Walks And Homes of Jesus

a swelling chorus of voices that fills the whole vault of heaven. The growing light reveals a person of calm and thoughtful aspect, walking alone up the sandy shore. It is Jesus himself. He has risen up a great while before the day, and gone down to the lake-side to have a quiet hour of meditation and prayer. The houses and the mode of lodging at night among the people with whom he lived, did not afford opportunity for retirement, and he must needs anticipate the day, and go out into desert places, if he would be alone with his Father. And hence we find him at this early hour, walking upon the sandy beach of the sea of Galilee. The fishermen are beginning to gather in from their night's toil on the lake, and the busy multitudes are astir in the town. In Palestine everybody rises up, not indeed a great while before the day, but early in the morning. The morning is given to toil, the noon to rest, theevening to conversation, the night to sleep. And now in Capernaum, travelers are starting on their journey, laborers are going out to work in the fields and vineyards, merchantmen are pursuing their trade, women are bringing water from fountains, shepherds are leading forth their flocks on the hills, and fishermen are gathering upon the shore. Jesus is no longer alone. The toilers upon the sea signal to each other, that the Prophet of Nazareth may be seen on the shore, and laboring oars are pulling in boats from every direction. The multitudes, who h... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.