{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_71231/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_71231","id":"gutenberg_71231","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/71231","summary":null,"tags":["Bible -- History of Biblical events","Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Church history"],"text":"----------------------------------------------------------------\n\n                          Transcriber\u2019s note:\n\n        This version of the text cannot represent certain\n        typographical effects. Italics appear as _italic_.\n\n    ----------------------------------------------------------------\n\n                             BIBLE HISTORY\n\n                                  AND\n\n                    BRIEF OUTLINE OF CHURCH HISTORY\n\n                                   BY\n\n                              VOLRATH VOGT\n\n              Formerly Principal of the Cathedral School,\n                          Christiania, Norway\n\n\n                            REVISED EDITION\n\n\n                         FROM THE NORWEGIAN BY\n                               N. C. BRUN\n\n\n                       AUGSBURG PUBLISHING HOUSE\n                           MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.\n\n\n\n\n                        BIBLE HISTORY--VOGT-BRUN\n                             Copyright 1919\n                       Augsburg Publishing House\n\n                            _1948 Printing_\n\n\n\n\n              Manufactured in the United States of America\n    Printed by Augsburg Publishing House, Minneapolis 15, Minnesota\n                                --8885--\n\n\n\n\n                                Contents\n\n\n    THE OLD TESTAMENT\n\n 1. Creation.\n 2. Adam and Eve.\n 3. The Fall.\n 4. Cain and Abel.\n 5. Seth and His Descendants.\n 6. The Flood.\n 7. The Tower of Babel.\n 8. Abraham Journeys to Canaan.\n 9. Abraham Delivers Lot.\n 10. Abraham Is Strong in Faith.\n 11. Abraham Prays for Sodom.\n 12. God Proves Abraham.\n 13. Isaac.\n 14. Esau and Jacob.\n 15. Jacob Obtains the Blessing.\n 16. Jacob Goes to Laban.\n 17. Jacob Meets Esau.\n 18. Joseph Sold by His Brothers.\n 19. Joseph Thrown into Prison.\n 20. Joseph Interprets Dreams.\n 21. The Brothers of Joseph Come to Egypt.\n 22. Joseph Makes Himself Known.\n 23. Jacob Goes Down to Egypt.\n 24. Moses Born and Hidden.\n 25. Moses in Midian.\n 26. Israel Departs from Egypt.\n 27. The Wandering in the Wilderness.\n 28. Joshua.\n 29. Gideon, Jephthah, Samson.\n 30. Ruth.\n 31. Eli and Samuel.\n 32. Saul.\n 33. David and Goliath.\n 34. Saul Pursues David, Saul Dies.\n 35. David Made King.\n 36. David\u2019s Fall.\n 37. The Revolt of Absalom.\n 38. Solomon.\n 39. The Kingdom Divided.\n 40. Kingdom of Israel, Jeroboam.\n 41. Ahab and Elijah.\n 42. Kingdom of Israel Overthrown.\n 43. Kingdom of Judah, Hezekiah and Isaiah.\n 44. Kingdom of Judah Overthrown.\n 45. The Babylonian Captivity.\n 46. Return from Babylon.\n 47. Maccabees.\n 48. Jonah.\n 49. Job.\n 50. The Books of the Old Testament.\n\n\n    THE NEW TESTAMENT\n\n 51. Birth of John the Baptist.\n 52. Annunciation of Mary.\n 53. Birth of the Savior.\n 54. The Wise-Men from the East.\n 55. The Child Jesus in the Temple.\n 56. John Preaches and Baptizes.\n 57. Jesus Is Baptized.\n 58. Jesus Is Tempted.\n 59. Jesus Begins His Work.\n 60. Jesus Chooses 12 Apostles.\n 61. Jesus and Nicodemus.\n 62. Jesus and the Woman of Samaria.\n\n\n    Parables of Jesus.\n\n 63. The Sower.\n 64. Tares Among the Wheat.\n 65. The Good Samaritan.\n 66. The Rich Man.\n 67. The Fig Tree.\n 68. The Unmerciful Servant.\n 69. The Prodigal Son. The Lost Sheep.\n 70. The Rich Man and Lazarus.\n 71. The Pharisee and the Publican.\n 72. The Laborers in the Vineyard.\n 73. The Marriage of the King\u2019s Son.\n 74. The Talents.\n\n\n    Miracles of Jesus.\n\n 75. Jesus Turns Water into Wine at Marriage in Cana.\n 76. Jesus Stills the Tempest.\n 77. Jesus Raises the Widow of Nain\u2019s Son from the Dead.\n 78. Jesus Raises the Daughter of Jairus from the Dead.\n 79. Jesus Feeds Five Thousand in the Wilderness.\n 80. Jesus Heals the Daughter of the Woman of Canaan.\n 81. Jesus Heals Ten Lepers.\n 82. Jesus Raises Lazarus from the Dead.\n\n\n    Other Stories from the Life of Jesus.\n\n 83. Jesus Teaches His Disciples to Pray.\n 84. The Transfiguration.\n 85. Jesus Blesses Little Children.\n 86. Jesus the Guest of Zaccheus.\n 87. The Enemies of Jesus.\n\n\n    The Last Days of Jesus.\n\n 88. The Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.\n 89. Jesus Institutes the Lord\u2019s Supper.\n 90. Jesus in Gethsemane.\n 91. Jesus before the Council.\n 92. Peter\u2019s Denial. The Death of Judas.\n 93. Jesus before Pilate.\n 94. Jesus on the Cross.\n 95. The Burial of Jesus.\n 96. The Resurrection of Jesus.\n 97. Jesus Appears to His Disciples.\n 98. The Ascension of Jesus.\n 99. The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit.\n 100. The Apostles before the Council.\n 101. Stephen.\n 102. Cornelius.\n 103. Paul.\n 104. The Destruction of Jerusalem.\n 105. The Apostle John.\n 106. The Books of the New Testament.\n\n\n    Brief Outline of the History of the Church after\n    the Death of the Apostles.\n\n 1. Progress of Christianity. The Christians Persecuted.\n 2. Constantine the Great.\n 3. Mohammed.\n 4. Christianity Introduced in the North.\n 5. Popes, Monks.\n 6. The Reformation.\n 7. The Reformation Introduced in the North.\n 8. The Lutheran Church in the United States of America.\n 9. Missions. Bible Societies.\n 10. A Brief Sketch of the Holy Land.\n Chronological Table.\n\n\n\n\n                           THE OLD TESTAMENT\n\n                            1. The Creation\n\nIn the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was\nwaste and void; and darkness was upon the deep. And the Spirit of God\nmoved upon the face of the waters. And God said: Let there be light--and\nthere was light. And there was evening and there was morning, the first\nday.--And God made a vast expanse which he called Heaven. And there was\nevening and there was morning, a second day.--And God gathered the\nwaters into one place, and the dry land appeared. And God said: Let the\nearth put forth grass and herbs and trees bearing fruit. And there was\nevening and there was morning, a third day.--And God made the two great\nlights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule\nthe night. He made the stars also. And there was evening and there was\nmorning, a fourth day.--And God created the great sea-monsters, and\nevery creature that lives in the waters, and every fowl that flies under\nheaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.--And\nGod made the beasts of the earth, and the cattle, and everything that\ncreeps upon the ground. And God said: Let us make man in our image, and\nlet them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of\nthe heavens, and over everything that lives upon the earth. And God\ncreated man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male\nand female created He them.\n\nAnd God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good.\nAnd there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day. And God rested\non the seventh day from all His work, and He blessed the seventh day and\nhallowed it. (Gen. 1.)\n\n\n                            2. Adam and Eve\n\nGod planted a garden eastward, in Eden. This garden has been called\nParadise. And out of the ground God made to grow every tree that is\npleasant to the sight; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden;\nand the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And God put man in the\ngarden of Eden to dress it and to keep it, and He said: Of every tree of\nthe garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of knowledge thou\nshalt not eat; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely\ndie--God said also: It is not good that the man should be alone; I will\nmake him a help, answering to him. And God brought all living creatures\nto Adam to see what he would call them, and whatsoever Adam called every\ncreature, that was the name thereof; but for man there was not found a\nhelp meet for him. And God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and He\ntook one of his ribs and made thereof a woman and brought her unto him.\nThen Adam said: This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she\nshall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall\na man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife,\nand they shall be one flesh.--Adam was the first man, and Eve was the\nfirst woman.--They were innocent, and knew neither sin, nor sorrow, nor\nsickness, nor death. (Gen. 2.)\n\n\n                              3. The Fall\n\nThe serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which God had\nmade. And he said unto the woman: Has God truly said: Ye shall not eat\nof any tree in the garden? The woman answered: Of all the other trees we\nmay freely eat; but of the tree of knowledge God hath said: Ye shall not\neat of it, lest ye die. The serpent answered: Ye shall not die; for God\ndoth know that in the day ye eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened, and\nye shall be as God, knowing good and evil. When the woman saw that the\ntree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and\ndesirable to make one wise, she took of the fruit and ate, and she gave\nalso to her husband, and he ate. Then their eyes were opened, and they\nknew that they were naked. In the evening they heard the voice of God,\nand hid themselves among the trees of the garden. Then God called unto\nAdam and said: Where art thou? And Adam said: I heard Thy voice, and I\nwas afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. Then God said: Who\ntold thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree of\nknowledge? Adam answered: The woman gave me of the fruit, and I ate.\nThen God said to the woman: What is this thou hast done? She answered:\nThe serpent beguiled me, and I ate. And God said unto the serpent:\nCursed art thou above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt\nthou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. I will put\nenmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: he\nshall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.--Unto the woman\nGod said: In pain thou shalt bring forth children; and thy husband shall\nrule over thee.--Unto the man God said: Cursed is the ground for thy\nsake; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread, till thou\nreturn unto the ground; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou\nreturn. So God drove Adam and Eve out of the garden of Eden, and He\nplaced Cherubim with a flaming sword to keep the way to the tree of\nlife.--Thus sin came into the world, and through sin came sorrow and\nsickness and death. (Gen. 3.)\n\n\n                            4. Cain and Abel\n\nAdam and Eve got two sons; the first was called Cain and the second\nAbel. Cain tilled the ground, and Abel kept sheep. Once they both\nbrought their offerings to the Lord: Cain brought of the fruit of the\nground, and Abel of the best of his flock. God had respect unto Abel and\nhis offering; but unto Cain and his offering He had not respect. Then\nCain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And God said unto him:\nWhy is thy countenance fallen? Is it not so that if thou doest well,\nthou mayst freely look up? And if thou doest not well, sin coucheth at\nthe door, and its desire shall be unto thee, but do thou rule over it.\nStill Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him, when they were\nin the field. And the Lord asked Cain: Where is thy brother? Cain\nanswered: I know not; am I my brother\u2019s keeper? Then the Lord said: Thy\nbrother\u2019s blood crieth unto me from the ground. Therefore cursed art\nthou; and a fugitive and a wanderer shalt thou be in the earth. And Cain\nwent and dwelt on the east of Eden. His descendants were inventive and\nskilful, they invented harps and flutes and forged weapons; but they did\nalso that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord. (Gen. 4.)\n\n\n                      5. Seth and His Descendants\n\nAdam and Eve got a son instead of Abel. He was called Seth. Seth and his\ndescendants were pious and were called the children of God; but they\nwere not innocent; for all have sinned in Adam. One of them was called\nEnoch; he walked with God and did not die; the Lord took him, when he\nwas 365 years old. Methuselah lived 969 years, and is the oldest of all\nmen. His grandson was Noah. (Gen. 5.)\n\n\n                              6. The Flood\n\nMen multiplied on the earth, and the sons of Seth mingled with the\ndescendants of Cain and took their daughters for wives. Thereby\nwickedness became great over all the earth, and it repented God that he\nhad made man. But Noah found favor in the eyes of God. Therefore He said\nto Noah: Make thee an ark, three hundred cubits[1] long, fifty cubits\nwide and thirty cubits high, and pitch it within and without with pitch;\nfor I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy everything\nthat lives. Noah built the ship which is called the ark, and went into\nit with his wife and his three sons, Shem, Ham and Japhet, and their\nwives, and a male and a female of all the animals that cannot live in\nthe water. Then God let it rain for 40 days and 40 nights, and the\nwaters rose 15 cubits over the highest mountains. And every living thing\nwas destroyed upon the earth. Noah only, and those that were with him in\nthe ark, were left alive.\n\n-----\nFootnote 1: This cubit was about 19 inches long.\n-----\n\nGod remembered Noah and caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the\nwaters sank, and the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. Noah\nopened the window, and he sent forth a raven, and it went forth to and\nfro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. Then he sent\nforth a dove, but as she found no rest for her foot, she returned to the\nark, and Noah put forth his hand and took her unto him. And he stayed\nyet seven days, and he sent forth the dove again. And she came back to\nhim again at eventide, and in her mouth she had a fresh olive leaf. And\nhe stayed yet seven days and sent forth the dove again, and she returned\nnot; then Noah knew that the earth must be dry. The waters had then\ncovered the earth for more than one year.\n\nNow Noah went out of the ark and made a thank offering unto the Lord.\nAnd the Lord said in His heart: I will not again curse the ground for\nman\u2019s sake, for man is evil from his youth. While the earth remaineth,\nseedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night\nshall not cease. And God set the rainbow in the heavens as a token that\nHe would remember His covenant. Noah lived till he was 950 years old,\nand is the second father of the human race. (Gen. 6-9.)\n\n\n                         7. The Tower of Babel\n\nThe whole earth was of one speech. When men journeyed eastward, they\nfound a large plain, and they dwelt there. And they said one to another:\nCome, let us build a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven, lest we be\nscattered over the whole earth. But the Lord came down and confounded\ntheir language, so the one did not understand the other. Thus the Lord\nscattered them over all the earth, and they left off building. Therefore\nthe place is called Babel, that is, Confusion.--The descendants of Shem\nremained in Asia, the descendants of Ham went southwest to Africa, and\nthe descendants of Japhet went westward to Europe. (Gen. 11:1-9.)\n\n\n                     8. Abraham Journeys to Canaan\n\nTerah descended from Shem. He dwelt in Mesopotamia and had three sons,\nAbraham, Nahor and Haran. Terah served strange gods. And the Lord said\nunto Abraham: Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and\nfrom thy father\u2019s house, unto the land that I will show thee. I will\nmake of thee a great nation, and in thee shall all the families of the\nearth be blessed. So Abraham took Sarah, his wife, and his brother\u2019s son\nLot, and all that he had, and went to the land of Canaan. And the Lord\nappeared unto Abraham and said: Unto thy seed will I give this land; and\nthere he builded an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him.\n\nAbraham was very rich in cattle, in silver and in gold; and Lot also,\nwho went with Abraham, had flocks and herds. And there was a strife\nbetween the herdsmen of Abraham and the herdsmen of Lot about the\npastures. And Abraham said unto Lot: Let there be no strife, I pray\nthee, between thee and me, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen; for\nwe are brethren. Is not the land before thee? If thou wilt take the left\nhand, then I will go to the right; or if thou take the right hand, then\nI will go to the left. Lot saw that the plain of Jordan was well\nwatered, that it was like the land of Egypt, even as the garden of\nJehovah. So Lot chose the plain for himself, and pitched his tents\ntoward Sodom. But the inhabitants of Sodom were wicked, and sinners\nagainst the Lord exceedingly. (Gen. 12-13.)\n\n\n                        9. Abraham Delivers Lot\n\nKings from the East came and made war against the kings of Sodom and\nGomorrah, were victorious over them, and carried off the people and\ntheir goods. They also carried off Lot and all his goods. When Abraham\nheard that his brother\u2019s son was taken captive, he led forth his trained\nmen, to the number of 318, pursued the enemy and overtook them; and he\nbrought back all the goods, and set Lot and the people free. When\nAbraham returned, Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most\nHigh, went out to him with bread and wine, and blessed him.--And the\nking of Sodom came and said unto Abraham: Take the goods to thyself and\ngive me the people. But Abraham answered: I will not take a thread nor a\nshoe-latchet, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abraham rich. (Gen.\n14.)\n\n\n                     10. Abraham is Strong in Faith\n\nThe Lord appeared again unto Abraham and promised him that his seed\nshould become as numerous as the stars of the heavens. Abraham was old,\nand Sarah was old, and they had no children; but Abraham believed the\nLord\u2019s promise, and He reckoned it to him for righteousness.\n\nAbraham sat in the door of his tent in the heat of the day. As he lifted\nup his eyes, lo, three men stood over against him. Abraham ran to meet\nthem, bowed himself to the earth and said: My lord, pass not by thy\nservant: let now a little water be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest\nyourselves under the tree and let me fetch a morsel of bread to\nstrengthen you; after that you shall pass on. And they said: So do, as\nthou hast said. And Abraham ran unto the herd and had a good calf\ndressed and prepared, and Sarah took fine meal and baked cakes. And he\ntook butter and milk and set before the men, and he stood by them under\nthe tree, while they did eat. Then one of them said: Where is Sarah your\nwife? Abraham answered: She is in the tent. Then said he: In a year I\nwill return, and Sarah shall then have a son. Sarah heard this in the\ntent and laughed; for she thought she was too old to have children. But\nthe one who was the Lord said: Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?\n(Gen. 15:5, 6; 18:1-14.)\n\n\n                      11. Abraham Prays for Sodom\n\nAnd the men rose up, and Abraham followed them. Then the Lord said: I\nwill destroy Sodom; for its sins are grievous. The two angels went\ntoward Sodom, and Abraham stood alone before the Lord and said: Wilt\nThou consume the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there are fifty\nrighteous within the city; wilt Thou not spare it for the sake of these?\nThe Lord answered: If I find fifty righteous I will not consume it.\nAbraham said: Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord,\nwho am but dust and ashes; peradventure there shall lack five of the\nfifty, wilt Thou destroy the whole city for lack of five? The Lord\nanswered: I will not destroy it if I find there forty and five. And\nAbraham continued to pray, until he came down to ten, and the Lord\npromised to spare the city if He should find ten righteous in it.\n\nMeanwhile the two angels came to Sodom and went in to Lot. Then the men\nin the city surrounded Lot\u2019s house to seize the angels; but they smote\nthem with blindness, and brought Lot and his wife and his two daughters\nout of the city. And one of the angels said: Look not behind thee,\nneither stay in all the plain; escape to the mountain. But Lot\u2019s wife\nlooked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Then the Lord rained fire\nfrom heaven, and the fertile plain where Sodom and Gomorrah stood became\nthe Dead Sea.--Thus it appeared that there were not ten righteous in\nSodom. (Gen. 18:16-33; 19.)\n\n\n                         12. God Proves Abraham\n\nGod visited Sarah at the time He had promised, and she bare a son, who\nwas called Isaac. Abraham was then 100 years old, and Sarah was 90.\n\nSome years after this it came to pass that God proved Abraham and said:\nTake now thy son, Isaac, thine only son, whom thou lovest, and get thee\ninto the land of Moriah and offer him on one of the mountains which I\nwill tell thee of. Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his ass,\ntook two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he clave the\nwood for the burnt offering, and went unto the place of which God had\ntold him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place\nafar off. He said then to his young men: Abide ye here, and I and the\nlad will go yonder and worship. And he took the wood for the burnt\noffering and laid it upon Isaac, and he took in his hand the fire and\nthe knife; and they went both of them together. Then Isaac said: Father,\nhere is wood and fire; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?\nAbraham answered: God will provide himself the lamb, my son. So they\nwent both of them together. When they came to the place, Abraham built\nan altar, laid the wood in order, bound Isaac and laid him upon the\nwood. And he stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his\nson. Then the Lord called unto him out of heaven and said: Abraham,\nAbraham! Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto\nhim; for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld\nthy son, thine only son from me. Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw a\nram behind him, caught in the thicket by his horns. And he took the ram\nand offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.--God\ncalled the second time out of heaven and said: Because thou hast done\nthis thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me, I\nwill exceedingly bless thee, and I will multiply thy seed as the stars\nof the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and in thy\nseed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. So Abraham returned\nunto his young men and went with them to his home. (Gen. 22:1-19.)\n\n\n                               13. Isaac\n\nWhen Sarah was dead, Abraham said to Eliezer, who ruled his house:\nPromise me that thou wilt not take one of the daughters of the\nCanaanites to be a wife for my son; but thou shalt go unto my country\nand to my kindred and take a wife for my son Isaac. Eliezer then took\nten of his master\u2019s camels, having all goodly things of his master\u2019s in\nhis hand, and he went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor. And he\nmade his camels kneel down without the city by the well at the time of\nevening, the time that women go out to draw water. And he said: Lord,\nGod of Abraham, show this day kindness unto my master. I stand now by\nthis well, and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw\nwater. I will then say to one of them: Let me drink of thy pitcher. If\nshe answer: Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also; let the same\nbe she that thou hast appointed as wife for Thy servant Isaac. Before he\nyet had done speaking, Rebekah came out, and she was very fair, and she\nhad her pitcher on her shoulder and went to the well and filled her\npitcher. And the servant went to her and said: Give me to drink, I pray\nthee, of thy pitcher. And she said: Drink, my lord, and I will give thy\ncamels drink also, and she drew water for all his camels. And he\nwondered greatly while he looked on. When all the camels had done\ndrinking he gave her a ring and two bracelets of gold and said: Whose\ndaughter are you? Is there room in your father\u2019s house for us to lodge\nin? She said: I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor. We have\nboth straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in. Then the man\nbowed his head, worshipped the Lord and said: Blessed be the Lord, who\nhath led me in the way to the house of my master\u2019s brother. And Rebekah\nran home and told all these words.\n\nRebekah\u2019s brother, Laban, ran out to the man, brought him into the\nhouse, gave the camels straw and provender, and set food before him to\neat; but he said: I will not eat until I have told mine errand. When he\nhad told all, Laban and Bethuel answered: This comes from the Lord; take\nRebekah and go, and let her be thy master\u2019s son\u2019s wife. And they called\nRebekah, and said unto her: Wilt thou go with this man? And she said: I\nwill go. Then Eliezer took her and went his way. And Isaac brought her\ninto Sarah\u2019s tent, and she became his wife, and he loved her.\n\nAbraham lived happy in the faith in the Savior, who was to come. He was\n175 years old when he died and was gathered to his people. Isaac became\nheir of all that he had, and became a chief for his people, and the Lord\nblessed him and said: Unto thee and thy seed will I give the land of\nCanaan, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.\n(Gen. 24; 25:1-11; 26:3, 4.)\n\n\n                           14. Esau and Jacob\n\nTwenty years had passed, and Rebekah had no children. Then the Lord said\nto her: Thou shalt bear two sons, and the elder shall serve the younger.\nWhen her time came, she bore twins; the first-born was hairy all over,\nand was called Esau, and the second was called Jacob. And the boys grew,\nand Esau was a skilful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a quiet\nman dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.\nOnce when Jacob had boiled pottage and Esau came in from the field,\nfeeling faint, Esau said: Give me, I pray thee, the pottage. Jacob\nanswered: Sell me first thy birthright. And Esau said: Behold, I am\nabout to die; what profit shall the birthright do to me? So he sold his\nbirthright to Jacob for that pottage of lentils, and he did eat and\ndrink, and rose up and went his way, and he despised his birthright.\n(Gen. 25:23-34.)\n\n\n                     15. Jacob Obtains the Blessing\n\nWhen Isaac was old and nearly blind, he said one day to Esau: Take thy\nquiver and thy bow, go out to the field, and take me venison, and make\nme savory food, that I may eat thereof and bless thee before I die.\nRebekah, who heard this, told Jacob to go to the father in Esau\u2019s stead\nand obtain the blessing. Jacob answered: My brother is a hairy man, and\nI am a smooth man. My father may feel me, and I shall bring a curse upon\nme, and not a blessing. But she persuaded him, killed two kids of the\ngoats and made savory food, and she put the skins of the kids of goats\nupon Jacob\u2019s hands and neck, and he went to his father and asked for the\nblessing. Isaac said: How is it that thou found it so quickly, my son?\nJacob answered: The Lord thy God sent me good speed. Isaac said: Come\nnearer, my son, that I may feel thee. And he felt him and said: The\nvoice is Jacob\u2019s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he did\neat of Jacob\u2019s food, and blessed him and set him as lord over his\nbrother, as if he were the first-born, and said: Cursed be every one\nthat curseth thee, and blessed be every one that blesseth thee.\n\nJacob was scarce gone out before Esau came in from his hunting, made\nsavory food, and brought it in to his father and said: Let my father eat\nof his son\u2019s venison, that thy soul may bless me. Isaac said: Who art\nthou? Esau answered: I am Esau, thy first-born son. Then Isaac trembled\nexceedingly and said: Who then is he that hath taken venison and brought\nit to me, and I have eaten of it, and blessed him? and he shall be\nblessed. Esau answered: Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me? Bless\neven me also, O my father! And he lifted up his voice and wept. And\nIsaac said: By thy sword shalt thou live, and thou shalt serve thy\nbrother.--Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing, and threatened to\nslay him when his father died. Then said Rebekah unto Jacob: Flee to my\nbrother Laban, and tarry with him until thy brother\u2019s fury turn away.\n(Gen. 27.)\n\n\n                        16. Jacob Goes to Laban\n\nJacob went away from home, and when the sun was set he lighted upon a\ncertain place and tarried there all night; and he took a stone, and put\nit under his head and slept. And he dreamed that a ladder was set up on\nthe earth, and the top of it reached to heaven, and the angels of God\nwere ascending and descending on it. And the Lord stood above it and\nsaid: I am the God of Abraham and of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest,\nto thee will I give it and to thy seed; and thy seed shall be as the\ndust of the earth; and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth\nbe blessed. And I will be with thee and bring thee again into this land.\nWhen Jacob awoke he said: How dreadful is this place! This is the house\nof God, this is the gate of heaven!\n\nJacob journeyed eastward and came to Laban, his mother\u2019s brother, and he\nabode with him the space of a month. Then Laban said to him: What shall\nthy wages be? And Laban had two daughters, Leah and Rachel; and Rachel\nwas beautiful. Therefore Jacob said: I will serve thee seven years for\nRachel. And the seven years seemed unto him but a few days, for he loved\nher. When the seven years were finished Laban gave Leah to him: Jacob\nsaid: Did I not serve with thee for Rachel? Wherefore then hast thou\nbeguiled me? Laban said: It is not customary with us to give away the\nyounger before the firstborn. Fulfil the week of this one, and we will\ngive thee the other also. Jacob did so, and then Laban gave him Rachel\nto wife. Then Jacob had to serve seven other years for Rachel. Afterward\nhe served six years for wages, and God blessed him, so he became very\nrich. When he saw that Laban became envious of this he went away with\nhis wives and children and all that he had. (Gen. 28-29.)\n\n\n                          17. Jacob Meets Esau\n\nWhen Jacob drew near to Canaan, he sent messengers to Esau to find favor\nin his sight. The messengers returned and said: Thy brother is coming to\nmeet thee, and 400 men with him. Then Jacob was greatly afraid, and he\nsent a present from his herds and flocks to Esau, and prayed earnestly\nto the Lord. And the Lord appeared unto him as a man that wrestled with\nhim. But Jacob held out manfully and said: I will not let thee go,\nexcept thou bless me. God blessed him, and called him Israel, that is,\none who strives with God.\n\nWhen Jacob saw Esau he bowed himself to the ground seven times; but Esau\nran to meet him, and embraced him and kissed him, and they both\nwept.--Isaac died old (180 years) and full of days, and Esau and Jacob\nburied him. (Gen. 32; 33; 35:28-29.)\n\n\n                    18. Joseph Sold by His Brothers\n\nJacob had 12 sons, of whom Reuben was the oldest; Joseph and Benjamin,\nthe sons of Rachel, were the youngest. Joseph was feeding the flocks\nwith his brothers, and he brought evil report of them unto their father.\nNow, Jacob loved him more than his other sons, and he made him a long\ngarment. The brothers who saw this hated him, and could not speak\npeaceably unto him. And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his\nbrothers: We were binding sheaves in the field, and your sheaves bowed\ndown to my sheaf. And he dreamed another dream and told it: The sun and\nthe moon and eleven stars bowed down to me. Then his brothers said to\nhim: Shalt thou indeed reign over us? And they hated him yet more. And\nhis father rebuked him and said: What is this dream, thou hast dreamed?\nShall I and thy mother and thy brothers come to bow down ourselves to\nthee? But his father kept the saying in his mind.\n\nOnce, when the other sons were feeding the flocks in Shechem, Jacob said\nto Joseph: Go now, see whether it is well with thy brothers and the\nflock. And Joseph went. When they saw him afar off, they said: Behold,\nthis dreamer cometh, let us slay him, and we shall see what will become\nof his dreams. But Reuben, who wished to deliver him, said: Shed no\nblood, but cast him into this pit. And Joseph came to his brothers, and\nthey stripped him of his coat and cast him into the pit, which was\nempty. And they sat down to eat; and some merchants came with their\ncamels bearing spices and balsam to Egypt. Judah said: Let us sell him\nto these merchants, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our\nbrother. And they sold him for 20 pieces of silver. Reuben had meanwhile\nbeen away. When he returned to the pit, and Joseph was not there, he\nwent to his brothers and said: The child is not there, and I, whither\nshall I go? They then killed a he-goat and dipped the coat in the blood,\nand sent it to their father and said: This have we found; know now\nwhether it is thy son\u2019s coat? And he knew it and said: It is my son\u2019s\ncoat; an evil beast has devoured him. And he mourned for his son many\ndays, wept and would not be comforted. (Gen. 37.)\n\n\n                    19. Joseph is Thrown Into Prison\n\nThe merchants brought Joseph to Egypt and sold him to Potiphar, the\ncaptain of the life-guard of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. God was with\nJoseph and made him to prosper, and Potiphar made him overseer over his\nhouse. Potiphar\u2019s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph to seduce him; but\nJoseph answered: How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?\nShe then accused him to her husband, saying: This stranger tried to\nseduce me. Potiphar believed his wife, and cast Joseph into prison.\n\nGod was with Joseph and gave him favor with the keeper of the prison,\nand he set him over the other prisoners. (Gen. 39.)\n\n\n                      20. Joseph Interprets Dreams\n\nPharaoh became offended at his chief butler and his chief baker, and\ncast them into the prison where Joseph was. When Joseph came to them one\nmorning, he saw that they were sad. The butler said: I dreamed that I\nsaw a vine with three branches, and on the branches were grapes. I took\nthem and pressed the juice into Pharaoh\u2019s cup, and I gave the cup into\nPharaoh\u2019s hand. Joseph said: Within three days Pharaoh will restore thee\nunto thine office; but have me in remembrance who am innocent in this\nprison.--The baker told his dream and said: I had three baskets of white\nbread on my head, and in the uppermost basket there was baked food for\nPharaoh; and the birds did eat it out of the basket. Joseph said: In\nthree days Pharaoh shall take thy head. And it came to pass, as Joseph\nhad interpreted; but the butler forgot him.\n\nTwo years afterward Pharaoh dreamed that he stood by the river Nile.\nThen there came up out of the river seven fat cows and grazed on the\nbank. After them came seven lean cows, and devoured the former, but they\nwere still lean. Afterwards he dreamed that seven full and good ears of\ngrain grew on one stalk, and after them seven thin ears that swallowed\nthe former. None of the wise men of Egypt could interpret the dream.\nThen the butler remembered Joseph, and Pharaoh sent and called Joseph\nout of the prison, and said: I have heard say of thee that when thou\nhearest a dream thou canst interpret it. Joseph answered: It is not in\nme; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace. When he had heard the\ndreams, he interpreted them thus: There shall come seven years of great\nplenty, and after them seven years of famine that shall consume all that\nremains from the seven years of plenty. When Pharaoh heard the\ninterpretation he set Joseph over the whole land of Egypt, and Joseph\nwent through the land, and stored up grain during the seven years of\nplenty. (Gen. 40, 41.)\n\n\n                21. The Brothers of Joseph Come to Egypt\n\nThe famine was sore in all lands, but in Egypt there was grain. And\nJacob sent ten of his sons to Egypt to buy grain; but he would not let\nBenjamin go. And Joseph\u2019s brothers came and bowed down themselves to\nhim. They knew not him, but he knew them, and remembered his dreams.\nThey said: We are twelve brothers; the youngest is this day with our\nfather, and one is not. But Joseph said: Ye are spies. And he kept them\nin prison for three days. On the third day he said to them: One of you\nshall remain in prison; but the others may go home with the grain, and\nye shall bring your youngest brother to me, that I may see whether ye\nspeak the truth. They said one to another: We are verily guilty\nconcerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul when he\nbesought us, and we would not hear him. And they knew not that Joseph\nunderstood them; but he turned himself about from them and wept. Simeon\nwas kept, and the others went home.\n\nJacob would not let Benjamin go with them, but said: Joseph is no more,\nSimeon is no more, and Benjamin ye will also take! But the famine was\nsore in the land, so he must needs send Benjamin. The brothers went to\nEgypt and stood before Joseph. When he saw Benjamin he said: God be\ngracious to thee, my son. And he went out and wept. And he washed his\nface, and he went in and refrained himself, and said to his servants:\nSet on bread.--And he commanded the steward of his house: Fill the men\u2019s\nsacks with grain and put my silver cup in Benjamin\u2019s sack. When they\nwere not yet gone far off he sent his steward after them, the sacks were\nsearched, and the cup was found in Benjamin\u2019s sack. Joseph would retain\nBenjamin as his slave; but Judah stood forth and said: Let me remain in\nhis stead, for if we have not him with us, we will bring our father\u2019s\ngray hairs with sorrow into the grave. (Gen. 42-44.)\n\n\n                     22. Joseph Makes Himself Known\n\nThen Joseph could not refrain himself any longer, but said: I am Joseph.\nDoth my father yet live? His brothers could not answer him for fear; but\nJoseph spoke kindly to them, kissed them all, and wept on Benjamin\u2019s\nneck. Afterwards he said: Make haste, and go home and tell my father\nthat I am lord of all Egypt, and bring him hither. They went home and\ntold all this; but Jacob\u2019s heart fainted, for he believed them not. But\nwhen he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent, he said: It is enough;\nJoseph, my son, is yet alive; I will go down and see him before I die.\n(Gen. 45.)\n\n\n                      23. Jacob Goes Down to Egypt\n\nThe Lord spoke to Jacob in a vision, saying: Fear not to go down to\nEgypt, for I will be with thee and bring thee up again, and Joseph shall\nclose thine eyes. So Jacob moved down to Egypt with his whole family, 70\nsouls, and all that he had. When Joseph heard of his coming he made\nready his chariot, and went up to meet him in Goshen. And he fell on his\nfather\u2019s neck and wept a good while. Jacob said: Now let me die, since I\nhave seen that thou art yet alive.--On Pharaoh\u2019s command Joseph gave\nunto his father Goshen to dwell in, for in Goshen were good pastures,\nand Jacob and his sons were shepherds.--Jacob lived in Egypt 17 years,\nand became 147 years old. A short time before his death he blessed\nJoseph\u2019s two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, and added: They shall be my\nsons, even as Reuben and Simeon. After that he gathered all his sons\nabout him, blessed them and told them what should befall them in the\nlatter days, and foretold of the Savior, whom he called the Prince of\nPeace.--Joseph brought his body up to Canaan and buried it in the\nsepulchre of Abraham and Isaac.\n\nJoseph\u2019s brothers feared that he would now revenge himself on them. When\nhe heard this, Joseph wept and said: Am I in the place of God? Ye meant\nevil against me, but God meant it for good, to save much people\nalive.--Joseph died, being 110 years old, and they embalmed his body and\nput it in a coffin in Egypt to take it with them up to Canaan, when God\nshould visit them. (Gen. 46-50.)\n\n\n                       24. Moses Born and Hidden\n\nThe children of Israel dwelt in Goshen for 430 years and became a\nnumerous people. There arose a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph,\nand he said: The Israelites are more and mightier than we, and have\nbecome a menace to us. Therefore he afflicted them with hard labor; but\nthe more he afflicted them, the more they multiplied, and the more they\nspread abroad. Then he charged his people, saying: Every son that is\nborn to the Israelites ye shall cast into the Nile, and every daughter\nye shall save alive.\n\nAt this time a woman of the tribe of Levi bore a son, and when she saw\nhe was a goodly child, she hid him three months. And when she could no\nlonger hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and she put the\nchild in it, and laid it in the flags by the river\u2019s bank. And his\nsister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him. And the\ndaughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river; and she had the ark\nfetched, and opened it, and saw the child, and behold, the babe wept;\nand she had compassion on him. Then his sister came and asked: Shall I\ngo and call a nurse? Pharaoh\u2019s daughter said to her: Go. And the maiden\nwent and called the child\u2019s mother. And he grew, and the mother brought\nhim to Pharaoh\u2019s daughter, and she called him Moses, that is, one that\nis drawn out of the water. (Exodus 1; 2:1-10.)\n\n\n                          25. Moses in Midian\n\nWhen Moses was forty years old he went out to look on the burdens of his\nbrethren, and he saw an Egyptian smiting an Israelite. Moses looked this\nway and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he smote the\nEgyptian and hid him in the sand. When Pharaoh heard this thing he\nsought to slay Moses, but he fled to Midian, and came to a priest by the\nname of Jethro, who had seven daughters, of whom he gave Moses one,\nZipporah, for wife. And Moses dwelt in Midian forty years.\n\nOnce, when he kept Jethro\u2019s flocks at Mount Horeb, he saw a bush which\nburned and was not consumed. When he drew near to see, the Lord spoke to\nhim from the bush: I am the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob; I\nhave seen the affliction of my people and have heard their cry; now I\nwill send thee to Pharaoh, and thou shalt bring my people out of Egypt.\nMoses answered: My brethren will not believe that Thou hast sent me. The\nLord said: Cast thy rod on the ground. Moses did so, and it became a\nserpent, and Moses fled from it. At the Lord\u2019s command Moses took it by\nthe tail, and it became a rod again. The Lord gave him power to work\nother wonders; but Moses continued to excuse himself and said: I am slow\nof speech. The Lord answered: I will send thy brother Aaron to thee, and\nthou shalt put the words in his mouth, and he shall speak for thee. Then\nMoses returned to Egypt. He met Aaron on the road, and he went with him\nto the Israelites and told them the words of the Lord, and they rejoiced\nand bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord. (Ex. 2:15-4:31.)\n\n\n                     26. Israel Departs from Egypt\n\nMoses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh: Thus saith Jehovah, the God of\nIsrael: Let my people go. Pharaoh answered: Who is Jehovah, that I\nshould hearken unto His voice to let Israel go? I know Him not, and\nmoreover I will not let Israel go.\n\nMoses now performed the wonders that God had given him, but Pharaoh\nhardened his heart and would not let the people go. Then God said unto\nMoses: Take thy rod and smite the waters in the Nile. Moses did so, and\nthe waters became blood. When this did not help, God sent nine other\nplagues upon Egypt. The eighth plague was numberless locusts that\ncovered all the land, and ate every green thing, and the ninth was a\nthick darkness that lasted for three days; but in Goshen there were no\nlocusts, and there it was light.\n\nThe Lord now bade Moses speak to the children of Israel and say: Tonight\nye shall kill a lamb in every house, and ye shall take the blood and put\nit on the two door posts; ye shall roast the lamb and eat it with\nunleavened bread and bitter herbs; and ye shall stand with your staff in\nhand, ready to go out.--Thus the Lord instituted the Passover.\n\nAt midnight the Lord passed through Egypt and slew all the first-born,\nfrom the first-born of Pharaoh to the first-born of the slave. But He\nsaw the blood on the dwellings of Israel and passed over. And there was\na great cry in Egypt, and Pharaoh urged Israel to go. So the Israelites\nwent out of Egypt, 600,000 men who could go out to battle, and Moses\ntook the bones of Joseph with him. And the Lord went before them in a\npillar of fire by night and in a pillar of cloud by day, and he led them\ntoward the Red Sea. But Pharaoh regretted that he had let Israel depart,\nand he pursued them with all his chariots and overtook them at the Red\nSea. Then the Israelites murmured against Moses and said: Were there not\ngraves enough in Egypt, that thou must take us out in the wilderness to\ndie? Moses answered: Today you shall see the salvation of the Lord. And\nhe stretched forth his hand, and the waters were divided, and the\nchildren of Israel walked over on dry ground, while the water stood as a\nwall on the right hand and on the left. The Egyptians pursued them, but\nwhen they were in the midst of the Red Sea, and the Israelites had\npassed over, Moses again stretched out his hand, and the waters returned\nand buried all the host of Pharaoh. (Ex. 5-14.)\n\n\n                    27. Wandering in the Wilderness\n\nThe children of Israel were now come into the wilderness of Arabia. Here\nthey lacked both water and food, murmured against Moses, and wished they\nwere back to the flesh-pots in Egypt. Moses smote the rock with his rod,\nand there flowed water; and the Lord sent them manna for food. This lay\nevery morning like hoar-frost on the ground, and melted when the sun\nrose.\n\nIn the third month after they had gone out of Egypt, the Israelites\nencamped at Mount Sinai. On the third day a thick cloud covered the\nmountain, and there was heard a sound as of a loud trumpet. The mountain\nshook and smoked as a furnace, for the Lord descended in fire on the\nmountain. The Lord then spoke thus to the people:\n\n1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.\n\n2. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the\nLord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.\n\n3. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.\n\n4. Honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long in the land\nwhich the Lord thy God giveth thee.\n\n5. Thou shalt not kill.\n\n6. Thou shalt not commit adultery.\n\n7. Thou shalt not steal.\n\n8. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.\n\n9. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor\u2019s house.\n\n10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor\u2019s wife, nor his man-servant, nor\nhis maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy\nneighbor\u2019s. (Ex. 16-20.)\n\n\nAt the command of the Lord, Moses afterwards gave laws concerning\nworship. He made Aaron high priest, and after him his oldest son, and\nthus successively from son to son. The other sons of Aaron became\npriests, and the other descendants of Levi, or the Levites, became their\nassistants.--A Tabernacle, or large tent, was raised and divided into\ntwo parts: The Holy of Holies and the Holy Place. In the Holy of Holies\nwas a chest, called the Ark of the Covenant, and a pot filled with\nmanna. The ark was overlaid with gold, the cover was of pure gold, and\nwas called the Mercy Seat. Only the high priest might enter the Holy of\nHolies, and even he only once a year. The Holy Place was for the\npriests. Round about the Tabernacle was the Court, which was without a\nroof, here the people should assemble.--The seventh day of the week was\nthe day of rest, or the Sabbath.--There were three great feasts: The\nPassover, in memory of the passing out of Egypt; The Feast of Weeks, or\nPentecost; and The Feast of Tabernacles, in memory of Israel\u2019s living in\ntents.--There were many kinds of sacrifices. The most important\nsacrifice was brought on the great Feast of Atonement, when the high\npriest went into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled the blood of an ox and\nof a he-goat on the Mercy Seat for the sins of himself and of the\npeople. (Ex. 23-29; Lev. 16.)\n\nThe Lord said to Moses: Come up to me on the mountain, and I will give\nthee the Tables of the Law. Moses was with the Lord for 40 days and 40\nnights. And the Lord gave him the two Tables of the Law. They were\nwritten on both sides; the writing was the writing of God; it was\nwritten by God\u2019s own finger.--While Moses was on the mountain the people\nsaid to Aaron: Make us a god which shall go before us; for Moses does\nnot return. Aaron made a golden calf, and the people danced around it.\nWhen Moses came down from the mountain and saw the calf and the dancing,\nhis anger was kindled, and he cast the tables against the mountain so\nthey broke; and he took the golden calf and ground it to powder and\nstrewed it on the brook that runs down the mountain. Then he bade the\nLevites go with drawn swords through the camp, and 3,000 were killed on\nthe same day.--Moses went again on the mountain, and was there for 40\ndays and 40 nights, and he ate no bread and drank no water, and the Lord\nwrote the ten commandments on two new tables of stone. These were\nafterward kept in the Ark of the Covenant. (Ex. 24, 32, 34.)\n\nThe Israelites went from Sinai toward Canaan, and Moses sent twelve\nspies into the country. These returned, saying: The land is very good;\nbut we are as grasshoppers compared to the inhabitants, of such stature\nare they. But Joshua and Caleb, two of the spies, replied: We can subdue\nthe land, for the Lord is with us. But it availed not. The people would\nnot go against the Canaanites, but wished to choose a new leader and\nreturn to Egypt. Then the glory of the Lord appeared in the Tabernacle,\nand the Lord spoke thus by Moses: For forty years shall ye wander about\nin this wilderness, until all those are dead who were 20 years old or\nover when ye went out of Egypt; none who hath seen my wonders in Egypt\nshall come into Canaan, except Joshua and Caleb. (Num. 13-14.)\n\nThus they must for 40 years wander about in the terrible wilderness\namong serpents and in dry places. But the Lord sustained them, so their\nclothes were not worn out, and their feet swelled not. Nevertheless they\nmurmured against the Lord and many times tried His patience. Thus they\nonce complained that they had neither food nor drink. The Lord then sent\nfiery serpents among them, and many died from their sting. The people\nhumbled themselves, and Moses interceded for them. The Lord said: Make a\nserpent of brass and set it upon a standard. When any one had been\nbitten by a serpent, and he looked up to the serpent of brass, he lived.\n(Num. 21.)\n\nWhen the 40 years were ended, the Israelites had come so near to Canaan\nthat only the river Jordan lay between. Moses now went up into Mount\nNebo, and the Lord showed him all the land and said: This is the land\nwhich I have promised to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob; but thou shalt not\nenter it. There Moses, the servant of the Lord, died, 120 years old, and\nthe Lord buried him. There never arose a prophet in Israel with whom the\nLord spoke thus face to face. (Deut. 34.)\n\n\n                               28. Joshua\n\nThe Lord chose Joshua for leader in the place of Moses, and said to him:\nAs I was with Moses, so will I be with thee. When the Israelites had\nmourned for Moses 30 days, they made themselves ready to go over Jordan.\nThe priests went before with the Ark of the Covenant, and when their\nfeet touched the waters of Jordan, the water flowed away below and stood\nstill above, and the Israelites went over on dry ground. The manna now\nceased, and they ate of the fruit of the land.\n\nJericho was a city surrounded with strong walls; but the Israelites took\nit without sword and bow. For six days the priests with the ark and all\nthe armed men walked around the city, once every day; but on the seventh\nday they went around it seven times, and the seventh time the priests\nblew the trumpets and the people shouted, and the walls fell, and the\ntown was taken.--After seven years Joshua had subdued 31 kings, and\ndivided the land among the twelve tribes of Israel. The tribe of Levi\nreceived no separate portion of land, but 48 cities were given them\namong the other tribes.\n\nAfter many years Joshua gathered the tribes of Israel together and said\nto them: Choose ye this day whom ye will serve, the Lord or the gods of\nthe heathens; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. The\npeople said: We will serve the Lord and hearken to His voice.--Joshua\ndied 110 years old. (Book of Joshua.)\n\n\n                      29. Gideon, Jephthah, Samson\n\nThe Israelites served the Lord while Joshua lived; but when he was dead\nthey forgot the Lord, married the daughters of the Canaanites and served\nstrange gods. Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and\nHe gave them into the hands of the heathens. They then cried unto the\nLord, and he raised up men to save them. Such men were called Judges.\n(Judges 2.)\n\nOne of these judges was Gideon. The hand of the Midianites rested\nheavily on Israel. Then the angel of the Lord came to Gideon, as he was\nthreshing wheat, and bade him deliver Israel. Gideon sent messengers to\nthe tribes, and 32,000 men responded. But the Lord said: There are too\nmany people. Israel might boast and say: My own hand hath saved me.\nProclaim therefore that whoever is afraid may go home. Then 22,000 went\nhome, and 10,000 remained. The Lord said: The people are yet too many.\nChoose thee 300 men. Gideon chose 300 men and divided them into three\ncompanies, and gave each man a trumpet and an empty pitcher with a torch\nin it. At midnight he went with them to the camp of the Midianites; they\nblew the trumpets, broke the pitchers and held up their torches. The\nMidianites cried and fled, and the Lord turned every man\u2019s sword against\nhis neighbor, and Gideon pursued them. (Judges 6-9.)\n\nAnother judge was Jephthah. When he went out against the enemy he made a\nvow to sacrifice to the Lord whatever first came to meet him from his\nhouse, when he returned with victory. He came home victorious, and his\ndaughter, his only child, came out to meet him with timbrels and with\ndances. Jephthah rent his garments, but did with her according to his\nvow. And the maidens of Israel lamented Jephthah\u2019s daughter for four\ndays every year. (Judges 11.)\n\nWhen the Philistines oppressed the children of Israel, the Lord sent\nthem a deliverer in Samson. He smote the Philistines again and again,\nfor the Lord had given him such strength that he with his hands tore\nasunder a young lion which came roaring against him. But he was deluded\nby a woman called Delilah. She succeeded in coaxing out of him the\nsecret that his strength was in his seven locks of hair. These she\nshaved off and delivered him to the lords of the Philistines, who put\nout his eyes and set him to grinding corn. Once when they were assembled\nfor a great feast in the temple of Dagon, their god, they brought out\nSamson to make sport for them. His hair had now grown, and his strength\nhad returned. The temple rested on pillars. Samson prayed to the Lord,\nlaid hold on the two middle pillars, and bowed himself with might. The\ntemple fell and buried both Samson and his enemies. (Judges 13-16.)\n\n\n                                30. Ruth\n\nAt the time the judges ruled in Israel there was a famine in the land,\nand a man went from Bethlehem to the land of the Moabites with his wife\nNaomi and his two sons. The man died, and the sons married women of\nMoab, Orpah and Ruth. After ten years both the sons were dead, and Naomi\nmade ready to return to the land of her fathers. Orpah and Ruth went\nwith her. On the way Naomi said: Go back, my daughters! The Lord deal\nkindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead and with me. Orpah went\nback; but Ruth said: Thy people shall be my people, and thy God shall be\nmy God; only death shall part us. So they went together and came to\nBethlehem. It was at the time of the barley harvest, and Ruth went out\nto glean heads of grain and came on a field of a rich man by the name of\nBoaz. When Boaz learned that it was Ruth, who had come with Naomi, he\nsaid to the reapers: Let grain fall on the ground that she may glean so\nmuch more. And to Ruth he said: If thou thirst come hither and drink,\nand if thou hunger come hither and eat of my bread. Ruth said: How have\nI, a stranger, found favor in thine eyes? Boaz answered: I have heard\nwhat thou hast done for thy mother-in-law: Thou hast left father and\nmother and art come to a people thou didst not know. A full reward be\ngiven thee of Jehovah, the God of Israel, under whose wings thou art\ncome to take refuge. When the harvest was over Boaz took Ruth to wife,\nand she bore a son who was called Obed. He was the father of Jesse, and\nJesse was the father of David the king. (Book of Ruth.)\n\n\n                           31. Eli and Samuel\n\nEli was high priest and judge. He had two sons who were exceedingly\nwicked; but he did not restrain them.\n\nThe boy Samuel, a son of Elkanah and Hannah, was brought up by Eli and\nslept in the Tabernacle of the Lord. One night the Lord called Samuel,\nand Samuel, who did not yet know the Lord, ran to Eli; but Eli answered:\nI did not call thee, lie down again. The Lord called yet two times to\nSamuel, and he ran each time to Eli. The high priest now perceived that\nit was the Lord who called Samuel, and said to him: If he call thee\nagain, answer: Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth. Samuel lay down\nagain, and the Lord called the fourth time to Samuel, and he answered\naccording to Eli\u2019s words. And the voice of the Lord said: Because Eli\nsaw that his sons were wicked, and yet he did not restrain them,\ntherefore I will send destruction upon him and upon his house. In the\nmorning when Eli learned what the Lord had said, he replied: It is the\nLord: let him do what seemeth him good.\n\nThere was war with the Philistines, and the Israelites were defeated. So\nthey brought the Ark of the Covenant to the camp; but they were again\nrouted, and the Ark was captured by the Philistines. Eli was at that\ntime 98 years old. He was seated in a chair by the wayside watching; for\nhe was anxious for the Ark of God. One who had fled from the battle came\nand said: Israel is defeated, thy sons are fallen, and God\u2019s Ark is\ntaken. When he heard about the Ark of God, he fell backwards, and his\nneck was broken, and he died.--The Philistines took the Ark and put it\nin the temple of the idol Dagon. But as a disease broke out in the land,\nthey brought the Ark back and sent presents with it. (1 Sam. 1-6.)\n\nSamuel was the last of the judges. He journeyed through the land and\njudged, and he was honored by the people. When he was old he made his\ntwo sons judges; but they walked not in the way of their father, but\nsold judgment for money. Then the elders of the people came to Samuel\nand said: Now make us a king to judge us and go before us in our wars.\nThis thing displeased Samuel, but the Lord said to him: Hearken unto the\nvoice of the people, for they have not rejected thee, but me have they\nrejected, that I should no longer be king over them. And the Lord spoke\nagain to Samuel and said: Tomorrow I will send thee a man from the tribe\nof Benjamin; him shalt thou anoint to be king over my people. On the\nmorrow Samuel saw a man of the tribe of Benjamin; his name was Saul, the\nson of Kish. There was not among the children of Israel a goodlier\nperson than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of\nthe people. The Lord said to Samuel: Behold the man of whom I spoke to\nthee! And Samuel brought him into his house, took a vial of oil, and\npoured it upon his head and said: Now has the Lord anointed thee to be\nking over His people. On that day the spirit of God came upon Saul, and\nthe Lord gave him another heart. Then Samuel ceased to be judge. (1 Sam.\n7-10.)\n\n\n                                32. Saul\n\nSaul was brave and overcame the enemy; but he would also follow his own\nwill and proved disobedient to the law of the Lord. Samuel therefore\nsaid to him: Thy kingdom shall not continue, for the Lord has chosen a\nman after his own heart to be ruler over his people. And the Lord said\nto Samuel: Fill thy horn with oil and go to Bethlehem, and anoint David,\nthe youngest son of Jesse, to be king after Saul. And Samuel went and\nanointed David, and the spirit of the Lord came upon him from that day.\nBut the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from\nthe Lord troubled him. His servants brought David, because he was\nskilful in playing the harp. When the evil spirit came upon Saul, David\nplayed the harp before him, and it went well with Saul, and the evil\nspirit departed from him. (1 Sam. 11-16.)\n\n\n                         33. David and Goliath\n\nThere was again war with the Philistines. Among them was a mighty\nchampion by name Goliath, who for 40 days came before the camp and\nmocked the Israelites, because no one dared to meet him in combat. The\nking promised to give his daughter to him who could slay the champion.\nWhen David came to the camp and learned this, he offered to go against\nhim. But Saul objected: Thou art young, and he is a warrior from his\nyouth. David answered: Once while I kept my father\u2019s sheep there came a\nlion and a bear and took a lamb; but I went against them, killed them\nand saved the lamb. The Lord who delivered me from the lion and the bear\nwill also deliver me from this Philistine. Then Saul said: Go, and the\nLord be with thee. David took his staff and his sling and five smooth\nstones from the brook, and went against Goliath. When the champion saw\nhim he cried: Am I a dog that thou comest against me with staves? David\nanswered: Thou comest against me with sword and with spear; but I come\nagainst thee in the name of the Lord, the God of hosts. Then he put a\nstone in his sling and threw it, and struck the champion in the\nforehead, so he fell to the earth. David ran and drew the Philistine\u2019s\nsword out of the sheath, and cut off his head. David was placed over the\narmy, and later he got Saul\u2019s daughter to wife. And Jonathan, the son of\nSaul, loved David as his own soul. (1 Sam. 17.)\n\n\n                   34. Saul Pursues David, Saul Dies\n\nWhen David returned after his victory over Goliath, the women sang: Saul\nslew a thousand, but David slew ten thousand. For this, Saul became\nsuspicious of David and was his enemy all his life. Twice he threw his\njavelin at David to spear him to the wall, while he stood playing before\nhim. David was compelled to flee, and wandered about from place to\nplace, for Saul was after him. When David once had hidden in a cave,\nSaul came into the same cave. David would not put forth his hand against\nthe Lord\u2019s anointed, but went and cut off a piece of his garment. When\nSaul had left the cave, David went out also and showed him the piece.\nSaul wept and said: Thou art more righteous than I, for thou hast\nrewarded evil with good. And Saul went to his house.--Nevertheless he\nagain went in pursuit of David. While he and his people slept, David\ncame to his bed and took away his spear and his cruse of water. When\nSaul saw that David again had spared his life, he cried: Return, my son\nDavid, for I will no more do thee harm! But David went and dwelt in the\nland of the Philistines until Saul\u2019s death.\n\nThere was a great battle with the Philistines. Saul was wounded, and\nJonathan had fallen. Saul then said to his armor-bearer: Thrust thy\nsword through me. But when he dared not lay his hand on the Lord\u2019s\nanointed, he placed the sword against his own breast and fell upon it\nand died. David lamented in a beautiful song the death of Saul and\nJonathan. (1 Sam. 18-31; 2 Sam. 1.)\n\n\n                          35. David Made King\n\n                      (1055 years before Christ.)\n\nAfter Saul was dead, David was made king, and he reigned for 40 years.\nHe captured Jerusalem and made this city the capital, and then he and\nthe whole house of Israel brought the Ark of the Covenant thither with\nshouts of joy and sound of trumpets. He executed judgment and justice to\nthe whole people, and he remembered Jonathan and said to his son: I\nrestore to thee all the lands of Saul, and thou shalt eat at my table.\nHe was the light and the sweetest singer of Israel, and composed many\nbeautiful psalms, which are found in the Book of Psalms in the Bible,\nand speaks in many of these of the Messiah, or the Savior who was to\ncome. He subdued the nations round about and was very powerful.\n\nDavid intended to build a house for the Lord. But the Lord spoke to him\nthrough Nathan the prophet and said: When thy days be fulfilled, I will\nset up thy seed after thee. He shall build a house for my name, and I\nwill establish the throne of his kingdom forever. And thy house and thy\nkingdom shall be made sure for ever before thee, thy throne shall be\nestablished for ever. (2 Sam. 2-10.)\n\n\n                            36. David\u2019s Fall\n\nWhile Joab was warring against the Ammonites, David one evening saw from\nthe roof of his house a woman bathing. She was Bathsheba, the wife of\nUriah. He sent for her and committed adultery with her, and sent a\nletter to Joab that he should set Uriah where the battle was fiercest,\nthat he might fall by the hand of the Ammonites. Joab obeyed his lord,\nand Uriah was killed. When David got Joab\u2019s message about this he said:\nThe sword devoureth one as well as another. When the time of mourning\nhad passed for Bathsheba, he took her to wife. But the deed that David\nhad done was evil in the eyes of the Lord.\n\nThe Lord sent the prophet Nathan unto David, and he said: There were two\nmen in one city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had\nexceeding many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing save one\nlittle lamb, which did eat of his morsel and drink of his cup, and lay\nin his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveler\nunto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own\nherd, but took the poor man\u2019s only lamb, and dressed it for the\nwayfaring man. And David\u2019s anger was greatly kindled against the man and\nhe said: The man that did this is a son of death, and he shall restore\nthe lamb fourfold. Nathan answered: Thou art the man! Uriah hast thou\nsmitten with the sword of the Ammonites, and his wife hast thou taken to\nbe thy wife. David humbled himself before the Lord and said: O God,\ncreate in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me. Thou\ndelightest not in sacrifice, else would I give it; Thou hast no pleasure\nin burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken\nand contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise. And the Lord forgave\nhim. But the son that Bathsheba bore him soon died; and much sorrow came\nupon David in his old age. (2 Sam. 11-12.)\n\n\n                       37. The Revolt of Absalom\n\nAbsalom, a son of David, was the comeliest man in Israel. There was no\nblemish on him from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.\nAlthough his father loved him greatly, he conspired to be king in his\nfather\u2019s stead. He would stand beside the road, and when any one came\nand would bow down before him, he embraced him and kissed him, and thus\nstole the hearts of the men of Israel from his father. He conspired with\nAhithophel, David\u2019s counsellor, and came with an army against Jerusalem,\nand David was forced to flee from his son. Ahithophel\u2019s counsel was to\npursue David immediately; but Hushai, David\u2019s friend, advised Absalom to\nwait until he could raise a larger army. The Lord, wishing to bring\ndestruction upon Absalom, caused Ahithophel\u2019s good advice to be\nrejected, and Ahithophel went and hanged himself. David thus gained time\nto raise an army. He set Joab over it, and commanded him saying: Deal\ngently with the young man! There was a great battle in a forest. Absalom\nwas compelled to flee, and riding under an oak, his head was caught in\nits boughs. The mule on which he rode ran away, and he was left hanging\nbetween heaven and earth. Joab ran and thrust three javelins through his\nheart. When David heard of this he wept and lamented: O Absalom, my son,\nwould I had died for thee! O Absalom, my son, my son!--Some years later\nDavid died and Solomon, the son of Bathsheba, became king. (2 Sam.\n15-18; 1 Kings 1-2.)\n\n\n                              38. Solomon\n\nGod appeared unto Solomon in a dream and said: Ask what I shall give\nthee. Solomon asked for wisdom. Shortly after two women came to him.\nThey dwelt together, and each had given birth to a child. As one of them\nhad in the night overlaid her child so that it died, she arose and took\nthe child of the other, and laid her own in its place. Both now\nasserted: I am mother of the living child. Solomon said: Fetch me a\nsword! When the sword was brought, he said: Divide the child in two, and\ngive half to one and half to the other. Then the one cried: Give her the\nchild, and do not divide it. The other said: Divide it, so it shall be\nneither mine nor thine. Then Solomon said: Give the child to her who\nwills that it shall live, for she is the mother. All Israel heard the\njudgment and feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in\nhim.--Solomon was wiser than all other men, and the fame of his wisdom\nspread abroad, and the queen of Sheba came to hear him. He spoke 3000\nproverbs, and his songs were 1005; he wrote of trees, from the cedar\nthat grows on Lebanon to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he\nwrote of beasts of the field, of birds, of creeping things and of\nfishes. He had peace round about and all Israel dwelt safely, each man\nunder his vine and fig tree. He traded with distant lands and gathered\ngold and silver and precious stones in great abundance. On Mount Moriah\nin Jerusalem he built a magnificent temple instead of the Tabernacle,\nand put the Ark in the Holy of Holies. When the temple was finished,\nSolomon knelt down and prayed: O Lord, the heaven, and the heaven of\nheavens cannot contain Thee; how much less this house that I have\nbuilded! Yet hear Thou in heaven, Thy dwelling place, every humble\nprayer that shall be sent up to Thee from this house! And when a\nstranger that is not of Israel shall come and pray towards this house,\nthen hear Thou his prayers also!\n\nSolomon did not continue faithful to the end. He had taken many heathen\nwomen to be his wives, and when he was old they turned his heart, so\nthat he built altars to the abominable idols of the heathens. And the\npeople murmured because of heavy taxes and burdens. (1 Kings 3-11.)\n\n\n                       39. The Kingdom Is Divided\n\n                       (975 years before Christ.)\n\nWhen Solomon was dead, all Israel came together and said to his son\nRehoboam: Thy father made our yoke heavy, make thou it lighter, and we\nwill make thee king. Rehoboam first took counsel from the old men, who\nhad been the counsellors of his father. They said: If thou wilt hearken\nto the people this day they will serve thee all thy days. Then he\nconsulted the young men who had grown up with him, and he answered\naccording to their counsel: My father\u2019s yoke was heavy, mine shall be\nheavier still; my father chastised you with whips, I will chastise you\nwith scorpions. At this answer the people were provoked, and ten tribes\nchose Jeroboam for king, and only Judah and Benjamin clung to Rehoboam\nfor David\u2019s sake.--Samaria became the capital of the ten tribes, or the\nkingdom of Israel, and Jerusalem the capital for the two tribes, or the\nkingdom of Judah. (1 Kings 12:1-24.)\n\n\n                  40. The Kingdom of Israel, Jeroboam\n\nJeroboam thought thus: If the people go up to Jerusalem to worship the\nLord, their hearts will again turn to the house of David. He therefore\nset up two golden calves, and the people went and sacrificed to them.\nThe Lord warned him, saying: Thou hast made thyself strange gods,\ntherefore I will cut off thy house. His son became king, but was killed,\nand the whole family destroyed. There came kings of other families; but\nall were wicked and worshiped strange gods. (1 Kings 12:25-15:30.)\n\n\n                          41. Ahab and Elijah\n\nThe worst of all kings in Israel was Ahab. He married the wicked\nJezebel, daughter of the king of Sidon, and built a temple for the idol\nBaal. The prophet Elijah foretold as a punishment a drought which lasted\nfor three years, and the land thirsted for rain. Meanwhile Elijah dwelt\nwith a poor widow in the city of Zarephath, and the meal in her jar was\nnot consumed, and the cruse of oil failed not, and when her son died,\nElijah prayed to the Lord, and the soul of the child came into him\nagain.\n\nWhen the three years were ended, Elijah went at the Lord\u2019s command unto\nAhab and bade him call the priests of Baal together on Mount Carmel.\nThen said Elijah unto the people: I, even I only, am left a prophet of\nJehovah; but Baal\u2019s prophets are four hundred and fifty men. Let them\ntherefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for\nthemselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, and put no\nfire under; and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on the wood,\nand put no fire under. And call ye on the name of your god, and I will\ncall on the name of Jehovah; and the God that answereth by fire, let him\nbe God. And all the people answered and said: It is well spoken. The\npriests of Baal sacrificed an ox and called upon their god the whole\nday; but he answered not. Elijah said: Cry a little louder! Your god may\nbe musing, or perhaps he sleeps! At evening Elijah sacrificed an ox and\nprayed: O Lord, let it be known this day that Thou art God in Israel,\nand that I am Thy servant! Then there came fire from heaven and consumed\nhis sacrifice. The people took the priests of Baal and slew them, and\nthe heavens grew black, and there was a great rain. Jezebel sought the\nlife of Elijah, but he fled to the wilderness and wished that he might\ndie, because Israel had broken their covenant with the Lord. But the\nLord said: Return, there are yet left 7000 who have not bowed the knee\nunto Baal.\n\nNaboth had a vineyard that Ahab wished to buy, because it lay close up\nto his palace. When Naboth would not sell his inheritance, because that\nwas against the law of Moses, Ahab was sad, went to bed and would not\neat. Jezebel said: Arise, eat and be merry! I will give thee the\nvineyard. She bade the judges procure witnesses to testify that Naboth\nhad blasphemed God and the king. Naboth was stoned, and Ahab went to\ntake possession of the vineyard. The Lord sent Elijah to him in the\nvineyard to say: Where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, shall they\nalso lick thy blood, and dogs shall eat Jezebel. Ahab fell in battle,\nand his blood flowed into the war-chariot, and when it was washed in\nSamaria, dogs came and licked the blood. Jezebel was thrown out from a\nwindow, and her body was eaten by dogs. (1 Kings 16-22; 2 Kings\n9:30-37.)\n\nElijah was taken up alive into heaven in a whirlwind, in a chariot of\nfire with horses of fire, and Elisha, who became prophet after him,\nstood and saw it. (2 Kings 2.)\n\n\n                  42. The Kingdom of Israel Overthrown\n\n                       (722 years before Christ.)\n\nThe kings and the people of Israel continued to worship strange gods,\nand would not listen to the prophets of the Lord. So the punishment must\ncome. The king of Assyria, the powerful Shalmaneser, put Hoshea, the\nlast king, in chains, and his successor took Samaria and carried the\npeople to Assyria. One of the later kings sent heathens from his\ncountries to dwell in the land. These were called Samaritans, and\nlearned more and more to know Jehovah; but the inhabitants of Judah and\nBenjamin would not acknowledge them as right brethren, and there was\nbitter enmity between the Samaritans and the Jews. (2 Kings 17.)\n\n\n             43. The Kingdom of Judah, Hezekiah and Isaiah\n\nIn Judah kings of the house of David always reigned; many of them were\nwicked and served strange gods; but a few were pious and served the\nLord, and thus idolatry did not come to such power as in the kingdom of\nIsrael.\n\nThe most pious of the kings was Hezekiah. Sennacherib, the king of\nAssyria, came against Jerusalem and used great words, saying: Believe\nnot that your God can deliver you, for the gods of the heathens were not\nable to deliver their countries from the king of Assyria. Hezekiah went\nup to the house of the Lord and prayed for deliverance. The prophet\nIsaiah sent this message to him: The Lord has heard your prayer. The\nangel of the Lord passed through the camp of the Assyrians and smote in\none night 185,000, and Sennacherib was compelled to return home in\ndisgrace.--Shortly after this Hezekiah became sick. Isaiah promised to\nprolong his life fifteen years. The king of Babylon sent messengers with\ngifts and greetings to Hezekiah, for he had heard that he had been sick.\nHezekiah was glad, and showed the messengers all his treasures. Then\nIsaiah came and said: These treasures shall all be carried away to\nBabylon, and thy sons shall be servants in the palace of the king of\nBabylon. (2 Kings 10-20.)\n\nIsaiah has written many prophecies. Of our Savior Jesus Christ he wrote:\nSurely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; He was wounded\nfor our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the\nchastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are\nhealed. He was oppressed, yet when He was afflicted He opened not His\nmouth, as a lamb that is led to the slaughter. (Isaiah 53.)\n\n\n                  44. The Kingdom of Judah Overthrown\n\n                       (588 years before Christ.)\n\nThe people fell off from the Lord, and King Manasseh sacrificed his own\nchildren to the idols, and the punishment had to come upon the kingdom\nof Judah also. The king of Babylon, the mighty Nebuchadnezzar, took\nJerusalem, burned the temple and the city and tore down the walls.\nZedekiah, the last king, was forced to look upon the slaying of his own\nchildren; then his eyes were put out, and he was placed in chains and\ntogether with the people brought to Babylon in captivity 588 years\nbefore the birth of Christ. (2 Kings 21-25.)\n\n\n                      45. The Babylonian Captivity\n\nThe sins of the Jews were great, and their punishment was heavy. Now,\nwhen they were compelled to live among the heathens, they longed for the\nHoly City and the worship in the temple of the Lord. Yet the Lord left\nthem not without consolation. From the prophecies of the prophet\nJeremiah they knew that when 70 years were passed the Lord would have\ncompassion on them and bring them back to the land of their fathers. And\nthe Lord sent two great prophets to them to console and strengthen them.\nThese were Ezekiel and Daniel.\n\nNebuchadnezzar had a dream which he could not remember. Daniel prayed to\nthe Lord, and both the dream and the explanation of it were shown him in\na vision in the night. The king had seen a great image. The head was of\ngold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, and\nthe legs of iron and of clay. A stone which was not thrown by the hands\nof man struck the image and broke it to pieces; but the stone became a\ngreat mountain which filled the whole earth. Daniel interpreted the\ndream thus: There shall arise four great kingdoms after each other;\nafterward God will establish a kingdom that shall overthrow all these,\nbut shall itself remain forever.--The king said: Thy God is a God above\nall gods, since he can reveal secret things. Daniel was now made ruler\nof the wise men of the country and remained in great respect and honor\neven after the death of Nebuchadnezzar. But he had enemies, and these\ncaused one of the following kings to throw him into a den of lions; but\nthe Lord sent him His angel who shut the mouths of the lions. The next\nday Daniel was pulled up from the den unhurt, and the men that had\naccused him were cast into it; but they had not even reached the bottom\nof the den before the lions seized them and broke their bones. (Book of\nDaniel 2-6.)\n\n\n                      46. The Return from Babylon\n\nCyrus, king of Persia, took Babylon, and permitted the Jews to return to\nthe land of their fathers. He gave them back all the vessels of gold and\nsilver from the temple that had been carried away by Nebuchadnezzar. The\n70 years were then at an end. Those who went away were 42,360.\nZerubbabel, a chief of the house of David, led them to Jerusalem. In the\nsecond year after their return they began to build a new temple on Mount\nMoriah, where the temple of Solomon had stood. The Samaritans wished to\nbuild the temple with them; but the Jews would not permit it, as they\ndid not regard them as right brethren. The Samaritans therefore hindered\nthe work for many years. But then the prophets Haggai and Zechariah\narose and encouraged the people, and the temple was finished; but it was\nnot so magnificent as Solomon\u2019s temple.--The Samaritans built a temple\nfor themselves on Mount Gerizim.\n\nSeveral years after this, Ezra, of the tribe of Levi, came to Jerusalem\nand exhorted the people not to sin any more against the Lord by marrying\nheathen women. (Book of Ezra.)\n\nThe walls of Jerusalem were not yet rebuilt. When Nehemiah, cup-bearer\nto the king of Persia, heard of this he begged leave to go to Judea. The\nking made him governor of Judea, and he got the walls of the city built\nin fifty-two days, even though the Samaritans tried to hinder him. (Book\nof Nehemiah.)\n\n\n                           47. The Maccabees\n\nAlexander the Great, king of Macedonia, took Palestine, formerly\nbelonging to the king of Persia, as well as all the other kingdoms of\nthe latter. When Alexander died his great empire was divided, and the\nJews came first under Egypt and after that under Syria and were\noppressed in every way. At last the Syrian king, Antiochus Epiphanes,\nsought to compel them to live as the heathens. Many renounced their\nfaith and sacrificed to the gods. But many also continued firmly in the\nfaith and chose rather to die than to turn from the law of the Lord.\nSeven brothers were successively scourged and tormented to death. The\nmother stood by and looked on and admonished them not to turn from the\nLord. At last the mother also was killed. (2 Macc. 7.)\n\nAt this time there lived in Judea a priest by the name of Mattathias. He\nwould not sacrifice to the idols, but fled with his sons to the\nmountains, and those who feared God gathered about him. When he died his\nson Judas Maccabaeus[2] became the leader. He was brave as a young lion;\nhe defeated the Syrians, took Jerusalem and purged the temple.--The\nMaccabees ruled over the country for 103 years. Then the powerful\nRomans, whose home country was Italy, came and conquered the country.\nThe Roman emperor Augustus made Herod king of Judea. Herod who is called\nthe Great, was an Edomite. He was very suspicious and cruel and killed a\ngreat many innocent people, even his own wife and three of his sons. He\nwished to flatter the people, and decorated the temple magnificently;\nbut the people turned their hearts from him.--During his reign the\nfulness of time had come, and our Savior Jesus Christ was born in\nBethlehem, as the prophet Micah had foretold.\n\n-----\nFootnote 2: Maccabaeus means: The man with the hammer.\n-----\n\n\n                               48. Jonah\n\nThe Lord said unto the prophet Jonah: Go to Nineveh, the great city, and\nproclaim that it shall be destroyed, for its sins are great. But Jonah\nwent aboard a ship to flee over the sea. The Lord sent a tempest, so the\nship was at the point of sinking. The sailors said one to another: Let\nus cast lots to see whose fault it is that such evil befalls us. The lot\nfell on Jonah, and they cast him into the sea; and it was calm. The Lord\nsent a great fish that swallowed Jonah, and he was in the belly of the\nfish for three days and three nights. The Lord commanded the fish, and\nit cast Jonah up on land. The Lord now spoke a second time to Jonah: Go\nto Nineveh and proclaim what I shall bid thee. Jonah went into Nineveh\nand cried: In 40 days Nineveh shall be destroyed! The people repented,\nand the king put off his royal garments and clothed himself in sack\ncloth and ashes. God repented of the evil He had spoken, and He spared\nNineveh. Then Jonah murmured and said: Did it not go as I thought while\nI was in my country, and would flee over the sea? For I knew that Thou\nart a God merciful and slow to anger, and repentest of evil.\n\nJonah had gone outside the city and remained there to see what would\nbecome of the city. The Lord let a plant spring up to give shade for his\nhead, and Jonah was fond of the plant. In the morning the Lord prepared\na worm, and it stung the plant, so it withered. And there came a sultry\neast wind, and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, and he said: It is\nbetter for me to die than to live. Then said the Lord: Thou hast pity on\nthe plant for which thou hast not labored, neither madest it grow,\nbecause it withered; and should not I have pity on Nineveh, that great\ncity, wherein are more than twelve times 10,000 persons that cannot\ndiscern between their right and their left hand, and also much cattle?\n(The Book of Jonah.)\n\n\n                                49. Job\n\nJob was the name of a God-fearing man who had seven sons and three\ndaughters, and owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen and 500\nshe-asses, and was the richest of all the men of the East. When his sons\nhad feasted and eaten and drunk, he arose early and offered burnt\nofferings, for, said he: It may be that my sons have sinned and said\nfarewell to God in their hearts. Eyes was he to the blind, feet was he\nto the lame, and a father to the poor; the aged arose before him, and\nprinces were silent when he spoke.\n\nOne day when his children were feasting in the house of their elder\nbrother, there came a messenger to Job, and said: The oxen were plowing,\nand the asses were feeding beside them, and the Sabeans fell upon them\nand took them away; yea, they have slain the servants, I only am\nescaped. While he was yet speaking, there came another and said: Fire is\nfallen from heaven and has burned up the sheep and the shepherds, and I\nonly escaped. While he was yet speaking, came a third and said: The\nChaldeans fell upon the camels, and have taken them away, yea, and have\nslain the young men with the edge of the sword. I only am escaped to\ntell thee. While he yet spoke, came a fourth and said: Thy sons and\ndaughters were eating and drinking in their oldest brother\u2019s house, and\nbehold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the\nhouse, and it fell upon thy children, and they are dead, I only am\nescaped. Then Job rent his robe, but worshiped God, and said: Naked came\nI from my mother\u2019s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and\nthe Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord!\n\nJob\u2019s whole body now became covered with boils, and he took a potsherd\nto scrape himself, and he sat in the ashes. His wife asked: Dost thou\nstill believe in God? Job answered: Thou speakest as one of the foolish\nwomen. Shall we receive good at the hands of God, and shall we not\nreceive evil?\n\nThree of Job\u2019s friends, hearing of his misfortunes, came to console him.\nBut they knew him not, and they sat with him seven days and seven\nnights, and none spake to him, for they saw that his grief was very\ngreat. When they began to speak their words were harsh, for they thought\nthat he must be a greater sinner than other men, since God sent greater\nafflictions upon him than on others. Then Job sinned; for he boasted of\nhis perfection and disputed God\u2019s righteousness. Then the Lord spoke to\nJob out of a storm and said: Who art thou, that durst dispute with God?\nAnd Job answered: I have uttered that which I understood not. And God\nforgave him, and reproved his three friends because they had judged Job\nharshly.\n\nGod blessed Job; he was healed again, and got twice as much riches as\nbefore; he got again seven sons and three daughters, and lived a hundred\nand forty years after and died old and full of days. (Book of Job.)\n\n\n                   50. The Books of the Old Testament\n\n1-5. The 5 books of Moses, called the Pentateuch, which begin with the\ncreation of the world, and close with the death of Moses. Their names\nare: 1. Genesis; 2. Exodus; 3. Leviticus; 4. Numbers; 5. Deuteronomy. 6.\nThe Book of Joshua. 7. The Book of Judges. 8. The Book of Ruth. 9-10.\nThe two Books of Samuel. 11-12. The two Books of Kings. 13-14. The two\nBooks of Chronicles. 15. The Book of Ezra. 16. The Book of Nehemiah. 17.\nThe Book of Esther, which tells of a Jewish girl who became queen of\nPersia. 18. The Book of Job. 19. The Book of Psalms, or The Psalms of\nDavid, in all 150. David has written many of these. 20. The Proverbs of\nSolomon. 21. Ecclesiastes, or The Preacher. 22. The Song of Solomon.\n\nThe five books of the four Major Prophets: 1. Isaiah. 2-3. Jeremiah, and\nhis Book of Lamentations. 4. Ezekiel. 5. Daniel.\n\nThe 12 Minor Prophets: 1. Hosea. 2. Joel. 3. Amos. 4. Obadiah. 5. Jonah.\n6. Micah. 7. Nahum. 8. Habakkuk. 9. Zephaniah. 10. Haggai. 11.\nZechariah. 12. Malachi.--In all 39 writings.\n\nIn most of these books prophecies concerning Christ are found. Malachi,\nthe last prophet, foretells even of him who shall prepare the way for\nHim. The Lord says in the book of this prophet: Behold, I will send my\nmessenger, and he shall prepare the way before me. And again He says:\nBehold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the\ngreat day of the Lord.\n\nConcerning these writings the Apostle Paul says: All Scripture is given\nby inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for\ncorrection and for instruction in righteousness. And the Apostle Peter\nsays: The holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.\n\nAfter these books come a number of others called Apocrypha. These were\nwritten by pious men and contain much that is good; but they are not\ninspired by God, as are the Holy Scriptures, hence we dare not always\nuse them as a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. The most\nimportant are: The Book of Tobit, The Book of Wisdom, The Wisdom of\nJesus, son of Sirach, and the two Books of the Maccabees.\n\n\n\n\n                           THE NEW TESTAMENT\n\n                   51. The Birth of John The Baptist\n\nAt the time that Herod the Great was king in Judea, there was a priest\nby the name Zacharias, and the name of his wife was Elisabeth. They were\nboth righteous before God; but they had no children, and both were now\nold. One day while Zacharias was offering incense in the Holy Place, and\nthe people were praying without, an angel of the Lord appeared unto him.\nAnd fear fell upon Zacharias; but the angel said unto him: Fear not,\nZacharias, for thy supplication is heard, and thy wife Elisabeth shall\nbear a son, and thou shalt call his name John[3]. He shall go before His\nface in the spirit and power of Elijah, and make ready for the Lord a\npeople prepared for Him. Zacharias said: Whereby shall I know this? The\nangel answered: I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God. Behold,\nthou shalt be dumb until the day that these things shall come to pass,\nbecause thou didst not believe my words. (Luke 1:5-25.)\n\n-----\nFootnote 3: Which means: The Lord is gracious.\n-----\n\nAnd Elisabeth brought forth a son. Her neighbors and kinsfolk would have\nhim called Zacharias after his father; but his mother said: He shall be\ncalled John. They said: There is none of thy kindred that is called by\nthis name. And they made signs to his father, and he took a tablet and\nwrote: His name is John. And immediately his mouth was opened, and he\nblessed God in a glorious song of praise. And the child grew and waxed\nstrong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day when he stood\nforth before the people of Israel. (Luke 1:57-80.)\n\n\n                      52. The Annunciation of Mary\n\nIn the sixth month after Gabriel had appeared to Zacharias he was sent\nfrom God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth. There dwelt a virgin of\nthe house of David, and her name was Mary. She was betrothed to a man of\nthe house of David, and his name was Joseph. And the angel came in unto\nMary and said: Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with\nthee; blessed art thou among women! But Mary was greatly troubled at\nthis saying and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this might\nbe. And the angel said: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with\nGod. Thou shalt bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.[4]\nThen Mary said: How shall this be, seeing I am not married? The angel\nanswered: The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the\nMost High shall overshadow thee: wherefore also the Holy One which is\nborn of thee shall be called the Son of God. And Mary said: Behold, the\nhandmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel\ndeparted from her. (Luke 1:26-38.)\n\n-----\nFootnote 4: Which means Savior.\n-----\n\n\n                      53. The Birth of the Savior\n\nIt came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar\nAugustus, that all the world should be enrolled. And all went to enroll\nthemselves, every one in his own city. And Joseph also went from\nNazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David which is called\nBethlehem, to enroll himself with Mary, his betrothed wife. While they\nwere there, the time was fulfilled, and Mary brought forth a son,\nwrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, for there\nwas no room for them in the inn.\n\nAnd there were shepherds in the same country, abiding in the field, and\nkeeping watch by night over their flock. And lo, an angel of the Lord\nstood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and\nthey were sore afraid. But the angel said unto them: Be not afraid; for\nbehold, I bring you good tidings of great joy: For there is born to you\nthis day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this\nis the sign unto you: Ye shall find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes,\nand lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude\nof the heavenly host praising God, and saying: Glory to God in the\nhighest, and on earth peace among men in whom He is well pleased.\n\nAnd the shepherds came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the\nBabe lying in the manger. And they made known concerning the saying\nwhich was spoken to them about this Child. And all that heard it\nwondered; but Mary kept these words in her heart. When eight days were\nfulfilled for circumcising the Child, His name was called Jesus\naccording to the word of the angel.\n\nForty days after the birth of Jesus, His parents brought Him to\nJerusalem to present Him to the Lord. And there was in Jerusalem a pious\nman whose name was Simeon. He had been promised by the Holy Spirit that\nhe should not see death before he had seen the Lord\u2019s Christ. And he\ncame that day in the Spirit into the temple. And when he saw the Child,\nhe took It up in his arms and said: Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant\ndepart in peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast\nprepared before the face of all peoples. (Luke 2:1-31.)\n\n\n                     54. The Wise-Men from the East\n\nWhen Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the days of Herod the king, Wise-men\ncame from the East to Jerusalem, saying: Where is He that is born King\nof the Jews? For we saw His star in the East, and are come to worship\nHim. And Herod called together the chief priests and the scribes and\ninquired of them where Christ should be born. They answered: In\nBethlehem, according to the prophecy of Micah. Then Herod called the\nWise-men secretly and learned of them carefully what time the star\nappeared, and said to them: Go to Bethlehem and search out carefully\nconcerning the Child, and when ye have found It, bring me word, that I\nmay come also and worship It.\n\nThe Wise-men went their way, and lo, the star which they had seen in the\nEast went before them, till it came and stood over the house where the\nChild was. And when they saw the star they rejoiced greatly and came\ninto the house and found the Child and Mary His mother, and they fell\ndown and worshiped Him, and they offered unto Him their treasures, gold,\nfrankincense and myrrh. And being warned of God in a dream that they\nshould not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another\nway.\n\nWhen they were departed an angel of the Lord appeared unto Joseph in a\ndream and said: Arise, take the Child and His mother and flee into\nEgypt, and be thou there until I tell thee; for Herod will seek the\nChild to destroy Him. Then Joseph took the Child and His mother by night\nand went into Egypt.\n\nWhen Herod saw that he was mocked of the Wise-men he was exceeding\nwroth, and sent forth and slew all the male children in Bethlehem from\ntwo years old and under.--When Herod was dead an angel of the Lord\nappeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying: Arise, take the Child\nand His mother and go into the land of Israel, for they are dead that\nsought the Child\u2019s life. And he went into Galilee and dwelt in Nazareth.\nAnd the Child grew and waxed strong in spirit, becoming full of wisdom;\nand the grace of God was upon Him. (Matt. 2; Luke 2:39-40.)\n\n\n                   55. The Child Jesus in the Temple\n\nThe parents of Jesus went every year to Jerusalem at the feast of the\nPassover. When Jesus was twelve years old, they took Him with them. When\nthey went home, He tarried behind in Jerusalem, and they knew it not,\nbut supposing Him to be in the company, they went a day\u2019s journey. And\nthey sought for Him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances. And when\nthey found Him not, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking for Him. After\nthree days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the\nteachers, both hearing them and asking them questions. And all that\nheard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers. And Mary\nsaid: Son, why hast Thou thus dealt with us? Thy father and I sought\nThee sorrowing. Jesus answered: How is it that ye sought me? Knew ye not\nthat I must be in my Father\u2019s house? And He went down with them to\nNazareth; and He was obedient to them.--And Jesus advanced in wisdom and\nstature, and in favor with God and men (Luke 2:41-52.)\n\n\n                     56. John Preaches and Baptizes\n\nJohn dwelt quietly in the desert till he was thirty years of age. Then\nthe word of God came to him, and he began to preach: Repent ye, for the\nKingdom of Heaven is at hand. Even now the axe lieth at the root of the\ntrees: every tree therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn\ndown and cast into the fire. His manner of living was like that of the\nprophets of old; he had his raiment of camel\u2019s hair, and a leathern\ngirdle about his loins; and his food was locusts and wild honey. People\nboth from Jerusalem and from the country came to him, and they were\nbaptized of him, confessing their sins. Many believed that he was\nChrist; but he said: I am not Christ. I baptize only with water; but\nafter me cometh One that is greater than I, the latchet of whose shoe I\nam not worthy to unloose. He shall baptize with the Holy Spirit. He is\nthe Lamb of God that beareth the sins of the world. (Matt. 3:1-11; John\n1:19-29.)\n\nJohn exhorted both high and low to repentance. The tetrarch Herod\nAntipas had compelled his brother to part from his wife, Herodias, and\nhad himself taken her to wife. John said to him: It is not lawful for\nthee to have her. Herod became angry for this, and cast John into\nprison. When Herod\u2019s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced\nbefore him; he was pleased with the dance, and promised with an oath to\ngive her whatsoever she should ask, even the half of his kingdom. She\nwent to the mother, who said: Ask for the head of John on a platter. The\nking was grieved, but for the sake of his guests he kept his word. John\nwas beheaded, and his head was brought to the princess on a platter. And\nhis disciples came and buried him. (Matt. 14:1-12.)\n\n\n                         57. Jesus Is Baptized\n\nWhen Jesus was thirty years old, He came to John at the Jordan to be\nbaptized. John said: I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou\nto me? Jesus answered: Suffer it now; for thus it becometh us to fulfill\nall righteousness. Then John baptized Him. And when Jesus went up from\nthe water, lo, the heavens were opened, and the Spirit of God descended\non Him in the form of a dove, and there came a voice out of the heavens,\nsaying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (Matt.\n3:13-17.)\n\n\n                          58. Jesus Is Tempted\n\nThen Jesus was led of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of\nthe devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He\nafterward hungered. And the tempter came and said unto Him: If Thou art\nthe Son of God, command that these stones become bread. Jesus answered:\nIt is written: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that\nproceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil took Him into the\nholy city, and he set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said: If\nThou art the Son of God, cast Thyself down; for it is written: He shall\ngive His angels charge concerning Thee, and on their hands they shall\nbear Thee up, lest haply Thou dash Thy foot against a stone. Jesus\nanswered: Again it is written: Thou shalt not try the Lord thy God.\nAgain the devil took Him unto an exceeding high mountain and showed Him\nall the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, and said: All these\nthings will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me. Jesus\nanswered: Get thee hence, Satan! For it is written: Thou shalt worship\nthe Lord, thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. (Matt. 4:1-11.)\n\n\n                       59. Jesus Begins His Work\n\nAfter Jesus had been baptized and tempted He began His work. For about\nthree years He went from place to place in the country and in the\ncities; and for the great feasts He went up to Jerusalem. He spoke but a\nword and the blind saw, the deaf heard, the lame walked, the lepers were\ncleansed, and the dead were raised. He was God\u2019s only begotten Son, born\nof the Father from eternity; therefore He could say: I am the Way, the\nTruth and the Life. No man cometh to the Father but by me. Come unto me,\nall ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.\nEverywhere the people flocked to Him and heard Him, for as He spoke had\nno man spoken.\n\nOnce He spoke to the people from a mountain. This speech is therefore\ncalled the Sermon on the Mount. In this He says:\n\nI am not come to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them.\n\nYe have heard that it was said: Thou shalt not commit adultery; but I\nsay unto you that every one that looketh on a woman to lust after her\nhath committed adultery with her already in his heart.\n\nYe have heard that it was said: Thou shalt not forswear thyself; but I\nsay unto you: Swear not at all, but let your speech be Yea, yea; Nay,\nnay; and whatsoever is more than these is of the evil.\n\nWhen ye pray ye shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand\nand pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they\nmay be seen of men. Verily, I say unto you, they have received their\nreward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber, and\nhaving shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret, and thy\nFather who seeth in secret shall recompense thee.\n\nLay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust\nconsume, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for\nyourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth\nconsume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where thy\ntreasure is, there will thy heart be also.\n\nBe not anxious for what ye shall eat, or for what ye shall drink, nor\nfor what ye shall put on. Behold the birds of the heavens: they sow not,\nneither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and your heavenly Father\nfeedeth them. Are not ye of much more value than they? Consider the\nlilies of the field, how they grow! They toil not, neither do they spin;\nyet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed\nlike one of these. Be not therefore anxious for the morrow; for\nsufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.\n\nWhatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do ye also unto\nthem. (Matt. 5-7.)\n\n\n                   60. Jesus Chooses Twelve Apostles\n\nAs Jesus stood by the lake of Gennesaret one day, the people pressed\nupon Him to hear the Word of God. He entered Simon Peter\u2019s boat and\ntaught the people from there. When He had left speaking, He said unto\nPeter: Put out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.\nPeter answered: We toiled all night, and took nothing; but at Thy word I\nwill let down the nets. And they enclosed a great multitude of fishes,\nand their nets were breaking. And they beckoned unto James and John, who\nwere in another boat; they came, and they filled both the boats. When\nPeter saw this, he fell down at the feet of Jesus and said: Depart from\nme, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. But Jesus said to him: Fear not, from\nhenceforth thou shalt catch men. And they brought the boats to land, and\nleft all and followed Him. (Luke 5:1-11.)\n\nMany followed Jesus to hear the Gospel of salvation; from these He chose\ntwelve men who constantly should be with Him; these He called apostles,\nthat is, messengers; for they should be His messengers into all\ncountries to testify about Him.\n\nThe names of the twelve apostles are these: 1. Simon, whom the Savior\ncalled Peter (that is: the rock); 2. his brother Andrew; 3. James, the\nson of the fisherman Zebedee; 4. his brother John, the disciple whom\nJesus loved; 5. Philip; 6. Bartholomew; 7. Thomas; 8. Matthew; 9. James,\nson of Alpheus; 10. Judas Thaddeus; 11. Simon Zelotes (that is: the\nzealous one); and 12. Judas Iscariot, who betrayed the Savior.\n\nThese twelve He sent out on short journeys to proclaim to the Jews that\nthe Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. Two and two went together. Later on\nHe sent out seventy disciples, who also went two and two, to proclaim\nthat the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. (Matt. 10:1-5; Luke 10:1.)\n\n\n                        61. Jesus and Nicodemus\n\nOne of the Pharisees, a member of the council, was named Nicodemus. He\ncame to Jesus by night and said: Rabbi, we know that Thou art a teacher\ncome from God; for no man can do these signs that Thou doest, except God\nbe with him. Jesus answered: Except a man be born anew he cannot see the\nKingdom of God. Nicodemus said: How can a man be born when he is old? He\ncan not be born twice? Jesus answered: Verily, verily, I say unto thee:\nExcept a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into\nthe kingdom of God. For that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and\nthat which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Nicodemus answered: How can\nthese things be? Jesus answered: Art thou the teacher of Israel, and\nunderstandest not these things? As Moses lifted up the serpent in the\nwilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up on the cross. For\nGod so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that\nwhosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.\n(John 3:1-16.)\n\n\n                   62. Jesus and the Woman of Samaria\n\nJesus was passing through Samaria, and being wearied with His journey,\nHe sat by the well outside of the city of Sychar. A woman from the city\ncame to draw water. Jesus said unto her: Give me to drink. She answered:\nHow is it that Thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, being a Samaritan\nwoman? For there was bitter enmity between the Jews and the Samaritans.\nJesus said: If thou knew who it is that speaketh with thee, thou\nwouldest have asked Him to give thee to drink, and He would have given\nthee living water. She answered: Sir, Thou hast nothing to draw with,\nand the well is deep. Jesus said: Go, call thy husband. She answered: I\nhave no husband. Jesus answered: Thou saidst well: I have no husband;\nfor thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy\nhusband. The woman said: Sir, I perceive that Thou art a prophet. Where\nought we to worship God? We Samaritans believe it must be done on Mount\nGerizim, and ye Jews say: It ought to be in Jerusalem. Jesus said:\nWoman, the hour cometh when no man shall ask about Gerizim and\nJerusalem; for God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship\nin spirit and truth. The woman answered: When Messiah cometh He will\ndeclare unto us all things. Jesus said: I am Messiah. So the woman left\nher water pot, and went into the city and told what had happened to her;\nand the men went out to Jesus, and He abode two days in the city, and\nmany believed in Him. And they said to the woman: Now we believe not\nbecause of thy speaking, for we have heard for ourselves, and know that\nthis is indeed the Savior of the world. (John 4:1-42.)\n\n\n\n\n                         The Parables of Jesus\n\n\n                             63. The Sower\n\nA sower went forth to sow, and as he sowed, some seeds fell by the\nwayside, and the birds came and devoured them. And some fell upon rocky\nplaces, where they had not much earth; and straightway they sprang up,\nbecause they had no deepness of earth; and when the sun was risen, they\nwere scorched and withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the\nthorns grew up and choked them. But some fell upon good ground and\nyielded fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold.\n\nAs the disciples did not understand the meaning of this parable, Jesus\ngave them this explanation: The seed is the Word of God; when any one\nhears the Word and does not understand it, then comes the evil one and\nsnatches away that which is sowed in his heart. This is the seed sown by\nthe wayside.--That which fell upon rocky places is he that hears the\nWord, and straightway with joy receives it; and when tribulation and\npersecution arise because of the Word, he straightway stumbles.--That\nwhich is sown among thorns is he that hears the Word, and the care of\nthe world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the Word, and it\nbecomes unfruitful.--But that sown in the good ground is he that hears\nthe Word and keeps it in his heart, and it bears fruit. (Matt. 13:1-23.)\n\n\n                     64. The Tares Among the Wheat\n\nThe Kingdom of Heaven is likened unto a man that sowed good seed in his\nfield. But in the night an enemy came, and sowed tares among the wheat.\nWhen the seed sprang up, the tares appeared also. And the servants went\nto the householder and said: Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy\nfield? Whence has it then tares? He answered: An enemy has done this.\nThe servants said: Wilt thou, then, that we go and gather them up? He\nanswered: Nay, lest haply ye root up the wheat with them. Let both grow\ntogether until harvest; then I will say to the reapers: Gather up first\nthe tares and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat\ninto my barn.\n\nJesus has explained also this parable: He that soweth the good seed is\nthe Son of Man, and the field is the world; the good seed is the\nchildren of the kingdom, and the tares are the children of the evil one;\nand the enemy that sowed the tares is the devil. The harvest is the end\nof the world, and the servants are the angels. As the tares are gathered\nup and burned with fire, so shall it be in the end of the world. Then\nshall the Son of Man send forth His angels, and they shall gather the\nungodly, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire, there shall be\nweeping and gnashing of teeth. But the righteous shall shine forth as\nthe sun in the kingdom of their Father. (Matt. 13:24-43.)\n\n\n                         65. The Good Samaritan\n\nA lawyer came to Jesus and said: Master, what shall I do to inherit\neternal life? Jesus said: What is written in the law? He answered; Thou\nshalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,\nand with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as\nthyself. Jesus said: Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt\nlive. But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus: Who is my\nneighbor? Jesus answered: A man was going down from Jerusalem to\nJericho, and he fell among robbers, who both stripped him and beat him,\nand departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance a certain priest was\ngoing down that way, and he saw him, but passed by on the other side. A\nLevite did the same thing. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed,\ncame where he was; and when he saw him, he was moved with compassion.\nAnd he went to him, bound up his wounds, pouring on them oil and wine.\nAnd he set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care\nof him. And on the morrow when he left, he took out two pieces of money,\ngave them to the host and said: Take care of him, and whatsoever thou\nspendest more I will repay thee when I come back again.--Which of these\nthree, thinkest thou, proved neighbor to him that fell among the\nrobbers? And he said: He that showed mercy on him. Jesus said: Go, and\ndo thou likewise. (Luke 10:25-37.)\n\n\n                            66. The Rich Man\n\nThe ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he\nreasoned within himself: What shall I do, because I have not room to\nbestow my fruit? And he said: This will I do: I will pull down my barns\nand build them greater, and there will I bestow all my grain and goods.\nAnd I will say to my soul: Soul, take thine ease, eat, drink, be merry!\nBut God said unto him: Thou fool, this night is thy soul required of\nthee, and whose shall those things be which thou hast prepared? (Luke\n12:16-20.)\n\n\n                            67. The Fig Tree\n\nA certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came\nseeking fruit thereon, and found none. Then he said to the vinedresser:\nBehold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and\nfind none. Cut it down! Why shall it take the strength from the ground\nto no use? But the vinedresser answered: Lord, let it alone this year\nalso, till I dig about it and dung it; perhaps it may then bear fruit;\nif not, thou shalt cut it down. (Luke 13:6-9.)\n\n\n                   68. The Unmerciful Fellow-Servant\n\nPeter once asked Jesus: How often shall I forgive my brother that sins\nagainst me? Are seven times enough? Jesus answered: Not seven times, but\nseventy times seven. And He told the following parable: A king would\nmake reckoning with his servants, and there came one that owed him ten\nthousand talents.[5] But as he had not wherewith to pay, the king\ncommanded that he and his wife and children and all that he had should\nbe sold, and payment be made. The servant therefore fell down before him\nand said: Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And his\nlord, being moved with compassion, forgave him the debt. But that\nservant went out, and found one of his fellow-servants that owed him a\nhundred shillings,[6] and he laid hold on him and took him by the\nthroat, saying: Pay me what thou owest! So his fellow-servant fell down\nand besought him, saying: Have patience with me, and I will pay thee.\nAnd he would not, but went and cast him into prison. So when his\nfellow-servants saw what was done, they were exceeding sorry, and came\nand told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him and\nsaid: Thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou\nbesoughtest me; shouldest not thou also have had mercy on thy\nfellow-servant, even as I had mercy on thee? And his lord cast him into\nprison, till he should pay all that was due. So shall also my heavenly\nFather do unto you, if you forgive not every one his brother from your\nhearts. (Matt. 18:21-35.)\n\n-----\nFootnote 5: A talent is about one thousand dollars.\n\nFootnote 6: About fifteen dollars.\n-----\n\n\n                  69. The Prodigal Son. The Lost Sheep\n\nThe Pharisees considered themselves righteous, and were therefore\noffended because Jesus received publicans and sinners and ate with them.\nJesus therefore spoke the following parables: A certain man had two\nsons. The younger said to the father: Father, give me that part of thy\nsubstance that falls to me. And he divided unto them. Not many days\nafter, the younger son gathered all his goods and took his journey into\na far country, and there he wasted his substance in riotous living. And\nwhen he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that country, and\nhe began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to one of the\ncitizens of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.\nAnd he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine\nate; and no man gave him anything. When he came to himself he said: How\nmany hired servants of my father\u2019s have bread enough and to spare, and I\nperish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say\nunto him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight. I am no\nmore worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.\nAnd he arose and came to his father. While he was yet far off, his\nfather saw him and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his\nneck, and kissed him. The son said: Father, I have sinned against heaven\nand in thy sight; I am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the\nfather said to his servants: Bring forth the best robe, and put a ring\non his hand, and shoes on his feet, and kill the fatted calf, and let us\neat and make merry. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was\nlost, and is found.\n\nThe elder son was in the fields, and as he came home and heard music and\ndancing, he asked one of the servants what these things might be. And he\nwas told that the father had made a feast for his son who had returned.\nThen he was angry, and would not go in. His father came out and\nentreated him; but he answered: Lo, these many years do I serve thee,\nand I never transgressed thy commandments, and yet thou never gavest me\na kid, that I might make merry with my friends; but when this thy son\ncame, who hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou killedst for him\nthe fatted calf. But his father said: My son, thou art ever with me, and\nall that is mine is thine; but it was meet to make merry and be glad,\nfor this thy brother was dead, and is alive; and was lost, and is found.\n\nWhen a man has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does he not leave\nthe ninety and nine, and go after the lost sheep? And when he hath found\nit, he lays it on his shoulders and bears it home, and rejoices more\nover that one than over the ninety and nine which were not lost. So\nshall there be greater joy in heaven over one sinner who repenteth, than\nover ninety and nine who need no repentance. (Luke 15.)\n\n\n                      70. The Rich Man and Lazarus\n\nThere was a rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, and\nfared sumptuously every day. But there was a poor man named Lazarus,\nthat was laid at his gate, full of sores, and he desired to be fed with\nthe crumbs that fell from the rich man\u2019s table; yea, even the dogs came\nand licked his sores. The poor man died, and he was carried away by the\nangels into Abraham\u2019s bosom. The rich man died also, and was buried.\nWhen he lifted up his eyes in hell, being in torments, he saw Abraham\nafar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said: Father\nAbraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of\nhis finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this\nflame. But Abraham answered: Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime\nhast received thy good things, and Lazarus likewise evil things; but now\nhere he is comforted, and thou art in anguish. Besides all this, between\nus and you there is a great gulf fixed, that they who would pass from\nhence to you may not be able, and that none may cross over from thence\nto us. And he said: I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest\nsend him to my father\u2019s house--for I have five brothers--that he may\ntestify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.\nAbraham answered: They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.\nBut he said: Nay, Father Abraham; but if one go to them from the dead\nthey will repent. Abraham answered: If they hear not Moses and the\nprophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rise from the dead.\n(Luke 16:19-31.)\n\n\n                   71. The Pharisee and the Publican\n\nTo certain who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and set\nall others at naught, Jesus spake this parable: Two men went up into the\ntemple to pray, the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The\nPharisee stood by himself and prayed thus: God, I thank Thee, that I am\nnot as the rest of men--extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as\nthis publican. I fast twice in the week, and give tithes of all that I\nget. But the publican, standing afar off, would not lift his eyes unto\nheaven, but smote his breast and said: God, be merciful to me a sinner!\nI say unto you: This man went down to his house justified, but not the\nPharisee; for every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled, and he\nthat humbleth himself shall be exalted. (Luke 18:9-14.)\n\n\n                    72. The Laborers in the Vineyard\n\nThe Kingdom of Heaven is like a householder who went out early in the\nmorning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with\nthem for a shilling a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went\nout about the third hour, and saw others standing in the marketplace\nidle, and said to them: Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is\nright I will give you. Again he went out about the sixth and about the\nninth hour and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out\nagain and found others standing, and he said: Why stand ye here all the\nday idle? They said: Because no man hired us. He said unto them: Go ye\nalso into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. When\neven was come, the lord of the vineyard said to his steward: Call the\nlaborers, and pay them their hire, beginning from the last unto the\nfirst. They that were hired about the eleventh hour came and received\nevery man a shilling. And when the first came, they supposed that they\nwould receive more; and they likewise received every man a shilling.\nThen they murmured against the householder and said: These last have\nspent but one hour, and thou hast made them equal to us, who have borne\nthe burden of the day and the scorching heat. He answered: Friend, I do\nthee no wrong. Didst thou not agree with me for a shilling? Take up that\nwhich is thine, and go thy way. But I will give the last as much as\nthee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Or doth\nit hurt thee that I am good? (Matt. 20:1-15.)\n\n\n                   73. The Marriage of the King\u2019s Son\n\nThe Kingdom of Heaven is likened unto a certain king who made a marriage\nfeast for his son. He sent his servants forth to call them that were\nbidden to the marriage feast. But they would not come, but went their\nways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise, and the rest laid\nhold on his servants and treated them shamefully and killed them. But\nthe king was wroth, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers\nand burned their city. And he said to his servants: The wedding is\nready; but they that were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore to the\ncrossroads, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage feast. And\nthe wedding was filled with guests. When the king went in to behold the\nguests, he saw one who had not on a wedding garment. And he said to him:\nFriend, how comest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment? But he\nwas silent. Then the king said to the servants: Bind him hand and foot,\nand cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of\nteeth. (Matt. 22:1-13.)\n\n\n                            74. The Talents\n\nA man going into another country called his servants and delivered unto\nthem his goods. To one he gave five talents, to another two talents, and\nto another one talent. After a long time the lord of those servants came\nhome, and made a reckoning with them. He that received five talents came\nand said: Lord, thou gavest me five talents; lo, I have gained other\nfive talents. His lord said unto him: Well done, good and faithful\nservant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will set thee over\nmany things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord. Likewise he said to\nthe servant who received two talents and with them gained two other\ntalents. Then came also the one that had received the one talent and\nsaid: Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou\ndidst not sow, and gathering where thou didst not scatter. Therefore I\nwas afraid, and went away and hid thy talent in the earth; lo, here it\nis. His lord said: Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I\nam a hard man; thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the\nbankers, so I could have received back mine own with interest. And he\ncommanded that the unprofitable servant be cast out where there is\nweeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matt. 25:14-30.)\n\n\n\n\n                 Miracles, or Wonderful Works of Jesus\n\n\n        75. Jesus Turns Water Into Wine at the Marriage in Cana\n\nThere was a marriage in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was\nthere, and Jesus and His disciples were also invited. And when the wine\nfailed, the mother of Jesus said unto Him: They have no more wine. Jesus\nanswered: Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come.\nHis mother said to the servants: Whatsoever He saith to you, do it. The\nJews always washed their hands before meals, and six water-pots of stone\nstood there for washing. Jesus said to the servants: Fill the water-pots\nwith water. And they filled them up to the brim. And He said unto them:\nDraw out now, and bear unto the steward of the feast. The steward knew\nnot whence the wine was. When he tasted it, he said to the bridegroom:\nEvery man setteth on first good wine, then that which is worse; thou\nhast kept the good wine until now. This beginning of His signs did Jesus\nin Cana in Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed\non Him. (John 2:1-11.)\n\n\n                      76. Jesus Stills the Tempest\n\nAs Jesus one evening sailed over the lake of Gennesaret, there arose a\ngreat tempest, insomuch that the boat was covered with the waves. But He\nwas in the stern of the boat asleep. And the disciples went to Him and\nawoke Him and said: Save, Lord, we perish! But He said: Why are ye\nfearful, O ye of little faith? Then He arose and rebuked the winds and\nthe sea, and there was a great calm. And they marvelled and said: Who is\nThis, that even the winds and the sea obey Him! (Matt. 8:23-27.)\n\n\n         77. Jesus Raises the Widow of Nain\u2019s Son from the Dead\n\nAs Jesus came to a little city called Nain, one that was dead was\ncarried forth, and he was the only son of a widow. And much people from\nthe city went with her. When Jesus saw her, he had compassion on her and\nsaid: Weep not. And He came nigh and touched the bier, and the bearers\nstood still, and He said: Young man, I say unto thee: Arise! And he that\nwas dead sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him to his mother.\nAnd fear took hold on all, and they glorified God, saying: A great\nprophet is arisen among us; and, God hath visited His people. (Luke\n7:11-16.)\n\n\n         78. Jesus Raises the Daughter of Jairus from the Dead\n\nA ruler of the synagogue, Jairus by name, came and fell at the feet of\nJesus and said: My daughter is at the point of death, come and lay Thy\nhands on her that she may live! And Jesus went with him. But some came\nfrom the house of the ruler of the synagogue and said: Why troublest\nthou the Master any further? Thy daughter is dead. Jesus said to the\nfather: Fear not, only believe, and she will be saved. When He came in,\nHe beheld a tumult, and many weeping. But He said: Weep not! And He took\nthe father and the mother, and Peter, James and John, and went in where\nthe little girl lay and said: Little girl, arise! And straightway she\narose and walked. (Mark 5:22-42.)\n\n\n          79. Jesus Feeds Five Thousand Men in the Wilderness\n\nJesus went over the lake of Gennesaret to a desert place, and when the\npeople saw it they hurried after Him by land. When evening had come, His\ndisciples came to Him and said: The place is desert, and the day is now\nfar spent; send the people away, that they may go to the villages round\nabout and buy themselves food. Jesus answered: Give ye them to eat. They\nsaid: We have five loaves of bread and two fishes; but what are they\namong so many? But Jesus let the people sit down on the grass, took the\nfive loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, He blessed,\nand brake them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples set\nbefore them. And they did all eat, and were filled. And Jesus said unto\nthe disciples: Gather up the broken pieces, that nothing be lost. They\ngathered up twelve basketfuls. And they that ate the loaves were five\nthousand men besides women and children. (Mark 6:32-44.)\n\n\n          80. Jesus Heals the Daughter of the Woman of Canaan\n\nJesus went to the country about Tyre and Sidon, and a Canaanitish,\nheathen woman cried unto Him: Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of\nDavid; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But Jesus answered\nher not a word. The disciples said: Send her away, for she crieth after\nus. Jesus answered: I was not sent but unto the lost sheep of Israel.\nThe woman now came and worshiped Him, saying: Lord, help me! Jesus said:\nIt is not meet to take the children\u2019s bread and cast it to the dogs. She\nsaid: Yea, Lord, for even the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from\ntheir master\u2019s table. Then Jesus said unto her: O woman, great is thy\nfaith: be it done unto thee, even as thou wilt. And her daughter was\nhealed from that hour. (Matt. 15:21-28.)\n\n\n                       81. Jesus Heals Ten Lepers\n\nOnce, when Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem there met Him ten men that\nwere lepers, who stood afar off and lifted up their voice saying: Jesus,\nMaster, have mercy on us! He said: Go, and show yourselves to the\npriests. And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw\nthat he was healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice. And\nhe fell upon his face at the feet of Jesus and gave Him thanks. And he\nwas a Samaritan. Then Jesus said: Were not the ten cleansed? But where\nare the nine? Were there none found that returned to give glory to God,\nsave this stranger? And He said unto him: Arise, and go thy way; thy\nfaith hath made thee whole. (Luke 17:11-19.)\n\n\n                 82. Jesus Raises Lazarus from the Dead\n\nNear Jerusalem was a little village called Bethany. There dwelt a man\nnamed Lazarus and his two sisters, Martha and Mary. And Jesus loved them\nvery much. Once when Lazarus was sick, the sisters sent word to Jesus,\nsaying: Lord, he whom Thou lovest is sick. Jesus was at that time on the\nother side of the Jordan, and He remained there two days. Afterward He\nsaid to His disciples: Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go that I may\nawake him out of sleep. The disciples answered: If he is fallen asleep,\nhe will recover. Jesus now said plainly: Lazarus is dead. When Jesus\ncame to Bethany, Lazarus had been in the tomb four days. Martha heard\nthat Jesus was coming, and went to meet Him and said: Lord, if Thou\nhadst been here my brother had not died. Jesus answered: Thy brother\nshall rise again. I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth\non me, though he die, yet shall he live. Mary then came out also to\nJesus and said: Lord, if Thou hadst been here my brother had not died.\nWhen Jesus therefore saw both her and the Jews that came with her,\nweeping, He said: Where have ye laid him? They answered; Come and see.\nJesus wept. The Jews then said: Behold, how He loved him! They now came\nto the tomb, which was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said:\nTake away the stone! Martha saith unto Him: Lord, he stinketh by this\ntime; for he hath been four days in the tomb. Jesus answered: Said I not\nunto thee that if thou couldest believe thou shouldest see the glory of\nGod? When they had removed the stone Jesus lifted up His eyes and gave\nthanks to the Father who always heard Him, and then He cried with a loud\nvoice: Lazarus, come forth! And he that was dead came forth in the\ngrave-clothes. And many of the Jews who saw this believed on Jesus.\n(John 11:1-46.)\n\n\n\n\n                Other Narratives from the Life of Jesus\n\n\n                83. Jesus Teaches His Disciples to Pray\n\nJesus oftentimes prayed. Once, when He had ended His prayer, one of the\ndisciples said: Lord, teach us to pray, as John the Baptist taught his\ndisciples to pray. Jesus answered: When ye pray, ye shall say:\n\nOur Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come.\nThy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our\ndaily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And\nlead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the\nkingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen. (Matt. 6:9-13;\nLuke 11:1-4.)\n\n\n                 84. Jesus is Transfigured on the Mount\n\nJesus took Peter, James and John with Him and went up into a high\nmountain to pray. And as He was praying, He was transfigured before\nthem, and His face did shine as the sun, and His garments became white\nas snow. And they saw Moses and Elijah, who spoke with Him about His\nsufferings and death, which awaited Him in Jerusalem. Peter said: Lord,\nit is good for us to be here. If Thou wilt we will make three\ntabernacles, one for Thee, one for Moses and one for Elijah. While he\nwas yet speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out\nof the cloud, saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;\nhear ye Him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face,\nand were sore afraid. But Jesus came and touched them and said: Arise,\nand be not afraid. And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, save\nJesus only. (Matt. 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-8; Luke 9:28-36.)\n\n\n                   85. Jesus Blesses Little Children\n\nMany brought little children to Jesus, that He should touch them. The\ndisciples rebuked those that brought the children. But Jesus said:\nSuffer little children to come unto me; and forbid them not, for to such\nbelongeth the kingdom of God. Unless ye repent and become as little\nchildren, ye can not enter therein. And He took them in His arms and\nblessed them, laying His hands upon them. (Mark 10:13-16.)\n\n\n                    86. Jesus the Guest of Zaccheus\n\nOn His last journey to Jerusalem Jesus came through Jericho. Here\nresided a man by the name of Zaccheus; he was the chief publican in\nJericho and was very rich. He was anxious to see Jesus, but could not\nfor the people, as he was small of stature. He therefore ran on before,\nand climbed up in a tree. When Jesus came to the place and saw him He\nsaid: Zaccheus, make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy\nhouse. And Zaccheus made haste and received Him with joy. But those who\nsaw it murmured, saying: He is gone in to lodge with a sinful man!\nZaccheus said to the Lord: Behold, half of my goods I give to the poor;\nand if I have wrongfully exacted aught of any man, I restore fourfold.\nAnd Jesus answered him: The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that\nwhich was lost. (Luke 19:1-10.)\n\n\n                        87. The Enemies of Jesus\n\nThe Pharisees were outwardly blameless, and for a show made long\nprayers; but in secret they robbed widows of their property. They were\nlike graves, outwardly whitened, but inwardly full of dead men\u2019s bones\nand all uncleanness. Jesus told them these things openly, and they\ntherefore became His enemies; for man does not wish that his evil works\nshall come to the light.--They believed that they for the sake of their\nrighteousness should inherit the kingdom of God; but Jesus preached\nconversion and faith, and said that publicans and sinners would go into\nthe Kingdom of Heaven before them. The Pharisees wished to be greeted in\nthe market-places and be called Rabbi, and they were envious, for the\nmultitude clung to Jesus because of His blessed words and His miracles.\nThey would not understand Moses and the prophets, and expected that the\nMessiah should establish the kingdom of David again, and bring the\nRomans and other nations under the Jews. Jesus said that His kingdom was\nnot of this world, and that He should be persecuted and crucified, and\non the third day arise again from the dead. For all these things the\nPharisees and priests hated Jesus, and took counsel how they could kill\nHim. Man always finds an excuse. The high priest Caiaphas said: It is\nbetter that one man die for the people, than that the whole nation\nshould be destroyed.\n\nThe Sadducees taught that there is no resurrection from the dead, and\nthey therefore held the doctrine of Jesus concerning resurrection and\nfinal judgment in derision and gave not the Word room in their hearts.\n\n\n\n\n                         The Last Days of Jesus\n\n\n            88. The Triumphal Entry of Jesus Into Jerusalem\n\nOn Palm Sunday, which is the Sunday before Easter, Jesus rode from\nBethany on the other side of the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem on a\nyoung ass. This came to pass, that it might be fulfilled which was\nspoken by the prophet Zechariah: Tell ye the daughter of Zion: Behold,\nthy King cometh unto thee, meek and riding upon the foal of an ass. Many\nof the people cut branches from the palm trees and spread them in the\nway, and the most part spread their garments in the way and cried,\nsaying: Hosanna[7] to the Son of David; Blessed is He that cometh in the\nname of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.\n\n-----\nFootnote 7: Hosanna means: Save now.\n-----\n\nAnd when He drew nigh and saw the city, He wept over it, saying: If thou\nhadst known, even in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy\npeace! But now they are hid from thine eyes. Therefore the days shall\ncome when thine enemies shall compass thee round, and keep thee in on\nevery side, and shall dash thee to the ground, and they shall not leave\nin thee one stone upon another, because thou knowest not the time of thy\nvisitation. And He entered into the city and went to the court of the\ntemple, and healed the blind and the lame that came to Him.\n\nIn the evening He went out to Bethany, and every day He came into the\ntemple and was teaching, and the people hung upon Him, listening. The\npriests and the scribes came together at the palace of Caiaphas, and\nconsulted how they might by craft take Jesus. And Judas Iscariot came to\nthem and said: What will ye give me, and I will deliver Him unto you?\nAnd they gave him thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought\nopportunity to betray his Lord. (Matt. 21:1-17; 26:14-16; Luke\n19:41-44.)\n\n\n                 89. Jesus Institutes the Lord\u2019s Supper\n\nIn the evening of Maundy Thursday Jesus sat down with His disciples to\neat the Passover. As they were eating Jesus said: One of you shall\nbetray me. The disciples looked sorrowfully upon one another, to know\nwho was meant. Peter beckoned to John, who was reclining toward the\nbreast of Jesus, that he should ask. Jesus answered: It is he to whom I\ngive this morsel which I now dip in the dish. And He gave the morsel to\nJudas, saying: What thou doest, do quickly! The disciples understood not\nwhat Jesus meant; but Judas went out straightway to the priests. And it\nwas night.\n\nAnd Jesus took the bread, gave thanks, and broke it, gave His disciples\nand said: Take, eat! this is my Body which is given for you. This do in\nremembrance of me!\n\nIn like manner He also took the cup, after supper, saying: Drink ye all\nof it! This cup is the new covenant in my Blood, which is shed for you\nfor the remission of sins. This do, as often as ye drink it, in\nremembrance of me!\n\nJesus then said: I have yet much to say unto you, but ye can not bear it\nnow. But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my\nname, He shall teach you all things, and remind you of all things which\nI have said unto you. (Matt. 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:14-23;\nJohn 13:21-30; 1 Cor. 11:23-26.)\n\n\n                        90. Jesus in Gethsemane\n\nJesus thereupon went with the eleven disciples over the brook Kidron to\nthe Mount of Olives; there was a garden called Gethsemane. In the way He\nsaid: All of you shall be offended because of me this night. Peter said:\nEven if all shall be offended, yet will not I be offended. Jesus\nanswered: Before the cock crows twice, thou shalt deny me thrice.\n\nWhen they came to the place, Jesus said to the disciples: Remain ye\nhere, while I go yonder and pray. And He took with Him Peter, James and\nJohn farther into the garden and said to them: Abide here, and watch\nwith me! And he went away as far as a stone\u2019s cast, fell upon His face\nand said: My Father, if it be possible, then take this cup from me!\nNevertheless, not as I will but as Thou wilt!\n\nAnd He came to the three disciples and found them sleeping. Then He said\nunto Peter: Could ye not watch one hour with me? Watch and pray, that ye\nenter not into temptation! Again He went away and prayed the same\nprayer, and thus three times; and while He suffered the agony of death\nHis sweat became as it were great drops of blood falling on the ground.\nAnd there appeared to Him an angel from heaven, strengthening Him. And\nwhen He rose up from His prayer, He came to His disciples and said unto\nthem: The hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands\nof sinners; he that betrayeth me is near.\n\nAnd while He yet spake Judas came with a band of soldiers and the\nservants of the chief priests, having weapons and torches. Judas had\nsaid: He whom I shall kiss, that is He: take Him. And he went up to\nJesus and said: Hail, Master! And he kissed Him. Jesus answered: Judas,\nbetrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss? Then the band stepped forth\nand laid hold on Jesus. But all the disciples forsook Him and fled. (All\nthe Gospels.)\n\n\n                      91. Jesus Before the Council\n\nJesus was brought to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the council was\nassembled. The council consisted of the chief priests, scribes and\nelders of the people, in all seventy-one members. They at first sought\nto convict Jesus by false witnesses; but the witnesses did not agree.\nThen the high priest arose and said: I adjure Thee by the living God\nthat Thou tell us if Thou art Christ, the Son of God. Jesus answered: I\nam. Then the high priest rent his clothes and said: He has blasphemed\nGod. What further need have we of witnesses? They all answered: He is\nworthy of death. And the servants struck Him in the face and mocked Him.\n(All the Gospels.)\n\n\n                92. Peter\u2019s Denial. The Suicide of Judas\n\nWhen Jesus had suffered them to take Him and lead Him away, Peter had\nfollowed Him afar off and had come into the court of the palace of the\nhigh priest. A maid said to him: Art not thou one of this Man\u2019s\ndisciples? He said: I know Him not. He went over to the servants, who\nsat by the fire warming themselves. Here another seeing him, said: This\nman also was with Him. But Peter denied again. Then a third one said:\nVerily, thou art one of them; for thou art a Galilean, thy speech\nbetrays thee. Then Peter began to swear, saying: I know not this Man ye\nspeak of. Then the cock crowed, and at the same time they brought Jesus\nthrough the court, and He turned and looked on Peter. And Peter\nremembered the Savior\u2019s words, and he went out and wept bitterly. (All\nthe Gospels.)\n\nWhen Judas saw that Jesus was condemned to death, he regretted what he\nhad done, and came to the priests with the thirty pieces of silver and\nsaid: I have sinned in that I betrayed innocent blood. But they\nanswered: What is that to us? See thou to it. And he cast the pieces of\nsilver into the temple, and went and hanged himself, and falling\nheadlong his bowels gushed out. (Matt. 27:3-5; Acts 1:18.)\n\n\n                        93. Jesus before Pilate\n\nEarly in the morning of the day afterwards called Good Friday the Jews\nbrought Jesus from Caiaphas to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, to\nhave the sentence of death confirmed. Not wishing to defile themselves,\nthe Jews kept outside of the hall of judgment, and Pilate came out to\nthem and asked: What accusation bring ye against this Man? They\nanswered: He perverts the people and forbids paying tribute to Caesar,\nand calls Himself Christ, a King. Pilate took him into the hall of\njudgment and asked: Art Thou a King? Jesus answered: I am King; but my\nkingdom is not of this world; for then my servants would have fought for\nme. I came into the world to bear witness unto the truth. Every one who\nis of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate perceived that Jesus was\ninnocent and would gladly have set Him free; but he feared the priests\nand the scribes, therefore he dared not do it openly, but went out to\nthe people and said: Ye have a custom that I should release a prisoner\nat the Passover. Whom will ye have, Jesus or Barabbas? The priests\nstirred up the people against Jesus, and they cried: Away with Him! But\ngive us Barabbas. Now, Barabbas was a murderer and robber.\n\nPilate then, hoping to excite the pity of the people, delivered Jesus to\nthe soldiers to be scourged. And the soldiers stripped off His clothes\nand scourged Him; then they threw around Him a purple robe, put a reed\nin His hand and a crown of thorns upon His head, and fell down before\nHim and shouted: Hail, Thou King of the Jews! And they struck Him on the\nhead with the reed. And Pilate brought Him out to the people and said:\nBehold the Man! But the Jews cried: Crucify Him, crucify Him! Pilate\nstill sought to set Him free, but they cried: If thou release this Man,\nthou art not Caesar\u2019s friend! Then Pilate took water and washed his\nhands before the people and said: I am innocent of the blood of this\nrighteous Man! They said: His blood be upon us and upon our children!\nThen he delivered Jesus to be crucified. (All the Gospels.)\n\n\n                         94. Jesus on the Cross\n\nThey now led Jesus out of the city to a place called Golgotha, to\ncrucify Him. And He bore the cross Himself. Many weeping women followed\nHim, and Jesus turned to them and said: Weep not for me; but weep for\nyourselves and for your children!\n\nOver the cross was written: JESUS OF NAZARETH, KING OF THE JEWS. It was\nabout nine o\u2019clock in the forenoon when they crucified Him. Two robbers\nwere also crucified with Him, one on His right and one on His left side.\n\nWhile Jesus was hanging on the cross He said: (1) Father, forgive them;\nfor they know not what they do!--At the cross stood the mother of Jesus,\nand the disciple that Jesus loved. Jesus said: (2) Woman, behold thy\nSon! And to the disciple He said: Behold thy mother! And from that hour\nthe disciple took her unto himself.--The soldiers and the priests mocked\nHim. And one of the robbers said: If thou art Christ, save Thyself and\nus! The other robber said: We suffer what we have deserved, but this Man\nhath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus: Lord, remember me when\nThou comest into Thy kingdom! To him Jesus said: (3) Verily, today thou\nshalt be with me in Paradise!--From twelve o\u2019clock there was darkness\nover the whole earth, until three o\u2019clock, when Jesus cried with a loud\nvoice: (4) My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?--And after that He\ncried: (5) I thirst! One of them ran and filled a sponge with vinegar\nand gave Him to drink.--Thereupon He said: (6) It is finished!--And\nagain He cried with a loud voice: (7) Father, into Thy hands I commend\nmy spirit! And having said this, He bowed His head and gave up the\nghost.\n\nAnd the earth did quake, and the rocks were rent, and the tombs were\nopened, and the veil between the Holy and the Holy of Holies in the\ntemple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.\n\nThat the bodies might be taken down from the crosses before the Sabbath,\nthe Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken. The soldiers\ntherefore came and broke the legs of the two robbers; but when they came\nto Jesus, they saw that He was dead already, therefore they broke not\nHis legs; but to make sure one of the soldiers pierced His side with a\nspear, and there came out blood and water. (All the Gospels.)\n\n\n                        95. The Burial of Jesus\n\nJoseph of Arimathea, a member of the council, who until now secretly had\nbeen a disciple of Jesus, got permission from Pilate to take the body\ndown from the cross and bury it. And Nicodemus, the same who came to\nJesus by night, was with him, and brought a hundred pounds of myrrh and\naloes. They anointed the body of Jesus and laid it in a sepulchre, hewn\nin stone, near by Golgotha, and rolled a great stone before the opening\nof the tomb.\n\nThe chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate and said: Sir, this\nDeceiver said, while He was yet alive: After three days I rise again.\nCommand therefore that a guard be placed at the sepulchre, that His\ndisciples may not come and steal the body away and say: He is risen.\nThey received a guard, which they placed at the tomb, and they sealed\nthe stone. (All the Gospels.)\n\n\n                     96. The Resurrection of Jesus\n\nJesus was in the tomb until the third day, from Friday evening till\nSunday morning. Before the sun rose on Sunday morning there was a great\nearthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and rolled\nthe stone from the tomb. Jesus arose from the dead, and a great fear\nfell upon those who stood guard, and they fled.\n\nEarly on the same Easter morn some women came to the tomb to anoint the\nbody of Jesus. In the way they said to one another: Who shall roll us\naway the stone from the tomb? When they came to the tomb, they saw that\nthe stone was rolled away. One of the women, named Mary Magdalene, ran\nto Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved, and said: They have taken\naway the Lord out of the tomb, and we know not where they have laid Him.\nThe other women went into the sepulchre, where an angel in white raiment\nwas sitting, and he said: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth. He is not here; He\nis risen.--When they had left, Peter and John came to the tomb. They\nwent in and saw the linen clothes; but Him they found not. And they went\naway again. Then came Mary Magdalene again to the tomb, and stood\noutside and wept. And Jesus appeared unto her and said: Woman, why\nweepest thou? She knew Him not, but supposed Him to be the gardener, and\nsaid: Sir, if thou hast borne Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid\nHim, and I will take Him away. Jesus said: Mary! Then she knew Him and\nsaid: Master! Jesus answered: Go unto my brethren and say to them: I\nascend to my Father and your Father! And she came and told the disciples\nthat she had seen the Lord. (The Gospels.)\n\n\n                   97. Jesus Appears to His Disciples\n\nThe same day two disciples were going from Jerusalem to a village named\nEmmaus. And they communed with each other of all those things which had\nhappened. Then Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. He said: What\nare ye speaking about, and why are ye looking so sad? They answered: Art\nthou alone a stranger in Jerusalem, and knowest not the things which are\ncome to pass there in these days? The chief priests and our rulers have\ncrucified Jesus of Nazareth. But He was a prophet mighty in deed and\nword, and we hoped that it was He who should redeem Israel. And this is\nnow the third day since these things came to pass. Moreover, certain\nwomen, having been early at the tomb, came and told that the tomb was\nempty, and that they had seen a vision of angels, who said that He was\nalive. And certain disciples went to the tomb, and found it even so as\nthe women had said; but Him they saw not. Jesus answered: O foolish men,\nand slow of heart to believe what Moses and the prophets have said!\nBehooved it not Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His\nglory? And He interpreted to them all that was written concerning\nHimself.\n\nWhen they drew nigh unto Emmaus, He made as though He would go farther.\nAnd they constrained Him, saying: Abide with us; for it is toward\nevening, and the day is far spent. And He went in to abide with them.\nBut when He sat down with them to meat, He took bread, blessed it, and\nbroke it, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew\nHim. But He vanished out of their sight. And they said one to another:\nWas not our heart burning within us while He spoke to us in the way,\nwhile He opened to us the Scriptures? And they rose up that very hour\nand returned to Jerusalem, and found the apostles gathered together, and\ntold them the things that happened in the way, and how He was known of\nthem in the breaking of the bread. (Luke 24:13-25.)\n\nWhile they were speaking, Jesus stood in the midst of them and said unto\nthem: Peace be unto you! They were terrified, for they knew Him not. But\nHe showed them His hands and His feet, and they were glad.--But Thomas\nwas not with them. When the others said: We have seen the Lord, he said:\nExcept I shall put my finger in the print of the nails in His hands, and\nput my hand into His side, I will not believe.\n\nAfter eight days His disciples were again assembled, and the doors were\nshut. Then Jesus again stood in the midst of them and said: Peace be\nunto you! Unto Thomas He said: See my hands, and reach hither thy hand,\nand put it into my side, and be no longer faithless, but believing!\nThomas said: My Lord and my God! Jesus answered: Because thou hast seen\nme, thou hast believed: Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet\nhave believed. (John 20:19-29.)\n\n\n                       98. The Ascension of Jesus\n\nDuring forty days Jesus showed Himself several times to the apostles and\nspoke of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. He was also seen\nby others, once by five hundred brethren. He showed Himself to the\neleven apostles on a mountain in Galilee, and said: All authority hath\nbeen given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore, and make\ndisciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father\nand of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all\nthings whatsoever I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even\nunto the end of the world.\n\nForty days after His resurrection, on the day afterwards called\nAscension Day, He appeared to them for the last time. He led them out to\nthe Mount of Olives, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them; and\nwhile He blessed them, He parted from them, and was carried up into\nheaven; and a cloud received Him out of their sight.\n\nAnd while they were looking into heaven, two men stood by them in white\napparel and said: Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven?\nThis Jesus, who was received up from you into heaven, shall so come in\nlike manner as ye beheld Him going into heaven. (Matt. 28:16-20; Luke\n24:50-51; Acts 1:1-2.)\n\n\n                   99. Outpouring of the Holy Spirit\n\nAt His ascension Jesus had said to the apostles: John baptized with\nwater; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not many days\nhence. Until this came to pass, they were to abide at Jerusalem. On one\nof these days they chose one of the disciples named Matthias to be\napostle in the place of Judas.\n\nOn the morning of the day of Pentecost, ten days after the ascension,\nthe apostles were assembled as usual. And suddenly there came from\nheaven the sound as of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where\nthey were sitting. And there appeared unto them tongues as of fire,\nparting asunder; and it sat upon each one of them. And they were all\nfilled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as\nthe Spirit gave them utterance.\n\nNow, there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews from every nation. When this\nsound was heard, they came together and said: What is this? Are not all\nthese men Galileans? And how hear we then every man in our own language\nspeaking the mighty words of God? But Peter, standing up, spake forth\nunto them saying: Jesus of Nazareth, whom ye have crucified, sitteth now\nat the right hand of God, and has poured out His Holy Spirit. Now, when\nthey heard this, they were pricked in their heart and they said: What\nshall we do? Peter answered: Repent ye, and be baptized in the name of\nJesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the\ngift of the Holy Spirit. They then that received the word were baptized\non the same day, about three thousand souls.\n\nAnd all that believed were daily together in prayer, and in breaking the\nbread in the Lord\u2019s Supper. They sold their possessions, and parted them\nto all, according as any man had need. And day by day the Lord added\nothers to the congregation. (Acts 2.)\n\n\n                  100. The Apostles Before the Council\n\nPeter and John went up to the temple to pray. A man that had been lame\nfrom his birth was sitting outside the door asking alms. Peter said:\nSilver and gold have I none; but what I have, that I give thee: In the\nname of Jesus of Nazareth, arise and walk! And immediately he leaped up,\nand entered with them into the temple and praised God. And many were\nbaptized.\n\nBut the priests and the scribes laid hands on the apostles and took them\nbefore the council. And they threatened them to preach no more in the\nname of Jesus. But Peter and John answered: Judge ye whether it be right\nto hearken unto you rather than unto God. Afterward they concluded to\nkill the apostles; but Gamaliel, a Pharisee, who was held in honor of\nall the people, arose and said unto them: Refrain from these men, and\nlet them alone: For if this counsel be of men, it will be overthrown:\nbut if it is of God, ye will not be able to overthrow them. To him they\nagreed, yet beat they the apostles, and charged them not to speak in the\nname of Jesus. And the apostles departed from the council, rejoicing\nthat they were counted worthy to suffer for the Name; and they ceased\nnot to preach Jesus Christ. (Acts 3-5.)\n\n\n                              101. Stephen\n\nWhen the congregation increased the apostles said: Choose seven men as\noverseers for the poor, for it is not fit that we should forsake the\nWord of God and serve tables. And the congregation chose Stephen and six\nothers; and the apostles prayed and laid their hands on them.--Stephen\nwas full of faith and power and wrought great wonders among the people.\nAnd certain scribes arose and disputed with Stephen. And they were not\nable to withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke. Then\nthey seized him and brought him before the council, and they suborned\nfalse witnesses, who said: We have heard him speak blasphemous words\nagainst the temple and against Moses. Stephen made a speech and showed\nthat the Jews had always resisted God. When they heard this, they were\nenraged; but Stephen looked steadfastly up into heaven and said: Behold,\nI see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand\nof God. But they rushed upon him and cast him out of the city and stoned\nhim. But Stephen prayed: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled\ndown and cried with a loud voice: Lord, lay not this sin to their\ncharge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. Those who stoned\nStephen laid down their garments at the feet of a young Pharisee named\nSaul. And Saul was consenting unto his death. (Acts 6-7.)\n\nStephen is the first Christian martyr; martyrs, that is, witnesses, are\nthose who suffer death for the sake of Christ.\n\n\n                             102. Cornelius\n\nOur Savior had said: Go and make disciples of all nations. Still the\napostles from the beginning preached only to the Jews; for it was not\nyet clear to them that heathens had the same access to the kingdom of\nGod as the Jews.\n\nOne day, as Peter was sitting on the flat roof of a house, praying, he\nsaw a vision: He saw a vessel, like a great sheet, come down from\nheaven, and in the sheet were all kinds of unclean animals, and a voice\nsaid to him: Rise, Peter; kill and eat. But Peter answered: Not so,\nLord, for I have never eaten anything unclean. The voice said: What God\nhath cleansed, make not thou unclean. And this was done thrice, and the\nvessel was taken up to heaven.\n\nWhile Peter was perplexed what the vision might mean, messengers came\nfrom a heathen, Cornelius by name. And Peter went with them, and\npreached to Cornelius and his household. And while he was preaching, the\nHoly Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. Then Peter said: Can any\nman forbid the water that these should not be baptized that have\nreceived the Holy Spirit, as well as we? And he commanded that they be\nbaptized in the name of Jesus Christ. When the brethren in Jerusalem\nheard this, they said: Then unto the gentiles also hath God granted\nrepentance unto life. (Acts 10, 11:1-18.)\n\n\n                               103. Paul\n\nSaul was breathing threatening and slaughter against the Christians, and\nreceived from the high priest letters to go to Damascus and seize all\nthem that were of the Christian faith, both men and women, and bring\nthem bound to Jerusalem. When he drew nigh unto Damascus, there suddenly\nshone round about him a light from heaven. He fell upon the earth and\nheard a voice, saying: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? I am Jesus,\nwhom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the goad!\nSaul asked: What wilt thou, Lord, that I should do? The Lord answered:\nArise, and enter into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must\ndo. Saul rose up; he was blind, and had to be led by the hand.\n\nThere was in Damascus a Christian named Ananias. The Lord said to him in\na vision: Go to Saul that he may receive his sight. Ananias answered: I\nhave heard of this man, how much evil he did to Thy saints at Jerusalem,\nand to all that call upon Thy name. The Lord said: Go; for he is a\nchosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and\nthe children of Israel. And Ananias went, and laid his hands upon him.\nAnd straightway there fell as it were scales from his eyes, and he\nreceived his sight and was baptized. And straightway in the synagogues\nhe proclaimed Jesus, that He is the Son of God. Later on he was called\nPaul, and was acknowledged by the other apostles as a fellow-apostle;\nand by the grace of God he labored more than the other apostles.\n\nHe made three great journeys, going far abroad, and is called the\nApostle of the Gentiles. At Antioch in Syria he preached for a whole\nyear, and it was here the believers were first called Christians. He\nproceeded to Greece, Europe, and the Word made good progress, and he\nstrengthened the converts by the letters he wrote to the churches.\n\nBut the Jews persecuted him in every place, and when he, after his third\njourney, came to Jerusalem, they laid hold on him and would kill him;\nbut the Roman governor sent him to Rome to be judged by the emperor, to\nwhom Paul had appealed; for he was a Roman citizen. The emperor Nero\nacquitted him, and it is told that he undertook a fourth missionary\njourney. During his absence Nero began the first great persecution\nagainst the Christians. When Paul came back from his last journey, he\nwas beheaded at Rome, at the same time that Peter was crucified (about\nsixty-seven years after the birth of Christ.) (Acts 9, 13-28.)\n\n\n                   104. The Destruction of Jerusalem\n\nThe Lord had foretold that there should not be left one stone upon\nanother in Jerusalem. This was fulfilled in this way: The Romans set\ncruel governors over the country, and at last the Jews concluded that it\nwas better for all to die at once than to be killed one by one. They\nrevolted, and defended themselves with great bravery. Titus, who later\non became emperor, came against Jerusalem with an army, and surrounded\nthe city on all sides. It was at the time of the Passover, and a great\nmultitude of Jews from all countries had come to Jerusalem to keep the\nfeast. The famine became so terrible that a mother is said to have\nslaughtered her own child for food. Over one million of Jews are said to\nhave perished during the siege, and about one hundred thousand were\ntaken prisoners. Titus crucified multitudes of them, others were sold\ninto slavery, or made to fight with wild animals for the amusement of\nthe Romans. Titus had commanded that the temple be spared; but a soldier\nthrew a firebrand into it, and it was consumed. This happened about\nseventy years after the birth of Christ.--Josephus, a leader of the\nJews, has told about the destruction of Jerusalem. He was taken prisoner\nand was with Titus to the end of the war.\n\nThe Christians believed the prophecy of the Lord and left the city\nbefore Titus surrounded it.\n\nSince that time the Jews have been scattered through all lands. The Lord\nhas promised that even they once shall repent, and believe on Him, the\ncrucified Redeemer.\n\n\n                         105. The Apostle John\n\nOf all the other apostles it is stated that they suffered martyrdom,\nexcept John, who died a natural death in the city of Ephesus, one\nhundred years old; and he thus survived the destruction of Jerusalem. He\nwas for some years exiled to the island of Patmos, but was afterwards\npermitted to return to Ephesus.\n\nHe has been called the Apostle of Love, as Paul has been called the\nApostle of Faith. It is told of John that when he was very old, and\ncould no longer walk to the assemblies of the Christians he was carried\nthither, and said each time only these words: My children, love one\nanother!\n\n\n                 106. The Writings of the New Testament\n\nThat part of the Bible called the New Testament contains twenty-seven\nwritings, which have been written either by the apostles or their\ndisciples. These writings are:\n\n 1-4.  The four Gospels, written: 1. by Matthew; 2. by Mark; 3. by Luke;\n   4. by John. Mark was a disciple of Peter, and Luke a disciple of\n   Paul.\n\n 5.  The Acts of the Apostles, by Luke.\n\n 6-18.  Thirteen epistles, or letters, of Paul: 1. The epistle to the\n   Romans; 2 and 3. First and second epistles to the Corinthians; 4. The\n   epistle to the Galatians; 5. The epistle to the Ephesians; 6. The\n   epistle to the Philippians; 7. The epistle to the Colossians; 8 and\n   9. The first and the second epistle to the Thessalonians; 10 and 11.\n   The first and the second epistle to Timothy, who was bishop in the\n   church of Ephesus; 12. The epistle to Titus, bishop in the church on\n   the island of Crete; 13. The epistle to Philemon.\n\n 19.  The epistle to the Hebrews, supposed to have been written by one\n   of the disciples of Paul.\n\n 20-26.  Seven epistles, called general, or catholic, because they were\n   written to several congregations: 1. James; 2 and 3. First and second\n   epistles of Peter; 4, 5 and 6. First, second and third epistles of\n   John; 7. Jude. James was the bishop, or overseer, of the church at\n   Jerusalem. Jude, or Judas, is supposed to be the brother of James.\n\n 27.  The last writing in our Bible is the Revelation of John. In this\n   writing the apostle describes a vision, which he had on the island of\n   Patmos, and in which the struggle and victory of the kingdom of God\n   is described.\n\n\n\n\n                             BRIEF OUTLINE\n      of the History of the Church after the Death of the Apostles\n\n       1. Progress of Christianity. The Christians are Persecuted\n\nAt the time of Christ all the countries around the Mediterranean Sea\nwere ruled by the Roman emperor. The Romans, and still more the Greeks,\nwho were subject to them, excelled all other peoples at that time in\nscience and arts. But they were heathens, and did not know the true God.\nMany had, however, lost faith in their own gods, and began to look about\nfor salvation elsewhere. And with these the Gospel speedily found\nentrance. Paul had established Christian congregations in Macedonia and\nGreece; and even in Rome there was a large congregation. About one\nhundred years after the death of Christ there were congregations\nthroughout the Roman empire. But heathenism was still very powerful, and\nmany ridiculed the faith of the Christians, that One who had been\ncrucified should be the Savior of the world, and sit at the right hand\nof God, and should return to judge the quick and the dead. They did not\nconfine themselves to ridicule; many of the emperors permitted the\nChristians to worship their Lord and Savior in peace; but others\npersecuted them cruelly, as Nero had persecuted them in the days of the\napostles. For about two hundred and fifty years the Christians were\nexposed to persecutions, and many were those who suffered death for\nChrist\u2019s sake. Polycarp, who in his youth had heard the apostle John,\nwas in his old age bishop of Smyrna, in Asia Minor. He was brought\nbefore the Roman governor, who promised him his liberty if he would\ncurse Christ. But he answered: Eighty and six years have I served Him,\nand He never did me aught but good; how can I then curse Him, my Lord\nand my Savior? The governor threatened to cast him before wild beasts.\nBut Polycarp remained steadfast. He was sentenced to be burned alive,\nand he ascended the pyre, praising the Lord who found him worthy to\nsuffer the death of a martyr.\n\nMany both men and women remained steadfast during the tortures. Many\nheathens who beheld this were awakened to forsake their idols and\nbelieve on that Lord who could inspire His believers with such courage.\nAnd thus the persecutions served to open many hearts for Christianity.\n\n\n                        2. Constantine the Great\n\nConstantine, who has been called the Great, became emperor over the\nwhole Roman empire in the year of our Lord 323. He was friendly toward\nChristianity, and proclaimed full religious liberty, so persecutions now\nceased in all Roman countries. On his deathbed he confessed Christianity\nand was baptized. In his time magnificent churches were erected, and the\nclergy came to great influence and honor. Unfortunately he gave the\nChurch, and especially the clergy, too many privileges, and helped to\nadvance the power of the bishops. In the course of time this became more\nand more destructive to the Church.\n\nAt the time of Constantine there arose in Alexandria, in Egypt, a\nheretic by the name of Arius. He taught that Christ was not from\neternity, but had a beginning, at the beginning of time, and was\nconsequently a creature. Alexander, the bishop of Arius, defended the\nfaith of the Church, that the Son was true God, begotten of the Father\nfrom eternity, and One with the Father. Many took sides with Arius, and\ntherefore Constantine called a council or synod of the Church at Nice,\nin Asia Minor, in the year 325. The Church had at that time eighteen\nhundred bishops. Of these, three hundred and eighteen met. Athanasius,\nwho took the part of Alexander, especially exerted a great influence on\nthe meeting through his clear exposition of the Word of God and by his\ngreat gift as a speaker. After a discussion lasting two months Arius was\nexcommunicated from the Church as a heretic teaching false doctrines.\nHis doctrine nevertheless found adherents for about three hundred years,\nand even at the present time we meet with them. The Church had to resist\nother heretics in subsequent times.\n\n\n                              3. Mohammed\n\nSoutheast of Palestine the large peninsula of Arabia is situated. Here\nlived about the year 600 a man named Mohammed. He was a merchant, who\nfor the sake of commerce visited many countries, and became acquainted\nwith both the Jewish and the Christian religion. He was a clever man,\nand had great gifts as a speaker. He determined to start a new religion,\ncomposed partly of what he had heard and partly of his own inventions.\nHe pretended, perhaps imagined, that the angel Gabriel had appeared to\nhim in a cave, and had instructed him what to teach. His chief doctrine\nwas: There is one God, and Mohammed is his prophet. God had sent many\nprophets into the world, such as Moses and Christ; but Mohammed was the\nlast and the greatest. He promised his followers a paradise of sensual\npleasures. There was at this time a great deal of division in the\nChurch, and no single country was powerful enough to resist the\nArabians. At the time of Mohammed\u2019s death he ruled over all of Arabia;\nand his successors, called Caliphs, conquered many countries in Asia and\nAfrica, and they nearly exterminated Christianity where they came into\npower. The Arabians penetrated even into Europe, and conquered Spain,\nwhere they existed for about eight centuries.\n\nThe teachings of Mohammed are contained in a book called the Koran. His\nadherents are called Mohammedans. The Turks are Mohammedans, but have\ntaken the power from the Arabians, and the sultan of Turkey, residing in\nConstantinople, is the head of the \u201cfaithful.\u201d\n\n\n              4. Introduction of Christianity in the North\n\nWhile Christianity suffered such great losses in Asia and Africa, it was\nspread by faithful workers over the whole of Europe. A monk by the name\nof Ansgar, afterward called Saint Ansgar, came from Germany to Denmark\nin 826, and labored there and in Sweden for the introduction of\nChristianity for forty years, surrounded by many dangers. He has been\ncalled the Apostle of the North. It took, however, a long time before\nChristianity was firmly established in these countries. In olden times\nthe people of Norway, as well as of Denmark and Sweden, were heathens;\ntheir gods were called Asas. But at the time when Christianity reached\nNorway, the faith in Odin and Thor was not very firm. Many believed in\nnothing but their own strength. It is thus told about King Harald the\nFairhaired, that he placed no trust in the Asas, but \u201cbelieved in that\ngod who was the strongest, and had made all and ruled over all.\u201d The\nNorthmen who first heard anything about Christ were Vikings, who sailed\nwest and south on their robbing expeditions. Some of these were\nbaptized, many only in order to receive the presents that were given\nthose who were baptized. But such Christianity as this had no power, and\nwe hear nothing of any efforts on their part to spread it when they came\nhome. The Norse chief, Helge the Lean, who had been brought up in\nIreland in the Christian faith, and later resided in Iceland, continued\nin his faith in Christ; but when he was on the sea or in danger he\nturned to Thor.\n\nHaakon the Good, who in England had been brought up in the Christian\nfaith, wished to introduce it into Norway, when he was made king. He\neven got some priests from England and built some churches; but the\npeople of Trondhjem opposed his efforts, and Haakon himself was forced\nto sacrifice to the gods.\n\nHaakon the Earl was the last heathen ruler of Norway. He believed so\nstrongly in the power of the old gods that during the battle with the\nJomsvikings he sacrificed his own son to obtain victory. In an\ninsurrection he was killed by his own slave, and Olav Trygveson became\nking. He had accepted Christianity during one of his sea expeditions,\nand had been baptized. He was zealous for the progress of the faith, and\ntraveled through the country to Christianize the people. Where this\ncould not be accomplished with leniency, force was employed. Several who\nresisted baptism were tortured to death. He introduced Christianity in\nIceland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland, but did not reign long enough\nover Norway to accomplish his purpose there. When he had reigned five\nyears, he fell in the battle at Svolder, in the year 1000.\n\nOlav Haraldson, afterwards known as Saint Olav, introduced Christianity\nthroughout Norway. On one of his Viking expeditions he had been\nconverted and baptized. He was of an earnest character, and Christianity\nmade a deep impression on his mind. He resolved to Christianize the\nwhole country, and for that reason went from one district to another,\nbuilding churches and installing priests.\n\nAccording to the custom of the times he often employed cruel means. The\npeople were provoked and rose in rebellion, and Olav fled to Gardarike,\nor Russia. From thence he returned after a time with an army, and\ntreated the people with great kindness, but they met him with a superior\nforce at Stiklestad, where Olav was killed after a great slaughter, in\nthe year 1030. He had then been king for about sixteen years.--Miracles\nwere soon reported to have been wrought by his corpse, and after a few\nyears he was canonized as a saint. His bones were put in a shrine, which\nafterwards was placed on the altar of the cathedral at Trondhjem, where\nthey remained until the time of the Reformation. Pilgrimages were made\nto this relic from far and near; pilgrimages belonged to the\nsuperstitions of the times.\n\n\n                        5. The Popes, The Monks\n\nThe bishop of Rome soon became the most powerful among the bishops and\nwas called pope, that is, papa (father). Some popes were pious,\nGod-fearing men, who were zealous for the advancement of God\u2019s kingdom\non earth; others endeavored only to extend their own power and\nimportance; and some were downright wicked.\n\nThe popes claimed and claim to this day that they are the\nrepresentatives of Christ on earth. They made the claim that Christ had\nplaced Peter over the other apostles and over the whole Christian\nChurch. Furthermore, that Peter was the first bishop in Rome, and that\nhis power was inherited by the following bishops. As the vicegerents of\nChrist they, of course, must be infallible in doctrine; but they have\nnevertheless often advanced doctrines that were only human opinions, and\neven in direct opposition to the Scriptures. They established the\ndoctrine to worship the virgin Mary and other dead men and women, and\ncanonized them as saints. They claimed that these saints prevailed\ngreatly with God, and therefore prayers must be offered to them for\nintercession and help. These saints were said through works of penitence\nand good deeds to have done not only enough to be saved themselves, but\nto have had a surplus of holiness. This treasure of sanctity the popes\nhad a right to dispose of, and could even sell it for money. Thus arose\nthe horrible sale of indulgences.\n\nBaptism and the old confession of faith, or the three Articles of Faith,\nremained unchanged; but the Lord\u2019s Supper had been greatly changed.\nLaymen may only eat of the bread, but must not drink of the wine.\n\nThe popes tyrannized conscience and assumed the power to release any one\nfrom the oath he had sworn. Whosoever would not submit to the command of\nthe pope were placed under the ban, that is, they were in a solemn\nmanner excommunicated from all the blessings of the Church and\nsurrendered to eternal damnation.--The worst of all was, that the people\nwere prohibited from reading the Bible, so they could not see how\nerroneous the doctrines of the Church were in many respects.\n\nBesides the regular priesthood, the monks were also considered servants\nof the Church. Some of the monks dwelt alone in secluded places, and\nwere then called hermits. Others dwelt together in large buildings,\ncalled convents or monasteries. Their superior is called abbot. The\nabbot is under the control of the pope, who thus has the monks in his\nservice. Women dwelling in convents, and in general subject to the same\nrules as the monks, are called nuns. Their female superior is called\nabbess. The monks were in the beginning pious and God-fearing men;\nbesides this they were industrious, and labored for education. Later on\nthey became worse, they were indolent and riotous, and too many of them\nbroke their promise of chastity. No one else spread so many\nsuperstitions and errors among the people as the monks.\n\n\n                           6. The Reformation\n\nThe heresies of the Church were so numerous and so great that many could\nnot help perceiving them. But the popes were for many centuries so\npowerful that any one who dared to oppose them would fare badly. John\nHuss in Bohemia had preached against the sale of indulgences, and was\ntherefore burned alive at a great church meeting held in the city of\nConstance, even though the emperor had given his word that he should be\npermitted to depart in peace from the meeting. The emperor was informed\nthat he was under no obligation to keep his word to a heretic.\n\nMeanwhile more and more people began to have their eyes opened to the\ncondition of the Church. Education became greater and more extended, for\nthe art of printing had been invented.\n\nAbout one hundred years after Huss was burned, Martin Luther stood forth\nand began that great improvement in the condition of the Church which is\ncalled The Reformation. Luther was born in 1483, of poor parents, in the\ncity of Eisleben, Saxony, in the center of Germany. According to the\nintention of his father he was to read law, but on account of his\nanxiety for his soul\u2019s salvation he, at the age of twenty-two, entered a\nconvent and became a monk. Here he faithfully performed all the\nrequirements of a life in the convent: prayed, fasted and mortified his\nflesh; but he could not find peace for his soul. An old monk advised him\nto seek consolation in the old, then almost forgotten words: I believe\nin the forgiveness of sins. These words Luther took to heart, and as he\ndiligently read the Bible and the writings of the church fathers[8], he\nat last clearly saw that man is justified by faith apart from the works\nof the law. After Luther had been in a convent for three years, he was\ncalled as teacher to the university at Wittenberg. Hither came a hawker\nof indulgences, a monk named Tetzel, who with the greatest audacity sold\nforgiveness of sins for money. At this, Luther was filled with\nindignation, and on the 31st of October, 1517, he nailed on the door of\nthe castle church in Wittenberg ninety-five theses against the sale of\nindulgences and other errors. These theses were quickly circulated\nthroughout Germany, and many pious and educated men acknowledged that\nLuther was right. It was not Luther\u2019s intention to attack the pope, for\nhe yet believed that the papacy was instituted of God, and thought that\nwhen the pope should be informed of the true condition of the case, he\nwould grant his approval of Luther\u2019s act. But they thought differently\nin Rome. Luther was placed under the ban of the Church. In the meantime\nhe had diligently read the Bible and history, and it was clear to him\nthe papacy was not instituted of God. He therefore paid no attention to\nthe ban, but took the bull[9] of the pope and burned it under an oak\noutside of the city of Wittenberg. He was now summoned to appear before\nCharles V., emperor of the Roman empire, at the diet held in the city of\nWorms, 1521. Many dissuaded him from going; they reminded him of the\nfate of Huss; but Luther answered: If there were as many devils in Worms\nas there are tiles on the roofs, yet would I go. When he came to Worms,\nhe was ushered into the diet, an assembly where the emperor, the legate\nof the pope and many princes and bishops were gathered. It was demanded\nthat he at once should recant everything he had taught; but Luther\nanswered: Unless I am convinced by the Scriptures, or by clear and\nbinding reasons, I neither can nor will recant; for it is not advisable\nto do anything against conscience. Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise.\nGod help me! Amen.\n\n-----\nFootnote 8: Church fathers: The early teachers in the Church.\n\nFootnote 9: Bull: The writing containing the ban.\n-----\n\nHe was now declared an outlaw, and any one could with impunity kill him.\nHe was, however, permitted to leave Worms in peace. But the elector of\nSaxony, his prince and protector, caused his own servants to seize him\nas he was departing, and had him secretly carried to the castle of\nWartburg. Here he abode unknown for ten months, and the world believed\nhe was dead. In this place he began his excellent translation of the\nBible into German, and finished the New Testament. At the end of that\ntime he returned to Wittenberg and continued to labor by preaching and\nwriting. In 1529 he published his Small Catechism, to be used in the\ninstruction of children and youth, and his Larger Catechism as an aid\nfor the teachers.\n\nLuther\u2019s adherents daily became more numerous. Among them were many\nprinces. At the diet of Augsburg, in 1530, they laid before the emperor\na confession of their faith, written by the learned and gentle Philip\nMelanchthon, and approved by Luther. In the Augsburg Confession the\nLutherans had now secured a confession, in which they all united. All\nwho would could now see for themselves that Luther did not teach a new\ndoctrine, but the old, true Christian faith.\n\nWhen Luther died, in 1546, his doctrine was spread over half of Germany,\nthe whole of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and had gained adherents in\nEngland, France and other countries.\n\nContemporaneously with Luther, Ulric Zwingli stood forth in Switzerland\nagainst the sale of indulgences and other errors. His work was continued\nby the Frenchman, John Calvin. Calvin\u2019s adherents are called Calvinists,\nor Reformed; they differ from the Lutherans in the doctrine concerning\nthe Lord\u2019s Supper, predestination and some other doctrines. The Reformed\nconfessions are held in Switzerland, Holland, Scotland, England, and to\nsome extent in France. Lutherans and Calvinists are called, although\nhistorically improperly, with one common name, Protestants, in\nopposition to the adherents of the pope, who are called Roman Catholics.\n\n\n                 7. Reformation Introduced in the North\n\nHans Tausen, a Danish monk, had studied at Wittenberg and heard Luther.\nOn his return to Denmark he preached the Evangelical doctrine, and it\nwas adopted in 1536 as the religion of the country.\n\nIn about the same manner it went in Sweden. Two brothers, Olaf and Lars\nPehrson, had studied in Wittenberg, and brought the Evangelical faith\nhome on their return. It was in 1544 adopted as the religion of the\ncountry.\n\nNorway was but poorly prepared for the Reformation. Education was poor.\nA German monk named Anton preached the Evangelical doctrine in Bergen in\n1528. His preaching found favor with the citizens, and the bishop, an\nindolent man, moved to his residence outside of the city; but we find no\naccount of any general awakening. Anton afterwards became priest in the\ncity.\n\nNorway was at that time united to Denmark. When the Reformation,\ntherefore, was introduced into that country, it was as a natural\nconsequence established in Norway, in 1537. At first it found small\nfavor with the people, who remained Roman Catholic, and in several\nplaces even used violence against the Evangelical clergy. Little by\nlittle, however, the Evangelical doctrine became better known and found\nmore favor with the people. This was owing more to the bishops Geble\nPedersen in Bergen, Jens Nilsen in Oslo and J\u00f8rgen Eriksen in Stavanger\nthan to anybody else. Eriksen has been called \u201cthe Luther of Norway.\u201d\n\n\n         8. The Lutheran Church in the United States of America\n\nThe Lutheran Church was transplanted to North America in the sixteenth,\nseventeenth and eighteenth centuries by the immigration of Lutherans\nfrom France, Holland, Sweden, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Finland\nand other lands.\n\nThe Lutheran Church in America has always been in spirit and loyalty, in\ncharacter and institutions, an American Church.\n\nAccording to the \u201cLutheran World Almanac for 1927-1928\u201d there has been a\ngrowth in membership from 900 in 1562 to 4,112,680 in 1927.\n\nThe Lutherans of America are divided into 21 general bodies, as follows:\nUnited Lutheran Church, consisting of 35 constituent synods, 1,311,167\nbaptized members; Joint Ohio Synod, 256,575; Iowa Synod, 214,257;\nBuffalo Synod, 11,083; Jehovah Conference, 1,500; Augustana Synod,\n308,943; Norwegian Lutheran Church, 488,108; Lutheran Free Church,\n43,094; Eielsen Synod, 1,200; Church of the Lutheran Brethren, 1,600;\nUnited Danish Church, 29,259; Danish church, 19,200; Icelandic Synod,\n7,936; Suomi Synod, 35,300; Finnish National Church, 8,032; Finnish\nApostolic Church, 50,000; Missouri Synod, 1,086,953; Joint Wisconsin\nSynod, 212,558; Slovak Synod, 13,131; Norwegian Synod, 7,611; Negro\nMission of Synodical Conference, 5,123.\n\nThere are 27 Lutheran =Publication Houses=, publishing in 1927 177\npapers, having 1,699,385 subscribers; also 541 new books, 237 reprints,\n106 pamphlets, a total of 3,126,510 copies.\n\nOf =Higher Schools= there were 159: Theological Seminaries, 33, with 180\nteachers and 1,637 students; Colleges, 36, with 779 teachers and 14,203\nstudents; Junior colleges and academies, 90, with 793 teachers and\n15,813 students;--a grand total of 1,752 teachers and 31,653 students,\n18,614 boys and 13,039 girls.\n\nEach Synod maintains or supports some =Foreign Mission= work, both\nthrough its regular Board of Missions and voluntary agencies,\nparticularly the women\u2019s federations and young people\u2019s societies. The\nchief mission fields are in: China, India, Japan and Kurdistan, Liberia,\nSouth Africa, Tanganyika, Madagascar and New Guinea; also among Indians\nof North and South America, Negroes and Eskimos. 881 missionaries and\n6,727 native workers are engaged in the foreign fields among a baptized\nmembership of 262,760, on an annual budget of $2,681,963.00.\n\nThe =Home Mission= Boards, with an annual appropriation of $2,352,125.00\ntry to gather the unchurched Lutherans of America into the Church and\naim also to bring the Gospel to the unchurched neighbors of every race\nand color within the United States and Canada.\n\nThe work of =Charity= is pushed in many ways by Boards, Committees,\nSocieties and Institutions. Of institutions there are 73 =Orphans\u2019\nHomes=, with 597 employees, caring for 4,700 children; 69 =Homes for the\nAged=, with 387 employees and 2,499 inmates; 106 =Hospitals= and Homes\nfor =Defectives=, with 3,884 employees and 236,228 patients. There are\n11 =Deaconess Homes=. The 31 =Home Finding Societies=, with 100\nemployees, placed 473 children in homes during 1927.\n\nThere are also many other activities, congregational, synodical and\nintersynodical. One of the chief intersynodical agencies is the\n=National Lutheran Council=, organized in 1918 to meet emergencies\nrequiring common action. This Agency has expended several million\ndollars during the decennium in relief and reconstruction work in the\ncountries afflicted by the World War; also in rescuing the foreign\nmission fields affected by the War.\n\nThe Lutheran Church in America emphasizes the importance of Biblical\nteaching and preaching and strict obedience to the Word of God by its\nmembers.\n\nThe Norwegian Lutheran Church of America was organized on June 9, 1917,\nby the union of the Hauge Synod, the Norwegian Synod and the United\nNorwegian Lutheran Church of America.\n\n\n                      9. Missions. Bible Societies\n\nAfter the Reformation, Christianity has been proclaimed in far distant\nlands by missionaries. Hans Egede, a clergyman in Vaagen, Nordland,\nNorway, resigned his charge to go and preach the Gospel in Greenland.\nNone had gone there with the Word of God since the Black Death in the\nfourteenth century.\n\nIn 1842 the Norwegian Mission Society was organized. Schreuder went as\nits first missionary to southern Africa. He labored mostly among the\nZulus, among whom he died in 1882. Many followed his example and went\nout to heathen nations to bear witness of Christ. The society later on\nbegan missionary work in the island of Madagascar, where it has\nestablished many large Christian congregations.\n\nThe Norwegian Lutheran Synods in America have also been engaged in\nmission work among the heathen, as follows: the Norwegian Lutheran\nChurch of America has its field at Hupeh and Honan, China, with 70\nmissionaries and 873 native workers; in southeastern Madagascar, with 31\nmissionaries and 450 native workers; in Natal including Zululand, South\nAfrica, with 8 missionaries; among the Indians of Wisconsin, with 2\nmissionaries; among the Eskimos of Alaska, with 3 missionaries. (The\nfigures are for 1927.) The Norwegian Lutheran Free Church has its fields\nin southwestern Madagascar and Honan, China; the Evangelical Lutheran\nChurch in America (Elling Synod), among the Indians of Wisconsin; the\nLutheran Synod of the Brethren, in Honan, China. In addition to these\nsynodical missions, the Norwegian Lutherans of America have conducted\nindependent missions among the Jews of Palestine, Russia and the United\nStates, the Santals of India, the Nestorians of Chaldea, the Mohammedans\nof Kurdistan and the Negroes of the Southern States and the Soudan.\n\nBoth Catholics and Reformed have, during the last century, been\nenergetic in missionary work. In 1926 about 750 Protestant Missionary\nSocieties were in existence, carrying on missionary work amongst the\nheathen in every part of the world. Four hundred and fifty of these\nsocieties were working in Asia, 200 in Africa, 200 in North America, 110\nin South America, 60 in Australia and the South Sea Islands.\n\nThe earliest Bible society was the Canstein of Halle, founded in 1712.\nThe largest Bible society is the British and Foreign Bible Society,\nfounded in 1804. It has translated the Bible or parts of it into many\nlanguages and dialects, and has distributed about 400,000,000 Bibles and\nNew Testaments. There are also other important Bible societies, of which\nwe shall mention two: the Norwegian Bible Society, organized in 1816,\nwhich has issued about 3,000,000 Bibles and New Testaments; the American\nBible Society, organized in 1816, which has issued over 185,000,000\nBibles and New Testaments. In 1926 the Bible was translated into 800\nlanguages and dialects. Of 10 million copies given away in 1926, China\nalone got almost 4 million copies.\n\nThe Gospel has never before been preached in so many countries as at\npresent, but yet the prophecy is far from being fulfilled, that there\nshall be one Flock and one Shepherd. In 1927 the population of the world\nwas 1,850,000,000; and of these only 683,000,000 were nominally\nChristians, while 15,000,000 were Jews, 209,000,000 were Mohammedans,\nand 943,000,000 were heathen.\n\n\n                  10. A Brief Sketch of the Holy Land\n\nThe country known by the names of Canaan, Palestine, the Holy Land and\nthe Promised Land is located in Asia, at the eastern end of the\nMediterranean Sea, and not far from Africa. It is not far from Europe,\nand consequently very near the center of that part of the earth which\nwas known to the ancients. It has an extent of less than six thousand\nsquare miles, being about one twenty-second part of the size of the\nkingdom of Norway. It has now about three hundred and fifty thousand\ninhabitants, but had formerly a great many more. When King David\nnumbered the people, he found one million three hundred thousand who\ncould bear arms. One-fourth of a population is generally considered able\nto bear arms, and the number of inhabitants at that time must have\nexceeded five millions.\n\nThe country is very mountainous. To the north, in Syria, is Mount\nLebanon, ten thousand feet at its highest, and east of this is Mount\nHermon. Lebanon was famed for its magnificent cedars. From Lebanon and\nHermon two mountain ranges extend southward through the whole length of\nthe country, one to the west, the other to the east of the river Jordan.\nJerusalem lies two thousand five hundred feet above the ocean. The river\nJordan runs two hundred miles from north to south, and divides the\ncountry into two parts. It flows through the Lake of Gennesaret, which\nhas been and is yet very rich in fish, and empties into the Dead Sea,\nwhich is forty-five miles long and ten miles wide. The Dead Sea lies\nthirteen hundred feet lower than the Mediterranean Sea. The water has a\nbitter taste and is very salty. Neither animal nor vegetable life can\nexist in it. If a fish happens to stray from the Jordan into the lake,\nit dies. Such is now the condition of that plain which once upon a time\nwas as the garden of Eden.\n\nPalestine lies far south; its summers are therefore hot, and the winters\nmild. In Jerusalem, which lies at such great altitude, snow may\noccasionally fall in January and February, but melts immediately.--The\nland used to be very fruitful, producing grain, wine, many kinds of\nfruit, and had good pastures. In the Bible it is called \u201ca land flowing\nwith milk and honey.\u201d Now it is entirely different. The country has\nthrough many centuries been badly governed, and the saying appears to be\ntrue that where the Turk sets his foot, grass will grow no more.--Of\nforests may be mentioned the Woods of Ephraim, where Joab slew Absalom.\nThe cedar wood, with which Solomon ceiled the temple, came from\nLebanon.--The camel was a beast of burden, and used mostly in\ntraveling.--Of wild animals there were lions and bears, as we read in\nthe stories of Samson and David.\n\nThe country was at first divided into twelve parts among the twelve\ntribes. Later on it was divided into the kingdoms of Judah and Israel.\nAt the time of our Savior it was divided into four parts: Jud\u00e6a,\nSamaria, Galilee and Perea. Jud\u00e6a was the southern, Samaria the middle,\nGalilee the northern part west of the Jordan river; while Perea was east\nof the Jordan.\n\n\n\n\n                          Chronological Table\n\n\n       1. Abraham goes to Canaan, about                  1921 B.C.\n       2. Moses born, about                              1571 B.C.\n       3. David becomes king, about                      1055 B.C.\n       4. The kingdom is divided, about                   975 B.C.\n       5. Kingdom of Israel destroyed, about              722 B.C.\n       6. The people of the Kingdom of Judah carried      586 B.C.\n          into captivity\n       7. Death of Paul and Peter                          67 A.D.\n       8. Destruction of Jerusalem                         70 A.D.\n       9. Constantine the Great                           323 A.D.\n      10. Mohammed                                        600 A.D.\n      11. Saint Olav in Norway                           1030 A.D.\n      12. Luther begins the Reformation                  1517 A.D.\n      13. The Augsburg Confession                        1530 A.D.\n      14. The Reformation introduced in Norway           1537 A.D.\n      15. The first Protestant Mission Society           1649 A.D.\n          organized, about\n      16. The first Bible Society organized              1712 A.D.\n      17. American Bible Society organized               1816 A.D.\n      18. Norwegian Bible Society organized              1816 A.D.\n\n\n\n\n    ----------------------------------------------------------------\n\n                          Transcriber\u2019s Note:\n\n The footnotes were moved to the relevant paragraph.\n\n There are minor inconsistencies between the table of contents and the\n actual chapter headings.\n For example, the first section is named \"Creation.\" in the TOC, but\n \"The Creation\" in the heading. Those are not noted here.\n\n There are 2 headings that differ between the Contents and the body text\n and have been left as published in the original publication:\n (TOC) 92. Peter\u2019s Denial. The Death of Judas.\n (TXT) 92. Peter\u2019s Denial. The Suicide of Judas\n\n (TOC) 106. The Books of the New Testament.\n (TXT) 106. The Writings of the New Testament\n\n    ----------------------------------------------------------------","title":"Bible history and brief outline of church history","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":35980}