The Valley of Vision

ost-a way so simple that the wonder is t

to remain through the full seven days. The people from Nazareth were anxious to be gone-they had a long road to travel-their harvests were waiting. While the Boy, tired out, was sleeping under the tree

p. His breath came lightly. The spirit of youth was beating in his limbs, His heart was eager for adventure. He longed for the top of a high hill-for the wide, blue sky-for

uns before the daybreak was dancing through the grass. The Boy turned to the left, following along one of the sheep-trails that crossed the high, sloping pastures. Then he bore to the rig

heaven was transfused with turquoise light. Dark in the gulfs and chasms of the furrowed land the night lingered. Bright along the eastern peaks and ridges the coming day, still hidden, revealed itself in a fringe of dazzling gold, like the crest of a long mounting wave. Shoots and flashes of radiance sprang upward from th

nds. No, it was Father-like-and that was what the Boy had learned from his mother-that God who made and ruled all things was his Father. It was the name she had taught him to use in his prayers. Not in the great prayers he learned from the book-the name there was Adonai, the Lord, the Almighty. But

d not understand all the mystery of it; she did not see how it was going to be brought to pass. He was a child of poverty and lowliness; not rich, nor learned, nor powerful. But with God all things were possible. The choosing and calling of the eternal Father were more than everything else. It was fixed in her heart that somehow her Boy was sent to do a great work for Israel. He was the

on and misery of the great city, had sunken all the more deeply into the Boy's mind. Excitement does not blur the impressions of youth;

and burning out their own hearts! To cleanse the Temple from the things that filled it with confusion and pain, and drive away the brawling buyers and sellers who were spoiling his Father's great house! To go among those poor and wretched and sorrowful folks who swarmed in Jerusalem and teach them that God was their Father too, and tha

ace and long hair and beard looking at him mysteriously. The man was dressed in white, with a leathern girdle rou

erently bowing at the stranger's feet. But th

The man's eyes troubled him with thei

aps you are a master of the Pharisees or a scribe? But no-there ar

th those who have never defiled themselves with the eating of meat, nor with marriage, nor with wine; but we have all things in common, and we are baptized in pure water every day for the purifyi

-for instance, about the sacrifices and about the nearness of the kingdo

is to serve Israel and to help the people. Where do yo

as a sacrifice to God. We all work together, and none of us has anything that he calls his own. We do not go up to the Temple nor enter the synagogues. We have forsaken the uncleanness of the world and all the impure ways of men. Our only

self-either in feasting and uncleanness as the heathen do, or in fasting and purifying yourself as you do? How can you serve the kingdom if you turn away from the people? They do not see you or hear you. Y

aid Enoch the Es

as yours. He that made us and made all tha

"dust and ashes! It will all perish, and t

ieved at his rude parting, wondered a little over the meaning of hi

each of the parents had supposed that the Boy was with the other, or with some of the friends and neighbors, or perhaps running along the hillside above