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

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

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

“Immediately my legs and ancle-bones received
strength; I leaped from the litter to the ground, and
found that I was whole, without pain or illness. I would

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have fallen at his feet in ecstasy of joy, but the crowds
which pressed him separated me from the sight of him.
But I filled the air with shouts and hallelujahs to the Son
of David!”

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

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

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

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

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unknowing the other's presence or object till they met in the city
before Herod's palace. One represented himself descended
from Shem, another from Japhet, the third from Ham!
The king hearing that these three strangers had arrived
in Jerusalem, sent to know wherefore they had honored
his kingdom with a visit. “They answered,” says
Phineas, as he yesterday related the narrative in the presence
of Caiaphas, and many of the rulers and Pharisees,
`that they came to do homage to the young Prince, who
was born king of the Jews.' And when Herod asked what
prince they spoke of, they answered, `we have seen his
star in the East, and are come to worship him!”'

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

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

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

“`Ye to whom is given the care of the Books of the
Law and of the Prophets, whose study they are, and in
whom lies the skill to interpret the prophecies, search
therein, and tell me truly where the Christ is to be born.

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Behold here present these august and wise men who have
come from afar to do Him homage; nay more, as they
aver, to worship Him as God. Let us have the courtesy
to give them the answer that they seek, and let us not be
found more ignorant of these things than those who dwell
in other lands!'

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

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

“`You have my permission, noble strangers, to go to
Bethlehem, and search for the young child; and when
ye have found him, bring me word again that I may
come and worship him also; for it is but meet that we
should pay all possible honors to a Prince of our realm,
whose birth is heralded in so unusual a manner, and to
worship whom even the East sends forth her wise men.'
They then left the presence of Herod, and it being dark
when they left the palace, they were overjoyed to behold
the star which they saw in the East, going before them.
They followed it until it left Jerusalem by the Bethlehem

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gate, and it led them on to the town of Bethlehem, and
stopped above an humble dwelling therein. When they
were come into the house, they saw a ray of the star resting
upon the head of an infant in the arms of its mother
Mary, the wife of Joseph. They at once acknowledged
and hailed him as Prince and King of Israel, and falling
down worshiped him; and opening their treasures they
presented unto him gold, frankincense, and myrrh, gifts
that are offered on the altar to God alone!”

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

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

“Kings do not record their deeds of violence,” answered
Phineas. “Herod kept it hushed up when he found that
he gained nothing by it but hatred. He slew them in
order that the infant Jesus might be destroyed among
them; for the three wise men, instead of returning through
Jerusalem to their own country, and informing him where
they had found the child, departed by another way; and
when Herod found that they were gone, he became so
enraged, that he sent out a party of troops, under Jeremias

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their captain, who now liveth to testify, ordering them to
slay every child under two years of age in Bethlehem,
hoping, as I have said, to kill the infant Jesus among the
number. But the child escaped, doubtless by God's powerful
protection; and his fame in his manhood this day fills
the ears of all Israel. The adoration of these three men,
who were sons of Shem, Ham, and Japhet, represents the
homage of the whole race of mankind that shall yet be
paid to Him!”

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

“I will first see, and hear him speak; and if he appear
to me to be Messias, I will gladly worship him.”

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

Thus you see, my dear father, how the evidence increases
in value and importance, proving Jesus to be the
Messiah. His very cradle bears testimony to his divine
character; and surely do his miracles now confirm the
pledge given by the remarkable circumstances attending
his childhood. The captain Jeremias, now a gray-headed
old soldier, having been called upon, testifies that he obeyed
such an order of Herod, and that it was given within
three days after the three Princes of the East quitted
Jerusalem for Bethlehem. Now, my dear father, let me
sum up the evidences that Jesus is the Messiah. First,
his presentation in the Temple, when holy Simeon and
Anna worshiped and prophesied of him. Secondly, the

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star which led the wise men to Bethlehem. Thirdly, their
adoration of him in his cradle. Fourthly, the testimony
of John the Baptist. Fifthly, the voice of God at his
baptism. Sixthly, the descent of the Holy Ghost upon
him in the form of a dove. Seventhly, his miracle at
Cana of Galilee. And lastly, the glittering coronet of
miracles that now encircles his brow, shedding a light and
glory upon his path that blinds and dazzles the eye steadfastly
to behold. Tell me, dear father, is not this the
Christ?

p612-195

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