"What?" interrupted Mary. "Then I know him well. He is the brother of Mary and Martha, my friends at Bethany, where I passed a week last year, just before the Passover."
"The next day," continued John, "we renewed our acquaintance, and after three days departed together homeward. Upon arriving at Bethany, Lazarus learned that his friend had gone to Cana, in Galilee, on a visit with his mother, to the house of one of her kinfolk, whose daughter is soon to be married."
Having now, my dear father, communicated to you all that John related to us, you will see what grounds there are to look upon the prophet of Jordan as a man sent from God, or to believe that he is the true Elias, whom Malachi hath foretold, and who, as the most learned of the Scribes say, must first come to proclaim the approach of the Prince of Peace, the Shiloh of Israel's hopes.
The account brought by John has set Rabbi Amos to studying the Prophets, and indeed all men are looking into them with interest unknown before. May God be indeed about to bless his people, and remember his inheritance!
Your affectionate daughter,
Adina.
[LETTER VI.]
My Dear Father:
Your letter, dear father, commands me to banish this "novelty" from my mind, and continue humbly to worship Jehovah after the manner of our fathers. I trust this I shall ever do, my dear father; and did I discover in this prophet any disposition to bring in a new faith, opposed to the ancient faith of Abraham, I should tremble to entertain it for a moment. You say that this man must be "a false and base prophet," or he would not herald a master so low and despised as he professes will be the Christ he bears witness to. "The kingdom of Messias is not a kingdom of repentance and humiliation," you add, "but one of victory, of glory and dominion."