Volume 2

220 Life of Jesus Christ
well; had it not been for their importunity, He might
have remained longer among them. To this Jesus replied
that the two days He had spent in Sichar were sufficient,
that the Sichemites were hot-blooded and quickly roused,
but of all that had been converted, it was likely that only
about twenty would remain steadfast. The conling great
harvest He would resign to them, the disciples.
Touched by Jesus' last instructions, the disciples spoke
compassionately of the Samaritans, recalling to their
praise the history of the man that had fallen among robbers
near Jericho. Priest and Levite had passed by, the
Samaritan alone had taken him up and poured wine and
oil into his wounds. This fact was generally known. It
had really happened in the neighborhood of Jericho.
From their compassion for the wounded man and their
rejoicing over the kind dispositions of the Samaritans,
Jesus took occasion to relate to thenl another parable of
the same kind. He began with Adam and Eve, and recounted
their Fall in simple words, as given in the Bible.
T'hey had, He said, been driven from Paradise, had
sought refuge with their children in a desert full of robbers
and murderers, and like the poor man of the parable,
lay there struck and wounded by sin. Then did the
King of Heaven and earth make use of all means in His
power to procure help for poor humanity. He had given
them His Law, had sent them chosen priests and
Prophets with all that was necessary to cure their ills. But
suffering humanity had been helped by none of these
aids, it had even at times rejected them with contempt. At
last the King sent His own Son in the guise of a poor
man, to help the fallen race. And then Jesus described
His own poverty, no shoes, no covering for the head, no
girdle, etc., and yet He pours oil and wine into the poor
traveller's wounds in order to heal them. But they who
with full power had been sent to cure the wounds of the
sufferer, had not had pity on him; they had seized the