teacher, who had been with him for a while, and so learned his manner of arousing and teaching the people. They went to John, and said, 'Rabbi, He that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou bearest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come unto Him.'

Now was John's opportunity to manifest a wonderful humility and devotion. 'I am of the earth, earthy, and speak of the earth,' he said; "He that cometh from heaven is above all. The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hands. I am but the friend of the bridegroom; I stand and hear Him, and rejoice greatly because of His voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled.'

Did he hear that voice often, and rejoice in it? There were not many miles separating them, and both of them were hardy, and used to long marches. It may well be that during those summer months they met often on the banks of the river-the happiest season of John's life. For he had been a lonely, unloved man, living a wild life in the wilderness, strange to social and homelike ways; his father and mother long since dead, with neither brother nor sister, he would find in Jesus all the missing relationships, and pour out to Him the richest treasures. of a heart that no loving trust had opened until now.

So the summer passed away, and the autumn with its vintage; then the rainy months drew near. Bands of harvestmen and bands of pilgrims had gone by, tarrying

for a few hours to learn truths they had never heard before, even in the Temple. Many of them were baptized by the disciples, though Jesus baptized not. The new prophet had become more popular than the old prophet, and John's words were fulfilled, 'He must increase, but I must decrease.'

CHAPTER IV.

SAMARIA.

THERE were several reasons why our Lord should leave the banks of the Jordan, besides that of the rainy season coming on. The Pharisees were beginning to take more special notice of Him, having heard that He had made more disciples even than John, whom they barely tolerated. Moreover, this friend and forerunner of His had been seized by Herod, the tetrarch of Galilee, and cast into a dreary prison on the east of the Dead Sea. This violent measure was likely to excite a disturbance among the people; and Jesus, whose aim was in no way to come into collision with the government, could not prudently remain in a neighbourhood too near the fortress where John was imprisoned. He therefore withdrew from the Jordan, in the month of December or January, having been in Judea since the feast of the passover in the spring.

One way to His old home, the place where His relatives were still living, lay through Samaria, a country

He had probably never crossed, as the inhabitants were uncivil and churlish towards all Jewish travellers, especially if their faces were towards Jerusalem. But Jesus was journeying to Galilee, and did not expect them to be actively hostile to Him and His little band of companions. It was an interesting road, and led Him through Shechem, one of the oldest cities in the world, lying between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, in a vale so narrow at the eastern end, that when the priests stood on these mountains to pronounce the blessings and the curses in the ears of all the children of Israel, there was no difficulty for the people standing in the valley to hear distinctly. Two miles away was a very deep well, the waters of which were cool in the hottest summer; a well dug by the patriarch Jacob upon the same parcel of a field where he built his first altar to the God of Israel. Here too were buried the bones of Joseph, which had been carried for forty years through the wilderness to the land his father Jacob had given to him and to his children specially. Shiloh also lay along the route; and Jesus, who possessed every innocent and refined taste, must have enjoyed passing through these ancient places, so intimately connected with the early history of His nation.

Shechem lay about eighteen or twenty miles distant from the fords of Jordan, near which we suppose Jesus to have been dwelling. By the time He and His disciples reached Jacob's well, after this long morning's march, it was noon-day, and He was wearied, more wearied than

the rest, who appear always to have been stronger than He was. They left Him sitting by the side of the well, whilst they went on into the city to buy food for their mid-day meal. Their Master was thirsty, but the well was deep, and they had nothing to draw up the water. They hastened on, therefore, eager to return with food for Him whom they loved to minister to.

Not long after a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and was much astonished when this Jew asked her to give Him some to drink. She was probably less churlish than a man would have been, though she was barely civil. But as Jesus spoke with her she made the discovery that He was a prophet; and immediately referred to Him the most vexing question which separated the Jews from the Samaritans. The latter had a temple upon Mount Gerizim, which had been rebuilt by Herod, as the Temple at Jerusalem had been; and she asked which is the place where men ought to worship? Here, or at Jerusalem? She could only expect one answer from a Jew; an answer to excuse her anger, and send her away from the well without satisfying His thirst. But Jesus had now forgotten both thirst and weariness. He knew that many a sorrowful heart had prayed to God as truly from Mount Gerizim as from the Temple at Jerusalem. There is no special place, He answered, for in every place men may worship the Father; the true worshippers worship Him in spirit and in truth, for God is a Spirit. This was no such answer as the woman looked