"Lord, trouble not thyself; for I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof; wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee; but say the word and my boy shall be healed."

He added that he was familiar with the obedience of soldiers and slaves, and quite confident that the powers of healing would likewise obey their master's word. Doubtless he knew of the healing of the courtier's son, five months before, at Capernaum by a word spoken at Cana; and also of the raising of the little daughter of Jairus. His beautiful humility and confidence gave Jesus a thrill of pleasure. He marvelled, and notwithstanding he knew the man to be both a soldier and slave-holder, he turned and said to the multitude following him:

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Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.”

He further spoke of it as a token of the incoming of the Gentiles. Then said he to the messengers:

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Go and tell him, As thou hast believed so be it done unto thee."

And they, returning to the house, found the slave boy perfectly healed.

rest.

The hour was now late. Jesus was tired and needed The stir and the work of the last two days, with the vigil of the intervening night, had wearied him. He turned and sought his home, from which he had been absent for nearly a month. We may imagine the pleasant greetings, the questions asked and kindly answered, the simple supper of bread and wine, then Jesus retiring to rest in the little dormitory reserved for him, and sleeping.

So closes this notable day.

I

XIII

THE SECOND TOUR BEGUN

T is quite probable that the pharisaic spies, after conspiring with the Herodians, had gone to Caper

naum, and were lying in wait for Jesus. He, hearing

of their presence, and wishing to avoid conflict with them, resolved at once to leave home, and enter upon a second tour of Galilee. Accordingly, early the next morning, he summoned the twelve and departed. To evade a following, they took boats on the lake, and sailed nearly to its southern end, and thence walked some twelve miles to Nain.

Nain, now a hamlet on the northwestern slope of little Hermon, was then a considerable town. It is approached from the east by a narrow road winding around the north side of the mount. Not far from the hamlet are still to be seen holes in the rock of the steep roadside, the ancient deposits for the dead. There can be no doubt that between these tombs and the hamlet is the where the following event took place.

very spot

As Jesus, with his disciples and a multitude which soon gathered, came near the town, he was met by a funeral train. Death had entered the town before him, and had struck its heaviest blow. On the bier lay his trophy, a young man, the only child of his mother, and she was a widow. Jesus also was a young man, the only child of his mother, and she was a widow. And both

shall rise from the dead. For Jesus, moved with compassion, said tenderly to the weeping mother:

"Do not weep."

Then he laid his hand upon the bier, and pronounced that great word which already had awakened a little girl from death's slumber, saying:

"Young man, Arise."

And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he gave him to his mother. There was great wonder, and great joy; and that which came out as a funeral train, returned as a festive procession.

"That afternoon in Spring,

The dull low murmur of a funeral

Went through the city, and a sound of feet
Unmixed with voices, as the bearers passed,
Bending beneath their burden. There was one,
Only one mourner. Close beside the bier,
Crumpling the pall up in her withered hands,
Follow'd an aged woman. Her short steps
Falter'd with weakness, and a broken moan
Fell from her quivering lips. The pitying crowd
Follow'd apart, but no one spoke to her.
She had no kinsman. She had lived alone,
A widow with one son.

He was her all,

The only tie she had in the wide world,

And he was dead.

Jesus drew near to Nain.

His lips were parched

With the noon's sultry heat. The beaded sweat

Stood thickly on his brow, and on the worn

And simple latchets of his sandals lay

Thick, the white dust of travel.

He had come

Since sunrise from Capernaum, staying not
To catch Gilboa's light and spicy breeze,

Nor turning once aside, but pressing on

Amid the hills to reach the homes of Nain,

The place of his next errand.

Forth from the city gate the pitying crowd

Follow'd the stricken mourner. They came near
The place of burial; and with straining hands,
Closer upon her breast she clasped the pall,
As with inquiring wildness in her eyes,

She saw where Jesus stood beside the way.
He looked upon her, and his heart was moved.
Weep not, he said; and as they stayed the bier,
He gently drew the pall from out her grasp,
And laid it back in silence from the dead.
With troubled wonder the mute throng drew near,
And gazed on his calm looks. A minute's space
He stood and prayed. Then taking the cold hand,
He said, Arise; and instantly the breast
Heaved in its cerements, and a sudden flush
Ran through the lines of the divided lips;
While with a murmur of his mother's name,

He trembled and sat upright in his shroud;

And to his mother he delivered him.

Then while the joyful mourner hung upon his neck,
Jesus went calmly on his way to Nain."

On entering the town a little before sunset, Jesus took his stand in the market-place or public square, which was speedily filled with his followers and the towns-folk. In that hour he cured many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many blind he bestowed sight.

John the Baptist had been five months in his dungeon at Tiberias, about thirteen miles from Nain. It seems his disciples were permitted to visit him, and through them he had heard of the doings of Jesus, whom he had heralded as Messiah. But to the depressed man who had lived so free, his prison had become Doubting Castle. Can this indeed be the one foretold of Isaiah as sent to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound? Then why should he leave me here to languish in chains? To resolve this

doubt, he sent two of his disciples, bidding them ask, Art thou he that cometh, or look we for another? 50

These messengers, favored by the occasion, joined the followers of Jesus on the way to Nain, and there in the market-place delivered their message. Jesus replied:

"Go your way, and tell John what things ye do hear and see."

To these proofs he added a word of encouragement, but no promise of help; and that was the last word between them.

It is strange that Jesus, who made the lake and the cities on its shores his own and famous forever, was never, so far as history tells, in Tiberias, apparently having avoided it. It is strange that Jesus, who took for his text in the Synagogue at Nazareth the prediction of Isaiah and applied it to himself, and who on that occasion also referred to it as being literally fulfilled in himself and his work, nevertheless left John, an innocent and holy man, his friend and kinsman, his forerunner and divinely appointed witness, to pine in captivity. It is strange that Jesus, who in no other case declined to relieve suffering, but was prompt to apply abundantly his beneficent power, in this case alone gave no help or heed to a sufferer whose cry was seemingly the most appealing of all, but left him to his tragic fate. And still the mystery deepens, for no sooner had the two messengers departed than Jesus pronounced in the ears of all the people a splendid and glowing eulogy on John, as an ascetic, as a man, as a prophet, as the Messianic herald, hidden from the worldly wise, but revealed unto his disciples as unto babes. Moreover, as John was the only one whom Jesus ever neglected, so was he the only one whom Jesus ever eulogized.