The Silver Cross; Or, The Carpenter of Nazareth

'And why?' said the other emissary, 'that he may still flatter the vices and detestable passions of the wretches he draws round him, whom he will one day make his instruments.'

'But patience,' observed the first, 'patience, Nazarene, thy hour approaches; thy still increasing audacity will soon draw down upon thee a terrible punishment!'

Whilst Genevieve listened to the two wicked men thus conversing, she saw Magdalen, after the affectionate words of Jesus, rise up radiant; the tears chased each other down her handsome face, but these tears no longer seemed bitter. She distributed to all the poor women who surrounded her, her precious stones and jewels, unfastened even to the magnificent robe she wore over her tunic of fine cloth from Sidonia, and put on the mantel of coarse brown wool of a young woman to whom she gave in exchange a rich robe embroidered with pearls of great value. She then said to Simon, that she would not again quit these humble garments, and that on the morrow all her wealth should be distributed to poor families, and to the courtezans whom misery alone prevented returning to a better life.

At these words Oliba, joining her hands in a burst of gratitude, threw herself at the feet of Magdalen, took her hands, kissed them whilst sobbing and said to her —

'Blessed be thou, Magdalen! oh, blessed be thou! Thy bounty hath saved me, me and so many of my poor companions of shame; but we repented at the voice of the son of Mary; that voice penetrated our hearts; we hoped for pardon. But, alas! the necessity of living retained us in wickedness and contempt. Blessed be thou, Magdalen, thou who renderest possible our return to good.'

'Sister, it is not I you must bless,' replied Magdalen; '‘tis Jesus of Nazareth; his words inspired me.'

And Magdalen mingled amongst the crowd to listen to the words of the young master.

Some of his disciples having said in speaking to him of Magdalen, that she had been seduced and then abandoned by a young doctor of the law, the figure of Jesus became grave, severe, and almost menacing, and he exclaimed —

'Woe to you, doctors of the law! Woe to you, hypocrites! You are like unto whitened sepulchres; the outside appears gay, but within all is bones and putridity. Thus, outwardly you appear just in the eyes of men, but inwardly you are full of iniquity and hypocrisy. Woe to you blind leaders who take great care as to what you drink, lest you should swallow a camel.'

This familiar satire made several of the auditory smile, and Banaias exclaimed —

'Oh, but you are right, my friend. How many of these swallowers of camels we know. But such is the sharpness of their conscience that they digest these camels as the ostrich digests a stone, and nothing appears of it.'

Fresh bursts of applause replied to the pleasantry of Banaias, and Jesus resumed:

'Woe to you, Pharisees! woe to you who cleanse the outside of the cup while within it is all rapine and impurity.'

'It is true,' replied several voices; 'these hypocrites clean the outside because the outside alone is seen.'

The son of Mary continued:

'Woe to you, Pharisees! who preach what you ought to do, but do it not! Woe to you who make heavy and insupportable burthens, place them on the shoulders of men, but will not touch them with your finger.'

This new comparison struck the mind of the auditors of the young master, and several voices again exclaimed:

'Yes, yes, these idle hypocrites say to the humble, "Work is holy; work, work, but we will not work. Yes, bear alone the burthen of the labor, but we rich will not touch it with the end of our finger."'

Jesus continued: —

'Woe to you who do all your actions that you might be seen of men. It is for this that you carry long bands of parchment, on which are written the words of the law, which you do not practice. Woe to you who say, "If a man swears by the temple it is nothing, but if he swears by the gold of the Temple, he is bound by his oath."'

'Because for these rich wicked ones,' said a voice, 'nothing is sound but gold. They swear by their gold as others swear by their soul or by their honor.'

'So that if a man swears by the altar it is nothing,' pursued Jesus; 'but whoever swears by the offering that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath. Woe to you, hypocrites! who pay scrupulously the tenth, but who deny that which is more important in the law, justice, mercy, and good faith. These were the things you should practice, without omitting the others.'

'By the two thumbs of Methusalem!' exclaimed Banaias, laughing, 'you appear at ease, friend. As these hypocrites have in their coffers enough to pay the tithe without inconveniencing themselves, and they pay it; but where would you have them find this money of justice, of good faith, and of mercy, which you demand from these whitened sepulchres, from these swallowers of camels of iniquity, as you will so call them?'

'Alas! the young master says true,' observed another; 'for him who has no money justice is deaf. The doctors of the law do not say to you at their court, "What good grounds have you? but, how much money will you promise me?"'

'I had confided a few savings to Jonas, a high priest,' said a poor old woman; 'he told me he had expended the money in offerings for my salvation. What could I do, a poor woman against so powerful a seigneur? resign myself and beg for bread, which I do not find every day.'

At this complaint, Jesus exclaimed with increased indignation, 'Oh! woe to you hypocrites: because, under pretence of your long prayers you rob the widow of her mite. Woe to you, serpents, race of vipers! how will you escape being condemned to the fire of hell? It is for this I will send to you prophets and sages to save you.'

'But, alas!' added the son of Mary with an accent of much sorrow, 'you will kill the former; you would crucify the latter; you would persecute them from town to town, that all the innocent blood that has been shed upon the earth may return upon you – from the blood of Abel the just to the blood of Zachariah, whom you killed between the Temple and the altar!'

'Oh! fear nothing, friend! if these swallowers of camels wish to shed your blood,' exclaimed Banaias, striking the hilt of his large rusty cutlass, 'they must first shed ours, and we await them.'

'Yes, yes,' replied the crowd, in one voice, 'fear nothing, Jesus of Nazareth, we will defend thee!'

'We will die for thee if necessary!'

'You shall be our chief!'

'Our king!'

But the son of Mary, as if he mistrusted these transports, shook his head with a sadness more and more profound; tears streamed down his cheek, and he exclaimed, in a disconsolate voice:

'Oh! Jerusalem! Jerusalem! thou who killed the prophets! thou who stone the wise men that are sent to thee! how often have I striven to assemble thy children, as a hen gathers together her little ones beneath her wings, and thou would'st not; no, thou would'st not!'

And the accent of Jesus, at first cutting, severe, or indignant, in speaking of the hypocritical pharisees, was impressed with a regret so bitter, in pronouncing these last words, that nearly all shed tears like the young man of Nazareth; presently there was a complete silence, for he was seen to lean upon the table and bury his face in his hands. Genevieve could no longer restrain her tears; she heard one of the two emissaries say to his companion, in a tone of cruel triumph: 'The Nazarene called the doctors of law and the high-priest serpents and a race of vipers! During the whole night he has blasphemed all that is most sacred amongst men; we have him.'

'Oh, you speak of the crucified, Jesus of Nazareth,' said the other; 'we will take care that you shall not be far wrong, prophet of woe!'

Simon, seeing him still leaning on the table, weeping in silence, stooped towards him and said: 'Master, the sun will soon rise; the people of the fields, who bring their fruits to the market of Jerusalem, pass by the valley of Cedron; like us, they are eager to hear your words: they await you on the road: shall we not go and meet them?'

Jesus rose; his sad and pensive features cleared up on kissing the children, who seeing him preparing to leave, extended their little hands to him. – He then fraternally shook hands with all who offered them, and leaving the tavern of the 'Wild Ass' situated near one of the gates of the town leading into the country, he directed his steps towards the valley of Cedron, which the countrymen and women traversed to repair to Jerusalem, where they brought their provisions. Such was the attraction of the words of the young man of Nazareth, that most of the persons who came to pass the night in listening to him, still followed him. Magdalen, Oliba and Banaias were amongst these individuals.

'Jane, will you also go out of the town?' said Aurelia to Chusa's wife: 'it is now daylight; let us return home; it will be imprudent to prolong our absence.'

'I shall not return yet; I will follow Jesus to the end of the world,' replied Jane with exultation, and descending from her bench, she drew from her pocket a heavy purse filled with gold, which she placed in Simon's hand, at the moment he was about to quit the tavern after Mary's son.

'The young man has emptied his purse to-night,' said Jane to Simon, 'here is something to re-fill it.'

'You, lady, again!' replied Simon with thankfulness, at the sight of Jane: 'your charity does not flag.'

'‘Tis the tenderness of your master that does not flag in succoring people, consoling the poor, the repentant, and the oppressed,' replied the wife of Chusa.

Genevieve, who had anxiously listened to every word that had fallen from the emissaries of the pharisees, heard one of the two men say to the other:

'Follow and watch the Nazarene; I will run to the Seigneurs Caiphus and Baruch to render them an account of the abominable blasphemies and impieties he has uttered to-night in company with these vagabonds. The Nazarene must not this time escape the fate that awaits him;' and the two men separated. Aurelia, who seemed to have been reflecting, said to her companion: 'Jane, I cannot express to you what I experience from the words of this young man. At one time so simple, tender and elevated, at another satirical and threatening, they penetrate my heart. They are, to my mind, like a new world that is opening; for to us, poor heathens, the word charity is new. Far from being appeased, my curiosity, my interest, increase, and whatever may happen, I will follow you; what matter, after all, if we do return to our dwellings after daybreak?'

Hearing her mistress thus speak, Genevieve was very happy, for thinking of her brother slaves of Gaul, she, too, felt a great desire to hear more of the words of the young Nazarene, the friend and liberator of captives. At the moment of quitting the tavern with her mistress and the charitable wife of the seigneur Chusa, Genevieve was the witness of a scene that proved to her how speedily the word of Jesus had borne its fruit. Magdalen, the handsome, repentant courtezan, habited in the old woollen mantle of a poor woman, exchanged for such rich attire, Magdalen, following the anxious crowd behind Jesus, struck her foot against a stone in the street, tottered, and would have fallen to the ground but for the assistance of Jane and Aurelia, who, fortunately, being close to her, hastened to support her.

'What! you, Jane, the wife of the Seigneur Chusa?' said the courtezan, reddening with confusion, thinking, no doubt, of the rich presents she had received from Chusa: 'you, Jane, you have no fear in tendering me a helping hand; I, a poor creature justly despised by all honest women?'

'Magdalen,' replied Jane with charming kindness: 'did not our young master tell you to go in peace, and that all your sins would be remitted you, because you have loved much? By what right should I be more severe than Jesus of Nazareth? Your hand, Magdalen, your hand; ‘tis a sister who asks it of you as a sign of pardon and oblivion of the past!'

Magdalen took the hand that Jane offered her, but it was to kiss it with respect, and cover it with tears of repentance.

'Ah! Jane,' said quietly to her friend Genevieve's mistress; 'the young man of Nazareth would be gratified to see you practice his precepts so generously.'