res of
the table by narrating parables and legends, by means of which He
brought deep truths home to the people. Since He left the little house
at Nazareth, He possessed no worldly goods. What He needed in His
wanderings for Himself and His followers, He asked of those who had
possessions. His manner was often rough and spiced with bitter irony,
even where He proved Himself helpful and sympathetic. Towards His
disciples, whom He loved deeply--expecially young John--He always
showed Himself absorbed in His mission to make strong, courageous,
God-fearing men out of weak creatures. He was so definite about what
He liked and what He disliked, that even the blindest could see it. He
suffered no compromise between good and evil. He specially disliked
ambiguous speakers, hypocrites, and sneaks; He preferred to have to do
with avowed sinners.

One of His fundamental traits was to be yielding in disposition, but
unflinching in His teaching. He avoided all personal dislikes,
hatreds, all that might poison the heart. His soul was trust and
kindness. So high did He rank kindness, and so heavily did he condemn
selfishness, that one of His disciples said, to sin from kindness
brought a man nearer to God than to do good through selfishness. The
hostility and reverses He met with He turned into a source of
happiness. Happiness! Did not that word come into the world with
Jesus?

"He is always talking of being happy," someone once said to John.
"What do you understand by being happy?"

John replied; "When you feel quite contented inwardly, so that no
worldly desire or bitterness disturbs your peace, when all within you
is love and trust, as though you were at rest in the eternity of God
and nothing can trouble you any more, that is, as I take it, what He
means by being happy. But it cannot be put into words, only he who
feels it understands."

And Jesus possessed, too, the high sense of communion with God, which
he transmitted to all who followed Him. But I should like to add that
where Jesus was most divine, there He was most human. In thrusting
from Him all worldly desire, all worldly property, and worldly care, He
freed Himself from the burden which renders most men unhappy. In
communion with God He was at once a simple child, and a wise man of the
world. No anxiety existed about accidents, perils, loss and ruin.
Everything happened according to His will, because it was the will of
God, and He enjoyed life with