miracle seem to him.

But to Peter Jesus said,--

"Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men." James and John He
also called, and showed them that the time had now come for them to
help Him in founding the Kingdom.

They did not wait to sell the great draught of fishes that they had
brought to land; and they did not wait to sell their fishing boats and
nets, but they forsook all and followed Jesus. They did not know that
their names would be known forever as the founders of the Christian
Church with Him who was its divine Head.

CHAPTER XV.

THE HEALING HAND OF JESUS.

The Jewish church, or synagogue at Capernaum was very beautiful. It
was of white marble, and richly carved, and was the gift of a Roman
officer to the Jews.

One Sabbath morning Jesus went in and sat among the learned Rabbis, for
He wished to speak to the people as He had near Nazareth. The people
knew and loved him, and the place was crowded to hear Him speak. He
sat there through the singing, and the prayers, and the reading.

The parchment rolls of the law and the prophets were in a case behind
Him; and there was the curtain, and the branched candlesticks. Then He
went to the Teacher's seat, and while all the people stood He sat and
taught them. People wondered, as they always did, at his words, for
they were not like the words of the Rabbis,--they were as if God
Himself were speaking through a man.

In the midst of it there was a loud cry from a man who looked like a
maniac. He had followed the people in, and the words of Jesus had
disturbed the evil spirit that was in Him,

"Let us alone," it cried, "what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of
Nazareth. Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who Thou art,--the
Holy One of God."

"Hold thy peace, and come out of Him," said Jesus, and the poor man
fell headlong on the marble floor, but in a moment he was free, for the
evil spirit had obeyed the word of Jesus, and this astonished the
people so much that they told it through all the town and the country
round about.

When He went home from the synagogue, for Peter's house was one of His
homes, He found the mother of Peter's wife very ill of fever, and they
brought Jesus to her bed. He bent over her and said some words to that
which had caused the fever, and at once it was gone.

She seemed to be quite well again, and her first wish was to do
something for this wonderful man whom Peter had been following, and she