had revealed the sign to John, and John had seen it fulfilled with his own eyes, and then he proclaimed it to Israel. Thus had God brought together again the Messias and His Precursor, whose first meeting had taken place at the visit of Mary to Elizabeth. Separation, total and distant, had intervened, John living in the desert from childhood and Jesus at Nazareth, until, as far as we know for the first time, the sovereign will of God brought them together for the opening of the mission of the Messias. John also teaches that Jesus has the office, essentially divine, of baptizing souls with the Holy Ghost-pouring out the divine Spirit upon all flesh (Joel ii. 28). In this sense, again, we know the meaning of John when he calls Jesus Son of God, not as holy men had been so named of yore, or as angels had been, but by an exclusive filiation, by the most living relationship, Jesus having the nature itself of Jehovah, of which the Baptist had proclaimed the primeval action in Him. Thus John the Baptist has fulfilled his mission most faithfully, unflinchingly faced the incredulity of the leaders and instructed the ignorance of the people. What will they do? He has baptized them unto penance; will they accept the Baptism of the Spirit unto eternal life about to be offered by Jesus? CHAPTER VI. JESUS CHOOSES DISCIPLES. RGANIZATION of a Church was always our Saviour's purpose, no less than teaching and redeeming the world. Both doctrine and atonement were to be dispensed by Him through a society, a public institution with its duly appointed officers. Naturally, therefore, and before His first public instruction, our Saviour begins to gather His Church's officers. Before He gathers His followers He chooses their leaders. He begins to organize His Church before He begins to give forth. His doctrine. Naturally also, it was from John's tried and trusted disciples that He would begin to select His own. It was for this reason that He tarried near by the Baptist's ever-changing assemblage of penitents. In a few days He again appeared among John's hearers. "Behold the Lamb of God!" exclaimed the Baptist, pointing and gazing at Him. Two disciples of John were by these words impelled towards Jesus, for it seemed to them that John had bidden them go. But they dared not address the Messias, and Jesus, seeing their shyness, kindly said to them: "What seek you? They said unto Him: Rabbi, where dwellest Thou?" One was named Andrew, the other was John, son of Zebedee, who, hiding his name with characteristic modesty, relates this occurrence, so momentous for his future destiny. Rabbi meant teacher; these two saluted Jesus, therefore, as their Master in holy wisdom, and gave Him their never-faltering allegi ance as the organizer of a new discipleship, higher than that of John the Baptist; this they did solely upon the guarantee of their former master. "Come and see" where I live, answered "FOLLOW ME!" The next day again John stood, and two of his disciples. And beholding Jesus walking, he saith: Behold the lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. And Jesus turning, and seeing them following him, said to them: What seek you? Who taid to them: Rabbi (which is to say, being interpreted, Master), where dwellest thou? He saith to them: Come and They came, and saw where he abode, and they stayed with him that day: now it was about the tenth hour. And Andrew the brother of Simon Peter was one of the two who had heard of John, and followed him. He findeth first his brother Simon, and saith to him: We have found the MESSIAS, which is, being interpreted, the CHRIST. And he brought him to Jesus. And Jesus looking upon him, said: Thou art Simon the son of Jona; see thou shalt be called Cephas, which is in terpreted Peter. On the following day he would go forth into Galilee, and he findeth Philip. And Jesus saith to him: Follow me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith to him: We have found him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write, Jesus the son Jesus. They thus became His disciples, though later on we shall find Him renewing their vocation, for as yet He does not attach them so closely to Himself as to make them part of His very household. But He takes them to His home-if some friendly shelter in a shepherd's tent, or perhaps some humble wayside inn, could be so named. Afterwards who can imagine after what joyful converse with Jesus? Andrew departed from them, seeking and finding his brother Simon, doubtless also numbered among John's disciples. “We have found the Messias!" he exclaimed. Not only the Baptist's of Joseph of Nazareth. And Nathanael testimony but the disciple's own said to him: Can any thing of good come from Nazareth? Philip saith to him: Come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and he saith of him: Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile. Nathanael saith to him: Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said to him: Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the figtree, I saw thee. Nathanael answered him, and said: Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the king of Israel. Jesus answered, and said to him: Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the figtree, thou believest: greater things than these shalt thou see And he saith to him: Amen, amen I say to you, you shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of man. personal trial of it was now in evidence: Eureka! Andrew uttered the word with a nobler ecstasy than Archimedes or Columbus. As Simon, Andrew's brother, came up to Jesus, the Master beheld the one whom His Father in heaven had chosen as the head of His religion, and He saluted him accordingly. He gave him a new name: "Thou art Simon, the son of Jona; thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation Peter, a rock." They did not as yet know the prophetic meaning of this divine word, nor how at a future day Jesus would set Peter as the foundation stone of His Church. By this change of name Jesus takes possession of this disciple in a special ownership. So it was in the olden time when God. chose Abraham and Israel. The little party was soon on the journey homeward -to Galilee, that is; to which province they all belonged. There Jesus purposed completing His preparations for promulgating the Glad Tidings. But soon, and while journeying onwards, He secured another disciple. "He findeth Philip," a fisherman of Lake Genesareth, a pilgrim, we may be sure, homeward bound from the Baptist's preaching. "Follow Me," said Jesus, taking him into His company to share the instruction imparted while they plodded on. Follow Me! There is majesty in this little phrase. What a change from the retiring manner of a village mechanic. Philip was too unselfish to enjoy his favor unknown to a certain dear friend of his, Nathanael. This was a guileless soul, worthy, if any man could be, of the honor of the discipleship. "We have found Him of whom Moses spoke in the law," says Philip to him, "and of whom the prophets spoke, Jesus the son of Joseph of Nazareth." Philip may have thought that Nathanael, being a Galilean, would favor Jesus as a fellow-countryman. But to Nathanael the name of Nazareth was a stumbling-block. "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" He thus quoted to him the traditional evil report of that town. The Saviour, Nathanael meant to say, must be from Bethlehem, nor could he tolerate the thought that an obscure man of Galilee should be the Messias. "Come and see," answers Philip, appealing simply from words to actual inspection; and an upright soul will accept the test. The two Galileans had been resting under a figtree. There had Nathanael, without knowing whence it came, felt the inward touch of Jesus preparing the way for His message by Philip-one of those sweet and holy moments which divine grace consecrates to its high purposes. They hurried on to overtake the Messias. "Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and He saith to him: Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile." But Nathanael seemed as little moved by this praise as by the zeal of Philip. Hence he answered coldly: "Whence knowest Thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him: Before Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee." To the rude honesty of the fisherman Jesus opposed a knowledge of some hidden thought of Nathanael while under the fig-tree. He was amazed. He that can see into the depths of my soul, thought the honest fisherman, and read its secrets is my master; what He claims I grant. "Rabbi," cried Nathanael, "Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel." Jesus praises Nathanael for his faith, nor does He reprove him because he was slow and cautious in coming to it. A divine light has entered that soul, it need only watch and guard it to be yet further illumined, even with heavenly visions. Jesus answered: "Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig-tree, believest thou? Greater things |