7 • • *- #** PRINCETON, N. J. jf. Presented Division .. ..O.O.i•^^. r '■^' ^-^ ) //''/. KifAv/nt/i . Fn»m rAron//f/M/wl/urf.h/sim fra/Z^nf/rficnf/^. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by UNITKD STATES PUIiMSHING CO., la the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. A PREFACE IMPORTANT TO BE READ BEFORE GOING FORWARD. The author of this book has not been deterred from his work by tht flippant remarks occasionally made in regard to writing a Life of Jesus, as if it were a semi-profane attempt to improve upon the EvangeKsts. Those who make such suggestions ought neither to preach sermons nor write pastoral lettei-s, lest they be suspected of an ambition to " improve" upon the Sermon on the Mount or the Epistles of Paul. The law which an author sets to himself in the composition of a book must be known before proper criticism can begin. If this volume, or any portion of it, be judged as if I had attempted a Life of Christ, the most gi'ievous misajiprehension of the volume and its axithor may be made. It is no more such a book than it is a vokmie of sermons or of poems. It carefully abstains from being a Life of Christ. A Life of Christ necessarily starts with the assumption that Jesus was Christ. It must be dogmatic, and can be useful mainly to Chi'istians. I have assumed no such thing. Nor have I assumed in this book that the original biographers, the four Evangelists and Paul, were inspired. I simply assume that their books are as trustworthy as those of Herodo- tus and Xenojjhon, of Tacitus and Cajsar. They write about the man Jesus, who was the son of Mary. They preserve Memorabilia of his acts and words. I deal with these evangelic biogi-aphers as I would with those classic authors. I strive to make a harmonious narrative from their records, and to ascertain what was the consciousness of Jesus as he performed each act and spoke each word, according to the laws of thought so far as they are known to me. This book must not be judged from any theologic stand-point. If my views of theology are of any importance, they must be sought in my Sermons, not here. » \ PREFACE. There will be foiind in this book a new translation of the sayings of Jesus. The ordinary rule in such cases is, not to make a literal render- ing of eacli word by its synonym in the tongue into which it is trans- ferred, but, to represent the idioms of one language by those of another. I have departed from that canon, because all who read this bf)t)k will have in their hands the Common Vei-sion, which, generally, does that work for them. The translations here furnished differ from those in the Common Version, in being usually almost strictly literal, and they have been purposely made so, that such of my readers as are unacquainted with the original may have an opportunity to compare a literal with an idiomatic version. My renderings from the Greek must be jiulged by scholars in the light of this statement. The lang\iage employed by Jesus was what is called the Palestinian Aramaic, which is also called Hebrew by early ecclesiastical writers, ac- cording to Papias, Irenseus, Oi'igen, Eusebius, and Jerome. Matthew's Gospel was ^\Titten in that language. Matthew may have written also the Greek version of liis own Gospel. Tlie books of Mark, and Luke, and John were written in Greek, a language which it is prob- able Jesus sometimes employed. The autographs of these four books are supposed to have perished, and so probably have all the copies made in the first three centuries. In addition to the \isual causes for the disappearance of books, we may mention in this case the tho- rough manner in which were executed the decrees of Diocletian in the beginning of the fourth century (February, A.D. 303) for the destruction of all thf sacred books of the Christians, for the purpose of extirj^ating " the superstition," as he called it. Notwithstanding the severe j)cnal- ties which impelled every magistrate to execute those decrees,- some copies escaped the flames. 'i'he Diocletian persecution closed a.d. 313. Constantine, the first Christian Emperor, ascended the throne A.D. 324. In A.D. 328 he re- called Eusebius, who had been banished, and, in a letter which Eusebius quotes in his Life of Constantine, the Emperor directed him to cause "fifty copies of the Sacred Scrijitures to be wi-itten on prepared parch- ment, in a legible manner, and in a ooniniodious and portable form, by transcribers thoroughly jiractiscd in the art." The completion of tliis work Constantine acknowledged in a subsequent letter to Eusebius. rilEFACE. V One of tliose co})ies, or perhaps the oldest copy of one of them, is the property of the Emperor of Russia. It is called the Codex Sintiiticus, because found in a convent on Mount Sinai, by Tischendorf, a learned' German. That copy, being the oldest extant, is the basis of my transla- tion. Whenever, therefore, the reader finds any of the words of Jesus in this book different from those in the common version, he wall under- stand that he is carried nearer to the fountain-head of the Jesus-literature. The difference in the characteristics of the four authors, commonly called Tlie Evangelists, is worthy of note. Matthew was a practical man of business ; Mark was an lesthetic observer ; Luke had a scientific bias, and John was devoutly metaphysical. We are permitted to see Jesus as he presented himself to four such students of his acts and ehar- acter. Our skill is to be exercised in combining their impressions. It is a great advantage to have a svibject placed in so many different lights Jesus was the Founder of a Faith. He lived centuries ago. The most diverse claims have been made for his person and his teachings. Almost every saying of his has become the basis of a dogma. It ■will not be wonderful, then, that historians come upon actions and utterances of his which involve difficulties. Some of these are still difficulties to me. In such cases I have frankly said, " I do not understand this." So would it be, I think, with any other honest student and fair wi'iter. By this candor I cannot lose the esteem of those whose esteem is worth haviiig. But, I have not avoided the hard places. Timid readers may wish I had. Wherever there seemed to me to be an explanation, I have given it. It may satisfy some. It may lead others to discover what is more satisfactoiy to themselves. In no case, I believe, will unlearned readers of good sense be perplexed, and in no case, I trust, will scholars be scandalized. Tliere has been no ambition to appear learned. To those who are not acquainted ^vith the languages in which the EvangeKsts wi-ote, or the languages in which learned men have commented on these works, I have endeavored to make the way plain by all needed helps. Nor has there been an ambition of originality. WTierever I have used the labors of others I have given credit, so far as I recollect. If any failure on this point has occurred, it has been through inadvertence. To repair that, and to send students to the sources of my own stream of information. VI PEEFACE. I have supplied a list of the books used iu the preparation of this vol- ume. I have read up in the literature of the subject as well as I could. Several impoi-tant works appeared after the most of my manuscript had been written, among which should be mentioned " Jesus : His Life and "Works," by Chancellor Crosby of this city, and the series of elo- quent sermons called " The Life of Christ," by Dr. Hanna of Edinburgh. Tlie former is scholarly, the latter dogmatic. Each has its place of use- fulness. So it will be found of every attempt in this line of thought. So long as people will buy and read works on Jesus, why should they not be \sTitten ? There is no more intex-esting field either for critical investigation or for devout contemplation. That there are already so many lives of Jesus will never be a reason to forbear, to any man who thinks he can write what others will read. It will be perceived that Dr. Crosby's book has almost the title of mine. The Rev. Mr. Fumess has recently published a work bearing the identical title. Yet my publishers obtained a copyright for the sim- ple title of this book before either of those others appeared or were kno^^'n to be in i)rocess of preparation. I shall not, however, sue for damages I Three books could scarcely be more different. All writers on this subject have difficulty with the chronology. In this book the terminal points of bii-th and death, I think, are trustwor- thy, especially the latter ; but many of the incidents in the life have been arranged in an order which I have seen reason to change several times. The result of my investigation is the conviction that it is not now in the power of human skill to arrange a harmony of the facts in this biograpliy, whicli shoidd be positively asserted to be the precise order in which they occurred. Here and there are some that we know preceded one the other. There can be no doubt as to the order of the Baptu^m, the Temptation, the Sermon on the Mount, the Transfiguration, etc., but minor incidents puzzle every chronologer. The groupings iu this book, OS it goes to the printer, are the last result of my most careful study, and have been adopted in no instance simply for picturesque effect. And that roniinds me to speak of the " illustrations." I have no objection to what will a.ssist to cxjtlain a matter of fact ; but as tliis i.s an honest book, nttt written for sensational results, I have refused al)so- lutely to have any picture in the book that was not taken on the spot, PKEFACE. VU or that was not an exact likeness of what it proposed to represent. It seems to me to be in bad taste to insert in the seiious biography of a great dead man fantastic pictures from painters who never visited the scenes among which he figured. I leam there is to be one excej)tion. The pubKshers inform me that they intend to engi-ave and insert a head of Jesus. If they choose to make a present to their purchasers of a fancy sketch, and if my read- ers are willing to accept it as a work of art, I have nothing to say. I shall not object. My taste and judgment, however, must not be held responsible for any such picture. There is no evidence that Jesus ever sat for his portrait. If he ever did, there is no certified copy extant. Mr. A. L. Rawson, a traveller and artist, in whom both the publishers and the author have confidence, has had charge of the whole department of illustrating this book, and his maps and pictures, in my judgment, add greatly to its value. It is a pleasure to be able to pay even part of a debt of kindness, in saying that I owe very mtich to the Mercantile Library of this city, and to its officers, especially to Mr. F. H. Houston, who was the Librarian when I began this work, and to his siiccessor, the present Librarian, Mr. A. M. Palmer, and to all the assistants of those two gentlemen. Tlie aid they have rendered me has greatly eni-iched that excellent col- lection and done much for future workers, wliile putting me in debt for manifold courtesies I can never wholly repay. In the preparation of these pages I am sure that there has been no am- bition of novelty ; but I have not been afraid of new things, nor has any opinion commended itself to me because it was old. Oh the other hand, novelty has been no recommendation and antiquity no disparagement. I have sought to know the truth. When I believed I had found it, I ^v^ote it, and now publish it without stopping to inquire whether these honest opinions will please or displease, or whether they put Jesus at an Advantage or a disadvantage. In this I have sought to imitate the spirit and style of the Evangelists. A man would be sadly stupid who should spend some years on a subject which, more than any other, has engrossed the stiidy of thoughtful men, without improving the opinions he formed in earlier life on less investigation. The preparation of this book haa been, to me, its own " exceeding great reward." Vlll PREFACE. As far as practicable, I have laid aside all dogmatic prepossessions But in writing this book I have been preparing a Memoir of my Dear- est Friend, and if, for that Friend's sake, and in the spirit of that Friend, I have dealt snih all the records most honestly, it is also fair to state that I have treated them with the reverence of manly love ; and, whatever may be the final decision of my readers, I conclude this work with a love for Jesus deeper and better than that which I feel for any other man dead or li^'ing. I have a final request. Wben my readers shall have read the whole book, and have attempted to answer the closing question on the 710th page, they will do themselves and me a favor if they will return to this page and answer tliis question : — If such a case can be made out by a rational examination of the Four Evangelists, on the ground that their memoirs are merely nU.MAN IN ALL RESPECTS, WHO IS JeSUS, ON THE FURTHER SUPPOSITION THAT THOSE MEMOIRS ARE DIVINELY INSPIRED RECORDS? My own belief is that they are inspired. That belief receives fresh confirmation from every examination of these books. On this grave subject I would not have myself misunderstood. It is because I am so thoroughly satisfied in my belief in the inspiration of these records that I have felt so safe in resting the argument of this volume on a basis which does not include that high claim. Charles F. Deems OBAVB. or TBM "CBTTRCn OF THB STRANOERa," 4 Winthrap FUoe, New York, Christmoi), lOTl. CONTENTS. PAET I. THE BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD OF JESUS. [lYom B.C. 6 to A.D. 8. Thirteen years and a AaJ/l] CHAPTER I. PBELIMINAIfX EVENTS, The birth ol John Baptist annovinccd, 15. — Mary and her genealogy, 17. — The birth of Jesus aiv noiinced, 19. — Mary's visit to Elizabeth, 20. — Bii-th of John, 21. — John's early life, 22. CHAPTER II. THE BIRTH OF JESUS : ITS DATE. Joseph's dream, 2.3. — Jesns bom, 2^3. — Examination of the chronology, 23. — Probable date, 28. — Another mode of approximation, 28. — From the death of Herod, 29. — From the astronomical cal- culation, 3U. — From the slaying of the Bothlehemite infants, .30. — From the taxing, or census, 31. CHAPTER III. THE PLACE OF THE BIBTH : THE CIRCUMCISION. Bethlehem, 36. — Site never lost, 37. — The caravanserai, 40. — Vision of angels by shepherds, 40. — Jesua circumcised, 41. — Simeon, 41. — Anna, 42. CHAPTER IV. HIS FIRST TEARS. The Magi : who and whence, 43. — Thoy find Jesus, 40. — They elude Herod, 47. — Joseph dreams again, 47. — The Might into EgyiJt, 47. — Herod massacres the babes of Bethlehem, 48. — The return from Egypt, 49. — N'a/.iircth, tlu- home of Jesns, 50. — Jesu.s, at twelve years of age, in the Temple, 61. — Missed and found, 52. — His life in Nazareth, 54. CHAPTER V. STATE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS DURING THE CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH OP JESUS. JuDiEA. Heroil the Great. .5(1. — Family of Horod, 5(). — His will, 58. — His funeral, 58. — ArchelaiLS, 68. — Troubles in st^ttling the succession, 58. — .'^abinus, 59. — Varus, GO. — Archelaus confirmed, 60. — The p^H.-udi)-Alcxander, (51. — Cyreuius, (i2. — Therevolt under J\i(la-s, (i2. — ilenahem, iti. — Coponius, ()3. — The Samaritans ];ollutc the Temple, 63. — Pontius Pilute outrages the Jews, 64. — Tacitus and Josepluis spi-ak of Jesus, 65. Galilkk. HiTod Anti|)as, (15. — In love with Herodias, 66. — Quarrels with Pilate, 66. — Heroiliaa, 66. — Charucter of Herod Antipas, 67. The Church. 'I'he High-priesthood, 67. — Caiaphas and Annas, 67. — The Sanhedrim, 68. The Sects. The Pharisees, 71. — The Sadducees, 71. — The Essenes, 72. — The Herodiaus, 72. PART II. mTRODUCTION OF JESUS TO HIS PUBLIC MINISTRY. [From A.D. 26 to A.D. 27. About one t/ear.] CHAPTER I. JOHN'S PREACHING AND MINISTRY. "The Baptist" opens the vmy for Jesus, 73.— Elijah, 73.— John's consecration, 74. — His mini.-rtTy, 7b. — SubsUmcc of his discourses : Repcntjiiice, 77. — Against formulism and scepticism, 78. — Aji- nouiuvd a coming kingdom, 79. — Announces the presence of the ruler, 80. — His baptism, 80. — His miniiilry not pcrmanuuUy effective, 82. CHAPTER II. JESUS DESIGNATED AT HIS BAPTISM BY JOHN. Jesus co'T'cs to be bapti/.ed by John, 84. — Wliy Jesus was baptized, 84. — Certain mistakes, 84. — John's previous acipi.-iijitunce with Jomis, 8*!. — .lohti dccliues to baptize Jesus, 87. — Momentous crisis, 87. — The descending dove, 88. — John and Jesus, 88. — John the dLscoverer of Jesus, 88. — A voice, 89. X CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. THE TEMPTATION. Aooounta by Ifntthew, Mark, and Luke, 91.— Place of the temiitation, 92.— F.xp1anatOT7 theorica, 99l —Sense of lii« humanity in Jckuk, '.t5.— Excitement of Jesus at his baptism, 96.— The collapse, 'M. — His niirrative (riven humanly, 98. Batan, 08.— liii-ji of Satan not pr(pi)fit8.— Rational probabilities of the exlrtence of Satan, 99, 100.— Satan of Jesus not Jewish, 100.— The Jewish idea not Persian, 100.— The Satjin of Job, lOL —Of David, 101.— Of the Chronicles, 101.— Of Zechariah, 101.— What Jesus believed about th« temptation, 102. First U-mptation, " the lust of the flesh," 10.3.— Second temptation, "the lust of the eye," m3.— Third temptation, " the pride of life." 104.— Assault on the Messiah Bide of Jesus, 105.— Satan's admis- sion, 105. Ministry of anfrels, KM).- Anpels the highest creatures, 106.— Their power, 107.- Their activity, 107. -Their intclliK'enoe, KIT.— Their holiness, lOS.— Their numbers, 108.— Agents of God, 109.— "Tho Angel of Jehovah," 109. — The angels minister to Jesus, 111. CHAPTER IV. THE FIRST DISCIPLES. Committee from the Pnnhodrim, 112.— John's testimony to Jesns, 112.— "The Lamb of God," 113.— First nvo disciples, 11.3.— Andrew and John, 114.— Simon (Peter), 11-1.- Philip, 115.— Natliaiiael, 115.— "The Son of Man," 118.— The son of David, 119.— Bartholomew, 119. CHAPTER V. IN CANA AND CAPERNAUM. Cans of Galilee, 120.— The first miracle, 120.— The most memorable wedding, 121.— The mother of JcBua, 122.— The watcr-pota, 12:^.— The miracle, 124.— The lesson, 125.- AvisittoCapcmaum, 125. PART III. FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND PASSOVER IN THE PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS. [One year: proUibly from April, A.J). 27, to Aprtt, AD. 28.1 CHAPTER I. CLEANSING THE TEMPLE. The brokers cxijcllcd by Jesus, 127.— His authority demanded, 127.— Reply of Jesms, 128.— The Tem- ple, 128.— I'ainful national recollections, 129.— Retort of the Jews, 130.— The nation shocked, 130. —The resurrection-thought, 181.— An Appeal, 131.— Jesus had no "policy," 132. CHAPTER II. NICODEMTTS. Nicodcmus, 133.— His address, 1.34.— Its caution, 135.— Reply of Jesus, 1.35.— Mcaninp of that reply, i:j«._"The Kingdom of God," i:^8.— Nicodcmuss reply, 138.— Response of Jesus, 139.— "Spirit" and "wind," 14U. — Suri>risc of Nicodemiui, 141.— Jesus claims pre-existence, 14a.—Another lofty claim, 14-3. — Two great doctrine.s, 14.3. CHAPTER nL FllOM SXI\>X.K TO BAMARIA. John and the disciples of Jesus baptizing. 145.— John's self conquest, 146.— His last testimony for Je«^^ 147._Miuh:eniis 14H.— H.-roil imprisons John, 148.— Jesus returns to Galilee, 149.— Sheohom, 14U._Ori>rin of the Samariums, LW.— Hatred between Jews and Samaritans, 151.— Jacob's well, 152.— Samaritan woman at the well, 153.— A strange promise, 154.— The won\nn attempU con- troversy, 155.— Reply of Jesu^ 156. -lie declares himself the .Messiah, 157 —Return of the diaci- plea, 167.— Arrivals from the city, 158.— Samaritan id&is of the Messiah, 168. CHAPTER IV. ntOM SAMARIA TO OALIT.EE. /osus begins to preach, 160.— Ilonls the nobleman's s5.— H« •hrx-ks their p^•ju(lioc^ 165.— Hemaum his ht-ndquar- U«rM, 167.— l)es«riptlon of Ca|MTnuum, 107.— Its surrouuding, 169.— Jesus preaches from a boat, 170.- Wonderful draught of flshi^s, 170.— The fishermen follow Jesus, 171. CHAPTER V. DEMONIACS. The man with Hie unrlenn lipirit, 172— nemonlncul iMwnessloM*: classical anthoritie^ 173.— Jewish opinion, 174.— The.VewT.-sUmfntwrilens 174— One their)-, with its rea.«>ns, 174.— The opiiOKing theory, with iU rcasoiiK, 176.— Most pr.4>ablo theory, 179— A demoniac cured in the syuagc^fuo, 17» CONTENTS. XI CHAPTER VI. THE FIItST TOUR OF GALILEE. Jesns heals Simon's mother-in-law, 181.— Exhaustive effects on Jesns, 182.— Jesns travels in Galilee, ISi.— The kr)rosy, 18.3.— Supi^wetl to be inciu-able, 1S5.— Je.'ius heals a leper, lyti.— The suffcret and the healer, 187.— Je.'^us withdraws from the public, ISO.- Heals a paralytic, L'<9— Importance of a woni, 190.- An awful claim, 190 Call of Matthew, 191.— ifatthew's feast, 19->.— John's dis- ciples object, 193 The Old and the New, 194.— lUustrations, 195.— Jesus the dividing line of his- tory, 19C. PAET lY. FEOM THE SECOND XJNTIL THE THIRD PASSOVER IN THE PUBLIC inXISTHY OF JESUS. [From A.D. 28 to A.D. 29. One pear.] CHAPTER I. THE SABBATH QUESTION. The House of Outponrins, 198.— The impotent man, 20O.— Cured on the Sabbath, 200.— The Sabbath before Moses, 201.— The Sabbath in the Decalogrue, 202.— Its lessons, 20.3.— Pharisaic exactions, 204.— Jesus never broke the Sabbath law, 205.— His reply to accusations, 206.— Remarkable dis- course, 2U6. — Jesus no egotist, 209. — The battle begun, 210. CHAPTER II. THE SABBATH QUESTION AGAIN. The disciples in the grain-field, 211 — The example of David, 211. — Example of the priests 212. — Key to the Sabbath-idea, 213. — The battle continued, 213.— Question of healing on the Sabbath, 213. — ^A counter-question, 214. — An ad hovmiem question, 215. — The cure of the \vithcred hand, •215. — The Herodians, 216.— Crowds follow Jesus, 216.— A movable pulpit, 217. CHAPTER III. THE TWELVE. A crisis, 218.— Selection of the twelve, 210.— Simon I., or Peter, 219.— Andrew. 221.— James I., 222.— John, 223.— Philip, 225.— Nathanael, 226.— Levi, or Matlhow, 227.— Thomas, 227.— James II., 22S.— Judas I., 2.30.— Simon II., 231.— Judas II. (Iscariot), 232.— " The Twelve," 235.— Why this number, 235.— Their order, 236.— Types, 237.— Nothing of the "church" idea 239. CHAPTER IV. THE SERMON ON TBE MOUNT. Place of delivery, 241.— Reports by Jtatthew and Luke. 242.— The time, 245.— The Text: Character, 245. — The Beatitudes: Elemejils «f U>fUj character, 248. — The poor in spirit, 248.— Those who mourn, 251. — The nioi'k, '2.52. — Those wlio hunger and thirst for righteousness, 254.— ^The merci- ful, 255. — The pure in heart, 256. — The po.ace-niakers, 258 The persecuted, 2.59. — The reviled, 260. — ValuQ, of a lofty character, 2()1. — Jesus the completer of the law, 263. — Refutation op Pharisaic errors, 266. — Of murder. 266. — Of adultery, 271. — Of divorce, 272.— Of perjury, 273. — Of revenge. 274. — Love and hatred, 277. — Directions for the discharge of duty, 280. —Alms-giving. 281.— Prayer, 282.—" The Lord's Prayer," 284.- Forgiveness, 292.— Fasting, 293.— Warnings: Against covetousness, 291. — Against double-niindednos.s, 294. — Against excessive anxiety, 295. — Against harsh judgments, 299. — Against doubting G-od, 301. — Against the broad way, :301.— Against hypocrisy, 303. — Conclusion: Tlie Hafe foundation of cliaracter, .304. — The manner of Jesus, 305. CHAPTER V. IN CAPERNAUM AND NAIN. The centurion's servant, 307. — The centurion's humility, .308. — Jesus aomircshim, 308. — The servant healed, .309. — In Nain, 309. — Jesus raises the dead, 310. — John hears of the works of Jesus, 312. — His mes.sage to Jesus and reply, 312. — Defence of John by Jesus, 313. — Relative estimate of John, 314. — Both John and Jesus rejected, 315. — Jesus dines with a Pharisee and is anointed by a woman, 317. — The delicacy of Jesus, 318. CHAPTER VI. THE second tour of GALILEE AND RETURN TO CAPERNAUM. A.ccompanied by women, 320.— Magdala. .320. — Ifary Jlagdalene, 321. — Her devotion to Jcsua, 322. — The most beautiful of loves, .323. — Capematim, 324. — The blind and dumb demoniac, :W4. — Phari- saic conspirators, 325. — The charge that Jesus has a demon. 325. — The reply of Jesu-s 326. — Ha is more powerful than Satan, 326. — Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, 327. — The sign of Jonah, 331. — A woman's compliment, :i33. — Mary and her sons, .3:W. — Jesus eats ^ith a Pharisee and denounces Pharisaism, :i34. — A "law\-er," .3:^5. — Warning against hjT)ocrisy, 337. — Parable of tho rich fool, 337.— One of Pilate's outrages, 341.— Parable of the fig-tree, 34:J. XU CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. A CHAPTER OF rAHABLES. Parable of the Bower, 345.— Of the tares, .340.— Of the i>atient fanner, 346.— Of the mnstjird-wwl, S4Q — Of the leaven, 347. — Explicntii>n of the jMimble of the sower, 349. — Of the jMiticnt fiirnuT. 355 — Of the iiiUKtarii-secd, •i6o. — Of tlie leaven, 367. — Siuiilitudes, 357. — The treasure iii the lield, 357.— The pearl-buyer, 358.— The drug-uet, 36'J. CHATTEIl VIII. A CBAFTER OF MIRACLES. Jesus hart no politics, .S61.— A political follower, 3fil.— A hnrd siiyinp, .?02.— Its diflficjiUT, ?^1.— Iti lesKon, •'Ifi.'). — Anuttier lofwon, ''M. — Stonn on the lake, 3()4. — Jesas stills the storm, .',00. — Ciiulara, 8C6. — The ileinoniiic, 3(»7. — The swine, ."JCiS. — In Ciipenianm, 370. — Jiiirns 371. — The woman with the lK'morrha).'e, .';71. — Is healeTi>I'h(i'nician woman, 403. — Jesus appreciates holy wit, 406. — The Decn|iolis, 4(H). — Cure of the (leaf stammerer, 408. — Healing, 409. — J-'eiiling of four thousand, 409. — Dalnianuthn, 410. — A sign ilernanded, 411. — Addri^ssed to weather-prophets, 412. — The leaven of the Pharisees, 413. — Bethsaida, 413. CHAPTER II. THE OBEAT CONFESSION. (Vefwrcn Philippl, 41.5.— Another crisis, 41.5.— Not struck root, 41fi.—Peter'8 solemn confession, 417. — Jesus ree«Mve« Messianic homage, 417.— Address of Jesus to Peter, 418.— The word "church," 420. — His "congregation," 420. — The iwwer of the keys, 421. — Jesus controls history, 423. — He pre- dicts his resurrection, 424.— Rebukes Peter, 424. — Address to his disciples, 426. — Its meaning, 426. CHAPTEU III. THE TRANSKIOITRATION. Afloonnt by the Evangellsfii, 427.— WTiy Elijah must first come, 408.- Site of the transflgnration, 428. — I'cter's conjecture, 42*.(. — The voice, 429. — liulueiux! on the iliscii)le«, 4-30. — A |>crplc.\ity, ■VVd. — AnothiT periJlexity, 4;J0. — Region of Cicsarea Philippi, 431. — The demoniac boy, 432. — Jesus hcali him,433. CHAPTER IV. LAST DAYS IN GALILEE. Throngh Northern Oulilep, 4"5.— The Temple Uix, 4.'!0.— A miracle of knowledge, 4.'!7.— Mewdanic hoiM-s, 4.'!.s.— The nile of pn-<-e;i4. — Peter's zeal, 6:J5. — Forsaken, K'A. Sec. 4. The Tkial, (i.'jti. Fresh outrage, 6.'i('>. — Annas, 6^36. — Caiapha.s, (>17. — Reply of Jesus, 0.'JJ<. — Peter, (1'18. — His denials, (i;57-640. — Daybreak, Ml. — False witnesses, 641. — Jesusputou oath, (°hl2. — The judge in a rage, ()4."}. — Inttn.49.— A contract, 6.50. Sec 6. llicitoD. Herod and Jesus, 050. — Herod and Pilate, 651. — Jesus sent to Herod, 651. — Jesua B|ice<-hle«.s, 6,52. Sec 7. Back to 1'ilate. Pilate and the Sanhedrim, (')52.— The people against Jesus, 65.?. — Barabbas 654. — rilate's wife's dream, (i.'Vt. — The unstable people, (l.'i.'j. — Pilate washes his hand.-, 6.50.— Jesu« scourged ami mocked, ().5(). — Pilate in trouble, Ii57. — "F.cce Homol " 657. — Pilate seiks to release Jesu.s (i5vS. — " Ca'sar's Friend,'" 659. — A dying nationalitj-, 660. — The sentence, 660. Sec. R The last of Judas. His hopes and fears, 6t'>0. — The gi-onnd gives way. 661. — He returns to the priests, Wll . — They regard him a fool, 6<')2. — He Hings the money away, 662. — Putter's Field. GtH. Sec. 9. GoiNO TO CALVAliy. Bearing the cross, 66:1 — The CjTenian, 66:3. — Form of the cro.ss, 664.- - Dau^litcrs of Jerusaliin, 664. — Jesus prophesies, JMiS. — Golgotha. 665. — The sour wine, 6«>6. Sec. 10. I'uoM Nine o'clock till Noon. Jesus prays for his tormentors, 6(i7. — The seamless gar- ment, 667. — The e])igraph, 66«. — Cie.sar's verdict, 66S.— Jesus reviled, 669. — The imi>enitent thief, )i»>9. — The jKjnitent thief, 670. — Jesus accepts him, 671. — Near noon, 671. — His mother. (i72. Sec. 11. Fnnsf Noon until THREy; o'clock. Noon and darkness, 67:3. — The cry, 674. — A mys- terj-. (>74. — The Ught retiuTis, 6T5. — Jesus thirsts and die-s, 676. — An earthquake, 616. — The cen- turion, 676. Sec. 12. FliOM TuREE O'CLOCK UNTIL EvF.NlNO. A ritualistic difflailty, 6n. — The thieves killed, 678. — The si)e»ir-thruBt, 678.— Physical causes of death of Jesus, 679. — What wa.s his agony ♦ 683.— JoMcph and NitxHlcmus, 68-1. — Secret disciples, 684.— In a garden, 685.— Love's last vigil, 685. PAET YITT. RESURRECTION OF JESUS AND SUBSEQUENT EVENTS. [Forlv Days. From April 9 to May 19, A.D. 80.] J. The Sabbath after cniciftxion, fi86.— The sepulchre gtiarded. 687.— Prepamtions for embalming, 687. — .\ vision In the wpiilchro, O.'J.'*.- A mo.ssjige t- of Magdalo wes Jevus 690.— Her olH-dience, 6!K).— The other women. 691.— The watch, 691.— The SanhiMlrim, 091.— The conspiriicy, 6'.P2.— On the way to Emmaus, 69:3. — Jesus reveals himself, 695. —He apiieam to Peter, O'.h;.— Fir^t a.-«embly of the disciples, 6'.>7.— Jesus in their mlilst, 697.— The Holy Spirit, 698.— Absoliilion, 698. — Thomas increilulous, 699. — The sei-ond a-tseinblage, 700. II. The AiH^tlcd In Galilee, 700.— Jesus by the lake, 701.— Peter's ordeal, 702.— A prediction, 703.— J..hn, 7(W. HI. Talxir. 704.— "Five hundred brethren at once," 704.— Jesus reappears, 70.5.— The commission, 705.— The lart n-c-al)ly rested upon tradition, the value of which we cannot now ascertain. But if it were true, then Jacob might i-cally have had no son, and Matthew gave his name as Matthan's eldest son, because Matthew was making a list of successive heirs to the throne^ not of succes- sive progenitors, the latter being the work of Luke. If we compare Luke's personal table with Matthe^v's official table of genealogy, we find that the lineal descent was broken in Jechonias (Matt. i. 12), who could not have becTi literally the father of Salathiel, as he is declared childless in Jeremiah xxii. 30. It is clear from this that Matthew could have been irivins only the names of the heirs to the throne. And this simple ex- planation, if applied to Matthew's table, according to the Jewish law in Numbers xxvii. 8-11, may go far towards clearing up diffi- culties. Even if, with Dean Alford, we take the ground that the difficulties created by the two tables cannot be solved without 2 18 THE BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD OF JESUS. Other evidences. knowled"-e wliich we do not possess, it would not be positive proof ai^ainst the general conclusion which the tables undertake to reach, namely, that Jesus was a descendant of David, because the writers :nav have had knowledge which we do not possess, — or there may ha\"e crept some clerical erroi-s into the text, which do not vitiate the general line. If even the tables wei-e abandoned, there still remain such ev- idences as these : (1). The nearly contemporaneous biographies of Jesus, all indeed upon which we base our knowl- edge of him, speak of him as the " Son of Da- vid." He was repeatedly addressed as such, and never declined the title. Unless we accept it, we are obliged to consider Jesus an arrant impostor. There can be no middle ground. So great a man could never, without being a very bad man, be party to what the gifted M. Renan mischievously calls " innocent frauds^'' a solecism in language and a contradiction in thought.* (2). Paul was a scrupulous Pharisee. He knew where to find the records and how to satisfy himself. In 2 Tim. ii. 8 he speaks positively of " Jesus Christ of the seed of David," 'f» (r-rtpy.xToi Axjiii. (3). " The Emperor Domitian was at fii-st uneasy at this illus- trious descent, which might lend itself to ambitious or seditious views, but was reassured on seeing the horny hands of these children of a king, become common artisans." (De Pressense's "Jesus Christ," book ii.) * il. Renan denies the existence of the family of David, on such slender grounds as the following question indi- cates : '* If the family of David still formed a distinct and well-known group, how liappcns it that we never see it figuring by the side of the Sadokites, the Boethuses, the Asmoneans, or the Herodn. in the great struggles of the times?" (Life of Jesus, ch. XV.) That is verj' gooroj)cr to consider the other data used in these calculati(jns, and give the reader the benefit of the latest investigations. It is recorded in Matthew ii. 1-10: " Now wlu-n Jesus was bom in Bethlehem of Judea in tlio days of Ilerod the king, beliold, there came -wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, "Wlicrc is he that is bom King of the Jews ? for we have seen his other modes of ap- . proxjmation ^^'^'' '" *"^ CA^it, and are come to worship him. ^\^lcn He- rod the king had heard these things, ho was troubled, and all Jemsalem \Nith him. And when he liad gathered all the chief pricst.s and scribes of the peoi)le together, he demanded of them where Christ should be bom. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea: for thus it is writti-n by the prophet. And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda. art not the least among the princes of Juda : for out of thee shall come a Qovemor, that shall rule my people Israel. Then llerod, when he had jjiivily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently wliat time the star ajjjx'ared. And h(? sent them to Bethlehem, and said. Go and search diligently for the young cliild; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, tli.it I may come and worshij) him also. "When they had heard the king, they departed ; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the cast, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy." • For example : the birth of our Lonl I and Grcswcll ; n.C. 5 by Usher and Pe- ia placed in n.c. 1 by Pearson and IIup; Itnvius; n.C. 0 by Strong, Luviu, and B.C. 2 by Scaliger; n.r. ^ by Raronius ' Clark; n.C. 7 by Idclcr and Sancle- and Paulus; B.C. 4 by Bengel, Wicscler, j mcpto. BIRTH OF JESUS : ITS DATE. 29 " The data in tliis passage furnish little help towards precision, but do fix the exterior limit of the Nativity. We learn from it that Christ was born before the death of He- rod ^ and Herod died, according to Josephus ^ ^.t^° {Ant. xvii. 8, § 1), 'having reigned thirty- four years from the time that he had procured Antigonus to be slain ; but thirty-seven from the time he had been declared king by the Romans ' (see also B. J. i. 33, § 8). His appointment as king, according to the same writer {Ant. xiv. 14, § 5), coincides with the 184th Ol^-mpiad, and the consulship of C. Domitius Calvinu3 and C. Asinius Pollio. It appears that he was made king by the joint influence of Antony and Octavius ; and the reconciliation of these two men took place on the death of Fulvia, in the year 714. Again, the death of Antigonus and the siege of Jerusalem, which form the basis of calculation for the thirty-four years, co- incide (Joseph. A7it. xiv. 16, § 4) with the consulship of M. Vip- sanius Agrippa and L. Caninius Gallus, that is, with the year of Rome 717 ; and occurred in the month Sivan {= June or July). From these facts we are justified in placing the death of Herod in A.u.c. 750. Those who place it one year later overlook the mode in which Josephus reckons Jewish reigns. Wieseler shows by several passages that he reckons the year from the month Nisan to Nisan, and that he counts the fragment of a year at either extreme as one complete year. In this mode, thirty-four years, from June or July, 717, would apply to any date between the first of Nisan, 750, and the first of Nisan, 751. And thirty- seven years from 714 would apply likewise to any date within the same termini. Wieseler finds facts confirmatory of this in the dates of the reigns of Herod Antipas and Archelaus (see his L'hronologische Synojpse^ p. 55). Between these two dates Josephus furnishes means for a more exact determination. Just after Herod's death the Passover occurred (Nisan 15th), and upon Herod's death Archelaus caused a seven-days' mourning to be kept for him {Ant. xvii. 9, § 3, xvii. 8, § 4) ; so that it would appear that Herod died somewhat more than seven days before the Passover in 750, and therefore in the first few days of the month Nisan, a.u.c. 750." — Smithes Dictionary (Hurd & Hough- ton's edition), p. 1381). It has also been noticed that Josephus mentions {Ant. xvii. 6, 4 fin.) an eclipse of the moon not long before the death of He- 30 TITK RIRTII AND CHILDHOOD OF JESFS. rod, ^vliich by calculation can liave been only that which occurred on tlie ni^ht between j\Iarch 12 and March 13, a.u.c. 750, Now, as Jesus was born before the death of Herod, it follows that the Dionysian era, which corresponds to a.u.c. 754, is at least four yeai-s too late. But tlie question arises, How long before Herod's death did the Nativity occur ? We can approximate this only by allowing suffi- cient space for all the events Avhich are recorded, calculations. namely, the journey of the AVise Men and the sojourn of Joseph and Mary in Eg3'])t. An as- tronomical calculation by Kepler found a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, in the sign of the Pisces, a.u.c. 747, which is before the vulgar era 6, the date I assigned to the Birth. But Kepler found the same conjunction again in the spring of the next year, with the i)lanet Mai-s added, and from this would place the Birth in 748. But Idelcr, on the same kind of calculation, i)laces it in 747. Although these calculations favor the date which, for other reasons, I believe to be correct, I place no great reliance upon them, because we have no certainty that the star mentioned in Matthew has the same time as the celestial phenomcTion found by astronomical calculations. The coincidence, however, must bo acknowledged as very interesting. In Matthew ii. IG, it is said tliat Ilerod, when he saw that the Wise Men had mocked him, was very angry, and sent and slew all Killing of the the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all children in Beth- the coasts thereof, from tivo years old and under, lehem. n according to the time which he had dil'Kjcntly inquired of the Wise Men." How hnig before Herod's death was this? We have no means of knowing. But it M'as some time. And that time must bo added to the two years which he had learned by diligent inquiiy of the Wise Men had elapsed before this slaughter and the time they had seen the star. Then, the Nativity occurred more than two years before another period, which period was some time before the spring or summer of A.u.c. 750. If those two undetermined ]ieriods amount to one year, then the Nativity is j)lacod somewhere in the summer of A.u.c. 747, tlie time reached by the date assigned in tliis work. But this is presented as only an aj)j)roximation. Luke (ii. 1-7) says: "It came to pass in those days that there Vrent out a decree from Cajsar Augustus that all the world should BIRTH OF JESUS : ITS DATE. 31 be taxed ; and tliis taxing was first made wlien Cyrenins [Quirinus] was governor [that is, proconsul or lord-lieuten- rph T ' o- ant] of Syria ; and all went to be taxed, every one to his own city. And Joseph also went up from Gali- lee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem (because he was of the house and lineage of David), to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her first-born son." . . . This is admitted to be one of the most perplexing passages in the Evangelists. Dean Alford thinks it unmanageable. Neander thinks it may be inexact. The destructive critics have made the most of it as affecting the author- ^ ity of the Evangelists. It does not seem to help us in settling the date of the Nativity, but as it will help us to something much more important than tlie mere date, we must consider its difticulties, which are simply chrono- logical. 1. It is said that there is no record in any other history of a census of the whole Roman empire under Augustus. It has been argued in reply that the Zegis Actiones Objections:— and their abrogation were quite as important in No other history respect to the eai-ly Roman history as the Census of this census. of the Empire was to the latter, and as Livy, Dionysius, and Polybius make no record of the former, we are not to be sur- prised that later histoiians do not mention the latter. Our knowl- edge of the former is derived from a law-book, nainely, " The Institutes of Gains : " if any perfect copy of a similar Icno book, covering the times of the alleged census, made no mention of it, then the argument from silence {argiinientuin de taciturnitate) might have some force.* It is to be remembered that Suetonius and Tacitus are very brief, and that in the history by Dio Cassius there is a gap of ten years, from a.u.c. 747 to 757, the very period in which Luke says the census was begun. The argument from silence would prove that no important events 'occurred in * Huschke in Wieseler, p. 78. The Bame author says: "If Suetonius in his life [of Aug:ustus] does not mention this census, neither does Spartian in his life of Hadrian devote a single sj'Uable to the edictiim jieifetuum, which, in later times, has chiefly adorned the name of that emperor." JJ2 THE BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD OF .lESrS. the long reign of Angnstup, except those whicli the fragmentaiy history of the times has preserved. J5ut it is known that the subtle Augustus was centralizing the eriii)ire, and that about five yeai-s before the birth of Jesus all the procui-atoi's of the empire were brought over to his control. (Dion. Cass., liii. 32.) From several sources we learn that esti- mates of tlie empire were being made about this time, enrolments which re(|uired many years for their completion. And unless some proof can be produced to show that no such census was actually had, it is to be boi;ne always in mind that, apai-t from all notion of inspiration, as mere htirnan authority Luke is, to say the least, as good as Tacitus ^Philo, Josephus, or any other ancient historian whose loor/rs have been presented. 2. It is said that if such a census had been ordered it would not have included Judea, which was not yet a Koman pi-ovince. It would not I'^ ^'cpljj reference is made to a passage in Taci- have includedJu- tus. Augustus directed, as we learn, a *•' brevia- ^^^- rium totius imperii " to be made, in which, accord- ing to Tacitus, " Opes publicse continebantur : quantum civium sociorumqne in armis, quot classes, regna, provincise, tributa aut vectigalia et necessitates ac largitioues." (Tacit. Ann., i. 11.) If the " sociorum," "regna," and " provinciaj " did not in- clude such a principality as Herod's, it would be difficult to leiirn to what these words arc to be a])pliod. Moreover, the connection of Judea witli the province of Syria, first established by Pompey, was never considered as dissolved I>y ITerod's elevation to the throne. 3. It is ol)jected that the Ivoman mode of taking the census was according to actual residence. But, even if that was so, and ^, , , ^ even if the census of Aumistus did not neces- ^ot the Roman '^ i tt i i • ,no(le sanly embrace Judea, we know tliat JJei'od at this time had state reasons for desiring to propitiate the emperor, and might on that account have ordered a census; which, as he did it as oi his own motion, he might prefer to take in the Jewish way, that is, in the place whence the family s]u-ung, rather than in the lioman manner, that is, in the ])lftce of actual residence. Or even if Ilerod had simply proclaimed a census, it is quite easy to see that the Jews would prefer to go to the place of nativity, as that had been their custom. 4. Again, it is objected that the state of Mary's health would BIKTII OF JESUS : ITS DATE. 33 liave precluded such a journey. It is answered, that if the enrol meut was made by tribes, a Jew of the house and jj^—.g ]iealth. lineage of David would make great exertions and sacrifices to present himself in his proper place and secure the recognition of his position. This motive would operate equally upon Joseph and Mary, as both were of the family of David. Quiet women have enormous reservoirs of determination. AVlien one of them sets her heart on any course it is only an insur- mountable obstacle that can divert her. 5. Another objection is that Luke seems to say that this census did not take place until at least ten years later. (Luke ii. 2.) This brings us to the real difficulty in the passage. It is an ob- jection urged by Dr. Strauss, but not by him fairly put, {Leben Jesu, i. iv. 32,) Let us examine this, Luke makes two statements : (1,) That Augustus decreed a taxing. (2.) Tliat this taxing was made when Cyrenius was gov- ernor of Syria. Let the distinction between the statements be noticed. The first has been estab- , , , ments seem con- lished above, as I think, conclusively. The his- tradictorr. torian Luke asserts it, and there is nothing in history, so far as we now know, to cast the slightest discredit on it. The difficulty is to reconcile the second statement of Luke with his first, or to clear away somehow the difficulties of the passage. Cyrenius was governor twelve years after the date of the I^ativity assigned above, and this passage seems to make the birtli of Jesus to have occurred during his governorship. The following explanations are tendered : (a.) Herod undertook the census after the Jewish form, accord- ing to the inn)erial decree, but died before it was finished. The Evangelist knew that as soon as a census was T , • 1 T • 1 1 • , How explained, mentioned persons conversant with J ewish history would think at once of the census which was had about twelve years later, after the banisliment of Archelaui, which was notori- ously a Roman census, and caused an insurrection (Josephus, Ant. xviii. 1, § 1), and therefore he added the second verse, which is equivalent to this : " No census was actually completed then : and I knew that the first Roman census was had after the banishment of Archelaus ; but the decree went out much earlier, namely, in the time of Herod," This is the explanation of Dr, Thomson, Archbishop of York. 3 34 THE BIRTir AXD childhood of JESUS. I (b.) Cyrcnius, it is siiid, may have been twice governor. Prof. A. "NV. Zumpt, of Berliu, has published a work entitled Com- mentatio de Syria liomanorum provincia a C(Bsare Awjiisto ad T. Yei ranee, not from Luke's proved inaccuracy. All honest historical inquirei's should admit that Luke, who lived near the time of what he narrates, is at least fpiite as competent a historian as the modem Dr. Strauss, or the modern M, Penan. * In this text I have followed the I l,ytf,u»iio¥Toi, but immediately precedes Cocinx Sinfiiticus, the oldest authority, ' it. in which rp^im is not separated from ' BERTH OF JESUS : ITS DATE. 35 This passage has ahnost no importance in respect to the date of the Nativity, and therefore I did not discuss it m that connec- tion. It is important as giving ns a historical reason for the birth hi the city of Bethlehem of the child whose parents were inhal)itants of Nazareth. To a Jewish reader this is vital, as those whom he treats as prophets had plainly pointed to Bethle- hem as the place of the birth of the Great Deliverer. Jesus, then, was lorn in Bethlehem, about the beginning of August, B.C. 6, A.u.c. 7-i7. NAZAnETH. CHAPTEE III. PLACE OF THE BIETU : THE CIECDMCISION. Betthi.ehem, the name signifying " House of Bread," is one of the oldest towns in Palestine, having been in existence before Jacob's return to his native land. It is still ex- isting. As to its location there have nevei- been doubts. It is identical with the present Beit- Lahm, " House of Flesh," of the Arabs. It is six miles, and two hours' travel, south from Jerusalem, east of the main road to Hebron. (Robinson's Researches in Palestine, \o\. ii., p. 159.) Matt. i. ; Luke ii. Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus. BETRLKHCM EPHRATH. The original name of tlio town was Eimik.vth, or Eimik.vtah. In Micah v. 2, it is called liETiii.KiiKM-ErnuATAii. Its tirst PLACE OF THE BIKTII : THE CIECOrOISrON. 37 fame came to it from its being the birthplace of David, who, however, did nothing to advance it, even after his elevation to the throne. His ancestor Boaz had possessions here, and in some of the meadows in sight of the town Ruth gleaned. But it never rose to the dignity of a capital. The birth of Jesus has made it to be known to the whole world. Since that event tradition has never lost sight of Bethlehem. Justin Martyr visited it in the second century ; Origen in the third ; afterwards Eusebius, Jerome, the Bordeaux Pilgrim, and thousands of others. The Emperor Hadrian planted a grove of Adonis on the spot, to desecrate it. This gro\e kept up the identification. It remained from 135 to 315 A.D. About A.D. 330, Constantine or the Empress Helena erected a church which remains to this day. In the twelfth cen- tury it was elevated into an episcopal see. There is shown a cave in which Jesus is said to have been born ; but the precise spot can- not now be known, and it seems absurd to suppose that cattle were kept twenty feet under ground. But we know the town.* * The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem be- ing coincident with the prophecies of the birthplace of the Messiah, the destmc- tive critics attack it as being a false statement ; but it is observable that no one has proved its incorrectness, nor even i^resented anything worth calling an argument. For instance, Dr. Strauss (Book i. 31) says: "But the opposite hypothesis as to the original dwelling- place of his parents, from which these Evangelists start in the accounts they give, shows that they are not following any historical authority, but simply a dogmatic conclusion, drawn fronx the passage in the prophet Micah, v. 1. " Can such modes mislead thinking men ? A historian says that two people, husband and wife, live in New York, but finding it important to go to London iij person on or before a given day, to attend to mat- ters of great import;mce, the wife is there delivered of a son, the distinguished subject of the historian's biography, and who afterwards spends a great part of his life in New York. Some subsequent critic says: "Nay, but he was bom in New York, for does not the historian ' start ' with that as ' the original dwell- ing-place of his parents ? ' " Such a critic would equal Dr. Strauss. But then Dr. Strauss proceeds on the theory that he was a native of Nazareth. Why not say he was bom at Damascus ? On what authority do these writers assiime that he was bom in Nazareth ? On the au- thority of the Evangelists. Dr. Strauss makes fifteen references to the four Evangelists, which, if the reader wUl consult, will be found to contain no state- ment whatever as to his birthplace, but simply speak of Jesus as a Nazai-eue or a GalUean. Two (Matt. xxvi. 69, 71) are the accusations made against Peter by women, that he was an associate of ' ' Je- sus of Galilee," or " Jesus of Nazareth." A third is the speech of the unclean spirit (Mark i. 24), " "RTiat have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth ? " A fourth is Mark's account of what Mat- thew gives in chapter xx\'i. A fifth is Luke xviii. 37, where the blind man in- quires the meaning of the noise, and the multitude tell him that " Jesus of Naza- reth passes by." This is the amount ol Dr. Strauss' s argument. 3S THE BIEXn AXD CIIILDnOOD OF JESUS. It lies on tlie eastern and nortlieastern brow of a ridire, run ning cast and west, from tlie top of which there is an exten- Tlie utter want of fairness is seen in three ways : 1. In the case supposed above, of an American bom of American parents in London, his subsequently re- turning and being called ' ' ]VIr. Blank, of New York," or " Mr. Blank, the Ameri- can," would certainly not prove that he was born in Xew York, and most certainly nbt prove that he was not born, in Lon- don. 2. Take his reference to Luke. To prove that Jesus was boi'n in Nazareth he produces the reply of a miscellaneous crowd to a beggar. They called him a " Nazarene." But if that passage in Luke be good authority we must take the whole, what the beggar said as well as what the multitude said. The beggar cried out, "Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me." Then Jesus was gener- ally reputed to be the son of David. But this Dr. Strauss denies, and because he is following ' ' simply a dogmatic conclu- sion drawn from " his theory of myths, he is anxious to show that Jesus was not bom in Bethlehem, the city of David, and was not the son of David at all, and was not believed to be the son of David. {Leben Je^fu, chap, ii.) But his own au- thority confutes him. 3. He cites Luke xxiv. 19 to prove thfit Jesus was bom in Nazareth. Does Luke, in that passage or any where else, say so? Not at alL But this same Luke, Dr. Strauss's wit- ness, doe3 say, distinctly, ii. G, 7, that Jefus waJi born in Bethlehem. In all this there is nothing supernatu- ral, 80 that Dr. Strauss might not answer that we had gone out of the region of realities. It is purely a matter of fact. If Dr. Strauss denied the whole, and said, " No man knows where Jesus was bom," it would be another thing. Bub he affirms that lie was bom in Nazareth. It was no more miraculous to Ik; bom in Bethlehem tlian in Nazareth. But it doea connect Jesus mth the house of David, and does connect him with what the Jews regarded as a prophecy, and so obstinate is Dr. Strauss in his adherence to his naturalistic theory, that no fair reader of his book can fail to see that there never was a theologic zealot more bent to his creed than Dr. Strauss to his dogma. But historians must avoid all dogmatism. M. Rennn (chap. ii. ) says distinctly, " Jesus was bom at Nazareth." ^^^ly not say that he was bom at Capemaxim ? ^\^lat is his authority ? He has none but I^Iatthew, Mark, and John ! He cites Matthew (xiii. 54, et seq. ). The reader will see upon inspection that there is not the slightest allusion whatever to the birthplace of Jesus, or of any other per- son, in any portion of this chapter. It simply speaks of the return of Jesus to his own country, but does not say where that country is ; and if it be assumed to be Nazareth, that would not prove that he was bom there, as thousands of men who were bom in Europe speak of Amer- ica as their country, since it has been their place of residence for many years. The fact that in manhood Jesus should speak of Nazareth as his countrj'. and others should so speak of him, has no bearing on the question of the place of his nativity. But how does M. Renan know that this is a fact ? On the au- thority of Matthew. Then Matthew is his witness, and he says erfdidfly that Jesus icasborn in Bethlehem (ii. 1). Again, JL Renan cites Mark, and refers to vi. 1, where it is written : " And he went out from thence and came into his ovsTi country." No mention is maile of any town in the whole passage. And this is citetl to prove that Jesus was bora in Nazareth ! ! M. Renan's last authority is John i. 45, 40, where it is said that Philip found Nathanacl and said : ' ' We have found PLACE OF THE BIRTH : THE CIRCUMCISION. 39 sive view toward the east and south, in the direction of Jericho, the Dead Sea, and the mountains of Moab. In the time of the captivity there was an inn, or caravanserai, close to Bethlehem, which appears to have been a point of departure for Egypt. (Jeremiah xli. 17.) Perhaps this was the very inn where Jesus was born. The prophet Micah (v. 2) had said of this city of David: "Thou Bethlehem-Ephratah ! though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, out of tliee shall he come unto me to be the Pailer of Israel ; whose goings forth have been fi-om old, from the days of eternity ! " It is said that the inn or caravanserai in Bethlehem was so crowded that Josepli and Mary were obliged to find lodging in the stable. There Jesus was horn, the first child of Mary.* It would seem that his birth occurred in the night. There him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. " Would any man in a court of law bring such testimony for- ward to establish the birthplace of an individual ? It might prove that Jesus resided at Nazareth when he was about thirty years of age, but it has no bearing whatever upon the question of the place of his nativity. A man having resided in New York a few yeai-s, caUed to make affidavit, might describe himself gener- ally as "of New York," imless the doc- uments were known by him to be about to be used on the question of the place of his nativity or citizenship. The fact that John says that Philip spoke of Jesus at thirty as being "of Nazareth," is nothing to the ijoint ; but two historiajis, one having had personal intercourse for years with the subject of his biography, Bay distinctly that he was bor7i in Beth- lehem, and that settles the question until better evidence can be produced showing that he was bom elsewhere. Of a piece with this is M. Kenan's Btatement in Life of Jesus, cha^p. xv. : " The family of David had become, it would seem, long since extinct," when M. Renan, as one of his notes shows, knew that the doctors Hillel and Gama- liel were reputed of the race of David, and Dr. Strauss' s reference to Luke xviii. brings up a passage in which a bUnd beggar by the way -side salutes Je- sus as the " son of David," no one of the multitude present objecting, show- ing that Jesus was pubUcly and notori- ously recognized as of that race and lineage. It is to be noticed how unreliable are the quotations and references of those who attack the Evangelists. A great par- ade is made in foot-notes and parentheses. They look like authority. The shrewd writers knew that not one in a thousand of their readers will consult the passages referred to. Take this instance: M. Renan positively names the place of the birth of Jesus, and then in a foot-note quotes three distinct ancient authors, and gives chapter and verse. That looks like settling the question. But an exam- ination shows that not one of these au- thors alludes in these places to the sub- ject, and one of them, who knew Jesus personally, positively affirms that he was bom in anotJier place / * Mary appears to have been the mother of several children, sons and daughters, younger than Jesus. Foui sons are named, and daughters are al- luded to in Matthew xiii. 55, and Mark vi. 3. 40 THK 15IKTII AND CM II.MIOOD OF JESUS. were sliL'jilierds watching their flocks in one of tlie pasture grounds, which may still be seen near Bethlehem.* To them appeared a vision, and they believed that God told them not to fear, that there was born that day, in the city of David, , Jesus, who was the Anointed Lord, the Messiah. Tliat they might be assured, it was t<»ld them that they should find him in swaddling-clothes and lying in a manger, one of those exterior stalls usually attached to caravanserais. Im- mediately there burst upon the ears of the shepherds a chorus sung by multitudes of voices, saying, " Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will to men." If it be inrpiired how this statement came into history, the answer is, that it is probable that Luke, when he came to writing the biography of his Master, male diligent search for all he could find of the early life of Jesus, and in that search received from the lips of one of the shepherds his simple account ()f the transaction. This sounds like the narrative of an eye-witness. It may not have literal accuracy, but it has been noticed how re- markably free it is from all materialism, how very pure and ele- vated is the statement of the transaction. It occurred as any well- balanced mind might reasonably suppose it would, if the Great Father ever made any such conlmunication to men. The shepherds went to l>ethlehem and found the place, the motlicr and the babe. Then they made known what thoy had heard in the plain, and returned rejoicing. * About a mile east of Bethlohem I lage of the Shepherds, there ia a little village called the Vil- 1 PLACE OF THE BIKTU : THE CIRCITMCISION. 41 Luke asserts that Mary's child was circumcised, according to the Levitical law, on the eis^hth dav, and received ' Circumcision of the name oi Jesus. jesus The Mosaic law required the presentation to the Lord of every first-born male, but allowed children to be redeemed from exclusive devotion to religious pursuits by the payment of five shekels, whicli is about thirty .^ thrtemr^r ^ American gold dollars. See Levit. xii. 24 ; Num- bers xviii. 15, 16. At the same time the parents were to offer a sacrifice of a pair of turtle-doves or young pigeons. (Leviticus xii. 8.) In this service consisted the legal purification of the mother. The rich offered a lamb ; the poor gave pigeons. Mary had only doves to bring. If this history had been ^vritten ])y an impostor he would have given a different turn to tho story. These sacrifices imply sin. If Jesus be that Holy One from the birth, why were these offer- ings made ? The straightforwardness of the story gives a gen- eral air of truthfulness to the whole narrative. There is no myth here. Mythical narratives elevate. This depresses. It places Jesus in the race of sinners. A writer of myths, as Neander suggests, would have brought in an angel to hinder Mary from submitting her child to a ceremony so unworthy his dignity. But here there appears strikingly that mingling of humiliation and glory which marks all the main passages of the life of Jesus. Amid the general spiritual declension of the ^ , ^ , -, ,., T 1 1 , 1 Simeon and Anna. Jews there existed a little band, not perhaps con- sociated so as to be called a society, but well knovm to one another, of those who made careful culture of the spiritual life, and who were waiting for some special revelation of mercy from Almighty God. Among these were two aged people, named Simeon and Anna, who looked earnestly for the coming of the Consoler of Israel. Simeon had received what he believed a divine intimation that he should not die before he had seen Je- hovah's Anointed. Moved by special spiritual impulse he came into the temple the very day of Mary's purification, which was forty days after the circumcision of the child. There was something in the babe which responded to the cry of the soul of Simeon. In him he recognized the long-looked- for Eedeemer, and taking the child in his arms he broke into that rapture which the Chris- tian Church has preserved under the name of the JVunc Dimittis : 4:2 THE BIRXn A^T) CITTLDHOOD OF JESrS. " Lord, now Icttest Thou Tliy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word: for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, whicli Thou hast prepared before the face of all the peoples ; a light to enlighten the nations, and the glory of Thy people Israel." (Luke ii. 29-32.) Although Jesus never recognized Joseph as liis father, Luke speaks of Joseph and Marv together as the parents of Jesus, as they naturally would generally be taken to he, and says tliat this display of rapture, upon the part of Simeon, caused Joseph and Mary 'to marvel. Although Mary knew of Jesus's miraculous birth, each new wonder would impress her with fresh awe. Per- ceiving this, Simeon said to Mary, " Behold, this is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel ; and for a sign to bo spoken against ; and a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also, that out of many hearts evil thoughts may be revealed." In the words of Simeon we discover a feeling very much in advance of the general state of the Jewish mind. They display a softness, a hopefulness, and a liberality to which the hard Jew- ish heart of his day was generally a stranger. It contains the idea of development through struggle, a spread beyond the limits of Judaism, and a final triumph, which, while it should ])rcak up the exclusiveness of that ancient faith, should bestow upon it a greater glory than any of its anterior traditions. There was also one ^nna, " a pi'ophetess," daughter of Pha- nuel, of the tribe of Asher. In early womanhood she had mar- ried. After seven years her husband died. She had been more than fifty years a widow, and had devoted lierself to the tem- ple-service, not departing from the house of God, whom she served niglit and day with fasting and prayei*s. Coming in at this moment she joined Simeon's thanksgiving, and reported the case " to all that looked for redemption in Jerusalem." * * Schleiermncher's conjecture that the narrative came indirectly from Anna minutely described than Simeon, while Simeon's words are reported and her's ■eema plausible, seeing that she is more ' are not. CHAPTEE lY. HIS rmsT yeaks. In the course of tlie year following the birth of Jesus, there arrived in Jerusalem a company of men described as the " Wise men from the East." (]\Iatt. ii, 1.) Who were they ? Matthew calls them \ia<^oi. By this name Magi the Greeks denoted the priests of Persia, just as ^ve now speak of the Brah- mins of India. The Magi may have been a tribe, as Herodotus says tliev were. To them amono; ^ ; "• > ^^^ _, . "^ - - ^ . , ^ «= of the Magi, the Persians, as to the Levites among the J ews, were intrusted all the public matters of religion. Their chiefs educated the prince ; they were royal counsellors and judges; they kept sacred traditions, and were thought to be able in various ways to divine the future, especially by watching the stars and by in- terpreting dreams. In the Roman Empire their name was generally assumed by rrtagicians. The bad character of this class is clear from a decree of the Senate, which banished them from Pome in the year 16. Matthew used the term in its original, in its national and honor- able sense. This is certain from Herod's honorable treatment of these Magi. For in the whole world there were only two classes of men who would have been at all safe in coming to the capital of so jealous and bloody a tyrant with the question, "Where is he that is born King of the Jews?" even though, as was the case with these Magi, they were understood to be seeking not for a spiritual, but for a temporal lord ; these two classes were citizens of Pome and subjects of the Parthian kings, and it would have been well that even such should have had more than a common claim to the protection of their governments. The Parthians, a small but warlike tribe, had gotten the upper hand in Persia. They were haughty and fierce, and so wielded the military power of that country as to make it dreaded even by 44: THE BIKTir AND CHILDHOOD OF JESUS, the Romans. Herod's kingdom was exposed to their sndden im-oads, and in his youth he had fled before them fi-om Jcrnsalem. Against their anger his dependence even on the Tl<»nian power was no sufticient protection. In Babylonia, which was then a province of tlie Parthian Empire, was the city of Ctesiphon, on the river Tigris, one of several of the Parthian capitals. If these ]»ilgrims came from Ctesiphon under a safe-conduct from the Parthian king, or were Magi of his court, Herod would not have dared to touch a hair of their heads, and would have been driven to some such policy as that to which he did resort. His treat- ment c»f them, especially his calling together the Saidiedriin, a body of men who in their sacerdotal and learned character much resembled them, proves thstt these Magi were men of very high rank, though they were not kings, as they were commonly held to be in the Middle Ages. This tradition seems to have gr(jwn very naturally out of their reception at Herod's court; and it was probably right in making them three in number, for this seems to be indicated by their presents to the infant Jesus. These Magi are described in our version as from " the East," and it is said they were in the East when they saw the Star. In the original the Greek w^ord is the same in l)oth places, but with such a difference in its form as would make the difference made in English by prefixing to the ft)rmer the word fai\ which thus means the Far East. In some of the later Books of Hebrew Scripture Babylonia is called the East, and Persia lies next heyond it and in the same line. History, geograi)hy, and Hebrew usage leave no reasonal)lc doubt that these strangers were Persians, and saw the Star in ]>abylonia, then a Persian province. Zoroaster, the famous Persian teacher of religion, who may have lived as far back as 1500 yeai-s before Christ, or not far from the time of Moses, was no idolater, and in the Bible the Persians are not classed with the heathen. Cyrus, the founder of the Persian Empire, was ])rodicted by Isaiah (xliv. 24; xlv. 1-0); by him the Temple of God in Jerusalem, wliich had been burned by the king of Babylon, was ordered to l)e rtbnilt ; and in his proclamation to that effect (Neh. i. 1-2) he acknowledges the God of the Pei-sians and of the Hebrews to be tlic same Lord (iod of Heaven. Daniel was hi"-h in honor with ibis kini;; and the Magi liad an idea of a Sosiosh, or Redeemer, to come, that in certain respects was strik- ingly like his. From the time of Cyrus there were ever many HIS FIKST TEARS. 45 Jews in the Persian or Parthian conntry, and many things per- taining to the Hebrew religion must have been well knoNvn to some of the Magi. But how did they come by their idea of the Star ? It was the universal belief of their times that the stars controlled the fates of men. The science that professed to look into their influences was called Astrology, and the Magi were astrologers. An ancient prophet, who was of the East, and who was not a Jew, had foretold a Jewish Messiah in the remarkable prediction, " There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel" (Numb, xxiv, 17), words then understood as foretelling that a new star would shine at his birth. In all Syria there was in their time an expectation that this personage would soon appear, which must have been common also to the Jews in the East and in the Far East. Within that very century, this belief, as Suetonius and Tacitus* state, had much to do with the uprising of the Jews against the Pomans, in which Jerusalem perished. That which is further required to explain why they were so sure they saw the Star of the King of the Jews is furnished by a discovery of Kepler. He traced back the orbits of the planets, and found that near the time of the birth of Jesus cer- tain of the planets were in positions of great import in astrology ; Jupiter and Saturn were in conjunction ; that is, were very close to each other, and were in such a place in the zodiac that the like happens but once in 800 years ; and there were other astrological sio-ns, all giving the idea that some great event was to come to pass in Judaea, as Kepler says, " according to the rules of Chaldean art as existing even till his own time." The new star therefore seemed to them the Star of the King of the Jews ; and it seems providential that Kepler enables us to see how the Magi came scientifically to this opinion, for the silence of the Bible as to any- thing supernatural in this proves it was not revealed to them. The conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn occurred twice, in the spring and in the autumn of the same year, and some have thought the Magi saw the earlier one when they were in the East, the later Due when they left Jerusalem, and that it wag in the direction of * Suetonius says : " Percrebuerat Ori- ente toto vetus et constans opinio, esse in f atis, ut eo tempore Judaea profecti ribns persuasio inerat, antiquis sacer- dotum liberis, contineri, eo ipso tempore fore ut valesceret Oriens, profectiqiie rerum potirentur. " Tacit us says : ' ' Plu- ) Judsea rerum potirentur . ' ' 46 TIIE BIETir AND CHILDHOOD OF JESUS. Bethlehem, and so acted as a guide to them. But it is neither manly nor honest thus to evade the astronomical difficulties of their guidance by the star. It does not suit the words of Mat- thew, who says it was a star, and that it went befoi-e them ; and the latest astronomical researches, while they prove the accuracy of Kepler's discovery, prove that this conjunction was not in such a direction from Jerusalem that it could in any way liavo been a guide to Bethlehem.* Upon arriving in Jerusalem the Magi seem to have gone at once to the king's palace. At any rate, Herod learned that they were present in the city, and ascertained the object of Herod and the ^j^^j^. ^^^.j^g ^yj^j, jjjg ^g^j^^] craftiness he called together the Sanhedrim to learn where, according to the sacred books of the Hebrews, the Messiah should be born. They recited to him the well-kno^vu prophecy in Micah (v. 2) pointing to Bethlehem. Calling the Magi to him, Herod care- fully inquired the time at which the remarkable "star" had made its appearance. Then he directed them to go forthwith to Beth- lehem and ascertain exactly all the facts in the case and report to him, pretending that he was equally desirous to pay due deference tt) the royal infant. The Magi resumed their journey, still beholding the luminous appearance in the heavens, until they reached Bethlehem, where, of course, in so small a village, they had no difficulty in ascer- taining the place where the infant Jesus actually was, as the star indicated somehow the very spot. They worshipped him, and opened their treasures ; and, according to oriental etiquette, i)re- sented him costly gifts — gold and frankincense and myrrh. * There is not room in a work like this to enter into details for the reasons on which every statement is based and from which every conchision is drawn. Dr. Francis W. Upham's book, "The \Vi.so Men : Who they were and how they came to JeniHalcm," New York, of our religion in the early ages of the world, which are of great value to the people as well as to scholars, and espe- cially so in their bearings on the dis- cussions of these times. I cordially concur with Dr. Tayler Lewis in s.iying : "WTioevcr reads this book must a«. 1S71. is the first succes-sful attempt quire a new interest in the study of that I have seen to ck-ar up this pil- ' the Scriptures. There is hardly a paj^e grimagc. After reading it, I cancelled in which wc arc not startled by some- what I had before written on the thing strikingly original, while at the subject. Besides solving what hereto- | same time leaving on the mind an im- fore has been a mystery, this book gives I pression of its profound truth." new ideas and facts as to the history I HIS FIRST YEAES. 47 That night they dreamed. And in their dreams they were warned not to retm-n to Herod. They were believers in visions. They hearkened to this. Instead of going back to Jerusalem they returned to their own country, by some other way, probably going south of the Dead Sea. The night after the departure of the Magi, Joseph dreamed a dream, in which he saw an angel, who said to him, " Arise, and take the youno; child and his mother, and flee ^,. ^^ . ^ „ ^ •^ ^ - Flight into Egypt, into Egypt, and be there imtil 1 brmg you word ; for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him." Joseph obeyed the warning, and conveyed the mother and child to Egypt. This country was the most convenient refuge for them, being easy of access, politically disconnected fi-om Judaea, and inhabited by many Jews, who had been long settled in the country.* Tradition makes Joseph's route by way of Hebron, Gaza, and the desert, and there could have been no more direct course. They still point out at Hebron a spot where the family encamped for the night. Not far from Heliopolis, on the way towards Cairo, is the village Metariyeh, where it is said Joseph made his sojourn while in Egypt, which is probable, because of the many * Matthew cites this as a fulfilment of the saying in Hosea xi. 1, "And called my son out of Egypt." But the saying in Hosea has, to a modem reader, no reference to the Messiah whatever, and is not prophetical, but is a mere statement of a fact in early Jewish his- tory. The explanation seems to be that it was the habit of the Hebrew mind to refer everything to the Messiah, to make every past event somehow typical of him, and that Matthew was familiar with the fact that before the coming Jesus the Jews believed, from this of passage, that the Messiah was to repeat in his history what had occurred in the history of his people. With this knowl- edge Matthew naturally cited this verse of Hosea. A similar accommodation occurs in Matt. ii. 18: '"In Rama was there a voice heard, Rachel weeping for her children," etc., quoted from Jeremiah xxxi. 15, where it was applied to cir- cumstances connected with the Baby- lonish captivity. Dean Alf ord says : " We must seek an explanation in the acknowledged system of prophetic inter- pretation among the Jews, still extant in their rabbinical books, and now sanc- tioned to us by New Testament usage ; at the same time remembering, for our caution, how little even now we under- stand of the full bearing of prophetical words and acts. None of the expres- sions of this prophecy must be closely and literally pressed. The link of con- nection seems to be Rachel's sepulchre, which (Gen. xxxv. 19) was ' in the way to Bethlehem,' and perhaps from that circumstance the inhabitants of the place were called /tei' cJdkhoi." (Alford's Greek Test., in loco.) 48 THE BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD OF JESUS. Jews who resided at that time in Ileliopolis. But there is no historic certainty in this. The nearness of Bethlehem to Jeritsalem allowed Herod to inform himself promptly of the movements of the Magi. "Wlien he ascei-tained that they had eluded him he was Massacre of the ^^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^^ ,^ i B thi h b b exceedmo-ly angry, and sent and slew all the male children in Bethlehem " from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the Wise Men." This great crime is consistent M-ith the character of the man He had ascended the throne through blood ; in blood he had sus- tained himself; he had murdered his wife and three sons through the suspicion of jealousy ; and he had arranged that the principal men of the Jewish nation should be slaughtei'ed at his death, that the people might have some occasion to mourn, as he foreknew what a joy of relief they would feel at the death of their tyrant. He was suffering the pain of a horrible and incur- able disease, loving life yet looking for speedy death. He was just in the condition to connnit this outrage. That Josephus does not mention this circumstance is nothing to the purpose. Josephus did not know everything. Josephus did not tell all he knew. So many and great were the outrageous crimes committed by Herod that, even if this came to the knowl- edge of Josephus, it might not have occurred to him to mention it. It did not 6i)ecially bear on anything he had in hand, and he had told enough of Herod's history to depict the character of the wretch of Avhoni the Empei'or Augustus is re])orted to have said, ^^JTerodis maIM//ij)orcus esse qiiamjilias: " " I would i-athcr be Herod's hog than Herod's son." There is every pi\)b;il>ility in the history, and nothing against it.* And ^Matthew is as good historical author- ity as any other ancient writer, and better than Joscj)lius.t He has a reason for mentioning this circumstance, and lie states what * Unless you say that it ia too horri- dIc to be believed : but why ? Herod murdered his wife Mariainiie, and his three sons, Alexander. Aristobulns, and Antipater, the latter just before his own death — perhaps about the time of the Bethlehem ma-ssacre. If ho killed his of the hated inhabitants of an obscure Jewish ^'illape ? f J.ichti iiMfin Kuppfcsts that Josephus would jinrposcly avoid eveiTthiii}^ that drew attention to the Messianic hopes of his people : L\-n centred, has been destroyed; its broken channels now give but a turbid water. But the Iteauty of the women who gatlier tliero at niglit — tliis beauty which was already remarked in the sixth century, and in which was seen the gift of tlie Virgin Mary, has been suri)risingly wcU HIS riEST TEAKS. 51 presei-ved. It is the Syrian type, in all its languishing grace. There is no doubt that Mary was there nearly every day, and took her place, "vnth her urn upon her shoulder, in the same line with her unremembcred countrywomen. Antonius Martyr remarks that the Jewish women, elsewhere disdainful to Cliristians, are here full of affability. Even at this day religious animositie-s are lefes intense at Nazareth than elsewhere. "The horizon of the town is limited; but if we ascend a little to the pla- teau, swept by a perjDetual breeze, which commands the highest houses, the prospect is splendid. To the west are unfolded the beautiful lines of Carmel, tei-minating in an abrupt point, which seems to plunge into the sea. Then stretch away the double summit which looks down upon Megiddo, the moun- tains of the counti-y of Shechem, -with their holy places of the patriarchal age, the mountains of Gilboa, the picturesque little group with which are associated the graceful and terrible memories of Solam and Endor, and Thabor, with its finely rounded form, which antiquity compared to a breast. Tln-ough a depression between the mountains of Solam and Thal^or are seen the valley of the Jordan and the high plains of Paraea, which form a contin- uous line in the east. To the north, the mountains of Safcd, sloping towards the sea, hide St. Jean d'Acre, but disclose the gulf of Khaifa. Such was the horizon of Jesus. " This enchanted circle, the cradle of the kingdom of God, represented the world to him for years. His life even went little beyond the limits familiar to his childhood. For beyond, to the north, you almost see upon the slope of Hemion, Cesarea Philippi, his most advanced point into the Gentile world, and to the south, you feel behind these already less cheerful mountains of Samaria, sad Judaea, withered as by a burning blast of abstraction and of death." Joseph and Mary ^vere accustomed to go up annually to Jenisa- lem to attend the Passover Festival. When Jesus reached the age of twelve he was carried to the Temple, to be initiated into the regular study of the law, and '^^^^^ ^^^^^ to begin the observance of the festivals and fasts ^ °^ °^^' of the Jewish church. The Jews believed the age of twelve to be the line dividing childhood from youth. At that period one was called "son of the law," and first incurred legal responsi- bility.* This incident is the only passage in the early life of Jesus of which we have any reliable historical account. But it is full of interest. lie was a remarkable child, born under remarkable circum- stances, which had undoubtedly been narrated to him, and which * Josephus states that when he was i city met with him to put questions tc fourteen years of age the priests of the \ him about the law 52 THE BIETn ANT) CIIILDnOOD OF JESUS. he had pondered as he read the law and tlie prophets, or heard tlieni read. He had never been in the Temple since he was an infant. Now the sight of the solemn fane and the holy rites, amid the excitement of the great crowds who were present, must have stirred the depths of this profound young soul. A solemn sense of his spiritual capabilities, and perhaps an awful presenti- ment of his tremendous destiny must have come upon him. lie began to be revealed to himself. lie did not put himself forward as a teacher among those white-haired rabbis. Ilis hour had not yet come. But he was neither a stupid nor a frivolous boy. His rare fine spirit had been developing itself amid the quiet scenes of nature, and he had been hjoking into the faces of the most profound and puzzling questions. Many a bright day from the heights near iSTazareth he had gazed upon the grand scenery about liim, turning over what he had heard of the historic associations of such famous places as were in sight, feeling his blood tingle with the touches of autumnal breezes or glowing in the rich warmth of the first spring ; and Life and Man, the Seen and the Unseen, Nature and Supemature, held their problems up to his soul. And he dared to study them. At twelve he was ready to ask questions even of rabbis. The custom of the Jewish schools was for the scholars to ask questions of the teachers, and much of rabbinical literature consists of answers to such interrogato- ries. The questions a man asks are as indicative of his character as the positive sayings that go out of his mouth. If history had preserved these questions which he asked in the Tem])lo, we should be helped in our study of Jesus. It records simply the creneral fact that his learned liearei-s were astonished at his under- standing. AVlicn the Paschal ceremonies were ended, Joseph and Mary started to return to Nazareth. They did not at firet perceive that Jesus was not of the company. They had been M ssed by Jo- g^ accustomed to his obedience as to rely upon his seph and Mary. 1 1 • '• • promptness. Lastern travellei-s in ancient times ordinarily made a short journey on the first day. Perhaps Joseph and Mary did not start until some time in the afternoon, and then in company with many othei*s. When they pitc-hed their tents that night they discovered his absence. They returned to Jerusalem. Luke says that " after three days they found him." This probably includes their first day out, tlie second day, in which HIS FIEST YEARS. 53 they returned and inquired, and the third day, when they found him. He was in the Temple, among the rabbis, astounding them by asking questions, startling by reason of their artless depth and amazing significance.* Mary — not Joseph — spoke to him. She and Joseph knew their relations to the boy. And Mary said, "Son, why have you dealt so with us? Behold, your father and I have sought you sorrow- ing." Up to that time he seems to have regarded Joseph as his father, and to have behaved towards him in that relation. But in his public teachings he never acknowledged Joseph as his father. If Mary had said " we," the remarkable answer in which Jesus ex- presses his sense of his own intimate relationship with God could not have been given. But "your father and I" brings it. With tender reproachf ulness Jesus replied : " How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father's busi- ness?" As if he would remind his mother that she ouo-ht to know from his extraordinary introduction to the world that his was to be an extraordinary life. As if he would remind her of the fact that at the Annunciation she had been told by the angel that her child was to be the "Son of the Most High." All this she knew; but now it comes home to her with power, when that simple, ingenuous, noble child stands up in the house of God and claims his Divine Paternity. Of this only authenticated saying of Jesus in his childhood, Stier beautifully says: " Solitary floweret out of the wonderful inclosed garden of thirty years, plucked precisely there where the swollen bud, at a distinctive crisis, bursts into flower. To mark that is assuredly the design and the meaning of this record. The child Jesus sought to know himself, and his whole life of childhood was this seeking." All these things Mary laid up in her heart, and most probably after the death of Jesus told them to Luke. This sounds like a mother's narrative repeated by a historian. That Jesus had accumulated a vast number of questions touch- ing God and man, life and death, the seen and tlie invisil)le, it is most natural to suppose. One also naturally thinks that those questions must have been based largely upon the Hebrew sacred * " To answer children is indeed an scribes and sophists must know how to sxamen rigororuni, " says Hamann. And again, " He who will stop the mouths of put questions." (Edition of Roth, ii 424.) 54 THE BLRXn AND CHILDHOOD OF JESUS. books, and that when he should find an opportunity of going to ecclesiastical headquarters and visiting the appointed expounders of the law and the official explainers of the pnjphets, he would j>ropound such questions, and that his interrogatories would not be captious or critical or superficial, about tithes and such trifles, l)ut such as the solemn tone and the special deep phrases of the Hebrew oracles would suggest to a child t)f such exquisite genius and sucii extraordinary spirituality. Would they not naturally run along the lofty line of Messianic hope and promise which his gifted ancestor David had dra^vn ? Would they not push against the doors to spiritual freedom and the emancipation of humanity which Isaiah seems to have set ajar? "NVlien this marvellous child came amid the rabbis and bejran to ask these questions, no wonder they were amazed. But he must have been disappointed. Blindness was on the eyes of the teachers in Jerusalem. The more he pressed his simple questions the more he must have felt that sense of his ommi sonship, of that intimate nearness to the Father of spirits which luis singled him from among the company of the sons of God as the elder brother of humanity. They could not instruct him as to Jehovah's An- nointed. Years after, on his last visit to Jerusalem, in the last week of his public ministry, in this same Temple, Jesus pro- jiouuded to this same school of teaching the questions, "What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he ? " (Matt. xxii. 42.) Did not his first questions have the same bearing? Two things seem to have come strongly to hini from this visit; his own Peculiarity and the Worthlessness of the religious teach- ing of his nation. To what extent the foi-mer we do not know. If it was a wide view and a profound conviction, he kept it hum- bly folded in his soul and bided his time. Then he went down with Mary and Joseph to Nazareth, and abode with them, and was subject to them. For another space, ^. , coveriuff eighteen ycare, we have an mibrokcn Eighteen years ,, '^ ^^ tt- i n in Nazareth Silence as to Jesus. History does not utter a sylla- ble. But during all that season he was ripening ; and the times were ri]>eiiing. He lived a life of some activity, }»ri)bal»ly working with his reputed fatlier at the bench of the car- penter. He led also probably a social life, making and receiving vifits, as his })rc6enco at the marriage in Cana would seem to im- ])ly that he was in friendly, cheerful intercoui-se with the people HIS FIKST YEAKS. 55 of his neighborhood. Beyond this we cannot penetrate. "We only know that when a man achieves in a few jeai's a great work the influence of which lasts, he must somehow through his pre- vious life have been accumulating assets of power to meet the drafts of his crisis. Jesus was no exception. He was thirty years growing in the preparation to do the work of three. That preparation could hardly have embraced what we call " learning," in any sense beyond a study of the ancient Hebrew Scripture. Hellenism, which embraces what we generally con- ceive to be the culture of the Greeks, had not penetrated to the obscure town in which Jesus spent his early life. Indeed it was discouraged by the Jews throughout Judea. In»the Talmud of Jerusalem (Peah. i. 1) a story is told of a learned rabbi, who, when asked at what time it was projDer to teach a child the wis- dom of the Greeks, replied : " At the hour when it is neither day nor night, for it is written of the law, ' Thou shalt study it day and night.' " He must also have been preserved from what M. Renan happily calls the " grotesque scholasticism " at that time taught in Jerusalem, and which shortly after was embodied in the Talmud. He had no reo-ular theolomcal training. O o O CHAPTER V. PUBLIC ATFAIES DUEING THE CHILDHOOD AKD YOUTH OF JESU8. JUD^A. "VTiiKX Jesus was born Herod was near his end, perishing of an Incurable disease. His reign had been one of oppression and jj , terror to the Jews, but so skilful a politician was he that no combination had been able to break liis influence at Rome. He continued his crimes up to the very day of his death. He had slain his wife on suspicion, that Mariannie whom he so loved that after her death he M'ould go howling for her through his palace. lie had slain his two sons, Alexander and Aristobulus, and just before he died he slew a third son, Antipater. lie had outraged the religious sentiments of the Jews. He had l)uilt a theatre in the Holy City. He had introduced Roman games, in which gladiators and wild beasts fought. He had put up the Golden Eagle over the gate of the temi)le, probably about the time he had inscribed the name of Agrippa over the gate. The Jews regarded this as a breach of the Second Command- ment. It was intolerable to them. ' It was " an abomination of desolation." At the instigation of two rabbis there was an up- rising, and on a false report of the death of Herod the young men of the city tore down the hated thing in open daylight. Herod caused the rabbis to be burnt alive, the high-priest Mat- thias to be deposed, and Joazar to take his place. This, in brief, was the state of affaii*s in Jerusalem when He- rod died, as related at large by Joseplms {A?it.y book xvii.) To underetand the history of the times of Jesus we must know the condition of the Jews and the course of their rulei-s, of ^ ., - „ whom members of the familv of Ilcrod were Family of Heroa. chief in the first year of Jesus. We need only notice the children of the fii-st five wives of Herod, in a table adapted from Smith's JV. T. History. PUBLIC AFFAIKS DUEING THE CHILDHOOD OF JESUS. 67 1. Before his accession to the throne Ilerod married i)or/5/ and her only son, Antipater, was the %dctim of 'his father's dying rage. 2. Aristobulus, his eldest (son by Mariamne, the grand- daughter of Hyrcanus), was the parent of a large family, and from him were descended the two Agrippas, the first of whom was the " Iving Herod " who slew James and imprisoned Peter ; the second the " King Agruppa " before whom Paul j^leaded. 3. After the murder of Mariamne Ilerod married another Mariamne^ daughter of the high-priest Simon : her son was He- EOD Philip, whose marriage with his niece TIerodias, daughter of Aristobulus, followed by her divorce of him to marry his half- brother, Herod Antipas, to whom she stood in the same relation, led to the martyrdom of John the Baptist. He is often con- founded with his half-brother Philip, the Tetrarch of Ituraea. 4r. His next wife, Malthace, a Samaritan, was the mother of Herod Antipas and Akghelaus. 5. By Cleojpatra he had two Bons, the younger of whom was Philip, the Tetrarch of Iturjea and the adjacent districts, with Trachonitis. 6. His other wives and their children are of no consequence in the history. These complicated relations will be made clearer by the following con- Bpectus of the chief personages with whom the history is con- cerned for the four generations of the family : A. — Herod the Great. WiTES. Sons. 1. Doris 1. Antipater. \ -^ x j . xi. • j! 2. Mariamne, grandd. of Hyrca- j 3. Aristobulus. \ E^erated by their fa- nus n -j 3. Alexander. j ^^^ ^^ ^ lifetime. 3. Mariamne, d. of Simon V' ^^^^^^^ ^^P ^ I ^""^^^ ^^ ^ P^^^^^ P^'" ' { m. Herodias. ) son. 4. Malthace, a Samaritan W' ^^""f. ^''^^^^ * " ' 11^^^''\ °^. ?^1'^^^- ' (6. Archelaus Etnnarch of Judaea. 5. Cleopatra ^ m. Salome^d.'^f Philip \ Tetrarch of Northern ( I. and of Herodias. ) ^^raja, etc. B. — Children op Aristobulus. 1. Herod Agrippa I King of Judaea. 2. Herodias, m. — (1.) Herod Philip I. (2.) Herod Antipas. C. — Children of Herod Agrippa I. 1. Herod Agrippa II. (titular king) Tetrarch of X. Perjea. eta 2. Bemice Named in Acts xxv. 23. 3. Drusilla, m. to Felix Named in Acts xxiv. 24. 68 THE BIETU AND CHILDHOOD OP JESUS. Ilcrod made a will in favor of the cliildreu of Maltliacc, name- ly, Ileiud Antipas and Archelaus. At fii-st Antipas Mas named as the successor; but the final codicil gave the succession to Archelaus. To Antipas was left the government of Galilee and Peitea, with the title of tetrarch. In his domain Jesus spent the larger portion of his life. To Ilerod Philip II. was left the territory and government of Ituriua, Gau- lonitis, and Batnnea, with the title of tetrarch. As soon as Herod's death was known the soldiery were gath- ered together in the amphitheatre. A letter from Ilerod waa read, in which he thanked the army for their fidelity to him, and exhorted them to be as faithful to Archelaus. Then the kingf's last testament was read, in which he named his successor. Ar- chelaus was acclaimed king. He addressed himself at once to the discharge of his last filial duties. He took care that the funeral of his father should be most sumptuous. A golden bier, embroidered unera o - ^^.-^^ prccious stoncs, held the body, which waa covered Avith pui-ple. The dead monarch had a diadem upon his head, over which was a crown of gold ; he also had a sceptre in his right hand. The bier was surrounded by the sons and numerous relatives of the deceased. Next to these the guard and band, dressed according to their nationalities — Thra- cians, Germans, Galatians — tlien the whole army followed '' in the same maimer as they used to go out to war, and as they used to be put in array by their nuister-masters and centurions; these were followed by five hundred of his dle made suflicient interest in Rome to cause Archelaus to be recalled * A BhekeL in the times of Joscphus, from whom we have the 8tiit<»mcnts in the text, was worth about 70 cents in t'old, and 3,0U0 shekels beiii^' to a talent, the talent waa worth about f2,100; and the income of Archelaus must hava been about |1, 800,000 in g..Ul. PCBLIC AFFAIRS DURING THE CIIILDHOOD OF JESUS. 61 and examined. The result was that Augustus stripped him of his rule, at tlie end of ten years after his appointment, took away his money, and banished him to Vieniie, in Gaul, where he died, the year unknown. In the meantime the excited state of the public mind rendered it possible for many pretenders and impostors to palm themselves upon the people and add to tlie general troubles and perplexities. One case was notable. There was in the city of Sidon a young man, by birth a Jew, who had been educated by a Roman f reedman. His resemblance to Alexander, one of the sons of Herod whom he had slain, was so striking: that many were ready f ^^^" ' ° . . exander. to attest that he was Alexander. Discovering this he turned it to his own account, and united with " an ill man " who had great cunning. The story put forth was, that he was the real Alexander, brother of Aristobulus, and that those whom Herod sent to destroy him had actually saved him and his brother, slaying other men in their stead. In Crete and in Melos the Jews believed him the true Alexander, and gave him much money.' He had the audacity to go to Home. The Jews of that city, learning that he was coming, went out to meet him, brought him in a royal litter through the streets, and adorned him with ornaments at their o^vn expense. There was great joy at what they supposed a special providence. So great a stir did this make that the report reached Augustus, who sent for this pseudo- Alexander and his accomplice. The emperor soon detected the imposture. The Prince Alexander had lived in his palace, and Augustus knew his physique. This man's hands and body had all the roughness which belongs to a laboring man, while Alex- ander's had had the smoothness of those who are reared delicately in kings' palaces. So Augustus took the young man aside and told him of the discovery, and that he thought the plan too deep to have been concocted by one so young, and that if he would reveal his accomplices his life should be spared. He did. He was put to the galleys and his accomplice was put to death.* And so, again, had the hopes of the Jews been raised and dashed. Upon the banishment of Archelaus, Judsea, including Samaria, was reduced to the state of a Roman province and go\ei'ned by a * Josephus, Ant., book xvii ch. 12, 63 THE BIRTH AND Crin.DHOOD OF .TESUS. procurator, who was the subordinate of the Prefect of Syria. Tlie Homan dependencies were of two classes, — those which were gov- erned solely by the Emperor, and those which were under the direction of the Senate. The former were the imperial, the latter the senatorian provinces ; the former were under the immediate government of Legates, the latter of Proconsuls. The Legates col- lected the revenues through inocnr&tors, _procu)'afo7'es Cwsaris/ the proconsuls through quaestors. All these officei-s were men of rank. Publius Sulpicius Quirinus, called in the New Testament Cyrenius, had been consul A.r.c. 742, b.c. 12. Upon the banish- ment of Archelaus he was made Prefect c»f ■yrenin-s. gyj-ja to finish the enrolment — the beginning of the making of which had called Joseph andMai-y to Bethlehem — or to collect the tax consequent upon such enrolment. The pro- curator under Quirinus was Coponius, whose residence was at Ca?sarea, on the coast. Quirinus himself came over to Juda?a to look after the late king's treasures. The enforcement of the tax caused great disturbance. To the Jews it was always most detesta- ble on religious grounds. Jerusalem was kept comparatively quiet by the wise influence of Joazar, who was for a short time again high-priest. The rural districts, however, were full of turbulence. There was one Judas who came out of Galilee and headed a revolt " in the days of the taxing." * According to Jogte})hu8 {Ant., x\iu. 1, § 1) he was a Gaulonite of the city evo t un er ^£ Qg^j^j^jj^^ g^j^^ ^^^g called a Galilean probably because his revolt first broke out in that province. The watchword of his party, '* We have no Lord and master but God," is a key to the character of this uprising. It was theo- cratic. God was king ; Caesar was not. To give tribute to Ciesar was treason to God. Under God was freedom, under Ca?sar slavery. lie taught all the scrupulous external and ceremonial morality of the Pharisees, while he ins])ircd his followei's with an intense love of freedoin and a fanatical disregard of life, so that rather than call any man " master " they should prefer to surren- der tliemsclves and their friends to the death. lie was a man of fiery eloquence, and attracted large number to his standaid. They became lawless, and committed many depredations before the Roman power suppressed them. • He is referred to by Gamaliel in his speech before the Sanhedrim, Acts y. 37 rUBLIC AFFAIRS DURING THE CHILDHOOD OF JESUS, 63 Judas was killed, and his immediate followers, who were called Gaulonites, were dispersed. But the spirit of this insurrection survived many years, and animated the Zealots and ® ^'^' Sicarii of later days, to whose obstinate fanaticism Josephus attributes the subsequent troubles of his country and the destruction of Jerusalem, as in a.d. 47 two sons of Judas renewed the revolt, and for twenty years their younger brother, Menahem, took the lead of a band of desperadoes, laid siege to Jerusalem, captured the city, assumed the name and state of king, and committed many outrages, when he was slain by the partisans of Eleazar the high-priest, a.d. 66.'^ It was in the procuratorship of Coponius that Jesus was in the Temple, about a year after Annas had been made ^ high-priest.. Under his government it was that the Samaritans polluted the Temple, after the manner adopted by Josiah toward the idolatrous shrines, by secretly bringing dead men's bones and strewing them in the cloisters during the night of the Passover, when the priests had opened the temple gates, as their wont was, immediately after midnight. Thenceforward the Samaritans were excluded from the Temple. It was another matter of distress and public perplexity and increase of hate between Jews and Samaritans. About a.d. 10, Coponius was succeeded in the procuratorship by M. Ambivius, and he was succeeded by Annius Rufus. Upon the death of Augustus (a.d. 14), his successor, Tiberius, ap- pointed a new procurator, Valerius Gratus, who held office till he was succeeded by Pontius Pilatus. There _ . had been a succession of high-priests, whose his- tory is not now important. Pilatus, or Pilate, as we know him, found Joseph Caiaphas in the high-priest's office. The prcBnom en of Pilate is lost. Of his early historv we have no authentic information. There is a German legend which rep- resents him as the bastard son of Tyrus, king of Mayence. The story further goes that having been guilty of a murder in Rome, whither his father had sent him as a hostage, he was sent into Pontus, where, having subdued certain barbarous tribes, he rose to honor, received the name of Pontius, and was sent as procura- tor to Judsea. But his name may indicate that he was of the gens * Milman's Illst. Jews, ii 152, 231. 64 THE BIRTH AND CIIILDnOOD OF JESrS. of the Pontii, whose first distinguished member was the faraong Samnite general C. Pontius Telesimes. Pilate was the sixth Poman procurator of Judtea. Tlie usual official residence was at CjEsarea; but during the festivals it was the custom of the procurator to be present in Jerusalem, for the better ovei-sight of the turbulent population who ordinarily then assembled, and were on such occasions most easily excited to vio- lence. Shortly after his appointment, Pilate removed the army to Jerusalem for winter-quarters, "in order," says Josephus, "to abolish the Jewish laws." In the night-time, Pilate outrages ^^.j|.]jQ^^t ^lie knowledge of the people, the Poraan the Jews. . , , % , , ^ . , . standards were brought m and set up ni the city. These standards bore the image of Caesar; and because the re- ligious regulations of the Jews were so stringent against images, foraier procurators had respected religious scruples, which Pilate disregarded and defied. The infuriated people rushed to Cajsarea in multitudes and interceded with Pilate to remove the offence. This was continued for five days with increasing vehemence. Pilate refused, on the ground that the removal would be an af- fi-ont to Caesar. The people still persevered in their pleadings. On the sixth day they renewed their obtestations before Pilate, who was seated on a throne in an open space, and had troops so arranged that at a given signal they surrounded the suppliants. Pilate then threat- ened them with immediate death unless they ceased disturbing him and went to their homes. Upon this they threw themselves upon the ground, made bare their necks, and declared that they would sooner die than see their laws so violated. Their numbers and the fii-mness of their resolution prevailed. Pilate ordered the standards to be brought back from Jerusalem to Ctesarea. Not warned by this, Pilate attempted another outi-age on the feelings of the Jews. In his palace at Jerusalem he hung up certain gilt shields without images, but bearing the names of heathen deities.* The people had not forgotten the clandestine introduction of the standards, and this new act greatly inllamed them. They appealed to the Emperor Tiberius, who ordered their removal. This must have weakened Pilate's influence at Pome. The Corharx \ among the Jews was any oblation, but especially • Philo, Ad Caium, § 38, iL 580. | f ^"^y B*^- ^^ch., t. §g 893 894. PUBLIC AFFAIRS DURING THE CHILDHOOD OF JESUS. 65 in the fulfilment of a vow, which was dedicated to the Temple. It mio-ht be moiiej, cattle, lands and houses, and it became the property of the Temple, only that ^^^ ^°''^^"' the land might be redeemed in the year of Jubilee. (Lev. xxvii. 1-24.) It was, of course, held as veiy sacred. But this treasure was diverted by Pilate to the building of an aqueduct to bring water into Jerusalem. This so incensed the Jews that, in the language of Josephus, "many ten thousands of the people o-ot together and made a clamor against him. Pilate dressed a num- ber of his soldiers like the Jews, and had daggers concealed on their persons. ^Vlien the Jews would not forbear, he gave the soldiers the signal agreed on beforehand, and they fell upon the unarmed and surprised populace, striking the innocent as well as the guilty, so that many were slain and others wounded." * This was the kind of man under whose procuratorship Jesus spent his whole public life and exercised his public ministry under whom he suffered and died, as the Evangelists and other historians relate. Tacitus says: "Christus, Tiberio Imperate, per procuratorum Pontium Pilatum supplicio adfectus erat." f The following is the only mention of Jesus which occurs in the wi'itings of Josephus : :}: "Now there was about tliis time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. lie di-ew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was (the) Clirist. .Vnd when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned liim to the cross those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Chris- tians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day." GALILEE. We turn now from Judaea to Galilee. By the first will of Herod Antipas was to be his successor; but a change of the will gave precedence to Archelaus : and Augustus Cgesar confirmed IIerod Axtitas as Tetrarch of Galilee, Herod Antipas, according to the altered will of his father- and o'^' Herod the Te- hence he is mentioned by Matthew and Luke as *'''''^' * Josephus, ^n«., book xviii.ch.iii I t Josephus, Ant. , book iviii. ch. iii. S 3 t Ann. XV. 44. I ^ 6 66 THE BIETn AND CIin.DHOCD 01 JESUS. Herod the Tetrarch. The name of " king," given him by Mark, (vi. 14) must be regarded as a title of courtesy, Ilis fii-st wife was the daughter of Aretas, king of Arabia Petra^a. While liv- inc: with her he fell in love with Ilerodias, the dauirhter of Aris- tobulus, who was his own half-brother. She was then the wife of Ilerod Philip I. (another half-l)rother of Ilerod Antipas), and by him had had one daughter, Salome. lie was living in retire- ment in Rome. Ilerodias disliked this obscurity and forsook him and accej^ted the offer of Ilerod Antipas to live with him. This outraged Ai-etas, the father of his fii-st wife, whom he had divorced to please Ilerodias. Aretas made war upon him and destroyed his anny, and was restrained only by a movement of the Emperor Tiberius, who ordered Yitellius to march against Aretas, which command failed of fulfilment because of the death of Tiberius. But the Jews regarded this disaster to Ilerod Antipas as tlie ven- geance of heaven for the murder of Jolm the Baptist, wlio had rebuked Ilerod Antii)as and Ilerodias for the sinful lives they were leadinj;. This Ilei'od had quarrelled with Pilate the procurator in Juda?a, it is supposed because of those " Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices," a circumstance Pii t^*"^ ^ ^^ mentioned in Luke fxiii. 1, xxiii. 12). Tliere seems to be no mention made elsewhere of this ; but the Galileans were foremost in the frays whidi occurred at the festivals, and these difficulties were so frequent that it is not to be wondered that one of them escaped the notice of Josepluis. Herod would naturally resent Pilate's punishing his subjects, whatever might have been their guilt; not to mention the fact that he assumed the role of patron of the Jews. The court he paid the Jews is shown by his attendance upon the Passover in Jerusalem. That visit gave Pilato an opportunity to proj)itiate him by acknowledging his jurisdiction over Galileans; so that wiien he learned that Jesus was a Galilean he sent him to Ilerod Antipas. By IIer<^)dias he was instigated to a movement which ended in his ruin. His nej>hew, Ilerod Agrippa I. (under whom, ycai-a i Iter, cjime all the territory which had been ruled over by liis grandfather, Ilerod the Gi-eat), iras a favorite with Caligula, having been imprisoned for expressing a wish for Caligula's early succession to the imjjcrial throne. PUBLIC AFFAIRS DURING THE CniLDHOOD OF JESUS. 67 Upon liim CaliguLa showered favors. ATLat specially moved Herod Aiitipas and Ilerodias was that Herod Agrippa had at tained to a royal estate. So they determined to go to Eome, osten- sibly to petition for the royal title, but really to intrigue against Agrippa, who, on his side, brought accusation against his uncle Antipas, whom the Emperor Caligula banished to Gaul, where he died. Ilerodias showed at least this good trait, that she shared his exile. Josephus puts a very pretty speech into her mouth, making her say to Caius : "Thou indeed, O Emperor 1 actest after a magnificent manner, and as becomes thyself in what thou offercst me ; but the kindness which I have for my Imsljand liinders me from partaking of the favor of thy gift ; for it is not just that I, wlio have been made a partner in his prosperity, should for- sake him in his misfortunes." (Josephus, A?it., book xviii. chap, viii.) The character of this prince can be easily gathered from the record. He was not so great a tjTant as his father Herod. But he was unscrupulous. He shut up John in prison for no crime nor violation of the peace, but Character of because that faithful teacher reproved him for ^^'"'"'^ ^*'^^'' his adultery with Ilerodias, and for his general wickedness of life. He was cunning. Jesus, generally so mild and careful in his speech, calls him a " fox." (Luke xiii. 32.) He was weak and superstitious. For a time he heard John gladly (Mark vi. 20), and wished to see Jesus, that he might witness some miracle. (Luke xxiii. 8.) Because of a foolish oath, uttered in wine, he slew John, and was afterward filled with remorse ; and although a Sadducee, not believing in spirits and the resurrection, he was frightened when he heard of Jesus, fearing it might be John come back from the dead. (Mark vi. 14.) He Avas willing to have Jesus destroyed, but contrived to roll the responsibility upon Pilate. He was unscrupulous, capricious, sensual, superstitious, and weak. THE CHURCH. The office of the High-Priest had felt the general unsettling effect of these turbulent times, so that there seems to be some confusion at the date of the openino- J^e High -Priest- of the pubhc ministry of Jesus. Luke says and Annas, (iii. 2) that Annas and Caiaphas were high-priests. An investigation of all available records gives us the follow- ing result: The real and acting High-Priest was Joseph, 68 THE BIRTH AXD CHILDHOOD OF JESUS. snniamed Caiaphas ; and his Vicar, or Deputy, was his father-in law, called Annas hy Luke, Ananus by Josephus, but probably called in his own time and place irananiali. Caiaphas was ap- l)ointed to tlie office by the procurator, Valerius Gratus, about A.D. 25, and held it through all the procuratorship of Pontius Pi- late, and was consequently Iligh-Priest through the whole public ministry of John and of Jesus. He married the daughter of a former High-Priest, Annas, who still possessed great influence, several of his family having held the highest sacerdotal position. The mention of these two jointly by Luke has made some per- plexity, which has given rise to various explanations, of which it is necessary to state only that which seems satisfactory, namely, that of "Wieseler, who, in his Chronology^ and more recently in an article in Ilerzog's Real-mjclopadie^ maintains that the two, Annas and Caiaphas, were jointly at the head of the Jewish people, the latter being the actual Iligh-Priest, and Annas being president of the Sanhedrim. In this latter position he might have acted as vicar to his son-in-law, in an office called in the Hebrew *,5D, Sagan, and mentioned by the Talmudists. This is the opinion of Kuinol. It is suggested that such position would not be unworthy of one who had held the office of High-Priest, since the dignity of the Sagan was very great. Lightfoot shows, for in- stance, that he might on urgent occasions enter the Holiest of Holies. {Ilor. TIeb. Luc.^ iii. 2.) It is not strange that having been actually a High-Priest, and being now president of the Saidiedi-im, lie should still be called by the name of the lofty office he had lillcd. We shall meet Caiaphas as the history shall progress. It may merely be mentioned here that he was a Sadducee, and used his influence oppressively, the Sadducees usually being more intolerant than the Pharisees : and frequently it has been remarked that no people are more illiberal than those who c\i\\\i\, par excellence ^i\\e name of Liberals, and that no sectaries have been more intoler- ant than those who have had no creed. The word Sanhedrim — or more accurately Sanhedrin, conn'ng from the Greek avnifiiov no Hebrew etvmology The Sanhedrim. , . , - i r •- i • . .i o havnig been round tor it — designates the buprcmo Council of the Jewish people as it existed in the times of Jesus and long before. In the Talmud it is called " The Great Sanhedrim ;" in the Mishna, " 77ie ITouse of Judgment^ The Mishna traces the oi^gin of this assembly to the times of PUBLIC AFFAIRS DUEING THE CHILDHOOD OF JESUS. 69 Moses, who was directed (Num. xi. IG, 17) to associate with him seventy elders in the government. But Voratius {De Synhednis, § 25-40) seems to show that the ^ °^'^^^' identity of this Council of Moses and the Sanhedrim of later days was a mere conjecture of the rabbins, as we find no trace of the continuance of the Council of Moses in Deut. xvii. 8, 10, where it surely would have been mentioned if then existing, nor in the age of Joshua and the judges, nor in the times of the kings ; so that that council seems to have been temporary. The Greek etymology of the word points to a time subsequent to Alexan- der's supremacy in Judaea.* It has been conjectured that the ysoov^La jw, 'lovdaiuw of 2 Macc. i. 10; iv. 44; xi. 27, designates the Sanliedrim. If so, it is the earliest historical trace of the institu- tion. Maiiy learned men agree in believing that it arose after the return of the Jews from Babylon, and in the time of the Seleu- cidse or of the Hasmonean princes. The fact stated by Jose- phus,t that Herod, when procurator of Galilee, b.c. 47, was called before the Sanhedrim on the charge that he had usm-ped the func tions of that body in putting men to death, shows how great its power was at that day, and the probability that it was not then of recent origin. For the constitution of the Sanhedrim we are compelled to rely upon the incidental notices in the Xew Testament, namely, Matt. xxvi. 57, 59 ; Mark xv. 1 ; Luke xxii. QQ \ ^, J A i. fn -n ,1 . , , , Its constitutioQ. and Acts v. 21. From these it probably appears that the body consisted of the Iligh-Priests (and those M'ho had been Iligh-Priests) and 'a^x^B^slg^ chief-priests, that is to say, the heads of the twenty-four classes into which the priests were divided ; noia^^vTsitoi, elders, men of age and experience ; and ygr/fi}jaiek, scribcs, men learned in the law. The number was probably eeventy-one. There was nearly perfect unanimity of opinion among the Jews, and that was expressed in the Mishna, which says {Sanedr. i. 61) that there were seventy- one judges. The reason assigned for this number is not sound, namely, that in Num. xi. 6, Moses is required to gather seventy elders, who with himself would ^^ ^^®" make seventj^-one, as we have shown it probable that no connec- * Livy expressly states (xiv. 32) : I rfraj vocant. legeudos esse, quorum con- " Pronunciatuin quod at statum Mace- silio respublica adininistraretur. " doniae pertinebat senatores, quos syne- I f Ant., xiv. 9, § 4. 70 THE BIETU AND CHILDHOOD OF JESUS. tion existed betweeu the Couucil of Moses and the Sanhedrim Our i-eceptiou of this number is to be based upon the tradition of the Jews, which has its probability increased by the su*^- gestion that the modern Council would, as far as possible, have been formed upon the model of that of Moses. The President was styled " Nasi," and was chosen on account of his eminent worth and wisdom, and was supposed to occupy Its P "d t ^^ place of Moses. Sometimes the Iligh-Priest had this honor. At the condenmation of Jesus the lligh-Priest was presiding, as we learn from Matt, xxvi, 02. The Vice-President was called " Ab-Beth-Din," and sat at the right hand of the President. The Babylonian Gemara states that there were two scribes, one to record the votes of acquittal and one those of condemnation. The lictoi-s, or attendants of the Sanhedrim, are called vnr,(jnut, in Matt. xxvi. 58, and in Mark xiv. 54. While in session the Sanhedrim sat in form of a semicircle in the front of the President. The j)lace of the meeting of the Sanhedrim, it is supposed, was in a building near the Temple ; but that it might be assembled elsewhere we learn from Matt. xxvi. 3. when .. it seems to have met in the residence of the meeting. Iligh-Priest. The jurisdiction of this body was mainly over questions of relierion, as the trial of a tribe for idolatrv, the trial of false ^, . . ^. ,. proi»hets, and of the IIi«>h-Priest,* and other Its jurisdiction, r i ' ^ ' i ■ priests.f Jesus was arraigned as a false proplict,:}: and Peter, John, Stephen, and Paul, as teachers of pestilential errors. Its jurisdiction seems to have extended beyond Palestine. The power of capital punishment was taken from this body forty years before the destruction of Jerusalem.§ It was for this rea- son the Jews answei-ed Pilate : " It is not lawful for us to put any man to death." (J(jhu xix. 31.) The Sanhedrim arrested, tried, convicted, and then handed the condenmed over to the secular power, represented by the Ilonian procurator. There a})pears an exception (in Acts vii. 50, etc.) in the case of Stei)hen : but that was "a tumultuous proceeding or an illegal assumption of * Mishna, Sanludr. L § That is, according to the Jerusa t Middoth^ V. lem Gemara, (luoted by Seldou, book X John xi. 47. ii., chap. 5, 11. PUBLIC AFFAIRS DURING THE CHILDHOOD OF JESUS. 71 power," as the execution of James in tlie absence of tlie procura- tor is declared by Josephus* to have been. The relioious se(;ts of the day were the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes. We shall soon see that the ministry of Jesus was antagonistic to all these, and in studying that antagonism we shall more clearly understand the distinctive tenets and tempers of these several religionists. It is sufficient in this place to ren- der a mere synopsis. . The Pharisees (separatists, as their name implies) were the i uri- tans of the time, claiming superior sanctity. They taught that tradition was as binding as the written law ; that ptarisees. God must have communicated much religious truth to Moses orally, as the people generally held, and had from time innnemorial held, certain doctrines to be as well settled as the law, although they are not mentioned in the Pentateuch, of which prayer and the resurrection of the dead are notable in- stances, and that this oral law was as binding as the written law. The classical passage in theMishna f on this subject is the follow- ino-- "Moses received the (oral) law from Sinai, and delivered it to Joshua, and Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the pro- phets, and the prophets to the men of the Great Synagogue They held themselves to be in. the succession and to have the right to interpret and apply the law. They had become the most ex- treme ritualists. They were formalists. They had smothered spiritual religion to death under ceremonials. They laid on the conscience " burdens too heavy for men to bear." The Sadducees were a sect owing their existence to a reaction against Pharisaic teaching. The Sadducees held that the oral law was not at all binding, that nothing was binding sadducees. except the written law. To them it was a logical consequence to deny a future state of rewards and punishments. As in the written law, in all the pleadings of the great lawgiver for good living, and in all his threatenings against evil-doing, Moses had never called to his aid the consolation of the doctrine of future rewards nor the terror of future punishments, it seemed to them inconceivable that he should have believed in any such doctrine. They proceeded to deny the immortality of the soul, and then the existence of the soul itself. They believed m neither angel nor spirit. * Antiq. , XX. 9, § 1. It Quoted in Smith's Dktwnary. 72 THE BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD OF JESUS. The Essenes represented rather a tendency than a sect. But they grew into a community. They separated tliemselves from J, the distraction of business. They were Pharisees in doctrine, in general terms ; but they lield to- wards the Pharisees very much the relation whicli the Pharisees maintained toward the mass of the common people. They were the Quakere of the day of Jesus. They opposed wai and slavery and connnerce. They were monks, ascetics, mystics. They ex- erted little influence on Christianity, and Jesus made no si)ecial allusion to them. His life and doctrine did not accord with their views and practices. The Ilerodians were a politico-religious sect or party. Herod the Great was of foreign descent, but was a Jew in his religious professions. There were many Jews who saw no way to sustain the national independence, in face of the Roman power, except in the continuance of the reign of Herod ; and, as they believed that the preservation of their nation- ality was necessary to the glory of their destiny, they would sup- port Herod, in wliom they saw a protection against direct heathen rule. Othei*s were quite willing to have a compromise between the old Hebrew faith and the culture of the Pagans, such as Herod seemed to be making. The political wing of the Hero- diaiis M-ould side with the Pharisees, and the religious wing with the Sadducees. Put the Uerodians seem never to have attempted to harmonize the doctrines of the two sects. It is, perhaps, more nearly proper to call the Herodians a coalition than a party or a Beet. PART 11. INTEODUCTION OF JESUS TO HIS PUBLIC MINISTEY. FROM A.D. 26 TO A.D. 27— ABOUT ONE YEAR, CHAPTER I. JOHN S PKEACHING AND inNISTRT. John, called " the Baptist," performed a ministry in Judcea which certainly opened the way for the public work of Jesus, and hence he is spoken of as the Harbinger. Of the wonderful circumstances attendins: the . f' ,' ^:.\ ^^ birth 01 this veiy extraordinary man we have already spoken. In his case, as in that of his cousin Jesus, a silence covers the years of his youth. His marvellous birth, and the manner in which he obtained his name, must have had a sreat effect upon the character of the child, making his very boyhood and youth sacred and solemn. He grew up in the study of the law, grieved at the spiritual deadness of his times, and the hard conventionalities which had enervated the heart of the nation. Upon his spirit must have fallen, also, the influence of the gen- eral expectation of a Mighty One, a Messiah, a Deliverer. His nation had pondered the strange intimations of the prophets, and the uprising of Elijah in their midst would not have been to them a surprising event. H Moses be excepted, there was no figure among all the mighty men of their earlier history who filled so large space in the Hebrew mind, and filled it so solemnly, as Elijah. To their imagination he was colossal. To ^"' ' the modern mind he is " the grandest and most romantic cliarac- 74 ES'TKODUCTION OF JESUS TO HIS TUBLIC MINISTRY. ter that Israel ever produced." * Ilis liistor}- fascinates us. " Ilie rare, sudden, and brief appearances, — his undaunted couraijeand fiejy zeal, — the brilliancy of his triumphs, — the pathos of his des- pondency,— and the glory of his departure, — threw such a hah^ of bi-ightiiet-s around him as is equalled by none of his compeers in the sacred story." f lie has been well called "Prodigiosus T/ies- hites^^ X — the prodigious Tishbite. It is noticeable that the very last sentence which fell from the lips of Prophecy, before they M'ere sealed into silence, contained the prediction of the reap- pearance of Elijah (Malachi iv. 5, 6) ; and whenever any man of extraordinary power appeared, it seemed to the Jews, in their political troubles and degradation, that Elijali had come. Such was their expectation when this holy Nazarite, John, f(jl- lowing the example of many good men who were discouraged by the degeneracy of the times, retired to the desert rei^ion beyond the Jordan and mive himself to cration. ^ . . . ,. « ,. . the sell-discipline of meditation and prayer. After years of stern training the hour of his manifestation came, and he broke upon the world with preaching that roused the nation. His appearance was not comely. Ilis physique had none of the phnnpness, his complexion none of the richness, which comes fn^m generous diet. His food was locusts § and wild honey. Ilis dress was removed as far as possible from the elegance of fashion and the pomp of office; it was a vestment of camel's hair, J] bound about his waist by a leathern girdle. His address was blunt and brusque. lie held no office and had no official sanction. lie was not a priest, nor a rabbi. As Do Pi-essense well says : " It was not priests or doctors that were wanting ; the very spirit of * Stanley, S. and P., 328. \ Smith's Diet. , Art. Elijah. X Acta Sanctor. § The hariseeism and sadduceeisin that divided the ruling minds of his nation. This led him to deal roughly Against formal- ^^.j|.|^ |.|jq cherished traditional religion of liis poo- an 8cep i- ,^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^.^^^^ ai)i)reciation for this as he had for sacerdotal succession. Men are not to be drilled and marched in platoons. The business of life is Individ- JOim's PREACHmG AND MTNISTEY. 79 ual culture in holiness. No man does a great thing in any proces- sion or succession. He must step out. lie is not to fancy, hecause it is a fact that he is descended from Abraham, that he is all that he should be. The stern preacher looked at the shingle of pebbles and stones at his feet, and laughed their traditional claims to scorn by exclaiming, " Children of xVbraham are you ? God can of these stones raise up children to Abraham." It is difficult to conceive at this distance and with our culture how shocking such a statement must have sounded in Jewish ears. As members of the theocracy they held that they had a prescriptive right to a place in the kingdom of the coming Messiah when he should arrive. And they believed that that kingdom would be restricted to their nation. There was a broad dash of liberalism in John's discourses. It hit the formal Pharisee and the unspiritual Sad- ducee equally hard to be told that God could, by his Spirit, out of Btones raise up children to Abraham ; as if he had said, " God is able to transform the most uncultivated portions of the human race into a people of highest spiritual character and prospects." 3. He announced an approaching kingdom, and called it " the kingdom of the heavens." If the kingdom were to be such as they and their fathers had expected, there had then been no need of " change of mind," repent- ,,^,-,^'^"g^,^^ ance. They longed for a kingdom of earth, whose mighty Euler should be to them a deliverer from every foreign yoke. He was to be revealed from heaven with great wonders, resuscitate the race of Abraham, subjugate the Roman power to the Jewish theocracy, carry a war of triumph against all the Gentiles — all nations that were not Jews — and then establish a personal reigr. of a thousand years, in which the Jewish people were to reack a condition of unimaginable splendor. John plainly told them that that was all nonsense. That, so far from that being the case, the axe was already laid to the root of the tree of their nation and religion, and that in a little while, if no sign of an inward life appeared, that whole tree, deep as its roots had struck, and wide as its branches had waved, would be cut down. It was inward spiritual life which God required in every man. The kingdom was to be a spiritual kingdom, in which the will of each man was to be conformable to the will of God, a kingdom which was to cover earth with heaven and obliterate the distinction of sacred and profane. 80 INTRODUCTION OF JESUS TO HIS TUBLIO MINISTRY. Announces presence of Ruler. the the 4. lie declared the neaniess of that Idngdom, and made (he startling announcement to his hearei-s that the Kuler in that kingdom was then actually standing, unkno\m, in their very midst 1 He magnified that Ruler, and spoke of himself in contrast as quite the most humble of pei-sons. He was not worthy to antie aiid carry the shoes * of that Potentate. That Ruler was mightier than he, lie baptized only with water; the Coming One should baptize with fire. lie was no one, — not Christ, — not Elias, — nothing — but a Voice. The committee that waited on him from the Sanhedrim catechised him closely as to the nature of hia person^ that which is most important to narrow people. He made 110 allusion to the subject of their incpiiries in his replies, but always spoke of his office and uoorlc^ as being, to the broad view of a liberal mind, a much more important subject. The Coming One stood with his fan in his hand. He should blow away from the threshing-floor of earth all chaff, all that — whatsoever it was — which had been useful in the rearing of the real wlieat, but being no longer useful, whether it be ceremonial or philosophic, he would burn in a fire which none that loved the chaff could by any means extinguish. Chaff should not be. That was settled. So, have done with chaff and appreciate M'heat. Address your- selves, he seemed to say, to practical living of lives of inward purity, of justice, mercy, and humility. Be ready for tliis king- dom of heaven which lies all aljout you, like a sea about an island below its level, an island from which the inrush of the sea is prevented by dikes. Make a crevasse in all your old high- piled traditionary prejudices, and the kingdom of heaven will sweep in. That seemed to be the substance of the matter of his i)reach- ing. To preaching he united a rite of haptism. Perhaps the origin of baptism can never be discovered. The wash- ing of the outer man seems always and every- where to have been considered as somehow emljlcmatic of the purifi Baptiem. * The expression, " whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose," bos its force intensified by coin])arison with a passage in the Talmud : " Every office a servant will do for his ma.stcr a scholar should perform for his teach- er, excepting loosing his sandal thong.' — Tract. KuUlunchin, xxii. 2. JOHN 8 PREACHING AND MINISTET. 81 cation of the spirit.* Much discussion has been had by the learned on the question whether John's baptism was equivalent to the bap- tism of proselj'tes ; but it has not been settled whether that was introduced before or after the ministry of John. But through all the Mosaic law and ritual there ran the idea of a connection be- tween the filth of the body and the impurity of the soul, and the Jewish mind was familiar with the thought of effects attributed to a rite which involved the application of water for the removal of unhealtliy taints. The Pharisees and Sadducees are represented as coming to the baptism of John, — but not the Essenes. A large part of their religion consisted in frequent ablution of the body. And so, when John began to preach spiritual holiness, it is not won- derful that he should adopt and administer the rite of baptism. But it was not Christian baptism, of course, as Christianity was not yet inaugurated. It did not rise to the height of a sacrament. But it must have had a deeper significance than any baptism pre- viously known to the Jews, and John's specific instruction must have unfolded that deeper meaning. A very great use of John's baptism — perhaps it was so designed — was that it broke through all priestism, all churchism, all ritual- ism. He was a private person. He was, as to his ministry, in no " succession." He had no ecclesiastical position, no " authority." But he baptized. The rite, as he administered it, was private. He was breaking up the soil for a new kingdom which was to be very free and spiritual, for a new form of the ever-during church that was to have no priesthood, no close corporation of authorized dis- pensers of truth or pardon. And so he baptized. He that had no more " right" than any other man, used an ordinance indicative of spiritual purification. After all, the ministry of John — brief, vehement, attractive, and powerful as it was — seemed to have had little permanent effect upon his generation. It was like a rushing mountain torrent that * Milman says {Hist. Christianity, Book i., chap, iii.) : " The sacred Ganges cleanses all moral pollution from the Indian ; among the Greeks and Ro- mans even the murderer might, it was supposed, wash the blood dean from his hands ; and (in many of their religious rites) lustrations or ablutions, either in 6 the running stream or in the sea, puri- fied the candidate for divine favor, and made him fit to approach the shrines of the gods." He quotes the lines of Ovid:— ' ' Ah nimium f aciles, qui tristia crimina casdis, Tolli fluroined, posse putatis aqua.' 82 INTRODUCTION OF JESUS TO HIS PUBLIC MINISTRY. moved some stones and floatwood, and cut a channel deeper, but soon passed away. " For a season " the mass His ministry not of the people rejoiced in him; and such a hold SyT^''*'^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^ secured upon the popular mind that the Pharisees did not dare to deny the divine au- thority of his mission when they were publicly questioned by Jesus. But the people's passion is not steady. They were falling away from the higli excitement to w^hich the sudden thundere of John's arousiuf^ preaching had flung them. Bishop EUicott elo- quently says : " We may with reason believe that the harbinger's message miglit have arrested, aroused, and awakened ; but that the general influence of that baptism of water was comparatively limited, and that its memory would soon have died away if lie that baptized witli the Holy Ghost and with fire had not invested it with a new and more vital significance. Jolin struck the first chords, but the sounds would have soon died out into silence if a mightier hand had not swept the yet vibrating strings." — Histor- ical Lectures^ p. 105. In following regularly the career of Jesus we shall come upon an occasion when he gave his estimate of the chai'acter of John. CHAPTEE II. JESUS DESIGNATED AT HIS BAPTISM BY JOHN. Jesus now comes forward from his long obscurity. We have Been him only once before since his infancy. Now he comes to the Jordan to be baptized of John. Let us col- , , , Jesus reappears. late the records. Matt, iii; Mark i. Matthev)'s account (iii. 13) is this: "Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbade him, saying : ' I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest tliou to me?' And Jesus answering said unto him, 'Suffer it to be so now : for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.' Then he suffered him. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water : and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: and lo a voice from heaven, saying, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' " Mark (i. 9) says: "It came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from IN azareth of Galilee, and was baptized oi John in Jor- dan. And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: and there came a voice from heaven, saying, 'Thou art my be- loved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' " Luh^s narrative (iii. 21) is this: "Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and pray- ing, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, 'Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.' " Luke adds (verse 23) : "And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age." John does not give a narrative of the ceremony of the baptism, but records the testimony of John the Baptist (i. 29). Here is the fact that Jesus was baptized of John in Jordan. To this all the four Kew Testament historians testify. They give nc 84 mTEODrcnoN of jesus to nis pubuo ministkt. intimatiou of the place. That was not important. In the open- ing of the public ministry of Jesus we may take Jesns comes to occasion to say that nowhere do we find these four John. writers striving to make out a case, striving to agree in details of narrative, or ministering any- thing to supei-stition. Ko portrait, no autograph, no desci'iptiou ol the pliysique of Jesus is preserved by them. They do not attempt to invest any place in which he did anything with a sacrednesa which sh(juld make it the focus of su})erstition. But they tell their story with the artlessness of guileless children, and leave the impression to deepen and brighten in the mind of the reader. "We shall strive to deal with the case in the same spirit of simple unaffected reverence for Nature and Supernature, feeling that we have no more right to ignore the one than to set aside the other. The fact that Jesus submitted voluntarily to John's baptism is wholly unaccountable on certain dogmas long assumed to be un- questionable. The commentators who adopt these Why Jesus waa ^j^^orj^as follow One another in a dreary march baptized. . , " . around what they suppose to be a difficulty, which they really make into a difficulty for other minds, but which they do not remove. The simple statement of John himself ought to throw much light on the subject, lie says, ''Hhat he should he made known to Israel; therefore am I come baptizing with water." That seems quite explicit. The hope of a Messiah was intensifying its element of expectation when John's ministry opened. lie felt the depths of his great nature stirred with a call to airouse his people to a preparation of heart for the great Advent. lie did not entertain those thoroughly sjii ritualistic views of the Messiah's kingd the chafT of his ovn\ nation, a cleansing of the Jewish peoi)le for the establishment of a purified theocracy to be administered by The Christ in proper person. It was not simply the kingdom he was to announce, but the king. Sught to be. It is as imphilosopliie to be incredulous as to be superstitious. Men have no reward when they exert their intellects to reason them- selves out of their faith. Faith of what can be believed is aa important as science of what can be known. Jesus thus inaugurated his public ministry. CHAPTER III. THE TEMPTATION. Immediately after the exciting scene of his baptism, Jesns en- tered upon a fearful season of spiritual trial and depression. It is usually known as The Temptation. The history is given by Matthew and Luke, a brief statement being made by Mark also. Matthew's narrative is this : " Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, after- ward he hungered. And when the tempter came * ews ac- ^3 i count, to him, he said, ' If thou art the Son of God, com- mand that these stones be made bread.' But he answered and said, ' It is written, Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word proceeding through the mouth of God.' Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on the battlement of the temple, and saith to him, ' If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself do\vn : for it is written. He shall gi\'e his angels charge concerning thee : and upon their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.' Jesus said unto him, 'It is written again. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.' Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them ; and said to him, * All these things will I give thee, if falling down thou wilt do me homage.' Then saith Jesus unto him, ' Go away, Satan : for it is wiitten, Thou shalt do hom- age to the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou worship.' Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered imto him." (Matt. iv. 1-11.) All that Mark records is in ch. i. w. 12, 13 : " And immedi- ately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. And he was there in the wilderness forty days J^ s account, *' •' and Luke s. tempted of Satan ; and was with the wild beasts ; and the angels ministered unto him." 92 INTRODUCTION OF JESUS TO HIS PrBLTC MINISTRY. St. Lul^e (iv. 1-13) gives an account of this transaction wliicli Is substantially the same as that of Matthew. It cannot now be known in what place this passage in the his- tory of Jesus occurred. Tradition assigns it to one of the moun- tains opposite Jericho, called now Quarantania, ace 0 t e f j.^jy^ |]iq fortv days of fastinrr. a name i)robably Temptation. . ..,"'„ ^' given it in the times of the Crusades. Thomson {Land and Book^ vol. ii. p. 450) thus describes it: — "Directly west, at a distance of a mile and a half, is the high and precipi- tous mountain called Quarantania, from a tradition that our Saviour here fasted forty days and nights, and also that this is the 'high mountain' from whose top the tempter exhiljited * all the kingdoms of this world, and the glory of them.' The side facing the plain is as perpendicular and apparently as high as the rock of Gil>raltar, and upon the very summit arc still ^^sil)le the ruins of an ancient convent. ]\Iid\vay below are caverns hewn in the per- pendicular rock, where hemiits fonnerly retired to fast and pray, in imitation of the ' forty days,' and it is said that even at the present time there is to be found an occasional Copt-or Abyssinian languishing out his Quarantania in tliis doleful place." The general reader would be amazed to see the immense amount of literature there is upon the subject of the Temptation of Jesus. Through much of it we have painfully waded, to come back to the conclusion that the simplest way is to read the liistory in the light of common sense, and derive what lessons our present scien- tific culture may enable us to educe. It is obvious tliat the narrative is substantially made by Jesus. The historians could have gathered it from no other source. Un- less they made great blunders In understanding e narra ive j^jg gtatements, or in recordiufr tlicin, we have the made by Jesus. i i «■ • i /• • -i • j whole affair before us as it appeared to the mind of Jesus, quite as nearly indeed as language can convey thought from one mind to another. It may be instructive to see liow many views have been taken of this portion of the history of Jesus. They show how men allow themselves to intei-pret facts by dogmas, .xp ana ory ^^^^ ^j^^^ ^|^jg j^ quite RS common among sceptics f hconcs as mnoTijj the crc(lul(»ns, — no more cliaractcristic of the one than of the other, altliongli generally charged vehe mently upon the latter by the former. 1. It lias been regarded as an external occurrence, and, as such, THE TEMPTATION. (a) as real, the literal apparition of Satan in the form of a man or of an angel ; * (b) as a myth,t in which tradition invests the sym- bolical idea of a contest between Messiah and Satan ; or (c) as a narrative in sj-mbolical language, the real tempter being a man,:{: 2. It has been regarded as an internal occurrence; in other words, a vision : and, as such («), as excited in the brain of Jesus by the Devil ;§ {h) as created by God;| (c) as produced by natu- ral causes,!" oi" {d), as "a significant morning dream." ** 3. It has been considered an inward ethical transaction, or a psycJiologioal occurrence ; and, as such (a), a conflict in the imag- ination of Jesus ; f f (b) an inward conflict excited by the Devil ; XX (c) a subjective (inward) transaction, to which the JSTew Testament historians gave an objective (outward) form; or (d), as a frag- mentary, symbolical representation of transactions in the inner life of Jesus, grouped into one statement. §§ 4. It has been considered as a, parable, to instruct the disciples of Jesus as to their spiiitual perils and remedies. ||| 5. It has been pronounced a mj/th.^^ This classification and these references are given so that if there be any readers having time, patience, and curiosity enough, they may make a study of this subject for themselves. To many minds the refutation of these positions must have occurred as they have been stated. In all of them there are difficulties. The theories which involve tlie appearance of Satan in bodily form, whether of man or angel, are open to the objections (1), That * This is, I think, the view of most of the commentators who consider them- selves orthodox. f I need hardly say that this is the view of Dr. Strauss. X The man being, as some hold, a member of the Jewish Sanhedrim. Ben- gel says : " The tempter did not wish it to be known that he was Satan, yet Christ, at the conclusion of the inter- view, calls him Satan, after that Satan had plainly betrayed his satanity. " He adds: " The tempter seems to have ap- peared under the form of a 7pa;i/iaTei'/s, a scribe, since our Lord thrice replies to him by the word yeyfia-TTui, it is tcritteii. " See Gnomen N. T., vol. i. p. 149. J5 This view was held by Origen, Cy- prian, Theodoras of Mopsuestia, 01s- hausen, and Hiibner. II Set forth by Farmer in his '■'■Inquii'y into the Nature and Dexign of Chrisfs 2\mptation in the Wilderness." Lon- don, 1761. ^ Prof. Paul us and many others. ** Meyer, in the Studieii u. Kritiken for 1831, p. 319. f f Eichhorn, Weisse, and others. XX Ki-abbe. §§ This is Neander's view. It may be regarded as a specimen of what Strauss well calls " the palliative theology." II II The opinion of Schleiermacher, Baumgarten-Cmsius, etc. ■[^ Strauss, Meyer, De Wette, and all that school of course give this solution 94 INTRODUCTION OF JESUS TO EIS PUBLIC inXISTEl. Satan nowhere else is so represented by tliese historians,* which, I acknowledge, may be very feeble as an ob- ^ ^ iection, but is noticeable in this connection ; and form" theory. , ^v mi » • i • • -, ■, • ^ y (2), ihat this theory is incompatible with the nar- rative; as, for instance, the taking of Jesus to the pinnacle of the Temple and to the top of the mountain, and showing him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment, which no member of the Sanhedrim and no "scribe" would have essayed to do. The per- son who could have done so would have assumed the role of the Messiah himself, made aerial excursion in the presence of the multitude, and won all the eclut of a thaumaturgist. Moreover (3), According to this view, the Devil knew that the person he was tempting was divine; and this fact greatly embarrasses the idea of a pei'sonal conflict between the two. So that it seems we must give up that theory. The idea of any myth forming itself in the Augustan age, be- tween the times of Livy and Tacitus, and especially that of a theologic myth forming itself among the Jews, at the time of their histor}' which is so near its close as this, is perfectly preposterous. One may safely cliallenge, I humbly think, any man of any amount of learning to point out any myth, or sign of a myth, M'hich had its origin in any notable centre of political influence in any portion of tlie Roman Empire after the accession of Augustus to the imperial throne. One may challenge the whole school of myth-philosophers to indicate any- thing, aside from the history of Jesus, which gives evidence of mythical tendency even among the people of the Jews, at any time of their history after the beginning of the third century before the Christian era. Wliy then sliould the liistory of Jesus, and that alone, be interpreted agaimt all known laws of mental progress? Does any man ever apply the myth theory to the times of Julius Caesar or Pompey? A myth is tlic prodtict of the child- hood of a i)eople, and never survives the maturity of a nation, as a matter of belief, any more than the traditionary stories of fai- ries, wherewith we still allow the children of Europe and America to be amused, liave power over the consciences of the people. The myth theory. ♦ If the reader recalls John vi. 70, he must be reminded that Je.sus calls Judas 8iaj8o\o(, which is the generic substan- tive, "a devil," in the sense of "devil- ish." I do not recollect any case of a mon being called <5 Sia/SoAof, tlii devil. Alford {Or. Tat. in loco) says that no such case can be adduced. THE TEMPTATION. 95 Among the Greeks and Romans the theologic myths which their early ancestors had originated were fast losing all respect among the uncultivated masses and the lower orders, as they had long before ceased to be regarded by the learned and the tasteful as worth more than merely the poetical element that was in them The Jewish nation never were much o^iven to that form of thoufjht. Perhaps the infancy of no community known to history was freer from myths than the early life of the Hebrew people. How im- practicable, then, must it have been to generate a myth under Herod and Pontius Pilate, in Judaea, just before or soon after the destruction of Jerusalem, by people who had been bred Jews and were scattered over the Roman Empire ! These general remarks, applying to the biography of Jesus in the mass, are equally forceful as to any particular passage in his history. We must give up the myths. Those who earnestly held to them a few years ago are forced by the advancing spirit of critical investigation to abandon them. As for the theories which involve visions and " significant morn- ing dreams," perhaps nothing shorter or better can be said than Lano-e's sentence : " Decisive ethical conflicts do . The "dream' not take place in the form of dreams ; " a state- ^^q^ ment which will probably be confirmed by the consciousness of many a reader. Let all dogmas be laid aside and the record of these historians be examined to see what they teach any fair-minded reader. In general they give, us the knowledge of what Jesus tliought of a supreme passage in his own mental and spiritual history. As no man who existed before his time, or has risen since, has so influenced the intellectual and moral condition of the world, this piece of autobiography becomes to us a history of unspeakable im- portance. "We wish to ascertain his views of the subjects involved, and compare them with what we believe to be ascertained laws of psychology. It is first to be noticed that this imj^ortant and testing occur- rence enters his history just at the moment we should naturally look for it. He was a man. Marvellous and won- derful, in birth and growth, he was a man. From ^ J^^j^ j^^J^' perhaps an earlier period than even the beginning of conscious self-inspection there had been a sense of spiritual idiosyncrasy present with him. It may have been at firet the 96 mTRODUcnoN of jesus to nis public MiNiSTEr. glimmer, tlieu the dawTi, tlieu the growing light. It consisted with a perfect human consciousness. The sense of manness^ of humanness, never left him. It was as present to him as it ever was to any other human being. His whole history shows that ; and from a review of his whole life we must recall that fact in the study of his pi-eparation for his life-work. lie had an increas- ing conviction tliat he was set in the universe for some unique work, lie had a growing ability for that work. " He grew in wisdom." As he approached the hour in the world's history and his own when his mission was to be ostensibly and operatively begun, he felt within himself the keen and mastering desire to enter upon and accomplish his work. The baptism was a crisis. John was to have therein a sign of the Messiah, the Sent One, the real Man of Destiny, the Anointed Deliverer. If he were that One, — and his belief Excitement of jj^^g^ have grown with his growth, — what should Jesus at his bap- , •, iii- iriTi u j.j^^ occur when he presented hnuselr to John would settle the question definitely. It would also be his own voluntary dedication to the loftiest and the largest work ever enterprised by man. The phenomena at the baptism con- spired with his own sentiments to produce in him the most in tensely exciting and exalting state of feeling consistent with the continuance of life. Through that state he had just passed. It was his Eubicon. It was his voluntary devotion to what he never could afterward abandon without spiritual shipwreck and self- ruin. Every other great soul has passed through precisely in kind that crisis of the mind and spirit proportioned to each man's soul and work. Jesus is admitted by all healthy minds to have been the greatest soul in all our human brotherhood, and the work he was about to undertake, whether he should succeed in accomplishing it or not, to be the greatest of all the enterprises known in the record of holy daring. He was making for himself an investiture of himself with the office and dignity of royal rule over all humanity. The excitement had been indescribably be- cause inconceivably intense. Then folUnved in his what has followed in every other known human history, — a collapse, a depression, an awful desolation, a ^ „ plunjre from the altitudes of liuman sensationp, percci)tioiif*, and spiritual conditions to the depths that lie separated by thin and weak flooring from the bottomlesg THE TE^rPTATION. 97 pit of despair. Every man that has gone npon a hnge work has had these alternations, — transitions from the high excitement of emprise to the depths of doubts and misgivings, — that dread in- terval of chill between commitment to a cause and tlie first l)low, —the season, brief by the clock but long by the heart, which the soldier passes through between the formation of the line of battle and the roar of the first artillery discharge which annonnces the beginning of the action which must then be fought through to the result of victory or defeat. Such seems to have been the passage of the temptation. Full of the Holy Ghost, Jesus returned from Jordan, where he had been baptized, and was led by God's Spirit into a wilderness, where he was to endure another trial , ' Jesus. and have shoM'n whether he could as well preserve liis unsinningnessin depression as in exaltation, when hell mocked him as well as when heaven eulogized him.. This was absolutely necessary for him. It M'as possible for Jesns to sin : * quite as possible as for Adam, or Moses, or you, or me, or any other man. Any other view reduces this portion of his history to such a fable or paralile as would be more ridiculous than any farce we ever read ; for even in the fable Jesus would be represented as liable to a spiritual lapse, which is inconsistent with any dogma of his impeccability. He might have attempted an indulgence of him- self in what was attractive but sinful. It would have ruined him. But if he could not, then he was no man in any reasonable sense of that word ; then he had no freedom of will, and could not have been even virtuous ; then his history is of no kind of moral sig- nificance or spiritual import to any man whatever; then he was a monster, lieing not God, not angel, not demon, not man, an ano- malous drift, floating lawlessly and disorderly among the things of God, an entity having no reference to God whatever. Tliis is not to be supposed. Jesus was tempted just as any other man, and tells the story of his temptation just as any other intelligent person would narrate the fearful passage of his supreme spiritual trial. His narrative * The old distinction is of the rum, to Adam and to Jesus. Neither had any posse percfire and the posse non pecenre ; the former, the inherent inability to sin, belongs to God alone ; the latter, the inherent ability to keep from sinning, 7 traditional bad blood. That is their chief human distinction from other men. This is the scholastic view. 98 rxTRODUCTioN OF Ji:?rs to his rrnLic >nxiSTRT. follows known psychol(><;ie law?. " Iiiuncdiately," he tells us, the Spirit which had led him to John, to the part- His narrative jj^g Jordan, to the opening heaven, to the descend- given uman y. .^^^ dove, to the divine benediction, compels him, *' drives" him into tlie wilderness " to be tempted of the devil." Just BO any autobiographer would state it. It was the actual con- flict of Jesus with the Power of Evil. Tlie ex(;itement of the Jordan scene was followed by a fast of forty days and forty nights. "We are not prepared to say that this was literallv a period of forty times twenty- Fast of forty f,,,„. i,,,„,.s, "Forty days"isaliebraismf.)r an indefinitely long time. We have no record, (nit- side the Bible, so far as I know, of any fast having been continued this long and life retained. And if Jesus was miraculously sus- tained, it takes much fi-om the power of moral instruction which this passage otherwise contains. As in the cases of Moses (Exod. xxxiv. 28) and Elias (1 Kings xix, 8), this period was filled with a spiritual ecstasy and a trial of his powers which suspended the ordinary wants of the body. When at last hunger broke through upon him, and exhaustion ensued, Satan is represented as having come to him presenting the tests of his virtue which searched him through all those open- ings of the human being as yet discovered on the side f»f roba- l)le in the supposition that there is an entity Nothing prepos- ^,„,|„,,.p,| .^^i^), intelligence and moral (lualities, ^'^°^' specially and actively evil ; intelligently and persistently evil ; thoroughly and ceaselessly evil. The probabil- ities, ai)art from any special revelation from Almighty (iod, are in favor of the existence of such a person, although it is mani- THE TEMPTATION. 99 festly out of the power of the human reason to determine the conditions of his existence or the modes of his action, while pro- bable characteristics could be reasonably conjectured. Every intelligent man who devotes any time to self-inspection finds that his violations of any code, which he believes to be the moral law, come either from certain emotions of his own inner nature— excited he cannot tell how, ^'^'^^^^^^^^ P^^^ - , . sure on the soul. Bpontaneous so rar as he knows — actmg upon his will, making such a pressure upon that will as amounts to a temp- tation ; or, that such excitation of the emotions and such pres- sure upon the will is fi-om something without. In the latter case it is some perception of some object which he sees, or of some sound which he hears, or some report of some of the senses, unde- signed, coming incidentally upon him, or designed, brought to bear upon him by some intelligent being. Among the undesigned se- ductions to evil, or what may at least be called evil influences, are those attractions or repulsions created in the individual man by the " spirit of the age," a general air and temperature generated by all the intellectual and spiritual motions about him, and coming upon his soul not from any individual's design to be specially Imrtful to him, but just as deleterious air destroys where no man is attempting to poison another. But we are conscious of sinister and wicked designs ujwn us concocted and operated by wicked men. Some men are adroit, some skilful, some surpassingly influential for evil. Some of these are really so acute in their ^^^'^^^ V^es- perceptions, so rapid in their motions, and so per- ^^^' sistent in their efforts, that to speak of them as compassing sea and land seems hardly an exaggeration. Artists of the pen sometimes paint these far-sighted, near-sighted, telescopic, microscopic, almost ubiquitous weavers of the webs of deceit and treachery, and paint them with a power that appals us.* The body is at once a help and encumbrance to these spirits. We easily reach the proba- bility that there are spirits without the clog of flesh who operate upon one another, and upon the spirits of men, having learned the approaches to the soul through the flesh, some of them having probably been in the flesh. As among men there are those who gain the mastery, and "get the start," and take the lead in the • Perhaps Sue's Le Juif Errant might be cited as furnishing an example. 100 INTKODUCTION OF JESUS TO HIS PUBLIC MINISTRY. march "of this majestic world," so among them it is not difficult t(» believe there may be spirits ambitious of chieftainship and (•a]>iible of lifting themselves over the masses to a throne of power, and of establisliing principalities in spiritual places. Whoso could reach the czarship in this rule, or secure and keep skill to hold the genei-al's post in this Propaganda, would be The Devil, Satanas, Satan. These are merely the probabilities reached by reasonings on the facts of human nature and society; but are not proofs of the existence of a Personal Spii-it of Evil. That is Rational proba- ^^^ ^f those subiects upon which men can have bilities of the ex- . . , i i i i i i -r< i r istence of Satan. ^^'^ positive knowledge beyond what the ratlicr oi all spirits should choose to reveal. But if there be such a being, the probability is that some revelation of liis existence would be made, if God ever reveals anything to man. The statement that Jesus employed the superstition of his coun- trymen to advance his own good and praiseworthy design of ac- quiring influence over them for their benefit — a Satan of New ^.^^^ unworthy course for any great man to pur- Testament not ' . . ,, . • '4. i. i.1 1 £ , . , sue — IS especially inaiipropriate to the case betore Jewish. TT. " r 1 • • 1 us. Ills narrative 01 his temptation, together with his other teachings, actually made a revelation to the Jewish mind. They had no conception of such a being as the Satan of the New Testament. The statement that the Jews obtained their idea of Satan from the East during the "Captivity," is wliolly iinsustained by any- thing known of their literature. Their concep- Jewish idea of ^j^^^ ^^^ g^^^^^^ ^^,,^^ ^^.j^^l^^. ^^^^^j,.^ ^j,^ PcM-siau idea Satan not obtained -. ^, -r> • f c- ^'ri ^ 1 1 AT • 1 1 in the Captivity. ^^^ ^'^^ 1 nucc OI Sin. Ihat old iManichivan doc- trine traced the existence of evil to one creator, as it did the existence of good to another, and these creatoi-s were equally powerful ; their Satan was always as grand and influen- tial a person as their God. No man can read Jewish sacred lite- rature without seeing how totally absent is this idea. It seems never to have had a place among them. Among the writei-s (»f the Old Testament the 7ia7ne seldom occui-8, and \\\{iword\\o\, very fre- qucntlv. "Wlierc the name is used thepei-son so designated has no attribute of grandeur or terribleness or extensive power. lie is always at the control of Jehovah. This is (piite difi"erent from the doctrine of Ahriman and Ormnzd, the Persian co-ordinate deities THE TEMPTATION. 101 The name occurs first in the book "Job " (i. G ; ii. 1-7), in pas- sages so familiar that they need not be quoted. But it is worth while to remind the reader that in this powerful dramatic sketch Satan is not represented with _ any characteristic of splendor or terror, lie is a mischievous vagabond, who is allowed by Almighty God to exert his influence for evil upon the body and the estate of Job, but not upon his soul. lie is chained, and the chain is not long. It is to be recollected that this book was most probably written before the Captivity. In the next place, we find the following in Ps. cix. 6 : " Set thou a wicked man over him : and let Satan stand at his right hand." This, fairly translated, seems to be only a -,',.,,•' 1 J, ' ., ,. . ,. , The Satan of statement or God s law oi retribution, in winch jjg^^^ the word Satan may be translated " adversary," * so that it simply says that when one has behaved wickedly towards his friend, " A wicked man shall be set over him, and an adver- sary shall stand at his right hand." But if the word be taken as the name of the Chief of Evil, to which there seems to be no ob- jection, here is marked inferiority. Satan is limited and subordi- nate, a being totally different from the Ahriman of the East and the Satan of the Xew Testament. The third citation is in 1 Cliron. xxi. 1 : " And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel." Supposing this to be the personal Devil, the remark in the , f 1 T 1 Ti The Satan of last sentence of the preceding paragraph equally ^^^ chronicles. applies. The only other passage, so far as I know, in which the word is translated " Satan " in our versicm, is in Zechariah iii. 1 : "And he showed me Joshua the high-priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his 2 u -IJ right hand to resist him." This is a dream or vision. As such I admit it may safely be taken as the writer's idea of Satan, as even embodying the popular idea. It was Avritten after the Cap- tivity. Can any man find in tliis, and in the text from Chronicles, the slightest trace of Persian origin ? And this is all, except a few passages such as 2 Samuel xix. 22, and 1 Kings v. 4, in which the word satan is admittedly properly translated " adversary'." * I believe the Septuagint generally, I " adversaiy." p u-haus invariably, translates the word I 102 mTEODUCnON of JESUS to his public MDnSTKY. Tlie Jews, then, did not find their conception of Satan in the Captivity. They never adopted the Oriental mythology. Nor did Jesus adopt their notions. The Satan of his teaching is a revelation, as we shall see as we make progi*ess with this history. We shall find that Satan is a j^erson spoken of as thoroughly individualized in the mind of Jesus, and subsequently of liis fol- lowers, and his existence repeatedly referred to, " asserted or im- plied as a familiar and important truth." Jesus believed himself to have been assailed by Satan, and aa we know nothing to the contrary, we believe so too. But he no- where states, and we have no right to aflirm, (mi-. jjg^gj tainly no right to consider it an article of faith, that Satan appeared to him in bodily form as a man, a " member of the Sanhedrim," or a " Scribe." "When a cunning evil man discovers a pure and great spirit about to en- gage in a great work, he ofi^ers resistance and presents obstacles. The attractions of the univei*se bring them face to face, as a neg- atively electrified body is drawn towards one that is positively electrified. Satan found Jesus as he finds you and me, and he instantly opened an attack on his virtue. Wliether Jesus saw Satan or not, and held this colloquy in ar- ticulate words, or had the suggestion presented to him, and from his inmost spirit made the response, we caimot u 1 T«i 7 know. Nor is it imi)ortant. The s])iritual his- has less uiincul- ^ ^ . tjeg tory of Jesus comes forward as well on either the- ory ; and on either we have all the lessons neces- sary for our instruction. The latter is free, however, from the embarrassments of the former, as before mentioned, such as the l)odily visil)le tempter taking the person of Jesus to the battle- ments of the Temjile and the top of the moimtain. But if Al- mighty God gave Satan temporary power to do these things, as he is represented in tlie book " Jol) " to have done, it need give trouble only to such historians as strive to read the history of God's world with God totally ignored. The writer of these pages believes as much in the existence of God as he does in the exis- tence of man. The first tem]>tation of Jesus was through the body, by " the hist of the flesh." The Tcnq)ter said : " If you be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." It was well put. Jesus had just received at Jordan a marvellous confirmation of THE TEMPTATION. 103 his opinion of himself as the Son of God. If he was the Son of God he was the Messiah. If the Messiah, he could work miracles. Here was a case where a '^^^ ^^^* *®™P' , 7 ■, ^ T, . . . , ^- tation: the " lust miracle aee/nea ueeded. iiut it was a temptation ^^ ^-^^ ^^^^^ „ to place himself out of the harmony of the uni- versal order, and to do so for a selfish purpose. He replied in the laiignao-e of the holy books : " It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." It was a human and a manly response. Whatever may have been his inmost thoughts of himself, whatever profound and inscrutable self-consciousness, he always knew himself to be a man. He meets the tempter on the platform of common hu- manity, and there fights out the battle of virtue. The passage he quotes in reply is from Deuteronomy viii. 3, and occurs in the his- tory of the t«!Muptation of the people of Israel, in which tempta- tion they fell, even as Adam fell when he was tempted. It im- plies, not that men are to put aside the ordinary food of the body, but that when a man is in the discharge of duty he may depend upon God's providential arrangements. " Word " does not occur in the original. It is " every — [thing] — that proceedeth from God's mouth," every expression of Ilis will. Even when men eat " bread," they do not live by bread alone. There is a vitality maintained by the Father of spirits in men which makes the bread productive of growth or reparative of decay. Jesus might have yielded to the temptation. Then had he parted with his Messiahship, his ordination to the leadership of those strivinc: to be braveh' good. He would no longer have been a Deliverer. lie would himself have been a captive of his lusts. The second temptation* addressed the spirit of Jesus through the intellect, " the lust of the eye." Jesus was present bodily or by vivid mental representation, it matters not which, in Jerusalem, and "on the pinnacle of Second tempta- , 1 ,, mi • , • / ^ tion: "the lust of the temple. Ihe precise spot is oi course not ^.j^ggyg" ascertainable, but a probable suggestion f is that Jesus was placed on the lofty porch which overhung the valley of the Ivedron, where the steep side of the valley was added tc the height of the temple-wall, as described by Josephus,:]: and * It will be perceived that I follow the order of Luke rather than of ]Mat- thew, as being more logicaL t Smith's iV. T. Hist. tAnt, XV. 11, § 5, 104 INTEODUCnON OF JESUS TO HIS PUBLIC MENISTRT. made a depth do^vn which it was terrific to gaze. Then the tempter said, " Cast thyself down." He followed up the sug- gestion liy an abbreviated but verbatim quotation from the sacred book, namely the 91st Psalm : " It is written. He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee ; and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone." An assurance given to the children of the Almighty God in general must a fortiori apply to the Son of God, one who had been pro- nounced so by a voice out of the heavens. " Now, then," said the tempter, " perform a brilliant miracle. Fling thyself from this lieight, and wlien thou touchest the ground the peoj)le will ftock to thee, and without question hail thee as the Messiah." It addressed itself principally to the imagination of Jesus. It was one form of mii-acle which the Messiah, such as the Jews looked for, was traditionally expected to perform. Jesus replied, " It is written again, * Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." + To obey the seductive suggestion would have been so grateful to a selfish vanity. But he repels it. The Divine Providence must never be invoked for selfish ends. The third form of temptation assailed Jesus through the pas- sions,— " the pride of life," ambition, " the last infirmity of noble minds." Satan made to ])ass before the mind of Third tempta- j^^^^g ^ panorama of the kingdoms of the world, tion : ' ' the pride , . i i • i tt p i i Qf 2^g „ tlieir power and then* glory. He professed to be owner and master of these. He tendered them to Jcsns on the sut it involved homage to Evil, tribute to the Chief of Evil, Whatever may be said of the other temptations, this nuist be * The word nuhv^ translated "again," I rather " in another place." 4oe8 not sig-iiify "on the contrary," but I \ Deut. vi. 10. TOE TEMPTATION. 105 admitted to have been internal. The physical conditions of the planet arc such that there cannot possibly be an elevation from which all the kingdoms of the world could be seen, and there is no conceivable position in which their " power " and " glory " could have been visible. It is to be observed that this temptation assailed Jesus on the Messiah side of his nature and expectations. lie now, if never before, believed himself to be the Messiah. lie was about to exhibit himself as such to his nation. Assault on the The people of the Jews, as he knew^, held that j^^^ the Messiah upon his arrival should first break the Roman yoke, and then, by a series of conquests, military and moral, reduce all the nations to the rule of the Jews and to the religion of Judaism. Why slioidd not Jesus satisfy this natural expectation ? Why not abandon the method of leavening the world by the sure but very slow process of the operation of truth, and transmute it at once by a single stroke of divine power, such as he could have exercised if he were the Sou of God ? The very attempt would have been homage to Satan, a bending of the knee to Evil. He was willing for this wonderfully endowed young man to exercise all the authority and enjoy all the glory of the most splendid viceroyalty of the world, w^hile he retained supreme dominion. The reply of Jesus is : " Get thee hence, Satan, for it is writ- ten, Thou shalt do homage to the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou worship." The answer shows that Jesus now certainly recognized the instigator of his evil thoughts. The suggestion of idolatry of a very foul kind, the worship of the Spirit of Evil, unveils the Satanic character of the tempter, and Jesus repels him. There is an expression in Luke (iv. 6) worth notice. Satan says : " All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them ; for that is delivered to me, and to whomsoever I •n T • -J. « rni i i 1 • 1 • 1 ., .• Satan's admission. Will i give it. ihat to which special attention is called is the acknowledgment of his inferiority by the Cliief of Evil Spirits, amid intense braggadocio. He had not this dominion of personal natural right, but had been permitted to enter upon it. The whole statement is a falsehood, when asserted by the Evil One ; but the subservience and limit which he admits is a characteristic of the Satan of whom Jesus speaks, which dis- 106 INTRODUCTION OF JESUS TO HIS PUBLIC MINISTRY. tinguishes liiia from the Aliriraan of the Magian mythology^ from which Jesus and the Jews are said to have derived their notion of Satan, and is very miportant in this beginning of our examination of what Jesus teaches as to the Chief of Evil. Another treneral remark must be made. It is observable that Jesus never attempts to rebut temptation with logic. He has no argument with Satan. He confronts him with Jesus repels with ^^^ ^y^^.^ ^f (. ^^^ jj^ ^^^^^^ ^j^^ ^^^^.^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^ bcriptiire. , ^ his people. This homage paid to the Old Testa- ment Scriptures by a mind eixlowed naturally with greater gifts than that of Moses, or David, or any of the prophets, or any other human being, gives those books an exalted and enduring impor- tance. The history tells us that when the tempter departed angels "came and ministered" to Jesus. We have seen the statement of the announcement of his birth by angels, both Ministry of an- ,0 1 p • 1 m^ • • 1 • , beiore and alter it occurred. Iheir immediate gels. attendance upon Jesus brings them nearer to this biography, and as this portion is taken to be autobiographic, it is the first mention made by Jesus of these superior beings. It is the proper place to institute an inquiry into the position which they held in Jewish literature and thought before the birth of Jesus, as preparatory to what he himself teaches upon the subject. It is to be noticed how little is given in the Old Testament writings to gratify the curiosity of man. Of that with which he is supposed to have immediate and great concern there is much stated. The heavenly world, the residence of good spirits, is fre- quently spoken of, and many things told of its inhabitants, not as doctrines of relij^ion but as facts. They are regarded as the highest order of created intelligences, all other creatures being below them in dignity and station. The ]>rophet Isaiah says : " In the year that king est of^creatures. ^^^^^^i'th tlicd I saw also Jehovah sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the Temple. Above it stood the seraphim: each one had six wings. And one cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts ! the whole earth is full of his glory ! " This nearness to the central throne of the universe is set forth also in Ezekiol, and Daniel. The former says (x, 1): '' Tiien I looked, and, behold. THE TEMPTATION. 107 in the fii-mainent that was above the head of the cherubim, there appeared over them as it were a sapphire-stone, as the appearauc^e of the likeness of a throue." Also (in xxviii. 14) : " Tlum art the anointed cherub that covereth ; and I have set thee so : thou wast upon the holy mountain of God ; thou hast walked up and down in midst of the stones of fire." In Daniel x. 13, the angel Michael is called "one of the chief princes ; " and in xii. 1, " the great prince." In 2 Chron. x\'iii. 18, it is written: "Again he said, Therefore hear the word of the Lord : I saw the Lord sitting upon His throne, and all the host of heaven standing on His right hand and on His left." In 2 Kings xix. 15, Jehovah is represented as dwelling among the cherubim. They are represented as powerful creatures. In Psalm ciii. 20, David exclaims : " Bless the Lord, ye angels that excel in strength." Evidence of their strength is sup- 1,1 . • ,1 , , ,1 , . .1 They are pow- posecl to be given m the statements that m three ^^^^ creatur days an angel, as an agent of God, destro^^ed seventy thousand persons out of Israel and Judah (2 Sam. xxiv.) ; and that in one night an angel destroyed tlie army of Sennache- rib, numbering one hundred and eighty-five thousand men (2 Kings xix.). But in the latter case certainly the " Angel of Jehovah " is meant, and of him we shall find more hereafter. Their activity is set forth in such expressions as (Ps. civ. 4) : " Who maketh Ilis angels spii'its, and his ministers a flame of fire." Many thinirs are ascribed to cherubim and sera- „, ■. . T^ . p . J- "6y ^^^ active, phiui. In the ninth chapter of Daniel we are told that during the time it refpiired to utter a j^rayer the angel Gabriel came to him from the supreme heaven. Dr. Dwight says {System of Theology, vol. i.) : " This is a rapidity exceeding all the comprehension of the most active imagination; surpass- ing the amazing swiftness of light." Their intelligence was set forth in the ascription to them of " eyes," and, as in Ezekiel, of the " face of man," the usual orien- tal symbol of intelli'ience. The name "cherub" mu • • . „• *^ Their inteUigence. means " fulness of knowledge." In the speech of Mephibosheth to David the wisdom of the angels is implied : " But my lord the king is as an angel of God : do therefore what is good in thine eyes." (2 Sam. xix. 27.) In every mention of them, or allusion to them, their holiness seems to be implied, as in Daniel iv. 13, 23 ; viii. 13 ; and Genesia 108 INTRODUCTION OF JKSl'S TO HIS PlIJLIC MINBTRV. xxviii. 12. More tluui in tiny pivci>e statement does the air of ^ . , ,. this thou'T'ht pervade all the Jewish holv books, Their holiness. . , ,. , , -. -,•,.". r written by men diversely educated and living fm- apart. Their numbers are described as immense. In Genesis xxxii. 2, Jacob is said to have called the place Mahanaim, signifying Their numbers " ^^^*^ hosts or camps," for when he met the an- gels of God he said, " This is Jehovah's host." The same idea is in 1 Chron. xii. 22 : " For at that time, day by day, they came unto David to help him, until it was a great hc.t, like the host of God." The Supreme Being is repeatedly called " Jehovah, God of Hosts." David, in Psalm Ixviii., exclaims : " The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels." But whatever spirituality, intelligence, power, activity, and holiness are ascribed to them, there is always implied an infinite distance between them and Jehovah. The well- Infinitely below , • T 1 • I .-. • 1 . ■ Q^^ known passage m Job iv. Ih, is very emphatic : " His angels he charged with folly." "We some- times find angels, in their terrene manifestations, eating and drinking (Gen. xviii. S ; xix. 3) ; but in Judg. xiii. 1.'), ir., the angel who appeared to Manoah det-lined, in a very j)ointed man- ner, to accept his hospitality. The manner in which the Jews ol)- viated the apparent discrepancy, and the sense in which they un- derstood such [)assages, api)ear from the apocryphal book of Tobit (xii. 19), where the angel is made to say: 'It seems ti» you, in- deed, as though I did eat and drink with you ; but I use invisible food which no man can see.' This intimates that they were sup- posed to simulate when they ai>peared to partake of man's food, but that yet they had food of their own proper to their natures. INnitoii, who was deeply read in the 'angelic' literature, derides these (piestions {Par. Lost^ v. 433-430). But if angels do vot need food; if their spiritual bodies are inherently ?/?oe historians say surrounded his birth. It does not prove that Jo- seph was his father. To the enthusiastic announcement by Philip, Nathanael re- plied : " Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth ? " Nathanael was a Galilajan: it cannot be supposed that he intended to throw reproach upon his own province in general, nor upon Nazareth in particular. Ilis question means simply Avhat it seems (o mean, namely, that Nazareth was so insignificant a ])lace that it was not reasonable to expect the Messiah to spring therefrom. It is a remarkable fact that neither in the books of the Old Tes- tament nor in Josephus is any mention made of Nazareth ; of so little historical importance was this place. Philip's reply is, like most simple utterances of guileless souls, wonderfully philosophical : " Come and see." Spiritual discov- eries, as all thinkers know, are exceedingly difficult to report. Each one must for himself pass through the processes of thought and emotion which are necessary for spiritual growth. No man can, \\]xm the rc]»r('scntation of another, believe in the adapted- ness of any spii-it to his own spirit. He must try it for himself. In nothing do we need to be more practical and to exercise more common sense than in the affaii-s of religiroached, Jesus said to the bystandei-s, "Pehold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile ! " These are plain words that need no explanation. Nathanael ♦ Reference is made to Ps. ii. 0-9 ; I these passages critically may differ in Isa. ix. 0; xi. l-."), 10; liii. 2-12; Jer. their estimates of their Messianic vol- xxiii. 5, 0; xxxiii. 15; Ezekiel xxxiv. ue, but can hardly fail to find in them 2:5 ; Dan. ix. 25 ; Mic. v. 2 ; Hap. ii. 7 ; sufBciont basis for the expoctations of Zechari.ih iii. 8; ix. l» ; xiii. 7; Mai. these men and the Jewish people gen- iii. 1 ; iv. 2. Headers who examine , erally. THE FIRST DISCIPLES. 117 Beems to have overheard this speech, and, without presuming to appropriate to himself the fine quality mentioned, saw that the remark naturally intimated a pre%'iou3 knowledge. lie frankly asked Jesus: "Whence did you know me?" And Jesus replied : " Before Philip saw you, when you were under the fig-tree, I saw you," Xathanael exclaimed : " Rabbi, you are the Son of God ! You are the King of Israel ! " This sudden admission on Nathanael's part, of the claim of Messiahship made for Jesus by Philip, seems a little strange. What Jesus said — if we have it all recorded here — amounts to very little. He might easily have seen him sitting in meditation under his fig-tree. There must have been something more implied in look or tone, or both, that went directly to Xathanael's heart. He was somehow searched. There came into his soul a feeliuof of the presence of a superior spirit. By word or deed Jesus made him feel that he knew what was in Nathanael's mind when he sat under the fig-tree. The sight of his pei-son was no proof of divine or even extraordinary power. The reply of Jesus is remarkable : " Because I said unto you that I saw you under the fig-tree, do you believe ? You shall see greater things than these." And to the company present he added : " Verily, verily,* I say unto you, hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." So far as we know, this was never liter- ally f ullllled to those to whom it was spoken. It has been sug- gested that the disciples frequently saw around Jesus, as he talked, or prayed, or wrought, or slept, appearances of angelic creatures. But this is mere conjecture. They never said so. It is poetry and not history. The words, then, must have been symbolic : if literal, the fulfilment would most surely have been recorded. They do symbolize that series of wonderful deeds wherewith afterwards his life became adorned and made the most marvellous of human histories ; and that spiritualizing of human modes of thought by Jesus, in which heaven has been opened ; and that more active'flux and reflux of celestial powers which have marked the Christian era. But now for the first time Jesus applies to himself that name which seems to have been his favorite mode of self -designation, " The Son of Man." Others spoke of him usually by the name •This ant'-v, autjv, translated " ver- I similar asseverations the other biogra- ily, verily," is peculiar to John. In I phers use auriv only once. 118 INTRODUCTION OF JESUS TO HIS PUBLIC MINISTRY. which Xathauael had employed — " Son of God." In NathanaeFs ease we must suppose tlie speaker to liave liad little ^^ e on 0 conception of the meaning of the phrase. Philip had probably told him tliat John had called Jesus " Son of God," and it was to liis mind significant vaguely of something very great and glorious, but how great and how glori(.)US he knew not, taking it for granted, however, that it included all Messianic functions and magnificence. But Jesus almost invari- ablv * calls himself " The Son of Man," a name never throuirh his whole life applied to him by any other person.f It is to be noticed that in the original the article is very rarely omitted.:}: lie styles himself, with obvious intention to make the name pei"Sonally distinguishing, " the Son of Man." It was a title not common among the Jews, and not understood by them when Jesus employed it and applied it to himself. The phrase occui-s in the Old Testament, M'here it appears to have had its origin. It is in Daniel vii. 13, where it has been noticed that the word is not Ben-ish or Ben-Adam, but Bar-Enosh, which represents humanity in its greatest frailty and humility. Ezekiel is repeatedly called Son of Man, but never calls himself so. It may have been to keep him from undue exaltation on account of his many great and glorious visions. But he is not called the Son of Man. The Old Testament writers may be said to have used the phrase to designate, generally, huiaanitu in its highest ideal. It was certainly not a customary designation of the Messiah, else some false Messiah would have used it. !More- over, the people woidd sometimes at least have applied it to Jesus, as they frequently did the name "Son of David," which latter name Jesus accepted, and upon which he was accustomed to base an argument for the superior dignity of the Messiah. (See Matt. ix. 27 ; xii. 23 ; xv. 22 ; xx. 30, 31 ; xxi. 0, 15 ; xxii. 42,45.) It was jis the " Son of David " that the people implored his * In Johu's " Gospel," however, Jesus of dying Stephen, See also Rev. i. is frequently represented as calling him- | 13. self the " Son of God," with a pregnant 1 % T now discover only one passage in meaning. which it is omitted, namely, John v. 27, f In Acts vii. 50 it occurs, and has special reference to the bodily appear- ance of Jesus, aa it seemed to the eyes perhaps for a reason we may present when we reach the disuui)ision of th* passage. THE FIRST DISCIPLES. 119 help, and as the " Son of David " he did help them. The prophets had foretold that the Messiah was to come of David's line, and frequently nsed the name of j^ ., „ David to imply the Messiah, The Jews cher- ished the name and fame of David as their most glorions mon- arch, the king who had done most to extend their dominions. And so they naturally came to associate ideas of secular splendor and conquest with the thought of the Messiah. Perhaps it was on this account that Jesus, when he wislied to comiect his person with the Messianic idea, preferred to call him- self " The Son of Man." It lifted him from the sphere of secu- lar to that of spiritual and everlasting life; it enlarged him from the representative of one family — a royal family — to the repre- sentatiN'e of all humanity. It realized Messiah, it idealized man. And the mission of Jesus was to break bands — bands of church- ism, bands of monarchy, bands of caste, prejudice, conventional- ities. In his work he was to bring himself down to all the weaknesses, wants, and sympathies of man : in the results of that work he was to lift man up to himself. In regard to Kathanael, it may be further stated that he is believed by many to be the same as Bartholomew. The reason assigned is, that in the fii-st three gospels Xatlian- ael is not mentioned, while Philip and BartTiolo- meio are constantly named together ; whereas in John, Philip and Nathanael are constantly coupled, but Bartholomew is never mentioned. We may consider his real name as Xathanael, while Bartholomew, which signifies " Son of Tolmai," is his surname. We learn from John xxi. 2, that he was a riative of Cana, in Galilee. Bernard and Abbot Rupert were of opinion that he was the bridegroom at the marriage in Cana. He is reported among the witnesses of the resurrection and of the ascension of Jesus, and as returning to Jerusalem with the other Apostles. (See Johii*xxi. 2, and Acts iv. 12, 13.) The apocryphal statements are, that he was subsequently an Apostle to the Indians, whoever they may have been, the ancient Nvi-iters using the word indefinitely. The place of his death is not well ascertained. Albanopolis, in Armenia Minor, and Urbanopolis, in Cilicia, are mentioned. He is said by one author to have died in Lycaonia. They all agree that he was crucified with his head downward. A spurious " gospel " beai-s his name. CHAPTER V. IN CAN A AND rAI'KRNAIM. KANA i:i. .iir.ir.. Cana of Galilee. Having accompjislied liis proposed journey, we next find Jesus in Cana of Galilee. Tliis village is not named in the Old Testa- ment. Accordinp: to Joseplnis ( Vita, c. 16), it lay half a day's journey from the sea of Gennesaret, and ahout two days from the Jordan, where Jesus had had his in- terview \y\\\\ Nathanaol, who pn)l)al)ly accompanied hijn to Cana. In liis lii'xearches (iii, 204), Dr. Robinson estahlishcs it as Kana- el-Jelel, 3^ hours N. ^ E. from Kazareth. Here Jesus ])orf()nnod his first miracle, whidi is thus reported in John ii. 1-10: "And the third day there was a marriafre in Cana of Galileo; and the nK)theiT>f Josns was there: and hotli Jesus was called [invited], and his disciples, to the marriage. And when The first miracle John ii. m CANA AND CAPERNAUM. 121 they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, * They have no wine.' Jesus saith unto her, 'Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine horn* is not yet come.' His mother saith unto the ser- vants, 'Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.' And there were set there six water-pots of stone, after the manner of the pimfying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, ' Fill the water-pots with water.' And they filled them up to the brim. And he saith unto them, ' Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast.' And they bare it. Wlien the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was (but the servants which drew the water knew), the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, and saith unto him, 'Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine ; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse : but thou hast kept the good wine until now.' " The particularity with which minutiae are mentioned renders it probable that the historian John was one of the party ; that he, and Andrew, and Peter, and Philip went forward with their new Ilabbi, detachino; themselves from John ,, ,,. ' » orable wedding. and attaching themselves to Jesus. From Betha- bara on the Jordan, where the last incident is mentioned, to Cana in Galilee, there M^ould be parts of three days consumed in the journey. Jesus would pass through Nazareth by the most natural route. Perhaps there he would be told that his mother had gone to Cana, to the wedding of some familiar friend of the family, and that an invitation had been left for him, and any friend who might be with him, to follow her as speedily as convenient. Ilis friends continue M'ith him, and they go in a body to Cana. There an event in the life of Jesus occm'S which makes this tlie most memorable wedding upon record. The marriage of no imperial parties has been so frequently mentioned as this of these unknown peasants of Galilee. No wedding has invoked from genius so many poems and so many passages of eloquence. "Who the bride and bridegroom were we have no means of knowing. They were simple people, of the rank of Mary, and probably poor, as we learn that the wine fell short. Jesus had heretofore performed no miracle. That we are ex- pressly told by the historian John (ii. 11), who thus sets aside all those grotesque and monstrous things which are related of Jesus in the Apocryphal books. But Mary knew his miraculous con- 122 INTRODUCTION OF .lESUS TO HIS PUBLIC MINISTRY. ceptidii .111(1 tlie marvels attending his birth. She had watched his growth in wisdom and power, and althou<;h The mother of i i , ., , • i i i i i "' J she had never witnessed a miracle, she had ahvavi found him a wise adviser in times of domestic emergencies. IIow far he had communicated to lier his views of his mission we cannot know. They must have had long conver- sations and deep communings about himself; and if he had nevei given her any hints about his Messiahship, the Jewish woman had Jewish hopes in her heart, and she connected them with the sacred secrets of his birth and brooded over them with her maternal love. There is a great probability that the disciples who were witli Jesus told her how they had come to form that brotherhood, on the ground of the Baptist John's having proclaimed him as the Mes- siah. The Baptist was the highest authority then. So now Mary received him, after his absence, in the double character of son and Messiah. And she knew that the Messiah was to work miracles. The hour seemed to have arrived; the wine failed. She spoke to Jesus, very delicately, merely iiift inning him of the fact. It was very natural. The reply of Jesus seems un- rep y o naturally hai-sh. That somehow it was a reijroof Jesus. , , *^ *■ is obvious. That some rebuff should come, we might, upon reflection, expect. Our knowledge of Jesus after all we have read makes it natural. He would do nothing at tlie mere ]>ronipting of pride or vanity. And if Mary believed or suspected him to be the Messiah, she should wait until his own spirit prompt- ed the extraordinary act. And yet the words are not as harsh as they seem in our English version. l\vui, " Woman," is an Oriental method of salutation to women of the highest rank, and Jesus used it upon the cross, in the season of his extreme suffering, and when he was exhibiting the most tender and unselfish regard for his mother. (See John xix. 26).* Substitute "Lady," and see how different is the sound. But the fact that he chose to say "My Lady," instead of "My ]\Iother," is significant, lie had entered his work. This was his fii-st meet- ing with INfary after his baptism, and he seems to have made her then feel the barrier which must ever thereafter be between them. l\Lary was to learn what many a woman has learned, how a great life-work interferes with the afTecti(»ns. She is to be " woman " * See also John xx. 15. m OANA AND CAPERNAUM. 123 to him, — a very dear mother, ever to be honored, but woman. Her husband had not been his father.* He knew himself now as the son of the God. His whole treatment hereafter, as we shall see, is on this platform. "What have I to do with thee?" is the translation of a difficult phrase. It seems to imply that they had different positions from which to see the demands of this occasion. She had a neighboi^'s and a mother's feelings. He had the sentiments becoming the Messiah, the Sent of God, and was to do what was necessary to make himself known in this work, and no more. It was not an ugly, rough, unfilial speech ; but it did reprove Mary, and stands forever against all that superstition which elevates her into a goddess who has power to command her son. We shall find that nowhere does Jesus encourage supersti- tion. The mother still felt that her great son would do something great. Perhaps he had intimated as much, and all that he checks in Mary is her too great forwardness. She tells the ser\'ants to be on the alert, although he had said what she could hardly have understood, what perhaps we do not understand — " My hour has not yet come." Gregory of Nyssen gives a turn to this which may be the solution of difficulties. He regards it as a question : "Has not ray hour come?" He used it afterward on another memorable occasion. He will hasten nothing, he will delay noth- ing. But does not her speech to the servants show that Mary had had some intimation of what Jesus was going to do? The ceremonial punctuality of the Jewish religion was ob- served by this poor family. They had six water-pots, each hold- ing from two to three "firkins." This word signifies a measure of 8 gallons and 7.4: pints. If ^ ^^ ^^ ^° ^' we assign two firkins and a half {fieTpijTr}^ is the original) as the average, then they held 133 gallons. They were 2oat€r-po% not wine-jars. They were filled with water at the command of Je- sus. He directed the servants to draw and carry to the " gover- nor of the feast," a person called in the original at'ohiirichinus, who held something like the place of the sy?nposiarch, the master of ceremonies, the 7'ex cojivivii, probably a guest who had kindly by request undertaken the office for the occasion. The servants * As Augustine says, " That in me which works miracles was not bom of thee.' 124 INTEODUCTION OF JESUS TO HIS PUBLIC MINISTET. The miracle. dipped and bore it to the ruler of the feast, wlio, when he had tasted it, not knowing whence it was, called his friend the bride- groom, and pleasantly reminded him that it was customary to pr<->- duce the best wine at fii-st, and when men had rather cloyed their palates by frequent potations, then to produce the inferior wine. " But," said he, " you have kept the good wine until now," until the very last. The historian pronounces this a miracle. It certainly is, or it is a contemptible farce played out by cunning collusion, or the whole history is false. We have no more right to suspect this history than most of Caesar's Com- mentaries on the AVar in Gaul, or the Aiinah of Tacitus. "We must accept this, or reject almost every line of these histories. Accepted, the narrative shows that John, who seems to have been present, believed, so far from this being a trick, that it was really a miracle. There is nothing gained by any explanations of the palliative class, such as Xeander's idea that Jesus " intensijied (so to speak) the powers of water into those of wine." * X<»r la iveexp a- -j^^, Auffustine's idea that such a miracle is wrouirht nations. . "■ . . in our vineyards yearly, and Jesus simply has- tened the processes of nature by which water becomes wine.f This view is indorsed by Trench {On Miracles, p. 91), Mhen that usually judicious writer compares this to " the unnoticed miracle of every-day nature," and speaks of the difference lying in " the power and will by which all the intervening steps of these tardier processes were overleaped and the result obtained at once." There is no comparison. There is in this act of Jesus in Cana no such basis as soil and germ, vine and grape, through which to propel the wine. It was a clear and sheer miracle, the simple basis being water and the result being wine. It was a miracle or nothing. We do no credit to our intellects by dodges or subterfuges. * One cannot ridicule so respectable and goo^l a man as Neander ; but the pressure of the si)irit of German criti- cism upon his excellent mind may be measured by a note, m which he says : "Compare as analogies the mincrdl $pringf>, in which, by natural processes, new powers are given to water; and the ancient accounts of springs which sent forth waters like wine — intoxica- ting waters." We cannot wonder that Dr. Straiis.s laughs at Dr. Neander for such passages. f His words (in Er.J«/i.. Tract. 8) are : '* Dlud autcm non miranmr quia omni anno fit : assiduitate amicit ad- mirationem. " m CANA AND CAPERNAUM. 125 Trouble is given some commentators by the abundance of wine which Jesus made. It looks like " putting temptation in men's way," it is said. But does not the All-Father do that perpetually and plentifully ? There is noth- ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ing about us which is not open to that objection. Why does God allow grapes to grow ? ^^7 di^ Grod give men appetites ? All life is a submitting of the human spirit to thd discipline of trial. The lesson to the disciples and to the world is wholesome They had been in the ascetic school of John. In the very open- ing of his public career Jesus teaches them that all the courtesies of life are to be respected ; that no man is to be so great as not to give a portion of his time to the demands of society ; that indulgence in innocent pleasures should have the sanction of the loftiest and grandest natures ; that marriage is not to be discouraged because the work of some men in the w'orld forbids them — as his forbade him — to partake the blessed sweetnesses of married love ; and that he came not to destroy but rectify, not to sadden but to transfigure all life by heightening the spiritual part of man and connecting his ordinary drudgery with the highest hopes ; by turning the water of ordinary existence into the wine of a generous, rich, and exliilarating life. " And his disciples believed on him." (John ii. 11.) After this Jesus, with Mary and her other sons, the half-broth- ers of Jesus, accompanied by the disciples, went down to Caper- naum, which lay on the western side of the Sea of Galilee, a place where we shall find him doing ^^^ ° ^^^ ' '_ ^ _ _ _ ^ naum. many of his mighty works, and which, according to his prediction, has been lost from human geography so thor- oughly that no ecclesiastical tradition ventures to fix its site. Dr. Robinson exposes the views of all previous travellers in their at- tempts to identify the locality. (See Bibl. Researches^ iii. 288- 294.) The " not many days " seems to signify his eagerness to be about his work, rather than to indicate any chronological space. PART III. FEOM THE FIEST TO TIIE SECOND PASSOVER IN THE PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS. ONT: year— probably from APRIL of A.D. 27 TO APRIL OF A.D. 28. CHAPTER L CLE.\JS'SING TIIE TEMl'LE. A Passover approached. This great festival drew Jews to the Temple not only from all parts of Palestine, but fi-om distant lands. Jesus went up to Jerusalem. On enter- ing the Temple he found in the Court of the Gentiles persons selling oxen, sheep, and doves, for sacrifices, and near them sat brokers making exchange of money for those who wished to purchase offerings. Perhaps these brokers also changed the foreign money of Jews from a distance into the sacred half- shekel, which alone was allowed to be paid in for the Temple capitation-tax, levied annually on every Jew of twenty years old and upwards. (Compare Matt. xvii. 24 with Exod. xxx. 13 ; 2 Kings xii. 4 ; 2 Chroii. xxiv. 0, 0.) * Jesus had witnessed this dese- * According to Hug, ' ' the ancient imposts which were introduced before the Roman dominion wore valued ac- cording to the Greek coinage, e.g., the taxes of the Temple. Matt. xvii. 24; Joseph., B. I., VTi. 6, 0. The offerings were paid in these. Mark xii. 42 ; L\ike xxi. 2. A payment which pro- mon business, trade, wages, sale, etc., the aJisiM and denarius and Roman coin were usual. Matt. x. 20 ; Luke xii. G ; Matt. XX. 2 ; Mark xiv. 5 ; John xii. 5 ; vi. 7. The more modem state taxes are likewise paid in the coin of the nation which exercises at the time the greatest authority. Matt. xxii. 19; Mark xii. ceeded from the Temple troiusury Wiis 15; Luke xx. 24." — Vol. i. p. 14. After made according to the ancient national , all, however, some of these words may payment by weight. Matt. xxvi. 15. I be translations. [This is very doubtful.] But in com- I CLEANSING THE TEMPLE. 127 cration of God's house every year from his early boyhood. He had seen that, the secularized and demoralized priesthood allowed it. To him it had become intolerable. He had entered upon his mission. Probably rumors of him increased the crowd at this festival. Eighteen years before, in that very spot, he had said that he must be about his Father's business, and he certainly meant the work of God. " This was the house of God. He would not endure the sight of its desecration longer. The cattle may have stood by in pairs, and rope — such rope as they were accus- tomed to use in leading beasts to the slaughter— lay near. The spirit of tlie old prophets was upon him. He did not speak. He acted. Seizing the rope he made a scourge, and drove these des€- crators out of the Temple. AYliether he actually applied the lash to their backs we do not know. His presence, his act, so like that of one of their old proj^hets, may have exerted such a moral force upon their guilty consciences that they fled before the blow. He ordered the animals away, overturned the tables of the money- changers, and cleared the Temj^le. Lights and shadows ! T7e have seen him all sweetness at a wedding, beneficently turning away the shame of a poor but lov- ing bridegroom by a miraculous supply of wine. We now behold him terrible to evil-doers. Among the holy poor he is all gentle- ness ; in the presence of merchants and rulers and multitudes he is the stern rebuker of the great wrong. The effect of this act ui^on the disciples was to deepen the impression of his Messiah- ship. Perhaps they recalled the words of John, " whose fan is in his hands." They certainly did recollect what David had sung in his sorrowful exile : " The zeal of thy house has eaten me up " (Ps. Ixix. 9.) The Jews demanded his authority for this amazing act. The demand is to be regarded as coming from two classes. The more devout among the people must have long regarded this proximity of tlie mart to the Temple a nui- ^^ authority sauce which should be abated. "\Vlien this extra- ^^'^'"''^^^ ordinary young man, of whom they had heard vague but interest- ing statements, performed the act so boldly, it must have been agreeable to them, and probably increased their expectations of what he should do hereafter. They hoped he would by greater deeds of national importance furnish authority for believing that he did this as a Messianic act. The worldly and secular hated 128 FIRST AND SECOND PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESUB. him for it, but could not resent, as he i)hiecT) SECOND PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. On gronnds of policy the act and the accompanying speech are wholly indefensible. If Jesus undertook the enterprise which ia charged upon him by the critics, then he was sim- .. " ° ply a fool, whose folly it would be difficult to match from all the recorded mistakes of men. But whatever else be charged, he is not accused of folly. Then, he did not seek to draw men to his fellowship by going to their opinions. Then, he was an independent thinker and actor. Then, he was not politic. If, since his death, it be ascertained that he has exerted a vast influence over human thought and action, — if now he reigns king in the hearts of multitudes of men, — then it is possible to live a great life and die a great death icithout a policy. If devout men see in the life of Jesus something supematurally beautiful, we shall find, in an nndogmatic study of his career, the thing of all things most beautifiil, pure naturalness. It would seem from the histor}- that during his attendance upon the Passover Jesus did many wonderful things, even performed miracles, which convinced many that he was the oes many won- ^^j^ggj^jj They Seemed more willing to trust him derfol works. -^ , ^, <• • j than he was to trust them. His mtimate fnend and biographer says that it was because "he knew what was in man." He knew that in the fervor of recent conviction they might soon form a mob of excited adherents, whose fidelity could not endure the test which such teaching and discipline as he would enforce would bring upon them. He was in no haste. lie came to plant principles and demonstrate truths, not to crente factions and secure partisans. CHAPTEE II. NICODEMUS. Jesus was a light that could not be hid. The more thoughtful had begun to study the phenomena of his character and career. Even members of the Sanhedrim began to take . I r T r Nicodemus. John interest in his teachnigs, — most with teelmgs ot ^j aversion, a few with solicitude, and one at least with kindly inclination. That one was Nicodemus. There must have been others whose observation had led them to desire to know more of Jesus. Such was Joseph of Ai'imathea, who be- came a disciple, " but secretly for fear of the Jews." (See John xix. 38.) How many more men of mark were in this circle we have no means of knowing. John says (xii. 42) that " among the chief rulers many believed on him." Of these we take Nicode- mus as at once the leading spirit and the representative man. He was a Pharisee as to faith, and a member of the Sanhedrim as to position. He had all the traditionary influence of his sect and his ofiice to bind him to propriety and conservatism. He was not young. The Talmud* speaks of a rich Sanliedrist, called Nicodemus Bonai, who, at a great age, was alive at the destruc- tion of Jerusalem. There are no means of identifying this man with the Nicodemus spoken of by John, but there is no reason, so far as I know, why he may not have been the same. This Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. The interview is re- ported condensedly by John, but is exceedingly interesting, as showing how ready Jesus was to set forth the most profound doc- trines to any willing mind, even when that mind is still held in the bondage of old prejudices. Timid, afraid of the ban of his * The Nicodemus of the Talmudists is called " son of Gorion," is represented as one of the three richest men in Jeru- salem, living at the time of the destruc- tion of Jerusalem, being then among the disciples of Jesus. Olshaxisen re- fers to Sanhedr., fol. xliii. 1; Aboth Rab. Nathan, cap. 6 ; Tract Gittin, fol. Ivi. 1, etc 134 FIRST AND SECOND PASSOVKR IX THE LIFE OF JESUS. caste, holding tenaciously to his prejudices by force of habit, yet candid, loving truth, seeking a sure footing cautiously, he felt himself bound, as all honest minds are bound, to give a fair hearing to every new word and an impartial examination to all new claims. Jesus had not yet classed — as he did afterward — the hypoci-ite with the infidel, the Pharisee with the Sadducee. lie had not re- peated with emphasis the denunciations of John esus regar ed ^.j^^ Baiitist. But his Style was not such as would with mistrust. ^ . i t>i • ■, ^ ,. ■, be pleasing to the 1 harisees, and they did not know how far he was to advance his claims. They regarded him, therefore, with mistrust. Nicodemus saw more in him than most of the other Pharisees perceived. Just such was the posture of his mind when he determined for truth's sake to have an intei-- view with Jesus, but for the sake of prudence to have it at night. Let us now examine the narrative in John in the true historic spirit, laying aside the dogmatic jtrejudices of education. Nicodemus calls Jesus "Pabbi," the title of respect to an acknowledged teacher. His opening speech is complimentary, but cautious. It gives a sufficient reason for his Address of coming, and implies a careful ffuardinfic ajrainst NicodemuB. . *^ *■ ^ » o admitting too much. " We know that from God thou hast come — a Teacher^'' AVho are " ^^'d " ,^ It was not con- fined to himself.* There would have been no propriety in such stately official mode of expression in a secret nocturnal interview. He was representing others as well as himself, what a very few othere, like Joseph of Arimathaja, were ready to admit, and what Nicodemus thought the whole Sanhedrim, at that time, in their heai'ts, believed. Here is a discovery of the impression ali-eady made by Jesus upon the most elevated and thoughtful minds of his nation. "We know this much, that thou hast come from God — that thou hast a divine mission to the people — as a teacher." Only that, no more, is admitted. They are not carried away by any enthusiasm in his behalf, but they are stimulated to learn what he can teach them. He must not be elated by this admis- sion, for it is qualified by a logical reason: "for no man can do the wonderful things thoii doest, if God be not with him." * It is noticed that the phrase ' ' we know" is the current chanicteristic formula of the proud Pharisues, who held the key of knowledge for them- selves and withheld it from the common people. We shall meet it frequently aa we proceed. NICODEMUS. 135 To what does all this amount? Not very much. It implies that while the chief? had made no lii^^h estimate of John, be- cause John had performed no miracle, Jesus had made a profound impression upon the rulers: Caution of , . , . . Nicodemus's ad- one is sent, or comes, to exannne his claims pri- ^^^^ vately and dispassionately. lie says " we," very genei-ally perhaps, as Stier thinks, to shelter himself from express- ing kis own convictions, and so as to be able to draw back if necessary : " thou hast come " is in Greek a pointer to ep^ofj^evo'?, the " Coming One," and if Nicodemus used a precisely parallel word in Hebrew or Aramaic — in one of which dialects the con- versation must have been maintained — he mio-ht have seemed to involve a recognition of the Messianic mission of Jesus ; which recognition, however, is immediately withdrawn in the word " teacher," — the Messiah expected by the Jews being not teacher but H)iff. lie further proceeds to thin out his address by the phrase, " if God be not with him." A great fall from the almost promise of recognizing tlie Mes- siah ! He is so afraid of making that acknowledgment of the Messiahship of Jesus that he stops short and fails to ask a question as to the coming kingdom of God. lie had long felt that the heavenly kingdom should come, and must be near, in spiritual power. His whole people were ardently longing for it. From that lofty expectation he drops down to the idea of a mere science, learning, a school, the founder being a mere teacher ! The idea was not Jewish. Those wlio had come from God were prophets, foretelling and denouncing, or announcing, not teaching. This scientific Saiihedrist begins to blunder as soon as he mingles the spiritual and the material. A teacher working miracles indeed ! And yet a sincere desire to knoNv the truth must have been at the bottom of this man's heart. The mysterious young Rabbi recognized this, as his whole treatment shows. As soon as Nicodemus had " laboriously achieved ®P ^ ° his introductory speech," as Stier describes it, or, as I think, paused from mere confusion, having given no good reason for his visit, Jesus made a reply, which is the first and perhaps the most dogmatic of his utterances. He lets down upon the mind of Nicodemus the weight of the central truth of his system, veiled in figurative language. Looking down into the eyes and heart of the learned Pharisee, he says solemnly: " Verily, verily, I say to 136 FmST AND SECOND PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. you, rf any man he not horn anew, he cannot enjoy the Mngdom of Godr Jesus knew the general expectation of the approaching king- dom. Nicodemus shared it. He liad appn >ached Jesus to ascer- tain, it would seem, what connection existed between his miracles and liis doctrine. The miracles seemed phenomena which de- clared the nearness of the kingdom of the Messiah which Dam'el (vii. 14) had taught him and his nation to expect. As a Jew, a Pharisee, a ruler, he had prescriptive riglit to a place in this kingdom ; but it was quite pri^bable that this young teacher could give bim instruction as to the best way to enter, to see, to enjoy the Messianic kingdom. The general drift of this sudden speech seems to be this : Yon have (;ome to me as if /t'^/vm?^ could do everything; but it is not by new learning, liut by new life, that one is to eanrngo is gjj|.gj. Q^d's kiuirdom ; and a new life comes bv a new birth. Luther paraphrases it thus : " My teaching is not of doing and leaving undone, but of a change in the man: it is not ne\o v.^orJcs done, but a neui man to do them ; not another mode of living only, but a new birth." He takes Xicodemus down from the lofty platform of his official rank arid Pharisaic self-sufficiency, and throws him out among the multi- tude of men by telling him that not rank and learning will save, l)ut any man, whoever he may be, who has not had the experience wliich Jesus indicates by the phrase yevvrjOP] avwQev, "l)e born afresh," such a man cannf)t understand hy ci'perlenc'ing and enjoy- ing (for such the word Ihdv means) the kingdom of God. Xicooi-s of his life to the forming upon earth just such a body of loving subjects to the law of love and to the Lord of love. If this shall fail to appear as we evolve the biography of Jesus, then have we failed of reaching his meanino;. Let us see. The reply of Kicodemus was, " How is a man able to be l)orn, being old ? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" If this be taken as proof that go . ic - ]N^jgQ(}Q,^-^^^g understood Jesus as meanin2: flcshlv uemus 8 reply. _ » " birth, it would simply prove him a fool, and with such an idiot Jesus could have had no conversation. It is sur- prising how generally this has been supposed to be the meaning of Nicodemus. But let the reader reflect that this was no child, but a man advanced in years, holding a high office, having a trained mind, being skilful in detecting the meaning of speech, learned in the Scriptures of his religion, which must have made his mind familiar with the couching of deepest spiritual significa- tion in figurative language. He knew that Jesus meant a rebuke and an instruction. The rebuke was this : Ton, Kicodemus, have come to me as to a more teacher to be told something new about the kingdom of God; I tell you this, that you cannot be instr\icted into that kingdom, schooled into it, educated into it. You (;annot see the kin<;(l(»ni of God from afar. You cannot see 't with your natural senses. You must be spiritually re-created, NICODEMUS. 139 must have not exactly a palingenesis, being born again, but a totally new, fresh birth into a life no emotions of which you have ever felt, and no function of wliich you have ever discharged. The reply of Nicodemus is in the disputatious temper of the learned. It ran somehow thus : Is that your view of " the king- dom of God " ? If so, it throws all pur mere Scriptural learning, ecclesiastical position, and supposed prescriptive rights to the winds. But, young man, you are undertaking a most fruitless mission. Sucli spiritual fresh-generation is wholly impracticable. It is easier to effect physical changes than spiritual. It is easier to create a body than a soul. But you know that no old man can repeat the process of his physical birth : it will be more clearly impracticable for him to have a new spiritual birth. It was not that Nicodemus failed so much to %uiderstand Jesus as to helieve him. He saw the meaning, but attempted to confute the proposition of Jesus by a kind of reductio Lack of belief ad absurdum. Mcodemus answered as many a learned man answers when some new phase of truth is presented which he cannot fail to see, but which he cannot embrace because he has not the moral strength — indeed, who has ? — to throw down all the prejudices of his education. The response of Jesus is : "I most assuredly declare unto you, if one be not born of water and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. What is born of the flesh is flesh ; what is born of the spirit is spirit." The baptism of proselytes was considered a new crea- tion, so that old relationships were so totally broken as to permit a convert to marry his own sister without crime. Nicodemus knew what baptism was — that of the Jewish i-itual and that of John. He and the other Pharisees had despised the baptism of John because it was a baptism of repentance. Jesus must have known that the mind of Nicodemus would revert to baptism at once. The language must, then, have some reasonable inter- pretation consistent with that fact. Baptism was known by Xico- demus and by Jesus to be a mere external rite, a cleansing of the outward man, but as intended to symbolize an internal puri- fication, else it were a senseless ceremony. The religions of the world had aimed at the ref()rmation of the external man. Juda- ism especially did so, more especially Phariseeism. It was water Spirit was needed. There must come a spiritual new creation. 14:0 FmST AND SECOND PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. Then, in reply to IS'icodeinus's reductio ad absurduni^ Jesua makes statement of a well-known principle in pliysiolofijj and psychology, that that which begets imparts its nature to that which is begotten. If a man could go into his mother's womb and be horn again he would be horn the same, and nothing would come of this. If tlie Spirit of the Almighty God make the new spiritual creation there is no longer any difficulty to be objected. Did he mean the highest spiritual activity in the universe, namely, the Spirit of God ? In the original the word Trvevfia is used where we have " spirit " and where we Spirit and wind. ■■ u • i 55 • ^i t? t i have wind m the common Jtiinorlisli vei*sion, which is quite accurate in botli cases, notwithstanding the uncriti- cal suggestion that the word should be translated by "spirit" or " wind " throughout the passage. We know that the word means both spirit and wind, and, if there be nothing to the contrary, should be translated by one word or the other in any passage, unless a grammatical reason appears to the contrary. Such rea- son does occur here in the word ovra)<;, translated " so " — " so is every one," etc. This means comparison, and comparison involves at least two ideas. If Nicodemus had had time to reflect he might have recol- lected that water cannot produce water ; dead flesh, a body ^^ath- out a soul, has no power to procreate ; spirit, life, must be in man or woman before fatherhood and motherhood — so all gen- eration, or all creation, strictly speaking, comes from the Spirit of God, that Spirit being the real primal creator. That seems the reason why water, having been alluded to, is not n^entioned again nor pressed ; as if he had said, " You may have a body, you may have a soul, you may have conformed outwardly and mended your external life, as baptism or water indicates ; all very well, but there must he a fresh creation of the soul." In the report of this conversation, Alford * has called attention to the use of the neuter in the original to fyejevvrjfievov (that which is begotten or born) as denoting the universal application of this truth, and Bcngel f to the same grammatical fact, as denoting the very first stamina or groundwork of new life, before sex can be predicated of the embryo. The reception of spirit into this merest flesh gives the first impulse of life, from which * Greek Testament, in loco. \ f Orammar, in loco. NTCODEMUS. 141 everything else is determined. The effect of the loftiest spiritual actor is to elevate and spiritualize the very spirit of man. Perhaps at this moment Jesus and Mcodemus heard the breath- ing of the night-wind. And then was adduced the most natural possible illustration from the physical world in the case of the wind — most natural because in the language which Jesus spoke, as well as in that in which John reported, the same ^ rd ° word means wind and spirit. In Ecclesiastes (xi. 5) it is used as an image of the inexplicable, and in Xeno- phon * as a symbol of the Deity, whose essence is invisible and who is to be traced only by his operations.f The points of re- semblance are striking. The motion of the spirit of a man is more nearly resistless than his body, and the spirit of God must be wholly resistless when it moves. The results of the operations of the spirit of man are perceptible, and so are those of God's spirit. The mode of operation, in each case, is totally incompre- hensible. In these three particulars the resemblance is striking. The tohence, the where, the whither, in each case, are unknown. We can examine only results. All this speech of Jesus should have shown Nicodemus that Jesus taught that for entrance into, and enjoyment of, the king- dom of God, a man needs something, the production of which cannot be traced, as in the case of culture or education of any kind, and is as necessary as natural birth, in which spirit comes to join flesh, and is as incomprehensible, l^o man understands his birth ; every man knows that he was born, and is conscious that he is alive. Ko man understands the coming of the Spirit of God into his spirit, but he must know that it has come. Nicodemus replied, " How can these things be ! " It is not a question for information. It is the exclamation p ■ TT 1 1 • 1 • i L • Surprise of Ni- 01 surprise, lie has been carried into mysteries ^ *' codemus. of the soul. Jesus answered, " Art thou a teacher of Israel, and hast thou had no experience of these great spiritual changes ? " This is a humiliating rebuke to his arrogant excla- mation. He ought to have known such scriptures as Psalm li. 12 ; Ezek. xviii. 31 ; xxxvi. 24—28 ; Jeremiah xxxi. 33 ; Zechariah siii. 1 ; and he ought to have had spiritual experiences of his * Memordb. iv. 3, 14. | f Tholuck, in loco. 142 FIRST AND SECOND PASSOVER IN TIHE LIFE OF JESUS. own. Then Jesus began to teach him. " I solemnly declare unto you that we * speak what we know, and testify what we have Been, and yet je receive not our testimony." The plural form has no special significance, unless Jesus in- tended to give a large and solemn dignity to the utterance, or to set his " we know " against Nicodemns's " we know." The affir- mation is of positive pei-sonal knowledge on the side of Jesus, and the allegation is of an unbelieving rejection upon the part of Nicodemus and the Jews. Jesus adds: "If I have shown you things of the earth, and you believe not, how can you believe if ] show you things of heaven ? Xo one has as(;ended into heaven but he tl at came down from heaven, namely, the Son of Man, whose residence is in heaven." Here Jesus makes claims for himself of the most extraordinary character. lie affirms himself to be a personal witness of the things which are invisible to men, all the heaven- ly things. He asserts his own pre-existence. He asserts his coming into the world on a mission. He asserts that his real residence is in heaven; that where he is is heaven. There is no evading this meaning. He intended Nico- demus to understand him so. We have a phrase in English to this effect — "the words were calculated to make a certain impres- sion,"— meaning that such would be a hearer's natural interpreta- tion, although such meaning might ha^-e been tt)tally absent from the mind of the speaker. But here we go further than that, and say that Jesus meant to convey what the words are calculated to convey. He was too wise, Nicodemus was too important a lis- tener, the convei'sation was on too solemn a theme to allow the slightest carelessness of diction. He must have given it with pre- cision to his biographer John, and John must have been most careful in the report, for this is altogether the most important oc- casion of speech which Jesus ever liad. The point in his life and the character of his listener made it t/ie occasion to render the most careful version of his doctrine. A\niether his doctrine was Jesus claims pre-existence. * It may entertain the reader to see how much learned difference there has been about this simple use of the plural form. EuthjTnius, a Byzantine cominrntntor of the twelfth century, Bays that it means Ilimsdf and his Father; Bengel, JT iniKelf and the Jldy S]nrit; Beza and Tholuck, Ffimself and the Prophets ; Luther andKuapp, Him- self and John the Baptist ; Meyer, Him- self and Teachers like JJirn ; Lange and Wesley, AR who are born of the Spirit ; while De Wette and Liickc regard it aa only a rhetorical plural. NICODEMUS. 143 true or not, it is not our purjiose now to decide ; we are simply striviuff to ascertain what he said and what he meant. It must be remarked that Jesus claims another thing: that what he says must be helieved, not known or understood, because he says it. lie flings away the title of teacher, which Kicodemus bestowed. lie is the Heavenly ,. . Assertor of heavenly things and speaks with par- amount authority. And Jesus made this solemn statement to Nicodemus : " As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, it is absolutely necessary that thus the Son of Man be lifted, that every man trusting in him should have perpetual life. For God loved the world so, that he gave His son, the only begotten, that every one who trusts in him may obtain perpetual life and not perish. For God sent not His Son into the world that he should damn (or condemn) the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who trusts in him is not damned (or condemned) ; but he who trusts not is damned already, because he has not confided in the name of the only begotten Son of God. But this is the damnation (condemnation), that light has entered the world, and men have preferred the darkness to the light because their deeds were evil ; for every one who does vilely hates the light, and shuns it, lest his deeds should be detected and convicted. But he that does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be mani- fested that they are done in God." Here is an open statement by Jesus that he knows — he is con- sciously positive — that he is the " only begotten " Son of God, whatever that may mean. John must have receiv- ed the word from Jesus himself, and it can only , . ^^ ' " claim, mean a more mtense nearness to God than it is pos- sible for language to convey. The word tells us something which we can understand, and, as is often the case with profoundest think- ers, intimates more. We see the ocean out to the horizon, but the soul feels that the ocean stretches far beyond. Not simply as Eugene but as Monogene Jesus was known in the spiritual world. He says still further, that Moses lifted up the serpent on the pole in the wilderness, as related in Numbers xxi., as a symbol of himself, whether Moses so ^^^^^ ^''^* '^''°" understood it or not. He claims tliis act as typical. So he was to be crucified. It was a necessity. He, as 144 FmST AKD SECOND PASSOVER IM THE LIFE OF JESUS. harmless as the Nechustan to which Moses directed the eves of the petjple who had been bitten by the harmful fiery serpents, — he 7)iust be lifted up and crucified. And that accomplished, every man who put his trust in that crucified Only Begotten would have a life that is endless. Here are the two main doc- trines of Jesus clearly set forth: 1, That his religion was not to consist in any intellectual assent to any statement of any moral proposition, but in a personal attachment to his person and a per- fect trust ill him, • and, 2, That no caste, prescriptive right, rank, learning, or nationality, or form of creed, gave title to place in the kingdom of God, nor did any or all of these exclude any man. It thus threw down the barriers of Jewish prejudice and bigotry, and let the nations, the Gentiles, into the kingdom of God. The Jews believed that when the Messiah came he r: r, ^,,^'^ ^ ^" ^ wouUl " daum " the Gentiles, and make them of God 8 love. ^ ' " perish." Jesus told Nicodemns that it should not be so ; that God loved the ?i?fl?'/ • 1 , 1 , -111 Hatred between the true laith was at most but partial, and so they j^^g ^^^ Samari- declined their help. Upon this the Samaritans tans, threw off every attempt to disguise and became open enemies, and harassed the Jews until silenced by Darius Ilystaspes (b.c. 519). The animosities thus begun grew from year to year, and deepened from generation to generation, until, more than a hundred years after the original rupture (b.c. 4:09), Manasseh, a man of the sacerdotal order, having contracted an unlawful marriage with the daughter of Sanballat, the Persian satrap of Samaria, was expelled therefor from Jerusalem by ISTehemiah, upon which he obtained permission from Darius !^^o- thus, the king of Persia, to erect a temple on Mount Gerizim for the Samaritans, who had afforded him an asylum. This was all that had been lacking to make the hatred between the races intense. The schismatic, heretical Samaritans did all in their power to harass the Jews, who repaid their ill-treatment with in- describable hate. Josephus says that the Samaritans would way- lay the Jews on their journey to the Temple, bo that many from the northern portion of the land were compelled to make a long detour east of the Jordan for fear of their enemies. It was so intolerable at one time as to lead to an armed conflict.* Jose- phus also tells a horrible story of Samaritans stealthily entering the Temple after midnight and scattering dead men's bones in the cloisters.f We are told that the Jew^s were accustomed to communicate to their brethren in Babylon the exact time of the )-ising of the pasclial moon, b}^ beacon-fires begun on Mount Oli- vet, and "flashing from hill to hill until they were mirrored in the Euphrates.":}: The Samaritans frequently deceived and disap- ]K)inted those whose lamps were hanging on the willows over the waters of Babylon, by perplexing the watchers on the moun- tains by a rival flame.§ Josephus loses no occasion to tell us of Samaritan meanness and outrage, and there is no reason to disbe- * See a full account of tliis in Jose- phus, Ant, XX. 6, § 1. f Ant., xviii. 2, § 2. X Smith's Diet., in loco. § Smith quotes Dr. Trench, who says : "This fact is mentioned by llakrizi (see De Sacy's Chrest. Arabe, ii. 159), who affirms that it was this which put the Jews on making accurate calcula tions to determine the moment of tha new moon's appearance (comp. Schoett- gen's Hor. ITeb., i. 344.) " 152 FIRST AND SECOND PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESUS, lieve any of his statements ; and if we bad a Samaritan historian we should undoubtedly bear quite as much tliat was quite as true on the Other side. "Wo know that the Samaritan was publicly cursed in the s^niagogues of the Jews, that he could not appear as a witness in a Je^vish court, that what he touched was considered as swine's flesh, and that no penitence or profession of faith upon his part Avould admit him through any door of proselytism, the Jew striving thus to cut him off from the hope of eternal salva- tion. " Thou art a Samaritan and hast a devil," was the ordinary Jewish form for expressing utter contempt of any one. The vio- lence of this hatred was thus expressed : " He who receives a Samaritan into bis house, and entertains him, deserves to have bis own children driven into exile." "We must recollect that this feeling of mutual conteinpt and bate had been deepening through centuries, — a combined political and religious feud, transmitted and intensified. It is necessary to recall this to be prepared for certain passages in the history and teaching of Jesus. On bis return to Galilee he passed near Shechem, which the Jews of bis day vulgarly called Sycbar, Drunkard-town.* He l)aused to rest on a tract of land which Jacob bad bequeathed to bis favorite son, Josejjb, and where there was a well which Jacob bad digged. This well is still in existence, is nine feet in diameter and one hundred and five feet deep. It usually now has five feet of water, but when Maundrell -j- visited it in the month of March it had fifteen. At this well Jesus rested. lie allowed bis disciples to go, or sent them, to the town to procure food. "While be sat, weary, there came, perhaps directly from the city, a woman who belonged to the city. Between Jesus and this woman there occurred a con- vereation remarkable in itself and for its effects. Ilis interlocu- tor was not now, as in the case of Nicodemus, a learned doctor, of high moral character, but a simple woman, of bad moral charac- ter, unsophisticated by the schools, but held in bonds of preju- dice and weakened by sinful indulgence. Our curiosity is aroused to learn bow this remarkable teacher deals with such a case as this. In the first place be arrests lier attention by the polite request, "Permit me to drink." The woman looked at him, and his gen- * John iv. 5 ; hut the grave historian j tunipt. could not have hhcJ the name ui oou- I f Quoted hy Tholuck, in Imm. FKOM JUD^A TO SAMAKIA. 153 eral appearance confirmed the suspicion, created by his intona- tions, that he was a Jew. He had touched her ' The Samantan human sympathies ni some measure. A request ^omanattheweU. implies some superiority in the person addressed. She could give him relief. He had transgressed the line marked )IiS VvKLI,, SHEl'HKM. out by his people as di\nding them from the Samaritans. Food might be purchased, but a Jew might not drink from the water- pot of a Samaritan. The woman was at once good-natured and satirical, and perhaps felt somewhat elated by the request. She bantered the traveller with the question, " How is it that you, being a Jew, ask water of me, a Samaritan woman?" This gave Jesus the opportunity to deepen her interest by a ])rofoundly spiritual remark : " If you had known the bounty of God, and who it is that says, ' Permit me to drink,' „ . ., , , , .IT ^11- 11, Spiritual con- you would certainly have requested him and he ^g^satioa. would have given you living water." So intent was he upon his mission that he had forgotten his thirst ; but so 154 FIKST AJHD SECOND PASSOVEK EN THE LITE OF JESUS. Bkilfiil is he tliat he connects his highest moral lessons with the most transient circumstances. The saying seems to mean thai water is one of the freest and fullest of God's gifts to man, and nothing but most extreme meanness would allow a man to deny his fellow a drink of M'ater ; but God's bounties in the spiritual world are as full and free as in the physical world, and men can as readily obtain water of spiritual life as water of material life ; and Jesus professed to be able to impart this great gift to the soul of the Samaritan woman. This was the second revelation to her. She had met a Jew who was no ordinary Jew, but one who had the gift of life. He probably used the phrase " living water " in its double sense. lie was dealing with one who was to be led. The woman's mind would seize the material suggestion, and thus be led to the spiritual truth. Her reply shows that this is what she did. " Running water " was in her mind. As Stier finely says, " Her words are incomparably picturesque in their echo of his." She says, still banteringly, " Sir, thou hast no bucket, and the well is deep : pray whence then have you this live water of which you speak? Surely you do not pretend to be greater thaii our father Jacob, who gave us this well, and drank of it himself, Mnth his children, and his cattle." Here spoke out her national pride and prejudice. She claimed Jacob as her ancestor, pi-oba- bly with no right or title to such a descent. She thinks that any man may be content with what Jacob used, and no Jew could be greater than the patriarch. Jesus waives the comparison, but presses home the great spirit- ual trutli he had in hand, exciting her desire by a strange prom- ise. He says : " This water satisfies only the ang prom ^j^jj.g^. q£ ^|^g bodv, and that for only a brief Space : no water from any earthly spring or well can slake the thirst of the inner man : but I can open such a fountain in the soul of man that no life, no immortality, shall be long enough to exhaust it." " Give me this water, sir, that I thirst no more, nor come to this well to draw," is her sudden ex- clamation. "We must enter into this woman's character and his- tory to comprehend the strange mingling of naive simplicity with gross carnality. She might have seen that Jesus had in his words a moral that covered her life. At many broken cisterns of lust she had endeavored to find happiness. She begins partly to dis- *;ern that something great and noble is offered her by this stran- FEOM JTTDMA TO BATVTAKTA. 155 ger, and expresses a half willingness to accept, but mingles a little jocularity with this expression that she may not too seriously com mit lierself. " Sir, give me this water, that I never thirst again, nor come to this well to draw." And now Jesus thoroughly rouses her by probing her heart, and showing that he knew all her history, although thej^ had never met before. The delicacy and gentleness with wliich Jesus touched the wound in this woman's soul is marvellously beautiful. " Go, call your husband, and return." It flashed her whole bad life before her eyes in an instant. " I have no hus- band," is her half -true, half-false, and very mournful reply. Je- sus did not upbraid her for her licentiousness and falsehood, but putting the very best face on her answer, replied with perfect politeness, " Well spoken ! You have had five husbands. Ton have a lover now, but he is not your husband : that word is true." She saw that this was a man who searched hearts. She knew that by death or divorce, probably for her o^vn faults, she had been separated from the five men to whom successively she had been married, and now was openly or secretly licentious. Her sense of guilt was roused by even this most delicate handling of her case. Astounded by the disclosure, she acknowledged to Jesus that she believed him to be a prophet. But she did what is usually done under similar circumstances. She endeavored to engage Jesus in a theological discussion, and thus, by womanly tact, divert the conversation /. 1 , ,,...,. Tij She tries to from an unpleasant personal disquisition, instead ^ y i open a contro- of ingenuously acknowledging her case and seek- yersy. ing instruction and help from this wise and gentle teacher, she turns from the practically useful question of Iww to pray, to the speculative and comparatively useless loTiere. It was simply and swiftly done. " Sir, our fathers worshipped in this mountain: you Jews insist upon Jerusalem as the place where men ought to worship." Gerizim was in full view. Abra- ham and Jacob had lived and worshipped here. Here had been the temple built by Mauasseh, and here the altar remained after John Hyrcanus had destroyed the schismatical temple. Sur- rounded by these sacred associations, she covertly propounds the question to Jesus whether she is to abandon her ancestral faith or reject his. It was the old " vexed question " which had kept bad blood between the Jews and the Samaritans for ajjes. It is the loG FIRST AND SECOND PASSOVEE IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. poor old question of " To what denomination do you belong ? " The discussion of this would cover her retreat. The reply of Jesus shows how a wise and healthful mind pre- serves a judicious adjustment of the forces of liberality and clear con^'iction. He at once widens the hririzon of pyo egus. j^^^ vision and pours white light on the objects already in view. He bears his testimony distinctly for the right that lay on the Jewish side of the question. The promises of God and the oracles of God were with the Jews. The Samari- tans were in the wrong, and held the truth in much corrupt false- hood. That is not liberal religion which confounds or abandons the distinction between right and wrong. In this question, which had gendered so much bigotry, lay a great essential point : the Jews founded their religion upon the whole word of God, and were therein right ; the Samaritans on only a part of God^sxoord^ such as suited them, and were therein wrong. Both had come to regard the outward form as more important than the inner spirit, and therein both were wrong. It was, therefore, not a triviaw question, nor was it of only temporary importance. But Jesus brought in a new view, a great, wide, glorious view of the re- lationship between God and Man, and of the nature of the wor- ship which must be rendered to God. He says with great solem- nity, " Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when ye shall worship the Father, but not only in this mountain and not only, in Jerusalem. The hour approaches, and is now present, when the real woi-shippers shall adore the Father inwardly and sincerely : for the Father seeks such to adore him." Between these two sen- tences he encloses the statement, " Ye worship ye know not what: we worship what \ve know : hecause salvation is of the Jews." The Samaritans had distinctly set aside a portion of God's word, the prophetical writings, because they pointed to a Saviour who was to spring from the Jews. The latter, of course, accepted them theoretically, and were that far right ; but practically rejected them, and in this were as wrong as the Samaritans. V>\\i the Jews knew whom they worshipped. Their religion was based upon something quite sure, namely, God's promise of a Deliv- erer. Here is the basis of the religion which Jesus pronnilgated God is Spirit, not a spirit. He is essential Spirit. lie is the Father. He not only allows but seeks worehip. The worehip FKOM JUDAEA TO SAMARIA. 157 rniist be in the inmost spirit. Outward forms are nothing unless they be phenomena produced by the motions of ,1 ,-, • £ ' -J. J.-1 X. Baais of religion. the no2cmenon, the expression or spirit through matter. God is without material form. The spirit that is in man is that which is most like God, and that which touches God. The worship God seeks is down below all organism that makes utter- ances and gestures. The worship offered him must also be per- fectly sincere. It can only escape totally all the sinister influence of mixed motives when offered directly from the soul to God. Every discussion of ceremonials and topographies lies outside all true religion. The outward modes and the visible places are insig- nificant. Ritualism is thoroughly worthless. The Holiest of Holies is iu the soul of man. There the man is to find and wor- ship God. Then each continent and island is a Holy Land, and each soul the Temple of Jehovah. Such was the teaching of Jesus. The woman replied, " These matters I do hot quite comprehend, but 1 know that Jehovah's Anointed is coming, and upon his arrival he will expound all these things." Jesus said, " I am ,. ^,, ^, Jl ^ r TT himself the Mes- He, now speaking to you. Here is a direct and giah. unequivocal declaration of his Messiahship. He had not declared it in Jerusalem, but in Samaria ; not to the learned jS^icodemus, nor to his own disciples, but to an ignorant stranger ; not to any man, but to a woman ; not to a pure and cultivated lady, but to a prostitute ! It seems marvellous, and, as a policy, wholly inexplicable. Hereupon his disciples arrived with the provisions they had gone to purchase, and were amazed to see him talking familiarly with a woman, yet did not venture to question him. In the mean time the woman had left her ,. .^ ™ disciples. water-pot, forgetting her errand, and had re- turned to the town and roused her neighbors, exciting them by the statement that out by Jacob's Well was sitting a man who had told her all her life. Was not this the Messiah, the Christ ? Her earnestness brought forth a crowd. In the mean time the disciples requested him to eat. But he had become so rapt by lofty thought, and so engaged in his ear- nest effort to plant the principles of his religion in one soul that all physical appetite failed him. " I have meat to eat that ye know not of. My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me." Look 158 FIRST A^T) SECOND PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. ing up, he saw the field in the beautiful valley, just sown with the seed it would require four months to ripen, and he saw at the same time the people pouring out, perhaps from their mid-day meal, at the invitation of a woman whom they knew to have been wicked bnt now see to be hap]>y. Jesus called their attention to these two facts and declared a great spiritual law : " You say that now the seed is in the ground men must wait four months for the harvest.* That is so in the physical world. But in the spiritual world there is more rapid ripening. An hour ago I dropped a seed of spiritual truth into the heart of a base woman. See how it springs to maturity! Look on the spiritual fields. They whiten already to the harvest, as the crowd coming across the valley from Sychar demonstrates. That shows that the laborers in spiritual fields reap rewards as laborers in other fields. You have a proverb which is true, ' One sows and another reaps.' I am sending you forth to gather a harvest for which you have not toiled." Upon this the inhalutants of the toA\Ti arrived. They besought him to remain with them, which he did for the Arrivals from /.. ■• ,-,.. ^ n j. ji , . space of two days, many behevmg at first rrom what the woman said, and many afterwards from hearing the doctrines of Jesus directly from his own lips. The Samaritans were in expectation of a Messiah, and while their ideas were not those of the Jews upon this subject, they were much more definite than the general vague f th M ■ h. ^ Oriental expectation of the coming of a Great One. The Samaritans rejected the proi)hets but held to the law, and seem to have rested their expectations upon some vague intimation in the books of Moses, such as the predic- tion that Jehovah would raise up a prophet like unto Moses.f The fact of the indefiniteness of their grounds of belief left them free from the secular notions and rigid pride of the Jews. It really seems to have prepared them to look for the Messiah in a Moral Reformer rather than in a conquering hero, who should * It is proper to say that this may I priate to say, "We must now wait six allade to some proverbial expression I month.s for the harvest." among the people, preserved only in this f Modem Samaritans refer to such place; a proverb appropriate to some passages as Chron. xlix. 10 ; Numb. xiiv. religious anniversary perhaps connected ' 17, and Deut. xviii. 15. with sowing, when it would be appro- ' FROM JUDAEA TO SAMARIA. 159 beat all nations under his feet, themselves included. The Mes- siah the Jews longed for is precisely the Messiah the Samaritans would reject. '^ They hailed Jesus not as the Saviour of the Jews, or of any particular people, but as the Saviour of the world. * Milman, in a note, refers to Ber- tholdt, chap. vii. , which contains ex- tracts from the celebrated Samaritan letters and references to the modem writers who have discussed them. Ge- senius, in a note to the curious Samari- tan poems which he has published, says that the name of the expected Samari- tan Deliverer was to be Hmch-liab^ or Hat-hab, which he translates " Convert- er," one who is to convert the people to a higher state of religion. Dr. Rob- inson says that even to this day the Samaritans are looking for the comine; of the Messiah, under the title of d-MuMy, the Guide. SAJIARITAN PRIEST. CHAPTER IV. FROM SAMAEIA TO GAJLH.EE. On the third day after his inter\'ie'w with the Samaritan woinaiij Jesns went on his vrny to Galilee. The Galileans gave him a hearty -welcome, because of the miracles -which Matt. iv. : Mark <• . i i , -i . r ci i • Luke iv v • ^^^^J <^^ them had Been him periorm. bome John iv. have supposed that the fact that he had had no reputation among his own people until he had made a sensation in the metropolis, and the contrast between the treatment he had formerly received in Galilee and that which had just been bestowed upon him by the Samaritans, led him to quote the proverb, " A prophet hath no honor in his own coun- try." But John seems to have meant that Jesus went into Gal- ilee to avoid notoriety, because a prophet has little ado made over him by his own people. He had moved from his place on the Jordan fen- this very reason, and he had refused to stay among the Samaritans, where he was creating a great sensation. He went among his o-wti people feeling perfectly certain that the divine power which resided in his teaching would cause it to grow, and he preferred to sow the seed where there was no storm of popular applause, or even excitement. It was not the utterance of di8a])pointcd pride, so far as we can discern, but a wise action l)ased on a wcll-kno^vn principle. If popularity was what he sought, why did he leave Samaria ? But many of the Galilrpans had witnessed his works at the feast in Jerusalem, and learned that he had a metropolitan fame. They now received him as a miracle-Avorker, not as a prophet. Then Jesus began to preach, (^fatt. iv. 17; Mark i. 14, 15.) He declared that the time for the fulfilling of tlie ancient ])roj)he- cies had arrived, that the reign of the ^Ics-^iah, j.g^^jj the kingdom of God, had begun, and that it was ]»r<>]tcr that tliey should prepare to enjoy that kingdom by an abandonment of their sins. He repeated these FROM SAMARIA TO GALILEE. 161 sayings, presenting them privately in his intercourse with the peo- ple, and urging them publicly in the Jewish chapels of that re- gion. John and Jesus equally urged repentance, the former by threatenings of wrath and the latter by the attractive persuasive- ness of promise. The manner of Jesus won the admiration of the people, and his fame grew. (Luke iv. 15.) In his circuit of preaching he went to Cana, where he had made the water wine, reviving by his presence the remembrance of that first and very remarkable miracle. Wliile in Cana he recei\'ed a visit from a nobleman, who was a functionary in the court of Ilerod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee, or a high military officer. This person was a Jew , , . 1 , . -rr 1 1 Heals the noble- by birth or by conversion. He may have been ^„„,„ „„„ t^t,« •J -J ■' mans son. John Chuza, Herod's steward (Luke viii. 3), but of this iv. 4G-54. we can have no certain knowledge. Llis resi- dence was at Capernaum, on the lake shore, twenty -five miles dis- tant from Cana. Learning that the great teacher had returned to Galilee, he came to Jesus with the request that he would heal his sick son, who was at the point of death. The very name of Cana probably reminded him of the wonderful power which Jesus had exerted in that town before his departure for Jerusalem. To his request Jesus said: " Except ye see signs and miracles ye will not believe." The words seem merely to indicate a contrast between the read- iness with which the Samaritans believed because of his words, and received him as a prophet, and the obstinacj" of the Jews in refusing to believe without a mira(;le, and not always yielding even to such evidence. He may have also alluded to the fact that this nobleman had been brought to him not by any necessities of his spiritual nature, but because of the sickness of his son. Jesus neither made parade of his power to work miracles, nor un- dervalued their weight as credentials to his character as a great religious reformer. As in other cases (Matt. xv. 27), he may have been testing the sincerity of the applicant ; not for any knowl- edge he might gain, for no other person ever read character as Jesus did, but that the nobleman might discover what was in his own heart. The distressed parent implores him : " Sir, do come down be- fore my boy die." His faith was sound as far as it went, but it was narrow. He never had dreamed of any man having power 162 FIEST AND SECOND PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. to raise the dead. He even supposed that the presence of the Great Worker was necessary, lint Jesus said: e no eman s ^^ q^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ lives." He believed. Quietly and leisurely he went his way. lie could easily have reached home at sundoAvn, for it was just one o'clock in the after- noon when Jesus spoke those words. lie felt so sure that his child was safe that he did not return to his residence until next day. Then on the way he met his faithful servants, who had come out to seek him and to relieve his solicitude. His question to them shows that all he had hoped of Jesus was to save his child from death and commence a convalescence which should be gradual. ""When did the child begin to amend?" asked he. " He did not begin at all," said they, " but yesterday at one o'clock in the afternoon he suddenly recovered ; the fever totally left him." The unexpected completeness of this recovery and the pre- cise correspondence between the language of Jesus and that of the servants, and the identity of the hour of the word of Jesus and the recovery of the boy, added this nobleman and his whole family to the discipleship of Jesus. They not only believed that a great miracle had been wrought, but that Jesus was the ^lessiah. If this nobleman was Chuza, Herod's steward, his wife Joanna afterward became an ardent supporter of Jesus. (T^uke viii. 3.) In a missionary circuit which Jesus undci-took he came to the towni of Nazareth, where he had been brought up. His fame as a T vr i.1, preacher had preceded him. When the Sabbath In Nazareth. ^ ^ . Luke iv. lG-30. day came he went, as his religious custom had been, into the synagogue. The time had come when he was to announce himself in his own town and to his own people. Many a time had he taken his place of humble silence to listen to the reading and exposition of the law and the pro- phets. Now the day of his revelation had come. The synagogue was a remarkal)lc (characteristic of later Juda- ism. The Hebrew name, Beth-ha-Cennescth, meaning House of the Congregation, has its equivalent in the Greek e synagogue, g^j^j^g^^g^i^ which is used in the Septuagint as a translation of two Hebrew words, each of which implies a gath- erinf/. A very great antiquity has been claimed for the synagogue by Jewish writere, but not on good grounds. Tlicre docs not seem to liave been anything in earlier Judaism providing for the spiritual edification of the people in public congregations outside FROM SAMAKIA TO GALILEE. 163 the Temple service, which, however, was suspended during the exile. Then the devout Jews who were cut off from the holy city and from the Temple of Jehovah held frequent and, it would seem, regular meetings for religious instruction. (Ezek. viii. 1 ; xiv. 1 ; XX. 1 ; xxxiii. 31.) " The whole history of Ezra presupposes a habit of solemn, probably of periodic meetings." * (Ezra viii. 15 ; Neh. viii. 2 ; ix. 1 ; Zech. vii. 5.) In his time the synagogue either had its origin, or such distinct revival and organization, that we may date the establishment of the synagogue service from his period — about b.c. 500. Its influence was prodigious. It was church, school-house, lec- ture-room, and weekly newspaper. Eegular periodical assembling for any purpose exerts a silent but powerful influ- . ence. In this case it embedded the law m the minds of the Jews, and bound them together with a band whose strength was made manifest in holding them, after the Maccabean struggle, to the faith of their fathers, and from the degradation of idolatry. It lacked the pomp and splendor of the Temple, but it was favorable to simple and hearty devotion. Its very freedom from magnificent ceremonial gave scope to the exercise of thought and of speech. Its unperceived but certain effect was to destroy the power and influence of the hereditary hierarchy, and prepare for the bringing in of what Jesus gave, freedom to teach, for any one who has the intellectual and moral qualifications. In towns where the population allowed a full organization, there was a college of " elders " (Luke vii. 3), whose president was called the Archisynagogus, Euler of the rTM 11 -I .1 1 Officers of the Synagogue. These elders managed the secular g j^^^^e. affairs of the synagogue, and had the power of pronouncing excommunication. There was also an officer called Sheliach, or Legate, who represented the people, leading them in their prayers, etc. lie was required to be an adult, active, the father of a family, not engaged in secular business, not rich, having a good voice, and aptness to teach. There was also an officer named the Chazzan (called " the minister" in Luke iv. 20), whose duties seemed to be those of a sub-deacon or sexton. He took care of the building and prepared it for service, and had charge of the sacred furniture. It is believed that during the * See Smith's IHct, on " Synagogue," for full account of the institution. ^ . Ifl encounter the oa« \J^^ ^^ ^^ „^„ TOOpte,wto to' ^ X refuse to peiio ;„ tlie totoiy t on. 1 >--^^ 'it of the earlier P'OP^^^^V^^ the advantage of of the two g"*f "to strangers who tod ^^^ t^^t ° ace has Sf /Tt^^des of God f *,, to^a« them extovtei fnthnacy «"hie ora ^^^^^^ andwAl «^ ^^^ ^^-^ fe, the God distrlbut. to tavo ^^^^^^^^ diopp ^^^^^^ ^^s tihe days oElrjah, whe ^^ ^^^^^^^ -^f J,^,e of the mar^ space of thre years an ^^ '"f.^lAo^ in Zarephath, :tr of\h P.-2:, .r-- r:0» ^-■^^- . V the fonctiov f ;l?Xton, a ^f S"Tat 6°^ »^"''' ' . ,, miTpd me unt J--"* ghows tnai ^a v „to,vs such ^•^ r\iovY of the prophets s ^^^^^^^ ^^^ be6to^ ttas the hiovy ;gn wdi ana according o H« ^ .^ ^^^ apF«f f^^is hearers into a reproad. Wessings M" ^''y constrxred by te l^^^' „ ^ „„der tk ^Thisw^^^lteT They tod alway.^j" j, ^.^ ^or t^^^--'''Sp:which rested npon th.. ^^^ He to riven ^.ed into an adage^ ^^^^^^^ ^,„. Bat feSs^**^ ^ofSa^reth." \"|,„tiles to his o^vn peopk patriotically to prefer C^ent ^^^^.^j^j^ess of „owhe>emsnnpatu ^^^ ^^^^^ ^ftha hey took this el. him. teir H«"^( \^d gone ahoiit the eo™ ' , on lie quent '-*«\tes a^ 'led hhn to -P^^^,^ ,ast bi» lallre^nagosn^^^^^ l^a^areth ^tani^^X^pa-^d . ^ '*"S''^ tS Bnt Jesns,howwedonottoo P^^^^.^^^,„. mirrie here^orenderm^^ -T^X;!^^^^^^^^^^^^, — "Tirprobably imagine a | ^«-'"''r!umm"tbe intended pre- eipation was to * ^^^^^,^, yetitB ,„ Ihc situation ot ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ | potion ifl 8^"^ ^JIl^Dn,' tbat is, as IS here lodeni face over the town, _ implied is t« travellers t of limestow "forty feet hig^^ )iute convent si of the to«i' line, p. ^ l"ji ?T «• s:^ J" Iff I •■ "^ Tim fv 't & i« FROM SAMA.RIA TO GALILEE. 165 worship, and stood up to read. The President caused the roll of the Prophets to be handed him, and he turned perhaps to the appointed lesson for tlie day, per- 13^^^"^"^^^°™ haps to what came under liis eye as the roll unfurled. It was what in our version is Isaiah Ixi. 1, 2. He read : '■'■The Sj)irit of Jehovah is on me : hecause Jehovah has anointed me. To hriny good tidings to the humble has he sent me ; to hind up the hroken-hearted, to j>roclaim to the caiMves freedom, and to the hounden perfect liberty : to proclaim the year of favor with Jehovah.^"* * He sat down. All eyes must have been riveted on him. He opened his exposition with the deliberate and solemn announcement of himself as the expected Messiah, in the words, " This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." They all knew that the passage stood in the middle of the third great division of the book of Isaiah, that which they always considered as predicting the person, the oflices, and the triumphs of the Messiah. That made the announcement all the more impressive. In words of hearty and moving eloquence Jesus proceeded to expound Isaiah. " Gracious words," says the historian, " proceeded out of his mouth." As he pressed his doctrine of universal charity upon them, a kingdom not restrained by Jewish limits and bearing no vengeance against other peoples, their old traditional preju- dices began to be excited. They recollected his J««"^«l^««k« t^^^i^ pr6lU.QlCGS obscure origin. They said among themselves, " Is not this the son of Joseph ? " As if they had said. Is not this a most pretentious thing in so young and unknown a man ? Jesus perceived their captiousuess and said, "You will by all means scornfully apply to me the proverb, Phijsician, heal thyself de- manding me to do in my own country what you have heard that I have done in Capernaum. I reply with another proverb, Wo prophet is accepted in his own country. In coming amono- vou * This gives the words as they stand in the original, in a translation as near- ly hteral as practicable. The historian Luke varies the passage a little. Pro- bably he quoted from memory from the Septuagint, and so gives " recovering of sight to the blind " as a translation for " the opening of the prison to them that are bound," and inserts after it, "to set at liberty them that are bound," appar- ently taken from the Septuagint version of "let the oppressed go free," in Isa. Iviii. 6, as if to complete the sense. (See note, Strong's Ilarinony.) The phrase, "and to the bounden perfect liberty," is stni more strictly literally " open open- ing," which may mean of eyes or of prison-doors. (See Alexander, in loco.) 16G FIRST AND SECOND PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. I knew that I sliould encounter the ordinary j>rejudice against every great moral teacher which exists in the minds of his own people, who have kno^vn him in childhood and amid ordinary secular emplo}nnents. I refuse to perform miracles at your dicta- tion. I recall for your instruction some passages in the history of the two greatest of the earlier prophets, showing that God's grace has gone over to strangers who had not the advantage of intimacy with the oracles of God such as you possess, and that God distributes his favors freely and will not have them extorted. In the days of Elijah, when the heavens dropped no rain for the space of three years and six months, when a great famine was throughout the land, the prophet was sent to none of the many suffering widows of Israel, but to a Gentile widow in Zarephath, a town of the Phoenicians. Aorain, when Elisha was discharginfr the functions of a prophet there were many lepers in Israel, but he cured none but Naaman, a foreigner, a Syrian general. And thus the history of the prophets shows that God causes miracles according to His sovereign will and wisdom, and bestows such blessings where they will be appreciated." This whole speech was construed by his hearere into a reproach for their unworthiness. They had always suffered under the stigma which rested upon their town. It had from Nazareth. pa^ssed into an adage that " No good comes out of Kazareth." lie might redeem them. But now he seems unpatriotically to prefer Gentiles to his own people. They became enraged, and thus proved their unworthiness of him. Their frenzy grew to such a pitch that they took this elo- quent preacher, who had gone about the countiy finding welcome in all the synagogues, and led him to a precipitous place on the range of hills on which Nazareth stands, intending to cast him lieadi* mg down.* But Jesus, how we do not know, passed through the midst of them and went awa}'. There seems to have been no miracle here, no rendering of himself invisible, no striking his per- * " Mo&t readers probably imagine a town built on the summit of a mountain, from which summit the intended pre- cipitation was to take place. This is not the situation of Nazareth. Yet its position ia still in accordance with the narrative. It is built ' upon,' that is, on the side of 'a muuntaiu,' but the brow ifl not beneath but over the town, and such a clifl as is here im])lied is to be found, as all modem travellers de- scribe, in the abrupt face of limestone rock, about thirty or forty feet high, ovorhanping the IMaroiiite convent at the south-west comer of the town.' Stanley, Sinai and J'alentine, p. 339. FKOM SAMARIA TO GALILEE. 167 Makes Caper- naum his head- eecutors blind, nor any " slipping away," taking advantage of narrow streets or tortuous ways. There was something in him which seemed to overawe or overpower them. He " passed through the midst of them," is the historian's statement. Perhaps, as Stier suggests, there came such an aj)pearance of majesty upon him, that the crowd began to dispart and give way right and left, as he moved along. Pf eninger graphically says : " They stood — stopped — inquired — were ashamed — separated — fled ! " Upon quitting Nazareth after the bad treatment he liad received from his townsmen, Jesus went to Capernaum, and thereafter made that place his head-quarters. The name Capernaum signifies, according to Bome authorities, " the Yillage of ISTahum," accord- quarters, ing to others, " the Yillage of Consolation." As we follow the history of Jesus we shall discover that many of his mighty works were wrought, and many of his most impressive words were spoken in Capernaum. The infidelity of the inhabi- tants, after all the discourses and wonderful works which he had done among them, brought out the saying of Jesus, " And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven shalt be cast down to hell." (Matt. xi. 23.) So thoroughly has this prediction been fulfilled that no trace of the city remains, and the very site which it occupied is now a matter of conjecture, there being even no ecclesiastical tradition of the locality. At the present day two spots have claims which are urged, each with such ai-guments of probability as to make the whole question the most difticult in sacred topography. Those who desire to examine the relative claims may consult the references given in the note below.* We shall probably never be able to know the exact fact. Jesus damn- ed it to oblivion, and there it lies. We shall content ourselves with the New Testament notices as bearing on the work of Jesus. We learn that it was somewhere on the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali, on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. (Compare Matt. iv. 13, with John vi. 24.) It was near or . /. T 1 T p /-. 11 / -\r ., • Descnption ol in " the land of Gennesaret" (compare Matt. xiv. capemaum. 34, with John vi. 17, 21, 24), a plain about three miles long and one mile wide, which we learn from Josephus was * See Robinson's Bibl. Iiesearch(.s, iii. 288-294 ; new edition, iii. 348 ; Bonar, p. 437-41 ; Thomson, Land and Book, i. 542 ; Wilson, Lands of the Bible, ii. 139-149 ; Blblioth. Sacra, April, 1855, p 162. 168 FIRST AND SECOND PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. one of the most prosperous and crowded districts of Palestine. It was probably on the great road leading from Damascus to the south, " by the way of the sea." (Matt. iv. 15.) There was great wisdom in selecting this as a place to open a great public ministry. It was full of a busy population. The exceeding richness of the TELL HTTM RTTNS. wonderful plain of Gennesaret sui)i)orted the mass of inhabi- tants it attracted. Josephus {^B. J., iii. x. 3) gives a glowing de- scription of this land. He says that the soil was so fruitful that all sorts of trees could grow upon it ; that the air was so mixed as to nourish tlie walnut, which requires the cold, as well as the palm- tree, which demands the heat. " One may call this place the ambition of nature," because it forces those trees to grow together which are natural enemies. It afforded, to his fancy, a happy contention of the seasons, as if each claimed the land for its (»wn. He gives a luscious picture of the fruitage, and the natural foun- tains. He says tliat the people thought the fountain Caphar- naum to be a vein of the Nile, "because it produced fishes like a Corbe bred in a lake near Alexandria." In modern times Professor Staidey, of the Univereity of Oxford, gives quite as FEOM SAMARIA TO GALILEE. 169 glowing a description of this plain. (See Sinai and Palestine, p. 3 Go, et seq.) Such was the region in which was located Jesus's new centre of activity. From Capernaum, by land, he could command large portions of Galilee ; by boats he could cross from , , , r ,1 , .IP L^ • ' Its surroundings, west to east, from north to south, from the juris- diction of one prince to that of another. He was where the fisheries made life on the lake and the shore ; where pleasure pa- laces brought the gay and the rich ; where warm springs attracted opulent invalids; where the great thoroughfare from Babylon and Damascus brought companies of travelling merchants into Pales- tine ; where royalty attracted officials and dignitaries ; where gar- risons established to give dignity to sovereignty, or to suppress the neighboring turbulent Galilsean peasantry, brought military com- manders and troops of common soldiers ; where trade and traffic on a frontier established custom-houses, and where a land of exu- berant fertility made agricultural products abundant and stimu- lated the activities of the people. So many foreigners, for busi- ness or for pleasure, had fixed their residence in this vicinity that it acquired the name of " Galilee of the GentilesP The lake of Galilee was the Como of Syria ; for the Ilerodian family, famous for love of magnificent architecture, had made a portion of its shore splendid with the palaces which mingled with the synagogues of all the line of cities and villages which overlooked the sea. There were work, pleasure, life, and energy, all around the new teacher. Here he found congregations and helpers, friends and disciples, and the people, who, moving all about, with almost the restlessness which characterizes modern times, wxre ready to pro- pagate his fame and attract other hearers to his teaching. He went into the very thick of life. His seasons of long solitude were over. His time had arrived to exert all the moral force he had been accumulating in study and prayer. He went among the people who were working and toiling with their hands, know- ing that they were ordinarily the people whose brains were active. He had a powerful friend in the nobleman whose son he had healed, a man wdio was probably of Herod's household. So there, where sea and mount and desert met, Jesus broke upon Galilee, a light whose rays were to reach every nook and corner of the globe, and illuminate the pathway of thought and sentiment down all the succeeding centuries. 170 FIEST AND SECOND PASSOVEE IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. Soon after his arrival at Capernaum, one day as Jesus walked beside the Lake of Gennesaret, perhaps a little south of the to^vn, he came upon Simon, called Peter, and his Jesus preaches i .1 a j o- 1 i i jj. , , brotlier Andrew, fennon, as we have ah-eady learned, had met Jesus on the banks of the Jordan. As Jesus walked out of the town the people began to gather about him and accompany him, to hear other gracious words from his lips, and to witness other great works from his iiands. There were two fishing-boats at the shore. The fishermen had gone to wash their nets. But the owner of one of thera was Simon Peter, who, at the request of Jesus, pushed it from the shore a distance sufticient to preserve tlie attractive preacher from the pressure of the crowd, and yet not so far as to make it incon- venient for the people to hear. And from tliis floating pulpit Jesus delivered a discourse on the doctrines of the religion he had come to propagate. At the conclusion of the discourse he directed Simon to launch out to a deeper place in the lake and let down his net for fish, for Jesus would not use any man's time or 1 v.^ t i^ I. boat without rewarding him. Simon told him draught of fishes. , " that all night they had toiled and no fisli had been caught. But there was something so commanding and inspiring in the words of Jesus that Simon immediately added, " Nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the net." So he called his brother Andrew, and tlie net was lowered ; and so great was the number of the fish enclosed that the net began to break : and they called for their partners, James and John, the two sons of Zebe- dee, to come and help them ; and so great was the haul that both ships came near sinking with the weight. When Simon (Peter) saw this wonder he fell at the feet of Jesus with mingled adoration and supplication. The rapidity of discernment and depth of feeling which we shall find to be characteristic of this energetic man Simon. , " come out in this j)assage. There was some power in this new teacher which was not liiiman : Peter believed it to be divine. He was a rough, ])rofanc man, but lie had that sense of contrast between j)urity and sinfulness Mhidi is not the mark of a degraded mind, but rather of a Rj)irit tlmt h;is not lost its moral sensitiveness. "My Lord, be ])leascHl to leave my ship, for I am not saintlv enough to endure thine august presence of lu>ly FEOM SAMARTA TO GALILEE. 171 power ! " That seemed to be the tenor of his address. " Be not afraid," said Jesus ; " for from this time thou shalt catch men." A call to discipleship had been already made, after which Peter had gone home to his work. Now, Jesus gives him a deepo intimation of his intention to attach him strongly to his service^ and gives an increase to his faith by the great wonder he beheld, and exhilarates him by a figure taken from his own pursuits. If to bring so great a haul of fish to land be joy, what rapture must it not be to " catch tnen ! " Hereafter emperors and kings and queens and philosophers and scholars and poets and merchant- princes shall be in the net which these simple Galilaean fishermen were to let down into the deep waters of the lake of human life. So they brought their fish to land, drew up their boats upon the shore, and abandoned boats and nets that they might follow this wonderful Being. Going along the shore they found their partners, James and John, the . „ ^ o rj ^ -i ^ i p follOW JeSUB. sons of Zebedee, who, while this profound con- versation was going on between Jesus and Simon and Andrew, had betaken themselves to repairing their own nets. It would seem that when called by Simon and Andrew to render help, they had put their own net under the overburdened net of their partners, to prevent the escape of the fish and the increase of the rent, and that thus their own net had become damaged. The invi- tation he had given Simon and Andrew, Jesus extended to James and John, and they left the implements of their business with theii father and the servants, and obeyed the call to a higher work. CHAPTER V. DEMONIACS. On the Sabbath following his return to Capernaum Jesus went with his disciples to the service of the synagogue, and, according to his custom, expounded the Holy Scriptures. Matt vii.; Mark -pj^gj-g geenis to have been great simplicity in hia i. • Luke iv. o i j mode of treating all sul)jects, but it is remarked on this occasion that there was an element in his method which not only interested but astonished his audience. lie spoke on the most profound and important subjects, not as one discussing tliem. showing what can be said on both sides, nor as one striving merely to stimulate the intellects of his hearers, nor as a learned man, reporting the results of the researches of the best minds, but de- cisively, with authority, as declaring truths which were not to be questioned, with an authority from which there was no ai)peal, and with a spirit full of power. The contrast which tliis afforded with the pedantry, the pretence, the sophistry, and the quibbling of tlie scribes, made Jesus notable. On this particular Sabbath there came into the synagogue a person described by Mark (i. 23) as " a man \NTth an unclean spirit," by Luke (iv. 33) as "a man which had a e man wi gpjj.jj. q£ g^j^ unclean devil." Combining the nar- an unclean spint. '^ ratives of these two historians, we have the fol- lowing account : The man cried out, "Ah! what to us and to thee, Jesus the Nazarcne ? Hast thou come to destroy us ? I know thee who thou art, the Holy of God." Jesus spoke shai-ply to him and said : "Be silent and leave him." Then the "devil," or "unclean spirit," threw liim down, tore him, howled, and left him. And the people were astonished, and questioned among themselves and said, "What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authoritY^and power he commands even the unclean spirits, and they o]},f f;;,ii,tl\ This occurrence greatly and rapidly increased DEMONIACS. 173 the fame of Jesiis through all Galilee, for then, as now, a crazy man was an object of general notice. It brings ns at once to the consideration of the perplexing ques- tion of what is ordinarily called demoniacal possession. In examining this subject we have the disadvantage of not hav- ing in our own times anything that quite corresponds with this remarkable class of phenomena, or which is recognized as falling into this category of maladies. "We are remitted to the ancient writers, and must learn what we can gather from the notices in the classical authors and New-Testament historians. So far aa the latter are concerned, it is to be noticed that the word used by them in reference to all these cases is one which does not mean the De^^l, Satan, but demons. The classical writers, except when they indicate by a special epithet the contrary, used the word as describing good-natured, or at least not malevolent beings ; but the New-Testament writers, on the supposition that they meant beings distinct from the afflicted individuals, invariably repre- sent them as sinister or positively malevolent. The classical writers sometimes loosely employed the v^® . *'^^^^°*' word to mean any spiritual existences out of man, from the spirits of the departed up to the Supreme Being, the Father of the gods ; but when they pretended to be precise they described them as intermediate beino;s between man and the ffods. Plato says : '■'■Every demon is a middle being between God and mor- tal." lie further says, that " Demons are reporters and carriers from men to the gods, and again from the gods to men, of the suppli- cations and prayers of the one and of thu injunctions and rewards of devotion from the other." * There were two kinds of demons. The souls of good men after their departure were called heroes, and raised to the dignity of demons ; f and there were also sup- posed to be demons who had never inhabited a mortal body.:}: Philo§ says that the ancients held souls, demons, and angels as the same. The demons who had once been in human bodies became objects of worship among the heathen, and Jehovah is so often called "the living God" to distinguish Him from these.| * Plato, Sympos. , pp. 202, 203. f Plutarch, De Defect. Orac. , and Plato, Gratylus. X Plato, Tim. , and Apuleius, De Deo Socratis. % Philo, De Oigantibus. \ Deut. xxvi. 14 ; Ps. cvi 28 ; Isaiah viii. 19; Deut. T. 26. 174 FIRST AND SECOND PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. Joseplius* incidentally gives us his opinion, and we suppose the opinion commonly entertained by his countrymen, of demons, who, he says, " are the spirits of wicked men that The Jewish ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^xq bodies of the living and kill them opinions. *^ if they do not obtain help." The New-Testament historians seem to give the impression that they believed in the existence of separate spirits, for they call them irvevfiaTaj-f who were intelligent,:}: ])ower- The New-Testa- f ^^| g ^^., j ^^^^ unclean.! AVliether'they held the ment wnters. /*^. '" _ , " , , . . . opmion or Josephus, that they were the spirits of wicked men who after death entered the bodies of the living tc^ - rtllU!;,!'!'!'!"' •! BcnniF.8 Asr> bookh. "^.fT CHAPTER yi. THE FIRST TOUR OF GALILEE. Capemauni. Je- sus heals Simon' a wife's mother. Upon leaving the s^niagogue Jesus went to the house of Simor: Peter, who was a married man.* His wife's mother lay ill of a fever. The marshes abont Capernaum bred ma- larious diseases, which specially manifested them- selves in the autumn and winter. Sometimes they were light intermittent, and sometimes violent fevers. Luke, who was a physician, seems to designate the dis- ease in this case as being of the more ^dolent kin'd.f Peter and his brother Andrew had witnessed the miraculous cure of the demoniac in the synagogue, and besought Jesus to heal the sick woman He came and stood over her, and took her hands, and in the poetic language applied to the cure of demoniacs and to the stilling of the waves, he ^'- rebulced the fever,":]: and it left her in- stantly. She did not convalesce. She was immediately and totally whole. She did not pass through a season of weakness. She came back at once to strength, and rose and discharged her house- hokl duties by providing a meal for her guests. It was a festive day for them. This miracle and that in the synagogue made Jesus famous in Capernaum. Before the setting of the sun, probably accounts of these wonders had been rendered in every liouse in the city, and * And we learn from 1 Cor. ix. 5, that his married state continued through his apostolic ministry. He was much more fortunate than Paul. f It is not certain that Luke intended to make the distinction between the dif- ferent kinds of fever, as Alford inti- mates that he does. If he had so in- tended would the article have been omitted in Luke iv. 38. where it is sim- ply TxvaiT-yi fi£yi\u) ? It being a violent fever is sufficient to make this a remark- able miracle. X It is to be noticed that Jesus treated disease as a hostile potency, to be "re- buked" and to be resisted, as though sickness were somehow akin to sin. Early commentators, among them Cyril of Alexandria, noticed the peculiar ex- pression in the original Greek as some- how conveying this idea. 182 FIRST AND SECQND PASSOVEK IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. tlie hearts of the people were thrilling wnth the thought that so marvellous a personage was residing in their ^Crowds of sick j^^j^ig^^ j^ ^^,^g ^j^g Sabbath. The strictness of Jewish observance of that day is kno^vn. It haa been illustrated by divers incidents in the history of the people, but by none perhaps so strikingly as the fact that in the Macca- bean revolt against Antiochus the insurgents, who had been sur- prised on the Sabbath, tamely submitted to butchery rather than violate the sanctity of the day by defensive warfare.* But the Sabbath ended with the sunset. Admiration brouorht crowds to Peter's house, and many who were diseased came or were brought by their friends. The lame hobbled towards the Ilealer, and the blind came groping, and the palsied came trembling, and the epi- leptic brought his mysterious malady, and even " the possessed " were present. The streets about the house were so crowded that Peter felt that " all the city was gathered together at the door." (Mark i. 33.) And none went away unblessed. He laid his hands on all. The palsy-stricken, the man Mith the epilepsy, the suf- ferers from chronic neuralgias, felt instant ease, refreshment, and health infused into all parts of their bodies ; the deaf instantly heard the exclamations of the demoniacs amidst the shouts of the healed, the praises of the disciples, and the murmur of the popu- lace ; and through them all, like music through a storm, swept the voice of Jesus, with all authority and sweetness, silencing demo- niacs and rebuking disease, while eyes that had been long blind looked for the first time upon the faces of their friends, upon the multitude, and upon Jesus, as he stood in the foreground of a soft Syrian sunset. Virtue went out of him as it entered all tliese. He became ex- hausted and nervous and faint. (Mark i. 35.) And when the time for bed had arrived, after this wonderful Exhausting e£- Sj,]3|3ath, Jesus could not sleep. He rose in the xfiCtifi OH ■IPRIIfl night and went out into a solitary ]ilace that he might pray. AVhen the day had come, Peter and they that were with him souglit Jesus, and told him what an excitement his deeds had created among the peoj)le, and urged him to stay in the city and go amongst those who so earnestly sought him. His reply was, " Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach the king- * See Milman'H CJirisUanitij, i. 211. THE rmST TOUR OF GALILEE. 183 dom of God there also ; for therefore came I forth." Then com- menced his first circuit of missionary preaching. The earnest teacher " went about all Galilee," as Matthew says, meaning probably Upper Galilee, which formed the most northern part of Palestine, embracing a tract of country about fifty miles long and twenty-five broad. ^^**" „^^' "?' , i 1 1 1 -r.1 • • 1 .1 Mark 1.39; Luke it was bounded on the west by 1 hoBnicia and the ^^ ^^ Mediterranean Sea, on the east by the Jordan and the Lake of Tiberias, on the north by Ccele-Syria, and on the south by Samaria. It was a fertile country, full of romantic valleys, and containing, it is said, two hundred towns and villages ; and Josephus says ( Wars, iii. 3, § 3) that the smallest contained more than fifteen thousand inhabitants. The people were earnest, intelligent, and remarkable for their bravery, but despised by the inhabitants of Judsea, because their dialect was uncouth and the land filled with " Gentiles," who had been attracted thither by the delightfulness of the country. Through this region Jesus made a tour. He went into the syn- aoroo-ues and discharged the functions of a rabbi. In his time the rabbi was not a regularly graduated teacher of the law, as somewhat later, but was still re- ^^^^^^ ^""^^^^^ '° garded by the people as the successor of the ancient prophet. Jesus preached his doctrine of " the kingdom," and exerted his marvellous power of healing, so much that by his words and deeds he created a fame of himself that went through- out all Syria, through Palestine and Phoenicia, carried probably by the caravans that went from Damascus by the Sea of Galilee to the Mediterranean. Great multitudes followed him from all parts of Galilee, and from the " Decapolis " (a region so called from its ten cities, which were inhabited mainly by Gentiles, and is said by Hitter to have been founded by the veterans of the army of Alexander), and from the neighborhood and the city of Jerusa- lem, and from Perea, beyond Jordan. On this journey occurred, in some town not named, the healing of a leper. The leprosy is the most horrible of diseases, and all the details of its symptoms and effects strike our imaginations most painfully. Although not strictly exclusively confined to the Orient, it is the special scourge of the East. Wlien it first made its appearance we shall probably never be able 184 FIRST IlST> second PASSOVER IN TITE LIFE OF JESUS. to learn. Perhaps the earliest recorded mention of this plague ia in the books of !Moses. Of the leprosy in general the origin is readily found in the nature of the climate in eastern lands. The dryness and hotness of the atmosphere of Egypt and Syria would naturally generate cutaneous diseases, which, among the lower classes, would he aggravated by unwholesome diet and the want of personal cleanliness. In modern books of medicine a " brick- layer's itch " and a " baker's itch " are specified. Leprosy appears under four forms — elephantiasis, black leprosy, red leprosy, and white leprosy. The first of these is especially an Egyptian form, and is known sometimes by the name ulcus yE(jypti. Its name comes from the swelling and hardening of the ankle-joints, so that the feet come to resemble the hoofs of the elei)hant. It produces melancholy, sleeplessness, voracious hun- ger, and unquenchable thirst. It is not rapid. The patient may live twenty years in this horrible condition, and then die of suf- focation. The white leprosy is known as the hpra Mosaica^ and is described with a minuteness that is painful in Leviticus xiii. Yery great diversity of opinion has existed on the question of the contagiousness of the leprosy. Dean Alford and Arehl)ishop Trench deny that it is contagious. They cite the J^ *'*'°*^'"''" «ase of Naaman (2 Kings v.), who while he was a leper held place at court and commanded the forces of the Syrian king ; and also the case of Gehazi (2 Kings viii.), who, while he was an incurable leper, held familiar conver- sation with the king of Israel. The leper's exclusion these learned authors assign to the fact that he was cereTnonially unclean. Modern travellers and writers tell us that in Palestine it is still an open question whether mere contact will communicate the disease ; but all the police regulations about Jerusalem and Damascus, and even auKjiig the Arabs, show that there is a dread of touching lepers. They are excluded from the camp and city, are separated from their kinspeople and acquaintances, and live in a commu- nity of wretcliedness, having no ccMnpanionship but that of sufferers afflicted like themselves. But it is " hereditary, with an awfully infallible certainty." * The child of leprous parents may exhibit * Dr. Thomson'rt Tlie Dmd and the tancously, without hereditary or any Pook, vol. ii. p. 519. This author says other possible connection with thow also, that " fresh cases appear from time previously diseafled." to time, in which it seems to arise spon- THE FIRST TOUR OF GALILEE. 185 all the usual sweetness of infancy and be bright and beautifiil ; but just as certainly as it lives it will begin to show the terrify- ing signs of the horrible disease, and will finally perish of a malady which medical science has discovered no skill to cure and almost none to mitio^ate. The symptoms and the effects of this disease are very loath- some. There comes a white swelling or scab, with a change of the color of the hair on the part from its natural 1 11 1 1 p Symptoms. hue to yellow; then the appearance of a tamt going deeper than the skin, or raw flesh appearing in the swell- ing. Then it spreads and attacks the cartilaginous portions of the body. The nails loosen and drop off, the gums are absorbed, and the teeth decay and fall out ; the breath is a stench, the nose decays ; fingers, hands, feet, may be lost, or the eyes eaten out. The human beauty has gone into corruption, and the patient f eelh that he is being eaten as by a fiend, who consumes him slowly in a long remorseless meal that will not end until he be destroyed. He is shut out from his fellows. As they approach he must cry, " Unclean ! unclean ! " that all humanity may be warned from his precincts. He must abandon wife and child. He must go to live with other lepers, in disheartening view of miseries similar to his own. He must dwell in dismantled houses or in the tombs. He is, as Trench says, a dreadful parable of death. By the laws of Moses (Lev. xiii. 45 ; Num. vi. 9 ; Ezek. xxiv. 17) he was com- pelled, as if he were mourning for his own decease, to bear about him the emblems of death, the rent garments ; he was to keep his head bare and his lip covered, as was the custom with those who were in communion with the dead. "When the Crusaders brouo-ht the leprosy fi'om the East, it was usual to clothe the leper in a shroud, and to say for him the masses for the dead.* In all ages this indescribably horrible malady has been con- sidered incurable. The Jews believed that it was inflicted by Jehovah directly, as a punishment for some extra- ordinary perversity or some transcendent act of ^"* ®* sinfulness, and that only God could heal it. "When Naaman was cured, and his flesh came back like that of a little child, he said, " Now I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel." (2 Kings V. 14, 15.) It was to be the test of the Messiah, the * Trench on Miracles, p. 176. 186 FIRST A2W SECOND PASSOTER IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. Deliverer sent out from Jehovah, that he sliould he al)le to cure the leprosy. Cyril of Alexandria calls it 7ra^oar- ent. The importance of his ministry, as is always the case with great men, lay in his spiritual influence rather than in the mere words and acts which conveyed it. His miracles were only acces- sories. For the sj)i ritual as well as physical good of the restored ho commanded quiet. Nor did he desire to have his deeds so bruited abroad as that his ministry should be obstructed by great crowds, nor such enthusiasm generated as should lead to mobs or political complications. These were general prudential reasons. In one case, at least (Mark v. 0), m-c shall find that ho gave an ojijiosite direction. But in each case, in. addition to the general, there wae THE FIRST TOTJE OF GALILEE. 189 a special reason. The priest had pronounced him a leper : if the priest, unmoved by the knowledge that Jesus had cleansed liim, should pronounce him healed, the " testimony to them " would be complete that Jesus had really performed this wonderful deed and had thus established his claims to the Messiahship. But the glad and grateful man could not be restrained. He blazed the matter abroad so much that crowds came Hocking to Jesus, until he was compelled to J^sus withdraws •^11 ^ ' ^f ' . ^. ■, . -, irom the public. Withdraw hnnseli into a solitary place. And there for some days he refreshed his soul by devotional exercises. It w^as needful, for trouble was brewing for the great teacher. A Messiah that removed himself from the public was not the Messiah for the Jews. He returned to his chosen home in Capernaum. His fame had grown in his ,/^f*^*^'..^^" ^~^' absence. People flocked to the house he occupied. Luke v 17-26 "^ ' Whether it was a residence he had hired, or one that belonged to some disciple, we cannot learn. But it was known to the inhabitants of Capernaum, and to the strangers therein. He commenced teaching. Among his hearers were certain Phari- sees and doctors of the law, wiio had come down from Jerusalem. It is not quite easy to determine the motives of these listeners. They may have been drawn by the fame of Jesus, or they may have been emissaries come to collect testimony against the young rabbi who had made such a commotion on his visit to Jerusalem. Both classes probably were represented in this assembly, for Luke intimates that he healed some,* while some were severely critical upon his mode of expression in a miracle which he performed in their midst. The miracle was on this wise : Four men brought upon a pallet their friend, who was a paraly- tic. The entrance to Oriental houses is ordinarily by the one front door. This was blocked by the excessive crowd, so that it was impracticable to press through; '^^^^ ^^^^ * but the desire of these men, increased probably ^^ ^ ^°' by the urgency of the patient, was so great that they ascended the roof, probably through the adjoining house, and, crossing the parapet, either removed the hatchway, if Jesus was sitting in the * The construction here is a little i these Pharisees and doctors, as on its difficult. The avTovs in the original has face it seems to do, for there was noth- no grammatical antecedent. It is rather . ing in their cases to make them recep- tmnatural to interpret it as meaning ( tive of his curative power. 190 FIRST AND SECOND PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. upper chamber or removed tlie awning, if Jesus was sitting in the court-vard. In readin^r the statement of the evauirelical liisto- rians we must recollect the construction of eastern houses. What might be impossible as European and American liouscs are built in our cities was not an insuperable difficulty in the East. But it was a difficulty ; and when Jesus saw the earnestness of all parties he said to the pui-alytic, " Son, be of good cheer ; thy sins are forgiven thee." llow much depends upon a little word ! This speech by Jesus was the turning-point in liis history. If he had said, " May thy sins be foi-given," he would simply have uttered po ceo a ^^^ as2)iration of piety. But undcrtaldug to de- clare upon his own individual authority the for- giveness of the man's sins, in other words, for(/iving him, he vol- untarily took a vast step forward, ascended to a higlier and more conspicuous platform of claim, and aroused against himself all the philosophic, religious, and traditionary prejudices of liis peo- ple. It was the commission of a most, if not the most, grievous crime known to the Jews. It was hlasphemy. It was a claim to exercise the prerogative of God. It was making himself equal with God. It was making himself God. And there Avas no re- treat for Jesus. He had said it. The learned visitors sat reason- ing with themselves, " Who can forgive sins but God only ? " Jesus read their thoughts, and manifested his penetration by tell- ing them just what was passing in their minds. He proceeded to establish this awful claim. Any fool or crazy man may claim anything which is not susceptible of proof or dis- proof. What evidence is furnished that heaven ratifies the assertion of any human being that the sins of another human being are forgiven? It is a pertinent question. The claim may be at once futile and sinful. Jesus asked them this question : "Which is easier — to sa}' ' Thy sins are forgiven,' or to say 'Eise, take tliy bed and walk?' " To forgive sins is not less diflicult than to heal disease, to one who can do both ; but it is less easy of proof, as the latter is open to the senses. But ncitlier can be done without the will of God, and God Mill not indorse blasphemy by a mii-acle, and therefore Jesus said to them, " That you may know that I have power to forgive sins, listen and behold." Aiul turning to the sick man he said, "Rise, take up your bed, aiul go to your own house." There was no struggle, no slow stretching of himself, no painful effort to drag THE rmST TOUE OF GALILEE. 191 himself and his pallet through the crowd. Immediately he stood up before them, he gathered up that on which he had been lying and started for his home. The crowd disparted. They made way for this new wonder. The man went home shouting. Amaze- ment, fear, and gladness took hold of the people. The great power of God had come down among men. It is to be noticed how Jesus, in the methods of this miracle, sets forth the close connection between an unwholesome spiritual con- dition and the physical maladies of mankind. TT . . T 1 •(! -. • Body and soul. He treats a disease somehow as ii it were a sin. " Your sins are forgiven, rise up, go home." In this case, as per- haps invariably in cases of paralysis, some sin, some excessive self-indulgence, hes at the root of this bodily disablement. Jesus Is compassionate to the sufferer, but honest with the sinner. He addresses him tenderly but faithfully. He calls him " son," but gives him to understand that his sympathy with suffering does not for a moment blind him to the badness of the sin from which it sprang So indescribably sublime was the self-possession of Jesus that no crisis threw him from his balance, and yet so obvious is it that he never thinks of self-possession and mental equipoise. His greatness inheres. Shortly after the healing of the paralytic Jesus was found at the sea-side, teaching multitudes who gathered about him. Making a short excursion from Capernaum along the Lake of Gennesaret, discoursing on religious subjects, he came to the road from Damascus, which, crossing the Jordan by "Jacob's Bridge," went along the lake coast to Matthew's call. ,/ -11. -J r^ ^^ ■ 1 r^ ^^tt. ix. ; Luke the neigli boring cities. Un this road, near Caper- ^ . -^^^ ^ naum or some other town, it is quite probable there would be a toll-house. Such a station somewhere Jesus came upon, and there found Mattuew, called also Levi, who was discharging the duties of a 'Roman j)oriitor, or tax-gatherer, com- monly called " publican " in our version. It was the most degrad- ing employment in which a Jew could be found. It was making liimself, for gain, a servant of the oppressor of his people. Jesus seems to have known him. He simply said to him, " Follow me," and Matthew immediately obeyed. Here was another shock given to Jewish prejudice. It was intolerable that he should select his circle of nearest friends and disciples from men whose reputation was so ruinously bad. 192 FIEST Ain) SECONT) TASSOVEK IN TITE LIFE OF JESUS. Matthew's feast. But something more was done, probably on tliat very day, to in- tensify the growing opposition. The newly called disciple made a great feast at his house. All his old companions were welcome to his table. On this day he must have consulted Jesus, who did not object to dining with publicans and those technically called sinners by the scientifically religious Pharisees. And so there was a great crowd of bad men, and Jesus and his disciples eating with them. This seemed the crowning outrage. lie had pronounced a man forgiven who had not gone through the ritual, thus bursting the bands of sacerdotal succes- sion and ecclesiastical exclusiveness. lie then broke down the pales of social life, which were also themselves of ecclesiastical construction. The Pharisees remonstrated with his disciples. But when Jesus heard it he said to them, with splendid irony, '' They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. Go learn what God meant when he spake by his prophet, ' I will have mercy aiid not sacrifice.' (Ilosea vi. 6.) And I am not come to call the righteous, but sinnei-s, to repentance." His reply was silencing to the Pharisees, and should be instruc- tive to people of all ages. It first quotes the proverb, " The physi- cian is not for the whole, but for the sick," which 1. i.1,^ fju° • ^^^ was known to Jews and Gentiles, and is of uni- te the Pharisees. , ' _ versal use.* It was employed ironically against these Pharisees. They were as unsound as the sinners that sat at meat with him, the difference being that the latter knew them- selves sin-sick and the former did not. Seriously, the place for the physician is in the wards of the hospital, and not in the crowd of hearty, healthy laborers. The man whose purity and exaltation of character are not such as will draw the low to his higher plat- form, and not be degraded to theirs, is not the man to be even a Moral Reformer, not to say a Great Regenerator. Men cannot from great distances do good to their fellow-men. It is amid the amenities of social life that much is done for good morals. And then he quoted from their sacred books : " I will have mercy and not sacrifice," says God. When afflictions come in Ilis providence they may have a chastening effect ; but lacerations of oureelves or others, of our bodies or our souls, are not accept- * It is found in tho Talmud {Tal. B"f>j/l., tit. Bora Kama, fol. 46, col. 2). Ubed by Antisthenes in Laertius, Dio- genes in StobffiUB, Pausauias in Plutarch, Ovid in " De Ponto." THE FIKST TO UK OF GALILEE. 193 able to God, who prefers a life of love to all self-tormenting. Jesus seems to teach that whatever sacrifice a man may make fcj* God, if there be no charity, it all counts for nothing ; that cliarity must animate all toils to make them beautiful in the sight of God. As if he had said, " You Pharisees offer great sacrifices, and yet are unmerciful to your poor brethren who make no religious pro- fession. You are merciless ; how can you expect mercy ? " From the proverb and the scripture he ascends to an authorita- tive declaration concerning himself : " I am come to call sinners to repentance, not the righteous." In this there seems some irony, but the proposition involves a profound truth. In every age, from every teacher, only those receive benefit who are conscious of needing help. The Pharisees of every age are those whose ex- terior deceives them as to their inward condition, and they are the very people who receive the least good from the beneficial agencies abroad in the world. Sinners, who being sinners, know themselves to be sinnei*8, are those to whom salvation comes. It is not the lack of power in the spiritual agencies that keeps men from being good, but generally the lack of a sense of their own need, and a willingness to throw themselves open to the sweet in- fluences of the spiritual world. And thus he answered the Pharisees. They had talked to his disciples ; then the disciples of John talked to him, and said, " We and the Pharisees fast often : why do not your disciples fast?" Let us make all „ p 1 •, p .1 mi • John's disciples allowance or chanty tor these men. 1 heirs was ^y^^^^ a pitiable condition. Their master was in prison, and they could not bear to see Jesus in the midst of festivities. Their school had wellnigh broken up. Many of John's disciples had attached themselves to Jesus. There were probably a few of the stanchest and most obstinate followers of the Baptist, who were ready to acknowledge what was good in Jesus, but clung closely to the modes and teachings of John, and in their obstinacy classed themselves with the Pharisees. After such numberless demonstrations of the folly of such a course, it is amazing how men persist in clinging to the dawn, and in suffering as it broad- ens into the fulness of the day. Jesus answered them by almost echoing the words of their great master. John liad spoken of the pleasure which the friend of the bridegroom enjoyed as he heard the voice of the bridegroom. Jesus replies to these querulous dis- 13 194 FIRST AND SECOND PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESL'S. ciples of John, " Can the sons of the bi-idechamher mouni, as long as the bridegroom is M'ith them ? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall the J fast. Kg man putteth a patch of new cloth unto an old garment; for that which is ])nt, in to fill it up taketh fntm tlie garment, and the rent is made worse. Neither do men pour new wine mto old skins: else nmneth out, and the skins perish : but they put now wine into new skins, and both are preserved." He thus does several things in one reply. lie reminds them of the light in which their master had received him, namely, as ful- ^ filling the prophecies by coming to espouse the epyo esus. |^j.j^|g (Isai. liv, 5-10.) It ought to be a festive season. The gladdest day of a man's life should be the day of his nuptials. The disciples were represented as the intimate fi-iends of the bridegroom, those Avho were accustomed to go with him to the bride's house to bring her to her home with great re- joicings. It was not meet tliat they should fast, for it was the Jewish teaching, as we learn from Maimonides, " that all fasting should cease in the days of the Messiah, and tliat tliere should be then only holidays and festivals, as it is wi-itten in Zechariah viii. 19." He reminds them of the difference between the old and the new. The old must pass away. He was come to inaugurate ^, , , , . the new. In the old hard dispensation there were The old and the » ^ , , ,, /.mi jjg^^ last-days, when all must fast. There was to be nothing of the kind thereafter. It is amazinsr ^-^ CD how this is overlocjked by Church and by State in the absui-d ap- pointing of special days when all the community must fa.'^t or feast togetlior. 'What is one man's fast may be another man's festival. When a man has the sense of his Maker's love and presence — his Maker is In's liusband, according to the old Hebrew idea — he has no occasion to fast. As long as that remains he should keep perpetual holiday. It is only a sense of His absence that should make a man fast, and that might befall him on an ai)j)ointcd festival. And so, having spoken of a wedding, garments and wine are THE FIRST TOUR OF GALILEE. 195 naturally suggested, and from them he derives two very striking illustrations of the proposition, that it is prepos- terous to attempt to work the new into the old, ^^^strations. the new Present into tlie old Past, the new Jesusism into the old Judaism. A man does not put a patch of new cloth on an old worn garment, lest the strong patch tear away the weak cloth in whicli it is inserted, and thus the rent become larger. Jesusism is to be a totally new thing. It is not to be worked into the cere- monials of Judaism. It is to be quite a new robe, all new. There is no more need of the old Judaism. You may give it away to poor beggarly creatures who may be content to cover their nakedness with the faded spangles and rent skirts of its threadbare ritualism, but the new ages are to wear a new dress. And how greatly every effort of the later times to make the work of Jesus a mere improvement upon Judaism, has made the whole matter worse. Jesus swept away old things; "old types, old ceremonies, old burdens, sacrifices, priests, sabbaths, and holy days are all passed away: behold all things have become new." * It was the style of Jesus to advance from some thought sug- gested by an occurrence, or question, or objection, to higher and higlier truths, drawing men up to spiritual things by the ordinary methods of human intercomrauni- ■^^^^^'' *'^*'^^- cation. The garment is external. Wine in the skins f is some- thing internal. If these skins Nvere old, the new and fermenting wine would burst them, so that the wine m-ouM be lost and the bottle be rendered worthless. Just such a result, Jesus taught, would take place when men attempted to put the new wine of his gospel into the old bottles of ceremonials : the whole would be lost. Yery early men tried to hold the living spirit of Christian- ity in the dead body of Pharisaic Judaism, and the result was that they made neither good Christians nor decent Jews. The spirit which Jesus brought into the world was the spirit of regeneration rather than reformation of manners. In the individual man the new life of progress comes into him, and works itself out into the production of all proprieties. He cannot be made a new man by * Dean Alford. Greek Testament^ in loco. \ Milk and oil, water and wine, are Btill in the East, as they were in the days of Jesus, carried in bottles made of the skins of animals, commonly of goats. To this day they may be seen at almost every turn in Egypt and Syria. It is an ancient arrangement, as appears from Homer and Herodotus. 196 FIRST AND SECOND PASSOVER IN TnE LIFE OF JESUS. mending liim outwaKlly. But if any attempt to confine the cnr« rent of the gospel within the banks of certain prescribed forms, all good results will be lost. Jesus and the spirit of his gospel are against nibric and ritual and ceremonial, and churchism generally. lie does not seek to make churchmen, but Christians. That is taught in the saying in reply to the question of the disciples of John. It is taught everywhere. But it is a lesson professed Christians seem loth to leam. They have repeated in all times the folly of putting new wine in old bottles. Examples might be produced from all the ages and all the sects. Men battle heroically for the liberty which they will not grant othei-s. The history of the world is divided into two parts, and the line is the life of Jesus. Before him there was not the animatinjr T x^ ^. ., spirit of progress. Ilumanitv went forward, but Jeaua, the divid- . r j • » V ing line of history. ^^ went torvN-ard in a rut. After him it began to spread itself in all directions. But still men en- deavored to hand it down from generation to generation in old skins that would bui-st and spill the wine. Hence the delay of Christianity in taking the world. The intention of Jesus was to establish a religion M'hich should have no binding forms, no pre- scribed temple-service, no priesthood, nothing of the old, but be new, and in spirit, and reside in the hearts of men ; and this we find frequently set forth in his teachings. It was the flinging away of the old bottles which has made modem times so progres- sive. It is the powerful influence of Jesus which helps men to do broad, great, good things, even if it be objected that they are not old things. It was such conduct as this, and such teachinn:, that brouf'ht against him the M-rath of scribe and Phari^^ee, of priest and Levite. Old Bottles or If he had been content to put his "new wine" ^®**^ into their " old bottles," they would have been ready for the arrangement. But so great \vas his spirit, and so far- seeing his indescrihal)ly clear intellect, that he never for a moment yielded to dcnominationalism and sectarianism. He knew what the result would be. He knew that he had not come into the world merely to reform the Jewish Church. lie had come to emancipate and regenerate the ages, and to save the world. lie flung the glove down to " the Church " then existing, and the re- Bult was that he was finally murdered. Any pure man who at- TlIE FIRST TOITR OF GALILEE. 197 tempts to follow Jesus in tins particular may expect some simi- lar fate. Old bottles are generally considered more valuable than new wine, by sectarians. " The Old Bottles or Death ! " is the alternative of their battle-cry. Jesus preferred to die and trust his new wine to the comino; generations. AXOIEKT BOTTLSS PART IV. FKOM THE SECOND UNTIL THE THIRD PASSOYER IN THE PUBLIC MINISTRY OF JESUS. ONE TEAR— PROBABLY FROM A.D. 28 TO A.D. 29. CHAPTER I. THE SABBATH QUESTION. So far from striving to allay the dislike engendered l)y his dis- regard of the ceremonials and traditions of the Jews, Jesus soon makes an attack upon Pharisaism in its stronghold, namely, the punctilious observance of the Sabbath. The Passover * drew near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem to celebrate it. "Within the city, and near the Sheep-gate, there was a jerugaiem. HonfleK)f. P^^l, Called in the Svro-Chaldee, which was the Outpouring. John v. vemacular of Jesus, Baith-IIisdaw, or Bethesda, 1-47. , . ' that 18, jrouse-qf-Oufpourin(/, the Y>yeci&Q location of which it is probably now impossible to indicate. For a long time Betliesda was supposed to be identical with a large excava- tion near St. Steplien's Gate, the immense depth of which, sev enty-five feet, makes this most improbable; it is now believed to be a fosse which guarded the northern side of the fortress of An- tonia. The most probable site is, as Dr. Robinson {Researches, i. * This Passover commenced on Wed- nesday, the 9th of April. That this festival is here meant, is endent not only from the whole context and con- nected history, but from a variuty of other considerations, which cannot here be specified for want of space. The absence of the definite article (" a feast," verse 1) is no proof against this view, for where John refers to any other feast, he expressly mentions its appro- priate name (John ^•iL 2 ; x. 22). THE SABBATH QUESTION. 199 501, 508) has shown, the "Fountain of the Virgin," in theYalley of Kedron, a sliort distance above the Pool of Siloam, with which it has subterranean connection, as perhaps also with the fountain under the Great Mosque. Around this pool were built five porches, which gave shelter to the invalids who came to POOI. OF HEZEEIAU. enjoy the benefits supposed to be conferred by the medicinal pro- perties of this water. It was the popular belief of the Jews that at certain seasons an angel went down into this water and stirred it, and whoever thereupon first stepped into the pool was made whole.* Great numbers, therefore, of chronic cases of blindness, * The 4th verse of chapter v. of John reads thus : " For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water : whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in, was made whole of what- soever disease he had." It is a con- trovei-ted passage, but the weight of authority seems to me to fall against its genuineness. (But Dr. Howard Cros- by, who is high authority, is of the op- posite opinion and considers it genuine. ) It is easy to see how it might havo come into the text. Take it out and you have the history, namely, that there was such a pool, and that impotent folk lay there, and that Jesus found one such and made him whole. To account for 200 SECOND AIsD THIRD PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. of paralysis, of other diseases, brought themselves to these porches, aud when the agitation of the water took place the first to enter it was believed would be benefited. It was the Sabbath-day. Jesus, in his walk, came upon the IIouse-of-Mercy. Among the infirm persons lie saw one who arrested his attention. He had been an invalid The impotent man. , thirty-eight years. How long he had been on the watch for the stirring of the water is not recorded. Paralysis, it would seem, had stricken down body and mind. He was helpless and hopeless. Jesus said: "Will you be healed? " The man an- swered : " Sir, I have no one, when the ptjolis troubled, to put me in ; but while I am coming, another stej)S down before me." Poor man ! He had long and h^ngingly gazed at the pool, and when the sudden rising came he strove to step in ; but so helpless was his body that he failed ; another preceded ; and this was repeated until he had grown hopeless and languid. Jesus said : " Rise, take up your bed, and walk." It was a command of power. He was not a convalescent ; he was well. He was not recovering ; lie was whole. "WHiat was life to this man was death to the peace of Jesus. The cure was on the Sabbath-day. The joyful man went homeward Cored on the Sab- caiTyiiig liis pallet. Some Jewish elders met hun bath-day. ^j^^j rebukcd him for doing this on the Sabbath- day. The reply of the man contained that undesigned ajtpear- ance of ingenuity which we often find in perfect ingenuousness : "He that made me wliole, the same said to me, Take uj) yoiw bed the appearance of all these people at Robinson and his companion discovered this pool some annotator gave truth- fully what was the popular opinion, and in many copyings it would ea.sily creep into the text, and thus seem to be, what it might not have been, the opinion of the historian. How it came to be the popular ojiinion is accoimted for by some on the ground that the pool did possess some qualities which were bene- ficial to some invalids, which qualities came from gases generated in the earth or from the blood of the victims sacri- ficed in the Temple, and coming by pri- vate conduit down to thi.s pool. To this day there is an irrogularity in the flow of water in this fountain. Dr. it one day when they were measuring the fountain. The water very suddenly rose more than a foot, and as suddenly subsided. A woman who came up at the moment, and who was accustomed to wash at the fountain daily, said that she had seen it dry. and men aud cattle suffering from thirst, wheu all at once it would boil up again, and that this boiling or flowing was at irregular inter- vals. The common people have aban- doned the beautiful fancy of an angel in the fountain, and now say that a great dragon lies within ; that wheu ho sleeps it Hows, and when he wakes it stops. THE SABBATH QUESTION. 201 amd walk?'' His argument lay in the assumption that whoso could do so great a thing as by one sentence to give entire health to a paralyzed man is one whose command to carry burdens on the Sabbath might be safely obeyed. But the leading learned men of the Jews did not think so. The health, or even the life of a human being was not to be set in the scale against a tradition of the elders. They knew that Jesus was doing mighty works. They suspected who had told the man to carry his bed. If Jesus — and who else could it be % — they had an occasion for an open contro- versy with him. But the man did not know the name of his benefactor. Afterward Jesus found him in the Temple, and said to him : " Behold, you are made whole ; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto you." It would seem that his excesses , , , , . p 1 • 1 • 1 -T Recognizes Jesiu. had been the occasion or his physical aihnents, and to the act of healing Jesus added, what is often better than a cure, an exhortation to a more sanitary mode of life. But the in- terview made Jesus known to the healed man, who went and told the eldei-s that it was Jesus who had made him whole. It was not as informer that the man could have communicated this. The Sabbath question was not so important to him as his own re- covery. It was not who had commanded him to carry his little pallet home on the Sabbath, but who had healed him. He looked on that side, the elders on the other. It aroused the whole hate of their nature, and they opened with Jesus a controversy that was to terminate with his death. In our day it seems strange that such connection should exist ; that a most good man should be slaughtered because he would not conform to what even we might consider a wholesome regulation. But it did occur in the case of Jesus, and has occurred in times much nearer our own. At this point in the progress of Jesus we reach the Sabbath question. The references to this subject in the Old Testament may be supposed to be familiar to the readers of this book, but must be glanced at. The first is in the history of the ere- The sabbath before ation, in Genesis i. and ii. The next is in the ^^'^ Patriarchal period, and in several places, some more patent and some more obscui-e. For instance, in Genesis iv, 3 is the phrase "/ti process of time . . Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord." In the Hebrew it is ^^At the 202 SECOND A>T) THIRD PASSOVER EN THE LIFE OF JESUS. end of day. 'i!''' Again: in chapter vii. 4, 10, "seven days" are mentioned, as also in chapter viii. 10 and 12 : these in reference to the dehige. In chapter xxix. 25-30, the " week " is mentioned as a well-known division of time, and it will be seen that that other Sahl)atic period of seven years is mentioned in the same passage. In chapter 1. it is said that " Joseph made a mourning for his father Beven days." These are before the days of Moses. In Exodus xvi. we have the account of the sending of manna, and the ordinance that twice The Sabbath in the the usual amouut sliould be gathered on the sixth Decalogue. ^j^y^ AYlietlicr tliis wholc passage indicates a pre- vious Sabbath observance or announces it as a new institution, each reader must determine for himself, as the position of the article in the Hebrew and the general passage may impress him.* Tlie next passage is the most important in the history of the Sabbath. In Exodus XX. it is embodied in the Decalogue, with specifications. To the Jew the Decalogue was not merely a religious syml)ol, it was also a national ensign. To violate the Decalogue Mas to be guilty at once of sin and of treason, and they came afterward to make the Sabbath the chief of these ten items of national cove- nant, so that, as one of their writers said, " He that violates the Sabbath is as he that worships the stars, and both are heathens." Whoever fairly reads the Old Testament at large, whether he believes the Hebrew institutions to have been given by Almighty God or to be the product of the wisdom of man, must know tliat the Jews believed them to be of divine origin, and must feel that under all the circumstances of Hebrew nationality they were wise and beneficent regulations. The law of the Sabbath is obviously such. It is to be remarked that a Sabbatic idea runs tln-ongh all the Hebrew Institutes. There was to be a seventli day consecrated to rest, to enjoyment, and to reb'gion. There was a seventh month set aside to festivals, opening with the Feast of Trumpets, and containing that most joyful of Hebrew liolidays, tho Feast of Tabernacles. There was tlio seventli year, in which the land was to rest from the hand of the tiller. At each close of seven times seven years, each week of years, came in the year of Jubilee, when debts were cancelled Of divine origin. * The learned Grotius believed that the day had been already known and observed as holy, bnt that the law as to labor was now given for the first time, and shortly after more implicitly im- posed in the Fourth Commandment. THE SAUBATH QUESTION. 203 and when slaves went free. The original intent, as indeed the original observance of the Sabbath, was not oppressive or afflictive, but rather festive. At only one point of the Sabbatic cycle is any mention of humiliation. The people were to " afflict their souls on the Day of Atonement." (Levit. xxiii. 27-29.) Every Sab- bath except that was to be for recreation, by rest, by enjoyment, or by glad and happy devotion to the offices of religion. It will be perceived that the physical, social, and moral welfare of all the people was sought by these wise regulations. The lesson so important to know and so hard to learn. Lessons of the sai>- that man has no proprietorship in anything earthly; ^'^*^- that he is holding it for God, and obtains its best uses only as he uses it for God : this is the great lesson of the Sabbath. Time belongs to God, which man was to acknowledge by the tribute of the seventh day. Land belongs to God, which is recognized in the Sabbatic year. All things upon which a man may lay any claim of ownership, as npon the moneys due him from his credit- ors, as in the case of his servants, bought or inherited, belong at last to God, and to him mnst be remitted, as the Jubilee sets forth. Socially men were to be profited by the Sabbath. It was to be a festive day. The rich gave feasts. The poor saved their best for the seventh day enjoyment ; men walked abroad and visited, as well as met amid joyful celebrations of God's praise in taber- nacle. Temple, or synagogue. Labor was suspended. The body must rest ; it rested on the Sabbath. No journeys, no business, no servile labor could be performed. It was a democratic insti- tution. Master and servant equally suspended toil and took re- freshment. In other parts of the law there were given constructions of the prohibition of labor in the Decalogue. It was forbidden to light a fire. (Exodus xxxv. 3.) For o-atherins; sticks \ T /^T Prohibitions. on the babbath a man was stoned. (JNum. xv. 32.) Isaiah uttered solemn warnings against the violation of the Sabbath, and promises of blessings to those who should scrupu- lously observe it. (Isa. Iviii. 13.) Jeremiah denounced the gen eral violation of the Sabbath in his dav, when men wi*ouo;ht as much and carried burdens in their traffic as much as on other days. (Jerem. xvii. 21-27.) And in the days of Ezekiel there was sucli a general falling off that the secularization of the Sab- batli is ranked foremost among the national sins of the Jews. 204 SECOND AND THIRD PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JE8TTS. (Ezekiel xx. 12-24.) Nehemiah (xiii. 15-22, and viii. 9-12) at- tributed their severe national calamity to the specially heinous offence of neglecting the Sabbath ; and he gives an account of his measures for restoring the day to its proper observance, among which was the representation to the people that the Sabbath was a festival. "This day is holy unto the Lord your God: mourn not, nor weep. Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared ; for this day is wholly unto our Lord : neither be ye sorry ; for the joy of the Lord is your strength." " AVith many such words he cheered tlie people, and they went their way to eat and to drink, and to send portions, and to make a great mirth, because they had under- stood the words that were declared unto them." * It will be seen that this method of observing the Sabbath is very different from that prescribed by subsequent Jewish and modern Puritans, who have made the Sabbath a burden, a darkness, and a curse, whereas God meant it for a blessing, and considers " holy day " the equiv- alent of holiday. The Pharisees and the rabbins, following up the work of Ne- hemiah, committed the error of carrying their exactions too far, and thus absolutely abrogating the spirit by their super-exact adherence to the letter of the law. Because Moses had forbidden the Israelites to go out of the camp to gather manna against God's command, a sect was established whose prime article of faith and practice was the maintaining throughout the day the posture in which they should hapj^en to be when they first awoke ; a terrible way of resting. This of coui-se exceeded even the usual rigor of Sabbath observance. Because Jeremiah had denounced the bearing of tlie burdens of traffic, men were forbidden to lift any article. It was against the law to hunt on the Sal)bath,. therefore the Pharisaic and rab- Fhorisaic exactions. * As showing that the Sabbath was not to be a day of gloom and weeping, comi)are with the above what is written in 2 Chron. xxx. 21-2G, Ps. xcii. , and many other passagos in the Psahns ; Isa- iah xxx. 2!), Jeremiah xxi. 12-14, Ilosca ii. 11. This contrasta greatly with cer- tain Puritan regulations, such as these : "21. No one shall run on the Sabbath- day, or walk in his garden, or elsewhere, except reverently to and from meeting. 22. No one shall travel, cook victuals, make beds, sweep house, cut hair or shave, on the Sabbath-day. 2:}. No iromnn shnll kl^s her child on the SaMiath. 24. The Sabbath shall begin at sunset on Saturday." See Blue Ltiint of Keie ILiien Cd'iny, etc.. compiled by an An- tiquary, R. R. Hinman, Esq. (Hartford, 1838). TIIE SABBATH QUESTION. 205 binical schools forbade the catching of a flea as a species of hunt- ing. The law prohibited the gathering of sticks, for the reason that that led to cooking, and while the Sabbath was to be a festival it was also to be a rest, so that the feast must be made ready on the sixth day : but these priests held that it was a violation of the law to mount a tree, because a branch or twig might thus be broken. Grass might not be walked upon, as it might be bruised, and that is a sort of threshing ! An examination of the records concerning Jesus \vill show, 1 think, that he never broke the Jewish law of the Sabbath, nor did his disciples ; they were never charged with jesus never broke that. But he did set at naught the exactions of *« sabbath law. the traditions of the elders. lie would not be bound by the regu- lations of those who had no authority to overload the word of God with their own fanciful interpretations ; but he did employ the Sabbath for all its sweet restoring uses, and did affirm the great principles on which the Sabbatic institutions rested. Thus, he walked out on the Sabbath-day. Laborious travel was forbidden, but not recreative exercise. He visited the "House of Mercy," and finding an abject suffer- But disregarded pha- er there he healed him. He commanded him to "^^° glosses. take up his little pallet, such as beggars carried with them to rest upon, and go to his home. This was no toil that could weary him. He was in fresh strength. It would have been preposter- ous to lie there, just where Jesus found him, and continue all the remainder of the Sabbath-day in the posture which he held when healed. This would have been according to the teaching of the sect of Dositheus, but it would have been most unnatm-al. Jesus sent him home with his bed in his hands. The Jews raged and sought to kill Jesus, not the healed inan. It was not, then, the burden-bearing, but the healing, that exasperated them. He addressed the spiritual leaders of the Jews in defence of himself. He does not appear to ha^e been called before the San- hedrim, or even any lower court ; but the persons to whom the words were addressed had official position, and the words may therefore be considered as spoken in defence. The address drawn out by this Sabbath incident is given at large by John in his fifth chap- ter, and is worthy our careful study. In reply to the charge of working on the Sabbath, Jesus said to them, " My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." He corrects 206 6EC0XD AXD THIRD PASSOVER IX THE LIFE OF JESUS. their false ideas of Ood's rest, as if it were a liarren cessation Hia reply to accusal froiii all activltv. All the Sabhaths from the crca- ****"* tioii had been marked by the holy activity of the Creator, warming and shining in the sun, brightening in flowers, glowing and flowing in fountains and streams. As the Son ol the Father, being in special relationship to him, Jesus claimed that just so he worked, and that his works were no more viola- tions of the Sabbath than were the works of the Father. This- intensified their exasperation. He had broken the Sal)bath law ; he had involved Jehovah in the crime; and he had claimed equality with Jehovah. This last was the most specially aggra- vated offence. The words themselves, standing alone, hardly seem to justify this interpretation. The Jewish rulers must have heard something else from him before this, which gave this par- ticular complexion to this short statement. But their belief that he did mean this, he himself proceeded to justify by the remark- able discourse which John has preserved, and which we give entire : " Verily, I say to you, Tlie Son can do nothing from himself, but what he seeth the Father doing: for -what things lie doeth, these also doeth the Sou likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that He Himself doeth : and He will show him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. For as the Father raiseth the dead, and giveth life, even so the Son giveth life to whom he wnll. For the Father judgeth no one, Init hath com- mitted all judgment to tlie Son: that all should know the Son, even as they know the Father. lie that honoretli not the Son honoreth not the Father who hath sent him. Verily, verily, I say to you, He tliat heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath perpetual life, and doth not come into condemnation (or judgment), but hath pa.Je is hereP It would seem to be a reference to himself, and the meaning to be that those disciples were in the discharge of religious duties in fi)llo\viiig him, and in a much higher S}»hore than the priests in the Tcm[)le, so that if these wei-e not in fault, much more those were not to be blamed. Again he repeats to them the words of the prophet Ilosea : f " I will l;ave mercy and not sacrifice," teaching them that all God's laws are laid upon the basis of mercy and not pain-giving ; and that no amount of sacrifice in any shape, whether in ofiFering victims upon the altar or in the afflicting of one's self, is at all acccj)table U) God unless the heart be full of love and mercy. And thus out of their law, and out of their most cherished his- tory, and out of their prophets, he confutes them. But he does not rest on that; he lays down the memoral)le pro- position which is the key of the whole Sabbatic idea and arrange- Koy to the Siibbath lueut I " The Sahhcith was made for 7nan, and thonght. ^^^ man for the SalhathP AVhatever ]-egulation for the observance of the Sabbath may be set up by human au- * Compare 1 Sam. xxi. ; also xxii. 20-23; 2 Sam. viii. 17; 1 Chron. xv. 11. In the first of these references Ahimelech is mentioned ns the priest son. The latter became (listin{ruished in the reign of David, and seems, from the Old Testament narratives, to have been present when the shewbruad was who gave the bread ; bnt in Mark ii. 2 J eredhand. and was sorry. He exhibited in the most sur- passing manner that which appears in all noble souls, a tender- ness for the sinful man, while the sin is hated. But, turning toward the waiting patient, he said, " Stretch forth thy hand." The man obeyed. He lifted it. It was as whole as the other arm. The cure was instantaneous and complete. It was a dis- play of mighty power and goodness. He flung himself into the hands of his foes to save this unknown sufferer. No selfishness held him. He saw his peril, but he chose to face his fate i-ather than turn from a work of beneficence standing before him to be done. The Pharisees were filled with rage at this new, bold, defiant disregard of their traditions. If their Sabbath laws could be set aside thus, then was their authority at an end. The blasphemy of two weeks ago they might overlook ; the apparent violation of the Sabbath by his disciples they might forgive, as it had not been done by him in person ; but this distinct avowal that their tra- dition was of no force was intolerable : they hated him. But what could they do with him ? He had not mixed medicines to give the sick. He had made no journeys to hunt up and console sufi^erers, in the simple way of ordinary Jewisli duty. He had gone into the synagogue, and simply said to a man, " Stretch forth thy liand." It seemed impracticable to make a judicial case on such ground. They were as mnch puzzled as tliey were enraged ; and so they went out and took counsel witii the Hero- 216 SECOND AND TIIIKD PASSOVEE IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. dians, how they might compass the destruction of liim whoso crime was the healing of a fellow-man on the Sahljath-da}-. " The Ilerodians " are menti(jned several times by the Kew- Testament historians. They were those who were the open and avowed political adherents to the family of the The Herodians. tt i • Ilerods, in whose interest they were ready to make any combination, and use any of the ecclesiastical parties and theological sects that might be in existence from time to time. They were Jews more influenced by political than by religious considerations. The independent nationality of the Jews was the fii"st and last consideration with them. They believed that tlie Ilerodian family had the talent and the ambition to make head against the Roman power, and so were willing to submit to them, although they were of foreign origin, and not strict observers of the Mosaic ritual. If they were lending their influence to a do- mestic tyranny, they were thus at least saved from a direct heathen domination. On this ground some of the Pharisees would be of their party. Then there were those who might be called liberal Jews, who had become quite lax in their belief in tlie dogmas of Judaism and in the observance of its stringent ceremo- nials. They favored the Ilerods as being the most promising agents in bringing about a combination of the Hebrew faith with the heathen civilization. On this ground some of the Sadducees would be of their party. Thus the leading sects would be found at different times co-operating with the Ilerodians, and the Ilero- dians using either of these sects, as the occasion might seem to indicate it could be used, for increase of political power. In this particular case the popularity of Jesus was so great that the Pharisees could not openly attack him. The Ilerodians might be induced to employ their influence with Ilerod to have Jesus put out of the way on political grounds. Discovering the formation of this powerful conspiracy against him, Jesus retired with his disciples to the shore of the Luke of Gennesaret. Vast crowds followed him, not mere- crowa. follow je«u«. ]vfrom the neighboring district of Galilee, but Mark nl. ; Matthew xiL • O » ' also from Judaea generally, as well as from the city of Jerusalem, and even from Idumji3a on the soutli, and from Perea beyond the Joi-dan, and from the coasts of Tyre aiul Sidon on the north-west. It was the fame of his miracles that drew them. Among the orientals, to this day, the name and fame of a THE SABBATH QUESTION AGAIN. 217 prophet or a miracle- worker will agitate large sections of country, and people will abandon their ordinary employments to follow him. Jesus healed their diseased people and restored their insane. All had the benefit of his marvellous power and surpassing good- )iess. ^V^len those who had " unclean spirits " cried out to him, " Thou art the Son of God," addressing him in language that ac- knowledged him as the Messiah, he rebuked them, and very strictly charged all who received his favor to abstain from proclaiming him. It would seem to have been his intent to do all the good he could, scattering his blessings with royal bounty, but to do this unobtrusively, so as not to appear to provoke a controversy with his ecclesiastical and political enemies. "Whenever they provoked it he never shrank, but met them promptly, skilfully, and with blows aimed so adroitly and delivered so powerfully that the pop- ulace rejoiced in the discomfiture of the rulers. In all other par- ticulars he so carefully avoided publicity and general popularity that to one of his biographers at least (Mark iii. 17) were recalled the striking words of Isaiah (xlii. 1-4) : " Behold my servant whom I uphold; my chosen, in whom my soul delighteth : I have put my spirit upon him ; he shall bring forth judgment to the nations, lie shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench." To us at a distance this reticence, with this power, seems to be marvellous. To those who were in daily and full sight of both it must have produced a wonderful impression. So great was the crowd that his friends procured for him a small boat, which could be used as a kind of movable pulpit, so that from it he could preach to the people on the I'liii -I T ■ ■^ movable pulpit. beacii at a distance which should not render his voice inaudible, while it should save him from the pressure of the crowd. There mi<>;ht also have been the additi(.)nal reason of beinjj able to go quickly from one side of the lake to the other, and thu3 elude the machinations of his enemies. CHAPTER III. THE TWELVE. It was a crisis with Jesus. He had attained immense popular- ity with the masses, and had aroused the deadly hatred of power- A criris. Matthew ful ccclesiastics and ])oliticians. The posture of X.; Markiii.; Lukevi. j^jg affairs was sucli that it became him to move M'ith great caution, and to act with great despatch. We have learned what his opinions of himself were, and have seen some- thing of his character by his words and acts in the emergencies into which his career brought him. lie must have had the sa- gacity to see noio that there was only .one of two coui-ses before him: to go forward in what he believed to be the establishing of the kingdom of God, or to retreat, give up the mission, and letire into the utmost privacy and draw out an insignificant life, and leave the world merely a torso of a memory. To do the former was certain death ; to do the latter was an abandonujent of the Messiahship. Out of Capernaum he went to a neighboring mountain alone, and spent the night, we must suppose, in looking the dread near A night in a moun- f uture In the face. He must have canvassed all **^ the probabilities on both sides. It must have been a night of torture to him. But he saw his way clear, and came forth in the morning prepared to walk it at all hazards. He must not take measures to avoid the supreme fate, if death were necessary to achieve the great result he had set before himself as the mission of his life. But he must not both die and fail. He must manage himself and his affaii-s in such a manner that before his enemies could kill him he should have so im])lantcd the germ of his doctrines in the woi-ld tiuit it would gi-ow after his depar- ture. He must so instruct othei-s in the kingdom of God that they might be able to place the torch of light in the u])turned hands of the comiiiir jrenerations. He must so breathe his spii-it into other souls that even when dead ho could through them cause his relii;ioii to live and 'n-o\v in tlie hcai'ts of men. THE TWELVE. 219 Wlien the moniing came he called together all those who, from whatever motive, had followed him, or shown attachment to his person, or interest in his movements. And from '■ ' 111 Selection of the Twelve. them he set apart twelve men, who were to be near his person, to be carefully instructed in his doctrine, to re- ceive of his power to cure physical and mental maladies, and to be representatives to the world of the principles he had taught. It will be interesting to make a study of the character of each of the men whom Jesus would put in this extraordinary position, the men whom his choice has made immortal. AYe shall take them in the order in which they are named in the sixth chapter of Luke, calling attention to the fact that they are there catalogued in pairs, as we are informed in the sixth chapter of Mark they were sent out " by two and two." It will also be noticed that the first seven had received some kind of call from Jesus before this definite setting apart to the Apostleship. 1. At the head of the list stands the navae of Simon I., whom Jesus named Peter. Simon, "I'^aS, signifies " hearer." Kr)(f)ay Mr. Grove, in Smith's Dictionary. I Mark i. 20. i[ Mark v. 37; Luke viii. 51. ** Matt. xvii. 1 ; Luke ix. 2a f f Luke ix. 54. THE TWELVE, 223 was about to inaugurate.* He was present at the agony in tlio garden of Gethsemane,f and is mentioned in connection with the Ascension.:}: In the year 4-i, as it is supposed, about the time of the Passover, he was put to death by Herod Agrippa, a bigoted Phai-isee, who slew James with the sword,§ according to the Jewish law, that if seducers to a strange worship were few, they should be stoned ; if many, they should be beheaded. It has been noticed that earlier in the history John is mentioned as the brother of James, showing the superior age or position of the latter ; but in the later history the place of honor is assigned to John by calling James his brother. James was the first of the Apostles to suifer martyrdom. 4. John, son of Zebedee by Salome, being brother to James, is ordinarily mentioned with him, as Andrew is with Peter. These four were the leading spirits of the body of the disciples. To James and John Jesus gave the name -j^an-ra, Boan'erget's, the Galilaean pronunciation of the Syro-Chaldee words yi"] "^53, Benai Eegaz, " Sons of Commotion," or " Sons of Thunder," probably given because of their impetuous temper. The name John has its equivalent in Theodore, meaning « the gift of God." In the N^ew-Testament memoirs he is represented as the inti- mate friend and almost constant companion of Simon Peter, and as the most single-minded and devoted of all the men who loved and followed Jesus. lie had been brought up to a life of labor, but does not seem to have come from the very poorest class. His father, Zebedee, and mother, Salome, were above many of their fellow-citizens. We hear that the father employed "hired ser- vants " on his fisheries (Mark i. 20) ; that probably after his death the mother had some substance (Luke viii. 3), and that John him- self had " his own house." (John xix. 27.) He had had the usual instruction of Jewish lads, had gained what a quick boy would gather from his regular religious ^nsits to the Temple, and had probably sympathized with the occasional political movements that contemplated the throwing off the Poman yoke fi-om the Hebrew neck. His name was one which began to be given to children born in the sacerdotal circles, and was probably rendered * Mark x. 33. \ % Acts i. 13. f Matt. xxvi. 37. | § Acts xiL 1. 22-i PECOXT) AXD THIRD PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. all the more popular by tlic circumstances of marvel which liad attended the birth of John the Baptist, and by the general hope that " God's gift," Jehovah's special gift of grace, the Messiah, was about to be bestowed upon the world. Jolin must liave been quite young when called to the Aposto- late, as we learn that he was still alive in the days of the Emperor Trajan. The appearance of John the Baptist at Jordan roused the religious fervor of the young man, who became a disciple of his namesake. lie was an earnest seeker after truth, and this led him to follow Jesus on John's saying that he was the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world, and this predt)miiiant characteristic, notwithstanding his faults of temper, won him the love of Jesus. AVith Peter and James we find him in the cham- ber where the dead daughter of Jairus was brought to life, amid the dazzling splendors of the Transfiguration, at the solemn an- nouncement of the impending destruction of the holy city, in the garden of Gethsemane, at the fearful agony, and near the cross as Jesus expired. He had nothing of that soft effeminate manner which is so usually assigned to him. lie never married. lie was very passionate, narrow-minded, ambitious, and vain, as is shown in his hatred of the Samaritans, his desire to consume a village with fire, his attempt to extort a pledge from Jesus to share the highest honors of the new dynasty between himself and his brother, and the way he alludes to him- self in his writings. But he loved the truth, and he loved Jesus with a supreme passion, which subsequently ripened and mellowed his character into exceeding sweetness and beauty. And Jesus loved him. He leaned on the bosom of the blaster at the Last Supper, and received from him the tender consignment of his mother when the Master died. To him and Peter, Mary of ^^lag- dala brought the news of the resurrection of Jesus. Although Peter had denied the Lord, the old friendship 8ur\'ived, and the penitent friend was received again Avith warmth. John grew out of his narrowness so much as to lose all his prejudices against the Samaritans, and to become willing to reoeive them into the Chris- tian society, in which his subsequent position was one of honor and usefulness, organizing, teaching, encouraging. There is much legendary notice of his latest years, some very trivial and Bome very beautiful, but not much that is reliable or worth men- tioning in a history. TITE TWELVE. 225 PhUip. 5. Tlie Apostles are catalogued in groups of fours, Simon Peter being at the head of the first, and Philip of the second quaternion. Of tliis Apostle the Gospels give us very slight memorials. lie is said to have been of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter, whether a native or inhabitant does not appear.* It is to be noticed that Jesus is said to have found hiui (John i. 43), as though he had been seeking him, and that to Philip, first of all the Apostles, does he address that re- markable appeal, " Follow me," which was to become the terms of Christian discipleship for all succeeding ages. He was quite eager to declare the discovery he had made of the character of Jesus to Nathanael, with whom he seems to have been in relations of intimacy, both being men of earnest simple-heartedness, and both looking for the Deliverer. Yet the faith of Philip was not such as to make him ready to expect any miraculous display. At the feeding of the great multitude, Jesus addressed Philip specially, as to how to provide food for so large a number : f and this he did " to try him." It does not easily appear why this should have been done, as Philip does not seem strikingly weak in the faith which soars above the externals, as Chrysostom suggests. But his calculation of the money in hand and the cost of feeding such a multitude shows that Philip was not expecting a miracle. The next glimpse we have of him is in John xii., where we are told that certain Greeks who had come up to the feast had a great desire to see Jesus, and, attracted probably by the Greek form of Philip's name, applied to him to introduce them to his Master. With a modesty to be noticed, Philip first goes to his friend Andrew, and they together convey to Jesus an expression of the desire of the Greeks. He must have heard the voice from heaven which replied to the remarkably striking words of Jesus, which we shall consider when we reach them in the regular narrati\e. Philip probably brooded over the address, " Father^ save me ! Father, glorify thy name ! " and so when, in his latest interviews with his disciples, Jesus spoke of going to the "Father," the * John i. 44. Greswell calls attention to John's use of the jirepositions oto and t| , the former meaning an inhabi- tant, and the latter a native of the place mentioned. ( Dissert, xxxii. ) The for- mer is the preposition used in this passage. But Alford thinks this dis- ]5 tinction futile. ( Gr. Test. , in loco. ) \ John vi. 5. Bengel, on this pas- sage, suggests that Philip was one of the disciples to whom the domestic ar- rangements for the company were com- mitted. Seep. 115, ante. 226 SECOND AND THIRD PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. childlike simplicity of Philip gave vent to the request, " Lord, Bhow us the Father, and it sufHccth us." This is the last we see of Philip, unless we suppose him to have been one of the two unnamed disciples in that group to whom Jesus is said to have exhibited himself after his resurrection, in a scene described in John's last chapter. 6, Of the excellent Nathanael, who was of Cana in Galilee, only two notices are made, both in John's Gospel : one in the early ministry of Jesus, and one after his resur- Nathanael. _ rection. "VVlien Philip was first called by Jesus, shortly after the terrible passage of his temptation, he went im- mediately in search of his friend Nathanael, whom he brought to the person announced by John the Baptist as the Messiah. Upon sight, Jesus declared Nathanael to be " an Israelite indeed, in whom was no guile." (John i. 47.) And then no more mention is made of him until after the resurrection, when he is named in the company of the fishermen who had such a fruitless night of toil, to be followed by a morning in which the crucified and buried Master should reveal himself to them, (John xxi. 2.) And this is all that is said of this guileless man whom Jesus so connncnded. But, l)eing thus associated with the chief of the Apostles, and praised above them all by the Master of the com- pany, it is perplexing to find so little mention of Nathanael. This has led to the l>elief that Bartholomew is the same as Nathanael, the former signifying son of Tholmai, being a surname of the lat- ter, as Barjonas was of Simon, The reason assigned for this be- lief is, that John mentions Nathanael twice and Bartholomew never, while the name of Bartholomew occurs in the (»ther three Gospels, but that of Nathanael is totally omitted. In John, Nathanael is associated with Philip in both instances, while in the other gospels Bartholomew is in like manner alwavs associated with Philip.* If Nathanael and Bartholomew be the same individual,t he was associated after the ascension with the body of the Apostles, as we learn from Acts i. 13. 7. ^rAiTiiKw is the surname of Levi. He calls himself "the publican," in his own Gospel, but is not so called by the other • See Matt. x. 3 ; Mark iii. 18; and I wfis an Apostle; so does St. Gregory. Luke vi. 14; and p. XWS.Kute. Others have held that Nathanael and f St. Augustine denies that Nathanael I Bartholomew were different persons. THE TWELVE. 227 biogi-aphers. "We learn that he was the son of Alphseus. lie must have been a man of low estate and of gen- . , Levi or Matthew. eral bad character, otherwise he would not have accepted the position of sub-collector of taxes, a post filled only by the meanest of the Jews. The real publican was one who farmed the taxes of a province, paying so much to the empire for the privilege. The sub-collectors {portitores) were those to whom the collection of the taxes was relet. The former were generally Roman knights ; the latter, mercenary inhabitants of the province, who made all they could by oppressing the people. In the case of a Jew, a portitor was a special object of dislike, as he kept before the Hebrew mind perpetually the sign of the national degradation. Of course no Jew of any respectability would ac- cept such an odious office. Matthew (x. 3) frankly acknowledges that he had fallen that low, a circumstance which the other biog- raphers refrain from mentioning. Of this man, in whom Jesus saw something of a religious ele- ment, and whom he called to be one of the earliest and chief propagators of his religion, this is all we know, except that he contributed one of the four collections of Memorabiha of his great Master, upon which the world depends for its knowledge of Jesus. His reticence concerning himself is a remarkable display of modesty in a biographer who had every temptation and occasion to glorify himself as being so intimately associated with his hero. 8. The last of the second quaternion of Apostles was Thomas, who is coupled with Matthew in Matt. x. 3, Mark iii. IS, and Luke vi. 15. Ilis name in Hebrew signifies "twin," .. ^ 111. T-\.T Thomas. and IS so translated by J ohn, who calls him Didy- mus, which is the Greek for " a twin." It is not known where he was born. A tradition, however, indicates Antioch as the place. There are three prominent incidents mentioned of his connection with the history of Jesus. When his Master determined to go to Bethany, upon learning that Lazarus was dead, Thomas appealed to his colleagues to accompany Jesus and share his peril on a jour- ney which Thomas believed would prove ruinous to the whole party. (John xi. 16.) At the Last Supper, when Jesus had been speaking in an exalted and poetic strain of his departure into the realms of the unseen world, Thomas showed his prosy, incredu- lous nature by saying, " Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we knovr the way ? " (John xiv. 5.) After the Cru- 228 SECOND AND THIRD PASSOVER IN TflE LIFE OF .TESU8. cifixiou liis bruther Apostles reported to him that they had seen Jesus. (Johii XX. 25.) lie broke into the vehement exclama- tion, " Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my fintrer into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe." These incidents show that he was skeptical, 6k)W to believe, demanding unusual proofs, — that he was not sanguine, but rather despondent, — and that he loved Jesus ardently. Although he i-e- garded the journey to Bethany as almost certain destruction, his love for Jesus prompted him to go and die with him. Although he could see nothing before him in the future, and his practical, matter-of-fact mind could not appreciate the spiritual, and dark- ness lay on the path into the unseen world, his love for Jesus made liira long to know how to follow him in tho^ paths which the Master dimly indicated. Although he would not believe that Jesus had risen from the dead, and although he demanded what at first sight seems to be a most gross and repulsive method of conviction, the very form in which he puts it shows how the person of Jesus, in the mangled condition in which he had last seen it, was the most affecting picture of all things retained by his memory. Beyond this we know nothing, but that lie was with the Apostles after the Ascension. (Acts i. 13.) 9. In the lead of the last class of the Apostles is the other James, whom we distinguish as James II. He is also called James the Less. He was the son of Mary by Alphaeus, who was brother of Joseph, whom John calls Clopas, and thus cousin to Jesus. I am satisfied that this James was n]>eared in his conduct to arouse any suspicion in the minds of his brother Apos- tles. There was no prejudice against him. On the contrary, he was a trusted man among them, and was made the treasurer of the exchequer which contained their own slender means, and whatever was conti ihiitcd from time to time to be disbursed by tlieir cliarity to the poor. This post of trust and honor he held to the very hist, and no one seems to have suspected any baseness. And Jesus chose to add liim to the number of those who should THE TWELVE. 233 ky the foundation of his kingdom in the hearts of men. And yet he betrayed his great and good Friend. The selection of Judas as one of his Apostles is, to historians, perhaps the most puzzling of all the movements of Jesus, the act which is specially pressed by unfriendly critics. But perhaps it is not wholly inexplicable even upon critical grounds. Judas was a powerful man. lie had prodigious passions and he had enor- mous self-control. AVlien Jesus, as a warning to the other dis- ciples, dissected the character of Judas, running the scalpel around his heart, this wonderful man had such iron nerve, and muscle, and blood, that by neither twitch nor pallor did he allow his colleagues to see that Jesus was dissecting him. He had great financial skill, and men of thought have always had a kind of awe for the man who can make money. Merchant princes are greater wonders and objects of homage to the scholar than the profound and scholarly philosophers are to the wealthy tradesman. The disciples admired this in Judas, and probably expected that when the " kingdom " should be set up their friend Judas would be made " Chancellor of the Exchequer." Judas had undoubtedly professed great attachment to Jesus, and must have felt upon his rugged nature the sweet influences of such a character. He was also among the expectants of the Mes- siah. The other disciples kept him in their circle, and as Jesus winnowed and winnowed, and the chaff flew away, — such as loved father or mother more than Jesus, such as must bury their dead before they could follow Jesus, such as must be as secure of a bed, at least, as the foxes and the birds,— as those who could not endure the tests of the new discipleship dropped back, strange as it may seem, it is nevertheless the historical fact, that, for some motive, Judas clung to Jesus. The motive may have been very Ijase, — we all now agree in belie^^ng that at least some baseness was in the motive, — but the disciples did not detect what may have been very apparent to their sagacious Master. AYhen he came to say which twelve of all the disciples had exhibited the greatest devotion to his cause and his person, it was manifest to the whole crowd that, after the other eleven had been named, no one else stood in the company who had any claims upon Jesus and upon his nearest friends which could compete with those of Judas Iscariot. Now, if Judas had not been selected, who should have been the 234: SKCONT) AND THIRD PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. twelfth ? The disciples trusted him. lie had the purse of the coinpauy. lie was as well-behaved as any, probably much more polished than the rude Galilsean fishermen about him. He had followed Jesus as closely, he had been as useful as the others. "Wliy should he not be chosen ? Some reason would have been demanded by the eleven, at least. He could mar, we know : such men, it is usually believed, can make. He had probably painted the glories of the coming Messianic reign very brilliantly to the imagination of his co-disciples. Why should he not continue of them ? They had selected him as their treasurer. These twelve had been coming into closer communion every day for many months. Why should Jesus reject one of the friends ? Jesus knew what was in man, what was in Judas.. If he re- jected Judas, that man of powerful passions might have thwarted the designs, disordered the discipleship, and j)recipitated the des- tiny of Jesus. If added to the nmnber of the Apostles, Judas could be kept under the eye and under the magnetism of the presence of Jesus, so that if he had " a devil," as Jesus declared, and if he should betray his Master, as Jesus predicted, that e\il might be postponed until the " seed of the kingdom " should be 60 planted as no longer to need the personal presence of Jesus, but be vigorous and well-grown enough to need only his spiritual fostering for its growth to maturity. On this account it were well to retain Judas. And, then, it is not to be forgotten that no historical personage displays so much lovingness as Jesus of Nazareth. His power over the world to-da}- lies not so much in his position in history, not in his superior brain, not in any special thing he has done, nor in the remarkable thoughts he has uttered, as in the transcendent lovimjness which intensities and transfigures and glorifies all his deeds and all his words. Devilish as might have been the char- acter of Judas, wliy might it not have been right to afford him all the sweet influences which reside in the tender comnnmings of a noble brotherhood, whose spiritiuil father was such a soul a.s Jesus? He could but betray Jesus at the last. Let Jesus do nothing to hasten catastro})hcs. His life is to be too grand, and his influence over the ages to(j powerful to make him afraid lest sonie critic of subsequent times should suggest that in one case at least he com- mitted a l)1under. It was no blunder; it was a subHme adven- ture of love. THE TWELVE. 235 As in the case of the other Apostles, vre shall trace the histor}' and examine the motives of Judas Iscariot more minutely in con- nection with that of his Master. For the present we are merely taking a view of the general characteristics of those whom Jesua first admitted to his intimacy and subsequently appointed hi.^ lieutenants. That this was a special setting apart to a special work seems quite apparent from the very face of the history. Up to this date these men had mingled with the crowd of disci- ..„, „ , ,. _^ . J, , . "The Twelve." pies, and bore no signs of separation fi-om their brethren, except as they closed up in r/iore solid friendship for each other and for Jesus. The language of the historians shows that they were now regarded as charged with a mission peculiar and responsible. The whole body received a name. Never before, but almost always after this election they are called The Twelve, oi Sc68e/ca, to distinguish them from the other disciples. Never before, but by Jesus at their election, and by their brethren after- wards, they were called "Apostles." (Luke vi. 13.) It is noticed that not before, but after this event the name " Peter " is con- stantly applied to Simon the son of Jonas, as his Master had con- ferred this name upon him at his selection,* according to a well- known Oi-iental custom.f The number of the Apostles deserves some consideration. Although many very foolish and fanciful things have been writ- ten in regard to the svmbolism of numbers, no o " _ ; Why this number? careful student of the ancient records can fail to see that some meaning was among all nations, and not the least among the Hebrews, assigned to special numbers. Thus 1 sym- bolizes unity ; 2, antithesis ; 3, synthesis and the divinity ; 4, hu- manity, or the world, as we are reminded of the four corners of the earth and the four elements, as anciently supposed, of the four seasons and the four points of the cc^mpass ; 7, the sum of 3 and * See Mark iii. 16 and Luke vi. 14. t (as in ch. iv. 18), and after the ordina- There seems to be an exception in Luke I tion uses only the name Peter. See V. 8, but there the name " ' Peter ' ' is merely added to that of Simon, and thLs addition is supposed to be a mar- ginal note which has crept into the text. Again: Matthew introduces the name Peter with that of Simon before the ordination, but he couples both names Greswell, Diss. xxvi. f This custom still prevails in the East. Chrysostom notices that masters, upon purchasing slaves, frequently changed their names, as a sign of the right acquired over them. 236 SECOND AND THIED PASSOVER IN THE LITE OF JESUS. 4, the relatiou of God to the world ; 10, completeness ;* 12, the product of 3 and 4, God's indwelling in the world, and we call to mind the twelve patriarchs and twelve tribes, and the twelve foun- dations and twelve gates of the heavenly Jerusalem. That Jesus had the twelve tribes in his mind in fixing the number of the Apostles is evident. "When Peter asked him what should be the reward of those who forsook all and followed him, Jesus said that they should "sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." t Their original mission, we shall see, was to the twelve tribes. Their mode of appointment must have had in it something that solemnly designated them, whether a mere call to step f(^r- ward from the crowd, or, in addition thereto, the Their order. . . , i- i -, ^ • imposition of hands — something that put them apart from the promiscuous crowd of disciples. And there must have been some order in which they were called. In the enumeration above I have followed the catalogue as recited by Matthew, except that I have put his name before that of Thomas, as Mark and Luke do. Ilis modesty seems to have led him to make this transposition, thus yielding to Thomas what the other historians do not give, a precedence over himself. His modesty is further seen in adding to his own name the reproachful designation " a publican," which Mark and Luke considerately omit.:}: That the reader may have before his eye the slight variations in the roll of Apostles, he will find in a note the order as given by Mat- thew, Mark, and Luke, severally. § The precise order in which * Biihr (in his Si/mboUk, i. p. 175) Bays : ' ' Ten, by virtue of the general laws of thought, shuts up the series of primary numbers and includes all in itaelf. The first decade, and of course also the number ten, is the representa- tive of the whole numeral system; so that 10 is the natural symbol of perfec- tion and completeness." This view is adopted by Dr. Fairbaim (Ti/pol. of Scrip., vol. ii. p. 8H), who connects it with the ten plagues of Egypt, the Ten Commandments, and the Tithes. t Matt. xix. 2H. X This is the view taken of this cir- cumstance by Eusebios, Demons. Evan- fd., iii V. § MATTHEWS ORDER. LUKES. MARE'S. 1. Simon I. (sur- named Peter) Simon I. Simon I. 2. Andrew. Andrew. James I. 3. James I. James I. John. 4. John. John. Andrew. 5. Philip. Philip. Philip. 0. Nathanael Nathanael. NathanaeL (surnamed Bartholo- mew). 7. Thomas. Matthew. Matthew. 8. Matthew. Thomas. Thomas. 9. James II. James II. James II. 10. Judas I. Simon II. Jadaa L LebV)!cus (or Thaddajufl). THE TWELVE. 237 Types. they were called may not be a matter of vital importance, but as the selection shows something of the mind of Jesns, it is interest- ing to know whose name fell first from his lips, whose next, and next, to the very close of the calling. In these men some writers have seen fundamental types of certain qualifications needed for the propagation of Christianity Thus, Peter represents Confession / Andrew, the manly pioneer, Missionary Zeal ; James I., the son of Thunder, May'tyrdom ; John, " the beloved disciple," ^ Mysticism and Dejpth and Calmness / Philip, Coimnunion (" Come and see ") ; ISTathanael, Sincerity^ Sim^plieity, Devout- ness ; Matthew, Ecclesiastical Learning • Thomas, Inquiry and Sacred Criticism ; James II., Union and Ecclesiastical Govern- ment, Judas I. (Lebbpeus), Pastoral Faithfulness, Discipline ^ Simon II., Pastoral Activity ,' and Judas II. (Iscariot), Church Pro])erty.\ But these seem to be rather fanciful. Gentlemen who have been missionary secretaries and treasurers, and heads of church publishing houses, would scarcely consent to recog- nize Judas Iscariot as their representative in the Apostolic col- lege. Calm and unprejudiced historians would say, that while on one side of their lives these characteristics were manifested, quite as conspicuously on the other side were other things exhibited; and so Peter might just as well represent Falsehood and Coward- ice ; James, Bigotry and Ill-Temper ; John, Yanity and Ferocity ; Thomas, Blind Infidelity ; Matthew, Venality and Baseness ; Si- mon II., Intolerance and Bitualism ; Judas Iscariot, Corruption and Treachery ; and all the rest of the disciples, Want of Character. Matthew's order. luke's. mark's. 11. Simon II. Judas I. Simon II. 12. Judas II. (Is- Judas II. Judas II. cariot). It will be perceived that tbey aU agree as to the relative places of five of the Apostles, making Peter 1st, Philip 5th, Nathanael 6th, James II. 9th, and Judas Iscariot 12th. Matthew and Luke make Andrew 2d, James I. 8d, and John 4th. Luke and Mark make Matthew 7th, and Thomas 8th. Mat- thew and Mark make Judas I. as the lOth, and Simon II. as the 11th. It wiU be seen that Matthew and Luke agree throughout, except where modesty led Matthew into putting himself last in the second class, and in the relative po- sition of Judas I. and Simon. * John twice speaks of himself as the disciple " whom Jesus loved " (xiii. 23 ; XX. 2), a fact which the other historians did not think important enough to men- tion. But who could help adverting to the most beautiful fact of his own life, or make memorable a love so exalted and so distinguishing? It may have been vanity, but it was a sweet and lovely and loving vanity, which is not offensive to God, and ought to be par- donable to man. f See Lange on Matthew x. 238 SECOND AND THIRD PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF .JIISUS. The fact is, that when they were called to be special messen- gers and anibassadoi-s from Jesus to the nations, they were not TheBcicctionnotpo- such men as ordinary prudence would select. "^*^ There was not one that would compare with Saul of Tarsus, who afterward took the whole moulding of their infant society. They were all from the middle ranks. They were nf)t learned in the schools, and seemed wholly unfitted to cope with the sch(»larship and measure arms M-ith the philosophy of the times. They had no money, nor rich connections, nor political associations or influence. They were, as compared with refined society, ill-bred, stupid, and incredulous. If the purpose had been a political revolution, there was not a man among them who could compare with the Swiss Tell, or perhaps even the Xeapolitan Masaniello, If they were to overthrow Jewish prejudice and silence the Rabbis, there was no one amongst them who could talk, except Peter, and he was always so uncertain that no reli- ance could be placed upon him. In advance, one could not tell whether he would brag, or lie, or run. There were ]U'ol)ably only two who knew anything of the Greek tongue, namely, Peter and Philip. If the nations were to be speedily moved by Christianity, it must, as men would reason, be done through the Roman power or Greek civilization. But these men were all laymen, and had neither political influence nor intellectual culture ; they had no standing even among their own people, and certainly no influence with their conqueroi'S and (^vil rulers. Peter and Andrew were brothers. So were James I. and John, the friends of Petei- and Andrew. So were James II. and Judas I. Four of them had been disciples of the ascetic John the Rajitist. All of them, exci'pl Jndufi Iscariot, were of the most uncouth part of the Jewish ])opula tion ; they were Galilteans, and several of them fishermen. They spoke their vernacular brokenly. It is as if a man should select a dozen negroes, of average character, from the i)lantations of the Southerii States of America, and set them on the work of revolu- tionizing the ])hilosophy of all scho(»ls, and the elements of all civilization, and the systems of all religion. It is to be noticed that they did not choose him : he chose them. This he tells them. (John xv. 16.) This is true of their They did not choow l>ublic Work. They had gathered about him and '''™- clung together through pereonal love of him, but tlicy had not settled it in their minds precisely what he wius, and THE TWELVE. 239 their regard for him was largely mingled with an expectation of future secular good and glory, if their general expectation should prove correct. " AVhat shall we have, therefore ? " was the ques- tion of Peter, who, with all his faults, was certainly not the most selfish among the disciples. (Matt. xix. 27.) It is to be specially noticed that there is nothing of the modern Church idea in anything done by Jesus on this or any other occa- sion.* These men were not inducted into any Nothing of the priestly ofhce, or given any pre-eminence over "Church "idea, their brethren. They were distinguished, discriminated, set apart for a special work, but not clothed with corporate powers. There was no baptism or any other rite indicative of an entrance upon church membership. Jesus did not baptize. Ilis disciples had done so, but they had taken the idea from John the Baptist, who baptized those who were already in the church, and whose bap tism was to indicate the Messiah. If an outward formal sign did no ofood, it did no hurt, and Jesus had allowed it. But he had established no sacrament. These men had no creed. There was no creed. They loved Jesus. They hoped great things from Jesus. He loved them, and intended to instruct them, and leave with them " the gospel of the kingdom." AVhat he seems to have seen in them, and what was the basis of their call, was the reh- giousness of their general character. Whatever culture they lacked, and whatever faults they had, they had devoutness, devo- tedness, the capability of giving themselves finally and fully up to an idea: they had some certain noticeable genius for religion. Them he selected to instruct ; but he gave them no esoteric cul- ture ; told them nothing about himself which he did not tell the multitude ; imparted nothing which should in any manner give them any title to rule others who believed on him. Luke (vi. 13) says that he "named them Apostles," and Mark (iii. 14, 15) says that " he ordained twelve, that they should he with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, and to have power to heal sick- ness and to cast out de\ils." To be wholly given to the work of teaching the truth, and doing good to the bodies and souls of men, was the work of these men sent of Jesus, and therefore calleu * The word translated " church " | seems to me, can impartial oriticism occurs only twice in the histories of find anything Uke the modem "close Jesus, namely, in Matt. xvi. 18, and corporation " idea. They will be exam- Matt. s.y\\\. 17, in neither of which, it > ined tu their places. 240 SECOXD AIO) THIRD PASSOVEK IN THE LIFE (JF JESUS. Apostles. Some organization naturally to(;k place, after the death of Jesus, keeping together those who loved him. But that they were to be considered a close corporation, keeping all of Christianity, all the beautiful and precious legacy of Jesus, tc themselves, with powers to transmit to future generations of suc- cessoi-s by mesne descent, never seems to have entered the mind of Jesus, or any of The Twelve. I s AMOISNT LAHP-BTUrSh CHAPTER IV. THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. Having set apart his chosen ambassadors, it remained that Jesus should set forth the principles of his religion, give some such evidence of his divine right to teach as Near Capernaum, should be able to move the generation around ^att. v., vi., vii. him, and impart his spirit to those who were to infuse it into the world. He proceeded at once to this work. The first movement was the delivery of a discourse, which has been known generally as the " Sermon on the Mount^'^ reports of which are furnished us by Matthew and Luke. It would require a much larger volume than this to give the lit- erature which has grown around the questions of the time and place of delivery of this " sermon," and whether Matthew and Luke report the same or different discourses. And the literature of the sermon itself would make a library quite respectable in point of size. It is clear that much must be condensed. The place was a mountain. It could not have been very far from the lake. The earliest tradition of the spot is as late as the middle of the thirteenth century. That makes it PlflC6 of dclivGrv what is now called the " Horns of Ilattin," be- tween Tiberias and Mt. Tabor, seven miles from Capernaum, in a south-westerly direction. Dr. Robinson {Researches, ii. p. 307) gives the following description of this spot : " The road passes down to Hattin on the west of the Tell ; as we approached, we turned off from the path toward the right, in order to ascend the Eastern Horn. As seen on this side, the Tell, or mountain, is merely a low ridge, some thirty or forty feet in height, and not ten minutes in length from east to west. At its eastern end is an elevated point or horn, perhaps sixty feet above the plain ; and at the western end another, not so high ; these give to the ridge, at a distance, the appearance of a saddle, and are called Kurun Hattin, 'Horns of Hattin.' But the singularity of the ridge is, 16 242 SECOND AND XnmD PASSOVKi: IX THE LIFE OF JESUS. tliat, (»n reachiiif^ the top, you find tliat it lies along the very bor- der of the great southern plain, where this latter sinks off at once, by a precipitous offset, to the lower plain of Ilattin, fi-<»ni which the northern side of Tell i-iscs very steeply not much less than four hundred feet. . . . The summit of the Eastern Horn ts a little circular plaiji, and the top of the lower ridge hetween the two horns is also flattened to a plain . The whole mountain is of limestone." Dr. Stanley (Stanley's Sinai and Palestine^ p. 360) gives the following : "The ti-adition [of the Latin Church, which selects this spot as the ' Mount of Ceatitudes '] cannot lay claim to any early date ; it was in all probability suggested first t«j the Crusadei's by its remarkable situation. But that situation so strikingly coincides with the intimations of Gospel narrative, as almost to force the infei-ence that in this instance the eye of those who selected the spot was for once rightly guided. It is the only lieight seen in this direction fi-om the shores of the Lake Genne- saret. The plain on which it stands is easily accessible fi-om the lake, and f rtun that plain to the summit is but a few minutes' walk. The platform at the top is evidently suital)le for the collection of a multitude, and corresponds precisely' to the Mevel place' {roirov TreStvov), (mistranslated ' plain ' in Luke vi. 17) to which he ' would come down ' as f i-om siti()n8, That they are identical is believed by most readei-s upon a superlicial in THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 243 spection, and is maintained generally by most German connnen- tatoi's. And tlien efforts must be made to explain tbe differences Avhich occur in the two. In Luke we have only about one-third the matter given by Matthew, four of the beatitudes being " 1ml- anced by four woes," as Dean Alford notices; and some intro- ductory sayings are recorded which do not appear in Matthew. That they are two different discourses is held by a number of M-riters, and among them Greswell {Dissert, xxvi.). Against this it is urged as improbable that he should have delivered two distinct discourses so nearly alike, and both so near the begin- ning of his public ministry. The beginnings and the conclu- sions in both discourses agree. They seem to be the same, and different. Matthew tells us that the sermon was delivered on a mount ; Luke, that it was on a plain. If both histories be read carefully and without prejudice, I think the following will occur to the reader as the probable state of the case : What we find reported by both Matthew and Luke must have been delivered during the same journey through Galilee, and at the close of that journey. AVliat Luke reports, if it be not the same, must have been delivered immediately after the dit^course Matthew gives ; but his report is so connected as to compel the al)andonment of the theory that it is a number of the apoph- thegms, delivered at different times, recollected by Matthew and strung together. The people had gathered in great crowds about Jesus. lie went up into the mountain. His disciples came to him. Others must have accompanied his disciples. He deliv- ered the discourse which is begun in Matt. v. 3. "When that was completed he commenced to descend the mountain. On the plateau below he found greater multitudes. lie repeated some things he had just spoken, and added others, making together the speech which begins in Luke vi. 20. It is not right to speak of tlie former as esoteric and the latter as exoterlo. There was nothing of that style in Jesus. All is outspoken truth — such truth as individual men in every stage of culture need. But it is to be admitted, to his more select and friendly audience he should have spoken more freely of the Scribes and Pharisees than to a [)romiscuou8 assemblage. This statement of the case is, at least, a natural one, as all who have preached to crowds in rural districts must know, and consists with all the major and minor incidents related by both historians. 244 SECOND AND THIRD PASSOVER IX THE LIFE OF JESUS. It agrees, too, with tlie physical conditions of tlie Mount of Beatitudes, if that selected by tradition be the mount, as the de- scriptions given above exhibit, especially the passage from Dr. Roljinson winch is italicized. It agrees with such incidents as this : Matthew says that he sat, Luke that he stood ; and the former he naturally would do on rising ground, the latter on a plain. Matthew represents his audience as coming to him after he had taken his seat, Luke as being about him when he began ; ami this is just what would have taken place if the case be as is supjiosed above. It is to be noticed, also, that the case of the centurion in Capernaum follows close upon Matthew's account, and immedi- ately upon Luke's, thus drawing these two discourees together in the history. CIRCn^ISTANCES. Before entering upon a consideration of the teachings of this extraordinary sermon, let ns endeavor to place ourselves amid the circumstances of its delivery. The spot was one of the most beautiful in all Palestine. "While on other occasions Jesus " preferi-ed the unostentatious and obscure, he seems to have selected the most enchanting spot in nature ae the tem])le in which to open his ministry. Travellers are wont to liken the mountain scenery of Galilee to the finest in their na- tive lands, — the Swede, Ilasselquist, to East Gothland, and Clarke, the Enirlishman, to the romantic dales of Kent and Surrev. The environs of the Galila^an Sea have been compared with the border of the lake of Geneva."* The blooming landscape lay l)ef«)re the speaker, the neighboring hills enriched with vineyards, while to the west stood wooded Carmel,and snowy Ilcrmon to the north, and down before him, seeming almost at his feet, the bright Lake of Galilee, glittering and rippling in its frame of forest. The vault of that cathedral was the oriental sky, seen through an atmos[)here so transparent that one wlio had spent a quarter of a century in the Holy Land says of it: " One seems to l(X)k quite to the bot- tom of heaven's ju'ofoundest azure, where the everlasting stars abide;" and, standing in Beirut, he says, "llow shaii>ly defined is every rock and ravine, and tree and house, on lofty Lebanon! That virgin snow on its summit is thirty miles off, and yet you * Tholuck. Eilinh. liib. Cab., No. vi. p. 73. THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 245 could almost read your own name there, if written with a bold liand on its calm cold brow." * It was in the spring or early summer, when Nature was in he) most luscious richness. It was in the early morning, when the fresh est sweetness of the day's smile fell on land and sea. ^ . The time. The birds had not fallen from the height of their morniuff sonsrs to the drowse of the heated hours. The crowds were collecting from every part, drawn by curiosity, wonder, love, or by the strange power with which all crowds of people have to swell themselves. The Messianic expectations had become more vehe- mently excited, and it was supposed that Jesus would soon declare himself, and let the people know what he intended to do, and what to teach. As it was the first, so it was the grandest specimen of field-preaching. Tlie journeyings t)f Jesus, and his works and words, had drawn great multitudes from the thickly settled Galilee, from Decapolis, from Jerusalem, and the neighboring districts of Judoea ; from the east of the Jordan, and from as far -svest as the coasts of Tyre or Sidon. (Mat. iv. 25, and Luke vi. 17.) It was an occasion of transcendent religious interest and importance. The congregation was great, the expectation was great, the Teacher was great. No discourse ever delivered is so worthy of study and analysis as this. It is worth the wliile to endeavor to dis- cover what there is in it which has produced such an impression upon men and done so much for the moral elevation of the world. THE TEXT. If it may be permitted to suggest the text of this sermon as it lay in the mind of the great and influential Speaker, I should say that it is " Character^'' With the suddenness of lightning and with the sharpness of a surgeon's scalpel he penetrates to the core of all life in the very first sentence. He has wo exordiinn, no pompously announced plan, no rhetorical rests and starts and other tricks. Without prefa- tory, introductory, or apologetic remarks, he plunges right into his subject. His first announcements tear away all the shams of Pharisaism, all the millinery of churchism, and all the pi-etensions of perfunctory and transmitted religion. To him succession is * Thomson, Land and Book, vol. i. p. 17. 246 SECOND AXD THIRD PASSOVER IN THE LITE OF JESUS. notliiiiir; notliiii;; to be of Abraham's seed or Aaron's lineacje Each man stands out before him, the subject of Jiis study, the object of his description ; and each man stands in the loneness of his individual responsibility, with no claim upon attention but his character, and no fountain of happiness but his character. Cir- cumstances count for nothing. Riches, rank, and honors do not make the supreme distinction among men. Being in the church or outside does not discriminate men as touching their chief dif- ference. By waters of baptism, by imposition of hands, by priestly garments, by bishop's mitre, by higli-priest's breastplate, a man does not attain to the position for which he was designed and fur which he longs. Nor do even outward acts, however consonant with prevailing ideas of morality, however conservative of the commonwealth, however consistent with all the best men's views of what should be a good man's life. All these things may be- long to a man, and yet he may not be what he should be — Happy. Tlie great distinction among men lies in this : the being happy and blessed, or otherwise. Not in being free from care, bereave- ment, the saddening facts of human history which fall into every man's life at some time, but in having such a character tliat the outward shall neitlier weaken nor contaminate the inner, so tliat the man shall not depend upon fountains outside, but be secure in the possession of springs inside. A man is like a walled city. If the supply of its water be from lakes or rivers outside, that are brought down by aqueducts into reservoirs, from which, by leading-pipes, it is distril)uted througli the city, then wlien the enemy destroys the aque(hu;ts the city must capitulate or the inlial)itants perish. So with a man's soul. If he is compelled to hring in joys his condi- tion is most precarious, and he is not liappy ; it is most undignified, aiul lie is not blessed. But if he sends ont joys his condition is in his own hands, and he is happy; he is imparting to otliei-s and he is l)lessed. It must be recollected that the company whoiii Jesus was addressing was surrounded on the ecclesiastical side by churchism, by teachere who insisted upon everything consisting in being Abraham's (rhildren ; and on the secular side l)y the oppression of an empire that had no sympathy with their religion, and no care for their temporal prosj)erity, beyond the ]>oint at wliich they could be pluiidcred to enrich their heathen con(iueroi-s. They were longing for a Messiah, a messenger from Jehovah, who should be their Deliverer. But he would not hasten his coming, and THE SEKMON OX THE MOUNT. 247 their souls were faint with expectation. Naturally these people needed rest and happiness. This great Teacher taught them the lessons men need in all ages, a religion which, makes the man the master of circumstances by breaking the tyranny of his surround- ings and setting up an inward kingdom, making the Inner the ruler of the Outward. It was a reversal of all their Habbis had taught them, and all their conquerors had impressed upon them. The former had given them a religion which consisted wholly in forms and cere- monies and rituals; the latter had flaunted their riches and paraded their power in the presence of those who had been the world's aris- tocracy, but who were then impoverished, degraded, and disheart- ened. David's glory and Solomon's splendor had paled before the magnificence of a heathen imperialism. Yery far away seemed all the grand history of the march of their ancestors through the desert, when Jehovah cared for their commissariat and went before them in the solemn pillar of fire and cloud. In ghostly thinness walked before their fancies the forms of their Judges, who in olden time were men of such might of brain and brawn. The Urim and Thummim were oracular no longer, and the \oices of their prophets were as the songs of childhood's hope- fulness repeated to the ears of paralyzed and depressed and despairing old age. And they were looking for a temporal Deliverer, one who should break the Roman yoke. If that could be done, if Caesar's power could be thrown off, if a king should sit on David's throne with whom CiBsar would be compelled to treat as with a superior, if all nations should acknowledge the Hebrew supremacy, then the land should flow with milk and honey, and all the trees of the field should clap their hands, and under every vine and every fig- tree should be seated a contented and happy Jew, and the days of the right hand of the Most High should visit and rejoice his chosen. Alas ! poor people, they could not rid themselves of the common hallucination that a man is made happy by his surround- ings. They could not see that the Roman, who had might and gloi-y, was not a happy man. Jesus saw this great increasing multitude of people hungry for something. He knew the sad mistake of their souls, lie had shown himself in all his life a person of exquisite and profound sympathy. On tliis occasion he seemed full of an interest which 248 SECOND AND THIRD PASSOVER m THE LIFE OF JESUS. was growing in liini, and wlieii the time caine and they were look- ing that he 6hut there is no authority for this arrangement of the words, and the oldest MS.*)- • By Buch writers an Olearius, Wet- I f The Siiutitio Codex. etciu, Micbaelis, and Puuluu. I THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 249 extant gives the order Ma^dpcoc oc -rrrcoxoi ro, -^vevf.arc, and if the arrangement were as suggested above, it would break the svnune- trj of the beatitudes, and, finally, it would be notoriously false The people that listened to Jesus were poor enough and unhappy enough. It would have been to them neither instruction nor com- fort to tell them in rhetorical flourisli that the poor are happy. When the Emperor Julian, in the fourth century, said that his only ol)ject in confiscating the property of Clii-ikians was that their povei-ty might confer on them a title to the kino-dom of leaN-en, instead of a bitter scofP it would have been a benevolent thmg m the Apostate, if Jesus meant mere literal poverty xVnd then It should follow that if one would benefit one's fellow the very best method is to take his property, burn his houses, strip Him, and turn him naked and empty on the world. There can be no interpretation put upon the words of a man of common sense which shocks common sense. Moreover, Jesus was a man who was extraordinarily spiritual, and as far as possible from bein<^ gross in his modes of thought. He was surpassingly sagaciou.^ and as far as possible from being stupid, and therefore could have had no meaning contradicted by the whole history of the race I he phrase has been translated to signify voluntary poverty poverty from a spirit of being poor, "qui propter Spiritum Sanc- tum voluntate sunt pauperes," as Jerome says. But that agrees neither with the genius of the language nor with the analogy of the discourse. Precisely the sau.c grammatical construction re- cui^ in verse 8, and the reader will see how violent a similar ren- dering would be in that passage. There are two interpretations Avhich may be accepted as beino- more natural under the circumstances, and more in accordance with the whole drift of the discoui-se. One is by Clement of Alexandria, who thinks that when Jesus pronounced the poor blessed, he meant all those who, whether as to worldly goods rich or p.)or, do inwardly sit loose from their propertv, and conse- quently lu that way are poor,— a view similar to that of Paul in 1. Cor. vii. 29 : " they that have as though they have not " That may be a truth included in what Jesus taught on this occasion, but IS that the teaching ? Let us see if we cannot find a still m, .re natural interpretation. Let us recollect the state of mind of those whom he was ad- ^^''^t specially made them unhappy was their sense ol dressii.^. 250 SECOND AND THIRD PASSOVER DJ TUE LIFE OF JESUS. tlieir worldly poverty as individuals and as a nation. In any age of the world, to any people, that is most galling. The enihanass- nients and degradation of such a condition go far towards break- ing the spirit C)f a man. In striving to reach the meaning of Jesus, all a critical historian can do, and perhaps all tliat any one ought to do, is first to know, if practicable, what were the precise words employed, and then to ascertain how those identi- cal woi'ds would be understood generally by the average minds of those who composed the very audiences he addressed. If the S})eaker be not a fool or a charhitan he will strive to find for his ideas just those words which when uttered to the ears of another will put in the mind of the hearer the idea that is in the mind of the speaker. Jesus had lived with the people he addressed. Their vernacular was his mother-tongue. lie knew their hopes and fears, their opinions and prejudices, their modes of thought and methods of speech. He was of the people. He was not a dema- gogue, in the sense of one who vilely leads the people astray by playing upon their weaknesses for his own advantage. He was a Demagogus in the lofty sense of one who exerts his superior abil- ity to lead the thoughtless and passionate multitude into sound thinking and right acting. He will speak words that shall be comprehensible by them in their first intent and present mean- ing, even if he include therein a profound meaning which shall develop itself M'itli the developing ages. "Wlien, therefore, wc come, as now we must come, to consider the meaning of Jesus, we must endeavor to ascertain what his words would mean to the average mind in all that Galihiian and Judiean and Iduniivan crowd that stood about him ; men and women who were living before the early Christian fathers, and the decisions of councils, and oj)inions of those commentators who run the golden words of the Teacher into the moulds of their own theories ; men and wo- men who lived ages before Augustine, aiul Arminius, and Luther, and Calvin, and AVesley, and Paul us, and Tholuck, and Stiauss. To such a crowd these words most probably meant that they were unhappy m'Iio suffered themselves to be afflicted by a sense of their M'ant of material prosperity, but they were hapi»y who felt the want in their spirits, their spiritual necdiness and poverty ; who would be unhappy if sitting on Ca'sar's throne with empty Bouls, but happy amid starvation if spiritually rich. In general It was a statement of the superiority of the spiritual to the corpo- THE SERMON ON TTIE MOUNT. 251 real. His hearers were in wi-etclied restlessness because the Mes- siah did not hasten to come and break the Roman yoke. Thej felt their poverty as to the fleshy but not their poverty as to tht spirit.^ and they were unhappy. The first words of Jesus in this discourse were such as shocked their hopes of secular deliverance. Et is as if he had said : My countrymen, you desire me to lead a revolt ac^ainst the Koman Empire. You have confidence in my ability to achieve success. Your feeling of poverty intensifies your desire for the enterj)rise. You think that then the kingdoms of this world would be open to you. But I come to show you another way, a way that leads out to a larger and wealthier place. Happy are they who feel their spiritual necessities, for the Idng- dom of the universe* is open to them. Now this is a proposition, a consciousness of the truth of which may be achieved in any man's experience, in some measure, in any age of the world. The man who feels physical want will find his sources of happiness in the physical world; the man who feels his intellectual wants will find his sources of happiness in the intellectual world ; while the man who feels his spiritual wants finds his sources of happiness in all the dominion of all the heavens, that is, in the whole universe ; and he is a happy man. He reigns where Ccesar's sceptre cannot reach; and when all the Csesai-s shall- have passed away, and the present scheme of things be dis- solved, hehas the heavens still, the constant enduring universe. Alas! how little a portion of the wants of the human heart can the empires of Alexander, of the Ctesars, of Charlemagne, and of Napoleon fill ! J3ut " the heavens," — which phrase means the sphere of the soul as distinguished from " the earth," which is the sphere of the body, — the heavens come ir^to fill the spirit that is empty, if a man but feel the horror of that emptiness and seek the kingdom of the heavens. And then he expands this idea by pronouncing those happy who mourn, and those who are meek. These are paradoxes levelled at the secular and worldly longings of the ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ people. These men who listened to him had moiu-n, for they shau „„ ,1 1 ,1 • . 1 , be comforted. seen the heathen m great power and apparent happiness. They had seen the magnificent towns and villas which * Luke, in vi. 20, calls it " the king- dom of God." The most natural trans- lation of the phrase in Matthew is '"the kingdom of the universe;" but both mean finally the same thing, as God reigns throughout the luiiverse. 252 SKCOND AND THIRD PASSOVER EN THE LIFE OF JESUS. had been erected along the shores of their hike hy their political lords, and had witnessed all the pleasures which they seemed to enjoy in their mansions, with goodly furniture and manifold ap- pliances of luxury. Those happy Romans did not mourn. They had not seen trailing in the dust the standards which their an- cestore had made glorious. They did not feel royal blood tingling in them as they bowed their necks to a foreign yoke. To the conquered Jew they were at once objects of hate and of envy. And now to those Jews Jesus says that they who mourn are hap py ! But T\^e must read his words in the light afforded by the text as well as with the aids furnished by the circumstances. He is teaching that everything depends upon character, the inner man. He is drawing them away from externals as a l)asis of happiness. The man who bewails not his temporal and physical wants, but his spiritual needs, is not a man to be so much comjjas- sionated. He shall be comforted. lie who whines and wails over his worldly condition may go on whining and wailing. He has no assurance that he shall have his condition improved. But the man, rich or poor, king or peasant, who feels that to be poverty- stricken in his soul is the greatest misfortune, and one by all means to be remedied, — who, when he detects himself lacking truth, courage, self-control, mourns over that more than over the absence of meats and wines and couches, and whatever money buys, — such a man is a blessed man ; for he shall be com- forted. The Jews had lost Judaea. A conquered peo|»le who remain in the land are greater sufferers than those who are banished or go Happy the meeic for voluntarily into exile. The Jews remained on they shou Inherit the suffcraiice. Tlicy werc put under the yoke, sub- jugated, saw others rule what once had belonged to them, and had been under their control in fee. Having been mastci-s, they were now slaves. They were far f n )m l)eing " meek." They were very far from submitting to the inevitable, but " kicked against the pricks," and rubbed against the yoke, and aggravated their sufferings by their hatred of tlie ccMiqueror, and by foolish, vain, unfounded hopes. Once more Jesus turned them from the outside to the inner man, and pointed to the happiness of tliose who were gentle in spirit, who soothed themselves and those al)out them by the quiet self-possession of their own souls. Again he disappointed their political hopes by giving a spiritual interpreta- THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 253 tion to a phrase with which they were familiar.* Their land was holy land, because promised land, given by Jehovah to Abraham and his seed to possess it. It was to them the type and the per- petual prophecy of that better land beyond death. There never has existed a people who had a more desperate and fanatical at- tachment to the soil upon which they were born than the Jews. Their patriotism was their religion, and their religion their pa- triotism. The land of Abraham was heaven on earth. To be in Abraham's bosom was to consummate the hopes of earth by what- ever bliss might be in heaven. The Romans held the land of Abraham. The Jews, who were plotting revolts and stirring up insurrections, were losing every- thing. They were missing all domestic enjoyment ; they were failing to improve their lands and their houses, and to promote the growth of true religion among their children ; so that while they " dwelt in the land " it was as prisoners. All they loved was going to decay before their eyes. They were afflicted with a mania which has not died out from among men, but every now and then in modern times breaks forth, a feverish feeling that everything depends upon the political condition of a people. Proud, violent men inflame the people with this idea. Proud, violent men believe that happiness is in high position and fame, in being in a condition to lord it over their fellows. It is all a mistake. A man who has a quiet good soul can be just as good and great, can live as happily and die as nobly in Pussia as in France, in France as in England, in England as in America. Emperor, king, president, it makes so little difference that it is not worth one human life to change it. An ambitious, selfish, ill-tempered, weak man will be unhappy anywhere. A meek man is not a weak man, but one who has the strength to hold himself in, as one by a strong bridle holds a strong and fiery horse. lie will He happy anywhere. lie will inherit the earth. He will be in the enjoyable possession of the earth, for that is the meaning of the words. This is a general truth. Conquerors over- run a land, but they do not enjoy it. The king is often overbur- * Compare Deut. xix. 14 ; Psalm xxv. 13 ; xxxvii. 9, for variations of this phrase. "The land " is spoken of re- peatedly through Deuteronomy as be- longing to the Jewish people. All are familiar with the words in the Fifth Commandment. Jesus in this passage uses the precise phrase which occurs in Ps. xxxvii. 11. 254 SECOND AND TIIIKD PASSOVER TX THE LIFE OF .FESUS. dened with the load of stateship, and rides in magnificent weari- ness over immense domains from which he can draw no increase of deliglit ; wliile down those valleys and on those liill-slopes, in a thousand cottages, arc multitudes of men and women and little children who really " inherit," by enjoying all tlie earth can yield of physical delight, and in those cloisters are many students who " iidierit " by enjoying all the intellectual delights which a study of the earth can give. If these people whom Jesus addresped were expecting tliat in the reign of the Messiali they should have material riches, worldly pleasures, and the indulgence of the pride of power, and if they supposed Jesus to be the Messiah, they were to be disap]>ointed. lie was no revolutionist. lie was no political preacher. He had a deeper, loftier mission. He had not come to " fire the Jewisli heart," but to purify the spiritual life of the world. So through- out this discourse he describes all excellence as consistintj in character, and all real happiness as having its fountains in the soul. There is not a single beatitude which has its basis in exter- nal things. Jesus thus plainly instructs them in the beginning that they are not to regard him as being about to add himself to the number of those conqueroi-s who divide tlie acquired tei-ritory among their followers. They may have been ex}>eeting tliat lie should subdue the world and give it to the Jewish peoj)le. He had no such intent. Those that looked for such things need not be followers of Jesus. There was no happiness in all this worldly, exorbitant, insatiable heat. The kingdom he should set up would be in the hearts of men. And so, whenever occasion served, Jesus restored to their sj'ii-i- tual meaning phrases and passages of the Holy Scriptures which the Jews had lowered to a most secular significa- Happy they who hun- . * i , , . ' a ^ i -iV ger aii.i thirst after tiou. Aud tlicu lic lutcnsined aufi Still uiorc t'^J.TT.T ^"'''"^ liif^lily siuritualized those passages. Almost every ■hall be flUed. ts J l in ^ phrase he uses must have recalled some well- known expression in the Projdiets, the Psalms, or the Law. Thus he describes the happy man as one who " hungers and thirsts after righteousness." In the East thii-st implied the most intense desire, and was the most vivid representation of hmgitig to a peoi)lc who dwelt in lands where there was a scarcity of water. This unspeakable desire to be upright, right towai-ds God and man, rlLdit inwardlv, whether the life should be able to be THE SEKMON ON THE MOUNT. 255 brouo-ht to the high standard or not, this marks a true man. Hunger seeks to eat, and thirst to drink. It must be an inward satisfaction. The man may be up to his lips in water and in food, and all things outward fail to satisfy him. The words of Jesus must have reminded his hearers of David's simile of the hart panting after the water-brooks (Ps. xlii. 1), and the outcry of in- vitation in Isaiah (Iv. 1) : " IIo ! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters." Perhaps it recalled also that remarkable passage in the Psalms, " I shall appear in righteousness before thy face I shall be satisfied when thy glory appears." * It is to be observed that the promise made is of the inward and not of the ontwai-d. Longings for righteousness are to be satisfied by righteousness. The reward of loving is the increased power to love. The reward of longing to be righteous is the increased power of being right- eous. All such people shall be filled. Having given these blows to secular hopes by stating three of the characteristics of those who are really happy and blessed, such as he should desire to have for his subjects if he is to be king of men in any sense, he immediately states three other characteristics ; and it is to be noticed that the first three are such as a man will be conscious of in his own soul while they may be wholly unknown to others, while at least two of the next three open into the visible life. The hidden growth of grace now begins to bring forth fruit. The man who has felt and mourned his poverty of spirit, who has become self -continent and meek, whose heart has g^ppy ^^^ mercihu, been athirst for righteousness, is not selfish, but for they Bhaii obtain goes out in love and pity to his fellow-men. The subjects of a spiritual kingdom, which is to consist in the para- mount influence of love, are to be merciful. Conquering warri(jrs were not ordinarily merciful, but had what the heathen thought to be the sweets of hating. The conquered were not merciful, but had the sweets of revenge. And neither were happy. The happy man is he who seeks to make others happy, whether they be good and grateful or bad and thankless. The next characteristic of the happy is that they are pure in heart, heartily pure, loving purity, and seeking to have it inwardly. * This translation I give from the I Ps. svi. 15. In our common English Septuagint version, where it occurs in I version it is xvii. 15. 256 SECOND AND THIRD PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. The lonrica! connection between this " beatitude " and that wliieh Ha the iire in iii^medlatelj prccedcs and follows is not quite so Heart, for they 8hau see apparent. Indeed it is to be doul)ted whether in ^^' the mind of Jesus there was anything of that strict scholastic arrangement of ideas which so many commeiitatore endeavor to construct for this discourse. Nevertheless there must have been in the mind of this great teacher some thread of dis- course, some nexus of thought or feeling which prompted the succession of ideas. Perhaps it is found in tlie meaning assigned by Jesus, which may not have been the modern sense of purity. Perhaps he did not mean those who are free from violation of the seventh commandment, but rather those who from the heart observe the ninth ; not so much those who are not carnal as those who are not cunning. Happy the sharp, cunning man, is the general verdict. Such men are supposed to be able to secure the riches, the honors, the glories of the world. They are the grand speculators, the successful diplomatists. But Jesus declares that the innocent, the innocuous, those whose souls are honest, whose intents are guileless, whose spirits are surrounded by a moral atmosphere of perfect transparency, — that these are the blessed, happy men. And he assiirns this remarkable reason for such blessedness — " they shall see God." Now, as all the happiness nuist in some sort correspond with the condition of character stated, "we can be assisted by an understanding of one to the comprehension of the other. "What is this vision of God, and when shall it take place ? S<;me have held that visio leatijica was real bodily sight, others tliat it was purely mental, others that it was both physical and spiritual; some that it is now, otliers that it will be in the state of existence which the soul shall maintain beyond the grave, others that it is botli here and hereafter. That Jesus simply used these words in a spiritual sense I have no doubt, nor do I doubt that they signify a blessedness which is not contined to either life, but is as true of the here as of the here- after. It is familiar to the students of the Bible that these writ- ei-8 use "see" and "knoAv" almost interchangeably. The Great Teacher probably intended to convey the idea that in order to know God, to underetand His nature and His ways, simplo-lieart- edness, clearness of the atmosphere about the mind and heart, is necessary; that the sharpness wliich wins in the jjames of life, THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 257 and tlic sagacity which ()l)taiiis among men the reputation of a knowledge of human nature, which reputation so many covet, come to nothing in the studies which men make of God. And tliat this is true every man may know for himself. The best and noblest thoughts of God, the most sunny and cheering and elevating, are not such as we have through commentators. Few things are more disheartening than the reading of very many expositions of the Scriptui-e. The mole-like delving, the petty distinctions, the insignificant discriminations, the scholastic sub- tleties of " the Fathers," so called, the cold, worldly-wise argu- mentations of more modern writers, are all so many obstructions to the pursuit of the fresh truth. What truths they have are arranged like the plants in the most artificial of Dutch gardens, while the "Garden of God" is a jungle of natural beauties and sweetnesses. On this question of the visio Dei, seeing God, read what is said by Tertullian, Chrysostom, Augustine, Enthymius, Theodoret, Vorstius, Voetius, and a score of others, ancient and modern, that lie on the talkie beside the present writer, and at the close you will feel as if you must rise and shake the skirts of the garments of your soul, and plunge into some deep forest, or climb some lofty peak, or go so far out on lake or sea that the sounds of men do not reach yon, and look up into the great sky, and down into the greater depths of your spirit, and open the windows of your soul that the air of the breath of God and the light of the smile of God may enter. " The world by wisdom knew not God " (1 Corinthians i. 21), is a general truth. In the original the preposition used {hia) contains a figure of speech, which being incorporated the words might be translated, " The world does not find God at the other end of wisdom," by which is meant shrewdness, skill in matters of com- mon life, and even ability in the department of dialectics. Purity of character is needed, total cleanness of the soul, and such as have this have the blessed vision of God. One such man, who never befools himself with the adoption of an error because it is pleasant, and never takes his opinions at second-hand, believing them because they are taught by one who has a great name, — a man wdiose lusts and passions are not allowed to make such a fume about his soul that the very sun of truth is hidden, — a man whose moral atmosphere is translucent,, sees God, knows God, and shall see and know Him forever. The glass to be used in the 17 258 SECOND A^T) THIRD PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. telescope lifted to gaze into the greatest depths which vision can penetrate must be flawless and colorless, otherwise all observations will be inaccurate and all calculations thereupon be false and misleading. The lesson of the Teacher is against double-niinded- ness, guile, and all kinds of mental as well as moral impurities, as interfering with the highest privileges and pleasures of the soul. And then follows the last of the characteristics of the Happy. It would seem most natural that if any body of men can be found „ who are distinguished by the predominance of Happy the peace- _ "^ ./ x makers, for they shau tlic characteristics wc havc been studying, they becauedsonsofGcd. ^j|| ^^ ^^^^^ ^,j^,^ g|j^|| ^^ engaged iu the blessed work of pacification, and shall be making peace among men skil- fully and on a proper basis, as distinguished from those who increase difficulties by their bungling interference, and thereby compromising the right in making settlements. Touched by a sense of their own spiritual wants, mourning over their own frail- ties of temper and character, meek, merciful, and guileless, see- ing things in clear light, humane, but hating all wrongs, thoy will be the very people who shall bring together those who have been separated. And here is the final blow to the sccularity of their ]\ressianic hopes. They had dreamed of going forth conquering and to conquer. IIow happy should they be, pouring out of all the gates of Jerusalem, and from all the hamlets of Juda?a, following their divine Leader to Home, hurling Ctesar from liis throne, gathering all the crowns and sceptres of the world into their arms, and trampling the heathen and the Gentile under their feet ! There is no such happiness in store for them. The climax of the description which Jesus gives of his followers, of the peo- ple he desires to collect about him, is that they are to be peace- makers, exerting the gentle but powerful influence of benign lives on the turbulent passions of men, and preventing and curing the dissensions of the world. Such men are sons of God, and Jesus teaches that their relationship and likeness to the Most High God shall be recognized. They shall be " called," considered, ^sons of God," not little children, but adult sons of the King of Peace. Every man of the disci})les of Jesus will, as the ground of his kinsliip to the Holy Father, do whatever in him lies to bring an end to all violences among men, so that while that great THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 259 diversity of intellectual difference shall continue, wliicli God intends shall be in men forever, their passions may not be kindled thereby into outbreaks that destroy society. Tlie existence of wars shows how far men are yet from coming wholly under the dominion of the principles of Jesus. But let no man be discouraged. Earth distributes its prizes, and heaven bestows its honors. In the estimate of God, a man who is en- gaged in breaking the peace of the universal commonweal is despicable, and the peacemakers are the highest style of men. The warriors wrap themselves in bloody garments to lie down, amid the insane plaudits of a vulgar generation, in everlasting forgetfulness, while simple-hearted pacificator go up to the high places in the loftiest society of the universe. Having made tliis ideal representation of the disciplesliip of that Messiahship which he chose to represent, Jesus glanced at the sufferers in the past. They had been very , Happy they who have much such persons as he had described, and they been persecuted on seemed to have perished out of the world miser- "*=<=°""* °* nghteons- _ ■*■ ^ ness, for theirs is the ably. They might have been cited as a refuta- kingdom of the heav- tion of his "statements, for their sighs and groans """ ^"^ f'"'''" °^ '^' ' o o universe). were a strange echo to his repeated " Happy, hap- py, happy ! " But they are happy. " Happy they that have been persecuted on account of righteousness." Persecution is represented in the original text by a word taken from the chase and from war, the stroiiger frightening, pursuing, causing to run, those who are the weaker. The good are not always in power, and when the evil have rule the good are made to suffer. But if a man lias come into that affliction because, when the question of right and wrong was thrust upon him, he stood up for the right, he is not to be compassionated. The tyrant is to be pitied, not the victim. Brief pain and everlasting glory is the martyr's reward, if he was a martyr because he preferred dying to sinning. Brief triumph and everlasting shame belong to him who was the malig- nant destroyer. Generations of even bad men who succeed a tyrant condemn him, while they praise his victim. It is character^ not circumstance^ tliat makes the happiness. There is no praise to pain. A man is not happy because he has Buffered, but because he has suffered for the sake of being right. It is the cause and not the pain that makes a martyr. And now, when Jesus looked upon the noble army of martyrs who had 260 SECOND AXD THIRD PASSC VElt IX THE LIFE OF JESUS. chosen to keep an unbroken manhood in suffering rather than purchase pleasure by surrender of their souls, he exclaimed, *' ITajipy those who have suffered on account of righteousness : the kingdom of the heavens is theirs: they stood awhile in the nar- row place of torture, dungeon, or rack ; they are now free in all the width of the dominion of the universe. If they had surren- dered the right to avoid the painful, they Avould have so belittled their spirits as to have been miserable: but now they possess what- ever delights the universe can pour in on souls that are truly great." It was natural that Jesus should then turn with a special ten- derness towards those who were linking their fortunes with his, and who, by becoming his disciples, were to try Happy ye, when they the experiment of being such persons as he had shall revile you, and x p i persecute you, and pay dcscribed. If they bccame poor in spirit, and every bad thing against ^^^^g]. ^^^ mcrciful aud pure-licartcd, and ])eace- you falsely, on account -^ '■ of me. Rejoice and makcrs, tlic world would hate and persecute them. shout, for your reward rpj^^^ trOublc WOuld COmC OU aCCOUUt of JcSUS— IS great m the heavens ; for thus they persecu- bccause tlicy wcrc followcrs of liiiu. In the col- ted the prophets who ^^. ^ y^ ^^,^^^ ^ Tcvilcd aud persccutcd. were before j ou. 1 There is nothing in that to make joy; on the con- trary, if any trouble has arisen from a man's own imprudence, it is a cause of great regret and pain. But when every kind of bad thing has been spoken falsely of a man, and the utterance of it has been prompted by the bad that is in those whf) malign, excited by hatred of his goodness, let him rejoice, yea, let him even exult. It is proof of the positiveuess and vigor of his character and good- ness. Every man that has flung himself on his generation to do them good has had this kind of trouble. Evil is positive. Good must be positive. They will collide. So much the loone for the einl. Why cannot we leani that ? A man slandei-s another, cir- culates lies that are injuric^is, and the misrepresented party is recfarded as the damaged. Is he ? Is it not the slanderer who is hurt ? At the close of the day, who ought to shout in his closet : the slanderer, who has succeeded in making his lies temporarily believed, and thus done vast injury to his own character; or the meek man, who has not allowed the falsehood of his persecutor to diimage his character by arousing unholy resentments? The heavens are very wide. There is ivKim in the univeree. The growth of the character will be the good man's everlasting THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 261 joy. The prophets were not destroyed : but what of their persecu- tors ? Did you ever hear of Magor-missabib ? No ? He was the same as Pashur. " And who was Pashur ? " The innocent igno- rance implied in that question tells the whole story of the relation of persecutors and the persecuted. Pashur, named Magor-missabib, was a great man in his day. He was the son of Immer the priest, " who was also chief governor in the house of Jehovah." There was an earnest brave man in his day named Jeremiah, and this man spoke words of great truth very courageously, but they were bitter words to an evil people and priesthood. And so Pashur threshed him and put him in the stocks in a most public place near the Temple, and left him there all night. (Jeremiah XX.) But Pashur was carried to Babylon a slave, and died obscurely there. There would be no memory of his name on earth at this day, but for the fact that Jeremiah has pilloried him in a book which the world will never let die, hundreds of thou- sands of which are printed every year, although twenty-four cen- turies have elapsed, and Jeremiah is among the immortals. Of all the kings of David's family who sat on David's throne, there was no one who reigned so long as Manaaseh, the twelfth king of Judah. And yet of no one is so little known. The historians avoid as much as may be all mention of his reign. If the tradi- tions of his people are to be relied on, he caused Isaiah to be sawn asunder. No words of the king are remembered. No actions of his are regarded as memorial and exemplar^'. But Isaiah's words have inspired the preachers and prophets of all succeeding times, and to-day are preserved among the most precious treasures of all human literature. And so it has been, is, and will be, until right and wrong shall cease to oppose each other. Great is their reward in all the heavens who suffer, being in the right. VALUE OF A LOFTY CHAKACTER. AVliat Jesus says of the position of his disciples, those who are distinguished by the characteristics he has mentioned, is so plain as to need little exposition. He braces them against the storm which is to beat upon them, by reminding them of the transcen- dent importance and dignity of the functions wliicli they are to discharo-e towards the world. ThcA' are the world's conservators and illuminators, its salt and its light. Without them the world would rot iu utter dai'kuess. That is to be true in all a^-es. Take 262 SECOND AND THIRD PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JE8D8. instantly out of the world all the men described in the opening of the Sermon on the Mount, and the evil that is in it would run the world ra])idlv to a state of total putrefaction. Ye are the salt of the _,. " in-i iii earth : but if the salt Take tlicm awaj and all hope would be gone — become uuUpid, with ^^ brifrhtuess, bloom, and beauty. what ehaU it be sea- -nr Bonedf F;rnothingifl Morc than among the moderns, salt was held in it nsefni any longer, ^ j^- |^ admiration amoug the ancients. Their except to be cast out ^ o o and trodden down by pocts gave it the luost noblc and beautiful epi- rthe ^M * aX *^^^^' ^°^ ^^^^^ philosophers bestowed great praise 8ct on a hill cannot be upon it. It was uscd iu rcligious sernces, syra- hid Neither do they ^^y^^^-^ ^f ^^,j^^^ -^ ^^^ry fiuc, vcry refining, verv hght a lamp and put It '' 7 j c>' »< nndcr n corn-measure, powerf ul, and Very preservative.* The words of ut upon a lamp-stand: jgg^jg^ jj^ which ho likens liis disciplcs at once to salt and liofht. ^ ^ are remarkably reproduced by Pliny {Hist. JVat., xxxi. 9) in his words, " Nil sole et sale utilius," Nothing is inore ns^'ful t/iati the sun and salt. And because of their value to the and it gives light to all in the houRC. Thus let your light shine before men, that they may see your gcxnJ works, and thus have more glori- ous thuughts of your Father who is in the world, Jesus urges them to be careful to preserve the saltness, and avoid what would cover the light ; in other words, preserve in their charactei-s those very elements which give them these powers. Much useless labor has been spent on the salt and city ques- tions. "Wliether real salt can lose its saltness, is not a pertinent question. The question of Jesus is hypothetical : if the saline quality be lost out of salt, how can it be restored ? B}^ chemical action we know that salt can " lose its savor." But because the example should have suggested something that was familiar, and it is not a familiar fact that salt does utterly lose its saltness, many have perplexed themselves with striving to find what the TO uXa^ is, if it be not salt. A Dutch writer. Von der Ilardt, suggested that it was asphaltus from the Dead Sea ! And then "the trodden down of men" has given the commentators great perplexity. A Gennan author brings forward authorities from the Babbins to prove that salt, which by exposure had so far lost its chlorine that it could not preserve, was sometimes scattered upon * Homer calls wUt Bnov, divine, and Plato i)fiiipi\fs (Tu'^a, c».?eViV' it is believed that the bodies of crim- THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 269 greatest coiitemptj " Worthless fellow ! " " Empty head ! " March is a harsher expression, and signifies a hopeless fool, an impious wretch, a rebel, especially a rel)el against God, and hence an atheist, a word so bitter tliat for using it Moses and Aaron were not permitted to enter the promised land. (Numbers xx. 10.) Now, here are the gradations: First, concealed but cherished anger, then sudden ejaculation of wrath, and then foul and abusive language. And all these Jesus says are murder in several forms. lie holds us to his text that cJunrccter is everything. Men consider the outward act as the horrible thing in crime; and they can do no better, because they cannot read the heart. But each man knows his own heart, and God knows all. His law covers the whole man, inside as well as outside ; Jesus gives its proper intensity to the "Thou" of the law, penetrating the inmost soul, and its proper extension covering the whole life. " Thou," as Luther well puts it, in his vehement and popular style, is not ad- dressed to a man's Jist alone but to his whole person. Indeed, if the fist were addressed it would be an address to the whole per- son, for the hand could not deal the blow unless the whole person co-operated. The whole act comes of the character, and it is not so important to be striving to make our actions right as to keep our souls pure. The words and the deeds of a man are impor- tant as showing the character. We may not interpret Jesus literally in this and his other speeches. It is not the use of RaJca and Moreh that is con- ■ demned, for they were sometimes used playfully, there being evidence that the latter, which is so liarsh in its real meaning, was employed as a gentle nickname in the days of Jesus,* — but it is the nnirderous spirit which j)recedes their use. Jesus himself was angry ,t and used the very epithet 3foreh,X which is here so condemned ; but it is very obvious from the history tliat the emotions he had and the words he uttered, in the connection, give no indication of a murderous spirit. Nor, strictly, could he have inals who had been stoned to death were flung into this place. In Joshua xviii. IG, the Soptuagint has TaUwa. Afterwards it was rendered Ttevva, Ge- henna. « Tholuck, vol. i., p. 238. Edin. edit. f As Mark expressly asserts (iii. 5), and Matthew (xxiii. 13) and John (ii. \T)) clearly imply. X In Matthew xxiii. 17, 10, it is the identical word, and in Luke xxiv. 2.j, it is the equivalent, in the original ; and consequently in both cnses io properly translated " fools " in our vei-sion. 270 SECOND AXD TniRD PASSOVER IN TIIE LIFE OF JESUS. meant that the secular government would decide upon these cases, and inflict these punishments ; and most probably by alluding to tlie visible tribunals and penalties simply gave objectiveness to the spiritual fact of responsibility for character, so far as voluntarily formed, and taught gradations of punishment proportioned to the Buifulness. And now, that he may set the duty of loving and the sin of hating in the strongest possible light, he insists upon the necessity of reconciling differences, and this he does in language which must have been very impressive to his Jewish hearei-s. lie taught that if a man had gone up to the Temple to offer sacrifice for his sins, had even brought the victim into that court where the priest was to receive it, and in the most solemn moment of approach to Jehovah the worshipper should recollect that his brother had aught an-ainst him, no matter how he felt toward that brother, he should leave his gift there in the Temple, and postpone homage to God until he had made love with man. Perhaps the worshipper would recollect that he had given offence to his brother by calling him ugly names, as Raka and Moreh, '* Empty Head " and " Ecbcl." Ilis brother may have had occasion to have something against him. In that case until the bad feeling, which was mother to the bad words, be utterly flung from his heart, his worship would be an abomination to God. Ilecatombs of slaughtered beasts would not please the eye of the Holy One of Israel if he saw malignity in the heart of the offerer. If the bad feeling has been cast out, then he nnist go and tell his brother ; must let him know how changed his feelings are. But if he has never knowingly given offence, and finds tliat his brother is embittered against him, let him go and do all that love should prompt to have that bitterness removed, to effect a reconciliation. Let us always guard against literalism, and see what the spirit of the words is. That he should literally go from the Tcmi>le in Jerusalem, the journey of many weary days, to a distant })art of Palestine, tt) make up a quarrel, cannot be meant, any more than the postponement of reconciliation until the moment when the sacrifice is about to bo laid upon the altar.* But in his heart the ♦ InBtonccH of Pharisnio literalness occur to UiiH (lay in the Christian church. PcrhapB there arc few pastors who have not known communicants begin to feel uneasy about their animosities as the time for the Lord's Supper approached, poBtponing recouciliotion to the very latest moment before the oacraracnt, — THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 271 Tk ork of love must be done. A man must not do that wliicli ex- poses him to the judgment of the local court, to the sentence of the Sanhedrim, to destruction ; nor must he allow his brother tc do it, if in his power to prevent. If that brother has anythino against him, it may lead to sin on the brother's part. If he has been called " Empty-head," he may retort by calling his brother "Kebel." And if the sacrifice is for forgiveness of sin ah-eadj committed, let there be no new sin committed. Jehovah -will wait for the sacrifice if he know that the offerer has gone to do the holy work of love. Do it instantly : that is the lesson. Nothing is so important: not even worship. A man may die while offering his beasts in sacrifice, and woe to him if he die with hands on the altar and hate in his heart. That such a fate mio-ht overtake one, and should be avoided, are taught in the impressive words which immediately follow. If a man is haled to the judo-- ment-seats of civil governments, it is prudent to do everything practicable to be reconciled to his adversary. For if once the adversary shonld lodge complaint, and the case go against the accused, he may be cast into prison ; and the inexorable judge, standing by his own decision, will not allow him to go free until he has paid the whole debt, or met the whole claim in dispute. What is so important as regards the management of worldly mat- ters is infinitely more important as regards character. The culti- vation of love, the prompt discharge of the duties of love, lest death come in and a man be cut off therefrom, and there be sur- vivors who shall be injured in their character, — these are the lessons. Having gone so fully into the spirit of this first example, it will not be necessary to be so elaborate upon the others. Of Adultery. The second example is the Law of Adultery. It must be observed that in his statements Jesus keeps constantly in view as if that were obedience to Jesus. He taught that the very moment you recol- lect that your brother has aught against you, even if that recollection should flash upon you at the Lord's Table, be reconciled, be sure that you are in a right mind about it, no matter how he feels. It does not suppose that one wUl come to the sacrament knowing that he hates his brother, or that, if his brother hate him, he has failed to strive to be reconciled. Some people's Christianity is so unlike that of Jesus. 272 SECONT) AlvD THIRD PASSOVER IX THE LIFE OF JESUS. that he is inculcating the culture of character, outward things being important only as they spring from character. The mere inJul- eence of a natural appetite is a small thintj : but the YehnvcheanUhatit " _ '^ . ^: was Hiirt, TTiou Kfiutt bciug SO degraded, so lost to the claims of our fel- notcommtt oiT ^i ^li it out and flintr it from evadcd as possiblc. ±>ut Jesus teaches that our thee; for it is better for q^^j^ pei'sonal intcrcst lics ill keeping the law thee that one of thy !: // t ■ i /» 7 i? lc'^ • n members perish, and sacrcdly. " it IS bettcr/6»r thee,, or it IS pront- not thy whole iKxiy i>e able /br ^A<26," is E plirasc showiiig that the iiidi- cast into Gehenna, , f i i • vidual who is to keep the law is to have the profit of the keeping. You must not avoid adultery because it is going to be injurious to youi- neighbor, but because even to intend any such \n'ong is so damaging to yourself. And this is the pure and fine strain of all the teaching of Jesus. ^Vliat is done in the heart hurts. And so he enjoins such self-denial as shall lead to the renunciation of whatever is loveliest in our eyes and the nearest to us; the most beautiful and the most useful friends we have, if, holding them near us, they lead us to commit such offence against ourselves. Of coui-se the words of Jesus are not to be taken literally, for in that case the member of the body would be considered the sinner, and not the soul that is in the body. It is not the eye nor hand that sins, but the inner man. Moreover, if taken literally, the whole world would probably be speedil}' depopulated. This strong hyperbolic expression of Jesus seems to find its rational interpretation as we have given it. Of Divorce. And this naturally brings up the third example, the Loajo of Divorce^ as held by the Pharisees. Here, again, the Pliarisees had perverted the law. According to the law, so sacred was the tie of marriage that only infidelity upon the ])art of the wife could justify a man in putting the wife away. Moses had made this exception not to weaken but to strengthen the marriage bond, not to make divorce easy but diffi- cult. But the Pharisees had made it quite easy, the school TITE SERMON ON THE MOITN'T. 273 of Hillel even going so far as to allow a man to put away his wife when he found any one whom he liked better. But Jesus insisted upon the sacredness of the relation. By 1 • . T • T 1 . -,. lit has been said, If his teachings any divorced man is disgraced, any man dirorce his Either he had committed some sin or his wafe, wife, let him give her a , ., T , . * 1 1 . writing of divorce. But ■who thus disgraces him. And a woman who is i gay unto you. That divorced from her husband, except for his sin, is ^^°^ divorces wb wife. BXCGpt for the rG&- not at liberty to marry. If she marry while he son of uncieanneas, lives she is an adulteress, and the man who mar- *'""'^* *"''" *" ''°'"""* . 1 r 1 1 adultery ; and whoso Pies her is an adulterer ; and if her husband marry shau marry a divorced he is an adulterer. This is quite as plain as Greek ^°'"'''' ''"""'"'^ '''''^- and English can make it, and no legislature on earth can make right by its enactments what is morally wrong. When a man and a woman have married, and neither has broken the bond by infidelity, neither can put himself or herself in the posi- tion of being parent of a child by another party while the other is living in purity. The offspring would be illegitimate. It was this laxity of divorce that had so corrupted the morals of Jewish society. Of P&rjury. The fourth example of Pharisaic perversion is in the Law of Oaths. Their gloss was, that if the name of Jehovah was omitted the oath was not binding. And so they swore And ye have heard by their heads, by Jerusalem, by the Temple, by "'''^ " ^^ '^^ ^^"^ ^° 1 1 , , T 1 111*^^ ancients, Thou heaven, and by earth. Jesus taught that both shait not swear faiseiy, periury and blasphemy were to be avoided, and ^utshaitiiorform thine , :! r J J oaths to the Lord : but that the latter could not be evaded by the em- i say unto you, swcar ployment of petty oaths, and the former was not "°* "* ^"' "^'*'''^' ^^ '■ ''^ . heaven, for it is the avoided by making false statements under a form throne of God, nor by of oath from which the name of Jehovah was "^TI^; !°';* '' .1'"° stool of his feet ; neither omitted. lie plainly teaches his disciples to avoid by Jerusalem, for it is all forms of oaths in conversation, and simply to ^ng^nor'shai^t ^Tn make a distinct, decided affirmation, based upon swear by thy head, for i 11 ii*r i !• r l^ •! thou canst not make knowledge or deliberate conclusions of the mmd, one hair white or wack. saying so simply, so intelligently, and so firmly, But let yonr word be "Yes," or "Xo,"lhat it will satisfy the hearer xJi^forwhatismo^ quite as much as any oath could. than these is from evo. He could not have intended to forbid the use of civil oaths, as he himself paid respect to them, at least in one instance (see 18 274 PKCOXD A>T) THIRD PAPJ=OVER 12^ THE LIFE OF JESUS. Matthew xxvi. G3), as we sliall find ; but the tenor of his teaching certainly is advei-se to the mnltiplication of civil oaths and the frequency of their employment. A man of truth may be trusted \vhen he makes a deliberate assertion : a liar, not even when he takes a solemn oath. Precision and firmness and simplicity, first in thought and then in language, are commended by these teachings of Jesus. Of Revenge. The fifth example of the Pharisaic misteaching is in regard to the Law of Retaliation. Again we are to remind oui-selves that in interpreting the teachings of Jesus we are to Ye have heard that it , -iii. • £. ±.\ hns been said, ^i'e /or guard oursclvcs agamst tliat very vice ot the eye and tooth for tooth; p^arisees wlucli lie was eudeavoring to correct, but I say xmta you, Not -, • ^ t -t. ^ • l l' I'l to resist the evu man; namely, a slavishly hteral interpretation which but whosoever shau tQ^^lly dcstroys tlic si)irit and the meaning of tli€ smite thee on the right •' pit n ^ rri-L check, turn to him also words, whether of the law or ot the great ieacher. theother;andtohim The law ccrtaiuly is a tooth for a tooth and desiring to sue thee " »' _ and to take thine inner an exfc fov ail ei/c^ as we find in Exodus xxi. garment, let go to him g^ . Lg^.i(.;(,„s ^xiv. 20, and in Dcutcrouomy even thine outer robe ; ' ' '' and whosoever shau xix. 21. Aiid Jcsus spccifically asscrts that he Z:l^Z.XZ:::. did not come to destroy that ^law. ^ It stands. To him that askcth of "Whatever he teaches must be expository of the wiTw^wngto boiow law or an exhibition of the animus of the divine of thee, turn thou not lawgiver iu this statute. The essential ju-inciple of the law pervades the universe, so far as we can discern, and appears nnder multiform phases. AVith what meas- ure a man metes, it is meted to him again. The instruments of sin are made instruments of retribution. In the administration ^of government under Moses, the Law is quite distinctly stated, and was obviously meant to be acted upon, whatever men may say of the cruelty of the procedure or of the difiiculty of apply- ing it in practice. It was the law. In the hands of tliose admin- iKtering justice it was one thing : in the hands of private vengeance it was another. This latter was the gloss of Pharisaism. Their sin lay in quoting words, wliich the people believed to be of di- vine origin, in order to defend vindictiveness of spirit. To what terrible social results such teacliiug would lead among a con- quered people, chafing under their political subjugation, we can readily see. The law was intended to prevent private vengeance. THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 275 It was a merciful law. It advised the offender, in advance, of what he might expect : it would thus deter him. It kept tlie offended party from taking vengeance into his own liands, bji assuring him that up to the exact line of retaliation the punish- ment of the offender would be carried. Against the wicked gloss of the Pharisees Jesus places his interpretation of the spirit of the law. He opposes their teaching, not the law. And he does so adhering to his text, namely, cliar- acter is everything. Now, that he may set forth graphically what he means, he paints three pictures of wrongs done to one — a personal, a legal, and a political wrong — and shows the difference between the spirit of his teaching and that of the Pharisees. In the first place there is the instance of a personal assault in a form exceedingly aggravating, a rap upon the right cheek. A Pharisee standing by says to the person struck, " Hit Jiim on his right cheek." " No," says Jesus, " do not hit him at all, and rather than indulge a vindictive S]3irit, let him strike you upon the other cheek. Leave correction to the law, and vengeance to Jehovah." This is what Jesus meant, and, so far as I can see, nothing more WQS> meant. To take his dramatic lano:uao;e for the terms of a statute is absurd as criticism, and is utterly impracticable in ordinary life, and if attempted to be practised literally would break up society as effectually as the private vengeance sought by the Pharisees. It would invite outrage and embolden cow- ardly villainy. Jesus never did so in practice, and it were unjust to all the fine sense of right which elsewhere appears in his teach- ings to suppose that he uttered in theory what he abandoned in practice. In John (xviii. 22, 23) we see just how Jesus behaved under precisely the circumstances stated here, and that behavior must be the best comment on this text. "WHien an oflicer struck him he neither took vengeance nor literally turned about inviting a repetition of the indignrty ; bat solemnly expostulated with him in the presence of the High- Priest. This teaches us how to intei-pret the next case. Is a man by his behavior to solicit the repetition of a legal wrong as well as of a personal attack ? Certainly not ; but rather than have a wicked^ revsngeful spirit, if a man sue for your shirt, give him your coat In the mention of these garments comes out again, as it so fre- quently does, that characteristic in the style of Jesus which made 276 SECOND AND THIRD PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESCS. him a popular wliile he was a profound teacher, namely, calling things hy their plain names, and taking all his illustrations from things so open and familiar. The audience listening to him knew that, according to the Mosaic law (Exodus xxii. 2G), evcji when the legal process gave the plaintiff the outer garment, he was com pelled to restore it to the defendant at nightfall. But Jesus seta himself so strongly against the Pharisaic teaching of private ven- geance, and against the modern jr>o^'/?^ (Ilionneur^ the code of honor, the duel, and all kinds of vindictiveness, as to say that a man who stands and takes the second blow, or when one takes his inner lets his outer garment go, is a better, a wiser, a happier man than he who follows up an insult or injury by retaliation. There remains little difficulty with the third case supposed, which is that of political oppression. The verb in the original Greek, ayyapeixrei* comes from a Persian word, angaros, sig- nifying a mounted courier, such as were kept ready at regular stages throughout Pei'sia, according to a postal arrangement insti- tuted by Cyrus or Xerxes. f They were authorized to impress into the king's service, for the transmission of intelligence, not only the hoi-ses but the pereons of the king's subjects. They could compel them to go. Of course the Jews felt the utmost reluc- tance to yield such a ser^-ice to the Roman government, which they hated.:}: And we can see what opportunities a vicious oflicial would enjoy of spitefully oppressing the people. Jesus taught, by this specific example, the general lesson that no man must take vengeance on his political oppressor; that when he felt his anger rising, rather than take vengeance, rather than even resist so as to increase the existing animosity, he should so jiromptly show a willingness to go twice the required distance that the spite of the exactor and the oppressor should be disarmed. Thus Jesus taught the wisdom and blessedness of goodness, the rule of conquering by surrendering. lie did not mean to describe acts, * In the Cod. Sin. the word is 4vyapfi ^ even the Gentiles that corollarv, " Tliou shalt liatc tluue eiieniy." The law ^"L'TZZ Z had indeed enjoined on the Jew love for the " chil- your Father in the heav- drcn of liis peo})le," but that was au educational ens is per ec preparation for loving and sernng all mankind. Jesus set forth the wide charity of his philosophy in the distinct precept, " Love yonr enemies." He has been protesting against all vindictiveness; he now blooms out into richest precepts of uni- versal fraternity and aflFection. FTe is determined not to be mis- understood, lie embraces public as well as private, national as well as personal enemies, the Samaritan and the Roman, the ecclesiastical and the political foe. Not simply is a man to regard without animosity the foreigner and the alien, he is even to have charity for the enemy who stands over him and cui-ses him ; for liatrod he is to return good, for contempt and pei-secution he is to return benedictions. If the Jews had only nnderetood and acted u])on this, they might have carried their rule of love to the end of the world. The ]\[ossiah /•'* to carry his rule to the end of the world. Jesus makes good his claim by insisting upon leading his people forth to this conquest of love ; and thus, and not as tlie secriilar Jew expected, became in a high sense tlie Saviour of the world. This broad law of benevolence is enforced by an appeal to the loftiest example in the uiiivoi-se. God is our Father. His chil- dren should resemble Him, He causes his sun to rise on men THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 279 without moral distinctions, and so lie sends his rain.* If we would be his children, our love must have that same characteris- tic of impartiality. Perhaps ])y this splendid appeal to God's dealings in nature, the Great Teacher meant to imply that the same principles prevailed in the moral government, and that as sunlight and rain fell on the "fields of all, so the grace of God was not confined to the Jew but sent equally to the Gentile. It cer- tainly does help one to come to a rational view of this lofty teaching, when it is recollected that this impartiality in nature is not the loss on the part of God of the distinctions of right and wrong, nor insensibility to charms of character. It is the law of active benevolence which is set forth, the desire to do good to another whether he deserve it or not. The love I bear a mean and wicked man, who is calumniating and persecuting me, is not to be the love I bear my beautiful, true, and good friend, on whom my soul safely rests ; for the love God shows men who rebel against His holy law is not the same which He feels towards the devoted child whose life is spent in learning and doing His will. Attracting his hearers by the great example of the heavenly Father, he endeavors to break them from their narrowness and illiberality by the example of those whom they specially hated and despised. The Jew who allowed himself to be a tax-gather- er was an unprincipled and mercenary fellow. The Roman gov- ernment of the Jewish people was not particularly harsh. It was the galling of their pride more than anything else that was offen- sive, and that came out specially in the presence of the Roman soldiery, and more especially in the oppressive taxation. " Publi- can" thence came to designate the most disagreeable kind of a " sinner." But, Jesus urges, even publicans love their kith and kin, their " nearest," if it be insisted that that is the meaning of "neighbor." The Gentiles, whom you hate, will salute their brethren. Are the Jews the elect of the Father God? And do they in moral character rise no higher than the plane of those nations who are not favored l)y God and are hated by Jews ? If the Jews have surpassingly helping priWleges, should they not have surpassingly elevated characters ? * Meyer quotes the following sen- I maria." " If thou wilt imitate the bence from Seneca, which is remarkably gods, bestow benefits on even the un- like these words of Jesus : "Si deos grateful : for on even criminals the sun imitaris, da et ingi-atis beneficia: nam rises, to even pirates the seas lie open." et sceleratis sol oritur, et piratis patent j 2S0 SECOND AND THIRD PASSOVEE IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. Thus having exliibited the wrong that is in the Pharisaic nar rowness and selfishness, showing that in practice it was a mera copy of the example of the worst men, while in theory it was an injurious perversion of the law, he turned to his disciples and saidj " You are not to be so. You are to have perfect principles. The principles which govern your Father who is in the heavens, are those wliich are to govern you." Reaching this transition point in the Discourse, I think it may be Avell to notice that the simple, plain intellects of his congre- gation, understanding the words of Jesus in their simplest, plain- est meaning, did not see in them the difficulties wliich all the glosses and comments have made for us moderns. It is really some task to our intellects to throw out the influence of the per- verting interpretations to which we have been accustomed in order to place ourselves where the audience of Jesus stood. How far I am doing so as I write, I know not ; but I am striving ear- nestly to find just what Jesus meant his hearers to understand; And an examination so conducted shows that he was not laying down maxims of cotiduct but tests of character. The great trouble many good people, and even many scholarly men, have found in the Sermon on the Mount has come from not observing this distinction. For example, take the last precept above, " Ye are to be perfect, even as your Father in the heavens is perfect." The physical and mental limitations of humanity make that ut- terly impracticable as a rule of action, but quite practicable as an attainment of principle. It is by considering his statements, without their limitations, as a directory of conduct, and seeing how utterly men fail to reach that standard, that the teachings of Jesus come to be regarded as merely a refining ideal, not to be realized totally in this life. DIRECTIONS FOE THE DISCHARGE OF DUTY. "We have now reached another division of this discourse, in which Jesus shows the corrupting influence of Pharisaism upon even the practice of the virtues, and teaches his disciples to purge the very spring of their actions. Here is the key to this part of the discourse. A man's right- eousness works itself out into liis public life, and he must often do gd in the presence of his fellow-men, and there are some duties wliich cannot be discharged in total privacy. " Pighteous- THE SEEMON ON THE MOUNT. 2S1 ness " is exemplified in this discourse by alms-giving, by prayer, and by fasting, or more generally by our duties to our brethren, to our heavenly Father, and to ourselves. These But take heea not to duties are to be discharged with reference to God, *"''' ^"'^ righteous- , -tm • 1 ■ 1 ness* before men, to and not man. VV hen om- righteousness is wi'ought be seen of them; if in the presence of our fellow-beino-s, we are to oti»erw-ise, you have , r I T . . p no reward from jour be very carerul that it is not for the purpose of Father who is in the being seen by them, to elicit their applause. '^^''^»«- The verb in the original is very striking, ^eaOrjvai, from which comes our word " theatre." We are not to theatricize, play a part, think the thing well done if they applaud, and ill if they give signs of dissatisfaction. It is, moreover, to be observed that Jesus does not inculcate duties : he merely tells his disciples how they are to be performed. Pie does not say that they shall give alms, and pray, and fast. Lib- erality towards our fellows, piety towards our God, and self-con- trol, are among the well-known duties of religion everywhere, in every form. But the methods of doino- these right things mav be injuriously wrong, and, among the Pharisees, ob^^ously were ; so Jesus sets himself to showing his disciples how they ought to do what they already felt it their duty to do. The First Examjple is Alms-giving. The word hypocrite is in analogy with the theatricizing just spoken of in general terms. A hypocrite strictly Therefore when tuou is one who maintains a part in a dramatic perfor- ""'^^^ ^'™'' tmmpet •■ ^ ^ not before thee, as the mauce, speaking his words usually from behind a hypocrites do in the mask, and hence readily transferred to one who is «y°^eo^'°« »";J i° the ' ^ streets, that they may not really what he seems. The blowing of the have giory of men. trumpet may be derived from what is affirmed to ^T'^' ^T^^ \ ""! ■•• " unto you. They exhaust have been the custom of ostentatious alms-givers, their reward. But when who summoned the poor by a trumpet, and thus JJ^itS^'hl^d 'low made known their gifts. But it is better to take it what thy right hand figuratively, as signifying unnecessary display. A man's goodness to a fellow-man may be known and bring him praise, but he is never to do it for the purpose of having that praise. If he do, he will not fail, he * Not " alms," as in the common ver- j The Vatican and BezaMSS., and, what Bion. The authentic text is undoubted- ly 5iKain(Tvvr]v^ righteousness, and not iKcn^ioavi'iiv, alms, the latter being a ^ell-intentioned but mistaken gloss. doeth, that thine alms may be in secret, and is still more important, the Codex Sinai- ticus give the former. This restored reading aids the symmetry of the dis- course. 282 SECOND AND TIEERD PASSOVER IN TUE LITE OF JESUS. will be praised. He "svill have his reward, and his whole reward, ill that praise. He will thus exhaust his reward. But when Iig gives alms because it is right, and for the good the alms may do another, and does it so secretly that, to use a proverbial phrase, his left hand does not know what his right hand does, such a man has reward from the Father, who does Ilis greatest works in secret. Let the deed be done as to Him and not to man. The Second Example is Prayer. Let it be remembered that it is hypocrisy which Jesus attacks, not any special outward modes or acts. lie does not condemn using And when thou pray- sy iiagogues and streets as prayer places ; he does not est, be not as the hypo- coudciun Standing as a posture.'* A man may pray ^TBtenCS^'the anywhere, and should pray everywhere. But no synaRoguca and in the matter whcrc hc prays, nor how, nor when, — if hia comers of the broad- i ■, . -, , ,, .,-i ways, that they may be praycrs be made m order to attract the attention Keen of men. Verily, I aiid clicit tlic applausc of mcu, hc IS a livpocrite. Taur'^ther Reward! ^^^ prcteiids to bc Speaking to God, when, in real- But thou, wiien thou ity, he is Speaking to men. A modern clergyman, praycst, enter into thy -, t-.ii i ii« re -y closet, and having lock- kiicehng ui the church, may be playing off rheton- ed thy door, pray to cal fircworksfor tlic entertainment of hisaudience,t thy Father who is in , ,. ., . .,. ,. secret; and thy Father rather than DC assisting them m their Bupplica- who seeth in secret will reward thee. But when ye pray use not sense- lesH repetitions, as do the he.-ithen ; for they are of opinion that talking ; if uot repetitions, but vatn., empty repe- theyshau be heard for ^jtions. Jcsus passcd wholc nlglits iu prayer, and their much Bi)eaking. '■ o i »/ ' Do not, then, resemble lU the agony of Gctlisemane he made repetition them; for God your ^f j^|g ^j.j^g ^^ ^j^^, heaveuly Father. It was the Father knows what '' thinire ye need before heatheulsli custom,§ whicli had also crept in yoaakhim. aiiioug tlic Jcws, of soiiietimes unthinkingly re- tlons for the mercy of the Almighty Father. lie is warned by this incisive speech of Jesus. Jesus does not prohibit much praying, but much * Indeed, where the general ciwtom is to Btand, as it was among the Jews, it would be ostentatious to kneel ; and if Jeeus had intended to make a special hit at the posture, he would have said kneeling. No posture must be taken which so attracts attention as to nourish one's vanity. f As would scom to have been the case with that clergyman of whom a modem newspaper said, "He delivered the finest prayer ever addressed to a Boston audience." X This distinction is made by Augus- tine: " Absit ab oratione nvdtn htcutio; scd non dcait miilta jrrecfituK si fervem perse vcrat intentio." Ep. K^O, 10. § A specimen of heatlienish vain re petitions is given in the Old Testament in 1 Kings xviii. 2G. THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 283 peating sound, good words, and at other times filling np the sea- son of prayer with the unmeaning repetition of irrelevant and senseless things. Wlien a clergyman in church, or a layman in a meeting for prayer, sets before Almighty God a tabular statement of statistics, or a running commentary on the shortcomings of the neighborhood, or a resume of the political movements of the times, telling the Great Kuler how wickedly such a senator is going to vote if God do not kill him, he is acting heathenishly, and Jesus rebukes him in these precepts. Again, we guard ourselves against the temptation to the Phari- saic vice of literalism in interpreting Jesus. He did not proscribe public worsliip in his precepts, and he was strictly observant of it in his conduct. But he does teach that culture of character is much more important than that of the outward behavior. AVhile all display should be avoided in public service, there is a still surer mode of spiritual culture, namely, communion with God the Father in the profoundest secret, in that place which no one but God knows to be used as an oratory, at that time when no one but God knows that the suppliant is praying. Such praying recognizes the indi^adual personal responsibility of the suppliant, for therein he must use the singular personal pronoun when refer- ring to himself. He is away from the crowd. He cannot mingle his deeds and life with theirs, and thus di\'ide, even in idea, the responsibility of his actions. He is alone with God. He acknow- ledges the spirituality of true religion. There is no ceremonial, even the very simplest, to help him. It is the spirit of the man seeking strength from the spirit of the God. He acknowledges the spirituality and omnipresence of God. jSTo distance separates and no darkness hides from the Almighty. While one is praying here in this closet, another is in that closet, thousands of milea away ; and both are heard. It seems to me difficult to overestimate the importance of this urgent teaching by Jesus of the internalism of true religion as antagonizing all the externalism of cultivated Paganism and ecclesiasticized Judaism. It is what a man is, not what he docs, that distinguishes him in God's eyes. Being right will produce doing right. Internal piety will certainly produce proper external worship, but proper external woi-ship does very little towards pro- ducing true internal piety. The external is easily assumed. The internal is produced with difficulty. Therefore a ceremonial reli- 284 SECOND AND THIRD PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. gion is easily popularized. Men are attracted by the sliowiness, and gratified by the pomp. It requires no painstaking of soul culture. But it does not endure. It cainiot be carried beyond the moment of death. What is not inwrought falls off. Charac- ter is everything. It is surprising that the modern church has gone so far from the teaching of Jesus as to lay almost the whole stress upon forms and ceremom'es; that a "denomination" maybe erected on a mere fonn, and a whole church be convulsed with a controvei-sy about mere ceremonials ; that one branch of the church, as is tlie case with the Lutherans in Germany, should have woi-ship disturbed, and discord and separations occasioned, on the question whether the Lord's Prayer, as it is called, which we shall next consider, should be begun Vater unser or Uiiser Vater, " Our Father " or " Father, Ours ! " * If externalism could be banished from all religion, nine-tenths of all prejudices, animosities, and persecu- tions would cease. THE LORDS PRAYER." And then Jesus furnished a form of prayer, which should be a model, and show what the spirit and general method of praying ^^ ,^ , should be. To a critical student of the mind and Thus therefore pray ve: Our Father, the soul of Jcsus thcrc cau bc no passagcs in his life One in the heavens, ^^^^^.^ iu^p^^j-tant tliaU thoSC which SCt forth llis hallowed bo Thy Name, ^ Thy kingdom come, praycrs. A maii's prayers are the main and most Thy wiu be done, a. in ^.^y^.^^^^^ j^^i^^s of his rcal character. The pasture heaven so on earth, I Bread necessary for he deliberately assuuics before his God is the our suKtcnance give us ^ i . jii j. ri -y ^ . -i • to-day. And forgive Hoblcst aud tuB iDost gracetul possible to hira. our debt*, like as wo JYis uttcrcd praycrs reveal him more than his debtor*. And lead us didactic deliverauccs. The prayers he sets forth not into trial, but rca- to bc used by othcTS are his own highest represen- tation of himself. They show what he believes God to be, what he believes man to be, and what lie believes to be * This i« Btntod by my learned friend Dr. Schaff in a note to Lange. In Greek it is rioTtp iinuiv, Pater baymono ; and in the Latin, Pater noster. The German Lutherans follow that form in Vater vnner, but the German Reformed insist npon Vnser Vafcr. People who write quarrelsome books and articles on that distinction have no need for either form. It docs not much matter at all how they pray. It would not scom that they shouM care anything for the teaching of .Jesus who are so utterly unlike hira La spirit. THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 285 the relation between them. The theological system of Jesiis must therefore l)e found chiefly in his prayers. The theology lie wished to popularize must be what he embodied in the prayer which ho set forth for all his followers, in all ages of the world. Tlie " ye " is emphati(!, as the form in the Greek shows and implies that between the praying of the heathen, the " ethnic battology," as he calls it, and the praying of those who belonged to his spiritual family, there was to be a marked diiference. Brief as this prayer is, it is so pregnant that one scarcely sees how in a few paragraphs to set forth its wonderful teachings. First of all, in every sense, is the presentation of God the Almight}', not as the Creator of the World nor the King of the Universe, but as standing to human suppliants in the relation of Father. We are not to ask God for anything because he made us, or because he rules us, but because we are his children and he is our Father. So many myriads of tongues have addressed him in this way since the days of Jesus, that we fail to realize what a revelation this was. God is never addressed as " Father " in the Old Testament.* The relation is alluded to as the ground of re- proach for the bad behavior of the people, as in the first chapter of Isaiah and the first chapter of Malachi, where God is repre- sented, in the first passage, as sajang that He had nourished children who were rebels, and in the other demanding the service due from child to father ; or, as Alford says, " as the last resource of an orphan and desolate creature," as in tlie passage in the sixty-third chapter of Isaiah, where, nevertheless, no address is made or peti- tion presented on the ground of the fatherhood of God. But now Jesus lays it at the foundation of all religion, because the basis of all prayer. It is the starting-point of both his theology and his philanthropy. The appeal is to be made to the father-heart in God. And this shows what all praying really must be. It is not the appeal of a slave at the feet of his master, nor a subject at the feet of his king. It is not to be an attempt to Avring from reluctant power a favor which he who prays earnestly desires. It is to be such communion with God as sons do have with fathers. This abolishes at once that fearful element of most forms of reli- gion, in which it is assumed that the interests of God are one thing, and those of the suppliant another, and the struggle * The learned Bengal well remarks I adduced are either dissimilar or mod* that the (•xauiples which Lightfoot has I em. 2S6 SECOND AND Tlimo PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. between man and liis Maker is as to the obtainiiiir and the with- holdijig. Every cliikl's interest is identical with that of tlie fatlier, as the father's is with that of the son. So now, wlien a man who receives the teaching of Jesns goes to his prajei-s, lie begins by feeling that he ought to desire simply what God wills, and that God wills exactly the thing which is best for his child. That makes tlie communion at once tender and confidential. The brief doxological addition to the sublimely simple title, " Our Father," is " The One in the heavens." The employment of tliis phrase does two things: it prevents undue familiarity with even the Father, who is represented as infinite and glorious, resi- dent in all the heavens that are, being wherever anything heavenly is, and perhaps intimating that his presence makes what is heav- enly ; and it declares his personality, thus separating Jesus from all the teachers of pantheism. Prayer is not to be a vague address to any indefinite phantasy, but to a " him," to a " one," to a person haAang place and personality, the infinite Progenitor of a countless num1)er of sons and daughters, each of wliom so derives his or her pei-sonality from the Great Father, that if he were not a Pereonal Being neither could they be. There is anotlier thought suggested by this form of address to God. It is to be a perj)etual assertion and reassertion of the brotherhood of man. It is " our," not " my." I am to acknowl- edge that He is as much tlie Father of every other human being who utters this prayer as He is my Father. I am to offer a prayer for every other human being when I pray for myself, and if I em- ploy this prayer which Jesns sets before me I shall do tliat very thing. Selfishness in prayer is proscribed forever. A man may not ask after blessings on his l)ody and on his soul for his own per- sonal comfort and own personal salvation alone. "When he com munes with the Father it must be for the good of the wliole fam- ily. It lifts the lowly and humbles the proud. An unspotted queen on her tlirone feels that while her royal lips say " Our Father," the hunger-parched mouth of tlie frail and abandoned woman, who crouches beside the dooi-steps in the dark night, is Baying the same words to the same Being, with the same trutli and meaning in them ; and the two women, if they are really praying,' arc praying each for tlie other. This is the basis and method of philanthropy set forth by Jesus. After the address the prayer has six petitions, which, it is to be THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 287 observed, are not doxologies, but real prayers, and as such are to signify what are the things which above all others we feel that we need, and having which we shall be satisfied that other things may come and go as they will. It should interest any student of human history to know what are the six things which such a per- son as Jesus believed ought to be paramount in the desires of all mankind. It will be noticed that three of them relate to God and three to man. The prayers in the first part are, that the IS'ame of the heav- enly Father should be hallowed, that his kingdom should come, and that his will should be done. There is this phrase added to the last of these petitions, "as in heaven so on earth." The hear- ers of Jesus must have understood by the word " lieaven " the special abode of Jehovah, of all holy intelligent spirits that have not fallen, and of all the human spirits that have been purified and saved. From his making this a model of prayer they must have gathered that the state of affairs in that world is the normal^ and the state of affairs in this world is the dfjnormal condition of the universe, and that to have this world brought to the condi- tion of that world should be the highest desire and the most irre- pressible longing of every true heart. It is the first outburst of the soul. The phi-ase "as in heaven so on earth" is not therefore to be confined to the last of these three petitions, but is to cover them all.* "As in Iieaven so on earth be thy name hallowed;" " as in lieaven so in earth thy kingdom come ; " " as in heaven so on earth thy will be done." The foundation of all true religion in the heart of man must be found in its pm-e ideas of God. Men cannot add to Ilis holi- ness, but their OAvn conceptions of Ilis character may become very exalted. Errors in religion arise from false ideas of God, in re- garding Him as vengeful, or weakly lenient, or indifferent, or in some way other than what He really is. In heaven the souls of the holy have only holy, that is, true thoughts and conceptions of Him. Each soul is like a perfect mirror. The souls of men are * This is the view of the Council of Trent, as set forth in the Catechism. I am aware that the Codices which omit the petition, " Thy will be done," ia the corresponding passage in Luke xi. 2, omit also these words, " as in heaven so in earth;" nevertheless the spirit of the prayer, and its peculiar construction, by which 80 much condensation is obtained, seem to me to justify the interpretation given in the Roman Catholic Catechism. 288 SECOND AND THIRD PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. full of flaws. God's name means God's character, that by which lie should be called or described. As in heaven the purest, truest thouj^hts of God are held, so ought it to be desired that upon earth all men shall "sanctify the Lord their God in their hearts." And the acknowledgment of his kingdom by all men, and their total submission to his beneficent reign, so that there slK)uld be no rebellion against the benign sovereignty of the Father-King, is to be the aspiration and desire of all who pray. There is a sense in which that kingdom does always as much prevail on earth as in heaven, namely, in the actual rule of God over all things ; but in heaven all intelligences comprehend this, accept it, and rejoice in it ; on earth men do not submit, do not willingly and gladly ac- cept it, but are striving to reach their happiness in their own ways, and not by being willing subjects of their Father, who is their Lord. Each man that prays should desire that that kingdom be set up wholly in his own soul, and that he should always be free from all other paramount rulei-s.* The third petition prays that on earth the will of God may be done as it is in heaven. It is to be observed how the personality of God is preserved throughout, and humanity as distinct from God. So that prayer is not the mere human addressing itself or voiding its deepest feelings on the unfeeling universe. Man is as autocratic in his sphere as God is in his. God may do the M'ill of man, or man may do the will of God, or their Avills may bo made to clash. If the last do not take place one of the former must. Wliicli does the good governance of the universe in gen- eral, and the good of both parties in particular, demand ? Shall the Infinite be obedient to the finite, the power of the Omnipo- tent Immaculate be made subservient to the caprices of the will of sinful Feebleness? If the latter were the case, then, for a moment, we might have peace. But the submission of Omnipo- tence to a mind that may at any moment make a mistake, and to passions that every moment are rushing on blindly, would be a ruinous anomaly. There is no way in which peace and progress and ha])pines8 can be secured but by the direct bending of all the energies of man to the will of God. And thus is man to be ennobled. He loses no freedom of his will, he is not absorbed in God, he is not doing compulsory work, but he is freely choosing • So Augustine enys: " Ut in nobis I optamus." S«rm. 66. reniat, optaiuuB ; ut in illo iuvcniamor, I THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 289 to direct all his great energies to the accomplishment of the good designs of the tenderest and lovingest Father in all the nni verse. In the case of man it would be many fitful wills atteni[)tiiig to rule ; in the case of God, it is One will, the will of the infinitely wise and good Father. And thus, by a natural and logical transition, from petitions touching the estate of God the suppliant is taught to pass to peti- tions touching his own estate. The first prayer is for subsistence : "bread proper for our suste- nance give us to-day." The epithet which precedes " bread " occui*s in the New Testament only in this passage and in Luke xi. 3. It is one of the most disputed words in all these writings. In Greek it is iinovalav. In the common English version it is trans- lated " daily." The Yulgate has " panem nostrum superstantia- lem," which is followed by the Rhenish version, " our superstan- tial bread." In the Arabic and Ethiopian versions it is " to- morrow's bread," "" which does not accord with the desire that it may be given to-day. I have endeavored in the translation given above to render what seemed to me to embrace all the possible and practicable meanings of the word as used by Jesus.f The prayer is for the preservation of the whole man. "What is need- ful for his body is bread, and therefore aprov is used. And that symbolizes what is necessary for his intellect and for his soul. "Wliat is now necessary to sustain us as men is to be prayed for, and nothing more. No anxious care for" the morrow is allowed, for if our prayer be answered to-day the same prayer will be an- swered to-morrow. No luxuries are to be craved. Life, in which to do the Father's will, this is all the child is to seek. "Uliat I may use 7ioio for physical, mental, and spiritual sustenance and sti'ength, I may ask of God. But bread, real bread for the body, is tlie thing set forth in this petition explicitly, and all other needed things implicitly. The second thing to be asked {% forgiveness. Sin is represented under the figure of debt. To be in debt oppresses a sensiti\e mind as with a load of guilt. There can be no security, no peace, no happy action of the powers while a man lives in the * And in the ' ' Gospel according to the Hebrews," Jerome says that he found for eTTjoi/o-jaj' the word VT3> that is, "to- morrows. 19 f Those who desire to see all the mean- ings assigned may consult Alford's Greek Testament^ Lange's Comment., and Ben- gel's Chwmon, in loco. 290 SECOND AND THIRD PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. consciousness of having committed sins which are not forgiven him. Every true man longs for that. "Whatever pleasure he may have found in sinning, the moment the heat of lust or passion subsides the sense of the offence against his lieavenly Father overpowers him. He can do no more, he can enjoy uo more, until the sin he forgiven. It has become the extreme necessity of his life. The pain of guilt is the one intolerable agony. And hci'e the communion element of the Prayer is made to ap- pear again distinctly. The petitioner prays that all sins, his owi? and those of others, may be forgiven. And that there may be a general anmesty, he fii*st forgives all who have siimed against liim, all who have gotten in debt to him by their failure to do for him what they were bound as human brothers to do. Then lie goes to the heavenly Father and prays that the same may be done for him. " Forgive us our debts like as we also have forgiven our debtoi-s." It does not place the ])lea of forgiveness on the ground that we have forgiven our debtoi-s, those who have sinned against us ; nor does it make the forgiveness we grant to others the meas- ure of the Father's forgiveness of us : " Forgive us as much as we have forgiven othei"s ;" but rather means that what we have done towards them lie should do towards us, referring to the natui-e of the act of forgiveness rather than to the degrees of its exercise. The last prayer is for redemj)tion. Trials of faith, tests of character, discipline that strengthens, these are what no man has need of dreading. But that the luovidenecs of the heavenly Father may not lead us into such positions as shall make the Solicitation to evil on the part of others s])ecially influential over (»ur li\{'s and conduct, we may rerpicst. Being forgiven, we have a Imn-or of the same circumstances as those in which we fell. This j»cfition seeks to put the sui>])liant under the special provi- dence of the Father in all coming life. And then, as a climax, it exliil)it8 the consummation of the Christian life. " Rescue us from evil!" "When that prayer is answered, there is nothing more to ]>ray for: it is the completeness of redemj>tion from all ]iliysic;il, intellectual, and spiritual evil, — from disease, fi-om ei-ror, and from sin. It indulges the vision of perfection, and ardently longs that in the sujipliant it may have complete i-ealiza- tion. And what he asks for himself he solicits for all othci"8 who pray. It is a |»rayer for the destruction of all evil. Every fresh analysis of this Puavkr lets us more and more into THE SER^rON ON THE MOUNT. 291 the mind (»f Jesiis. It is to l)e noticed that each petitioner is in- stnicted by his very prayer to regard the glory of God as the first thing, and the supply of his own wants as quite secondaiy. A man who rushes to his heavenly Father with requests for his own deliverance and enlargement, not feeling more concerned that God may be adored than that he may be helped, is a selfish and undevout worshipper. The rule is : Worship first and help after- ward. Again, there seems to be this connection implied, that the petitioner desires sustenance, forgiveness, and deliverance from evil, that he may be able to contribute towards rendering the name of the Father holy in the hearts of all men, and briiiirins all men to submit to his kingship and devote themselves to carry- ing out his will. Nor must the practical effect of the sincere offering of this prayer upon the character of the petitioner escape our attention. A man should pray only for what he really, truly, and earnestly desires. If he do not desire what he aslvs, he adds to deceit a dreadful mockery of the omnipotent and lo\ii)g Father, This prayer indicates whal he should desire, the proper adoration of God, the complete acknowledgment as well as continuance of his rule in the universe, and the beautiful harmony and beneficent progress which shall follow the adjust- ment of man's moral energies to the decisions of the will of God : and in order that these things may be accomplished, for himself the petitioner desires only sustenance, foi'giveness, and safety. What then must life be ? Simply the devotion of man's powers to gain these things. A life so ordered would necessarily become not only satisfactory but sublime. The petitioner would no longer be seeking the things that were degrading or even unnecessary, lie would never idle. lie would strive to obtain proper food for his body, proper culture of his intellect, proper growth of his soul, that he might be able to do more to carry forward God's great design of making the univei'se the domain of a rule which should develop it into a boundless estate of inconceivable glory. Petty cares would lose their hold upon such a man; but nothing would be neglected. In the most tri\ ial matters he would be just and faithful. For every possible emergency he would be ready. The poets have not dreamed of a man surpassing him who should labor to have this prayer fulfilled in all equipoise of passions and intellect, in all completeness of self-government and energy of action. lie would come into a grandeur and a beauty 202 PKCOND AND TIITKD PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. which would justify humanity in its claim of being offspring of Deity. Can the parallel of this Prayer be found elsewhere in literature ? FORGIVENESS. The Teacher steps back a moment to enforce the duty of for- giveness as a necessary precedent of prayer. The word is changed For if ye forgive men from that Mliicli signifies a debt to that which their binndcrs, your gjcrnifies a slIp, a fall, a defeat, a blunder. In the heavenly Father will ° ^' ' ' ai8f> forgive you; but if translation I have chosen the last, as perhaps com- ye forgive not men, pj.jpjnor jji gome seiise all the othci-s. The lesson neither will your Fa- . . ther forgive your biun- plainly is, that wliatcver other preparation a man ^'^^ may have for prayer, if he have not forgiven others his petitions will be ineflicicnt. It is utterly useless to go to God for forgiveness if I have not forgiven all others, considering their sins against me as defeats in a conflict which I must charita- bly suppose they Avaged with the temptations to do wrong ; for that is the view which God chai-itably takes of my wrong actions. I owe him ser\'ice. It is a debt. I fail to pay. Praying for for- giveness shows that I acknowledge the debt and have tried to pay, but failed, and was defeated. This blundering life lie forgives, but not until I have forgiven those who thus stand related to me. The English vereion of Matthew has a doxology at the close of the petitions, a very simple and very noble doxology. Put as in a histor}' of Jesus we can consider only his well-asceitaincd words, this addition must be rejected. Its absence from the Sinaitic, the Vatican, and the Peza Codices ought to settle the question that, however excellent it may be, it was not a part of the prayer which Jesus delivered to his disciples for their use, and to be the model of all prayer used by his followers in all times. To the absence from the oldest Greek manuscript versions must be added the fact that the earliest Christian authore failed to comment on it. If wo found ill dissertations ujum what is called Oratio Dominica, " The I^)rd'8 Prayer," the doxology expounded a.s part of the prayer, that fact would create a violent assumption that it existed in manuscripts older than any which have survived, f>ldcr than the Codex Sitmiticiis, which dates back to the fourth century. Or, if we had relied upon the Codex Vaticann/t, which up to the discovery of the Codex Sinniticui* was our oldest, and tluni upon the discovery of this latter had found tliat it contaiiicd the doX(jlogy, THE SEItMON ON THE MOUNT. 293 it would have strengthened the conviction that it existed in the very first records made of the words of Jesus. But when none of these versions have it, and all the Latin Fathers fail to make mention of it, when expressly explaining the prayer, sound criti- cism compels us to reject it. The question naturally occurs to a thoughtful reader, How, then, did it appear in the text of Matthew 1 It is manifestly liturgical. \Vlien liturgies sprang up in the Church it was added,* and then, when copies of the Gospels were made, it was easily transferred from the liturgy by the memory and habit of the copyist into the margin or directly into the text. Ambrose,! who was born in the middle of the fourth century, implies that the doxology was re- cited by the priest alone, after the people had recited " The Lord's Prayer." It is quite easy to see how this Epiphonema, as Ambrose calls it, should have come into the text. But the proof thus far is all against its being part of the original jirayer. The Third Example is FASTING. The teaching here is quite plain. H^^^ocrites — men playing a part for -the purpose of securing the applause oi men — make all of the part they can, look sad and worn, that men ^^ ^.^^„ ^^ ^^^^^ ^ may praise their saintliness. And men do. They come not as the hyp- have their reward, and they exhaust it. They ^^^ ^^^^ j^^ken the^ have none of that inner culture which comes of ^«-e.s that they may be .. „ , , seen of men to be fast- real self -denial, or abstnience from the usual en- i^g ^^^ Y^iiy i say ioyments of life because the soul is afflicted with «nto you, They exhaust •' '' r r^ J Tji their reward. But a pain by reason of its departures rroni (rod. it a thou, fasting, anoint man choose such a culture and its great reward, he ^^^ ^''"'^ ''"^ ""^^ *^y •-^ , face, that thou be not must not put on the appearance of saintliness. seen by men to be fast- Let him fast, if he lind spiritual profit therein, in^, but to thy Father ' r X ' ■^yiio IS m secret, ana but let him fast inwardly, making his usual toilet, thy rather who is in .... T , -il-j secret will reward thee. penmtting no neghgence to creep into Ins dress, giving no sign to the world of that inward spiritual discipline which he is enduring. The modern Christian who makes all about him aware that it is Friday by his gluinness or sanctimony is a Pharisee. The cultivation of character, not the flaunting of * It appears in its first form in Gon»t. Apos., vii. 24, &ti trov iartv jj $a(Tt\(ta fls ai&vas' A/ifiv. " For thine is the king- dom through the aeons. Amen." f De Sacrament., vi. 5. 294 SECOND AND THIRD PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. tlie insignia of religious ceremonial, is the great work Jesus set hefure his disciples. WARNINGS AGAINST COVETOUSNESS. AVLenever the connection in this discourse seems to be broken, the clue is easily found by recollecting that the text is Character. The Teacher is insisting upon a man's being right Treasure not up for ,?,.,. , , , yourselves treasures up- and stroug and beautiiul m his soul : that a man a on earth, where moth n-reatuess does uot cousist iu his circumstauces and rust disfigure, and '-' where thieves break but iu liis internal character : that a man may through and steal. But j^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ impcrishablc and inalienable treasure up for your- •' •>■ selves treasure in hea- treasurc, iiamcly, himsclf — his character. Other ven where neither j^. Tliis stavs. Other thlugs are earthly ; moth nor rust disligure, O o J O J ' and where thieves do tllis is heaVCuly. reir For wSl thy Moreovcr, a connection appears in this, that Je- treasure there is also sus WES Setting a transparent character in con- ^ trast with hypocrisy. The Pharisees were worldly- minded to the core, Avliile all their extei-nal appearance was reli- gious. They were blowing trumpets before their alms, in the graphic description of Jesus, were making long prayers in market- places while devouring the substance of widows, and fasting osten- tatiously while heaping up treasures on earth. Having set forth the manner in which the prominent duties of religion ought to be discharired, the Teacher inculcates the entire conseci-ation of the life, in the heai-t and soul of a man. It is to be marked how he adheres to one theme. It is not because all earthly jiossessions are liable to destruction from the wear and tear of time, or the force or fraud of men, nor for the safety of the 2)ossesdons, tliat Jesus insists that all things shall be contrived into an investment in spiritual and eternal things, but for the effect upon the charac- ter, for the heart's sake ; for " where is thy treasure there is also thy heart;" and for everlasting dignity and happiness the imper- ishable affections must be fi.xed on imperishable things. AGAINST DOUBLE-MINDEDNESS. That his disciples miglit learn the importance of preserving tlear-sightedness in spiritual things, he brings an illustration from a bodily member, and this he does not scientifically, but, as always in such cases, p()i)ularly, as the people undei-stood it. •Sight is simple. A healthy eye is needed. An eye that sees THE SEKMON ON THE MOUNT. 295 double is an evil e3'e, and utterly confusing. So, when the soul's eye begins to flicker, becoming uncontrollable, seeing double, connningling and confusing objects, it is a bad The lamp of the body time for the man who depends upon it. His light '^ *^^'' ^^'^ • '^ ^^^^ ^y« be clear, thy whole is darkness — tlie greatest darkness — worse than body shaii be bright : total blhidness, to which a man may adapt him- but if thine eye be bad, . . \ '■^ thy whole body shall be sell. It IS uncertani, unreliable, yet inducing the dark, if then the man to rely upon it because it seems to be right. ^^^^ ^^""^ '! ^" ^^''^ ''J- "be darkness, how great If the light be darlviiess, liow great the darkness ! the darkness! Jesus continues to dissuade his disciples from the double-mind- edness of the Pharisees by a second illustration, taken from social life. The word employed in Greek can be trans- . , -, ^ ,, I ., Ill No man can be slave iated only by slave, one who belongs to an- to two masters; for other. A hired servant may in some sense serve "*^'^'' ^° ^"" ^''^ °^° " , ■ and love the other, or two men equally well, but a slave is a member of he win cung to the a family. As a son cannot be son of two parents *°'™<=''* '"^^ despise ■^ ■•■ _ the latter. Ye cannot at once, so a servant that belongs to a master is be slaves to God and devoted to his master utterly. His only comfort ^'^™™°°' is in undivided aifection and service. So as to the claims of God and Mammon. You cannot serve both at the same time. The Pharisees have tried it and failed. They are kept from the full enjoyment of their gains by their religious pretences ; they lose the pleasure of undivided religious service by their base worldli- ness. A man must be single-hearted to be good, and great, and happy. Mammon seems merely to be a Chaldee word for " riches." There is no evidence that the Syrians, as has been as- serted, ever worshipped a god of that name. AGAINST EXCESSIVE ANXIETY. In this passage the Teacher enlarges the idea of single-mind- edness in a direction which excludes distracting care. lie has been speaking of clear-sightedness : he now speaks of directness of living. A man's full powers are needed for each day's living. * In the common version it stands, either he will hate the one and love spise B," which is certainly the sense, and such I have given it by using the other, or else he will hold to the one | ' ' former ' ' and ' ' latter ' ' so that in and despise the other," the latter clause being merely a repetition of the former. But this certainly is not the meaning. Meyer expresses it ; " He will either hate A and love B, or cling to A and de- both members of the sense the 6 eis .shall refer to one person, and 6 krepos shall refer to another. Dean Alford sanctions this translation. 296 SECOND AND THIRD PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. He cannot afford to have his forces scattered. Double-minded ness does this. Loving God and hating Mammon, hating God On this account I say and loving Mammon, in perpetual alternation, is unto you, Be not exces- . i • p i . o i i Eiveiy anxious for your ^^^ i'"i" ot charactcr. So he procceds very ear- inner man,* what ye ncstlj and eloquently to strip his disciples of the are to cat, nor for your , r-ii in i i outer man, what ye are eucumbraiice ot all worldly carcs, that they may to wear. Is not the give tliemsclves to tlic lofticst self-culturc. soul more than food t-» •. ■• ■ . r -r 11 ond the body than Jrcrhaps ahnost uo teaching or Jesus has been clothing? Look upon qq variously undei-stood and so wretchedlv misiu- the birds of the air, t 1 • • i t " for they sow not, nor torpreted as tliis particular passage. It is quite reap, nor gather into ngcossary that WO do it the iustice to api)ly a lit- Btorehousos, and your ^ , , •' . tie common sense to its interpretation. It certainly does not teach idleness, sloth, list- heavenly Fath(?r feed- eth them. Do yon not differ from them, and is not the difference lessiicss, iicglect of Ordinary affair. Or any voluii- much in your favor ?t ^ impoverishment. It does not teach starvation But who of you by be- '' ^ ing excessively anxious aiid iiakediicss. It docs iiot ciicourage the f aiiati- has the power to add j ^^ f ^j j^ ^^^^,^^ ^^^^ u l^^^- ^^^^ L^j.J ^.^^^ to his life one single O o cubit ? * And about care of " a man. It teaches precisely the opposite !!!'!"".,!!; ?,!'f ^ rf of all these thini^. It teaches that a man is to over-anxiou8? Consid- O er the luics of the field euiploy all liis facultics and time in doing what neither ^toirLr spin: his placc iu the kiugdom of God plainly demands and I say unto you That ^f i^j,ji ^iid Satisfying wliatovcr rif!;hteous claim not even Solomon in all , . .. . . "", ., •. his giorj- was unayed aiiy ouo has upou lum. Uii principle, and as tlie like one of these. pniiei])al thiiiir, the kinordom of God is to be Wherefore, if God thus ^ ^ i r i 1 n r^ j • clothe the grass of the soiiglit, tlic rule of tlic law ot God 111 the lite, * The word may be translated " life " or "soul." The soul's continuance in the body does depend upon food, and yet it seems somewhat harsh to translate the word by " soul " in this case, and bring it so' abruptly close to food. As the outer man is in the connection named (retina, so the inner man is named f This is a circumlocution, and jet I have not Inanicd how to convey the Bense of the orit,'inal in closer English. The Greek is ovx vfitti uaWov Sia'pffifrt avruv. The common version, " Are ye not much better than they ? " conveys only part of the meanuig. In the ver- sion above I think I have given the whole meaning. X A cubit is two spans. In the com- mon version the tran.slation is "stat- ure." The word signifies either " age " or " height." The objection to the lat- ter is that Jesus is showing that they cannot do the least thing, and therefore it is useless to be anxious about the greate.st ; but to add eighteen inches to any man's height were a very great thing, hence it is inappropriate here. Moreover, Jesus is talking of the life, and hence " age " is appropriate. The objection to this rendering is that span is a measure of space and not of time. In reply, life is often represented as a journey, and we have tlie common phrase, " if/i^tA of life. " Sue Ps. xxxix THE SERMON ON TUE MOUNT. 297 the knowledoje of that Law, and perfect and joyful ^^'''' ^^'^''^ ^"'^y '"^ ° ' *■ •! • ^'^'^ to-moiTo\v is cast submission to it. That surely and necessarily m- into tue oven, wiu he eludes tlie discharge of all duties towards God, not much more you, yc o ' of httle faith ? towards our fellows, and towards ourselves. No Therefore do not ua grander life than that has yet been conceived. ZT^'^'^T' 7?""' o 'J What shall we eat ? oi But the drawback of most men is that they are whatshaiiwe drink? double, that they use their vision wanderingly, ^^ZZLTZZ looking upon spiritual things and temporal things the Pagans seek. For as different and conilicting, and both desirable, ^^^^IZyThZelZa seeing much good in God and much good in of aii these things. -mjT 1 .• I'll 1 But seek chiefly his Jviammon ; and so remaining undecided, or mak- kingdom and right- ing slight efforts. Jesus teaches a concentration eonsness, ana aii these ,. 77^,7 ,7 '_i jy _ii J. things shall be added oj ail the ^owe7's on trie jpursutts of the most ^^to you. Therefore, precious thing, leaving the results to the heavenly donotbe anxious about "£_, - . 7/n 7 • to-morrow, for to-mor- Tather, and J')/«/J7^;^(/ the effectual co-operation ^ow wiu have its own of the heavenlu Father to secure success. o.ivxiety. sufficient for ,— ._. . .- ,, the day is its own trou- The teaching of Jesus was intended to enable we. men to attend better to their rightful business by relieving them of all carking and weakening cares. lie con- trasts the man with his circmnstances, his soul and body witli liis food and clothing. Did God make men and women merely that they might eat and dress ? If so, then you cannot be too careful for these things, and they should be chiefly sought. The body and soul were made for the garments and meats, in such a case. But if the food and raiment are merely to keep the body and soul together for the purpose of having a character wrought out, then, while that important process is being faithfully carried foi-ward, the Almighty Father knows what his child needs and will not fail to furnish the supplies. The force and beauty of the two illustrations are worth some study. In them is contained an argument a fortiori : if God will do all this for birds and flowers, what may He not rationally be expected to do for His iMtional, sensitive children? Look first at the birds. They are merely birds; they have no residence, they are " of the air," apparently thriftless but cheerful little vaga- bonds, holding no real estate, engaging in no agricultural or com- mercial pursuits, simply following their instincts, doing what God put them into the world to do. Inconsiderable as they seem, if God chose to create them He feels Himself charged to maintain them, and He does feed them. He is not their Father, He is 298 SKCOND AND THIRD PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. merely their Creator. But lie is " yoicr Father," Are you not more worth preserving tliaii they ? Does not your Father diserim inate between His creatures and Ilis children ? I>ut what good comes of over-care? Has it ever increased your sagacity or your ability? Has it ever added to your life so nmch as two spans? Did any profit ever come to any man from excessive anxiety ? And as for clothing, its want of loftiest value is seen in the fact that God bestows it not on men, not on women, not on kings and queens, but on the unconscious flowei-s. They have no.intelligoiuj;e and no address, and so Gr<>pcrty. Man is of the heavens. Field and air, lily and bird, will all pass away. Man and heaven will remain. Pagans find their greatest delight and glory in caring for their bodies. The followers of Jesus are to make their greatest work the culture of their souls. And then, so far from being sure to starve, and finding * The " crown-imperial " (fritillaria imperialis) grows wild iu Palestine, and tlie aniaryllis lutca, acconling to Sir J. E. Smith, covers the fields in the Levant. f See Song ii. t, 2, 16. This waa undoubtedly the HiMeh lily, which Mr. Thomson so enthusiastically praises in The Ijiiid and the Book, vol. L p. 'Sdi. THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 299 the service of the king a failure and an impoverishment, Jesus pledges the heavenly Fatlier to sup})ly everything needful. A man may seek " all these things " and fail to find them; hut he that seeks, on principle, as the principal thing, the estahlishmentof God's king- dom and the reign of the right, shall always have shelter and nour- ishment. These are the shell in which the kernel of character ig to grow. AGAINST UARSII JUDGMENTS. By a natural transition of discourse, Jesus passed from the judgments we should pronounce upon ourselves to those we pj-o- nounce upon others. These words certainly cannot be reasonably taken to mean that we are to suspend the exercise of that admirable faculty with which God has endowed us, by which we com- ^^^^,^,^^, i^^rsh- pare conduct and character with his own great ly, that you bo not standard of morality. There are few more im- wuTwhartudgmenl proving exercises than this, for the quickening of ye j"'^ge, ye shau be , M'T. 1,1 • 1 r judged, and with what our own moral sensibihty and the guidance or measure ye measure, ye our own lives. The Great Teacher condennis the shaii be measured. And ,,.,.,,., , . why dost thou observe nnloveiy spirit with whicli many are wont to criti- thespUnter that is m cise the conduct of their fellows, to make the ^^y brother's eye, and . /•mi- • "^"^ ^°^ perceive the most uniavorable judgments or all their actions, beam that is in twne and to assio-n to bad motives actions that mav iust """^ ^^^^ °'" ^"^'^ o „ ^ . dost thou say to thy as well be supposed to have sprung from motives brother, "Brother, let that are pure and noble. To "judge" here "" p"^" ^pJ^"*" r J o ^ from thme eye, and means neither the passing of just or of unjust behow a beam is in judgment, but the sjdnt with which this is done, t'^*"^"-"^^^? Hnx>- J D y J. cnte, first cast the Men ought to be careful not to form judgments beam from tuine own .-, IT 1 i'1 iTTi eye, and then Shalt thou unnecessarily, nor carelessly, nor hastily. AVhen ^ cieariy to cast the duty and observance of the re(piiremenfs of jus- splinter from thy broth- tice demand, then we may pass judgment. But even then not hastily and not harshly. The reason assigned is that we shall be judged with the judgment which we api)ly to others. God is judge. To judge one's fellow-men is to assume his prerogative. Our judgments will be reviewed hy the Searcher of all hearts. The Great Teacher does not mean that if we are lenient to the faults of others God will tlierefore be lenient to us — that if we lose the distinction of right and wrong towai-ds our fellow-men, God will therefore obliterate that grand distinction in His own mind. But he does mean that our judgments of 300 SKCONU AND TIIIUD PAS80VEK IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. others are to be the materials upon which man may, and God will make up judgment in our own cases ; not that the only test of our chai-actcjs will be the judgment we have of the character of othei-s, but that it will be one of the surest of such tests. Our decisions are not final. They do not touch our fellow-men as that from which there is no appeal; but if they have been unjust and unne- cessarily severe they come back in condemnation on our own souls. And still there is this other reason : Severity of judgment has a tendency to malce such judges hypocrites. A man will pretend to have kind motives, whereas no man who uttei-8 an unnecessarily severe judgment of his fellow-man can feel kindly towards him. The must ruinous things are said in society in the softest tones and surrounded by phrases of great com- passion. But it is all a pretence. " Poor fellow ! " "I am sorry it is so ! " But you do not pity him, and do not know that it is so. Jesus presents a satirical picture of such a man. He describes liim as going to a brother who has a 8}»linter in his eye, and say- iiif tenderly, "Let me: I'll pull out tlie uKjte out of thine eye." But he is a hypocrite. There is a rafter in his own eye. He is foolish. How can he with a log of wcjod in his own eye see how t(^ perform the surgical operation of extracting the splinter from his brother's eye ? And this shows the uselessness of all such j udgments. If charity begins at home, so should judgment. AVash your own hands bcfcjre you p(jint out the soiled hands of your fellows. The Teacher guards against the opposite extreme of laxity. While we ai-e to be careful not to pronounce any harsh judgment upon any man, we are to discriminate among men, Do not (?ive the holy ^ ini iii ^ • -jt thing to cioB«, nor .»«t or else w^e shall always be blundering in dealing your pearls before ^^j(.j^ theiii. There are distinctions in character. swine, lest they tram- i . i i p r • pie them In their feet, Soiue meu are like dogs for ferocious oppugnance and tjiming might t*ar t,, ^Ijq truth, otlici-s like swiue for their iiupurity. To give them sacred and precious things were a sad mistake. In the Ejist, the dog and the hog are the most despised of animals. Jesus, by this strong language, taught that absolute abandonnicMit of moral distinction is a mental vice which stands over against uncharitable judgments. * Dickinson's tranRliition is, " Give not that which is con.secratcd to the (logs, lest they turn and tear you ; nor cast your pearls Iw-'fure swine, lest they trample them under their feet." which probiilily is the sense, but the transla- tion },'ivcn above follows the order of th« ori^riuol text. THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 30] AGAINST DOUBTING GOD. The connection seems to be this : lie had urged freedom from sxcessive carefuhiess as necessary to dignity and strength of char- acter. That men may be free from carking care he directs them to go to their heavenly Father in /"'^ ""'' '' '^" ""' 0 '' given you ; Beek, and prayer, and gives the assurance that every truly yo shaii tind; knock, persevering soul shall have success. He lays Tyl'^ZtZT. down as a universal proposition, that every true who asks receives, and 1 iTTi . who seeks finds, and to prayer is answered. When any man comes to ^in. that knocks it God and sincerely prays that his sins may be s'"'" ^^ opened, or n . , 1 T , 1 i • 1 what man is there ol forgiven, he may go away absolutely certain and you, whom his son ask- sure that his prayer has been answered, and that ^'^ f""" i'"*'^ ? ^<' ^"U , . . r ' * 1 1 1 1 '*''* ^■'■•^ ^™ * stone I his sms are forgiven. And so whatever the pe- or even asks for a fish? titioner needs God gives in answer to his prayer, he win not ?ive him a ^ , , . « T 1 • 1 1 . . serpent ! If yon, being God s gifts are good, and suited to the recipient, evii, know to give good If a human father adapts his gifts to his child, ^"^ '° y"""" ^^"'^^™' , 1 , T , i^y ^°^ much mora not offering a stone when he should present bread, shau your Father in the much more the good Father in the heavens, lifted ^"'''''^'^^ ^^'^ ^^ " ^ _ _ _ ^ ^ , things to them that above all human infirmities, will give to all Ilis askhimi au things, children, if not what they ask, certainly what they ^'^e'-efore, that yon ' _ •/ ' ^ >/ thmuj-'h it, because nar- powerf ul rcasou suggested by tlie very verb that row iB the pate and re- j^ ^^^^. „ ^^^^^ awav'' ouc to destructiou aud the stncted * the road that ' •' ' icadi! away into ufe, otlicr to life, intimating that both roads are very and f^ew are they who j^^^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^j^^ travellers thercon into scenes fai- removed from this present state of affaii*s, and therefoi-e the choice of roads should be made with great care. The difficulties of cultivating character are enhanced by teach- ers of falsehood, who assume such manners of sanctity that they ,,, may deceive. " From within " such men are ra- Be ware of false pro- J phots who come to pacious, aud usc cven the office of teaching morals r::tr:;:hrth5 for base purposes. Jesus showshow constantly arc raveninp wolves. \^q l^ecps liis great thcme ill view by his very ^lmlTkm!^I'th™!' Do mode of describing false teachers, not by sapng person'' pather prnpes ^-j^f^f j]ipy ^q ]^^^^ \^y dcscribiug wliat tliev arc. from thoma, or Aks ^ ^ . ' ' 1 • 1 from thistles? Thus Tlicir actious spriug from an inmost nature winch every pood tree pro- j^ ^^olfisli and sclfish. And the Same thing is set duces beautiful fruits, ^ and every rotten tr.>e forth iu liis illustratiou di'awu fi'om trccs aud produces evil fruits. It U not possible that a pfHKl tree should pro- duce evil fruits, nor that a rotten tree should produce beauti- ful fruits. Every tree that dix»« not prmlucc their fruit. The man who is not really good is like a tree wliich may be laden Avith artificial fruit, M-hile it is absolutely unproductive or is ca- pable of producing only evil fruits. A man need have little care for the fruitage of his life, but bonuHfui fruit u hewn must bc iiiost carcf ul for the sap of his soul. The down and caxt into the ,, ., , <.•. mii • ■x j. l iirv. 80 then, from sap being right the fruit will be right. Jesus their fruits ye shall teaclics that tlic laws of the intellectual and spi- know them. ,,, -iii 11 ritual world are as settled and as regularly oper- ative as those of the ])liysical world. ^Y]\ere there is a really good and beautiful life there must be a really good and beauti- ful soul ; and where a iiian's charattter is really bad, no repressive carefuhiess can keej) back the bitter fruits of bad act.^. In eitlier rcasc, for a season, intervening circumstances may prevent the ob- • The original is not f.iirly met by our l'n(,'liKh word " narrow," the Greek word being a paasive participle, strictly meaning ' ' squeezed," as Dr. J. A. Alex ander notices. THE SEKMON ON THE MOUNT. 303 server from seeing the connection, but it will somehow finally assert itself. Hence the necessity of being more careful to culti vate the character than to protect the reputation. •* AGAINST HYPOCRISY. And now he turns to those who were gatliering about him, and instructs them that mere profession of attachment to his pei-sou, that even zeal for the ffreat work which he iiad .^ . « t> v^ v-i jj^j^ ^ every one who undertaken, that even the possession of power to says to me, "Lord, r iiiij^ • 1 -^^ , 1 Lord," shall enter into perform deeds that are miraculous, will not be the kingdom of the hea- suflicient to insure them a place in the kingdom ^^'^ns: but he that docs 1 . 1 nn n ,1 1 .1 , 1 1 the things willed by my winch nils all the heavens, — the great moral and Father in the heavens, spiritual kingdom which he is now preaching, — but ^''"y shaii fay to me ,.,,,, 1 T 1 in that dav, "Lord, that it IS absolutely necessary to establish a pro- Lo^d, have"we not in found and lofty moral character, and that this can ^^y "'^'"^ preached, be done only by an inward conrormity to the will peued many demons, of his heavenly Father. "^"^ '" '^>' '"''^' ''''■ '' _ ^ formed many works of That not only are professions comparatively power?'' And then valueless, but that even the possession of singular ^u i pro^s t to thom, ' -i o II I never knew you." gifts, such as excite the admiration of the world, separate yourseu-ea will avail nothing in the absence of a true and ^o^'j^^^glwIe^nesT" hiirh character, he teaches in a brief dramatic passage of almost fearful power. It is as if he had said : All time is not now. Days are coming after this day. To all hypo- crites and self -deceivers some day of exposure will come. • They may plead against it. They may appeal to the eloquent sermons they have delivered in explanation or defence or enforcement of my doctrines; they may appeal to the force that lay in them, which was sufficient to cast out the demons who had taken possession of men ; they may appeal to apparent miracles which they have per- formed in my name, and these appeals may be founded on facts which I will not deny. But this I will do, I will make such ex- posure of them as shall be the same as if in speech. I will tell them that I had never known them as being of my people and subjects * The Greek oh wa? 6 x^ymv . . . (lat- AeuTETai does not signify that every one who calls Jesus " Lord " shall be excluded from the kingdom which he was preach- ing ; but that calling him so docs not of itself secure such admission. f The word in the Greek is striking. It means, as Alford points out, a state- ment of the simple truth of facts as op- posed to the false coloring and self-de- ceit of the hypocrites. 304 SECOND AND TIIIKD PASSOVER IN THE LITE OF JESUS. of the heavenly kingdom ; tliat I always knew that they were not doing my Father's will. Then, after that startling announcement, which was all the more terrible because the day was not designated, Jesus turned upon the crowd about him, and in substance-said: " Seeing that this is the case, I charge every man whose life is a series of works done lawlessly, without regard to the law of the right, which is the will of my heavenly Father, to separate himself from me and my community. Wliatever power to perform miracles he may Reem to possess, I acknowledge no gifts and no professions. Char- acter is everji;hing. Law is eternal. God is the law-maker. Those who obey Him follow me ; let othera separate themselves." It must not he unnoticed that Jesus asserts that it is possible for one who does not conform to God's moral law to cast out demons and perform works of power and wonder, that is to say, miracles, or seem to do so. The performance of miracles, therefore, accord- ing to this teaching of Jesus, is no proof that the teacher who does them is true, or that his teachings are in accordance with truth. It follows that he did not lay his claim to the attention of the world upon the miracles which he performed. lie claimed, as we shall see, through all his course, to be something higher than a miracle- worker, namely, to be a teacher of truth, and to be king over all other teachers and over all other men in that he taught the truth authoritatively. lie claimed to have the right to say what the truth is, and declare it, not as a discovery made by his intellect, not as an inspiration from some spiritual force outside of himself, but as originally knowing it and authoritatively declar- ing it. He certainly conformed his subsequent teachings to these announcements in the Mount Sermon, in which we learn that a truth is greater than a miracle, and to obey God is better than to do marvellous works. conclusion: TTTE safe foundation of CnARACTER. Tliis wonderful discourse terminates with a striking parable. As Jesus had begun with an enumeration of characteristics, ho closes with a description of the trials of character, in which ho contrasts the stability of one with the downfall of another. All goodness and safety lie in placing the life upon the truth and renuiining there. Knowledge of truth is in no way heljiful to a man if he do not obey tlie truth ; it rather makes his destruction niE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 305 iTiore appalling. The same kind of trial conies to those who are mere hearers oi truth and to those whose lives are conformed to it. To all outward appearance the characters ■'■■'• Every one, then, who of tlie two men were the same, except as to foun- hears these words of dation. Both built. Both built residences, not l^u ^"Ve^cVTa mere sheds. The houses were the same. If both wise man, who bniit his house upon the rock: had been built upon the rock, both would have and down came the * stood. It was not the materials or the architec- Errand" the' It ture that was at fault. It was the foundation. If ^lew, and feu on that . . Tij " Here was the prediction of a great revolution IN CAPEKNATIM AND NAIN, 300 presented in a picture. It is the picture of a happy family. The elders are seated or stretched on couches, the children reclin- ing in their presence, enjoying their society. But strangers from a great distance, never expected, come in to this delightful domes- tic banquet. That is wonderful. But there is something more : the children are cast violently into the darkness outside, where they give vent to their rage in wailing and in grating their teeth. This seems to be as much as if he had said. The spiritual blessings of God's kingdom, which is as wide as all the heavens, are not to be confined to a close corporation on earth. Frotn any distance any man may come, and if he have such faith as numbered Abraliam, Isaac, and Jacob among the servants of tlie great Kino-, he shall take his place : whereas those who rely upon a mere traditional right to the kingdom and its privileges shall be thrown outdoors into the night. It was a declaration of the spirituality and width of the kingdom of God, and was a great blow at sacer- dotalism and all churchism, a thing Jesus hated as a snare to human souls. He then justified the faith of the centurion by telling the mes- sengers to return and they should find it as their superior desired. Upon their return, they found that the servant 11 1 • , 1 , 1 mi . , The servant healed. nacl recovered m that same Jiour. This wonder- ful cure is something. It stopped pain. It gratified and rewarded the centurion. But it was a small thing as compared with the saying of Jesus in the utterance of a grand truth which is to help the struggling hearts of truly religious men through all the ages. A truth is greater than a miracle. What Jesus said in the Mount Sermon is much more valuable to the world than what Jesus did among the diseased, when he had descended from his lofty pulpit. But the latter have a historical connection and unity with the former. It was because of what was in him that Jesus spake and did his wonderful words and acts. Not far from Capernaum, a few miles to the south of Mount Tabor, on the north-west declivity of Little Ilermon, commanding a wide view of the plain of Esdraelon and the northern hills, stands a village now called N"ein, ^^""^^ "^^- "■^^- ^° ' o J Nam. in the time of Jesus bearing the name of Xain. On the day after the healing of the centurion's servant, Jesus visited this place with his company of disciples, and a great crowd attracted by his recent miracle. As he entered the town lie saw 310 PECOND AND THIRD PASSOTER IN TITE LITE OF JESUS. a funeral procession. It was the Jewish custom tliat all who met such a procession should join it and add their lamentations to the tears of the mourners. This was a particularly touching case. The corpse was that of a man sti-icken down in his youth, being the only child of his m:S^S:-'-:^f*^^fc^M^^— =is:^^^'*^-'-=^='--^'' KCrNS AT TELL HUM. CAPERNArM. CHAPTER yi. THE SECOND TOUK OF GALILEE AXD KETUKN TO OAPEENAUM. LkOEEDiATELY after this, Jesus began another circuit of preach- ing and miracle-working, going from village to village and from Luke viiL 1-3. Ac- citj to citj, preaching the happy news of God's companied by women. ki„g,iom. Ou this tour he was accompauied by his twelve chosen Apostles, and by many women whom he liad cured of evil spirits and other inlBrmities. This companionship with Jesus was not out of the usual order of things, since it was customary for women of means, especially for widows, to con- tribute of their substance to the support of rabbis whom they reverenced.* Three are mentioned as being in this company, namely, Mary called Magdalene, and Joanna, and Susanna. The first of these so devoted herself to Jesus that she became his chief fi-iend among women, and it may be worth while to make a sum- mary of what we can learn concerning her. In the first place, it should be repeated that there does not ap- pear the slightest reason for believing that she had been an extra- ordinary bad woman, particularly that she was a prostitute, but quite the contrary. Here is one of those unhappy cases in liis- toiy in which some misapprehension has occurred which has suc- ceeded in branding a name with an undeserved infamy and perpetuating it through generations. Let us see what is said about her. El-Mejdel is the name of a " miserable little Muslim village," as Kobinson calls it, which is most probably the representative of the town on the western shore of the lake of Magdala. Gennesaret, known as Magadan in the days of Jesus, and so called in the chief MSS., although in the author- ized English vei-sion, and in the usually received Greek text of Matthew (xv. 39) it is written Magdala.f It was one of the many * See Jerome on 1 Cor. ix. 5. I embrace every point worth notice, f Prof. Stanley's description seems to I " Of all the numerous towns and vil- THE SECOXD TOUR OF GALILEE. 321 Migdoh {nuoatch-toioc.rs) which existed in Palestine. The mifortn- nate identification of the saintly and loving friend of Jesns with the sinner who bathed the feet of Jesns with her tears, has made Magdala, this Mary's birthplace, familiar to all modern languao-es. She comes before ns first in this passage in St. Luke, associated with women of great respectability. These ladies were Joanna and Susanna. The former was the wife of Chuza, the steward of Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of '^ " ^°^' Galilee. It is not to be supposed that this lady of the court would associate herself with a " woman of the city," a street- walker, a prostitute, or probably even with one who had had that reputation. ]Moreover, the fact that Mary was engaged with these ladies in ministering to the personal wants of Jesus, shows that she, as well as each of the others, had means at her own disposal. She was not a woman of the lower ranks, in point either of prop- erty or of reputation. In this passage, and in Mark xvi. 9, the fact is stated that out of her Jesus had cast seven devils. Modern thought has been accustomed to associate demoniac possession with the idea of bad moral character in the pos- sessed, which, however, is a very great error. Children, women of good rejjute, people in any class of society, had been liable to this terrible disease. It is a very proper remark, therefore, that we must think of her " as having had, in their most aggravated forms, some of the phenomena of mental and spiritual disease which we meet with in other demoniacs, the wretchedness of de- spair, the divided consciousness, the preternatural phi-ensy, the long-continued fits of silence." Her case had been so marked and painful that the contrast it afforded with the serenity of lier condition after the great Healer had restored her, made such an impression upon those wlio were familiar with the circle of Jesus, Her "seven devils." lag-es in what must have been the most tliickly peopled district of Palestine, one only remains. A collection of a few hovels stands at the south-east cor- ner of the plain of Gennesaret, its name hardly altered from the ancient -Magdala or Migdol, so called probably trance to the plain. A large solitary thorn-tree stands beside it. The situa- tion, otherwise unmarked, is dignified by the high limestone rock which over- hangs it on the south-west, perforated with caves, recalling, by a cxirioua though doubtless unintentional coinci- from a watch-tower, of which ruins ap- i dence, the scene of Correggio's cele- pear to remain, that guarded the en- | brated picture. " 21 322 SECOND A^T) THIRD PAPSOTER IN THE LITE OF JESUS. and who afterwards chronicled tlieir movements, that repeated mention is made of the fact. It seems probable from the whole history that other women came and went, and did for Jcsns all their love prompted and their means allowed, but 'Marx Magdalene never Her devotion to Jesus. i i . -r i o "^ ^ j. -i.! forsook him. Joanna and bnsanna were not witli him in his last moments. Mary Magdalene was. She was then accompanied by the wife of Alpha^ns and the wife of Zebedee. She remained even after Mary, the mother of Jesns, had left the sio-ht of horror.* Iler love never faltered. The other women stood afar off. She stood close to the cross, where she heard all his last words and groans. She endured the sight of the death of him whom her heart adored. She was present, perhaps ten- derly aiding, when the body was taken down and when it was wiapped in fine linen, and probably assisted in depositing it in the sepnlchre, and then, with her friend Mary the mother of Joses, she sat down over against the sepnlchre. All her attentions were such as the daintiest love gives to the most honoraWe and dearly beloved. She had regarded him as a man ; but as the holiest, most gifted, most charming of all the sons of men. She saw him buried, and had no hope, nor even thought, of his i-e- surrection. She \n'apped her heart up with her lord in the linen cloth they wound about the precious limbs. The next day wis a sorrowful Sal)bath, and on the morning following she went to the sepulchre and found it empty. She saw angels there : but one Jesus was to her worth more than a thousand angels. She flew with anguish to Peter and John, and ran back with them to the sepulchre, crying, " They have taken away my loi-d, and I know not where they have laid him." And then she sank doAvn almost to the vero-e of that horrible pit of mental disease from which she had * From reading all the accounts in the four historians, it would seem that there was a crowd of women sorrow fully present at the execution, but all "standing afar off." Some sign from Jesus, or the promptings of uatiire, sent panied the mother, so that only Mary Magdalene was present. Mary th« mother of Jesus joined her, probably coming \ip from the crowd which stood at a distance, and sat down with her be- side tlie sepulchre. But the whole story his mothor Miiry, and his aunt, and his i puts Mary Magdalene forvvard. This friend Mary Magdalene, and his disciple much of the history we have boon corn- John up near the cross. When Jesus had committed his mother to this disci- ple, the latter drew her away to the city. The aunt seems to have accom- pelled to anticipate to make cloar the case of Mary of Magdala, the sweet and suffering saint. THE SECOND TOUR OF GALILEE. 323 been lifted. AVhen Jesus came she did not perceive that it was he. He spoke. He said " Mary." Probably it was the one tone in which he had always spoken to her. It thrilled her back to widest consciousness, and she rushed forward to clasp his feet. Can there be anything more beautiful than this ? Every great man — great in purity as well as power — has some special, honored friend among women, which friend is not his kins- The relation of jesus woman. Such Jesus had, and that nearest and ^^°'^- dearest friend was Mary called Magdalene. It was not fitting that he should marry. His mission was too awful. He was to stand in sublime solitariness. He had no eartlily father ; he was never to have bodily descendant. But he had a human heart, and must have had craving for human love. He was the incarnation of goodness, and had no fierce words of denunciation for fallen women, whom he raised as well as forgave ; but his whole record is so spotless that it shocks us to think that such a being could have found his best beloved friend in a former prostitute, and that she who had been so morally degraded could have had more than any other woman the fineness of soul to have been able to appre- ciate Jesus and to attach herself to such a man with such adherent love. She was a beautiful character. She had been a great suf- ferer. Jesus had healed her. She was all the finer for what she had endured. She was the watchful attendant of his footsteps. Hers were probably the last human eyes into which the dying eyes of Jesus looked, and hers the first human eyes he is repre- sented to have shown himself unto when he came back from the grave. This is all that is told. It is most exquisite. The utmost delicacy is here. It is the sweetness, not the words of the narrative, which betrays the holy love. And after that last interview in which Jesus xhe most beautiful showed her ho^v her mortal affection must be lifted <** '^°^^- into religious worship, there is nothing more said of Mary. And then history takes this beautifullest love of all the world and mars it, and blotches her name, and associates her with all the fallen of her sex. It is to us one of the most awful problems of human biography. Hers was a bitterly beautiful kjt. She had sufi'ered. She bad recovered. She loved her healer. She never could be asked to cross a certain line. But there she was met, more than any other woman, by the confidence and affection of the most ex- ceptional of all marrellously fine characters. He died looking at 324 PECOXl^ AN13 THIRD PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESTS. her. ITe rose and showed himself fii-st to her. If she lived to be a century old, she had such a memory as never has heen voueli- safed to any other woman. In her real life she was lifted to a heaven of love ; in history she has been cast down to a hell of infamy. Let her be restored. The truth does restore her. Tli& Friend of Jesus was a blessed saint. Wlien Jesus and his party returned to Capernaum, so great was his fame that crowds assembled about the dwelling and pressed them so nnich that thev could not even eat bread. Capernaum. Mark " iii. i!t-35; Matt. xii. Ilis mother and brothers, learning how he was ex- 24-50; Luke xi. 14-64. gj.|-jj,o, himsclf, and liow the crowds were pressing him, said, " lie is beside himself," and went to restrain him from such excessive labors. Although they did not believe in his doc- trines, they loved his person and had tender care of him. But the multitude blocked the entrance. Meanwliile there had been brought him one possessed of a demon,* and at once blind and dumb. It was certainly the most The blind and dumb cxactiug demand upon power to heal this com- dcmoniac. plicatioii of mental and physical disease. If the objective theory of demoniacal possession be held, then some evil spirit had found in this human soul an organ it could use, and in malignity had deprived the victim of sight and speech. On the subjective theory, the psychical ailment had struck out and had bedumbed and blinded the patient. In either view Lange has graphically described the case, in his Lehen Jesu^ when he says : " Shut up in this most shocking manner did this being come before Jesus, like a dark riddle of hellish restraint and human despair." The simple statement of the historian is, "And he healed him, insomuch that the blind and the dumb both spake and saw." This was a culminating marvel. It was a manifold miracle. It showed the power of Jesus over nature and super- nature. It threw the populace into an ecstasy. They hailed Jesus with Messianic salutations. They cried out, " Is not this the Son of David?" At this time there had come do^vn from Jerusalem to Caper- naum delcf^atious from the Scribes and Pharisees, engaged in the * It cannot be necessary to go into the question of demoniacal poflsession every time an incident of this species of ail- ment appears. The reader ia referred to the ample disctission given this sub- ject on p. 172. THE SECOND TOUK OF GALILEE. 325 work of laying snares for Jesus that they might with impunity put him out of the way. Affairs liad now reached a climax. He had raised the son of the widow of ISTain ; he .., 1/-111 • • Pharisaic conspirators. liad made a circuit through Galilee, increasing his train and his fame ; and he had returned to find the people re- garding him with greater reverence and wonder than before ; and he had cured the " possessed " man, opening his eyes and ears and restoring him to mental sanity. He had thus aroused the popu- lar enthusiasm to a degree that they were ready to crown him king and accept him as the Messiah. As he would not rank himself with the ruling class, but had set his influence directly against their authority, the hour had come when something must be said. The unfortunate expression which the other sons of Mary had used in kindly meaning toward Jesus, namely, " He is beside him- self," was probably suggested, if not it was seized, They charge that by the hierarchic party and employed against him. J^sus has a demon. " You see that his own mother's sons sav that he is deranged. The truth is that this fellow has Beelzebul,* and casts out devils only through Beelzebul, the prince of the devils." It is to be noticed that they do not deny the apparentlj^ hopeless condition of the patient, nor the greatness of the miracle which Jesus had openly performed in the presence of them all. They did as other men do when a great good deed has been performed by one whose goodness they do not desire to admit: they assigned the good deed to a bad motive and a wicked source. This accusation roused Jesus. He called them nearer to him and addressed them first in a parable. "Every kingdom divided , against itself is desolated, and every city or house divided against/ itself shall not stand. If the Satan cast out the Satan, he is divided against himself. How then shall his kingdom stand ? '* Whatever anarchy there may be in this kingdom of the Satan, there is this point of unity, that all its energies are directed toward marring where he cannot destroy the kingdom of God. lie shows how this perverse captiousness is caught in its own net. * This is the word in the original, not Beelzebub. The name of the Philistine god was Baal-zebul. god of the fly, wor- shipped as represented by the Scara- ba'ns pillnlanus, or d>/»f/JiUl beetle. Beel zebul, which means d>mff-f/od, is a form given according to a custom the Jews had of changing a letter so as to convert a word into another having a contemptible signification. As it does not appear earlier in Jewish literature, may it not have been invented to deride Jesus on this special occasion ? 326 SECOND AN'D TIIIKD PASSOVER Df THE LIFE OF JESUS. Tliere is certainly one course of conduct which cannot be said to be instigated by Satan, and that is such conduct as shows the actor's deteVmination to do all he can to overthrow Satan. This is the brief and conclusive reply. But Jesus furthermore said, " If I by Beelzebul cast out de- mons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your iudges." lie calls attention to the The reply of Jeeus. i i i fact that he was not the only healer oi tliese ter- rible maladies ; that there were those among the sons or disciples of the Pharisees who had been healers, and whose success had always been attributed to the aid of the Spirit of God.* His works in this department surpassed those of their sons in the greater malignity of the cases cured, in the suddenness of the re- lief afforded, and in the authority with Avhich he spoke the word of power. The people testified (Matt. ix. 33) on one occasion that " it was never so seen in Israel." Some milder forms had yielded to the spiritual influence of some of the healers, but never in such a manner had they seen such a case so thoroughly cured. If the one had no' collusion with Beelzebul, the other must not be so charged. If not of the Evil One it must be of God. " But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." A celestial surprise had come upon that generation. Without their expectation the kingdom of God had come in on them. And whether the Pharisees believed it or not, the long prayed for kingdom had come. And this was the king of that kingdom. Jesus represents himself as more powerful than Satan. " IIow can one enter the house of the strong and carry off his instruments f He is more powerful exccpt lic first bind tlic stroug ? and then he can than satau. pluudcr liis housc." lu thcsc words Jesus claims to have the power to bind the Evil One and wrench the prey from him. "When a man of power, able to defend himself against oi- dinary robbers, is openly deprived of his goods in broad day liy * See in Acta xix. 13 an account of I the greater deeds of Jesus should be travelling exorcists, the seven sons of i attri])utcd to a bad source shows the a high-priest. The argument of Jesus malignity of his accusers: and that was has the same force whether the ordinary Jewish exorcists did really cast out demons or were only believed to have done 80. In either case their success all liLs argument was intended to estab- lish. f The word means all the furniture which constitutes the outfit of a house, was always spoken of favorably, and that all the vessels and instruments. THE SECOND TOUR OF GALILEE. 327 one whom he sees, tlieu-no one is so much a fool as to say that the strong man robbed himself. All say that some one who was able to bind the strong man had done so, and then spoiled him. Jesun declared that a stronger than Satan had come. The Messiah was to be the hero of God. All such prophecies as are represented by the passages in Isaiah (xlix. 24, and more particularly liii. 12, " He shall have the strong ones for a prey ") were attributed to him. N^ow Jesus declares himself that Mighty One. Then he pushes the ecclesiastical clique of inquisitors and ^persecutors a little harder. lie plants himself against Satan. These two champions are at war for the empire of the world. One is to con- quer. All must take sides. There is no neutrality. The light is over the surface of the universe. Satan is to be destroyed, or Jesus. All who are not for Jesus are for Satan. And thus he s^viftly retorts the charge, and shows them to be in league with Satan by opposing him ? There is no passivity possible to a rational being. " Wlioever does not collect * in aid of me, scatters." He that does not help the work of Jesus breaks down and scatters the work of God. Opposition to Jesus is allegiance to Satan. Jesus then uttered one of the most profound and mysterious sentences which ever fell from his lips. Few people have been able to read it without shuddering. It is so ira- Blasphemy against portant that I shall present a careful translation, *^° ^°'y ^'^"^'^ hoping to be helped thereby to a better understanding of the words. The passage in Matthew is, " Because this is the case, I j say to you. Every (kind of, or form of) sin and blasphemy shall j be forgiven to men. But the blasphemy of the Spirit shall not bey forgiven. If one speak a word against the Son of Man, it shaU be forgiven him ; but if one speak against the Holy Spirit, it sh.^11 not be forgiven him, in this age nor in the coming." In Mark it is : " Assuredly (amen) I say to you. That all sins shall be f«)r- given to the sons of men, and the blasphemies, whatever they shall have blasphemed. But whoso shall blaspheme in reference to the Holy Spirit has not forgiveness for an age (during the seon), but is held bound by a perpetual loss." Mark says that he uttered these words because the Pharisees had said, " He has a fil- thy spirit." The passage in Luke gives no variation from these two. * The word does not mean coming 1 street, but rather conveys the idea ol together, as a crowd collects upon the I gathering a harvest. 328 SECOND AND THEED PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. We may be helped to the meaning of this utterance by recol- lecting that it is a warning, and that the Pharisees had not yet committed this fatal offence ; and also, that whatever this destruc- tive sin may be, it is a sin of words, of speech rather than of action or of thought. Tlie perpetrator of this hopeless sin tnuiro- fessing to desire to know the truth, reject a teacher who had per- formed greater deeds and spoken greater words than Solomon ever did, and whom following generations would pronounce a man superior to great David's splendid son. He closed his address with a description of the condition of the Jewish nation, contained in a parable founded upon their notions in regard to demoniacal possession. This peroration cannot pi-obably be rendered better than in the paraphrase by Professor Strong : " According to your The peroration. * From the southern portion of the Arabian pciiinKiila, or from the Cushite kingdom of Seba in Ethiopia. Jose- phu.s (Ant., viiL 5, G) says the latter. The Ethiopian (orAbyssian) church has a tradition to the same effect. It is not nt all material to the argument of Jesus. He was contrasting the conduct of heathens with that of the churchmen of his day, to the disparagement of the lat- ter. ~ f It is merely fair to attribute this motive to her, since the historj' wliich records her vi.sit says. " When the Queen of Sheba heard of the fumo of Solomon, conc4>,rning the name of JeJiocu/i, she came," etc. 1 Kings x. 1. THE SECOND TOUR OF GALILEE, 333 OTm belief, a foul fiend, upon his expulsion from the possessed, ranges disconsolate through some barren region, in [[uest of relief from the anguish of guilt that torments him, by a shelter in some human tenement ; and to save your credit, upon the relapse of a demoniac whom you profess to have rendered sane, you say of the exorcised denKJU in such a case that, being unsuccessful in the search, he resolves to return to his late victim, and take up his quarters there. Be that as it may, such a fiend, if at his return he find that former abode untenanted by any better occupant, l)ut swept clean and put in order as if for his reception ; he will then assuredly go forth to the general rendezvous of his comrades, and associate with him perhaps seven other demons, worse, it may be, than himself, for the secure possession of such an inviting resi- dence, and these all repairing thither will enter and permanently occupy that mansion. In the state of him whose mind is the theatre of such an occupancy, ^ the latter evil is greater than the former.' Precisely such will become the condition of the aban- doned race who now hear me ; the incipient conviction forced upon them by my previous preaching and miracles, by being re- sisted, will but increase their guilty obduracy, which not even the required miracle would remove." As he spoke these words a woman in the crowd, an enthusias- tic admirer of the young Rabbi, broke out into the exclamation, " Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the breasts which thou hast sucked ! " lie answered ^^^t. this womanly but commonplace compliment by correcting her low ideas. " Eather are they blessed who hear and keep the word of God." As if he had said, " Even Mary's blessedness does not lie in the historic fact that I became son of her flesh, but that she was so humble and faithful a keeper of the word of God as to be selected to be my mother." Biographical circumstances are so little when compared with real loftiness of character ! All this while the mother and brothei-s of Jesus were outside the door, and could not reach him for the pi-ess, but sent Avord in to him. They had heard, and perhaps partly be- ^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^ lieved, the slanders of the Pharisees. Even Mary's moment o:^ weakness was upon her. She f eai-cd. She did not know into what the effect of his excessive laboi-s may have be- traved him. But he was her son. "Wlien the message came to 334 SECO>«T) AND THIRD PAgSOVER IN THE LIFE OF .TESU8. him throni,^li tlic crowd, he said : ""Wlio is my motlior? Wlio are my brethren ? " And tlien, looking upon the multitude about him, and more particularly upon the disciples who were clinging more and more closely to him, and striving more and more to comprehend him, he said : " Behold my mother and my brothers ! For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother ! " The first sentence seems a sharp rebuke to the weakness of Mary and the infidelity of her other sons in regard to this her greatest son and their glorious brother. The second takes them back into loving arms, if they will also have spiritual relationship with him. The whole sets forth a great advance in the teaching of Jesus, It is to be noticed that he claims more and more. lie is looking widely through human- ity and into the future. lie is caring less for fleshly ties. His love is founded on a principle. "NYlioever lovingly obeys God is a Mary that hath borne Jesus in the heart. Whoever lovingly obeys God is his brother: the same spirit animates both. If his mother do not obey God, Jesus is ready to disown the relationship. If the poorest woman in the world — such as the poor barbarian woman in Africa who gave water to Mungo Park, and sang lulla- bies to him in his sickness and solitude — shall only lovingly obey God, Jesus is ready to recognize her as sister or mothei*. It is a sublimely wide and deep saying! "While Jesus was making these speeches, one of the Pharisaic party, seeing the defeat they were suffering, invited Jesus to a Eau with a Pharisee, l"iieheon at his houPC, apparently that he nn'glit and denounces Thnri- brcak up tliis public discussiou aiid takc from Jesus *" '"" the support of the popular presence and approval, and suiTound him in ])rivate by his deadly enemies. Jesus accepted the invitation. Doubtless the Pharisee thought that this was done In rustic simplicity by an unsophisticated man. But Jesus saw the whole mananivre. He went into the house and sat do^vn at the table, omitting the ceremonial washing of hands. He was surrounded by Pharisees, who were Se])aratists, Purists, Puritans, as their name implies. These well-washed gentlemen, with nicely pared finger-nails, in all things fastidiously neat, exclianged glances of wonder that he did not wash his liands. He saw it. He knew what it meant. He had been invited into* net. He was g<)ing to break its meshes. Just then a servant may have wiped the plates and cups with a clean napkin, to remove au}- THE SECOND TOIJK OF GALILEE. 335 little dust that may have settled on the dishes. Jesus took the occasion to reply in words to the accusations they were making by glances. "You Pharisees are now as faultless in your out- ward behavior as these dishes are clean of every kind of dirt ; but your hearts are full of extortion and wickedness. Thought- less men, he that makes clean that which is without, does not necessarily clean that which is within also ? But you give alms, and then say, All things are clean ! * But woe to you, Pharisees ! you are so careful in your titlies that you give a tenth of even your mint and rue and ever}' herb,t and omit righteousness and the love of God : these are absolutely necessaiy, while your scru- pulousness in otlier things sliould not be omitted. "Woe to you, Pharisees ! for ye love the uppermost seats in the sjmagogues, and the greetings in the markets. Woe to you ! for ye are as hidden graves which men do not see, and so walk over them and are ceremonially defiled." Amongst those present was a " lawyer." Wlien that name is mentioned we are not to suppose that the person occupied the same position in society as our modern lawyers. The lawyer in this case was rather a professor or doctor of divinity. lie was an authority in sacred law. This person, perhaps feeling pinched by the statement about the punc- tilious tithing of the smallest products of the garden, a cpiestion the decision of which came before the lawyers, pertly addressed Jesus with the remark, " Teacher, saying these things thou insult- est us also." Then Jesus broke upon him : " And to you, professors of the moral law, woe ! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be A "lawyer." * This seems to me to be the mean- ing of Jesus, an interpretation held by Erasmns, Lightfoot, Kuinoel, Schleier- macher, the devout Stier, and others ; but opposed by Dean Alford, who has five reasons against the correctness of this rendering, one of which is a strong reason for the interjiretation here given, three are giammatical, one of which is not pertinent when we regard this as a dramatic sketch, and another begs the question. This fifth reason is, that this makes Jesus cast a slur upon almsgiving, which is a mistake ; perhaps he slurs Kuch almsgiving as the Pharisees made, but he is not speaking of the giving of alms, but of substituting outward and ceremonial for inward and moral clean- liness. The interpretation given in the text has this advantage, it makes sense; which the usual reading does not, unless it be the sense that he that gives alms is therefore inwardly pure — the very doctrine of the Pharisees which JesuH was vehemently denouncing. f Perhaps, by a rigid rendering of the passage of the law in Levit. ixvii. 30, the Pharisees made this precept. EECOND AND TIIIKD PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF .rEPL'S. Lawyers denonnced. boiTie, and jon yoin*selves touch not the bui-dens with one of your little fingei"s. Woe to you ! for ye build the tombs of the jirophets, and your fathere killed them. Truly ye are wit- nesses that you approve the deeds of your fathers : for they killed the prophets, and over them you erect monuments of your o\vn heavy ordinances. On this account the wisdom of God has said : 'I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will slay and persecute, that the bhjod of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zacharias,* who perished between the altar and the temple : ' veri- ly, I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation. "Woe to you, professors of the moral law ! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge ; ye entered not in youi-selves, and those that were entering in ye hindered." This broke up the meal. His enemies and he rose to their feet. The Pharisees were furious. They might have despatched him there, but between the pauses of his awful speech they heard the surging of the great crowd which blocked the street outside, among whom were hundreds who had been wrought into an enthusiasm for the Teacher, and were anxious to have him make his appearance. lie passed out fi-om the circle of his deadly foes into the midst of the multitude. The meal broken np. * This is not so much a quotation of Scripture as an amplification of a say- ing of Scripture. The allusion seems to be to the account of the slaughter of Zacharias, the son of Jehoiada (as re- corded in 2 Chron. xxiv. 18-23), who was stoned in the court of the house of the Lord, because he had faith- fully borne witness against the sins of the people. As he was dyinij; he said, " The Lord look upon it, (iiidrrquire ity Jesus amplifies this expre.ssion, and makes the assertion that God will "re- quire " of the Jews of his generation the blood of all the holy martyrs who had died for confessing the truth, from Abel the first prophet-martyr to Zacharias the last martyr-prophet. He predicts that such obstniatc and wii^ked rejec- tion of the truth by \i\a people should bring upon them a destruction which shoulil justify all the assertions of good men in regard. to the ruinous nature of sin, and as complete as if they had real- ly heard and rejected each confessor of the truth in every age. Matthew calls this Zacharias " the son of Barachias," thus creating a difficulty to which two solutions have been offered : (1), That of Olshausen, who says, " There is nothing offen." ^ i ^ i • ^r • i. j.1. soever chooses to shut himseli up aganist tne truth shall constantly shrink. God gives to those who desire to have, whatever may have been their personal faidts, and withholds from all othei-s. These humble disciples lay with their souls to the sun, and consequently had its warming and brightening in- fluence. The " mysteries of the kingdom," what apjjeared mys- terious to others, began to become comprehensible to them. The Jewish people could not understand the present revelation, because they had closed their eai-s to former revelations. Jesus felt the truth that was in him, and set it forth in such a style that, if their Bonis would, they could receive the ti-uth ; but if they preferred darkness the parable Avould be unintelligible. The parable covei-s and discovers, conceals and reveals. It is the temper and previ- ous culture of the hearer which determine the effect of the speech, whether he listen to Jesus or any other teacher. The power of closine: the eai-s while one seems to hear is well known. If this be practised toward the truth, a man may come into such a state that when he desires to know and understand he cannot. In that case the fault is not in the truth nor in the teacher : a law of human nature has been violated. There are special seasons of great advantage to the hearer, as when a peculiarly gifted teacher comes into the world or into a community. It is a blessed thing for any man to be in a recep- tive condition at such a time. Many an ancient prophet, saint, and prince had longed to know what those who listened to .lesus could learn. IMessed were the men who were ready to hear when Jesus began to speak. In saying so, Jesus assumed to be able to make revelation of great truths ; to be, indeed, such a teacher as these prophets and kings had longed to hear, surj^assing, in a word, all former teachei-s of mankind. He then began to unfold the j^arablcs in a stylo which should be a guide to all succeeding commentators, presenting the essence A CHAPTER OF PAKABLK3 349 of doctrine contained in the parable, and intended to be taught by it, without those conceits where, with a lively fancy, one ma^? embroider a solid thonght.* In the Parable of the Sower, the seed represents the word of God, and the places where it fell the condition of the several por- tions of the human race, and tlie several kinds of human character upon which this seed falls, for ^^'T,"'^.**? f '**' -■■ ' Parable of the Sower. humanity is God's Made field of husbandry. The word or truth of God is like seed in that it grows when planted, and that it is of its nature to grow when put into the human heart, if that heart be kindly turned toward the truth. Moreover, it produces the bread of the soul, and is self-propagative. It has been observed in this parable that the seed represents at one time the word of God, and at another the heart of man. But no one has ever been perplexed by this free motion of thought and speech. The illustrations are as clear as if every rule of the most artificial rhetoric had been observed, while Jesus used " that dis- cretionary license which distinguishes original and independent thinkers from the mere grammarians and rhetoricians." And perhaps this matchless Teacher had a meaning in the very change from seed to soil. The loss of the seed is the loss of the soil, as the good seed on good soil becomes incorporated therewith. A man who loses the truth loses himself ; he who receives the truth enriches his own personality. The difference in the reception by different classes of hearers is thus explained : — (1.) The wayside hearers are those who hear the word of tlie kingdom so far as outward reception of the mere word is con- cerned, the mere listening to the statement of propositions, with- out an active apprehension and personal application. The word lies on their souls as seed does on a paved and much-trodden road. It is fhe^'e : but it has not entered. It has not been received. The hungry mouth of the ploughed furrow. is not * Of which a specimen is Lange's in- terpretation, of the parable of the sower, when he says that the stony ground is exhibited in ' ' corrupted Judaism ; the ground where the good seed is choked by thorns of worldly lust is the Moham- medan world ; the good ground is Chris- tendom!" {Life of Jesus, \ol ii., p. 194. ) Really the common justice which allows an intelligent man to know what he meant to say, ought to be accorded to Jesus. After he has given his own interpretation of one of his own para- bles, surely it is most unfair to repre- sent him as meaning something else thereby. 350 SECOND AND THIRD PASSOVER IN THE LITE OF JESLS. there to take it in, nor is the liarrow ready to put it under. It is obvious to the e^'es of the birds, who see it and take it ofiF. The Evil One does that for the way-side hearers of the truths of " the kinj^doni " which Jesus was preaching. The grammatical con- struction of the sentence shows that this loss of the word occui*s " almost during the act of hearing.'.' (2.) " But what was so^ni among the stones, this is he who licareth the word, and immediately with joy receiveth it ; yet hath he no root in himself, but is for a time, temporary ; and when tribula- lation or pursuit ariseth because of the word, immediately he is caused to stumble." Here is a different class of hearers. They not only listen to the word, and receive it into their ears, but they have joyful emotions. They receive it enthusiastically. But so soon as a severe trial of their faith comes, they fall away from the gospel. They liave not root. They have not taken it into their souls and made it part of their lives. They love the truth only so long as the truth is to them an occasion of pleasurable emotions. In other words, they love pleasure more than they love tnith, and when pressure or pursuit, tribulation or pei*secU' tion, presents to them for immediate decision the choice between pleasure and truth, their decision shows how little root the truth had been able to strike in their souls. (3.) " And what was sown amc)ng the thorns, this is he who heareth the word, and the anxious care of the world and the de- ceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becometh unfruit- ful.'' Ilere is another mixture of the sign and the thing signified, makinir "the word" mean in the same breath both seed and soil; but the sense is very open. 'Wliile in the second case the rootless- ness of the man, or the rootlessncss of the word in the man, is demonstrated by what comes to him, here the same thing is de- monstrated by what the man himself pureues. In the fonner case, if no tribulation or pei-secution had come, the man would have gone on quite happy, but here his coiu*se of daily life shows how little the truth has dominion over his soul. Anxious care, an elevation of the present over the future, a ]>reference f<»r tem- porary visible things rather than for permanent, etenial, invisible things, and then the deccitfulness of wealth, luring men to its pursuit by })romises of enjoyments it never affords — these sjiring up about the word, and the truth fails to have the ha])py effect upon the character of the hearer which it would otherwise have. A CIIAlTEli OF PARABLES. 351 (4.) " But what was sown on the good ground, this is he who heareth and understandeth the word, who indeed beareth fruit, some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty." That which " wag sown on good ground," so says the originaL The way-side, the Btony places, the thorny places, are all bad for the seed. " Ground," with nothing else, is " good." A soul without prepossessions and anxious cares, lying ready for the truth, is the soil in which this seed will grow. That is the reason why childlikeness and sim- plicity of spirit, with desire for the truth, are so much commended by Jesus, and have in all ages been favorable to the cultivation of the character and the acquisition of true wisdom. In such a man plant the truth, and it will certainly be fruitful. But as in evil hearers there are three classes, so the Teacher instructs us that there will be varieties of good bearers, but that this variety will be rather in degree than in kind. Some will be more fruit- ful than others, but all will bear fruit, not perhaps in exact arith- metically expressed ratios, but certainly in a proportional diversity. Then followed his own exposition of the Parable of the Tares. " He who soweth the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world. The good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom. The tares are the sons of the Evil One. Tlie enemy that sowed them is the De^'il. The harvest is the end of the age. The reapere are the angels. As therefore the tares are assorted and burned in the fire, so shall it be at the end of this age ; the Son of Man shall send angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all who are snares,* and those who make lawlessness, and shall cast them into a fur- nace of fire : there shall be wailinc^ and o-i'indino; of teeth. Then the righteous shall shine out as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He that has ears to hear, let him hear ! " It would seem imj^ossible to make anything clearer than this, and yet it is a remarkable fact in the history of human thought that there is only one other speech of Jesus which has caused so much perplexity to the church as this.f A volume as large as Explication of the Tares. * The word translated " all things that offend," means that portion of a trap where the bait is suspended, which, being touched, causes the snare to spring and tighten on the unfortunate animal. As the word in the oriijinal, althoug-h neuter, manifestly refers to persons, the translation I have given above seems to be not only hteral. but exactly expres* sive of the idea intended. f I refer to his words at the Supper : ' ' This is my body ; " * ' this is my blood. " S52 SECOND AXD TIIIKD PASSOVER IN TUE LIFE OF JESL'S. this might be filled with a history of controvei'sies fought aroimd this parable and its explanation by Jesus. The most perverse and foolish and ruinous interpretations have been given, mainly grow- ing out of the interpretation of the phrase " the world,"' which men insist to this day in making to mean " the church.'' They Avill not let Jesus know what he meant when he spake. Will the reader be good enough to refer to the parable, and immediately after reading it read the exposition of Jesus, and then follow with the next paragraph ? In that we shall present what seems to us would be the undei*standin2r of an intelliirent man who had com- pared the sayings of Jesus with one another, without any prepos- session of interpretation. Jesus says : " The seed is the word of God." (Luke viii. 11.) lie represents himself as being the Sower, by which he would seem to mean that in some way, excelling all others, he should apply the word of God to the minds and hearts of mankind. lie describes liimself by his favorite name, " Son of Man." " The field is the world^'' not the church. The field is the whole commu- nity of human beings occupying this planet, in successive genera- tions, with their various pui-suits and developments. " The king- dom of the heavens is like unto a man who sowed good seed in his field." " The field is the worlds " The good seed are the sons of the kingdom " of the heavens. " The tares are the chil- dren of the Devil," whose pei-sonality and activity Jesus taught not in parable, but in most strictly didactic and expository dis- courses to his disciples in private, and in explication of a parable. The " Devil," the accuser, the slanderer, is the enemy of the Son of Man. lie has sown evil in the world, not specially in the church. Because the church nuist be part of the world, it will have the characteristics of the world in the particular of a mixed population. " The haiwest is the end of the age." In our common vei'sion of Matthew xiii. we have in the thirty- eighth veree, "The field is tJieicoi'ld^^ and in the thirty-ninth verse, " The harvest is the end of tJie worldP The words in the original are totally different. In the former passage it means this orderly universe of God, and the human race occupying this planet. In the latter it means CBon, age, oera. The whole phrase* means the * The phrase here is «rvr)rt\«ia rov atuyoi. In Hebrews ix. 20, Paul uses tlic pliruso, avm*\tia rwy aiuyuf, the juncture of the ages, the moment of passage from one jcra to another. Trench thinks "the phrase equivaleni A CHAPTER OF PARABLES. 353 coming together of a3ras, the joining of their ends, the conehid- ing end of one and the opening end of the other. In this phrase there is nothing whatever which imphes or in- 8innates the destrnction or end of either this planet or its iidiab- itants. There is very plainly indicated a great transition epoch, when one cycle ends and another begins, and this juncture of the seras is marked by an epoch of vast changes in the constitu- tion of things. It will be the harvest-home of the kingdom of the heavens. Until that time no man, and no set of men, must undertake the Aveeding process to cast the evil out. It cannot be done. " Lest gathering together the tares ye root out the wheat with them." Obviously Jesus belicN-ed that the world was not so much hurt by the existence of evil men as it was benefited by the existence of the good. It is better to permit an evil man to reside in a community, a church, a society, a town, than by mis- take to destroy a good man. The faith of Jesus in the goodness of goodness is both beautiful and sublime. It rested upon an- other thought. The evil is to be destroyed at the end of this seon and the beginning of the next, whenever that shall be. The destiny of the evil is to be destroyed. The destiny of the good is to be preserved. At the conjunction of the ages the Son of Man will send his reapers forth officially, and he will direct them what to do. Here Jesus assumes to himself the final supervision, and accomplish- ment by the agency of angels, of the destiny of the evil and the good. He will direct what shall be done with them. The evil are to be dealt with first. Wherever in any part of his kingdom,— " the kingdom of the heavens,"— there are any who are baits to others, enticing them to evil, or any who make lawlessness, teach or practise disregard of the laws of the kino-- doni of the heavens, they are to be separated from all the good. That is the firet process. Then these evils and these evil people will be assorted. All shall not be destroyed alike. Every man is to be judged and punished " according to his works." There are " few stripes " and " many stripes." There is discrimina- tion and assortment. " Bind them in bundles for their burninf^" Augustine sees this, and teaches that sinners shall be punished together. " Hoc est, rapaces cum rapacibus, adulteros cum adul- to the T«\T/ Tu>v auivuv of 1 Cor. x. 11, the I the one and the commencement of the extremities of the two seras, the end of I other." 23 354 SECOND AND THIRD PASSOVER IN THE LIFE OF JESTTS. teris, homicidaes cum homocidis, fiires cum furibus, derisorea cum derisoribus, similes cum similibus ; " that is, robbers witli robbers, adulterers with adulterers, murderei*s with murderers, thieves with thieves, scornei-s with scorners, like with like.* Then these bundles are to be thrown into a furnace of fire. The weak shall burst into wailing, and the fierce wicked ones shall gnash their teeth in rage ; but they shall be destroyed. This intimates the most fearful anguish in the process of destruction. Then, when whatsoever and whosoever offends, or causes to offend, shall have been destroyed, — shall have been rolled away like a dark cloud, — the righteous shall blaze forth gloriously in the kingdom of their Father. Until which time let no man undertake the work of excision and destruction. It is the prerogative of the Son of Man, and shall be accomplished at the juncture of the airas, when " this age " shall end and " the age to come " begin. And }et, with such plain teaching set before the world l)y Jesus, and in face of the corroboration, by the history of the whole world, of the utter impracticability of infallible judgment as to the character of men, some called Christians have insisted upon persecution for opinion's sake, making a man an offender for a word, until at some period of the church's liistory ecclesiastics have become morbid heresy-hunters. For instance, Aquinas, who in the thirteenth century won the name of the xingdic Ductoi\ taught that the prohibition is binding only when there is danger of plucking up the wheat while extirpating the tares, as if Jesus had not expressly taught that that danger is always and will be, while this sera lasts. John Maldonatus, a Spanish Jesuit of the sixteenth century, taught that the householder was to determine whether such danger existed, and he added, that as the Pope is the representative of that householder, he must be asked whether 01' not the tares shall be removed. Upon which he addresses to all Catholic princes an exhortation to imitate these slaves of the householder, so that instead of having to be urged to the work of rooting out heresies and heretics, they will rather need to have * Dante, "the dark Italian hiero- phant," represents that among other Bpcctacles in hell he saw one moving flame, divided at the top, and was told that it contained Diomcd and Ulysses, * ' who speed together now to their own misery, as formerly they used to do to that of others." The Old Testament Scriptures give this intimation repeat- edly. " That man perwhcd not alons in his iniquity." "The deceiver and the deceived are His." Job xii IG. A CnAPTER OF PARABLES. 355 their zeal restrained ! So totally has what is called " The Church" misrepresented the teaching of Jesus. Having now the invaluable help of the Great Teacher's method of exi^lainiug his own parables, let us apply it to all that folLjws. The next is the Parable of the Seed growing in secret. In that the commentators have found great difficulties. They say that if the man who sows the seed is Jesus, then the par- Expii«ation of the able seems to disparage him, — " something is at- Patient Husbandman, tributed to him which seems iniworthy of him, less than to him rightly appertains, — while if, on the other hand, we take him to mean those that in subordination to himself are bearers of his word, then something more, a higher prerogative, as it would seem, is attriljuted than can be admitted to belong rightly to any save only to him." * Another f says that this parable "is another and imperfect version of that of the tares, only with the circum- stance of the tares left out ! " As to the first, the question is set- tled. Jesus says that he is the Sower. If that distinct declara- tion of his cannot be made to consort with his pictorial represen- tations of truth, it cannot be helped by even an archbishop. He was not careful to preserve the unities, and a German doctor nnist bear it. He spoke with the freedom of a soul too large fo)* mere rhetorical rules. Why should commentators be so careful for the reputation of Jesus ? As ,to the second, the slightest ex- amination would have shown the learned author that this is an- other version of the parable of the tares, as Othello is another version of Hamlet, when, of coui-se, " the circumstance " of Ham- let is " left out." That of the tares teaches one thin