Itinerant Ministry of Jesus, from the Sacred Text. - Prayer. - Practice and Forms of Prayer. Miracles, Spiritual and Material. - Philanthropy. — Philanthropists.- - Idea of the Kingdom of God. - Divine and Human Nature. Idea of the Gospel. Theory of Healing. — Lunacy. — Subject.— Remarks.

MR. ALCOTT. When we last talked about Jesus, he had just come out of the synagogue of Galilee, where he had cast out an unclean spirit; and had gone into Peter's house, and healed his wife's mother. We shall now read the

MINISTRY OF JESUS.

MARK i. 35-38. LUKE iv. 42, 43. MATT. iv. 23-25.

Mark i. 35.

Mark i. 36.

Mark i. 37.

Mark i. 38.

Luke iv. 42.

Vulgar Æra, 27. Julian Period, 4740.

Sentiment of
Humanity.

Galilee.

And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.

And Simon, and they that were with him, followed after him.

And when they had found him, they said unto him, All men seek for thee.

And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth.

And the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from them.

Luke iv. 43.

Matt. iv. 23.

Matt. iv. 24.

Matt iv. 25.

Vulgar Æra, 27. Julian Period, 4740

Galilee.

And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also; for therefore am I sent.

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease among the people.

And his fame went throughout all Syria, and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy ; and he healed them.

And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judæa, and from beyond Jordan.

He did so, and asked the usual question.

Prayer.

SUSAN. They must have felt a great deal of interest in him to have gone so far. HALES. They followed Jesus to hear him preach, and be made better.

WILLIAM C. They were interested by seeing him cure people, both from curiosity and to be made better. LEMUEL. I was interested in his going into a solitary place to think and pray.

SEVERAL. So was I.

MR. ALCOTT. Why do we wish to be alone when we pray?

LEMUEL. Because we do not wish every body to be talking about it, as if we were proud of it.

MR. ALCOTT. Why do we have that feeling?
LEMUEL. I don't know.

AUGUSTINE. Jesus went away alone to pray, because he was so thronged in the city, that he had no place for it. ANDREW. He wanted to see Nature.

MR. ALCOTT. Has Nature any influence upon prayer?

ANDREW. Yes; the works of God are more spiritual than brick houses.

MR. ALCOTT. Do the works of God ever make you want to pray?

ANDREW. Sometimes; for there is life in all the works of Nature.

Practice and

MR. ALCOTT.

And the morning seems an Form of Prayer. appropriate hour. Did you ever know of any person, who went out in the morning and saw the sun rise, and was led to adore the Sunmaker, and to pray that light might come into his mind, over his thoughts, just as the sun's light was spreading over things, fresh with the dews of night? I knew of a boy once, who lived in a small farin house, under the brow of a hill covered with trees, and beautiful retired coves and solitudes; and he used to rise early in the morning, and go out and choose one of these beautiful places, when the dew was on the ground and the trees, and the birds were singing, and the sun was glittering; and there he would say his prayers; and he found it was easy to be good and kind all day, when he practised this. I knew this boy very intimately. Have you any thing about your devotional habits of this kind? do you have any aid from Nature? It is a misfortune to live in a city on this account, perhaps. You cannot have Nature's aids to devotion. But you may tell me, if you please, any thing about your habits of devotion, at morning and evening.

AUGUSTINE. I do not have prayers in the morning, but at night.

SEVERAL. So it is with me.

MR. ALCOTT. Are there any who have no prayers, morning or evening?

(Not one.)

Now, those who have a form of prayer, and always say some particular one, may hold up hands.

(Alfred and others did.)

Now, those who are in the habit of making their own

prayers.

JOSIAH. I say the Lord's Prayer always, but generally add something of my own.

(Several held up hands.)

FRANKLIN. I do not say any prayer in words, but in my mind.

MR. ALCOTT. In what place do you generally pray? FRANKLIN. I pray going along to school in the morning, when I am walking.

JOSIAH. I pray in my chamber, at my bed-side.

(Almost all held up hands.)

MR. ALCOTT. Who say their prayers to their mothers?

(Almost all the little boys.)

I hope none say words which they do not entirely understand.

EMMA. I pray in my chamber at morning and evening; and besides my father has a prayer in the parlor before breakfast.

MR. ALCOTT. You have family prayer.

(Several held up hands.)

Do you ever pray in this school room? Perhaps I shall have prayers in words here some time. When I feel sure that you are all in earnest about prayer, I shall. But I would not have it a form merely.

FRANKLIN. Jesus went away alone to pray, because he did not like to appear like the Pharisees.

Miracles
Spiritual and
Material.

HELEN.* I was interested in the words, "All men seek for thee." I thought they sought him because they wanted to be cured.

* A new scholar.

LUCIA. Because they wanted to hear him talk and be made better.

FRANKLIN. They had faith in him, that he could cure them and their friends of bodily and spiritual disease. JOHN D. Because he was so good they believed he would cure them.

LEMUEL. They wanted to hear him preach and see him do miracles.

MR. ALCOTT. Which is greater, an eye-miracle or a conscience-miracle?

LEMUEL. A conscience-miracle.

MR. ALCOTT. Tell me a miracle of each kind.

LEMUEL. The crucifixion was a conscience-miracle. An eye-miracle was to turn water into wine, or raise Lazarus.

EMMA. Casting out an unclean spirit was a conscience-miracle.

FRANKLIN. I don't think any eye-miracles were ever done by Jesus.

MR. ALCOTT. You mean there were none entirely of the eye, as jugglers' tricks are.

(He made some remarks here that I could not catch in season to record.)

Philanthropy.

LEMUEL. I was interested in his going into the next towns; he did not mean to be partial.

MR. ALCOTT. What is that feeling named, which leads us to spread ourselves out to do good?

LEMUEL. Charity.

ANDREW. Kindness.

MR. ALCOTT. What does kindness mean? You know kind means nature; you are of the same kind as Lemuel; and what kind is that?

ANDREW. Human kind.

MR. ALCOTT. And to act kindly would be to act humanly kindness is humanity.