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exceedingly grieved at the request, but dared not recall his words. The Baptist was executed, and Salome carried his head in a charger to her bloody-minded mother; but the disciples of John obtained the body and laid it in a tomb, and then went and told Jesus. Not long afterwards Aretas marched against Antipas to revenge the divorcing of his daughter. The army of Antipas was destroyed, and the Jews generally regarded it as a punishment from God, for the execution of John. The war was at last concluded by the interference of the Roman president of Syria.

Return of the 12 apostles: miracle of the loaves and fishes.-Meantime the 12 apostles returned from their missionary labours. Jesus advised that they should retire with him to some desert spot and rest. Accordingly, they all left Capernaum, and privately embarked on the lake and sailed to Bethsaida. This Bethsaida was not the town in the neighbourhood of Capernaum, but a desert place called by the same name, on the north-eastern shore of the lake, and included in the territory of Gaulonitis, which formed part of the tetrarchy of Herod Philip.* Here, in this retired spot, multitudes from the neighbouring cities gathered round Jesus. He taught and healed many; but at last his disciples besought him to send the crowd away. Jesus however ordered them all to sit down. Five thousand people were present, besides women and children. He then took all the provisions his disciples had, namely, five barley loaves and two small fishes, and distributed this small supply amongst the people. All however had sufficient to eat, and twelve baskets were filled with the fragments; and the multitude acknowledged that he was the prophet who was to come into the world.

*This desert of Bethsaida is also mentioned as being in Decapolis, or "ten cities," a territory of very doubtful limits and extent, along the eastern bank of the Jordan and lake Gennesaret, which obtained its name because it at one time included ten cities.

False notions of his Messiahship amongst the 65 multitude and his own disciples.-An immense number of Jews now believed that Jesus was the Christ or Messiah that had been foretold; but they misinterpreted the prophecies. By the light of the gospel we can now see that the Spirit of God, working in the hearts of the prophets, had enabled them to describe the life, the person, and the fate of the Saviour, and even paint him before our eyes. We can now see that the Messiah, the Son of God manifested in the flesh, was to establish a spiritual kingdom, to beat down Satan under his feet, to conquer sin and death, and to establish an everlasting dominion over all thrones, principalities, and powers. But, alas for the religious degradation of the Jews! these glorious visions of a spiritual future they interpreted in a literal and earthly sense. The Messiah they expected was to bring back the brilliant but temporal glories of the era of David and Solomon. A king of the house of David was to arise and subdue all enemies, restore all captives, and rule over the whole nation. The Roman empire, with all its overwhelming forces, and all the kingdoms of the earth, were to be overthrown by the stone cut out without hands. Universal peace, wealth, and abundance were to fill the land of promise. All traces of idolatry were to be destroyed; and Jerusalem was to be at once the metropolis of the world, where all the heathen should come and give their hearts to God. Such a king, deliverer, and conqueror the people now saw in the person of Jesus. They knew his lineage, they saw his miracles, and they heard his words. The enormous multitudes whom he had miraculously fed were desirous of making him king by force. He however directed his disciples to enter a ship and proceed across the lake either to Capernaum or else to the other Bethsaida in Galilee, whilst he himself retired into a mountain to pray. The night was dark and the winds were contrary; the disciples were therefore compelled to toil with their oars. When they had reached about

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A. D. 29, 30. two-thirds of the distance and it was nearly morning, Jesus suddenly appeared to them walking on the sea, and desired them not to be afraid. Peter left the ship and walked on the waves towards him, but his faith gave way and he began to sink. Jesus saved him, and when they both entered the vessel the wind ceased, and all on board worshipped the Lord and acknowledged him to be the Son of God. At length they landed at Capernaum. Meantime the multitude on the opposite shore had followed him across the lake. Jesus then delivered a discourse, in which he reproved them for having followed him merely for the sake of the loaves and fishes, and opened their eyes to the truly spiritual nature of the kingdom he was about to establish on the earth. The audience appear to have been disappointed, and many even of his disciples murmured at his sayings and left him from that time. But the twelve apostles whom he had chosen still continued faithful in their faith and profession.

Easter,

A. D. 30.

CHAPTER VII.

THIRD YEAR OF CHRIST'S MINISTRY.

Capernaum.

Discussion concerning A. D. 29, the traditionary law.-There is no mento Easter, tion of Jesus having kept the third Passover of his ministry at Jerusalem. After it was over, and whilst he was at Capernaum, a deputation of scribes and Pharisees came to him from the capital to ask why his disciples acted contrary to the traditionary law, which ordered the Jews to wash their hands before eating, and to plunge them into water after coming from market; and also required the washing of cups, pots, brazen vessels, and tables.* Jesus replied by contradicting the authority of the traditionary

*For an account of the origin of their code of traditionary law amongst the Jews, see sect. 16.

law, which often set aside the sacred commandments of God. He showed how the Divine command, "Honour thy father and thy mother," which plainly required that a son should support his parents, was set aside by a traditionary law. For if a son only said, "All my property is Corban, or a gift consecrated to God," he was not only absolved from relieving his father and mother, but it was absolutely unlawful for him to do so, though at the same time he was not bound by his words to devote his property to sacred uses. Jesus then showed to the multitude that it was sin which defiled a man, and not the mere eating with unwashed hands and non-observance of traditionary ceremonies; and we do not read that the Pharisees attempted to reply to his discourse.

Miscellaneous journeys from Capernaum. Jesus seems to have made several journeys to and from Capernaum, without undertaking a regular circuit. He proceeded to the borders of the Phoenician territory of Tyre and Sidon, and healed the daughter of a SyroPhoenician woman, who was possessed by a devil. In the desert of Bethsaida on the eastern shore of Lake Gennesaret he cured a deaf man with an impediment in his speech, and healed a blind man, and again miraculously fed a large multitude of 4000 with seven loaves and a few fishes. Before he returned to Galilee he also visited the town of Cæsarea Philippi, anciently called Paneas, at the sources of the Jordan, and in the tetrarchy of Herod Philip. This city had been enlarged by Philip, and named after himself and the emperor of Rome. It must be distinguished from the Cæsarea on the coast of Samaria, where the Roman procurators of Judæa resided.

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Transfiguration on Mount Tabor.-We have 68 now to record the solemn event in the mortal life of Jesus, known by the name of the transfiguration. Tradition, which must not be lightly set aside, fixes Mount Tabor as the place where these celestial appearances occurred. Jesus and his disciples had left Cæsa

rea Philippi for Southern Galilee. Here he took his three favoured apostles, Peter, John, and James the elder, into a high mountain to pray. Mount Tabor is the loftiest, the most prominent, and the most beautiful mountain in Palestine. It unites the glory of Lebanon with the excellency of Carmel. It stands like the altar of a land which is itself the temple of God. Here Jesus prayed, and gradually his countenance changed, his face shone as the sun, and his raiment was white with light. Peter and the two other disciples became heavy with sleep. When they awoke they saw that two men had appeared in glory, Moses and Elijah, who now conversed with Jesus about the decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. At length, these two great representatives of the law and the prophets having departed, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to remain here; let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. For he wist not what to say." Whilst he thus spoke, a bright cloud overshadowed them all, and a voice said, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased: hear ye him!" The three disciples fell on their faces with fear. Jesus touched them, and they saw that he was alone. They then descended the mount, and Jesus desired them to keep secret what they had seen until the Son of man had risen from the dead. The three disciples could not understand his words, and said to him, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must first come before the Messiah appears?"* Jesus answered, " Elijah is come already, and they knew him not, but rejected him and did unto him as they pleased: even so must the Son of man suffer of them." Then they knew that Jesus spoke unto them of John the Baptist. On descending the mountain they found that a demoniac had been brought to the other disciples, who could not dispossess him. Jesus

*Here as elsewhere I have paraphrased the words of our Lord and of his disciples, in order to convey their meaning the more fully to the general reader.