.•"•-■■ smx. ssBJSsfiaK* '.'*■•"■■■ v-''^ V; - ■■■' mi mm JSP Division Section O 63 THE CHRIST THE SON OF GOD Volume II. NfljH obstat. A. FIVEZ, S.T.L. Censor Deputatus. Imprimatur : THOMAS S. PRESTON, V.G Neo Eboraci, die 27, Junii, 1890. \^:: ' I I,.,nboftWKi„.- - is, -\ \-3$| v y, E T H i 1 LONGMAN I . 3REEN ft CO. THE CHRIST THE SON OF GOD A LIFE OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST y By THE ABBE CONSTANT FOUARD 2Evanslateo from tfje JFiftlj lEottion tottl) tj)c "Sutfjov's sanction By GEORGE F. X. GRIFFITH SSEttfj an EntrolJttctt0n By CARDINAL MANNING Volume II. LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 91 and 93 Fifth Avenue, New York london and bombay I905 All rights reserved Copyright, 1890, By Gi.orge F. X Griffith. THIRTEENTH ISSUE. fHm'bcrsttg ^rrss : John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, Mass., U.S. A TABLE OF CONTENTS. VOLUME II. HBoofc jfiftt). THIRD YEAR OF THE MINISTRY OF JESUS. CHAPTER I. THE SOJOURN OP JESUS IN TYRE AND THE DECAPOLIS. I. The Pharisaic Ablutions. Page The disciples omit the washing of hands before the meal. — The Pharisees' superstitious as to Ablutions. — Human traditions re- spected, God's commandments despised. — What soils a man rises from his heart 3 II. The Chanaanitish Woman. Jesus passes from Galilee into the land lying about Tyre. — Heals the Chanaanean's daughter. — Jesus returns by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee 8 III. The Second Multiplication of the Loaves. Jesus in the Decapolis. — Heals a deaf mute. — Many sick folk cured. — Jesus feeds four thousand men with seven loaves and a few fishes 12 vi TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER II. THE CONFESSION OF PETER. Page Jesus at Dalmanutha. — Prodigies demanded and refused. — Warn- ing as to the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. — Cure of a blind man near Bethsaida-Julias. — Jesus at Csesarea-Philippi. — Confession and Primacy of Peter. — The Power of the Keys. — The Passion first foretold. — Peter rebuked. — To Lear one's cross and follow Jesus 16 CHAPTER III. THE TRANSFIGURATION. I. Jesus on Mount Tabor. Tabor. — Moses and Elias appear with the transfigured Jesus. — The new coming of Elias. — A demonished child healed. — Second time the Passion is foretold . . . 27 II. The Return to Capharnaum. Jesus pays the tribute. — The Apostles' ambition restrained. — Woe to those who scandalize the little ones. — The worm and the ever- burning flame. — Forgiving one's brother. — Parable of the king making a reckoning with his servants. — Brotherly correction . 33 CHAPTER IV. THE FEAST OF THE TABERNACLES. I. Jesus goes up privately to Jerusalem. Ceremonies at the Feast of the Tabernacles. — Incredulity of Jesus' brethren. — Blind zeal of James and John. —Three Disciples called by the Lord . 41 II. Jesus in the Temple. Jesus teaches in the porches. — His wisdom causes wonderment. — Jesus justifies himself for having healed a man on the Sabbath. — The waters of Siloe. — The last day of the Feast. — The San- hedrin's guards dare not arrest Jesus. — Nicodemns defends Him before the Council 46 TABLE OF CONTENTS. vil CHAPTER V. THE FEAST OF THE TABERNACLES (continued). I. The Adulteress. Page Jesus pardons an adulteress. — Authenticity of the Gospel Record. — Jesus the Light of the World. — He instructs the Jews con- cerning His Union with the Father. — He rebukes them for remaining slaves of the Devil. — The Jews wish to stone the Saviour 55 II. The Man Born Blind. Jesus restores the sight of a man born blind. — The Pharisees expel the latter from the Synagogue. — The Parable of the Good Shep- herd * 63 CHAPTER VI. THE SEVENTY-TWO DISCIPLES. Instructions given to the Seventy-two disciples. — Woe to Ca- pharnaum and the lake cities ! — The disciples return full of joy. — God reveals Himself to the lowly. — The Saviour's yoke. — Parahle of the Good Samaritan. — Martha and Mary 72 CHAPTER VII. THE PHARISEES OF PEREA. I. The Lord's Prayer. —The Two Blind Men. —The Dumb Devil. — The Sign from on High. Jesus teaches His disciples to pray. — Second form of the Lord's Prayer. — Perseverance in prayer. — Cure of two blind men. — The dumb devil. — Jesus' miracles attributed to Beelzebub by the Pharisees. — The demon's return worse than his first en- trance. — The Mother of Jesus proclaimed blessed. — The Sign of Jonas 81 viii TABLE OF CONTENTS. II. Jesus ami the Phajusees. page TIk' Pharisee's banquet. — Jesus condemns the hypocrisy of Scribes and Pharisees. Warning against their Leaven. ■ - Jesus strength- ens His disciples to meet persecutions. — Refuses to be judge between two brothers. I arable of the rich man who ami great wealth. Freedom from anxiety as to the needs of life. — To watch with one's loins girded — Fire broughl from Heaven. — Time of the Messiah's coming unknown. — Reconciliation with our enemies 89 CHAPTER YIII. THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEDICATION. Galileans slain in the Temple. — Necessity of repentance. — Parable of the barren fig-tree. — Healing of a woman with a Spirit of infirmity. — Scanty number of the Elect. — The pretended right- eous rejected. — Herod's threat. — The ruin of Jerusalem lore- told. — Feast of the Dedication. — Jesus returns over beyond Jordan. 96 CHAPTER IX. JESUS' LAST SOJOURN IN PEREA. I. The Man with Dropsy, and the Second Banquet with the Pharisees. A man with dropsy healed on the Sabbath. — To ehoose the lower place. — Parable of the guests who excused themselves from attending the banquet. — To renounce all things and follow Jesus 105 II. The Parables upon Divine Mercy. The wandering sheep and the lost drachma. — Parable of the prodi- gal son HO III. The Unfaithful Steward. — The Wicked Rich Man. Avarice of the Pharisees. — Parable of the unfaithful steward. — The teaching of Jesus concerning wealth.— The Pharisees' hypocrisy. — Parable of the wicked rich man. — Forgiveness of injuries. — The power of Faith. — Looking upon ourselves as unprofitable servants 115 TABLE OF CONTENTS. ix CHAPTER X. THE RAISING OF LAZARUS. Page Death of Lazarus. —Jesus raises him to life. —The Sanhedrin-factiou resolve to destroy Jesus. — Caiphas' prophecy. — Jesus withdraws to Ephrem 121 CHAPTER XL JESUS' LAST JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM. I. The Ten Lepers. — The Coming of the Son of Man. — The Judge and the Widow. — The Pharisee and the Publican. Jesus leaves Ephrem. — Cure of ten lepers. — The coming of Jesus, invisible to fleshly eyes, swift as the lightning. — Where the body is, there shall the eagles be gathered together. — The procrastinating judge and the widow. — The Pharisee and the publican 131 II. Divorce. — Jesus with the Children. — The Rich Young Man. — The Workmen in the Vineyard. Teaching of the Jewish Schools touching Divorce. — Jesus declares Marriage indissoluble. — Virginity. - — Jesus blesses the little children. — The rich young man. — The dangers of wealth. — The hundredfold promise to those who leave all for Jesus. — Parable of the workmen hired for the vineyard 133 CHAPTER XII. JERICHO AND BETHANY. Third prediction of the Passion. — Request of the mother of Zebedee's children. — Jesus reproves their ambition. — The Apostles for- bidden to domineer. — Jesus heals the blind men of Jericho. — Zacheus entertains the Saviour in his house. — Parable of the mina and the rebellious subjects. — The banquet at Bethany. — Mary anoints the Lord. — Judas murmurs at her extravagance . 148 X TABLE OF CONTENTS. 215oofe £>ijrt^ HOLY WEEK. (MUTER I. THE TRIUMPH OF JESUS. I. The Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Page The Jews on the keen lookout for Jesus. — Bethphage. — The con- course accompanying the Lord. — Jesus weeps over Jerusalem. — Acclamations of tin- people. — .Jesus in the Temple. — He with- draws in the direction of Bethany 163 II. Holt Monday. The barren fig-tree cursed by the Lord. — The hucksters driven from tin' Temple. — Children chant the praise of Jesus. — Certain Greeks ask for an interview with the Saviour. — Jesus foretells His death and the glory which shall ensue. — He rebukes the Jews for their unbelief 171 CHAPTER II. THE LAST DAY IN THE MINISTRY OF JESUS. I. Jesus and the Members of the Sanhedrin. — Parables of the Vine-Dressers and the Wedding-Festival. The fig-tree blasted. — Power of faith and of prayer. — The Sanhe- drin-members questioned as to John's baptism. — Parable of the two disobedient sons. — Parable of the husbandmen. — The wed- ding-festival 1/9 II. Cesar's Denahun. The Herodians and the Tharisees tempt Jesus concerning the tribute paid to Caesar 187 III. Jesus and the Sadducees. — The Great Commandment. — The Christ the Son of David. The Sadducee's question about the woman who had seven husbands. — Which is the first of the Commandments ? — David calls the Messiah his Lord 190 TABLE OF CONTENTS. xi IV. Denunciation of the Pharisees. Page The Pharisees seated in the chair of Moses. — Scribes ami Pharisees are indulgent to themselves, harsh and severe to others ; haughty and hypocritical ; blind guides ; whited sepulchres ; persecutors of the Prophets. — Their condemnation pronounced. — Jesus again weeps over Jerusalem 19d CHAPTER III. THE LAST PROPHECIES. A widow gives her little all. — Jesus foretells the destruction of the Temple. — The fall of Jerusalem and the end of the world pre- dicted together. — Signs which shall forerun these two events : the spirit of seduction general, wars, famines, earthquakes, per- secutions, the Abomination of Desolation in the Temple. — The end of the world. — To watch always. — The hireling surprised in wrong-doing. — Parable of the servants. — The wise and the fool- ish virgins. — The last Judgment. — Judas sells the Saviour . . 200 CHAPTER IV. THE LAST SUPPER. I. Judaic Ritual of the Passover. The Paschal Lamb. — Ablutions of the guests. — Ceremonies and hymns chanted during the Feast. — The Chalice of Benediction 214 II. The Eeast of the Passover. The Supper- Room prepared. —The first cup blessed. — The washing 'of the feet. — Peter's resistance. — To be pure of the least stains. — Judas' treachery denounced 219 III. The Institution of the Eucharist. Consecration of the Azyme-bread. — Communion of the Apostles. — Consecration of the Cup. — The traitor again denounced Judas departs from the Supper-Room 227 IV. Peter's Eall Foretold. Glorification of Jesus. — Jesus announces that Peter will deny Him. — Rivalry among the Apostles. — Promise of a Kingdom of Cod. — Jesus prays for Peter. — The two swords 232 Xii TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. THE LAST DISCOURSES OF JESUS. I. The DiSCOl else aftek the Last SUPPEE. Page < lharacter of the discourses reported by S. John. — Trust in Jesus. — Jesus the Way, the Truth, and the Life. — The Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father. — Promise of the Comforter. — Ji jus Leaves Hi- peace with the Apostles. — He departs from the Supper-Room 237 II. Tub Talk along the Way to Getiisejiani. Jesus is the Vine, the faithful its branches. — Commandment of mu- tual love. — The Apostles to be persecuted. — Sadness over the absence of Jesus. — Mission of the Holy Spirit. ■ Sadness changed into joy. — Prayer in the Name of Jesus. - The flight of the Apostles and Peter's denial foretold 243 III. The Prayer of Jesus. Kedron. — Jesus asks the Father to glorify Him. — He prays for His Apostles and the Universal Church 252 316ook £>cfcnut)» THE PASSION AND THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS. CHAPTER I. JESUS IN THE GARDEN OF OLIVES. Gethsemani. — Sadness of Jesus. —The three witnesses of His agony. — The dip of Bitterness. —The bloody sweat. — Appearance of an Angel. — The Apostles' slumber. — Arrival of Judas. — The guards thrown to the ground. — Arrest of Jesus. — Peter and Malchus Flight of the Apostles 261 CHAPTER II. THE TRIAL OF JESUS. I. Jesus before Annas. The palace of the High-Priest. — Annas cross-questions Jesus . . 271 TABLE OF CONTENTS. xiii II. Jesus before CaIpiias and the Sanhedrin. Page The Sanhedrin. — A night session. — The false witnesses. — Caiphas questions the Saviour. — Jesus declared a blasphemer, and mal- treated 275 III. Peter's Denial. John conducts Peter into the palace. — The threefold denial. — The Apostle's repentance 280 IV. The Second Sitting of the Sanhedrin. Jesus insulted and beaten by His jailers. — The Sanhedrin's quan- dary, how to execute their sentence of death upon Jesus. — At dawn Jesus summoned anew before His judges 285 V. Death of Judas. Judas goes up to the Temple. — He casts down the price of his treason upon the threshold of The Holy. — His despairing death .................... 288 CHAPTER III. JESUS AT THE PRETORIUM AND BEFORE HEROD. Antonia. — Jesus brought before Pilate. — Discussion between Pilate and the Sanhedrin party. — Jesus before Herod. — Herod and his court. — Jesus, maltreated and clad in a white robe, is sent back to Pilate ; Jesus and Barrabas. — The dream of Pilate's wife. — Barrabas preferred before Jesus. — Pilate washes his hands be- fore the people . 294 CHAPTER IV. THE CONDEMNATION OF JESUS. The scourging. — The crowning with thorns. — Ecce Homo. — Pilate's final attempts at resistance. — Jesus condemned to be crucified. — Pilate's end ..... - . . , . . . „ „ „ o 309 \iv TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. the crucifixion. Paqb The Via Dolorosa. — The executioners of Jesus. — The Cross. — Simon the Cyrenean. — The women of Jerusalem weep over Jesus. — The drink offered to the Saviour. — Jesus crucified between two thieves. — The superscription of the Cross 316 CHAPTER VI. DEATH OF JESUS. Jesus forgives His executioners. — His garments divided. — Jesus upon the Cross. — The good thief. — Mary and John at the foot of the Cross. — The Darkness. — Abandonment of Jesus upon the Cross. — His cry of anguish turned to derision. — The Thirst. — His last words. — His death 328 CHAPTER VII. THE TOMB OF JESUS. The prodigies following the death of Jesus. — The Centurion's con- fession. — The disciples facing the Cross. — The limbs of the thieves broken. — The Saviour's side opened. — Joseph of Arima- thea and Nicodemus bury the Saviour. — The holy women. — The tomb sealed up 341 CHAPTER VIII. THE RESURRECTION. I. Ttie First Apparitions. The two Marys and Salome. — Appearance of the Angel. — Peter and John run to the Sepulchre. — Tesus appears to the Magdalene. — The holy women at the tomb. — Jesus appears to them. — Un- belief of the Apostles. — The guards bribed by the Sanhedrin- peoplc 350 TABLE OF CONTENTS. XV Paok II. The Disciples at Emmaus. — Jesus in the Supper- Room. Appearance of Jesus to the two disciples walking Emmaiisward. — He makes Himself known in the breaking of bread. — Jesus appears to the eleven in the Supper-Room. — Thomas, who is absent, refuses to believe. — Jesus appears the .second time to His Apostles 359 CHAPTER IX. THE FORTY DAYS. I. Jesus Appearing to His Disciples in Galilee. Jesus on the shores of Lake Genesareth. — The miraculous draught of fishes. — Peter, Shepherd of the sheep and of the lambs. — His martyrdom and John's death foretold. — Appearance of Jesus upon the mountain in Galilee. — The Apostles' Mission. — Appearance of the Lord to James 366 II. The Ascension. The Apostles return to Jerusalem. — Jesus gathers them together once more in the Supper-Room. — He goes up into Heaven in their sight 375 IX. Harmony of the Gospel narratives in the last year of the Saviour's life 383 X. The Chronology of the Passion 386 XL Harmony of the four Gospels in the Narratives of the Resurrection 395 CONCORDANCE OF THE FOUR GOSPELS ..... .399 INDEX ................... 406 Plan of Jerusalem in the Time of our Lord . . Frontispiece BOOK FIFTH. THIRD YEAR OP THE MINISTRY OF JESUS. VOL. II. — 1 RATA MAQSAION. itoO Ae'ywv • TtVa \4yov(TLv ot ai'dpwTTOi eivcu tov Yiov toC avOpunrov ; ol Se UTrav • Ot /xev luydvvrjv toi/ (3a7TTLcrTi]v, oi 8e . . • era Ta>j> ITpo0?^rojv. Aeyci a^Tots 6 I^oms • Ypeis Se TtVa yu.e Aeyere tu'ai ; 'A7TOKpt^£l5 8c 2 Chorozain, one after another, had rejected Him, — had abandoned Him to His enemies ! 1 Now as it happened, in the haste of their departure, the Apostles had forgotten to renew their store of provisions ; but one loaf of bread remained, and they made the discovery only when their bark was far out from land. 2 As they were grieving over their neglect, Jesus spoke to them in words which were meant to turn their minds from these material cares : — " Take good heed," He said, " and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." 3 The disciples, thinking that the Master shared their anxiety about their daily food, inquired of each other what He would have them understand by this speech. Was He reproaching them for coming on board without stores, or did He mean to forbid them to partake of any food along w T ith Sadducees and Pharisees ? Not one of them was reminded of that unseen leaven which, fermenting in the human heart, sours and corrupts its life ; although Jesus had employed a metaphor often used by the Jews to describe the effects of sin, still they understood Him not. " Men of little faith," He exclaimed, 4 " why do you think that you are without bread ? So, then, are you too devoid of either sense or reason ? Are your hearts blinded ? Have you eyes only that you may not see, and ears that you may not hear ? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand men, how many baskets of fragments did you take up ? " " Twelve," they said. " And when I broke the seven loaves for four thousand men, how many full hampers did you gather up ? " " Seven," they replied. " Then how is it that you do not understand that it was 1 Mark viii. 13. 2 Mark viii. 14. 3 Matt. xvi. 6. "The leaven of Herod," says S. Mark (viii. 15). As we have noted above, it follows plainly from this that the Tetrarch and his voluptuous court shared the incredulity of the Sadducees. * Matt. xvi. 8-11 ; Mark viii. 17-21. 20 THIRD YEAR OF THE MINISTRY OF JESUS. not of bread I spoke, when I told yon to beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees ?"* From this rebuke the Apostles began to see how they had wounded the Heart of the Master by so disregarding His loving care, ay, even His power. Their higher thoughts aroused once more they finally glimpsed His hidden meaning : it was not of the leaven which is put into bread whereof He told them to beware, but of the doctrine of His enemies. The morning of the next day they made land in the kingdom of Philip, and Jesus wandered along the Jordan until they were not far from Bethsaida- Julias, whereupon some people brought a blind man for Him to lay His hands upon him. 2 Studious as ever to refrain from mani- festing any striking proofs of His power outside the land of Israel, the Lord took the poor sufferer by the hand and led him away from the busy town in order to perform the cure unnoticed. But He did not accomplish this prodigy (as He had done many others, which w T e have witnessed so often in Galilee) easily and without effort, with a word or by the mere movement of His will; for it was part of the hidden counsels of the Godhead that the effects of His supernatural power should be proportioned to the faith of those who implore His aid. Just as the unbelief of the Nazarenes had stood in the way of His working any mir- acle for them, 3 so here at Cresarea-Philippi the faith of the blind man was still so weak as to hinder his being cured at once, and accordingly we see Jesus gently opening the eyes of his body, little by little, in proportion as He dis- pelled the darkness from his soul. For this reason now He multiplied the exterior acts, as though He wished to quicken the suppliant's desire for salvation, — the firm hands laid over his eyes, the spittle of the Christ moisten- ing them like a heavenly balm. " Do you see anything ? " Jesus asked. 4 Glowering about him, the poor man suddenly cried, " I 1 Matt. xvi. 11, 12. 2 Mark viii. 22. 3 Mark vi. 5. 4 Mark viii. 23-26. THE CONFESSION OF PETEK 21 see men walking, yet they look to me like trees ! " And in his delight he turned toward the Master again. A second time the Saviour's hands touched his eyes, and at once they saw all things clearly. Jesus imposed strict silence upon the man, bidding him: — " Return to your home, and if you should come into the town, tell this to no one." In this instance it would seem as if the Lord were better obeyed than a little while before in the Decapolis, for we see Him shortly afterwards leaving the village accompan- ied by His disciples alone. 1 In this way He reached the sources of the stream and arrived at the capital, called by the Tetrarch Caesarea-Philippi, in honor of Tiberius Caesar, his protector and patron. Built upon the ruins of ancient Dan, Csesarea still preserved Pan's Grotto, which was so famous in the days of the Greek colonists that for a long time the city bore the name of Panea. 2 But neither these relics of Paganism, nor the more recent splendors of Cass- area attracted the Lord. He did no more than pass through the outskirts of the city, 3 and preferred to seek a resting- place at the foot of Mount Hermon, — in the valleys which the water-springs of the Jordan fill with leavy coverts and the rustling of numberless brooks. Among the rest there is one memorable fact which will ever make this forest-country illustrious. Here, while Jesus was praying 4 in solitude, all at once, breaking off from the prayer which was His only repose here below, He called to His disciples, who had now drawn aloof from Him, and began to question them. " Who do they say that I am, I, the Son of Man ? " Sorrowful was the answer. His Apostles confessed that as yet no one in Israel had acknowledged Jesus to be the 1 Matt. xvi. 13, 14. 2 The same name slightly modified is still to be found in Banias, the modern title of this little town. 3 Luke ix. 18. Et's to p-epr] . „ . (Matt. xvi. 13) ; els ras Kiifias Kcu- (rapeias rrjs QiXLttttov (Mark viii. 27). * It is to S. Luke that we owe this precious detail. This Evangelist, who passes over in silence the whole journey to Tyre and through the Decapolis, here resumes the general order of events. 22 THIRD YEAR OF THE MINISTRY OF JESUS. Messiah. Some, like Herod, overmastered by their guilty fears had taken the Christ for a resurrected John the Bap- tist; 1 others believed they were listening to Elias ; others called Him Jeremy. "It is the Seer," was the popular cry, " who returns among us to repeat his lamentations." Many imagined He was some new Prophet, but none had seen in Jesus that which He is unto all time. And although certain stupendous marvels had mani- festly declared His Messiahship, these were no more than flashes of lightning for an instant glittering through the glooms of night ; throughout the land of Juda, the Light shone amid darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. " And now for your own part," Jesus said, " Who do you say that I am ?" 2 Put to them at a time when the Master was wandering afar from His native land, this question was nothing less than a decisive trial of His Apostles. Simon stood the test without flinching. Instantly he took up the word, in the name of his brethren, and addressing Jesus in his straightforward fashion said : — " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God." The faith of Peter, quick aud living as of old it was, whether amid the bowlings of the storm, or in the disap- probation of Capharnaum, now lifted the veil which over- hung the Divinity of the Saviour, and, rising above all that which is of man, proclaimed Him Son of God, equal and consubstautial with His Father, — which is to say, God Himself. Listening to this profession from the lips of His Apostle, Jesus responded : — " Blessed art thou Simon, son of Jonas, because neither flesh nor blood 3 has revealed this unto thee, but My Father Who is in Heaven. And now I say to thee : Thou art Peter (a Eock), and upon this Eock I will build My Church i Matt. xvi. 14. 2 Matt. xvi. 16-19. 8 D"U "ibD, "Mesh and Wood," is an expression often used by the Tal- roudists to designate the inferior part of our nature. THE CONFESSION OF PETER. 23 and the gates 1 of Hell shall not prevail against thee. And I will give unto thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and all that thou shalt loose upon earth shall be loosed in Heaven." These words conferred the Primacy upon the son of Jonas, and upon him established that Masterwork of the Christ, which is His Church, a name we find here men- tioned for the first time. 2 Simon, the weak mortal of flesh and blood, was become the Foundation-stone, des- tined to brave all assaults of Hell. In making this Apostle the base of His eternal Church, Jesus assured him the same stability which He gave the Holy Edifice, transmitting the privileges of Peter to his successors. Like him they should all be seated in the Chair of Infallibility and hold in their hands the Keys, symbol of supreme authority. All who were to come after him, even as he, must give laws to the Church, guiding in the paths of salvation kings and peoples, pastors aud their flocks ; they must judge without appeal, bind and loose upon earth and in Heaven, opening and shutting the gates of the celestial Kingdom. Such powers are divine, but they are the natural consequences of that promise made to the son of Jonas : 3 — " Thou art Peter, and upon this Ptock I will build My Church." But these surpassing splendors of the Church were only as yet a fair and distant prospect ; for Peter and his com- panions there was still in store the fierce struggle which precedes the victory, and straight before Jesus Himself 1 The gates of cities and palaces are of great magnificence in Eastern lands, and serve as a meeting-place not only for the common citizens hut for the Tribunals and public Councils. From this fact the word "Gate" in the Oriental languages came to be a synonym for the supreme authority, whatever it might be (as to-day we have the Sublime Porte). At Jeru- salem a Council of High-Priests was frequently held beneath the gates of the Temple, and the College of Scribes was accustomed to meet near the Gate of Sarah. 2 There is only one other mention mads of it in the Gospel : in S. Mat- thew (xviii. 17). 3 The decrees of the Vatican Council which determine the extent of the Papal jurisdiction and the infallible supremacy of the Roman Pontiff, are the most complete and most authoritative commentary upon the words of Jesus. 24 THIRD YEAR OF T11E MINISTRY OF JESUS. there stretched a weary way of sorrows. For, with a price set upon His head, harassed and hunted down by spies and informers, hereafter He must needs keep silence as to the unconquerable Kingdom He had come to establish. So, scarcely had He uttered the divine promise to His Apostles, out here alone in the forest, when He commanded them authoritatively to observe the strictest silence so far as concerned what they had just heard from Him. 1 The Confession of Peter, his Primacy in the Church, his priv- ileges and prerogatives were as a sacred confidence, which must not go beyond the Apostolic College ; and the reason He gave them for this was that His enemies would shortly put Him to death. It was the first time 2 that the Master had spoken so openly of His death ; hitherto He had only made mys- terious allusions to it. And indeed in this instance He did not go so far as to unveil the utter ignominy of the Cross, deeming it enough to declare " that He must go up to Jerusalem, there to suffer many things at the hands of the Ancients, the Pontiffs, and the Scribes, and to die." 3 As yet He did not add that "He was to be delivered by these men into the hands of the Gentiles," and until the ver} r time of the Passion He forbore to tell them " that He was to be spit upon, whipped, and bound to a Cross." 4 Knowing by experience the weakness of His disciples, He was careful to shield them against despair. So then, that He might reawaken their courage, He now foretold " that after three days He would rise again." Consoling as this promise was, it could not satisfy the sturdy ardor of Peter. The great praise bestowed upon him, and the joy he felt at having confessed, in the others' name, the Divinity of his Master, had now excited all his vanity. In his eager self-sufficiency he took it upon him to withstand the Lord Himself, and to bid Him proceed no further along paths which would lead to death. 1 Mark viii. 30. 2 'Air6 t6t€ tfpZtiTo (Matt. xvi. 21). "Antea non ostenderat" (Bengel, Ononum, in loco). 8 Matt. xvi. 21 ; Mark ix. 31. * Matt. xx. 19 ; Mark x. 33. THE CONFESSION OF PETER. 25 Grasping His hand, 1 he drew Him to one side and began to chide Him for His words. "Now, please God, this shall not happen to you, Lord !" Jesus turned away from him, and looking toward the Apostles He spoke in a tone so loud that those who had listened to His eulogy of Peter should likewise hear this stern rebuke : — "Get thee behind Me, Satan! 2 Thou art a scandal unto Me, for thy wisdom is not of God but of man." While Peter stood there, humbled and silent, Jesus re- called their minds to His approaching sacrifice, and drew from the thought a powerful lesson which the Twelve were not the only ones to hear. Meantime many of the country-folk had collected together at a short distance from this youthful Eabbi Who was as yet a stranger to them. The Saviour bade them come nearer, 3 then, with that same tone of authority w T hich He was wont to use in Galilee, He began to instruct them ; telling them that the great duty of life is to renounce one's self, to sacrifice every- thing in the pursuit of truth and righteousness, forgetting the body and its cravings, the soul and its most intimate promptings. 4 Once more He repeated what He had al- ready said, 5 that along this rough and grievous pathway they had but to follow in His footsteps, and, like Him, bear their cross by mortifying their passions. 6 This was what the Master had called " losing one's soul in order to save it." " Of what profit is it to a man," He exclaimed, " to gain 1 UpoaXa^o/jLevos avrov (Matt. xvi. 22). "Dicitur de personis cupide maim prehendentibus aliquam " (Wahl, Clavis Novi Tcstamenti). 2 The word Satan need not necessarily be taken in the sense we give to it, for the Hebrew jtOK? is very frequently used in Scripture to desig- nate any dangerous and persistent adversary (Num. xxii. 22 ; 1 Kings xxix. 4). 3 Mark viii. 34. 4 Matt. xvi. 24-26. 6 Matt. x. 38, 39. 6 Undoubtedly this allusion to the Crucifixion was hardly at all under- stood by those who heard these words ; for Jesus, as we have observed already, had never clearly revealed to the Apostles that ignominious tor- ture under which He was to die. 26 THIRD YEAR OF THE MINISTRY OF JEHUS. the universe, if so doing he loses his soul ? What will he give iu exchange for his soul ? " This saying threw a chill shadow of foreboding over the Apostles' spirits. In order to reinvigorate their faith, the Lord forthwith announced His future Advent, surrounded by Angels, so to reward His tried and tested followers ; 1 then before their eyes He set forth the splendor of that great Day, when His Church in its triumph would sup- plant the earthly realm of Israel ; and finally He told them of the hour, now near at hand, when three of His Apostles were to be brought face to face with the Divine Being. " There are those among you," He said, " who shall not taste death until they have seen the Kingdom of God." 2 Six days later this Prophecy was accomplished iu the persons of Peter, James, and John, who fell down at the feet of their transfigured Master. But even in the crowds which listened to these words there stood more than one disciple who was to survive the ruin of Jerusalem, and with the eyes of the flesh would behold the new reign of the Risen Christ. * Matt. xvi. 4. 2 Mark ix. 1. S. Matthew (xvi. 28) gives this speech of the Lord under a somewhat different form . "Many shall not taste death hefore tiny sec the Son of Man coming into His Kingdom." The Fathers believed that this was spoken in reference to the Transfiguration ; but, as Maldonatus has observed, the Christ could not call that glorious manifestation " His Kingdom," except as a foreshadowing of what was to come : "Christus transfigurationem regnum suum vocat, non quia proprie regnum, sed cpiia futuri regni imago erat" (Maldonatus, in loco). CHAPTER III. THE TRANSFIGURATION. I. Jesus on Mount Tabor. Luke ix. 2S-45 ; Mark ix. 2-32 ; Matt. xvii. 1-23. Since this instruction a week had elapsed, during which the Master descended the valley of the Jordan, then quietly and unheeded took the mountain track which leads across the hills lying along the eastern shore of Lake Genesareth. On the eighth day * the Evangelists show Him wending His way up the steep sides " of a tall mountain," which they do not mention by name, yet it is none other than Tabor, 2 if we may trust the testimony of Tradition. 1 "About eight days," according to S. Luke (ix. 26), "six days later," say both S. Matthew (xvii. 1) and S. Mark (ix. 1). In other words six full days had elapsed since the time when Peter confessed the Divinity of the Christ ; and on the evening of the eighth day took place the Transfigura- tion. 2 Mark ix. 1. The scholars who would make Hermon the scene of the Transfiguration, have most of the traditions against them. As early as the fourth century, S. Cyril, of Jerusalem, declared distinctly in favor of Tabor (Catecli., xii. 0), and in the time of S. Jerome there were three Churches erected there upon the heights, in memory of Peter's tents, which certainly testified to the antiquity of this belief (S. Jerome, Epistola xlvi. 12 ; An- toninus the Martyr, Itinerarium, vi. ). The objections of modern criticism are far from being unanswerable; for (1) the Sacred Text does not indi- cate that the miracle took place near Csesarea Philippi ; the words of S. Mark (ix. 29), KaKtlOev i^eXOJvres irapeiropevovTo 5tTes, employed by S. Luke ix. 32), and did not descend the mountain until the following day : rrj e^rjs yfiepq. (Luke ix. 37). 2 Luke ix. 28. 3 Matt. xxvi. 40, 43. 4 Matt. xvii. 2 ; Luke ix. 29. 6 Mark ix. 2. 6 Josephus, Antiquitales, iv. 8, 48 ; Deut. xxxiv. 5, 6". JESUS ON MOUNT TABOR. 29 "They were talking of His departure 1 from the world, which was to be accomplished at Jerusalem." The splendid spectacle was as if about to fade from their sight. Rapt aud awestruck Peter cried out : — " Master ! it is good for us to be here : if Thou wilt, let us make three pavilions here, one for Thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias ! " What had he in mind when uttering these words ? Did the Apostle's spirit dream of long days of happiness like this upon the Heaven-kissed heights, with Israel's yearn- ing hopes all gratified, with Moses and Elias to add a su- preme splendor to the new Kingdom of the Christ ? Or was it as a refuge from the pleasures of earth that lie was fain to raise these three leafy tents ? The Gospel scarcely allows us to indulge in any such conjectures, for it goes on to tell us how the disciples were, for the time being, bewildered with fear, and Peter " not knowing what he was saying." Even while the latter was still speaking a radiant cloud encircled them, and from the silvery mist came a Voice saying, — " This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased ; hear ye Him." 2 Then they fell with faces to the earth, and when, upon recovering somewhat from their terrors, they dared at last to lift their eyes they saw no one but Jesus. Still the Apostles would not venture to stand before Him ; but the Saviour stepped toward them and touched them, saying, — " Arise and fear not ! " 3 Indeed it was not to inspire their souls with fear that Moses and Elias had appeared on this mountain peak ; it was to adore the Divinity of the Christ ; for, in their per- son, both the Law and the Prophets did homage to Him. They had entered within the cloud the instant that the Voice of the Father commanded man to hearken to His 1 "E£o8op (Luke ix. 31). "Vocabulum valde grave, quo continentur passio, crux, mors, resurrectio, ascensio" (Bengel, Gnomon, in loco). 2 Matt. xvii. 5. 8 Mark ix. 8 ; Matt. xvii. 7. 30 THIRD YEAR OF THE MIS 1ST RY OF JESUS. Son, and by this departure proclaimed that their Mission was concluded, and that they yielded their places to the one and only Muster. The Lord did not expect that the Apostles would at once grasp the full meaning of the marvellous show; it was enough for His purpose that they should treasure the memory of the fact in order to testify to its truth, later on, in the presence of the Church. And so, when in the cool of early dawn He made the descent of the mountain- side with them, He did not explain the significance of this Apparition, but rather, with grave words, bound them " not to reveal what they had seen until the Son of Man shall be risen from the dead." l Then only, enlightened from on High, they were to re- veal to their brethren " that the Majesty of Jesus had been unveiled before them, that before their very eyes He had received all honor from God the Father, and that a Voice had come from out that magnificence of glory proclaiming Him Son of the Most High." 2 The three Apostles obeyed, though they had no clearer insight into the purport of the Saviour's words than they had had into the meaning of His Transfiguration. 3 " How will He rise from among the dead ? " they kept asking themselves ; and why had Elias disappeared again ? The Scribes say that he must go before the Messiah, and once more set all things in order. Is not this our Lord also the Christ ? These questions troubled their minds so much that they finally laid them before the Master. 4 " It is true that Elias must first come, and that he will restore all things," He answered them. " But I tell you that Elias is already come and they have not known him, but have dealt with him in all things as it pleased them ; in like manner the Son of Man must suffer at their hands." Then he explained the Oracle of Malachy 5 so clearly to them that they were enabled to distinguish between the two Forerunners whom the Scribes had confounded. There i Mark ix. 8. 2 2 Peter i. 1G-18. » Mark ix. 10. 4 Matt. xvii. 10-13. 6 Matt. iv. 5. JESUS ON MOUNT TABOR. 31 was that Elias of old, whose return will betoken the last days of the world ; while the other Elias, the first Herald of the Christ, is John the Baptist. As they were nearing the foot of the mountain Jesus perceived the rest of His disciples surrounded by a great concourse of people. 1 They had been endeavoring to heal a possessed youth, but their efforts had been of no avail, and the Scribes, gloating over their discomfiture, were pushing the argument against them in gleeful triumph, when of a sudden the multitude became aware of the ap- proach of the Lord. Apparently His countenance still burned with the afterglow of its recent splendor, for, after a momentary thrill of awe, with one accord the people flocked about Him to give Him greeting. " About what were you disputing together ? " He in- quired. The Scribes' faces had fallen ; the disciples were too much abashed to tell of their failure ; but a man's voice arose from the midst of the by-standers : — " Master," it said, " I brought you my son, who is pos- sessed by a dumb Spirit ; wherever it happens to seize him it throws him down upon the earth, and the child foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and so pines away. I have begged your disciples to drive it out, and they were not able ; but do you, I beseech you, only look at him, for he is my only child." 2 And pushing his way through the by-standers he flung himself at the Saviour's feet. 3 In a glance Jesus saw all the eager faces surrounding the poor suppliant ; saw among them His relentless foes ; saw a crowd more curious than compassionate ; above all, saw that His own Apostles were still faint-hearted and wavering in their faith. This spectacle wrung from His heavy heart the cry, 4 — "Unbelieving and depraved race that you are, how long shall I be with you ? how long shall I suffer you ? " Then turning to the man who had invoked His help : " Bring your child here," He said. * Mark ix. 13. 2 Luke ix. 38. 3 Matt. xvii. 14. i Luke ix. 41. 32 THIRD YEAR OF THE MINISTRY OF JESUS. The boy was brought; hardly had he seen Jesus when, seized with the frenzy, he was dashed down to the ground, and writhed in foaming delirium. 1 Thereupon the Lord asked the father: 2 — " For how long a time has this been going on ? " "From his infancy," responded the latter; "and often- times the .Spirit has thrown him into the fire and into the water in order to destroy him. If you can do anything, come to our aid, — have pity upon us ! " " If you can believe," replied Jesus, " everything is pos- sible to him who believes." Disquieted by these words the man began to fear lest he had shown too little confidence in the Master, and in his distress the tears came, as he cried, half-weeping, — " Lord, I believe ; help Thou mine unbelief." The Saviour, noting how the curious folk were pressing around Him, turned toward the little lad lying in agony at His feet. " Deaf and dumb Spirit," He said, " I command thee, come from out this child, and never more reenter him." The demon, raising up the poor possessed body, wracked it once more, fiercely, then came forth with a great cry. Like one stunned the lad fell back to the ground ; but no foam about his lips, with no convulsion in his limbs. " He is dead ! " exclaimed the witnesses of this prodigy. But Jesus took him by the hand, raised him up, and the child, now whole and sound, stood erect before them. After this Jesus lost no time in seeking shelter from the curious within the walls of some dwelling; 3 the Apostles accompanying Him felt shame for their public failure, and cast about for something to account for it. At the time when the Master first gave them their Mission, had He not also endowed them with all power over the devils ? Why was it, then, that they had been unable to cast out this one just now ? When questioned in secret He replied that the cause was their own unbelief ; for the prediction of His approach- ing death had destroyed their faith to such a degree that 1 Mark ix. 19. 2 Mark ix. 21-24. 8 Mark ix. 27. THE RETURN TO CAPHARNAUM. 33 Jesus seems to be at a loss for some object small enough to be likened to the poor residue of their belief in Him. 1 " If you had faith as great as a grain of mustard you should say to this mountain : Move hence to yonder spot ! and it would be removed, and nothing shall be impossible to you." 2 But in 'addition to this first cause of their powerlessness He told them that their souls were still far from seeking that heavenly help which alone can prevail over the hosts of Hell ; and that such dominion is bestowed only upon those who, with hearts cleansed by prayer and fasting, rise above this body of flesh. 3 Jesus withdrew from Tabor at once, taking the road to Capharnaum, careful that no one along the journey should know of His presence. 4 Nevertheless He continued His instructions to the disciples, telling them : " The Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill Him, and after having been put to death He shall rise again the third day." 5 " But the Apostles understood nothing of what He told them on this subject ; His words seemed, as it were, veiled to them ; " they indeed dreaded to be forewarned of the coming evil, and so followed their Master in sadness, " not venturing to question him." 6 II. The Return to Capharnaum. Matt. xvii. 23-26 ; xviii. 1-35 ; Mark. ix. 32-49 ; Luke ix. 46-50. This time the reentrance of Jesus into Capharnaum was very different from those home-comings of former days: the little band of companions which was now left to Him 1 Matt. xvii. 19. 2 To remove mountains was an hyperbole in familiar use among the Jews, to express any great difficulty which was to be surmounted (Light- foot, Horce Hebralcce, in Matt. xxi. 21). These words of Jesus declare the power of Faith, howsoever weak it may be supposed to be. 3 Mark ix. 28, 29. 4 Mark ix. 30-32. 5 Luke ix. 45. 6 Mark ix. 31. VOL. II. — 3 o4 THIRD YEAR OF THE MINISTRY OF JESUS. traversed the streets almost unnoticed by the indifferent passers-by. Only the tax-gatherers made after them and asked Peter : — " Does n't your Master pay the didrachma V' 1 This tribute was the ransom which every son of Israel owed to Jehovah as the " Price of his Soul." 2 Ordinarily it was taken up in the month of March. 3 That it was not demanded until autumn in this instance was because Jesus had been absent from Judea for some six months ; or it may be that, since He had been regarded hitherto as, by rank, a Doctor, He was considered exempt from this charge laid upon the people. 4 But now the Apostle, sore pressed for an answer by the collectors, assured them that the tax should be paid ; yet, almost immediately, he realized that he had been somewhat rash in pledging his Master's word in this off- hand manner, and his embarrassment was very evident as he followed Him " into the house." Jesus did not wait for Peter to unburden his mind. " Simon," He said to him, " how does this appear to your mind ? Of whom do the kings of the earth exact tribute ? Of their own children, or of foreigners ? " "Of foreigners," was Peter's reply. " Then the children are free," responded Jesus. In this way He chose to remind the Apostle, who had been a witness of His Glory on Tabor, that the Christ, the Son of God, was by this same title freed from the necessity of human laws, and thus exempt from the didrachma, the ransom of sinners. " Nevertheless," He added, " that we may not give scan- 1 Matt. xvii. 23-26. The two drachmas, or the half-shekel, were worth about thirty cents in our money (Saigey, Traite'de metrologie, p. 55, and Kitto, Gyclopccdia : Drachm). Every Jew, rich or poor, whether living in Juclea or in a foreign land must pay this sum. It was productive of con- siderable funds, which being faithfully carried to Jerusalem were used in the service of the Temple ( Lightfoot, Horcc Hcbraicce, in Matt. xvii. 24). It was a usage dating from the remotest time, being founded upon a precept in Exodus (xxx. 11-16). 2 Exod. xxx. 12. 8 Shekalim, i. f. 7. 4 Pirkc Aboth, iv. 5. THE RETURN TO CAPHARNAUM. 35 dal to any one, go to the lake and cast a hook. The first fish which you shall draw from the water, take it and open its mouth. There you will find a stater ; 1 this you will take, and give it to him, for Me and for you." Jesus, the Son of Man, would obey the laws and pay the tribute ; but He paid it even as God, by a miracle. The Gospel does not tell us in whose dwelling this reply was uttered, but it gives us to understand that Jesus had accepted the hospitality of some faithful family, for on this occasion we see a young child close by His side. 2 Very graciously did the Master greet the timid approach of such little ones, whose gentle frankness always gladdened His heart ; and now He drew this baby nearer to Him, in order to enforce another lesson upon the minds of His Apostles. " What were you discussing on the road ? " He asked them. 3 This abrupt question disconcerted them, for, seeing the Master walking at some distance ahead of them, " they had been disputing among themselves as to which one of their number was to be considered the greatest." Probably the preference shown to the three companions of Jesus upon Tabor had excited some jealousies and given rise to this wrangle. Crestfallen at finding themselves detected, all stood before Him without a word. The Master sat down and gathered the Twelve around Him. " If any one wishes to be the first," He said to them, " let him be the least and the servant of all." And He took up the child, folded it in His arms, then, still holding it, He told the Apostles that this was to be their model. 4 "Whoever," He said, "receives a little child like this one before you, in My Name, receives Me, and he who entertaineth Me receiveth not Me but Him that sent Me." The Lord could not bestow higher praise upon the inno- cence of little children than this, for He described Himself 1 The Stater was worth four drachmas (ahout sixty cents) and made up the two didrachmas which the tax-gatherer had demanded of Jesus and His Apostles. 2 Mark ix. 36. 8 Mark ix. 32-37- 1 Matt, xviii. 5. 36 THIRD YEAR OF THE MINISTRY OF JESUS. as of their nature, and commanded that they be entertained even as Himself, even as God, His Father. Yet the disciples did not realize the full force of His words. 1 John himself, usually more clear-sighted than the rest, now only gathered that Jesus was speaking of those who present themselves in His Name. At once he remem- bered that recently the Twelve had forbidden a man to drive out devils in the Name of the Christ, because this man was not one of them, and here he broke in upon the Master, desiring to know whether they hud done rightly. " Do not forbid him," Jesus replied ; " for there is no one who, after he has worked a miracle in My Name, can at once speak ill of Me thereafter; he who- is not against you is for you." 2 Then He reverted to His first thought, to the young child still nestling in His arms, — to those little ones " whose Angels forever behold the face of His Father Who is in Heaven." 3 " If any one," He said, " shall scandalize one of these children who believe in Me, it were better for him that a mill-stone 4 should be hung about his neck and that he be plunged in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world be- cause of its scandals ! It must needs be that scandals come, but woe to the man by whom the scandal comes ! " 5 With words like these Jesus talked to them in this house at Capharnaum ; the conversation lasted much longer than this; for the Master was no longer, as of old, thronged upon by crowds eager to hear His every word : all alone with His 1 Mark ix. 37-40. 2 This saying of the Christ would seem to contradict the words reported by S. Matthew : " He who is not with Me is against Me." But " is there any one who, in the course of a busy life, has not experienced the fact that, according to the circumstances and the different characters involved, a man who refrains from cooperating ami holds aloof will, by so doing, sometimes be lending you his countenance and support, at other times, on the con- trary, injures and impedes your efforts ?" (Gnizot, Meditations sur I'essence de la religion chretienne, p. 270.) 8 Matt, xviii. 10. 4 MuXoj ovLKbs : the uppermost millstone, of a conical shape, which re- volves upon the lower stationary stone. It was so heavy that often an ass was used to set it in motion. 6 Matt, xviii. 6, 7. THE RETURN TO CAPIIARNAUM. 37 disciples, He could adapt His words to their needs. So it was that He made them glimpse the terrors of Hell, adjur- ing them to sacrifice everything, were it their limbs, or their sight, in order to escape " that Gehenna of fire, where the worm gnaweth and dieth not, where the flame burnetii and is not quenched." 1 And then He alluded to an alto- gether different fire, the flame of love, which, once lighted, dues but purify all things which it touches. 2 But among all the conversations of that day, there is none more mem- orable or momentous than their talk about the rules which He gave His disciples for the adjustment of their differences. The Christ has decreed that the Church is to be the Arbi- trator for her children. 3 It is to her that it belongs to in- 1 These figures are borrowed from the Prophet Isaiah: " Their worm shall not die, and their flame shall not be quenched, and they shall be a thing loathsome and abhorred in the eyes of all flesh " (Is. lxvi. 24). In S. Mark (ix. 43, 45, 47), the Master repeats these mournful words three separate times, in order to fill His Apostles' souls with a fear of the Judg- ments of God. 2 Here we are speaking of the text of S. Mark (ix. 48) : "All must be salted with fire, even as every victim must be salted with salt. Salt is good ; but if it has lost its saltness, wherewith will you season it ? Have salt in yourselves and preserve peace with one another." This obscure passage has given rise to many and various comments. Some refer the words : " All shall be salted with fire " to the damned, of whom Jesus had been speaking; they shall be salted, — meaning that they shall be pre- served everlastingly in avenging flames. Others apply these words to all Christians : " Every one shall be salted by the fire," or in other words, all shall pass through either the flames of Hell or the fires of tribulation, which shall purify them as the salt does the flesh of the victims. Slightly modified the latter interpretation gives a very reasonable construction of the sacred text. Indeed it is enough to read the rest of the evangelical record to feel convinced that after having spoken of the damned, Jesus passes to another subject, and now, with the flames of Hell, contrasts the fire which hums not to destroy, but to purify the soul. This fire is that of the sacrifices, the symbol and foretokening of the Presence of Jehovah. No victim was offered to Him until it was covered with salt, in order to preserve it from corruption (Lev. ii. 13), and the flame perfected the puri- fication of the host by consuming it. But for the Apostles, this Salt of the Holocaust was henceforth unnecessary ; in their union with God, Who is "a consuming fire" (Dent. iv. 24), they would find their perfect purifica- tion. All must be salted with fire, even as every victim is salted with salt. Tims, then, let their charity he warm and glQwing, let it be ever like a savory salt, fervid, not seasonless, and then they shall have peace one with another. 3 Matt, xviii. 15-20. 38 THIRD YEAR OF THE MINISTRY OF JESUS. terpret the Moral Law, to determine the rights and the duties of her children, and to disown the unruly, treating them as the Jews treated Pagans and publicans. Indeed Jesus had given her the power of binding and of loosing upon earth, and had promised her His never-failing assist- ance, not simply for the instructing and sanctifying of men's souls, but that they might be maintained in true obedience. Let but two or three persons invested with the authority of the Church be gathered together in the Name of the Christ, " the Father Who is in Heaven will grant them all that they shall ask, and Jesus Himself will be in the midst of them." Peter hearing these first rules of the Christian Law pro- nounced, wished that the Master would enunciate them with more precision. 1 " Lord," he asked, " if my brother sin against me, how many times shall I forgive him ? As much as seven times ? " The Apostle believed that he was going to great lengths in his indulgent mercy, since the Eabbis taught that to pardon three times was the height of perfection ; 2 but under the gracious sway. of the Christ, forgiveness, like love, must be infinite. " I do not say : Until seven times," answered the Lord ; "but: Until seventy times seven times." 3 And to make it better understood how rigorously His law of loving- kindness must bind our actions, He set before the Apos- tles' eyes one of those Oriental courts where the lightest fancy of their monarch can, in an instant, raise up or demolish the most splendid fortunes. A king, He told them, 4 set about procuring a reckoning i Matt, xviii. 21-22. 2 " Homini in alterutrum peccanti semel remittunt, secundo remittunt, tertio remittunt, quarto non remittunt" (Ioma, f. 86, 2). They based this Rule upon certain obscure passages in the old Testament, and in particu- lar, on these words of Amos : "After the crimes which Gaza has com- mitted for these three and four times, I will not change the sentence which I have uttered against it" (Amos, i. 6). 8 That is to say (according to the usage of Hebraic speech), indefinitely (Gen. iv. 24, etc.). * Matt, xviii. 23-25. THE RETURN TO CAPHARNAUM. 39 from his ministers ; then one of them was brought before him, as powerful a personage as any of their number, who owed his sovereign ten thousand talents. 1 He succeeded in winning the pity of his lord, who forbore to sell him upon the spot, him and his wife and his children. Yet, even before he had passed out from under the palace gates a free man, he flung himself upon one of his com- rades who owed him a trifling matter, — only one hun- dred denarii. 2 Clutching him by the throat, half-strangling him he repeated : — " Hand over what you owe me ! " The wretched fellow fell at his feet, begging him : " Only have patience, and I will pay you all." But the other would hearken to nothing, and dragged him to prison until such time as he should pay the whole. The king, having knowledge of all this, bade them call the officer once more. " Wicked servant," he said to him, " at your prayer I for- gave you your debt ; should you not have had pity upon your comrade as I have had pity upon you ? " And, in his wrath, he delivered him to the torturers. 3 " So, also shall My heavenly Father treat you," concluded Jesus, " if you do not, each one of you, forgive your brother from the bottom of your heart." So, then, Charity, much more than Justice, should be the foundation of Christian righteousness, or rather one must be blended with the other ! " Mercy and truth are met 1 About 18f millions in our money. In the time of Jesus, the talent was worth about $"!875 (see Saigey, Traits de metrologic). Evidently the official here in question was one of those satraps who collected the revenues of entire provinces in the name of their king. 2 About $15.50, the denarius being worth about 154 cents (Kitto, Cyclo- ptedia : Dexarius ; Saigey, p. 75). 3 This term recalls the tortures inflicted upon debtors, in the hope that their sufferings might make them disclose their hidden stores, or that com- passion would move their relatives to pay the debt. Though the Jewish Law showed some clemency for the insolvent Israelite, no such sentiment ever actuated Pagan law-makers. Without mentioning the East, where the debtor became the chattel of the creditor and was abandoned to his mercy, we find that at Rome his lot was fixed by the law of the Twelve Tables : he could be sold as a slave, loaded with chains, mutilated (Titus Livy, Historice, ii. 23). 40 TH1IU) YEAR OF THE MINISTRY <>F JESUS. together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other," 1 even as two sisters. " If your brother has sinned against you," said the Lord once again, 2 " do not wait for him to be sorry ; be the first to go to him and to chide him, you and he alone together. If he listens to you, you will have gained your brother ; if he does not listen to you, try again, taking two or three persons with you, so that it may be decided by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 3 If he will not hearken to them, tell the Church," — for her to settle all differences, even as a mother does among her little ones, reviving sweet accord in estranged and angry hearts, oftentimes rebuking us but always loving, — ay, most loving when she hurts us, that so she may bring back health and salvation to our souls. 1 Ps. lxxxiv. 11. 2 Matt, xviii. 15-17. 8 In these rules given by Jesus there is much to remind us of the disci- pline of the Synagogue : " Quicumque peccat in fratrem suum necesse habet ut ei dicat : In te peccavi. Si audiat, bene : si non, adducat alios et placet eum coram iis. Si forsan morietur, placet eum ad sepulchrum suum et dicat : In te peccavi" (Ioma, lxxxvii. 1). CHAPTER IV. THE FEAST OF THE TABERNACLES. I. Jesus goes up privately to Jerusalem. John vii. 1-10 ; Luke ix. 51-62 ; Matt. viii. 19-22. Autumn 1 had come upon the land, and in every direc- tion caravans were forming for the journey Jerusalemward, for it was the season for the Feast of the Tabernacles, 2 the gladdest of all Israel's solemnities. As it was instituted to be a memorial of their march through the wilderness, it lasted seven days, and during that time the whole people lived under leafy shelters, woven of boughs, just as their fathers had sojourned in tents. 3 The olive, the pine, the myr- 1 As regards the order in which we have disposed the events occurring between the time of the Transfiguration and the last journey that Jesus made, refer to Appendix IX. 2 John vii. 2. 8 Whence its name, Scenopegia, "The Tent-Kaising" (aKrjvq, Trtftviu) ; in Hebrew, "The Feast of the Tents" (JVDDH Jn). It also bore the name of "Harvest Festival," ^PXH Jn (Exod. xxiii. 16), because it was celebrated when all the fruits of the earth had been gathered in. It lasted from the 15th to the 22d of Tishri (the last days of Septem- ber), and marked the end of the civil year, which began once more with the month of October (Lev. xxiii. 39 ; Deut. xvi. 13-15). The object of this festival was to give thanks to God for the harvest, and to praise that signal mercy whereby He had established the Jews, hitherto a nomad horde, within a land flowing with milk and honey. The memory of that momentous event gave this Feast a splendor almost equal to that of the Passover Josephus and Philo did not hesitate to call it the greatest and holiest ot festivals. The holocausts were more numerous than at any other time, hence, during the seven days solemnity, the twenty-four classes of the priesthood were all present, and filled their various functions in the Temple (Soucca, v. 6). 42 THIRD YEAR OF THE MINISTRY OF JESUS. tie, and the palm trees were now stripped of their branches ; little pavilions of green foliage were raised all along the streets, through the squares, upon the level house-tops, and above the city ramparts ; and for the space of one week Jerusalem bore much the appearance of a forest of verdure. 1 On all sides there was nothing to be heard but songs of joy- answering the blare of trumpets which reechoed from the terraces of the Temple, and every Jew, in token of rejoic- ing, bore either a branch of palm or some other fresh bough, laden with citrons 2 or peaches, or any rich fruitage of the season. The gayety was the more heartfelt and real, be- cause their great Day of Expiation 3 immediately preceded the Feast of the Tabernacles, and consequently they con- sidered themselves purified and freed from sin. The kinsfolk of the Lord were on the eve of their de- parture from Capharnamn. to go up to this solemnity. Some of their household bethought themselves to seek Him out; with thoughts and views of Him just as low and grovelling as when formerly they treated Him like a madman, 4 so now they had nothing but complaints and reproaches upon their lips. 'Why so much mystery; why keep himself concealed in this way, so discouraging to his would-be partisans ? How many Jews about Jerusalem were ready to receive him well, from the first, if he had only been willing to make himself plainly understood ! ' " Leave this place," was the family-advice, 5 " and go into 1 2 Esdras viii. 15. So nowadays, around the source of the Jordan, the inhabitants of Banias erect bowers of" greenwood upon the roofs of their houses, and there they sleep during the summer. 2 Lev. xxiii. 40. "The fruits of the most beautiful tree," Tin y£ ^p ; that is, the citron, according to the majority of interpreters (Onkelos, Pes- hito, etc.) ; others say it refers to the peach (see Josephus, Antiquitates, iii. 10, 4). 3 This Feast of Expiation took place upon the 10th of Tishri, five days before the solemnity of the Tabernacles. The whole people fasted on that day, and among the sacrifices the High -Priest offered two he-goats ; one of these, as being burdened with the sins of Israel, was driven forth into the desert (Lev. xvi., xxiii. 26-32 ; Num. xxix. 7-11). * Mark iii. 21. 8 John viii. 3-5. JESUS GOES UP PRIVATELY TO JERUSALEM. 43 Judea, so that your disciples may see the works which you do ; for nobody does his actions in secret, when he wishes to show himself in public ; since you are doing these things, manifest yourself to the world." Such words as these were only another justification of the Evangelist's sad reflection : " Even His brethren 1 did not believe in Him." Jesus showed no surprise. "My time is not come as yet," He said, quietly ; 2 "but your time is always ready, for the world cannot hate you ; but Me it hates, because I bear witness that its works are evil. Do you go up to this feast ; as for Me, I do not now go thither because My time is not yet accomplished." 3 There was good reason for the Lord's speaking so ob- scurely, since it was important that Jerusalem should be unaware of His approaching visit : the Sanhedrin would certainly have profited by the interval to arouse the popu- lace and prepare some pitfall against His coming. So He left His kindred to depart without Him, and while the caravans were filling the routes which keep along the high- way of the Jordan, He with His Apostles turned aside toward Samaria, taking that road up to the Holy City. His farewell was a sorrowful one, for He was taking leave of the Galilee He loved to go to Jerusalem, where only ingratitude and persecution awaited Him. All this Jesus knew beforehand ; evermore His gaze rested on the last six months of His Ministry as they stretched out inter- minably before His eyes : His departure from this world, 4 1 The brethren, or, as we have frequently explained, the cousins of the Lord. These words refer to the sons of Alpheus, but not to James and Jude, because only a little later we see them in company with the other Apostles following the Christ to Jerusalem. 2 John vii. 6-10. 3 Whether, with the Syriac Version of Cureton and the Alexandrian Manuscript, we adopt the reading oi/K, or whether we prefer the more intel- ligible reading oi'nrw, which we find in the Manuscript of the Vatican and the Vulgate, the purpose of Jesus is none the less evident : under these vague terms He wished to indicate that as yet the time for Him to go up to Jerusalem was not come. 4 'AraX^eus (Luke ix. 51) . . . curb rrjs 777s eh ovpavSv, as Euthymius exp^ins it, and as the meaning ordinarily given this word in the New Testament demands (Mark xvi. 19 ; Acts i. 2). 44 THIRD YEAR OF THE MINISTRY OF JESUS. the Cross, and the tomb. Wherefore (to use S. Luke's expression), "He steadfastly set His face to go up to Jerusalem." Following the road across the plain of Esdralon, they reached the hill-country which forms the northern frontier of Samaria. At its base lies the little town of En-Gannim, " The Fountain of the Gardens." It was the first Samaritan village they encountered ; and Jesus sent some of His dis- ciples on ahead to prepare lodgings for them. 1 James and John, charged with this duty, set out confidently enough ; for remembering the crowds which hastened to meet Jesus at Jacob's Well they promised themselves a kindly wel- come. But while Israel's festivals were going on, the ani- mosity of the Samaritans knew no bounds ; now " inasmuch as the travellers had turned their faces toward Jerusalem," every door was closed against them, and they returned with- out having found either shelter or food. Their indignation was intense ; like true " Sons of the Thunder " their first thought was to call down vengeance from on high. " Lord," they exclaimed, " would you have us bid fire come down from Heaven and consume them, even as did Elias?" 2 They forgot that Heaven has other powers besides thun- der in its gift, and gives light much oftener than it light- ens ; so was it to be under the new reign of Jesus, when zeal and charity alone would enflame the heart of man. Looking at His disciples, the Master answered them : " You do not know of what spirit you are ; the Son of Man is not come to destroy souls, but to save them." 3 And without blaming these people for having spurned them, He passed on to another hamlet. As they walked along the highway a Scribe came 1 Luke ix. 52-55. 2 The Vulgate, the Syriac of Cureton, and the Sinai'tic Manuscript omit these last words : ws /cat 'II Mas tiroiricrtv. But the testimony of the Ver- sions (Codex Alexandrinus, Ephrsemi, Bezse) seems to us too weighty to be passed over in silence. a These words are omitted in the greater number of Manuscripts : but the Cambridge Codex (copied from a very ancient text), the Vulgate and the Syriac Versions, contain them, and are a safe guarantee of their authenticity. JESUS GOES UP PRIVATELY TO JERUSALEM. 45 forward, touched by what he had overheard of their talk. " Master," he said, " I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest. : ' 2 The Lord took no heed either of the words or of the rank of the one accosting Him ; far down in this man's heart He beheld an overmastering attachment to the good things of earth ; He knew that his inconsiderate fervor would fail him at the first foretaste of the poverty of Jesus, and there- fore He answered : — " The foxes have their holes, the birds of the air have their nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His Head." The thought of following a homeless Master cast a chill over the Scribe's courage, and he dropped back and disappeared. That same day and upon this same highroad 2 the Saviour passed before a house of mourning: a son was weeping over the death of his father. Looking up he too knew the Presence of the Master, and felt himself drawn to leave all and follow Him. So too Jesus read his heart ; then, as quick and ready to help the weak as He was prompt in repressing the presumptuous, He stepped toward him. " Follow Me ! " he said. Surprised at so sudden an appeal the son hesitated, and asked that he might at least be allowed to bury his father. But the Saviour, seeing that any delay, even the most legitimate, would destroy all resolution in this wavering soul, caught him away in His company, with that saying which so many Saints have repeated since, when breaking away from all dearest ties of affection, — " Leave the dead to bury their dead ; but do you go and announce the Kingdom of God ! " 3 1 Luke ix. 57, 58 ; Matt. viii. 19, 20. 2 This threefold vocation is related by S. Matthew among the miracles which fill chapters viii. and ix. of his Gospel : here again we do not hesi- tate to prefer the order followed by S. Luke. 8 Luke ix. 59, 60. 46 THIRD YEAR OF THE MINISTRY OF JESUS. One other disciple, called in like manner, also wanted to linger and bide his time. " Lord," he began, " I will follow you, but first allow me to take farewell of my kindred." l " Whoever," was the reply of Jesus, " puts his hand to the plough and looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God." The zeal of the true Apostle must rise to that height of perfection which makes, not a step only, but even one single backward glance impossible. 2 And this is all the Gospel tells us of their journey across the hills of Samaria. Jesus walked still more privately and quietly the nearer they approached the Holy City, and thus they found their way within its walls without any one having recognized Him, oi-even so much as suspecting His presence. II. Jesus in the Temple. John vii. 11-53. From the first of these festival days the absence of Jesus had been remarked ; every one was speaking of Him. 3 The princes of Jewry 4 were on the lookout for His coming ; their spies were inquiring on all sides as to where He was staying, and whether He would appear shortly. There was much whispering going on among the worship- pers, some of whom were now timidly upholding him. " He is a good man," they urged, while others would an- swer, "No, he is leading the people astray;" and, foras- 1 The Syriac Version gives this sense to the words, which is evidently that of the Greek Text (8. Augustine, Scrmo c. 3. S. Basil, in loco). The Vulgate translates : " His quae domi sunt :" " Let me first set in order the business of my household." 2 Luke ix. 61, 62. 8 John vii. 11-13. 4 In the chapters devoted to the incidents of the Feast of Tabernacles, following his usual custom, S. John distinguishes between the masses (6x^o$, ^0-0%) and the Jews ('lovdaioi). Now, as we have already observed, by the latter term he refers to the princes of Jewry, and in particular to the members of the Sanhedrin. JESUS IN THE TEMPLE. 47 much as His antagonists showed the boldest front, no one dared to declare himself openly in His favor for fear of the Jews. They were almost in the midst of the feast-making 1 when Jesus entered Jerusalem ; repairing at once to the Temple He seated Himself in one of the halls which surrounded the porches, and began to teach. His presence there was another surprise to the people, and at first they listened to him in wonderment ; it was not long, however, before some of the prominent Jews present broke the silence with muttered criticisms. " By what right does this stranger venture to teach ? No Eabbi has ever instructed him in Sacred Literature ; this man was brought up at Nazareth, — in a carpenter's shop. How should he know the Scriptures ? 2 he has never studied them." Jesus heard these detractors, and answered them " that His Doctrine was not His, but His Heavenly Father's." 3 It rested altogether with them whether they too would share His knowledge of celestial things ; they had " but to do the will of God," laying aside all self-seeking and pride, and they would become truly wise. Thus purified, their eyes would be enabled to see " that He spoke not of Himself, was not seeking His own glory, and did nothing wrongfully " in speaking as He had done. But far from hearkening to the voice of God, " they did not even observe His Law," for which they made such show of veneration. Then, changing the defence into an attack, Jesus unmasked their secret motives. " Why do you seek to kill Me ? " He demanded suddenly. The princes of the people kept silence ; but the crowd of onlookers could not catch the drift of this question, and at once assumed that the Christ was beginning to rave in His talk. 1 John vii. 14, 15. 2 Tpd/j.fiara. The Jews having scarcely any other literature beside the Scriptures, this word would evidently refer to knowledge of the Sacred Books. 8 John vii. 16-20. 48 THIRD YEAR OF THE MINISTRY OF JESUS. " You are possessed by the Devil," they told him. " Who is it that is seeking to kill you ? " His only reply 1 was a reference to the miracle of Bethesda, still fresh in their minds. He disclosed how at that time the Sanhedrin had resolved to put Him to death, and thus showed the iniquity of their plots against Him. That it was no violation of the sacred rest -to heal the suffering upon the Sabbath-day, — this the Master had already proved before the Council: yet here again He gave the people an argument which they could easily comprehend. Moses had received the commandment given to Abra- ham by God, that they should circumcise the new-born babe upon the eighth day. Now when this day fell on a Sabbath there was never any Jew who would hesitate to overlook the rules of Sabbath-rest in order that his child might be consecrated to Jehovah by the spilling of blood, together with all holy rites. If the Precept of Circum- cision could render such an infraction lawful, how was it that the Sabbath had come to outweigh in importance the divine law of Charity ? If it was legal to perform such deeds, and to shed the blood of man in order to purify the body, and that only in part, how was it criminal in him to heal the whole body with only a word ? " So then do not judge according to appearances," Jesus concluded, " but according to justice." This vindication discomfited the enemies of the Lord and delighted the multitude ; the citizens of Jerusalem especially, better informed than the visitors as to the malice of their leading men, could not repress their amazement. 2 " Is not this the man they want to put to death ? " they asked. " And now he preaches publicly and no one has a word to say to him. Have the Sanhedrin-Councillors recognized him as the Christ?" This, however, was little more than a glimmering of the truth which now flashed upon some few Jews of the town, 1 John vii. 21, 24. 2 John vii. 25, 26. JESUS IN THE TEMPLE. 49 and for an instant ; but it was as quickly overshadowed by their hasty prejudices. The instructions of the Scribes recurred to their mind, how the Christ ought to appear unexpectedly, — His very origin was to be hidden, — and thus lie should remain unknown in Israel, until of a sud- den He would reveal Himself on the day when He should receive His Anointing at the hands of Elias. 1 " As for this man," they said, " we know whence he is ; but when the Christ shall come no one will know whence He comes." 2 Jesus would not permit this misleading tradition to de- lude the popular mind any longer. To those who would deny Him the dignity of the Christ, because they knew His home and kindred, He replied that over and above His earthly origin He had a mysterious beginning. " I am not come of Myself," He said to them. 3 " He that sendeth Me does truly live; 4 you do not know Him, but I know Him, because I am from Him and He has sent Me." This sublime refutation greatly irritated the Jews ; from dumb, unreasoning resentment they passed to acts of vio- lence, and endeavored to seize Jesus. " And, notwith- standing, no man laid hands on Him, because His hour was not come." 5 Moreover, there were many among those present who believed, and said : — 1 S. Justin, Dialogus cum Tryphone, viii. 2 This opinion had risen (1) from the views held by the Jews in regard to the divine origin of the Messiah; (2) from the state of obscurity into which the remnant of David's race had fallen; (3) from the Prophecy of Daniel, which foretold a mysterious appearance of the Son of Man (Dan. vii. 13) ; (4) perhaps also from their manner of rendering verse 8 in Chapter liii. of Isaiah, as the Septuagint and the Vulgate have trans- lated it; " Generationem ejus quis enarravit?" And so gave it this false interpretation. 3 John vii. 28-31. *'A\7)6li'6s, in S. John, has the sense of "real, actually existing " much oftener than that of " truly." The Vulgate, which generally translates it by "verus," does not take it as having the meaning "verax" anywhere except in the Apocalypse (xix. 11). 5 By these repeated words (John vii. 30 ; viii. 20 ; xiii. 1) S. John would have us understand that God would not permit the death of the Christ un- til the time set down for it in the Eternal Counsels ; but from this it does not follow that the Saviour could put Himself in the way of perils, under vol. ir. — 4 50 THIRD YEAR OF THE MINISTRY OF JESUS. " When the Christ comes will He do more miracles than this man does ? " The respect shown Him by this section of the populace, their ever-increasing faith, the things which were whis- pered about in favor of Jesus, — all these taken together soon alarmed the Sanhedrin people, and they determined to act l at once. Some of their satellites were despatched to lay hold upon the Galilean ; but all that they were able to do was to mingle with the crowd of listeners, and dis- cover that, though He was well aware of their intentions, He showed no signs of fear. It was useless for His ene- mies to try to precipitate the fatal hour. He declared " that He was to be with them for yet a little while, until the day when He was to return to His Father." Then indeed they would seek Him, no longer with wicked in- tent, but repentant and despairing, amid the ruins of Jerusalem. "You shall seek Me and you shall not find Me," He said; "nor shall you be able to come there where I am." " Where will he go," they murmured among themselves, " that we may not find him ? Will he go to the Gentiles dispersed over the world ? 2 will he become a Doctor among them ? " And they were at a loss to imagine what Jesus meant by saying this. Meanwhile the festal celebrations were still progressing, and for the last time the Holy Waters had been poured the pretext that, as " His hour was not come," His enemies could not pre- vail against Him ; this would have been to tempt God, Who had decreed that His Son "should come under infirmity" (Hebrews v. 2), be subjected voluntarily to the ordinary course of human affairs. Therefore we see Jesus so careful to observe this ordinance of the Father, never hazarding His life in rash confidence, but withdrawing, and often even conceal' ing Himself, to anticipate the plottings of His toes; in a word, acting always and everywhere as a Man, notwithstanding that He was God Almighty. 1 Johii vii. 32-36. 2 Aiaairopa tQv 'EXX^fwc signifies not merely the Jews of the Dispersion, but those Pagan countries as well, through which the Jews were dispersed. In fact the word'EM^es in the New Testament refers to the Gentiles as distinguished from the Jews (Acts xvi. 1,3; xix. 10, 17 ; xx. 21 ; xxi. 28 i Rom. i. 16 ; ii. 10, etc ). JESUS IN THE TEMPLE. 51 out within the Temple. 1 It may be well to recall some- thing of the significance of this symbolic rite, for on the morrow Jesus would allude to it. Every morning during those seven days a priest descended to the well-spring of Siloe, and in a golden vessel drew up three measures of water from the fountain, with which he returned, bearing it before him in solemn state. Upon his entrance within the porches the trumpets sounded, accompanying him with the wild clash of their symphonies, while he mounted to the highest step of the Altar ; there two great jars had been already set forth, one made of silver, into which the minis- tering priest poured the water brought from Siloe; the other of gold, which he filled with wine. These libations once performed, the whole people entoned the Hallel, 2 waving their rustling palm-branches, and giving way to such glad transports of feeling that the Rabbis tell us it is impossible for one who never witnessed it to conceive the universal sense of joy. 3 But on the eighth day 4 this ceremony no longer took place ; those who, in the early morning, ascended to the Temple to offer sacrifice, instead of the joyous songs and the chanting, found a religious stillness brooding over the Sanctuary. This was the moment Jesus chose to explain the meaning of their sacred rite. Standing in the centre of the porches He cried aloud : " If any one thirst let him come to Me, and let him drink ! He that believeth in Me, as the Scrip- 1 John vii. 37. 2 Ps. cxii. to cxviii. in the Hebrew ; cxii. to cxvii. in the Vulgate. 3 Soucca, v. 1. 4 John vii. 37-39. The incident here recounted by S. John took place " the last day of the Feast, which was the solemnest of all." By this, we believe, he refers not to the seventh day, when at evening-time the Jews gave over living under their greenwood-tents, but to the eighth, which was consecrated by a sabbatic observance and a great gathering of the people (Num. xxix. 35-38 ; 2 Esdr. viii. 18). From the evidence of the second Book of Machabees (x. 6) and from Josephus {Antiquitatcs, iii. 10, 4) we know that this day made part of the Festival, which terminated at the same time as the civil year. The ceremony to which Jesus is alluding did not take place on this day ; the testimony of a single Babbi (Judas the Holy) is not enough to establish the contrary opinion (Soxicca, XV. 19). 52 Till 111 > YE All OF THE MINISTRY OF JESUS. ture sayeth : l Out of his belly shall fluw rivers of living water ! " "He was speaking," adds the Evangelist, "of the Holy Spirit which his disciples were to receive;" and tin's, He promised the Jews, would no longer be like that weak spring-water, 2 but like a mighty river which should iill them with overflowing gifts of grace. 3 This utterance made a great impression upon the peo- ple; more than one heart waiting there had long yearned after waters which would not fleet away and vanish, like those of Siloe ; and even so in their Sacred Oracles they had discerned certain obscure inklings as to a promised never-failing Fountain, wherefrom the streams of truth should flow for all alike. Had the hour at last arrived for that great marvel ? Many believed so. Some were already saying, 4 "Truly, this is the Prophet!" 5 " It is the Christ ! " they shouted. But the Scribes 6 sternly repressed these tokens of hom- age, everywhere objecting : — 1 These words are not a literal quotation of the Old Testament, but a figure of speech, by which Jesus expresses the thought of several Prophets. Ezechiel had spoken of a River, which should How from the Temple, heal- ing all that its waters touched (Ezech. xlvii. 1-1 '!). Zachary promised the thirsty throngs a Spring of living water (Zach. xiv. 8) ; Isaiah told them how a mighty stream would follow them into the wilderness (Is. xliii. 20). This same Prophet represented Israel as a garden wetted with unfailing fountains of water (Is. lviii. 11), and ascribed words like these to Jehovah: "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and with gladness shall ye draw out water from the well-springs of the Saviour" (Is. xii. 3, lv. 1 ). 2 John iv. 14. 8 The spilling of the waters of Siloe within the Temple was manifestly a symbolic rite. This the Jews regarded as at the same time typical of the kindly rain falling upon their harvest fields [Rosh-Hashanah, f. 16, 1), — as a memorial of the water-spring from the Riven Pock, which followed them in every place throughout the desert (1 Cor. x. 4) ; and as a fore- tokening of the Divine Spirit which the Messiah was to pour out upon them (Soucca, 53, i. ). But it was the judgment of the most illustrious Rabbis that the last named signification was the principal one in everyone's mind. 4 John vii. 40-49. ' 6 By this they alluded to the Great Prophet, announced by Moses (Dent. xviii. 15). It will be remembered that the Sanhedrin had also inquired of John Baptist, "Are you the Prophet V (John i. 21.) Sec Vol. I., p. 129. 6 The learning displayed by these traducers seems to indicate that they were Scribes and Doctors of Israel. JESUS IN THE TEMPLE. 53 " Is it possible that the Christ should come out of Gali- lee ? Do we not read in Scripture that He must be born of the blood of David, and in the village of Bethlehem, where David dwelt ? " The multitude of common people knew not how to an- swer this argument, and began to share something of their teachers' resentment against Him ; some indeed, much dis- quieted by the strong language of the doctors, were eager for arresting the Christ at once ; others, however, took up the defence, and the latter must have been the more numerous because no one ventured to touch Him. Even the guards commissioned to seize Him comprehended clearly enough that any act of violence would be likely to arouse this great concourse of people ; they therefore re- turned to the Pontiffs and the Pharisees. These frowned upon the officers in stern displeasure. " Why have you not brought him here ? " they said. " Never man spoke like this man," replied the guards ; and they went on to explain what command He exerted over the crowds. But in their vexation the members of the Sanhedrin loaded them with sarcastic queries. " So, then, you too are befooled by him, are you ? Is there a single one of the Magistrates and Pharisees who has believed in him ? As for this rabble, who know noth- ing of the Law, they are accursed." Only one member of the Great Council ventured to utter a protest against this iniquitous action. 1 It was Nicodemus, the Scribe who once came by night to seek the Lord. Ever since that time, when his heart was first touched by grace, though too weak-souled to give himself up to its innermost promptings, he had always retained a secret love for the Master ; now he spoke out with some feeling. " Does our Law allow us to condemn a man without having heard him, and without knowing what he has done ? " Timid and mild as this defence was, it enraged the Sanhedrin. * Jolm vii. 50-52. 54 THIRD YEAR OF THE MINISTRY OF JESUS. " Ah, you too ! Are you a Galilean, then ? " they shouted at him. " Examine the Scriptures, and learn that no Prophet ever came out of Galilee." Amid the storm of excitement these Doctors of Israel forgot that the country which they so despised had been, in truth, the fruitful mother of Prophets ; for out of Thisbe had come Elias, and from the regions of the north, Jonas, Nahum, and Osee. Such a season of blindness and heated passion left no opportunity for wiser counsels, and they broke up the sitting without determining upon anything definitely, each one returning to his own home. CHAPTER V. THE FEAST OF THE TABERNACLES (continued). I. The Adulteress. John viii. 1-59. When dusk had settled over the city, Jesus walked with- out the walls, directing His steps toward the Mount of Olives. 1 This was the spot where He had been accustomed to pass the night during the several times He sojourned in Jerusalem, whether because He had been invited to take shelter in some dwelling-place thereabouts, or, it may be, not having where to rest His head, He sought slumber under cover of the spreading groves. At daybreak He wended His way back to the Temple ; at once " all the people came to Him, and having seated Himself, He taught them." The Sanhedrin had not in the least renounced the pursuit ; but comprehending that, more than anything else, it was expedient for them to draw the multitude away from Him, they turned their whole attention to this end. Some- thing occurred immediately to further their projects. The seven days spent beneath their sylvan huts were not without peril for the uprightness of the Israelites ; often- times merriment degenerated into license, and it so hap- pened that during this very night a woman had been taken in adultery. The custom of stoning a guilty wife had ceased to be enforced for a long time now; 2 divorce alone satisfied the vengeance of the wronged husband ; 3 and, at this period l John viii. 1, 2. 2 Deut. xxii. 22-24. 3 Sotah, vi. 56 THIRD YEAR OF THE MINISTRY OF JESUS. especially, when the Roman authorities reserved to them- selves all rights over lii'e and death, no other punishment was possible. None the less did the Sanhedrin-Councillors drag the sinning woman up to the Temple, and pushing her into the presence of the Lord, — "Master," they said, 1 " this woman has just now been taken in adultery. Moses commanded us in the Law to stone the woman guilty of this crime. What say you as to this ? " They meant to oblige Him either to put Himself in op- position to Moses by rescuing the sinner, or else force Him to consign her to the death torture. Now they foresaw that the latter decision would not only destroy His great renown for gentleness in the people's eyes, but would moreover expose Him to the vengeance of Rome. Jesus, at a glance, detected the snare ; beneath this zealous exterior of piety, He saw clearly that there was nothing but hypocrisy. Hence He deigned no reply ; but stooping down toward the ground, He fell to writing with His finger in the sand. This He did to indicate that any profitless occupation, such as this of tracing letters in the dust, disconnected and meaningless signs though they were, yet in His eyes seemed worthier of attention than the query proposed by these fanatic Doctors. And on their part they chose to act as if unconscious of the Master's disdain ; 2 they persisted in attracting His notice to the shame-struck, wretched woman, and waxed the more urgent with look and voice. At last Jesus drew Himself up. " Let him who is without sin among you," He said, " cast the first stone." Without decrying the law of blood, still He would not have any hands essay the execution of its mandates save such as were worthy of the charge. Not a finger was lifted in this assembly, which until now had shown itself so arro- gant. Jesus, once more half-kneeling on the ground, began 1 John viii. 3-6, 2 John viii. 7-11. THE ADULTERESS. 57 to write again ; " it was their sins He was recording in the sand," so says a curious lection in an ancient Codex, 1 and each man there understood this mute language, whereby they stood self-convicted. Scribes and Pharisees were alike dumb-founded and silent ; their hands crept away from the sinner's garments, their eyes fell, overwhelmed with shame they slunk away, one after another, — first the older ones among them, their souls consumed with evil spite, then the younger men. Soon in all this open space, — here in the centre of the crowded court, — there remained no one else besides Jesus and the guilty woman, " the uttermost misery, and the uttermost mercy," 2 here left finally face to face. She was still shuddering at the feet of the Master. Once more Jesus stood erect, looked about Him, and seeing no one but her, — <: Woman," He said, " where are your accusers ? Has no one condemned you ? " "No one, Lord." "And neither will I condemn you ; go and sin no more." This pardon was a marvel of Charity, yet it so completely overturned the received code of morality that for a long while it continued to be a stumbling-block for the Church. Always pitiless to the adulteress, those Eastern nations who became Christians were loath to believe that Jesus, while so sensitive as to everything pertaining to chastity, would publicly protect a fallen woman, humiliate her ac- cusers, and shield her from punishment. Would not such indulgence merely embolden men in crime ? This fear led a great number of pastors to pass over the Gospel story in silence ; some Churches went so far as to suppress it in their copies, 3 and so now-a-days we vainly look for it in 1 "E7pai/ , ei' et's r^v yr\v evbs eKatrrov airwv ras afMaprias. This reading, as found in the Codex Naniamis (U), preserved in S. Mark's Library in Venice, has little value except as a commentary, noteworthy, however, on account of its antiquity. 2 S. Augustine, in Joan. viii. 3 There is very precise testimony as to this fact: " Nonnulli modicse fidei, vel potius ininiici fidei, credo, metuentes peccandi impunitatem dari mulieribus suis, illud quod de adulters indnlgentia Dominus fecit abstule- runt de codicibus suis, quasi permissionem peccandi tribueret qui dixit : Jam deinceps noli peccare " (S. Augustine, De Conjugiis adultcrinis, ii. 7). 58 THIRD YEAR OF THE MIXISTRY OF JESUS. many ancient manuscripts. 1 Succeeding ages learned to draw a jnster idea of its meaning, and so restored this page of the Gospel, which sets the Heart of Jesus before us in the truest light; indeed, there is none which teaches in clearer accents that the real triumph of chastity lies, not so much in flying any contact with the defiled soul, but rather in purifying it, even as the ray of sunlight pene- trates the mire and illumines it without being soiled " Non mediocrem scrupulum movere potuit imperitis' (S. Ambrose, Apolo- gia altera David, i.). Nicon, an Armenian monk who lived in the tenth century, says that this passage was stricken out of the Armenian Version as liable to do harm (Migne, Patrologie grecque, t. i. p. 656). 1 To us these are reasons enough to explain : (1) How it happens that this incident is not found in many of the oldest and best manuscripts (the Alexandrian, Sinaitic, Vatican, the Palimpsest of Ephrsem), in certain Versions and in many Fathers (Origen, S. Cyril, Tertullian, S. Cyprian, S. John Chrysostom) ; (2) how, after being restored later on, it presents such a large number of differences, and occupies so many and various posi- tions in the manuscripts, sometimes being placed in the seventh chapter of S. John, sometimes at the end of his Gospel, sometimes after S. Luke's twenty-first chapter. Protestant exegetical critics have carefully scruti- nized such words and phrases in this passage as are foreign to the usual style of S. John, and hence have concluded that it is the work of some stranger's hand. Father Patrizi thinks that this last point may be con- ceded without at all impairing the canonicity of the fragment : " Condem- nandus certe non esset qui pro certo haberet banc irepiicoir-qv esse canonicani, negaret tamen a Joanne esse conscriptam, sed ab alio auctore divinitus in- spirato, atque huic Joannis capiti insertam." However, the learned Jesuit, after having examined the differences in style remarked in the first verses of Chapter viii., thinks with good reason that they are too unimportant to support any such hypothesis. His idea is that S. John did not write the story of the adulteress until after he had composed his Gospel, and so in- serted it later. This supposition, taken together with the scrupulosity of the first pastors, is amply sufficient to explain the variations, as we have said. Beside this, direct proof's to establish its authenticity are not want- ing. Father Corluy has put them in scholarly shape in his PiUegrite de VEoangile (p. 42). A resume of his arguments will be enough for our pur- pose: (1) We find this pericope in the oldest and most important MSS. in cursive letters, in the Vulgate, and in many copies of the Italic Version ; (2) very many Fathers were accpiainted with it and quote from it : Con- stitutions apostoliques, ii. 24. Synopsis of S. Athanasius (Migne, Patrolo- gie grecque, t. xxviii. 401). S. Pacian, ad Sempronium, iii. S. Ambrose, Apologia altera David, i. S. Augustine, De Oonjvgiis aduterinis, ii. 7. S. Leo, Sermo lxii. 4, etc. S. Jerome, whose testimony is of especial im- portance, says that he had read this fragment " in multis, et grrecis, et latinis codicibus" (Adversus Pelagium, ii. 6) ; (3) we may add finally that the same over-nicety which resulted in the suppression of this narrative ren- ders it extremely improbable that it should have ever been interpolated. THE ADULTERESS. 59 thereby. And it was this the Master proposed to show by His tender mercy toward the erring woman, — that charity and grace are mightier than punishments to pre- vent wrong-doing ; and so too He wished to remind men, •weakly indulgent as they are as regards their own dis- orderly deeds, yet so severe toward women, that their mutual crime is of equal offence in the eyes of Divine Justice ; most of all He meant to tell sinning woman, spurned and despised by the world, that there is no dark stain which the hand of Jesus cannot wipe away, no fault which He will not pardon unto the repentant sinner. Thereupon Jesus proceeded to the Treasury, where He sat down and continued to instruct the people. 1 The part of the Temple known by this name was the court reserved for women, where there stood thirteen caskets, placed there to receive offerings. Within this open space rose two great candlesticks, fifty cubits in height and lacquered with gold. Every night, during the festival season, the glare of its sparkling lights could be seen over the whole town and all round about the populace danced to the sound of flutes and every sort of instruments. Jesus looking at these great torches, now extinguished, was moved thereby to say : — " I am the Light of the world, he who follows Me does not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." 2 Here again came a new swarm of Pharisees, who mingled with the other auditors of all ranks, and at once found fault with this statement, declaring that it was worthless regarded as evidence, inasmuch as Jesus rendered it to Himself. The Lord replied that light does not have to prove its existence, it needs only to shine; 3 nevertheless, if, with the Law, they demanded the testimony of two wit- nesses, 4 in addition to His own self-evident testimony He might add that of the Father Who had sent Him into this world. 1 John viii. 20. 2 John viii. 12-20. 8 "Testimonium sibi perhibet lux . . . sibi ipsi testis est ut cognosce tur lux" (S. Augustinus, in Joan. viii.). 4 Deut. xvii. 16. 60 THIRD YE. Ml OF THE MINISTRY OF JESUS. The Pharisees greeted these words with loud mockery, bidding Him produce this "Witness whereof He spoke. It was of no avail for Jesus to urge that, if they would but open their eyes, they would see in Him the Father ; this allusion to His Divinity only the more enraged the mutter- ing lawyers and Scribes, in so far that many proposed to take violent measures against Him on the spot ; but this time too, " no one stopped Him because His hour was not yet come." Without showing any signs of fear Jesus continued speaking; 1 going on to tell them, as He had done more than once heretofore, of His early death and the miseries which it would bring down upon the Jews. " I go away," He said, " and you shall seek Me and you shall die in your sins. Whither I go, you cannot come." " Is he about to kill himself, then ?" exclaimed the princes of Jewry ; " because he says : ' You cannot come whither The popular belief held^ that the man guilty of suicide sunk himself to the nethermost regions of Hell. 2 Was the Christ about to descend to those dark abysses, so that no one might be able to follow Him ? Jesus made these scof- fers realize that Hell was destined for them rather than for Him. " You are from below," He said to them, " and I am from on High ; you are of the world, I am not of the world. I have told you that you shall die in your sins ; ay, if you do not believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins." " Who are you ? " was the Jews' reply. " That which I have told you from the beginning," 3 Jesus answered, 4 and He reiterated what He had declared 1 John viii. 21. 2 Tovrw fj.h atoijs 5{x iTal T ° ts ^I'X&s ffKoriurepos (Josephus, Bellum Judaicum, iii. 8. 5). 3 Tr)v dpxh v on nai \a\C> vfv.v. The words tt\v dfixv" have given rise to some different interpretations of the text. The Vulgate and many Latin Fathers translated them by " principium " : "I am essentially that of which I have told you." Others read: "Ever since the beginning, orig- inallv." This last meaning seems to us the most natural of any. * John viii. 25-30. THE ADULTERESS. 61 so many times, that all things pertaining to Him, His teaching, His knowledge of men, His right to judge them, came, not from Himself, but from the Father Who had sent Him. These words merely puzzled without enlightening His antagonists, for they did not conceive that He had God for His Father ; and so the Lord added that only His death could dissipate their blindness. Then He spoke of His Union with God, of His Obedience, of the Cross whereon He was to be lifted up, while even there His Father would not abandon Him in utter loneliness ; 1 and so forceful were His words that many, even some of the most headstrong, felt their hearts drawn toward Him. But it was, after all, only a faint flash of faith, so weak and flickering that the lightest breath would extinguish it. It was put to the test immediately. Addressing these hearts now touched so unexpectedly, Jesus said to them: 2 " If you faithfully observe My words you shall be truly My disciples and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." His last words re-awakened their prejudices. " We are children of Abraham," they responded, " and we have never been in slavery; why then do you say, ' You shall be freed ? » " The Master showed them that as long as they were sin- ners they were the slaves of sin, and could only expect the lowest position in their Father's Home ; it was for Him, the Son and Heir of the Household, to deliver them from this bondage, that they might become really free. " Abraham is our father," the Jews objected. " If you are the children of Abraham," replied Jesus, " do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, Who have told you the truth which I have learned of God. Abraham did not thus." They only gathered from this that Jesus was speaking of 1 Oik &