work, and we then muster under his banner, as under one whom God himself hath anointed. And to such an one do I believe would Herod himself show allegiance."

"I thank thee, my father, for these words," said Judith. "Thou wilt wait then. I feared

"Fear nothing," said Onias, "least of all, that I shall in anything turn a deaf ear to the evident voice of Jehovah. I look to Jesus with hope, as doth every one in Israel whose heart is right before God, and I wait to see what a few more days or weeks shall bring forth."

"Yet the people do everywhere hold him," said Judith, "to be not only a prophet, but the Christ also. of a people, is it not a voice of God?"

The voice

"The people,” replied Onias, "believe hastily and without reason, as their passions lead them. And then again ofttimes with as little reason deny and reject, what a moment before they believed, as new passions dictate. No; the voice of the wise man, if it may be affirmed of any, is rather the voice of God. Solomon, David, and the prophets, rather than the multitudes of their day, spake with the warrant of Jehovah. When Jesus shall declare himself, and put forth his powers in the great work God shall have given him to do, will it be time enough to own him Christ. The people, in their shoutings and acclamations, in their ready faith and promises, are as the blind rushing toward the edge of a precipice—they know not whither they go, and it may be toward their ruin—yet also it may be toward their salvation."

"Yea," said Zadok, "it is not more hours than one can easily reckon up, that this same people deemed John some great one, and now he is forsaken for Jesus. And tomorrow let a third arise, and Jesus will be forsaken in turn."

"That," said Onias, "is true, Zadok. But in respect of what thou hast said of John, as I learn, his disciples abandon him not, but cleave to him, holding him greater and better than Jesus."

"I know not how his followers judge either of him or

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Jesus," replied the Pharisee, "but the people, of whom we were speaking, while but now they thronged John wheresoever he moved, now speak the truth of him, the truth at first, as well as the truth now, and say that he is as one beside himself, seeing that he dwells apart in the manner he does, feeds upon the wild fruits and berries of the wilderness, and for his clothing wears the garments of a beggar. Doubt not that presently they shall say yet worse things of Jesus; nay, that they do already, marvelling if he can be a Son of God who eats and drinks as others do, consorts with publicans and sinners, and by the power of God makes wine of water, that he and others with him may drink at will."

"Are such things reported?" asked Judith.

"It must be said that they are," replied Zadok, “and already among those who follow him doth it beget shrewd suspicions of whence he comes, and of the true spirit that inspireth him."

"Oh, say not so, Rabbi," cried Judith; "say not so. All that has thus far come to our ears speaks of him as gentle and holy. This is but the jealousy of a Herodian admit it, Zadok."

"As a follower of Herod," replied Zadok, "I profess not to love either him or John; that thou knowest daughter. But in respect of what I have just said, I utter it not of my own knowledge, but speak only the common rumour."

"Common rumour," I said, " changes its hue and quality, however, even as water, according to the nature of that through which it passes. Thou wouldst not take as justly exact a rumour concerning John from the lips of Herod, nor can we any more one from Zadok concerning Jesus."

"We shall see," replied the priest; "time will show. Only, as I think, there will be found to be even less of Christ in Jesus than in John; but in neither, what should throw a stumbling-block so big as a midge's wing in the way of Antipas."

"Let us not," said Onias, "be over-confident, nor judge

beforehand. God?"

Who would willingly be found to fight against

"As to what is said of the life and manner of the prophet," said Shammai, "it surely matters little one way or another. If the Messiah drink wine, it would make it hard for one to say why that should hurt him in the eye of the nation, and if he keep company with publicans and those who are little better, it were not easy to see how he should consort with many, and not do so. A holy Jew must be sought for narrowly to be found. He who is to be gathering armies and laying the foundation of a new kingdom, will hardly employ himself in choosing nicely his company. As thou sayest, Onias, let us not judge beforehand, nor make mountains of ant-hills. Let us not pry into his secret life searching for rents and spots of uncleanness. It matters not. It matters not. To be a busybody is worse than to be a sinner, and to judge bitterly worse than to be, or be called, a child of the devil."

So we conversed until the hour of retiring, when our visitors took their leave and returned to Beth-Harem.

When they were gone, Onias, as is his wont, called together his household for the evening prayer. Morning and evening he worships God surrounded by all who dwell beneath his roof, pouring forth the wants and desires of his heart concerning his own, and concerning Israel. This night, standing on the house-top in the midst of his large family, the air being calm, the stars shining bright in the firmament, and no sound heard but the low music of innumerable insects, and the distant murmuring of the Jordan, he prayed with an earnestness more than common. His voice, not loud but deep, and bearing upwards not only so many words, but the very soul of him who spake them, fell upon the ear as the voice of one more than man. When he had prayed for his own, and for thee, my mother, and for all in any sort bound to him, and for other things, with somewhat of that repetition to be noted in the devotions of all of this sect, he then prayed for Judea,

for her peace, prosperity, and deliverance; "Make haste to help us, O Lord, make haste to appear for us, and with thy strong arm to cause us to stand, for we are now fallen to the ground and buried in the dust of the earth, and sunk into the deep mire, and overwhelmed beneath mighty waters, so that we are of no account in the sight of men, verily they hoot at us, shooting out the lip and laughing us to scorn as they pass by, saying, where is thy helper, Israel, and thy gods, O Jacob? And truly, O Lord, it is not as it was wont to be of old with thy people, when thy servant David sat on thy glorious throne, and the inhabitants of the earth trembled and fled from before him astonished. Then was thy people as the chosen of the Lord. Then each sat beneath his own vine and fig-tree, and the Gentile who is accursed for ever, licked the dust at our feet. But now we are had in derision; our enemies have risen up against us, and hold us in bondage, the yoke is upon our neck, our feet are in the stocks, our wine and oil, the fruit of the field, and the cattle upon a thousand hills, they are not for us, but the oppressor devoureth them before our eyes, and for our wives and our little ones, their skin cleaveth to their bones, and their substance is carried away, and the stranger and alien hath gotten possession thereof. By reason of these things, O Lord, thy people are full of sighings and tears; we sit beneath the willows whereon we have hung our harps of pleasant sound, and bewail and lament. How long, O Lord! how long wilt thou cause us to wait? How long before we shall see our desires accomplished upon those whom we hate? How long before thy wrath shall be poured out upon our enemies and consume them from the face of the earth, so that men shall seek them and shall not find them, and the smoke of their ruin and the stench of their corruption shall alone declare the place where once stood the cities of their pride, and dwelt the multitudes of their inhabitants. Consume them quickly in thy wrath, O God, and in thine anger cause them to perish. Let thy enemies and the enemies of

Jacob flee before the face of thine anointed, and the kingdom be again given to Israel. Now is the set time, O Lord, the set time, the time for the redemption of Judah and the reign of Israel. Give us to know him whom thou shalt send. Let not our eyes be blind when the messenger of the covenant shall suddenly appear; let not our hearts be hard nor our ears dull of hearing. Make the sign to be plainly discerned even in the broad face of the heavens, that shall proclaim the King of Israel; and may the people quickly gather themselves unto him, with their swords girded upon their loins, with bows, and javelins, and spears, to take vengeance upon the oppressor, and bring deliverance to the captive. May thy kingdom come, even now, O Lord, that the eyes of thy servant may behold it, and may there be no tarrying. Show us him whom thou hast sealed, on whom thou hast set thy name, whom thou hast called thy Son-Son of David, King of Israel, Saviour of Judah, Redeemer of Jacob, The Anointed. Light hath arisen, O Lord, upon our land, but our hearts are divided, our minds are in doubt and amazement. Scatter the clouds, and let us see plainly in whom thou wouldst have us to trust, and where is the hiding of thy power. If it be in thy servant Jesus and in no other, or in John and no other, or in Herod and no other, cause that he quickly array himself in his royal robes, and crown himself with his royal diadem, and sit upon the throne of his fathers, so that we may know him, and that unto him there shall be a gathering of the people. Then upon our enemies shall there fall blasting and mildew, and a curse and utter destruction before the face of the Lord; and the kingdom of God shall be established, it shall be unto the ends of the earth, and there shall be no other."

These and other like things did Onias pour forth in his prayer, and truly if prayers be answered according to the faith and truth of those who make them, then will the petitions of thy brother be fulfilled; for his words are things rather than their names and shadows only. What he says is a thing done, having its force and reality.