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 Copyright 1904-1905 
 
 by 
 
 ELBERT HUBBARD 
 
 % 
 
THE MAN OF SORROWS 
 
What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that 
 ye receive them, and ye shall have them. 
 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught 
 against any : that your Father also which is in heaven 
 may forgive you your trespasses. Mark xi 24-25 
 
TO HIM THAT WAS CRUCIFIED 
 
 My spirit to yours, dear brother, 
 
 Do not mind because many sounding your name do not 
 
 understand you, 
 I do not sound your name, but I understand you, 
 I specify you with joy O my comrade to salute you, and 
 
 to salute those who are with you, before and since, 
 
 and those to come also, 
 That we all labor together transmitting the same charge 
 
 and succession, 
 We few equals indifferent of lands, indifferent of times, 
 We, enclosers of all continents, all castes, allowers of all 
 
 theologies, 
 Compassionaters, perceivers, rapport of men, 
 We walk silent among disputes and assertions, but reject 
 
 not the disputers nor any thing that is asserted, 
 We hear the bawling and din, we are reach 'd at by 
 
 divisions, jealousies, recriminations on every side, 
 They close peremptorily upon us to surround us, my 
 
 comrade, 
 Yet we walk unheld, free, the whole earth over, journey- 
 ing up and down till we make our ineffaceable mark 
 
 upon time and the diverse eras, 
 Till we saturate time and eras, that the men and women 
 
 of races, ages to come, may prove brethren and lovers 
 
 as we are. 
 
 Walt Whitman 
 

 V 
 
 V 
 
 % 
 
 \ 
 
 n- 
 
 \ 
 
Jf oretoorb 
 
 MK^mjYW^ simple sketch seeks to be history d And 
 
 m I history is a branch of the science of Sociology. 
 
 ^^^Iv C)f miracle Sociology knows naught, any more 
 
 than does modern jurisprudence — the miraculous 
 
 would not now be admitted as evidence in any court in 
 
 Christendom. The test of innocence is no longer to walk 
 
 on red-hot iron, and the admissions of a witch or one 
 
 possessed by devils are referred to the trained nurse or 
 
 pathologist. 
 
 We seek the truth, and in so doing we believe we best 
 honor ourselves and our Maker. 
 
 History has nothing to do with miracle, any more than 
 has geology, astronomy or chemistry, and from these the 
 supernatural has been forever barred and banished. No 
 miracle has ever been proved — they all come to us at 
 second-hand, by people who saw people who said they 
 saw people who saw them. By no modern rules of evidence 
 can miracles be even considered where truth and justice 
 are sought. The miraculous strikes at the integrity of 
 Nature. To admit that a Supreme Being might interfere 
 with chemical law, would render science vain and learning 
 a delusion and folly. 
 
 Biology and history know nothing of 'the fall of man." 
 So far as we know, the race has risen constantly in general 
 well-being and intelligence. Man has fallen upward. 
 When Napoleon ironically asked, What is history but 
 a lie agreed upon ? " he had in mind that peculiar form 
 of history which believed there is a divinity which doth 
 hedge a king," and which has always been written with 
 the intent to uphold some man or institution. And for 
 this defense was the writer of such history paid. The men 
 who yet uphold the miraculous are those who gain a 
 
|| Jforetoorb 
 
 livelihood by so doing. Charles Bradlaugh forever forced 
 
 the admission upon the courts of the civilized world that 
 
 the affirmation of a man who does not believe in the 
 
 miraculous is just as valuable as the oath of the man who 
 
 does «J* & 
 
 The recompense of the historian is the approval of his 
 
 Inmost Self that he has endeavored to express the truth. 
 
 Q The reward for a good deed is to have done it. 
 
 Yet absolute historical truth is, perhaps, impossible. 
 
 Truth is a point of view. And so truth cannot be final nor 
 
 absolute nor binding upon all. The author of this sketch 
 
 claims nothing beyond the fact that for himself he has, 
 
 in degree, expressed the truth. 
 
 The task of the scientist is to construct the skeleton of a 
 
 mastodon from the fragment of a bone : and the task of 
 
 the historian is to take the scattered fragments of record, 
 
 legend, song, myth and fable, and give us an accurate, 
 
 vivid picture of a passing procession. The historian is one 
 
 who resurrects the past and makes those long dead live 
 
 again. 
 
 The history of a country is only the biography of her great 
 
 men, and the history of Palestine — and we might say of 
 
 the entire Christian world — forever swings, like planets 
 
 'round a central sun, about the memory of the Man of 
 
 Sorrows. 
 
 References such as that of a miraculous star that appeared 
 
 in the East and guided certain wise men to the stable 
 
 where the young child lay, need not now be considered 
 
 seriously. The star was conjured forth by an astrologer 
 
 and not by an astronomer. Since Copernicus put the 
 
 astrologers out of the society of astronomers, stories of 
 
jforetootb Hi 
 
 t i 
 
 vagrant stars, seen by a few, or sent as a sign," have 
 no place in science. When men believed that stars were 
 God's jewels, hung in the heavens by angels to amaze 
 men and magnify God's power in their sight, such stories 
 were not unusual. Even yet they surely have a place in 
 that great museum of strange and curious things in which 
 men, in civilization's dawn, have implicitly believed. 
 Belief or disbelief in dryads, naiads, witches, ghosts, devils, 
 angels, gnomes, fairies, men with one parent, and women 
 with none, will not fix for us our place in eternity, and 
 should not in society here and now. 
 
 Vagrant stars would do violence to astronomy ; the laws 
 of the Universe, unfailing, unchanging, are the true 
 miracle, and not their capricious undoing to suit trivial 
 circumstances. The theology of the past, which admitted 
 the miraculous, limited God's power in that it made Him 
 subject to anger, whim, mood, notion and caprice. 
 He changeth not, and in Him there is no variableness 
 nor shadow of turning. 
 

 
W$t jUan of &orroto$ 
 
 HE town of Nazareth 
 where Jesus grew up 
 to manhood has now 
 about four thousand 
 people. At that time 
 it had, probably, but 
 half this number. It is 
 situated in a beautiful 
 fertile valley in Galilee 
 in the northern part of 
 Palestine & There are 
 great towering mountains above and beyond, 
 green at the base, and growing rocky and 
 rugged as you ascend & In this vicinity was 
 the home of the Shulamite maiden, of whom 
 Solomon sung. Solomon gives us glimpses of 
 this beautiful valley — the pomegranates and 
 the figs, the maize and the melons, the swaying 
 corn-flowers, the many-hued morning-glories 
 that clambered over the simple cottages, the 
 shepherds and their flocks, the kine on the 
 hills and the goats that leaped from rock to 
 rock & & 
 
 Much of the country has now grown arid, 
 and as the years have passed, Islam has left it 
 desolate. The giant cedars of Lebanon, that 
 once towered toward the sun and tossed their 
 
12 {Efte jWan of &orrotog 
 
 branches in defiance to the storm, are gone, 
 but even yet the gardens in the springtime are 
 fresh and green, and the foothills above the 
 town and the valleys below laugh in glee with 
 their carpet of flow r ers. 
 
 On the west is Mount Carmel, that lifts a 
 jagged front against the sky, like a great stone 
 face ; and in the early morning when the wind 
 blows in with messages from the sea, great white 
 clouds of mist reel and roll up the mountain 
 side like drunken giants. Down the valley one 
 catches glimpses of Endor where once lived a 
 terrible witch ; beyond is Mount Tabor ; to the 
 north is Mount Hermon, rich in story and 
 legend. To the south lies the desert of Judea, 
 desolate and wind-swept, and the rocky road 
 that winds in and out among the barren sands, 
 loses itself like a thread, on to Jerusalem, two 
 days' journey, or sixty miles away. 
 Above the town on the little plateau sleeps 
 Mary the mother of Jesus ; in a near-by tomb 
 rests the d^st of Joseph the honest carpenter, 
 his foster-father, side by side with thousands 
 of simple Nazarenes who to us are nameless. 
 QThe square little stone houses, mostly of 
 one room, are there about as they were two 
 thousand years ago — the same narrow streets, 
 
{Efte JWan of &orrotog is 
 
 the winding alleys where the brown, barefoot 
 children frolic, just as when the little son of 
 Mary played and romped, or wandered over 
 the grassy slopes, climbed the rugged rocks, 
 or waded in the little stream that the freshets 
 of summer transformed, to the delight of the 
 children, into a rushing torrent. 
 In Nazareth there is no court of fashion, no 
 famed schools where scholars teach, no wealth 
 nor flaunting equipage. The synagogue is only 
 a barren stone structure, devoid of ornament, 
 somewhat larger than the largest of the houses. 
 Q The poverty of the place, however, is more 
 apparent than real, for this, we must remember, 
 is a land where little is needed. Here there is 
 no struggle to maintain life, nor is there strife 
 for place and power. The winter is short and 
 not severe, and very much of the time the 
 entire family lives out of doors. The women 
 grind their corn at the mills, milk their goats, 
 tend their gardens, look after the climbing 
 trumpet-flowers, and carry their talljugs to the 
 public well. The men work at weaving, at 
 simple blacksmithing, carpentering ; mend the 
 stone walls, and now and then help in the 
 construction of a new house, built just like 
 the rest. There is plenty, for wants are few, 
 
14 W<)t jttan of gmrrotog 
 
 and in the evening, old men sit on the benches 
 of stone and gravely talk. 
 Around the memories of men of power, who 
 write their names large on history's page, 
 myth and legend weave their garlands in the 
 endeavor to add lustre to the fame that does 
 not need their aid, and "seven towns struggle 
 for the honor of being their birthplace." 
 The legend that Jesus was born at Bethlehem 
 evolved into being many years after his death. 
 David was born in this Judean village, and the 
 prophecy that when he was reincarnated he 
 would again be born there, was made by the 
 Prophet Micah. The "taxing" mentioned 
 occurred ten years after the death of Herod, 
 and both Matthew and Luke state that the 
 birth of Jesus took place during the reign of 
 Herod. Besides, in going to Jerusalem, Joseph 
 and Mary must pass out of their way to reach 
 Bethlehem — this town being directly south of 
 Jerusalem, while Nazareth is directly north. 
 G, In any event, the mere locality of a man's 
 birth is not vital, and counts for little. All agree 
 that the stay at Bethlehem was very short, 
 and that Nazareth was the childhood home of 
 Jesus. During his life, and long afterward, he 
 was spoken of as "the Nazarene." 
 
Wl)t ifflan of &orrotos; 15 
 
 The Romans never issued any order to kill all 
 children under two years old. Such an order 
 at the time of Christ would have been as absurd 
 as if issued now in Canada. The Romans at 
 the time Christ was born were sticklers for law ; 
 and Herod nor any other Roman governor 
 ever gave an order to kill children under any 
 conditions. 
 
 The myths and legends of this man's birth 
 are trivial, childish and unimportant. 
 The real questions that interest us are : Who 
 was this wonderful and unselfish individual ? 
 What did he strive to do ? 
 What did he accomplish ? 
 ^■K^^HE parents of Jesus were simple, 
 m\ earnest, and intelligent people — 
 
 A neither rich nor poor, without titles, 
 
 ^C J position or proud pedigree. 
 
 Jesus never called himself the 
 "Son of David," and the attempt to make 
 him the pretender to the Jewish Throne, by 
 giving him an unbroken pedigree from David, 
 was evidently worked out by sectarians who 
 did not believe in or had never heard of his 
 miraculous birth. 
 
 The line of David had died out centuries before, 
 and most of the men named by Matthew and 
 

 is 3Ef)e jHan of &orrotog 
 
 Luke as progenitors of Jesus, evidently never 
 had any existence outside of their own lively 
 imaginations. Matthew and Luke do not agree 
 in their records. Mark climbs the genealogical 
 tree to David and there stops, but Luke in 
 his zeal follows the line clear to Adam and 
 then to God, to prove its purity. 
 If Joseph had been the direct heir to the 
 Jewish Throne he doubtless would have known 
 it and told of it. In his community he would 
 have been a marked man. Neither the high 
 priests of Jewry, Herod, nor the rulers of 
 Rome knew of any lineal descendants of King 
 David, and none such could have escaped them 
 if they had existed. Besides this, the entire 
 Christian faith is built upon the declaration 
 that Joseph was not a blood relative of Jesus. 
 According to the record, Joseph was a simple, 
 honest, unpretentious man of middle age. 
 Before Joseph and Mary entered upon their 
 married life, Joseph discovered that Mary was 
 ere long to become a mother. It seems also that 
 Joseph was on the point of putting his wife 
 away, but something in his heart aroused his 
 better nature and he stood by the friendless 
 woman in spite of her disgrace. We have the 
 plain and undisputed record that Joseph denied 
 
Wbt ifflan of &orroto£ n 
 
 being the father of Jesus. So we thus have 
 
 three propositions : 
 
 One : The declaration that Jesus had but one 
 
 parent. 
 
 Two : That Matthew and Luke, who gave a 
 
 royal line to Joseph, believed that Joseph was 
 
 the father of Jesus. 
 
 Three : The claim of Joseph that he was not 
 
 the father of Jesus, backed up by Mary herself, 
 
 and the presumption, therefore, that Mary had 
 
 some unknown lover. 
 
 From what we know of biology, and by the 
 
 exercise of our knowledge as rational beings, 
 
 we are compelled to discard the hypothesis in 
 
 Number One. 
 
 In the light of the disavowal of both Joseph 
 
 and Mary, and the uncorroborated claim of 
 
 royal pedigree, we must also discard Number 
 
 Two as untenable. 
 
 This leaves only Number Three with which to 
 
 deal. And since Mary herself, the mother of 
 
 Jesus, corroborates Joseph in the statement 
 
 that Joseph was not his parent, we are forced 
 
 to assume that the father of her child was an 
 
 unknown lover of Mary who deserted her at 
 
 the critical moment, and thus forever forfeited 
 
 his claim on immortality. 
 
is gTfte jfflan of g>orrotog 
 
 Of all men who have blundered, no man ever 
 blundered more or worse. Oblivion now has 
 swallowed him, where otherwise he might 
 have worn a crown of glory. 
 When confronted and questioned, Mary would 
 not name her lover, but took refuge in the 
 naive statement, "An angel visited me in a 
 dream! " 
 
 It is the answer that loving woman has given 
 since time began ,£&> No sweeter and more 
 touching reply was ever given by motherhood 
 when attacked by coarse, leering brutality: 
 44 An angel visited me in a dream." Beyond 
 this she would not speak. To her the matter 
 was sacred, and the hearts of all good men and 
 women, everywhere, must go out to her in 
 love and sympathy. 
 
 No judge, no jury, no lawyer can in the face 
 of the facts, say anything else than this: "We 
 do not know who was the father of Jesus." 
 Q However, the word g ' illegitimate ' ' is not 
 in God's vocabulary; but if its use is ever 
 admissible, it should be applied wholly to the 
 defective, the incompetent, the degenerate, 
 the non-cogibund, and never to the brave, the 
 beautiful, the radiant, the unselfish and the 
 intelligent. C£ Says Ernst Hasckel : 
 
Wot iHan of &orroto$ io 
 
 The dogma of the immaculate conception seems, perhaps, 
 to be less audacious and significant than the dogma of the 
 infallibility of the pope. Yet not only the Roman hierarchy, 
 but even some of the orthodox Protestants (the Evangelical 
 Alliance, for instance) attach great importance to this 
 thesis. What is known as the immaculate oath " — that 
 is, the confirmation of faith by an oath taken on the 
 immaculate conception of Mary — is still regarded by 
 millions of Christians as a sacred obligation. Comparative 
 and critical theology has recently shown that this myth 
 has no greater claim to originality than most of the other 
 stories in the Christian mythology ; it has been borrowed 
 from older religions, especially Buddhism. Similar myths 
 were widely circulated in India, Persia, Asia Minor, and 
 Greece several centuries before the birth of Christ. 
 Whenever a king's unwedded daughter, or some other 
 maid of high degree, gave birth to a child, the father w T as 
 always pronounced to be a god, or a demi-god; in the 
 Christian case it was the Holy Ghost. 
 The special endowments of mind or body which often 
 distinguish these children of love" above the ordinary 
 offspring were thus partly explained by E heredity." 
 Distinguished sons of God" of this kind were held in 
 high esteem both in antiquity and during the Middle Ages, 
 while the moral code of modern civilization reproaches 
 them with their want of honorable parentage. This applies 
 even more forcibly to ' daughters of God," though the poor 
 maidens are just as little to blame for their want of a father. 
 For the rest, every one who is familiar with the beautiful 
 mythology of classical antiquity knows that these sons 
 and daughters of the Greek and Roman gods often 
 approach nearest to the highest ideal of humanity. 
 
20 z\)t jflan o( gorrjgj 
 
 ^^Bfc^ESUS had sisters who grew up and 
 
 _f l were married at Nazareth. He also 
 
 J had brothers. For them he had little 
 
 ^1 m regard — family ties were nothing to 
 
 f^p/ him. Like all men over whose birth 
 
 there is a cloud, he recognized only 
 
 the kinship of the spirit. So we hear of his 
 
 asking almost contemptuously, "Who is my 
 
 brother?" He had two cousins, sons of Mary 
 
 Cleophas, sister of his mother, who were very 
 
 much attached to him, and called themselves 
 
 "the brothers of our Lord." His earnest, 
 
 thoughtful ways set him apart from the rest 
 
 and he was regarded as strange and different. 
 
 They did not understand him — they could not 
 
 — and evidently had little faith in his unusual, 
 
 strange and peculiar ways. 
 
 ^■■j^ HE word Galilee means "mixed." 
 
 M It was evidently so used because 
 
 ■ of the extremely varied population 
 
 ^^_ J which inhabited the province. 
 
 There were Egyptians, Syrians, 
 Greeks and Jews — the latter being somewhat 
 in the majority. Many were reckoned as Jews 
 who had simply married into Jewish families ; 
 for a Gentile to become a Jew, no particular 
 rite was required. The assumption is that Jesus 
 
Cfte jHan of &orrotog 21 
 
 was a Jew by birth, yet of Mary's genealogy 
 we know nothing, and of course, we are also 
 ignorant of the unknown father of Jesus. That 
 Jesus did not have the fixed and idolatrous 
 regard for the Jewish Laws that the orthodox 
 Jew had, we know full well. He quite often 
 disregarded the laws openly and encouraged 
 his disciples to do the same, spurning the old 
 rules, giving them commandments of his own 
 for their guidance. 
 
 Joseph treated the boy as his own, kindly and 
 gently, and brought him up to be useful ; to wait 
 on himself; to respect his elders and to do good 
 work. He learned the carpenter's trade which 
 then included that of the stone-mason, working 
 side by side with Joseph. Doubtless Jesus was 
 also a pupil at the village school taught by the 
 "hazzan," or schoolmaster, who was really 
 the janitor of the synagogue, which served 
 both as schoolhouse and temple. 
 The children were taught to read by reciting 
 in concert, repeating over and over again the 
 same thing. This method of teaching was in 
 general operation, even in America, up to 
 within a very few years ago. 
 This bright, active, and impressionable boy 
 learned by hearing the older ones recite ; by 
 
22 grije jflatt of &orrotog 
 
 listening to Joseph and the neighbors as they 
 sat and discussed the Law and the Prophets 
 after the day's work was done; from the 
 chance visitors who came along at times ; and 
 from the peddlers who carried their curious 
 wares and trinkets for the women-folk. 
 Nazareth was not a pagan town like Caesarea, 
 where the Roman politicians lived and Greek 
 learning had taken root. Evidently Jesus knew 
 nothing of Greek culture, but he did know 
 something of Buddhism. Where he got this 
 knowledge we do not know — it is probable 
 that he evolved it, for ideas are in the air, and 
 belong to all who can appropriate them; or 
 some traveler might have let fall the seeds by 
 the wayside. 
 
 In towns like Nazareth there was no caste — 
 all one person knew belonged to the rest. The 
 conversation was full and free. And that this 
 boy with his thoughtful ways and his thirst 
 to know, and all of his fine energy, absorbed 
 ideas on every hand there is no doubt. He 
 knew all that the best in the place knew, and 
 all he himself knew besides. 
 Like all country boys he was familiar with the 
 birds of the air, the lilies of the field, and the 
 foxes that made their holes beneath the rocks. 
 
Wbt jflan of &orrotog 23 
 
 Q The lake, exaggeratedly called the Sea of 
 Galilee, twelve miles long and seven wide, was 
 only a few miles away, and there he used to go 
 with his companions to fish ; so the process of 
 fishing and the handling of boats was to him 
 familiar. He grew to be very fond of these 
 fisher- folk who lived along the lake. They were 
 strong, hardy, companionable men with the 
 dash of the hero in them. 
 Jesus was not an educated person in our sense of 
 the word, and this is most fortunate. Learning 
 tames and dilutes a man ; he grows to reverence 
 authorities and things that are dead, and so he 
 gradually loses his own God-given heritage of 
 self-reliance. A reformer must of a necessity 
 be more or less ignorant. In fact, the finest 
 nobility is only possible in a man who has 
 never had a teacher — who acknowledges no 
 authority but the God within. As a general 
 proposition, ignorance and isolation are both 
 necessary in the equipment of the supremely 
 great who are to mold the minds of men and 
 break up the firm ankylosis of social habit, 
 fixed thought and ossified custom. Learning 
 hesitates and defers, but ignorance is bold. 
 Originality is not a thing that is fostered by the 
 schools — a statement that requires no proof. 
 
24 gTfte jHan of &orrotog 
 
 Q Some of the words of Jesus are paraphrases 
 from Buddha Siddhartha, but these were old 
 maxims, floating free, known in all countries, 
 and repeated from mouth to mouth by men of 
 a certain temperament. 
 
 A Jewish rabbi by the name of Hillel, some 
 years before had uttered aphorisms much like 
 those which Jesus repeated ; and Philo, a most 
 earnest young Jew, had spoken words of love 
 and tenderness in similar speech. But there is 
 no reason to believe that Jesus ever knew of 
 Buddha, Hillel or Philo, save as the wisdom 
 of these had passed into the current coin of 
 thought. Strong men of similar type, placed 
 in certain circumstances, will come to similar 
 conclusions. On truth there is no copyright. 
 Q With the Hebrew Prophets, Jesus very early 
 became familiar by hearing them read in the 
 synagogue, and in fact it was in reciting from 
 the Prophets that he learned to read. Isaiah 
 was especially interesting to him. The Book 
 of Daniel and the account of the Captivity of 
 the Jews by Nebuchadnezzar impressed him 
 greatly. He read with vivid interest the story 
 of those earnest young Hebrews who trod in 
 safety the fiery furnace, and of Daniel in the 
 lion's den. The wild wailing and the torrent 
 
&fje Jltan of &orroto* 25 
 
 of pathetic eloquence of Jeremiah shook his 
 boyish frame. The splendid dreams for the 
 future, and the hot invective toward those who 
 blocked the way to the realization of the Jewish 
 Utopia, filled his heart. Jesus read and re-read 
 the visions of Enoch, and the prophecies of 
 a coming Messiah took a firm hold upon his 
 impressionable nature. He read of how political 
 revolutions were to occur, nation w r ould rise 
 against nation, family against family, and at 
 last the Messiah was to unite the faithful and 
 lead them out of their poverty and woes, out 
 from the captivity of their enemies, bringing 
 them into peace, prosperity and plenty. 
 Jesus knew of Caesar, but beyond this Roman 
 history was to him a blank. He knew nothing 
 of the peace Augustus had brought about, but 
 supposed the nations of the earth had little 
 occupation beyond fighting each other. He 
 believed political power was for persecution ; 
 that governments w r ere simply institutions for 
 undoing the people ; that taxation was robbery, 
 and that the rich were lecherous gourmands, 
 devoid of pity and dead to shame, a dangerous, 
 selfish class whose amusement was oppression. 
 0[ His own people were very lowly, all of his 
 friends and companions were simple people, the 
 
** W$t jtlan of g>orrotog 
 
 fisher- folk he occasionally visited were poor. 
 Poverty grew to him to be a sort of virtue 
 and wealth a crime. The fierce imprecations 
 of Isaiah toward the false priests, meachers, 
 lawyers and skulking hypocrites found easy 
 lodgment in his heart, and to be rich and a 
 hypocrite were to him synonymous. 
 Even at the early age of twelve we find he 
 was so self-reliant in his thinking, so fearless 
 of opposition, so indifferent to precedent, 
 that on a trip to Jerusalem with his parents, 
 he forgot the booths and bazaars, the music 
 and processions, and going into the Temple, 
 engaged the learned, gray-haired Doctors in 
 an earnest theological dispute, probably very 
 much to their astonishment, if not amusement. 
 JB^HE feeling of sublimity was early 
 £ developed in Jesus, a soaring sense 
 
 I I of expansion and power. There are 
 
 ^^^ J very many who go through life 
 and never know anything of this 
 higher existence, when the heavens appear 
 to open and truth comes to us without the 
 medium of books and teachers. 
 The love emotions do not have to be taught 
 — they are not imparted — they spring out of 
 our nature when the time is ripe, and we feel 
 
QTfje Jttan of isxjrroto* W 
 
 and know. So there is a sense of Divinity that 
 comes to certain men — they feel their kinship 
 with God — the Universal Life flows through 
 them, and they realize they are instruments 
 of Deity. This is what may be termed Natural 
 religion — religion given by Nature — a religion 
 sent from God. It is different from a dogmatic 
 belief that is explained to us by a man who 
 has thought it all out for us, and who had it 
 explained to him by some one else. That 
 quality of the mind which constructs creeds, 
 argues fine points, and logically proves or 
 syllogistically disposes, will spread its own 
 withering aridity and dry up the fountain of 
 the soul. Spirituality is seldom the possession 
 of those who profess it, and culture ever eludes 
 those who stealthily pursue her as a business. 
 Q Suppose lovers were required to explain why 
 they love and believe in each other — could 
 they do it ? 
 
 Natural religion is a matter of the heart; a 
 great welling emotion of love and gratitude — 
 an overwhelming desire to give, benefit and 
 bless all mankind. 
 
 Man-made religion is a question of theology 
 — a matter of the head, and has fear as its 
 base, not faith. Theology is a clutch for power; 
 
28 grfje iHan of g>orroto* 
 
 but love is a desire to give, benefit and bless. 
 Q, This high sense of kinship with the Divine 
 came to Jesus at adolescence. No doubt the 
 children of the street informed him concerning 
 the peculiarities of his birth, for a little town, 
 of Oriental cast, especially, is only a big family, 
 and everybody knows everybody else's history 
 in minutest detail. Jesus had, while but a 
 child, asked his mother about his birth, and 
 she had satisfied him w r ith the very natural 
 explanation, "You are the son of God.'' 
 This calm, serious youth with the big, open, 
 wondering eyes, had not forgotten the remark 
 — he had repeated it to other children on the 
 street and repeated it to himself. Some of the 
 children had laughed, others had gone home 
 and told their parents, and as Jesus grew older 
 he held himself aloof from the rest somew r hat 
 moodily. He possessed great pride, and his 
 fine intellect of itself set him apart from the 
 swarms of Syrian youngsters who frolicked 
 and fought in the gutters of Nazareth. 
 At the synagogue he could read before any of 
 his playmates could — he could read alone, but 
 the other children had to read in concert or not 
 at all. There were no priests in these village 
 synagogues, simply the hazzan or caretaker and 
 
Wi)t ittan of gxjrrotog 29 
 
 the readers. These readers were volunteers 
 and were not paid anything for their services. 
 By a sort of natural selection, however, the 
 man of intellect and purpose gravitated to the 
 reading desk, and the hazzan, who had charge 
 of the sacred rolls, would unlock the little 
 closet where these precious documents were 
 kept, and hand to the reader the book desired 
 for that particular service. 
 Very early in life Jesus had acquired the habit 
 of entering the synagogue on the Sabbath 
 day, and reading aloud to the little company 
 from the scrolls, expounding the Scriptures as 
 he read, and commenting on them. 
 It is somewhat curious that where children are 
 taught to read by repeating the alphabet in 
 concert and reading aloud together, there are 
 some who really never learn to read at all. 
 People with abnormal memories often have 
 very mediocre intellects. The story-tellers and 
 reciters of the East, and those whom one 
 meets at times in the by-ways of Europe, 
 very often cannot read. Blind people have 
 much better verbal memories than those who 
 can see. To read and write carries with it a 
 penalty — in degree you lose your memory. 
 Q So in Palestine there were very many who 
 
30 fflje jWan of &orrotog 
 
 went to school and learned to read in concert, 
 who, when their school-days were past, never 
 again looked at a book, and soon they were 
 absolutely illiterate, having forgotten all save 
 the few things that they had memorized. 
 Hence, the man who kept up his reading 
 practice was the exception, there being no 
 books in these poor villages, save those that 
 the hazzan so jealously guarded. And we can 
 easily imagine that if a person could not read 
 well, the hazzan, feeling the importance and 
 responsibility of his position, would refuse to 
 entrust him with the scrolls. 
 Jesus read remarkably well, because he had 
 intellect, backed up by a noble and beautiful 
 spirit. Expression is a matter of mind, and 
 the voice is the index of the soul. The person 
 who understands what he reads and through 
 whom emotion spontaneously plays, has a 
 fine, expressive and vibrant voice. It is tone 
 that tells, not words. Jesus was affected by 
 the tones of the people and often spoke of 
 this, once telling how the sheep knew the voice 
 of the shepherd and came at his call, and how 
 we were moved by the voices of those we 
 loved and in whom we had confidence. 
 Through this continued habit of reading aloud 
 
GTfje iflan of ^orrotos; 31 
 
 and expounding the Scriptures, there grew up 
 in the little villages of Cana, Nazareth and 
 Capernaum an increasing regard for the young 
 man, and they addressed him Rabbi, Teacher 
 or Master. 
 
 HILE Jesus was yet a child, 
 Joseph died, and Mary moved 
 with her little brood to Cana, 
 about seven miles away. She 
 had kinsmen in Cana, and she 
 hoped to better her material condition by the 
 change. Mary, evidently, was a woman of 
 considerable strength of mind and decision. 
 She was the head of the household, and long 
 after Jesus had grown to manhood he was 
 called "the Son of Mary." Noble as he was, 
 Jesus did not overshadow the mother who 
 bore him. Cana was not nearly so pleasantly 
 situated as Nazareth, and was only about half 
 its size. It was at Cana that Jesus manifested 
 first, in a public way, his religious power. 
 This exaltation of spirit is essentially the mark 
 of genius, and it might also be truthfully stated 
 that when carried to an extreme it is the mark 
 of insanity. All sublime poems, great pictures 
 and marvelous musical compositions have been 
 produced in this mood of uplift and ecstasy. 
 
32 ffije Jfflan of &orrotog 
 
 Doubtless most people have spasms of insight, 
 but to hold the mood and utilize it in oratory 
 or any other form of art is the distinguishing 
 symbol of greatness. Those who are uniformly 
 wise are very commonplace. 
 Religious fervor or ecstasy is a secondary sex 
 manifestation; what is known as the artistic 
 impulse is a variant of the same mood. Both 
 are highly creative, and by their spell other 
 minds are uplifted and vitalized. 
 The man sees, knows, does, and very often he 
 cannot give reasons, or explain how or why. 
 This ecstasy of faith, hope, uplift and sublime 
 strength is highly contagious, and sick people 
 — those with nervous disorders — coming under 
 its influence, are often made to stand erect, 
 unsupported, leap with joy — and are well. 
 Cf Thoughtful physicians know and admit the 
 wonderful effects of mind upon mind, and of 
 mind over matter. Most physical ills proceed 
 from disordered imagination, and in passing, 
 it may be well to state this fact : Imagination 
 is the most intensely real and actual thing 
 of which we know. The pains and sorrows of 
 the imagination are the only real ones, and all 
 the joys and delights of men are matters of 
 spirit. All appetites, with their attractions and 
 
QTfte Jfflan of &orroto£ M 
 
 revulsions, are matters of the imagination. 
 fl£ The extent to which one highly imaginative 
 individual of sterling purity of purpose and 
 sublime power may benefit the weary, the 
 weak, the depressed, the sorely stricken and 
 the sick, we do not yet know. But the cures 
 and benefits are not miraculous — they are all 
 under some distinct, invariable Law which as 
 yet we imperfectly understand. It is part of 
 the great Unknown. 
 
 The belief that the Spirit of God w r as acting 
 through him, came to Jesus as an actual, living 
 fact. He read and re-read the story of Daniel, 
 and he noted how this brave young man kept 
 himself free from defilement by refusing to eat 
 the meat and drink the wine that the pagan 
 king had provided. And he resolved that he, 
 too, would keep his body pure. He would not 
 defile the Temple of the Most High by being 
 led into sensuality and a search for bodily 
 pleasure and gratification. 
 There is a fine tang in doing without things, 
 in living plainly, sleeping hard and scorning 
 the soft and luxurious. The ascetic gets his 
 gratification by having spirit rule the flesh, 
 instead of flesh ruling spirit. 
 In his moods of fervor Jesus felt that indeed 
 
34 qrfjc Jflan of &orrotog 
 
 he was the Son of God. All people who can 
 catch a glimpse into this higher life of the 
 spirit come to this conclusion, that all is One. 
 There is only one Source of life and we are all 
 partakers of it. Yet there are many degrees of 
 life, and we hear of Jesus urging his followers 
 to have "life in abundance.' We are all Sons 
 of God, and we come close to our Father as 
 we seek to ascertain and do His bidding. 
 AVhen we truly pray, "Thy will be done,'' 
 then we are bringing about a heaven now — 
 His Kingdom upon Earth. 
 This desire to do the will of God became the 
 controlling impulse in the life of Jesus — he 
 would live humbly, truthfully and earnestly, 
 and being in communication with God, he 
 would get his instruction directly from Him 
 and not through the Jewish Law. He thought 
 of God actually as his Father, and as a loving 
 father would lead, instruct and direct his child, 
 so would God lead and direct him. 
 The Kingdom must be gained, not by making 
 war on the established order, but by accepting 
 it, paying taxes to Csesar, making the best of 
 outward environment by submitting to it, and 
 then conquering through this sublime ecstasy 
 of the soul that raises one clear above the dross 
 
GTije ita of &orroto£ 35 
 
 of earth and the rust and dust of time. "Lay 
 not up for yourselves treasures on earth." The 
 continued habit of pure thinking and simple 
 living brings a reward beyond the value of 
 gold, lands and barns. And this wealth of the 
 soul endures. 
 
 He had felt the richness of the loving heart 
 that asks for nothing, wants nothing, envies 
 no man, that never resents, which accepts all 
 — sublimely rich and satisfied in doing the 
 will of God ! 
 
 4 ' The Kingdom of God is within you, ' ' he said. 
 G£ The Prophets had continually told of a 
 Messiah who would come and lead the Jews 
 out of the rule of the pagans and unite them 
 in a great, happy and prosperous family. 
 It came to Jesus with a thrill and a throb that 
 he himself might be this Messiah! But the 
 more he thought of an earthly kingdom — 
 a place where the Jews might be gathered 
 together — the more impossible it seemed to 
 bring such a matter about. The first attempt 
 would lead straight to an armed resistance on 
 the part of the established order — the priests, 
 scribes, publicans and all other officers of the 
 government. He therefore easily came to the 
 sensible conclusion that the Kingdom of God 
 
36 gTfte JWan of &orrotog 
 
 was a matter of the spirit. Again and again he 
 says, fc% Blessed are the pure in heart." 
 Jesus reverenced and had faith in his inmost 
 convictions, because he believed these came 
 directly from God. He believed that if he 
 were absolutely honest, simple, direct, and 
 unselfish in his thoughts and acts, speaking 
 as his Father directed, then indeed would he 
 reflect the will of God and bring about the 
 Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. 
 Thus would he be the long-looked-for Messiah. 
 Q In general intent the idea of Jesus was 
 expressed by Confucius, five hundred years 
 before, when he said: "Be free from desire, 
 lust, greed and wrath ; be tranquil, unaffected 
 by pain or pleasure, praise or censure, honor or 
 dishonor; be moderate; treat friend and foe 
 alike ; utter only such speech as shall cause no 
 sorrow ; be true, agreeable, beneficent and you 
 shall govern the world.' ' 
 
 Contemporaneous with Confucius there lived 
 Gautama who expressed practically the same 
 t truths in the ' ' Eight-fold Path of Peace. ' ' The 
 plea was for cleanliness, kindness, sobriety, 
 purity and cheerfulness, and the belief was 
 that these things would lead to a happier 
 reincarnation and at last to blessed Nirvana. 
 
QTfje ittan of g>orroto£ 37 
 
 HEN Jesus came to believe that 
 the firm character of Daniel 
 came from his purity of purpose 
 and his absolute reliance on 
 God; that freedom to every 
 man arrives when he deserves it; and that 
 the Kingdom of God was not in the far-off 
 future, but here and now, if we would but 
 cease striving and become as little children, 
 and enter in, a great load was lifted from his 
 heart. 
 
 It was n't a matter of strife and struggle — no, 
 it was just letting go, living lightly, easily, 
 naturally in faith and love, confidence and hope. 
 C£ A great light had come to him — he would 
 overcome through affection and not through 
 resistance & "Resist not evil" — he would 
 conquer by yielding — violence begets violence, 
 force begets force, and love begets love. In his 
 soul he felt a great and abiding peace, and this 
 peace was tokened in his gentleness, his sweetly 
 modulated voice, and the light that illumined 
 his soul shone out eloquently through his calm^ 
 and lustrous eyes. 
 
 He wanted nothing and to want nothing is to 
 possess all. If we want nothing and have 
 nothing that others can take away from us, 
 
38 {Efte jflan of &otTotog 
 
 we are unafraid. Perfect love casteth out fear. 
 Q At this time Jesus had no disciples, and had 
 founded no sect nor school. He moved in and 
 out among the people freely — he talked little, 
 but his silence was eloquent. The loungers, 
 awed, moved out of his way as he passed, but 
 the children, recognizing in him one in whom 
 there was neither fear nor reason for fear, 
 clung to his hands and robe and came and 
 seated themselves on his knees while he sat. 
 G, This sweetness, gentleness and strength, 
 especially appealed to women. Women are 
 instinctively on their guard against the selfish, 
 gluttonous man. But the self-contained man 
 who makes no demands upon them; who in 
 degree is indifferent to them; who can do 
 without them ; who is without passion, having 
 mastered passion, and therefore is not passion's 
 slave, such a one always attracts women before 
 he attracts men. All good women seek the 
 man they can trust — one in whom they can 
 believe. 
 
 And so through the winning gentleness of 
 Jesus, his poise, his unselfishness, his high 
 intellect, there grew up about him a little 
 company who followed him, finding peace in 
 his presence. If he read and spoke in the 
 
Cfte jtlan of &orrotog 39 
 
 synagogue in the morning they would all be 
 present ; and if it were known that he was to 
 speak in some neighboring village later in the 
 day, a goodly group of women and children, 
 and men as well, would follow him. 
 Once we hear of his riding a mule that was 
 supplied by some well-to-do admirer, and the 
 children in playful mood ran ahead and strewed 
 palms in the way, and doubtless the young 
 man smiled upon them kindly. And surely 
 the smile from such a one was reward enough. 
 C£ Jesus had absolutely no sympathy with a 
 paid, professional priesthood. He thought the 
 intermediary quite needless and unnecessary 
 — and worse, it was the sure undoing of the 
 intermediary, for such a one at once began to 
 take honors to himself, and to inwardly say, 
 1 ' I am holier than thou. ' ' 
 At Jerusalem he had seen the Pharisees, a 
 sect of the Jews, many of them wealthy and 
 powerful people, pray on public street corners. 
 This had offended his sense of fitness, and so 
 also had the badges, " phylacteries" and the 
 peculiar dress they wore to show their rank. 
 And so he sought to explain to the people 
 that God was spirit, and not a Governor or 
 Ruler, and we must worship Him in spirit and 
 
40 {Efte ifflan of g>orrototf 
 
 in truth. That is, the outward worship was 
 not worship at all — this falsehood and this 
 pretended piety was offensive to God. "When 
 thou prayest," he said to them, "be not like 
 the hypocrites who love to pray standing in 
 the synagogues and on corners of the streets, 
 that they may be seen of men. But thou, when 
 thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when 
 thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father, 
 who seeth in secret. ' ' 
 
 He did not regard himself alone as the Son of 
 God, but he spoke repeatedly of ' ' thy Father, ? ' 
 or "your Father," thus showing his belief in 
 a Universal Fatherhood. In fact, the exclusive 
 Son-of-God idea was not evolved until the 
 faith had been carried to Rome, where great 
 men gone were deified, and the descendants of 
 gods and virgins ruled as Emperors. 
 Physically Jesus was of medium height, slight 
 in form, with light complexion, blue eyes 
 and tawny hair. His power lay in the fact that 
 his body and mind were under almost perfect 
 control. Usually he talked but little. He was 
 a sympathetic listener — he seemed to give 
 himself to his hearers. This habit of self-control 
 — asking for nothing, giving all — is essentially 
 the symbol of great mental ability. The essence 
 
tEfte jtlan of gmrrotog 41 
 
 of power lies in reserve. The man who asks for 
 nothing and wants nothing, has everything. 
 We need Messiahs now just as much as they 
 did two thousand years ago — and more. Let 
 a man arise who believes in his own divinity; 
 who is filled with the spirit of love; who has 
 the yearning heart and unselfish soul, and men 
 will everywhere flock to his standard. Jesus 
 saw the truth without blinking; he wanted 
 nothing, and he had a complete indifference 
 toward social preferment; priestly precedents 
 were to him as naught. He expressed what he 
 believed, not simply what it was expedient to 
 state. 
 
 Men with a social position to maintain, with 
 political superiors to appease, and a mob of 
 retainers to satisfy are untruthful of necessity. 
 Simplicity and directness of speech and manner 
 are quite out of their province. 
 At first thought it seems strange that an 
 obscure man by being frank, direct, simple, 
 honest and unpretentious could set himself 
 apart from mankind, but one who has this 
 ability is practically without rivals — he has no 
 competitors. 
 
42 Cfte jllan of g>orrotog 
 
 3T must not be thought that Jesus 
 spent all of his time preaching and 
 in going from place to place. His 
 whole life was quiet and free from 
 undue excitement, excepting those 
 few weeks at the last. He was never more than 
 seventy-five miles from home, and was known, 
 comparatively, to but a few. Most of the time 
 he worked at his trade, often finding diversion 
 in dressing the vines, or helping gather the 
 clusters of grapes in the vineyards that dotted 
 the hillsides, thus assisting his neighbors in 
 their tasks. At other times he would tend the 
 flocks, and at night-time assist in housing the 
 sheep in the stone enclosures so they would be 
 safe against prowling wolves. 
 Preaching, therefore, was quite incidental to 
 him, although he talked with any or all who 
 showed a desire to know the truth. His life 
 was without worldly ambition. His desire was 
 to serve, and no useful task was alien to him. 
 This life of humility, simplicity and useful 
 effort, of truth and gentleness, he regarded as 
 the Godlike life. "Whosoever will save his life 
 shall lose it ; and whosoever will lose his life 
 for my sake shall find it," he said. The man 
 was not wholly indifferent to happiness, but he 
 
Wht jllan of &orrotog 43 
 
 knew a better way to secure it than to deprive 
 others of it or to clutch, strive and struggle 
 for it. Man's true wants are few and Nature is 
 bountiful ; if we love God and seek to do the 
 will of God, we should show it in our attitude 
 toward our neighbors, and all good things will 
 be added unto us. 
 
 This is a very beautiful religion and if followed 
 out by a majority, would surely redeem the 
 world; and after all our philosophizing, we 
 turn at last for rest to this gentle religion of 
 Jesus, so simple, yet so noble and true — the 
 religion of love and service. Here, only, do we 
 find rest for our souls. 
 
 O passed the years in peace and 
 plenty. Jesus was twenty-eight 
 years of age, in the very prime 
 of his early manhood, when the 
 quiet of his life was broken in 
 upon by the actions of a young man named 
 John, whose fame had gone throughout all 
 Palestine. 
 
 John was the son of Zacharias, a Jewish priest, 
 and was about the same age as Jesus. Their 
 mothers were cousins, and were acquainted 
 before their births, so it is quite likely that 
 the young men, too, knew each other as they 
 
44 {Efte Jttan of &orrotog 
 
 grew up. John was born at Hebron, a little 
 town about fifty miles from Nazareth, on the 
 border of the desert. His ideas as to asceticism 
 went clear beyond those of Jesus — he would 
 wander forth into the desert and live alone for 
 days, drinking out of the clefts of the rocks 
 and keeping himself from actual starvation by 
 eating locusts and wild honey. He dressed in 
 skins like a savage, discarding every comfort, 
 and when he came out of his hiding place and 
 approached a town, he would call aloud to the 
 people to repent and "flee from the wrath to 
 come." He seemed to be a reincarnation of 
 the Prophet Elijah, dressing like him, acting 
 like him, and talking like him. His prophecies 
 were especially severe on the rich and the 
 politicians, and he seemed to think that the 
 end of the world was about to come, and that, 
 indeed, the Children of Israel were soon to be 
 redeemed from the yoke of oppression and to 
 be brought together to live in peace and unity, 
 free from all bondage. 
 
 He himself was not to bring about this great 
 revolution — he was only preparing the way for 
 another who was to come soon, the latchet of 
 whose shoes he was not worthy to unloose. 
 Q, Such evangelists with an excess of zeal are 
 
qflbe Jfflan of &orrotog 45 
 
 not uncommon ; even in our day we have seen 
 a man claiming to be the Third incarnation of 
 Elijah. This modern prophet is not exactly 
 an ascetic, but like Elijah the First, he has 
 foretold much evil, and like John, warned 
 men to flee from some mysterious wrath, 
 John was essentially of the Yogi type, and his 
 power and earnestness sent a thrill of terror 
 through the people wherever he went. The 
 Jewish mind was quite prepared for such men 
 as John, having seen others of his kind, and 
 being already filled with the Messianic thought. 
 Cf Jesus had a peace and poise that John did 
 not possess. However, Jesus was powerfully 
 impressed by him. John called upon the people 
 to repent and to band themselves together, 
 and the symbol of this repentance was baptism 
 by immersion — a public renunciation and a 
 performance that all could see. 
 John had journeyed to within a few miles from 
 where Jesus was then staying, and Jesus 
 hearing of the excitement and sympathizing 
 with it to a degree, went with several of his 
 comrades to the river Jordan where John was 
 baptizing. 
 
 John did not have a scintilla of that beautiful 
 and gentle religion of Jesus — he was bold, 
 
46 {Stye Jllan of &ortotog 
 
 denunciatory, iconcolastic, threatening. But 
 the people he denounced were the very same 
 people whom Jesus inveighed against — the 
 Scribes, Pharisees and the professional priests 
 and politicians. So it will be seen there was a 
 natural bond of sympathy between John and 
 Jesus, and the difference in their methods and 
 manners was largely a matter of temperament. 
 C£ John, like all evangelists, called upon the 
 hearers to ' ' come forward, ' ' and in common 
 with many others present, Jesus accepted the 
 invitation, went forward, and was baptized. 
 Jesus did not think of rivaling John, nor did 
 he assert his superiority — he simply showed 
 that he was in sympathy with the zealot. 
 Yet he did not mix with the disciples of John 
 on an absolute equality ; he and his comrades 
 kept aloof and soon went their own way. But 
 John had profoundly impressed Jesus, and we 
 hear of Jesus imitating him, starting in soon 
 on his own account to baptize his converts. 
 Jesus saw that the plan of baptizing was a 
 good one — it was doing something positive, 
 and could not help giving the candidate a 
 thrill he would long remember. Such a form of 
 initiation has its psychic use with people of 
 moderate intellects — a simple spiritual change 
 
Wht ifflan of &orroto* 47 
 
 of thought and life is not enough — they want 
 to do something positive and pronounced. 
 And we can easily see how immersion would 
 impress the convert in a way that the modern, 
 attenuated manner of baptism by sprinkling 
 would not. 
 
 The nature of Jesus was essentially feminine 
 — he was sympathetic, impressionable and 
 easily moved towards imitation. Indeed, this 
 is the artistic type of character, and most of 
 us know the feeling of reading a great book 
 and wanting to write one just like it. When 
 preparing a speech, Webster used to read the 
 oration^ of Cicero to key his mind to the 
 proper pitch, and such a self-reliant man as 
 Robert Browning had a habit of beginning the 
 day by reading Shakespeare, that he might 
 get somewhat into the swing and stride of the 
 master. 
 
 Jesus now began to preach and baptize after 
 the manner of John. One was on the eastern 
 bank of the Jordan, the other on the western. 
 John had gotten along undisturbed while he 
 remained in Judea, as Pilate, the easy-going 
 Roman Procurator, was not inclined to dictate 
 to his people; instead he allowed them the 
 fullest liberty of expression, as he believed 
 
48 Cfte Jfflan of &orrotog 
 
 that all excesses tended to cure themselves. 
 But John had now invaded the province ruled 
 by Antipas Herod, a degenerate son of Herod 
 the Great. Antipas was a whimsical and weak 
 man, with an ambitious, robustious, violent 
 and turbulent helpmeet. This woman also had 
 a royal pedigree, and as far as we know she 
 never for a moment forgot it. She had a strong 
 bias for interference — and also a grown-up 
 daughter, Salome by name, born of a former 
 marriage. Salome was the child of her mother. 
 Many reports had come to Antipas, and his 
 interesting family, of John the Baptist, whose 
 fame was constantly growing ^ Men were 
 leaving their work, getting ready for the great 
 change that was soon to end the world, with 
 the coming of the Messiah. This of course 
 meant an end to Antipas. Excitement was in 
 the air ! Rumor was rife and great uneasiness 
 was apparent. 
 
 Personally the Governor was not disturbed as 
 to his own fate, but this religious excitement 
 was taking on a political complexion. We have 
 seen religious movements in America that gave 
 spasms of fear, perhaps not without reason, 
 to statesmen, so-called, in Washington. Very 
 seldom, indeed, do religious bodies keep clear 
 
Stye Jflan of &orrototf *o 
 
 of politics — they vote solidly. John inveighed 
 against the existing government — against all 
 governments — and he even went so far as to 
 seriously criticise the domestic relations of his 
 Governor or tetrarch. 
 
 Herodias had been the wife of Philip, brother 
 of the tetrarch. John condemned this second 
 marriage as indecent, wicked and contrary to 
 the laws of God, thereby bringing upon his 
 head the vindictive hatred of a revengeful 
 woman who possessed the power to punish — a 
 proceeding more dangerous than the mere 
 infraction of statutory law. John was as bitter, 
 sarcastic and severe towards Antipas and his 
 consort as Hamlet was towards his mother 
 and her husband, King Claudius. 
 This was really too much — John was arrested, 
 manacled and marched away to prison, and 
 his followers dispersed. 
 
 Jesus took warning and retired into the desert. 
 C£ Herodias and Salome had their way : John 
 the Baptist's biting tongue must be silenced. 
 There was only one way to do this, for even 
 in prison he talked and preached, exhorted, 
 calling upon men to repent, and sent messages 
 of encouragement to Jesus and others. There 
 is a legend that Salome made love to John, 
 
50 gfc jfflan of ftotrafag 
 
 but he repulsed her. CJ John was beheaded. 
 And so at last was his tongue silenced — his 
 lips dumb. 
 
 Shortly after this Jesus returned to Galilee, a 
 subdued and sorrowful man. 
 ^•^ EPRESSION is invariably the 
 Jk ▼ first ingredient in the recipe for 
 ^11 ^^ revolution. 
 
 ^ft fr-^L- Jesus did not long remain silent. 
 His new experiment had tended 
 to broaden his mind, deepen his nature and 
 intensify his thought. The execution of John 
 was a terrible thing — done by government — 
 his hatred for officialism was increased! In 
 all of this tragedy Jesus seemed to foresee the 
 sombre symbol of his own undoing. But he 
 was not dismayed. He would live his life — he 
 would speak the truth as he saw it — he would 
 express his inmost self ! 
 
 When he began once more to preach, it was 
 with a confidence and power of expression that 
 was before unknown to him. He talked now 
 to "the multitude," which probably means 
 several hundred people at a time, and in his 
 oratory there was plainly apparent a dash of 
 lofty scorn. 
 Like all men who are led largely by their 
 
tEfte jHan of &ortotog 51 
 
 feelings, his words were strangely inconsistent. 
 He spoke in parable. He argued submission 
 to the established order, yet rebuked those in 
 authority. He explained that his kingdom was 
 not of this world, but prophesied peace, now 
 and here, to the souls of such as would follow 
 him. He talked of glad tidings, and yet said 
 that the righteous would be persecuted. 
 " Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall 
 be comforted," but whether comforted here 
 or hereafter, he is not always sure. 
 The Old Testament contains no hint of future 
 rewards and punishments— the grave ends 
 all. If man is immortal the Hebrew Prophets 
 did not know it #&> Jesus believed in a life 
 after death, and urges his followers to lay up 
 treasures for themselves in heaven— that is, in 
 another world, where moth and rust do not 
 corrupt, nor where thieves break through and 
 
 steal & & 
 
 Jesus now boldly proclaimed himself the Son 
 of God, and said, "I and my Father are One. ' 
 O, Several of the followers of John had now 
 come to him, and these by their presence and 
 faith, if not in actual words, had inspired him 
 to take up the work of John the Baptist. John 
 had foretold the quick coming of the Messiah, 
 
52 Cfte jHan of &orrotog 
 
 and Jesus was now confident that he himself 
 was the "Son of Man," prophesied by Daniel, 
 who was to come and found a Kingdom and 
 who would judge the world and lead it out of 
 bondage. And by "bondage," Jesus meant 
 the bondage to custom, habit and sin — not 
 bondage to Rome. Yet for Rome he had not 
 a shadow of respect. 
 
 Jesus had now practically ceased to be a Jew 
 — he had gone far beyond that. He called all 
 men to repentance, not the Jews alone, and 
 deliberately placed his own commands above 
 those of the Hebrew Law. He had a way of 
 saying, "They have said unto you in olden 
 time, but I say unto you," # # # # # thus 
 revealing his implicit belief in himself and his 
 own divine mission. 
 
 He now lived at Capernaum, an important 
 village located on the shores of Lake Tiberias. 
 Here he had close personal friends and few 
 carping critics. He had gotten quite out of 
 conceit with the gossiping little hamlet of 
 Nazareth — he had tried to arouse that place, 
 but there he could do no " mighty work on 
 account of the unbelief of the people. " 
 Grave old men had shaken their heads and 
 stroked their beards as they asked, "Is not 
 
Cfre jfflan of g>orrotog 53 
 
 this Jesus, the Son of Mary ? Why, we knew 
 him when he was a youngster, playing in these 
 alleys and going with the shepherds to bring 
 in the lambs to the fold!" These old men 
 belonged to the great order of "We knew 
 him when ! ' ' 
 
 And Jesus repeated an old saying, "A prophet 
 is not without honor, save in his own country. " 
 At Capernaum he did not find this prejudice 
 that is the result of familiarity. He made his 
 home there with a prosperous and excellent 
 man called Zebedee, and all deference and 
 honor were paid him. Zebedee had two sons, 
 James and John, who especially believed in 
 Jesus and his divine mission and longed to 
 help him bring about this "New Jerusalem " 
 of which they heard. The mother of these 
 young men also had much faith in Jesus and 
 his mission, as we are told she once secretly 
 requested Jesus to reserve first places in heaven 
 for her two sons — one on his right and one on 
 his left hand — a beautiful and motherly request. 
 This John, the son of Zebedee, was only a 
 youth, but he was impressionable and full of 
 the spirit — gentle and clairvoyant by nature. 
 Jesus became much attached to him, although 
 neither then knew what an important part this 
 
54 Itye jflan of &orrotog 
 
 John, "the beloved disciple," would play in 
 placing the Gospel before the people of the 
 world & J> 
 
 Then there were two other brothers, sons of 
 one Jonas, by name Simon Peter and Andrew. 
 Peter was married and in his family lived his 
 wife's mother, who once was taken very sick, 
 and they sent for Jesus that she might be 
 cured of her illness. 
 
 These fishermen continued their regular work 
 while Jesus was with them, but we hear of 
 Jesus one day telling them that they would 
 better quit and go with him on an evangelizing 
 tour, and "I will make you fishers of men." 
 Q For Peter, especially, Jesus had the greatest 
 admiration. Peter was ten years or more older 
 than Jesus and of a very strong, sturdy type. 
 His name meant "the rock," and Jesus was 
 fond of playing upon the fitness of it. Peter 
 did not have a great amount of intellect or 
 insight; he was impulsive — usually doing his 
 thinking after he had spoken. He was of the 
 motive temperament and a natural leader of 
 the hardy, rough men of his class. Yet even 
 though he had small delicacy of spirit, he had 
 faith, which often answers the purpose of this 
 world better. Jesus lived at the home of Peter 
 
 
Wf&t jflan of &ortotog 55 
 
 part of the time, and used to borrow his boat 
 and preach from it to the people who gathered 
 along the shore. 
 
 Capernaum, Bethsaida and Magdala were only 
 a little way apart, and at all of these places 
 Jesus had many friends. At Magdala was a 
 woman named Mary who was known as the 
 Magdalene, for the same reason that Jesus was 
 called the Nazarene. This woman was to play 
 an important part in his history. Evidently 
 the Magdalene was a woman of much spirit, 
 but of a neurotic temperament & She had 
 suffered long from some nervous disorder, 
 which the simple villagers said came from her 
 "being possessed with devils' 5 — her reputation 
 being of a kind that doubtless made it easy for 
 her neighbors to believe in this devil theory. 
 Jesus was not afraid of having his reputation 
 smirched — he was a friend to the Magdalene. 
 C£ By his wonderful presence Jesus sent the 
 4 'devils ' ■ out of her nature, and she became 
 calm, poised and sane as she listened to the 
 words that fell from his gentle lips. 
 This territory where Jesus preached, we must 
 remember, was very limited in extent — the 
 entire distance he traversed being only about 
 fifteen or twenty miles and back. Jesus simply 
 
56 {Efje iWan of g>orroto$ 
 
 traversed through these simple little villages, 
 where the people supplied their few wants by 
 fishing, growing grapes and tending the flocks. 
 The world of economics, education, science, 
 politics and industry was absolutely unknown 
 to them. There were no post-offices, banks, 
 stores, or enterprises for public transportation ; 
 they knew nothing of geography, astronomy, 
 botany, and little of history ; the problems of 
 labor and capital were unguessed. They planted 
 little gardens, plucked the ripe fruits, ate the 
 melons, trod out the grapes for wine, drew 
 their nets, looked after the flocks, and wore 
 their simple home-made garments. They did 
 not travel. 
 
 They knew nothing of the size of the world, 
 its evolution, nor of the people who inhabited 
 it beyond a two-days' journey from their 
 homes. They were children who ate when they 
 were hungry, slept when they were sleepy and 
 worked a little when they felt like it. They 
 were contented and happy. 
 The whole of Galilee is now a desert waste. 
 For centuries men did not plant trees nor 
 care for them. No effort was made to rotate 
 the crops nor to fertilize the soil. They burned 
 the wood and sought not to replace it, so 
 
gTfte Jflan ot &orrotog J>7 
 
 Nature naturally grew discouraged and ceased 
 to send her rain ; the dews no longer formed, 
 and where once were smiling gardens, trees, 
 vines and flowers there is now, for the most 
 part, only a parched, barren soil and a desolate 
 outlook of broken rocks. 
 
 In the time of Jesus one could live for quite 
 a while along the shores of Lake Tiberias, 
 practically without labor, and this is what 
 Jesus and his disciples did. " Take no thought 
 for the morrow," Jesus said. "Behold the 
 fowls of the air, are they not fed? And for 
 clothing, look at the lilies of the field, they 
 toil not, neither do they spin, yet Solomon in 
 all his glory was not arrayed like one of 
 these !" 
 
 This, we would now say, is poor economics, but 
 the disciples did not argue the point. Jesus 
 was enough of a pantheist to believe men are 
 brothers to the lilies and to the birds, and that 
 the Power that cared for these would care for 
 us if we only had faith : 
 
 No man can serve two masters : for either he will hate 
 
 the one and love the other ; or else he will hold to the 
 
 one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and 
 
 mammon. 
 
 Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, 
 
58 Cfje JHan of &orroto£l 
 
 what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink ; nor yet for your 
 body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than 
 meat, and the body than raiment ? 
 
 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do 
 they reap, nor gather into barns ; yet your heavenly 
 Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they ? 
 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto 
 his stature ? 
 
 And why take ye thought for raiment ? Consider the 
 lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not, neither 
 do they spin: and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon 
 in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 
 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which 
 to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall He 
 not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith ? 
 Therefore take no thought, saying, W T hat shall we eat? 
 What shall we drink ? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 
 (for after all these things do the Gentiles seek :) for your 
 heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these 
 things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His 
 righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto 
 you. 
 
 Take therefore no thought for the morrow : for the morrow 
 shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto 
 the day is the evil thereof. 
 
 Jesus would seat himself on the hillside and 
 thus talk to those gathered near. They were 
 all quite satisfied — was not this enough ? Why 
 should they not thus be happy always ? The 
 kingdom of heaven was at hand. Everything 
 
tEfte jflan ot &orrotog 59 
 
 they needed was theirs, and like the Prophet 
 of Concord, they owned the landscape. They 
 helped themselves to corn on the Sabbath day 
 as they passed through the fields — all days 
 were good! The only thing that we should 
 hunger and thirst after is righteousness, and 
 if we really do hunger for it we shall be filled. 
 The way to inherit the earth was not to sweat, 
 work and toil for it, but simply be meek. If 
 we desire mercy, we must be merciful; and 
 if we are pure in heart we shall have the great 
 happiness to see God. Then, after all, if we 
 are persecuted, why, so much the better, for 
 as reward for enduring the persecution we will 
 be partakers in the kingdom of heaven. 
 In playful mood he referred to the disciples as 
 the sheep of his pasture. It was a very happy 
 period — this out-of-door life, with the grand 
 comradeship of faithful friends — mountain, 
 plain, valley, trees, birds, fowls and flowers as 
 symbols for spiritual things. Men alone could 
 not enjoy this life, but there were women, and 
 this mingling of the male and female minds in 
 joyous abandon produced a fine intoxication; 
 and the lofty and delicate asceticism of Jesus 
 lifted the whole atmosphere out of the sensual 
 into the sensuous. 
 
eo qrfte Jflan of &orrotog 
 
 If Jesus was not able to actually procure and 
 produce grand mansions, jewels and all soft 
 luxuries of the rich, he could at least inspire 
 his disciples with a disdain and an indifference 
 for such things. It seems a lapse in logic to 
 offer as a reward in heaven the very things his 
 disciples affected to despise on earth, but such 
 inconsistencies always go with simple minds, 
 that make a virtue of necessity & Ill-gotten 
 wealth is surely not to be desired, but rags are 
 no recommendation, and poverty is of itself 
 no passport to paradise, even though a rich 
 man's wealth might keep him out. Lazarus, 
 so far as we know, had nothing to recommend 
 him beyond the fact that he was a beggar; 
 and so far as we know, there was nothing 
 against Dives but the fact that he was rich. 
 Q, Then we hear of some peculiar political 
 economy in reference to a certain steward who 
 canceled the obligations of the debtors of his 
 employer, without the employer's consent. 
 Also there are prayers asking that we may be 
 forgiven our debts without payment. Such a 
 philosophy could be attractive only to very 
 poor and very childish people. Civilization 
 demands that men shall face their obligations, 
 and surely we do not want to be forgiven our 
 
{Stye jUan of &orrotog ei 
 
 debts — we pray rather that we may have the 
 ability to pay them, and this prayer, moreover, 
 is expressed by work and action much more 
 than in words. 
 
 The admonition, too, as to bestow r ing alms 
 and selling all one has and giving the money 
 to the poor, we recognize now as unscientific 
 sociology. To sell goods simply to get the 
 money to give away, is not the method of an 
 economist — goods may be worth more than 
 money. To follow the advice would pauperize 
 the rich and not benefit the poor. Every good 
 thing in life must be earned. And if the wealth 
 of the world were turned over to the poor, 
 they themselves would have to give it away, 
 or else be barred out of paradise. And then if 
 wealth is a bad thing on earth, why is it a 
 good thing in heaven ? Why should man toil 
 and sweat, dig and delve, deny himself bodily 
 comfort and pleasure that he may inherit a 
 " mansion in the skies," and enjoy for an 
 endless eternity the luxurious idleness that is 
 condemned on earth as selfish and wrong ? 
 Q These things are noted here not by way of 
 criticism concerning a philosophy that glorifies 
 poverty and execrates wealth, but simply to 
 call attention to the fact that such preaching 
 
62 tTObe JWan of g>orrotog 
 
 would appeal only to very poor and lowly 
 people, those of the child-mind. Jesus was 
 certainly not as ignorant as the average man 
 in his audience, but an audience of ignorant 
 people never will get an address that ranks 
 uniformly high •* In talking at jails and to 
 people in prison, I have always found myself 
 congratulating the prisoners on their condition 
 and making pleasant references to the rogues 
 who have not been caught. Oratory is always 
 a collaboration between the speaker and the 
 hearer, and in large degree the pew keys the 
 discourse of the pulpit. Jesus was certainly 
 possessed of a very pure and lofty philosophy — 
 the philosophy of love and service — but when 
 he advocates quitting work, ceasing thrift, and 
 the indulgence in sharp practice and violence 
 towards the rich ; when he places a premium 
 upon poverty, and favors mendicancy as a 
 legitimate business, we see in it all simply a 
 reflection of the extreme crudity of the times. 
 T the annual Feast of the Passover 
 at Jerusalem there was a great 
 gathering of the Jews from all over 
 Palestine. Jesus had made several 
 pilgrimages — how many we do not 
 know, but now in his thirty-first year, we find 
 
Wbt Jflan of g>ortotog ca 
 
 him with his little band of Galilean supporters, 
 setting out for the Holy City. They could 
 arrive there in three days, walking leisurely. 
 CJ Just what caused Jesus to go at this time 
 we do not know, since he surely had very little 
 sympathy with the cold Jewish formulas that 
 served as an excuse for bringing the throng 
 together. Possibly he wanted to convince the 
 Galileans that he was still a Jew in spirit ; or 
 perhaps he thought it was time to strike a 
 blow right at the heart of the cold sectarian 
 practices that only made clean the outside of 
 the platter, but which left the inmost hearts 
 of many full of extortion and excess. 
 It is quite likely that the followers wanted 
 excitement ; they had grown tired of the ideal 
 life that only dreams and rhapsodises — they 
 were Orientals, and the sweaty smell of the 
 mob, the bells, music, the gongs and songs 
 and cries of the market-place were attractive 
 to them. In Jerusalem they could hire a room 
 for a small sum and all huddle into it at night, 
 and in the morning they would get food at 
 the tents which supplied the wayfarer, and 
 then all the day, like true rustics that they 
 were, they could wander, open-mouthed, and 
 enjoy the sights of this Celestial Midway. 
 
C4 dTfte jHan of g>orrotog 
 
 Camp-meetings are attractive places and have 
 their social and psychic use. 
 The Temple itself interested Jesus more than 
 all else. It was a great stretching white stone 
 building, with porches and large pillars that 
 ran clear around it. It was really the capitol, 
 for the easy-going Romans allowed the Jews 
 to carry on their own ecclesiastic government, 
 up to certain limits, undisturbed. This Temple 
 was court-room, assembly and business place 
 combined. In the porches animals and fowls 
 were sold for sacrifice, and for food as well. 
 The money-changers w r ere in evidence, and 
 everywhere the whole place bore the bustle 
 and boom of business. 
 
 The Temple had been built by Herod the 
 Great at much expense so as to please and 
 placate the Jews over whom he ruled. The 
 fact that it was built by the Romans after 
 their own particular style of architecture was 
 doubtless one cause of the prejudice that Jesus 
 felt towards it. 
 
 Besides the commercial air of the Temple, 
 it was a place of contention, argument and 
 dispute. The learned men here met and made 
 plain the difference 'twixt tweedle-dee and 
 tweedle-dum. Education at Jerusalem was 
 
Wf)t Jfflan of &ortotoa cs 
 
 nothing but the empty science of scholastics. 
 The study of the Law was pushed to the point 
 of absurdity, and the topic of how chickens 
 should be killed so as to make the most 
 acceptable sacrifice to God, was wrangled out 
 with citations, precedents, and references at 
 great length ^ Fanaticism, hate, bitterness, 
 pedantry grew like jimson weeds out of a soil 
 where swine have been fattened. And like all 
 purely theological learning, the one who could 
 follow abstrusities and absurdities farthest, 
 took to their vain and empty hearts much 
 credit for their fatuous and futile performances. 
 The very things that drove love, gentleness, 
 truth and pity from their hearts were the 
 things upon which they most plumed and 
 prided themselves. In these learned theological 
 wrangles the humanities had small place. 
 Jesus plainly says that to make a profession 
 of a beautiful sentiment is to degrade it into 
 the mire. Love as a business gives us moral 
 degradation ; and the worship of our Creator 
 as a profession produces pride, pretence and 
 pompous hypocrisy. Well has it been said, by 
 Edward Everett Hale, that you will find God 
 everywhere and anywhere but in a theological 
 seminary. 
 
66 Wbt Jfflan of gmrrotog 
 
 The controlling desire of Jesus was to do the 
 will of his Heavenly Father, to worship Him 
 in spirit and in truth, and here was only a 
 perversion of all that he held most dear — 
 simplicity, gentleness, unselfishness, kindness, 
 love and truth ; these were unknown. 
 And no doubt he was further stung by the 
 indifferent treatment that he himself had 
 received. He was a man and a man of pride; 
 he had grown used to a certain amount of 
 deference — when he spoke in Galilee others 
 had listened, but here he was swallowed up 
 in a bellowing crowd. 
 
 His companions were laughed at, and all of 
 them, dust-stained, rude and rustic, supplied 
 diversion for the onlookers. The inhabitants 
 of Galilee were regarded as a mixed race by 
 the Jews of Jerusalem — they spoke a peculiar 
 dialect that often caused much amusement, 
 and we hear of how once the brogue of Peter 
 made his birthplace plainly evident, to his 
 great discomfort, danger and annoyance. 
 Only Jews were allowed to go into the Temple : 
 warning placards forbade, and the doorkeepers 
 were free with their challenges. It is quite 
 likely that these disdainful priests had openly 
 affronted the Galileans. 
 
gTfte Jttan of &orrotog 67 
 
 Jesus had seen all this scramble and disorder 
 that called itself religion before, but now he 
 had grown in purpose and spirit. In a moment 
 of revulsion, he took a scourge of cords, and 
 making a dash at the keepers of the booths 
 and the money-changers, who were calling 
 and crying their business, he forced them from 
 their places in the porch, calling to them in 
 wrath, "Ye have made this place a den of 
 thieves! " 
 
 This was certainly contrary to the general 
 attitude of Jesus, who had been preaching the 
 religion of humility and non-resistance, but 
 he was a man of stubborn courage and the 
 old Adam for the moment got the better of 
 him, and he drove them out in terror. It is 
 probable that in an hour all were back, crying 
 their wares, quite forgetful of the disturbance 
 made by the fanatical and mysteripus stranger. 
 C£ Whether it was on this trip Jesus met Mark 
 and Luke who lived at Jerusalem, and Judas, 
 who came from the south of Jerusalem, and 
 welcomed them into the little company, we 
 do not know — the chronology is much mixed, 
 and just when a particular event occurred we 
 are not able to say. Uncorroborated history is 
 always received with doubt, for the writer may 
 
68 {Efte jHan of &orrotoa 
 
 have been mistaken or prejudiced. The moral 
 teachings and self-evident truths of the four 
 Gospels are all that can be relied upon, for in 
 the period immediately following the time of 
 Jesus there were hundreds of Gospels and 
 creeds, each purporting to be the only true 
 and authentic version. At the Nicene Council, 
 in the year 325, the assembled bishops, after 
 much argument, decided by ballot just which 
 books were the inspired words of God, and 
 settled on those Gospels which were written 
 in Greek, the language of the fashionable 
 circles of Jerusalem, while the immediate 
 followers of Jesus were uneducated Hebrews. 
 
 eVIDENTLY at this time Jesus had 
 not made the acquaintance of that 
 interesting little family at Bethany, 
 three miles beyond the walls, where 
 he afterwards made his home. 
 All he had seen in Jerusalem saddened and 
 depressed him — the coldness of the priests, the 
 indifference of the people, the clutch for place 
 and power on one side, and dense stupidity on 
 the other, filled his heart with sadness. The 
 Jews had even refused to give him a hearing 
 at Jerusalem, so busy were they with their 
 own sordid plots and plans. 
 
qTfte Jfflan of &ortotog go 
 
 He declared to his disciples that such a state 
 could not endure — God would soon destroy it 
 all, and not one stone would be left upon 
 another of this gorgeous Temple that was 
 quite as much pagan as Judean. 
 And the little company started back home, to 
 Galilee, disappointed, silent and subdued, for 
 fairs are always disappointing, since they tire 
 us out. 
 
 ^■to^HE division of Palestine known as 
 
 m\ Samaria lay between Judea and 
 
 A Galilee & The Samaritans were 
 
 ^C J regarded as heathen by most of 
 
 the orthodox Jews, and they were 
 
 accordingly shunned and despised by their 
 
 narrow-minded Hebrew neighbors. 
 
 When Jesus and his followers reached Samaria, 
 
 and had passed beyond the dust and heat and 
 
 the caravans of the Judean desert, good cheer 
 
 gradually returned to them. Once more were 
 
 they among friends. In a majority of these 
 
 scattered villages Jesus had acquaintances. To 
 
 these he returned, and having memory of the 
 
 exclusive and insulting placards in the Temple 
 
 at Jerusalem that forbade any but Jews to 
 
 enter, he now proclaimed that he had not come 
 
 to save the Jews alone, but the whole world. 
 
70 {Efte jflan of &orrotog 
 
 4 ' I came not to call the righteous, but sinners 
 to repentance." 
 
 He broke down all lines of caste utterly, and 
 purposely and openly visited with the outcasts 
 of society. This love for the common people 
 had become the distinguishing feature of his 
 preaching; he welcomed the sick, the weak, 
 the depraved, those "possessed of devils." In 
 that day there was no public plan of caring for 
 mental defectives or the insane — they roamed 
 abroad at will, and often turned away from 
 houses, they lived in the cemeteries — that is, 
 in the neglected caves in the hillsides which 
 had served for graves. 
 
 Jesus had no fear of these poor creatures, nor 
 did he try to shield himself from the presence 
 of lepers or those with any other contagious 
 disease. By a smile, a look, a word, a blessing 
 with his hands upon the head of the sufferer, 
 his strong spirit of love caused a new hope to 
 spring alive in the heart of the stricken person, 
 and very often the patient was made whole, 
 "leaping for joy." 
 
 There is no doubt but that many of these 
 miraculous cures were genuine, yet doubtless 
 with the passing years and the stories told 
 and re-told and written out loner after the death 
 
Cfte Jfflan of &orrotog 71 
 
 of Jesus, many errors and exaggerations have 
 crept in, the result of excessive zeal. 
 In one town of Samaria, Jesus went to a well 
 where there was a woman drinking water. 
 When he asked her for a drink she was much 
 surprised, for the Jews usually shunned the 
 Samaritans. He told her how he had been to 
 Jerusalem to worship, and she, pointing to 
 the hills, said, "Our fathers worshipped in 
 this mountain. " And he answered, "Woman, 
 believe me, the hour cometh when you will 
 neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem 
 worship the Father, but the true worshipper 
 will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. " 
 Then again we have a vivid glimpse of his 
 psychic power when he guessed the woman's 
 whole history, much to her amazement. 
 This insight into the hearts of things — seeing 
 the motive behind the act, and knowing the 
 conditions and environment of each soul, gave 
 Jesus a sense of justice such as the world has 
 very seldom witnessed. 
 
 Knowing humanity well, and realizing its 
 many temptations and weaknesses made him 
 forgiving. "To know all is to forgive all." To 
 really know people is to love them. So with 
 the wrong-doer Jesus was ever lenient. All his 
 
72 tEfie jto of &ortotog 
 
 biting sarcasm was for those in high places, the 
 rich, the educated, who deliberately entered 
 into a life of selfish aggrandizement. 
 The courtesy and kindness that Jesus had 
 been shown in Samaria he repaid by various 
 complimentary references to the Samaritans 
 — he glorified these people the Jews despised. 
 His parable of the Good Samaritan is the 
 finest piece of literature in the New Testament, 
 and the only parable that rings absolutely true. 
 It contains only one hundred and eighty words, 
 and not one could be spared ; neither do I see 
 where one could with profit be added : 
 
 A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, 
 and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, 
 and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 
 Q And by chance there came down a certain priest that 
 way : and when he saw him, he passed by on the other 
 side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, 
 came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. 
 QBut a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where 
 he was : and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, 
 and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil 
 and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him 
 to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when 
 he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the 
 host, and said unto him, Take care of him : and whatsoever 
 thou spendeth more, when I come again, I will repay thee. 
 Q Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor 
 unto him that fell among the thieves ? 
 
gjjt 0jm of feorrotpg 73 
 
 aRRIVING back at Nazareth, Jesus 
 now found that his presence scarcely 
 made a ripple on the surface of the 
 lazy town j* It was also thus at 
 Capernaum and Bethsaida — naught 
 but indifference. 
 
 Jesus did not seem to consider that in its very 
 nature excitement is transient : to receive one 
 big reception in a place is quite enough for a 
 lifetime — a great success can very seldom be 
 repeated. The dumbness, dullness and inane 
 stupidity of the people seriously offended the 
 Master. He cried aloud at the unimportant 
 little cross-road hamlets, "Woe unto thee, 
 Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the 
 mighty works, which were done in you, had 
 been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would 
 have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes 
 • * # # * And thou, Capernaum, which art 
 exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down 
 to hell !" 
 
 This coldness and indifference that he had met 
 with, for a time soured his disposition and 
 made him forget his native poise and serenity. 
 C£ The chief charm in the teachings of Jesus 
 lies in their paradoxical and enigmatic quality. 
 Without this, it is certain that his words 
 
74 Z\)t 0jm of &orrotog 
 
 could not have endured. The expressions of 
 Jesus, which are found to be untrue literally, 
 are never discarded, for they are believed by 
 many to be true poetically and spiritually. 
 New interpretations and new meanings can 
 constantly be found for doubtful passages. 
 Indeed, a most prosperous and powerful sect 
 has been built up in America within twenty 
 years, founded upon an entirely new view of 
 the work and words of Jesus. 
 The use of metaphor, paradox and parable is 
 an attempt to make clear an uncertain thought 
 to one's self, and we indulge in it only when 
 we do not exactly know what we desire to 
 express. Metaphysics is valuable only to the 
 man whose feelings outmatch his intellect. 
 When he is cornered, such a one can always 
 retreat in a fog of words. A metaphysician is 
 an ink-fish. Such expressions as "the Kingdom 
 of God," "the Son of Man," "the Child of 
 God," "the Gospel of Truth," "the Son of 
 God," "the World of Spirit," "redemption," 
 ' ' fallen man, " " salvation, " " damnation, ' ■ 
 all require an explanation, and are valuable 
 only as we read meanings into them, and 
 scarcely any two men will define them alike. 
 fl£ The chief advantage of metaphysics is that it 
 
Cfte jfflan of &ortotog 75 
 
 makes people think — they have to cudgel their 
 imaginations in order to comprehend what it 
 all means. And it means, for them, what they 
 think it means — all they can evolve out of it 
 or read into it. 
 
 ^^^^IIOM the day that Jesus left 
 gjk mm Jerusalem until he returned there 
 
 for the last time, was about a 
 Mm year and six months. 
 f^^Z^ During this time he seemed to 
 
 have been wandering about the 
 country — preaching, talking, discoursing and 
 healing the sick. 
 
 The tone of his discourses grew more severe, 
 and life to him took on a sombre tinge. The 
 lightness and buoyancy of his spirit in degree 
 had departed ; the future seemed full of grim 
 forebodings. 
 
 He had broken loose from all home ties. The 
 advice which he so freely gave to others, he 
 had himself followed & "The man who has 
 left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or 
 children, for the sake of the Kingdom of God, 
 shall receive an hundred fold more now, and 
 in the world to come life eternal." 
 He told his disciples to carry neither scrip nor 
 purse, nor change of clothing, but when they 
 
76 Z\)t 0m of &orrotog 
 
 wanted anything, to enter into the nearest 
 house, gently and firmly saying, " Peace be 
 unto thee ! ' ' and there remain as long as they 
 wished, " for the laborer is worthy of his hire. " 
 Q, This seems to be a reversal of his former 
 teaching, for when a man preaches and asks 
 for food and shelter because he preaches, and 
 declares "the laborer is worthy of his hire," 
 he at that moment establishes a priesthood 
 that demands recompense and also immunity 
 from labor. The old, old idea of priestcraft 
 has come back by a new route! All things 
 move in circles. 
 
 It is very plain that Jesus could not have been 
 a deep and accurate thinker. He knew nothing 
 of mathematics, and the law of cause and 
 effect was outside of his realm. For commerce 
 and trade he had only contempt. Architecture 
 and art he despised. He was a carpenter, but 
 we never hear of his taking any pride in the 
 product of his hands. "Come unto me all ye 
 that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give 
 you rest." 
 
 He cared more for rest than work, and seemed 
 to know nothing of the difference between 
 joyous work and joyless labor. He did not 
 know that commerce is the carrying of things 
 
Wht jflan of &orrotog 77 
 
 from where they are plentiful to where they 
 are needed. He did n't know that business is 
 founded upon man's faith in man, and is the 
 real civilizer: missionaries only doing good as 
 they prepare the way for trade. With such 
 thinkers as that other great Jew, Spinoza, 
 Jesus does not for an instant compare in point 
 of intellect. Neither was his mind capable of 
 the daring reach made by such thinkers as 
 Leonardo, Newton, Herbert Spencer, John 
 Stuart Mill and Ernst Haeckel. 
 Where he greatly surpasses the men just 
 named is in his sublime faith in both himself 
 and his divine mission. He believed that he 
 was in absolute communion with the living 
 God, the Creator of the World. And this 
 great welling heart of love that went out to 
 all humanity, seeking to bring all men into 
 a relation of brotherhood, was at once his 
 supreme virtue, and his fault. For such faith 
 as his there is no fulfillment. To do away with 
 all property — and property is only stored-up 
 labor — and to break all earthly ties, we do not 
 now regard as sound philosophy. 
 But Jesus was laboring under the illusion that 
 all great reformers labor under : he expected 
 the great change to come quickly. "Lo! the 
 
78 gjc 0m of gggjgj 
 
 time is at hand and now is! " Q Nearly two 
 thousand years have passed, and mankind 
 is not yet ready to accept the doctrine of 
 peace on earth, good will to men. 
 The nations that, somewhat ironically, are 
 called "Christian," have the largest armies, 
 the most complicated and powerful machines 
 for destruction, and a stubborn and dogmatic 
 priesthood, almost as useless as that against 
 which Jesus preached, and which, in truth, 
 put him to death. 
 
 Those men of the French Revolution who 
 expected that when they did away with this, 
 why, then that would rule, were mistaken. 
 Mankind is part of Nature, and Nature works 
 by very slow evolution ; her silent changes are 
 scarcely perceptible to us in our little lives. 
 C£ " Leave all and follow me," nothing is of 
 value. 
 
 M The end is at hand," said Jesus. But it was 
 not. " Before you have gone over the cities of 
 Israel the Son of Man shall appear." He did 
 not seem to realize that the building up of a 
 Perfect Society would necessitate a Perfect 
 People, and that these require ages to evolve. 
 A Perfect Society, to be sure, will be a matter 
 of soul and right intent, all founded on the 
 
Q%t jflan of &ortotog 79 
 
 blessed idea of brotherhood, but beyond this it 
 will be the result of deliberate, mathematical 
 calculation. It will demand intellects that 
 consider sanitation, architecture, agriculture, 
 civil engineering, transportation and education 
 quite as valuable as faith in a Supreme Being 
 who does not count the hairs of your head, 
 nor note the sparrow's fall, since three-fourths 
 of all sparrows die in the nest or fall to the 
 earth and perish before they can fly. 
 The men who will bring about the Kingdom 
 of God on earth will believe that sewerage is 
 as necessary as prayer; and they will likewise 
 realize that the useful work of Martha was just 
 as much the " better part " as that of Mary, 
 who merely sat and listened to the beautiful 
 words of a beautiful teacher. 
 We believe in the woman who sweeps a room 
 to the glory of God. 
 
 More than this, when the Ideal arrives, it will 
 come through useful effort, and not through 
 contemplation. Starving India, lost in thought, 
 falls an easy prey to barbaric "Christianity," 
 active, alert and inventive. Work and love 
 will be the solvents — not faith, prayer and 
 preaching. 
 
so Z\)t jflan of &ortotog 
 
 ^■Mg^IIEllE has only been one Christian, 
 
 m\ and he was a Jew," said Heine, 
 
 fl but this was irony. Christ could 
 
 ^£ J not be called a Christian *^ The 
 
 Christianity that we know is a 
 
 composite institution, formed by the grafting 
 
 of Judaism upon Paganism, and this hybrid 
 
 faith by a series of strange coincidences took 
 
 the name of the obscure but noble ascetic of 
 
 Galilee. 
 
 Paul was the real founder of Christianity — not 
 Jesus. Paul never saw Jesus and it was many 
 years after the death of the Savior before 
 Paul heard of him & Paul was an educated 
 Jew — and was a bit boastful of the fact. He 
 was versed in all the intricacies of Jewish Law, 
 and by habit was an expert in all the quip and 
 quibble which occupied the so-called learned 
 men of his time. He became convinced that 
 Jesus was the actual Messiah foretold by the 
 Jewish Prophets, and he set out to prove the 
 fact by use of exegesis and forensics. 
 The quality of his intellect is shown in the 
 remark, M If Christ did not rise from the dead, 
 then is our religion vain." All the gentleness, 
 beauty and nobility of Jesus were as nothing to 
 St. Paul, unless he was the Messiah foretold 
 
Wt)t Jflan of g>orrotosf bi 
 
 by Daniel, Ezekiel and Micah. St. Paul was a 
 sciolist, and it was sciolism that the spirit of 
 the hive then wanted. And curiously enough, 
 this cleaving to the letter, and all this wrangle 
 and contention about abstruse nothings, was 
 exactly the thing that Jesus had inveighed 
 against. So, essentially, Christianity, with its 
 hair-splitting differences, was what Jesus most 
 despised. 
 
 The newspapers nowadays having the largest 
 circulations are not necessarily the best, they 
 are simply those that most ably reflect the 
 intelligence — or the lack of it — of the people. 
 Great things are only done by the minority. 
 Q The zeal of St. Paul and his apostles gave 
 the people what they wanted, and Christianity 
 grew so popular that in three hundred years, 
 the Roman Emperor thought well to make 
 peace with it by adopting it & The fiat of 
 Constantine turned every Pagan temple into 
 a Christian church, and every Pagan priest into 
 a Christian preacher. The old Roman fable of 
 Orpheus and Eurydice, typifying the approach 
 of spring, was changed to Easter, and the feast 
 of Ceres became the Eucharist. Names change 
 quickly, but humanity evolves so slowly that 
 we almost say it is forever the same. 
 
So Paulian Judaism and Pagan Rome joined 
 hands, and we have "Christianity," with 
 its ten thousand variations and modifications, 
 tempered and twisted by custom and desire, 
 and the peculiarities of race prejudice. At the 
 last, men do what they want to do, or at least 
 what they can, and they name it what they 
 choose. 
 
 If the question were asked, "Is the religion 
 of Jesus feasible in practical life ? ' ' the answer 
 would have to be "We do not know — it has 
 never been tried." The nearest approach to 
 it to-day, perhaps, is manifest in the life of 
 Tolstoy, and since Tolstoy is a very rich man, 
 his methods are arbitrary, artificial and wholly 
 valueless. He plays at life. It is a laboratory 
 experiment as compared to actual manufacture 
 for the market. The two best exponents of 
 Tolstoyism in this country are a successful 
 Chicago lawyer and a man who lives the simple 
 life in a costly mansion in New York, with 
 many servants at his beck and call, and who 
 controls an estate of three thousand acres on 
 the Hudson. The richest monopolist in the 
 world is an orthodox Baptist. 
 We refer to London, New York and Chicago 
 as Christian cities — at least all these cities send 
 
Wt)t Jflan of &orrotog 83 
 
 millions of dollars and numerous missionaries 
 abroad to convert "the heathen," but we can 
 well imagine that the lowly Nazarene could 
 not at this time, by any stretch of his vivid 
 imagination, see his spirit reflected in these 
 places, any more than he saw his heart's desire 
 made manifest in Jerusalem of old. 
 
 LMOST eighteen months had gone 
 by since Jesus and his disciples were 
 at Jerusalem. Their life of leisure 
 began to pall, and the ecstasy of 
 their religious faith was on the wane. 
 The simple fishermen Jesus had taken from 
 their work, were needed at home. Soon their 
 little gardens and vineyards would be overrun 
 with weeds and brambles. The disciples were 
 growing restless — a holiday that is continued 
 indefinitely ceases to be a holiday. 
 They were going back to their homes, the 
 promised Kingdom of God, to them, was not 
 in sight. 
 
 Jesus, much disturbed by their complaints, 
 sternly answered thus : "No man who has put 
 his hand to the plough and looks back, is fit 
 for the Kingdom of God! " 
 At another time he met a man and said in his 
 brief, direct way, " Follow thou me ! " To this 
 
84 &lje JHan of g>orroto* 
 
 the man replied, M Master, suffer me first to 
 go and bury my father." 
 And Jesus answered, "Let the dead bury 
 their dead, but do you go and proclaim the 
 Kingdom of God." 
 
 Evidently he himself was growing impatient, 
 for where before he was proclaiming the joy 
 of owning nothing, and urging everybody to 
 dispose of their homes and everything in them, 
 and give the proceeds to the poor, he now 
 exclaims wearily, "The foxes have holes and 
 the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of 
 Man hath not where to lay his head. ' ■ 
 There were monks before the time of Jesus, 
 but his thoughts of celibacy and poverty, and 
 of keeping one's self unspotted from the 
 world — regarding the world and the world's 
 work as unholy and unclean — gave a powerful 
 impulse to monasticism. 
 
 Marriage was regarded by Jesus as purely an 
 expediency and soon to be done away with. In 
 heaven we would be sexless, and there would 
 be neither marriage nor giving in marriage. 
 Q It will thus be seen that to him the only 
 true Christian was a monk. 
 Our ideal of bravely living in the world and 
 helping to carry the world's burdens, had no 
 
Wht Jfflan of g>orrotog «5 
 
 lodgment in the mind of Jesus. To him family 
 ties and the life of business and useful activity 
 would not win heaven. 
 
 "Master, what must I do to inherit Eternal 
 Life ? ' ' a young man asked. 
 And Jesus answered, "Go sell all thy goods 
 and give to the poor, and follow me ! ' ' 
 Jesus knew that there was trouble ahead — 
 he could hear the mutterings of the thunder. 
 4 ■ You may think I am come to bring peace 
 upon earth: I came not to bring peace, but 
 a sword. ' ' ' ■ I am come to set a man against his 
 father, the daughter against her mother and the 
 daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." 
 Q, ' ' They shall put you out of the synagogues : 
 yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth 
 you will think that he doeth God service. V 
 M If the world hate you, ye know it hated me 
 before it hated you." 
 
 He felt it was impossible to prove by reason 
 all he taught, and therefore he demanded faith, 
 and urged all his followers to "believe." 
 Indeed, it is highly probable that he did not 
 have any clear idea himself about his mission. 
 One day it was a heavenly kingdom, the next 
 the perfect fulfillment was to take place here 
 and now. Yet at all times he was clear on the 
 
86 (Efte Jttan of g>orrotog 
 
 purity of life, and the thought of living close 
 to God. 
 
 He experienced great anguish and was much 
 disturbed by the indifference of the people 
 and the opposition he met with. His enemies 
 said he was insane — "possessed with devils." 
 Q Even the disciples became capricious, and 
 quarreled among themselves about who should 
 have precedence now and hereafter & Their 
 impatience communicated itself to the Master. 
 We become like those with whom we are 
 associated. Contact with querulousness begets 
 querulousness. Such a nerve-tension cannot 
 last forever — we must get relaxation in some 
 way ; through death at the most we can gain 
 rest ! & & 
 
 Jesus remembered the fate of John the Baptist 
 and possibly he was aware that now his tone 
 had become very much like that of John. If 
 he continued to preach, he knew that death 
 would be the result. He had little to live for 
 — he had broken with his family — he had no 
 wife, no property and no worldly ambitions. 
 Jerusalem seemed to be a very den of iniquity. 
 He would go there and do all in his power 
 to reclaim it from its faults and wickedness. 
 Q It is quite probable that his journey was 
 
Cije ifflan of ^orroto* »7 
 
 hastened by reports which came to him that 
 Antipas Herod was on his trail, believing that 
 he was the successor of John. Jesus had been 
 preaching within five miles of Tiberias, where 
 Antipas and Herodias reigned, and there was 
 danger of his being captured, taken across the 
 border and beheaded. 
 
 He did not value his life highly, but he was " 
 not yet ready to fling it away — he would first 
 sound a warning voice to the iniquitous and 
 corrupt Jerusalem, a voice that was to thunder 
 down the centuries, cause thrones to totter, 
 and affect the destinies of millions yet unborn. 
 He started southward, accompanied by various 
 disciples and faithful women, who ministered 
 to him. 
 
 He was bidding good-bye forever to his home, 
 kinsmen and beautiful Galilee. 
 
 3MAGINE a Yorkshire man standing 
 in front of Saint Paul's Cathedral in 
 London, preaching the overthrow of 
 the Episcopal Clergy, and we have a 
 spectacle no more peculiar than that 
 of Jesus standing in the porch of the Temple 
 at Jerusalem, declaring of it, "I tell you, there 
 shall not be one stone left upon another!" 
 The rich Pharisees who prayed on the street 
 
88 TEfte jttan of g>orrotog 
 
 corners, who affected a peculiar apparel, and 
 carried a holier-than-thou attitude, absolutely 
 disgusted Jesus. He ridiculed them all with 
 stinging contempt. The Roman publicans who 
 collected taxes — and therefore to Jesus were 
 really thieves — were far preferable to these 
 Jewish hypocrites. 
 
 He saw a poor widow approach the Temple 
 and drop into the box a farthing, and turning 
 to his disciples he said, "She has cast in more 
 than they all, for the rest gave out of their 
 abundance, but she gave all she had." 
 The proud, richly robed priests pushed in past 
 him, jostling him out of the way, and his eyes 
 followed them with pitying scorn. He was so 
 much of a theologian that he could not keep 
 away from the Temple, any more than can a 
 Protestant clergyman at Rome keep away 
 from Saint Peter's. 
 
 Jesus was very unhappy here at Jerusalem. 
 He was separated from all the world of valleys 
 and mountains and flowers and birds that he 
 loved so well. His days were passed in bitter 
 arguments. If he preached in the streets, he 
 was interrupted, and his discourse would end 
 in wordy warfare and often in sophistication. 
 Q Evidently he came to be regarded as more 
 
Wi)t ifflan of &>orroto* 89 
 
 or less of a nuisance by the self-important 
 priests, but he was scarcely known at all to 
 the people at large. Not a contemporary writer 
 mentions him, excepting that single allusion 
 by Josephus, and this is now believed to be an 
 interpolation. 
 
 There were mad mutterings by the officials 
 against his sharp criticisms. Nicodemus, who 
 was a lawyer of some note, and admired him 
 so much on his former visit that he came to 
 him secretly by night for an interview, once 
 defended him in an offhand way, and one of 
 the priests asked, suggestively, "What! are 
 you, too, a Galilean? " 
 
 And another one passed the pleasantry along 
 by asking, " Can any good thing come out of 
 Nazareth ? ' ' At which, we can well imagine, all 
 laughed. This zealous Nazarene, to them, was 
 a proposition not to be taken seriously. 
 Jesus disliked the city proper so much that 
 he usually spent the night at one of the little 
 villages outside of the walls. At Bethany he 
 was on the most friendly terms with Mary and 
 her sister Martha, and their brother Lazarus, 
 a plain, honest carpenter. 
 Mary, especially, though a woman of the town 
 — a sinner — appealed to him, and he prized 
 
90 grije ifflan of £>orroto* 
 
 her friendship J> Jesus had no standing in 
 respectable society, and we hear of his going 
 to the houses of lepers and being entertained 
 by them. It was at the house of one Simon, a 
 leper, where Mary entered, and in a moment 
 of adoration, bathed his feet with her tears and 
 wiped them with the hairs of her head. There 
 is no love like the love of a proscribed person. 
 Q, When Simon reproved her, Jesus at once 
 came to her defence. 
 
 Once a mob had collected and were going to 
 kill a woman. They asked Jesus what they 
 should do with her, and he answered, "Let 
 him who is without sin cast the first stone ! ' ' 
 Q We can imagine how the mob slunk away 
 before this glorious presence. 
 He lifted the terrified woman to her feet and 
 tenderly asked, "Has any one condemned 
 thee ? ' ' And the accusers all having fled, she 
 looked around and then slowly replied, "No, 
 Master." 
 
 And he said, "Then neither do I condemn 
 thee — go and sin no more. ' ' 
 Very little headway was made in his preaching, 
 however — only the poor, the outcasts and the 
 despised came to him. Jerusalem went its 
 riotous way as of old — just as it does to-day. 
 
gfc jttan of jkrrrtg m 
 
 So we hear of Jesus going up on the Mount 
 of Olives above the Temple, and in sorrow 
 and disappointment crying, "O Jerusalem, 
 Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and 
 stonest them that are sent unto thee, how 
 often would I have gathered thy children 
 together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens 
 under her wings, and ye would not! " 
 ^■k^JHE exhibition of religious rancor 
 M\ that at times forms a fierce hate, 
 
 ■ seems to be an essential part of 
 
 ^C J the fabric of most religions. It is 
 like the sexual impulse in those 
 animals which are docile except in the rutting 
 season. Intensity of any emotion may produce 
 an irritability that unships reason's rudder and 
 makes life uncertain and unsafe. 
 We are all familiar with people who love their 
 enemies, yet hold the balance true by hating 
 their friends. If you are in sore distress, and the 
 hot breath of the pack is close upon your heels, 
 do not count on receiving succor and assistance 
 from the ones who profess a religion of love, 
 gentleness and magnanimity. 
 In argument the Jews have ever been bitter 
 and acrimonious when dealing with questions 
 which they consider as sacred. Even among 
 
92 {Efte jfflan of &orrofrg 
 
 themselves they have revealed little patience 
 in dispute. Jesus seemed to be a genuine Jew 
 in his mental attitude toward what he thought 
 wrong & Several of the Greek and Roman 
 philosophers understood perfectly that truth 
 is a point of view, and is to be found at the 
 end of a circle. Belief is largely a matter of 
 temperament, so Epictetus, for instance, was 
 lenient with opponents. Socrates once said, 
 "No man is so thoroughly right as to be 
 entitled to say that others are totally wrong. 
 It is well to affirm your own truth, but it is not 
 well to condemn those who think differently. ' 
 C£ This judicial quality was lacking in the 
 Nazarene — he was a thorough revolutionary in 
 his intensity. With simple folks, the ignorant, 
 the sick, weak or helpless he was gentle, but 
 when it came to those in authority, he was most 
 severe. He forgave the erring woman, but he 
 would not forgive these priests and lawyers. 
 Gl, ' ' Woe unto you, ye lawyers ! for ye lade 
 men with burdens grievous to be borne, and 
 ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one 
 of your fingers. 
 
 1 * Woe unto you ! for ye build the sepulchers 
 of the prophets whom your fathers killed. 
 "Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will 
 
Wbt jttan of &orrotog 03 
 
 send them prophets and apostles and some of 
 them they shall slay and persecute ; that the 
 blood of the prophets which was shed from the 
 foundation of the world may be required of this 
 generation, from the blood of Abel unto the 
 blood of Zacharias, which perished between 
 the altar and the temple : verily I say unto you, 
 it shall be required of this generation. 
 " Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken 
 away the key of knowledge : ye entered not 
 in yourselves, and them that were entering in 
 ye have hindered." 
 
 ^■fefe^HE tide of events was fast hastening 
 
 M Jesus to his doom — that is to say, 
 
 ft to deathless fame. Had he been 
 
 ^^^ J left to himself, he would have 
 
 beaten his wings against the bars of 
 
 condition until discouraged, and then slipped 
 
 back to the sheltering obscurity of Galilee. 
 
 By his life he could not reform the world, and 
 
 this he surely saw — but through his death he 
 
 might accomplish much. 
 
 Jerusalem was too densely dull and dead in a 
 
 spiritual way to pay serious attention or take 
 
 note of his warnings — in Jerusalem he had 
 
 performed no wonders. And indeed it seems 
 
 he remained there but a little while altogether. 
 
94 £fje 0jm of &ortotog 
 
 Cf From the last time he left Galilee until his 
 death was only about six months, and much 
 of this period was occupied in excursions to 
 the villages round about. In these little places 
 Jesus and his disciples felt more at home. 
 Once they went as far away as Jericho, and 
 there made at least one convert, Zacchaeus, 
 a little man who filled a big office, and he 
 turned over to them one-half of his goods for 
 the poor. 
 
 This circumstance encouraged them so much 
 that when they again went back to Jerusalem 
 they prepared a demonstration. Jesus rode a 
 she-ass, followed by her colt, and the disciples 
 ran before and strewed palms in the way, and 
 called aloud, "Hosanna! hosanna! Blessed is 
 he that cometh in the name of the Lord ! ' ' 
 They proclaimed the rider as "King of the 
 Jews." 
 
 Doubtless this created some stir, and we can 
 imagine that the little procession was looked 
 at by many people in the amused way that we 
 regard the drums and cries of the Salvation 
 Army. In truth, Jesus and his disciples formed 
 the first Salvation Army, and it is the avowed 
 claim of the leaders that the modern "army " 
 is patterned after the original one at Jerusalem. 
 
Cfte Jflan of &orrotog 95 
 
 G£ In many cities the Salvation Army has been 
 voted a nuisance, and in certain instances the 
 police have placed the leaders under arrest. 
 Only a few years ago in England, such people, 
 who did not work under the auspices of the 
 established church, paid the penalty for public 
 preaching by an ignominious death. 
 The high priests of Jerusalem did not regard 
 the brilliant and daring young preacher and 
 his noisy disciples amusing at all — they were 
 a menace. Jesus desired to disrupt Judaism, 
 and if possible he would place himself at the 
 head of the new order! Was he not, even 
 now being hailed as "King of the Jews?' 5 
 Q Fear and hate spring from the same soil — 
 this man must be suppressed for the safety of 
 society. It is a curious fact that most religious 
 leaders regard themselves and their institutions 
 as the corner-stone of civilization. 
 In February of what is now our year 33, the 
 chief priests met in council, and the question 
 was discussed as to what should be done w r ith 
 this Galilean disturber. And we hear of one 
 of the speakers stubbornly putting forth the 
 suggestive thought : " It is expedient that one 
 man should die for the entire people." That 
 is to say, for the good of society, Jesus should 
 
96 gftc 0jm of &ortotog 
 
 be put to death. Q The high priest at this 
 time was Caiaphas, appointed by the Roman 
 Procurator, Valerius Gratus. This office seems 
 to have been merely nominal, for the actual 
 high priest of the Jews in Jerusalem was 
 Annas, sometimes called Hanan. Annas held 
 no office, yet was regarded as the ruler, and 
 evidently named the legal high priest, for 
 Caiaphas was his son-in-law, and five of his 
 sons filled the office in turn. 
 Annas was a successful politician. 
 It was a son of this Annas who caused James, 
 u the Lord's brother," to be executed by 
 being stoned, which was the death probably 
 at first provided for Jesus. Society has always 
 reserved for itself the right to destroy those 
 who threaten its existence. This is as much 
 so now as then. Annas was logical and right 
 from the standpoint of civilized Christianity. 
 Jesus was an anarchist — he was placing his 
 own individuality above the law\ He quoted 
 the law, and then added a law of his own, 
 saying, "But I say unto you # * * * " 
 The Mosaic Law provides a penalty of death 
 for any who seek to overthrow it. Law, like 
 capital, is timid. Of course the political priests 
 quaked and trembled. 
 
{Efte Jttan ot &orrotog 97 
 
 Annas ordered that the warrant of arrest be 
 issued. Hearing of the danger, Jesus went to 
 a town called Ephraim, a day's journey from 
 the city of Jerusalem & The Feast of the 
 Passover was about to occur, so the enemy 
 quietly waited, knowing he would soon return, 
 as was his custom. 
 
 Jesus and his little band of followers had often 
 been threatened before, and they thought the 
 trouble would shortly subside and that they 
 might go along as usual. 
 
 After a few days at Ephraim, they returned to 
 Jerusalem to attend the Feast of the Passover. 
 The disciples were full of zeal — they thought 
 44 the kingdom" was at hand & They were 
 like John Brown at Harper's Ferry, imagining 
 that to simply strike the match would be 
 enough to start the conflagration. But for 
 himself Jesus was troubled and in sore doubt. 
 <5 It w r as decided to enter the city in a bold 
 manner, and this they did, the disciples going 
 ahead and crying aloud, "Hosanna to the Son 
 of David! Blessed is he that cometh in the 
 name of the Lord." 
 
 " Master, rebuke thy disciples," advised a 
 well-meaning and kindly-disposed Pharisee. 
 But Jesus refused to interfere in any way with 
 
98 gjg jgan of g>orrotog 
 
 their exuberance. Q The officers of the chief 
 priests could then very easily have arrested 
 Jesus, but to do so at this public time might 
 create undue excitement. The city was full of 
 visitors who had come to attend the feast, not 
 to witness an execution. 
 
 Four days passed and Jesus came regularly to 
 the Temple and preached on the steps and in 
 the porches. The chief priests held another 
 council at the house of Caiaphas. Some of 
 them hesitated about taking the step, but 
 now it was decided to arrest the man at once, 
 and do it surely, quietly and quickly, so as 
 not to create a public scene. There was really 
 great danger that an open arrest and a public 
 trial might be used by Jesus to bring about a 
 revolutionary climax — his eloquent tongue 
 and noble presence must not be given too much 
 chance to show their power ! It was therefore 
 decided to seize the man the next night, and 
 to this end detectives of the priests bribed 
 Judas, one of the disciples, who had some 
 personal grievance against Jesus, to guide the 
 arresting party to the place where Jesus was 
 to be found. It seems that Jesus was not so 
 well known to the police but that he had to 
 be pointed out. And this Judas agreed to do 
 
Wt)t Jfflan of &orrotog » 
 
 for a trivial amount, "thirty pieces of silver, M 
 or about five dollars. 
 
 Only a few days before at the house of Simon 
 the leper, Mary had taken costly spikenard 
 and anointed Jesus, and Judas asked, " Why 
 was not this ointment sold for three hundred 
 pence and given to the poor?" Jesus reproved 
 him, saying, " The poor ye always have with 
 you; but me ye have not always," and the 
 rebuke had rankled in the heart of the disciple. 
 Q When we quarrel with a man we lose all 
 faith in his mission. Judas had entirely lost 
 faith and thought the whole thing was going 
 into dissolution very soon. " The Kingdom of 
 God " was to him a failure and he had better 
 get out of it all he could, and at the same 
 time save himself from danger. So he turned 
 " state's evidence," an action that has made 
 his name the most easily remembered of all 
 the twelve, and handed it down to posterity 
 as the synonym of all that is detestable and 
 treacherous. 
 
 The person who deserts at the time of danger 
 is a common type, easily understood. And 
 that any man could have twelve disciples for 
 three years, and none doubt, deny, or betray 
 him to his enemies, would be a miracle indeed. 
 
ioo gjjc Jflan of ftgtj gfaj 
 
 z^y^T was night. Jesus had supped with 
 
 M m his disciples for the last time. They 
 
 |1 had passed beyond the walls of the 
 
 g^Pw city, and gone noiselessly through the 
 
 valley and over the brook of Cedron. 
 
 Within a little park called the Garden of 
 
 Gethsemane, close to the home of the father 
 
 of Mark the disciple, at the foot of the Mount 
 
 of Olives, they rested with the intention of 
 
 passing the night there. 
 
 The weary disciples had disposed themselves 
 under the trees and were asleep. 
 The heart of Jesus was heavy — he was sore 
 oppressed and God's gift of sleep was never 
 again to be his. 
 
 He went a little way apart to pray. The deep 
 presentiment of coming peril was upon him — 
 his psychic spirit intuitively realized that at 
 that moment an armed force was marching 
 toward him with hostile intent. 
 In a moment of seeming weakness, he cried 
 aloud, in agonizing tones, " Father, if it be 
 thy will, let this cup pass from me ! ' 
 And even as he spoke there was the flare of 
 torches seen through the trees and the steady 
 tramp of soldiers could be plainly heard. 
 C£ Judas advanced at the head of the troop 
 
Wyt Jflatt of &orrotog 101 
 
 and cried out in a voice that ill-concealed his 
 
 agitation, "Hail, Rabbi!" 
 
 Jesus moved forward to meet him and asked, 
 
 "Whom seek ye?" 
 
 M We seek Jesus, the Nazarene! n 
 
 11 1 am he," was the firm reply. 
 
 Judas stepped forward and kissed him on the 
 
 cheek, which was the signal of identification 
 
 agreed upon with the soldiers. 
 
 Malchus, a servant of the high priest, and 
 
 Annas, probably the son of Annas the actual 
 
 ruler, proceeded to bind the hands of Jesus 
 
 behind him. Peter, who was suddenly aroused 
 
 from sleep, seeing the Master in the hands of 
 
 the soldiers rushed in, and with a sword struck 
 
 at Malchus. 
 
 Jesus reproved Peter and before the surprised 
 
 soldiers could capture the belligerent disciple, 
 
 he slipped away into the darkness and was gone. 
 
 Q, Mark, wrapped in a mantle stood by. The 
 
 soldiers tried to seize him, but he struggled, 
 
 freed himself and fled, sacrificing his robe. 
 
 Q The disciples now had all forsaken the Man 
 
 of Sorrows — he was alone with his enemies, a 
 
 prisoner. 
 
 The march was taken up for the house of 
 
 Annas. It was a little after midnight when 
 
102 {Efte jfflan of g>orrotog 
 
 they reached there, and evidently they were 
 
 expected, for Annas at once held court and 
 
 questioned the prisoner. 
 
 Peter and John followed afar off, but now 
 
 entered with the rabble. The night had grown 
 
 cold and Peter approached a brazier of coals 
 
 in the hallway to warm his quaking form. 
 
 Evidently he was indiscreet enough to talk, 
 
 for a maid standing near asked, "Are you not 
 
 one of them ? — thy speech betray eth thee! " 
 
 C£ And Peter denied that he had anything to 
 
 do with Jesus, declaring with an oath, "I 
 
 know not the man ! ' ' 
 
 Annas, having satisfied himself that they had 
 
 gotten the right man, and not having the legal 
 
 power to condemn him, sent him away to his 
 
 son-in-law, Caiaphas, the high priest. 
 
 Here he was also expected and two witnesses 
 
 were ready to swear that they heard him say, 
 
 " I am able to destroy the Temple of God 
 
 and to build it in three days. ' * 
 
 To speak disrespectfully of the Temple was, 
 
 according to the Jewish Law, the same thing 
 
 as to blaspheme Jehovah. 
 
 At this place Jesus was given the privilege of 
 
 examining witnesses and also of contradicting 
 
 them by his own testimony, but he was silent. 
 
Cfte Jttan of g>orrotog ios 
 
 His lofty courage had now come to him in 
 full measure. He knew that nothing he could 
 say or do would save him, and in fact he had 
 resolved to let the proceedings take their own 
 course. u Asa sheep dumb before its shearer, 
 so opened he not his mouth/' 
 By his silence he admitted his guilt. 
 There was only one thing to do. The Law 
 provided that any one who tried to disrupt 
 the Jewish religion should die. With one voice 
 the company who made up the Sanhedrin, or 
 court, declared him guilty of blasphemy and 
 fixed the penalty as death. 
 But before the sentence could be carried out it 
 must be ratified by the Roman Government. 
 Now Pontius Pilate, the Procurator, was not a 
 part of the conspiracy, and there was no other 
 way to approach him excepting in the regular 
 order of business. They could go to his office 
 early in the morning and then demand that he 
 should hear the case. If they could make it 
 appear that he had plotted against the State, 
 pretending to be " The King of the Jews, ' ' 
 and therefore in actual insurrection against the 
 Roman Government which did not recognize 
 any king save the Emperor Tiberius, why, then 
 Pilate would endorse their indictment and 
 
104 Wfqt jHan of &orrotog 
 
 the rest of the proceedings would be easy. 
 O, It lacked several hours of daylight and 
 Jesus was left in charge of the soldiers, to be 
 taken to the Judgment Hall of Pilate early 
 in the morning. 
 
 The priests and all the other members of the 
 court had now gone and were sleeping in their 
 comfortable beds. 
 
 As extra reward for their night service, strong 
 drink had been given out among the soldiers, 
 and when the priests went away, all dignity 
 and decency vanished. 
 
 Jesus was bound hand and foot with cords that 
 cut deep into his sensitive flesh & There is 
 always a temptation among brutal men to take 
 advantage of a prisoner. One soldier struck 
 the cheek of the Master with his open hand. 
 Others did likewise and still others spat in his 
 face. They platted a crown of twigs and set it 
 on his head. They hailed him in mock respect 
 as " Rabbi, Rabbi!" and called him "King 
 of the Jews," falling down upon their knees 
 and worshiping him in derisive insult. 
 Through this drunken riot Jesus spake no 
 word, enduring all in the majestic silence that 
 had been his throughout the farcical trial. 
 The night gradually passed, the stars slunk 
 
Wt)t jttan of &orrotog 105 
 
 away, the heavens grew bright in the east. 
 The soldiers were tired out with their revelry 
 and were sitting or lying around in drunken 
 stupor, careless of their prisoner, having fully 
 satiated their cruelty. 
 
 The prisoner's face burned with fever, his lips 
 w r ere parched, his eyes beamed with a strange, 
 unnatural brightness. He knew that this day 
 would be his last on earth ; never again would 
 he and his disciples gather together in joyous 
 comradeship and live the life of love and faith ; 
 the dream of universal brotherhood for him 
 was past, but by no outward sign did he reveal 
 the inward thoughts and emotions that surged 
 through his brain. 
 
 A new guard appeared and the others were 
 dismissed. They unbound the feet of Jesus 
 so he could walk. His arms were still pinioned 
 behind him. The order to march was given 
 and the guard started down the stony street, 
 the prisoner in their midst. 
 
 ^^^/ S the squad of soldiers, dragging the 
 f ^ I prisoner, marched along through the 
 
 NAshI streets, a curious crowd collected 
 
 /^^/"m an d followed after to the great stone 
 
 structure that always reminded the 
 
 Jews of their subserviency to the Romans. 
 
106 &fte jHan of g>orrotog 
 
 Cf It was early in the morning, but Pilate was 
 at his post. He was apprised of what was the 
 trouble — a Jewish renegade from Galilee had 
 come down to Jerusalem, claiming to be the 
 " King of the Jews." He had been arrested, 
 and was now at the door — would the Governor 
 consent to listen to the charges against the 
 man who had set himself against the Roman 
 Government and defied the Emperor ? 
 Pilate smiled in derision, but according to the 
 demands of the gathering crowd, came out 
 and mounted the Gabbatha or Pavement that 
 faced the temple courts & These Jews were 
 continually quarreling and bringing their racial 
 quibbles to him for adjustment. 
 Twenty years later Gallio, a brother of Seneca, 
 was annoyed in the same way : the Jews had 
 captured a little man, Paul by name, and had 
 brought him to the Proconsul for judgment, 
 and Gallio said, " If it were a matter of wrong 
 or injustice, O ye Jews, reason would that I 
 should bear with you. But if it be a question 
 of words or names, and of your law, look ye 
 to it, for I will be no judge of such matters." 
 And then the historian adds, "And he drave 
 them from the judgment seat." 
 Pilate was sorely tempted to drive the mob 
 
Wbt Jfflan of g>orrotog 107 
 
 away. Here were Jews who had captured a 
 Jew, and now wanted a Roman to punish him. 
 Pilate knew full well that the Jews were not 
 so zealous and jealous in their loyalty to Rome 
 as to punish a Jew who was not in sympathy 
 with the Roman occupancy. When he himself 
 before had tried to apprehend Jews who had 
 been guilty of treason, he found such were 
 always protected, shielded and aided to escape 
 by their countrymen. 
 
 Pilate scorned the clamor against Jesus, and 
 taking the prisoner, retired into the Judgment 
 Hall and shut the door. 
 
 Here he questioned Jesus — no witnesses were 
 present, and we know nothing concerning the 
 specific conversation that passed between the 
 two. In any event, Pilate was quite favorably 
 disposed toward the man, and when he came 
 out he said to the leaders, " I find no fault in 
 him." 
 
 At this there was at once a mighty clamor of 
 accusation, instigated by the priests who were 
 scattered among the mob. We know a little 
 about how the mob spirit grows and how 
 stupidly blind its immature judgments always 
 are. " He calls himself King of the Jews! " 
 1 ' He refuses to pay tribute to Caesar. ' ' 
 
11 Crucify him — crucify him ! M C£ Pilate asked, 
 4 'Art thou indeed King of the Jews ? ' 
 Jesus ignored the question, but calmly said 
 without a tremor of fear, "My kingdom is 
 not of this world." 
 
 Pilate was not a weak man — he was a genuine 
 Roman, and in conflict with ignorance and 
 stupidity had shown before this, and revealed 
 later, that he had a will of his own — he could 
 strike and strike hard when in his opinion the 
 occasion justified it. The record of his reign 
 is told at length by Josephus, and Josephus, 
 being a Jew, would not be likely to gloss the 
 truth concerning a man whom he considered 
 as the tool of a usurping government. 
 Pontius Pilate was not a philosopher — for nice 
 distinctions in ethics he had no head, and for 
 religious differences he had a most profound 
 contempt. To him Jesus was only a Jew who 
 had offended the Jews, and while he would 
 save the man if he could, yet he was in Judea 
 to preserve peace, and rather than risk a riot 
 or seriously offend the people, he would let 
 them have their way. Pilate's capitol was at 
 Cassarea, and he only came down to Jerusalem 
 during the feasts. He never had with him a 
 force sufficient to quell an insurrection, even 
 
flfre jflan of &ortotog ioo 
 
 had he desired to do so •* The policy of all 
 colonial governors is now, and was with the 
 Romans, to allow the people to execute their 
 own laws, excepting where vital issues are at 
 stake, and the sovereignty in danger. 
 Pilate was a diplomat. He had been a soldier 
 before the influence of Sejanus had elevated 
 him to the governorship of Judea, and life to 
 a Roman soldier was cheap. Yet the dignity 
 and poise of Jesus appealed to him. Finding 
 that Jesus was from Galilee, Pilate put forth 
 the excuse of lack of jurisdiction and said the 
 man should be sent to the Galilean Governor 
 for trial. 
 
 Antipas Herod, tetrarch of Galilee, happened 
 to be in Jerusalem at this time and Jesus was 
 sent to him, followed by the priests ^ Herod 
 was "glad to see him," and asked him to 
 44 perform some wonders," but he agreed with 
 the priests that the offenses were committed 
 in Jerusalem, and so here was where the man 
 should answer. In this they were right, and 
 Pilate was forced to retreat from his position. 
 Cf Antipas Herod hated Pilate, and he would 
 not free him from his disagreeable dilemma. 
 Herod's share of his father's dominions had 
 been only the provinces of Galilee and Persea, 
 
no tEfte jUan of g>ortotog 
 
 and here was a brawny Roman soldier without 
 a drop of royal blood in his veins, given, by 
 the influence of a court favorite of Tiberius, 
 authority over three provinces of Palestine and 
 holding revels in the great white Praetorium 
 built by Herod the Great! This explains the 
 hatred. 
 
 But another expedient suggested itself to the 
 Procurator. It was the custom at the Feast of 
 the Passover for the authorities to pardon one 
 Jewish prisoner, and now if they would let 
 this man go free Pilate would be glad. He 
 suggested that they release Jesus, but their 
 stony hearts were dead to pity and they cried 
 aloud for Barabbas, a robber and an assassin, 
 then in prison. 
 
 Pilate, following precedent, was compelled to 
 release the man for whom the people called, 
 so Barabbas was given his liberty and a lasting 
 place in history. 
 
 The mob grew and the priests and Pharisees 
 were bawling out in loud tones the supposed 
 transgressions of Jesus. It is a curious fact that 
 whenever a man is accused of one thing, there 
 are always plenty of people who assume that 
 he must therefore be guilty of various other 
 crimes and misdemeanors. The cry of " Crucify 
 
 
Wf)t iflan of g>orrotoa 1 i 1 
 
 him, crucify him," again rang out, and it was 
 taken up and echoed back and forth by those 
 who never heard of the man before. A mob 
 demands blood — it is demonism unmasked — 
 only death will satisfy it ! 
 One more chance was left to Pilate. It was 
 a most desperate and brutal thing to do, but 
 the experiment might work. If Jesus were 
 publicly whipped then and there, the sight of 
 his quivering flesh and the blood streaming 
 down his bare back, might appease these cruel 
 priests, so they would deem his punishment 
 severe enough and let him then go free. 
 Pilate gave the order that the prisoner should 
 be scourged. The Roman soldiers, impassive 
 as machines, tore the clothing from the man, 
 and a brawny lanista stepped forward with a 
 whip made of leather ; the thong sang through 
 the air and fell upon the white flesh of the 
 helpless, crouching victim. The scourging was 
 continued till Pilate ordered it stopped for 
 fear of killing the sufferer. 
 But the bellowing mob still cried, ' ' Crucify 
 him ! Crucify him ! ' ' 
 
 Pilate had only scorn and scathing derision for 
 the priests. "Jews, behold your king!" he 
 called out in ironical tones. And the answer 
 
112 gEfte jflan of &ortotog 
 
 was, "We have no king but Caesar — crucify 
 him, crucify him! M Then they added, "We 
 have a law and by our law he ought to die, 
 because he made himself the Son of God! " 
 Q Before this the Jews had lodged complaints 
 against Pilate at Rome, and now if he let this 
 man go free, who was accused of plotting to 
 overthrow the State, there would be further 
 charges, Pilate must protect himself. "Take 
 ye him and crucify him — I find no fault in 
 him!" 
 
 Crucifixion was exclusively a Roman form of 
 execution, reserved only for thieves, brigands 
 and those guilty of unnameable crimes. The 
 Romans used the sword for political offenses, 
 or the victim was allowed to kill himself. But 
 crucifixion was something else. It was similar 
 to the custom now in vogue in some Christian 
 countries of hanging a man by the neck with 
 a rope until he is dead. Soldiers we shoot, but 
 those whom we seek to disgrace, we hang. 
 The Jewish Law provides that one who seeks 
 to destroy Judaism shall be stoned — it does 
 not anywhere provide for crucifixion. 
 The plotting priests, in their wily wisdom, 
 demanded that Jesus should be crucified, for 
 this form of execution would throw the onus 
 
fflbe jHan of &orrotog 113 
 
 on the Romans. The Jews blamed the Romans 
 for killing Jesus, and the Romans blamed the 
 Jews. Both were right— and wrong — it was 
 mob-law that did the deed, sanctioned by a 
 Governor who could not prevent it, or at least 
 thought he could not. The instigation was the 
 work of the chief priests, lawyers and the sects 
 known as the Pharisees and Sadducees. All 
 these Jesus had grievously offended and they 
 had their revenge. 
 
 In passing, it is well enough to note that mobs 
 are led, almost without exception, by citizens 
 of prominence and worth. A man who has no 
 influence in a community cannot get even a 
 mob following & The man who hypnotizes 
 a mob, practices hypnotism more or less as a 
 business. He is a leader of men. 
 The exact point where mob-rule begins and 
 government ends, is hazy and indistinct. The 
 jury is often profoundly moved by the shouts 
 of the crowd, and the judge who has not one 
 ear close to the ground is a rare exception. 
 Most legal executions are now, and ever have 
 been, to appease the mob. When the people 
 cry, "Crucify him, crucify him! " the courts 
 have to obey. "Law is the crystallization of 
 public opinion," said Lord Brougham. 
 
114 gje 0m of &orrotog 
 
 Courts hold their sessions on suffrance of the 
 mob that elects them. The difference between 
 a legal murder and a judicial execution has 
 not, so far, been clearly defined. 
 We are told that a lie always requires other 
 lies to bolster it. This maxim is equally true 
 of all departure from truth, reason and right. 
 One misdeed sows the seed of another. The 
 number of murders, judicial and otherwise, 
 that have grown out of this murder we are 
 here considering, would stagger mathematics 
 to express & The Crusades, the Inquisition, 
 countless wars and fanatical sacrifices trace to 
 that Judean mob. 
 
 -^^L^^ILATE'S decision was no sooner 
 
 Jm s^JB made known than a loud howl of 
 
 ^11 ^-nII satisfaction went up from the mob. 
 
 ^11 ^^P The priests and Pharisees had 
 
 everything ready; for as in legal 
 
 procedures the process is always 
 
 well lubricated, so do the mob leaders always 
 
 know beforehand just what they are going to 
 
 do. It looks like chance, but it is not. 
 
 Pilate had gone. A detachment of soldiers 
 
 was standing near by with two thieves whom 
 
 they were about to execute — probably they 
 
 were detained so as to take a third victim ! A 
 
gtg jflan of &orrotog 115 
 
 cross was at hand — simply one rough plank 
 
 nailed upon another in the form of a letter T. 
 
 Q This cross was balanced on the back of the 
 
 Nazarene — each of the thieves carried a cross 
 
 — and the command was given to march. 
 
 It was now near noon — the sun was burning 
 
 hot. They had not gone far before Jesus fell, 
 
 fainting under the burden & Sleeplessness, 
 
 suffering, fasting, all combined to have their 
 
 way, and tired Nature flagged. 
 
 The man was roughly lifted to his feet and 
 
 once more the march began — the Nazarene 
 
 stumbled forward, reeled and fell. 
 
 Every Roman soldier had a superstitious dread 
 
 of carrying the cross — it was the instrument 
 
 of death, and part of the victim's punishment 
 
 was that he had to bear this symbol of his 
 
 shame, disgrace and degradation. 
 
 In England, not so many years ago, the man 
 
 to be hanged had to carry his coffin, but this 
 
 led to so many accidents that later the culprit 
 
 rode in a flat-topped cart, seated on the box 
 
 that was so soon to hold his body. 
 
 As Jesus could not carry the cross and the 
 
 soldiers would not, they seized a countryman, 
 
 Simon the Cyrenian, by name, whom they 
 
 met on the way, and compelled him to bear 
 
116 {Efte Jflan of &orrotog 
 
 the disgraceful burden. Simon used often to 
 tell of this terrible experience afterward — he 
 fully thought he himself was to be executed. 
 Q Much of the disgraceful insult of the night 
 before was now repeated. Jesus was brutally 
 struck, spit upon, scoffed and scorned. During 
 it all he bore himself proudly, silently, and 
 without resentment or complaint. 
 A march of a mile over a rocky road, much of 
 it uphill and the crowd reached Golgotha, 
 "the place of the skull. " The crosses were laid 
 upon the ground. The victims were offered, as 
 was the custom, a strong narcotic that would 
 stupefy them, lessen the pain and also make 
 them easier to manage, rendering resistance 
 difficult. 
 
 Jesus touched his lips to the bitter drink and 
 put it away — he would endure the worst that 
 his enemies could inflict. 
 Each victim was stripped of all his clothing 
 and stretched out upon the cross. Nails were 
 driven through the hands and feet. A strong 
 cord passing under the arms of each victim 
 and over the top helped to carry the weight, 
 so the nails would not tear through the flesh. 
 CJ Shallow holes were dug. The three crosses 
 were uplifted and rocks piled around the bases 
 
Cfte jttan of &orrotog U7 
 
 to keep them in place. Jesus was in the middle 
 
 and a thief on either side. 
 
 Pilate had written on a board these words, 
 
 "This is the King of the Jews," and sent it, 
 
 by the soldiers, to be placed over the head of 
 
 Jesus. 
 
 There was something most ironical in this 
 
 inscription. Pilate hated these fanatical Jews 
 
 and hated them more for this frightful deed 
 
 they had forced upon him. He would have the 
 
 last word — they had killed their King ! 
 
 The chief priests complained of this inscription 
 
 — they declared it should have read, "This 
 
 man called himself the King of the Jews." 
 
 But Pilate said, "What I have written, I 
 
 have written. ' ' He would not erase or change 
 
 the wording in any way : let them have the 
 
 honors — and the disgrace. 
 
 All of the disciples but John had disappeared. 
 
 He remained in the distance with Mary, the 
 
 mother of Jesus, and a band of faithful women. 
 
 As the excitement of the mob died away and 
 
 the onlookers grew accustomed to the terrible 
 
 sight before them, John and the women came 
 
 cautiously forward. 
 
 One account says that Jesus recognized them, 
 
 and seeing that John and his mother were 
 
118 Wht jtlan of &orrotog 
 
 near together, as they approached, he said to 
 
 the disciple, "Behold thy mother," and then 
 
 to his mother, "Woman, behold thy son!" 
 
 This seems hardly possible — Jesus would not 
 
 imperil his friends by recognizing them. The 
 
 agony for all of these was the greater because 
 
 they could not express it. 
 
 These friends were helpless. The soldiers were 
 
 seated at the foot of their victims, waiting for 
 
 them to die. They had divided the clothing of 
 
 the crucified men among them and were now 
 
 casting lots for it, as the clothing of the victims 
 
 was a part of the executioners' perquisites. 
 
 C£ The crowd around was hostile — there was 
 
 no sympathy for the sufferers — the mob had 
 
 seen such sights before and had grown to relish 
 
 them. The knowing ones pointed Jesus out 
 
 and gave parts of his supposed history. " He 
 
 called himself the Son of God ! He came to 
 
 save others, himself he cannot save! " 
 
 "He said he could destroy the Temple and 
 
 build it up in three days. ' ' 
 
 11 Let us see whether Elijah will come to save 
 
 him!" 
 
 A storm came up — the clouds grew dark and 
 
 dense. 
 
 The strained position produced a terrible pain, 
 
Wi)t ittatt of &ortotog no 
 
 yet this torture Jesus might have endured, but 
 his spirit was wrung by the insult, stupidity 
 and ingratitude of those he saw before him. 
 Q Had he lived in vain ? 
 
 An awful agony wrenched his soul. He cried 
 aloud, "My God, my God, why hast thou 
 forsaken me ! " 
 
 Consumed by a burning thirst, he begged for 
 drink. A soldier, with more pity in his heart 
 than we expect to see, saturated a sponge 
 with vinegar and water, the drink the soldiers 
 carried for themselves, and putting it on a reed, 
 reached it up to the lips that had voiced so 
 many words of tenderness and love — that had 
 said, ' ' He who giveth even so much as a cup 
 of cold water in my name, him will I not cast 
 out." 
 
 A person with dull and sluggish temperament 
 might exist on the cross for two or three days. 
 But Jesus with his exquisite capacity for pain, 
 and his delicate and sensitive nature, could not 
 long endure such agony. 
 
 For three hours he had hung there. He now 
 felt the sleep of death creeping into his veins 
 his head drooped forward. Below he saw the 
 soldiers ; all around surged the waiting mob, 
 watching his death struggles & He aroused 
 
120 gjg ggt of gorrotgj 
 
 himself and prayed, "Father, forgive them, 
 
 for they know not what they do! " 
 
 Another unconscious struggle — Nature trying 
 
 to gain her freedom ! 
 
 Again he spoke — M Father, into thy hands I 
 
 commend my spirit! " 
 
 That proud head fell forward J> The form 
 
 relaxed, swayed, and hung limp and still upon 
 
 the cross. 
 
 A soldier with a spear pierced his side but 
 
 there was no response of life. 
 
 Death, in pity, had set the captive free. 
 
So here endeth QTJje iHan of g>Qrrotog, being 
 a Little Journey to the Home of Jesus OF 
 Nazareth, by Elbert Hubbard. A sincere 
 attempt to depict the teachings, life and 
 times, and with truth limn the personality of 
 the Man of Sorrows. Done into a book by 
 The Roy crofters at East Aurora, N. Y., 190G 
 years from the birth of the Man of Sorrows. 
 
H 157 82 
 
 ■i 
 
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