My Dear Father:

I have received with joy your letter, in which you say you shall leave Egypt with the next Passover caravan, in order to visit Jerusalem. My happiness is augmented to know that you will be here while Jesus is in the city; for it is said, and John, Mary's husband, asserts, that he will certainly be at the Passover.

Last week Eli, the paralytic, whom you knew, a scribe of the Levites, whose hand has been withered nine years, so that he had been dependent on the alms of the worshipers in the Temple for his bread, hearing of the power of Jesus, sought him at the house of Uncle Amos, where he was abiding.

Jesus was reclining with our family at the evening meal, at the close of the day on which the uproar had taken place in the Temple, when Eli came and stood within the door. Humble and doubting, his knees trembled, and he timidly and wistfully looked towards Jesus, but did not speak. I knew at once what the afflicted man came for, and approached him, saying, "Fear not, Eli; ask him, and he will make thee whole!"

Jesus did not see the poor man, his face being turned towards Rabbi Amos; but leaving this conversation, he said in a gentle voice, without turning round:

"Come to me, Eli, and ask what is in thy heart. And fear not; for if thou believest, thou shalt receive all thy wish."

At this Eli ran forward, and casting himself at Jesus' feet, kissed them and said, "Rabboni, I am a poor, sinful man; I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of the Blessed!"

"Dost thou believe, Eli, that I have power to make thee whole?" asked Jesus, looking steadily upon him.

"I believe, my Lord," answered Eli, bowing his face to the ground.

"Thy sins, then, be forgiven thee. Rise and go to thy house; and sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee."

"This man! forgiveth he sins also?" cried a venerable priest, Manasses, who was at the table. "He is a blasphemer! for God alone forgiveth sins. Will he call himself God?" And he rose quickly up and rent his robe, and spat upon the floor in detestation.

"Manasses," said Jesus mildly, "tell me whether it is an easier thing to do—to say unto this man kneeling here, 'Thy sins be forgiven thee?' or to say, 'Stretch forth thine hand whole as the other'?"

"It would be more difficult to do the latter," answered Manasses, surprised at the question. "God alone, who made him, can do that."

Jesus turned to the paralytic. "I say unto thee, Eli, stretch forth thy hand whole!"

The man, looking upon Jesus' face, and seeming to derive confidence from its expression of power, made a convulsive movement with his arm, which was bared to the shoulder, exhibiting all its hideous deformity, and stretched it forth at full length. Immediately the arm was rounded with flesh and muscles; the pulse filled and leaped with the warm life-blood, and it became whole as the other. The change was so instantaneous that it was done before we could see how it was done. The amazed and wonderingly delighted Eli bent his elbow, and expanded and contracted the fingers, felt the flesh and pressed it with his other hand, before he could realize he was healed. Then, casting himself at the feet of the Prophet, he cried:

"Thou art not a man, but Gabriel, the angel of God!"

"Thou art now healed, Eli," said Jesus impressively. "Worship God, and go and sin no more."

Who, dear father, but Messias could do this miracle? My mind is overwhelmed—I am filled with astonishment and awe, when I reflect upon the might, power and majesty of Jesus, and I fear to ask myself. Who more than man is he? Is he verily the awful and terrible Jehovah of Sinai, visible in the human form? Oh, wondrous and incomprehensible mystery! I dare not trust my thoughts to penetrate the mystery in which he walks among us in the veiled Godhead of his power. His beloved disciple, John, said that Jesus has told him the day is not far off when this veil will be removed, and when we shall then know him, who he is, and wherefore he has come into the world, and the infinite results to men of his mission.

Your devoted daughter,

Adina.