fered greatly from the
excursions of the Roman foragers, at the time of the siege of
Gamala. Many of the villages had been rebuilt, since that time; but
there was still great distress, heightened by the number of
fugitives from the other side of Jordan.

The aid which John gave enabled most of the fugitives in his
district to return to their distant villages, and to rebuild their
homes, where there was now little fear of their being again
disturbed. The distress in his own district was also relieved. In
some cases money was given, in others lent, to enable the
cultivators to till their fields, to replant vineyards, and to
purchase flocks so that, in the course of a year, the whole
district was restored to its normal appearance, and the signs of
the destructive war were almost entirely effaced.

Then John was able to settle down in his quiet home. In the morning
he worked with his father. In the afternoon he listened to the
complaints, or petitions, of those who came before him; settling
disputes between neighbours, hearing the stories of those who
considered that they were too hardly pressed upon by the tax
collector, and doing justice to those who were wronged.

Soon after he married, mindful of the doctrines he had heard during
his visit among the community of Nazarites by the Dead Sea, John
made inquiries and found that many of the sect, who had left the
land when the troubles with the Romans commenced, had now returned;
and were preaching their doctrines more openly than before, now
that those of the ancient religion could no longer persecute them.
At Tiberias a considerable community of the sect soon established
themselves; and John, going over, persuaded one of their teachers
to take up his abode with him, for a time, and to expound their
doctrines to him and his family. He was astonished at the spirit of
love, charity, and goodwill which animated the teaching of the
Christians--still more at the divine spirit that breathed in the
utterances and animated the life of their Master.

The central idea, that God was the God of the whole world--and not,
as the Jews had hitherto supposed, a special Deity of their
own--struck John particularly, and explained many things which had,
hitherto, been difficult for him to understand. It would have been
galling to admit as much, in the days of Jewish pride and
stubbornness; but their spirit was broken, now; and John could
understand that although, as long as the nation had