tha ail rh, Serer, Ech oer ath THATS Citas rncpenerpercneragnr USS GERI EARS othatiie ), 2 oe ROPE Rt eies met Ae ye: we ee K Hb Me he aca wn Pietcien as 24e | | Section , Hot | Aan vy i ’ t : Jf af ; i ’ pene hy ei Aes Py Nie f MOUNTAIN PEAKS IN THE LIFE OF OUR LORD By William Bancroft Hill, D.D., Litt.D MOUNTAIN PEAKS IN THE LIFE OF OUR LORD. Illustrated. Cloth, $1.50. THE APOSTOLIC AGE. Cloth, $2.00. THE LIFE OF CHRIST. Cloth, $1.75. ™ « a Afbe*, ig ‘ GETHSEMANE The olive trees of the Garden, old, broken, distorted, stand as memorials of the Agony. Mountain Peaks in the. Life of Our Lord... By / \ WILLIAM BANCROFT HILL, D.D., Lirt. D. Author of “The Life of Christ,’ “ The Apostolic Age,” etc. ILLUSTRATED ez ‘ Fa sa — 434 raRTTAU New Yorr CHICAGO Fleming H. Revell Company LONDON AND EDINBURGH Copyright, MCMXXV, by FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY Printed in the United States of America New York: 158 Fifth Avenue Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave. London: 21 Paternoster Square Edinburgh: 75 Princes Street To the Dear Memory of Virginia W. beh he) Pe VS tek pay.) UR pavinen) PREFACE HEN first I made a pilgrimage through Palestine, more than thirty years ago, I was impressed with the fact that most of the great events, the mountain peaks, in the life of our Lord took place on some hillside or mountain top. And when I returned, I wrote for myself and my friends a sketch of that life in which I sought to make the prominent points in His ministry stand out distinctly in the setting He chose for them. Later visits to Palestine and a prolonged study of His life have led me to enlarge this sketch and offer it to a wider circle. Unlike my Life of Christ, this little book is not for the critical student, though I trust it will bear his study. Ihave had in mind the general reader, who shrinks back from the dryness of a textbook or the bulkiness of an exhaustive narrative, but does wish to gain a clear idea of just what Jesus was trying to do in the successive periods of His public ministry and how far He succeeded or failed. If I mistake not, he wants a book that can be read in snatches or at a sitting, that places emphasis upon the important events, that quick- ens his own imagination without leading it astray, and that finds in the gospel story the spiritual 5 6 PREFACE nourishment for which the soul of man is ever hungry. Whether I have produced such a book, others must decide. I have tried to do so and can, at least, cherish the joy of the attempt. The illustrations prefacing the chapters are from photographs taken nearly forty years ago. They have been chosen in preference to those of recent date because they more nearly set before us the land that Jesus knew. The tramp of armies and the shrill voices of tourists have wakened Pales- tine from its sleep of centuries; and railways, auto roads, new buildings and modern ploughs are rapidly transforming its sacred scenes. Such changes, whether we approve or deplore them, make us value increasingly all pictures secured before they came. W. B. H. Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. VIII. XI. Contents THE MOUNT OF THE PREPARATION . II . THe MountT oF THE TEMPTATION . 28 . THe MouNT OF THE TEMPLE . yh e THe MouNT OF THE TWELVE . midge re THE MoUNT OF THE SERMON. oe . THe Mount OF THE MIRACLE . 98 . THE MOUNT OF THE TRANSFIGURA- TION . K i a ‘ ; . 108 THE MouNT OF THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY A : , Ms Bde THe Mount oF THE AGONY . . 142 THE Mount oF THE Cross k Sh Ture Mount ofr THE ASCENSION . 174 an ‘os 4 ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE Gethsemane . : : ‘ J : if f . Title MW AZALOL Uti t Mis Wiel oa cquthyiiita) a hile thy eR GARR REE Mat bank Jebel Karantel SETA a eh pelt wledey UA cea RR InN Jerusalem BC ON eM lek" | al 1) a Aaa A ROR en A ELOTHUSHOT) Chath tE ye PR he sar OS hE EN Sea of Galilee PML aa ENS aie lat amen PSI Se WE Genite PISTON ei ail vel 87 oT) ae) ehh yet aE Maat ke Rega yr Pcebatyyy io gi ke) calor, une eeanel th ent eo Blount of Ol vesioxco srg ee (ely eI NT Renn eR Cordon: s Gatvaryar. cua hi. oh) 2h cena Re a te PRGLERATYV UT sh asked Nel LL wit iin car ay dan): sees gee One LNT reine ACE MAP Palestine in the Time of Christ . : mM yl eS ae an ie Thea bg a7) ae ia tb it tum a Nin Se ie yd ay (& bee vi weep 33° PALESTINE IN THE TIME OF CHRIST . 5 a0 20 30 40 Sido SCALE OF MILES 7 i Zarephath 9 PA IAS Dan Cxgarea Philippi aters of Meronv (ZL, Huleh) Seleucia {Bethsaida® é, , Chorazin® Y Julias WY GALL ELL topliia v es Sea o. Q Magdal as er ? Ashfaroth n Hattin famalay, Cana, oe Hippo AURANITIS on Bethlehem cae alls bore x Oe eee oe GALILEE Recon c Tse One ~ a DAE, CPO LISs )o He a ° enon(?) \ AMAR DA csated ini aeateres Shechemo 9b ha, 4 “Jacob’s Well 3 Gert? =) oOAntipatris b Phasaeliso Archelais(?)o oGophna Lydda® Bethejom Ephraim “Philadelphia / OA Jericho & i Jamniac Y°Ekron Emmaus ee SS ape > ee eoLoe Mt.of Olives Livias OHeshbon Ashdod °\& Jerusalém, AS vias\=) a . oNebo Azotus Bethlehem o \7% q ef a oN prota,” shKelon «| JUDE A - A” Eleutheropolis S Bet) zur Arimatheao Thamna ss ° Machaerus Db Gaza > °.) ° 4 res on s _ oDipon Beershebao ae C.S.H.&CO., N.Y, 35 Longitude East from Greenwich I THE MOUNT OF THE PREPARATION F all the places in Palestine—and they are () not many—where the traveller can say with confidence, “‘ Here once Our Lord must have stood,” none is more. certain and satis- fying than the summit of the ridge back of Naza- reth. The little town slipped down into the valley as the centuries went by, so the streets of to-day are not the streets of old; but the lonely summit of the hill with the wonderful view it commands, remains as in the days of the Christ. Looking from it to the west one sees the long, bold promontory of Carmel framed on either side by a blue strip of the Mediterranean. Far away to the north gleams Safed, “a city set on a hill,” with the snowy heights of Hermon beyond it. Nearer at hand to the eastward are Tabor and Gilboa and the Jordan valley backed by the mountains of Gilead. And looking to the south there meet the eye, first the little valley in which nestles the village of Naza- reth, then the broad, green plain of Esdraelon dotted by Shunem and Nain and Endor, and beyond these the hills of Samaria and the dim out- line of the mountains of Judea. The whole pano- rama is eloquent with voices of the past; and there is no place more inviting for one who would medi- 11 12 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD tate upon the long and varied history of Israel. Beyond question it must have been a favourite resort for Jesus when He lived in Nazareth. Hither after the day’s work was ended, He would climb to watch the sun go down in splendour into the western sea; and here on a Sabbath afternoon He would sit and ponder upon the fortunes of His peo- ple or His own future destiny. Let us look at Him first as a boy of twelve, musing here over the ex- periences of His recent and wonderful journey to Jerusalem. The preface to the journey was when Joseph gravely said, ‘‘ My lad, you are now old enough to become a son of the law, and take its burden upon yourself. Hitherto I have been responsible for all your acts; henceforth that responsibility must rest upon you. I am allowed to bear it no longer.” That hour was to Him, as to every Jewish boy, a time of real spiritual development. The careless- ness of childhood ceased; the seriousness of life was realized; the solemnity of personal account- ability for each thought and act was borne in upon the soul. Would that in the present day, when so often our young people refuse to be bound by law and scoff at the suggestion of responsibility, some such hour of sobering thought might be wrought into their lives. The journey up to Jerusalem with the company that set forth from Nazareth was for the Boy a succession of new and stimulating experiences. ‘SMOIIOS pue sXof uowtwod s}t YM oFI] A[rep INO 0} 9SOTD OS snsaf Suriq 0} stsees oUT}so[eq UT yods 194}0 ON HLAYYUVZVN ) Me v v. , \ A a 7 take oe a i ag* a = f a MOUNT OF THE PREPARATION 13 They passed place after place, each rich in his- torical associations,—famous scenes of great events which were narrated and discussed and moralized upon. They cheered the weary hours of travel by singing pilgrim psalms: “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go unto the house of Jeho- vah”’; “ As the mountains are round about Jeru- salem, so Jehovah is round about His people.” They grew more eager and excited as they drew near the sacred city. And when at last it burst upon their sight, and across the valley of the Kedron they saw its ancient walls, its clustered houses, its imposing palaces, and chief of all, the dazzling marble and gold of the new temple of Herod, their joy knew no bounds. ‘Our feet are standing within thy gates, O Jerusalem; Jerusalem that is builded as a city that is compact together. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. For the sake of the house of Jehovah I will seek thy good.” It would be hard to over- emphasize the effect of such a journey upon an eager, receptive, heavenly-minded lad. The days that followed were full of deeply spir- itual hours, the chief of which was the evening when Jesus for the first time partook of a Pass- over supper. The feast was held in a room loaned for that purpose by some friend; and the host who provided the lamb and its prescribed accompani- ments may have been Joseph himself. The full moon poured a soft light through the open door 14. MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD and windows; and the sound of hymns sung in all the neighbouring houses blended with their own words or songs. Each part of the meal was accom- panied by prayers or psalms of thanksgiving, and each viand and act commemorated some experience in the great deliverance of Israel from Egypt. The meaning of it all would be explained to the Boy while they ate; and it could not fail to awaken in Him a new recognition of the might and wis- dom and goodness of Jehovah who had so won- derfully overthrown the hosts of Pharaoh and broken the yoke of the oppressor. The temple, too, with its magnificent buildings, overpowering to one who had known only the simple synagogue at Nazareth, and with its stately and elaborate services, must have impressed Jesus deeply. No other place in all Jerusalem had such attraction for Him. It was the house of God— His Father’s house. He rejoiced to be in it. He spent large portions of each day there. And when He found that by some oversight His parents had started on the homeward journey without Him, He waited for them in its courts, confident that when they missed Him and returned, they would know exactly where to find Him. But there was much about the temple that surprised and pained Him. In the great outer court were Roman soldiers stolidly keeping guard against a possible riot, and Greek or Egyptian sightseers looking about with idle curiosity, and hucksters and traders and MOUNT OF THE PREPARATION 15 money-changers loudly proclaiming their wares. ' Pharisees and Sadducees wrangled over points of doctrine; Judean worshippers muttered their con- tempt of the Galileans; priests pushed through the crowd impatient of humble pilgrims with scanty offerings. Was this a house of prayer or was it in reality a place of traffic? And when the Boy passed onward through the Court of the Women into the Court of Israel where He could look into the Court of the Priests, He saw before Him little that seemed spiritual. Scores of men in sacred robes were labouring as butchers, swiftly killing and skinning and cutting up the passover lambs, cleansing the entrails and piling the fat upon the great altar from which a column of black, greasy smoke arose unceasingly. Beyond them the doors of the Holy Place stood open; but the feeble light of the seven-branched lamp-stand and the dim glow of the coals on the altar of incense failed to reveal its contents. Could these surroundings bring to Him such a sense of intimate communion with God as had made sacred certain hours upon the hilltop back of Nazareth? In someone of the numerous chambers and porches of the temple learned rabbis during the Passover season sat as teachers for any who might desire instruction concerning difficult points of the Law. And while the Boy waited for His parents, He discovered them and joined the group that surrounded them. His eager attention, so un- 16 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD usual in a mere lad, attracted their notice; and they encouraged Him to speak by asking His opinion of the problems they were discussing. The rabbis always were interested in the impres- sion any matter of the Law produced upon the mind of a thoughtful child. The approval with which they received His replies, emboldened Him to question them in turn. There were matters over which He had puzzled and pondered, and concerning which the men who taught in the syna- gogue at Nazareth could give him no help: surely these great scholars would be able to tell Him all He wished to know. And so it came to pass that when His parents found Him, He had become, un- intentionally and unconsciously, the central figure of the group. The grave rabbis bent forward with eager attention as He spoke; and turned to one another with looks of amazement at His questions and replies. What a wonderful child this was! We need not suppose that the Boy possessed supernatural wisdom, or was in any way distin- guished from a normal human child, save in His sinlessness. He spake as a child, but as a child who lived in daily touch with God and found the heavenly side of life as natural and necessary as the earthly side. In His own experience already He was verifying the Beatitude, which later He proclaimed, “ Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” This was what gave Him an “understanding,”’—a ready grasp and quick MOUNT OF THE PREPARATION 17 solving of spiritual problems, amazing to the rab- bis. He talked about God in the simplest, most direct way, calling Him ‘‘ My Father.” What did He mean by the term? I think He meant just what He wishes us to mean when, as He taught us, we say “ Our Father.” To suppose that at this period of His life He recognized His unique son- ship and in calling God Father made Himself one with God, is contrary to the statement of Luke that as a child He “increased in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and man”; and it makes His childhood something so strange and unnatural that we could not point to Him as the high ex- ample for our own children. The day was to come when He would say ‘“ My Father ” with a rela- tionship in the words such as no other being can claim; but that day was not yet. Probably the rabbis were not surprised to hear Him call God Father; they used that term themselves, and taught their children to use it. But in the lips of this child it had a confidence, an intimacy, they never had encountered; it expressed implicit trust and perfect love and closest companionship. No wonder they were amazed and tested Him with questions, seeking to discover whether His thought of God was as simple, reverent and satisfying as it seemed to be. Even to-day, after nineteen cen- turies of Christian teaching, how rarely do we think of God as “ Our Father ” in all the richness of the content of that word! 18 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD Back in Nazareth once more, Jesus has sought His favourite spot on the hilltop, and is thinking over the experiences of that first Passover visit. There is a troubled look upon the lad’s face. The journey to Jerusalem has brought Him much; but it has sadly failed to bring all He anticipated and . longed for. He did not find God nearer there than here. The Holy City was full of things unholy,—not only the foul pleasures of the Romans, but also the selfishness and hypocrisy and worldly-mindedness of its Jewish citizens. The temple, which at first so deeply impressed Him, proved on closer acquaintance to be a center of formalism and greed, in which haughty priests ministered in the name of God to heap up riches for themselves and their children. And, worst of all, the rabbis to whom He had looked as the wisest of men in the things of God, revealed them- selves as purblind guides, repeating lessons never fully grasped, and unable to give the teaching He yearned to receive. Why was it? He was willing to learn; why could they not teach Him? Had God ceased to speak to His people as once of old He spake? If the rabbis could not teach, where was there a teacher? Suppose that He Himself were older and wiser, would He dare to under- take the task? And if He did, who would listen? Thus pondering and perplexed He communes with His soul, as the sun goes down and the shadows MOUNT OF THE PREPARATION 19 thicken. Thus, too, the first shadows come into His life, and the outline of His future mission begins to grow distinct against the darkness. “Wist ye not that I must be in My Father’s house? ” is slowly changing into “ Wist ye not that I must be about My Father’s business? ” The hilltop is, indeed, the Mount of Preparation. Years goby. The lad of twelve becomes a man of thirty. Despite His early dreams of wider use- fulness, He still remains in Nazareth, a humble artisan toiling as breadwinner for His family. To be sure, the family is now grown very small. Joseph has long been dead; the brothers have reached manhood and gone to Capernaum, Cana and elsewhere to make homes of their own; the sisters, though yet in the village, are married; and His mother alone remains as His charge,—an active woman of middle age, much disposed to deem Him still in need of her guidance because He is so obedient to her wishes. The people of the village, without any seeking on His part, have learned to look upon Him as their leader in ail good things. They come to Him when perplexed for words of counsel, and when sorrow-stricken for words of comfort. In the synagogue there is no one whom the rulers more often invite to read the Sabbath lessons from the sacred rolls, and to give an exposition of their meaning. A charm about Him as He speaks is felt by all; and the 20 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD earnestness and spiritual discernment of His words impress even the most thoughtless. While no one in Nazareth is more loved than Jesus, no one is more lonely. Beyond His frank- ness and friendliness, there is a barrier of reserve which His closest friends cannot cross; His inner- most thoughts are a sanctuary whose veil is never lifted. Simple in His ways, and direct in His words, He nevertheless is an enigma even to those who know Him best. Other men can easily be described by some prominent characteristic; but in Him qualities seemingly contradictory are bal- anced so perfectly that none can be selected as distinctive. He is humble and willing to yield to others, yet absolutely independent and, if need be, imperative. He is genial and ready to join in all innocent festivities, yet there is something of sad- ness underlying His merriment, and He loves soli- tude. He is hardworking, economical and thrifty, but shows no desire for wealth or the abundance of things that money buys. He is gentle and in- dulgent, but His anger when roused by acts of injustice, foulness or cruelty is like a burning fire. He is interested in all that pertains to the welfare of His village and the progress of His nation; nevertheless, local and national ties rest lightly upon Him, as if He were in reality a citizen of another land. Thus, though He has lived as boy and man in their midst, He remains a mystery to MOUNT OF THE PREPARATION 21 the villagers. Perhaps the little children come nearest to understanding Him: certainly they love Him with all their hearts, and are loved most fondly in return. Let us look at Jesus again in the last of His many hours upon the Mount of Preparation. The years of toil and varied experience have written their record upon His outward form. His hands are calloused; His shoulders somewhat bowed; His forehead has lines of care and sorrow; and His smile, though just as sweet as in boyhood, comes less often. Through His intense keenness of sympathy He has entered far into the depths of human sorrow and suffering, and the record is written indelibly upon His face. As He sits there now, His thoughts are centered upon tidings which in recent months have been coming from Judea. John, the son of Zacharias, is baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming that the Messiah is soon to appear. Men from Capernaum and even from Nazareth have gone to see and hear him, and have returned with abundant but conflicting reports. The town is buzzing with excitement. Is John truly a prophet like those of old? Has he a right to preach and baptize? Can it be pos- sible that the Messiah is close at hand? What will He be and do when He does come? Here are questions for which Jesus must seek an answer most carefully, since they bear directly upon His 22 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD own future course. ‘There is plenty to ponder over in this hour upon the Mount. John is His kinsman. Mary has revealed this to Him with all the story of John’s birth,—the vision in the temple, the promise given by the angel, the dumbness that sealed the father’s lips, her own visit to Elizabeth, and the great rejoicing when the child was circumcised. She never had spoken of these things before; now she rehearsed them at length and seemed relieved to tell them. But Mary remained silent concerning a matter of far greater moment,—the birth of her own child. Courage to speak of it failed her. Throughout the years she had pondered it in her heart, but guarded it from others. At first the shame it had brought upon her,—the sneers of her own sex, the malicious smiles of foul-minded men—had been like a sword piercing her soul. As the years went by, the taunts ceased; but she feared they might rekindle through even a chance word. Who would do anything but scoff, if she declared that her child was divinely begotten? As for her Son, she could not tell Him about it when He was a little lad; and when He grew older the task seemed mcereasingly difficult. What would be the effect, if she did tell Him? Would He believe her, or deem her demented? And if He did believe her, what would He do? Joseph was dead; so there was no one with whom she could take counsel. MOUNT OF THE PREPARATION 23 Sometimes, as she watched her boy quietly toil- ing at the bench or patiently performing the every- day duties of life, it seemed as if the whole story of His birth was a wonderful dream or belonged to some other existence. This news about John brought back most vividly the promise that her child was to be the long-expected Messiah; but how this could come to pass she found it impos- sible to imagine. Certainly nothing in the present indicated that some day He would have the throne of His great ancestor, David. No! Let the mat- ter rest. He bore the name of Jesus which the angel had given. If He was to do more, God would certainly indicate it by some wonderful sign. Concerning the work John is doing, there is much that Jesus must now consider carefully and prayerfully. John is denouncing the sins of the people as fiercely and fearlessly as a second Elijah. Doubtless there is justification for every word he utters; but will a reformation caused by fear prove really permanent or beneficial? The wrath of God ought to be proclaimed; but why does he say nothing about the love of God? And he declares that the Messiah, when He comes, will be still more fierce against all evil-doers. Is, then, destruction of the wicked the true Messianic mis- sion? How runs the ancient prophecy, “A bruised reed will He not break; and a dimly burning wick 24 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD will He not quench’? ‘“ His name shall be called Prince of Peace.” Is John right or mistaken? John baptizes all who repent of their sins and are ready to welcome the Messiah. This is a work so novel and distinctive that they call him The Baptizer. He treats all Israelites as if they really were Gentiles, and his own company of people pre- pared for the Messiah formed the true Israel into which others are to be received, as proselytes are received, by confessing their sins and renouncing their former life and being washed with pure water. This seems a righteous work: can Jesus Himself have a place in it? If He is to join John’s company, He must be baptized. But He has no sins to confess when John shall question Him. It may be hard to make the Baptizer be- lieve this; and when he does, he may not be willing to baptize Him. Still, if John’s work is of God, He ought to help in it; and baptism will show that He is ready to take His part along with the others. John says that the Messiah is soon to come. How will He come? Men are discussing this eagerly, and putting forth all sorts of opinions. Some hold that He will appear in the clouds of heaven with supernatural splendour and with power to slay all His foes by the breath of His mouth, giving their lands and wealth to the faith- ful. Others maintain that He is to spring from the root of Jesse, a mighty warrior and wonderful MOUNT OF THE PREPARATION 25 counsellor, who by force of arms will bring back to the Jews all the glory of Solomon’s day. Of these two views the former is the more popular because it appeals more strongly to imagination and vindictive desires. Jesus can accept neither of them: both are too earthly. The Messiah is the Son of the Most High, and surely will be in spirit like His Father whose heart cherishes love towards even His enemies, and whose kingdom is purely spiritual. John must be wrong in proclaim- ing a Messiah of vengeance; and these men are wrong who long for a kingdom of earthly power and splendour. He whom God raises up to shep- herd His people will be one who by life and word and loving service shall teach men that God is love, and win them to love Him as they ought. “The spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah. And with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.” Where is such an one to be found? Isaiah, who foresaw the Messiah’s work most clearly, declares that it is a mission full of suffering, in which the sins of the people are borne without complaint even to a death most undeserved. Who would be willing and who would be able to carry it through? Would I? This is a question that has forced itself 26 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD upon the thought of Jesus more than once as He studied the Scriptures. If My Father should call me to this high and sorrowful task, would I obey the call? Hitherto He has asked Himself this simply to test His consecration. Now the work of John compels Him to ask it as a light on His future course. The people are being prepared for the Messiah; some one must go forth to do the Messianic work. If God says, Whom shall we send; and who will go for us?, shall the reply be, Here am I, Lord, send me? ‘The question is not to be answered without hesitation, yet that which makes Him hold back is not fear of suffering but a. recognition of the magnitude of such a mission. Would it not be presumption to believe that God ‘will send me on this highest of missions? Is not some other of His servants,—John himself, it may be,—better fitted and far more worthy? And yet dare I, would I, draw back, if I was sure that He commanded me to go? Surely there is but one _ answer, Behold thy servant, Lord; use me accord- ing to thy will. When this hour in the Mount is ended and Jesus goes down never to return, the next step in - His life is determined. He will leave His mother in the care of her other children; they are able and willing to care for her; and He will seek out John. What lies beyond that step He cannot see. Peradventure, He will be required only to labour MOUNT OF THE PREPARATION 27 with John in preparing the people for the Messiah. That is a work He would gladly do. But it may be the divine purpose to call Him to the higher, harder work of the Messiah. If so, His Father will clearly give the call, and with it the needed strength and wisdom and grace. II THE MOUNT OF THE TEMPTATION P from the valley of the Jordan to the | little village of Bethany hard by Jeru- salem, stretches the Wilderness of Judea. It is a desolate, dreary, barren land to-day; and there are no signs that it has ever been anything else. In its deep gorges Elijah hid from the wrath of Ahab; among its hills and valleys John the Baptist made his early home; and hither Our Lord was driven by the Spirit, immediately after His baptism, to meet the adversary in lonely Struggle, and gain the first victory of His Mes- Slanic ministry. On the eastern side of the Wilderness, high above the plains of Jericho, towers Jebel Karantel —the Mountain of Temptation. Its gray lime- stone sides, steep and ragged, are honeycombed with caverns where in the Middle Ages whole colonies of hermits made their home, and where even to-day a few devout Abyssinian Christians keep fast and vigil through the days of Lent. Other habitation on the mountain there is none, and its bleak summit offers neither the shade of 28 ‘Jojdu9} 9y} YM snsof Fo o]}}eq dy} IOF eusie yy e se sn Sassaidu ureJUNOW SI} SsouT[oUO] UdIIeq pue yeoq sy UT TALNVAVY THdal eee a¥e © MOUNT OF THE TEMPTATION 29 a tree nor the refreshment of a draught of water. The tradition that this was the scene of the temptation originated with the Crusaders and is, therefore, of little value; but Dr. Thomson says truly, “If the intention was to meet and conquer the arch enemy of God and man in a lonely and blasted wilderness, none could be found better suited for the purpose than this Jebel Karantel and its surroundings.” The view from this mountaintop eastward in the time of Christ, when the plain below was peo- pled and tilled and when Jericho was a beautiful, wealthy city, embowered in palms, must have been wonderfully attractive; yet it fails completely to support a literal statement that from this height the devil ‘‘ sheweth Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them.” Nor is there a mountain anywhere from which such a panorama could be had. How, then, about the story of the temptation: shall we study it as a record of out- ward or of inward experience? ‘The bodily pres- ence of Satan, the translation to the pinnacle of the Temple, the vision from the exceeding high mountain,—are these details literal or figurative? When seeking to answer this question one fact, too often ignored, should be borne in mind:— whatever is known about the Temptation must originally have been told by Jesus Himself. The other recorded chapters of His life had human witnesses. Mary could tell of His infancy; Peter, 30 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD James and John were with Him in the Mount of Transfiguration and the Garden of Gethsemane; but only wild beasts were His companions in the Wilderness. Moreover, this seems to have been the only one of the solitary experiences of Jesus that He did reveal to His disciples. He spent nights alone in desert places and mountains, but concerning these we know merely that they were nights of prayer; whether angels ministered to Him, whether patriarchs and prophets came to converse with Him, whether as He prayed He be- came transfigured, we are not told. And concern- ing what took place in that mysterious interval between His death and resurrection, we know ab- solutely nothing, except the promise to the dying thief, “‘ To-day shalt thou be with Me in Para- dise.”’ The revelation of the Temptation is thus unique. His statement concerning His experiences in the Wilderness must be interpreted in harmony with other similar statements by Him. For example, in determining whether Satan appeared in bodily form we should compare “The tempter came to him ” with ‘ The prince of this world cometh ” (John 14:30); and ‘Then the devil leaveth him ” with “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven” (Luke 10:18); and “ Get thee hence, Satan ” with similar words spoken to Peter (Mark 8:33). His customary way of speaking about Satan will throw light upon the present narrative, MOUNT OF THE TEMPTATION 31 because the present narrative originally was His. Moreover, since the Temptation was essentially a spiritual experience, we need to inform ourselves of the manner in which Jesus usually depicted such spiritual experiences. ‘‘ Behold, Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat ” (Luke 22:31); ‘“ This woman whom Satan hath bound ” (Luke 13:16); “ Straightway cometh Satan, and taketh away the word” (Mark 4:15): if we do not give these words a literal interpreta- tion, why should we search our atlases for a suit- able high mountain, and suggest, as some absurdly have done, that by refraction all the kingdoms of the world might become visible therefrom in a moment of time? In short, Christ’s account of His struggle with Satan must not be understood as we understand Matthew’s account of the cast- ing out of devils from the demoniac of Gadara. We may not conclude that it is a parable; but we must not forget that it is an attempt to make earthly hearers comprehend matters belonging to the world of spirits;—a world of which we can know so little that any statement to be intelligible must to some degree be figurative. Even if Jesus had been doubtful about His Mes- sianic mission before His baptism, all uncertainty ended at that hour. The voice from heaven, “Thou art my beloved Son,” was a clear state- ment that He was the Messiah; and the descent of the Holy Spirit was the final preparation for 32 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD His appointed work. The Father had called Him to found the Kingdom of God upon earth, and to bring all men into it. Tremendous as was the task, He did not draw back; but before He could enter upon it, He must first determine how it could be accomplished. How could He draw all men unto Himself, and through Himself to His Father? His future course hinged on the answer to this question: and in search of an answer He was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness where in loneliness He could think the matter through. Day after day He wandered there fasting. The fast was involuntary: He was so absorbed in thought that bodily wants were unnoticed. We remember how His absorbing conversation with the woman at Jacob’s well made Him forget en- tirely His weariness and hunger. That the fast should continue for forty days is not incredible. Men who in recent times have sought to imitate it, have met with poor success; but they lacked the perfect body with its unmarred powers of en- durance that belonged to the Son of Mary. Later on in His public ministry, when the touch of the needy multitude had been a continual drain upon His powers, physical exhaustion came more quickly: but now it was not until He had gone without food for forty days that the limit of en- durance was reached and “ He was an hungered.” And, in this hour of weakness, the struggle, which MOUNT OF THE TEMPTATION 33 had been going on throughout the whole period, culminated in the three great temptations. What were the temptations? Let us seek to enter reverently into the thoughts of Our Lord in this hour of conflict on Jebel Karantel. They all center around one problem, How best can I, the Son of God, persuade my countrymen to ac- cept me as their Messiah and Saviour? For, if He can win the Jews, then—as the prophets fore- told—they will become missionaries to all the world, and through their labours the Kingdom of God will speedily be established. The tempter is ready with a most promising program, suggested by Christ’s own hunger:—‘‘ Command that these stones become bread.” Life is hard in Palestine and everywhere. From the day when he was driven out of Eden man must sweat for his daily bread and ever be anxious about what to-morrow has in store. Weakness, disease, suffering are his lot; and death comes speedily. Must it always be so? The Jews are dreaming of a Golden Age when the curse shall be lifted. How often Jesus has heard some fellow-toiler say, as he paused to straighten his aching back, ‘‘ When the Messiah comes, we shall not have to work any more: He will feed us as Moses fed our fathers in the wil- derness; and He will drive away all sickness and sorrow. Would that He were here now!” The Son of God has the power to turn stones into bread; He can feed the hungry and heal the sick 34 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD and raise the dead and banish all the hardships of life. And if He will do this, which the people are expecting the Messiah will do, then with wild enthusiasm they will hail Him as the Promised One, and scramble for a place in His kingdom. But what kind of subjects will they be? Drawn to Him by hunger for only earthly things, will they listen to Him with any desire when He tells them of heavenly things? ‘I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” And what is true life? The Scrip- ture says, ““ Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” The Messiah’s mission is to satisfy, not the hunger of the body but the hunger of the soul. Jesus must hold Himself steadily to that, and not forsake it for a lesser work. One temptation overcome, another follows. The Jews are ever quoting a prophecy that de- clares, “The Lord whom ye seek will suddenly come to His temple”; and they vie with one an- other in imagining the startling, wonderful man- ner in which He will come. Why should Jesus not meet their expectations, and thus lead them to accept Him? Suppose, so the tempter suggests, that at the hour of sacrifice, when rulers and peo- ple are thronging the temple and praying for the coming of the Messiah, you descend from heaven borne on the wings of angels; nothing more will be needed to make them believe on you. The MOUNT OF THE TEMPTATION 35 chief priests will prostrate themselves in adora- tion; the rabbis will accept you without a ques- tion; and the Sanhedrin will proclaim to the whole nation,—to the Jews in Alexandria and Rome as well as in Jerusalem,—that the Messiah’s reign is begun. So easily and quickly your great desire can be accomplished. The answer to this tempta- tion is, What of the nature of the Kingdom thus established,—-will it be the Kingdom of Heaven? A faith based upon miracles has in it nothing spir- itual, and a craving to see the marvellous does not awaken willingness to hear the still, small voice of the Spirit. The children of Israel, who would not follow Moses except he wrought signs and wonders, were given what they desired; but at the end they perished in the wilderness because of their unbelief. Against their fate remains the eternal warning, ‘“‘ Thou shalt not make trial of the Lord thy God.” Can it be ignored? There is still a third temptation. Rome sits secure, the mistress of the world. Her power reaches out in all directions: her armies trample down all nations; her law is the final word of com- mand; her emperor is worshipped as a god. Shall not the kingdom of the Messiah be even more mighty and splendid? And how did Rome gain her mastery of the world? By persistent, remorse- less warfare. So, likewise, David once fought the Philistines and set up his kingdom; so, again, Judas Maccabeus conquered the Syrians and 36 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD gained a throne; so now the Jews fondly hope that the Messiah will summon them to drive out the procurator and the publican who prey upon God’s people, and thus to bring back the glory of the days of Solomon. The tempter whispers, ‘ You are to be the Great Deliverer. Take a lesson from me. Seize the sword, and summon your country- men: they will follow you gladly, madly. With such a band of Gideon, you can destroy the Roman army, and rouse all subject peoples to re- volt, and seat yourself triumphantly on the im- perial throne. And with Rome as your capital and Jerusalem as your sacred city, you can spread the worship of Jehovah from the Euphrates to the pil- lars of Hercules.” But they that take the sword shall perish by the sword; and a kingdom based on hatred, and gained by strife and bloodshed is devilish, not divine. ‘It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. Get thee hence, Satan.” The tempter, unmasked and powerless, has nothing more to offer. There remains for Jesus only one way in which to win His crown,—the way of the cross. Patiently, bravely, persistently and against constant opposition He must teach the truths that are the eternal principles of the divine Kingdom, and seek acceptance for them and for Himself. If the rulers reject Him, He must turn to the people; and if they refuse to listen, He must instruct a little band of disciples. And ever the MOUNT OF THE TEMPTATION 37 insolence and the ignorance and the selfishness of those with whom He labours will make the burden lie more heavily upon His soul until at last He will die with the cry, “ My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me!” It is the bitter path to Calvary, but it is the only road by which to ascend the throne. ““'When the devil had completed every tempta- tion, he departed from Him for a season,” a very brief season. Just as soon as Jesus began His public ministry, the temptations were presented again. When He offered Himself to the priests and rulers, their constant question was ‘‘ What sign showest Thou?” When He proclaimed His gospel to the people, they cared little for His mes- sage, but clamoured for miracles of healing and for bread. And when He turned to the work of training the Twelve, their thoughts were full of an earthly kingdom, and they jealously watched for any hint as to which of their number would be given the highest place in it. What He had re- viewed in thought when alone in the wilderness, He encountered in action when He went forth on His mission. But He had fought the tempter in advance, and could not be taken by surprise nor swerved from His course. ‘‘ The prince of the world cometh: and he hath nothing in me: but that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do.” 38 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD This study of the struggle in the Wilderness makes clear why Jesus, apparently more than once, told His disciples about it. He wished them to realize that the temptations of His public min- istry were not something unexpected and for which He was unprepared, but had been foreseen and re- jected at the outset; and the course He was fol- lowing was not forced upon Him or shaped by cir- cumstances, but was deliberately planned. Also, perhaps we can understand,—what sometimes seems very puzzling—how a sinless being can be tempted. Our usual definition of temptation is stated by St. James,—‘ Every man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and en- ticed.” And we imagine that if there is no evil desire within us, there can be no real temptation from without. But suppose there be placed before us a choice between that which is good and that which is better; then with no lust for evil things, the temptation may be actual and strong to take the good and refuse the better. ‘So it was with Jesus. The suggestion of Satan was that He should win men by offering them, not that which is evil but that which is not the best. To feed the hungry, to give a sign to the doubting, to lead a subject nation in a struggle for deliverance, were in themselves not wrong; and they would bring Him surely and quickly the following and allegi- ance that He craved. ‘Therein lay the power of MOUNT OF THE TEMPTATION 39 the temptation to use these means; and the greater His desire to win men to the Father, the keener was its appeal. The very love that led Him to the cross made it hard for Him to turn away from the path pointed out by Satan; and so “ He suffered, being tempted.” The writer to the Hebrews says, ‘‘ We have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feel- ing of our infirmities; but one that hath been tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin,” that is, without the sinful desires which lurk in all human hearts. In every temptation we can look to Him for help; but only in those that are like His,—those that come when in His name we seek to carry forward His work and extend His Kingdom, can we have, not only His help but His sympathy. The three temptations of the Wilder- ness come to us, as to Him, when we undertake to win men for the Kingdom of God. There is the Bread temptation,—to draw men to God by point- ing out how godliness may be profitable in dollars and reputation, or by making social reform the great end of Christian work, with the belief that what men chiefly need in order to be good are com- fortable lodgings and abundant wages and fre- quent holidays and innocent amusements,—forget- ting that man shall not live by bread alone. Godliness does sometimes bring earthly rewards, and the care of men’s bodies and minds is not to 40 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD be neglected, and converts in gratifying numbers can be made through such appeals: but what about their quality and stedfastness? ‘Then there is the Temple temptation, to proclaim ourselves the favourites of heaven to emphasize revelations and the supernatural, to glorify God by first glorifying ourselves. It was in this way that Joseph Smith built up the Mormon church; and more honest men have not always shunned similar methods. But again, what of the quality of such converts and the nature of their faith? Keenest of all to-day is the Mountain temptation; to use in our work the methods of the world; to draw men to God by making religion easy, attractive, popular; to fashion the church after the prosper- ous social club, counting the year’s work a suc- cess if the treasurer’s report shows a balance; and to speak so well of all men that all men shall speak well of us. To this temptation there is but one response, ‘‘ Get thee hence, Satan. Your words are an abomination; your arguments are lies. There is only one way whereby we can bring men to a saving knowledge of the truth: it is the way our Master trod before us. And though the path be trodden by few, and its end be seeming failure, may God give us grace to follow it.” Thus in our divine mission we must meet temptation as did Our Lord,—meet it in loneli- ness, meet it in weakness, out in the desert where MOUNT OF THE TEMPTATION 41 wild beasts howl and human help is vain. But the Word of God is our strong weapon, and the sym- pathy of Christ our constant solace; and angels wait to minister unto us when the victory is won. iit THE MOUNT OF THE TEMPLE LOSE to the eastern edge of the high Cc; plateau of Judea, though separated from it by the Mount of Olives, stands a natural fortress,—a great spur of rock pushing out southward and surrounded on three sides by a ditchlike valley which sinks at one point to five hundred feet below the crest of the rock. A smaller valley divides the spur into two sections, of which the eastern, though somewhat lower, is the more inaccessible and, therefore, the more easily defended. Here, even in prehistoric times, the search for safety from enemies brought men to build their homes and rear their altars. Here may have been the abode of Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High, who received tithes from Abraham and gave a blessing in re- turn. Here certainly was the stronghold from which the Jebusites looked down in derision upon the forces of David, until Joab found a way to climb the cliffs and force them to surrender, win- ning thereby for himself appointment as chief and captain of the host, and for his king a capital which through all the later centuries would be known as the City of David. And when, a short 42, ee SUDS, }yeItr) IY} JO AW) oh ‘ploy Ing jo pure dy, SB SN stay} [GS woyesnsof ynq ‘ops WH IV soul oj duo} oy} uO Mou $s purys ont ) SOUL AgN MOUNT OF THE TEMPLE 43 time after, the ark was brought here and set in its place in the tent that David had pitched for it, Jerusalem became not only the political but also the religious center of the Jews. On this Mount, after David slept with his fathers, Solomon built a temple for Jehovah, the ‘splendour of which was rivalled by that only of the palace he built for himself. Five hundred years later Zerubbabel and the exiles set free by Cyrus built a second temple on the same founda- tions, laying its first stones with songs of thanks- giving by the priests and shouts of joy by the peo- ple, strangely mingled with the tears and wailing of old men who remembered the first temple and contrasted its glory with the poverty-stricken pros- pects of its successor. Again five hundred years, and when Mary at Nazareth was but a babe, Herod built the third temple, still keeping to the old foundation lines but carrying the walls up a hundred and fifty feet. He built it of marble, and covered the front, which faced the east, with plates of gold. When the morning sun shone on it from above Mount Olivet, it must have seemed like a mountain of snow veiled by a curtain of fire upon which a thin waving line of black altar smoke stood out distinctly. The sacred house was en- closed by a series of courts with walls and cham- bers and porticoes and gates, sanctuary within sanctuary, still under construction in the days of Jesus, and not completed until almost the year 44 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD when both temple and city perished in the mad revolt against Rome. The temple of Herod was one of the seven wonders of the world. Travellers of alien faiths counted a long journey well repaid when they were admitted into the Court of the Gentiles, and could gaze upon the scene before them. And Jews in foreign Jands reckoned their lives a disappointment unless once, at least, they were able to ascend the Holy Hill, and worship within the sacred gates. When Jesus came forth from His battle in the Wilderness, He had determined upon the first measure of His public ministry; He would appeal for recognition to the Jewish rulers. One duty of the Sanhedrin was to pass judgment upon Mes- sianic claims:—He would present Himself openly before its members for their acceptance or rejec- tion. The place for this, most fitting and already indicated by prophecy, was the temple; and the time most opportune was the Passover, when wor- shippers from every land crowded its courts for the feast. Meanwhile, since the Passover was sev- eral weeks away, He would return to Nazareth. On His way thither He came to the ford of the Jordan where John was baptizing; and naturally He tarried there a little to learn what changes had been wrought in the work of His kinsman by the sacred revelation they two had received. John still was preaching repentance and the Kingdom of God; and now he had a new message, “‘ The MOUNT OF THE TEMPLE 45 Messiah whom ye seek is already in your midst, though ye know Him not.” As he caught sight of Jesus coming toward the circle of his hearers he eagerly pointed Him out to them: ‘“ This is He of whom I spake: Behold the Lamb of God.” Whereupon Jesus at once withdrew, not wishing to encounter the idle curiosity or rouse the ignorant excitement of the crowd. The next day, we have reason to believe, was Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, on which Jesus would not pursue His journey, and none would come to be baptized by John; so the Baptist had with him only two of his followers, the boy John and Andrew, when again he caught sight of Jesus and pointed Him out. The two hastened to fol- low and speak with Him; and then, after finding and bringing their brothers, James and Simon whom Jesus called Peter, they spent the day at His abode. Andrew and Peter, we may suppose, told Him of their fellow-townsman, Philip of Bethsaida; and on the morrow, before starting for Nazareth, Jesus sought him out and said, “ Follow Me.” Philip in turn must find his friend, Nathan- ael, and bring him to Jesus. Thus quickly and naturally six disciples were gathered. It is the — first illustration of how rapidly the followers of Jesus increase when each man who has found Him will not rest content until he has sought and brought a friend or, if that is impossible, has prayed the Master to find him. 46 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD _ When these six disciples thus accepted Jesus as the Messiah, what did they know about His nature and mission? Simply what the Baptist had told them, and what their own imperfect understanding of the Scriptures had disclosed. Much of what they believed Him to be was erroneous, and much of what they expected Him to do was doomed to disappointment. ‘They felt the charm of Jesus, they recognized the authority with which He spoke, they marvelled at His knowledge of them- selves, and they loved Him increasingly; but their creed concerning Him was scarcely more than an enthusiastic Eureka. They were in the kinder-’ garten stage of Christian knowledge, and needed long and patient tuition before they could be grad- uated as leaders of the church. The first lesson was at Cana of Galilee. Here the Six were taught the difference between the Baptist and the Messiah. John had called them into the loneliness of the desert; Jesus led them back to the life of the town. John came neither eating nor drinking and preached asceticism; Jesus made them guests with Himself at a wed- ding feast. John did no miracle; Jesus now quietly, almost incidentally, wrought a very re- markable one. How surprising and instructive each of these acts must have been to men who had been taught by John that the Messiah would be in spirit and deed like himself, only vastly greater! The wedding at Cana was for Jesus a manifesta- MOUNT OF THE TEMPLE 47 tion of His glory, and for the disciples the first forward step in their knowledge of the real nature of His kingdom. And how about Mary? When her Son arrived with these six disciples, who doubtless told her that the Baptist had declared Him to be the Mes- siah, her heart must have leaped with joy. At last the hour she had dreamed of through the years had come; and she eagerly waited for Jesus to reveal Himself as the Promised One to the as- sembled guests. The failure of the wine seemed a divinely arranged opportunity for Him to do this by working such a miracle as she and the others imagined the Messiah would work; and she confi- dently took Him aside to propose that He do it. Unwittingly she was placing before Him one of the temptations of the Wilderness; and His response was not so much to her as tothe tempter. It was not unkind nor even discourteous; but it had something of the sternness that was in His rebuke to Peter when Satan used him, also, as his mouth- piece. It was a declaration that she must let Him fulfil His Messianic mission in His own way and His own time. Hitherto her slightest expression of a wish had been for Him as a command: this could be so no longer. They had walked and worked in loving companionship for many years: henceforth the path He must tread could not be hers,—He must go forward in it alone. It was hard for Jesus to say this to His mother, and hard 48 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD for her to hear it. Few hours are more trying, both to child and to parent, than when such inde- pendence of thought and action has to be asserted and recognized. The more harmoniously the two lives have been united, the more agonizingly the inevitable wrench of separation will be felt. But the same love that formed the union will furnish strength and resignation for the separation: it did with Mary. Her word to the servants, ‘‘ Whatso- ever He saith unto you, do it,” is her surrender of authority to Jesus,—her recognition that hence- forth He is to be no longer her son but her Messiah. Nevertheless, the request Mary had made was not prompted wholly by a desire for a show mira- cle. The lack of wine, caused perhaps by the presence of the six disciples, invited on short notice, would embarrass the host, and cloud the festivities of the remaining days of the wedding celebration; and Mary, who seems to have had some part in the preparation of the feast, might feel this keenly. Jesus came to her relief. Though He would not work a miracle to impress His own claims, He could work one as an act of sympathy, —such, indeed, were most of His miracles. If these six men have caused the wine to run short, let six huge waterpots, filled to the brim, be their contribution to the feast. Is it fanciful to see, not only divine liberality but also something of MOUNT OF THE TEMPLE 49° quiet humour, in such a solution of Mary’s distress? When the Passover week was at hand, Jesus went up to Jerusalem, taking with Him the dis- ciples. What lay before Him there, He could not foresee; and what course of action He should fol- low, He had not planned: His Father would reveal it when the hour came. Quietly and reverently the little group entered the great outer court, the Court of the Gentiles. Can we imagine His thoughts as He stood there surveying the scene? To Him the temple with the worship therein con- ducted was both the strength and the weakness of the Jewish faith. Wherever the Jews were scat- tered—and there were more by far outside of Palestine than within—it held them together, and made them one nation. Toward it they kneeled as they offered their prayers, to it they sent their gifts from all quarters of the earth, from its glory they nourished their pride when despised by the Gentiles, and in its sacrifices, so they believed, they came closest to God. It was the heart of the Jewish people, into which and out from which flowed the currents of their life. But the priests had monopolized the temple and poisoned those currents. Though the Jewish religion proclaimed One Only God, present and to be worshipped everywhere, the priests said, “In Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship”; and when the Samaritans built a temple to Jehovah upon 50 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD Mount Gerizim, they tore it down. Though the prophets taught that His worship should be spir- itual, the priests insisted upon the blood of bulls and the fat of rams, and contrived that worship- pers should pay the temple vendors a high price for such offerings. Though it was written, “ My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations,” the priests, by turning the Court of the Gentiles into a noisy, bustling market, had made worship within that court almost impossible. Such desecration of the one place a devout Gen- tile might enter roused a holy wrath in the breast of Jesus. Should the lowing of cattle and the bleating of lambs and the strident cries of money- changers drown the prayers of pilgrims who had come from heathen lands to worship the God of Israel? And should the avarice and extortion of those who ministered as servants of Jehovah de- press and embitter the hearts of the faithful? With surprise the disciples saw their quiet Master suddenly rouse to violent action, overturn the tables covered with piles of coin, sharply order the conscience-stricken traders to depart, and with a scourge of cords Himself drive the cattle out through the gates. The worshippers, who thronged the court, were ready to applaud the act of Jesus; but the priests, when they learned what He had done came forth at once from their court to confront Him. Of their words we have but a few, though most significant, and of His re- MOUNT OF THE TEMPLE 51 plies only one, and this most enigmatic. They must have demanded, as they did on another oc- casion, by what authority He did these things; and His reply undoubtedly was, “‘ By the author- ity of My Father.” On that later occasion, when they were seeking to trap Him in His talk, He refused to give them a direct answer; but now, when they were simply astonished and enraged, He would meet them squarely. That they dimly understood He was claiming to be the Messiah, is revealed by their demand, “ Show us a sign, see- ing that thou doest these things.” Here, as at Cana, a temptation of the Wilderness was set be- fore Him. Would the priests have believed, had a sign been given them? I doubt it. They did not at all expect a sign, far less desire one. The fearless act of this young Galilean had for the moment stopped the working of their money-making ma- chine; but His claim to have divine authority for doing so seemed absurd. He could not be evena prophet: ‘Out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.” Their demand for a sign was a sneer rather than an honest request. And His strange reply, “‘ De- stroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” only confirmed their opinion that He was a fanatic with unbalanced mind. The simplest course was to dismiss Him with a jest,—‘ Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou raise it up in three days?” The crowd 52 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD would laugh with them at the craziness of this stranger. Even the disciples felt that His zeal had eaten up His discretion. So the priests could afford to leave Him and return to their sacred offices, while the money-changers picked up the scattered coins, and the vendors gained courage to come back with their cattle. What did Jesus mean by His words about the temple? His conversation with the woman of Samaria, when the conflict with these priests was still fresh in His mind, may help us to an answer. The priests were destroying the temple. They were turning it into a temple of Mammon in which they professed to worship Jehovah but would just as readily worship Jupiter or Venus or any other god who might attract as numerous and costly of- ferings. Well, let them do with this temple what they please: in a very little time Jesus will rear another temple, a house not made with hands, in which God, who is spirit, will be worshipped in spirit and truth by men of every nation and in every place. And the temple of Herod shall perish in the flames of divine vengeance. The apostle John, who treasured the saying of Jesus, found a further meaning in it as he pondered over it in later years. The temple of which Jesus spake was His body, and His words were a prophecy of His death and resurrection. This does not contradict but rather confirms the other interpretation. The greed and godlessness that turned the temple into MOUNT OF THE TEMPLE 53 a den of robbers, did bring about the crucifixion of Jesus; and His resurrection from the dead was the great message with which the apostles went forth in His name to rear the temple of which they were foundation stones and He the chief corner. The Sadducean priests had dismissed the claims of Jesus with a sneer. But they were not the only nor the most influential members of the Sanhedrin. The Pharisees had more weight in that body, and more influence with the people; for they were looked upon as saints because they gave their whole time and thought to the minutest observ- ance of the Law. To them Jesus now turned. They had approved of His action in cleansing the temple, as they would approve of any assault upon their hated opponents, the Sadducees. Would they do more? During the Passover week Jesus must have come constantly in contact with them; for they were to be met daily in the streets and synagogues, since they loved to be seen of men and to receive the applause of the common people whom they professed to despise. And Jesus, too, was moving among the people, and creating some measure of belief by certain miracles,—probably acts of healing—that He performed. Later on He would arouse the bitter opposition of the Pharisees by His disregard of the laws and ob- servances they deemed so important; but at pres- ent there was nothing to cause their disfavour 54 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD save that He was from Galilee, untaught by the rabbis and a friend of John the Baptist whose work they condemned. What attitude would they take toward Him? ‘The answer was given by Nicodemus, one of the best of them and a member of the Sanhedrin. We are disposed to think highly of Nicodemus because later on he protested against judging Jesus unheard, and at the last he came boldly forth as His disciple, and joined with Joseph of Arimathea in giving His body honourable inter- ment. But there is no indication that at the first he deserved our praise. He came to Jesus by night: every time his name is mentioned that fact is rehearsed as something so significant that it should not be forgotten. What moved him to choose the night-time? It could not be fear of the Jews, for there was no reason yet for fear. It could not be the desire for a quiet conversation concerning the things of God, for Jesus never was brusque and enigmatic to any honest seeker after truth. Evidently Nicodemus wished his visit to be secret; and—as His first words, “‘ We know,” indicate—he came representing not himself alone but all his party. If we bear in mind the con- stant strife between the Pharisees and the Sad- ducees, it may help us to guess his object. This young man, who already had boldly undertaken to purify the temple, might be used in further at- tacks upon the arrogant claims of the priests; but MOUNT OF THE TEMPLE 55 any alliance with Him had best for the present be kept secret. In a way most flattering, yet with something of condescension and patronage, Nicodemus began the conversation: ‘‘ Rabbi, we know thou art a teacher sent of God, for no man can do these signs that thou doest except God be with him.” There is in these words no hint of hailing Jesus as the Messiah, but simply an offer to recognize Him as a rabbi,—a teacher who, though untrained in the schools, has in some way been taught by God, even as the miracles indicate. With good reason Nicodemus expected that Jesus would be greatly pleased by such a recognition. The position of rabbi was the goal of a Jewish lad’s ambition: it could be reached only by long years of hard study, and it brought the highest dignity and influence. Yet this leading member of the Sanhedrin was graciously indicating that he and his friends are ready to raise this young, unlettered workingman to such an exalted position. Surely here was in- ducement enough to make Jesus eager to under- take whatever might be proposed as a return for such promotion. What Nicodemus had in mind to propose, we never can know; at once Jesus stops him short by declaring that the Pharisees are worthless guides because blind. They claim to know God’s will and belong to His Kingdom because they have dedicated their lives to an observance of the Law 56 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD so strict as to demand the tithing of even a hand- ful of petty garden herbs: but all such service of God is purely formal, requiring no change of heart: and, no matter how exact they are in it, they remain in darkness concerning things spir- itual; for “ except a man be born anew, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Such an unexpected response to his advances is incomprehensible to Nicodemus, and he tries to treat it as an absurd pleasantry by asking, ‘‘ How can a man be born when he is old?”’ But Jesus goes on to tell what the new birth is,—something invisible, mysteri- ous, spiritual, through the operation of repentance on the part of man and the Holy Spirit on the part of God. There is an echo of John’s message, and a fresh memory of His own baptism in this teach- ing of Jesus: ‘We speak that which we know, and bear witness of that which we have seen.” To Nicodemus it all is incomprehensible, and he pronounces it so; thereby bringing upon himself the cutting comment, “ Art thou the teacher of Israel, and understandest not these things? ” And thus dismissed, the proud Pharisee goes out into the night, disappointed, puzzled, indignant, yet bearing in his memory precious seed which one day will spring up and bear fruit, though not till the smart of the planting has ceased. With the departure of Nicodemus, the attempt to win the rulers ends. Sadducees and Pharisees alike have refused to accept Jesus as the Messiah MOUNT OF THE TEMPLE 57 or even as a prophet; acceptance necessitates too radical a change in their religious ideas, too costly a sacrifice of their comfortable positions and their cherished supremacy. The Lord of the temple has come to His own, and they that are His own re- ceive Him not. With scorn and ridicule they drive Him forth from His Father’s house, and turn again to their old lives which He for the moment has interrupted. The Pharisees stalk the streets in self-complacent holiness: the Sadducees min- ister at the altar, greedily watching its profits: and Jesus goes forth from the city gate, filled with that sorrow which later on found utterance in the cry, ‘‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen gath- ereth her brood under her wings, and ye would not!” IV THE MOUNT OF THE TWELVE N an open plain just west of the Lake of QC) Galilee stands a low square hill with two curious knobs and a level space between them,—apparently an extinct volcano whose crater’s rim has crumbled away except at the two knobs. The little village of Hattin is close by, and the hill with its two points is called The Horns of Hattin. It is the only height to be seen from the lake in this direction; and so, despite its slight elevation, it might well have been termed “the mountain.” Here on a scorching July day in 1187 A. D. the great Saladin fought the Cru- saders to a finish, and gave the deathblow to their Kingdom of Jerusalem. And here, tradition says, the Christ whose Kingdom the Crusaders pro- fessed to defend, took the first step towards es- tablishing that Kingdom by appointing from among His disciples twelve men who should be apostles. The tradition is so late as to be of little value. The Horns of Hattin may be the Mount of the Twelve; though I confess that as I stood there it did not seem a place Jesus would select, 58 ‘UOULISS [B}1OWwT 286 PUL DJAJIM]T IY} VSOYD ‘19aAeId JO JYSIU vB Io}Ze sNsof ‘uoTIpesy sAes ‘ NILLVH dO SNYOH HHL MOUNT OF THE TWELVE 59 if He wished to spend the night alone in prayer. Luke tells us that He did thus spend the night before He chose His apostles. The great events in His ministry were ever prefaced with prayer, often whole nights of prayer. ‘The evangelist takes special pains to point this out: it impressed him deeply as it should impress us. Too often we use the importance of a coming event as a good excuse for cutting short our prayers instead of increasing them. To understand why the formation of the apos- tolate was so important, we must consider the situation that demanded it. When the rulers in Jerusalem had refused to accept Jesus as Messiah, the next possible course was to offer Himself di- rectly to the people. Perhaps they would accept Him even without the endorsement of the San- hedrin; and if He could win the masses, He might yet win their recognized leaders. This transfer of appeal necessitated a new beginning of His work; and for it the best field was Galilee. In Judea the population outside of Jerusalem was small; and priests and Levites made up a large propor- tion of it. There was little of agriculture, less of commerce, and nothing of manufacture, to sup- port the common people. Everything centered on the temple. Judea lived then, as it lives now, upon its religious associations; and it traded in them then as now shamelessly. Had it not been for the hosts of pilgrims flocking to the numerous 60 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD feasts, the land would have been sparsely in- habited; even so, the region from the Jordan val- ley almost to the gates of the City of David was a wilderness. In Galilee the conditions were dif- ferent. Distance diminished the influence of the temple and the oversight of the rulers; probably, too, the thinly-veiled contempt of the Judeans for their less favoured brethren had the same effect. Galilee was a fertile and prosperous land, densely inhabited, busy with commerce and fisheries and agriculture. It was a little country, not much larger than Rhode Island, but it had a population of possibly two millions. And its people were genial, hospitable, polished by intercourse with merchants, soldiers, travellers and scholars from East and West, charitable to the views of others, ready to receive new views themselves. The bigots of Judea offered for the seed that Christ would sow, hearts as hard and barren as the stony hills that made up their land; but the people of Galilee gave better promise of abundant harvest. The soil was rich and easily tilled; the seed would surely grow if the thorns did not choke it. The first step in the Galilean ministry was to gain the attention of the people. This was done by miracle-working. We shall study the miracles somewhat fully at another time; now it is enough to treat them as trumpet-blasts which drew the people in crowds about the new Prophet. How . they thronged Him and pressed Him we can MOUNT OF THE TWELVE 61 hardly realize. In these Western lands we are un- excitable by nature and homekeepers by inclina- tion; but in the Orient men regard their homes as temporary stopping-places, and the mere rumour of the supernatural will throw a whole region into frenzy. As soon as Jesus’ fame went abroad, the highways of Syria were filled with excited people, hastening to see Him or hoping to be healed by Him (Matt. 4:24). Many of these, having little to draw them back to their homes, remained with Him and constituted a large but fluctuating body of disciples. Whether their presence was a help or a hindrance in His work is a fair question for discussion. But out of that body of disciples sprang the apostolate—the great human instru- ment for establishing the Kingdom of God among men. From the beginning of His Galilean ministry Christ had seen the need of assistants. In Judea He could stand singly before the rulers; but in Galilee it was necessary to multiply Himself. in order to meet the multitude. For this reason He must select out of His disciples certain ones who should share His daily life, listen to private ex- planations of His hard sayings, be patiently trained until they were in mind like Himself, and then with the gift of miraculous power be sent through the land preaching His gospel. This was the first and immediate purpose of the apostolate. But in the background stretched a grander work. 62 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD If Galilee like Judea should reject its Messiah, and the cross should terminate the work of Jesus, then these apostles, witnesses of His life and filled with His spirit, could go forth to proclaim His salvation to the ends of the earth. Accordingly, at the outset Jesus hunted up four of His former disciples, who had returned to their fisherboats when the work in Judea was aban- doned; and He gave them a new and special call, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” ‘A little later in like manner He called Matthew. Perhaps the others, too, were given special calls; perhaps they came of their own accord, and showed in their discipleship the material out of which apostles could be made. In all they were twelve men,—a number not too large for the inti- mate association He wished to have with them, and specially significant as equalling the number of the tribes of Israel. Their appointment to be apostles came not many weeks after the opening of the Galilean ministry, though they were not sent forth for work apart from the Master until that ministry was near its close. We are tempted to ask, What were the thoughts of Jesus in the lone night of prayer before He chose the apostles; and what were the words He spoke in the early morning when He told them that henceforth they were to be privileged to share His life and work? Instead, it may be more profitable to ask, What manner of men were these MOUNT OF THE TWELVE 63 twelve whom Jesus selected to become the founda- tion stones of His church? It has been said most truly that there is no grander illustration of the power of Christ, no more notable miracle, than the transformation He wrought when, from catch- ers of fish and collectors of customs, He made these men into apostles. ‘“‘ The marvel is, not that the fishermen of Galilee conquered the world, but that Jesus of Nazareth made them its conquerors. The wonder lies in the making of the men, not in their doings.” We fail to realize this because, too often, the apostles seem to us unlike all other men. The halo of saintship, which later ages placed upon them, obscures their features, and makes us see them dimly as great and good and far removed from ourselves. Let us look at them without such disguise as they stand before Jesus. First, of course, is Peter. He was always first, —impulsive, energetic, acting before he thought and repenting afterwards. If Jesus asked a ques- tion, Peter was ready with an answer, wise or otherwise; if Jesus came walking on the water, Peter scrambled over the side of the boat to walk on the water too; if the risen Christ was seen standing on the shore, Peter could wait neither to row the boat to the land nor to put on his coat before he hastened to His side. Peter may have been, as tradition says, the oldest of the Twelve, he certainly was always the foremost of them. Simon was his name; but our Lord, reading his 64 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD character, called him Peter, a stone. The appella- tion fitted him so exactly that it became his cus- tomary name; men called him “Stone,” just as Thomas Jackson was called Stonewall Jackson, until they almost forgot that he had another name. The best analysis of Peter’s character is that which Dr. Hitchcock gives. “He was a man of great natural audacity and force; coarse, homely, rugged, stout, tenacious, powerful, of that class of men, not large, who break down old walls and bring in new ages. And yet a man of variable impulses and changeful moods. Under strong ex- citement he stood firm as a granite rock. Hence his surname, Peter. But the quick heat might be quickly chilled. And then the granite crumbled: the rock became a sand-heap. His judgment could not always be trusted. His feelings would some- times snatch the bit and run away with him. His greatest strength was sometimes his greatest weak- ness. His large, warm heart overmastered him. It was hard for him to be parted from his friends. It was hard for him to go against the wishes and opinions of his associates. Even those with whom he might be casually in contact had undue power over him, not from lack of positive convictions of his own, but because his great, hungry heart craved sympathy and fellowship. He wanted men to think well of him and feel kindly towards him. An overweening love of approbation was his one great weakness. And so he lay, as such men al- MOUNT OF THE TWELVE 65 ways do, very much at the mercy of his com- panions and his circumstances. John’s heart was a lodestone that pointed always steadily to the pole. Peter’s heart was a lodestone easily dis- turbed and shaken. Of physical courage he had no lack. In his rough, plebeian mold he was the very incarnation of it. It was boiling in his veins;' it was stamped upon his brow; it sounded in his tread. But in moral courage, that immeasurably finer and rarer sort, he was sadly deficient.” Peter’s brother was Andrew. He was the man of practical, shrewd, ingenious mind,—the Yankee of the Twelve. Somebody says that Andrew was the man who was always finding things. He, to- gether with John, was the first to find the Christ. When the Baptist said of the mysterious stranger, “Behold the Lamb of God,’ Andrew conceived the idea of following Him and finding where He abode. Andrew was the first to find another dis- ciple for Jesus, hunting up his brother Simon with the news, “‘ We have found the Messiah.” He was the man who found the boy with the five loaves and two fishes, when the afternoon was drawing to a close, and supper began to be an important question. He was the man whom Philip consulted when doubting whether to introduce the Greeks to Jesus; Andrew’s advice was likely to be good on any such practical question. A very useful man, Andrew, an excellent man for a church officer. 66 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD Then came James and John, the two sons of Zebedee. Apparently their social position was higher than that of the others. They were ac- quaintances, perhaps kindred, of the high-priest;' they seem to have been specially intimate with the prominent family of Bethany; before they fol- lowed Jesus they had their own servants; and, later on, their mother was one of the women who ministered unto Him with her substance. Yet it was not their position but their disposition that made them prominent among the Twelve. Boan- erges, Sons of Thunder, so Christ called them; passionate, impetuous, full of fire and zeal. We remember they wanted to work a miracle of de- ‘struction upon the Samaritan village which refused to receive their Master. We remember they sought seats closest to Christ when He should come into His kingdom, and were sure that they were able to drink of His cup and be baptized with His baptism. Their mother joined with them when they made this request, and they seem to have inherited their natures from her. James was the elder, and for a time the leader of the two; but his fiery nature early found a martyr’s grave. John was probably the youngest of the Twelve,— the boy disciple. That fact should be borne in mind in the study of his life. I think it was one reason why Christ showed him such marked af- fection, making him forever distinguished as the MOUNT OF THE TWELVE 67 disciple whom Jesus loved. And the ardour of his own nature, reciprocating that affection, made him pre-eminently the disciple who loved Jesus. Per- haps it was because he came to Christ so young that he grew more Christlike than the rest. We say that the heart of Jesus is to be found in the Gospel of John. Is it not because the heart of John was thus early given to Jesus? Peter and Andrew, James and John form the great quartette,—the four whose names head each list of the apostles, and whose lives came into closest contact with that of the Master. First in the second four is Philip. He was a fellow-townsman of Peter and Andrew; and of his first call it is noted that Jesus found him, as if the Lord had been specially looking for him. Perhaps Philip otherwise would not have found Jesus; for he was slow and cautious, a thoughtful man, care- ful and hesitating, a great contrast to Peter and the Sons of Thunder. We may know his charac- ter from the prudent way in which he went to con- sult Andrew when the Greeks wanted him to in- troduce them to Jesus. Peter would have rushed them into the Master’s presence or driven them away, as the mood happened to be uppermost. Not so Philip; he would first talk it over with Andrew. We can see his turn of mind in the ex- actness with which he tells Nathanael that they have found the Christ: ‘“ We have found him of 68 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” There it is, all summed up and logically set forth; Philip has thought the whole through, and is putting it in his usual exact form. But the most amusing illustration of Philip’s nature is in connection with the feeding of the five thousand. I fancy I can see a gleam of mirth in the eye of Jesus as he calls Philip to Him and asks, ‘‘ Whence are we to buy bread that these may eat?” Jesus knows ex- actly what He is going to do; but He cannot re- sist the inclination to put just that question to the logical, precise, unimaginative Philip. And Philip takes it in all seriousness, figures out the problem, and answers with his usual exactness, “Two hundred shillings’ worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one may take a little.’ A good man, Philip; a most worthy dis- ciple; but tediously prosaic and matter-of-fact sometimes. I wonder how he felt, after all his mathematical calculation, when he saw Christ break the loaves and spread the feast before the multitude! The sixth apostle was Bartholomew. Probably he was the same as Nathanael,—Bar means son; so his full name would be Nathanael, the son of Talmai. Identifying him with Nathanael, we have a clear picture of his character in his first meeting with Jesus. He was from Cana of Galilee. Tradi- MOUNT OF THE TWELVE 2 LOS tion has it that he was the groom to whose mar- riage Jesus was invited, though it seems improb- able that he would be with John the Baptist only three days before the wedding. His reply to Philip, ‘“‘Can any good thing come out of Naza- reth? ”, has often been quoted to prove that Nazareth bore a bad reputation. There is no other proof; and Nathanael’s words simply refer to the fact that, as we know from other sources, no prophet was expected to appear in Galilee (John 7:52), and Bethlehem was recognized by Scrip- ture students as the promised birthplace of the Messiah (Matt. 2:5). His question reveals his humility and also his knowledge of the Scriptures. Christ’s own words concerning Nathanael, ‘“ Be- hold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile,” are the highest praise He ever gave of any man un- less it be John the Baptist. By it we know how pure and transparent the heart of Nathanael must have been, “in whom was no doublemindedness, impure motive, pride or unholy passion; a man of gentle and meditative spirit in whose mind heaven lay reflected like the blue sky in a still lake on a calm summer day.” When we think how much of duplicity and ostentation there is in most men, even in Christians, we long to meet Nathanael, the son of Talmai, and refresh ourselves with his transparent truthfulness. Thomas is an apostle of whom we would know 70 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD merely his name, were it not for John’s gospel; but three incidents therein recorded place him be- fore us plainly. Thomas was the man who looked on the dark side of life, the perpetual prophet of misfortune. He could not help it: the sunshine was always dim because his eyes were defective. Thomas loved his Master just as warmly as did the others; but he daily expected that disaster was going to overtake Him and them. When Jesus said He was going to Bethany to the grave of Lazarus, Thomas was sure the journey would end in His death; yet he said to the others, “ Let us also go, that we may die with him.” When Jesus at the Last Supper, speaking of going to prepare them a place in His Father’s house, said, ‘‘ Whither I go, ye know the way,’ it was Thomas who in- terrupted, “Lord we know not whither Thou goest; how know we the way?” He would like to know and follow, but the whole matter is dis- couragingly mysterious to him. And when, after the resurrection, the disciples tell him they have seen the Lord, he is sure they have allowed their fancies to cheat them; the news is too good to be true; he must see for himself, and apply sterner tests before he can believe. His doubt did not spring from unwillingness to believe but from despondency. There are men like Thomas in every church. They are interested in its welfare, ready to work for it; but always they can see MOUNT OF THE TWELVE G1 nothing but failure ahead. They are fearful that new converts will not hold out, that new measures are a mistake. They are doubtful, sometimes about their own salvation, sometimes about the sincerity of other Christians. They hesitate and jament and prophecy disaster, and refuse to ac- cept the cheering statements of their brethren, until only our recognition of their constitutional infirmity and of their sincere love keeps us from losing all patience with them. How Peter and Thomas got along together is a problem. I fancy they mutually respected each other, and journeyed apart. Levi Matthew or Matthew Levi was the pub- lican. ‘That signifies much. While his business was not necessarily dishonest, it was generally fol- lowed by rascals and was always odious. Of all the men whom Jesus chose to be apostles, the choice of Matthew must have caused most scan- dal. We know how it stirs up a modern com- munity when some publican is received into the church; all the Pharisees draw away, and the scribes shake their heads, and Jerusalem is in a hubbub. But Matthew was earnest and honest. He had heard of Jesus; and the moment he was called, he forsook all and followed Him. The old life was abandoned, the new life accepted; and that was all Jesus demanded. He came to call sinners, and Matthew claimed to be nothing other. 72 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD Woe to any church so sanctimonious that it can- not receive into its membership the vilest man, the lowest woman, who honestly forsakes sin and wishes to follow Christ! Matthew was a useful disciple. He had learned human nature, and he turned his knowledge to good account. When he wished his fellow publicans to hear Jesus, how did he go to work to bring it about? Send them an invitation to attend the synagogue on a cer- tain morning when Jesus was going to preach? Not at all. Those publicans could not be coaxed nor driven nor dragged into the synagogue; they never came to its services and purposed not to come. Neither would they come to a prayer meet- ing, if Matthew should arrange for one in his own house. ‘The very mention of a prayer meeting would so scare them that you could not get within speaking distance of them for a month. Ah no! Matthew understood these publicans; he had been one himself. So he made a feast, and invited them to that; and they came,—every publican in Capernaum. And then, when they had eaten a good dinner, and felt generally comfortable and complaisant, and had lost all suspicion of sermon or prayer meeting, Matthew knew that they would listen to Jesus. Matthew is the disciple who knows how to use worldly wisdom in Christ’s service. Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, and Matthew,— these make up the second four of the twelve. The MOUNT OF THE TWELVE 3 third four, excepting the last, are little more to us than names. There was James the son of Al- pheus, whom Mark calls James the Little to dis- tinguish him from the greater James, the son of Zebedee. There was his brother, Judas (not Iscariot), who seems to have had two other names, Lebbeus and Thaddeus, so that we may call him the three-named disciple. There was Simon the Cananzan, whose name does not mean that he be- longed to Canaan but that he was a Zealot. The Zealots formed a Jewish party that hated the Romans with special bitterness, and on one oc- casion rose in rebellion when a census was being taken for the purpose of assigning taxes. To see Simon among the Twelve would certainly make the Romans suspect that Jesus was planning a revolt.. Simon was the tax-hater, even as Mat- thew was the tax-gatherer; the two men had come from opposite extremes to follow Jesus side by side. Last of the number in every list is Judas, whose name is always coupled with the term, traitor. The study of his complex character with its pos- sibilities of good, as indicated by the fact that Jesus chose him to be one of the Twelve, and with its increasing abandonment to evil, would require more space than we can here afford. But note the significance of the name, Iscariot. Ish means man, and Kerioth is a little town in Judea (Josh. 15:25); Judas was the man from Kerioth. He 74 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD was the only apostle not a Galilean: that in itself would separate him from the rest. And in char- acter and training he doubtless was like the other Judeans: that would separate him still further. Unless by the power of love he could break down these barriers, he never could become one with his brethren. And love seems to have been lack- ing in his heart. The Messianic expectations that led him to become a disciple were erroneous; but so were those also of the other disciples. Peter and the rest were carried in safety through trying hours of disappointment by love to Jesus and to one another; but Judas did not love. So he fell away more and more until at last he went to his own place, covered with eternal infamy. Such were the twelve men who constituted the first Christian church, men of familiar types, men of like passions with ourselves. Each had his strong individuality; and the strength of the apostolate lay in their diversity of character. They never lost that diversity; and yet, as the years went by and they became stronger, holier men, they grew more like each other,—all except the traitor who walked apart. Peter grew less impulsive, and James less fiery; Thomas lost some- thing of his doubt, and Philip somewhat of his phlegm. It was because Christ was making them all more like Himself. It is the same change that His loving companionship works in those who fol- MOUNT OF THE TWELVE 15 low Him to-day. Diverse, widely diverse, as we are by nature, we grow more like each other as we all grow more like Christ. Self disappears, and we are no longer Peter or James or Andrew, but we are apostles of the Lord. V THE MOUNT OF THE SERMON HE main work of Jesus in the Galilean ministry was public preaching and teach- ing. Mark begins his account of it, “Now, after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God”; and he says that on one oc- casion—and there were many like it—Jesus “ saw a great multitude of people, and He had compas- sion on them because they were as sheep not hav- ing a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.” In the synagogues and in private houses, on the seashore and on the mountainside, wher- ever the people crowded to see and hear Him, He told them the good tidings of the Kingdom. John the Baptist was a voice crying in the wilderness; Jesus was the Great Teacher holding forth in the crowded market-place. Suppose that we had been among the audience who listened as He spoke to one of those Galilean throngs, what would we have noticed both in Him and in His words that would force us to declare, ‘“‘ Never man spake like this man ’’? First, perhaps, the bearing of the Speaker. He is a young man, and gray-haired listeners with critical ears stand in the foremost row around 76 MOUNT OF THE SERMON CG Him. He is the son of a carpenter in an insig- nificant village, and here are rulers of synagogues and Roman officers and members of the San- hedrin. He has attended no school beyond the humble one in Nazareth, but now He must ad- dress rabbis who have studied for years at Jeru- salem. Nevertheless He shows no sign of em- barrassment or self-distrust or desire to win approval. On the other hand, there is no trace of self-conceit or arrogance. Just at this moment He is the foremost figure in Galilee. The people are thronging to Him; the scholars are discussing Him; King Herod is desirous to see Him. Yet Jesus in His bearing is as free from haughtiness as from servility. He is not indifferent to the opinions of men: His preaching thrills us with its earnest entreaty that they should believe Him and follow Him. But when He is treated with con- tempt and hatred, His sorrow is not for Himself but for those who reject His invitation and His message. What men think of Him is a matter of grave concern, solely because it vitally affects them. As He stands thus before them His very bearing proclaims, “I seek not mine own glory, and I receive not honour from men.” When He begins to speak, of whom does He remind us? How shall we describe Him to our friends at home? We can best answer that by asking others what they think of Him. The be- lief is widespread that He is one of the old 78 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD prophets returned to earth again. Which one? Ask your neighbour on the right, and the answer is, “ He surely is Elijah. There is a glow of holy anger in His eye when He beholds iniquity, there is a ring of indignation in His voice when He de- nounces sin, there is a fearlessness in His attitude when enemies confront Him, that make me certain He is Elijah come from heaven to herald the Mes- siah.” ‘Turn to your neighbour on the left, and he says, “It seems to me that He is Jeremiah. Do you note the sadness of His face, the tender- ness of His tone, the sympathy He shows towards all suffering and trouble, and the love He has for our nation? This is Jeremiah, the prophet of sor- row.” — A young man preaching in a boat. What was it ye went out to hear By sea and land, from far and near? A teacher? Rather seek the feet Of those who sit in Moses’ seat. Go, humbly seek and bow to them, Far off in great Jerusalem, From them that in her courts she saw, Her perfect doctors of the law. What is it ye came here to note ?— A young man preaching in a boat. 80 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD A prophet? Boys and women weak Declare, or cease to rave, Whence is it he hath learned to speak? Say who his doctrine gave? A prophet? Prophet wherefore he Of all in Israel’s tribes? He teacheth with authority, And not as do the scribes.” Mark says that ‘‘the common people heard him gladly” (12:37), or we might translate it “the crowd heard Him with a relish.” As we listen we cannot wonder, for of all fascinating speakers He is chief. He is a master of style. In short, clear, crisp sentences, which rivet atten- tion and cling to memory, He sets forth His truths. There is nothing scholastic about His statements; the unlettered man or the child can grasp every word. Theology to-day is full of hard terms, but they were not taken from the teachings of Jesus. Paul is responsible for many of them; and Paul was a converted rabbi. Jesus was a man of the people, the common people; and He spoke to them in their own language. Nevertheless those same simple sentences, clearcut and full of light as precious gems, are often beyond our full comprehension. We talk about the obscure pas- sages in the Epistles; even Peter acknowledged that sometimes he found brother Paul “ hard to be understood.” But the obscurest things in Paul’s writings are easy to understand compared with the words of Christ. The difficulties in Paul arise MOUNT OF THE SERMON 81 from incomplete statements, obscure logic, in- volved thought. The difficulties in Christ’s words arise from the marvellous amount of meaning they contain. They are simple but wondrously pro- found. They are like the clear water of a fathom- less mountain lake. You gaze far down into the depths but you cannot see the bottom. There is nothing to hinder except your own weak sight. The waters are like crystal, but they are too deep for your eyes. The world has been studying those simple words of Christ for nearly nineteen cen- turies, and yet their meaning is not exhausted. Concerning them we are ready to cry with St. Augustine of old, ‘Marvellous, O God, is the depth of Thy utterances; like a great sea their smiling surface breaks into ripples at the feet of our little ones, but into their unfathomable depths the wisest may gaze with a shudder of amazement and a thrill of love.” Jesus is also the master of illustrations. He finds them everywhere; for this world, made by His Father, is to Him in every part a revelation of that Father. So He does not hesitate to use the humblest, homeliest things to make clear the meaning of His greatest lessons. Where is the preacher to-day who would venture to compare himself to a hen, or would illustrate the need of persistency in prayer by a man who will not get | out of bed for fear of waking the babies beside him? Yet Jesus does not hesitate to do it. The 82 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD farmer going forth to sow, the housewife sweeping the floor to find a lost bit of silver, the yeast placed in a measure of meal, the fish net, the old wineskin, the patched garment,—such common things are the means by which He makes the truth clear to His hearers. He uses illustrations con- stantly in His teaching, holding the attention of His audience, as we hold the attention of children, by showing them pictures. Often the illustration is given not in words but in acts, as when He washes His disciples’ feet to teach them humility. In fact, as a recent writer puts it, ‘“‘ We can say that the whole active work of Jesus was an ex- position of His teaching through His own ex- ample.” Most remarkable of ail His illustrations are the parables. Germs of parables,—brief sayings that might be developed into full parables,—are found scattered all through His teaching, giving it force and clearness. Such, for example, is His question, “What man is there of you who, if his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone?” Of the fully developed parables only about thirty have been preserved for us; but in the English language alone the number of volumes written about them mounts up into the hundreds. The prodigal son, the good Samaritan, the sower, the tares, the talents—how beautiful and wonderful these are! Where can you find anything like them? What cunning literary craftsman will un- MOUNT OF THE SERMON 83 dertake to frame companions for them? And on the other hand, of what other man with similar mental gifts——were such a one anywhere to be found,—could it be said, ‘“ Throughout His re- corded discourses we never find that He has given free play to His fancy in order merely to please Himself and others or for the sake of showy em- bellishment. The one aim of Jesus in regard to style and method was to make His meaning plain, and show the importance of His ideas. ‘There- fore, He never used the arts of speech in order to beguile His hearers by too lightly carrying them over the difficulties of His teaching, or smoothing over offensive strictness.” Without dwelling longer on the manner of Jesus’ teaching, let us turn to the matter of it. His cen- tral theme during the Galilean ministry is the Kingdom of God. The people are full of confused and selfish ideas about it: He must make them un- derstand what it really is before He can offer Him- self to them as its King. Satan had suggested the opposite course,—that He first display His kingly power, and then, when men have accepted Him, reveal to them the nature of His Kingdom. Plau- sible but false! If men choose Him as their King, not knowing what He demands, their allegiance means nothing; and if they place Him upon the throne of their own base desires, they are really worshipping not Him but Satan. But can He make men know and seek the kingdom He longs 84 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD to establish? That is the problem of the Galilean ministry. It remains a problem to-day. On that same mountain where He chose His apostles He placed before the multitude the pro- gram of His Kingdom in the address we call the Sermon on the Mount. So Matthew tells us; but Luke says that first He came down with the Twelve, and stood “on a level place” (6:17). We may remove this discrepancy by supposing the level place was that between the two knobs of the Horns of Hattin. Luke differs also from Matthew by assigning portions of the Sermon to other oc- casions when Jesus addressed a multitude. Prob- ably he is right, and Matthew placed together and arranged the sayings because he recognized that they all bore upon questions such as the hearers on the Mount were asking. Whenever men lis- tened to Him about the Kingdom, they must have asked, What is it? Who will be in it? What are its laws and its lifep The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ answer,—His royal proclamation to the world. In it we have the substance of what He taught the people of Galilee. Deeper lessons were to be given the Twelve,—lessons concerning the cup and the cross; but the time for these was not yet. He begins the Sermon by stating who are mem- bers of the Kingdom or, more exactly, how they may be known. As a man born into the Jewish kingdom is known by the fleshly mark of circum- MOUNT OF THE SERMON 85 cision; so a man, who by the new birth has become a member of the Kingdom of God and shares its blessedness, is known by a spiritual mark, set forth in the Beatitudes,—humility, sorrow over sin, meekness, yearning after righteousness, merciful- ness, purity of heart, pacificness, endurance of persecution for righteousness’ sake. The passive and the active virtues alike are recognized in these eight Beatitudes: there is a place in the Kingdom for all loyal subjects, both those whose obedience is shown chiefly in bringing their own spirits into harmony with the spirit of Jesus, and those who labour and suffer to make the world what He would have it be. Notice that the marks differ, and the blessedness accompanying each is distinct in form. We might say that the Kingdom of God is here divided into eight provinces, all under one Lord and one law. This unity beneath diversity is not always recognized; and the result is jealousy or strife between the different subjects. Those who mourn over sin distrust the beatific visions of the pure in heart; and those who rejoice in perse- cution denounce the peacemakers as traitors. We are reminded of the feeling between the Thirteen States when first they were joined in lasting union. It seems strange to-day to read how Virginia doubted the loyalty of New York, and Massachu- setts thought her interests clashed with those of the Carolinas. It will seem more strange some day to read of the present jealousies and dissen- 86 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD sion between the different provinces of the King- dom of God. Knowing who the subjects of the Kingdom are, we next are told what they are to do. Briefly, they are to save their fellow-men. Sin works cor- ruption: “ Ye are the salt of the earth” to check it. Evil covers the world like a black cloud: “Ye are the light of the world” to dispel it. Nothing is said about entering the Kingdom to save oneself. ‘That result is brought about, but almost incidentally; it is not the chief thing to be sought. The sailor on a merchant vessel is car- ried from New York to Calcutta; but the reason why he shipped was not that he might be trans- ported to the antipodes but that he might help bring the precious cargo thither. The Christian does gain eternal life; but it is given him that he may become a well-spring of life to others. Salt that is tasteless might as well be white sand; and a candle not burning is as useful under a bushel as on a stand. Now concerning the law of the new Kingdom, —for every kingdom must have a law—what rela- tion does it bear to the law given by Moses? There must have been among Christ’s hearers, not only men who magnified the Mosaic law and op- posed the least change in it, but also men who were groaning under its exactions and looking for the day when the prophet, whom Moses had foretold, should appear and abolish it. Christ’s declaration MOUNT OF THE SERMON 87 disappointed both. To the one He said, “ The righteousness of My Kingdom must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees ”’; to the other, ‘‘ Not one jot or tittle of the law is to pass away.” The old law could not be abolished, for it is a declara- tion of the will of God; and the will of God, being eternal, is changeless. Nevertheless in all of God’s handiwork there is the contrast between the out- ward manifestation which is fleeting, and the inner reality which is permanent. The form changes, the substance persists. The ceremonial law is lifted from the Jerusalem which is in Judea to the Jerusalem which is above; and the moral law is heard no longer in the thunders of Sinai but in the gentle voice of the Great Teacher. The Mosaic law is not to pass away but to be fulfilled. And what is fulfilment? The Pharisees said, ‘It is literal and strict obedience to every command, even the smallest.” And they toiled unceasingly in this dreary bondage. Jesus said, “Tt is filling full,—bring forth all that lies hidden in the law, as the great and stately oak is brought forth from the acorn.”’ Development is fulfilment. The law of Moses seemed as hard and lifeless as the granite on which it was written. The scribes guarded it jealously, and stored it in a coffer made out of traditions, and gave more thought and honour to the coffer then to its contents. Jesus treated this same law as a living seed, and plant- ing it within the heart made it spring up into the ‘ 88 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD beautiful flower of Christian obligation. I need not point out the way in which He took its various commands, and showed how they are to be trans- formed into laws for His Kingdom through the vital force of love which is hid within them. The law has not passed away; it has grown vastly greater and more difficult, since obedience is no longer of outward form but of inward spirit. Keeping the commands of Moses is child’s play compared with keeping the commands of Jesus. He set the standard in a single sentence, “ Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” In contrast with this the “Thou Shalt” and “Thou shalt not” of the Decalogue are petty precepts. We listen and cry, “Who is sufficient for these things? ” While the multitude were still filled with amaze- ment at this new Law-giver who, with a superior- ity that was either the level of divinity or the height of conceit, prefaced each command with, “Ye have heard that it was said, but I say unto you,” Jesus began next to speak of the daily life in His Kingdom. Religious duties,—almsgiving, prayer, fasting,—will not be abolished; but their value will depend wholly upon the spirit-in which they are performed. ‘They are matters first and mainly between ourselves and God; and desire for man’s approval must not be allowed to influence them. The charity that trumpets forth its gift; the prayer that by length and loudness calls at- MOUNT OF THE SERMON 89 tention to our intercourse with heaven; the fasting that stalks the streets with dismal countenance and unkempt hair,—these are not intended for God: they are endeavours in the guise of religion to win favour and fame from men. True, Jesus told us to let our light shine; but it is one thing to be seen to do good, and quite another to do good to be seen. A reputation for saintliness is profitable in certain earthly ways, and the man who is pious that he may gain glory of men, verily he has his reward. Let him rest satisfied with it, and not fancy that also he gains favour with God. We can lay up treasure on earth or in heaven; we cannot do both. We can serve God with our whole heart, or we can just as heartily serve mam- mon; but if we think to be faithful to both, we are attempting the impossible. So, too, in our daily toil—for the subjects of Christ’s Kingdom are to bear their part in the world’s work: life is not to be all almsgiving with- out money getting, all entering into the closet without entering into the workshop, all Fastdays with no Thanksgivings,—in our daily toil there is to be like singleness of mind. Jesus said, “ Take no thought for your life.”” The Revised Version translates it “ Be not anxious.” A still better and more exact translation is “‘ Be not distracted;”— that is, don’t have a mind drawn two ways at once,—thinking of God and thinking also of self. The ravens have no anxiety, they look to God 90 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD for food and accept what He sends. The lilies are not distracted; they put forth leaf and bud and blossom with the single purpose of glorifying God with their beauty. But man, in his wonderful mingling of power and weakness, is ever distracted and full of worry,—looking to God for food, yet fancying it all depends upon his own exertions; seeking to do his heavenly Father’s will, and at the same time to please himself. No wonder life is hard. If we could take everything into our own hands, and leave God out, life would be simple. If we would commit everything to God, and leave self out, life would be simple. But so long as we cannot do all things ourselves, and will not trust all to God, so long we are doomed to be torn asun- der between hope and fear, conscious strength and conscious weakness. Rest in a Father’s care. We have our needs, few or many; but He knows them all. There may be evils in the morrow; but He alone controls the morrow. And concerning the evils of to-day, there are just sufficient,—not one too many, not one too few,—for the best good of His children. Still another great class of duties is those to our fellow-man. Concerning these Jesus lays down three simple but comprehensive rules. First, avoid censoriousness. Judgments are blunderbusses more dangerous to the man who fires them, than to the one at whom he aims. As quaint old Quarles puts it, “ He that cleanseth a blot with MOUNT OF THE SERMON ~ 91 blotted fingers, makes only a greater blur.” Sec- ond, use discrimination; don’t feed swine with pearls. There is a fitness of time and place and mood for the holy things we wish to impart. Oc- casions are not always opportunities. When a man is rushing to catch an express train I wouldn’t stop him to bestow a tract on profanity. And third, in all difficult labours among men, remem- ber that the source of strength and wisdom is God. Ask Him, and it shall be given. “ Therefore,”— and here, says Luther, Our Lord sums up His in- struction concerning our duties to our fellow-man into a little bundle which every man can put into his bosom and easily carry along with him,—“ all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them, for this is the law and the prophets.” With this, the Golden Rule, Christ ends the de- scription of His Kingdom. ‘There remain only some solemn words of warning concerning the difficulty of entering into it, and the danger from false guides whose words sound well, but whose works belie them; and finally the two parables of the house upon the rock and the house upon the sand.” ‘“ And it came to pass when He had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching.” Can we wonder at their astonish- ment? The world has had the Sermon on the Mount before it for eighteen centuries: has it begun to take it as the guide of daily life? The 92 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD world admires it. Many a man, assailing the church, declares, ‘“‘'The Sermon on the Mount is all the sermon I care for: the Golden Rule is re- ligion enough for me.” But do we ever meet a man who can honestly say, ‘I follow the Sermon on the Mount; I live up to the Golden Rule’? Ah! that sermon is the ideal and the despair of human living! The more we strive to obey it, the more we recognize our frequent failure, and seek the Master for His forgiveness and help. And yet,—what a world this might be, if only we did fashion it as Christ commanded us. What a world this will be, when the Kingdom of God is fully established, and the Sermon on the Mount is the law of all human life. VI THE MOUNT OF THE MIRACLE nence he deserves: he is lost in the glory of his cousin, the Nazarene. Had he stood fur- ther away,—among the Old Testament prophets to whom he belongs,—we might have gazed upon him long and admiringly; but now, after a hasty glance, we turn to behold the Lamb of God whom he pointed out. Who stops to look at the herald when the king is at hand? A study of John’s course reveals how at every step he was the forerunner of the Messiah. The beginning of his life forms a date for the begin- ning of the life of Jesus (Luke 1:26). His voice in the Wilderness summons Jesus from the work- shop at Nazareth to receive John’s baptism and that of the Holy Ghost. He points out the Mes- siah to his disciples, and they are the first to ac- knowledge and follow Him. His imprisonment is the signal to begin the Galilean ministry, which opens with his own great message, “‘ Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And his death, a few months later, is recognized by Jesus to foreshadow His own: ‘“ Elijah is come already, 93 ic the Baptist is seldom given the promi- 94. MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD and they knew him not, but did unto him what- soever they would; even so shall the Son of man also suffer of them.” As the wicked husbandmen have slain the servant, so they will slay the Son; and the work in Galilee must be brought to a close, that in the time remaining before His death, Jesus may have leisure and quiet for training the Twelve. It is hard to realize how crowded the Galilean days were, and, in particular, how unceasing was the demand for miracles. Fortunately we have the record of one twenty-four hours, from which we can infer what the others must have been. Jesus is in Capernaum on the Sabbath; and, like all devout Jews, goes to the synagogue for the morning service. After the Scriptures are read, He is invited to speak to the people. His address makes a deep impression, though more by the au- thority with which He speaks than by what He says. A demoniac interrupts Him with wild cries and breaks up the service, whereupon He casts out the unclean spirit and all are amazed. Then He goes to the house of Peter; where, finding his mother-in-law sick with a fever, He heals her. The fame of these deeds spreads through the city; and as soon as sunset removes the Sabbath re- strictions, the house is surrounded by an eager crowd who have brought their sick and demonized for healing. He heals many. The next morning, rising long before daybreak, He goes out into a ‘}AeoYy Uelystayy AAI 0} Ivap woy} suryeu ‘sajqeied pue sapoeiru jo yuonboya ase axe, [N}FlNesq sty} JO saroys pue si9jeM IT, aLTITTVD tO VAS AHL MOUNT OF THE MIRACLE 95 lonely place to pray. Sunrise finds a fresh throng at Peter’s door waiting for the Great Physician. The disciples search Him out, and tell Him of this; but He, not wishing to have His ministry turned into a mere exercise of miraculous power, refuses to return to the city, and goes on with them to the next town. Thus the work continues day after day in repeated circuits of Galilee. Some writers refuse to accept the gospel record of Jesus’ miracles, dismissing them as a later in- vention; but then there is a little left to be ac- cepted, for miracles are inextricably woven into the whole account of His public ministry. Other writers reject all but His acts of healing, and ex- plain these as wrought by an unusual yet purely natural power of the mind upon the body; but again the record has to be revised and sadly mutilated to support this position. ‘Those who were eyewitnesses of what Jesus did, and have preserved the account for us, had no doubt that He wrought real miracles. And for those who ac- cept the Christian idea of God, and find in the character and teachings and influence of Jesus sufficient proof that He was the Son of God, the miracles are not a stumbling-block,—they are an harmonious part of His whole supernatural life and work. There was need that He should work miracles, and He had both the ability and the de- sire to work them. Like His words they were a revelation of the love and sympathy of His Father, 96 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF OUR LORD and a proclamation of the nature of His King- dom.