Jesus of Nazareth : his life for the young

Front matter

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THE WEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

HIS LIFE FOR THE YOUNG

Chapter I. Page The Song Of The Angels

Falling Stars — The Angel Vision neither a Dream nor a Fable — The Shepherds could not have invented such Words — No Jew would have thought of a SaAiour for All Men alike 3

Chapter II. Bethlehem And The M.\nger

Site of Bethlehem — Flocks kept in the Fields at Night — The Angels' Song — The Inn and the Manger described — The Crowd at Bethlehem —The Bu-th of Jesus 9

Chapter III. The Name Jesus

The Name ready for the Babe — Nazareth described — Mary and Joseph — The Annunciation — Mary's Modesty and Prudence confirm her Story

— Her Song — How the Visit of the Angel became known . . .15

Chapter IV. The Prophecies Fulfilled

Handel's Messiah — The Flattery of Eastern Kings — The Prophet Isaiah

— The Hebrews never gave Divine Honors to a King— The Christ Child promised, and Bethlehem foretold as his Birthplace — How this Prophecy was fulfilled 23

Chapter V. Jesus Taken To The Temple

A Baptism in Switzerland — How Mary looked and felt — From Bethlehem to Jerusalem — Simeon's Blessing — Mary's Modesty and Faith — The Sistine Madonna 29

Vill CONTENTS.

Chapter VI. Page The Wise Men From The East

Where was the East? — Who were the Magi? — Daniel and the Jews at Babylon — New Stars — Periodical Stars — Kepler's Discovery — God's Use of Nature in the Rainbow — The Star not a Miracle — Matthew only reports the Story of the Magi — Legends and Pictures of the Wise Men — Their Toiab at Cologne — Moral of the Story . . 37

Chapter VII. A Chapter Of Wonders

The Love of Wonders Natural, but often abused — Faith a Real Faculty — Should be educated — Bible not a Book of Wonders — How to know True Miracles — The Wonders of Jesus' Birth were natural to such a Character 52

Chapter XI. Jesus At School

Teaching in a Jewish Family — Proverbs about Schools — A Syrian School

— Colleges in Judasa- What Paul studied — What Jesus learned — The School of Nature — The School of Work — Trades among the Jews 75

CONTENTS. ix

Chapter XII. Page

THK CHILD LOST AND FOUND.

lioys of Twelve taken to the Temple — Great Crowds at the Tassover — The Caravans — Mode of Travelling — How Jesus was lost — The Search for Him — The Rabbis in the Tejuple — Mode of Teaching — Hoys as Pupils — Jesus and his Mother— His Heavenly Father — Jesus goes Home to Nazareth H'2

CHAPTER Xni.

THE BAPTISM OF JESUS.

The River Jordan — Baptism among the Jews — John the Baptist — His Mode of Life — The Messiah expected — John's Modesty — Jesus baptized by Jolin — The Holy Dove 91

Chapter XIV. Jesus Ln The Desert

The Wilderness of Judea — How did Jesus fast"? — "Was this a Miracle? The Jews' Notion of then- JNIessiah — How Satan tempted Jesus — The Pangs of Hunger — Shipwreck, Siege of Paris, Famine in Persia, Siege of Jerusalem — Jesus uses the Bible against Satan — He is an Example for us — The Temptation to Show and Applause — Tempting God — Presumption may sin against Providence — The Temptation of Ambition — View from the Mountain — The Promise of Satan — The Triumph of Jesus — How Satan acted upon his Mind — God helped Jesus as Jesus helps us. — Note: Examples of Long Abstinence; Possibility of living without Food for Ten, Twenty, Thirty, Forty, and even Six.ty Days <J8

Chapter XV. Jesus Begins His Work

He returns to John — John points him out as the "Lamb of God" — Andrew, Peter, and John follow Him — The Call of Philip and Nathanael — They set out for Galilee — How Jesus drew them to Himself , . 115

Chapter XVI. How Did Jesus Look?

Did Luke paint his Portrait? — His Features as a Jew — Power of his Eyes 124

CONTENTS.

Chapter XVII. Page The Wedding Surprise

Jesus was not a Hermit — The Essenes — Jesus lived in the World as he found it — His Social Feeling — His Eeligion is Cheerful — A Jewish Wedding — Tlie Wine gives out — His Mother's Anxiety and Faith — The Reply of Jesus — His Order to the Servants — The Surprise of the Master and the Guests — Jesus a Friend to the Fainilv . . . .127

CHAPTER XVni.

THE WHIP.

Sacredness of the Temple — Form and Size of the Temple as rebuilt by Herod — Traffic in the Court of the Gentiles — The Authority of a Prophet — The Anger of Jesus — The People demand his Authority — He predicts his Resurrection 135

CHAPTER XIX. Christ's first pupil

Description of Jerusalem — Tlie Sanhedrim — The Pharisees — Nicodemus — His Honest Search for Truth— Why he was puzzled — Jewish Notion of the Kingdom of God — What it is to be born again . . . 143

Chapter XX. The Woman Of Samaria

Jerusalem after the Feast — Jesus retires to the Jordan— His Tribute to John the Baptist — His Journey to Samaria — Tlie Valley of Shecliem — Fountains and Rivulets — Jacob's Well — The Samaritans and their Religion — The Dislike between them and the Jews — Tlie Woman of Samaria — The Water of Life— The True Worship — "I am He" — Jesus teaches his Disciples to prepare for the Harvest — The Samaritans believe 151

Chapter XXI. Mob At Nazareth

Jesus goes again to Nazareth — Political Hopes of the .Tews — The Synagogue aud its Worship — His First Sermon — His Gracious Words — He reproves their Vanity — The Excitement and Rage of the People — The Fury of the Mob — How Jesus escaped 165

CONTENTS. XI

CHAPTER XXn.

PAGE HIS LIFE AT CAPERNAUM.

Jesus leaves Nazareth — Goes to the Home of his Disciples — The Lake ami Plain of Gennesaretli — Description of Capernaum — The Seat of Messiah's Kingdom — How Teachers were supported —Jesus preaches in Parables — His Discourse on the Bread of Life — His Social Life — His Disciples — The Honor of Capernaum — Hatred of the Pharisees — Unbelief of the People — Jesus leaves Capernaum — Its present Desolation — Beauty of the Lake 174

CHAPTER XXni.

SERMON ON THE MOUNT.

Jesus preached everywhere — Mount of Beatitudes — The Scene ; the Benedictions — How the Blessing comes — An Unhappy I'overty and a Blessed Poverty — The True Mourners — How Sorrow is Blessed — Meekness not ^yeakness nor Cowardice, but the Gentleness of Love — The Pangs of Hunger and Thirst; the True Hunger of the Soul — Giving and receiving Kindness — Who are the Merciful V — How Heaven is found on Earth — Pure in Heart — What it is to see God — Children of God — Why the World hates Peacemakers — The Blessing in Persecution 190

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE lord's prayer, AND THE GOLDEN RULE.

Harmony of Nature and the Bible — The Golden Rule approached by Confucius, Hillel, and Plato — The Lord's Prayer for All Men — How Prayer had been abused — Meaning and Beauty of the Lord's Prayer — It covers all Human Needs — Right Living must go with Right Praying — Unselfish Love — How God loves — The Golden Rule — Against Human Nature; "Tit for Tat" — Sin to be condemned, but the Sinner to be saved 209

CHAPTER XXV.

VISITS TO JERUSALEM.

Jerusalem under the Romans — People eager for a Deliverer — Contempt of Romans for Jesus — Religious Pride and Fanaticism — False Christs — Hatred of Scribes and Pharisees for Jesus — Attempts to stone Him — The Mob raised against Him — " O Jerusalem ! " . . 220

Xll CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXVI.

PAGE THE PARABLES OF JESUS.

Meaning and Use of Parables — His Discourses in John — Only Thirty Parables given — Kingdom of Heaven his Theme — Parable of the Sower — How the Kingdom maybe received — How it is rejected — The Prodigal — Parables on Prayer — Words of Mercy and of Warning 230

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE MIRACLES OF JESUS.

A Few only recorded — Reason should be used upon such Facts — Science changes its Language — Laws of Nature not Original Powers, or Causes — A Miracle may come from a Higher Sphere — Nature may be in the Hands of a Spiritual Power — Vastness of the Universe — May be Good Reasons why God should show his direct Power to Men — The Miracles of Jesus agree with his Character — The Evangelists were True Witnesses — Miracles upon Nature wrouglit directly by the tvill of Jesus — Power of Spirit over Matter — Miracles on the Bodies of Men — Power over Evil Spirits — Raising the Dead — Hia Miracles were open and for Good Ends — Why Miracles are not continued 242

CHAPTER XXVnL

THE TRANSFIGURATION.

The Life of Jesus a Wonder greater than his Miracles — Moses and Elijah wrought Miracles; but theirs was a Gift for the Time: the Power of Jesus was in and of himself — The Transfiguration — Fault in Raphael's Picture — Not a Dream nor Vision — Reality of the Scene as described — Its Moral Meaning — The Disciples were downcast at the Thought of Jesus' Death — Jesus joined Two Natures and Two Worlds — The Transfiguration a Key to the Old Testament and to the Future of the Church — It makes Heaven real as a Home — A View of Mont Blanc and the Tarantaise 257

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE FRIENDS OF JESUS.

From the Divine to the Human — Jesus as Healer, Consoler, Friend — His own Need of Friends — Some of his Disciples were Rich — Bethany described — Martha the Housekeeper, Mary the Ijearner; their Characters described — The Death of Lazarus — Jesus in the Family — Hia Love for Woman 269

CONTENTS. xiii

CHAPTER XXX.

PAOF, THE LAST JOURNEY.

Jesus widely known — His Patriotism — He visits Plirrnicia and the Countries East of ,J(jnlan — Cesarea Philippi; its Scenery, its History, its People, its Temples and T'alaoes — Jesns predicts his Death — Tlie Plots against Him — Crowds follow Him — Strength and Tenderness of his Preaching — His Moral Heroism — Worldly Ambition of his Disciples — The Blind Men at Jericho — Zaccheus — Jesus arrives at Bethany 278

CHAPTER XXXr.

HOSANNA IN THE HIGHEST.

False Ideas of Honor and Greatness — The Greatness of Virtue — Human Praises Fickle — The Crowds at Bethany to see Jesus and Lazarus — Jesus as King — Excitability of Orientals — The Multitude spread their Garments in the Way — Jesus weeps over Jerusalem — This Grief a Sign of his Character and his Missiim — His Entrance into the City and the Temple — Hosannas of the Children — The Place of Wailing, 202

CHAPTER XXXII.

JESUS THE CHRIST.

The Last Week — Jesus deals in Rebukes and Warnings — He denounces the Pharisees; answers the Herodians, Sadducees, and Lawyers — Jesus the True Christ, the Son of God — The Greeks would see Jesus — His Mission to the World to be fulfilled through his Death— The Conflict and Triumph of his Soul — The Voice from Heaven — The Word of Christ as Judge — The Destruction of Jerusalem, and the Day of Judgment 304

CHAPTER XXXIII.

THE LAST SUPPER.

Preparations for the Passover — The Passover a Fainily Feast — The Twelve were a Family to Jesus — He calls them "Friends" — Their Defects and Merits — True Principles of Reform — Jesus' Doctrine of Huinanity nobler than Science or Democracy — Manhood not Egotism, Brotherhood not Communism — He had I'ersonal Preferences among his Disciples — He uses Social Qualities for Moral Reforms — His Wisdom as Philosopher and Reformer — Jesus founded an Aristf)cra<\v of Cliaracter and a Democracy of Love — The French Convention, and tlie Christian Church — Jesus helps Men to rise — His Doctrine of

Xiv CONTENTS.

Unity — The Supper as a Memorial — Jesus as the Saviour — "We observe Birth-days, not Death-days ; but his Death crowns his Life — The Paschal Lauil) and the Living Bread — How Jesus and his Disciples sat at the Table — He washes their Feet — The Traitor — The Last Prayer and Promises of Jesus 319

CHAPTER XXXIV.

GETHSEMANE.

The Hyujn after the Supper — The Sad and Silent Walk down to the Kedron — The Mount of Olives and its Gardens — Jesus yearned for Sympathy, yet needed Solitude — God his onl3^ Solace — His First Prayer ; the Disciples sleeping — His Anguish was not Weakness nor Fear — He would not escape when he might — His Self-Control — Tlie Assaults of Satan through Nervous Prostration — He excuses the Weakness of his Disciples — His Prayer of Entreaty followed by Submission and by Victory — The Coming of the Band — The Calumess and Dignity of Jesus — Peter's Rashness — Jesus rests in his Divine Consciousness, and yields to his Father's Will — Dismay of his Disciples ; their Sudden Panic — Proofs of the Narrative from Internal Analysis — Contrasts of Gethsemane and the Cross — He suffered for us, and taught us how to sorrow and how to submit .... 388

CHAPTER XXXV.

THE JEWISH TRIAL,.

The Haste of the Sanhedrim — Office of High Priest — Annas and Caiaphas — Form of a Jewish House — The First Hearing before Caiaphas — His Dignified Bearing — John at the Palace — Peter's Temptation and Denial — Meeting of the Sanhedrim — The False Witnesses — Jesus avows himself the Christ, and predicts that he shall come as Judge— Was He not Divine? . - -"^

CHAPTER XXXVT.

PIXATB AND HEROD.

Judea then governed by Pontius Pilate — His Character and Rule — Pilate tries first to be just to Jesus; next, to get rid of the Case — Jesus avows himself a King, his Kingdom "not of this World "— Pilate acquits liim, then sends him to Herod 3(>4

CONTENTS. XV

CHAPTER XXXVII.

PAGE

JESUS, OK BARABBAS.

Pilate declares Jesus innocent, b\it lacks CouraRe to stand by the TA^ht — He vacillates, ami so puts himself in the Power of the Mob — A Choice between Jesus and Barabbas — Jesus is sc()urf,'ed, mocked by Soldiers — " The Sou of God " — The Mob demand his Death — " Let Him be crucified! " 373

CHAPTER XXXVin,

THE TRAITOR.

Remorse of Judas — He was not at first a Deceiver — His "Worldly Hopes disappointed — Yet he was shocked when Jesus was condemned — His Testimony to the Innocence of his Master 380

CHAPTER XXXIX.

THE LAST HOUR.

The Brutalities of a Crucifixion — Incidents of Pity — The Cup of Mj-rrh — Form of the Cross — Jesus sinks under his— The Change from Monday to Friday, from Triumph to Shame — The Wailins of the Women — Jesus Calm, Tender, and Dircnified — He is nailed to the Cross — "Father, forgive them" — The Inscription — The Thieves at his Side — His Mother and John — The Hour of Darkness — The Cry of Anguish — It is finished 383

CHAPTER XL.

HE ROSE FROM THE DEAD.

Life and Death Natural and L^niversal — a Resurrection not a Probable Event: still it is possible to God, and Moral Reasons may make it Credible — In viewing such Evidence we should be cautious but not cavilling — The Death of Jesus was a Wrong that required to be righted — Jesus believed that he should rise — Was this an Illusion? — His Resurrection was capable of being proved, if it really did take place — The Death and Burial of Jesus settled as Facts — The Fright of the Disciples made them forget his Promise — The Enemies of Jesus watched his Body — Absurd Notion that his Disciples would steal it — The Women came to the Tomb — Fright and Grief of Mary Magdalene — Coming of Peter and John — Mary and the Gardener — The Story of the Guard; its Evident Falsity — The Walk to Emmaus — A Scene in Spain in Times of Persecution — The Room at Jerusalem, with Jesus in the Midst — Jesus and Thomas — The Evidence xvi CONTENTS.

PAGE

reviewed — The "Witnesses not deceived nor deceivers — The Resurrection not a Myth — The Fact, and nothing else, accounts for the Narrative — Tlie Incidents of Mary and Thomas carry the E%'idence of their own Truth 394

CHAPTER XLI.

OKE LAST LOOK AND WORD.

Jesus revisits the Sea of Galilee, and Bethany — He retains his Human Feelings — Earth and Heaven united — The Apostles at the Lake — Peter and others go a-tisliing — Their Fruitless Toil — A Stranger on the Shoi"e encourages them to try again — Their Net is filled — John recognizes Jesiis — Peter jumps overboard, and s\vims to Him ; the Rest bring the Net — A Meal is ready — Jesus questions Peter, and probes him — Gives him his Commission, predicts his Death — Peter's Curiosity about John — Jesus reproves it — Each Disciple must stand in his own Lot 410

CHAPTER XLH.

IN THE HIGHEST.

The Ascension of Jesus a Necessary Sequel to his Resurrection — He could not, like Lazarus, return to the Grave — Why He did not vanish — Why He did not appear to the Sanhedrim — His Kingdom must rest upon Moral Authority — Scene of the Ascension — The Kingdom come 425

LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS.

PAGE

The Foctntain at Nazareth 67

The Youth of Jesus 72

An Oriental School 77

The Annual Journey to Jerusalem 82

John preaching in the Wilderness 93

The First Disciples 121

The Marriage at Cana 130

The Temple at the Time of Christ 136

Market in the Court of the Gentiles 139

Jesus clearing the Temple 141

"Destroy this Temple and in Thref, Days 1 will raise it up" . 142

The Pharisees 146

The Synagogue at Nazareth 167

They drag Jesus to the Brow of the Hill 171

The Maniac in the Tomtss 181

The Woman who touched His Garment 183

He eats with Pup>licans and Sinners 185

I WILL MAKE you FiSHERS OF MeN 186

The Widow who gave All that she had , . . 216

Jesus stoned at Jerusalem 226

Jesus preaching from a Boat 233

xvii xviii LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS.

PAOK

He set a Little Child in the Midst of them 270

Jesus heals Maky Magdalene 271

Maky hath chosen the Good Part 274

She anoints the Feet of Jesus 275

Jesus goes before them to Jerusalem 278

Temple at Panias 281

The Pity of Jesus for Sinners 285

" Let him that is Nvithout sin cast the first stone."

Jesus and Little Children 286

Blind Bartimbus 289

Zaccheus 290

Jesus leaving Bethany 295

Entry into Jerusalem 298

Children crying Hosanna 302

"Render unto C^sar the Things that are Cesar's" .... 308 "There shall not be left One Stone upon Another" . . . 31R

"Take, eat" 331

"One of you shall hetray Me" 333

" Let this Cup pass from Me " 342

The Arrest 347

Jesus before Caiaphas 357

I'ETER AT the FiRE 359

Jesus mocked in the Court 3Gi

Jesus before Pilate 3(37

"Not this Man, but Barabbas!" 375

The Scourging 376

Jesus mocked by the Soldiers 377

Jesus bearing His Cross 384

They cast Lots for His Vesture 389

The Hou« of Darkness 392

His Life for the Young.

JESUS OF NAZARETH.

Chapter I. The Song Of The Angels

One night, when I was a child, my mother roused me from sleep to show me a strange sight in the heavens, — the stars falling from the sky. All the neighbors were up, and at their windows or on the street, gazing with wonder and fear at a spectacle, the like of which they had never seen, and which nobody could account for. The stars fell so thick and fast that it seemed as if the whole sky was tumbling to the ground ; and, as some of the stars looked like balls of fire, many feared that the end of the world had come, and that ever}' thing would be burnt up. But such a shower of meteors is no longer a strange and startling sight: it may now be seen once or twice every year.^ Astronomers have taught us that it

^ Usually in August ; sometimes also iu November and in April.

has a natural cause ; and experience has shown that it brings no evil to the earth or its inhabitants. Even a child may look upon falling stars without fear, and with the same dehght with which he sees the northern lights flashing through the sky.

Long, long ago, there was seen at dead of night a sight in the heavens, more strange and startling than this of the falling stars. It was then beheld for the first time, and has never again been seen. No astronomer can explain it ; no natural cause can account for it. But though it filled those who witnessed it with awe and terror, so that " they were sore afraid,"^ instead of a warning of coming evil, it brought to them such a promise of peace and joy, as never before nor since was uttered in the ears of men. What they saw was not a shower of meteors dropping silently through the air, and vanishing in the distant darkness ; but living forms brighter than the brightest stars, hovering right around them, and singing in wondrous strains tliis heavenly song : " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men."^

This vision was no dream, fancy, or fable. It did not appear to one or two persons lying in their beds, as the forms of Christmas-trees, of birds, flowers, and angels, sometimes come to children in their sleep. It did not come as a fancy to the brain of a poet or a painter, like the 1 Luke ii. 9. ^ j^uke ii. 14.

THE SONG OF THE ANGELS.

beautiful images which we so often find in songs and pictures. It did not burst upon men suddenly awakened out of sleep, and too bewildered to trust their own eyes and ears. It came to shepherds who were accustomed to be awake all night, watching their flocks in the field; to men who could not easily be deceived or frightened by any thing that might appear to them in the open air, — men who were too simple-minded to make up such a story, and who showed their honesty in going at once to Bethlehem to find the child, and in telling all their townsmen what they had seen and heard. To us this should no longer seem so strange ; for the life of Jesus shows that the birth of this most wondrous Person was worthy to be so announced from heaven. But the story also carries its own proof in the message that the shepherds brought. The words which they reported from the angels were such as these humble rustics could never have imagined, and no human mind hud ever conceived, — peace and good-will among all men throug-hout the whole world, through the coming of a Saviour.

When we reflect that these men were Jews, who bore no good-Avill to the Romans who then ruled over them, who looked upon all foreign nations with contempt and bigotry, and who expected that their Messiah would come as a prince and a warrior, to give them independence, and make them the ruling nation of the world, — in one word, when we consider that these shepherds, because of the narrow and ignorant circle in which they moved, were so much the more likely to feel the bigotr}-- of their race and their religion, — we shall see how impossible it was for them to have imagined words so sublime as this promise of peace in all the earth, words so lovely as these tidings of good-will toward men and of joy to all people. It is easier to believe that angels brought the tidings, than that the simple shepherds, or the plain writers of the Gospels, made up such a song. The best hopes of the world depend upon its being a message from heaven. The words are a greater wonder than the way in which they are said to have been given. The theme belongs to heaven ; there is a ring to the words that is not of this world : and it is only when we take their tidings to be a promise from God, that we can make them real and true, and can find in them that comfort and hope for mankind that every one feels to be there.

Amid the sadness and sorrow that war, oppression, and crime had brought upon the world, the heathen poets had sighed for a golden age of peace and purity long ago lost, with a vague hope that the stars would bring it round again after thousands of years. But here is the promise of the gospel age of "peace and good-will" to begin at once, and to grow till it shall reach all men, and shall fill the earth. And with the promise of peace

THE SONG OF THE ANGELS.

was the means by which it should be brought about, — through a Saviour bringing good-will and teaching good-will to all men. We feel that shepherds and fishermen never made up thoughts and words so far above poets and philosophers. They could not have dreamed a dream so far above the Golden Age. They must have been taught from heaven, by the song of angels. Heaven alone could have foreseen that such universal peace and joy should spring from the birth of a little child, then "' lying in a manger." Heaven alone could have breathed such a blessing of good- will upon all the people of the earth.

At that time none but the Jews knew and worshipped the true God ; and yet the Jews, so far from making their knowledge of God a reason for loving their fellow-men and carrying God's love to them all u^ion equal terms, made this the rather a reason for sejDarating themselves from other people in pride and scorn, and almost in hatred. But this song of the angels put into the moutlis of these plain, ignorant, Jewish shepherds, the idea that all men should be brought to dwell together in peace and good-will, to the glory of one and the same God; and this through the coming of the Saviour, not to set up the Jews in a kingdom separate from other nations, and above them, but to bring to all people aUke the same "good tidings of great joy." It was for this that "the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord

JESUS OF nazaiip:th.

shone round about them." ^ It was for this that the still air was stirred with that wondrous song, as " a multitude of the heavenly host " swept down from the skies to bless the earth, then back to heaven, to give "Gloky to God in the highest."

CHAPTER IT.

BETHLEHEM AND THE JLAJSTGER.

Upon the map of Palestine, about six miles south of Jerusalem, is Bethlehem ; known also as the " City of David," because here the famous king and poet of Israel was born. The town is built upon a long, narrow ridge, which rises three hundred feet above the level of Jerusalem. In the neighborhood are the great reservoirs made by Solomon, to collect the water of the springs and the rain, which was then conveyed to the capital by an aqueduct.

Though Jerusalem is so near, it is hidden from Bethlehem by the hills ; but about half-way between the two cities there is a fine view of both from the ridge crowned by the convent of Mar Elias. We should not call Bethlehem any thing more than a village : it has barely three thousand inhabitants, and consists of but a few score of houses packed closely together, somewhat in the form of a triangle, with crooked, narrow streets ; the whole surrounded by a stone wall, the circuit of which one could make on foot in less than an hour. But there is a charm in the situation of

Bethlehem : standing alone, it commands such fine views of the hills and valleys around, especially on the east, lookingtoward the mountains that border upon the Dead Sea. Here, below the terraced gardens of figs and vines that wind around the hill, are fair open fields that sloj)e away to a lovely valley, which with its "weaving grain, and its little groves of olives and pomegranates, wears the aspect of an Oriental garden.

The farmers in Palestine do not, as in the United States, live alone in houses wide apart ; for the roving bands of robbers, and the frequency of wars in Eastern countries, make it unsafe to live away from a settlement. But they have their homes together in villages and towns, where at night the wall or a guard gives protection ; and by day they go out, often to a distance of miles, to till the ground. The land is not divided off by fences into separate fields, but stones are set up here and there as landmarks between one man's property and another's. Hence there are no enclosed pastures, as in New England, for sheep and cattle ; but these are kept in the open fields, and must be watched over by men and dogs, to keep them from straying, and to defend them from robbers and beasts of prey. At night the sheep are driven into a common fold within tlie walls of the town. Each shepherd calls his own sheep by name, and " they know his voice, and follow him ; " ' but in mild weather they are