have perished if his master had not put out his hand and saved him. If this system of aquatic locomotion could be instituted now, it would supersede all lifeboats. But we have little faith in these days of scientific facts, and it requires an immense amount of that commodity to be able to attempt even what was said to have been accomplished by the founders of our national religion.

Jesus did not confine his creative abilities to the solid comforts of life, but exercised them upon the liquid luxuries of existence. Being invited to a wedding, and there being no wine, his mother, with a woman's natural solicitude on such an occasion, said to him, "They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come." Now, what such a churlish answer had to do with the simple remark made by his mother, we leave to gentle Christians to say. However, after a time he became more amiable; and, no doubt, reflecting upon the disappointment of those who had come to a marriage feast, and found nothing but water to drink, he took compassion on them, and turned the water into wine, to the extent of "six water pots, containing two or three firkins apiece." "This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him." Well they might; and we fear that any man in these days who should do such things, would have many followers, in spite of all the preaching of all the teetotallers, who, strange to say, for the most part profess to be good Christians, notwithstanding that Christ, when he had the opportunity of rebuking wine bibbing, did not do so, but encouraged it by supplying the very beverage which teetotallers so vehemently condemn.

When Jesus came into the coasts of Cæsarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am? He was anxious to know what people thought of him now that he was become so famous. "And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist; some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?" Of course Peter was ready to crown all, and he said—"Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God." For which Jesus blessed Peter, and promised him the keys of the kingdom of heaven; but they soon fell to quarrelling, when Jesus said that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Peter rebuked him, and said it should not be; but Jesus turned upon him, and said, "Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me." It was not very dignified or in good taste after Peter had imparted such an important fact to him, which was done by a revelation of his Father which is in heaven.. But such was the manner of Jesus.

When he left Galilee, and came into Judæa, he resolved to go to Jerusalem; and when he was come to the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples to a village on a very questionable errand. It was to perform no less an act than the appropriation of a donkey and her colt. He told them that, if any one said aught unto them, they were to say, "The Lord hath need of them." That kind of answer would scarcely be deemed satisfactory in these days, especially to a policeman. He would very likely reply, If the Lord hath need of the ass, the magistrate hath need of thee; and if the instigator of the deed were not the actual thief, he would be charged as an accessory before the fact, and would be provided with board and lodging at the expense of the county for at least twelve months. This was done that another prophecy might be fulfilled, which said, "Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy king cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass." But this prophet must have been an ass, or he would have known that even the Son of man would find it difficult to sit upon two asses of such unequal size at the same time. Apart from the absurdity of the story, it is an example of very loose notions indeed of the rights of property, which, if stated of Mahomet, of Joseph Smith the Mormon, or any other founder of a religious sect, would be quoted as a proof of his obliquity of moral vision. After this successful exploit of taking unto himself other people's goods, Jesus became quite daring; and when he got to Jerusalem he went into the temple of God, where he found a number of people carrying on their usual business. He had no more right there than they had—in fact, not so much, as he was a stranger to the city. But, notwithstanding this, he got a rope, and thrashed every one out of the place, upsetting the tables and chairs, and creating such a consternation as only a Bedlamite broken loose would be likely to produce. Though this was immediately after the appropriation of the two donkeys, upon which he had actually ridden to the temple, he called all the tradespeople dishonest, and accused them of having turned the place into a den of thieves. Whatever it might have been before he came, certainly one would think the designation not inappropriate after the arrival of himself and his disciples. He was not arrested on the spot for this act of assault and battery; but what should we think of the City Police Commissioner if he neglected to order into custody any mad enthusiast who might so conduct himself on the Stock Exchange? But he would not, and the enthusiast's vagaries and his visit to the police cell would be a very little time apart. It would be no use his alleging that he was about his Father's business, and that he was fulfilling prophecy—that would only aggravate the offence. He would be told that if his father did not take better care of him, the county asylum would; and the prophet would very soon be "wanted" who had instigated such folly.

Jesus did not remain in the city during the night—it was not prudent after such an advent in the morning, but he went and lodged in Bethany, a little way out of town. In returning next morning he was hungry, so, when he came to a fig-tree, he looked at it hoping to find some fruit on it, but there was none, as it was not the right season. We should forgive an excited hungry man here if he, in a moment of forgetfulness, looked for apples in winter; but if he began to curse the tree for not bearing fruit out of season, we should think he was mad past doubt. Yet this is exactly what Jesus did; and not only so, but he withered the tree that it should not bear fruit thenceforward forever. His disciples marvelled at what he had done, as well they might. "Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." No persons have ever yet had the requisite amount of faith to remove mountains; and the less they try such credulity on fruit trees, the better for our orchards. Nobody does or can believe such insane talk. Jesus went to the temple again, and whilst he was preaching, the Chief Priests and elders came and asked him by what authority he did such things. In true Quaker style he answered them by asking a question, which had the merit of being impossible of solution. He said—"The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men?" They said: "We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things." That seemed to silence his interrogators, but it did not answer them. It was a favourite way with this Messiah; and we remain as much in the dark to this hour as did the Chief Priests and elders. This method of evasion is also exemplified in the case of the tribute money. When asked whether it was lawful to render tribute unto Cæsar, he said, looking at a coin, "Whose is this image and superscription?" They said, Cæsar's. "Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's, and unto God the things that are God's." Rénan says on this