Volume 2

358
Life of Jesus Christ
was alluding to the Church. To me His teaching, though
so profound and earnest, was so clear, and yet the Jewish
Doctors, though surprised and deeply affected, failed to
understand Him. That night they met together, consulted
the Scriptures, weighed and compared various passages.
They thought that He must surely be allied to some
neighboring nation, and that He would soon return with a
powerful army and conquer Judea.
l"'he idol Baal, under a wide-spreading tree outside the
entrance of the pagan quarter, was of metal. It had a
broad head and an immense mouth. The head went up in
a point like a sugarloaf, and around it was a wreath of
leaves like a crown. The idol, short, broad, and chunky,
looked like an ox sitting upright. In one hand it held a
bunch of corn, and in the other some kind of plant,
perhaps grapes, or something similar. There were seven
openings in its body, and it sat in a kind of cauldron in
which a fire could be lighted under it. On its feasts, the
idol was clothed.
Gadara was a stronghold. The pagan quarter \vas
tolerably large and somewhat sheltered by the highest
peak of the mountain, at whose northern base were warm
baths and beautiful buildings.
On the following morning as Jesus was curing numbers
of sick outside the city, the priests approached to salute
Him. BWhy," said He addressing them, BWhy were ye so
disturbed last night over My teaching of yesterday? Why
should ye tremble before an army, since God protects the
just? Fulfill the Law and the Prophets! Why then should
ye fear?" Jesus again taught in the synagogue as on the
preceding day.
Toward noon a pagan woman timidly approached the
disciples and implored them to bring Jesus to her house
that He might cure her child. Jesus went with several of
His disciples into the pagan quarter. The woman's hushand
met Him at the gate and led Him into the house.