to be continually warned and roused by angels as to what he should do and the dangers which threatened him. Being made wide awake to the fact that Herod sought to kill the child, he suddenly fled into Egypt with his family, and there remained till the death of Herod, that another prophecy might be fulfilled, "Out of Egypt have I called my son." But he did not go into Egypt, but was taken back to Nazareth at eight days old, and there remained till he was a man. So the third prophecy was fulfilled!

Jesus is familiarly known by the name of the "meek and lowly," but this is a title which scarcely seems warranted by the narratives. From his youth upwards he gave signs of the possession of an imperious disposition and a vituperative tongue, and he on several occasions manifested a want of filial affection. His parents went to Jerusalem every year to the feast of the Passover, and at the age of twelve Jesus was taken. When the parents returned, the boy remained behind unknown to them, and they had got a day's journey on their way home before they missed him. They retraced their steps to Jerusalem in much trouble, and at last, after three days' search, found the truant comfortably seated in the temple in the midst of the doctors, holding a learned argument with them. When his mother saw him she asked him why he had caused them so much sorrow. Instead of showing any penitence, he pertly answered, "How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" And Mary, though she knew he was the son of the Holy Ghost, had not the slightest idea what he meant.

When he "began to be about thirty years of age," he met with John Baptist, a strange sort of anchorite, who used to dress in camelshair and eat locusts and wild honey. From this cynic Jesus learnt much, especially the habit of calling names. When people presented themselves to John to be baptised, he greeted them in this loving way—"O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" Jesus was baptised, and afterwards retailed much that John had said, especially his abusive phrases. At this ceremony of immersion the heavens opened to Jesus, and the Spirit of God descended like a dove and alighted upon him. This Spirit assumes as many shapes as Satan himself, and altogether appears to be a very curious bird of passage. This baptism was not a happy thing to Jesus, for immediately afterwards he was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil, and he had to fast forty days and forty nights, and afterwards, we are gravely told, "he was an hungered," which is not a remarkable fact, seeing that he was a young man of very good appetite. We shall see, as we get farther on, that his love of eating and drinking was manifested on many carious occasions. The Old and New Testaments teem with accounts of feasts and carouses by the chosen of the Lord, and the Lord himself, to such a degree, that Christianity has not inaptly been termed the religion of gourmands. Jesus frequently manifests great readiness and smartness in reply, which is either an answer to the question addressed to him, or a very clever evasion of it. When the Devil had got Jesus, he said to him, "If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." The Devil evidently thought that to make something to eat would be the greatest temptation he could offer him. But Jesus evaded the task by saying, "It is written that man shall not live by bread alone." The Devil tried again, and took him to the pinnacle of a temple, and asked him to cast himself down, saying—"For it is written He shall give his angels charge concerning thee." Jesus said unto him, "It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." The Devil tried a third time, and took him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of this world, and the glory of them, and promised him all if he would fall down and worship him. How could Jesus see from one spot all the kingdoms of the world? as no one looking straight before him can see round a globe; but if it was done by supernatural power, why take the trouble to go to the top of an exceeding high mountain? the flat country would have been a more suitable spot. He also saw the glory of them, which must have puzzled him greatly, for what is the glory of one place, is sometimes the shame of another, Jesus said, "Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." The Devil deemed this conclusive, and thereupon took his departure.

After John the Baptist was cast into prison, Jesus went to reside in Capernaum, and there commenced to preach from John's text—"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." At the outset of his public career he was a copyist, and he remained so to the end of his life. He simply repeated other men's sayings, or elaborated the traditions and prophecies which were so prevalent among the Jews of his day. This kingdom of heaven did not mean something in another world somewhere in the clouds, but simply a new order of things here, and that more especially among the Jews. At times, it must be confessed, it is difficult to understand what it meant if not an improved mental state, and not a material kingdom at all. Jesus belonged to the working class, and his followers were of the lower orders, and he constantly preached against riches, which was very popular. His followers now appreciate his sublime example so much, that they get rich as fast as they can, especially the successors of the Apostles, who are content if they can only get princely incomes, and a palace wherein to lay their heads!

Jesus wanted followers, so he walked out by the sea of Galilee, and saw Peter and Andrew casting their nets. If they had been only fishing for small fry, he could not have more contemptuously addressed them. "And he said unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets and followed him." A curious phenomenon strikes one here. Peter and Andrew have never seen Jesus before; he does not tell them who he is; he explains no principles to them by which to enlist their sympathies and awaken conviction—he merely says, "follow me, and I will make you fishers of men," and in prospect of that delightful occupation they abandon their home and calling to accompany a stranger on a doubtful mission, Whatever fish may have come to their net afterwards, they certainly could never have caught two greater flat-fish than themselves. A more striking instance of blind following is not to be found upon record. Peter afterwards became the greatest fanatic of all the Disciples, and caused his Master some trouble through his excess of zeal. And this is the man to whom are entrusted the keys of heaven. No wonder the ignorant fanatics find a ready admission, whilst sensible people are excluded. And he too is the great predecessor of the Pope of Rome, the head of a Church which preaches the efficacy of saints' relics, the liquefaction of blood, and the truth of winking virgins. Fanaticism was at the foundation, and delusion and ignorance very naturally result. Others followed Jesus, forsaking their nets and their parents, and they went about all Galilee, Jesus preaching and curing all sorts of disease and sickness—and curious indeed were some of his cures, such as are not mentioned in any modern pharmacopoeia. Having vanquished great Satan himself on three occasions, the minor devils had no chance with him, and woe betide all who came before him inhabiting human beings. All these cures were performed that a prophecy might be fulfilled, "which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying-, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." But then he did nothing of the kind. And so that prophecy was fulfilled! To cure a disease is not to take it upon ourselves; if it were, the Royal College of Surgeons would soon become an institution of the past. You might love your neighbour as yourself, but to be expected to have the measles tor him, would cool the warmest friendship.