\ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 — 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 < • 
 
 ' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 • V - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 e. 
 
 * r 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 ; 
 
 
 
 ^ - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 
 l 
 
 
 
 — 
 
JESUS CHRIST 
 

 I 
 
 
 
 
 $ 
 
 • > 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 '■ 
 
 •/. 
 
 - I 
 
 
 
 * V 
 
 
 
 
 
 
JESUS CHRIST 
 
 Hcri et hodic ipse et in secula 
 
 BY THE 
 
 V 
 
 REV. FATHER DIDON^ 
 
 /!? / 
 
 OF THE ORDER OF SAINT DOMINIC 
 
 . IN TWO VOLUMES 
 
 LONDON 
 
 KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER, & CO. L T - U 
 
 PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD 
 
 1S9 3 
 
I 3o! 
 
 ,J> 
 
 V/| X 
 
 [All rights reserved.] 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK IV.—THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I.—The Departure from Galilee . i 
 
 II. —Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles, 29 a.d. ... 19 
 
 III. —New Messianic Testimonies of Jesus. 42 
 
 IV. —The Miracle of the Man born Blind ... 55 
 
 V. —The First Retreat of Jesus into Peraea .;. 65 
 
 VI. —The Last Attempt upon Jerusalem . 89 
 
 VII. —The Retreat of Jesus to the other side of 
 
 *'t *»1 ♦** ,*»• 
 
 the Jordan ... ... ... ... ... 102 
 
 VIII. —The Resurrection of Lazarus. 125 
 
 • • • % S’ ' i t « • 
 
 IX. —The Last Journey to Jerusalem . 139 
 
 • » • « * • 
 
 X. —The End of the Journey: from Jericho to 
 
 Bethany ... ... ... ... ... ... 135 
 
 BOOK V.—THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I.—The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem ... 171 
 
 II. —The Last Conflicts in the Temple . 185 
 
 III. —The Final Denunciations of the Pharisees ... 200 
 
 IV. —The coming Ruin of Jerusalem and the Temple. 
 
 The End of the World . 214 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 V. —The Final Failure of Jesus and its Causes... 
 
 VI. —The Last Passover. The Great Institution 
 O F J EbU S... ... ... ... ... ... 
 
 VII. —The Last Words 
 
 VIII. —From the Supper-room to Gethsemane 
 
 IX. —The Prayer of Jesus. His Agony. His Arrest 
 
 X. —The Trial of Jesus . 
 
 XI. —The Death and Burial of Jesus . 
 
 XII. —Jesus Risen from the Dead . 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 A. —The General Chronology of the Life of Jesus 
 
 B. —Marriage among the Jews at the Time of Jesus 
 
 C. —The Two Genealogies of Jesus. 
 
 D. —The Place of John the Baptist’s Birth 
 
 E. —The Pool of Bethesda 
 
 F. —The Identification of Capernaum with the 
 
 Ruins of Tel Hum . 
 
 G. —The Two Visits to Nazareth . 
 
 H. —The Two Miracles of the Loaves and Fishes 
 
 I. —The Country of Dalmanutha 
 
 J. —Kersa and Gadara . 
 
 K. —The Demoniac of Kersa. 
 
 L. —The Authenticity of Tabor as the Scene of 
 
 the Transfiguration ... . ... 
 
 M—The Two Texts of the Lord’s Prayer. 
 
 N. —The Departure from Galilee 
 
 O. —The Woman Taken in Adultery . 
 
 PAGE 
 
 236 
 
 264 
 
 28l 
 
 297 
 
 3 TO 
 
 3 2 4 
 
 346 
 
 364 
 
 PAGE 
 
 39 1 
 
 423 
 
 424 
 • 
 
 433 
 
 435 
 
 436 
 
 438 
 
 439 
 
 440 
 
 441 
 
 442 
 
 443 
 
 445 
 
 446 
 
 447 
 
CONTENTS. vii 
 
 CHAP. TAGE 
 
 P. —The Exegesis of ttjv apx*i v ••• ... ••• ••• 451 
 
 Q. —The Blind Men of Jericho ... ... ... 452 
 
 R. —The Two Anointings . 454 
 
 S. I SAL M . ... ... ... ... ... ... 4*^^ 
 
 T. —The Identity of Mary Magdalene, Mary of 
 
 Bethany, the Sister of Martha, and the 
 Woman which was a Sinner spoken of by 
 St. IjUke ... ... ... ... ... ... 45^ 
 
 U. — The Situation of Emmaus... ... ... ... 462 
 
 A Chronological Table of the Events of the Life 
 of Jesus, with References to the Gospels 
 and to this Work .465 
 
 MAPS. 
 
 Plan of Temple of Jerusalem. 
 
 Environs of Jerusalem ... 
 
 Plan of Jerusalem, Ancient and Modern 
 Map of Palestine in the Time of Christ 
 
 TO FACE PAGE 
 
 191, Vol. I. 
 
 i, Vol. II. 
 169, 
 
 AT END 
 
Ram /L4UaJv 
 
 Ehen-Jfc. 
 
 Iss* 0 
 
 idn Bidthc 
 
 
 m* 
 
 6 \ . . . aM 
 
 jpwmmv 
 
 
 
 'MOmimi 
 
 cJerif^ 
 
 (Po^'V-w 
 
 
 iOMPoo) 
 
 fi^ConverUofEliainS 
 
 ^\\llllll/fll, 
 
 SaJiur 
 
 ,000 
 
 
 'Ij# - 
 
 .. 
 
 (tofc % ,, " 
 
 '"'tinimuy* 
 
 *3 *»’ 50’ 51’ 52' 53' 5*' 55’ 56' 57 
 
 5.V 33 
 
 ENVIRONS 
 
 of 
 
 in the Time of Christ. 
 
 o •*> 
 
 
 <0 0 
 
 English Miles 
 
 mil .'A. ? 
 
 ’ // /"r, CD 
 
 •j f " 
 
 C „JSS& I®' 
 
 ° *B ETHLEHEM ° ^ 
 
 <?' - • A X&ys v‘K>vU*W// vUt«"ir 
 
 ^3’ 
 
 52' hong. 5#'East of 5^' Paris 5* 1 
 
 *9 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE DEPARTURE FROM GALILEE. 
 
 * * * * f 
 
 The departure from Galilee marks the culminating point 
 in the life of Jesus, and divides it into two distinct phases. 
 Galilee and Judaea were his two scenes of action. In Galilee, 
 he had preached the Gospel to the people, announced the good 
 news of the Kingdom, proclaimed his law, rallied round him 
 faithful followers and disciples ; he had appointed his apostles 
 and laid the foundations of his Church ; he had named its 
 chief and assigned to him his powers ; he had revealed him¬ 
 self in the divinity of his Messianic function, as him whose 
 flesh and blood were to be the bread of life and the drink of 
 mankind. Despite the desertion of the people, who neither 
 could nor would understand him, his work was finished : 
 Jesus might depart. If he had quitted the earth at Tabor, in 
 the majesty of his transfiguration, nothing essential would 
 have been wanting to his plans. But the will of the Heavenly 
 Father was that his Son should face death. The Lamb 
 of God, who takes away the sins of this world of rage, 
 violence, and hatred, egoism and pride, must be offered in 
 sacrifice. Galilee had had the glory of beholding his actions 
 and his life ; for Judaea and her capital it was reserved to see 
 him die. • * , 
 
 To leave Galilee and return to Judaea was, for Jesus, to 
 encounter severe struggles ; he determined upon the step with 
 VOL. II. B 
 
2 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 a heroic firmness. “ The time,” says St. Luke, “ when he 
 should be received up from this world, was accomplished: 
 he set his face steadfastly towards Jerusalem.” 1 
 
 Six months separated him from death. It was hencefor¬ 
 ward his one thought ; he consecrated the rest of his life to pre¬ 
 paration for it, and carried alone the secret of this overwhelm¬ 
 ing future. He had repeatedly prophesied it to his disciples, 
 who could not believe it. If they caught a glimpse of some 
 fierce conflict to be sustained, faith in the power of their 
 Master reassured them, and their warlike Galilaean nature 
 emboldened them ; the defection of the crowd had not shaken 
 their confidence, and they lived in the thought of the glory 
 which was promised them by the privileged place they held 
 at the Messiah’s side. 
 
 The journey of Jesus to Jerusalem was marked by various 
 incidents which bring into relief his calmness, his wisdom, and 
 his unchangeable gentleness. 
 
 The Feast of Tabernacles approached, 2 one of the great 
 solemnities of the Jews. It fell on the 12th of October, in .the 
 year 29. Caravans were already being formed in the towns 
 and villages of Galilee, to set out to Jerusalem ; relatives, 
 friends, and neighbours joined each other and prepared for 
 departure. The cousins of Jesus, those whom the Evangelist 
 calls his brothers, namely, the sons of Mary, his mother’s 
 sister, and of the brother of Joseph the carpenter, came and 
 urged him to set out on the journey. Since the festival of 
 Purim, he had not revisited Jerusalem, 3 where he had left some 
 secret disciples. “Go then to Judaea,” said his relatives to 
 him, “ that your followers may be witnesses of your miracles. 
 No man acts in secret, when he wishes himself to be known. 
 Show yourself to the world.” 
 
 1 Luke ix. 51. 
 
 2 John vii. 2-10. 
 
 3 See Book II., ch. vii. 
 
t THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 3 
 
 When Jesus was raising the people of Galilee, these same 
 relatives treated him as a madman and wished to take him 
 from his work now, seeing him forsaken, they brought him 
 their maxims of commonplace wisdom. If he is the Messiah, 
 as he declares, it is not in ignorant Galilee, which cannot com¬ 
 prehend him, but in the City, before the chiefs and the 
 rabbis, that he ought to appear. They would have desired of 
 him, evidently, a manifestation in accordance with their 
 national prejudices : a few signs from heaven, such as his 
 worst enemies eagerly and persistently demanded from 
 him. They did not believe in him. His safety mattered 
 little to them. They must have known, however, that at 
 Jerusalem there had already been talk of putting him to 
 death. 
 
 “ My time is not yet come,” said Jesus to them, “ but 
 yours is always at hand.” And he recalled to them the 
 hatred which murmured menacingly around him. “ The 
 world cannot hate you ; but me it hateth, for I condemn it, 
 and I bear witness of it that its works are evil.” Since 
 almost all his relations judged, his mission from an earthly 
 point of view, and considered it as having failed in Galilee, 
 because the people were leaving him, and because the Pharisees 
 detested and rejected him, he hinted to them that the hatred 
 with which he was persecuted and was their stumbling-block, 
 was bound up with the accomplishment of his task. He could 
 not meet with acceptance from the world, for he was the con¬ 
 demnation of its vices ; his words, and even his life, would 
 rouse their fury against him. Always living, always loved, 
 always hated—that was his destiny. He went forward accom¬ 
 panied by the love of the weak, and the declared hostility of 
 the powerful : but he knew the time and the manner in which 
 to face this hostility, or to shun it, and he took counsel of 
 the leather’s will alone to determine the moment and his 
 mode of action. 
 
 B—2 
 
4 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 “ Go you to this festival/’ said he to his kinsmen ; “ as for 
 me, I go not yet, 1 for my time is not yet come.” 
 
 The reply was plainly evasive ; Jesus remained reserved 
 towards his family, who could not understand him and could 
 only shackle his designs. 
 
 The caravans left; Jesus remained. His intention was 
 to go a little later, unknown to the crowd. His disciples 
 alone were told of his projects. He left Galilee with them 
 and took the direct road to Judaea across Samaria. 2 He had 
 sent people before him to announce his coming. They entered 
 a Samaritan village in order to prepare a lodging for him ; but 
 he was not received there, because he seemed to be going to 
 Jerusalem. He had in the beginning of his public life found 
 a hearty welcome in this same Samaria ; 3 but the happy days 
 were becoming rare : he was entering into a period full of 
 sorrow and bitterness. 
 
 The refusal of hospitality irritated the disciples. Two of 
 them, James and John, the favourites of the Master, felt the 
 insult more keenly than the rest. “ Master, if it be thy will, 
 let us command fire to descend from heaven and consume 
 them.” These words of intemperate zeal proved to what a 
 degree the apostles had faith in the almighty power of Jesus. 
 The sight of his glory on Tabor had rooted him in their hearts, 
 and exalted him ; the example of Elijah, and his impetuous 
 ardour, returned to their memory. Jesus turned towards them 
 with the severe reproof: 
 
 “Ye know not of what spirit ye are; the Son of Man is 
 come not to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” 
 
 Indeed, at this very hour, he was going, not to combat and 
 to kill: he was going to die and give his life. Man is irritable 
 
 1 On the authority of the Codex Vaticanus, we have inserted in the text 
 of the Vulgate the word “yet” ( oinru >) by which the apparent contradiction 
 between the answer given by Jesus and his subsequent action is removed. 
 
 2 Luke ix. 52, etc. 
 
 3 See Book III., ch. vi. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 5 
 
 and vengeful; selfish and violent even in his religion, he fears 
 not to invoke God to the service of his wrath or his vengeance : 
 Jesus knew only the love which bears insult; he pardoned, 
 and, far from killing his enemies, he died to save them. 
 
 The little caravan took its way towards another village, but 
 it is probable that, wishing to avoid the inhospitality of 
 Samaria, it descended into the valley of the Jordan, to follow 
 the ordinary route, which passes through Jericho and up to 
 Jerusalem, across the desert of Judah. As they journeyed 1 
 a man who was a scribe came to Jesus, and said to him, “ I 
 will follow thee, Master, whithersoever thou goest.” Jesus 
 said: “ The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air 
 have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his 
 head.” Jesus had nothing, not even a dwelling-place. At 
 Capernaum, he received the hospitality of Peter ; and now he 
 was going, having no longer any assured retreat, and he who 
 wished to be his disciple must share his lot. We cannot tell 
 whether the scribe comprehended the necessity of this ab¬ 
 solute disinterestedness, or whether he withdrew, discouraged 
 and disconcerted. 
 
 Again, Jesus said to another : “ Follow me.” “ Master, 
 let me go first and bury my father.” “ Let the dead bury 
 their dead ; do thou go and preach the Kingdom of God.” 
 What the Law imposed on the Nazarite, 2 Jesus demanded 
 from his apostles, but in a different spirit The apostle is the 
 true Nazarite, wholly dedicated to the divine work of the 
 Kingdom. When duties clash with one another, the highest 
 must prevail. To follow Jesus is the foremost duty. 
 Nothing human, no social convention, not even the most 
 legitimate, should shackle for an instant the servant who is 
 called ; he is overruled by a higher law, which suffers no 
 delay. To each his proper task : those who remain among 
 
 1 Luke ix. 57, etc. 
 
 2 Cf. Levit. xxi. 2 ; Numbers vi. 6, 7 ; Exodus xix. 14 ; Hosea ix. 4. 
 
6 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 the dead will suffice to bury the dead. The living have only 
 to diffuse life, to enlighten, console, and save the living. 
 “ Master,” said another to him, “I will follow thee ; but let me 
 first set in order the goods that are in my house.” “ Whoso 
 puts his hand to the plough, and looks back,” Jesus replied, 
 “ is not fit for the Kingdom of God.” Terrestrial matters, 
 mundane interests, in a word, anything that is fleeting, must 
 not preoccupy the labourer whom Jesus calls to his work ; he 
 belongs wholly to the Kingdom of God. He is the labourer 
 of the Father; he has only to look before him into the field of 
 the Father, and to plough his furrow straight. 
 
 These three incidents, characteristic as they are, not only 
 teach us the firmness and heroic disinterestedness that were 
 required by the Master, they also give life and animation 
 to the narrative of this whole journey, which he had chosen 
 to surround with mystery. 1 
 
 Jesus was only accompanied by his disciples, and 
 determined to send them forth, two by two, as he had 
 already sent his apostles. He chose seventy-two of them, 
 commanded them to go into the towns and villages of eastern 
 Judaea and Peraea, while he pursued his way to Jerusalem ; 
 and he appointed for them, in the region on the other side of 
 the Jordan, a place of meeting, which the documents do not 
 name. Seeing that his stay in the city would raise an 
 opposition, before which he would again be obliged to flee, 
 he purposed to return to his disciples, to continue with them 
 his work of evangelization, in the districts which had not. 
 heard from his lips the good news. Before leaving them, he 
 spoke to them of the harvest to be gathered, using a phrase 
 he loved. “ It is great,” said he, “ and the labourers are few. 
 Pray the lord of the harvest to send labourers into the field, 
 to gather the harvest.” Then renewing the instructions he 
 had already given to the Twelve on a former occasion, 2 
 
 1 John vii. io. 
 
 8 See Book III., chap, viii, 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 7 
 
 he dismissed them. “ I send you as lambs among wolves.” 
 The task was the same ; the tactics were to be the same ; the 
 powers conferred were the same ; there were the same risks 
 to run ; the same poverty, the same zeal, the same spirit of 
 gentleness and peace. No vengeance was to be taken 
 against the unbelievers who shut their doors on the 
 messengers. They were to shake the dust off their feet 
 against the ungrateful house or town, and leave it to the judg¬ 
 ment of God. 
 
 The towns of Galilee came into the thoughts of Jesus. 
 He uttered a touching cry of Woe ! against them, against 
 Bethsaida and Chorazin and Capernaum, which had misunder¬ 
 stood him. Then he turned to his disciples, and inspired 
 them by his words, with his soul and his Spirit. “ Go ; and he 
 who hears you, hears me ; he who despises you despises me ; 
 and he who despises me, despises him who sent me.” 1 
 
 Jesus continued his journey towards Jericho and Jeru¬ 
 salem. The country, now desolate and silent, was then filled 
 with groups of pilgrims and the rich caravans from Gaulonitis 
 and Auranitis, from the country of Damascus and of Galilee. 
 The scenery is picturesque and sublime, full of variety, of 
 
 1 It seems impossible to account for the fact that certain critics have 
 thought they could shake the authenticity of this mission of the seventy 
 disciples, and have allowed themselves to see in it nothing but an inven¬ 
 tion of the only Evangelist who relates the story, his object, in their view, 
 being to exalt the ministry of St. Paul and his helpers, who must have 
 trod in the footsteps of the seventy. Such hypothesis cannot form the 
 basis of history, which requires positive testimony. St. Luke directly 
 affirms the mission of the Twelve and that of the seventy disciples. No 
 a priori argument can affect the validity of this affirmation. If he is the 
 only writer who relates the fact, it is because he is the only writer who has 
 described in detail this period of the life of Jesus. And we are the less 
 justified in treating this recital as an invention of the Pauline School, that 
 a work of incontestably Judaeo-Christian origin puts into the mouth of 
 St. Peter these words which are decisive upon the question : “He 
 chose us first, the Twelve whom he called Apostles; then he chose yet 
 other seventy disciples from among the most faithful.” (Clement., 
 Recogvit i. 24.) 
 
8 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 austerity and of splendour. In going southward, on the right, 
 we skirt the mountain, bare and parched ; sometimes rising 
 to a cone, like Korn-Zartaba ; sometimes rounded gently into 
 a knoll. The rock, worn and cut into ravines by the rains, 
 exposes the greyish chalk ; the strata of which, torn by 
 volcanic forces, show their gigantic festoons along the steep 
 flanks of the Wady. In front we see the sky, opening over 
 the plain of Jordan and the Dead Sea, and rimmed round 
 by the two mountain-chains of Moab and Judaea, of a violet- 
 blue colour. An infinite silence adds to the majesty and 
 immensity of this solitude. 
 
 Jesus had passed there more than once, followed by a 
 few disciples. In this desert, he taught the world, in their 
 person; sowing his word, which now, like a ripe harvest, is 
 spread over all mankind. 
 
 On approaching Jericho nature becomes more wild, the 
 desolation increases, and the scanty grass disappears: we come 
 upon desert, with its sand, its stones and its barrenness. After 
 crossing the Wady Newmaimeh, and turning the point of 
 Djebel-Herbet-Samar, the plain of Jericho appears, suddenly, 
 verdant as an oasis. In the time of Jesus Jericho was the 
 city of palms and roses ; now the vegetation is sterile. The 
 palms and roses have given place to thorny shrubs ; the 
 circus, the baths, and the palace of the Herodian town are 
 heaps of ruins ; and the beautiful waters of Ai'n-el-Sultan lose 
 themselves in the abandoned plains. 
 
 After having passed through the town, the road turning 
 westwards lies among the mountains, ascending the Wady- 
 el-Kelt. There is not a tree along the road ; everywhere the 
 mountain, parched and grey as cinders; everywhere the bottoms 
 of valleys, like the stony bed of a torrent, dried up. The 
 sterility of nature in this region softens only in the neigh¬ 
 bourhood of Khan-el-Achmar. The mountains become 
 rounder in outline, the grass luxuriant, the valleys are covered 
 with corn, the flocks reappear on the hillsides, villages are 
 seen in the distance : life is born a^ain. 
 
 D 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 9 
 
 Khan-el-Achmar has been from time immemorial a halting- 
 place for caravans. Jesus must have rested there. An ancient 
 tradition has assigned to this very spot an episode of the 
 journey recorded with details by St. Luke. The Gospel 
 narrative seems to confirm this tradition ; for it certainly 
 takes place upon the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, and we 
 know that the teaching of the Master always bears the 
 imprint of time and place, of the smallest circumstances under 
 which it was uttered. 
 
 Jesus was seated, surrounded by his disciples and other 
 persons, among whom was a scribe. 1 The scribe rose to put to 
 proof the wisdom of Jesus. “ What shall I do,” he said to him, 
 “ to inherit eternal life ? ” “There is the Law,” replied Jesus, 
 pointing to his phylacteries and the passages traced there. 
 “ The Law of Moses : what is written therein ? How readest 
 thou ? ” The scribe replied : “ Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
 God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
 strength, and with all thy mind ; and thy neighbour as thyself.” 
 The answer was perfect. Jesus approved it: “ Do thou like¬ 
 wise, and thou shalt live.” „ 
 
 Such is the everlasting formula of life. The Law, the 
 Gospel, Moses as well as Jesus, all preach the same. The 
 conscience of each man reveals it, if it listens to the teaching 
 of God to every intelligent being. To all, selfishness is death 
 and the instrument of death ; love is life and the source of life. 
 The Gospel is better than the Law and the unaided conscience 
 only because it teaches us how to love, and inspires us with 
 the strength of loving. The Gospel alone tells us the true 
 meaning of the word neighbour ; it alone reveals to us the 
 God who takes possession of the heart, invades the soul, 
 commands our powers, and enlightens our spirit; it alone 
 creates in us this sovereign love of God, without which the 
 love of our neighbour is but a phrase. 
 
 1 Luke x. 25, etc. 
 
IO 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 The scribe, instead of confessing his impotence before an 
 ideal so perfect, instead of asking how he could love thus, 
 thinks only of raising a new question, often debated in the 
 Jewish and Rabbinical schools, and the solution of which 
 served only to legitimatize their national and religious hatred. 
 He knew, without a doubt, that Jesus was the friend of Gen¬ 
 tiles, and publicans, and sinners, and, in order to appear vir¬ 
 tuous and confound the Master, he asked the insidious ques¬ 
 tion, “ Who is my neighbour ? ” Jesus replied by a parable : 
 “And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from 
 Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped 
 him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving 
 him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain 
 priest that way : and when he saw him, he passed by on the 
 other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, 
 came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. 
 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was : 
 and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went 
 to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and 
 set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took 
 care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took 
 out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, 
 Take care of him ; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when 
 I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three, 
 thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the 
 thieves ? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then 
 said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.” The scribe 
 dared not say, “ The Samaritan ” ; his prejudices fettered 
 him ; but he let fall a profound remark which the parable of 
 Jesus inspired : “ The neighbour,” said he, “was he who had 
 compassion.” “ Go,” said Jesus, “ and do thou likewise. Have 
 pity ; and thou shalt live.” 
 
 To bring this scribe to recognise the true neighbour under 
 the features of a Samaritan, a being universally scorned and 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. II 
 
 despised, is a triumph of the persuasive sweetness, the exqui¬ 
 site art, the subtle delicacy with which Jesus enlightened and 
 touched souls the most disfigured by false culture and empty 
 learning. 
 
 No more classes, no more barriers among men. All, 
 whatever their religion, their race, or social station, are bowed 
 beneath the same law of sorrow. They suffer, and have a 
 capacity for suffering; they should love and serve one 
 another. Our neighbour is at the same time the unfortunate 
 who has need of pity, and the benevolent man who knows 
 how to pity. No philosophy, no religion, has taught this 
 truth like Jesus. Nature urges it, but it needs that the Christ 
 should, with a ray of light and a breath of his Spirit, free it 
 from its egoism and its prejudices, in order that nature may 
 speak it and have the courage to put it into practice. 
 
 Following the road from Jericho to Jerusalem, Jesus 
 arrived at Bethany, 1 that village which St. Luke omits to 
 name, and in which a woman named Martha had her dwell¬ 
 ing. She lived there with Lazarus, her brother ; and her 
 sister Mary Magdalene, at this period, had retired there. The 
 converted sinner, now become one of the most zealous fol¬ 
 lowers of the Master, had consecrated herself to his service, in 
 the fatigues and journeys of his mission. When Jesus re¬ 
 solved to come to Jerusalem and Judaea, she must have been 
 warned of it, and she took up her abode at Bethany with 
 Martha, in order to be still upon the steps of the Saviour. 
 
 In former days, Bethany with its olives, its figs, its almond- 
 trees, its terraced gardens, was a charming village, the sight of 
 which was very refreshing after the desolation of the road 
 from Jericho. Now it is nothing more than a wretched 
 hamlet, with twenty or thirty huts built with the stones 
 torn from old buildings. Raised one above the other, these 
 
 w 
 
 1 Luke x. 38, etc, 
 
12 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 huts lean against the hillside. The little cupola of a mosque 
 marks, though only roughly, the site of Lazarus’ tomb. A 
 square tower, built of large blocks, but dismantled, commands 
 the village and seems to guard these ruins. It is impossible 
 to say where was the house of Lazarus and of Martha at which 
 Jesus stayed. Of the church, erected to commemorate the 
 event, there only remain scattered stones, fragments of 
 columns, shafts of pillars, and broken capitals. The sweetest 
 of all Gospel memories surround this nook of earth ; no more 
 do we see the house of Simon, but we breathe still, in spirit, 
 the odour of the perfumes which Magdalene poured upon the 
 head of Jesus. 
 
 Jesus arrived now at the house of Martha. Tradition has 
 not forgotten the hospitality which he received there. Accord¬ 
 ing to his custom, he had taken his place for the repast upon 
 the couch of honour. The sister of Martha also had come to 
 sit near the Master, at his feet, listening to his words. Martha, 
 on the contrary, hastened hither and thither, distracted and 
 absorbed by various cares. She stopped before Jesus, and 
 said to him : “ Lord, seest thou not that my sister leaves' me 
 to serve alone ? Bid her that she help me.” 
 
 “Martha, Martha,” replied Jesus, “thou art careful and 
 troubled about many things ; one thing only is needful.” Then 
 referring to the part of honour reserved for the guest who was 
 welcomed, he added: “Mary has chosen the better part: it 
 shall not be taken from her.” 
 
 This picture of a sentiment so true, a trait so lively, will 
 remain veiled from those who do not recognize in Jesus the 
 Divine Guest whom Martha and Magdalene saw. It is a 
 trivial matter to serve him, to surround him with attentions 
 and honour : to listen to him, to regard and love him, to 
 drink long draughts of life from his words, that is the essential, 
 the necessary thing. The profound heart of Magdalene had 
 understood it ; no homage is worth that ; Jesus prefers the 
 soul thirsting to hear him to the over-zealous soul which 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 13 
 
 showers on him all the services of hospitality. These two 
 women are the two dominant types of regenerate mankind. 
 The feast continues in the Church ; and Jesus speaks at it. 
 By the side of natures restless and distracted, troubled and 
 agitated, like Martha, we see, at his feet, motionless and 
 charmed, those who have chosen, like Magdalene, the better 
 part, which nothing, not even death, shall tear from them. 
 
 Quitting his hosts at Bethany, Jesus took the road to 
 Jerusalem, and climbed the Mount of Olives. The pilgrim 
 who came from Jericho loved to halt upon this hilltop, before 
 entering his cherished Zion. And seeing it appear suddenly 
 before him, beyond the valley of Jehoshaphat, he was seized 
 with a religious emotion, and a thrill of patriotism. Jesus 
 stopped to pray; 1 a venerable tradition has placed in this spot 
 the scene related in the pages of St. Luke, and which forms 
 the last episode of this journey in which we follow the Master 
 step by step from Capernaum. 
 
 His prayer had always for those who surrounded him a 
 touch of solemnity. He isolated himself; and his disciples 
 waited in silence till he should rejoin them. On this day, when 
 he had finished, one of them said to him : “ Lord, teach us 
 to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” It was the custom 
 of religious teachers among the Jews to give their disciples 
 formulas to recite constantly, and without changing a word. 
 The great Prophet, filled with the necessity of penitence and 
 regeneration, of faith in the Messiah, of the holiness of the 
 Spirit, and the spiritual nature of the Kingdom of God, must 
 have summed up these truths in a prayer which remains un¬ 
 known. Jesus, in his sermon on the mount, having already 
 taught his disciples how they ought to pray, we are surprised 
 that one of them should now put to him this question. It is 
 probable that the question was not, as on the other occasion, 
 
 1 Luke xi., 1, etc 
 
14 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 of a formula common to all, but of a formula reserved for those 
 who were nearest to the Master. Such a question betrayed in 
 him, who asked it, a secret desire to see himself the object of 
 the preference of Jesus. Nothing was more probable ; for such 
 a desire often showed itself among his nearest followers. Per¬ 
 haps also he who asked the question was one of the old disciples 
 of John, who, remembering the prayers that he heard from 
 the lips of the Baptist, asked for a similar one from his new 
 Master. 
 
 “When ye pray,” said Jesus, “say, Our Father which 
 art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. 
 Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by 
 day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also 
 forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not 
 into temptation.” 1 
 
 What the Master had taught on the mountain he still 
 taught here. There were not two prayers, one for the 
 crowd, the other for individuals ; one for the common 
 people, the other for the chosen ; the same spirit is in 
 all the members of the Kingdom, speaking to all, and in 
 all, in the same language. All call God their Father: for 
 have they not the same aspirations, the same hopes, the same 
 needs, the same miseries, the same dangers ? All wish that 
 the Father should be known in his truth, his power, and his 
 holiness. He is above every creature ; but his will governs alb 
 his love spreads over every creature, and every creature prays 
 that his Kingdom may come, by the welcoming of this will and 
 of this love. No more atheism, no more idolatry, no more 
 vain religions, in which man takes the place of God. All have 
 need of the necessaries of life ; they ask the Father for their 
 daily bread. All are guilty, they ask the pardon of the Father, 
 and in order to obtain it they say, “ Forgive us, as we forgive.” 
 All are in conflict with the Evil One, who urges them to sin, 
 
 1 See Appendix M : The Two Texts of the Lord's Prayer . 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 15 
 
 and they cry to their Father not to give them over to evil. 
 We may find in religious books the same words, scattered here 
 and there ; we shall find nowhere the same accent. The duty 
 and the need of speaking to God as to our Father, is 
 what Jesus has created. He suppresses all the vain demands 
 which egoism and earthly avarice multiplied in the false 
 prayers of human religions. Man no longer thinks first of 
 himself; he thinks of his Father, of his glory, of his Kingdom. 
 For him, sunk in the consciousness of his needs, of his sins, and 
 of the tyranny with which evil crushes him, he needs only 
 bread, forgiveness, and holy liberty. Let not man cease from 
 imploring these divine gifts : the Father lives and is with us, 
 he has strength and goodness, and he listens to the man who 
 prays to him. 
 
 It is with the same feelings of which his soul was full that 
 Jesus said, further, to his disciples : “ Which of you shall have 
 a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, 
 Friend, lend me three loaves ; for a friend of mine in his 
 journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him ? 
 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: 
 the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed ; I 
 cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will 
 not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of 
 his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he 
 needeth. And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given 
 you ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened 
 unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth ; and he that 
 sccketh findeth ; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 
 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he 
 give him a stone ? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give 
 him a serpent ? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a 
 scorpion ? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good 
 gifts unto your children : how much more shall your heavenly 
 Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him ? ” 
 
i6 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 Jesus loved these popular images borrowed from the 
 simplest facts of life ; provisions for travelling, bread, eggs, fish, 
 the unforeseen arrival of a friend, the door of the host already 
 shut ; all these details became for him opportunities to instruct 
 and elevate the souls of his followers. Amid all that is 
 changing, he recalled the truths that abide ; he made use of 
 the trifles which absorb us to turn us towards the divine 
 realities which we forget. 
 
 When Jesus, after his prayers and his conversation with 
 his disciples, descended the hill and journeyed towards Jeru¬ 
 salem he could see the town in all the noisy brilliancy of 
 the Feast of Tabernacles. 1 The solemnity lasted a week, from 
 the fifteenth to the twenty-third day of the month of Tischri 
 (October). It recalled to the Jews, by its sacred ritual, great 
 memories : the journey of their fathers in the desert and the 
 benefits with which God had loaded them. During these 
 days, in memory of the pilgrimage across that desert land, 
 they left their dwellings and lived under tents of boughs, 
 which arose on all sides around Jerusalem, in the streets, in 
 the squares, and even on the terraces of the houses. It was a 
 true camp of nomads. A libation which took place every 
 morning, in the Temple, made them think of the living water 
 leaping from the rock struck by Moses. Two candles lighted 
 at even in the Temple court, symbolized the pillar of 
 fire which guided the march of the travellers by night. The 
 blood of bulls, of rams, and young sheep, flowed incessantly. 
 The offerings and libations were abundant. In sign of mirth, 
 the faithful, carrying in their hand branches of citron and 
 willow, tied up by a palm branch, went in procession around 
 the altar. 2 No feast among the Jews was more joyous. As 
 it came just at the end of the harvest, they gave themselves 
 
 1 Cf. Exodus xxiii. 16; Levit. xxiii.; Deut. xvi. 
 
 2 Cf. Antiq. iii. io, 4; Succah , c. v.; hal. 2. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 17 
 
 up to rejoicings, which had no longer any touch of religion, 
 and which recalled pagan solemnities. It was no longer the 
 primitive simplicity of the time of Ezra. In the midst of this 
 tumult and excess there was scarcely any place for piety, the 
 religion of the conscience, and the worship in spirit and truth. 
 
 It was here, however, in this agitated mob, in this Temple 
 where they were only concerned with the selling and buying 
 of victims, with sacrifice and outward rites, in the midst of 
 doctors who thought only of their purifications and formal 
 discussions, under the eyes of the Sanhedrin, and of the great 
 priests, intoxicated with their power and inexorable against 
 those who defied them; it was here that Jesus returned to 
 wage the supreme conflict. The journey which he had 
 accomplished marks the end of his tranquil days: he was 
 entering on the decisive struggle. The more strongly, the 
 more emphatically he affirmed what he was, and what was his 
 desire, his divine Sonship and his rights, his Messianic 
 character and w T ork, the more the opposition increased, the 
 discussion grew envenomed, passions broke fiercely out, plots 
 were hatched, menaces hurled, - until the most terrible, the 
 most inexorable of all hatred, religious hatred, incited the 
 authorities to strike the mortal blow. Jesus sustained a divine 
 calm. All these episodes have the character of gentleness 
 and peace which reflects the serenity of the Master. 
 
 When he arrived they were in the middle of the festival. 1 
 The Jews were looking for him in the crowd of pilgrims. His 
 memory in Jerusalem had remained alive, not only in the 
 Sanhedrin, which anxiously followed his doctrine, his conduct 
 and his action, but among the people also, w r hose conscience he 
 had so powerfully stirred, and whose hopes of a Messiah he had 
 fanned into flame. Public opinion was rife with his name. 
 Everywhere, among the groups, he was the subject of conver¬ 
 sation. Some said : “ He is a good man ”; others disputed it; 
 
 1 John vii. 14, etc. 
 VOL. II. 
 
 C 
 
i8 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 “ No,” cried they, “he is a seducer, and a false prophet.” But 
 among these masses accustomed to submit to the tyranny of 
 the power so hostile to Jesus, they were afraid to express 
 themselves openly and with frankness. The flatterers of 
 authority exaggerated out of complacency their opinions 
 against him ; and the timid, the cowards, were afraid to defend 
 him. 
 
 Jesus went up straightway to the Temple and began to 
 teach under the porches. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 JESUS AT THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES, 29 A.D. 
 
 The aim of a man of action, who takes upon himself to play 
 a public part, is, whether by force, address, or stratagem, to 
 seize the reins of power. Once master, he applies himself 
 to realizing his designs, knowing that he is to be judged 
 by success or failure. If defeated, he will be despised; if 
 victorious, applauded. 
 
 Jesus did not act after the manner of men : he could not, 
 nor did he wish to, reign except by faith; he did not force 
 himself upon men, he proffered himself; his only weapon 
 was speech, and his great work the manifestation of himself. 
 
 This work continued to develop and progress in the 
 midst of violent opposition. At Jerusalem, under the eyes 
 and in the face of the official representatives of the nation, it 
 now began to take a more solemn character, and to draw 
 him into the struggle in which he was to fall. 
 
 The doings of Jesus in the metropolis, during the Feast 
 of Tabernacles and the days which followed it, are known 
 to us only from the narrative of the fourth Evangelist. 1 
 The episodes are briefly told ; the discourses summed up in 
 a word or a phrase ; yet, in spite of their reticence, his pages 
 bring vividly before us this memorable time of agitation, in 
 
 1 John vii.; x. 21. 
 
 T 9 C—2 
 
20 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 which Jesus asserted so courageously the title and functions 
 of the Messiah. 
 
 We are spectators of the powerful effect of his word ; we 
 can see the shiftings and currents of opinion as it wavers, 
 often being offended and sometimes overpowered by the 
 truth ; we can hear its murmurs and its mockeries, its shouts 
 of applause and its cries of belief; we can follow from the 
 beginning the attempts of the hierarchy against Jesus, as it 
 eyes him with jealousy, watches his steps, and sends emis¬ 
 saries to spy on him ; as it grows restless and irritated at 
 his success, and already seeks insidiously to seize on him. 
 
 Each successive scene takes place in the Temple, under 
 the Porch of Solomon, or in the gallery of the Court of Israel, 
 near the boxes placed ready to receive the offerings. Here 
 the Prophet’s days were passed. He arrived at the first hour, 
 taught the crowd, disputed with the Pharisees and Scribes, 
 and at nightfall returned, with his disciples, to the Mount of 
 Olives to pass the night. 
 
 The multitude, which pressed on him to listen to his 
 teaching, did not resemble that which followed after him in 
 Galilee, on the shores of the lake, on the mountains, and in 
 the desert By the side of the humble country folk, simple 
 men and without learning, whom St. John designates by the 
 expression o%\o?, might be seen the inhabitants of the capital 
 or, as he calls them, Judaeans. They were distinguished from 
 the mass by a better knowledge of the Scriptures, a more 
 refined devotion, and, above all, a more implicit obedience to 
 authority, upon which they had their eyes fixed continually, 
 ready to receive the watchword, learning from it their duty, 
 both in word and act. 
 
 The chiefs mingled with the crowd to keep a watch upon it 
 and to form their judgment of the Prophet. By passing into 
 the Court of the Priests or the great hall of council, the Elders, 
 the members of the Sanhedrin, the unbelieving Sadducees, or 
 the intolerant Pharisees, infatuated by their learning, could find 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 21 
 
 themselves within reach of his words ; and they charmed and 
 captivated some certainly, more than one no doubt, offensive 
 as they were to so many others. 
 
 It is from default of having sufficiently distinguished 
 between these elements, that criticism has mistaken the mode 
 of teaching employed by Jesus at Jerusalem. He was there, 
 in the centre of the schools, in the home of orthodox and 
 traditional learning; at the very door of the Sanhedrin, where 
 every problem of religious casuistry was discussed and de¬ 
 cided, where every novelty was judged, and where the false 
 prophets were summoned to appear. In Galilee he had 
 spoken, for the most part, to the masses of the people ; in the 
 Temple at Jerusalem he was speaking to all, to the people of 
 the provinces and to the dwellers in the capital, to influential 
 persons of the hierarchy, and to the most celebrated au¬ 
 thorities among the rabbis. 
 
 Always self-consistent, his teaching, which never varied 
 but in form, may be summed up in two essential points: his 
 divine sonship and the divinity of his Messianic office. He 
 no longer expressed himself in parables; he was now con¬ 
 fronted with men accustomed to swear only by the Scriptures, 
 and to them he would appeal. The Galilaeans had admired 
 the originality and the force of his teaching; the Jews were 
 astonished by his knowledge of the Scriptures ; “ How is it,” 
 they said, “that he can know them, since he hath never 
 learned ? ” 
 
 Jesus, to these men of learning, was an unlettered person ; 
 it was known that the carpenter of Nazareth had frequented 
 no school, and yet he showed a knowledge of the Law and 
 the Prophets superior to that of all the masters. He drew 
 from the Scriptures truths new and old ; he could embarrass 
 his adversaries and reduce them to silence. None of the 
 doctors had spoken like him of the Kingdom of God, nor 
 shown the vanity of traditional observances ; none had con¬ 
 ceived, like him, the part and personality of the Messiah; 
 
22 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 none had either claimed the Messiahship with such unfal¬ 
 tering authority and determination, or made good his claim 
 by such astounding signs. The people, then, were struck 
 with wonder and admiration ; but the leaders, the guardians 
 of official teaching, the learned men, were only irritated, and 
 affected disdain towards a doctrine which they treated as a 
 personal one, and in which they recognized no validity, since 
 it did not rest on the authority of any master. 
 
 We have seen that, at this period, the tradition of the 
 Fathers of the synagogue was all-powerful, nothing else was 
 held decisive. For any solution to be accredited, whether in 
 a question of doctrine, law, or ritual, it must be put under the 
 patronage of one of the great couples. But Jesus, he who 
 condemned the errors of later ages ; he who went beyond the 
 prophets themselves, and feared not to give himself out as the 
 Messiah destined to fulfil the Law, could invoke only one 
 authority, that of God. “ My doctrine,” said he, “ is not mine, 
 but his that sent me.” 
 
 By thus signalizing the divine origin of his teaching,, and 
 claiming it for his mission, he answered at once the wonder 
 of the people and the scorn or anger of their leaders. He 
 whom God sends receives light directly from him, he has no 
 need that men should speak well of him. It is not for men 
 to judge the word of God, for it is above them ; it is for 
 them to welcome it, because it saves them. 
 
 But how are we to know that it is God that speaks in 
 Jesus ? that his teaching is not human but divine ? He makes 
 no appeal here to his works or to his outward titles to 
 credence. The miracles which prove that God is with him 
 and in him, strike only the mind, and the mind in those who 
 are prejudiced may repel even evidence itself, either by 
 perverting the facts or mistaking the cause from which they 
 spring. It is conscience to which he appeals. The use of 
 reason is not given to all ; there are simple and ignorant men 
 who know not how to enjoy its benefits ; but conscience is the 
 universal light : it shines in all men. 
 
T 1 IE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 23 
 
 “ If any man,” says Jesus, “will do the will of God, he 
 shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I 
 speak it of myself.” 
 
 To wish to do the will of God ; that is, to be of a sound 
 heart, and of a good will towards men. No more clinging to 
 our prejudices, to the doctrines which blind us ; no more 
 selfish interests, no more mad passions. Only the desire of 
 truth, only the love of goodness, that is all that Jesus asks. 
 And no man, thus inclined, will hesitate to believe in him, from 
 the moment that he sees and hears him. Faith will make him 
 taste of the assurance and the hope, the love and the peace, 
 which nothing human, nothing created, can supply, and which 
 bear upon themselves the stamp of their divine origin. Jesus 
 is the sole master who has taught us that the pure heart is 
 the abiding-place of divine insight. 
 
 “ Blessed are the pure,” he said, “ for they shall see God.” 
 
 Those happy ones will prove that God is the good for 
 which the soul is thirsting, and the strength without which it 
 perishes ; and they will understand how the doctrine of Jesus, 
 which alone reveals him, is the-spirit and the life. 
 
 This inward method, at once simple and sublime, is within 
 the reach of all ; it is the sure way which leads to the truth 
 which Christ teaches. When he laid it open to his enemies, 
 he made the one effort which could save them. The way 
 remains such as he first traced it; no free being can attain 
 belief, if, entrenched in his reason as in a fortress, he 
 obstinately refuses to do the will of God and to verify in 
 his conscience the words of Jesus. 
 
 The Jewish authorities remained intractable ; they saw 
 in the Prophet whom God sent to save their nation and all 
 mankind, only an adversary, rejected from the beginning. 
 
 The teaching of Jesus implied his own glorification. They 
 were angry that he spoke of himself, offended by his pre¬ 
 tensions to be the Messiah, which they cast in his teeth with 
 
24 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 bitter disdainfulness. If I spoke of myself, he answered, your 
 accusations had been lawful. “ He that speaketh of himself 
 seeketh his own glory : but he that seeketh the glory of God 
 who sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in 
 him.” 1 He speaks only that which God inspires in him ; he 
 does only that which God commands him. 
 
 “Ye accuse me of transgressing the Law. And yet, this 
 very Law that Moses gave you, there is none of you that 
 keepeth. Why go ye about to kill me?” Jesus had not 
 forgotten the healing of the paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda, 
 during his last sojourn at Jerusalem, and the threats of death 
 which he had heard on that occasion from the lips of the 
 emissaries of the Sanhedrin. 2 The people who pressed on him 
 were doubtless ignorant of this fact and of these threats ; at 
 the word death, they believed that Jesus accused them of 
 attempting his life. “ Thou art mad,” they cried, “ and the 
 devil distracts thee. Who goeth about to slay thee ? ” 
 
 Jesus resumed his justification : “ I have done but one 
 work, in healing the palsied man, and ye all marvel that I 
 have broken the sabbath. Do ye not break the sabbath ? 
 Moses gave circumcision, not because it is of Moses but of the 
 Fathers, and ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man. If a 
 man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the Law of 
 Moses should not be broken, are ye angry at me that I have 
 made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day ? ” 
 
 Here the circumcision, the great rite of the Jews which had 
 the religious result of incorporating the circumcised in the 
 people of the covenant, is compared by Jesus with work 
 which heals man wholly, body and soul. “If the law of the 
 sabbath,” he concluded, “ yielded to the one, how much more 
 should it yield to the other. And if ye circumcise, without 
 fear of breaking the Law, how much more have I the right to 
 perform my work and to heal.” He appeals from legality to 
 
 1 John vii. 18, etc. 
 
 a See above, Book II., ch. vii. 
 
TIIE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 25 
 
 morality, from outward observance to inward virtue, from the 
 letter to the spirit, from the Law to the conscience. “Judge 
 not,” said he, “ according to the appearance, but judge 
 righteous judgment.” 
 
 There could be no ordinance against goodness. Holi¬ 
 ness and goodness are for every day and for every hour ; 
 there is no sabbath for them ; for they are above all. 
 
 This public justification before the people assembled 
 under the porches of the Temple, and in presence of the 
 doctors who had so bitterly accused him, shows with what 
 aptness Jesus could avail himself of the Scriptures, the 
 authority of Moses, and the customs, to confound his adver¬ 
 saries ; and with what power and wisdom he appealed 
 from them to conscience and justice, which only need be 
 named to wake an echo in the heart of the people. 
 
 Hearing him speak with such freedom and with such 
 power, certain of the inhabitants of Jerusalem were amazed. 
 They had recognised Jesus, and they knew that the priestly 
 authorities treated him as a blasphemer, and had ever since 
 the festival of Purim sought to put him to death. “ Is not 
 this he,” they cried, “ whom they seek to kill ? But, lo, he 
 speaketh boldly, and they say nothing to him.” The teaching 
 of Jesus does not seem to have taken possession of their 
 minds. True to their habits of servility, they ask, “Do the 
 rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?” If the 
 masters would but speak, it may be that they would listen to 
 them willingly. We see, by this sign, that their conscience 
 was neither touched nor persuaded. 
 
 When the truth shines forth, it does not concern us to 
 know whether it is received by others around us ; the freed 
 and enlightened soul will obey and uphold it before the eyes 
 of all. But to these Jews of Jerusalem such spontaneity 
 and independence were unknown. Subject as they were to 
 their teachers, the yoke of their prejudices was heavy upon 
 
26 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 them ; and it was by their prejudices that they measured 
 Jesus and his doctrine. “ Howbeit we know this man whence 
 he is; but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he 
 is.” It was thus that they judged him. 
 
 All these minute details, reported by St. John, testify to 
 the truthfulness of his narrative. According to the general 
 opinion at this period the origin of the Messiah was to be 
 utterly obscure. “ Three things,” says a proverb of the 
 rabbis, “come suddenly : the Messiah, the Forerunner, and 
 the Scorpion.” 1 They taught that he should be born at 
 Bethlehem, disappear into obscurity and reveal himself sud¬ 
 denly, no one knew where or how. The second Redeemer 
 would be like the first one, Moses : he would be shown at 
 first, then revealed suddenly. 2 
 
 The Pharisees did not fail to use against Jesus this 
 popular sophism, recalling with scorn his Nazarene origin, 
 terming his patents poor and his town contemptible, and 
 blinding the people with the errors of their teaching. All 
 the wisdom of Jesus, all his miracles and his power, were 
 destined to be shattered against idle dreams. 
 
 He grew indignant, and, in order to combat the errors of 
 the people upon which his enemies knew how to play so 
 skilfully, began to explain the divine origin of his mission 
 and his person. As he had asserted that his doctrine came 
 directly from God, so he now asserted with still greater 
 insistance that from thence proceeded his mission and 
 his very being. He lifted up his voice ; he cried, 3 says the 
 Evangelist, as though the better to express the fulness of 
 the Spirit which animated him. 
 
 “Ye both know me,” he cried, “and ye know whence I 
 am ; and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me 
 is true, whom ye know not. But I know him : for I am from 
 him,” and he it is on whose mission I am come. 
 
 1 Sanhedr fol. 97. 
 
 2 Midr. Sohar , fol. 16. 
 
 3 John vii. 28. 
 
BOSTON COLLEGE LI BRAKY 
 
 CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. 
 
 THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 27 
 
 That Jesus was sent from God and that thus his mission 
 was divine, that he proceeded from God and that thus his 
 very being and his person were equal with God, that was 
 the fundamental point in question ; upon that depended 
 the question of life or death. If it were resolved in the 
 affirmative, he became the only leader to follow, the only 
 master to hear, the true Saviour and the sole liberator ; the 
 priesthood itself had only to bend before him and submit to 
 him in faith. But if it were resolved in the negative, he 
 passed, in the eyes of the religious authority, as a false 
 prophet, he was liable to the rigours of the Sanhedrin, and in 
 peril of death at the hands of the people, according to the 
 
 Law. 
 
 We can only divine with what firmness and authority, 
 with what power of assertion and persuasive eloquence, with 
 what earnest desire to save these obstinate spirits, these 
 hardened souls, he bare witness unto the truth. He did 
 not repel the objection of his seemingly mean origin ; 
 he seems even to have accepted willingly before the people 
 his despised rank. Yes, he was indeed the Nazarene, the 
 Galilaean, the son of the carpenter, as they termed him. 
 And yet, he added, if I have left Nazareth and Galilee, and 
 the obscure life of an artizan, it is not, as with so many 
 others, of my own accord. “ God himself,” the true God, 
 who deceives not, “ has sent me.” For this reason my origin 
 is a mystery, it is unknown to you, for it is beyond the 
 understanding of every creature. 
 
 “ Ye know not whence I am, for ye know not him that 
 sent me.” 
 
 This last statement must have wounded to the quick 
 those Pharisees who considered themselves the favourites of 
 God, the guardians of his word, and the faithful observers of 
 his commandments; but nothing could stop the utterance 
 of the truth from the lips of Jesus. He is determined to 
 
28 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 unmask the false religion which blocks the way to belief in 
 himself; and not death itself could hinder him. 
 
 At the same time that he reproached the Jews for 
 their ignorance of God, he opened his whole soul and gave 
 utterance to his consciousness of divinity. “ Whom ye 
 know not, I know ; for I am from him, and he hath sent me.” 
 
 It was thus that Jesus in language for which we find no 
 equivalent in any other prophet, revealed and asserted his 
 Messiahship. Behind the Son of Man, humble and con¬ 
 temned, he shows the Son of God, sharing the essence of his 
 Father, coexistent with him, and sent by him in time. If he 
 knows his Father, it is because he is one with him ; if he is 
 his Messenger, he has been initiated by him into all his 
 wishes and designs. The true nature of the Messiah now 
 shines forth, a thing far higher than what the Jews conceived, 
 such as it had been foreseen dimly by the prophets, such as 
 it was realized in Jesus. 
 
 At length the multitude was moved. A great number 
 rallied to the faith ; we hear them say : “ When Messiah 
 cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man 
 hath done ? ” These words imply a movement favourable to 
 Jesus. This disquieted the Pharisees who were mingled in 
 the crowd ; and with zealous hatred they assembled to warn 
 the chief priests who, as members of the sacerdotal families, 
 formed the ruling party in the Sanhedrin. 
 
 They began with one accord by sending officers who 
 should keep a closer watch on Jesus, and profit by the first 
 favourable moment to seize and bring him before the Great 
 Council. Shocked and offended as they were by his teach¬ 
 ing, what they dreaded and feared was not so much his 
 teaching as his influence upon the people. 
 
 Jesus saw in this hostile measure directed against him, 
 the beginning of the persecution and the approach of death. 
 The vision moved him, and forced from him the touching 
 
 O 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 29 
 
 but solemn, calm but mournful words : “Yet a little while I 
 am with you, and then I go unto him that sent me.” And 
 he invited them all to profit by the few days that remained to 
 them. It is the last hour of the divine appeal ; in Jesus was 
 the final appeal of God. 
 
 “Ye shall seek me,” he said, “and shall not find me ; and 
 where I am, thither ye cannot come.” Under this veiled 
 language he signified the exaltation of his manhood in the 
 glory of the Father, and the happy end to which he would 
 conduct those who should have faith in him. It is to the 
 Father that Israel must be gathered by its liberator, but on 
 the condition that it shall follow him. 
 
 These moving and menacing exhortations, far from 
 bending the obstinacy of the Jews, provoked by their 
 enigmatical character the irony of the Sadducees. “ Whither 
 will he go,” they said, “ that we shall not find him ? Will 
 he go unto the dispersed among the Greeks and teach the 
 Gentiles ? ” And they passed on, repeating the words of 
 Jesus, in which their blind hearts could discover no meaning. 
 
 Half a century later, when John described this scene, he 
 saw him whom Jerusalem and the chiefs of the nation had 
 rejected invading by his Spirit the Hellenic world, those de¬ 
 spised Greeks, those Gentiles of whom the fanatical Jews 
 spoke only with contempt; and the doctrine of Jesus rang 
 in all the synagogues of dispersed Israel. Events of God’s 
 bringing have their avenging irony. 
 
 On the last day of the festival, the Jews, according to the 
 ritual, left their booths of branches, went in procession to the 
 Temple, and from thence returned to their dwellings, 1 to 
 celebrate the entrance of their fathers into the promised land. 
 This day was of a calmer and more religious character. It 
 was sanctified by a repose as of the Sabbath. All the great 
 
 1 Maimon., Succah , fol. 48, 55* 
 
/■ - 
 
 30 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 memories of their national history revived in the minds of 
 the people at the reading of the Book of the Law, and at 
 the sight of the rites meant to symbolize them. 
 
 The water which ran in torrents from the rock, at the 
 command of Moses, and which quenched the thirst of Israel 
 in a desert country, was one of those memories so dear to the 
 people. Every morning of the sacred week, after the sacrifice 
 of the lamb, all the people, conducted by a priest, went down 
 from the Temple to the foot of Ophel, to the spring of Siloah. 
 The priest filled a cruise of gold and brought it into the court 
 of the Temple, amid the joyous cries of the people, to the 
 sound of trumpets and cymbals. He mounted the altar of 
 burnt-offering. “ Raise thy hand,” cried the people, and he 
 turned towards the west and emptied the cruise of gold. 
 During the libation the people chanted : “With joy shall ye 
 drink water out of the wells of salvation ; ” 1 words which 
 announced the reign of the Messiah. 
 
 Jesus took occasion of this solemn memorial of the great 
 Mosaic miracle, to proclaim his real nature. He rose to his 
 full stature, in the midst of the crowd, and spoke in a loud 
 voice. The people devoured by thirst in the desert, was to 
 him the symbol of mankind, consumed by unsatisfied aspira¬ 
 tions towards truth, justice, and salvation. “ If any man 
 thirst,” he cried, “ let him come unto me and drink.” “ He 
 that believeth on me” shall be like the rock of which Scripture 
 speaks, “ out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” 
 Jesus is the true rock ; from him flows in streams the living 
 water which quenches the thirst of the soul, the Spirit of truth, 
 justice, and love. How he developed this theme, with what 
 force he made those who surrounded him feel the hunger and 
 thirst of justice, with what persuasive energy he revealed him¬ 
 self as the mysterious rock of Horeb, whose sides opened to 
 quench the thirst of a whole people, they only can imagine 
 
 1 Is. xii. 3. 
 
TIIE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 31 
 
 who hear in their hearts his thrilling voice, and who, accord¬ 
 ing to his promise, see flowing from their bosom the rivers of 
 living water. 
 
 The words of the Master had made a stir among the 
 crowd. Some were touched and captivated and enlightened, 
 and said : “ This is the Prophet.” Others : “ This is the 
 Messiah.” Some, entrenching themselves behind the vaunted 
 orthodoxy of their ideas resisted. “ Nay,” they replied 
 “shall Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the Scripture 
 said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of 
 the town of Bethlehem, where David was ? ” The people 
 were divided between the most contrary opinions. Some even, 
 carried away by their bigotry, would have seized him as a 
 blasphemer, but no man laid hands upon him. 
 
 At this moment a stormy meeting was being held in the 
 hall of the Great Council. The leading members were in 
 course of deliberating about the teaching of Jesus and his in¬ 
 fluence upon the people, when the officers who had been sent 
 against him the evening before, came to give an account of their 
 mission. The chief priests said to them, “ Why have ye not 
 brought him ? ” They answered, “ Never man spake like this 
 man.” Clearly the guards had submitted, like the people, to 
 the superiority of Jesus ; they had felt themselves disarmed 
 in his presence; the authority of their masters had given 
 way before the irresistible appeal of his eloquence and his 
 gentleness. 
 
 The Pharisees indignantly reproached the officers with their 
 faithlessness and want of discipline. “ Are ye also deceived ? 
 Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him ?” 
 These despots would not admit that anyone could think or 
 act otherwise than they; the lightest wish for independence 
 seemed to them impiety. They were exasperated by the 
 attraction of the people towards Jesus. “ This people, that 
 knoweth not the Law, is cursed,” they said, with scorn. 
 Nothing can equal the insolent pride, the blindness and the 
 
n 9 
 
 j 2 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 tyranny of autocrats who abuse religious authority to impose 
 on others their own errors and hatreds. 
 
 While they debated, condemning, reproving, and cursing 
 Jesus in the name of their sacred and infallible learning, a 
 defender rose up in the midst of these fanatics. It was Nico- 
 demus, that member of the Sanhedrin, that rabbi who had come 
 to Jesus by night to question him . 1 The interview had borne 
 its fruits in his truthful soul. His faith in God’s Messenger 
 had conquered his timidity and reserve, and now inspired him 
 in full Council with the open and firm words of justice. He 
 recalled his colleagues to respect for the Law : “ Doth our 
 Law judge any man before it hear him, and know what he 
 doeth ? ” This appeal to honesty served only to add to the 
 exasperation of the assembly. They insulted Nicodemus, they 
 treated him as a Galilaean, they threw the Scriptures in his 
 teeth. “Art thou also of Galilee?” said the most excited; 
 “ search and look, for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.” The 
 Pharisees deceived themselves, knowingly perhaps. In their 
 haste they forgot that Jonah was of Galilaean origin ; but, in 
 spite of Jonah, Galilee remained a country despised in their 
 eyes. Yet, by the testimony of Isaiah , 2 it was the land predes¬ 
 tined to receive the preaching of the Messiah. The passionate 
 are ever the same ; instead of calmly replying, they are carried 
 away to fury, and shut their eyes even to evidence itself. 
 
 The assembly separated without coming to any decision. 
 The enterprises of hatred need time to come to maturity. 
 Jesus profited by this delay, ordained of God, to continue, 
 with increasing vigour in the face of his enemies, his mission, 
 now growing day by day more dangerous. 
 
 On the last evening of the festival, while all were going 
 back to their houses, he set out towards the Mount of Olives. 
 He loved this tranquil spot, where he reposed, in prayer, from 
 
 1 See Book II., ch. v. 
 
 2 Is. viii. 23; ix. 1. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 33 
 
 his daily labour. The city lay spread before him at his feet, 
 and he must often have wept over it. 
 
 Early in the morning he returned to the Temple. Al¬ 
 though the solemnities of the Feast of Tabernacles were over, 
 the people ran in crowds to him under the Porch ; and he sat 
 to teach them. He was in the gallery of the Treasury, which 
 surrounded the Court of the Women , 1 when the Scribes and 
 Pharisees brought to him a woman taken in adultery . 2 She 
 was placed in the midst of a circle which was formed before 
 Jesus , 3 and the Pharisees put to the Master this insidious 
 question : “ This woman was taken in adultery, in the very 
 act. Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should 
 be stoned : but what sayest thou ? ” 
 
 The trap was cleverly set. If Jesus replied, “Stone her,” 
 they could accuse him, before Pilate, of encroaching upon 
 Roman authority, which, in all conquered provinces, reserved 
 to itself the right of life and death ; and they could raise the 
 people against the inexorable harshness of his doctrine. If 
 he replied, “ Stone her not,” they would cite Moses against 
 him, decry him in popular opinion, and accuse him before the 
 Sanhedrin as a false Messiah. The fact that the Law had 
 fallen into disuse would not shelter him : for the Messiah was 
 to come to uphold the Law and re-establish its authority. 
 
 Jesus showed himself indifferent : he bent down, and with 
 his finger began to trace letters upon the ground. Those who 
 had put the question to him renewed their enquiry. He lifted 
 himself up: “ He that is without sin among you,” he said, 
 
 1 See the Plan of the Temple. 
 
 2 John viii. I, etc. 
 
 8 In the time of Jesus, the law by which culprits were put to death for 
 this offence had fallen into abeyance, and accused persons were no 
 longer made to drink bitter waters ; this change is to be accounted for 
 by a greater moral laxity. To understand the degree of degradation and 
 corruption to which the nation had fallen, even among those who called 
 themselves the Zealots, we must turn to the pages of Josephus ( D . /., 
 iv. io, io), an authority far removed from the suspicion of over-severity 
 towards his co-religionists. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 “ let him cast the first stone.” And again he stooped down 
 and wrote upon the ground. 
 
 Jesus had unmasked the plot of his enemies ; from the 
 domain of law where they had placed him, he rose to the' 
 superior domain of morality. He did not set himself up 
 in judgment of the Law ; he assumed a place higher still. 
 As the true Master and guide of the conscience, he reminded 
 these impostors that, although a judge may in his office con¬ 
 demn and judge, in spite of his personal faults, a sinner has 
 no right to take upon himself to execute the justice of God. 
 
 The words, “ Let him that is without sin, cast the first 
 stone,” have remained the formula which condemns all those 
 false clamourers for justice who are inexorable against sinners 
 and always ready to stone others, when they ought rather to 
 condemn themselves. Jesus put his enemies in the dilemma 
 of confessing themselves guilty, and, consequently, unfitted to 
 act with rigour; ur, if they who plumed themselves on their 
 justice, should not act with rigour, of revealing the faintness 
 of their zeal for the Law. 
 
 The Scribes and Pharisees, seeing themselves unmasked 
 and caught in a snare, stole out prudently, indeed cowardly, 
 one after the other, from the first to the last, beginning with 
 the eldest. 
 
 Jesus remained alone with the woman standing before him. 
 Wretchedness and goodness were face to face. Jesus, who was 
 still bending down, raised himself, but refrained from looking 
 upon her, as though to spare her shame. "Woman,” said he, 
 “ where are those thine accusers ? Hath no one condemned 
 thee ? ” “ No man, Lord.” “ Neither do I condemn thee. 
 
 Go, and sin no more.” 
 
 He, the only one who had the right to punish and to raise the 
 stone, spares and pardons, leaving the sinner time to repent and 
 to believe. Kindness is to be the law of the new Kingdom; 
 justice is henceforth conquered by mercy. No master has 
 
 • • t .• • r • 1 
 
 been so inexorable as Jesus towards sin, and none so gracious 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 towards the sinner. Thanks to him, man forgets his eager¬ 
 ness to condemn and judge his brethren ; before he is severe 
 on another, he thinks of his own faults, and instead of 
 crushing him, he strikes his own breast. 
 
 This episode, which critics, more or less prejudiced against 
 the fourth Evangelist, have wrongly suspected of doubtful 
 authenticity , 1 helps us to understand this stormy period of 
 the ministry of Jesus in Jerusalem. It shows with what 
 obstinacy his adversaries pursued him, and what perfidious 
 stratagems the Rabbinical party planned to compromise him. 
 They were irritated and annoyed by the popularity of Jesus, 
 and sought by every means in their power to rob him of it. 
 This was the hidden aim of their question concerning the 
 woman taken in adultery ; but the design recoiled harmlessly 
 before the unshaken firmness and infallible wisdom of the 
 Master. 
 
 From this time forward, he continued his teaching, throw¬ 
 ing into his words ever more and more directness and force ; 
 indeed, it was at Jerusalem, in presence of the religious 
 teachers, who believed themselves initiated into every mystery 
 of the Law and the Prophets, into every secret of the 
 Book, that they attained their fullest power. It was no 
 longer from nature and daily life that he borrowed his images, 
 it was on Scripture itself, upon the knowledge of the Law and 
 the national history, that he relied to declare what he was, 
 and what he was to accomplish. 
 
 t ' * * 
 
 The rabbis taught that the Messiah was the Light, and that 
 glory dwelt in him . 2 Jesus alluded to this doctrine in his new 
 discourses, when he asserted that he was the true pillar of fire, 
 
 * , ... .. S ' ' \ f 
 
 1 See Appendix O : The Woman taken in Adultery. 
 
 1 Echarabb., fol. 68, 4; Beresch. rabb. y fol. 3, 4. 
 
 D—2 
 
36 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 and the Light of the world. Israel symbolizes all mankind, 
 the luminous cloud is the emblem of the Messiah. 
 
 “ I am the light of the world ,” 1 he said : “ he that 
 
 followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the 
 
 light of life.” The pillar of fire guided Israel by night across 
 
 the desert and led them to the promised land ; Jesus will 
 
 guide mankind through the darkness in which we are straying ; 
 
 show us that the Father awaits us in his Kingdom, and 
 
 will mark out our course for us. We have but to follow him, 
 
 if we would escape the errors which blind the reason, and the 
 
 storms which the passions heap upon us. This Light of life, 
 
 which he promises to those who follow him, is no dead science, 
 
 abstract and sterile, it is a living and fruitful glory, which 
 
 pervades the soul which faith has placed in communion with 
 
 God. It is not reserved for a privileged race, it is the 
 
 inheritance of all who believe and love ; it does not enlighten 
 
 us on the things of time, it initiates us into the things of 
 
 eternity, into the mystery of God and his ineffable life, veiled 
 
 from every human eye ; it teaches us the name of the Father, 
 
 • 
 
 and shows us that, in spite of our helpless and corrupt nature, 
 we are called to become his children ; it makes us acquainted 
 with the infinite power of the Spirit which spreads through us 
 to transform us into the image of the Father, and to raise us 
 up to him. Every other light, beside that, is but darkness ; 
 he who possesses it is in the light and life ; he who possesses it 
 not, in nothingness and the shadow of death. 
 
 He who had preached, in Galilee, the Sermon on the Mount, 
 proclaimed the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, eclipsed by 
 his doctrine all the masters and the prophets, could say at 
 Jerusalem, before the people and the hierarchy: “I am the 
 Light of the world.” 
 
 No one has possessed, like Jesus, the power of affirmation. 
 
 •« . 
 
 1 John viii. 12. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 37 
 
 His teaching surpasses our wretched formulas, and our poor 
 human logic cannot measure it by what we call the first 
 principles of evidence. But what man cannot see, he can believe; 
 and the moral authority of Jesus is worthy of all confidence. 
 When once we have submitted to him, we prove within our¬ 
 selves without delay the truth of his words. The soul lives 
 by it; and no rational proof will ever give us the certitude 
 which our inward feeling brings us. Human learning speaks 
 to the mind, the religious teaching of Jesus appeals to the 
 conscience ; the first justifies itself by logical arguments, the 
 second is essentially concerned with action, and attests its 
 truth by the virtues and the peace which it imparts. More¬ 
 over, Jesus does not prove, does not discuss ; if he does, it is 
 in condescension, not so much in order to reveal his doctrine 
 as to refute his enemies, discover their hypocrisy, dissipate 
 their errors, and sometimes to confound their obstinacy. 
 
 In full consciousness of his divine personality, of his 
 substantial union with the Father, he appears as the witness 
 of the truth ; 1 he enunciates and affirms this truth, presenting 
 it under a thousand appropriate fornjs. From thence come 
 the calm, the beauty, and transcendency of his evidence. 
 Nothing can ever equal the tranquil and true expression of 
 the man who sees and knows, who is sincere and good, who 
 will neither deceive nor be deceived ; and what is such a man 
 compared to him who saw the Father and knew him, who heard 
 and obeyed him, who was neither exalted nor cast down, and 
 who came to give to all the living light and the peace of the 
 Spirit. 
 
 The Pharisees, however, could not endure that he should 
 arrogate to himself the title and the glory of the Messiah. 
 On hearing him speak thus of himself, they could not contain 
 themselves ; and thinking to overthrow the teaching of Jesus 
 from its foundations, they said to him: “ Thou bearest 
 
 i John viii. 13. 
 
38 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 record of thyself; thy record is not true.” 1 Jesus, in a first 
 and decisive encounter with the same doctors, sent by the 
 Sanhedrin, had already proved his title to credibility, and 
 justified his mission, not only by the authority of John, uni¬ 
 versally recognised as a prophet, but also by his divine works, 
 by the voice of his Father, and by the Scriptures. He did 
 not renew his defence. He met the blind obstinacy of his 
 enemies with the increasing firmness of his affirmations, and, 
 formulating the truth with a power born of the consciousness 
 of his own personality, he took the offensive. “ Do not deceive 
 yourselves,” he said to them : “ Though I bear record of my¬ 
 
 self, yet my record is true ; for I know whence I come and 
 whither I go.” 2 Then, remembering one of their legal usages, 3 
 by virtue of which they refused to accept the witness of un¬ 
 known persons, he showed them the hidden cause which pre¬ 
 vented them from believing in his assertions. “ But ye cannot 
 tell whence I come and whither I go ; for ye judge after the 
 flesh.” 
 
 The Jews would only listen to their learned traditions, 
 their false wisdom, their political and religious prejudices ; 
 they saw in Jesus only the enemy of these traditions and the 
 destroyer of this false learning, and these prejudices ; how, 
 then, should they know him ? Rather than renounce what 
 constituted their wisdom and their glory, they traduced the 
 Prophet, denied his mission, and, attributing to the evil spirit 
 his power and his miracles, they took refuge in the darkness 
 of hatred. That is the perpetual history of criticism and 
 philosophy in the presence of Jesus : it is obstinate in 
 wishing to measure it by the standard of what it calls its 
 principles, and it passes on powerless before his presence, 
 condemned to misunderstand and to depreciate him, always 
 eager to criticize, and always incapable of understanding. 
 
 1 There was a legal axiom among the rabbis : No man can be a witness 
 in his own cause. 
 
 2 John viii. 14. 
 
 3 Sanhed, C., 5, hal, 3, 4. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 39 
 
 To tliis wrathful pride of the carnal man, who judges what 
 is far above him, and who depreciates what is beyond him, 
 Jesus replies by a word of infinite gentleness: “I judge no 
 man.” He had, that very morning, given proof of this by 
 his attitude towards the woman taken in adultery. At his 
 first coming, the function of the Messiah is not to judge and 
 condemn, but to offer to all men salvation and pardon ; those 
 who reject him, judge and condemn themselves by showing 
 themselves unworthy of the divine gift. 
 
 “And yet,” he added, “if I judge, if I bear witness, my 
 judgment is true, my witness is of avail.” To the judgment of 
 man, subject as he is to error, incompetent in so many things, 
 vain and superficial, tainted with ignorance and passion, always 
 weak and narrow, Jesus opposes his own judgment. He pro¬ 
 claims it true, in the full sense of the word ; he rises above 
 wretched and fallible mankind; and he explains the reason : 
 
 “ I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.” A 
 tremendous assertion, which reveals to us the inward life of 
 Jesus. Every intelligent being is, by itself, far from the 
 Father; it knows that he exists, it is’or may be progressing 
 towards him, it aspires to know him and to love him; but it 
 does not see him, and it is not in him. Jesus is in the Father, 
 with the Father, in the unity of one and the same essence; 
 the Father and he are two equal persons. To see in Jesus 
 only the exterior man, is to judge him by appearance; we 
 must recognise further what is behind this appearance. No 
 profane eye can read it; it is the testimony of Jesus alone 
 that tells us of it, and it is the sublimity of faith to abandon 
 ourselves to this extraordinary evidence by which the Son of 
 God reveals himself to us. Whether we accept or reject him, 
 he remains no less unshaken in his witness. Always at union 
 with the Father, from whom he receives everlastingly his 
 whole being; his truth, power, beauty, perfection, and life, he 
 transmits that being to mankind in his teaching, which gives 
 us freedom, and in actions which remain the type of virtue. 
 
40 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 Then Jesus, relying, the better to convince them, upon the 
 legal doctrines of his opponents, a doctrine consecrated 
 moreover by the Law, 1 said to them : “ It is also written in 
 your law that the testimony of two men is true: I am one that 
 bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth 
 witness of me.” These are the two witnesses. 2 In thus invok¬ 
 ing the testimony of his Father, he was not only reminding his 
 hearers of the voice which, at his baptism, had publicly pro¬ 
 claimed him the well-beloved Son, and of the miracles which 
 proved the constant intervention of the Father’s power in his 
 life; he declared the inner character of his life, he again 
 affirmed that he knew himself and his mission in the light of 
 the Father who lived and spoke in him. 
 
 All these solemn declarations are without analogy in the 
 
 history of mankind. Among those who, under the title of 
 
 prophets, messengers, inspired persons, have astonished their 
 
 contemporaries, attracted the people, awakened consciences, 
 
 founded empires or religions, we shall find no one who has 
 
 • 
 
 spoken in this way. None have ever had the audacity 
 to use such language, which remains one of the unfathom¬ 
 able mysteries of Jesus. Faith alone can penetrate it, and 
 it has a meaning only to the mind of faith. If Jesus is 
 the Son of God, his every word is brilliant; if he is not, it all 
 is madness. Who shall dare to treat him as a madman ? 
 
 The Jews cast this insult against him ; but history has kept 
 
 Jesus at the height of God himself, where he took his place. 
 This revelation, which made such a stir in the Temple Courts, 
 provoked among those who heard him only murmuring, 
 anger, and irony ; but it has been stronger than that 
 
 murmuring, anger, and irony ; it has created a new 
 
 mankind. 
 
 “Where is thy Father?” said the Pharisees stupidly to 
 
 1 Deut. xvii. 6 ; xix. 15. 
 a John viii. 17, 18. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 41 
 
 him ; a witness must be seen and heard. “ If ye had known 
 me, ye had known my Father ; but ye know neither me nor 
 my Father,” 1 was the answer of Jesus. Jesus is the sole 
 revealer of God ; what he taught is the word of the Father ; 
 what he did is the work of his goodness ; his virtues are the 
 holiness of the Father; his mission, as he understands it, is 
 the will of the Father. But the blind Pharisees saw nothing of 
 all that he manifested of himself, and they hardened them¬ 
 selves in their obstinacy. 
 
 It is easy to perceive the strength of the opposition which 
 such discourses must have raised in the portion of the people 
 which was slavishly obedient to authority, in the leaders of 
 party and school, and above all in the priesthood. Authority 
 felt itself menaced, the doctors supplanted, their partisans 
 frustrated in their vain dreams of national greatness ; all 
 were offended. So pure a Messianic doctrine could not be 
 accepted except by upright consciences and sincere hearts. 
 Hatred and jealousy brooded and murmured, breaking out 
 only in insulting and violent words, and inspiring as yet no 
 measure of repression. No man, says the Evangelist, laid a 
 hand on him ; for his hour was not yet come. They hoped 
 that the movement would die out of itself; on the contrary, 
 it was about to increase, and its opponents were to be 
 reduced to this dilemma : either to accept the Messenger of 
 God or to put him to death. 
 
 1 John viii. 19. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 NEW MESSIANIC TESTIMONIES OF JESUS. 
 
 In all national life there occur crises, from time to time, by 
 which nations are made or marred. The Feast of Tabernacles 
 in the year 29 marks such a critical moment in the history of 
 the Jewish people. The Messiah whom they had awaited for 
 so many centuries was among them, in his capital, and at his 
 Temple. He spoke to the people, he called them, he asserted 
 himself. Was he to be welcomed or disowned, rejected or met 
 with acclamation ? The future of Israel hung on ’ this 
 alternative. If they received their Messiah, they would not- 
 indeed save their nationality, whose mission would have been 
 fulfilled, but they would have accomplished the most glorious 
 of destinies ; after having been the prophet of God and of his 
 unity, they would become the apostle of the Gospel; but if not, 
 if they remained wrapped obstinately in the narrow unity of 
 their race and of their Law, they would be rejected, in their 
 turn, by him whom they had repudiated. Nothing remains 
 to them then in this world but to drag out an inglorious 
 existence, lost in the midst of nations who have rallied to the 
 unity of the Kingdom of God, suspected by all, restless, 
 always to be deceived in vain dreams of salvation, and yet 
 incapable of being saved, since they have disowned their only 
 Saviour. 
 
 Jesus was fully conscious of this solemn crisis. Lie saw in it 
 another more universal and more profound, the crisis of the 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 43 
 
 souls of humanity. In manifesting himself to his people, he 
 spoke to mankind. He saw not only Israel and the Temple, 
 but behind them the soul and the human race, and hence his 
 discourses were boundless in their range. His zeal to convert 
 the nation increased and grew in force with the opposition 
 which he encountered. Nothing could relax or discourage his 
 efforts; and yet there was a barrier opposed to him which 
 appeared immovable in the blindness of the masses, and the 
 fierce incredulity of the Pharisees and the hierarchy. 
 
 Seeing that the opposition only grew the stronger, Jesus, 
 with a sadness full of warning, showed these hardened men 
 the consequences of their want of faith. The limit of his 
 appeals was about to be reached; he was to withdraw, to 
 disappear. His coming was but a passage ; as he came from 
 the Father, so he would return to the Father. Woe to those 
 who had not understood him ! "I go my way, and ye 
 shall seek me,” he said, that is, ye shall call vainly on 
 the Saviour, and he will not answer, “ And ye shall die in 
 your sin.” 1 
 
 The great crime is to resist God; ’ those who commit 
 it, die. With his departure Christ takes life with him ; and 
 his absence brings night and death. What would we not 
 give to find him and cling to him again ! But no, he added, 
 “ whither I go, ye cannot come.” Fie was going to his 
 
 Father, and none can rise unto the Father, unless Jesus 
 
 / 
 
 draws him. The living Spirit of God is the sole force 
 which exalts our nature to the Infinite; and this Spirit is 
 only given to those who have faith in the Son of Man. The 
 history of the Jewish people is the most fearful justification of 
 the words of Jesus. The hour of the Messiah once passed, 
 Israel sought in vain for an answer to their urgent need of 
 salvation. Evil is victorious, overwhelms them, enslaves 
 and kills them; they wander in death, without ever finding 
 the way of life. 
 
 1 John viii. 21. 
 
44 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 This announcement by Jesus of his mysterious departure, 
 and the impossibility of joining him where he was going, 
 provoked the irony of the Jews, and above all of the Sadducees. 
 They affected not to understand him. “Will he kill himself?” 
 they asked, “ because he saith, Whither I go ye cannot come.” 
 Jesus, disdaining to answer these mockeries, probes the very 
 depths of their conscience, and lays bare the secret cause of 
 their intractable opposition. “Ye are from beneath,” he said 
 to them, “ I am from above; ye are of this world, I am not 
 of this world. I said therefore unto you that ye shall die in 
 your sins; for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in 
 your sins.” Below, there is nothingness, the creature; 
 above, is Being, the Father, God. Placed between these 
 two opposite poles man can turn to one or the other, 
 can raise himself to God or struggle helplessly in his own 
 nothingness. If he turns away from God he becomes a being 
 sprung from beneath, whirled about in this tempest which he 
 calls the world. His knowledge is but darkness, for he 
 knows not whence he comes nor whither he goes ; his wis¬ 
 dom and his prudence are but folly, for they mislead him far 
 away from his destiny. He is the prey of every illusion, of 
 every vanity, every infatuation, every sorrow, every tyrannical 
 impulse, selfishness, and pleasure. Revolted against the will 
 of God, he forces himself to forget him and to flee ; he would 
 fain that God were not, and not being able to annihilate him, 
 he denies him and suppresses him from his life and his 
 thoughts. 
 
 Jesus, come from the Father, is the Being from above. In 
 coming to this world he loses nothing of his divine essence, 
 he fulfils with God the mankind in which he is incarnate. 
 All that his human intelligence sees and conceives is of God, 
 all that his will asks and imposes is of God ; all that his lips 
 utter is of God ; though present in the world he is not of the 
 world, and if he meets there misunderstanding, repulse, and 
 hatred, it is from those who, instead of yielding to the divine 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 45 
 
 attraction, shut themselves up in the narrow ideas of their 
 own wilful and selfish nature. 
 
 Herein lay the motive of this keen struggle which he was 
 now sustaining against his nation. He appealed to the con¬ 
 science of all ; he is answered by false religion, vain legality, 
 the tradition of the elders, and national or individual selfishness. 
 Between the man from beneath, carnal and worldly, and him, 
 the man from above, there can be no understanding, only an 
 absolute and fatal repulsion. 
 
 Terrible as it is, the threat of punishment is destined to 
 be without effect; Jesus makes it nevertheless, and declares 
 himself as having, of himself, power against evil and against 
 death. Whoever rejects him will not escape either one or the 
 other ; in his obstinate resistance to God, that very essence 
 of sin, he will not share in the living Spirit of God, the true 
 death, the death of the soul, the death eternal. “Yes,” cried 
 he, in accents which expressed all his burning zeal, “ if ye 
 believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.” At these 
 words, “Ifye believe not that I am he,” the Pharisees inter¬ 
 rupted him. The expression of Jesus recalled the very one 
 by which Jehovah defined himself in the Old Testament, 
 summing up in the word, “ I am,” 1 his whole being. 
 
 “ Who art thou ? ” they cried. They wished, it seems, to 
 draw from Jesus the word Christ, which he had always 
 avoided up to the present, and of which they could make a 
 malicious use against him. He would pronounce it at the 
 right moment, but he was not about to submit to the insis- 
 tance of his enemies ; they could no more draw a word from 
 him by taunts, than they could make a plaything of his power 
 by their bitter and treacherous provocation. Jesus answered, 
 
 “ I am even the same that I declared unto you from the 
 beginning.” 2 
 
 Man may be deceived concerning himself; in his timidity 
 
 1 Deut. xxxiii. 39 ; Is. xliii. 10. 
 
 2 See Appendix P : Exegesis of ri]v upxfa 
 
4 6 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 or ignorance he does not assert all that he is ; in his ambition 
 of fame he asserts more than he is ; often, either deceiving or 
 being deceived, he asserts what he is not. The answer of 
 Jesus is adequate to his being: he is solely and truly all that 
 he asserts of himself. The minds in which these words meet 
 with belief are not slow in feeling and experiencing that Jesus 
 is the true temple, the living fountain which quenches all 
 thirst, the light, the heavenly bread, and the life. This sub¬ 
 jective experience of his divinity eclipses all mental certainties. 
 We are not rooted in the word of the Saviour till we verify it 
 by inward facts which never deceive. 
 
 Jesus resumed the current of his reproaches against the 
 obstinate Jews : “ I have many things,” he said, a to say and 
 judge of you, but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the 
 world those things which I have heard of him.” 1 
 
 We must notice the earnestness with which Jesus, in his 
 solemn teaching, relies upon his constant, perfect, and abso¬ 
 lute inward communion with the Father ; he comes from him, 
 he returns to him ; the Father has given him all; it is he 
 that sends and inspires him, that dictates his word and 
 orders his life. This ineffable relation constitutes the very 
 mystery of Jesus, for it implies his divine sonship, and it is 
 the source of the truth, the goodness, the power, and the 
 holiness with which his human nature overflows. 
 
 Such allusions were quite misunderstood by the Jews. 
 The novelty and sublimity of such language lent itself to 
 frequent mistakes in the minds of those who listened with a 
 reason filled with sophistries, and a heart hardened and shut 
 to all belief. Often in the crowd it was asked who was this ' 
 person whose Messenger the new Prophet declared himself to 
 be, and whom he vaguely referred to without naming. They 
 dreamed, perhaps, according to the ideas of the time, of 
 
 1 John viii. 26. 
 
TIIE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 47 
 
 some mysterious being who was to precede the Messiah and 
 with whom Jesus maintained a hidden connection ; they did 
 not understand that he spoke to them of the Father. 1 
 
 No amount of blindness and obstinacy could discourage 
 or weary him. The knowledge of his future passion did 
 not afflict him ; he even makes covert allusions to it; he 
 knows that, far from hampering his mission, it is to be the 
 starting-point of his triumph, and he does not fear to 
 announce to those who oppose and reject him to day, that 
 they shall acknowledge him to morrow. Men are terrified by 
 the impenetrable future that lies before them ; they see in it 
 the grave of their glory and the annihilation of their works ; 
 Jesus regards it with confidence, for the future is to com¬ 
 pensate him for the defeat of the moment. 
 
 “ When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye 
 know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as 
 my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. And he 
 that sent me is with me : the Father hath not left me alone ; 
 for I do always those things that please him.” 
 
 History has fully justified these prophetic words. The 
 death of the Son of Man has proved his “exaltation,” as he 
 was pleased to call it, comparing his cross to a throne. 
 When men, having spent on Jesus their anger and scorn and 
 hatred, believe they have overcome him, they will only have 
 succeeded in preparing his glory. Freed henceforth from 
 the infirmities of this lowly and sorrowful life, to which he 
 had of his own accord subjected himself, he will shine in his 
 irresistible might. It is then that the light will break forth ; 
 all eyes shall behold the Crucified exalted above the earth, and 
 the Jews themselves will acknowledge one day, at the end of 
 time, all that they now reject, the divinity of the Son of 
 Man, the truth of his teachings, and his absolute holiness. 
 
 In spite of the hostility of his hearers, the words of 
 Jesus were not always shattered against stubborn in- 
 
 1 John viii. 27. 
 
4 8 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 credulity; if he let loose the storm, he also brought peace to 
 more than one soul in this agitated crowd. “ Many,” says 
 the Evangelist, “ believed on him, as he spake these words ” ; 
 and, touched by his teaching, recognised him as the Messiah. 
 Some of the elders themselves were shaken. The power of 
 assertion, the sincerity of accent, the radiance of the soul of 
 Jesus, at last prevailed over their prejudices ; they felt that 
 the declarations of the great Prophet were not a vain boast. 
 
 He wished to prove the faith of these new believers, for 
 he felt it was superficial and weak. 
 
 “If ye continue in my word,” he said to them, “then 
 are ye my disciples indeed ; and ye shall know the truth, and 
 the truth shall make you free.” This last word raised a 
 tempest; it proves with what wisdom Jesus guarded himself 
 against the Jews, so anchored as they were to their vain 
 opinions and false ideas of the Messiah : “ We be Abraham’s 
 seed,” they replied, “ and were never in bondage to any man ; 
 how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?” The old Judaic 
 leaven was still fermenting in their minds, which appeared to 
 be opening to the faith. The mere hint of subjection offended 
 them ; and they summoned all their pride of race to repel it. 
 The misunderstanding was to be dissipated, he did not mean 
 political servitude nor civil and personal subjection, but the 
 bondage of the soul. The tone of Jesus became more 
 solemn: “ Verily, verily, I say unto you,” he replied, “who¬ 
 soever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” The Jews now 
 knew in what this deliverance consists, which popular opinion 
 ascribed as one of the glories of the Messiah. 
 
 The explanation must have shocked their minds more 
 violently still, infatuated, as they were, with their own right¬ 
 eousness. Although they boast to be the sons of Abraham, 
 they have none the less sin for their tyrant, and before the 
 Father of the race they are no better than slaves. Now the 
 position of servant is one thing, that of son another. The first 
 does not remain always in the house ; he remains there only 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 49 
 
 at the pleasure of his master, and may be expelled or sold ; 
 the second abides there always. We see here a new illustra¬ 
 tion of Jesus’ consciousness of his divine nature. Man is 
 everywhere a servant of sin ; whatever be the purity of his 
 blood and the religious law which he obeys, he is enslaved. 
 One alone is the Son, that is Jesus. He fills the house. All 
 the honour and dignity of man, born a slave, is only the 
 power to be freed ; but, for that, he must accept with the 
 word of the Son, the Spirit which speaks by that word. 
 
 Such are the truths, at once severe and consoling, which 
 he taught to this people. “If the Son, therefore,” concluded 
 he, “ shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” 1 Otherwise 
 there is no hope for them. Far from aiding in this work, and 
 strengthening themselves in the word which gives deliverance, 
 they allowed themselves once more to be overcome by their 
 prejudices. They would have welcomed a Messiah who flat¬ 
 tered them, they revolted against one who humbles their pre¬ 
 tensions ; his words took no root in them ; they returned to 
 their opposition and inveterate hatred. “Ye seek to kill 
 me,” said Jesus to them, “because my word hath no place 
 in you.” 
 
 Then, blow following upon blow, he struck at the root of 
 the stubborn pride of those children of Abraham, and showed 
 them who is their true father. You say you are the seed of 
 Abraham, Jesus said to them : “ I speak that which I have 
 seen with my Father ; and ye do that which ye have seen 
 with your father.” He seems to put them the question, “ Is 
 Abraham truly your father?” Yes, they cried, “ Abraham is 
 our father.” “If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do 
 the works of Abraham.” 2 Be like him, docile to the truth of 
 God ; 3 respect, like him, his messengers. 4 The hostility of 
 his hearers broke forth ; stung by the words of Jesus, they 
 
 1 John viii. 36. 
 
 2 John viii. 39. 
 
 3 Gen. xii. 22. 
 
 * Gen. xvi. 17. 
 
 VOL. IL 
 
 E 
 
5o 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 did not attempt to justify themselves, their offended pride 
 rankled within them, they would not listen to anything, and 
 they repeated with emphasis, “ Abraham is our father.” 
 
 “If ye were the children of Abraham,” then said Jesus to 
 them, pressing them still closely, “ ye would do the works of 
 Abraham. 
 
 “ But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the 
 truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. 
 Ye do the deeds of your father.” 
 
 The Jews, understanding that Jesus spoke to them of 
 moral scnship, cried: 
 
 “We are not born of fornication; we have one Father, 
 even God.” 
 
 “If God were your Father,” Jesus replied, “ye would love 
 me : for I proceeded and came forth from God; neither came 
 I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand 
 my speech ? even because ye cannot bear my word.” 1 
 
 The members of the same family have an accent, a 
 manner of speaking, which they recognise, because the same 
 sentiment, the same thought, inspires them alike. The stranger 
 wonders at their language, and he does not understand it 
 because he is of another spirit. Jesus is about to reveal at 
 last to those who cannot receive his doctrine, of what spirit 
 they come, and the deep-seated cause of their blindness, 
 unbelief, and their invincible opposition. It is one of the 
 severest comments that he addresses to his people. 
 
 Say not that ye are the children of Abraham; no, nor call 
 God your Father. 
 
 “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your 
 father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, 
 and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. 
 When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a 
 liar, and the father of it.” 
 
 1 John viii. 40-43. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 51 
 
 It is the whole genius of evil summed up in the hatred of 
 man and of truth. The two characteristics of Satan, hatred and 
 lying ; the hatred which kills man, and the lying which kills 
 truth in man ; are found in these hard-hearted Jews. Blinded 
 by the suggestions of Satan, the murderer and the liar, they 
 meditated already the death of Jesus, and they revolted 
 against the doctrine of God which he brought them. 
 
 He reproved them with severity: “ Because I tell you the 
 truth,” he cries, “ ye believe me not. Which of you convin- 
 ccth me of sin?” Holiness is one of the highest guarantees 
 of truth. Man possesses neither absolute truth nor absolute 
 holiness ; he is subject to error, and his reason deceives itself; 
 he is inclined to evil, and his will is defective. Jesus has 
 nothing of these two inherent weaknesses of our nature. While 
 the holiest men, the more perfect they become, are the more 
 convinced of the frailty of the spirit and the shortcomings of 
 the will, he, the Son of man, asserts that he possesses absolute 
 truth and absolute sanctity. He solemnly declares that every 
 word proceeding from his mouth comes directly from God, 
 and consequently is the pure expression of all truth ; and in 
 the face of his enemies he does not fear to hurl this defiance ; 
 “ Which of you convinceth me of sin ? ” The gage was 
 not taken up. “ And if I say the truth,” he added, “ where¬ 
 fore do ye not believe me?” Jesus will tell them the reason 
 in a few words, which unmask all the incredulity of his 
 listeners. “ He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye 
 therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.” 
 
 To be of God is to obey the attraction of the Father, 
 which draws us on towards the fulness of life, truth, and 
 eoodness. Whosoever welcomes this attraction is from God 
 and belongs to God. He will find in Jesus rest from his 
 infinite desires ; he will hear his word and understand that it 
 is of God. Whosoever withdraws from this attraction to fall 
 back upon himself, imitates Satan ; he no longer binds himself 
 to God, he loves himself and departs from the truth ; he 
 
 E—*2 
 
52 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 obeys only his own selfish desires, and takes delight in 
 his errors ; and as God is love and truth, in setting himself 
 against God, he enters into hatred and falsehood. All that 
 speaks to him of God troubles and irritates him, and all truth 
 is offensive to him. He oppresses and deceives, while Jesus 
 frees and enlightens. The actions of life are thus explained 
 by the direction taken by the soul. According as the soul 
 aspires to God, or shuts itself up in its own nothingness, it 
 believes or believes not, it loves or it hates ; it seeks truth 
 or falsehood, sacrifice or enjoyment; it devotes itself or it 
 destroys others ; it follows his messenger, the Son of God, 
 or it crucifies him. These severe reproaches, which were 
 directed against the pride of the Jews, on their most sensitive 
 point, drew from them cries of insult and scorn. They cast 
 this insult at Jesus : 
 
 “ Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a 
 devil ? ” 
 
 Jesus answered: “ I have not a devil; but I honour my 
 Father, and ye do dishonour me. And I seek not mine own 
 glory : there is one that seeketh and judgeth.” 1 
 
 “ When he was reviled,” says one of his witnesses, “ he 
 reviled not again, but committed himself to him that judgeth 
 righteously.” 2 He remained in truth and in love, and appealed, 
 with the martyr’s gentleness, to the justice of his Father. In 
 his calmness and power, instead of becoming angry, he 
 reminded his insulters of the divine benefits which he was 
 reserving for his disciples : “ Verily, verily, I say unto you, If 
 a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.” Being in 
 communion with the Spirit of God himself, he will drink of 
 its inexhaustible source divine life, and infinite truth and love ; 
 and this divine life will pervade even his mortal body, and 
 raise it again for eternity. 
 
 But Jesus cannot convince these fanatics, who are blinded 
 
 1 John viii. 50. 
 
 ■ I. Peter ii. 23. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 53 
 
 by their wicked spirit ; his clemency only exasperates them, 
 and his promises seem madness to them. They pretend to 
 distort everything that he says by giving it a material and 
 coarse meaning. They cry, “ Now we know that thou hast 
 a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets ; and thou 
 sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. 
 Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead ? 
 and the prophets are dead : whom makest thou thyself ? ” 1 
 
 Jesus answered : I follow only the will of God. “ If I 
 honour myself, my honour is nothing; it is my Father that 
 honoureth me.” 
 
 In face of these violent provocations, Jesus is not troubled. 
 What is the fury of men to him who possesses the light and 
 the power of God ? He replies by one of the most sublime 
 assertions which came from his mouth, effacing himself in 
 the glory with which his Father has enveloped him. The 
 glory of the Son of man is in his union, perfect, substantial, 
 and personal, with God. Mysterious in itself, it is explained 
 by his words, his holiness, and his miracles ; it has made of 
 Jesus the religious centre of mankind, the universal focus of 
 light, of life, and of salvation. It is the work of the Father, to 
 which Jesus refers everything, and which is thus the eternal 
 principle of his glorification. 
 
 “Ye say that he is your God,” he says, “yet ye have not 
 known him ; but I know him : and if I should say, I know 
 him not, I shall be a liar like unto you : but I know him 
 and keep his saying.” 
 
 To the self-satisfied ignorance of his enemies, Jesus opposes 
 with an absolute and tranquil certitude, the knowledge which 
 he has of his Father; and to their question, “ Art thou 
 greater than our father Abraham ? ” he replies, cutting short 
 their words : 
 
 “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he 
 saw it, and was glad.” 
 
 1 John viii. 52. 
 
54 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 This was a formal reference to his Messianic dignity. He 
 proclaims himself to be the One in whom the nations of the 
 earth should be blessed, according to the promise made to the 
 father of the faithful; this promise is realized to day, and 
 in the glory of God in which he dwells, Abraham beholds him, 
 and rejoices in him. Coarse, as ever, and commonplace, the 
 Jews, in surprise, interrupted him with contemptuous indig¬ 
 nation : 
 
 “Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen 
 Abraham ? ” Jesus answered : “ Verily, verily, I say unto you, 
 Before Abraham was, I am.” 1 
 
 Abraham has been, Jesus is. Against the historical be¬ 
 ginning of the father of the faithful, he sets the fact of his 
 personal existence, eternal, without beginning, and without 
 end. It is the unchangeable present. Such words recall the 
 cry of the Psalm : 
 
 “ Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the 
 earth and the world were made, thou art God from everlast¬ 
 ing to everlasting, world without end.” 2 
 
 These words have inspired the prologue of the Gospel 
 from which we borrow these narratives and these fragments 
 of discourse; they belong to that class which are not 
 invented, and which are explained only by madness or by 
 inspiration. They are a part of that speech of Jesus which 
 is above every human tongue, and which only believers can 
 understand. No subtlety of exegesis can weaken them or 
 render them plausible to the critics who deny the divine son- 
 ship of Jesus. His hearers took their part; they judged 
 his words blasphemy ; they could only fall at the knees of 
 the Prophet or stone him. In the fury of their false zeal 
 they took up stones to cast at him. Jesus withdrew, and, 
 followed by his disciples, went out of the Temple. 3 
 
 1 John viii. 57. 
 
 2 Psalm xc. 2. 
 
 3 John viii. 59. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE MIRACLE OF THE MAN BORN BLIND. 
 
 The roads and gateways of cities in the East are beset 
 with the blind, the crippled, and the infirm of all kinds, im¬ 
 ploring pity from the passers-by, and asking for alms in a 
 plaintive voice. The custom has not changed for centuries. 
 As Jesus was leaving the Temple, 1 he observed at one of the 
 gates one of these unfortunate people, blind from his birth. 
 “Master,” said the disciples, “who did sin, this man, or his 
 parents, that he was born blind ? ” 
 
 In religious doctrine, physical infirmity, like death, has its 
 hidden origin in sin. It would be a mistake, however, to 
 believe that the suffering of an individual has always its 
 immediate cause in a personal failing of him or of his parents. 
 Jesus corrects this prejudice, and, raising the soul of his 
 disciples to holier thoughts, he points out to them the part 
 which suffering plays in the purposes of God. 
 
 “ Neither hath this man sinned,” he said, “ nor his parents ; 
 but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.” 2 
 
 All human suffering, in the presence and under the 
 influence of Jesus, becomes transformed ; it moves him to 
 pity; he heals it sometimes, he consoles it always, and man 
 is not slow to recognise in this service the saving power of 
 God. The life of the Master is but the web woven of the 
 
 1 John ix. 
 
 2 John iy. 3. 
 
 55 
 
56 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 works of his goodness. He gave himself up to these works, 
 never missing an occasion for them, for he knew that his 
 passage on earth was short. He compared it to the day, and 
 his death was in his eyes as the night. 
 
 He said : “ I must work the works of him that sent me, 
 while it is day : the night cometh, when no man can work. 
 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 1 
 
 He was now to give them a significant proof in the case of 
 this blind man. He spat upon the earth, made clay of the 
 spittle, and spread this clay over the eyes of the patient. 
 “ Go,” said he, “ wash in the Pool of Siloam.” He went his 
 way, washed, and came back seeing. It was the Sabbath 
 day. 
 
 The Pool of Siloam 2 is situated at the foot and at the 
 south-west point of Ophel, at the meeting of the valleys of the 
 Cedron and the Gihon ; it received its waters from a spring 
 which is now called Sitti-Mariam, through a subterraneous 
 channel scooped out of the rocks of the hillside. In the days 
 of Herod the walls of Jerusalem stretched down to the pool, 
 embracing also a large part of Ophel, which is now desolate. 
 The pool is now in ruins under the open sky. Scattered 
 fragments of columns are the only remains of the old church 
 which was erected there, in early ages, to the “ Saviour 
 Illuminer.” 
 
 The sudden cure of the blind man was soon known. His 
 neighbours and those who had previously seen him as a beggar, 
 seated on the roadside or at a gateway, said to one another : 
 “ Is not this he that sat and begged ? Some said, This is 
 he; others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he.” 
 They questioned him with curiosity. “ How have thine eyes 
 be opened?” He answered: “A man that is called Jesus 
 made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go 
 to the Pool of Siloam, and wash; and I went and washed, 
 
 1 John ix. 4. 
 
 2 Cf. De Bell. Jud., vi. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 57 
 
 and I received sight. Then said they unto him, Where is 
 he? He said, I know not.” They brought him then to the 
 Pharisees, who in their turn asked him how he had received 
 his sight. He said to them, “ He put clay upon mine eyes, 
 and I washed, and do see .” 1 
 
 Confronted with this miracle, the Pharisees were divided 
 about Jesus. Some of them said, “This man is not of God, 
 for he keepeth not the Sabbath day ; ” but others said, “ How 
 can a man that is a sinner do such miracles ? ” In their 
 embarrassment they appealed to the blind man, saying, “ What 
 sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes ? ” He 
 said, “ He is a prophet.” This reply disturbed them. Fore¬ 
 seeing the effect which such a miracle was destined to pro¬ 
 duce among the multitude, they challenged its truth. In order 
 to strengthen themselves in their denial, they called the 
 parents of him that had received his sight, and asked them, 
 saying, “ Is this your son, who ye say was born blind ? How 
 then doth he now see? His parents answered them and 
 said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born 
 blind. But by what means he now seeth, we know not. And 
 who hath opened his eyes, we know not. Ask him ; he is of 
 age. Let him speak for himself.” 
 
 The reticence of the parents, in their reply, was inspired by 
 fear ; for the Jews had already decreed in secret council the 
 expulsion from the synagogue of any man who should 
 proclaim that Jesus was the Messiah. Having failed to extort 
 anything from the parents, the Pharisees next thought of in¬ 
 timidating the man who had been born blind. They called him 
 back and said to him, “ Give God the praise, we know that 
 this man is a sinner.” Obviously their aim was to induce this 
 simple soul to speak like themselves, and to outrage in the 
 name of orthodox piety and blind obedience to a tyrannical 
 authority, the man who had made him whole. But an invisible 
 power protects weak and upright hearts. “ Whether he be a 
 
 1 John. ix. io, ii. 
 
58 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I 
 was blind, I now see.” 
 
 This pertinence, this frankness of assertion, disconcerted 
 them. “ What did he to thee ? ” they asked him, “ how opened 
 he thine eyes ? ” The blind man, animated by the spirit of 
 Jesus, became conscious of his strength. He answered them, 
 “ I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore 
 would ye hear it again ? ” And he added, with a touch of 
 irony, “ Will ye also become his disciples ? Then they reviled 
 him and said, Thou art his disciple, but we are Moses’ 
 disciples, for we know that God spake unto Moses ; as for this 
 fellow, we know not whence he is.” The man answered, 
 “ Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from 
 whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. Now we 
 know that God heareth not sinners ; but if any man be a 
 worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. Since 
 the world began was it not heard that any man opened the 
 eyes of one that was born blind. If this man were not of God, 
 he could do no thing.” 
 
 The reply was unanswerable; but wounded pride and 
 malice have always as their last resort violence and calumny. 
 The Jews became violent and calumnious. They answered 
 and said unto him : “ Thou wast altogether born in sins, and 
 
 dost thou teach us ? ” And they excommunicated and cast 
 him out. Jesus heard of it, and when he had found the man, 
 he finished in him the work of his Father, and he whom 
 men unjustly rejected was welcomed by his justice and good¬ 
 ness. He said to him, “ Dost thou believe on the Son of God ? ” 
 
 “ Who is he, Lord ? ” he answered, “ that I might believe on 
 him.” And Jesus said, “Thou hast both seen him, and it is 
 he that talketh with thee.” He answered, “ Lord, I believe ; ” 
 and he fell down and worshipped him. 
 
 The Evangelist clearly takes a pleasure in narrating 
 with the most circumstantial details this instructive episode. 
 We can read between the lines of this narrative the history of 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 59 
 
 souls which find salvation and of those which persist in their 
 incredulity. The blind man is the model of the former ; the 
 Pharisees the type of the latter. 
 
 The miracles of Jesus are as clear as noonday. His 
 wonder-working powers have dazzled mankind with the 
 splendour of innumerable benefits. He has raised the 
 sick, he has restored sight to the blind, hearing to the 
 deaf, movement to the paralytic, life to the dead. Those who 
 have experienced this power declare it, and it is confirmed by 
 parents, neighbours, the whole people. Their testimony is 
 public, universal, popular ; it is accepted by sincere souls ; in 
 their uprightness they soon learn to recognise in the wonder¬ 
 worker the Messenger of God, and when the Messenger of 
 God says to them, “ I am the Messiah and the Saviour,” 
 they believe, and fall on their knees in adoration. 
 
 The Pharisees, the judges, and the cultured, surprised at 
 first by the strength of the public testimony to this marvellous 
 event, and still more by the very sight of those on whom it 
 was accomplished, began to exert the prejudiced reasoning of 
 their wisdom, their pretended learning or their infallible criti¬ 
 cism. They exclaimed that it was impossible, and that this 
 man was acting contrary to the laws, whether of their religion 
 or the recognised laws of their learning and wisdom, and from 
 these laws there was no appeal. 
 
 But the witnesses insisted : the facts were evident, and the 
 evidence of the facts bore down all opposition. The conscience 
 of the people, spontaneous and sincere, is ever ready to support 
 a fact and treat with contempt the learning which denies it. 
 Then began the embarrassment of those men of science, reason, 
 and religion, falsely so called. At all hazards the testimony 
 must be overthrown. They attempted to suborn witnesses, they 
 tried by false interpretation to distort the proofs. If the wit¬ 
 nesses and the proofs resisted falsification they had no other 
 resource but calumny and excommunication. In the name of 
 a false religion a witness maybe regarded as a blasphemer ; or 
 
6o 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 in the name of arrogant learning despised as being ignorant; 
 or in the name of a violent and relentless policy, visited with 
 ostracism and excommunication. But these victims of perse¬ 
 cution, under the reproof of the world, are known of Christ. 
 He loves their simplicity, their sincerity, their courage. He 
 leads them to the faith; he tells them who he is, and they 
 believe him. They are the elect of his Kingdom. 
 
 On one side is the blind man, the beggar, the outcast 
 from the world, excommunicated for the cause of Jesus, 
 confessing the divinity of him who opened his eyes to light 
 and his soul to faith; on the other the Pharisees, the masters 
 of knowledge, the learned in the Law and the teaching of the 
 prophets, the judges who condemn without justice, anathe¬ 
 matize him whom they should respect, resist evidence 
 and harden themselves in incredulity. Here is the per¬ 
 petual contrast which characterises the work of Jesus. The 
 Master is not troubled or astonished : he often spoke of 
 it to his disciples, seeing in it only the wise will of his Father, 
 the very law of his Messianic mission. 
 
 Now he explains himself, as he confronts the Pharisees 
 and says, “ For judgment I am come into this world, that 
 they which see not might see, and that they which see might 
 be made blind.” 
 
 The ignorant, the simple, the poor in spirit, who know not 
 and pretend not to know, these are they whom Jesus en¬ 
 lightens. So-called sages, infatuated by their learning, their 
 culture, and their systems, are convinced that they have 
 nothing to learn, even from God whom they think they 
 represent, or from his messengers, whom they despise and 
 reject by their dogmas : and these are they whom the Son of 
 God makes blind. 
 
 On hearing Jesus speak thus, certain Pharisees who were 
 there, cried out in a tone of irony, “ Are we also blind ? ” 
 The reply of Jesus was crushing in its gentleness : “ If ye 
 were blind ye should have no sin ; but now ye say, We see ; 
 therefore your sin remaineth.” 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 6 1 
 
 In spite of every obstacle, in spite of the doctors with 
 their easily roused passions and their pride of learning, in 
 spite of the hierarchy with its threats and intentions of 
 violence, the work of Jesus went on and made progress in 
 the capital. There, as elsewhere, the poorer sort were his 
 predestined followers ; he saw his flock grow larger, and he 
 looked upon himself as the shepherd. He admired those 
 simple natures who feared not to compromise themselves 
 for his sake, and to follow him despite the calumnies and 
 anathemas of their leaders. The sight of his faithful fol¬ 
 lowers moved him to tenderness, and inspired him with one 
 of his most touching parables. 
 
 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by 
 the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, 
 the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by 
 the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter 
 openeth ; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his 
 own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he 
 putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth .before them, and the 
 sheep follow him : for they know his voice. And a stranger 
 will they not follow, but will flee from him : for they know 
 not the voice of strangers .” 1 
 
 The Pharisees did not understand the allusion ; they did 
 not recognize Jesus as the shepherd, and did not understand 
 that they were themselves those strangers who came in by 
 stealth, like thieves among the flock. Jesus explained the 
 parable: 
 
 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the 
 sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and rob¬ 
 bers : but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by 
 me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in 
 and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to 
 steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might 
 
 1 John x. 1-5. 
 
62 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I 
 am the good shepherd : the good shepherd giveth his life for 
 the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, 
 whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and 
 leaveth the sheep, and fleeth : and the wolf catcheth them, 
 and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is 
 an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the good 
 shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As 
 the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I 
 lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, 
 which are not of this fold : them also I must bring, and they 
 shall hear my voice ; and there shall be one fold, and one 
 shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay 
 down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it 
 from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay 
 it down, and I have power to take it again. This command¬ 
 ment have I received of my Father.” 
 
 This parable, borrowed in its minutest details from the 
 pastoral life of the East, is one of those which set before us 
 with the greatest charm the ineffable mystery of the work 
 and of the personality of Jesus. No name designates him 
 more fitly in his gentleness than the name of shepherd. The 
 sheepfold is the people of God folded and gathered together, 
 like a chosen flock, within the enclosure and pale of the Law. 
 The door of this enclosure is the Messiah ; no entrance is 
 possible, in fact, except on the conditions of believing and 
 hoping in him. Faith in the future Saviour was the soul of 
 the ancient law ; the Jews lived only by that faith, for by it 
 alone they belonged to the holy people. All those leaders 
 who have despised him, the kings who betrayed their trusts, 
 the false prophets, the false Messiahs, the rabbis with their 
 vain traditions and materialistic worship, are only thieves 
 and robbers who scale the walls of the sacred law. Instead 
 of feeding the sheep, they are fed by them ; instead of giving 
 them life, they slaughter them ; instead of leading, they 
 
TIIE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 63 
 
 lose them. Those who expected the Messiah were already 
 inspired by the Messiah whom they longed to see ; and 
 those who, through him have come into the fold, true mes¬ 
 sengers and true believers, have found pasture and are saved. 
 
 But Jesus is not only the door, he is the shepherd ; he 
 has led his sheep far away from the narrow limits of the 
 ancient fold ; he calls them, and they hear and recognize his 
 voice ; he goes before them, leading them into new pastures 
 where they find the fulness of life ; he dies for them, and to 
 save them. Iiis fold is the Church, it is vast as the world, 
 eternal as God; to fill it, he will go among the lost of 
 mankind, where so many neglected sheep are awaiting him, 
 to call them and lead them back. These are they to whom 
 he refers when he says : “ And other sheep I have, which are 
 not of this fold : them also I must bring.” They will be 
 gathered by his own Spirit through the ministry of his 
 apostles. 
 
 He will be the pasture, and his flock will live by him ; at 
 such a cost will Jesus be indeed the shepherd. The thought 
 of death, which was always present with Jfim, expresses itself 
 here with a peculiar characteristic; he wishes us to know 
 that he dies of his own free will, and that if his enemies, who 
 are the wolves of his flock, are allowed to slay him, it is 
 because he delivers himself into their hands, and because in 
 so doing he is accomplishing the will of the Father. This 
 last mysterious discourse overflows with love; it completes 
 the series of Jesus’ teachings at Jerusalem during the Feast of 
 Tabernacles, in the year 29 and the days following. 
 
 1 
 
 The result of this apostolate has been strongly charac¬ 
 terized by the fourth Evangelist. Public opinion, shaken and 
 agitated, begins to be divided. Some see in the words of 
 the Prophet only a frenzy, a madness, an inspiration of Satan, 
 and they try to persuade the people of it: “Why do ye hearken 
 to him ? ” they say, “ he is possessed of a devil, and is 
 
64 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 mad.” Others again defend him, struck by the wisdom of 
 his discourses, and the proofs of his mission which they see 
 in his miracles : “ No,” say they, “ these are not the words of 
 him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the 
 blind? 5,1 In the past as in the present, yesterday as to-day, 
 Jesus must needs be opposed ; and, in advancing his work, 
 he appears ever more and more the great signal for division. 
 
 1 John x. 19-21. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE FIRST RETREAT OF JESUS INTO PERAEA. 
 
 JESUS, in declaring himself publicly in the Temple the Son of 
 the living God, before the authorities and the whole nation, 
 with clearness and force, without equivocation and without 
 metaphor, had accomplished one of the most necessary and at 
 the same time the most hazardous acts of his mission. In 
 order to make people believe in himself and his Messianic 
 mission, he was bound to assert himself, but in asserting 
 himself he was courting certain death. The hierarchy 
 repelled and despised him. He was nothing more in their 
 eyes but a false prophet and a blasphemer; and the Law 
 punished false prophets with death. 1 He did not wish to 
 hasten the catastrophe. Pie departed from Jerusalem, leaving 
 the town echoing with his name, and public opinion confused 
 and rent asunder by his teaching, which enlightened some 
 and blinded and offended others. 
 
 It will be remembered that on his way to the Feast of 
 Tabernacles, 2 he had, as he journeyed, sent seventy disciples 
 on a mission into the towns and villages which he himself 
 intended to visit. 3 Southern Peraea is in all probability the 
 only part of all Judaea which had not yet heard the good 
 news. 
 
 Peraea was situated on the eastern bank of the Jordan. 
 It was bounded on the west by the river itself, on the north 
 
 1 Deut. xiii. 5. 
 
 2 See above, Bk. II., ch. 2. 
 
 8 Luke x. 1, etc. 
 
 VOL. II. 65 F 
 
66 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 by the town of Pella, on the south by the fortress of 
 Machaerus, and on the west by Arabia. 1 The tribes of 
 Reuben and of Gad, and part of that of Manasseh, had 
 settled there in former days, attracted by the richness of its 
 pasture-land. In the days of Plerod it was thinly popu¬ 
 lated ; neither towns nor villages were to be seen except 
 upon the plateaux or near the banks of the Jordan. The 
 savage gorges and the steep mountain-defiles were desert. 
 After the death of Herod, Peraea formed, with Galilee, the 
 tetrarchy of Antipas. It became very prosperous under the 
 Roman power, and reckoned several important towns: 
 Pella, Gadara, Ammon-galaad, Philadelphia, Gerasa, and 
 Heshbon. All had their theatres, baths, circuses, reser¬ 
 voirs, used for mock sea-fights, walls and fortresses, and 
 were united by military roads; but for centuries past all 
 has been ruined and laid waste. Some tribes of Bedouins, 
 the Beni-Adouans, the Ama'fdans, and the Azizas, alone 
 occupy this solitude, where the old oaks are dying out, leaving 
 the earth bare and desolate. Only in spring is it covered 
 here and there with splendid harvests which constitute the 
 riches of its inhabitants, a haughty and - independent race, 
 half agricultural, half pastoral, wandering with their flocks 
 and their tents about this tranquil region. 
 
 It was to Peraea that Jesus retired, and there too the 
 seventy disciples came to rejoin him. The meeting was a 
 delight both to the Master and his servants. 2 The success of 
 the messengers had been complete and brilliant. They 
 appeared surprised and proud at the same time at the result 
 of their mission. “Lord,” said they to Jesus, “even the evil 
 spirits have submitted to us in thy name.” Jesus, knowing 
 that he was the sovereign Master of all evil spirits, and the 
 deliverer from evil, answered them : “ I saw Satan as light¬ 
 ning fall from heaven.” 
 
 1 Bell.Jud iii.2. 
 
 2 Luke x. 17, etc. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 67 
 
 The triumph of his disciples is only the prelude of his 
 own future victory; the kingdom of Satan will be destroyed; 
 and henceforward, in Jesus, the Kingdom of God begins on 
 the ruin of that kingdom. “ Fear not,” said he, in symbolic 
 language, “ I have given you power to tread upon serpents 
 and scorpions, and every power of the enemy. Neither force 
 nor fraud will prevail against you. Nothing shall harm you. 
 Nevertheless rejoice not that devils have submitted to you; 
 rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” 
 
 However glorious the function of those who labour at the 
 work of the Kingdom, of what profit is it to the labourer if he 
 is not himself a part of the Kingdom, and if his name is to be 
 blotted out from the book of God ? 
 
 The thought of his future triumph, the sight of his faithful 
 disciples, following upon those days which he had just passed 
 at Jerusalem, an object of hostility 7 , contempt, irony, ignorance, 
 and hatred, made Jesus thrill with joy. He experienced, says 
 the Evangelist, a spiritual ecstasy. He cried, " I thank thee, 
 O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid 
 these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed 
 them unto babes. Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in 
 thy sight.” 1 
 
 The will of his Father is all in all to him. It is in it that 
 he suffers and is resigned, rests and supports himself, rejoices 
 and is glad; it is in it that he lives and dies. It rules all the 
 work of salvation, whose faithful minister he is. Now the 
 will of the Father is that the mysteries of his Kingdom should 
 be concealed from the wise and from the rulers of this world, 
 and that it should be made manifest to the humble. From the 
 first hour that Jesus appeared, this will became more and 
 more dominant. In Galilee, it strengthened him; in Judaea, 
 at Jerusalem, he found it anew. This twofold experience has 
 ever wrung from him the same cry. So it will in the 
 
 1 Matt. xi. 25, 26. 
 
 F —2 
 
68 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 succession of the ages. All human greatness which esteems 
 itself above God and Christ shall be rejected ; whereas all 
 humility which abases itself before them will be welcomed. 
 Genius, power, culture, worldly fame, are nothing. The 
 Father knows only the humble and the poor in spirit ; in 
 their nothingness all the elect are equal. But let the elect 
 take heart; they will be raised from the misery in which they 
 are groaning. The Spirit of Jesus will enter into their souls ; 
 and they will find in him truth without shadow, virtue without 
 weakness, love without alloy, life without decline. 
 
 The work of the Kingdom is the work of the meek, it can 
 be spread by them alone ; in its origin as in its development it 
 bears the mark of this significant contrast : the nothingness 
 of man and the power of God. It cannot be advanced by 
 human genius, which rather hampers and impedes it, but only 
 by holiness and virtue. Virtue always implies self-abnegation, 
 and abandonment to the will of God, the sovereign power of 
 the Kingdom. Jesus knew that he was the depository of this 
 power, and he said to his disciples : “ All things are delivered 
 to me of my Father ; and no man knoweth who the Son is, 
 but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he 
 to whom the Son will reveal him.” 1 When he saw his 
 disciples gathered around him, initiated into his language and 
 his work, he loved, if they were alone together, to speak to them 
 of the joy and glory of their predestination. “ Blessed are 
 the eyes which see the things that ye see: for I tell you, that 
 many prophets and kings have desired to see those things 
 which ye see, and have not seen them ; and to hear those 
 things which ye hear, and have not heard them.” 2 These few 
 words revive for us the happy hours in which Jesus en¬ 
 veloped his disciples with the radiance of his soul, and, 
 filling them with his own cheerfulness, taught them to set 
 store by their vocation. Even if the Pharisees should scorn 
 
 1 Luke x. 22 ; Matt. xi. 25. 
 
 3 Luke x. 23, 24 ; Matt. xiii. 16, 17. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 69 
 
 and despise them, they can rejoice, for they are the privileged 
 of God, and more favoured than prophets and kings. 
 
 Authorities are silent concerning the localities which 
 Jesus visited with his disciples in Peraea. This new period of 
 travel is related to us only by the third Evangelist, with a 
 simple narration of the facts. But with this exception 
 almost everything is described with clearness and precision. 
 We see before us the multitude eager and full of enthusiasm, 
 the Pharisees hostile or defiant, crafty, arrogant, and stubborn. 
 The opposition and violence offered to Jesus at Jerusalem has 
 only increased their ill-will. His words towards them be¬ 
 come more and more severe. He will no longer spare 
 them, and lashes them without pity. They are the great 
 obstacle to his work, the stumbling-block to the meek ; and 
 his love inspires crushing anathemas against them. He 
 stands before them in the fulness of his renown ; it is no 
 longer an unknown prophet, but the Messiah who speaks. 
 
 The struggle was not slow to burst forth. After an 
 exorcism which had caused the people to wonder, the 
 Pharisees came up and renewed their attacks, as in Judaea and 
 Galilee. Some said : “ He casteth out devils through Beelze¬ 
 bub.” Others said : “ Let him show to us a sign from heaven.” 1 
 
 It seems almost as though there was an understanding 
 among the Pharisees to treat Jesus as one possessed; they 
 everywhere cast this insulting blasphemy in his teeth ; in 
 Galilee, in Judaea, in the open Temple, and again in Peraea. 
 Sectaries are always and everywhere the same ; they look 
 upon themselves as the sole and exclusive representatives of 
 truth and goodness ; whosoever opposes them is necessarily, 
 to their minds, the accomplice of Satan, of error, and of sin. 
 All that Jesus could say they were ready to call a lie ; all that 
 he could do they were ready to regard as evil. No one had been 
 pursued by them with such implacable hatred. He cast out 
 
 1 Luke xi. 14, etc. 
 
7 o 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 devils at a word, freed the oppressed from their tyranny, and 
 they saw in this holy deed only an act of Satan. He never 
 ceased to rebuke this outrage which he called blasphemy 
 against the Holy Spirit and the sin which was unpardonable 
 and eternal ; and he repels it here once more with the same 
 vehement logic, and confounds his enemies by their own 
 doctrine : If I by Beelzebub cast out devils, Satan is divided 
 against himself. “ Every kingdom divided against itself is 
 brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house 
 falleth. If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall 
 his kingdom stand ? ” The Kingdom of Satan is destroyed. 
 And that is what I came to accomplish. 
 
 And, alluding to the Jewish exorcists, 1 who made a trade 
 of casting out devils for hire, and who found nevertheless an 
 honourable welcome, he added ironically : “ And if I by 
 Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them 
 out ? Therefore they shall be your judges.” 
 
 After having thus refuted by an argument ad hominem 
 the sacrilegious hypothesis of his adversaries, Jesus ex¬ 
 plains to them, in a forcible parable, the nature of the cures 
 which he performed and the vanity of their own exorcisms : 
 “ But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the 
 Kingdom of God is come upon you. Satan is vanquished, 
 God reigns in his stead. When a strong man armed keepeth 
 his palace, his goods are in peace : but when a stronger than 
 he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from 
 him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his 
 spoils.” Jesus asserts himself as the sole conqueror of him 
 whom he mysteriously names the strong man armed, the 
 tyrant of mankind. “ He that is not with me is against me : 
 and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. When' the 
 unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry 
 places, seeking rest ; and finding none, he saith, I will return 
 unto my house whence I came out. And when he comcth, 
 
 1 Cf. Antiq. viii. 2. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 71 
 
 he findeth it swept and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketli 
 to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and 
 they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that 
 man is worse than the first.” 
 
 Jesus here lets us see into the hidden drama of the conflict 
 between the human soul and the power of Satan ; he shows 
 the sterility and impotence of whatever, apart from him, may 
 claim to set us free. Neither the efforts of our own unaided 
 will, nor the more or less superstitious practice of philosophy, 
 or vain religions, or Pharisaic piety, can aid us here. It is not 
 enough that the devil should withdraw, it is necessary that his 
 power should be bound by the only spirit which can control 
 him, the Spirit of God ; and that the Spirit of God should 
 occupy the place from whence the Evil One has been cast out. 
 If it be otherwise, the powers of evil will remain in possession ; 
 lull them to sleep for a moment, and they will wake again to 
 greater activity; cast them off for a moment, and they will 
 reappear the more imperious ; our servitude will only grow 
 the stronger, and our corruption will strengthen with servitude. 
 One being only has been revealed to the world with the ful¬ 
 ness of the Spirit of God, and that is Jesus ; and he alone, by 
 true exorcism, realizes the Kingdom of God in the conscience 
 and among mankind. 
 
 As he spoke, a cry rose from the multitude. A woman of 
 
 i 
 
 the people, one of those perhaps whom the Prophet had healed, 
 said in a loud voice : “ Blessed is the womb that bare thee, 
 and the paps which thou hast sucked.” How often was Jesus 
 thus applauded ! This testimony of an unknown woman 
 was sweeter to him than the blasphemy of the Pharisees was 
 hateful. He drew attention to the cry to exalt her who had 
 uttered it : “Yea, rather blessed are they that hear the word 
 of God and keep it.” To be the mother of Jesus implies 
 directly only a human relation ; but to hear and keep the 
 word of God implies communion with his divine Spirit. 
 
7 2 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 One single creature has been called to the crowning privilege 
 of maternity ; but every soul is called to receive the Spirit, 
 and there is more happiness in receiving the living God than 
 in giving birth to Christ. 
 
 The multitude was now gathered around the Prophet; 
 and after having confounded the Pharisees who treated him as 
 an accomplice of Satan, he set himself to unmask publicly the 
 perfidy of those who persisted in asking from him a sign from 
 heaven as a proof of his mission. Jesus had shown all the 
 Messianic signs announced by the prophets again and again. 
 Before all eyes, each more glorious than the last, they shone 
 forth at every step, at every moment, such as Isaiah had 
 described them six centuries before. But the sophistry of 
 the Pharisees, blind and disdainful as it was, either passed 
 over, or falsified them, by attributing them to the power of 
 Satan. Convinced that heaven belonged to God, and per¬ 
 suaded that Jesus was a blasphemer, they pursued him with 
 the challenge: Give us then a sign from heaven where God 
 alone is Lord, and which will prove that God is indeed 
 with thee. 1 
 
 This demand, inspired only by a thirst for the mar¬ 
 vellous, by prejudice, incredulity, and spite, made Jesus indig¬ 
 nant ; he repelled it with inflexible firmness : “ This is an evil 
 generation,” he said to the multitude ; “ they seek a sign ; and 
 there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the 
 prophet. For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so 
 shall also the Son of man be to this generation.” 2 
 
 This could point to nothing but the death and 
 resurrection of the Messiah. Here was at once a heavenly 
 and an earthly miracle prefigured by that Jonah who was 
 buried in the belly of the whale, and cast out after three 
 days upon the sea-shore. No other can be compared to it, 
 but it will only appear at God’s appointed time. It will have 
 
 1 Luke vi. 29-33. 
 
 2 Luke xi. 29-33. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 73 
 
 for its principle the ineffable love of Jesus for mankind, for 
 this love will cause his death ; and the ineffable love of the 
 Father for his Son, for this love will raise him up again. 
 The challenge of the Pharisees will then be answered ; Jesus 
 affirms it with the confidence of one for whom the future was 
 no secret, because he is the master of the future. He goes 
 further ; he makes them understand that this sign, so obsti¬ 
 nately insisted on, will not convince their blindness and 
 hatred : “ The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment 
 with the men of this generation, and condemn them : for she 
 came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom 
 of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. 
 The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this 
 generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the 
 preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.” 
 
 Moreover, was not Jesus in himself by his words, his 
 wisdom, and his virtue, by the radiant influence of his whole 
 being, the most wonderful of signs? Neither Jonah in his 
 zeal, nor Solomon in his prudence, was his equal. Why then 
 did not these Pharisees recognise him 7 It was not because 
 the light was wanting to their eyes, but because their eyes 
 could not receive the rays of that light. He said: “No man, 
 when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, 
 neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which 
 come in may see the light.” The light is himself; the Father 
 has lighted it that all mankind may see it clearly. But it is 
 necessary that our eyes should open and receive his rays. 
 “The light of the body,” he added, “is the eye ; therefore when 
 thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when 
 thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed 
 therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If 
 thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, 
 the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of 
 a candle doth give thee light.” 
 
 Jesus loved this image, and has more than once employed 
 
7 4 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 it. It sets forth, in a sweet and graphic form, one of the most 
 necessary duties : uprightness of heart, simplicity of purpose, 
 and purity of conscience. All the testimonies which reveal 
 God, and which shine from Jesus, will come in vain to the man 
 whose heart is false, whose purpose is hypocritical, and whose 
 conscience is guilty. His signs will remain dark, and his most 
 amazing miracles will prove nothing. Clear as the intellect 
 may be, it will be struck with blindness, for the light of God 
 can only penetrate a man through his heart and his con¬ 
 science ; it is the heart and the conscience that silence pre¬ 
 judice and reject the barren systems and all the egoism 
 of intellect, so clever and so obstinate in repudiating the facts 
 by which God reveals himself. 
 
 In reality, whatever we may think of the influence of the 
 ruling errors and religious perversities of the Jews, the great 
 obstacle Jesus encountered was not so much their prejudices 
 as their vices, their vanity, their self-importance, their avarice, 
 their hypocrisy, their indifference, and their scorn of 
 others. He, whose compassion was unfathomable for 
 the meek, the humble, and the sinful, felt against these 
 hypocrites and guilty ones, so cunning in masking their 
 vices, an inexorable severity. Gentleness had no further hold 
 on these hardened hearts ; but the holy anger of Jesus, in 
 lashing them, avenged at least the truth which they outraged 
 and the justice which they could not escape. 
 
 A Pharisee had begged him to take the morning meal at 
 his house. Under the invitation, as we can see by the progress 
 of the narrative, lurked a sentiment of ill-will. Jesus entered 
 without washing, and took his seat on the couch destined for 
 the guests. The Pharisee was offended, and asked him why 
 he had not made his ablutions before the meal. The Lord, 
 divining the thoughts of host and guests, began to say to them, 
 in a tone of severity, with the authority of a judge who reads 
 the conscience: “Now do ye Pharisees make clean the 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 75 
 
 outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is 
 full of ravening and wickedness. Ye fools, did not he that 
 made that which is without make that which is within also ? ” 
 By the outside is represented matter: the inward part is the 
 soul. God has created both the one and the other : the puri¬ 
 fication of the body cannot take the place of the purification 
 of the soul : it is the soul rather which sanctifies the body and 
 which must be made pure ; and the soul is only pure through 
 charity and love. He added : “ But rather give alms of such 
 things as ye have ; and, behold, all things are clean unto you.” 
 
 After having thus laid bare the great fault of the Pharisees 
 he showered anathemas upon them : “ But woe unto you, 
 Pharisees ! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, 
 and pass over judgment and the love of God : these ought ye 
 to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Woe unto you, 
 Pharisees ! for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, 
 and greetings in the markets. Woe unto you, scribes and 
 Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, 
 and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.” 
 
 The vehemence of his reproaches was so great, that a 
 doctor of the Law, a scribe, one of those professional sages who 
 had the keeping of the Scriptures and the traditions of the 
 Pharisees, interrupted him indignantly. “ Master,” he cried, 
 “ thus saying thou reproachest us also.” The only reply of 
 Jesus was to multiply and intensify his denunciations: 
 “ W r oe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye lade men with 
 burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the 
 burdens with one of your fingers. Woe unto you ! for ye 
 build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed 
 them.” 
 
 And with bitter irony unmasking the vanity of those 
 honours which they thought to confer on these holy victims, he 
 added: “Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds ot 
 your fathers : for they indeed killed them, and ye build their 
 sepulchres,” 
 
76 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 The death of the prophets recalled to Jesus his own and 
 his disciples’ persecution ; he was to be himself also a victim of 
 the same murderous fanaticism, and he prophesied it to his 
 thunder-stricken and angry auditors. He cried: “Therefore 
 also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets 
 and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute: 
 that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the 
 foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; 
 from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which 
 perished between the altar and the temple : verily I say unto 
 you, It shall be required of this generation.” 1 
 
 The greatest crime of the doctors, that which drew from 
 Jesus the last of his anathemas, was their prevarication; for 
 they hindered by it the Messianic work and turned the people 
 away from it. “ Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken 
 away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, 
 and them that were entering ye hindered.” The Scriptures 
 should have taught them the knowledge of the Kingdom, and 
 since they had reserved the monopoly of them for themselves, 
 and held the key thereof, they themselves should have been the 
 first to enter and to bring in those who were under their direc¬ 
 tions. They had been false to their mission; if the Saviour 
 has been despised and rejected, if the nation has been false to 
 its destiny, the blame rests with them; they would have lost 
 not only their own people but the whole world, if the blind¬ 
 ness and obstinacy of man could ever prevent the work of 
 God and cross his designs. There is not an upright conscience 
 but will thrill with delight at this divine voice condemning for 
 ever and without appeal the hypocritical virtue, the tyranny 
 and the malice of those false and wicked men to whom religion 
 is a mere mask, and that most sacred of authorities, religious 
 authority, a means to the deceiving, enslaving, and blinding 
 of mankind. 
 
 1 Luke xi. 49-51 ; cf. Gen. iv. 8 ; II. Chron. xxiv. 22. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 77 
 
 The Pharisees writhed under lashes of the whip of justice; 
 they began to press Jesus, to overwhelm him with all sorts of 
 questions, laying snares for him, trying to take him by surprise, 
 and to wring from him some phrase which might form the 
 basis of an accusation against him. The scene became more 
 and more violent. The people thronged around. A crowd 
 gathered about him. Jesus had to go out with his disciples. 
 On seeing them he reassured them, and showed them how 
 to stand before the storm. 1 He recommended them to 
 be prudent, and said : “ Beware ye of the leaven of the 
 
 Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” Then in calm and sweet 
 tones he called them his friends, saying: “ Be not afraid 
 
 of them that kill the body, and after that have no more 
 that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall 
 fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to 
 cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. He re¬ 
 minded them that the Father watched over them and that 
 he forgets none of his creatures, not even the sparrows which 
 are sold at two farthings. He declared unto them that even 
 the hairs of their head were numbered; that if they con¬ 
 fessed the Son of God before men, he, the Son of Man, would 
 acknowledge them in the presence of the angels of God. 
 Was not his Spirit with them ? They would be led into the 
 synagogues, before the magistrates and the men of authority, 
 but let them take no thought of anything, either of what they 
 were to say or what answers they were to give; for the 
 Holy Spirit would teach them in the same hour what they 
 should speak. 
 
 We can see that the situation was becoming more serious 
 and critical. In proportion as the catastrophe came nearer 
 and nearer, Jesus drew his disciples closer and closer to him, 
 and tried to imbue them with his own strong and tender 
 
 1 Luke xii. 1, etc. 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 , 7 * 
 
 nature. The multitude did not leave him ; and, despite the 
 hatred with which he was pursued by their leaders, they 
 listened to the Prophet’s words and yielded to his attraction. 
 He taught them on the way, roused them from the sense of 
 their misery, and showed them the path and the entrance into 
 the new Kingdom. Nothing could hinder him from his great 
 work and his mission. Time pressed, and he must hasten on. 
 
 A man of the people drawing near to ask him to order 
 his brother to share the paternal inheritance with him, he 
 answered : “ Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? *’ 
 Was the Messenger of God come into this world to occupy 
 himself with earthly interests? His destiny was a divine one ; 
 it was not the life of a day and its wretched blessings that he 
 brought, it was eternal life and the Kingdom of the Father. 
 But he knew that man is eager for enjoyment, and, instead 
 of controlling the disputes to which this eagerness gave rise, 
 he taught him to lift his thoughts above the world and learn 
 the secret of eternity. 
 
 He said to them : “ Take heed and beware of covetousness ; 
 for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things 
 which he possesseth.” For all things here on earth fly 
 from us at the very moment when we think them within 
 our grasp. On this subject he spoke to them the following 
 parable : “ The ground of a certain rich man brought forth 
 plentifully : and he thought within himself, saying, What shall 
 I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits ? 
 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my 
 barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all 
 my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my 
 soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; 
 take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto 
 him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee : 
 then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided ? 
 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich 
 toward God.” 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 79 
 
 Jesus is here speaking familiarly to his disciples as to the 
 well-beloved children of the heavenly Father, inspiring them 
 with a perfect and child-like confidence in his goodness, in 
 his ever-watchful providence, and, in his infinite bounty, he 
 would not have them be like the Gentiles, the worldly-minded, 
 restless, busy spirits, who have no Father watching over them. 
 He does not condemn a tranquil activity, but he forbids anxiety, 
 restlessness and anguish ; and he consoles them by pointing- 
 out to them the fatherly work of God so plainly shown in 
 nature : “ Consider the ravens : for they neither sow nor reap; 
 which neither have storehouse nor barn ; and God feedeth 
 them : how much more are ye better than the fowls ? Con¬ 
 sider the lilies how they grow : they toil not, they spin not; 
 and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not 
 arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothe the grass, 
 which is to day in the field, and to-morrow is cast into the 
 oven ; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith ? 
 And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, 
 
 neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the 
 
 * 
 
 nations of the world seek after : and your Father knoweth 
 that ye have need of these things.” 
 
 He would show them also the eternal object toward which 
 souls which have been freed from the tyranny of need should 
 aim : “ But rather seek ye the kingdom of God and his 
 righteousness ; and all these things shall be added unto you. 
 Fear not, little flock ; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to 
 give you the kingdom.” What has he to fear who, in spite of 
 earthly destitution, is called to reign in God ? “ Sell that ye 
 
 have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax 
 not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where 
 no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where 
 your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” 
 
 Man can only find his treasure in the created or the 
 uncreated, in that which is transient or in that which is per¬ 
 manent, on earth where all things perish, or in the heaven which 
 
So 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 is filled with God. Left alone with his load of misery, he 
 sets out burdened with all its weight towards the material, and 
 finds there only death and vanity. Jesus alone has raised him 
 toward God ; since he appeared among mankind, there has 
 grown up in the midst of it a new race, a race heroic and care¬ 
 less of this span of life, yet ready to consecrate it by toil, and 
 transfigure it by virtue, a race inwardly sustained by God, 
 and serving here its apprenticeship for eternity. 
 
 The little flock had grown stronger since the time when 
 Jesus formed it and there had been revealed to it the secret 
 of this divine glory, it had not had, nor would have, any respite 
 from the conflict. This is why he spoke as follows to his dis¬ 
 ciples : “ Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burn¬ 
 ing ; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, 
 when he will return from the wedding ; that when he cometh 
 and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed 
 are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find 
 watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, 
 and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and 
 serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or 
 come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those 
 servants.” The coming of the Master is uncertain, we must 
 always be prepared. “ And this know, that if the goodman of 
 the house had known what hour the thief would come, he 
 would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be 
 broken through. Be ye therefore ready also : for the Son of 
 man cometh at an hour when ye think not.” 1 
 
 The splendour which Jesus here foreshowed under the 
 guise of a royal festival, in which God himself would attend 
 on the guests of the Kingdom, struck the mind of Peter, 
 and he said, “ Lord, speakest thou to us, or even to all ? ” 
 Jesus made it clear that the recompense will be given to 
 
 1 Luke xii. 35, etc. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 81 
 
 all according to their faithfulness, but that a privileged lot 
 will be enjoyed by the apostles. He answered : u Who then 
 is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make 
 ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in 
 due season ? ” Is it not you, my disciples ? Jesus seems to 
 say. 11 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh 
 shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will 
 make him ruler over all that he hath. But and if that servant 
 say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin 
 to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, 
 and to be drunken; the lord of that servant will come in a 
 day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is 
 not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his 
 portion with the unbelievers. And that servant, which knew 
 his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according 
 to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that 
 knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be 
 beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, 
 of him shall be much required: and to whom men have com¬ 
 mitted much, of him they will ask the more.” 1 
 
 We here come upon the first allusion made by Jesus to his 
 return to the earth which he was about to quit, leaving his 
 apostles like faithful and wise stewards. They are the men 
 who will nourish with the bread of truth the menservants and 
 handmaids of God, a sublime task which will constitute their 
 glory, if they accomplish it, and their condemnation if they 
 should betray it. It is difficult to reconstruct, without positive 
 records, the scenes of intimate communion with the disciples, 
 in which the Master indulged without reserve in confidences 
 which grew so much the more moving as the situation became 
 more painful and hazardous. We can imagine them, how¬ 
 ever, from a few expressions of deep import which bring before 
 us vividly his feelings, his care for others, and his sorrows. 
 
 1 Luke xii. 42-48. 
 VOL. II. 
 
 G 
 
32 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 The bitterness of the conflict of which he was the object must 
 have sometimes brought apprehension to the minds of the 
 little flock ; at such moments, Jesus, full of resolution, would 
 compare himself to a burning brand, and say : 
 
 “ I am come to send fire on the earth ; and what will I, 
 if it be already kindled ? V1 His vehement denunciations of 
 the Pharisees and of all his relentless enemies added fuel to 
 the flame, and he was determined to add yet more. His mind 
 was truly a devouring fire, and he had no other wish, ever 
 since he had declared himself the Messenger of his Father, but 
 to spread the flame. He also spoke metaphorically of his 
 approaching death. He saw it before him in all its horror, 
 and called it a baptism. “ I have a baptism to be baptized 
 with,” he said, and in spite of the awful nature of such 
 a thought, he continued, “ and how am I straitened till it be 
 accomplished !” 2 
 
 If he raised their courage and their hope by promising 
 them the joys of the festival of God throughout eternity, he 
 took care to dissipate their illusions concerning his great work 
 in this world, which he called a work of rending asunder and 
 of separation. Surely their eyes must have already beheld it 
 in the difference of the welcomes given to their Master, in the 
 controversies raised by his language, in the love and hatred 
 manifested towards him. This characteristic was about to 
 become more marked, and it would remain the indelible stamp 
 of work. The untrustworthy or self-confident man never fails 
 to promise himself triumph and repose, and to lull his follow¬ 
 ers with vain illusions only too quickly to be dispelled. Jesus 
 was clear-sighted, and courageous ; he wished men to know 
 what he was come to accomplish ; it is through stern 
 reality that we must seek him. “ Suppose ye that I am come 
 to give peace on earth ? ” he said to his disciples. “ I tell you, 
 
 1 Luke xii. 49. 
 
 8 Luke xii. 50. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 83 
 
 Nay ; but rather division : for from henceforth there shall be 
 five in one house divided, three against two, and two against 
 three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the 
 son against the father ; the mother against the daughter, and 
 the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against 
 her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her 
 mother in law .” 1 
 
 Thus he whom the prophet called the Prince of Peace lets 
 loose war universal and unchecked upon a world which hates 
 him. His elect will be like him ; a thousand obstacles, a 
 thousand fierce conflicts will spring up around them. His 
 Kingdom will not be exempt from the universal law ; it wil 
 grow in strength under the blows of the persecutions of all the 
 kingdoms of the earth. In this struggle, for existence which 
 is imposed on every creature, the disciples of Jesus will be 
 recognised by this sign; that after the example of their Master, 
 they will deliver themselves up to the executioner; they will 
 suffer themselves to be slain, but will not slay; and their 
 gentleness will be their strength. Hatred they will meet 
 with love; revenge, with pardon and charity: the mur¬ 
 derous sword, with the cross. The Master has given his life 
 to save the world ; they will lavish theirs to continue its 
 salvation ; and, that they may remain faithful to their destiny 
 of victims, God will refuse them almost always material 
 power, and will keep them weak and unarmed, without other 
 strength save his Spirit, his Word, and his Love. 
 
 To the people who congregated round him he renewed his 
 appeals, but with still more earnest language. Seeing them 
 desirous of miracles, and anxious to hear him, but un¬ 
 decided and slow to repent and believe, he reproved 
 them : “ When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straight¬ 
 way ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. And 
 when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; 
 
 1 Luke xii, 51*53. 
 
 G —2 
 
8 4 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the 
 face of the sky and of the earth ; but how is it that ye do not 
 discern this time ? ” 1 The political state of the nation, the 
 coming of the great forerunner, John the Baptist, the 
 wondrous miracles of Jesus, his holiness as wondrous as his 
 miracles, his wisdom and his teaching as wondrous as his 
 holiness : here were signs enough to awaken every conscience 
 and warn them of the coming of the Kingdom of God. But 
 nothing enlightened those indifferent and blinded souls. The 
 light shone: but they would not see, suffering themselves to 
 be led away by the religious sophistries of their teachers. 
 
 “ Wherefore,” said Jesus to them, “ even of yourselves judge 
 ye not what is right? ” 2 He menaced them with the inexor¬ 
 able justice of God. “ When thou goest with thine adversary 
 to the magistrate, as thou art in the way, give diligence that 
 thou mayest be delivered from him ; lest he hale thee to the 
 judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the officer 
 cast thee into prison. I tell thee, thou shalt not depart 
 thence, till thou hast paid the very last mite.” 
 
 Just at this time, it was announced to him that certain 
 Galilaeans, no doubt partisans of Judas the Gaulonite, had 
 been massacred by order of Pilate, as they were in the act of 
 offering sacrifice. This fact is nowhere mentioned by con¬ 
 temporary authors ; Josephus himself does not refer to it ; 
 but from all that we have seen of the stern policy of the 
 governor, and of the turbulent and excitable character of the 
 Galilaeans, it is credible enough. The people must have 
 experienced, upon hearing of this massacre, an increase of 
 irritation and hatred against Gentile tyranny. The piety of 
 the Pharisees failed not to see in it God’s just vengeance upon 
 the guilty ; Jesus knew neither vain pity nor fruitless anger. 
 His thoughts looked further and his heart was nobler. This 
 
 1 Luke xii. 54-56. 
 
 3 Luke xii. 57, etc. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 8$ 
 
 slaughter was to him only the prelude of a catastrophe which 
 would steep the whole people in blood. “ Suppose ye,” he said, 
 “ that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, 
 because they suffered such things ? I tell you, Nay: but, 
 except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those 
 eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, 
 think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in 
 Jerusalem ? I tell you, Nay : but, except ye repent, ye shall 
 all likewise perish .” 1 
 
 It is probable that the sages of the time, the Sadducees, 
 who were flatterers of the foreign power, and the Pharisees, 
 who believed in the triumph of Israel, in the blind pride of 
 their piety untouched by virtue, laughed at the menaces of the 
 Prophet. The people themselves, always more concerned 
 with the present than with the far future, seem to have been 
 but little affected by them. The prophecy, however, was not 
 slow in being fulfilled. Forty years later, the last partizans of 
 national independence were slain, fighting desperately, in the 
 Temple, by the soldiers of Titus ; and the blazing houses of 
 Jerusalem fell in ruins like the tower of Siloam, upon the 
 inhabitants of the impenitent town. The thought of this 
 terrible future on the brink of which the nation stood, never 
 afterwards left the mind of the Prophet. It moved and 
 saddened him more than that of his own death. He would 
 fain have forestalled it by awakening the conscience of the 
 people, and preparing it to receive the appeals of God. If 
 they had understood the duty of the moment they would have 
 renounced the earthly dreams by which they were enthralled, 
 and, welcoming the good news of the Kingdom, Israel 
 transformed, would have left the Romans to pursue their 
 course and become the true spiritual people of God. Never 
 was a destiny more sublime offered to a nation. Never was 
 there an example of more hopeless infatuation. Jesus strove 
 in vain to disabuse them. “ A certain man,” he said, speak- 
 
 1 Luke xiii. 1-5. 
 
86 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 ing in a parable, “ had a fig tree planted in his vineyard ; and 
 he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then 
 said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold these three 
 years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none : 
 cut it down ; why cumbereth it the ground ? And he answer¬ 
 ing said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall 
 dig about it, and dung it: and if it bear fruit, well: and if 
 not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.” 1 
 
 We perceive, under this transparent allegory, how Jesus 
 gauged the religious situation of his nation in the last days of 
 his apostolate. The fruit expected and claimed by God from 
 his chosen people was penitence and faith ; penitence which 
 weeps for infidelity and sin ; the faith which receives the 
 words of life, and throws open the way to the Kingdom of the 
 Messiah. From the first hour of his public life Jesus had not 
 ceased to remind them of these grand duties. But except a 
 few chosen spirits, no one responded. Instead of beating the 
 breast, the religious teachers spoke only of their own 
 righteousness ; instead of believing in the Messenger they 
 persecuted him with calumny, menace, and anathema. The 
 vengeance of God drew near to break forth against them ; 
 it could only be averted by his despised Messenger. But 
 this blinded race had no fear ; they lulled themselves in fatal 
 illusions which the words of Jesus had no power to dissipate; 
 they dreamed of the promises of God without suspecting that 
 their hardness of heart struck his promises with barrenness 
 and provokes his celestial anger. The Prophet’s miracles 
 were as impotent to move them as his warnings. They 
 might draw from the multitude a few cries of admiration, but 
 they offended the ruling classes, who ceased not to strive 
 against him with all the influence of their vain religious 
 observances. The rulers looked upon all things as made for 
 them ; whosoever would not submit to their arbitrary yoke 
 
 1 Luke xiii. 6-9. 
 
TIIE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 3 7 
 
 with its absurd rules would incur the bitter taunts of their 
 fanaticism ; they raised their casuistry to the height of the 
 law of God. Escape from this degrading bondage became 
 impiety. 
 
 This sectarian spirit did not lay down its weapons for a 
 single instant in the case of Jesus. The third Evangelist 
 narrates as regards this a characteristic scene. 1 
 
 One Sabbath day, in the course of his journey through 
 Peraea, he was teaching in a synagogue, and there came into 
 the assembly a woman who had been infirm for eighteen years. 
 She was bowed down and could not lift herself up. Jesus, 
 seeing her, called her : “ Woman, thou art loosed from thine 
 infirmity.” He laid his hands upon her, and that instant she 
 stood upright and glorified God. The ruler of the synagogue 
 was indignant that Jesus had healed this infirm woman on the 
 Sabbath day, and said to the people : “ There arc six days in 
 which men ought to work : in them therefore come and be 
 healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” The Pharisees must 
 have approved the wisdom and firmness of the ruler of the 
 synagogue, and the superstitious zeal which placed the 
 Sabbath rest above everything, even the righteous work of 
 mercy. “Thou hypocrite,” Jesus replied with indignation, 
 “ doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or 
 his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering ? And 
 ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom 
 Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from 
 this bond on the Sabbath day ? ” 
 
 No restriction avails against goodness and virtue: any 
 religion which, to honour God, should dare to enact one, 
 must be impious. Pharisaism was full of such impiety 
 in disguise; and in striking this well-directed blow against 
 it in defence of conscience, Jesus showed himself once more 
 a true deliverer. Plis enemies remained confounded, but 
 
 1 Luke xiii. 11-17. 
 
83 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 did not surrender. The people alone applauded him, 
 astonished in their good faith by the miracles, and dazzled 
 in their simple minds by the truth. 
 
 Despite the sadness in which he was plunged by 
 the piteous spectacle of the general impenitence and in¬ 
 credulity, Jesus pursued without hesitation and without flag¬ 
 ging what he loved to call the work of the Kingdom of 
 God. He knew the designs of the Father ; he had 
 a perfect insight into laws which govern the world ; he 
 knew that the first results of the work must be but small. 
 “It is like a grain of mustard seed,” he said, “ which a 
 man took, and cast into his garden ; and it grew, and waxed 
 a great tree ; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches 
 of it.” He knew also that his power was irresistible, and he 
 often said of it: “ It is like leaven, which a woman took and 
 hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.” 
 
 No human being in his life-time has been so deeply 
 despised, rejected, misunderstood, and scorned as Jesus. 
 None has evinced a greater serenity, a surer confidence in 
 the final triumph beyond the grave. 
 
 Time has justified him in this confidence ; it has been 
 revenged in after ages with a great and sacred vengeance. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE LAST ATTEMPT UPON JERUSALEM. 
 
 Ever since Jesus had quitted Galilee, Jerusalem was the one 
 object of his thoughts ; and Peraea, to which he had with¬ 
 drawn on several occasions, was only a place of refuge for 
 him against the hatred and violence which was so quickly 
 roused against him in the capital. After some weeks, he 
 wished to revisit Jerusalem and make one last attempt to 
 gain it. He set out upon his journey, and travelled by easy 
 stages, stopping in the towns and villages which lay in his 
 route . 1 One of the Evangelists, St. Luke, has alluded to this 
 journey without, however, indicating either the halts or other 
 particulars ; two episodes only remained in the memory of 
 the disciples and have been recorded by the same writer ,* 
 they both reflect all the gravity and gloom of the time 
 in the eyes of Jesus. He found himself rejected and de¬ 
 spised ; his faithful adherents were but a handful ; power 
 learning, and fortune were closed against his influence, 
 The popular favour which he met with did not go far enough 
 to transform the multitude into a legion of disciples. He 
 was often heard to deplore the small number of those who 
 rallied to his word. These laments wounded the national 
 vanity ; the greater number seeing in the happiness of the 
 Messianic era an appanage of the chosen people, and taking 
 upon themselves to imagine that all Israel, without ex¬ 
 ception, was to enter into the glory of the new Kingdom. 
 
 1 Luke xiii. 22, etc. 
 
 89 
 
90 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 A certain man made himself the echo of these vain 
 hopes, plainly contradicted as they were by the life and 
 teaching of Jesus. “ Lord,” said he to him, “ are there few 
 that be saved ? ” Jesus did not give a direct reply to his 
 anonymous questioner. The important point was not to 
 know whether few or many should be chosen, but to labour 
 to be one of the chosen. “ Strive to enter in at the strait 
 gate,” he cried, turning to the multitude, “ for many, I say 
 unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. 
 When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath 
 shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to 
 knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us ; and he 
 shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye 
 are : then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in 
 thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he 
 shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart 
 from me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping 
 and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and 
 Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of 
 God, and you yourselves thrust out. And they shall come 
 from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and 
 from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. 
 And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are 
 first which shall be last.” 
 
 The sole question for man is, how he shall be incorporated 
 into the Kingdom ; if he enters, he will find life in the joy of 
 the Father’s eternal feast, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 
 and all the prophets and the elect of the four quarters of the 
 world ; if he remain without, he will be thrust out afar to 
 partake of endless pain and despair. Let man beware : the 
 entrance into the house of the Father and the palace of his 
 Kingdom is difficult, for the gate is narrow. This gate is 
 faith in Jesus : the poor, unknown, humiliated, suffering 
 Messiah. In order that he may pass through this gate, man 
 must reduce himself to nothingness, he must lose himself in 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 91 
 
 the word of Jesus, and give up all for him. Without 
 complete renunciation he may not enter. This is shown 
 by the example of the contemporaries of the Master ; 
 the greater number recoiled before the sacrifice of faith, 
 prizing their ritual, their learning, and their vices above the 
 teaching of the Saviour. They have not been admitted into 
 the glory of the Kingdom. 
 
 This exclusion is final, absolute, eternal ; there will no 
 longer be any place for penitence or mercy. Conversion is 
 only possible here below, for only upon earth is God’s justice 
 tempered by his goodness ; once beyond the grave, it will be 
 of no avail to have been of the chosen and privileged people ; 
 this vain title will not reopen the gate, it will be closed for 
 ever. The Master, rejected on earth, will reject, in his turn, 
 those who have despised him ; he will not know them ; they 
 will be to him only workers of iniquity, unworthy of the joys 
 of the Messianic festival; we may see how deep a conscious¬ 
 ness Jesus had of his authority and his work. He has power 
 over time and eternity ; but if he is, in the former, the expres¬ 
 sion of infinite clemency and goodness, he is in the latter, 
 with respect to his blind adversaries, a judge inexorable. 
 
 Further, the ill-success of his mission in the midst of 
 Israel must have made him sad, but it could not overwhelm 
 him. In spite of the difficulties of entering the King¬ 
 dom, in spite of the refusal of those first invited, the work 
 of the Messiah was to be accomplished, and the hall of the 
 festival was not to remain empty. He saw already his elect 
 come together from the four quarters of the world, and sit 
 down beside the patriarchs and prophets. The outcast Gentile 
 world will be gathered in, while the privileged race is rejected, 
 and thus, as he often loved to say, without fear of offending the 
 sentiment of the nation, “ the last shall be first, and the first last.” 
 
 On this same day 1 certain of the Pharisees came to Jesus 
 1 Luke xiii. 31, etc. 
 
92 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 and said to him : “ Get thee out, and depart hence, for Herod 
 will kill thee.” This step was only a feint on the part of 
 Herod and the Pharisees ; it is not very probable that the 
 tetrarch nourished thoughts of killing Jesus, his was no cruel 
 nature. The death of John the Baptist, wrung as it was 
 from his weakness, ever preyed upon his mind. But the 
 presence of the Prophet in his dominions caused him fear; 
 he dreaded Jesus, he imagined that he was John come to life 
 again. The Pharisees, his flatterers, must have traded upon 
 his superstitious fears; and, in order to draw Jesus into 
 Judaea, where he was completely in the power of the San¬ 
 hedrin, they were come to threaten him with the prince’s 
 anger. Jesus saw through the treachery of their intentions: 
 “ Go ye,” he said to these cunning emissaries, “ and tell that 
 fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to 
 morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.” 
 
 His days were numbered, it was in no man’s power 
 to diminish them ; his course was neither to be hastened 
 nor hindered. He feared nothing: the fear of death did not 
 touch him, he went to meet his fate as calm, as irresistible, as 
 omnipotent as the God who sent him. He continued his route 
 towards Jerusalem, where he soon arrived. It was in 
 the depth of winter, and they were keeping the Feast of the 
 Dedication, which fell, in the year 29, upon the 20th of 
 December. 
 
 This solemnity, instituted by the Maccabees, recalled to 
 the people the purification of the Temple profaned by Anti- 
 ochus Epiphanes. 1 It was called “ The Lights,” ra <j6wra ; 
 “Without doubt,” says Josephus, “because liberty of worship 
 shone anew upon us, contrary to all expectation.” The 
 rabbis have a more singular interpretation, of a thoroughly 
 Judaic savour. When Judas Maccabaeus had conquered the 
 
 1 I. Maccab. iv. Aniiq . xii. 7, 6. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 93 
 
 Greeks, and the Temple was re-opened, a search was made for 
 the oil which had escaped the pollution of the heathen ; only 
 one phial was found, under the seal of the high priest ; it was a 
 single day’s provision, but, being miraculously replenished, it 
 served for a whole week. “To recall this prodigy,” says Mai- 
 monides, “ an eight days’ festival was instituted, and for eight 
 nights lamps were lighted before the doors of all the 
 houses.” 1 
 
 The sojourn of Jesus at Jerusalem was of short duration ; 
 he had left the city in a ferment which had by no means 
 been allayed by his absence; the idea of a Messiah, awak¬ 
 ened by his discourses, inflamed the minds of men. No one 
 could be blind to the fact that the time was fully come for 
 the Deliverer to appear ; but, instead of following the teachings 
 of the Prophet, public opinion went further and further astray 
 after visions of national deliverance, political restoration, and 
 universal religious dominion. Such dreams, as we can easily 
 understand, found nothing to flatter or encourage them either 
 in the declarations, the teaching, or even in the miracles of 
 Jesus. This exasperated the patriots 1 , and many a one 
 among them must have regretted that this man, who had 
 such power over the people, did not undertake the cause of 
 Israel and give himself out as the expected Deliverer. He 
 could have no purpose, it seemed to them, in stirring up the 
 multitude, if it was not his wish to be this Deliverer; and, if 
 he consented so to be, he should declare himself without 
 equivocation. This state of feeling is shown emphatically in the 
 narrative of the fourth Evangelist, 2 and throws a flood of light 
 upon what passed between Jesus and the Jews of the capital. 
 
 According to his custom, he had gone up to the Temple, 
 and was walking in the eastern gallery, under Solomon’s 
 Porch. The Jews, having recognised him, surrounded him, 
 
 1 Schnbbat ., fol. 21 ; Chemic . iii. 
 
 3 John x. 22, etc. 
 
96 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 could convince them. Jesus in sadness reproached them 
 with their obstinacy, saying: “The works that I do in my 
 Father’s name they bear witness of me; why then do you 
 not believe ? ” 
 
 He was now about to tell them once again the secret of their 
 incredulity, which is always and everywhere the same, for it 
 has its roots deep in the inbred selfishness of mind and will. 
 Nothing ever convinces the man who regards his own religious 
 ideas as infallible, and his philosophy as incontrovertible, 
 and who, blinded by personal self-esteem or by racial 
 fanaticism, refuses to listen to what is calculated to raise 
 him out of himself and the narrow circle of his surroundings. 
 Facts, arguments, miracles, are launched in vain against his 
 determined self-will; he judges everything by the standard of 
 his own theories or passions; whatever clashes with them is 
 false, whatever transcends them is at once condemned. Such 
 are the obstacles which God’s truth ever encounters in making 
 its way among mankind. Jesus set himself in vain against 
 them in his efforts to win their consciences. To a nation, 
 bowed down under the Mosaic law, with all its shortcomings, 
 materialised and falsified as it was by Pharisaic tradition, 
 and stereotyped as it was by the school of the Sadducees, he 
 gave the living law of the Spirit; to a nation which though 
 enslaved, was yet thrilling with the hope of a promised 
 Redeemer, he presented a Saviour, clothed in all the divine 
 beauty of the prophetic visions, stripped of all the false 
 accretions with which popular imagination and the learning 
 of the doctors had overlaid his character; to a race proud of 
 its descent he announced a race newly born of the Spirit, and 
 ?ave it an opportunity of union with it by that mysterious 
 second birth whose secret was known to him alone. Such 
 truths, rightly understood, were far from destroying the 
 Mosaic doctrine or the chosen people; rather, they would 
 bring to perfection both the one and the other. But to under¬ 
 stand them was first to forsake the ruling doctrines, religious 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 97 
 
 formalism, racial pride, and all the vulgar ambitions of a false 
 patriotism ; to believe in the Prophets and in the Scriptures 
 more than in blind doctors who knew not their true spirit ; to 
 repent and beat the breast, as the Forerunner of Jesus himself 
 had urged them with such divine eloquence, and to open the 
 heart to the desire of goodness, and to the influence of the 
 Father who urges every rational being to truth and perfection. 
 
 They who have been drawn by this influence are they 
 who have listened to the voice of Jesus, believed in his word, 
 obeyed his summons, and formed his flock. He called them 
 his sheep. “You are not,” he said to his persistent enemies, 
 “ of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice; 
 and I know them, and they follow me.” And, summing up in 
 a phrase all the divine functions of the true Messianic spirit, 
 he added, “ And I give unto them eternal life.” To carry the 
 life of God among men, to lift them up to him by his Spirit 
 of truth and love, is truly the work reserved for a Messiah. 
 Jesus declares himself to be that hero, expressing thus, 
 under a new form, his own divinity, since it is not in the 
 power of any human being to promise eternal life, still less 
 to grant it. All these declarations carry us above and beyond 
 mankind, and compel the historian to see in them either the 
 madness of a visionary or the word of God himself. 
 
 The calmness of Jesus was as noble as his energy, and he 
 was perfectly conscious of his strength. He went on to say : 
 “ They to whom I have given eternal life shall never perish 
 neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My 
 Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man 
 is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” He declared 
 himself to have the same power as his Father, and he there¬ 
 by maybe raised the courage of his disciples, which, had 
 flagged at the sight of an ever-increasing danger. At last he 
 pronounced the supreme word of his wondrous revelations 
 concerning himself, and said, without ambiguity, “ I and my 
 Father are one.” This is the most exalted and most pro- 
 VOL. II. H 
 
93 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 found of all Messianic notions. Between the Messiah and 
 God there exists not only communion of will, power, and 
 understanding, but also communion of essence ; there exists 
 not only a moral union, for there is a metaphysical union also 
 by participation in the same nature. The Father and the 
 Son are two distinct persons, but their being is identical. 
 
 Never fell from human lips a phrase so astonishing, so 
 original, or so unfathomable ; never before had Jesus ex¬ 
 pressed so openly what he really was. If the Jews who heard 
 him had retained a sound knowledge of the Scriptures, and 
 had remained faithful to the teachings of the prophets ; if, 
 rousing themselves from their idle ceremonies, and religious 
 and political aberrations, they had submitted to the enlighten¬ 
 ing power of the teaching of Jesus and the splendid testimony 
 of his miracles, they would have recognised the divinity of 
 their Messiah, and have acknowledged that that Messiah was 
 Jesus. They would have perceived that a Messiah-God could 
 have no other office but to communicate the divine Spirit; 
 that the Kingdom founded by him could not be the heritage 
 of a single nation, but of all mankind ; that all written laws 
 must disappear before the living Law of' the Spirit, which 
 is alone capable of appealing to the conscience. Blind, 
 proud, and hardened as they were, bound by the fetters of 
 their false orthodoxy, they regarded the word of Jesus as 
 blasphemy, and Jesus himself as a criminal, fit only for 
 immediate execution. 
 
 Their fanaticism burst forth, and they took up stones to 
 stone him. Impassible in the presence of these threats, Jesus 
 did not move. Such was his calmness and firmness that 
 these madmen let the stones fall from their hands. “ Manv 
 
 J 
 
 good works,” he said, with mingled irony and indignation, 
 “ have I shewed you from my Father ; for which of those 
 works do ye stone me ? ” Such was, in fact, the perversity 
 of their minds that, far from enlightening them, the holy acts 
 of Jesus only exasperated them, intensifying their hatred and 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 99 
 
 provoking their rage. “ For a good work/’ said they, dis¬ 
 concerted, “ we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and 
 because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.” These 
 fanatics were mistaken; here was no man who was making 
 himself a God; but God himself, who was revealing himself 
 in person in the Man-Jesus. 
 
 Blasphemy among the Jews consisted, in their own 
 words, in attacking 11 the foundation.” 1 Now, the consecrated 
 order was God, the Temple, and the Law. To deny the 
 unity of God and the eternity of the Temple and the Law, 
 was the great religious crime of the day. On hearing Jesus 
 making himself equal to God, and proclaiming himself the 
 same being with God, they cried out, “ Blasphemy! ” 
 Evidently these degenerate doctors of the Law had mis¬ 
 understood the true ideal of their Messiah. In periods of 
 decadence the highest truths become obscured, the most 
 important questions are thrust aside, and feeble and 
 degenerate minds are occupied in the discussion of empty 
 subtleties and accessory details, conferring importance on 
 puerilities, and forgetting what is vital and essential. The 
 Jewish schools and their teachers, the priesthood and its 
 leaders, present us with such a spectacle. The divinity of 
 the Messianic hero, clearly taught by the Prophets, and 
 solemnly proclaimed by Jesus, appeared to them to be simple 
 blasphemy; they closed their eyes and turned away from 
 him, because he did not conform to their prejudices and their 
 national vanity. 
 
 He who knows what is the sternness of this race, how 
 inveterate is its obstinacy, how inexorable the spirit of its 
 religion, can form some idea of the courage of Jesus in com¬ 
 ing to bear testimony to his own Messianic functions, before 
 the representatives of such a people. In declaring his 
 divinity, he made himself appear as the most culpable of 
 
 1 Lightfoot, Horae Hcbr . et Talmud , p. io, 66. 
 
 H—2 
 
9 S 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 found of all Messianic notions. Between the Messiah and 
 God there exists not only communion of will, power, and 
 understanding, but also communion of essence ; there exists 
 not only a moral union, for there is a metaphysical union also 
 by participation in the same nature. The Father and the 
 Son are two distinct persons, but their being is identical. 
 
 Never fell from human lips a phrase so astonishing, so 
 original, or so unfathomable ; never before had Jesus ex¬ 
 pressed so openly what he really was. If the Jews who heard 
 him had retained a sound knowledge of the Scriptures, and 
 had remained faithful to the teachings of the prophets ; if, 
 rousing themselves from their idle ceremonies, and religious 
 and political aberrations, they had submitted to the enlighten¬ 
 ing power of the teaching of Jesus and the splendid testimony 
 of his miracles, they would have recognised the divinity of 
 their Messiah, and have acknowledged that that Messiah was 
 Jesus. They would have perceived that a Messiah-God could 
 have no other office but to communicate the divine Spirit; 
 that the Kingdom founded by him could not be the heritage 
 of a single nation, but of all mankind ; that all written laws 
 must disappear before the living Law of the Spirit, which 
 is alone capable of appealing to the conscience. Blind, 
 proud, and hardened as they were, bound by the fetters of 
 their false orthodoxy, they regarded the word of Jesus as 
 blasphemy, and Jesus himself as a criminal, fit only for 
 immediate execution. 
 
 Their fanaticism burst forth, and they took up stones to 
 stone him. Impassible in the presence of these threats, Jesus 
 did not move. Such was his calmness and firmness that 
 these madmen let the stones fall from their hands. “ Many 
 good works,” he said, with mingled irony and indignation, 
 “ have I shewed you from my Father ; for which of those 
 works do ye stone me ? ” Such was, in fact, the perversity 
 of their minds that, far from enlightening them, the holy acts 
 of Jesus only exasperated them, intensifying their hatred and 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 99 
 
 provoking their rage. “ For a good work,” said they, dis¬ 
 concerted, “ we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and 
 because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.” These 
 fanatics were mistaken; here was no man who was making 
 himself a God; but God himself, who was revealing himself 
 in person in the Man-Jesus. 
 
 Blasphemy among the Jews consisted, in their own 
 words, in attacking “ the foundation.” 1 Now, the consecrated 
 order was God, the Temple, and the Law. To deny the 
 unity of God and the eternity of the Temple and the Law, 
 was the great religious crime of the day. On hearing Jesus 
 making himself equal to God, and proclaiming himself the 
 same being with God, they cried out, “ Blasphemy! ” 
 Evidently these degenerate doctors of the Law had mis¬ 
 understood the true ideal of their Messiah. In periods of 
 decadence the highest truths become obscured, the most 
 important questions are thrust aside, and feeble and 
 
 degenerate minds are occupied in the discussion of empty 
 
 » 
 
 subtleties and accessory details, conferring importance on 
 puerilities, and forgetting what is vital and essential. The 
 Jewish schools and their teachers, the priesthood and its 
 leaders, present us with such a spectacle. The divinity of 
 the Messianic hero, clearly taught by the Prophets, and 
 solemnly proclaimed by Jesus, appeared to them to be simple 
 blasphemy; they closed their eyes and turned away from 
 him, because he did not conform to their prejudices and their 
 national vanity. 
 
 He who knows what is the sternness of this race, how 
 inveterate is its obstinacy, how inexorable the spirit of its 
 religion, can form some idea of the courage of Jesus in com¬ 
 ing to bear testimony to his own Messianic functions, before 
 the representatives of such a people. In declaring his 
 divinity, he made himself appear as the most culpable of 
 
 1 Lightfoot, Horae Hebr. et Talmud , p. io, 66. 
 
100 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 blasphemers ; and, even if in theory the doctors had recog¬ 
 nised the divinity of their Messiah, the opposition to the 
 person of Jesus was so great that, on beholding him assume 
 the holy title of Messiah and the divine dignity of the supreme 
 Messenger, they would have nevertheless anathematised 
 and stoned him as a false prophet. But Jesus flinched not. 
 The rage of men ever found him in that calm condition of 
 mind which is conferred by holiness and truth. He appealed 
 to the Scripture, to that sacred text for which his questioners 
 had a superstitious reverence; and, under its inviolable protec¬ 
 tion, he victoriously repelled their accusations. He answered 
 them and said: “Is it not written in your Law, I said, Ye 
 are gods ? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of 
 God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken; say ye of 
 him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, 
 Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God ? ” 
 By thus invoking before the outraged doctors the daring 
 names which God himself, in the Scriptures, gives to -his 
 human representatives, Jesus appealed to one of the most 
 deeply-rooted ideas in the Jewish mind.' To Israel God 
 is a living and personal being, whose words and influence 
 are unceasingly manifested to his people, and those to 
 whom they are addressed borrow from them a divine 
 character : king, judge, or prophet becomes the instrument 
 of God, and is, in a sense, uplifted to him. If then, 
 even in virtue of such partial union, they have justly been 
 named gods, it cannot be that he whom the Father has 
 sanctified, in whom he has placed the fulness of his Spirit, 
 and whom he has sent into the world, should be justly 
 accused of blasphemy, in saying that he is the Son of God. 
 The argument was unanswerable. Some have thought to 
 detect in the reply of Jesus a modification of the formula by 
 which he had so emphatically declared his divinity. This is 
 a mistake. On the contrary, it rather goes to strengthen it. 
 But the direct aim of the Master is, without the least doubt, 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 101 
 
 to free himself from the charge of blasphemy; and to prove to 
 his interlocutors, by their own law, that he is unassailable. 
 
 He made a last effort after this to bring these prejudiced 
 minds to recognise in him that union with the Father which 
 w T as the source of his Messianic mission. And when he could 
 not persuade them nor impress his words on their conscience, 
 he said unto them : “ If I do not the works of my Father, 
 believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, 
 believe the works : that ye may know, and believe, that the 
 Father is in me, and I in him.” They would neither see nor 
 hear. They withdrew in exasperation, scheming how to take 
 him and bring him before the Sanhedrin; but Jesus escaped 
 them. Surrounded by his disciples he left the Temple 
 and the city, and, passing through Jericho, made towards the 
 country on the other side of Jordan, 
 
 As he withdrew from Jerusalem he turned back towards 
 it, his soul filled with ineffable sadness; this last attempt had 
 only revealed to him its invincible obstinacy. His grief drew 
 from him a bitter lament: 
 
 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and 
 stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I 
 have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her 
 brood under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your 
 house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye 
 shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, 
 Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” 1 
 
 It was, in fact, the last time that he appeared in the 
 Temple or within the city walls. He was not to come back 
 there save to die. The beloved and ungrateful city heard his 
 sublimest teachings, and she scorned them; she witnessed his 
 most ardent appeals, and rejected them. She was to know the 
 terrible retribution of despised love; in her blindness and hatred 
 she was storing up her awful destiny against the day of wrath. 
 
 1 Luke xiii. 34, 35. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE RETREAT OF JESUS TO THE OTHER SIDE OF 
 
 THE JORDAN. 
 
 JESUS, on quitting Jerusalem, came to take up his abode on 
 the other side of the Jordan, upon the borders of Judaea. 
 The place has been clearly indicated by the fourth Evan¬ 
 gelist as Bethabara ; the same place where John, two years 
 before, had solemnized his baptism. 1 The prophet’s name 
 had survived among the people ; it was remembered that 
 he had prophesied of the Kingdom of God, of the coming 
 of the Messiah, and of the Messiah himself. The multitude 
 ran to meet Jesus ; when they saw and heard him they were 
 struck with the truth of those things which the Forerunner 
 had foretold and testified ; he wrought no miracles, they said, 
 but all that he declared was true. Jesus made many dis¬ 
 ciples there, reaping the harvest which John had sown. On 
 the point of finishing his career, he found himself on these 
 same banks of the Jordan which had witnessed his public 
 consecration. Within three months afterwards his task was 
 finished ; two busy years had sufficed for its completion. 
 
 A great man, who should find himself rejected by his 
 country and his race, with only men of little importance, and 
 more or less under contempt and suspicion, attracted to his 
 teaching and his person, would vent his disappointment 
 in despairing anathemas. Those who are betrayed by 
 
 1 John x. 40. 
 
 102 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 103 
 
 success rarely fail to be attacked by faint-heartedness and 
 dejection. We cannot trace in the acts of Jesus the least 
 sign of these weaknesses ; though he sees the growth of 
 obstacles, dangers, and failures; though he sighs over those 
 who scorn him, and terrifies, with the menaces of God, 
 his taunting adversaries, he only opens wider his pity 
 to the weak and the lowly, and will not suffer him¬ 
 self to be turned aside from his purpose. The Pharisees 
 ceased not to lie in wait for him and circumvent him with 
 insidious questions ; they frequently invited him to their 
 tables in order to take him by surprise and to spy into his 
 views more closely. Jesus lent himself to these invitations 
 of a feigned good-will. St. Luke has preserved for us the 
 detailed narrative of one of these feasts. 1 The wisdom of the 
 Master shone forth, and would have opened their eyes, if they 
 only would have allowed them to be opened. 
 
 One of the chief men of the party had besought Jesus to 
 come and eat bread in his house ; he had designedly, and of 
 treacherous intent, chosen the Sabbath day. All at once 
 they brought into the presence of the Master a man sick of 
 the dropsy, convinced that, in his compassion, he would not 
 fail to heal him. Jesus saw through the designs of these 
 impostors : he assumed the offensive by suddenly putting the 
 question to the Scribes and Pharisees who were present: 
 “ Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day ? ” The doctors 
 held their peace; but he, taking the sick man by the hand, 
 healed him and let him go. 
 
 Here was a stumbling-block for these formalists. Jesus 
 answered their thoughts by a decisive sentence : “ Which of 
 you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not 
 straightway pull him out on the Sabbath day?” 2 The doctors 
 could not answer : no amount of subtlety could avail against 
 these truths, which flash upon the conscience and the mind 
 
 1 Luke xiv. 1-24. 
 
 2 Luke xiv. 1-24. 
 
104 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 with the vividness of lightning. The guests were numerous, 
 and Jesus, observing that they chose the highest places, 
 commented on this display of vanity, veiling the moral under 
 a parable : 
 
 “ When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not 
 down in the highest room ; lest a more honourable man than 
 thou be bidden of him ; and he that bade thee and him come 
 and say to thee, Give this man place ; and thou begin with 
 shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, 
 go and sit down in the lowest room ; that when he that bade 
 thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: 
 then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that 
 sit at meat with thee.” 
 
 There is no question here of a lesson in worldly wisdom ; 
 the words of the Master always explained some eternal truth, 
 some great law in the government of God, and took the 
 thoughts of men beyond the narrow circle of terrestrial things- 
 “ Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased ; and he that 
 humbleth himself shall be exalted ; ” these words characterise 
 the life of Jesus, his very being, his destiny, and his work, 
 in the midst of this world given up to all the excesses and 
 infatuations of pride. Humility is the absolute condition 
 of entrance to his Kingdom. He who relies on himself, on 
 his own wisdom, virtue, and strength, will remain in his 
 wretchedness, and will only sink the deeper in his own help¬ 
 lessness ; such is the history of mankind that rebels against 
 God. He who recognises his misery and his helplessness, 
 will be raised by God himself, and share in the ineffable 
 glory of his life; such is the history of the meek that 
 are corporated into Christ. 
 
 When Jesus thus taught humility as the secret of real 
 greatness to these proud Pharisees, his words had the true 
 ring of prophecy. At this very moment he was descending 
 step by step to the depth of the abasement of his life of 
 humiliation and sorrow; he was approaching the time when, 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 10 
 
 handed over defenceless to his enemies, he was going, like a 
 slave, to be brought down to nothingness and to make him¬ 
 self of no account ; being obedient unto death, even the 
 death of the cross. Such expressions of a lofty morality had 
 again and again been given forth by the Prophets, and it was 
 not possible for the doctors to ignore or distort them : history 
 has ages ago consecrated the potent truth that they contain. 
 The way opened by Jesus is filled with a multitude worthy 
 of him, advancing towards God in his footsteps, upon a path 
 of humiliation and suffering, and in which are recruited those 
 heroic souls, the elect of his eternal Kingdom. 
 
 After this lesson, the Master, wholly absorbed in his work, 
 seems to have wished to lead the thoughts of his host towards 
 this subject ; he turned towards him and gave him this 
 counsel, the apparent strangeness of which must at once have 
 seized his attention : 
 
 “ When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy 
 friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich 
 neighbours ; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence 
 be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, 
 the maimed, the lame, the blind : and thou shalt be blessed ; 
 for they cannot recompense thee : for thou shalt be recom¬ 
 pensed at the resurrection of the just.” 
 
 The tone of the Master moved those who were at table, 
 and one of the guests cried out: “ Blessed is he that shall 
 eat bread in the Kingdom of God.” These devout Pharisees 
 did not suspect that the Kingdom of God was in their 
 midst in the very person of Jesus, that the feast of the 
 Messiah was already prepared, that the invitations had been 
 issued to every watchful conscience, and that it rested with 
 them to take their seats at the banqueting-table. It was 
 then that Jesus, in a new parable, endeavoured to open their 
 eyes to the great duty of the present, regarding the divine 
 phenomenon which had appeared in Israel, and which they 
 would not see nor understand. 
 
 Ol 
 
io 6 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 <( A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: 
 and sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were 
 bidden, Come ; for all things are now ready. And they all 
 with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto 
 him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go 
 and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, 
 I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them : I 
 pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have 
 married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that 
 servant came, and showed his lord these things. Then the 
 master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out 
 quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in 
 hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. 
 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast com¬ 
 manded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the 
 servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel 
 them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say 
 unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall 
 taste of my supper.” 
 
 It was difficult to express by a more transparent allegory 
 the crisis through which the Kingdom of God was passing. 
 Every thought of Jesus was centred on the realization of this 
 Kingdom ; his whole mind was occupied with it. He judges 
 the world and the times from this higher standpoint; in fact, 
 above the world and all times. The coming of the Kingdom 
 is more than the chief fact in the history of his people ; it is 
 the crowning work of all creation. The great characteristic 
 of the present moment is the invitation which God gives us to 
 this Kingdom, which Jesus compares to a great supper. 
 Former centuries have made ready for it; to day the hall is 
 open and the table is set. The head of the house has sent his 
 servant to invite the guests, and this servant is Christ. He 
 excels all men, ever holding in their midst a privileged position. 
 
 The goodness of the heavenly Father is infinite. He wants 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 107 
 
 the banqucting-hall to be filled ; but the guests stay away. 
 Anxious cares, business, earthly ties, detain and prevent them. 
 1 hese people who buy houses and cattle, this bridegroom who 
 is going to receive his bride; these are the guests of the first 
 hour, all the learned Pharisees initiated in the promises of 
 God, as were those whom Jesus had before him ; and 
 they refused to come. But, far from hindering the Father’s 
 bounty, their faithlessness is destined to add to it the 
 greater lustre. The poor and the maimed, the halt and 
 blind, the outcasts of humanity, all these objects of earthly 
 scorn are to be called in. Yes, this despised multitude, this 
 wretched folk, whom the great treat as if accursed, because 
 they neither know nor observe the Law and live as strangers 
 to their idle knowledge and vain ceremonies, these are the 
 elect of the Kingdom. They press towards the banqueting- 
 table and welcome the servant who comes to invite them in 
 the name of the head of the house. However great may be 
 their numbers, all the seats are not occupied; and it is necessary 
 that the house should be filled. It shall be filled ; for outside 
 the town there are beside the highways and hedges, the 
 strangers and the passers-by, and those also shall come in. 
 The inexhaustible compassion of God will lovingly compel 
 them to sit down to the banquet. They symbolize those 
 
 Gentiles far removed from the elect, who are more forsaken, 
 
 / 
 
 abandoned, and despised even than the publicans and sinners. 
 
 The privilege of the wretched and the disowned appears 
 here, as always, the great mark of the Kingdom ; it will remain 
 such to the end of the ages, to the deep offence of those who 
 understand not the things of God. All those who are rich, 
 powerful, learned, haughty, strong, from the time that they 
 prefer their riches, power, learning, strength, or personality to 
 the hidden blessings and mysterious joys which God reserves 
 for his faithful ones, will be rejected. If they wish to obey the 
 words of the servant who is sent to bring them to the feast, 
 they must renounce everything, regard as nothing all that 
 
io8 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 they feel, or possess, or are; their human learning, their power, 
 their very virtue, to take their place among the simple souls, 
 the beggars and sinners, the children of whom Jesus said, 
 “ Of these is the Kingdom of heaven.” As for the rest, he is not 
 afraid to say to them : “ None of these men shall taste of my 
 supper.” 
 
 We do not know what was the effect upon the Pharisees, 
 seated at the same table with Jesus, of these simple and pro¬ 
 found discourses, these exquisite parables which left susceptible 
 minds the liberty to know and judge themselves. Sometimes 
 they were charmed or troubled, more often growing hostile, 
 contemptuous, and ironical, they pretended not to understand, 
 and looked down upon the new Master whose success was so 
 offensive to them. But he does not fail any the more to apply 
 his austere doctrine to the multitude. Seeing them burning to 
 follow him, he forces himself to transform into virtue and 
 moral nature, the energy, enthusiastic sympathy, and admira¬ 
 tion which they feel, and shows them at what cost they will 
 be able to win this Kingdom to which he invites them, and 
 into which they seem so impatient to enter. 1 
 
 Those who wished to be his disciples would see father, 
 mother, wife, children, brother, and sister rise up against them. 
 “ They must reject them, to follow me,” he said. “ They must 
 hate their very life; and take up their cross and follow 
 me.” He compared the work of the Kingdom to the building 
 of a tower : “ For which of you,” he said, “ intending to build a 
 tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he 
 have sufficient to finish it ? lest haply, after he hath laid the 
 foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin 
 to mock him, saying, This man began to build, and was not 
 able to finish.” Again, he spoke of the Kingdom as a war 
 against a powerful king: “ Or what king, going to make war 
 against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth 
 
 1 Luke xiv. 25-35. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 109 
 
 whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh 
 against him with twenty thousand ? Or else, while the othet 
 is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth 
 conditions of peace.” 
 
 He recalled unceasingly to his hearers that the great 
 strength for the struggle, the great support for the combat, lies 
 in that total renunciation which makes man rich and invin¬ 
 cible, which, in taking him away from himself and all created 
 things, prepares him to receive the strength of God and 
 the abundance of his Spirit. He compared this wise renun¬ 
 ciation to the salt which seasons everything: 1 “ Salt is 
 
 good : but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it 
 be seasoned ? It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the 
 dunghill ; but men cast it out.” These severe truths did not 
 alienate from him the publicans and sinners. The apostle 
 who is consumed by charity can say what he will, his frank¬ 
 ness has a charm for upright hearts. The poor people despised 
 by the Pharisees ran to Jesus. While the masters rejected them, 
 avoiding their touch as though it wer£ pollution, he called 
 them to him, and did not fear to be escorted by them, and to 
 eat with them, to the great scandal of these pitiless devotees. 
 It was among them that he found his most faithful followers. 
 It was they who were of all men the most abandoned. His 
 enemies were scandalized, and cast it in his teeth ; they said, 
 “ This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.” 2 
 
 His goodness inspired him with most moving parables to 
 justify himself; he loved to call them his lost sheep, and lost 
 money : “ What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he 
 lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the 
 wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it ? 
 And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, re¬ 
 joicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his 
 
 1 Luke xiv. 34. Cf. Matt. v. 13 ; Mark ix. 49. 
 
 a Luke xv. i, etc. 
 
no 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me ; 
 for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, 
 that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that 
 repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, 
 which need no repentance. Either what woman having ten 
 pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, 
 and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? 
 and when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her 
 neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me ; for I have 
 found the piece which I had lost. Likewise, I say unto you, 
 there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one 
 sinner that repenteth.” 
 
 Of all human miseries the greatest is that of the man 
 without God ; it sums all others and aggravates them, for 
 there is in it something infinite. The pity of Jesus for 
 sinners is the dominating feature of his character; it over¬ 
 flows from him, and is always shown as more and more 
 moving and profound in his language and in his acts. . To 
 save, to heal, to enlighten, to lead to God all who are in 
 Israel and on the whole earth ; all who are lost, sick, feeble, 
 in darkness ; this is his ardent and constant wish. How 
 they despised him, these self-righteous men, and how they 
 outraged him when, in their hardness of heart, they dared to 
 taunt him, and blame what is his genius, his very essence ! 
 
 He often longed to move these obdurate souls and to make 
 them listen to the purposes of the mercy of God. In these 
 very days, more saddened by their blindness, he told them this 
 parable in the presence of the publicans and sinners : 1 
 
 “ A certain man had two sons : and the younger of them 
 said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that 
 falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not 
 many days after the younger son gathered all together, and 
 took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his sub- 
 
 1 Luke xv. 11-32. 
 
TIIE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. Ill 
 
 stance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there 
 arose a mighty famine in that land ; and he began to be in 
 want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that 
 country ; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And 
 he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the 
 swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he 
 came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my 
 father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hun¬ 
 ger ! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, 
 Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am 
 no more worthy to be called thy son : make me as one of thy 
 hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But 
 when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had 
 compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. 
 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against 
 heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be 
 called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring 
 forth the best robe, and put it on him ; and put a ring on his 
 hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring Hither the fatted calf, 
 and kill it: and let us eat, and be merry : for this my son was 
 dead, and is alive again ; he was lost, and is found. And they 
 began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the field : and 
 as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and 
 dancing. And he called one of the servants, and asked what 
 these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is 
 come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he 
 hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry, and 
 would not go in : therefore came his father out, and intreated 
 him. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many 
 years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy 
 commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I 
 might make merry with my friends : but as soon as this thy 
 son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, 
 thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. And he said unto 
 him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. 
 
112 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad : for 
 this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, 
 and is found.” 
 
 The Pharisees might have recognised their prototype in 
 the elder son : he is the incarnation of all their faults; he does 
 not love his brother, he understands neither pardon nor repen¬ 
 tance ; he is wholly concerned about himself, and dreams 
 only of relying on his innocence and his fidelity; he murmurs 
 and complains. It is he who should be feasted and shown 
 every preference; what the Father gives to the rest seems a 
 robbery from him. The fatted calf is killed for his brother, 
 and he is not even given a goat. All these features, so 
 strongly, yet so finely and exactly drawn, must have struck 
 and stirred their consciences. They have at least stigmatised 
 for ever these selfish, jealous, and uncongenial characters, 
 whose soulless religion is a mask, and whose apparent virtue a 
 calculation. The sinners and the publicans of all countries 
 and of all ages may read their history in that of the prodigal. 
 They see summed up in brief the distance to which they have 
 wandered, the unspeakable misery into which their unrestrained 
 passions have precipitated them. All have uttered, in the 
 depths of that land of famine to which sin has banished them, 
 the piercing cry which expresses their desolation and their 
 anguish: “ I die of hunger.” The repentant may learn from 
 the parable how they shall return. The memory of the 
 Father and of the abundance which reigns in his house comes 
 back to them; rather than die famished and despairing, they 
 say to themselves, “ I will arise and go to my Father.” 
 
 The infinite mercy of God pervades all this narrative. 
 The images which express it are eternal. Of all pictures of 
 the goodness of God who pardons, and the humility of man 
 who repents, and the joy of heaven and earth, after the 
 repentance of man and pardon of God, we shall find none so 
 expressive or so moving. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 113 
 
 All true converts have said to God, “I have sinned ; make 
 me as one of thy hired servants ; I am no more worthy to be 
 called thy son.” All these have been raised by the Father in 
 their humility, and have felt the divine embrace of the Spirit; 
 they know what is the robe with which he clothes them, the 
 ring placed on their finger, and the shoes which prepare them 
 to go forth as messengers of peace. They hear within them¬ 
 selves, in the midst of the mirth and songs of festival, the 
 voice of the Father, saying : “ This my son was dead, and is 
 alive again ; he was lost, and is found.” We shall never know 
 how many minds this history of the prodigal has stirred, how 
 many lost souls it has healed, how many despairing hearts it 
 has cheered, how many penitents it has encouraged ; it makes 
 another day to dawn for the most guilty and the most 
 dishonourable. 
 
 The discourses which the third Evangelist alone has pre¬ 
 served for us have a twofold interest. They help us to pene¬ 
 trate deeper into the teaching and the mind of Jesus, and 
 they bring sharply before our eyes his new position in 
 Peraea. The Master was surrounded by his disciples; we 
 see them pressing upon his steps as in Galilee, people of 
 low condition, tax-collectors and publicaus. The higher 
 ranks of society, the elders of the synagogue and Pharisees, 
 maintained towards him a hostile and defiant attitude; they 
 murmured and argued indignantly, tfiey plotted against him 
 and treated him despitefully, but we hear no threats, Jesus 
 had nothing to fear from them ; he could, without hastening 
 the impending crisis, the hour of which was known to him, 
 have redoubled his reproaches; but his voice grew softer as 
 he spoke to his disciples, old and new, chosen, almost without 
 an exception, from among those poor people by whom he 
 loved to be followed. As for the converted tax-gatherers, 
 he recommended them to employ to good purpose for the 
 future their worldly substance which they had amassed 
 unjustly. He feared not to use as a stimulant, for these 
 VOL. II. 
 
 I 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 114 
 
 natures scarcely yet emerged from their wicked lives, the 
 example of the wicked themselves : “ There was a certain 
 rich man,” he said, “ which had a steward ; and the same was 
 accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he 
 called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of 
 thee ? give an account of thy stewardship ; for thou mayest 
 be no longer steward. Then the steward said within himself, 
 What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the 
 stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am 
 resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the steward¬ 
 ship, they may receive me into their houses. So he called 
 every one of his lord’s debtors unto him, and said unto the 
 first, How much owest thou unto my lord ? And he said, An 
 hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy 
 bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then he said to 
 another, And how much owest thou ? And he said, An 
 hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take 
 thy bill, and write fourscore. And the lord commended the 
 unjust steward, because he had done wisely : for the children 
 of this world are in their generation wiser than the children 
 of light. And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of 
 the mammon of unrighteousness ; that, when ye fail, they 
 may receive you into everlasting habitations.” 1 
 
 Those who are familiar with the teaching of Jesus will 
 understand this language ; he often used to say, “ That which 
 ye do unto the poorest, ye do it unto me ; ” and so the rich 
 man, who by his generosity towards the poor has made 
 friends of them on earth, will have Jesus and the angels for 
 his friends in heaven. When, at his death, the Father gives 
 him his reward, he will be received into the everlasting 
 habitations by their rightful Master. 
 
 We may observe also what idea of property Jesus incul- 
 1 Luke xvi. 1-9. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 115 
 
 cated on his disciples; he did not deny it, as some critics 
 have thought, wrongly interpreting his words; he saw 
 in it only a temporary tenure. Man is but an adminis¬ 
 trator ; the true and only proprietor is God. If he 
 forgets this he ignores the supreme rights of God, and 
 enters into a course of wrong-doing; his wealth, although 
 justly acquired, deserves to be called, according to the 
 forcible and profound expression of Jesus, the “ unrighteous 
 Mammon ; ” for it is no more than usurped wealth, and it 
 will be the source of every sort of evil; and such is the 
 case with most men. The Master raises the thoughts of 
 his disciples and reminds them that riches are things of no 
 worth, deceitful and illusory goods, borrowed treasures which 
 are only entrusted to us for a time. “ Administer them faith¬ 
 fully,” he said to them : “ He that is faithful in that which is 
 least is faithful also in much : and he that is unjust in the 
 least is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been 
 faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to 
 your trust the true riches ? ” 
 
 The highest wealth, the true riches, the riches proper to 
 man, mean certainly the riches of the Kingdom, the trea¬ 
 sures of the Spirit, boundless as God, which become by 
 the goodness of the Father the property of the disciples of 
 Jesus. The only value which he attaches to wealth and 
 fortune is that, by our distribution of them, they provide us 
 with a means of entering into the eternal mansions. Such 
 faithful administration appeared to him wiser than the 
 wise unfaithfulness of parsimony which procures to us 
 friends on earth with the riches that are not our own. 
 Again, he did not cease to inspire detachment from all 
 worldly ties. We must not be enslaved by Mammon ; we 
 must be the servants of God, our only master. And whoso¬ 
 ever is the slave of Mammon cannot serve God ; he must 
 make his choice: either he will love the one and hate the 
 other, or he will attach himself to the one and despise the 
 
 I—2 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 Il6 
 
 other. The Pharisees, whose avarice was proverbial, 1 had 
 discovered the secret of the slavish enjoyment of worldly 
 riches, pomp, and grandeur, with their superficial piety and 
 their conventional rectitude. In their false practical wisdom 
 it seemed to them an excellent thing both to reap the fruits 
 of Mammon and to satisfy all the demands of ritual. They 
 mocked at the teachings of Jesus, at his poverty, and at his 
 disdain of those treasures for which man has such a devouring 
 desire. Heroic teachings have always appeared madness to 
 vulgar and interested minds. “Ye are they,” said Jesus 
 to them, “which justify yourselves before men; but God 
 knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed 
 among men is abomination in the sight of God.” Then, with 
 an authority to which the contrast of his apparent weakness 
 gave the greater strength, he repelled the insolence of these 
 proud men, telling them that their reign was ended: “The 
 law and the prophets,” upon which ye have established your 
 aristocracy and your religious despotism, “ were until John : 
 since that time the Kingdom of God is preached, and every 
 man presseth into it.” 2 And he pointed out to his adversaries 
 that multitude, which was the object of their scorn, sur¬ 
 rounding him and hastening to his calk No more privileges 
 of birth or education, riches or learning: there is equality for 
 all ; the lowliest repentant tax-gatherer is as great as the 
 heir of the supreme priesthood. 
 
 We may imagine how scandalizing to the Pharisees must 
 have been this teaching concerning the Kingdom of God, 
 which was to succeed the Law and the prophets ; how threat¬ 
 ening it must have appeared to the religious power which 
 they arrogated to themselves ; they even accused Jesus of 
 overthrowing the Law and the prophets, and did not cease to 
 reproach him with so doing in the presence of the people. 
 Was not an attack on them an attack on the Law, of which 
 
 1 Luke xvi. 14. 
 
 * Luke xvi. 16. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. II/ 
 
 they professed to be the jealous guardians? Jesus defended 
 himself from the accusation triumphantly ; he asserted, on the 
 contrary, the eternity and unchangeableness of the Law: “It 
 is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one 
 tittle of the law to fail.” 1 Far from destroying it, as he has 
 constantly repeated, he comes to accomplish and fulfil it ; 
 he brings the substance of all that it symbolizes and typifies 
 by its ceremonies; he realizes all that the prophets have 
 predicted; everything just and righteous commanded by 
 the Law he maintains and perfects; everything imperfect 
 that Moses had tolerated, because of the hard-heartedness 
 of the people, he rejects ; for Moses wrote his Law only upon 
 stone, but he writes it upon the heart. 
 
 He cited as an example the case of divorce, and he spoke 
 against it before these Pharisees and Sadducees, who abused, 
 without scruple, the tolerance of the lawgiver. Jesus does 
 away with it in his Kingdom : “ Whosoever putteth away his 
 wife,” he said, “ and marrieth another, committeth adultery; 
 and whosoever marrieth her that is’ put away from her 
 husband committeth adultery.” The Pharisees had already 
 put to him this insidious question: “Is it lawful for a man to 
 put away his wife for every cause?” 2 Jesus replied: “Have 
 ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made 
 them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man 
 leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and 
 they twain shall be one flesh ? Wherefore they are no more 
 twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined 
 together, let not man put asunder.” 
 
 Monogamy is a divine institution, polygamy is a devia¬ 
 tion from the primitive plan. What God has established, 
 men have altered; it is the part of Jesus to reform all 
 things. The Pharisees triumphantly appealed to the authority 
 of Moses : “ Why did Moses then command to give a writing 
 
 1 Luke xvi. 17. 
 
 3 Matt. xix. 3, etc. 
 
118 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 of divorcement, and to put her away ? ” “ Moses,” replied 
 
 Jesus, “because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you 
 to put away your wives : but from the beginning it was not 
 so.” And, speaking as a master giving to the world the true, 
 the inflexible law, he added : “ And I say unto you, Whoso¬ 
 ever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and 
 shall marry another, committeth adultery : and whoso mar- 
 rieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.” Separa¬ 
 tion is permissible ; a bad wife can be put away from the 
 house, but the bond of husband and wife remains unbroken. 
 The repudiated wife has no right to marry another man ; 
 the man who has put away his wife has no right to take 
 another. 
 
 This inflexible and holy doctrine of marriage is the 
 honour of the new society, founded by the gentlest and 
 purest of lawgivers. It alarms us in our present state 
 of misery and infirmity: “ If the case of the man be so 
 with his wife,” cried the disciples, “ it is not good to marry.” 
 Duty is always heroic ; man, led astray by his animal nature, 
 does not understand it ; to obey and receive it, the gift 
 of God is necessary. “ All men cannot receive this saying,” 
 replied Jesus to them, “save they to whom it is given. For 
 there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their 
 mothers womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were 
 made eunuchs of men : and there be eunuchs, which have 
 made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. 
 He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.” 
 
 Jesus does not condemn marriage, but he prefers celibacy 
 and virginity, when man accepts them freely and frankly for 
 the sake of the Kingdom of heaven. Those whom God 
 calls to propagate the Gospel by apostolic mission and by 
 sanctity of life, belong to him; he uplifts them from 
 earth, frees them from all attachment to created things 
 intoxicates them with his virtue, absorbs them and fashions 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 119 
 
 them after the image of the Master. Like him, they can no 
 more be members of a family, of a country, of a race ; they 
 are members of eternity ; they are poor, chaste, sacrificed, 
 their action is the divine order. To the ignorant they bring 
 light; to the feeble, strength; to the depressed, joy ; to the 
 despairing, saving faith ; to the wretched, eternal riches ; 
 they live by the truth which they proclaim, by the goodness of 
 God which they lavish around them. Their bounty is inexhaus¬ 
 tible, because they have sacrificed everything : family, wealth, 
 and liberty; charity abounds in their hearts. Every hour 
 they must be prepared to die; the blood which runs in their 
 veins is the blood of victims ; it is the property of God. It 
 must not be shed except in testifying to God, as was the 
 blood of Jesus, and upon his Calvary. 
 
 Of all legislators Jesus is the only one who has taken no 
 part in evil-doing, for he is the only one who gives strength 
 to triumph over evil. His law is pure and stainless, his 
 disciples have always conquered sin and astonished the world 
 by the heroism of their virtue. Sages speak of the impossi¬ 
 bility of goodness ; Jesus has given to man the courage to say, 
 “ I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” 1 
 But nothing can daunt the resistance of these fanatical 
 rabbis, they are the measure of human stubbornness ; after 
 
 having rejected the truth, they continue to live in satisfied 
 
 / 
 
 contempt of all whom they think beneath them, scorning 
 both the prophets and the simple multitude by whom they 
 are followed and revered. This obstinacy, this egoism, this 
 affected insolence, which neither the weakness of the humble, 
 nor virtue, nor truth can move, inspired Jesus with one of 
 those clear and threatening parables wherein the sinful can 
 see their own image, and the justice of God seems to 
 re-establish in eternal harmony the order overthrown here on 
 earth by the vices and violence of men. 2 
 
 1 Philipp, iv. 13. 
 
 2 Luke xvi. 19, etc. 
 
120 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 “ There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in 
 
 purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: 
 
 and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was 
 
 laid at his gate full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the 
 
 crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table : moreover the 
 
 dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that 
 
 the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abra- 
 
 hams bosom : the rich man also died, and was buried ; and 
 
 in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth 
 
 Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried 
 
 and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send 
 
 Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and 
 
 cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But 
 
 Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime 
 
 receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things : 
 
 but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And 
 
 beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf 
 
 fixed : so that they which would pass from hence to you 
 
 • 
 
 cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from 
 thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that 
 thou wouldest send him to my father’s house : for I have 
 five brethren ; that he may testify unto them, lest they also 
 come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, 
 They have Moses and the prophets ; let them hear them. 
 And he said, Nay, father Abraham : but if one went unto 
 them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto 
 him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will 
 they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” 
 
 It is not necessary to take literally the symbolic language 
 which Jesus borrowed from the literature of his time and 
 country. His thoughts transcend their expression ; and 
 require to be disengaged from it. In the lover of pomp, 
 luxuriously and gaily clothed, living sumptuously, with¬ 
 out pity for the poor man covered with sores and dying of 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 121 
 
 hunger at his gate, less compassionate even than the dog that 
 licks his open wounds, the Sadducee can recognise himself. 
 He will learn to what his pitiless epicureanism is leading him; 
 he will be tortured and given over to the inexorable justice 
 of God, in that life beyond the tomb in which he refuses to 
 believe, but which Jesus brings with startling vividness before 
 his eyes. Those wretched people, again, who followed the 
 Master, and whose only share was poverty, hunger, and 
 suffering, but who put their trust in him, may be seen typi¬ 
 fied in the beggar, Lazarus. Death will deliver them and 
 open to them Abraham’s bosom, that touching emblem of 
 the goodness of the heavenly Father. Jesus, however, does 
 not mean to say that the rich man, by the mere reason of his 
 riches, incurs reprobation ; and that the poor man, because 
 of his poverty alone, will enter into the felicity of the 
 Father. The rich man is cast out because, in his voluptuous 
 selfishness, he was grown dead to all pity ; the poor man is 
 saved for having put his hope in God and justified by his 
 life his name of Lazarus. 1 
 
 The terrible reflection is that, beyond the grave, the bounds 
 of happiness and misery are fixed for ever: on the one side 
 is suffering without end or alleviation; on the other, repose 
 within the bosom of the Father; between the two lies an 
 impassable abyss. Man is warned, let him make his choice. 
 The unbelief of the Sadducees will be without excuse. Ah! 
 they say, if only someone from among the dead could come 
 to tell us what hell is like. Yet the prophets and the Law 
 had spoken time after time, and the Sadducees would believe 
 neither. It is not testimonies that are wanting, God has 
 multiplied them without number; it is that man has been 
 given the power of defying God ; this is proved by the 
 example of the leaders of Jewish learning; it has been con¬ 
 firmed by the unbelief of all ages. Blindness is not in the 
 
 1 Eleazar , by contraction Lazar , signifies in Hebrew “ God, my help;” 
 this aids us to understand the parable. 
 
122 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 mind, but has its origin in the wicked heart. A day will 
 come when Jesus will rise from the dead and manifest him¬ 
 self : there will be amazement and terror, there will be 
 disputes and denials ; the risen Saviour, who has conquered 
 death, will not conquer those whom his mortal life has been 
 unable to persuade. Jesus was thinking, doubtless, of the 
 final impenitence of his enemies when he pronounced this 
 sentence which he puts into the mouth of Abraham : “ If 
 they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be 
 persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” 
 
 The disciples, as they witnessed the growth of these 
 struggles between their Master and all who were influential, 
 all who were rich, all who were zealous for learning, religion, 
 and the Law, out of the whole nation, must more than once 
 have felt that the tide was against them. So powerful an op¬ 
 position was calculated to shake the hearts of neophytes, but 
 Jesus, in his close converse with them, reassured and strength¬ 
 ened them, reminding them of the great work which he was 
 come to accomplish, a work of division, separation, and war. 
 He said to them : “ It is impossible but that offences will 
 come : but woe unto him, through whom they come ! It were 
 better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, 
 and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of 
 these little ones.” 1 
 
 To prevent the weak and the humble from approaching 
 God is the greatest of crimes, it is the work of Antichrist; no 
 one has felt the horror of such a crime so deeply as Jesus, and 
 he proclaimed the terrible but just punishment attached to it. 
 “Take heed to yourselves,” said he once more to his followers, 
 to fortify them against those who should attempt to detach 
 them from him. 
 
 Perpetual hostility is often found to embittter and harden 
 
 1 Luke xvii. i, 2. 
 
TIIE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 123 
 
 the hearts even of the best ; Jesus remained kind and com¬ 
 passionate. He gave an example of this to his followers, 
 urging them to forgive at all times : “ If thy brother trespass 
 against thee, rebuke him ; and if he repent, forgive him. 
 And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and 
 seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent, 
 forgive him.” 
 
 The apostles, who lived with him in profound and inti¬ 
 mate communion, felt that he was their strength and their 
 wisdom. Ravished by his words, charmed and overcome, they 
 cried : “ Lord, increase our faith ; ” and he, to let them know 
 the boundless power of faith, said to them : “ If ye had faith 
 as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine 
 tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in 
 the sea ; and it should obey you.” 
 
 Faith, which puts man in communion of will and soul 
 
 with God, is able to partake of his infinite power: it plucks 
 
 up not only trees, it removes not only mountains, it lifts up 
 
 ♦ 
 
 to God the world of spirits. The miracles which it performs 
 in the physical world are of little worth compared to the 
 miracles of the moral world. The Master, who had unveiled 
 to his apostles their divine greatness, fearing they should be 
 exalted, recalled them to the sweetness and humility which 
 became the true servant of God : “ Which of you, having a 
 servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and 
 by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat ? 
 and will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I 
 may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and 
 drunken ; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink ? Doth he 
 thank that servant because he did the things that were com¬ 
 manded him ? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall 
 have done all those things which are commanded you, say, 
 We are unprofitable servants : we have done that which was 
 our duty to do.” 
 
 By such lessons unknown to human wisdom, Jesus formed 
 
124 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 his disciples and moulded the new man. Before his coming, 
 man, always selfish and interested, even in his religion, 
 thought only of his privileges and his merits, and, like a 
 hireling, claimed their reward from God. In the school of 
 Jesus, whatever be the splendour of his service, man stands 
 abased in utter insignificance before him to whom he owes 
 everything and who could owe him nothing. It is enough 
 for him to perform his will; love inspires him, and the last 
 word of love is to forget ourselves in God. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE RESURRECTION OF LAZARUS. 
 
 An incident, the consequences of which could not be foreseen, 
 shortened the sojourn of Jesus in Peraea, and precipitated the 
 crisis of his life. The house at Bethany, in which he was 
 hospitably entertained on his journeys to Jerusalem, and 
 whose hosts received him as the Lord and the friend with such 
 loving faith, was filled with gloom. Lazarus was sick. 1 Martha 
 and Mary, his sisters, sent unto Jesus saying, “Lord, behold, 
 he whom thou lovest is sick.” We may see here the beautiful 
 reserve shown in the perfect confidence of Martha and Mary. 
 No wish is expressed. Besides, they must have thought of 
 the perils to which the Master would be exposed in Judaea. 
 
 On hearing the news, Jesus restored the hopes of the 
 messengers and those who were about him : “ This sickness,” 
 he said, “ is not unto death, but that the Son of God might 
 be glorified thereby.” 
 
 He was thinking deeply in his tender love for his 
 favourite friends, for, as the Evangelist so simply says, 
 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. The mys¬ 
 terious words which we have just related showed a vague 
 glimmer of this love of his. 
 
 Nevertheless he remained two days longer in the place 
 where he was ; then he said to his disciples, “ Let us go into 
 Judaea again.” At the word “ Judaea ” the disciples at once 
 
 1 John xi. i, etc. 
 
 125 
 
126 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 exclaimed : “ Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee ; 
 and gocst thou thither again ? ” This cry of terror, from an 
 affection which was almost cowardice, inspired Jesus with a 
 reply in which shone forth all his strength of soul and his 
 absolute confidence in his Father: “ Are there not twelve hours 
 in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, 
 because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man. walk 
 in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.” 
 Jesus compared his future passion to the night, and called it 
 “ the hour of the powers of darkness.” At that hour the 
 Father will deliver him defenceless to his enemies ; but till 
 then he guards him ; he is his light and his strength. No 
 danger will stop him in the performance of his task ; this 
 period is, for him, the twelve hours of the day. He knows 
 that it is not yet finished, and his security is equal to his con¬ 
 fidence. The calm courage which has its source in perfect 
 union with God was one of the characteristics of the moral 
 beauty of Jesus. 
 
 A little later, always preoccupied with what was passing 
 at Bethany, he said to his disciples : “ Our friend Lazarus 
 sleepeth ; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.” He 
 was speaking of death, but his disciples thought he spoke only 
 of resting in sleep. They, not understanding the secret thought 
 of their Master, and foreseeing the danger that would result 
 from a journey into Judaea, answered him : “ Lord, if he sleep, 
 he shall do well.” Jesus answered them plainly: “Lazarus is 
 dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to 
 the intent ye may believe ; nevertheless let us go unto him.” 
 This resolute expression roused the courage of one of them: 
 “ Let us also go,” said Thomas, “ that we may die with him.” 
 
 To any historian who is not afraid of confronting the 
 miraculous, and who neither wishes to do violence to the 
 texts nor to distort the narrative, it is evident that Jesus 
 knew, by divine inspiration, of the death of Lazarus, though 
 far away from the scene. It must have happened on the 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 12 7 
 
 very day the messengers from Martha and Mary had set out, 
 and while they were still upon the journey. From Bethany 
 to Bcthabara, beyond the Jordan, the distance is between 
 seven and eight leagues. Lazarus was embalmed on the 
 same evening, in accordance with Jewish custom, swathed in 
 a shroud and buried. Now Jesus, having waited two days 
 before beginning the journey, could not arrive before the 
 fourth, and this was also the fourth day since Lazarus had 
 been laid in the tomb. There is no need to .'seek any other 
 motive, in this deliberate delay, than the waiting for the 
 signal of God, by which Jesus regulated his smallest actions. 
 
 We men are influenced by a thousand different attrac¬ 
 tions, a thousand unreflecting caprices ; but Jesus yielded to no 
 earthly or human or personal influence. The sovereign and 
 decisive motive force of his actions is the will of his Father. 
 In order to obey him he resists even the tender friendship 
 which urges him to go to the sisters of Lazarus. But conso¬ 
 lation will come in its own good time ; it is only postponed in 
 the designs of the Father in order to make the miracle which 
 is being prepared more striking, the glory of God and his 
 Son more manifest, the faith of all more enduring. 
 
 When Jesus, in his journey up the Wady-el-Kelt, had 
 arrived at the heights of Bethany, he was told that Lazarus 
 had been buried for four days ; it was the very middle of the 
 period of mourning. Many Jews from Jerusalem, among them 
 some of the enemies of the Prophet, were come to condole 
 with Martha and Mary. Martha, eager and restless as ever, 
 as soon as she was told of the approach of the Master, went 
 to meet him, while Mary remained at home. When she saw 
 Jesus, Martha exclaimed, “ Lord, if thou hadst been here, my 
 brother had not died.” These words were meant to express 
 confidence and not reproach, for she added, “ But I know, 
 that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God 
 will give it thee.” Jesus answered by a promise, the un¬ 
 expected greatness of which transcended her hopes and 
 
128 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 seemed to disconcert her faith : “Thy brother shall rise again.” 
 “ I know,” said Martha, “ that he shall rise again in the resurrec¬ 
 tion at the last day.” According to a common belief in Israel, 
 especially among the Pharisees, pious Jews were to rise from 
 the dead at the opening of the reign of the Messiah, 1 and 
 Martha saw, in the promise of Jesus, only an allusion to this 
 belief; we might say that she dared not hope for more. 
 In order to encourage her, Jesus raised her thoughts to him¬ 
 self, saying: “ I am the resurrection and the life: he that 
 believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and 
 whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” 
 
 No words can be more reassuring than these to those who 
 are face to face with the mystery of the tomb so full of agony. 
 Believers can take courage and hope; their Master is above 
 death; his name is the Resurrection and the Life: he becomes 
 among them a power for immortality; they were dead, but 
 he can recall them and bring them back to life; and when 
 death strikes them down, it is only for a time. Jesus asked 
 Martha, saying, “ Believest thou these things ? ” She saith 
 unto him, “Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the 
 Son of God, which should come into the world.” 
 
 From this moment the faith of Martha was perfected; 
 the discourse of the Master freed her from the gloomy 
 vagueness of the popular belief. She recognised not only the 
 Messiah in Jesus, but the Son of God in the Messiah. Grief 
 had opened her soul, and the words of Jesus filled her 
 with light and hope. “Go thou,” said Jesus unto her, “call 
 thy sister secretly,” and he waited a little before the village 
 at the place where Martha had met him. She went her way, 
 and came to Mary, saying in a low voice, “The Master is 
 come, and calleth for thee.” And Mary rose also, and came to 
 meet him. The Jews who were with her in the house, seeing 
 
 1 Daniel xii. 2. Cf. Book of Enochs li. 1 ; Psalter of Sol., iii. 16 ; Antiq ., 
 xviii. 1-3 ; Bell, fad., viii. 14 ; Misch. Sanhedr x. 1 ; Pirke Abot., iv. 22, 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 129 
 
 her rise suddenly and go out, followed her, thinking that she 
 was going to the grave to weep there. 
 
 When Mary was come to the place where Jesus was, 
 seeing him she fell at his feet, and said to him like Martha, 
 “ Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.” 
 She added nothing more, but wept in silence, overwhelmed 
 with grief. At the sight of Mary’s tears, and those of the 
 Jews who had accompanied her, weeping, Jesus groaned in 
 spirit, and was himself deeply troubled. 
 
 “ He said, Where have ye laid him ? They said unto 
 him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, 
 Behold how he loved him ! And some of them said, Could 
 not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused 
 that even this man should not have died ? Jesus therefore 
 again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a 
 cave,” a sepulchre hewn out of the rock, “and a stone lay upon 
 it. Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of 
 him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he 
 stinketh : for he hath been dead four days. Jesus saith unto 
 her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou 
 shouldest see the glory of God ? Then they took away the 
 stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus 
 lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou 
 hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always : 
 but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they 
 may believe that thou hast sent me.” 
 
 In his boundless compassion he made every human grief 
 his own. On this day it is not the man of compassion, it is 
 the friend who is moved, who groans and who weeps. In his 
 tenderness he prayed ; he asked the Father to console those 
 who in their grief had wept before him and had faith in his 
 divine tenderness. Human tenderness is powerless ; that of 
 Jesus will conquer death. 
 
 “And when he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud 
 voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 K 
 
130 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes : and his face 
 was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose 
 him, and let him go. Then many of the Jews which came to 
 Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on 
 him. But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, 
 and told them what things Jesus had done.” 1 
 
 These were of that race who in their blindness deny every¬ 
 thing, even the dazzling light of the power and goodness of 
 God. They justify the words of the parable of Dives, “ They 
 will not be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” 
 
 The people at the gates of the city, and in the city itself, 
 were agitated by these events, and this troubled the Sanhe¬ 
 drin. A solemn assembly was called together. Priests and 
 doctors deliberated. They said, “ What do we ? for this man 
 doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will 
 believe on him ; and the Romans shall come and take away 
 both our place and nation.” 
 
 Jesus had become a public danger in the eyes of the 
 authorities. He endangered not only the peace, but the very 
 existence of the nation. It is difficult to realise the shallow¬ 
 ness and error of such a judgment, or to explain how the 
 Sanhedrin could confound the movement among the people 
 caused by Jesus, with the half-religious, half-political agitation 
 of Judas the Gaulonite. He was taking the most vigilant 
 care to combat in the multitude the false idea of the Messiah 
 which implied national freedom and restoration. He had 
 rejected with indignation the temporal crown which the 
 people had offered him in Galilee. He had scrupulously 
 avoided everywhere, even at Jerusalem, the name of 
 Messiah, which lent itself to equivocation, and to which he 
 took the greatest pains to give a spiritual meaning. He had 
 paid the tribute, and respected the established authorities. 
 All these were notorious facts. The members of the High 
 
 1 John xi. 46, etc. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 131 
 
 Council, who since the beginning of his career, had not ceased 
 to spy closely into the movements of the Prophet, cannot but 
 have known them. 
 
 But assemblies are worse than individuals; they are 
 blinded and misled by self-interest, by a hundred petty 
 passions and prejudices. The hierarchy could not pardon 
 Jesus his scorn for the empty ceremonies, the exercise 
 of which brought riches to those who practised them. 
 The party of the Pharisees, whose vices he had unmasked, 
 whose false learning he had denounced, and whose hypocrisy 
 he had stigmatised, hated him ; they were exasperated by 
 the influence which he exercised over the people, and by his 
 pretensions to a function superior to that of the prophets and 
 even to that of Moses himself. The aristocratic class of the 
 Sadducees maintained towards Jesus an attitude of fear 
 mingled with disdain ; they feared that in winning over the 
 people he would disturb public order, for they trembled 
 before the Romans, and the enthusiasm of the multitude ter¬ 
 rified them. Anything rather than disturbance and tumult; 
 tranquillity at all hazards, this was their motto. These 
 self-satisfied conservatives judged men and things only by 
 their own standard ; on this point they were uncompromising. 
 They had the preponderance in the High Council. The 
 priests descended from the great families of the Phabi, 
 Kanith, Boethos, Kantharos, and Hanan were Sadducees: 
 they were inexorable against Jesus to the last. 
 
 In this memorable year a certain Joseph,surnamed Caiaphas, 
 held the office of high priest and president of the Sanhedrin ; 
 two distinct functions united in the hands of one man since 
 the banishment of Archelaus. 1 This personage appears now 
 for the first time in the history of Jesus. From his high 
 official position he was to play the chief part hereafter among 
 
 1 Antiq ., xx. 10, in fine; xx. 9,1. Cf. Acts v. 17 ; ix. 1, 2 ; xxiii. 2, 3, etc. 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 1 Z2 
 
 the enemies of the Son of God in the tragic unfolding of his 
 destiny. He was to judge him and condemn him ; and his 
 name, like that of a murderer, awakes a mournful echo in the 
 minds of Christian men. Like all his predecessors, for half a 
 century, he was the creature of power. The governor of 
 Syria, Valerius Gratus, had made him high priest about the 
 year 18, 1 doubtless recognising in him the servility requisite 
 for a pontiff whose office was degraded into the instrument 
 of national servitude. Pontius Pilate, the Procurator of 
 Judaea, found him in this position and retained him there. 
 We know nothing of his family, which must have been one 
 of the most influential in the country. He was a Sadducee. 2 3 
 He married the daughter of an old high priest, Hanan, a 
 friend of Rome, and the undisputed leader of the party, 
 whose five sons filled in succession the office of high priest. 
 This alliance increased and strengthened his power. When 
 Pilate was recalled, about the year 35, Caiaphas maintained 
 himself in office, and was not deposed till the following year 
 by Vitellius. 8 His attitude in the sitting of the Sanhedrin, 
 in which the question was debated of the measures to be taken 
 against Jesus, argues a nature at once violent, imperious, and 
 servile. We have from him one of those speeches which 
 paint the man and mark the cynical brutality of his party. 4 
 
 Growing impatient at the hesitation and the perplexity 
 shown by his colleagues, he said roughly to them: “Ye know 
 nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us that one 
 man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish 
 not.” 5 Thus State interest, that last resource of all threat¬ 
 ened powers, which has been used by every despot to legiti¬ 
 mize every crime, was invoked against Jesus in contempt of 
 
 1 Antiq xviii. 2, 2; xviii. 4, 5. 
 
 2 Antiq.) v. 17. 
 
 3 Afitiq ., xviii. 3, 4, 
 
 4 Bell. Jitd ., 8, 14. 
 
 e John xi. 49, 50. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 133 
 
 truth and justice. He must die, said the high priest, the 
 interest of the nation demands it. In recording this episode 
 half a century later, the inspired Evangelist saw in these 
 words of the pontiff a prophetic significance. Caiaphas, with¬ 
 out knowing it, had expressed the thoughts of God. It was 
 a necessity in the divine government of mankind that Jesus 
 should die. “ And not for that nation only, but that also he 
 should gather together in one the children of God that were 
 scattered abroad.” 1 
 
 Crime has its place in the evolution of mankind. The 
 most monstrous iniquity committed against the Holiest has 
 been the starting-point of the renovation of mankind, and the 
 beginning of the Kingdom of God. A religious assembly 
 decrees, as a measure of public safety, the death of Jesus ; this 
 unjust execution is to be the remedy, willed by God, to over¬ 
 come the iniquity which devours the earth ; and the blood shed 
 by murderous hands is to be the river of life in which the chil- 
 
 dren of God shall be renewed for evermore. 
 
 * 
 
 Thus, this great episode of the raising of Lazarus, which 
 we may call the miracle of friendship, has had, among others, 
 a fatal consequence in the life of Jesus. It has, indeed, 
 consoled the grief of a family tenderly beloved, by restoring 
 to them their lost one ; it has testified to the divine power of 
 Jesus over death, and proved to sincere minds that the Prophet 
 was the Messenger of the Father, the Son to whom he ever 
 gave heed, and the Master of life. But it has also provoked the 
 hatred of his adversaries, turned the wrath of the Sanhedrin 
 upon him, and drawn from the president of the sovereign 
 assembly a decree of death, in the name of public safety. All 
 that he had predicted almost a year ago in the desert of Beth- 
 saida, on his way to Caesarea, to the great scandal of his 
 disciples,on thesubject of his sad destiny, and of the persecutions 
 
 1 John xi. 52. 
 
134 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 which awaited him at Jerusalem from the chiefs, the elders, and 
 the priests, now appeared in all its threatening reality. Not his 
 apostolate in the capital, nor his reiterated appeals to the 
 nation, nor his teachings about the true Kingdom of God, 
 and of the Messiah, the Son of God, nor his miracles, nor 
 his virtues, could overcome blindness, or disarm oppo¬ 
 sition ; on the contrary, everything conspired to let loose 
 the tempest, and prepare the final crisis in which he was 
 to be swept away. 
 
 This novel and perilous situation is very graphically 
 described by the fourth Evangelist, the only one, moreover, 
 who instructs us concerning the ministry of Jesus in Judaea. 
 He connects the situation with the raising of Lazarus, as the 
 result with its immediate cause. We see it strengthen little 
 by little at each new appearance of the Prophet in Jerusalem; 
 the more sublime the truths which the words of Jesus explain, 
 the more clearly his miracles attest his power, the more 
 strength and ascendency his influence has over the people, so 
 much the more the situation becomes strained and aggravated. 
 The miracle accomplished at Bethany is the last term of a 
 striking progression in the whole work of Jesus ; it is to his 
 Judaean ministry what the multiplying of the loaves in the 
 desert of Bethsaida is to his apostolate in Galilee. 
 
 The assertion of a witness so correctly informed of all 
 that he relates guarantees against all attacks the authenticity 
 of the raising of Lazarus. However wonderful it may be, 
 the fact commends itself to every unprejudiced mind. 
 
 Pantheistic or materialistic criticism has cried out, with 
 serene imperturbability, that it is impossible ; that the dead 
 cannot rise again. History answers the objection by in¬ 
 disputable resurrections ; and the reason which teaches that 
 there is a personal and all-powerful God sees no impossibility 
 in admitting that Lazarus, although dead for four days, can 
 rise from the tomb at the voice of the Son of God. To 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 135 
 
 create out of nothing what had no existence, to give life 
 where there was no life, to restore it where it has been lost, 
 all these things are the work of one and the same power. 
 “ But,” it is objected, “ Lazarus was only sunk in a cataleptic 
 sleep.” 1 Witnesses assert that he was dead. “That is im¬ 
 probable.” History is only a tissue of improbabilities to 
 our limited faculties. We shall never perceive anything more 
 than a small part of the causes which produce phenomena. 
 At every instant some unexpected fact occurs to mislead 
 our minds, and its strangeness rebuffs what we call our logic. 
 
 Instead of accepting the Gospel narrative in its full pur¬ 
 port, negative criticism distorts or denies it. Some would see 
 in it only a skilfully-woven legend, a fictitious picture, meant 
 formally to explain the metaphysical thesis signified by the 
 words, “ I am the resurrection and the life.” 2 Others con¬ 
 sider it an arbitrary and fantastic creation of the Christian 
 mind, which must, forsooth, attribute to Jesus, as the Messiah, 
 resurrections similar to those which the Old Testament 
 assigned to the prophets. 3 More recent critics, justly con¬ 
 sidering such interpretations as the desperate expedients of 
 theologians in distress, have, with some ingenuity, revived the 
 stratagems of the old German rationalists. Tradition, by a 
 series of mistakes all starting from the parable of the wretched 
 Lazarus, at first assigned a sick brother to Martha and Mary. 
 The words of Jesus, that though Lazarus himself should 
 come again from the dead they would not believe, were mis¬ 
 understood ; it was said that he had really come forth from 
 the tomb, and thus the legend originated. 
 
 All these shadowy suppositions are condemned by their 
 fantastic character. They only prove how easily the mind 
 may be satisfied, and what ingenious methods it can invent 
 in order to suppress by distortion, whatever facts are opposed 
 
 1 Paulus, Exeg. Handbuch . 
 
 3 Baur, Theol.-Jahrs vol. iii. ; Keim ,Jes. v. Naz ., vol. iii. 
 
 3 Strauss, Das Leben Jesu , vol. ii. 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 1 36 
 
 to its ideas. To the formal, precise, and detailed testimony 
 of the fourth Evangelist they oppose the silence of the first 
 three. There is, in fact, room for wonder at first sight that 
 an event so extraordinary in itself, and so weighty in its 
 results, should have been omitted by three of the four writers 
 who undertook to relate the life of Jesus. 
 
 An attentive study of these different narratives explains 
 and justifies the omission. None of the Evangelists, not even 
 St. Luke, who has taken such care in the chronology of his 
 narrative, has pretended to set down the numberless teachings 
 or the sum total of the acts of the Master. Their memoirs 
 are essentially fragmentary; we cannot argue from the 
 silence of one against the testimony of another. The 
 synoptical Gospels have one feature in common ; they date 
 the public ministry of Jesus, from his arrival in Galilee, after 
 the imprisonment of John the Baptist, and of the Judaean 
 ministry they relate to us only the last week. St. John 
 alone recounts the journeys of Jesus to the capital, and s.ome 
 of the teachings and miracles belonging to this period of his 
 life. We see then how it is that all that concerns the doings 
 of Jesus at Jerusalem and in Judaea, and in consequence the 
 miracle of the raising of Lazarus, has been omitted by the 
 others. It was excluded by the plan of their narrative. 
 
 The meeting of the Sanhedrin, the discussions which 
 agitated it, the intervention of the high priest, the resolution 
 of the assembly, and the words which inspired it, “ He must 
 die,” all this was soon known at Jerusalem, and was not 
 slow in reaching Bethany. Jesus had, even in the High 
 Council, friends in disguise, who must have warned him of the 
 danger that threatened him. The joy with which he had over¬ 
 whelmed his hosts was suddenly darkened. The thought of 
 their beloved Master’s destiny filled them with sadness and 
 pain. Strange mystery this of the fate of the messengers of 
 God, and of him who is the greatest of them all. They suffer 
 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 137 
 
 persecution and death for the benefits they confer. The most 
 beautiful of the works of Jesus, the most touching and the 
 most wonderful, that which best reveals his infinite power and 
 love, increases to overflowing the hatred with which his 
 enemies pursue him, and draws upon him the sentence of 
 death. 
 
 We hear no words of bitterness or indignation. He sees 
 in events and in men only the instruments of the will of his 
 Father, and he goes on his way, firm and tranquil, encourag¬ 
 ing his followers, and accomplishing his great work to the end. 
 He knows that “ the twelve hours of the day,” to use his 
 favourite expression, are almost ended, and that night is at 
 hand. He can, however, escape the storm. The moment to 
 face it has not yet come. He withdraws from Bethany, and 
 takes his disciples with him. He avoids, henceforward, any 
 encounter with the Jews, and retires into a region bordering 
 upon the desert, to a little town called Ephraim, 1 where he 
 takes up his abode for a time. 2 To reach this solitude with¬ 
 out attracting attention, Jesus must have gone by the east of 
 the Mount of Olives, and followed the mountain-paths which 
 pass through Anathoth and Michmash. 
 
 The town in which he took refuge lay out of the track 
 of the great frequented highways, towards the northern 
 extremity of Judaea, about fifteen or sixteen miles from 
 Jerusalem. It was built on a steep hill, three thousand feet 
 high, at the very entrance of the desert; and its square houses 
 of white stone showed in the distance like old, dismantled 
 towers. Of the ancient Ephraim there remain to this day the 
 ruins of a fortress, whose walls, with their long, carved blocks 
 of embossed work, rise to the height of several yards, and 
 
 1 John xi. 54. 
 
 2 Ephraim has now disappeared ; its place is taken by the village of 
 Thayebey, an Arabic name meaning “good” or “pleasant.” It seems 
 to be the equivalent of the name of the old Hebrew city. Cf. V. Guerin, 
 Description de la Palestine, Judee, t. iii. 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 138 
 
 only serve to shelter the poor fellahs. From this solitary 
 height Jesus could see all the country of Judah, gloomy and 
 sombre, with its stony mountains, as hard as the hearts of its 
 people. He could behold the Mount of Olives where it rose 
 in its splendour, and could guess where, beyond it, Jerusalem, 
 his place of death, lay hidden. 
 
 This austere situation is a suitable background to the new 
 phase of his life, and gives to Jesus a touch of solitude and 
 serenity. His days at Ephraim must have been occupied in 
 prayer and conversation with his disciples. Those who were 
 About him were preparing for the great struggle; they looked 
 for the coming of the Kingdom. The little band was full of 
 resolution : they had, in spite of everything, a boundless faith 
 in the power of their Master; the raising of Lazarus encouraged 
 them against danger. Ephraim was a breathing-place before 
 the last struggle. Jesus departed thence to return to 
 Jerusalem and celebrate there his last Paschal feast. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE LAST JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM. 
 
 The course of this journey can be filled up by the united 
 suggestions of the third and fourth Evangelists. St. John 
 notices the point of departure, St. Luke the journey and 
 arrival. The point of departure was Ephraim, 1 on the northern 
 frontier of Judaea; the road describes a vast circle through 
 Samaria, Galilee, and the Valley of the Jordan; the goal was 
 Bethphage. 2 Instead of directing his course towards 
 Jerusalem, from which he was only five or six hours distant, 
 Jesus appeared to be going away from it. He set out north¬ 
 wards, through Samaria, and, having gOne as far north as the 
 plain of Jezrcel, in Galilee, descended, no doubt, by the 
 Wady-Djaloud into the valley of the Jordan, and proceeded 
 towards Jericho by the great highway of the caravans from 
 Galilee. 
 
 We naturally wonder what motive had determined Jesus 
 to take this circuitous route. It is probable that before giving 
 to his entry into the holy city an unusually splendid, indeed 
 a triumphal character, he wished to appear again in the 
 midst of the multitude of the Galilaeans in order to draw 
 attention to his journey, and to rally the numerous disciples 
 who were already among the pilgrims travelling to Jerusalem. 
 What his brothers had asked of him six months before, at the 
 time of the Feast of Tabernacles, when they said, “ Show 
 
 1 John xi. 54. 
 
 2 Luke xviii. 11. 
 
 i39 
 
140 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 thyself to the world/' 1 he was about to accomplish in his 
 own fashion ; but this manifestation of himself was a secret 
 which he kept up to the last stage of his journey. The 
 pilgrimage lasted several days. It was sprinkled with diverse 
 and interesting episodes which St. Luke has carefully described 
 for us. 
 
 As he passed through a village, 2 the name of which the 
 Evangelist does not tell us, but which an old tradition 
 accredited among the Christians of Palestine supposes to be 
 Djennin, ten lepers came before Jesus. It is still the custom 
 at this very day, in the East, for these unhappy creatures to 
 unite and live together, wandering along the roads and at the 
 entrances of towns. They stood afar off and cried in a loud 
 voice: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” Their misery 
 and their faith moved him to say : “ Go shew yourselves unto 
 the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they 
 were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was 
 healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and 
 fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he 
 was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there 
 not ten cleansed ? But where are the nine ? There are not 
 found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.” 
 
 Ingratitude was poignantly felt by him. We can 
 read in the words, “ this stranger,” an intense sadness. This 
 mournful incident recalled to him his whole mission. He had 
 lavished unsparingly his benefits on Israel, and his people 
 rejected him. He looked kindly upon the Samaritan who fell 
 at his feet to express his acknowledgment and faith, for he 
 saw in him all those poor outcasts, those strangers, those 
 Gentiles who were to come eagerly to meet him when the 
 children of the household would obstinately persist in 
 
 1 See Book IV., ch. i. 
 
 ■ Luke xvii. 11-19. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 141 
 
 despising him. He raised up the healed and believing leper : 
 “ Arise,” said he to him, “ and go thy way: thy faith hath 
 made thee whole.” 
 
 This incident had its place marked out for it in the 
 narrative of St. Luke. At the very time that the disciple of 
 the apostle Paul was preparing his Gospel, the work of 
 salvation was spreading according to the same law which had 
 presided over the life of the Saviour. Rejected in Judaea, 
 opposed with rage by the Jews, the words of the Kingdom 
 met with a striking reception in Samaria, and stirred the 
 whole Gentile world. 
 
 As he pursued his journey, Jesus was interrogated on the 
 subject of the Kingdom of God: 1 “When is it to come?” 
 asked the Pharisees, ironically. For two years they had seen 
 the Prophet at work, announcing the reign of the Messiah, which 
 must, they thought, set their country free, break every yoke, 
 dash in pieces every enemy, and open to Israel an unheard-of 
 era of happiness ; yet none of these great dreams had been 
 realized. The Galilaean, as they called him, had gathered 
 round him only fishermen and outcasts, men of little educa¬ 
 tion and low condition. They triumphed over this failure, 
 and made a mockery of it. Jesus replied to them by 
 reminding them again of the spiritual nature of his King¬ 
 dom, saying: “ The Kingdom of God cometh not with 
 
 observation : neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there ! 
 for, behold, the Kingdom of God is within you.” 
 
 It is in the deep of the conscience that the Kingdom of 
 which Jesus is the Messiah is inaugurated and founded. It is 
 to the conscience that he speaks and demands repentance and 
 faith ; from the time that it opens to him the soul receives his 
 Spirit,and the Kingdom of God begins. The Pharisees,in their 
 
 1 Luke xvii. 20-37. 
 
142 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 formalism and narrow patriotism, might refuse to understand ; 
 but the work went on in spite of them, and in their very 
 midst; Jesus, surrounded by his followers, was its visible 
 realization. He must have pointed out his disciples to 
 those questioners, as they turned from him with scorn. 
 
 In this initial period of the Kingdom of God all is lowly and 
 secret, feeble, suffering, and concealed. As the Son of God 
 veiled himself beneath the lowly appearance of the Son of 
 man, so the glory of the Kingdom is concealed under the 
 seeming wretchedness of the publicans and sinners who 
 follow him. There is nothing to betray its splendour and 
 strength. The wonder-working power of Jesus expresses 
 itself mercifully ; it seeks to hide itself, only glimmering forth 
 in works of love and goodness. The meek and the penitent 
 alone are moved ; the proud, in their greed for marvels and 
 earthly glories, pass by, like the Pharisees, with insolence and 
 contempt. Jesus leaves them to their scorn. Pie invites his 
 disciples to profit by the presence and the benefits of the Son 
 of man in his passage. When he is gone the trial will be 
 stern and protracted. 
 
 “ The days will come,” he said to them, “ when ye shall 
 desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, the hour of 
 his glory, his power, and his triumph, and ye shall not see it. 
 And they shall say to you, See here ; or, see there : go not 
 after them, nor follow them.” 
 
 They must not, however, fail in the trial; for if the first 
 coming of the Messiah was brought to pass in weakness and 
 strife, and if the faithful, who acknowledged him, must form 
 with him the Kingdom of God through the same weakness 
 and strife, the second coming will be in majesty and in victory 
 over all his enemies ; then shall the Kingdom itself appear in 
 majesty and victory. 
 
 Jesus had more than once already hinted to his disciples 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 143 
 
 of his future triumph ; he reminded them of it now with an air 
 of solemnity, at the moment when the Pharisees were renewing 
 against him their contemptuous questions, as though he wished 
 to strengthen their hearts and reassure them with boundless 
 hope. 
 
 “ Do not be led astray by those false prophets who 
 announce to you the coming of the Son of man. For as 
 the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under 
 heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall 
 also the Son of man be in his day. But first must he suffer 
 many things, and be rejected of this generation.” 
 
 Thus, the Messianic career of Jesus was composed of two 
 periods, “ days,” to use his own coloured expression. One is 
 the day of suffering, persecution, and unpopularity; it com¬ 
 prises not only his life on earth, but includes all the ages in 
 which his followers, the elect of the departed Christ, will march 
 behind him in that ensanguined path which he opens out to 
 them, and will live as martyrs in the hope of the second “ day.” 
 That will be a day of glory and triumph ; it will mark the 
 definitive realization of the Kingdom of God in every created 
 thing in the transfigured universe. 
 
 While the disciples of Jesus are lingering impatiently, the 
 mass of mankind will be as they were in the days of Noah and 
 the flood: “ They did eat, they drank, they married wives, 
 
 they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered 
 into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. 
 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, 
 they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they 
 builded ; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it 
 rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. 
 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man 
 is revealed,” in his sovereign and terrible power. The disciples 
 will not imitate this materialism and levity. Jesus wishes 
 their hearts to be detached from everything earthly and 
 
144 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 created, rooted no longer to this finite world, eager, 
 sacrificed, ready to follow him at the first outbreak of the 
 supreme crisis. He explained his wishes to them in 
 striking language: “ In that day, he which shall be upon 
 the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come 
 down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him 
 likewise not return back. Remember Lot’s wife.” They 
 must forsake all and hasten to greet the Lord at his appear¬ 
 ance. Whosoever shall seek to save his life in his love of 
 worldly things, shall perish with this world at its destruction, 
 and whosoever shall renounce his life and this worn-out and 
 guilty world, shall find life in God. Then the final selection 
 will be made from this mixed human race. In the twinkling 
 of an eye, beings physically the closest to one another, but 
 strangers in the spirit that moves them, will be for ever 
 separated. “ I tell you,” said Jesus, “ in that night there 
 shall be two men in one bed ; the one shall be taken, and the 
 other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together ; 
 the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be 
 in the field ; the one shall be taken, and the other left. And 
 they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord ? And he 
 said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the 
 eagles be gathered together.” By this forcible figure taken 
 from the facts of nature in Galilee, the Master formulated one 
 of those terrible laws of the government of God. Woe to 
 those who do not cling to life ! The corpse represents what¬ 
 soever in mankind has not the vivifying Spirit of God ; the 
 eagles are the destructive powers who wreak upon such dead 
 men, wherever they may be, the avenging will of eternal 
 justice. 
 
 The greatness and austerity of the duties which Jesus 
 inculcated in his disciples, the long-continued endurance of 
 the trials which would assail them in this world, given up, as it 
 is, to the harsh selfishness of material and sensual living, must 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 14$ 
 
 have inspired them with some apprehension. He recom¬ 
 mended them to pray. “ Pray,” said he to them, “ pray 
 always, and faint not” “ Have faith, for God hears you.” 
 And he told them this parable; 
 
 “ There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, 
 neither regarded man : and there was a widow in that city; 
 and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. 
 And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within 
 himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man ; yet 
 because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by 
 her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, 
 Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God 
 avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, 
 though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will 
 avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man 
 cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” 
 
 These last words of Jesus let us see that the believers 
 themselves, even the faithful, will grow weary perhaps in 
 waiting for God’s great day; their faith will be tired out 
 by the long expectation of eternal justice. Seeing the ages 
 and the heavens roll by without bringing him who is to be 
 their deliverer and their judge, will they not lose the fiery 
 zeal which longs for deliverance ? Always oppressed and 
 down-trodden, will they not fall into lethargy ? This question 
 is a warning that he gives to his own, another way of saying 
 once again, “ Pray, believe, and hope unto the end.” 
 
 At the touch of the Spirit of God man is freed from the 
 limitations which bound his ideas and his hopes, and con¬ 
 tract all his efforts; he learns to enter into the immense 
 designs of God. He knows that centuries have been needed 
 
 o 
 
 to prepare the first coming of the Son of man, and that 
 centuries more will be needed to prepare the second ; but 
 these centuries, to him who looks upon them with the eyes of 
 VOL. II. L 
 
146 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 God, are but as swift days ; he can stand above all time, and 
 find the patience of him who works for eternity. 
 
 On this same journey, Jesus and his little caravan often 
 came into contact with the Pharisees, who, like them, were 
 going to Jerusalem. He always found them full of self- 
 sufficiency, satisfied with their own righteousness, and 
 unsparing of their contempt for others. 1 His disciples had 
 doubtless their share of this contempt; his sympathy for the 
 lowly, his aversion for the proud, inspired him with one of 
 those parables in which Pharisaism has been painted in un¬ 
 fading colours, and with marvellous truth, as he lashed it 
 with divine irony : 
 
 “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a 
 Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and 
 prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as 
 other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this 
 publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all .that 
 I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not 
 lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his 
 breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you 
 this man went down to his house justified rather than the 
 other : for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased ; 
 and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” 
 
 The Master was fond of concluding his parables with a 
 moral which summed up its wisdom, and impressed itself 
 better upon the memory of the disciples. We can sound the 
 depths of such sayings without ever exhausting them. The 
 teaching of the duty of humility rose constantly to his lips. 
 He saw in that the first condition of entrance to his Kingdom, 
 and the secret of all true greatness. He was its living and 
 perfect incarnation. No one has abandoned himself as Jesus 
 
 1 Luke xviii. 9, etc. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 147 
 
 did to the will of his Father which led through an unbroken 
 series of humiliations to his death ; no one has been raised 
 by this same will to a more exalted height. This conquered 
 and crucified One enjoys, even in this world, where his 
 triumph has not yet been sounded, a glory which challenges 
 all human glory. No one can be more humiliated than he 
 has been in his life; no one can be more glorious than he is 
 since his death. 
 
 During one of the halts on the journey, little children 
 were brought to him, that he might lay his hands on them. 1 
 The faith of the people is everywhere the same; they hasten 
 instinctively to him whom they believe to be the Messenger of 
 God. His presence moves them ; they bring to the Prophet 
 the most precious thing they have ; they feel that his hand, 
 laid on the heads of their children, will be to them an assur¬ 
 ance of happiness. The disciples, seeing the great press of 
 the multitude, kept them back. Jesus was indignant. He 
 said: “Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them 
 not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto 
 you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a 
 little child shall in no wise enter therein.” He embraced 
 them, laid his hands upon them, and blessed them. 
 
 t 
 
 A child has no learning, philosophy, prejudices, or in¬ 
 terested motives ; it does not criticise, or judge, or resist; it is 
 the model to be followed. When God speaks man must im¬ 
 pose silence on his mind, on his preconceived ideas, on his 
 deceitful reason, on his selfish passions. He will once again 
 grow simple, docile, and trustful; he will receive the good 
 news, be born again in the Spirit, and taste in his conscience 
 the benefits of the Kingdom. 
 
 This austere duty of humility, total sacrifice, and the self- 
 
 1 Luke xviii. 15, etc. ; cf . Matt, xix, 13-15 ; Mark x. 13-16. 
 
 L - — ‘2 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 148 
 
 abasement of man before God, is one of the fundamental 
 points of the teaching of Jesus. We find it under a thousand 
 forms in his familiar converse, as in his popular discourses. 
 What Jesus was in his earthly life, in his attitude towards his 
 Father, he wished, nay, demanded, that his followers should 
 be in their attitude towards himself. As he was the perfect 
 instrument of the Father’s will, so his followers should re¬ 
 nounce everything to obey his Spirit alone. To leave every¬ 
 thing and to follow him was a formula in which he summed 
 up the laws of his Kingdom. He often repeated it, and on 
 this last journey, going to death and suffering, he spoke of 
 it again and again. 
 
 One day, after a halt, as he was going forth from the 
 house in which he had received hospitality, to resume his 
 journey, 1 a young man, one of the chiefs of the people, ran to 
 him and fell at his feet, and said, “ Good Master, what shall I 
 do to possess eternal life ? ” This question showed a nature 
 out of the common, and a truthful soul. The teachings of 
 the schools on the merit of ceremonial observances, and the 
 holiness that was conferred by ritual, did not satisfy his con¬ 
 science ; surely, he must have heard the Master speak of life 
 eternal in tones which affected him. The secret of eternal 
 life is not within the power of human genius; no man, 
 however great, can reveal it. Life eternal is in God, and the 
 means to gain it is dependent on his impenetrable will. In 
 undertaking to reply to the question put to him, Jesus rises 
 above man and his genius ; he declares himself the Master of 
 eternal life, equal with God. This is doubtless what he wishes 
 to suggest to the young man who questions him: “ Wherefore 
 callest thou me good?” he said. “None is good, save one, 
 that is God.” And so God alone, and the Son who has 
 received all from the Father, can show us the infinite good 
 
 1 Luke xviii< 18-30; Matt, xix; 16-30; Mark x. 17-31. 
 
TI1E GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 149 
 
 which is life eternal. “Thou knowest the commandments, Do 
 not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear 
 false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother. And he 
 said, All these have I kept from my youth up; what lack I 
 yet? Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto 
 him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and 
 distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in 
 heaven : and come, follow me. And when he heard this, he 
 was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.” 
 
 It is not enough to satisfy the letter, we must enter into 
 the spirit of the Law ; and the law is the will of God. If this 
 will requires of us the renouncement of everything; if God 
 says to us, as to the rich young man, “ Sell thy goods and give 
 all to the poor, and come and follow me,” we must not hesitate 
 for a moment, we must leave all and set out in the steps of 
 Jesus. And thus, the last word of perfection in his teaching is 
 to leave all and follow him. We must sacrifice all to him, we 
 must love him above every created thing, love him absolutely, 
 without reserve, as we love God. When he saw the young 
 man withdraw, discouraged, he looked round as if to draw 
 closer to him his faithful disciples, and said to them, “ How 
 hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of 
 God ! ” 
 
 They had just seen it: the love of the Master, and his 
 touching appeal had been of no avail against the sacrifice of 
 worldly goods required of the rich man, as a condition pre¬ 
 cedent to his entry into the Kingdom. The disciples were 
 greatly struck with the reflection of Jesus ; they themselves, 
 being all alike, poor, grew sad as they thought upon the fate 
 of the rich. This noble emotion touched his heart. 1 “ My 
 little children,” he continued, tenderly, “ how hardly shall they 
 that have riches enter into the Kingdom of God ! For it is 
 easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich 
 
 1 Luke xviii. 26, and refs. 
 
* 
 
 I 50 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 man to enter into the Kingdom of God.” The astonishment 
 of the disciples grew more and more, and they said mournfully 
 one to another, “ Who then can be saved ? ” 
 
 The vast multitude of mankind are attracted by the love of 
 the things of this world ; those even who do not possess them 
 covet them, and those who possess them are their slaves. If 
 then the Kingdom of God is open only to the poor in spirit, 
 and to those who put no trust in riches, how shall it be filled ? 
 The closest followers of Jesus perceived, perhaps for the first 
 time, the superhuman difficulty of the work to which the 
 disciples were called, although the divine strength necessary 
 for their support was as yet unknown to them. Difficulties 
 are perpetually springing up, and with them the alarm of those 
 who carry on the work of the apostles in a world given over 
 to materialism. Jesus fixed his eyes on his disciples, according 
 to one of the witnesses of the scene, and said to them, “ With 
 men it is impossible, but not with God ; all things are possible 
 with God.” 1 They themselves were the living proof of this 
 saying. At the call of the Master they had left everything, 
 nets and boats, father, house, and field, custom-house and 
 trade. Faith is the strongest thing of all. Nothing can 
 hinder them whom God draws to himself. Peter, whose 
 vivacity and frankness are always consistent, could not help 
 saying, “ Lo, we have left all, and followed thee.” And he 
 added naively enough, and with some personal preoccupation, 
 
 “What then will be given to us?” Jesus answered, “ Verily 
 I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the 
 regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of 
 his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the 
 twelve tribes of Israel.” 
 
 Hitherto the Master had not spoken to his disciples about 
 reward or glory, but by calling them to him, by withdrawing 
 them from their life and surroundings, by forming them into 
 
 1 Mark x. 27. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 15 I 
 
 one body with him, by penetrating them with his Spirit, he 
 associated them with all the phases of his own destiny ; and 
 they, in proportion as their love and strength increased, felt 
 a more and more lively sense of the intimacy which identified 
 their fate with that of their Master. If he were defeated in 
 his work, they would be dragged with him in his defeat ; if he 
 triumphed, they would share in his triumph. The possibility 
 of failure would have seemed to them an insult to the power 
 of him whom they loved, and whom they called Lord and 
 Messiah. They did not even dream of it. The difficulties of 
 the moment, the increasing conflicts which Jesus maintained 
 against the rabbis, the threatening and increasing opposition 
 of the priests, the elders, and the High Council; all these 
 things, which made the situation uncertain, perilous, even 
 critical, shook them not. -Their faith in the approaching 
 triumph remained unmoved, and this faith, with all its 
 illusions, was enough for them. Such was the triumph on 
 which Peter and the rest r~~koned vaguely when they asked 
 the Master, “ What then shall be given to us ? ” 
 
 The reward is above life and beyond it. Jesus raised up 
 the legitimate hopes of his apostles ; he told them that they 
 will triumph with him ; but to adapt himself to their weak¬ 
 ness and the part which illusion must play in the life of every 
 creature, he left them in a state of uncertainty concerning 
 the time when his day shall come, the day of universal 
 regeneration, in which all things being subdued to his sway 
 will be renewed in his own glory, they will share in his 
 government of the people of God, symbolized by the twelve 
 tribes of Israel. While awaiting this far-off mysterious day, 
 the fate of the faithful, even of the very least among those 
 lowly ones who have abandoned all to follow Jesus, is not to 
 be pitied. He said to them, " Verily I say unto you, There 
 is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or 
 wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, who shall 
 
152 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the 
 world to come life everlasting.” 
 
 We should be strangers to the words of Jesus and to his 
 doctrine were we to give this promise of “ receiving manifold ” 
 a literal and material sense. We cannot admit that Jesus 
 wished to invite his followers to a kind of millennial 
 paradise. It is certain, however, that the divine Spirit of 
 which he is the fountain-head, not only brings to all those 
 who receive it a great foretaste of heavenly and everlasting 
 felicity, but, over and above this, elevates even this life on 
 earth, increases its resources, co-ordinates its energies, and 
 transfigures all its acts. Between the chosen beings whom 
 this Spirit brings together there are formed more intimate, 
 profound, and agreeable ties than between those of the 
 same parentage and the same descent. 
 
 Lest the disciple of Jesus should be intoxicated by the 
 pleasures of a happy life, persecution has been promised to 
 him. It will keep him ever on the watch. Stern though it 
 may be, he will bear it with a brave heart, because he knows 
 and expects it, he knows that it is transient, and he puts his 
 hope in the fulness of eternal life which has already begun 
 for him upon earth. This teaching affected, delighted, and 
 exalted the disciples. The human heart opens spontaneously 
 to whatever speaks to it of happiness, life, and triumph. 
 
 Selfish considerations readily manifested themselves in the 
 followers of the Master. Those who had been the first to be 
 called prided themselves on their selection. They wished to 
 assure to themselves a privileged place in the Kingdom. The 
 illusions of man are indeed wonderful. These fishermen of 
 Galilee no longer thought of anything but the earthly glories 
 of the Messianic Kingdom ; and in their conviction that they 
 were going forward to certain triumph, they did not suspect 
 that Jesus was leading them into the most terrible conflicts. 
 But he watches over them, he knows the divine art of forming 
 
TIIE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 153 
 
 them ; he knows when it is necessary to exalt and when to 
 humble them. “ Know,” he said, “ that the first will often be 
 last, and the last first.” He said to them : “ The kingdom of 
 heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went 
 out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. 
 And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, 
 he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the 
 third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 
 and said unto them ; Go ye also into the vineyard, and 
 whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their 
 way. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and 
 did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and 
 found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand 
 ye here all the day idle ? They say unto him, Because no 
 man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the 
 vineyard ; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. So 
 when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his 
 steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning 
 from the last unto the first. And when they came that were 
 hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a 
 penny. But when the first came, they supposed that they should 
 have received more ; and they likewise received every man a 
 penny. And when they had received it, they murmured 
 against the goodman of the house, saying, These last have 
 wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto 
 us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But 
 he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no 
 wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take 
 that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even 
 as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with 
 mine own ? Is thine eye evil, because I am good ? So the 
 last shall be first, and the first last.” 
 
 The work of the Kingdom is a work of mercy and bounty 
 rather than of justice. Man has no right to estimate himself 
 
154 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 above his brother. Before God calls him he is only an “ idle 
 labourer”; once called he has only to accomplish his task. 
 The Father is just, and will pay him for his labour; he will 
 receive his “ penny.” But, whether he be the workman of the 
 eleventh or of the first hour, whether he have borne the brunt 
 and heat of the day. or whether he have had the easier part 
 of the task, matters nothing. The Divine generosity has not 
 to reckon with him ; it is independent and sovereign, we have 
 only to forget ourselves in it, and to admire it in ourselves, 
 and in those whom it has chosen. The householder has 
 called men in crowds ; the essential thing is to answer the 
 call and to be faithful. This is what Jesus asks of his 
 disciples, when he recalls to them this awful phrase : “ Many 
 are called, but few chosen ; ” they betray their calling, and 
 are rejected. 
 
 The caravan had arrived in the valley of the Jordan, on 
 the high road which leads from Galilee to Jerusalem by .way 
 of Jericho. They were now only two days’ journey from the 
 Holy City, and as they passed along -the foot of Mount 
 Saptaba, they could behold on the hilltop the fires which 
 announced to the people the new moon and the Paschal Feast 
 of the year 30. 1 
 
 1 Talnu Hieros. j Rosck. Hoshauna , cap. ii., col. 3. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE END OF THE JOURNEY: FROM JERICHO TO 
 
 BETHANY. 
 
 As they drew near to Jerusalem the disciples could not 
 help feeling a vague anxiety. Their thoughts dwelt on 
 the dangers which had lately threatened the Master there. 
 There was an hour of solemn -emotion, whose sadness remained 
 profoundly fixed in the memory of one of the witnesses. 
 
 As Jesus walked in advance of the disciples, who followed 
 in terrified and awe-struck silence, 1 he took the Twelve 2 apart, 
 and said to them : “ Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all 
 things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of 
 man shall be accomplished. He shall be delivered to the 
 chief priests and to the scribes, and to the elders, and they 
 shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the 
 Gentiles to be mocked, and to be scourged, and to be spit 
 upon ; and after they have scourged they shall crucify him, 
 and the third day he shall rise again.” 
 
 Jesus had already twice solemnly announced to his apostles 
 his sufferings, and his death and resurrection. The first of 
 these occasions was when they were journeying to Caesarea 
 after the scene in which Peter had called him the Messiah, 
 the Son of the living God ; the second as they went down 
 from Mount Tabor on their return to Capernaum. He 
 
 1 Mark x. 32. 
 
 3 Matt. xx. 17-19 ; Mark x. 33, 34 ; Luke xviii. 31-39. 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 156 
 
 foretold it now for the third time in that valley of the Jordan 
 where the heavens had opened above his head, where the 
 Spirit had manifested its presence visibly in him, where the 
 voice of the Father had proclaimed him his well-beloved Son, 
 where he himself had said, “Justice must be fulfilled in me.” 
 
 This terrible mystery of love and expiation, this resurrec¬ 
 tion of the world by the death of the Messiah, was an enigma 
 to the disciples ; they turned away their minds from it in 
 alarm. The more they believed in the holiness and the 
 divinity of Jesus, the less could they admit the possibility of 
 his defeat, his suffering, and his death : “ They understood 
 none of these things. This word was hid from them, and they 
 understood not the things that were said.” 1 
 
 These allusions to death, and resurrection on the third day, 
 although they could understand them little better than those 
 he had made to pain, scorn, suffering, and the cross, yet had 
 the effect of recalling their mind to the glorious manifestation 
 of the Kingdom ; and then, as will happen with weak . and 
 irresolute natures, dejection gave place to hope. They said to 
 themselves that the Kingdom of God was about to come, and 
 in their simple solicitude for their own interests, they grew 
 intent on securing for themselves the best places. Their 
 parents, especially their mothers, shared the ambition of their 
 sons, and did not hesitate to present themselves before the 
 Master to entreat his favour for them. 
 
 The caravans of Galilee, which were on their way to the 
 feast, must have met Jesus and his followers in the neighbour¬ 
 hood of Jericho. This will explain the presence of the 
 mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, among the 
 followers of Jesus, and her appearance in the scene which 
 followed closely upon his announcement of his passion and 
 his death. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 1 57 
 
 • * 
 
 Salome drew near to Jesus with James and John , 1 and pros¬ 
 trated herself before him to make a request: “ Master,” said 
 the two sons, with surprising confidence, “ we desire that you 
 should grant us what we ask of you.” “ What would ye ? ” 
 said Jesus. The mother answered : “ Grant that these my two 
 sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, the other on the left, 
 in thy kingdom.” Absorbed in the thoughts of his approach¬ 
 ing death, and of the agony by which he should enter into 
 glory, Jesus recalled to his ambitious apostles the way of 
 sorrow, by which alone the goal was to be won. 
 
 “ Ye know not what ye ask. Can you drink of the chalice 
 that I shall drink, or be baptized with the baptism wherewith 
 I am baptized ? ” The impetuous disciples answered without 
 hesitation, “We can.” “Ye shall indeed drink of the chalice 
 that I drink of,” answered J’esus, “and with the baptism 
 wherewith I am baptized ye shall be baptized, but to sit on 
 my right hand or on my left is not mine to give, but it shall 
 be given to them for whom it is prepared.” 
 
 The entrance into the Kingdom, the degree of merit of 
 the elect and their allotted places in the eternal hierarchy 
 beside and beneath the Master, are problems whose final 
 resolution is only to be sought for in the will of God. This 
 will is concealed from every creature; and although Jesus 
 alone knows it and interprets it to the world, he does not 
 command it; on the contrary, he is obedient to it. In his 
 human life, he is only its faithful minister. 
 
 Hearing Jesus speak thus to James and John, the other 
 ten were angry with the two brothers. Their ambition had 
 aroused the jealousy and envy of their companions. Jesus 
 called them to him. He was saddened by such petty rival¬ 
 ries, but his meekness made him calm ; the very faults which 
 dared to show themselves in his presence, only served him as 
 
 1 Matt. xx. 20-28 ; Mark x. 35-45. 
 
153 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 subjects for apposite lessons, full of sublime instruction. 
 “You know,” he said to them, “that the princes of the Gen¬ 
 tiles lord it over them, and they that are the greater exercise 
 power upon them. It shall not be so among you; but who¬ 
 soever will be the greater among you let him be your minister, 
 and he who would be the first among you shall be your ser¬ 
 vant.” In formulating this law, one of the most strikingly 
 conceived and most necessary laws of the Kingdom of God, 
 the Master was only interpreting his own life. He, the chief 
 of regenerate mankind, he, the first and the greatest, did 
 not come into the world to be ministered unto, but to minister 
 and to give his life, that he might redeem the lives of many. 
 A brilliant light is shed upon the problem of his humiliation. 
 The suffering of Jesus shall be the redemption of a great 
 number. By his death he shows himself the servant of man ; 
 it is thus that he becomes their king. His true disciples know 
 no other sovereignty than that of abnegation and self-sacrifice, 
 even unto death. 
 
 The further Jesus advanced on this journey the more the 
 multitude seems to have flocked about him. When he had 
 reached Jericho 1 it was still increasing. The caravans de¬ 
 scending from the mountains of Galilee and the borders of its 
 lake, were here joined by those from Peraea. At the time of 
 the great Jewish festivals the city was filled with strangers 
 and pilgrims. This was the last halting-place before Jerusa¬ 
 lem. It had nothing of the ordinary aspect of Eastern cities. 
 Instead of being crowded together, the houses lay scattered 
 under the shadow of palm trees, bananas, terebinths, and sy- 
 
 1 Jericho owes its name either to the ancient worship of the moon, 
 established there by the Canaanites, or to the fragrance of its gardens. 
 Etymology justifies either origin, lricho or Jerecho being derived either 
 from iare ah, the moon, or from rouah , to exhale an odour. Both deriva¬ 
 tions are given by St. Jerome. Lib. de Nom. Hebr. On Jericho under 
 the Herods; cf. Strab. 1 . xvi., ch. 11-41. Bell.Jud . iv. 8, 2, 3. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 159 
 
 camores, in the midst of superb gardens, always watered and 
 always cool, although under a sky of fire. 
 
 As he approached the city a blind man sat by the wayside 
 begging . 1 Hearing the multitude passing by, he asked what 
 it meant. They said to him : “ It is Jesus of Nazareth passing 
 by.” And he cried out, saying: “Jesus, son of David, have 
 mercy on me.” This homage to him, as the Messiah, coming 
 from the mouth of such an unfortunate, touched the Master. 
 Those that walked at the head of the procession wished to 
 silence the blind man, but he cried all the more : 
 
 “ Son of David, have mercy on me. Jesus stood and 
 commanded him to be brought to him, and when he was 
 come near, he said to him, What wilt thou that I do to thee ? 
 Lord, answered the blind man, that I may see. Receive 
 thy sight, said Jesus to him, thy faith hath made thee whole.” 
 The blind man immediately recovered his sight, and followed 
 his Saviour, glorifying God. The multitude was stirred by 
 the miracle, and broke forth into praises . 2 Jesus entered 
 Jericho in triumph. He no longer forbade the acclamations 
 of the people; he no longer imposed silence on those whom 
 he healed. It seemed as if he was preparing for his ap¬ 
 proaching entrance into Jerusalem. 
 
 Another incident which, in the simplicity of its narration, 
 gives us a clear insight into the mind of Jesus, marked his 
 passage through the city . 3 
 
 In the midst of the crowd that wished to draw near to 
 the Prophet, there was a man named Zacchaeus. By his 
 position as chief of the publicans he belonged to that class 
 of sinners for whom the Pharisees professed the most pious 
 contempt. He was rich, but no amount of riches could atone 
 in those days for what the formalists called impiety. He was 
 
 1 Luke xviii. 35-43. 
 
 2 See Appendix Q : The Blind Men of Jericho. 
 
 * Luke xix. 1-10. 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 160 
 
 evidently not ignorant of the fact that Jesus had the name of 
 being the friend of persons of his condition, and he ardently 
 desired to see him and to know him. Being short of stature 
 he was unable to look over the heads of the multitude, and so 
 he ran before, and climbed up into a sycamore tree which 
 stood near the road by which Jesus was to pass. Arrived at 
 the place, the Master raised his eyes and perceived him 
 “ Zacchaeus,” he said to him, calling him by his name, “ make 
 haste and come down, for to day I must abide in thy house.” 
 The chief of the tax-gatherers descended in haste, and received 
 him with joy. The multitude, with whom the customs of 
 the Pharisees were as binding laws, were scandalised. They 
 cried, “ Behold, he is gone to be a guest with a man that is a 
 sinner.” 
 
 The presence of Jesus under the roof of Zacchaeus seems 
 to have suddenly transformed the publican. Standing before 
 the Lord, he confessed the wickedness of his life, and ex¬ 
 pressed aloud his repentance and his penitence. “ Lord,” he 
 said before them all, “ the half of my goods I give to the 
 poor, and if I have wronged any man of . anything, I restore 
 it fourfold .” 1 
 
 Then Jesus said: “This day is salvation come to this 
 house, because he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of 
 man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” 
 
 This anecdote is one of those in which is clearly revealed 
 the mercy of Jesus towards sinners, the scorned, and despised 
 of this world. Such incidents were of frequent occurrence 
 during his apostolate. They must have recurred more vividly 
 to the memory of the apostles and disciples, and have arrested 
 more forcibly the attention of the first Christian com¬ 
 munities, when the good news was so eagerly welcomed 
 
 1 The casuistries of the Talmud prescribe that what has been stolen 
 shall be restored fourfold ; cf. Sanhedrin, fol. 25, 2. Maimon., in Peah t 
 
 c. 1. 
 
TIIE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 161 
 
 among the Gentiles and the common people of the pro¬ 
 vinces of Asia, Macedonia, and Greece. “ For see your 
 vocation, brethren,” writes St. Paul, “ that not many are 
 wise, not many mighty, not many noble. But the foolish 
 things of the world hath God chosen, the weak things, the 
 mean things, and the things that are contemptible .” 1 The 
 law which had presided over the apostolate of the Messiah 
 was perpetuated in the apostleship of the disciples. They 
 loved to bear witness to it, and their zeal found in it encourage¬ 
 ment and justification. 
 
 The sinner, Zacchaeus, has remained the type of those 
 who, in their sorrow, hearing of Jesus as the Saviour and the 
 friend of publicans, desired to know and see him during his 
 passage through the world. He responded willingly to this 
 desire; he was touched by their sincerity, and pleased to 
 receive their hospitality. He visited them, he revealed to 
 them the disordered state of their consciences, he taught 
 them to repent, and to make good resolutions. Gentiles as 
 they were, they become in their earnestness suddenly trans¬ 
 formed by faith; henceforth they arc the true sons of 
 Abraham, and the elect of the Kingdom. 
 
 A sentence in the third Gospel indicates that during the 
 sojourn of Jesus in Jericho, the thought of the Kingdom of 
 God, and of its near and brilliant manifestation in Jerusalem, 
 agitated the minds as well of the multitude as of the disciples 
 and immediate followers of Jesus . 2 The agitation was 
 
 f general, and it increased in proportion as they drew near 
 the holy city ; but they can hardly have had a suspicion of 
 I what was about to take place in reality. Man lives 
 on illusions, and mingles his own vain fancies with the 
 truth ; he cannot comprehend the designs of God until 
 after their accomplishment. Jesus alone bore in his inward 
 
 1 I. Corinth, i. 25, 28. 
 
 3 Luke xix. 11. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 M 
 
i 62 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 consciousness all the weight of his sorrowful vocation ; he 
 alone knew in how tragic a manner the Son of man was to 
 be exalted. Calm and collected in the midst of the general 
 agitation, he endeavoured, with wise prudence, to dispel the 
 illusions of his followers. This wisdom inspired him with a 
 new parable : 1 
 
 “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for 
 himself a kingdom, and to return. And calling his ten 
 servants, he delivered them ten pounds, and said to them, 
 Trade till I come. But his citizens hated him, and they sent 
 an embassage after him, saying, We will not have this man 
 to reign over us. And it came to pass, that he returned> 
 having received the kingdom; and he commanded his 
 servants to be called, to whom he had given the money, 
 that he might know how much every man had gained by 
 trading. And the first came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath 
 gained ten pounds. And he said to him, Well done thou 
 good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a little, thou 
 shalt have power over ten cities. And the second came, 
 saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. And he said 
 likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities. And another 
 came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have 
 kept laid up in a napkin ; for I feared thee, because thou art 
 an austere man ; thou takest up that thou layedst not down, 
 and thou reapest that thou didst not sow. He saith to him, 
 Out of thy own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. 
 Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I 
 laid not down, and reaping that which I did not sow. And why 
 then didst thou not give my money into the bank, that at my 
 coming I might have required it with usury? And he said to 
 them that stood by, Take the pound from him, and give it 
 to him that hath ten pounds. And they said to him, Lord 
 he hath ten pounds. But I say to you, That to every one 
 
 1 Luke xix. 12-27 > cf. Matt. xxv. 14-30. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 163 
 
 that hath shall be given, and he shall abound ; and from him 
 that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken from 
 him. But as for those my enemies, who would not have 
 me reign over them, bring them hither, and kill them 
 before me.” 
 
 The man of noble birth is Jesus, the Son of God. The 
 world is the far country to which he has come to found his 
 Kingdom. His countrymen who hate him, and who do not 
 desire that he shall reign over them, represent the Jews, his 
 own fellow-citizens. The servants to whom he delivers the 
 ten pounds are those who are called. The return to the 
 country is the first coming of the Kingdom, a coming full of 
 suffering, strife, and hostility. The second coming is in 
 power. Jesus will judge with sovereign authority those who 
 are called, and will make the enemies who have rejected his 
 kingship feel the weight of his anger. 
 
 Between these two events an indefinite period intervenes ; 
 this is the time for those who are called to labour, and to 
 make the divine gifts to fructify. Only on this condition shall 
 the called become the chosen. 
 
 The end of the parable is full of menace ; it is addressed 
 to those with whom Jesus is going to engage in the decisive 
 struggle. The time will come when they shall feel the 
 righteous retribution of the Son of man, for having despised 
 the divine power and outraged the helpless. This retri¬ 
 bution begins in the present world ; for in the same way 
 that the chosen have already experienced a foretaste of the 
 infinite mercy, so the accursed of Christ feel for a moment the 
 terrible first-fruits of his justice. The Romans, who burned 
 and destroyed Jerusalem and slew its inhabitants, are only the 
 visible instruments of him who awaits, concealed in the glory 
 and the power of his Father, the time of the full triumph of 
 the Messiah over the new universe. 
 
 On the morrow Jesus again set forth on his journeyings. 
 
 M—2 
 
164 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 He signalized his departure from Jericho by a miracle, as he 
 had signalized his entrance into it. 
 
 At the foot of the ascent known at present under the 
 name of A’Kabet-Djaber, the ancient ascent of Adummin, 
 two blind men were seated, asking alms. The news of the 
 cure of the previous day having spread, the two blind men 
 were impelled to perform the same act of faith which had 
 succeeded so well with their companion in misfortune, and 
 which was to awaken anew the compassion of the Prophet. 
 One of them was known as the son of Timaeus—Bartimaeus. 
 Hearing that Jesus of Nazareth was passing, he began to 
 cry out with that ardent confidence which misfortune often 
 inspires, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!” The 
 multitude were going before, and Jesus followed. Those 
 who were in front rebuked the blind man, that he should hold 
 his peace, but he cried out the more, saying, “ Son of David, 
 have mercy on me ! ” Jesus stood and commanded the blind 
 man to be brought to him. “ Have confidence,” they said to 
 him, “ rise, he calleth thee.” The blind man, casting away 
 his cloak, rose in haste and went to Jesus, who said to him, 
 “ What wilt thou that I should do to thee ? ” “ Lord, that I 
 
 should see.” “ Receive thy sight,” said the Master, “ thy 
 faith hath made thee whole.” And immediately he followed 
 after him, glorifying God. 
 
 This road from Jericho to Jerusalem had often been 
 travelled by Jesus and his disciples. Only a few weeks 
 previously he had passed through it on his way to Lazarus ? 
 at Bethany. To-day he sets out on it for the last time, at 
 the head of the procession, calm and resolved. It was on a 
 Friday, six days before the Feast of the Passover, which fell 
 this year on April 7th. Jesus did not proceed as far as Jeru¬ 
 salem ; he let the great body of the caravan continue on their 
 way to the Mount of Olives, where it dispersed, while he him¬ 
 self halted at Bethany. 1 His coming must have been known 
 
 1 John xiir 1. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 165 
 
 beforehand, and awaited by his chosen followers, who re¬ 
 ceived him with all the honour which their loving, grateful, 
 worshipping hearts could wish to bestow. 
 
 On the following day they prepared him a supper in the 
 house of Simon the leper, 1 who was a friend, or perhaps a 
 relation, of some of the followers of Jesus. Martha waited on 
 them, and Lazarus, the same who had been brought back to 
 life, was among the guests. 
 
 While they were at table, there came a woman with an 
 alabaster box of ointment of precious spikenard. She drew 
 near, broke the box and poured it out upon his head, and 
 anointed his feet with it, and wiped them with her hair. The 
 ordinary ceremonies at the reception of a guest, the pouring of 
 water upon the feet, the pouring of perfume upon the head, 
 were not sufficient for her. Her ardent soul had a daring in¬ 
 spiration ; she poured the precious liquor, like water, on the feet 
 of the Saviour, and she wiped them with her hair. The whole 
 house was filled with the scent of the perfume. The Evangelist 
 does not mention the name of this woman, but there is no 
 room for doubt, for the most minute details of the recital 
 point to the sister of Martha and Lazarus, the penitent sinner, 
 Mary Magdalene. 
 
 All actions which differ from the received formulas of 
 society are liable to be misunderstood by base and vulgar 
 natures, who judge everything from the point of view of what 
 they call propriety or interest. A whole pound of the precious 
 ointment had been lost, and some among the disciples thought 
 this a waste to be regretted. Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, 
 made himself the mouthpiece of their discontent, and, dis¬ 
 guising his ill-humour under a hypocritical semblance of 
 charity, exclaimed, “Why was not this perfume sold for 
 three hundred pence and given to the poor ? ” 
 
 He who spoke thus, and who was about to play so odious 
 
 1 Matt. xxvi. 6-13; Mark xiv. 3-9 ; John xii. 2-8. 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 166 
 
 a part, is here mentioned by name for the first time in the 
 Gospel narrative. He was the treasurer of the little com¬ 
 munity, who attended to the provisions, made the purchases, 
 and arranged for the halts on their journeys. One of the 
 Evangelists observes that he was already betraying the Mas¬ 
 ter’s trust, in the performance of these duties, by appropriating 
 to himself the money intended for the maintenance of all: “he 
 was a thief,” he says bluntly. 1 It must have been a base am¬ 
 bition that impelled him to follow Jesus, and to keep at his 
 side. He hoped to see his dreams of avarice realized in the 
 new Kingdom which was preparing, and which, after the 
 manner of his contemporaries, he imagined to be radiant 
 with worldly prosperity and earthly glory. Mercenary and 
 covetous, crafty and coarse, his heart had remained imper¬ 
 vious to the teachings and the influence of the Master; all 
 the holiness of Jesus had not altered him. Such natures, 
 unsubdued by the goodness of God, seem predestined to 
 treachery and crime. 
 
 Jesus took Mary’s part: “ Let her alone,” he said, to Judas, 
 “she is come beforehand to anoint my body for the burial. 
 For the poor ye have always with you, but me ye have not 
 always. Verily, verily, I say to you, Wheresoever this Gospel 
 shall be preached in the whole world, that also which she 
 hath done shall be told for a memorial of her.” 
 
 Those who serve Jesus and honour him openly shall no 
 more be forgotten than he in a world in which even the most 
 dazzling of human achievements lose their glory and vanish 
 into nothingness. They survive with the Master, partaking 
 of his glory and his immortality. The perfume which Mag¬ 
 dalene poured out so generously upon the feet of the Son of 
 man, on the eve of his burial, will never evaporate. The 
 prophecy of Jesus is come to pass; not only the house of 
 Bethany, but all mankind is filled with its fragrance, and the 
 
 1 John xii. 6. 
 
THE GREAT STRIFE AT JERUSALEM. 167 
 
 faithful everywhere venerate and praise the woman whose 
 heart was inspired with such tender gratitude. 
 
 The allusion of Jesus to his approaching death threw a 
 veil of gloom over all the guests, and the hearts of the Mas¬ 
 ter’s followers must have been oppressed with anguish. His 
 presence at Bethany was already known in Jerusalem, and a 
 great number of the Jews had hastened, at the news, to see him 
 and Lazarus. The chiefs of the Sanhedrin had given it to be 
 understood that Lazarus himself would not escape, they were 
 exasperated by this living miracle. Reasons of state, urged 
 by the high priest, Caiaphas, counselled violence ; they were 
 more and more resolved upon violence. Everything presaged 
 a catastrophe. This time, far from shunning it, Jesus went to 
 meet it. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 - ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 - - - 
 
PLAN 
 
 ©w ^SRVSAUEIK 
 
 ANCIENT AND MODERN 
 comprising 
 
 the elevation of the ground,the direction 
 of the waits, the principal buildings. 
 
 Explanation 
 
 Ancient Jerusalem, is marked, in,Reel,. 
 Modern/ Jerusalem, is mae-ked in/JBlack,. 
 
 LcndmojKeqmvPcuxhfiTeiwjvjTrwbTier^zCo. 
 
BOOK V. 
 
 THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM. 
 
 The day after the Sabbath, 1 that is, the first day of this great 
 week in which Jesus was to die (the ioth of Nisan, or, in our 
 calendar, the 2nd of April in the year 30), was, for him, a 
 day of triumph. He departed from Bethany with his dis¬ 
 ciples, and set out for Jerusalem. The numerous crowd of 
 pilgrims, assembled for the Passover from all Judaea, from 
 Idumaea, from Galilee, from the other side of the Jordan, and 
 from distant countries, were soon informed of the presence of 
 the great Prophet. The many disciples of Jesus recounted to 
 every comer the marvels of his life, his virtues, and his count¬ 
 less miracles. The raising of Lazarus above all struck them 
 with admiration, and they were anxious to see him who per¬ 
 formed such prodigies. In spreading abroad the glory of 
 their Master, the disciples were unconsciously preparing the 
 popular manifestation which was about to break forth. In 
 spite of the desertion of the people of Galilee in the preceding 
 year, 2 his renown had increased mightily. The multitude 
 persisted in seeing in him, however much against his will, 
 the Messiah of their dreams. The bitter opposition of the 
 hierarchy, far from injuring Jesus in the opinion of the masses, 
 rather increased the overflow of sympathy towards him. Men 
 
 1 In this year the Passover fell on a Friday. According to St. 
 John (xii. 1) the feast at Simon’s house took place six days before the 
 Passover, and must, accordingly, have been on the Sabbath. It was on 
 he following day that Jesus came to Jerusalem, 
 
 2 See above, Book III., ch. ix. 
 
1/2 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 said that the Kingdom of God was about to appear at last, and 
 watched with feverish impatience the course of events. The 
 Galilaeans, at once more fiery and more independent than the 
 rest, were for proclaiming him their Prophet, and giving him 
 an ovation on his entrance into the city. 
 
 Jesus was following, with his disciples, the road which ran 
 along the eastern side of the Mount of Olives. On approach¬ 
 ing Bethphage 1 he halted, and, pointing it out to two of his 
 disciples, said to them : “ Go into the village over against you, 
 and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her, 
 whereon never man sat: loose them, and bring them unto me. 
 And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord 
 hath need of them ; and straightway he will send them.” All 
 this came to pass as Jesus had said. The ass and the colt were 
 standing, tied outside the gate, between two roads. The dis¬ 
 ciples unbound them and led them to the Master ; then, spread¬ 
 ing their garments on the colt, they made him sit thereon. 
 
 As soon as it was told the people that he was going 
 towards Jerusalem, they ran out to meet him. 2 Enthusiasm 
 seized the disciples and the multitude; they spread their 
 cloaks along the road beneath the feet of the Prophet, 
 cut down branches and strewed the ground with them, 
 while others held branches of palm in their hands, and 
 came towards him, crying: “ Hosannah in the highest! ” 
 Those who led the way and those who followed caught up 
 from one another the prolonged acclamations. The popular 
 mind was at length kindled into flame; it did justice to the 
 man who came to save all. If it has its hours of error and 
 madness, it has also its burning sincerity and its flashes of 
 truth. Jesus, who till now had rejected all ovations through¬ 
 out his public life, shunning and fearing the excitable nature 
 of the multitude, accepted the triumph which was offered him. 
 He welcomed with delight their cries as they proclaimed his 
 
 1 Matt. xxi. i ; Mark xi. i ; Luke xix. 29. 
 
 2 John xii. 12, etc. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 1/3 
 
 title of Messiah, and heralded the coming of his Kingdom. It 
 is necessary that truth should be hailed, and that in glorifying 
 it man should honour himself. 
 
 This triumph of a day was in the designs of God. The 
 Prophets had announced and described it even in its most 
 characteristic details. One of them said six centuries before : 
 “ Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion ; shout, O daughter of 
 Jerusalem : behold, thy King cometh unto thee : he is just, 
 and having salvation ; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and 
 upon a colt the foal of an ass. And I will cut off the chariot 
 from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle 
 bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the 
 heathen : and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea.” 1 
 
 Jesus fulfilled the prophecy, and executed the will of his 
 Father. He knew that this triumph was leading him to 
 death. He could rejoice in it without intoxication ; it was not 
 without a touch of bitterness. The Pharisees scattered 
 among the multitude raised a discordant note : “ Master,” said 
 they to Jesus, in a sarcastic and indignant tone, “bid thy 
 disciples be silent.” In their shallow worldly wisdom they 
 could scarcely hide their contempt; truth was offensive to them; 
 they trembled at the thought of the consequences of such a 
 demonstration. What would the Romans say when they hear 
 
 i 
 
 the people proclaiming him their king? Jesus answered 
 them : “ I tell you that if these should hold their peace, the 
 stones would immediately cry out.” For two years he had 
 given such proofs of his Messianic mission that the very 
 stones of the highway, if they had had a voice, would have 
 borne witness to him. But man in his obstinacy against all 
 proof may become more insensible and more brutish than the 
 stones. The words of Jesus conveyed a bitter taunt against 
 the Pharisees ; they did not understand them. 
 
 1 Zechariah ix. 9, 10. 
 
174 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 The popular enthusiasm increased, and, as the procession 
 advanced, the disciples, in the fulness of their joy, gave 
 thanks to God, mingling with the acclamations of the multi¬ 
 tude the narration of the marvels that they had seen in follow¬ 
 ing their Master. The irritation of the Pharisees was 
 aggravated. In their spite and anger they were heard to say : 
 “Ye behold that our threats are of no avail; all the world 
 follows him.” This people, whom they inwardly disdained, 
 and for whom they had only words of contempt, they never¬ 
 theless loved to have at their feet like a gang of slaves ; and 
 seeing this mass of men subdued and passive, they believed 
 themselves all-powerful ; but when a personality greater than 
 themselves draws the people away from them, and frees them 
 while it draws, they feel themselves seized with a paroxysm of 
 that hatred which clings to declining power. They stop at 
 nothing in their endeavours to regain their prestige and 
 maintain their authority ; crime itself becomes sacred in their 
 eyes. 
 
 When Jesus had reached the spur of the Mount of Olives, 
 from the point where the road turns downwards into the 
 valley of the Cedron, 1 he beheld Jerusalem at his feet. The 
 sight filled him with sadness : he wept. He sobbed 2 over the 
 city. “If thou hadst known,” he exclaimed, “even thou, at 
 least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! 
 but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall 
 come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about 
 thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side. 
 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children 
 within thee ; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon 
 another ; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.” 
 
 This is one of the few occasions on which Jesus 
 wept; his tears in the midst of his peaceful triumph 
 
 1 Luke xix. 37, etc. 
 
 2 "EK/Xaucrc^. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 175 
 
 had in them something profoundly melancholy. This joy of a 
 day which the Father grants him before the last struggle and 
 the last agony is forgotten by him in order to think upon his 
 people, and upon his thankless and guilty city, and the 
 terrible destiny which it is bringing upon itself. Jerusalem is 
 the head and heart of the nation, the seat of the religious 
 power in which Israel is personified. Why then must this 
 power be blind and obstinate, angry and offended ? Why 
 should these high priests, elders, masters of the Law and 
 guardians of the traditions, these leaders of the chosen people, 
 fail to understand what the simple, the poor, the humble, the 
 despised have comprehended ? Why do their minds blaspheme 
 while the minds of the people welcome with acclamations the 
 Chosen One of God ? Such thoughts overwhelmed and dis¬ 
 tracted the soul of Jesus. There is still time for them to 
 acknowledge him ; they can still proclaim him Messiah, and 
 save Israel, to bestow upon it the peace of God. 
 
 The unutterable anguish of Jesus is not for his own fate, 
 to that he is resigned ; it is the fate of his people and of the 
 city which is on the point of demanding his execution ; and 
 this blindness will let loose upon Israel nameless calamities. 
 The hierarchy, which despises the true Messiah, will be carried 
 away by its false patriotism into every excess and every 
 frenzy. It will endeavour in vain to control the people in 
 their feverish impatience for deliverance. The Zealots will 
 provoke implacable warfare, and, in grasping after empty 
 glory and empty liberty, their fanaticism will be the uncon¬ 
 scious instrument of the vengeance of God. Jesus knew it ; 
 the future was before his eyes ; he saw Jerusalem besieged, in¬ 
 vested, laid waste with fire and sword, her children slaughtered, 
 and her houses, her monuments, her palaces, her Temple itself 
 levelled with the ground. 
 
 Full of such thoughts, the anguish of which contrasted 
 with the hosannahs of the multitude and the clamorous joy 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 176 
 
 of his disciples, Jesus, in the midst of his royal procession, 
 made his entry into the city. Jerusalem was in an uproar. 
 On seeing this multitude, and hearing their acclamations, the 
 people asked who it was that had come, and all those who 
 accompanied him cried out triumphantly, “It is Jesus, the 
 Prophet of Nazareth, in Galilee.” This popular ovation 
 remained as it began : simple, peaceful, religious. There was 
 nothing of worldly pomp, no military show, no cry of revolt 
 against the ruling powers ; only branches of trees thrown upon 
 the road, garments spread beneath the feet of Jesus, and the 
 solemn chant, the great Messianic Hallel, as it was taught to 
 the children that they might be ready to welcome the Son of 
 David on the day of his coming. 1 Again, the animal chosen 
 by the triumphant Saviour enhanced the humble, simple 
 character of his triumph. He disdained the steed of con¬ 
 querors ; he who will not reign save by infinite compassion, 
 advances, mounted upon an ass’s colt. The multitude which 
 precedes and follows him, is itself composed for the most .part 
 of Galilaeans, those provincials so despised at Jerusalem. 
 The Romans did not give a thought to this gentle, peaceful 
 king who did not threaten their power, and the proud Sad- 
 ducees, as the procession passed them, may have looked up 
 at it for a moment with a glance of disdain. It moved 
 straight onwards to the Temple. 2 
 
 It was that very day, the 10th of Nisan, which was dedicated 
 by law to the choosing of the Paschal lamb. 3 This is a co¬ 
 incidence to be noted. It enables us to supplement the 
 silence of the records as to the meaning of this entrance of 
 Jesus into the house of his Father. He knows himself to 
 be the Victim appointed from eternity ; he comes of his own 
 accord to be offered up. The days of material burnt-offerings 
 are passed away, God needs a spiritual and divine burnt- 
 
 1 Succah ., cap. iii. 
 
 3 Matt. xxi. 10, etc.; Mark xi. 11. 
 
 3 Exod. xii. 3. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 1/7 
 
 offering ; Jesus will be that offering. His Messianic Kingdom 
 will be established only by his death; before reigning over 
 the conscience of man it will be necessary for him to die. 
 
 On entering the Temple, Jesus went to pray before that 
 blood-stained altar, whose fire was about to be extinguished 
 for ever, and whose place he was himself to fill. The oblation 
 of himself to his Father was for all time ; on this day it was 
 renewed in silence. The agonizing mystery of his destiny 
 was now begun, but he kept the thought of it deep down in 
 his soul, while the disciples, incapable as ever of comprehend¬ 
 ing him, in spite of his repeated declarations, gave themselves 
 up to the hopes of a near and splendid triumph. 
 
 After having prayed, “ he looked round about upon every¬ 
 thing,” says the Evangelist j 1 the Master’s eye examined every 
 detail. He could see all the noisy preparations for the feast, 
 the herds of oxen and bulls, heifers, sheep, and lambs, huddled 
 together in the Court of the Gentiles, as in a slaughter-house; 
 and surely it was with sad eyes that he beheld merchandise 
 thus dishonouring the house of prayer. He could see the 
 corridors transformed into a highway; he could hear the 
 discussions of wrangling schools, and the agitated cries of the 
 crowd, he could observe the empty formalism of the Pharisees, 
 who sought uprightness in fidelity to the observance of a 
 mere outward ceremonial, and the greedy covetousness of the 
 priests, who made a traffic of the altar, the victims, and the 
 Temple, using the devotion of the people for their own enrich¬ 
 ment; all the depth of the degradation into which everything 
 had fallen, lay plain before him. Standing on the threshold 
 of those days in which he was about to consummate his sacri¬ 
 fice and to decide upon the final act which should regenerate 
 not only the chosen of Israel but all mankind, he wished 
 to observe carefully and minutely the moral destitution of 
 his people who had invaded with their bigotry, venality, and 
 
 1 Mark xi. 11. 
 VOL. IL 
 
 N 
 
178 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 hypocrisy even that Temple in which all should have been 
 sacred. 
 
 It was now evening. He went out with the Twelve and 
 returned to Bethany, where the hospitality of his friends was 
 ever ready to welcome him. Of these last hours of these last 
 nights we know nothing. All the details of the life of the 
 Master in this week of anguish have disappeared before the 
 events which prepared and hastened the catastrophe. 
 
 On the next day, accompanied by the Twelve, 1 he returned 
 to Jerusalem. This return was marked by a mysterious epi¬ 
 sode, which impressed the imagination of the apostles. As 
 he went forth from the village Jesus was an hungered. The 
 whole district of Bethany is covered with vines and fruit-trees, 
 and he perceived at a distance, on the roadside, a fig-tree in 
 full leaf; it was not yet the season for figs, so he said to it: 
 “ Let no man hereafter eat of thy fruit.” The expression was 
 remembered by the astonished disciples. Jesus, however, said 
 nothing further, but pursued his way. 
 
 Coming to Jerusalem he entered into the Temple, 2 but this 
 time with the air of a master, as on the day on which he 
 made his first appearance. The sight of the same sacri¬ 
 legious profanations revolted him, and his righteous anger 
 broke forth. He began by casting out of the Court of the 
 Gentiles buyers and sellers ; he threw down the tables of the 
 money-changers, and the seats of those who sold doves ; he 
 would suffer no man to carry any vessel through the Temple. 
 He said to them in his indignation : “ It is written, My house 
 is the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves.” 
 Those who, on the evening before, had proclaimed him Son of 
 David and King, as well as those who had shuddered at these 
 acclamations, could now tell in what sense he understood his 
 royalty. No act symbolises with such expressive power the 
 
 1 Mark xi. 12, etc. 
 
 2 Matt. xxi. 12, etc.; Mark xi. 15. etc. ; Luke xix. 45. 
 
TIIE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 i; 9 
 
 eternal part which Jesus played upon this earth, where he came 
 to establish his Kingdom. So active and so contagious is 
 human corruption in it, that, left to himself, man will impair 
 the most holy of things, religion, and pollute the most sacred 
 place, the Temple. Religion becomes a school of traffic, and 
 the Temple, to use the expression of Jesus, a den of thieves. 
 It is necessary for Jesus to intervene, to forbid, and to avert 
 the scandal. In whatsoever part his hand, armed with the 
 whip of cords, has not struck, the house of prayer remains at 
 the mercy of violators, jobbers, thieves, and merchants. His 
 angry zeal throws a halo round his head ; no man has been 
 so jealous as he for the purity and holiness of his Father’s 
 dwelling. 
 
 There were thus two occasions in the life of Jesus, at the 
 beginning and the end of his public career, when he cast out 
 the traders from the Temple; he chose that the same bold 
 act of reforming zeal should mark the inauguration and the 
 closing of his career. The critics have endeavoured to identify 
 and confound these two events; but the records establish 
 clearly their difference, and no valid ground exists for disput¬ 
 ing their testimony. As at every moment Jesus had a perfect 
 consciousness of his divine Sonship, so he always considered 
 the Temple, the house of his Father, as his own. He goes 
 there, he acts there, he teaches there as a master; all that dis¬ 
 honours it angers and revolts him. The first expulsion was 
 at once the public condemnation of an intolerable abuse, an 
 odious scandal, and a striking manifestation of his claims to 
 the Messiahship; the second was its solemn confirmation. 
 His righteous passion for God’s honour is thus the first and 
 the last word of his work ; he began by inviting the people to 
 repent; he ends by protesting against the spirit of cupidity, 
 which is about to overthrow them. Again the time was come 
 when the flocks and herds for the sacrifice were required no 
 longer. It belonged to him, who was to be the eternal burnt- 
 
 N-—2 
 
i8o 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 offering, to banish them and cast them out. The blood of 
 victims had no longer any power to purify, his Father had no 
 more need of them. 
 
 It was an extraordinary and terrifying power which broke 
 forth in him when he let loose the reins of his fiery zeal, and 
 the gentleness and sweetness of the Saviour yielded to the 
 righteous wrath of the judge. But the very moment after he 
 had poured out the vials of his anger upon the guilty and un¬ 
 worthy, his frowns relaxed at the sight of the sick and infirm 1 
 who gathered round him. The lowly did not fear, they were 
 drawn towards him, at the sight of him they felt hope spring 
 up in the midst of all their wretchedness; the blind and the 
 halt approached and he healed them. 
 
 The people, wonder-stricken by his miracles and his teach¬ 
 ing, testified their sympathy for the Prophet in the sight of all 
 men ; the ardour and enthusiasm of the day before was not 
 belied. Children repeated in the Temple the acclamations 
 which had resounded in the descent of the Mount of Olives at 
 the entry of Jesus. They cried, “Hosannah to the Son of 
 David ! ” 2 Such cries soon provoked offence ; the authorities of 
 the Temple, the scribes, and all the other opponents of Jesus, 
 came to him and said indignantly: “ Hearest thou what these 
 say?” His calmness, and the pertinence of his answer, dis¬ 
 concerted and put them to silence: “Yea, have ye never read, 
 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected 
 praise?” 3 The world has not changed, the words of Jesus 
 remain as true as ever. The little ones, the innocent, the simple, 
 are the only ones who recognise God and love him. The 
 proud, their minds puffed up with their learning, their false 
 consciences tainted with self-righteousness, see nothing ; truth 
 offends them ; God troubles them ; his Messenger exasperates 
 them; in their self-satisfaction they only ask to enjoy and to rule. 
 
 1 Matt. xxi. 14. 
 
 2 Matt. xxi. 15, etc. 
 
 • Ps. viii. 3. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 1 8 1 
 
 The sovereign and authoritative attitude of Jesus in the 
 
 Temple, the favour of the people, and the welcome which they 
 
 gave to his teaching, the growing enthusiasm produced by 
 
 his miracles, all contributed to stir up the spite and jealous 
 
 hatred of his enemies. Their mind was made up; Jesus 
 
 must die. The High Council was resolved to condemn him. 
 
 The most influential persons among the priestly class, and 
 
 among the doctors, busied themselves to find a practical 
 
 means of putting him to death. But an obstacle stood in 
 
 their way—the people. They feared a revolution. They 
 
 wished that all should pass off quietly; they were afraid of 
 
 Jesus. 1 Thus at this critical moment he had no other support 
 
 but the people. We love to see him defended by those who 
 
 are alike the most humble and the most formidable; our 
 
 conscience is warmed within us as we behold that cowardly 
 
 authority which had betrayed the truth held in check by the 
 * 
 
 multitude, enlisted, if but for a moment, in the service of 
 right, virtue, and holiness, which is the service of God 
 himself. 
 
 It is to the human support of the people, captivated for 
 the moment by his influence, that mankind owes these last 
 days of Christ. The Temple is his last battle-field ; in the 
 supreme effort to maintain the purely religious and non¬ 
 political character of his Messianic mission, he will not 
 quit his Father’s house. It is there, and not in the high¬ 
 way or the market-place, that he works and teaches, trying 
 to win over to the light the good-will of the people. Men 
 were ravished as they heard him ; 2 his words held spell¬ 
 bound the crowd which encumbered the porticoes, as he 
 poured out unceasingly from morning till night the stream 
 of wise precepts and active benefits. 
 
 At sunset he withdrew and betook himself again with his 
 
 1 Mark xi. 18. 
 
 2 Luke xix. 48. 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 102 
 
 followers to Bethany. Next day he returned at the first hour, 
 accompanied by his disciples, by the same road which he had 
 traversed on the previous day. On their way the disciples 
 saw the accursed fig-tree withered to its roots. “ Master,” said 
 Peter, “the fig-tree which thou hast cursed hath withered 
 away.” This tree, blasted by the malediction of Jesus, is the 
 only created thing which ever felt the destructive power of 
 him whose gentleness towards men was boundless. The 
 avenging power of evil was with him. John had already 
 shown him as the great Judge, fan in hand, separating the 
 grain from the chaff, and casting the chaff into unquench¬ 
 able fire. He had the power of giving life or death, of 
 opening heaven or the abyss, and he must reveal it to the 
 world. But throughout his public career, in his desire for 
 the good of mankind he spared the guilty, and has let us see 
 his power of death exercised only upon the barren fig-tree. 
 
 This is a brilliant figure, the hidden meaning of which 
 has been laid bare by universal tradition. 2 The real fig-tree is 
 the chosen people, planted by God in a chosen land. At the 
 appointed time, Jesus, the Messenger of the Father, has come 
 to urge upon them penitence and faith. These are the fruits 
 for which he hungered, the fruits which he longed with such 
 burning eagerness to gather. God strikes with death whatso¬ 
 ever of his favoured creatures has received his bounty and his 
 care, his waiting and his love, in vain. All history is strewn 
 with the remains of those works of man which the living 
 Spirit of God has not builded, lying shattered under the 
 blows of time. All history is cumbered with the dead bodies 
 of those sterile beings who, though born of the breath of God, 
 have not responded to his call, but have falsified his hopes 
 for them. The very type of their decay is found in Judaism, 
 withered to the roots. Incapable of producing any fruits of 
 religion, it yet remains standing, showing even in its barren- 
 
 1 Mark xi. 20, etc. ; Matt. xxi. 18, etc. 
 
 8 Cf. Origen, Tract., 16 and 18 ; St. Jerome, in Matthew, ad h. L 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. I S3 
 
 ness the terrible malediction with which Jesus has weighed 
 it down. The sight of the fig-tree accursed, and withered by 
 the curse, seems to have roused in the minds of the disciples 
 no other idea than that of the terrible power of the Master. 
 But Jesus only sought to inspire them with the more perfect 
 confidence, saying : “ Put your trust in God.” 1 
 
 All supernatural power has its source in absolute faith 
 in God. He who is endued with perfect faith enters into 
 communion with the divine being, and God makes him the 
 instrument of his goodness and his power. If omnipotence 
 has been granted to Jesus it is because his humanity is per¬ 
 meated with the fulness of the divine Spirit; in subordina¬ 
 tion to its sovereign control he executes unfailingly its wishes, 
 its motions, and its works. What he himself was Jesus 
 required of his disciples to become. “ Then,” he said, 
 “nothing will withstand you.” “For verily I say unto you, 
 That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou 
 removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt 
 in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he 
 saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he 
 saith.” 
 
 We should strangely misinterpret the doctrine and words 
 of Jesus if we were to believe that the Spirit of God is at the 
 beck and call of the caprice and vain desires of man. We 
 must ask of God only his holy will, and in order to 
 thoroughly enter into it we must pray, that is, we must 
 make ourselves one with it in absolute self-denial. Then and 
 then only will the Spirit of God inspire us with a good desire, 
 the desire which is always listened to by God, for it comes 
 from him. “Therefore I say unto,” said Jesus, “What things 
 soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, 
 and ye shall have them.” 
 
 Such a prayer presupposes perfect charity and a good and 
 
 1 Matt. xxi. 20, etc. ; Mark xi. 22, etc. 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 184 
 
 upright heart: “ And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye 
 have ought against any: that your Father also which is in 
 heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” The infinite mercy 
 of the Heavenly Father is the recompense of our mercy ; he 
 has pity on those who themselves have pity; he loves those 
 who themselves love; he hears them and grants their prayers. 
 All these teachings, which sum up his religion, Jesus has re¬ 
 produced a thousand times. As his death approaches they 
 become more and more pathetic and forcible. He recalled 
 them once again that day, on the road from Bethany to 
 Jerusalem, as he returned to face the dangers which threat¬ 
 ened him, commanded by his Father’s will to advance against 
 them. This day, the 12th of Nisan, is the last which he is 
 destined to pass in the Temple. The multitude have pre¬ 
 ceded him to it, and there too his enemies awaited him. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE LAST CONFLICTS IN THE TEMPLE. 
 
 In every regularly constituted human society, whether 
 religious or political, the originator of improvements who stirs 
 public opinion, the censor who brands the vices of the 
 established system and calls for reform ; the innovator who 
 aspires to perfect the present condition of things ; each of 
 these, whether genius or prophet, rouses the hostility of 
 power. Brought face to face with a puissant personality 
 whose inspiration empowers him to withstand her terrors, 
 authority takes alarm, grows frightened into irritation, and 
 replies to threats with violence and persecution. 
 
 This is a law which governs the history of every nation ; it 
 
 is written across that of the Jewish people in letters of blood. 
 
 The innovators among them were the prophets, the Messengers 
 
 of Jehovah ; those who were animated, enlightened and filled 
 
 with enthusiasm by the power of his living word. Elijah, 
 
 Amos, Micah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, John the Baptist, 
 
 there was not one of these heroic figures but was the victim of 
 
 priestly and royal power, or of the passions of the people. 
 
 Those who are chosen by God to ameliorate the condition of 
 
 a people or of mankind, are always the victims of their calling, 
 
 destined to fall beneath the blows of the very men whom they 
 
 come to save. When the exasperated multitude turns against 
 
 them, it kills them in its instinctive and brutal anger. 
 
 Authority, as a rule, brings to bear upon the struggle the 
 
 combined assistance of treachery and legality; and being 
 
 185 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 186 
 
 armed with the sovereign right to judge and condemn, it gives 
 itself time, before laying hold of its victim, to prove that he 
 is worthy of capital punishment, and that in its severity to¬ 
 wards him it is maintaining order and upholding the law. 
 
 No human power of initiative will ever equal that of Jesus. 
 Of all men who have been an influence to their nation he was 
 the most powerful. His sway is one that extends into the 
 depths of the conscience ; he bestows a measure of energy 
 sufficient to paralyse evil at its very root ; in founding the 
 Kingdom of God he creates verily a new world. He must 
 have more than any man roused the hatred and persecutions 
 of power. We shall now see how violent were the final out¬ 
 bursts of this hatred, and how fertile it was in plots and 
 perfidious machinations. The Gospel records bring these 
 violent scenes before us with an abundance of detail, which 
 proves how deep was the impression which they made on the 
 minds of those who witnessed them . 1 
 
 The Jewish authorities, growing more and more exasper¬ 
 ated, sought to lay hold on Jesus. Since the day before 
 they had been deliberating, plotting, and holding council 
 together. They wished at all hazards to avoid commotion, 
 and to conceal their deeds of violence under the mask of law 
 and justice. An uproar, provoked by the arrest of Jesus, 
 might have the gravest consequences, it might bring down the 
 armed intervention of the Romans, and expose the high 
 priest and his councillors to the severity of the Governor. 
 The safest method was to begin by questioning Jesus cun¬ 
 ningly, and so to provoke him into some hasty expression, 
 which, by compromising him with the people and the Romans, 
 would give a pretext for his arrest and his arraignment before 
 the High Council. This was the plan that was adopted. 
 The Sanhedrin, since the famous sittings in which Caiaphas 
 had so brutally counselled the death of the Prophet, had 
 
 1 Cf. Matt. xxi. 23 ; Mark xi. 27 and xii.; Luke xx. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 IS/ 
 
 grown unanimous. The members who belonged to the priest¬ 
 hood, the notabilities and educated men of the country, all 
 had some interest, either religious or political, in freeing them¬ 
 selves from him whom they scornfully termed “The Galilaean.” 
 
 On the morning of the 12th of Nisan, Jesus, having en¬ 
 tered the Temple, walked under the porches teaching and 
 preaching to the multitude . 1 A deputation of priests, scribes, 
 and elders approached, and demanded from him an account 
 of the high commission which he claimed to bear. “ By what 
 authority doest thou these things ? and who gave thee this 
 authority?” It was the very purpose of Jesus which 
 was thus suspected. The emissaries are under no mistake 
 about the pretensions of the Prophet; since his coming he 
 has not ceased to assert them. For three days he has suf¬ 
 fered himself to be acclaimed as the Messiah by a crowd of 
 partisans ; he has entered the Temple as a reformer and he 
 discusses and teaches there as a Master. By what right does 
 he so act ? He has received no commission from authority ; 
 he is therefore an usurper, an agitator, a seducer, an innovator. 
 In thus demanding his authorization the enemies of Jesus did 
 not seek to be enlightened ; all they wanted from him was 
 some expression which might serve as a basis for the intended 
 accusation, and so cause his ruin. They evidently expected 
 a formal avowal of his Messianic mission and his divine Son- 
 ship. Such a declaration would be nothing new in the mouth 
 of Jesus ; his discourses, ever since the Feast of Tabernacles, 
 at Jerusalem, and in the open Temple, had been one long 
 commentary and demonstration of its truth. The members 
 of the Sanhedrin must have heard them as well as the multi¬ 
 tude ; they must therefore have known on what grounds 
 Jesus based his mission, and in what sense he understood the 
 Messianic Kingdom and his title of Messiah. Jesus refused 
 
 to reply. What good was it to tell the truth to such traitors ? 
 
 * 
 
 1 'Matt. xxi. 23-27 ; Mark xi. 27-33 > Luke xx. 1-8. 
 
1 88 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 They deserve rather to be confounded and to have their 
 treachery unmasked. 
 
 “ I also will ask you one thing,” said he to his questioners, 
 before the multitude, “ which if ye tell me, I in like wise 
 will tell you by what authority I do these things. The 
 baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of 
 men ? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we 
 shall say, From heaven ; he will say unto us, Why did ye not 
 then believe him ? But if we shall say, Of men ; we fear the 
 people ; for all hold John as a prophet. And they answered 
 Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them 
 Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.” 
 
 In confessing their ignorance on the subject of the divine 
 mission of John, the representatives of power and sacred 
 learning in Israel, the princes of the priests and scribes, con¬ 
 demned themselves. The coming of a prophet, a messenger of 
 God, such as John, the most extraordinary religious event of 
 the age and one clearly foreshown by the prophets , 1 had 
 come to pass, and yet, by their own acknowledgment, the 
 Sanhedrin did not understand it. They did not know if it 
 was from heaven or from men that the Baptist’s inspiration 
 came. These official guardians of the ritual and the law were 
 no longer servants of God ; they thought only of themselves ; 
 they sought only to preserve their power, to maintain the 
 ancient usages, and to multiply their subtle casuistries. The 
 voice of the Spirit roars like a lion in the desert of Judah, but 
 they hear it not. We know whence it is, they say. If they are 
 incapable of hearing and recognising him who comes before 
 the Lord and prepares his way, how should they hear and 
 recognize the Lord himself? Strange and wondrous fact! 
 The lowest of the people, the sinners and harlots, have under¬ 
 stood, and the highest, the so-called righteous, the priests and 
 doctors, remained in ignorance. It is always so ; the manifesta- 
 
 1 Isaiah xl. 3 ; Malachi iii. 1, 2. 
 
tiip: death of jesus, and after. 
 
 189 
 
 tions of God among mankind enlighten the simple soul and 
 the repentant conscience; but they only blind the minds that 
 rely upon their fancied strength, and the hearts that are mis¬ 
 guided by their false uprightness. God is known and heard 
 by those alone who bear his living Spirit in them. 
 
 There was in the Jewish nation One greater than royalty, 
 greater than the priestly power: Jehovah, who ever watched 
 over his people, and spake to them from time to time by the 
 mouth of the prophets. Towards such divine manifestations, 
 the duty of those in authority was not to show opposition, or 
 indifference, or incredulity, but obedience and faith. To reject 
 or persecute the messenger of God is to reject and persecute 
 God himself. The memory of John was still vividly present to 
 the minds of the people ; Jesus took him for his example, and 
 in affirming the divine authority of the prophet he tacitly 
 affirmed his own. It was not the high priests and the doctors 
 that had made John in the womb of his mother, that had clothed 
 him in the desert, that had given him the power to baptize, 
 to cry “ Repent,” and to publish the coming of the Kingdom : 
 it was the Spirit of God, and so his authority was not counter 
 to the Spirit of God. They ought then to have believed on 
 John, to have heard him, and followed him gladly. They had 
 betrayed their trust. Jesus severely rebuked them for it . 1 
 
 “ But what think ye ? A certain man had two sons ; and 
 
 1 
 
 he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to-day in my 
 vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward 
 he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and 
 said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and 
 went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father ? 
 They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily 
 I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into 
 the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you 
 in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but 
 
 1 Matt. xxi. 28-32. 
 
190 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 the publicans and harlots believed him : and ye, when ye had 
 seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.” 
 
 Thus did Jesus, urged by his powerful adversaries, frustrate 
 their attacks, and disconcert them, and then, taking the offen¬ 
 sive against them, throw them into embarrassment and 
 confusion, and rebuke them with divine authority for their 
 unbelief and blindness. Then he turned towards the people, 
 and, as though he judged their leaders unworthy to hear the 
 truth, he set forth to all in a new parable 1 who he was, whence 
 he came, what was his mission, and what would be his destiny. 
 The great men, meanwhile, stood by and listened. 
 
 “ There was a certain householder, which planted a vine¬ 
 yard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in 
 it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went 
 into a far country: and when the time of the fruit drew near, 
 he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might 
 receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his 
 servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned an¬ 
 other. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: 
 and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent 
 unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But 
 when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among them¬ 
 selves, This is the heir ; come, let us kill him, and let us seize 
 on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out 
 of the vineyard, and slew him. When the lord therefore of 
 the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husband¬ 
 men ? They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those 
 wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husband¬ 
 men, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.” 
 
 At these words some among his audience, who perceived 
 that Jesus was thinking of themselves, exclaimed, “ God 
 forbid !” as though to avert an evil omen. Jesus looked upon 
 them with severity, and said unto them: “ Say ye, God forbid? 
 Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the 
 
 * Matt, xxi, 33*44 ; Mark xii, i*n ; Luke xx. 9*18. 
 
TIIE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 191 
 
 builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner : 
 this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes ? 1 
 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken 
 from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. 
 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken ; but 
 on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.” 
 
 Jesus could not have expressed more clearly who he was, 
 and from whom he held his authority. In the vineyard 
 planted by the householder, the hedge which surrounds it, the 
 winepress digged there, the watch-tower built in the midst of 
 it, we see the representation of Israel, the nation chosen of 
 God, with its protecting Law, its Temple, and its ritual. The 
 husbandmen are the hierarchy ; the servants sent at the 
 season of vintage, and their successors, are the prophets. 
 What a mournful destiny was theirs ! They were filled with 
 the Spirit of God, and yet the temporary masters of the vine¬ 
 yard, far from welcoming them, answering their demands, and 
 laying at their feet a part of the produce, only seized them, 
 beat them, wounded them, and sent them away empty. 
 
 
 The son of the householder is Jesus himself. He is above 
 all the prophets. His title is unique, his authority absolute. 
 He comes in humility and meekness without other halo 
 save his divinity veiled in love. He is the most outrageously 
 ill-treated of them all ; they cast him out of the vineyard and 
 kill him, as they had persecuted and tortured those who had 
 gone before him. Woe to the treacherous and wicked 
 husbandmen ! Woe to the guilty hierarchy ! Because it 
 rejects and persecutes and kills those who come from God, 
 and because it spares not even his Son, therefore God will 
 visit it with the fury of his vengeance. The Kingdom will 
 change masters ; it will be transferred from the hands of the 
 Jews to those of the Gentiles. The chosen people will 
 
 1 Ps. cxviii. 23. 
 
192 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 become the people of reprobation, and the outcast nations 
 will become the chosen. To the Son his arraignment by 
 treacherous rulers will be the foundation of his glory ; he 
 will become the corner-stone of the new building. The 
 builders have rejected it, but God will raise it to support the 
 whole fabric, working a work at which the whole earth will 
 be amazed. But the enemies of Jesus will not overthrow 
 him, they will only crush themselves against him, and when 
 the judgment is opened this same stone will fall on those 
 who would have overthrown it, and they will be broken 
 in pieces. 
 
 This bold exposure of unbelief and the crime of the 
 ruling Powers, both in the case of the Prophets and of the 
 Son of God himself, these prophetic menaces of divine 
 wrath, the approaching reprobation of the faithless hierarchy, 
 the crushing of all the enemies of Jesus, all these severe 
 truths exasperated the princes of the priests and scribes 
 beyond all bounds. Their anger broke forth, and they would 
 have arrested Jesus on the spot. But the people defended 
 him, and the rulers trembled before the people. They with¬ 
 drew, therefore, to meditate fresh plots. It was their object 
 at all hazards to compromise Jesus in the eyes of the Roman 
 authority. If they could once make him pass for a 
 revolutionist and a dangerous agitator, the Governor, who 
 never delayed to strike down everyone that menaced the 
 Imperial privileges, would have a weapon ready to his hand. 
 The intrigue was cleverly and rapidly planned. The leaders 
 dissembled, and appealing to their disciples, chose certain 
 Pharisees and certain Herodians . 1 The former were the 
 
 1 A passage in the Talmud ( Juchasim ., fol. 19, 1) throws considerable 
 light upon the Herodians. We there read that Hillel and Menahem 
 presided over the Sanhedrin, but that afterwards Menahem became a 
 partizan of King Herod, and led away eighty men splendidly clad. Such 
 was the origin of this dissentient party, which became known as the 
 Herodians. Cf. Lightfoot, Horae Hebr. et Talmud , p. 220. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 193 
 
 warm partizans of national independence ; the second, rallying 
 to the house of Herod in spite of its foreign origin, had, like 
 it, resigned themselves to the Caesarian domination. These 
 two parties, generally at bitter feud, united to oppose and 
 destroy Jesus. Such criminal alliances are perpetually 
 recurring in all political history. 
 
 The emissaries, after concerting their plans together , 1 
 came to Jesus. With affected scruples of conscience and a 
 pretence of wanting no more than justice, they began by 
 flattering him whom they hoped to surprise. “ Master, we 
 know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in 
 truth, neither carest thou for any man : for thou regardest 
 not the person of men.” After this hypocritical eulogy, the 
 object of which was to prevent Jesus from evading the 
 necessity for a reply to their question, they added : “ Is it 
 lawful to give tribute unto Caesar or not ? ” 
 
 No more insidious question could have been put to Jesus 
 than this of the Roman impost. It was one that excited 
 violent feelings in the multitude, involving as it did, the 
 question of the national independence. It was under 
 colour of the impost that agitators stirred public opinion into 
 passion, and provoked rebellions. The people paid it only 
 under protest ; they yielded to superior force, waiting for 
 their Messiah to break the yoke. The Galilaeans above all 
 had the reputation of fierce upholders of independence. 
 These questioners, who would have wrung a reply from Jesus 
 touching the impost, must have been mentally convinced 
 that he was an absolute opponent of foreign rule ; they did 
 not doubt but that in his character as a Galilaean, with his 
 Messianic pretensions and his popular sympathies, he would 
 condemn the tribute which was the symbol of his country’s 
 servitude. 
 
 This was the signal which they waited for; but the 
 
 1 Matt. xxii. 15, etc. ; Mark xii. 13-17 ; Luke xx. 20-26. 
 VOL. II. 
 
 O 
 
194 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 Master saw through their device, and unmasked them with a 
 word : " Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites ? Show me the 
 tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. And 
 he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription ? 
 They say unto him,' Caesar’s. Then saith he unto them, 
 Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, 
 and unto God the things that are God’s.” 
 
 It was a legal proverb in the schools that in what place 
 soever the money of a king was current, the inhabitants must 
 own him for their Master . 1 Two kinds of coin were current 
 among the Jews, the one profane, the other sacred; the one 
 typifying the earthly and political rights of civil authority, the 
 other the rights of God. Jesus availed himself of this dis¬ 
 tinction to formulate one of the most neglected yet most 
 necessary truths ; that is, the distinction of the two societies 
 to which man belongs, and of the two most essential duties 
 which devolve upon him. Materially, by his physical and 
 outward life, he is attached to human society, to his people 
 and his country; he is the subject of political power. 
 Spiritually, by his inward life and his conscience, he is bound 
 to religious society ; he is the subject of God. 
 
 In a few words Jesus traced the path in which mankind is 
 to walk from this time forward. The Jews, as all other 
 nations, anciently lived under a theocracy in which religion 
 and the state were confounded. The force of events brought 
 about by God had constrained Israel to separate them ; her 
 nationality once lost, Israel was no more than a church, 
 though the ambitious hope of growing a great people once 
 again, and of restoring the old theocracy, was still alive. 
 From the moment that Jesus said, “ Render unto Caesar the 
 things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are 
 God’s,” the distinction between religion and the state was 
 perfectly established. The spiritual Kingdom which he is to 
 
 1 Talmud Hierosol fol. 20, 2 ; cf. Maimon., in Gezilah t c. v. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 195 
 
 create will no more be confounded with earthly kingdoms. 
 It will live in their midst, most frequently opposed and perse¬ 
 cuted, but it will respect their authority; it will never revive 
 the rebellious teaching of the Gaulonite : it will only take 
 revenge upon them and upon their hatred by penetrating 
 them with the Spirit of righteousness, goodness, and peace. 
 A state can have nothing to fear from the Church of Jesus. 
 It will receive from her only benefits, and it will have no 
 surer guarantee of progress and tranquillity than his words, 
 who said : “ Give unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, 
 and unto God the things which are God’s.” 
 
 This simple and mighty formula contains the whole law of 
 human societies, the evolution of which is only made possible 
 by the imperishable concord of authority and liberty. With¬ 
 out God authority turns to tyranny, and liberty to rebellion. 
 Whenever political authority, always inclined to despotism, 
 would fain force itself brutally into the realm of conscience, it 
 will be resisted by the disciples of Jesus, who have learned 
 from him that they must render to God that which is God’s. 
 Again, whenever the popular feeling, always chafing under 
 the yoke, allows itself to be carried away by the spirit of 
 rebellion, it will be withheld by the power of him who said, 
 “ Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s.” 
 
 The whole life of Jesus was the confirmation of his 
 doctrine. We have never seen him stirring up the multitude 
 in the public places ; not a word which fell from his lips 
 betrayed a suggestion of revolt against authority. If the 
 Tetrarch threatens him he continues his peaceful mission ; if 
 the leaders of religion spy upon him and would fain persecute 
 him, he withdraws in sadness. When the people, unable to 
 understand him, would proclaim him king, he escapes from 
 them, and discourages them once for all by describing to them 
 purposely his Messianic mission under the form which would 
 shock them most. Even when he allows himself to accept 
 their acclamations, it is upon the eve of his death : and then 
 
 O—2 
 
196 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 there is nothing in the popular enthusiasm that could alarm 
 the masters of the world. His example has been followed by 
 his apostles and their successors : in the midst of persecution 
 they preach obedience to those who hold the sword by which 
 they themselves shall fall . 1 
 
 The villany of the emissaries sent to compromise Jesus 
 has become a laughing-stock. These pretended righteous 
 men cannot refuse to admire his wisdom ; they depart in 
 silence, confounded and wonder-stricken. But every party 
 seems now to be in arms against Jesus ; the questions are 
 asked more and more often, and pressed more and more 
 closely. The word has been passed round to provoke him 
 and to lay snares for him. After the princes of the priest¬ 
 hood and of those learned in the Law, who demanded of him 
 whence his authority was derived, after the Pharisees and the 
 Herodians, who hoped to ruin him by questioning the legality 
 of the impost, he had to reckon with the sarcastic and 
 sceptical Sadducees. These were the positivists of the time. 
 The idea of another world seemed to them an absurdity; 
 they mocked at the devout Pharisees for sacrificing the present 
 to their dreams of a future life. They thought little of the 
 prophets, accepting only the Law, properly so called, in which 
 however, they saw nothing more than a wise government of 
 worldly interests and affairs. They anticipated certain modern 
 critics in pretending that there was nothing in the Law to 
 assert the immortality of the soul. They denied the resur¬ 
 rection. With their limited and short-sighted views they 
 found only absurdity in doctrines alien to their legal wisdom. 
 They were very arrogant, and ready adepts at sarcasm. 
 Thinking to embarrass Jesus, as though he were a simple 
 Pharisee, they proposed to him one of the problems which 
 formed the theme of their scholastic disputes, and no doubt 
 one which had often reduced their adversaries to silence . 2 
 
 1 Rom. xii. 1. Cf. I. Tim. ii. 1 ; I. Peter ii. 23. 
 
 2 Matt. xxii. 23-32 ; Mark xii. 18-27 ; Luke xx. 27-38. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 197 
 
 “Master," they said to him, “Moses said, If a man die, 
 having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise 
 up seed unto his brother. Now there were with us seven 
 brethren : and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, 
 and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother : likewise 
 the second also, and the third, unto the seventh. And last of 
 all the woman died also. Therefore in the resurrection 
 whose wife shall she be of the seven ? for they all had her.” 
 
 Jesus assumed a haughty tone with these casuists ; the 
 subtleties of the schools were alien to him. His answer is the 
 answer of the Spirit, which knows and sees as well the mys¬ 
 teries of eternity as the realities of time. “Ye do err, not 
 knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the 
 resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but 
 are as the angels of God in heaven. Neither can they die 
 any more, for they are equal unto the angels; and are the 
 children of God, being the children of the resurrection.” 
 
 It is a mark of all vulgar minds to judge by the standard 
 
 i of what they see, without being able to rise to the level of the 
 invisible. They make God after their own image, and imagine 
 ; eternity to be like this passing world. Generation and mar- 
 
 I riage are a law of the earth ; they are to be also, according to 
 them, a law of heaven. But eternity is in the image of God ; 
 the righteous man, being released from matter, will know only 
 the laws of the Spirit; even his body itself will be transfigured, 
 and, escaping from the servitude of animal life, will become 
 luminous and free, like the Spirit . 1 The difficulty raised by 
 the Sadducees is non-existent, it is one that attaches only to 
 their false ideas. What contradictions, what impossibilities 
 vanish when we learn to measure things no more after our 
 ever narrow systems, but in the light of the teaching of the 
 only Master. 
 
 Then, that he might teach his adversaries out of that 
 
 1 Cf. I. Cor. xv. 36-44 for an eloquent commentary on the Master’s 
 teaching concerning the future life. 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 T98 
 
 Scripture which they accepted, but which they did not under¬ 
 stand, he said to them : “Now that the dead are raised, even 
 Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God 
 of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For 
 he is not a God of the dead, but of the living : for all live unto 
 him.” What God has created, he preserves ; the form changes, 
 but the substance remains. The intelligent being may disap¬ 
 pear from earth and be detached from his earthly covering : 
 but he still lives in the vengeance or the love of God, as a 
 rebel or a subject, miserable or happy, degraded or trans¬ 
 figured. 
 
 The wisdom of Jesus had a new triumph; the delighted 
 audience applauded him, while certain scribes, being well 
 pleased to see the Sadducees refuted and confounded, said to 
 him : “ Master, thou hast said well.” 1 One doctor even, who 
 had heard the question of the Sadducees and the reply of 
 Jesus, approached and asked him which was the first of the 
 commandments . 2 The Master answered : “ The first of all 
 the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is 
 one Lord ; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 
 heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with 
 all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the 
 second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as 
 thyself. There is none other commandment greater than 
 these.” And the scribe said unto him: “Well, Master, thou 
 hast said the truth : for there is one God; and there is none 
 other but he: and to love him with all the heart, and with 
 all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the 
 strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than 
 all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 
 
 We find here the pure expression of Judaism, such as was 
 taught by the sage Hillel. Love is better than all burnt 
 
 1 Matt. xxii. 33 ; Luke xx. 39. 
 
 2 Matt. xxii. 34-40 ; Mark xx. 28-34, 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 199 
 
 offerings. This was the great doctrine which the prophets 
 taught, and which the formalists neglected. But this is not 
 all that makes a righteous man, something yet remains to be 
 done by him who loves God and his neighbour. Jesus, ap¬ 
 proving the wisdom of the scribe, tells him, “ Thou art not 
 far from the Kingdom of God.” True doctrine and true 
 virtue are only a preparation for the Kingdom, but they do 
 not open its gates; faith alone can let us enter there. It is 
 only by believing on Jesus that the Spirit of God is given to 
 us, and that we can be regenerated by this Spirit to share in 
 the very life of God. Before this second birth, we are only the 
 servants of God ; after it we become his children. Before it, 
 we loved God only with all the powers of our being; after it 
 we love him with the same powers, but elevated and made 
 divine by his Spirit . 1 
 
 Thus, in the midst of the incessant struggles which assailed 
 Jesus on the last day of his ministry, under the porches of 
 the Temple, he appeared ever more and more invulnerable and 
 triumphant. He escaped every ambush ; those who thought to 
 destroy him only increased his greatness. The wiles of his 
 enemies only succeeded in bringing out his power; he en¬ 
 lightened and rallied to himself all those who, after the 
 example of that simple-hearted doctor, came to seek him in 
 peace and in sincerity. 
 
 1 Cf. Gal. iii. 2-7 ; Rom. viii. 15, etc. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE FINAL DENUNCIATIONS OF THE PHARISEES. 
 
 The emissaries of the Sanhedrin, the doctors of the various 
 sects and schools, grew weary of questioning and persecuting 
 Jesus. They were afraid of him : his invincible wisdom had 
 confounded and inspired terror in them. It seems, as if, by 
 means of it, he had captured the Temple from its unworthy 
 masters. He really ruled there in their midst, amid the 
 applause of the people who considered him as Messiah; 
 and, indeed, he exercised the divine Messianic function. But 
 he was not ignorant of the fact that his life was sought after; 
 he had clearly said so in the parable of the husbandmen, and 
 had even pointed to the conspirators. He knew that he 
 would not be forgiven for having called himself the Son of 
 God, and that this title, the only one which could express 
 his Messianic office, would be imputed to him as blasphemy. 
 He desired to bring his adversaries to recognize his right so 
 to name himself on the authority of the Scriptures. He 
 gathered the Pharisees together, and put to them this ques¬ 
 tion : 1 “ What think ye of Christ, whose son is he?” The 
 Scribes answered him : “ The Son of David.” 
 
 No title was more widely known throughout the country, 
 in tradition, and in the schools. But what is meant by the 
 Son of David ? What is his nature, his dignity, and his 
 function ? This is the point at which the popular imagination 
 went astray, and regarding which the wisdom of the doctors 
 
 1 Matt. xxii. 41-45 ; Mark xii. 35-37 ; Luke xx. 41-46. 
 
 200 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 201 
 
 was mistaken and at fault. Among the glories attributed 
 to this personage, there is one which contains and sums 
 them all: that is, his divinity. This it is which men 
 failed to recognize, and which Jesus applied all his public life 
 to making manifest. Even on that day, as he was on the eve 
 of quitting the Temple to die, he endeavoured to point it out 
 to the Scribes, taking for his text the most popular of the 
 Messianic psalms, that in which the prophet distinctly stated 
 the divinity of Christ, his equality in power with God, his 
 final triumph over all his enemies, and his eternal priesthood. 
 
 Taking up this title of Son of David, which expressed 
 only his human descent, Jesus does not refuse it, as 
 certain exegetical writers have pretended , 1 indeed, he 
 always accepted it; but by vindicating it this day before 
 them, he set himself to suggest to them the mystery of 
 his divinity. “If Christ, then, is the Son of David,” he said, 
 “how does David in the Holy Spirit call him Lord?” And 
 he proceeded to recite the psalm : “ The Lord said unto my 
 Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies 
 thy footstool. ” 2 
 
 It is evident that if Christ is the Lord of David, seated at 
 the right hand of God, he is endowed with the attribute of 
 divinity. The inference was irresistible to all those learned 
 men who swore by the authority of the inspired Book, but 
 they knew not how to draw it. The Jewish theology, by 
 which these Scribes were blinded, had gone astray from the 
 teaching of the prophets. Grown hardened in cold Mono¬ 
 theism, it could no longer understand that which was the vital 
 breath of the seers, and of all the Old Testament; the con¬ 
 stant intervention of Jehovah among his people, an intervention 
 personal, active, immediate, and vital, of which Godlike mani¬ 
 festations and transitory inspiration were the first forms, 
 
 1 Schenkel, Das Characterbild vo?i Jesu. 
 
 2 See Appendix S : Psalm cx. 
 
202 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 leading up to perfect realization in its incarnation in the 
 person of the Messiah. The divinity of him, whom Isaiah 1 
 had called “The Son who has been born unto us, the Wonder¬ 
 ful, the Mighty God”; whose human birth at Bethlehem, and 
 whose divine birth from eternity Micah 2 had distinguished; 
 whom Malachi 3 had called “ the Lord coming to his Temple” 
 —the divinity of the Messiah was hidden from their eyes. 
 Jesus, borrowing the language of the living and popular 
 theology of the prophets, tried for the last time to burst 
 through the veil, and to show them how in the divinity of the 
 Messiah, the two titles of Son and Lord of David have been 
 reconciled. In the obstinacy of their minds they did not 
 see ; they remained confounded and silent, and went away in 
 hopeless incredulity. 
 
 The soberness of the Gospel narrative scarcely admits a 
 full presentation of the splendour of this scene, the last in 
 which Jesus encountered his enemies. It is, nevertheless, one 
 of the most touching, for in thus declaring his true nature he 
 was signing his own death-warrant. But death was nothing 
 to him. It was simply the condition of his victory. He was 
 full well aware that his sacrifice was about to purchase for 
 him an eternal triumph. He must have spoken to the Jews 
 with striking authority as he recalled to them the words of 
 Jehovah to the Messiah: “Sit thou on my right hand till I 
 make thine enemies thy footstool.” It was then that Jesus 
 turned to his disciples. The people, at least, in their simplicity 
 heard him with rapture. He spoke as a Judge, publicly 
 condemning, stigmatizing, branding, and overwhelming with 
 denunciation the Scribes and Pharisees, and all the repre¬ 
 sentatives of the Law, and the learning of the official religion . 4 
 
 “ Beware of them,” he said, “ they shall receive the greater 
 
 1 Isaiah ix. 5. 
 
 2 Micah v. 2. 
 
 3 Malachi iii. 1. 
 
 4 Matt, xxiii. 1 ad fin, ; Mark xii. 37-4°" 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 203 
 
 damnation.” “ They sit in Moses’ scat: all therefore what¬ 
 soever they bid you observe, that observe and do ; but do not 
 ye after their works: for they say, and do not. For they 
 bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them 
 on men’s shoulders ; but they themselves will not move them 
 with one of their fingers. But all their works they do for to be 
 seen of men : they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge 
 the borders of their garments, and love the uppermost rooms 
 at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings 
 in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. But 
 be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; 
 and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon 
 the earth : for one is your Father, which is in heaven. 
 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even 
 Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your 
 servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; 
 and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. 
 
 Inconsistency, hypocrisy, tyrannical harshness, ambition, 
 pride—such were the vices that disfigured those rulers who 
 were the first Antichrists. In their unpardonable blindness 
 and hatred they have wounded the infinite love of him who 
 was bringing unto them light, salvation, and peace, and have 
 exposed themselves to his appalling denunciations. 
 
 “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” he 
 continued, “for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against 
 men : for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them 
 that are entering to go in. Woe unto you, scribes and Phari¬ 
 sees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a 
 pretence make long prayers : therefore ye shall receive the 
 greater damnation. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, 
 hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, 
 and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of 
 hell than yourselves. Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which 
 say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but 
 
204 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a 
 
 debtor! Ye fools and blind : for whether is greater, the gold, 
 
 or the temple that sanctifieth the gold ? And, Whosoever 
 
 shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth 
 
 by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. Ye fools and blind: 
 
 for whether is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifieth the 
 
 gift? Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by 
 
 it, and by all things thereon. And whoso shall swear by the 
 
 temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. 
 
 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of 
 
 God, and by him that sitteth thereon. Woe unto you, scribes 
 
 and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise 
 
 and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the 
 
 law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, 
 
 and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which 
 
 strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes 
 
 and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye make clean the outside of 
 
 the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extor- 
 
 • 
 
 tion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which 
 is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may 
 be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypo¬ 
 crites ! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed 
 appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s 
 bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly 
 appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy 
 and iniquity.” 
 
 We here see the eternal and inexorable justice of God 
 thundering forth by the mouth of Jesus, his faithful instru¬ 
 ment, against the heads of the Jewish nation, the guides of 
 its public opinion, and indeed all those who throughout the 
 ages carry on their deadly work. The crimes of these wicked 
 men in high places have been such as to silence mercy, and 
 provoke the divine vengeance. 
 
 They hinder the coming of the Kingdom of God, which they 
 ought to support and approve. They turn away from it, and 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 205 
 
 turn away others also. They try to extend their own king¬ 
 dom by their infernal proselytism, and those whom they enrol 
 in their satanic sect are worse than themselves. They distort 
 the truth, and mislead those whom they should enlighten. 
 They make tools of the simple-minded, devour under the 
 mask of religion the goods of the widow and the orphan ; 
 they degrade and materialise worship ; they are fantastically 
 scrupulous in the elaboration of ceremonial, but forget to 
 practise justice, mercy, and faith. They strain at a gnat and 
 swallow a camel. Like hideous whited sepulchres, they put 
 on a sham appearance of piety to deceive the multitude, while 
 their hateful consciences are heaped ever higher with plunder 
 and defilement. When God speaks by the voice of his 
 prophets, his messengers, and his saints, they will not listen, 
 but put them to death ; and when they are dead, in their 
 hypocrisy they pretend to honour them by decorating their 
 sepulchres. But though God should come down in person 
 to speak to them, they will but do more murder, for to put a 
 prophet to death is their darling crime. 
 
 Even while Jesus was overwhelming them with his divine 
 and holy indignation, he knew that they were plotting his 
 destruction, and signing his death-warrant; and the sight 
 wrung from him the last and still more terrible malediction: 
 “ Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! because 
 ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres 
 of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of 
 our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in 
 the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto 
 yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the 
 prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.” 
 Here is the fulminating wrath of a judge, of the divine Judge 
 himself, who takes in at a single glance the whole mountain 
 of his people’s guilt before their God. “Ye serpents,” he 
 cried, “ ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the dam- 
 
20 6 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 nation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets 
 and wise men, and scribes ; and some of them ye shall kill 
 and crucify ; and some of them shall ye scourge in your 
 synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: that 
 upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the 
 earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of 
 Zacharias 1 son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the 
 temple and the altar.” 
 
 The words of Jesus are no empty formula; they are 
 stamped with the might of God ; when he blesses he opens 
 the fountain of his infinite goodness ; when he curses he un¬ 
 chains all the powers of the abyss. With these oft-repeated 
 cries of “Woe! woe!” he heaps the anger of God on the 
 devoted heads of its victims. “Verily I say unto you,” he 
 added, “ all these things shall come upon this generation.” 
 
 The thought of the terrible retribution which the crime of 
 his death was about to bring upon his people, and upon the 
 ungrateful city, filled him all at once with a mighty grief: he 
 apostrophised Jerusalem in a poignant phrase which had 
 been once already wrung from him at the sight of its 
 obstinate infidelity . 2 “Verily I say unto you, All these things 
 shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 
 thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are 
 sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children 
 together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her 
 
 1 This Zechariah was high priest in the reign of Joash. (II. Chron. 
 xxiv. 20-22.) Seeing the people relapsing into idolatry, he took occasion, 
 on a solemn feast-day, to rebuke the people boldly in the Temple for 
 their backslidings against God. Joash and the people stoned him in the 
 Temple court. In Chronicles he is called the son of Jehoiada, and in St. 
 Matthew the son of Barachias. St. Jerome (Comment, in Matth., 1 . iv.) 
 has justly remarked that the Hebrew words Jehoiada and Barachiah have 
 the same meaning, that is, “ Blessed of God,” and, according to him, 
 Jehoiadas was actually read for Barachias in the “Gospel of the 
 Nazarites.” 
 
 2 Cf. Luke xiii. 34, 35. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 20 J 
 
 wings, and ye would not! ” x And, pointing to the Temple, he 
 added : “ Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I 
 say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall 
 say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” 
 
 This was his last appeal. He was not heeded. The 
 Temple was never to behold again him who alone could fill it 
 and secure its eternity; it would fall like an empty house 
 abandoned by its inhabitants. Whatsoever casts out God is 
 destined to inevitable destruction. 
 
 At the end of these discourses, so full of vehemence and 
 pathos, Jesus seated himself apart, in the Court of Israel, 
 near the hall of the Treasury, facing the collecting-boxes 
 placed to receive the offerings . 1 2 Fie looked upon the crowd 
 which thronged about him to throw in their money. The 
 rich, of whom there were many, deposited large sums, and 
 the people marvelled at them. A poor widow came up, and 
 she threw in two mites which made scarcely half a farthing. 
 And Jesus called unto him his disciples, and said unto them : 
 “ Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more 
 in, than all they which have cast into the treasury : for all 
 they did cast in of their abundance ; but she of her want did 
 cast in all that she had, even all her living.” 
 
 Material gifts are nothing in the sight of God ; they have 
 no value except in the sentiment, the virtuous feeling which 
 inspires them. The highest sentiment, the greatest virtue, is 
 charity ; and absolute charity retains nothing for itself, it gives 
 up everything. The poor widow possessed only two mites, 
 but she had perfect charity, and her two mites acquired in the 
 sight of God, by virtue of her charity, a higher value than 
 that of all the shekels of gold and silver. Jesus judged as 
 God: he could read into the soul. The piety of this 
 
 1 Matt, xxiii. 38, 39. 
 
 2 Mark xii. 41-44 ; Luke xxi. 1-4. 
 
208 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 unknown woman touched him deeply. She is one of those 
 who have been praised by the wisest, the best, the one 
 infallible among judges. All the poor of the earth, all the 
 wretched, may take comfort, and rejoice, for, although they 
 have not the riches esteemed by man, they can have, even in 
 their indigence, those treasures which alone find favour in the 
 sight of God. 
 
 We must here narrate a characteristic incident 1 which 
 suggested the last words spoken by Jesus in the Temple . 2 
 Among those who had come up to Jerusalem to keep the 
 festival were certain Greeks, and these men came to Philip, 
 who was of Bethsaida in Galilee, and entreated him, saying, 
 “ Master, we would see Jesus.” 
 
 The Passover brought to Jerusalem, not only pious Jews 
 from Palestine and from all parts of the world, but the 
 Gentiles, who had become converts to Judaism in their own 
 country. They were known as the proselytes of the .Gate. 
 There were many of them in Syria and Decapolis, and 
 throughout the provinces of the ancient empire of Alexander. 
 At the great festivals they came to the Jewish capital and 
 offered their sacrifices in the Temple. The Court of the 
 Gentiles was open to them. Evidently these Hellenes 
 belonged to the class of the proselytes of the Gate, and they 
 appear to have known Philip, which is a sign that they must 
 have dwelt in some city of Decapolis near Bethsaida. 
 Besides, the triumphal entry of the Prophet into Jerusalem, 
 his expulsion of the buyers and sellers from the Temple, his 
 popular preaching which delighted the crowd, his repeated 
 miracles, his victorious answers to the insidious questions of 
 
 1 John xii. 20-36. 
 
 2 This would seem to be the case from the testimony of St. John, who 
 says that immediately afterwards Jesus went and hid himself from the 
 Jews. His mission was finished ; henceforward nothing was left to him 
 but to die. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 209 
 
 the doctors, his struggle so powerfully maintained against 
 the Sanhedrin and the rulers, all explain and justify their 
 ardent desire to see Jesus. It is no mere curiosity which impels 
 them, it is an attraction felt deeply within the conscience. 
 Their request, in its touching discreetness, betrays their great 
 respect. 
 
 The disciple understands the gravity of the course which 
 he is asked to take ; he may have remembered the word of 
 his Master : “ I am not sent save to the lost sheep of the house 
 of Israel.” He dares not take upon himself to convey to 
 Jesus the prayer of these Gentiles. He confers with Andrew, 
 and it is this last disciple, whose resolute character we have 
 already noticed , 1 who decides Philip to bring the message to 
 Jesus. In spite of the silence of the Evangelist, we may 
 suppose that Jesus gratified the desire of the Gentiles ; for 
 by no conscience was he invoked in vain. These Greeks then 
 eagerly approached, gazed upon and listened to him. They 
 were the witnesses, as they were the occasion of one of the 
 most poignant outbursts of the soul of Jesus. 
 
 Seeing himself sought after by these Gentiles at the very 
 moment when the Jews were rejecting him, he was overcome 
 by a divine emotion. His whole destiny lay plain before 
 him, austere and glorious ; he saw with the inward eye his 
 future death and triumph, and in his death the cause of his 
 triumph. If it is willed by his Father that the blind and 
 unbelieving nation shall only reply to his appeal by crucifying 
 him, it is also willed that his death shall conquer sin and draw 
 all men unto him. “ The Prince of this world ” is in hope 
 to nail him to the cross ; but he is preparing unawares the 
 throne to the foot of which the Gentiles will flock in multi¬ 
 tudes to adore their Saviour. 
 
 This prophetic vision troubles and yet exalts, overwhelms 
 and yet consoles him. In spite of the conflicting emotions 
 
 1 John i. 41, 42. 
 VOL. II. 
 
 P 
 
210 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 which agitate him inwardly, his words carry with them and in 
 them both power and peace. Jesus seeks to prepare his 
 hearers against the shock of his approaching death. “ The 
 hour is come,” he said, “that the Son of man should be 
 glorified .” 1 2 This glory is not only the new and transfigured 
 life which he will enjoy in his Kingdom at the right hand of 
 his Father, set free for ever from infirmity and death : it is 
 also the triumph which he is to win over the Gentile world and 
 all mankind. 
 
 In the necessity that the Son of man should die is 
 contained the whole mystery of suffering and sacrifice. Jesus 
 proclaims it as an universal and necessary law in the govern¬ 
 ment of God: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a 
 corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: 
 but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit .” % To follow such a 
 Master, who is the perfect incarnation of sacrifice, and whose 
 death is the condition of all life and of all triumph, we must 
 ourselves be sacrificed. In total renunciation lies the way of 
 everlasting life. “He that loveth his life shall lose it ; and he 
 that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life 
 eternal.” The glorious fate of the Master will be ours. He 
 gives the assurance to his disciples : “ If any man serve me, 
 let him follow me ; and where I am, there shall also my ser¬ 
 vant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour .” 3 
 
 The thought of his approaching, nay, his imminent death, 
 and of the terrible struggles which were preparing for him, 
 drew from Jesus a cry of agony. Although in perfect agree¬ 
 ment with the will of his Father, he felt more keenly than we 
 should an instinctive repugnance to suffering and death, and 
 he laid bare to the sight of his disciples this terrible inward 
 conflict. “ Now is my soul troubled,” he exclaimed, “ and 
 what shall I say ? Father, save me from this hour: but for 
 
 1 John xii. 23. 
 
 2 John xii. 24. 
 
 3 John xii. 25, 26. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 21 T 
 
 this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name .” 1 
 Such is the expression of a will which silences nature and 
 loses itself in God. Jesus devotes himself to death for the 
 glory of his Father. His agony seems to have already begun. 
 This scene is the prelude to it. The occasion was a solemn 
 one ; it must have deeply moved those who witnessed it. 
 But a wondrous manifestation came to magnify and exalt 
 him who thus abased himself before God by sacrificing 
 himself to his glory, and before men, by suffering them to 
 see the anguish which tortured him. There came a voice 
 from heaven, the same which had sounded at the Baptism 
 and in the Transfiguration: “I have already glorified my 
 name, and will glorify it again .” 2 
 
 The first glorification of the name of God is evidently that 
 which has Israel for its theatre, and the earthly apostolate of 
 Jesus for its instrument. The second is that which shall one 
 day dazzle the Gentile world and all mankind, when the Spirit 
 of Jesus shall come to reveal the unknown Father. The two 
 glorifications are bound to one another by the awful drama of 
 the Passion and the Cross. The voice from heaven was 
 heard by all, but not understood by all. The multitude 
 were amazed, and said, “ It thundered ”; others said, “ An 
 angel spake to him.” “This voice,” said Jesus, “came not 
 because of me, but for yoursakes .” 3 It is necessary that God 
 himself should intervene and speak to us in order to sustain 
 our frail nature when brought face to face with the mystery 
 of sorrow and the law of sacrifice. The suffering and 
 crucified Christ is the stumbling-block of reason ; when he 
 appears before it, reason recoils affrighted, unless God himself 
 causes her to see how his name is glorified in the death of 
 his Son and of his chosen ones. And Jesus alone interprets 
 the mysterious voice to our ignorance. 
 
 1 John xii. 27, 28. 
 
 2 John xii. 29. 
 
 3 John xii. 30. 
 
 P—2 
 
212 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 “Now is the judgment of this world,” he added, “now 
 shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be 
 lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” Never 
 until this hour had Jesus spoken of his death with so firm an 
 accent, or showed more clearly how much that was glorious 
 lay hidden beneath its shame. Some unknown Gentiles in 
 their desire to see and hear him thus called forth the 
 teaching the most obscure to man, the most difficult to 
 accept, and the most necessary. The Crucified One rules 
 over lost mankind, of which the Gentiles form a part; he is 
 to see them pass before him and to judge them. Those who 
 strike the breast and cry, shall be saved ; those who blaspheme 
 in impenitence and unbelief, shall be lost. The first only 
 shall be freed from the tyranny of the prince of this world. 
 He shall be vanquished in them and cast out, while a 
 countless company of the elect shall flock together about him 
 who has been uplifted from the earth. This shall be a 
 triumph which will repay the Crucified One for all his 
 humiliations. The Cross, which was the stumbling-block 
 of the Jews, will become for us the wisdom and virtue of 
 God . 1 
 
 While Jesus was speaking, the multitude had gathered 
 round him. They had heard him speak of the death of the 
 Son of man and of his lifting up upon the cross, and many 
 of them were offended. The idea of a dying Messiah, of a 
 Messiah condemned to the felon’s torture, was revolting to a 
 nation accustomed to the idea of a conquering Messiah, the 
 founder of an eternal Kingdom built upon the ruins of Pagan 
 empires. Such was the teaching of the schools founded 
 upon the blind and literal exegesis of the Scriptures , 2 which 
 
 1 I. Cor. i. 18. 
 
 2 Micah v. 2 ; Ps. cix. 4, Ixxxviii. 30-38, Ixxi. 5 ; Isaiah ix. 7, xl. 8, 
 xxxviii. 27 ; Daniel ix. 26, etc. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 213 
 
 they could not understand. These same scriptures 1 had not, 
 however, failed to depict in striking colours the struggles, the 
 sufferings, the agonies, and the death of the Son of man ; 
 this mystery was veiled to all eyes. At the word “ cruci¬ 
 fixion,” the multitude cried out: “ We have heard out of the 
 law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The 
 Son of man must be lifted up ? Who is this Son of man ? ” 
 In this popular objection we see how great was the stumbling- 
 block which is to come between the multitude and Jesus. 
 A conquered and crucified Messiah cannot be the true 
 Messiah. 
 
 Jesus does not reply to the question. The time for 
 discussing and teaching was gone by. He withdrew with 
 his disciples, making a last appeal to the people in language 
 such as no human lips have spoken : “Yet a little while 
 is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest 
 darkness come upon you : for he that walketh in darkness 
 knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe 
 in the light, that ye may be the children of light.” 2 
 
 1 Isaiah liii. ; Ps. xxi.; Dan. ix. 26 ; Jerem. xi. 19, 
 
 3 John xii. 35, 36. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE COMING RUIN OF JERUSALEM AND THE TEMPLE. 
 
 TPIE END OF THE WORLD. 
 
 On leaving the Temple, to which he was never more to 
 return, Jesus, more than ever repudiated by the chiefs of the 
 nation, went out, no doubt, by the Gate of Susa, which opened 
 n to the valley of the Cedron, and retired with his followers to 
 thany. 
 
 The walls which overlook the valley have an imposing 
 ranee, with their large stones and their powerful layers 
 ; onry. One of the disciples brought them under his 
 
 ol : on, saying, “ Master, see what manner of stones and 
 
 bui: are here . 1 ’ 1 Others extolled the richness of the 
 
 gifts hich the Temple was decked out . 2 Perhaps those 
 
 who a d the attention of Jesus to the beauty, majesty, 
 
 and rich r the sacred buildings, may have thought on the 
 terrible n > which they had heard from his own mouth 
 
 against Jen and the Temple. Perhaps they may have 
 
 expressed rt hat those walls should be left desolate, 
 
 which were th ler of the universe to the mind of every 
 
 Jew. We cam But the reply of Jesus was a terrible 
 
 one : “ See ye m hese things ? verily I say unto you, 
 
 There shall not be re one stone upon another, that shall 
 
 not be thrown down. at same day he had already said to 
 
 1 Matt. xxiv. i, etc. ; Mi. i ; Luke xxi. 5. 
 
 2 Matt. xxiv. 1, etc. ; Mai * Luke xxi. 5. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 215 
 
 the Jews in mysterious language, referring to the Temple, 
 “Your house shall be left unto you desolate.” He humours their 
 superstitious veneration for the material house of God ; but 
 to his disciples he speaks without openly revealing to them 
 his whole meaning. It is more than abandonment and 
 desolation that he foretells ; it is ruin and total destruction. 
 
 This prophetic oracle, whose authenticity is undoubted, was 
 pronounced on the 4th or 5th of April (1 ith or 12th of Nisan) 
 of the year 30. Now this is what happened in the year 70. 
 After a terrible siege, Jerusalem was taken by the Roman 
 army, and Titus ordered the destruction of the whole city 
 and the Temple from top to bottom. He only left standing 
 the three towers of Phasael, Hippicos, and Mariamne, and a 
 part of the western enclosure. The walls were spared to 
 afford protection to the Roman camp, and the towers to 
 witness to posterity how powerful were the arms which had 
 conquered a city so well defended. All the rest was razed to 
 the ground, and every trace of human habitation was blotted 
 out. Such was the end of Jerusalem, that splendid city which 
 was celebrated throughout the whole world. 1 
 
 The threatening language of Jesus must have appeared 
 to the disciples as the sign of the wrath of God, the death- 
 warrant of the faithless nation. If the Temple itself should 
 be destroyed, who could escape the divine anger? These last 
 anathemas of their Master against the chiefs of the people 
 and their town and Temple seemed to open a melancholy 
 vista before them ; but hope still shone upon the prospect of 
 ruin and destruction, triumph of Messiah after all disasters, 
 and his glorious advent into a purified, renewed, and 
 perfected world. Then would begin the true Messianic 
 Kingdom. All that they had seen and heard during 
 these last days, the struggles which they had witnessed and 
 which they had shared, the opposition and the hatred which 
 
 1 Bell, Jnd., vii. 1. 1. 
 
216 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 had dogged the steps of the Master, seems to have fortified 
 them. They feel still more the closeness of the tie which 
 binds them to his destiny. They are resolved to follow him ; 
 they feel what every man feels who has the least generosity 
 and courage ; they become the more ardently attached to 
 their leader the more they see him despised and insulted. 
 
 Jesus and his disciples had now crossed the valley of the 
 Cedron, and were climbing the slope of the Mount of Olives. 
 When they were half-way up the hill, Jesus sat down, his face 
 turned towards the Temple. 1 It was evening, and the sun 
 was setting. The disciples were still under the influence of 
 the words of their Master: “ There shall not be left here one 
 stone upon another.” They drew near to him, and four of them 
 privately said to him: “ Master, tell us, when shall these things 
 be, and what shall be the sign of thy manifestation, and of 
 the consummation of the world ? ” The air of mystery with 
 which this question was put is easy to explain. There was 
 danger of death in speaking of the destruction of the Holy 
 Place. Scribes and members of the Sanhedrin refused to 
 admit that the destruction of their Temple could be even 
 thought of without blasphemy. Stephen the deacon, some 
 years later, was to atone with his life-blood for the heroic 
 courage with which, recalling the words of Jesus, he had 
 publicly announced its end. The question put by the 
 apostles will bear a closer scrutiny, for it disclosed the 
 agitating thoughts in which they were wrapped at this tragic 
 hour; it betrayed the illusions with which the followers of 
 Jesus buoyed themselves up, and gave the key to his 
 prophetic reply. 
 
 The disciples were convinced that the anger of God was 
 about to burst forth against the enemies of their Master ; 
 that the victorious Messiah was about to disclose himself 
 
 1 Matt. xxiv. 3 ; Mark xiii. 3. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 217 
 
 in his majesty, and that his Kingdom, which is the end 
 of the world, was about to begin. These three facts ; the 
 destruction of Jerusalem and of the Temple, the glorious 
 manifestation of Christ, and the end of time and 
 things ; were connected together inseparably in their hope¬ 
 ful minds. Their hopes, like all human hopes, were full of 
 illusions. The destruction of the Holy City and of the 
 Temple was one thing, and the end of the world another 
 The glorious manifestation of Jesus among the Gentiles, 
 triumphing over vanquished Judaism, and founding on its 
 ruins his Church and his Kingdom, was other than 
 the final manifestation o( Jesus at the end of the 
 world, appearing in the plenitude of his glory, and founding 
 on the ruins of this present world, in a transfigured universe, 
 his eternal Kingdom. 
 
 There are thus two solemn acts of the avenging justice of 
 God : the one, the destruction of Judaism as a nation ; the 
 other, the destruction of the world. The first is directed 
 against the Jews ; it is the punishment provoked by the death 
 of the Messiah, and by the rejection of his word. The 
 second is directed against the whole world ; it is the punish¬ 
 ment which attends the infidelity of the wicked, and the 
 rejection of the work of the Messiah continued in his Church. 
 Again, there are two solemn personal manifestations of the 
 Messiah; the first in the Gentile world, after his ignominious 
 death, in the midst of mankind and of the ages ; the second 
 at the end of time. And in like manner there are two 
 Messianic Kingdoms, or, rather, two states of this Kingdom, 
 corresponding to the two advents of Jesus : the one, the 
 Church militant, developing itself amid trials, struggles, and 
 persecutions, like Jesus himself in his humble, painful life of 
 obscurity; the other, the heavenly Church, coming forth 
 victorious over all trials, triumphant over all struggles and all 
 death, like Jesus in his transfigured life. 
 
 These two series of facts are connected together indis- 
 
218 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 solubly, although separated by years and centuries whose 
 duration is unknown to us. The first is both the prelude 
 to the second and its foreshadowing. The distinctive and 
 peculiar features which distinguish them one from the other 
 do not bar the essential analogy by which they are con¬ 
 nected. In reading the story of the ruin of Jerusalem and 
 the Temple, we gain an insight into the ruin of the 
 world at the end of time: the one is the end of a world 
 and a people; the other, the end of the world and of all 
 peoples. 
 
 The greater number of the signs which are the forerunners 
 of the one will also be the forerunners of the other. When we 
 read of the first triumph of Jesus after the destruction of 
 Jerusalem and the Temple, in the midst of men who were 
 banded together against him, but powerless to impede his 
 action, we think of the final triumph of him who will come in 
 the clouds of heaven, in the majesty of his glory to reign 
 over a transformed universe. So, when we consider the*life 
 of Christ’s Kingdom here below, perpetually warring with 
 error, injustice, hatred, and death, but unconquerable in the 
 truth, charity, and peace of God, we may divine somewhat 
 of the splendours of his Kingdom, when, all evil being van¬ 
 quished and dispelled, the elect will form, with the glorified 
 Christ in the full life of God, the eternal people, the true 
 Kingdom which shall never pass away. 
 
 The illusion of the disciples lay in their identifying these 
 two series of facts. Jesus in his reply keeps them carefully 
 distinct ; he does not wish merely to satisfy an idle curiosity, 
 but to strengthen his disciples, and prepare them against the 
 terrible hour which is at hand. There is nothing confusing 
 either in his thoughts or in his language. All events are 
 present to his eyes before they happen, and he is not only the 
 witness who beholds them, but he has in him the divine strength 
 which brings them to pass. In what he foretells there is neither 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 219 
 
 hesitation nor uncertainty. He is the master of time and 
 of eternity, whose view can embrace the full harmony of all 
 his work, and while speaking to those who are to see only its 
 beginnings, he is also instructing those who shall succeed them 
 from age to age until its consummation. With the exception 
 of certain details, which, taken literally, can only apply to 
 Jerusalem or to the end of the world, every word of this 
 discourse remains presently true, and instinct with life. 
 Believers of all ages can find in it the practical guide 
 necessary to their life: the law of history for all mankind, 
 for the earth which it inhabits, and for all the universe, is 
 formulated there in immortal language. 
 
 All things proceed by crises. The momentary triumph of 
 evil provokes the justice of God, who intervenes by the 
 agency of necessary destruction ; and every destruction is 
 followed by anew manifestation of good, and of a more signal 
 triumph for Christ and for his Spirit. 
 
 “Beware!” This was the first word of Jesus in answer 
 to his disciples. “ Take heed that ye be not deceived: 
 for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and 
 the time draweth near : go ye not therefore after them.” 
 
 There is only one Master, one Messiah, one Liberator, 
 one Saviour. This is a truth which Jesus was never weary of 
 impressing upon the minds of his disciples ; and this Master, 
 this Messiah, this Liberator, this Saviour, is himself. Christ 
 having come, there is no longer any Master to be looked for, 
 any Saviour to be expected, any new revealer. Those who 
 should listen to false teachers and false Messiahs would be 
 deceived. . In giving Jesus, heaven has given us every¬ 
 thing, for it has given us itself. Jesus requires fidelity 
 from his disciples. If they will remain united to him they 
 will have the strength to conquer all things, and the wisdom 
 to understand all things ; this is the supreme duty. Nothing 
 more urgently needed recalling to their minds, for, in that 
 
220 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 Messianic age, false Messiahs and pretenders to inspiration, 
 such as was Simon the Magician, were about to multiply 
 within the Jewish nation, which, having refused to receive 
 the true Saviour, was destined to be led astray by false 
 prophets, and to become a prey to all the vagaries of error. 
 
 The Master then points out to his disciples the phenomena 
 which are about to agitate human society, and the whole 
 world: “Ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see 
 that ye be not troubled ; for all these things must come to 
 pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against 
 nation, and kingdom against kingdom : and there shall be 
 famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 
 All these are the beginning of sorrows.” 
 
 All these words were verified to the letter : they seem 
 to be history, while in reality they are prophecy. We see 
 Jerusalem attacked by the Ascalonites, the Ptolemys, the 
 Damascenes, the Syrians, and every other neighbouring 
 nation. We hear the tread of the Roman legions in the last 
 years of Titus, and in the reigns of Caligula and Nero, and 
 we anticipate the sanguinary revolts which shook the throne 
 of the Caesars. In those very times, the East was decimated, 
 under Claudius, by a terrible famine which raged in Judaea, 1 
 and earthquakes destroyed Laodicea and Hieropolis. The 
 sight of such disasters always strikes the popular imagination. 
 Terrified and distracted, men suppose that the world is going 
 to wreck. The terror of God overwhelms them. 
 
 Jesus recommends calm to his disciples. These disturb¬ 
 ances, these tumultuous upheavals of empires and kingdoms, 
 these wars without end, are the law of a world in which the 
 spirit of hatred and intrigue, pride and pleasure, bears sway ; 
 these things must have their course. His followers are not to 
 be astonished or terrified as the Gentiles. And just as the 
 
 1 Acts xi. 28 ; cf. Antiq.Jud., xx. 3. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 221 
 
 nations arc agitated, so the heavens and the earth are in 
 commotion; physical conflicts are abundant; the forces 
 which are at work in these commotions battle against each 
 other, sometimes surprising and overwhelming man himself, 
 and by certain appearances, which argue the instability of 
 their equilibrium, betraying their pantings after a better state. 
 The believer must remain firm in this fragile dwelling. And 
 yet what a terrible fate is his! Jesus is about to paint it in 
 imperishable characters. 
 
 “ But beware of men : for they will deliver you up to the 
 councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues ; and ye 
 shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testi¬ 
 mony against them and the Gentiles. Settle it therefore in 
 your own hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: 
 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adver¬ 
 saries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. For it is not ye that 
 speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.” 
 
 And, besides political persecution, shall come family perse¬ 
 cution and estrangement; “ and the brother shall deliver up 
 the brother to death, and the father the child : and the chil¬ 
 dren shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be 
 put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s 
 sake : and then shall many be offended, 1 and shall betray 
 one another, and shall hate one another. And many false 
 prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because 
 iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. Ye 
 shall be hated of all men for my sake. But there shall not an 
 hair of your head perish. In your patience possess ye your 
 souls. He that endureth unto the end, the same shall be saved.” 
 
 All these things the Acts of the Apostles show us to have 
 been accomplished, just as they were foretold by Jesus. The 
 first disciples were familiar with every persecution that authority 
 
 1 Matt. xxiv. 10-12. 
 
223 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. ’ 
 
 could devise; they were dragged, like Stephen and James, 
 before the synagogues, and were put to death and stoned in 
 the cause of Jesus ; they were brought before kings and gover¬ 
 nors, like Paul at Caesarea and at Rome. The Spirit of their 
 Master endowed them with irresistible eloquence and wisdom. 
 They were the object of universal hatred. But they possessed 
 their souls in patience; they persevered to the end, although 
 many fell away. They made manifest, by their constancy 
 and their strength, the glory of the Gospel. They waited for 
 God’s good time, neither allowing themselves to be seduced 
 by false prophets, nor by false signs, nor by the inspirations of 
 a misleading patriotism, nor by persecutions. 
 
 The constant struggle against a hostile world, violent 
 opposition, insults, persecutions, tortures, hatred, death, this 
 is N what Jesus has foretold for those who would be called 
 his followers here below. This will be their privilege. Other 
 religions, whether tolerated or disdained, will be honoured by 
 those who have enslaved them, but the Church of Christ* will 
 have for its share the hatred of all for the name’s sake of its 
 Master. In this name is symbolized all that the world hates, 
 truth, virtue, charity, and peace, and the independence of 
 conscience. It will rouse up from age to age against it, and 
 against those who proclaim it, popular opinion, passion, selfish¬ 
 ness, and that rage for oppression which is the evil genius of 
 all earthly power. Every century, from the first one down¬ 
 wards, has combated the work of Jesus with a fresh outburst 
 of satanic hatred, justifying his word, who alone amongst all 
 founders of religions has foretold persecution to his followers, 
 and persecution constantly renewed. 
 
 After having forewarned his disciples by showing them 
 the surroundings among which they would have to live, the 
 fate which awaits them, and the virtues which he requires of 
 them, Jesus gives them the sign which they asked of him 
 concerning the destruction of Jerusalem: “And when ye 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 22J 
 
 shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, and the abomi¬ 
 nation of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand 
 in the holy place, whoso rcadeth, let him understand : then 
 know that the desolation thereof is nigh.” 
 
 The sign indicated is, according to St. Luke, 1 the hostile 
 army invading Jerusalem. The two first Evangelists call it, 
 in the words of Daniel, “ the abomination of desolation,” an 
 expression obviously referring to the Roman standards, 
 decked with the images of the gods and of Caesar, planted on 
 the sacred territory surrounding the Holy City. In the year 
 65, a quarter of a century after Jesus had spoken, the Roman 
 armies made their appearance. 2 First the Governor Florus 
 sent his cohorts to punish the turbulent people of Jerusalem ; 
 some months later the legions returned 3 under the command 
 of Cestius, prefect of Syria ; and, finally, in the spring of 70 
 Titus invested the Holy City. 4 
 
 “Then,” said Jesus, “let them which are in Judaea flee to 
 the mountains ; and let them which are in the midst of it 
 depart out ; and let not them that are in the countries enter 
 thereinto. And let him that is on the housetop not go 
 down into the house, neither enter therein, to take anything 
 out of his house : and let him that is in the field not turn back 
 again for to take up his garment. For these be the days of 
 vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 
 
 t 
 
 But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that 
 give suck in those days ! for there shall be great distress in 
 the land, and wrath upon this people. And pray ye that 
 your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day. 
 For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the 
 befflnnine of the creation which God created unto this time, 
 neither shall be. And except that the Lord had shortened 
 
 1 Luke xxi. 20. 
 
 2 Bell.Jud., ii. 14. 3. 
 
224 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 those days, no flesh should be saved : but for the elect’s sake, 
 whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. And 
 they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led 
 away captive into all nations : and Jerusalem shall be trodden 
 down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be ful¬ 
 filled.” 
 
 And, his thoughts returning to the false Christs, Jesus 
 added, with supreme emphasis: “ And then if any man shall 
 say to you, Lo, here is Christ: or, lo, he is there ; believe him 
 not: for false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall 
 shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even 
 the elect. But take ye heed : behold, I have foretold you all 
 things.” 
 
 The advice to fly from the terrible catastrophe and 
 destruction ordained by the justice and anger of God is 
 addressed not only to the first generation of Christians, but to 
 all the disciples of Jesus throughout the existence of the 
 Church, whensoever like catastrophes and like destruction 
 ordained by his same justice shall be poured out against the 
 peoples, cities, kingdoms, and civilizations of this world. 
 Flight under these circumstances is not cowardly ; it becomes 
 an act of necessary vigilance. 
 
 In this manner the elect escape the vengeance of him who 
 is always watching over his Kingdom here below. Whilst 
 the condemned shall be given up to the blindness of their 
 prejudice, to the seductions of their false prophets, to per¬ 
 sistence in their fatal doctrines, to the fury of their hatred, 
 while they shall obstinately continue to defend that which 
 does not deserve to live, and which hinders the progress of 
 Christ among mankind, his true disciples, foreseeing the 
 storm, will retire far from the turmoil, far from all that is 
 condemned to perish, and will escape the sword and the 
 powers of death. They will survive to carry on the holy 
 work on the ruins, still smoking from the thunderbolts of 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 God’s justice, of that which, like the Jews, is so vain as to 
 believe itself immortal. For their sakes the times of 
 desolation and the necessary crises which precede renewal, 
 will be abridged. They will cause the edge of the inexorable 
 sword of justice to be turned aside through the mercy and the 
 goodness of the God who loves them. 
 
 The apostles and the early Christians obeyed the 
 prophetic wisdom of their Master; they remembered his 
 warnings; they fled from Jerusalem and Judaea at the 
 approach of the Roman cohorts and legions; they took 
 refuge beyond the Jordan, among the mountains of Moab, 
 and the lofty highlands of Gilead towards Pella. In this 
 manner the Church of Palestine, by the word of Jesus, 
 escaped the frightful catastrophe which overtook the Jews, 
 who, blinded by their fanaticism, and not comprehending the 
 turmoil which was let loose upon them, failed to see in the 
 army of the Gentiles the irresistible instrument of the anger of 
 God. 
 
 The desolation and the ruin, such as Jesus described them 
 in this prophetic discourse, have, like all his other statements, 
 been justified by the event. The historic narrative which we 
 read in Josephus is the commentary on his utterances. 
 Nearly a million of Jews perished, nearly a hundred thousand 
 were led into captivity in Egypt and in the several provinces 
 of the empire. 1 Jerusalem was literally trampled under the 
 feet of the Gentiles, and it remains in Gentile power. History 
 continues to unfold her story as Jesus has predicted it; the 
 centuries will glide by during an indefinite period, showing 
 the guilty city, to everyone who has eyes to see, bowed under 
 the yoke of the Gentiles. It is “their day,” Jesus said ; the 
 day of Israel is gone by. The work of God is carried on in 
 the midst of nations formerly left to walk in their own ways. 
 
 1 Bell. Jud.> v. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 Q 
 
226 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 Henceforward the Gospel of the Kingdom must be preached 
 everywhere. 
 
 This mysterious expression recorded by the third Evan¬ 
 gelist, “ The day of the Gentiles,” marks the unknown period 
 of trouble and turmoil which intervenes between the destruc¬ 
 tion of Jerusalem and the end of the world. When it shall 
 be accomplished then the end of the world shall come, and 
 with it the advent of the Son of man. But this second ad¬ 
 vent will have nothing in common with the first. 
 
 “ Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or 
 there ; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the 
 east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming 
 of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will 
 the eagles be gathered together. Wherefore if they shall say 
 unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, 
 he is in the secret chambers ; believe it not.” Man shalThave 
 no difficulty in finding Christ. The radiant splendour of his 
 glory shall pervade immensity. And as eagles fly swiftly, 
 attracted by the scent of the carcase, so shall the elect take 
 their flight towards him who gave himself to be offered as a 
 victim, attracted by the aroma of his sacrifice. 
 
 “ Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the 
 sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and 
 the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens 
 shall be shaken : and then shall appear the sign of the Son 
 of man in heaven ; and then shall all the tribes of the earth 
 mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the 
 clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall 
 send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they 
 shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one 
 end of heaven to the other.” 
 
 In such imposing figures did Jesus depict to his disciples 
 
 A 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 227 
 
 the end of time, the earth and the universe. The present 
 condition of this universe into which the Messiah has come, 
 at one period of its history, to found in pain, conflict, and 
 death, the new Kingdom of the Son of God, to triumph over 
 evil, and to choose his elect, is only a single phase of the great 
 evolution. This phase will have an end. It matters little 
 what the nature of the last crisis on our planet is to be ; 
 whether the solar system is to crumble with old age, whether 
 some dreadful clash of heavenly bodies will take place, re¬ 
 sulting in the production of intense heat; whether the stars 
 wrenched from their orbits by some unknown force, will, in 
 their fall, be thrown on their own centres of attraction. The 
 Master of consciences has not come to answer the curious 
 speculations of the mind. He merely warns us that the end 
 of this earthly and changing world will come like a violent 
 cataclysm, a death, an upheaval, a ruin. The focus of all light 
 seems darkened, and all is enveloped in obscurity. What 
 we call gravitation, the force of attraction, equilibrium, is dis¬ 
 turbed. Cosmic convulsions make all things totter. But 
 this supreme crisis will be only a transformation, the sign of 
 the coming of the Son of man in the full sovereignty of his 
 power and glory. 
 
 And just as the thought of individual death cannot terrify 
 the disciple of Jesus, since he sees in it only the supreme 
 transformation of his being, and his summons to the final life 
 with God, so the thought of universal death or the end of the 
 world will not terrify him; it is the condition of universal 
 renewal, the preparation for the everlasting Kingdom of 
 Christ. And this last crisis is at once prepared and sym¬ 
 bolised, while the world lasts, by the minor destructions of 
 imperfect religions, effete nations, and worn-out civilizations. 
 Face to face with these catastrophes the attitude of the Chris¬ 
 tian is unaltered; he sees in them but the progressive birth of 
 the Kingdom of God, and walks amid the ruins, holding 
 his head aloft, always aspiring towards a more perfect 
 
 Q—2 
 
228 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 realization, a higher manifestation of the life and Spirit of 
 his Master. 
 
 It is beyond our narrow powers even to guess what will 
 become of the world in this second birth, of which Jesus re¬ 
 gards himself as the principle and cause ; what will be the 
 astronomical conditions of the planetary system ; what will 
 be the nature of this dwelling prepared by Christ for his elect, 
 this city every part of which will be brought into harmony. 
 All that man sees around him is subject to the empire of 
 death ; the laws which govern this empire are, until broken 
 by the Son of man, an impassable barrier which arrests our 
 timid and cowardly thoughts. What Jesus promises us will 
 be fulfilled at his coming, it is quite enough for us to know 
 that the reunion of all his elect from the four winds of heaven 
 will take place in him and with him; and this hope will have 
 the strength to sustain his disciples throughout the duration 
 of the ages. His revelations are addressed to all. ‘The 
 solemn prophecy which he uttered on this small Mount of 
 Olives, overlooking the valley of Jehoshaphat, with his eyes 
 fixed on the Temple destined to destruction, is a warning 
 given to all ages. 
 
 “When these things shall come to pass fear not, rather 
 lift up your head, your redemption is at hand.” The imagi¬ 
 nation and the heart of man dare not attempt to forecast 1 how 
 the return of Christ shall be visibly accomplished ; how he 
 who bears the winnowing-fan in his hand shall make the 
 great separation of his elect from out the whole world 
 and all the tribes of the earth, bowing before his judgment; 
 what share the spirits shall have in the final work; in what 
 new forms our new life shall be clothed, that life triumphant 
 over time and place, corruption and death, transfigured by 
 the life of Jesus itself, which shall penetrate all his elect. 
 
 1 I. Cor. ii. 9. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 229 
 
 Man’s boldest powers are incapable of fathoming the secrets 
 of infinite love. Our wisdom is but folly, and what we call 
 bold flights of genius are but mere timidity in the presence of 
 the eternal designs. 
 
 Jesus insisted once again on the duty of vigilance, and of 
 vigilance full of hope. “ Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; 
 when they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own 
 selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, 
 when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the 
 kingdom of God is nigh at hand.” And in connection with 
 the ruin of Jerusalem he added: “Verily I say unto you, 
 This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. 
 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not 
 pass away.” But what will be the day and what the hour 
 of the end of the world ? “No man knoweth, not the angels 
 which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.” 
 
 This is not included among those divine secrets which the 
 Son of man had received from the Father to transmit to 
 mankind, and it is in this sense that he does not know it. 
 This is the great and terrible secret. It is the threat 
 ever hanging over the earth. The world may end by a 
 single stroke to-morrow, or in a century, or in ten centuries. 
 The time is short; for God and for those who judge by 
 the light of God, a thousand years are as one day. The 
 duty of the faithful man is to live as if the world were to end 
 to-day. 
 
 “Take ye heed, watch and pray : for ye know not when 
 the time is. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the 
 coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were 
 before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and 
 giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the 
 ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all 
 away ; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. And 
 take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be over- 
 
230 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 charged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this 
 life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a 
 snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the 
 whole earth. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be 
 taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at 
 the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. For the 
 Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his 
 house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man 
 his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye 
 therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house 
 cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in 
 the morning : lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. 
 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known 
 in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, 
 and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Watch 
 ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted 
 worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and 
 to stand before'the Son of man. And what I say unto you I 
 say unto all, Watch .” 1 
 
 The saints watch in this manner. The apostles, who 
 heard these eternal words upon the Mount of Olives, lived in 
 impatience and in the expectation of the near return of Jesus. 
 They watched, they called upon him, they longed for him. 
 This living hope sustained them against the shock of the first 
 tribulations. We may observe with what insistance and force 
 Jesus, at this solemn hour, inculcated in his disciples the duty 
 of waiting for his future coming. This expectation will keep 
 him living in them when he shall have disappeared. It will free 
 them from the tyranny and the necessities of this world ; it 
 will make them masters of themselves, will remind them of 
 the vanity and nothingness of this fleeting life, will keep them 
 awake like servants liable to be surprised at any moment 
 by the coming of their master. They are not, however, 
 
 1 Mark xiii. 28-37, and refs, 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 231 
 
 merely to remain in an attitude of expectation. The disciple 
 of Jesus is no inactive being' with his eyes fixed on death and 
 eternity ; he is the servant of the Father, his task is in this 
 life, and his orders are to watch over all the servants, to give 
 them food each at his appointed time. 
 
 Under this simple image, which Jesus employed more 
 than once, may be discovered the most religious and sublime 
 conception of earthly life. The earth is the house of the 
 Father which is in heaven. Those who inhabit it, and who 
 pass to and fro upon it, are his servants. The wise and the 
 faithful know that their mission is to feed others. They 
 forget themselves in a necessary work, and their activity is 
 blest by God, and serves to give life to their brothers. Some 
 are the providers of the material bread, others of the spiritual 
 bread. They give alms to the needy, instruct the ignorant, 
 bring light and virtue, hope and the peace of God to those 
 who groan in darkness and moral wretchedness, in trouble 
 and anguish. “ Blessed is that servant,” said Jesus, “ whom 
 his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say 
 unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. 
 But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his 
 coming ; and shall begin to beat the menservants and 
 maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken ; the lord 
 of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for 
 him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and shall cut him 
 asunder, and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. 
 There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 
 
 And once more,did he exhort them to vigilance, but yet 
 to an active vigilance , 1 saying : 
 
 “ Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten 
 virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the 
 bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were 
 foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took 
 no oil with them : but the wise took oil in their vessels 
 
 1 Matt. xxv. 1, etc, 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all 
 slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry 
 made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to 
 meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their 
 lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your 
 oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, 
 saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you : 
 but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. 
 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came ; and 
 they that were ready went in with him to the marriage ; 
 and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other 
 virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered 
 and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.” 
 
 This parable, founded upon the customs of the Jews, has 
 something terrible in its sweetness. The bridegroom is 
 Christ himself, the last hour of the nuptial feast is that 
 in which will be consummated the eternal union with* his 
 bride, the Church; that is, the society of intelligent and 
 free beings, united to one another and to God. To be 
 admitted to the nuptial hall it is necessary to have a 
 lighted lamp, with the vessel of oil which feeds its flame, 
 a lamp which cannot be extinguished. 
 
 The Master indicates, under this symbol, the virtues 
 which are the brightness of the soul, and without which our 
 faith is as a lamp without oil. There is only one time and one 
 hour of admission to the feast: when once the hour is past, the 
 door is closed ; it is too late. To those who come to knock 
 for admission it opens no more. “ I know you not,” replies 
 the Bridegroom. Now, this is our earthly life; those 
 who have not made, during life, the mysterious provision will 
 be rejected. This is an awful thing. Virtue cannot be 
 borrowed ; it is a treasure personal and inalienable, and it 
 is hardly enough for those who have gathered it, “Watch 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 233 
 
 ye, watch ye,” repeated Jesus; “have your lamp lighted, for 
 ye know neither the day nor the hour.” 
 
 Thus does Jesus on the eve of his death, seated before 
 the Temple and the city, and surrounded by his disciples, 
 exert himself to enlighten and to strengthen them, unfold¬ 
 ing to them his great work, and telling them their duties. 
 He speaks of the time when he shall be no more. He 
 tells them what is to come to pass. His thoughts travel 
 from the present to the future ; from the near future to the 
 extreme future; from the land of Judaea to all mankind; 
 from the transitory world to the eternity in which, all things 
 being consummated, he will reign, judge, and choose his elect. 
 His declaration concerning this last solemn judgment is a 
 revelation addressed to all believers. Even at the very 
 moment when men were preparing to pass judgment on him 
 he appears as the great Judge. 1 He said : 
 
 “ When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all 
 the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of 
 his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations: and 
 he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd 
 divideth his sheep from the goats : and he shall set the sheep 
 on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the 
 King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of 
 my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the 
 foundation of the world: for I was an hungered, and ye 
 gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink : I was a 
 stranger, and ye took me in : naked, and ye clothed me: 
 
 1 was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came 
 unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, 
 when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee ? or thirsty, and 
 gave thee drink ? When saw we thee a stranger, and took 
 thee in ? or naked, and clothed thee ? Or when saw we thee 
 
 1 Matt. xxv. si, etc. 
 
234 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall 
 answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch 
 as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, 
 ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them 
 on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting 
 fire, prepared for the devil and his angels : for I was an 
 hungered, and ye gave me no meat : I was thirsty, and ye 
 gave me no drink : I was a stranger, and ye took me not in : 
 naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye 
 visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, 
 Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, 
 or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 
 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, 
 Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did 
 it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting 
 punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” 
 
 The soul of Jesus, the genius of his work, the supreme law 
 of mankind, all the secret of eternal destiny, is contained 
 within this page. The God concealed under the form of the 
 man of sorrows, identifies himself by love with all forms of 
 suffering on earth. For, “ In a word,” said he to his disciples, 
 “ I am the poor and the needy, the naked, the captives, the 
 feeble and the lowly.” It would seem that since he himself 
 has embraced suffering, he claimed its victims for his 
 possession. Nowhere else has such love for man been 
 shown. The conclusion is this : Do ye, my faithful 
 followers, love all the wretched as ye love myself; therein is 
 the whole law, the supreme duty, the essence of religion. If 
 they are hungry, give them food ; if thirsty, give them drink ; 
 if homeless, shelter them ; if naked, clothe them ; if weak, 
 assist them ; if oppressed, release them. 
 
 By such sacrifices may a man make himself worthy of the 
 eternal Kingdom. Eternal love has been willing to com¬ 
 municate itself to its creatures, and it is by love likewise that 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 235 
 
 the creature will render himself worthy of its infinite gifts. 
 As for those who are without charity, they are the accursed. 
 Woe to all selfish beings who know not pity nor love for 
 others, thirsting only for enjoyment, and insensible to the 
 suffering of those miserable people, in whose midst they pass 
 by without pity. The Judge who awaits them will be also 
 without pity. 
 
 Love will be the supreme power which will mark off 
 those free and intelligent beings who have reached the limit 
 of their destiny. It will open to some the fountain of eternal 
 life, and, by withdrawing from the others, it will kindle in 
 them that avenging fire which is the torment of the devil and 
 his angels, of those whom they have led astray, and of all 
 creatures of hatred, violence, selfishness, and corruption. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE FINAL FAILURE OF JESUS AND ITS CAUSES. 
 
 The greatest of disappointments to a man called upon to 
 play a public part is not to die ; it is to see the truth which 
 he preaches despised, and the benefits which he offers rejected. 
 And thus it is the most noble of disappointments, for it is dis¬ 
 interested. It is not his own failure which makes the apostle 
 sad, but the needs of those who persecute him ; it is not the 
 prospect of his own death which brings the martyr’s tears, but 
 
 the wickedness of his executioners. The grander a man’s 
 
 * 
 
 genius, the more intense is his pain at finding himself rejected; 
 the more good and holy he is, the more disinterested are his 
 sufferings. Those of Jesus were immeasurable in their 
 bitterness and their disinterestedness, in proportion to the 
 infinite love which he felt for his people. 
 
 When he went forth from the Temple on that Tuesday 
 evening, the 12th of Nisan (March-April), “hiding himself from 
 the Jews ,” 1 when he lingered so long half-way up the slope of 
 the Mount of Olives, facing Jerusalem, as he prophesied in a 
 low voice to his disciples the approaching destruction of the 
 city and of the Temple, and the end of time, he knew the 
 final failure of his mission. All had been in vain ; indefatigable 
 zeal, teachings, reiterated appeals, countless miracles, elo¬ 
 quence, holiness, solemn declarations, threats and warnings ; 
 humanly speaking he had failed. After two years of con- 
 
 1 John xii. 36. 
 
 236 
 
% 
 
 THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. v 237 
 
 tinuous and unflagging activity, not only had he not succeeded 
 either in throwing off the suspicions of the authorities and of 
 the masters of the Law, in convincing them that he was the 
 Christ, or in initiating them into the mysteries of the Kingdom ; 
 but he had seen opposition, blindness, violence, and hatred 
 increasing day by day. 
 
 The people indeed had shown rather more sympathy 
 with him ; but he could plainly see that their sympathy was 
 wavering and shallow. In receiving him with acclamation 
 they were not so much entering into his Spirit as consulting 
 their own feelings of curiosity and self-interest, or the delu¬ 
 sions of their own fancy. The only triumph of Jesus during 
 the years spent in preaching the Gospel, was in having inspired 
 with faith a few most simple souls, sometimes also most 
 guilty, but always most sincere. That is the sum of his 
 conquest. It is a lowly triumph which would not have satis¬ 
 fied an earthly ambition, but which is yet the starting-point 
 of all the glory of Jesus. The life of the Master is governed 
 by a law which baffles our experience and our wisdom. If 
 his victories are unlike human victories, so also are his defeats 
 unlike our defeats. 
 
 When the man of action engages in the struggle he is 
 spurred on by the hope of victory; if he succumbs to the 
 humiliation of defeat, he will also know the added bitterness 
 of disappointed hope. He feels that he is himself responsible 
 for his failures. It is his fault that he has not overthrown his 
 obstacles, conquered his enemies, realised his plans. History 
 rarely forgives the conquered. She only asks whether they 
 were conscious of the opposition to be overcome, and how 
 they could fancy themselves able to overcome it ; why they 
 did not triumph over it; if it was stronger than they, what 
 made them struggle against it? They have been wanting 
 either in foresight or in courage. 
 
 All the disasters which spring from the illusions or the 
 
238 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 vices of mankind are a part of the punishment meted out 
 against offenders. They have their place in the course of 
 human events, under the form of plagues, which trouble, 
 overwhelm, and decimate races and peoples. Jesus never be¬ 
 lieved that he would overcome the stubbornness of the Jews ; 
 indeed, he often predicted to his followers that the rulers at 
 Jerusalem would cause him to suffer many things, and that 
 he would be delivered into their hands. His failure does not 
 lie at his door ; but is attributable to the obstinacy of those 
 to whom he preached the Gospel. The work which he 
 inaugurated was too high for them. But his failure has 
 become a triumph, for out of it has come the punishment of 
 the unbelieving nation which thought to overcome him ; it 
 has been the providential cause of all the disasters which 
 that nation has seen, sees now, and has yet to see, rolling 
 above its head. 
 
 The incredulous attitude of the Jews towards Jesus, 
 resulting in the final failure of his mission, is one of the 
 greatest episodes in his own life, the history of his nation and 
 the religious history of mankind. The sublimity of the 
 work, the corrupt state of those among whom it was under¬ 
 taken, the total rejection of the means which human policy 
 would have considered necessary to success, and above all the 
 designs of God, the absolute master of events : such are the 
 manifold causes in the light of which this important fact is to 
 be viewed. It will be of the highest interest to examine 
 them before we pass on to that scene in which the great 
 national council set the seal to its unbelief by the judicial 
 murder of Jesus, and Jesus himself consecrated his public 
 career by freely, heroically, and divinely accepting a violent 
 death, such as he had predicted. 
 
 In Judaea as in Galilee, in Samaria as in Pcraea, whether 
 addressed to the multitude or to rabbis learned in the Law, 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 239 
 
 the mission of Jesus, whatever form it takes, has for its two¬ 
 fold aim to reveal his work and his personality, to show what 
 he is, and to declare what he comes to perform. And, as 
 between the workman and his work there is a perfect relation, 
 an unbroken harmony, so do these two revelations go con¬ 
 stantly hand in hand, adapting themselves to the men and the 
 circumstances by which they are surrounded, and strength¬ 
 ening with the strength of the tempest which they raise 
 around them. This process is far from being, what certain 
 historians have thought it, the gradual ripening of the know¬ 
 ledge or the conscience of Jesus ; it consists in the progres¬ 
 sively developed manifestation of that perfect knowledge and 
 that perfect conscience. 
 
 The Messianic task of Jesus may be summed up in his 
 own expression, as the founding of the Kingdom of God on 
 earth. This Kingdom was to consist essentially in that par¬ 
 ticipation of man in the life of God, which Jesus called “the 
 life eternal.” In order that man may be born to such a life, 
 the free effort of the will is not sufficient; it is necessary that v 
 God should communicate himself to us of his infinite 
 bounty. And in the realizing of this communication by the 
 gift of the Spirit of God lies the true office of the Messiah. 
 On his part, man has to consent to this outpouring of the 
 Spirit, and prepare himself , to receive it ; and for this the two 
 conditions of repentance and faith are requisite. By repent¬ 
 ance and penance man confesses himself a sinner, renounces 
 himself and sacrifices himself wholly in respect of all that is 
 evil, imperfect and finite in him; by faith he clings to God, 
 opens his heart to him, and becomes of one Spirit with him. 
 The Kingdom of God is now begun. Man is a member of a new 
 world; he enters into eternal truth and infinite charity, and 
 he tastes already in the depths of his being the peace, the 
 sweetness, and the bliss of God. 
 
 It has been asked, what was the design of Jesus, in the 
 human sense of the word ? Here is the reply : It was nothing 
 
240 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 political or worldly, nothing imperfect or transitory, nothing 
 finite or exclusive ; all was simple, universal, living, command¬ 
 ing. From whatever side we view it, it is a work essentially 
 divine; in its result, because its aim is to uplift man to the life of 
 God ; in its means, because the only power which can reach 
 the infinite is the living Spirit of God ; in its author, because 
 if he had not within him the fulness of the Spirit of God he 
 could not impart it to others ; even in its subject, because 
 it regards man throughout as a free and intelligent being, 
 capable of entering into the eternal and infinite, and called 
 upon to live the life of God. It is the supreme appeal of 
 Providence to mankind, the absolute and final expression of 
 religion, the consummation of all things, the last term in the 
 progressive evolutions of the universe. 
 
 Such a plan is above all human genius, and all created 
 intelligence; it is no more within the power of the creature 
 to impart God than it is to enter by its own power into the 
 life of God. He who came to realize this plan, he who 
 proclaimed, who willed, who prepared it, can be no less than 
 God. 
 
 And, indeed, as he called men to undertake a divine work, 
 so he named and declared himself the Son of God. All his 
 zeal, all the whole length of his mission, was devoted by him 
 to proclaiming to the Jews his divine sonship. And this we 
 must clearly understand to be no moral sonship, implying 
 merely a moral relation, an union in will or thought with the 
 Heavenly Father, but an absolute sonship, which, as it made 
 him derive from the Father in community of the same nature, 
 and equality of the same wisdom, in the same power and the 
 same life, so also gave him authority to call himself in a 
 special sense the Son. This divine sonship, however, showed 
 only through the human nature in which it was incarnate, 
 and because of this incarnation he called himself the Son of 
 man. But the human nature in no wise altered the fact 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 241 
 
 that he was the Son of God, and the divine sonship in no 
 wise detracted from his human nature. One essence can be 
 united with another, but they cannot be confounded. 
 
 The divine sonship of Jesus is the only possible explana¬ 
 tion of his life, his teachings, his acts, and his work. Acknow¬ 
 ledge it, and all is true, wise, and perfect; withdraw it, and 
 all becomes shocking, revolting, and blasphemous : the Jews 
 would have been justified in condemning and crucifying him. 
 No mere man has the right to say what he said, to act as he 
 acted, to require what he required, or to promise what he 
 promised. 
 
 Only the Son of God, equal to God, and being himself 
 God, could promulgate in his own name the moral law ; he 
 alone could, in promulgating it, use such a formula as this: 
 “ It has been said by them of old ; but 1 say unto you.” He 
 alone could command Nature as her master, without appeal 
 to God, since God was in him, lived in him, spoke in him. He 
 alone had the right to heal and to raise from the dead, because, 
 since he was himself God, his word had creative power. He 
 alone could in his own name cast out evil spirits, because 
 he had the Spirit of God himself. He alone could forgive 
 sins, because he was the God against whom the sin was com¬ 
 mitted. He alone could say, “ I am the Light of the world,” 
 because the Son of God is the brightness of the eternal glory. 
 He alone could speak of himself as without sin and error, 
 because sin and error are alien to God, and to the man who 
 has received the fulness of God. He alone could exact ab¬ 
 solute faith and illimitable love, because God is all in all to 
 man. He alone could promise to others the life of God, be¬ 
 cause he possessed it as his very own. He alone could claim 
 to be the sovereign judge over all mankind, because the 
 inflexible law of the judgment of souls is to be found in God’s 
 justice, and belongs to God only. He alone could say that 
 the heaven and the earth might pass away, but not his words ; 
 for the word of God is eternal. He alone could say that his 
 
 VOL. II. R 
 
.242 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 words were Spirit and Life; for all that God inspires and all 
 that God wills, he performs : nothing can resist his will or 
 his power. 
 
 From these various characteristics, scattered up and down 
 the records, may be collected the authentic manifestations by 
 Jesus of his nature and his mission. We should have sup¬ 
 posed that such a design and such a master must have found 
 among the people who had the glorious privilege to witness 
 them, an eager, an enthusiastic welcome. The work of Jesus 
 in its very essence was at one with all the most vital, 
 profoundest, and purest elements in the religious genius and 
 destiny of Israel. 
 
 The covenant with Jehovah, the only and true God, was 
 the core of the nation ; and the most perfect realization of this 
 very covenant was to be found in the fact of the apparition of 
 the Son of God among the Jews, and in the communication 
 of his divine sonship to all true children of Abraham. * That 
 great privilege of Israel, the Law, though, in truth, the doctors 
 misunderstood its spirit, had for its single aim, man’s justifica¬ 
 tion ; and it was to accomplish and consummate this justifi¬ 
 cation that Jesus brought with him not a written code, but the 
 living Spirit of God, the only power capable of regenerating 
 and sanctifying mankind. And again, Israel’s mission among 
 the races of the world was to teach to all the true name of 
 God : and surely the work of the Messiah, by which the gates 
 of the Kingdom of God were thrown open to all mankind, 
 was nothing less than the accomplishment of this providential 
 mission. 
 
 It is strange that such simple and wonderful truths 
 should have left souls uninfluenced, opinions unconvinced, the 
 doctors and priests blind and hardened. 
 
 The event was one that had been foreseen and announced 
 by the Prophets centuries before. One of them had heard 
 
TIIE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 243 
 
 out of distant futurity the murderous deliberations of the 
 Jews. As we read his prophecies we seem to be listening 
 to the Sanhedrin plotting against Jesus : 
 
 “ Let us lie in wait for the righteous; because he is not 
 for our turn, and he is clean contrary to our doings : he 
 upbraideth us with our offending the Law, and objecteth to 
 our infamy the transgressings of our education. He pro- 
 fesseth to have the knowledge of God : and he calleth himself 
 the child of the Lord. He was made to reprove our thoughts. 
 He is grievous unto us even to behold. . . He abstaineth 
 
 from our ways as from filthiness : he pronounceth the end of 
 the just to be blessed, and maketh his boast that God is his 
 father. . . . Let us condemn him with a shameful 
 
 death.” 1 
 
 Isaiah, perceiving him afar off in the future, said of him 
 with sadness : “ Who hath believed our report ? and to whom is 
 the arm of the Lord revealed ? For he shall grow up before 
 him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground : he 
 hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there 
 is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and 
 rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; 
 and we hid as it were our faces from him ; he was despised, 
 and we esteemed him not.” 2 
 
 And again Isaiah, in describing the moral state of the 
 nation, says : “ I have nourished and brought up children, and 
 they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, 
 and the ass his master’s crib : but Israel doth not know, my 
 people doth not consider. Ah sinful nation, a people laden 
 with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters : 
 they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy 
 One of Israel unto anger.” 3 
 
 1 Wisdom of Solomon ii. 12, etc. 
 
 2 Isaiah liii. 1, etc. 
 
 3 Isaiah i. 2-5. 
 
244 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 Again and again do we find in the prophets the most 
 forcible descriptions of the moral degradation of their race. 
 
 “Hear now this,” cried Jeremiah, “ O foolish people, and 
 without understanding ; which have eyes, and see not ; which 
 have ears, and hear not. . . . This people hath a revolt¬ 
 
 ing and a rebellious heart ; they are revolted and gone. 
 Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our 
 God.” 1 
 
 And Ezekiel, the type of the future Messiah, heard the 
 word of the Lord, saying unto him : “ Son of man, thou 
 dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to 
 see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for 
 they are a rebellious house.” 2 
 
 Isaiah has given a profound explanation of this mysterious 
 blindness: “ I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom 
 shall I send, and who will go for us ? Then said I, Here am I; 
 send me. And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye 
 indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive 
 not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears 
 heavy, and shut their eyes ; lest they see with their eyes, and 
 hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and 
 convert, and be healed.” 3 
 
 And, speaking of the same phenomenon, he said once more 
 with terrible energy : “ Stay yourselves, and wonder ; cry ye 
 out, and cry : they are drunken, but not with wine ; they 
 stagger, but not with strong drink. For the Lord hath 
 poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed 
 your eyes : the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he 
 covered. And the vision of all is become unto you as the 
 words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that 
 is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I can- 
 
 1 Jeremiah v. 21-24, 
 
 2 Ezekiel xii. 2. 
 
 3 Isaiah vi. 8. 
 
 
T1IE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 245 
 
 not; for it is scaled : and the book is delivered to him that 
 is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee : and he saith, 
 
 I am not learned. Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as 
 this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips 
 do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and 
 their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men : there¬ 
 fore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among 
 this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the 
 wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding 
 of their prudent men shall be hid.” 1 
 
 In these amazing prophecies we find, not a prediction 
 merely of the incredulity of the Jews, but the clue to its 
 explanation. The nation is fallen, degenerate, sick, corrupted 
 and perverse, and here is the cause of its rejection. 
 
 But we may ask why God did not enlighten these blind 
 souls, open these deaf ears, soften these hardened hearts, and 
 bend down these haughty heads. Is the decay of a people 
 ever incurable? May not even the dead be surely brought to 
 life by the inbreathing of the Spirit? If no such inbreathing 
 came upon them, why came it not ? The reason lies beyond 
 the narrow horizon of human conception ; it is only to be 
 found in a world beyond our ken, the world of conscience and 
 of God. 
 
 It is beyond our powers to trace out the laws by which 
 Providence guides, yet leaves unfettered, both nations and 
 individuals. It does them no violence, not even in bringing 
 them nearer to their destiny; it respects the independence 
 of their choice, even in their errors and their sins ; it retains 
 or rejects them, although we cannot understand why they are 
 retained or rejected. Those who are saved from sin ex¬ 
 perience the goodness of the Deliverer; those who are 
 hardened, afford a proof of the utter helplessness of man once 
 abandoned to his own devices. When the apostles spoke of 
 
 1 Isaiah xxix. 9-14. 
 
246 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 the unbelief of their nation, they seemed to be cast, as it were, 
 adrift upon the unfathomable waters of the divine wisdom. 1 
 
 Thus does the believer adore, in the impenetrable mysteries 
 of God, the supreme cause of all. But it is the duty of the 
 historian to trace out in the lives of men and the histories of 
 nations the secondary causes, those which are immediate and 
 apparent 
 
 Man is ever tardy, stubborn, hardened against progress, 
 especially moral and religious progress. The nation is slower 
 than the individual, mankind slower than the nation. The 
 more sacred the work required, the more keenly is it resisted. 
 No more sacred or heroic work was ever set before man, or 
 before a nation, representing man, than the work of Jesus. 
 In maintaining his faith in the one God, in the midst of the 
 universal heathenism and idolatry of nations, in keeping his 
 Law pure in the midst of vices, which devoured the earth, 
 Israel had already played a most holy part; it remained 
 for him to bring before the world the universal Saviour, 
 and inaugurate with him the true Kingdom of God. 
 
 Conceive a whole nation drawn after Jesus’ every footstepj 
 answering, uttering his voice with a great cry of penitence, 
 proclaiming everywhere the true Messiah, calling the Gentiles 
 to the good news, to the universal redemption, to the trans¬ 
 formation of the world by the overflowing of the divine 
 influence; what a prodigious spectacle it would have been ! 
 Then, even though Israel should have lost his nationality, 
 and though the blood which coursed so proudly through his 
 veins should have been lavished upon all the races of the 
 world, he would have had nothing to regret. Christ’s glory 
 was enough for him, and he would have immortalized it in a 
 world destined to receive the Kingdom of the Son of God, filling 
 the ages and the kingdoms of the earth with his virtues, and 
 righteousness, and peace. 
 
 1 John xii. 37, etc.; Rom. x., xii. 
 
247 
 
 TIIE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 The adhesion of an individual or a people to moral and 
 religious truth, is to be explained not only by the intrinsic 
 evidence of the truth, that is by its necessity or sublimity, 
 but also, and more especially by the state of conscience at the 
 time. And as we study the history of the Jewish nation, it is 
 impossible to overlook the fact that the period in which Jesus> 
 foretold by John, first appeared before the world, was, either 
 from a political, a religious, or a moral point of view, a period 
 of profound decay. This is the explanation of its unbelief, 
 and of the malignant and furious opposition of the authorities 
 against Jesus. 
 
 At first sight there is nothing to betray the religious or 
 moral debasement of Israel. The nation seems to have 
 grown nobler when we compare them with their fathers. 
 They no longer bow down before the idols of the nations ; 
 they are confirmed in inflexible monotheism. The famous 
 words, “ Hear, O Israel, Jehovah is thy God, and Jehovah is 
 one,” have become a favourite formula among them. 1 Never 
 has religious worship been more splendidly solemnized, or 
 more highly held in honour. The Temple, rebuilt and 
 beautified by Herod, is one of the wonders of the world ; 
 gifts flow into it; countless sacrifices are offered in it. The 
 spirit of patriotism has rallied against oppression ; it is 
 buoyed with high hopes, even in the darkest hour, as it 
 dreams of the blessed days of consolation ; it aspires to be 
 confounded with the spirit of religion itself. The Law, that is 
 the catalogue of ritual precepts, is clung to with passionate 
 attachment. “ They may take away everything from us,” says 
 Josephus with perfect sincerity, “ our nationality, our towns, 
 and all our property ; but the Law will remain to us for 
 ever. 2 However far a Jew may be carried away from his 
 
 1 Deut. vi. 
 
 3 Contra App ii. 38. 
 
248 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 country, he will not fear the tyranny which oppresses him 
 more than he will the Law.” And in fact, according to the 
 same historian, Jewish prisoners were often seen to endure 
 torture and the most cruel punishments rather than allow one 
 word against the Law and the holy books to escape their lips. 1 
 We might have been disposed to find in this combination of 
 inflexible monotheism, splendour of ritual, fanatical observance 
 of the Law and traditional ceremonies, and fierce religious 
 patriotism, sufficient evidence of progress. But they are only 
 a mask. The decay of a people, like a physical malady, is 
 often concealed under a deceptive appearance of prosperity. 
 Nations and empires fall generally in the midst of pride and 
 riot. Heathenism was never more flourishing than when it 
 was on the point of being vanquished. Every great cataclysm 
 which has fallen upon mankind has surprised them in that 
 feverish and distempered active state which might be mistaken 
 for the sign of an exuberant vitality. 
 
 This nation, whose character was eminently religious and 
 sacerdotal, manifests certain peculiar characteristics in its de¬ 
 generacy. Every element of its religion, power, learning, 
 conscience, law, and morality is tainted with corruption. 
 
 The priesthood had become debased. It was the creature of 
 heathen authority, and crouched before it trembling. The 
 highest places, the highest dignities, the presidency and the 
 vice-presidency of the supreme council, the high-priesthood> 
 were occupied by the Sadducees, those sceptics who believed 
 neither in the resurrection, nor in immortality, nor in spirits, 
 nor in Providence. Strange high-priests indeed! Religion 
 for them ended with this world ; they understood by it merely 
 that sacred and unchangeable ordinance of the written code 
 which assures peace and order ; they were inexorably harsh in 
 judgment, and their zeal was measured by their severity. They 
 
 1 Contra Afip., i. 8. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 249 
 
 were the adherents of the splendour of the ritual, the advisers 
 who recommended the multiplication of offerings, the traffickers 
 in the piety of the people, the beneficiaries of the tithes and 
 the sale of victims, which in their hands had become a 
 monopoly. Not the words of a prophet, the words of God 
 himself could find an echo in those unbelieving souls, those 
 burdened hearts, those avaricious lovers of pomp and opu¬ 
 lence. Of such were they who lavished on Jesus that irony 
 and sarcasm, of which we find an echo in the fourth Gospel. 
 
 No counterpoise is offered by the religious learning of the 
 party of the Pharisees to the pernicious influence of this dis¬ 
 credited priesthood. These teachers were exercised by no great 
 problems. In conformity with the practical genius of their 
 race, they were under the strongest obligations to teach the 
 religious truths which were entrusted to them. It belonged 
 to them to interpret the doings of God to their nation ; for 
 it is always the duty of the thoughtful and the learned to 
 guide their country’s conscience. At this Messianic epoch it 
 was the duty of the representatives of Jewish learning to test 
 the true signs of this decisive period, and endeavour to compre¬ 
 hend the nature of the great Messenger and his divine mission. 
 This was a point entirely neglected and ignored, not only by 
 the Jews of Alexandrian Hellenism, but also by the doctors 
 of Palestine. These last, instead of drawing upon the pro¬ 
 phetic school for learning with which to combat the gross 
 materialism that misled the people, and gave rise, in the 
 uncontrolled popular imagination, to Apocalyptic visions, 
 submitted themselves to this materialism and gave it 
 consecration. 1 
 
 They held in their hands the Book of the Prophets, the 
 clearest words that any people had ever heard. They might 
 have discovered there the genius of their race, the spirit of 
 the Law, the principles which their nation was called to 
 
 1 Cf. Das Judenthum zur Zeit Chris It, von J. Langen. 
 
250 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 uphold, the secret of their future hopes and of their covenant 
 with God. But they would not, they knew not how to read 
 it. They distorted its meaning to suit it to the learning they 
 misused, and buried themselves in the subtleties of jurispru¬ 
 dence and casuistry. To perform the letter of the command¬ 
 ments is in their eyes the whole object of existence, and true 
 justice consists in that alone. These two questions, What 
 does the letter contain ? and, How and under what conditions 
 is it correctly observed ? may be said to comprise the whole 
 range of their enquiries. Such discussions abounded in every 
 school, revealing in their childish absurdity and narrow for¬ 
 malism a condition of incurable degeneracy. 
 
 In fact the religious sense was blunted. The nation was 
 shut out from the divine influence ; the spirit which had 
 stirred the prophets, and by which the nation had been re¬ 
 called so powerfully to its duties and its high destiny, spoke 
 no more. It had been silent for centuries. It was useless to 
 proclaim that Jehovah is the only God, and that there is no 
 other God save Jehovah; for between Jehovah and his people 
 there was no longer any living bond. The character of Israel’s 
 religion lay precisely in that personal and constant interven¬ 
 tion of God to manifest his will to his people by the mouths 
 of the prophets, priests, and kings, which had now been 
 paralysed for centuries. The rabbis and the rulers proclaimed 
 the one invisible and inaccessible God, boasting in a kind of 
 half-heathen theurgy, the supernatural virtues of his ineffable 
 name, and in their superstitious respect even forbearing to 
 utter it. But they were no longer in harmony with his Spirit; 
 if the eternal word fell into an upright conscience, they, at 
 least, could not hear it. 
 
 Under such priests, at the mercy of such teachers, the 
 conscience of the people became enervated, and, losing its 
 sense of duty, knew nothing beyond mere legality. They 
 were absorbed in the exterior ceremonies of prayer; fast and 
 almsgiving, in the ablutions, the sacrifices, and the Sabbath 
 
TIIE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 25 I 
 
 rest; while inward purity, ardent love of God, compassion 
 on the neighbour, humility, penitence, justice, and right went 
 for nothing. The cloak of virtue was used to cover the 
 passion for gain and wealth ; avarice and cupidity, contempt 
 of the people and the poor, selfishness and pride. Adultery 
 had become an universal vice, and, what was a graver matter, 
 it was covered and authorised bv outward law. The devout 
 Pharisee had no scruple in repudiating his wife for the most 
 trivial reasons ; everything was sanctified under the formal “ bill 
 of divorce.” When Jesus named his contemporaries a wicked 
 and adulterous generation, this last expression might be taken 
 quite literally as stigmatising the corruption into which mar¬ 
 riage among the Jews had been degraded. It was worse than 
 legal adultery, it was polygamy. In the Talmudic records on 
 which the spirit and genius of the most rigorous Pharisaism 
 are most strongly imprinted, we never hear the cry of the 
 honest heart in conflict with the powers of evil; we never 
 come upon the avowal of human weakness when face to face 
 with duty. To these proud and scrupulous Pharisees the Law 
 is only a material covenant between Jehovah and his people ; 
 a catalogue of rules and precepts, the performance of which 
 will be a source of blessing, and the violation a cause of mis¬ 
 fortune. “Be faithful,” was the teaching of the masters, 
 
 “ and thou shalt be recompensed ; and if thou wilt not be 
 
 / 
 
 faithful, the punishment is sure and inexorable.” That was 
 all. The soul of religion, thus understood, is an interested 
 servility. It is a veritable bargain between master and slave. 
 Nothing can be more contrary to the true spirit of religion 
 than this kind of devout selfishness. The nation which it had 
 overspread was wrapped up in it entirely, and had grown 
 from a humble and meek servant of Jehovah into a greedy 
 hireling. 
 
 Like all nations in decay, the Jewish people at the time of 
 Jesus was under the tyranny of deeply-rooted prejudices. 
 
252 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 'ihey had no longer any future goal in their mind’s eye; they 
 had lost all sense of their destiny, they were full of the intoxi¬ 
 cation and the blindness of pride. They had no suspicion of 
 the extent of their fall and their degradation. Their hopes 
 were the hopes of madmen. All that they had wished had 
 failed them ; all that could save them they were blind to and 
 rejected. They esteemed themselves the privileged of Jehovah, 
 yet they did not see what it is that their God demanded from 
 them ; they were more than ever infatuated about their race 
 and their blood, and did not suspect that that race and that 
 blood were about to be made reprobate ; they were fiercely 
 zealous for their Law, dreaming of its becoming universal, 
 when it was upon the eve of passing out of date; they were 
 awaiting the national regeneration, yet they were condemned 
 as a people to be blotted out for ever. They counted upon a 
 Messiah coming in glory, and he would be given to them in 
 humility and shorn of splendour; they were intoxicated with 
 earthly joy and triumph, while they were destined to be flooded 
 with nameless miseries and trampled under foot of the 
 Gentiles. When such errors prevail in a country, a race, or a 
 religion, its condition is incurable. In the time of Jesus these 
 errors not only pervaded the atmosphere in which men 
 breathed and lived ; they were formulated in the schools; 
 the rabbis taught them officially; and they were shielded by 
 all the powers of the hierarchy. 
 
 But deeply as the chosen people were sinking into the 
 abyss, Providence had not forsaken them. It intervened 
 visibly and powerfully by the appearance of a prophet. 
 
 Nothing could be graver or more solemn than this 
 sudden uprising of the Spirit of God, which seemed to have 
 been lying mute and slumbering for four centuries. John 
 received from on high every gift that could convince and 
 enlighten his country, and dispose her to understand the will 
 of God. Israel had been awaiting his Messiah, and the coming 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 253 
 
 of a new age ; he announced it, depicted it, described it, pointed 
 it out. The people love to find austerity in their seers. 
 John possessed it to the point of heroism. They seek after 
 righteousness; all John’s exhortations to repentance were 
 directed to no other end. Ritual has an attraction for them ; 
 John adopted that which was the most popular, the ritual of 
 baptism, as a symbol of the virtues which he required. He 
 worked no miracles, it is true, but his holy life was one perpetual 
 miracle. The people have never obeyed except when com¬ 
 pelled by the menaces of their God. Such menaces burst 
 from the lips of the Baptist, vehement and terrible. But the 
 Forerunner met only with indifference, hostility, or scorn, 
 among the rulers and the rabbis, the authorities and the 
 guardians of orthodox learning; the obscure multitude, the 
 poorer classes, devoid of credit and virtue, the sinners, the 
 publicans, and the harlots alone responded. 
 
 Then God calls to the work his Chosen One, his Christ, 
 and imparts to him the fulness of his Spirit. He is the Son 
 of God himself, appearing as the Son of man. All that can 
 arouse, attract, enlighten, move, transform, appease, purify, 
 and sanctify the conscience is found in him. He speaks as 
 never man spoke. He proclaims a sacred law, which not 
 only does not contradict the reigning law, but corrects and 
 perfects it. His is the gentleness which persuades, the goodness 
 which evokes love. He feels with men in all their infirmities, 
 all their pain, and all their needs. He multiplies miracles at 
 the prompting of an inexhaustible charity. He has burning 
 and incorruptible zeal. He spares no vice, but no trembling 
 sinner is rejected by him. 
 
 Still the conscience of the nation remained torpid ; it did 
 not awake at his voice, except to rise up against him in fierce 
 antagonism. It would not be disarmed. The opposition which 
 had been brought to bear against John was strengthened im¬ 
 measurably against Jesus. If there was in him all that could 
 
254 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 throw open and save the conscience, we must acknowledge 
 that there was likewise all that could grate upon and stir up 
 those most ardent and rooted prejudices which blind the 
 multitude, and the more formidable prejudices which mislead 
 the men of authority and the leaders of learning. 
 
 They expected a Messiah glorious and triumphant: he 
 came to them poor and humble. They dreamt of a political 
 as well as a religious Messiah : he repudiated all political 
 character. They hoped for a personality that should sig¬ 
 nalize itself by signs from heaven : he veiled his power under a 
 goodness devoid of ostentation. They wished for a deliver¬ 
 ance of their oppressed nation : he recommended the payment 
 of the tribute to Caesar, thus consecrating by his doctrine the 
 political decadence of his people. They were burning for 
 an earthly kingdom which would eclipse the heathen empires, 
 he spoke only of his spiritual Kingdom. They were animated 
 with hatred and scorn for the Gentiles : he let no opportunity 
 go by of praising them for their faith. They believed in‘the 
 eternity of the Temple: he prophesied its approaching 
 destruction. They regarded the Law as the final expression 
 of the covenant with Jehovah: he declared that he will perfect 
 it. They seek only legal purity : he spoke only of the purity 
 of the heart. They believe that the title of Son of Abraham 
 carries with it a right to the Kingdom of God : he said that 
 to be incorporated in the Kingdom it is necessary to be born 
 again, to repent and believe. They loved the multiplication 
 of ritual: he called it vanity, and required obedience, mercy, 
 and justice. They relegated God by a false respect to an inac¬ 
 cessible isolation : he showed God in himself, and called 
 himself the Son of God, the equal of the Father, one with the 
 Father, acting like the Father, bringing the dead to life, and 
 seated at his right hand to judge all men. 
 
 Between Jesus and Jewish opinion, between the Messenger 
 of God and the nation which considered itself the holy nation, 
 there was the most perfect contrast 
 
THE D EAT PI OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 255 
 
 There remained, however, in the heart of the Jewish 
 people an unknown remnant which had escaped more or less 
 from the contagion, a remnant of pure minds and upright 
 souls that feared evil, lived in the wish to do good, and were 
 ready to welcome the truth and to confess their wretchedness. 
 They were God’s reserve among the nation, as the sound 
 elements are the reserve of vital power in a diseased body. 
 If it had disappeared, if it had been annihilated, death would 
 be the result ; just as when there were no more righteous men 
 in Sodom it was swallowed up in the torrent of fire and 
 brimstone. 
 
 These elements were scattered everywhere, in all classes 
 and all professions ; but they were more numerous among the 
 poor than among the rich, among the ignorant than among 
 the learned, among the publicans than among the Pharisees, 
 among the sinners than among the so-called righteous, among 
 men outside the governing and official circle than among the 
 rulers. We must not be surprised at this. Riches, learning 
 outward religion, and power are so many forces which, 
 in times of decadence aggravate corruption and increase 
 prejudice. 
 
 ; So it was among people of inferior rank that Jesus found 
 and recruited his disciples., They are all recognisable by this 
 mark : conscience is in them stronger than vice and prejudice, 
 while the enemies of Jesus are recognisable by the contrary 
 mark ; prejudice and vice are stronger in them than con¬ 
 science. And Jesus, when he attacked prejudice and 
 appealed to conscience, was certain to be rejected by the 
 one and welcomed by the other. The faithful were in a 
 minority. Out of some millions of Jews who heard the 
 words with which he set all Palestine in a ferment, a few 
 hundreds only followed him. They were too few for a man, 
 even though he should have in his power all the resources of 
 genius ; they were enough for Jesus. Of his own accord he 
 
256 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 had rejected all such resources; he required only faithful 
 souls, and he had obtained them. They were enough for 
 him ; with them he will conquer all things. 
 
 Jesus saw himself confronted with the most formidable 
 forces which a people can bring against a man, that is to say, 
 Power, Learning, and the Multitude. He was repudiated and 
 condemned by Power in the name of policy and of national 
 security; anathematised by learning in the name of the 
 sacred Law and of orthodoxy; rejected by the multitude in 
 the name of mistaken patriotism. The same forces which 
 were banded together in the Jewish people against Jesus, 
 have been perpetuated among mankind to check the work ot 
 his Spirit, and of his messengers. Policy is ever ready with 
 her reasons of state ; the learning that may be in vogue and 
 the stubborn orthodoxy of false religion are always muttering 
 their anathemas ; and the popular prejudices are as violent as 
 ever in attempting to crush the Son of God, to hinder the 
 progress of his Kingdom, and to prevent simple hearts from 
 passing into it. But this conspiracy, though victorious for a 
 moment, will only serve to further the designs of God. 
 
 In presence of these rebellious forces, Jesus has no other 
 alternatives but resistance or submission to violence of his 
 own free will. He will not resist. If he did, doubtless he 
 might conquer; but the weapon of men who struggle against 
 power is rebellion; against religious and ceremonial 
 learning is compromise and apparent submission ; against 
 popular passions their beguilement. In such tactics do the 
 ambitious delight to show their skill. Such men excel in the 
 ability with which they use the conventional ideas to support 
 them, and in the powerful manner in which they express the 
 aspirations of the country which they wish to carry with them 
 and to see advanced. They constitute themselves the leaders 
 of a party, and, by their appeals to it, and by sheer force of 
 stratagem and conflict, of violence and success, they compel 
 
TIIE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 257 
 
 power to capitulate. Having got the mastery, they 
 organise victory, publish their laws, and bind to them those 
 who are under their influence. All men of religious genius 
 throughout antiquity who, like Sakya-Muni and Confucius, 
 did not confine themselves to being mere preachers and 
 moralists, acted according to these laws of human policy; and 
 to this they owed their triumph. 
 
 Such a course implies alliance with the evil forces by 
 which this world is held in thrall. All who hold success 
 higher than morality and sanctity, follow it, and become 
 tainted by it. 
 
 Jesus ignored this line of conduct; he disdained any other 
 support except himself and the Father whose eternal 
 purposes he sought to fulfil. He rose above all men of genius 
 in the isolation of his greatness. He did not take his stand 
 upon the prevalent ideas and national aspirations ; on the 
 contrary, he combated them. His teaching of the Kingdom of 
 God was in most violent conflict at once with the authorities, 
 the leaders of the schools, and the dreams of the multitude ; 
 not a single party could claim him for their leader. Neither 
 Sadducee, Pharisee, Plerodian, nor Essene, could find in him the 
 expression of his dogma. He would make no compromise 
 with the erroneous learning of the rabbis ; he displayed no 
 cleverness in the human sense of the word. 
 
 To equivocate was tempting, and would have been easy, 
 on the subject of the title of Messiah. Yet we can perceive 
 how carefully Jesus avoided it before the multitude, and 
 notably at Jerusalem. This is one of those characteristic 
 details which testify to his desire not to temporise with 
 the prevailing prejudices. 
 
 The name of Son of David, which was sometimes 
 given him, troubled him : he never assumed it of himself, 
 designating himself always either as the Son of God or Son 
 of man. Both the one and the other were clear and 
 
 L. II. 
 
 S 
 
253 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 adequate expressions of his being, suggesting his true 
 function without ambiguity, and without danger of misleading 
 the conscience of the people. 
 
 He made no appeal to force ; no rebellious clamour 
 against authority ; all material violence was alien to him. He 
 was, in his short life here on earth, the “ Lamb of God,” not the 
 “ Lion of Judah.” “ Meek and lowly of heart,” as he loved to 
 say, he came “ to save, and not to destroy; to give his own 
 life, and not to take away the life of others.” He asked of man 
 total self-denial, and he showed man the way of self-sacrifice. 
 
 His mission was now ended ; he was at liberty to depart. 
 Moreover, he no longer endeavoured to preserve a life 
 which had already won for his Father all the glory which he 
 expected of it, and for his people all the testimonies which 
 would have enlightened and saved them, if his people could 
 have been enlightened and saved. 
 
 That Tuesday, regaining Bethany with his disciples after 
 the final struggle, Jesus was more than ever steeped and 
 absorbed in thoughts of his death. Events were about to 
 take a sudden and unexpected turn. The multitude which 
 had at first welcomed him with shouts, in the hope of seeing 
 at last the great signs in heaven that they looked for to herald 
 the dawn of the Messianic era, was growing discouraged. 
 They could not understand a Kingdom of God in lowliness 
 and persecution. The “ Hosannah ” expired upon the lips of 
 the disappointed patriots. An indignant chorus of blasphemy 
 rose from the party of the Pharisees. The hierarchy was eager 
 with one energetic but prudent blow to make an end of the 
 vexatious and disquieting agitation. 
 
 The High Council met again, under the presidency of 
 Caiaphas, in the court of the palace of the high priest . 1 The 
 
 1 Matt. xxvi. 1-5 ; Mark xiv. 1, etc. ; Luke xxii. 1, etc. 
 
TIIE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 259 
 
 heads of the priestly families and the elders of the people 
 consulted together. The determination to which they came 
 was to seize upon Jesus by stratagem and to kill him ; but all 
 were of opinion that the execution of the measure should be 
 delayed till after the festival, to avoid exciting a commotion. 
 
 With all their wisdom these politicians were at fault. On 
 the day of the Passover Jesus was to be put to death. They 
 might set themselves at ease, there would be no commotion. 
 So far from rising to take his part, the people would abandon 
 him. Some even among that multitude which Jesus had 
 always felt to be so fickle, so shallow, so timid, would demand 
 his death. There was no need of stratagem : an unforeseen 
 incident was to deliver him into their hands. 
 
 A terrible conflict was raging within one of the apostles. 
 On this very day, when they were pressing the more closely 
 around their Master, with souls darkened by the thought of 
 his death, one of the Twelve, Judas Iscariot, the man who 
 was entrusted with the scanty purse of the community, was 
 planning to betray his Master. We cannot understand how 
 such an idea could have sprung up in this man’s mind if he 
 had faith in the Son of God ; or if he had remained shut out 
 from his confidence and love ; how he could have lived for two 
 years in intimate communion with Jesus. 
 
 The conscience of man is an unfathomable abyss, in which 
 every crime and every heroism may be engendered. It con¬ 
 tains the instinct of all greatness, and the germ of all wretched¬ 
 ness. On the one hand, it is assailed by devilish suggestions; 
 on the other, stung by the appeals of God. We cannot see why 
 man, placed between these two opposing forces, suffers the one 
 to prevail in him rather than the other. Why he becomes the 
 slave of the evil spirit instead of the free and docile instru¬ 
 ment of God. We are unable to discover in a man’s tem¬ 
 perament, or the circumstances of his environment, or the 
 ideas peculiar to himself, any sufficient explanation of the 
 
 S — 2 
 
26 o 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 phenomenon. The will is master of itself. It can suffer 
 itself to be guided or seduced, oppressed or exalted, enslaved 
 or enfranchised. The sovereign attraction of truth and virtue 
 can subdue in the will all the opposing forces of passion, 
 error, and environment. When it fails it has only itself to 
 blame, and when it triumphs it feels that its energy comes 
 from the infinite source of all good. 
 
 The man who has long resisted God grows hardened and 
 debased. He is no more touched or captivated by the divine 
 inspiration, but grows docile and malleable to the influence of 
 the evil spirit. Evil becomes incarnate in him, possesses him, 
 makes a slave of him, and, once under its tyranny, there is no 
 crime which he may not conceive and which he has not the 
 terrible power of carrying into execution. He hates goodness 
 and he hates God. 
 
 This is the psychological law of the mystery of iniquity 
 buried in the conscience of Judas. Throughout the two 
 years of his intimacy with Jesus, the traitor must have been 
 hardening himself against the Spirit of the Master. While 
 the faithful disciples were being raised to a higher life, 
 growing gentler, transforming themselves by casting off the 
 errors, vices, and faults of their nature, race, and religion ; 
 while they were entering by degrees into the Kingdom of 
 God through faith, docility, humility, and disregard of all 
 earthly things, he, the false apostle, growing stubborn in his 
 own nature, must have become more and more fixed 
 in his earthly instincts, and in those narrow tendencies 
 natural to his surroundings, which Jesus came to combat. 
 Ostensibly, he shared in the generous feelings of his com¬ 
 panions, but in reality he only sought after his own wretched 
 interests. He must have been compelled to have constant 
 recourse to hypocrisy, and, no doubt, pretended to watch 
 zealously over the simple material administration that the 
 community demanded . 1 Perhaps, like others, he had em- 
 
 1 John xii. 6; xiii. 29. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 26l 
 
 braced the idea of a worldly kingdom in which his cupidity 
 would be satiated. Such an hypothesis will explain his per¬ 
 sistence in living in the train of a Master in whom he 
 refused to believe, and among companions in whose love and 
 worship he did not share. 
 
 Jesus saw into the traitor’s heart. It was an hour of 
 crisis for the apostles, when, cast off by the Galilaeans who 
 had wished to force upon him the part of a politician, he 
 asked the Twelve if they also were going to abandon him 
 like the people, and, casting his eyes upon them with a look 
 full of profound tenderness, he said unto them, “ Have not I 
 chosen you twelve,” then, breaking off, he added in poignant 
 sorrow, ** and one of you is a devil ?” 1 The phrase referred to 
 Judas : it is an energetic description of the state of that 
 guilty conscience, which was already invaded by the spirit of 
 Satan. 
 
 It has been asked why Jesus, knowing the real condition of 
 his disciple, did not rigidly banish him; and, indeed, any man 
 would have rid himself of such a worthless follower; but the 
 Son of God retained him. Profound goodness and clemency 
 without limit were the mainspring of every act of Jesus. As 
 in the case of the Jewish nation, its people and leaders, he had 
 exhausted all means of enlightening and saving them ; so in 
 the case of Judas he exhausted the treasures of his forbear¬ 
 ance. That man who had not been dissevered from earthly 
 things and uplifted towards God by the Spirit of Jesus, who 
 had not believed in the greatest, the meekest, and the only 
 divine Master, who, not having loved him, had not learnt of 
 him the lesson of gentleness, self-sacrifice, and self-denial, was 
 destined to be given over as a prey to the evil spirit, to gross 
 covetousness and falsehood, to the most sordid avarice and 
 the vilest selfishness; to be subject to all the spells and 
 caprices of the Evil One. In the bitter struggle in which the 
 
 1 John vi. 70, 
 
262 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 Spirit of God, living in Jesus, was about to come into con¬ 
 flict with the Evil Spirit that swayed the obstinate hearts of 
 the Jewish nation, that man had his Satanic part marked out 
 for him beforehand. 
 
 Jesus had to be seized upon in secret; and Judas pre¬ 
 sented himself to be the instrument . 1 The cause of the 
 Prophet, on the worldly success of which he had hitherto relied, 
 was lost beyond recovery. He came before the conquerors, 
 the chiefs of the sacerdotal class, and offered his services. He 
 exhibited himself before them in all his venality, not only 
 abandoning his Master, but delivering him up; not only 
 delivering him up, but selling him. 
 
 Every traitor is necessarily a fierce egoist who never 
 forgets his own interest. Judas was greedy and avaricious ; 
 his treason took the form of a bargain. He said to his 
 accomplices: “ What will you give me, and I will deliver 
 him unto you ? ” They promised him thirty pieces of 
 silver , 2 the price of a slave . 3 The members of the High 
 Council, in holding Jesus so cheap, dishonoured him more 
 than they benefited the traitor. Judas accepted the bargain ; 
 then, without revealing more fully his infamous project, he 
 sought the opportune moment to put it into execution. 
 
 While at Jerusalem Judas was occupied in betrayal and the 
 Sanhedrin was deliberating and plotting, Jesus in his peaceful 
 retirement from the multitude at Bethany prepared his dis¬ 
 ciples for his approaching death. There, hidden from his 
 enemies, he passed the Wednesday in solitude. There is left 
 to us only one sentence of these last discourses, which in 
 
 1 Matt. xxvi. 14, 16 ; Mark xiv. 10, etc.; Luke xxii. 3-6. 
 
 2 The silver shekel or stater, the most commonly used of Jewish coins 
 since the days of the Maccabees, was worth four drachmas, about 2 s. iod. 
 The sum for which Judas sold his Master, which was thirty silver shekels, 
 would thus amount to 105 francs (about £4 4s. o d.). 
 
 3 Exod. xxi. 32. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 263 
 
 touching brevity he sums up the thoughts which they ex¬ 
 pressed : “Ye know,” he said to them, “that after two days is 
 the feast of the Passover, and the Son of* man is betrayed to 
 be crucified .” 1 
 
 1 Matt, xxvi. 2. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE LAST PASSOVER. THE GREAT INSTITUTION 
 
 OF JESUS. 
 
 The Passover was to the Jew the chief Feast. Its 
 name 1 recalled the mysterious passage of Jehovah in that 
 terrible night in which the destroying angel smote the first¬ 
 born of Egypt and spared the Hebrews. It also recalled to 
 Israel another passage, that from servitude to liberty. No 
 festival was more popular. It was the inauguration of the 
 religious year, and lasted eight days, from the 14th to - the 
 21st of Nisan. During this time fermented bread was rigor¬ 
 ously prohibited, and unleavened bread was eaten. Thence 
 arose the other name of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, by 
 which the day of the Passover was distinguished. 
 
 As soon as the 13th of the month came round, the head 
 of the family took a lamp and went through his dwelling to 
 destroy all the leaven and fermented dough, which was burnt 
 in a vessel in the open air. The festival opened with the 
 sound of trumpets, and immediately the head of the family 
 or his servant went out to buy the lamb, which was to be of 
 one year old and without blemish. It was then brought to 
 the Temple, where the priests slaughtered it, letting the blood 
 flow over the altar of burnt offering, and the victim, thus 
 prepared, was to be eaten in the evening at a sacred feast; 
 this is what was called “ eating the Passover.” The first day 
 
 264 
 
 1 In Hebrew Pasch (a passing). 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 265 
 
 of unleavened bread, the 14th of Nisan, fell, in the year 30, 
 on Thursday, the 6th of April. 1 
 
 Jerusalem was already astir for the performance of all the 
 rites. 2 The leaven was burnt, the pure water and pure meal 
 for making and baking the unleavened loaves were chosen ; the 
 lambs were bought. The courts of the Temple were crowded 
 with a multitude of people bringing each his chosen lamb 
 upon his shoulder and asking the priests to sacrifice it. The 
 victims were slaughtered by thousands, and their blood flowed 
 in streams upon the altar of burnt-offering. In every house 
 the banqueting-room was being prepared, and the festal couches 
 arranged for the evening meal. 
 
 Jesus had not quitted Bethany, but he was desirous of 
 celebrating the Passover, and it was at Jerusalem, in the very 
 heart of the city, that it must be eaten. Seeing that the time 
 was come, 3 his disciples approached him and said : “ Master, 
 wilt thou that we go and prepare the Passover ? Judas.usually 
 had the charge of all that concerned the material wants of 
 the community, but on this occasion he was not employed. 
 Jesus named Peter and John. “Go ye into the city,” he said 
 to them, “and prepare us the passover, that we may eat. 
 When ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet 
 you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house 
 where he entereth in. And ye shall say unto the goodman of 
 the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guest- 
 chamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples ? 
 And he will shew you a large upper room, 4 furnished and 
 prepared : there make ready for us.” 
 
 1 See Appendix A : General Chronology of the Life of Jesus. 
 
 2 All of these rites, to the minutest details, have been preserved to us 
 by the Talmud. Cf. Hierosol. Pesachim., fassim. 
 
 3 Matt. xxvi. 17, etc. ; Mark xiv. 12, etc. ; Luke xxii. 7, etc. 
 
 4 By avdycuov is meant a room over the ground-floor, a hall such as 
 the Jews provided in the upper storey of their houses, or in houses of 
 the poorer class, upon the housetop. 
 
266 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 Jesus had already chosen in his thoughts the scene of his 
 last Passover. He is, when he so wills, the ruler of men : 
 they do whatsoever he demands them. The unknown house¬ 
 holder was to do his desire in giving up to the Lord his upper 
 room. He was, perhaps, one of his secret and devout parti¬ 
 sans ; one ancient tradition mentions Joseph of Arimathaea. 
 The marks by which the disciples are to recognise him denote 
 in Jesus a supernatural knowledge, \.mch cannot be bounded 
 by space and time ; a knowledge by which he reads into the 
 future, perceiving things far remote as if they were present. 
 He keeps, even from the disciples whom he is sending, the 
 secret of this selected place; we might suppose, by the 
 mystery in which he shrouds the matter, that he wished to 
 secure a few hours of tranquillity which nothing would 
 break in upon. He had everything to fear, for Judas’ plot was 
 completed. The confidence of Peter and John in him, whom 
 they call the Christ, the Son of the Living God, was blind and 
 absolute. They made no question or demur. They listened 
 and departed, happy to have been chosen by the Master. 
 
 On entering the city, they found everything as he had told 
 them, and they prepared the Passover. The yearling lamb 
 without blemish was chosen by them and slaughtered at the 
 Temple by the hand of the priest ; then, as the custom was, 
 roasted and seasoned with bitter herbs. The unleavened 
 bread was baked and the wine poured out into jars. The 
 unleavened bread and bitter seasoning symbolised the suffer¬ 
 ings of bondage ; the lamb recalled the victims whose blood 
 had served to mark the doors of the Jewish houses, and to 
 preserve them from the wrath of the destroying angel. It 
 had formerly been eaten by the Jews standing upright, with 
 staff in hand and loins girded, like travellers ready to depart ; 
 but time has modified this detail. The Jews, in the time of 
 Jesus, celebrated the Feast of the Lamb, reclining on couches. 
 
 “ To eat upright,” say the Rabbis of the Talmud, “becomes 
 the servants ; the masters should eat reclining. Certainly it 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 267 
 
 is the bread of affliction and bondage which we eat, but it 
 should be eaten after the manner of freemen, of kings, and of 
 I the great.” 1 
 
 The number of guests was not to be less than ten, and 
 was sometimes as many as forty or fifty. The banqueting- 
 rooin was adorned with carpets and hangings. In the middle 
 rose a single low table on which were placed the lamb, the 
 unleavened bread, and the cup of wine which the guests 
 passed from one to another. All around the table, in a half¬ 
 circle, the couches were prepared, slightly inclined and but 
 little raised above the floor. Each guest was to recline on his 
 left side, keeping his right hand free. The first place was in 
 the centre, the second on the left, the third on the right, and 
 so on. 2 Between the couches and the walls the servants could 
 come and go freely at the master’s bidding. 
 
 When evening came, Jesus left Bethany with his disciples, 
 and came to the city, to the very place which he had named. 
 Peter and John had arranged everything. After sunset, at 
 the hour appointed for the feast, he sat down to table. He 
 occupied the couch of honour : Peter was behind him at his 
 left, John at his right. By leaning back a little, the beloved 
 disciple could rest his head upon the breast of Jesus. Judas 
 was among the Twelve. Seeing himself surrounded by his 
 followers, Jesus gave utterance to these words, in which pro¬ 
 found joy and grief are mingled : “With desire I have desired 
 to cat this passover with you before I suffer : for I say unto 
 you, I will not any more cat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the 
 kingdom of God.” 3 He was moved and saddened by the 
 thought that this passover was to be the last. But he had 
 kept great things and supreme tokens of his love against this 
 
 1 Babyl. Berac ., fol. 46, 2. 
 
 2 Hierosol. Taanith, fol. 68, 1 ; Babyl., Bcrac ., fol. 64, 2. 
 
 3 Luke xxii. 15, 16. 
 
268 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 meeting ; he thrilled with joy at the thought of what he was 
 about to reveal and to do. 
 
 According to the ritual, the head of the family, after saying 
 a prayer, took the cup of wine and passed it to the guests, 
 saying: “ Blessed art thou, O Lord, who hast created the 
 fruit of the vine.” Then they ate the bitter herbs, steeped in 
 seasonings. 1 Jesus took the cup, gave thanks and said: 
 “Take this, and divide it among yourselves.” 2 The sad¬ 
 ness of the thought of leaving his own made him add : 
 “ I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of 
 the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my 
 Father’s kingdom.” 3 In the thought of eternal life after 
 this transitory one, and the joys of the Kingdom and of the 
 house of the Father after the sorrows of this earth, there is 
 for Jesus and for his disciples a sweetness that can temper 
 the bitterness of death. He recalls that glorious future to 
 their minds under the popular image of a banquet. The 
 wine, which will be drunk at the table of the heavenly Father, 
 is the emblem of the Spirit, which will fill all the elect, poured 
 out from Jesus, the cup inexhaustible. 
 
 While they were at table eating, Jesus said to them, 
 “ Verily I say unto you, One of you shall betray me.” 4 
 
 The accent with which he pronounced this sentence was 
 solemn and full of sadness. The presence of Judas oppressed 
 him. He alone knew the secret of his treachery. None of 
 the disciples suspected that the fatal plot was on foot, and 
 
 1 Charozet , a seasoning- composed of almonds, walnuts, figs, and other 
 sweet fruits. According to the rabbis, its reddish colour was to call to 
 mind the harsh labour of brickmaking which was imposed on the Israel¬ 
 ites in Egypt; and by its taste, the sweet compensations which Jehovah 
 mingles with the bitter trials of his people. Cf. Godet, Comment, sur 
 Saint Luc , ad h. 1 . 
 
 2 Luke xxii. 17. 
 
 3 Matt. xxvi. 29; Mark xiv. 25 ; Luke xxii. 18. 
 
 4 Mark xiv. 18. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 269 
 
 % 
 
 that one of themselves was the soul of it. The words, “ There 
 is a traitor among you,” threw them into a panic. The 
 thoughts of the uncertainty of the morrow, the coming struggle, 
 the fear of defeat, terrified them. They knew that the 
 Master read as clearly into the future as he did into their 
 own minds, and each one, looking towards him, asked him 
 sorrowfully, “ Is it I, Lord?” Jesus repeated the same words 
 without naming the traitor : 
 
 “ He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same 
 shall betray me. The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is 
 written of him : but woe unto that man by whom the Son of 
 man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had not 
 been born.” 1 
 
 The sorrow of Jesus was not for himself, but for the traitor. 
 He would save him : he would provoke his conscience to 
 avow the crime, and frighten it with the curse which the 
 guilty man was about to draw upon his head. Judas remained 
 firm and impassive. Instead of saying, “ It is I,” he said, like 
 the others, “ Is it I ? ” He dissembled, thinking, no doubt, to 
 deceive him whom he had already betrayed. Jesus answered 
 him, “Thou hast said.” 2 But no one noticed the words. 
 The mystery remained undiscovered, and there fell upon the 
 minds of all a weight of inexpressible anguish. The feast 
 went on. 
 
 Then was enacted a scene which should be read with the 
 faith of those who have transmitted it to us, and with the soul 
 of him who had reserved it for this solemn hour. He knew, 
 says St. John, 3 that this Passover was for him the true 
 “ passage,” the hour ardently desired, in which he was to 
 depart from this world unto the Father. He had loved his 
 
 1 Matt, xxvi. 24 ; Mark xiv. 21. 
 
 2 Matt. xxvi. 25 and refs. 
 
 * John xiii. i, 2. 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 270 
 
 own who were in the world, and he loved them unto the end. 
 No comment on these simple words is needed ; we may guess, 
 from the depth of their sweetness, from the fragrance which 
 still seems to cling about them, with how deep a love the 
 heart of the Master was overflowing for his disciples, for 
 those whom the evangelist calls “ his own.” 
 
 This same love was now to inspire in him an act such as 
 no man could have conceived, and such as befits God alone. 
 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks, brake 
 it, and gave it to them, saying, “ This is my body, which is 
 given for you. Do this in memory of me.” A little later, 
 when the meal was ended, and, according to custom, the 
 time was come for the head of the house to pass a last cup 
 round to all the guests, Jesus took the cup, gave thanks, 
 and gave to them, saying, “ Drink ye all of it; for this is my 
 blood, of the new testament, which is shed for many for the 
 remission of sins. When ye do this, whensoever ye shall 
 drink, this shall be in memory of me.” 1 
 
 These words, “Take and eat : it is my body; take and 
 drink : it is the cup of my blood,” understood in their true 
 meaning, literally and without metaphor, are to human 
 reason a mystery unheard of and impenetrable. The bread 
 that Jesus offers to his apostles is no longer bread, but his 
 body which is about to be sacrificed ; the cup which he gives 
 them to drink is no longer wine, but his own blood which is 
 about to be shed. The apostles understood it so. They did 
 not ask, “ How can this be done?” In the simplicity and 
 
 1 Of this scene four versions have been preserved to us, of which 
 three are to be found in the synoptic Gospels, and the fourth in St. Paul’s 
 Epistles (I. Cor. xi. 23-25). All four versions are substantially identical. 
 They contain the same points, of the real, substantial presence of the 
 body and blood of Jesus in the bread and wine, the charge given by 
 Jesus to the Apostles and their successors to repeat his acts in 
 remembrance of him, the expiatory character of the blood of Jesus, 
 and the sacerdotal power created by Jesus in the duty of doing as he 
 has done. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 271 
 
 fulness of their faith, knowing that the power of the Master 
 was boundless, and that the truth was in him, they believed 
 on his words, and partook of his body and his blood, under the 
 forms of bread and wine. 
 
 What Jesus had said a year before to the people of Galilee 
 at Capernaum, 1 he realized on this day a few hours before his 
 death. He taught them that he was the “ Bread of Life, 
 that in eating of him they should live; that, “If they ate not 
 the flesh of the Son of man and drank not his blood, they 
 should not have life”; that, “his flesh was the true 
 meat, and his blood the true drink ; that he who ate of his 
 flesh and drank of his blood should dwell in him.” The 
 people, shocked and scandalized, had turned away, asking 
 ironically how he would give any man his flesh to eat. “ How ” 
 was now explained. 
 
 This scene contains the whole religion of Jesus. In this 
 single moment of his life he realizes it at one stroke in its 
 perfection. He appears at once as priest and victim; as 
 creating the eternal priesthood and the eternal sacrifice. He 
 reveals without metaphor or parable the reason of his death. 
 Hitherto he had alluded to this subject with the greatest 
 reserve, only telling his disciples of its divine necessity. “ It 
 must be accomplished/' he said to them again and again. To¬ 
 day he teaches why his flesh must be delivered up, and his 
 blood shed. He is the Victim who atones for the sins of the 
 world. Such is the destiny of the Son of man ; such is the 
 last word of the Incarnation of the eternal Son of God. 
 Evil is inherent in man ; it must be overcome; and to 
 overcome it there must be atonement. Such an atonement is 
 to be made by the Son of man. The terrible justice of God 
 weighs upon sinful man, and justice must be satisfied. 
 The Son of man will appease it by his suffering and his death. 
 
 1 John vi. 35, etc. 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 272 
 
 John the forerunner had rightly called him “the Lamb of 
 God which taketh away the sins of the world.” 
 
 How are men to profit by the personal atonement which 
 the Son of God comes to accomplish? How shall they 
 participate in the two great benefits of his death, deliverance 
 from evil and the appeasing of the justice of God ? They 
 must be incorporated in the victim who delivers himself up 
 and dies for their sakes. And Jesus requires not only that 
 there should be a spiritual union with his Spirit and his 
 person ; his design is a grander one. His aim is a spiritual 
 and material union together, his design is that man being both 
 spirit and matter, body and soul, should be united in spirit 
 and reality to his whole being; to the Son of God and the 
 Son of man ; to his divinity and his humanity, to his soul and 
 his body. His design is that he should believe on his word, 
 and become through faith one and the same Spirit with him ; 
 his design is that he should eat of his body and drink of his 
 blood, that he should be incorporated in the flesh of the Son 
 of man. Such is the tremendous economy of salvation, and 
 such is the reason of the mystery of the- Eucharist. 
 
 While Jesus reveals himself as a victim, so also in the 
 sovereignty of his priesthood does he institute the rite of the 
 true, the eternal sacrifice; abolishing and suppressing all 
 others as defective and empty, false and transient. Hence¬ 
 forward no more vain hecatombs, no more human sacrifices, 
 no more Paschal lambs. The blood of bulls and goats God 
 holds in abhorrence : it can in no wise purify the conscience 
 or appease his justice. Henceforth there is in all the world 
 but one Victim, the Son of man, who dies for the sins of the 
 world. That drama, which on the morrow is about to be 
 played out in all its hideous reality, Jesus prophesies and 
 performs already in the form of a sacrament before it actually 
 takes place; and when he has been put to death he will carry 
 it on by the ceremony of the Eucharist to the end of the 
 ages. No more will the victim disappear ; the sacrifice will 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 273 
 
 be offered perpetually. In saying to his apostles, “ Do this 
 in remembrance of me,” he creates the priesthood with the 
 power of reproducing and carrying on throughout eternity 
 that which he has just performed. 
 
 For the inheritors of this power, following the words of 
 the Master and speaking in his name, will take the bread and 
 say, “ This is my body ” ; take the chalice, and say, “ This is 
 the blood of the new testament,” and distribute among the 
 believers the body and blood of the Son of God. The Son 
 of God will be present under the form of bread and wine, in 
 the substance of his body and blood, separated sacramentally ; 
 he will be present in his soul and divinity; he will be the food, 
 the drink, and the life of the world. Thus is to be consum- 
 mated the ineffable work of the Kingdom, which is, the incor¬ 
 poration of all the elect in the Son of God, by Faith and 
 Sacrament. The humble supper-room has found thousands 
 of successors, scattered over the face of the earth. It has 
 
 I become the Christian Temple ; it is everywhere. Every hour 
 the mysterious sacrifice of the Lamb is renewed among us. 
 In partaking of the Victim, man becomes purified and 
 triumphs over sin, learns to love God and to love his brethren. 
 This is the feast of charity ; thanks to which the flame lighted 
 by Jesus in this cold world of selfishness never dies out, but 
 rather grows and spreads. As the centuries roll on, carrying 
 away all things with them, they cannot efface the memory of 
 him who so loved men as to die, and to give them in his 
 death the divine life which is overflowing in him. 
 
 Jesus was now at liberty to deliver himself up to the mur¬ 
 derous hatred of his enemies. Death and hatred will be 
 powerless against him. Even when he is gone from them, he 
 will still live on, not as a simple memory in the soul of his 
 followers, but as a secret reality under their eyes and in their 
 midst. His worship will be no vain and empty worship, but 
 a worship in spirit and in truth, lasting even until the veil 
 shall fall and Jesus himself shall appear in all his glory. 
 
 VOL. II. T 
 
274 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 For more than twelve centuries did Christians solemnize 
 with untroubled faith the feast of the Eucharist. Then 
 reason, that timid thing which prides itself upon its au¬ 
 dacity, took alarm ; crying out on the incomprehensibility 
 and impossibility of such an idea. A few Christians, like 
 the Galilaeans of Capernaum, were scandalised. In a spirit of 
 defiance they wished to make the institution that Jesus had 
 founded reasonable, that is, to drag it down to the level of 
 their minds. They weakened the emphatic force of the 
 expressions : “ This is my body,” “ This is my blood.” They 
 degraded them into a simple metaphor, seeing in the design 
 of Jesus only a recommendation to his followers to remember 
 him, and in the Communion only a meal to be solemnized in 
 order to commemorate his death. 
 
 But there is one thing that no interpretation, no criticism 
 will dare to do, and that is to lessen and throw doubt upon 
 the underlying thought which can inspire such words and 
 inform such an institution. Jesus at that moment asserted 
 himself to be the Victim of the world, and gave his blood to 
 be the redemption of sin. We cannot conceive remission of 
 sins without the Spirit of God, which alone can give justifi¬ 
 cation and pardon ; and if the blood of Jesus has the virtue 
 of communicating the Spirit, it is no longer the blood of man, 
 but the blood of the Son of God. If he is pleased to give us 
 his flesh to eat under the form of bread, and his blood to 
 drink under that of wine, he is the Master ; his omnipotence 
 has no bounds. His institution of the Eucharist is a thing no 
 more to be wondered at than is his calling upon men to 
 believe in his divine office of Redeemer. Christians who 
 believe in the one are without excuse if they refuse to believe 
 in the other. 
 
 The unbeliever who takes upon himself to know and to 
 criticise cannot escape the enigma with which he is confronted. 
 Who is this man, speaking a language of which nobody 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 275 
 
 ever spelt out a syllable? Who is this martyr who knows 
 his end before it comes to him, regarding it as the debt of 
 mankind, and esteeming himself the universal Deliverer 
 from the justice of God ? Visionary or madman he is not. 
 The dreams of the visionary and the extravagances of the 
 madman have never exercised a decisive influence upon the 
 march of human events. Jesus overruled the torrent of 
 events, and changed their course ; he brought to man 
 freedom and salvation. What he thinks of himself and what 
 he taught is therefore the truth. Sin is indwelling in man ; 
 he atones for it by his death. But then he is more than man, 
 more than any free and intelligent creature; under his human 
 form is cloaked the hidden God, and his divine sonship, to 
 which he never ceased bearing witness, is the sole justification 
 of the transcendent office which he takes upon himself. 
 
 This inference, which cannot be avoided as soon as we 
 examine in detail the action and the doctrine of Jesus, is yet 
 more imperatively urged upon us by the solemn act by which 
 he instituted the rite of the eternal sacrifice, and by the words 
 which accompanied that institution. But the mind may be 
 warped and the conscience refuse to surrender to the truth. 
 In Judas we may see the type of those stubborn natures 
 against which all the force of God’s witness to himself, and 
 of the goodness by which he endeavours to save us, is spent 
 in vain. 
 
 Judas was a witness of this manifestation of his Master’s 
 love. He took from his hand the bread of which he said 
 “ This is my body, which is given for you ” ; he drank of the 
 cup of which he said, “ This is the blood of the new testament.” 
 But his rebellious soul would not repent, it would not open 
 to love. At the thought of so much affection, repaid with so 
 much obstinacy, a fresh cry broke from Jesus: “Moreover, 
 the hand of the traitor is with me at this table,” he said; then, 
 resigning himself to his fate and endeavouring still to rescue 
 
 T—2 
 
276 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 by the weight of anathema his stubborn disciple, he added: 
 “ The Son of man indeed goeth as it is written of him: 
 but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed!” 1 The 
 apostles, in trouble and agitation, looked at one another, and 
 asked among themselves who was the traitor. 
 
 The supper was ended. Jesus arose, and “he into whose 
 hands the Father had committed all things ; he who had 
 come from God and was returning to God,” forgetting his 
 divine grandeur, “ laid aside his garments, took a towel, and 
 girded himself; poured water in a basin, and began to wash 
 the feet of his disciples, and to wipe them with the towel 
 wherewith he was girded.” 2 This was an extraordinary 
 action, befitting a servant, but such as the master, the head of 
 the household, had never been seen to perform. 
 
 When Jesus came to Simon Peter, the latter exclaimed in 
 confusion : “ Lord, dost thou wash my feet ? ” Jesus answered 
 and said unto him, “ What I do thou knowest not now ; but 
 thou shalt know hereafter.” Peter saith unto him, “Thou 
 shalt never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “ If I wash 
 thee not, thou hast no part with me.” The thought of being 
 severed from his Master touched Peter to the quick. “Lord,” 
 he exclaimed, “not my feet only, but also my hands and 
 my head.” Jesus saith unto him, “ He that is washed needeth 
 not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are 
 clean, but not all.” 
 
 This was a fresh allusion to Judas. The thought of the 
 traitor was always present to Jesus, and he caught at or 
 originated every opportunity with the aim of rescuing him 
 from the crime with which he was beset. 
 
 At the idea that treason was to come from one of the dis¬ 
 ciples they all protested their fidelity, each one insisting upon 
 the value of his services ; and soon, the spirit of emulation 
 
 1 Luke xxii. 22, and refs. 
 
 2 John xiii. 4, etc. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 277 
 
 growing warmer, they began to discuss the pre-eminence of 
 this or that one in the Kingdom. This question of pre¬ 
 eminence was constantly recurring to their minds. It shows 
 us how great is power of self-seeking, and of ineradicable 
 selfishness in the human heart, a power which Jesus expressly 
 came to combat. Selfishness is the law of our perverted 
 nature. It rules all things here on earth, engendering all 
 errors, all vices, all crimes. It is essentially ambitious and 
 tyrannical. Jesus would have it banished from his visible 
 kingdom. The hierarchy and the power which he has 
 founded are not to resemble those of the world. 
 
 “ The kings of the Gentiles,” he said to his apostles, “ ex¬ 
 ercise lordship over them ; and they that exercise authority 
 upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so: 
 but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; 
 and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is 
 greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? Is not 
 he that sitteth at meat ? But I am among you as he that 
 serveth.” 1 
 
 After having, in the Eucharistic supper, created the priest¬ 
 hood, the greatest and the holiest authority, Jesus next defined 
 its essential and eternal law. As the priesthood is only 
 derived from the power of Jesus, so it will have no other law 
 than that which was always obeyed by Jesus ; and this law is 
 summed up in charity. Selfishness only regards and seeks 
 its own interest; charity wishes only the good of others. 
 When selfishness is in power she requires slaves; when 
 charity is in power she does nothing but labour for their 
 release. The one exacts service, the other serves. The one 
 hunts after prey, the other devotes herself. The one seeks to 
 preserve and swell out her life, the other gives it. The world 
 and the powers that guide it are under the dominion of self¬ 
 ishness ; the Kingdom of God and the hierarchy, by which 
 
 1 Luke xxii. 25, etc. 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 278 
 
 the Master is still visibly present among men, is to be under 
 that of charity. He had just shown this by washing their 
 feet; with such evidence of humility he finished his life 
 among them. The example here shown by him a few hours 
 before his death was not to be forgotten. It was to be a part 
 of the testament, of the sacred wishes of Jesus. 
 
 Then he resumed his garments, and, reseating himself at 
 the table, said: “ Know ye what I have done to you? Ye 
 call me Lord and Master : and ye say well ; for so I am. If 
 I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also 
 ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an 
 example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, 
 verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; 
 neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye 
 know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” 1 
 
 He felt an emotion of joy as he looked upon his followers, 
 and said to them with a thrill of tenderness : “Ye are they 
 which have continued with me in my temptations.” 2 This 
 courageous fidelity will not be in vain. The Son of man will 
 not always be in the winepress of tribulation ; the days of 
 triumph shall come. “ And I,” he added, “ appoint unto you 
 a Kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me ; that ye 
 may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom, and sit on 
 thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” 3 
 
 Once more, and for the last time, the presence of Judas 
 troubled him. The traitor’s crime stood out inevitable before 
 him. “ I speak not of you all,” he cried, “ I know whom I 
 have chosen : but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that 
 eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me. 4 
 Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, 
 
 1 John xiii. 12, etc. 
 
 2 Luke xxii. 28. 
 
 8 Luke xxii. 29, etc. 
 
 4 Ps. xl. 10. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 279 
 
 ye may believe that I am he.” 1 The anguish of being be¬ 
 trayed by one of his own, the presence of Judas, the ardent 
 desire to save him, the sight of the traitor resisting every 
 appeal and only growing hardened in his fatal resolve, agitated 
 the soul of Jesus, and he was troubled in spirit. 2 But the 
 filial self-abandonment to his Father, by which he was con¬ 
 demned to undergo the supreme torture of treason, calmed 
 all his grief; and in a tone full of firmness and solemnity he 
 said again to his disciples : “ Verily, verily, I say unto you, 
 that one of you shall betray me.” 3 4 The disciples, yet more 
 troubled and disturbed, looked at one another, seeking to 
 penetrate the mystery in which Judas was involved, and which 
 the Master, in his goodness, would not disperse. 
 
 Jesus had in front of him on his right John, the beloved 
 disciple, and Peter behind him, on his left. Peter could 
 contain himself no longer. He rose a little above Jesus and 
 beckoned to John to ask the name of the traitor. John, with 
 his head laid back, was reclining upon the bosom of Jesus, 
 and he said to him in a whisper, “Lord who is it?” Jesus 
 confided to his friend the sorrowful secret, but he took care 
 that no other one of them, except perhaps Peter, should 
 hear it. “ He it is,” he replied to John, “ to whom I shall give 
 a sop, when I have dipped it.” He dipped the sop and gave 
 it to Judas Iscariot. Judas took and ate it. This was his 
 crowning act of hypocrisy. The spirit of Satan was in 
 possession of him ; he was his instrument; he had drained dry 
 the mercy of God. His measure was full. Jesus spoke to 
 him this terrible sentence, “That thou doest, do quickly.” 4 
 These words contain neither command nor advice, but on the 
 contrary, rebuke; at the same time they showed him that Jesus 
 
 1 John xiii. 18, etc. 
 
 3 John xiii. 21. 
 
 3 John xiii. 21, etc. 
 
 4 John xiii. 27. 
 
280 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 would do nothing to prevent the work of treachery from being 
 accomplished. None of those at table, except John and per¬ 
 haps Peter, understood the meaning of these last words of 
 Jesus. Several of them thought that he had given Judas, 
 who carried the bag, some order to buy what was necessary 
 for the feast on the morrow, or to give something to the poor. 
 
 When Judas went out it was night. The Passion of Jesus 
 was about to begin ; Judas, in the carrying out of his plot, 
 was about to set the whole drama in motion ; its action would 
 be quick, terrible, and cruel ; before to-morrow’s close the 
 blood of the Just One whom he had bartered would be shed. 
 All would be consummated. Jesus was ready. By his words 
 to Judas, “ Do that thou hast to do,” he had already delivered 
 himself into his hands. 
 
 In his suffering and his death lay his great achievement. 
 To be the universal Victim, to redeem and deliver from evil 
 lost mankind, to attract all unto himself by boundless charity, 
 to die to perform the will of the Father, who has resolved 
 through his Son to save the world, to seal with his blood the 
 truth of his teaching and the eternity of his Kingdom, to conquer 
 death after submitting to it, to enter into the life of God, and 
 to open its gates to his elect; in these things, taken together, 
 is contained the glory of the Son of man and the glory of 
 God. Each one of them gives birth to the other; each one 
 increases the other, and it is the thought of them that filled 
 the soul of Jesus with light and joy. But a little while, and 
 this very soul, feeling the approach of death, was to feel 
 the throes of inexpressible agony ; but for this moment the 
 Spirit suffered him to feel his power and his glory, and he 
 began his entrance into death with a hymn of triumph. 
 
 “Now,” cried he, “is the Son of man glorified, and God 
 is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God shall also 
 glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him .” 1 
 
 1 John xiii. 31, 32. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE LAST WORDS. 
 
 APPROACHING death sometimes works a transfiguration 
 among men. The saints feel their souls illumined with 
 divine light. Their hearts, disengaged from this transient 
 world, are filled with infinite charity, and the words which 
 rise to their lips have the calm and grandeur of eternity. 
 Jesus did not need the approach of death to uplift his 
 human faculties to God : they were ever vibrating to the 
 touch of the Spirit, as the glory of God or the good of man 
 requires. Yet, like those about to die, he reserved to the last 
 moment his grandest words. 
 
 Now that Judas was gone out, Jesus found himself alone in 
 the supper-room with the Eleven. He could open his heart 
 to them without constraint. They were all faithful to him ; he 
 had chosen them, given them birth into the life of God, and 
 into his own life, and fed them with his teaching and his 
 love; he had informed them with his soul and his Spirit. 
 Pie knew that he was about to leave them; that the 
 separation was imminent; that he had no more days, but only 
 hours, to live with them. His tenderness broke forth in these 
 words : “ Little children, yet a little while I am with you. 
 Ye shall seek me : and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, 
 ye cannot come ; so now I say to you .” 1 
 
 1 John xiii. 33. 
 
 281 
 
2$2 
 
 JESUS CUEIST. 
 
 Jesus felt how profound a void his departure was about to 
 make in the souls of his disciples. While he was with them 
 they had nothing to dread ; he was their guardian, he was their 
 strength, their light, their life ; but when he would be no longer 
 by their side, what would become of them ? It was necessary, 
 however, that the separation should take place. The Son of 
 man returned to God, to his Father, to the infinite glory which 
 awaited him in his Kingdom. But it was to be by that way 
 which the will of the Father had marked out ; by the way of 
 violent death and fearful suffering. All manner of anguish was 
 soon to overwhelm him. This was a way as yet untrodden ; 1 
 he was about to open it. When he should have run his race 
 heroically, he will enter into glory ; and only in his train shall 
 men, and they the men of his choice, have power to come. 
 Thus even the apostles themselves who had had the privilege 
 of following the Master since they first were called, amid 
 strife and enmity, and all the dangers of his mission, were not 
 to follow him immediately in death. Jesus now entrusted 
 them with his last wishes . 2 
 
 “ A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one 
 another ; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 
 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye 
 have love one to another.” 
 
 This love which Jesus commands his disciples to practise, 
 and which he speaks of as new, should not be confounded 
 with the feelings of humanity which are at the bottom 
 of every sound heart, and which were known to the 
 heathen nations, nor with the precept inscribed in the 
 Decalogue ; 3 it has another origin, another sphere, another 
 end, and another law. It has for its principle the living Spirit 
 of God breathing in our heart, and bringing us to see in every 
 
 1 Hebrews ix. 8. 
 
 2 John xiii. 34, 35. 
 
 3 Deut. vi. 5. 
 
TIIE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 
 28 
 
 
 
 
 human being, without distinction of race and religion, of 
 virtue or education, of condition or sex, a free and intelligent 
 being, capable of becoming a son of God by adoption. Its 
 end is to bring him to God, who is the supreme and infinite 
 good : its law is self-sacrifice, and devotion disinterested and 
 absolute even unto suffering and death. 
 
 What Jesus has done for us, he requires us to do for all 
 men. This love is the newest of things. Never before, 
 either among the Jews or among the heathen, had men the 
 slightest perception of it. It is the inimitable mark of the 
 Saviour of men, which will be also the mark of his disciples. 
 Outside the Kingdom of Jesus men hate each other, in spite 
 of their boasted humanity. Even among the Jews, in spite 
 of their Law, we see charity confined within the limits of their 
 race and their religion. Any man who is not of their race and 
 religion is not their neighbour. The Christian alone, if he 
 follows his Master, practises a charity which is limitless and 
 universal; and this he owes even to those who are not of 
 his faith, for Jesus, the Master, loved us before we were 
 worthy of being loved, while we were yet in the darkness 
 and shadow of death . 1 
 
 Such a commandment implies all things. The man who, 
 to communicate to his brethren the God in whom he lives, is 
 prepared to meet sacrifice, suffering, oblivion, even death, is 
 ready to fulfil all virtues, and has already within him the 
 living source of every virtue. “ Little children, do as I,” 2 
 Jesus said, at that very moment when he was about to give 
 his life. A precept thus, as it were, embodied in the example 
 of the Master, who proclaims it, has an irresistible clearness 
 and force. No amount of philosophy will explain it better, 
 and no vehemence of exhortation could make it more 
 attractive. 
 
 1 Eph. ii. 4, 5. 
 
 2 John xiii. 33. 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 2S4 
 
 Peter, however, was still troubled by this thought which 
 weighed upon his mind, that Jesus could not believe in the 
 fidelity nor in the courage of his disciples, since he had said 
 to them, as he had said to the Jews, that they could not follow 
 him. He went back to the subject of his departure. “ Lord, 
 whither goest thou ? ” he asked, betraying, in his sadness, how 
 ardent was his longing to accompany him. Jesus replied : 
 “ Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt 
 follow me afterwards.” But, hopeful as they were, these 
 words were not enough for Peter. Like all who love, he 
 could hardly contain his impatience. Not doubting his heart, 
 so neither did he doubt his strength. He said, “ Why cannot 
 I follow thee now?” Then Jesus, foreseeing the terrible 
 storm which was soon to assail him and his followers, and 
 knowing the frailty of man until he be transformed by the 
 Spirit, cried : “ Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to 
 have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed 
 for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, 
 strengthen thy brethren .” 1 
 
 These prophetic words conveyed, with exquisite delicacy, 
 the hint to the imprudent Peter that he was not strong 
 enough to sustain the struggle upon which he was about to 
 enter. The enemy is a terrible one, and the frailty of man is 
 great ; for man has no strength save in him whose all- 
 powerful prayer makes him worthy to obtain the very virtue 
 of God. It is in his purposes that the Eleven should be 
 subjected to temptation. So Jesus hinted to them. They are 
 to find out by experience their misery and helplessness. But 
 by this same experience they will be strong, and, aided by 
 the prayer of Jesus, they will become invincible. Peter, how¬ 
 ever, was still certain of himself; instead of attempting to 
 understand the truth which his Master thus indistinctly 
 revealed to him, he cried out in his presumption : “ Lord, I 
 
 1 Luke xxii. 31, 32. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 285 
 
 am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death. I 
 will lay down my life for thy sake. Jesus answered him, 
 Wilt thou laydown thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I 
 say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied 
 me thrice .” 1 
 
 Peter must have been amazed. The last illusion to which 
 souls like his will cling, is the mistaking their own strength. 
 When we love we think ourselves capable of anything. 
 Sufferingor death seems nothing to us. Of all kinds of rash¬ 
 ness, the most incurable and the most unreflecting, and at the 
 same time the most excusable, because it is the most sincere, 
 is not the rashness of the mind or the will, but the rashness of 
 the heart. 
 
 The disciples heard their warning. They could not 
 follow the Master now; the separation was a cruel one for 
 them. They would be given over to a thousand conflicts, a 
 thousand trials, so strong that they would be forced to waver, 
 though but for a moment. The days of tranquillity were at an 
 end ; they would depart with Jesus. While the Lord was with 
 them, providing for them all, then, even though they had 
 nothing, they wanted nothing. “When I sent you without 
 purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye anything ? And they 
 said, Nothing. Then said he unto them, “ But now, he that 
 hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he 
 1 that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. 
 
 For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be 
 I accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the trans- 
 1 gressors : 2 for the things concerning me have an end .” 3 
 
 By this we are not to understand that Jesus sends his 
 apostles into the struggle with a full purse and a well-provided 
 ■ scrip, and armed with the sword. We should mistake his 
 I purpose if in this bold figure we saw an appeal to material 
 
 1 Luke xxii. 33, 34 ; John xiii. 38. 
 
 2 Isaiah liii. 12. 
 
 9 Luke xxii. 35, etc. 
 
286 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 force. Jesus was expressing, by means of vivid metaphors, 
 according to his custom, how strong is the hostility which 
 awaits his disciples, and how they are always to be girded 
 with the sword of the Spirit. He who goes to deliver him¬ 
 self up to death, has no thought of killing ; and his disciples 
 are one day to walk in his footsteps, like the lamb which is 
 dumb as men lead it to the slaughter. The Eleven, however, 
 seem to have mistaken their Master’s meaning. At the word 
 “sword” they said, “Lord, behold, here are two swords .” 1 
 Jesus did not answer them ; he changed the subject, only say¬ 
 ing, with sorrowful irony : For the use ye shall have for such 
 weapons, “ it is enough.” 
 
 Then his words became more reassuring; he calmed and 
 consoled them: “Let not your heart be troubled. Ye 
 believe in God; believe also in me .” 2 Faith implies good¬ 
 ness and power; we do not believe in aught but what is good 
 and strong. To believe in God and in Jesus, means to 
 believe in their omnipotent goodness. In spite of struggle 
 and hindrance, in spite of all our sufferings and all our 
 frailties, God and his Christ bring events to their final con¬ 
 clusion. They it is who triumph, and believers may reassure 
 themselves, and remain in undiminished confidence and 
 serenity. 
 
 Then, wishing to sustain the faith of his followers, Jesus 
 told them undisguisedly whither he was going, and the reason 
 of his departure, and spoke to them of his return, and the 
 reunion which would follow. The separation will only be 
 for a time; all will rejoin him. What he promised to Peter 
 he promised to the Eleven, and to as many as believe in him. 
 
 “ In my Father’s house are many mansions ; ” they are 
 reserved for all the faithful: “ if it were not so, I would have 
 
 1 Luke xxii. 38. 
 
 2 John xiv. 1, etc. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 287 
 
 told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and 
 prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you 
 unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” 
 
 Jesus spoke of the realities of the eternal and invisible 
 world with clearness, simplicity, and authority: he had it 
 directly before his eyes ; he was its master. He expressed 
 them in images simple and profound, in order that the 
 simplest soul may be able to hear them. He was about to 
 enter once more, through death, into the house of his Father. 
 God is the great Habitation, the true Temple, and those who 
 love and know him dwell truly in him. Jesus alone possessed 
 the full knowledge and the infinite love of his Father; so 
 also he alone had the right to speak of the house of his 
 Father, for it was his. As the Son of God he had never left 
 it, but by becoming the Son of man he had come down to 
 the land of suffering and death, there to suffer and to die. 
 The phase of sorrow once passed through, he was about to 
 lose himself wholly in the glory, the unchangeableness and 
 the life of God. His transfigured body was to be the active 
 centre of the renovation of the universe, and the whole 
 material universe'was to be transfigured by God and by him, 
 and to become the abode of the Father. 
 
 It is the office of Jesus to open its gates to his 
 elect, and to prepare a place there for them. The only 
 entrance is by him. No created being has the power to 
 enter of himself into the Divine Being, to know him as he 
 is, to love him, and to live in him. Man, even were he 
 sinless, could lay claim to no such power: to enjoy that 
 destiny is the free gift of infinite goodness. Jesus alone 
 bequeaths it to us with the Spirit of God ; and by the same 
 Spirit he returns to us, to release us from the dominion of 
 animalism, humanity, and death; he takes us with him, 
 and bears us away to God, that where he is we may 
 be also. This return of Jesus comes to pass incessantly, 
 
288 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 in every place, invisibly in all souls which are open to faith ; 
 and the reunion of believers in their Master comes to 
 pass, in its turn, incessantly, and in every place, at that 
 hour when death bursts asunder the chains which bind us to 
 this world of shadows. 
 
 After having explained these mysteries to them, the 
 Master could say to his disciples, “ And whither I go ye know, 
 and the way ye know .” 1 One of them, Thomas, exclaimed 
 at these words ; he had understood nothing of what the Master 
 had been saying, and said plainly: “ Lord, we know not 
 whither thou goest: and how can we know the way? Jesus 
 saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man 
 cometh unto the Father, but by me.” There is no more room 
 for doubt or uncertainty. The goal is the Father, who is the 
 eternal, unchangeable, and inexhaustible fountain of Being, 
 of truth, of love, and of life ; that is the goal of the Son of 
 man, not that he may annihilate himself, but that he may be 
 glorified there, and open the gates to all his elect. No one 
 can go to the Father without him ; he alone gives us know¬ 
 ledge of him, because he is the Truth; he alone gives us life 
 in him, because he has within him the Spirit of the Father, 
 and because he gives others to partake of the Spirit. 
 
 In these words Jesus was no longer expressing sentiments 
 or facts of the human order, they were such words as ravish 
 the soul into God, and tear away the veil which hides him 
 from our eyes. Between the Father and him the union is 
 ineffable. It is a perfect interdependence of one upon the 
 other. Jesus asserted it in terms of peculiar energy: “If ye 
 had known me,” he said to the Eleven, “ye should have known 
 my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have 
 seen him.” 2 Although they had recognised in their Master 
 
 i John xiv. 4, etc. 
 
 3 John xiv. 7. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 289 
 
 the Christ, the Son of the living God, the apostles had not 
 felt, nor had their vision penetrated further into the closeness 
 of the union which bound him to his Father. By explaining 
 this to them on that day he initiated them into the inmost of 
 his very Being; he opened to them the living fountain of the 
 consolations of God, and instilled among them faith in his 
 divinity. 
 
 Philip, who had nothing of the defiant and positive spirit 
 of Thomas, hearing Jesus say that they knew the Father and 
 had seen him, asked him, simply enough : “ Lord, show us the 
 leather, and it sufficeth us.” Such ingenuousness led Jesus to 
 repeat to them all the mystery of his perfect and essential 
 union with the Father. “ Have I been so long time with you,’ 
 he replied, “ and yet hast thou not known me, Philip ? he 
 that hath seen me hath seen the Father ; and how sayest 
 thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I 
 am in the Father, and the Father in me ? The words that I 
 speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that 
 dwelleth in me, he doeth the works .” 1 
 
 A belief in his total and absolute union with the Father 
 is what the Master requires of his disciples. This is the 
 necessary foundation ; without it they would not know him. 
 They would not know that he is equal with God, that the 
 Father has given him all things, and that, in receiving all 
 things from the Father, he lives with him in the same truth, 
 in the same love, in the same power; infinite, eternal, and 
 indivisible. They would not comprehend that he is his pre¬ 
 fect manifestation, and that, when they look on him, it is the 
 Father, veiled in mystery, on whom they look. It is not 
 given to man here on earth to see God as he is, and to enter 
 by intuitive vision into the life of the uncreated Being, the 
 principle of the universe, expressing himself in a thought 
 equal to himself, and loving himself with an infinite love 
 
 1 John xiv. 9. 
 VOL. II* 
 
 U 
 
290 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 equal to his thought. We cannot know him except by his 
 external manifestations, by the works of his power, his 
 wisdom, and his goodness. The universe reveals a creative 
 power, the laws of which unroll themselves before us, yet 
 above us, impassive, terrible, and impersonal. Our conscience 
 again tells us of a God, just but wrathful; for it warns us of 
 our incurable misery, and feels itself given up by God to its 
 own frailty, its own impotence, its own darkness, its own 
 nothingness. But in Jesus Christ, the God who saves, for¬ 
 gives, and relieves, who calls upon us to live in him, the God 
 who loves, the Father, tells us his name in a language which 
 we can understand, and which faith knows how to welcome. 
 
 Thus he who sees the living Jesus, sees the Father; he 
 who hears his words, hears the words of the Father; he who 
 contemplates his works, contemplates the works of the Father. 
 Nothing that Jesus speaks is born of human inspiration ; in the 
 least word of his lips he expresses the eternal thoughts of the 
 Father and his eternal words. Nothing that he does prdceeds 
 exclusively from human resolution ; his every action is the 
 accomplishment of the eternal will of the Father; being per¬ 
 formed through him by the Father dwelling and abiding in 
 him. 
 
 The humanity of Jesus realises the absolute ideal of. all 
 perfection. It is, in all its faculties, and in its very essence, 
 the pure expression of divinity. It shines with the brightness 
 of infinite wisdom, power, and love. The eternal and invisible 
 One becomes visible in it; and the believer, more wise than 
 Philip, can say as he contemplates it, “I see the. Father, and 
 it sufficeth me. 5 ' 
 
 The faith which Jesus requires of his followers is not to 
 be merely a barren sentiment, it is to be in them the main- 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 291 
 
 spring of divine works, attesting the divinity of him who is its 
 object: “ Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on' 
 me, the works that I do shall he do also ; and greater works 
 than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” 
 
 Between Jesus and his disciples faith creates a divine 
 communion. The believer lives no more, it is Jesus himself 
 who lives in him, who speaks through him, who works by 
 him. Hence is derived his power. And Jesus, reascended 
 to the Father in the glory and virtue of his triumphant 
 humanity, was to work through his disciples ever greater and 
 greater works; it was to be through them that he would con¬ 
 tinue the miracles necessary for the demonstration of truth, 
 conquer the gentile world, and break the stubborn sceptre of 
 evil upon earth. 
 
 He required of them, as his instruments, only two things, 
 prayer and faithfulness. Man, by himself, is of no avail in 
 the realization of the design of Providence; his strength is 
 nothing worth. He is possessed of no effective energy but 
 by the help of God ; and this is to be gained by prayer alone. 
 “ Pray ye therefore,” said Jesus unto them; “whatsoever ye 
 shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be 
 glorified in the Son. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, I 
 will do it.” Jesus was here speaking as the absolute Master, as 
 God. His manhood is ever the expression of his hidden 
 Godhead. Whereinsoever that humanity is engaged, when 
 the Son of man prays, suffers, and loses himself in the will of 
 the Father, his acts have an infinite value, by their substantial 
 union with God ; his prayer can do all things, his suffering 
 atone for all things, his sacrifice purify all things. “ Whatso¬ 
 ever ye shall ask, I will do it.” 
 
 But prayer will only be availing on , condition of being 
 inspired by the love of the believer for his Master; and he 
 will not love him if he have not faith. <( If ye love me, keep 
 
 U—2 
 
292 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 my commandments,” both those which ye have heard of me 
 while I have been with you, and those which I give you now 
 to-night. “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give 
 you another Paraclete , 1 2 that he may abide with you for ever .” 3 
 
 Jesus then prayed that that same Spirit who is in him and 
 in the Father, the eternal link between the one and the other, 
 the holy ointment of his humanity, the invisible agent of the 
 great work of salvation, might be given after his departure to his 
 disciples, that he might dwell in them for ever. He would 
 be their living comforter, their consolation, and their light. 
 
 “ Even the Spirit of truth ; whom the world cannot receive, 
 because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him : but ye know 
 him ; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” 
 
 He who has not experienced such words in his conscience 
 will not understand them ; his part is with the world ; the 
 Spirit of Jesus is alien to him, and he is refractory to it.. But 
 those who welcome its “ groanings that cannot be uttered ,” 3 
 those who draw life from its light, its impulses, its joys and 
 raptures, understand him and adore; it is to them, as well as 
 to the Eleven, that Jesus speaks. 
 
 “ I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. 
 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye 
 see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye 
 shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in 
 
 1 n apd<\r]Tos. It is hard to determine what is the Aramaic original 
 of this expression. But there is no doubt that the term chosen by the 
 only Evangelist in which it occurs is the equivalent of that which was 
 used by Jesus. In its literal meaning, UapaKXrjTos signifies “called,” or 
 “invoked,” and exactly corresponds to the Latin advocatus and the 
 French avocat. From this fundamental one flow naturally its other 
 meanings of Comforter, Counsellor, and Inspirer. 
 
 2 John xiv. 16, etc. 
 
 3 Romans viii. 26. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 293 
 
 
 you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, 
 he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved 
 of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself 
 to him.” 
 
 It is the faithful conscience and the heart of the believer 
 who keeps the words of Jesus to which the Kingdom of God 
 comes, and in which the manifestation of Christ is accom¬ 
 plished. 
 
 “ Lord,” said one disciple, no doubt thinking only of the 
 external splendour of the Messianic reign, “how is it that 
 thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world ? ” 1 
 Jesus told him the reason, namely, that the world does not 
 love him, and whoever loves not Jesus cannot know him. “ If 
 a man love me,” he said with emphasis, “ he will keep my 
 words : and my Father will love him, and we will come unto 
 him, and make our abode with him.” 
 
 It was not the first time that Jesus had revealed to his 
 disciples this Spirit who was to abide in them, and his in¬ 
 ward action upon their life. Already, when initiating them 
 into the apostolate, and when foretelling to them future 
 trial, persecution, and suffering, he had strengthened them 
 by the promise, that the Holy Spirit would be with them and 
 speak by their mouth. And now again, on the eve of quitting 
 them, he spoke to them of this Spirit, and showed him to them 
 as a personal being, distinct from the Father and distinct from 
 him, and as the eternal love with which the Father and the 
 Son are joined in love towards one another, and by which 
 they love those who welcome the word of the Son of God and 
 keep his commandments. Through him is realised the in¬ 
 effable union of the Father and the Son and the elect, which 
 is the final goal of the life of Jesus, of his every act and word. 
 
 “ The word which ye hear is not mine,” he said to the 
 Eleven, “ but the Father’s which sent me. These things 
 have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But 
 
 1 John xiv. 22, etc. 
 
294 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father 
 will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring 
 all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto 
 you.” 
 
 Such gifts can be neither promised nor conferred by man ; 
 his love creates nothing in the mind of others; and even to 
 those who accept it, it is not a personal principle of life, a 
 light, a charm, a virtue; it remains something external to 
 them, something sterile. But the love of God, the Spirit of 
 Jesus, creates, transforms, renews, and makes godlike 
 whatever soul he fills. In promising him to his disciples, 
 he could say to them, “ Peace I leave with you, my peace 
 I give unto you ; not as the world giveth, give I unto you.” 
 The world’s peace is deceitful, he seems to say ; it is frail 
 and superficial, vain and empty; but my peace has its 
 fountain-head in my Father’s love, and in my own ; it is 
 unchangeable, profound, and absolute. 
 
 All that man can know of God, of his life, his being, 
 his will, and his purposes, of him whom Jesus called his 
 Father, the heavenly Father who is in secret ; all that he can 
 know of the nature of the Son of God, of his eternal relation 
 with the Principle from whence he emanates, and in which 
 he has eternally his being: all that he can know of the Spirit, 
 of that ineffable and infinite love with which the Father and 
 the Son love one another ; the most profound idea of religion, 
 of the work of Jesus, of the Kingdom of God, appearing as 
 the union of all the elect with God the Father, and with the 
 glorified Son of man, in the same Spirit of truth and love: 
 all this is summed up in the confidences which we have just 
 heard. From thence has sprung the Christian theodicy, 
 which, through the enlightening testimony of Jesus, has 
 surpassed the highest conception of Greek philosophy, while 
 unable to exhaust the countless treasures of the Master’s 
 teaching. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 295 
 
 This doctrine is not proved by arguments, by definitions 
 and divisions ; it is no mere series of abstractions, but a 
 simple and living word ; expressing in the universal language 
 what Jesus felt, and saw, and loved ; every mind can receive 
 it, if it will but listen It strikes with blindness the pre¬ 
 sumptuous reason which aspires to be its critic ; but it dazzles 
 with a supernatural brightness the simple soul which 
 experiences its truth and tastes its savour. It has been 
 entrusted to men whose only genius was the genius of belief 
 and love. Their ignorance is the guarantee for the authen¬ 
 ticity of the teachings which they have bequeathed to us, 
 and which bear the impress of human infirmity as little as 
 they do that of human wisdom. 
 
 When a man comes to his deathbed he thinks of his 
 sins, and, at the thought of the God who is to judge him, 
 trembles and begs for pardon. The fate which awaits him 
 remains in mystery. What can he do to be sure of the 
 morrow ? Who can secure him against the inexorable power 
 of time, against all the unknown and unconquerable obstacles 
 which his memory, his disciples, and his work will have to 
 face ? However great may be his confidence in himself and 
 in the future, he is obliged to leave everything in the hands 
 of him whose power and wisdom can bring all things to pass, 
 and whose eternal purposes are beyond his ken. 
 
 Such is not the case with Jesus ; with him there is no 
 repentance, no terror before God. He has always been 
 beloved of the Father. His death is only a return to 
 him from whom he came. He goes to receive as Son of 
 man, in the house of his Father, the glory which he enjoys 
 eternally as Son of God. All that he has left behind him 
 will live and flourish. He remains present, though unseen, in 
 his disciples, and will accomplish through them, and in them, 
 the holy work of the Kingdom. Neither time nor the world 
 with its Satanic energy and hatred will prevail against his 
 
296 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 own ; he has conquered time and the world, and, through 
 reliance upon him, his apostles from age to age will carry on 
 the victory. 
 
 “ Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 
 Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come 
 again unto you. I go away unto the Father, but I come 
 again invisibly by the Spirit. If ye loved me, ye would 
 rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father : for my Father 
 is greater than I. And now I have told you before it come 
 to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.” 
 
 The time was passing rapidly. The hour of suffering and 
 death was drawing nigh. “ Hereafter I will not talk much 
 with you,” said Jesus sadly, “ for the Prince of this world 
 cometh.” Judas, the traitor, and those who were preparing 
 to seize him, were to Jesus only the instruments of him whom 
 he calls the Prince of this world. He comes, “ but he hath 
 nothing in me.” Thus, although freed from all evil, he was 
 about to be treated as a malefactor. He saw in his fa-te his 
 Father’s ordinance. “ It is necessary,” he added, “ that the 
 world may know that I love the Father -; and as the Father 
 gave me commandment, even so I do.” Then he said, 
 resolutely, “ Arise, let us go hence .” 1 
 
 1 John xiv. 30, 31, 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 FROM THE SUPPER-ROOM TO GETHSEMANE. 
 
 They rose from table ; and, as the custom was, standing, 
 recited the end of the “ Hallel,” that is, the Psalms 1 re¬ 
 calling the exodus from Egypt, the passage of the Red Sea, 
 the proclamation of the Law, and the resurrection and suffer¬ 
 ings of the Messiah. Jesus saw in them a picture of his own 
 destiny, his struggles, his death, and triumph . 2 The hymn 
 finished, the Master, surrounded by the Eleven, left the 
 supper-room, and set out towards the Mount of Olives. The 
 house in which the Passover had been celebrated was situated 
 on Mount Sion. He must, therefore, have gone out of the 
 city by one of the southern gates, and taken his way towards 
 Gethsemane across the slopes of Ophel, through gardens and 
 vineyards. 
 
 It was now the depth of night, one of those calm, bright, 
 star-spangled nights of the East. As they went Jesus gave one 
 more proof of his inexhaustible lovingkindness. He wished 
 his disciples not only to believe in him, but to be in him, and 
 dwell in him. All his thoughts were centred upon such an 
 union. Was it not to draw the whole world to himself and to 
 his Father that he had come, that he had lived, that he was 
 about to die ? As he journeyed on and saw the vines which 
 filled the gardens already shooting forth their first branches, 
 he said : 
 
 1 Ps. cxiii., cxv., cxvi., cxvii. 
 
 2 Pesah , fol. i, 8, i. 
 
 297 
 
298 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 “ I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman . 1 
 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away; 
 and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may 
 bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word 
 which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. 
 As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in 
 the vine ; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the 
 vine, ye are the branches : He that abideth in me, and I in 
 him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye 
 can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth 
 as a branch, and is withered ; and men gather them, and cast 
 them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, 
 and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it 
 shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that 
 ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.” 
 
 Of all the parables which Jesus loved to employ in 
 explaining the mysteries of the eternal life, that of the‘vine 
 and the branches is perhaps the most beautiful; none 
 expresses with more felicity and force the profound, intimate, 
 and necessary relation between Jesus and his disciples. His 
 lovingkindness took delight in interpreting it. 
 
 He wished the Eleven to know that he was to them the 
 Principle of Life. They live in him and through him alone. 
 The sap flows from him into those who are incorporated in 
 him, as the branch is in the stem. Every branch that does 
 not hold to that blessed stem is dead. This was shown by the 
 example of the faithless disciple ; as he had not lived in union 
 with the Master, he had been cut off. But the green and living 
 branches must be pruned ; for this is the Law of sacrifice. 
 No member of Christ, that mysterious stem, can escape it ; 
 the more vigorous he is, the more must he be tried. The 
 Father, who is the husbandman, will demand of him much 
 
 1 John xv, i } etc. 
 
TIIE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 299 
 
 fruit, and he can bear more fruit only on condition of greater 
 sacrifice. 
 
 To multiply the disciples of Jesus, to win from them 
 heroic virtues, to spread over the whole earth the vine which 
 he has planted, to prune its branches, to ripen the fruit which 
 is to be crushed in the winepress and is to furnish the new 
 wine of the Kingdom—this is the work of the Father among 
 mankind, which he is resolved to save. 
 
 At this moment the soul of Jesus overflowed with infinite 
 love. “ As the Father hath loved me,” he said, “ so have I 
 loved you : continue ye in my love. If ye keep my command¬ 
 ments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my 
 Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things 
 have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, 
 and that your joy might be full.” 1 
 
 Whosoever is filled with the divine love, experiences peace, 
 happiness, and satisfaction. It sheds a calm in him upon the 
 aspirations with which every soul is harassed, for they are 
 conquered by that charity “ which passeth all understanding, 
 and keeps our hearts and minds.” 2 We may picture to 
 ourselves, as we read these still-glowing pages, how great was 
 the emotion of the disciples of Jesus, when on that starlit 
 journey into the valley of Cedron, he expressed his bound¬ 
 less affection towards them. “ This is my commandment,” he 
 said, “That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” 3 
 
 The thought of his approaching death crossed his mind ; 
 this time he saw in it only the trial of his love for his own, 
 and he spoke yet more tenderly : “ Greater love hath no man 
 than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye 
 are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” Here 
 
 1 John xv. 11. 
 
 2 Philipp, iv. 7. 
 
 3 John xv. 12. 
 
300 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 he dwelt upon the word “ friends.” “ Henceforth I call you 
 not servants ; for the servant knoweth not what his lord 
 doeth : but I have called you friends; for all things that 
 I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” 
 
 Confidence is proportioned to love : if the one is perfect the 
 other is so also. Here we have perfect love ; for even as the 
 Father loved his Son and revealed all things unto him, so the 
 Son loved the men whom he had chosen, and made known 
 unto them all that he had heard from the Father. The work 
 of creation is the least of the works of God; and the 
 constitution of the universe has been set as a problem for 
 solution by the sagacity of human genius ; 1 but the work of 
 the Redemption of the world by the Incarnation of the Son 
 of God, by his sufferings and his death, by the pouring out 
 of his Spirit upon all flesh ; this, the most necessary and the 
 most holy of all works, since it consummates all, this work 
 which shows us infinite wisdom, goodness, and power at their 
 greatest; is made known to us by faith alone, and the revela¬ 
 tion which Jesus made of it to his friends. 
 
 Let them not be puffed up ; they are what they are by 
 grace alone. 2 Jesus said to them : “Ye have not chosen me, 
 but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go 
 and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: 
 that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he 
 may give it you.” 
 
 Jesus calls his own, and they come to him ; his choice is 
 the principle of their new life. Their destiny is a mighty one : 
 to cover the world ; to produce upon the face of the earth 
 the fruits of divine virtue ; but their strength is divine like¬ 
 wise. The Father watches over them ; they will ask of him, 
 in the name of Jesus, all their desire, and the Father will give 
 it them. 
 
 1 Eccles. iii. II. 
 
 2 I. Cor. xv. io. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 301 
 
 Jesus said to them again, as though he could not repeat it 
 often enough : “ These things I command you, that ye love one 
 another.” This is the sum of all; in their dispersal throughout 
 a world where hatred awaits them, they will find in it strength, 
 and joy, and peace. With this hatred, this hellish spirit of 
 lost mankind, Jesus would fain acquaint his disciples, for it 
 is not to be avoided ; he went on to picture it to them, and to 
 strengthen them against its assaults; and thus, however 
 terrible, they will overcome it. 
 
 “ These things I command you, that ye love one another. 
 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it 
 hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his 
 own : but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen 
 you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” The 
 world, in the language of Jesus, is mankind in subjection to 
 the power of evil. All that is therein is vanity, lust, and 
 pride ; selfishness is at once its principle, its law, its aim ; it 
 prefers itself to all things, even to God ; it wishes to reign, 
 tyrannize, and enjoy. To insure success it will stop at 
 nothing; it is ready for all stratagems, all tyranny, all 
 violence, all crime. And it is because Jesus is the only 
 human being in absolute opposition to the world in this sense, 
 that all this mass of hatred was heaped up against him, 
 hatred which was at bottom the hatred of God and goodness. 
 It was likewise to descend to his disciples. “ Remember,” 
 said he, “ the word that I said unto you, The servant is not 
 greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will 
 also persecute you ; if they have kept my saying, they will 
 keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you 
 for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent 
 me.’' 
 
 Such hatred on the part of the world Jesus had encoun¬ 
 tered in its most horrible form, among the Jewish people, in the 
 In’pocrisy of a false zeal, a false piety, and a perverted religion. 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 302 
 
 The thought of those who were guilty of it moved him deeply. 
 “ If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had 
 sin : but now they have no cloke for their sin. He that hateth 
 me hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them 
 the works which none other man did, they had not had sin : 
 but now have they both seen and hated both me and my 
 Father.” 
 
 4 
 
 These words, in their piercing sadness, lay bare all the 
 unbelief of the Jews to its lowest depths. These official 
 representatives of religious truth, and of the holy Law and 
 ritual, it is Jesus who says it, were ignorant of God and did 
 not love him. If they had loved the Father, they would have 
 welcomed Jesus, whom he sent; and if they had loved God, 
 they would have loved him who came to them with 
 his words, and performed in their midst his holy works. 
 Their hypocritical religion was but the cloak of minds void of 
 faith and souls in bondage to the power of evil. In rejecting 
 Jesus, they had realised the words of the prophet: “They 
 hated me without a cause,” 1 but the Father welcomes his Son, 
 although rejected and reviled. “When'the Comforter is 
 come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the 
 Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall 
 testify of me.” 2 He will give him not only the eternity of his 
 glory, he will exalt him even in this world. The last word 
 on earth shall not be on the side of error and hatred, but 
 on the side of truth and love. 
 
 “ And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with 
 me from the beginning.” 3 The Spirit of truth seized upon a 
 few disciples who had been witnesses of the whole life of their 
 Master, to found the Church ; and hardly was the Church 
 created before she began to publish to the four winds of 
 heaven the holiness, justice, goodness, and divinity of Jesus. 
 
 1 Ps. xxxv. 19, 
 
 2 John xv. 26. 
 
 3 John xv. 27. ’• 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 303 
 
 Her voice, which thunders ever louder as the ages roll on, has 
 overpowered all insults, whether of the blasphemy of the 
 Jews or the unbelief of these later ages. Nothing has been 
 strong enough to stifle or restrain it. On those ears which 
 are full of the moans, the murmurs, and the cries of 
 mankind, it falls as the strongest, the most harmonious, 
 the most holy, the most unfaltering of voices : it has 
 within it the strength of the martyr, the holiness of virtue, the 
 grandeur of genius, and the indestructibility of faith. No 
 other man in all the earth has ever found himself compassed 
 about with such testimony and such acclamation. 
 
 When Jesus had given his disciples a divine hope for 
 their encouragement, and had then shown them how his per¬ 
 secutors, in their wickedness, stood ready to turn upon them 
 all that tide of hatred of which he was to be the first to taste, 
 he added : “ These things have I spoken unto you, that ye 
 should not be offended. They shall put you out of the syna¬ 
 gogues : yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you 
 will think that he doeth God service. And these things will 
 they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, 
 nor me. But these things have I told you, that when the 
 time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. 
 And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, 
 because I was with you. 1 
 
 Whatsoever Jesus in his last confidences committed to 
 his disciples, is of the deepest import. He had often spoken 
 to them of the Father and of the Spirit, taught them their 
 duties, and showed them his affection and his tenderness ; 
 but never as he had done to-day. In forming them for this 
 apostolate, he had told them already of persecution and 
 hatred : he now proceeded to reveal to them a new and most 
 painful detail. It was. not the Gentiles by whom they were 
 
 1 John xvi. 1, etc. 
 
304 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 to be persecuted, it was the people of God. Those authorities, 
 whom they regarded with the veneration due to holiness, 
 those very anointed ones of God, who spoke from their 
 elevated place in the seat of Moses, after first rejecting Jesus, 
 were to persecute them without mercy. It was in the name 
 of God himself that they were to be hated, excommunicated, 
 and put to death. 
 
 There is a certain consolation in falling by the hands of 
 those who deny and hate God ; but to suffer and be persecuted 
 by a religious authority which is false to its mission, to be 
 slaughtered by it as blasphemers of the God whom we are 
 praising, as destroyers of the worship which we are purifying 
 that is the most cruel of all martyrdoms. Such martyrdom 
 Jesus endured, and such his faithful disciples must under¬ 
 go. The Eleven were fully warned, and the remembrance of 
 their Master’s words gave them courage when he was no more. 
 
 The disciples could not shake off the thought of separa¬ 
 tion which returned incessantly to their minds, in all its 
 sadness, but Jesus comforted them again ; he had wished to 
 bathe them in the rapture with which he himself was thrilling 
 as he went unto his Father; but they were thinking only of 
 the feeling of loneliness which his departure was about to cast 
 upon them. Jesus said to them : “ Now I go my way to him 
 that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest 
 thou ? But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow 
 hath filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth ; It 
 is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the 
 Comforter will not come unto you ; but if I depart, I will 
 send him unto you.” 1 
 
 While Jesus yet lived, in voluntary submission to the laws 
 of our suffering, passive, mortal humanity, he was none the 
 less filled with the Spirit, and the Spirit shone upon all those 
 
 1 John xvi. 5, etc. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 305 
 
 who approached him. At the same time the very laws which 
 bounded in his human nature seemed to form some restraint 
 upon its influence. Before it could become all-encompassing, 
 sovereign, and universal, the humanity which was its 
 home must enter into a state of universal and triumphant 
 sovereignty. Then, from the bosom of the Father, where it 
 would reign in glory, it would pour out the Spirit in all its 
 fulness; and the work of sanctification, consolation, and 
 strengthening would be inaugurated; such was his com¬ 
 forting promise to them. 
 
 “ And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, 
 and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they 
 believe not on me ; of righteousness, because I go to my 
 Father, and ye see me no more; of judgment, because the 
 Prince of this world is judged .” 1 
 
 In these three words, pregnant as they are with un¬ 
 fathomable mystery, we see the full operation of the Holy 
 Spirit and the victory which he was to win over the world 
 through the disciples of Jesus. 
 
 The world, both Gentile and Jewish, does not recognise 
 its sinful state; but in refusing to rally to Jesus it will see 
 this state immeasurably aggravated, and the world will be 
 thus convinced of sin. To be delivered from evil, it must 
 believe on the only Saviour; and this faith, which by the 
 influence of the Spirit is to become the faith of a holy people 
 innumerable, will prove to all that Christ is the fountain-head 
 of holiness and of every virtue. Again, the world knows 
 nothing of righteousness, the righteousness which makes man 
 perfect and pleasing in the sight of God. It exists originally 
 and in the full sense of the word only in one Being alone, 
 him whom the Jews condemned as a malefactor. But the 
 Spirit of God, which drew Jesus away from death and from 
 this world of sin, to draw him up into heaven, to the right 
 
 1 John xvi. 8, etc. 
 VOL. II. 
 
 X 
 
306 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 
 hand of the Father, which leaped from him like a flame to 
 set the world on fire; this Spirit would prove, to all those 
 who should be willing to see, where righteousness abides. 
 The world knows not upon whom the judgment falls, it 
 thinks itself master, and does not suspect that the principle 
 on which it leans, the chief to whom it clings, in its dis¬ 
 ordered and perverse activity, are condemned by God. 
 
 It is not Jesus, it is evil that is overcome; he has struck 
 it down by his death. The Spirit, by drawing more and more 
 souls away from the tyranny of sin, will, as the ages roll 
 on, bear witness to this defeat, and convict the world of 
 judgment. Every holy man is, like his Master, a living 
 witness to testify that Satan is conquered. 
 
 After having confided to his disciples so many truths 
 which they could only half understand, Jesus paused : “ I 
 have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear 
 them now .” 1 Even in his reticence he proved his love to 
 them. “ Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he 
 will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of him¬ 
 self ; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak : and 
 he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for 
 he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All 
 things that the Father hath are mine : therefore said I, that 
 he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you.” 
 
 It is he, in fact, who must initiate the apostles fully into 
 what St. Paul termed “the mystery of Jesus ,” 2 into what 
 Jesus terms “all truth.” He will make them understand the 
 universal redemption by the death of the Messiah, the aboli¬ 
 tion of the religion of Moses, the rejection of Israel, the call 
 of the Gentiles, and the sublime evolution of the Kingdom of 
 God. 
 
 1 John xvi. 12. 
 
 2 Eph. iii. 4, etc. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 30 ; 
 
 The last moments were flying fast. “ A little while, and 
 ye shall not sec me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see 
 me, because I go to the Father .” 1 
 
 Enigmatical words these, alluding obscurely to the short 
 period of death and burial, during which Jesus was to dis¬ 
 appear from the eyes of his saddened and dispersed disciples, 
 leaving hardly a ray of hope and faith, and then to the 
 glorious period of his life after the resurrection, during which 
 Jesus would appear to his followers to console them and 
 instruct them once again, before finally returning to his 
 Father to send down to them the Spirit. The Eleven did 
 not understand ; they asked one another in silence what the 
 Master meant. He explained himself to them. 
 
 “ Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and 
 lament, but the world shall rejoice : and ye shall be sorrowful, 
 but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman when 
 she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come : but 
 as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no 
 more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. 
 And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, 
 and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh 
 from you. And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, 
 verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in 
 my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked 
 nothing in my name : ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy 
 may be full.” 
 
 While Jesus was with his own, it was to him that they 
 betook themselves ; he was their counsellor, their comfort, 
 their visible happiness. When he was gone his Spirit was to 
 take his place. He was to live by that Spirit in their souls, 
 and they should have no more need to question him. For¬ 
 merly, he had spoken to them of divine things in parables ; in 
 such figurative language as veiled the truth even while it 
 
 1 John xvi. 16, etc. 
 
 X—2 
 
3°8 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 revealed it; but the Spirit whom he would send was to tear 
 away the veil, and, in a language which no ear may hear, and 
 which no lip can utter, he would impart to them the mysteries 
 of God. He should be a Master within them, who should in¬ 
 spire them with all that might be needful, and enlighten them 
 with all brightness ; when once they had received his Spirit, 
 the apostles and the faithful would, like Jesus, obtain all things 
 from the Father. That is the true and the only efficacious 
 prayer. It is not we who pray, it is the Spirit of Jesus 
 that prays in us. What the Gentile and the Jew called 
 prayer was merely a human supplication ; it had not its source 
 in eternal love ; it could not find access to the love of the 
 Father, and this was the secret of its barrenness. But the 
 prayer of Jesus is always efficacious, for the Father, who hears 
 him, loves us. 
 
 “ At that day ye shall ask in my name : and I say not 
 unto you, that I will pray the Father for you : for the Father 
 himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have-be¬ 
 lieved that I came out from God. I came forth from the 
 Father, and am come into the world : again, I leave the world, 
 and go to the Father.” These few words sum up the whole 
 being and the whole history of the eternal Son of God. He 
 was not, as we are, born out of nothingness ; he proceeded 
 from the Father, begotten from eternity; he came into this 
 world, incarnating his divine form in our suffering and mortal 
 human nature ; now, by death, he leaves this world, and in 
 dying puts off from him infirmity and mortality, to go to 
 the Father, who will clothe him again, even in his human form, 
 with his glory and his power. 
 
 At this the Eleven were dazzled and delighted. The Mas¬ 
 ter had divined their secret thoughts and doubts ; his words 
 appeared to them in all their clearness. They exclaimed : 
 “ Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. 
 Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest 
 not that any man should ask thee : by this we believe that 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 309 
 
 thou earnest forth from God .” 1 The divinity of Jesus shone 
 in them and upon them ; here was faith such as the Master 
 desired. When he heard so unmistakable an expression 
 of it from his followers, he must have been overjoyed. “ Do 
 ye now believe ? ” he said ; but the prospect of the future 
 and of a threatening future made him add with sadness : 
 “ Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall 
 be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me 
 alone : and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with 
 me. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye 
 might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation : 
 but be of good cheer ; I have overcome the world.” 2 With 
 these words of triumph and perfect confidence the discourse 
 was ended. 
 
 1 John xvi. 29, etc. 
 
 a John xvi. 32, 33. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE PRAYER OF JESUS. HIS AGONY. HIS ARREST. 
 
 As Jesus was on his way with the Eleven towards Geth- 
 semane, they came into the valley of the Cedron, the same 
 which the Scripture calls “The Valley of Shaveh” or “The 
 
 King’s Dale .” 1 There Abraham had met Melchizedek, 
 
 « ’ * 
 
 king of Salem, who made an offering of bread and wine to 
 God and blessed the father of the faithful . 2 There David, 
 flying from the anger of Absalom, had passed, bare-footed 
 and with covered head, in the company of his faithful 
 servants, on his flight into the desert . 3 A brook, now dried 
 up, flowed in the bottom of the valley, and went to swell 
 the stream Bir-Eyoub, on the other side of Siloam, which 
 becomes in the rainy season an angry torrent, rushing head¬ 
 long toward the Dead Sea, across a burning and calcined soil, 
 in which it sinks and is lost. 
 
 Nothing could be sadder or more solitary than this narrow 
 Wady, with its funeral monuments : the tombs of Absalom 
 Jehoshaphat, and Zachariah, and the sepulchres covering all 
 its eastern slope. It was, we may suppose, in front of these 
 burial-places that Jesus stopped. Before offering himself, he 
 who was the eternal victim and the eternal priest, addressed 
 to his Father the prayer which contains the whole virtue and 
 spirit of his sacrifice. 
 
 1 Gen. xiv. 5, 17. 
 
 2 Gen. xiv. 18. 
 
 3 II. Sam. xv. 11. 
 
 310 
 
TIIE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 31 I 
 
 He prayed aloud, for the Eleven must be initiated into this 
 sacrifice, his greatest work ; and after having, as was always 
 his custom, lifted up his eyes to heaven, he said : 
 
 “ Father, the hour is come ; glorify thy Son, that thy Son 
 also may glorify thee i 1 as thou hast given him power over 
 all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou 
 hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might 
 know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou 
 hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth : I have finished 
 the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, 
 glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I 
 had with thee before the world was. I have manifested thy 
 name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world : 
 thine they were, and thou gavest them me ; and they have 
 kept thy word. Now they have known that all things what¬ 
 soever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto 
 them the words which thou gavest me ; and they have re¬ 
 ceived them, and have known surely that I came out from 
 thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. 
 
 “ I pray for them : I pray not for the world, but for them 
 which thou hast given me ; for they are thine. And all mine 
 arc thine, and thine are ijiine ; and I am glorified in them. 
 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the 
 world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine 
 own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be 
 one, as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept 
 them in thy name : those that thou gavest me I have kept, 
 and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition ; that the 
 scripture might be fulfilled. 
 
 “ And now come I to thee ; and these things I speak in 
 
 1 John xvii. 1, etc. 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 312 
 
 the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 
 I have given them thy word ; and the world hath hated them, 
 because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the 
 world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the 
 world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They 
 are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify 
 them through thy truth : thy word is truth. As thou hast 
 sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the 
 world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also 
 might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for 
 these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me 
 through their word : 
 
 “ That they all may be one ; as thou, Father, art in me, 
 and I in thee, that they also may be one in us : that the world 
 may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which 
 thou gavest me I have given them ; that they may be one, 
 even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, thaf they 
 may be made perfect in one ; and that the world may know 
 that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast 
 loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast 
 given me, be with me where I am ; that they may behold my 
 glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before 
 the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world 
 hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have 
 known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto 
 them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith 
 thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.” 
 
 This prayer of Jesus is vaster than the earth and the worlds, 
 above all the ages, mightier than the visible heaven to which 
 he raised his eyes ; it is as infinite and eternal as the God 
 to whom it is addressed, as the love by which it is inspired, 
 as the supplications which are formulated in it, as the divine 
 forces which it set in motion. 
 
TIIE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 313 
 
 Jesus, who was the Lord and Master “ of all flesh,” to the 
 end that he might communicate eternal Life to all those 
 whom the Father had given to him, prayed that the will of 
 God might be accomplished in him and in mankind. It was 
 the design of God to associate with his own life the in¬ 
 telligences which he had created in his own image, to be 
 glorified by them by the revealing himself to them in truth, 
 and to reign in them by the Spirit of infinite love. Jesus had 
 already begun the work ; he had rallied his elect to the 
 faith. They had accepted his teaching, they knew the name 
 of the Father, they knew that he was himself the Son of God, 
 proceeding from the Father and sent by him. He prayed 
 now to be glorified, and to receive the glory which he had 
 with God, before the world was. 
 
 To be recognised as the Son of God, and equal to the 
 Father, was the greatest glory, the only glory, that Jesus 
 sought among men. And it would be given him. No other 
 besides him was to be called the Son of God. When Jesus 
 prayed to his Father he was always heard. He was about to 
 pass through death to resurrection, to leave this earth by a 
 glorious ascension, and, although himself invisible, and 
 triumphing in a transfigured, immortal, sovereign humanity, 
 to carry on, through the Spirit whom he had promised to 
 send, the realisation of the Kingdom of God. 
 
 As he prayed for himself, so also he prayed for his dis¬ 
 ciples. He would henceforth be with them no more to guard 
 them ; he asked the Father to guard them in his name. 
 Although they must remain in the midst of this world which 
 hates them, for his sake, they had nothing to fear: the 
 strength of the Father should be theirs. This is an evil 
 world ; they were not of it; since they had believed in his 
 words they were in the Father and in him. Jesus prayed 
 that they might be kept from evil, and that they might be 
 sanctified. As he had been before them, they were sent into 
 the world as victims ; he wished that they should be absorbed 
 
3 14 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 . 
 
 in fulfilling the Father’s will, that they should love each other 
 as the Father and the Son love each other, that they should 
 be one as the Father and the Son are one. In this world, 
 where egoism parts all asunder and arms individuals against 
 one another, he prayed that they might have for one another 
 the bond of charity, and that the great sign of his divine 
 mission might be shown in them. And his prayer extended 
 to all his future disciples. He looked beyond the barriers of 
 time and space, and saw them scattered over the earth; and 
 he prayed the Father that, in spite of time and whatsoever 
 else divides, they might be one, even as the Father and the 
 Son are one. This immense and holy unity on which is 
 founded the eternal family of believers, should be the proof 
 that the Father loved them as he loved his Son Jesus. 
 
 He prayed lastly, that all those whom the Father had 
 given him might be with him where he is, in one heaven 
 and one immortality ; he wished it, he said with emphasis, 
 as a Son sure of expressing the will of the Father, and 
 
 9 
 
 fully empowered to represent him. He wished that all should 
 see his glory, and that, seeing it, they should dwell in eternal 
 Life ; for the glory of the Son of God is to know his Father, 
 and to be known and loved of him. 
 
 Thus should he realise the work of eternal wisdom and 
 eternal goodness. The prayer of Jesus is the indwelling and 
 motive force of his Kingdom ; it penetrates within us, it 
 brings us into that unity which must be the constituent of the 
 family of spirits associated together in the life of God. 
 While the world is swept along in the troubled earthly 
 vortex, the chosen souls shake themselves free, at Christ’s 
 summons, from the grasp of evil, and all unite in him who 
 is their deliverer. 
 
 When his prayer was ended, Jesus crossed the Cedron . 1 
 
 1 John xviii. I. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 3 15 
 
 “ All ye shall be offended,” said he to his disciples, “ because 
 of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, 
 and the sheep shall be scattered . 1 But after that I am risen, 
 I will go before you into Galilee.” Peter was moved. The 
 Master had already prophesied to him his denial a few hours 
 before, but he could not believe it. He cried, “ Though all 
 shall be offended, yet will not I.” And Jesus said unto him, 
 “ Verily I say unto thee, that this day, even in this night, 
 before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice.” But 
 Peter only replied the more vehemently, “ If I should die 
 with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise,” and all the 
 Eleven renewed loudly their protestations of fidelity. 
 
 Then they went along the left side of the stream, and, 
 treading in their Master’s footsteps, followed the valley right 
 upwards to the Mount of Olives. The gardens at Jerusalem, 
 as in most Eastern towns, were not within the city boundaries, 
 but lay all around the walls, principally on the western slope 
 of the Mount of Olives. At the foot of this hill, a hundred 
 yards from the left bank of the torrent, there was a garden 
 called Gethsemane. Jesus often retired thither in the evening 
 with his disciples to pray ; he must have passed many nights 
 there on his different visits to Jerusalem. The place is sad 
 and solitary, and seems to breathe the spirit of austerity and 
 religion. Towards the west nothing is seen beneath the sky 
 but the great walls of the Temple, the summits of sacred 
 buildings, and the sombre tower of f^ntonia. To the right 
 are the scarped sides of Mount Scopus, to the left the valley of 
 Jchoshaphat with its tombs. 
 
 Jesus loved this solitary garden ; he wished to pray there 
 for the last time, and to be crushed there with affliction, as 
 the olives were crushed in the presses of Gethsemane . 2 lie 
 entered into the enclosure with the Eleven , 3 and said to them, 
 
 1 Zech. xiii. 7. 
 
 2 Gethsemane is the Hebrew for an olive-press. 
 
 8 Matt. xxvi. 36, etc.; Mark xiv. 32, etc.; Luke xxii. 40, etc. 
 
3 1 6 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 “ Sit ye here, while I go and pray.” He took with him Peter, 
 James, and John, and went with them a stone’s throw 
 apart. 
 
 Then he began to be sorrowful: he became sore amazed, 
 and very heavy. “ My soul is exceeding sorrowful,” he said, 
 “ even unto death ; tarry ye here, and watch with me.” And 
 he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed 
 that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 
 And he said, “ Abba, Father, all things are possible unto 
 thee ; take away this cup from me : nevertheless not what I 
 will, but what thou wilt.” And he came, and found them, 
 sleeping, and said unto Peter, “ Simon, sleepest thou ? 
 couldest not thou watch one hour? Watch ye and pray, lest 
 ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the 
 flesh is weak.” This remark, when addressed to the Eleven, 
 was profoundly significant, for as far as spirit and will are 
 concerned they did not hesitate to follow their Master to the 
 death; but the burden of matter which weighed upofi their 
 spirit made them begin to sink already. Jesus went away a 
 second time, and said, “ O my Father, if this cup may not 
 pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.” 
 Then he returned, and found them asleep again, for their eyes 
 were heavy, and they did not know what to answer him. 
 
 He left them again, and prayed a third time, saying 
 “ Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me : 
 nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” And there 
 appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. 
 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly ; and his 
 sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the 
 ground. And when he rose up from prayer, and was come 
 a third time to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sor¬ 
 row, and said unto them, “ Sleep on now, and take your rest.” 
 
 Such, according to the three first Evangelists, is the 
 authentic narrative of the prayer and agony of Jesus at 
 Gethsemane. The mythical school of critics will not dare to 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 3 17 
 
 pretend that it has been imagined for the glory of Jesus. 
 Heathens, such as Celsus and Julian, have found a difficulty 
 in what they called his weakness before death ; and the 
 Docetae, who loathed the idea of humanity in Christ, struck 
 it out of the Gospels. But the scene at Gethsemane is in 
 reality one of the grandest and, to anyone who can under¬ 
 stand it, one of the most touching. 
 
 Never before, in all his life, had Jesus shown to his most 
 intimate disciples such an agony. As he passed the Cedron, 
 and crossed the threshold of the garden of Olives, the serenity 
 of his soul was darkened, and he was seized with inexpressible 
 anguish. At the very moment when his passion and suffering 
 was about to begin he was troubled, afraid, and weak, 
 and grew sad at the prospect of death. But a little while 
 before he had been hastening towards death, and praying for 
 it to his Father as the means of glorifying him. Once he had 
 called it his cup, and said that he was eager to drink it. 
 He had called it his baptism, and said, “ How am I straitened 
 till I be baptised.” Now he cried in distress, “ P'ather, if it be 
 possible, let this cup pass from me.” 
 
 What meant this inward conflict? Did the will of Jesus 
 grow weak before that of his P'ather? Was he shaken in his 
 resolve to die? No ; for in the bitterest of the struggle which 
 overwhelmed him, he said, “ Father, thy will be done, not 
 mine.” But the will is not the whole man : even in those 
 who are filled with God and obey him unreservedly, there are 
 a number of sensitive faculties which abhor pain ; there is an 
 instinct of self-preservation, a desire to live, which battles 
 against death. These sensitive faculties and this desire to 
 live had in Jesus, as had all other faculties essential to man, 
 their full development. He might have freed himself from 
 pain and from all loathing of death, but he would not do so. 
 It was by suffering and death that he was truly man ; it was by 
 them that he was “ the Lamb of God that taketh away the 
 sins of the world.” He was to suffer and to die ; and all the 
 
3 i8 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 bitterness that suffering can contain, all the terror that is 
 meant by death, he would accept. So far from averting 
 torture, God, who was in him, would add to it infinity. 
 
 Man does not know the sufferings which await him ; Jesus 
 saw his beforehand. The whole drama passed before his 
 eyes: the treason, the abandonment by his followers, the 
 scourging, the buffets, the spitting, the mockery, the blows, 
 the condemnation with all its unjustice, the horrible and 
 ignominious death. Besides his own sufferings he saw all 
 those with which throughout all the ages his beloved disciples, 
 those in whom he should live, with whom he should be 
 one, were to be tortured for his sake. A stream of blood 
 flowed from him, a very ocean rolled about him. Thus 
 the sins of the world were washed away. 
 
 The sin which could evoke such agonies appeared to him 
 more terrible still. His human conscience bore its whole 
 weight. The contemplation of moral evil is the most painful 
 experience that a holy being can undergo. Jesus had known 
 it in all its hideousness ; in its beginning, its development, 
 and final damnation. He had gauged that inextinguishable 
 hatred which sets alight the fire of judgment. He had taken 
 upon him, said one prophet, “ the iniquity of us all .” 1 He 
 had made it his own in that black hour of Gethsemane ; he 
 had drunk all its shame. The torrents of evil overflowed 
 him. 
 
 He would have died if the strength of God, the same that 
 delivered him from his agony, had not held him up to reserve 
 him for yet further sufferings. His was not the cold sweat of 
 the dying ; but, under the weight that crushed him, a strange 
 and unheard of sweat came over him, like drops of blood 
 falling upon the earth. He wished this scene to be witnessed 
 by three of his disciples, in order that we might know through 
 them into what an abyss of agony the will of his Father had 
 
 1 Isaiah liii. 6. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 319 
 
 hurled him ; that we might learn after him how to suffer, how 
 to be resigned, and how to love. When man finds himself 
 face to face with the sacrifices which duty requires of him, and 
 which are imposed by the will of God, he hardens himself, or 
 he is exalted or succumbs. Sometimes, in his stoical hardi¬ 
 hood, he will affect to be unconscious of his suffering, and say 
 to pain “ Thou art not.” It is a lie. Sometimes he will be rapt 
 above sense, and filled, as some martyrs have been filled, with 
 an intoxication of ecstasy which does not suffer him to feel 
 pain. A vulgar mind, again, when overwhelmed with misfor¬ 
 tune, will give way, and desert duty and reject the will of 
 God in order to escape torture and death. 
 
 Jesus showed himself truly human ; he showed himself 
 free from hardness, free from exaltation, and high above all 
 weakness. He found the cup bitter, and he called it so. He 
 felt, with a terrible and infinite force, all the sadness, terror, and 
 disgust of life, that evil can produce ; but his deliberate will 
 found in prayer and in union with the Father, courage and 
 resolution to drink the cup, and to perform the Father’s com¬ 
 mandment even unto death. The sufferer of Gethsemane, in 
 the sweetness of his resignation, is the perfect model of all 
 who suffer, of all who desire, in spite of pain and death, to 
 be faithful to duty, to their task, and to God. As none 
 have suffered as he, so none have been so resigned and so 
 loving. 
 
 Before engaging in the struggle of public life, he had 
 retired to the desert to repel there the temptations of the Evil 
 One. Before going to die he came to that garden of Geth¬ 
 semane, to conquer there all the failings of human nature, by 
 identifying his will with the will of his Father. His life had 
 been without sin, his death should be without weakness. His 
 resolution was taken. The worst of the crisis past, we see 
 him once more, comforted of God, standing in the midst of 
 his sleeping disciples. They were overcome with weariness, 
 heavy with sorrow; they had not had the courage to pray, 
 
320 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 yet they were about to enter into temptation. Jesus waited 
 and watched ; the terrible moment was come. 
 
 “ Rise up,” he said to his disciples, “ let us go ; lo, he that 
 betrayeth me is at hand.” And as though it had been his 
 wish to give himself up of his own accord, he advanced with 
 the Eleven to meet the traitor at the entrance of Gethsemane. 
 While he was yet speaking, a great multitude appeared . 1 It 
 was composed of soldiers of the Roman cohort and of the 
 Temple guard. Among them were to be seen a few persons 
 of the priestly aristocracy, doctors and elders, and the com¬ 
 mander-in-chief of the cohort in person. The presence both 
 of the legionaries and the Temple guard leads us to suppose 
 that the Jewish authorities had concerted with the Roman 
 governor to arrest Jesus. According to Roman legislation in 
 conquered provinces, no arrest could take place without the 
 aid of the civil power. It was necessary, moreover, to avoid 
 all tumult, and even in acting by night, and using all 
 despatch, they were still afraid that the multitude might be 
 given the alarm, and, hearing of the arrest of the Prophet, 
 break out in tumult. The Mount of Olives was the quarter 
 frequented by the Galilaean pilgrims. The cohort was there 
 in readiness to put down any uproar. 
 
 These people were armed with swords and staves, and 
 furnished with lanterns and torches. Judas walked in 
 front and led them on. He knew the retreat of the Master , 2 
 for he had often been there with him ; and it was thither 
 that he brought the band to take him. In order to 
 prevent any mistake the traitor had provided a token with 
 which to point out the victim. “ Whomsoever I shall kiss,” 
 he said to them, “ that same is he ; take him, and lead him 
 away safely.” Usually it was the Master who embraced the 
 disciple, the disciple rarely embraced the Master. 
 
 1 Matt. xxvi. 47, etc.; Mark xiv. 43, etc.; Luke xxii. 47, etc. 
 
 3 John xviii. 2-11. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 3- 1 
 
 He was about to enter Gethsemane, when Jesus, at the 
 head of the Eleven, came to meet him. Judas approached. 
 “Hail, Master!” he said, and he kissed him. “Friend, 
 wherefore art thou come? Judas, betrayest thou the Son of 
 man with a kiss ? ” These were the last words which the 
 wretched man heard from the Master’s lips. To his treacher¬ 
 ous kiss Jesus replied by the word “Friend.” Judas might 
 have felt in it the love which pardons all things to the truly 
 penitent, even hypocrisy and treason. Jesus then advanced 
 resolutely towards the band. “ Whom seek ye ? ” he said. 
 “Jesus of Nazareth,” was the reply. “I am he.” At these 
 words they went backward, and fell to the ground. 
 
 He who had just allowed the traitor to see his divine good¬ 
 ness, flashed forth in a word his no less divine strength. His 
 love might be repelled, but no one could resist his power if 
 he wished to overthrow all things. His ascendency, when he 
 will, is supreme; his majesty, whensoever he assumes it, 
 terrible. It was by this means that he had chased forth the 
 traders from the Temple, and on different occasions made his 
 exasperated enemies let the stones fall from their hands. On 
 this day he showed it for the last time; he would have men 
 to know that he was a voluntary Victim. They only seized upon 
 him because he willed it. They were not to touch his disciples ; 
 they should take him alone, because such was his will. 
 
 The guards who had fallen backward, now recovered 
 themselves. Once more Jesus said to them, "Whom seek 
 ye?” They replied, “Jesus of Nazareth.” “I have told you 
 that I am he: if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way,” 
 he added, pointing to his disciples grouped behind him. The 
 words which he had spoken in prayer to his Father must be 
 literally fulfilled: “ Of them which thou gavest me have I 
 lost none .” 1 At this the satellites laid their hands on him. 
 The disciples, seeing their Master arrested, said to him, 
 
 1 John xvii. 12. 
 VOL. II. 
 
 Y 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 322 
 
 “ Lord, shall we smite with the sword ? ” The instinct of 
 violence carried them away. Simon, without waiting for his 
 Master to reply, drew his sword, and struck one of the high 
 priest’s servants, named Malchus, and smote off his right ear. 
 Jesus quickly calmed his disciples, and, addressing Peter, 
 said, “ Put up thy sword into the sheath, for they that take 
 the sword shall perish by the sword. The cup which my 
 Father hath given me to drink, shall I not drink it ? 
 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he 
 shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels ? 
 But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it 
 must be ? 55 
 
 Then he touched with his hand the ear of Malchus, and 
 healed it. “ Are ye come out against me,” said he to the 
 leaders of the priests, and to all their armed company, “ as 
 against a thief, with swords and staves? I was daily with 
 you in the Temple teaching, and ye laid no hold on me, but 
 this is your hour, and the power of darkness.” Then all his 
 disciples forsook him and fled. One young man, who fol¬ 
 lowed him, had a linen cloth about his naked body. They 
 would have laid hold on him, but, leaving the linen cloth, he 
 fled from them naked. Jesus remained alone, bound hand 
 and foot, in the custody of the cohort, the tribunes, and the 
 satellites of the Sanhedrin. 
 
 We see with what firmness, in the first act of his Passion, 
 the Victim repudiated and repressed all violence, even though 
 animated by noble zeal. He who said, “ I am come to give 
 my life,” did not suffer, in his defence, any attempt on the 
 lives of his aggressors. Besides, the arrest of Jesus, 
 tyrannical and brutal as it was, emanated from lawful 
 authority, from the Roman power, represented by the tribune 
 and his soldiers, and from the religious power, represented by 
 the satellites of the Temple, and the messengers of the high 
 priest. The armed resistance into which Peter had suffered 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 323 
 
 himself to be hurried was at once ill-considered and useless. 
 Even supposing it could have been of any avail to stir up a 
 movement of revolt in the Galilaean multitude, it was con¬ 
 trary to the will of Jesus and the will of God. 
 
 In commanding his disciple to put up the sword in the 
 scabbard, Jesus did not condemn the legitimate use of force. 
 Self-defence is permitted to man, and, in every well-ordered 
 society, power is armed for the triumph of right and the 
 punishment of the guilty. Whatever authority is a stranger 
 to anger and vengeance, that is, to anger against wickedness 
 and vengeance in support of innocence, betrays a divine 
 mandate. But far above earthly society, founded upon 
 justice, Jesus, by his death, established a society founded 
 upon charity. In the first it is necessary that force should 
 remain to support the right, and force is maintained; in the 
 second, force is sacrificed: voluntary abnegation and gentle¬ 
 ness are the agents by which the Kingdom of God, of con¬ 
 science and of good, is brought in amongst us. 
 
 Jesus employed no force; his heart was always that of a 
 being full of goodness and mercy. He would hide himself 
 and escape; he did not defend himself with violence. He 
 wished that his disciples should be like him: if they were 
 pursued, let them steal away; if they were seized, let them die. 
 
 The command to Peter to put up the sword in the scabbard 
 is a command for eternity. The servants of God will 
 endeavour oftentimes to strike a blow, like Peter, in defence 
 of truth and of Christ, but they will always hear the voice of 
 the Master, crying to them, “ Hold ! he that taketh the sword 
 shall perish by the sword.” The charity of God will heal the 
 wounds which the violence of man has made; and, taught by 
 the example of Jesus, the disciples will accept gladly the 
 part of victims, and, leaving in the Father’s hands all care for 
 their defence, they will go forth to die as he died. 
 
 Y—2 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE TRIAL OF JESUS. 
 
 JESUS was led away captive, without tumult, to the palace of 
 the high priest The secret of his arrest had been well kept. 
 No one in Jerusalem had a suspicion of what had taken place 
 during the night. The band returned down the valley of the 
 Cedron, crossed the mountain stream, and took the road which 
 led southwards along the walls of the city, making their way 
 towards Sion. Everything had been prepared beforehand 
 against the coming of Jesus. The conspiracy was to be 
 executed without hesitation or delay, but with all the legal 
 formalities to which these devout jurists attached so much 
 importance. 
 
 The father-in-law of the high priest, a man named Hanan, 
 seems to have played an important part in the choice of the 
 measures which had been taken. He was the leader of the 
 Sadducean sect, and a member of the family which at that 
 time supplied the greater number of the high priests. 
 
 The palace of Hanan was situated on the road leading to 
 that of Caiaphas. The prisoner was shown to the old man, 
 who, as the guiding spirit of the conspiracy, must have rejoiced 
 at its success. Among those who had arrested Jesus was, no 
 doubt, Judas, who asked for, and received, the price of his 
 treachery. He was now happy in the possession of the thirty 
 pieces of silver which had been promised him two days before. 
 Only a short halt, however, was made at Hanan’s house; 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 every moment had been marked out, and it was before 
 Caiaphas that Jesus was to appear to undergo his preliminary 
 investigation. 
 
 The palace of the high priest was situated on Mount Sion. 
 Like all princely mansions it was composed of a central block, 
 flanked by two wings. The space enclosed by these structures 
 formed the inner court or “atrium,” which was entered through 
 a portico, access to it being given by a flight of steps. If we 
 call to mind the words of Caiaphas, at the meeting at which 
 the members of the High Council deliberated as to the course 
 which should be adopted against Jesus : “ It is expedient that 
 one man should die for the people ,” 1 and consider, that it was 
 he who was about to preside at the trial, we shall infer that 
 the fate of the accused was easy to foresee. 
 
 Nevertheless, after the tumult incident to the arrest, and 
 the hasty flight of the disciples, Peter drew towards those who 
 were leading Jesus away, and followed the escort at a distance. 
 He loved his Master ; a hidden power drew him along on his 
 footsteps ; he desired to know what the end was to be. When 
 he had reached the city he was joined, near the pontifical 
 palace, by an unknown disciple of Jesus. The records do not 
 give his name; we may imagine him to be Joseph of Ari- 
 mathaea. Being a member of the Sanhedrin, he was known 
 to the high priest. When the band of men charged with the 
 arrest of Jesus entered the atrium, the disciple followed after 
 it, while Peter remained at the gate outside, seeing which the 
 anonymous disciple came up and spoke to the gate-keeper, 
 and Peter entered . 2 A brazier was alight in the middle of the 
 court. The night was cold. The servants of the high priest 
 and the guards of the Temple who had taken part in the 
 arrest were seated round the fire. Peter remained with them 
 awaiting the issue of the preliminary investigation. 
 
 1 John xviii. 14. 
 
 2 John xviii. 15-16; Luke xxii. 54, etc. ; Matt. xxvi. 17, etc. ; Mark 
 xiv. 53, etc. 
 
326 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 Caiaphas presided over the tribunal, held in one of the 
 halls of the palace which looked out upon the court. He 
 began to question Jesus about his disciples and his 
 teaching. It was one of the duties of the Sanhedrin to 
 acquaint themselves with new sects and new doctrines. Jesus 
 in the eyes of the high court was only a mere sectary, a 
 heretic, and they were anxious to have a confession of this 
 from his own lips. The accused defended himself from the 
 charge of being the head of a secret society and the propa¬ 
 gator of ideas which he was afraid to avow openly : “ I spake 
 openly to the world,” he answered ; “ I ever taught in the 
 synagogue, and in the Temple, whither the Jews always resort; 
 and in secret have I said nothing. Why askest thou me? 
 ask them which heard me, what I have said unto them: behold 
 they know what I said.” 
 
 This reply of Jesus declining to satisfy the high priest was 
 looked upon as a want of respect. One of the servants, wish- 
 ing to flatter and avenge his Master, said to Jesus, t{ Answerest 
 thou the high priest so ?” and struck Jesus with the palm of 
 his hand. Jesus endured the outrage, and, with superhuman 
 dignity and meekness, said to his insulter, u If I have spoken 
 evil, bear witness of the evil; but if I have spoken well, why 
 smitest thou me ? ” All his teachings had been in public, and 
 his judges themselves had been among his audience, he had 
 said nothing to his disciples which he had not said to every 
 one; why then question him ? In the sight of those in power, 
 the greatest crime that the weak can commit is to be in the 
 right; if the weak man has the courage to declare and prove 
 his right, his courage appears to the minds of the authorities 
 no less than an insult, and some courtly officer about them, 
 anxious to win their favour, will generally be found burning 
 to chastise it. 
 
 The high priest having failed to gain his object by captious 
 examination, the members of the council, that is, the leaders 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 327 
 
 of the sacerdotal class, sought to find some false testimony 
 which should afford an excuse for the death-sentence, for 
 they aimed at nothing less than death. Many false witnesses, 
 suborned on purpose, came to bear witness against Jesus, but 
 their testimony, the drift of which is unknown to us, failed 
 to support the capital charge. At last two false witnesses 
 came, and one of them declared : This man has said, I am able 
 to destroy the Temple of God, and to build it in three days. 
 The second confirmed the evidence of the first: Yea, we have 
 heard him say, I will destroy this Temple which is made with 
 hands, and within three days I will build another made with¬ 
 out hands. These words savoured of blasphemy ; they might 
 
 # 
 
 be taken to be an offence against the house of God. The 
 veneration of the Jews for the dwelling-place of Jehovah 
 amounted to superstition ; insult against the Temple was 
 punishable with death. But the assembly was not unanimous 
 as to the guilt of such language. 
 
 Nevertheless, the high priest put a question to Jesus, 
 standing up in the midst of his colleagues and saying to him : 
 Answerest thou not a word in reply to all that these men lay 
 to thy charge and depose against thee? But Jesus remained 
 silent. Why should he have spoken? He could not con¬ 
 found the false witnesses ; he had no one to defend him. He 
 could not convince these judges, for they were met together 
 to condemn him at whatever cost. 
 
 Then Caiaphas solemnly put to Jesus the decisive question : 
 Art thou the Christ, the Son of the blessed God ? Answer, I 
 adjure thee in the name of the living God. Jesus, who 
 throughout his public life had refrained from assuming this 
 title of Christ, knowing how wrongly it was understood both 
 in popular opinion and by the learned themselves, but who 
 had always announced himself as the Son of God in the 
 presence of the people, the Pharisees, and the Sanhedrin; he 
 who had laboured, taught and lived among them only for the 
 
328 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 purpose of establishing his divine sonship, did not now 
 hesitate, when questioned by the high priest, although he 
 knew full well that the reply would be his death-sentence, to 
 break through his silence, and to bear his supreme testimony 
 to the truth, answered : “ I am he ; and one day ye .shall 
 behold the Son of man seated at the right hand of God, and 
 coming in the clouds of heaven .” 1 
 
 In this solemn declaration was summed up all his doc¬ 
 trine concerning his own person and work. It called up 
 before the minds of his judges that which was most shocking 
 to them, the participation of the Son of man in the power 
 of God, his true divinity. The prisoner was exalting himself 
 to the sublimity of God, and his announcement to his judges, 
 in the words of the prophet, of his return on the clouds, con¬ 
 veyed a warning to them that they should one day appear 
 before his judgment-seat. The general indignation burst 
 forth. The high priest, as a mark of sorrow, rent his clothes. 
 There was no longer any necessity for investigating the claims 
 of the accused to the title of Messiah, or of testing the evi¬ 
 dence of the witnesses. Here was an avowed pretender to the 
 incommunicable glory of God and usurper of his divinity. 
 Never before had such blasphemy been heard. Ye have heard 
 him, said he ; he has blasphemed. What further need have ye 
 of witnesses ? What think ye ? The deliberation was not of 
 long duration. All judged him instantly to be guilty of 
 death. 
 
 Not one of the members present at the enquiry, not 
 one of the rabbis, impossible as it was that they could be 
 ignorant of the teaching of the prophets concerning the divi¬ 
 nity of the Messiah, rose to defend Jesus, or even to ask on 
 his behalf for a reprieve, which would have permitted him to 
 make good his claims. If Joseph of Arimathaea was there, 
 he must have remained silent in the conviction that no objec¬ 
 tion would have a chance of being heard. 
 
 1 Dan. vii. 13. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 329 
 
 That sceptical Sadducees, such as Hanan or Caiaphas, 
 should have cried out “Blasphemy ” on hearing a man speak of 
 having equal power with God, is easily explained; but for the 
 literary Pharisees no excuse can be attempted. If they had 
 likewise distorted the teaching of the prophets they had be¬ 
 trayed their mission; and if they believed in the divine dignity 
 of the Messiah, they could not be justified in crying “Blas¬ 
 phemy.” He who declared himself to be the Messiah ought to 
 be judged by his acts and his life; and the accused who was 
 before them had given countless proofs of his mission before 
 their eyes. But these so-called judges were blind with hatred. 
 The tyrannous power which persecuted Jesus longed for his 
 death, and it was the blind application of the text of the Law 
 upon which they based their verdict. “The blasphemer of God 
 shall be rooted out ,” 1 said Leviticus ; now, to attribute to 
 oneself the incommunicable glory of God is the greatest of 
 blasphemies ; this was the crime of Jesus, and he must die. 
 Such would have been indeed the crime of Jesus if he had not 
 been the true Messiah ; for the Messiah is, according to the 
 prophets, the Son of God. 
 
 It was then the duty of the Sanhedrin to proceed officially 
 to the examination of Messianic titles of him whom they had 
 called before their tribunal. The Sanhedrin did not do so ; by 
 not doing so, that body violated the rules of justice. By in¬ 
 voking against the accused, without previous investigation, the 
 law of blasphemy, it exposed itself to the guilt of passing 
 sentence not merely against an innocent man, but against the 
 Son of God himself. It was therefore guilty, and must bear 
 the responsibility of the greatest of crimes, if crime is to be 
 measured by the holiness and dignity, and the inviolable and 
 sovereign right of him against whom it was committed. 
 
 The investigation was at an end ; it was still night. 
 
 1 Levit. xxiv. 16. 
 
330 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 The words of the sentence against Jesus, “ He is worthy of 
 death,” ran through the palace of Caiaphas. Then was pre¬ 
 sented a horrible scene, in which every sort of insult was let 
 loose upon him. He was spat upon, his face was covered, and 
 men buffeted him with their hands, saying : “ Christ, prophesy 
 who it is that has struck thee.” The satellites of the palace 
 struck him brutally with their fists, and a torrent of all sorts 
 of blasphemies was poured upon him. As a prisoner, in 
 chains and already marked out for death, he should have 
 been held inviolable ; but there was no pity for him. The 
 hate with which he was pursued by the authorities seems to 
 have found a vent in the brutality of their satellites. 
 
 Peter, during the questioning of his Master, had remained 
 in the court among the servants, warming himself at the 
 brazier. One of the maid-servants of the high priest, the 
 same who had let him in, approached him, and when she had 
 looked upon him, said : Thou also art one of his disciples ; 
 thou wert with Jesus of Nazareth. Peter denied it, saying: 
 Woman, I know him not ; I know not what thou sayest. 
 And seeing that he was recognised, he left the court and 
 passed out into the porch. The cock crew the first time. 
 
 Then another maid-servant observed him and bernm to 
 
 o 
 
 point him out to those who were there. He was one of them, 
 said she ; he was with Jesus the Nazarene. Peter came 
 back again to the brazier, among the guards, in order the 
 more easily to avert suspicion ; but while he stood and warmed 
 himself someone said to him : Art thou not one of his dis¬ 
 ciples ? Thou art surely of them. And they persisted in ask¬ 
 ing him this question ; but Peter still denied, saying: “ No, I 
 am not,” and swearing that he did not know the man. 
 
 Another hour elapsed. The assembly had broken up. 
 Jesus was brought in bonds into the atrium. At this 
 moment Peter was still being assailed by the same question : 
 Art thou one of the disciples of the Galilaean ? Yes, said the 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER 
 
 331 
 
 bystanders, thou art one of them, thine accent shows it plainly. 
 One of the servants of the high priest, the father of him whose 
 car Peter had cut off, said to him : Have I not seen thee in 
 the garden ? Then Peter denied for the third time. Man, 
 said he, I know not what thou sayest, and he began to swear, 
 saying, I know not this man of whom ye speak. When at 
 length he ceased, upon the instant the cock crew again. 
 
 Jesus, who was kept apart in the corner of the court, turned 
 towards Peter and looked upon him. The effect of the look 
 of Jesus was inexpressible. Simon remembered that he had 
 said unto him : “ Before the cock crows twice thou shalt deny 
 me thrice.” His soul was deeply stirred. He left the house 
 of the high priest weeping bitterly. 
 
 It was necessary that Jesus should know all sorrows. 
 This repeated denial of Peter was to him, at this hour in 
 which he was judged worthy of death, more cruel than his 
 condemnation itself. He who was the first of his apostles, 
 whom he had already appointed to be the head of his Church, 
 denied him and knew him no more. He who had solemnlv 
 confessed him to be Christ, the Son of the living God, now 
 
 1 
 
 spoke of him as <! this man,” and did not wish to be his 
 disciple. 
 
 How unfathomable are the purposes of God ! It 
 was by means of this renegade, and upon him that the 
 Kingdom of Christ was to be founded. He who is, had 
 chosen that which is not, for the accomplishing of his 
 work . 1 
 
 The time should come when Peter would be transformed. 
 As yet he feared the very hirelings of a high priest. After¬ 
 wards, when the Spirit of his Master should have taken 
 possession of his soul, he was to fear nothing. He denied 
 him now, but his faith should grow to be unfaltering ; he felt 
 his weakness now, but he was to know all the strength of God, 
 
 1 I. Cor. i. 27. 
 
332 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 and was learning to take compassion on the needs of those 
 who were to be committed to his government. 
 
 At the look of Jesus, bitter tears rained from his eyes, and 
 bore witness that his regeneration had begun. 
 
 The law in force at this time required of the Sanhedrin, in 
 pronouncing the capital sentence, that the high assembly 
 should not give judgment without a preliminary investigation, 
 for the purpose of obtaining information respecting the 
 charge. 
 
 It was obviously in order to comply with this formality 
 that the high priest, Caiaphas, called together some of the 
 members of the supreme council. We have seen in what 
 fashion the case of Jesus was dealt with. Some hours later, 
 when morning had dawned, the high assembly, which was to 
 pass the death-sentence on the accused, met before sunrise in 
 the Lischat-ha-Gazith, near the Court of the Gentiles . 1 Jesus 
 was led thither by the same escort which had arrested him. 
 It was to him a deliverance, though but for a moment, 
 relieving him from that detention in the court of Caiaphas, 
 during which he was subjected to every kind of insult. But 
 to his last breath his tortures were destined to go on in¬ 
 creasing, and he was to drain the chalice to its dregs without 
 a murmur. 
 
 He appeared before the high assembly. All the members 
 were there : high priests, elders, scribes, and doctors. His 
 chains were removed, and, standing in the presence of his 
 judges, he was asked to declare if he was the Christ. He said 
 unto them : “ If I tell you, ye will not believe ; and if I also 
 ask you, ye will not answer me, nor let me go.” 
 
 In the minds of these men the sentence was pronounced 
 already. Jesus knew it, and he told the reason of his 
 silence. He would not enter into a defence, as he had 
 
 1 Middath , ch. v. 
 
TIIE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 the right; he would not argue. These men did not desire 
 truth and justice, but his death only. He declared once 
 again his Messianic dignity, in the same form which had 
 once already roused their anger ; he spoke of his divine glory 
 that was to be, and of his being the co-equal of God in 
 authority. It was the challenge of the Son of God to man, 
 and of the innocent prisoner to his judges. 
 
 “ Hereafter,” he said, “ shall the Son of man sit at the right 
 hand of the power of God.” Then they all cried out: “ Art 
 thou then the Son of God?” And he said unto them, “Ye 
 say that I am.” This was the blasphemy that this iniquitous 
 tribunal was expecting and wishing to hear from the lips of 
 Jesus. The sitting was at once closed, and sentence of death 
 unanimously pronounced. The assembly rose, and Jesus was 
 once more put in chains. 
 
 A new incident here intensified yet more deeply the 
 horrors of this mockery of justice. Judas confessed the 
 innocence of him whom the Sanhedrin had declared to be a 
 blasphemer. The traitor, seeing Jesus condemned, was seized 
 with remorse: the thought of the consequences of his crime 
 terrified him. He took the thirty pieces of silver and came 
 to the chief priests and ciders, saying : “ I have sinned, in that 
 I have betrayed innocent blood.” “ What is that to us ? ” 
 they answered, “see thou to that.” Then, in despair, he 
 threw the money down in the Temple, in their presence, 
 perhaps even in the hall in which the Sanhedrin had pro¬ 
 nounced the sentence. Those who had just committed 
 the most terrible of iniquities, were afraid, in their formalism, 
 to touch the pieces of money, which seemed, in their eyes, 
 to be stained with guilt. “ It is the price of blood,” they 
 said, “and it is not lawful to place it in the treasury.” A 
 consultation was held, and they decided to purchase with the 
 traitor’s money a potter’s field, to bury strangers in. 
 
 Judas had in him no saving humility, no repentant tears, 
 
334 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 no trust in God. His treason appeared to him to be beyond 
 all pardon; he went away, blind with despair, and hanged 
 himself . 1 
 
 Perhaps surprise will be expressed that the Jews did not 
 immediately stone Jesus, as they afterwards stoned Stephen. 
 But once they were fallen under the Roman yoke, once the 
 pontificate had abdicated its independence, and political 
 Sadduceeism had gained a preponderance in the Sanhedrin, 
 the power of the sword, that great attribute of sovereignty, 
 had disappeared. The high assembly, even when passing 
 sentence for those crimes which came within the scope of its 
 jurisdiction, could no longer pronounce capital sentence; it 
 had to content itself with sentences which, to be final and 
 valid, had to receive the sanction of the governor. The 
 execution was therefore reserved to Roman authority and its 
 agents. 
 
 Jesus was brought before Pilate. It was now morning. 
 The Praetorium, or judgment-hall, abutted on the walls of the 
 Temple enclosure, and formed part of the huge structure of 
 the tower of Antonia, which rose at the north-west angle 
 of the great quadrilateral which comprised all the sacred 
 buildings. It was there that the Roman cohort and the 
 governor dwelt in inviolable security. The great central 
 tower was flanked by four others, united together by solid, 
 rampart-like structures, surrounded by deep ditches. This 
 vast edifice, judging by its dimensions, might almost have 
 been taken for a city; within it the arrangements necessary 
 for a fortress were combined with palatial luxury . 2 Pilate, 
 the governor, lived at Caesarea, but came to Jerusalem on the 
 occasion of the national festivals, his presence being rendered 
 necessary by the great concourse of Jews by which they were 
 
 1 Matt, xxvii. 5. Cf. Acts i. 18. 
 
 2 Antiq . Jud, xv. 11,4. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS,. AND AFTER. 335 
 
 frequented. It was rarely that they passed off without some 
 trouble having been stirred up by the fanaticism of the 
 Zealots. 
 
 The members of the Sanhedrin hastened to the dwelling 
 of Pilate. The hour was early, but Roman justice held its 
 sittings at all hours, from sunrise onwards. Pilate must have 
 received information of the event the evening before, since 
 the captain of the cohort had taken part in the arrest of 
 Jesus, and, no doubt, had consented to receive them when 
 they should present themselves. They gave up Jesus, who 
 entered the Praetorium, but they themselves refused to cross 
 the threshold of the palace. They were about to celebrate the 
 Paschal Feast that same evening , 1 and by entering into a 
 Gentile abode they would have received defilement which 
 would have excluded them from participation in the sacred 
 festival. Pilate must have come out of the Praetorium, and 
 stood at the gate of his palace, to discuss the matter with the 
 Jews . 2 “ What charge bring ye against this man ? ” he asked. 
 The reply was short and arrogant: “If he were not a 
 malefactor, we would not have given him up to you.’ , 
 
 These judges of Jesus, in their pride, would not admit 
 the possibility of their sentence being informal or invalid ; 
 what they wanted from the governor was that he should 
 execute him on the spot. As soon as they had pronounced 
 sentence they considered that the case was decided, and 
 there was nothing left but to put it into execution. Pilate 
 did not seem disposed to assume the part of an exe¬ 
 cutioner. “If this be so,” said he, “take him and judge 
 him according to your laws; punish him yourselves.” Then the 
 Jews said to him, “ It is not lawful for us to put any man to 
 death.” This was an avowal of their dependence. It was pre- 
 
 1 See Appendix A : General Chronology of the Life offesus. 
 
 2 John xviii. 29, etc. 
 
33 6 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 cisely his death which they were seeking, and yet they said 
 that they had no right to put any man to death. Formerly, 
 they had stoned false prophets, and no doubt Jesus would 
 likewise have been stoned to death if the Jews had found 
 a warrant in the words of Pilate for an outburst of their 
 hatred, but everything was to be brought about as Jesus had 
 foretold. God controlled every event in the life and death of 
 his Son ; it was his will that he should be crucified, and he 
 was crucified. 
 
 Then, in order to urge Pilate to action, the Jews agreed 
 to lay the case before him, and submit it to his judgment. 
 This man, they said, perverts our nation ; he forbids tribute 
 to be paid to Caesar, and he claims to be the Christ-King. 
 
 The false and treacherous character of these complaints 
 is remarkable. This charge brought against Jesus was purely 
 a political charge ; yet it must be clear to anyone who has 
 followed step by step the work of the Prophet, that he always 
 abstained from whatever could cause an uprising among the 
 people. When questioned by the cunning emissaries of the 
 Sanhedrin, on the duty of paying tribute to Caesar, he had 
 categorically pronounced in favour of the tribute. The 
 Messianic sovereignty, to which he was charged with 
 aspiring, had nothing whatever in common with political 
 domination. 
 
 Pilate returned to the Praetorium and called Jesus, and 
 Jesus stood before the governor. The political aspect 
 of the question alone concerned the Roman. “Art thou 
 the King of the Jews ? ” he said. The question was 
 ambiguous. In the Jewish sense Jesus was not a king, but 
 in the spiritual sense he was. Jesus wished to clear up the 
 matter. 
 
 “ Sayest thou that of thyself ?” he said, “or did others 
 tell it thee of me?” Pilate answered: “Am I a Jew? 
 Ihine own nation and the chief priests have delivered tlice 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 337 
 
 unto me: what hast thou done?” Jesus, finding that the 
 governor was questioning him with sincerity, and, willing 
 to enlighten him, answered : “ My Kingdom is not of this 
 world : if my Kingdom were of this world, then would my 
 servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews ; 
 but now is my Kingdom not from hence.” Pilate therefore 
 said unto him, “Art thou a king then?” Jesus, having 
 explained in what sense his Kingdom was to be understood, 
 was at liberty to answer boldly, and without fear of equivo¬ 
 cation : “ Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I 
 born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should 
 bear witness unto the Truth. Everyone that is of the Truth 
 heareth my voice.” 
 
 Never had cultured Roman heard from the mouth of the 
 sage, his teacher, such words as those which Pilate heard in 
 his Praetorium from the lips of Jesus. The genius of Rome 
 which founded a universal empire upon force, sinks to 
 nothing beside Jesus, who founded the empire of Truth on his 
 own testimony, and on faith in his divine mission. The 
 governor was not one of those of whom truth makes 
 enthusiasts, and who appeal to her with beating hearts. Pie 
 only asked, with sceptical indifference, “ What is Truth ? ” and, 
 without even waiting for an answer, being convinced that he 
 saw before him but a dreamer or a sage, but assuredly not an 
 ambitious man dangerous to the peace and laws of Caesar, he 
 came out again, and said to the Jews, “ I find in him no 
 fault at all.” 
 
 Pie was a politician without convictions. PTad he only had 
 a due regard for justice he would have done his duty at once, 
 and have let Jesus go free. But Pilate was one of those men 
 who place their own interests above every other consideration, 
 and are quite ready to sacrifice the right if their interests 
 should require it. At bottom he feared the Jews, and 
 dreaded doing anything to excite discontent among them. 
 He knew their fanaticism and was anxious to humour it. 
 
 Z 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
33 s JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 He who knew how to make use of force to hold them in 
 check, was now about to exhibit weakness and irresolution, 
 and to have recourse to every expedient that cunning can 
 devise. But the passions surging before his palace were to be 
 too strong for him. While thinking to appease he was 
 destined only to excite them, and, in the end, conceding them 
 all they asked, he became, almost in spite of himself, the 
 instrument of their hatred against the innocent one, whom 
 he had not the courage to save. 
 
 It was no question of a popular revolt, but of the 
 hatred, jealousy, and intrigue of the Jewish authorities, who 
 demanded from him the blood of Jesus. It was easy for 
 him to suppress this sacerdotal authority, accustomed as 
 it was to every complaisance and to all forms of servility, 
 and this was the course which, for a moment, he tried to 
 follow. He had, besides, no interest in condemning Jesus, and 
 did not seek to conceal from his accusers his disapproval of 
 their judgment. 
 
 The most influential and determined of the leaders of the 
 conspiracy then renewed in the presence of Pilate their 
 charges against Jesus. All this discussion took place in the 
 open air, in front of the palace. The Jews crowded around 
 the foot of the flight of steps, while Pilate kept going to and 
 fro between the hall of the Praetorium and the door of 
 the vestibule, to question Jesus and to argue with the 
 Jews. We know not the details of these new charges, but 
 fanaticism and hatred are full of treacherous expedients. 
 Pilate came back to the accused, saying, “ Dost thou not see 
 that testimonies are multiplied against thee ? Dost thou 
 answer nothing? See how many charges they bring against 
 thee.” 
 
 Jesus answered him not a word. His silence astonished 
 Pilate. The accusations of the Jews redoubled in vehemence. 
 The governor’s weakness and indifference exasperated them. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 339 
 
 They emphasized the political charge against Jesus, and, 
 alluding to his triumphal entry into the city, they said : “ He 
 stirreth up the people throughout all Jewry, from Galilee even 
 to this place.” At the word Galilee, Pilate thought he had 
 found a means of divesting himself of a matter which em¬ 
 barrassed him ; he asked if Jesus was of that country, and, 
 being told he was, he resolved to send him to Herod . 1 
 
 The tetrarch happened to be in Jerusalem for the festival, 
 and his palace stood near the Praetorium. It would appear 
 that a rupture had lately been caused between that prince 
 and Pilate by the condemnation and execution of some 
 Galilaeans. The opportunity of renewing their friendship 
 was an excellent one in the eyes of Pilate. To invite Herod 
 to try the cause of Jesus was to recognise his jurisdiction 
 over Galilaeans, even in Judaea. Herod was flattered by this 
 attention, and from that day forward Herod and Pilate were 
 friends . 2 
 
 At the sight of Jesus the tetrarch gave manifest signs of 
 great joy. For a long time he had wished to see him. He 
 was a weak and superstitious man, and, having heard much 
 concerning the Prophet of Galilee, he was reckoning upon 
 seeing some prodigy. Jesus was to him only an object of 
 curiosity, as the worker of miracles. He began to interrogate 
 him, plying him with one question upon another. But Jesus 
 did not lend himself to the caprices of Herod. In the 
 presence of the murderer of John the Baptist he remained 
 silent. The charges of the priests and scribes were again 
 brought up against him; still he remained silent. His 
 attitude had the effect of humiliating and wounding the 
 prince, who avenged himself by expressions of contempt. 
 All the courtiers joined in his disdain. Jesus, whom they 
 
 1 Luke xxiii. 7-10. 
 
 2 Luke xxiii. 12. 
 
 Z—2 
 
340 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 had charged before him, as before Pilate, of making himself 
 King, was arrayed in a gorgeously-coloured cloak, such as the 
 Jewish kings were accustomed to wear on solemn occasions . 1 
 Herod sent him back, muffled in this mocking purple, to the 
 Roman governor. Pilate was crestfallen ; his plan to get 
 the business off his hands had failed. He was driven to try 
 a fresh manoeuvre. 
 
 He called together the chief priests, the authorities, and 
 the people, and said to them : “ Ye have brought this man unto 
 me, as one that perverteth the people : and, behold, I, having 
 examined him before you, have found no fault in this mar. 
 touching those things whereof ye accuse him : no, nor yet 
 Herod : for I sent you to him ; and, lo, nothing worthy of 
 death is done unto him. I will therefore chastise him, and 
 release him. But ye have a custom, that I should release 
 unto you one at the Passover : will ye therefore that I release 
 unto you Barabbas or the King of the Jews?” 
 
 Into what strange and cruel aberrations can a mere 
 policy of expediency be led ! It ends only in weakness, and 
 injustice, and cowardice. If Jesus was not guilty why punish 
 him ? It is plain that Pilate was not anxious to defend the 
 right, but that he only wished to divest himself of a trouble¬ 
 some business, and to induce the Jews to abandon their 
 resolution of putting Jesus to death. He trusted to appease 
 them by scourging his prisoner. But hatred is not thus 
 satisfied. Either it must be muzzled or the blood for which 
 it calls must be given it. In his criminal complaisance, the 
 consequences of which he ought to have been able to fore¬ 
 see, Pilate, instead of saying, “ I will deliver Jesus unto you,” 
 offered to the accusers to release the accused, and gave 
 them the choice between the murderer, the worker of sedition, 
 and the innocent man. 
 
 Bell. Jud. xi. i, i. 
 
 1 
 
34 1 
 
 THE DEATH OE JESUS, AND AFTER 
 
 One of the Evangelists relates an incident which occurred 
 while the matter was under discussion, to confirm the governor 
 in his desire of saving Jesus . 1 His wife, a woman of Gentile 
 birth, sent to him to say: “ Have thou nothing to do with 
 that just man ; for I have suffered many things this night in 
 a dream because of him.” The renown of Jesus, with which 
 for several days Jerusalem had been filled, must have reached 
 even to the palace of the governor. Nothing more probable 
 can be imagined than the conduct of this woman, terrified in 
 a dream by the cruel fate which threatened the Prophet. 
 The murderous projects of the high Jewish dignitaries 
 against Jesus were well known, and all who were not blinded 
 by hatred must have pitied him. 
 
 The crowd, meanwhile, was thronging about the entrance 
 to the Praetorium to ask, according to custom, the release of 
 a criminal in honour of the feast. Their leaders had worked 
 them into excitement, and provided them with the rallying 
 cry. The governor repeated his question : Which of the 
 twain shall I release unto you ? Will ye that I release unto 
 you the King of the Jews ? The multitude cried out : Away 
 with him, and release unto us Barabbas. Pilate, desirous 
 of saving Jesus, spoke to them again. A struggle was going 
 on within his conscience between the voice of justice, which 
 spoke for Jesus, and the voice of expediency, which recalled 
 the fear of danger. Come, said he, I will now release unto 
 you the King of the Jews. 
 
 The crowd, observing the pusillanimity and hesitation of 
 Pilate, cried out again: Not this man, but Barabbas. Pilate 
 answered them : And what then shall I do with Jesus, the 
 King of the Jews? The Roman governor, the armed repre¬ 
 sentative of law, was no longer giving orders, but rather 
 seemed to be receiving them. He did not insist upon the 
 
 1 Matt, xxvii. 19. 
 
34 3 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 law which it was his duty to defend, but consulted the caprices 
 of an excited crowd ; and he knew that they were the caprices 
 of envy and hatred. 
 
 He had not long to wait. A shout was raised of, Crucify 
 him, crucify him. Pilate still attempted to appease the pas¬ 
 sions which he had let loose; he pleaded the cause of Jesus ; 
 he who should have cut short all pleading. “ What evil 
 hath he done ? ” he said. “ I find in him no cause of death. 
 I will therefore chastise him and let him go.” The cries 
 of the multitude were redoubled. The chief priests them¬ 
 selves joined their voices to those of the people, and the cries 
 became louder and louder, Let him be crucified. 
 
 Then Pilate, seeing he did not succeed and that the tumult 
 only grew the greater, was afraid. Pie had raised the storm, 
 and now the storm terrified him. He had some water brought 
 to him, and, washing his hands before the people, said, I am 
 innocent of the blood of this just man. On your heads be his 
 blood. And the whole multitude replied : Plis blood be-on us 
 and on our children. 
 
 The washing of his hands did not absolve Pilate. The 
 man who has power, knowledge, and consciousness of 
 duty, has no excuse for yielding to injustice and violence. 
 No expediency can authorise a crime. Pilate could have 
 resisted the Jews and defended Jesus, for he had force to aid 
 him. Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent and that the Jews 
 persecuted him through hatred; he had admitted it in public ; 
 Pilate ought to have defended and released Jesus : it was the 
 duty of his office. But he showed himself weak, pusillani¬ 
 mous, cowardly, cruel. His memory remains in the minds of 
 Christians charged with the deepest injustice, and, even in 
 the minds of unbelievers, with inexcusable complicity. The 
 blood of Jesus, which fell as a curse on those who shed it and 
 on their children, dyed the hands of Pilate, and its stain is 
 ineffaceable. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 
 
 
 After having protested his innocence, the governor yielded. 
 They asked for the release of Barabbas ; he released unto 
 them the rebel, the murderer, the robber, and delivered Jesus 
 to their will. 
 
 It would seem that Pilate still entertained the vain hope 
 of saving Jesus. Circumspect as he was, he yet counted on 
 the pity of the mob. The governor had yet to learn that 
 the mob, when once it is carried away by political or religious 
 passion, is a savage thing, knowing no pity, and as implac¬ 
 able and destructive as a wild beast. 
 
 He caused Jesus to be seized, and gave him up to the 
 soldiers to be scourged. This was the fate of those about 
 to be crucified. Jesus was bound by the hands to a 
 pillar, according to the Roman custom, with his back bowed 
 down, while the executioner, armed with a whip of thongs, 
 the ends of which bore pieces of bone or lead, struck 
 him with redoubled energy. This horrible torture was 
 one which the sufferer did not always survive. After 
 the first strokes the flesh was torn and the blood gushed 
 forth. Jesus bore it without a murmur. Then the attendants 
 led him into the inner court, and all the soldiers of the guard 
 were summoned to the Praetorium. They stripped him of his 
 garments and threw over his shoulders a purple robe. They 
 made a crown of thorns, which was placed upon his head; 
 and put a reed into his hand in mockery of a sceptre. They 
 approached him and bowed derisively, saying, “ Hail, King of 
 the Jews!” He was buffeted, and struck on the head with 
 the reed. They spat upon him, and bent the knee before him. 
 
 What caprice of cruelty were these soldiers obeying ? 
 Why this detestable and vulgar mockery? The Roman 
 soldiers entertained an intense hatred of the Jews, and the 
 condemned man who was delivered to them was made the 
 victim of this hatred. But there was let loose against Jesus 
 
344 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 such an array of the powers of evil that their secret sugges¬ 
 tions can alone account for such horrors. It is impossible to 
 suspect any detail of these atrocities. Those who relate them 
 appear to have seen them with their eyes ; for no one but the 
 actual witness of an event could paint it in such vivid colours. 
 
 Pilate, going before Jesus, came out once again to the 
 threshold of the palace. I bring him unto you, he said ; 
 know, therefore, that I have found no fault in him; and 
 immediately Jesus appeared, bearing the crown of thorns and 
 the purple robe. Pilate pointed to him, saying : “ Behold the 
 man ! ” In this phrase were mingled pity and sarcasm ; pity 
 for Jesus, whose appearance was most heart-rending ; and 
 sarcasm against the Jews, who could yet be enraged against 
 a victim reduced to this pitiable condition. 
 
 When the chief priests and the guardians of the Temple 
 saw Jesus their hatred burst forth. “ Crucify him, crucify him,” 
 they cried out unto Pilate. The governor, seeing tha-t his 
 cruel expedient was as much a failure as the rest, seemed to 
 object for the last time to making himself the instrument of 
 these fanatics. “Take him yourselves,” he said impatiently, 
 “ and crucify him ; as for me, I find no fault in him.” The Jews 
 appealed to their Law . 1 We have seen how unjustly they 
 could interpret it. According to our Law, they said, he must 
 die, for he has made himself the Son of God. Then they 
 called on Pilate to put the law into force. 
 
 When Pilate heard the words, “ Son of God,” a vague fear 
 seized him. The prisoner who stood before him was no 
 ordinary, perhaps he was even a divine, being. On the 
 other hand, the fanaticism of the Jews increased his 
 embarrassment. He knew that this excitable people was 
 capable of anything when their Law was in question. In 
 trouble and perplexity he went back to the Praetorium with 
 
 1 Levit. xxiv. 16. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 345 
 
 Jesus, and meditating on the name of “ Son of God,” which 
 had taken possession of his mind, but which he could only 
 half understand, veiled as it was to him by heathen prejudices, 
 lie said unto him, as if wishing to discover the secret of his 
 birth : Whence comest thou ? Jesus made no answer. Pilate, 
 offended at his silence, thought to intimidate him. Dost thou 
 speak nothing to me, thy judge? Knowest thou not that I 
 have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee ? 
 “ Thou wouldest have no power over me except it had been 
 given thee from on high ; therefore he that delivered me unto 
 thee hath the greater sin.” 
 
 This reply of Jesus contains the only thing that can be 
 urged in palliation of Pilate’s conduct. It moved the governor, 
 who tried for the last time to save his prisoner. But the cries 
 of the Jews arose at once: If thou let this man go, thou art not 
 Caesar’s friend. And coming back to the political charge so 
 falsely brought against Jesus, they added the perfidious phrase, 
 “ Whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.” 
 
 Pilate no longer attempted to resist. He led Jesus outside 
 the palace, to the place called Gabbatha ; and he sat upon 
 the judgment seat and said unto the Jews : “ Behold your 
 King.” Away with him, crucify him, cried the Jews with 
 one voice. Shall I crucify your King? answered Pilate. We 
 have no king but Caesar, they returned. Pilate remained 
 silent. In this struggle between religious fanaticism and 
 expediency, which had for its object none other than the 
 Son of God, Pilate allowed himself to be vanquished, and on 
 PViday, between nine o’clock and noonday , 1 delivered Jesus to 
 the Jews to be crucified. 
 
 1 St. John says, “ about the sixth hour ” ; St. Mark, “ The third 
 hour.” The contradiction here is only apparent. The Jews, as we have 
 seen, used only four hours in dividing the day ; the first, third, sixth, and 
 ninth. These corresponded respectively to what we call six o’clock, nine, 
 midday, and three o’clock. St. John’s expression must be understood to 
 mean the time between nine o’clock and midday, but nearer midday. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF JESUS. 
 
 Death on the cross was a punishment unknown to Jewish 
 law, although it prescribed, in the case of great crimes, the 
 hanging of the dead body from a gibbet. The Jews did not 
 crucify, they stoned to death ; and the only one among their 
 rulers, Alexander Jannaeus, one of the latest Asmonaeans, 
 who attempted to institute the practice, reserved it for the 
 case of prisoners of war . 1 But the custom existed among all 
 the other nations of antiquity : Egyptians , 2 Persians , 3 Phoe¬ 
 nicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, and Romans. Among these 
 latter, all citizens condemned to death were put to the sword, 
 while slaves , 4 insurrectionists, and great criminals were 
 crucified. In the provinces of the Empire the cross was the 
 form of punishment which was used by prefects and 
 governors. In Syria and Judaea, Jews were crucified by 
 thousands . 5 
 
 The cross had the greatest terrors for them; it had 
 become proverbial as the emblem of suffering and ignominy. 
 The sufferer lived a long time, generally a whole day, and 
 sometimes two ; he was stripped naked, and then bound or 
 nailed by his hands and feet to the gibbet, which consisted of 
 
 1 Bell. Jud., i. 4, 6. 
 
 2 Gen. xl. 19. 
 
 3 Esther vii. 10. 
 
 4 Cic., C. Verr., 5, 6 ; Jliven ., 6, 4 ; Val. Max., 2. 7, 12. 
 
 6 Antiq. Jitd., xviii. 10, 10. 
 
 346 
 
 
TIIE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 347 
 
 two tree-trunks, usually crossed in the form of the letter T. 
 The whole body was suspended by the hands in a state of 
 extreme tension, the open wounds in which were torn still 
 more widely open under the weight. The blood trickled 
 drop by drop from the punctures made by the nails. Thus 
 hanging motionless, consumed by fever and burning thirst, 
 but still retaining self-consciousness, the crucified man could 
 watch himself slowly dying. Sometimes it became neces¬ 
 sary to put an end to him, and the executioner then broke 
 his limbs. An insulting crowd looked on at his agony, and 
 could gloat over his cries and bitter anguish. Never did the 
 cruelty of man conceive anything more horrible than this 
 punishment, in which atrocity was combined with protraction 
 and infamy. 
 
 The Jews demanded of Pilate that this punishment should 
 be inflicted upon Jesus. The hatred which had inspired them 
 with the cry of “ Crucify him,” could have been assuaged by 
 no other punishment. It was ordained that the Man of 
 Sorrow should die on the cross. 
 
 The soldiers stripped Jesus of the purple robe in which 
 they had enveloped him , 1 and clothed him in his own garments. 
 The accused descended the steps of the Praetorium, and, 
 according to the prescribed custom, bare his own cross. Two 
 malefactors walked beside him destined for the same punish¬ 
 ment. Perhaps Pilate wished to heap one more insult upon the 
 Jews by giving these two men as companions in misfortune 
 to him whom they had so rancorously accused of proclaiming 
 himself their King. It is a better explanation of his conduct 
 to see in it the fulfilment of the designs of Providence. The 
 divine anger was let loose upon Jesus. Every circumstance 
 combined to aggravate the ignominy of his death. The 
 well-beloved Son of the Father had become the Victim for the 
 sins of mankind ; and he was treated without mercy. 
 
 1 Matt, xxvii. 31 ; Mark xv. 20. 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 3 
 
 48 
 
 Since the morning, the news of the trial and convic¬ 
 tion must have been spread abroad, so that the disciples and 
 friends of the Master had been able to follow every incident 
 of the awful drama. The mob surged around the precincts of 
 the Praetorium. The melancholy procession set out upon its 
 journey, the prisoner being guarded by an escort of soldiers 
 armed with lances, and commanded by a centurion. 
 
 The road to Calvary was almost the same as that which, 
 to this day, the Christians of Jerusalem know by the name 
 of the “Way of Sorrow”; it passes through the lower 
 town, or Acra, crosses the lower street, called by Josephus 
 the Valley of Tyropoeon, which separates Acra from Gareb, 
 and then rises in a rather steep slope up to the gate of 
 Ephraim . 1 
 
 When Jesus had advanced a few paces he broke down 
 under his burthen. Among the crowd which had assembled 
 along the road to execution he perceived his mother. 
 Only a look was exchanged between the mother and son. 
 Soon after this, the procession met a man named Simon, of 
 Cyrene, coming in from the country, and the soldiers charged 
 with the execution stopped him, and compelled him to carry 
 the cross of Jesus . 2 It is probable that the Master, exhausted 
 by the torture of the scourging, was beginning to faint by the 
 way, and we may well believe that the Libyan had boldly 
 
 1 At this spot the city enclosure formed an angle, one of the sides of 
 which was a straight line drawn from the tower of Hippicos on the west 
 to the gate of Gennath on the east, the other side starting from the gate 
 of Gennath and going due north. 
 
 It was within this triangular space, only twenty yards outside the 
 walls, that the place of execution was situated. It was called “the 
 place of a skull,” or Calvary ; in Hebrew, Golgotha, from containing a 
 bare rounded hillock of the shape of a skull. The road to Samaria 
 passed close by, through the midst of gardens planted with olive-trees, 
 and containing the graves of the rich families that owned them. 
 
 2 Matt, xxvii. 32 and refs. 
 
TIIE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 349 
 
 manifested his sympathy with the condemned man, and that, 
 when ordered by the guards to assist Jesus, he did not hesitate 
 to take the heavy cross upon his shoulders . 1 The memory of 
 this man, accidentally as he was associated with the punishment 
 of the Saviour, is still blessed. The cross which he carried 
 for those few moments saved himself and his family. He 
 became, as did his wife and two sons, Rufus and Alexander, 
 a faithful and revered disciple . 2 
 
 A woman must be mentioned here, whose memory, 
 although the Evangelists have omitted to speak of her, is 
 still venerated by the Christian world. This woman was 
 Veronica, who, when she saw Jesus pass before her house, 
 with his forehead covered in blood and dust, drew near, and, 
 exposed as she was to the insults of his revilers, wiped his 
 face with a veil. She, with Simon the Cyrenian, are typical of 
 those who have the courage to show their compassion for 
 those beings who, like Jesus, are abandoned and abhorred by 
 all. 
 
 As they advanced towards Calvary, the condemned men 
 heard behind them the voice of weeping and lamentation. 
 A great pity was rising in the hearts of the crowd, 
 especially among the women, towards whom Jesus turned and 
 said : 
 
 “ Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for 
 yourselves, and for your children. For, behold, the days are 
 coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, 
 and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never 
 gave suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, 
 Fall on us ; and to the hills, Cover us. For if they do these 
 things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry ?” 3 
 
 1 “ If a Roman soldier demand labour of thee, resist not, neither 
 murmur, or thou wilt be beaten without mercy.” (Arr. iv. i.) 
 
 2 Rom. xvi. 13. 
 
 3 Luke xxiii. 27, etc. 
 
350 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 Jesus here forgot his own sorrows, and returned pity for 
 pity. In spite of the overwhelming suffering to which he had 
 already succumbed, his thoughts were with the people who 
 had made him their victim, and who were about to put him 
 to death, and he warned them of the hideous calamities that 
 were impending over them. He himself was represented by 
 the green and living tree, the nation which had spurned him 
 by the dead and withered one. If an innocent man, falsely 
 accused of blasphemy and rebellion against Gentile authority, 
 was treated thus, how should that criminal and rebellious 
 nation be treated, when, after endeavouring to break the yoke, 
 it should be handed over for destruction to the fire and sword 
 of the Romans ? These things were ordained by the ven¬ 
 geance of God, and none could arrest their coming. One 
 alone could have done so, and him, in their blind hatred, they 
 were about to kill. 
 
 At length the procession reached Calvary. The three 
 crosses were erected. Before nailing the prisoners upon them, 
 they gave them the stupefying drink which was given as an 
 opiate to those who were about to die; It was a kind of 
 aromatic wine, mingled with frankincense and myrrh, sour 
 and bitter to the taste . 1 Jesus tasted the draught, as if to 
 acknowledge the attention of those who offered it, but he 
 would not drink of it. He was resolved to suffer with 
 unclouded consciousness all the agonies of the death-torture. 
 The distance from the Praetorium to Calvary is scarcely a 
 thousand paces, and the way of sorrow had been traversed in 
 less than an hour. 
 
 About midday, at the sixth hour, Jesus was crucified, 
 and with him the two thieves ; one at his right hand, and the 
 other at his left. 
 
 1 Some authors, among whom is Langen, have observed that the 
 ancient naturalists, Dioscorides and Galen, ascribe a sedative influence 
 to frankincense and myrrh. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 35 I 
 
 When raised on the cross he prayed for his executioners ; 
 his first word was one of pardon. He said : “ Father, forgive 
 them, for they know not what they do.” 
 
 The Crucified One is the great pledge to us of mercy. He 
 makes peace between God and man ; they are reconciled in 
 him. At the bottom of all human sin is ignorance ; man 
 knows not and sees not; and this is generally the reason that 
 his heart is evil. Mental darkness is the source from which 
 the weakness and aberration of the will take their rise. If 
 Jesus had been known he would not have been crucified. 
 He pleaded this ignorance as an excuse for the greatest of 
 crimes. Whatever crime a man may have committed, he can 
 henceforward look to Christ, who prayed, “ Father, forgive 
 them, for they know not what they do.” It is a prayer for all, 
 for we all have suffered. It enfolds the world in the im¬ 
 mensity of its mercy. Victims have learnt to curse no more, 
 and to die, like Christ, with words of forgiveness and blessing 
 on their lips. 
 
 When the condemned had been raised aloft on the cross, 
 the executioners, after their horrible work of crucifixion, 
 used to fix upon the gibbet, above the head of every 
 sufferer, a scroll indicating his crime, according to Roman 
 custom . 1 That of Jesus bore these simple words: “JESUS 
 of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” They were 
 written in three languages : Hebrew, which was the national 
 tongue ; Greek, the universal language of the time ; and Latin, 
 the language of the conquerors. All men could read the 
 name and the crime of Jesus. Pilate, as ironical as ever 
 towards those who had wrung from him the condemnation of 
 the Prophet, mocked them for the last time by proclaiming 
 Jesus their King, thus involuntarily and unconsciously acting 
 as the instrument of God in his inscrutable purposes concern- 
 
 1 The condemned prisoner had to carry his scroll on his way to 
 execution. 
 
352 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 ing his Son. King of the Jews he was indeed, not in Pilate’s 
 sense of the title, but by the cross on which he died, and by 
 the blood which flowed from his wounded limbs. The true 
 Jews, the true sons of Abraham, throughout the whole world, 
 recognised him from that moment as their Saviour and their 
 Master. It was through suffering that he attained his Kingdom. 
 
 When the Jews, who had assembled round Calvary, 
 saw their victim, with the scroll above his head in which he 
 was called their King, they comprehended the insult of Pilate, 
 and were filled with indignation at it . 1 The priests who were 
 present at the place of death wished to modify the inscrip¬ 
 tion which was so offensive to them. They sent to Pilate, 
 saying, “ Write not, The King of the Jews ; but that he said, I 
 am the King of the Jews.” 
 
 The governor, whose pusillanimity and weakness and 
 cowardice they had worked upon before, was now inflexible. 
 He knew how to be so when necessary, even to the point of 
 cruelty, against this vanquished and intractable nation ; 
 and this makes it all the more unpardonable in him to have 
 delivered up Jesus. He answered contemptuously: What I 
 have written I have written. 
 
 In the meanwhile the executioners were engaged at the 
 foot of the cross in sharing between themselves the clothes of 
 the victims , 2 to which they were entitled by the Roman law, 
 “ De bonis damnatorum The four executioners of Jesus 
 accordingly took possession of his garments, that is, his 
 taleth, girdle, cloak, coat, and shoes. They divided the 
 cloak into four parts, but, as the coat was without seam 
 and of a single piece, woven from the top throughout, they 
 said, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be. 
 They did as they had said, and then, sitting down by the 
 
 1 John xix. 19, etc. Cf. Luke xxiii. 38 ; Markxv. 26 ; Matt, xxvii. 37. 
 
 a Matt, xxvii. 35, etc,, and refs.; John xix. 23, 24. 
 
FT* * 
 
 THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 353 
 
 cross, they kept guard on the victims. These soldiers did 
 not imagine that they were, like Pilate, the instruments in the 
 hand of God, and that they were fulfilling the words of the 
 prophet concerning Jesus, “ They parted my raiment among 
 them, and for my vesture did they cast lots .” 1 
 
 The multitude looked on. Those who passed by insulted 
 Jesus, and shook their heads at him and blasphemed him, 
 provoking him with pitiless irony, and saying : “ Thou that 
 destroyest the Temple, and buildest it in three days, save 
 thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the 
 cross.” We recognise here the voices of the false wit¬ 
 nesses who had accused him before Caiaphas. Men of such 
 low condition are always vulgar, always brutal and cowardly 
 in their cruelty. The more stricken and helpless is he whom 
 they are persecuting, the more provoking and the more hate¬ 
 ful do they become. 
 
 But not even their leaders could forego the fiendish 
 delight of satisfied hatred. Chief priests, scribes, and elders 
 mingled their sarcasms and their insults with the cries of their 
 satellites. They talked among themselves, laughing to scorn 
 the miracle-worker, the pretended Messiah and Son of God, 
 his goodness towards man, and his faith in his Father , 2 and 
 saying: “ He saved others ; himself he cannot save. If he be 
 the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, 
 
 1 
 
 and we will believe him. He trusted in God ; let him 
 deliver him now, if he will have him : for he said, I am the 
 Son of God.” 
 
 These men, the judges who had condemned and led Jesus 
 forth to death, had no restraint in their brutal triumph ; 
 they continued to insult him even unto death. It was as it 
 were a pestilence of hate and insult raging round the Victim. 
 
 The Roman soldiers also mocked him , 3 with ironical 
 
 1 Psalm xxi. 19. 
 
 2 Matt, xxvii. 41, etc. ; Mark xv. 3r. 
 
 3 Luke xxiii. 36. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 A A 
 
354 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 allusions to the writing fixed above his head. “ If thou be 
 the King of the Jews,” they said, “save thyself.” Then 
 they poured out a cup of their drink, and offered it to 
 him. 
 
 And lastly, one of the two malefactors crucified with Jesus 
 added yet another blasphemy to all that had gone before, and 
 said, “ If thou be the Christ, save thyself, and us with thee .” 1 
 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, “ Dost not thou 
 fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation ? And 
 we indeed justly ; for we receive the due reward of our deeds : 
 but this man hath done nothing amiss.” We feel at once that 
 the soul of this condemned criminal had been won over to Jesus; 
 he repented and believed. All who are influenced by Jesus enter 
 into repentance and faith. His meekness, his resignation, his 
 prayer for pardon, the word “ Father,” addressed by him to 
 God, with such an accent as none other could approach, all 
 this had enlightened the mind of the malefactor. The 
 mysteries of the conscience, and the hidden ways in .which 
 God’s love saves it are beyond man’s finding out. This 
 malefactor found life upon a gibbet, but he was side by side 
 with the Saviour. 
 
 He said unto Jesus, “Lord, remember me when thou 
 comest into thy Kingdom.” He felt the reality of that title 
 of King for which Jesus was dying. His trust won for him 
 one of the most consoling phrases which fell from the lips of 
 the Crucified One : “ Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou 
 be with me in Paradise .” 2 * * 
 
 1 Matt, xxvii. 44 ; Mark xv. 32 ; Luke xxiii. 39, etc. 
 
 2 The word “ Paradise ” is originally Persian, and means “ a park. 57 In 
 
 its Hebrew form, Pardes, it is used to signify “a royal garden.’ 5 (Song of 
 
 Solomon iv. 13 ; Eccl. ii. 5.) II apdSeiaos in the Septuagint is the 
 
 Garden of Eden ( Gan-Eden ), and, in an allegorical sense, the heavenly 
 place into which the souls of the just shall be received. S.ich is the inter¬ 
 pretation given by the Talmuds and the commentators. (Chag., fol. 14, 2 ; 
 Afzdrasch, Tillni ., fol. 2, 3. Cf. Lightfoot, Horae Hebr. et Talmud\ 
 p. 890, ed. Leipzig.) 
 
TIIE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 355 
 
 Then ensued an affecting scene, described for us by one 
 who not only witnessed it, but was one of the chief actors in 
 it . 1 Among the mixed multitude of the indifferent, curious, 
 and hostile which was gathered around the sufferers were the 
 parents of Jesus, with his disciples, his fellow-countrymen of 
 Galilee, and the women who had followed him. His mother 
 herself was there. She now approached the cross, accom¬ 
 panied by John, the other Mary, her sister-in-law, the wife of 
 Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. Jesus saw them standing 
 at his feet ; the disciple whom he loved being next beside 
 his mother. He said unto his mother, “Woman, behold thy 
 son ! ” and then to John, “ Behold thy mother ! ” 
 
 Even to his last breath he forgot his own sufferings to 
 console others ; to his friend he gave a mother, and to his 
 mother he gave a son. But this was not only the last word of 
 a son watchful of the future of her whom he was about to 
 leave for ever, and of a friend to his friend ; the words of Jesus 
 have a higher meaning. The beloved disciple represents to 
 him the whole Church ; the whole assembly of his faithful 
 followers and friends. When he said to his mother, “ Behold 
 thy son!” he created in her a divine motherhood ; he associated 
 her in the work of Redemption. By resigning herself to the 
 will of God, which required of her the sacrifice of her Son, 
 this heroic woman, unrivalled in the history of mankind, 
 became one of the founders of universal salvation. She 
 continues her work invisibly by her maternal office in the 
 Church. All who follow Jesus are her sons ; and those who 
 love Jesus follow the example of John, and take her for their 
 mother. 
 
 Soon after, darkness began to cover the earth. The 
 
 t 
 
 sun was darkened . 2 About three o’clock Jesus cried out 
 
 1 John xix. 25, 27. 
 
 2 Matt, xxvii. 45 ; Mark xv. 33 ; Luke xxiii. 44. 
 
 A A—2 
 
356 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 with a loud voice, “ My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken 
 me ?” 1 
 
 This was no cry of despair; it was a cry of supreme 
 anguish. The bond between Jesus and his Father is indis¬ 
 soluble ; they are one and the same. The Father can no 
 more abandon the soul of his Son, than the conscience of 
 Jesus can close itself against the love of the Father. But 
 it was in the purposes of God that his Son should be 
 given over defenceless to all forms of insult and torture, to 
 every stroke that the hatred of his enemies could launch 
 against him. In the midst of this deluge of agony into 
 which he was .plunged, it seems to have been willed by the 
 mysterious designs of God, and in order that the Victim of 
 Calvary should drain to the uttermost the cup of human 
 suffering, that Jesus should no longer feel the joy of his union 
 with his Father. The union was not broken, it could not 
 be broken ; but, although still conscious of it, he had lost 
 enjoyment of it. Hence the agonising cry, “ My God, my 
 God, why hast thou forsaken me ? ” 
 
 These words are the beginning of a psalm filled with 
 complaints of which Jesus alone has known and experienced 
 the anguish ; a psalm in which all the horror of his sufferings 
 is presented to us in the garb of prophecy: 
 
 “ I am a worm, and no man ; a reproach of men, and 
 despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to 
 scorn. . . . Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls 
 of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with 
 their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured 
 out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart 
 is like wax ; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My 
 strength is dried up like a potsherd ; and my tongue cleaveth 
 to my jaws ; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. 
 
 1 Matt, xxvii. 46 ; Mark xv. 34. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 357 
 
 For dogs have compassed me ; the assembly of the wicked 
 have inclosed me : they pierced my hands and my feet. I 
 may tell all my bones : they look and stare upon me. They 
 part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. 
 But be not thou far from me, O Lord : O my strength, haste 
 thee to help me .” 1 
 
 The cry of Jesus, “ Eloi, Eloi,” was received with sarcasm. 
 Some of them that stood there, said, “ This man calleth for 
 Elias .” 2 
 
 The horrible torture of crucifixion, and the raging fever 
 which consumed its victims, wrung from Jesus the cry: 
 “ I thirst .” 3 It was the custom to place beside the sufferers 
 a vessel filled with vinegar. One of the soldiers ran and 
 filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon a branch of 
 hyssop, and put it to his lips, saying, “ Let alone; let us see 
 whether Elias will come to save him.” When Jesus had re¬ 
 ceived the vinegar, he said, “ It is finished .” 4 
 
 The cup which he was destined to drink was drained to 
 the dregs. He had touched the bottom of that awful abyss 
 into which he had been cast by the will of his. Father. He 
 had suffered all and atoned for all. The suffering was without 
 limit, the victim perfect, the satisfaction infinite. The wrath 
 of God against evil was appeased, sin was destroyed, and 
 reconciliation between God and man was sealed in him in 
 infinite love. 
 
 Then he cried out in a loud voice for the second and last 
 time. When a man is about to die he grows faint and sub- 
 
 1 Ps. xxii. 6, 7 ; 12-19. 
 
 2 This misunderstanding is a proof that, among the pilgrims who 
 flocked to Jerusalem to keep the Passover, were some Greeks and 
 Romans who knew neither Hebrew, Aramaean, nor Syro-Chaldaic. 
 
 3 John xix. 28. Cf. Matt, xxvii. 48, 49 ; Mark xv. 30. 
 
 4 John xix. 36. 
 
353 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 mits to death ; but Jesus was the master of death. He leaves 
 it to fulfil its work, giving up his life in the fulness of his 
 liberty and sovereignty, as he shall take it again. 
 
 “ Father,” he said, “ into thy hands I commend my spirit.” 
 He bowed his head, and gave up the ghost . 1 It was now 
 the ninth hour . 2 
 
 The darkness had grown denser, as though by an eclipse of 
 the sun. The great veil which hung in the Temple, at the 
 entrance to the Holy of Holies, was rent in twain from the top 
 to the bottom . 3 The earth quaked and the rocks were rent, 
 graves opened of themselves, and the bodies of the saints 
 that slept in them arose. 
 
 These miraculous phenomena, witnessed only in Palestine 
 and Judaea, reveal how powerful are the ties uniting Jesus 
 with nature, with heaven and earth, and with mankind. The 
 sun by its eclipse, and the earth by its quaking, took their 
 part in the sadness of this dreadful hour. The death of the 
 Crucified was at once the end and beginning of a world. The 
 old world was vanquished ; the dawn of a new world was about 
 to rise. The sacred veil which hid the impenetrable dwelling 
 of God was rent asunder. Mosaism, the law of the elements 
 of the world, as St. Paul calls it , 4 had passed away. The 
 Temple was destroyed. 
 
 The Victim who then expired will lead us by his blood into 
 the true Holy of Holies, of which that other is but a symbol. 
 The dead themselves shall hear his voice; its living power 
 shall overflow all things ; the graves shall be opened, and 
 those who sleep therein shall arise. 
 
 When these heavenly signs appeared, the crowd of 
 
 1 Luke xxiii. 46. 
 
 2 According to our reckoning, three o’clock in the afternoon, 
 
 3 Matt, xxvii. 51 ; Mark xv. 38, 
 
 4 Galat. iv. 3. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 359 
 
 those who had been present at the execution, and whose 
 cries and mockeries and insults have been recorded, were 
 seized with panic. They dispersed in terror, many of them, 
 as they went, smiting their breasts with anguish. 1 
 
 The earthquake, the strange and sudden darkness, the 
 rocks which were cleft asunder, the loud cry uttered by Jesus 
 as he died, made a deep impression on the centurion and 
 the soldiers who were watching over Jesus. Heathens 
 as they were, their consciences were stirred within them. 
 Their souls opened like the graves, and were cleft like the 
 rocks whose hardness they had so lately rivalled. The 
 centurion standing before the cross glorified God, saying, 
 Truly, this was a righteous man and the Son of God.' 2 It was 
 Justice that spoke by the mouth of this Roman. The death 
 of Jesus at once inaugurates his glory and draws all men 
 towards him. It moved a Gentile to be the first to confess 
 his divinity. The tone in which Jesus called on God, as 
 Father, was sufficient to convince him. He believed in the 
 Crucified, and said, Verily he was the Son of God. 
 
 While the multitude withdrew, a small group remained, 
 gazing motionless, at some distance from the cross on which 
 Jesus had just expired. These were his friends, and especially 
 the many women who had followed him from Galilee and had 
 placed their services and their goods at his disposal. Among 
 them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James 
 the Less and Joseph, and Salome the mother of the two sons 
 of Zebedee. They looked and waited in silent grief. 
 
 The Sabbath was nigh at hand. The Jews, who did not 
 wish the bodies to remain on the cross during the holy day, 
 entreated Pilate that the limbs should be broken and that the 
 bodies should be taken away. The Romans generally left 
 
 1 Luke xxiii. 48. 
 
 2 Matt, xxvii. 54 ; Mark xv. 39 ; Luke xxiii. 47, 
 
360 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 the bodies on the cross to become the prey of wild beasts. 
 The Jewish law required that they should be removed before 
 sunset, lest the earth should be defiled by the curse attaching 
 to a corpse. 1 The crurifragiuni , however, as the Romans 
 called it, was resorted to by them in exceptional cases, and 
 this fact at once explains the request of the Jews and Pilate’s 
 reply. 
 
 Soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and then of 
 the other who had been crucified with Jesus ; but when they 
 saw that Jesus was dead already, they did not break his legs. 2 
 But one of them with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith 
 there came out blood and water. This marvel was witnessed 
 by St. John, who is the only Evangelist by whom it is related. 
 u He saw it,” he says, “ and his record is true, and he knoweth 
 that he saith true.” 3 
 
 The thrust of the soldier’s lance was meant as a last insult to 
 the lifeless body. But the pierced side is an irrefutable proof 
 of the death of Jesus ; it realised a prophecy which had -fore¬ 
 told to the Jews that the Messiah should be pierced by a 
 lance, and it was most fitting to him whose love has saved 
 the world. The blood and water which flowed from him are 
 symbolical of the deepest mysteries. We read in Genesis 
 how from the ribs of Adam, as he slept, Jehovah drew forth 
 Eve, the mother of all living. The real Adam, upon whom 
 a deep sleep had fallen, was Jesus upon the cross. From his 
 open side issued the Church, the true Mother, who brings forth 
 to God all the living by the water of baptism and the blood 
 of the Eucharist. 
 
 Those who were condemned by the Sanhedrin were to be 
 interred without ceremony. They might not be mourned ; 
 their dust might not be mingled with that of their ancestors 
 
 1 Deut. xxi. 23 ; Bell. Jud., iv. 5, 2. 
 
 2 John xix. 33, etc. 
 
 8 John xix. 35. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 361 
 
 in the family sepulchre. They were borne to the sepulchre 
 officially set apart for the bodies of criminals who had been 
 executed. 1 Sometimes, however, on the occasion of a festival 
 they were given up to their relatives, 2 to be buried with an 
 absence of all pomp. 
 
 But the friends of Jesus did not forget him in death. 3 
 There was one among them who especially distinguished 
 himself in this hour of mourning. He was a rich man, a 
 member of the Sanhedrin, a native of the small town of 
 Arimathaea, in Judaea. His name was Joseph. He was a just 
 and good man, who was waiting for the Kingdom of God ; he 
 was in secret a disciple of Jesus. He had taken no part in 
 the late deliberations and proceedings of the High Council. 
 With fearless courage he went to Pilate and asked him 
 for permission to remove the body of Jesus for the 
 purpose of interment. The governor was surprised to hear 
 that he had died so soon, and having made sure of this 
 through the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. 
 
 Joseph immediately purchased the winding-sheet and came 
 to Calvary, accompanied by another secret disciple of Jesus 
 named Nicodemus. The latter took with him a mixture of 
 myrrh and aloes, about one hundred pounds weight. They 
 took down the body from the cross and embalmed it in the 
 usual manner. It was wrapped in a winding-sheet sprinkled 
 with an aromatic and perfumed liquid ; and the limbs were then 
 swathed in bands steeped in the mixture of myrrh and aloes. 
 The head was covered with a linen cloth, which was folded 
 about it and concealed the face. 
 
 Joseph of Arimathaea owned a garden close to Calvary, 
 the place in which Jesus had been crucified, and there 
 he had hewn out of the living rock a sepulchre in which 
 no one had hitherto been laid. Like most other Jewish 
 
 1 Sanhedr c. vi., Hal . 5. 
 
 J Philo , in Flacc., § 10. 
 
 3 Matt, xxvii. 57 and refs. 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 362 
 
 sepulchres, as they may still be seen, it was. composed of two 
 chambers, the first to serve as a funeral chamber where the 
 friends came to weep ; the second to receive the bodies. The 
 sepulchre properly so called was a shallow couch hewn out of 
 the solid rock and surmounted by a small arch. In such a 
 tomb the body of Jesus was laid. The sun was setting, 
 and with sunset the Sabbath began. A large stone, 
 shaped like a millstone, and made to move to and fro in a 
 groove of the rock, served as an entrance to the sepulchral 
 monument. It was rolled to the opening, and the friends 
 of Jesus who had buried him withdrew. 1 
 
 Faithful to their Master unto death, the holy women who 
 had followed him had not left him from the moment when he 
 had breathed his last. Mary Magdalene stands at the head 
 of this company of mourners. They had seen the Master in 
 his agony and death-throes ; then they had seen him taken 
 down from the cross and laid in the tomb. Their grief and 
 their tears made a fitting accompaniment to the melancholy 
 task of Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus. They observed 
 how the body of Jesus was disposed, and withdrew to prepare 
 for the buried one whom they adored fresh perfumes and 
 fresh spices, and to pass the Sabbath day in silent sadness. 
 
 But the chief priests and Pharisees were disturbed in mind. 2 
 The thought of the victim no longer aroused their hatred. 
 After his death they believed themselves sure of triumph. 
 They had not a suspicion that death ends nothing. Ideas, 
 truth, right, justice are beyond its reach ; and even though 
 he who was the incarnation of all these divine things 
 had given himself up to death, death was not to be the end 
 of all. Fearing on the part of the disciples a fraud 
 such as none but hypocrites and rogues could have imagined, 
 they went to Pilate, saying : “ Sir, we remember that that de- 
 
 1 Matt, xxvii. 59, 60, and refs, 
 
 3 Matt, xxvii, 62, 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 363 
 
 ceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise 
 again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure 
 until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal 
 him away and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead.” 
 The error of believing in one risen from the dead would be 
 yet worse than that other error of believing in a Son of God. 
 Pilate refused, saying : “Ye have a watch ; go your way, make 
 it as sure as ye can.” So they went and made the sepulchre 
 sure, sealing the stone with the seal of the Sanhedrin, and 
 setting a watch of their satellites at the entrance. Jesus 
 slept for a little while the sleep of death under the guard of 
 his executioners. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 JESUS RISEN FROM THE DEAD. 
 
 The story of a great man ends at his grave. He enters by 
 death into an invisible world which is closed against us. We 
 see him no more; we hear him no more. All that survives of 
 him, besides his memory, is his disciples, his teachings, his 
 institutions, his works, and the secret working of his immortal 
 spirit. But just as the birth of Jesus bears no resemblance 
 to ours, so neither does his death resemble our death. 
 
 The Sabbath was drawing towards its close. 1 The holy 
 women, those faithful servants of Jesus, weeping over their 
 buried Master, had no other thought but that of honouring 
 him in death. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, 
 and Salome, returned to Golgotha to view the sepulchre, and 
 then, after the sun was set, bought some perfumes, which they 
 purposed to sprinkle over the body of Jesus. 
 
 On the morrow, at the first hour, that is before daybreak, 
 they went forth from Bethany, taking the road to Golgotha, 
 and bringing with them the perfumes which they had pre¬ 
 pared the evening before. On the way they said one to 
 another, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the 
 sepulchre? None of them had the least conception of the 
 extraordinary event which had taken place at the very moment 
 when they had set out from Bethany. 
 
 1 Matt, xxviii. ; Mark xvi. ; Luke xxiv. ; John xix., xx., xxi. 
 
 364 
 

 THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 365 
 
 Suddenly there had been a great earthquake. One of the 
 heavenly powers, an angel of God, as the Gospel says, had 
 come down from heaven, had rolled the stone away from the 
 entrance, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, 
 and his raiment white as snow. When the guards had seen 
 him, they had fallen as if dead with fear, and as soon as they 
 had come to themselves they had fled. 1 
 
 The sun was risen by the time that the women reached 
 Golgotha; and as they gazed upon the tomb they saw that it 
 was open; the huge stone had been thrust aside. When Mary 
 Magdalene saw this, she thought that the body of her Master 
 had been carried away by sacrilegious hands, and whilst her 
 companions went into the tomb, which they found empty, 
 Mary Magdalene went to Simon Peter and John, the favourite 
 disciple of Jesus, and said to them : They have taken away 
 the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they 
 have laid him. 
 
 Peter and John immediately went forth and came to the 
 sepulchre. They did not walk, they ran, to use the expres¬ 
 sion of one of them, St. John himself, by whom the event 
 has been recorded. He was the first to arrive, and, stooping 
 down at the opening of the cave, he saw the linen clothes 
 lying, but he went not in. Peter, who was following him, 
 entered boldly, and saw the linen clothes lying on the ground, 
 and the napkin that had been about the head of Jesus, 
 not lying with the winding-sheet, but wrapped together in 
 a place by itself. Then John went with Peter into the tomb, 
 and believed what Mary Magdalene had said to him, that the 
 Master had been taken away. The thought of the resurrec¬ 
 tion of Jesus, and that too a resurrection of the flesh, did not 
 enter their minds For they did not as yet know that it 
 should be, as the Evangelist declares ; and, although they had 
 
 1 Matt, xxviii. 2, 4 - 
 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 366 
 
 heard the Master on several occasions announce it in express 
 terms, they did not understand it. They viewed it through 
 the mists of their own religious prejudices, and must have 
 confounded it with the coming of the Messiah in the majesty 
 and splendour of his Kingdom. Accordingly, after having 
 visited the sepulchre, they returned in sorrow and disap¬ 
 pointment to their homes. 1 
 
 The women, in grief and sadness, wandered about the 
 garden. Mary stood at the entrance to the cave, and wept: 
 and as she stooped down to see the place where Jesus 
 had lain, she beheld two angels in human form, clothed 
 in white, the one at the head and the other at the foot 
 of the niche where the body had been lain. “Woman,” 
 they said unto her, “ why weepest thou ? She answered : 
 They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where 
 they have laid him.” As she said these words she turned, 
 looking for him with eyes full of tears, and saw Jesus 
 standing, but knew him not. “Woman,” he said, v why 
 weepest thou? whom seekest thou?” She, supposing him 
 to be the gardener, said unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him 
 hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him 
 away. Jesus said unto her, “ Mary.” At this well-known 
 appeal she knew her Master. “My Master,” she answered, 
 and threw herself at his feet to kiss them, as she had done in 
 his life. “Touch me not,” said Jesus, “for I am not yet 
 ascended to my Father : but go to my brethren, and say unto 
 them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my 
 God, and your God.” 
 
 These mysterious words were intended for a warning to 
 Magdalene that the hour was not yet come to enjoy the divine 
 presence of her Master in his transfigured humanity. He re¬ 
 appears on earth only to leave it again. He has not yet 
 
 1 John xx. 2, 10. 
 
TIIE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 367 
 
 readied the place of immortality ; he is ascending to his 
 Father in his Kingdom of glory. It is there that absolute 
 communion with him shall be realised in never-ending dura¬ 
 tion, and in joyful ecstasies with which no earthly trouble 
 shall be mingled. Meantime he confides to the best-beloved 
 of his servants the message of that ineffable communion which 
 Jesus invites all his faithful followers, his brothers, as he calls 
 them, to partake in heaven. 
 
 No one was worthier than the Magdalene to be the 
 messenger of Jesus. 1 A woman was the first to see him 
 risen from the dead, to hear his voice, and to under¬ 
 stand why the tomb was empty. The body of the buried 
 Lord had not been taken away. The all-powerful might 
 of God, operating through the invisible beings who are his 
 messengers, had made the earth quake and rolled aside the 
 stone which closed the entrance to the sepulchre, and 
 the Crucified had risen up to life, triumphant and glorious. 
 His body, which was not destined to undergo decomposition 
 in the tomb, he had made to live again. Henceforward he 
 lives and can no more suffer death. 
 
 The body, which he had given up to all the suffering and 
 torments of crucifixion, is now for ever freed from the laws of 
 suffering and corruption. It cannot change, it cannot suffer. 
 It acquires a sort of spirituality. Matter, with its grossness 
 and denseness, troubles it no more; it is possessed of a 
 subtlety which can penetrate matter. It is no longer controlled 
 by laws of gravitation, no longer limited by space; it is as 
 swift and agile as the will which moves it and whose perfect 
 instrument it is. It becomes palpable and visible at pleasure ; 
 it appears and disappears as it chooses. As the soul 
 assumes the form of its ideas, so the body of Jesus assumes 
 the form which best becomes it, without interfering with the 
 essentials of its nature and identity. Yet it has retained its 
 
 1 John xx. 11 -18. 
 
3 63 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 wounds to be the glorious and ineffaceable marks of its earthly 
 struggles, and even in his heavenly Kingdom to witness to his 
 victory over sin, and his infinite love towards mankind. 
 
 The few privileged beings to whom he showed him¬ 
 self during those days, were enabled, as they gazed upon 
 the heavenly vision, to learn the true destiny of man. 
 All that they see, they feel, they hear, is of the invisible 
 world. All the glory of Jesus, master of death, raised 
 to enter into a perfect and immortal life, will become 
 the heritage of everyone who believes in him. Hence¬ 
 forward his elect will have bright and boundless hope. 
 They will know that sin is vanquished, and death with sin. 
 They are to learn the inmost mysteries of this Messianic 
 Kingdom as they are realised in their Master. And just as 
 heaven, and the spirits which dwell there, rejoiced to herald 
 his birth, so did they throng about his tomb. Faith in 
 the risen Christ was to become a mighty lever to uplift the 
 world ; and it was to implant faith deeply in the disciples’ 
 hearts that the power of God wrought. 
 
 Discouragement and despair, sorrow and uncertainty, had 
 seized even on the apostles themselves. Providence had de¬ 
 livered them over to their own weakness, to show them that 
 unless the personal, direct, and all-powerful intervention of 
 Jesus should raise them up, they are nothing worth. It was not 
 to them that the risen Christ first manifested himself, but to his 
 faithful handmaids. He first comforted those whose grief was 
 most afflicting; and then sent them to bring hope and faith 
 to his bewildered disciples. 
 
 While Mary Magdalene had gone to inform the disciples 
 of Jesus, 1 some of the women who had come to the sepulchre 
 and had been frightened by the disappearance of the body, 
 having approached the tomb, saw all at once close to them 
 two angels in the form of men, clad in shining garments. 
 
 “ And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the 
 
 1 Luke xxiv. 3-8. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 369 
 
 earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among 
 the dead ? He is not here, but is risen : remember how he 
 spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son 
 of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and 
 be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remem¬ 
 bered his words. And the angels added: Go quickly, and 
 tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; 1 and, behold, 
 he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him, as 
 he said unto you. 
 
 And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear 
 and great joy; and ran to bring his disciples word. And sud¬ 
 denly Jesus showed himself before them, and said to them, 
 “All hail.” When they saw him they fell down, and kissed 
 his feet; and he said, “ Be not afraid; go, tell my brethren 
 that they go into Galilee, and there they shall see me.” The 
 story of Magdalene and of her companions was received 
 with incredulity by the disciples. It seemed to them “as 
 idle tales,” says one Evangelist. 2 Peter, however, arose, and 
 ran once more to Golgotha, and, entering into the sepulchre, 
 stooped down over the tomb, and saw the linen clothes still 
 laid on the ground, and nothing more. Perhaps he may have 
 hoped to see his Master; he departed, wondering in himself 
 at what was come to pass. 
 
 m 1 
 
 One fact stands predominant during the week which 
 followed the death of Jesus, namely, the sorrow and de¬ 
 jection of the disciples, and even of those we call the Eleven, 
 who up to the last had been admitted to the closest friendship 
 with the Master, and had made such vehement protestations of 
 their fidelity. That God should so keep silence in presence 
 of the condemnation and death of Jesus was an overwhelming 
 grief to them. They had expected to behold some striking 
 
 1 Matt, xxviii. 7 ; Mark xvi. 7. 
 
 2 Luke xxiv. II. 
 
 VOL. II. B B 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 n *T 
 
 3 / 
 
 o 
 
 manifestation of divine power and glory, which should con¬ 
 found the enemies of their Master, and inaugurate his Mes¬ 
 sianic Kingdom. But they had found nothing; nothing but 
 an empty tomb, and the statements of women who declared 
 they had seen angels in the sepulchre, and afterwards Christ 
 himself. For their part, they had seen merely an open tomb, 
 the linen which had shrouded the body laid on the ground, 
 and the napkin folded and laid by itself apart. Peter had 
 gone thither twice to make certain of this, once with John, 
 after Mary Magdalene had told him of the opening of the 
 sepulchre, and the second time alone, when Magdalene had 
 come to tell him of the apparition of the angels and of that 
 of Jesus. 
 
 To overcome the obstinacy of the Eleven and give them 
 courage, they must be convinced of the resurrection ; and to 
 convince them, nothing less than the intervention of their 
 risen Master was necessary, disclosing himself to them again 
 and again, in all the reality of his bodily presence and 
 glorious life. Nothing would convince them but his presence 
 and his acts. They were to behold .and to touch Jesus, 
 and to hear his voice ; and the resurrection would become to 
 them no longer a matter of faith, but an evident fact. They 
 would know henceforward that the Holy One of God had not 
 been given up to the corruption of death that God had 
 rescued him from the power of his enemies: that he was about 
 to enter into his glory, and to inaugurate in person his 
 Messianic Kingdom. 
 
 
 The awe-inspiring events of the Resurrection morning 
 were quickly known in the city. Some of the soldiers who 
 had been on guard hastened thither to inform the chief 
 priests and the Sanhedrin of what had happened. 1 2 A special 
 assembly was held. The Sadducees, sceptical as ever, were 
 
 1 Ps. xvi. io. 
 
 2 Matt, xxviii. 15, etc. 
 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 37 1 
 
 but little impressed by the recital. The resurrection had no 
 place in their philosophy. The notion, that a man could rise 
 again from the dead, must have seemed to them to be no 
 better than a chimera. But with all their philosophy there 
 were some things they little dreamed of ; the risen Lord 
 was to be a glorious conqueror. They only thought of 
 their own immediate interests, and, following out to the end 
 their policy of intrigue and hate, resolved upon bribing the 
 soldiers to give out a complete travesty of their former story. 
 They ordered them to say, “ His disciples came by night, and 
 stole him away while we slept. And if this come to the 
 governor’s ears,” they added, “ we will persuade him, and 
 secure you.” 
 
 The soldiers fulfilled their instructions to the letter, and 
 the fable was so given out among ail the Jews. It was still 
 in circulation ten years after, when the Evangelist who relates 
 the event was compiling his memoirs. But truth will not 
 allow herself to be tricked out by human malice in the garb 
 of falsehood. The prodigious labours of the Risen One have 
 borne witness to him, and no unprejudiced historian can base 
 the religion of Jesus on the intrigues of a few Sadducees and 
 the venality of a tew soldiers. 
 
 No better illustration could be given of the state of mind 
 of the disciples of Jesus in those days that followed his death 
 and that which beheld his resurrection, than the following 
 event, narrated by St. Luke with such exactness of detail and 
 such true pathos, that some have supposed, not without good 
 reason, that he himself was an actor in it. 1 
 
 It was the evening of the day of the resurrection. Two 
 of the disciples were on their way to a suburb of Nicopolis, 
 called Emmaus, 2 one hundred and sixty furlongs distance 
 
 1 Luke xxiv. 13, etc. 
 
 2 See Appendix S : The Situation of Emmaus. 
 
 B B —2 
 
372 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 from Jerusalem. 1 As they walked, they talked together of 
 all those things which had happened : “ And it came to pass, 
 that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus 
 himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were 
 holden that they should not know him.” 
 
 The glorious body of Jesus, although most real, is of such 
 a nature as is beyond the power of science to appreciate. It 
 shares in the power of the Spirit. It can appear and dis¬ 
 appear, hide itself or render itself visible, modify and change 
 its form. As he approached the two travellers he appeared 
 to them to be one of the many foreign pilgrims who had come 
 to the Holy City for the festival. 
 
 “And he said unto them, What manner of communications 
 are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are 
 sad ? And the one of them whose name was Cleopas, 
 answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in 
 Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to 
 pass there in these days ? And he said unto them, What 
 things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of 
 Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word 
 before God and all the people: and how the chief priests and 
 our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have 
 crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which 
 should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to-day is 
 the third day since these things were done. Yea, and certain 
 women also of our company made us astonished, which were 
 early at the sepulchre; and when they found not his body, 
 they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, 
 which said that he was alive. And certain of them which 
 were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as 
 the women had said: but him they saw not. 
 
 “Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to 
 
 1 In the Vulgate this distance appears as sixty furlongs, but this is 
 probably due to a copyist’s error. Both the Codex Sinaiticus and 
 the Codex Vatican us give it as one hundred and sixty. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 ^ *? 
 o/o 
 
 believe all that the prophets have spoken : ought not Christ to 
 have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory ? And 
 beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto 
 them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself,” as he 
 was wont to do to his disciples. “ And they drew nigh unto 
 the village, whither they went : and he made as though he 
 would have gone further. But they constrained him, saying, 
 Abide with us : for it is toward evening, and the day is far 
 spent. And he went in to tarry with them.” And it came to 
 pass, as he sat at meat with them, he, though a guest in a 
 strange house, but making himself as it were the chief among 
 them, took bread, and blessed it, according to custom, 1 and 
 brake, and gave to them, and their eyes were opened, and 
 they knew him ; and he vanished out of their sight. 
 
 This transient sight of him was sufficient for their faith ; 
 and they believed henceforward in the resurrection of the 
 crucified Jesus. The discourse which had so absorbed them on 
 the journey now came back vividly to the minds of the 
 disciples, and they said one to another, Did not our heart 
 burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while 
 he opened to us the scriptures ? And they rose up the same 
 hour, and returned to Jerusalem, being eager to tell to their 
 companions what things they had seen and heard. 
 
 It would seem that some of those whom they met could 
 not believe their statements. This new feature shows how 
 obstinately faith in the resurrection was at first resisted by 
 the disciples. 2 But the risen Jesus was watching over his 
 own ; by his appearances to them he wished to enlighten 
 them, leading them little by little to the truth, and at last 
 revealing to them the full mystery of his triumph. On 
 the evening of this same day he had shown himself to Peter. 
 The details of this appearance are not known. St. Luke and 
 St. Paul refer to it, but without comment. 3 
 
 1 Barac ., fol. 45, 41. 
 
 a Mark xvi. 13. 
 
 3 Luke xxiv. 34 ; I. Cor. xv. 5. 
 
374 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 When the two travellers from Emmaus arrived at Jeru¬ 
 salem, they found the Eleven gathered together, and other 
 disciples with them. They were speaking of the resurrection, 
 and some said, The Lord is risen indeed, and Peter has seen 
 him. The testimony of Peter does not seem, however, to 
 have had any decisive influence upon them. They listened to 
 the statement of Cleophas and his companion, who told them 
 of the conversation on their journey, and how they had 
 recognised Jesus by his manner of breaking bread at the 
 table at which he was seated with them. But even this new 
 testimony was not sufficient to dispel all their doubts. 
 
 It was now grown late. 1 The doors of the house in which 
 the disciples had assembled were closed, for fear of the Jews. 
 While the two disciples were still speaking together, Jesus 
 himself stood in the midst of them, and said unto them, 
 “ Peace be unto you ; it is I, be not afraid.” At this sudden 
 and miraculous appearance they were terrified and troubled, 
 thinking that they saw a spirit. 
 
 But Jesus reassured them, saying, “ Why are ye troubled, 
 and why do thoughts arise in your hearts ? ” Then he drew 
 near to them, and showed them his wounds, saying, “ Behold 
 my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and 
 see ; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.” 
 
 The disciples had found their dearly-beloved Master 
 again. They saw him, they touched him, and their joy over¬ 
 flowed. They could not believe their happiness. The human 
 heart is so constituted that its hopes are but coward hopes, 
 and whatever happiness comes beyond their range is only 
 disquieting to it ; so, likewise, it will believe more readily in 
 evil than in good. Jesus wished to root them firmly in the 
 faith, and to break them of their timidity in believing ; he said 
 to them, “ Have ye anything to eat ? ” They offered him a 
 piece of broiled fish and a honeycomb. He took and 
 
 1 John xx. 19. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 375 
 
 ate them in their presence, and, taking what was left, he gave 
 
 it unto them. 
 
 The body of the risen Jesus was therefore a living and 
 organic body. There is no idle fantasy about this scene; all is 
 real. He ate, although eating has not to serve for the nourish¬ 
 ment of one who is now and henceforward free from the laws 
 of animal nature. 
 
 Then Jesus said to them again, “Peace be unto you; as 
 my Father hath sent me, even so send I you*” He intimates 
 to them that his visible presence is of short duration, and 
 that they are to be his representatives and his messengers in 
 the world. The authority which is given him from the Father, 
 the mission which the Father has entrusted unto him, termi¬ 
 nates in his death and resurrection, and he is about to hand 
 it over to them. This power and this function may be 
 summed up in a few words : to communicate the Spirit of 
 God and to forgive the sins of every man willing to open 
 his heart to their teaching in repentance and faith. At this 
 moment, and in order to express by a striking symbol what 
 he would reveal to them, he breathed upon them, saying, 
 “ Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whose soever sins ye remit, 
 they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye 
 retain, they are retained.” 
 
 This is the second of the divine powers granted to the 
 apostles. Before his death Jesus had given them, at the 
 last supper, the power to renew and perpetuate, under the 
 form of bread and wine, the sacrifice of the eternal Victim; 
 but on this other evening he breathed upom them the 
 breath of the Holy Spirit, and he conferred on them the 
 power of sanctifying souls, and of forgiving sins through the 
 Spirit. 
 
 This manifestation had a convincing effect on his dis¬ 
 ciples ; their incredulity was vanquished, their agitation was 
 allayed, and they said to one another, "We have seen the 
 Lord.” 
 
3/6 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 The resurrection became for every witness of this divine 
 scene a visible and palpable fact. God, however, had 
 ordained that one of the Eleven, Thomas, the most positive- 
 minded of all the small community, should be absent from it. 
 When the others came and said to him, "We have seen the 
 Lord: he revealed himself fully unto us,” he answered 
 them, saying, “ Except I shall see in his hands the print of 
 the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and 
 thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Many a 
 man will recognise himself in the figure of this exacting 
 apostle. He brushes aside the testimony of his companions; 
 he will trust no one but himself and his Master; if the others 
 have seen, he will also see, for except he see he will not 
 believe. 
 
 This unbelieving one was quickly to be convinced, for it 
 was the Saviour’s will that his flock should be in the full 
 unity of faith. A new manifestation, eight days after that 
 which resulted in the conviction of the Eleven, made the 
 work complete. They were all once more assembled in a 
 house together, with closed doors, Thomas with them. 
 Although no door was open Jesus appeared and stood in the 
 midst, and said, u Peace be unto you.” Since he had risen 
 from the tomb peace seemed to be overflowing from him. 
 Then said he to Thomas, “ Reach hither thy finger, and behold 
 my hands, and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into 
 my side; and be not faithless, but believing.” And Thomas 
 answered and said unto him, u My Lord and my God.” He 
 was now enlightened, looked on his risen Lord, and confessed 
 his Godhead. 
 
 Then Jesus, speaking of all those who, throughout the 
 future, should be tempted, like Thomas, to deny the authentic 
 testimony and teaching of his apostles, said to Thomas, 
 “ Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: 
 blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 
 
 377 
 
 The rationalist school, when brought face to face with 
 such evidence on the subject of the resurrection and 
 the appearances of Jesus, replies by raising the question of 
 the credibility of miracles. 
 
 Nothing, indeed, can be a greater miracle that this. But 
 none has been more solemnly and more rigidly attested. It 
 rests, not upon the assertion of a woman, nor of women 
 alone, but of men, and men in hundreds. What they assert 
 they certify that they have seen, again and yet again ; and 
 themselves record that they could not believe it unless 
 it were proved by further evidence. And, incredulous 
 though they were at first, incredulous even to the point of 
 obstinacy, their Master alone, by his repeated appearances, 
 convinced them that he was in truth the Crucified One, yet 
 bearing all the marks and traces of his suffering ; and showed 
 them, by the most palpable proofs, that he had a real body, 
 that very body which had been nailed upon the cross. But, 
 as he showed them this, so he showed them also that his 
 glorious body had no longer the frailties of this life of suffer¬ 
 ing and death. 
 
 Before such evidence the impartial historian bows in 
 submission, but the slave of preconceived opinions revolts 
 against it. His philosophy compels him to deny miracles, 
 at least what this philosophy calls miracles ; and, in order 
 to deny miracles, he is ready to sacrifice the honesty or the 
 intelligence of the witnesses. He will call them rogues and 
 impostors, and, if the phrase should appear too strong, he will 
 modify it, by an euphemism no less insulting, into visionaries 
 and simpletons. 
 
 In reality, according to the school of those who deny the 
 supernatural, Jesus died like one of us, and no more came to 
 life than one of our own dead. His disciples concealed his body, 
 and, by an imposture which may be explained but not justified 
 by their fanaticism, they spread abroad the fable of the resur¬ 
 rection. This is an insulting explanation, and it is void of 
 
378 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 proofs ; it has nothing to support it. The Jews were the first 
 to circulate among themselves this hypothesis, but they never 
 proved it. It was the offspring of hate, propagated only by 
 purchasing the testimony of a few soldiers, and these, the 
 executioners of Jesus. Every arbitrary theory carries with it 
 its own condemnation ; but as soon as it becomes calumnious, 
 it becomes criminal. Now, all that history teaches us con¬ 
 cerning the disciples of Jesus, those whose simple natures 
 were step by step transformed by contact with the holiest of 
 Masters, forbids us to speak of them as rogues and impostors. 
 
 The eighteenth century set no bounds to its mockery and 
 insolence, yet it has convinced no one. The sense of justice 
 has revolted against it, and no attempt to explain after the 
 fashion of that time the Gospel narrative, and especially the 
 resurrection of Jesus, is now admissible. 
 
 In the nineteenth century rationalists have fallen back 
 upon the theory of hallucination. It is by this morbid 
 phenomenon that in their judgment all the supernatural 
 phenomena by which the invisible world is from time to time 
 disclosed in our earthly life, are to be explained. But if 
 hallucination, as a pathological fact, cannot be denied, its 
 
 application is often illogical and outrageous. A victim of 
 
 • 
 
 hallucination is a madman ; he believes that he sees without 
 himself what really exists merely in his own imagination ; he 
 makes objective what is subjective. In fact, he is the subject of 
 a disease, and in his organisation itself the proofs of his morbid 
 condition appear, in the forms of nervous excitement, ecstasy, 
 eccentricity, and incoherence. To ascribe to hallucination 
 the several clearly-presented scenes in which the risen Jesus 
 appeared to the women who had followed him in his apostolate, 
 to his disciples individually, or when assembled together, speak¬ 
 ing to them in sublime language, and even eating with them— 
 to ascribe all this to hallucination is alike irrational and 
 insulting. 
 
 No such theory can account for the prodigious transforma- 
 
TIIE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 379 
 
 tion of the apostles, who at first were so slow to believe, into 
 men of unassailable and heroic conviction. The conduct of 
 the Eleven, to confine our remarks to them, presents not the 
 slightest trace of nervous excitement or incoherence. They 
 are men sound in body and mind, men like others, without 
 any extraordinary gifts, but at the same time without any 
 eccentric idealism. There is one essential feature in halluci¬ 
 nation : the person who is subject to influence always sees 
 what he dreads or what he desires. Now the apostles had 
 not a thought of the resurrection of their Master ; they neither 
 feared it nor desired it, and, not understanding, they refused 
 even to believe it. They are precisely the opposite of vision¬ 
 aries : the latter imagine that they see what does not exist, 
 while the former persisted in denying what really had taken 
 place. To explain the possibility of such a state by the 
 burning love of Jesus, the optical illusions natural to an 
 Eastern atmosphere, or the dazzling sky of a Galilaean spring- 
 tide, is to expose ourselves to the derision of anyone who is 
 familiar with the East, and experienced in the subtleties and 
 the transparent artifices of incredulity. The Jew and the 
 Arab are no visionaries. In no race is the perception of 
 nature less fully developed, and consequently no race is less 
 accessible to refined ecstasies such as the modern imagination 
 can alone experience. 
 
 Moreover, it must not be forgotten that the world has 
 been won over to the faith by these men who preached a 
 crucified and risen God. We have no example of visionaries 
 conquering the world. On the contrary, they are destined 
 only to receive compassion. And so to deny the miracle of 
 the resurrection of Jesus is only to replace it by another, 
 namely, the foundation of Christianity by visionaries. 
 
 To those who seem to understand only the laws of phy¬ 
 sical and animal nature, it is well to recall the universal laws 
 of nature, moral and human, rational and divine. Death is 
 the logical, fatal, inexorable consequence of sin. And if any 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 38 ° 
 
 being has remained untainted by sin, it is just that he should 
 escape death. The absolute holiness of Jesus guarded him 
 against dissolution, and if, in his love towards men, Jesus 
 delivered himself up to death, of his own free will, and in 
 accordance with the commandment of his Father, the justice 
 of God was to deliver him from it for ever. The resurrection 
 is the great act of divine justice towards the only innocent 
 Being that the world has ever known. 
 
 Thomas was the last of the Eleven to believe in his Master. 
 Immediately upon the events, and just at the time when the 
 pilgrims who had come to the Paschal feast were leaving 
 Jerusalem, the disciples departed also and set forward towards 
 Galilee. Jesus, in his lifetime, when he foretold the resurrec¬ 
 tion to them, had let them know that he would go before 
 them thither ; 1 and the women who saw him after he was 
 risen informed the Eleven of their Master’s commands to them 
 to return to Galilee, where they should meet him. 
 
 Capernaum was, in all probability, the place whither the 
 disciples returned. Peter’s house was there ; and, more than 
 ever before, he had become the centre round which the others 
 rallied. But the narratives of the Evangelists only deal hence¬ 
 forward with one set of facts, the appearances of their risen 
 Master, and all else naturally shrinks into obscurity beside 
 them, for they had for their result that the faith of the dis¬ 
 ciples was confirmed, the consciousness of their mission 
 aroused within them, and between themselves and Jesus an 
 indissoluble union inaugurated which was to defy the world. 
 
 One evening, at Capernaum, were met together Simon 
 Peter, Thomas, Nathanael the Canaanite, the two sons of 
 Zebedee, and two other disciples . 2 They were probably re¬ 
 calling to their minds the days when the Master was among 
 
 1 Matt. xxvi. 32 ; Mark xiv. 28. 
 
 2 John xxi. 1, etc. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 381 
 
 them. That house, that lofty room in which they were 
 assembled, those very walls, had sheltered him. That was 
 his boat, the very one which used to be set apart for him. 
 There was the place whither he loved to withdraw. Yonder 
 the spot where he was wont to embark. The human heart 
 does not change; it loves to awaken all the recollections 
 which, as we recall the past, seem to give us our dear ones 
 back again. 
 
 Peter returned to his nets. He said to his companions, I 
 go a fishing. They said unto him, We also go with thee. 
 They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and 
 that night they caught nothing. But when the morning was 
 come, as they drew towards land, they saw a figure that 
 seemed to be waiting for their boat to land. It was Jesus, 
 but none of the disciples knew him. And he said unto 
 them, “ Children, have ye any meat ? ” They answered him, 
 No. And he said unto them, “ Cast the net on the right 
 side of the ship, and ye shall find.” They cast therefore, 
 and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of 
 fishes. 
 
 Then their eyes were opened, and that disciple whom 
 Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when 
 Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher’s 
 coat unto him, for he was naked, and cast himself into the 
 sea. And the other disciples rowed on in the ship, for they 
 were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits, 
 dragging the net with fishes. As soon then as they were 
 come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid 
 thereon, and bread. In the mysterious meal which Jesus had 
 prepared, we see a symbol of the providence with which he 
 watched over his apostles. Jesus said unto them, u Bring of 
 the fish which ye have now caught.” Simon Peter went up 
 into the ship, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an 
 hundred and fifty and three : and for all there were so many, 
 yet was not the net broken. He who had said once before to 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 382 
 
 these same disciples, “ I will make you fishers of men,” 
 showed them, by this abundant and unexpected capture, the 
 future success of their apostolate. Jesus said unto them, 
 “ Come and dine.” And none of the disciples durst ask him, 
 Who art thou ? knowing that it was the Lord, and being 
 silenced by a holy dread. Jesus then came, and took bread, 
 and gave to them, and fish likewise. 
 
 And when they had dined , 1 Jesus said to Simon Peter, 
 “ Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?” He 
 said unto him, “Yea, Lord ; thou knowest that I love thee.” 
 He said unto him, “ Feed my lambs.” He said to him again 
 the second time, “ Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?” He 
 said unto him, “Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.” 
 He said unto him, “ Feed my sheep.” He said unto him the 
 third time, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?” Peter 
 was grieved because he said unto him the third time, “ Lovest 
 thou me ? ” and answered in his unbounded love and con¬ 
 fidence, “ Lord, thou knowest all things ; thou knowest that I 
 love thee.” Jesus said unto him, “ Feed my sheep.” 
 
 • 
 
 Thus was Peter, who had denied his Lord, solemnly 
 pardoned and rehabilitated in the presence of the apostles ; 
 thus was the repentant and loving disciple raised to the 
 primacy of the Kingdom. To Peter alone is entrusted the 
 flock, the lambs and sheep, the faithful and their pastors ; 
 it is for him to lead them to the pastures of Christ; and, 
 as souls are nourished only by the truth and strength 
 and love of God, it is for Peter, the chief of shepherds, to 
 communicate this truth to them by his teaching, and this 
 strength and love by the sacraments. Jesus appointed him the 
 custodian of these incorruptible treasures. The Church, as a 
 hierarchy, is henceforth centred altogether in him. The word 
 of the Lord created it in a single instant, on the shore of that 
 
 1 John xxi. 15-19. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 383 
 
 very lake where he had promised Peter to make him a fisher 
 of men. 
 
 But the sovereign office to which Jesus had exalted his 
 apostle, by conferring upon him the fulness of his power 
 under a form of words expressive of infinite love, “ Feed my 
 lambs : feed my sheep,” was not to be without its trials. 
 Nothing divine is free from suffering. Peter was to undergo 
 the fate of his Master ; he was destined for martyrdom no 
 less than glory. Jesus thus announced it to him : “ Verily, 
 verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst 
 thyself, and walkcdst whither thou wouldest: but when thou 
 shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another 
 shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.” 
 This is what Jesus reserves for his dearest and greatest 
 apostles. Formed after his image, and carrying on his work 
 among mankind, they must bear the stigmata of their Master, 
 give themselves up, like him, to be sacrificed, and bear witness 
 to the truth which they declare by the fulness of devotion 
 and the heroism of sacrifice. 
 
 Again Jesus said to Peter, “ Follow me.” He seemed to 
 have some more private matter to confide to him ; or per¬ 
 haps he merely wished to show him, by this symbolic action, 
 that in all things he was to follow in his footsteps. Peter 
 obeyed, and, turning himself towards his companions, he saw 
 John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, following with him, and 
 he said unto Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? The 
 question, though spoken in all affection, was yet not devoid 
 of curiosity. Jesus rebuked him, saying, “If I will that he 
 tarry till. I come, what is that to thee ? follow thou me.” 
 
 This answer had about it a certain air of mystery, which 
 gave rise later, among John’s disciples, to a strange belief. 
 They said that the beloved disciple would not die. The 
 apostle himself rejected this interpretation, but without en¬ 
 lightening us as to the intentional obscurity of the saying 
 
384 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 concerning him. Jesus seems to have intended to contrast the 
 violent death reserved for Peter with the more tranquil death 
 of John. All the apostles, with Peter at their head, will die, 
 he seems to say, by the hand of the executioner, but the long 
 career of John will never be cut short by martyrdom. The 
 beloved Master will come to take him away. He is destined 
 to perpetuate to Christianity the sublimest words of Jesus. 
 No one so well as he, in his saintly old age, shall have the 
 power to recall the Master’s sayings. And surely it was well 
 that he, who had most tenderly loved him, should have the 
 privilege of remembering him best of all. 
 
 The presence of the Eleven in Galilee, and their combined 
 testimony to the resurrection, had now gathered around them 
 many of the disciples whom the death of Jesus had dispersed. 
 They did not all believe the words of the apostles, nor those 
 of those other privileged beings to whom the Master had 
 appeared. A new and more solemn manifestation was to 
 confirm their wavering faith . 1 It took place on one of the 
 hills bordering upon the lake, no doubt on one of those to 
 which Jesus had frequently been wont to retire with his 
 apostles, to teach them and to pray. He had spoken of it 
 beforehand to them as the place where they should see him 
 again. Its name has faded from the memory of tradition. 
 St. Paul, who speaks of this last appearance in Galilee , 2 dis¬ 
 tinguishes it as one of the irrefutable proofs of the fact of the 
 resurrection. He was seen, he says, of above five hundred 
 brethren at once ; of whom the greater part remain unto this 
 present, but some are fallen asleep. 
 
 When they beheld him they worshipped him. Then Jesus 
 came near unto them and spoke to them, affirming his sovereign 
 and universal power, and the mission which was reserved for 
 his disciples. He said: “ All power is given unto me in 
 
 1 Matt, xxviii. 16, etc. 
 
 2 I. Cor. xv. 6. 
 
TIIE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 3S5 
 
 heaven and earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, 
 baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
 and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things 
 whatsoever I have commanded you : and, lo, I am with you 
 alway, even unto the end of the world.” 
 
 Each word uttered by the risen Jesus is filled with creative 
 power. When he said, “ Receive ye the Holy Ghost,” he 
 created the sacerdotal power to judge and sanctify. When 
 he said to Peter, “ PTed my lambs, feed my sheep,” he created 
 the primacy in the supreme hierarchy of his Kingdom. When 
 he said, “ Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the 
 name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,” 
 he created the supreme power of the apostolate. He revealed 
 to his apostles the boundless extent of their dominion, which 
 is to be universal as God himself, because all men are invited 
 to hear the voice of Jesus and to form part of his Kingdom. 
 He sums up all that his apostles will have to tell mankind, 
 that is, his own commandments. He set forth baptism to 
 be the great sacrament of incorporation in the divine life 
 which he has brought down upon earth, and which has for its 
 end to raise us up to the leather, the never-failing source of 
 this divine life, with the Son, who is its perfect manifestation, 
 by the Holy Ghost, the only power capable of realising this 
 incorporation. 
 
 Then he said unto them all, “ I will be with you alway, 
 even unto the end of the world.” 
 
 Not only is he released from the bonds of death, not only 
 is he living, but he is free from all the limitations of mortality 
 and life. In spite of time and space, he will always be pre¬ 
 sent in the midst of his disciples. The apostles themselves 
 experienced during their life-time the truth of this ; they 
 lived, as we may say, under the constant influence of their 
 risen Master. Although visible only on rare occasions, he 
 was with them and in them. He was with them to rally 
 VOL. II. C C 
 
 % 
 
386 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 them, to lift them up, to triumph over their discouragement 
 and incredulity, to take full possession of their minds, their 
 consciences, their hearts, and to complete the organisation by 
 which they should be armed invincibly to fulfil throughout 
 the ages the work of the Kingdom of God. None else but he 
 took part in the marvellous transformation of a few Galilaeans 
 into the conquerors of the world. He would have them come 
 together once again, to meet him, for the last time, at Jeru¬ 
 salem. 
 
 And so they left for ever the land of Zebulon and Naph- 
 tali, and that sea by whose shores they had received their 
 call, and came to the Holy City, where the Master was await¬ 
 ing them . 1 
 
 As the Eleven sat at meat, Jesus appeared in their midst, 
 and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, 
 because they believed not them which had seen him after he 
 was risen This reproach rings down through the centuries, 
 and falls on all those who contemn the words of the witnesses 
 entrusted with the mission of making public the life, death, 
 and resurrection, the teachings and the hopes of Christ. 
 
 Then he reminded them of all that he had taught them 
 when he lived among them, saying, “ All things must be ful¬ 
 filled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the pro¬ 
 phets, and in the psalms, concerning me.” Then opened he 
 their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, 
 and said unto them, “ Thus it is written, and thus it behoved 
 Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and 
 that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in 
 his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye 
 are witnesses of these things. And, behold, I send the pro¬ 
 mise of my Father upon you ; but tarry ye in the city of 
 Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. 
 
 1 Mark xvi. 14, etc. ; Luke xxiv. 44, etc. 
 
THE DEATH OF JESUS, AND AFTER. 387 
 
 “ Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every 
 creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved ; 
 but he that believeth not shall be damned.” 
 
 then, that he might make clear to them the divine nature 
 of the power that should come upon them, he added, “ And 
 these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall 
 they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues ; they 
 shall take up serpents ; and if they drink any deadly thing, it 
 shall not hurt them ; they shall lay hands on the sick, and 
 they shall recover.” All such miracle-working power is the 
 gift of the Holy Ghost. Whether it manifest itself visibly 
 on the body, when it pleases God to confirm in this manner 
 the superhuman work of his apostles ; or invisibly on the soul 
 in the privacy of the conscience, it is the same; in either case 
 it proclaims the power of God. 
 
 Jesus took his apostles and led them out of the city, 
 towards Bethany, to the top of the Mount of Olives . 1 It 
 was there that his agony, the bitter first-fruits of his passion, 
 had been undergone; and it was there that he was to leave 
 the earth and to enter into his glory above and in full view of 
 the city which had crucified him, which still contained his 
 tomb, and refused to acknowledge his triumph. 
 
 All the apostles and numerous disciples were present, and 
 they put this question to the Master: Lord, wilt thou at this 
 time restore again the kingdom to Israel ? 2 He answered, 
 
 “ It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the 
 Father hath put in his own power.” We can see behind the 
 question of the apostles the last remnants of those dreams of 
 Jewish dominion which were about to be dispelled by the 
 effulgence of the Spirit; and we see, in the reply of Jesus, the 
 last effort to turn their thoughts towards this Spirit, whose 
 docile and invincible instruments they were to become. “Ye 
 
 1 Luke xxiv. 50, etc. 
 3 Acts i. 6, etc. 
 
 C C—2 
 
JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 333 
 
 shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon 
 you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, 
 and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost 
 part of the earth.” 
 
 These were his last words. He raised his hands, and 
 blessed his apostles; and while he was blessing them, they 
 saw him parted from them, and carried up into heaven; and 
 a cloud received him out of their sight. 
 
 Henceforward, heaven is opened, and the kingdom of God 
 established. The triumph of Jesus is begun. He leaves the 
 earth only that he may free it from the bonds of evil and may 
 save it: he has overcome the world. 
 
APPENDICES. 
 

APPENDIX A. 
 
 THE GENERAL CHRONOLOGY OF THE LIFE OF JESUS. 
 
 It is necessary to specify dates, which are one of the essential 
 elements of history. While they determine the agreement and suc¬ 
 cession of events, they enable us the better to seize their character, 
 and, in expressing the exact distance which separates them from us, 
 they bring out the reality of facts and persons. The date is the 
 first thing which disappears when a being is hidden in the distance 
 of the past. We may still distinguish his appearance, but we can no 
 more specify his date than an astronomer can calculate the distance 
 of the suns which are included in the depths of the Milky Way. 
 Men whose time can be determined are like those stars which 
 we can place at their mathematical point in the immensity 
 of space, and of which we can observe the evolutions and the 
 phases. 
 
 Christ has his historic date, and the first duty of the historian 
 who will write his life is to fix it. Now, in the existence of every 
 man are three dominant dates : his birth, his entry into public life, 
 and his death. These three dates constitute the general chronology 
 of the life of Jesus. If we are contented with being nearly right 
 by a few years in relation to these fundamental dates, which is, in 
 fact, of little importance in the space of more than eighteen hundred 
 years, and which is quite enough to show the historical fact of 
 Christ, the certainty is complete, and the Gospel tradition leaves 
 nothing to be desired. It is summed up in these words: Jesus was 
 born under the Emperor Augustus and under King Herod, in the 
 second half of the reign of one and the last years of the reign of the 
 other. He was about thirty years old when he received the baptism 
 of John. In the fifteenth year of Tiberius his ministry was active. 
 He died in the reign of Tiberius, when Pilate was governor of Judaea. 
 
 These are the Gospel facts which are demonstrated, evident, 
 and scientific, guaranteed by universal tradition, strictly established 
 
 39i 
 
392 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 by history. If we want to be more precise, and science has 
 endeavoured to be so, if we want to name the very year in which 
 Jesus was born under Augustus and before the death of Herod, to 
 mark the exact year in which he entered into public life, to count 
 the interval between that moment and his death, and, finally, to fix 
 the year of that death, the day of the month and of the week, we 
 enter into a wide field of discussion. For three centuries in France, 
 in England, Germany, and Italy, 1 important works have been under¬ 
 taken in order to obtain chronological accuracy. Gentile and Jewish 
 authors have been examined, as well as monuments, inscriptions, 
 coins, and astronomy. Calendars have been formed over and over 
 again, whole lives have been spent, and great intellects have been 
 devoted to the interpretation of Gospel documents; and men have 
 succeeded only in establishing probable conclusions, whose diversity 
 proves their inadequacy. 
 
 In relation to the exact year of the birth of Jesus, opinions 
 hesitate between the year 747 and 751 from the foundation of Rome. 
 For his entrance into public life, they hesitate between the year 26 
 and the year 30 and 31. For the duration of that life, between 
 three or four Passovers; and, lastly, in relation to the year of his 
 death, they move between the year 29 and the year 34 or 35, as 
 extreme limits. 
 
 This variation springs from several precise causes: the uncer¬ 
 tainty of the time of the universal census commanded by Augustus, 
 and of the death of Herod the Great ; the diversity of interpretation 
 of the fifteenth year of Tiberius, of the thirty years of Jesus, 
 according to St. Luke, and of the unnamed feast in the 5th chapter of 
 
 1 Scaliger, De emendatione temporum ; Longius, De cinnis Christi ; 
 Kepler, De vero anno , etc. ; Calvisius, Enodat. duaruvi quaest. circa ann. 
 nat. et minist. Christi ; Hervaert, Chronologia nova , vera, etc.’, Petau, 
 Doctrina, temporum \ Usserius, Annates V. et N. Test, et chronol. ; 
 Labbe, Concordia Chronolog. ; Tillemont, Memoires pour servir a l'hist, 
 eccles. ; Larny, Harmonia sive concord. Evangel. ; Natalis Alexander, 
 Hist, ecd'es. ; Dom Calmet, Hist, de FA?ic. et du Nouv. Test. ; Bible de 
 Vence, Dissert, sur les Annees de Jesus Christ ; Lardner, Credibility of 
 the Gospel’, Eart de verifier les dates’, Magnan, Problema de anno 
 nativit. Christi; Sanclemente, De vidg. aerae emendat.; Ideler, Hand- 
 buch der mathem. und techn. Chronol. ; Wieseler, Chronologische 
 Synapse; Patrizzi, De Evangel.; Memain, Connaissance du temps 
 h’angel. 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 393 
 
 the Gospel of St. John; the difference of the calendars as reconsti¬ 
 tuted by arithmetic and astronomy; and, finally, the interdependence 
 of the fundamental dates in the life of Jesus. 
 
 It is not possible to establish chronologically the date of the 
 birth of Jesus, without fixing that also of his death, and his entrance 
 into public life. These dates are connected and interdependent, 
 and are explained by each other. It will be seen that if Jesus, 
 according to the formal testimony of St. Luke, was between thirty 
 and thirty-one years old at the time of his baptism, in the year 781, 
 his birth cannot be placed in 747 ; and if he died on Friday, the day 
 of the Passover, in 783, his public life cannot have embraced a further 
 period of more than three Passovers. 
 
 The fault of the greater part of systems and solutions is 
 that they are not in accordance with each other, that they 
 often oppose Gentile documents to the text of the Gospel, and the 
 sacred texts to each other, that of John to those of Matthew and 
 Luke, and Luke to himself; or, to escape this opposition, they 
 deliver themselves over to arbitrary exegesis, too facile in expedients. 
 
 In giving my opinion on the fundamental dates of the history of 
 Jesus, I believe that I have succeeded in giving, as their basis, the 
 Scriptural interpretation of the Gospel texts, and the most complete 
 harmony of the sacred authors and Gentile or Jewish historians, the 
 only decisive authorities on such a subject. 
 
 I. 
 
 THE YEAR OF THE BIRTH OF JESUS. 
 
 A Scythian monk, Dionysius the Little, abbot of a monastery at 
 Rome, who died in the year 556, placed the birth of Jesus in the 
 year 754 from the foundation of Rome, and the year 4714 of the 
 Julian period. This date was universally accepted by Christians up 
 to the 17th century, and has determined that which has been called 
 the “Vulgar era.” For two centuries it has been recognised as 
 wrong, and every historian has recognised that Jesus was born at 
 least three or four years earlier. We find in the Gospels four 
 important data which enable us to determine within two or three 
 years, the date of the birth of Christ. 
 
394 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 According to Matthew ii. i (compare Luke i. 5, and Matthew 
 ii. 22), Jesus was born in the reign of Herod. 
 
 According to Luke ii. 1, he was born at the time of the taking of 
 the census in Judaea, under Augustus. 
 
 According to Matthew ii. 2, 16, a star appeared to the wise men 
 in the East, and again upon their arrival at Jerusalem and at the 
 place where Christ was born. 
 
 Lastly, according to St. Luke iii. 23, Jesus, at the time of his 
 baptism, was about thirty years old. 
 
 An attentive study of these various data obliges us to fix the birth 
 of Jesus after the year 746 and before the year 751, for the census 
 in Judaea could not at the earliest have taken place before the year 
 747, and Herod died in the course of the year 750-51. 
 
 § 1 .—The year of Herod's Death. 
 
 (Vol. I., p. 63, etc.) 
 
 The declarations of Josephus on this point are precise. If we 
 look at the Book of Jewish Antiquities , xvii. 8, 1, 6, 10, and the 
 War of Independence , i. 33, 8, it is clear from these two passages 
 that Herod died thirty-seven years after the decree of the Senate 
 which raised him to the throne, and thirty-four after he entered 
 into active possession of his power. 
 
 The decree of the Senate was only given at the united instance of 
 Octavius and Antony. The two rivals must have been reconciled, 
 but they did not come together till the death of Fulvia, in the year 
 714, according to Dio Cassius (48, 28). In that year only, there¬ 
 fore, can be placed the accession of Herod to the throne of Judaea, 
 and, since he reigned thirty-seven years, his death must have taken 
 place in the year 750-51. 
 
 Although he was named king in this decree of the Senate in the 
 year 714, Herod only really assumed the power after he had con¬ 
 quered his kingdom, with the aid of the Romans, from Antigonus 
 and his partisans. But Antigonus was not conquered, and Jeru¬ 
 salem was not taken, until three years afterwards,- in the year 717, 
 and, as Josephus expressly remarks, in the third month, Sivan (June 
 or July). The thirty-four years of his reign, as estimated by Josephus, 
 bring us, therefore, to the year 750-51. It is well to remark, in 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 395 
 
 regard to the accuracy of the figures given us by the Jewish his¬ 
 torian, that, according to the wont of his nation, Josephus counted 
 the years of the princes from the month of Nisan, so that a single 
 day before or after the first of Nisan was equivalent to a full year. 
 
 The length and the end of the reigns of the three sons of 
 Herod bring us to the same conclusion. Archelaus was deposed 
 and sent into exile in the tenth year of his reign, say in the year 759; 
 therefore-he succeeded his brother in the year 750-51. Philip, the 
 tetrarch of Ituraea and Trachonitis, died in the thirty-seventh year of 
 his reign, 786; therefore, it began in the year 750-51, at the death of 
 Herod. Herod Anti pas, the tetrarch of Galilee, was sent into exile 
 at Vienne, in Gaul, after reigning forty-three years, in the year 793; 
 therefore, we must place the first year of his reign in 750-51. 
 
 Astronomy comes to the aid of history to give certainty and 
 absolute accuracy to the date of the death of Herod. Some time 
 before his death there was, according to the testimony of Josephus 
 (. Antiquities , xvii. 6, 4), an eclipse of the moon. Now, astronomical 
 calculations establish in the most absolute manner (Ideler, Hand- 
 buch d. Clironolog:) that, in fact, an eclipse visible at Jerusalem took 
 place between the 12th and the 13th of March, from eight minutes 
 past one to twelve minutes past four. The full moon of the 15th of 
 Nisan occurred, in the year 750, on the 12th of April. If, therefore, 
 Herod died, according to what we have already stated, seven or eight 
 days earlier, we must place that event in the months which followed 
 the Passover of 750. 
 
 § 2 .—The Census under Quirinius . 
 
 (Vol. I., p. 47, etc.) 
 
 According to St. Luke, the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem coincided 
 with the general census ordered by Augustus, and carried out in 
 Syria by Quirinius. 
 
 The fact of this general census has been denied. The author of 
 the third Gospel has been accused of having confounded it by a 
 grave anachronism with that which was made ten years later by the 
 same Quirinius, Governor of Syria, coincidently with the exile of 
 Archelaus, and the conversion of Judaea into a Roman province. 
 
 The question is one of extreme importance for the Gospel history • 
 
396 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 if it is answered in the sense of this denial and this accusation, 
 nothing remains of the affirmation of St. Luke, when he narrates that 
 Jesus was born at Bethlehem, on the occasion of this very census, 
 which brought Joseph and Mary his mother to that town. 
 
 And first, it is unlikely that St. Luke confounded these two facts 
 of census-taking, since he knew them both and alluded to them 
 directly. (Luke ii. 2 ; compare Acts v. 37.) Only those things 
 which are not understood are confounded, but we always distinguish 
 what we know, for'knowledge implies distinction. Now, the first 
 census-taking which he points out in his Gospel was only a num¬ 
 bering of persons, men, women, and children, at their own birthplace; 
 while the second (Acts v. 37) was the levy of a tax which completed 
 the enslaving of the Jews, for which the first had cleverly paved the 
 way. The first took place under the immediate direction of the 
 legate of Syria, Quirinius, and the second ended under the ordinary 
 government of the same Quirinius, who had become praetor of the 
 province of Syria, to which he had definitely annexed Judaea. 
 
 The question is therefore to establish that a general census was 
 commanded by Augustus; that it was extended to Judaea towards 
 the end of the reign of Herod; that it was cariied out under the 
 immediate direction of Quirinius, Imperial legate of Syria, and that 
 it was distinct from the census-taking ten years later, an operation 
 which we must consider as the completion of that begun under 
 Herod. We find that we can prove these facts impartially and 
 historically, and so justify St. Luke from the reproach of anachronism 
 which is brought against him, by giving to the first two verses of 
 chapter ii. an interpretation which no scholar can refute. 
 
 Mommsen, the celebrated historian of Rome, has pronounced 
 resolutely not only against the fact of a general census of Judaea 
 before the deposition of Archelaus in 759-760, but even against its 
 possibility. That is a conclusion which may well be argued; but he 
 goes beyond his right and sins against the gravity of a historian 
 when he takes to task these theologians, and those who are like them, 
 for being under the sway of preconceived ideas, first persuading 
 themselves, and then others, that such a circumstance could have 
 taken place. (Mommsen, Res gestae August., 125.) 
 
 It is necessary to give some precise details about the Roman 
 census-taking. The essential purpose was to specify the number of 
 
APPENDIX A. 397 
 
 Roman citizens, and to know officially the birthplace, age, name, 
 rank, and fortune of every free inhabitant of the Empire. 
 
 This was the basis on which taxes were imposed. The inscrip¬ 
 tion of each person on the register was accompanied with an oath of 
 fidelity. Therefore the taking of the census became, in the hands of 
 the world’s master, a means of servitude. In almost every one of 
 the peoples subservient to Rome; Gauls, Britons, Spaniards, 
 Salassians, Cilicians, and Jews; the oath and the tax provoked out¬ 
 breaks, sometimes of a very grave kind. This administrative 
 measure was part of the general financial system of Rome, and was 
 ably and perseveringly carried out by Augustus. To understand its 
 whole import we must take it with the cadastral description of the 
 whole empire, and the universal reform of the calendars. The main 
 thing that Rome wanted was the tax. Now to ascertain the per¬ 
 sonal tax, it was necessary to number the people: to assess a 
 territorial tax, properties had to be measured; and, to fix the time of 
 their occurrence, the calendar had to be brought to uniformity. 
 
 Augustus neglected nothing. He had his census-overseers for 
 the enumeration of his subjects; geographers and geometers sur¬ 
 veyed the cadastral measure; and, from the first general census, he 
 imposed on the Egyptians and the Greeks the fixed solar year of the 
 Romans. These operations were crowned by the taking of the 
 census, including the customs and the taxes. 
 
 The census of persons had to take place at the home of the 
 family and the birth-place, according to the plan declared by an 
 edict of Claudius the consul two centuries before Christ. The 
 declaration required by the census included circumstantial details. 
 The free man had to give his name, take the oath, and declare his 
 domicile, the value of his property, and the names of his fatheq 
 mother, wife, and children. (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, iv. 5, 15.) 
 
 According to Ulpian of Tyre ( 1 . II., De censibus), the age of 
 the persons had to be declared. He gives the reason that it might 
 exempt them from the payment of taxes, as was the case in the 
 provinces under the government of Syria, where a poll-tax was only de¬ 
 manded for males above fourteen years, and for females above twelve. 
 All free women came into the census (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 
 iv. 15). This last detail is one of the differences between the 
 Jewish and Roman mode of taking the census. Among the Jews, 
 women did not appear. Among the Romans, they had to go once 
 a year to pay their poll-tax in person. The solemnity of the 
 
393 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 “Paganalia” is well known, which was instituted by Servius Tullius, 
 and of which Dionysius of Halicarnassus, the contemporary of 
 Augustus, speaks (iv. 4). All the inhabitants of the villages 
 (pagani) had to be present, each one bringing a “ numisma.” This 
 piece of money was different for men, women, and children. We 
 see in this the Roman spirit of detail. Those who presided over the 
 sacrifices thus knew the number of inhabitants in every town, with 
 their age and sex. The obligation laid upon women to be enrolled 
 in the census was kept up to a late period. Sozomenus {Hist, ecc/es., 
 v. 4), speaking of a similar census taken at Caesarea under Julian the 
 Apostate, writes that “the whole population of Christians, in¬ 
 cluding women and children, had received an order to enrol them¬ 
 selves.” 
 
 The taking of the census was accomplished in the name and by 
 the orders of Augustus. “The Emperor,” says Suidas ( Lexicon , 
 'k-noypa^rj), “chose twenty persons distinguished by their conduct 
 and honesty, and sent them into all the provinces under his power, to 
 take, in his name, the census of persons and goods. He ordered 
 them, at the same time, to levy, after the census-taking, a tax for the 
 public treasury.” 
 
 It appears from this passage that the great taking of the census 
 was the work of a special delegate of the Emperor, and was quite 
 apart from the ordinary power of the prefects who governed ‘the 
 provinces. 
 
 The whole genius of Rome, wary and circumspect, appears in 
 this fact. By dividing these functions, the Emperor made certain of 
 carrying them out, and, by confiding the delicate work of the census 
 to eminent persons, he avoided a collision between the proconsuls. 
 These extraordinary delegates were called “censitores” or “legati 
 pro praetore,” and they were aided in their task by subalterns, 
 “adjutores ad census.” The Emperor himself in person directed 
 the census in the province of Gallia Narbonensis in the year 27 
 before Christ, and when at last he delegated Drusus to continue 
 it in the six provinces of Gaul, each of these provinces had its 
 own governor. Sixty years after Jesus Christ, Tacitus {Ann. xiv. 46, 
 etc.) records a new census in Gaul, and again it was not carried out 
 by the ordinary governors of the provinces, but by eminent persons, 
 whose names he mentions: Quintius Volusius, Sextus Africanus, and 
 Trebellius Maximus. The “censitor,” as we see in the case of 
 Germanicus, thirteen years after the birth of Jesus Christ, sometimes 
 
APPENDIX A. 399 
 
 received the supreme command of the armies of the country which 
 he had to enumerate. (Tacitus, Ann., i. 31, 33.) 
 
 These censuses played a great part in the reign of Augustus. He 
 ordered them at Rome every five years, and more than once he 
 extended them to the rest of Italy and to all the provinces of the 
 empire. From the battle of Actium to his own death there were 
 nine. Three of this number were of considerable importance, and 
 are mentioned in the famous inscription of Ancyra. It must, however, 
 be acknowledged that this mutilated marble speaks only of the 
 census of the Roman citizens, and not of the provinces of the empire. 
 According to this celebrated table, Augustus had closed three 
 “lustra:” the first in 726, twenty-six years before the “vulgar era,” 
 with Agrippa as his colleague in the consulate; the second in 746, 
 seven years before Jesus Christ, when in sole possession of consular 
 power, in the consulate of Censorinus and Asinius; and the third 
 in 767, thirteen years after Christ, the last year of his reign, with 
 Tiberius, who was associated with him in imperial power, in the 
 consulate of Sextus Pompeius and Sextus Apuleius. If a census of 
 the provinces took place, it was evidently the result and complement 
 of that of the citizens. These two operations complete one another. 
 They were one of the greatest services which a magistrate called to 
 the honour of closing a “lustrum” could render to the empire. 
 Moreover, the custom of following the general census of the citizens 
 by that of the colonies and other free inhabitants was observed before 
 as well as after Augustus. (Livy, xxix. 37 ; Tacitus, Ann., xiv. 16.) 
 
 Though we have no precise text, yet Tacitus, Suetonius, and 
 Dio Cassius at least give us some certain indication that such a 
 census was carried out in the provinces. Indeed, Tacitus (Ann., i. 
 n) speaks of a book, Libellum, written by the hand of Augustus, 
 in which were described all the resources of the State; the number 
 of citizens and allies under arms, the number of the fleet, the king¬ 
 doms, the provinces, tributes and taxes, expenses, and gifts. Sueto¬ 
 nius (August., 101) speaks also of the same book, which he calls the 
 Breviarium Imperii, in which the Emperor noted down how many 
 soldiers he had under the flag, the money either in the treasury or 
 in the public purse, and how much of the taxes was still unpaid. 
 Dio (lvi. 33) repeats Suetonius’s words, adding, “And all other 
 things of the same kind which belong to the government of the 
 empire.” Notions so detailed, so precise, so positive, are not 
 invented; they suppose a far-reaching inquiry, and I may ask every 
 
400 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 historian who writes in good faith what name can be given in the 
 government of the empire to such investigations as these, if not that 
 of general census. 
 
 It is uncertain whether this census was renewed or continued 
 during the three lustra mentioned in the table of Ancyra, but it is 
 certain that the second lends itself better than either of the others 
 to this great fact. In the year 746, the seventh before Jesus Christ, 
 the empire was wholly at peace ; the temple of Janus was closed for 
 twelve years; Augustus was at the height of his glory and power, and 
 devoting himself entirely to administrative reforms. Then he took 
 the measure of his lands, numbered his subjects, imposed his cor¬ 
 rected calendar, widened the basis of taxation, and regularised its 
 collection. Therefore, all historical probabilities and weighty reasons 
 unite in justifying St. Luke’s words: “ In those days went forth a 
 decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.” 
 
 Without speaking of Orosius (vi. 22) or Isidore of Seville ( Orig ., 
 v. 36), whose impartiality may be doubted, Cassiodorus ( Var., iii.) 
 and Suidas, one of whom could appeal to sources which we have 
 lost, the other who lived amongst many ancient monuments, still 
 intact, and who has preserved for us more than one precious fragment, 
 both declare, in their own manner, the truth of this great fact which 
 was accomplished seven years before Jesus Christ, and a few years 
 before the death of Herod, an act of which Tacitus, Suetonius, and 
 Dio give us the results, and which Luke the Evangelist alone has 
 directly affirmed. 
 
 A new difficulty presents itself. If we admit this universal census, 
 how could it extend to Judaea, since this little kingdom was not then 
 a province of the empire ? The census applied to the provinces, and 
 not to allied kingdoms. That is the question. 
 
 While we recognise an essential difference, on the one side, 
 between countries annexed to Rome as an integral part of the 
 empire, under the name of colonies and provinces, and administered 
 directly by Roman authorities, and, on the other side, countries 
 to which Rome still permitted a shadow of independence, in giving 
 them kings chosen by herself, it would be a grave error to suppose that 
 these last enjoyed true self-government. The allies of Rome were in 
 reality, as the peoples of Italy were before them, true subjects of the 
 empire, and, like them, subject to the census. Tacitus (Ann., iv. 41) 
 says this in express terms of the little kingdom of Archelaus, in 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 401 
 
 Cilicia, “ Nostrum in modum deferre census adigebatur gens Archelao 
 regi subjecta.” And it was the same in Judaea under King Herod. 
 
 It must not be forgotten what, at that time, this little kingdom 
 and its king were to the Romans. They regarded the one as their 
 property, the other as their vassal. If they allowed the Jewish nation 
 to remain under a particular prince, it was from prudential motives. 
 They looked upon it as a bulwark against the Parthians and the 
 disturbed Arab tribes. Moreover, they disposed of it as they chose. 
 Antony gave to Cleopatra, who had asked for the whole of Palestine, 
 a portion of that province. And if Herod was reigning, it was the 
 decree of the Senate, moved for by Octavius and Antony, that had 
 made him king. He never enjoyed the autonomy of a true sovereign. 
 Throughout his reign the governors of Syria were the real masters in 
 Jerusalem and the whole kingdom. There was not a single act of 
 this “Ruler” (“regulus”) which did not need the imperial sanction. 
 If he levied taxes in the country for himself, he had also to pay a 
 tribute to the Emperor. If he wished to judge and condemn even 
 his own children, he was always careful to ask permission of Augustus. 
 Not only had he to pay taxe. to the empire, but he was obliged, like 
 all kings entitled “ allied sovereigns ” (“ socii ”), to furnish auxiliary 
 troops. In the year 747, Herod destroyed some Arab bands who 
 were giving trouble on his eastern frontiers. This act was dis¬ 
 approved at Rome, and Augustus made him understand that he 
 should treat him no longer as an ally, but as a subject. 
 
 This enslaving rule, of which we have named only certain charac¬ 
 teristic details, shows sufficiently how insignificant these little kingdoms 
 were considered by Rome, and how great an infliction the census 
 was to them, since it was the sole basis for determining the amount 
 of the annual tax and the number of the auxiliary troops which must 
 be levied in times of war. However, in order to respect the sem¬ 
 blance of the independence of these States, and not to mortify 
 national susceptibilities which were particularly excitable among the 
 Jews, the name of Herod was joined to that of Augustus ( Antiq ., xvii. 
 3) in the formula of the oath of fidelity. 
 
 Rome understood the temperaments of those with whom she had 
 to deal; she knew how to modify her laws, conforming their applica¬ 
 tion to needs of place and time. No doubt, long before Judaea was 
 formed into a province; a transformation which took away from the 
 Jews all their independence, and which was to a certain extent 
 defined by the levy of the tax in the year 9 of the vulgar era, 
 VOL. II. D V 
 
402 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 under the government of Quirinius, Rome had endeavoured to 
 prepare men’s minds for the change by a subtle policy leading 
 gradually towards it. And no doubt the census of the year 747, 
 that is, the year 7 before the era of Dionysius, was, on the part of 
 Augustus, the first decisive act of this annexation. 
 
 Some critics have expressed surprise that such an operation should 
 have been passed over in silence by the historian Josephus, who has 
 left in his Antiquities a complete and detailed account of the reign of 
 Herod. This silence has been weighed against the declaration of 
 St. Luke, whom the rationalistic critics have not hesitated to accuse 
 of error. I do not believe in this alleged silence of Josephus; and, 
 just as Tacitus, Suetonius, and Dio had given us facts which are 
 inexplicable without a general census of the provinces of the empire 
 and the allied kingdoms, the Jewish historian, when impartially 
 examined, gives us a distinct fact which presupposes the application 
 of this same census to Judaea. In the Book of Antiquities (xvii. 
 2, 4), we find the following passage : “ This name of ‘ Pharisee ’ was 
 especially applied to those who had the audacity to resist the kings; 
 they were a party of able men, and prompt to resist and disobey them 
 openly. So, when the whole Jewish nation was forced to be faithful 
 to Caesar and to the interests of the king, they refused the oath. They 
 were more than 6,000, and the King condemned them to pay a fine.” 
 
 Now, what was this oath? The name of Caesar certainly betrays 
 a Roman origin, and this was the very formula which accompanied 
 the Roman census. If the name and the number of the refractory 
 Pharisees was known, this is of itself proof that they were individually 
 called before the commissioners charged to receive their declaration 
 of fidelity to the Emperor and to the King. A great number of 
 learned men have accepted this conclusion, and it seems difficult to 
 refute it. 
 
 Certain authors, amongst others Wieseler ( Chronologische 
 Synopse ), have explained, moreover, the silence of Josephus. The 
 prudent historian avoided, as much as possible, every idea and every 
 fact which could throw the least suspicion on the Roman authorities 
 and the constant obedience of his countrymen. So, for example, is 
 explained the very partial mention of the expectation of the coming 
 of the Messiah, and its various effects on the national life of the 
 Jewish people. 
 
 A new and last difficulty arises from the text of St. Luke; “This 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 403 
 
 numbering was first made when Quirinius was governor of Syria.” 
 There is no doubt of the fact that Quirinius did not become 
 procurator of Syria till about the year 6 or 7 of the vulgar 
 era; he therefore could not have presided over the census when 
 Herod was living, nine or ten years earlier. The anachronism is 
 evident. The solution of this difficulty has given rise to different 
 systems of interpretation, of which the value is not, in our opinion, 
 at all equal. 
 
 We cannot agree with the desperate expedient of those who have 
 sacrificed the whole of the second verse as a mistaken gloss of some 
 ignorant commentator, a gloss which, from the margin, has insensibly 
 passed into the text. Since the same Evangelist has mentioned a 
 census different from that which Quirinius carried out (Acts v. 37), 
 why did he not say a single word to prevent confusion arising in the 
 mind of the reader? If this verse was a later addition, how is it that 
 there is not a single manuscript in which it does not occur, and how 
 came the Vulgate to insert it with the others without any suspicion 
 of a mistake ? 
 
 More careful interpreters have had recourse to grammar to justify 
 St. Luke. They have proposed to read not avrrj ?) a-rroypa^i Trpiiirr) 
 Zyevero yyepLevovTOS, but eyeVero irpurr) y/yep^tvovros. This is, in fact, 
 the most ancient reading, being found in the Codex Sinaiticus, recently 
 discovered and published by Tischendorf. 1 We should then trans¬ 
 late : “ This first census was made before Quirinius was governor 
 of Syria.” This solution, which we may call grammatically correct, 
 was proposed for the first time by Hervaert (Nova vera chronologia, 
 1612), and is based on the numerous examples drawn from Greek 
 authors in which the word 7rpwr/; is coupled in the sense and as an 
 equivalent of the comparative of 7 rporepa. Theophylact, bishop of 
 Bulgaria (1070), no doubt following the previous Greek interpreters, 
 had already interpreted in this manner the verse of St. Luke. 
 
 We may go still further, and, giving to the verse a sense still 
 more complete and precise, translate it: “ This numbering was 
 accomplished before that of Quirinius, the governor of Syria.” This 
 interpretation, no less grammatically correct than the other, has the 
 advantage over it that it mentions two censuses, and establishes their 
 chronological relation. 
 
 A third system, instead of distinguishing the two censuses, treats 
 
 1 Novum Testamenium graece ex Sinaitico codice. Lipsiae. 1865. 
 
 L> D —2 
 
404 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 them as successive portions of one measure, of which the numbering 
 {aTToypafyyj) related by St. Luke was the beginning, and of which the 
 census (d7rort/x^a-t?) in the time of Quirinius, ten years later, was 
 the consummation; and we then translate iyiveTo by “was accom¬ 
 plished, or finished.” It seems difficult to uphold the grammatical 
 correctness of this interpretation, excellent as it is from an historical 
 point of view. 
 
 We may, however, keep to the text and the simple and clear 
 affirmation of the writer, telling us that this first census, distinct from 
 the second, which took place ten years later, was executed by Quirinius, 
 governor of Syria. We know, it is true, that at this time, the or¬ 
 dinary governor of the province of Syria was, according to the 
 testimony of Tertullian, who knew the text of St. Luke, not Quirinius, 
 but Sextus Saturninus. (Contra Marc ., iv. 19.) It is quite probable 
 that the taking of the census was entrusted to a perfectly distinct 
 authority from the ordinary governor of the province, and therefore 
 Quirinius may have been the authority thus appointed for the census. 
 There is nothing to oppose this, either in Roman custom or in 
 history. 
 
 We know, in fact, and have already established it, that the opera¬ 
 tion of the census-taking under Augustus had been confided to special 
 delegates, persons known both by their honourable character and the 
 services they had rendered, Dionysius the Geographer among others. 
 (Pliny, Hist, nat ., vi. 14.) On the other hand, Tacitus [Ann., iii. 48) 
 relates that Quirinius, who had rendered to Augustus services which 
 were rewarded by a consulship twelve years before the vulgar era, 
 received a short time afterwards the distinguished honours of a 
 triumph for having defeated and forced back into their entrench¬ 
 ments the Hamonades, a tribe of Cilicia. Tacitus is confirmed by 
 Strabo (xii. 15), who gives us details about this victory. He tells us 
 that Quirinius reduced the rebellious people by famine, made 4,000 
 prisoners, and did not leave a single man in the country capable of 
 bearing arms. In what capacity did Quirinius act on that occasion ? 
 In our opinion he was the legate of Augustus, the chief of the mili¬ 
 tary government, which was entrusted at that time with four legions 
 with which to overawe Cilicia, Syria, and Phoenicia. As such he re¬ 
 duced the Hamonades to subjection and presided at the census of 
 these provinces of the East, which came to the Emperor, a census which 
 no one escaped, neither Archelaus, king of Cappadocia, in the province 
 of Cilicia, nor Plerod, king of Judaea, in the province of Phoenicia. 
 
APPENDIX A. 405 
 
 So the text of St. Luke is explained and justified ; this first num¬ 
 bering was under the orders of Quirinius, in Syria. 1 
 
 Now, as this census agrees with the edict of Augustus mentioned 
 on the monument of Ancyra, in the year 747 of Rome, that is, the 
 year 7 before the vulgar era, we cannot put back further the time 
 of the birth of Jesus, which took place at Bethlehem just as the 
 census was taking place. And, on the other hand, Jesus having been 
 born before the death of Herod, it is not possible to place his birth 
 after the year 750 of Rome; therefore, the greatest date in history 
 must be fixed between 747 and 750. 
 
 § 3 .—The Star. 
 
 (Vol. I., p. 57, etc.) 
 
 We have to consider what was the star of the Messiah, the King of 
 the Jews, which the Magi professed to have seen in the East, and 
 which was the sign that announced his birth. No doubt we must 
 see in it some celestial phenomenon, but of what nature the words of 
 the first Evangelist do not permit us to determine. 
 
 If this extraordinary phenomenon was interpreted by the Magi 
 as the sign of the birth of the King of the Jews, this proves, in the 
 first place, their astrological occupation, and, in the second place, 
 their knowledge of those religious traditions which were universal in 
 the East, as Tacitus and Suetonius testify; traditions which announced 
 about that time the coming of men from Judaea to subdue the world : 
 “ percrebuerat Oriente toto vetus et constans opinio, esse in fatis, ut 
 eo tempore Judaea profecti rerum potirentur.” (Seutonius, Vesp., 
 iv.; Tacitus, Hist., v. 13 ; Josephus, De Be//. Jud, ., vi. 6, 4.) The Jews 
 of the dispersion had spread abroad in every direction their hopes of 
 a Messiah. They were well known to Arabians and Parthians, even 
 Chinese and Hindoos, Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks, and there is 
 no reason why these Magi from the land of Balaam should not have' 
 kept some remembrance of the star which their ancestor saw rising 
 
 out of Jacob. The belief that such a star was to announce the birth 
 
 / 
 
 of the Messiah did not come, in the first place, from the Magi, but 
 was part of the popular belief of the Jews as to the Messiah. 
 
 1 Cf. Magnan, De anno ?iatalit. Christij Sanclemente, De vulg aegae 
 emendat.; Abb 6 Memain, Etudes chronologiques ; etc., etc. 
 
40 6 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 The Magi spoke of it as a thing known and universally awaited. 
 “We have seen/’ they said, “his star in the East.”. Those who 
 questioned them, Herod and the Sanhedrin, heard nothing new from 
 them as to the connection of the star with the birth of the Messiah; 
 but at the news which the Magi brought, Herod and the whole city 
 were moved. This universal belief does not take anything away 
 from the historic character of the Gospel narrative, but rather con¬ 
 firms it. All the Gentile nations of antiquity were addicted to astro¬ 
 logy, and believed that extraordinary revelations, principally having 
 regard to the birth and the death of illustrious men, were to be 
 gathered from the stars, the comets, and the constellations. (Lucan, 
 i. 529; Suetonius, Caes., 88; Seneca, Quaest nat, i. 1; Josephus, 
 De Bell. Jud ., vi. 5, 3; Just., 37; Lamprid., Alex. Sev., 12.) 
 
 The Jews were not, however, deficient in these astrological powers. 
 They believed that a celestial phenomenon was to accompany the 
 birth of their Messiah, and they had always understood in a Mes¬ 
 sianic sense the words : “ There shall come a Star out of Jacob.” 
 (Numbers xxiv. 17.) The belief in the star of the Messiah remained 
 after Christ. The Sohar, which dates from the first century, gives us 
 numerous proofs of this. The Testament of the twelve patriarchs says : 
 “ A special star as of a king shall rise for him in the heavens.” 1 
 In the time of Hadrian, when the false Messiah appeared, who called 
 himself the Son of the Star (Bar-Kokbah) in allusion to the i7th‘verse 
 of the 24th chapter of the book of Numbers, the Jews rallied eagerly 
 to him, because they believed that the ancient prophecy of Balaam 
 was accomplished in him. 
 
 The mythical school has only seen in this star a pure invention 
 intended to give a new title to the Messiah. 
 
 The rationalistic school, from the 17th century, has rather preferred 
 to see in it a star like that which appeared, in 1604, between Mars and 
 Saturn, and just below Serpentarius, at the time of the conjunction of 
 the three planets, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars. This conjunction was 
 calculated for the first time by Kepler (De nova Stella in pede Serpen- 
 tarn, et qui sub ejics exortum de novo iniit trigono igneo. Pragae, 
 1606), and after him by other astronomers, to recur every 8oo years. 
 
 The Catholic school, without rejecting this astronomical indica¬ 
 tion, has not generally believed that it applies to the text of St. 
 Matthew. The part which the star plays in the Gospel narrative 
 
 1 Kat avareXei axrrpov avrov Iv ovpavC) to? /?acriAea>s. 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 407 
 
 hardly seems, indeed, consonant to the functions of an ordinary star. 
 It went before the Magi, and led them on, Trpcrr/tv ubroit;, till it 
 came and stood above the place where the child was, su; Urn 
 Udnu ol r,v rb xcubioK The text does not allow us to distinguish 
 two stars ; one in the natural order, which warned the Magi in 
 the East in the land whence they came, and another in the super¬ 
 natural order, which led them to the home of the Child. It is one 
 and the same star: 6 da rip ov tibov U rfj dvaro7.fi. If we in¬ 
 terpret the passage strictly, it must be admitted that the Evangelist 
 plainly indicates a phenomenon outside the laws of nature, produced 
 directly by God in order to lead the Magi to recognise the Messiah. 
 
 But, although St. Matthew did not indicate the astronomic star 
 of which Kepler speaks, he was the occasion of its discovery. 
 
 In the first years of the seventeenth century, while theologians in 
 Germany were disputing ardently about the year of Jesus’ birth, 
 towards the end of the year 1603, a strange phenomenon appeared 
 in the sky. On the 15th of December occurred the conjunction of the 
 two planets, Jupiter and Saturn; in the spring of 1604, Mars was 
 joined to them; and, further, a body like a fixed star appeared in 
 the neighbourhood of the two planets, towards the East, at the foot of 
 the constellation Serpentarius. At first it was of an extraordinary bril¬ 
 liancy, like that of a star of the first magnitude, but insensibly grew 
 paler. Scarcely visible in October, 1605, it finally disappeared in 
 March, 1606. This conjunction, to which the astrologers, and among 
 them no doubt the Magi, as Kepler remarks, have always attached 
 much signification, reappears every twenty years, but takes over 800 
 years to pass round the zodiac. This great astronomer sought to find 
 out whether at the beginning of the Christian era, at the time of the 
 birth of Jesus, such a conjunction might not have taken place. Now, 
 his researches resulted in discovering the wonderful fact that the con¬ 
 junction had indeed taken place in the year 747, in the second half 
 of the sign Pisces, near to Aries, and in the spring of the following 
 year, 748, Mars, under this sign, was joined to Jupiter and Saturn. 
 
 He thus explains the star of the Magi. This rare conjunction of 
 the three planets excited the attention of the Magi all the more that 
 the phenomenon appears to have been accompanied by the appari¬ 
 tion of an extraordinary star. Now if we admit that this new star 
 came at first, not only at the time when Saturn and Jupiter were 
 near each other, that is to say in June, 747, but also close by these 
 
APPENDICES. 
 
 408 
 
 planets, as it was in the years 1603, 1604, and 1605, of our epoch, 
 the Chaldaeans would surely have believed, according to the rules of 
 their art, then in full vigour, that a great event had been accom¬ 
 plished. (Kepler, De nova Stella in pede Serpenta?di, 1606 ; De vero 
 anno quo aeternus Dei Filius humanam naturam in utero benedictae 
 Virginis Mariae assumpsit. Francf., 1614.) 
 
 If it is rigorously established by astronomical calculations that 
 such a phenomenon was produced, it seems unlikely that the Persian 
 or Chaldaean astrologers, known as the Magi, should not have 
 observed it; and if they did observe it, it is natural to conclude that 
 they attached to it some mysterious signification, and notably the birth 
 of that personage expected in Judaea, who, according to tradition, 
 was to be the master of the world. The calculations of Kepler were 
 carried on and brought to precision in Germany at the beginning 
 of this century by Pfoff ( Der Stern der Weisen , Copenhagen, 1827), 
 by Schubert ( Deis Licht und die Weltgegenden sammt ei?ier Abhandlung 
 iiber Planeten-Conjunctionen und den Stern der drei Weisen. Bamberg, 
 1827), and by Ideler ( Vermischte Schriften , Band I.). 
 
 We may then conclude that if the star which showed itself in 
 conjunction -with Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars appeared in 747, as the 
 Magi did not come to Jerusalem until the next year, we must place 
 the birth of Jesus in 748 or 749. It is yet to be established whether 
 these mysterious travellers arrived at the very moment of the birth 
 of Jesus, or a year afterwards, as St. Epiphanius and others have 
 believed. On this last hypothesis, we must place the birth of Jesus 
 in 747 or 748, at the latest. 
 
 § 4.— The Baptism of Jesus. 
 
 (St. John i. 28, etc.—Vol. I., pp. 135, 197, etc.) 
 
 One of the most precise and important chronological documents 
 to fix the date of the birth of Jesus, and, indeed, all the facts in his 
 life, is the passage in St. Luke iii. 23. Jesus, according to the 
 Evangelist, was about thirty years old when John appeared on the 
 banks of the Jordan, and Jesus himself came to receive his baptism. 
 If we can succeed in fixing the year of Jesus’ baptism, we shall at the 
 same time determine that of his birth. In this we think we can 
 succeed, starting from a chronological datum in the fourth Gospel, a 
 datum all the more certain that it is unintentional, and in full con. 
 cordance with the data in the third Gospel. 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 409 
 
 After having mentioned various facts (i. 3T-34 ; cf. i. 26) which 
 presuppose the baptism of Jesus, St. John mentions a Passover, the 
 first which Jesus celebrated at Jerusalem after his baptism. It will, 
 therefore, be sufficient to fix the date of that Passover, to mark the 
 extreme point before which we must place the baptism of Jesus. Now, 
 St. John, explained by Josephus, allows us to fix this precious date. 
 
 “Forty and six years,” the Jews are made to say (ii. 20), “was 
 this Temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days ? ” 
 Therefore, at the moment when the Jews so replied to Jesus, forty-six 
 years had elapsed since this edifice had been begun, and, according 
 to the testimony of Josephus ( Antiq ., xx. 9, 7), it was completely 
 finished a little before the outbreak of the Jewish war. Adding 
 the figures 46 to that which marks the time at which Herod began 
 the restoration of the second Temple, we shall obtain that year in 
 which the Jews pronounced these words; and, consequently, the 
 year of the Passover which followed the baptism of Jesus. Now, 
 Herod began this great work (Antiq., xv. 11, 1) in the eighteenth 
 year of his reign, probably at the feast of the Dedication, in the 
 month Chisleu (734 of Rome); in any case, certainly before the 
 Passover of 735. Adding 46 years, we get the Passover of 781, and, 
 consequently, it was in the second half of the year 780 that Jesus 
 received his baptism. According to St. Luke (iii. 23) Jesus was 
 about thirty years of age when he was baptized; he therefore must 
 have been born about the year 749-750. 
 
 And here it is as well to remove a mistaken interpretation made 
 by a good many commentators about the 15th year of Tiberius. 
 This error has been the source of inextricable difficulties in the 
 chronology of the life of Jesus. 
 
 The important date given by St. Luke cannot apply either to the 
 baptism of Jesus, or the beginning of John’s ministry. In fact, if the 
 Baptist began his work, and if Jesus received his baptism in the 15th 
 year of Tiberius, that is the year 782, it would follow that Jesus, who 
 must have been born before the year 750, would have been thirty-three 
 years old. But Luke says expressly that he was about thirty years 
 old. How then can we deny this clear affirmation, and make the 
 third Evangelist contradict himself? The date given by the third 
 Gospel really marks the end of the public ministry of John, and the 
 beginning of that of Jesus, which the synoptics have taken care to 
 attach not to his baptism, but to the imprisonment of the Baptist. 
 
4io 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 With regard to the baptism of Jesus, we may begin by asking 
 at what time John began to baptize ? The Gospels give us no formal 
 date; for, as we have seen, the 15th year of Tiberius marked by St. 
 Luke (iii. 1, 2) indicates another event. In this there is nothing 
 astonishing, for the Evangelists were not writing the life of John, but 
 that of Jesus, and they have spoken of the former only incidentally, 
 and in so far as it was necessary to explain the acts and the office 
 of the Messiah. 
 
 It is, however, possible to arrive at an approximate result. The 
 account of the baptism of Jesus shows that John had already been 
 baptizing for some time when Jesus came to him at the Jordan. Now, 
 Jesus was baptized in the course of the year 780; it therefore results 
 that the preaching of the Baptist cannot have begun after that date ; 
 and if we consider that, according to the custom of the Jews, all 
 men had to attain their thirtieth year before exercising any public 
 function, it would result that John, being the elder of Jesus by six 
 months, must have begun his preaching about the year 779. It 
 was only a little later that the new Prophet drew the attention of 
 the Sanhedrin upon himself, and it sent the solemn embassy to him 
 which is described in the fourth Gospel (i. 19-27). 
 
 It is worthy of remark that a little before John had attained the 
 age of thirty, that is the year 779-780, the Jewish Sabbatical year 
 came round, a year set apart as especially holy, a time of‘re¬ 
 pose, deliverance, and pardon, which recurred every seven years 
 (Levit. xxv.; Deut. xv.). Many of these years are mentioned in the 
 course of history by sacred or profane authors. The first Book of 
 Maccabees (vi. 49-53) speaks of the Sabbatical year 150, according 
 to the era of the Seleucidae, that is, the year 590-591 of Rome; 
 Josephus ( Antiq ., xiii. 8, 1) speaks of the year 716-717, and the 
 Talmudic tradition of the year 821-822. All these figures are exactly 
 separated by the multiples of seven, and, as Wieseler in his Chro?iolo-. 
 gisc/ie Synopse (5, 205) remarks, by adding 189 years to the first of 
 these Sabbatical years, that spoken of in the Book of Maccabees, or 
 taking 42 years from the last, which is mentioned in the Talmud, 
 we arrive at the year 779. 
 
 It was no doubt at the beginning of that year that the 
 Baptist heard the voice of God calling him. And he could have 
 good hope of interpreting it successfully to the people, seeing that 
 they would be more readily drawn after him in a time of repose, and 
 when worldly cares had given place to religious reflection. 
 
APPENDIX A. 4 tt 
 
 The baptism of Jesus took place, in any case, about the middle 
 of that year. 
 
 It will be seen that, whatever way we follow to determine the 
 birth of Jesus, we arrive at the same result. All the data harmonise 
 together; the year of the death of Herod, the universal census, 
 the star of the Magi, and, finally, the baptism of Jesus. 
 
 II. 
 
 THE INAUGURATION OF THE PUBLIC MINISTRY OF JESUS 
 
 IN GALILEE. 
 
 (Vol. I., pp. 174, 225, 249, etc.) 
 
 One of the most important points to fix in the Gospel history is the 
 time at which John the Baptist was imprisoned by Herod, and, dis¬ 
 appearing from the scene, left to Jesus free scope for his Messianic 
 action. This is so important, that the three first Gospels have 
 made it the starting-point of their parallel account of the public 
 life of Jesus. To prove this we have only to compare together 
 the three corresponding passages, Matthew iv. 12,17; Mark i. 14; 
 Luke iv. 14. “Now when Jesus had heard,” says St. Matthew, 
 “that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee.” St. 
 Mark : “ Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into 
 Galilee, preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God.” And St. 
 Luke : “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, 
 and there went out a fame of him through the region round about.” 
 
 It will no doubt be remarked that St. Luke does not, like the 
 two other Evangelists, in the same verse, mention the imprisonment 
 of John the Baptist; but he has already recorded it (iii. 19, 20), which 
 makes it unnecessary to speak of it here : while St. Matthew (xiv. 1, 12) 
 and St. Mark (vi. 14, 29) only give a detailed account of this imprison¬ 
 ment later, referring to it incidentally in speaking of Herod the 
 Tetrarch, who was disquieted at the increasing fame of Jesus. 
 
 If, according to the three synoptic Gospels, the public life of the 
 Master was only actually begun when John the Baptist was cast into 
 prison ; then, if we fix the date of the second fact, we determine that 
 
412 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 of the first, ana everyone can see the value of such a result. Now, 
 according to the witness of the synoptic writers, the imprisonment of 
 John the Baptist was coincident with the departure of Jesus into 
 Galilee. On learning that his Forerunner had been delivered up, they 
 say Jesus quitted Judaea and went to take up his abode in Galilee. If, 
 then, we can fix the precise time of this return, we shall have at the 
 same time that of the imprisonment of John the Baptist. 
 
 The fourth Evangelist on this point, as on so many others, gives 
 us unexpected light. In chap. vi. i, he brings Jesus back into 
 Galilee, after the journey mentioned in chap, v., a journey occasioned 
 by a feast of which the name is not given. Now, we have to dis¬ 
 cover this feast, for, as the Jews celebrated their solemnities on fixed 
 days, we can determine by that the day and the month; and as we 
 know already that it preceded the 15th of Nisan, 782, it will lead us 
 to the year that we seek. The exegesis of the first verse of the sixth 
 chapter of St. John has given rise to various systems among the 
 commentators. Some, as St. Irenaeus, Rupert, Jansenius, Tolet, 
 Lucas, Cornelius Lapierre, have seen in the unnamed feast the Pass- 
 over ; others, as St. Chrysostom, Cyril, Theophylact, Euthymius, 
 Maldonat, the feast of Pentecost; while others, again, as Kepler, 
 Petau, Lamy, Tholuck, Anger, Wieseler, have interpreted it as the 
 feast of Purim. 
 
 It is this last opinion which we adopt, and on the following 
 grounds : 
 
 First, if John had wished to mention one of the great Jewish 
 feasts, such as the Passover, the Pentecost, or the feast of Tabernacles, 
 he would certainly have mentioned it by its name. His Gospel 
 makes this perfectly clear, for when he speaks of the Passover he 
 names it always in formal terms to vrao-xa; 1 and he only employs 
 the expression 7) eop-nj, literally, the feast, in cases where the context 
 is sufficient to give to this vague expression its precise meaning. 2 In 
 the same way he calls the feast of Tabernacles by its proper name, 
 rj c TKr]vo 7 rr]yLa . 3 He uses also the expression r) kopTrj to designate it \ 
 and the context does not permit us to misinterpret the meaning. 
 What he did for the Passover and the feast of Tabernacles, he would 
 no doubt have done for the Pentecost if he had had to mention it. 
 
 1 John ii. 13, 23 ; vi. 4 ; xi. 55 ; xii. 1 ; xiii. 1. 
 
 2 John iv. 45 ; cf. ii. 23 ; xi. 56; xii. 12. 
 
 3 John vii. 2. 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 413 
 
 If the text of St. John does not authorise us to see one of the 
 great feasts in the feast vaguely pointed out in chap, v., there remains 
 only the solemnity of Purina with which to identify it. 
 
 Moreover, a chronological detail, incidentally furnished by the 
 Evangelist in the account of the last journey of Jesus through 
 Samaria, puts us in the way of discovering the solution we are seek¬ 
 ing. Jesus said to his disciples : “Say not ye, There are yet four 
 months, and then conaeth harvest ? Behold, I say unto you, Lift 
 up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to 
 harvest.” (John iv. 35.) The words “yet,” m, and “already,” yBrj, 
 show clearly that he is not using a proverbial expression, but is 
 simply mentioning the time. Now, the harvest among the Jews 
 began on the 16th of Nisan, with the solemn offering of the 
 “ Homer,” or sacred sheaf; in counting four months backwards, we 
 arrive at the month of Chisleu in ordinary years, and that of Thebat 
 in the intercalary years; but the year 782 was an intercalary year, 
 and so we are brought to the month of Thebat. The feast of the 
 Dedication was past, and, before the Passover of 782, there remains 
 no other Jewish solemnity except the feast of Purim, which was 
 celebrated in that year on the 14th of the second Adar, one month 
 before the Passover. 
 
 This is the feast pointed out by St. John in chapter v. And in 
 fact, in chap. vi. 4, when speaking of the return of Jesus into Galilee, 
 after his journey to the feast of Purim, he is careful to say, “ The 
 Passover was nigh.” 
 
 Those who wish, at all hazards, to see the feast of the Passover in 
 the verse which we are examining, are brought face to face with an 
 improbability so grave as to be inadmissible. As Jesus did not 
 go to Jerusalem, but remained in Galilee, for the next Passover, and 
 as, according to St. John (vii. 2), he did not return to Judaea 
 until the feast of Tabernacles, it would follow that during his public 
 life Jesus passed a whole year and a half without appearing at 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 The comparison and the parallelism of the fourth Gospel and the 
 three synoptic Gospels lead us to the same conclusion. The journey 
 of Jesus into Galilee, of which John speaks in chap. vi. 1, answers to 
 his return into Galilee mentioned by Matthew (iv. 12), Mark (i. 14), 
 and Luke (iv. 14). All the synchronism of the Gospels rests upon 
 this agreement. If we choose to see a Passover in the unnamed 
 feast of chap, v., all this synchronism is destroyed. Indeed, as John 
 
414 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 mentions a second Passover in chap. vi. 4, two years would have 
 expired of the public life of Jesus, while the synoptics only speak of 
 one. But, on the contrary, if we suppose this the feast of Purim, 
 everything is brought into harmony. The synoptics tell, after the 
 arrival of Jesus in Galilee, the story of how the disciples rubbed the ears 
 of corn in their hands, which supposes that the month of Nisan, and 
 with it the Passover, was drawing nigh ; as, in fact, John says in so 
 many words : “ The Passover was nigh ” (vi. 4). 
 
 Finally, if Jesus died on the cross on Friday, the 15th of Nisan, in 
 the year 783, as w r e shall show, it is impossible to see in the feast of 
 chap. v. 1, anything but the feast of Purim. Indeed, the first Passover 
 of the public life of Jesus, mentioned in chap. ii. 13, must be ascribed 
 to the year 781; the second, that of 782, is mentioned in chap, 
 vi. 4. Therefore, the feast to which allusion is made in chap. v. 1 
 cannot have been a Passover; it can only have been a solemnity 
 which preceded the Passover of 782. But chap. iv. 35 brings us to 
 a time later than the feast of the Dedication, and, as between the 
 Dedication and the Passover there was no other feast than that of 
 Purim, we must take the vague denomination employed by St. John 
 to refer to the feast of Purim. 
 
 The fourth Evangelist remarks that this feast fell on the Sabbath, 
 a detail which confirms our conclusion. The Passover of the year 
 782 fell on Monday, the 18th of April; now, as the feast of Purim 
 was celebrated in that intercalary year on the 14th of Ve-Adar, in 
 order to find the day of the feast, we have only to subtract thirty 
 days from the 18th of April. This brings us to the 14th of Ve-Adar, 
 a Saturday. No feast in that year fell on a Saturday. 
 
 Certain authors 1 have thought that this fact would provide them 
 with a decisive reason for putting the feast of Purim out of the ques¬ 
 tion, declaring that it could never fall on a Saturday, according to the 
 rules of the Jewish calendar. This is an error. They have con¬ 
 founded the ancient calendar with that which was drawn up later. 
 In this last, many new rules were introduced under the influence of 
 the Pharisaical spirit. According to these regulations, which do not 
 date, however, further back than the third or fourth century, certain 
 feasts could no longer be celebrated on certain days. The Passover 
 could not be celebrated on a Friday, for example; but it was not so 
 
 1 Roland, Antiq , sacr,, iv, 9, De Jcsto Purim , 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 415 
 
 in the time of Jesus, and as the Passover did so fall in the year in 
 which he was crucified, on a Friday, the feast of Purim may have 
 fallen, during his public life, on a Saturday. The fact is so certain 
 that the Mischna says expressly that the 14th of Adar, or ofVe-Adar, 
 may be a Saturday; but in that case they must be careful to put off 
 to another day the reading of the “ Megillah,” or sacred roll; that is, 
 the Book of Esther. 1 
 
 What was this feast of Purim ? 
 
 The Feast of Lots, in Hebrew, Pourim (Esther ix. 26, etc.), was so 
 called from the word “ Pour,” of Persian etymology. The Seventy 
 rendered it by < poovcat , and after them Josephus, who speaks of 
 r.pegas <f>uvga'm; (.Aiitiq ., xi. 6, 13). The Greek word adopted in the 
 Septuagint seems to have been derived from the Hebrew, “para” (to 
 break) and “pour” (a portion or lot), rather than from the Persian. 
 The festival was instituted to perpetuate the remembrance of the 
 deliverance of the Jews by Esther, in the reign of Ahasuerus. It was 
 held on the 14th of the month of Adar, or, in intercalary years, the 
 14th ofVe-Adar. The solemnity was preceded by a rigid fast, to be 
 observed even by children above the age of thirteen. On the eve of 
 the feast the people assembled in the synagogues, and, as the stars 
 began to rise, the lamps were lighted, and the Book of Esther, the 
 Megillah or Roll, was read throughout. 
 
 On the morning of the feast it was read again, after the 
 history of the defeat of the Amalekites (Exod. xvii.). The wor¬ 
 shippers then returned home, and the day was spent in amusements, 
 feasting, and rejoicings. Alms were largely bestowed, that the poor 
 might share in the general satisfaction. 
 
 This festival was often dishonoured by excesses ending in baccha¬ 
 nalian riot. The Jews were wont to introduce an element of horror 
 by erecting a gibbet, on which they hanged a dummy representing 
 Haman, the traitor who had tried to overthrow the Persian colony, 
 and they ended by setting fire to it and burning the persecutor in 
 effigy. These excesses, and especially the revengeful spirit they dis¬ 
 played against the Gentiles, have been adduced by some writers as 
 sufficient reason why Jesus Christ should not have visited Jerusalem 
 at this time. They forget that these disturbances in no way detracted 
 from the sacred character of the feast in the eyes of the true Israelites, 
 
 * Treatise an the Megillah* 
 
4 i 6 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 
 To them it was a great national festival, reminding them of one of 
 the greatest acts of mercy shown by God to his chosen people. 
 
 Why should the true Saviour of the Jews and of the world refuse 
 to do honour to the deliverance of Israel? Was not this Feast of 
 Lots the feast of the poor fed by the liberality of the rich? Why 
 should not the friend of the poor come at a time when those he best 
 loved were enjoying abundance and festivity ? 
 
 The well-known passage in Josephus ( Antiq ., xviii. 5, 1, 2) duly 
 interpreted, tends to confirm the date we have assigned for the Bap¬ 
 tist’s imprisonment. It is certainly probable that the austere Prophet 
 did not delay to uplift his voice against the scandal created by 
 Herod Antipas, when, after repudiating his lawful wife, the daughter 
 of Aretas, king of the Arabs, he married Herodias, his brother 
 Herod’s wife. It was on his return from a journey to Rome that 
 Antipas committed the adultery he had intended. Josephus does 
 not give the date of this journey, but it is easy to fix it with close 
 probability. 
 
 It was in the year 782 of the Roman era that a favourable oppor¬ 
 tunity offered. Livia was just dead. The old Empress had inherited, 
 by the death of Salome, all the estates bequeathed to her by Herod : 
 Jamnia, Ashdod, Phasael, and Archelais. It was to the interest of 
 Antipas that he should endeavour to obtain from Tiberius the desti¬ 
 tution of some of the lands bordering on his tetrarchy. This 
 hypothesis fits in well with the obviously business character of this 
 hasty excursion, as conveyed clearly enough in Josephus’ statement 
 that Antipas returned after settling in Rome the affairs which had 
 taken him thither. 1 
 
 Tacitus (Ann., v. 1) expressly states that Livia died under the con¬ 
 sulate of the two Gemini; they came into power in January, 782. If 
 the Empress died at the beginning of that year, Antipas may have 
 taken the journey between January and March; and his return, 
 which he probably hastened for his adulterous marriage, would 
 coincide with the approach of the feast of Purim, while John the 
 Baptist was fulfilling his mission of justice and repentance on the 
 shores of the Jordan, in Judaea, and likewise in Peraea, which was 
 within the jurisdiction of Antipas, denouncing the guilty, even when 
 they were of sovereign rank, as beseemed the messenger of him who 
 is the judge alike of the high and lowly. 
 
 1 
 
 &ua7rpa£<l{A*vo<; iv rjj *Pw /xf/ <(f> 
 
 <*7 rep i<TrdXro, 
 
APPENDIX A* 
 
 417 
 
 A comparative study of the fourth Gospel and the three synop¬ 
 tical Gospels leads to the same conclusion. In the year 781, Roman 
 era, Jesus had already fulfilled his first Passover, after his baptism, 
 that Passover when the Jews said to him : “ Forty and six years was 
 this Temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days ? ” 
 (John ii. 19.) At this time the Baptist was still living, as we see in 
 ch. iv. 1. Towards the early part of 782, when Jesus was going up to 
 Jerusalem for the Feast of Purim, in February, he spoke of John as 
 of one already departed: “ He was,” he says, “ a burning and a 
 shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light” 
 (v. 35). Hence it must be at the end of 781 or early in 782 that 
 John was imprisoned and beheaded; and not long after Jesus de¬ 
 parted into Galilee. 
 
 III. 
 
 THE DATE OF THE DEATH OF JESUS. 
 
 (Vol. II., p. 335, etc.) 
 
 To enable us to prove the date of the year in which Christ suffered, 
 it is necessary : 
 
 Firstly, to satisfy ourselves that he was crucified on a Friday ; 
 
 Secondly, to demonstrate that this Friday was the day of the 
 Passover, the 15th of Nisan. 
 
 This much proved, we have only to examine the astronomical 
 tables and the Jewish calendar to find, in the latter part of the rule 
 of Pontius Pilate, a year when the Passover fell on a Friday. That 
 year is the date of the death of Jesus. 
 
 Now, that Christ was crucified on a Friday, is expressly stated by 
 the Evangelists. 
 
 St. Luke, after describing the burial of Jesus, which followed 
 immediately on his death, mentions the day and the hour : “ And 
 that day was the preparation” (a Friday Trapao-Ktvrj) “and the Sabbath 
 drew on.” (Luke xxiii. 54.) The day following the Parasceve, or 
 Friday, during which the women who had watched his burial re¬ 
 frained from embalming him, although they had prepared the spices 
 and ointment, is called the .Sabbath by St. Luke (xxiii. 56); and 
 finally, the next day, when the women went to the tomb, carrying the 
 spices they had made ready the day before, is spoken of as the first 
 day of the Sabbaths, Tj) Sc juT- t&v craft ft araiv. 
 
 VOL. II. E E 
 
4i8 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 St. Mark also names Friday as the day of the death of Jesus ; and 
 in order that there may be no confusion between the Parasceve, or 
 Friday, and the eve of the Passover, he plainly says, “ it was the 
 preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath ” (xv. 42), iirel yv 
 7rapa(TK€vr), o ian irpocrdftftaTov. “When the Sabbath was past,” 
 Stayevo/xeVov tov aaftftaTov, that is to say, in the evening of the Sabbath, 
 the women bought the sweet spices that they might anoint the body 
 of Jesus, and it is on the first day after the Sabbath, rys puds craft ftartov, 
 that they come to the sepulchre (xvi. 1, 2). 
 
 St. Matthew, in speaking of the day after the death of Jesus, 
 uses these words, which leave not the shadow of a doubt: “ The 
 next day, that followed the day of the preparation ” (Friday or Para¬ 
 sceve), rjTLS ecrri /xera rrjv 7rapacrKcvr]V (xxvii. 62). 
 
 Thus the three synoptical Gospels are unanimous ; we have now 
 to examine the fourth. Its evidence is in full agreement with the 
 others. Thus we read (xix. 42): “And because it was the Jews’ 
 preparation day” (Friday), the sepulchre being nigh at hand, they 
 laid Jesus there; in the same chapter, v. 31, that the Jews, “ because 
 it was the preparation (Friday), that the bodies should not remain upon 
 the cross on the Sabbath day (for that Sabbath day was an high day), 
 besought Pilate.” The day after the Sabbath, when in the morning, 
 before it was light, Mary Magdalene came to the sepulchre, is ex¬ 
 pressly termed by St. John (xx.), as by the other Evangelists,* the 
 first day of the Sabbath, rfj Se pud rdv craftftaTiov. A more perfect 
 agreement between the four evangelical records than is shown in 
 these texts could not be wished. 
 
 The conclusion is irresistible: Jesus died on a Friday. 
 
 The second point to be proved is that Jesus was crucified on the 
 15th of Nisan. This is a necessary inference from the facts that 
 he died on a Friday which was the Passover, and that the day 
 before he had eaten the Paschal lamb, according to the Law, with 
 his disciples. The whole question turns on what this feast was. 
 Was it or was it not the Paschal feast which the Jews were enjoined 
 to keep ? If it was, as that meal was to be eaten on the evening of 
 the 14th, it is certain that Jesus was crucified on the day after, that 
 is, the Feast day itself, the 15th. 
 
 Now, if we examine the three first Gospels, we find that they all 
 speak of the last supper of Jesus as being the Jewish Passover. “ It 
 was the first day of unleavened bread,” says St. Matthew, T[j 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 419 
 
 Se 7 rp<I)Tr) tujv d£v/x<vv (xxvi. 17). St. Mark adds another detail: “It 
 was the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the Pass- 
 over, ’’ ore to 7rdcr\a lOvov (xiv. 12). St. Luke plainly states the 
 legal and obligatory nature of the Feast on the day of unleavened 
 bread, “when the Passover must be killed,” eV rj eSet OvecrOou to irdo-xa 
 (xxii. 7). Statements so precise exclude the possibility of arguing 
 that this was an ordinary repast. The Evangelists are speaking of 
 the Feast according to the Law to be held on the 14th of Nisan. 
 
 Certain commentators have tried to weaken the evidence of St. 
 John by making him contradict himself. He does, in fact, say 
 (xix. 14), in speaking of the judgment of Pilate, “ It was the 
 preparation (Parasceve) of the Passover.” Instead of interpreting 
 this phrase as meaning Friday, the day of the Passover, they have 
 chosen to take it as signifying the eve of the Passover, as indeed it 
 might under other circumstances, vainly insisting that philology ex¬ 
 cludes any other. Nevertheless, Ignatius (.Epistle to the Philippians ,, 
 xiii.), in speaking of a Passover which fell on a Sunday, calls it 
 crdfifiaTov tov T-dcr^a. And Socrates (AfA/. eccles ., v. 22) says of a 
 Sabbath coinciding with a festival: aapparov Trjs topr?}?. 
 
 Philology then cannot be appealed to in favour of this interpre¬ 
 tation of 7rapaa-Kev'r) tov irdo~x<x in the sense of preparation for the 
 Passover; on the contrary it is sound criticism never to make 
 a writer contradict himself unless irresistible and insuperable reasons 
 require it. 
 
 The commentators who have brought the authority of the fourth 
 Gospel against the precise evidence of the synoptical Gospels, in 
 defence of the theory that Jesus celebrated the Holy Supper on 
 the 13th of Nisan, and was crucified on the 14th, the day of the 
 Jewish Passover, must have forgotten the great discussions relative 
 to the keeping of the Passover which went on during the whole 
 of the second century. The contention of the bishops of Asia 
 Minor, with Polycarp at their head, was exactly this, that Jesus ate 
 the Passover on the 14th and died on the 15th, and this contention 
 they can have rested only upon the authority of St. John and the 
 other apostles. 
 
 If that is the case, it becomes impossible to give such an inter¬ 
 pretation to the fourth Gospel as will contradict the testimony of the 
 other three, or compel us to avoid such gross antagonism by an arbi¬ 
 trary exegesis of the very precise statements of the synoptic Gospels. 
 
 E E—2 
 
420 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 There are but two passages in St. John’s Gospel which lend 
 themselves to this confusion, and on which the upholders of the view 
 that the Last Supper was eaten on the 13th of Nisan, and the death of 
 Jesus on the 14th, rest their opinion. 
 
 The first is chapter xix. 14, where John says that, at the moment 
 of the condemnation of Jesus by Pilate, it was “the Parasceve of 
 the Passover.” Now we have seen that this expression may, by a 
 strictly grammatical interpretation, mean either the Paschal Friday 
 or the eve of the Passover, but that from the context it must mean 
 Friday, the day of the Passover. 
 
 The second passage (xviii. 28) runs as follows: “It was 
 morning; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, 
 lest they should be defiled ; but that they might eat the 
 Passover,” IVa <£ayaxri to 7ra(r^a. Hence, the day on which 
 Jesus was judged by Pilate and put to death was the eve of the 
 Passover, the 14th of Nisan. Such a conclusion would be inevitable 
 if the expression “eat the Passover” must be limited to the feast 
 ordained by the Law for the 14th of Nisan ; but, just as at first the 
 word Passover meant only the evening of the 14th of Nisan, but, at 
 a later period, covered the whole day from the evening of the 14th 
 to the evening of the 15th, as we see in Josephus and the Talmudic 
 writers, and even to the seven days dedicated to this solemn 
 observance, more particularly the evenings of the 14th, the 15th, 
 the 16th, and the 21st, so “eating the Passover” meant not merely 
 partaking of the Paschal lamb, but also of the voluntary sacrifices, 
 “ Chagiga,” as they are called in the Talmud, victims offered in 
 numbers by pious Israelites, in obedience to the Law of Moses 
 (Deut. xvi. 16; Exod. xxiii. 15, xxxiv. 20), on great feast days, and 
 more especially on the morning of the 15th of Nisan. 
 
 Taken in this sense, which perfectly agrees with the language in 
 which St. John always speaks of the Passover (ii. 13, 23; vi. 4; xi. 
 55; xiii. 1), it is difficult to discern why this passage should lend 
 authority to any interpretation of the fourth Gospel antagonistic to 
 the simple and coherent narrative of the three first. 1 
 
 The year of the death of Jesus must be fixed as 783 of the 
 Roman era, that is, a.d. 30. 
 
 1 It is worthy of note that, even in the strictest sense of the expression 
 “ eat the Passover,” the inference is not invalidated. The great influx 
 of pilgrims did not allow of all the Jews in Jerusalem eating the Pass- 
 over on the same day; strangers, of whom Jesus was one, kept the feast 
 on the 14th, and the inhabitants had a right to celebrate it on the 15th. 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 421 
 
 Astronomy proves the fact. Jesus was crucified on a Friday; 
 on this point the Evangelists are agreed, and tradition has never 
 varied (Matt, xxvii. 1, 62; Mark xv. 42; Luke xiii. 54; John xix. 
 31, 42); this Friday was the very day of the Passover (John xix. 14), 
 and consequently the 15th of Nisan. We must conclude that Jesus 
 died in a year when the Passover fell on a Friday. Now, the astro¬ 
 nomical tables which show the phases of the moon from the year 29 
 to 33, the extreme dates to which we can refer the death of Jesus, 
 show that the year 30 was the only year in which the Passover fell on 
 a Friday. The 15th of Nisan in that year corresponded to the 7th of 
 April. Hence, Jesus was crucified on the 7th of April in the year 
 783, Roman era, that is, a.d. 30. 
 
 A Table showing the Probable Incidence of the 
 15TH of Nisan for the Years 28-36 of the Christian Eraa 
 
 A.D. 
 
 
 New 
 
 Moon. 
 
 
 The Day when the 
 New Moon is visible. 
 
 The 
 
 15 th of Nisan. 
 
 28 
 
 March 
 
 : 5> 
 
 2.l6 
 
 a.m. 
 
 March 
 
 16 
 
 March 
 
 30 Tuesday 
 
 
 April 
 
 13, 
 
 4.10 
 
 p.m. 
 
 April 
 
 15 
 
 April 
 
 29 Thursday 
 
 29 
 
 April 
 
 2 , 
 
 742 
 
 p.m. 
 
 April 
 
 4 
 
 April 
 
 18 Monday 
 
 30 
 
 M arch 
 
 22, 
 
 8.8 
 
 p.m. 
 
 March 
 
 24 
 
 April 
 
 7 Friday 
 
 31 
 
 March 
 
 12 , 
 
 12.56 
 
 a.m. 
 
 March 
 
 13 
 
 March 
 
 27 Tuesday 
 
 
 April 
 
 10, 
 
 2.0 
 
 p.m. 
 
 April 
 
 12 
 
 April 
 
 26 Thursday 
 
 32 
 
 March 
 
 29, 
 
 10.57 
 
 p.m. 
 
 March 
 
 3i 
 
 April 
 
 14 Monday 
 
 33 
 
 March 
 
 19 , 
 
 1.16 
 
 p.m. 
 
 March 
 
 21 
 
 April 
 
 4 Saturday 
 
 
 April 
 
 1 7 , 
 
 9-30 
 
 p.m. 
 
 April 
 
 19 
 
 May 
 
 3 Sunday 
 
 34 
 
 March 
 
 9 , 
 
 9.2 
 
 a.m. 
 
 March 
 
 11 
 
 March 
 
 25 Thursday 
 
 
 April 
 
 7 , 
 
 6.42 
 
 p.m. 
 
 April 
 
 9 
 
 April 
 
 23 Friday 
 
 35 
 
 M arch 
 
 28, 
 
 6.19 
 
 a.m. 
 
 March 
 
 30 
 
 April 
 
 13 Wednesday 
 
 36 
 
 M arch 
 
 16 , 
 
 5-53 
 
 p.m. 
 
 March 
 
 18 
 
 April 
 
 1 Sunday 
 
 
 April 
 
 15, 
 
 5-i5 
 
 a.m. 
 
 April 
 
 16 
 
 April 
 
 30 Monday 
 
 Besides the Evangelists, two writers briefly allude to the death of 
 Jesus; one a Jew, Josephus, and one a Gentile, Tacitus ; and place 
 it under the government of Pontius Pilate and the reign of Tiberius. 
 
 In speaking of the Christians, on whom Nero, by a base and 
 calumnious lie, laid the imperial crime of burning Rome, and whom 
 he condemned to the most terrible torments, Tacitus tells us that 
 I the name of Christians, by which the vulgar called them, had been 
 
 1 From Wurm, Astronomische Beitrage zurgenciherten Bestimmung 
 dcs Geburts - und Todesjahres Jcsu (in UengcYs Arc/u'v.). 
 
422 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 derived from that of Christ, a man condemned to death, in the time 
 of Tiberias, by the procurator Pontius Pilate. 1 2 
 
 “ In the days when Pilate was Governor of Judaea,” says 
 Josephus, in a passage which has been regarded by critics as the 
 interpolation of a Christian writer, but which it is rash to utterly 
 discard, “Jesus lived. Denounced by our leaders, he was con¬ 
 demned by Pilate to die on the cross.” a (. Antiq ., xviii. 3.) 
 
 Now, as Pilate was governor of Judaea from a.d. 26 to 36, it is 
 evidently to the time fixed by the Gospels that we must assign the 
 death of Jesus. Gentiles, Jews, and Christians, all agree in their 
 testimony. 
 
 1 Quos per flagitia invisos vulgus christianos appellabat. Auctor 
 nominis ejus Christus, Tiberio imperitante, per procuratorem Pontium 
 Pilatum supplicio affectus erat. (Ann., xv. 44.) 
 
 2 TivtTai ’I^croCs . . . Kal avrov iv8d£a tuT mponwv 
 
 yj/juv aravp<d) l~ it tTip.r] kotos IltAarou. ( Antiq . xviii. 3.) 
 
 avSpu)v map 
 
APPENDIX B. 
 
 MARRIAGE AMONG THE JEWS AT THE TIME OF JESUS. 
 
 (Vol. I., pp. 35, 45, etc.) 
 
 To marriage, among the Jews, two acts were essential; the contract, 
 plighting, or betrothal; and the reception of the bride in her hus¬ 
 band’s home. (Kelim, ch. 2. hal. 8.) The betrothal lasted for a 
 whole year. It was binding for life j 1 the girl who broke her faith 
 was stoned like an adulteress. The ceremony was not devoid of im¬ 
 pressiveness ; the two families held a meeting with certain witnesses; 
 the bridegroom gave the bride, or her father, a gold ring or some 
 object of value, or a mere written undertaking by which he bound 
 himself to wed her ; then he said to her, “ Behold, by this ring thou 
 art sealed to me, according to the Law of Moses and of Israel.” 
 
 The year of betrothal at an end, the wedding was celebrated by 
 the reception of the bride in her husband’s house. The girl’s parents 
 took her {hither, or sometimes the bridegroom came to fetch her. 
 The father and mother gave her their blessing; she went forth per¬ 
 fumed, richly dressed, and crowned. 2 Her girl-friends, with lamps in 
 their hands, escorted her, waving branches of myrtle over her head. 
 The bride went on foot, her hair unbound, and her face veiled. 
 High festival accompanied her as she went; singing, mingled with 
 the sound of tambourines and other instruments, followed her to the 
 nuptial chamber. The festival, by ancient custom, lasted seven 
 days. (Judges xiv. 12.) 
 
 We see by this what we are to understand by the word 
 “desponsata” (“espoused”), as used by Matthew i. 18 and Luke 
 i. 27 ; and by the expression “noli timere” (“fear not to take unto 
 thee”), Matthew i. 20. In the former case the Evangelists allude to 
 this binding compact of betrothal; in the second, Matthew refers 
 to the reception of Mary in Joseph’s house. 
 
 1 Maimon., in Asc/iot ., c. I. 
 
 a Sot ah , fol. 49, 1. 
 
 4 2 3 
 
APPENDIX C. 
 
 THE TWO GENEALOGIES OF JESUS. 
 
 (Matthew i. 1-17; Luke iii. 23-38.—Yol. I., p. 35, etc.) 
 
 I doubt whether any nation cherishes the worship of race and blood 
 to such a degree as the Jews. Through Abraham they form a race 
 apart in the Semitic group; through Jacob and his twelve sons they 
 are subdivided into twelve tribes, but without prejudice to their 
 common origin. Tenacious as they are of the purity of their 
 descent from Abraham, they are no less jealous of the untainted 
 blood of each tribe. To preserve it from admixture, not only will 
 no son of Abraham marry a Gentile, but a pious Israelite will hardly 
 wed out of his tribe. Thousands of years have not destroyed this 
 people; they still exist apart, throughout the various nations among 
 whom they are dispersed; and this they owe to their belief in race. 
 To this unshaken devotion we may ascribe their custom of drawing 
 up genealogical trees to prove the social status of every Hebrew. 
 
 Having divided into twelve tribes, after the death of Jacob, they 
 faithfully kept up this distinction through the unity of their 
 nationality. On the return from Babylon, the tribe of Judah 
 eclipsed all the others, and became, as it were, the Jewish people; 
 then the pedigrees, instead of being tribal, were drawn up for 
 families. But, whether by the help of ancient genealogical tables or 
 by oral tradition, each family still preserves the record of what tribe 
 it belongs to. 
 
 The promise of the Messiah made the families of the tribe of 
 Judah treasure these tables with peculiar and religious care. The 
 case was the same with the tribe, of Levi. Though it had no land 
 assigned to it, and was scattered among all the others in towns of its 
 own, the hereditary priesthood gave it all the more importance and 
 influence because it had thus inherited those of the fallen sovereignty. 
 
 424 
 
APPENDIX C. 
 
 4 2 5 
 
 We may read in Josephus ( Contr . Apion ., i. 7) how jealously the 
 priestly families preserved their titles, and had them proved at the 
 time of marriage, when a wife was to be chosen for a son of the tribe 
 of Levi. She, like her husband, must be of the sacerdotal tribe, and 
 her descent proved before witnesses by public records. 
 
 As regards the other tribes, serious economic considerations, not 
 to mention historical memories, and a family record which was often 
 highly honourable, made it an imperative duty to guard their name and 
 status. By Jewish law, the land belonged to the families, and was to 
 continue in the families. Thus proof of descent was at the same 
 time proof of inheritance and of right of possession. Hence, what¬ 
 ever confusion the Babylonian captivity may have created in the 
 civil constitution of the Hebrew people, the families, as a rule, 
 whether from pride of birth, family interests, or religious sentiment, 
 managed to keep up their connection, and to prove, by genealogical 
 trees, their purity of blood and the integrity of the tribe. Every 
 Jew could say to what house, what family, and what tribe he 
 belonged. The Jews of Palestine had the archives preserved in the 
 Temple, and the dispersed tribes carried with them their pedigrees 
 as an honourable possession and family document. 
 
 These few remarks are enough to convince the historian that the 
 two genealogical tables tracing the descent of Jesus from David 
 (Matt. i. 1; Luke iii. 2) are to be accepted as genuine and important 
 documents, though it is impossible, at the present day, for lack of 
 corroborative evidence to verify their accuracy. 
 
 The two Evangelists evidently were in a position to prove their 
 statements, and could not have imposed on a public so jealous of its 
 pedigrees. 
 
 At the first glance the two genealogies of Jesus as set forth in the 
 first and third Gospels, appear very dissimilar in form. 
 
 That of St. Matthew is by descent; it begins with Abraham and 
 comes down to Joseph, the husband of Mary. Jesus is called the 
 Son of David, with the manifest purpose of emphasizing his national 
 ancestry, through Abraham, the father of the Hebrew race, and his 
 royal descent, through David, the great king. It is essentially 
 theocratic, and answers to the general purport of the first Gospel, 
 which aims, throughout, at proving Jesus to be the Messiah. 
 
 Whence was this pedigree derived? Obviously from the civic 
 archives of the Israelites. Who then sought it out and drew it up? 
 Perhaps the writer of this Gospel; but even if he borrowed it from 
 
426 
 
 MTENDICES. 
 
 some unknown author, he has at least set his mark upon it. In the 
 16th verse he has taken care to note that Joseph is “the husband of 
 Mary, of whom was born Jesus,” and he thus sets aside the question 
 of Joseph’s paternity, to bring his genealogy into harmony with the 
 miraculous conception of Jesus which he presently relates. 
 
 He inserts the names of several famous women, more especially 
 of four erring women, though the official registers of the Jews cer¬ 
 tainly did not admit them : Tamar, guilty of incest; Rahab, the 
 harlot; Bathsheba, the adulteress; and Ruth, the Moabitess. Ac¬ 
 cording to custom, he divides the whole series into three portions, 
 each of fourteen generations: from Abraham to David, from David 
 to the Captivity, and from the Captivity to the birth of Jesus. In 
 order to get this symbolical number, the Evangelist has omitted 
 several names; indeed, to preserve it in the case of those he 
 has retained, David must be included in both the first and second 
 divisions, and in the third those of Mary and Jesus must be added, 
 or else they must both be omitted, and the last name of the previous 
 division must again be repeated at the beginning. The ancients 
 were wont to count in this manner, and to divide the genealogies into 
 equal portions, as an aid to the memory. 
 
 The genealogy given by St. Luke, on the other hand, i$ by 
 ascent; it goes backwards from Jesus and Joseph, through David 
 and Abraham, up to Adam and to God, who “hath made of 
 one blood (e£ £vos af/xaros) all nations of men for to dwell on 
 all the face of the earth.” (Acts xvii. 26.) It is carried up to David, 
 not through the royal branch of the Isaids, but through Nathan, David’s 
 eldest son. Between Nathan and Jesus only two names are to be 
 found identical with those mentioned by St. Matthew: Salathiel and 
 Zorobabel. The formula for connecting the generations is more 
 vague and less definite than in St. Matthew. Luke is content with 
 the article rod in the genitive, “who was the son of,” translated 
 “qui fuit” in the Vulgate; the other uses the word “genuit,” 
 “ begat.” 
 
 The author has followed the Septuagint in his nomenclature, and 
 the incorrect spelling and distortion of the Hebrew names are a 
 sufficient indication that the list was compiled by Hellenised Jews. 
 The idea of carrying the pedigree of Jesus up to Adam gives it a 
 touch of universality which is quite in harmony with the GospeJ 
 
APPENDIX C. 427 
 
 it belongs to, and with the character of the Messiah whose mission 
 was to save all mankind. 
 
 The radical difference of these two genealogies has from the 
 earliest times been a subject of endless controversy. What is the 
 true worth of these two documents ? Does not each contradict the 
 other? If the first is accurate, how can the second be? Or in¬ 
 versely, if the second is correct, must not the first be defective ? 
 The Fathers, Doctors, and Christian commentators have never 
 hesitated to accept both as of equal weight, and have all striven 
 to solve the delicate question cf their disagreement. 
 
 Two leading systems have been adopted : one, starting from the 
 hypothesis that both genealogies are Joseph’s; the other, assuming 
 that the first is Joseph’s, and the second Mary’s. 
 
 By the first theory the discrepancies are explained by a reference 
 to the Levirate. (Deut. xxv. 5 ; cf. Mark xii. 19.) This Mosaic 
 institution required a man to marry his brother’s widow if she were 
 left childless, so that the eldest child of this union should inherit the 
 name and possessions of the deceased. The right, or duty, of such 
 a marriage might devolve on a more distant relation. In virtue of 
 this law a man might have two fathers, a natural father and a legal 
 father, and, consequently, two genealogies, one natural, the other 
 legal. 
 
 The genealogy set forth by Matthew is the natural pedigree cf 
 Joseph, whose real father was Jacob; that drawn up by Luke is the 
 legal pedigree, Joseph’s father, by the Levirate ordinance, having 
 been Heli. Starting from Jacob and Heli the two genealogies are 
 different as far up as Zorobabel and Salathiel. Here again by the 
 Levirate law Salathiel has two fathers : cne legal, Jechonias, and the 
 other natural, Neri; thence the two genealogies again diverge to 
 meet again in David, through Solomon and Nathan respectively. 
 
 Granting the hypothesis that one of these genealogies, that of 
 Matthew, is Joseph’s, and the other, that of Luke, is Mary’s, the dis¬ 
 crepancies are a matter of course: they are totally independent, and 
 the problem of harmonising them is not solved, properly speaking; 
 it has ceased to exist. 
 
 The only difficulty in this case is to account for Joseph being 
 called the son of Heli, “tov 'HAL” But we have only to read it with 
 a parenthesis allowing us to refer the statement not to Joseph but to 
 Jesus, whose grandfather he then becomes. 
 
428 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 Both these systems, however, appear to me to give rise to serious 
 objections. In the first case we can but wonder of what consequence 
 the genealogy of Joseph, whether natural or legal, could be to Jesus, 
 since Joseph was not his father. It can prove only one fact: namely, 
 that since Joseph was Mary’s husband, he was the legal father of 
 Jesus, and therefore, his legitimate claim to the throne of David was 
 transmitted to Jesus. So far, well; but in that case one of these 
 genealogies is useless, and I would ask whether the other answered 
 the purpose of the Evangelists. Was it to establish the right of 
 Jesus to the throne of David that they wrote ? And what was this 
 inheritance to him whose Kingdom is not of this world ? 
 
 In the second case the same objection may be raised as to 
 Joseph’s genealogy : and as regards Mary’s, it is unfortunately a pure 
 anomaly, since the Jews do not recognise descent through females. 
 
 The more moderate of modern rationalistic critics 1 have given 
 up the task of establishing a harmony which they believe to be 
 impossible, and which can only be achieved by arbitrary expedients. 
 They read the two tables as two genealogies of Joseph, drawn 
 up by different hands from different data; and this, in fact, suffi¬ 
 ciently explains their divergence. Nor could they be of any interest 
 save to the Christianised Jews, among whom they had their origin. 
 
 Both tend to show that Jesus of Nazareth was descended from 
 
 • 
 
 David, legitimately and naturally, in a direct line from father to 
 son, and so realised in his own person one of the fundamental 
 dogmas of the Messianic theology of the ewish Christians. (See 
 JLncyclopcdie des scie?ices religieuses , art. Genealogie .) 
 
 But to those Christians who believed in the miraculous conception 
 of Jesus these genealogies, in the strict sense of the word, were 
 worthless; and the Evangelists have preserved the documents from 
 no other motive than to secure the privileges which Jesus might 
 derive from the name of Son of David, which was commonly used 
 during the first century to designate the Messiah. The genealogies 
 thus introduced into their narrative lose their natural value and have 
 only a legal value; since Joseph, by their own account, is not the 
 father of Jesus, in the accurate sense of the word, but only his legal 
 father, as being Mary’s husband. 
 
 One simple remark is enough to overthrow this argument. Why 
 should not Jesus have inherited through his mother the royal blood 
 
 1 See Reuss, Histoire Svangelique. Paris, 1876. 
 
APPENDIX C. 
 
 429 
 
 of David? And if there was between Joseph and Mary so near a 
 relationship, as universal tradition testifies, that they had the same 
 ancestors, why should not Joseph’s genealogy be accepted as being 
 also that of Mary and Jesus? I will go even further. Why should 
 we not regard the two genealogies as two different trees : one carry¬ 
 ing us up by natural affiliation, from Joseph to David, through Jacob; 
 the other, by legal affiliation, through Heli, the father of the Virgin 
 and Joseph’s legal father ? 
 
 But before attempting a reconciliation on these lines we must 
 define the scope of these two Evangelical documents. 
 
 It is inconceivable that the Evangelists, bent on proving the 
 Messiahship of Jesus, should not have endeavoured to do so on the 
 most essential grounds. Now, one of the conditions attaching to 
 the Messiah, one most distinctly announced by the prophets, and 
 universally acknowledged by the people as well as the scribes, was 
 his descent from David, his natural descent of birth, “ex semine 
 David,” and not his legal affiliation. The Christ was to be some¬ 
 thing more than the formal heir of the great king; he was to be 
 actually of his blood as well as of the blood of Abraham. Of this 
 I think there cannot be the smallest doubt. It was obviously to 
 prove this natural descent of Jesus from David that the two Evange¬ 
 lists gave these genealogical tables. If Jesus had been the son of 
 Joseph, the two pedigrees by Matthew and Luke would be amply to 
 the point; but, since by the testimony of both Evangelists Jesus was 
 human only through his mother Mary, we cannot but enquire what 
 was the practical value of these two lists of ancestors, showing the 
 descent of Jesus from David. 
 
 We are compelled to admit, by every law of exegesis, that both 
 these genealogies show in , fact the descent of Jesus from David, 
 through his reputed father Joseph. All Jewish genealogies are con¬ 
 structed by the succession of heirs male, and nothing could be more 
 improbable than the notion that Matthew, the Evangelist of 
 Palestine, and Luke, the Hellenic Evangelist, should, in drawing up 
 a Jewish genealogy, have discarded the usage of the nation from 
 which they were borrowing their tables. Nevertheless, even while 
 recognising this fact, it seems to me easy enough to prove that the 
 two genealogies answer their purpose, and really show the affiliation 
 of Jesus to the line of David. For, if we admit a close relation¬ 
 ship between Joseph and Mary, so that they were of the same family 
 
430 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 and the same branch of it, as tradition has always strongly asserted; 1 
 if Joseph were the brother or nephew of Anna, the mother of Mary, 
 according to the opinion of Cornelius a Lapide, it is evident that the 
 ancestors of Joseph are identical with those of Mary and Jesus; 
 so that, although Joseph counts for nothing in the genesis of Jesus, 
 Matthew, in drawing up a list of his fathers, was at the same time 
 drawing up a list of the fathers of Mary and of Jesus. Jacob, the 
 father of Joseph and Anna, would be the grandfather of Mary, and 
 the ancestor of Christ. 
 
 Few serious objections could be raised against this hypothesis, in 
 which the only difficulty, if any, would be to determine the exact 
 relationship of Joseph and Mary. But then, how are we to account 
 for the genealogy given by Luke, and its divergence from that of 
 Matthew? If, by this pedigree, Joseph was the son of Jacob, how is 
 it that by another he was the son of Heli ? 
 
 The answer seems quite simple. 
 
 We have only to ascertain who this Heli was. Now, as may be 
 shown by various passages of the Scriptures, Heli is an abbreviation 
 for Heliakim, which is synonymous with Joachim. Joachim, 
 according to universal tradition, was the father of Mary and Joseph’s 
 father-in-law. By marrying the daughter of Heli, Joseph became 
 the legal heir and son of Heli; so that St. Luke, in compiling his 
 genealogical tree, by inserting the name of Heli, gave, practically, 
 the paternal ancestry of both Mary and Jesus. The vague form rov 
 in Greek, in the Vulgate “ qui fuit,” which is used by Luke to express 
 the ascending pedigree from Joseph up to Adam, and even God, 
 may by its very vagueness be interpreted in three ways : it indicates 
 a legal relationship between Joseph and Heli, a natural relationship 
 between the others, and the relation of the creature to the Creator, 
 between Adam and God. 
 
 Thus the two genealogies contain the twofold series of the 
 ancestry of Jesus on the father’s and the mother’s side, through 
 Jacob. Jesus is descended from David, through the Isaid kings 
 and Solomon; again, through Heli, he is descended from David 
 through the obscurer branch of Nathan. The two branches 
 unite only in Abraham, then in David, and finally in Jesus 
 and Mary; for it is difficult to believe that the Salathiel of 
 Matthew and Luke are identical; one being of the family of 
 Solomon, and the other of that of Nathan; and it is now needless 
 
 1 Iren., lib. iii. c. xviii; Tertull., Con. Jud. ; August., in N. 7\, 86 ; 
 Co7i. Faust., lib. xxiii.; Jerome, Comment, in Matth.; Ambr., lib. iii. in Luc.\ 
 Damascene ; etc., etc. 
 

 APPENDIX C. 
 
 431 
 
 
 to bring in the law of Levirate to account for the appearance of this 
 name in the two genealogies; for that law, though in itself beyond 
 question, was always arbitrary in its application. 
 
 However, if their identity is insisted on, in spite of the difficulties 
 to which the hypothesis gives rise, in consequence of a passage in 
 I. Chronicles iii. 19, we must fall back on the Levirate. The line of 
 Solomon became extinct in Jechonias ; and Neri, of the house of 
 Nathan, raised him up a son, Salathiel. In Matthew’s genealogy 
 Salathiel is called the son of Jechonias, his legal father; and in 
 Luke’s, the son of Neri, his natural father. Salathiel begat Zorobabel, 
 whose eldest son, Abiud, continued the line of Solomon, and his 
 youngest son, Rhesa, continued the line of Nathan. 
 
 Here are two outline pedigrees, which will facilitate a compre¬ 
 hension of the two genealogies, based on the relationship of Mary 
 and Joseph. In the first, Joseph is regarded as the uncle of Mary 
 and Anna’s brother. 
 
 David 
 
 --- 
 
 Solomon 
 
 * 
 
 
 Nathan 
 
 * 
 
 * 
 
 
 * 
 
 * 
 
 
 * 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 Jechonias 
 
 . 
 
 * 
 
 Salathiel 
 
 | 
 
 Neri 
 
 * 
 
 Zorobabel 
 
 * 
 
 Abiud 
 
 Matthan 
 
 1 
 
 
 Niso 
 
 Levi 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Jacob 
 
 J 
 
 
 1 
 
 Matthat 
 
 1 
 
 Joseph Anna 
 
 / 
 
 Heli 
 
 ' - Mary 
 
 I 
 
 Jesus 
 
 In the second, we assume that Joseph was Mary’s first cousin and 
 Anna’s nephew. 
 
 Matthan Matthat 
 
 I I. 
 
 Sabea, Jacob, Anna Heli, otherwise Joachim 
 
 1---- 
 
 Joseph Mary 
 
 Jesus 
 
43 2 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 Solomon 
 
 * 
 
 * 
 
 ti 
 
 ft 
 
 Jechonias, 
 legal father of 
 
 Abiud 
 
 David 
 
 _ 
 
 Salathiel, 
 
 father or grandfather of 
 Zorobabel 
 
 _A-_ 
 
 Nathan 
 
 * 
 
 * 
 
 * 
 
 * 
 
 Neri, 
 
 natural father ol 
 
 -\ 
 
 Rhesa 
 
 * 
 
 * 
 
 Matthan 
 
 i 
 
 Jacob 
 
 Joseph Anna 
 
 v- 
 
 "v 
 
 Mary 
 
 I 
 
 Jesus 
 
 * 
 
 Levi 
 
 I 
 
 Matthat 
 
 i 
 
 Heli 
 
 The system of concordance here suggested seems to correspond 
 satisfactorily to the objects the Evangelists had in view, and to 
 avoid the difficulties raised by the other systems, while covering all 
 the real facts they contain. 
 
 The direct descent of the house of David is not merely proved, 
 it is superabundantly demonstrated by the two pedigrees which set 
 forth the paternal and maternal ancestry of Jesus. These two lists 
 are drawn up as referring to Joseph, which is in accordance with the 
 first of the above diagrams and with Jewish custom; but in one, 
 Joseph appears as the son by law of Heli, the maternal grandfather of 
 Jesus; and in the other, as the son by nature of Jacob, the paternal 
 grandfather of Jesus. 
 
 From this point of view we may say that one is the natural and 
 the other the legal genealogy of Joseph; but that both are at once 
 the legal and the natural genealogy of Mary and Jesus. 
 
APPENDIX D. 
 
 THE PLACE OF JOHN THE BAPTIST’S BIRTH. 
 
 (Vol. I., p. 37, etc.) 
 
 Some authors have placed the dwelling-place of Zacharias in 
 Judaea, either at Hebron or at Juttah. No document or tradition 
 justifies such a selection. The only reason adduced by those who 
 designate Hebron as the birthplace of the Baptist is that it was a 
 sacerdotal city. But there were eight sacerdotal cities in the tribal 
 province of Judah; why select Hebron in preference to the other 
 seven ? 
 
 Moreover, there is nothing to show that at the time of Zacharias 
 the priests were obliged to reside in one of these cities. Many dwelt 
 in Jerusalem, and others in the environs. Heli dwelt at Shiloh; 
 Samuel at Ramathaim-Zophim ; Mattathias at Modin ; Simon 
 Maccabaeus at Gaza. Not one of these towns was either sacerdotal 
 or Levitical. 
 
 Reland seems to have been the first to suggest Juttah as the town 
 where Zacharias lived. The text of St. Luke is against this view. 
 The name is not found in any manuscript, and the absence of the 
 article in the Greek does not allow us to suppose that any particular 
 place was intended : ei? ttoXlv Tov8a, “ in a town,” the Evangelist 
 says; not “ in the town.” 
 
 The tradition which says that Zacharias dwelt at Ain-Karim 
 dates from before the time of the Crusades. We have it from Daniel 
 the Hegumen 1 (m3), and he was instructed by an old monk of the 
 laura of St. Sabas, whose evidence is more ancient than the first 
 Crusade. 
 
 * Hegumen (r/yov/xevos), the Greek term for an abbot. 
 
 VOL. II. 433 FF 
 
434 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 It is the historian’s duty to take traditions into due account, 
 especially in the East, where they are so religiously preserved, and 
 not to relinquish them except in favour of some express evidence. 
 That of Ain-Karim is nowhere disproved, and ought to be upheld. 
 (See V. Guerin, Description de la Palestine , Judee , t. i., p. 83. 
 Fr. Lievin, Guide de la Palestine , 2 me partie.) 
 
APPENDIX E. 
 
 THE POOL OF BETHESDA. 
 
 (John v. 2, etc.—Vol. I., p. 227, etc.) 
 
 This marvellous pool, of which St. John speaks, is nowhere men¬ 
 tioned by the Jewish writers. It is difficult to identify it with what 
 Josephus calls the Pool of Solomon (De bell. Jud. vi.), in which the 
 victims were washed before they were offered in the Temple. 
 
 Certain modern authors, finding that verse 4 of chap, v., in which 
 the miraculous moving of the waters is described, is missing in the 
 earliest manuscripts, as for instance the Codex Sinaiticus, C. Vati- 
 canus, that of Ephraim, of Cambridge, Cureton’s Syriac Manuscript, 
 and in the Coptic Version of the third century, have not hesitated 
 to regard it as an interpolation which found its way into the Vulgate, 
 the Peshito, and the Codex Alexandrinus. 
 
 The authenticity of the text being thus regarded as suspicious, 
 they have not hesitated to regard the pool as a mere intermittent hot- 
 spring. This interpretation is of no great importance as regards the 
 question of doctrine, but it has the demerit of casting suspicion on 
 the genuineness of the Vulgate, and of being antagonistic to most of 
 the early Fathers, who accept the pool of Bethesda as miraculous. 
 
 As to its position, it now seems beyond a doubt that it is to be 
 sought at some yards to the north-west of the church of St. Anna. 
 Interesting excavations conducted by M. Mauss, a French architect, 
 have revealed the wall of the pool itself, buried in ruins, at more 
 than twenty-five feet below the surface. St. Anthony visited it in 
 the seventh century; and Bongars, in the eleventh, described it as 
 lying exactly where it has now been rediscovered. 
 
 435 
 
 FF —2 
 
APPENDIX F. 
 
 s > \ 
 
 TIIE IDENTIFICATION OF CAPERNAUM WITH THE RUINS 
 
 OF TEL HUM. 
 
 (Vol. I., p. 278, etc.) 
 
 The authentic site of Capernaum seems definitely ascertained. It is 
 supported, at any rate, by all the evidence and probability which we 
 can desire for questions of the archaeology of Palestine, where the 
 lack of inscriptions allows of no positive or tangible evidence. 
 
 The first thing to suggest that the ruins of Tel Hum are those of 
 Capernaum is the etymology of the names. Caphar, a small town 
 or village, has been supplanted by the Arabic word Tel, a hill 
 covered with ruins. Nahum, by an abridgment of which there are 
 many instances, has lost the first syllable, and becomes Hum. 
 Another indication is supplied by Eusebius. ( Ono?nasticon , under 
 Chorazin ). He says : “ A village cursed by Christ; it is twelve miles 
 from Capernaum.” St. Jerome corrects this evident error on the 
 part of Eusebius or his copyists by putting two for twelve. Chorazin 
 is, beyond a doubt, the mass of ruins now known as Khar bet 
 Kerazet. Now the distance between this and Tel Hum is just two 
 miles, as St. Jerome has it. 
 
 The words of Jesus’ invective lead us to the same conclusion: 
 “ And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven.” 1 Jesus, as 
 M. V. Guerin observes, 2 obviously refers to the beauty of the little 
 town, a beauty of which it was proud, owing it, no doubt, less to the 
 dwellings of the residents than to some of its public buildings, its 
 harbour, its fine spring, and the magnificent synagogue, of which the 
 remains are still strikingly extensive and splendid. Now of all the 
 
 1 Matt. xi. 23 ; Luke x. 15. 
 
 2 Cf. Victor Guerin, Description de la Palestine , 3* partie : Galilee, 
 
 t. i. 
 
 436 
 
APPENDIX F. 437 
 
 ruins which are to be seen around the lake, those of Tel Hum alone 
 arrest our attention and show the traces of any fine buildings. 
 
 Josephus mentions the little town of Kapharname (Vita, § 72), 
 whither he was carried wounded, after a battle with the troops of 
 King Agrippa. He would evidently be taken to the nearest spot 
 beyond the river where medical treatment was to be found; on the 
 western side of the lake the first town of any importance would be 
 Capernaum, now Tel Hum. 
 
 The successive testimony of the earliest pilgrims, Antoninus the 
 Martyr in the sixth century, Arculph in the seventh, and the Russian 
 hegumen Daniel in the twelfth, confirms this conclusion. St. 
 Willibald, in the eighth, is the only one to contradict his predecessors 
 and successors; but he is also absolutely opposed to St. Jerome, 
 who expressly states that Chorazin was two miles from Capernaum, 
 and, consequently, that in coming from Tiberias the first town on the 
 road was not Capernaum, as the pilgrim asserts, but Bethsaida. 
 
APPENDIX G. 
 
 THE TWO VISITS TO NAZARETH. 
 
 (Luke iv. 16-43 ; compare Matt. xiii. 54-58 ; Mark vi. 1-6. 
 
 Vol. I., pp. 269, 393.) 
 
 Notwithstanding some few points of resemblance, especially: I. 
 The expression of surprise, Is not this Joseph’s son ? II. The words 
 in Luke iv. 23, which imply a previous sojourn at Capernaum, we do 
 not confound, like most modern critics, the narrative of Luke with 
 the two parallel narratives of Matthew and Mark. Jesus went twice 
 to Nazareth; the first journey being that related by St. Luke, the 
 second that related by St. Matthew and St. Mark. 
 
 The discrepancies are striking and insuperable. 
 
 I. The first visit was at the beginning of Christ’s ministry in 
 Galilee, as we are expressly told by the Evangelist, who distinctly 
 explains that he writes “ everything in order ”; the second followed 
 after a stay of several weeks at Capernaum. 
 
 II. The first gave rise to scenes of violence, ending in the 
 expulsion of Jesus, with threats and attempts to kill him. The 
 second was of a peaceful character. 
 
 III. Luke’s full, dramatic, and pathetic account leaves no doubt 
 as to the exact facts. Moreover, that Jesus should have made a 
 fresh attempt to convert Nazareth is far from improbable. It is easy 
 to understand his desire to overcome the unbelief of the town where 
 he had been brought up, as well as his confidence, in the last resort, 
 in his renown throughout Galilee to silence the prejudices of his 
 fellow-townsmen. 
 
 438 
 
APPENDIX H. 
 
 THE TWO MIRACLES OF THE LOAVES AND FISHES. 
 
 (Matt. xvi. 5, etc.; Mark viii. 4, etc. Compare Matt. xiv. 16, etc.; 
 
 Mark vi. 38, etc. ; John vi.—Vol. I., p. 454, etc.) 
 
 The second multiplying of bread has been called in question by 
 rationalistic critics. I cannot see the reason of this. The miraculous 
 manifestation is in substance identical with that narrated by all four 
 Evangelists, but all the details are different: the place, the circum¬ 
 stances before and after the miracle, the number of those who were 
 fed, of the loaves, and of the baskets. The suggestion that, the 
 traditions having become doubtful, two Evangelists deliberately 
 doubled the miracle to cover their divergences, is a poor expedient. 
 Besides, the words in which Jesus alludes to the two miracles leave 
 no doubt as to the facts. It cannot be allowed that St. Matthew and 
 St. Mark would both place them in the Master’s mouth merely to 
 support their narratives. 
 
 439 
 
APPENDIX I. 
 
 THE COUNTRY OF DALMANUTHA. 
 
 (Matt. xv. 39; Mark viii. io.—Vol. I., p. 454.) 
 
 Nothing remains of this place, which was probably not far from 
 Mejdel, at the southern end of the Plain of Gennesareth. Accord¬ 
 ing to some writers, Dalmanutha may only have meant the district 
 about Magdala or Magadan, just as Ephrata meant that pertaining 
 to Bethlehem, though no town or village actually bore the name of 
 Dalmanutha or Ephrata. As to “Magadan,” or in some MSS. 
 “ Magaidan ” or “ Magdala,” it is a mistake to place it on the 
 eastern shore of the lake. Eusebius, it is true, in his Onomasticon , 
 speaks of a land of “ Magaidan,” near “ Gerasa ” or “ Kersa ” ;* but 
 this does no more than prove that there existed in his time another 
 “Magadan” or “Migdal,” distinct from that to which Jesus re¬ 
 paired after the second miracle of the loaves. (See V. Guerin, 
 Descriptio?i de la Palestine: Galilee, t. i.) 
 
 440 
 
APPENDIX J. 
 
 KERSA AND GADARA. 
 
 (Matt. viii. 28; Mark v. 1 ; Luke viii. 26.—Vol. I., p. 388, etc.) 
 
 St. Jerome (De locis Hebraicis ) has confused Gergesa or Kersa, 
 with Gadara. These two towns, as we learn from Josephus {Bell. 
 Ji/d., v. 3), were perfectly distinct, though their territories were 
 adjacent. The town into the district of which Jesus went was certainly 
 Gergesa, and not Gadara, which was situated at three hours’ distance 
 from the lake, in the hills forming the valley of the Hieromax. This 
 too is the opinion of Origen, who supports it by quoting an ancient 
 tradition. Eusebius and St. Jerome repeat it, adding that in their 
 day a mountain overlooking the lake, not far from “ Kersa,” was 
 shown as the scene of the miracle. 
 
 441 
 
APPENDIX K. 
 
 THE DEMONIAC OF KERSA. 
 
 (Matt. viii. 28; Mark v. 1 ; Luke viii. 26.—Vol. I., p. 388, etc.) 
 
 The discrepancies between the narrative of St. Matthew and 
 those of St. Mark and St. Luke have been the subject of comment 
 from the earliest ages. St. Matthew speaks of two possessed with 
 devils; St. Mark and St. Luke of one only, doubtless the most 
 dreaded and most notorious, as has been observed by St. Augustine, 
 Theophylact and Euthymius. This is the first difference. Then St. 
 Matthew only relates how the devils entered into the herd of swine, 
 and cast them into the sea, where they perished, while St. Mark and St. 
 Luke dwell upon the marvellous cure of the demoniac whose name 
 was Legion. This is the second difference. Neither need, however, 
 be regarded as impairing the veracity of the narrative. They only 
 prove the very legitimate freedom exercised by the sacred writers in 
 the way of viewing and selecting the facts. 
 
 442 
 
APPENDIX L. 
 
 THE AUTHENTICITY OF TABOR AS THE SCENE OF THE 
 
 TRANSFIGURATION. 
 
 (Matt. xvii. i ; Mark ix. 2 ; Luke ix. 28.—Vol. I., p. 472, etc.) 
 
 The tradition which names Mount Tabor as the true scene of the 
 Transfiguration dates from the fourth century. At that time it was 
 recorded by St. Cyril and by Eusebius of Caesarea. St. Jerome at 
 the end of the same century confirmed it. Thus at that time there 
 was no difficulty about its authenticity. St. Jerome would certainly 
 have dispelled any such doubts if they had existed, or, if he had 
 shared them, he would not have expressed his adherence in such 
 unequivocal terms. 
 
 In his 46th epistle, addressed to Marcella, he speaks of his plan 
 for a journey to the “ Holy Mountain,” and he says : “ Pergimus ad 
 Itabyrium et Tabernacula Salvatoris.” In his epitaph on St. Paula 
 (Ep. lxxxvi.) he says of her : “ Scandebat montem Thabor in quo 
 transfiguratus est Dominus.” The tabernacles of which he speaks 
 are the three churches built by command of St. Helena on Mount 
 Tabor, about a.d. 327, according to Nicephorus Callistus {Hist, 
 tec/es., lib. viii., cap. xxx.). 
 
 Antoninus the Martyr, in the sixth century, speaks of them (. Itiner ., 
 vi.), thus bearing witness to the old tradition. 
 
 In the seventh century Adamanus also mentions a large monas¬ 
 tery there. (Adam., ex Arculpho. De locis sanctis.) 
 
 In the eighth century St. Willibald mentions this monastery and 
 a church dedicated to Jesus, Moses, and Elias. 
 
 Further evidence in support of the tradition is found throughout 
 the period of the Crusades, and neither revolutions, nor wars, nor 
 time, despite their accumulated ruins, have availed to destroy the 
 
 glory which crowns the heights of Tabor. 
 
 443 
 
444 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 The objections raised against this traditional belief that Tabor was 
 the scene of the Transfiguration are as follows: 
 
 I. No document mentions the journey which Jesus must have 
 taken from the neighbourhood of Caesarea Philippi into the heart of 
 Galilee; which, it is contended, would certainly have been the case 
 if he had made such a journey. 
 
 But this argument is in no way decisive. It assumes that the 
 synoptical Gospels relate every journey and movement of Jesus. 
 Now, an attentive study shows that they do not. Many, I might 
 even say most, of the scenes they narrate have no exact indication 
 of time or place. In six days Jesus and his disciples could easily 
 have travelled unrecognised from the northern parts of Philip’s 
 tetrarchy to Mount Tabor, across Galilee, through the districts west 
 of the Jordan. 
 
 II. Another objection rests on the state of Mount Tabor, of which 
 the summit was not desolate, since a fortress and a village stood 
 there. This difficulty has been put forward by Robinson, the 
 American traveller, in his Biblical Researches; but he fails to prove 
 that there actually were inhabitants on the summit of Tabor in the 
 time of Jesus. By Josephus’ account, it was not till his day, during 
 the last wars of the Jews against the Romans, that Itabyrion was 
 fortified. (Bell. Jud., ii. 20, 6 ; iv. 1, 8.) 
 
 The theory which regards one of the peaks of Hermon as glorified 
 through Jesus having selected it for his Transfiguration, has nothing 
 to support it but the arbitrary choice of a few modern writers. 
 There is no sign of it before the end of the eighteenth century. 
 
 In such matters, all innovations, unsupported by ancient testi¬ 
 mony, are to be regarded as suspicious. 
 
1 
 
 APPENDIX M. 
 
 THE TWO TEXTS OF THE LORD’S PRAYER. 
 
 (Matt. vi. 9-13; Luke xi. 2-4.—Vol. I., p. 334.) 
 
 A comparison of the two versions of the prayer of Jesus (Matt, 
 vi. 9-13, and Luke xi. 2-4) reveals their essential identity. The text 
 of the first Gospel is no more than a development or exposition of 
 that of the third. 
 
 St. Luke says: “ Father;” St. Matthew adds an attribute: 
 “ Which art in heaven.” St. Luke says : “ Hallowed be thy name; 
 thy Kingdom come.” St. Matthew explains the manner of this 
 sanctification and of the advent of this Kingdom. “ Thy will be done 
 in earth as it is in heaven.” St. Luke, according to some MSS., 
 simply says: “Lead us not into temptation;” St. Matthew adds the 
 corollary: “But deliver us from the evil one,” from him whose 
 spirit leads us into evil. Finally, according to more than one Codex, 
 St. Matthew alone adds the doxology: “ Amen.” 
 
 It would seem quite futile to enquire into the origin of these 
 variations in these texts, after proving their absolute identity of 
 purport. 
 
 445 
 
APPENDIX N. 
 
 THE DEPARTURE FROM GALILEE. 
 
 (Matt. xix. i; Markx. i; Lukeix. 51; John vii. 1.—Vol. II., p. 1, etc.) 
 
 This has been carefully noted by all four Evangelists. Of the 
 identity of the fact narrated in the three first Gospels there can be 
 no question. It is enough to convince us, to observe that all three 
 make it follow upon the same incidents and the same discourses. 
 Can it be denied that the departure spoken of by John is the same 
 as that recorded by the other three Evangelists ? I do not think so. 
 To prove a difference, we are compelled to admit that after his jour¬ 
 ney to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, as St. John tells us, Jesus 
 returned into Galilee. Now, no such return, is mentioned. The 
 fourth Evangelist has taken such care to note the various movements 
 of Jesus, that if he had indeed returned to Galilee, John would have 
 said so. Thus all the four authorities, by our hypothesis, agree in 
 informing us precisely of the departure of Jesus; a very important 
 date in his caieer, since it marks the beginning of a new period in his 
 teaching. 
 
APPENDIX O. 
 
 THE WOMAN TAKEN IN ADULTERY. 
 
 (John vii. 53-viii. 11.—Vol. II., pp. 33-35.) 
 
 The story of the woman taken in adultery (John vii. 53-viii. n) 
 has been eagerly debated among critics. 
 
 The first cause of these discussions is found in a fact which is 
 unique in the textual history of the New Testament, namely, the 
 omission of the narrative (vii. 53 to viii. n) from several of 
 the most authentic Greek MSS. Thus the Sinaitic, the Alexan¬ 
 drian, the Royal, the Ephraim MSS., and others of the fourth to the 
 ninth century, do not contain it. The Peshito of the second century 
 and two of the best MSS. of the Itala omit it. The Vercellensis 
 of the fourth, and the Brixiensis of the sixth centuries, with L and A, 
 leave the passage a blank. Others, and more particularly the San- 
 germanensis of the seventh and the Vaticanus of the tenth, mark it as 
 doubtful. Moreover, in those MSS. which include it, its place is 
 not always the same; one adds it after verse 36 of chap. vii. of St. John ; 
 others give it at the end of the Gospel; some include it in St. Luke’s 
 Gospel, interpolating it at the end of chap. xxi. 
 
 Besides this singular circumstance, we must mention the silence 
 of many of the Fathers respecting it. It seems to have been quite 
 unknown to Tertullian, St. Cyprian, Origen, and St. Chrysostom. 
 
 It is nevertheless certain that, so far back as the second century, 
 Tatian’s Harmony of the Gospels , and at the beginning of the third 
 the Concordance of Ammonius, prove that this passage was then a part 
 of the New Testament. The Apostolical Constitutions again (xxiv. 1), 
 also dating from the third century, bear witness to its inclusion in 
 the New Testament. The more important MSS. of the Itala, of the 
 fourth to the eleventh, the Vulgate, the Syriac Version of Jerusalem, in 
 the fifth, the Codex Bezae, the Boorel MS. of the ninth, the Harleian 
 
 447 
 
448 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 and others, and above three hundred MSS., according to Tischendorf, 
 give the narrative as we have it; and the Fathers of the fourth 
 century, St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, and St. Augustine, distinctly up¬ 
 hold its authenticity, which has never since been disputed by the 
 Church. 
 
 If the passage is acknowledged as genuine, why was it ever 
 omitted ? And if it is not, how and by whom was it interpolated ? 
 
 The omission can be explained and justified. The interpolation 
 could be neither explained nor justified. Without appealing to the 
 authority and tradition of the Church, which preserves as a sacred 
 charge the Book in which the words and acts of Jesus are recorded, 
 a mere consideration of the fact under dispute is enough to prove 
 the omission and exclude the idea of interpolation. The mercy 
 shown by Jesus to the adulteress might, as St. Augustine acutely 
 remarks, disturb men of little faith, or rather furnish the enemies of 
 the true faith with a pretext for attack. The fear, no doubt, was 
 lest the Master’s clemency should excuse immorality among women, 
 and allow it to go unpunished {De conjug. adult ., lib. ii., vii.). So 
 this act of forgiveness was eliminated from the MSS., as though he 
 who said “ Go, and sin no more ” could encourage sin. 
 
 Two diametrically opposite causes led to the strange vicissitudes 
 of this passage: on the one hand, Montanism, with its extravagant 
 moral austerity; and on the other, the licence which prevailed at the 
 time of Constantine, when immense numbers of the heathen flocked 
 into the Church, and brought with them their immoral practices. (See 
 Salvianus, De gubernat. Dei, ii. 8, and vi.) The story of the woman 
 taken in adultery shocked the false propriety of the Montanists, 
 and afforded a welcome excuse for those inclined to indulgence. We 
 thus see why, even in the second and third centuries, when Montanist 
 influence was paramount, certain Churches thought it advisable 
 to suppress the narrative from public reading. It was marked for 
 omission in the liturgical copies, or actually cut out. Greek manu¬ 
 scripts are still in existence which bear witness to the practice. The 
 suppression having once been effected, it became the rule in Greek, 
 Latin, and Syriac copies from the fourth to the eighth century. 
 
 But whereas the omission may be thus accounted for and excused 
 by plausible reasons, the interpolation cannot be defended or proved. 
 Who could have invented so daring a narrative ? Who could have 
 imagined such an incident, in which wisdom vies with holiness, 
 
APPENDIX O. 
 
 449 
 
 and mercy with justice, in which we see the whole soul of Jesus 
 in all its fulness ? How could it ever have found acceptance 
 without protest at a time when the reading of the Gospels was the 
 Christians’ meat and drink? Can a single outcry against it be 
 adduced ? And yet there was no narrative more likely to raise one. 
 
 The Fathers, finding it in their copies, would not suffer it to be 
 read to the people; and are we to suppose that they would with one 
 accord combine to introduce it fraudulently into the New Testament 
 that it might be read and discussed ? 
 
 Such preposterous theories settle the question. If the narrative 
 was thus dealt with, it must have been because it occurred in ancient 
 copies; and if it occurred in ancient copies, it was because it 
 was of apostolical origin. 
 
 The belief of the Catholic Church on this point is plainly 
 declared; and, as we see, it has in its favour decisive reasons, based 
 on impartial criticism. 
 
 Some commentators, while admitting the apostolic authority for 
 the narrative, have doubted whether it was written by St. John. 
 Protestant critics, especially, have put forth all their efforts to prove 
 that it does not bear the stamp of John’s hand either in style or in 
 moral purport. Certain expressions are quoted which St. John uses 
 nowhere else; among others, the word Aaos, for which o^Ao? is al¬ 
 ways used in the fourth Gospel, and a mention of scribes, ypa/A/ta-ras, 
 as being present, which occurs nowhere else in this Gospel. On the 
 other hand, various expressions occur which are quite characteristic 
 of John’s writing, as Ebrard has remarked ( Wissenschaftliche 
 Kritik , ad h. 1 .). The placing of the verb Cn re, “he said” (v. n), 
 before -koXiv ow, “spake again ” (v. 12), is quite in John’s manner; 
 as also cTropevOr], “he went” (v. 1) ttoXiv Se, “came 
 
 again ” (v. 2), and Kareypacjic, “wrote” (v. 6) . , . kcu 7 T(x\lv, 
 
 “ again wrote ” (v. 8). And both <rv ow rt Aeyeis; “ what sayest 
 
 thou ? ” in verse 5, and tovto Se eA cyov 7 rapd£ovTes avrov, “ this they 
 said tempting him,” in verse 6 (compare chapter xii. 6), are 
 characteristic expressions. 
 
 Nothing, then, can be legitimately deduced from these contra¬ 
 dictory indications. 
 
 Those who dwell on the moral tendency of the incident, asserting 
 that such narratives are foreign to the fourth Gospel, forget that the 
 fact has a historical character also, which tends to elucidate the 
 
 position of Jesus in a time of excitement, when his teaching was 
 
 VOL. II. GG 
 
450 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 giving rise to vehement hostility. Now, it is characteristic of John 
 that he distinctly emphasises, even in the midst of the Master’s dis¬ 
 courses, the incidents which interrupted them, gave rise to them, or 
 explained their purport. However, even among the Protestants, a 
 certain number do not hesitate to pronounce distinctly in favour of 
 the Catholic tradition. Cf. Michaelis, Lange, Ebrard, Wieseler, 
 Schultz, and Berger de Xivrey. 
 
 / 
 

 APPENDIX P. 
 
 THE EXEGESIS OF rrjv apxrjv. 
 
 (John viii. 25.—Vol. II., p. 45.) 
 
 Scholars have taken two different views of the interpretation of 
 this passage, according to the way in which they have rendered 
 the words rrjv <l/>x*7 l/ * The Latin Fathers generally, with St. 
 Ambrose and St. Augustine at their head, have taken them in the 
 transcendental sense, and the reply of Jesus, in spite of being variant, 
 comes to this : “ I am from the beginning, I who now speak to you, 
 or, as I now declare unto you.” It is an affirmation of his divinity. 
 
 The Greeks, and more especially St. Chrysostom, understand 
 rrjv apxrjv in the relative sense, as an adverb of frequent occurrence 
 in Greek, the preposition Kara being understood ; and the reply of 
 Jesus may then be read thus : “I am actually, or before all things, 
 what I declare unto you.” 
 
 This difference of interpretation, in point of fact, matters little. 
 The affirmation of the divinity and the Messiahship of Jesus is as full 
 in one as in the other, in spite of the fact, that while it is expressed 
 in the first case, it is implied only in the second. 
 
 By reminding his hearers of all he had already solemnly pro- 
 
 / 
 
 claimed of himself from the first day when he had revealed himself 
 to them, he again put himself forward as the Light of the world, the 
 Rock whence the waters of life flow, the Bread sent down from 
 Heaven to give life to the world ; all functions of a divine order 
 which could leave no doubt as to his nature. From the grammatical 
 point of view, however, it is but just to say that the second interpre¬ 
 tation is the more satisfactory. The smallest details of the sentence 
 are thus naturally rendered, as J. Godet has well observed ( Comment . 
 sur F Evangile selon S. Jean, ad h. 1 .): “ T*)v a-pxyv *?= actually, on 7= 
 that which, /cat = also, XaXCj vplv = I declare unto you.” 
 
 451 
 
 G G—2 
 
APPENDIX O. 
 
 /W 
 
 THE BLIND MEN OF JERICHO. 
 
 (Matt. xx. 29-34; Mark x. 46-52 ; Luke xviii. 35-43. 
 
 Vol. II., pp. 159, 164.) 
 
 The fact of the healing of blind men by Jesus, on the occasion 
 of his last visit to Jericho, is attested by the three first Gospels. 
 In comparing their narratives we are at once struck no less by their 
 divergence than by their similarity. 
 
 The three narratives are alike (Matt. xx. 29-34; Mark x. 46-52 ; 
 Luke xviii. 35-43) as to the fact reported, and the parity and identity 
 of certain details. The blind men sit by the wayside ; they hear a 
 crowd passing by, and are told that Jesus of Nazareth is there ; they 
 utter the same cry ; Jesus stops, and calls them to him ; he asks the 
 same question ; they give the same answer; and they are healed. 
 
 The differences are not less conspicuous, and clearly distinguish the 
 three narratives. According to Matthew and Mark, the healing takes 
 place as Jesus leaves Jericho; according to Luke, as he enters the 
 town. Matthew speaks of two blind men as healed; Mark and 
 Luke mention only one. • 
 
 The similarity between them has led not merely the partisans 
 of negative criticism, but orthodox commentators likewise, to 
 regard the three narratives as relating to the same event; conse¬ 
 quently, they have been under the necessity of reconciling the discre¬ 
 pancies. Hostile critics, denying the inspiration of the Evangelical 
 documents, could find in the dissimilarity of the three accounts 
 nothing but an irrefragable proof of uncertainty of memory as to 
 this incident in the life of Jesus; and took a malicious pleasure in 
 pointing out the pains which orthodox critics gave themselves to 
 evade the dilemma. And it must be owned that one single admis¬ 
 sion on the part of these critics led them into inextricable difficulties, 
 making all conciliation impossible. 
 
 452 
 
APPENDIX Q. 
 
 453 
 
 They succeeded in accounting quite rationally for the diver¬ 
 gence between Matthew and Mark as to the number of the blind 
 men. Mark, as they hold, gives the name of the only one who was 
 known, Bartimaeus, and ignores the other; and Matthew, while 
 speaking of both, has mentioned neither particularly. 
 
 But no interpretation serves to reconcile the narrative of Luke, 
 who says that the blind man was healed before Jesus entered Jericho, 
 with those of Matthew and Mark, who say that Bartimaeus, or the 
 two blind men, were healed as Jesus was departing. 
 
 The hypothesis of there being two towns, an old town and a new 
 town, and that the miracle was wrought on the passage from one to 
 the other, outsteps the limits allowed to criticism. To assume an 
 immense length for the procession which accompanied Jesus, and 
 admit that the blind man, who had begun to cry out as the first 
 persons entered Jericho, was healed only as the procession was 
 leaving the city, is to distort the texts. 
 
 In our opinion the discrepancy is irremediable, while the resem¬ 
 blances can be accounted for; and, for this reason, we believe that 
 two distinct incidents are here related; the first by Luke, the second 
 by Mark and Matthew. (Cf. St. Augustine, De consensu Evang ., 
 lib. ii. lxv.; Quaest. evang ., lib. ii. q. 48; Bede, Ad., lib. i.; Toynard, 
 Harm, evang .) The healing spoken of by Luke took place as 
 Jesus entered Jericho, and that of the other two blind men as he 
 departed. 
 
 The similarity of the passages in Luke and Matthew can be no 
 serious reason for denying that they refer to separate events. Far 
 from being improbable, this seems to us, on the contrary, most natural. 
 It can only surprise those who are ignorant of Oriental customs, and. 
 who have never seen blind men at the entrances and exits of the 
 towns. 
 
 The one who was first healed, as Jesus arrived, and whose name 
 Luke does not give, no doubt encouraged other sufferers by his 
 example, and finding that the cry, “Jesus, thou Son of David,” was 
 pleasing to the Prophet, they raised it again as the procession was 
 departing. Jesus dealt with these as with the first; their confidence 
 being equally great, the mercy vouchsafed was the same. 
 
APPENDIX R. 
 
 THE TWO ANOINTINGS. 
 
 A. —Luke vii. 36-50 (Vol. I., p. 355, etc.). 
 
 B. —Matt. xxvi. 6-13; Mark xiv. 3-9 ; John xii. 1-11 (Vol. II,, p. 165). 
 
 We agree with St. Augustine (He consensu Evang., lib. ii.) in dis¬ 
 tinguishing the anointing by the woman who was a sinner, as 
 related by St. Luke, from that effected a year later by the same 
 woman at Bethany, as related by St. Matthew, chap. xxvi.; St. 
 Mark, chap. xiv.; and St. John, chap. xii. The fundamental 
 peculiarities of the two incidents compel us to this conclusion, not¬ 
 withstanding the identity of several points of detail. 
 
 The first took place in Galilee, long before the other, which 
 occurred at Bethany, near Jerusalem, six days before the last 
 Passover kept by Jesus. The first, in which the woman is described 
 as a sinner, was a scene of repentance and forgiveness; the second 
 was a scene full of mystery, in which the same woman, now a friend 
 of Jesus’s, aims only at showing her reverence and affection. 
 The words spoken by Jesus on the first occasion are too significant 
 and too distinct from those uttered on the second to warrant us in 
 supposing them to apply to the same occasion. 
 
 Ammonius Saccas, in his Harmony , was the first ecclesiastical 
 writer to merge into one narrative the accounts of these anointings, 
 as given by the four Evangelists. 
 
 He was followed by Eusebius and many other writers. In the 
 eighteenth century he found supporters in Huet, Vossius, and Grotius. 
 This position, notwithstanding the argument adduced by Grotius 
 (Sup. Matth. xxvii., vol. ii.), seems to us untenable. 
 
 454 
 

 APPENDIX S. 
 
 PSALM CX. 
 
 (Matt. xxii. 44 ; Markxii. 36; Luke xx. 42.—Vol. II., p. 201.) 
 
 The prophetic character of this psalm, as pointing to the Messiah, 
 has been vehemently disputed, as might be expected, both by the 
 ancient Talmudic writers and by modern rationalistic exegesis. 
 Instead of reading in this inspired national hymn a bold and mag¬ 
 nificent description of the Messiah—the Lord of David, seated at 
 the right hand of God, on the very throne of Jehovah, and sharing in 
 his might, coming out of Zion with the sceptre in his hand, con¬ 
 quering the world, judging the nations, gathering together, to this 
 end, an army of priests clad in sacerdotal vestments, himself 
 High Priest and King, like Melchizedek of old—the Talmudists and 
 critics have striven, but in vain, to apply it to some human person¬ 
 age, but without being able to identify him, from Melchizedek himself 
 to Hezekiah and Jonathan, the brother of Judas Maccabaeus. 
 
 None of these details are applicable to a merely human person¬ 
 age. No allowance for poetic licence can justify such an application. 
 To one hero alone can they apply; to him who solemnly recognised 
 himself as depicted in David’s prophetic vision, and who, in the 
 Temple itself, face to face with his assembled adversaries, assumed to 
 himself the glory of the Messiah. 
 
 His divine doctrine is here strongly concentrated. Did he not 
 constantly affirm that all power had been given unto him, that he 
 was to judge the world, the twelve tribes of Israel; that all things 
 had been given into his hands; that, though humiliated and con¬ 
 quered at first, drinking the waters of the brook, he would afterwards 
 enter into glory and lift up his head on high ? 
 
 455 
 
APPENDIX T. 
 
 THE IDENTITY OF MARY MAGDALENE, MARY OF BETHANY, 
 THE SISTER OF MARTHA, AND THE WOMAN WHICH WAS 
 A SINNER SPOKEN OF BY ST. LUKE. 
 
 (Luke vii. 37, etc.—See Appendix R.) 
 
 This question gave rise to ardent controversy, m France especially, 
 at two different periods; at the beginning of the sixteenth century 
 and the end of the seventeenth. 
 
 In 1516 Jacques Lefevre of Staples published his book, Maria 
 Magdalena , with the purpose of proving: I. That Mary sister of 
 Martha, Mary Magdalene, and the nameless sinner of Luke’s Gospel 
 were three distinct persons; II. That the Church Liturgy erred in 
 confounding them. 
 
 In support of this theory he appealed to the authority of Origen 
 and St. Chrysostom, interpreted St. Ambrose and St. Jerome to suit 
 his views, and asserted that St. Gregory the Great, Bede, and St. 
 Bernard, had misread the Gospel. The sacred texts appeared to 
 him to prove that the three were distinct; it seemed to him im¬ 
 probable, in fact impossible, to refer to one and the same person 
 characteristics so dissimilar as those attributed to Mary Magdalene, 
 the nameless sinner, and Mary of Bethany. 
 
 Jacques Lefevre’s book made a great stir, and roused vehement 
 antagonism. Two years after its publication, the famous John 
 Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, the restorer of science, theology, and 
 philosophy in the English universities, refuted him triumphantly 
 in his work De nnica Magdalena . The Spanish Dominican, Bal¬ 
 thazar Socco, maintained the same opinion in a book published in 
 Germany under the title De triplice Magdalena. 
 
 In 1521 the faculty of theology of Paris decreed in full assembly 
 that the views of St. Gregory as to the identity of Mary Magdalene, 
 
 456 
 
APPENDIX T. 
 
 457 
 
 the sister of Martha, and the sinner of St. Luke’s narrative, ought to 
 be accepted and recognised as agreeable to the Gospel, to the holy 
 Fathers, and to the Liturgy ; and that works written in contradiction 
 to it ought not to be tolerated. This decree was universally recog¬ 
 nised, and the controversy raised by Jacques Lefevre died out. 
 
 However, about 1636 the Sorbonne renewed the prohibition on 
 the occasion of a dissertation by Estius, Chancellor of the University 
 of Douai, the first Belgian prelate who supported the distinct per¬ 
 sonality of the three women. This theologian’s authoritative position, 
 the skill with which he stated his case, and the liberty secured to 
 him by the Roman authorities, to whom he submitted it, gave him 
 no small weight. Louvet, who undertook to defend Jacques Lefevre, 
 was approved by the syndic of the Paris faculty; and from that time, 
 though that faculty, as a body, has never rescinded its expressed 
 decision, it has tolerated dissertations against their identity, and even 
 disputations to disprove it. 
 
 The strife was renewed towards the end of the seventeenth cen¬ 
 tury, in consequence of the movement which led the foremost critics 
 of the day, Bollandus, Mabillon, Ruinart, and others, to attempt a 
 revision of the critical study of the remains of antiquity. Ecclesias¬ 
 tical history and ancient rites and usages were more carefully investi¬ 
 gated, and the MSS. and Paris editions were compared and 
 corrected. Some prelates followed in the stream, and did not 
 hesitate to submit the liturgical books to a severe scrutiny. 
 
 Hardouin de Perefixe, archbishop of Paris, was anxious to leave 
 to his diocese a breviary which should be irreproachable in the eyes of 
 sound criticism. And on this occasion the controversy again broke 
 out as to the identity or distinction of the “ Three Maries,” as they 
 were called. In 1680, when Monsieur de Harlay was archbishop of 
 Paris, the revised breviary was produced. In the order for the 
 office of St. Mary Magdalene, the passages in which she is mentioned 
 by name were alone included ; that is to say, those in which she is 
 spoken of as possessed of devils, as offering gifts to the Saviour, as 
 present on Calvary, and as visiting the tomb; thus assuming her 
 individuality apart from Mary of Bethany and Mary the sinner. 
 
 The new breviary was attacked, especially with regard to this 
 office of Mary Magdalene, in an essay entitled Remarques sur le 
 nouveau Breviaire de Paris, as introducing into the services of the 
 Church an opinion censured by the Sorbonne. It was defended by 
 Claude Chastelain, a canon and president of the committee of 
 
458 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 revision, in his work, Repo?ise aux Rei?iarq 7 ies. The learned canon 
 made great efforts to win over to his opinion the new critics of the 
 school of Bollandus, with Papebroc at their head, as well as the 
 French Benedictines, Mabillon and others; and in this he suc¬ 
 ceeded. 
 
 Then a second office was published. The severance of the 
 three Maries was further emphasised. The new breviary contained a 
 special service, fixed for the 19th of January, in honour of St. Mary 
 of Bethany, Martha’s sister. Chastelain was responsible for this 
 office, and the new festival was solemnised at Paris, for the first time, 
 in 1698. 
 
 Father Sellier, in his learned commentary on the martyrology of 
 Usuard, attacked the new institution with such strong arguments 
 that the Paris liturgists were obliged to suppress it. It was merged 
 in that of St. Martha and St. Lazarus, but Mary Magdalene and 
 Mary of Bethany remained distinct. The movement had been 
 started. The new offices were copied and widely distributed; the 
 separate individuality of these Maries gained acceptance; and Dom 
 Calmet’s dissertation, with Monsieur de Noailles’ breviary, helped to 
 confirm public opinion. 
 
 Can the question which was so vehemently discussed be finally 
 settled ? We believe it can, and in favour of the identity of the three 
 persons. 
 
 The conscientious labours of M. Faillon (.Monuments inedits snr 
 les apotres de Provence , &c.), which we will endeavour to epitomize, 
 seem to decide the matter. 
 
 In studying the four Gospel narratives we note: 
 
 I. A nameless woman “which was a sinner” (Luke vii. 37), 
 who comes into the banqueting-hall in the house of a Pharisee named 
 Simon, throws herself at the feet of Jesus, washes them with her 
 tears, covers them with kisses, wipes them with her hair, and anoints 
 them with perfume. 
 
 II. A woman named Mary Magdalene, out of whom seven devils 
 have been cast and who, following Jesus, places all her goods at his 
 service. 
 
 This same Mary Magdalene is found on Calvary with the holy 
 women (Matthew xxvii. 56; Mark xv. 40; Lukexxiv. 10; John xix. 
 25), and at the entombment (Matthew xxvii. 61). She brings oint¬ 
 ment to the sepulchre (Matthew xxviii, 1; Mark xvi. 1,2; John 
 
APPENDIX T. 
 
 459 
 
 xx. i, n). She is the first to see Jesus, without recognising him in 
 the first instance; Jesus speaks to her, and her eyes are opened 
 (John xx. 14, 17). She announces the resurrection of the Master to 
 the disciples (John xx. 18). 
 
 III. A woman named Mary, sister of Martha, who receives Jesus 
 hospitably (Luke x. 39), and who has a brother named Lazarus, of 
 the town of Bethany (John xi. 1-45), who also anoints the head and 
 feet of Jesus with spikenard, in the house of Simon the leper, at 
 Bethany. 
 
 The problem as concerning the identity of these three women 
 may be stated as follows: 
 
 1 st. Is the “sinner” mentioned by St. Luke identical with 
 Mary the sister of Martha ? 
 
 2nd. Is Mary the sister of Martha, being the “sinner” of St. 
 Luke’s Gospel, identical with Mary Magdalene ? 
 
 If these questions should be both answered in the affirmative, 
 would the identity of the three stand proved ? 
 
 We will consult the Gospels. 
 
 St. John, chapter xi. 2, wishing to distinguish Mary of Bethany 
 by a special trait, adds: “It was that Mary which anointed the Lord 
 with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair.” St. John must 
 have known the fact as related by St. Luke, of the woman “which 
 was a sinner,” who had done this very thing. Hence, when he 
 mentions it as distinctive of the sister of Martha, it must be because 
 she was the woman who had paid Jesus this tribute of reverence and 
 love, but whom St. Luke had left unnamed. 
 
 The partisans of the theory that the women were distinct, assume 
 that St. John, in this verse, is alluding by anticipation to the 
 anointing accomplished a few weeks later; but this interpretation 
 deprives the trait as mentioned by John of all its value, and it ceases 
 to be distinctive of Mary, since another woman, the sinner, had done 
 the same thing. 
 
 On reading with due attention chapter xx. of the Gospel of St. 
 John, in which Mary Magdalene is the chief figure, we find that the 
 Evangelist calls her sometimes Mary and sometimes Mary Magdalene, 
 which seems to imply that Mary Magdalene was only another name 
 for the woman called Mary, the sister of Martha. 
 
 Finally, by comparing all the details in the Gospels which refer to 
 Mary of Bethany, and Mary Magdalene, and the sinner, we discern 
 that they harmonise satisfactorily in a single type of character. 
 
460 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 From these scattered facts we may reconstruct a woman whose 
 nature, under various circumstances, is consistent with itself. She 
 is fervid, sincere, eager, demonstrative, full of zeal, faith, and 
 tenderness ; in fact, an ideal convert. 
 
 If we turn to the tradition of the Doctors of the Church: 1st, as 
 to the identity of the sinner and Mary of Bethany; 2nd, as to the 
 identity of Mary Magdalene and Mary the sister of Martha, we 
 find it characterised by every mark which guarantees genuineness in 
 such cases; it is ancient, universal, and perpetuated among the 
 Greeks and Latins alike. 
 
 So early as the second century we find St. Clement of Alexandria 
 (Pedagogy lib. ii., viii.) and Ammonius Saccas (. Harmonia ). 
 
 In the third century Tertullian (Hepudicitia , ii.). 
 
 In the fourth, Eusebius of Caesarea ( Canon evang, ., translated 
 by St. Jerome); St. Ephrem (vol. iii., pp. 390, 409, etc., of Migne’s 
 edition); St. Basil (He vera virginitate , No. 52); Apollinarius, Bishop 
 of Laodicea; Theodorus of Mopsuestia ( Comment. in Evang. ; cf. 
 Dom Cellier, Hist., t. x., 495); St. Ambrose ( In Lucam, vol. i. ; 
 He poe 7 iit., lib. ii., vii.). 
 
 In the fifth century, St. Jerome (vol. iii., p. 1.253, Praefat. in 
 Osee) ; St. Augustine (He consensu Evang.). 
 
 Throughout all succeeding centuries the opinion pronounced by 
 the great doctor is ratified, first by St. Gregory in the sixth, followed 
 by all the Fathers and Doctors of the Latin Church; in the seventh, 
 by Isidore of Seville and the Venerable Bede; in the eighth, by the 
 anonymous author of The Holy Places of Palestuie ; in the ninth, by 
 Raban Maur; in the tenth, by Odo of Cluny ; in the eleventh, by St. 
 Peter Damien and St. Anselm of Canterbury; in the twelfth, by 
 Hugues de Saint-Victor and St. Bernard; in the thirteenth, four¬ 
 teenth, and fifteenth, by St. Bonaventura and St. Thomas, Hugues de 
 Saint-Cher and St. Anthony of Padua, Denys the Carthusian, St. 
 Vincent Ferrier, and Gerson. 
 
 The liturgy of Rome, which we have a right to regard as the 
 expression of the doctrine, has preserved in its hymns and offices the 
 firm belief of the Fathers and the general tradition of the identity of 
 Mary Magdalene, the sinner, and Mary the sister of Martha. The 
 advocates of their severance, as Dom Calmet, in his dissertation on 
 the three Maries, and Baillet in his Lives of the Saints, are compelled 
 to admit this. 
 
APPENDIX T. 
 
 461 
 
 It is amazing that in the seventeenth century eminent writers 
 should have been misled on a point so solidly rooted in the opinions 
 of the Doctors and of the Holy See, and in the belief of the faithful. 
 This aberration can only be explained by the excitement of a new 
 development of criticism, eager in its first efforts, and not sufficiently 
 on its guard against the dangers of youthful zeal. But time moderates 
 everything, and impartial study has restored the truth by bringing 
 learning and conscience to bear on the evangelical character of Mary 
 Magdalene as depicted in the Gospels, and in the various works 
 which in succeeding ages have commented on them. 
 
APPENDIX U. 
 
 THE SITUATION OF EMMAUS. 
 
 (Vol. II., p. 371.) 
 
 The site occupied by the village of Emmaus is to this day the 
 subject of eager controversy. 
 
 A tradition, as old as the Crusades, places it at Kubeibah. A 
 recent theory finds it at Amwas. 
 
 Kubeibah is situated in the hills of Judaea, to the north of Jeru¬ 
 salem, at a distance of 60 stadia, or 6 miles, on one of the roads 
 from the capital to Caesarea. 
 
 Amwas lies to the north-west, at 160 stadia or i6^( miles on the 
 chariot-road from Jerusalem to Caesarea and Ascalon, near to the 
 ancient town of Nicopolis, at the foot of the mountains of Judaea. 
 
 The opinion which accepts Kubeibah as the site relies mainly on 
 the distance of 60 stadia (or furlongs) mentioned by Luke. That 
 which inclines to Amwas has on its side the plainest testimony of the 
 ancient writers. 
 
 Eusebius, metropolitan of Emmaus-Nicopolis, says distinctly in 
 his Onomasticon : “ Emmaus, the home of Cleophas, mentioned in St. 
 Luke, is now Nicopolis, a noble city of Palestine.” 
 
 The ancient Nicopolis was built during the first half of the third 
 century, under Heliogabalus, on the site of Emmaus. 
 
 St. Jerome, repeating from Eusebius, writes: “Emmaus, the 
 home of Cleophas, mentioned in St. Luke, is now Nicopolis, a noble 
 city of Palestine.” In his commentary on Daniel he gives a valuable 
 topographical identification of Emmaus : “ Near Nicopolis, formerly 
 called Emmaus, . . . where the hills of Judaea begin to rise.” 
 
 This detail, which precisely agrees with Amwas, is quite inapplicable 
 
 462 
 
APPENDIX U. 
 
 463 
 
 to Kubeibah. A more decisive piece of evidence is found in his note 
 on the itinerary of St. Paula’s pilgrimage: “ Proceeding by the same 
 road, Jaffa, Ramleh, Lydda, she came to Nicopolis, formerly called 
 Emmaus, where the Lord was known in the breaking of bread, and 
 made a church of the house of Cleophas. Departing from thence, 
 she went up to upper and to lower Beth-horon, leaving Ajalon and 
 Gibeon on the right.” ( Ep . cviii.) 
 
 It is perfectly clear from this itinerary that Emmaus was situated 
 between Lydda and Ramleh to the north-west, and Beth-horon, 
 Ajalon, and the hills of Judaea to the north-north-east, which 
 exactly corresponds with Amwas. 
 
 Sozomenus in the fifth century, a native of Gaza, and brought up 
 there, says in his Ecclesiastical History : “ There is a town in Pales¬ 
 tine now called Nicopolis. It is spoken of in the holy book of the 
 Gospels as a village, for so it was then, by the name of Emmaus. 
 But the Romans, being masters of Jerusalem and conquerors of the 
 Jews, renamed this place Nicopolis, in memory of the great triumph 
 they had won. Outside this town, near the place where three ways 
 meet, and where Christ, after his resurrection, walking with Cleophas, 
 made as though he would have gone further, there is a spring of very 
 wholesome water. It is said that the Saviour, finding himself there 
 with the disciples, turned aside from the road one day to wash his 
 feet in this spring, and that its waters thenceforth acquired the gift of 
 healing the sick.” 
 
 To these Christian writers it may be useful to add this striking 
 passage from the Talmud (Schewiith, fol. 38, iv.) : “ A Bethoron ad 
 Emmounta est montamwi; ab Emmouiite ad Lyddam , planities; e 
 Lydda ad mare convallis This description precisely agrees with 
 Amwas, that is, Nicopolis. 
 
 Every author, without exception, from St. Willibald in the eighth 
 century to William of Tyre (lib. vii., xxiv.), identifies the Emmaus of 
 the Gospel with Nicopolis, but repeats, out of respect for the text 
 of the Vulgate, the distance of 60 stadia. In this there is a contra¬ 
 diction. The distance from Jerusalem to Nicopolis is from 165 to 
 175 miles, in round numbers 160 stadia. Is the original version of 
 the Vulgate in error? 
 
 Certain copies, prominent among which is the Codex Sinaiticus, 
 give the figure as 160, which approximates to the correct distance. 
 Ought we then to prefer this to the Vulgate reading ? 
 
464 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 Our faith and devotion to the Scriptures cannot be fettered by 
 the inaccuracy of a figure, and, in view of the overwhelming evidence 
 of early writers in favour of Amwas, we cannot hesitate. (Cf. V. 
 Guerin, Descrip, de la Palestine: Judee , t. i.; and a learned pamphlet 
 by M. J. B. Guillemot: Emmaus-Nicopolis ; Lightfoot, Horae Hebr. 
 et Talmud ; Robinson, Biblical Researches , vol. iii., pp. 146-150.) 
 
XoneUm/j ICecjan PbuzL, Trench 4 Traibrur t. Co. 
 
 SUWOH^ 111 ' 
 
A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 EVENTS OF THE LIFE OF JESUS, WITH REFERENCES 
 TO THE GOSPELS AND TO THIS WORK. 
 
 DATES and EVENTS. 
 
 
 GOSPELS. 
 
 
 
 Matthew. 
 
 Mark. 
 
 Luke. 
 
 John. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 1 1 1 
 
 YEAR OF ROME (A.U.C.) 746-748, B.C 
 
 . 8-6. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 The census of Quirinius 
 
 OCTOBER. 
 
 The conception of John 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 ii. 1-3 
 
 • • • 
 
 App. A. 
 
 the Baptist . 
 
 MARCH. 
 
 The Annunciation to the 
 
 • • • 
 
 a.u.c. ; 
 
 • • • 
 
 747-749, B. 
 
 »• 5-25 
 
 c. 7 * 5 - 
 
 • • • 
 
 40 
 
 Virgin . 
 
 Visit of Mary to Elisa- 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 i. 26-38 
 
 • • • 
 
 3 2 ‘36 
 
 heth ... ... ... 
 
 JUNE. 
 
 Mary’s return to Naza- 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 i- 39-55 
 
 • • • 
 
 37-39 
 
 reth ... ••• ••• 
 
 Birth and circumcision 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 1 . 56 
 
 • • • 
 
 43 
 
 of John ••• ••• 
 
 Marriage of Joseph and 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 57-79 
 
 • • • 
 
 40-43 
 
 Mary ••• ••• 
 
 DECEMBER. 
 
 Birth of Jesus at Bethle- 
 
 • • •' 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 45 
 
 hem ••• ••• ••• 
 
 The Shepherds at the 
 
 1 . 18-25 
 
 • • • 
 
 ii. 1-7 
 
 • • • 
 
 47-50 
 
 Manger . 
 
 The Circumcision of 
 Jesus and the Present- 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 ii. 8-20 
 
 • • • 
 
 5 r '5 2 
 
 ation in the Temple ... 
 Simeon and Anna the 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 ii. 21-24 
 
 • • • 
 
 53 
 
 prophetess 
 
 Return of the Hol\ 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 ii- 25-38 
 
 • • • 
 
 54-55 
 
 Family to Nazareth ... 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 ii. 39 
 
 . 
 
 56 
 
 Journey to Bethlehem... 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 • • • 
 
 . . . 
 
 465 
 
 . . . 
 
 * 
 
 1 
 
 56-57 
 
 I Ii 
 
4 66 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 
 
 
 GOSPELS. 
 
 
 
 DATES and EVENTS. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Matthew. 
 
 Mark. 
 
 Luke. 
 
 John. 
 
 VOL. 1. 
 
 The worshipping of the 
 Magi. 
 
 ii. 1-12 
 
 
 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 57-59 
 
 Murder of the Innocents 
 and flight into Egypt... 
 
 ii. 13-18 
 
 
 
 
 60-62 
 
 
 A.U.C. 752 , B.C 
 
 • 3 . 
 
 
 
 Return from Egypt to 
 Nazareth . 
 
 ii. 19-23 
 
 
 T * _ 
 
 
 63-64 
 
 Jesus in his youth 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 ii. 40-52 
 
 » • • 
 
 76-86 
 
 
 
 A.D. 7 
 
 
 
 
 An incident of his 
 twelfth year. 
 
 • • • | 
 
 ...1 
 
 ii. 42-50 
 
 • • • 
 
 86-90 
 
 
 A.D. 25, 26. 
 
 
 
 
 The preaching of John 
 the Baptist . 
 
 iii. 1-12 
 
 i. 2*8 
 
 iii. 1-20 
 
 ...1 
 
 109-144 
 
 
 
 A.D. 27. 
 
 
 
 
 Baptism of Jesus in the 
 Jordan... ... • •• 
 
 iii. 13-17 
 
 i. 9-11 
 
 iii. 21-23 
 
 ... 
 
 145-149 
 
 The genealogies of Jesus 
 
 i. 1-18 
 
 • • • 
 
 iii. 23-38 
 
 i. 1-14 
 
 App. C. 
 
 The witness of John to 
 Jesus ... ••• ••• 
 
 iii. n-12 
 
 i. 7-8 
 
 iii. 16-17 
 
 i, 15-28 
 
 142-144 
 
 The temptation in the 
 wilderness . 
 
 iv. i-ii 
 
 i. 12-13 
 
 iv. 1-13 
 
 • • . 
 
 . 
 
 * 53 -i 7 o 
 
 Return of Jesus to the 
 Jordan; John and 
 Jesus ... ... ... 
 
 ... 
 
 • . • 
 
 ... 
 
 i. 29-34 
 
 172-173 
 
 First calling of disciples 
 (Andrew, John, Simon 
 and Philip) . 
 
 ... 
 
 • . • 
 
 ... 
 
 i- 35 -Si 
 
 175-180 
 
 Return to Galilee ; the 
 marriage at Cana 
 
 ... 
 
 . 
 
 ... 
 
 ii. 1-11 
 
 181-184 
 
 Brief sojourn at Caper- 
 naum ««• ... ••• 
 
 i • 0 . 
 
 ... 
 
 • • • 
 
 ii. 12 
 
 185 
 
 
 
 A.D. 28. 
 
 
 
 
 The first Passover in the 
 public life of Jesus ... 
 
 ... 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 ii. 13 
 
 187-191 
 
 The expulsion of the 
 money-changers 
 
 ... 
 
 I 
 
 • • • 
 
 ... 
 
 ii. 14-18 
 
 191-193 
 
 His prophecy in the 
 Temple and miracles 
 
 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 • • . 
 
 ii. 19-25 
 
 193-196 
 
 The meeting with Nico- 
 demus... ... ••• 
 
 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 iii. 1-21 
 
 196-201 
 
 Evangelisation of the 
 country of Judaea 
 
 
 
 
 iii. 22-24 
 
 £01-202 
 
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 467 
 
 DATES and EVENTS. 
 
 Dispute between the 
 Jews and John’s dis¬ 
 ciples about purifying 
 
 Last witness cf Jchr. 
 and bis disciples, on 
 the subject of Jesus ... 
 
 NOVEMBER AND 
 DECEMBER. 
 
 Jesus returns to Galilee 
 through Samaria 
 
 Jesus and the Samaritan 
 woman at Jacob’s well 
 
 Jesus at Cana. An 
 officer under Herod 
 Antipas comes from 
 Capernaum to be¬ 
 seech Jesus to heal 
 his son 
 
 FEBRUARY. 
 
 Second journey to Jeru¬ 
 salem for the feast of 
 Purim 
 
 Healing of the paralytic 
 man at the Pool 01 
 Bethesda 
 
 Jesus declares himself 
 equal with God 
 
 Imprisonment of John 
 the Baptist. Jesusre- 
 tires into Galilee 
 
 Jesus in the synagogue 
 at Nazareth ... 
 
 Jesus, being driven out 
 of Nazareth, sojourns 
 at Capernaum 
 
 Second calling of dis¬ 
 ciples (Peter and An 
 drew, James and 
 John), on the shore 
 of the lake ; miracu¬ 
 lous draught of fishes. 
 
 Jesus enters Capernaum. 
 Healing of one pos 
 sessed with a devil in 
 the synagogue 
 
 Details of a day spent 
 by Jesus. He heals 
 Peter’s mother-in-law 
 
 Apostolical missions in 
 the neighbourhood of 
 Capernaum • 4 « 
 
 Matthew. 
 
 / iv. 1 
 { xiv. 
 
 iv. 13 
 
 iv. 13-17 
 
 iv. 18-22 
 
 viii. 14-17 
 
 GOSPELS. 
 
 Mark. 
 
 Luke. 
 
 1. 14-15 
 vi. 14 
 
 1. 21-22 
 
 i. 16-20 
 
 i. 23-28 
 
 1. 29-39 
 
 • • • 
 
 iv. 14-15 > 
 iii. 19-20/ 
 
 iv. 16-30 
 
 iv. 31-32 
 
 v. 1-11 
 
 iv. 33-37 
 
 iv. 38-44 
 
 i. 3 8 *39 • • • 
 
 John. 
 
 iii. 25 
 
 iii. 26-36 
 
 iv. 1-4 
 
 iv. 5-42 
 
 iv. 43-54 
 
 v. 1 
 
 v. 2-16 
 
 v. 17-32 
 
 • • • 
 
 vol r. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 203-204 
 
 204-206 
 
 206 
 
 207-221 
 
 222-225 
 
 22 = 
 
 226-229 
 
 230-243 
 
 244-245 
 
 27O-273 
 
 274-278 
 
 279-280 
 
 28I-296 
 
 296-299 
 
 300 
 
 H II—2 
 
468 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 
 
 DATES and EVENTS. 
 
 
 GOSPELS. 
 
 
 
 Matthew. 
 
 Mark. 
 
 Luke. 
 
 John. 
 
 VOL I. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Healing of a leper 
 
 viii. 1-4 
 
 i. 40-45 
 
 v. 12-16 
 
 • • • 
 
 301-303 
 
 Jesus returns to Caper- 
 nsiini ••• ••• ••• 
 
 ix. 1 
 
 ii. 1 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 306 
 
 Healing of a paralytic; 
 Jesus forgives his sins 
 to the great scandal of 
 the Pharisees. 
 
 ix. 2-8 
 
 ii. 2-12 
 
 v. 17-26 
 
 • • • 
 
 307-308 
 
 Jesus goes along the 
 lake and calls Matthew 
 the publican; Matthew 
 makes him a feast ... 
 
 ix. 9-10 
 
 ii. 14-15 
 
 v. 27-29 
 
 • • • 
 
 308-3II 
 
 Hostility of the Phari¬ 
 sees and of the disci¬ 
 ples of John to Jesus and 
 his disciples, by reason 
 of Matthew’s feast ... 
 
 ix. n-18 
 
 ii. 16-18 
 
 v. 30-39 
 
 • • • 
 
 3 II- 3 I 2 
 
 Healing of Jairus’ daugh¬ 
 ter, of a woman who had 
 an issue of blood, of 
 two blind men, and of 
 a dumb man ... 
 
 ix. 18-34 
 
 • • • 
 
 viii. 41-56 
 
 • • • 
 
 312-314 
 
 The Pharisees scanda¬ 
 lised to see the dis¬ 
 ciples pulling and rub¬ 
 bing the ears of corn 
 on the Sabbath day. 
 Jesus the master of the 
 Sabbath . 
 
 xii. 1-8 
 
 • • • 
 
 vi. 1-5 
 
 • • • 
 
 314 - 3^5 
 
 Healing of the man who 
 had a withered hand... 
 
 xii. 9-14 
 
 iii. 1-6 
 
 vi. 6-11 
 
 • • • 
 
 316-317 
 
 Jesus withdraws to a 
 mountain and chooses 
 the twelve apostles ... 
 
 xii. 15-21 
 
 iii. 7-19 
 
 vi. 12-19 
 
 • • • 
 
 318-320 
 
 Sermon on the Mount... 
 
 v.-vii. 
 
 • • • 
 
 vi. 20-49 
 
 • • • 
 
 321-342 
 
 Jesus returns to Caper¬ 
 naum and heals the 
 centurion’s servant ... 
 
 viii. 5-13 
 
 • • • 
 
 vii. 1-10 
 
 • • • 
 
 343-345 
 
 Jesus at Nain restores 
 the widow's son to life 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 vii. n-17 
 
 » ♦ • 
 
 345*347 
 
 John in prison sends two 
 of his disciples to 
 Jesus; his reply 
 
 xi. 2-19 
 
 • • • 
 
 vii. 18-35 
 
 • • • 
 
 347-354 
 
 The feast in the house of 
 Simon; the woman 
 who was a sinner at 
 the feet of Jesus 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 vii. 36-50 
 
 • • • 
 
 355-358 
 
 General evangelisation 
 of Galilee ; the par¬ 
 ables of the Kingdom 
 of God . 
 
 xiii. 1-53 
 
 iv. 1-34 
 
 viii. 1-18 
 
 • • • 
 
 359-376 
 
 Opposition and insults 
 of the Pharisees 
 
 xii. 24-25 
 
 ii. 20-30 
 
 • * • 
 
 
 377 - 38 i 
 
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 469 
 
 DATES and EVENTS. 
 
 
 GOSPELS. 
 
 
 
 Matthew. 
 
 Mark. 
 
 Luke. 
 
 John. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 PACK. 
 
 382 
 
 383-385 
 
 The true family of 
 Jesus . 
 
 xii. 46-50 
 
 iii- 31-35 
 
 viii. 19-21 
 
 • • • 
 
 Jesus crosses the lake 
 and stills the tempest 
 
 viii. 18-27 
 
 iv. 35-41 
 
 viii. 22-25 
 
 • • • 
 
 The demoniacs of the 
 country of Gerasa 
 
 viii. 28-34 
 
 v. 1-20 
 
 viii. 26-39 
 
 • • • 
 
 385-390 
 
 Return to Capernaum. 
 Fresh attempt to con¬ 
 vert Nazareth. 
 
 • • • 
 
 vi. 1-6 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 39 r '392 
 
 Charge to the twelve 
 apostles . 
 
 x. 1-42 
 
 vi. 7-13 
 
 ix. i-6 
 
 • • • 
 
 393-405 
 
 Death of John the 
 Baptist . 
 
 xiv. 1-12 
 
 vi. 14-29 
 
 1 i*- 7*9 
 
 • • • 
 
 405-410 
 
 A.D. 29. 
 
 The second Passover. Jesus does not go to celebrate it at Jerusalem. 
 
 MARCH. 
 
 Return of the twelve 
 to Capernaum; Jesus 
 leads them beyond 
 the lake to the desert 
 of Bethsaida. 
 
 xiv. 13 
 
 vi. 30-31 
 
 ix. 10 
 
 
 410 
 
 The multiplication of 
 loaves in the desert ... 
 
 xiv. 14-23 
 
 vi - 3 2 -45 
 
 ix. n-17 
 
 vi. 1-15 
 
 411-420 
 
 The tempest on the lake 
 
 xiv. 23-36 
 
 vi. 46-56 
 
 • • • 
 
 vi. 16-24 
 
 420-422 
 
 Jesus explains his mis¬ 
 sion to the Galilaeans. 
 Crisis of his preaching 
 in Galilee . 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 vi. 25-60 
 
 422-434 
 
 Jesus deserted by the 
 populace and many of 
 his disciples, asks the 
 Twelve if they would 
 leave him . 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 vi. 61-72 
 
 435*437 
 
 First anathema, on 
 Bethsaida, Chorazin, 
 and Capernaum 
 
 xi. 20-24 
 
 
 
 
 438-439 
 
 Jesus returns thanks to 
 the Father, and calls 
 to him all that mourn. 
 
 xi. 25-30 
 
 
 
 
 440-443 
 
 APRIL-MAY. 
 
 On the eve of departing 
 for the coasts of Tyre 
 and Sidon, Jesus dis¬ 
 putes with the Phari¬ 
 sees on true purity ... 
 
 XV. 1-20 
 
 vii. 1-23 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 443-447 
 
 Departure for the coasts 
 of Phoenicia. 
 
 XV. 21 
 
 vii. 24 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 447 
 
 Jesus and the woman of 
 Canaan 
 
 XV. 22-28 
 
 vii. 24-30 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 447-448 1 
 
470 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 DATES AND EVENTS. 
 
 
 GOSPELS. 
 
 
 
 Matthew. 
 
 Mark. 
 
 Luke. 
 
 Jchn. 
 
 V CX. I. 
 
 Return to the lake 
 through Decapolis ... 
 
 xv. 29-31 
 
 vii. 31 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 PAGE, 
 
 449 * 45 ° 
 
 Healing of a deaf and 
 dumb man . 
 
 • • • 
 
 vii. 32-37 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 45 i 
 
 Second multiplication of 
 loaves . 
 
 xv. 32-39 
 
 viii. 1-9 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 45 I- 45 2 
 
 In the country of Dal- 
 manutha the Pharisees 
 ask for a sign from 
 Heaven . 
 
 xvi. 1-4 
 
 viii. 10-12 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 453-454 
 
 Jesus crosses the lake 
 with his disciples to 
 Bethsaida, and bids 
 them beware of the 
 “leaven of the Phari¬ 
 sees” . 
 
 xvi. 5-12 
 
 viii. 13-21 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 455-456 
 
 Healing of a blind man 
 at Bethsaida ... 
 
 • • • 
 
 viii. 22-26 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 456-458 
 
 Jesus departs to Caesarea 
 Philippi . 
 
 xvi. 13 
 
 viii. 27 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 459 
 
 JULY-AUGUST. 
 
 Peter acknowledges the 
 divinity of Jesus, and 
 Jesus names him as 
 the rock of his church 
 
 xvi. 13-20 
 
 viii. 27-30 
 
 ix. 18-21 
 
 • • • 
 
 459-465 
 
 Jesus for the first time 
 foretells his Passion 
 
 xvi. 21-28 
 
 viii. 31-39 
 
 ix. 22-27 
 
 • • • 
 
 466-469 
 
 The Transfiguration on 
 Mount Tabor. 
 
 xvii. 1-8 
 
 ix. 1-7 
 
 ix. 28-36 
 
 • • • 
 
 469-477 
 
 Descent from Tabor. 
 Discussion with his 
 disciples as to the true 
 Elias ... .. 
 
 xvii. 9-13 
 
 ix. 8-13 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 480-481 
 
 Healing of the epileptic 
 youth. 
 
 xvii. 14-21 
 
 ix. 14-29 
 
 ix. 37-42 
 
 • • • 
 
 481 
 
 Jesus for the second time 
 foretells his death ... 
 
 xvii. 22-23 
 
 ix. 30-32 
 
 x. 43-45 
 
 • • • 
 
 484 
 
 SEPTEMBER. 
 
 Return to Capernaum. 
 The tribute money ... 
 
 xvii. 24-27 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 484 
 
 The disciples dispute as 
 to the first place in 
 the Kingdom. Last 
 teaching of Jesus in 
 Galilee. The lost 
 sheep; Forgiveness the 
 very spirit of the 
 Kingdom of God ... 
 
 xviii. 1-35 
 
 ix. 32-50 
 
 ix. 46-50 
 
 • • • 
 
 486-492 
 
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 4/1 
 
 
 DATES AND EVENTS. 
 
 GOSPELS. 
 
 
 Matthew. 
 
 Mark. 
 
 Luke. 
 
 John. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 OCTOBER. 
 
 
 
 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Departure from Galilee 
 to Jerusalem. 
 
 xix. i 
 
 x. 1 
 
 ix. 51-52 
 
 vii. 2-10 
 
 i -3 
 
 The Samaritans refuse 
 to entertain the dis¬ 
 ciples ... ... 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 ix. S 3 - 5 6 
 
 • • • 
 
 4 
 
 Discourse by the way ; 
 moral duties of the fol¬ 
 lowers of Jesus 
 
 viii. 19-22 
 
 • • • 
 
 ix. 57-62 
 
 • • • 
 
 5-6 
 
 Mission and charge to 
 the seventy-two dis¬ 
 ciples ... ... ... 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 x. 1-16 
 
 • • • 
 
 6-7 
 
 On the way from Jericho 
 to Jerusalem a scribe 
 questions Jesus as to 
 eternal life. The good 
 Samaritan . 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 X. 25-37 
 
 • • • 
 
 7-10 
 
 Jesus is hospitably en¬ 
 tertained by Martha 
 at Bethany . 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 X. 38-42 
 
 • • • 
 
 11-12 
 
 Jesus on the Mount of 
 Olives teaches one of 
 his disciples how to 
 pr^iy ••• ••• 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xi. 1-13 
 
 • • • 
 
 13-16 
 
 Arrival of Jesus at Jeru¬ 
 salem in the midst of 
 the feast of Taber¬ 
 nacles ... 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 vii. 14 
 
 16-17 
 
 The people dispute 
 about Jesus . 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 vii. 12-13 
 
 00 
 
 H 
 
 M 
 
 Jesus proclaims in the 
 Temple his divine 
 Sonship and the 
 
 divinity of his Mes¬ 
 sianic office . 
 
 • to • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 vii. 15-31 
 
 19-28 
 
 Jesus appeals to the 
 people... 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 vii. 32-44 
 
 28-31 
 
 The Sanhedrin, alarmed 
 at the influence of 
 Jesus over the people, 
 holds a meeting; Nico- 
 demus defends him ... 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 v ii- 45-53 
 
 3 i- 3 2 
 
 Jesus and the woman 
 taken in adultery 
 
 F urther teachi ng of J esus. 
 He calls himself the 
 Light of the World ... 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 viii. 1-11 
 
 viii. 12 
 
 1 P 3 ‘35 
 
 1 App. O. 
 
 35-37 
 
 The value of his witness 
 to himself . 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 viii. 13-20 
 
 38-41 
 
472 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 
 DATES AND EVENTS. 
 
 GOSPELS. 
 
 
 Matthew. 
 
 Mark. 
 
 Luke. 
 
 John. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 Jesus, speaking in the 
 Temple, before the 
 Scribes and Pharisees, 
 again affirms his Mes- 
 siahship and his God¬ 
 head ... 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 viii. 21-59 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 42-54 
 
 Jesus being threatened 
 with stoning escapes 
 from the Temple anc 
 heals one born blind 
 the Pharisees marvel... 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 ix. 1-41 
 
 55- 6 4 
 
 Jesus crosses the Jordan 
 and retires into Peraea 
 
 
 
 
 
 65 
 
 Return of the seventy 
 disciples ; their joy 
 and the joy of the 
 Master. 
 
 xi. 25-27 | 
 xiii. 16-17 J 
 
 • • • 
 
 x. 17-24 
 
 • • • 
 
 66-68 
 
 The strife with the 
 Pharisees is renewed 
 upon the casting out of 
 a devil; Jesus is accus¬ 
 ed of doing it in the 
 name of Beelzebub,and 
 again importuned fora 
 sign from heaven 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xi. 14-36 
 
 • • • 
 
 69-74 
 
 While he is speaking 
 Jesus is hailed by a 
 woman in the crowd... 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xi. 27-28 
 
 • • • 
 
 7 i ‘ 
 
 A supper at the house 
 of a Pharisee; Jesus 
 anathematises the 
 Scribes and Pharisees, 
 and reassures his dis¬ 
 ciples ... 
 
 Jesus refuses to decide a 
 question of inheritance 
 and warns his followers 
 against avarice. The 
 parable of the rich 
 man; injunctions to 
 self-denial, faith and 
 watchfulness. 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xi ; 37-54 
 xii. 1-12J 
 
 xii- 13-53 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 74-77 
 
 78-82 
 
 Renewed appeals to the 
 people ... 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xii- 54*57 
 
 • • • 
 
 83-84 
 
 The report of the 
 massacre of Galilaeans 
 by Pilate’s orders 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xiii. 1-5 
 
 • • • 
 
 84-85 
 
 The parable of the barren 
 fig-tree . 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xiii. 6-9 
 
 • • • 
 
 85-86 
 
 Healing of the infirm 
 woman . 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xiii. 10-17 
 
 • • • 
 
 86-88 
 
 Reply of Jesus as to the 
 small number of the 
 redeemed . 
 
 • • • ' 
 
 • • • 
 
 xiii. 22-30 
 
 • • • 
 
 89-91 
 
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 473 
 
 DATES and EVENTS. 
 
 
 GOSPELS. 
 
 
 
 Matthew. 
 
 Mark. 
 
 Luke. 
 
 John. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 The Pharisees of subtlety 
 advise Jesus to fly from 
 Peraea because Herod 
 is seeking to kill him... 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xiii. 31-32 
 
 • • • 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 91-92 
 
 DECEMBER 20 . 
 
 Jesus returns to Jerusa¬ 
 lem for the feast of tiie 
 Dedication . 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 x. 22-23 
 
 92-93 
 
 Jesus is surrounded in a 
 porch in the Temple 
 and challenged by the 
 Pharisees to declare 
 whether he is the 
 Christ . 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 x. 24-29 
 
 94-97 
 
 Jesus declares himself 
 one with the Father. 
 The Jews threaten to 
 stone him for making 
 himself equal with God 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 x. 30-39 
 
 97-99 
 
 Jesus, reproaching Jeru¬ 
 salem for her obstinacy 
 and foretelling her ruin, 
 
 again retires beyond 
 Jordan. His sojourn 
 in Peraea ••• 
 
 1 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xiii- 34-35 
 
 x. 40-42 
 
 101-102 
 
 Fresh disputes with the 
 Pharisees in Peraea. 
 Healing of the dropsy 
 at a feast on the Sab¬ 
 bath day . 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xiv. 1-6 
 
 • t • 
 
 102-103 
 
 Parable of the wedding 
 feast . 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xiv. 7-24 
 
 • • • 
 
 104-108 
 
 The price of the King¬ 
 dom of Heaven 
 
 . . . 
 
 . . . 
 
 xiv. 25-35 
 
 • • • 
 
 108-109 
 
 The lost sheep and the 
 lost piece of silver ... 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 XV. I-IO 
 
 • • • 
 
 109-110 
 
 The prodigal son 
 
 • • • 
 
 • 
 
 . . . 
 
 xv. 11-32 
 
 • • • 
 
 110-112 
 
 The unjust steward ... 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xvi. 1-13 
 
 • • • 
 
 113-114 
 
 Jesus confounds the 
 Pharisees who mock 
 at his doctrine of 
 abnegation . 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xvi. 14-17 
 
 • • • 
 
 115-117 
 
 His doctrine concerning 
 marriage as opposed 
 to that of the Scribes 
 
 xix. 3-12 
 
 X. 2-12 
 
 xvi. 18 
 
 • • • 
 
 117-119 
 
 The rich man and 
 Lazarus . 
 
 • « 
 
 • • • 
 
 xvi. 19-31 
 
 • • • 
 
 120-122 
 
 Jesus recommends tohis 
 disciples watchfulness, 
 constancy, meekness, 
 faith and humility ... 
 
 ! • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xvii. 1-10 
 
 • • • 
 
 122-124 
 
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 474 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 GOSPELS. 
 
 
 
 DATES AND EVENTS. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Matthew. 
 
 Mark. 
 
 Luke. 
 
 John. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Jesus crosses the Jordan, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 and returning to Judaea 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 comes to Bethany ; the 
 resurrection o^Lazarus 
 
 
 
 
 
 I25-I3O 
 
 The Sanhedrin meets at 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Jerusalem to deliberate 
 concerning the mea¬ 
 sures to be taken 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 against Jesus. His 
 death is decided on ... 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • "• 
 
 • • • 
 
 xk 47-53 
 
 I3O-I36 
 
 Jesus retires to Ephraim 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 and hides himself from 
 the Jews . 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xi. 54 
 
 I36-I38 
 
 As the Passover draws 
 
 
 
 
 
 near Jesus quits 
 
 Ephraim and, passing 
 through Samaria and 
 down into the valley 
 
 , - 
 
 - , » 
 
 *■ • * 
 
 
 
 of the Jordan, makes 
 a circuit to Jerusalem 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xvii. 11 
 
 • • • 
 
 T 39 
 
 On the way he meets ten 
 lepers and heals them.. 
 
 When the Kingdom of 
 
 e • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xvii. 11-19 
 
 • • • 
 
 140-141 
 
 Heaven shall come. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 His reply to the doubt¬ 
 ing Pharisees. 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xvii. 20-37 
 
 • • • 
 
 141-144 
 
 More injunctions as to 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 prayer and faithful¬ 
 ness ; parable of the 
 
 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 • 
 
 unjust judge ... 
 
 Parable of the Pharisee 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xvm. 1-8 
 
 « • • 
 
 144-145 
 
 and the publican on 
 humility . 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xviii. 9-14 
 
 • • • 
 
 I46 
 
 Suffer little children to 
 
 
 x. 13-16 
 
 
 
 147-148 
 
 come unto me. 
 
 xix. 13-15 
 
 xviii. 15-17 
 
 • • • 
 
 The way and entrance 
 into eternal life 
 
 Those who forsake all 
 
 xix. 16-26 
 
 x. 17-27 
 
 xviii. 18-27 
 
 • • • 
 
 I48-I5O 
 
 
 
 
 shall be rewarded a 
 hundredfold. 
 
 xix. 27-30 
 
 x. 28-31 
 
 xviii. 28-30 
 
 • • • 
 
 I 5 0 -I 52 
 
 Parable of the labourers 
 in the vineyard 
 
 As they approach Jeru- 
 
 xx. 1-16 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 152-154 
 
 salem, Jesus again fore¬ 
 tells to the Twelve 
 his passion, death 
 and resurrection 
 
 xx. 17-19 
 
 x. 32-34 
 
 xviii.' 31-34 
 
 • • • 
 
 155-156 
 
 The sons of Zebedee, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 with their mother, ask 
 of Jesus the first seats 
 in the Kingdom 
 
 xx. 20-28 
 
 x. 35-43 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 157-158 
 
 Jesus going into Jericho 
 heals a blind man ... 
 Jesus asks Zacchaeus to 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xviii. 35-43 
 
 • • • 
 
 I58-I59 
 
 
 entertain him 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xix. 1-10 
 
 • • • 
 
 159-160 | 
 
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 475 
 
 1 
 
 DATES and EVENTS. 
 
 GOSPELS. 
 
 
 Matthew. 
 
 Mark. 
 
 Luke. 
 
 John. 
 
 VOL. XI. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Parable of tbe nobleman 
 sent into a far country 
 to claim bis kingdom. 
 
 xxv. 14-30 
 
 • • • 
 
 six. 11-27 
 
 • • • 
 
 l6l-l63 
 
 Healing of two blind 
 men as Jesus leaves 
 Jericho . 
 
 xx. 25-34 
 
 x. 46-32 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 163-164 
 
 The lasl great week: April 2, A. D. 
 
 30 . 
 
 
 APRIL 2. 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 The feast at Bethany, 
 in the house of Simon 
 the leper ; Jesus is 
 anointed by Mary 
 Magdalene . 
 
 xxvi. 6-13 
 
 xiv, 5-9 
 
 • • • 
 
 xii. in 
 
 165-167 
 
 The triumphal entry into 
 Jerusalem . 
 
 xxi. i-ii 
 
 xi. 1-10 
 
 xix. 28-40 
 
 xii. 12-19 
 
 I 7 I-I 74 
 
 At the gate of the city, 
 Jesus weeps over it, 
 ar.d prophesies its de¬ 
 struction . 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xix. 41-44 
 
 • • • 
 
 I74-I76 
 
 Jesusgoestothe Temple, 
 looks upon everything 
 and returns in the even¬ 
 ing to Bethany 
 
 • • • 
 
 xi. 11 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 I76-I78 
 
 APRIL 3. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Jesus returns from 
 Bethany to Jerusalem 
 with the Twelve, and 
 curses the fig-tree 
 
 xxi. 17-19 
 
 xi. 12-14 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 178 
 
 He drives the traders 
 out of the Temple the 
 second time. 
 
 xxi. 12-14 
 
 xi. 15-18 
 
 xix. 45-48 
 
 • • • 
 
 I78-I79 
 
 The Hosanna of the 
 children . 
 
 xxi. 13-16 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 ISO 
 
 Jesus returns to Bethany 
 in the evening, and 
 goes again to Jeru¬ 
 salem the next day. 
 The fig-tree which he 
 cursed is withered ... 
 
 xxi. 17-22 
 
 • 
 
 xi. 19-26 
 
 1 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 181-184 
 
 APRIL 4. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Jesus is questioned in 
 the Temple by the 
 High Priests and 
 Scribes as to the 
 authority he assumes... 
 
 xxi. 23-27 
 
 xi. 27-33 
 
 \ 
 
 xx. 1-8 
 
 • • • 
 
 185-188 
 
 The parable of the two 
 sons sent into the 
 vineyard . 
 
 xxi. 28-32 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 189 
 
4/6 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 1 
 
 DATES and EVENTS. 
 
 
 GOSPELS. 
 
 
 
 Matthew. 
 
 Mark. 
 
 Luke. 
 
 John. 
 
 VOL II. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Parable of the vineyard 
 planted by the house¬ 
 holder . 
 
 xxi. 33-44 
 
 xii. 1-11 
 
 xx. 9-18 
 
 • • • 
 
 I9O-I92 
 
 Exasperation and trea¬ 
 cherous machinations 
 of the Pharisees 
 
 xxi. 45-46 
 
 xii. 12-13 
 
 xx. 19 
 
 • • • 
 
 I92 
 
 Their captious ques¬ 
 tions : (i) the tribute 
 to Caesar 
 
 xxii. 15-22 
 
 xii. 13-17 
 
 xx. 20-26 
 
 • • • 
 
 193-195 
 
 (2) The Sadducees and 
 the Resurrection 
 
 xxii. 23-33 
 
 xii. 18-27 
 
 xx. 27-40 
 
 • • • 
 
 I96-I98 
 
 (3) The first command¬ 
 ment . 
 
 xxii. 34-40 
 
 xii. 28-34 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 I98-I99 
 
 The question asked by 
 Jesus: If David calls 
 the Messiah Lord, how 
 can he be his Son ? ... 
 
 xxii. 41-46 
 
 xii. 35-37 
 
 XX. 41-44 
 
 • • • 
 
 200-202 
 
 Jesus anathematises the 
 Scribes and Pharisees 
 
 xxiii. 1-39 
 
 xii. 38-40 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 202-207 
 
 The widow’s mite 
 
 • • • 
 
 xii. 41-44 
 
 xxi. 1-4 
 
 • • • 
 
 207-208 
 
 Jesus and the un¬ 
 believers who asked 
 Philip to show them 
 the Master. His grand 
 words... . 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xii. 20-36 
 
 208-213 
 
 He quits the Temple for 
 ever, and hides himself 
 from the Jews. 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xii. 36 
 
 213 
 
 APRIL 5. 
 
 Having left the Temple, 
 he sits on the Mount of 
 Olives, over against 
 Jerusalem, and pro¬ 
 phesies the destruction 
 of the Temple, Jeru¬ 
 salem, and the world... 
 
 xxiv. 
 
 xiii. 
 
 xxi. 5-36 
 
 • • • 
 
 214-231 
 
 The parable of the Ten 
 Virgins . 
 
 xxv. 1-13 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 231-232 
 
 The last judgment 
 
 xxv. 31-46 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 233-235 
 
 The Jews hardened in 
 unbelief and impeni- 
 tence ... ... ... 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xii 37 - 5 ° 
 
 236-258 
 
 The betrayal; Judas 
 offers to sell the Master 
 into the hands of the 
 High Priests and mem¬ 
 bers of the Sanhedrin. 
 
 xxvi. 14-16 
 
 xiv. 10-11 
 
 xxii. 3-6 
 
 • • • 
 
 • 
 
 259-263 
 
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 477 
 
 — 
 
 DATES AND EVENTS. 
 
 i 
 
 
 GOSPELS. 
 
 
 
 Matthew. 
 
 Mark. 
 
 Luke. 
 
 John. 
 
 VOL II. 
 
 Third and 
 
 APRIL 6. 
 
 Jesus sends Peter and 
 John from Bethany to 
 make ready the Pass- 
 over 
 
 1 
 
 ast Passoz 
 
 xxvi. 17-19 
 
 <er in the 1 
 
 xiv. 12-16 
 
 1 
 
 0 ublie Lift 
 
 xxii.7-13 
 
 ? of Jesus. 
 
 • • • 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 264-266 
 
 The Last Supper 
 
 xxvi. 20-29 
 
 xiv. 17-25 
 
 xxii. 14-20 
 
 • • • 
 
 267-275 
 
 Jesus prophesies the ruin 
 of his betrayer 
 
 xxvi. 24 
 
 xiv. 21 
 
 xxii. 21-23 
 
 • • • 
 
 275-276 
 
 Jesus washes ihe feet 
 of his disciples, and 
 teaches them humility 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xxii. 24-30 
 
 xiii. 2-20 
 
 276-278 
 
 Jesus indicates his be¬ 
 trayer to John and 
 Peter. 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xiii. 21-29 
 
 278-280 
 
 Judas having gone out, 
 Jesus, resolved to de¬ 
 liver himself up, glori¬ 
 fies the Father 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xiii. 30-32 
 
 280 
 
 The last words of Jesus 
 to his disciples 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xiii. 33-38 
 
 28l 
 
 His last injunctions and 
 final charge . 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xiii - 34-35 
 
 282-283 
 
 Peter’s presumption. 
 Jesus prophesies that 
 he w'ill deny him 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xxii. 31-34 
 
 xiii. 36-38 
 
 284-285 
 
 The two swords . 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xxii. 35-38 
 
 • • • 
 
 285-286 
 
 The mansions in the 
 Father's house. Jesus 
 goes to prepare a place 
 for his disciples 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xiv. 1-4 
 
 286-287 
 
 Jesus is the way, the 
 truth, and the life 
 
 ... 
 
 . . . 
 
 • • • 
 
 xiv. 5-6 
 
 288 
 
 He who sees Jesus sees 
 the Father . 
 
 / 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xiv. 7-11 
 
 289-29O 
 
 Prayer in the name of 
 Jesus, and faithfulness. 
 
 
 
 
 
 29I 
 
 The Paraclete. 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xiv. 16-26 
 
 292-293 
 
 The divine peace of 
 Jesus . 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xiv. 27-31 
 
 1 
 
 294-296 
 
 After singing the Hallel 
 Jesus goes out with the 
 Eleven, and proceeds 
 towards Gethsemane 
 
 xxvi. 30 
 
 xiv. 26 
 
 xxii. 39 
 
 • • • 
 
 297 
 
 Jesus is the true vine, 
 his disciples are the 
 branches, and the 
 Father the husband- 
 
 ii 4 cin ••• ••• 
 
 ♦ • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 1 xv. 1-8 
 
 298 
 
473 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 DATES AND EVENTS. 
 
 
 GOSPELS. 
 
 
 
 Matthew. 
 
 Mark. 
 
 Luke. 
 
 John. 
 
 
 The Father loves Jesus, 
 and Jesus loves his 
 disciples: the univer¬ 
 sal law of charity 
 
 • t • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xv. 9-27 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 299-303 
 
 Jesus declares to his 
 disciples that they 
 must suffer from religi¬ 
 ous tyranny, and warns 
 them against its out- 
 hurst ... ... 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xvi. 1-4 
 
 303 
 
 He consoles them for 
 the sorrow of his de¬ 
 parting, and speaks of 
 the Paraclete and of his 
 return to them by the 
 Spirit. 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xvi. 5-33 
 
 3°4*3°9 
 
 The sacerdotal prayer of 
 Jesus by the brook 
 Cedron 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xvii. 
 
 310-314 
 
 Jesus crosses the Cedron 
 and enters the garden 
 of Gethsemane 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xviii. 1-2 
 
 3 T 4 
 
 Jesus prophesies to his 
 disciples that they will 
 desert him. Peter’s 
 renewed presumption ; 
 Jesus again foretells 
 his denial of him 
 
 xxvi. 31-35 
 
 xiv. 27-31 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • 
 
 3i5 
 
 The prayer and agony 
 in the garden. 
 
 xxvi. 36-46 
 
 xiv. 32-42 
 
 xxii. 40-46 
 
 • • • 
 
 316-320 
 
 The kiss of Judas; 
 Jesus is taken. 
 
 xxvi. 47-56 
 
 xiv. 43-5 2 
 
 xxii. 47-53 
 
 xviii. 2-9 
 
 321 
 
 Jesus commands Peter 
 to put up his sword ... 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xviii. io-ii 
 
 322-323 
 
 Jesus is led away bound 
 to the palace of Annas 
 (Hanan) . 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xviii. 12-13 
 
 3 2 4 
 
 Jesus is questioned 
 before Caiaphas the 
 High Priest; Peter 
 denies him thrice. 
 Jesus, solemnly ad¬ 
 jured by Caiaphas, 
 declares himself the 
 Son of God and equal 
 with God . 
 
 xxvi. 57-75 
 
 xiv. 53-72 
 
 xxii. 54-65 
 
 xviii. 14-27 
 
 325-331 
 
 Jesus is brought before 
 the Sanhedrin assem¬ 
 bled in Council. He 
 is questioned by them 
 and declares that He 
 is the Son of God 
 
 xxvii. i 
 
 XV. I 
 
 xxii. 66-71 
 
 * • * 
 
 332-333 
 
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 479 
 
 
 
 GOSPELS. 
 
 
 
 DATES AND EVENTS. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Matthew. 
 
 Mark. 
 
 Luke. 
 
 John. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Judas brings back the 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 thirty pieces of silver 
 to the Sanhedrin and 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 hangs himself in 
 despair . 
 
 xxvii. 3-10 
 
 • • • 
 
 
 • • • 
 
 333-334 
 
 Jesus is led to the 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Praetorium, and there 
 questioned and sen¬ 
 tenced by Pontius 
 
 
 
 
 xviii. 28-40 
 xix. 1-16 
 
 
 Pilate ••• ••• ••• 
 
 xxvii. 11-31 
 
 xv. 2-19 
 
 f XXlll. 
 
 1 i - 2 5 
 
 [ 334-347 
 
 On the road to Calvary 
 
 
 
 
 
 Jesus meets Simon of 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Cyrene, who is com¬ 
 pelled to bear the 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Master’s cross 
 
 xxvii. 31-33 
 
 XV. 20-22 
 
 xxiii. 26 
 
 xix. 16-17 
 
 34 8 -349 
 
 Jesus addresses the 
 
 
 
 
 
 daughters of J erusalem 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 
 
 who weep over him ... 
 Jesus between tne two 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xxiii. 27-31 
 
 • • • 
 
 349 - 35 ° 
 
 maiv. actors. 
 
 xxvii. 38 
 
 XV. 27 
 
 xxiii. 32 
 
 xix. 18 
 
 35 ° 
 
 APRIL 7 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Jesus is crucified ; he 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 prays for his execu¬ 
 tioners . 
 
 xxvii. 34-37 
 
 xv. 23-28 
 
 xxiii- 33-34 
 
 xix. 18-22 
 
 35°'352 
 
 The soldiers cast lots 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 for his raiment 
 
 xxvii. 35 
 
 XV. 24 
 
 xxiii. 34 
 
 xix. 23-24 
 
 352-353 
 
 Jesus is mocked on the 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 cross ••• ••• 
 
 xxvii. 39-44 
 
 xv. 29-32 
 
 xxiii. 35-41 
 
 • • • 
 
 353-354 
 
 He promises Paradise 
 to the penitent thief ... 
 
 Jesus gives John to 
 
 * * 
 
 • • • 
 
 xxiii. 42-43 
 
 • • • 
 
 354 
 
 Mary to be her son, 
 and Mary to John to 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 be his mother . 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xix. 25-27 
 
 355 
 
 The cry of anguish 
 
 xxvii. 45-49 
 
 xv. 33-35 
 
 xxiii. 44. 
 
 . . . 
 
 355-357 
 
 “I thirst” . 
 
 Jesus says “It is fin- 
 
 xxvii. 49 
 
 xv. 36 
 
 • • • 
 
 xix. 28-29 
 
 357 
 
 ished,” and crying to 
 his Father ; “ Into thy 
 hands I commend my 
 spirit,” utters a loud 
 cry, bows his head 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 and dies 
 
 xxvii. 50 
 
 xv. 37 
 
 xxiii. 46 
 
 xix. 30 
 
 357-358 
 
 Terrible signs in nature 
 The Centurion beats his 
 
 xxvii. 51-53 
 
 xv. 33-3 8 
 
 xxiii. 45 
 
 . . . 
 
 358 
 
 breast ••• ••• 
 
 xxvii. 54 
 
 xv. 39 
 
 xxiii. 47-48 
 
 • • • 
 
 359 
 
 Witnesses of the Cruci- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 hxion ••• ••• ••• 
 
 xxvii. 55-56, xv. 40-41 
 
 xxiii. 49 
 
 • • • 
 
 359 
 
 The spear-thrust 
 
 . . . 
 
 ! * * * 
 
 • * * 
 
 xix. 31-37 
 
 360 
 
43o 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 DATES and EVENTS. 
 
 
 GOSPELS. 
 
 
 
 
 Matthew. 
 
 Mark. 
 
 Luke. 
 
 John. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 
 Joseph of Arimathaea 
 begs of Pilate the 
 body of Jesus ; tends it 
 with the aid of Nico- 
 demus, and after anoint¬ 
 ing him, lays him in a 
 new sepulchre close to 
 Calvary . 
 
 xxvii. 57-61 
 
 xv. 42-47 
 
 xxiii. 50-53' 
 
 xix. 38-42 
 
 361-362 
 
 
 The High Priests and 
 Pharisees seal the 
 sepulchre and set their 
 satellites to watch 
 
 xxvii. 61-66 
 
 
 
 
 362-363 
 
 
 APRIL 8. 
 
 The holy women return 
 from Bethany to 
 
 Golgotha, bringing 
 
 spices wherewith to 
 complete the embalm¬ 
 ing of the Master’s 
 body ... 
 
 xxviii. 1-4 
 
 xvi. 1-4 
 
 xxiv. 1-3 
 
 • • • 
 
 364 
 
 
 Mary Magdalene, not 
 finding the Master’s 
 body, goes to tell the 
 apostles ; Peter and 
 John run to the tomb 
 and find it empty 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • 1 
 
 • • • 
 
 XX. I-IO 
 
 365-366 
 
 
 Jesus appears to Mary 
 Magdalene, who goes 
 to tell the Eleven 
 
 • • • 
 
 xvi. 9-11 
 
 • • • 
 
 XX. 11-18 
 
 366-368 
 
 
 An angel appears to the 
 women, and declares 
 to them that Jesus is 
 risen ••• ••• ••• 
 
 xxviii. 5-7 
 
 xvi. 5-7 
 
 xxiv. 4-9 
 
 • • • 
 
 368-369 
 
 
 They go to tell the 
 Eleven, who will not 
 believe ; Jesus appears 
 to the women. 
 
 xxviii. 8-10 
 
 xvi. 8 
 
 xxiv. 10-11 
 
 • • ♦ 
 
 369-37O 
 
 
 The Pontiffs and San¬ 
 hedrin spread a report 
 that the disciples had 
 carried away the body 
 
 xxviii.11-15 
 
 
 
 
 370-371 
 
 
 Jesus appears to two 
 disciples on the way to 
 Emmaus 
 
 • • • 
 
 xvi. 12-13 
 
 xxiv. 13-32 
 
 • • • 
 
 371-373 
 
 
 He appears to Peter ... 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • •{ 
 
 xxiv. 12 
 xxiv. 34 
 
 }... 
 
 373 
 
 
 He appears to the 
 Eleven assembled at 
 Jerusalem, and gives 
 them the Holy Spirit 
 and power to remit 
 sins ••• ••• ••• 
 
 # • • 
 
 . . . 
 
 xxiv. 33-43 
 
 I xx. 19-23 
 
 374-375 
 
 
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 481 
 
 DATES and EVENTS. 
 
 
 GOSPELS. 
 
 
 
 Matthew. 
 
 1 
 
 Mark. 
 
 Luke. 
 
 John. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 376-380 
 
 Eight days later he 
 appears again to them, 
 and convinces the in¬ 
 credulous Thomas, 
 
 who was absent on 
 the former occasion ... 
 
 • • • 
 
 a • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xx. 24-30 
 
 The disciples, obeying 
 the word of the Master 
 by the holy women, 
 depart into Galilee ... 
 
 xxviii. 16 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 380 
 
 Jesus appears to some 
 of the Eleven on the 
 shore of Lake Tiberias 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xxi. 1-14 
 
 380-381 
 
 Jesus thrice asks Peter 
 whether he loves him, 
 and after pardoning 
 him, makes him Shep¬ 
 herd of the Church, 
 both of lambs and 
 sheep . 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xxi. 15-19 
 
 382-383 
 
 The beloved disciple 
 and Peter . 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 xxi. 20-23 
 
 383-384 
 
 The last appearance of 
 Jesus in Galilee, on a 
 mountain . 
 
 xxviii. 16-20 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 384-386 
 
 The disciples return to 
 Jerusalem, and while 
 the Eleven sit at meat 
 Jesus appears in their 
 midst. 
 
 • • • 
 
 xvi. 14-20 
 
 xxiv. 44-49 
 
 • • • 
 
 386-387 
 
 MAY". 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Jesus leads his disciples 
 out towards Bethany, 
 to the Mount of Olives. 
 His last words and 
 Ascension into Heaven 
 
 • • • 1 
 
 
 xxiv. 50-53 
 
 • • • 
 
 387-383 
 
 
 THE END. 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 I 
 
 VOL II. 
 
BALLANTYNE PRESS 
 
 PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO. 
 EDINBURGH AND LONDON 
 

 7 ZS'o (p 
 
 
 

 . v;..:,v.v.v.v.v. 
 
 • * * * • *-.x \ * * « • * 
 
 \V.%\V.V.. 
 
 V\>,. «.t *.< < •. VN V * ■ 
 i *. , - ■%. > * .•* t -» i « - .1 • 
 
 • • ' - 
 
 • - -? \ • 
 
 ■ ' ’■