Page:Jesus of Nazareth the story of His life simply told (1917).djvu/159

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AT JACOB'S WELL.

When the Pasch was over, our Lord went up and down the country of Judea preaching and baptizing by the hands of His disciples. Some take this baptism to have been, like that of the Precursor, merely a sign of repentance and of a desire to be cleansed from sin. Others believe it to have been the Sacrament instituted by Jesus Christ. The sweetness and attractiveness of our Blessed Lord drew to Him all hearts that evil passions had not spoiled, and it seemed as if His Ministry were beginning happily, when opposition arose from an unexpected quarter.

St. John the Baptist still continued to preach and baptize, but his work was nearly done, and every day some of his followers left him to become our Lord's disciples, to the great displeasure of those who remained with him. These said to him one day—and we can almost hear the peevish tones of their complaint:

"Rabbi, He that was with thee beyond the Jordan, to whom thou gavest testimony, behold He baptizeth, and all men come to Him."

Did they not know their master better than this? Did they think he would be jealous of Him who was to come, when his one thought and desire was to prepare hearts for Him? He had called our Lord "the Lamb of God." He gave Him now another beautiful name, and tried to show the troubled disciples that souls were right to go after Him to whom all souls belong as the bride belongs to the bridegroom. "He that hath the bride," he said, "is the Bridegroom, but the friend of