use, for beforetimes he had, as the saying is, no
place to lay his head: an outcast from Cana, whither he went first to
his mother's house, and it is said he turned water into wine on one
occasion at a marriage feast; but that cannot be true, for if it were,
there is no reason that I can see why he should stay his hand and not
turn all water into wine. To which Joseph replied that it would be a
great misfortune, for the greater part of men would be as drunk as Noah
was when he planted a vineyard, and we know how Lot's daughters turned
their father's drunkenness to account. Moreover, Philip, if Jesus had
turned all the water into wine there would be no miracle, for a miracle
is a special act performed by someone whom God has chosen as an
instrument. It is as likely as not, Master, that you be right in what
you say, for there's no saying what is true and what is false in this
world, for what one man says another man denies, and it is not even
certain that all men see and hear alike. But, Philip, thou must remember
that though men neither hear nor see alike, yet the love of God is the
same in every man. But is it? Philip asked. For can it be denied that
some men love God in the hope that God may do something for them, while
others love God lest he may punish them. But methinks that such love as
that is more fear than love; and then there are others that can love
God--well, just because it seems to them that God is by them, just as
I'm by you at the present moment. Jesus is such an one. But there be not
many like him, and that was why his teaching found no favour either in
Cana or in Nazareth. In them parts they knew that he was the carpenter's
son, and his mother and his brothers and sisters were a hindrance to
him, for thinking him a bit queer, they came ofttimes to the synagogues
to ask him to come home with them, for they are shrewd enough to see
that such talk as his will bring him no good in the end, for priests are
strong everywhere and have the law of the land on their side, for
governors would make but poor shift to govern without them. But why
then, Philip, shouldst thou who art a cautious man, be going to Peter's
house to meet him? Well, that's the question I've been asking myself all
the morning till I came upon you. Master, sitting by the lake, and not
unlikely you were asking yourself the same question, sitting over yonder
by the lake all by yourself. He casts a spell upon me, I'm thinking, and
has, it would see