Page:Traditions of Palestine (microform) (IA traditionsofpale00martrich).pdf/149

 of their conqueror, the new and better law of Jehovah should be established, so that every man should be a priest, and every day a sabbath. Thus they mingled joy for mankind with tears for their people.

They loved to speak one to another of the holy men who had seen Jesus and followed him through the land. When the worship was ended, or when they surrounded the board, or gathered together beneath the shadow of the hills, the old men told what they had seen and heard, and the children sat at their feet to listen. One remembered how his mother had held him up that he might see the Teacher pass by when the people spread their garments in the way, and shouted Hosannas, Another had stood before Paul of Tarsus to defend him when the multitude dragged him forth from the temple. There was also one who had gone with Simon Peter to Rome, and tended him in prison, and walked with him when he went to his death, and borne his last words to his wife, who suffered with him. This witness was never weary of telling how great was the patience and how unconquerable the courage of the martyr: how