be a man about thirty years of age he was publicly
baptized by John the Baptist in the river Jordan, "and, lo, the
heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending
like a dove upon him: and, lo, a voice from heaven saying, This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Jesus lived a life of sinless
purity, going about doing good, teaching the people the way of
everlasting life; healing the sick; raising the dead to life; giving
sight to the blind; hearing to the deaf; cleansing the lepers, and
casting devils and evil spirits out of people who were subject to the
evil powers by which they were possessed. All these things are related
by the four evangelists. Jesus also taught the people many things by
parables, in which he set forth his great love for them; what he was
able and willing to do to save them from their sins, and what it was
necessary for them to do to be saved.

But the Jews would not accept the truth he told them. They were a very
proud and self-righteous people, and were not willing to be instructed
in things they vainly believed they understood better than Jesus did.
He called on them to repent of their sins. They denied their being
sinners. He told them he was the Son of God, and that he came down
from heaven. They would not believe this: and just because he taught
and did things contrary to the way their proud and selfish hearts
thought right, they arrested Jesus the Lord of glory, took him before
their high priest, gave him a mock trial, and had him crucified. Some
may not know just what this means. It means that Jesus was nailed to
two pieces of wood one across the other; his hands were nailed to the
crosspiece above, and his feet to the high post that was fastened by
its lower end in the ground. Thus he hung in agony till he was dead.
This was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It was done through the
envy, malice and hatred of the Jews. It shows how very wicked they
were. Some good men who had not consented to the death of Jesus took
his body down from the cross and placed it in a sepulchre or vault cut
out of solid rock. This vault had been cut out of the rock some time
before and belonged to a man of the name of Joseph. This Joseph
assisted in placing the body of Jesus in his new vault or tomb, and
then they placed a large stone at the mouth of the tomb, and the body
of Jesus was buried. As the pall of that night's darkness gently
settled on the grave of the crucified Jesus,