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to the flesh had no exclusive right to Heaven's favours. Thus he repudiated their presumptuous claims; for which they indignantly drove him out to the precipice of the hill on which the synagogue stood, that they might thrust him down; but he miraculously escaped out of their hands.

This ebullition of passion and madness justified his cause, and demonstrated that he knew their hearts that they were wholly unworthy of even witnessing, much less of participating in any demonstration of his marvellous power and goodness; and that they presumed too much upon their being his townsmen, and Israelites according to the flesh and not according to the spirit.

Eliza. I would desire to hear some of the prayers that were usually offered up in the synagogues by the Jews in ancient times, that I might learn how much they resembled the prayers of Christians.

Olympas. Thomas, you can repeat a few specimens from the nineteen celebrated prayers that all the Jews were accustomed not only to hear in the synagogues, but which they were themselves accustomed to repeat two or three times every day. Thomas. I will try.

1. "Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, the God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the Great God: powerful and tremendous; the High God, bountifully dispensing benefits; the creator and possessor of the universe, who rememberest the good deeds of our fathers, and, in thy love, sendest a redeemer to those who are descended from them, for thy name's sake, O king, our helper, our saviour, and our shield: blessed art thou, O Lord, who art the shield of Abraham !"

2. "Thou, Lord, art powerful for ever. Thou raisest the dead to life, and art mighty to save; thou sendest

down the dew; stillest the winds; and makest the rain to come down upon the earth; and sustainest with thy bene ficence all that live thereon; and, of thy abundant mercy, makest the dead again to live. Thou helpest up those that fall; thou curest the sick; thou loosest them that are bound; and makest good thy word of truth to those that sleep in the dust. Who is to be compared with thee, O thou Lord of might? And who is like unto thee, O our king, who killest and makest alive, and makest salvation to spring up as the herb in the field? Thou art faithful to make the dead arise again to life. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who raisest the dead again to life."

15. "Make the offspring of David, thy servant, speedily to grow up and flourish, and let our horn be exalted in thy salvation, for we hope for thy salvation every day. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who makes the horn of our salvation to flourish!"

17. "Be thou well pleased, O Lord our God, with thy people Israel, and have regard unto their prayers. Restore thy worship to the inner part of thy house, and make haste with favour and love to accept of the burnt sacrifices of Israel and their prayers; and let the worship of Israel, thy people, be continually well pleasing unto thee. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who restorest thy divine presence to Zion!"

18. "We will give thanks unto thee with praise, for thou art the Lord our God, the God of our fathers for ever and ever. Thou art our rock, and the rock of our life, and the shield of our salvation. To all generations will we give thanks unto thee, and declare thy praise, because of our life, which is always in thy hands; and because of our souls, which are ever depending upon thee; and because of thy signs, which are every day with us; and because of thy wonders and marvellous loving-kindness, which are morning and evening and night continually before us. Thou art good, for thy mercies are not consumed; thou art merciful, for thy loving-kindness fails not. For ever we will hope in thee; and for all these mercies be thy name, O king, blessed and exalted, and lifted up on high for ever and ever; and let all that live give thanks unto thee. Selah. And let them in truth and sincerity praise thy name, O God of our salvation and our help. Selah. Blessed art thou, O Lord, whose name is good, and unto whom it is fitting always to give thanks!”

19. "Give peace, beneficence and benediction, grace, benignity and mercy unto us, and to Israel thy people. Bless us, O our father, even all of us together as one man, with the light of thy countenance. For in the light of thy countenance hast thou given unto us, O Lord our God, the law of life and love, and benignity and righteousness, and blessing and mercy, and life and peace. And let it seem good in thine eyes to bless thy people Israel with thy peace at all times and in every moment. Blessed art thon, O Lord, who blessest thy people Israel with peace! Amen."

Eliza. Excellent sentiments and desires, truly. I wonder that a people whose prayers were so good, could act so badly as did those Jews of Nazareth, who so wickedly treated the Messiah.

Olympas. Orthodox creeds, forms, prayers, and observances, my dear children, are poor substitutes for new and pure hearts.

CONVERSATION XXX.

Olympas. OUR Lord stood up to read, and sat down to teach. He returned the book to the minister of the synagogue, and tendered his comments to the audience. All seem delighted with his comments; but the question, “Is not this Joseph's son," seems to change the topic and lead to a serious issue. Why, Thomas, did our Lord stand up to read, and sit down to teach?

Thomas. Men rise in honour of each other, and standing up to read God's Book is in good keeping with that idea. No greater honour can be done the Bible in a public assembly than to stand up and read it.

Eliza. And why not stand up and listen to it? Robert. I heard of one congregation who always stood up while the regular readings of the Scriptures was going on; and they were the most pious congregation in all the country.

Olympas. It was a very striking proof of their piety. I have no doubt it would promote the piety of every congregation to stand up, as the Jews did to hear Ezra the Scribe read from noon to even the words of God's law. What sort of reader and teacher was Jesus, think you, Reuben?

Reuben. He was the most popular reader and speaker in all Judea.

Olympas. Where is your proof?

Reuben. God's Spirit is the spirit of wisdom, knowledge, and eloquence. Now this being admitted, my conclusion is evident: for we are

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told that Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee." The consequence was, there went out a fame of him all round about. We are told that "he taught in their synagogues with universal applause," or, as in our common Testament, And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all." Could it be otherwise when he returned into Galilee from his baptism in the power of the Spirit?

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Eliza. His temptation, fasting, prayer, as well as his baptism, prepared the way of his fame. Olympas. His mature age also helped much. Men always gain power at the expense of time, and lose power by gaining time. He was thirty years old, well educated by a pious mother, taught to read early, early taken to the temple and the synagogue, was baptized, received the Holy Spirit, and had spent much time in meditation, selfdiscipline and government, and was in his peculiar manner an orator and teacher never equalled. His enemies were constrained to say, 66 Never man spake like this man."

Thomas. But in Nazareth he had not the proper honour. A Prophet never had equal honour in his own vicinity or amongst his relations. They implied something very inacceptable to the Saviour in these words "Is not this Joseph's son ?" What could it mean?

Olympas. What think you, Reuben?

Reuben. It was disparaging his humble birth. The carpenter's son! Whence has he all this learning and eloquence?

Thomas. Might it not indicate that as he lived amongst them, they thought that they had claims upon his gifts and services above other cities?

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