"Think you he still lives?" I asked, with anxious fears, scarcely trusting my voice above a whisper.
"Yes," answered John. "I am come to tell you he was divinely sustained through all; and after forty days he came forth from the wilderness, and suddenly presented himself on the banks of Jordan, among John's disciples. I was standing near the Baptizer, discoursing of the Christ, and marvelling when his exile to the desert would terminate, when the prophet, lifting his eyes, cried with a loud voice full of joy:
"'Behold again the Lamb of God, upon whom the Spirit of God descended! He hath come from the furnace like gold seven times tried in the fire! He it is who alone taketh away the sins of the world!'
"I turned and beheld Jesus advancing. He was pale and wore an expression of gentle, uncomplaining suffering on his benign and spiritualized countenance. I hastened to meet him, and was kneeling in joy at his feet, when he embraced me as a brother and said, 'Faithful, and full of love, wilt thou follow me?'
"'I will nevermore leave thee,' I answered.
"'Where dwellest thou, divine Master?' then asked one of John's disciples, Andrew by name, who was with me.
"'Come, my friends, and see,' he answered; and we went after him with joy unutterable.
"He entered the village of Bethabara, and, approaching the house of a widow, where he abode, went in. We followed him, and by his request took up our abode with him. Oh, how shall I be able to make known by words," added John, "the sweet expression of his discourse! In one day in his presence I grew wise; his words filled the soul like new wine and made the heart glad. The next day he wished to go into Galilee, and so on to Nazareth, where his mother dwelleth; and as I have made up my mind to follow him as his disciple henceforth, I have only come hither to make known my purpose to Mary, and to arrange my affairs in the city. To-morrow I will leave again, to join this, my dear Lord, at Cana of Galilee."
"Canst thou divine at all his purpose?" asked Rabbi Amos of John, "whether he intends to found a school of wisdom, to preach like the prophets, to reign like David, or to conquer like his warrior namesake, Joshua?"
"I know not, save that he said he came to redeem that which was lost, and to establish a kingdom that shall have no end."