Some people who have made a study of the life of Jesus think that there was no such procession, and others, that he may have en- tered the city surrounded by a crowd of followers, but that if he was hailed as king it was entirely against his will. It is quite possible that the latter was the case, for at no other time in his life do we find Jesus willing to accept the title of king, and his only hope of bringing about the kingdom of heaven was certainly by teaching men to live by his law of the Golden Rule. z < h w pa Jerusalem yi Chapter X. JERUSALEM. Jesus always entered the city from the East. Climbing up to the Mount of Olives and over it, and crossing the deep valley of the Kedron, he was soon at the temple gates ; and it was the temple which he always made his stopping place. At night he probably returned to Bethany to stay with his hospitable friends Mary and Martha and Lazarus; but in the day time he was at the temple, for there he was sure of finding his countrymen willing and eager to listen to his teachings. The New Testament tells us little about the other parts of Jerusalem. The great temple which Herod built was the chief center of interest for the Jews of Jesus' time; for it was the center of their religious activities and the Jews' religion was more to them than anything else. The highest officers of the government were also the highest officers of the church. The great lawyers of their court, the Sanhedrin, were also the chief priests of the temple, and the Sanhedrin met within the temple enclosure. The temple, however, was not all of the Jewish capital. The great city had been growing since David's time when he chose this fortified town of the Jebusites to be his royal residence and the capital of his kingdom. Long before that it must have been a place of importance, for because of its natural fortifications it was able to hold its own against many invaders. Very early in Israel's history, as early as Abraham's journey from his eastern home on the Persian Gulf, it may have been called Salem instead of Jerusalem, Salem meaning peace. The city was built upon high ridges of land sloping to the south-east and on three 72 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls sides of these ridges were deep, almost impenetrable, ravines forming such strong natural fortifications that it could well maintain a peaceful condition inside its walls even when there was much fighting outside. Only on the north and north-west was it liable to attack and there, of course, it was protected by high walls. When David first besieged the city, the Jebusite inhabitants taunted him with the boast that their town was so strong that the lame and the blind among their people could hold it against any army. The boast was founded upon long years of successful resistance to invaders but David proved too strong for them. The ridges upon which Jerusalem is built slope in such a way that some one has said the city looks as if it were sliding down hill into the Kedron valley. The city itself is more than 2500 feet above the Mediterranean, while the valleys which made its ancient defense were 500 feet deep. Jerusalem, was not, however, a well-watered city, and water is a most necessary thing to have within reach if a city is besieged. The only natural spring, so far as we know, was in the west bank of the Kedron valley, so that very early in the city's history rain water tanks and aqueducts were made. This one natural spring, which is now called the Fountain of the Virgin, is remarkable because it flows inter- mittently. A very interesting part of the sight-seeing in Jerusalem is connected with the ancient rock-hewn pools and tunnels for collecting and carrying water. One of the early kings of Judea built a tunnel to carry the water from the Virgin's Fountain to a reservoir inside the city walls so that when the city was besieged the attacking army could get no water, that being the only source in the neighborhood. The city's main dependence for water in the early times as it is today w r as upon rain-water cisterns. Nearly every house has one now, and the excavations show that they were almost as common in ancient times. Wherever excavations are made in Jerusalem, these cisterns are found ; some large for public use and others small for pri- Jerusalem 73 vate families; some hewn in the solid rock and others made of masonry. As the city grew, the water supply, even with so many cisterns, was not great enough and water had to be brought from a distance. This was done by aqueducts. In ancient times two great aqueducts were built to bring the water of good distant springs to Jerusalem. They were known as the Low Level and the High Level Aqueducts. The Low Level Aqueduct is still used. There are the remains of a still older one curving around among the hills and valleys, sometimes going through tunnels and sometimes encircling hills in its journey to the great city. The remains of the masonry are a most interesting study for people who are trying to find out all they can about this most interesting country. The channel which this old aqueduct makes is 25 miles long altho its starting place is only five miles from Jerusalem. The High Level Aqueduct was raised upon arches to bring the water across valleys. An old Jewish poet who once wrote a poem about Jerusalem spoke of "a high shin- ing stream winding among towers/' by which he probably meant the High Level Aqueduct. Both of these aqueducts were probably in use in Jesus' time. We see what a con- tinuous struggle it must have been to keep this rocky city supplied with water, and we can hardly expect that the land outside her walls yielded very abundant harvests. There is, in fact, very little level land around Jerusalem. Most of the region is made up of great hills and valleys, so that little of the ground can be cultivated. Grain will grow but the space is so small that people cannot grow enough of it. The staple product of the region is fruit. Olives, grapes and figs have been the dependence of the people for centuries. Not only have these supplied the needs of the people at home, they have also brought their return in money when exported. Chief among them is the olive, for the fruit of the olive tree has much more oil when it grows on high, rocky slopes, where it is exposed to the wind 74 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls and the sun, than when grown in the more fertile plains below. The tree flourishes on stony heights, where no other fruit will grow. Jerusalem therefore furnishes the best of olives. The fruit supplies food and oil for light, cleansing and medicine, while the wood of the tree produces timber for furniture and fuel. The tree, however, is of slow r growth. Only after fifteen or twenty years does it reach its highest bearing capacity, but it may bear for cen- turies, thus proving a wonderfully sure crop to the man who is possessed of good trees. The sycamore, oak and some other trees grow around Jerusalem, but not very plentifully. Solomon had to send to Lebanon for his cedars, and stone was used much more than wood for building, for stone is plentiful and the an- cient quarries right under the City show that it was gotten at home. In Jerusalem, as in other ancient cities of the East, we find the huge blocks of hewn stone which never cease to excite the wonder of people of modern times. Since the land around Jerusalem is not very fertile, sheep and goats do not flourish there, as in other parts of Judea. There have always been flocks kept in the region, but not many of them. The oxen and cows seen there today are small and even stunted looking. The animal best adapted to carrying people and burdens over the rocky hills was the ass. Horses and mules were not used in Jerusalem until comparatively recent times. In early Jerusalem each family no doubt ground its own grain, made its own bread, made curds and cheese and wove its own clothing. Every man killed the animals needed for use in his family. Wine and oil presses may have been shared, or each man may have had his own. The men prepared the skins of animals, as the Arabs do today to make water bottles. Later they learned to make them of clay. In the very early days they made their own implements of stone and bone. Even in early times, how- ever, there were some things which the inhabitants had to buy. We have seen that they could not grow grain Jerusalem 75 enough for their own use. They had, therefore, to trade with farmers of the fertile plains for wheat to make their bread. Very early in the city's history, then, we can imagine her streets tilled with people come to sell their wares. Men from the shores of the Dead Sea brought salt. Wandering people from the plains came with cattle, butter and cheese, perhaps, which they exchanged for the olives and figs of Jerusalem. Wandering workers in metals probably came with cooking utensils and ploughshares; while traveling weapon makers had swords and lances. Caravans journeying from Egypt to Damascus along the road, nearly thirty miles to the west, must sometimes have made Jerusalem a stopping place, leaving in payment for food many of the Eastern luxuries made in those places. Ornaments in silver and gold and fine draperies and car- pets, thus made their way into Jerusalem, even in the very early days, before she became the capital of a great nation, as she did under David and Solomon. These two great kings made Jerusalem a trade centre, exacting tribute from the neighboring towns and toll from the traders from other countries, as a part of their revenue. As a trade centre Jerusalem received a commission for the goods which were handled and stored within her walls to be passed on to other regions. Corn came all the way from Egypt, and dried fish from Galilee, the Jordan and the Mediterranean, and from the traders who brought them Jerusalem re- ceived her revenue. Then, too, each Jew had to pay a half shekel a year, to the Temple, and this tax coming once a year from people all over the country made the Temple income very large. As the city grew, foreign workmen came to live within her w r alls and ply their trades. David and Solomon brought a number of these skilled workmen from abroad, — workers in stone, wood and metal, weavers and dyers of cloth, blacksmiths, coppersmiths, goldsmiths and silver- smiths; for the Jews were not trained in such matters. They had to learn from foreigners. y6 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls In Jesus' time Jerusalem under Herod the Great and Roman rulers had reached her height in security, popula- tion and wealth. Palestine owned a hundred miles of the Mediterranean coast line. In two days one might make the journey from some of the seacoast towns to the Island of Cyprus, which was a province of Rome; in four days, one could go to the Egyptian Alexandria, the centre of learning; in ten days, one could reach Athens, the capital of Greece ; and three weeks would bring one to Rome. These trips were frequently made by the people of Jeru- salem. Roman officials, Italian and German soldiers and traders from all the coasts of the Mediterranean were familiar figures in her streets. It was the Jerusalem that Herod had perfected which Jesus knew. Herod was a great engineer and builder of forts. After his building operations Jerusalem looked like a gigantic fortress surrounded by high walls. At intervals upon the walls arose great towers upon bases so solid that they looked like single masses of stone. There are really three walls about Jerusalem, parts of them being in ruins which date from the earliest times and form some of the foundations of the later walls, which grew as the city grew. These old walls have had a wonderful history. Be- sides the earthquakes, which have at times shaken the foun- dations of Jerusalem, the city has suffered from nearly twenty sieges and attacks from hostile armies, in some of which her walls and principal buildings were entirely destroyed, white in some they were only partly torn down. At nearly twenty other times the city has been made the headquarters of armies which did much damage within her walls. A number of times there have been great alterations made in the walls and buildings, the rocky knolls have been dug clown to lower levels in many places and valleys have been filled in. Streets and aqueducts have been changed and residence sections moved from one part to another. In Jesus' time the lower part of the city was the business quarter, with its markets and bazaars, while the upper part Jerusalem yy was the residence quarter with its fine houses and palaces. The Roman soldiers were quartered in two citadels, one overlooking the temple and the other the rest of the city. One of them was in the northwest corner of Jeru- salem and was called Herod's Court, or Palace, but it was also a fort. Within were two halls with couches for ioo guests, for the people had by this time adopted the custom of some of the other Oriental countries, of reclining upon couches when they were entertained. Besides these larger rooms there were many other richly furnished chambers. Courts open to the air and surrounded by colonnades fur- nished gardens and groves, green and pleasant, with long walks among them. These were made possible by the High Level Aqueduct. This palace, with the towers in the wall near it, overlooked the whole city, as well as the country to the south and west of it. The other citadel was north of the temple, and con- nected with it by a double passageway to the outer court. It was east of the Palace of Herod and on the Eastern Hill of Jerusalem, while the Palace of Herod was on the Western Hill. The name of the temple citadel was An- tonia. Its base was a rock, 50 cubits, or about 80 feet high and precipitous on all sides, for Herod had covered the sides with smooth slabs of stone so that no enemy could find a foothold. The fort itself was much higher and the interior contained every kind of convenience needed for living. There were colannades, baths and broad courts for encampments, besides numerous dwellings. The whole plan was tower-like, but at the corners it carried four other towers. The one at the southeast corner was the highest and overlooked the temple, and it was from this that the stairs or sloping gangways led down to the adjoining temple-cloisters. On the west hill, and south of the Palace of Herod, was another palace of earlier date, and below that, in the hollow between the two hills, was a gymnasium, or open place for exercise. Here popular assemblies were often 78 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls held — a custom learned from the Greeks. The place was called the Xystos. A theatre and an amphitheatre were also among Herod's works in or near Jerusalem, and ath- letes from all lands were invited to the city to try their skill as they did at the Olympian games in Greece. In a place altogether unsuited for chariots because of the rocky, narrow hills, he constructed tracks where chariot races were run. Wild beasts were collected to fight with each other or with men. These exhibitions troubled the Jews greatly, but Gentiles flocked in great numbers to see them. Such, then, was the Jerusalem of Jesus' time : a little city not more than three-quarters of a mile wade and a mile long inside its walls, though with quite extensive suburbs outside. Although Herod died while Jesus w r as a boy, the country was still under Roman rule; and while Jerusalem w r as a Jewish city, the influence of the foreigner was everywhere adding to the discontent of the Jew and to his longing for a deliverer who would make his country really his own again. The Passion Week 79 Chapter XL THE PASSION WEEK. During the Passover week Jesus was conscious that the feeling against him among the Jewish authorities was constantly growing. On his way to the temple on the third day he was met by a company of the chief priests who demanded to know by whose authority he was teaching. Seeing that they wanted to entrap him into making a claim that he was the Messiah, he cleverly answered their ques- tion by asking a similar one about John the Baptist. The priests saw that they instead of he were entrapped and took counsel together to decide what they should say. If they answered that God commanded John to preach they knew that Jesus would ask why they had not believed in him and followed his teaching, and if they answered that John had no command from God, the common people whose friend he had been and who believed in him might rise up against them. Caught in their own trap, they could only answer, "We cannot tell." Then said Jesus, "Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things." Then turning his attention to the multitude that stood around him, he told them this parable: "A certain man planted a vineyard and set a hedge about it, and digged a place for the wine vat, and built a tower and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen that he might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took the servants and beat one and killed another and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying 'they will reverence my son.' But when the 80 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come let us kill him and seize on his inheritance'; and they caught him and cast him out of the vineyard and slew him. When the lord of the vineyard Cometh," said Jesus, "what will he do unto those husband- men ?" "He will miserably destroy those wicked men," answered someone in the crowd, "and will let out his vine- yard to other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons." Then turning again to the priests Jesus said, "The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." This made the priests very angry and, but for fear of the crowd, they would have arrested Jesus upon the spot, the chief priests being the judges of the great Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court of the Jews. They knew that they were the "wicked husbandmen" of his story and they were angry that in the presence of the multitude they had been called wicked and unjust men. They left only to plan another attack. Jesus wished to make the people under- stand what unsound leaders they had in these Jewish au- thorities, and so he told them to beware of living the kind of lives these great men lived. They taught good behavior but did not practise it. Many things they did which were exactly opposed to Jesus' new rule. They made other peo- ple carry heavy burdens, very hard to be borne, but they themselves would "not move them with one of their fingers." What good things they did were not to help their fellow- men, but that they themselves might appear good and great. They always wanted the best seats at the feasts and the chief places in the synagogues. They liked to be addressed as if they were masters and other people were their ser- vants. They dressed extravagantly and made a show of their piety by wearing most conspicuous "phylacteries," which were little leather pouches bound to the forehead and arms in which were copies of the Jewish law. Jesus ended his discourse with an exclamation of pity and love for the great city of Jerusalem. How he had longed to The Passion Week 8i teach her people to know the happiness of the new king- dom ! Those in authority would not listen to his teaching. They would not learn it themselves and he knew that they would prevent others from learning it. Jesus felt now that the end of his ministry was near — and indeed, before the day was over, the conspiracy which ended in his death was planned. Among his own disciples, sad to relate, was found a man mean enough to be the tool of the conspirators. Judas Iscariot, probably the only disciple who was not a Galilean, had been the treasurer of the little company. Whatever business transactions were necessary were in his hands. Judas, like some men of our own times, was one who could not handle money without becoming its slave. Such are the men, who, having arrived at positions of trust like that of bank cashier or treasurer of some large company, instead of becoming more reliable because of the greater responsibility placed upon them, become corrupted by handling so much money and betray their trust. Judas was offered thirty pieces of silver if he would tell where Jesus could be found at a time when it would be easy to take him — and he stooped to do it. He had been the trusted friend of Jesus but he betrayed the trust. We do not know how Jesus spent the fourth day of the Passover week. Possibly he passed it quietly in Beth- any, willing to rest a little away from the multitudes who pressed about him in the city and from the spying authorities whose presence he felt around him. The Passover supper was eaten on the 6th day of the week, and on the 5th day a great deal of preparation was necessary. In the morning the disciples went to Jesus to ask where the sacrificial meal was to be eaten, and he directed him to the room he had procured. The prepara- tions for the feast seem to have been in the hands of Peter and John. From ten to twenty people shared the same lamb, for there had to be enough to consume the whole animal. Among the preparations for the feast were the buying of the lamb and carrying it to the temple court with 82 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls the knife for its sacrifice tied to its horn or thrust into its wool. About 2 o'clock in the afternoon of the 5th day the two disciples probably joined the crowd which poured into the temple courts. At the close of the regular temple ser- vice the priests blew three trumpet blasts, a psalm was chanted, and the worshippers were admitted into the priests' court in three sections. After the first section had entered the doors were shut and the signal was given for the killing of the lambs. Each man killed his own lamb, while a priest caught the blood in a gold or silver vessel. From the place where the lambs were killed, two long lines of priests extended to the great altar for burnt offerings. Up these lines of priests the bowl of blood was passed until it reached the altar where it was poured out at its base. All the time, other priests chanted psalms, the wor- shipper repeating the first line of each psalm. The lambs were now hung on iron hooks which projected from the walls and pillars of the court, or were supported on a stick between the shoulders of the men in order to be skinned and cut open. The tail, the fat, the kidneys and the liver were kept to be burned on the altar, but the rest of the animal w r as wrapped in the skin and carried away for the feast. There were ovens especially prepared for roasting the animal whole. It was skewered from end to end with spits of pomegranite wood. No part was allowed to touch the sides of the oven and no bone could be broken. The skin of the lamb was sometimes given to the owner of the room where the feast was eaten, but he could demand no other payment. The two disciples probably also provided the cakes of unleavened bread which were eaten at the feast and the bitter herbs and vinegar which always accompanied the lamb. At night, at the hour appointed, Jesus and his dis- ciples met in the room he had selected. According to the Jewish law, the feast had to be eaten standing, but the Greek custom of lying on couches to eat had made its way into Jerusalem. The tables were low and the people lay The Passion Week 83 on the left side of the couches with their feet extending away from the table. A cup of red wine diluted with water was blessed by Jesus and passed to his disciples. The bitter herbs were symbolic of the hard life of the Children of Israel in Egypt. After the supper Jesus and his disciples walked out into the starlight, for it was not their intention to spend the night in the city. As they walked together Jesus felt very sure that he would not be long with these friends of his and he told them many things he wanted them to remember when he should be gone. "These things have I spoken unto you," said Jesus, "that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." Then Jesus prayed to the Father that he would keep his disciples free from the evil of the world when he could be with them no more, and that He would help them in their efforts to teach about the Kingdom of God. Still walking on, the party crossed over the ravine just east of the city and climbed the hill to the Mount of Olives. They were on the road to Bethany, but Jesus was very tired with the events of the day and very sorrowful, and he felt that he must rest awhile and go apart from his companions to pray for strength to stand the trial which he knew was before him. Calling his trusted friends Peter and John, that they might be near him, he sought a solitary place that he might pray to God and find fresh courage. The two disciples, tired too with the day's exertions, soon fell asleep leaving him entirely alone. We can imagine how as he waited there, in the darkness, his whole life rose up before him: his boyhood among the hills of Galilee, the helpful com- panionship of his father and mother, his work as a carpenter in Nazareth, and the months of labor with the sick and sorrowing and sinful people of his country. It must have seemed to him as if he had failed ! How he had longed to do more for these people who did not understand 84 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls him ! How he loved them even though they distrusted him! If he could only live longer perhaps their distrust would turn to trustfulness and he could help them as he longed to do! In anguish of spirit he cried: "O my Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me." Only for a moment, Ixnvever, did he consider his own feelings. Within his heart, giving him fresh courage, was the spirit of love, whom we call God and whom he had always called his Father in Heaven, as it is in the hearts of all of us today, ready to give courage and strength for our trials as it gave Jesus strength for his. When Jesus had finished his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, as that particular part of the Mount of Olives 13 called, he wakened his disciples and prepared to go on his way. Just at that moment there appeared a crowd of people carrying torches and lamps. These people were the chief priests of the temple, the servants from the High Priests' palace and some of the Roman captains from the fortress of Antonia, who were there to stop any disturbance that might occur at the temple during the crowded Passover week. Judas Iscariot was with them and the Bible account tells us that he kissed Jesus on the cheek to let the officers know which was he. At first the disciples made some resistance. Peter drew a sword and cut oflf the ear of one of the High Priests servants; but Jesus advised him to put his sword away, adding, "All that take the sword shall perish by the sword," and then as they prepared to bind him to take him to Jerusalem he asked that those who were with him, his disciple friends, might be allowed to go their way. Thus it was that he was led back to Jerusalem to the High Priests' house, while his disciples, all excepting Peter remained behind. Even Peter, it is said, denied any knowledge of Jesus, although he stayed near to see what would happen. Judas, like other betrayers of trust, had no pleasure in his ill-gotten reward. We are told that he returned the money to the priests and then met a violent death by his own hands. Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane Hofman The Passion Week 85 Wc do not know very much about the trial of Jesus. He may have had a secret trial at the palace of Caiaphas, the High Priest, or the Sanhedrin may have been hastily called together to try him. It seems, at any rate, to have been entirely out of the usual order and not at all a fair trial. The Sanhedrin usually met in rooms near to the temple, the members sitting in a semi-circle while the clerks stood in front of them to make the records. Students who were studying with the learned lawyers of the court were also in attendance. According to the rules the sentence of guilty could not be given until the day after the trial. The Sanhedrin could not meet on the day before the Sab- bath, because the death sentence might then be pronounced upon that day, nor could it meet in the night. Furthermore, it could not convict a man unless two witnesses agreed as to his crime. A number of these rules were evidently violated if Jesus was tried before the Sanhedrin, but it is quite possible that some of the members were hastily called together in the early morning, and an attempt at a trial made. The Bible tells us that the witnesses could not agree, and Jesus let them wrangle without saying anything iii his own defense. Anything from him would have been useless, for his death had been determined upon already. The Jews were not allowed to sentence people to death. The sentence had to be finally pronounced by the Roman governors; so without saying anything very definite as to Jesus' crime, they sent him to Pontius Pilate, who was the Roman governor at the time and who was in Jerusalem with his body of soldiers because of the Passover week. "We have a law and according to that law he shall die," said the priests as they delivered him to the governor. Pilate was spending this week with his soldiers in the palace of Herod, the citadel in the northwestern corner of the city, and it was here that Jesus was taken. The Jews would not enter the citadel for fear of defilement, so Pilate w r ent outside to ask what charge they brought against the prisoner. 86 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls They seem to have been somewhat disappointed that Pilate should ask for a charge. They had condemned Jesus to death and all that they wanted was permission to execute their sentence. "If this man were not an evil doer we should not have delivered him up to thee/' they answered. "Take him yourselves then, and judge him according to your law," haughtily commanded the governor, knowing full well that Rome had taken the real power away from the Jews. The priests were thus forced to make some charge against Jesus, so they said, "We found this man perverting the nation and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ the King/' Pilate was evidently much impressed by Jesus' calm, quiet manner in the face of these accusations, for he took him inside of the palace to question him alone. "Art thou the King of the Jews?" he asked. Jesus answered him by asking him a question in return. "Doest thou say this of thyself or did others tell thee of it?" "Am I a Jew, that I should know?" replied Pilate. "Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me. What hast thou done?" "My kingdom is not of this world," answered Jesus. "I was born and came into the world that I might bear wit- ness unto the truth." Pilate then went back to the crowd outside and said, "I find no fault in this man." At this the people became very fierce, and hoping to make some impression upon Pilate they cried aloud, "He stirred up the people teaching throughout all the country of the Jews from Galilee to Judea." At the mention of Galilee Pilate asked if Jesus was a Galilean and, when they replied that he was, he insisted that he be sent to Herod Antipas for trial, for Herod was governor of Galilee and he too was in Jerusalem because of the Passover. Herod was glad to see Jesus for he had heard much of him and of his wonderful works. He asked him a great many questions but all the time the priests and the people who were with them fiercely accused him as The Passion Week 87 before, and as before in their presence Jesus had nothing to say. Again he was led back to Pilate in the hope that this time the death sentence would be pronounced, but Pilate still hoping to save Jesus' life, said "You have brought this man unto me as one that perverteth the people and behold I having examined him before you have found no fault in him touching the things of which you accuse him. No, nor yet Herod, for I sent you to him, and he finds nothing worthy of death. I will therefore chastise him and release him." It was the custom at the time of the Passover feast to set free some notable prisoner and Pilate hoped to satisfy the Jews by only chastising Jesus and then setting him free, for he hoped to escape the shedding of what seemed to him innocent blood. The crowd however was not to be satisfied. "Away with this man," they shouted, "and release Barabbas to us." Barabbas was a man who was in prison because he had stirred up discontent against the government sometime before. Again Pilate offered to release Jesus but they cried out, "Crucify him, Crucify him." A third time Pilate said "But what hath he done. I have found no cause for death in him. I will chastise him and let him go." But the crowd demanded more loudly than ever that he be crucified; and so Pilate gave the sentence that he be nailed to a cross and thus put to death, while the other prisoner Barabbas was allowed to go free. Jesus was probably executed on a hill north of the city near the road which leads to Damascus. The place was called Golgotha, which means "shaped like a skull" and it was at this place that executions usually took place. We do not know the exact spot, for the Bible only tells us that it was outside of the city walls. The account says that two thieves w T ere crucified with Jesus and a crown of thorns was placed on his head to humiliate him the more. This sounds more cruel than it really was for the thorn was a weed with small briers on it which made it easy to form it into a wreath. It was 88 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls often used in mock coronations for it was a widespread custom in the early days to crown a criminal as mock-king sometime before his crucificion which usually took place at the end of the year. Altho the people mocked Jesus while he suffered on the cross, saying, "He saved others, let him save himself," "If thou be king of the Jews, come down from the cross" — and over the cross they wrote in derision, "This is Jesus, the King of the Jews"; his thoughts w r ere more of them than of himself. Even in his suffering he w r as filled w T ith a great love for these people who had failed to understand him. "Father forgive them," he prayed, "For they know not what they do." Thus ended the life of the noblest of heroes. Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin, but also a believer in Jesus, asked Pilate to allow him to care for Jesus' body and with the help of Nicodemas, who as we have seen was also a friend of Jesus and a lawyer of the great court, he placed the body in a new tomb belonging to himself. For Joseph w r as a wealthy man and owned pro- perty in Jerusalem. Jesus lived at a time when the Jews were expecting a Messiah, a deliverer who would bring about a great change for the better in their condition of life. John the Baptist had announced that the time for that change had come. "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand," he declared, and he set about to prepare the common people for it by teach- ing them a better way of living. Jesus took up his work. He labored early and late to instruct the people about a new kingdom which he hoped would be established before his death, but which he came to see as he worked among the sinful and ignorant people of his country must be a thing of growth; a kingdom governed by a new law which he had learned from the Hebrew prophets and the fathers of the Jewish church and which he tried with his whole strength to impress upon the minds of his people. "What- soever you would that men should do to you, do you even so to them." The Passion Week 89 He had not thought of himself as the Messiah at first, but the people whom he helped believed that he was, and it was a great disappointment to his diseiples that he would not declare himself king and bring about the new kingdom as other kings had made empires; but it w r as not that kind of kingdom that Jesus wished to establish. Toward the end of his life when he saw the crowds that followed him, he may have thought that he was the Messiah, and he may even have thought when he saw how large his following was that some great miracle would be performed by which the new kingdom would come all at once. The people of his time believed in such things. It was certainly a bitter dis- appointment to him that he could not continue his work. Great men do not die as ordinary people do. Ordinary people are soon forgotten, but if a man is really great people keep on trying to find out about him and to understand his greatness. So it is to-day that people are trying more than ever to find out about Jesus and to understand about the kingdom of heaven and its new law. People are more eager now to learn Jesus' teaching than they ever have been be- fore. Jesus was the founder of the Christian religion but he was a Jew himself. His followers are called Christians, but many, many people who have called themselves Christ- ians have not been his followers at all. They have done many cruel things in his name that would have troubled him greatly, for cruelty of all kinds troubled him. Only people who were kind and merciful could live in the kingdom of heaven he said. We do not believe now that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, but surely there are more people at work trying to bring it about than ever before. We find them working among the poor and sinful of our great cities, people who are insisting upon better homes, better food, better fac- tories, better schools, better hospitals, more playgrounds, shorter hours for labor, better pay for that labor and more chance for rest and good health. Jesus taught the people how to make the world a good place to live in. It is for us who live now to follow his teaching. 90 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls Chapter XII. WONDER STORIES. We have followed Jesus from his boyhood in Galilee through the few years of his manhood and his work among the people of his country, but we have not had nearly all the stories the Bible tells about him. There are a number of stories, some of which were written a longer time after his death than those we have had, which I have called wonder stories. We have in the Bible four accounts of Jesus's life, which we call the four gospels : Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The word gospel means glad tidings, good news or a joyful message, and these accounts of Jesus' life are called gospels because they tell what was believed to be the very best of news, that Jesus had come and lived his life of helpfulness and brotherhood and left his teaching that all men might learn to live lives of helpfulness and brother- liness. We know very little about any of the men who wrote these gospels, but we know that they were all written some time after Jesus died, and there are statements in them all that do not agree with some in the others. This makes it very difficult to find out which statements are true. Mark's gospel is thought to be the oldest account and it contains fewer of the wonder stories than the others. He tells us nothing about Jesus' birth, and the birth stories are the most beautiful of the wonder stories of the Bible. We can be quite sure, however, that it was only after Jesus had died and people realized what a great man he was that they thought he must have had a wonderful birth and so told these stories about him. X z. - < < Wonder Stories 91 Matthew and Luke tell us that Jesus was born in Beth- lehem, but people who have studied a great deal about him think he was probably born in Galilee, where he lived the rest of his life. The people of Jesus' time were looking for a Messiah, and the Old Testament had taught them to expect a man who should be as great as their great king David and who should be his descendant and come from his native city. Therefore, when those who believed that Jesus was the Messiah of the Jews wrote about him, afterward, they thought he must have been born in Bethlehem, because the Old Testament said he would be, and so these stories of his birth miles away from his parents' home were told. Caesar Augustus, Emperor of Rome, had ordered a census taken of all the Jews, according to one account, and every man had to go to the city of his ancestors to be counted. Joseph, therefore, a descendant of David, went from his home in Nazareth to Bethlehem to be enrolled, taking Mary, his wife, with him. There they found the little town filled with people come for the same purpose and they could find no place to stay. Finally, however, they were allowed to go into a stable adjoining an inn, and there in the night the little Jesus was born; and his mother wrapped him in warm clothing and laid him in a manger out of which the animals were used to feeding, because she had no other bed for him. Now comes the first wonder story. "And there were shepherds in the same country abiding in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock. And an angel of the Lord stood by them and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Be not afraid; for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people: for there is born to you this day in the City of David a savior which is Christ the Lord. And this is the sign unto you; that you shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of angels, all praising 92 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls God and saying: Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men. "And it came to pass when the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing that is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste and they found both Mary and Joseph, and the babe was lying in a manger. And when they saw it they made known concerning the saying which was spoken to them about this child. And all that heard it wondered at the things which were spoken unto them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these sayings, ponder- ing them in her heart. And the shepherds returned glorify- ing and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen even as it was spoken unto them. "And when eight days were fulfilled, his name was called Jesus.'' Jesus' teaching of peace among all people and kindli- ness toward everybody, had so impressed those w r ho knew him, that they believed that angels must have heralded his birth with a song of good tidings to all men. The exact date of Jesus' birth has never been known. For a long time it was celebrated at different times by different churches. Some celebrated it in April or May and others in January; but later it became the custom of all churches to celebrate it in midwinter. All of the heathen nations had regarded this as the most important time of the year, when lengthening days give promise that nature will soon begin her life and activity anew. It is not surprising that the early Christians should think it an appropriate time to celebrate the greatest event of their religious life — the birth of the founder of their new religion. It was certainly as great an event as the heathen anniversaries which were celebrated at the same season. The Celts and Germans had had great festivals at this time. It was the time of the Yule feast for the Germans, which commemorated the return of the fiery sun wheel. In far eastern Persia the mid-winter Wonder Stories 93 was also a time of celebration in honor of their sun god. In ancient Rome the mid-winter feast was held in honor of the god, Saturn, who presided over the sowing of the seed. It was this great festival time which became our Christmas, which means Christ's mass or feast. Many of our most beautiful pictures, poems and songs are based on these birth stories and the celebration of this mid-winter festival. It is with the loving nature of Jesus in mind that we sing in our schools at Christmas time : "While stars of Christmas shine, lighting the skies, Let only loving looks beam from our eyes. While bells of Christmas ring, joyous and clear, Speak only happy words, all love and cheer. Give only loving gifts and in love take. Gladden the poor and sad for love's sweet sake. For at this blessed time, long, long ago, Christ Jesus came to live, God's love to show." In those early days it was believed that men's lives were affected by the position of the stars, and there were men who studied the skies at night, not as we do now, but to try to foretell earthly happenings. These men, who were called astrologers, were considered very learned men. Persia, Babylonia and India were especially noted for such wise men. If the planets moved into an unusual position the astrologers believed that it meant some remarkable thing was coming about. It so happened that about the time of Jesus' birth there were some remarkable movements going on in the sky. Once the planets Jupiter and Saturn came close together, and another time Mars and Jupiter and Saturn were near each other, which must have been a sight to make the learned gentlemen wonder what was going to happen. After Jesus had died and men knew that he was great, they remembered all of this glory in the sky, and felt quite sure that it foretold his birth, and so we have another wonder story. 94 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls "Now when Jesus was born," the story says, "behold wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, 'Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we saw his star in the East and are come to worship him. And when Herod the king heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea; for thus it is written by the prophet: and thou Bethlehem land of Judah, art in no wise least among the princes of Jtldah: for out of thee shall come forth a governor which shall be shepherd of my people Israel. Then Herod privily called the wise men and learned of them carefully what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, Go and search out carefully concerning the young child ; and when you have found him bring me word, that I also may come and worship him. And they, having heard the king, went their way; and lo, the star which they saw in the east went before them till it came and stood over where the young child was. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And they came into the house and saw the young child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him; and opening their treasures they offered unto him gifts, gold, and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country. "Now when they were departed, behold an angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise and take the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt and be thou there until I tell thee ; for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. And he arose and took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod. Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth and slew all the male children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the borders I O H x 3 > w PI H I r m X pi 2 Wonder Stories 95 thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had carefully learned of the Wise Men. Then is fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying: A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and she would not be comforted, because they were not." Here again we see the effort made by the New Testa- ment writers to make Jesus' life follow the writings of the Old Testament. The story continues: "But when Herod was dead behold an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, Arise and take the young child and his mother and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead that sought the young child's life. And he arose and took the young child and his mother and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archilaus was reigning over Judea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither; and being warned in a dream he withdrew into the parts of Galilee and came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets that he should be called a Nazarene." In Greece, Egypt and other countries of the East, a man who was really great was believed to be descended from the gods. A number of the Grecian, Roman and Egyptian heroes had earthly mothers, but their fathers were supposed to be gods, and they in time became gods them- selves. Buddha, the founder of a religion of the people of India, China and Japan, a religion like ours, of millions and millions of people, had an earthly mother, but the great Spirit of Truth was supposed to be his father ; and although he lived in a family as Jesus did, the father of the family was not supposed to be his father. Zoroaster, the founder of the religion of Persia, was also said to have had such a miraculous birth. Surrounded by religions made up of such beliefs, it is not surprising that the early Christians thought the great founder of their religion must also have had a miraculous birth — that Mary of Nazareth was his mother, 96 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls but that God himself was his father; and that later Jesus was thought to be the same as God, and that Christians believed that at one time God came to live upon the earth among men to teach them and heal them and save them from their sins. Such beliefs were very far from Jesus' thoughts. He believed he was the son of God as he believed all men who lived rightly were, and his work upon the earth was to show people how to be really the sons of God and live in His kingdom. It may have been in accord with the belief in the miraculous birth of Jesus that we have the following account of his baptism by John at the Jordan River : 44 It came to pass in these days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptised by John in the Jordan. And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened and the spirit like a dove descending upon him. And there came a voice from heaven saying, 'Thou art my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.' 3 A very different kind of wonder story is told by the writer of the fourth gospel, the gospel of John. This is known as the miracle of the turning of the water into wine. According to the story there w r as a wedding in the little village of Cana, in Galilee, at which Jesus, his mother and the disciples were guests. There was not enough wine provided, and Mary, who knew that the supply was exhausted, suggested to Jesus that he overcome the diffi- culty by the use of his miraculous powers. She then advised the servants to follow his instructions exactly. "Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it," she said. And there were sitting there six water pots of stone, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, "Fill the water pots with water," and they filled them to the brim. And he said unto them, "Draw out now and bear unto the governor of the feast." And they bore it. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the w r ater that was made wine and knew not whence it came (but the servants which drew the Wonder Stories 97 water knew), the governor of the feast called the bride- groom and saitfa unto him, "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 until now." "Six water pots containing two or three firkins apiece," the story says. A firkin was nine gallons, two or three firkins would be eighteen or twenty-seven gallons, and there were six water pots holding this large quantity. This sounds like a tremendous amount of wine to provide for one wedding, even if the wine w r ere of the mildest kind. One certainly cannot help wondering how such a story came to be written. Another wonder story is about Jesus walking upon the water in the Sea of Galilee. He had been preaching to great numbers of people and he asked his disciples to get into a ship and go over to the other side of the lake while he sent the multitudes away. It was his intention to join them later. "And when he had sent the multitudes away," the account says, "he went up into a mountain apart to pray; and when evening was come he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with the waves ; for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, it is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer ; it is I ; be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind was boisterous he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were come into the ship the wind ceased." 98 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls This story may have been an exaggeration of the stilling of the tempest which he had in one of the earlier chapters, but we cannot be sure of it. Certain it is that after Jesus' death, when his followers realized that he had been a great man, many things were told of him in the effort to make other people believe in his greatness, which it seems to us could not have happened. Another wonder story is called The Miraculous Draft of Fishes. According to this story Jesus had been sitting in one of the boats of the fishermen of the Sea of Galilee preaching to the people who stood on the shore to listen; and when he was through speaking he said to Peter, "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught/' Peter answered, "Master, we have toiled all night and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net." The story continues, "When they had done this they inclosed a great multitude of fishes; and their net broke. And they beckoned unto their partners which were in the other ship that they should come and help them, and they came and filled both the ships so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished and all that were with him at the draught of the fishes which they had taken. And so were also James and John, sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Peter. And Jesus said unto Peter, Fear not ; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their boats to land, they left all, and followed him." The older gospels, Matthew and Mark, tell of the calling of these early disciples in a perfectly natural way. Only in Luke, which was written later, do we find a wonder story connected with it. The next story which I have classed under the head of wonder stories is the Transfiguration, and I give it as I find it in the gospel of Mark: "And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter and James and John and bringeth them up into a high WONDER Stories gg mountain apart by themselves ; and he was transfigured before them : and his garments became glistening, exceeding white; so as no fuller on earth can whiten them. And there appeared unto them Elijah with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter answereth and saith to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses and one for Elijah. For he wist not what to answer for they became sore afraid. And there came a cloud overshadowing them : and there came a voice out of the cloud, This is my beloved son: hear ye him. And suddenly looking round about, they saw no one any more, save Jesus only with themselves. ,, We come now to the last of the wonder stories given in the gospels — the story of the Resurrection. Large num- bers of the Jews of Jesus' time believed in the possibility of a man's coming back to life after his death. All the way from Persia this belief had come, and people thought it might occur with any man at any time after his death. We are told in the New Testament that Herod Antipas, when he first heard of Jesus, was afraid he was John the Baptist, whom he had just beheaded, come to life again. Other people are said to have thought he was Elijah or Jeremiah or one of the other prophets come back to the earth; so it was an easy thing for the people of that time to believe that Jesus came to life again after the crucifixion. They even believed that he had promised that he would return to the earth a few days after his death. Here is the story : "When Joseph (of Arimathea) had taken the body he wrapped it in a clean cloth and laid it in his own new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre and departed. Now in tw-o days the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command, therefore, that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night ioo A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead, so that the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, You have a watch, go your way, make it as sure as you can. So they went and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone and setting a watch. " The next morning, the story continues, two women who had believed in Jesus, visited the sepulchre. "And behold, there was a great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord de- scended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of him the keepers did shake and become as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not, for I know that you seek Jesus which was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen from the dead; and behold he goeth before you into Galilee. There you shall see him. Lo I have told you. And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy and did run to bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold Jesus met them, saying, All hail ! And they came and held him by the feet and worshipped him. Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid, go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee and there shall they see me. Now when they were going, behold some of the watch came into the city and showed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. And when they had assembled with the elders and had taken counsel, they gave large sums of money unto the soldiers, saying, Say you his disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept. And so they took the money and did as they were taught, and this saying is commonly repeated among the Jews until this day." The account in the gospel of Matthew tells us that the eleven disciples went to Galilee and there met Jesus in a mountain, where he had told them to look for him, and that he talked with them, telling them to carry his teachings to all the nations of the earth. In the gospel of Luke we have a different ending to the story. Luke says Jesus met the Wonder Stories ioi disciples in Jerusalem "and led them out as far as Bethany and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. And it came to pass while he blessed them, he was parted from them and carried up into heaven and they worshipped him and re- turned to Jerusalem with great joy." io2 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls Chapter XIII. LATER STORIES. We have seen that what we know about the life of Jesus is contained in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. As time went on and Christianity had more believers, other people wrote accounts of Jesus' life, but the stories in these accounts are so extravagant that they are not considered true in any way and are therefore not published with those in the New Testament. These accounts are called the Apocryphal Gospels, apocryphal meaning not accepted as true. Some of the stories sound like the Arabian Nights, which is not sur- prising, for certainly at that time the Arabian Nights were familiar stories in the East and were likely to form models for stories written with the desire to increase the fame of the founder of Christianity. Here is one of the stories : "And when the Lord Jesus was seven years of age he was on a certain day with his companions about the same age, who when they were at play made clay into several shapes, namely asses, oxen, birds and other figures — each boasting of his work and endeavoring to exceed the rest. Then the Lord Jesus said to the boys, I will command these figures which I have made to walk. And immediately they moved, and when he commanded them to return, they returned. He had also made the figures of birds and sparrows which when com- manded to fly did fly and when commanded to stand still did stand still, and if he gave them meat and drink, they did eat and drink. " Later Stories 103 Another story tells of his helping his father with his carpenter work by changing the size of things miraculously. "Joseph, when he went," the story says, "took the Lord Jesus with him, when he was sent for to make gates or milk pails or sieves or boxes. And as often as Joseph had any- thing in his work to make longer or shorter or wider or narrower the Lord Jesus would stretch his hand toward it and presently it became as Joseph would have it, so that he had no need to finish anything with his own hands. On a certain time the king of Jerusalem sent for him and said, I would have thee make me a throne of the same dimensions with that place in which I commonly sit. Joseph obeyed and forthwith began the work and continued two years in the king's palace before he finished it. And when he came to fix it in its place, he found it wanted two spans on each side of the appointed measure. Which, when the king saw, he was very angry with Joseph. And Joseph, afraid of the king's anger, went to bed without his supper, taking not anything to eat. Then the Lord Jesus asked him what he was afraid of. Joseph replied, Because I have lost my labor in work which I have been about these two years. Jesus said to him, fear not, neither be cast down. Do thou lay hold on one side of the throne and I will on the other and we will bring it to its just dimensions. And when Joseph had done as the Lord Jesus said, and each of them had with strength drawn his side, the throne obeyed and was brought to the proper dimensions of the place/' There are other stories much more like those of the Arabian Nights. According to these stories Jesus could put cloth into fire, so that it was burned and then restore it to its original texture and color; and he could restore men to human shape who had been changed by witchcraft into animals. These stories, however, add nothing to Jesus' great- ness. We do not even need the wonder stories of the Bible to convince us that Jesus was a great man. His life of help- fulness among the poor and suffering of his country is a 104 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls much surer proof of that; and his great love for everybody, even those who had done wrong, shows more plainly than anything else that be could see very far into the future to a time far beyond ours when the world will be a different world in many ways from what it is now. Then the people on the earth will be like one great family. All the nations of the world will form a family of nations and every nation will help every other nation as if they were brothers and sisters. The people of one nation will be like one family and will help each other as if they were brothers and sisters, and the same will be true of the people of one city. It is good for us to know the stories of Jesus' life because they show that it is possible for men to live together as brothers. The earth was made beautiful and large that all men might enjoy it. It is large enough for everybody to have plenty of room, an abundance of good air and sunshine and plenty of food without crowding and fighting other people for them ; and the highest of all laws is that men must have such a feeling of consideration for each other that they will want to live in this way. When this highest law is fulfilled and all men have right feelings about life, a wonderful change will come on the earth — just the sort of change that Jesus called the kingdom of heaven. The most remarkable thing about it will be that men and women will no longer have any fear of each other. One of the saddest things in this world is that there are some people who have evil feelings in their hearts that cause them to be a menace to the communities in which they live. Other people therefore fear them and have to protect themselves against them. There are two things which must take the place of the evil feelings of those wrongdoers before they can become right doers. These are unselfishness and purity of heart. Selfishness, impurity and ignorance are to blame for all the hatred, cruelty and wrongdoing in the world. We have many stories showing how Jesus tried to lead Later Stories 105 people out of ignorance and to teach them to be unselfish — to follow the Golden Rule and treat others as they would like to be treated. I am going to tell you now a story about purehearted- ness which was inspired by Jesus' purity of heart. It is not a Bible story and it was written hundreds of years after Jesus lived. You will understand when you hear it that it cannot be a true story, but it has so much of truth in it that it is good for us to know it. Joseph of Arimathea is said to have left Palestine some years after Jesus' death to go to Britain — which, like Pales- tine, belonged to Rome — to teach the people about Jesus and his law of brotherly love. He took with him the cup that Jesus drank from at the last Passover supper which he and his disciples ate together. Perhaps Joseph was one of the company. At any rate, he seems to have secured the cup in remembrance of Jesus. During his pilgrimage to England, Joseph rested one day by the little river Brue, sticking his staff in the ground by his side. While he rested a most surprising thing hap- pened. The staff took root and from it grew a thorn tree which blossomed every Christmas day. Because of this Joseph built here a little church of twisted twigs, the first Christian church in England. The place is now called Glastonbury. The cup is supposed to have been handed down from father to son and remarkable things are told about it. If a good man possessed it, it would do wonderful things for him; such as supplying him with food or making a few loaves of bread into a great many that he might supply large numbers of people with food. Only the perfectly pure man, however, could see it. Any one else is blinded by its brightness. In these stories it is called the Holy Grail; for the word Grail comes from a Latin word meaning cup. Later stories connect the Holy Grail with King Arthur's knights ; for at Glastonbury, which was once known as Avalon, King 106 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls Arthur is supposed to have died, and to have been buried near the little church of twisted twigs. It is the story of this sacred cup, the Holy Grail, which could be seen only by the pure in heart — and Galahad, the purehearted knight of King Arthur's court, that I am going to tell you. Sir Galahad C F. Watts Sir Galahad and the Holy Grail 107 Chapter XIV. SIR GALAHAD AND THE HOLY GRAIL. All of his young life Galahad had lived in a quiet abbey with twelve nuns who had used the greatest care in his training and bringing up. While he was still a boy, but almost a man, Sir Lancelot, a knight of King Arthur's court and a member of the "round table/' had made him a knight, and his heart was bursting with pride because of the honor conferred upon him. "My strength is as the strength of ten," he sang, "Because my heart is pure"; for Galahad knew that true knighthood meant not only strength and courage, it meant also purity of heart, and he intended to try to keep his heart pure so that he might be a true knight. Soon he would say farewell to the abbey which had been his home and to the nuns who had cared for him and go to serve his king. A few days after this the king who was holding his court at Camelot called all of his knights together for a great festival. When the knights assembled around the table to partake of the banquet the hall seemed unusually bright, and as Arthur was inquiring the cause of the bright- ness he was amazed to see at one place on the table some- thing written in large golden letters. "This is the seat of Sir Galahad the Purehearted" the king read ; but no one but Sir Lancelot knew that Sir Galahad was the beautiful boy he had just made a knight at the old abbey. "We will cover the bright letters until the knight of the pure heart comes," said Lancelot, laying a piece of silk over the shining words. io8 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls The knights then prepared to sit down to the feast ; but they were interrupted by Sir Kay, the steward of the king's kitchen. "You have forgotten," he said hastily to the king, "that you do not sit down to this feast until you have seen some strange adventure." The king confessed that the writing in gold had made him forget the time-honored custom. They had not long to wait, however, for almost imme- diately a squire entered the hall who, flushed with excite- ment, cried, "I have a strange tale to tell. As I came by the river I saw a great stone floating on the water, and into the stone was thrust a sword." The king and all the knights hurried down to the river bank, and there in truth was a stone like red marble, floating upon the surface of the water; and a sword w r ith a handle all studded with precious stones was thrust into it. Among the jewels w r ere letters of gold which read, "No one shall take me away but him to whom I belong. I will hang by the side of the best knight in the world." "That must mean you," said King Arthur, turning to Sir Lancelot. "For surely no truer knight lives than you." Sir Lancelot knew that there were times when he had not been a true knight, so he answered sadly, "No, the sword will never hang by my side. I dare not try to take it." The king then turned to Sir Gawain and suggested that he try. Sir Gawain hesitated for a moment; but the sword w r as strong and beautiful and he desired to possess it. As soon as he touched it, however, he was wounded in the arm so that he was helpless for many days. Next the king asked Sir Percival to try and he did so only because the king wished it ; but he could not move the sword. No one dared try after that, so the company returned to the banqueting hall, each knight taking his place at the "round table." All the seats were filled except the one opposite the writing in gold, which remained covered with the silk Sir Lancelot had placed over it. Sir Galahad and the Holy Grail [09 Scarcely had they commenced the feast when another wonderful thing happened. All of the doors of the palace suddenly shut with a bang, although no one touched them ; and all of the windows were closed very softly, although no one closed them. Then one of the doors opened and an old man dressed all in white entered. With him was a young man in red armor, but he had neither sword nor shield and an empty sheath hung by his side. Every one was silent as the old man said, very slowly and solemnly, "I bring you the young knight Sir Galahad, who is descended from a king. He shall do many great deeds and he shall see the Holy Grail." "He shall see the Holy Grail!" the knights repeated, gazing upon the young man in wonder; for since their boyhood days they had heard of the sacred cup out of which Jesus drank the night before he died. They had heard stories about angels carrying it, and about its glowing in a great bar of light, but that no one ever really saw it unless he was pure in heart. Each knight began to wish that he had been a better man, for they realized that it was because they had not been good enough that none of them had seen the Holy Grail. Then the old man led the new knight to the empty chair and lifting the silk read, 'This is the seat of Sir Galahad the Purehearted" ; and Galahad took the seat while the old man went away. When the banquet was finished the king welcomed the young knight to the circle of the "round table," and then led him out of the palace and down to the river bank to where the red stone floated on the water, telling him as they went how the knights who had tried were unable to remove the sword. "This adventure must be mine," thought Galahad, "for my sheath is empty." To the king he said, "I will try to take the sword and place it in my sheath"; and laying his hand upon the wonderful sword he drew it easily out of the stone. no A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls The king then announced that there would be a tourna- ment in the Meadows of Camelot the next day; for Galahad must try his strength with the other knights. It was a beautiful sight to see the knights riding about on the Meadows of Camelot the following morning, their shining armor resplendant in the sunlight. There were many people gathered to watch the tournament, all eager to see what the new knight would do — he that was able to draw the sword out of the floating stone. Great was the enthusiasm when Galahad proved so strong that he over- threw many knights; but he could not overthrow Sir Lancelot and Sir Percival. Once more, when the tournament was over, the knights sat in their places at the round table; and as they eagerly discussed the events of the day they heard a loud crashing noise — a noise louder than thunder. At the same instant there came into the hall a light brighter than any sunbeam, so that all the faces of the knights shone with a glory they had never had before. Then slowly down the beam of light glided the Holy Grail; but only one of the knights really saw it, and he was Galahad, the Purehearted. The strange light faded away, but it had filled the knights with a longing to see the wonderful cup. With a sad heart King Arthur heard them vowing to go in search of it over land and sea and never to stop until they had found it. They seemed to have forgotten that only the pure in heart could see it. The next morning the streets were crowded with people. Rich and poor from all the country around had gathered to see the knights start off on their strange errand. The king was very, very sorrowful, for he knew that never again would the seats at the round table be filled. Many of the knights would never return to Camelot. Galahad, too, rode away with the others. Something in his heart told him that even he who had been promised the sight of the sacred cup and who had seen it once, could not hope to see it again unless he used his strength and courage in Sir Galahad and the HOLY Grail mi helping his fellowmen. He would go in search of oppor- tunities for giving such service. For four days Galahad rode without meeting any ad- venture. Then he came to a white abbey on a hillside where he found two other knights, one of whom was a king. "Why are you here?" asked Galahad; and the knights told him that in the abbey was a shield which if any man tried to carry he was either wounded or dead inside of three days. "But I shall try to carry it to-morrow T ," said the king. "No, let me do it," said Galahad, gravely, feeling quite sure that the shield was for him, for he was still without one. "If I fail you shall try," replied the king. At that a monk took Galahad and the king behind the altar to where the shield hung upon the wall. It was pure white with a red cross in the middle. "This shield," said the monk, "can be borne only by the best knight in the world." "I will try to bear it," still insisted the king, "though I am not a very good knight. " In the morning the king took the shield from where it hung and rode down into the valley. Galahad remained at the abbey, for the king had promised to send his squire back to tell of his luck with the shield. The king rode on for two miles through the valley, when he came to a hermit's cottage, and there he found a warrior dressed all in white armor and riding a pure white horse. Quickly the warrior rode toward the king, striking him so hard that he broke his armor, and piercing his shoulder with his spear as if he had had no shield. "Only the best knight in the world can carry that shield," said the warrior as he handed it to the squire to carry back to the abbey. "Take it to Sir Galahad with my greeting," he continued. "Then tell me your name," said the squire; but the warrior had disappeared and was seen no more by the squirt and the wounded king. ii2 A Life of Jesus for Boys and Girls First the squire took the king to the nearest abbey, where his wounds were cared for, then he returned to Sir Galahad with the shield. 'The warrior who wounded the king bids you wear this shield," he said ; and Sir Galahad rode off with the white shield hung about his neck to meet the white armored warrior as the king had done. At the hermitage the two met and saluted each other most cour- teously. The warrior then told Galahad many wonderful stories about the shield with its white ground and red cross and Galahad was glad it belonged to him. Again Sir Galahad rode back to the abbey where the monks were waiting for him. "We have need of a pure- hearted knight,'' said they, "for no other could do what we need to have done" ; and they led Galahad to a tomb in the churchyard. There he heard a great moaning, and a voice cried, "Galahad, Galahad, knight of the pure heart, do not come near me !" Galahad went to the tomb and raised the stone that covered it, for he was very brave. Immediately a thick black smoke arose, and in the smoke a hideous figure, uglier than any man ever was. "Galahad, Galahad," it shouted again, "Angels are round thee, protecting thee. I can do thee no harm." As the hideous creature vanished Galahad saw in the bottom of the tomb the body of a knight all dressed in armor. "This was evidently a false knight," he said, and they carried his body away from the church- yard. Stay and live with us in the abbey, entreated the monks ; but Galahad felt that his work there was finished. Again he rode away in search of an opportunity to be of service to some one. On and on he rode for many days, until at last he reached a mountain, and on the mountain he found an old abbey, empty and desolate. The young knight knelt down before the altar and prayed that God would direct him to some place where his help was needed, and a voice replied, "Go to the Castle of Maidens, thou brave knight, and rescue them." Sir Galahad and the Holy Grail 113 With a much lighter heart Galahad rode on until he came to a large castle. Years before seven wicked knights had seized the castle from the maiden to whom it belonged and imprisoned her and many other maidens with her. At first the seven knights thought they would treat Galahad in the same way, but they soon found that, being purehearted, his strength was as the strength of ten, and they all became afraid and ran for their lives. An old man then gave the keys of the castle to Galahad, who opened the gates and set the captives free. From this time on Galahad was never without the pres- ence of the Holy Grail. Day and night it was a beacon leading him on to deeds of helpfulness. By day its light was dim, but by night it shone with such brightness that the darkest valleys and the most winding and treacherous roads were lighted and made easy to travel. Many were the downtrodden and oppressed who were helped by the strength and courage of Galahad, and the greater the task the greater the brightness of the sacred cup, showing the way, and the greater the strength of the purehearted knight to do the work. At last one day, with the Holy Grail still leading him, Galahad reached the sea. Close by the shore was a ship which was apparently waiting for him. This he entered and was blown by the winds out into the deep water. On and on the ship went until it reached a rocky shore, and there it was caught between two great rocks and could go no further. A smaller vessel was waiting, however, and into this Galahad stepped and was taken to a little harbor along the coast where he was safely landed. The harbor was the port of a great city, and here, among the poor and suffering, Galahad went about doing good — always cheered and comforted by the presence of the wonderful cup. Into the darkest and saddest homes he went taking gladness with him. The sick and the sorrowing he helped as Jesus had helped them. At last the king of the country, who was a cruel tyrant, heard of his work. "The knight can be no ii4 A Life of Jesus fob Boys and Girls true knight/' he said, "for knights do not engage in such deeds as these/' He took Galahad and shut him up in a dungeon under his palace where it was dark and cold. For a long time Galahad stayed there, but down into the dark- ness streamed a wonderful light, lor Galahad was never without the Holy Grail. After a while the cruel king became very ill and was afraid he would die. He remembered the knight he had imprisoned in the dungeon and was filled with remorse. He called for Galahad to be brought to him and asked his forgiveness for his cruel treatment. Galahad willingly for- gave the king, for, being the best knight in the world, he could forgive even such a great injury as this. Finally the king died and the people wondered what they should do for another ruler. While they were talking about it and trying to find out what to do, some one remem- bered the good knight, and they all agreed to make him king, and in great joy they crowned him. For a year the new king ruled the country well and wisely. "Just a year since they made me king," thought Galahad as he awoke in the morning. He resolved to get up early and go to the chapel adjoining his palace and pray for the knowledge to rule his people wisely. It was very early when Galahad entered the chapel, which was filled with the beautiful rose-colored light of the Holy Grail which rested on the altar — and there before it some one was kneeling. Galahad was surprised, for he thought no one else would be awake. As he looked more closely he saw that the man was surrounded by a circle of angels and that he looked holy as the saints look. Could it be that Christ himself was there? Galahad, too, fell on his knees before the sacred cup, and as he prayed his soul left his body and was carried by the angels to heaven. This, then, is the story of Sir Galahad and the Holy Grail — a story which grew up hundreds of years after Jesus' death when men believed that they could bring about the kingdom of God by wearing armor of steel and carrying Sir Galahad axd the Holy Grail 115 swords and shields. Even though they misunderstood his teaching, they could not forget that it was only the pure in heart who could know the highest joy of the new kingdom; who could hear the Father speaking in their hearts as Jesus did in his, so plainly that they would feel as if they saw him. You remember that Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." To the people who told the story of the Holy Grail, it was the symbol of God, and only the best knight in the world, the purehearted Galahad, could see it. Deacidified using the Bookkeeper procea Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date: July 2005 PreservationTechnologia A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATIG 1 1 1 Thomson Park | Cranberry Township, PA 16066 (724 One copy del. to Cat. Div. OCT 18 '*■' LIBRARY OF CONGRESS l