ut it was his custom most of
the time to abide over against the city on the Mount of Olives, and
there, too, he bestowed his healings upon the people. And there
assembled unto him of helpers one hundred and fifty, and a multitude of
the mob.

"Now, when they saw his power, how he accomplished whatsoever he would
by a magic word, and when they had made known to him their will, that he
should enter into the city, cut down the Roman troops, and Pilate and
rule over us, he disdained us not. And having all flocked into
Jerusalem, they raised an uproar against Pilate, uttering blasphemies
alike against God and against Caesar.

"And when knowledge of it came to the Jewish leaders, they assembled
together, with the high priests and spake, 'We are powerless and too
weak to withstand the Romans. But seeing that the 'bow is bent,' we will
go and impart to Pilate what we have heard, and we shall be safe, lest
he hear of it from others and we be robbed of our substance and
ourselves slaughtered, and the children of Israel dispersed.

"And they went and imparted the matter to Pilate, and he sent and had
many of the multitude slain. And he had that wonder-worker brought up,
and after instituting an inquiry concerning him, he passed this sentence
upon him, 'He is a malefactor, a rebel, a robber thirsting for the
crown.' And they took him and crucified him according to the custom of
their fathers."

Such is the history of Jesus as contrasted with the myth of Jesus in the
New Testament. This description of the actual appearance of Jesus for
the first time gives us a clue to the mental and physical
characteristics of this Prophet.

It must be borne in mind that at the time that Jesus achieved manhood,
his people and his nation were under the complete domination of Rome,
and oppressed by a race whom the Jews looked upon as cursed barbarians
and idolaters. The country was overrun with religious zealots who
stormed over the cities and villages preaching the immediate destruction
of the world and the proximity of the long-awaited coming of the
Messiah.

The fact that Jesus had to bear the hard fate of a deformed body may go
far in helping to explain this remarkable character. It is common
knowledge how frequently weak and deformed children have to suffer from
the cruelty and neglect of environment, a factor which cannot but
produce a peculiar reaction on the childish mind which has a
far-reaching effect in later life. This accounts fo