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My Dear Father:—While I write, the city is agitated
like a tumultuous sea. The loud murmurs of the
multitudes in the streets, and even in the distant market
place, reach my startled ears. A cohort of Roman
cavalry has just thundered past towards the Temple,
where the uproar is greatest; for a rumor of an insurrection
begun among the people, has come to Pilate the Procurator.
But this is no insurrection against the Roman
authority, dear father; alas, our people, who were once
God's people and the masters of the East, are now too
servile and submissive to their pagan masters, the Romans,
to lift up a finger to remove their degrading yoke! Would
that it were a movement for the liberties of Judea! The
occasion of the tumult, which seems to increase each
moment, is an extraordinary act of power on the part of
the new prophet, Jesus, that name become, by means of
my pen, so familiar to you,—a name at which, I can say
without enthusiasm, every knee will yet bow, both of
Jew and Gentile! I will relate to you the circumstances;
for this act of power from him is another proof of his divine
mission.

In my last letter, dear father, I stated that it was

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commonly reported that this wonderful man would be up to
the Passover, and that all men were talking of the approaching
event, and really thinking more of his presence
here, than of the Passover itself. Nay, it was said that
many who would not otherwise be in Jerusalem, would
come hither in order to see him, and to witness some
new miracle; and to-day Rabbi Amos says the number
of strangers in the city is hitherto unprecedented.

Yesterday my cousin John came unexpectedly into the
hall of the fountain, in the rear of the house, where we
were all seated in the cool of the vines, with which Mary's
taste has covered a wall of trellis-work. Uncle Amos
was in the act of reading to us from the Prophet Jeremiah,
a prophecy relating to the Messias that is to come (nay,
that is come, dear father), when John appeared. Mary's
blushes welcomed him, and showed how dear he was to her.
Uncle Amos embraced and kissed him and seated him by us,
and called for a slave to bathe his feet, for he was dusty and
travel-worn. From him we learned that his beloved
master, Jesus, had reached Bethany, and was reposing
from his fatigues at the hospitable though humble house
of Lazarus, Mary and Martha. When we heard this, we
were all very glad; and uncle Amos particularly seemed
to experience the deepest satisfaction.

“If he comes into Jerusalem,” said he, warmly, “he
shall be my guest. Bid him to my roof, O John, that
my household may be blessed in having a Prophet of God
step across its threshold.”

“Oh, by all means do not forget to ask him to remain
through the Passover with us,” exclaimed Mary, earnestly

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looking up into the young disciple's face, and laying her
hand confidingly upon his wrist.

“I will tell my beloved Master thy wish, Rabbi
Amos,” answered John. “Doubtless, as he has no home,
nor friends in the city, he will remain under your roof.”

“Say not no friends!” I exclaimed. “We are all his
friends here, and fain would be his disciples.”

“What! Rabbi Amos also?” cried John, with a glance
of pleasurable surprise at the venerable Priest of God.

“Yes, I am ready, after all that I have heard and seen,
I am ready to confess him a Prophet sent from God.”

“Yes, he is more than a prophet, O, Rabbi Amos!”
answered John. “Never prophet did the works Jesus
does. It seems that all power is at his command. If
you witnessed what I witness daily, as he traverses
Judea, you would say that he was Jehovah descended to
earth in human form!”

“Nay, do not blaspheme, young man,” said Rabbi
Amos, with some severity of reproof.

John bowed his head in reverence to the rebuke of the
Rabbi, but nevertheless answered respectfully and firmly,
“Never man did like him. If he be not God in the
flesh, he is an angel in flesh invested with divine power.”

“If he be the Messiah,” I said, “he cannot be an angel;
for are not the prophecies clear that Messias shall be
`a man of sorrows?' Is he not to be `the seed of the
woman?' a man and not an angel?”

“Yes,” answered John, “you remember well the prophecies.
I firmly believe Jesus to be the Messiah, the Son
of God. Yet, what he is more than man, what he is less
than God, is incomprehensible to me and to my

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fellowdisciples. We wonder, love, and adore! At one moment
we feel like embracing him into our arms as a brother
dearly beloved; at another, we are ready to fall at his
feet and worship him! I have seen him weep at beholding
the miseries of the diseased wretches which were
dragged into his presence, and then with a touch—with a
word, heal them: and they would stand before him in
the purity and beauty of health and strong manhood! I
have seen him with a voice of command, as never man
spoke, expel devils from those who were possessed by
them; and I have heard the devil submissively beg not to
be sent to their own place, but to be permitted by him to
remain roaming still in the air and on the earth, until the
hour of their final sentence shall proceed from the lips of
God. Even the devils are thus subject unto him, so
mighty is his power; and all diseases disappear before his
eye, like the foul air of the fens before the beams of the
morning sun!”

“And yet,” said Nicodemus, a rich Pharisee who entered
as John was first speaking, and listened without
interrupting, for it is his wont to come in and out as he
will, being a friend of my uncle, “and yet, young man, I
heard you say that Jesus, of whom you and all men relate
such mighty deeds, has remained at Bethany to recover
from his fatigue. How can a man who holds all
sickness in his power be subject to mere weariness of
body? I would say unto him, Physician, heal thyself!”

This was spoken with a tone of incredulity by this
learned ruler of the Jews; and stroking his snowy beard,
he waited of John a reply; for like many of the chief
men, nay, most of them, he was hard to believe all he

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heard of Jesus; for as yet he had not seen him; nor would
he be likely to visit him were he to come into the city, in
order to see for himself, lest his popularity among the
Jews be diminished; for he is a man of remarkable ambition,
and aims one day to be the chief governor of the
people; therefore, though he should really be convinced
that Jesus is the Messias, I fear he would not have candor
enough, for fear of the Jews, to confess it. Such is my
opinion of my uncle's friend, the rich and powerful Pharisee.
But John answered him and said:

“So far as I can learn the character and power of Jesus,
his power over diseases is not for his own good, but for
the benefit of the multitude. He uses his power to work
miracles to do good to others from love and compassion,
and to show forth the divine power in him. His miracles
are used only as the proofs of his Messiahship. Being a
man with his divine power dwelling in him, for us, he is
subject to infirmities as a man; he hungers, thirsts,
wearies, suffers, as a man. I have seen him heal a nobleman's
son and restore him to strength and activity by a
word, and the next moment seat himself, supporting his
aching head upon his hand, looking pale and languid, and
without strength; for his labors of love are vast, and he is
often overcome by them, those who follow him to be healed
not giving him time to repose at night. Once, Simon
Peter, seeing him ready to sink with very weariness, after
healing all day, asked him and said: `Master, thou givest
strength to others, why suffer thyself, when all health and
strength are in thee, as in a living well, to be weary!'

“`It is not mine to escape human infirmities by any
power my Father hath bestowed upon me for the good of

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men. It behooves me to suffer all things. Through suffering
only can I draw all men after me!”'

John said this so sadly, as if he were repeating the very
tones in which Jesus had spoken it, that we all remained
silent for a few moments. I felt tears fill my eyes, and
I was glad to see that the proud Pharisee, Nicodemus,
looked moved. After a full minute's serious pause, he
said:

“This man is doubtless no common prophet. When
he comes into the city I shall be glad to hear from his
own mouth his doctrines, and to witness some potent
miracle.”

“Surely,” said Amos, “if he be in truth a prophet, we
ought not to reject him. We ought to examine fairly his
claims to be sent from God to our people.”

“Certainly,” answered Nicodemus. “We Pharisees
are ready to give him a fair hearing. It would seem that
by coming to Jerusalem from the provinces, where hitherto
he has been preaching and doing miracles, he means to
challenge the whole people to acknowledge him as a prophet.”

“Prophet he is, without doubt,” answered Amos. “It
is not the question now whether he be a prophet or not,
for the hundreds he has healed are living witnesses that he
has the spirit and power of the old prophets, and is truly a
prophet. The question that remains is, whether he be the
Messiah, or not?”

Nicodemus slowly and negatively shook his head, and
then answered:

“Messias cometh not out of Galilee.”

“He will prove himself to be Messias with power,”

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answered my cousin John, with zeal. “When you hear
him speak, Rabbi Nicodemus, the grace of his lips, and
the depths of his wisdom, will charm you into belief;
and without miracles you will acknowledge that He is the
Christ.”

At this moment a sudden, wild, joyful cry from Mary,
thrilled our nerves, and, looking towards the door, we saw
her folded in the arms of a young man whom I had never
seen before. My surprise had not time to form itself into
any definite opinion of what I saw, when I beheld the
young man, who was exceeding handsome, and the picture
of health, after kissing the clinging Mary upon her
cheeks, leave her to throw himself into the arms of Rabbi
Amos, crying:

“My father, my dear father!”

My uncle, who had stood amazed, and wonderingly gazing
on him, as if he could not believe what his eyes beheld,
now burst into profound expressions of grateful joy,
and as he clasped the young stranger to his heart, fell
upon his neck and wept, with scarcely power to articulate
the words:

“My son! my son! Lost, but found again! This is
the Lord's doing, and is marvelous in our eyes.”

John also embraced the new-comer, while the Ruler
stood silent with wonder. Who the young man was whose
arrival was producing such emotion, and why he should
be hailed as a son by my uncle Amos, I had no idea; and
while I was looking bewildered upon the scene, Mary ran
and said to me, with tears of gladness shining in her dark
fine eyes:

“It is Benjamin, my lost brother, beloved Adina!”

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“I did not know you had a brother,” I answered in
surprise.

“We have long regarded him as dead,” she replied,
with mingled emotions. “Seven years ago he became
lunatic, and fled to the tombs without the city, where he
has long dwelt with many others who were possessed with
devils. For years he has been a madman, and has
neither spoken to nor known us, and we have tried to forget
that he lived, since to remember, it made us miserable,
without hope of his restoration. But oh, now behold
him! It seems a vision! See how manly, noble, like
himself, he is, with the saine sweet smile and smiling
eyes.”

She then flew to take him by the hand and lead him
towards me, all eyes being fixed upon him, as if he had
been a spirit.

When he saw their wondering gaze, he said:

“It is I, both son and brother to those dearest to me.
I am in my right mind, and well.”

“Who has effected this change, so extraordinary, oh,
my son?” inquired Rabbi Amos, with trembling lips, and
keeping his hand on Benjamin's shoulder, as if he feared
he would vanish away.

“It was Jesus, the Prophet of the Highest,” answered
he, with solemn gratitude.

“Jesus!” we all exclaimed in one voice.

“I could have said so,” answered cousin John, calmly.
“I needed not to ask who had effected this great work
upon him. Nicodemus, thou knowest this young man
well! thou hast known him in childhood, and beheld
him in the madness of his lunacy, among the tombs.

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Dost thou doubt now, whether Jesus be the very
Christ?”

Nicodemus made no reply; but I saw from the expression
of his face that he believed.

“How was this thing done to thee, young man?” he
asked, with a deep interest and visible emotion.

“I was wandering near Bethany this morning,” answered
the lost and restored one, with modesty and feeling,
“when I beheld a crowd which I madly followed. As I
drew near, I beheld in their midst a man, whom I had no
sooner cast my eyes upon, than I felt seize me an ungovernable
propensity to destroy him. The same fury possessed
seven others, my comrades in madness, and together,
with one mind and will, we rushed upon him, with great
stones and knives in our hands. The crowd gave way and
fell back aghast, and called him to save himself. But he
moved not, but, left alone in a wide space, stood calmly
awaiting us. We were within a few feet of him, and I was
nearest, ready to strike him to the earth, when he quietly
lifted one finger, and said “Peace!” We stood immovable,
without power to stir a foot, while our rage and hatred
increased with our inability to harm him. We howled
and foamed at the mouth before him, for we then knew
that He was the Son of God, come to destroy us.

“`Come out of the men, and depart quickly!” he said,
in a tone of command as if to us, but really to the demons
within us. At this word I fell at his feet in a dreadful
convulsion, and my whole body writhed as if it had been
wrestling with an invisible demon. Jesus then stooped
and laid his hand upon my brow, and said, `Son, arise!
Thou art made whole!'

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“At these words a black cloud seemed to be lifted from
my mind, and to disappear; the glory of a new existence
appeared to dawn upon my soul, while his voice melted
my heart within me. Bursting into tears, the first I have
shed for seven years, I fell at his feet and kissed them,
and embraced them, wholly overcome with a new sense of
peace, and of inward happiness unspeakable.

“`Go thy way, and fear God, that thou fall not a second
time into this captivity to Satan!' he said, raising me to my
feet. I then followed him, rejoicing and blessing God, until
he entered the house of a Centurion, near Bethany, when I
hastened hither, to gladden your hearts with the sight of
me restored to my right mind.”

When Benjamin had done speaking, we all gave glory
to God, who had given him back to us, and who had sent so
great a prophet among men. As Nicodemus took his
leave, I overheard him, congratulating the happy father,
say, that he should embrace the first opportunity to have
an interview with Jesus; and when my uncle told him
that he hoped to entertain the mighty Prophet as his guest,
the Ruler desired permission to visit him here upon his
arrival, “but secretly,” I heard him add, in Rabbi Amos's
ear, as he took his leave.

I commenced this letter, dearest father, by an allusion
to a great commotion which is agitating the whole city,
and which was caused by an act of power on the part of
the Prophet Jesus, who this morning, two hours ago, entered
the city, and proceeded at once to the Temple, followed
through the streets by an innumerable multitude,
such as was never known in Jerusalem before. But as I
have taken up so much of this letter in relating what

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passed yesterday in the hall of the Fountain, I will leave
the account of the tumult, the voices of which are still to
be heard, for my next letter, which I shall write this evening;
for now that all events are so interesting connected
with the great Prophet, Christ, I shall write to you almost
daily, that I may keep you advised of all things that
come to pass, even as you desired me to do. This request,
dear father, filled me with joy. It was an assurance to
me that you have begun to take an interest in these wonderful
things concerning Messias, and it leads me secretly
to hope that you may yet believe in Him, and accept Him
as the Anointed One of God, which without doubt he is,
as both his words and his mighty works do testify.

When I get a package of letters made up, I shall send
them by Israel Ben Judah, with the caravan that leaves
eight days after the Passover.

May the God of our Fathers be with you, and bless you,
and all the holy people of the Promise.

p612-215

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