II. 1. (a) Jesus was walking along by the Sea of Galilee when he saw two fishermen, whose names were Andrew and Simon Peter, and they were mending their nets. He turned to them, wishing them to be his disciples and said “Come ye after me.” So they left their nets and followed Him.[57]

(b) Jesus was in Peter’s house at Capernaum and as he healed the people there was a great crowd round about and a man which had palsy could not get in. So his four friends which were carrying him lifted him up on to the roof, and then opened the trap door, and let him down unto Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith He said “Is it easier to say forgive thee thy sins,” or to say “Arise and take up thy bed.” Then He turned to the man and said “Arise, take up thy bed and go to thy house.” So the man was healed.[57a]

(c) After Jesus had healed the man with the withered hand the Pharisees took counsel with the Herodians how they could destroy Him, but Jesus took a boat to sail across the Sea of Galilee to the other shore. As He was going, He fell asleep in the boat. When they got about half-way across a great storm came on, so that the boat was almost full of water and His disciples were frightened, and woke Him up and said “Master, save us, for otherwise we shall drown.” Then Jesus woke and said, “Have ye so little faith, that ye are frightened at this storm.” So He got up, and said to the winds and the storm “Peace, be still” and the storm ceased, and there was a great calm. Then the disciples marvelled and said to themselves “Who is this, that even the winds and the waves obey.”[57a]

II. 2. A sower went forth to sow, and as he sowed some of the seeds fell by the way side and the fowls of the air came along, and ate them up; others fell upon rocky places, where there was no depth of earth, and they sprang up quickly but when the sun came out it scorched them up—others fell among thorns and prickles, so that when they came up, they were choked and could not live, and others fell among good soil and produced fruit, some thirty fold, some sixty, and some a hundred.[58]

French History

1. Martin, who was afterwards made saint, came from Germany. When he was only about ten years old he ran away from home to become a monk, but he was taken by the Romans to be made a soldier. One day while he was a soldier he was coming out of town when he saw a beggar without anything on him who was asking for alms, so he took out his purse but he found he had no money in it so taking his sword he cut his cloak in half and gave one half to the beggar. In a dream that night he saw God clothed in half a cloak and He said to the angels around Him “Martin who is not yet a Christian has clothed me with his garment.” So he took it as a sign that he should be made a Christian and so he went to the Bishop and was baptized. After he left the army, he studied some time in Italy and then came back to Gaul and founded the first Christian monastery at Tours. He went from place to place with his disciples preaching and teaching and he was one of the most famous early Christian teachers.

2. Clovis was one of the great Merovingian kings. When he was only about sixteen years old, he was made king of the Franks. After they had been plundering a church the Bishop of Rheims asked Clovis if he would send him back a silver vase which had originally belonged to that church, so Clovis sent back a message saying he would, if it fell to his share, but otherwise he could not. When all the treasure was collected, Clovis asked if the silver vase could be given to him and all agreed but one man, who said that rather than let him have it, he would break it, so he took his sword and smashed it in little pieces. This was at Soissons. Some time after, when he was reviewing his army, he saw the same man that had broken the vase, and as his sword was hanging not quite properly, he told the man to right it. As the man was doing so, he drew out his own sword, and cut the man’s head off, saying at the same time “Thus did you break the vase at Soissons.” Later on, when he was fighting a battle, he was not yet a Christian, and the fight was going against him, so he called out “If I win this battle, I will serve the Lord of my wife,” she being already a Christian, and as he did win, he was baptized by the Bishop, who had already received the pieces of the vase which had been broken. As he was being baptized the Bishop said to him “Adore what you have burnt, burn what you have adored.”[59]

3. Charles the Great, or Charlemange, as he is usually called, was one of the very greatest Emperors. His empire stretched to the mouth of the Elbe in Germany, to the Theiss in Austria, half of Italy, the whole of France and a small piece of Spain. He was called the Emperor of the West, and had been made so by the Pope. There had not been an Emperor of the West for a long time, there having been nobody great enough for the position. He was a very good king, and had schools built all over the country, and thus he made a Christian empire amidst all the wild races there. He placed Counts over the different parts to see that all was done well there, and if they could not manage anything, they were to send up to Charlemange. He had also two chief ministers whom he sent round to the different places to see that the Counts did their work rightly. He liked to live best at a place in Germany called Aachen, and it was there he died.[59a]

Geography

1. In going a tour from England through the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, I could go first to France, then to Spain and Portugal, then reach Gibraltar, and on one side be Africa, and on the other Spain. Then I would see France again and then Italy with the Island of Sicily. Then I would pass Turkey and Greece, and come to the Straits of Constantinople, and reaching the Black Sea I could visit Russia.