Hurlbut's Life of Christ
For Young and Old
[Illustration: Coming to Jerusalem these strangers asked of every one
whom they met: "Can you tell us where to find the little child who is
born to be the King of the Jews?"]
HURLBUT'S LIFE OF CHRIST FOR YOUNG AND OLD
A COMPLETE LIFE OF CHRIST WRITTEN IN SIMPLE LANGUAGE, BASED ON THE
GOSPEL NARRATIVE
BY REV. JESSE LYMAN HURLBUT, D.D.
_Author of "Hurlbut's Story of the Bible"
Former Editor International Sunday-School Lessons_
ILLUSTRATED
With Colored Plates and Full Page Halftone Reproductions
from the Paintings of WILLIAM HOLE,
R.S.A., R.E., and other artists. Also including
Maps and Photographs of the Holy Land.
PHILADELPHIA
THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
Copyright, MCMXV, by
L. T. MYERS
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
HUNDREDTH THOUSAND EDITION
Preface
IN the preparation of this volume the aim in view has been to tell the
story of Jesus Christ in a manner that will be attractive to both young
and old, to children and their teachers. While the purpose of the writer
has been to adapt the narrative to the understanding of a child of ten
years, so that he will not need to ask the meaning of a sentence or a
word: yet it has also been his desire to make it not childish, but
simple, so that older readers may find it interesting and profitable.
In order that this book may not lead its younger readers or listeners
away from the Bible, but directly toward it, no imaginary scenes or
conversations have been introduced. The design has been to write the
biography of Jesus, not a romance founded upon his life.
The order of events has been carefully considered; and follows that of
the best authorities, accepting as historical _all_ the four gospels and
_all_ their contents; raising no questions concerning miracles or the
relative values of different portions of the record. The first purpose
of every student or reader of the Bible, whether young or old, should be
to become thoroughly familiar with its contents. Without a full
knowledge of the Scriptures as they are, he is absolutely unfit to cope
with the questions of authorship or the credibility of the sacred
writings.
No attempt has been made to formulate from the record of Christ's life a
doctrinal system. Theology is the loftiest study for the human
intellect; but it belongs to the mature mind, not to the realm of
childhood. Nor has it been the writer's aim to find in this story moral
lessons for the young. The works and words of Jesus will make their own
application to their reader, whether they be children or adults.
The typography, the illustrations, and the mechanical execution of such
a work as this are of almost equal importance with its literary
material. All that diligent effort, artistic taste, and abundant
resources can do to make this book attractive and helpful to its
readers, has been done by the Publishers.
That this volume may awaken a new interest in that Life of lives, which
has brought the light of life to untold millions since it was lived upon
the earth: that the children of this generation, who are to become the
pillars of the coming years, may learn to love and follow Him who is the
Elder Brother and Saviour of us all, is the prayer of the author of
these pages.
Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
August 28, 1915.
Contents
PAGE
PREFACE 3
WHY EVERYBODY SHOULD KNOW THE STORY OF JESUS 9
CHAPTER
1. THE LORD'S LAND 17
2. THE PEOPLE IN THE LORD'S LAND 24
3. THE STRANGER BY THE GOLDEN ALTAR 31
4. THE ANGEL VISITS NAZARETH 37
5. A YOUNG GIRL'S JOURNEY 45
6. THE BOY WHO NEVER TASTED WINE 50
7. THE CHILD-KING IN HIS CRADLE 55
8. THE BABY BROUGHT TO THE TEMPLE 63
9. THE FOLLOWERS OF THE STAR 66
10. SAFE IN EGYPT 73
11. A CHILD'S LIFE IN NAZARETH 77
12. THE BOY LOST AND FOUND 85
13. THE YOUNG WOODWORKER 93
14. THE VOICE BY THE RIVER 97
15. THE CARPENTER LEAVES HIS SHOP 103
16. ALONE IN THE DESERT 107
17. THE EARLIEST FOLLOWERS OF JESUS 115
18. THE WATER TURNED TO WINE 121
19. THE LORD IN HIS TEMPLE 127
20. AT THE OLD WELL 132
21. THE NOBLEMAN'S BOY 139
22. THE CARPENTER IN HIS HOME-TOWN 143
23. FOUR FISHERMEN CALLED 149
24. JESUS IN THE CHURCH, IN THE HOUSE, AND IN
THE STREET 153
25. THE LEPER AND THE PALSIED MAN 157
26. HOW THE TAX-COLLECTOR BECAME A DISCIPLE 163
27. THE CRIPPLE AT THE BATH 167
28. THE LORD OF THE SABBATH 171
29. JESUS ON THE MOUNTAIN 175
30. THE GOOD ARMY CAPTAIN 181
31. HOW JESUS STOPPED A FUNERAL 183
32. THE SINFUL WOMAN FORGIVEN 189
33. JESUS AND HIS ENEMIES 192
34. THE STORY-TELLER BY THE SEA 195
35. MORE STORIES TOLD BY THE SEA 199
36. SAILING ACROSS THE SEA 205
37. THE SICK WOMAN MADE WELL, AND THE DEAD
GIRL BROUGHT TO LIFE 211
38. SIGHT TO THE BLIND AND VOICE TO THE DUMB 216
39. TWELVE PREACHERS SENT OUT 218
40. A DANCE; AND HOW IT WAS PAID FOR 223
41. THE BOY WITH HIS FIVE LOAVES 227
42. HOW THE SEA BECAME A FLOOR 233
43. THE BREAD OF LIFE 235
44. JESUS IN A STRANGE COUNTRY 239
45. IN THE LAND OF THE TEN CITIES 242
46. AGAIN ON THE SEA OF GALILEE 246
47. THE GREAT CONFESSION 249
48. THE VISION ON THE MOUNTAIN 255
49. THE BOY WITH THE DUMB SPIRIT 259
50. THE LAST VISIT TO CAPERNAUM 262
51. GOOD-BYE TO GALILEE 267
52. PASSING THROUGH SAMARIA 271
53. THE SCRIBE'S QUESTION; AND MARY'S CHOICE 275
54. JESUS AT THE FEAST OF TENTS 281
55. JESUS AND THE SINFUL WOMAN 285
56. THE BLIND MAN AT THE POOL OF SILOAM 290
57. THE GOOD SHEPHERD 296
58. SENDING OUT THE SEVENTY 300
59. LAZARUS CALLED OUT OF HIS TOMB 303
60. JESUS PREACHING IN PEREA 311
61. IN THE CHURCH AND AT THE FEAST 317
62. ON COUNTING THE COST 321
63. SEEKING THE LOST 324
64. THE PARABLE OF THE LOST SON FOUND 328
65. THE PARABLE OF THE DISHONEST STEWARD 333
66. A PARABLE FOR THE LOVERS OF MONEY 336
67. TWO PARABLES UPON PRAYER 339
68. THE LITTLE CHILDREN; AND THE RICH YOUNG
MAN 341
69. THE WORKERS IN THE VINEYARD 346
70. THE BLIND MAN AT THE GATE 351
71. IN THE RICH MAN'S HOME AT JERICHO 353
72. THE ALABASTER JAR 357
73. PALM SUNDAY 362
74. MONDAY ON THE MOUNT AND IN THE TEMPLE 367
75. TUESDAY MORNING IN THE TEMPLE 371
76. THREE PARABLES OF WARNING 375
77. THE HEAD ON THE COIN 379
78. THE WOMAN WITH SEVEN HUSBANDS 382
79. THE GREATEST OF ALL THE COMMANDMENTS 385
80. THE GREATEST GIFT; AND THE STRANGERS
FROM AFAR 388
81. JESUS TELLING OF DARK DAYS TO COME 391
82. THE PARABLE OF THE TEN BRIDESMAIDS 395
83. THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS 398
84. THE LAST GREAT DAY 402
85. WASHING THE DISCIPLES' FEET 405
86. THE LORD'S SUPPER 410
87. THE VINE AND THE BRANCHES 412
88. THE LAST WORDS OF JESUS TO HIS DISCIPLES 416
89. IN THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE 421
90. JESUS BEFORE ANNAS 427
91. JESUS BEFORE CAIAPHAS 431
92. JESUS BEFORE THE ROMAN GOVERNOR 439
93. JESUS BEFORE HEROD 442
94. JESUS SENTENCED TO DEATH 445
95. JESUS LED TO CALVARY 453
96. JESUS ON THE CROSS 459
97. THE TOMB IN THE GARDEN 465
98. THE RISEN CHRIST AND THE EMPTY TOMB 469
99. JESUS AND MARY MAGDALENE 475
100. A WALK WITH THE RISEN CHRIST 479
101. TWO SUNDAY EVENINGS WITH THE RISEN CHRIST 483
102. THE BREAKFAST BY THE SEA 487
103. JESUS RISING UP FROM EARTH TO HEAVEN 493
Why Everybody Should Know the Life of Christ
THERE HAVE been many famous men in this world, and every one wishes to
know who they were and why they are called great. In almost every city
in America may be seen a statue of George Washington, or Abraham
Lincoln, or Benjamin Franklin, or General Lee, or General Grant.
Whenever you see one of these statues, you ask--if you do not know
already--who this man was and why his statue has been set up. In Canada,
every house has on the wall a portrait of the great and good Queen
Victoria, and when a child sees it he wishes to know something of her
life and her greatness. You see pictures of a man standing on the deck
of a ship, or going ashore under palm trees on an island, and are told
that he is Christopher Columbus--and every child in America knows
something of his story. Men like Napoleon Bonaparte, and Julius Caesar,
and Alexander the Great, are written about, and talked about; and every
child should know who these men were and why they are famous.
Did you ever think that there is one man who has been talked about, and
written about, and sung about, more than any other man in all the world;
and that man is Jesus? For one book telling of Washington, or Napoleon,
or Columbus, there are hundreds of books telling of Jesus. Every year at
least fifteen million copies of the Bible are printed and sent out into
the world, in every language spoken on this earth. Why does everybody
wish to have a Bible in his house? It is because that book tells of
Jesus. If the pages that tell of Jesus should be torn out of the Bible,
few people would care to have it or to read it.
There are more portraits of Jesus Christ, painted and drawn and printed,
than of any other man who has ever lived. Everybody knows the picture of
Jesus as soon as he sees it, whether it be of the baby Jesus in his
mother's arms, or the boy Jesus in the Temple, or the Saviour teaching,
or dying upon the cross. You do not need to be told which one in any
picture is Jesus--his face is so well known that you know it at once. No
other face among all the men who have ever lived from Adam the first man
down to today, is known to as many people as the face of Jesus. Then,
too, look in the hymn books of the churches and the song books of the
Sunday-schools, and see how many of the hymns and songs are in praise of
Jesus Christ. You do not find songs in praise of Julius Caesar, nor of
Christopher Columbus, nor even of George Washington. No one who gives it
thought doubts that the most famous man in all the world is Jesus
Christ; and because he is so famous and so great, every one should know
something of his life.
Then, too, everybody likes to hear stories of wonderful things. Even
though we know that they are not true stories, every one listens to
fairy tales and the stories of the "Arabian Nights." But how often, when
the story is ended, the child looks up to the story-teller's face and
says, "Is it all true?" Now, the story of Jesus is full of wonders. You
read of his turning water into wine when the guests at the feast needed
it, of his touching the eyes of a blind man and giving him sight, of his
speaking to the storm and bringing peace, of his walking upon the waters
in another storm to help his friends in danger, and, most wonderful of
all, of his coming out of his own tomb living, after he had died.
Wonderful indeed are the stories told of Jesus; and the greatest wonder
is that they are all true. You would like to hear those stories, I am
sure; and every child should know them and be able to tell them to
others.
Let me give you another reason why every one should know the story of
Jesus. He came to show us who God is, what God is to us, and how God
feels toward us. Every one, even every child, thinks of God and in his
heart wishes to know about God. How terribly some people have mistaken
God! They have thought of him as an enemy, not as a friend. You can see
in some countries images of a person with forty arms, and on every hand
something to kill a man with--a sword, a spear, an arrow, a club, a cup
of poison, or some other fearful thing--and that is the thought of God
in that land: a mighty being who hates men! In old times, many people
thought that their gods were pleased when men killed their own children
and burned their bodies on an altar as an offering to God. God saw all
over the earth that men had wrong and cruel thoughts of him; and he sent
his Son Jesus Christ to teach men by his words, and to show men in his
life what God is, how God feels toward us, and how we should feel toward
God. If Jesus had done no more for us than to teach us the Lord's
Prayer, beginning with the words "Our Father who art in heaven," he
would have done enough to make us love him. He showed people that God is
their Father, the Father of every one in all the world, and that as a
Father we may call upon him, just as any child can go to his father for
whatever he needs.
There was once an artist who was called upon to paint the portrait of a
good man. But the man had died ten years before; the artist had never
seen him, and there was no picture of him to be used as a copy. At first
the artist did not know what to do. Then a thought occurred to him.
"Is there no one," he said, "who looks like this man, so that I can see
him and know something of the man's face?"
"Why, yes," they answered. "He has left a son, a man grown, who looks
exactly like his father."
The artist studied the face of the son, and from it painted a likeness
of the father, whom he had never seen. No one has ever seen God, but if
we would know, not his face, which we cannot know, but his nature, how
kind, and loving, and helpful, and willing God is, we have only to think
of Christ; and if we know Christ, the Son of God, we know God, his
Father and our Father. For this reason, because in Jesus we may know
God, everybody should know about Jesus.
But Jesus came to this world, not only to show us what God is, but to
show us what we should be and how we should live. Whatever his work may
be, every one needs a copy which he can look at and follow. The child
who is learning to write must have a copy, so that he may know how to
shape his letters. The boy or girl learning to draw has a copy or a
model to guide him in his drawing. When a man is about to build a ship,
he first makes a model and then shapes his great ship exactly like it.
Perhaps you have heard the lines in Longfellow's poem, "The Building of
the Ship."
"In the shipyard stood the Master,
With the model of the vessel
That should laugh at all disaster,
And with wave and whirlwind wrestle."
Well, we are all builders. Each one of us, boy or girl, man or woman, is
building for himself what no one else can build for him: his character,
what he is to be, whether good or bad, whether wise or ignorant, whether
noble or selfish. And in building up ourselves we need a model, one
perfect man, on whom we can look and whose life we can copy. That model
we can find in Jesus. He lived our life, and in living showed us how we
should live. Even a little child may say, "Jesus was once a little
child; and I will try my best to be just such a child as he was." A boy
of twelve may think of Jesus as a boy and resolve to live as Jesus
lived. The young man, working in a shop, or office, or in the field, may
take Jesus the workingman for his pattern. When Jesus was on the earth,
he said many times, and to different people, "Follow me!" He says it to
every one of us. But if we are to follow Jesus and to be like him, the
best man that ever lived, we must study him, must know about his life,
must have every story of him in our mind and in our heart; and that is
another reason why every one should know the story of Jesus.
It is now almost two thousand years since Jesus lived on the earth and
walked among men. Since he came, the world has become a different world,
just as far as they have heard the story of Jesus and have learned to
follow him. People have become less selfish and more thoughtful of
others, more willing to help others, more generous in giving to others.
Think of all the homes for the poor, of all the hospitals for the sick,
of all the places where little children are cared for, of the
playgrounds, of the love shown at Christmas time, of ten thousand ways
in which the world is better. And then remember that all these good
things come from Jesus Christ and his love in the hearts of men. But for
Jesus, this would have been a dark world. The proof of this is that
these good things are to be seen only in the lands where Jesus is known
and loved and followed. Look at the lands where Christ is unknown and
you find them dark and sad. There is still much to be done to make this
a perfect world. We see terrible wars, and the poor still suffering
wrong, and many people still selfish and cruel to their fellow-men. What
can we do to make this a better and a brighter world? We can do as Jesus
did. It was said of him, "He went about doing good"; and that may be
said of us if we will follow Christ. But to make this world good, we
must know him who is its power for goodness; and that is another reason
why every one should know the story of Jesus.
Let me name only one reason more why we should know the story of Jesus:
through him we have what we need most of all--the forgiveness of our
sins. Suppose that someone who watches us all the time should keep a
list of every wrong-doing, of every fiery temper, of every angry word,
of every blow struck, of every time that one of us failed to do what is
right, of every time that one let pass a chance to do some good act to
another--what a long list it would be! There is such a list kept. An eye
that never sleeps sees every act, the eye of God; and he remembers all
our deeds, and the things left undone which we ought to have done. Is
there any way to have that list against us taken away, blotted out and
forgotten? Yes, there is one who can take our sins away and make the
black story of our life as white as snow. That one is Jesus Christ, the
Son of God. He can forgive our sins, as he forgave the sins of men while
he was on the earth; and he longs to have us ask him for forgiveness.
Should we not love him for this? And should we not wish to hear about
him and to know all the tender story of his love?
These, then, are some of the reasons why we should all seek to know the
story of Jesus: because he is the greatest and most famous man that ever
lived; because his story is full of interest and full of wonders, and is
true; because he came to show us how kind and loving God is, and how
willing to have us call upon him; because his life shows us a pattern
of what we may be and tells us how we may be like him; because Jesus has
made and is still making the world better, and brighter, and happier,
wherever he is known; and best of all, because through Jesus our Saviour
our sins may be forgiven and taken away, and we may be pure and holy as
Jesus was upon the earth.
With these thoughts and aims, this Story of Jesus has been written. May
it help many, young and old, to know Jesus better, to love him more, and
to follow him more closely!
[Illustration: PALESTINE IN THE TIME OF CHRIST
Copyright 1911, by W. A. Wilde & Co.]
The Lord's Land
CHAPTER 1
FIRST OF ALL, let us take a journey to the land where Jesus lived. We
will sail in one of the big ocean steamers across the Atlantic, heading
our prow a little to the south, and in eight days will pause at the Rock
of Gibraltar, which stands on guard at the gate of the Mediterranean
Sea. Do you know what "Mediterranean" means? It means, "among the
lands"; and when you look at this sea on the map, you see that it has
lands around it on every side, with only a narrow opening at Gibraltar,
where its blue waters pour into the Atlantic Ocean.
We will enter the Mediterranean Sea, and sail its entire length, past
Spain and France and Italy on the left. We just miss touching the toe of
Italy, for you know Italy runs into the sea like a great leg with a
high-heeled boot upon its foot. And just beyond Italy we sail by Greece,
which looks somewhat like a hand with fingers wide apart.
While we are passing by these lands on the left, we are also sailing
past Morocco and Algiers, and Tunis and Tripoli on the right. We stop at
Alexandria in Egypt, at one of the mouths of the river Nile, and soon
after we leave the big steamer at Port Said, where the great Suez Canal
begins.
There in the afternoon about ten days after our leaving America, we go
on board a smaller ship, and sail northward past the eastern shore of
the Mediterranean Sea. The next morning we awake to find our ship at
anchor in front of a city on a hillside, rising up in terraces from the
water.
That city is now called Jaffa, or Yafa; and it is the place where the
steamers stop to send ashore those who are about to visit the Holy Land,
for that is the name given to the land where Jesus lived. Do you
remember in the Old Testament the story of Jonah, the prophet who tried
to run away from God's call to preach in the city of Nineveh? Well, it
was from this city of Jaffa, then called Joppa, that Jonah started on
his voyage, which ended inside the big fish. Perhaps you remember also
the story of Dorcas, in the New Testament, that good woman who helped
the poor; and after dying was raised to life through the prayer of the
Apostle Peter. Dorcas too lived at Joppa; and they show the house where,
it is said, Peter stayed while he was visiting in that city.
[Illustration: The Mediterranean Sea]
Here at Jaffa or Joppa we end our long sea-voyage of about six thousand
miles. We go ashore in a small boat, tossing up and down on the waves,
for there is no wharf where a steamer can land its passengers. And now
we are standing on the soil of the Holy Land, where Jesus lived. In
Christ's time this land was called Judea. In our day its name is
Palestine.
It is a small country. If you will turn to the map of the United States,
and look at New Hampshire, you will see a state in form quite like
Palestine, and only a little smaller in size; for Palestine, or the Holy
Land, contains about twelve thousand square miles, and New Hampshire a
little more than nine thousand.
[Illustration: There is no real harbor at Jaffa. Steamers must anchor
some distance out, and passengers are landed by rowboats]
From Joppa we must go across Palestine if we would look at the part of
the land among the mountains where Jesus lived. We can now ride in a
railroad train, something that Jesus never saw while he lived on the
earth; or we can go in a carriage, or on a horse, or on the back of a
camel, as you will see some people riding, or in what they call "a
palankeen," which is something like a coach-body set not on wheels, but
between two pair of shafts, one in front, the other behind, and a mule
harnessed in each pair, so that the rider has one mule in front and the
other back of him.
As we ride over the land we notice that at first it is very level. This
part of the country is called "the Sea Coast Plain," and a plain it
surely is, almost as level as a floor. All around, you see gardens and
farms, orange trees and fig trees. If you could pluck one of these
golden oranges and taste it, you would find that it is one of the
sweetest and richest and juiciest that you have ever eaten, for the
Jaffa oranges are famous for their flavor. You ride between great fields
of wheat and rye and barley, for this Sea Coast Plain is a rich farming
land.
[Illustration: House of Simon, the tanner, in Joppa, where Peter stayed
while visiting in that city]
But after a few miles, ten or fifteen, we notice that we have left the
plain and are winding and climbing among hills. In place of the
farm-lands, we see here and there flocks of sheep with shepherds
guarding them just as the boy David watched over his flock three
thousand years ago. Indeed, in our journey we might pass over the very
brook where David found the round, smooth stones, one of which he
hurled with a sling into the giant Goliath's forehead. This is the
region of low hills, the foothills of the higher mountains beyond. It is
called "the Shephelah," a name not easy to remember. In the Old
Testament days, many battles were fought on these hills between the
Israelites and the Philistines, their fierce enemies.
[Illustration: A saddled camel]
These foothills of the Shephelah are not many miles wide; and beyond
them we come to the real Mountain Region of Palestine. Mountains rise on
every hand, bare, stony, with scarcely any soil upon their steep sides,
and with not a tree to be seen for miles. They are rocky crags, with
here and there a village perched on their summits or clinging to their
walls. This mountain land, more than the hills and plains below, was the
home of the Israelites, the people from whom Jesus came. We wonder how
they could ever have found a living in such a desolate land; but
everywhere we see the ruins of old cities, showing that once the land
was filled with people. In those times, two thousand and more years ago,
all these mountain-sides, now bleak and rock-bound, were covered with
terraces, where grew olive trees, fig trees and vineyards; where gardens
blossomed and great crops were raised to feed the people. Even now in
the spring and early summer, the valleys between these mountains are
covered with flowers of every color. Scarcely another land on earth has
as many wild flowers as this land of Palestine. This mountain-belt,
running from the north to the south throughout the land was the part of
Palestine where nearly all the great men of Israel lived and died. Here
among the mountains in the south is Bethlehem, where Jesus was born. In
a mountain village in the north, Nazareth, was the home of Jesus during
nearly all his life; and over these mountains everywhere in the land,
Jesus walked in the three years of his preaching and teaching.
We pass over these mountains from east to west, and then from the
heights we look down to a valley which runs north and south, the deepest
in all the world, where we can see a little river with many windings,
and rapids and falls, rolling onward to drop at last into a blue lake in
the south. This river, as you know, is the Jordan, crossed by the
Israelites when they first came to this land; the river where Naaman
washed away his leprosy, where Elijah struck the waves with his mantle
and parted them, and in whose water Jesus was baptized.
We journey across this Jordan valley, from ten to twenty miles wide, and
then we climb again high and steep mountains. This region is called the
Eastern Table Land, because the mountains gradually sink down to a great
desert plain on the east. Here we see the ruins of once great cities,
where now only a few wandering Arabs pitch their tents.
We have now crossed the land of Palestine, and we have found that it
contains five parts lying in a line: first, the Sea Coast Plain; second,
the Shephelah, or foothills; third, the Mountain Region; fourth, the
Jordan valley; and fifth, the Eastern Table Land.
But we must keep in mind that the land when Jesus lived there was very
different from the land as we see it. Now it is a poor land; then it was
rich. Now its villages are made of miserable mud-houses, where live
people who look half starved; then it was a land of well-built towns and
happy people. Now we find roads that are mere tracks over the stones;
then there were good roads everywhere. Now the hills rise bare and
rocky; then they were covered with gardens. Now scarcely a tree can be
seen in miles of travel; then the olive and the vine and the palm grew
everywhere. We see the land in its ruin; Jesus saw it in its riches.
[Illustration: The valley of Gehenna, to the east of Jerusalem]
The People in the Lord's Land