"WOE TO THEE, COROZAIN!"

Woe to thee, Bethsaida! for if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in you, they had long ago done penance in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the Day of

gross exaggeration of the law of Moses. Jesus came among the people and swept away everything these leaders loved. His kingdom meant the extinction of the Jewish national

Judgment than for you. And thou, Ca- aspirations, meant a new law en

pharnaum, which art exalted unto heaven; shalt thou be exalted up to heaven? thou shalt go down even unto hell. For if in Sodom had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in thee, perhaps it had remained unto this day. But I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for the

than for thee.

tirely superseding the Temple and the whole law of Moses. He added new rules of conduct so gentle as to

land of Sodom in the Day of Judgment dampen the warlike ardor of every Jewish soul that believed in Him. With regard to outward observances, He had plainly foretold Baptism and the Eucharist, and implied some others which He would finally institute, but these were only outward signs communicating an inward presence, a presence so spiritual as to wholly confuse and offend a class of men sodden with externalism.

The time was hot for an outbreak against Him in Capharnaum or its neighborhood. Even some of the cousins of Jesus (called His brothers) doubted of Him, or at least of His prudence. And so He determined to go up to Jerusalem about the feast of Tabernacles, and there and in that neighborhood to make ready for His end. This too was in accordance

After photo by Wil

with the advice of these near relatives:

"Now the Jews'

feast of Tabernacles was at hand. And His brethren said to Him: Pass from hence, and go into Judea, that Thy disciples also may see

Thy works which Thou
dost. For there is no
man that doth anything
in secret, and he him-
self seeketh to be known
openly. If Thou do.
these things, manifest
Thyself to the world.
For neither did His
brethren believe in
Him." "My time is
not yet come," replied
our Saviour, and He
urged them to greater
firmness and energy:
"But your time is always ready." He declined,
however, to go to Jerusalem in their company, con-
cealing from them the exact day of His departure.
"Go you up to this festival-day; but I go not up to
this festival-day, because My time is not accomplished.
But after His brethren were gone up, then He also went
up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret."

"It was held towards the end of our month of September."

The feast of Tabernacles was a beautiful memorial of the ancient desert life of the children of Israel. It was held towards the end of our month of September, all the harvest work being over and the people at rest. It lasted a week, during which the Jewish families left their houses and dwelt in tents or in booths made of green branches, devoutly praying and singing joyful hymns and psalms. Of course its most splendid celebration was in the holy city, whither great numbers of the country people flocked to participate in the solemnities.

We have seen that our Saviour would not allow the eagerness of His relatives to forestall His purposes

and thus precipitate an open conflict. The Galileans, if He went openly to Jerusalem, might give Him a triumph and provoke His death. The Pharisees and Herodians might embroil His followers in a tumult and involve them in a general massacre by the Roman

A PRIMITIVE PLOUGH.

soldiers: the jealousy of Rome might be aroused. "My time is not yet come," insisted the Master. It was not lack of courage but fulness of wisdom that guided Him. The same quality would allow the disciples to labor for Him, to spread the glad tidings, to exercise their miraculous gifts. "The world cannot hate you," He said, "but Me it hateth, because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil." After His relatives had gone, Jesus, retaining His Apostles with Him, spent a few days quietly bidding farewell to Galilee, the country of His childhood and hidden life and the scene of His chief activity since His public life began.

Farewell now to the blue waters and the bright sky of Genesareth. Many happy hours of such plaintive happiness as our Man of Sorrows could enjoy had He spent about its shores, wafted over its waves, and in the adjacent towns, villages, and country places. Farewell to it all, and to that upright people the Galileans, not always apt to understand Him, but ever willing to do so, ever frank and brave. Galilee is hereafter the most renowned of earth's dwelling-places, for He who wakes the soul of man from death to life shall be called the Galilean; and those mightiest conquerors of the human mind, the Apostles of Christ, shall be known as the Galileans. How tenderly must not Jesus have waved His farewell and spoken His last adieu, doubtless with tearful eyes, as He mingled, He

and His few companions, with the stream of the later pilgrims going to the Holy City for the feast of Tabernacles!

But not alone in gentle leave-taking was the spirit of Jesus absorbed. Justice has its rights, and our Saviour was compelled to satisfy justice in denouncing the communities which had rejected Him, that Jewish Messias whom the very heathen would one day receive with loving welcome: "Then began He to upbraid the cities wherein were done the most of His miracles, for that they had not done penance." It was their love of vice-lust and drunkenness and pride and sloth -that had blinded them. They were impenitent sinners and hence they rejected Him.

THE

CHAPTER LII.

JOURNEY FROM GALILEE ΤΟ JERUSALEM.— 'FIRE FROM HEAVEN.”—“THE SON OF MAN HATH NOT WHERE TO LAY HIS HEAD.”—“ LET THE DEAD BURY THEIR DEAD."" LOOKING BACK."

Matt. viii. 19-22; Luke ix. 51-62.

THE longest but safest road from Galilee to Jerusalem, as we have seen, was that through the Perea, east of the Jordan. But that fact made it also the most crowded. Our Saviour, whose purpose was secrecy and swiftness, because starting late He yet desired to reach Jerusalem before the end of the solemnities, chose to take the unsafe but shorter route

JESUS AS NOVICE-MASTER.

And he sent messengers before his face ; and going, they entered into a city of the Samaritans to prepare for him. And they received him not, because his face was of one going to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John had seen this they said Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them? And turning he rebuked them, saying: You know not of what spirit

you are. The Son of Man came not to destroy souls but to save. And they went unto another town. And it came to pass as they walked in the way that a certain man said to him: I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. Jesus said to him: The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. But he said

to another: Follow me. And he said:

It happened one day that the disciples who went in advance, James and John, the Sons of Thunder, having entered a certain Samaritan city to prepare lodging and food for the Saviour, were expelled by the towns-people because they were Jews and were going to Jerusalem. "Lord," said they as they came back, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?"

Lord, suffer me first to go and to bury my father. And Jesus said to him: Let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the Kingdom of God. And another said I will follow thee, Lord, but let me first take leave of them that are at my house. Jesus said to him: No man putting his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the Kingdom of God.