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 HEN JOSEPH RETURNED to work in the village on the following day with his four sons and with the little Jesus,
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there came a village judge and accused him, saying,
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'Listen, you carpenter! It is not seemly that you always take your little Boy along with you;
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for to begin with He has a poisonous exhalation, and in the second place the children whom He touches soon become sick,
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or they soon die or become deaf and blind!'
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When Joseph heard such lies, he laid the axe aside and demanded of the judge,
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'Bring the witnesses here who suffered such harm through my most innocent Boy Jesus,
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and I will go with them into the temple and there settle the matter with them before the high priest of God!'
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Now this judge was bribed by the father of the shriveled boy
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and therefore sought a means to put Joseph's Boy under as much suspicion as possible.
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At these words of Joseph the judge went away and in a short time gathered together a great number of greatly afflicted children from the village and led them over to Joseph.
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And when he arrived there he accused him again, saying, 'Just look here now! We can thank your poisonous Child for all this!
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See, these children have visited your Child a number of times and have played with Him,
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and behold, these are the happy results therefrom! So stay away from our village and at the same time keep your Pest at home.'
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When Joseph heard this from the judge he was stirred up, took the little Jesus aside, seemingly appealed to His conscience and said,
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'Why then do You perpetrate such things? See, these suffer greatly therefrom and hate and persecute us for it!'
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But the little Jesus countered Joseph and answered: 'The words which you now have spoken are not from Me, but from you;
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for you have now spoken the words of the judge who is a liar - and not My words which are eternally true!
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But I will be silent against you and will not give you a reprimand for your assumed speech;
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but because of his accusation let this bribed judge receive his just punishment!'
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And the judge immediately became stone blind. At this all who were with the judge were greatly shocked.
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Several of them became wholly confused and cried,
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'Let us flee from here in all haste! For each word from the mouth of this Boy is an accomplished fact!'
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Now when Joseph saw that the judge was blind and was certain to cause him a lot of trouble for that,
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he became upset over the little Jesus himself, took Him lightly by the lobe of the ear and pulled Him in order to chastize Him before men.
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Here the little Jesus became aroused and said to Joseph quite earnestly,
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'Let it be enough to you that they seek and still do not find what they seek!
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But you did not act wisely this time. - Do you not know that I am yours?
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Why then do you want to grieve Me, when I am yours? Oh do not grieve Me any more henceforth, since I am yours!'
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At this Joseph quickly realized his mistake, took the little Jesus and pressed Him to his heart. - And all those standing about soon dispersed in their very great fear of the Boy.
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