are not recorded. Perhaps he wished to lose no opportunity of bearing testimony to the truth in the metropolis of his country. The feast to which he went is not named. Learned men are divided on the subject. It may have been the feast of Purim, or Lots. This feast, it has been calculated, fell this year (782) on a sabbath, between which and the ensuing Passover there were thirty days. The feast of Purim was designed to commemorate the deliverance of the Jews by Esther and Mordecäi, when, through the influence of the wicked Haman, they had been condemned by Ahasuerus, king of Persia, to immediate destruction. As commemorative of a deliverance, the festival was a season of rejoicing-they made days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor' (Esther ix).

While in Jerusalem, Jesus healed a man who had for thirtyeight years been without the use of his limbs. Near the pool Bethesda, which has been found at the north-eastern corner of the platform on which the temple stands, had this lame person long lain on a straw pallet, called his bed, in the hope that some one among the persons whom the repute of the healing efficacy of the water brought thither, would kindly help him to descend the steps which led to them. There had he lain with hope ever rising, and ever disappointed. At length Jesus came, when, at his word, the sick man arose, took up his couch, and walked. "The same day was the sabbath' (John v. 9). The Jews, unable to deny the miracle, imputed to Jesus a breach of the law because he had healed on a sabbath-day. Knowing their maliciousness, Jesus kept in private. Venturing, however, to appear in the temple, he met the man, who, having learnt who his benefactor was, reported his name to the Jews. On this, they began to persecute the Saviour, and carried their wrath so far, that they even sought to take away his life. Faithful to his mission, Jesus claimed the right to heal on the sabbath-day, seeing that in all that he did, he, as the messenger and image of God, worked in union with the Source of law, the Giver of health, life, and all things. In confirmation of his right to be Lord over the sabbath, Jesus adduced the testimony to himself given by John the Baptist (v. 32-35), and the greater witness borne by the Father, when, with the descent of the accompanying dove, he declared, 'This is my beloved Son, hear ye him' (36-38). Finally, Jesus appealed to the writings of the Old Testament, saying, 'Search the (your) Scriptures, for they testify of me' (39). He ended with a suitable reproof, ascribing their hostility to him to their bad moral qualities. They had not the love of God in them; they received honour one from another; they believed not the writings of Moses, who wrote of Christ; therefore had they not the will to come to Jesus, but manifested to him all the aversion of hearts wholly alien to his own. These evil dispositions suffi

ciently account for the rejection of Christ by the Jews. Wher ever such a temper of mind exists, it still keeps men from Jesus. Even in his outward church are there very many who, professing Christ, love and serve the world, and so remain passively adverse to the great principles, sympathies, and workings of his religion. Persons in this unhappy state cannot be convinced or moved to good until they are born again of the Spirit of God. A bad heart is a ceaseless spring of unbeliefs.

The lofty claims preferred by Jesus, and the multiform evidence by which he sustained them, had the effect of abashing his enemies, and so for the time securing his personal safety. Yet might the slender barrier which existed in those narrow and passionate souls at any moment be borne down by a flood of unholy zeal. Jesus, therefore, having it in charge to establish his kingdom on a broad basis, seems to have judged it his duty to remove at once to a distance. Accordingly, in the narrative of his apostle John we find him in Galilee (John vi. 1).

CHAPTER VI.

JESUS, AGAIN IN GALILEE, PREACHES AT NAZARETH, AND IS REJECTED.

March 26th, A. D. 29.

At length Jesus proceeded to Nazareth, and, according to his custom, entered the synagogue with a view to offer instruction. How quick and strong must his heart have beaten when, going into the town, he met on all sides familiar objects, and saw the intense gaze fixed on him by many a well-known countenance as he stood up in the synagogue to read! What a change was he conscious of having undergone! He who, the last time he worshipped there, was in trouble and in doubt, as one having a sure persuasion that he had been called to a high work, yet hardly knowing or daring to hope what work, was on the point of taking the decisive step which would determine all and involve his fate for ever; he who, with dim perceptions yet an heroic resolve, with a fluttering heart but a firm tread, had only a few months before left that town, where he had laboured with his hands, enjoyed domestic happiness, and learnt to know God in constant prayer, the same person now stood there with welldefined views, with a fully-ascertained commission, with unquestionable power and treasures of spiritual wisdom, to apply to himself the most emphatic words of the great national prophet,

and so to claim as his own the office and character of the long and ardently expected Messiah.

A synagogue (place of meeting) was a public building in which the Jews held their religious assemblies. Synagogues were situated either within or without the city, commonly on an elevated spot. In having a roof, they differed from the proseuchæ (prayer-rooms, Acts xvi. 13), which were open at the top, and which, holding the place of synagogues, were found on the sea-coast, the river side, or near a fountain, where the Jews could perform the washings necessary before they entered a place where prayer was wont to be made.' Whatever may have been the practice, the law of the elders required a synagogue to be erected in whatever place ten Israelites dwelt. In the east wall, opposite the entrance, generally placed on the west side, was a cupboard or shrine, in which lay the sacred writings, wrapped in costly cloths. In front of the cupboard was an elevation, bearing a kind of desk, on which he placed himself who intended to address the assembly. The hearers arranged themselves before the raised platform with a due regard to rank, so that the Pharisees commonly had the uppermost seats (Matt. xxiii. 6). To the females was assigned a separate and elevated part, enclosed with trellis-work; so that, without being seen themselves, they could see whatever went on in the place. Among the presidents was a president in chief, the prince or ruler of the synagogue (Mark v. 36; Luke viii. 49). This person invited whom he thought fit to enter the assembly and address its members, directed the servant or 'minister' (Luke iv. 20) to hand a manuscript or book-roll to any one who wished to read a portion of Scripture, and, when there was no one else to do it, read aloud from the sacred writings himself. Commonly he had also to read the law. In judicial proceedings on those minor points left to the Jews by the Romans, such as regarded breaches of the law occasioning scandal and offence, or had for their punishment reproof or whipping, the chief ruler took the chair as a matter of right. If the accused was found guilty, he pronounced the verdict, in which the number of stripes could not exceed forty. Under this chief were elders, who had it in charge to see to the general government of the synagogue and its services. Servants under the elders performed the manual work, and one of them kept the keys of the building, having also the custody of its books. These books were rolls of parchment or linen, written on one side, and wound round one or two sticks. As the book was read, it was unrolled by one hand and rolled up by the other. Lastly, there was a leader of the singing, under whose direction the psalms were chanted. The service consisted in the reading and explanation of the Scriptures, in prayers and songs of praise, also, occasionally, in edifying addresses. The meetings took place thrice a week-Mon

day, Wednesday, and Saturday (the sabbath). On each of these days the Jews visited the synagogue three times, morning, noon, and evening, in order to put up their supplications. On other days they also prayed three times, but in their own houses. The assembly was opened with the words, 'The Lord be with you,' or, 'Peace be with you;' then came the reading and the address. A prayer concluded the service, at the end of which the people said 'Amen' (be it so). Last of all, alms were collected for the poor. Any member of the synagogue who felt himself able was at liberty to deliver an address.

This is what Jesus did when he entered the synagogue at Nazareth to which he belonged. When the right moment came, he took his station on the platform, by which it was known that he was going to speak. The servant handed him the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, when he read and applied to himself those words which we now know are truly and emphatically descriptive of him (Luke iv. 18, 19): 'The Spirit of Jehovah 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 recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of Jehovah.'

These words have the singular felicity of combining three topics which were of the highest interest to the Israelite :-they proceed from the chief of the prophets, Isaiah; they are his view of the Messiah; they tacitly compare the blessedness of Messiah's reign with the great year of Jubilee, when, among the Jews, all evils were redressed, all inequalities removed, all debts cancelled, all prisoners set at liberty. In applying the words to himself, Jesus intended to announce the advent of the grand spiritual jubilee foretold by the prophets, which he was then introducing, and which he would carry to its full accomplishment. The auditors in the assembly were amazed. 'What! Jesus, the son of Joseph, the carpenter? Yet how gracious his words, how dignified his manner, with what confidence does he apply the prophecy to himself! Still it could not be. The young carpenter the Messiah? How absurd! They began to taunt him. Then they demanded a miracle (Luke iv. 23). Jesus replied in expressions which intimated that they had not the spirit which receives divine truth (26, 27). These words gave offence. Rising tumultuously, they hurried him to a precipice in order to destroy him; but God was with him, and he escaped out of their hands (14, 30).

6

CHAPTER VII.

JESUS FIXES HIS RESIDENCE AT CAPERNAUM.

April, A. D. 29.

Driven from Nazareth, the holy one of God proceeded to Capernaum, which he may be considered as having made in some sense his ordinary abode. The place had special recommendations, for there had he friends, and there were good opportunities afforded for collecting an audience and promoting the gospel. There, accordingly, did he teach the people, especially on the sabbath days; and they were astonished at his doctrine, for his word was with power' (Luke iv. 31, 32). It happened on one occasion, while Jesus was walking on the borders of the lake of Galilee, near which Capernaum stood, that he met with his two disciples, Simon Peter and his brother Andrew, who were engaged in the duties of their calling as fishermen. The time was now come for them to give up all, that they might proclaim the gospel. At his call, they left their nets and followed Jesus. Shortly after, he found the brothers James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship, with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them; and they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him' (Matt. iv. 17-22; Luke v. 1-11).

Geographers

These four disciples belonged to Bethsa'ïda. commonly speak of two places of that name-Bethsaida (fishing station) in Galilee, which is placed on the western shore of the lake, not far from Capernaum; and Bethsaida Julias, which is known to have stood on the north-east of the lake, and which the tetrarch Philip, not long after the birth of Jesus, enlarged and dedicated to the honour of Julia (hence Julias), daughter of the emperor Augustus.* Near the latter, Jesus fed the five thousand (Luke ix. 10) and gave sight to a blind man (Mark viii. 22, seq.). Bethsaida on the western side of the lake, however, is in general held to be the birth-place of the four apostles to whom we have just referred. To one of these two places Jesus referred, at a later period, when he exclaimed, 'Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes' (Matt. xi. 21). The hardness of the hearts of its inhabitants must

* See the Sketch of the Lake of Galilee in the author's 'Biblical Atlas;' also a Defence of the Miracles, 'Walking on the Water,' and 'Feeding the Five Thousand,' in the author's Scripture Vindicated against some Perversions of Rationalism,' being the second publication in The Library of Christian Literature.'