This unanswerable argument, of course, carried with it the convictions of the masses of the people. The Pharisees were exasperated. Jesus, instead of assuming an air of triumph, or even feeling it, in his inmost soul was saddened by the malignant spirit displayed by his adversaries. “Being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand; and he stretched it out, and his hand was restored whole as the other.” The Pharisees were so enraged in being thus baffled, that they went out and entered into a conspiracy with the partisans of the infamous Herod to put him to death. Jesus, who “knew their thoughts,” quietly withdrew, and, leaving Judæa, returned to Galilee. As he travelled invariably on foot, it was a journey, through the whole breadth of Samaria, of several days. It is remarkable that no record of this journey is given us, though Jesus was unquestionably healing the sick and preaching the gospel all the way. We are simply informed by Mark,―― “A great multitude from Galilee followed him, and from Judæa, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumæa, and from beyond Jordan; and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they had heard what great things he did, came unto him.” When they reached the shores of the Sea of Galilee, the throng became so great, that Jesus, to avoid the pressure of the crowd, entered “a small ship,” or boat, and pushed out a little from the shore; “for he had healed many, insomuch that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had plagues. And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God!” From the tumult of these exciting and exhausting scenes, Jesus escaped to the solitude of a mountain near by, where, alone, he “continued all night in prayer to God.”[10] In the morning he called his disciples to him, and, after these long hours of prayer, “of them he chose twelve, whom he named apostles. And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out devils. Now, the names of these twelve apostles are these: Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphæus, and Lebbæus, whose surname was Thaddæus; Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.”[11] Accompanied by these twelve as a select and sacred band of missionaries, and followed by the remaining band of the disciples, Jesus descended from the mountain into one of the plains which fringed the shores of the Galilean lake. Immediately he was surrounded with “a great multitude of people which came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases, and they that were vexed with unclean spirits; and they were healed. And the whole multitude sought to touch him; for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.”