J. H. Ingraham

“ Speak, and let them perish at thy divine command!'
"'Nay, my son. I am come into the world for this hour,' answered Jesus. 'This, also, is a part of my mission from my Father. It becomes me to endure all things, even death.'
"'You cannot die, my Lord,' said Æmilius warmly. 'Did I not see thee raise Lazarus from the tomb?'
"'To die I came into this world, but not for myself. I lay down my life, and I can take it again. These men could have no power over me except my Father did grant it to them. ”

“ Do homage, all men, to Cæsar! This is the great Tiberius, Emperor of Nazareth! Behold his glittering crown! Mark his royal robes and see his dazzling sceptre! Bend the knee, bend the knee, men of Judah, before your king!"
When Pilate saw this spectacle and heard these words, he trembled and was heard to say:
"Either this man or I must perish! These Jews are become madmen with rage and demand a sacrifice. One of us must fall!"
Oh, that I could write all I feel! But I am compelled, my dear father, to end here.
Your affectionate child,
Adina. ”

“ If thou art not an impostor, do a miracle before us all, and we will believe in thee!"
Jesus remained motionless, yet preserved a firm and majestic countenance.
"He is a deceiver! He performed his works through Beelzebub, who has now deserted him!" cried the priests.
"Nazarene," said Herod, "I am a Jew also. If thou wilt prove to me by a sign that I will name, that thou art the Christ, I will not only become thy follower, but will let thee go free. Thy silence is an insult to my power. Thou seest yonder marble statue of Judas Maccabeus. ”

“ I beckoned to Peter to be motionless, and he gazed with me in speechless astonishment and admiration upon the form of the angel, from whose glorious face was emitted the radiance which illumined the place where Jesus was. As the angel raised Jesus from the ground, we saw that his divine countenance was convulsed with anguish, and upon his brow stood great shining drops of sweat, mingled with blood, which oozed from his pallid temples and, rolling down his marble cheeks, dropped to the ground. Never had we beheld a human visage so marred by sorrow, so deeply graven with the lines of agony. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Here a tall, richly-attired Greek addressed Rabbi Amos, saying:
"Sir, tell me who that youthful Jew is, whose countenance is stamped with firmness and benevolence so finely combined in its expression; whose air possesses such dignity and wisdom; whose noble eyes seem filled with a holy sadness, and whose glance is full of innocence and sweetness. He seems born to love men and to command them. All seek to approach him. Pray, sir, who is he?"
"That, O stranger, is Jesus of Nazareth, the Jewish Prophet," answered Uncle Amos, delighted to point him out to a foreigner. ”

“ Hast thou no answer to make? Behold how many things they witness against thee!"
Pilate spoke as if he had taken a deep interest in Jesus, and would give him an opportunity of defending himself.
"He hath perverted the nation; a most pestilent and dangerous fellow!" exclaimed Caiaphas. "He is a blasphemer above all men!"
"I have nothing to do with your religion. If he hath blasphemed your gods, take ye him and judge him according to your laws," answered Pilate.
"Thou knowest, O noble Roman, that we have no power to execute to the death, therefore do we accuse him before thee." ”

“ Death to the necromancer!" were the terrible words which now made the hall tremble.
"See the whirlwind thou hast raised, O Nazarene!" cried Herod, rising. "If thou art a prophet, no harm can they do thee; and if thou art an impostor, if they kill thee thou deservest thy fate! I give thee up into their hands! Save thyself, if thou be the Christ!"
Scarcely had Herod spoken these words, relinquishing Jesus into the hands of his foes, than with a savage cry, as the famished jackals in the desert rush upon their prey, they rushed upon their victim. ”

“ I never saw Galilee!'
"'Thy speech betrayeth thee, now thou hast spoken!' cried the woman; 'thou art a Galilean, and thy name is Simon Bar-Jona. I know thee well, and how, three years ago, you and your brother Andrew left your nets to follow this Nazarene!'
"'May the thunders of Horeb and the curse of Jehovah follow me, if what thou sayest be true, woman. Thou mistakest me for some other man. I swear to you, by the head of my father, men and brethren, that I never saw his face before! I know not the man!'
"As he spoke," said John, "he cast his angry looks towards the place where Jesus stood. ”

“ His eyes beam with a light, calm and pure, as if shining from interior holy thoughts, and they rest upon you, when he speaks, with a tenderness that is like the dewy light of the young mother's gaze, when she bends in silent happiness and tears over the face of her first-born. His face is one soft sunshine of smiling rays, [Pg 13] tempered in an indescribable manner with a settled look of sadness, an almost imperceptible shade of permanent sorrow, that seems to foreshadow a life of trial and suffering.'
"'He must be another prophet,' said Joseph, with deep earnestness. ”

“ Such is our Messias!" exclaimed Saul.
"Yes, it is a Christ of power and dominion who is to redeem Israel," added Gamaliel; "not an unknown young man, scarcely thirty years of age, who came from whence no one knoweth, and hath gone as he came. As for the Christ, we shall know whence he cometh!"
At hearing this great and good man thus discourse, dear father, my heart sank within me, for Lazarus had already told us that his friend Jesus was of humble birth, a carpenter's son, and his mother a widow; that he had known him from boyhood, but known him only to love him. ”

“ While I was writing the above, a commotion without drew me to the lattice, which overlooks the street that goes out of the gate to Bethany, one of the most frequented thoroughfares in the city. The sight that met my eyes was truly imposing, but made my heart sink with shame. It was a pageant, with banners, eagles, trumpets and gilded chariots, but not the pageant of a king of Israel, like those which dazzled the streets of Jerusalem in the days of Solomon and King David; not the triumphant passage of an Israelitish prince, but of the Roman governor. ”

“ Jesus answered, with a dignity truly regal in its bearing; for all the time, bound and marred as he was by the hands of his enemies, pale with suffering and with standing a sleepless and fearful night upon his feet, exposed to cold and to insults, yet he had a kingly air, and there seemed to float about his head a divine glory, as if a sunbeam had been shining down upon him.
"Thou thyself hearest him!" exclaimed Caiaphas, standing upon the threshold of the Judgment Hall of the Gentile governor, which he would not enter for fear of defilement. ”

“ All I knew was what my eyes just beheld—that Jesus our Prophet, our King, our Messias, on whom all our hopes and the joy of Israel rested, was dragged a prisoner through the streets, helpless and without a helper. I trembled with I knew not what unknown forebodings. Suddenly Adina cried:
"'He cannot be harmed! He cannot die! He is a mighty Prophet, and has power that will strike his enemies dead. Let us not fear. He has yielded himself only the more terribly to defeat and destroy his foes. We will not fear what Pilate or the priests will do! ”

“ When Martha had come near Jesus, whom she met just entering Bethany, walking with four of his disciples along the dusty road, and looking weary and travel-worn, she ran and threw herself at his feet, crying:
"Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died!"
Jesus taking her hand raised her up, and said with emotion, for he seemed deeply moved by her grief:
"Death to those whom my Father loveth is sleep. The good die not! Lazarus is not dead, but sleepeth, and he shall rise again!" ”

“ Every voice was hushed as that of Jesus rose clear and sweet, and thrilling like a celestial clarion speaking. And he preached, dear father, a sermon so full of wisdom, of love to man, of love to God, of knowledge of our hearts, of divine and convincing power, that thousands wept; thousands were chained to the spot with awe and delight, and all were moved as if an angel had addressed them. They cried, "Never man spake like this man!" ”

“ 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." ”

“ The dark cloud of sacrifice ascends in solemn grandeur, and, sometimes heavier than the evening air, falls like a descending curtain around the Mount, till the whole is veiled from sight; but above it is seen to soar the purer incense to the invisible Jehovah, followed by a myriad eyes, and the utterance of a nation's prayers. As the daylight faded, the light of the altar, hidden from us by the lofty walls of the outer court of the Temple, blazed high and beacon-like, and lent a wild solemnity to the towers and pinnacles that crowned Moriah. ”

“ We all hung back with adoring awe, and alone he proceeded onward, a wide space being left by us between ourselves and him. Yet there was no terror in the glory which surrounded and shined out from him, but rather a holy radiance, that seemed to be the very light of holiness and peace.
"So looked he," said John to us, "when we beheld him transfigured in the mount with Elias and Moses." ”

“ Verily fear and a snare are come upon us—desolation and destruction, O my father! We know not which way to turn. He in whom we trusted has proved as one of us, weak and impotent, and has suffered death without power to save himself. He that saved others could not escape the death of the Roman cross! While I write, I hear the priest Abner, in the court below, mocking my Uncle Amos in a loud voice:
"Your Messias is dead! A famous great prophet, surely, you Nazarenes have chosen—born in a manger and crucified as a thief! ”

“ Not only Æmilius but John was now separated from him; but my uncle, the Rabbi stood near, in order to see what would follow, and to use his influence, if possible, to induce the chief priests to abandon the idea of killing him.
"Good Rabbi," said Jesus to him, "let them do with me what they list. My Father hath given me into their hands. I die, but not for myself. I can keep or yield up my life, as I will."
"Oh, then, dear Master!" cried my uncle, "why not save thyself? Why shouldst thou suffer all this, and death also, if thou hast the power over thy life?" ”

“ The expression of unutterable sorrow that remained pierced them to the heart. Lazarus, who had been so long his bosom friend, wept aloud. "Weep not! thou shalt see me another day, my friends," he said. "I now go to the wilderness, in obedience to the Spirit which guideth me thither. Thou shalt, after a time, behold me again. It is expedient for you that I go whither I go."
"Nay, but we will go with thee," said Lazarus, earnestly. "If thou art to endure evil, we will be with thee."
"There must be none to help. There must be none to uphold," he said firmly, but sadly. ”

“ This morning when I awoke at the sound of the silver trumpets of the priests, ringing melodiously from the top of Mount Moriah, I experienced anew that profound devotion which the children of Abraham must always feel in the city of God and in the presence of his very Temple.
It was a joyous morning to me, dear father, for Æmilius, the noble Roman Prefect, was this day voluntarily to present himself at the Temple to be made a proselyte to the holy faith of Israel. ”

“ Darkness covereth the earth, and gross darkness the people, as saith Esaias; but the Lord shall rise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. The Gentiles shall come to his light, and kings to the brightness of his rising. He shall be called the Lord of our righteousness, and shall be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. ”

“ We read that Messias is to be a king who will rule the whole earth!'
"'My kingdom, O ruler of the Pharisees, is not of this world. I am indeed a king, but of a spiritual kingdom. My kingdom, unlike earthly kingdoms, has no end, and those who enter it must be born again. If not, they cannot see or desire this kingdom.'
"'Born again!' answered Nicodemus, with surprise: 'how can a man be born a second time? O Rabbi, thou speakest in parables!'
"'Verily, verily, I say unto thee,' answered the Prophet, 'except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter my kingdom. ”

“ As I rode along, I felt as if I would gladly mount the Arabian of the desert and fly across the sandy seas of Edom, with the fleetness which amazes me whenever I see the children of the desert ride; for a band of thirty came boldly near us from a gorge as we approached Bethany, and after watching us a few moments, scoured away into the recesses of the hills like the wind, as a detachment of our Roman escort was ordered to gallop towards them. We were fortunate in having such strong protection. ”

“ 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 ”

“ When he saw the vast concourse of people with Caiaphas and the chief priests, and many rich Sadducees, with the leading men of Jerusalem in the advance, and Jesus, bound and disfigured by the insults he had undergone, and Æmilius and his few soldiers enclosing him with their protecting spears, and heard the loud voices of the multitude, as of wolves baying for the blood of a defenceless lamb, he stood with amazement for a few moments surveying the scene. ”

“ Now, my dear father, how wonderful is [Pg 23] all this! That a great Prophet is among us, cannot be denied. The star of John the Baptizer's fame dwindles into a glow-worm before the glory of this Son of God! That he will draw all men unto him, even into the wilderness, if he takes up his abode there, cannot be questioned. But all is mystery, awe, curiosity, wonder, and excitement just now.
May the God of our fathers' house come forth indeed from the heavens, for the salvation of his people!
Your devoted and loving,
Adina. ”

“ Men say, O Jesus, that thou art wiser than ordinary men; that thou canst do works of necromancy and art skilled in the subtle mysteries of astrology. I would question thee upon these things. Wilt thou read my destiny for me in the stars? If thou answerest well I will befriend thee, and deliver thee from thy countrymen who seem to howl for thy blood."
"My lord!" cried Caiaphas, furiously, "thou must not let this man go! He is a deceiver and traitor to Cæsar. I charge him and formally accuse him, before thy tribunal, with making himself king of Judea!" ”