fit to be the teachers of the world? They know the ways of fish, and something about the weather, and how to manage their craft—and that is about all. The fishermen of Galilee were much the same as those you have seen, rough, simple, ignorant. And out of them our Lord made the Princes of His Church. He would not have it said that the world was converted by the learning of the teachers He sent to preach the Gospel, but He would force men to own that if such preachers could convince the wise and the great of the truth of the religion which they taught, it must be because God was with them, and therefore this religion must be divine.
Our Lord was so much at Capharnaum and so many of His miracles were worked there, that it came to be called "His own city." It was a busy place. Roman soldiers with their centurion passed to and fro, for it was a garrison town. Pharisees and Doctors of the Law, courtiers of Herod, custom-house officers, fishermen, thronged its streets; and in its market place and bazaars the traders of many nations were found.
Let us follow our Blessed Lord through one of His days in Capharnaum, a Sabbath day, of which three out of the four Evangelists have left us an account.
At the hour of prayer He was in the synagogue, a handsome structure built for the Jews by the Roman centurion of the place, who, though a Gentile, was kind to the conquered people, and reverenced their God. Our Lord, according to His custom, was speaking to the congregation, when, suddenly, a shriek was heard, so piercing, so unearthly, that it was hard to believe it was the cry of a human being. Yet this it was, though not of a human being only.
