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

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

I can see your face, my dear father, change its expression
of mild benignity, as you read this confession from my pen!
I can see you look both displeased and grieved. But you
have no reason to fear that I shall do or believe aught that

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will bring shame on your gray hairs, or your name. If
thou art a Jew, and proud of being descended from the
lineage of the Patriarchs who walked with the Lord, I am
also equally proud of my nation and of my faith. In believing
Jesus of Nazareth to be the Messias of God, I do
not make myself less a Jewess; but, without believing it,
my dear father, I could not be completely a Jewess. Has
not the Messias of our nation been the burden of Judah's
prayer, and of Israel's hope, for ages? Does not the belief
that Messias cometh, constitute one of the great characteristics
of the Jewish race? Do the Gentiles look for
the Christ? If not, then, and we alone look for him,
and every mother in Israel hopes tremblingly, with joy
and doubt, that he may be found in her first-born son, is
it that I am less a Jewess, or rather that I am only a true
Jewess, when I believe Jesus to be the Messias, seeing in
Him all that a Messias could bring, even the voice of God
in testimony of His Mission? But I sincerely trust, my
dear father, that I am defending my belief unnecessarily,
and that when you come to read and compare, and examine
well, you will rejoice with me that God has remembered
Israel, and that He is about to take away her
reproach among the nations.

I shall wait for your next parcel of letters with the
deepest solicitude, in order that I may know what your
decision is in reference to these extraordinary things which
are coming to pass. You will not hear them only from
my letters, dear father, for the report of these wonders is
broad-cast over the land, and men who witnessed the baptism
of Jesus, will, no doubt, report in Egypt what then
took place, especially the voice of God rolling like

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articulate thunder along the cloudless sky, and the descent of
the fiery dove upon the head of the new Prophet. Merchants
of Damascus and of Cairo were present, leaving
their trains of camels a little way off; and Arab horsemen
sat in their saddles on the outside of the crowd; while
Roman soldiers, strangers from Persia and Edom, and
even the merchants from Media, with numerous people,
Gentiles as well as Jews, were seen mingled with the
multitude. This thing, therefore, was not done in a
corner. The voice I plainly heard, and understood every
word! It seemed to me to come from the far blue depths
of Heaven at an immeasurable distance, but with the clearness
of a trumpet, and the sonorous majesty of thunder.
But the light which descended was the most dazzling that
human eyes ever encountered; and though when descending
with the velocity of lightning, it seemed like a lance
of fire; yet, upon reaching the bared head of Jesus, as He
came forth out of the water, it assumed, as I before stated,
the shape of a dove; and, resting upon Him, overshadowed
Him with its wings of light, and cast over his whole person
a glittering splendor, like the sun. This lasted for full a
minute, so that all eyes beheld it, and then came the voice
from heaven! The brilliancy of the light from the dove
was so resplendent that I could not behold it; and when
I looked again it had disappeared; but a halo of softened
lustre shone still around the head of Jesus, and his face,
like that of Moses, emitted rays of glory. While thousands
either stood stupefied, or fell upon their faces in adoration
and fear, He withdraw himself from the multitude, no one
knew how, save two persons, whose eyes never wander

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from him. These were the cousin of Mary, John, and
Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha.

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

The excitement which the sudden disappearance of
Jesus produced, led to a universal separation of the multitude,
who dispersed in all directions, some to seek for
Him, some to spread the news of what they had seen, and

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all forgetting John, whom they had hitherto followed, in
the greater splendor of the new Prophet, whose advent had
been so remarkably accompanied by fire and a voice from
the sky.

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

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

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

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

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

“That I know not! He must increase and I must
decrease, whether He remaineth on earth, or be taken
up into Heaven! My mission is now drawing to its
close: for He to whom I have borne witness is
come.”

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

“The hidden things belong to God. I know not
whence He came, for I knew Him not until the Spirit descended
and abode upon Him, nor whither He goeth. Ye
have heard my testimony that this is the Messias, the
Christ, the Son of God!”

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

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

But, my dear father, it is with deep joy that I am able
to tell you that this wonderful person is still on the earth,
and doubtless permitted to remain for some great purpose.
I stated that my cousin John, and Lazarus, the Secretary
of the Scribes, had kept their eyes upon Him from the first,

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and that they had seen Him pass down the river, where
some projecting and overhanging trees hid Him at once
from view. Though they often lost sight of Him, they yet
followed Him by the print of His sandals in the wet sand
of the shore; and at length came in view of Him, as He
was leaving the river bank, and going towards the desert,
between two hills, which hid Him from their eyes. But
one of the young men said to the other, while both were
burning with wonder and love:

“Let us not fail to overtake Him, and follow Him
whithersoever He goeth; for with Him must be the well
of life, as He is the highly favored of God.”

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

He stopped, and turned upon them a look so pale, and
marred with sadness and anguish, that they both stood
still and gazed on Him with amazement at such a change.
The glory of his beauty had passed away, and the beaming
splendor which shone from his countenance was wholly
gone. The expression of unutterable sorrow that remained,
pierced them to the heart. Lazarus, who had been so
long his bosom friend, wept aloud. “Weep not! thou
shalt see me another day, my friends,” He said. “I go
now to the wilderness in obedience to the Spirit which
guideth me thither. Thou shalt, after a time, behold me
again. It is expedient that I go whither I go.”

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

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

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

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

Now, my dear father, how wonderful is all this! That
a great Prophet is among us, cannot be denied. The sun
of John the Baptizer's fame dwindles into a star before
this Son of God! That He will draw all men unto Him,
even into the wilderness, if He takes up his abode there,
cannot be questioned. But all is mystery, awe, curiosity,

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wonder, and excitement just now. No one has settled
upon any opinion as to what will be the end of these
things. Rabbi Amos advises all persons to wait patiently
the issue, for if God has sent a Prophet, He must have
a mission which in due time He will come forth from the
wilderness to deliver. In my next I may be able to write
you something further touching the development of that
which remains so much enveloped in mystery. May the
God of our father's house come forth indeed from the
Heavens, for the salvation of His Prophet.

p612-155

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