Yesterday Mary's cousin, John, returned and 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. 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
servant 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 come 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."
"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 pleasure and
surprise at the venerable priest of God.
"Yes, I am ready, after all that I have seen and heard, I am ready to
confess him a prophet sent from God."
"He is far 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 the Messiah 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
fellow-disciples. We wonder, love and adore! At one moment we feel like
embracing him 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."
"And yet," said Nicodemus, a rich Pharisee, who entered as John was
first speaking, and listened without interrupting, "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.
"So far as I can learn the character of Jesus," replied John, "his
healing power over diseases is not for his own good. He uses his
power to work miracles for the benefit of others through love and
compassion. Being a man with this 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 by a word,
and the next moment seat himself, supporting his aching head upon his
hand, looking pale and languid, for his labors of love are vast, and he
is often overcome by them. Once Simon Peter, seeing him ready to sink
with 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 my desire to escape human infirmities by any power my
Father hath bestowed upon me for the good of men. Through suffering
only can I draw all men after me!' he replied."
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."
"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."
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 explanation of what I saw, when I beheld the
young man, who was exceedingly 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, and the ruler stood silent with
wonder. 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!"
"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 neither spoken to nor known us. But oh,
now--now behold him! It seems a vision! See how manly, noble, like
himself he is, with the same intelligent, smiling eyes."
She then flew to take him by the hand and lead him toward 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 John, calmly. "Rabbi 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. 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 done to thee, young man?" he asked, with deep and visible
emotion.
"I was wandering near Bethany this morning," answered the restored
one, with modesty, "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 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!'
"At these words a black cloud seemed to be lifted from my mind. 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 and embraced them."
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.
I commenced this letter, dearest father, by an allusion to a great
commotion which is agitating the whole city, but as I have taken up
so much of this letter in relating what passed yesterday in the hall
of the fountain, I will leave the account of the tumult for my next
letter, which I shall write this evening.
May the God of our fathers be with you, and bless you and the holy
people of the promise.
Adina.