FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
¦;: m  ¦mil  mummmimmmi
GE ORGE HOLLEY G ILBERT

eY^LIE«¥]MH¥IEIESinr¥«

DIVINITY SCHOOL
TROWBRIDGE LIBRARY

J

JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
WHEN SCIENCE AIDS RELIGION
GEORGE HOLLEY GILBERT

JESUS
FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
WHEN SCIENCE AIDS RELIGION

BY
GEORGE HOLLEY GILBERT
Ph.D. Leipzig, D.D., Dartmouth
AUTHOR OF "STUDENT'S LIFE OF JESUS," "STUDENT'S LIFE OF PAUL,"
"INTERPRETATION OF THE BIBLE," "CHRISTIANITY IN

HODDER & STOUGHTON
NEW YORK
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY

COPYRIGHT, IOI7.
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

TO THE READER OF THIS BOOK
For the quiet fireside where the spirit
moves out most easily to new points of
vision and where it catches far voices of
the past and the future, this book is writ
ten, not for the desk of the student who
seeks the doctrines that have grown so lux
uriantly around the person and the work
of Jesus, or even the detailed results of
modern biblical investigation. It is written
for the modern man who is hospitable
to all truth, whether old or new, and who
is less afraid of change than of cherishing
"an ancient form
Through which the spirit breathes no more."
It is written moreover with the confident
conviction that, while some things in the
Gospel story which we once prized cannot
bear the revealing light that has fallen upon
them with increasing intensity during the
past hundred years, nothing that mars the
character of Jesus or lessens his power to

VI TO THE READER OF THIS BOOK
lead mankind to God has yet come forth
out of the melting pot of scientific histori
cal analysis.
This book would mediate between a dim
and alien past and the living present, be
tween a past that was religious but unscien
tific and a present that exalts science to the
seat of religion, between a past that con
tained a Treasure capable of enriching all
future ages and a present which needs that
Treasure none the less because of its supe
rior knowledge.
This book would be — if not a cup of in
spiration — at least a reverent lifter of the
veil from One whose unfathomable con
fidence both in God and in us is a steadily
flowing fountain of the purest and deepest
cheer. If the book fails of this, its end, the
author prays the reader to forget it, but —
to continue the great Quest after the springs
of Jesus, for of a truth this Quest is for
every man.

INTRODUCTION
THE LONG HOPE OF ISRAEL
Tracing his way along the stream of
Christian life back to its humble source in
Galilee, observing what that stream has
wrought across the wide expanse of years,
the traveller comes at length to that far-
distant spring with a mingled sense of awe
and mystery. This stream of life, still ris
ing slowly as it flows, has touched with
hope a third of all the millions of mankind,
and makes to grow along its banks the fair
est things, the things of greatest promise,
that we see in all the earth. Go back along
its winding course through other centuries.
How has it wrought on right and left, in
single souls, in states, and kingdoms? It
made the men who planted what we prize
in this new world; it brought the spring
time in the days of Luther; it gave ideals
of purity and right and strength to knight-

Vlll INTRODUCTION
hood; and further back, through the rude
landscape of the Middle Age, it kept a little
candle burning in the cloister of the monk,
it made sweet records of self-sacrifice, and
gave to many struggling spirits songs in the
night. Still journeying further backward
by this stream of Christian life that runs
from soul to soul, and moulds the manners
and the thoughts of men, we see great em
perors and heathen gods go down before
the unarmed witnesses of Christ; we pass
through fields made sacred by the blood of
martyrs, and meet at last, far back, the
hurrying messengers whose eyes had seen
the very Master and whose ears had heard
the Gospel from his lips. What zeal is
theirs, what power breathes upon us in their
words, what visions must their souls have
seen and felt to lift them from their lowly
lot and make them glorious through all
coming time!
Another stream there was, less wide and
clear, that rose far off in some inspired soul
and flowed through many generations till
it found its rest just where the stream of
Christian life arose. It was the hope of

INTRODUCTION ix
One whose rule would bring what neither
king nor prophet yet had brought to Israel,
a hope that varied with the varying times,
now earthly grand, now mystical and high,
now narrow as the land in which it rose,
again majestic in its sweep, including every
tongue and tribe.
Beside this stream of hope, back in the
twilight of the ancient world, we take our
stand, and listen for a moment to the words
in which it found expression from the in
most heart of one who from his youth had
longed to greet the promised day in the
form foreseen by Israel's greater prophets.
Terah, ruler of a little synagogue in cen
tral Galilee, in the village of Gath Hepher,
just east of Sepphoris, in the last years of
Herod called the Great, said, while resting
from his morning labour by a fig tree in his
vineyard, "O that. the Holy One— blessed
be his name! would rend these silent
heavens and send at last to us, his people,
the Deliverer, even King Messiah!
"We have waited long, and the waves of
evil and sorrow have gone over us, like the

INTRODUCTION

waves of the great sea in number. Nations
that fear not Jehovah have despised us;
they have profaned our holy things, and
filled our cup with bitterness.
"As a flock torn and scattered by jackals
or by lions from the thickets of Jordan, so
has Israel been torn and scattered well nigh
all the years since the great prophets told
our fathers of the coming Kingdom, and
fell asleep. We wept long by the rivers of
Babylon, far away from our homes and our
ruined Temple. The Syrians and the
Romans have mocked us, have trodden our
sacred books in the dust, and have brought
us under an iron yoke. Worst of all, we
have been peeled and broken by foes who
were of our own household.
"Has God forgotten us? Has the Most
High cast us away from being his people
because of all our sins? Yet the Pharisees
in every town, with long prayers and fast
ings, with tithes and washings and many
other rites, keep all the Law. They are
holy, and the Lord must surely have regard
for them, and visit us in mercy for their
sakes. Righteous, too, and well-pleasing

INTRODUCTION xi
unto him are those silent people in Sep
phoris and in the desert places by the river,
who always go in white garments, who de
spise riches, and who have all things in
common. "But the many in our land are not like
these, and the scribes say they are accursed.
May that not be! We all are children of
the covenant with Abraham, and the Lord
God is full of loving kindness. Yet are we
far from right, from being such a people
as Jehovah seeks; and there are other sins
than those the scribes are quick to charge
us with.
"We keep the fasts indeed, but often are
the fatherless forgot, and widows. Some
among us speak the tongues of Gentiles, and
read their books that take away the fear of
God ; and many seek for gain as beasts seek
after prey at evening. We suffer the abom
inations of idolatry in our midst. Our
priests in the holy city, not excepting Annas
himself, the high priest, break bread with
the uncircumcised who oppress us, and do
not hope for the coming age. They lay up
gold in abundance, jewels too and costly

Xll INTRODUCTION
raiment, while the poor, their brothers, toil
and groan unpitied.
"O that Elijah would come, and call
aloud, standing upon the mountains of
Israel, and bring the great repentance! If
all the people were contrite for one day, say
the rabbis, the glorious deliverance of the
Messiah would surely appear. But, alas!
the Gentiles are poured out upon us as a
flood, and the noise of the world fills our
ears, and there is no prophet or open vision.
"Our land mourns, but not unto Jehovah.
It cries out because the burden of suffering
and disappointment is too great for it. Our
young men fall here among the mountains
of Galilee, the strong-hearted Zealots who
think to break the Roman yoke as their fa
thers broke that of Syria in the days when
God exalted the house of Mattathias; and
yonder in Judea has not Pilate hanged our
brethren upon crosses, and made the courts
of the Temple red with the blood of the
descendants of Jacob? The throne of Da
vid is desolate, and our people pay taxes to
a stranger on a distant shore who knows not
the Lord.

INTRODUCTION Xlll

"My heart is sick, and my eyes must soon
close without seeing the glory of the last
days. But perhaps it is better with those
who have gone to Sheol than with us who
see our land consumed by our enemies.
They sleep in peace, but they shall awake
and come forth from the dust when King
Messiah destroys our foes on every side, and
when He makes Zion higher than all the
mountains of the earth. Then shall our
land be clean again, and the light of Israel
be greater than the glory of David and
Solomon. All nations shall gather them
selves under the banner of our King, and
he shall rule in the might of God over a
Kingdom that shall never be destroyed.
Then shall we go up to the feasts year by
year, singing as we go, and none shall ever
make us afraid. We shall plough these
fields again with joy, and gather our har
vests in peace. We shall sit under our vines
and fig-trees, and shall meditate on the law
of the Lord. And all Israel shall keep the
law with perfect hearts in the days of Mes
siah. Would God that those days might
come speedily!"

xiv INTRODUCTION
And Terah, sighing deeply, rose and took
up his morning labour in the vineyard.
The time of Jehovah's deliverance was
indeed coming on apace, but the aged ruler
of the synagogue knew it not. No one in
the circuit of the land knew, though some
were longing for it with a great and pure
longing. But no sign appeared. The way
before them seemed as dark as the long
way behind, and in the bosoms of most of
the faithful few hope often struggled with
despair. But even in those very days, in another
quiet town of Galilee, only a few miles dis
tant from Gath Hepher, toward the Plain,
there was a man, now about thirty years of
age, who walked perfectly with the Lord
God. Like Terah in his vineyard, this man
was toiling for his daily bread and for those
dependent on him; and yet, though an ar
tisan from his youth, a worker in wood like
his father before him, unknown to the lead
ers of his people, he was fitted for what
ever high commission Jehovah had in store
for King Messiah. He had heard the
Voice, he knew the way of God, he had

INTRODUCTION XV

sounded, as no other, the need of man, and
had beheld, as no other, man's potential
glory. He had absorbed the loftiest truths
of the noblest prophets, and had looked
beyond. He had grown to a spiritual stat
ure commensurate with his unique vision.
The best hope of weary generations was
soon to be fulfilled in him, Jesus, son of
Joseph, a carpenter of Nazareth.

CONTENTS
PAGE
To the Reader of this Book .... v
Introduction — The Long Hope of Israel vii
CHAPTER
I. The Herald  21
[, II. From the Carpenter's Bench . . 33
III. The Choice of Ways  43
IV. First Notes of the Gospel . . 53
V. The Widening Horizon .... 63
VI. Warning Voices  73
VII. The Galilean Crisis  85
VIII. The Kingdom Established ... 95
IX. The Darkening Way  107
X. The Prophet in Jerusalem . . . 129
XI. The Thick Darkness  143
XII. The Triumph of Jesus Over Death 163

CHAPTER ONE
THE HERALD

CHAPTER ONE
THE HERALD
ELIJAH" had already come again,
according to an ancient promise,
but he was hidden still from men in the
wild regions of the desert of Tekoa. The
shadows were thickening in the deep val
ley below him, over the Jordan and the
Salt Sea, as he sat meditating in the entrance
of his rocky cave, a roll of the prophets
lying at his side.
His home in Beth Zacharias beyond the
highway from Jerusalem to the South Land
had not seen him since his aged father and
then his mother had breathed their farewell
blessing, and had gone from earth strong in
the hope that the day of the Lord was near.
This hope, their only dower, they had
passed on to the soul of their boy, where its
flame, once kindled, burned with increasing
might, consuming other hopes and all com-

22 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
mon ambitions. Their long wish that he
might go before the promised King, to
level and make straight his way, had grown
in him with all his growth, and through the
solitary years of thought and prayer and
fellowship with the mighty spirits of
Israel's past had ripened in a deep and
solemn faith that he was called to be the
herald of the coming age.
Most of his old neighbours in Beth
Zacharias had forgotten him. A few still
wondered whether some great message
might not yet come from the strange youth
who had disappeared long since among the
silent fastnesses of the Tekoan desert. An
occasional shepherd, in the spring time,
when bits of verdure for his flock were
found along the wadys, met the recluse as
he sought his rude fare among the rocks,
or saw him poring o'er his precious roll of
ancient wisdom in the shade of some stunted
oak or juniper bush. And thus a rumour
of his place and ways went forth to all the
country round.
The spirit of the solemn desert was near
of kin to that of John; and as he looked

THE HERALD 23

abroad from out his rocky cell across the
wide familiar landscape, its awful hush was
welcome to him. "So might the tumult of
the wicked be hushed within the gathering
shadows of the Judgment Day!"
The deeply cleft ridges of massive rock,
one beyond another, that fell steeply down
before him to the far edge of the Dead Sea,
were not more impregnable than his spirit,
nor more insensible to the soft allurements
of pleasure.
The withering air that rushed past him
up the gorge, as though it came from some
profound abyss of fire, was symbol of the
intolerable blasts that soon should sweep
the wicked off as chaff.
A counterpart of Pharisee and scribe he
saw beneath him in the mysterious sea, so
fair to the eye, divinely sheltered, and lift
ing up a calm unruffled face to heaven,
but bitter still, though ever drinking of
sweet waters — bitter and strewing desola
tion along every shore it touched.
But yonder, where the sun still bathed
the heights of Moab, and where, above
those purpling earthly heights, rose, mo-

24 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
tionless and shining, other airy summits
never scaled by man, he saw what yet should
be for Israel, saw the exaltation that should
follow present judgment, and he gazed
long, all unmindful of the dread gulf be
neath him.
Then voices of the past, awakened by
the vision and the hour, came to him
through the sacred silence with fresh, up
lifting messages of trust and hope. Words
of ancient promise which had often thrilled
him strangely, now kindled all his soul
again and more deeply.
"There shall come forth a star out of Jacob,
And a scepter shall rise out of Israel."
"Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine
inheritance,
And the uttermost parts of the earth for thy posses
sion."
"Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and
the former things shall not be remembered, nor
come into mind."
And the sacred hope that lighted up those
faces dearest to him in his boyhood became

THE HERALD 25

a passion and a prayer beyond the power
of speech to utter. Again he felt the fare
well pressure of his father's hands as he, in
glowing faith, bade him await the King's
approach, not idly but as a prophet of the
end. Thus rapt above himself with strong
desire, his spirit open and intent, the mes
sage fell upon his inner ear: "The ap
pointed season is fulfilled. Make haste and
call the nation to repentance. Spare not;
cry aloud, for the great and terrible day
is at hand."
Then the young prophet bowed himself
in prayer while the night gathered and the
stars came out. Alone in the wide and wild
desert, he was glad and strong, for the time
of waiting was ended, and he had now a
great and sure message for his people.
We meet him next in Achor, whose val
ley, through his preaching, became a door
of hope. Near a great highway along
which, to and from the Jordan ford,
throngs of people were daily passing, he
lifted up his voice as herald of the coming
King. To the eastward, in an hour, one came

26 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
to Jericho, which with its suburbs lay con
cealed in palms and gardens of spice; and
nearer was the road to the north, to Pha-
saelus, Beth-shean, and the Lake of Galilee.
The river Kelt was flowing with abundant
water from the mountains of Gibeah and
Beth-aven. Six days had passed already since the re
port had gone abroad that one clad like
Elijah and powerful in his words had at
last appeared in Israel. The morning of
the seventh day saw people more in num
ber than before seeking the banks of the
Kelt, to see and hear the young prophet.
Few came except with quickened pulse and
eager spirit, for the prophet's message —
was it not what they had waited long to
hear? Did it not mean a King of their own,
yea and strong of arm to set them up on
high? Did it not mean a swift release from
the burden of taxes and the shame of for
eign rule?
A King of their own, yes and overflowing
wine-fats and wheat and figs and oil accord
ing to all their wishes! But some, whose
sense of need was deeper, thought of hap-

THE HERALD 27

pier ways to serve the Lord than those of
scribe and Pharisee, in which they and
their fathers had long and vainly sought to
walk. Might not the coming age bring bet
ter ways than these, and change their pain
ful service into one of joy?
But nearly all who came — the rich and
the poor, both young and old, those who
wanted bread alone, and they who craved a
higher good, came onward with expectant
hearts. Nor were they sent away unmoved.
For though the prophet talked of judgment
and called them to renounce their sins, he,
spoke also the word which they had come
to hear, and spoke it with a tone of certainty
that made their spirits leap in exultation.
Their King was coming, and the day of
their deliverance was at hand! They
clasped each other in their arms and wept
for joy.
But the straitness of the path by which
alone an entrance to the Kingdom could be
had — the path of penitence and of purer,
kindlier living — this stirred their hearts less
deeply. Yet in the awe and gladness which
the tidings of the Kingdom's near approach

28 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
had brought, they were widely swayed to
heed the prophet's stern rebuke and sum
mons, and to make confession of their sins.
Group after group, some small, some num
bering scores, went down with John into
the stream, and were baptised. The crowds
grew less as night came on, but many lin
gered still beside the Kelt. Some cast them
selves upon the ground to await the excite
ment of another day among the wondering
multitudes, and learn perhaps how soon,
and where, the King would first be seen.
Some were not able to depart, so strong
upon them lay the prophet's spiritual in
fluence. He suffered these to follow him to
his rude shelter in a neighbouring cliff,
from which no offers of a resting place and
food in Jericho could tempt him, and there
he spoke to them more fully of his hope.
They shared with him their bread and fish,
and, late, they slept.
Like this came other days, when from the
bank of Kelt or Jordan wider circles heard
the startling message, and bore it swiftly to
their homes. The air grew thick with
rumours. Men forgot their daily tasks and

THE HERALD 29

common pleasures in hearing stories of the
prophet, or in talking of the future. Soon
the farthest hamlets of the land were
moved, as some wide forest when a summer
storm draws near, and Israel looked and
waited for a glorious Kingdom.

CHAPTER TWO

FROM THE CARPENTER'S BENCH

CHAPTER TWO
FROM THE CARPENTER'S BENCH
THE thrill that passed from heart to
heart when John proclaimed the com
ing of the long-expected Kingdom reached
Nazareth among the sheltering hills of
Galilee as Mary, widowed mother of a
family of seven, sought water for the eve
ning meal. She scarce had reached the
fountain — the sole one in the village whose
waters never failed — when a man came run
ning up the road that joins the hamlet with
Esdraelon, shouting as he neared the foun
tain, "A prophet! a prophet!"
Then Mary with the other women, six or
eight together, their jars unfilled, drank in
the wondrous news which made this day of
early spring one long to be remembered.
The man who brought the tidings, a
dweller in the town whom she had known
for years, had come from Jericho, whither
33

34 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
he had gone some days before with skins of
olive-oil for market. He there had heard
of John, and then had seen him by the Jor
dan. So thrilled and conquered was he by
what he saw and heard that he had been
baptised, then leaving half his oil unsold
had hastened with all speed to bear the start
ling message home to Nazareth. He said
none knew whence John had come, or to
what family in Israel he belonged, but all
confessed that, when he spoke, the Spirit
rested on him mightily as on Elijah in the
ancient days. He told them boldly of their
sins, and of the sifting that must be in all
the land before Messiah could sit down
upon his throne. He said the day of ven
geance and reward was just at hand — the
day whose light would search the inmost
thoughts of men.
Now as the women heard these words,
they marvelled much, believing what the
man had told, and wondering what would
follow. Other people soon came hurrying
to the fountain, and Mary filled her jar,
and started homeward. As she climbed the
fountain stairs a neighbour who had heard

FROM THE CARPENTER'S BENCH 35

the story with her asked her if she thought
that Jesus, her eldest son, would go down to
Jordan at the prophet's call. This question
had already asked itself within her heart,
but had found no answer. She knew her
son would do what seemed right to him,
but whether this or that she could not tell.
He had his own deep thoughts, not seldom
strange to her in those old days.
When evening came, she watched the
path across the hill toward Sepphoris, ex
pecting Jesus, who with James and Joses,
younger sons, wrought upon a storehouse
for a wealthy man whose villa was an hour's
walk from Nazareth. They came in sight
at last, when all the evening shadows were
blended into one, and, wearied by the long
day's toil, approached their little home in
silence. Their filial greeting was scarce
spoken before Jesus, who was always quick
to notice, read upon his mother's counte
nance that something new and wondrous had
befallen. His sandals laid aside, he bathed
his face and hands and feet, and then, re
clining in his customary place, he looked
into her eyes and waited.

36 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
Then Mary quickly told what she had
heard, and where, and who had brought the
news. When she had finished speaking, her
youngest son, Simon, who then was but a
lad of twelve, most like his father Joseph
whom he never saw, besought that he might
run down to the village fountain, and if the
man were there, might hear him for him
self. And Mary let him go.
The older sons and daughters, with won
der in their hearts and many questions on
their lips, ate their barley broth, their bread
and fish. What would their rabbi, Nathan,
say to this strange tale? Who of the people
of the town would answer to the prophet's
call? What would Pilate and the Romans
do? And might this man, mysteriously ap
pearing in the desert and drawing greater
crowds from day to day, be that old prophet
of whose coming they had heard?
These and many other words were spoken
by them, but Jesus did not speak, save now
and then in answer to some question and
briefly. Little of the supper did he take for
one who all day long had laboured with his
hands. It was not marked that he was

FROM THE CARPENTER'S BENCH 37
silent through the evening meal, for often
he was silent, as one wrapt up in thought.
When he arose at length, and passed into
the little chamber that he shared with
James and Simon, Mary did not seek to
learn his purpose, but turned her to the
simple household cares.
In the evening neighbours came to talk
of that which now was uppermost in each
man's mind; and when they asked for Jesus,
his brother Joses said that he had gone apart
somewhere upon the wooded hill behind the
house, as not infrequently he did at night,
the day's work being ended.
At dawn upon the morrow Mary did not
need to ask what Jesus thought about the
sudden tidings from the Jordan valley, for
he was clad as on the feast days, and his
face was lighted even more than it was wont
to be. He asked his brothers if they would
not go with him, obedient to the prophet's
call, and thus make ready for the coming
Kingdom, but he urged them not. He said
he fully believed the work at Jordan was
ordered of the Lord, the voice Elijah's, and
that the coming age was nigh. When James

38 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
and Joses took their scrip and tools and
started for their daily work, he gave them
brotherly farewell, and said that if they
wished to use his newer axe and saw instead
of theirs, they might. But Simon begged
to go with Jesus to the Jordan, and his
mother quickly made such simple prepara
tion for the three days' journey as she was
able. When they started forth together, she
went with them to the highway, and there
watched until they disappeared. But little
did she think that from their visit to the
Jordan there would come what came in
later days of shame and pain, of bitter strife
and turmoil, a broken household and a
broken heart.
Alone, at twilight of the ninth day, her
youngest son returned, having had company
from Jericho until, on nearing Nazareth,
the road turns off to Sarid and the sea.
Mary asked where Jesus was, but Simon
could not tell. He said his brother came
with him from Jordan unto Jericho, and
having there commended him to friends

FROM THE CARPENTER'S BENCH 39
about to start for Galilee, had gone he knew
not whither.
And Simon told her of the prophet, how
stern and grand he was, and how the people
trembled as he spoke of sin and judgment;
how different he was from all the scribes
and Pharisees. The crowds were just as
great, he said, as those about the Temple
at the Passover, and more were coming
every day along all the roads to Jordan.
Such was the story Simon told on reach
ing home, with many lesser incidents that
had impressed his boyish mind. But what
his mother most desired to know — where
Jesus was, why he had stayed behind, what
now he thought of John and of the changes
soon to be — she could not learn from him.
Then days and weeks went by, and Mary,
waiting for her son, her eldest child, the
staff on which she leaned, thought fondly of
all his radiant boyhood, thought how strong
and gentle he had ever been, and how his
father's care for all the household needs had
been assumed and bravely borne by him
since that dark summer when the father fell
asleep. Her home grew lonelier as the days

40 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
went by and Jesus came not back. They
who later went from Nazareth to Jordan
and returned, could tell her nothing of her
son. In little intervals of rest between her
household cares she sat where she could
watch the way, and when awake at night
she started at each sudden sound about the
cottage, wondering if he were come. She
knew it not, yet all her anxious fear and
loneliness of heart was little by the side of
that strange, fearful solitude in which her
son, far off from Nazareth, was buried.

CHAPTER THREE
THE CHOICE OF WAYS

CHAPTER THREE
THE CHOICE OF WAYS
THE long habit of his youth and early
manhood, to withdraw from men
when deeply moved and meditate in solitary
places, asserted itself with sudden might
when Jesus, face to face with John at Jor
dan, his spirit to its inmost depths exalted
by the message of the prophet, perceived
that God was calling him to realise the com
ing Kingdom. And when his youngest
brother, Simon, had been entrusted to the
care of friends for the return to Nazareth,
he quickly fled from Jericho, and rested not
till miles away in the wild middle of a
naked desert. No sound of man invaded his
retreat. The tumult by the Jordan, the
noise of throngs along the highways, the
questions of excited men, had given place
to utter silence, and his soul could sink it-
43

44 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
self in the holy, yet dread, secret of his
Messianic call.
Again and yet again, well nigh continu
ously by day and night, the words, "Thou
art my son," which fell upon his soul by
Jordan, resounded through his spirit. He
knew the voice that uttered them — the same
that often in the quiet hours of deepest aspi
ration he had heard and welcomed as his
Father's with peace and joy too great for
words. He knew the meaning of the mes
sage, and all his being rose in mighty ques
tionings. "I, a carpenter of Nazareth, the prom
ised King! I to sit upon the holy hill of
Zion, and have dominion from the river to
the ends of the earth ! I to build the temple
of the Lord! To sit upon the throne of
David! To let the oppressed of Israel go
free! These hands, that all my life have
toiled with axe and saw, to wield hence
forth a royal sceptre, and kings to fall down
before me! I to stand as an ensign of the
peoples, to whom the nations shall seek!
"But thy people, O my Father, seek a
King and Kingdom of this world. They

THE CHOICE OF WAYS 45
long to be exalted far above the Gentiles,
and our rabbis teach us from thy word that
this shall be when the Messiah comes. Thy
prophet at the Jordan, the herald of the
Kingdom, warns of judgment which the
King will hold at his appearing. But
where shall it begin? Thy sheep are scat
tered and perplext, blinded and torn, and
know not thy love. The shepherds tend
them not in wisdom. They are not meet to
have Messiah come to them in judgment.
First must he come in blessing, to gather
the dispersed together and feed them what
thou givest, to turn the fathers and the chil
dren back to thy holy way and set thy King
dom up in all our land. But this is not the
kingly sway thy people covet, the good of
which they dream, and which our fathers
have implored of thee so long.
"Will they give heed to me unless I raise
the banner of a king and thrust the Gen
tiles forth? But this I cannot do. What
is my father's house! I have no throne to
sit upon, no sceptre for my hand, no soldiers
and no gold. Yea, and I crave none of these
things. What are they to thy love? Could

46 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
Israel know thee as thou art, the day of his
deliverance would break at once. And
shall not the Messiah reveal thy love to
him? But how?"
And Jesus was unmindful of the heat of
day and chill of night and of the hardness
of the stony couch whereon at times, when
sore exhausted by the inner struggle, he
lay down. The bits of bread and fish within
his scrip were scarcely touched for days,
no more the honey that his eye, unseeking,
saw among the rocks along his wandering
way. The dawn of day, the wild grandeur of
the desert landscape, the far-off beauty of
the mountain views at evening, the vision of
God's glory in the stars, which had been
wont to flood his soul with thoughts un
speakable, were all unheeded now. An
other world lay round him, and other
scenes, swift-changing, vast and awful,
passed before his spirit. He moved through
deserts fiercer and more lonely than that
which overlooks the Jordan from the west,
and felt that gulfs were yawning by his
pathway far deeper and more deadly than

THE CHOICE OF WAYS 47
that which glows and shudders below the
plains of Judah. But these again were hid
den under pleasant scenes that floated past
his spirit as in a golden haze.
The little home in Nazareth, the vines
that he had set and trained, the walnut
trees and fountain, and the simple, happy
round of toil for daily bread, appeared to
him as in a dream, then vanished. After
ward, upon the dear familiar ground where
he had played in childhood, he saw a lordly
palace that towered high above the village,
built to stand for many generations. And
this was his, a country-seat of Israel's King.
Another palace, statelier yet, arose on
David's hill, within a city cleansed and
glorified; and in its high resplendent hall
were scenes of royal Messianic state, where
to all lands and peoples gladly sent their
richest offerings. These in turn gave way
to other and more welcome scenes in which
the Lord's Anointed, acknowledged now of
all, taught men the sacred law.
And Jesus said within his heart, "Can
this be gained? Can I fulfil my people's
hope of outward rank, and then, by means

48 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
of that, fulfil my own deep longing too?
Alas! this cannot be. If they, when poor
and wretched, subject to the Gentile power,
reject the truth thy prophets have pro
claimed, how shall they choose it in the
glow of pride and pleasure?
"These visions came not from above: I
will not look upon them more. They turn
my thought from thee, who saidst, Thou
art my son. They wound and blind my
spirit. "But whither shall I look? How work
.deliverance for thy people? Why am I be
wildered thus, and lonely, hungry, helpless?
Helpless! Is it surely thus with me? Is
not the might of God bestowed upon his
King? Will not my word turn stones to
bread and make these dry ravines o'erflow
with waters? Shall I then speak and test
my might, and prove the vision true that
came to me by Jordan? Nay, how can I
doubt thy voice, my Father, or thy care?
How can I cease to rest on thee and do thy
bidding only, wherein I ever found my life
made full? I could not listen to the sacred
call that broke upon my soul beside the

THE CHOICE OF WAYS 49
river, I should not dare to think of King
Messiah's work, unless the King, e'en as a
little child, were still at every step to have
the sure guidance of thine eye.
"Messiah's work — if not a swift ascent to
power and a kingly reign, what shall it be?
How ordered? Where begun?
"How fair the years behind, the quiet life
my soul has lived with thee, in open vision
of thy truth! O can it be that from this
very soil shall grow and blossom all the
sceptre that thy King may wield? And can
it be that from thy love, the secret thou hast
spoken to my heart, shall yet be made the
shining throne of thine Anointed?
"I see thy way, my God, and make it
mine." And Jesus slept upon his rocky couch as
once within the little chamber of the home
in Nazareth after a long day of toil.
His people's dream was not for him. The
path he chose was humble, and perchance
as lonely as his desert resting place, yet it
was best, the one sure path on which to
lead his people forth into the promised
Kingdom.

CHAPTER FOUR
FIRST NOTES~OF THE GOSPEL

CHAPTER FOUR
FIRST NOTES OF THE GOSPEL
THE large new synagogue which Caius
the centurion had built and given to
Capernaum was thronged the second Sab
bath after Jesus had appeared beside the
lake from his sojourn in the wilderness.
For he had won disciples, and his name was
known in every street throughout the town.
He had called the sons of Zebedee from
the near shore where they were working on
their fishing-nets and two other men whose
boat was anchored half a furlong from the
pier. And people talked of him more than
of the splendid merchant caravan which
passed that morning for Damascus with a
band of Roman cavalry as guard.
Jesus went to morning worship with
Simon, in whose house he had lodged the
night before.
As Zebedee was then the ruler of the
53

54 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
synagogue, and sat beside the cedar chest
wherein were kept the sacred rolls, he gave
a sign that Jesus be led forward to his va
cant seat; but he, instead of going, sent for
ward another who leaned upon a staff for
very age, himself remaining there with
those who stood.
The house, though next in size to that one
which the King had lately given to his cap
ital Tiberias, was full before the hour of
worship, and out in front a crowd pressed
round each door.
When Zebedee arose and sounded on the
silver trumpet, all were still. It chanced a
priest was there that day, and him he asked
to lead the people in their worship. Con
senting, he took his place before the chest,
and lifting up his hands he spoke two bless
ings on the congregation. All then joined
in the confession which they had from
Moses : "Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God
is one Jehovah ; and thou shalt love Jehovah
thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy might." Another
blessing was spoken by the priest, and after
that, when all had turned to face the Holy

FIRST NOTES OF THE GOSPEL 55
Place on Zion, even those who stood before
the synagogue as well as those within, he
spoke the prayer, and all the people said
Amen. But when he prayed, as was their wont,
that God would cause to flourish the prom
ised seed of David, and would speedily
exalt his horn in Israel's salvation, Zebedee
the ruler of the house thought of Jesus
standing there before him, and wondered if
the prayer would soon be answered.
Then the seven men whom he had chosen
for that service took the Law from the at
tendant, and read the lesson for the day,
three verses each, while by the first and last
a blessing too was spoken, enclosing thus the
sacred word with benedictions.
Now the passage for that day when Jesus
for the first time stood among the congrega
tion was that which tells what Moses said
a little time before his end — the Blessing
of the tribes. The face of Jesus as he stood
there by the second pillar in the eastern row
— there were two rows of pillars in the
building — often held the gaze of Zebedee;

56 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
and when the seventh reader read the
words :
"The eternal God is thy dwelling place,
And underneath are the everlasting arms.
Happy art thou, O Israel;
Who is like unto thee, a people saved by Jehovah,
The shield of thy help,
And the sword of thy excellency  "
when the reader read these words, the face
of Jesus glowed with peace and quiet joy.
Then the ruler called him by his name,
and asked if he would speak unto the people
on the sacred lesson they had heard, for
men already called him "rabbi" and heeded
what he said. So Jesus stepped upon the
platform, and sat down ; and a great silence
fell upon the throng. "Blessed art thou, O
Israel," he said, "for the eternal God is thy
dwelling place and underneath thee are the
everlasting arms. Who is like unto thee, a
people saved by Jehovah."
Many things he said that morning of Je
hovah and his favour which fell upon the
longing hearts before him as rain upon a
thirsty land. Words that took new mean-

FIRST NOTES OF THE GOSPEL 57
ing on his lips and henceforth, in the mem
ory of those who heard him, never ceased
to shine and beckon as do dear faces that
have vanished from the earth, were "Fa
ther," "everlasting arms," and "Kingdom,"
"life," and "peace." He blessed the com
mon things, man's pain and sorrow. He
blessed the hidden springs of life. He
blessed the patient waiting for the Lord.
And when his lips said "blessed," it was as
though the ear and heart had heard the
sweetest music. He spoke of God, and said
that he was present with them in the syna
gogue and present with the friends at home,
his arms beneath them, his Kingdom open
to all seekers.
The old man leaning on his staff was lost
in contemplation of the face of Jesus, and
the peace of Heaven settled then upon his
spirit. For when, a few days afterward, his
children listened at his bedside to catch his
latest word of benediction, they heard him
murmur "Father," "everlasting arms."
And so he found the Kingdom.
But not to all within the synagogue was
Jesus welcome. The voice that soothed one

58 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
spirit, pierced another as a sword. For
suddenly a wild and angry shriek rang
through the house, leaving all breathless,
fearful, horrified. Those nearest to the
furious man drew back, as he sprang for
ward, clutching fiercely in the air before
him. He tore his matted beard ; he gnashed
his teeth, and screamed at Jesus. No one
laid hand upon him, and he had an open
way to where the prophet sat. But a name
less terror seemed to hold him back, while
hate ran riot in his hideously contorted face,
his cries and gesturings. His raging ceased
a little when his gleaming eyes encountered
those of Jesus fully; and in this lull, the
Master, leaning forward in his seat, with
hand uplifted, speaking calmly but with un
measured confidence, charged the demon to
come forth. At this the wretched man, his
face as that of one who is tormented greatly,
cast himself upon the floor of stone, and
gave a long despairing cry that broke the
Sabbath calm through half the town. Then,
as though set free from frightful dreams,
he raised his head, looked timidly about,

FIRST NOTES OF THE GOSPEL 59
and yielded quietly to one who drew him
back among the throng.
And Jesus said again, with new meaning
in his tone, "Blessed art thou, O Israel, a
people saved by Jehovah." Then he arose,
and with no sign from Zebedee he spoke the
ancient blessing with full heart, and the
meeting closed.
It was not noticed at the time, but later
Zebedee remembered, that the second lesson
for the day, the lesson from the prophets,
was not read that morning. But it was fit
ting so, for now again a living prophet
spoke to men.
Astonishment held all who saw his deed
and heard his word. They felt that here
was power, here was life, here a new kind
of teaching. It seemed to some as though
the mighty days of yore were come again,
when there were men of vision, men to
whom the spirit of the living God gave
high authority, bold, heroic men.
Some ran forth to tell abroad and in their
homes what they had seen and heard, some
followed Jesus to the house of Simon.

CHAPTER FIVE
THE WIDENING HORIZON

CHAPTER FIVE
THE WIDENING HORIZON
SOME weeks of constant work passed by,
and Jesus who had travelled far and
wide through Galilee, declaring the fulfil
ment of the ancient promise of a heavenly
Kingdom and healing men's diseases, was
back again beside the lake.
The town was thronged with those who
watched for his return. No one had ever
seen such crowds in Galilee, people who
had come from north and south and from
beyond the Jordan. Men from Maon and
Aroer, having heard that one was risen who
had power to heal, had come a six days'
journey, bringing with them on their camels
those who had disease. Men from Jabesh
and from Succoth in Perea ; men from Car
mel and Beth-shean; men from the high
lands under Hermon, from Luz and Abel-
maim; and men from the Syrian coast-land,
63

64 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
some on foot with sick folk brought on lit
ters, some on beasts of burden, had sought
the town of Jesus, clamouring for help.
The market-place no longer held the
throngs, and Jesus, toward evening of the
second day since his return — a day of toil
from early morning on — led them forth
along the lakeside, southward from the
lower town, and there addressed them from
the boat which James had brought him.
People came and went, some murmuring
because they could not bring their sick at
once to Jesus. Why should he stop to talk,
they said, when he had power to heal dis
ease? They had come a toilsome way be
cause their need was urgent, yet did he not
regard them. Others bade the murmurers
hold their peace, and listen to the prophet's
words. Gradually many boats drew near, some
coming from the lake to view the scene, a
fisherman or two in each, some hired for
the purpose and loaded to the water's edge.
In one there lay a little girl, smitten with
some sore disease that the doctors could not
cure; and her father slowly worked his boat

THE WIDENING HORIZON 65
among the rest, no one opposing, until at
last it lay but little back of that where Jesus
stood. And there he waited, watching o'er
his child.
Jesus spoke as he had spoken in the syna
gogue at first. He called men to the King
dom as to their goal : it was the gift of God,
the place of life.
To trust the Father fully and be free
from anxious care, to love each other and
to work in hope — he said the Kingdom
would be found by all who walked this way.
What he himself had learned of God, he
earnestly desired that men should learn of
him. And as he spoke such words the shadows
fell across the lake and night was coming
on. Jesus blessed the multitude with lifted
hands, and asked his friends to row a little
space apart. But as he turned to sit — for he
had stood within the boat, the better thus
to reach the crowd upon the shore — he saw
the little sufferer helpless on her pallet,
saw the patient, trustful pleading of the
father's eyes, and felt within his heart that
God would grant him power to heal the

66 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
child. The boat came close alongside that
in which the Master sat, he laid his hand
upon the girl with words of benediction,
and simply bade the father go in peace.
That evening Jesus went not back to
Peter's house to rest, as he was wont to do,
nor did he even go within the town. He
left the boat far up the shore, and bidding
his disciples repair to him at dawn, at a
convenient spot upon the hill, he went away
alone. Now every house within the town was
open to the strangers who were there, as
they are opened in the Holy City at the
feasts ; but many still could find no shelter,
and must lodge among the fishers' boats
along the shore, or in the market-place.
With earliest glow of day the men who
slept in front of Peter's house, that they
might be the first to see the wonder-worker,
were told that Jesus was not there, but some
where on the hill, an hour's walk or more
toward Hukkok, northward. This word
was quickly passed along, and men, when
they had broken bread, set out to find the
Master. The sons of Zebedee were with

THE WIDENING HORIZON 67
the first who started, taking with them
bread and fish and wine for Jesus and them
selves. They thought he would not come
to town that day, for he had said the night
before, while with them in the boat, that
people trode upon each other to be healed
of their diseases, yet cared but little or
nothing for the word he spoke of God and
life. The streets, that day, were almost silent
at the hour of morning prayer. Many shops
were closed and many nets hung up, their
owners making holiday at Herod's games,
or gone forth with the crowd along the
Hukkok road.
When Zebedee, who waited in Caper
naum until the service in the synagogue was
ended, reached the hill and joined the ever
growing multitude, Jesus, standing by a
cliff along whose top grew oak and walnut
trees, was calling those by name whom he
would have with him, to help him in his
work. The ruler heard him call his sons,
and saw them go and take their seats a little
space before him on the grass. He felt that
they were worthy of the place, and since he

68 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
did not dream what lay before them of toil
and persecution, he was glad the Master put
their names among the twelve. He knew
not all the men whom Jesus chose, but
nearly all, and he was proud of Galilee,
proud also of his little town beside the lake.
He thought within his heart that priests and
scribes and Pharisees and people of Jeru
salem, the rich and mighty, were plainly
not to have the first and best that the Mes
siah had for men, should Jesus prove to be
indeed the King long-promised.
When at length the twelve were seated
in a semi-circle before Jesus, he looked on
them and on the throng behind, and spoke
great words and wonderful through all the
morning. From where they sat the eye could travel
far across the crystal lake of Galilee, and
over many mountains of the homeland and
Perea, a scene most rich and wide ; but Jesus
raised his followers' thought to higher,
broader visions still, to see the beauty of
the everlasting things in which the soul of
man was meant to share. The past and fu
ture seemed as open to his eye, and all the

THE WIDENING HORIZON 69
secrets of the heart, as was the lake to theirs.
He made them think of that which lay be
neath the surface of their lives. He taught
them that the heart is greater than the Law,
the synagogue and the Temple — its great
ness and its glory this, that it can be like
God. He spoke to them with great authority,
and said that he was come to realise the
hopes of men of old and make their vision
of the truth complete; that on his word
each man could build what winds and floods
should never overthrow; and that by those
who followed him not Israel alone but all
the earth should be illuminated.
The words he spoke were near to com
mon things, and made the place with all
around — the larks that sang above, the
white and purple violets in the grass, the
thorns and thistles on the rocks — made them
what they had not been before, instinct with
higher meaning, epistles of the thoughtful
care and wisdom of the Father.
Yet was the Master one with those who
heard: his speech and dress the same as
theirs. No thunder followed what he said.

JO JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
The mountains did not quake. His friends
beheld no armies in the air, no heavenly
sponsors of his word or guards to shield him
from all foes. But when at last he spoke a
blessing and was still, they were astonished
more than words could measure, and
thought that Abraham and Moses too were
less than he.

CHAPTER SIX
WARNING VOICES

CHAPTER SIX
WARNING VOICES
WHEN the rulers in Jerusalem had
heard from Galilee that by the
words and deeds of one called Jesus a great
excitement had arisen about the lake and
back among the mountains, there went from
time to time both priests and Pharisees, to
watch him closely and report at home.
They did not look for any good, from one
who set himself above their best and wis
est, a man untaught in all the wisdom of the
rabbis and sprung from Nazareth. His
deeds might awe and dazzle Galilean fish
ermen, but would they stand the test of those
who knew the Holy Law and understood
the way to exorcise the demons?
One of the first of those who went to spy
upon the northern prophet in his work — the
scribe Hannasi, a zealous, conscientious
man, who strove to keep the Law exactly —
73

74 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
reached Capernaum the very day that Jesus
came again from wandering in the high
lands of his native Galilee. The morning
after, going with the crowd, he found that
Jesus made his home with one called Simon
in a little house of brick and wood between
the market and the lake. Here, early as
it was, the prophet sat and taught. The
room was full, and throngs before the house
were waiting, somewhat noisily, till Jesus
should come out.
Hannasi reached the open door at length
by pressing close to those from whom he
feared defilement, the common village folk
and publicans, and thence, on looking in,
he saw the man of whom the land was filled
with rumours. Two other scribes were
there already, one of them a Pharisee, and
with their help he got inside the door. He
did not hear the Master many minutes un
disturbed. For soon a heavy noise and
voices on the roof drew every one's atten
tion ; and as a large unwieldy object swung
out free above the little court, cutting off
the light, some people feared the house was
breaking down and crowded through the

WARNING VOICES 75
door into the street. This left more space
for those who stayed, to see what then
befell. Upon a peasant's cot let down by ropes
put under near the ends and firmly held by
four men on the roof there lay a man of
middle age, silent and seeming helpless.
When lowered to the floor, he moved his
eyes from side to side, and slightly too his
head, until he saw the one he sought, and
then his eyes were fixed.
Hannasi and the others with him watched
intently that no word or slightest motion
of the so-called prophet should escape them.
When Jesus spoke to him who lay upon the
pallet, their worst opinion of him grew at
once tenfold more black, for plainly he
blasphemed. He told the man what only
God might tell him, as they thought, — told
him that his sins were pardoned. When
Jesus read their thoughts upon their scowl
ing faces, he justified his word of pardon
by a gracious act of healing. The man
arose, took up his pallet from the floor, and
went forth to the street.
The crowd were taken by this deed of

76 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
Jesus, and said the like had not been seen in
Israel ; to the scribes, however, no such act,
though seeming good, could hide that word
of blasphemy which he had spoken. They
straightway left the house in holy indigna
tion, and Akiba, the Pharisee, most zealous
of the group, set out that hour to carry word
to those who ruled in Zion.
Hannasi tarried yet two Sabbaths in
Capernaum, and had his thought of Jesus
only more and more confirmed. He set at
naught the fasts which all the people of the
law held sacred, who knew and cared what
ancient men had taught, — the fasts upon
the second day and fifth of every week;
but worst of all he set at naught the holy
Sabbath day itself, which Moses had or^
dained for an everlasting statute. Hannasi
saw the men who followed Jesus pluck
heads of wheat and rub it in their hands
upon the day of rest, and he forbade them
not, but took from Peter's hand and ate the
grain himself. But rubbing wheat to shell
it is work, the scribes maintained, and one
who works upon the Sabbath ought to die.
And when he charged the prophet with this

WARNING VOICES 77
wicked deed of his disciples, he was bold
and 'answered him as though he thought the
Sabbath day itself were less in worth than
he, yea, less in worth than any common man.
No one had ever uttered such presumptuous
words and lived. Hannasi wondered that
no sudden stroke of judgment fell upon
him, as when the earth engulfed the
f roward sons of Aaron.
Again, the following Sabbath and even in
the sacred synagogue, he broke the Holy
Law, for one who had a withered hand he
healed. There was no need, the scribes de
clared ; this man could well have waited till
the holy day was past. But Jesus healed
him then and there, as though to make it
plain to all that he regarded not what every
scribe held sacred. It seemed to them that
he was seeking to blot out what all their
fathers loved and cherished. As he broke
the Sabbath law, of all their laws the high
est and the holiest, he surely would not stop
at any other, but would try to overturn them
all. That day they formed a league against
him, ten of them, Herodians and Pharisees,

78 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
men who had been sharply hostile to each
other until a common peril made them one.
For the Herodians held Herod for a lawful
king, sprung from Jewish stock, though his
mother was an Idumean, but the Pharisees
spurned him as a Gentile. These men
sought henceforth how they might destroy
Jesus and might do it quickly. Other dan
gers which they saw for land and people
were as naught to this new and deadly peril,
they said, and for the time should be for
got. And so their plan was made to watch
his words and deeds for evidence against
him, to challenge his authority at every
step, and warn the people not to heed his
teaching on pain of bitterest penalties. They
all agreed that Jesus wrought his signs
with Satan's aid, to blind the minds of men
to doctrines which would quench the fire of
Israel's hope and make the chosen people
one with all the godless nations.
In search of facts that they might use to
gain their end, Hannasi left the lake, the
second Sabbath being past, and travelled up
to Nazareth. He found the rustic home of
Jesus, saw his brothers at their lowly toil,

WARNING VOICES 79
and questioned them about his work and
teaching. They seemed not proud of him,
at least the older ones, and knew but little of
his deeds. Hannasi told what he had lately
seen down by the lake, and how the scribes
and Pharisees, the careful guardians of the
Law, were deeply moved and fearful lest
the judgment threatened to false prophets
should yet come down on Jesus and on all
his house. Perhaps this saying stirred the
brothers up — and through them their
mother — to seek for Jesus and to bring him
back to Nazareth and a quiet life. Hannasi
heard of their attempt to do this, and how
they said, quite openly, they thought that
Jesus was beside himself, his head turned
by what had come to him at Jordan, when
he met the desert preacher. He also heard
that Nazareth, the very people who had
known the son of Joseph from a child, who
knew his parents and his family, would not
listen to his claim. They held him for a
carpenter and for nothing more. For when,
one time, he openly declared, within their
little synagogue, that he fulfilled the an
cient prophecies of one on whom the Spirit

80 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
of the Lord should rest, and when he inti
mated that his townsmen were not worthy
of him, they spurned him and his healing
ministry. These events, of which Hannasi heard,
strongly confirmed his judgment of the
man, and made him still more hostile to
the work and claim of Jesus. He then re
turned to Zion, and brought before the
rulers all that he had seen and heard.
They counselled daily how to break the
fatal spell which Jesus by his works and
words had cast on plain, unlettered men,
and how to end his life. Hannasi had no
doubt that Jesus was a false Messiah, and
would at length be crushed, as others like
him had been ; and yet at times he marvelled
in his spirit that Beelzebub should do so
many deeds of mercy. Nor could he under
stand the face of Jesus, which sometimes
haunted him. It did not seem to
be the face of one who walked in dark
ness. But these thoughts, when they arose
within him, were quickly overcome by facts
conspicuous and damning. Jesus had blas
phemed and had boldly set the Law at

WARNING VOICES 8 1
naught in many other points. To spread
his evil doctrines he had formed a band of
twelve disciples, who daily sought to turn
the multitudes away from ancient customs.
Soon all godliness would be destroyed
among the people, unless this peasant,
strongly aided by the subtle foe of truth,
could be cast down. Therefore Hannasi and
the leaders of the Jewish Church, thinking
this a work well pleasing unto God, sought
the death of Jesus, and they did not seek it
long in vain.

CHAPTER SEVEN

THE GALILEAN CRISIS

CHAPTER SEVEN
THE GALILEAN CRISIS
THE fame of Jesus had at length been
carried to the utmost bounds of Gali
lee. The men whom he had chosen and
sent out to be swift heralds of the Kingdom,
announcing its approach by word and deed,
had borne their message from the lakeside
to the north and west, and had returned to
Capernaum, as Jesus had directed. He met
them there in Peter's house, and heard the
story of their work — where they by twos
had been, what welcome they had found,
and what men said about the coming King
dom and its King.
Their hearts were glad, and Jesus felt
their joy. He saw in them a hope of better
days, and in their work a promise that his
Galilee, though many of its sons were unre
sponsive, might yet become the basis of his
Kingdom. Jerusalem, its foes and unbelief
85

86 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
and scorn, was far away and far beneath this
radiant mount of vision which rose upon the
trust and enthusiasm of his young disciples.
These untaught peasants who had walked
with him, these artisans and fishermen,
had now begun to see what scribes and
Pharisees, the wise and understanding of
the earth, knew not and could not know.
And Jesus felt new gladness in his mission,
felt a wondrous deepening sense of power
and surer confidence that he within him
self possessed the Kingdom of the Father.
To share that heavenly Kingdom in its
strength and beauty, one needed but to bear
his yoke ; and some about him, though half
in ignorance of the real truth at work upon
them, were learning this great secret.
When night was now far spent, they
wished each other peace, having first agreed
upon a quiet day across the lake, secure
from crowding, clamorous throngs, for this
was Jesus' wish. But things fell out far
other than they hoped.
The following day broke fair, and earlier
than its wont the town was all astir because
its famous prophet had returned. By ones

THE GALILEAN CRISIS 87
and twos, from Peter's home and Zebedee's
and other points, the little band of hopeful
men sought out the chosen rendezvous upon
the northernmost and least frequented pier.
One boat took all, and they were soon afloat,
but not unnoticed. Word passed swiftly
through the town that Jesus had gone up the
shore, his twelve with him, and many peo
ple started off at once along the highway,
keeping still the boat in eye.
As it went, the throng increased from
every side — the shore was densely popu
lated — until it grew a long and motley cav
alcade. Some ran ahead, and shouted to
the boat to stop, and blessed the name of
Jesus. Some were borne on litters, sick
who hoped for healing and who would not
lose a day, yea, nor a single hour. And
bands of pilgrims who had started early for
Jerusalem, coming down the valley from
the highlands, fell in with the procession,
and lent the scene the colours of their holi
day attire.
When past the entrance of the Jordan to
the lake of Galilee, the boat was plainly
headed for the shore within a little bay be-

88 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
low Bethsaida; and many, seeing this, ran
on ahead and reached the landing place in
time to welcome Jesus. The boat was
drawn up on the beach, and Jesus, giving up
the plan with which he left Capernaum,
started for the higher ground beyond the
city, eastward. There, with all the glory
of the lake and shore in view below, he
sat and taught and healed.
The day at last was waning, but the
crowds, especially the men, stayed on, un
mindful of the hour. They asked each
other if the Kingdom were at hand. The
signs which had been wrought upon the sick
were great, they said; the prophet's chosen
band had gone through Galilee, proclaim
ing the fulfilment of the appointed time;
and yet he raised no standard. Yea, and
stranger still, he said no word about a King
on David's throne, no word of thrusting off
the shameful Roman yoke and making Zion
mistress of the earth. But ever of the heart
he spoke, of trust in God, of serving one an
other. The stories that he told to men as
well as women were not of deeds of valour
on the battle-field, not tales of mighty cap-

THE GALILEAN CRISIS 89
tains who won against great odds, nor won
ders in the earth and air wrought by the
mysterious Prince and Hero for whom they
longed; no, they were stories of lost sheep
and mustard seed, of tares and leaven and
nets, of beggars and Samaritans. He
wanted men to follow him, and yet to stay
at home, and do their work as hitherto, and
pay their tax, and let the Gentiles rule.
Was this because he feared to take the step
they wished to see him take? Then it was
theirs to act, to show him that their zeal and
strength were equal to the need. His ban
ner as Messiah once set up, all Galilee
would rise and bear it on to victory. So
ran the tenor of their blind enthusiasm, and
the excitement grew with every minute.
The sun was now below the western
mountains, and the quiet lake was all aglow
from shining clouds. It was a sight to
soothe the spirit, blending with the words
of Jesus. But there upon the hillside a
mighty passion swayed the leaders and
many others in the great throng. It was no
soft and peaceful scene that met the eye of

90 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
Jesus, nor was it one to make him glad at
heart. The meaning of his signs had been mis
read. Not him and his high message of the
Father did this excited crowd desire, but
only what his arm might bring of earthly
place and power.
He called the twelve around him, and
bade them take the boat for home; and
when they begged to stay with him, for they
had felt the electric current that swept the
crowd, he spoke insistently, constraining
them to go.
Then Jesus turned to send the multitude
away, for the shadows thickened and he was
weary and disappointed, but they had found
a leader now, and crying, "Hail! King
Messiah!" they thronged about him with
many words of praise and hot appeals to
Galilean patriotism. Their counsel was to
take him back in triumph to Capernaum.
When once he saw their loyalty, they fan
cied he would yield to them, accept a crown,
and reign with mighty power.
So poorly did they know him! This
counsel of their hearts was only evil in his

THE GALILEAN CRISIS 9 1
sight, a counsel long since faced and for
ever put beneath his feet when he was in
the desert. And poorly did they gauge the
strength of Jesus in thinking they could
bend his will to theirs. As well attempt to
turn the rushing Jordan back upon itself,
or lift Mt. Hermon from its rocky base!
He waived them off in silent sorrow.
When their eyes met his, and spirit meas
ured spirit, they felt their helplessness. No
man laid hand upon him, and when he
sought the darkening mountain, no one fol
lowed far. Slowly, with mutterings of dis
appointment and of scorn, the crowd dis
persed, and slowly did he climb the rocky
way to solitude. Alone there, yet not alone,
he thought upon the mournful crisis of the
day. These people plainly wished what he
could never give, nay, would not for the
very love he bore them; and what to him
was dear beyond all price was naught to
them. They turned away. And would his
chosen ones be strong enough to stand alone
and face an ebbing tide? The future of his
Kingdom hinged on that ; and so his thought

92 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
and care must be henceforth for them, to
mould their cherished dream into a form
more worthy of their God.
Thus meditating, as he looked below, he
saw his band still on the lake — the moon
was nearly full — and they were struggling
against the wind, hard in upon the northern
shore. He ended then his solitary vigil, and
went to their relief. His earthly hope was
in the little boat upon the tossing, white-
capped waves.

CHAPTER EIGHT
THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED

CHAPTER EIGHT
THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED
A MONTH went by, and we behold a
different scene. The place is still —
the lower eastern shore of the Lake of Gali
lee across from Kedesh, two hours' walk
from the Jordan. A boat is drawn upon
the beach, and near it, by a clump of olean
der bushes, Jesus sits with those few men
whose hearts he seeks to bind unto himself
with bonds so strong that they will hold
through any storm.
The summer day had passed with quiet
talk, as many other days since Jesus with
the twelve, his public ministry in Galilee
being ended, had gone across the border of
the Gentiles, far northward from the Tyrian
Stairs and even to the region of Sidon. In
all that walk along the western sea, and
later over mountain roads remote and wild,
his daily thought had been to breathe his
95

96 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
spirit into those who journeyed with him.
Serving them in little ways, knitting them
together, teaching them from wayside texts
how near the Father is, how merciful and
kind, he sowed their minds broadcast with
seed that he had garnered up through years
of earnest thought and life in ever deepen
ing fellowship with God.
And so the summer day had come and
nearly gone beside the dear familiar lake.
At length the sound of oars was heard, and
soon a boat, approaching from the west, was
dragged ashore near that of Jesus and the
twelve. The men it brought were foes to
Jesus, sent out to get fresh proof by which
the sanhedrin might cast him down to
death. "Peace be to you," the leader said, and
Jesus answered, "Peace to you." Then
asked he what they sought of him. To this
the leader of the band replied, "We seek
a sign on which our faith may rest secure.
If thou art he who comes to rule in Zion,
the one our fathers hoped for, then show a
sign, and leave us not in doubt."
But Jesus knew this ready plea for signs,

THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED 97
and knew the men who made it, zealous ^
for the Law indeed, yet blind toward God.
He saw beneath the plea, deep in the eyes
of those who stood before him, a glowing
fire of hate whose flame would some time
smite him to the earth — he saw it, but he
trembled not. "Why seek a sign," he said,
"yet scorn the many signs that I have
given already, the mighty works of mercy
wrought among you? My God will never
give the sign you seek because your hearts
are turned away from him and set on evil.
But yet the day will come when they who
face the light with pure desire shall see a
sign in my appearance like the sign of
Jonah." Having uttered this dark word, he bade
his friends embark — the hour was late —
and while their boat moved off the men on
shore threw after Jesus many an angry
threat and scornful taunt. The darkness
was now settling fast upon the lake, and
Jesus and his little band were hushed with
solemn thoughts. They saw his way grow
perilous and lone from day to day. The
ardor of the North had cooled since Jesus

98 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
utterly refused to wear a crown; the bit
terness of those who ruled in Judah and
Jerusalem, as had been seen just now be
side the lake, had grown more deep and
active. Peter and the others faced the com
ing days with many anxious questionings
and fears. They thought within them
selves, "Perhaps we had done better with
our nets, our figs, and olives, on our little
farms, than following these old visions of
a coming King who never comes, these
dreams our fathers dreamed."
But Jesus knew their mood: he felt their
lightest doubt. He saw all they could see
or dimly feel, and more. He saw the
wreckage of their dearest hopes cast up
along the fearful shore of death. He saw
beyond that shore a brightening sky above
a new-born earth. These friends of his
should walk that earth, and see that bright
ening sky, and gather even from that fear
ful shore of death the blossoms of a purer
hope, a larger and a sweeter faith, than they
had lost. He saw, and from the vision he
distilled a tender word of comfort, courage,
cheer, and suited it to each disciple's need.

THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED 99
Around them, close and ever closer, for the
chill and fear of all their earthly night,
he drew the mantle of his Father's love.
At last they came to shore in Peter's
town, and parted for the night. But Jesus
would not tarry here again; his work in
street and synagogue, and in the wider field
of Galilee, was done. And so when morn
ing came he left the town, and with the
twelve set off for Merom and the north, to
be alone with them. He must disclose the
fate he saw awaiting him, but not until his
friends were strong enough to hear without
surrender of their confidence in him.
At times the twelve had thought him the
Messiah of their own long hopes, and had
looked from day to day to see him mani
fest himself as King by some stupendous
act and open proclamation. In this belief
they went through Galilee, and preached
and healed with power. But now, by slow
degrees, as they had walked more quietly
with Jesus, a change had come upon them.
Their dream of earthly glory had faded
somewhat, while in the foreground of their
thought a mystery of suffering had arisen,

IOO JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
vague and indistinct and dreadful. Their
hope indeed still lived within their hearts,
but ere it could be realised, their Master
and perhaps themselves must meet they
knew not what of shame and loss. They
shrank from knowing.
Jesus saw this change come over his dis
ciples, and in it saw a ground of hope. He
had not asked to see the secrets of their
hearts: he had not ever in the slightest
measure sought to force their confidence.
His own ideal of the heavenly Kingdom
he had lived out among them day by day,
and waited for its charm to touch and
mould their spirits and to beget in them a
deathless love like that which filled his life.
He saw that Judas lagged behind the
rest, that he still held unchanged his Mes
sianic hope, and now was more confused
than they by what was taking place. But
yet he sought to win and hold the heart of
Judas too, and carry him along at last to
his own higher thought.
Thus they journeyed slowly on, now rec
ognised and greeted, now besought to come

THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED IOI
aside and heal, but yielding not to such re
quests. The second day they came to Dan, and
lodged with one whose only son had been
restored to health by Jesus on his early tour
through northern Galilee. Then onward
past the splendid home of Philip with its
heathen shrines of costly marble, and up
a valley northward through the foothills of
Mt. Hermon.
Resting by the wayside when the sun was
highest, where a brook and shade invited,
Jesus blessed their humble fare, as he was
wont to do, and afterward in frank disclo
sure of his inmost thought he talked about
the Kingdom and their common needs. He
felt that they were nearer drawn to him
than they had ever been, that he himself
was more to them — at least to some of them
— than their old hope of earthly glory, and
so he led them on to face the vital question.
He asked what others thought of him and
of his work; and answers various by various
ones were given, but all to him were hol
low, disappointing words. For some said
he was John the Baptist come to life, others

102 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
Elijah, or at least some ancient prophet.
Thus all, or all who spoke their thought of
him, had failed to see him as he was, had
failed to grasp the message that he brought.
The people waited still for one to come, one
greater far than Jesus, because a kingdom
of this world was their desire, a Gospel of
triumphant force and ease for Israel alone.
Such was the judgment of the crowd, re
ported by the men whose very presence here
among the mountains was proof that they
felt something when with Jesus which the
crowd felt not. Then the Master, with a
longing in his spirit deep as life itself, said
to the twelve, "But ye, who say ye that I
am?" And quick the answer came "Mes
siah!" Lips of one, but eyes of more than
one declared it ; and the wells of joy within
the heart of Jesus overflowed. Mt. Her
mon shouted to the highest sky "Messiah!"
All the listening hills re-echoed it. The
birds broke forth in wondrous song. The
banners of a myriad trees were waved in
exultation. Far away across the heights of
Galilee and Judah fell the splendour of
another and a better day, whose secret Jesus

THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED 103
saw within the eyes of those before him.
He knew the answer was of God and felt
at last a rock beneath his feet.
This loyalty to him at sacrifice of former
hopes, this loyalty to one whom men on
every side rejected, and on whose lonely
way the hate of scribe and priest and Phari
see was casting ever thickening gloom — for
this he thanked his God, in this he saw what
should survive the overwhelming flood of
woe now swiftly drawing near; and, firmly
set on this divine and living base, he felt
that he should build a Kingdom that could
not be moved.
This was the day and hour when Jesus
felt it safe to tell his friends the worst, and
teach them how to face with him the total
seeming wreck of all his toil.

CHAPTER NINE

THE DARKENING WAY

CHAPTER NINE
THE DARKENING WAY
FACING ever southward with Jeru
salem in view and the paschal feast,
which now was drawing near, Jesus and his
little band had reached the eastern slope of
Tabor, and had halted for the night. They
might have planned to lodge somewhere
with friends, but Jesus wished to pass
through Galilee as far as possible unseen.
They sought therefore a sheltered spot
above the road, beneath a canopy of oak,
and where they had a view across Es
draelon, far and wide.
Their evening meal and food for coming
days, with modest store of money, they had
brought from Zebedee's and other friendly
homes beside the lake where they had spent
the night before. And some of the disci
ples still felt the sting of that rebuke which
then had overtaken their proud dispute on
107

108 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
rank among themselves, and some were
touched more deeply that the Master
seemed to make no difference between his
chosen few and that man, all unknown, who
boldly used his name in works of mercy.
These things had made the band more silent
than was their wont. The thought of Jesus
crossed their own confusingly and often.
Two Sabbaths now had passed since, in
the highlands of the Jordan, Jesus had be
gun to teach the twelve about his fate, and
each day's journey toward Judah made yet
deeper their amazement and their fear. As
children they had learned that their Mes
siah would abide in glory upon the throne
of David. This the rabbis long had taught
in Israel. Their King must live and reign
through many years — hundreds or perhaps
thousands — reign till all the earth save Gog
in Magog on the farthest borders should
own his sway and bring his people richest
gifts. And then, the last and bitterest foes
o'erthrown, the earth renewed by God
should be the home of Israel and his King
through all the coming age. Had not an
cient saints and prophets looked for such a

THE DARKENING WAY 109
consummation in the end? Their King
should rule among his enemies; his throne
should stand forever, and his Kingdom be
a Kingdom everlasting. So had they read
within their holy word itself ; their fathers
too had died in this belief.
But what is this they hear from Jesus?
He must be rejected by his own and put to
death! Slain, and yet Messiah! Slain, yet
King forever! Who can bear such contra
dictions? What may be the throne of one
rejected? What the royal reign of one
whom men have put to death?
They reasoned thus, and brooded many
an hour in silence o'er the Master's word.
Amazed, bewildered, apprehensive, day
by day they followed on, constrained by
love and by the little gleam of light that
seemed to lie beside the dreadful thought
of death. They could not tell what Jesus
meant by "rising from the dead," and yet
the word seemed hopeful. Once, moreover,
they had heard him speak of coming in the
Father's glory, and this vague saying gave
them comfort as they pondered sadly on the
days to be. In some mysterious way, per-

IIO JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
haps through awful darkness, they might
reach the light, and all the dear old dream
of Israel's heart be realised at last. But
dim and vague this gleam of hope appeared
beyond the heavy shadows. Jesus read their
sore confusion in their eyes and tones, and
with unwearied patience strove to keep
their trust and stay their minds on God.
That night on Tabor, when their meal
was ended, they looked together out across
the ancient battlefield where Israel had lost
and won in days long past, and far beyond
it saw the light go out along the western
sky. The sea wind rose and murmured
through the branches overhead ; and, wear
ied, all but Jesus early fell asleep. He
watched, and prayed for strength, and
thought of Nazareth, which he had now
left behind forever. But tender longings
and regrets soon lost themselves in the deep
confidence that from his darkening way a
light would break at last upon the eyes of
dear ones in the old familiar town, yea, and
upon the eyes of many in the land who now
regarded him with bitter scorn and hate, a
light moreover that should spread and grow

THE DARKENING WAY III
on earth forever because it lights the holy
path between the Father and his wandering
children. The morrow brought to the disciples
fresh proof that their old dreams of Mes
sianic triumph must be revised if they were
still to look to Jesus as the man to change
these dreams to firm realities. For, gazing
back upon Gennesaret, as they reached a
height from which the eye ranged far away
to northward up the Jordan Valley, Jesus
uttered words of condemnation on those
towns which, having seen his signs and
heard his message, had not cared to heed
it. And thus he owned the failure of his
work for them, from which event his fol
lowers might infer what they had ground
to hope from any work that he might do in
hostile Judah.
Later, when his messengers brought word
that they could find no lodging for him in
the neighbouring village of Samaria, and
craved his sanction to destroy the town with
fire from heaven, he refused. Instead of
taking vengeance on these surly foes of
Israel, he turned upon his messengers with

112 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
words of sad rebuke. Was his the spirit of
Elijah, to burn his foes and call the act
God's judgment on them? And could the
Father's Kingdom ever be built up by those
who answered hate with hate? Alas, that
his near friends should for an instant think
that he could stoop to such a loveless deed!
Rejected thus upon the border of Sa
maria, Jesus and his little band went down
to Jordan and journeyed thence through
Gilead. And here, as he had done before
in Galilee, he walked from place to place,
and taught men of the Father. The note of
urgency in what he said was even stronger
now than in the earlier days. The yearning
of his heart to touch the hidden springs in
man by which the life is turned to God
seemed deeper and more tender.
Spring's first touch was seen along the
wayside as they came to Jabesh Gilead.
Pomegranates had begun to show their scar
let buds, anemones and violets of divers
hues were scattered over every sunny bank.
The fields of early wheat were green and
beautiful. Two days had Jesus spent in Jabesh, and

THE DARKENING WAY I-13
now upon the morning of the third he sat
beneath the palms outside the town, and
taught a little company that gathered with
the twelve. His plan to go that morning as
far as Pella all the village knew ; and when
at last he arose and spoke a blessing on his
hearers, and started with the twelve, a
group of mothers timidly approached, and
begged that he would lay his hands upon
their little ones in prayer. His face and
way and words had made them feel that
he was nearer God than they. His blessing
then might shield their children in the day
of evil, or even make them good and great.
A chance like this would surely never come
to them again, and eagerly they craved the
boon. It seemed to some of Jesus' friends a thing
too slight to stop their Master and them
selves, and they presumed to waive the sup
pliants back. So little did they feel as Jesus
felt, or think as Jesus thought! It had not
pained him more to burn the town that
turned him from its gate at night, refusing
shelter, than here deny the sweet petition
of these mother-hearts. No man or woman

114 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
yet had asked of him what he would give
so gladly. To turn away this prayer, and
let the mothers take their children home
unblessed — these little ones with fresh re
ceptive souls — would mar each word of
love he ever spoke and hide from him the
face of God.
And so beside the palms of Jabesh, in the
fragrance of the morning, Jesus let the
mothers put their children in his arms, and
with deep emotion, calling each by name,
he blessed them, claimed them for his
Kingdom, and departed.
Then the scarlet deepened on the buds
of the pomegranates, and the tide of life
rose higher on the hills and in the meadows.
Jesus came that day to Pella near the
Jordan, passed the following night, and in
the morning purchased food by him who
bore the purse, to take upon the further
journey — dates and nuts, wheaten bread,
and fish from Galilee.
When ready to resume their march, they
saw two Pharisees approaching from the
north with rapid steps, who, after friendly
greeting given, said they came from Herod's

THE DARKENING WAY 115
capital, Tiberias. They knew a man at
court, they said, one whom the king kept
near himself, with whom he counselled
daily on affairs of state. This friend had
spoken words which brought them thither
with all haste. "The king," said they, "has
heard much evil of thee, Rabbi, and seeks
thy death. He will not longer harbour in
his realm one whom Jerusalem is eager to
destroy. He much misjudges thee, we
know, believing all thy foes have said; but
flee, we pray, from his domain, and save
thy life. We fear his messengers may come
at once, this very day: therefore, escape."
Then some of the disciples, fearing for
their Master, wished that he would heed
this kindly word, but wondered whither
they could go for safety. But Jesus had no
fear. He knew his work was not yet wholly
done, and felt that yonder in Jerusalem the
end must be, not here by Jordan. No force
or craft of Herod could abridge the few
remaining days he had in which to serve
his fellow-men. And saying this he jour
neyed slowly down the river with the
twelve, and came at night to Succoth, near

Il6 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
the Jabbok, where the lofty mountain wall
is broken on the east. Up that defile and
out upon the boundless table-land beyond
the reach of Herod and the Jews it had
been easy for the Lord to flee with those
who loved him best; and there in some se
cluded spot to live and teach the things of
God through many years, and gather to
himself at length a multitude of followers,
and reign. But such a thought, if it arose,
was quickly put away — a lure of Satan, not
a voice from God.
Then they journeyed on from Succoth
southward, and slept where night o'ertook
them, near the ford of Jordan, east from
Jericho. They had no shelter save the
olive branches overhead, no couches but the
grass; yet straitness of this kind they well
had borne, young men and hardy as they
were, had not their spirits felt the chill of
coming days. This lengthened out the
night and made their loneliness more lonely
still. But when the morning came, and Jesus,
strong and hopeful, blessed the bread, they

THE DARKENING WAY 117
lifted up their heads again, and tried to
think their fears were much too dark.
And here, eight days before the paschal
feast, they joined the pilgrim caravan from
Galilee. Loud shouts arose when it was
known that Jesus was among them. For
strange though Jesus seemed, and no Mes
siah in the eyes of most who sought the
feast, his Galileans held him still a man of
wondrous power, who did great honour to
their name.
Jesus saw his mother and Salome, walked
with them and talked of many things, while,
scattered here and there along the line, the
twelve found other friends and eager audi
ence for all they had to say of Jesus. As
they went on, Salome with her sons, when
parted now a little space from others, asked
the Master for a boon. She knew her sons
were near to him — none other of the twelve
as near save Peter, and him she thought less
fitted than her sons to serve in highest places
of the Kingdom soon to be. Hence she
sought for them the seats of honour in that
Kingdom, the posts of highest influence and
richest gain, though she knew that Jesus

Il8 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY.
had refused a crown and did not speak of
royal state. Her sons by eager looks made
this request their own. Yet they had heard
the Master say that he must die; that they
who followed him must bear the cross and
suffer persecution; yes, and that his King
dom was within the heart. All this they
knew; and yet so strong the ancient hope
within their bosoms, so vague their appre
hension of the Master's thought, that they
could ask of him this earthly boon, and
think that he would give them outward rule
over their fellow-men and even over their
brothers in the inner circle of the Master's
chosen band!
With love and sorrow in his voice Jesus
told them that along his way — a way they
did not understand as yet — their feet sliould
walk indeed; but God, not he, must give
the seats of honour in the Kingdom of the
future. Of this, however, let them be as
sured, that the highest seats should be for
those who gave their lives to service in com-
pletest love. Thus he answered their re
quest. Passing splendid villas set in palms, the

THE DARKENING WAY 119
pilgrims came to Jericho, and many people
thronged the streets to see the joyous caval
cade of rustic Galileans, and notably to see
the prophet Jesus, for they had heard that
he was in the crowd.
That night he lodged with one of Caesar's
servants, one of those who were despised by
all who held themselves for upright pious
Jews. And some who saw where he had
gone to lodge declared it was a shame for
him to lower himself and all his friends by
lodging with a renegade, a Jew who was
no Jew, but worse than Gentile dogs. If
he would only pay respect, they said, to
what the best in Israel thought fit and right,
he might have any place of power he
wished. But Jesus heeded not this murmuring.
The man of whom he asked a lodging was
the first, if not the only one, he saw in
Jericho who really wanted him as guest.
To him, therefore, he went with joy, ful
filling thus his holy work. And so it came
about that he who was anointed to be the
King of Kings, to have a throne more last
ing far and glorious than that in Rome on

120 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
which Tiberius sat, went, a lowly pilgrim,
and slept beneath the roof of one of Rome's
most petty officers!
The Sabbath rest was kept by Jesus and
his friends in Jericho with worship in the
synagogue, and talk of what had been there
in the days of yore; how Joshua had kept
the feast upon those plains, and how he took
the city and the land because he knew that
God was with him. And Jesus said in quiet
tones of perfect confidence, "God is with us
also." And when he spoke of God as with
them there, to give them conquests greater
than their fathers ever made, albeit not by
force of arms, a sense of awe filled all their
hearts, and the place was holy, as the angel
prince told Joshua when he bade him loose
the sandals from his feet.
The Sabbath being past, the travellers re
sumed their march with psalms of praise
and gladness. Jesus and the twelve were
early on the way, among the first, and kept
their place through all the long ascent.
With them a company of nearer friends
were joined, of whom the most were fearful
what the day might bring. They wished

THE DARKENING WAY 121
the Master would not go among his bitter
foes. They said this to the twelve, but not
to Jesus, for they dared not seek to turn him
from his course.
Sometimes he strode ahead, as though in
haste to reach the goal, as though Jerusalem
were full of loyal friends who waited for
his coming with a joyful welcome. When
he saw a look of wonder and amazement on
the faces of the twelve, he took them from
the rest apart, and told them plainly what
the end would be, as he had done before
in the last weeks. But still his words were
strange to them and vague. They feared
indeed some dreadful hour of pain and
shame might come to him they loved, but
more than this they could not think the
Lord's anointed would be called to meet.
They rounded Olivet toward dusk and
came to Bethphage. Beyond this town a
little space, where burst upon the traveller
all the pride of Zion— all the hundred mas
sive towers on her walls, all the stately
marble palaces, and higher still the house
of God with golden roof that shone afar —
Jesus saw a festal throng ascending from the

122 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
Kedron vale. He saw the waving green,
he heard the distant notes of joy, and knew
at once the meaning of the scene.
These people, mainly Galileans and in
formed of his approach by some of the cara
van who had hastened on with all speed
instead of stopping with the rest in Jericho,
had now come out to welcome him as King,
as that great son of David who would get
them liberty and ease and wide renown.
Their King indeed he knew himself to be,
though other than they fancied, and he at
once resolved to yield him to the welcom
ing throng, yet in such wise that they might
not mistake the kingship which he sought.
He sent therefore to Bethphage for an ass
that he had seen but just before. When
this arrived where Jesus stood, the first of
those who came with branches reached the
crest, and straightway cast their outer gar
ments on the foal which Peter held.
When Jesus mounted and set forth, the
fiery Galilean leaders being in the van and
then the twelve, a mighty shout of joy went
up that echoed from the temple walls across
the vale, and down the slope of Olivet was

THE DARKENING WAY 1 23
still prolonged by those who had not reached
the top. Many hailed him "Son of David"
as he meekly rode along; some strewed his
way with palms, or even in delirium of joy
cast off their garments on the path before
him. They fondly thought their ancient
dream was soon to be fulfilled. With songs
and shouts and salutations moved the long
procession down the winding way.
The twelve were swept along to thoughts
of earthly glory with the noisy crowd. At
times the word which Jesus oft of late had
spoken came to mind, and then this scene
of joyful welcome grew dark from fear of
coming ill. They wondered more than ever
at the man who rode there silent, calm in
midst of wild acclaims, his face more sad
than joyous. Once those nearest saw him
weeping as he went, and heard him mourn
the city's unbelief and tragic fate.
Before they reached the city gate their
coming had called out large crowds of men
and women. A few of these were glad, and
dared to shout in welcome as Jesus passed,
and then fell into line behind and marched
to do him honour. Many watched the

124 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
cavalcade in silence, some with scowling
and contempt.
A knot of Pharisees with stoles drawn
close about them, hearing Jesus hailed as
"King" and "Son of David," bade him stop
it. "What his right to these great titles?
Why delude these noisy throngs with empty
hopes?" But Jesus, staying not, replied that
what they heard was right and fit. It was
a time to shout "hosanna," and if men held
their peace, the very stones beneath his feet
would cry against them. The Pharisees,
abashed and angered, sought another street
and disappeared.
And now more slowly moved the caval
cade, for throngs from every quarter packed
the narrow way. Along the roofs of many
houses curious people stood, and watched
the strange procession. Past the synagogue
of Galilee and up the Temple Mount, with
ever louder bursts of joy, it went, and bend
ing round the lofty Roman tower of An-
tonia, it poured itself at last upon the broad
and sacred court about the House of God.
Then Jesus sent the foal away, to be re
turned to Bethphage, when the garments

THE DARKENING WAY 125
spread upon it had been given to their
owners. The outer court was thronged with men,
and through the din that rose one heard
with difficulty the music of the Levites
within the House of God.
When they reached the terrace before the
inner wall, beyond which Gentiles might
not go on pain of death, they paused a little
and looked down upon the multitudes sur
rounded by the stately marble cloisters east
and west and south. High upon the cloister
roof they saw the Roman sentries, observant
of the scenes below, whose signal to the for
tress guard would bring swift punishment
to any who should break the peace. On
every side they saw strange garbs from dis
tant lands, and many Gentile proselytes
mingling with the Jews.
Passing through a splendid gateway and
climbing many steps, they joined the wor
shippers within the court of Israel.
Some were there in peasant dress like
theirs, and some in costly robes, white like
the priests', with broad amulets around the
arm or on the brow. The lamb was burn-

126 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
ing on the lofty altar with flour and oil
and wine. The high priests' offering was
brought, while Levites sang the psalm that
tells of Zion's beauty, whose God shall be
our guide forever. Afterward, within the
Holy Place, invisible to Jesus and his
friends, the sacred incense was poured out
upon the coals, the priests came forth be
fore the portal, and spoke aloud, the five
together, Aaron's blessing, while all the
people bowed.
Then, descending through the women's
court and through Nicanor's gate, the little
Galilean group slowly made their way
through the long cloisters. Jesus marked
what men were doing, heard them ask the
price of doves and sheep, and saw them
changing foreign coins for shekels of the
sanctuary. Then as the darkness gathered
he went forth to Bethany.

CHAPTER TEN

THE PROPHET IN JERUSALEM

CHAPTER TEN
THE PROPHET IN JERUSALEM
THE second day at morning they who
had come with Jesus were perplexed,
for he had gone forth from Bethany early
and alone, before the time of opening the
Temple gates. Supposing he would come
to morning prayer, they sought him in the
inner court as soon as they gained entrance,
but sought in vain. He was not there.
Then through the lower court, among
the gathering multitudes, they wandered,
searching, until an outcry toward the Water
Gate drew them and others thither. Hoarse
shouts of rage and calls for help were heard
above the tumult before they learned the
cause. Every minute added to the press
and tumult. Soon they caught the voice
of Jesus, and, struggling to the front, they
saw him standing there amid the wild con
fusion, himself serene, but with a look and
129

130 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
bearing of authority so high and awful that
men, though hot with anger, quailed before
it. They felt that he was master and would
have his way.
The Roman soldiers who had hastened
to the scene and had roughly broken pas
sage through the crowd withdrew again on
seeing that the matter touched not Caesar's
rights. The Temple guard commanded
order, but laid not hand on Jesus, neither
sought to check the headlong exit of the
traders and the brokers. The cloisters were
soon cleared of traffic, and any who that
day would purchase sacrifices or exchange
their common coins for sacred ones must
do it in the neighbouring streets, or on the
Mount of Olives, as in the earlier times.
The Galilean brothers still had kept to
gether, though roughly jostled by the surg
ing throng. Intently watching every move
of Jesus, they asked each other what might
follow. People near them whispered,
"Who is this? At least a mighty prophet!
How flashed his eye, how rang his voice
above the angry din! How fearless stood
he when those sons of Jabesh raised their

THE PROPHET IN JERUSALEM 13 1
fists, and when the guard rushed in with
glittering swords!"
All eyes were now on Jesus, who, his sud
den deed accomplished, calmly turned and
met the gaze of priest and Pharisee. His
friends pressed up as near him as they
could, and heard the elders ask him by what
right he interfered with their arrangements
in the Temple courts, and set himself
against the scribes and sanhedrin? What
heavenly sign could he produce to justify
his bold, yea, lawless act? Would he de
stroy the peace of Israel and even the House
of God itself?
Thus chiding him with bitter words, the
rulers crowded threateningly around, and
blindly asked a sign. In that moment it
flashed upon the soul of Jesus that the place
where he was standing, even the sacred
Temple of his fathers, where many a soul
in the past had met with God and found
his peace, was doomed to ruin; but he felt
that something greater lived within his
spirit, and with shining face uplifted, in
tones of high prophetic confidence, he ut
tered words about a temple yet to be and

132 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
purer worship men were soon to learn,
words about a holy Kingdom of his God
that he would build in coming days to take
the place, yea, more than take the place,
of that great sanctuary in which they stood
and all its solemn rites.
Thus darkly fell his words because the
very truth he saw exceeded far the thoughts
of men around him. Even his own disci
ples did not receive and understand his say
ing; yet in that moment, as he stood there
hushing all the tumult by his pure pres
ence and the consciousness of power in his
soul, they felt more deeply than before that
he who spoke was brave and strong enough
to be the Lord's anointed King.
But the scribes and high officials, the men
of mark in Israel, saw in this audacious
Galilean a foe whom they must crush at any
hazard and must crush at once. They
sought henceforth to catch him by his
words, and so destroy the foolish admira
tion in which the people held him. They
challenged his authority to speak or act as
guide in sacred things in Israel, know
ing well his lowly untaught life of toil far

THE PROPHET IN JERUSALEM 133
from the famous rabbis and knowing too
that he shared not the claim to reverence
which rests on austere self-denial such as
John's or on a blameless keeping of all an
cestral statutes — the peculiar merit of the
Pharisees; but Jesus met their challenge
with an answer that foiled their aim com
pletely. Had John, the people's hero and
Herod's recent victim, been authorised of
Heaven to do his work or not? The scribes
dared not answer No, because John's fame
was great; and to deny that he was sent of
God might stir his devotees to deeds of vio
lence; and they could not answer Yes, for
well they knew that John had welcomed
Jesus as one greater than himself.
Thus did Jesus silence, for a time, the
leaders who were seeking his destruction.
And yet this victory did not blind him to
his deadly peril; nor did that other when
he made the common coins they carried
with them, whereon was Caesar's image,
proclaim that Caesar plainly had his rights,
as well as God, a word that would intensify
the hate of Pharisee and Zealot. He also
met the haughty Sadducees on their own

134 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
ground, and bore away the palm. They
held by Moses, yet denied a future life.
And Jesus with a word from Moses bat
tered down their doctrine of despair. Said
not God to Moses from the Bush, "I am the
God of Abraham"? Since, then, it is not
worthy of the Lord that he should call him
self the God of dust or empty shadows,
Abraham was living, though long dead.
But though the untaught artisan from
Nazareth withstood all schemes to steal
away his prestige with the throng, his clear
eye saw that death was unescapable and
near. The foe was on his track, fiercer than
wolves in winter. The "unfaithful vine
dressers" would kill the "son" of the owner
of the vineyard. Jesus saw it, yet unper
turbed as when his followers awoke him in
the tempest on the Lake of Galilee, he went
his way, and spoke his word of warning
and of doom. A fig tree full of leaves but
fruitless, people bidden to a royal feast who
scouted, one and all, the gracious summons
— that was Israel, that in fullest sense the
sacred city. Beyond the storm that soon
would smite his life and smother love with

THE PROPHET IN JERUSALEM 135
hate Jesus saw another tempest drawing
on whose iron flail would beat the walls
of Zion into dust and make an end of
that religion which no longer knew its God.
Yet here and there amid the thorns a flower
blossomed at the feet of Jesus, a door was
opened to him joyously, and hearts re
ceived his message from the Father.
Such a door was that of Simon in Beth
any. His house was such as prosperous
merchants built — a house of stone, two
stories high, the court well paved with mar
ble and having in the midst a fountain.
Round its basin there were white and violet
cyclamens in bloom. The rooms below,
about the court, had carven doors of olive
wood, and those above were closed with
figured tapestry of Tyrian make. About
the house were vines and figs, and one large
balsam tree in front.
The feast that Simon gave to honour
Jesus was at night. The court between the
fountain and the dais, strewn with rugs and
cushions, served as dining-hall. The guests
were met by Simon in the vestibule with
words of greeting, and kissed on either

136 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
cheek. They laid aside their sandals near
the door, bathed and wiped their feet, a
servant aiding, and then went forward past
the fountain to the cushions, as their host
directed. Jesus had the place of honour on the dais,
near him Simon and the twelve in order as
they chanced to come, and finally the sons
of Simon. None reclined till Jesus with
uplifted hands had given thanks to God and
asked his gracious blessing on the meal.
The feast in part was ready on the hand
some rug before the guests, and part was
later served by friends in Simon's house.
The host cared not for rare and costly
food, and knew that modest cheer with
words of love would please and honour
Jesus best. And so he set forth common
viands — roasted lamb and bread and olives,
fresh new figs just ripened in the tropic
gardens by the Sea of Salt, and wine from
Magdala. The scene within the court as they re
clined was one of peace, the voices low and
brotherly, and villagers about the open door
looked on and listened. They talked of the

THE PROPHET IN JERUSALEM 1 37
approaching feast, of days gone by in Gali
lee, and of the tower in Siloam that had
fallen recently with heavy loss of life.
There came a hush at length as one, then
others, noticed that a woman knelt behind
the Master with a cruse of ointment.
Silently, with lavish hand that spared no
drop of all the costly perfume, she poured
it on his head, and with it, through her
eyes and bearing, gave the costlier and more
welcome incense of a loving heart.
And soon the spacious court from end to
end was full of fragrance, rich, delicious,
as from banks on banks of thyme and cen
sers of most precious myrrh. The oint
ment, brought by Arab merchants from the
East, had been distilled from flowers that
grew along the Ganges and the Indus. A
cruet of the finest cost the price of three
good slaves, and years of common use would
not exhaust its store.
The hush that reigned during the
woman's grateful act gave way, when it was
done, to words of admiration from the host,
with which, as one could see, some of the
twelve agreed. But others wore a serious

138 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
or a troubled look, as more or less in doubt
about the fitness of the deed, while one
made low remarks of manifest displeasure.
When some near him gave approving nods
or whispers, he was bold to blame the act
aloud, half rising on his elbow and turning
toward the woman. "Why this loss? It
had been wiser, more in keeping with our
holy Law and with our Master's word, to
have sold the flask and have given to the
poor, to some of those who stand out there
about the door in need of daily bread. A
little ointment would have served the end
as well — a worthy end, and with the rest
one might have done much good. Now all
is wasted on a moment's pleasure."
The woman turned a troubled face to
Jesus, grieving that one near to him should
hold her act so cheap. Jesus saw her look
and understood her heart. Her deed of
love had touched him deeply, and flashed
upon his soul both glad and solemn
thoughts. At once he silenced him who
criticised the act. What he had blamed as
waste was beautiful in Jesus' sight and
timely too. A little while and he would

THE PROPHET IN JERUSALEM 1 39
not be with them at a feast again, or where
their love could minister to him in face to
face exchange. A gift at parting was this
gift that she had made, and beautiful be
cause her best. To give to him as she had
given was an echo of his inmost Gospel,
and so loud and clear an echo that until
the end of time itself it should not wholly
die away.
But more than this, her act of love, un
known indeed to her, was unto him a sac
rament of burial. His end was near, he
knew, and such an end as well might leave
no chance for any loving rites, even if
friends were found who dared to ask the
broken form of one condemned to the most
shameful death. And Jesus with a clear
presentiment of what would come received
the woman's act as a sacrament of burial.
Now when he spoke these solemn words
a deeper hush fell on the little band, with
chilling dread of some disaster that would
soon o'ertake them all.
But on the face of Judas, when he had
left the others at the door of Simon's house,
a heavy shadow gathered; a hot and threat-

140 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
ening glow was in his eyes. He felt that
he had reached the parting of the ways.
Rebuked by Jesus, and repelled from him
by all he said of his approaching fate, he
went away alone, and held communion with
his wounded pride, his fears and unbelief.

CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE THICK DARKNESS

CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE THICK DARKNESS
TWO days had passed since Jesus rode
in royal state across the Kedron bridge
and up the Temple Mount. The third was
sinking when he left the sacred court to
come again no more.
Across the little valley eastward from
Jerusalem Jesus paused with four disci
ples, while the gold and marble of the
House of God were splendid in the setting
sun, and with prophetic words foretold the
final overthrow of this and every temple
wherein the spirit of the living Father is
but a name.
The twelve had parted for a little while
on various errands, promising to share their
evening meal in Bethany. And while the
silver trumpet sounded loud the call to wor
ship, Judas sought the court of Israel, and
crossing to its limit nearest to the lodgings
143

144 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
of the priests waited restlessly until he saw
the man he sought, a member of the daily
watch before the Holy Place whom he had
known for years. He asked this man to
take him to the captain of the Temple, and
to call some leading priests together, as he
had important words for them to hear.
When a group of priests were gathered
in the captain's room, among them Joseph
Caiaphas himself, the son of Simon told
them who he was and why he came. He
said that he had hoped at first, in Galilee,
that Jesus was the promised King, such
signs of power were wrought by him upon
the sick; but now this early hope was gone.
The man had spurned his chance to rule
as King a year ago beside the lake, and
spurned it here again when hailed as "Son
of David" by the crowds who met him on
the Mount of Olives, bearing palms. No
one could longer look to him for Israel's
redemption. And this was rendered yet
more clear by what he now had said and
done against the anointed leaders of God's
people. Judas, speaking on this wise, inquired if

THE THICK DARKNESS 145
he could be of any slightest service to the
holy priests in purging Israel's sacred soil
of a transgressor. Then were they glad, for
though agreed that Jesus ought to die they
dared not seize him openly for fear a tumult
might be raised and Rome have cause to
make her rule more stringent still. They
welcomed Judas as a wise and patriotic
man, and said his aid should not be unre
warded. They asked where Jesus lodged,
and whether he would fight if brought at
last to bay. They cautioned Judas that the
safest time to seize the common foe would
be at night; and then with sugared words
dismissed him by a private way.
With mingled feelings Judas hurried
back toward Bethany as twilight turned to
dark. He shuddered deeply as he passed
the hoary tomb of Absalom within the Vale
of Kings, where demons had been said to
lodge; and then increased his pace until he
neared the little village. Then he loitered,
asked himself if he should stop where Jesus
and the rest were staying, or go at once to
Simon's, where he was to lodge. He did
not care to see the face of Jesus, or meet

I46 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
the eyes of his companions. But still his
anger hotly burned against the man who
had shamed and thwarted him, his disap
pointment too was great that Jesus set him
self against all thoughts of earthly thrones
and kingdoms, and then if he was to keep
his compact with the priests he must stay
within the circle of the twelve, putting on
a front of trust and friendliness. So he re
solved at last to meet and sup with them as
had been planned.
The customary greeting when he joined
the band was warmer by a shade than he
was wont to give. This struck the Master's
ear, and made him turn a searching gaze on
Judas, which the traitor felt but did not
meet. When Philip asked him, as they went to
rest, why he had come so late, he said a
friend had met him at the evening sacrifice
and had kept him longer than he knew.
As Jesus on the following day would send
to buy the paschal lamb and other needful
things and make all ready for the feast, he
sent by John and Simon, passing Judas,
though he bore the common purse and

THE THICK DARKNESS 147
wished to go. And Jesus gave no name of
street or host, but spoke in signs, that Judas,
whose dark secret was not hid from his clear
eye, might not cross his plan to keep the
great ancestral feast with his disciples. Yet
when the evening came, and the supper was
now well-nigh ended in the upper room,
when Jesus craved an hour of holy fellow
ship in which to give his own a sign of all
his deepest truth, a symbol binding them to
him and each to each with bands that time
and tide should never break, then at last
he bade his faithless follower go, but not in
words that others understood. He spared
him this disgrace.
Then Judas rose and left the chamber, his
secret unsuspected save by one. And now
that secret pressed for action, and the way
was clear before him. He answered not the
friendly salutation spoken at the lower door
by a member of the household, but hurried
forth in bitter silence. He ran along the
empty streets until he reached the lordly
house of Joseph just above the entrance to
the bridge which led across from David's
Hill unto the Temple Mount.

148 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
The festal company were still reclining
in the spacious hall when Judas gained
admittance to the outer court and sent an
urgent message to the priest. When
Caiaphas had heard where Jesus was, and
how he might be safely seized, he called his
trusted servants hastily and gave to each a
separate charge. One bore a message to
Antonia, and asked that soldiers be des
patched to him at once to seize a dangerous
man and so prevent a riot. Others went to
call the judges, seventy men from near and
far, yet all within the city walls, and
Joseph bade the messengers be swift and
sure. Now Judas waited in the high priest's
court, a lonely man beside a tall and flaring
torch. And as he sat in silence there came to
him, unbidden and unwelcome, thoughts of
other days, swift glimpses of the Master's
face in hours when he had sought to draw
the twelve to him in love and trust; and
snatches of the Master's prayers that God
would make his followers true and noble
men, to stand unscathed in hours of hot
temptation, and to scorn all base and love-

THE THICK DARKNESS 1 49
less deeds. He rose, and struggled with
these memories, and sought to cast them
out. When he resumed his seat beside the tall
and flaring torch, two men passed through
the court, who seemed to look upon him
with contempt, though they were strangers;
and when they went within the hall he felt
yet lonelier than before. Where should he
find a friend again? How chill the place,
how hard the face and tones of Caiaphas!
How far away the upper chamber seemed
and the fair Galilean days!
Then a voice within him whispered,
"The door is open still, and the Master
pardons seventy times seven. These priests
will surely take his life, and blood will be
upon thy head of one who never did thee
aught but good." But as he thought and
struggled inwardly, now stung by disap
pointed hope and the bitter memory of re
bukes from Jesus' lips, now almost yielding
to the better impulse of his heart, the sol
diers came, and his good angel vanished in
the shadows of the night.
The officer and Joseph talked with Judas

150 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
of the route, the line was formed, the
marching order given, and he led the way.
Soon he brought the priests and soldiers to
the house whence he had fled an hour or
two before. The door was locked, no light
was seen, and all was still within. They
knocked until the bolt was drawn, and
though the owner said that Jesus had gone
forth, they searched the house throughout.
A whispered council then was held outside,
and Judas, much chagrined that Jesus was
not found, advised to go at once and search
a garden in the Kedron vale where he was
wont to rest. The priests and officer agreed
with him, the soldiers formed again, and
forth they went without the city gate, and
having crossed the bridge turned southward
through the silent night.
A garden, walled and shaded deep with
ancient olive trees, lay just ahead upon the
left. With cautious step and peering in
among the trees by light of torch and lan
tern Judas and the foremost priests and
soldiers entered. Then, as they went slowly
forward, suddenly from out the darkness,
calm and resolute, the Master stepped, and

THE THICK DARKNESS 151
said, "Whom seek ye?" Startled, they made
answer, "Jesus." He, advancing still, re
sponded, "I am he"; and asked why they
had come with swords and clubs as though
to seize a robber. Then they fell back a
step, both priests and soldiers, somewhat
frightened by his sudden bold appearance
there at dead of night. A man whose
simple word had wrought great signs upon
the sick — what fire of wrath, what dreadful
stroke of judgment might that word bring
down upon them now!
They halted, awed and doubting, till he
spoke again, requesting that his followers
be not touched ; but when they saw that he
would not resist, emboldened, they went up
and bound his hands with leathern thongs.
Then back across the bridge and through
the echoing streets they marched with speed
until they reached the house of Annas, near
the palace whence they started. There a
halt was made. The soldiers, save a score
for guard, returned to their dark fortress,
and the helpless prisoner was brought be
fore the priest. When Annas sought with
guile to make the Master tell him what he

152 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
taught, he failed, and failing let his min
ions smite the face of Jesus un rebuked.
Thence, guarded right and left by soldiers,
marching to the high priest's palace, Jesus
shortly stood before the arch-tribunal of his
nation. Gathered in that hall where, earlier in
the night, the family and guests had eaten
of the paschal lamb, the judges ranged in
semi-circle sat, with Joseph in the centre
on a higher seat. On either wing there was
a scribe to count the votes. And Jesus, pale
from watching and from agony of soul, his
hands still tied with thongs, stood in the
crescent, facing Joseph. None was there to
plead his cause.
Then witnesses were brought to prove
some deadly wrong in Jesus, some word
against the Temple or the king, or that he
claimed to be the Lord's Anointed. But
the judges, eager though they were to find
a ground, saw none in what the witnesses
had said. So wise and pure the life of him
who stood before their bar, that even lying
witnesses and hostile court could find no
mortal blot therein!

THE THICK DARKNESS 1 53
Then Joseph Caiaphas in extremest agi
tation rose, and lifting up his jewelled hand
to heaven charged Jesus under oath to say
if he were Christ, the King of Israel. When
he had spoken thus, an awful hush fell on
the sanhedrin. All eyes were fixed upon
the prisoner's face, and men leaned forward
in their eagerness to catch the fatal word,
their muscles tense and rigid as their minds.
And Jesus, facing Joseph there before the
high tribunal, knowing that his answer
meant his death, and would let loose against
him all the pent-up rage of cruel bigotry.
replied, "I am; and ye moreover who be
hold me helpless here shall see me yet en
throned in glorious power."
Then the court tumultuously condemned
the Son of Man to death, and angels watch
ing from the realms of glory hid their faces
from the dreadful insults which the judges
heaped upon his head. At last they wearied
of abuse, and left him with the guard till
break of day.
But when the trumpet now had sounded
and the festal sacrifice was being offered,
priests and soldiers hurried Jesus west to

154 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
Pilate's palace by the Joppa gate. His
sanction once secured, their work would
soon be done. But Roman sense of justice
blocked their envious course. They charged
that Jesus made himself a king, but Pilate,
seeing Jesus there in peasant dress and
friendless, withal a silent man who seemed
unheedful of the noisy accusations of his
foes, would not entertain the charge. Then
hearing that the man had come from Gali
lee, he thought to free himself from fur
ther care by sending him to Herod. An
hour later Herod sent him back, in mock
ery decked out as though a king.
And silently the Master went, and silently
he came again to Pilate. The calm that he
had gained in prayer among the shadows
of the olive trees was deep and full of
strength and full of light.
Then the Roman tried to set him free.
He called aloud to all the throng assembled
at the place of judgment, asking them if he
should pardon Jesus. They could name a
man for pardon on a festal day like this,
and Pilate hoped the crowa would ask for
Jesus. But priestly fear controlled the mul-

THE THICK DARKNESS 1 55
titude and balked the Roman's wish. Then
the prisoner disappeared within the palace,
while the crowd without grew larger every
minute, and the air was rent with angry
noise. A little while and Pilate came again and
Jesus with him. What had come to pass
within the court no secret was, but written
plain upon the face and form of Jesus.
Round him was a purple tunic, soiled and
worn, the garment of some soldier; on his
head a chaplet of acacia thorns with crim
son fringe across the brow; upon his face
a record full of suffering.
And Pilate hoped the sight would move
the crowd to pity, but his hope was vain.
The rage of priests became a wild resistless
passion, and when Pilate went again within
they cast aside the pious scruples which
before had kept them out, and followed
with insistent clamour to the court. And
there at last they brought the Roman to
their terms. If he is Caesar's friend, they
say, he cannot spare this man who claims
to be a king; and if he spares, yea, if he

156 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
dare to spare him, their cry shall reach to
Caesar's ear.
Then Pilate's sense of righteousness was
quenched by love of power, and he fell.
Once more he faced the crowd without, this
time to do its will, for sitting as a judge he
sentenced Jesus unto death.
The morning now was far advanced —
a festal morning, and the streets of the Holy
City were full of colour and full of joyous
life. The laughter of little children was
mingled with the serious tones of grey-
haired men and women. Glad salutations
of old friends from far and near, meeting
at this feast of feasts, were followed with
devoutest wishes that God would visit
Israel with deliverance as in the ancient
days, in Egypt and in Babylon. So flowed
the tides of life along the streets of Zion.
But suddenly upon this pleasant scene a
wind sprang up from out the southern des
ert, the sky grew dark, and a heavy storm
approached. One passing at this hour the Damascus
gate and out along the highway northward
saw upon the left, against the darkening

THE THICK DARKNESS 1 57
sky, three crosses bearing human forms;
and on the hill around saw groups of men
and women. Nearer come, one saw a heavy
hammer on the grass, and cords, and iron
spikes. Four bundles lay there also, each a
soldier's share of what the victims once had
worn. Rapidly the light of day went out upon
the hills, and men were hushed in awe.
Some looking at the central cross, whereon
the Galilean prophet had been nailed, beat
hard upon their breasts and groaned and
ran away. One little group stood closer
than the rest — the soldiers only nearer — a
group of trembling women, and these un
heedful of the gathering gloom around saw
only how their one fond hope, whereon
their very life had hung, was sinking
through a mystery of pain to the deeper
mystery of death.
The clouds swept lower still and grew
more black. The city scarce was seen from
Golgotha. Its towers were dim and ghostly
shapes. The Gentile games below Siloam
stopped, and people fled in terror to their
homes. The vagrant dogs ran howling

158 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY"
round the city walls, and down the shud
dering vale of Hinnom.
Within his palace Pontius Pilate heard
again from walls and roof the dreadful
echoes of the cry the priests had raised there
in the morning, "Crucify him! crucify!"
He could not shut these echoes out. He
wished the priests were crucified instead of
Jesus. He marvelled that the day was
changed to night, and called his Grecian
seer to learn what this dread sign portended.
Joseph Caiaphas was pale and troubled
by his thoughts ; and though he shunned the
hall wherein the court had met, he could
not banish from his mind the image of the
prisoner. Upon the Temple mount the guards for
got their tasks, and ran together looking
at the awful sky. Some men thought of
Egypt and its doom in days long past, and
some of Jesus out there on the rocky hill
beyond the wall.
The little group that long had stood be
fore the cross still watched and waited in
the darkness; they could not go away,
though staying pierced their souls as Roman

THE THICK DARKNESS 1 59
nails had pierced the hands and feet of
Jesus. Moments that were years, and hours
ages long, had now at last gone by when
once again the Master spoke, commending
to his Father's hand his weary spirit. Then
his head sank down upon his shoulder, and
the friends at length became aware of the
darkness on the land, and shuddered.
Toward evening, when the pall of night
and tempest had been lifted from the smit
ten earth, tender hands took down the
broken body from the cross, wrapt it up in
linen cloth, and laid it in a rock-hewn tomb
hard by the hill.
The man long-promised, best and wisest
of the race, the only one who knew the
Father and was in spirit wholly like him,
had been crucified and buried.
The fate foreseen from Galilee had come
upon him, and there were few who
mourned. The light of his short day, more precious
than the radiance of sun and stars, had been
quenched in pitiless and awful gloom. Was
this the end? Or were his words about a

l6o JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
coming in the glory of the Father, which
even his foes should see, a heavenly bridge
for Hope to pass from Golgotha into a
Golden Future?

CHAPTER TWELVE
THE TRIUMPH OF JESUS
OVER DEATH

CHAPTER TWELVE
THE TRIUMPH OF JESUS OVER DEATH
JERUSALEM, whose streets had re
sounded with fierce cries as her Mes
siah, all unrecognised as such, was led forth
with robbers to his bitter death without the
walls, was still again, and the spring night
wore on to Sunday morning. But Peter
and his brother were hurrying back toward
Galilee, not daring to be seen by those whose
hate had brought their Master to the cross.
The crushing failure that had come to all
their cherished hopes had left them spirit
less and weak, unable to cast off their fears
or reason calmly of the hour's need. To
fly far from the bloody, doomed city and
the scenes of the last two days was now their
only thought. Before the morning dawned
in the deep Jordan gorge they had passed
through Jericho, and had felt the pain of
remembering with what hope they had so
163

164 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
lately come to this town, when their faces
and their Master's were set toward the
Holy City. How fair their old dream of
an earthly Kingdom now appeared, seeing
that it could never be realised ! With every
return of this heavy thought life grew more
hopeless. But they kept on to the north,
resting only in the day's greatest heat; and
they were footsore and silent. Once they
met a rabbi, who scowled on passing, then
turned and cried that people who kept not
God's law of the Sabbath were accursed.
But they heeded not his condemnation.
Their cup of fear and sorrow was already
full. Nor did they at the moment recall
the Master's liberating word about the
Sabbath day, that it was made to give man
rest and holy comfort.
Late in the evening, worn out in body and
bowed in spirit, they dropped in the shelter
of a clump of olive trees, and for a little
space forgot their loneliness and woe.
They knew it not, but James and John,
moved by the same fears, had left Jeru
salem together a little later than they, and
were now sleeping in the open air a few

THE TRIUMPH OF JESUS OVER DEATH 1 65
miles down the river. Other apostles and
near friends of Jesus, overwhelmed and
scattered by the fate that had befallen him,
were for a time lost to each other, as young
partridges when the mother has fallen a
prey to the hunter or the fox.
When the fugitives reached the Lake of
Galilee the following day, and came to
Kerak, whose healing springs, alas, could
never cure their deep hurt, an old neigh
bour from Capernaum who had a fishing-
boat offered them passage home. He
needed not to ask them whether their young
Master had set up the Kingdom which so
many craved. He read the failure of their
hopes writ on their sad faces and bent
forms, and wisely waited for their story un
til their hearts should prompt them to be
gin. The boat moreover left him little time
for word or thought of things afar, and he
like many another in his town had not been
deeply moved by Jesus since he refused to
wear an earthly crown. This action clearly
proved to them that he was not the expected
Hero of their nation. So in a silence sel
dom broken the three men passed north-

1 66 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
ward, toward evening, over the sparkling
waters they had known and loved from
childhood. Halfway up the lake, when the scenes
drew nearer which had been made memora
ble by deeds and words of their great
Friend, the immediate past with its dark
shadows began to yield to those golden days
and months whose memories now came
thronging back upon them tumultuously.
And Peter more than Andrew was mastered
by the vision of the past. His spirit ranged
from point to point along the shores,
whither he had gone in company with Jesus,
and with every scene there came to mind
great words that he had heard the Master
speak, or acts of love and power that shed
the very light of God upon the humble
prophet. Yonder, in the far distance, gleams for a
moment the white synagogue where the
demoniac was healed, and there, below, the
beach-line is just visible where he, first of
all, had been called from his nets to a disci-
pleship that seemed so full of hope. A little
further back, but hidden now from sight,

THE TRIUMPH OF JESUS OVER DEATH 1 67
lay Chorazin and Bethsaida with their care
less multitudes, whose worldliness had
cost the Master sleepless nights. There,
too, on the left, stretched the whole garden
of Gennesaret, wonderful with its fountains
and groves., its almost endless summer and
luxuriance of plant and vine and tree.
What hours and days had he passed in that
paradise with one who gave to all its many
charms a charm more subtle still! And
there by the great white sycamore is the
quiet inlet where the Master spoke from
his boat to the crowds on the shore, and
where, later, they would have set a crown
on his head had he not sternly refused to
listen to their ardent words and withdrawn
tojhe dark hillside.
Yonder, at the foot of that high cliff, they
had landed after the wild storm — he and
his companions with the Master who had
slept on a pillow in the stern of the boat
until they awaked him with their cries; and
through that dark defile behind the cliff
and northward they had come down to the
lake after the long and wonderful walk
with him past Tyre and Sidon and through,

II 68 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
the northern mountains. Across the lake,
beyond Capernaum in the west, now in
clearer view, stands the hill where the Mas
ter spoke the blessing for those who mourn
and those who are persecuted. Some of
those who heard his word declared that
Israel had never had so great a prophet, so
wise and gracious and mighty a teacher
of the way of God.
Higher yet, and far away to the north
ward up the Jordan, towered white Her
mon, and Peter, gazing on it, said within
his heart, "It was there — O joyous hour!
I hailed him as Messiah. And he blessed
me for that word, with joy that lighted all
his face beyond what we had ever seen
thereon. He blessed me for it; and yet his
thought of the Messiah, his thought of
Israel's hope, was not as ours. He plainly
said his people would reject him, and now
they have fulfilled his word. They have
indeed rejected him, and he is dead, our
Master, slain by Gentiles. But up yonder
he blessed me when I said, Thou art Mes
siah! Was he mistaken — he so wise, so

THE TRIUMPH OF JESUS OVER DEATH 1 69
good, so near to God? Who then can know
the truth, if he knew not?"
Peter was roused from his deep reverie
by voices on the shore, and then their boat
was at the pier — the very pier from which
he had put out so many times with Jesus.
In the friendly shade of evening, having
parted from Andrew, he made his way un
noticed and alone to his near home, now
empty, for all the family had gone to keep
the paschal feast, and it would be two days
at least before the return of the Galilean
caravans. Instinctively he sought the little room
which Jesus, when in town, had counted his,
and groping through the darkness to the
Master's cot he lay down, glad to be alone
with his thoughts.
"Howstrange andglorious this cottage has
become since that day when first I brought
home Jesus as my guest! Out there in the
little court the Master healed the paralytic,
let down through the roof by his friends;
and there too he spoke the word that they
are near and dear to him who do the will
of God. From her chamber across the

170 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
court my mother came forth, restored from
fever by the touch and presence of our
guest. Here, under this very roof, when we
had come back secretly from the north, he
rebuked us for striving with one another
for the honour of being first in the Kingdom
which we thought was near; and he said if
any one of us would be the chief, he should
make himself the servant of all. And well
we knew that this was his own way: he
made himself our servant.
"Here at my door he stood that Sabbath
evening after sunset, and touched the sick,
and spoke many gracious words. How
often, when he gave the blessing over meat;
here in this home, our hearts were lifted up !
How often and how strangely did his look
and silent presence work in our hearts re
lease from fear and care! And here we
met and told him what we had done and
taught, sent out by twos through Galilee.
And when he heard our words, how we had
cast out demons in his name, he thanked
the Father for our trust, and said that he
had seen the fall of Satan. How were our
souls exalted in his presence that hour!

THE TRIUMPH OF JESUS OVER DEATH 171
Surely, God was with him, the Spirit of the
Highest was upon him as on no other
prophet in all the past of Israel!"
Thus Peter lived again the days which
the friendship of Jesus had made to blos
som with hope and joy and holy aspiration.
The power of that divine fellowship came
upon him in his weariness and sorrow as a
quickening breath from heaven. More and
more he felt it as the hours went by. His
soul was in the presence of the Master, and
as of old his messages thrilled him, lifted
him, and bore him on to God. Truth and
the Truth-B ringer lived again. The little
room was heavenly bright and still. And
Peter, awake or sleeping, mastered by holy
memories and unconscious of the body, saw
Jesus and heard his voice. The veil was
lifted. The glory of the past that surged
up within his spirit — glory radiating from
the Master — blended in his thought with
God and with that celestial Kingdom which
should be.
So the night passed, and day came again,
and Peter walked the old ways along the
lake, much by himself at first, yet ever con-

172 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
scious of the presence of the unseen Lord.
The incident of the Master's death was
not forgotten, nor could ever be, but it was
now submerged in a swelling flood of life.
The greatness of the spirit of Jesus, the
divineness of his love, when once the agony
of disappointment at his death had wept
itself, out, laid hold on Peter, and on others
who had known the Lord best, with a power
that bore them on resistlessly into a new
hope, a dauntless courage, a fine, heroic life.
And Peter kindled Andrew as they talked
of what had been, and both were kindled by
the touch of woman's calm devotion to One
who had honoured woman as she had never
been honoured in the ages past. The scat
tered band was reunited in the sacred con
sciousness of his presence who had bound
them one by one unto himself while with
them in the flesh.
When months had passed, and the new
faith was feared and persecuted by those
who held the old, the young man Saul, upon
the hot Damascus road, his soul on fire to
keep the Law and so win heaven, yet doubt
ing, as Gamaliel his teacher did, whether

THE TRIUMPH OF JESUS OVER DEATH 1 73
this strange new work might not be God's
own, he, as he journeyed, saw the Lord. It
was, he said, a revelation in his soul, an un
covering of Jesus there as Son of God, an
inner revulsion from doubt to faith ; it was,
he said again; a heavenly vision, but as real
as his own being, and wholly like that which
the earlier disciples had seen. It flashed
upon him from the inner world, as his
spirit, seeking truth, was torn between doubt
and duty.
This Christ of his vision, unknown of
him at first, unscarred by death and glorious
as the sun, was not a presence to walk fa
miliarly with men, as once the Master
walked; he was supernal, "the man from
heaven," clothed in heavenly light, the ideal
King of Israel, as Paul had long imagined
him to be.
Paul was not Peter, nor were their visions
one. Each saw according to his past. But
underneath their great experiences, where
in, as ever in man's deeper life, were things
that were not understood, there ran the vital
current of a clear and joyous certainty that
he whom men had crucified was living,

174 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
regnant, immortal; and with that confi
dence there arose in might the faith that
their own life would stand the shock of
death. This was the triumph of Jesus. Across
the wide mysterious gulf of death his power
held the men whom he had won. They felt
his presence, saw him, knew him, and were
strong. The reality of life beyond the
grave, the sense of sharing God's eternal
day, broke at last upon the world. It broke,
and lo, beneath it, the ground from which
the conviction of this reality sprang, was
not some theory of immortal being, more
clever and strong than men, urged by pro-
foundest longings, had ever forged in ear
lier times, but it was an experience, a life,
a personality, a spirit so pure and mighty
that one who had felt its power knew hence
forth that it lived with the very life of God.
This was the grounding of the great Easter
faith, the basis clear and indestructible of
the conviction that the Master was the Mas
ter still, seated at the right hand of the
throne of power, the forerunner within the

THE TRIUMPH OF JESUS OVER DEATH 1 75
veil of a countless host who should choose
his way.
The final triumph of Jesus in the days of
the great disappointment and the great re
covery was thus the triumph of life, of days
of toil and nights of prayerful meditation,
of deeds and looks of love, of unwearied
patience with the dull of heart, of unbroken
loyalty to highest truth seen as we see the
sun in a clear sky, yes, and of tears for those
whom love could not soften and of the long
agony on the Roman cross ; a triumph won
in humble Nazareth and in the thronged
streets of Capernaum, among the boats by
the beautiful lake and the palms of Gen
nesaret, in many an unnamed town hidden
in the hills and mountains of Galilee, in
Bethsaida and Jericho, in the land across
the Jordan, in Bethany and Jerusalem.
Against this vivid and divinely persuasive
background of reality one and another child
of the Christian dawn saw, in deep religious
ecstasy or in dreams when dreams were po
tent, a speaking vision of the Master; but
to the many disciples then and through the
brightening ages since, no such vision has

176 JESUS FOR THE MEN OF TODAY
been given. But it does not matter. There
is conviction in the soul which enters into
fellowship with Jesus through the gateway
of his deeds and words, a conviction that
he lives. This is enough and will be till
the end. For while the soul of man re
sponds to love and aspires to God, it will see
deathless Hope beckoning it onward by the
light of that triumphant Life which, having
once mirrored the eternal Spirit of the Fa
ther to the uttermost of his love, must be
vital and redeeming throughout all ages.

3 9002