The people were very much astonished, not only at what Christ preached
to them, but because He spoke as if He had direct authority for what
He said, and this they could not understand, because they had not
forgotten that He was the Son of Joseph the Carpenter of Nazareth.

When Jesus came down from the mountain side, great multitudes followed
Him, many of whom were sick and entreated Him to heal them, and He not
only did so, but performed many yet greater miracles, such as making
the blind to see and the deaf to hear, and even restoring to life some
that were dead, always however, impressing on those about Him, that it
was not by His own power that He did these things, but by faith in the
Spirit of God His Father who moved within Him.

After having sufficiently taught His disciples by quiet talks, by
speaking to them through parables and letting them behold the miracles
He Himself performed, until they thoroughly believed in His Divine
power, Christ called the whole twelve around Him and gave them also the
power to perform miracles, to heal all manner of sickness and disease,
and then sent them forth to teach and preach in all the cities of
Israel. He laid upon them many injunctions as to their conduct as
they travelled, how they were to give offence to no one, and to teach
brotherly love and the forgiveness of injuries between man and man as
freely as God had promised to forgive them.

[Illustration: By the Sea of Galilee.]

Now and then, by twos and threes, some of the disciples came back
to Jesus to report to Him what they had done and how they had been
received, and how the fame of His Name and teaching was spreading far
and wide; and so it happened that He was seldom without one or two of