Such were some of the charming and exciting scenes with which John was familiar in his early life, and which would interest his refined and observing nature, of which we know in his manhood.  They must have had an important influence in the formation of his character.

We have spoken of five Bethsaidan boys—­Andrew and Peter, James and John—­and a friend.  His name was Philip.  We know but little of him.  What we do know is from John.  He tells us that “Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.”  Perhaps he was their special friend, and so became one of the company of five, as he afterward became one of the more glorious company of twelve.  We shall find three of these five in a still closer companionship.  They are Peter, James and John.  One of these shall have the most glorious honor of all.  It is John.

CHAPTER III

John’s Royal Kindred

It seems almost certain that Salome and Mary the mother of Jesus, were sisters.  Royal blood was in their veins.  They were descendants of David.  The record of their ancestry had been carefully preserved for God’s own plans, especially concerning Mary, of which plans neither of the sisters knew until revealed to her by an angel from God.  We think of them as faithful to Him, and ready for any service to which He might call them, in the fisherman’s home of Salome, or the carpenter’s home of Mary.  Mary’s character has been summed up in the words, “pure, gentle and gracious.”  Salome must have had something of the same nature, which we find again in her sons.

If Salome and Mary were sisters, our interest in James and John deepens, as we think of them as cousins of Jesus.  This family connection may have had something to do with their years of close intimacy; but we shall find better reason for it than in this kinship.  There was another relation closer and holier.

We wonder whether Jesus ever visited Bethsaida, and played with His cousins on the seashore, and gathered shells, and dug in the sand, and sailed on Gennesaret, and helped with His little hands to drag the net, and was disappointed because there were no fish, or bounded with glee because of the multitude of them.

We wonder whether James and John visited Jesus in Nazareth, nestled among the hills of Galilee.  Did they go to the village well, the same where children go to-day to draw water?  Did James and John see how Jesus treated His little mates, and how they treated Him—­the best boy in Nazareth?  Did the cousins talk together of what their mothers had taught them from the Scriptures, especially of The Great One whom those mothers were expecting to appear as the Messiah?  Did they go together to the synagogue, and hear the Rabbi read the prophecies which some day Jesus, in the same synagogue, would say were about Himself?