Scenes from the life of Jesus Author:Jesus Christ Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER IV. THE MEDITATION. " Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness." / Jesus was baptised. A voice from the sky had proclaimed him to b... more »e the beloved Son of God, and another voice had answered like an echo within his own breast, " My Father, who art in Heaven." From the small town of Nazareth, from the obscurity of a cottage life, from the shop of a village carpenter,—he was now to assume his place among the sons of men as a great teacher and prophet; he was to stand among the first of his people in the high places of Jerusalem ; he was to come forth as the long-expected Messiah, as the Christ, the anointed of God ! And what did this mean ?— The anointed of God!—the bearer of God's message !—the doer of God's work! What was this workl now ? It was no less than to give a new religion to the world, to do that which should affect the happiness and destiny of mankind through all succeeding ages. It was to reveal God to man in a new character. It was to reveal man to himself in a new character. It was to change the nature of life and of death. It was to write a new name upon the face of all creation. This was his work; and it was to be accomplished (or shall we say was to be begun) by the means of his own labour, suffer- ing, and sacrifice. Here was the outline of what was now before him. With such a burden of thought upon his soul, the companionship of his fellow-men must necessarily have been distasteful, because it was distracting. Such thoughts could only breathe freely in solitude. This solitude he sought, and leaving the neighbourhood of the Jordan, now peopled with the multitudes who were seeking the baptism of John, he retired to a more secluded part of this rugged wilderness. Here he was alone. Here he could commune quietly with his own soul—and rip...« less