_John._ Welcome to our circle! and doubly so now; for we would hear of you concerning this Jesus, who we hoped was to be our deliverer from bondage.
_Salome._ Right glad am I to be here, and more so to speak of him; for he hath come indeed to deliver us from bondage,--a worse, however, than _Roman_ bondage.
_John._ Are we to have a harder taskmaster than the Romans, before we are delivered?
_Salome._ No harder master than we now have. The Roman is not our only or worst bondage.
_Rebecca._ What talk you of so earnestly?
_Salome._ Jesus of Nazareth.
_Rebecca._ He has come, it is said, to set up a new kingdom.
_Salome._ Rather to enlarge the kingdom already flourishing in heaven.
_Rebecca._ Call it what you may, he is slow in gathering his armies.
_Salome._ He needs no army for his conquests, but an army of loving hearts and pure spirits.
_Rebecca._ Then the nation"s hope is again blasted, and we are to remain yet longer subjects of a foreign king.
_Salome._ Not so. This is the true Messiah: he who joins his kingdom shall be free indeed.
_Rebecca._ But what freedom can there be greater than from Roman bondage?
_Eudora._ Unless it be a deliverance, such as mine, from idolatry and superst.i.tion. Methinks there is no liberty to be compared with that; and, having that, slavery loses its power.
_Jezebel._ Or deliverance, such as mine, from an unholy temper.
Surely, Eudora, mine is the greater deliverance; for what is truth without goodness? You were delivered from _error_; I from _sin._ Oh!
since I have been from place to place with the Son of G.o.d, and listened to his gracious words, I have forgotten to be angry; and, I trust, my growing love for his Father and mine will cleanse me from all sin!
_Mary._ I, too, have felt his power, and am seeking to join his kingdom. I first took him for a second David, who should glorify his people; then, when no army gathered around him, for a prophet sent to reform the nation. But now I believe him to be greater than either,--even the Son of G.o.d, and begin to think that he purposes to bless, not Jews alone, but Gentiles; not Palestine, but the world.
_Rebecca._ Why should we think him greater than the prophets? why, the Son of Jehovah? Are the reports about his working miracles to be received as true?
_Salome._ Certainly; for I have witnessed them. I have, at his mere word or touch, _seen_ the leper cleansed; the blind receive sight; the lame walk; and, that last wonderful work, Lazarus of Bethany raised from the dead.
_Rebecca._ And what think you of all this?
_Salome._ Just what one of our rulers declared to him the other night, "No man can do these miracles and not come from G.o.d, and have G.o.d with him." When the Pharisees or the Scribes tell me I am immortal, I question; but when he, thus aided by Jehovah, a.s.serts the truth, it is enough.
_Rebecca (to Mary)._ And did this move you also?
_Mary._ How could I doubt any doctrine of his, after witnessing these works?
_Jezebel._ But this is not all. He moved our hearts to love, as well as our minds to believe. With all my ill temper in the past, I have ever taken an interest in children. Judge ye, then, of the effect produced upon me, the first time I saw him, by this circ.u.mstance. I was walking along, filled with my usual impatience, when I suddenly saw Jesus at a distance, surrounded by a crowd, many of whom were Scribes and Pharisees. He had pleased the mult.i.tude, and excited even the admiration of his enemies; when, as I came nigh, I saw several persons endeavoring to get nearer to him with their children. They were rebuked even by his disciples; but Jesus, seeing the act, asked for the children, took them in his arms, and blessed them. From that moment have I loved and followed him.
_Mary._ Then came his kind, yet firm rebuke of sin; his description of those who were prepared to join his kingdom; his promise to receive the worst who would become like himself; his a.s.surance that all who continued faithful to the end of this life should in the next be joined to his Father"s family; and, above all, the representation of Jehovah as our Father, who would give us eternal joy. Oh! what change have his glorious words wrought in us!
_Rebecca._ Why do you say "changed _us_"? _Jezebel_ needed to be changed, but not _you._
_Mary._ Such change as he demanded I needed. Oh! how much! "Tis true, in _form_ I have served the G.o.d of my fathers. I have endeavored to keep unbroken the law; but that was not sufficient. To be like him, the _heart_ must burn with that love to his Father, that your delight will be even to be crucified in his service.
_Salome._ Yes; as Mary says, he demands that love which not only pours itself forth to friends, but to strangers, and with diligence seeks the happiness even of our bitterest foes.
_Zachariah._ O that I might have such a spirit, and be one of such a society!
_Mary._ And so you may.
_John._ And I!
_Rebecca._ And I!
_Salome._ Yes; all, _all_ who are weary of sin, and heavy laden with cares,--all may come, and none will be cast forth.
_John._ This is freedom indeed.
_Rachel._ And greatness indeed.
_Rebecca._ Such a people must be the chosen of the Lord.
_Eudora._ No longer Jew and Gentile, but one in Jesus.
_Salome._ Is not this a Saviour for Israel? Oh! my heart burns within me for joy; for all people shall partake of this salvation.
_Rachel._ Glory to G.o.d in the highest; on earth peace and good-will to men!
_Mary._ The angel"s song; and why should not we in a song praise G.o.d that he hath visited and redeemed his people?
_Rebecca._ And may G.o.d make us true to this Saviour to the last!
Next came an appropriate hymn; after which the pastor reviewed and explained the meaning of the different exercises of the evening, and what they were intended to teach about the origin and truth and blessedness of Christianity. A prayer was offered, and the services closed with that n.o.ble hymn, beginning "All hail the power of Jesus"
name," sung to that n.o.ble old tune, "Coronation."
I thought the Dialogues would please you, and asked leave to print them here.
If there is any thing in the Dialogues, or in any of the pieces in this little book, you cannot understand, you must ask for an explanation from your parents or teachers, who will be glad to answer your questions. And now, if these "GEMS" give you as much pleasure as the "Christmas Evening at the Pitts-street Chapel" gave those who were present, I think, though "gathered in haste," you will say they are worth keeping, and looking at often.