Volume 2

"Halt! Where Is He? Halt!"
237
believed in Him and were expecting His return. He spoke
to them of the late occurrence, reminded them that He had
foretold it, again bade them go to Capharnaum and, after
about half an hour, left the city in the direction of
Capharnaum.
Nothing was more laughable than the perplexity, the
alarm, the silly plight of the Pharisees when, all on a
sudden, they found Jesus no more among them. The cry
was raised: "Halt! Where is He? Halt!" The crowd came
rushing on, the Pharisees pressed back upon them, the
narrow path became a scene of confusion and uproar.
They laid hold of one another, they squabbled and
shouted, they ran to all the ravines, and poked their
torches into the caves, thinking that He had hidden
therein. They endangered neck and limb in their fruitless
search, and one upbraided the other for having allowed
Him to slip away. Quiet was not restored until long after
Jesus had left the city, and then they set guards upon and
around the whole mountain. Returning to the city, the
Pharisees said: "Now we have seen what He is-a magician.
The devil has helped Him. He will soon spring up
again in some other place, and throw all around Him into
confusion."
Jesus had ordered His disciples to leave Nazareth at
the close of the exercises in the synagogue, and await
Him at a certain place on the road to Tarichaea. Saturnin
and other disciples from Capharnaum had received the
same directions. All met Jesus at dawn and with Him
took a little rest in a retired vale. Saturnin had brought
sonle bread and honey. Jesus told them of what had
taken place at Nazareth, and bade them be calm and
obedient, in order not to interfere with His work by stirring
up too great excitement among the populace of
different cities. Then they took a retired route through
the valleys and past cities toward the effluence of the Jordan
from the Sea of Galilee. A large, fortified city lay at