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My Dear Father:—Your letter from Gaza came safely
to my hands this morning, by the courtesy of the
Roman courier of the Procurator. I read it with deep
grief and feelings of the saddest disappointment. Instead
of a letter, I expected to see you in person, and when
I heard Elec call out that a horseman had alighted at
the gate, I ran down into the court, crying, “My father,
my dearest father!” and when, instead of rushing into
your embrace, I was met by the mailed and helmeted
figure of an armed Roman, O you may judge of the reaction
upon my heart. I read your letter with tears; but
you have taught me to bear patiently what cannot be revoked,
and I have schooled my impatience till the God of
our fathers shall bring you, in his own good time, to your
loving and longing daughter. I trust that the two Arabian
merchants, from Eziongeber, whom you are delaying
to see, will not be long journeying to Gaza, and that on
their arrival you will speedily conclude the commerce,
which you write it is so important to your interests should
be effected. In the meanwhile I will try and wait with
serenity and peace the day of your coming, and continue
to write to you as the only solace which can compensate for
not beholding and speaking with you. Like all my letters,

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dearest father, the theme of this will be Jesus, whom I
unspeakably rejoice to hear you are beginning to regard
with more favorable eyes, saying in your last letter, these
words, which made my heart bound with joy:

“Were I to resist the testimony of the miracles which
this wonderful Nazarine Prophet had evidently done, especially
that of raising Lazarus, the scribe, from the dead,
I fear I should be fighting against God; for who can
restore life and soul to the dead but Jehovah alone! The
fame of the raising of Lazarus, as well as many of the
other miracles which he has done, has reached me by
other channels than your letters, and the accounts fully
corroborate all you have so enthusiastically written. Nay,
there is now here in Gaza, on his return from Damascus,
to Alexandria, my friend, Abraham Gehazi, the silk merchant,
who was passing through Bethany at the moment,
and, halting with his party, witnessed the miracle. He
spoke with Lazarus, and confesses to me that Jesus is
evidently a mighty Prophet, sent from God! This I am
ready to believe, also, my daughter; and when I behold
him I am ready to do him the homage I would offer to
Isaiah or Daniel, were they now alive. That he is the
Christ, I cannot yet believe; for Christ is to be a prince
and king, and to sit on the throne of David, and give
laws to the nations; before whom every crowned head
shall fall prostrate, every knee bow in reverence, and at
whose feet the sceptres of the earth shall be laid in submission!
A humble carpenter's son, prophet of God
though he may be, cannot realize the idea of the person of
the Messias! Turn to Esaias, and behold how his language
glitters with the splendor of the prophesies he enunciates
of the power, glory, and dominion on earth, of the Son

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of David! How can these prophetic words apply to the
prophet whom you love to honor? That the hand of the
Lord is upon him, and that mighty works show forth
themselves in him, doubtless cannot be disputed; but that
he is the Shiloh of Jacob, the kingly Lion of the tribe of Judah,
I cannot, for a moment, entertain the idea; for if I accept
him as Messias, neither have I, nor my countrymen at
large in Israel, nor the scribes, nor the fathers in Jerusalem,
read the Prophets aright, but rather with eyes blindfolded;
for to Jesus they do not, cannot aim, else we have altogether
misunderstood what is written in Moses and in the Prophets,
and in the Psalms, concerning the Christ.”

Such, my dear father, is a part of your letter, which I
quote, in order to reply to it, if I may do so, without presumption.

You confess, dearest father, that you are at length convinced
that Jesus is a Prophet, and that God is with him,
for he could not do such great miracles, except the power
of God was upon him. Now, if God co-operates with
Jesus; if God, so to speak, lends him his power, endows
him with his own attributes, so that, like God, he heals,
stills tempests, restores lost limbs, raises the dead from
their graves alive again, it is because God has chosen him
from among men, in order to clothe him with his mighty
and divine attributes. Now that he chose him, and invested
him therewith, it is evident that he did so because
he delights in him; because he loves him, and would
greatly honor him. To be the chosen recipient, by the
Lord God Jehovah, of such mighty powers, Jesus must be
good, must be holy, pious, and full of those holy virtues
in which the Almighty delights; in a word, God must

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approve of his character, and be content with whatsoever is
done by him.

Now Jesus, thus favored by God, whose power to work
miracles you yourself, my dear father, have confessed
must be conferred by Jehovah alone, distinctly and everywhere
asserts that he is Messias, the Son of God, the
Shiloh of Israel, of whom Moses and the Prophets so eloquently
wrote. Besides claiming for himself this high
character, he was heard, both by my uncle Amos and myself,
in the synagogue at Bethany, two days after he
raised Lazarus from the dead, to read from Esaias the
words following, and apply them to himself, which he had
done also before at Nazareth:

“The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath
anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor: he hath
sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance
to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind: to set
at liberty them that are bruised: to preach the acceptable
year of the Lord.”

When he had read this prophecy, which all our people,
dear father, do acknowledge to refer to Messias, when he
cometh, he closed the book, and gave it again to the officiating
scribe, and sat down. The synagogue was thronged,
so that people trode one upon another; for the fame
of his miracles had brought people to hear and see him,
not only from Jerusalem, but from all Judea, and Decapolis,
and beyond Jordan; nay, his fame, it seemeth, is
spread abroad in all the world. All eyes are now intent,
and all ears are ready to hear what he should speak. He
then said unto them, “This day is this Scripture fulfilled
in your ears. Ye ask me, oh scribes and men of Israel,
to tell you plainly who I am, whether I am the Christ or

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no. What saith the Prophet of the Messias when he shall
come? Ye have just heard his words. If such works as
he prophesieth do show forth themselves in me, ye know
who I am.”

Here a voice cried out in the assembly:

“Tell us plainly, art thou the Christ, the Son of the
Highest?”

At this direct inquiry there was intense interest shown
to hear the reply.

Jesus was about to answer, when a man, who stood
near the reading desk, in whom was an unclean spirit,
cried out, with a shrieking voice of mingled terror and awe:

“Let me alone! Leave me as I am, thou Jesus of
Nazareth! Art thou come hither to destroy me! I know
thee who thou art, the Holy One of God?”

Upon this Jesus turned to the multitude, and said:
“The very devils bear witness to me, who I am! and if these
should hold their peace, these walls would find voices, and
speak.” Then Jesus rebuked the devil which possessed
the man, (who was Jaius, a Roman proselyte of the gate,
who had long spread terror in the suburbs, by his exceeding
madness and ferocity,) and said to the devil, in a voice
of a master commanding a bond slave,

“Hold thy peace, Satan! The Son of Man needeth
not, though thou givest it, thy testimony. Hold thy
peace, and come out of the man!”

At this word the man uttered a fearful cry of despair
and rage, and foaming at the mouth, cast himself, or
rather was thrown down by the devil within him, to the
ground; where, after a moment's terrific struggle, with
contortions of bodily anguish, he lay senseless as if dead.
Jesus took him by the hand, and he stood up, and looking

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in the face of the Prophet with earnestness and wonder,
he burst into tears of gratitude, exclaiming:

“I am escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler;
the snare is broken, and I am escaped. God hath delivered
me out of the hand of my enemy!” He then sat at
the feet of Jesus calm, grateful, happy, and in his right
mind, while all gazed on him with wonder; while from
the great mass of the people rose a great shout, (for they
were all amazed,) saying:

“This is none other than the Christ, the son of David!
This is the king of Israel!” While the loud shouts of
“Hosanna! hosanna! hosanna!” cheered by a thousand
voices, “Hosanna to our king!” shook like a passing
storm the synagogue.

At this, when the noise had a little subsided, some of
the Scribes and Pharisees said, reproving him for not rebuking
these cries,—

“Who is this that suffereth himself to be hailed as
king! This is treason to the emperor!”

At this moment, Æmilius, the Roman knight, appeared
at the door of the synagogue, attended by half a dozen
soldiers, he happening to be passing at the moment on some
duty, and stopped to listen. No sooner did the eyes of these
wicked Jews catch the gleam of his helmet, and behold
his tall plume rising above the head of his people, than
they cried out, with eager loyalty, to their conquerors, at
the same time looking at Æmilius, to get his approbation:

“We have no king but Cæsar! Down with the traitor!
He who maketh himself king rebels against our most
mighty emperor. Away with him! Arrest him, most
noble Roman! Drag him before the Procurator Pilate!”

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Æmilius—who well understands these envious Jews,
and who is wise in the knowledge of what Jesus teaches,
and who loves him as a brother, and reveres him as a
father—Æmilius remained quiet, giving no signs that he
would do the will of these wicked enemies of the Prophet.
Jesus then said, in a loud, clear voice,—

“My kingdom is not of this world! I seek not an
earthly throne or earthly sceptre. My kingdom is from
above. Ye say truly, I am king,” he added, with indescribable
majesty of manner; “and hereafter ye shall behold
me sitting upon the throne of heaven, high and lifted
up, with the earth my foot-stool, and before me every
knee shall bow, of things in heaven, of things on earth,
and things under the earth!”

When he had thus far spoken, he could not proceed
farther, on account of the sudden and immense uproar
which his words produced. Some shouted “hosannas;”
others said he blasphemed; one cried for the Roman guard,
another for the priests, to eject him from the tribune; many
rushed towards him, to cast themselves at his feet, while
many, putting their fingers in their ears, hurried forth from
the synagogue, crying,—

“His blasphemies will cause the house to fall upon us,
and crush us!”

Never was such an uproar heard. In the midst of it
Jesus conveyed himself away, none knew where; and
when I returned to the house of Martha, I heard his low,
earnest, touching voice in prayer to God, in his little
chamber. He had sought its sacred quiet, to be alone
with his Father in Heaven! At times I could hear him
praying and supplicating, in tones of the most heart-breaking
pathos; at others, the silence of his room was only

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broken, at intervals, by sighs and pitiful groans, that
seemed to come from a breaking and crushed heart! Oh,
what hand may remove the veil, and reveal what passed
there in that holy retirement, between the Prophet and
his God! It was late in the day when he came forth,
Martha having softly tapped at his door, to say that the
evening meal was prepared, and alone waited for him.
When he appeared, his face was colorless and bore traces
of weeping, and though he smiled kindly upon us all, as
he was wont to do, there was a deep-seated sorrow upon
his countenance, that brought tears to my eyes! AEmilius
joined us at the table, and with dear Lazarus and
with uncle Amos, we passed a sacred hour; for the Prophet
ate not, but talked to us much and sweetly of the
love of God; and as all listened, the viands were forgotten,
notwithstanding Martha more than once ventured to remind
her blessed guest that such and such a thing was
before him, and that she had prepared it for him with her
own hands. But, like him, we all feasted upon the heavenly
food, the bread of life, which fell, like manna, from his
consecrated lips.

Such, then, my dear father, is the testimony, as you
have seen, in what I have above related, which Jesus
publicly bears to himself, that he is the very Christ who
should come into the world. There can be no further
doubt of the fact now that he has so plainly stated it,
pointing to the prophecies, which he is daily fulfilling by
mighty works, in proof of the truth of his assertion.

Now to what irresistible conclusion, to what inevitable
consequence, do we arrive? Is it not that He is the
Christ? This result cannot be avoided. Either Jesus is
Messias, as he asserts, and his miracles prove, or he is not.

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Now if he is not, then he is an impostor and a liar, as
well as a fearful blasphemer of Jehovah! If he is these
three, we then have the Almighty conferring upon an
impostor his own Almighty attributes, giving him power
to heal, to cast out devils, to control the elements, to raise
the dead! that is, bearing testimony to the truth of one
whom he never sent, empowered, nor authorized to be his
Christ, and in whom there is no truth.

Moreover, the miracles of Jesus, you admit, prove him
to have come from God, while you deny his claim to be
Messias. Now, if Jesus truly came from God, as, looking
at his miraculous power, you readily admit, he cannot be a
sinner: he, therefore, cannot assert of himself what is not
true. Yet he asserts that he is the Christ. He, then, either
did come from God, or he is a liar, and there is no truth in
him! But you will not consent to charge such a character
upon a man who heals with a word, who casts out demons,
who raises the dead to life, and who proclaims such pure
precepts, and the necessity of holiness in men, in order to
enjoy the favor of God! We therefore, are forced to the
irresistible conclusion, that either the miraculous power,
with which Jesus is invested, did come from God, and
that he is, as he says, the true and very Christ of the prophets
and patriarchs, or that God has endowed a blasphemer
of his name, a liar and impostor, with his own
powers, and indorses the imposture by continuing these
powers to him in every miracle that he performs. Jesus
is, therefore, the Christ. Do not, by any artful subterfuge,
dearest father, attempt to avoid this conclusion!
Jesus is the Christ, or we make both God and the Prophet
liars and co-partners in an enormous imposture! Jesus
is Christ, and let God be true, though all men be found liars.

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Pardon me, dearest father, if I have been too warm and
urgent in my efforts to bring you to accept Jesus as the
Christ. Convinced, as I am, that he is Messias, I cannot
but ardently desire that you, also, should come to the
knowledge of this truth. What he is yet to be, how he is
yet to develop his majesty and power, is unknown to us
all. Some do think that he will enter Jerusalem, ere
long, attended by tens of thousands of his followers, and
that before him Pilate will peaceably vacate his Procuratoral
chair, and retire, not only from the Holy City, but
from Judea, with his legions; and that Jesus will ascend
the throne of David; the glory of the age of Solomon be
revived under his rule; and with the kingdom of Judah
for the centre of his power, he will extend the sceptre of his
dominion from sea to sea, and from the rivers of Egypt
and of the East, to the ends of the earth, till all nations
shall fall down before him, emperors and kings sit at his
feet, and every tongue and language and speech in the
whole world acknowledge him to be the King of Israel,
King of kings and Lord of lords; while under the splendor
of his reign Jerusalem and Judah will be more powerful
than all the cities and kingdoms that have ever been on
the earth, and to the dominion and glory of our people
there will be no end.

Such, dear father, is the future of Jesus, as looked for
by all his disciples, save one, and this is John, the betrothed
of my cousin Mary. He is more closely intimate
with Jesus than any other man; and is so beloved by
him that he makes known to him many things which he
withholds from the rest. John, on hearing our views
of the coming glory of the Prophet, looks sadly, and says:

“Not now—not here—not in this world! The glory

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of Jesus you will behold, but first, we must pass through
the valley of darkness, the gate of the tomb. His kingdom
is not on the earth, but in the heavens. Here, I fear,
he will pass through suffering and sorrow, and, perhaps,
a painful death, for he has told me that he came to suffer
and die, and that he can only win, bleeding from every
vein, the kingdom, over which he is hereafter to reign in
endless dominion. Prepare your hearts, dear friends,” he
would say, “to be rent, and your eyes for tears, rather
than fill your imaginations with pictures of glory, splendor
and power. He has distinctly said to me, `I must first
suffer many things at the hands of men, before I enter
upon my reign of glory. The Jews will seek me to kill
me, and I shall be taken from among you; but let not
sorrow fill your hearts. Death can have no power over
me save such as I permit it to hold. I lay down my life,
and I take it again. Through much tribulation and sorrow
must the Son of God win the sceptre of this earth
from him who hath the power over the nations, even from
Satan, the prince of this world. I shall conquer, but I
must first fall. Yet fear not! I shall make death the
gateway to Paradise for you all!'

“Such,” says John, “are the mysterious and sorrowful
words which he has often spoken to me. What they
mean, or how to understand them, I know not; for I cannot
comprehend how he who can raise the dead can die,
or how he who can calm a tempest can suffer himself to
be taken and slain by men, the tempest of whose wrath
he could as easily pacify!”

Thus, dear father, do we discourse together about this
wonderful Prophet, whose future life is all a mystery, save
that, from the prophecies, we know it is to be

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inconceivably glorious, but from his own lips, first to be inconceivably
sorrowful. But, whether on a throne, giving laws to
the world, or in the dust, borne down by the deepest woe,
I shall still love, honor, reverence Him, and trust in Him,
as my Saviour, my Prince, and the Holy One of God!

p612-347

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