The Childhood of Jesus
The Gospel of James
Biographical Gospel of the Lord
- Chapter 183 -
The Mystery Of The Gale
ONLY WHEN CYRENIUS, in his great surprise, had looked in all directions and convinced himself of the correctness of all this, did he begin to speak more coherently and said to Joseph in a bewildered tone of voice,
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'Yes, my truly noble friend and brother, it shall promptly be done as you wish!
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But two things must first be made right.
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In the first place my great rescuer must be rewarded - and that in a manner worthy of an emperor -
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and secondly I must find out from you beforehand just how it was actually possible that I was driven off course to this place where I least expected to be.
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'See, already beginning at Tyre, I constantly had a strong east wind which gradually changed into a regular gale!
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I had already been driven about by this adverse wind for ten whole days on the high sea - God knows to where -
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and when with the help of this great rescuer I finally had land beneath my feet again by last midnight I thought that I was in Spain, and close to the pillars of Hercules at that.
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And now I am - instead of supposedly in Spain - exactly there, where I actually wanted to go!
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Oh brother, oh friend, give me only a little enlightenment in this matter.'
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And Joseph answered, 'Friend, first have your ship inspected by your crew to see if everything is in order -
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then, with the grace of the Lord, I will tell you something about your sea voyage.'
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Here Cyrenius responded to the wise Joseph, 'Oh friend, you seem very strange to me today.
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Are you testing me? Or what is it that you have in mind with me?
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Today is after all the Sabbath of your and my Lord, upon which you placed great importance wherever you were in the past.
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And truly, I do not understand you and also do not know why you want to force a task upon me today.
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See, This One here who rests on my arms holy, most holy, has surely put my ship in order long ago because I love Him above all!
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What then will I accomplish by being anxious? I was in great danger and worried much -
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but all my worry was vain - for only He and He alone rescued me!
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Hence I shall not worry any more about anything in the future and shall certainly leave the ship alone today! Is it not right this way?'
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And the little Child kissed Cyrenius and said, 'Joseph has only tested you in My name because you wanted to reward Jonathan before you went to the villa with him.
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Now I say to you that you shall not reward Jonathan at all for I Am his reward Myself!
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So just bestir yourself and go with Joseph, and everything will be made clear to you at home.' And Cyrenius immediately did what the little Child advised him to do, and all went to the villa.