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I can account for this only on the ground that they were not inspired on that point. Or they may have been wiser than the others, and be- lieved that a man is what he is, in and of himself, and not what his father or mother is or may have been. Matthew, however, as to the quarrel between Joseph and Mary, is sustained by the book of James {22), except that James supposed that Mary was with child by an angel. Moreover, if we follow the genealogy given by Mat- thew, Jesus was not a descendant of David. It is true, some blind men called him a son of David (23) ; and some people, amazed at a cure he effected, said, "Is not this the son of David ?" But Jesus made no reply. Now, while it is true that Isaiah, some seven hun- dred years before Jesus was born, made a prediction that "there should come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse," he also said that the wolf should dwell with the lamb, and the leopard lie down with the kid, and the lion eat straw like an ox. Yet twenty-six hundred years have slipped by since Isaiah made this prediction, and no part of his prophecy is yet fulfilled. (24) (21) Luke 1:26 to 35. (22) Protevangelium, ch. 14; Matt. 1, v. 18 to 20. (23) Matt. 9:27; Luke 18:28; Matt. 12: v. 23. (24) But Isaiah probably did not write Chapter 11. A QUESTION OF MIRACLES 49 He also said a virgin should conceive and bear a son : but he spoiled its application to Jesus, because he declared that the son so born must eat butter and honey, that he might know to refuse the evil and choose the good. (25) Section 5. Let us dismiss prophecy as something bordering on the miraculous: for how can any sane person believe that the most pure saint that lives, or ever lived, can or could look seven hundred years into the future, and tell the happenings of that coming day ? If there ever were such things in the world as prophecy or fortune-telling, — for they both travel the same road, — and if they were good things for the people twenty- six hundred years ago, they are probably good today. Moreover, were there never any prophets outside of Palestine, and the Hebrews? Are there not the same needs of prophets today as ever? Or did the volume of mystery close for good when the angel announced to Mary that she should bring forth a son? But even prophecies do not always turn out as announced : for no rod has as yet come out of the stem of Jesse : unless Luke and Matthew are both mistaken. Even angels are not always true prophets. For Luke's angel who foretold that the Lord would give to Mary's son the throne of his father, David, did not hit the mark. The throne was not given to him, but instead a crown of thorns. The dream and hope of all the (25) Ch. 7, Isaiah, has no possible application to Jesus. Even a strained construction will not make it apply to him. 50 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES Jews for generations had been that some great descend- ant of David, or some one of their kings, would arise, and not only punish their enemies but bring back the glories of David's or Solomon's reign. The Jews waited and looked for a great earthly king, and not a great teacher to show them the paths of love, justice and mercy. The paternity of Jesus has been, and perhaps always will be, a disputed question. It is possible that its very mystery calls attention to him, and thereby to his gentle qualities of mind and heart However that may be, we are certain that his meekness and his love and charity for mankind can never be surpassed. CHAPTER IV. The Birth and Boyhood of Jesus. Section i. The birthplace or home of a truly great and extraordinary man is always of importance and interest to us. If near such a spot, we turn our foot- steps thither, and linger about it. If distant from it, we visit the place in imagination, and picture to our- selves, as best we can, the home and the country where the great soul towered above the people, as a lofty mountain towers above the valley at its base. Such a place is immortal in history; Shakespeare and the Avon will never be forgotten. Will Mt. Vernon and its canonized sleeper ever fade from the memory of men? And there is Nazareth, in the land of Zebulon, once so wicked that the enquiry was made, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" (i) But, O Nazareth, Galilee, and Palestine! thou art as immortal as the rock-ribbed hills. The love of a great soul has enshrined these names in all memories. Once in thy fury, Nazareth, thou didst thrust Him forth, and would have flung the great one headlong from a precipice to his destruction. But he escaped thy rage, (2) and has made that deed, and thy name, (1) John 1: V. 46. (2) Luke 4: v. 29. 51 52 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES known for all time, to the uttermost parts of the earth. Roll back, ye centuries! and let us see Nazareth nineteen hundred years ago. (3) Here on an elevated plateau, on the side of a hill, is a small village of probably less than two thousand souls. Its population is made up of Jews, Arabs, and Phoenicians, with a generous sprinkle of Greeks. At this period these Nazarenes were so utterly secluded and unknown that no mention had ever been made of them in history. Even the Old Testament is silent about them. These Nazarenes speak a Syrian Dialect, the language of Palestine. The streets of this village, with hardly a shade tree, are crooked and narrow ; its houses are flat-roofed, small, unfloored, irregular and squalid. Chairs they have none; they squat or recline upon the earth, or on a mat. Their tables are simply dressed skins, laid upon the ground, sometimes on a low stool. Knives and forks are unknown to them, and for plates they use thin, round cakes, made of coarse material. They were but little more advanced in civilization than were our Indians one hundred years ago. If we ascend one of the higher hills, and look off to the southeast, we shall see Mount Tabor about six miles distant, and yonder, dimly outlined against the western sky, is Mount Carmel, whose base is lashed by the waves of the Mediterranean. Jerusalem, on the (3) The chronology of the Christian era should hare been dated four years earlier. A QUESTION OF MIRACLES 53 borders of Benjamin, is yonder to the south, sixty or seventy miles beyond our vision. Schools, such as we have today, were not known in Palestine nineteen hundred years ago ; nor in any part of the earth. In Nazareth, as everywhere in Pales- tine, the synagogue was the place where the sons of the seers, and the great men, met to study the Thora. (4) The instruction was oral, the children standing in a row; whereupon the teacher recited a line, and they repeated it and repeated it after him, until they learned it by heart. Buddha, five hundred years be- fore this, was taught the laws of Manu in the same way. (5) Section 2. From this sleepy, poverty-stricKen mountain village of Nazareth, a great and incompar- able man is to come forth. Joseph and Mary are there ; and Jesus is there with them. All his life he is called "Jesus of Nazareth." Here in Nazareth he grows from babyhood to boyhood — "Turning to mirth all things of earth As only boyhood can." Here, undoubtedly, Jesus played marbles, and ran foot races with the little boys of this mountain village. And if he could say in his mature years, "Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not," he surely must have loved them when he himself was a child. Perhaps when he was in the Synagogue, some (4) The Law of Moses. The Pentateuch. (6) John, ch. 7., v. 15, saya Jesua was not learned. 54 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES larger boy scratched him or struck him, and we won- der whether as a boy lie was ready to turn the other cheek to be smitten also. (6) If there was a creek or a pond nearby, he no doubt went in swimming with his playmates, and had a fine time. For somewhere he became very expert in aquatic sports, as later it is said he actually could "walk upon the water." (7) Joseph, this boy's father, or stepfather, was a car- penter ; and the boy, no doubt, often picked up shavings and blocks for the family fire. We can believe that he frequently ran errands for his mother; brought water from the spring or well; and as the boys of Nazareth all ran about bare-footed, Jesus was probably often ordered to wash his feet before going to bed. This little boy, all unconscious of the mighty destiny before him, may sometimes have trudged over the mountains to Lake Gennessaret.