Philochristus. Abbott Edwin Abbott
of Israel. “Cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.” Then I cried aloud, “Is not this a plain and simple path even for the people of the land, that all Israel should walk therein.”
Now so it was that Baruch had come up while I was thus reading and speaking aloud; and I knew it not. So he answered and said, “Thou speakest well; notwithstanding I have heard a certain Greek of mine acquaintance in Capernaum say that virtue cannot be taught; for that some men have their hearts inclined by nature to do well, but others to do ill; so that it availeth nothing to say ‘Learn to do well.’ ” Then was I silent for a while, for methought the Greek said well, and indeed we needed, not so much that a new path should be made plain, as that a clean heart and a right spirit should be created anew within us, according as it is written, “Make me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” So in the end I concluded to wait till we should understand what new message the prophet John the son of Zachariah might bring to us from the Lord, if perchance he might teach us aught concerning the creating of a right spirit. But by this time our ship was come to Gamala; where we were courteously entertained by James and John the sons of Judas; and we abode with them three days. But on the fourth day we set out for Bethany of Peræa.
CHAPTER IV
As we drew near to Bethany, we noted many hundreds of travellers on the road, the most part on foot, but many on asses and camels; for rich as well as poor were journeying to the new prophet. A full score of Scribes went past us in the space of an hour; there were also some soldiers going to Machærus; here and there was a tax-gatherer; and Baruch took note of certain that were sinners, outcasts from the synagogue of Capernaum. We had now been journeying for a day and a half; and toward the end of the second day, we began to see the valley of Jordan right over against us. Going down a little further, we perceived that there was a great multitude gathered together near the bank of the river; and presently we could clearly discern the prophet himself.
Around him stood men in white garments awaiting purification; at a somewhat greater distance, the mixed multitude hearkening to his words. John himself, wearing no tunic, but clad only in a rough mantle of camel’s hair with a girdle of untanned leather, was sitting upon a rock, and thence he was speaking to the people in a clear voice, whereof the sound (though not as yet the meaning) was borne up even to our ears. For a while we stood still, with one consent, marvelling at the sight; for there had not been a prophet in Israel for four hundred years and more; but presently, riding down with all speed, we came into the valley, and joined ourselves to the multitude: and, albeit, we could not come very nigh to John, for the press, yet was there such a stillness among all the assembly, that we very soon understood whatsoever he said.
He had been speaking (this I learned afterwards from one of the bystanders) concerning the old wars and troubles which the Lord had sent on Israel; how, according to the saying of the Prophet Isaiah, the Lord had brought the Assyrian against the land as an axe, whereby He had cut down our chosen nobles and princes, even as a woodman felleth the choicest trees. Also how, in the days of the Prophet Jeremiah, the Lord had sent the blast of His wrath upon the people, and had winnowed away the unstable and faithless into captivity, even as a winnower fanneth the chaff from the wheat. The same things were at hand even now, he said: “Now also the axe is laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.”
Hereat the multitude cried aloud, saying that it was even so; for indeed we all felt in our hearts that the prophet spake the truth. As the Assyrian axe in the days of old, so now the Roman axe was laid at the root of Israel; and unless the Lord turned away His wrath from us, the nation would be destroyed. But then a stillness fell upon the multitude, as we waited till the prophet should tell us what we should do to turn away the Lord’s wrath.
Then the prophet set his face toward the men in white garments, and said to them that they should cleanse their hearts and not their bodies merely, and put away the iniquity of their souls, and he called upon them to confess their sins. He bade them also not to trust in their being children of Abraham, nor in the purifications of the Law, nor in the observances of Sabbaths and feast-days. If, said he, the tree was to escape the axe, it must no longer be barren: “bring forth fruits therefore worthy of repentance, and think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father, for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.”
Saying these words, he beckoned to the men in white robes that they should follow him. The multitude made way for them; and he led them down to a place by the side of the river where the reeds and thickets of willow-beds had been rooted up, so that there might be free passage into the water. Then he cried in a clear voice, “Receive the baptism of Repentance,” and bade them plunge themselves beneath the surface. At the same time he offered up prayers to God; and we upon the higher bank said, Amen. When he had made an end of baptizing the men, he went up again to the rock, and thence he again spoke to the people; and as many as desired purification went up to him there.
Now while the people were going up by courses, I also began to resolve in my heart that I too would go up in the order of my course. Yet had I sore misgivings in my soul; for it seemed as if I were on the verge of a great sea, launching out into the deep I knew not whither. For the teaching of this new prophet in no wise agreed with the teaching of the Scribes and Lawyers, whom I had reverenced; and if I went with him, I perceived that I must needs go away from them. Now it came to pass that a certain Scribe (who was with our company) perceived the reasonings of my heart, and that I was desirous to receive purification at the hands of John. Therefore he took me by the cloak, and held me back, saying, “Behold, if John the son of Zachariah speaketh well, the Scribes have spoken ill, and have taught ill. Yea, and all thy study of the Law, and thy painful meditations therein, and thy nightly watchings and weariness of the flesh have all been in vain. But wilt thou lightly forsake the teaching of the Law and the Traditions of the Fathers, and all for the sake of one new prophet, concerning whom thou knowest not as yet even that he is a prophet? And wherefore shouldst thou thus seek after prophets? Knowest thou not that the Inscrutable (blessed be He) decreed that, after the destruction of the first Temple, there should be no longer with us the Shekinah, nor the Holy Spirit, nor the Urim and Thummim; wherefore it is said, ‘From the fourth year of King Darius, the Holy Spirit no longer rested upon the prophets.’ But in the place of the prophets (who were not always with Israel) thou hast now the Scribes always with thee, according as it is said, ‘Moses received the Law from Sinai, and the elders delivered it to the prophets, and the prophets to the men of the Great Congregation;’ and it is also said, ‘from the time that the Temple was destroyed, the gift of prophecy was taken from the prophets and given to the Wise.’ ”
His words moved me, and I restrained myself for the time. Yet on the other side there rose in my heart a certain Voice, which seemed to come from the Lord, saying, “The words of John are right, and they are simple, converting the soul. Moreover, they are fit for the people of the land, and not only for Scribes and scholars and pedants. But that he is a prophet, thine own heart convinceth thee; for even when thou hearest him, thou knowest that he speaketh not from himself, but that he is taught from above. And did not also the prophets of old speak like things, saying, ‘Rend your hearts, and not your garments,’ and bidding Israel not to offer sacrifice, but to shew mercy, and not to observe Sabbaths, but to do judgment and relieve the oppressed?” So between the words of the Scribe and the words of the Voice within me I was in a great strait. Howbeit for the time I restrained myself and did nothing, but remained where I was, giving heed to the words of the Prophet.
Now it came to pass that certain of the soldiers from Machærus went up: and all we in the crowd waited silently expecting that the Prophet would deny purification to these men, except they should first promise to depart from the army of Herod. But he commanded them only to abstain from robbery and outrage. Upon this certain tax-gatherers (whom the Romans call publicans) took confidence, and they too went up. And now indeed all we that looked on, expected that there should have been a great outburst of wrath and of cursing upon them, as upon traitors and apostates from Israel. But the Prophet received these also, and bade them exact no more than that which was appointed to them. To others he said that they were to observe that saying in the Traditions which enjoineth the doing of kindnesses; that is to say, they were to clothe the naked