glorious and eminent person than a young man of thirty, clothed in skins, and for food eating locusts and wild honey, whose origin and authority no man knoweth. Believing that your good sense and sound judgment, my Adina, will at once lead you to adopt my views, I shall not urge them further, as if I seriously feared your defection from the house of your fathers, an event which would bring my gray hairs down with sorrow to the grave. It is my belief that this Prophet preaches only himself, and, under the mysterious and deceitful notion of another to come after him, is but gathering an expectant multitude around him, to wield them as instruments for his own ambitious ends; and by the time you write me again, I expect to learn from you that he openly proclaims himself the Christ, after all; or that he, with all who are led by him, will be destroyed by the swords of the Roman legions."

remias, and other Prophets, there arose at once a great outcry against him. Many of the Levites even forgot their duties in the Temple, in holding discourse with the Scribes and Pharisees, and others, in the streets, in the arches of the gates, and in the marketplaces, touching this new Prophet, and his bold denunciations of them, being so much the more grieved at them because they were, alas, but too well merited by the looseness of their lives. At length Annas, who is High Priest with Caiaphas, sent two of the most learned men of the Temple, Levites of weight of character, to invite the Prophet to Jerusalem; for Annas is a wise man, and not easily carried away by popular feeling; and, as Rabbi Amos hath told me, he is disposed to look upon the preaching of John, for such is his name, with a serious and reverential eye. The messengers returned after the fifth day, and made their report openly in the How can I write to you, my dear father, Court of the Temple, where the High Priests that which is now rushing to my pen, after sat to receive them, expecting to behold the such an expression of your sentiments as you Prophet in their company. At length, the have made in this extract from your letter? assembly being convened, the two learned But I know you are wise, and will not evade and venerable Levites both rose up, and detruth, in whatever form it may offer itself toclared that they had delivered the message you, and I therefore, with confidence in your to John, the son of Zacharias, the Prophet justice and wisdom, will faithfully make of Jordan, and that his answer was given known to you the events relating to the Pro-with the reverence due to the station of the phet which have transpired, and may take High Priest who had sent to him: place in Judea during my abode here. Hear me always with candor, and judge without partiality; for this is, without doubt, a day of wonderful revelations. I fancy that I can now see your brow darken, and that you say, Enough of this. Are we to have more of this new Prophet?' Yes, my dear father, more still, and more extraordinary circumstances I am about to relate than I have yet written; for the very priests of the Temple have become believers in the youthful Seer. You will remember how that John, Mary's cousin, stated that many priests and othersness, whence only I am commanded to lift were offended at the plain preaching of the Prophet whom they went out into the wil- When the priests heard this answer they derness to see. When they returned to Je- were greatly enraged, and many fiercely cried rusalem, and made known to the other mem- one thing and many another; some that he bers of the Houses of the Priests what had should be sought out and stoned to death for been spoken against them, by the applica-defying the High Priest, (which he did not tion to them of the words of Esaias and Je- do, as it was for him to obey God rather than

6

Go and say to the noble High Priest," said he, "that I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, as it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the Prophet, who, foreseeing my day, saith, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.' All flesh will soon behold the salvation of God. My errand is not to city nor temple, nor into any house in Israel will I enter. He who would hear my testimony to Him who is to come after me, let him seek me in the wilder

up my voice till Shiloh come."

man;) others, that he should be accused to the Procurator, Pontius Pilate, Governor of Judea, as a seditious and dangerous person, and fomenter of insurrections. Caiaphas was of the latter opinion, and wrote, from his tribunal, an epistle to the Roman ruler, making accusation hereof against the Prophet of the Desert, and recommending him to secure his person, lest further mischief should come of it; adding, that Tiberius Cæsar, hearing of the matter, would conceive it to be a movement of the whole Jewish nation, desirous of casting off the Roman rule, under a new chief; and thus bring down an army upon the land, utterly to destroy it. But the milder Annas viewed the whole matter in a different light, and said: "Men and brethren-Let nothing be done hastily. If this man be a false Prophet, he will soon perish with his lies, and we shall hear no more of him. If, peradventure, as it would appear, he is sent from God, let us not make haste to do him a mischief, lest, haply, we be found fighting against Jehovah of Hosts."

or the waters of Jordan?-the priest of the Most High, or him of the wilderness? Away with these recreant blasphemers, to be tried and adjudged according to our sacred laws." The people who had heard John preach, hereupon were only prevented from rescuing the two priests by the presence of a guard of Roman soldiers, for which Caiaphas promptly sent.

From this account, my dear father, you can form some idea of the excitement which the preaching of this new Prophet is producing among all classes. The poorer sort of people are his advocates, and the rich and the rulers, the priests, and great men of the nation, oppose him, save a few among the best and wisest. Of these few is Rabbi Amos, who is engaged, all the time he is not on duty in the Temple, in searching the Scriptures, to see if these things are so; and at every Prophecy he reads he is more and more convinced that the day of Messias is at hand, and that this Prophet is, without doubt, he who was to be sent from God in the "spirit and power of Elias," to prepare the way before him. Every evening there are assembled at our house from twelve to eighteen of the chief men of the Jews, who often pass half the night in warm discussions upon these great things; those among them who have heard John, being disposed to give him the high rank he claims, as forerunner of Shiloh. Among these is Stephen, a man whose father was High Priest, and who is himself a lawyer and student of no mean repute. He has not yet heard John the Prophet, but he openly said last night that, after the most careful examination of all the Pro

This moderation found favor with but few, but of these few, Rabbi Amos was one. But, if the priests who thronged the outer court, in presence of the High Priest, were deeply moved at the report of the Prophet's answer, their excitement became well nigh uncontrollable when both Melchi and Heli, their messengers, rose up, and, waving their hands for silence, declared, that after having listened to the Prophet to whom they had been sent, they were convinced of the truth of his words, and of his divine commission, and had been baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. Only the sanctity of the Temple prevent-phets, he was firmly of the opinion that the ed the five hundred priests rushing upon them, and smiting them, when they heard this. They were at once placed under arrest by order of the High Priest, Caiaphas, for acting in a manner unbecoming a priest of the Most High God: "For," said he, "this is to degrade the Temple to the feet of a wandering impostor, and is an open acknowledgment that virtue hath left the worship of Zion, and must be sought for in the deserts of Jordan. Which," he called aloud, “which, men of Israel, is the greatest, the altar of the Lord,

day of their fulfilment was close at hand; and that, for his part, he was willing to hail the Prophet of Jordan as the true herald of Messias. Hereupon, two-thirds of the company said the same thing, but the others doubted, and cautioned the rest not to be too rash; that it was "time enough to believe in Messias when he himself should come in his own person."

Such, my dear father, is the present condition of the mind of the people of Jerusalem. If the Prince of Glory should, indeed,

appearance ere long, in humiliation and poverty, his rejection by the High Priests, and

suddenly appear, there could be scarcely more excitement, though it would be of a different nature. There is something sub-by the rich and powerful of Judah, is certain.

lime to see a young man, who dwelleth alone in the wilderness, poor and unknown, thus moving the great heart of a nation; surely his power must be divinely derived. You ask me, and so is the question constantly put by the Scribes and Pharisees, and Priests, to the disciples of John: "Does he perform miracles? Show me a miracle and I will believe in him; for this is the only test of a true Prophet's Divine commission."

May God, then, remove blindness from our eyes, that, if this be the very Messias indeed, Israel may recognize their king, and not do so fearful a thing in their pride as to reject him openly! In this case, who will stand between Jehovah and our ill-fated race? Therefore, my dear father, it behooves every man in Israel to examine this matter with a sober and humble mind, and move with caution in any opposition to what may prove opposition to the dearest hopes of our people. When I shall have returned from the desert,

No, dear father, he has performed no miracle, unless it be one continuous miracle, whereby he keeps in the wilderness a multi-whither we are to travel on litters and mules, tude, daily enlarged, from the out-pouring

of every city in Judah, listening to his gates words, and bowing their heads to the sacred waters of his penitential baptism.

As next week Rabbi Amos does not serve

in his course in the Temple, and as he will have some affairs that take him to Gilgal, where he has three fields now ripe for the sickle, he has yielded to the desire of his daughter Mary and myself to consent to our accompanying him; for he does not conceal from us that he shall make it a point to visit and hear the Prophet, as it will be but two

I will write you all that I have heard.

You will remember the young Roman Centurion, to whose courtesy I was indebted in rescuing me from the rudeness of the two Gentile soldiers. He has preserved, since then, acquaintance with Rabbi Amos, who speaks of him with respect; and as he has of late expressed some interest in knowing what the studies are which occupy the Rabbi so constantly when he calls to see him, which he has done frequently, a copy of the Prophets was placed in his hands; but as he professed he was not learned enough to read Hebrew, the good Rabbi, who believed he saw in him a hopeful convert to the faith of Judah, called in Mary to read and interpret to him. But her knowledge of the Roman tongue did not prove sufficient, and, at her request, the Rabbi sent for me, to come into the marble hall of the corridor, where they acacia, which Amos says you took with your sat by the fountain, under the shade of the own hands from Isaiah's grave, and planted here, many years ago, and which I therefore call " 'my father's tree."

hours' travel from Gilgal to the place where he preaches. You will, I fear me, object to this journey. But if the worship of our fathers has nothing to fear from falsehood, it surely has nought to fear from truth; and in either case I, as a true daughter of Israel, have nothing to fear. If the Prophet teach what is false, I shall remain true; and if he teach what is true, shall I not be the gainer? I hear you say, this is but feeble and womanly argumentation. But as you have given me the credit of, more than once, de"Come hither, Adina," said my uncle, in claring it to be your belief that I am old and his benevolent tones: "here you behold a wise enough to judge for myself in most mat-noble Roman youth whom you must be too ters, I beg you will suffer me to hear the Prophet with my own ears, in order that I may decide whether I ought to give heed to his predictions, or reject them as the visions of a dreamer. One thing is clear-if the Christ that John prophesies be the true son of the Highest, and is, in reality, to make his

generous to have forgotten." I bowed, and scarcely lifted my eyelids from the tesselated floor; for there was a fire in the glance of the handsome youth that they could not encounter. He said some words of salutation, but I only heard the voice, which fell upon my heart with a strange vibration like

the effects of music. Surely these barbarians ( slaying of the Patriarch Abel, with the poof Italia have the richest language of all men;pulation of the earth, its wickedness, and decompared with it, our Hebrew is harsh and struction by the flood. strangely guttural. "The Roman Centurion," continued Amos, "hath desired to know something of the sacred books of our nation, of which he saith he hath heard much; and of the prophecies, in which he believes the famed Sybilline books were composed."

of

To this the youthful warrior listened with the profoundest respect and attention; and when he had thanked me, and asked permission to come and be further taught from pages which he said seemed, indeed, to be written with the finger of the Supreme Lord "I have studied the sacred books of Etrus- of the universe; he asked if the Messias had ca of Gaul, and of Gotha, and those of the yet come who was to restore all things? and Druids, of Egypt, and of Persia, as well as if not, when was he to be looked for? This my own people," said the Centurion, mo- inquiry led to a conversation upon the preachdestly, "but in all these I find rites and cere-ing of John in the wilderness, and his predicmonies, doctrines and laws, that are unworthy tions of the near advent of Shiloh. Rabbi to emanate from the Supreme Jove of so vast Amos, seeing that he became deeply intera universe. We, Romans, in the multipli-ested in the subject, made me turn to the city of our Gods, in deifying everything, in particular prophecies of Daniel, Esaias, Dareality deify nothing! Everything we call vid, and others, and read them to him: both God, but we realize God nowhere." those which described, in golden words, the "Then thou hast well directed thy inqui-glory and dominion of his power, and those ries touching this book," answered Amos with warmth, and looking on the Roman with respectful compassion. "Here is to be found the true and only revelation of Jehovah to Here is developed a divine character, worthy of the Creator of the universe. Here are laid down laws and ceremonies, rites and doctrines, commands and precepts, that are worthy to emanate from the Father and God of all men. Thou shalt hear and judge for thyself. I am but imperfectly skilled in the Roman tongue, save for daily intercourse, but here is an Egyptian maiden, who can interpret for thee in the idiom of Grecia, or of Italia, and I will place the sacred scroll in her hands while I listen. Come, Adina, open and read the beginning of the Book of Moses."

man.

which represented him as despised and rejected. After I had read all which the Rabbi directed me to read, the young man remained some time very thoughtful. At length he said with animation: "I can now comprehend why men run into the wilderness. I should like to hear this Prophet."

When Amos told him that he contemplated journeying to Gilgal the next week, and intended to visit the desert to hear him, he at once asked permission to be of his company; but when I remarked that Mary and I were also to go, his dark eyes beamed with pleasure, and he immediately said:

"I will accompany you with a squadron of horse, as the roads are not safe, for no longer than yesterday we received a rumor that the celebrated robber chief, Barabbas, at I obeyed, as I would have obeyed you, the head of a large band, had made his apdear father, and, seated at the feet of Amos, pearance again on the hills, between Ephraim I read and translated aloud into Greek, which and Jericho, and had robbed not only two cathe Roman youth had said was even more ravans, but many of those who were travelfamiliar to him than his native tongue, (as iting to hear this Prophet. I will make an is to all educated persons in the world,) the expedition against him after seeing you safely first five hundred lines. These, as you know, in Jericho." give an account of the creation of the world, and of man, of his defection, and his expulsion from Paradise; of the promise of Messias to restore what he had lost; of the curse denounced upon the creation, and the

When we heard of this robber, we were not a little disposed to decline our journey; but Rabbi Amos thanked him, and said he would gladly accept his escort," inasmuch," he added, smiling, "as I know you Roman