The Prince of the House of David

by J. H. Ingraham

This cut is designed after the model prepared by the student and traveler, Sir James Ferguson.

How can I write to you, my dear father, that which is now rushing to my pen, after such an expression of your sentiments as you have made in this extract from your letter? But I know you are wise, and will not evade truth, in whatever form it may offer itself to you, and I, therefore, with confidence in your justice and wisdom, will faithfully make known to you the events relating to the prophet which have transpired.

You will remember how that John, Mary's cousin, stated that many priests and others were offended at the plain preaching of the prophet whom they went out into the wilderness to see. When they returned to Jerusalem, and made known to the other members of the House of the Priests what had been spoken against them, by the application to them of the words of Esaias and Jeremias, and other prophets, there arose at once a great outcry against him. At length Annas, who is High Priest with Caiaphas, sent two of the most learned men of the Temple, Levites of weight of character, to invite the prophet to Jerusalem; for Annas is a wise man, and not easily carried away by popular feeling; and, as Rabbi Amos hath told me, he is disposed to look upon the preaching of this John with a serious and reverential eye. The messengers returned after the fifth day, and made their report openly in the Court of the Temple, where the High Priests sat to receive them. At length, the assembly being convened, the two learned and venerable Levites both rose up, and declared that they had delivered the message to John, the son of Zacharias, the prophet of Jordan, and that his answer was given with the reverence due to the station of the High Priest who had sent to him.

"'Go and say to the noble High Priest,' said he, 'that I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, as it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, who, foreseeing my day, saith, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." He who would hear my testimony to him who is to come after me, let him seek me in the wilderness, whence only I am commanded to lift up my voice till Shiloh come.'"

When the priests heard this answer they were greatly enraged, and many fiercely cried one thing and many another; some that he should be sought out and stoned to death for defying the High Priest; others, that he should be accused to the Procurator, Pontius Pilate, Governor of Judea, as a seditious and dangerous person, and fermenter of insurrections. Caiaphas was of the latter opinion. But the milder Annas viewed the whole matter in a different light, and said:

"Men and brethren, let nothing be done hastily. If this man be a false prophet, he will soon perish, and we shall hear no more of him. If, peradventure, as it would appear, he is sent from God, let us not make haste to do him a mischief, lest, haply, we be found contending against the Lord of Hosts."

This moderation found favor with but few, and of these few, Rabbi Amos was one. But if the priests who thronged the outer court, in presence of the High Priest, were deeply moved at the report of the prophet's answer, their excitement became well-nigh uncontrollable when both Melchi and Heli, their messengers, rose up, waving their hands for silence, and declared that, after having listened to the prophet to whom they had been sent, they were convinced of the truth of his words, and of his divine commission, and had been baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins!

Only the sanctity of the Temple prevented the five hundred priests rushing upon them and smiting them when they heard this. They were at once placed under arrest by order of the High Priest, Caiaphas, for acting in a manner unbecoming a priest of the Most High God. The people who had heard John preach, however, were only prevented from rescuing the two priests by the presence of a guard of Roman soldiers, for which Caiaphas promptly sent.

From this account, my dear father, you can form some idea of the excitement which the preaching of this new prophet is producing among all classes.