Volume 2

Jesus Instructs the Pagans
335
evening in the Sabbath instructions, He related from the
Law of Moses, which had previously been read. the
history of Zambri and the Madianite stabbed by Phineas.
(Num. 25:7.)
(Here Anne Catherine repeated in an admirable nlanner,
although she had never heard nor read them, a number
of the Laws of Moses as set forth in Deuteronomy
21 :26. They were those that especially corresponded to
her own position in childhood and the ideas peculiar to
the occupations connected with it; for instance, the law
forbidding one that has found a bird's nest to take the
parent birds as well as the young; that which commands
the gleanings of the harvest to be left for the poor; that
w"hich prohibits pledges to be taken from the poor, or
borrowing from them, etc. Jesus touched upon all these
points, dwelling at length upon the law that forbids
defrauding laborers of their wages, because the people of
Arga lived by labor. Sister Emmerich was rejoiced when
told that all those laws could be found in the Bible, and
she wondered at having heard them so correctly.)
The Sabbath over, Jesus went to an inn belonging to
the pagans who had sent Him, by the disciples, a most
pressing invitation to that effect. He was received with
great humility and affection. He instructed them upon the
call of the heathens, telling them that He was no\v come
to gain over those that had not been conquered by the
Israelites. They questioned Him upon the fulfillnlent of
the prophecy that the scepter should be taken away from
Juda at the time of the Messiah, and He gave them an
answer full of instruction. They knew the story of the
Three Kings. and begged for Baptism. Jesus explained
what the ceremony meant, that it was to be for them a
preparation for their sharing in the Kingdom of the
Messiah. These good pagans were travellers, and had
been a couple of weeks at Arga, awaiting the arrival of a
caravan. They numbered five families, about thirty-seven