■.s- 
 
 **%. 
 
 
 
 
 0^ - « - <*- 
 
 4 o 
 
 4 o 
 
0-A 
 
 
 ,»♦...•-• 
 
 a" .*. 
 
 
 ve"«v 
 
 ***"* • WWW * V> ^ 
 
 fc. 
 
 
 * ^ 
 
7 
 
 LIFE-SCENES 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 POTJE GOSPELS, 
 
 V • 
 
 REV. GEO. JONES, A.M., 
 
 CHAPLAIN U. S. NAVY. 
 
 JNO. P. PRALL, No. 9 SPRUCE STREET. 
 j 1865. 
 
 ft l A^t+sfrr 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S65, by 
 
 GEORGE JONES, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District ot 
 New York. 
 
 ID fro 
 
 \ 
 
 Jsa P. Peall, 
 
 Printer, 9 Sprnce-St., N. Y. 
 
 ^\^* .^ 
 
 > N 
 
Letter introducing the Author ; hj the late Prof. 
 B. Silliman, Sen., of Yale College. 
 
 January 29th, 1864. 
 To 
 
 My Dear Sir, — Permit me to name to you and 
 to ask your kind influence in favor of my excellent 
 friend, Rev. George Jones, a gentleman whose 
 talents, literary acquirements, and catholic Christian 
 zeal in doing good, entitle him to the confidence and 
 esteem which he enjoys among a wide circle of 
 friends. 
 
 He has added a new tribute to the literature of 
 the Scriptures in an original- effort to make vivid and 
 life-like the scenes of the Saviour's life. 
 
 Mr. Jones, as a chaplain in the Navy, has exert- 
 ed a very happy influence upon the character of our 
 seamen. He is well known among the literary and 
 scientific circles of our country, and as a highly intel- 
 ligent traveller in all quarters of the globe." 
 
 Yours very respectfully and truly, 
 
 B. SILLIMAN. 
 

 -.--.:,. 
 
 The hv 
 
 WASHlNGTi- 
 
 «* 
 
preXjImin-Ajry. 
 
 The object in writing this book has been to fill up 
 the scenes in the Gospels by means of the various 
 knowledge now within our reach ; and to make them 
 more real and life-like to the mind than they frequently 
 appear in our unappreciative mode of reading. T hose 
 ancient times, and the habits of the people, were all 
 so different from our own, that we need great help 
 in order fully to understand the Gospel narratives ; 
 but this help is often beyond the reach of individuals ; 
 or, when afforded, is in the form of commentaries or 
 critical works, and so disjointed as to have little 
 attractiveness, and to make little permanent impres- 
 sion on the reader. 
 
 We need something more ; something that will 
 gather from the most reliable books on archaeology, 
 criticism, topography, history, &c , the knowledge 
 bearing on the incidents in the Gospels, and which 
 will mingle all this with its scenes, in a manner to 
 give them not only fullness, but, as far as possible, 
 freshness to our minds. That has been attempted in 
 this work ; and the nature of the subjects will attach 
 a value to the effort, although it may fall short of 
 fully accomplishing the purpose. 
 
 After the book had been written, the author felt 
 
VI PRELIMINARY. 
 
 greatly encouraged by meeting the following passages 
 from other writers, showing how much such an effort 
 is needed. 
 
 From a Critique on Renarts " Life of Jesus," by a Professor 
 in Theology. 
 " This life of Jesus, so fascinating to the lovers of romance, 
 may also lead Christian thinkers to depict the living Christ more 
 vividly in all his human endowments, relations, and sympathies. 
 We are, perhaps, too apt to dwell upon him as the centre of 
 doctrines ; to substitute the abstract dogma for the living per- 
 son. The success of Eenan's book is, doubtless, in part, to be 
 attributed to the graphic beauty with which he depicts the 
 scenes in the midst of which the youth of our Lord was spent ; 
 to the air of living interest he throws around the personal nar- 
 ratives and the records of events ; to his use of a prolific and 
 cultivated imagination in making resurrection of the past, so 
 that it often seems like a present reality. How much more per- 
 fectly, without inconsistencies and contradictions, might thi3 be 
 done by the reverent Christian scholar, imbibing the full spirit 
 of the evangelists, and using all the resources of thought and 
 scholarship to illustrate the wondrous story of Jesus of Naza- 
 reth ! Let this but be written in a book, as it is inscribed on 
 every loving and believing heart ; let the radiant Person of our 
 Lord appear in visible majesty and grace, and such poor fictions 
 as that of Renan will quickly vanish, as do the phantoms of a 
 rayless night before the brightness of a rising sun." 
 
 From the N. Y. " Christian Advocate and Journal " {Metho- 
 dist) of June 1st, 1865. 
 " We have never met with a book in which the life of Christ 
 has been adequately delineated from the modern point of view. 
 .... The materials for illustration are abundantly at hand, and 
 we trust one day to see them graphically and vividly employed 
 for that purpose. The book, if properly executed, would vie in 
 interest with any romance ; for the tragedy culminating at Cal- 
 vary is without a parallel in all the elements of pathos and sub- 
 lime incident." 
 
PRELIMINARY. VII 
 
 From Canon Stanley's book on Sinai and Palestine. 
 
 " So to delineate the outward events of the Old and New Testa- 
 ment, as that they should come home with a new power to those 
 who, by long familiarity, have almost ceased to regard them as 
 historical truth at all— so to bring out their inward spirit that a 
 more complete realization of their outward form should not 
 degrade but exalt the faith of which they are the vehicle — this 
 would indeed be an object worthy of all labor which travellers 
 and theologians have ever bestowed on the East." 
 
 To meet such a requirement from the public is how- 
 ever a task of many difficulties : for while an author 
 like Renan may add to his graphic scenes by allowing 
 free, rein to a discursive fancy, the Christian writer 
 puts off his shoes, for the place on which he is standing 
 is holy ground. He must still be reverent, in every 
 effort to be graphic. But, on the other hand, he has 
 an advantage in the elevation of feeling produced by 
 the Divine Presence, in which he knows himself to be. 
 And very pleasant it is to him, while following Christ 
 in his lowest humiliations, in his mingling with publi- 
 cans and sinners, and in the teachings adapted to the 
 most abject in life, to watch the Divinity still shining 
 out, and only made grander by the contrast with its 
 surroundings. That grandeur of the God revealed 
 would sometimes indeed be oppressive and overwhelm- 
 ing, if it were not in Christ: for in him it was so 
 wondrously mingled with what is gentle and loving, 
 that it never made him the less winning or less ap- 
 proachable. 
 
 Indeed the difficulty in following Jesus, in such re- 
 cords, is to feel that he is of the earth (though tempo- 
 rarily ;) so constantly is he raising us towards heaven ; 
 and to recognize in him the human nature in all its 
 
VIII PRELIMINARY. 
 
 reality, to such a degree does the Divinity appear 
 in him and engross our minds. 
 
 Therefore, in the course of time, people have come, 
 in their feelings, to attach to him and his trials some- 
 thing of the mythical ; and they read his life, perhaps, 
 without aiming to enter into the fulness of its actuali- 
 ties. The writer of this book has endeavored to give 
 to his humiliations the force and vividness of the real, 
 while, at the same time, recognizing the grandeur of 
 the Divine. 
 
 His aids, in preparing this work, have been the 
 following : 
 
 1. He has been in Palestine ; — his visit, a short 
 one, but sufficient to assist his judgment respecting 
 descriptions of those countries by others. 
 
 2. He has consulted a great variety of books ; 
 chiefly : — 
 
 On Criticism : Rev. S. T. Bloomfield, " The Greek 
 Testament, with English Notes, critical, philological, 
 and exegetical f 2 vols. : H. S. Alford, " The Greek 
 Testament, with a critically revised text, and a critical 
 commentary/' an excellent work ; F. A. Tholuck, F, 
 A. D., " Commentary on the Gospel of St. John ; 
 Olshaitscn, Dr. Adam Clarke, &c, &c. 
 
 On Archaeological facts : Rev* Dr. Lightfoot, The 
 whole works (9 vols.) edited by John Roger Pitman ; 
 John's Archaeology ; Josephus, &c. 
 
 On Topography : Biblical Researches by E. A. Rob- 
 inson and E. Smith, 3 vols. ; Rev. Geo. Williams, 
 " The Holy City ;" Van de Velde, " Narrative of a 
 Journey through Syria and Palestine ;" Thompson's 
 "Land and the Book ;" E. D. Clarke's "Travels in 
 
PRELIMINARY. IX 
 
 various countries of Europe, Asia and Africa;" Olin, 
 Durbin, Stanley, Pococke, Sandys, &c, &c. 
 
 Also various other authors not easily classified , whose 
 names will be found in the notes, as they are quoted . 
 
 3. The writer has also, in filling up these scenes, 
 brought into use those moral and physical laws of our 
 being, by which, certain circumstances being given, we 
 may know that certain results in feeling or action will 
 follow : but, in doing this, he has tried always to keep 
 strictly to what might be known to be the actualities 
 in the case, and never to allow fancy to make any ex- 
 aggerations or distortions of the truth. He hopes he 
 has succeeded in this, for no vividness of presentation 
 can make amends for the want of truthfulness. 
 
 As respects the order of events, he has followed 
 Robinson in his " Harmony of the Gospels." This 
 order is nearly the same as in St. Mark's Gospel, as 
 far as events are described by that writer, who, with 
 St. John, was the most methodical of the Evangelists. 
 
 No efforts, unless by the direct influences of the 
 Spirit, can ever bring back to our minds the freshness 
 of the Gospel histories, which was lost when we were 
 too young to understand fully their contents ; yet it 
 is hoped that this book, by its delineations, " from the 
 modern point of view," may help to give a newness 
 to some of the scenes. 
 
 The reader has, perhaps, wondered, sometimes, 
 what would be his sensations if the Scripture-truths 
 were, now, first presented to him. The author of 
 this book once witnessed a circumstance of that kind ; 
 — a man of mature intellect, and apparently of open 
 and candid mind, listening, for the first time in his 
 life, to the Gospel of Christ. It was in the mission- 
 
X. PRELIMINARY. 
 
 ary church in the centre of Shanghae, in China ; and 
 the scene was a singularly interesting one. The mis- 
 sionary was preaching in the native language ; and 
 this man, apparently about forty-five years of age, 
 and with an open and intelligent countenance, was, 
 presently, not able to keep his seat. He arose, and 
 stood through the rest of the discourse, seemingly 
 unconscious of everything but what he was listening 
 to ; his hands grasping the back of the seat before 
 him ; his features lighted up and showing deep atten- 
 tion ; and his eyes never once removed from the 
 speaker's face ; a slight nod of the head frequently 
 giving assent to what was said. After the services 
 were over, he followed the missionary to his room ; 
 mentioned that he came to the city on business from 
 a distant town in the interior ; that a friend belong- 
 ing to the same place had once heard the missionaries, 
 and had told him of them ; and that he had come, on 
 this occasion, to hear for himself. 
 
 That sight showed, in some slight degree, what 
 may have been the scenes in Palestine when the 
 crowds were following the Messiah, and listening to 
 his preaching. It has been with the author con- 
 stantly, while writing this book ; — that intent face, 
 that rapt attention, those glistening eyes, that sur- 
 prised and pleased look, and those nods of assent. 
 
 References for authority are carefully given through- 
 out this work, so that the reader may judge for him- 
 self of the truthfulness of the scenes here sketched. 
 
 GEO. JONES. 
 
 Brooklyn, New York. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 1. 
 
 At the Jordan. — John baptizing. The river described. 
 Peculiar significance in this baptism of Jews. Expecta- 
 tion among other nations as welt as in Judea,that a great 
 Conqueror was, at that time, to appear. Circumstances 
 to give it peculiar interest now. Acts of Pilate, 17-22 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 At the Jordan. — People flocking to the baptisms. The 
 Jewish hopes of universal conquest not to be considered 
 as extravagant. John's appearance. His annunciations 
 draw closer attention to the prophecies. The result. 
 Christ at the Jordan. Suggestions concerning his per- 
 sonal appearance, . , . . 22-34 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Wilderness of Judea. — Description of it. The Mes- 
 siah led there to be tempted. The intermingling of the 
 supernatural with natural. Our proper position regarding 
 such things, ' 34-39 
 
 CHAPTER IY. 
 
 At the Jordan. — The deputation to John from the Sanhe- 
 drim. The Pharisees and Sadducees described. John 
 is questioned, and his replies, . . . 39-50 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 Condition of Palestine. — That country central, and yet 
 singularly isolated. History. Judea finally becomes a 
 Roman province, , . . . .50-62 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 Jewish Manners and Customs, — Great religions changes 
 wrought by the captivity. Dress. Manners. Education, 62-73 
 
XII CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Festivals.-- Not so burdensome as they appear to us. How 
 they journeyed to them. Overclouding of the Jewish 
 mind. 1 he oral law and its power, . . 73—96 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Jost, a Modern Jewish Historian. — His views of that pe- 
 riod : of the Baptist : of Christ, . . , 96-106 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Galilee, Cana.— Agricultural weal'th and populousness of 
 Galilee. The wedding at Cana, . . . 106-113 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 TJie Temple. — The first, second, and third temples. The 
 last described : recent explorations beneath, . 113-126 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Tlie Temple Cleansed. Nicodemus. — Abuses at the tem- 
 ple and" the scenes they occasioned. Christ corrects the 
 evil. Night-visit from Nicodemus. John imprisoned, 126-137 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 In Samaria and Galilee. — Jesu3 passes through Samaria. 
 Claims the Messiahship. Goes thence to Cana. Cures 
 a nobleman's son, .... 137-141 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 At Nazareth — Plain of Esdraelon described. Situation of 
 Nazareth. Christ preaches there in the synagogue. 
 Claims the Messiahship. The result, . . 141-148 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The Lake of Galilee. Capernaum. — The lake described. 
 Plain of Gennesaret. Capernaum, . . 148-153 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 At Capernaum and through Galilee. — Evening scene at 
 Capernaum. The Messiah goe3 through Galilee preach- 
 ing and healing. Leper healed. Returns to Capernaum 
 and heals a paralytic, .... 153-168 
 
CONTENTS. XIII 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 At Jerusalem ; also at Capernaum. — Christ goes to the 
 Passover. Heals a man at the pool of Bethesda. League 
 between Pharisees and Herodians to put the Messiah to 
 death. He returns to Capernaum. Heals many there, 168-176 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Sermon on the Mount. — Also the teachings of their Rab- 
 bis. He heals the servant of a centurion, . 176-187 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Nain. — Castle of Macherus — Only son of a widow restored 
 to life at Nam. The Baptist sends messengers to Christ. 
 Herod's feast. John is behe-aded, • . . 187-196 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 The Two Dinners.— Christ makes another journey through 
 Galilee. Dines with a Pharisee, and the scene there. 
 He crosses the lake. Storm ; the sea calmed by his 
 word. Dinner with Levi. Healings. Another circuit 
 through Galilee. Again comes to Nazareth, 196-205 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 " Let us make him a King."— He crosses the lake. 5000 
 fed miraculously. They would make him a king. Night 
 on the lake. The faith of Peter fails. Many healings. 
 Four thousand miraculously fed, . . 205-213 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 The Transfiguration. — He goes to Caesarea Philippi. The 
 Transfiguration there, . . . 214-219 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Dispute among the Apostles on the way back to Galilee. — 
 His mode of instructing them. He goes through Sama- 
 ria. Ten lepers healed, . . . 220-225 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Jerusalem-. — Feast of Tabernacles. — This feast described. 
 Dancing in the temple court as part of it, . 226-233 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 The Messiah at the Feast of Tabernacles. — Teaches there. 
 Officers sent by the rulers to watch him ; the result, 234-246 
 
XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Bethany and the road to Jericho.— Situation of Bethany. 
 The road described. Parable of the Good Samaritan, 
 
 246-250 
 CHAPTER XXYI. 
 Jerusalem. — Tlie Man born blind. — Different kinds of ex- 
 communication. The blind man healed. Consequen- 
 ces, ...... 250-258 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 The Feast of Dedication. — Why instituted. Christ preach- 
 ing at the temple. Attempt at violence upon him. He 
 goes to Perea, .... 258-263 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 Raising of Lazarus. — Message to Christ from Bethany. 
 Death of Lazarus. Scenes then and afterwards at Beth- 
 any. Lazarus raised, .... 263-273 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 In Ephraim and Perea. — Many teachings and parables in 
 these places. Healing also. Receives and blesses little 
 children, ..... 273-280 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 Jericho. — The richness and beauty of its plain, . - 281-289 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 The Messiah at Jericho. — Blind men healed. — Zaccheus. 
 Startling rumor that the kingdom of heaven was imme- 
 diately to appear. Bartimeus, . . . 290-299 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 Jerusalem described. — Its picturesque appearance as seen 
 from the Mount of 01ive3. Recent explorations under 
 the city, ..... 300-309 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 TJie triumphal entry. — The road across the Mount of 
 01ive3. Christ goes from Bethany to Jerusalem. Mul- 
 titudes meeting and attending him. Their hozannas. 
 He weeps over the city. Goe3 to the temple. Healings 
 there. Shouts of hosanna. Indignation of the priests 
 and Scribes, 309-381 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 CHAP PER XXXIY. 
 
 At the temple. — Woes denounced — Christ again cleanses 
 the temple. The Pharisees wish to put Lazarus also to 
 death. They unite again with the Herodians. Woes 
 denounced against them and the Scribes. He predicts 
 his sufferings. Heroism of Christianity, . 318-329 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 The Plot. — They are determined to take the Messiah by 
 subtilty and put him to death. Difficulties in the way. 
 Their law for trials. Their plot. List of the high 
 priests, ..... 330-339 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 Supper at Bethany. — Judas. — Christ's head and feet an- 
 ointed at the supper. Indignation of Judas. His pro- 
 bable course of reasoning. Bargains to betray Christ, 
 
 339-344 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 The Passover Feast. — Its origin. The posture at table. 
 Christ and the Apostles at this supper. He washes their 
 feet. Judas unmasked. Usual order of the supper. 
 The Christian Eucharist instituted, . . 345-358 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 Gethsemane. — The Messiah and eleven disciples retire to 
 this place. His prayers there. The sweat of blood. Is 
 seized and bound, . . • 358-365 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 Hall of Caiaphas. — The Messiah taken to house of Annas, 
 and why. Thence to the palace of Caiaphas. The hall 
 and court in large eastern houses. The trial there. The 
 adjuration by the high priest. The result. Christ's 
 claims to the Godhead throughout his preachings. 
 Peter denies his Lord. His remorse, . 365-377 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 The Trial before Pilate -This to be the Chagigah, or 
 great day of rejoicing by the Jews. The ceremony of 
 cutting the first fruits. The regular Sanhedrim council. 
 The Messiah before them. Formally condemned. Tak- 
 en before Pilate. The governor's character by Philo. 
 
XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 The trial there. Christ is sent, next, before Herod An- 
 tipas. Scene there. Is returned to Pilate. His cruci- 
 fixion demanded. How that punishment was regarded 
 by the Romans. Pilate yields to the demand, and gives 
 sentence. Judas and the Sanhedrim, . . 377-394 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 The Crucifixion — The usual scourging preparatory ; how 
 severe. The Messiah is taken to the place of crucifixion. 
 Nailing to the cross. The agonies attending such a 
 death. Darkness over the land. I he final a?ony and 
 cry. Earthquake. The centurion's exclamation. The 
 side pierced. " Behold the Lamb of God which taketh 
 away the sin of the world," . . . 395-409 
 
 CHAPTER XLIL 
 
 The Burial, — Joseph of Arimathea and Xicodemus place 
 the body in a new sepulchre. The women follow it, and 
 sit by the tomb. The Jewish rulers procure a guard, and 
 seal the tomb. How this night closed over Jerusa- 
 lem, . . . : . 410-419 
 
 CHAPTER XI2II. 
 
 The Resurrection — Moon near the full. The guards at 
 the tomb. An angel appears. The resurrection. The 
 guards bribed, and a false report sent abroad. The Sanhe- 
 drim never dared to make issue with the apostle3 on this 
 subject, ..... 420-426 
 
 CHAPTER XLIY. 
 
 After the Resurrection. The Ascension. — The Saviour is 
 seen repeatedly through 40 day3 after his resurrection. 
 Galilee chosen for the Great Commi3s'on and the great 
 promise. The final manifestation of himself at the Mount 
 of Olives. His ascension, . . . 427-444 
 
 CHAPTER XLY. 
 
 " What think ye of Christ ?"— The miracle of the presen- 
 tation of such a character to U3 is subject to our own 
 apprehension. Could not have been an ideal only, for 
 no one could have conceived it. The chain of proof 
 that the Gospels were written a3 they profess to have 
 been. The proof, first from enemies : then from Christian 
 writers, of the3e early periods. The conclusion, . 444-455 
 
LIFE-SCENES 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 POUE aOSDPELS. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 AT THE JORDAN. 
 
 There was a very strange scene at the banks of the 
 Jordan. The time of which we are writing was about 
 eighteen hundred and thirty-five years ago ; and the 
 scene referred to was a large gathering of excited peo- 
 ple around a man of singular appearance, who was 
 making a wonderful announcement, and was engaging 
 in a baptismal rite of very startling significance. He 
 was a gaunt ascetic ; in his dress and manner, and in 
 his authoritative language, reminding all who saw and 
 heard him of the old prophets ; and, indeed, in his 
 appearance so resembling Elijah, that the query was im- 
 mediately started in every man's mind, whether he was 
 not actually that prophet risen from the dead ? The 
 idea of such a resurrection of Elijah was familiar to 
 the minds of the Jews ; for the belief had long been 
 universal among them, that, restored to life, he would 
 be the precursor of the Messiah himself. This man 
 was proclaiming, " Repent ye, for the kingdom of 
 heaven is at hand. 11 It was believed by the Jews, that, 
 
18 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 at the appearing of the Messiah, they were to be ini- 
 tiated by baptism into the new dispensation of his 
 kingdom f and here now they were called to come 
 and to be baptized ; and numbers, after confessing 
 their sins, were led down into the Jordan for that 
 rite. 
 
 The scenery all around was in character with the 
 strange performer in this ceremony ; — a desert place, 
 represented by a modern traveller to that region as a 
 dreary waste, " weird, and singularly wild and impres- 
 sive." The Jordan is a very peculiar stream. After issu- 
 ing from the Lake of Tiberias, which is itself 652 feet 
 below the surface of the Mediterranean, its course is 
 southwardly, in a valley called by the present natives 
 El Ghor, or " the depression," six or seven miles wide, 
 and sunk from 1000 to 1200 feet below the adjacent 
 country. Running lengthwise in the Ghor is a second 
 valley, depressed below it to a depth of fifty feet, and 
 with a width of 400 yards ; and then, sunk' again in 
 this, and winding about in a most tortuous manner, 
 is the channel of the river. The stream has an aver- 
 age width of fifty-six yards, with commonly a depth 
 of from three to five feet.* The current is usually 
 rapid, for the distance between the Lake of Tiberias 
 and the Dead Sea is, in a straight line, sixty miles, and 
 the descent between them is 660 feet. Sometimes the 
 stream presents cataracts, at others it expands and has 
 a gentle flow. Where it is rapid, the bottom consists 
 of rock or sand. The channel is fringed at its imme- 
 diate sides with rushes or cane, and with willows and 
 similar trees, which, in the utter barrenness around, 
 are a pleasant relief to the eye. Such is the stream so 
 
 il Bloomfield on Matt, i 11. 1. 
 
The Jordan. 19 
 
 often referred to in our hymnology, and so dear, by its 
 associations, to every Christian heart. Its channel be- 
 ing so far below the level of the Ghor that its water 
 never overflows into the latter ; this wide valley, having 
 also no springs, is a scene of desolation, and appears to 
 have been so in the earliest times.* The soil at the 
 spot we have now under consideration is described by 
 modern travellers as " unfertile, and in many places en- 
 crusted with salt, and having. small heaps of white 
 powder, like sulphur, scattered at short intervals over 
 its surface."!' The hills bounding the Ghor are gener- 
 ally abrupt and broken, and are always naked and 
 painful to the eye. On the east they are soon suc- 
 ceeded by ranges 2000 or 2500 feet in height ; and, 
 back of these, is finally the very lofty range of Mount 
 Nebo, its summit forming a horizontal line smooth and 
 unbroken, as if an immense wall had there been built 
 up against the sky. 
 
 This will give us an idea of the wildness and deso- 
 lateness of the spot called in the Scriptures " the Wil- 
 derness of Judea," where this strange man was now 
 proclaiming his startling doctrines, and was adminis- 
 tering baptism in the Jordan. His cry that the king- 
 dom of heaven was at hand, quickly repeated through- 
 out Judea, and all over the regions bordering on the 
 river valley, sent a thrill through every Jewish heart, 
 and met there a ready response ; for there had been an 
 expectancy of thh kind universally indulged by the 
 Jews (a temporal kingdom however), and, indeed, not 
 
 ° See Josephus Le bello, iii, 10, § 7. 
 
 f Robinson'^ Bib. Researches. This description of the Ghor and 
 Jordan is drawn from Robinson, Van de Velde, and the Dead Sea 
 expedition. 
 
20 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 confined to them alone. Percrebuerat, says Suetonius, 
 Oriente toto, yetus et constans opinio esse in 
 fatis, ut eo tempore judea profecti rerum poti- 
 Rentur : There had been greatly multiplied through 
 all the East an old and uninterupted opinion, originat- 
 ing in the decree of the Fates, that, at this time, persons 
 coming from Judea should obtain universal dominion* 
 Tacitus informs us that the multitude [in Judea] relied 
 upon an ancient prophecy, contained, as they believed, 
 in books kept by the priests, in which it was foretold 
 that, at this lime, the power of the East would prevail 
 over the nations, and a race of men should go forth from 
 Judea to extend their dominion over all the rest of the 
 world:\ Josephus says : But now what did most elevate 
 them [the Jeivs] in this war wis an ambiguous oracle 
 that was also found in their sacred writings, hoic, about 
 that time, one from their country should become gover- 
 nor of the habitable world.% 
 
 These expectations, it is evident, had reference only 
 to an earthly sovereignty ; but as such they met even 
 a heartier response among the Jews than any of a 
 sublimer character could have done ; for the nation was 
 just beginning to feel the full terrors of the Roman 
 power, which had enclosed them in its iron embrace, 
 and from which they knew that there was no escape by 
 human aid. Their independence may be said to have 
 been fully bartered away for Roman favor by Herod 
 the Great. Archelaus, the successor to part of his 
 kingdom, was deposed by Augustus Caesar, and ban- 
 ished to Gaul ; and Roman governors were appointed 
 to Judea, the sceptre having clearly, to every pcrcep- 
 
 * In Vt-Bpas. f Hist. lib. v, 12. % De Bello, vi, 5, §4. 
 
At the Jordan. 21 
 
 ■ 
 tioiij departed, and their country, now but a Roman 
 province, from which successive rulers tried who could 
 exact the most. Roman soldiers were scattered, in 
 garrison, in various parts ; tax-gatherers (publicans) 
 were to be seen everywhere, and were constantly, to the 
 eyes of the oppressed inhabitants, reminders of their 
 subjection to foreign power, and were hated, not only 
 for this, but for their unjust exactions ; and most alarm- 
 ing of all, an. act of their present governor, Pontius Pi- 
 late, had shown them how insecure were their religious 
 observances, and how open they were to the violation of 
 the most cherished feelings of their nation. Their law 
 forbade their paying any homage to images ; and the 
 former governors, when ordering the Roman soldiers 
 to Jerusalem, had directed them to come without the 
 standards surmounted by the emperor's effigies, to 
 which, when seen, honors were always required to be 
 paid. Pilate, aware of this hostility to images, had re- 
 cently directed his soldiers to be introduced into the 
 city by night ;* and morning disclosed the hated effi- 
 gies in Jerusalem, and in the castle of Antonia attached 
 to the N. "W. corner of the temple itself. A horror 
 seized upon all the people, and a deputation hastened 
 with remonstrances to the governor, at Caesar ea. He 
 treated their act as an insult to the emperor, and had 
 the deputies surrounded by his soldiers ; but the effort 
 to overawe them was futile ; they fell to the ground 
 and offered their necks to the sword, rather than yield ; 
 and, finally, the .obnoxious emblems were withdrawn. 
 Afterwards, when the governor, seizing on some of the 
 revenues of the temple, employed them in bringing wa- 
 ter to the city, the inhabitants shocked at such use of 
 
 • Jos. Antiq. xviii, 3, § 1^ 
 
22 LlFE-SCEXES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 i 
 
 the sacred treasures, rose in tumult ; a collision with 
 the soldiers was the consequence, and great havoc 
 among the unarmed multitudes ensued. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 AT THE JORDAN. 
 
 It is not wonderful, therefore, that just at this time 
 the national heart was ready to be acted upon by such 
 a scene as that at the Jordan, where the prophet-like 
 man stood calling people to the cleansing of their 
 hearts as a preparation for the new, significant rite con- 
 nected with the coming of their expected great Deliv- 
 erer ; and that multitudes flocked to him from regions 
 far and near. He had selected a spot called Bethabara, 
 or the house of the ford* seemingly a thoroughfare, while 
 also a place remote from such complications as might 
 arise from crowded neighborhoods : and there, where 
 all nature in its sternness harmonized with him, and 
 with the severe simplicity of his call and his act, he was 
 soon surrounded by crowds " from Jerusalem and all 
 
 © Van de Velde supposes Bethabara to have been at the present 
 ford ob the way from Nablous (Sychem) to Es Salt, about twenty 
 miles above the Pilgrims' bathing place near Jerieho. He bases 
 this opinion on the time (two days and a half) allowed in John ii, 
 1, in going from the baptismal scene to Cana, in Galilee. The 
 width of the Jordan at this spot is 56 yards ; the depth about four 
 feet. "" 
 
At the Jordan. 23 
 
 Judea and all the region round about Jordan.'' They 
 saw a man with only a garment of rough camel's hair, 
 such as was worn by the poorest, fastened by a leath- 
 ern girdle ; — locusts and wild honey for his food. Lo- 
 custs are still eaten in Syria, chiefly, however, by Be- 
 douin on the extreme frontiers of the desert, where, 
 after being semi-boiled and salted and dried, they are 
 packed up and kept for use. They may be seen in the. 
 Syrian shops for sale, but are always considered as an 
 inferior food, and are eaten only by persons of the 
 poorest class .* This man had been brought up in the 
 desert, and he still adhered to this abstemious food. 
 
 Baptism was not unknown to the Jews, for it is uni- 
 versally admitted to have been a rite in use among 
 them for .the admission of proselytes ;t and it was 
 practiced by the Persians and other oriental nations. 
 Josephus informs us of the Essenes, — a noted sect 
 in his nation, — that "when a proselyte hath given 
 evidence during that time of trial fa year] that he can 
 observe their continence, he approaches nearer to their 
 way of living, and is made a partaker of the waters of 
 purification. "J But the Essenes were a sect few in 
 number and living in retired places ; and these baptis- 
 mal scenes at the Jordan had evidently a significance 
 different from any thing which the nation had pre- 
 viously known. The prophet-like man gave them their 
 significance, corresponding to the general belief of the 
 dispensation to be inaugurated by the Messiah. 
 
 That desert was now solitary no more. Crowds were 
 
 * Thompson's Land and the Book. 
 
 f Eloomfield. 
 
 % Be Bello, ii, 8, § 7. 
 
24 Life-scenes prom the Four Gospels. 
 
 flocking to it, for the cry of the Baptist that the king- 
 doin of heaven was at hand, repeated over all the coun- 
 try, had startled the people out of the lethargy wrought 
 by oppressions, or by a belief that God had withdrawn 
 from them ; — for, during a period of 400 years, there 
 had been no prophet in Israel. 
 
 John the Baptist looked as if he might well be Eli- 
 jah himself; — so like him in this hairy dress, in his 
 manner, in his authoritative voice ; and yet he was 
 speaking of himself humbly, saying that one was com- 
 ing immeasurably greater than he. 
 
 What might the nation not expect ? What hopes 
 could be too extravagant to be indulged ? We must 
 not think them insane in their expectation of an univer- 
 sal dominion ; for they believed that it had been prom- 
 ised by Jehovah, and almost every spot in their land 
 bore testimony to God's powerful action in their behalf. 
 Just below this place, where John was baptizing, He 
 had divided the deep waters of the Jordan in its rapid 
 flow, and had kept them divided till his people had 
 passed over dry-shod ; there, Jericho had fallen simply 
 by his almighty will ; their history was full of his di- 
 rect interpositions for their advantage ; — what would 
 he not do for them now, if the Messiah himself, the 
 Prince were to appear ? 
 
 Those eastern people are excitable and demonstra- 
 tive, and, in their common moods, seem often to stran- 
 gers to be wildly emotional ; and we may imagine the 
 scene, as people hurried to the river and gazed on 
 John with an intensity of feeling that had never before 
 been raised in them by any man ; and listened to his 
 call to repentance and the reasons for it, and witnessed 
 his baptisms ; — saw the penitents descend with the 
 
At the Jordan. 25 
 
 sadness of grief in their face ; and saw them come up 
 from the river, comforted and cheerful. Such feelings 
 are contagious ; and every new-comer felt in himself 
 the need of penitence, and longings for relief that could 
 be bestowed only by a power not of earth. 
 
 The teachings of John were plain and simple. As 
 a proof of penitence and of changed feelings in those 
 applying to him, he inculcated benevolence and kind 
 acts : " He that hath two coats, let him impart to him 
 that hath none ; and he that hath meat let him do like- 
 wise." 
 
 The crowd around him was a mixed one ; — men 
 among them shunned by their neighbors, looked down 
 upon with dislike by almost every one in the nation, 
 and yet with human feelings, and with the same long- 
 ings as others to shake off the load of guilt and to be 
 comforted. Such were the publicans who presented 
 themselves before the Baptist. We can almost see 
 their hesitating manner, their subdued look, and their 
 timid approach. They were not repelled. No "harsh- 
 ness shown, — simply the injunction given, in order to 
 prove the truth of their penitence : " Exact no more 
 than is appointed you.' 7 
 
 Soldiers also came, with that old question of the hu- 
 man heart wanting relief, " What shall we do V The 
 Roman garrisons in Juclea were drawn partly from 
 Italy, but were chiefly composed of Syrians from the 
 north of Palestine, or of foreign wanderers who had 
 strayed into Judea ; and generally there was no good 
 will between them and the Jews. But there were ex- 
 ceptions, such as we see shortly after this in the case 
 of Cornelius *of the Italian band. The soldiers at the 
 Jordan pressed on towards the Baptist ; — for the pow- 
 
26 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 erful sympathies of the place had seized on them, and 
 had changed their bold, fierce nature into one of hum- 
 ble inquiry. The crowds gazed earnestly, as they ad- 
 vanced. How would these men, famed for rapacity 
 and violence, be received ? Some looked on them with 
 indignation at their presumption in intruding on such 
 scenes ; some with the cordiality begot by the new feel- 
 ings at the baptism ; all with deep interest as the Bap- 
 tist addressed them. His words had a latent reproof, 
 and yet were gentle. " Do violence to no man, neither 
 accuse any falsely, and be content with your wages." 
 The rite was open to all coming in penitence. 
 
 But there was suddenly a change in the character of 
 this scene. A sensation was created among the multi- 
 tudes by the approach of men of rank and power, who 
 came on in the consciousness of their position, — Phar- 
 isees with high pretensions to sanctity which they car- 
 ried ostentatiously in the large phylacteries on their 
 foreheads and arms, and in the width of the borders to 
 their garments drawing attention to their unusual ob- 
 servance of the Mosaic law (see Numbers xv, 37-41) ; 
 — also Sadducees proud of their wealth and assumed 
 superior intelligence. Both undisguised^ despised the 
 ranks inferior to them. The multitudes drew back as 
 this newly arrived party swept haughtily on ; and 
 presently they caught the eye of the Baptist. 
 
 What a change there was in him ! How his eyes 
 lighted up ; how indignant the expressions of his face ; 
 how changed was his voice from its former gentleness ! 
 And his words were stunning. " brood of vipers, who 
 hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come ? Bring 
 therefore fruits meet for repentance : and think not to 
 say unto yourselves. We have Abraham to our father : 
 
At the Jordan. 27 
 
 for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to 
 raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the 
 axe is laid unto the root of the trees ; therefore every 
 tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down 
 and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you with wa- 
 ter ; but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, 
 whose shoes I am not worthy to bear : he shall bap- 
 tize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire ; whose 
 fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his 
 floor, and gather his wheat into the garner : but he 
 will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." 
 
 The whole scene by the Jordan was becoming 
 more and more confonnding to people's apprehensions ; 
 for, not only had the bold ascetic stigmatized these 
 Jewish leaders in a manner that must excite their 
 wrath, but he had even seemed to cast disrespect on 
 all claims arising from Abrahamic descent. He had 
 ended also with words of terrific import respecting 
 approaching events, when all false pretensions would 
 be scattered to the winds> and those who held them 
 would be fearfully and eternally punished. Fear, 
 awe, and a new sense of shrinking respect for the 
 Baptist, crept through the hearts of the multitudes, 
 while yet they continued to be attracted by his gen- 
 eral mildness and forbearance, and his gentleness to 
 the truly penitent coming forward for the baptismal 
 rite. 
 
 The news of these scenes still continued to spread 
 over the country, and crowds were still hurrying 
 from all parts of it to that wild, dreary region, 
 already filled with excited, wondering throngs. 
 
 But who was this man, whose fame was now filling 
 the land ? People were asking the question every- 
 
2S Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 where, and the results of inquiry disclosed some very 
 interesting facts. 
 
 His birth had been in the old age of his parents, 
 and had been heralded by an angel. His father, a 
 priest, while administering at the altar of incense in 
 the temple, had seen the heavenly visitant, who an- 
 nounced the approaching birth of the child, and said 
 that he should be great in the sight of the Lord, and 
 should be filled with the Holy Ghost. " And," con- 
 tinued the angel, "many of the t children of Israel 
 shall be turned to the Lord their God. And he shall 
 go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to 
 turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the 
 disobedient to the wisdom of the just ; to make ready 
 a people prepared for the Lord." The father was 
 struck dumb at the time on account of his unbelief, 
 but recovered speech when the child, eight days after 
 its birth, was brought to the temple, where, contrary 
 to the expectations of relatives, he named his son 
 John, according to the direction of the angel. These 
 incidents were widely known at the time u through- 
 out all the hill country of Judea, and produced dread 
 as well as astonishment wherever known.* He was, 
 according to the direction of the angel, to " drink 
 neither wine nor strong drink f and his training 
 is believed to have been in that most desolate 
 region called the " Wilderness of Judea/' where 
 probably he associated much with the Essenes, a sin- 
 gular people, living chiefly at the only verdant spot 
 in that desert — the fountain of En-Gedi, on the bor- 
 
 ° His birtu is supposed by Robinson and Reland to have been at 
 Juttah (Joshua xxi, 16). a town about five miles south of Hebron, 
 and twenty-five miles south of Jerusalem. 
 
At the Jordan. 29 
 
 a. 
 & j 
 
 strong in spirit," and was prepared for his present 
 work of teaching and baptizing. He was now about 
 thirty years old, the age at which the Jewish priests 
 entered upon the temple duties according to their 
 law. 
 
 Josephus says of him, that he " was a good man, 
 and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, both as 
 to righteousness towards one another, and piety to- 
 wards God, and so to come to baptism ; for that the 
 washing would be acceptable to him, if they made 
 use of it, not in order to the putting away of some 
 sins only, but for the purification of the body ; sup- 
 posing still that the soul was thoroughly purified be- 
 forehand by righteousness. f 
 
 His exhortations were various ;J but they all point- 
 ed clearly to the Messiah as now about to appear ; 
 he asked no honors for himself; they were all to be 
 given to one yet to come. In his recent address to 
 the Pharisees and Sadclucees, he spoke of himself as 
 immeasurably inferior to him whose appearance he 
 was heralding ; for to bear the shoes of a master in 
 that country was the task assigned to the meanest of 
 servants, and yet the Baptist declared himself not even 
 
 o Luke i, 80. 
 
 f Anliq., xviii, 5, § 2. Josephus gives John's popularity as the 
 cause for Herod's putting him to death, " since," as he says, " they 
 came in crowds about him, for they were greatly moved by hearing 
 his words ; xx., they seemed to do everything he should advise ;" 
 and the king " thought it best, by putting him to death, to prevent 
 any mischief he might cause, and not bring himself into difficulties 
 by sparing a man who might make him repent of it when it should 
 be too late." 
 
 $ Luke iii, 18. 
 
30 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 worthy of such an office as that. Therefore, while cu- 
 riosity with regard to John was stimulated among this 
 demonstrative people, to the highest degree, it took a 
 still more intense form as regarded the tenor of his 
 predictions. The excitement among all classes was 
 great. Their Rabbis searched the Scriptures, and es- 
 pecially the prophecies, with an interest suited to their 
 wonderful expectations of glory and power to come 
 with the Messiah, to their hatred of the Eoman gov- 
 ernment, and to their felt position among all the na- 
 tions of the earth : for the Jews were everywhere a 
 slighted and despised people j while, on the other 
 hand, " towards the rest of mankind," says Tacitus, 
 a they nourished a sullen and inveterate hatred of 
 strangers."* 
 
 The dying words of their great progenitor, Jacob, 
 had been, ever since his time, dwelling as a perpetual 
 hope in the national heart — u The sceptre shall not 
 depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his 
 feet until Shiloh come • and unto him shall the gath- 
 ering of the people be. ,; t 
 
 The sceptre had departed : was Shiloh now there, 
 as John declared? There was also a passage in 
 Daniel pointing with, peculiar significancy to the 
 present time ; and everywhere people were now 
 searching, with new interest, into his prophetic 
 words. " Seventy weeks," says the prophet, li are 
 determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, 
 to finish the transgression, and make an end of sins, 
 and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring 
 in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision 
 and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Know, 
 
 * Hist, v, 5. f Gen. xlix, 10. 
 
At the Jordan. 31 
 
 therefore, and understand that from the going forth 
 of the commandment to restore and to build up Jeru- 
 salem unto the Messiah, the Prince, shall be seven 
 weeks and three score and two weeks."* Allowing 
 years for days, the seventy weeks or four hundred 
 and ninety years from the edict of Artaxerxes for re- 
 building the city (B. C. 458) would bring the period 
 for the appearing of the "Messiah the Prince" ex- 
 actly to this time. 
 
 Thus all prophecy and all history were in harmony 
 with John's annunciations respecting the Messiah ; 
 even foreign nations were expecting the advent of 
 the Jewish Deliverer. How would he appear ? How 
 spread his conquests ? How flash over the earth the 
 glory of his reign ? — were questions that had long 
 been discussed in the Jewish schools ; all with results 
 tending to make the Jewish mind earthly and selfish. 
 The whole nation was in a state of intense expectancy. 
 
 The Messiah came. 
 
 But how different he was from what the excited 
 Jewish anticipations had pictured of his appearing ! 
 
 Their favorite prophet had declared of him 780 
 years before, "When we shall see him, there is no 
 beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and 
 rejected of men j a man of sorrows and acquainted 
 with grief ; and we hid as it were our faces from 
 him ; he was despised, and we esteemed him not."f 
 For the purposes of our redemption God saw fit that 
 it should be so ; but, notwithstanding that this proph- 
 ecy was familiar to the Jews, still what a chasm be- 
 tween this actual appearing and that which they ex- 
 pected the appearing of the Messiah would be ! 
 
 ° Dan. ix, 24, 25. -j- Isaiah liii, 2 and 3. 
 
32 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 One day, amid those crowds at the Jordan, a stran- 
 ger from Galilee presented himself for baptism ; but 
 John drew back — 
 
 "I have need," he said, "to be baptized of thee, 
 and comest thou to me ?" The answer was simply : 
 
 " Suffer it to be so now : for thus it becometh us 
 to fulfill all righteousness." 
 
 They descended to the stream, and Jesus received 
 baptism of John. 
 
 They appear not to have met before f for their 
 previous lives had been near the opposite extremes of 
 Palestine, — one in Galilee, the other in the desert re- 
 gion in the south of Palestine ; — but the Divine 
 Power, under which John was acting, had given him 
 admonition that the Messiah, whom he had. been 
 preaching, was before him ; and the stern, lofty-toned 
 man felt awed before this higher Presence : — the 
 Messiah was there ! 
 
 Of his personal appearance we have no authentic 
 record ;t but never yet did a great thought take 
 strong hold of any human being and not stamp itself, 
 for the time, upon his face, and manifest itself in 
 his eyes. Never yet was any grand emotion in 
 the human heart, without impressing itself upon the 
 features, and drawing there its unmistakable lines. 
 Never yet was any true, permanent greatness in man, 
 without having, for itself, a presence, felt and known 
 and recognized by all as such. God. has not made 
 all men great in form, or fair to look upon ; but he 
 does make grandeur of soul stamp itself upon the 
 face ; and he makes it heard in the intonations of the 
 
 o John i, 33. 
 
 f The description attributed to Lentulus is universally considered 
 spurious. 
 
At the Jordan. 33 
 
 voice, and felt in the manner ; a something often tin- 
 definable, and yet making clear demonstration of it- 
 self. Sometimes these things are fleeting ; and they 
 pass with the heavenlike nobility of soul ; the lines 
 of care and our lower nature taking their place : but 
 sometimes, even in man, benevolence, and gentleness, 
 and love, and nobility and power of thought, are so 
 habitual as to impress themselves permanently on his 
 looks ; and we are drawn towards him by an attrac- 
 tion which our hearts cannot, and we do not, wish to 
 resist. And, if this is so in man, earthy, dark in in- 
 tellect, uncertain in judgment, compelled so often to 
 grieve over sin, what must have been Christ the sinless, 
 through whose face the Divinity looked out upon the 
 universe which was his, and through whose eyes shone 
 that love unutterable which brought him to our earth, 
 here to die for us? What a Beins: there was, then, 
 before John and the multitudes, at Jordan! a face, 
 where Divine greatness, not fleeting but constant, had 
 drawn the lines and sat constantly enthroned ; where 
 gentleness, and meekness, and conscious omnipotence 
 were harmonized ; and where every glance of the eye, 
 every intonation of the voice, every lineament in the 
 features, while showing the Divine supremacy within, 
 were those also of one who had come in humility to 
 seek and to save them that are lost. Who can won- 
 der then that, when, even in the violence at Geth- 
 semane, Jesus turned and looked upon his persecu- 
 tors, they fell to the earth ? Who can wonder that, in 
 the same night, a single look upon Peter turned that rec- 
 reants heart into a fountain of tears ? Or that Pilate, 
 drawn by that majesty of Presence in Christ during the 
 trial, sought, with such determination, to let him go ? 
 2* 
 
34 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 As the Messiah and John ascended from the bap- 
 tism, a sign was given by which the latter, at the time 
 he received his own divine mission, had been informed* 
 that he should recognize Him whom he was to preach, 
 and might know that the " kingdom of heaven '' now 
 had come. He saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit 
 of God descend and light like a dove upon Christ, 
 while a voice came down from the supernal glory : 
 " This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. "t 
 
 The mission of the Messiah had thus its heavenly en- 
 dorsement, and here its beginning. It began in the 
 waters of the Jordan : it was to be sealed in blood. 
 It began with the opening glory of heaven poured 
 down : it was to end with the sun hidden at midday, 
 and a supernatural darkness, as of night, over the earth. 
 The heavens then opened once again to receive him 
 from mortal sight. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE DESERT. 
 
 Amoxg the mountains, which, near the lower end of 
 the Jordan, sweep in a semi-circular curve westwardly 
 from the river and form a space for the great plain of 
 Jericho, is one midway along called Quarantana, which 
 rises almost perpendicularly from the edge of the plain 
 
 c John i, 33. t Matt, xxxi, 1G, 17. 
 
The Desert. 35 
 
 to a height of twelve or fifteen hundred feet.* Of 
 Jericho scarcely any vestiges can be found : the last 
 solitary palm tree remaining from the forests of palms, 
 for which the place was once famous, has lately disap- 
 peared : the plain, except a spot occupied by a few 
 wretched dwellings, is desolate : the mountains border- 
 ing it have always been a scene of desolation, and the 
 whole region is given up to lawless bands : yet, through 
 the long hours of the night, a light may be seen far up 
 among the crags of Quarantana, showing that some pil- 
 grim is doing penance there in these wild solitudes. 
 The front of the mountains is indeed honey-combed 
 with hermits' cells ; for, in ancient times, the place was 
 a favorite one for anchorites, and the mountain takes 
 its name from a tradition that to it the Messiah, after 
 the baptism in the Jordan, was " led up by the Spirit," 
 and there spent the forty days of his temptations in the 
 wilderness. It is not probable that a spot looking 
 down over a wide scene of what was then busy life — 
 the great city and its surroundings — would have been 
 chosen for such an occasion : but back of it, that is, to 
 the westward and southward, is a region harmonizing 
 with all that we conceive of those forty days of fast- 
 ing and of the temptations. There, a great extent of 
 country about 60 miles from north to south, and 15 
 wide, bordered on the east by the Dead Sea and pre- 
 cincts of the Jordan, and reaching on the west to 
 within a few miles of Jerusalem itself, is one of singu- 
 lar barrenness and dreariness ; looking, says the trav- 
 eller Maundrell, " so torn and disordered, as if the earth 
 had suffered some great convulsion, in which the very 
 bowels had been turned outward." It is, indeed, a re- 
 
 * Robinson. 
 
36 LiFE-SCEXES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 gion of utter barrenness and of constant gloom. The 
 country is all broken into hills generally of steep as- 
 cent : and both hills and ravines are bare alike. The 
 surface is a gray mouldering rock, or a gray earth, on 
 which no vegetation will thrive ; and the whole, from 
 century to century, has laid quite bare to the baking 
 sun and the unfertilizing rains. Travellers through the 
 deserts of Arabia tell us that the prevailing impression 
 on their mind is of antiquity, and with regard to that 
 country, the exclamation is forced from them. " how 
 old it is !" but this region in Judea looks as if it had 
 never been young, but had been a blasted and an ac- 
 cursed place from the beginning. Ail avoid it who 
 can. In the days of our Saviour, robbers haunted its 
 thoroughfares : and, in our time, the few paths crossing 
 it are made by the feet of marauders ; and he who sees 
 a human being moving on its hills, however distant, 
 expects violence, and prepares for defence. • 1 
 chasms cross it here and there, at the sides of which 
 the rocks almost meet, hundreds of feet above, and shut 
 out the day ; and in their faces are the mouths of cav- 
 erns, such as gave refuge to David and his pursued 
 band.-* A recent traveller, speaking of the more south- 
 ern portion of this region, says the prospect before him 
 was '• indescribably stern and desolate :"' and speaks 
 of " the fantastic forms of the rocks on the foreground, 
 a medley of gray limestones, yellowish gravel, and 
 fragments of lava, here piled up in perpendicular cliffs, 
 there laid one above the other in flat strata, and yon- 
 der rent asunder in frightful chasms : between these, 
 a plain covered with a number of conical hills, white, 
 gray and yellow, all the produce of subterranean 
 
 I Samuel xxiv. 
 
The Desert. 37 
 
 fire : 7 '* — this at the close of March, when vegetation in 
 Juclea is in its highest perfection. Of the more north- 
 ern portions, equally desolate, we shall have a future 
 occasion to speak more in detail. 
 
 To this " Wilderness of Judea," as it was called, 
 the Messiah, after his baptism, was u led of the Spirit 
 to be tempted :" and there he remained forty days. 
 
 We are now at one of those events in Christ's 
 earthly ministry, where the supernatural is blended 
 so greatly with the natural that, with our limited ca- 
 pacities, we have to be content with ignorance, and to 
 gaze, though wonderingly yet silently, at the little 
 which has been revealed. How can we understand, 
 or expect to understand, where the spiritual and the 
 material come, thus mingled in joint action ; and where 
 the mysteries of the unseen world, which our intellects 
 in vain strive to penetrat?, and which they could not 
 comprehend if seen, are so imperfectly developed 
 that we catch but a glimpse here and there as they 
 flit before our minds ? We must remember that the 
 times we are now considering were those when the 
 most wonderful event of all ages was having its scene 
 of action on our earth ; when the Divinity took our 
 nature, and, in an union incomprehensible to us, was 
 in great humility among men. — Incomprehensible ; for 
 how can we understand that, when the union of our 
 own souls and bodies is a mystery beyond our com- 
 prehension, — an every-day mystery, and familiar, but 
 yet never once penetrated by human science ? How 
 can we understand, then, the Divine and human in 
 one, or hope, in the least degree, to understand? 
 We may gather from the Inspired Word that in those 
 
 * Van de Velde's " Journey through Syria and Palestine." 
 
38 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 days, when heaven came down to earth, and the two 
 were blended as never before, and never to be again, 
 ■ — that then a general agitation occurred, and spirits 
 gave demonstrations of presence and power, in de- 
 moniacs and the possessed, to which the world at 
 other times had been a stranger, and which have 
 never been repeated since. The Scriptures tell us 
 of a time yet to be, when the powers of heaven shall be 
 shaken; Christ coming to judge ; — a time far less 
 wonderful than this period, when he was on the earth, 
 God manifest, but in humility for man's redemption 
 to be effected in the cross. Who shall object in these 
 matters? Yv T ho dare gainsay concerning things be- 
 yond our comprehension, when we cannot understand 
 ourselves ? Men are indeed but children — the oldest 
 and wisest in the world, but children — when put in 
 comparison with the supernatural world, where, with 
 God, " a thousand years are but as yesterday ;" and 
 where, among the infinites, our imaginations strive in 
 vain for a resting-place for observation, and so turn 
 quickly back to earth wearied and overwhelmed. 
 
 Therefore humility is now our rational and our 
 better part ; and, with such a sense of our condition 
 we have repeatedly to gaze on the scenes recorded in 
 the Gospels, not comprehending them, and compelled 
 to be satisfied with present ignorance. It was a time, 
 we may believe, when " the powers of heaven " and 
 of hell "were shaken ;" as they never otherwise had 
 been ; and our earth, the scene of action, had to wit- 
 ness unusual sights. 
 
 Then, when tfyese scenes of the temptation in the 
 wilderness of Judea pass in those strange, shadowy 
 forms before us, half revealed in the Gospels, half 
 
At the Jordan — the Deputation. 39 
 
 hidden — we gaze in wonder, but we acquiesce in not 
 understanding more. How could we fully under- 
 stand ? 
 
 Saint Paul, through the power of inspiration, tells 
 us, " In all things it behoved Him to be made like 
 unto his. brethren, that he might be a merciful and 
 faithful high priest f and that " "We have not a high 
 priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our 
 infirmities ; but was in all points tempted as we are 
 yet without sin f and the temptations in the wilder- 
 ness appear to have been suited to the higher spiritual 
 character of the tempted. There were three of them, 
 applied to those feelings which are the most powerful 
 in our own nature, — to ambition, to vanity, and to 
 bodily want ; each applied in this case in a concen- 
 trated form ; but each in vain. But we cease to argue 
 in matters so evidently above our reason ; we will 
 wait patiently till we may merge into the supernatu- 
 ral, and no longer see u through a glass darkly," but 
 "shall know even as we are known." 
 
 CHAPTER IY. 
 
 AT THE JORDAN — THE DEPUTATION. 
 
 John was still baptizing at the Jordan, still utter- 
 ing his call to repent, " for the kingdom of heaven is 
 at hand;" and still the excitement concerning him 
 
 ° Hebrews ii. 17 ; iv. 15. 
 
40 Life Scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 was continuing : the public wonder and curiosity in- 
 deed was on the increase. The Sanhedrim at Jerusa- 
 lem were presently stirred up to take official action 
 in his case. 
 
 This body, owiSpiov. assembly, consisted of seventy 
 persons, with tiie addition of the high-priest as presi- 
 dent ; and were from the following classes of per- 
 sons : 1. Ex-high-priest ; 2. Heads of the twenty -four 
 classes of high-priests, called, by way of honor, chief- 
 priests : 3. Such of the elders, i. e., princes of the 
 tribes, heads of family associations, as were elected 
 to this place, or put there by a nomination from the 
 ruling executive authority j and, 4. Appointments in 
 a similar way from the scribes and learned men.* It 
 was required of these men that they should be relig- 
 ous, and learned in the arts and language ; that they 
 should have some skill in physic, arithmetic, astrono- 
 my and astrology ; also to know what belonged to 
 magic, sorcery and idolatry, so as to know how to 
 judge them. They were to be without maim or blem- 
 ish j men of years, but not extremely old j and to be 
 fathers of families, that they might be acquainted 
 with tenderness and compassion. Their times for 
 sitting were from the end of the morning service to 
 the beginning of the evening service, but might be 
 prolonged till the night, if necessary for concluding 
 any business commenced during the day ; but no new 
 business could be undertaken in the night. Their 
 place of assembling was in a room by the courts of the 
 Temple, and was so arranged that a portion of it pro- 
 jected into the priests' court, in order that it might 
 partake of the sanctity of the place ; and part was 
 
 Jahn's Archaeology. 
 
At the Jordan— the Deputation. 41 
 
 outside of it, so that the members could sit in the 
 council, which no one could do in the court of the 
 priests, except a king.* The first mention of the San- 
 hedrim is about the year B. C. 69 ; it is supposed to 
 have had its origin in the Council of 70 Elders ap- 
 pointed by Moses at Sinai, (Numbers xi. 16-24.) It 
 had the power to judge all persons and all matters 
 not left to inferior courts, a whole tribe, a prophet, 
 the high-priest, and even a king himself if there were 
 occasion.? 
 
 In every city there was a smaller tribunal of the 
 judges and Levites for slighter cases : also a tribunal 
 of 23 judges (synagogue tribunals, Johnxvi. 2,) which 
 tried questions of a religious nature. 
 
 The Sanhedrim felt now that it had become of the 
 highest consequence to settle the important questions 
 concerning John, which were agitating the public 
 mind. There might have been fears of tumults, 
 when the Roman power would have interfered, as it 
 had done before, with vengeance upon the nation, if 
 the whole course of things at the Jordan had not been 
 so orderly and regular : moreover, the ascetic had never 
 put himself forward as a leader, but had proclaimed 
 himself secondary to another. People, however, be. 
 lieved him to be a prophet, and the excitement was 
 the greater from the lapse of centuries since a prophet 
 had appeared. A wonderful prophet too he seemed to 
 be, with this most extraordinary annunciation ; also in- 
 troducing a great revolution, by initiating the crowds 
 flocking to him into a new system of religion. He had 
 given offence to the two leading sects in Judea by his 
 invective hurled upon them as a brood of vipers, but the 
 
 ° Li^hii^ot'on the Temple. -J- Jahn's Archeology. 
 
42 Life Scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 people felt its justice and admired his boldness : — the 
 impression was growing, everywhere, that lie was 
 something beyond a mortal like themselves ; — that he 
 was Elias (Elijah), or Jeremiah, risen from the dead ; 
 and, among some, — misinterpreting his declarations 
 to the contrary, — that he was the Messiah himself. 
 The Pharisees believed that the power of baptizing 
 Jews, and thereby forming a new religion, was to be 
 confined to the Messiah and his precursors, the pro- 
 phets, who they supposed would return to life for 
 this purpose ; and although it was true that John's 
 ancestry did not fully agree with the requirements of 
 their ancient prophets respecting the Christ, yet his 
 mother was of the lineage of David ; and although in 
 addition, his place of birth had not been at Bethle- 
 hem, still it was not fully determined among the doc- 
 tors that the Messiah must be born there." So there 
 was room for discussion among the Sanhedrim even 
 on the question whether John might not be the Mes- 
 siah himself. 
 
 Therefore this national council, taking Pharisees, 
 who were also priests and Levites,f for their de- 
 putation, sent them to John.! The Jewish rulers 
 
 c " See Bloomfield in loco. f John i, 19 ; ,i, 24. 
 
 % John i, 19. It is well to remark here on a circumstance in St. 
 John's Gospel, of which I have seen no notice among critics, ex- 
 cept Alford, although it is an important one. It is the distinc- 
 tion which the Evangelist appears to make between "the Jews " 
 and " the people." By the former he seems to mean the leaders ; 
 by the latter, the masses. There is a striking example of this in ch. 
 vii, v. 13, when the people (v. 12) were querying about Christ, 
 "but no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews." The 
 same distinction seems to he kept up uniformly in John, except 
 where the term Jew is used as a distinctive national one. 
 
 We have something like it when we use the words, " the Eng- 
 
At the Jordan— the Deputation. 43 
 
 were almost exclusively Pharisees, or persons pro- 
 fessing to be such ; and that sect was more particu- 
 larly interested in the proceedings at the Jordan ; for 
 their power lay in their influence over the masses of 
 the people ; the only instrument they could oppose to 
 their rivals the smaller but wealthier sect of the Sad- 
 ducees ; and the masses were drawn powerfully to this 
 prophet at the Jordan. 
 
 The origin of both these leading sects is unknown, 
 and we have no distinct traces of them previous to 
 the Ptolemies, (B. C. 332J about which time the oral 
 or traditional law also comes before our notice. The 
 Pharisees were the advocates and conservators of 
 this ; the Sadducees opposed it, adhering only to the 
 written law. The Pharisees believed " that souls 
 have an immortal vigor in them, and that under the 
 earth there will be rewards and punishments, accord- 
 ingly as they have lived, virtuously Or viciously, in 
 this life ; and the latter are to be detained in an ever- 
 lasting prison, but that the former shall have the 
 power to revive and live again. "* The Sadducees 
 asserted " that souls die with the bodies;", and in 
 this opposition of belief on vital points we have at 
 once the groundwork of endless £ disputes between 
 these sects. % The Sadducees, however, were content 
 to keep their cold philosophy to themselves, and sel- 
 dom attempted to make proselytes ; but they were 
 the wealthy men, and prided themselves on their 
 superior wisdom and higher philosophy ; to which 
 
 lish," and the " English people," meaning by the former a kind of 
 abstraction of the rulers, or the sentiment seen in their government, 
 and by the latter, the masses. 
 c Jahn's Archaeology. 
 
44 Life Scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 the Pharisees opposed an affected sanctimoniousness 
 which drew to them the multitudes, over whom they 
 had great influence, and by whom they more than 
 counterbalanced the power in wealth "belonging to 
 their opponents. So domineering, indeed, was their 
 influence in the nation in consequence of their suc- 
 cessful zeal in making and keeping proselytes among 
 the masses, that when a Sadducce had to take office, 
 (which that sect did unwillingly), he was compelled, 
 for his own comfort, to assume the character and 
 pretend to the belief of the Pharisees. The latter 
 had in the unwritten law, as we shall see, by and by, 
 an immense power, capable of bearing down any ad- 
 versary who might oppose them, especially among 
 the ignorant. With all this courting of popular 
 favor, they, however, thoroughly despised the popu- 
 lace, and called them in their writings " worms," 
 "people of the earth ;" and, with other opprobrious 
 epithets, refused heaven to them, declaring, that " he 
 who has not studied is never pious."* They affected 
 a great outward show of religion, ostentatiously 
 standing while at prayer, (standing was the usual 
 Jewish posture in prayer,) at the corners of the 
 streets, so as to be seen in two directions ; and some- 
 times commencing a prayer at one place and going 
 to finish it at another. They made broad their phy- 
 lacteries (written passages of Scripture, folded up and 
 bound to the forehead and arm), and in their dress had 
 an ostentation of a similar kind. They were so fearful 
 of contamination that they would not eat with their 
 own people, if holding the unpopular office of tax- 
 gatherers ; and were disposed to spurn from their 
 e Lightfoot. 
 
At the Job dan— the Deputation. 45 
 
 presence all who were not of their own sect ;* nor 
 would they drink until the water had been strained, 
 lest they might inadvertently swallow some unclean 
 animalcules. With all this, they enjoined no inter- 
 nal righteousness, substituting externals for it : forms 
 took the place of holiness : an omission to wash the 
 hands before meat was considered worthy of death, no 
 matter what iniquity might be in the heart : and they 
 had brought the Jewish people into disrepute abroad 
 as a nation of perjurers,? by teaching that an oath by 
 the altar, temple, heaven, earth, sacrifices, &c, &c, 
 was of small, if any, obligation, unless the name of 
 God had been introduced. They were divided into sev- 
 eral subordinate sects ; and the Jewish official books, 
 the Talmud s, mention several distinct classes, under 
 characters which show them to have been deeply im- 
 mersed in the idlest and most ridiculous superstitions. 
 Among them were the Truncated Pharisee, who, that 
 he might appear in profound meditation, as if desti- 
 tute of feet, scarcely lifted them from the ground ; 
 the Mortar Pharisee, who, that his meditations might 
 not be disturbed, wore a deep cap, in the shape of a 
 mortar, that would only permit him to look on the 
 ground at his feet ; and the Striking Pharisee, who, 
 shutting his eyes as he walked to avoid the sight of 
 women, often struck his head against the wall4 
 
 Such were the men who came now, in the authority 
 of office, to settle the questions which had been dis- 
 cussed for weeks with deepest earnestness in Jerusa- 
 lem and throughout all Judea and the regions be- 
 yond ; — questions of momentous interest, but to which 
 no one could yet give a satisfactory reply. It was 
 
 ° Jahn's Archeology, f Martial's Epigrams, xi. 95. J Bioornfield. 
 
46 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 known that John had made disclaimers of any high 
 position ; but still the public mind was agitated ; for 
 with these disclaimers, he was yet performing a rite 
 belonging only to the old prophets risen again or to 
 the Messiah : so, at least, they always believed. 
 
 The crowds saw the officials approaching, and 
 could easily surmise who they were, and why they 
 came. All knew that it was among the duties of the 
 Sanhedrim to inquire officially into the pretensions of 
 any one setting himself up as a prophet ; and here 
 were the inquisitors come to do that work. The im- 
 portant queries which had so agitated the multitudes 
 there, but which they had shrunk from putting to the 
 Baptist, would, perhaps, be answered at last. 
 
 The crowds gave way. Probably, in those haughty 
 looks of the Pharisees they could read their own con- 
 demnation for being captivated by one not officially 
 recognized, and not a Rabbi ; their old reverence for 
 priest and Levite, and additionally for Pharisees, con- 
 servators of the unwritten law with its mysterious, un- 
 defined power, crept through their hearts again, as 
 they saw these men approach, — perhaps there to over- 
 whelm all the Baptist's claims, and to hurl on them- 
 selves objurgations or even excommunications for having 
 submitted to the new rite. — And the deputation came 
 in a manner to make impression of their authority, and 
 to procure full and ready answers to their questions : 
 — the phylacteries upon their brows and arms, and 
 with the wide fringes to their robes, as became Phari- 
 sees and men of rank. We must give attention to 
 them, and we notice, first the phylacteries, an awk- 
 ward appendage, but which habit made less so to 
 them. To construct a phylactery, four pieces of parch- 
 
At the Jordan — the Deputation. 47 
 
 ment were taken, on which, with a particular kind of 
 ink, were written four passages from the law, Ex. 
 xiii, 3-10 : Ex. xiii, 11-16 : Deut. vi, 4-9 : Dent, xi, 
 13-21. These four pieces were folded together in a 
 square form, and inserted into a leather case, from 
 which proceeded thongs of the same material. One 
 of these cases was laid on the forehead between the 
 eye-brows ; and the thongs, being passed behind the 
 head, were tied there in a particular manner, and then 
 came round to the breast. The other was laid on the 
 inside of the left arm, at the elbow, and fastened there 
 by the thongs, one of which was wound spirally along 
 the arm, and so, crossing the palm of the hand, was 
 fastened to the fingers. The usage was founded on 
 Ex. xiii, 9. The name phylactery is from the Greek, 
 and signifies observatory, because it put them in mind 
 of the law. In process of time the phylacteries came 
 to be considered as a protection against evil spirits, 
 and the Talmud says, " It is necessary that the phylacter- 
 ies should be repeated at home at nights to drive away 
 devils."* It is not certain whether all the Jewish peo- 
 ple wore them, or only those who were called scholars, 
 and who pretended to more knowledge and devotion and 
 study than the common people ;t but all, both learned 
 and unlearned, were bound alike to say over the phy- 
 lactery sentences, morning and evening, every day, no 
 matter where they were. The time for this was at 
 earliest dawn, and in the evenings some time before 
 the first watch. t Our Saviour condemns the width of 
 the phylacteries, made for ostentation and vanity . The 
 modern Jews, it is, said, wear them at morning and 
 evening prayers. 
 
 o Lightfoot. f lb. t Ib - 
 
48 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 This deputation approached, not over confident of a 
 favorable reception, knowing as they did the Baptist's 
 address to their Pharisee brethren on the former oc- 
 casion : and now there was a striking scene : — that 
 gaunt, sunburnt man, in his coarse dress of camel's 
 hair bound by a leathern girdle, his unabashed man- 
 ner before the officers, and his fiery eyes seeming to 
 pierce them through ; — their own stateliness and effort 
 at ease and assurance, while their pretension to sanc- 
 tity, and the authoritiveness of office were impressing 
 the crowd ;—- the multitudes glancing from the new, 
 admired favorite to their old, feared masters ; and 
 back again to the fearless John. 
 
 " Who art thou ?" they asked. 
 
 The words were authoritative and abrupt. He an- 
 swered, not to their question, but to what he knew was 
 in every person's mind. 
 
 "I am not the Christ." 
 
 " What art thou, then, Elias t } 
 
 " I am not." 
 
 " Art thou that prophet ?"* 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Who art thou? — that we may give an answer to 
 them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?" 
 
 " I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. 
 Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet 
 Esaias :" (the reply having allusion to a custom pre- 
 vailing in those eastern countries, when a monarch was 
 about to make a journey ; at which times men were 
 sent before to remove obstructions and to make level 
 the roads). 
 
 ° h is supposed that they referred to Jeremiah. (See Deut. x 
 15-19 and Matt, xvi, 14. 
 
At the Jordan — the Deputation. 49 
 
 " Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, 
 nor Elias, nor that prophet?" 
 
 " I baptize with water : but there stand eth one 
 among you, whom ye know not ; he it is, who coming 
 after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet 
 I am not worthy to unloose.' 7 
 
 Among them ! ! And all interest in the officials and 
 in John himself must have been lost, as men started, 
 and turned inquiring glances among the crowd, mak- 
 ing scrutiny for him about whom the astounding an- 
 nouncement had been made. No one could doubt 
 that John meant by this, The Christ, the great Mes- 
 siah that had been promised to the world. That was 
 their answer, and such the intelligence that the emis- 
 saries might carry back to Jerusalem, and to the San- 
 hedrim. 
 
 Curiosity was at its utmost tension now : and the 
 next day, as the crowds were watching John with a 
 closeness of attention that they had never exercised 
 before, they heard irom him a sudden announcement — 
 
 "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the 
 sin of the world !'' The multitudes turned quickly ; — 
 
 Was that the Christ ! 
 
 He came with no pomp, but quietly among them : 
 no earthly parade of power, no attendance ; not even 
 scholastic state, and disciples following him : but 
 alone, in simplicity of dress and simplicity of man- 
 ner. — His kingdom was not of this world. 
 
 But the multitudes might have noticed the won- 
 derful dignity and majesty on that brow ; the quiet 
 composure of manner, where conscious omnipotence 
 calmly rested j the winningness of features, where un- 
 bounded love drew the lines, and fully impressed it- 
 I 
 
50 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels.- 
 
 self; and ; when he spake, the modulations of his 
 yoice, where gentleness and benevolence ruled, al- 
 though, at times that voice could take the impressive 
 tones of command. 
 
 Jorin described to the earnest listeners how the 
 demonstration of the Messiah ship had been made to 
 himself, including the announcement from heaven, 
 "The same is he which baptizeth with the Holy 
 Ghost." He ended with proclaiming to the gazing, 
 earnest, wondering "multitude, thrilled with so many 
 hopes — "And I saw and bare record, that This is 
 the Son of God." 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CONDITION OF PALESTINE. 
 
 The Messiah had come : but before following him 
 in his wonderful ministry, it is necessary, in order to 
 have a clear comprehension of it, to endeavor to fa- 
 miliarize ourselves with the country where this min- 
 istry was to be exercised, and the people who were 
 to be its immediate recipients. 
 
 The two ranges of mountains, Lebanon and Anti- 
 lebanon, keep parallel with each other, and with the 
 eastern coast of the Mediterranean for a distance of 
 150 miles, when, finally, Anti-lebanon shoots up into 
 the majestic Hermon, rising to 9376* feet above the 
 
 tt Survey by Majors Scott and Pope. 
 
Condition of Palestine. 51 
 
 sea, and covered nearly all the year with snow. 
 Both mountains then subside into much lower eleva- 
 tions, which uniting, continue southward till at last 
 they sink and disappear in the level of the sandy 
 deserts of Arabia. The region between the southern 
 extremity of Lebanon and the Hermon (lat. 33° 30 ') 
 on the north, and the border of the Arabian deserts 
 (31° 10') on the south, with the Jordan and its line 
 of lakes on the east, and the Mediterranean on the 
 west, is, in modern times, often designated as Pales- 
 tine ; and such in this book will be the use of the 
 word. It is an extent of country about 170 statute 
 miles in length, by a mean width of 50 miles ; the 
 hills running north and south are not continuous, but 
 have an important interruption in the great plain of 
 Esdraeldon (about lat. 32° 30 ') crossing their course ; 
 and another in the valley at Shechem, with others of 
 minor consequence : while also just south of Carmel, 
 in lat. 32° 40 ', commences the plain of Sharon, which, 
 from that point southwardly, forms a wide border be- 
 tween the hills and the Mediterranean. The region 
 between this plain of Sharon and the desert border- 
 ing on the Jordan and the Dead Sea, forms what, 
 in Scripture, is called " The Hill country of Judea." 
 A cross section, from west to east, at Jerusalem, 
 would give us : 1st, the plain of Sharon, 17 miles 
 wide ; 2d, the hill country, 20 miles ; and 3d, the 
 desert, 15 in width, and then the great depression 
 of the valley of the Jordan.* If, leaving Pales- 
 tine, we continue across the river, we come immedi- 
 ately to the very lofty, wall-like range of Nebo, 
 
 * These measurements are from Van de Velde'c trigonometrical 
 surveys in Syria and Palestine. 
 
52 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 beyond which, eastward Iy, is a hilly pastoral region, 
 never thickly inhabited, and at present little known. 
 
 Palestine was thus a country of small extent, and 
 singularly situated ; quite central to what was the 
 civilized world in those ancient times, and therefore 
 well adapted to be a radiating point of divine know- 
 ledge ; and yet, by these northern, mountains, by the 
 Arabian desert, by the western sea, and by the pastoral 
 region on the east, almost isolated, and little open to 
 corrupting influences from heathen neighbors. It had 
 no safe harbor along its whole coast, until Herod the 
 Great, at immense cost, formed one midway along ; 
 building there, also, his political capital, Csesarea, 
 named after his patron, Augustus. This was settled 
 immediately by a motley population of Syrians and 
 Greeks chiefly, as well as Jews : and from this mix- 
 ture sprung, finally, the troubles which eventuated in 
 the destruction of Jerusalem itself.* 
 
 At the time of which we are now writing, Palestine 
 was divided into three nearly equal portions : the 
 northern, Galilee ; the central, Samaria ; and the 
 southern, Judea ; each, with its distinctive and peculiar 
 people, although those of Galilee and Judea went under 
 the general appellation of Jews. A full understand- 
 ing of the New Testament history requires that we 
 should take some notice of the history of each. 
 
 When Canaan was first parceled out among the 
 tAvelve tribes, the large tribe of Judah had assigned 
 to it the chief portion of what afterwards became 
 Judea : while Ephraim had most of Avhat was subse- 
 quently Samaria, the two being separated by the small 
 tribe of Benjamin wedged between them on the east, 
 
 * See Jos. Antiq. xx, 8, § 9. 
 
The Condition op Palestine. 53 
 
 and by the equally diminutive region of Dan on the 
 west. Benjamin, however, though small, was com- 
 posed of a bold and energetic set of people : it gave 
 Saul, as the first king of Israel ; and afterwards, Paul, 
 the greatest of the Christian leaders; and among the 
 earliest martyrs for Christ. 
 
 Judah and Ephraim, from their large size and their 
 position, soon took the lead among the tribes, and also 
 became jealous of each other :* and finally (B. C. 976) 
 their rivalship culminated in a separation of the tribes ; 
 Benjamin alone adhering to Judah, while all the others 
 went off and became a kingdom by themselves, Eph- 
 raim, in this, taking the lead. Its main city, Shechem, 
 in the valley of Samaria, unsurpassed in fertility and 
 loveliness, became the capital of its new king. Among 
 these people, a semi-idolatrous religion soon took the 
 place of the old Mosaic faith. Two hundred and fifty- 
 five years after this (B. C. 721) #ie ten tribes were 
 carried into captivity by Shalmanezer, king of Assyria • 
 and their existence became eventually blotted out from 
 history. The exceedingly fertile plain of Ephraim and 
 its borders on the north, being rapidly covered with 
 jungle, was becoming overrun with wild-beasts, when 
 Shalmanezer sent colonists from Babylonia and other 
 parts of his eastern dominions to occupy it, with whom 
 a few of the former inhabitants, who had been left be- 
 hind, united : and thus was formed the distinct and 
 very peculiar race of the Samaritans, retaining in part 
 their eastern heathenism, and partly imbued with ihe 
 questionable religion of the ten tribes. 
 
 One hundred thirty-three years after the captivity of 
 the ten tribes, (B. C. 588) Judah and Benjamin were 
 also led captive to the cast, Jerusalem having been 
 
 * See also Isaiah xi, 3. 
 
5-i Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 taken by Nebuchadnezzar, and their temple destroyed. 
 Chaldea, now the ruling power in the east, had become 
 the possessor of all Palestine. But this captivity did 
 not long continue ; for Cyrus, the Persian, having taken 
 Babylon, (B. C. 536) gave these two tribes permission 
 to return to Palestine and to rebuild their temple, the 
 sacred vessels of which he also restored. Some of the 
 Jews, comparatively few in number, remained in Baby- 
 lon, while the others hastened back to their country : 
 but during this time of their absence changes of im- 
 portance among themselves had occurred. Their orig- 
 inal language had ceased to be a spoken one. 
 
 The Hebrew had, for a long time, been declining in 
 its purity. The period about the time of Moses is 
 called by critics its golden age ; that between David 
 and Hezekiah, its silver age. From Hezekiah to the 
 captivity it had deteriorated so much by the further 
 introduction of foreign terms, that its iron age is 
 placed in that period ; and during the captivity it 
 ceased to be a spoken language at all.* Not that 
 the transition had been very great. The dialects 
 spoken all over the East had a general similitude, so 
 great that the designation used by the Hebrews for 
 very remote nations was that these did not understand 
 their language. f But still the change, during this 
 stay in Babylon, was such that, generally, they could 
 not any longer understand the Hebrew Scriptures 
 when read in their religious assemblies ; and al- 
 though the original was still used in public worship, 
 properly qualified persons had to be employed to 
 give immediately a translation into the vernacular.^ 
 
 ° Jabn's Introduction to the Old Testament, § G9. 
 
 f Deut. xxviii, 49, and Jer. v, 15. % See Nehemiah viii, 8. 
 
The Condition of Palestine. 55 
 
 The new dialect which the people brought home with 
 them was the Aramean — sometimes called Syro-Chal- 
 daic — and was the language of Palestine in our Sav- 
 iour's time. 
 
 But there were differences also in this dialect. 
 The places of captivity had stretched along the Eu- 
 phrates, where the Chaldee and Syriac dialects were 
 in use. On their return, those using the former set- 
 tled in Judea, the others in Galilee ;* and hence a 
 difference of speech, by which a Galilean was speed- 
 ily recognized as such by the dwellers further south. 
 
 The Jews had permission from Cyrus to rebuild 
 also the wall around their city ; and they came back 
 with hearts full of zeal and of joy at the royal favor, 
 in both of which the Samaritans would have gladly 
 shared. But these people were repelled as a half- 
 heathenish race ; and immediately a settled feud be- 
 gan, which has continued down to the present time. 
 The Samaritans endeavored to excite jealousies in 
 the Persian monarch respecting the repairs in the 
 city walls, and for some time with success ; but they 
 finally ceased from such opposition, and established 
 rival services, building also a rival temple on the 
 mount Gerizim, which rises immediately above their 
 capital city, Shechem, and which, with its opposite 
 mountain, Ebal, had been the scene of a most singu- 
 lar event in the ancient times of Israel. There, after 
 Canaan had been conquered, had been gathered the 
 twelve tribes, one-half placed on Gerizim to bless, 
 and half on Ebal to curse ; — indeed, what region is 
 there in all the country of Palestine that has not wit- 
 nessed strange and wonderful events ? To us, also, 
 * Jahn's Introduction. 
 
56 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 there is a standing miracle in the fulfillment of the 
 words of Moses, when, after commanding the full as- 
 semblage to take place on Ebal and Gerizim, he 
 added, that if they and their posterity would not ob- 
 serve God's commandment, they should become " an 
 astonishment, a proverb, and a by-word among all 
 nations," whither the Lord should lead them.* The 
 Maccabean, Hyrcanus, destroyed this temple (B. C. 
 108), and annexed the whole Samaritan country to the 
 Jewish nation ; and the bitterness from subjugation 
 was then added to the former hatred and jealousies. 
 The Samaritans, while receiving the Pentateuch, re- 
 jected all the other Jewish Scriptures ; and were, 
 therefore, still considered by the Jews as only a more 
 dangerous set of heathen. What a Samaritan ate as 
 food became, from that fact, as swine's flesh in the 
 eyes of a Jew ; no Samaritan might be made a prose- 
 lyte ; no one of them could by any possibility, in 
 Jewish estimation, attain to everlasting life. 
 ' This was the country lying between the two Jewish 
 districts of Galilee and Judea. and which had to be 
 passed over in the frequent journeys between the 
 two, unless a large detour was made across the Jor- 
 dan and along its eastern banks. 
 
 The two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, after their 
 return from captivity, still formed a part of the Per- 
 sian kingdom, and were heavily taxed for its support. 
 Their temple had been rebuilt, (commenced B. C. 535.) 
 bat Jerusalem remained without walls, until the in- 
 crease of the Greek power made it necessary .to op- 
 pose obstacles to the extension of that nation. Then 
 Nehecniahwas empowered by the Persian government 
 
 * See Deut. xi, 29; xxvii. 12-26 ; xxviii. 
 
Condition of Palestine. 57 
 
 to fortify the city ; but lie had to clo it by stealth, 
 and at night, as the jealousies of the neighboring 
 slates, particularly Samaria, were ever throwing ob- 
 stacles in the way.. The Persian nation finally suc- 
 cumbed before Alexander, and the Jews passed qui- 
 etly into the power of that universal conqueror (B. C. 
 332,) and through him, afterwards, of the Ptolemies. 
 They lived under successive kings of this race, gener- 
 ally oppressed, and often treated with great cruelty, till 
 Antiochus Epiphanes, the Illustrious or the Madman, 
 — for he had both these surnames, — fearing (B. C. 
 167) that they might seek relief from his tyranny in 
 the increasing power of Rome already triumphant in 
 Egypt, determined to wipe out their distinctive char- 
 acter, and entirely destroy their individuality as a 
 nation. He let loose his soldiers on the Sabbath 
 upon the unresisting Jewish people, and encouraged 
 a general massacre : the streets of Jerusalem ran 
 with blood : the women were carried off into slavery : 
 he ordered a general uniformity of religion in all hfs 
 dominions ; forced the people to profane the Sabbath, 
 and to eat swine's flesh, and forbade the national rite 
 of circumcision. He dedicated their temples to Ju- 
 piter, placed an image of that god on their high 
 altar, and ordered sacrifices to be there made to the 
 Olympian deity ; and, finally, substituted the Baccha- 
 nalian rites for their great feast of tabernacles. Re- 
 sistance only led to slaughter : barbarities and out- 
 rage had full possession of the land. 
 
 The Maccabean family* now rose into eminence, 
 
 ° " Asmonean family" properly, but better known by the name 
 of Maccabean, supposed to be derived from a standard which they 
 bore. 
 
 2* 
 
58 Life scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 first by slight resistance ; then, after gathering 
 strength, by heading a general revolt ; and, finally, 
 (B.C.. 144,) by establishing the complete indepen- 
 dence of the Jewish nation. The alliance of Rome 
 was sought for, and secured ; and, finally, under 
 Hyrcanus, Samaria, as already stated, and Galilee on 
 the north, and Idumea on the south, were (B. C. 108) 
 brought into subjection to the triumphant kingdom 
 of Judea. But a new power — the Roman — was 
 spreading around, soon to absorb the Judean king- 
 dom, as it did the rest of the world. In the case of 
 Judea, Rome followed its usual successful policy of 
 insinuating itself into nations through their intestine 
 disputes. Two competitors for the Jewish throne, 
 Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, both of the Maccabean 
 family, asserted their claims, and appealed to Pompey 
 (B. C. 64) as the umpire ; he ended by seizing on the 
 kingdom ; and from that time, although for twenty 
 years there were resistances, and various bloody revo- 
 lutions, Judea was under control of the Roman em- 
 pire. Antipater, an Idumean of noble birth, profit- 
 ing adroitly by these dissensions, had, as the sup- 
 porter of Hyrcanus, risen into distinction ; and at 
 last, having procured from Rome the High Priesthood 
 for his favorite, he was himself made Procurator of 
 Judea. He was the father of Herod the Great, and 
 appointed this son as governor of Galilee. The 
 latter, after various reverses subsequently to his 
 father's death, had the crown of Judea conferred upon 
 himself by Augustus and Antony (B. C. 39 ;) and 
 having, with the assistance of the Romans, rid that 
 country and Samaria of all competitors, and freed 
 Galilee from the bands of robbers that had infested 
 
Condition of Palestine. 59 
 
 it, he found himself, though still subordinate to 
 Rome, firmly seated on the throne of Palestine. 
 
 He was a man of extraordinary energies of mind 
 and body. He rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, strength- 
 ened them with towers of great size and beauty, made 
 for himself on Mount Zion a palace of vast extent and 
 architectural magnificence, and completed the walls 
 around Moriah, producing on that eminence a level 
 platform of great elevation •* thus making it a vast 
 mountainous substructure for supporting the cloisters 
 and temple with which he proposed to crown its 
 heights. The temple erected by Zerubbabel 500 
 years before, had suffered greatly from wars and the 
 lapse of time ; but the Jews looked with keen jeal- 
 ousy on any plans for its demolition ; and it was only 
 by making large preparations of materials ready for 
 the new edifice, previous to commencing any changes, 
 that Herod could keep their apprehensions within 
 bounds. The new temple and cloisters, built by 
 Herod will be noticed in a future chapter of tins 
 book. The amazing sums necessary for his outlays 
 for architectural and warlike purposes were procured 
 partly by heavy extortions from his people ; and came 
 partly by contributions from Jews, scattered now 
 over nearly the whole civilized world. The constant 
 drain of wealth always tending towards Jerusalem 
 was the cause of serious apprehensions, even at Rome. 
 Pompey found 2,000 talentst in the treasury of the 
 temple at the time of his visit : Crassus plundered it 
 
 " Josephus says 450 feet at the spot of the smallest elevation ; 
 600 feet at the greatest, i. e., at the eastern side, but this is consid- 
 ered an exaggeration. 
 
 f A talent of silver was worth $1,505 ; of gold, $24,000. 
 
00 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 of 10.000 talents ; and both these incidents occurred 
 at times when Jerusalem was also constantly sub- 
 ject to visits from plundering hordes. 
 
 But while indulging the national feeling in thus 
 ornamenting the city and its sacred mountain, Herod 
 was trying to undermine the national faith, by for- 
 eign usages and amusements. " He built a theatre 
 within the walls of Jerusalem, and an amphitheatre 
 of immense size without. He celebrated quinquennial 
 games on a scale of unrivalled splendor ; invited the 
 most distinguished proficients in every kind of gym- 
 nastic exercise, in chariot racing, boxing, and every 
 kind of musical and poetic art ; offered the most cost- 
 ly prizes ; and even introduced the barbarous specta- 
 cles of the Romans, fights of wild beasts, and also 
 combats of wild beasts with gladiators. The zeal- 
 ous Jews looked on in amazement, and with praise- 
 worthy though silent abhorence, at those strange ex- 
 hibitions, so contrary to the mild genius of the great 
 law-giver's institutions."* 
 
 Herod was, as already stated, from Idumea. When 
 that country was added by Hyrcanus to Judca, the 
 inhabitants were compelled to adopt the Jewish faith. 
 But such a forced proselytism left the Idumeans still 
 semi-pagan in belief; and hence we see the doubtful 
 Judaism in Herod. He married, both from policy 
 and affection, the beautiful Mariamnc, a princess of 
 the Maccabean family ; but he failed still to secure 
 the confidence of the Jews. 
 
 Judea was, even during Herod's magnificent reign, 
 fast becoming a Roman province ; its independence 
 and the glory of the Maccabean dynasty had depart- 
 
 ° Milman's History of the Jews. 
 
Condition- of Palestine. 61 
 
 eel. Herod, after a life of daring and successful am- 
 bition, and of domestic wretchedness, died, leaving ? 
 by will, his kingdom divided between his two sons, 
 Herod Antipas and Archelaus ; to the former Galilee 
 and Perea ; to the latter, Samaria, Judea, and Idu- 
 mea. Archelaus went immediately to Rome to have 
 his limited kingship confirmed ; and there met Herod 
 Antipas, preferring a counter-claim under a former 
 will of their father, made, it was asserted, when he 
 was in a saner state of mind. While they were absent 
 contesting their claims, both regions of country fell 
 into confusion ; and the Prefect of Syria, residing at 
 Antioch, had to interfere, the wretched people being 
 plundered and abused on every side. A deputation 
 of five hundred Jews went to Rome to petition for the 
 total abolition of the kingly government and the res- 
 titution of their ancient constitution ; and were joined 
 in this by eight thousand of their countrymen resident 
 in that city. Herod's will was, however, confirmed 
 by the imperial edict, and Archelaus took possession 
 of his government: but his sovereignty, marked by 
 injustice and cruelty, after continuing for nine years, 
 was suddenly brought to a conclusion by a summons to 
 Rome : his brothers and subjects were his accusers ; he 
 was condemned and banished to Yienne, in Gaul, and 
 his kingdom (A. D. 12) reduced to a Roman province. 
 P. Sulpicius Quirinius was now made Prefect, or gov- 
 ernor-general of Syria, all Palestine coming under his 
 jurisdiction ; and Coponius, a man of equestrian rank, 
 was appointed governor of Judea. To the latter, 
 two years afterwards, succeeded M. Ambivius : then 
 came Annius Rufus : next (A. D. 16) Valerius Gra- 
 tus, and finally (A. D. 27) Pontius Pilate. Jerusalem 
 
02 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 itself had sunk, during the rule of these governors, into 
 secondary political consequence, the residence of the 
 governors being at Csesarea, a magnificent city on its 
 seaboard, built by Herod the Great : but the people, 
 since the time of Archelaus, had enjoyed an unusual 
 state of rest. This history, necessarily brief, can give 
 the reader scarcely any conception of the disorders, 
 tumults, exactions, and cruelties — often barbarities, 
 to which the people of Palestine had been subjected, 
 through nearly the whole of this long period of time. 
 The government was now unequivocally Roman : 
 Pilate was over Judea as Procurator, and Herod An- 
 tipas Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea ; — both subject 
 to the Proconsul of Syria ; the Jewish laws and insti- 
 tutions, so far as they did not conflict with the Ro- 
 man, were still left in force, the power of inflicting 
 capital punishment being the only exception ; that 
 being reserved for the representatives of Rome. Such 
 was the political condition of Palestine when our 
 Saviour's public ministry commenced. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 JEWISH MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 The captivity had wrought one very remarkable 
 change in the Jewish character : — it had cured them 
 of their disposition towards idolatry. It may seem 
 strange that there had ever been such inclinations 
 
Jewish Manners and Customs. 63 
 
 among a people distinguished, as they had been, by 
 signal manifestations of God's power for them ; who 
 had his law in their hands ; and who knew both the 
 sternness of his prohibitions against this wickedness, 
 and his irrevocable purposes for punishing it. But 
 the whole world around them was given to idolatry : 
 and they found it difficult to spiritualize even their 
 own grand and wonderful system ; while, among all 
 other nations, religion was sensuous, that is, directed 
 to the outer senses, which could more easily compre- 
 hend the nature and demands of such belief. To look 
 inward and bind the soul to God, making it, while 
 on earth, a part of the kingdom which is not of this 
 world, is the highest act of our being : and the Jews 
 had not only not attained to this, but had a very im- 
 perfect idea of what it could mean. When just re- 
 leased from Egypt, they were ignorant, and they had, 
 for long years, been brutalized by slavery. God, 
 compassionating their ignorance and weakness, allow- 
 ed them a religious system in some respects sensuous, 
 but, in every item, typifying the unseen ; that is the 
 tabernacle, the ark, the table of show-bread, the can- 
 dlestick, the altar of incense, the mercy-seat, the 
 cherubim, the golden ornaments, the purple hangings, 
 the Urim and Thummim, in which he condescended to 
 make himself especially known and felt. So after- 
 wards, also with the temple on Mount Moriah, hon- 
 ored as no other temple has ever been. But they re- 
 garded only the exterior ; and by their own want of 
 effort and by their worldliness, that which was meant 
 to guide them to look within and then up to God, led 
 them to the further sensuousness of their neighbors, 
 often of the grossest kind. 
 
64 Life-scenes from the Foup. Gospels. 
 
 Temple, altar, cherubim, Urim and Thummim, — all 
 were swept away by the Assyrian conqueror ; and 
 only blackened ruins remained behind in their stead. 
 
 In their captivity they had to look more directly 
 to God ; and they did it in mournings and humilia- 
 tions, such as well befitted them, after so many vile 
 apostasies in their own land. 
 
 "When they returned there was a great change and 
 great improvement in these outward things. They 
 had now the proseuchce and synagogues all over the 
 land. The proseucha was a place of prayer, a sim- 
 ple, open space, without ostentation or ornament, but 
 generally in a spot outside of their cities or towns, 
 shaded by trees. Here the traveller or the resident 
 could bow in soul, in God's great temple not made 
 with hands ; and, feeling that Jehovah was present, 
 could lift up his voice and heart to him. The syna- 
 gogues were places of more formal worship, and were 
 soon in general use ; there being, it is said, in Jeru- 
 salem alone, not less than four hundred and eighty 
 during its later times. The worship in these was 
 doubtless more of a spiritual nature than that in the 
 temple itself ; and what was also of consequence, 
 oral instruction was here largely combined with the 
 singing, reading, and prayers. The Jewish people, 
 in all this, had evidently taken a most important step 
 in improvement ; but still there were counteracting 
 circumstances, (to be noticed in next chapter,) terri- 
 bly corrupting their hearts. 
 
 The synagogues were of various sizes, but general- 
 ly not large. As far as possible they were built in 
 imitation of the temple at Jerusalem, with an open 
 court and corridors surrounding the court. In this 
 
Jewish Manners and Customs. 65 
 
 was a chapel, or small building, ornamented with four 
 columns ; and in the* chapel, on an elevated place, 
 were the books of the law kept ready for use. The 
 " uppermost seats in the synagogue " were those near- 
 est this chapel, and these were the most honorable. 
 In addition, there was erected, in the court, a large 
 hall or vestry, into which people could retire when 
 the weather happened to be unfavorable, and where 
 each family had their particular seat. To each build- 
 ing there were officers : 1st. — The Kuler of the Syna- 
 gogue, who presided over the assembly and invited 
 readers and speakers, unless some persons, who were 
 acceptable, voluntarily offered themselves, (Luke viii, 
 41, and xiii, 14, 15.) 2.— The Elders of the syna- 
 gogue — rfpeoffiirspot, or presbyters • they appear to have 
 been counsellors of the head or ruler, and were 
 chosen from among the most powerful and learned 
 of the people. The council of the elders not only 
 took part in the management of the internal concerns 
 of the synagogue, but also punished transgressors of 
 the public laws, either by turning them out of the syn- 
 agogue or decreeing the punishment of thirty-nine 
 stripes, ( John xii, 42 ; xvi, 2 ; 2 Cor. xi 5 24.) 3.— 
 Collector of alms ; and/1. — Servants of the synagogue. 
 When the people were collected together for wor- 
 ship the services began, after the usual greeting, 
 with a doxology. A selection was then read from 
 the Mosaic law, (Acts xv, 21.) Then followed after 
 singing of a second doxology, the reading of a portion 
 from the Prophets. (Luke iv, 17.) The person whose 
 duty it was to perform the reading, placed upon his 
 head, as is done at the present day, a covering called 
 Talith. (See 2 Cor. iii, 15.) The sections which had 
 
06 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 been read in the Hebrew, were rendered by an in- 
 terpreter into the vernacular tongue ; and the reader, 
 or some one else, then addressed the people. (Acts 
 xiii, 15-) 
 
 It was on an occasion such as this, that Jesus, 
 and, afterwards, the Apostles, taught the people. 
 The meeting, as far as religion was concerned, was 
 ended with prayer, to which the people responded, 
 Amen; when a collection was taken for the poor. 
 
 Such was the synagogue worship of that period, 
 often sanctioned by our Saviour's presence, and by 
 his taking a part in the services themselves. 
 
 The modern Jewish synagogues are, as far as possi- 
 ble, imitations of those ancient ones ; and a visit to 
 them is recommended to any one who may desire to 
 look far back into the ancient times. We may also 
 gain in them some idea of the adaptation to music of 
 the language in which David wrote : for in these ser- 
 vices the Hebrew is still almost exclusively used. It 
 is desirable, however, to select a synagogue of the 
 higher order : for, in the inferior ones, both the lan- 
 guage and the service are often repulsive, seeming to 
 be a discordant jargon with but little appearance of 
 devotion. 
 
 On entering, we notice that the heads of the men, as 
 well as of the women, are all kept covered, as in the 
 ancient times : also that the standing posture is that 
 of prayer as was the case in those former days. The 
 eye too is caught immediately by a white garment, a 
 simple, rectangular piece of cloth, 6 or 8 feet long by 3 
 or 4 wide, which each male worshipper puts on as he 
 takes his place, and leaves behind when he retires. In 
 the wealthier synagogues it is of silk, in others of 
 
Jewish Manners and Customs. G7 
 
 woolen stuff ; but it is always white, with blue stripes 
 across at the ends ; sometimes, but not uniformly, a. 
 fringe at each end ; and, in every case, it has a num- 
 ber of cords a foot or so in length, of the same stuff, ap- 
 pended to each of the corners. In viewing this gar- 
 ment, we are carried, at once, into the remotest an-, 
 tiquity : for, these blue stripes at the end are " the rib- 
 band of blue," and the cords at the corners are the 
 fringes commanded by Moses (Numbers xv, 32-41, but 
 more especially Deut. xxii, 12) to be worn as a reminder 
 of the penalty for transgressing the Sabbath : " and it 
 shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it 
 and remember all the commandments of the Lord and 
 do them." The garment is called Talith, and is some- 
 times made to cover also the head of the persons offi- 
 ciating in their religious service. It is worn by the 
 congregation mostly over the shoulders, but also in a 
 variety of ways across the back ; and forms not an un- 
 graceful drapery- I have seen, in a country church in 
 Scotland, every man with his plaid across the shoulder, 
 making a very picturesque congregation ; but although 
 the plaid is of the same size and shape as this gar- 
 ment, it wants the sacred associations of the Talith : 
 the latter is always white. 
 
 The language is deeply guttural ; and to my own 
 ear, traveller as I have been among the Turks, and 
 also the Germans, it has, as chanted in these syna- 
 gogues, a familiar and very far from unmusical sound ; 
 for it has both richness and power. Especially, at the 
 close of the worship, when the whole assembly unite 
 ill the singing, may we have some idea of the rich mu- 
 sic as it floated, in the old times, from the heights of 
 Moriah in the daily sacrifices ; or from their compa- 
 
68 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 nies to and from the festivals, as they travelled over 
 hill and valley, singing on their way their great hymns 
 to God. 
 
 Those ancient synagogues, and the nature of the 
 worship offered there, in a large portion of which the 
 whole assembly united, and also the address and in- 
 structions on those occasions, must have had a power- 
 ful influence in keeping the Jews, after the captivity, 
 from the idolatrous tendencies so striking in the na- 
 tional character previous to that time. 
 
 Of education there seems to have been little in our 
 full meaning of that word. The sons remained at 
 home under the care of the mother until five years of 
 age, when the father took them in charge, and taught 
 them in the arts aud the duties of life, and more es- 
 pecially in the Mosaic law, and all other things con- 
 nected with their religion, (Deut. vi, 20-25 ; vii, 19 ; 
 xi, 19.) For further instruction, private teachers 
 were provided ; or they were sent to ti priest or 
 Levito 7 who sometimes had numbers under his care. 
 We learn from Samuel, (1 Samuel i, 24-28.) that 
 there was, at that time, near the tabernacle, a school 
 for the instruction of youth ; but the instruction, ex- 
 cept in religious matters, was very limited. Astron- 
 omy, in those days, was apt to run into astrology, 
 which was forbidden to the Jews : a little knowledge 
 of mathematics sufficed for their wants : the sciences, 
 in all nations at that period, were few in number: 
 the whole bent of the Jewish scholars was towards 
 the study of their written and their traditional law, 
 and the questions to which these gave rise. Their 
 teachers enjoined on all parents to have their children 
 taught some art or handicraft : and the Talmuds par- 
 
Jewish Manners and Customs. 69 
 
 ticularize many learned men who were engaged in 
 manual labor. u What is commanded/ 7 says a Tal- 
 mudic writer, " of a father towards his son ? To cir- 
 cumcise him : to teach him the law ; to teach him a 
 trade." Their great cabalist, Rabbi Judah, "Our 
 Holy Rabbi," as he was called, wrote, " He that 
 teacheth not his son a trade, does the same as if he 
 taught him to be a thief;" and Gamaliel (Saul's 
 teacher) said, "He that hath a trade in his hand, to 
 what is he like? He is like a vineyard that is 
 fenced." 
 
 "There prevailed among 'the Hebrews no little 
 propriety and refinement of manners. The Orientals 
 would be thought by Europeans to be excessive in 
 their gestures and expressions of good-will, when, in 
 truth, they mean no more then very moderate ones 
 among us. 
 
 " In the time of Christ, the ancient mode of ad- 
 dressing those who were worthy of being honored, 
 viz., My lord j or words to that effect, was in a meas- 
 ure superseded, and the more extravagant address of 
 Rabbi, i.e., the great, mighty, which originated in 
 the schools, had become common among the people. 
 
 " The salutation between friends was an occurrence 
 which consumed much time : for this reason it was 
 anciently inculcated upon messengers who were sent 
 upon business which required despatch, not to salute 
 any one by the way, (2 Kings iv, 29 ; Luke x, 4.) 
 
 " The ancient Hebrew, in particular, rarely used any 
 term of reproach more severe than those of adversary 
 or opposer, raca, contemptible, nabal ; fool ; an expres- 
 sion which means wicked man or atheist. When 
 anything was said which was not acceptable, the dis- 
 
70 LiFE-SCEXES FROM THE FoUR GOSPELS. 
 
 satisfied person replied, It is enough, (Dent. iii, 26.) 
 The formula of assent was, Thou hast said, or thou 
 hast said rightly. This is the form of expressing as- 
 sent or an affirmative to this day."* 
 
 Their dress, unchanged from century to century, 
 was generally simple and plain. It consisted of a 
 tunic (also worn by the Romans, as we see in their 
 sculptures,) which was a loose garment encircling the 
 body, with short sleeves, and reaching nearly to the 
 knees. The Babylonians, Egyptians and Persians 
 wore another and outer tunic of more costly material, 
 a custom also adopted*by the Jews, and referred to 
 in Matthew x, 10 and Luke ix, 3. The tunic being 
 loose, and bound by a girdle at the middle, made 
 something like drapery, as we see in the ancient 
 sculptures of Greece and Rome. The girdle was of 
 leather, or flax, or silk, and was a hand's breadth in 
 width. Over this was worn the Simlah or upper 
 garment (the Talith,) simply a rectangular piece of 
 cloth, eight or nine feet long by five or six in width, 
 and thrown over the shoulders, or over one shoulder 
 with the corners tied under the other, or wrapped 
 around the body, or in any other manner that the 
 wearer might choose. However worn, it was always 
 a becoming drapery. Thrown over the head and 
 held there by a fillet, as by the Arabs of the present 
 day, it formed a protection from the sun. It was so 
 large that burthens could be carried in it, (Exodus xii, 
 32 ; 2 Kings iv, 39,) and one end thrown over the 
 shoulder in front and tied could be made a conve- 
 nient receptacle or pocket, as in Luke vi, 38. At 
 night the Hebrew wrapped himself in this simlah, 
 
 8 Juhn's Archaeology. 
 
Jewish Manners and Customs. 71 
 
 and, if travelling, his girdle unclasped and laid on 
 a stone for a pillow, made all the preparations 
 necessary for his repose. This is seen in those coun- 
 tries at the present time. So necessary was this 
 simlah to the Jew that Moses enacted a law that when 
 given as a pledge it should be returned over night. 
 (Exodus xxii, 25, 26 ; Deut. xxiv, 13.) 
 
 These simple garments, — the drawers, tunic and sim- 
 lah, formed the usual costume of the Jew, a conven- 
 ient and appropriate one in that southern climate : in 
 winter the legs were often bound in cloth for warmth, 
 and cloaks were worn also as a shelter from the 
 weather. The cloak referred to in II Tim. iv, 13, was 
 a Roman garment worn as a protection from the rain, 
 or on journeys. Long garments were worn by those 
 affecting particular sanctity or wisdom. The Talmud 
 says, " Rabbi Jochanon asked Rabbi Baruaah, what 
 kind of garment is the inner garment of the disciple 
 of the wise man ? It is such an one that the flesh may 
 not be seen underneath him.' 7 The glossis is, " It is to 
 reach to the very soles of the feet. 77 * 
 
 White was esteemed the most appropriate color for 
 cotton cloths, and purple for others ; black was used 
 for common wear and particularly for mourners : on 
 festival clays, the rich and powerful robed themselves 
 in white cotton, and the fullers had discovered a method 
 of giving it a dazzling brilliancy, which was very highly 
 esteemed. Scarlet was much admired. The tunics of 
 the women were longer than those of the men, and 
 their dress was usually of liner quality of cloth ; they 
 always wore veils, even at home, except in the pres- 
 ence of servants and of those relatives with whom nup- 
 • Lightfoot. 
 
72 LlFE-SCEXES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 tiala were interdicted : their hair was also dressed dif- 
 ferently from that of the men. 
 
 Sandals, the tunic, the simian, a beard, sometimes a 
 turban or cover ing for the head, will give us an idea 
 of the outward appearance of the Jew of those ancient 
 times. The face which we call Jewish is by no means 
 universal : any one who will, now, look around in a 
 Jewish synagogue of the better kind, will see many 
 faces of our own type, which would be not at all dis- 
 tinguishable in the street ; and doubtless, in these re- 
 mote periods, the Jewish features generally were of a 
 superior cast, to those we commonly see now, after the 
 long centuries, during which they have been as the 
 Pariahs of mankind. That universal traveller, Bay- 
 ard Taylor, says of the Jews, whom he met in Pales- 
 tine, " The native Jewish families in Jerusalem, as well 
 as those in other parts of Palestine, present a marked 
 difference to the Jews of Europe and America. They 
 possess the same physical characteristics in the dark, 
 oblong eye, the prominent nose, the strongly marked 
 cheek and jaw ; but in the latter these traits have be- 
 come harsh and coarse. Centuries devoted to the low- 
 est and most debasing forms of traffic, with the endur- 
 ance of persecutions and contumely, have greatly 
 changed and vulgarized the appearance of the race. 
 But the Jews of the Holy City still retain a x noble 
 beauty, which proved to my mind their descent from 
 the ancient princely house of Israel. The forehead is 
 loftier, the eye larger and more frank in its expression, 
 the nose more delicate in its prominence, and the face 
 a purer oval. I have remarked the same distinction 
 in the countenance of those Jewish families of Europe, 
 whose members have devoted themselves to art or lit- 
 
FESTIVALS. 73 
 
 erature. Mendelsohn's was a face that must have be- 
 longed to the house of David."* 
 
 That singular addition to their costume, — the phy- 
 lacteries has already been described. When a Jew 
 wished to make a profession of unusual strictness in 
 observing the law, he enlarged their size, so as to 
 make them a more striking object to the public eye. 
 
 Mezzuroth was a name given by the Jews to cer- 
 tain pieces of parchment on which were written Deut. 
 vi, 4-9, and Deut. xi, 13 : then the parchment rolled 
 up was put into a case on which was written shadai, one 
 of the names of God. This they attached to the outer 
 doors of their houses, also of their chambers and to the 
 knocker of the door on the right side. As often as 
 they passed this, they touched the name of the Deity 
 with a finger which they afterwards kissed. 
 
 CHAPTER Til, 
 
 FESTIVALS. 
 
 Thrice in the year, every adult male was bound to 
 appear at Jerusalem ; namely, at the feasts of the 
 Passover, of Pentecost, and of Tabernacles. This 
 seems to have been a great demand on their time and 
 means ; but religious observances were, to the Jews, 
 no simple pastime, but the main business of life ; as 
 their Sabbath, Sabbatical years, their tithes, sacrifi- 
 
 * "The land of the Saracen. 
 
74 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 ces, and feasts and festivals may testify. Their whole 
 polity was a great religious system. God was their 
 owner as well as king. Their means, and they them- 
 selves, were his. He had a right to their first-born 
 of children : the firstlings of their flocks had to be 
 offered to him ; so also the first of their fruits ; so 
 also the tenths of all the produce of their lands. 
 Nay more ; of the remaining nine-tenths, one-tenth 
 was still to be taken to the temple, or to be changed 
 into money, if the owner was too remote to offer the 
 substance ; the money to be given for religious use, 
 (Deut. xii, 17-19, 22-29 ; xiv, 22-27.) There were, 
 also, numerous other offerings which we will not stop 
 here to particularize. 
 
 In lieu of taking the first-born child, (due to God 
 because he had saved the first-born of Israel from the 
 destroying angel in Egypt,) he had accepted for him- 
 self a tribe, — that of Levi, — and had set them aside 
 for his service. Of this tribe he had then taken a por- 
 tion — the distinguished family of Aaron — for the 
 priesthood ; the remainder being reserved for the 
 other offices of the tabernacle and temple. But even 
 then, the first born of all children had to be brought 
 to the temple, and had to be there redeemed with 
 money, according to the estimate of the priest, which 
 was never to exceed five shekels ($2,50) in amount. 
 The first-born of cattle could not be redeemed, but 
 had to be offered to God : so also the first-fruits of the 
 earth. 
 
 These three journeys to Jerusalem, made each year, 
 were not the inconvenient, laborious tasks which they 
 may perhaps seem to us to have been. The two ex- 
 tremes of Palestine were only 170 of our statute 
 
Festivals. 75 
 
 miles apart : from the most remote portions of it a 
 good pedestrian could reach Jerusalem in about four 
 days ; travelling, as they did, with families and cat- 
 tle, this distance would take about six ; the nearer 
 places, of course, less in proportion. Their word for 
 feast, an chag, means rejoicing ;* and such was doubt- 
 less the feeling strongest in the heart of old and 
 young in their families, while making preparations for 
 such a journey, and while they were on the way. 
 
 The writer of this present work is the more able to 
 picture to himself such a going up to their festivals from 
 having once travelled a day and a half with companies 
 of German pilgrims on their way to a celebrated 
 shrine, that of Maria Zell, (the Virgin of Zell,) lying 
 about forty miles to the southward of Vienna. The 
 circumstances were all so peculiar and marked with 
 the picturesque ; and were so illustrative of what may 
 have been in Judea, in those ancient times, that he 
 will briefly describe them, speaking in the first per- 
 son for the sake of convenience. 
 
 I was making a pedestrian tour through Europe, 
 and was at this time (August, 1833,) proceeding from 
 Trieste to Vienna. Having stopped at a wayside 
 inn for refreshment one day, at noon, I was after- 
 wards dozing on the porch when I was roused up by 
 three women travellers standing there bargaining for 
 some soup. They had great loaves of brown bread 
 on their heads, and were soon, by such aid, engaged 
 in making a hearty meal. I asked them where they 
 were going, and they said, " to Maria Zell." My in- 
 formant, pointing to one of the company, added, 
 " This woman is becoming blind, and wanted to go 
 e From a an to dance, to celebrate a feast by dancing. 
 
76 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 there and pray, for Maria of Zell is powerful to help ; 
 this other is quite blind already." " But surely you 
 cannot expect her to be restored." " No, but she 
 would not stay at home." The person speaking could 
 see, and was their guide ; their whole journey to the 
 shrine would occupy nine days. 
 
 On the second day after this, whiletrav elling 
 on, I was passed by a young man, a long staff in his 
 hand, and going like the wind ; and he soon left me 
 behind. In answer to my inquiry, as he lingered 
 a minute with me, he said that he was going to Ma- 
 ria Zell. 
 
 That evening I crossed a small stream, and follow- 
 ed a winding road from it to the village of Fronleiten, 
 on its bank, and stopped there to spend the next day, 
 the Sabbath. At the tavern they gave me a bed in 
 a large music room, as was often the case in the vil- 
 lages in Germany. Some time, during the night, it 
 seemed as if the spirit of song was haunting the cham- 
 ber and mixing itself with my dreams ; and finally 
 the music, soft yet strong, grew so powerful that I 
 started from my sleep. My next act was to spring 
 from bed and to throw up a window opening upon the 
 street. There was a spectacle below quite in unison 
 with such dreams. The moon was about half an hour 
 from setting, and cast a dim light on objects around. 
 Along the middle of the street was a procession of 
 pilgrims, in double file ; they seemed, to my glance, 
 to be all in white ; and their rapid gait, in the dull 
 moonlight, appeared more like the flitting of ghosts 
 than the tread of earthly forms. As they passed they 
 were singing a hymn to some tune that harmonized 
 with the scene and the occasion. They soon grew in- 
 
Festivals. 77 
 
 distinct, and their hymn floated on the night air as if 
 spirits were singing ; and then we had again only the 
 deserted street and the splashing of water in the foun- 
 tain below. 
 
 At sunrise I was again aroused by singing from 
 many voices in the street ; and found, on looking 
 out, that it came from another company of pilgrims 
 winding up from the river and entering the church. 
 After concluding their worship, they proceeded on 
 their way. Other processions succeeded ; and dur- 
 ing the whole day pilgrims were passing on towards 
 Maria Zell. I found, on inquiry, that they were from 
 the rural districts of Styria ; that it was customary 
 to make appointments each year, for particular dis- 
 tricts, and that this was the year for pilgrims from 
 that region. 
 
 I began my journey early on the following day : 
 and as the road, since leaving Gratz, had been, most 
 of the time ascending, and was now fairly among the 
 German Alps, the scenery on every side was marked 
 with grand and striking features. I knew that there 
 were pilgrims not far ahead, and by rapid walking soon 
 joined a company of thirty-five, seated on the grass, 
 at their morning meal. They appeared to be a fami- 
 ly party ; and there was a venerable looking man at 
 ( the head of it, by whose word they were governed, 
 as they presently arose and formed a procession in 
 double file. They were all provided for the journey 
 with huge loaves of bread, which the women carried 
 on their heads. Not long after setting out, the leader 
 uncovered his head, and all the rest doing the same, 
 the whole party engaged in solemn prayer ; still, 
 however, continuing their walk. This over, the hats 
 
7S Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 were replaced and they all commenced singing a 
 hymn. The effect was very fine. Their voices were 
 good ; the tune was a pleasant one ; the grandest and 
 most sublime forms of nature were all around us ; a 
 stream was dashing by our side, mingling its sounds 
 not inharmoniously with the singing ; and the gentle 
 moving of the forest trees, as we passed along, seemed 
 by the graceful motions and the soft murmurings, to 
 intimate that nature herself was joining in the wor- 
 ship offered to nature's God. I looked in the faces 
 of my companions, and read there clear signs of the 
 sincerity of their devotions. Thus we travelled on, 
 the whole party engaged in singing and praying al- 
 ternately for more than an hour ; at the end of which 
 time we arrived at a little chapel by the roadside, 
 which they entered in order to commence some more 
 formal devotions. 
 
 Here I left them : and passing on, I soon joined a 
 party of about 150 resting in the little town of Oflands ; 
 and this company, being more miscellaneous, was or- 
 ganized more carefully than the other. They occu- 
 pied much of the time, as we proceeded, in singing and 
 prayer : a slight rain, lasting two or three hours, did 
 not interrupt either the journey or their devotions. 
 
 They also stopped in the afternoon ; and I pro- 
 ceeded and joined a party of about 250, a little fur- 
 ther on the road. Their singing, as we travelled on, 
 had the finest effect imaginable : for the rain had now 
 ceased ; we were quite up, among the highest parts of 
 the Alps ; the softening influences of evening were 
 beginning to be felt upon the scenery, and upon our 
 feelings ; and, if to this Ave add that the voices were 
 good, and the airs musical and sweet, some idea may 
 
Festivals. 79 
 
 be formed of the evening walk, as our procession 
 passed, winding among the mountain tops. 
 
 About sunset, we came to a small village^ and stop- 
 ped to rest. I walked a little to one side, so as to 
 have a view, at leisure, of the mountain scenery : for 
 the spot commanded a most extensive prospect ; and 
 every Alpine height was now steeped in its own pecu- 
 liar hue, running through the richest shades of blue, 
 purple, green and yellow ; while over some floated 
 canopies of vapor with ever-changing colors, which no 
 human art could imitate. I soon, however, thought it 
 best to return to my company : — but they were gone, 
 nor could I find them anywhere. The road in each 
 direction was in sight, for some distance ; but they 
 were not there. I looked around, perplexed and 
 troubled : till, at last, happening to raise my eyes, I 
 espied them scattered thickly over an adjoining hill- 
 side so steep that I had previously not thought of look- 
 ing for them there. It is called the " Seher-berg f 
 and is so steep, that, in climbing it, I often had to dig 
 holes in the turf with my feet before trusting myself to 
 the next step. On the way up, I passed four pilgrims 
 at prayer, on a more level part of the ascent. When 
 I joined the company again, which was on the summit, 
 I found them all on their knees, in an open area among 
 the trees. Their faces were towards their homes ; and 
 their leader was repeating something which seemed to 
 be half vow, half-prayer. Suddenly they all rose, and 
 faced in the contrary direction ; when, kneeling again, 
 they repeated their devotions : and then, all rising, 
 they broke, with full, strong voices, into a hymn, the 
 cadences of which were well adapted to the scene and 
 the time. In doable file, as before, and still singing, 
 
80 Life scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 they descended the hill by a slope more gentle than 
 on the opposite side ; and, at the bottom, we passed 
 a large stone, which many of the pilgrims stepped to 
 and kissed. We came, soon after this, to a large 
 tavern, which the pilgrims immediately filled, as their 
 resting place for the night. I went on to another, 
 four miles distant ; but which I found, on arriving 
 there, to be already filled, like the other ; I however 
 succeeded there in getting a bed. 
 
 On the morrow I joined this latter party, and went 
 with them towards the shrine. At the expiration of 
 a couple of hours, a bright object, like a gilded sun 
 on top of a steeple, shone among the trees ; and now, 
 by a little way-side chapel, the whole company stop- 
 ped for formal prayer. Soon afterwards we reached 
 the precincts of the village Maria Zell, where my 
 companions stopped to make their toilet at a stream 
 crossing the road. At the church I found many oth- 
 ers advancing on their knees through the courtyard 
 towards the shrine. 
 
 We may, from these scenes, have probably some 
 idea of the circumstances attending the going up to 
 the festivals at Jerusalem, in those ancient times. 
 The chief difficulty with the German pilgrims was in 
 finding accommodations for the night : but in those 
 southern countries, people, when they can, sleep, from 
 choice, in the open air. The simlah, wrapped around 
 the Jewish travellers, with the girdle folded and laid 
 on a stone for a pillow, was all that was needed in 
 that climate. Such was doubtless the night-rest of 
 their patriarch Jacob, when, travelling in this same 
 country, he saw, in his dream, the angels ascending 
 and descending ; and so, in the morning he called his 
 
Festivals. 81 
 
 open-air hostelrie, where the bright stars had shone 
 down upon him, and heaven's vault was the dome, — 
 a fit place for dreaming of angels — Bethel, or the 
 house of God. 
 
 The object of the Jewish festivals was " to perpet- 
 uate the memory of great events j to keep them firm 
 in their religion by ceremonies and the majesty of di- 
 vine service ; to procure them certain pleasures, and 
 allowable times of rest ; and to renew the acquaint- 
 ances, correspondence and friendship of their tribes 
 and families, which, coming from distant towns in the 
 country, met three times a year in the holy city."* 
 The periods for the festivals were : for the Passover, 
 just when the harvest was ripening, but the gathering 
 had not yet begun ; for Pentecost, 50 days after this, 
 when the harvesting had been finished ; for the feast 
 of Tabernacles, just before seeding time had com- 
 menced : — periods, consequently, when time among 
 agriculturists could very well be spared : and the 
 Jews were generally cultivators of the soil. Then, 
 as regards weather, the feast of Tabernacles was about 
 our 15th of October, before the rainy season had set 
 in : Pentecost was at a time when not a cloud is ever 
 seen in Palestine, but yet prior to the hot season : 
 the Passover was on the 14th Nisan, which month 
 corresponded to the latter part of our March and be- 
 ginning of April ; and at the 14th Nisan we may con- 
 sider the weather of that country to have recovered 
 from the wintry storms, and to have become settled 
 and clear ; for, from the middle of April to the middle 
 of September, rains and thunders were little known. 
 The weather, therefore, for these journeys we may 
 
 * Calmet. 
 
 4* 
 
82 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 believe to have been clear, but not warm, and fa- 
 vorable for travelling : the time could easily be 
 spared, and the periods came when the heart was 
 open for rejoicing and thankfulness. We may easily 
 imagine the members of families, male and female, in- 
 cluding the children fit for travel (for all seem to 
 have gone, although it was compulsory only on the 
 adult males) starting together, joining other families 
 from their neighborhood, or on the road ; — cheerful, 
 happy parties, and all the happier for the " pic-nic " 
 kind of living on the way ; making the journey easy, 
 since there was no occasion for hurrying, and they 
 were subject to little expense on the road. The 
 morning and evening and other occasional devotions 
 added a sacredness to the day ; and the cheerfulness 
 in other incidents of the journey had only a better 
 zest from this devotion. Their grand and noble 
 hymns — (and time, even to our day, has furnished 
 no grander or more sublime hymnology) — were 
 chanted ; and often and often the full tones, in 
 that rich Hebrew language, rose in sublime anthems 
 in the clear air, amid the very regions of which those 
 anthems spoke ; the mountains and plains, all wit- 
 nesses of God ? s miraculous powers, seeming now to 
 take a voice and to join the singers in the great an- 
 thems of praise. The cattle intended for the coming 
 sacrifices helped to carry the offerings of the first 
 fruits or other burdens of the travellers : the horns 
 of the oxen were sometimes gilt ; — trumpets were 
 blown before the processions, to herald joyfully their 
 advances towards the holy city, the temple, and the 
 altars*. The children had with them their pet lamb 
 or kid, also decked, and sporting alon<x, unconscious 
 
Festivals. 83 
 
 of the death so closely awaiting it ; and resting at 
 night with the head of the child nestled against it — 
 the animal itself still, as always before, a part of the 
 family group. It was to be the coming sacrifice, — 
 was thus a part of their religion itself — was to go 
 before God accepted by Him, from and for them ; 
 and was to open their way towards paradise, and so 
 was a sacred object even in its sportiveness : and 
 then again, the children, while hanging around their 
 pet, with many a secret grief at the near final parting, 
 were told of Abraham, leading even his only son to- 
 wards the same Mount Moriah to which they were 
 travelling, and of his faith, which they could now 
 all the better appreciate from the trial required of 
 themselves. Thus were infused into their young 
 hearts the lessons of their religion by practical teach- 
 ings, so well understood and never to be forgotten. 
 
 But. on the whole journey, apart from the beauty 
 of the scenery amid which the roads were laid, there 
 were to all minds and hearts, historic lessons of 
 strangest character and highest interest. If we sup- 
 pose the festival journey to be from the northern part 
 of Galilee, we see the travellers soon on the great 
 plain of Esdraelon, vast in extent, and rich in beauty, 
 on which rose the cone-shaped Tabor, with a town 
 perched on its fortified heights. But the interest in 
 natural beauty was sure to be mixed with grander 
 thoughts ; for there, on Tabor, had their country- 
 man, Barak, ranged his host of 10,000 men, while 
 Sisera, with his immense army, and his 900 chariots 
 of iron, waited to engage the Israelites on the plain 
 below. There had the fearless prophetess, Deborah, 
 without whom Barak had said that he would not go 
 
81 Life-scenes from the Four G-ospels. 
 
 down, cried out to him, " Up. for this is the day : is 
 not the Lord gone out before thee?" And so they 
 had rushed down ; and the whole plain was soon cov- 
 ered with the flying enemy, slaughtered till not a 
 man was left, except Sisera, who was spared to be slain 
 by a woman's hand, because Barak had doubted God. 
 How heartily, as the travellers passed on, did they 
 now chant Deborah's song: of victory, ' l Praise the 
 Lord for the avenging of Israel" — ending with " So let 
 all thine enemies perish, Lord.""* Far to the west 
 of them now rose grandly on the edge of the plain, 
 and in full view, Carmel, with its history of Ahab's 
 heathen priests, gathered there by order of Elijah ; — 
 the altars prepared there ; the priests cutting their 
 own flesh in frenzy, and calling on their gods in 
 vain ; and the heavenly fire, at Elijah's prayer, de- 
 scending and consuming his sacrifice, and licking up 
 the water in the trenches around. Soon their way laid 
 by Jezreel, with its story of Elijah's hurried arrival 
 there with the king, after the prophets of Baal had 
 been slain in Kishon, on the western side of Esdrae- 
 lon : and of the windows of heaven then opened 
 in rain ; and also of Jezebel's fearful end, under the 
 walls of Jezreel. f On their left, also, lay Endor, 
 telling of Saul's night journey thither from the neigh- 
 boring mountain of Gilboa, where his army lay en- 
 camped : and of the summons to the spirit of Samuel, 
 and of the king's heart-rending cry to the dead 
 prophet, " God is departed from me and heareth me 
 no more.']:" Further to the east they could see the 
 isolated hill of Scythopolis (Bethshean) with precip- 
 itous sides, and a castle on its summit, against the 
 * Judges iv & v. f 1 Kings xviii ; 2 Kings ix. J 1 Sam. xxviii. 
 
Festivals. 85 
 
 walls of which the decapitated body of Saul had been 
 nailed by. his triumphant foes.* "What lessons of 
 most powerful interest there were in all this journey 
 to their festivals ! Soon, now, towards the southern 
 side of Esdraelon, they passed the isolated range of 
 Gilboa, 1,300 feet high, where Saul was defeated and 
 slain : and here, with their chanting, mingled saddest 
 notes, as, filled with the memory of the great slaugh- 
 ter of their countrymen, they sang the lament of 
 David, " The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high 
 places : how are the mighty fallen ! Tell it not in 
 Oath, publish it not in the streets of Askalon ; lest the 
 daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters 
 of the uncircumcised triumph. Ye mountains of Gil- 
 boa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain 
 upon you, nor fields of offerings ;t for there the shield 
 of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as 
 though he had not been anointed with oil. How are 
 the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle !":£ 
 
 Their journey might lead also by Sychem and Ja- 
 cob's well ; and they could picture the patriarch re- 
 turned once more to his native land, and finding here, 
 for a while, his home ; and here, too, looking upon 
 the two mountains, Ebal and Gerazim, the former 
 bare, the other fertile and beautiful, they were re- 
 minded of the strange scene of blessing and cursing 
 in the ancient times, to each item of which all Israel 
 gathered there said Amen. 
 
 Shiloh also was on their way, with its mementos 
 of the ark resting there for 328 years : and of Sam- 
 uel brought up there : and of tne sudden death of Eli, 
 
 * 1 Samuel xxxi. 
 
 f Gilboa is to this day remarkable for its barrenness. 
 
 X 2 Samuel i. 
 
86 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 when it was announced to him that his countrymen 
 were routed in battle, and his children slain. Then 
 they passed Bethel, where Jacob had his dream of the 
 angels ; — their whole journey from home to Jerusalem 
 being, indeed, through regions where history took to 
 them a living and speaking form. 
 
 Thus in prayer, and in singing their grand old 
 hymns, and in pleasant intercourse, they passed on ; 
 until at last, having reached the heights of Scopus, 
 they paused in mute admiration and joy fulness : and 
 then, they broke out in loudest praise : for, from this 
 elevation, they looked down over a wide scene of 
 beauty, in the midst of which lay " the joy of the 
 whole earth," their own blest, sacred city, — Jeru- 
 salem. 
 
 On the road the crowds had thickened, new com- 
 panies, all the while, uniting ; — not as for one of our 
 modern gatherings, but for a deeply sacred and yet a 
 glad purpose ; devotion and joy mingled harmoni- 
 ously and beamed on every face ; old associates were 
 there, with cordial greetings ; friends met from all 
 parts of Palestine to strengthen the heart-bonds al- 
 ready formed. 
 
 Of the feasts of Tabernacles and Passover we shall 
 have notices in a future part of this work. The cere- 
 monies at Pentecost were brief, and we give them 
 here as a suitable conclusion to this part of our subject. 
 The word Pentecost signifies the 50th ; and was used 
 because this feast was on the 50th day, that is, the ex- 
 piration of seven weeks from the second day of the 
 Passover feast. The object of it was to bring the 
 Jews to acknowledge in the sanctuary at this, the end- 
 ing of their harvest, the dominion of God over the 
 
Festivals. 87 
 
 fruits of the earth ; and also to thank him for the law 
 given on Mount Sinai, on the 50th day after their com- 
 ing out from Egypt. Assembled at Jerusalem, they 
 formed into companies of 24 persons each, to carry 
 their first fruits in a ceremonious manner. Each com- 
 pany was preceded by an ox appointed to be sacri- 
 ficed, his head crowned with garlands of olive 
 branches, his horns sometimes gilt, a player on a flute 
 preceding him. The offering of first-fruits consisted 
 of two loaves of wheat bread, barley, grapes, figs, 
 olives and dates. Each man carried his basket, and 
 the king himself was not exempt from this act. They 
 walked in pomp to the temple, singing hymns : and, 
 arriving there before the priests, the Levites sang the 
 30th Psalm. The bearers then brought their baskets 
 before the priest, and said : 
 
 " A Syrian ready to perish was my father ; and he 
 went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a 
 few, and became there a nation, great, mighty and 
 populous," &c. " And now, Lord, I have brought 
 the first-fruits of the land, which thou, Lord, hast 
 given me."* 
 
 They placed the baskets beside the altar, and after 
 prostrating themselves, were free then for the social 
 enjoyments of the occasion. 
 
 Such was the nature of the Jewish institutions, and 
 sucli their legitimate actions ;— a pleasing spectacle, 
 where religion and social joy were combined, and each 
 helped to give a zest to the other ; and where all life 
 was made grand by its intimate relationship to God. 
 
 But, over this fair spectacle of ordinances and wor- 
 ship, and over the Jewish heart, a cloud had been 
 
 * Dent, xx vi, 4-10 : see also Numbers xxviii, 26-31. 
 
88 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 gradually drawn ; and it was, every day, darkening 
 more and more. It came from the substitution of 
 forms for the essence of religion ; from assumptions 
 and pride in their leaders, and the hypocrisy which 
 these engender ; from the innovations by the Phari- 
 sees ; and especially from The Unwritten Word, (oral 
 traditions) of which the Pharisees were the authors ; 
 an instrument, which it will be readily seen, must, from 
 its mysterious and undefined nature, have been capable 
 of giving immense power to its possessors. The Jew- 
 ish history of this very singular claimant of divine au- 
 thority is thus condensed by Isaac Nordheimer D. P,, 
 Professor of oriental languages in the University of 
 New York, drawn by him from the writings of R. 
 Moses Ben Maimon, commonly called Maimonides* 
 the highest authority among the Jews : 
 
 " All the laws given to Moses on Mount Sinai were 
 accompanied by their interpretation ; as it is written, 
 ■ I will give thee tables of stone and the law and the 
 commandments' (Ex. xxiv, 12). ' The law' means 
 written law, and " the commandments " its interpreta- 
 tion, the oral law. Although this oral law was not 
 preserved in writing, Moses taught it all to the 70 
 elders composing his Beth-din or tribunal. Eleazer, 
 the priest, Phineas, his son, and Joshua, were likewise 
 instructed by Moses, especially the latter, who was his 
 own immediate disciple. From Joshua, who spent his 
 whole life in teaching it, the oral law was transmitted 
 to many of the elders of the people ; and, from them 
 and Phineas, it was received by Eli. It then passed, 
 successively, through the hands of Samuel and his tri- 
 bunal, David and his tribunal, Abjiah the Shilonite 
 <> He died A. D. 1205. 
 
Festivals. 89 
 
 and his tribunal, Elijah, Elisha, Jehoiada the priest, 
 Zechariah, Hosea, &c, &c, [the whole list is given by 
 the Jews] to Hillel. R. Gamaliel, his son, imparted 
 it to his son Simon, from whom it was received by his 
 son Gamaliel, [Saul's teacher,] who was followed by 
 his son, Simon the 3d. After him came his son R. 
 Judah, generally called ' our holy Rabbi.' This R. 
 Judah compiled the Mishna. From the death of 
 Moses to his own age, no book had been composed for 
 public instruction containing the oral law ; but, in 
 every generation, the chief of the tribunal, or the 
 prophet who lived at the time, made memoranda of 
 what he had heard from his predecessors and instruc- 
 tors, and communicated it, orally, to the people. In 
 like manner, each individual committed to writing for 
 his own use, and according to the degree of his ability, 
 the oral laws and information he had received respect- 
 ing the interpretation of the Bible, with the various 
 decisions which have been pronounced in every age and 
 sanctioned by the authority of the grand tribunal." 
 
 R. Judah had become fearful that the tradition might 
 fall into oblivion, and thus, a. d. 160, wrote out the 
 work, Mishna or Second Law, as above described. An 
 edition of this book, published in Amsterdam 1698- 
 1703, is in 6 vols, folio ; and the vastness of the work 
 shows us, not only how difficult (if not impossible) it was 
 for any memory to retain it all, but also what immense 
 means it afforded the Rabbis, by its very vastness, for 
 imposing on the Jewish people, coming to them as 
 these traditions did, as the word of God. Indeed, the 
 oral law soon began to claim more power than the 
 Written Word of the Pentateuch. Before we proceed 
 to give authority for this assertion, we must speak also 
 
90 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 of the Gemara, (i. e. completion,) called so, because in 
 this book the oral law is completed, or fully explained. 
 The Gemaras contain an exposition of the contents 
 of the Mishna, and discussions on disputed points of 
 doctrine, also historical and biographical notices, le- 
 gends, disquisitions on astronomy and sympathetic 
 medicine,* aphorisms, apologues, parables, short and 
 pithy sermons, and rules of ethics and of practical wis- 
 dom in general. There are two Gemaras, one called 
 the Jerusalem Gemara, compiled at the city of Tibe- 
 rias, about 70 years after the writing out of the Mishna, 
 (or a. d. 230.) The other, the Babylonian Gemara, 
 was prepared a few years later : this latter, as pub- 
 lished in Berlin in 1715, occupies 12 folio volumes. 
 The Mishna and Gemara form, together, what is called 
 the Talmud, from the Hebrew Lamad to learn. The 
 Mishna is divided into 6 portions : 1, on seeds and ag- 
 riculture ; 2, festivals ; 3, women ; 4, laws of civil 
 life ; 5, things holy ; and, 6, purifications. Being 
 written out, so soon after our Saviour's time, it may 
 be considered a fair exhibition of the excrescences 
 which had grown upon the Jewish religion, and which 
 Christ so often and so severely denounced. The Tal- 
 mud, as respects its claims to authority, says : " The 
 written law is narrow ; but the traditional is longer 
 than the earth and broader than the sea." "The 
 words of the scribes are lovely above the words of the 
 law ; for the words of the law are weighty and light, 
 but the words of the scribe are all weighty." " The 
 Bible is like water : the Mishna like wine : lie that 
 hath learned the Scripture, and not the Mishna, is a 
 blockhead." 
 
 The great English scholar, Dr. Lightfoot, believing 
 
Festivals. 91 
 
 that an examination of these books might afford im- 
 portant information respecting the ways of those 
 earliest times, and help us thus in the understanding 
 of the New Testament, gave nearly all his life to this 
 subject ; and Christian students must ever feel grate- 
 ful to him for an undertaking so full of difficulties«and 
 attended with so much that was utterly wearisome 
 and disgusting. He says, in his own quaint lan- 
 guage, respecting the Talmuds : " The almost uncon- 
 querable difficulty of the style, the frightful roughness 
 of the language, and the amazing emptiness and soph- 
 istry of the matters handled, do torture, vex and tire 
 him that reads them. They do everywhere abound in 
 trifles, in that manner as though they had no mind to 
 be read ; with obscurities and difficulties, as though 
 they had no mind to be understood: so that the 
 reader hath need of patience all along to enable him 
 to bear both trifling in sense and roughness in expres- 
 sion." 
 
 Speaking again of the representation of the Su- 
 preme Being in the Talmud, he says : " With re- 
 gard to this fundamental doctrine of all religions, we 
 must forbear to quote what would be offensive to the 
 pious in perusal. Suffice it to say, that it speaks of 
 God as the author of sin ; as needing atonement ; as 
 contracting pollution ; as inferior to the Rabbies in 
 knowledge : this, and more horrible blasphemies, are 
 of common occurrence." 
 
 Surely there was great need for a Divine Teacher, 
 and for a Deliverer to appear ! Quotations from these 
 works will be given in another part of this book. 
 
 In searching for the origin of the abuses just de- 
 tailed, we have no occasion to go very far ; for the 
 
92 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 Scribes and Pharisees, " hypocrites," as the Saviour 
 often declared them to be,* " making the word of God 
 of no effect through your traditions, which ye have 
 believed, '"t readily furnish us with the clue to them 
 all. 
 
 11 Scribe denotes generally any man learned, and is 
 opposed to the word rude or clownish. More particu- 
 larly the word Scribe denotes such as being learned 
 and of a scholastic education, addicted themselves es- 
 pecially to handling the pen and writing. Such were 
 the public notaries in the Sanhedrim ; registrars in the 
 synagogues ; amanuenses, who employed themselves in 
 transcribing the law, phylacteries, short sentences to 
 be fixed upon door-posts, wills of contract, divorces, 
 <fcc. * * But, above all, the fathers of the tradi- 
 tions were called Scribes, (who were, indeed, elders of 
 the Sanhedrim,) which is clear enough in such like ex- 
 pressions, ' The words of the Scribes are more lovely 
 than the words of the law ;' i. e., traditions are better 
 than the tvritten law, 'Scribes of the people' were 
 those elders of the Sanhedrim who were not sprung 
 from the sacerdotal or Levitical stock, but from the 
 other tribes : the elders of the Sanhedrim, sprung 
 from the blood of the priests, were the scribes of the 
 clergy ; the rest were scribes of the people.'- J 
 
 The Pharisees, called so from the Hebrew word 
 Fharash y signifying to separate, have been noticed in a 
 previous chapter ; and it is necessary to mention 
 them here, only as coming before us in history, about 
 the time when we have the first distinct notices of the 
 traditional law. They and the Scribes were its con- 
 's Matt, xii, 13-33 ; xv, 7. t Mark vii, 13. 
 X Lightfoot. 
 
Festivals. 93 
 
 servators, and, doubtless, also its originators. That all 
 the Pharisees were wicked men is not to be supposed ; 
 for we have record of individuals of probity belong- 
 ing to this sect j but these were the few exceptions, and 
 the character of the rest is emblazoned in our Sav- 
 iour's public denunciations of them, the truth of which 
 they did not dare to deny.; It is not wonderful that 
 such men, vainglorious and haughty, ambitious, over- 
 bearing and hypocritical, should persistently oppose 
 the Saviour, and that he should so constantly warn 
 the people against them and their works 
 
 There was another sect among the Jews called the 
 Essenes, a quiet people, living by themselves, and 
 almost entirely cultivators of the soil. Josephus 
 speaks of them as only 4000 in number, and says, 
 " They are Jews by birth, and seem to have a greater 
 affection one for another than the other sects have. 
 These Essenes reject pleasures as an evil, but es- 
 teem continence and the conquest over our passions 
 to be virtue. They reject wedlock, but* choose out 
 other persons' children while they are pliable and fit 
 for learning, and esteem them to be of their kindred, 
 and form them according to their own manners.' 7 * 
 In another part of his book, however, he intimates 
 that some of them married, and that they were more 
 numerous than as above described : but they do not 
 seem to have exercised, or cared to exercise, any 
 great influence in national affairs. 
 
 Another Jewish sect, the Herodians, were, how- 
 ever ambitious of such power, and stood boldly for- 
 ward not only as the advocates of the Roman govern- 
 ment, but also of principles corrupting their country- 
 » De bel. ii, 8, § 2. 
 
94 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 men. They took their name, apparently, from Herod 
 the Great, and seem to have drawn their sentiment3 
 from him, namely : 1st, That the dominion of the 
 Romans over the Jews was just, and that it was their 
 duty to submit; and, 2d, That in the present circum- 
 stances, they might, with a good conscience, follow 
 many of the heathen modes and usages.* Twice the 
 Pharisees combined with them in attempts to entrap 
 and destroy the Messiah ; and no further proof can 
 be needed of the bitter hostility to him by the former 
 sect than their union thus with men whose avowed 
 principles in national affairs were so utterly hostile 
 to their own. 
 
 We have now, through these preliminary remarks, 
 a view of the surface of Jewish society, and of some 
 of its internal workings ; but, after all, there was a 
 deep under current of feeling and belief which we 
 have not reached, and cannot reach. The power of 
 the insolent Pharisee over the masses was tremendous, 
 backed, as it was, by the traditional law claiming to 
 be that of God : yet the people were ever ready to 
 break from them, and the rulers were ever fearful of 
 such revolt by their followers. We may know from 
 this, that in the Jewish heart was a broad sub- 
 stratum of right feeling, which no Pharisaic cunning 
 could destroy. While the Pharisees, and the Saddu- 
 cees, and Scribes, and Doctors, looked coldly on 
 Christ, or sneered, or tried to destroy him, the peo- 
 ple heard him gladly, followed him with admira- 
 tion, wanted to make him a king; and, more than 
 once, set their old doctrinal masters at defiance in 
 their love to Christ, and their joy as they followed in 
 
 ° Prideaux— see Calmet. 
 
Festivals. 95 
 
 his train. Where the general heart was so moved by 
 him, there must have been much good and right feel- 
 ing in it, notwithstanding the corrupting influences 
 which their leaders had long and hypocritically exer- 
 cised over the land. 
 
 The Jews had never been a' popular people among 
 other nations, and they could not be. Exclusive, an- 
 tagonistic to all other religions ; repelling all inter- 
 course as adapted to bring heathenism among them ; 
 believing themselves to be a 'nation chosen of God 
 from all the inhabitants ot the earth, and favored of 
 Him, they shut their hearts against all other people 
 in that adversus omnes alios hostile odium, hatred 
 amounting to hostility against all others^ described by 
 Tacitus (Hist. Lib. v,' 5,) and were regarded by 
 other nations in return with hatred mixed with con- 
 tempt. " Credat Judeus"— let a Jew believe it, ex- 
 presses Horace's contemptuous opinion of their credu- 
 lity. Their literature, even their poetry, was scarcely 
 known beyond themselves^: yet their poetry was the 
 most sublime extant, and even to our day it has not 
 been excelled. Their prophetical writing rises to a 
 grandeur of sentiment and language without a par- 
 allel ; and the father of Grecian critics on style, 
 Longinus, quotes the opening of the first chapter of 
 Genesis as the highest known specimen of the sublime. 
 While Pharisaism and the heavy curse of the tradi- 
 tional religion were like a crushing weight upon the 
 land, there must have been a mighty power in the 
 original Jewish faith to keep religion alive at all un- 
 der such a malicious influence. Alive it was ; and 
 now springing up once more with vigor at that cry 
 from the Jordan, "The kingdom _ of heaven is at 
 
96 Life scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 hand," with the subsequent declaration, u Behold 
 the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the 
 world." 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PRESENT JEWISH VIEW OF THAT PERIOD. 
 
 These preliminaries in the last three chapters will 
 enable us to take a comprehensive view of the cir- 
 cumstances attending the public ministry of Christ : 
 but the reader would probably be gratified by seeing 
 how those matters are regarded by the present Jews 
 themselves. We, therefore, make an extract from a 
 recent work, " A general history of the Jews," by 
 one of their own people, Jost ; considered by them 
 as the most profound historian of the age. It was 
 written in German, and portions have been trans- 
 lated by Rev. James Murdaugh, D. D. ; from which 
 we make our quotation. Its deeply interesting char- 
 acter will render unnecessary any apology for its 
 length, or for inserting it here in the text instead of 
 a note. 
 
 Jost says : 
 
 "Herod the Great tore in pieces all the frame- 
 work of society, and gave it a new construction. 
 Under him the people so visibly lost their national 
 peculiarities, that they seemed ready to become ex- 
 
Present Jewish View of that Period. 07 
 
 tinct. Trodden down and oppressed by a tyrannical 
 government, they turned their eyes towards the Holy 
 Scriptures and their law, for comfort and consolation. 
 They acknowledged themselves justly punished- for 
 their backsliding ; and although the sanctuary and 
 the sacrifices continued, yet every one could see that 
 a priesthood, which the king conferred on whom he 
 pleased, and of whose incumbents he had deposed 
 four and slain two, and a sanctuary which the king 
 beautified merely as a permanent temple, the sanctity 
 of which he was no way concerned to maintain, could 
 by no means satisfy the requisitions of God's govern- 
 ment, and of the Judaism resulting from it. Besides, 
 the national tribunals were disregarded, and the king 
 alone enacted laws and appointed tribunals, on every 
 occasion, according to his pleasure. The people had 
 no protection, and they were harassed with acts of 
 individual violence ; some were carried away by am- 
 bition, others by self-interest ; some acted from com- 
 pulsion, others from bigotry and hypocrisy. What 
 would be the result of such a state of things, was a 
 question which interested every friend of the public 
 weal ; and it was answered variously. One party 
 adhered to the doctrine of Judaism, and looked for 
 deliverance by a regent of the house of David ; an- 
 other party were for waging war with everything of 
 a foreign character ; and a third party declared the 
 kingdom of God to be at hand, in the way of a gen- 
 eral repentance and reformation. 
 
 " 1. The first party connected themselves with the 
 
 doctors of the law, and adhered to their schools. At 
 
 the head of these schools, during the whole reign of 
 
 Herod, stood two men entirely disconnected with 
 
 5 
 
98 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 political life, who devoted their time to the study and 
 exposition of the doctrines of the law j namely, Hil- 
 lel of Babylonia, renowned for the mildness of his 
 disposition, his kindness and calmness, and Shammai, 
 a man bold, vehement and decisive. Both were dis- 
 tinguished for learning, and both framed systems of 
 Judaism, though they frequently clashed in regard 
 to their legal conclusions on particular points. And 
 hence their schools were afterwards opposed to each 
 other, and were characterized, that of Hillel for adher- 
 ing more to the sense and import of Scripture, and 
 that of Shammai for a rigid adherence to the letter. 
 Both these men mingled so little in the transactions 
 of their times, that they became mythical personages. 
 Only some particular sayings, characteristic of each, 
 have come down to us. Thus Hillel inculcated as 
 the fundamental principle of Judaism, this maxim : 
 Love thy neighbor as thyself. On the necessity of an 
 early prosecution of knowledge, with his accustomed 
 brevity, he said : Unless I for myself, who will ? If 
 I only for myself what do I become ? If not now, 
 then when ? On the nothingness of the world, com- 
 pared with spiritual life, he said : The more flesh, 
 the more worms ; the more wealth, the more care ; the 
 more wives, the more poisoning ; the more maid-servants, 
 the more unchastiiy ; the more men-servants, the more 
 thieving, — but the more knowledge, the more life ; the 
 more reflection, the more intelligence ; the more benevo- 
 lence, the more union. Gaining a good name is a good 
 thing ; but a knowledge of the law procures immortality. 
 Respecting union he said : Separate not yourseleves 
 from the many. Do not account yourself safe until your 
 dying day : and judge not your neighbor until you stand 
 
Present Jewish View of that Period* 99 
 
 in his place. From Shammai we have only a few say- 
 ings. Make the study of the law the business of your 
 life. Say little and do much. Be beforehand with every 
 one. Yet the virtues of the man are particularly 
 eulogized. By the influence of these two men, Rabbin- 
 ism, or the authoritativeness of the teachers of the law, 
 became predominant ; Saclduceeism was nearly extin- 
 guished, and the interest of students in the application 
 of the doctrines and precepts of the law to human con- 
 duct was amazingly shackled. By the Rabbis of after 
 ages, Hillel was honored as being next to Ezra, the 
 restorer of the law. (Succa 1, end.) To him in par- 
 ticular, has been ascribed the distribution of the whole 
 law into six parts : 1, of seeds; 2, of women ; 3, of 
 festivals ; 4, of possessions and property ; 5, of sacred 
 things ; 6, of things clean and unclean ; a distribution 
 which has been permanently maintained. Under these 
 six titles are arranged all that Judaism teaches respect- 
 ing the law ; and the whole, collectively, has since 
 been called Mishna, (Deuterosis) or the second rescen- 
 sion of the law. Yet all instruction was, at that time, 
 given orally. Hence, though many persons under- 
 stood the law, yet there were few who had talents for 
 teaching. Possibly the Semicha, or the consecration 
 of public teachers by the imposition of hands, which 
 their principal doctors practiced, originated in this pe- 
 riod. For not long afterwards, the learned were al- 
 ways called Rabbis ; which word became a title, and 
 was an object of ambition. The introduction of such 
 a mode of investiture greatly increased the power of 
 the Rabbis, or rather established it on a firm basis. 
 Rabbinism directed its aims against paganism, and 
 the dominion of the senses in common people. To all 
 
100 Life -scenes, from the Four Gospels. 
 
 who intrenched themselves in this bulwark, the civil 
 government became a matter of indifference, because 
 it did not secure the proper object. From that pe- 
 riod, the adherents to Rabbinism have had a world of 
 their own, in which they lived, and for which they 
 died. We may also remark that the Rabbis, for a 
 number of centuries, continued their labors to bring 
 Judaism to perfection. The men who took the lead 
 in the work, set out with a very good idea, namely, to 
 give to Judaism an enduring shell or covering that 
 should defend it against all the storms to which it 
 might be exposed. But many of their followers em- 
 braced only the shell, and sought for salvation in out- 
 ward observances, in much prayer and fasting, in stren- 
 uously combatting the slightest deviation from very 
 trivial prescriptions ; and thus, either they were alto- 
 gether in error respecting the kernal of doctrine, or 
 they put on an apparent sanctity as a cloak to conceal 
 their moral conduct. The majority were enthusiasts in 
 the proper sense of the term, and lived only in an ideal 
 world. 
 
 "2. On the other hand, there was at that time a 
 large party who contemplated a full restoration of the 
 Jewish commonwealth, and who overrated their own 
 power. During the whole period of Herod's reign it 
 showed itself openly. Judas and Matthias, two re- 
 spectable doctors, heated their scholars into insurrec- 
 tion. Representing the king's sickness as a punish- 
 ment from heaven, they advised to the destruction of his 
 unlawful works, among which was accounted the golden 
 eagle, emblematic of the Roman dominion, placed over 
 the great door of the temple. The spirited youth, 
 giddy with the thought of a glorious conflict with the 
 
Present Jewish View of that Period. 101 
 
 vast power of the Romans, hastened to the temple and 
 tore down the eagle. Herod, who then lay sick at Jer- 
 icho, caused 40 of the perpetrators, with their leaders, to 
 be apprehended ; and he summoned the principal Jews 
 before him. The two authors, and the most active per- 
 petrators in the deed, were consigned to the flames . 
 Matthias, the high-priest, was deposed ; and his broth- 
 er-in-law, Joazar, put in his place. Thus the insurrec- 
 tion was checked, but the spirit of it was not extin- 
 guished. It was rather strengthened by the danger 
 incurred. Scarcely was Herod dead, when the love 
 of freedom everywhere awoke. Sabinus, a Roman 
 captain serving under Varus, the president of Syria, 
 quartered a Roman legion in the castle of Jerusalem, 
 and commenced an arbitrary course, which inflamed 
 the opposition still more. On the next feast of 
 weeks, the friends of liberty flocked to Jerusalem; 
 and the conflict soon commenced. Arrows, javelins 
 and stones, from every quarter, flew through the city. 
 A part of the cloisters of the temple were set on fire 
 by the Romans, and many Jews lost their lives either 
 in the flames or amidst the rains. Sabinus was forth- 
 with besieged in the castle, until some of the leaders 
 of Herod's party joined him. About the same time, 
 Judas, the son of one Ezekias, slain by Herod, took 
 possession of the natural fortress Sepphoris. Simon, 
 a former slave of Herod, a man of fine form and of 
 great bodily strength, placed a garrison in the for- 
 tress of Jericho ; but he was soon after seized and 
 put to death. Another, whose name was Athronges, 
 with a large retinue commanded by his four brothers, 
 set up a military government at Emmaus, slew the Ro- 
 mans and Herodians there, and sustained himself for 
 
102 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 several years. Varus at length appeared, with two 
 legions, and a body of Arabians and Phenecians, and, 
 vanquishing the insurgents almost everywhere, he 
 marched, into Jerusalem. About 2,000 persons were 
 crucified, and many were sold into slavery. Much 
 property was lost by fire and plundering. Yet the 
 insurgent party remained secretly in arms. They 
 bore the name of Zealots, i. c., passionate for liberty ; 
 and they caused the ruin of their country. 
 
 " 3d. A third party was actuated by totally differ- 
 ent views. In the interpretation put upon the law by 
 the first party, they could see only a tissue of external 
 sanctity ; and in the zeal of the second party, only a 
 useless effort, that must draw after it the loss of what 
 little union remained in Judea. Far from both, 
 many, especially among the more plain, common peo- 
 ple who had no thirst for distinction, and no solici- 
 tude to maintain the fallen commonwealth, hoped for 
 deliverance from the fluctuating state of things, and 
 particularly from the evils of immorality, in accord- 
 ance with the generally proclaimed oracles of the 
 prophets. There can be no doubt that this expecta. 
 tion of a kingdom of God which should arise out of Ju- 
 daism, and be a very different thing from what others 
 anticipated, was very prevalent, especially among 
 the later Essenes. They preferred a still and quiet 
 life of devotion, and served the public chiefly as 
 peaceful counsellors, and revered wise men. T he- 
 spirit alone, the divine, the all sin-subduing spirit, 
 could put an end to their calamities ; burst the fetters 
 of the law on the one hand, and of worldly-minded- 
 ness on the other, and, by hi? truth, tyung not only 
 the Jews, but all the Gentile world, to an internal 
 
Present Jewish View of that Period. 103 
 
 tranquillity ; which their religious, in combination 
 with worldly, power or oppression, could not secure. 
 These views, more or less matured, pervaded and ani- 
 mated a very ^considerable number of Jews, who 
 waited only for the manifestation of God, in order to 
 see the work of redemption in successful operation. 
 Their aspirations for it increased as the calamities 
 multiplied. That such views were liable to abuse re- 
 sulted from the nature of the human mind. There 
 arose one Theudas, who gave out that he was himself 
 the Deliverer ; so also one Simon, called the Sorcerer, 
 shortly after this period. They, however, disap- 
 peared and effected nothing. On the contrary , agree- 
 ably to the Christian doctrine (which the Jews flatly 
 contradict,) true deliverance was wrought by that 
 JESUS, who was born, of Mary at Nazareth, in the 
 very year of Herod's death ; in whom were perceived, 
 at the time of his birth, all the indications of the fu- 
 ture Messias, or the Jlnointed, the Christ. With 
 his entrance into the world, the Christian doctrine, 
 or the belief in a Redeemer already come, began to 
 be more general among the class of Jews just de- 
 scribed. Subsequently they found their expectations 
 fully answered ; and thus, though remaining out- 
 wardly Jews, they were in spirit separate from them. 
 Up to this time they were a constituent part of the 
 Jewish community ; and in them the ground of va- 
 rious agitations or rather embarrassments, may be 
 traced. The opposition between Judaism and Chris- 
 tianity first became manifest after the founder of 
 Christianity had finished his earthly course. Though 
 his life, in itself considered, makes no conspicuous 
 part of the Jewish history, we notice it here for the 
 
104 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 sake of marking- the principal points of the above-men- 
 tioned self-evolving opposition, which in subsequent 
 limes becomes of importance in the history of the 
 Jews; but we pass no judgment on* the numberless 
 different expositions of the existing narrations and 
 traditions, because it would lead us into the province 
 of theological controversies. Recognizing the sinful- 
 
 o Co 
 
 ness of men by nature as a fundamental principle, the 
 Jews anxiously desired to find an atonement for sin. 
 This was symbolized by sacrifices and by baptism. 
 John, surnamed the Baptist, born a little prior to 
 Jesus, and also destined to a high calling, travelled 
 up and down the wilderness, like the ancient pro- 
 phets, proclaiming, "The kingdom of heaven draws 
 near." Kindly greeting all who resorted to him, he 
 baptized many in the Jordan, and preached repent- 
 ance as a preparation for the coming of Christ; 
 whom, moreover, he recognized in the person of Jesus 
 of JVazareth. Jesus also, honoring the national cus- 
 tom, received consecration from him. Exciting high 
 expectations in his childhood, and astonishing people 
 by his wisdom in discourse with the doctors of. the 
 law when twelve years old, he, at the age of about 
 thirty, entered en his course as a public teacher. In 
 Galilee his discourses had an overpowering influence ; 
 and soon his triumphant superiority, in reasoning with 
 the Pharisees and Sadducees in their own way, pro- 
 cured him general esteem and veneration. The 
 mentally diseased, often, from mere internal conflicts, 
 exposed to exquisite pain, found relief by him : and 
 other sufferings he was able to alleviate by his heal- 
 ing word. After various miracles, which were be- 
 held with amazement, but which did not so penetrate 
 
Present Jewish View of that Period. 105 
 
 the soul as did his instructions. Jesus announced his 
 vocation as the Christ, the Anointed One, the Sav- 
 iour of the world, the Son of God, and, in general, as 
 the person foretold by the prophets under various 
 attributes ; and, of course, also as a king, yet not 
 over an earthly realm, but over the spiritual world, 
 which was to be new created. His friends, who were 
 in some uncertainty respecting his mysterious char- 
 acter, were at length brought gradually to the con- 
 viction that he was the Deity himself, manifested in a 
 human form. The Pharisees, who were advocates 
 of the enlarged oral law, and especially of the ex- 
 pected glorious appearing at some time of a restorer 
 of the commonwealth, saw in his denial of the holi- 
 ness and atoning efficacy of certain precepts of the 
 law, and in the announcement of his grand position, 
 that redemption is to be sought for in a renovation of 
 the soul, an entire prostration of their own system of 
 doctrine. Although no one of the renowned doctors 
 of Judaism encountered him in debate, yet he had to 
 answer a great many captious questions, and often to 
 hear his doctrine branded as heresy. This occurred 
 especially at Jerusalem, where his adversaries took 
 occasion, from certain expressions, to accuse him of 
 treason, which the civil relations of the country easily 
 offered the means of doing. A Sanhedrim, assembled 
 under the Romish governor, Pontius Pilate, found 
 him guilty ; and Pilate, contrary to his own convic- 
 tions, yielding to the urgency of the excited people, 
 ordered him to be crucified. But the execution of the 
 Sanhedrim's sentence had an effect very different 
 from that contemplated. The headlong procedure, in 
 disregard of the usual forms of justice, strengthened 
 5* 
 
10G LlFE-SCEXES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 and united his followers. They saw in the transac- 
 tion, not merely the execution of an innocent person, 
 but a conspiracy against the Deity, with which he 
 was filled, and by whose spirit actuated, he, for the 
 salvation of all. gave up his body to torture and con- 
 tumely. From the period of Christ's crucifixion, his 
 followers ceased to be Jews, and, of course, pass out 
 of the province of our history, into that of the church 
 of Christ. The Jews themselves did not at the time 
 view this transaction so important as they must after- 
 wards have found it to be.''' 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 GALILEE — CAXA. 
 
 Except in the declarations of John, and the out- 
 ward stamp which inward greatness gives to features 
 and manner, the Messiah had little impressiveness in 
 his appearance at the Jordan, and he did not seek 
 for any such effect. Example, Teacher, Redeemer : 
 these were to constitute the purposes of his appear- 
 ance on the earth, and they could best be effected in 
 quietude, and in avoidance of large public demonstra- 
 tions : even among men, the greatness which is for 
 eternity, is seldom the greatness which shines amid 
 crowds ; but rather is seen most in little things, en- 
 dures trials well, and is always and everywhere the- 
 Fame. 
 
 There was, indeed, a striking simplicity in the man- 
 
Galilee — Cana. 107 
 
 nei\ in which, on the day following John s public an- 
 nunciation, a few followers gathered around the Mes- 
 siah ; — all in great contrast with the scenes previously 
 about John, — the prophetic cry, the deputation, the 
 crowds, and the baptisms, exciting wonder and curi- 
 osity. What had been the effect of John's first an- 
 nouncement we do not know ; but it brought no dis- 
 ciples to Christ : and we may suppose that it created 
 disappointment among men, whose expectations of the 
 Messiah had been so erroneous and so extravagant as 
 to earthly power. Was this — they thought — this he 
 who was to rescue them from the Roman dominion, 
 and to build up the mightiest kingdom ever known 
 upon earth — to flash over all the world his own glory 
 and that of the Jewish name ? Was this the Christ ! 
 
 And yet, the glory of his kingdom has remained, 
 while that of Rome itself has sunk into nothingness ; 
 and it will forever remain. But man is blind. 
 
 On the day following this annunciation, John made 
 a second one to his disciples, as Jesus was passing by, 
 " Behold the Lamb of God !" and two of them left the 
 Baptist to follow Christ. One of them, Andrew, 
 finding his brother, expressed his new joy, li We have 
 found the Messiah," and he brought him to Jesus. 
 The salutation from the latter might well surprise all 
 who heard it, "Thou art Simon the son of Jona : 
 thou shalt be called Cephas" (the Aramaic for stone.) 
 What could be the meaning of the address to this 
 man, — frank, quick, impulsive, and unstable? was 
 it to be a reminder of what he was to aim at,— firm- 
 ness of character and stability, in order to supply what 
 was wanting among his really generous traits ?— So 
 the spectators might well revolve in their minds about 
 
108 LlFE-SCEXES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 Simon, as now they watched the proceedings of Christ 
 with increasing interest. 
 
 On the following day, the Messiah called another 
 disciple, Philip, with the simple injunction, " Follow 
 me :" he was from Bethsaicla, the same Galilean town 
 from which came Simon and Andrew. About seven 
 miles northward from Nazareth, the place of Christ's 
 bringing up, was the town of Cana ; and a true, good 
 man, Nathaniel by name, " an Israelite without guile," 
 had come from that place to the gathering at the Jor- 
 dan. An individual of such uprightness and single- 
 ness in character would be longing for the salvation of 
 Israel ; and would be agitated by the reports circula- 
 ting on every side : and we may believe him to have 
 been on that day, in private prayer, asking humbly of 
 God for manifestations of the long-promised Deliverer. 
 Philip met him, and at once became an Evangelist for 
 Christ ; — an office in which that disciple was, after- 
 wards, so distinguished. He cried to Nathaniel : 
 
 " We have found him of whom Moses and the proph- 
 ets did write, Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph." 
 
 " Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth :" 
 was the quick reply of the startled man ; for the repu- 
 tation of Nazareth seems to have been bad. 
 
 " Come and see," said Philip ; and Nathaniel went. 
 A few words from Christ, showing an intimate know- 
 ledge of the individual thus brought before him, con- 
 vinced the doubter, and he cried : 
 
 " Rabbi, thou ar^the Son of God : thou art the king 
 of Israel." 
 
 What a greatness of joy must have indeed been in 
 the man's true heart, to bring out such an exclamation 
 as that : and the joy rose to its fullest height, when 
 
Galtlee — Caxa. 109 
 
 the Messiah, after a few words more, declared to him, 
 " Verify, verily I say unto you, Henceforth ye shall 
 see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and 
 descending upon the Son of Man." 
 
 The Messiah now returned from this place to Gal- 
 ilee. 
 
 It is always delightful to accompany him to that re- 
 gion, where there was altogether a different moral at- 
 mosphere from that of Juclea ; — a people mostly of 
 simple habits, kind, genial in feeling, open to his teach- 
 ings and ready to respond with warm gratitude to his 
 benevolent acts. Judea, on the other hand, with 
 greater refinement, and with more celebrated schools, 
 was distinguished for pride, bigotry, captiousness, and 
 insolence in its higher ranks : while the people there 
 were down-trodden by the rulers, and were a mere 
 abject race. These, however, are only general char- 
 acteristics ; for there were exceptions in both districts, 
 as we shall presently see. For a good account of Gal- 
 ilee, we will resort to an author of that day, who 
 knew well the nature of its brave people ; having, 
 when he wrote about them, just raised there at the 
 commencement of the war against the Romans an army 
 of more than 100,000 men * He says : 
 
 " Those two Galilees, [upper and lower, but essen- 
 tially one] of so great largeness, and encompassed with 
 so many nations of foreigners, have always been able 
 to make a strong resistance on all occasions of war ; 
 for the Galileans are inured to war from their in- 
 fancy, and have been always very numerous, nor hath 
 the country been ever destitute of men of courage, or 
 wanted a numerous set of them ; for their soil is uni- 
 * Jos. De Bello II, 20, § 6. 
 
110 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 versally rich and fruitful, and full of the plantations of 
 trees of all sorts, insomuch that it invites the most 
 slothful to take pains in its cultivation, by its fruitful- 
 ness ; accordingly it is cultivated by its inhabitants, 
 and no part of it lies idle. Moreover, the cities lie 
 very thick, and the very many villages which are here, 
 are everywhere so full of people, by the richness of 
 their soil, that the very least of them contain above 
 fifteen thousand inhabitants. In short, if any one will 
 suppose that Galilee is inferior to Perea in magnitude, 
 he will be obliged to prefer it before it in its strength ; 
 for this is all capable of cultivation and is everywhere 
 fruitful."* 
 
 We may remark here that, of the twelve apostles, 
 eight were known to have been from Galilee ; as were 
 also, probably, the other four, except Judas, whose 
 surname Iscariot from Carioth or Kerioth (Joshua xv, 
 25) seems to point him out as originally from a town 
 in Judea. 
 
 Eive disciples or followers, — not yet formally ap- 
 pointed as apostles, that is, commissioned to preach, — 
 Avere now. with him ; wondering, observant, commun- 
 ing among themselves about all they had seen and 
 heard ; respectful, but yet in their minds full of que- 
 ries ; for the way before them seemed doubtful, both 
 as respected their leader and themselves. He had 
 given them no proof of his high commission ; and 
 John's announcements, although clear and decisive, 
 were yet but the words of one who had himself per- 
 formed no miracles, and had received no endorsement 
 before the world of his own claims ; whose words 
 were, according to his own declarations, but the voice 
 of one crying in the wilderness, " Prepare ye the way." 
 
 « Jos. De Bello HI, 3, § 2. 
 
Galilee — Cana. Ill 
 
 As the disciples went on thus through Galilee, watch- 
 ful and querying, reports were also spreading there 
 concerning the proceedings at the Jordan, and John's 
 declarations : and now, here before the Galileans, 
 was the individual announced by the Baptist to be the 
 Messiah. — But he was so quiet in manner, so gentle 
 and unassuming, so undemonstrative in power ; who, 
 people asked in wonder, who, in reality, or what was 
 he ? The question remained still unanswered, although 
 repeatedly put ; and a most deeply interesting ques- 
 tion it was to all. Yet, amid the queryings, there was 
 a winningness about him that had gained the hearts of 
 his followers : a mysterious Presence too, an undevel- 
 oped something undefinable to their puzzled percep- 
 tions, but impressing them with reverence. — How 
 would it end ? They followed, and waited, with many 
 agitating thoughts in their minds, and many strange 
 feelings in their hearts. 
 
 On the third day after they had left Bethabara 
 there was a marriage in Cana, Nathanael's birth- 
 place, and Christ, his mother and disciples, were 
 invited guests. Curiosity, fed by widely-spreading 
 rumors respecting him, was increasing, and becoming 
 intense. His actions were closely watched, his words 
 weighed, his looks were scrutinized. What demon- 
 strations would he make, were he the Messiah ? How 
 would he proclaim himself? How show his power? 
 When would the glory of his kingdom begin? — Or 
 had John misjudged him, and misled the multitude? 
 Thus among the company present there were fluctu- 
 ating opinions, questions, with much wondering, and 
 a close observation of all that was done and said. 
 The mother of Jesus knew all the greatness that 
 
112 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 lay unseen in his quietude of manner ; the disci- 
 ples were expectant ; curiosity among all was deeply 
 blended with that cheerfulness of the marriage 
 scene. Such feasts among the Jews usually lasted 
 seven or eight days ; and the wine, on this occasion, 
 gave out while the Messiah was there. Let not any one 
 accustomed to see or hear of excesses in our country, 
 form an opinion from them of such occasions among 
 the Jews. What was termed emphatically u good 
 wine" among the ancients was that which was desti- 
 tute of spirit :* and Horace and Plutarch both inform 
 us that the best wines were those which were power- 
 less : the saluberrimum vinum, most wholesome wine, 
 being such as had not been adulterated with any ad- 
 ditions to the must, or simple juice of the grape. 
 
 "While intense curiosity respecting the Messiah was 
 almost acting as a check on the cheerfulness of the 
 feast, this lack of the usual beverage was threatening 
 to complete the interruption ; and the mother of 
 Christ announced to him the fact. We can imagine 
 her feelings of anxiety ; and, with her belief in his 
 greatness, a desire that he should satisfy others by 
 making some powerful demonstration of himself. 
 Therefore, although his answer to her was adapted 
 to qualify such a desire, she directed the servants to 
 execute any wish that he might express. For the disci- 
 ples themselves, called to follow him, and now won- 
 dering, observant, and querying in their minds, an 
 exercise of miraculous power would be well-timed ; 
 and the occasion suggested its character. He ordered 
 the servants to fill with water some vessels standing 
 by, and then to draw from them and to carry to the 
 
 * See Pliny, lib. iv, chap. 13. 
 
The Temple. 113 
 
 ruler of the feast. The water had become wine; and 
 the ruler, on its being presented, called the "bride- 
 groom, and charged him with breach of the rule on 
 such occasions, by keeping the " good wine " to the 
 last. 
 
 Our feelings are drawn powerfully towards the 
 Messiah by this scene at' the marriage feast ; — his 
 mingling with those assembled on the cheerful occa- 
 sion ; his unwillingness to have the joyfulness of the 
 company damped or destroyed ; his ready yielding 
 to the suggestions to a kind act, which removed an 
 awkward dilemma in the house ; and even the de- 
 scending from the higher dignity of usual miraculous 
 acts for an occasion so small as this ; — showing that, 
 in his supreme greatness of nature, he considered 
 nothing little which could add to the happiness of 
 others. 
 
 The effect of the miracle on his disciples was 
 good ; for we are told that it acted as a confirmation 
 of their faith. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE TEMPLE. 
 
 After these events at Cana. Jesus, with his mother 
 and disciples, proceeded to Capernaum, on the lake 
 of Galilee ; but they remained there only a few days, 
 for the Passover was approaching, and it was accord- 
 
114 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 ing to their law that he should spend it at Jeru- 
 salem. 
 
 With every mention of that city, connected with 
 those ancient times, comes up a vision of the great 
 temple, the central object of the Jews' affections 
 throughout the world. The very stones that formed 
 it were precious in their eyes. In distant lands, the 
 theme to their wondering children was the former 
 glory that rested abidingly on Mount Moriah ; the 
 presence of God seen and felt there ; the Urim 
 and Thummim, the Ark, the bright cloud upon the 
 mercy seat, the spirit of prophecy ; — all connected 
 with the first temple which Solomon had built, and 
 had dedicated with sacrifices of sheep and oxen "that 
 could not be told nor numbered for multitude," and 
 with prayers ; while in " the holy place" within, " the 
 priest could not stand to minister," " for the glory 
 of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord." That 
 temple had long since been destroyed by the enemy's 
 hand ; but its splendor, and its honor from heaven, 
 were yet a living remembrance in the hearts of all 
 the Jews. 
 
 Then had come the second temple, built by Nelio- 
 miah, far inferior to the other, — the foundations laid 
 while the old men among them who had seen the 
 glory of the first, " wept with a loud voice," as they 
 remembered it ; and the younger were shouting with 
 joy at the prospect of restoring the former worship ; 
 " so that the people could not discern the noise of the 
 shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the peo- 
 ple : for the people shouted with aloud shout and the 
 noise was heard afar off."* 
 
 o Ezraiii. 12, 13. 
 
The Temple. 115 
 
 Such were the grand and the tender associations 
 connected with this sacred spot. It had, also, other 
 deeply interesting associations ; for Moriah was sup- 
 posed to be the place where Abraham erected the 
 altar for offering his son ; and it was certainly there 
 that David interceded for his people, and built an 
 altar at the time when the destroying angel was scat- 
 tering pestilence over Israel,* because the monarch 
 had numbered his people, trusting in them rather than 
 in God. 
 
 This second temple being unsuited to the grandeur 
 of the purposes for which it had been erected, and 
 having also become ruinous from age, Herod the 
 Great determined to pull it down and to erect a 
 larger one ; and, finally, he succeeded in placing 
 before the Jewish people that great " Mountain of 
 the House," as they termed it, vaster in size, and 
 more magnificent in its architectural claims, than 
 was the case even in Soloman's temple itself. 
 
 Mount Moriah is a short, rocky ridge, 318 yards 
 wide, running north and south ; having on the east 
 the deep valley of Jehoshaphat, separating it from the 
 Mount of Olives, and on the west a shallower valley, 
 called the Tyropean, (also valley of the Cheesemon- 
 gers,) 350 feet across,t immediately beyond which 
 rose the heights of Zion, lined with its battle- 
 mented walls. Solomon had, by means of a wall 
 built up on the eastern side, and, perhaps, also across 
 the southern part, of this ridge, and by filling up, 
 formed a platform for his temple : but Herod faced 
 each side of Moriah with a wall, forming a rectangu- 
 lar substructure suited to the temple with which its 
 © 2 Sam. xxiv, 25. f Robinson. 
 
116 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 heights were to be crowned. In some places near the 
 foundations, the stones yet remain in their original 
 places ; and some of them measure twenty and a half, 
 twenty -four and a half, and even thirty feet in length. 
 They are of the white limestone of that region ; and 
 their faces being raised about six inches from the 
 edge of the stone, so as to look like raised panel 
 work, a plain wall would thus have a rich architect- 
 ural effect. Thesfc walls being carried to an eleva- 
 tion which, though doubtless less than that given by 
 Josephus — four or five hundred feet — was still con- 
 siderable, the inclosed space was filled up with 
 arched ways and earth ; and thus, at a proper height, 
 a platform w r as made for their sacred purposes. Let 
 the reader now imagine these outside walls to be car- 
 ried still higher, so as to enclose this platform as in a 
 court, and to be battlemented. This court, accord- 
 ing to Josephus, was 625 feet square," and was paved 
 with marble of various colors ; and against the wall 
 all around, was a cloister or covered space, the roof 
 of which was of carved and ornamented wood-work, 
 the columns supporting it of marble, each column a 
 single stone. These cloisters or corridors were very 
 grand, a fitting frame-work for the more sacred spots 
 within. In southern countries, where people live 
 much in the open air, covered places for general re- 
 
 e He says a furlong square, and, doubtless, meant the Roman 
 furlong, equal to 625 feet of our measure ; recent careful measure- 
 ments by Williams (the Holy City, by Rev. George Williams, M. A.) 
 of what seems to be the remains of this wall, give, for the cast wall, 
 1520 feet ; south, 940 ; west, 1017, and north 1020 f^t. It id diffi- 
 cult to know whether the cubit in Josephus, meant the Roman, 
 equal to eighteen inches, or the Jewish cubit, equal to twenty one 
 inches of our measure. 
 
The Temple. 117 
 
 sort are a great convenience, and the pillared spaces 
 around the Grecian temples were for such a purpose 
 as well as for ornament. The Greeks, however, 
 finding these insufficient, soon began to erect what 
 were called Stoae — inclosed courts, with paved corri- 
 dors, and had many of them. The Stoic sect of phil- 
 osophers received that name because Zeno, their 
 teacher delivered his lectures in one of these resorts, 
 the Stoa Poecilo. The Eomans had also numerous 
 stoae, sometimes private ones, connected with their 
 city palaces or their villas. In southern Europe, 
 especially in Italy, archways or corridors, bordering 
 their streets or public squares, are common ; and the 
 writer of this has seen, even at Quito, on the Andes, 
 three sides of the main plaza thus provided with what 
 was not only ornamental, but of great use to the peo- 
 • pie of that city. 
 
 These corridors at the u Mountain of the House" 
 at Jerusalem, were of unusual depth and magnifi- 
 cence. On the north, and east and west, they were 
 formed by triple rows of columns, including the one 
 against the wall' ; the columns were 6 feet in diame- 
 ter and 27 in height, with Corinthian capitals and 
 ' ; a double spiral at the basis."- The rows of col- 
 umns were 30 feet apart, the whole height of the 
 cloister 50 feet, and above it, at the outer edge, were 
 the battlements of the wall. The ceiling was oramen- 
 ted with '• deep sculptures in wood, representing many 
 sorts of figures." The southern corridor, was on a 
 still grander scale ; for here were four rows of col- 
 umns, the outer and inner rows being as on the other 
 sides, but the two- middle ranges of columns having 
 
 e Joseph us. 
 
118 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 twice the height of the others and the width here 45 
 instead of 30 feet. It is estimated that there were 
 altogether 337 of these monolithic columns in the cor- 
 ridors : Herod's architecture was truly on a magnifi- 
 cent scale. If we consider the extent and depth of 
 these corridors, it will be seen that their architec- 
 tural effect must have been very grand. 
 
 But all this was only the frame-work for the more 
 sacred portions lying within. There were eight gate- 
 ways on this platform : one on the north ; one (the 
 principal one) on the east ; two on the south ; and 
 four on the west, one of the latter opening on a stone 
 bridge crossing the Tyropeon, and of sufficient height 
 to connect the temple immediately with Mount Zion. 
 A visitor entering by one of these gateways, — say 
 the eastern one, — would have before him this grand 
 spectacle of the court paved with marble, and sur- 
 rounded by its triple or quadruple ranges of columns : 
 and also immediately in his front, a little to the north 
 of the centre of the court, a mass of structures of a 
 different kind. The former was called the Court of 
 the Gentiles, and was, with its surrounding corri- 
 dors, open to all nations : the other structures, which 
 we will now describe, were exclusively for persons 
 of the Jewish faith. 
 
 There was, first, a platform of 170 cubits front, and 
 running westwardly 335 cubits,* ascended to, on all 
 sides, by 14 steps ; on the edge of the uppermost of 
 these steps, a balustrade of open stone-work 3 cubits 
 high and elegantly wrought: in this balustrade, at 
 
 '- This is from Josephus : query, Roman cubits, each 18 in.? oi 
 Jewish cubits each 21.8 inches? as he was writing for the Ro- 
 mans, probably the former. 
 
The Temple. 119 
 
 short intervals, pillars with inscriptions in Greek and 
 Roman letters, declaring that "no foreigner should 
 go within that sanctuary." Within the balustrade 
 was a level space 10 cubits wide, called " the Chel," 
 and vacant, except that, towards its western end, the 
 council room of the Sanhedrim, built partly on the 
 more sacred ground of the temple court, was there 
 extended so as to embrace also the Chel. Not only 
 were foreigners excluded from these boundaries, 
 but the sight of all within them was prevented by a 
 wall 40 cubits high, running all around, along the inner 
 border of the Chel. The Gentile in the court with- 
 out might hear the voices of the chanters, and see the 
 smoke of sacrifices ascending from the great altar, 
 but even his vision might not profane the holy places, 
 except so far as it could be indulged through the large 
 gateways, of which there were nine, four on each side, 
 and one at the east opening through this wall. These 
 gateways were large, and were covered over with sil- 
 ver and gold : but the one at the east, called " The 
 Beautiful Gate,"* was the most magnificent of all. It 
 was of Corinthian brass, and 50 cubits in height : its 
 doors were 40 cubits high, and were " adorned after a 
 most costly manner, as having much richer and thicker 
 plates of silver and gold upon them than the others. 
 These nine gates had that silver and gold poured upon 
 them by Alexander, father of Tiberius. "f Additional 
 steps led up from the Chel to this magnificent gate- 
 way ; and, passing through it, the visitor would find 
 himself then in what was called " The women's court," 
 an area 135 cubits square, and surrounded by corri- 
 dors, supported by columns as in the larger court 
 • See Acts iii, 2. f Jos. De Bel. v. 5. § 3. 
 
120 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 without. Private passageways at the entrance gave 
 the women access to their -separate place, probably 
 above the corridors : for, although this was called 
 the " Court of the women," it was frequented by the 
 other sex as much as by them. It was the place for 
 that most extraordinary .scene of dancing, which we 
 shall notice, by and by, in describing the Feast of 
 Tabernacles. 
 
 It had four gates, one on each side ; — the Beautiful 
 gate on the east ; and opposite to it, on the west, a 
 large and very rich one called Nicanor. This last 
 was reached by an ascent of 15 steps from the women's 
 court,, and gave admittance to the higher platform and 
 court, called " The Court of Israel," sometimes termed 
 simply " The Court." This was 135 cubits from north 
 to south, and 187 from east to west, with columns and 
 corridor as in the other courts. But the reader must 
 not suppose this area to be all plain, as in the women's 
 court; for here was the great altar, and beyond it 
 the temple itself. Standing at its eastern gate of en- 
 trance, Nicanor, (it had three others on each side,) the 
 visitor would see before him, at 11 cubits distance, a 
 low wall, running across the court, and separating him 
 from the " Court of the Priests :" beyond that, at 11 
 cubits, the great altar, 24 cubits square and 10 in 
 height, with an inclined plane of ascent on its southern 
 side. Then, beyond the altar, was the Temple. 
 
 This last stood on a platform the highest of them 
 all. Its porch or entrance 100 cubits wide, and of the 
 same height, was reached in front and at its two ends, 
 by 12 steps commencing not far from the altar and 
 formed in pairs, 3 cubits between each pair. Jose- . 
 phus says : " The outward face of the temple, in its 
 
The Temple. 121 
 
 front, wanted nothing that was likely to surprise either 
 men's minds or their eyes ; for it was covered all over 
 with plates of gold of great weight, and, at the first 
 rising of the sun, reflected back a very fiery splendor, 
 and made those who forced themselves to look upon it 
 to turn their eyes away, just as they would have done 
 at the sun's own rays. But the temple appeared to 
 strangers, when they were at a distance, like a moun- 
 tain covered with snow ; for as to those parts of it 
 that were not gilt, they were exceeding white. On its 
 top it had spikes with sharp points, to prevent "any 
 pollution of it by birds sitting upon it. Of its stones, 
 some of them were forty-five cubits [67 feet] in 
 length, five in height and six in breadth."* It was 
 of such as these that the disciples said to Christ, 
 11 Master see what manner of stones and buildings are 
 here : 7 ' as if such solidity might set at defiance all 
 common human events. Indeed, every part of the 
 Mountain of the House combined great massiveness 
 with richness of decoration, and often with elegance. 
 The front of the temple was pierced by an immense 
 open entrance 70 cubits high and 25 cubits broad, 
 of which Josephus says, " This gate had no doors ; 
 for it represented the universal visibility of heaven, 
 and that it cannot be excluded from any place." It 
 seems to have been an arched way 16 feet in depth 
 (the thickness of the front) with sides highly enriched 
 with architectural devices ; and in this opening was 
 trailed the celebrated vine of beaten gold, the clus- 
 ters to which were 5 or 6 feet in length .t Of this 
 
 * Bel. v, 5, § 6. 
 
 f Josephus De Bel. v, 5, § 4. Tacitus says, " But because their 
 [Jewish] priests when they play on the pipe and timbrels, wear 
 
 .6 
 
122 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 vine, the Talmud says, " For men would be offering, 
 some gold to make a leaf, some a grape, some a 
 bunch ; and these were hung upon it, and so it was 
 increasing continually."* Tacitus calls the building 
 immence opulentia templum.f 
 
 This was only the porch of the temple, which, nar- 
 rower than the porch, extended back at right angles 
 to it ; so that the whole structure was in a form 
 like this JL. Back of this lofty arched way, was 
 another 55 cubits high, and 16 wide ; and then were 
 folding doors 20 cubits high and each 5 cubits wide, 
 giving admittance towards the body of the temple ; 
 next to these a veil ; in the rear of this, folding 
 doors similar to the last. The outer pair were com- 
 monly called by the Jews " the great door of the 
 temple " because it had " a great front ;" and, of this, 
 we have the record that, " the morning sacrifice was 
 never killed till this door was opened ;" and that 
 " he that was to slay the sacrifice, killed him not till 
 he heard the noise of the great gate opening." 
 
 'None but the priests could pass these doors : and 
 they, entering, would find themselves now in " the 
 Holy Place," a room 40 cubits long, 20 wide, and 60 
 in height : " the floor planked with fir-boards and then 
 gilt with gold :" the walls and ceiling of cedar, both 
 gilt likewise : the walls carved into branches and 
 open flowers to the height of 50 cubits ; above which 
 were windows admitting light. In this room were 
 
 ivy around their head, and a golden vine has been found in their 
 temple, some have thought that they worshiped our father Bac- 
 chus, the conqueror of the east ; whereas the ceremonies of the 
 Jews do not at all agree with those of Bacchus." 
 
 * Light-foot. 
 
 f De Jud. lib. v, cap. 8. 
 
The Temple. 123 
 
 the 7-branched golden candlestick, 4J feet higli ; the 
 table of show-bread, 2 cubits long by 1 in breadth ; 
 and the altar of incense, a cubit square and 2 cubits 
 in height. 
 
 Beyond these, at the end of this room, hung a veil ; 
 and, a cubit further on, a second veil, this second the 
 one spoken of by Josephus and others as " the veil 
 of the temple.' 7 This latter was the one rent at the 
 time of our Saviour's death. No one might lift these 
 veils and pass beyond except the High Priest alone. 
 
 The room to which this gave admittance, u The 
 Holy of Holies/ 7 was 20 cubits square and as many 
 in height, and was gilt throughout, — the floor, as well 
 as the walls and ceiling ; the walls also enriched 
 with precious stones. " In this there was nothing at 
 all. It was inaccessible and inviolable, and not to 
 be seen by any ; and was called the Holy of Holies. 77 
 
 Attached to each side of this main building, which 
 was 100 cubits in height, were three stories of small 
 chambers for temple purposes : a similar set, two 
 stories in height, being also at the western end. The 
 central, or main building, rose considerably above all 
 these; The walls in these edifices were of great thick- 
 ness (five or six cubits) and solidity, as was requisite 
 in a country subject to earthquakes. The porch ex- 
 tended fifteen cubits on each side beyond the main 
 building and its attached chambers : the steps leading 
 up to it have been described as in pairs, three cubits 
 between each pair j and on these successive platforms, 
 or " degrees of steps. 77 the priests stood when they 
 sounded the trumpets, and also when, accompanied by 
 other instrumental music, they chanted the psalms. 
 
 Women were admitted beyond their own court, 
 
124 LlFE-SCEXES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 only when they brought sacrifices : the Jewish men 
 might come into the court of Israel : they, and the 
 women also, were allowed to pass the low boundary 
 inclosing the court of priests, when they came to 
 touch the sacrifices they were about to offer on the 
 great altar within that court. 
 
 What a contrast to those temple scenes in the an- 
 cient times ; — the old worship, the innumerable sacri- 
 fices, the rejoicing crowds at the festivals, the priest, 
 the rabbi, the lordly Pharisee ; — to all this, what a 
 contrast, now, in the scenes among the Jews at Jeru- 
 salem, to which city they yet come, often from far 
 distant lands, to pray, and mourn, and to die. At 
 the south-western angle of the old wall of the Moun- 
 tain of the H6use, are several courses of stones in 
 their original position ; among them a portion of an 
 arch of the bridge leading from the temple across the 
 Tyropeon. It is a retired spot, and here the Jews 
 may be very frequently seen, with their lips at the 
 joints between the stones, praying, so thai their 
 breath in supplication may pass in towards the sacred 
 ground. No one but a Mahommedan is allowed to 
 enter on the paved court above, once the temple pre- 
 cincts ; but the hearts of the Israelites still warm with 
 affection towards their holy place ; and, when they 
 die, their bodies are carried across the Kcdron, and 
 buried on the lowest slopes of the Mount of Olives, 
 where the shadows of Moriah may, as the sun de- 
 clines, be cast across their graves. They believe, also, 
 that in this valley of Jehoshaphat will be the final 
 scene of the judgment day : and that those who rise 
 there will have peculiar advantages. 
 Extensive vaults of masonry have been, for some 
 
The Temple. 125 
 
 years, known to exist under the southern end of the 
 Haram, as the Turkish enclosure occupying the site 
 of the Temple courts and Temple, is now called, but 
 quite recent explorations have brought to our knowl- 
 edge many still more interesting facts respecting ex- 
 cavations below those grounds ; among them, a reser- 
 voir, 736 feet in circumference and 42 in depth, esti- 
 mated to have a capacity of two millions of gallons, 
 supplied in ancient times by the aqueducts from Solo- 
 mon's pools, seven miles distant, towards the south. 
 The discoveries, " tend to show that, by a series of 
 subterranean tunnels and valves, its abundant waters 
 could be used at will for flushing the cess-pools and 
 sewers connected with the temple, and carrying off 
 all the blood and filth as the Talmud informs us, 
 down to the bottom of the Kedron." 
 
 In the great Mosque of Omar, in the Haram, is a 
 rock of ruddy limestone, projecting above its floor, 
 and regarded with great veneration by the Turks. It 
 is irregular in form, nearly sixty feet in its greatest 
 diameter, and rises five feet above the marble floor. 
 
 It is supposed to be the spot of Abraham's altar, 
 and to have been under the great altar of the ancient 
 temple. At its south-east corner is a door, leading 
 down to an excavated chamber about fifteen feet 
 square and eight in height. The rock overhead is 
 pierced with a hole three feet in diameter : and 
 directly beneath this, in the floor of the chamber, is 
 another hole, with a pit beneath, called by the Turks 
 the Well of Spirits-, of unknown depth. 
 
 A channel runs northward to this sacred rock from 
 the great cistern above described, enters the Well of 
 Spirits, then passes on northward, 120 feet, to a large 
 
126 Life scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 double cistern, hewn in the rock. From thence a 
 tunnel descends eastward, is joined by an aqueduct 
 from the great tank at the northern side of the 
 Haram area, and appears to descend towards the 
 Kedron. The Mishna says, " Beneath the altar was a 
 cave whereby blood and filth were conveyed down into 
 the Kedron valley ; and the gardeners there paid as 
 much as purchased a trespass-offering for the right to 
 use it for fertilizing their gardens." 
 
 These explorations have been made chiefly by M. 
 Pierotti, formerly engineer in the Sardinian service, 
 but more recently employed by the Pacha of Jerusa- 
 lem. They are imperfect, and, doubtless, much yet 
 remains to be discovered. 
 
 Yast subterranean chambers, recently discovered 
 under the part of Jerusalem called Acra, will be no- 
 ticed in a future part of this work. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 TEE TEMPLE CLEANSED — XICODEMU3. 
 
 From Capernaum the Messiah had proceeded to 
 Jerusalem, to be present at the Passover ; and. hav- 
 ing arrived there, he went up into the temple. It 
 was to the Jews the greatest of all their celebrations 
 in the reminiscences it awakened, and was, in parts 
 of it, a very solemn, in other parts of it a very joy- 
 ful festival. The Jews came to it from all parts of 
 
The Temple Cleansed. — Nicodemus. 127 
 
 the world ; and the numbers congregated at Jerusa- 
 lem were calculated on one occasion, for a statistical 
 report to be sent to the Roman emperor, and were 
 estimated at two millions seven hundred thousand.* 
 
 The reader who has perused the foregoing chapter, 
 and has in his mind the grandeur of this Mountain of 
 the House, the courts, the altars, and temple, would 
 now imagine a scene suited to the place and the so- 
 lemnities. But there was one far different — a scene 
 of desecration of the sacred spot, of filth, of barter 
 and sale, and of the unholy passions which the love 
 of money begets. In order to understand it fully, we 
 must follow Lightfoot in some details. 
 
 " There were thirteen treasure-chests at the temple, 
 which by the Jews were called SJioperoth, which sig- 
 nifies properly trumpets, because, trumpet-like, they 
 were wide at the bottom and narrow at the top, that 
 money put in might not easily be got out. Two were 
 for the half-shekel, that every Israelite had to pay for 
 the redemption of his soul or life, for which the law 
 is given Exodus xxi, 30 : one chest for the payment 
 of the last year, if he had missed to pay it at the due 
 time ; and the other for the half-shekel for the pre- 
 sent. On the first day of Adar [the month preced- 
 ing Passover month,] which answers to our February, 
 there was a general notice given throughout the coun- 
 try that they should provide to pay the half-shekel ; 
 and on the 15th of that month the collectors sat in 
 every city to gather it ; and they had two chests be- 
 fore them, as were at the temple ; and they demanded 
 the payment calmly, and used no roughness or com- 
 pulsion. On the 25th day of the month the collectors 
 
 e See Josephus De Bel. vi, 9, § 3. 
 
128 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 began to sit in the temple, and then they forced men 
 to pay ; and if any one had not wherewith to pay, 
 they took his pawn, and sometimes would take his rai- 
 ment perforce. They had a table before them to 
 count and change the money upon. 
 
 " A man that brought a shekel to change and must 
 have half a shekel again, the collector was to have some 
 profit upon the change, and that addition was called 
 Colbon. * * The Talmud and other authors dis- 
 course largely about this colbon, and who was to pay 
 it, and who to be quit from it, and how much to be 
 paid, and to like purpose ; but the general conclusion 
 is still for some profit, which exaction was that which 
 caused our Saviour to' overthrow the tables of the 
 Colbonists (John ii, 15 ; Matt, xxi, 12 ;) for these re- 
 ceivers began to sit in the temple for that purpose 
 but eighteen or twenty days before the Passover, and 
 continued for that time when the concourse of people 
 was greatest, and after it was over and done. 
 
 "And so the market that was in- the temple, the 
 sheep and oxen, it is like, were not constantly there, 
 but for such times of concourse, when the multitude 
 of people and sacrifices were so exceedingly great ; 
 though, indeed, there was merchandizing of other 
 things there all the year, in the tabernae or shops 
 that we have spoken- of [in the Court of the Gentiles, 
 just inside the eastern gate.] The place where the 
 marketing of the sheep and oxen was, was the great 
 spaee of the Mountain of the House [Court of Gen- 
 tiles] that lay on the south side of the courts ; for on 
 the west and north the rock was too straight for such 
 matter ; and on the east was the most common en- 
 
The Temple Cleansed.— Nicodemus. 129 
 
 trance of the people, and these cattle would have 
 stopped up the way. 
 
 " These collectors of the pole-tax (half-shekel) 
 probably sat about the east gate, Shushan, as being 
 the chiefest entrance."* 
 
 There were, besides those enumerated, money- 
 chests for eleven other distinct kinds of collections, 
 all in the temple courts ;. and these last remained 
 throughout the year. 
 
 What a scene there was, therefore, — not for a 
 day, but continuously through their feasts, — in that 
 large court belonging to the temple ! In addition to 
 the lambs for the Passover supper, there were many 
 thousands of sheep and oxen slain at this festival. 
 They were brought up here for sale ; and on every 
 side chaffering was going on : and, instead of devo- 
 tion, the worst feelings of the human heart were 
 brought into exercise. From the great altar within 
 the more sacred enclosure rose up the smoke of the 
 sacrifices ; but the voice of the trumpeter and chant- 
 ers there was mixed with or drowned by the 
 sounds without, — the tramp and lowing of cattle, the 
 angry/ sharp words of buying and selling among 
 those demonstrative people, the loud, stern demands 
 of the Colbonists or collectors requiring the half- 
 shekel, often from the poverty-stricken or reluctant, 
 from whtnn their garments were taken by force when 
 the mone^- was not paid. 
 
 Such was the view presented, as the Messiah and 
 his disciples, having reached the city, went up to the 
 courts of the temple, and stood there for a moment 
 or two to look around Was he himself an object of 
 
 e Lightfoot— Temple Service. 
 
130 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 attention by the throngs ? Doubtless, for the disci- 
 ples would have told, along the way and among the 
 crowds in the city, who it was they were accompany- 
 ing ; and John's annunciation must have been re- 
 ported over the land. He was now here : he who 
 had been called by the prophet at the Jordan — " The 
 Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the 
 world •" and for whom John had declared that he 
 himself was not fit to take the lowest of a menial's 
 offices. People saw him going up to the temple, and 
 followed : they saw him glance and take in all that 
 scene of outrage and desecration of the place : saw 
 a change pass over him, described in the words of 
 David — " The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." 
 How grand his countenance was as the emotions 
 spread over it ; and no wonder all yielded before him 
 in his subsequent, immediate act. " Make not my 
 Father's house," he said, " a house of merchandize." 
 The cords lying about supplied him with a scourge : 
 but more potent still was the moral effect in a wide 
 consciousness among the multitudes that one was 
 among them invested with a mysterious authority 
 greater than man's ; and in the conviction also that all 
 this scene throughout the courts had been an offence 
 against Go What assistance willing hands may 
 have given we know not, but the temple was cleared 
 by him of its traffickers and cattle, and the tables of 
 the money changers were overturned, and the money 
 scattered upon the pavement. The place was cleansed 
 of its pollution received from the low passions of 
 men. 
 
 It was a bold and daring act ; for the simple tol- 
 eration of this abuse of the temple courts, directly 
 
The Temple Cleansed — Nicodemus. 131 
 
 under the eye of the Sanhedrim, might be considered 
 as equivalent to giving it their official sanction ; and 
 we may well believe that, among the angry traffick- 
 ers hurrying away and the enraged Colbonists, many 
 an eye was turned towards the council-house project- 
 ing on to the Chel, with an appeal to the rulers to 
 interfere. Indeed, the money-changers might con- 
 sider themselves outraged while performing an act 
 having, to some extent, the approbation of their laws ; 
 and, all who did not look underneath the surface of 
 these old usages, and see the low, bad passions which 
 they engendered, and the corrupting influences ema- 
 nating from this sacred place, must have gazed with 
 mixed feelings on the act. But only one feeling they 
 could have, while looking at the principal actor, and 
 noting the lofty moral sentiment expressed in his eyes 
 and face, and the firmness and determination there, 
 the full consciousness also of right, and that power of 
 Presence which the right always gives, and gave more 
 particularly on this occasion. There was power there, 
 a strange, mysterious power, which had made all give 
 way before him, as if intuitively feeling that the Mas- 
 ter, greater than their Rabbis, was in the courts. — Still 
 the multitudes looked towards the Sanhedrim room 
 with much earnest curiosity as to the effect which these 
 proceedings would have on that assembly. 
 
 The rulers must have gazed with excited feelings on 
 that scene in the courts, — the hurried departure of the 
 traders, the confusion and anger of the money-changers, 
 the evidence that the better feelings of the multitude 
 there were with Christ • and with perhaps also a latent 
 conviction that the abuses of the temple courts had 
 become disgraceful and needed a correcting hand. 
 
132 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 But they did not wish to see this hand applied for the 
 correction ; for enmities towards the Messiah were, in 
 their hearts, already taking strength. They had heard, 
 — they could not but have heard. — of John's annuncia- 
 tion respecting him as the Christ ; and the feelings to- 
 wards John, and all connected with him, had the ran- 
 cor resulting from his denunciations against them, 
 selves, Pharisees and Scribes, as a brood of vipers. 
 All other intelligence respecting the Messiah, showed 
 this latter' to be one leading on in a course far different 
 from theirs ; no scholastic state, no lordliness of man- 
 ner, no assumptions, and yet with power strangely 
 mixed with his humility of life. They had been ac- 
 customed to see men set themselves up as leaders of 
 new religious sects or political companies, especially of 
 late, and to find them soon disappear : but here was 
 one who had been so wonderfully heralded : who made 
 no pretensions as a leader, except to draw around him 
 a few very humble men ; and who yet, in humility, had 
 the marks of indefinable greatness, which, while it 
 puzzled, also impressed and overawed.' They saw iti 
 all exhibited that day in the temple courts ; the act 
 itself seeming to be an undignified one ; and yet snow- 
 ing a loftiness of religious feeling, and also power ; 
 and having moreover the true dignity of that which 
 causes reverence for God and his services to be para- 
 mount among men. * 
 
 Eighteen years previously, this -same individual, 
 then a lad of twelve years of age, had stood in that 
 Sanhedrim room, perplexing the Rabbis by his ques- 
 tions, and showing a wisdom far superior to his years. 
 Now he appeared there differently, heralded as the 
 Christ by one whom the people all believed to be a 
 
The Temple Cleansed.— NrcoDEiius. 133 
 
 prophet. What should the rulers believe? How 
 could they accept as the Messiah, one so different 
 from all their anticipations ? If he were the Christ, 
 what would become of all their hopes of an universal 
 Jewish dominion, and of supreme rank and power 
 for themselves, these rulers ? But yet, what was he, 
 so strangely invested with such greatness here before 
 their eyes, and with such a Presence ? 
 
 Such thoughts pass rapidly through men's minds 
 when in an excited state ; and to these rulers they 
 were inconclusive. But they would demand some 
 proof of his authority ; and, therefore, presenting 
 themselves, they asked, 
 
 " What sign showest thou unto us, seeing that thou 
 doest these things ?." 
 
 He answered in figurative language (a common 
 mode of speech in that country) signifying that the 
 sign should be by his resurrection ; and, mistaking 
 his language, they replied, " Forty and six years was 
 this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in 
 three days." 
 
 They seem to have been baffled in their inquiries, 
 suggested, doubtless, by no friendly spirit ; while the 
 Messiah himself did not wish there to enter into con- 
 troversy with these excited men. But one of their 
 number, Nicodemus by name, was apparently a man 
 seeking earnestly after truth ; for he soon afterwards 
 sought a private interview. He came by night. 
 
 Why by night ? It may be that he thought his 
 visit would have fewer interruptions at that hour ; 
 but the motive was apparently a less commendable 
 one, — that fear which makes many an individual now 
 shrink from being known to be an inquirer respect- 
 
134 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 ing Christ. He appears to have been a man of many 
 amiable qualities, but overcome by moral timidity ; 
 and so he remained, till after the crucifixion, amid 
 the heart-rending scenes of which event all other feel- 
 ing was lost in the greatness of his love ; and then, 
 from the humility of his utter prostration in spirit, he 
 rose up erect in manly, Christian strength. 
 
 It was a most interesting occasion, when the two 
 sat facing each other in that night scene, by the dim 
 light of the lamp ; the ruler, with his earnest looks 
 fixed on Christ ; feeling himself to be in the presence 
 of one invested with divine authority ; reverent, yet 
 hesitating ; shrinking, awed, yet won ; the Messiah 
 reading all his heart and mind, not approving, and 
 yet pitying and gentle. The ruler began : 
 
 "Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come 
 from God ; for no man can do these miracles that 
 thou doest, except God be with him." 
 
 The answer seems to have plunged at once into 
 Nicodemus' case, and with emphasis: 
 
 " Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man 
 be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." 
 You must have the new birth , which will make another 
 being of you ; will change your very soul, and make 
 you decided for the truth, whithersoever your con- 
 victions may lead you, whether before the Sanhedrim 
 or before kings, for my sake. 
 
 That was always the clear teaching of Christ to 
 his disciples. He began it here, before Nicodemus, 
 the Pharisee and ruler, coming by night :— the new 
 birth changing a man and making him a new crea- 
 ture, one fully Christ's, and ready to acknowledge 
 him, by day and by night, before the world, as well 
 
The Temple Cleansed. — Nicodemus. 135 
 
 as in the secret heart. No wonder that it was thrown 
 directly at Nicodemus, without introduction, except 
 the emphatic verily, as he sat there, in that place to 
 which he had come under cover of the night, probably 
 afraid to act as his conscience told him to do. " You 
 must be a new man, born again, a brave and open 
 follower, before rulers and before the world, ere you 
 can be fit to be acknowledged by me." 
 
 The heroism of Christianity, moral and physical, is 
 one of its most prominent characteristics. The very 
 entrance into the new life is with that principle in- 
 fused into the whole being ; not forming the new life, 
 %>ut one of its attendants. That strongest trial which 
 man or woman can endure, tending to lift us up into 
 the highest nobility of being, must be borne at once. 
 The Messiah himself took the lead in such heroism, 
 there in Jerusalem ; now, in the humility, when he 
 could have avoided it, and afterwards on the cross. 
 In this address to Nicodemus, he refers to his own 
 coming death by violence : " For as Moses lifted up 
 the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son 
 of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him 
 should not perish, but have eternal life :" and then 
 he spoke of the love of God, and of its action, in a 
 sentence containing a whole body of divinity in itself: 
 " For God so loved the world, that he gave his only 
 begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should 
 not perish, but have everlasting life." 
 
 The word " new-birth" was not a strange one to 
 Jewish ears. " If any man become a proselyte, he is 
 like a child new-born." " The Gentile that is made 
 a proselyte, and a servant that is made free, behold, 
 
136 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 he is like a man new-born,"* are words from their 
 aneient Rabbis ; but it was a new doctrine to be 
 urged upon one already a Jew ; and Nicodemus re- 
 ceived it with expressions of surprise. 
 
 The Messiah, after this, remained a short time in 
 Judea, during which his disciples were administering 
 the new ordinance of baptism to the multitudes offer- 
 ing themselves. Reports were quickly carried to 
 the Pharisees that the number even exceeded those 
 who were resorting to John y[ and the disciples of 
 the latter hearing a similar rumor, hurried to their 
 Master with a complaint that u all men came unto 
 him." John stopped complaints quickly by declaring 
 that the Messiah "must increase, but he must de- 
 crease. • Pie that cometh from above is above all : 
 he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the 
 earth : he that cometh from heaven is above all. * * 
 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life » 
 and he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life, 
 but the wrath of God abideth in him. "J 
 
 But the career of the Baptist himself was approach- 
 ing towards its close. He had been preaching and 
 administering the new ordinance for about a year and 
 a half, when he was seized by the soldiers of Herod 
 Antipas, in whose district he was, and was hurried off 
 to the castle of Macherus, situated towards the south- 
 ern end of Perea, and not far from the eastern bor- 
 ders of the Dead Sea. His voice, which had runs: 
 out so boldly against all wicked men, while it was 
 also gentle and kind to the penitent, had now given 
 unpardonable offence in the royal household itself. 
 
 ° See Lightfoot, in loco. f John iv, 1, 2. \ John iii, 20-36. 
 
In Samaria and Galilee. 137 
 
 The implacable, deadly hate of a woman had been 
 aroused. 
 
 Herod, in one of his journeys, had become enam- 
 ored of Herodias, wife of his brother Philip ; and 
 although she was his niece, he persuaded her to leave 
 her husband and form a new connexion with himself. 
 John fearlessly denounced the libertine act, and so 
 brought upon himself the wrath of the king, and the 
 vengeance of the still more vindictive paramour. 
 Herod, doubtless, gave out the report,, such as we 
 have seen in a former chapter as stated by Josephus ; 
 but the result to John, a year and a half after this, 
 fully verifies the Scripture account. 
 
 We accompany the bold, brave man to his place of 
 confinement : we see him, whose life had always been 
 so free and untrammeled, shut up, and wearing away 
 his energies in the chafings in the prison-house : we 
 watch him, day after day, wondering whether relief 
 would not come ; whether the tyrant would not re- 
 lent ; whether the Divine power would not inter 
 pose, and we find him still a prisoner there, till his 
 heart was weary and sick in the hope deferred. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 IN SAMAPJA AND GALILEE. 
 
 From Jerusalem, the Messiah and his disciples re- 
 turned to Galilee, taking the shorter way through Sa- 
 maria. After travelling on, about 30 miles, through a 
 
138 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 country, which, in their case, gave rise to no recorded 
 incident, the road descended into a plain about 12 
 miles in length, crossed midway along, at right angles, 
 by a valley running east and west. Tlio intersection 
 of the plain and valley is an interesting spot : for, at 
 this place, is a deep well, identified, beyond doubt, as 
 the one dug by Jacob, when, on his return from his 
 eventful journey into Mesopotamia, he stopped here 
 for some time, and purchased a piece of ground from 
 Hamon, the father of Shechem. To this spot also the 
 embalmed body of Joseph (and probably the bodies of 
 his brethren) was brought from Egypt for interment. 
 Here, immediately on the west of the plain, are Mounts 
 Gerazim and Ebal, each about 800 feet in height, their 
 rocky, precipitous sides being separated by the narrow 
 valley alluded to : and beyond them, where the valley 
 expands into a spot of exceeding beauty and fertility, 
 lies the city of Nabulus, the Shechem or Sychar of the 
 ancient times : it is about a mile and a half from Ja- 
 cob's well, but seems formerly to have approached 
 nearer to it than at present. 
 
 > The Messiah, wearied with his journey, sat down by 
 £he side of the well, while the disciples went to 
 Shechem to purchase food ; and a woman coming to 
 draw water, he asked her to give him drink. Her 
 reply had reference to the usual violent antipathy of 
 the Jews towards the Samaritans : but the result of the 
 interview was a gathering about him of the people 
 from the city, and his staying with them two days. 
 
 The old partition wall broken down ! It was in- 
 deed a strange scene in Samaria, to see a Jew eat, 
 drink and sleep in their houses : for, as we have al- 
 ready remarked, what a Samaritan ate as food became, 
 
In Samaria and Galilee. 139 
 
 from that fact, as swine's flesh in the eyes of the Jew : 
 no Samaritan might be made a proselyte ; and no one 
 of them could by any possibility attain, in Jewish esti- 
 mation, to eternal life. Still more surprising to the 
 Samaritans was it to hear of his declaration to the wo- 
 man that " the hour cometh when ye shall neither in 
 this mountain, [Gerazim,] nor yet at Jerusalem, wor- 
 ship the Father ;" for " the hour cometh, and now is, 
 when the true worshipers shall worship Cae Father in 
 spirit and in truth : for the Father seeketh such to wor- 
 ship him." The disciples followed him ; their old 
 feelings shocked, wondering at the strange proceed- 
 ings among the Samaritans, but deterred by reverence 
 from questioning their Master. To Peter it must have 
 been especially puzzling ; for, even after three years of 
 Christ's teachings, it required a, miracle to reconcile 
 that apostle to a hearty fellowship with Gentiles ; and 
 Samaritans were regarded as even worse than these 
 last. When they left Shechem the inhabitants de- 
 clared, " We know that this is indeed the Christ, the 
 Saviour of the world. "* 
 
 In Galilee, to which he now proceeded, reports con- 
 cerning him were spreading rapidly : for people from 
 all that region had been to the Passover ; and they 
 were telling, everywhere, what they had seen and 
 heard at Jerusalem. Among that simple, agricultural 
 people, accustomed to regard with reverence every- 
 thing belonging to their religious metropolis, the news 
 was astounding : — and deepest interest, wonder, hopes, 
 doubts, agitations of all kinds, met Christ and his dis- 
 ciples, and were depicted on people's countenances 
 wherever he went. An added rumor now gave in- 
 6 John iv, 4-42. 
 
140 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 tensity to tins interest ; for it was asserted that, in Sa- 
 maria, he had declared himself to be the Messiah, the 
 Christ." The claim, astonishing as it was to every 
 one, took force, as people gazed and listened ; for he 
 began immediately to preach in their synagogues, and 
 it was evident to their apprehensions that tjiere was 
 something most extraordinary in his words and looks. 
 He " had returned in the power of the Spirit :" and if, 
 in after times, the face of Stephen was " as it had been 
 the face of an angel," as, filled with the Holy Ghost, 
 he spoke before the council of Jerusalem, what must 
 have been tl^e sight here, as Christ preached in these 
 synagogues, his countenance lighted up with the Divine 
 expressions, his eyes gleaming in the supernatural af- 
 flatus, his doctrines sublime though clear, his manner 
 having the stamp of authority, while at the same time 
 it was winning and gentle ! The result might well be, 
 as we are told in the Scripture that it was, " He was 
 glorified of all."t 
 
 Proceeding thus onward, he came again to Cana, 
 the scene of the marriage feast. — There a man hur- 
 ried into his presence : — what a look there was in the 
 man's eyes, — entreaty, hope, anxiety — all that would 
 be in a father's face, when a son was sick — near to 
 death — and here was, perhaps, relief! He was a no- 
 bleman of Capernaum, about 18 miles distant : he had 
 heard that Christ had returned from Judea to Galilee, 
 and had hastened to him, and his beseeching cry was 
 " to come down and heal his son." His entreaty 
 seemed to be warded off : 
 
 " Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not be- 
 lieve."— 
 
 e See John iv, 26. f ^uke iv, 1-1-15. 
 
At Nazareth. 141 
 
 — " Sir, come down ere my child die." 
 
 " Go thy way, thy son liveth." 
 
 — The man must have sprung to his feet with joy ; 
 for he believed. He hurried homeward ; and was met 
 on the road by his servants come to inform him that his 
 son was alive, and that the fever had left him. On 
 inquiry it was known, that the relief came when the 
 healing words were pronounced at Cana : and the 
 father " believed and his whole house."* 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 AT NAZARETH. 
 
 There was, just after this, a scene at Nazareth, very 
 far different from this last ; — violent passions among 
 the inhabitants, railing, personal violence upon the 
 Messiah, and ail attempt to put him to death. Yet 
 Nazareth was the place where he had been brought up ; 
 and where all his characteristics of greatness of char- 
 acter combined with amiableness must have been well 
 known. Such traits, however, often only provoke hos- 
 tility among people of an opposite kind : and the ex- 
 clamation of Nathanael at the Jordan, " Can there any 
 good thing come out' of Nazareth?" shows us what 
 was the reputation of this place. 
 
 No portions of Palestine are so grand in general 
 features, or so interesting in detail, as those imme- 
 diately surrounding Nazareth, and in view from the 
 
 * See John iv, 46-53. 
 
142 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 adjoining heights. The town lies imbedded in a 
 range of hills running east and west, forming the 
 northern boundary of the plain of Esdraelon, which 
 spreads out, immense in extent, yet with scenery 
 varied, in every part. The eastern edge of this plain 
 may be said to rest on the Jordan, along which it ex- 
 tends north and south about twenty-four miles : Car- 
 mel, running north-west and south-east, forms its 
 Other boundary. But only the extreme western ex- 
 tremity, eighteen miles north and south, and fifteen 
 miles east and west, is level ; the eastern portion 
 having, towards its southern end, Gilboa, 1850 feet in 
 height, running parallel with Carmel ; and just north 
 of that, the Little Hermon, 1300 feet high • and then 
 again, connected with a spur running out from the 
 Nazareth hills, the otherwise isolated, cone-shaped 
 Mount Tabor, 1800 feet in height. The foot of Ta- 
 bor is about six miles from Nazareth. 
 
 This town is reached by a short valley running up 
 from the plain, and rests on the western side of a re- 
 cess, a mile in length by half a mile in width. It con- 
 tains now about 3000 inhabitants, probably about the 
 same number as in the Saviour's time. Thompson says, 
 " The valley is certainly small, but then the different 
 swellings of the surrounding hills give the idea of re- 
 pose and protection. 77 "* Among the hills are precipi- 
 tous rocky bluffs, adjoining the town." 
 
 Eobinson, who was by no means given to enthusi- 
 asm in his descriptions, thus speaks of the prospect 
 from the hill immediately back of Nazareth, the sum- 
 mit of which is 1100 feet above the sea ; — a spot to 
 which, doubtless, the Saviour had often withdrawn 
 •* The Laud and the Book.'.' 
 
At Nazareth. 143 
 
 for enjoyment and reflection, while his earthly life 
 was growing up in that grandeur which harmonized 
 so well with this scene. That traveller says : " I 
 walked out alone to the top of the hill over Nazareth, 
 where stands the neglected Wely of Neby Isma'il. 
 Here, quite unexpectedly, a glorious prospect opened 
 on the view. The air was perfectly clear and serene j 
 and I shall never forget the impression I received, as 
 the enchanting panorama burst suddenly upon me. 
 There lay the magnificent plain of Esdraelon, or, at 
 least, all its western part ; on the left was seen the 
 round top of Tabor over the intervening hills, with 
 portions of the Little Hermon and G-ilboa, and the 
 opposite mountains of Samaria, from Jenin westward 
 to the lower hills extending towards Carmel. Then 
 came the long line of Carmel itself, with the convent 
 of Elias on its northern end, and Haifa on the shore 
 at its foot. In the west lay the Mediterranean gleam- 
 ing in the morning sun ; seen first far off in the south 
 on the left of Carmel ; then intercepted by that moun- 
 tain, and again appearing on its right, so as to in- 
 clude the whole bay of 'Akka, and the coast stretch- 
 ing far north to a point N. 10° W. 'Akka itself 
 (Ptolemais, now St. Jean dAcre) was not visible, 
 being hidden by intervening hills. Below, on the 
 north, was spread out another of the beautiful plains 
 of northern Palestine, called el-Buttauf ; it runs from 
 east to west, and its waters are drained off westward, 
 through a narrower valley, to the Kishon (el-Muk- 
 atta,) at the base of Carmel. On the southern border 
 of the plain the eye rested on a large village, near the 
 foot of an isolated hill, with a ruined castle on the 
 top ; this was Sefuriah, the ancient Sepphoris or Dio 
 
144 LlFE-SCEXES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 Cffiserea. Beyond the plain el-Buttauf, long ridges, 
 running from east to west, rise, one higher than an- 
 other, until the mountains of Safed overtop them all, 
 on which that place is seen — ' a city set upon a hill.' 
 Further towards the right is a sea of hills and moun- 
 tains, backed by the higher ones beyond the Lake of 
 Tiberias, and in the north-east by the majestic Her- 
 mon, with its icy crown. * * I remained for some 
 hours upon this spot, lost in contemplation of the 
 wide prospect, and of the events connected with the 
 scenes around. In the village below, the Saviour of 
 the world had passed his childhood ; and although 
 we have few particulars of his life, yet there are cer- 
 tain features of nature w.hich meet our eyes now just 
 as they once met his."* 
 
 Among such scenes Jesus had lived, doubtless in 
 far more hearty communion with them than with 
 his townsmen of Nazareth. He might now look for 
 a more favorable reception of his teachings in any 
 other part of Galilee than in this place ; for, even if 
 its people had been of a better description of charac- 
 ter than they were, still the jealousies felt towards one 
 who had grown up among them with no advantages 
 of education or position, and who yet had suddenly be- 
 come distinguished by fame, and was asserting such 
 remarkable claims, would predispose them to regard 
 him with suspicion if not with hostility. The ru- 
 mors that had been brought to them were startling ; 
 -—the proclamation of John, the scenes at Jerusalem, 
 the miracles, his teachings in the synagogues ; there 
 was in all this something to shake their prejudices 
 and to puzzle and perplex them ; but they argued, 
 
 " Biblical Researches." 
 
At Nazareth. 145 
 
 " Are not his parents here with us ; his orolhers and 
 Bisters?" Prejudice still had rule; and the very 
 greatness of his claims made the barriers to their bo. 
 lief in him the stronger. When the citizens of Naza- 
 reth heard, therefore, that he had come among them, 
 and was about to proclaim his doctrines in their syn- 
 agogues, there was a great agitation in the commu- 
 nity ; — anger, disdain, envy, and, probably, old dis- 
 likes , the more bitter from the consciousness that 
 they were unmerited, — all this mixing with the in- 
 tense curiosity which was in every one's heart. One 
 thing they felt might possibly # satisfy them, namely, 
 a miracle ; and they might feel that they had a higher 
 claim to miracles than Cana, or even Jerusalem itself. 
 Report had told them of wonders performed in both 
 these places ; perhaps they would witness similar, or 
 even greater things, in Nazareth. So they hoped. 
 Candor and fair judgment could not be expected 
 among such a people ; and a teacher given to expe- 
 diencies would have avoided, in this preaching in 
 their synagogue, what would be offensive to them ; 
 any prominence to the high claims of being the Mes- 
 siah, and any allusion to their desire for a miracle to 
 gratify curiosity. But Christ' was not given to con- 
 sult expediencies rather than the truth. 
 
 People had hurried to the synagogue. At the 
 proper time in its services he stood up to read ; and 
 the book of Isaiah being handed to him he turned to 
 the passage — " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, 
 because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to 
 the poor ; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, 
 to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering 
 
146 Life -scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are 
 bound, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." 
 
 It was a well-known prophecy referring to the 
 Messiah ; and often, through the long years since Isa- 
 iah's time, had the Jews fed themselves with glorious 
 hopes from these words and those immediately fol- 
 lowing. — He closed the book and handed it back to 
 the minister, and sat down, — the posture of speakers. 
 —What a breathless silence there was in that assem- 
 bly I He broke it by saying : 
 
 " This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears." — 
 
 — It was a re-asseriion of that which they under- 
 stood he had claimed, now made directly before 
 them : but hostility was for the present repressed ; 
 for there was something in his look and manner that 
 made astonishment keep other feelings in check ; a 
 Btrange Presence that gave authority to his words. 
 
 By Presence is meant that something undefinable 
 which has impressiveness in any company where a 
 person of reputation and worth is felt to be ; — in this 
 case heightened by " the power of the Spirit " acting 
 in conjunction with his earnestness and his inward 
 greatness making manifestation of itself in his coun- 
 tenance. The people of Nazareth whispered to each 
 other, " Is not this Joseph's son?" and the question 
 would express not only astonishment, but, among 
 many, rage also at his claims. There was a mixed 
 feeling, and it would soon show itself among these 
 demonstrative people. He saw their feelings, and 
 gave them a warning ; for he now began to speak 
 again, aud, as he did so, silence fell on the assembly, 
 
 " Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physi- 
 
It Nazareth. 147 
 
 clan, heal thyself! whatsoever we have heard done in 
 Capernaum do also here in thy country." 
 
 — Their hopes were high, their curiosity now most 
 intense : — Was he going to perform a miracle there ? 
 But he always reprobated idle curiosity, and espe- 
 cially that which would desecrate the miracle-work 
 ing pQwer for its gratification. So now he gave 
 the reproof. — They were wound up to the highest ex- 
 pectancy — and he spoke, "Verily I say unto you, no 
 prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell 
 you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the 
 days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three 
 yeara and six months, when great famine was through- 
 out all the land : but unto none of them was Elias 
 sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, [a heathen 
 place] and unto a woman that was a widow. And 
 many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the 
 prophet ; and none of them were cleansed save Naa- 
 man, the Syrian [a heathen] ." — 
 
 — There was a storm of rage. Every angry feeling 
 in them was roused at this intimation that the heathen 
 might be preferred before them. They rushed upon 
 the speaker ; and forgetting all else than what they 
 considered so gros s an insult to their nation and them- 
 selves, they hurried him out of their town to a near 
 precipice, bent on hurling him over. But their rage 
 was futile. The super-human power was now exerted ; 
 " he passed through the midst of them and went his 
 way/ 7 leaving them to subdue, as they might, their im- 
 potent wrath. 
 
 He came thence to Capernaum ; and now he made 
 that city his home — such a home, at least as his fre- 
 quent journeys and labors would admit : for his time 
 
l¥8 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 on earth was not to be one of quiet enjoymeat, but of 
 self-denial, and of labor wherever the good of others 
 should require. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE LAKE OF GALILEE. — CAPERNAUM. 
 
 How gem-like, amid its beautiful environments, even 
 in our day, is the Lake of Galilee ! but how much 
 more beautiful in those ancient times ! Its immediato 
 surroundings are sufficiently marked with what is 
 grand in nature to give it .something of that charao 
 ter ; but it is chiefly remarkable for a gentle, quiet, 
 lasting beauty, which never tires ; for this has every 
 variety of form, and changes at every hour of the 
 day. Every one who reads appreciatingly the Gos- 
 pels, feels that he must love this lake on account of 
 its associations : but it is a place very lovely in itself, 
 and in the natural surroundings with which it is en- 
 riched. 
 
 ■ 
 
 The approach to it is thus described by Dr. Olin, 
 one of the most graphic writers of travels in the Holy 
 Land. He had been travelling, all the day, over the 
 plain of Esdraelon, which, after leaving Mount Ta : 
 bor, may be said to continue (though with a more un- 
 dulating surface) in a northeasterly direction quite to 
 the lake. Towards evening he came to a level spot 
 of great fertility, and under cultivation, the thick 
 
The Lake of Galilee. — Capernaum. 149 
 
 grass on its waste places sprinkled over with flowers : 
 and he says, " My attention had been so fully occupied 
 with this scene of loveliness, and these unusal tokens 
 of industry and cultivation, always the more striking 
 from being rare, as not to have heeded our progress, 
 until we reached the eastern border of the plain. We 
 were now upon the brow of what must appear to the 
 spectator, at its base, a lofty mountain which bounds 
 the deep basin of the sea of Galilee, and forms the 
 last step in the descent from the very elevated plain 
 over which we had been journeying during the long 
 day. The sun had just set behind us in a blaze of 
 red light, which filled the western sky for many de? 
 grees above the horizon, and was slightly reflected 
 from the smooth glassy surface of the beautiful lake, 
 whose opposite shore was visible many miles on the 
 right and left, rising abruptly out of the water into 
 an immense and continuous bulwark, several hundred 
 feet in height, grand and massive but softened by 
 graceful undulations, and covered with a carpet of 
 luxuriant vegetation from the summit quite down to 
 the water's edge. Beyond the lake, stretched out a 
 vast, and to our eye, a boundless region, filled up 
 with a countless number of beautiful, rounded hills, 
 all clad in verdure, which, at this moment, was in- 
 vested with a peculiar richness of coloring. In the 
 remote distance, though full in our view, the snowy 
 top of Mount Hermon was still glittering and bask- 
 ing in the beams of the sun, while a chaste, cool dra- 
 pery of white, fleecy clouds hung around its base. 
 The green, graceful form of Mount Tabor was be- 
 hind us, while, on the broad and well-cultivated plain, 
 the numerous fields of wheat, now of a dark luxuri- 
 
150 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 ent green, contrasted very strongly and strangely 
 with intervening tracts of ploughed ground. Inde- 
 pendently of sacred associations, this was altogether 
 a scene of rare and unique beauty, nay, of splendid 
 magnificence.''* 
 
 Dr. Clarke, the English traveller, says, " It may be 
 described as longer and finer than any of the Cum- 
 berland lakes." 
 
 It is in shape an irregular oval, 14 miles in length 
 by 9 at its greatest breadth, the water of great trans- 
 parency and 165 feet in depth. On its eastern side 
 the mountains rise abruptly, but with green, sloping 
 sides ; and great billows of such hills pass to the east, 
 as far as the sight reaches, green but uninhabited, as 
 seems to have been the case also in the ancient times. 
 On the southwest, the mountain sides are in succes- 
 sive off-sets like huge terraces ; and there, four miles 
 from the southern end of the lake, is Tiberias, once a 
 place of some eminence for its hot baths and schools, 
 now decayed and almost in ruins from earthquakes of 
 recent date. Passing northwardly from Tiberias 
 along the western border of the lake, we come, at 
 the distance of three miles, to Mejdel, the ancient 
 Magdala ; and, soon afterwards, to a spot where the 
 mountains sweep backward for a short space, and 
 leave room for the rich plain of Gennesaret. Be- 
 yond this plain, northwardly, the hills bordering the 
 lake have more gentle upward slopes, and are five or 
 six hundred feet in height. 
 
 Capernaum, the home of the Messiah, at intervals, 
 for more than two years, was probably at the north- 
 ern end of the plain of Gennesaret ; and we will 
 
 C1 Olin's travels. 
 
The Lake of Galilee. — Capernaum. 151 
 
 therefore give this place more particular attention, 
 which, indeed, from its own richness and beauty it 
 very well deserves. 
 
 The plain lies at the spot where the lake is widest, 
 and a little north of mid-distance on its western shore. 
 It is nearly triangular in shape, about three miles 
 in length by a mile and a half in its greatest width ; 
 is perfectly level and only a few feet above the water. 
 It is a place of surpassing fertility. In those eastern 
 countries, wherever water can be procured for irri- 
 gation, the vegetation is most exuberant ; and even 
 the sandy shore at Jaffa, seemingly pure silex, is 
 changed by artificial watering, into richly-productive 
 gardens ; but at Gennesaret the soil, a dark loam, is 
 itself of the greatest natural richness, while four very 
 large fountains afford water that, in ancient times, was 
 carried by artificial channels all over the plain. On 
 its soutk-west side is what is now called the tl Round 
 Fountain," inclosed by a low, circular wall, 100 feet 
 in diameter, the water about two feet deep, and beau- 
 tifully limpid and sweet, bubbling up and flowing out 
 rapidly in a large stream to water the plain below. 
 Ten minutes' travel northwardly from this conducts 
 to another very copious stream, coming down through 
 a break in the mountain ; and at the northern end 
 of the plain we have another large fountain, gushing 
 out from beneath the rocks, while around this, near 
 the celebrated Khan Minyah, other smaller fountains 
 are clustered. Close by this last spot, the mountain 
 comes back again to the lake, and sends a short pro- 
 montory out into its waters ; but a fountain a mile 
 further north, still larger than any of the former, and 
 strong enough to turn several mills a3 it bursts from 
 
152 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 the rocks, had its waters conveyed by artificial chan- 
 nels to the plain of Gennesaret, about' which they 
 were distributed by similar means. The abundant- 
 supply of water, the natural fertility of the soil, the 
 depth of the plain. 622 feet below the level of the 
 Mediterranean, and with a hotter climate conse- 
 quently than the table-land above, together with the 
 adjoining lake, make this spot a very choice one, in 
 Galilee, and it had a wide reputation in ancient 
 times. Josephu3 says of it : " The country also that 
 lies over against this lake hath the same name of 
 Gennesaret; its nature is wonderful as well as its 
 beauty. Its soil is so fruitful that all sorts of trees 
 can grow upon it, and the inhabitants, accordingly, 
 plant all sorts of trees there ; for the temper of the 
 air is so well mixed that it agrees very well with 
 those several sorts : particularly walnuts, which re- 
 quire the coldest air, flourish there in vast? plenty ; 
 there are palm trees also, which grow best in hot air ; 
 fig trees also, and olives, grow near them, which yet 
 require an air that is more temperate. One may call 
 this place the ambition of nature, where it forces 
 those plants that are naturally enemies to one an- 
 other to agree together : it is a happy contention of 
 the seasons, as if every one of them laid claim to this 
 country ; for it not only nourishes different sorts of 
 autumnal fruits beyond men's expectations, but pre- 
 serves them a great while. It supplies men with the 
 principal fruits — with grapes and figs continually — 
 during ten months in the year, and the rest of the 
 fruits, as they become ripe together, through the 
 whole year ; for besides the good temperature of the 
 
At Capernaum and through Galilee. 153 
 
 air, it is also watered from a most fertile fountain."* 
 Some travellers suppose Capernaum to have been 
 three miles further to the north, but the weight of 
 evidence seems to place it by the group of fountains 
 on the plain itself, at its northern end. It was cer- 
 tainly about this portion of the lake shore ; and we 
 may believe that the beautiful sheet of water and its 
 environments -harmonized well with the feelings of 
 Christ, who so often drew, the illustrations to his 
 teachings from the scenes of nature, and said of the 
 flowers covering these very hills, " Yet I say unto 
 you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed 
 like one of these." The whole of Gennesaret was, 
 doubtless, then, like a garden in fruitfulness, with 
 many villages interspersed or bordering it ; and all 
 the country above, on the west, was full of habitations 
 "and in the highest state of culture. Indeed the whole 
 region from the sea of Galilee westward, quite across 
 the plain of Esdraelon to the Mediterranean, was, 
 probably, by far the most fertile and populous part 
 of Palestine. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 AT CAPERNAUM AND THROUGH GALILEE. 
 
 On the Sabbath after his arrival in the city he 
 went into the synagogue and taught. People were 
 astonished. It was not the jargon of the Scribes, full 
 
 •DeBel. iii, 10, §8. 
 
154 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 of obscurities, and often of absurdities, such as hare 
 come down to us through the subsequent writings of 
 their Rabbis, but was clear, fully within the compre- 
 hension of his hearers, practical, and above all. had 
 an authority in the manner of delivery corresponding 
 to the words. No hesitancy or appearance of doubt 
 in him who spoke ; but it was the language of one 
 who knew ; whose eye swept through all parts of his 
 subject, the heavenly as well as the earthly, the di- 
 vine as well as the human ; and who felt that he had 
 power and authority thus to speak.* " They were 
 astonished at his doctrine, for his word was with pow- 
 er. 7 7 f In the synagogue was a demoniac, whom he 
 healed by his word ; and afterwards, in the house of 
 Peter, he restored to health also by his word, the 
 mother-in-law of that disciple, sick of a fever. 
 
 Thus the early part of the Sabbath was passed in 
 Capernaum ; a time full of wonder and of strange 
 surmisings among the people. Twice had this teacher 
 declared himself to be the Messiah : once in Samaria, 
 and once in Nazareth : but he was so different from 
 the Messiah whom the nation had expected : — here, 
 no earthly pomp, or glory, and no manifestations of 
 a desire for kingly power ; but, on the other hand, 
 humility, indifference to rank, and abnegation of all 
 human glory. Yet there was a strange mightiness 
 in him. The spirits obeyed him. Disease left the 
 wan and haggard frame at his command, and health 
 flashed over the system : his very presence had a 
 power in it ; his manner, so gentle and winning, still 
 inspired respect ; his face, through which the inner be- 
 * Mark i, 22. f Luke iv, 32. 
 
At Capernaum and through Galilee. 155 
 
 ing spoke out, seemed to be stamped with divinity it- 
 self* , 
 
 Such was this teacher, as he had appeared that day, 
 in divine instructions in the synagogue, and afterwards 
 among the people, filling them with 'many contradic- 
 tory and perplexing thoughts. His healing powers, 
 however, they could understand, and these stirred 
 them immediately into action ; and there was a hurry- 
 ing to and fro, not only in the city, but in all the coun- 
 try round about. For the warmest and most active, 
 as well as the most blessed sympathies of our nature, 
 were reached ; and people were carrying to the bed- 
 sides of the afflicted cheering news that a healer was 
 among them whose power, both for mental and for 
 bodily distress, was equal to every disease. In order 
 to appreciate the gladness of such tidings, we must re- 
 member the condition of medical science even among 
 the most learned practitioners at that time. There 
 was a medical school at Antioch, in Syria, and one at 
 Alexandria ; but the facts on which the true principles 
 ot that science are built are of subsequent discovery ; 
 and in Palestine, at the period spoken of, physicians 
 were rare, and were little to be relied on when they 
 could be procured. The sick were left to perish un- 
 aided, or were administered to blindly and with doubt- 
 ful result. A modern traveller, speaking of a Mission- 
 ary Christian physician, with whom he was journeying 
 in this same region of country, says of him, after they 
 had stopped, one evening, subsequently to a day's ex- 
 plorations, — u Dr. Kelley is still busy with his patients, 
 who are all Druses and Mahommeclans. How eagerly 
 they listen to him, — he has so won their hearts by his 
 benevolent aid ! It is truly touching to see how the 
 
156 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 poor .and miserable come to him for help for the body, 
 and how they go away from him with the first tidings 
 [of Christ] that ever met their ears."* 
 
 Evening came on in Capernaum after this preaching 
 in the synagogue ; and the* shadows of the Galilean 
 hills were cast over the beautiful lake, and went as- 
 cending the green sides of the opposite mountains, — a 
 fair, quiet, Sabbath-evening scene, without ; but within 
 the city all was fermentation and bustle. " All the 
 city was gathered together at the door " of the house 
 where the Messiah was staying. Gennesaret was a 
 thickly settled region, and the country back of Caper- 
 naum was almost equally populous ; and the fame of 
 Christ as a person wonderful in healing, as well as in 
 teaching, had been rapidly spread abroad. -As people 
 heard of this certainty of cure, they hurried joyfully 
 to communicate the intelligence to the sick. What in- 
 telligence it was ! The wan from suffering grew flushed 
 with hope : the wasted found sudden energy, and came 
 panting on towards the Great Healer, or cried to 
 friends for' transportation : the despairing had new 
 words of comfort whispered in their ears, and took 
 courage for this last . effort : volunteer aid was ready 
 for those who needed' it: and speedily, among the 
 crowds of the curious, blocking up the street, were in- 
 termingled all forms and stages of disease trying to 
 force their way. The dying, — could his power reach 
 them ? So the anxious friends queried, as they bore 
 their precious burdens slowly and tenderly along. The 
 chronic cases of many years, — could they be healed ? 
 The plaintive voice, so long sharpened by pain, and 
 almost unused to any other but outbursts of anguish, — 
 * Van de Velde. 
 
At Capernaum and through Galilee. 157 
 
 could this, ever, be changed into joy and praise ? 
 make way ! Let them see that Jesus : let them reach 
 this Deliverer : let them come before him that he may 
 see the distorted or wasted form, and be moved to 
 pity ! And on they struggled ; sometimes shrieking 
 in ag;pny, as the crowd unwittingly jostled the couch ; 
 sometimes so death-like that consciousness was gone, — 
 hope, however, remaining and shown in the tender 
 looks bent over the sufferer. And, as the sick were 
 borne along, the healed met them with shouts of joy 
 and praise to God ; while the wondering crowds 
 scarcely could believe their own senses as they saw 
 them return, as if brought alive from the dead. — All 
 who came were healed, — the diseased both in body 
 and mind. 
 
 Thus the night settled down over Capernaum an agi- 
 tated city, full of wonder, full also of joy. 
 
 The Messiah, however, did not continue there long ; 
 for much work remained to be done in other parts 
 of Galilee. Eising in the morning, long before day, 
 he went to a retired place for communion with Heaven ; 
 but the disciples came to him there with the annuncia- 
 tion that " all men were seeking him."""" The multi- 
 tudes followed immediately after, with the entreaty 
 that he would stay with them ; but he replied, " I must 
 preach the kingdom of God to other cities also ; for 
 thereto am I sent."f 
 
 Peter and Andrew, and also James and John, had 
 returned temporarily to their former occupation as 
 fishermen ; but having here received a more formal call 
 to discipleship, they were with him again ; and so they 
 continued to the end of his ministry. 
 
 * Mark i, 37. t Luke iv, 43. 
 
158 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 He proceeded now to traverse Galilee ouce more, 
 preaching and healing as he went. The multitude 
 joining and following him had become very great ; for 
 his fame had extended throughout Syria, and to the 
 great cities of Decapolis east of the Jordan ; and peo- 
 ple from all those regions, and from Jerusalem, and 
 Judea generally, as well as from all parts of Galilee 
 were hurrying to him : and the sick were brought. — 
 " all sick people that were taken with divers diseases 
 and torments, and those which were possessed with 
 devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that 
 had the palsy ; and he healed them.""" 
 
 "What strange sensations there must have been 
 among all these multitudes, so intent, scrutinizing, 
 watching the sick coming up, and beholding them 
 immediately depart well and sound ; joining, if only 
 from sympathy, in the words of the healed men glo- 
 rifying God ; amazed at all they saw, amazed at what 
 they heard ; and yet, with all this, doubting. They 
 could not doubt respecting the miracles ; for these 
 were obvious to their senses, and were public, and 
 repeated, till there could be no question about this 
 astonishing power in the Messiah, and respecting the 
 endorsement thus given in tkern from Heaven, of his 
 teachings and his claims. Yet they were not satis- 
 fied. They walked in a maze of thoughts. The Jew- 
 ish mind had been cramped for so long a time, so 
 dwarfed amid narrow prejudices, that it was difficult 
 to give it enlargement of thought, and especially such 
 enlargement as Christ was now endeavoring to pro- 
 duce — a belief in the brotherhood of mankind. Cicero 
 called them suspiciosa ac maledica civitas. Tacitus 
 * Matt, iv, 23-25. 
 
At Capernaum and through Galilee. 159 
 
 says of them, " Connected among themselves by the 
 most obstinate and inflexible faith, the Jews extend 
 their charity to all of their own profession, while to- 
 wards the rest of mankind they nourish a sullen and 
 implacable hatred of strangers. The first elements of 
 their religion teach their proselytes to despise the 
 gods, to abjure their country, and forget their parents 
 and children. ' ; * 
 
 Therefore they were obtuse to the truths now 
 preached. There was wonderful power as well as 
 beauty in these truths whicli their hearts acknowl- 
 edged : there was a strange Presence in him around 
 whom they were crowding, a seeming glow from 
 heaven itself shining out through his countenance ; 
 and his miracles had the stamp of divinity upon 
 them ; but when he spoke to them of a kingdom in 
 men'3 hearts and souls, embracing equally Jew, and 
 Roman, and Greek ; making a brotherhood of all 
 men, making it a duty to love even their enemies, 
 whose iron heel was pressing their necks, their feel- 
 ings revolted, and the glorious truths of the new king- 
 dorh fell idly on their ear. Their very belief in the 
 coming of a Messiah was in such a channel as to in- 
 crease their selfishness, and pride, and arrogance, 
 and to cause them to be earthly in their most cher- 
 ished hopes ; for was he not to make them the su- 
 preme rulers on the globe ? This they believed, and 
 their hearts rioted in the thoughts of their coming 
 worldly triumph. Thus the multitudes, as they fol- 
 lowed Christ, and saw ancjjieard, did it in much dark- 
 ness of mind — a cherished darkness which most of 
 them did not wish to have turned into light. But still 
 • Hist, v, .5. 
 
160 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 they had glimmerings of truth : some sought for 
 more ; some believed. 
 
 So they proceeded, closely attending the Messiah 
 in his progress through Galilee, watchful, often admir- 
 ing, always full of wonder, and full of excitement. 
 
 — But one day they all recoiled in horror and dis- 
 may from the presence of Christ ; for there was sud- 
 denly at his feet a form that scarcely seemed to he 
 human, so disfigured was it with leprosy, the foulest 
 and most loathed disease known in their land. It was 
 also considered to be contagious when in its advanced 
 forms, such as were clearly exhibited in the present 
 case. The Jews regarded it as a visitation of Provi- 
 dence, and called it " the finger of God f emphati- 
 cally, " the -stroke. " Persons infected with it were 
 excluded, by their law, from society, and were com- 
 pelled to prevent any accidental approach to them by 
 giving a distant warning cry of " Unclean, unclean !" 
 How this man, if man he might now be called, had 
 come to break through this law, it is impossible to 
 say. Probably, a sudden hope had made him despe- 
 rate in boldness : the crowd had given way before 
 him in horror and alarm : and there he was now at 
 the feet of Christ, with a plaintive and broken cry, 
 " Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." 
 
 A competent writer says of this disease : " A re- 
 cent leprosy may be healed, but an inveterate one is 
 incurable. " :f * The common marks by which, as 
 physicians tell us, an inveterate leprosy may be dis- 
 cerned, are these : the voice becomes hoarse, like 
 that of a dog which has been long barking, and comes 
 through the nose, rather than through the mouth : 
 the pulse is email and heavy, slow and disordered ; 
 
At Capernaum and through Galilee. 161 
 
 the blood abounds "with white corpuscules, * * ; the 
 eyes are red and inflamed, and project out of the 
 head, but cannot be moved either to the right or left ; 
 the ears are swelled and red, corroded with ulcers 
 about the roots of them, and encompassed with small 
 kernels ; the nose sinks, because the cartilege rots ; 
 the nostrils are open, and the passage stopped with 
 ulcers at the bottom ; the tongue is dry, black, swelled, 
 ulcerated, shortened, divided into ridges, and beset 
 with little white pimples ; the skin is uneven, hard, 
 and insensible ; even if a hole be made in it, or it 
 be cut, a putrefied sanies issues from it instead of 
 blood. ""* 
 
 An American author, who, during a residence of 
 more than 20 years in Palestine, has seeirthe disease 
 in all its forms, thus describes its prog'ress as presented 
 to his eyes : " The hair falls from the head and eye- 
 brows ; the nails loosen, decay and drop off ; joint af- 
 ter joint of the fingers and toes shrink up and fall 
 away. The gums are absorbed and the teeth disap- 
 pear. The nose, the eyes, the tongue and palate are 
 slowly consumed, and finally the wretched victim sinks 
 into the earth and disappears, while medicine has no 
 power to stay the ravages of this fell disease or even 
 to mitigate sensibly its tortures."'!' 
 
 Such was the nature of the disease of this man, who, 
 "full of it"$ had now prostrated himself at the Mes- 
 siah's feet, with the cry, " Lord, if thou wilt, thou 
 canst make me clean." Abject he was in all but his 
 faith. Loathsome, but glorious in faith. The body 
 a horror, the soul resplendent through his faith. His 
 
 * Robinson's Calmet. 
 
 f Thompson's " Land and the Book." % Luke v, 12. 
 
162 LlFE-SCEXES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 tongue scarcely uttering intelligible sounds ; but pro- 
 nouncing the words of faith that brought salvation. 
 How the crowds, crushing against each other, gazed 
 and watched for the result ! It came immediately. 
 
 " I will, be thou clean ;" and Christ touched him. 
 
 At the word, a transformation took place. The hid" 
 g eous disease was gone ; all the foul signs were swept 
 away from his person, and he rose to his feet clean and 
 sound,* a well man. TTith a thrill of joy — such as no 
 thought in our mind can reach — he looked down upon 
 himself ;" found that he could use all of his limbs ; felt 
 the soundness all through his system ; saw the people 
 no longer shrinking from him in abhorrence, but gazing 
 in admiration and kindness, and approaching him — 
 lately so shunned, — to satisfy themselves of this amaz- 
 ing change. His plaintive cry, " Unclean, unclean," 
 was exchanged for thanksgivings and loud rejoicings 
 amid the congratulations which soon poured upon 
 him from the multitudes around. The man's burst of 
 joy over, the Messiah charged him not to publish this 
 abroad : for, in the strange city where they were, the 
 running of crowds, and the confusion and uproar, 
 might give offence to the authorities, as well as inter- 
 rupt his work of teaching ; but the man's wild joy 
 could not be restrained, and he published and " blazed it 
 abroad. " The Messiah, in consequence, could no longer 
 openly enter the city, but kept outside, away from its 
 thoroughfares : the people, however, came to him 
 there, crowding from every quarter, far and near, in 
 order to be healcd.f 
 
 But we must return to observe the central person in 
 
 « Mark i, 42. f Luke v, 12-15 : Mark i, 40-45. 
 
At Capernaum and through Galilee. 163 
 
 this late wonderful scene : for, above all other inter- 
 ests, above the wonder of the cure itself, come before 
 us the majesty of Christ himself, and the calm dignity 
 of his words, I will, uttered in that quietude of con- 
 scious power which could have been only in one to 
 whom infinite power had been forever familiar and 
 who felt its existence in himself. We see this also in 
 all his other miracles ; and it is even more remarka- 
 ble than the miracles themselves ; — a quietude in the 
 perfect consciousness of power ; a simplicity of om- 
 nipotence, which reminds us of the command re- 
 corded in the Bible, " Let there be UgJit : and there 
 was light." 
 
 There was, soon afterwards, another scene where 
 the Divinity within Christ asserted its rights and 
 its powers, in a yet more striking degree. After the 
 healing of the leper, he had spent some days in still 
 further teachings and miraculous cures, through the 
 country ; and then had returned to Capernaum ; 
 where, the rumor of his presence being quickly 
 spread, crowds began to gather about him as before. 
 
 The large houses in those countries are built around 
 a court-yard, which can be shaded by an awning 
 drawn over it when necessary ; or the court has some- 
 times a partial covering made by trellis work or 
 loose planks, perhaps forming supports to vines. An 
 arched passage from the street, and a gate-way in 
 this passage, admit into the court ; and, from the 
 latter, access is had to the various parts of the house. 
 In such a court-yard, at Capernaum, the Messiah was, 
 one day, teaching, after his return ; and around him. 
 in addition to the usual crowds, were Pharisees and 
 Doctors of the law, " which had come out of every 
 
164 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 town of Galilee, and Judea, and Jerusalem." They 
 had been roused to a critical attention by the in- 
 creased fame of Christ, and were here to scrutinize. 
 Dense masses of people filled all the court and the 
 arched way, out into the street ; and the scene was a 
 very remarkable one. The speaker had just come from 
 a wonderful exercise of miraculous power throughout 
 Galilee : and here, also, as usual in his addresses, 
 there seemed to be that about him personally — his 
 manner, his Presence, his words — which was more 
 than human.* Among this audience now, " the power 
 of the Lord was present to heal them."t Where 
 should they place this teacher, — in what condition of 
 the natural or the supernatural ? was a question 
 greatly agitating the public mind. Therefore, as he 
 spoke on this occasion, all eyes were fixed on him in 
 deepest attention, and yet variously ; the multitude 
 gazing with reverence mixed w-ith awe ; the Phari- 
 sees and Scribes, with their old captious feeling, and 
 with jealousies towards one who had not studied in 
 their schools, and had shown no marked respect for 
 them or their pretensions ; who also, with no advan- 
 tages of scholastic training, had shown himself so su- 
 perior to them all. They watched critically to see 
 what opinion they were to form of an individual now 
 so largely occupying attention. — But a sudden inter- 
 ruption occurred, — a singular event, which soon, how- 
 ever, added to the deep interest of the scene. 
 
 Out in the street, four men had come, bearing, on a 
 couch, a paralytic, who was unable to help himself. 
 A new hope had seized him and them, when they 
 
 *» See the testimony of his enemies — " Never man spake like this 
 man." 
 
 f Luke v, 17. 
 
At Capernaum and through Galilee. 165 
 
 heard that Christ had returned to Capernaum ; and, 
 with the quick tenderness of friendship, they had 
 been hurrying the sick man towards . the Messiah, 
 when presently they were brought to a stand by the 
 crowd filling every spot about the door. It was 
 found impossible to proceed, for the archway was 
 packed closely, by human beings, trying to catch the 
 words of the Great Teacher within ; and the people 
 either could not or would not give way. A fear 
 came over the sick man, such a fear as can be known 
 only to one long diseased and helpless, but who is sud- 
 denly roused by a great hope, and now that hope 
 made seemingly vain. He turned his feeble gaze on 
 the multitude, full of entreaty ; but they did not 
 move : exhortations from friends were of no avail : 
 probably every one believed that an effort to get 
 through such a crowd must be vain. But the friends 
 were not to be baffled by difficulties ; and they found 
 some outside way by which the sick man was brought 
 safely to the flat roof of the house, whence they 
 looked down upon the scene in the court below. 
 Some of the loose covering over the spot where the 
 speaker was standing was removed ; and, by means 
 of cords, the couch and the invalid were lowered 
 down* to the feet of the Messiah. No one ever 
 
 * Mark says, " uncovered the roof where he was ; Luke, " they 
 let him down through the tiling with his couch," 8lo\ tZjv xspafiav 
 which here, in our Bible is translated through the tiling. In Acts 
 is, 25, however, Stais* translated by, not through, 6 cd <rS tec^qikj, 
 by the wall. Also in 2 Cor. xi, 33, Sod by the wall. The Greek 
 word xipa/Aoc, originally meant tiles ; but afterwards it was used 
 for any kind of roof or covering. The .passage here, undoubtedly, 
 means by the roof or edge of the roof. 
 
166 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 sought his help in vain ; and, especially, no one with 
 such a look of entreaty and faith as now, from that 
 couch, met the attention of Christ*. From the house- 
 top, from the crowds, and the Pharisees and Scribes, 
 from every side, there was a gaze of intensest inte- 
 rest. 
 
 " Son," said the Messiah, f thy sins are forgiven 
 tftee." 
 
 Among the hearers there was a start of wonder : 
 - — among some of them, also, of horror and amaze- 
 ment. 
 
 " Who is this that speaketh blasphemies ? Who 
 can forgive sins save God alone," — the leaders were 
 Baying in themselves. 
 
 The Messiah knew their secret reasoning, and re- 
 plied to it, but without one word towards denying 
 the justness of their conclusions. On the contrary, 
 he gave his sanction to their logic, and put forth, 
 clearly and fully, his claims to Divinity. — 
 
 " What reason ye in your hearts? Whether is easier 
 to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee ; or to say, Rise up 
 and walk ? But that ye may know that the Son of man 
 hath power upon earth to forgive sins (he said to the 
 sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise and take up 
 thy couch, and go unto thine house."' 
 
 The paralytic man — paralytic no more — rose up. 
 What a strange sensation there was to him in that 
 new strength ! How his heart bounded in him, as he 
 felt the power to move his limbs and to stand ; as he 
 felt health once more nerving all his muscles, glowing 
 in all his frame! Amazement held the spectators 
 dumb for a while, overwhelmed by the Messiah's 
 high claims to the Godhead : their feelings, at first 
 
At Capernaum and through Galilee. 167 
 
 astonishment, and a shrinking at the seeming blas- 
 phemy in his language, and then amazement, not only 
 at the deliberate re-assertion of his claims, but the 
 sanction to them by Heaven itself. They were filled 
 with awe at the idea of the possibility of such a Pre- 
 sence with them, and fears were mingled with their 
 words giving glory to God.- Well might they say, 
 as they did, while retiring to their homes, " We have 
 seen strange things to-day." The healed man also 
 joined in glorifying God. 
 
 But discussions respecting the events of the day 
 were continued, with deep earnestness, long after- 
 wards, at their homes. The Pharisees and Scribes, es- 
 pecially, were thoroughly perplexed. There was 
 such a strange power in that teaching ; there was 
 such a greatness in the speaker, uttering his doctrines 
 with authority, and these doctrines so clear and prac- 
 tical, and carrying to the heart conviction of their 
 truth. All about him had the marks of humility 
 in life ; yet real greatness can afford to be volun- 
 tarily humble ; and there was even a grandeur in 
 this retiracy and unpretendingness of Christ, mixed, 
 as they were, with a latent power to which there 
 seemed to be no bounds. With this humiliation in 
 his appearance, he was claiming the attributes of 
 God ! It was blasphemy in man : — was he man ? 
 Yes, for their own eyes satisfied them of that ; and 
 yet, in his words, his doctrines, his face, there shone 
 out what might well be Divinity enthroned for a while 
 on earth. What a Divinity, too, in his manner of ad- 
 dress to the sick man y — his word, simply, to .be 
 
 * Luke v, 26. 
 
1G8 LlFE-SCEXES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 healed, and lie was healed : — as in the old manner, 
 when God spake and it was done. 
 
 — And yet, if he were the Christ, the Messiah, God 
 with men, — so unpretending and unambitious, so hum- 
 ble in all his surroundings and contented with them, 
 what was to become of their nation's hope of domin- 
 ion and glory ? Judea was still to remain trampled 
 under foot ; its expected triumphs a dream. Why 
 should he appear also as he did ? Why in the form 
 Their eyes beheld ? W hy not, at least, in some pomp 
 and circumstance of honor ? 
 
 ■ — Thus, in doubts and queryings, and in feeding 
 the heart with worldly passions, these Pharisees and 
 Scribes wandered off from the truth. How many 
 other men have, since that time, done the same! 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 AT JERUSALEM: ALSO AT CAPERNAUM. 
 
 The Messiah had given recently another proof of 
 his preference of what was- right above what was 
 popular, by calling Matthew, a publican, from the very 
 receipt of customs, to be a disciple. Accompanied by 
 him, and by the others so far selected to this office, he 
 went now to the Passover at Jerusalem, disregardful 
 of what the Rabbis and Doctors would say of his re- 
 tinue, taken from a class despised by their learned 
 men, and called by them, " earth," and " worms," fit 
 only to be trod upon. 
 
At Jerusalem: also at Capernaum. 169 
 
 Indeed, the whole party from Galilee were suffi- 
 ciently humble in their dress, and were unpretentious 
 in manner ; yet one of them was Lord, not of Judea 
 only, but of the earth ; and two of his followers have 
 left writings the value of which it will require the ful- 
 ness of eternity to show. Souls in this world, and 
 in the next, will not cease to bless the records of 
 Matthew and John.. 
 
 There was a pool at Jerusalem, called Bethesda, 
 having five porches or colonnades attached to it, under 
 the shelter of which were a great number of men, 
 " blind, and halt, and withered,' 7 waiting for the " mov- 
 ing of the water " in the pool. " For an angel went 
 down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled 
 the water : whosoever, then, first after the troubling 
 of the water, stepped in was made whole.' 7 A very 
 singular fountain, with a similar periodicity of flow, 
 which the writer of this book has himself seen, still 
 exists at Jerusalem. A few days after the author's ar- 
 rival in that city, (in 1834,) he was, one clay, going 
 alone on the outskirts during the sickness of his friend 
 and guide ; and on the side of the valley of Jehosha- 
 phat, not far below the old temple walls, he noticed 
 an opening in the hill-side with steps leading down. 
 He descended some distance — 27 steps cut in the rock ; 
 ■ — and at last, in the dim light, was just about stepping 
 into a pool of water, when a timely discovery saved 
 him from the partial bath. The fountain was about 
 18 inches deep, and a few feet across, the water per- 
 fectly clear, but with a slightly foreign taste. Returning 
 there, a few days after this, he was astonished to find, 
 instead of the clear fountain, only a muddy puddle, 
 with but a quart or two of water left. Others have 
 
170 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 noticed the same periodicity in this fountain* — called 
 the Fountain of the Virgin. A subterranean channel 
 leading from it has, since that time, been explored and 
 found to conduct to the pool of Siloam : and this " Foun- 
 tain of the Virgin " is itself, doubtless, supplied by 
 artificial conduits, from sources under the temple site, 
 or perhaps from Acra. Its periodicity, though, of 
 course, natural, has never been explained. 
 
 The Messiah, on this occasion of his visiting the 
 pool of Bethesda, stopped near a man— a cripple for 
 38 years, — lying there with longings to feel the power 
 of the water ; often taunted with a sudden hope ; 
 then springing up with painful effort, as the water was 
 troubled, but only to be disappointed by seeing others 
 more active than himself step in and be healed. 
 
 " Wilt thou be made whole ?" — the words were ad- 
 dressed to him. 
 
 " Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to 
 put me into the pool : but while I am coming another 
 steppeth down before me." 
 
 " Rise, take up thy bed and walk.' 7 
 
 There was power as well as authority, in that voice. 
 A movement ! strength ! the man was on his feet, 
 whole and sound and strong ! He did not know the 
 Healer, who, inasmuch as many were assembling, had 
 withdrawn : but he did as directed, took his bit of 
 mat or couch, and started for his home. 
 
 But it was the Sabbath : and the Jewish leaders 
 meeting him, reproved him for the breach of its sanc- 
 tity by carrying a burthen on that day. He told them 
 of the directions given him ; and, afterwards having 
 
 "Sec Robinson's Researches, and also Thompson's "Lund and 
 the Book." 
 
At Jerusalem : also at Capernaum. 171 
 
 met the Messiah, and discovered who it was that -had 
 healed him, he informed them that it " was Jesus who 
 had made him whole." 
 
 Christ was now in a city where, whatever was fierce 
 in bigotry, lofty in religious assumption, or deadly in 
 malice when such prejudices were wounded, had their 
 climax ; and the part of a teacher is not only to ex- 
 hibit truths, but to expose their opposites for condem- 
 nation. In Jerusalem he must, therefore, soon come 
 into collision with the rulers, from whom, when once 
 their ire had been aroused, only the fiercest measures 
 of revenge might be expected, so far as the Roman 
 power would permit. Of the Messiah's opinion of 
 these men, " hypocrites," ." serpents," " generation of vi- 
 pers," we have a record further on in history ; and 
 from the first he knew them thoroughly in all the base- 
 ness of their nature and of their designs. Nor did lie, 
 among them, ever cease to place the full power, both of 
 his teachings and his example, on the side of truth. 
 We are too apt, in our considerations of the gentleness 
 the mildness, the benevolence and the unconquerable 
 love of Christ, in this his ministry, to lose sight of the 
 moral force there was in him, and which it was that led 
 to the plots against his life ; and, as far as these rulers 
 were concerned, brought him finally to suffer on the 
 cross. This force made no parade of itself, and was 
 seldom a prominent object in his character, often seem- 
 ingly latent, but it was ceaseless in operation and ever 
 felt : and where there was a necessity, then it came 
 out fully and openly and decidedly, as we see in his 
 cleansing the temple, and in the woes hurled there af- 
 terwards, on the Pharisees, and, indeed, through all 
 his ministry on earth. His religion was to be, forever, 
 
172 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 aggressive against all wickedness ; and he was himself 
 aggressive : but we now recognize, even in this, such a 
 greatness of love that it hides all else from our eyes ; 
 and so, to many persons in our day, Christ appears to 
 have been tame and passive, when the fact is that the 
 really grand aggressive force in him is veiled from us 
 by his more striking traits of benevolence and love. 
 Even in the scene which comes immediately after this, 
 in Galilee, his anger* was deeply blended with grief 
 at man's hardness of heart. 
 
 When the healed man from the pool of Bethesda in- 
 formed the rulers who it was that had directed him to 
 carry his bed on the Sabbath, they immediately came 
 to the Messiah with a murderous purpose in their 
 hearts. He had before been obnoxious : they now be- 
 gan their plots for nis life. — His very first words to 
 them were an assertion of the right, through the God- 
 head in him, to act as he had done. 
 
 " My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." 
 
 They understood him perfectly, and they " sought 
 the more to kill him, because he not only had 
 broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his 
 Father, making himself equal with God."f 
 
 But there was no retraction on his part ; only re- 
 assertion in a more positive form. * * "For as the 
 Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them ; 
 even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. For the 
 Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judg- 
 meet unto the Son : that all men should, honor the 
 Son, even as they honor the Father." The address 
 was continued in the same clear and decided lan- 
 guage, with declarations of the power in heaven be- 
 e Mark iii, 5. f John v, 18. 
 
At Jerusalem: also at Capernaum. 173 
 
 longing to him, and of his supremacy in the judgment 
 to come.* 
 
 While returning from Jerusalem to Galilee, as he 
 was passing on the Sabbath through a field of grain, 
 his disciples plucked some of the ears for satisfying 
 their hunger ; and when the Pharisees in company 
 drew his attention reproachingly to the fact, he de- 
 fended his followers, declaring, also, " The Son of 
 man is Lord even of the Sabbath day."t 
 
 They had begun now to watch him, in order to find 
 occasions for accusation, and he met their scrutiny 
 readily ; for it would give him only the better oppor- 
 tunity for impressing his doctrines. An opportunity 
 for this offered itself soon after his return to Galilee. 
 
 He had gone to the synagogue on the Sabbath and 
 had taught as usual, after which he noticed in the 
 congregation a man having a withered hand. Scribes 
 and Pharisees were attentively observing both him 
 and this individual, to see whether thev mio;ht not 
 find there another charge against him of violating the 
 Sabbath. He knew it. 
 
 " Rise, and stand forth in the midst," he said to 
 the man ; and he did so. — Turning to the Scribes and 
 Pharisees, who were then plotting for his life, he 
 said : " "I will ask you one thing ; Is it lawful on the 
 Sabbath days to do good, or to do evil ? to save life, 
 or to destroy it?" 
 
 They did not answer ; and he " looked round 
 about on them with anger, being" grieved at the 
 hardness of their hearts ;" then towards the man. — 
 " Stretch forth thy hand." He did so : it was 
 whole as the other. 
 
 * See John v, 19-47. f Matt, xii, 8. 
 
17-1 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 Those men who were plotting murder there in 
 their hearts on the Sabbath, and yet would not sanc- 
 tion an act of mercy on that day, lest its sacredness 
 should be violated, now went out, and immediately, 
 for their fell purposes, formed a combination of a 
 very singular kind with another Jewish sect. These 
 were the Herodians, a set of men who, it will be re- 
 membered, had become the advocates, first of Herod 
 the Great, and were such now of his sons, Herod An- 
 tipas, king of Galilee and Perea, and of Philip of 
 Gaulonitis ; maintaining that the Roman government 
 was just, and that it was the duty of the Jews to sub- 
 mit ; also that, in the present circumstances, they 
 might follow, with a good conscience, many, of the 
 heathen practices and modes. Nothing could be 
 more at variance with the Pharisaic doctrines of a 
 strict adherence to their law, and of their proclaimed 
 maxim, that God only was their king, and that it was 
 wrong, to submit to any other : yet these Pharisees 
 now went out from the synagogue, '■ and straightway 
 took counsel with the Herodians against Jesus, how 
 they might destroy him."* The Herodians might 
 easily be persuaded that the Messiah was setting up 
 a kingdom in opposition to that of their Master, 
 Herod Antipas ; or, at all events, that dangerous tu- 
 mults against the government might arise among a 
 people at this moment so excited about a promised, 
 mighty King. The two sects, Pharisee and Hero- 
 dian, joined here in compact, their antagonistic prin- 
 ciples made to act in concert, through their greater 
 enmity towards Christ. 
 
 With what feelings, then, of rage and jealousy 
 
 O Mark iii, G. 
 
At Jerusalem : also at Capernaum. 175 
 
 must they have looked on the events which imme- 
 diately ensued at Capernaum ; — throngs brought by 
 his fame from all parts of Palestine, and from beyond 
 its limits ; — people crowding around him ; the sick, 
 in the multitude of applications, endeavoring if only 
 to touch him, in order to be healed ; and demoniacs 
 falling down before him, crying out, "Thou art the 
 Son of God." We are puzzled here again, as we 
 often are in reading the Gospels, by the notice of 
 what is unknown in our own time and seems to have 
 been peculiar to the period of which we are writing, 
 that is, men possessed of spirits of various kinds. In 
 our entire' ignorance as to the extreme thinness of the 
 veil which separates the visible from the invisible 
 world, and how easily it may be pierced by superna- 
 tural force when occasion requires, while to us it is 
 so impervious, we can only content ourselves with 
 the query, suggested in a former part of this work, 
 that if the powers of heaven are to be shaken when 
 the Son of man comes to the judgment, how much 
 more must they have been shaken during that won- 
 derful period when he laid aside his glory which he 
 had with the Father, and was a sojourner on our 
 earth? But these are facts about which we are little 
 capable of reasoning, as, indeed, we must be, whenever 
 we try to peer into the supernatural, and to query 
 about the mighty, unknown wonders it contains. 
 
 The scene at Capernaum had become an exciting- 
 one. People had come from Tyre and Sidon on the 
 north, and even from Idumea and its capital, Petra, 
 on the south ; from the east of the Jordan, and from 
 Jerusalem, and all parts of Judea ;* and a vast mul- 
 
 * Mark iii, 8. 
 
176 Life scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 titude were congregated, brought together by the 
 fame of the Messiah's teachings and his deeds. 
 Through these crowds the friends of the sick men 
 were still hurrying them ; and people's sympathies 
 were, es'ery moment, excited by such sights ; — by the 
 wan and feeble, and the distorted by disease ; by 
 eyes raised imploringly from couches ; or by faint 
 voices entreating them to give way, that the Great 
 Healer might be reached in time ; by the halt and 
 lame, trying to force an approach ; and by the blind, 
 asking to be directed amid the dense masses : while, 
 here and there, over the various noises, rose the ac- 
 knowledging cry of the demoniacs : " Thou art the 
 Son of God. ,; The scene, indeed, might easily become 
 tumultuous, especially through the instigation of ene- 
 mies ; and the Messiah at last withdrew to the bor- 
 ders of the lake, where a small boat had been brought ; 
 from this, also, his teachings could be more readily 
 heard than amid the dense throngs pressing on him 
 from every side.* 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 After the scenes in our last chapter, the Messiah 
 sought, in the evening, somewhere back of Capernaum, 
 a retired spot for prayer ; and there he remained all 
 tbe night in communion with Heaven. He needed 
 
 ° See Mark iii, 7-12 ; Matt, xii, 15-21. 
 
Sermon on the Mount. 177 
 
 rest after such a day as we have just been describing ; 
 but he felt still more the need of the refreshment 
 which such communion only could afford. 
 
 Earth must have been to him lonely. Even his 
 friends had few ideas common with himself ; and, 
 with all his teachings, quite to the last of his minis- 
 try, Ms immediate followers themselves did not un- 
 derstand the kingdom which he was endeavoring to 
 establish. Where, indeed, could he find any one to 
 join with him in that vastness of love which was for 
 all mankind, or to comprehend its nature ? His 
 views of things were infinitely wider than those of 
 the men around him, or of any man : his knowledge 
 embraced both worlds, the seen and the unseen : he 
 was infinitely above all others : and thus to him 
 there must have been a solitude on the earth, into 
 which no one could come, bringing that companion- 
 ship which even the highest natures long for, that 
 full communion which makes the greatest happiness 
 of our being. He had such fellowship with others as 
 could be found in relieving their distress, in elevating 
 them towards heaven by his teachings, and in ever 
 doing them good by the mightiness of power at his 
 command ; but companionship there was none, and 
 there could be none, upon the earth. 
 
 His full communion' could be only with heaven ; and 
 in such nights as this, when retiring from all human 
 beings, he put himself away from earthly things, then 
 was his solitude broken ; for the companionship of 
 heaven came fully to him again. 
 
 Thus he spent the night, and until the morning 
 waked up the world to activity once more, and his 
 work of teaching and healing was to be resumed. 
 
178 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 * 
 
 That day's teaching is among the~most memorable 
 things of earth ; for it gave us the Sermon on the 
 Mount. 
 
 The narrow thoroughfares at Capernaum were ill 
 adapted to be a place for teaching, and no house 
 could contain the multitudes thronging about him ; 
 and, recently, he had been compelled to take a boat, 
 from which, as it laid by the shore, he could address 
 them : now he led the way, back of the city, to the 
 heights of the table-land, which, as already men- 
 tioned, here overlooks the lake. Seen from below, 
 the shore there has a mountainous aspect, rising to 
 the height of eight or nine hundred feet, although 
 when examined from above, the ground shows itself to 
 be only the termination of the great Esdraelon plain. 
 These heights are, however, themselves not uniform, 
 but are broken into irregularities of outline, and, es- 
 pecially at one place, where a part called " The 
 Horns of Hattin" shows, as seen from the lake, an 
 altitude of some hundreds of feet above the rest. 
 These Horns of Hattin form a short ridge, running 
 east and west, with a depression in its middle, and 
 are, especially the eastern end, pointed out by tradi- 
 tion as the scene of the interesting gathering on that 
 day. " The summit of the eastern horn," says Rob- 
 inson, "is a little circular plain ; and the top of the 
 lower ridge, between the two, is also flattened to a 
 plain. * * This point commands a near view of 
 the great plain over which we had passed north of 
 Tabor, and also of the basin Ard-el-Hamma [closely 
 adjoining Hattin] spread out before us with fields of 
 various views, like a carpet. On the other side, the 
 eye takes in, even hero, only the northern part of the 
 
Sermon on the Mount. 179 
 
 Lake of Tiberias, and on its western shore the little 
 plain of Gennesaret ; while on the north and north- 
 west, Safed, and a few other villages, are seen upon 
 the hills." 
 
 It is quite probable that the tradition which as- 
 signs this place as the scene of the Sermon on the 
 Mount is correct ;* and the objects immediately 
 around would readily furnish the illustrations in that 
 discourse. # A gorge-like valley, leading out from 
 Gennesaret, is called, at the present time, the " Yale 
 of Doves/ 7 from the numbers of " fowls of the air" 
 having their homes among the cavernous rocks ; high 
 up in its sides : the time was spring, just after the 
 Passover, and Palestine is remarkable for its profusion 
 of brilliant flowers at that season ; while the peak of 
 Safed (if then built upon.) cr the town on Tabor, 
 would suggest the allusion to a " city set upon a 
 hill." 
 
 The place was, indeed, fitted well to be the scene 
 of that sermon : — the open vault of sky above ; the 
 lofty elevation, where the morning air was wafting the 
 incense of flowers towards heaven ; the wide prospect : 
 — nature all around in its purity and grandeur seem- 
 ing ready to say Amen to the pure and great word of 
 Nature's God uttered there to men for man's imperish- 
 able soul. We cannot but contrast the scene of that 
 morning with the one at Sinai, — its barren crags, 
 and thunder and lightning, making people stand afar 
 off in fear ; and remark how characteristic the two 
 scenes were of the two dispensations to which they 
 belonged. 
 
 * Here also was fought the bloody 5 decisive battle between tho 
 Crusaders and the Turks. 
 
180 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 The disciples of Christ had become numerous ; and 
 he had now, out of them, selected twelve whom he 
 named Apostles* that is, "persons to be sent forth, " 
 who were to be more especial attendants on his acts 
 and teachings, and witnesses for him before the world. 
 
 They accompanied him in this ascent of the moun- 
 tain back of Capernaum ; as did also many from 
 the city, and regions adjoining. t When, on reaching 
 the summit he sat down, — the position for teaching, — 
 the multitudes gathered closely around, and their 
 curiosity was intensified. The circumstances seemed 
 to show that the teaching would be of a more import- 
 ant character than usual. What would it be ? We 
 can see them closing together, so as not to lose a 
 word of what might be uttered ; their eager faces, 
 their silence of attention and their listening attitudes, 
 giving evidence of the deep interest which they felt. 
 Were angels also listening ? We believe they were : 
 and generations, since that, of the tempted, and tried, 
 and weary, and sad, and of the longing on earth for 
 heaven, and of the seekers for comfort here, and for 
 light in darkness, and for a sure foundation for faith, 
 and for comfort and peace, have gone to those words, 
 and have found them just what their souls needed 
 most. Yet there is no eloquence in them ; no over- 
 whelming grandeur of thought or sentiment : on the 
 contrary, the language is very plain, and the thoughts 
 and sentiments are marked with great simplicity : 
 but we feel, while reading, that the soul's God and 
 Maker is speaking to the soul, — speaking to it in 
 kindness and love. The scene was a great one, 
 where those words, ever since that time so productive 
 
 ° Luke vi, 13. t Inferred from Matt, vii, 28. 
 
Sermon on the Mount. 181 
 
 of blessings to men, were uttered. In our thoughts 
 we glance over those intensely interested multitudes, 
 to fix our eyes where theirs were fixed ; — on the cen- 
 tral object of that assembly ; on those features of 
 God-like expression, those eyes lighted up by unut- 
 terable love, on the lineaments where the Divinity 
 enthroned was taking form to the human eye. In all 
 that grand scene of nature, we see him only who was 
 worthy to be highest over nature and in heaven ; and 
 we hear him speaking worthily, even for him : — for 
 they are the words of eternal life. 
 
 When the occasion was over, and the people were 
 returning down the mountain towards their homes, 
 they went thoughtfully, not yet recovered from the as_ 
 tonishment which had settled upon them, while ob- 
 serving his doctrines and his manner : for they 
 all felt that '' he had taught them as one having au- 
 thority, and not as the Scribes."* 
 
 We can see the better how well they might be sur- 
 prised when we come to read of the usual instructions 
 in their synagogues, and to observe the frivolous sub- 
 jects often of the teachings there. In order that the 
 reader may himself form some idea of these, we here 
 give quotations from Eabbinical writings adduced 
 by Lightfoot : for " although the works to which he 
 refers were written subsequently to the birth of 
 Christ, yet they are generally considered as correct 
 representations of. the moral and religious opinions 
 which the Rabbis inculcated and which the Jewish 
 people imbibed and observed in the days of our Sa- 
 viour's ministry. "t 
 
 « Matt, vii, 29. 
 
 •f Preface to Lightfoot's works, by J. R. Pitman, A. M. 
 
182 LlFE-SCBNEH FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 Wc present some extracts made by that scholar, 
 led under different heads. 
 
 '• Absurd legends and stories. — ' R. Judah .sat look- 
 ing in the law before the Babylonish synagogue in 
 Zippor : there was a bullock passed by him to the 
 slaughter, and it lowed. Because he did not deliver 
 that bullock from the slaughter, he was struck with 
 the tooth-ache for the space of 13 years.'* Adam, 
 when first formed, reached from earth to heaven, 
 and had a tail like an orang-outang. Og, of Basan, 
 walked during the deluge by the side of the ark, and 
 sometimes rode astride on it : from one of Iris teeth 
 Abram made a bedstead. The wings of the bird Bar 
 Juchne, when extended, causes an eclipse of the sun : 
 one of her eggs, which fell from her nest, broke down 
 300 cedars and inundated 60 villages. &c, £c. 
 
 " Opinions relative to the Sabbath. — ' It is not only per- 
 mitted to lead a beast out to watering on the Sabbath 
 day : but they might draw water for him and pour it 
 into the trouglis, provided only they do not carry the 
 water and set it before the beast to drink, but the beast 
 comes and drink? it of his own accord." ' Women 
 may not look into a looking-glass on the Sabbath 
 day. if it be fixed to a wall.' ' He that hath tooth- 
 ache, let him not swallow vinegar to spit it out again : 
 but he may swallow it. so he swallow it down. He 
 that hath a sore throat, let him not gargle it with oil : 
 but he may swallow down the oil, whence if he receive 
 a cure, it is well. Let no man chew mastich or rub 
 his teeth with spice for a cure : but if he do this to 
 make his mouth sweet, it is allowed.' 
 
 " Superstition with regard to amulets, charms, magic, 
 4*c. — The senior who is chosen into the council ought 
 
Sermon on the Mount. 183 
 
 to be skilled in the arts of astrologers, jugglers, divin- 
 ers, sorcerers, &c, that he may be able to judge of 
 those who are guilty of the same/ ' The chamber Hap- 
 parva, in the temple itself, was built by a certain ma- 
 gician, whose name was Parvah, by art magic' ' Four 
 and twenty of the school Rabbi, intercalating the year 
 at Lydda, were killed by the evil-eye/ i. e., sorceries. 
 The Talmud, after cautioning its votaries against 
 drinking water by night, lest it should cause dizziness 
 and blindness, instructs them, if they so drink, to guard 
 against these maladies by repeating Shivriri, Vriri, Riri, 
 Iri, Ri. l When a child laughs in its sleep in the 
 night of a Sabbath, or a new moon, the demon Lilith 
 is toying with it : then let the parents thrice exclaim, 
 Begone cursed Lilith, and at each exclamation pat the 
 nose of the child.' 
 
 " Hypocrisy in prayer. — ' R. Joachin said, I saw R. 
 Jaimai standing and praying in the streets of Zippor ; 
 and going four cubits, and then praying the additional 
 prayer.' 
 
 " Puerile and ridiculous descriptions. — They detail the 
 number of angels and demons, their mode of birth, pre- 
 cise names, magnitude and stature, residences and pecu- 
 liar offices. Equally childish are the reveries of the 
 Rabbis, relative to the chorography of Paradise, its va- 
 rious divisions and names thereof. With the same ac- 
 curacy they mark out the different compartments of Hell 
 or Gehinnon ; the extent and inmates of each section, 
 the various intensities of penal fire and the processes 
 of purgation. 
 
 " Drunkenness as a matter of religion. — ' Rabba 
 saith, A man is bound to make himself so mellow on 
 the feast of Purim that he shall not be able to distin- 
 
181 , Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 guisli between cursed be Haman and blessed be Mor- 
 decai.' 
 
 " Absurd calculations. — ' The ladder of Jacob is the 
 ascent of the altar and the altar itself. The angels 
 are princes or monarchs. The king of Babylon as- 
 cended 70 steps : the king of the Medes, 52 ; the king 
 of Greece, 180 : the king of Edom — it is uncertain 
 how many.' They reckon the breadth of the ladder to 
 have been about 8,000 parasangs, i. e., about 32,000 
 miles, and the bulk of each angel was about 8,000 Eng- 
 lish miles in compass. 
 
 " Punctilious ivashing of hands. — The Rabbins de- 
 livered, ' The washing of hands for common things 
 (or common food) was unto the joining of the arm.' 
 1 The second waters cleanse whatsoever parts of the 
 hands the first waters had washed. But if the first 
 waters had gone above the juncture of the arm, the 
 second waters do not cleanse, because they do not 
 cleanse above the juncture. If, therefore, the waters 
 which went not above the juncture return upon the 
 hands again, they are unclean.' There are a great 
 many injunctions on this subject. 
 
 " National vanity. — ' If one sees one of the Gentiles 
 fall into the sea, he shall not fetch him up ; for it is 
 said, Thou shalt not stand up against the blood of thy 
 neighbor. But such an one is not thy neighbor.' 
 ' The nations of the world are likened to dogs.' 
 4 An Israelite that slayeth a stranger sojourning 
 among them is not to be put to death by the Sanhe- 
 drim for it ; because it is said, If a man come pre- 
 sumptuously upon his neighbor.' 'If any one's ox 
 shall gore his neighbor's ox ; his neighbor's not a 
 heathen's ; when he saith neighbor's^ he excludes 
 
Sermon on the Mount. 185 
 
 heathen's/ ' The dust of Syria defiles, as well as the 
 dust of other heathen countries.' • Wicked hea- 
 then's little ones, all men confess they shall not come 
 into the world to come.' ' Whosoever lives within the 
 land of Israel is absolved from all iniquities. And 
 whosoever is buried within the land of Israel is as if 
 he were buried under the altar.' 'The men of Israel 
 are wise, for the very climate makes wise.' 
 
 li Subtle distinctions. — Any spittle found in the 
 city was clean, except that which was found in the 
 upper streets. The hinges of the gates of the tem- 
 ple were heard as far as a Sabbath-day's journey 
 eight times numbered. The hinges, indeed, not far- 
 ther, but the gates themselves were heard to Jericho. 
 There is a dispute upon that precept, Levit. xvii, 3 : 
 If any one kill a bird upon a holy-day, the Shammean 
 school saith, ' Let him dig with an instrument and 
 cover the blood.' The school of Hillel saith, ' Let 
 him not kill at all, if he have not dust ready by him 
 to cover the blood.' 
 
 " Intricate questions. — Whether a man may bless 
 God for the sweet smell of incense which he smells 
 offered to idols ? Whether a man at his devotions, if 
 a serpent come and bite him in the heel, may turn 
 and stoop and shake it off or not ? 
 
 " Logical' deductions. — The Jews do gather 613 pre- 
 cepts, negative and affirmative, to be in the whole law, 
 according to the 613 letters in the two tables, and so 
 many veins and members in a man's body. ' While 
 lie asketh necessaries for himself, let him not use any 
 language, but the Syriac ; because the angels do not 
 understand the Syriac language.' " 
 
 More in the same style might be adduced ; but 
 
1S6 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 these are sufficient to show the reader what was pro- 
 bably the nature of the discussions among the Rab- 
 bis, and the subject of their teachings at that period : 
 we may also here refer back to the celebrated sayings 
 of Hillel and Shammai, the two great Jewish leaders 
 just before our Saviour's time, from a Jewish history, 
 as quoted at pages 98 and 99 in this book. 
 
 Immediately on returning from the mountain to 
 Capernaum, the Messiah was called upon again to ex- 
 ercise his power of miraculous healing : the request 
 brought, this time, by the elders of the city. Jewish 
 elders were the princes of tribes and heads of family 
 associations. It was seldom that the Jewish rulers 
 showed him any honors ; for there seems to have 
 been small affinity between him and them ; and they 
 now came by entreaty of a Roman centurion, who, 
 instead of bearing himself haughtily among them, 
 they said, " loved their nation, and had built them 
 a synagogue." His servant was sick of palsy, and 
 apparently in those frightful spasms when paralysis 
 is verging on apoplexy, and was " grievously tor- 
 mented." The centurion, fearing, perhaps, i hat his 
 being a foreigner might stay the benevolent hand 
 of Christ, asked the elders to solicit him to come 
 and heal ; but modesty overwhelmed him even in 
 this solicitude ; for while the Messiah, accompa- 
 nied by the rulers, was on the way to his house, 
 friends of the officer were sent, saying, that their mas- 
 ter did not deem himself worthy to receive such a 
 visitor : "But speak only the word, and my servant 
 shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, 
 having soldiers under me : and I say to this man, Go, 
 aud he goeth ; and to another, Come, and he cometh ; 
 
Nain. Castle of Macherus. 187 
 
 and to my servant, Do tins, and he doetli it." The 
 Messiah turned to the elders with an expression of 
 admiration at the man's strong faith, and added, that 
 many such, of other nations, should enter the king- 
 dom of heaven, while unbelieving Jews should be 
 cast out into outer darkness : " there shall be weep- 
 ing and gnashing of teeth." They went no further : 
 and the centurion's friends, returning immediately, 
 found the servant well.* 
 
 * CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 NAIN. — CASTLE OF MACHERUS. « 
 
 The writer of this, while looking out, one day, from 
 an upper window of his lodgings in Pera, a suburb of 
 Constantinople, on the opposite side of " The Golden 
 Horn/ 7 saw just below him, a procession advancing 
 rapidly up the street. It was headed by persons car- 
 rying on their shoulders a species of bier or couch, on 
 which was the dead body of a young girl, — one who 
 might have been 16 or IT years of age. There was 
 no coffin, simply the open couch ; and the deceased 
 lay there dressed in white garments, such as N she had 
 worn while living, the face uncovered, flowers scat- 
 tered about the head and the dress and bier ; all re- 
 minding one but little of death • for the features were 
 like those of a person in a quiet sleep. 
 
 © Matthew viii, 5-13 ; Luke vii, 1-10. Matthew speaks of the 
 centurion as having come himself ; on the law-maxim qui facitper 
 aliumfacit per se. 
 
188 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 But still there was unmistakably, there, the majesty 
 of death ; — that majesty which every one recognizes, 
 and before which we are always filled with awe. 
 
 I have seen that majesty most strangely impressive 
 also on the battle-field ; where the dead were lying 
 thickly, and where the hands of victorious enemies 
 were giving them a hasty and unhonored burial : but, 
 still, that silent impressiveness was there, even in those 
 discolored corpses lying, as they had fallen in the mad- 
 dening strife ; and people spoke in tones of gentleness, 
 although these dead men had fallen while acting as 
 our bitterest foes. 
 
 We como now to speak of a scene in Galilee con- 
 nected with death. 
 
 The reader will remember that, parallel to Carmel, 
 the southwestern boundary of Esdraelon, and near 
 to it, is the short range of Mount Gilboa : and then 
 parallel to it, a little further. to the north, another 
 similar range, called Little Hermon. From the 
 northeastern side of this last, a short spur of table 
 land projects, on which was a small city, called Xain, 
 overlooking the plain below, with Endor not far off, 
 and Mount Tabor about five miles to the north. The 
 time of this scene was near the close of day. Scarcely 
 a finer spot could have been chosen for seeing the 
 quiet of evening fall over the great landscape of Es- 
 draelon, than was this plateau of Nain, from which 
 objects below were all distinct, — the numerous vil- 
 lages, the orchards, the signs of busy husbandry, and 
 the fields of waving grain ; for the time we speak of 
 was at the harvest season over that immense plain. 
 But as, in our history, we may consider ourselves by 
 Nain, looking down over the interesting scene, we 
 
Nain. — Castle of Macherus. 189 
 
 hear the quiet of the evening suddenly broken in 
 upon by loud wailings from a procession, issuing from 
 one of the city gates, — a funeral procession with all 
 the demonstrations belonging to such an occasion in 
 the East. 
 
 " The grief of the orientals formerly on the occasion 
 of death, was, as it is at this day in the East, very ex- 
 treme. As soon as a person died, the females in the 
 family, with a loud voice, set up a sorrowful cry. They 
 continued it as long as they could without taking 
 breath, and the first shriek of wailing died away in a 
 low sob. After a time they repeated the same cry 
 and continued it for eight days. 
 
 " A box or coffin was not used, except in Babylon 
 and Egypt. The corpse was wrapped in folds of linen 
 and placed upon a bier, and was carried by four or six 
 persons to the tomb. * * The mourners who fol- 
 lowed the bier, poured forth the anguish of the heart 
 in lamentable wails ; and, what rendered the cere- 
 mony still more affecting, there were eulogists and 
 musicians who deepened the sympathetic feelings of 
 the occasion by a rehearsal of the virtues of the de- 
 departed and by accompaniment of melancholy 
 sounds."* 
 
 The greatness of the concoursef attending this fu- 
 neral at Nain, showed the respect entertained for the 
 afflicted family, and how wide was the sympathy felt in 
 this particular case. The deceased had been an only 
 son ; his mother was a widow ; and the mourning 
 here, had the depth that can come only from such 
 utter desolation as was hers. The Jewish dead were 
 
 <* Jahn's Archaeology. See also Matt, ix, 23, and xi, 17. 
 f Luke vii, 12. 
 
190 Life scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 always buried outside their towns : and the proces- 
 sion had now left the city gate, — a long line of 
 mourners filling the evening air with their lamenta- 
 tions and cries. The corpse was borne on a couch, 
 with the face uncovered, as was the custom in that 
 country : — those calm, placid features, and that depth 
 of appalling repose in the corpse, contrasting strongly 
 with the agitations of the mourners and the loud cries 
 and lamentations as the procession moved rapidly on. 
 
 Another large company had just been ascending 
 the hill, and now came upon the mourning train, 
 which it had stopped ; and that voice, which we have 
 listened to so often, — those mild, gentle tones, so full 
 also of the power of command, said to the mother, 
 
 " Weep not." 
 
 Christ had come that day from Capernaum, a dis- 
 tance of 20 or 25 miles, attended by his disciples and 
 a large concourse of others, who now, as he stood by 
 and touched the bier and the bearers stood still, all 
 gathered round with an intensity of curiosity, and an 
 excitement unequalled heretofore. Could he even 
 raise the dead ? That was the thought filling every 
 mind and depicted on every face around, as people 
 gazed on the Messiah, and from him to the corpse 
 so impassive there, while the lookers on were wrought 
 up to the highest degree of emotion. 
 
 11 Young man, I say unto thee, arise." — Christ had 
 spoken. 
 
 — It was death no more. The chest heaved, the 
 features relaxed, the eyes opened ; the marble pale- 
 ness and rigidity had passed away. Life was there ; 
 the true, breathing, active, perceptive life. The eyes 
 had a bewildered, wondering expression, as if asking 
 
Natn. — Castle of Macherus. 191 
 
 what all this meant ; but the ear immediately recog. 
 nized a mother's tones of joy : — 
 
 " My son, my son !" 
 
 He sat up and began to speak ; and the crowd, 
 freed from their deathlike stillness, sent up loud 
 praises to God. They cried out, joyfully and confi- 
 dently, "A great prophet has risen among us: 7 ' 
 " God hath visited his people." 
 
 Amid this scene of their rejoicing, there was a more 
 touching spectacle, where the Messiah was delivering 
 to the mother the young man, freed from the wrap- 
 pings for the grave, and where her joy and gratitude 
 were trying to find vent in broken words, and where 
 she clasped her recovered son tightly to her heart, 
 as if to feel, of a certainty, that it was all real, and as 
 if she would thus secure herself from losing him 
 again. 
 
 Far over all Galilee, and through all Judea, and 
 even into the remote southern borders of Perea, went 
 the report of this greatest of all possible miracles, 
 stirring up, wherever it spread, hopes and often a 
 belief, that God had visited his nation. But yet, even 
 amid that flush of joy at Nain, and the cries of glory 
 to God, even by that empty bier from which Christ 
 had just raised the dead, the shout was about a 
 'prophet come, not about the Messiah. God, they be- 
 lieved, had not forgotten. his people," and had sent 
 them a great prophet ; but they kept their minds ob- 
 stinately blinded against" any Messiahship, except ac- 
 cording to the old opinion, of their glory and domin- 
 ion to be extended over all the world. 
 
 The rumor of this scene, and the rejoicings and 
 hopes it gave rise to, reached away down to the 
 
192 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 castle of Macherus, John's place of strict confine- 
 ment, where the vengeance of the tyrant ruler and 
 his wicked wife had never once relaxed. John had 
 still disciples, who were allowed to visit him ; and 
 they came now and told him of what had occurred at 
 Nain.* He had, at this time, been about a year in 
 prison, and the long confinement had worn on the 
 spirit of the bold and ardent man. It must have 
 been to him, indeed, a very wearisome time ; and 
 often and often he had thought, during his confine- 
 ment, of the sensual tyrant, revelling in power and 
 luxury, and enjoying freedom, while he, the man of 
 God, was left seemingly deserted of all aid, human or 
 divine. Doubts of God's goodness mix up with such 
 thoughts as these, and have to be repelled by a pow- 
 erful and active faith ; but often, in spite of faith, 
 they will yet return. If Jesus was the Messiah, — so 
 the Baptist might have queried, — why was he, John, 
 left deserted, to pine away in solitude and confine- 
 ment? There was the power of wonderful miracles ; 
 why was it not exercised for him, the messenger sent 
 to prepare the way ? Jesus had raised the dead ; 
 why was there no word to set him, the living, free ? 
 There was no feeling of rivalry or envy in John, and 
 had not ever been ; but his was a condition where 
 the soul pines and loses force under its long re- 
 straints, and where its own thoughts and its chafed 
 feelings sometimes become its worst tormentors. 
 The various reports 1 about Christ; the questions 
 started by the Rabbis; the objections from the po- 
 verty of appearance and simplicity of life in Jesus ; 
 the general disposition through the land to receive 
 
 * Luke viii, 18. 
 
Nain.— Castle op Macherus. 193 
 
 him only as a great prophet ; — all this must have 
 reached John, — perhaps in distorted rumors ; and 
 the gloom of confinement is always fruitful in doubt. 
 So, calling two of his disciples, he sent them to Jesus, 
 with the simple but pertinent question — 
 
 " Art thou he that should come, or look we for 
 another ?" 
 
 The Messiah made no immediate reply, when the 
 message was delivered ; and the messengers wonder- 
 ing at his silence, stood aside to look on the specta- 
 cle now presenting itself. It seems to have been at 
 Capernaum ;* but wherever it was, the sick and 
 afflicted were now coming around him, and he was 
 healing all who came. Among them were numerous 
 blind men,t groping, stumbling, pushing their way 
 among the crowd, with the energy of the great hope 
 that was in them, and with their plaintive cry to 
 Christ for help. It was, indeed, an exciting scene ; — 
 the crowds of applicants ; the anxiety and sympathy 
 of friends ; the pathetic earnestness of all ; the glad- 
 ness and rejoicings of the relieved; the wonder of 
 the blind, as sight was given ; their exclamations at 
 what they saw ; their earnest gazings on that face, 
 all radiant with the divine benevolence ; their'thanks 
 and praises, shouted out in return for this blessing, 
 as the strange scenes of life were all developed to 
 their eyes ; as turning their sight everywhere, upon 
 earth, and sky, and lake, and upon the loved face of 
 friends, and upon the gazing crowds around, and 
 then back again upon the Messiah, they drank in the 
 joys of their new and wonderful life. 
 
 The disciples of John looked on and saw it all ; 
 
 — — 1 , — t ...... , . 
 
 * Inference from Matt, xi, 23. f Luke vii, 21. 
 
 9 
 
194 Life-scenes from the Four. Gospels. 
 
 and they heard, from the crowds, of similar miraculous 
 cures of other afflictions : and now, the Messiah call- 
 ing them, charged them to go and report to their 
 Master what they had witnessed and heard ; and, 
 also, that " to the poor the gospel is preached." No 
 word of censure on John for his doubts ; but only this 
 declaration, " Blessed is he whosoever shall not be of- 
 fended in me."* 
 
 Was this all ? — So these messengers might have said, 
 as they went on their long journey back to John's 
 gloomy prison-house at Macherus. What they had 
 seen and heard was decisive as to the Messiahship ; 
 but could there be no token of deliverance for John 
 himself? no hope to be carried back to the prisoner, 
 so wearied, so worn, and so sad ? not one word from 
 this great, loving, soul of Christ, so full of benevolence 
 to all around him, so ready to help the abject ? no 
 cheering hope to their master of earthly help from 
 him? There was none. And thus it ever is in the 
 mysteries of God : often he seems to leave us deserted, 
 even when we look most for his help : but, " Blessed 
 are they whosoever are not offended in him." 
 
 John's life was, however, now close to a tragic end. 
 The deadly hate of the wife of Herod had never lost 
 sight of him : and she feared also the influence he 
 might have on the Tetrarch, who, in his heart, respected 
 and honored the Baptist,! both as a man and prophet. 
 At the first of his confinement she had tried to instigate 
 the tyrant to have him executed ;| but a fear of John, 
 and of the influence he had over the people, restrained 
 him : but, suddenly, now an opportunity offered, of 
 which she immediately availed herself. Herod, on his 
 
 ~a"Luke vii\23T~ "fMaik^i, 20. j lb. 10. 
 
Nain.— Castle of Macherus. 195 
 
 birth-day, gave a great supper to his lords and cap- 
 tains, and chief estates of Galilee ; and, when all were 
 inflamed with wine, the daughter of this woman came 
 in and danced for the amusement of the company. The 
 dancing in the east, unlike what it is with us, is a slow 
 and graceful posturizing, with a gentle movement of 
 the arms and body : and it is often, also, lascivious. 
 It is seldom that any woman of rank or dignity takes 
 part in -it ; and among the Jews, it was also highly in- 
 decorous for a woman to appear at any time before 
 strangers without being veiled : but, in this case, all 
 seems to have been forgotten in the madness of the 
 hour ; and, in that madness the Tetrarch, in return for 
 the exhibition of herself, swore to give her what she 
 might ask, even if it should be the half of his kingdom. 
 The oath was before all the lordly company : arid the 
 girl, with high gratification, withdrew immediately to 
 consult with her mother as to what she should de- 
 mand. The fiendish woman sprung at the opportu- 
 nity ; and told her to require the head of John the 
 Baptist in a charger. The demand was made ; and 
 a feeling of horror passed through the company. The 
 king would have canceled his promise ; but, it was 
 made so publicly, and in the presence of such high of- 
 ficers, that pride and the fear of incurring ridicule, for- 
 bade it : and the order for execution, as she had re- 
 quired, was given. The head of John was delivered 
 in a salver to the girl, and from her to her mother. 
 
 The disciples of John came and received the body 
 and buried it ; and then passed on to Galilee to com- 
 municate the circumstance to the Messiah. 
 
 How many of such mysteries of human life remain, 
 to be cleared up when the great day of reckoning shall 
 
196 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 come, and Christ shall sit for the eternal judgment ! 
 In the meantime, we walk by faith, and not by sight ; 
 and, amid seeming incongruities in providences, we 
 have the words still repeated down from the old times, 
 y Blessed is he whosoever is not offended in me" 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE TWO DINNERS. — HEALINGS. — NAZARETH, &C. 
 
 The Scribes and Pharisees were perplexed by the 
 miracles of Christ. There were so many of these, so 
 open to the critical inspection of all, enemies as well 
 as friends, and so decided in their nature, that there 
 was no caviling respecting the facts themselves ; and 
 yet there was a set purpose in the minds of these men, 
 not to believe. If they should believe, then so much 
 of ambition, and hope of triumph over national ene- 
 mies, and of personal aggrandizement, would have to 
 be entirely relinquished ; — it seemed to them to be al- 
 most demanded by patriotism that they should reject 
 Christ's claims to the Messiahship. If they should ac- 
 cept him, the sun in their political firmament would be 
 quenched in darkness never to end. But the miracles 
 were too obvious to lie gainsayed : and, moreover, 
 these were affecting the public sentiment respecting 
 him, and people were universally considering him a 
 great prophet, if nothing more. The Pharisees felt 
 that they must controvert this. When men once be- 
 
The two Dinners. — Nazareth, &c. 197 
 
 gin to wish to advocate error the expedients for it 
 readily present themselves : and soon after the events 
 of the last chapter, we are presented with an example 
 of this. The Messiah was again passing through all 
 Galilee, " preaching and showing the glad tidings of the 
 kingdom of God,"* and there was brought before him 
 " one possessed with a devil, blind and dumb," whom 
 lie healed, so that the man both spake and saw. There 
 was a cry of admiration from the spectators, " Is not 
 this the son of David ?" all which soon reached the 
 ears of the Pharisees. 
 
 " This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beel- 
 zebub the prince of the devils," was their immediate 
 response : but Christ argued with them that, " Every 
 kingdom divided against itself is brought to desola- 
 tion," and that, " if satan cast out satan, he is divided 
 against himself ;" and he, then, in a train of terrible 
 warning respecting such sin as theirs, added, "All 
 manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto 
 men : but the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost shall not 
 be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a 
 Word against the Son of man it shall be forgiven him : 
 but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it 
 shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither 
 in the world to come. * * brood of vipers, how 
 can ye, being evil, speak good things ? for out of the 
 abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. "f 
 
 Soon after this he was invited by a Pharisee to dine 
 in his house, and he went : but he found himself there 
 in the midst of an assembly, — Pharisees and Scribes 
 and Lawyers, — from whose presence nothing but hos- 
 tility could be expected. In those countries, for a 
 
 ° Luke viii, 1. f Matt, xii, 22-34. 
 
198 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 man to invite another to break bread with him is to 
 place the latter, at once, under the protection of the 
 host, who is bound then to defend him, if necessary, 
 even with his life ; and in all nations, persons who 
 invite a stranger to dinner are expected by the rules 
 of hospitality, to have the company at least not hostile 
 to the guest. The Messiah, on looking around in this 
 room, could see faces in which enmity, if concealed for 
 the present, was ready at any moment, to break forth : 
 for they were the class of men who had already leagued 
 with the Herodians for his destruction. 
 
 At the outset, the captious spirit of his host was dis- 
 played, because the guest had not conformed to a Jew- 
 ish practice, proper to some extent, but which the Phari- 
 sees had inwrought into their system of traditional law, 
 so as to give it prominence among those things making 
 religion consist in external observances of their own 
 prescription, and not in the heart. " For the Pharisees 
 and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat 
 not, holding the tradition of the elders. And when they 
 come from the market, except they wash,* they eat not. 
 And many other things there be, which they have re- 
 ceived to hold, as the washing of cups and pots and 
 brazen vessels and tables." On another occasion than 
 the present, when Christ was upbraided with the prac- 
 tice of his disciples on this subject, he replied, " Well 
 hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrite,s as it is writ- 
 ten, This people honoreth me with their lips, but their 
 heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they wor- 
 ship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of 
 men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye 
 hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and 
 
 ° For their silly rules in this washing, see p. 184 of this bool". 
 
The two Dinners. — Nazareth, &c. 199 
 
 cups ; and many other such like things ye do. And 
 he said unto them, Full well ye reject the command- 
 ment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. 
 For Moses saith, Honor thy father and thy mother ; and 
 whosoever curseth father or mother, let him die the 
 death : but ye say, If a man shall say to his father or 
 mother, It is Corban [devoted to God], that is to say, 
 a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me ; 
 he shall be free. And ye suffer him no more to do 
 aught for his father or mother ; making the word 
 of God of none effect through your tradition, which 
 ye have delivered ; and many such like things do ye."* 
 
 Such was the system upheld by the individuals 
 whom Christ beheld around him now, at this* dinner, 
 and by one of whom — his host — he was immediately 
 caviled at, for not conforming to one of those tradi- 
 tionary rules. His reply was direct and pointed : 
 " Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the 
 cup and the platter ; but your inward part is full of 
 ravening and wickedness. * * * Woe unto you, 
 Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye are as 
 graves which appear not, and the men that walk over 
 them are not aware of them." 
 
 ■ — " Master, thus saying thou reproachest us also." 
 
 The speakers were the lawyers present, men whose 
 business in life it was to expound the unwritten law. 
 He turned to them : 
 
 li Woe unto you also, ye lawyers ! for ye lade man 
 with burdens grievous to born, and ye touch not the 
 burden with one of your fingers. * * Woo unto 
 you, lawyers ! for ye have taken away the key of 
 
 <' See Mark vii, 6-13. 
 
200 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 knowledge : ye entered not in yourselves, and them 
 that were entering in ye hindered." 
 
 But the scene presently became a vociferous one ; 
 for the Scribes and Pharisees*" began to urge him ve- 
 hemently, and to provoke him to speak of many 
 things : laying wait for him, and seeking to catch 
 something out of his mouth that they might accuse 
 him."* 
 
 On his return to the Lake of Galilee, the multi- 
 tudes still pressing about him in great numbers,f he 
 sought refuge, as on a former occasion, in a vessel by 
 the shore, and taught them thence, making his teach- 
 ings, as was very often the case, in parables. J A 
 parable is " an allegorical representation of some- 
 thing in real life, or nature, from which a moral is 
 drawn for instruction/ 7 and was a mode of teaching 
 common in that country so fond of figurative lan- 
 guage. In the evening he directed the vessel to be 
 launched out, so as to proceed to the other side ; and 
 tired out, he sank into profound sleep at the stern. 
 One of those sudden squalls to which the lake is sub- 
 ject came rushing down from the mountains : the 
 waves came surging into the boat, till it was near 
 foundering, when the disciples awoke him ; ' ; Master, 
 Master, we perish." He rebuked the wind and water, 
 and there was a calm. They said to each other, 
 " What manner of man is this that even the winds 
 and the sea obey him." 
 
 On the eastern shore he healed two demoniacs, who 
 had been " exceedingly fierce, so that no man might 
 pass by that way." 
 
 o Lr.ke xi, 37-0-4. f Matt, xiii, 1, 2. 
 
 J Luke xii, 1-59 ; xiii, 1-9 ; Mark xiii, 1-53. 
 
The two Dinners. — Nazareth, &c. 201 
 
 When he had returned to the western side of the 
 lake, a great feast was made for him by Levi, (Mat- 
 thew), under far different circumstances from those at 
 the Pharisee's house ; for his fellow- guests were also 
 the despised and outcast members of society — pub- 
 licans and sinners, " for they were many, and they 
 followed him." They were invited in to the feast ; 
 and Matthew, it will be remembered, had been him- 
 self a publican. The prying eyes of the Scribes and 
 Pharisees followed him here ; and these men came 
 now to his disciples with indignation, "How is it 
 that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sin- 
 ners ?" Christ himself had been looking on the 
 guests with gentleness and tenderness of regard ; for 
 they were men whose ears were open to truth, and 
 their very outcast position in society made them draw 
 near to him who was ever the friend of the lowly. 
 He answered, " They that are whole have no need of 
 the physician, but they that are sick ; I came not to 
 call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." 
 
 We pause here for a moment, to contrast his life, 
 (as we have also just contrasted his teachings,) with 
 the life of Hillel and Shammai, the most famous Eab- 
 bis of that age, but who, as we are told by Jost, 
 " mingled so little with the actions of their times that 
 they became mythical personages." The Messiah 
 lived before the public, mingled with the poor and 
 despised ; yet his purity never soiled ; and the Di- 
 vinity within him never lowered by this constant in- 
 tercourse with the humble in life. 
 
 Once more, after this feast witli Levi, came an 
 urgent appeal for help : this one from a Jewish ruler, 
 a father, who hurried to Christ and worshipped him. 
 
202 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 " My daughter is even now dead ; but come and 
 lay thine hand on her, and she shall live." 
 
 The Messiah went ; and, on the way, a woman long 
 diseased, who touched but the hem of his garment, 
 was healed. In the ruler's house he restored the 
 daughter to life. 
 
 He had passed out again, and was on his way along 
 the street, when there was raised after him a loud 
 and most plaintive cry — 
 
 " Thou Son of David, have mercy on us !" 
 
 The words seem to be almost ringing in our ears, 
 so true they are to nature, like the language of ear- 
 nestness in entreaty, and so sad from suffering. They 
 wero from two blind men, who had been informed 
 that Jesus was passing, and who fearing to lose a 
 moment, raised the cry. 
 
 He made no immediate response ; but they con- 
 tinued after him with the plaintive appeal, "Thou 
 Son of David, have mercy on us!" and they followed 
 him into the house. He said to them, 
 
 " Believe ye that I am able to do this ?" 
 . "Yea, Lord." 
 
 " According to your faith be it unto you ;" and he 
 touched their eyes. Light flashed in : they saw : 
 their extasy was- loud. 
 
 '• See that no man know.it," he said to them ; but 
 they knew not how to be silent, and went proclaim- 
 ing their joy and the deed all abroad. 
 
 Yet, with all this fame of miracles wrought through- 
 out Galilee, where men had glorified God everywhere, 
 for his having come, the Messiah was, at this period, 
 rejected again at Nazareth, even although this town 
 
The two Dinners.-— Nazareth, &c. 203 
 
 was but a short distance (eight miles) from Nam, 
 where he had recently given life to the dead. 
 
 He was now making a third circuit through Gali- 
 lee, visiting all the cities and villages, teaching in 
 their synagogues, preaching " the gospel of the king- 
 dom," healing every sickness and every disease among 
 the people.""" .He came to Nazareth in his journey, 
 and again, as usual, went to their synagogue on the 
 Sabbath day to preach. The citizens crowded there, 
 as before, full of curiosity ■ and were puzzled and 
 greatly perplexed. They looked and listened with 
 astonishment, as words of power fell from his lips, 
 and as they witnessed the greatness of the being be- 
 fore them, in that depth of wisdom, and that extent 
 of knowledge of Divine things which was shown in 
 his discourse : — this preaching also upheld by such 
 miraculous powers as rumor had brought to their ears, 
 and which many of them may have witnessed them- 
 selves. Yet, with a pertinacity which only a deter- 
 mined and set jealousy could produce, they clung to 
 the old ideas and said, " Is not this the carpenter, the 
 son of Mary, the brother of James and Joses, and of 
 Juda, and of Simon? And are not his sisters here 
 with us ?" Swayed back and forth during this dis- 
 course ; one way by the power of his words, by his 
 quiet majesty of manner, and by that strange, singu- 
 lar Presence which forced the acknowledgment from 
 enemies, that " Never man spake like this man ;" and 
 then, carried . again into the opposite, by the humble 
 circumstances of his bringing-up, they settled at last 
 into offence at liis claims ; and he left them ; nor does 
 
 * Matt, ix, 35. 
 
204 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 it seem probable that he ever again returned to Na- 
 zareth. 
 
 " A prophet,'' he said, " is not without honor, but in 
 his own country, and among his own kin, and in his 
 own housc. ?; He laid his hands there on a few sick 
 persons and healed them. 
 
 But the work of teaching was more than one indi- 
 vidual could perform, unless his presence was mirac- 
 ulously multiplied, so large was the field of labor, 
 and the necessity for teaching so great ; for ideas had 
 to be, again and again, repeated in the ears of people 
 so long misled by false teachings, and made obtuse 
 by the Pharisaic absurdities. Therefore the Messiah 
 now paused in his course to prepare his twelve apos- 
 tles, and to send them out to teach, with power also 
 to heal. They were not to excite the prejudices of 
 their own Jewish people, at present, by teaching be- 
 yond their own nation ; the time for a far wider mis- 
 sion being not yet come. They were to go out, two 
 together, and in simple manner, trusting in God for 
 what, in respect to food and shelter, might be needed 
 on the way ; and with a still higher trust in him, if 
 they should be brought before governors and kings 
 for their Master's sake. The Spirit of God was to be 
 in them, and to help them in all such trials. What was 
 to be their reward ? Honors and applauses ? No ; 
 but, on the contrary, they were to be hated of all men 
 for his name's sake. They were to endure. That 
 was to be their lot, endurance ; and this to the end : 
 and, after life was over, then was to be their reward. 
 People had called him Beelzebub, ' " the prince of 
 devils," giving him, in this rank of evil spirits, a con- 
 temptuous term applied by the Jews to Satan, as the 
 
'•Let us make Him a King." 205 
 
 author of all pollutions and abominations in heathen 
 worship : and " how," he said, " could they, his disci- 
 ples, hope to escape ? :J But in all this they were to be 
 strengthened and supported from on high ; and, 
 finally, their reward would come. They were to go 
 in the loftiest heroism, both physical and moral ; and 
 must not dare to shrink from duty. " He that find- 
 eth his life shall lose it ; and he that loseth his life 
 for my sake shall find it." 
 
 Such were their instructions and the admonitions 
 and warnings given : thus he sent them forth, — the 
 first ministers of his word. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 LET US MAKE HIM A KING. 
 
 The rumors of what Christ was doing had reached 
 the royal palace, and were now creating great per- 
 plexity amoag its inmates. The base tyrant was far 
 from feeling at ease after the death of John ; for the 
 murder had left behind it, in the royal actors in that 
 scene, a guilty conscience and its attendant alarms. 
 
 The sensation was increased by a rumor that John 
 was risen from the dead ; for that was the belief of 
 some in the palace, when they heard of these wonder- 
 ful scenes in Galilee ; their guilty fears at once sug- 
 gesting that he had, come back, perhaps, to be an 
 avenger in their midst ; others said that it was 
 
200 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 Elijah restored from the dead ; and some of them, 
 more indefinitely, that " one of the old prophets was 
 risen again." 
 
 Herod said, " John have I beheaded ; but who is 
 this of whom I hear such things ?" and he desired to 
 have a sight of the individual causing such a sensa- 
 tion throughout the land.* He was not gratified, 
 however, at this time. 
 
 The twelve now returned to the Messiah at Caper- 
 naum, giving an account of what, during their recent 
 mission, they had done and taught. 
 
 They found such multitudes about him, that he had 
 not opportunity ior even the needed refreshment of 
 food. Crowds were coming and going continually, 
 and making constant demands upon his time and en- 
 ergies ; and nature became now quite exhausted, and 
 could endure it no longer. He could refuse no one 
 coming thus with earnest appeals to his sympathies 
 'and kindness ; but rest was absolutely needed for his 
 human frame ; and, therefore, having directed his 
 disciples to have a boat prepared privately, he sought 
 the requisite retirement, by crossing the lake towards 
 its north eastern shore. 
 
 But the crowds followed. Some of the company 
 had recognized him in the boat, when leaving the 
 city ; and the multitudes passing round the head of 
 the lake, were soon gathered about him once more on 
 the other side. His sympathies were deeply stirred 
 by their earnestness, and his compassion moved by 
 their moral destitution ; " for they were as sheep 
 not having a shepherd." Having had some rest in 
 the boat, he recommenced there both his teaching 
 
 Luke ix, 7-9. 
 
"Let us make Him a King." 207 
 
 and healing. For the sick had also continued to 
 reach this place, having helped themselves along, or 
 been borne by friends. 
 
 The mountains east of the lake have already 
 been described as rising in green rapid slopes ; and 
 these appear to have been more* a pastoral region 
 than the western side. But, on this occasion, the 
 slopes were quickly covered by a crowd amounting 
 to 5,000 men, besides women and children,* all ac- 
 tuated by the deepest earnestness, as they had shown 
 by having followed him so far. To persons with 
 such a feeling, the Messiah's kindness and tenderness 
 were ever open ; and he continued his instructions 
 and his healing till a late hour in the afternoon. His 
 disciples then came to him and said : 
 
 " This is a desert place, and now the time is far 
 passed : send them away, that they may go into the 
 country round about, and into the villages, and buy 
 themselves bread ; for they have nothing to eat." 
 He answered : 
 
 u They need not depart ; give ye them to eat." 
 The disciples were astonished at the order. 
 
 "We have here but five loaves and two fishes," 
 they said. 
 
 ■" Bring them hither to me." 
 
 They were brought ; and he directed the disciples 
 to make the people sit down in companies on the 
 grass. He took the bread and fishes ; and, looking 
 up to heaven, he blessed and brake the loaves, and 
 gave the food to his disciples ; — the disciples then 
 distributing it about among the hungry people. They 
 ate abundantly, the food seemingly exhaustless ; for 
 
 P Matt, xiv, 21. 
 
208 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 it never failed m that unstinted meal : and after- 
 wards, when all were satisfied, by his orders, what 
 remained was gathered up, making twelve baskets of 
 fragments.* 
 
 Astonishment took possession of all the multitude, 
 for they knew how scant had been the first supply, 
 and by what a miraculous power it had been increased : 
 and, as they had sat there on the grass, their eyes 
 ranging over the thousands so fully satisfied, their 
 feelings took words, and by and by these words be- 
 gan to have a singular purpose. The scene brought 
 to their minds what they had read concerning the 
 bountiful supply afforded by Jehovah himself to their 
 forefathers on the deserts of Arabia. Here was a 
 similar miraculous provision of food ; what was left, 
 after feeding so many thousand, being even more 
 abundant than the original quantity. The visible 
 power of God seemed to have come down into their 
 nation once more. Why not recognize it ? they 
 thought and said. They had been listening, that after- 
 noon, to teachings such as had never been heard from 
 any one on earth before, so pure, so godlike : they 
 had gazed with affection mingled with awe, on those 
 features where a divine love seemed to be enthroned : 
 they had seen this person receiving the diseased with 
 such readiness and gentleness : and had seen them, 
 after they had been healed, dismissed with such words 
 of kindness, that their hearts were all in harmony 
 with their mental convictions, as they said to each 
 other, '* This is, of a truth, the Prophet that should 
 come into the world." 
 
 But they went further. Enthusiasm is contagious ; 
 ©Mark vi. 31-44. 
 
"Let us make Him a King." 209 
 
 and it is apt to be progressive. Daniel had spoken 
 of the Messiah as The Prince, and their whole na- 
 tion, and even foreign nations, had been expecting a 
 mighty king. Here was the Messiah now among 
 them. — " Let us make him a king ! 1y 
 
 He had been so humble in his mode of life, and so 
 retiring and unambitious, that they must act for him, 
 — so they thought, — and put him into the high place 
 which the prophet had designated for him, and for 
 which he was so qualified. With Jesus for king, 
 what might not their nation become ? Such wisdom, 
 such majesty, such power over the laws of nature, 
 even creative power in his hands, all seemingly only 
 waiting to be raised to that dignity of rank which 
 was their right ! There might be resistances from 
 Herod ; but that Tetrarch was already trembling 
 with imaginary fear in his palace. There would 
 doubtless be hostility from the Roman government ; 
 but what government, or what array of arms, could 
 withstand such power as was ever resting quietly in 
 their Messiah, waiting for exercise ? There would 
 be acquiescence on the part of their Scribes and Phari- 
 sees, when they once saw that the glory and domin- 
 ion of their nation was to be the result. So the mul- 
 titude could readily argue : and thus the excitement 
 on that mountain-side increased, till whispers turned 
 into outspoken words, and words into open demon- 
 stration ; and presently there was evidence that they 
 were coming to take the Messiah " by force, to make 
 him a king."* 
 
 But his kingdom was to be of a far different nature 
 from that - — one in the hearts of redeemed men, and 
 
 e John vi, 15. 
 
210 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 to be eternal : and knowing the intentions of the 
 multitude, he quieted and dismissed them before they 
 could commit themselves into the eyes of the author* 
 ities ; and then " departed again into the mountain 
 himself alone,"* for communion with heaven. 
 
 He had previously sent his disciples back to the 
 vessel, with directions to proceed across to Caper, 
 naum. The night closed over them upon the lake ; 
 and they soon began to long ardently for him, whose 
 presence had always given them assurance in every 
 trial For the night was stormy, and the wind di- 
 rectly ahead ; and their boat was tossed about in the 
 heavy sea.f They had rowed through most of the 
 iiight,.j and they were still only about .half way across 
 the lake,§ worn out by rowing ; when suddenly they 
 saw what seemed to be some one walking on the water 
 and approaching them. Fright, seized them, and they 
 thought it an apparition ; but they were quickly reas- 
 sured by the well-known voice of the Messiah : 
 '* Be of good cheer : it is I : be not afraid." 
 One of them, — the impulsive Peter — cried out : 
 " Lord, if it be thou, bid me come to thee on the 
 water ;" and he was bidden. He was on the sea im- 
 mediately : and, just as Christ has often been to oth- 
 ers, so he was to Peter, treating him according to his 
 faith. 
 
 Soon the heavy waves beginning to dash high against 
 the disciple, who had been so far walking safely on 
 the water, he forgot that the power which could make 
 him walk at all, could sustain him in the heaviest seas ; 
 
 * See Mark vi, 33-44 ; John vi, 1-16. p f Matt, xiv, 23. 
 
 % The Jews had now adopted the Roman mode of reckoning, and 
 the fourth watch commenced at 3 o'clock. 
 § John vi, 19. 
 
"Let us make Him a King." 211 
 
 his faith gave way, and losing it, ho lost the Saviour's 
 help, and began to sink. We need not censure the 
 disciple : for we ourselves, in our trials, often forget 
 that God's arm is just as strong for us in rougli weather 
 as in mild, and then we also begin to sink. He cried 
 for assistance, and the outstretched arm of Christ held 
 him up, while the Master, in gentle reproof, said : 
 
 " thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt ?" 
 The storm ceased when they reached the vessel ; and ■ 
 the disciples, falling in worship before the Messiah, ex- 
 claimed : 
 
 " Of a truth thou art the Son of God. 77 
 They landed at Gennesaret ; and, as soon as it was 
 known that he was there, news was spread through 
 all the country adjacent : and, quickly, the diseased were 
 carried in beds, and laid in the street that, as he went 
 by, they might but touch the hem of his garment. All 
 who touched were healed." So, also, wherever he 
 went through the villages or cities or country, the 
 sick, too numerous to have special cases attended to, 
 were brought by willing friends, and placed in a simi- 
 lar manner ; and, as he passed by them, and they 
 touched his garment, they found their health restored.*!- 
 ; It must seem strange that people should run into 
 the extreme, one day, of wishing to force the Messiah 
 to be king, through admiration of him ; and that the 
 next day, in consequence of his teaching, even many of 
 his disciples should desert him ; — the desertion so 
 general, indeed, that he said to the twelve, " Will ye 
 also go away? 7 ' Peter spoke up, quickly, in reply, 
 " Lord, to whom shall we go ? thou hast the words of 
 eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou 
 
 e Matt, xiv, 34-36. t Mark vi > 5 0- 
 
212 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 art the Christ, the Son of the living God." The dis- 
 course that gave such umbrage was delivered in the 
 synagogue at Capernaum ;* and contains passages in 
 which profound spiritual matters are figuratively in- 
 troduced — subjects at which captious persons might 
 take offence. Perhaps the audience were captious 
 in consequence of their disappointment the day pre- 
 vious, and disposed to avenge themselves for their 
 high-wrought but unsuccessful enthusiasm on that oc- 
 casion. It is a part of our natures to run into ex- 
 tremes. 
 
 Passing now beyond the boundary of Palestine on 
 the north, he healed there the daughter of a Syrophe- 
 necian woman ; but soon afterwards returning, he 
 went tc the region south-west of the Lake of Ti< 
 berias ; and, in the brief narrative of the Gospels, 
 we again perceive him on one of the solitary moun- 
 tains of this district : but it was not solitary now. Not 
 far off were most of the cities of Decapolis, and 
 the fame of the Messiah had been spread over all the 
 country ; and, soon, great multitudes had come to 
 him, "having with them those that were lame, blind, 
 dumb, and maimed, and many others, and cast them 
 down at Jesus' feet ; and he healed them."t 
 
 There comes up before us a scene of uncommon 
 beauty and interest, as we read of those healings on 
 the mountain ; where the blind, restored to sight, 
 saw him whom their eyes immediately sought, sitting 
 there, fitly vaulted over by the dome of heaven, and, 
 in his grandeur of Presence, suited to be the centre of 
 those wide surroundings of nature, — the great tem- 
 ple of nature not made with hands ; where, in the ex- 
 
 c John vi, 22-71. f Matt, xv, 30 
 
" Let us make Him a King." 213 
 
 ercise of Divine power through love to men, he 
 showed himself to be the fitting Deity. What glad- 
 ness there was around him as the lately maimed and 
 halt found that they were so no longer ; as the lately 
 dumb broke forth in joyful exclamations, carrying 
 with them the sympathies of all persons ; as the lately 
 blind glanced at the varied sights of grandeur and 
 beauty on every side, but ever turned their eyes 
 quickly to rest them, in reverence and love, on him 
 whose face seemed to be reflecting heaven over our 
 earth ! 
 
 But the multitudes lingered, u all glorifying tho 
 God of Israel,' 7 * until at last, as in a former case, 
 there was danger of suffering from hunger ; the Mes- 
 siah, calling his disciples, expressed his compassion, 
 adding, 
 
 <; I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint 
 in the way." 
 
 " Whence should we have so much bread in the 
 wilderness, as to feed so great a multitude?' 7 they 
 asked ; for the number was 4000 men, besides women 
 and children. 
 
 " How many loaves have ye ?" They answered, 
 
 " Seven, and a few small fishes." 
 
 He directed the people to be seated, as on the 
 former occasion ; and, having given thanks, he broke 
 the bread and gave the food to his disciples for 
 distribution to the hungry multitude. When all were 
 satisfied, seven baskets of fragments yet remained. f 
 
 « Matt, xv, 31. f Matt, xv, 29-38 ; Mark viii, 1-9. 
 
214 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE transfiguration. 
 
 In the extreme north of Palestine, at. the foot of the 
 snow-crowned Hermon, and among the broken ridges 
 which surround its base, the waters of a large foun- 
 tain, called Banias, burst from a care, and form at 
 once a stream of considerable size. This is one of the 
 three sources of the Jordan. At an early period, the 
 cave, the large fountain, and the picturesque country 
 around, overtopped by the Hermon, made this spot a 
 much frequented resort. Near it, on an elevated table 
 land, which is bounded by ravines and precipitous de- 
 scents, stood a city of ancient date, but much enlarged 
 and embellished by Philip, son of. Herod the Great, 
 and the present Tetrarch of Batanea, Trachonitis and 
 Auranitis," to whom, in the division of Herod's king- 
 dom, this district had fallen. He had thought the en- 
 larged city worthy of the name of his patron, Tiberius 
 Caesar ; and Philippi, from his own name, was added 
 to distinguish it from the other Caesarea on the Medi- 
 terranean, and present political capital of Judea. 
 So this was called Caesarea Philippi. 
 
 The Messiah, after having dismissed the multitudes 
 congregated on the mountain in Decapolis, returned 
 to the western side of the lake, from which he passed 
 northwardly towards the region above described. 
 There lacked now only about nine months of the time 
 e Luke iii, 1. 
 
The Transfiguration. 215 
 
 of his crucifixion : and during this journey, he appears 
 to have wished the twelve, for their own sakes and for 
 future purposes, to make demonstrations before each 
 other of their opinions respecting himself. They had 
 been thrown everywhere into the society of doubting 
 and captious men ; and had heard the Pharisees and 
 Doctors make objections, and quote authorities ; and 
 had witnessed their rancorous hostility, increasing 
 every day. He wished the twelve to make it manifest 
 to each other whether they were infected or not : and 
 he put the question to them — 
 
 " Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am ?"— 
 they answered : 
 
 " Some say that thou art John the Baptist ; some 
 Elias, and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets ?" 
 " But whom say ye that I am ? ■ Peter answered : 
 "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." 
 " Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona : for flesh and 
 blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father 
 which is in heaven," said the Messiah : and he then pro- 
 ceeded to give to that disciple a prominence of position 
 in his future church.* The frank, prompt, generous na- 
 ture of Peter had much in it that was attractive, with 
 all the weakness and timidity which he sometimes dis- 
 played. 
 
 All physical and moral qualities in them were, in- 
 deed, after a while, to pass through terrible ordeals : 
 and Christ had warned them at the very outset of 
 their apostleship, that they should be delivered up to 
 the councils, and be scourged in their synagogues, and 
 be brought before kings and governors for his sake ; 
 adding also, what was the hardest of all to bear, 
 
 o Matt, xvi, 13-20. 
 
216 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 " Yc shall be hated of all men for rav name's 
 sake." 
 
 The remainder of that discourse is startling for its 
 positivenesss, and its exacting nature ; and it pre- 
 sents to us Christ, — not tame, as people often imagine 
 him to have been, but decided ; and not only firm in 
 present purpose, but drawing a terrrible impressive- 
 ness from future scenes. He had said, " He that loveth 
 father and mother more than me is not worthy of me ; 
 and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is 
 not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross 
 and folio weth after me is not worthy of me." 
 
 On this present occasion he said, " If any man will 
 come after me, let him deny himself and take up his 
 cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his 
 life shall lose it ; and whosoever will lose his life for 
 my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if 
 he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul ? 
 or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ? 
 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his 
 Father, with his angels ; and then he shall reward 
 every man according to his works. Verily I say unto 
 you, there be some standing here which shall not 
 taste of death till they shall see the Son of man com- 
 ing in his kingdom." 
 
 Was he exacting? Principle is always exacting. 
 Patriotism is exacting. Love to one's country re- 
 quires the mother and father to give their son, the 
 daughter to give her brother or her husband, to the 
 battle-field and to death, if this be necessary. Why 
 should religion be less decided in its demands than 
 these? The Messiah had just been telling his disci- 
 ples " how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suf- 
 
Transfiguration. 217 
 
 fer many things of the elders, and chief priests, and 
 scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third 
 day ;" and he was not only himself filled, but he was 
 trying to fill them also, with the greatness of the work 
 he came to perform, and which it was to be their duty 
 to advance. Religion such as this is full of the grand- 
 est of all thoughts and all emotions; has them for its 
 groundwork, and they make an essential part of itself. 
 
 The grandeur and glory of heaven is, in such 
 thoughts and feelings, given to the earth : and while 
 listening to such words from Christ, we are readily 
 prepared for what came soon afterwards, — the scene 
 of the transfiguration. 
 
 Six days subsequently to the discourse related 
 above, he took Peter, and James John, and conducted 
 them "into a high mountain apart." The scene 
 which' followed there is one which painters have very 
 often tried to depict, but always without success ; for 
 how can any one represent the glory of heaven im- 
 pressing itself on aught of earth : least of all can 
 they do it, as here shining out through Christ. We 
 are told that when Moses came down from receiving 
 the law on Sinai, his face shone, so that Aaron, and 
 all the children of Israel, shrunk away in amazement, 
 and " they were afraid to come nigh him," He was 
 himself not aware of the wonderful glory in his face, 
 till he saw their fright as if something supernatural 
 were before them ; and, afterwards, " he put a veil on 
 his face,""" and repeated this, after every subsequent 
 descent from the presence of God. When Stephen 
 was before the council at Jerusalem, all that sat there 
 "looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had 
 
 ** Exodus xxxiv, 29-35. 
 
218 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 been the face of an 'angel :"* and both this event, and 
 
 ~" Acts vi, 15. — The reader has perhaps heard of death-bed 
 scenes, where the face of the departing one has been suddenly 
 lighted rip, and has taken expressions, as if the spirit about to be 
 released was reflecting the heavenly glory already so near at 
 hand. 
 
 The author of this book has lately witnessed a very wonderful 
 scene of this description, which he will here briefly sketch : — A 
 husband, feeble as an infant, in a sudden illness, and thought to be 
 near to death : — in another chamber, in the same house, his wife 
 also ill, and about to die. She nad, when at a distance, been in- 
 formed of his condition, and hastened on to nurse him ; but in 
 consequence of the fatigue of the journey operating on an already 
 feeble frame, was herself immediately stricken down with a rapid 
 disease. She was a person who, through life, had always seemed to 
 belong rather to heaven than to earth ; so pure, so true, so lovely 
 she was, so great in all excellence. It was the Sabbath, at night, a 
 few days after her illness had commenced. She recognized in 
 herself the approach of deatn, and asked to be carried to her hsu- 
 band's room. The request was met with remonstrance, but she 
 persisted :— " You would not prevent a dying wife from going to take 
 a last farewell of her husband ?" She was put into a large easy 
 chair, and thus carried and placed by his bedside. Many messages 
 had passed between them during the day ; but they now met ; and 
 it was in this brief meeting that this wonderful scene occurred. 
 Her face and all its expressions became angelic— just like a reflection 
 of heaven itself ; — there was a transfiguration, — an effulgence over 
 all the features amazing to hehold. Six otber individuals were 
 present, all of mature years, and this remarkable change was 
 noticed by every one of them. Both of the sick persons were inca- 
 pable of saying much, but she uttered a few_words of blessing and 
 of farewell. She sat there, a heavenly brightness andjoyonher 
 face, looking like a seraph ready to take the upward flight. This 
 lasted about twelve minutes, at the end of which time her weak- 
 ness compelled them to remove her to her own apartment. When 
 placed again on her bed, she made an audible prayer, the breathings 
 of which seemed not to belong to earth. Then the forecloudings 
 of the approaching last scene overshadowed the mind ; and so con- 
 tinued for about 24 hours, when death came ; and, without a strug- 
 gle, her spirit passed as if angels had gentjy carried it away. 
 
Transfiguration. 219 
 
 that at Sinai, may aid us in our endeavor to compre- 
 hend the scene now in the region of Cg^area Phi- 
 lippi. But they can lead us only to df'partial appre- 
 ciation of it : for what mortal can fully understand 
 the event or the glory, when Heaven came down and 
 enveloped the mountain top, and the Divinity in 
 Christ glowed forth through his mortal frame, while 
 Moses and Elias stood there beside him ; — the veil 
 Between the two worlds withdrawn from before the 
 apostles' vision, until the supernatural became re- 
 vealed. There " His face did shine as the sun, and 
 his raiment was white as the light. And behold, 
 there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking 
 with him." The apostles were filled with mingled 
 awe, and fear, and delight; and the impulsive Peter, 
 in his tumult of thought, cried out with a request as 
 if he might hope to make it all permanent. But such 
 scenes belong permanently only to a world not stained 
 with sin. A bright cloud overshadowed them ; and 
 from it proceeded a voice, " This is my beloved Son, 
 in whom I am well pleased : hear ye him." The dis- 
 ciples fell prostrate, their faces to the earth, before 
 Jehovah himself, felt to be present in this amazing 
 scene ; fear, now, filling their- hearts. From this 
 overwhelming agitation, they were restored by the 
 touch and voice of him who still is between the ter- 
 rors of the Unknown and us, and who says still to 
 us when prostrate, as he did to them, "Arise, and be 
 not afraid." When they arose, and u had lifted up 
 their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only." He 
 charged them not to make these circumstances known 
 until after his rising from the dead.-" 
 
 * Matt, xvii, 1-9. 
 
220 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 DISPUTES AMONG THE APOSTLES. 
 
 On their return, the following day, to where the 
 other apostles had been left, these were found under- 
 going an examination by the Scribes ; a great multi- 
 tude of people also being around, who, as soon as 
 Christ was seen, hurried to him with glad salutations. 
 Immediately a father was on his knees before him 
 crying for compassion on his only child, a lunatic, 
 whom he had brought to the disciples and presented 
 in vain, to be healed.- — But now there was hope, for 
 the Messiah himself was there, and his power was 
 equal to the cure. With a reproof to his hearers for 
 their want of faith, he directed the child to be brought 
 before him ; and he turned to the beseeching pa- 
 rent : — 
 
 " If thou canst believe, all things are possible to 
 him that believeth." 
 
 " Lord, 1 believe : help thou mine unbelief," cried 
 the father, with tears. 
 
 The helpless boy fell to the earth in a fit ; but the 
 Messiah took him by the hand, and lifted him up; 
 and the happy father had him quickly in his arms 
 entirely restored.* 
 
 They left that region for Galilee ; and as they 
 travelled onward, the Messiah's mind was looking 
 forward to the painful end of the journey at Jerusa- 
 lem ; for he, who could work miracles for the relief 
 e Mark ix, 2-9. 
 
Disputes among the Apostles. 221 
 
 of all others," must, in that frightful endurance on 
 the cross, work none for himself; and the human 
 nature in him, so mysteriously united to the Divine, 
 had the full force of the anticipations of what was 
 now soon to occur. .Nevertheless, he went stead- 
 fastly on. He tried again to prepare his disciples, 
 and repeated to them, that he should be betrayed 
 to his enemies, and be put tc death, and should rise 
 again ; but they did 'not understand him,* and the 
 only effect was a deep sorrow, in which they felt too 
 much awed to seek relief in questioning him on the 
 subject, though it filled their hearts. 
 
 But even in this time of sadness, a most unseemly 
 question was started anions- them, — who should be 
 greatest in the approaching kingdom of their Master ? 
 and here we are again reminded how little in com- 
 mon there was between him and. them, his chosen fol- 
 lowers, and how solitary he was in the world. Man 
 was formed for companionship, and the kind and lov- 
 ing nature of Christ was peculiarly fitted for its en- 
 joyments ; but there could be little companionship for 
 him anywhere among the Jews, even among his fol- 
 lowers themselves. In this respect he could emphati- 
 cally say, " The foxes have holes, the birds of the air 
 have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay 
 his head." 
 
 On their arriving at Capernaum, he called the 
 apostles ; and to his inquiry about their disputes, 
 they made no reply, but stood silent and abashed. 
 He took, then, a little child, and, setting him in the 
 midst of them, he said : 
 
 " Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, 
 
 o Mark ix, 30-32. 
 
222 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 and become as little children, ye shall not enter into 
 the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever, therefore, shall 
 humble himself as this little child, is greatest in the 
 kingdom of heaven. * * He that is least among 
 you all, the same shall be greatest." 
 
 The Messiah was now about to take his final leave 
 of Galilee ; but, previous to his departure, he sent out 
 from Capernaum seventy disciples to go before him, 
 " into every city and place whither he himself should 
 come." As he returned no more to this region, their 
 mission was chiefly, it would seem, into the country 
 east of the Jordan (Perea ;) where, and in Jerusalem, 
 after this period, his time was chiefly spent. The 
 seventy had nearly the same directions and the same 
 authority as the twelve, on the former occasion, when 
 sent through Galilee. 
 
 He was himself now going up to Jerusalem for the 
 Feast of Tabernacles ; and was about to pass perma- 
 nently from the simplicity, and frankness, and gener- 
 ous nature in these rural districts, to the capital, and 
 to a region of country over which its influence held 
 sway ; and was to encounter, at almost every step, 
 the superciliousness, and pride, and captiousness of 
 the Pharisees, and Doctors, and Scribes. 
 
 The Messiah chose, for this journey to Jerusalem, 
 the way through Samaria ; and in that country imme- 
 diately occurred one of those incidents which showed 
 the bitter hostility between its inhabitants and the 
 Jews. He had sent messengers before him to one of 
 their villages to make ready for his coming ; but the 
 citizens of that place, when they found that he was 
 going to Jerusalem, would not receive even him ; 
 all regard and curiosity giving way before their 
 
Disputes among the Apostles. 223 
 
 jealousy of the rival city and people. John, the most 
 gentle of the disciples, was enraged at this treatment ; 
 and he and James united in a request that the Mes- 
 siah would allow them to call down fire from heaven 
 to consume the place. The reply was, " Ye know 
 not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of 
 man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save 
 them." 
 
 How soon were these disciples to witness far greater 
 indignities offered to him in that city, which boasted 
 that God had especially chosen it for himself! 
 
 They proceeded on their journey, and were entering 
 another Samaritan town, when was heard that loud, 
 plaintive appeal for help, now become familiar to the 
 ears* of his followers. The cry came from ten men, 
 who stood far off ; since they did not dare to ap- 
 proach him, the laws of that country prohibiting it ; 
 — for they were lepers. But, from that distance, the 
 cry rang distinctly in his ear, — it was such an ear- 
 nest, beseeching one : 
 
 " Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" 
 
 That disease, so loathsome and horrible in itself, 
 had the further horror, of cutting off those afflicted 
 with it from all relations and from home ; and 
 it could never have the alleviations which, in other 
 cases, sometimes almost make sickness feel like a lux- 
 ury, so tenderly is it ministered to by friends. The 
 leprous man could have companionship only with 
 other horrible objects like himself; and so these ten 
 men stood together that day, isolated from all others, 
 and raising their piteous cry. The Jewish laws, 
 (Levit. xiii, 43-46,) said, "If the rising of the sore 
 • be white reddish, in. his bald head or in his bald 
 
224 Life scenes from the Four Gospei . 
 
 forehead, as the leprosy approachcth in the skin of 
 the flesh; he is a leprous man, he is unclean: the 
 priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean : his 
 plague is in his head. And the leper in whom 
 the plague is, his clothes shall be rent and his 
 head bare, and. he shall put a covering upon his 
 upper lip, and shall cry, ' Unclean, unclean. 7 All 
 the days wherein the plague shall be in him, he 
 shall be defiled ; he is unclean ; and he shall dwell 
 alone, without the court shall his habitation be." 
 
 A recent traveller in Palestine says, " In my 
 walks about Zion to-day, I was taken to see the vil- 
 lage or quarter assigned to the lepers lying along the 
 Wall directly east of Zion gate. I was unprepared 
 for the visit, and was made positively sick by the 
 loathsome spectacle." Meeting them also outside the 
 city, he says, "they held up towards me their hand- 
 less arms, unearthly sounds gurgled through their 
 throats without palates — in a word, I was horrified."* 
 
 So, as Christ was entering this Samaritan village, 
 how intensified was the cry of those ten men, as if all ex- 
 istence were centred in that moment of hope. It came 
 from them broken, gurgling, distant, but was heard. 
 
 " Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." 
 
 The company around all turned with earnestness to- 
 wards him. His disciples were Jews, and had the 
 jealousy of Jews towards the people of this country. 
 Would he perform his miraculous healing here, espe- 
 cially as they had just been rejected from one of the 
 towns because they were of the race hated by this 
 people, and were going to Jerusalem ? The disciples, 
 not yet recovered from their indignation, felt that here 
 
 ° "The Land and the Book." 
 
Disputes among the Apostles. 225 
 
 would be a good opportunity, by refusing these people 
 help, to impress upon them a lesson of hospitality to 
 strangers travelling through their country. The vil- 
 lagers also were gathering, and watching to see how 
 it would end ; and there was agitation and excitement 
 on every side ; while, in the confusion incident to such 
 curiosity, the sad cry from the lepers standing afar off 
 was distinctly heard. 
 
 What was the result ? It was to be, here as else- 
 where, according to the faith of the applicants : and, of 
 this faith there was to be, first, an open demonstration. 
 
 " Go show yourselves unto the priests," he said to 
 them. 
 
 — They went ; and going, felt themselves healed. 
 The terrible disease had disappeared from their sys- 
 tem ; their eyes saw, on each other, and each on him- 
 self, the newly restored flesh, their skins clean ; they 
 felt the new health coursing through their veins. — We 
 might imagine them now, all aglow with gratitude, 
 hurrying back to thank their Divine Restorer ; but his- 
 tory gives a different account. Only one returned for 
 this purpose : — he was a Samaritan. He hurried back, 
 glorifying God, and fell down on his face at the Mes- 
 siah's feet with expressions of thanks. The Saviour 
 said, " Were there not ten ? But where are the nine ? 
 There are not found that returned to give glory to 
 God, save this stranger. — Arise, go thy way : thy faith 
 hath made thee whole."* 
 
 o Luke xvii, 11-19. 
 
 10' 
 
226 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 JERUSALEM — FEAST OF TABERNACLES. 
 
 During the last of those scenes recorded in the 
 preceding chapter, the Jews from all Palestine, and 
 regions adjoining, and even from remote parts of the 
 world, had been flocking towards Jerusalem. The 
 Feast of the Tabernacles, to which they were hasten- 
 ing, was their most cheerful festival, the an, festivity 
 or mirth, called so by way of pre-eminence : — a time 
 of great rejoicing ; all conducted in a manner and at a 
 season to give a peculiar zest to their joy. The Pass- 
 over was a season of more impressive solemnity : this 
 least of Tabernacles was a time more given up to 
 mirth. Plutarch calls it a bacchanalian season ; but 
 there was certainly neither drunkenness nor rioting in 
 ft, though it must be confessed that there were scenes 
 in this festival that, to a person imperfectly informed, 
 might easily appear like those in the drunken orgies 
 of Bacchus. 
 
 The Rabbins were accustomed to say of this feast, 
 " The man who has not seen these festivals, does no,t 
 know what a jubilee is f and the Talmud, il Who- 
 ever hath not seen the rejoicing that was upon the 
 drawing of this water, hath never seen any rejoicing 
 at all."* 
 
 It was a double festival ; 1st, to commemorate the 
 living in tents during the journeying of their fore- 
 fathers from Egypt ;t and 2d, it was a thanksgiving 
 
 ° Lightfoot. f Leviticus xxiii, 42-43. 
 
Jerusalem. — Feast of Tabebnacl.es. 
 
 V V I 
 
 for the fruits of the year,* answering thus to our own 
 Thanksgiving Day. The time corresponded to our 
 October : the fruits and harvests had then been gath- 
 ered in : a time of rest for the husbandman had come : 
 the garners were full : hearts were ready for rejoic- 
 ing : and so, at this season, all Galilee and Judea 
 moved towards their great city, and their far greater 
 temple, to have a week of festivity and worship, min- 
 gling religious devotion with the outpourings of the 
 general joy. The people all lived, during that week, 
 in booths made of branches of trees, erected on the 
 flat house-tops of Jerusalem, or in the fields around 
 the city ; great taste was exhibited in the construc- 
 tion of these booths : rains never troubled the country 
 at this period : the habits of the people were simple, 
 and there was no inconvenience to them in such an 
 out-door life : it was a gathering, not of distinct fami- 
 lies, but of the one great family of the nation ; and 
 everybody came prepared to be happy, and to give 
 outward demonstrations of joy. 
 
 We may imagine from our own yearly Thanksgiv- 
 ing Day, and the family gatherings on that occasion, 
 what were the feelings of the Jews when the whole 
 people, old and young, came up to their great na- 
 tional Thanksgiving, of divine institution, in which it 
 was a duty to be joyful before God for the blessings 
 of the year. No one, for seven'" days, was allowed 
 to eat, or drink, or sleep outside of the booth?, 
 which, on the morning of the eighth day, were all re- 
 moved ; although, still the eighth day was the chief 
 one of the festival ; for it was the last, and they be- 
 lieved that upon the manner in which it was observed 
 
 s Ex. xxiii, 16. 
 
228 Life-scenes feom the Four Gospels. 
 
 depended the rains and crops for the ensuing year. 
 During the seven days, supplications and sacrifices 
 were offered for the whole world ; but the solemni- 
 ties of the eighth day were wholly on their own be- 
 half. 
 
 There was a place a little below Jerusalem, pro- 
 bably in the valley of the Kedron, where willows 
 were cultivated for use in this festival ; for each in- 
 dividual was obliged to provide himself with what 
 they called the lulabb, a bundle of two twigs of wil- 
 lows, three of myrtle, and a leaf of palm, tied to- 
 gether with a gold, or silver, or silken band ; also a 
 willow branch to lay before the altar. When they 
 went up to the daily ceremonies in the temple, they 
 carried the lulabb in their right hand, and a pome- 
 citron branch, with fruit on it, in the left. The 
 children, from early age, were taught to sway the 
 lulabb, and to join in the singing ; and, in their in- 
 nocence and half serious gaiety, they formed an inte- 
 resting part of the great scenes of this festival on the 
 temple heights. The Talmud said : " A little child 
 as soon as he knows how to wave a bundle is bound to 
 carry a bundle." Prepared with these, the people 
 came to the usual morning sacrifice, which was at the 
 earliest dawn ; and this morning sacrifice itself had 
 also a distinguishing feature, belonging only to this 
 feast. Wine was always a part of the daily offering : 
 but, now, a priest went to the pool of Siloam at the 
 outlet of the Tyropeon valley, just below the temple, 
 and, with pomp and ceremony, brought water from it 
 in a golden vessel ; the trumpets sounding as he 
 reached the great court of the temple. He proceeded 
 up the inclined plane of the altar to where two basins 
 
Jerusalem. — Feast of Tabernacles. 229 
 
 were standing, one with wine ; into the other he 
 poured the water, and both fluids being then ceremo- 
 niously mixed, they were poured over the morning 
 sacrifice, the trumpets and symbols sounding, while 
 was sung, " With joy shall ye draw water out of the 
 wells of salvation," (Isaiah xii, 3.) This part of the 
 solemnities did not profess to be of divine institution, 
 but had been established of old, they said, in memory 
 of the water* so bountifully bestowed on their ances- 
 tors in the desert ; and, as the Eabbis testify, was 
 meant to be a symbol of the benefits to be, sometime, 
 poured out and dispensed by the Holy Spirit.* 
 
 When the libation was finished, and the smoke of the 
 sacrifice began to ascend, the music recommenced ; 
 and their great hymn, the Halle], rose on the morn- 
 ing air from the voices of that immense throng in 
 these greatly elevated courts of the temple. The great 
 Hallel consisted of the cxiii, cxiv, cxv, cxvi, cxvii, and 
 cxviii Psalms ; and when they came to the beginning 
 of Psalm cxviii, " give thanks/ 7 &c, the whole com- 
 pany waved their branches towards the four quarters 
 of the world ; as they did, also, when they came to 
 the " Ilosanna," (or " Save now, I beseech thee, 
 Lord ") and again at the latter clause of the same 
 verse, " Lord, I beseech thee send now prosperity." 
 The same shaking of the branch was repeated when 
 they came to the last verse of that Psalm, " give 
 thanks unto the Lord ; for he is good : for his mercy 
 endureth forever," and which was the finishing of the 
 Hallel. 
 
 When this daily sacrifice was completed, then com- 
 menced the additional sacrifices peculiar to this occa- 
 * Bloomfield. 
 
230 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 sion ; i. e., on each day fourteen lambs and a goat : on 
 the first day also, thirteen bullocks ; on the second, 
 twelve ; on the third, eleven, and so diminishing, till, 
 on the seventh day seven bullocks were offered. At 
 this sacrifice, hymns peculiar to it -were also sung ; on 
 the first day the cv Psalm ; on the second, the xxix ; 
 third day, the 1, beginning at v. 16 ; fourth day, xciv, 
 at v. 16 ; fifth day, xciv, at v. 8 ; sixth day, Ixxxi 
 Ps., at v. 6 ; the seventh day, Ps. lxxxif, at v. 5 ; and 
 we may very easily imagine the effect of the sound of 
 so many thousands of voices on those temple heights, 
 while the smoke of the sacrifices was curling upward, 
 towards the open sky. Sometimes the voices ceased, 
 and the trumpets and cymbals were substituted ; and 
 then again the Hosannas burst forth, like the voice 
 of a great ocean during a storm.* Every individual 
 was required to go round the altar with his lulabb 
 each day : on the seventh day seven times. 
 
 Thus it was during the day : but, in the evening, 
 a very strange scene commenced ; and for this we 
 will quote from Lightfoot, whose quaint language is 
 so well suited to such descriptions. 
 
 " At the time when the water was brought from 
 the pool of Siloam and poured on the altar, they had 
 not the liberty for their jollity, because of the seri- 
 ousness and solemnity of the service then in hand : 
 but when all the services of the day were over and 
 night had now come, they fall to their rejoicing for 
 that matter, which rejoicing is equally strange both 
 for the manner and the cause. The manner was 
 thus : 
 
 " They went into the court of the women, and there 
 
 9 Lightfoot : Temple Service. 
 
Jerusalem. — Feast of Tabernacles. 231 
 
 the women placed themselves upon balconies round 
 about the court, and the men stood on the ground. 
 There were four candlesticks or beacons, of exceed- 
 ing bigness, and mounted on exceeding great heights, 
 overtoping the walls of the court of the 'Mountain 
 of the House ' at a great elevation. The pipe of the 
 temple began to play, and many Levites with their in- 
 struments in great abundance, standing on the fifteen 
 steps that went down out of the court of Israel into 
 the court of the women : and whosoever of them and 
 of the priests were musical, either with instrument or 
 with voice, joined his music. In the meanwhile, the 
 greatest grandees of the people, as the members of the 
 Sanhedrim, the rulers of the synagogues, doctors of 
 schools, and those that were of the highest rank and 
 repute for place and religion, fell a dancing, leaping, 
 singing and capering, with torches in their hands, 
 with all their skill and might, whilst the women and 
 common people looked on : thus they spent the most 
 part of the night. And the more they abased them- 
 selves (like David before the ark) in this activity, the 
 more they thought they did commendably, and de- 
 served praise. 
 
 " At last, far in the night, two priests, standing 
 at the gate Nicanor, do sound their trumpets ; and 
 then come down to the tenth step and sound there 
 again ; they come down into the court of the women 
 and there sound for the third time ; and so go sound- 
 ing all along the court, till they come to the east of 
 it ; and there they turn themselves and look back up 
 towards the temple and say thus, ' Our fathers who 
 were in this place turned their backs upon the tem- 
 ple of the Lord, and their faces towards the east, to- 
 
232 LlFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 wards the sun, but as for us we are towards him and 
 our eyes towards him.' 
 
 11 As the grandees danced, some of them would say 
 thus, ' Blessed be thou, my youth, which hast not 
 shamed my old age ;' and these were called ' Men of 
 performance ;' and others would say, ' Blessed be thou, 
 
 my old age," which has gained my youth : these were 
 
 1 Men of repentance ;' and both of them would say, 
 ' Blessed is he that hath not sinned, and who that hath 
 sinned, and his sin is pardoned.' 
 
 "At length, weariness and sleepiness and satiety 
 with their mirth, concludes the jollity, till another 
 night. *.*«•* This was the celebration of the feast 
 of Tabernacles^ day after day, only there was this dif- 
 ference among the days : that on the night before the 
 Sabbath that fell within the feast, and on the night be- 
 fore the eighth day, which was a holy-day, they used 
 not their dancing, singing and rejoicing. On the 8th 
 day they had the same solemnities with the days be- 
 fore, ate the pome-citrons, which they might not do 
 before, and at night had the great rejoicing in the 
 court of the women, and thus they concluded the feast : 
 and, therefore, this by the Evangelist is called not only 
 the last day, but also the great day of the feast, because 
 it was a holy-day, and because it was the conclusion."* 
 
 A very strange scene surely ; and if we now sup- 
 pose ourselves on the Mount of Olives, whichv looked 
 directly down upon the temple area and the whole 
 city ; upon the lighted-up booths on the tops of the 
 houses and over the whole country around ; upon the 
 immense columns at each angle of the women's court, 
 
 e "Temple Service." 
 
Jerusalem. — Feast op Tabernacles. 233 
 
 with the blazing fires on their summit ; and on the 
 torches of the dancers waving to and fro, and circling 
 about in intricate lines ; and then listen to the mur- 
 mur from more than two millions of wakeful people at 
 the festival, mingled with the sounds of musicians and 
 singers on the temple steps, we shall have a tolerably 
 fair idea of what this great festival of Tabernacles 
 must have been. 
 
 The great Jewish authority, Maimonides, says of this 
 dancing : " Because it was the rejoicing for keeping 
 the law, to which no joy can be comparable :" and, 
 therefore, he adds, " the common people and every one 
 that would were not actors in this rejoicing ; for they 
 neither sang nor danced," but were only spectators : 
 but the actors were the great men of wisdom and re- 
 ligion.* 
 
 A remarkable passage occurs in the Talmud re- 
 specting this festival. u ' Eabbi Levi saith, ' Why is 
 the name of it called drawing of water ? Because of 
 the drawing or pouring out of the Holy Ghost ; ac- 
 cording as it is said, With joy shall ye draw water 
 out of the wells of salvation.' " 
 
 Such were the scenes at the Feast of Tabernacles, 
 repeated, day after day. for seven days, with the 
 slight exceptions above noticed ; and it was evidently 
 a time of great hilarity, mixed with so much of a re- 
 ligious character as to give, in their minds, a sanc- 
 tion to great enjoyment. They felt it a duty to en- 
 joy the present with thankfulness for the past ; while, 
 also, from the solemnities of the eighth day, they 
 might look for blessings on the coming year. 
 
 * See Lightfoot— Temple Service. 
 
234 Life-scenes from: the Four Gospels. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIY. 
 
 THE MESSIAH AT THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES. 
 
 '•Where is he?" 
 
 The number of people, estimated by Joseplms, to 
 be usually present at a Passover feast was, as already 
 stated, two milions, seven hundred thousand ;* and 
 we may suppose that it could not be much less on 
 such an occasion as this. The temple ceremonies oc- 
 cupied but a small portion of their time ; and great 
 sociability must have prevailed amid so large an as- 
 sembly. We may easily suppose what was the uni- 
 versal theme ; and the great variety of forms in 
 which it was discussed. 
 
 The Messiah had not yet made his appearauce 
 there ; for such scenes as those described in our last 
 chapter could have little attraction for him, and he 
 had resisted the solicitations of his kinsmen in Gali- 
 lee to go up early to the feast. These last li did not 
 believe in him ; >; t for il a prophet is not without 
 honor, save in his own country f and the claims 
 of the Messiah must have been startling to his own 
 connexions, as we know they were to the people gen- 
 erally in Nazareth. We of our time, who know what 
 has been the operation of his doctrines through 
 eighteen centuries, and who can compare them with 
 those of all other teachers, and see how pure, how 
 perfect, and how God-like they are ; and can trace, 
 
 '' Bel. vi, 9, § 3. f John vii, 5. 
 
At the Feast of Tabernacles. 235 
 
 also, the greatness of Lis life down to the wonder- 
 ful self sacrifice in its close ; and who, also, are free 
 from the Jewish prejudices of that day, and their ex- 
 travagant expectations respecting the Messiah, may 
 wonder at the obstinate resistance to Christ, and es- 
 pecially to the force of all those miracles wrought 
 before their eyes. But we know how the Pharisees 
 parried off this last ; and we must remember how 
 cramped was the Jewish mind, how narrow their in- 
 tellectual horizon, and how enslaved by fear the 
 largest portion of them were to men ruling by the 
 power of that mysterious, undefinable unwritten law : 
 — those rulers denounced by Christ as " hypocrites f 
 " for/' he said, li ye compass sea and land to make 
 one proselyte ; and when he is made, ye make him 
 twofold more the child of hell than yourselves." 
 
 At this feast were two sets of men, putting the ques- 
 tion, " Where is he ?•" — the rulers, who did so openly ; 
 and the multitudes, who, through fear of them,* " mur- 
 niuredt concerning Christ," giving, in suppressed 
 tones, their opinions : some saying, : ' He is a good 
 man ; others, ' Nay ; but he deceiveth the people/ V 
 There was among both classes an anxiety concerning 
 him ; in the rulers, mingled with great fear as to 
 what his influence on this vast, excitable multitude 
 might become ; among the people, an intense desire 
 to decide, respecting him, by what their own eyes 
 might see. The people from Galilee brought aston- 
 ishing rumors of the miracles performed in their 
 country, very great in number, and wonderful in char- 
 
 ° John vii, 13. 
 
 j The word Foyyvapbcf, translated murmuring, means literally a 
 buzzing, very significant of their low tones in this conversation. 
 
236 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 actcr, which were here detailed in low tones : the 
 very caution used lest the rulers should hear them 
 only sharpening the curiosity of the hearers. Men 
 fromDecapolis, and from the region north of Galilee, 
 also described what they had seen ; and the inhabit- 
 ants of Jerusalem itself could tell of the miracle at 
 the pool of Bethesda, made more famous by the con- 
 sequences which immediately ensued. 
 
 It was known that there had been a breach 
 between Christ and their rulers and that issue had 
 been fully made ; they seeking his life, and oven 
 uniting with the hostile element in the Herodians to 
 effect their purpose ; and he denouncing them as hyp- 
 ocrites, il transgressors of the Word of God by their 
 traditions," and "blind leaders of the blind. ,; * It 
 seemed as if it might be extremely perilous for him to 
 appear at the festival. Still, everywhere the question 
 was put — 
 
 " Where is he ?" 
 
 Suddenly, in the middle of the feast, it was re- 
 ported that he was in the city, and even in the tem- 
 ple, teaching there. Such public places, and especially 
 covered porticos, as in the case of the stoae in Greece 
 and Rome, were the favorite resort of teachers in 
 those days ; and the Messiah appears to have imme- 
 diately proceeded to the cloisters of the temple, 
 choosing, probably, the great southern one, with its 
 quadruple rows of pillars, called a Solomon's Porch.'' 
 
 The Jewish rulers were astonished. Pharisees 
 and Scribes from Galilee had brought them accounts 
 of his teachings in that region, and of the effects pro- 
 duced on the people there ; — how they admired and 
 
 e Matt, xv, 3, 14. 
 
At the Feast of Tabernacles. 237 
 
 followed him, and approved his doctrines ; and here 
 he was now in their very temple-courts, apparently 
 about to produce there similar effects. It was a "bold 
 act, — this invasion of their precincts, and placing 
 himself publicly in their presence, and before all 
 the people, as a teacher. And how attentively the 
 multitudes were listening to him ! The rulers looked 
 out from the Sanhedrim room, and observed among the 
 thickly-packed masses the conspicuous form of the 
 Teacher, his earnest impressiveness of manner, his 
 wonderful characteristic of that Presence which 
 seemed to belong to him — a power and grandeur, and 
 yet a winningness in address ; a glow in the face, 
 that seemed to come partly from his earnest words 
 and the nature of his teachings, and partly from his 
 inner being; — they saw, and were filled with both 
 wonder and alarm. It was evident that their com- 
 binations against his life had not frightened him into 
 silence ; and here now he was producing effects on 
 those vast multitudes which might render any further 
 efforts against him dangerous to themselves. 
 
 What authority had he to teach ? was a question 
 which it seemed to be too late now to put, although 
 this appears to have been his first teaching in Jerusa- 
 lem ; for the fixed attention of the multitudes, and 
 their lighted -up and earnest faces, seemed to be fully 
 endorsing his teachings, although the proceedings 
 now were altogether out of regular order. For 
 every one was not allowed to appear as a public 
 teacher ;* and although the form of authorization 
 may not have been fully established then, as the Tal- 
 muds inform us, was afterwards the case, when, to be 
 
 • Matt, xxi, 23. 
 
238 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 qualified, an individual must have been for pome 
 years as collega of a Rabbi, and then promoted to 
 this work of instruction to others ; yet, under Sham- 
 mai and Hillel, in Herod the Great's time, the schools 
 had already in all respects taken this shape.* " How 
 knowetk this man letters, having never learned ?"t 
 was a question, also, circulating around, with marvel- 
 ing at the clear, sound doctrines which he taught. 
 Letters, with them, or literature, consisted in a 
 knowledge of their Scriptures and the oral tradi- 
 tions ; and Christ, they knew, had never been the 
 pupil of any Rabbi, nor drawn any knowledge from 
 their schools. He answered these questions by giv- 
 ing a far higher authority. " My doctrine is not 
 mine, but his that sent me ;" and proceeded imme- 
 diately to the declaration of a truth containing the 
 deepest philosophy of our nature, and yet clear to the 
 comprehension of every one of his immense audience. 
 The declaration was, "If any man will do the will 
 of my Father, he shall know of the doctrine :" — a 
 sound philosophy, yet very little regarded by men. 
 For our emotional nature governs us more than does 
 our intellect. What, from the influence of our feel- 
 ings, we wish to believe, we generally end with be- 
 lieving. Our reason is a single element : the emo- 
 tions are multifarious, often unsuspected by us, and, 
 ■when wrong, making readily-admitted apologies : 
 they crowd around the reason, and overshadow and 
 blind it. Therefore, when we wish to seek'truth, our 
 first effort should be to look at our hearts, and to be 
 certain that we desire it : and most of all ought vre 
 to be certain that we are willing to take with it, also, 
 
 * Tholuck in loco. t John vii, 15. 
 
At the Feast op Tabernacles. 239 
 
 its consequences, making it 'practical as fast as it is 
 gained. Then shall we know truth. "If any man 
 will do the will of my Father, he shall know of the 
 doctrine." 
 
 The Divine Teacher then referred to the annulling 
 of Moses' law, notwithstanding their hypocritical 
 professions of respect for it : for, basing their acts on 
 such professions, they formerly (after the cure at Beth- 
 esda) " sought to slay him." — 
 
 " Why do ye go about to kill me ?" — The people liv- 
 ing in Jerusalem were aware of that purpose of their 
 rulers : but it was a new idea to others : and the au- 
 dience in the temple cried out in astonishment, " Thou 
 art mad : who goeth about to kill thee T — He rea- 
 soned with them then about his former healing, and 
 about the vindictiveness on that occasion, adding, 
 " Judge not according to appearance, but judge right- 
 eous judgment. It had now become a scene of excite- 
 ment among those people, so given to strong, outward 
 demonstrations, and to quick emotions. Some of the 
 people of Jerusalem said : " Is not this he whom they 
 seek to kill ? But lo, he speaketh openly, and they 
 say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know that this 
 is the very Christ ?" — which remark was met immedi- 
 ately by objections, " ^Ye know this man whence he is : 
 but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence 
 he is.' 7 
 
 Their objection is another example of the difficulty 
 which truth had to encounter in Judea ; for a belief 
 was current that there was to be a two-fold mani- 
 festation of the Messiah ; — the first at Bethlehem, af- 
 ter which he would straightway disappear and be hid ; 
 and that at length he would show himself ; but from 
 
240 LiFE-SCEXES FROM THE FoUR GOSPELS. 
 
 what place, and at what time that would be, no one 
 knew. In his first appearance at Bethlehem he should 
 do nothing remarkable : in his second, was the hope 
 and expectation of the nation.* 
 
 The Messiah met this objection by referring to his 
 divine origin ; and now his enemies — all the while 
 watching an opportunity — made an effort to seize on 
 him. But in this they did not succeed, if because his 
 hour had not yet come.' 7 There was, however, after 
 a while, a more formal and official effort to put a stop 
 to these proceedings, and to seize upon his person. 
 The Pharisees were informed that the people in num- 
 bers were believing on him, and saying among them- 
 selves, "When Christ cometh, will he do more mira- 
 cles than these which this man doeth ?• which was 
 a logic so clear to the understanding of the multi- 
 tudes, and so conclusive, that it soon became alarming 
 in its results. The reports from the Galileans here at 
 the feast, had spread widely through the multitudes, — 
 mostly country people like themselves, who did not 
 stop to argue much, but came by a quick way to con- 
 clusions ; and the effect was becoming epidemic. In 
 a little while the public sentiment in Christ's favor 
 might break through all restraints of fear for the lead- 
 ers, which had kept the people in check. 
 
 This clanger must be met at once : and for this pur- 
 pose the power of the Sanhedrim was invoked.t The 
 chief priests were also called upon for help ; for here, 
 even in the temple, and near the altars and amid the 
 festival celebrations, had this exhibition of the popu- 
 lar feeling in his favor been made. 
 
 • Lightfoot, in loco. 
 
 t This is clearly the inference from John vii, 45-5-2. 
 
At the Feast of Tabernacles. 241 
 
 " There were several ranks of priests ; all connected 
 with the temple. 1st. The p!ebeia?i priests, namely, 
 such as were not of the common people, but wanted 
 school education, and were not reckoned among the 
 learned nor such as were devoted to religion. For, see- 
 ing that the whole seed of Aaron was sacerdotal .and 
 priests were not so jnuch made as born, no wonder if 
 some ignorant and poor were among them. Hence is 
 that caution given, ' that an oblation be not given to a 
 plebeian priest/ and the reason is added, ' Because 
 wliosoever giveth oblation to a plebeian priest doth all 
 one as if he should give it to a lion, of which it may 
 be doubted whether he will tread it under feet, or eat 
 it or not. [These men performed offices at the altar, 
 being instructed for such duty at the time.] — 2nd. 
 There were others who were called Idiot and private 
 priests, who, although they were both learned and per- 
 formed the public offices at the altar, yet were called 
 private, because they were priests of a lower and not 
 written order. — 3d. The written degree cf priests was 
 four-fold, besides the degree of the high priest : 1, 
 Heads of eph emeries or courses, which were twenty- 
 four in number : 2, Heads of families in every course : 
 3, Presidents of various offices in the temple : 4, any 
 priests or Levites indeed, (although not in these or- 
 ders,) that were chosen into the chief Sanhedrim. 
 Chief priests, therefore, here and elsewhere, where the 
 discourse is of the Sanhedrim, were they, who, being 
 of the priestly or Levitical stock, were chosen into 
 that chief Senate." 45 " 
 
 They sent officers probably of the Sanhedrim or 
 temple to watch for a proper opportunity to seize upon 
 
 '« Light fctot. 
 11 
 
242 TjIfe-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 him : and, from that time, he was closely followed and 
 observed ; his words were weighed by these men ; 
 keen eyes were constantly upon him, scrutinizing his 
 acitons ; and official authority was waiting, till there 
 should be some occasion when the seizure might be 
 made without raising a tumult among the people. Mat- 
 ters seemed to be coming to a crisis. All this time 
 an under-current of admiration and of hearty affec- 
 tion among the multitudes was growing stronger 
 every hour. He said unto the people, " Yet a little 
 while am I with you, and then I go unto him that 
 sent me. Ye shall seek me and shall not find me, 
 and where I am thither ye cannot come." These 
 words perplexed both enemies and friends. 
 
 The feast lasted, strictly speaking, onlyseven days ;* 
 yet, in the law, there is also mention made of eight 
 days ;t and the eighth became gradually to be con- 
 sidered the greatest of all. In Josephus, (Ant. iii, 10, 
 §4,) the eighth day, together with the first, is desig- 
 nated as the time of especial rest. The singing and 
 dancing, the night previous to this day, had been 
 intermitted, as that was the beginning of this, a 
 holy day, the Jewish day always commencing at sun- 
 set. The booths were on this day taken down ; the 
 lulabb was laid aside ; and the pome-citron was eaten ? 
 which could not be done on any other day! |. The liba- 
 tion of water with wine had now a more important 
 meaning than on any other day ; for on the eighth day, 
 according to the Talmud, " Judgment is made of the 
 waters, and God determined what rains shall be for 
 the following year." The Talmud says, also. "Why 
 
 8 Lev. xxlii, 34 ; Deut. xvi, 13. 
 
 f Lev. xxiif, 36 : Numbers xxix, 35 : see also Nehemiah viii. 18. 
 
At the Feast of Tabernacles. 243 
 
 doth the law command, saying, ' offer ye water on the 
 feast of the Tabernacles V The Holy, blessed God 
 saith, ' offer ye waters before me on your feast of Tab- 
 ernacles that the rains of the year may be blessed to 
 you." " In the feast of Tabernacles it was deter- 
 mined concerning the waters/'' " Why do they call it 
 the house of drawing ? Because thence they draw the 
 Holy Spirit."* 
 
 Rains in Palestine are far more uncertain than with 
 us : and, therefore, on this last, great day of the feast, 
 their religious exercises took an intensely interesting 
 form> With the deepest earnestness they raised their 
 voices in the Hallel : with the most hearty devotion 
 they joined in the exercises of the sacrificial offerings, 
 and particularly the one peculiar to this feast, the water- 
 libation. 
 
 This eighth day of the feast arrived. On the mor- 
 row the crowds were to disperse, and to return to their 
 distant homes. It had been such a festival as they 
 had never witnessed before : one of strong excite- 
 ments, of discussions among themselves respecting this 
 Wonderful Being possessing such miraculous powers, 
 and so interesting in his teachings. They had seen 
 him with their own eyes, and had heard him : — that 
 face so grand with the Divinity glowing in all its lin- 
 eaments, and yet so winning — and that voice so gen- 
 tle in its modulations, all, however, so strangely 
 mingled with authority. They did not wish to go 
 away only half-satisfied : and now, on this last day, 
 they watched for him ; and, when he came, listened 
 for his words with peculiar attention, and a greatly 
 increased interest. Their feelings yearned towards 
 
 - Lightfoot. 
 
244 Life-scenes from the Pour Gospels. 
 
 him ; for he had spoken to their hearts, and his words 
 had reached those eternal longings which the soul 
 has for an inner life and peace and satisfaction, for 
 which it calls with an earnest, unceasing cry. 
 
 The first words from him, this eighth morning, 
 startled all who heard him ; — they were such an an- 
 swer to all those longings. " If any man thirst, let 
 him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on 
 me, as the Scriptures hath said, out of his belly shall 
 flow rivers of living waters."* That very water of 
 Siloam, carried now by in a tankard, and received to 
 the temple with loud sounds of the trumpets and 
 cymbals, and with peculiar rejoicings, and when 
 poured on with the wine in libations, accompanied by 
 the loud Hallels of the immense multitudes, was be- 
 lieved by them to be significant of the pouring out of 
 the Holy Spirit, — indicative of some mighty, direct, 
 supernatural influences : and here, now, that "Wonder- 
 ful Being, wonderful beyond all that they had ever 
 seen or heard of, called to them — 
 
 " If any man thirst let him come unto me and 
 drink :" — and said, moreover, that those who thus 
 came to him, should be the means of allaying the 
 eternal thirst of others. Did not their souls thirst, 
 with a ceaseless cry to have the feeling assuaged 
 Every man there knew and felt this to be the case. 
 
 Many said* when they heard him : 
 
 " Of a truth this is the prophet :" others, their 
 hearts fully responding to his words : 
 
 " This is the Christ." Some replied : 
 
 "Shall Christ come out of Galilee;" and they 
 quoted the Scriptures which said that he ought to 
 - John vii, 37 38. 
 
At the Feast of Tabernacles. 245 
 
 come from .Bethlehem. Thus a disputing arose 
 among the crowd, and there was an agitation in those 
 temple precincts ; the sacrifices of the Tabernacle 
 feast still continuing. Some would have seized him : 
 but the Roman garrison in Jerusalem was, on these 
 occasions, particularly watchful to repress tumults. 
 There was, consequently, no violence to him at this 
 time. 
 
 Among these crowds, all the while lurking and 
 watching, were the officers sent by the Sanhedrim to 
 seize upon any safe opportunity to arrest him : and 
 they now came, and presented themselves before their 
 superiors in session in the council chamber. 
 
 u Why have ye not brought him ? r ' was the angry 
 demand. They answered, 
 
 " Never man spake like this man." 
 
 With eyes flashing scorn and anger, the Pharisees 
 spake out, 
 
 " Are ye also deceived ? Have any of the rulers 
 or of the Pharisees believed on him ? — But this people 
 who know not the law are cursed ?" 
 
 One voice in the Sanhedrim was raised for the pur- 
 pose of checking such proceedings ; rather, however, 
 in expostulation with the rulers than in defence of 
 Christ. It was that of Nicodemus, not yet bold, as 
 he afterwards became, but still not willing, by silence, 
 to seemingly endorse their action. 
 
 " Doth our law judge any man before it hear him, 
 and know what he doeth ?" he asked : and the re- 
 mark brought a storm of wrath upon him. 
 
 " Art thou also of Galileo ? Search and look / for 
 out of Galilee ariseth no prophet." 
 
 Thjir hatred led them to malign even their own 
 
246 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 best prophets, and to falsify history : for Elijah was 
 from Galiiee, as was also Jonah, and, perhaps, Na- 
 hum and Hosea." 
 
 This council seems to have broken up in a tumult 
 of passion : "' And every man went unto his own 
 house, "t 
 
 Another scene of dancing and like festivities, dur- 
 ing that evening, formed the closing event of the 
 Feast of Tabernacles. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 BETHAXY AXD ROAD TO JERICHO. — A PARABLE. 
 
 Away from the turbulence of the city. It is plea- 
 sant, after the scenes just recorded, to find ourselves 
 in the quiet country ; the Messiah there, in the enjoy- 
 ment of a few hours of peace, in a family whose gen- 
 erous feelings harmonized with his own. It must 
 have been to him a great relief and refreshment. 
 
 Opposite to Jerusalem, on the east, and directly 
 across the brook Kedron, is the Mount of Olives, a 
 range, three or four miles in length, and running 
 north and south. On crossing this mountain, we find, 
 at the present day, nestled in a recess among the 
 projecting slopes on its eastern side, the village of 
 Bethany, immediately on the site of the Bethany of 
 our Saviour's time. It is almost two miles from Je- 
 rusalem, by the usual road. A fountain gushes from 
 the rocks at the edge of the village, which is cinbo- 
 
 ° See Alford in loco. f John vii, 11-53. 
 
Bethany and Road to Jericho. 247 
 
 soined among trees, in the branches of which the 
 nightingales, numerous in that land,* love to sit, and 
 to sing their nightly songs. It is a quiet place, which 
 the noises of the city do not reach ; and the Messiah, 
 finding there a kind hospitality and a genial home, in 
 the family of Lazarus and his two sisters, Martha 
 and Mary, retired to this spot soon after the scenes 
 of the Tabernacle festival. The night of the eighth 
 day he spent at this place : in the morning he re- 
 turned to the city for further teaching,? and then he 
 again sought the retirement and quiet of this friendly 
 house. But the cunning of enemies followed him 
 even here. A lawyer somewhere in this neighbor- 
 hood came trying him with questions, — 
 
 " Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life ?" — 
 the most important question that a human being can 
 ever ask ; but put here with no good intent, only to 
 find subjects for accusation or complaint. 
 
 After all these scenes in the temple, it will be a 
 relief to sit down here, and listen for a while to the 
 parable narrated by our Saviour in answer to this 
 lawyer ; but some topographical facts respecting the 
 region where the scene of the parable was laid must 
 first receive our notice. 
 
 Bethany lies just on the western edge of the great 
 desert or " Wilderness of Judea," which extends 
 eastwardly from this until it reaches, the steep de- 
 scent to the plain of Jericho. This latter city was 
 one of those appropriated to the Priests and Levites ; 
 and at the time of which we are speaking, 12,000 of 
 them were residents in that place. It will be re- 
 membered by the reader that the " Wilderness" was 
 
 ° " Robinson's Researches." f John viii, 2-59, 
 
248 Life-scenes from 'the Four Gospels. 
 
 about GO miles long by 15 in breadth. An American 
 traveller thus describes this, its most northern part : 
 " The road beyond Bethany [eastward] continues to 
 descend, though a number of ridges extend across 
 from the north, terminating at a valley on our right, 
 into which our road pretty soon declined. We 
 followed this valley for three hours or more in a 
 direction nearly south-east. The whole region is 
 formed of limestone rock, commonly broken and pre- 
 cipitous, and shooting out spurs into and athwart the 
 straitened way, so as to make our progress slow and 
 laborious. We were perpetually clambering over 
 rocks and going down broken, precipitous declivities, 
 which though really productive of no other evil than 
 delay and fatigue, often threatened more serious dan- 
 gers. A little grass [April 20] and a few stunted 
 trees appeared in the valley and on the hill-sides, 
 upon the first part of the route, just enough to relieve 
 this dreary region of the aspect of the absolute ster- 
 ility which characterizes the deserts of Arabia. [He 
 then arrives at a fountain and the remains of a Khan, 
 midway between Jerusalem and Jericho. The valley 
 beyond the Khan is sparingly supplied with verdure ; 
 the -mountains on either side are bare, and ' exceed- 
 ingly dreary.'] At the end of perhaps an hour and a 
 half from the Khan, we left the valley to the right 
 hand and entered upon a region far more rugged 
 than that through which we had previously passed. 
 The verdure gradually diminished, till at length not 
 a shrub or blade of grass was visible. Still there 
 was less bare rock than before, nor was it of so dark 
 a hue. The surface of the stone was more loose and 
 shelving, and in many places reduced' to debris. The 
 
Bethany and Road to Jericho. 249 
 
 road runs along the edge of steep precipices and 
 yawning gulfs, and in a few places is overhung with 
 the crags of the mountain. The aspect of the whole 
 region is peculiarly savage and dreary, vieing in 
 these respects, though not in overpowering grandeur, 
 with the wilds of Sinai. The mountains seem to be 
 loosened from their foundations and rent to pieces 
 by some terrible convulsion, and then left to be 
 scathed by the rays of the sun, which scorches this 
 naked land with consuming heat.' ; * The place is 
 still infested with robbers, as of old. 
 
 The lawyer on this occasion had asked the Mes- 
 siah, " Who is my neighbor?" and Jesus answering, 
 said, " A certain man went down from Jerusalem to 
 Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of 
 his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving 
 him half dead. And by chance there came down a 
 certain priest that way ; and when he saw hiCn, he 
 passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, 
 when he was at the place, came and looked on him, 
 and passed by on the other side. But a certain Sa- 
 maritan, as he journeyed, came where he was ; and 
 when he saw him he had compassion on him, and 
 went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in 
 oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and 
 brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And 
 on the morrow, when he departed, he took out two 
 pence and gave them to the host, and said unto him, 
 'Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest 
 more, when I come again I will repay thee.' Which 
 now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto 
 him that fell among the thieves ? And he said, He 
 
 <* Dr. Olin. See also Josephus. Bel. iv, 8, § 2. 
 11* 
 
250 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 that showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto 
 him, Go, and do thou likewise."* 
 
 The lawyer, completely thwarted in his purpose, 
 and made to condemn himself, must have winced un- 
 der the application. He, an official expounder of the 
 oral law, directed, in a manner which he could not 
 refute, to take a Samaritan as an example, when this 
 oral law said, " If one sees one of the Gentiles- fall 
 into the sea, he shall not fetch him up ; for it is said, 
 Thou shalt not stand up against the blow of thy 
 neighbor. But such an one is not thy neighbor. "t 
 
 The Messiah himself remembered the ten lepers re- 
 cently cured in Samaria, of whom only one returned 
 to show his gratitude, and that one a Samaritan. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE MAN BORN BLIND. 
 
 It is always an interesting spectacle when bold, 
 simple, plain truth comes into antagonism with the 
 cunning chicanery of men. Truth is almost sure to 
 gain the victory, even to human apprehension ; and 
 its opposite writhes all the more under defeat, be- 
 cause the means causing this have been so simple. 
 
 A case of such a nature, in Jerusalem, comes before 
 us now, in this history ; the opponents being, oh one 
 side, a street beggar ; on the other, the Jewish San- 
 
 « Luke x, 2o-37. t Lightfoot. 
 
The man born Blind. 251 
 
 hedrim ; the former single and alone, even his pa- 
 rents being afraid to sustain him, though conscious 
 that he was right : the latter armed with power, and 
 usiug, as an instrument of terror, a new decree, — that 
 " if any man did confess that Jesus was the Christ, 
 he should be put out of the synagogue." There were 
 three degrees of excommunication among the Jews : 
 the. first, or slightest, of which was separation from 
 the synagogue, and a suspension of intercourse with 
 all Jews whatsoever. It lasted thirty days ; and, if 
 the individual did not repent, the time might be 
 doubled or tripled. The second kind of putting out 
 of the synagogue was called the curse. It was pro- 
 nounced with imprecations in the presence of ten men ; 
 and it so thoroughly excluded the individual from all 
 communion whatever with his countrymen, that they 
 were not allowed to sell him even the necessaries of 
 life. The third degree was solemn and absolute ex- 
 clusion from all intercourse and communion with any 
 other individuals of the nation ; and the criminal was 
 left in the hands of God* 
 
 The Messiah had returned from Bethany to Jeru- 
 salem ; and was passing along one of its thorough- 
 fares with his disciples, when they came upon an object 
 that might well excite commiseration, — a man blind 
 from his birth. In the disciples, however, the case 
 gave rise to a psychological query, and they turned 
 to the Messiah with a question which appears singu- 
 lar to us, but which arose out of notions more or less 
 current at that time : " Master, who did sin, this man 
 or his parents, that he was born blind ?' ; The belief 
 in metempsichosis, or previous existence of souls, 
 
 m ° Jdhn's Avchaeology. 
 
252 LlPE-SCSXES FROM THE FoUP. GoSPELS. 
 
 was universal among the Pharisees ; but as, in their 
 opinion, the souls only of good men could be re- 
 moved into other bodies, while those of bad men 
 were subject to eternal punishment,' 1 * such a belief 
 could not have given rise to this question. Light- 
 foot says : t; It appears from this dispute that the 
 ancient opinion of the Jews was, that the infant, from 
 its first quickening, had some stain upon it. And. the 
 great doctor, Judah, [compiler of the Mishna] was 
 originally of that opinion himself. 77 The sweeping 
 remark of the Pharisees, in verse 24 of this chapter ,f 
 intimates that both the man and his parents were 
 originally guilty of sins with which they themselves 
 could not be charged. 
 
 The Messiah replied to the disciples, that the cause 
 of his being so born, was in God's own purposes for 
 good, always wider than any individuality ; to which 
 he added ^some other remarks ; and then he spat on 
 the ground, and made clay with the spittle ; and, 
 having anointed the eyes of the blind man, he bade 
 him go and wash in the pool of Siloam, which was at 
 the outlet of the Tyropeon valley, and probably not 
 far from where this incident occurred. 
 
 What did the man himself think of this ? The 
 blind are quick-witted, and also sharp in hearing ; 
 and his obeying so promptly the direction shows that 
 he fully understood who was addressing him and 
 what were his powers ; and the poor man must have 
 been trembling with the excess of hopes. He stopped 
 not, however, for inquiry or further remarks, but, 
 stumbling in his haste, earnest, almost wild with 
 
 o Jos. Bel. ii, 8, § 14 ; Antiq. xviii, 1, § 3. f John ix. 
 
The man born Blind. 253 
 
 expectation, he hurried on, reached the fountain, 
 washed, saw. 
 
 Could he believe it himself? And yet there, be- 
 fore him, were objects all revealed ; houses, earth, 
 trees, sky, men ; a world open, all at once, upon him, 
 full of its strange, moving scenes and its beautiful 
 sights. How often had he wondered how things 
 looked ! now he saw. How often had he tried to 
 imagine what color was ! there were colors every- 
 where now, though he knew not their names. There 
 was the water gurgling at the fountain, with its old 
 familiar sound ; he saw it now : yonder was a moun- 
 tain, — Olivet, was it ? Yonder, — yes, that he knew 
 must be the temple : yonder, the bridge, high in the 
 air, spanning the valley of the Tyropeon. That 
 hill and city at the further end of the bridge he knew 
 must be Zion. Great, glorious, grand, all was to him ; 
 beautiful, wonderful ! But where was Jesus, he who 
 had given all this blessedness to him ? The man 
 turned back into the Tyropeon valley again, and 
 went up towards the city, stumbling now even worse 
 than before. Distant objects seemed to be close by, 
 and he put out his hand to touch them ; for his eyes 
 had not yet learned to measure distances. He raised 
 his foot at inequalities yards off, and brought it 
 down, almost falling as he did so, on level space. 
 He was more uncertain and puzzled in his movements 
 than he had ever previously been ; and he went on, 
 hesitating and almost falling on the even road ; yet 
 amused at his mis-steps, and delighted at everything 
 he saw. 
 
 But his ears, so sharp always, were listening w T ith 
 painful earnestness for that voice which he was sure 
 
254 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 he would recognize ; he wanted to see him. Other 
 voices he soon heard j and they were in loud dis- 
 pute : 
 
 " Is not this he that sat and begged?" some asked. 
 
 " It is he," some remarked. . 
 
 '■ He is like him/' said others. The man said, 
 
 11 1 am he." 
 1 How were thine eyes opened?" 
 
 " A man who is called Jesus made clay, and an- 
 ointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool 
 of Siloam and wash ; and I went and washed, and I 
 received sight." 
 
 " Where is he ?" 
 
 "I know not?" 
 
 He would have been rejoiced to know ; but he had, 
 at present, no further opportunities for searching ; 
 for the Jewish rulers had their watchful agents about 
 the city ; and before the man could do further mis- 
 chief to their cause, by satisfying the curiosity of the 
 people, he was seized and led before the Sanhedrim 
 itself. 
 
 It was the Sabbath day, when all this occurred. 
 
 The Sanhedrim were excited by what they saw and 
 heard. The man was before them with eye-sight as 
 good as theirs ; everybody said he had been born 
 blind. If so, it was a miracle of the clearest and 
 most decided character, and could not be contra- 
 dicted. What should they do? He had been a 
 street beggar, and every person knew him, and knew 
 what the extent of his affliction had been. He could 
 not be silenced, or the world silenced ; for the fame of 
 this event was already spreading everywhere about : 
 they could, however, perhaps confound him by ques- 
 
The man bokn Blind. 255 
 
 tions, and make him contradict himself ; or, through 
 fear, swerve off from any acknowledgment of the 
 healer. They would try. 
 
 They asked him how he had received his sight : and 
 he answered, as he had before done to the people in 
 the streets. 
 
 " This man," they said. " is not of God, because he 
 keepeth not the Sabbath day :"■ for, some of the Rab- 
 bins expressly forbade applying saliva at all to the eye- 
 lids on the Sabbath : others allowed it in case of in- 
 flammation of the eyes.* 
 
 " How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles," 
 said other members of their council. 
 
 — Their own Sanhedrim was becoming divided. — 
 They tried him again : 
 
 " What sayest thou of him. that he hath opened thine 
 eyes ?" 
 
 "He is a prophet," replied the bold man, bluntly 
 and decidedly. 
 
 But there might be hopes from his parents : they 
 might be induced, through fear of excommunication, to 
 give the subject another character, perhaps to prevari- 
 cate, or at least be led to contradict their son. They 
 were sent for, and made their appearance before the 
 council. The latter asked : 
 
 " Is this your son, who was born blind ? how, then, 
 doth he now see ?" 
 
 " We know that this is our son, and that he was 
 born blind : but by what means he now seeth, we 
 know not : or who hath opened his eyes we know not : 
 he is of age ; ask him : he shall speak for himself." 
 
 The poor man looked at them. They were his pa- 
 ss Lightfoot, in loco. 
 
256 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 rents : and, how often, in childhood and manhood, he 
 had desired, with most intense longing, to see their 
 faces, to know what were their features, how they 
 looked. He saw them now, his own father and 
 mother, standing there ; and the longings of those 
 many years were being satisfied. He was not able, 
 yet, to read emotion in features ; but his quick ear 
 knew, long ago, all the intonations of their voices : 
 and he knew, at this time, only too well, what these 
 in their reply meant ; and that they were basely aban- 
 doning their son, in the very hour and joy of his re- 
 covery, to the Sanhedrim, through fear ; leaving him 
 to run the risk, alone, among those cunning men. 
 
 The rulers addressed him again. He was bolder 
 now, even than before ; bold in his indignation at the 
 meanness of these rulers, who he saw were hoping to 
 browbeat his parents into a contradiction of their son's 
 words, and a denial of the greatness of his blessing ; 
 and bold, also, through determination to adhere to his 
 true Friend of that morning, who had given him the 
 blessing. 
 
 " Give God the praise," they said, " we know that 
 this man is a sinner.' 7 
 
 " Whether he be a sinner or no/' he answered, " I 
 know not. One thing I know, that whereas I was 
 blind, now I see." 
 
 " What did he to thee ? how opened he thine eyes ?" 
 — They hoped for some stumbling or contradiction in 
 his words. The brave, quick-witted man seems now 
 to have been in a quiet, secret enjoyment of their di- 
 lemma. Indignant that this insolent and crafty tri- 
 bunal should tempt him to a falsehood, and to deny 
 his benefactor, and to assist in the downfall — and per- 
 
The man born Blind. 257 
 
 haps violent death of one who had raised him to a joy- 
 ous life, his contempt broke through all bounds, and 
 threw a cutting sarcasm into his answer. 
 
 " I have told you already, and ye did not hear : 
 wherefore would ye hear it again ? will ye also be his 
 disciples ?" — . 
 
 " A stormy scene ensued. They saw now that he 
 knew of Christ as one making many disciples : — how 
 could he, the shrewd beggar, help knowing it, when 
 the passers by at his thoroughfare had, for days, been 
 full of talk about the Messiah ? — They saw that he had 
 been playing with their ill-disguised hate and revenge- 
 ful purposes towards Christ ; and, losing their dig- 
 nity, they broke upon him with revilings : 
 
 " Thou art his disciple ; but we are Moses' disciples. 
 We know that God spake unto Moses : as for this fel- 
 low we know not from whence he is." He answered, 
 as before, in assumed simplicity, but severe sarcasm : 
 
 " Why, herein is a marvellous thing that ye know 
 not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine 
 eyes. Now we know that God heareth not sinners ; 
 but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his 
 will, him he heareth. Since the world began was it 
 not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that 
 was born blind. If this man were not of .God he 
 could do nothing." Their reply to his logic was only 
 a fierce invective loaded with Pharisaic assumption and 
 scorn. 
 
 " Thou wast altogether born in sins, and clost thou 
 teach us ?" And so they drove him out of the Sanhe- 
 drim's presence. 
 
 There is a very beautiful appendage to all this ; and it 
 is in the gentleness and childlike simplicity of the brave 
 
258 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 man, when, not long afterwards, he met the Messiah 
 himself. His observations on the human face had not 
 given very satisfactory results ; for they had shown 
 him angry and malignant passions at work ; the cowed, 
 timid looks of his parents ; the workings of disputa- 
 tious curiosity ; the angry scenes of the Sanhedrim ; 
 the violence of gesture and manner, when they drove 
 him out. He knew that the benevolent being, who 
 had given him the great blessing, was not to be sought 
 among these ; but where and when should he see him, 
 and hear those well remembered tones of kindness 
 again ? — He heard them suddenly. The Messiah had 
 knowledge of this violence in the council chamber, 
 and had perhaps come to look for him ; and the man's 
 eyes were, at last, fixed on the features so different 
 from those in the Sanhedrim ; and he heard the same 
 tones that had thrilled him before. He was asked : 
 " Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" 
 " Who is he, Lord, that I may believe on him ?" 
 " Thou hast seen him, and it is he that talketh with 
 thee." 
 — "Lord I believe."— And he worshipped him.* 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 THE FEAST OF DEDICATION. 
 
 It will be remembered that under Antiochus Epi- 
 phanes " the Illustrious," or M the Madman/' (B. C. 
 
 « John ix, 1-38. 
 
The Feast of Dedication. 259 
 
 167,) the second temple at Jerusalem, built by Zerub- 
 babel, was defiled ; the exercise of the Jewish rites 
 of religion was forbidden ; a statue of the Olympic 
 Jupiter was placed on the great altar, and sacrifices 
 to tha,t god were there offered by the Grecian priests. 
 When the nationality was restored by the Maccabees, 
 and the city was in part recovered (B. C. 165) by 
 the brave Judas, of that race, he found shrubs and 
 weeds growing in the courts of the temple, and a 
 scene^ of complete desolation over the desecrated 
 grounds of Moriah. With loud lamentations, and 
 with the sounds of martial music, the Jewish people 
 went up to the temple ; and, while a portion of them, 
 with arms in their hands, kept watch on the Syrian 
 garrison still holding the adjoining citadel, others 
 purified the grounds, constructed a new altar, pro- 
 vided vessels for the temple services, and instituted, 
 on the 25th of December * the Feast of Dedication, to 
 be continued seven clays, which was ever afterwards 
 held sacred in the Jewish calendar. The other three 
 great feasts could be celebrated only at Jerusalem, 
 but this might be observed at their homes. It was a 
 time of great rejoicing ; and as lights were kept 
 burning in every house throughout the night, this 
 festival had also the name of Phota, or Lights. 
 
 The anniversary of this feast occurred not long 
 after the events named in the last chapter ; and, one 
 day, during its continuance, as the Messiah was 
 walking in the great cloister of the temple — Solo- 
 mon's Porch — he was surrounded by men, designated 
 by John as leaders, evidently now with no friendly 
 intent. They addressed him : 
 
 » Alford. 
 
260 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 " How long dost thou worry our minds :* tell us 
 plainly if thou be the Christ?" 
 
 The elements were wintry around that lofty por- 
 tico, butno sk}< could be more dark and lowering than 
 were the purposes of those men ; for the city was 
 deeply affected by the miracles of Christ ; and the Pha- 
 risees were, every day, finding themselves more power- 
 less among the people, while their thirst for ven- 
 geance was daily increasing. Every effort had shown 
 how futile their anger was becoming ; and, worse 
 than that, how easily they might be foiled by the very 
 singleness and simplicity of the means used for their 
 defeat. They had tried repeatedly to entrap the 
 Messiah, either by efforts to lead him into the intri- 
 cacies of their law, or by questions intended to involve 
 him with the government, or by placing him in situa- 
 tions where, whatever might be his action, troubles, 
 they hoped, would ensue. One of these last was a 
 recent case, where an adultress was brought before 
 him ; and where, if he decided that they should let 
 her go, he might be justly charged with immorality ; 
 or, if he were to say that fhe law of Moses ought to be 
 put in force, they might proceed to do it, and a tumult 
 be raised that would bring upon him the vengeance 
 of the Roman power. So, also, in the trial of the 
 blind man, the beggar's simple manner had baffled 
 them, and given the unprotected but'brave individual 
 a quiet triumph, while they had separated in a tumuit 
 of rage. % 
 
 li How long dost thou trouble our souls ? ,? as, with 
 faces indeed marked with trouble, they .encircled him 
 in that portico, ready for any violence that opportu- 
 
Feast of Dedication. 261 
 
 nity might suggest, yet feeling the strong necessity 
 for caution ; for the castle of Antonia, at the north- 
 west corner of the temple, looked directly into this 
 portico, and Eoman soldiers were, in all the festival- 
 times, especially on the watch* 
 
 The Messiah said, in answer to their question : 
 
 " I told you, and ye believed not : the works that 
 I do in my Fathers name, they bear witness of me :" 
 and we can imagine him looking calmly and placidly 
 upon them, as they scowled and winced at this simple 
 and powerful logip. For the multitudes around, lis- 
 tening to this dialogue, would all remember the mira- 
 cle of the man born blind and restored to sight. He 
 added : 
 
 " But ye believe not because ye are not of my 
 sheep, as I said unto you, My sheep hear my voice, 
 and I know them, and they follow me : and I give 
 unto them eternal life ; and they shall never perish, 
 neither shall any man- pluck them out of my hand. 
 Then, finally, he gave the climax to their rage, by de- 
 claring : 
 
 " I and my Father are one." 
 
 There were stones lying there for the finishing of 
 the temple : they seized them and threatened to stone 
 him. 
 
 " Many good works have I showed you from my 
 Father ; for which of these works do ye stone me?" 
 he said. 
 
 " For a good work we stone thee not ; but for blas- 
 phemy ; and because that thou, being a man, makest 
 thyself God." 
 
 e Jos, Bell, ii, 12, § L 
 
262 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 He made no disclaimer to this charge in his reply, 
 but they listened, forbearing violence, till he added : 
 
 " If I do not the works of my Father, believe me 
 not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe 
 the works ; that ye may know and believe that the 
 Father is in me, and I in him." 
 
 — Again their wrath became furious ; and there 
 was a rush in order to commit violence ; but he passed 
 safely from among them : — " his time had not come."* 
 
 He crossed over the Jordan into Perea ; and it is a 
 relief, as we read his history, to find him once more 
 away from that city of turbulence and violence and 
 of corrupt men false in doctrine, and hypocritical in 
 life. 
 
 He was now breathing the pure, country air ; 
 among a people of more simple habits, and more open 
 to the truth. It will be remembered that he had some 
 time before this, while yet at Capernaum, sent out 
 seventy of his disciples, with directions to go " to 
 every city and place, whither he himself would come.'' 
 They had recently returned to him at Jerusalem, mak- 
 ing report of their mission with joy ;t and in his 
 thanksgiving on that occasion we have words referring 
 to his selection of such men : 
 
 " I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, 
 that thou hast hid these things from the wise and pru- 
 dent, and hast revealed them unto babes : even so, 
 Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight."J 
 
 Indeed, the scenes which we have just been witness- 
 ing in Jerusalem show clearly the wisdom in the Mes- 
 siah's choice which excluded such men as the schools 
 produced. 
 
 o John x, 22-39. f Luke x, 1. % Ibid verse 21. 
 
Raising of Lazarus. 263 
 
 The people resorted to him in Perea, and believed 
 on him there. They said, " John did no miracle : but 
 all things that John spake of this man were true."* 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIIL 
 
 RAISING OF LAZARUS. ' 
 
 11 I am the resurrection and the life : he that be- 
 lieveth' in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live : 
 and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never 
 die." 
 
 "What a power in words ! 
 
 Those words of Christ have been like symphonies 
 over the world, ever since they were uttered ; reach- 
 ing the dull ear of the dying ; floating about the soli- 
 tary home of the mourner grieving for friends laid in 
 the grave ; meeting us, inscribed on the church-yard 
 gate, as if heaven itself had been writing on its por- 
 tals ; and, through all life, giving us the courage to 
 meet, calmly, the fearfulness of its end. 
 
 " I am the resurrection and the life ;•*■** whoso- 
 ever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." The 
 history connected with those words is a very rcmarka : 
 ble one. 
 
 The Messiah, as just narrated, had gone to Perea to 
 deepen the instructions given there by the seventy, and 
 for other labors in that large, and, in some portions of 
 
 * John x, 41. 
 
264 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 it, populous region. He was yet, however, somewhere 
 in the neighborhood of the Jordan, when a message 
 from the family at Bethany reached him, with a touch- 
 ing, though a very modest appeal : 
 
 " Lord, behold he whom thou lovest is sick." 
 The message did not ask him to come back : but 
 the simple fact of its being sent had evidently in it 
 some kind of expectancy, either that he would come, 
 or that he would send a healing communication, or at 
 once speak relief. He, who »could open the eyes of the 
 blind, and had cured so many in Galilee by a word, — 
 among them the distant son of the nobleman at Caper- 
 naum, — could heal now his sick friend by a similar 
 mandate, even if he should not come to him : he, who 
 was so ready to relieve strangers, and had stopped be- 
 fore the beggar at the wayside, to speak words of pity 
 and help, would not surely fail now, in the instance of 
 those to whom he was so much attached. The mes- 
 sage came from the sisters of Lazarus, stating the case 
 in simple but affecting language : 
 
 11 Lord, behold he whom thou lovest is sick." 
 But he sent no healing word back again ; nor did 
 he appear disposed himself to go : for he continued still 
 two days in the same place. Such seeming abandon- 
 ment, in their distress, of those who had showed him 
 hospitality so often, might very well excite wonder in 
 the minds of the disciples. This family were among 
 the few of his open and avowed friends, defying the 
 edict of the Sanhedrim : but he seemed now to forsake 
 them in their hour of pressing need. H13 remark, 
 when the message from Bethany reached him, might 
 appear to them to have even a tinge of selfishness in 
 it : " This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory 
 
Raising op Lazarus. 265 
 
 of God, that the Son of God might be glorified there- 
 by." The} 7 watched him anxiously ; for no one could 
 know that family at Bethany, as they did, without lov- 
 ing them : but still no message thither : no word of 
 relief. — Finally, he said : 
 
 " Our friend Lazarus is dead." 
 The disciples were shocked and distressed. Just 
 so had he treated John. Was this treatment of nearest 
 friends a sample of what they themselves might ex- 
 pect ? They had rejoiced in his supernatural powers, 
 and had felt, that, whatever afflictions might come 
 upon them, they had a friend in their Leader, who 
 was equal to every extremity, and might be relied 
 on for help. But was this case, and was John's, an 
 example of his. relief? He had told them that they 
 should be persecuted for his sake ; and had drawn 
 many a dark picture of the sufferings they were to 
 endure ; and had called upon them to brace them« 
 selves up for endurance : what then ? — To be deserted 
 in the end ? They had always comprehended his mean- 
 ing imperfectly. His words had a' mystical sense to 
 them, containing promises of final victory and re- 
 wards ; but all these promises had - come to them 
 darkly and were but half understood. His present 
 kindness, goodness, and power had been their trust ; 
 but here w % as a manifestation chat startled them, a de- 
 sertion of a beloved friend and a kind family : Laza- 
 rus was dead ! 
 | In the meanwhile, those sisters at Bethany had 
 i watched by the bedside of the dying man ; mingling 
 i with their afflictions, as they saw life ebbing away, 
 I many a discomforting thought of him who might so 
 ! easily have helped, and did not help. They had to 
 
266 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 keep this grief to themselves ; for they could not, be- 
 fore their visitors and sympathizers at the bedside, 
 speak words that might seem to be disparaging to 
 Christ, or containing reproach : and these thoughts 
 were all the more corroding and heavy because they 
 had to be kept hid within their hearts. They had 
 listened, with painful nervousness, for quick footsteps 
 bringing news of his coming : none came. Hope rose 
 at everv unusual sound out of the room, and died 
 away, and rose again ; and still kept flickering on, 
 as the life, too, was flickering there, on that bed of 
 pain. 
 
 All in vain : — in vain ! 
 
 The blow came at last. They had been cherishing 
 a double hope, both of Christ's quick presence, and 
 his word of healing : all was lost. They had now 
 the double grief, the crushing weight from their 
 brother's death, and from that apparent neglect by 
 one whom their brother and they had so much loved 
 and trusted, and by whom he might have been, but 
 was not, saved. ' 
 
 They buried the corpse in the usual manner ; their 
 friends from the village and from Jerusalem condol- 
 ing with them, and giving the usual loud tokens of 
 grief. These friends sometimes — and the sister could 
 not help overhearing them, if, indeed, the words were 
 not spoken for their hearing — sometimes wondered 
 why Jesus had not come or sent help ; sometimes 
 with words of doubt about him, sometimes mixing 
 censures for his neglect ; but the sisters had to keep 
 their own thoughts and feelings crushed down within 
 themselves, — a very heavy weight on their already 
 overburdened hearts. 
 
Raising of Lazarus. 267 
 
 When lie had announced the death of Lazarus to 
 the disciples, he had added : " And I am glad for 
 your sakes that I was not there, to the intent that ye 
 may believe : nevertheless let us go unto him." 
 
 Thomas, referring, doubtless, to the late attempt at 
 Jerusalem to stone him, and to his own predictions 
 about his approaching death, said to the other disci- 
 ples, il Let us also go that we may die with him." 
 And they proceeded towards Bethany, by slow stages, 
 however ; for they were four days getting to that 
 town, although the distance was not very great. 
 
 Their journey was in the winter time, and lay across 
 that desolate region of the Wilderness of Judea, al- 
 ways gloomy, but doubly so at this season of the year. 
 And as the apostles followed the Messiah over the 
 bleak, cold waste, they had time for many reflections ; 
 and thejr reflections might well be of a sombre kind, 
 corresponding to the scenes around. They had left 
 home, occupations, domestic comforts, in order to fol- 
 low this new Master, proclaimed by John to be the 
 Son of God. Bright visions of earthly glory and 
 power had been flickering before them, but not one 
 of these had ever yet been realized. On the con- 
 trary, they had been scoffed at by the rulers at Jeru- 
 salem, and their Master himself was near being stoned 
 in the very temple by the agents of the Sanhedrim. 
 He had miraculous powers, undoubtedly ; but he 
 never exercised them for any aggrandizement, such 
 as had been their chief expectations in leaving all to 
 follow him. He had just been telling them what 
 they might expect in future. Honors ? power ? glory ? 
 rank ? No ; but stripes, persecutions, hatred, and 
 death by violence. He had promised them comfort 
 
268 LlFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 from on high, and had given assurance of his help ; 
 but here was Lazarus, the "beloved friend, neglected 
 in his need and now dead. What, as respected them- 
 selves, in the dreary prospect of the future — more 
 dreary far than this utter desolation of nature around 
 them : the crumbling, chalky cliffs ; the shelterless 
 wastes ; the sharp, biting winds ; the wintry skies, 
 frowning down on the wide, bleak scene below ? 
 
 They drew their garments ' around them, their 
 hearts more gloomy than the skies or the wastes of 
 the wilderness ; and so they travelled over those 
 long miles, till at last they came in sight of Bethany ; 
 no cheerful greeting, however, awaiting them now, 
 as in the former times. 
 
 The Messiah did not enter the town at once, but re- 
 mained on its outskirts : intelligence, however, was 
 immediately carried to Martha, one of the sisters, that 
 he had come. She hurried out ; and that deep, addi- 
 tional grief, as of a felt neglect, broke out before him : 
 
 " Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not 
 died." She added, " but I know that even now, what- 
 soever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee." 
 He said : 
 
 " Thy brother shall rise again ;" — and she replied : 
 
 " I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection 
 at the last day/' 
 
 " I am the resurrection and the life : he that believ- 
 eth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live : 
 and whosoever believeth and liveth in me shall never 
 die. Believcst thou this ?" 
 
 " Yea, Lord : I believe that thou art the Christ, 
 the son of God, which should come into the world." 
 
Raising of Lazarus. 269 
 
 Leaving him there, she hurried back to her sister 
 Mary, with the news : 
 
 " The Master is come and calleth for thee." 
 
 The lamentations on such occasions lasted eight 
 days ; and there were many mourners and sympa- 
 thizers iii the house, who, seeing Mary rise hastily 
 and go out, followed her, saying : 
 
 " She goeth unto the grave to weep there." 
 
 Hurrying on, the whole company of visitors came 
 immediately in front of the Messiah, and found Mary 
 at his feet, where she also had let out her bitter grief, 
 in the same cry as that of Martha. 
 
 " Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not 
 died." 
 
 The company around joined their weeping with 
 hers. The Messiah was convulsed with strong emo- 
 tions in his deep sympathies with human griefs : for 
 this scene was but a sample of what is ever occurring 
 in our world. He asked : 
 
 "Where have ye laid him ?" 
 
 " Lord, come and see." 
 
 Jesus wept. 
 
 '" Behold," said the company, " how he .oved him." 
 Some of them asked : 
 
 " Could not this man which hath opened the eyes 
 of the blind have caused that even this man should 
 not have died ?" 
 
 Again that convulsion of grief, as they were ad- 
 vancing towards the tomb. There could be no 
 longer a doubt, in the mind of any one, of his affec- 
 tion for Lazarus, and of the deep sympathies for the 
 distress before him : and the feelings of the sisters, — 
 if any doubts had crept into them, — were fully satis- 
 
270 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 fied. In silence, they reached presently the place 
 where the body had been interred, — a cave, with a 
 stone in front closing the entrance. The mourners 
 were thinking of the gloom and desolation within, the 
 horror of that abandonment by the world to corrup- 
 tion and the worm, — when the silence was broken by 
 Christ's ordering the stone to be taken away. Mar- 
 tha interposed a remonstrance, that by this time the 
 body must be offensive ; for it had now been there 
 four days : but he replied : 
 
 " Said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldst be- 
 lieve, thou shouldst see the glory of God ?" 
 
 — The scene changed immediately : for now every 
 one supposed that there was some strange demonstra- 
 tion at hand. The solemnity of mourning and the 
 wailing cries ceased : crowds pressed forward : a 
 low murmur of voices went among them : — ■" What 
 was meant ? — Corruption had advanced in the body : 
 death's work had been fully sealed by decay : al] 
 power now seemed to be in vain : what would he at- 
 tempt?" The mourners at Bethany from Jerusalem 
 seem to have been from the higher classes ;* and 
 strange feelings were at work in their hearts, some 
 of these not friendly to Christ. But curiosity was 
 uppermost. 
 
 By this time the stone had been rolled away. 
 They could see in to where the dim light half re- 
 vealed the scene, in which death held his fearful rule \ 
 the silence and gloom all made more impressive by 
 the deeply earnest life-scene at the mouth of the cave. 
 
 For solemnity had given place to intense curiosity, 
 
 . — 1_ 
 
 ° See John xi, 3L, 33, 36 and 45, in connection with John's dis- 
 tinction between " the Jews " and "the people," in vii, 12, 13. 
 
Raising of Lazarus. 271 
 
 and a crowd of faces— sometimes showing bad pas- 
 sions, more often hope, was without ; every linea- 
 ment drawn into the utmost tension of expectancy. 
 The company tried to read in the face of the Mes- 
 siah his intentions ; or they peered into the entrance 
 of the tomb, — all there so still and death-like. 
 Christ's features still showed the marks of his recent 
 strong emotions ; but his face, though sad in its deep 
 sympathies, had still on it the grandeur of power and 
 command. 
 
 The commotion from this expectancy had ceased 
 and was succeeded by a painful silence among the 
 crowd. They gazed on Christ ; and when his lips 
 now opened, their hearts throbbed as if about to 
 burst in their emotion. But it was not as they ex- 
 pected. — It was in prayer. — 
 
 "Father, I thank thee that thou nast heard me. 
 And I know that thou nearest me always : but be- 
 cause of the people which stand by I said it, that 
 they may believe that thou hast sent me." 
 
 Turning, then, to the grave he said, in a .oud 
 voice, — 
 
 " Lazarus, come forth !" 
 
 There was a sound in the cave, where all had just 
 been in that stillness of death ; a rustling, as of a 
 movement there ; a further noise of motion ; and 
 Lazarus presently stood before the gazing, excited, 
 frightened, shrinking throng ; his body still swathed, 
 as customary with the dead, and a napkin bound over 
 his face. This was removed ; and the features, 
 though shrunken and emaciated by the disease, were 
 fall of life. The sisters had their loved brother again ! 
 The feelings of the crowd had been worked up to 
 
272 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 such a pitch of tension that it seemed as if their na- 
 ture could scarcely have stood the trial of that scene 
 much longer ; but now they breathed freely again, 
 and their full hearts found vent, some in tones of joy, 
 some in praises and thanksgivings, and in congratu- 
 lations to the family and to Lazarus himself. Some 
 turned wondering, glad, and believing eyes on the 
 Messiah himself, and received full faith in him into 
 their own hearts, with a reverence and affection that 
 filled them with new and thrilling joys. — Some went 
 straight to the Pharisees to tell them what had been 
 done. 
 
 In Jerusalem there was a commotion in conse- 
 quence. The news of the miracle, the most wonder- 
 ful that could be performed, was rapidly spreading 
 over the city ; and the members of the Sanhedrim 
 were called together, much puzzled, and now greatly 
 alarmed. 
 
 " What shall wo do ?"' they said; "for this man 
 doeth many miracles. If we let him alone, all men 
 will believe on him, and the Pharisees will come and 
 take away both our place and nation.'" 7 
 
 But Caiaphas, then high priest, relieved them from 
 their dilemma by declaring authoritatively : 
 
 '• Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is 
 expedient that one man die for the people, and that 
 the whole nation perish not.' 7 
 
 They took him at his word, prophetic, and not 
 fully understood even by himself; and from that day 
 forth " they took council together for to put Jesus to 
 death." 7 " They believed that Christ or themselves 
 must perish : and the manner in which his fame was 
 
 » John xi, 1-53. 
 
In Ephraim and Perea. 273 
 
 spreading, and the astounding nature of his mira- 
 cles gave them now but a little time for choice. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 IN EPHRAIM AND PEREA. 
 
 The site of Ephraim, the city to which the Messiah 
 retired with his disciples after raising Lazarus and 
 the determination of the Sanhedrim in consequence,* 
 is not fully known at present, but is supposed to have 
 been where el-Taiyibeh is now situated. This is a 
 town twenty miles north-east ot Jerusalem, and on 
 such a lofty eminence as to overlook the whole de- 
 sert of Judea, adjacent to it on the east, and also the 
 valley of the Jordan, with portions of Perea beyond 
 the river. From this he made visits to the neighbor- 
 ing country, and also extensive journeys through 
 Perea; but there is some obscurity attending this 
 part of our Saviour's life. Doubtless it was active ; 
 and critics place, during these few months, the heal- 
 ing of the infirm woman in a synagogue, exciting the 
 indignation of the rulers of that place of worship, 
 because it was done on their Sabbath day.f On 
 another occasion he was dining with a Pharisee on the 
 Sabbath when a similar case occurred. The hospitali- 
 ties of the house were no safeguard against the ma- 
 chinations of his enemies, and " they watched him /"J 
 
 o John xi, 54. f Luke xiii, 10-17. % Luke xiv, 1. 
 
 12* 
 
2?4 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 A man afflicted with dropsy was brought there, per- 
 haps in order to produce results on which the Phari- 
 sees and lawyers, who were also guests, might bring 
 against him a charge of violating the Sabbath. He 
 knew their thoughts, and said, " Is it lawful to heal 
 on the Sabbath day ?" They considered it best to be 
 silent ; and taking the man, he healed him, and sent 
 him away ; saying to the company, in the same strain 
 with which he had recently silenced the rulers in the 
 synagogue : " Which of you shall have an ass or ox 
 fallen into a pit and will not straightway pull him out 
 on the Sabbath day."* The people rejoiced at " the 
 glorious things done by him." 
 
 The Messiah observed the jealous eagerness of the 
 guests to have the places of highest honor at the 
 feast ; and he gave them now some admonitions on 
 this subject, ending with the declaration, " For who* 
 soever exalteth himself shall be abased ; and he that 
 humbleth himself shall be exalted." Then, turning 
 to his host, he added, in a similar strain : 
 
 ' il When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not 
 thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, 
 nor thy neighbors ; lest they also bid thee again and 
 a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest 
 a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the 
 blind j and then thou shalt be blessed. For they 
 cannot recompense thee ; for thou shalt be recom- 
 pensed at the resurrection of the just." 
 
 We have next, in these journeyings, a scene alto- 
 gether characteristic ; and, with it, some parables, 
 which have, ever since, been food to the souls of men 
 wherever they have been heard. Men have written 
 e Matt, xiil, 10-17. 
 
In Ephraim and Perea. 275 
 
 and spoken words to delight the fancy, or to contri- 
 bute to physical enjoyment, often in such a manner as 
 to win the highest applause : but -words to feed the 
 soul, even though plain and simple, are in value far 
 beyond all other words. Men feel them to be so j 
 and, although their lips may sometimes treat them 
 lightly, yet the inward conviction acknowledges 
 them, and the heart bows in full recognition of their 
 worth. 
 
 On the occasion thus referred to we are told, 
 " Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sin- 
 ners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and Scribes 
 murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners and 
 eateth with them." Christ attracted the despised in 
 the world, and the lost. We can almost see those 
 throngs around him, gazing on that face where 
 authority was so softened by gentleness of expressioti, 
 and where majesty was so tempered with kindness of 
 manner, that none could feel repelled. The Jewish, 
 Kabbis stalked with a lordly step among those of in- 
 ferior degree ; they felt it necessary to sustain their 
 reputed sanctity by a distance of manner, and by the 
 exclusiveness of caste ; and, in John vii, 49, we hear 
 them declare n that this people who knoweth not 
 the law [doubtless meaning the unwritten law] are 
 cursed." 
 
 Therefore we may readily imagine with what feel- 
 ings of attachment, as well as of wonder, the multi- 
 tudes followed Christ ; -gazed upon those features so 
 divine in their expression ; felt attracted by that Pres- 
 ence which seemed not to be of earth, yet never awed 
 any one into a fearfulness in approaching ; and how 
 they listened to his words, so different in their mean- 
 
276 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 ing, and in the tone in which they were uttered, from 
 any thing else which they had ever before heard. 
 
 Let us pause here, and listen to his words. Let us 
 try, in listening, to picture to our own minds that hu- 
 man form enshrining the Divinity ; that countenance 
 with the grandeur of the divine expression tempered 
 with winningness ; the lineaments moulded by that, 
 unutterable love which was never weakness but had 
 always the highest heroism of love ; the eyes in 
 which heaven seemed to look out on earth. Let us 
 listen : — 
 
 " What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if 
 he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and 
 nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is 
 lost, until he find it ? And when he hath found it, he 
 layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he 
 cometh home, he calleth together his friends and 
 neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me ; for 
 I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto 
 you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one 
 sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and 
 nine just persons, which need no repentance. 
 
 " Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, 
 if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and 
 sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? 
 And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends 
 and her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me ; 
 for I have found the piece which I had lost. Like- 
 wise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of 
 the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. 
 
 "And he said, A certain man had two sons ; and 
 the younger of them said to his father, Father, give 
 me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he 
 
In Ephraim and Perea. 277 
 
 divided unto them his living. And not many days 
 after, the younger son gathered all together, and look 
 his journey into a far country, and there wasted his 
 substance with riotous living. And when he had 
 spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land ; 
 and he began to be in want. And he went and joined 
 himself to a citizen of that country ; and he sent him 
 into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have 
 filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat ; 
 and no man gave unto him. And when he came to 
 himself, he said, How many hired servants of my 
 father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish 
 with hunger ! I will arise and go to my father, and 
 will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against 
 heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be 
 called thy son : make me as one of thy hired servants. 
 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was 
 yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had com- 
 passion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. 
 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned 
 against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more 
 worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to 
 his servants, Bring forth the bes.t robe, and put it on 
 him ; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his 
 feet : and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it ; and 
 let us eat, and be merry : for this my son was dead, 
 and is alive again ; he was lost, and is found. And 
 they began to be merry. Now his elder son was in 
 the field : and as he came and drew nigh to the house, 
 he heard music and dancing. And he called one of 
 the servants, and asked what these things meant. And 
 he said unto him, Thy brother is come ; and thy father 
 hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received 
 
278 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 him safe and sound. And he was angry, and would 
 not go in : therefore came his father out, and entreated 
 him. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these 
 many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at 
 any time thy commandment : and yet thou never 
 gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my 
 friends : but as soon as this thy son was come, which 
 hath devoured thy living witli harlots, thou hast killed 
 for him the fatted calf. And he said unto him, Son, 
 thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It 
 was meet that we should make merry, and be glad ; 
 for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again ; and 
 was lost, and is found." 
 
 This period during the Messiah's last retirement 
 from Jerusalem — spent probably chiefly in Perea, in 
 order to deepen the instructions by the seventy — 
 abounds in parables and practical admonitions ; 
 among the former, that of the Rich Man and Lazarus, 
 and also one showing to every man feeling himself to 
 be a lost sinner, how he must approach to God. 
 
 11 Two men went up into the temple to pray : the 
 one a Pharisee, the other a publican. ' The Pharisee 
 stood and prayed thus within himself, God, I thank 
 thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, un- 
 just, or even as this publican. I fast twice in a week, 
 I give tithes of all I possess. And the publican, 
 standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes 
 unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be 
 merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went 
 down to his house justified rather than the other : for 
 every one that exalteth himself shall be abased : and 
 he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." 
 
 A scene occurred during this visit to Perea, which 
 
In Ephraim and Perea. 279 
 
 painters have often endeavored to exhibit on canvass, 
 but which is far beyond the powers of art to reach. 
 It is easy to portray man in the coarser passions, and 
 grosser exhibitions of his nature : but the more any 
 individual rises into the true heaven-like nobility of 
 soul ; and the grand thoughts and great emotions of 
 such nobility show through the eyes and take expres- 
 sion on the face, the more the act of copying verges 
 upon the impossible. Who, then, can paint the Mes- 
 siah, in any scene, but especially in that to which we 
 now refer ? 
 
 It was that of his receiving the little children 
 brought to him in order that " he might put his hands 
 on them and pray." His disciples rebuked those who 
 brought them ; but he checked his followers : — 
 
 " Suffer the little children to come unto me and for- 
 bid them not ; for of such is the kingdom of God. 
 Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the 
 kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter 
 therein." 
 
 He took them up in his arms, and put his hands on 
 them and blessed them.* 
 
 His kindly, genial feeling towards children, and the 
 manner in which he attracted them towards himself, 
 form one of the most pleasing characteristics of his 
 ministry on earth. Often we are lost in wonder, and 
 often we are awed by the incidents of this ministry, 
 but there is a charm to all our finer feelings of admir- 
 ation and love, as we see the children clustering about 
 his knees ; and see, from all those scenes,- how strong 
 must have been the sympathy in them towards him, in 
 him towards them. He speaks of their likeness to 
 » Matt, xix, 13-15 : Mark x, 13-16. 
 
280 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 the kingdom of heaven : he tells us that, unless we be- 
 come humble like a child ; — have its full, unquestion- 
 ing love and confidence, but in our case towards God ; 
 — the humble yielding up of ourselves to Him, as child- 
 ren give themselves into their parents' arms, — we can- 
 not see the kingdom of God. 
 
 The greatest men arc, more frequently than other- 
 wise, noted for a childlike simplicity of manners ; and 
 Coleridge says, " Men of true genius give themselves 
 up to the first simple impressions of common things. 
 They are content to wonder, and smile, and admire, 
 just as they did when they were children ; it is the 
 opening of the heart to all sweet influences." 
 
 One of the most beautiful things in the world is a 
 person, mature in years, but still keeping the heart 
 fresh as in early life. Individuals may sometimes be 
 seen, even of advanced age, but with the feelings all 
 genial, and kind, and responsive ; — in their heart life 
 never growing old. But such persons are rare. The 
 writer of this work has had the happiness to number 
 among his intimate friends one of this class, a person 
 (lately deceased) of the highest scientific reputation 
 abroad as weli as at home, but more remarkable still 
 for carrying the bloom and freshness of life even 
 beyond his eightieth year. He loved children, and 
 they always loved him. 
 
Jericho. 281 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 JERICHO. 
 
 A stranger travelling, in the times of our Saviour, 
 eastwardly from Bethany, along the high-road would, 
 after five or six hours spent in crossing that dreary 
 Wilderness of Judea, be suddenly startled by a view 
 as if some enchantment had operated upon his sight. 
 Standing on a hill-top, — all around him as bare as 
 barrenness itself can be — and so had been the scenery 
 throughout this journey, — he would now look directly 
 down on one of the most verdant and most perfectly 
 beautiful spots on the face of the globe ; — a mass of 
 deepest and thickest verdure ; a garden-like place, 
 thirty miles or more in length by fifteen in width, all 
 in the highest cultivation ; palms, the most beautiful 
 and graceful of trees ever seen in any country, waving 
 their feathery tops, as, in groups or singly all over 
 the landscape, they rose high above other trees of 
 great variety and beauty; a large city also, with 
 signs of wealth about it ; palaces ; a castle for de- 
 fence ; a hippodrome ; an amphitheatre ; villages and 
 scattered dwellings, amid the unbroken garden ; foun- 
 tains and rivulets gleaming in the sunshine ; a river 
 meandering along the farther edge of this vast plain ; 
 beyond the river a narrow plain, backed witn a range 
 of lofty mountains ; and on the right a lake or sea, 
 stretching on, till hid by some mountain spurs. 
 The plain was that of Jericho : the city was one 
 
282 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 called by the same name ; the river, the Jordan ; the 
 wide expanse of water, the Dead Sea ; the mountains 
 on the east, the range of Nebo, Moses' place of mys- 
 terious burial by unseen hands. 
 
 Even now, although almost entirely forsaken, and 
 lying waste, this plain of Jericho still breaks most 
 agreeably on the traveller's eyes, so long blinded by 
 the glare from the white hills of the Wilderness. 
 What, then, must it have been in those days we are 
 speaking of, when Jericho was, among Jewish cities, 
 exceeded in size only by Jerusalem ; and when the 
 plain was the pride and boast of all the nation for its 
 fertility, its extraordinary productions, and its cli- 
 mate (called " Egyptian,") seeming in temperature as 
 if some choice spot of an intertropical country, with 
 its heat, had been taken up and set down here in a 
 region entirely different. This tropical nature of the 
 climate made the place a favorite retreat, in winter, 
 for those who might wish to escape the bleakness of 
 the " Hill Country " of Judea, and of the capital 
 itself. 
 
 The conformation of the ground here is singular. 
 It looks as if an immense region had been scooped 
 out of the general natural elevation in that country, 
 making room for a great plain, for a sea, and for 
 a river ; all sunk down to an unnatural depth. The 
 Dead Sea, to which the southern end of this plain ex- 
 tends, has its surface, 1312 feet below that of the 
 Mediterranean ;* and, therefore, a traveller coming 
 from the " Hill Country" of Jerusalem, and the equally 
 elevated grounds of the " Wilderness," seems here to 
 descend into a chasm in the earth, which, indeed, is 
 
 • Stanley's Sinai and Palestine. 
 
Jericho. 283 
 
 really the case. Yet in this chasm flows the Jordan, 
 to discharge itself here into that sluggish lake ; and 
 the plain of Jericho, which, at its southern end, bor- 
 ders on the Dead Sea, has but a small elevation above 
 the stream. Travelling on the plain towards, the 
 river, Ave come, on approaching it, to a descent of 
 fifty or sixty feet ; then there is again a level for a 
 short space, and then, about six feet below, is the 
 Jordan, fringed with willows and rushes, its width 
 here from eighty to a hundred feet, its depth ten or 
 twelve, and its current very strong.* 
 
 The great depth of this plain, with the reflection of 
 the sun upon it from the bare surrounding hills, will 
 account for its tropical growth of plants and trees. 
 The palm grew here in such luxuriance that in the 
 days of Moses (Deut. xxxiv, 3,) Jericho was already 
 designated as the " city of palm trees." Josephus 
 speaks of the palms in his day, as being " of many 
 sorts different from each other in taste and name :" 
 and adds : " The better sort of them yield an excel- 
 lent kind of honey, not much inferior in sweetness to 
 other honey. This country will produce honey from 
 bees : it also bears the balsam, which is the most pre- 
 cious of all the fruits in that place ; cypress trees also, 
 and those that bear the myro-balsam ; so that he who 
 should pronounce this place to be divine, would not 
 be mistaken, wherein is such plenty of trees produced 
 as are very rare and of the most excellent sort. And, 
 indeed, if we speak of those other fruits, it will not 
 be easy to light on any climate on the habitable earth, 
 that can well be compared to it, — what is here sown 
 comes up in such clusters : the cause of which seems 
 
 <* Robinson. 
 
284 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 to me to be the warmth of the air, and the fertility of 
 the waters ; the warmth calling forth the sprouts 
 and making them spread, and the moisture making 
 every one of them take root firmly, and supply that 
 virtue which it stands in need of in summer-time."" 
 He adds : " The ambient air is here, also, of so good 
 a temperature, that the people of the country are 
 clothed in linen only, even when snow covers the 
 rest of Judea." 
 
 Herod the Great had built there a palace for him- 
 self, which was afterwards repaired and ornamented 
 by Archelaus with great splendor : also an amphi- 
 theatre and a hippodrome, and, on a spur of moun- 
 tain overlooking the city, a citadel, and in it a very 
 fine and strong building dedicated to his mother, 
 and called Cypros.f 
 
 The hippodrome had come, by and by, to have a 
 strange history connected with it, one of the most sin- 
 gular in all the records of purposed crime. For Herod, 
 when that dreadful disease which ended his life was 
 growing upon him, and he found that he must die, de- 
 termined that there should be, by compulsion, a gen- 
 eral mourning throughout Judea at his death. He 
 ordered the principal men of the Jewish nation to as- 
 semble at Jericho : and when they were there, had 
 them shut up in the hippodrome. He now sent for 
 his sister and her husband, and laid before them his 
 plan, which was, that at his decease, his soldiers 
 should be let loose upon these men, and all of them 
 should be put to death, in order that " the whole na- 
 tion should mourn from their very soul, which other- 
 wise would be done in sport and mockery only. So 
 <* Bel. iv, 8, §3. t Bel. i, 2, §9. 
 
Jericho. 285 
 
 he deplored his condition with tears in his eyes, and 
 obtested them by the kindness owed from them as his 
 kindred, and by the faith they owed to God, and beg- 
 ged of them that they would not hinder him of this 
 honorable mourning at his funeral. So they prom- 
 ised him not to transgress his commands."* His or- 
 ders, however, through the mercy of the intended exe- 
 cutioners, were not carried into effect, which Jose- 
 phus says was considered as a great " benefit " by the 
 nation. 
 
 It is difficult to determine the northern limits of 
 this plain, but it is about thirty miles from north to 
 south, and fifteen in width. 
 
 The soil is described by Robinson as of extreme 
 fertility, which was, in those ancient times, assisted 
 by large and copious fountains, most of which still 
 remain. About four miles from the Jordan is the 
 fountain called now Ain Hagila, three and a half feet 
 deep and of purest water, sending forth a stream 
 which waters the whole plain below. f To the north- 
 west of this, and also in the plain, is Ain es Sultan, 
 bursting forth from the foot of a group of mounds which 
 probably designate the site of the Jericho of Joshua's 
 time, which seems after its destruction at that period 
 never to have been rebuilt. This gives a supply of 
 sweet water " which runs off through the plain in a 
 stream twenty feet wide, and from eighteen inches to 
 two feet deep, and afterwards divides into many little 
 yivulets,"J used for irrigation : and, three miles north- 
 west from this, is the still larger fountain of Duk, with 
 a stream sufficient in volume to have formerly turned 
 
 ° Jos. Antq. xvii, 6, § 5. f Robinson. 
 
 % Durbin's Observations in the E^st. 
 
286 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 mills, ruin? of which arc now on its banks.- In ad- 
 dition to this, there have been lately discovered por- 
 tions of an immense reservoir, formed by damming up 
 the waters of a valley (Wady Kelt) having its outlet 
 into the plain on its western side, near the opening of 
 which valley is supposed to have stood the Jericho of 
 our Saviour's time.t Of the numerous artificial chan- 
 nels, elaborately constructed for distribution of all 
 these waters, there are still extensive remains. 
 
 Bordering northwardly on the Wady Kelt, and just 
 over this supposed site of the ancient city, is the Mount 
 Quarantana. standing out, quite distinct from all the 
 other bare hills, which, by their semi-circular sweep to- 
 wards the west make room for this plain. 
 
 To a person standing on the plain, in the morning, 
 and looking southwardly, a heavy fog in that direction 
 usually shuts out all objects from the sight ; but, as 
 the sun gets higher in the sky, the mists roll heavily 
 away, and that strange phenomenon, the Dead Sea. 
 lies all exposed. The Jordan pours its waters into 
 this sea, and there they are lost : there is no outlet to 
 it, no life in it : every living thing that enters it dies : 
 the wind sometimes ruffles the water, but the sullen, 
 lead-like waves fall without any glad murmur upon the 
 shore, and the surface soon subsides again to its dull 
 appearance as of some immovable molten substance. 
 When earthquakes shake the country around, there 
 come up from the deptji of this sea huge masses of as- 
 phaltum which float towards the shore, as if they might 
 be dark messages of woe from the cities sunk beneath. 
 Fruits growing by this sea, though fair to the eye. are 
 found, when bitten into, to be composed of a film, for 
 5 Robinson. f Ibid. 
 
Jericho; 287 
 
 the exterior, inside of which is only dust. An adven- 
 turous traveller, some years ago, launched a boat upon 
 this sea, determined on explorations : he was found, 
 a few days afterwards, on its banks, gasping and ex- 
 hausted ; was taken to Jerusalem, but scarcely lived 
 to reach the city ; the memory of what he saw perish- 
 ing also with him. A party of our own countrymen, 
 afterwards, made the attempt, and lived through it : 
 but one, the bravest and the best, came from it droop- 
 ing and sick, and died immediately afterwards at Bey- 
 rut, in a vain attempt to reach his home. — Near the 
 southern end of the sea, the awe-struck visitors to its 
 shores will find a hill entirely of salt ; and will think 
 of the strange circumstance attending Lot's family in 
 the destruction which once came over this place. 
 
 The climate of the plain of Jericho is, in summer, 
 insufferably hot, made more trying by a sight of the 
 ice-clad peaks of Hermon looming up in the clear at- 
 mosphere, and distinctly visible, although 100 miles 
 to the north. East of the Jordan, at this spot, is a 
 plain about three miles wide, immediately beyond 
 which rises the vast range of Mount Nebo ; and both 
 that mountain, and the plain between it and the river, 
 had associations of absorbing interest in the Jewish 
 mind. For, over this range, the immense hosts of 
 their forefathers had poured down, and there on that 
 plain they had rested, — after their journey from the 
 place of bondage, their wanderings of forty years 
 concluded now ; and, on that high, sky-line of Nebo, 
 Moses had stood, forbidden by the Almighty to go 
 further ; and there he had taken his view of the 
 Promised Land. How attentively had he gazed over 
 the whole region ; his vision extending to the Medi- 
 
288 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 terranean, whose l learning wj ters were f illy in sight ; 
 to the sands of Arabia, spread out far to the south ; to 
 the snowy Hcrmon on the north : — "between them a 
 fair, pleasant country, — but which he was not to enter. 
 
 This great leader and lawgiver — one of those men 
 mentally and morally of colossal proportions, whom 
 earth but rarely produces, he, who had spoken with 
 God on Sinai, was forbidden to lead them further ; 
 and, for an incident, which must have risen up in the 
 Jewish memory at this time of the ministry of Christ 
 with peculiar force. One rash word, spoken in anger, 
 had caused this exclusion of Moses from the promised 
 possession ; and this great range of Nebo, the barrier 
 which he might not pass, was forever, to the Jewish 
 mind a remembrancer of God's determination that no 
 human being should ever dare to invade any divine 
 right. 
 
 On one occasion during that long journey through 
 the wilderness of Arabia, the people had been mur- 
 muring for water ; and Moses and Aaron were told 
 by Jehovah to strike with their rod a certain rock, 
 and that the water then would flow. They proceeded 
 to the act, but gave not God the glory. " Hear, now, 
 ye rebels ; must we fetch you water out of this rock ? 
 * * And the Lord said unto Moses and Aaron, 
 Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the 
 eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not 
 bring this congregation into the land which I have 
 promised them.'''* Aaron was buried, during the 
 long journey, on Mount ITor ; and here, on Nebo, the 
 steps of Moses were staved ; and there he died and 
 was buried ; and that lofiv mountain' ran fire before 
 
 Numbers xx, 10-12. 
 
Jericho. 2S9 
 
 Jericho, so strangely like an even wall or barrier 
 built far up into the sky — told, and to the last will 
 tell, of God's isolation in his Divine majesty and 
 power. No man dare ever say We before him in 
 that greatness of his glory, or in the exercise of aught 
 even of his communicated power. Yet here was one. 
 He had just said, " I and my Father are one. 57 He had 
 repeatedly asserted prerogatives belonging only to 
 God : the power to forgive sins ; the supreme seat in 
 the great judgment to come, when all the world would 
 be gathered before him, and he be seated in the glory, 
 and power, and dominion belonging to Jehovahc 
 When charged with making himself equal with God, 
 he had not denied it ; and he wa3 at this time at the 
 Jordan, on his way to Jerusalem t where his entry into 
 the city would be a triumphal one, and where the im- 
 mense crowd attending and meeting him on the way 
 would shout to him " Hosanna," that is, " Save, Lord, 
 we beseech thee f t£ Hosanna in the highest ;" an in- 
 vocation given only to God, but which was there to 
 be allowed to Jesus without reproof or check. 
 
 And even h*re in Jericho, with ISTebo looking down 
 upon him, would be performed by him one of the 
 greatest of those miraculous acts, to which he was 
 always appealing as confirmation of the justness of 
 his claims. God alone can perform a miracle. That 
 is, only He who has established nature's laws as irre- 
 vocable can reverse them ; and here now, by that spot 
 which Moses could not pass, because he had, on one 
 occasion, not sanctified God, here God was going to 
 establish, by his own act, the claims of him always as- 
 serting equality with God. 
 
290 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 THE MESSIAH AT JERICHO : BLIND MEN HEALED. 
 
 The Messiah was now on his way once more towards 
 Jerusalem. His disciples, on a former occasion, when 
 he was about to go to Bethany in order to restore 
 Lazarus, and had declared to them his intention of 
 going into Judea, had said, in alarm, " Master, the 
 Jews of late sought to stone thee, and goest thou 
 thither again ?"* That subsequent miracle at Bethany 
 had produced in the rulers a more deliberate and de- 
 termined purpose to put him to death ;f and now, 
 when he indicated his intention of proceeding to Je- 
 rusalem, his followers showed both amazement and 
 fear.J Their apprehensions, as they followed him 
 from Perea, took a more gloomy cast from his own 
 words on the way ; for he began here to repeat 
 what he had before intimated of the closing scenes of 
 his ministry, only more definitely and more clearly, 
 and with a declaration that these were near at 
 hand. " Behold, we go up to Jerusalem ; and the 
 Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, 
 and unto the Scribes ; and they shall condemn him 
 to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles ; and 
 they shall mock him, and scourge him, and spit upon 
 him, and shall kill him • and the third day he shall 
 rise again." 
 
 The journey, therefore, along the roads of Perea, 
 
 9 John xi, 8. f ib «> verse 53 - X Mark x - 32 - 
 
The Messiah at Jericho. — Bartimeus. 291 
 
 was a gloomy one. Dim as were the apprehensions 
 of his disciples respecting the nature of his kingdom, 
 they still understood language so unmistakable as 
 this ; and saw that they were about to lose him, who 
 had so long been their leader, and teacher, and their 
 constant friend. Much there had been about him 
 which they had tried in vain to comprehend ; but his 
 kindness to them, even among the strange enigmas of 
 his ministry, that had so much, puzzled them, had 
 been uniform ; and, even when he had observed occa- 
 sion to reprove them, it had been done with such gen- 
 tleness as to strengthen their attachment and love. 
 One exception there was in this feeling of affection to- 
 wards him, but that was not yet made clearly manifest. 
 In- following him, they had often been thrown into 
 the society of opposers ; and sometimes they had 
 been made to feel the secret force of hostility when 
 people were backward in manifesting it towards him- 
 self. Questions innumerable concerning him had 
 been propounded to them, often such as they were 
 unable to answer, frequently on subjects puzzling to 
 their own minds. They were Jews still, only half 
 enlightened by all his teachings ; for the Jewish 
 mind seemed to need a miracle to break through the 
 old incrustations which enveloped it ; but their feel- 
 ings were truer than their intellects, and in their 
 hearts they had appreciated that grandeur in the 
 character of Christ, — that true greatness which could 
 afford to be humble ; the wonderful power, not in his 
 teachings only, and his miracles, but in his gentleness 
 and love to all, and especially to themselves. 
 . Respecting his kingdom, promised by the Baptist, 
 sometimes alluded to by himself, they had heard many 
 
292 Life-scenes prom the Four Gospels. 
 
 disputations among his friends and enemies, and in 
 these they had often shared. Their interest in this 
 subject was strong and personal. Ambition had its 
 power over their hearts'; and, wen during this sad 
 journeying towards what their Master had declared 
 would end presently in sufferings, and shame, and an 
 ignominious death, James and John, aided by their 
 mother, preferred a request, that they might have 
 the preference (sit next to him) in his glory, respect- 
 ing which, however, their ideas must have been very 
 indistinct. 
 
 11 Are ye able," he asked,* " to drink of the cup that 
 I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism 
 that I am baptized with ?" 
 
 11 We are able." 
 
 " Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized 
 with the baptism that I am baptized with : but to sit 
 on my right hand and on my left, is not mine to give, 
 but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared 
 of my Father.'' 
 
 The ten heard of the request, and were indignant, 
 and he took the occasion to enjoin humility and mu- 
 tual kindness on all : — 
 
 11 Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be 
 your servant : even as the Son of man came not to be 
 ministered unto, but to minister-, and to give his life 
 a ransom for many." 
 
 No wonder that, amid all their darkness of intel- 
 lect and selfishness of nature, their Divine Master. 
 was greatly admired a.nd loved ! 
 
 They crossed the Joydan, now for the last time 
 with him ; and entered upon the garden-like plain of 
 Jericho, which preseuted, at every step, scenes of 
 
The Messiah at Jericho. — Baiitimeus. 293 
 
 busy life. If anything could win an individual off 
 from sad and disturbing thoughts, it might have been 
 found in the sights now around them ; where the riv- 
 ulets, led carefully from so many fountains, gurgled 
 by the road-side ; or, crossing the path, were lost 
 amid the profuse vegetation which they aided in this 
 most prolific soil ; where fruits and flowers constantly 
 greeted the eye ; and where birds were filling the 
 air with their melody. The labor of the husbandman 
 was here abundantly rewarded ; and a profitable 
 trade existed between this favored region of gums 
 and palms, and other parts of the country ; and also 
 with foreign nations, among which, even at their 
 courts, the balsams of Jericho were sought. 
 
 The business of a tax-gatherer here, was an unusu- 
 ally profitable one ; but here, as elsewhere, odious to 
 the Jews. A man in that office might be thoroughly 
 honest, and even far more than usually benevolent ; 
 but he would still be looked upon with suspicion and 
 dislike. He wore the Roman badge of servitude, and 
 was connected with a class disreputable for extortions 
 and overreaching ; and the wealthier a publican 
 might be, with the more suspicion he would naturally 
 be regarded. Zaccheus, the chief of these tax-gath- 
 erers at Jericho, was a man of the widest and largest 
 charity, and of strictest probity also ; for, while the 
 Jewish law required restitution two-fold in case of 
 wrong-dealing, he gave back four-fold to any one 
 whom he might unwittingly have injured. Yet he 
 was u a sinner ? ; in the estimation of the people here, 
 and was so branded : his occupation alone was a suf- 
 ficient cause for condemnation in their eyes. 
 
 He had heard of Christ : and there was very much 
 
294: Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 in these reports, not only to awaken curiosity, but to 
 enlist his feelings of affection ; — for they spoke of the 
 Messiah's wide benevolence, his kindness, his gentle- 
 ness to all, mixed yet with power. He had never 
 spurned any one seeking help : he had shown him- 
 self the friend of the humble and the slighted by the 
 world ; publicans themselves had gathered around 
 him, and had not been repelled.' When charged with 
 eating with such, and with sinners, he had said that 
 he came not to call the righteous but sinners to re- 
 pentence. The heart of this man had warmed to- 
 wards Christ": — and now this great and wonderful 
 being was there in Jericho. But he, Zaccheus, re- 
 pelled by the citizens, and taunted with sharp epi- 
 thets, dare not thrust himself forward among that 
 throng, which now, as the Messiah advanced along 
 the highway, was continually growing more and 
 more dense ; and, being a small man, there seemed 
 to be no probability of his even getting a sight of 
 him whom his heart was already prepared to rever- 
 ence. But there is a tree* in that country with 
 branches near to the ground ; and, one of these being 
 just in advance, he hastened to it, and drew himself 
 up till he could see over the heads of the advancing 
 throngs. 
 
 They came on : and. now, opposite to him, was that 
 face he had so longed to see ; that great being, of 
 whose power and benevolence and divine wisdom he 
 had heard so much. — But what was his astonishment 
 when he found the eyes of the Messiah turned atten- 
 
 ° The Syrian Sycamore; entirely different from ours. See a 
 drawing of it in " The Land and the Book," vol. i, p. 23: 
 
The Messiah at Jericho.— Bartimeus. 295 
 
 tively upon him, as if in recognition ; and to hear 
 himself addressed — 
 
 " Zaccheus, make haste and come down, for to-day 
 I must abide at thy house/'' 
 
 If the tax-gatherer was astonished, equally so were 
 the multitudes : and while the former hurried down, 
 and joyfully accompanied the Messiah, a displeased 
 murmur went among the people — " that he had gone 
 to be guest with a man that is a sinner." They could 
 not understand it : — and self-invited too ! " Was he 
 ignorant of the man's occupation " — thus the murmurs 
 ran among the crowd — " or was this done purposely to 
 give an open defiance to all their prejudices and feel- 
 ings of caste ; or was it done in contempt of them- 
 selves?" Some turned away, in disgust : others fol- 
 lowed to the door, curiosity still strongest in their 
 minds : all were displeased. 
 
 In the meantime, the two, followed by the disciples, 
 had entered the tax-gatherer's house. — A. stir and 
 commotion within the dwelling at such an unexpected 
 Presence : wondering looks fixed intently on that 
 face of benignity and kindness ; peering eyes outside 
 trying to have cognizance of what was going on : — 
 such was the scene, as Zaccheus, standing before the 
 Messiah, said, in a sort of defence of himself from 
 what, he knew, was the general impression respecting 
 his business and life — 
 
 1 Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the 
 poor : and if I have taken anything from any man 
 wrongfully, I restore him fourfold." 
 
 '■ This day is salvation come unto this house," — 
 was the answer, " forasmuch as he also is a son of 
 
296 LlFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 Abraham. For the Son of man lias come to seek 
 and to save that which was lost." 
 
 But through all this sceue in the receiver-general's 
 house, and doubtless throughout the city also, there 
 were rumors and whisperings foreign to the scene it- 
 self, greatly exciting the people wherever they were 
 heard. These were, " That the kingdom of God should 
 immediately appear."* The origin of the rumor was, 
 doubtless, in a distorted report of the Messiah's re- 
 cent declaration respecting his going up to Jerusalem. 
 He was known to be on his way to that city. Some- 
 thing decisive it was believed, from his own words, 
 was then to ensue. He had spoken of his .death as to 
 occur there, but also of his rising again. What could 
 this last mean — they supposed — but the assumption of 
 that earthly power and gloiy so long awaiting the 
 Messiah, — prophesied of for so long a time ? We shall 
 see, in a few days, how strong was the under-current 
 in his favor among all the multitudes, and how quickly 
 it could bear them into open demonstrations in his fa- 
 vor. His fame had spread throughout the nation. 
 People felt him to be great. This feeling of his great- 
 ness was that which led the Pharisees, after he had 
 denounced them, to be so inveterate and so deadly in 
 their hostility. A common man they could have dis- 
 regarded. All felt that Christ was very far above 
 that. His very humility of appearance gave to the 
 mightiness of power evident in him, a stronger relief : 
 his very gentleness and kindness made more striking 
 the grandeur of character that sat so majestically, and, 
 with this, so naturally on him, in all that he did and 
 said. The Pharisees hated him, because he had all 
 
 Luke xix, 2. 
 
The Messiah at Jericho. -- Baiiti.meus. 297 
 
 tins force, this grandeur, this wonderful Presence, 
 which no humility in appearance or in life could annul 
 or conceal ; — which his humility only made more 
 prominent and more striking : he was himself the 
 'truest exemplification of his doctrine, " The first shall 
 be last ) the last shall be first." 
 
 So the Pharisees hated and feared him. He had 
 denounced their hypocrisy and their abrogation of 
 God's law by (heir traditions. He was carrying the 
 hearts of the people away from them, and they felt 
 that their power was on the wane. The multitudes, 
 although often murmuring at Christ's words or ac- 
 tions, as in this recent one of going to be a guest with 
 Zaccheus, still returned to him with new fealty and 
 affection ; for their hearts responded to his greatness 
 without assumption, his force without harshness, his 
 gentleness and kindness to every one. 
 
 He spent the Sabbath at Jericho. On his leaving 
 the city, vast multitudes attended him ; for, in addi- 
 tion to the usual curiosity, this new rumor of the 
 mighty revolution soon to be — the new kingdom — 
 was filling men's minds, and occupying their tongues. 
 Advancing onward, they had reached the edge of the 
 city, the great crowd causing a bustle as they pressed 
 around him ; when, above all their noises, rose sud- 
 denly a distinct and most earnest cry, — 
 
 " Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me I" 
 
 It ceased for a moment or two ; and over, in the 
 direction from which it had come were now heard 
 angry objurgations, efforts to stifle the cry ; but, im- 
 mediately the voice rose louder than before, li Jesus, 
 thou Son of David, have mercy on me !" 
 
 It was from a beggar, Bartimeus by name, a blind 
 13* " 
 
298 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 man sitting by the road-sicle, that the cry had come. 
 The sounds of an unusual crowd had fallen on his 
 ear, as he sat there in his darkness ; the light of 
 broad da}' quenched to his sightless balls. — The multi- 
 tude increased, and were excitedly talking as of some- 
 thing unusual on the road. He stopped his own pe- 
 titions for alms to inquire what it meant ; and was 
 told that " Jesus of Nazareth passeth by." What 
 a thrill shot through the blind man ! Jesus there I 
 He raised the cry. 
 
 It was offensive, however, to many of the crowd ; 
 for Son of David was one of the titles which, in all 
 Jewish belief, was to be applied to the Messiah ; and 
 unbelievers quickly threw in their angry commands 
 to be silent : enraged men crowded about him ; in- 
 dignant, sharp tones and harsh words rung in his 
 ear ; but, with (a blind man's quick instincts, he un- 
 derstood, at once, both them and his only hope ; and 
 he cried out only the louder, in that cry of his ear- 
 nest faith. 
 
 — Presently the angry men about him were pushed 
 aside, and a friendly voice said, 
 
 " Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth for thee." 
 Jesus had stopped, when the cry reached his ear ; 
 and had directed that he should be brought to him. 
 The blind man, dropping his outer garment in the 
 haste, was led — how he hurried those leading him, 
 they seemed to be so slow ! — and now he felt that he 
 stood before the Messiah. The colloquy was too 
 earnest to be other than brief. 
 
 " What wilt thou that I should do unto thee ?" 
 
 " Lord, that I might receive my sight!" 
 
 11 Go thy way : thy faith hath made thee whole." 
 
The Messiah at Jericho. — Bartimeus. 299 
 
 Light ! yes. there was light poured into those eye- 
 balls : a world of faces flashed upon him, all with 
 such intensified and startled looks ; — all but one, 
 and on that calmness and benevolence ruled ; that 
 gentle face of Him blessing, even in his very look, 
 them who had faith for the blessing. Him he saw, 
 and a loud cry of gratitude, and praise, and of glori- 
 fying God burst out ; not from the healed man only, 
 but from all the company around. They had gazed 
 upon him as he had been led up ; — saw his eager face ; 
 saw his hurried, agitated manner : saw his sightless 
 eyeballs, showing that there was an utter blank 
 there ; heard the colloquy : and, gazing as if their 
 whole souls were in their intensified look, saw these 
 balls take clearness and expression of intelligence ; 
 saw the astonishment and joy in the man's face ; and 
 involuntarily they burst out, too, in loud glorifyings 
 to God. 
 
 The restored man joined them most gladly in fol- 
 lowing Christ.* 
 
 Mark x, 46-52 ; Luke xviii, 35-43 ; Matt, xx, 30-34. Matthew 
 ppeaks of two as being healed. It is probable that Bartimeus was 
 the more noted of the two ; and it is a maxim among critics qui 
 plura narrai pauciora complectltur : qui pauciora memorat plura non 
 ncgat ; he who describes the larger number embraces in it the fewer : he 
 who notices the fewer, does not deny the larger. A similar case occurs 
 in Matt, viii, 28-31 ; Mark v, 1-21, and Luke viii, 26-40. 
 
300 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIL 
 
 JERUSALEM. 
 
 The interest of this history now concentrates afc 
 Jerusalem ; and the events which transpired there 
 make it necessary to give a detailed description of 
 the city itself. Jerusalem was unique, picturesque 
 in its appearance, and, in some portions of it, grand ; 
 a place well worthy of our minute attention, even 
 apart from the sacred associations which it must 
 always have in our minds. 
 
 The reader will imagine a valley running nearly 
 north and south, (more accurately S. 5° W.) — the 
 valley of Jehoshaphat, at the bottom of which, in the; 
 wet season, flowed the brook Kedron ; it was a dry 
 water-course in the summer months. On the west 
 side of this valley, we reach, by a steep ascent, at the 
 height of 190 feet, the present surface of Moriah, 
 which is 318 yards across. This has, for its western 
 boundary, the valley of Tyropeon (also formerly the 
 valley of Cheesemongers,) about half the depth of 
 that of Jehoshaphat, and 117 yards in width.. Cross- 
 ing this valley westwardly, and again ascending to 
 about the height of Moriah, we find ourselves on 
 Mount Zion, " beautiful for situation, the joy of the 
 whole earth. "* This mountain (or rather hill) is 1020 
 yards across and three- fifths of a mile in length. On 
 
 * Fs. xlviii, 1. 
 
Jerusalem. 301 
 
 the west and south of it passes the valley of Hinnom, 
 shallow at first, but deepening as it goes southward, 
 till at the south-west bend of Zion, it has a depth of 
 150 ; and finally where, after curving around Zion on 
 the south and then taking an easterly course, it 
 unites with the valley of Jehoshaphat, it has a depth 
 of 300 feet. The Tyropeon, nearly at the point of 
 junction, opens into both, and has in it, at its opening, 
 the Pool of Siloam, placed by Milton (by poetic 
 license) though half a mile distant, " fast by the ora- 
 cles of God." Our imaginary journey, as the reader 
 perceives, was from east to west ; it passed just by 
 the southern edge of the temple enclosure, which en- 
 closure was to the northeast of Zion, a high stone 
 bridge across the Tyropeon uniting the two. Some 
 remains of this bridge, at its eastern end, yet exist, 
 forming still a portion of an arch, and Robinson, on 
 measuring some of its stones found them twenty and 
 a half to twenty -four and a half feet in length ; they 
 are ornamented on their front with the raised pannel 
 common to all that remains of the larger structures 
 in Jerusalem. The portion of Moriah south of the 
 temple enclosure sunk rapidly into a broken and 
 rocky surface, and was probably occupied by gar- 
 dens in the ancient times. 
 
 The city wall, on the west and south, kept along 
 the edge of the almost precipitous descent to the val- 
 ley of Hinnom, until the Tyropeon was reached, when, 
 stretching across this, and then over the low southern 
 portion of Moriah, it skirted the valley of Jehosha- 
 phat till it reached the southeastern angle of the 
 great wall supporting the temple platform.; On the 
 north side of Zion the wall also skirted the edge of 
 
302 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 the mountain, there on the verge of a descent of thirty 
 cubits,'" and finally crossed the Tyropeon to the 
 western wall of the temple enclosure. 
 
 In the course of time, a larger space was needed for 
 the city ; and a hill, called Acra, closely adjoining 
 Zion on the north, and like that also " surrrounded by 
 deep valleys,"! was also enclosed by a wall carried 
 along on the edge of its precipices, except where this 
 crossed the lower ground to be united with the wall 
 of Zion, at a gate called Gennath : on the east, this 
 wall of Area joined the tower of Antonia, situated at 
 the northwest angle of the temple enclosure. 
 
 The city, however, grew finally even beyond Acra, 
 and a large space of ground, north and east of that 
 hill, reaching to the valley of Jehoshaphat, was cov- 
 ered with houses ; but this, called Bezetha, was not in- 
 closed, in our Saviour's time, the wall afterwards 
 bounding it on three sides, having been built by 
 Agrippa at a period shortly subsequent to the cruci- 
 fixion, i 
 
 Zion, Moriah, and Area, although called mountains, 
 in historical descriptions, did not rise above the gen- 
 eral level of the country adjacent, and could be termed 
 such only in consequence of being isolated by the sur- 
 rounding valleys : but all this region had a considera- 
 ble elevation above the Mediterranean, Zion being 
 2,200 feet and the Mount of Olives 2,396 above the 
 level of that sea. The latter mountain rose eastwardly 
 from the brook Kedron by very rapid ascents ; and, 
 from its summit commanded, a full view of the city 
 and temple grounds, and of a large extent of country 
 in every direction. Eastwardly, the view from it takes 
 * Jos. Bell, v, 4, § 4. f lb. v. § 1. 
 
Jerusalem. 303 
 
 in the bed of the Jordan and northern portion of the 
 Dead Sea. 
 
 Let a spectator be supposed, then, in those ancient 
 times to be seated on the Mount of Olives, and gazing 
 down over Jerusalem. He would perceive that the 
 general level of the city inclined to the* eastward ; and 
 that every object was thus brought distinctly into 
 view. The whole was like a map at his feet. Promi- 
 nent over all, as well as nearest to him, would be the 
 ' Mountain of the House," that huge mass of masonry, 
 composed of large stones with panneled faces, and ris- 
 ing to a height that overtopped every thing else, as if 
 jealous respecting its pre-eminence. In fact, the sum- 
 mit of Acra, which was originally higher, had been 
 cut down in order that " the temple might be super- 
 ior- to it."* From his elevation on the Mount of 
 Olives, he would be able to look over the ramparts of 
 this outer wall of the temple enclosure ; and to see 
 within it the long cloisters with their marble columns 
 in triple or quadruple rows, and the great marble- 
 paved court : he would see, then, rising on this plat- 
 form, the more sacred courts reached by great ranges 
 of marble steps, and by huge doors glittering with 
 gold and silver ; and finally the temple itself, its 
 front 100 cubits wide and as many in height, " covered 
 all over with plates of gold." The great altar would 
 be sending up the smoke from its sacrifices ; and, even 
 at his elevation, he might hear the chanting from the 
 many voices of worshipers, or the trumpets and other 
 instruments sounded from the steps of the temple by 
 the altar. 
 
 Then, below, and where stretched that high stone 
 * Jos. Bel. v, 4, § 1. lb. v, 6, § 6. 
 
304 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 bridge connecting Moriah with Zion, would be multi- 
 tudes passing between the temple and the city. 
 
 The picturesque outline of the city walls would 
 next, perhaps, attract the notice of the spectator; for' 
 as they were erected mostly on the edges of the preci- 
 pices, their battlemented outline, and the numerous 
 towers built to strengthen them, would all stand dis- 
 tinctly out before his eye. Some of these towers had 
 a singular combination of solidity below, with an 
 airy and delicate architecure above. The solid im- 
 penetrable substructure of one of them, Hippicus, at 
 the northwest corner of Zion, still remains, the raised 
 pannels on its stones giving a good architectural effect 
 to the solid unbroken wall. Just eastward of Hippi- 
 cus, and forming part of the defences at the northern 
 end of Zion, were two other principal towers, one of 
 which we will allow Josephus to describe : " The 
 second tower which he [Herod the Great] named 
 from his brother Phasaelus, had its breadth and its 
 height equal, each of them forty cubits ; over which 
 was its solid height of forty cubits ; over which a 
 cloister went round about, whose height was ten 
 cubits, and it was covered from enemies by breast- 
 works and bulwarks. There was also built over 
 that cloister another tower, parted into magnificent 
 rooms, and a place for bathing ; so that this tower 
 wanted nothing that might make it appear to be a 
 royal palace. It was also adorned with battlements 
 and turrets, more than was the foregoing ; and the 
 entire altitude was about ninety cubits."- It will be 
 remembered that it stood on the edge of a descent 
 of thirty cubits. Hippicus was smaller, but similarly 
 © Jos. Bel. v, 4, § 3. 
 
Jerusalem. 305 
 
 ornamented ; and just eastward of Phasaelus, and in 
 the same wall, was the tower Mariamne, named after 
 Herod's late wife, smaller also than the latter, but 
 " its upper buildings were more magnificent and had 
 greater variety than the other towers had." " Now, 
 as these towers," says Josephus, " were tall, they ap- 
 peared taller by the place on which they stood ; for 
 that very old wall wherein they were, was built on a 
 high hill, and was itself a kind of elevation that was 
 still thirty cubits taller, over which the towers were 
 situated, and thereby were made much higher to ap- 
 pearance." The other towers in the line of walls 
 were inferior in ornament, but " the niceness of the 
 joints and the beauty of the stones were in no way 
 inferior to those of the holy house itself." These 
 towers were twenty cubits wide, and as many in 
 height ; and above this solid substructure were 
 rooms i; of great magnificence," and cisterns for rain- 
 water : Acra had forty and Zion sixty of such towers 
 attached to their walls. " The whole compass of the 
 city [including Bezetha] was thirty-three furlongs," or 
 about four miles and a quarter of our measure ; the di- 
 mensions, not large ; but we must remember that the 
 cities of that region are compactly built, the streets 
 being frequently only four or five feet in width. 
 
 The palace of Herod the Great and its grounds 
 were among the most striking features of the city ; 
 and for these, lest any other description may seem 
 extravagant, we will again resort to Josephus. He 
 had just been describing the towers Mariamne and 
 Phasaelus in the northern wall of Zion, and he adds : 
 " Now as these towers were themselves on the north 
 side of the wall, the king had a palace inwardly 
 
30G Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 thereto adjoined, which exceeds all my ability to 
 describe it : for it was so curious as to want no cost 
 or skill in its construction, but was entirely walled 
 about to the height of thirty cubits, and was adorned 
 with towers at equal distances, and with large bed- 
 chambers, that would contain beds for a hundred 
 guests a-piece, in which the variety of the stones is 
 not to be expressed : for a large quantity of those 
 that were rare of the kind was collected together. 
 Their roofs were also wonderful, both for the length 
 of the beams and the splendor of their ornaments. 
 The number of the rooms was also very great, and 
 the variety of the figures that were about them was 
 prodigious ; their furniture was complete, and. the 
 greatest part of the vessels that were put in them 
 was of silver and gold. There were, besides, many 
 porticos, one beyond another, round about, and in 
 each of these porticos curious pillars ; yet were all 
 the courts that were exposed, to the air everywhere 
 green. There were moreover several groves of trees, 
 and long walks throughout them, with deep canals, 
 and cisterns, that in several parts were filled with 
 brazen statues, through which the water ran."* . 
 
 There was another palace on Acra, of which, how- 
 ever, w'e have no definite account. The castle of 
 Antonia, joined to the northwest angle of the temple » 
 was also a conspicuous object, both on account of its 
 situation, with one turret overtopping the temple pre- 
 cincts and looking directly down into its courts, and 
 also for its vastness and magnificence ; ".for the in- 
 ward parts had the largeness and form of a palace, it 
 being parted into all kinds of rooms and other con- 
 's Jos. Bel. 4, v, § 4. 
 
Jerusalem. 307 
 
 veniehces, with a court, and places for bathing, and 
 broad spaces for camps : insomuch that, by having 
 all conveniences that cities wanted, it might seem to 
 be composed of several cities, but by its magnificence 
 it seemed a palace ; and as the entire str ucture re- 
 sembled that of a tower, it contained also four other 
 distinct towers at its four corners ; whereof the others 
 were but fifty tcubits high ; whereas that which lay 
 upon the southeast corner, was seventy cubits high? 
 that from thence the whole temple might be viewed."* 
 The walls and towers were constructed with the 
 white limestone, (Josephus calls it white marble,) of 
 that region ; a large portion of which was probably 
 taken from beneath the city itself. Some curious 
 persons, lately observing a small hole just outside the 
 present northern city wall not unlike a burrow in the 
 banks of a rabbit warren, enlarged it a little ; and 
 they presently slid down into a subterranean cham- 
 ber, about seven hundred feet long from north to 
 south, and from three to four hundred feet in width, 
 the height from ten to fifty feet. It is all cut in 
 the solid rock, with rude pillars at intervals to sup- 
 port the roof. A recent explorer says, " It was evi- 
 dently a quarry, and I could see that the stones were 
 all hewn and polished on the spot. On every side 
 were immense piles of drippings, still bearing, like the 
 rocky walls, the marks of the chisel. At the extreme 
 end several huge blocks remain, not completely dis- 
 lodged. From hence down to Moriah is an easy 
 slope, along which they could easily have been roll- 
 ed ;" and the floor of the chamber is descending, and 
 in several places is hewn smooth. This quarry seems 
 
 "'■•• Jos. Bell. y. 5, §8., 
 
SOS Life-scenes from the Four. Gospels. 
 
 to have been under Acra. Doubtless there are many 
 chambers and passages under Jerusalem, vet un- 
 known. 
 
 The grounds beyond the walls were covered over 
 with gardens, among the enclosures of which the Ro- 
 man soldiers, in the first assaults by Titus, became en- 
 tangled, and suffered bloody defeats. On the south 
 of the city were the ;; king's gardens f and where the 
 valleys of Hinnoni and Jehoshaphat unite is still the 
 well called after Nehemiah. which often overflows 
 and refreshes the flat surface adjoining. The broken 
 ground forming the southern end of the sacred Mo- 
 riah, appears also to have been given up to shrub- 
 bery and trees. The Mount of Olives is still remark- 
 able for the number of olive trees scattered over its 
 slopes. 
 
 Many a person has stayed his steps on the heights 
 of this latter mountain, to gaze long on that scene be- 
 low ; — on the city, like a hive of human beings, 
 many of its common structures, doubtless, giving 
 evidence of the wealth which the whole world poured 
 toward Jerusalem : — on the battleinented walls and 
 the numerous towers with their turrets, all, from 
 their position, brought into strong relief :— on the 
 castles and palaces, and the long, high bridge be- 
 tween Moriah and Zion, with its numerous passen- 
 gers in full view ; — on the beautiful green frame work 
 of gardens surrounding the city ; — and especially on 
 the Mountain of the House, lifting its crowning 
 splendor of the temple high in the air : the glitter of 
 its gold partly hid by the smoke from the sacrificial 
 altar curling upward, while were heard the sounds 
 from the worshipers there, now sinking into low 
 
The Triumphal Entry. 309 
 
 .notes of music, and now rising in the loud hallelujahs 
 and filling the air with their melody. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY. 
 
 The Messiah was now on his way to the celebration 
 of the Passover festival ; and, in the evening of the day 
 in which he cured Bartimeus, as he was leaving Jeri- 
 cho, he arrived at Bethany, there to spend the night. 
 
 On the morrow, it quickly became evident that the 
 public enthusiasm respecting him was going to break 
 through all bounds, and to make a demonstration of 
 itself such as had never yet been seen. The rumor, 
 " that the kingdom of God should immediately appear" 
 was still spreading, and people were wrought up to a 
 state of the highest expectancy ; — the excitement all 
 the greater in consequence of the vagueness of their 
 surmisings, in which both curiosity and imagination 
 had the widest scope. He was now in Bethany, where 
 he had raised the dead : what could not power such 
 as that effect ? Bartimeus and his companion had fol- 
 lowed him, full of enthusiasm and ready to testify to 
 every one whom they met, what had been done for 
 them : many of those around Christ, had themselves 
 witnessed this wonderful act. The excited company 
 at Bethany was soon increased in consequence of the 
 circulation of this new and stirring rumor in Jerusa- 
 lem itself, and among the throngs already come up to 
 
310 LlFE-SCEXES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 the festival. For, although it "wanted vet four days- 
 to the Passover, large numbers" 5 '' had assembled, some 
 of them from distant lands.t Strangers and citizens 
 were full of excitement : and the feeling respecting 
 Christ, which had been kept hushed through fear of 
 the rulers, and had dared to show itself only in whis- 
 pers, was now beginning to take an outspoken and de- 
 cisive character. " How was this new kingdom to be 
 established ?" — The bitter hostility of the rulers to- 
 wards him w i as well known : their plots for his death 
 were also surmised. His denunciations of the hypocrisy 
 of most of them had been public. " Would vengeance 
 now overwhelm them, and make clear the way for his 
 supremacy V " What would this new kingdom be ?'' 
 — We may well imagine what an excitement such sur- 
 misings would occasion amid a demonstrative people, 
 such as they were ; and, amid it, the contagion of en- 
 thusiasm for the Messiah, was every hour more and 
 more widely spread. 
 
 He had himself sent two of his disciples, early in 
 the morning, to a spot in the neighborhood of Beth- 
 any, where they were to find an ass and her colt tied, 
 which they were to bring to him. The owner, when 
 informed who needed them, gave his immediate con- 
 sent. There was an old prophecy by Zechariah. 
 whose favorite theme had been the coming of the Mes- 
 siah, and whose words were, therefore, greatly, trea- 
 sured by the Jews : i: Rejoice greatly, daughter of 
 Zion ; shout, daughter of Jerusalem : behold thy 
 king cometh unto thee : he is just and having salva- 
 tion ; lowly and sitting upon an ass and upon a colt, 
 the foal of an ass."| Even his triumphs were not to 
 
 * John xii, 12. f lb. verse 20. % ix, ( J 
 
The Triumphal Entry. 311 
 
 contribute to human pride. Kings advancing towards 
 their capitals in triumphal processions, choose all the 
 pomp and circumstauce that can dazzle men's eyes ; 
 and all the glory that earth can afford is put in requisi- 
 tion, amid which the recipient of honors advances with 
 a heart swelling in gratified ambition. What a con- 
 trast here, where even the triumph carried with it its 
 lessons to pride and pomp; where gentleness ruled; 
 and where the emotion most manifest was in tears over 
 approaching human woes. 
 
 The principal road from Jericho through Bethany 
 to Jerusalem has probably, now, exactly the course 
 that it had in those ancient times. The Mount of Ol- 
 ives has three principal elevations, and between the 
 middle and southern of these a footpath crosses, forming 
 a direct but a somewhat steep and difficult way. The 
 caravan road ascends slantingly, and turns over the 
 southern end of the mountain, though still at a consid- 
 erable elevation, and then slants downward by a long, 
 easy descent to the bridge over the Kedron ; whence 
 it passes, by zigzags, up the steep sides of Moriah. 
 This latter road was, doubtless, the one chosen on the 
 present occasion. At its highest point, the city and 
 Mount Moriah burst suddenly upon the view ; and 
 Zion having a slight inclination to the eastward, all 
 the picturesque beauty as well as grandeur of Jerusa- 
 lem is there displayed to the eyes. The slanting de- 
 scent thence to the Kedron, is nearly a mile in length ; 
 and most of it is in full view from any part of Jeru- 
 salem. 
 
 The numbers attending Christ; had multiplied, and 
 as they advanced along the roads towards the city 
 the excitement constantly increased.' Thev had an 
 
312 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 indefinable idea that something extraordinary was 
 to occur ; — the kingdom of heaven immediately to 
 appear ; and the accordance of the present scene 
 with their ancient prophecy, — the unusual manner of 
 the Messiah's approach to the city, — roused their ex- 
 pectations into the strongest enthusiasm. t " Tell ye 
 the daughters of Zion, Behold thy king cometh :" and 
 truly he was there ! His kingdom mistaken, but the 
 mistake adapted only to increase the powerful sensa- 
 tion. The enthusiasm presently broke through all 
 the bounds that had been imposed by the fear of 
 their rulers ; the people from other parts of the 
 country being, indeed, less fettered by this than the 
 residents in Jerusalem. These, as they hurried out 
 in great numbers to meet the procession, gathered 
 up palm branches," such as they were accustomed to 
 wave in their Hallels to Jehovah at the Feast of Taber- 
 nacles ; and. soon the cry arose, both among those 
 preceding and those following the Messiah, "Ho- 
 sanna," (that is, "Save, Lord, we beseech thee,") 
 i; Hosanna in the highest/ 7 " Blessed is the King that 
 cometh in the name of the Lord : peace in heaven 
 and glory in the highest." It was as if the temple 
 service had been transferred to the heights of Olivet, 
 the open mountain serving as God's grandest of sanc- 
 tuaries, with spontaneous worship poured out there 
 from overflowing hearts. Christ's enemies had quickly 
 taken the alarm ; and Pharisees mixing with the 
 crowd, cried out to him, ' ; Master, rebuke thy disci- 
 ples." But, far from disclaiming this worship paid 
 to him as God, he replied, " If they should hold their 
 
 e John xii, 12, 13. 
 
The Triumphal Entry. 313 
 
 peace, the stones would immediately cry out." Their 
 worship received no rebuke. 
 
 This whole scene was in full view from the city, 
 and people there turned or gathered in groups to 
 gaze with extreme wonder at the sight. Fresh mul- 
 titudes were hurrying up the mountain, attracted by 
 the flying rumors : the enthusiasm was contagious, and 
 all were equally joining in the hosannas. " Blessed, 
 is the King that cometh in the name of the Lord," 
 was repeated among the cries : and the throngs were 
 now cutting branches from the trees, and strewing 
 them, as also their garments, in the way* before the 
 Messiah, tokens of honor usually shown to eastern 
 kings in those days.f 
 
 It had become a triumphal procession ; and the 
 shouts of " Hosanna in the highest," " Blessed is the 
 kingdom of our Father David that cometh in the 
 name of the Lord," u Hosanna to the Son of David," 
 
 * Matt, xxi, 8. 
 
 f Tholuck, in loco. The Targum on Esther, x, 15, says, " when. 
 Mordecai went forth from the gate of the king's house, the streets 
 were covered with myrtle and the porches with purple. See also 
 2 Kings ix, 13. 
 
 The following singular incident is from Robinson's Researches, 
 Vol. ii, p. 162: "At that time [just after the rebellion, in 1834, 
 against the Egyptian conscription] when some of the inhabitants 
 [of Bethlehem] were already imprisoned, and all were in deep dis- , 
 tress, Mr. Farran, then English consul at Damascus, was on a visit 
 to Jerusalem, and had ridden out with Mr.Nicolayson to Solomon's 
 pool. On their return, as they rose the ascent to enter Bethle- 
 • hem, hundreds of the people, male and female, met them, implod- 
 ing the consul to interfere in their behalf, and afford them his pro- 
 tection; and all at once, by a sort of simultaneous movement, 
 they ' spread their garments in the way ' before the horses. The 
 consul was affected to tears, but har 1 , of course, no power to inter- 
 fere." 
 
 14 
 
311 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 u Save, Lord, we beseech thee," floated over Moriah 
 and over Zion ; — a worship, the spontaneity and 
 heartiness of which were manifest to every one who 
 heard. 
 
 — But suddenly the noises ceased ; and all turned 
 to look in new wonder at him, who was the centre 
 and the object of the demonstration. 
 
 He was weeping. 
 
 Had they been Pharisees and scribes around him, 
 using taunts and threatenings, he could have met 
 their insults with unruffled feelings ; but these re- 
 joicings of friends and these strong demonstrations 
 of affection melted his heart into tenderness, as he 
 thought of the doom gathering over the city there 
 spread out, and so fair to look upon : and which 
 would soon leave scarcely a vestige behind ; its 
 people, and the hundreds of thousands who gathered 
 there from all countries, after indescribable suffer- 
 ings, massacred, or tortured to death, or carried into 
 slavery in distant lands. His prescient eye saw the 
 Eoman legions encircling the place ; saw the rush 
 of combatants ; his ear heard the shouts of rage or 
 despair ; he saw dying and dead covering mountain- 
 sides and valleys, after the fierce sorties. He saw 
 the Roman lines of circumvallation ; and the sicken- 
 . ing scenes within them, throughout the city, as fam- 
 ine did its horrible work, till even a mother could 
 feed on her own child ; saw the madness of sectaries 
 among the people, till Jew was murdering Jew, and 
 the streets were running with blood, and were cover- 
 ed with corpses in the fratricidal combats : — saw, 
 finally, the assault, the last struggles of the people, 
 not for life, but in the madness of death, as the for- 
 
The Triumphal Entry. 315 
 
 eign hordes filled the streets and houses ; saw the 
 temple on fire, and people throwing themselves by 
 hundreds from its battlements to the great depths be- 
 low, resistance over — only death now left. 
 
 He was weeping — and the crowds so lately filling 
 the air with their joyful cries and their hymns of ho- 
 sannas, stood now silent, looking on with curiosity 
 and wonder. He said : 
 
 " If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy 
 day, the things which belong to thy peace ! but now 
 they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall 
 come upon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench 
 about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in 
 on every side. And shall lay thee even with the ground 
 and thy children within thee ; and they shall not 
 leave one stone upon another ; because thou know est 
 not the times of thy visitation." 
 
 'They heard him with very deep sadness ; but their 
 reverence and demonstrations of affection were una- 
 bated, as the procession moved on, and so continued 
 down the mountain, and across the Kedron, and as 
 they ascended by the eastern gate into the corridors 
 of the temple. 
 
 The whole city was, by this time, in a state of ex- 
 citement ; and people were hurrying about with in- 
 quiries, what it meant ? When they found, at last 
 that the noises,' — 'the hosannas, and exclamations were 
 ascending now from the temple courts, thither streamed 
 the vast city population, — Pharisees, Scribes, Rabbis, 
 the common multitudes, — all in confusion hastening 
 there with the hurried question : 
 
 11 Who is this ?" The crowds there answered : 
 
316 Life-scenes from the Fouif Gospels. 
 
 " This is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee."* 
 Immediately some left the crowd, hurrying back to 
 their homes. In those homes and alone: the streets 
 were the decrepid, the diseased, and the blind : and 
 friends hastened now to them, with the thrilling in- 
 telligence that Jesus, with his miraculous healing pow- 
 ers, was in the temple. What news to them ! With 
 outstretched arms, and appealing voices, they begged 
 to be carried or led : and, very soon, the throngs about 
 Christ were pushed asunder by eager men forcing 
 openings amongst their dense masses, carrying the dis- 
 eased, or by blind men, with objurgations and entreat- 
 ies in the same breath, making their eager way, disre- 
 gardful alike of priest, or Eabbi, or commoner ; only 
 one thought filling their whole soul — that wild, strange 
 hope that they might receive sight and be cured ; — 
 their hope forcing every thing aside, so that they might 
 be quickly before Christ. 
 
 The throngs yielded readily, when they saw the 
 cause ; for the expectation of witnessing miracles, be- 
 came immediately as intense almost as was the hope 
 of the infirm themselves. The lame were before him : 
 they were healed. The blind pressed into his pres- 
 ence, and stood there for a moment or two, with 
 faces showing the wrought-up feelings within, and 
 with their sightless eye-balls so drearily blank and 
 sadly disfiguring. But only for a moment : for, at 
 the word from Christ, those eye-balls changed ; a 
 perceptive power had shot in them : the intensely 
 earnest and entreating countenance was suddenly 
 brightened with an expression of wildness of delight ; 
 the spectators saw how perfect the cure was ; and all 
 
 * Matt, xxi, 10, 11. 
 
The Triumphal Entry. 317 
 
 mingled with the joyful cry of the relieved men, their 
 shouts of praises and of glorifying God. No wonder 
 that there rang through all those courts of the tem- 
 ple, such spontaneous, heartfelt strains of thanksgiving 
 as had never been heard there before ; and could have 
 never been known in the formal hymns and ceremonies 
 of the priests. No wonder that the hosannas rose up 
 louder and louder, shout after shout, as new and still 
 more extraordinary cases of curing occurred ; and 
 that the children who had crowded there with the 
 rest, and are always, in their warm, fresh hearts, 
 quick in sympathies with sorrow and joy, and quick 
 for open demonstrations, joined readily in the cry, 
 
 " Hosanna to the Son of David : Hosanna to the 
 Son of David," which was repeated everywhere, in 
 the courts. 
 
 But there were also intensely angry faces among 
 the crowds ; and presently men rushed up to the 
 Messiah, — chief-priests and scribes they were, — with 
 the exclamation : 
 
 " Hearest thou what they say ?" 
 
 Indeed the cry, " Hosanna to the Son of David," 
 was a full acknowledgment of his Messiahship ; and 
 unchecked as it was by him, it filled up the measure 
 of these men's indignation and rage. They had wit- 
 nessed the miracles just performed ; but sympathy 
 with distress was extinguished by malice, and by see- 
 ing how the crowds were carried away by his merci- 
 ful deeds. They gnashed their teeth at the hosannas 
 so broadly expressive, and broke in with the inquiry 
 above : 
 
 " Hearest thou what they say ?"* 
 * Matt, xxi, 15, 16. 
 
31S Life scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 " Yea : have ye never read. Out of the mouths of 
 babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise ?*'•• 
 
 It vras a favorite method with the Messiah to parry 
 their malicious assaults with some question which 
 they could not answer, or which threw them into con- 
 fusion, in which they lost their power to hurt. 
 
 The Pharisees said anions: themselves, as thcv retir- 
 ed, discomfited from the scene, 
 
 " Perceive ye that ye prevail nothing ? Behold 
 the world is gone after hini/'f 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIT. 
 
 AT THE TEMPLE. — WOES DENOUNCED. 
 
 The Messiah returned that evening to the quiet of 
 Bethany, leaving behind him. however, in Jerusalem, 
 an agitated people, full of emotions of various kinds. 
 The hosannas, long after night had spread its silence 
 over the city, seemed to the rulers to be still ringing 
 in their ears ; and the scenes on the side of Olivet, 
 and in the temple. — the outburst of enthusiasm among 
 the populace — the miraculous cures and consequent 
 rejoicings were still haunting them, long after they 
 had retired to their homes. 
 
 Their chagrin was not allayed the next morning 
 
 by rumors oC fresh occurrences ; namely, that Christ 
 
 was again in the temple, and was a second time 
 
 cleansing it of the abominations, which, notwithstand- 
 
 ° Ps. viii, 2. j John xii, 19. 
 
At the .Temple. — "Woes Denounced. 319 
 
 ing liis former driving out of the Colbonists and the 
 sellers of oxen and birds, had been renewed in the 
 temple courts. " It is written," he said, " My house 
 is the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of 
 thieves." Many of the people had suffered from the 
 haughtiness and extortions of the Colbonists ; and 
 were glad now to see severity used upon them, and 
 the convictions of all were with him, as regarded the 
 desecration of the temple, where chaffering was tak- 
 ing the place of prayer, where the lowing of cattle 
 was mingled with the sounds of people's devotions, 
 and the spirit engendered was that of greedy trade. 
 
 When the place had been cleansed and order re- 
 stored, the Messiah proceeded to teach in the clois- 
 ters ; the multitudes still retaining the enthusiasm of 
 the previous day, and listening with the deepest ear- 
 nestness to his doctrines. But, mingling with them, 
 were men bent on his destruction, provoked to still 
 greater wrath by the events of the morning, and by 
 seeing how, in every act, whether of gentleness and 
 healing, or of force, he was carrying with him, and 
 from these rulers, the affections of the people. They 
 " feared him because all the people were astonished 
 at his doctrine."* In the evening he returned again 
 to Bethany. 
 
 On the next day he came again to the temple, and 
 recommenced his teaching, when the chief priests, and 
 elders, irritated beyond endurance, made an effort to 
 overpower him by an official demand respecting his 
 power to teach. 
 
 " By what authority doest thou these things ? and 
 who gave thee this authority ?" 
 
 o Mark xi. 15-18. 
 
320 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 Their object was, doubtless, to bring him into dis- 
 credit with the people by making it evident that he 
 had received no scholastic training* and had no di- 
 ploma from the Rabbis : but it was defeated in a very 
 simple manner. Indeed, the simplicity of means by 
 which, often, their chicanery was foiled, is one of the 
 most striking things in his encounters with these men. 
 He said : 
 
 " I will also ask you one thing ; and answer me. 
 The baptism of John, was it from heaven or of man ?" 
 — They saw the drift of the question, and hesitated. 
 If they should say from heaven, he would ask, why 
 then do ye not believe him? " If of earth" — so they- 
 murmured to each other, — " then the people will stone 
 us : for they be persuaded that John was a prophet." 
 They answered : 
 
 " We cannot tell." 
 
 ct Neither will I tell you by what authority I do 
 these things."* 
 
 He spoke now in parables ;f and the closing part of 
 one of these must have startled that assembly, and put 
 in jeopardy even the attachment of the people listening 
 so attentively to every word. He often thus startled 
 his friends by the utterance of loud and daring truths. 
 The words now referred to were, " Therefore say I 
 unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from 
 you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits 
 thereof." 
 
 The Pharisees knew that the application was par- 
 ticularly to themselves, and gnashed their teeth with 
 impotent rage ; their wish to lay hands on him being 
 
 o Mark xi, 27-33. 
 
 f See Matt, xxi, 28-32 and 33-43; xxii, 1-14. 
 
At the Temple. — Woes Denounced. 321 
 
 restricted by a fear of the multitude, who, though 
 startled, still adhered to him as a* prophet. 
 
 But the malice of these leaders could not be sub- 
 dued. They had determined on his destruction, and 
 were consulting " that they might put Lazarus also 
 to death ; because by reason of him many of the Jews 
 went away and believed on Jesus. "* They glared 
 like chained ravenous beasts on this scene, where the 
 crowds were hanging with rapt attention on the words 
 of Christ : and, presently, having failed in the attempt 
 to bring him into disrepute by questioning his au- 
 thority to teach, they tried a new device in which 
 they hoped to entangle him in his speech Uniting 
 again in a strange fellowship with their opponents, 
 the Herodians, they sent some of their disciples with 
 the latter ; and both having made their way up to 
 the Messiah, they began in a suspiciously-compli- 
 mentary address : 
 
 " Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest 
 the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any 
 man ; for thou regardest not the persons of men. 
 Tell us, therefore, what thinkest thou ? Is it lawful 
 to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?" 
 
 If he should answer in the negative, the Herodians 
 were there to accuse him of hostile feeling towards 
 the Roman government ; if in the affirmative, he 
 must excite the hostility of the Jews, to whom the 
 tribute was hateful in its nature, and burdensome 
 from its excess. 
 
 He saw their cunning, and the wickedness in their 
 apparent compliment that he cared for no man, nor 
 regarded the persons of men. 
 
 o Johnxii, 10, 11. 
 
322 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 " Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites ? Show me the 
 tribute money.''' 
 
 A penny (a Roman denarius) was brought. 
 
 " Whose is this image and superscription ?" They, 
 told him it was Cassar's. 
 
 u Render unto Cassar the things which are Caasar's ; 
 and unto God the things that are God's.' 7 
 
 They gained nothing from this attempt ; and 
 another was now made by the Sadducees, unbelievers 
 in any future state. They came to him propounding 
 a certain case, intended to perplex any opponent to 
 their doctrine ; and they were answered : and then 
 came a lawyer, " tempting him :" 
 
 " Master, which is the great commandment in the 
 law ?" He answered : 
 
 " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 
 heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 
 This is the first and great commandment. And the 
 second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor 
 as thyself. On these two commandments hang all 
 the law and the prophets." 
 
 He himself became interrogator now. 
 
 " What think ye of Christ ? Whose son is he ?" 
 
 The Pharisees answered, " The son of David ;" and 
 some questions on this subject finished the colloquy, 
 and the public efforts of his enemies on this day. 
 
 — But it did not finish the excitingscenes in those 
 temple courts. It was a mixed assemblage there ; 
 the rulers, Scribes and Pharisees ; the disciples ; the 
 •vast multitude, which had been increasing every day, 
 at Jerusalem, for the Passover, and which had gather- 
 ed up here to hear the words of this Wonderful Per. 
 son. Ho turned now to these last and to his*disciples, 
 
At the Temple. --Woes Denounced. 323 
 
 and cautioned them against the Scribes and Phari- 
 sees, showing how their precepts were belied by their 
 conduct ; and denouncing their hypocrisy and vain- 
 gloriousness, their impositions on the people, and 
 their assumptions. Of persons wishing to be his own 
 followers, he said, 
 
 " But he that is greatest among you shall be your 
 servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be 
 abased : and he that humblcth himself shall be ex- 
 alted/' 
 
 He turned then to the Scribes and Pharisees them- 
 selves. His words just spoken had excited the aston" 
 ishment of the multitudes ; for they were not accus- 
 tomed to hear their religionists spoken of publicly in 
 this bold, denunciatory style ; and the leaders them- 
 selves had winced repeatedly, as, with many a scowl- 
 ing look and many a vow of vengeance, they had 
 listened to what they dared not dispute with one 
 who seemed to penetrate their hearts, and who knew 
 their lives so well. They saw, also, the looks of the 
 people, even through the marks of astonishment, 
 approving and assenting to what he said ; and wit- 
 nessed, with horrified forebodings, the enthusiasm he 
 was lighting up in the hearts of the multitudes, who 
 were evidently fast sliding away from the Pharisaic 
 rule. But there was little time for their observation 
 of others ; for he turned now directly to themselves ; 
 and their blood curdled and boiled with rage, at 
 words which now fell on their ears. 
 
 " Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! 
 for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men ; 
 for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them 
 that are entering to go in. 
 
324 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels.. 
 
 " Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! 
 for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence 
 make long prayers : therefore ye shall receive the 
 greater damnation. 
 
 " Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! 
 for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte : 
 and when he is made, ye make him tenfold more the 
 child of hell than yourselves. 
 
 " Woe unto you, ye blind guides, who say, Whoso- 
 ever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing ; lut 
 whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he 
 is a debtor. Ye fools and blind. * * * * 
 
 *•' Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! 
 for ye pay tithes of anise and cummin, and have omit- 
 ted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, 
 and faith : these ought ye to have done, and not to 
 have left the others undone. Ye blind guides, which 
 strain at a gnat,* and swallow a camel." 
 
 l; Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! 
 for ye make clean the outside of the cup and platter, 
 but within ye are full of extortion and excess. * * 
 
 " Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! 
 for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed 
 appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead 
 men's bones and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also 
 outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye 
 are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. 
 
 " Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! 
 because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and gar- 
 nish the sepulchres of the righteous. * * * Where- 
 
 ° In a former page it was noticed that they strained the water 
 for drinking, lest they might inadvertently swallow unclean ani- 
 mals : the camel was also an unclean animal. 
 
At the Temple.— Woes Denounced. 325 
 
 fore be ye witness unto yourselves, that ye are the 
 children of them that killed the prophets. 
 
 " Fill ye up, then, the measure of your forefathers. 
 
 * Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye 
 escape the damnation of hell ?"* * * * 
 
 It was terrible ; and the people stood with silent 
 astonishment, and with awe, wondering to hear de- 
 nunciations poured out, in this burning, lava-like 
 stream, on the sanctimonious-looking men lately so 
 lordly and pretensious, now standing mute in self-con- 
 viction or in rage. It must have been a strange 
 thing, too, to see those features of Christ, usually 
 marked with such gentleness, mingled with grandeur, 
 now worked up into an expression awful in its power, 
 as if the terribleness of the final judgment-seat were 
 here being anticipated and exhibited on Moriah's 
 temple heights. They gazed with wonder on that 
 face, lighted up as they had never seen it before ; 
 they trembled at words so terrible ; — the more terri- 
 ble because the multitudes felt their justice upon men 
 whom their better feelings had long taught them to 
 doubt, though fear had kept them in restraint. There 
 was a mighty eloquence in the words, a mightier force 
 in the oratory itself, and a horror of doom in the 
 terrible climax, that held the people in breathless 
 wonder, and filled them with awe. If to any one 
 now the words seem to be too terrible, we must re- 
 member that these were men who, wicked at heart, 
 were making the highest claims for sanctity, and 
 were exercising the largest power over the nation ; 
 giving tone to society, and. character to the country, 
 in the eyes of people, both at home and abroad. 
 
 « Matt, xxiii, 13-33. 
 
326 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 They were, above all, the conservators of that myste- 
 rious, terrible, unwritten law, which might be moulded 
 into any form ; and, in every form, was claiming a 
 power greater than God's own Word. The use it could 
 be put to he shows in this address ; but, doubtless, we 
 have exhibited to us only a small portion of the abuses 
 of which it was the origin. The people had always 
 succumbed to these men : it was fit that the nation 
 should be aroused, as if by a peal of thunder, and, if 
 it were yet possible, should be disenthralled. 
 
 But, presently, the language changed. The speaker 
 turned from the woes to a rapid sketch of the mur- 
 derous persecutions these men would soon instigate 
 and carry out, on " prophets, and wise men, and 
 scribes," coming after him ; and to notice the terrific 
 visitations gathering over the city, in consequence of 
 their iuiquitous rule ; and then he broke out in that 
 lamentation over Jerusalem, to which, for pathetic 
 force of language, there is not an equal anywhere in 
 history. 
 
 " O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the 
 prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee, 
 how often would I have gathered thy children to- 
 gether, even as a hen gather eth her chickens under 
 her wings, and ye would not ! Behold your house is 
 left unto you desolate. For J say unto you, Ye shall not 
 see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that 
 cometh in the name of the Lord.' 7 * 
 
 Doubtless it was this lament, which, when these ex- 
 citing scenes were all over, and he was preparing, to- 
 wards evening, to leave the courts, led the disciples to 
 *i Matt, xxiii, 1-39. 
 
At the Temple.— Woes Denounced. 327 
 
 say, as they pointed to the temple, its " goodly stones 
 and gifts/' 
 
 " Master, see what manner of stones and what build- 
 ings!" 
 
 They thought, perhaps, that the sacredness of the 
 spot, and the costliness of the work and offerings, a 
 hearty tribute of the nation to God, might produce an 
 exception to the foretold doom : but there was to be 
 none. 
 
 " Seest thou these great buildings !'! he answered ; 
 "there 'shall not be one stone left upon another, that 
 shall not be thrown down."* 
 
 — A quiet evening, after so exciting a day, fell on 
 the Messiah and his disciples as they were ascending 
 Olivet on their way to Bethany once more : the last 
 night — it was to be — which the Master was to spend 
 in that house of kind and hospitable friends . 
 
 On the top of the mountain he sat down, for a 
 while, by the road-side, over against the temple,t and 
 against all that fair scene, of city and country below : 
 temple, palaces, battlements, towers, and the great 
 hives of human habitations, all distinctly in sight. 
 The smoke of the evening sacrifices was ascending 
 up. ; the evening sounds of a large city (the sounds 
 never noisy, as with us — no rattling of carriages — 
 but more gentle,) filled the air ; it was such a quiet, 
 and calm, and fair scene, that it might seem as if to 
 last forever ; so little there appeared outwardly to 
 court danger,' and so much in it all of mild enjoyment 
 and repose. 
 
 But within the walls there were fierce and hellish 
 passions at work in the hearts of rulers ; and secret- 
 
 « Mark xiii, 1,2. f Mark xiii, 3. 
 
328 LlFE-SCEXES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 ly. and with silent steps the ruin of Jerusalem was 
 now drawing near. 
 
 As the Messiah sat there by the roadside gazing 
 down, with eyes in which such anticipations might 
 be read, the disciples came to him, and said privately, 
 
 " Master, but when shall these things be ? and 
 what sign will there be when these things shall come 
 to pass ?" He replied, 
 
 " Take heed, that ye be not deceived ;"* and he 
 gave them signs by which they might know of the 
 approach of the final catastrophe to Jerusalem ;t by 
 observing which afterwards, it was doubtless, that so 
 many of the Christians, taking refuge in other cities, 
 were then saved. But the scene which he sketched, 
 there, to the disciples, of their own future, must have 
 been appalling, even with the dimness of comprehen- 
 sion, and the mistakes which still affected their minds. 
 He said, 
 
 " They shall deliver you up to councils ; and in the 
 synagogues ye shall be beaten ; and ye shall be 
 brought before rulers and kings for a testimony 
 against them. "J " They shall lay their hands on 
 you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the syna- 
 gogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings 
 and rulers for my name's sake." " Ye shall be be- 
 trayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, 
 and friends, and some of you shall they cause to be 
 put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for 
 my name's sake. But there shall not a hair of your 
 head perish. In patieuce possess ye your souls. v § 
 
 He promised them supernatural help, which at that 
 
 * Luke xxi, 7. f Matt, xviv, 15-28 ; Luke xxi,20-37. 
 
 % Mark xiii, 9. § Luke xxi, 12-19. 
 
At the Temple.— Woes Denounced. 329 
 
 time., could be but imperfectly understood by them ; 
 but he called them to meet dangers, of which they did 
 have a clear comprehension : — the hatred of all men, 
 betrayals, insults, violent death. 
 
 The world has never yet appreciated the heroism 
 of Christianity, perhaps never will appreciate it. 
 The milder qualities of that religion, — gentleness, 
 peacefulness, and other traits — meekness and for- 
 giveness of injuries — considered mean-spirited by the 
 world, — are so much oftener dwelt upon in men's 
 minds with sensations of shrinking from them, that 
 the great, noble heroism of Christianity is unappre- 
 ciated. This itself is also not an impressive heroism 
 except on peculiar and rare occasions ; for its acts 
 lie in in self-conquest deep in our hearts ; in a fixedness 
 of endurance which insults cannot shake ; and in a 
 preparedness for death itself, in the Master's cause, 
 if that should be required. Persecutions to this last 
 extent do not often occur now ; but the heroism to 
 meet them must be received into every man's heart, 
 before he can be a Christian in truth. The Master 
 led the way in this, knowing all the horror, and feel- 
 ing it : yet meeting it still. He called his disciples 
 to it, here, on the mountain-side, not disguising any 
 part, but showing clearly what they had to meet ; he 
 requires it of his followers now ; — the highest and 
 noblest feeling in man, courage unto death for a princi- 
 ple and through love. Such is Christianity if received 
 into our soul ; such in its incipiency, in its constant 
 staying there — and to the last gasp of our life. 
 
330 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 THE PLOT. 
 
 "While the concluding events of the last chapter 
 were occurring, the Sanhedrim were in session in the 
 house of Caiaphas, the high priest, with the determined 
 purpose to take Jesus by subtilty and to kill him ;* 
 and the seizure, in order to be successful, they believed 
 must be effected by night ; not by day. For the pop- 
 ularity of the Messiah among the multitudes was now 
 so great that an open, public attempt would only re- 
 coil upon themselves. 
 
 They believed that it was .necessary now, for some- 
 thing decisive to be done, and that their action must 
 be prompt. The scenes that day in the temple 
 showed that there could be no circumventing him, or 
 bearing him down by their weight of authority, and 
 that, by no cunning could he be made to commit him- 
 self in the eyes of the government or of the people. 
 In all such plots they had met with worse than defeat. 
 And the closing scenes at the temple, the warnings 
 against them, and those woes had stung them into a 
 rage which demanded only one result. 
 
 But even among themselves, there were, now", men 
 secretly favoring Christ ; kept from avowing it, 
 through fear of their compeers, and of the decree that 
 any one acknowledging him should be excommunicated. 
 " They loved the praises of men more than the praise 
 of God :"f and perhaps no better example of the 
 « Matt xx vi, 3-5. f John xii, 42, 43. 
 
The Plot. 331 
 
 crushing weight of the Pharisaic power could be given 
 than this awe felt by part of the rulers themselves, 
 sealing the mouth and preventing any outward dem- 
 onstration, although in their secret conscience believ- 
 ing in Christ. We are soon to have, in events to be 
 detailed, an exemplification of the subtilty and unscru- 
 pulousness of the Sanhedrim, in their ready violation 
 of all their own laws and usages, and of the political 
 pretensions of their whole lives. 
 
 They met, this time, for the sake of secrecy, not in 
 their chamber at the temple, but in the house of Caia- 
 phas ; and there they laid their plans. 
 
 There were several very serious difficulties in their 
 way. In the first place they had not the power to put 
 any man to death. Three years previously, the Roman 
 government had taken this privilege from the Sanhe- 
 drim : and, although, not long after the crucifixion, 
 Stephen was stoned to death just outside of Jerusalem 
 without authority from the governor, it was done by 
 a sudden rush, and an irregular act of violence, not 
 by formal vote of the Sanhedrim, although doubtless 
 they were pleased with the act. In the case of so 
 great a personage, and so beloved by the people, as 
 the Messiah, any such deed could not be attempted ; 
 especially at the Passover, when the governor himself 
 was at Jerusalem. 
 
 In addition to this, " the whole criminal proceed- 
 ing prescribed in the Pentateuch rests upon three prin- 
 ciples, which maybe thus expressed : publicity of the 
 trial ; entire liberty of defence allowed to the accused, 
 and a guaranty against the dangers of testimony. One 
 witness was not sufficient."* The Hebrew lawyers, in 
 * Olshausen. 
 
332 Life-scenes From the Four Gospels. 
 
 relation to cases where life was at stake, maintained 
 that, " A tribunal which condemns to death once in sev- 
 en years may be called sanguinary." " It deserves this 
 appellation/' said Dr. Sliezur, " when it pronounces 
 like sentence in seventy years :"* moreover, according 
 to the Talmudists, it was not lawful to try causes of a j 
 capital nature in the night, and it was equally unlaw- 
 ful to examine a cause, pass sentence and put it in ex- 
 ecution the same day. The last was very strenuously 
 insisted on.f The proper and constant time for the 
 sitting of the Sanhedrim was from the end of the morn- 
 ing service to the beginning of the evening service ; 
 sometimes the sessions were prolonged till night, and 
 then they might determine what they had been delib- 
 erating by day : but they might not begin any new 
 business by night. J 
 
 The forms of trial, also, allowed to the accused 
 every opportunity for defence ; and placed the great- 
 est restrictions upon judges against haste in action: 
 Says an eminent French advocate who has written on 
 this subject : 
 
 u On the day of trial, the executive officer of justice 
 caused the accused person to make his appearance. 
 At the feet of the elders were placed men who, under 
 the name of auditors or candidates, followed regularly 
 the sittings of the council. The papers in the case 
 were read, and the witnesses called in succession. 
 The President addressed this exhortation to each 
 of them : 'It is not conjectures, or whatever pub- 
 lic rumor has brought to thee, that we ask of thee : 
 that we are not occupied by an affair, like a case of 
 
 - Olshausen. f Jahn's Arch. 
 
 JLightfjot — Courts of the Temple: 
 
The Plot. 333 
 
 pecuniary interest, in which the injury may be re- 
 paired. If thou causest the condemnation of a person 
 unjustly accused, his blood, and the blood of all the 
 posterity of him, of whom thou wilt have deprived 
 the earth, will fall upon thee : God will demand of 
 thee an account, as he demanded of Cain an account 
 of the blood of Abel. Speak.' * * * The wit- 
 nesses were to attest to the identity of the party, and 
 to depose to the month, day, hour and circumstances 
 of the crime. After an examination of the proofs, 
 those judges who believed the party innocent stated 
 their reasons : those who believed him guilty spoke 
 afterwards, and with the greatest moderation. If one 
 of the auditors or candidites was entrusted by the ac- 
 cused with his defence ; or if he wished, in his own 
 name, to present any elucidations in favor of inno- 
 cence, he was admitted to the seat, from which he 
 addressed the judges and the people. But this liberty 
 was not granted to him if his opinion was in favor of 
 condemning. Lastly ; when the accused person him- 
 self wished to speak, they gave most profound atten- 
 tion. When the discussion was finished, one of the 
 judges recapitulated the case. They removed all the 
 spectators ; two scribes took down the votes of the 
 judges ; one of them noted those that were in favor 
 of the accused, and the other those who condemned 
 him. Eleven votes out of twenty- three were sufficient 
 to acquit ; but it required thirteen to convict. * * 
 If a majority of the votes acquitted, the accused 
 was discharged instantly ; if he was to be punished, 
 the judges postponed pronouncing sentence till the 
 third day : during the intermediate day, they could 
 not be occupied with anything but the cause ; and 
 
334= Life-scenes fpom the Four Gospels. 
 
 they abstained from eating freely, and from wine, 
 liquors, and everything which might render their 
 minds less capable of reflection. 
 
 " On the morning of the third day they returned to 
 the judgment-seat. Each judge who had not changed 
 his opinion said, I continue of the same opinion and 
 condemn. Any one who at first condemned might at 
 this sitting acquit ; but he who had once acquitted 
 was not allowed to condemn. If a majority con- 
 demned, two magistrates immediately accompanied 
 the condemned person to the place of punishment. 
 The Elders did not descend from their seats ; they 
 placed at the entrance of the judgment-hall an officer 
 of justice, with a small flag in his hand ; a second 
 officer, on horseback, followed the prisoner, and con- 
 stantly kept looking back to the place of departure. 
 During this interval, if any person came to announce 
 to the Elders any new evidence favorable to the pri- 
 soner, the first officer waved his flag, and the second 
 one, as soon as he perceived it, brought back the 
 prisoner. If the prisoner declared to the magistrates 
 that he recollected some reasons which had escaped 
 him, they brought him before the judges no less than 
 five times. If no incident occurred, the procession 
 advanced slowly, preceded by a herald, .who, in a 
 loud voice, addressed the people thus : ' This man 
 (stating his name and surname) is led to punishment 
 for such a crime ; the witnesses who have sworn 
 against him are such and such persons : if any one 
 has evidence to give in his favor, let him come forth 
 quickly. 7 "* 
 
 q " Trial of Jesus," by Dupin, Advocate and Doctor of Laws. 
 Translated from the French by J. Pickering, LL.D. 
 
The Plot. 335 
 
 Such were the restrictions which the chief priests 
 and scribes and elders — chiefly Pharisees — felt upon 
 themselves in their deliberations " to take Jesus by 
 subtilty and kill him ;" but they had now determined, 
 in order to accomplish their purpose, to disregard all 
 restrictions of usages and law. If they could seize 
 him by night, — well into the night, — when the multi- 
 tudes would be asleep, they might avoid an uproar 
 among the people : if they could, by a night conclave, 
 establish charges against him and condemn him, he 
 would then, when the people would awake in the morn- 
 ing, be in an attitude of an already convicted crimi- 
 nal ; and the multitudes would be stupefied, or at least 
 kept in a state of wonder, and thus in check : more- 
 over, if they could condemn him on a charge of blas- 
 phemy, the most hideous of all charges in the eyes of 
 the Jewish nation, the people not knowing how the 
 trial had been conducted, but only of the condemna- 
 tion under it, might be led, by a sudden revulsion of 
 feeling, from favor to the opposite extreme of hatred, 
 and might join in the condemnation themselves. The 
 rulers might also work on the intense popular feel- 
 ing of pride in their temple, by charging him with a 
 wish to destroy that temple ; and could enter this 
 also in their condemnation. Then there would be 
 but another step to be taken ; and the way for that 
 would now be prepared. The Sanhedrim could not 
 order an execution ; but, they might, on the charge 
 of treason against the Eoman government, induce 
 the governor to give such an order : and this ruler 
 was now in Jerusalem, ready to their hand. His 
 residence was at Csesarea ; but he was always in this 
 city on the great festivals, for the double purpose of 
 
336 Life scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 guarding against insurrections, and of holding court 
 for the trial of great criminals ; the inferior one be- 
 ing left to the Jewish elders themselves. The Sanhe- 
 drim wanted, in this case, to have a punishment in- 
 flicted that would not only gratify their revenge, but 
 would stamp the sufferer with infamy, and annihilate 
 respect and hope in his adherents ; and this could 
 be brought about most readily by charging Christ 
 with attempting to put down the Roman authority, 
 and to elevate himself, as king, instead ; a crime 
 sure to bring on him the severest punishment that the 
 Roman power could inflict. If the governor would 
 not listen to this charge, they might then take one 
 step further, and one pretty sure to be successful, by 
 insinuating that charges against his own loyalty could 
 be sent on to Rome, and be laid at the feet of Tibe- 
 rias, whose keen jealousy and unscrupulous despotism 
 were fully known to all. 
 
 Such was clearly their arranged plan : for it is evi- 
 dent that, through the whole trial, they proceeded ac- 
 cording to a settled scheme of action ; and the sub- 
 orned witnesses, previously prepared, knew, when 
 brought forward, exactly what to say. 
 
 The meetings of the Sanhedrim were properly in 
 their own room by the temple ; but in cases of emer- 
 gency, they might be held in the palace of the high 
 priest ; and this was to be now their place of consul- 
 tation, as there it would have less publicity than up 
 in the temple courts. 
 
 We have seen on a former occasion the kind of 
 men, of which their law required the Sanhedrim' to 
 lie composed. The high priest was president; and 
 in order that the reader may have some knowledge of 
 
The Plot. 337 
 
 the High Priests and their title to respectability in 
 the Jewish nation, the subjoined list from Lightfoot 
 is furnished, beginning with the 23d from the Baby- 
 lonish captivity ; we will remember here what the 
 Jewish writer, Jost, says on a former page, " that 
 a priesthood, which the king [Herod] conferred on 
 whom he pleased, and of whose incumbents he had 
 killed two and deposed four, &c, could by no means 
 satisfy the requisitions of God's government, and of 
 the Judaism resulting- from it. — The list is as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 23. Hyrcanus ; his mother, Alexandra, an ambitious woman and 
 the equally ambitious Pharisees, rule the nation. 
 
 24. Aristobulus, younger brother of Hyrcanus, after the death 
 of their mother, makes war upon his brother, drives him 
 from his kingdom to a private life, and takes both his priest- 
 hood and his kingdom to himself. They both desire help 
 from the Eomans, Scaurus and Pompey : Aristobulus, pro- 
 voking Pompey, causes the sacking of Jerusalem and the 
 subjugation of the Jews to the Eoman yoke, from under which 
 they were never relieved. Pompey restores the high-priest- 
 hood to Hyrcanus and carries Aristobulus and his son An- 
 tigonus to Rome. 
 
 25. Alexander, son of Aristobulus, escaping from Pompey on 
 the way to Eome, is made high-priest ; tries to subvert the 
 government, and his effort is twice suppressed by the Roman 
 Gabinius. 
 
 26. Antigonus, son of Aristobulus, escapes from Rome, and gets 
 the high-priesthood. Hyrcanus (23d high-priest,) delivered 
 into his hands by the Parthians, kneels before Antigonus, 
 who bites off his uncle's ears, so that the latter might no longer 
 aspire to the high-priesthood* Antigonus is taken by An- 
 tony, whipped, crucified, and decapitated* 
 
 27. Ananelus, an inferior priest, sent for out of Babylon, is 
 made high-priest by Herod. Alexandra, daughter of Bjrca- 
 
 • Jos. Bel. i, 1.3, § 9. 
 15 
 
338 Life-scenes prom the Four Gospels. 
 
 nus, combining with Mariam, Herod's wife, had him depos- 
 ed, and caused him to be succeeded by 
 
 28. Aristobulus, fifteen years of age, of rare beauty. After one 
 year's enjoyment of it, he is drowned by Herod's order, and 
 Ananelus (No. 27) is restored. 
 
 29. Jesus son of Ferans. Herod deposes him. 
 
 30. Simon son of Boethus. Herod married his daughter, and 
 made him high-priest. 
 
 31. Matthias, son of Theophilus. Deposed by Herod. 
 
 32. Jozarus, son of Simon (No. 30.) Herod deposes him. 
 
 33. Eleazur ; made high-priest by Archelaus. 
 
 34 Jesus, son of Sie ; gets Eleazur removed, and has his place. 
 
 35. Jozarus (No. 32) again. Was high-priest at the birth of 
 Christ. Eemoved. 
 
 36. Ananus ; made high-priest by Cyrenius. Eemoved. 
 
 37. Ismael ; appointed by Valerius Gratus, governor of Judea. 
 Removed by Gratus at the end of one year.* 
 
 38. Eleazur, son of Ananus ; appointed by Gratus ; held it one 
 year ; removed by the same. 
 
 39. Simon ; appointed by Gratus ; held it one year. 
 
 40. Caiaphas, also called Josephus. He was Gratus' creature 
 also. 
 
 These four changes were made by -Gratus in eleven years. 
 Annas, or Ananus, who had been high-priest, four changes 
 before him, is said to be high-priest with him, (Luke iii, 2.) 
 Caiaphas was [afterwards] removed by Yitellius.f 
 
 "We may thus form an idea of the tribunal plotting 
 the death of the Messiah by subtil iy, and before 
 which he was to appear for judgment — a body of sev- 
 enty men, almost entirely Pharisees — chiefly such 
 characters as he had delineated in his temple address ; 
 some believing on him, but too timid to acknowledge 
 their belief; at their head a high-priest, at a time 
 when that office was .given or taken away at the ca- 
 price of the Roman governor, and was little respect- 
 
 o Jos. Ant. xviii, 2, § 2. f Lightfoot. 
 
The Supper at Bethany. — Judas. 339 
 
 ed ; the Sanhedrim, sufficiently full of hate itself, and 
 stimulated still more by the other Scribes and Phari- 
 sees. The recklessness with which this body trod 
 under foot all former laws and usages and went for- 
 ward to the end, shows the strength of the venom in 
 their hearts. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 THE SUPPER AT BETHANY. — JUDAS. 
 
 The means which the Sanhedrim desired for effect- 
 ing their purposes were speedily found. — There was 
 a traitor among the disciples themselves. 
 
 Events have just been multiplying so fast, that an 
 effort will be necessary, in order to keep them clearly 
 in our minds. We observe that 
 
 The 9th of the Jewish month, Nisan, corresponding 
 to our Saturday, (the Jewish Sabbath,) the Messiah 
 spent at Jericho. 
 
 10th, Sunday. — He came to Bethany. 
 
 11th, Monday. — His public entry into Jerusalem ; 
 returns for the night to Bethany. 
 
 12th, Tuesday. — Comes again to Jericho. Cleanses 
 the temple ; teaches ; returns to Bethany. 
 
 13th, Wednesday. — Again in Jerusalem ; discourses 
 in the temple. The woes denounced. The Sanhe- 
 drim have their consultation and form their plans. 
 * On the evening of this last day, after those denun- 
 
340 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 ciations in the temple, and the quiet scene on Olivet 
 where the disciples, in the anticipation of common 
 danger, drew nearer in heart to their Master than ever 
 before, he and they had proceeded to Bethany, where 
 they were now entertained at supper in the house of 
 Simon the leper, Lazarus being one of the guests at 
 the feast.* Among the Jews, a slight dinner, chiefly 
 of fruits, milk, cheese, &c, was.eaten at eleven o'clock 
 of our time, their principal meal being at six or seven 
 in the evening. Their feasts were always at this latter 
 time. Hands were washed before eating^and the feet 
 of the guests or travellers also sometimes, by ser- 
 vants ; or, where particular honor was intended, by 
 members of the family, t as indeed is done at the pre- 
 sent day. 
 
 The time was one when all the tender sensibilities 
 of Christ's friends were deeply aroused ; for there 
 was, in all of them, a sense of some impending danger 
 to him — probably some fearful calamity ; his own 
 words, the known fierce and cunning wrath of his 
 enemies, and the scenes of the day, all showing that 
 a crisis must be drawing nigh. Those woes hurled 
 so thickly on the rulers, every person knew would not 
 be forgotten : they had never- been so reprobated, ex- 
 posed, andj in effect, defied, before ; and all this, 
 now, by one individual, without resources in govern- 
 mental help or powerful friends. Only a miracle 
 could save him ; and that exercise of power, although 
 within his reach, he had intimated he would not ex- 
 
 c Matt, xxvi, 6 ; John xii, 2. 
 
 f See 1 Saml. xxv, 41 ; Gen. xviii, 4, and xix, 2 ; also " Robin- 
 son's Researches," Vol. iii, p. 25, describing the manner in which 
 the feet of his party were washed at Ramleh. 
 
The Supper at Bethany. — Judas. 341 
 
 ert. He had said that he would submit, and had de- 
 clared that his death, by violence, was near : and the 
 prophet long before had said, that he should be " led 
 as a sheep to the slaughter/' that " the chastisement 
 of our peace was to be upon him," that "with his 
 stripes we should be-healed/ 7 and that the Lord had 
 " laid on him the iniquity of us all.*" He himself 
 knew that it would be his last supper at Bethany 
 among these friends ; for his hour would now soon 
 come. 
 
 While they were at this meal, Mary, the sister of 
 Lazarus, came in, and opening a vessel of very costly 
 perfume, she poured some of it on his head,t and 
 with it also washed his feet, after which she wiped 
 them with the hair of her head ; the scent of the opo- 
 balsam filling all. the house.^ There was a secret 
 indignation among some of the disciples at this waste, 
 when they thought how the money might have been 
 spent among the poor ; but the Messiah said, " Let 
 her alone : the poor ye have always with you ; but 
 me ye have not always : she hath done what she 
 could, and is come to anoint my body to the bury- 
 
 ing."§ 
 
 Judas spake out in his thoughts, " Why was not this 
 ointment sold for 300 pence! (equal to $45 of our 
 money) and given to the poor •" not that he felt un- 
 common sympathy for the poor, but " because he was a 
 thief and had the bag and bore what was put therein."! 
 
 What momentous events seem, at times, to hang on 
 
 *Is.ltii,5, G. f Matt, xxvi, 7. J John xii, 3. § Mark xiv, 4-8. 
 || A penny or Denarius was a day's wages for a laboring man: 
 See Matt, xx, 2. 
 ff John xii, 4-6. 
 
312 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 little things : — seem so to us ; but, in the inscrutable 
 counsels of God, where, and where only, his purposes 
 and our free agency can be reconciled, they do not 
 seem so to depend ; all being fore-known to him.— 
 From this time Judas was a traitor, the worst that the 
 world has ever known. 
 
 When he was first selected to be among the twelve, 
 he was probably a man, in character and disposition, 
 much like the others, but of financial capabilities better 
 than theirs. They were all dark in mind and self- 
 seeking : but still with varieties of dispositions and in- 
 tellect, which, in their peculiar position, became every 
 day more developed and marked. Christ exerted no 
 miraculous power over their wills, but left their affec- 
 tions and wills free to act ; exerting influence by his 
 own great example and teachings before them ;— still 
 leaving them to choose. With Christ himself before 
 him, day by day, for about three years, Judas still 
 chose the wrong. What a wonderful history his would 
 be, if we knew it ; — those transitions from bad to 
 worse and still worse, in his heart ; the struggles 
 there, — for there were doubtless such, early in his 
 case ; the admiration for Christ gradually lessened by 
 base passion rising in him, and taking its place : the 
 affection always weak perhaps, but sometimes lighted 
 up to greater strength, then flickering and dying away, 
 and, at last, dead : and then all the soul's life in him, 
 dead. 
 
 Doubtless, Judas tried, in his own mind, to justify 
 himself; — as what man like* him does not ? — and 
 probably with a result half satisfactory to himself. 
 He might try to consider himself an injured man, led 
 on, for three years, with expectations of great final tri- 
 
The Supper at Bethany. — Judas. 343 
 
 umph and reward ; but thwarted just at the very time 
 when the reward seemed to be within reach. On Mon- 
 day, the multitudes had saluted his Master in terms 
 of reverence and worship. Once before they had en- 
 deavored to put him in the seat of royalty, but he had 
 ^withdrawn himself from them ; now the outburst of 
 enthusiasm had broken through every restraint, and 
 the shouts of their hosannas iia.d rung over Jeru- 
 salem and through the temple cloisters. How easy 
 would it have been for Jesus, sustained by his miracu- 
 lous powers, to have made himself the mighty earthly 
 ruler so long expected and hoped for ; and to have 
 aggrandized and made glorious the whole Jewish 
 nation ! And in refusing this, (the traitor might 
 argue) he had done a wrong to all the Jewish people ; 
 and especially to Judas, who might, in that new king- 
 dom, have grown so wealthy. Worse than that, he 
 had offended all the rulers, and insulted them (still, 
 Judas arguing) with woes heaped on them, and in- 
 sulted the nation by declaring that God was withdraw- 
 ing his favor from it, soon to give it to another peo- 
 ple. — So all hopes of aggrandizement and wealth from 
 this source had perished from the mind of Judas, who 
 had hoped to be treasurer in that great earthly king- 
 dom which all were expecting to see established. 
 
 One other bitter ingredient had just been put into 
 that cup, where every drop seemed to him now to be 
 turning into gall. It was when the Messiah, on their 
 way from Jerusalem, had told his disciples that they 
 should be, everywhere^ persecuted, betrayed by fath- 
 er and brother ; should be hated, and some of them 
 put to death. He had spoken of the Comforter that 
 should be with them, and of their inward peace, and 
 
344 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 their final rewards in heaven : but an avaricious man 
 
 could see nothing in all this, except the suffering, and 
 the persecution, and the losses ; no requital to a heart 
 like his. 
 
 Here now, at the supper, when his indignation 
 aboutrthe waste broke out, he was met with a reproof 
 — gentle in its tone and very mild, but, in his state 
 of feeling, all the more provoking to him from its 
 very mildness. It showed such a want of an appre- 
 ciation of money and of him, the treasurer : he felt 
 also now, from Christ's insight into his character, that 
 his hypocrisy was to him unmasked, his motive 
 known, and his thieving revealed. 
 
 So Satan entered into him now," unresisted, and had 
 the full possession. 
 
 One thought more ; and that was quickly supplied 
 by the Tempter. If Christ must die, why then 
 might not he, Judas, have a pecuniary benefit from the 
 event ? 
 
 The love of money is declared in Scripture to be 
 the root of all evil ; and on the very next day, Judas 
 went to the Jewish rulers to bargain for betraying 
 his Master, with whom he could still remain, and of 
 whose movements he could inform them, and also the 
 most fitting time for their purposes. All was soon 
 agreed upon. He asked them, li What will ye give 
 me and I will deliver him unto you? And^thcy 
 covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver,*'' — 
 the price of a slave according to the old Jewish 
 law.t 
 
 ° Luke xxii, 3. 
 
 f Exodus xxi, 32. If this money was in shekels, 30 picas would 
 amount to $15 05 of our money ; if the Roman stater, to $22 50. 
 
The Passover Feast. 345 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 THE PASSOVER FEAST. 
 
 A great festival, commemorative of the most re- 
 markable event in the Jewish history, had come down 
 to them from the day when they first properly began 
 to be a nation. Their forefathers had been slaves in 
 Egypt. One night, after a series of miracles designed 
 to set them free, but resisted by the Egyptian monarch, 
 a visitation the most appalling possible to their bond- 
 masters was to effect their deliverance. The first-born 
 in every family was to be, that night, slain by a divine 
 judgment, throughout that whole country ; the houses 
 of the Israelites alone being excepted. It was a mo- 
 mentous time : on the one side, seemingly their last 
 hope of deliverance from slavery : on the other, a uni- 
 versal cry of anguish ; wailing for the Egyptian dead 
 over r 11 the land ; and those dead the favored ones — 
 the first-borir — in every house. In the morning the 
 Jews were sent off : deliverance had come. 
 
 The Feast of the Passover, in commemoration of this, 
 brought to Jerusalem the whole Jewish people from 
 their own region, and from distant lands. This im- 
 mense assemblage had, on their arrival, to divide 
 themselves into companies of not less than ten or more 
 than twenty," and' each company had to prepare a 
 lamb, or, if no lamb could be. found, a kid. to be eaten 
 on this occasion. It was to be a male of that year, 
 without blemish, and was to be brought, on the day be- 
 
 * Tholuck. 
 
346 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 fore the commencement of the festival, to the great 
 altar at the temple, and killed there between the hours 
 of three and six in the afternoon. This was to be on 
 the 14th of the month Abib, (afterwards called Nisan,) 
 the first month of their sacred year. The blood was 
 sprinked at the foot of the altar, the fat taken out and 
 thrown into the fire on the altar, the body carried home 
 for the supper and roasted whole, the skin given to the 
 owner of the house. All houses in Jerusalem were, 
 on this occasion, open indiscriminately to the public, 
 and might be used by common right, during the feast. 
 The flesh not eaten at the supper was to be burned, to- 
 gether with the bones. There was also other meat, 
 called the peace-offering, placed on the table, to take 
 off the edge of their appetites, so that they might not 
 go voraciously to the Paschal lamb : also in case it 
 might not be sufficient for a large company. 
 
 At or before noon of the 14th, all leaven was to be 
 carefully removed from the houses ; and during eight 
 days, they were to eat only unleavened bread, in com- 
 memoration of the haste with which their ancestors had 
 left their place of bondage. Bitter herbs* were also to 
 be provided for this Paschal supper ; and they had also 
 a sauce, called charoseth, composed of things sweet and 
 bitter, pounded together in memory of the clay in 
 which their forefathers labored when making bricks in 
 the land of Egypt. 
 
 After sunset, (now the beginning of the loth, by the 
 Jewish reckoning, their day beginning at sunset,) the 
 company assembled and took their places around the 
 table, reclining on couches, (the posture of freemen,) 
 to show that they had got out of servitude into free- 
 * Ex. xii, 8. 
 
The Passover Feast. 347 
 
 dom. Oivother occasions, the Jews might choose their 
 posture • and they often sat at table, but at the Pas- 
 chal supper their rules prescribed that " a man is 
 bound to eat and to drink and to sit in a posture of 
 freedom," that is to recline. 
 
 That was the usual posture among the Greeks and 
 Romans at their feasts. They leaned on the left arm, 
 a cushion or bolster under the shoulder assisting to 
 ease the posture ; and if there were several at table, 
 the chief person occupied the middle place, the oth- 
 ers in front or back of him, or similarly arranged at 
 other tables placed at rectangles with this. As they 
 reclined slantingly to the table, so as to bring each 
 man's head in front of the chest of the one next be- 
 hind him, if the former wished to speak to the latter, 
 especially if it was anything secret, he leaned his 
 head back on the bosom of the other (in sinu recum- 
 bere Plin. Epist. iv, 22.) The Gemara says of the 
 Persians that, " when they could not discourse be- 
 cause of their way of leaning at meals, they talked 
 by signs either with their hands or upon their fin- 
 gers :" and the Jews had probably adopted the same 
 custom during their ancient captivity in Persia. 
 
 On the morning of the 14th of Nisan (our Thurs- 
 day) the Messiah sent two disciples, Peter and John, 
 from Bethany to Jerusalem, to prepare for the Pass- 
 over supper : in the evening he and the remainder of 
 them followed to that city. We may easily imagine 
 the traitor, in this, to him, uncongenial, but for the 
 present necessary, companionship ; for he was watch- 
 ing for the best time and place r in which to execute 
 his contract with the ganhedrim. He had, that day,* 
 bargained with them : had returned and joined _the 
 
348 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. • 
 
 party of the disciples ; and was now accompany- 
 ing them to unite in the Paschal sapper. What a 
 thoroughly-depraved wretch he must have felt him- 
 self to be, in spite of every effort of justification in 
 his own mind ! We can imagine him, sometimes 
 afraid to look his Master or companions in the face ; 
 sometimes trying to be brazen and composed, but fail- 
 ing continually in the effort ; sometimes shrinking 
 away and wishing to be apart" from the company; 
 and again mixing with them, in order to present sus- 
 picion, and because he hated being alone with his 
 own thoughts. We can see his eye cowering before 
 the looks of others ; or assuming an impudent, or 
 affectedly-composed, or defiant expression ; sometimes 
 startled bywords from them innocent of any particu- 
 lar meaning, but yet, in his convictions, seeming to 
 be pointed at him ; often wondering whether his own 
 changed tones of voice, or his unaccounted-for ab- 
 sence, or his manner, might not have betrayed him. 
 He followed on, thus, over Olivet, and into the city; 
 feeling, as he entered it, that he was bound by a 
 hellish compact with the rulers there ; and that men, 
 so determined in malice as they had showed them- 
 selves to be, held him now in their power, in a kind 
 of triumph, through his weakness and baseness. He 
 had seen that triumph in their gladness and the glis- 
 tening of their eyes that day, as the compact was 
 made ; and he knew that they despised him, while 
 they were thankful and glad. Of his Master, and of 
 that long-continued kindness to him, and gentleness, 
 and Divine goodness, he dared not think at all, to- 
 day : for every such thought was a 'dagger, and made 
 him shrink with pain. 
 
The Passover Feast. 349 
 
 They proceeded to the room selected for this meal, 
 and soon afterwards took their places at the table ; 
 John being in front of the Messiah, as they reclined 
 on their couches. But, alas ! even in this time of deep 
 distress, when, as they had been informed, the. hour, 
 of agony and death was close at hand, the old feeling 
 of ambition and strife revived.* Perhaps it was on 
 the question, who should have the second place of 
 honor at the table, which was always the one just t in 
 front of the Master ; perhaps it had originated from 
 some other matter even more discreditable than that ; 
 but the Saviour, — how merciful, how gentle, how God- 
 like in this mercy and gentleness !— said f to them, 
 " The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over 
 them ; and they that exercise authority upon them 
 are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so ; but 
 he that is greatest among you, let him be as the 
 younger ; and he that is chief as he that doth serve. 
 For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or 
 he that serveth ? Is not he that sitteth at meat ? but 
 I am among you as one that serveth,"f &c. So, in 
 order to impress his injunction, he arose from table 
 and, laying aside his upper garment, took a basin and 
 towel, and entered on a very menial office, that of 
 washing their feet. By the usages of that country, 
 this was never done by a superior to an inferior ; 
 and when he came to Peter, that impetuous disciple 
 drew back : 
 
 " Lord, dost thou wash my feet ?" and declared that 
 it should never be done. 
 
 " If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me," 
 
 o Luke xxii, 24. f lb. 25-27. 
 
350 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 was the reply ; and the startled disciple cried out : 
 
 "Lord, not my feet only, but also by hands and 
 my head."* 
 
 Judas was amongst them, and Christ, doubtless, 
 washed his feet also. How the conscious traitor 
 must have shrunk at his touch ! 
 
 The company, however, was not long troubled with 
 the presence of this man. Soon after their reclin- 
 ing at table, the rest of the disciples, for the first 
 time, became aware that there was such a traitor 
 among them. The Saviour said : 
 
 " Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth 
 with me shall betray me." 
 
 A shudder must have gone through them, with a 
 deep gloom on the heart ; and there must have been 
 a quivering of the lip, as they all asked, 
 
 " Lord, is it I ?" 
 
 No consciousness among the eleven, but a query by 
 each whether he was suspected, and a wish, by the 
 expected answer, to stand acquitted before the com- 
 pany. They turned upon each other inquisitive ar*d 
 doubting glances ; — those men who had been with 
 him so long, so attached, erring often, always dark 
 in apprehensions, grieving him by their mistakes ; — 
 but traitor ! who was the miscreant ? Their glances 
 went around the table ; their feelings were warm 
 with indignation ; they were ready to shrink from 
 each other — after all this fellowship, and these plea- 
 sant communings, a traitor! Who was he? Peter 
 
 o John xiii. 6-9. "Among the duties required from a wife to- 
 wards ber husband, there was one, that she should wash his face, 
 his hands, and his feet. This was expected by a father from his 
 son ; the same from a servant towards his master.' Ji^Lightfoot. 
 
The Passover Feast. 351 
 
 could bear it no longer ; but gave John a secret 
 sign to question further ; and this disciple, leaning 
 back so as to bring his head on the Saviour's breast, 
 asked, in a whisper, who it was. The answer was a 
 certain signal by which John could know and could 
 communicate to Peter who was the individual.* To 
 Judas he said : 
 
 " What thou doest, do quickly ;" an expression 
 enigmatical to the rest ; but the traitor, excited and 
 thrown off his guard, asked, 
 
 " Master, is it I ? ;7 The answer was, 
 
 " Thou hast said,"t equivalent to, u ^t is you." He 
 left the room, unmasked, a fugitive from their com- 
 pany and from his Lord,— lost. 
 
 One of the disciples gone : and he a traitor ! 
 
 There was a vacant place at the table. What of 
 the rest ? A gloomy feeling fell on the compaaf 
 such as there always is from a desertion. A vacancy 
 sometimes has about it remembrances of worth and 
 nobleness": but there was none in the present case. 
 Baseness, hypocrisy, treachery was the remembrance 
 that Judas left behind ; and there was no wickedness 
 that now they might not expect from him, directed 
 probably against themselves. Contempt for his con- 
 duct could scarcely buoy they up ; for he had been one 
 of them, and they felt that the baseness had been di- 
 rectly from among their own company. They were pros- 
 trated in spirit by the discovery, felt disgraced, dis- 
 honored by the recent companionship ,-: — what suspi- 
 cions might not the Master have now about them ? 
 They looked towards the vacant place, with a deep 
 sinking in their hearts ; towards the Master, so long 
 * John xiii, 23-28. f Mattxxvi, 25. 
 
352 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 the beloved, the admired, the venerated, in their in- 
 most soul.— His face was very sad. Could he doubt 
 them ? Nay, why might he not doubt them now ? 
 Eyes were turned again upon him, trying to read in 
 his face expressions of confidence and trust in them. 
 He spoke, by and by ; and- the words were even more- 
 dark and gloomy than their gloomy thoughts. " All 
 ye shall be offended because of me this night : for it is writ- 
 ten, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be 
 scattered abroad/' — Even on the back of this assertion 
 there was no censure on them, but simply the promise, 
 " But after that I am risen, I will go before you into 
 Galilee."* Indeed, there was almost too much prostra- 
 tion of feeling among the company generally, for any 
 sentiment except sadness ; yet, even then, hope was 
 given to them. But Peter spake up : for his heart re- 
 coiled at the thought of the general desertion, and he 
 knew not yet how weak he himself was. His voice 
 was confident. " Though all should be offended of 
 thee yet will I not be offended." And he looked for 
 an approval of his bravery. It came not, but the an- 
 swer. " Verily I say unto thee that this day, even io 
 this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny 
 me thrice, "t The tones of the Saviour's voice must 
 have been even sadder than the words ; and both 
 drew from Peter, with still greater vehemence, the as- 
 sertion, " If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee 
 in any wise." And the others said the same.J They 
 had been roused up by Peter's vehemence ; their feel- 
 ings rallied around their Lord, and they broke 
 through the gloom consequent on Judas' desertion to 
 ""o Murkxiv, 30, 31. f Matt - xxvi > 31 > 32 - t Ib - *2-Zo. 
 
The Passover Feast. 353 
 
 make bold protestations of their fidelity. It was not 
 kept. 
 
 The whole procedure at this meal was specially 
 prescribed ; and, according to the account of the Tal- 
 mud it was as follows : 
 
 1. The guests being placed around the table, they 
 mingled a cup of wine with water, over which the 
 master of the family (or if two or more families were 
 united, a person deputed for the purpose) gave thanks 
 and drank jt off. The thanksgiving for the wine 
 was to this effect ; " Blessed be thou, Lord, who 
 hast created the fruit of the vine ;" and for the day 
 as follows ; " Blessed be thou for this good day, 
 and for this- holy convocation, which thou hast given 
 us for joy and rejoicing. Blessed be thou, Lord, 
 who hast sanctified Israel and the times." 
 
 2. They then washed their hands ; after which the 
 table was furnished with the Paschal lamb roasted 
 whole, with bitter herbs, and with two cakes of un- 
 leavened bread, together with the flesh of the peace- 
 offering, and the charpseth or thick sauce above 
 mentioned. 
 
 3. The officiator, or person presiding, then took 
 a small piece of the salad ; and, having blessed God 
 for creating the fruit of the ground, he ate it, the 
 other guests following his example ; after which all 
 the dishes were removed from the table, that the chil- 
 dren might inquire and be instructed in the- nature of 
 the feast. (Ex. xii, 25, 26.) The text on which they 
 generally discoursed was Deut. xxvi, 5-11. 
 
 4. Then replacing the supper, they explained the 
 import of the bitter herbs and Paschal lamb ; and, 
 
354 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 over a second cup of wine, repeated cxiii and cxiv 
 Psalms with an eucharistic prayer. 
 
 5. The hands were again washed, accompanied by 
 an ejaculatory prayer ; after which the master of the 
 house proceeded to break and bless a cake of the. 
 unleavened bread, half of which he distributed among 
 the guests, reserving half beneath a napkin, if neces- 
 sary for the aphicomas, or last morsel ; for the rule 
 was to conclude with eating a small piece of the Pas^ 
 chal lamb. 
 
 6. They then ate the rest of the cake with the 
 bitter herbs, dipping the bread in the charoseth or 
 sauce. 
 
 7. Next they ate the flesh of the peace offering ; 
 and, then, the flesh of the Paschal lamb ; which was 
 followed by returning thanks to God, and a second 
 washing of the hands. 
 
 8. A third cup of wine was then filled, over which 
 they blessed God, or said grace after meat, (whence 
 i t was called the cup of blessing,-") and the wine was 
 drank. 
 
 9. Lastly ; a fourth cup of wine was filled, called 
 the cup of the Hallel : over that they completed the 
 supper, either by singing or reciting the great Hallel, 
 a hymn of praise consisting of Psalms cxv to cxviii 
 inclusive, and also with a prayer.f 
 
 If the Messiah followed this order, it was doubtless 
 in the fifth and eight parts of it that the eucharistic 
 feast of the Christian church was instituted : " Take, 
 eat, this is my body, which is given for you : this # do 
 
 C See 1 Cor. x, 16. 
 
 f Home's " Introduction," originally from Lightfoot. 
 
The Passover Feast. 355 
 
 in remembrance of me :•" " This cup is the new tes- 
 tament in my blood, which is shed for 3^ou.' ; 
 
 u My blood of the new covenant ; /J for that is. here, 
 the meaning of the word. A covenant is an agree- 
 ment between two individuals, to do, or to forbear, 
 some act or thing ; a contract : and it was here a 
 contract by the Messiah to be sealed with his own 
 life-blood. 
 
 There was once, long before this time, a scene of 
 [£reat solemnity, at the foot of Sinai, just after God 
 had given to Moses, on the top of that mountain, the 
 written covenant : and that scene was. when that 
 covenant was ratified by the people of Israel, with 
 the shedding of the blood of victims, — burnt-offerings 
 and peace-offerings to God. There had just been the 
 uiost imposing event that our world has ever wit- 
 nessed : for, on Sinai, there were " thunders and 
 lightnings, and a thick black cloud upon the mount, 
 and the voice of the trumpet sounding loud • so that 
 all the people that were in the camp trembled. And 
 Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to 
 meet with God : and they stood at the nether part of 
 the mount. And Mount Sinai was altogether on a 
 smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire . 
 and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a fur- 
 nace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. *■' * * 
 And all the people saw the thundermgs and the light- 
 nings, and the voice of the trumpet, and the mountain 
 smoking, and when the people saw it, they removed 
 and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak 
 thou with us and we will hear : but let not God 
 speak with us, lest we die."* 
 
 x « Exodus xix,_UML8vjcx, 18,.19.i" 
 
356 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 Their leader had now come down from the moun- 
 tain top, and from the cloud shrouding that Majesty 
 which no mortal might see clearly and live ; and he 
 told the people :i all the words of the Lord, and 
 all the judgments : and all the people answered 
 with one voice and said, All the words which the 
 Lord hath said will we do." \^B.e wrote down the 
 words ; and built an altar, and erected twelve 
 pillars to represent the tribes. Then, on this altar, 
 they offered burnt-offerings and sacrificed peace-offer- 
 ings of oxen unto the Lord. And Moses took half 
 of the blood, and put it in basins; and half of the 
 blood he sprinkled on the altar. And ho took the 
 book of the covenant, and read it in the audience of 
 the people j and they said? 
 
 " All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be 
 obedient." 
 
 " And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on 
 the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, 
 which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these 
 words."* 
 
 It was a grand, and most solemn and imposing 
 spectacle. How different from it, in all the outward 
 seeming, was this spectacle in the private room at 
 Jerusalem, where Christ, who had just before laid 
 aside his upper garments to wash his disciples' feet, 
 now brake the bread to them, and gave them the cup 
 to drink. But there was a moral grandeur in this 
 simple scene, which no cloud enveloping a mountain, 
 and thunder and lightning there, could ever reach • 
 for he said, respecting this new covenant, " This cup 
 is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for 
 c Exodus xxiv, 3-8. 
 
The Passover Feast. 357 
 
 you."* His own blood it was which was to be sprink- 
 led on all nations ; he the sacrifice for all the world ! 
 
 The Israelites moved off from Sinai, awed and 
 frightened by the earthquakes and the signs on the 
 mountain's brow; and they said to Moses, "Speak 
 thou with us and we will hear ; but let not God 
 speak with us, lest we die f but the words of Christ 
 draw us towards him, and towards heaven, through 
 the fullness of love to all men which they display. 
 
 Having finished the Passover meal, they sang their 
 hymn : and then, before leaving the room, there was 
 an address from the Messiah to his disciples, and after- 
 wards a prayer, to both of which angels might well 
 have been listeners; for the words seem to blend to- 
 gether both heaven and earth. They were the last 
 of the teachings of the greatest Teacher earth has 
 known, or will ever know. 
 
 We perceive, in these words, shades of thought 
 n-ever seen but in the truest and deepest affection, 
 which always has promptings of its own peculiar 
 kind. '* In my Father's house are many mansions : 
 if it were not so I would have told you. I go to pre- 
 pare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a 
 place for you, I will come again and receive you unto 
 myself; that where I am there ye may be also." 
 That was a most tender as well as true regard, 
 which, when he should get into possession of the 
 kingdom in heaven, would not be contented till it 
 had brought him to take them up to himself. — Yet 
 they were frail men, full of darkness and errors. 
 
 how tender and beautiful is the love op 
 Christ ! 
 
 ° Luke xxii, 20. 
 
358 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 He had now almost completed his mission on the 
 earth. He had been our Example and our Teacher : 
 one act remained, — to die for us. The cross was to 
 be raised up before all the world as evidence of God's 
 hatred of sin, and of the unyielding nature of his law 
 against unrighteousness ; — Christ there, the expia- 
 tion, the voluntary sacrifice offered for all mankind. 
 11 For as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilder- 
 ness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up ; that 
 whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but 
 have everlasting life."* He had often looked for- 
 ward to this event with shudderings of his human na- 
 ture at its horrors ; yet he turned not aside, but said, 
 11 For this cause came I unto this hour." The hour 
 was now close at hand. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 GETHSEMANE. 
 
 The traitor, in the meanwhile, was busy in his 
 work. 
 
 He knew the habits and resorts of the Messiah ; 
 and was forwarding preparations for the seizure, 
 which the Sanhedrim intended to make this night. 
 Their plans were laid : they had now a ready instru- 
 ment for the first act, bought with their gold. A 
 company was formed, subordinates of the Sanhedrim 
 
 c John in. 14. 15. 
 
GrETHSEMANE. 359 
 
 and temple,* armed and sufficient in number to bear 
 down opposition : but, strong as it was, the chief 
 priests and captains and elders also attended ,f to see 
 that their work was surely done. The traitor had 
 given, as a signal, the act of kindest friendship in salu- 
 tation, "Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he ; 
 hold him fast. 7 't 
 
 Silently their preparations were made • the traitor 
 sometimes looking to see that the company was suf- 
 ficiently large and of the right spirit ; sometimes 
 sending his thoughts back to that supper-table, the 
 agitating question put'around, " Is it I V and the sad- 
 ness on the Saviour's face in that scene ; and most of 
 all to the words respecting himself by Christ, "It 
 had been good for that man if he had not been born :' ; § 
 and sometimes, perhaps, he queried, whether Christ 
 would not, when this party should appear, disperse, 
 or overawe them by his miraculous powers ; or pass 
 unharmed from among them, as he had often done be- 
 fore. Perhaps Judas expected this last : still, as to 
 himself, he had the money in his pocket, his reward 
 secured. 
 
 Thus they were prepared, and awaiting in Jerusa- 
 lem the order to move. 
 
 It was the time of the full moon ; and a mellow 
 light was shed on the streets of the city and the hills 
 about it, as the Messiah and his disciples left their 
 supper-room, and passing the eastern gate, descended 
 the slope leading down towards the Kedron. They 
 went along in sadness ; their minds filled with the 
 solemn events at that Passover meal, and with the 
 
 * Mark xiv, 43. f Luke xxii, 52. % Matt, xxyi, 48. 
 
 § Matt, xxvi, 24. 
 
360 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 sense of the fierce trials close at hand ; and as they 
 met, or passed, company after company on the way, 
 the festive gladness of the latter came jarring on their 
 hearts. How easily could a few words from the Mes- 
 siah, then, have aroused all those multitudes. — more 
 than two millions — in and about the city, and have 
 made them the quick executors of his will and power : 
 for the general enthusiasm towards him needed but a 
 spark to make it. to all opposers, a consuming flame ; 
 and his miraculous powers could also have called 
 even angels down, if need should be. But he passed 
 on in silence : he did not desire observation, but re- 
 tirement and a few hours for prayer : and he would 
 then be ready for the self-sacrifice which was to drain 
 his life-blood. His hour had come : and the deed 
 he knew, was necessary for the redemption of our 
 race. 
 
 But still the trial to his human nature would be hor- 
 rible ; and he felt it already with a shrinking and a 
 quivering through all his frame ; # the death-convulsions 
 foreshadowing themselves during the silent anticipa- 
 tions of that night. 
 
 We cannot understand the mysteries of the divine 
 and human natures in Christ. All we know is that 
 the human nature was such as ours, with all its capa- 
 city for suffering pain ; and that, having lived our life 
 here, God knows, from his own sufferings, to pity 
 man : — also, that the Divinity was there with its great- 
 ness and power ; and doubtless, too. with such a keen- 
 ness in all the intellectual and emotional sensations 
 in this suffering, as our minds can never comprehend, 
 and our hearts can never know. It was so in all the 
 life of Christ ; his intellect, his emotions, not ours but 
 
Gethsemane. 361 
 
 ours sublimed and passing off into those of the God, 
 though still having their home here on earth. How 
 far all this might work concentrated horrors — infinite 
 in extent, — into these few'hours of time at Gethsemane 
 and into these anticipations, and into the sufferings 
 when they really came, who can tell? " The spirit ol 
 a man may bear his infirmities, but a wounded spirit. 
 who can bear it V If so with man, how was it with 
 Christ ! 
 
 Across the valley of Jehoshaphat, and somewhere 
 on the slopes of Olivet, was a garden, Gethsemane-' by 
 name, which he had been in the habit of frequenting 
 with his disciples ;f and to this place they now as- 
 cended ; the hushed noises of the city, and of the 
 multitudes who were fast sinking into repose, scarcely 
 reaching that retired spot. The Messiah felt the 
 need of prayer — of communion with the Father, and 
 of strengthening for the coming hours, in which his 
 human nature would be so fearfully tried. Having 
 reached Gethsemane, he said to the disciples, " Pray 
 that ye enter not into temptation ;" and then taking 
 Peter, and James, and John, he went with them fur- 
 ther into the garden apart from the rest. Here, also, 
 he left these three, saying, as he did so, " My soul is 
 exceeding sorrowful, even unto death :" and he went 
 then further, alone, for prayer. He fell on his face ; 
 and it was a time of agony such as no human thought 
 can ever reach. We know it dimly from his words 
 of prayer, " Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass 
 from me ;" " take away this cup from me \ r, % yet, with 
 the addition, " nevertheless not as I will, but as thou 
 
 8 Meaning " place of olive presses." f John xviii, 2. 
 
 % Matt, xxvi, 39 ; Mark xiv, 86. 
 
 16 
 
362 LlFE-SCENEg FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 wilt." The fearfulness of the struggle in him is only 
 shadowed to us ; for the reality cannot be reached by 
 words. " Sorrowful, even unto death" and that in 
 Christ ! in him who had come* to suffer, and to redeem 
 the world by suffering this death, and had predicted it 
 frequently, and had advanced steadily towards it, but 
 now involved in horror so great that, for a moment, 
 it had the mastery. What must the agony in that 
 prayer have been ; even the Divine nature borne 
 down, as if dissolution were near ! What a depth of 
 horror is dimly revealed to us ! But, " not as I will, 
 but as thou wilt m " and with those words the fierce- 
 ness of that almost mortal anguish passed away. 
 
 The prayer was brief; for such agony could not be 
 endured by any human nature long ; and he came 
 back to where the three disciples had been left. 
 They were asleep. How different their quiet rest, 
 their unconsciousness, the relaxed limbs and the 
 breathing of their deep repose, from the agony that 
 had just been almost crushing him, and which still 
 made itself felt in all his system ! The night, also, 
 so mellow and calm : the light of the full moon over 
 the hushed landscape, and the soft music of the night- 
 ingales harmonizing with all else, made it a scene of 
 perfect midnight repose ; but all this — the mellow- 
 ness, the repose, the nightingales' song, — all jarring 
 now terribly on a nature so horrified and just now so 
 wildly tossed with agony, — almost so abandoned, 
 seemingly, of heaven and earth. 
 
 He awoke the disciples with words of half reproach, 
 but which, in his gentle nature, were qualified imme- 
 diately with an apology for them : " What ! could ye 
 • not watch with me one hour ? Watch and pray that 
 
G-ETHSEMANE. • 363 
 
 ye enter not into temptation : the spirit indeed is 
 willing, but the flesh is weak."* 
 
 He left them a second time, retiring once more for 
 prayer ; and the convulsion of anguish again passed 
 over him, but modified by an entire resignation to 
 the will of God. " my Father, if this cup may not 
 pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be 
 :lone. ; ' The horror that seemed as of a divinity per- 
 ishing, " my soul sorrowful unto death/" must have 
 been indeed frightful beyond any but infinite power 
 to understand. 
 
 He came back again to the three disciples, and 
 found them, as before, in a deep and quiet sleep ; for 
 it was late now, and rt their eyes were heavy.' 7 Again, 
 in strong contrast to his own feelings, was that hush 
 in all the scene ; as if nature might be almost in 
 mockery of its Master : the world in its perfectness of 
 repose, appearing to have shut him out ; to be closed 
 against him abandoned in his agony : and yet it was 
 to ransom its millions, and bring them to salvation, 
 that he was about to suffer. He spoke to the disciples 
 again ; but they answered him confusedly and only 
 half aroused : and he left them once more for his re- 
 tirement and prayer . There was a strange restlessness 
 in the Messiah that night ; a part of the terrible nerv- 
 ous strain upon his system, and of the agitations of 
 his internal being : — how different from his former 
 long seasons of quiet communion with God on the 
 mountains of Galilee. These were briefer, broken 
 times of prayer ; with an agitation tnat could not long 
 admit of quiet,, even in such communion. For the 
 prayer itself was a convulsion : and, during this 
 
 * Matt, xx vi, 41. 
 
364 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 third one, a sweat of blood broke out upon him, the 
 bloody perspiration falling in great drops to the 
 ground.* In that agony, which brought the blood 
 thus oozing from his face and body, an angel came to 
 his side, to sustain and comfort him. 
 
 Mortal man may never fathom the depth of that 
 agony in Gethsemane. 
 
 He came a third time to his disciples ; and told 
 them that the hour was now at hand . 
 
 This was, indeed, soon apparent, even to their 
 half-aroused consciousness ; for torches and lanterns 
 were now seen gleaming amid the garden-alleys on 
 Olivet ; and voices, coming nearer, were heard ; and, 
 very soon, the company in Gethsemane were all sur- 
 rounded by a rude multitude armed with swords and 
 staves. Judas came forward : 
 
 " Hail, Master !" and he kissed him. 
 
 The others pressed around. 
 
 " Whom seek ye ?" the Messiah asked. 
 
 " Jesus of Nazareth." 
 
 "lam he," he said, and faced them calmly ; and, 
 as he did so, the company shrunk down before him ; 
 for there was a strange power in that Presence even 
 there, although his greatest humiliations were begun. 
 Urged on, however, by their leaders, the armed men 
 
 s Luke xxii, 44. Dr. Mead, from Galen, observes ; Contingere 
 interdum p>;roR, ex raulto ant fervido spiritu adeo dilatari, ut 
 etiam e^e ;t sanguis per eos, fiatque sudor sanguineus: It happens 
 sometimes ll>at, by great or deep mental agitation, the pores are so much 
 dilated that blood issues from them, and there is a bloody sweat. (Quoted 
 from Clarke's Commentary.) — "An interesting example of a sweat 
 of blood, under circumstances of strong terror, accompanied by loss 
 of speech, is given in an article by Dr. Schneider in Casper's 
 Wothenschrift for 1848, and cited in the Medical Gazette for that 
 year."— Alford. 
 
Hall of Caiaphas. 365 
 
 seized him, and a scene of confusion for a little while 
 ensued. Peter made resistance, and a servant of the 
 high priest was maimed ; but Christ healed the man, 
 with a reproof to his follower for the act : " Put up 
 thy sword ; the cup that my Father giveth me to 
 drink, shall I not drink it?"* He said also to Peter, 
 " Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, 
 and he will presently give me more than twelve le- 
 gions of angels ? But how then shall the Scriptures 
 be fulfilled that thus it must be. "t He spoke further 
 to the leaders, asking why they had. come as against 
 a thief with swords and staves ? He asked no favors 
 of them for himself ; but for his disciples, that they 
 might be allowed to depart uninjured. They pro- 
 ceeded immediately to bind him,| and then led him 
 away. The disciples fled.§ 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 HALL OF CAIAPHAS. 
 
 The Pharisees and chief priests and rulers had, so 
 far, succeeded. It was night ; and the millions at 
 the passover, having eaten the paschal supper, were 
 now asleep. A comparative quiet reigned in Jerusa- 
 lem and through its suburbs and on Olivet, as the 
 armed men, having the Messiah now bound in their 
 charge, passed back into the city, and threaded its 
 
 • John xviii, 11. t Matt, xxvi, 53, 54. 
 
 % John xviii, 8, 12. § Mark xiv, 50. 
 
366 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 streets. They were conducted first to the bouse of 
 Annas. This individual, called also Ananus. had been 
 high priest himself, and was yet styled such as a 
 token of respect : he was father-in-law to Caiaphas. 
 at present iu the high priesthood, and father also of 
 Eleazar, late high priest ; and was, moreover, at this 
 time, Sagan or prefect to the priests, an office of 
 which there is frequent mention among the Rabbins* 
 His age and his former and present offices, gave his 
 opinions weight ; and the proceedings of this night, 
 all so irregular in their character, needed every ex- 
 traneous aid that could be procured, in order to 
 shield the perpetrators. For, in the morning, when 
 the multitudes would wake up, and receive infor- 
 mation of these acts during the night, there would 
 be a great excitement, and many inquiries would 
 be started tending to a tumult, against all which 
 they desired to be able immediately to present the 
 highest Jewish authority. Annas had no power as 
 a judge : and any meeting at his house would be an 
 informal one ; but it was important to be able to 
 quote his opinion, in a decided manner, before the 
 populace. 
 
 From his house they proceeded very soon to the 
 palace of Caiaphas himself. The Sanhedrim, in the 
 meantime, had been collecting there ; and the Messiah, 
 still bound, was now in the presence of his judges, 
 evidently met, not for trial, but for condemnation. 
 The case had been already, in their minds, fully pre- 
 judged. This w r as not, however, a formal sitting of 
 the Sanhedrim, for such, according to their laws, 
 could not be held by night, and no trial could regu- 
 
 9 Lightfoot, in loco. 
 
Hall of Caiaphas. 367 
 
 larly be commenced at night ; and as these judges 
 would, in the morning, be on trial themselves in the 
 minds of the people, it was necessary to keep up the 
 appearance of adhering to the forms of law. All 
 the while, over the Sanhedrim hung the dread of the 
 populace and of tumults, and of thus being foiled at 
 last. They planned that, when their decision should 
 come before the people it should come suddenly, and 
 should be a decision adapted to stamp such black in- 
 famy upon the accused as would astound and stupefy 
 the hearers, until the governor's quickly-added judg- 
 ment should put the whole matter into the hands of 
 the military, and not only defy resistance from the 
 multitudes, but also save the Sanhedrim from the 
 consequences of possible tumult by having made it a 
 governmental affair. Therefore the object was to 
 have now a secret examination, in order that all pre- 
 parations might be made for a quick decision in the 
 formal, regular meeting, which the Sanhedrim would 
 afterwards have, at earliest dawn. Although it was 
 so late at night, yet the public were excluded from 
 the house of Caiaphas ; for Peter, following on, was 
 passed in through the gates of entrance only at the 
 request of John, who was known to the high priest, 
 and who spoke to the woman doing the duty of 
 porter j* — that office being sometimes occupied in 
 Judea by women. f 
 
 So now they were before each other, the Messiah 
 standing bound, with guards on either side, the San- 
 hedrim sitting, gloating their eyes on him, whom they 
 felt to be, at last, within their power, and were de- 
 termined to make their victim. 
 
 ° John xviii, 16. f Lightfoot. 
 
368 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 The eastern house described in a former chapter, 
 was of the better kind ; but, in families of very great 
 wealth, or consequence, the structures took yet larger 
 proportions ; and such was, doubtless, the house of 
 Caiaphas used on this occasion. These had an outer 
 and inner gate at the archway leading from the 
 street ; while also, at one side of their large court, 
 and reached by a few steps of ascent, was a reception 
 room open toward the court ; which room, being fur- 
 nished with cushioned divans or platforms, adjoining 
 the walls, was a luxurious resting-place, convenient 
 also for business when there was occasion. The writer 
 of this is describing from what he himself saw in Da- 
 mascus ; and fashions in those countries seldom 
 change. The walls around the court in such houses 
 in Damascus are faced with variously colored stones, 
 arranged in patterns, and are also ornamented with 
 inscriptions from religious books, or from the maxims 
 of the wise. 
 
 It is doubtless in such a hall, at the high-priest's 
 palace, that this trial was held ; the court being fill- 
 ed with soldiers and attendants, and the gates closed 
 against intruders. Torches were flaring from the 
 walls or columns of the audience room, and a strong 
 light fell upon the scene ; — upon the calm and noblo 
 countenance in the midst, on which all eyes were 
 now fixed ; and upon the keen, wrathful faces around, 
 now lit up by triumph, but still marked with lines of 
 anxiety and fear. Did he see a friendly eye in all 
 that crowd ? Scarcely ; but, if friends were there, 
 they did not dare to speak. 
 
 And so the examination began : false, suborned 
 witnesses there ; judges false to truth and right there ; 
 
Hall of Caiaphas. 369 
 
 and, to the Messiah, the bitterest of all things there, 
 a favored, honored disciple also false. But this last 
 falseness was not yet shown. 
 
 The high-priest commenced with asking the Mes- 
 siah about his disciples and his doctrines, hoping to 
 find some admissions made, by which he might bring 
 charges of a weighty character ; but there were none. 
 There was a sublime dignity in the Saviour as he 
 stood and answered. His case was clearly prejudged \ 
 his judges were fixed in purpose ; and he knew it 
 all : they were trying to entangle him by his admis- 
 sions ; there were men there, also, ready for personal 
 violence; and he saw all of this. But he answered, 
 calmly, and with dignity : "I spake openly to the 
 world ; I ever taught in the synagogues and in the 
 temple, whither the Jews always resort ; and in secret 
 have I said nothing, why askest thou me ? Ask them 
 that heard me, what I have said unto them : behold 
 they know what I said." This challenge to a fair ex- 
 amination by witnesses was met by gross violence 
 from one of the officers, who struck the Saviour with 
 the palm of his hand, with the sharp question : — ■ 
 " Answerest thou the high-priest so ?" It was calmly 
 borne. " If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the 
 evil ; but if well, why smitest thou me."* 
 
 The Messiah had been asking for only what was 
 customary in Jewish trials : — or rather, for less than 
 that : for he asked but a candid examination of those 
 who had listened to his teachings ; while it was cus- 
 tomary in these trials to begin with the testimony for 
 the accused, giving the witnesses a fair hearing, and 
 encouraging them to speak for the defence. Instead 
 
 * John xviii, 19-23. 
 
 *16 
 
3T0 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 of that, the Sanhedrim now began with seeking for 
 false witnesses against him : but they sought in Vain. 
 Many were offered, but their evidence was contradic- 
 tory and none of it of a sufficiently damnatory kind.* 
 At last came two, who declared that they had heard 
 him say, " I am able to destroy the temple of God and 
 to build it in three days ;"t and at their testimony the 
 eyes of the judges glistened : for here was a charge 
 that would work against him before all the people, 
 holding, as they did, their temple in such reverence, 
 and feeling such pride in its greatness. However, 
 even in this charge the witnesses were not agreed. 
 The Saviour did not reply to them. 
 
 At last, the high priest, wearied with the impotence 
 of his efforts, so far, and out of patience, determined 
 to force a crisis ; and to have a decided answer, in a 
 matter that he believed would produce condemnation 
 in the minds of all men, people as well as Sanhedrim : 
 and to insure success, he commenced with their most 
 solemn form' of adjuration or oath. 
 
 " I adjure thee by the living God," he said, " that thou 
 tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God :"J 
 — a form of demand which put the adjured person un- 
 der the curse of the law, unless he should make reply : 
 the answer so returned being considered under oath, 
 whose falsity was accounted perjuiy.§ The interest of 
 the assembly was wrought up to the highest. Men 
 leaned forward, and a deep silence fell upon that room. 
 The Messiah had hitherto refused to answer the false 
 and frivolous charges brought l| before judges so re- 
 solved to condemn : but he now replied to him, 
 
 P Matt, xxvi, 59-60. f lb. 61. J lb. 6?T~ 
 
 § Tholuck in loco. \\ Matt, xxvi, 62. 
 
Hall of Caiaphas. 371 
 
 " Thou hast said," [a common form, meaning " yes, it 
 is so':"] nevertheless, I say unto you, Hereafter shall 
 ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of 
 power and coming in the clouds of heaven."* 
 
 — It was enough. They had succeeded : and a wild 
 scene of triumph, execration, rage and violence quickly 
 ensued. The high priest rent his robes, crying out, 
 
 " He hath spoken blasphemies : what further need 
 have we of witnesses ? Behold ye have heard his blas- 
 phemy : what think ye ?" 
 
 " He is guilty of death ;" was shouted from all parts 
 of the hall : and they now rushed upon him, spit in his 
 face, buffeted him, and striking him with the palms of 
 their hands, asked, scornfully and tauntingly, "Proph- 
 ecy unto us, thou Christ, who is he that smote thee ?"t 
 even the servants joined in these insults and taunts. £ 
 
 Greatness is never so great, as when calmly sus- 
 taining itself amid insults and injuries ; truth never 
 so grand as when it stands unflinchingly, unmoved 
 amid danger : and so the Messiah had stood through- 
 out this trial, — so continued to the last. He had 
 been sublime often in his powerful teachings, and in 
 his omnipotence, when he stayed nature's laws, and 
 bade all diseases relax their hold, and the dead to 
 live ; but sublimer still he was in his mildness and 
 forgiveness among all these his enemies, offering him 
 insults and violence, and thirsting for his blood. 
 
 One thing must come out clearly to our minds in 
 this matter ; and that is, the decisive manner in which 
 he asserted his Godship here ; and in which he allow- 
 ed them to act upon that his claim, to the last. The 
 Sanhedrim were condemning him on such a claim ; 
 
 * Matt, xxvi, 64. f lb. 65-68. % Mark xiv, 65~ 
 
372 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 there was no retracting or denying, on his part. 
 They understood him clearly and fully, and charged 
 him with blasphemy, in making himself God ; and 
 had pronounced him guilty of death for it. If he 
 meant to assert no such title, it was easy to say so, and 
 to disabuse their minds, and, at least, deprive them of 
 all excuse in their meditated deed of death ; but he 
 put in not one word to that effect. 
 
 Indeed, through all his ministry, that claim had 
 been his great offence in their eyes. They had been 
 willing to acknowledge him as a prophet ; but he had 
 again and again, publicly and fully asserted for him- 
 self more than that, even the Godship and its authori- 
 ty and rights. A claim like that, and indeed any 
 remote inclination to it, was, in the eye of the Jewish 
 law, the most awful crime that could be committed, — 
 indeed an unpardonable one. We have seen how 
 Moses and Aaron were shut off by Jehovah himself 
 from entering the Promised Land, simply for arro- 
 gating to themselves, in a momentary excitement, 
 divine authority in performing a miracle ; and so 
 rigidly and severely was every sin of blasphemy re- 
 garded in the Jewish law, that each one hearing 
 words of this nature was bound to rend- his clothes 
 on the spot, as a sign of abhorrence. The Talmuds 
 also say, respecting testimony to such language : 
 11 When witnesses speak out a blasphemy which they 
 have heard, then all hearing the blasphemy arc 
 bound to rend their garments.' 7 * This law of blas- 
 phemy, " as it was understood among the Jews, ex- 
 tended not only to the effence of impiously using the 
 name of the Supreme Being, but to every usurpation 
 
 * Lightfoot. 
 
Hall op Caiaphas. 373 
 
 of his authority, or arrogation by a created being of 
 the honor and power belonging to him alone. Like 
 the crime of treason among men, its essence consisted 
 in acknowledging or setting up the authority of an- 
 other sovereign than one's own, or invading the power 
 belonging exclusively to him. 77 * 
 
 Often had the Messiah startled his audiences by 
 his claims either to God's attributes or to the God- 
 head itself ; but the majesty and the mightiness of * 
 the power clearly inherent in him had borne down 
 opposition ; and the clamors raised at his seeming 
 assumptions were lost in the loud shouts by men 
 healed of all diseases, and by their friends ; joy, love, 
 gratitude, triumphing at the time. Once, however, 
 they took up stones to stone him, " for blasphemy, 77 
 they said ; " and because that thou being a man mak- 
 est thyself God.' 7 
 
 Here now, before the Sanhedrim ; charged with 
 the same thing ; condemned to death for it ; vioence 
 used ; that charge of blasphemy evidently one that 
 was to go out officially from this hall, and to be re- 
 peated before the multitudes of the Passover ; — he 
 made no disclaimer, but allowed the record of his 
 claims to the Godhead to stand. And so it remains ; 
 — condemned for making himself God, and executed 
 for it, he admitting the charge, and, without protest 
 of error on their part, allowing them to proceed. f 
 
 ** J. Pickering, LL.D. See also Lev. xxiii, 16 ; Deut. xjii. 
 
 f Jewish writers all say, that, admitting the Gospel historians 
 to be true, this must be the view of the case. Mr. Jos. Salvador, a 
 physician and learned Jew of Paris, in a recent work, " Histoire des 
 Institutions de Mdise et du Peuple Hebreu," says, "But Jesus, in pre- 
 senting new theories, and giving new forms to those already pro- 
 mulgated, speaks of himself as God." In a note he adds : "The 
 
374 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 In the large court adjoining this hall, watching all 
 these proceedings with an agitated, and often failing 
 heart, was a disciple, ardent, quick, and yet weak ; — 
 he who had said impetuously at the supper, " Though 
 all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I 
 never be offended." " Though I should die with thee, 
 yet will I not deny thee." "I am ready to go with 
 thee, both into prison and to death." The disciples 
 had fled when their Master was^ seized at Gethsemane, 
 but Peter and John had followed the crowd in their 
 midnight progress along the streets ; and John, having 
 influence at the high priest's house, had got Peter ad- 
 mitted within the precincts. In the court, at some 
 suitable spot, a fire had been built ; for the night was 
 cold : and, as Peter sat there among the soldiers, peer- 
 ing timidly but anxiously around, he was charged by 
 some one of the female attendants with having been 
 also with Christ. He denied it : " Woman I know 
 him not "* — It was a terrible fall from the high pro- 
 fessions that he had made, and from his vaunted readi- 
 ness to die with Christ : his impulsiveness wanted the 
 calm and immovable courage of John, which led this 
 loving disciple afterwards to stand by the cross, and 
 to show his affection- for his Master even there. Peter 
 was, in after times, one of the boldest of Christian 
 ministers, and fully redeemed himself from the con- 
 
 expression ' Son of God ' was in common use among the Jews, to 
 designate, a man of remarkable wisdom and piety. It was not in 
 this sense that Jesus Christ used it." In another note, respecting 
 the rending of his garments by Caiaphas, he adds, " I repeat that 
 the expression ' Son of God' includes here the idea of God himself : 
 the fact is already established and all the subsequent events con- 
 firm it." 
 
 ** Luke xxii, 57. 
 
Hall of Gaiaphas. 375 
 
 tempt forced on us by this conduct in the court, as we 
 see him, shrinking, denying, timid and false. He 
 shrunk away, soon, from the brightness of the fire ; and 
 approached the arched way ; but was there recognized 
 by the woman keeping the gate, who said, " This fel- 
 low was also with Jesus of Nazareth." — One false 
 step ; and now another : for he declared, with an 
 oath, " I do not know the man." 
 
 The scene in the hall itself, during these denials by 
 the disciple, had become, as we have seen, tumultuous, 
 with outcries and wrath and violence. Peter saw his 
 Master maltreated, bound as the latter was, and incapa- 
 ble of resistance, if there had been any disposition to re- 
 sist, which there was not : he saw the rush of the crowd 
 in that more elevated place of judgment : he heard 
 their cries of execration and of abhorrence, affected or 
 real ; saw that face, so glorious even still in its majesty 
 of kindness and its forgivingness, spit upon and buffeted ; 
 he witnessed the madness that ruled there ; and saw 
 the great triumph that lighted up the faces of the high 
 priest and other leaders, as they felt that their enemy 
 was now securely entangled among their toils, and 
 could not escape. As the torches threw their ruddy 
 light upon all the scene, and portions of the tumultu- 
 ous crowd were thrown into strong relief, or retiring 
 into the shadows, were succeeded by others, the faces 
 bore still the same expression of wrath, and malignity, 
 and triumph ; — among them only that one face show- 
 ing benevolence, and gentleness, and kindness. Peter 
 saw and heard all ;• too anxious for his Master not 
 to be closely observant, yet shrinking from being him- 
 self observed. 
 
 There came, at last, a lull \ in the. noises ; for morn- 
 
376 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 ing was now approaching, and the rulers, having 
 done their deeds of darkness to their satisfaction, 
 were separating, in order to prepare for the more 
 formal meeting of the Sanhedrim, which must be held 
 at the earliest hour of the day. Peter lingered still. 
 His heart had failed him in his temptation, — that 
 which Christ had cautioned him to pray against— and 
 he despised himself for the weakness which he felt 
 was still on him : but he could not bring himself to 
 leave the place ; and he hung about the court in a 
 strange tumult in his heart, affection, reverence, anx- 
 iety, fear. Probably his Master, in some of the lat- 
 ter scenes, had noticed the disciple's face filled with 
 affection and yet fright ; and had also met Peter's 
 eyes among the crowd. — Another temptation to the 
 disciple, and he cowered under it still more ; his 
 heart entirely giving away, till he seemed to be trans- 
 formed into another man. A person said to him, 
 u Surely thou art one of them : for thou art a Gali- 
 lean, and thy speech betrayeth thee ;" — for the Gali- 
 leans interchanged some sounds in their language so 
 as to make some of their words difficult to be under- 
 stood by the people of Judea. He cursed and swore : 
 — " I know not the man of whom ye speak." The 
 words caught the ear of the Messiah ; and he turned 
 and looked on the wretched culprit ; — on that face 
 so filled with fright and shame ; — the eyes of the Sa- 
 viour expressing compassion mixed with gentle re- 
 proach. It was Peter, the boaster that he would die 
 with him ; and the cock, now giving warning of ap- 
 proaching day, had not crowed twice, before he had 
 thrice denied his Lord : — this last time with oaths. 
 
The Trial before Pilate. 377 
 
 At this look of Christ, the disciple went out, and 
 wept bitterly. 
 
 The faint dawn, struggling through the night, and 
 coming slowly over Olivet, saw then, in those streets, 
 a man convulsed with grief and shame, humbled and 
 self-accusing, and filled with remorse : — not much, 
 seemingly, in that large city, and this tumultuous 
 world ; but yet a sight that angels love to look upon ; 
 for, in such penitential feelings, souls are purified and 
 saved. 
 
 Peter, afterwards, became strong and brave for his 
 Lord, confessing him boldly before rulers, and amid 
 direst persecutions : and, it is believed, unflinchingly 
 met a martyr's death in his Master's cause. 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 THE TRIAL BEFORE PILATE. 
 
 The day at last broke fully over Jerusalem ; and 
 the people in that region being early-risers, the vast 
 multitude in and about the city were soon astir, igno- 
 rant yet of the scenes at Caiaphas' house, and think- 
 ing with gladness of the occasion before them : for 
 the day succeeding the Passover-meal was always 
 their high festival day. The whole of the Passover 
 season was to be a time of rejoicing .* but this day 
 was always given to peculiar ceremonies, and sacri- 
 o See Deut. xvi, 10-12. 
 
378 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 fices for feasting ; and, as it was the sixth day of the 
 week, (our Friday,) and the morrow would be the 
 Sabbath, — a more solemn time — it seemed to them 
 that an unusual enjoyment of festivity was to be 
 crowded into this day. 
 
 On this the 15th of Nisau, all the males were bound 
 to appear in the court of the temple, bringing with 
 them a burnt-offering for their appearance and a 
 double peace-offering, one for the solemnity, and one 
 for the joy of the times. These offerings were called, 
 in their language, Chagigali* a word meaning festival- 
 ing or rejoicing ; and were to be a bullock, or sheep, 
 (2 Chron. xxx, 24, and xxxv, 7, 8,) quite distinct 
 from the sacrifice for the Passover supper, and for a 
 different purpose. Part of this-chagigah offering was 
 given to the priest, and with the remainder " they 
 proceeded to their feastings together, with great mirth 
 and rejoicings, according to the manner of that festi- 
 val."f This day was also the one from which the fifty 
 days to Pentecost were to be numbered ; and (which 
 usually added greatly to its joyousness,) it was the 
 time when the first fruits of their barley harvest were 
 to be presented to God ; before which no one was 
 permitted to cut any grain ;X and so this day was 
 called a sacred day. The cutting of this first fruit was 
 a matter of ceremony. Those who were deputed by 
 the Sanhedrim for the ceremony of reaping it went 
 forth in the evening of the feast (Chagigah) day ; and 
 people flocked with them to see the sight, and also 
 
 ° Fiom the verb chagag, to dance, to keep or celebrate a feast by 
 dancing. 
 
 f Lightfoot. 
 
 \ Leviticus xxiii, 9-11, 
 
The Trial before Pilate. 379 
 
 that it might be done with the greater pomp. When 
 it grew dusk, he that was about to reap said, a The 
 sun is set ; ;; and all said, " Well." He repeated, 
 "The sun is set;" and the people replied again, 
 " Well i" " With this sickle ;" " Well :" " With this 
 sickle ;" u Well :" " In this basket ;" " Well :" " In 
 this basket •" " Well." — And if it happened on the 
 Sabbath day, he said, " On this Sabbath f " Well :" 
 " On this Sabbath f " Well :" " I will Reap ;" " Reap :" 
 " I will Reap ;" " Reap." And so, as he said this 
 thrice over, they answered to it all, " Well."* Their 
 regular Sabbath (as, after sunset, was the case in this 
 instance) did not hinder this ceremony ; and, on the 
 next day, the sheaf was offered in the temple, after 
 which, and not before, the Jewish people might pro- 
 ceed .to their harvesting. 
 
 Such, in the regular order of things, would have 
 been this Chagigah or great festival day, a time of 
 peculiar feasting and rejoicing ; and with the feelings 
 suited to it the great multitudes rose on that (Fri- 
 day) morning, in the brightness and freshness of the 
 dawn. 
 
 But the Sanhedrim had been yet earlier risers ; for 
 their work must be quickly done. As the earliest 
 morning light crept down into the judgment-hall, and 
 the court-yard, and upon the wearied and exhausted 
 individuals there, — the Messiah still among them, — the 
 members of the Sanhedrim, with the chief priests, and 
 elders, and scribest might have been seen gliding to- 
 wards the house of Caiaphas, where they were soon 
 formed into the regular council prescribed by their 
 law. They could now pronounce a legal judgment ; 
 
 * Lightfoot. t Mark xv. 1 ; Luke xxii, 66. 
 
880 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 and their action was rapid, the way to it having all 
 been prepared during the night. The Messiah was 
 placed before them. 
 
 11 Art thou the Christ?" they asked. 
 " If I tell you, ye will not believe," he replied ; 
 81 and if I also ask you, ye will not answer me, nor 
 let me go. Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the 
 right hand of the power of God." 
 
 — They were impatient ; for time was pressing ; 
 and all cried out as with one voice, 
 " Art thou the Son of God?" 
 " Ye say that I am :" (the Jewish form; equivalent 
 to, « .I am. 51 ) 
 
 u What need we any further witness 1" they cried, 
 il for we ourselves have heard his own mouth. "* 
 —He was immediately condemned. 
 From this he was taken, while it was yet early ,t to 
 Pilate's judgment-hall. 
 
 In the meantime, by means of various spreading re- 
 ports, the multitudes Were coming to a consciousness 
 of these transactions, and they stood appalled ; — their 
 senses almost paralyzed by what they heard. Their 
 enthusiasm towards the Messiah had been very great. 
 All had taken him to be at least a prophet : many 
 believed him to be much more than this. The rumor 
 of a few days previous, that " the kingdom of heaven 
 was shortly to appear," had turned all eyes towards 
 him in expectation of something wonderful in which 
 he was to be the great and glorious leader : and they 
 had conversed about it among themselves, until curi- 
 osity; if not enthusiastic, had highest power. They 
 remembered also the scenes in the temple ; his majesty 
 » Luke xxii, 66-71. f John xviii, 28. 
 
The Trial before Pilate. 381 
 
 of appearance there ; his teachings, and the force 
 of his words ; his countenance, so grand in its 
 changing expressions, as he hurled the merited woes 
 upon Pharisees and Scribes ; they remembered his 
 healings in the temple, and the general joy caught 
 from the healed men ; — the hosannas shouted out, and 
 caught up again, and repeated, till the temple courts 
 were filled with the sounds of glorifying him as God ; 
 and the scenes on the descent of Olivet, where the 
 throngs were spreading their garments in his way, 
 and hailing him as king, and more than king — " Ho- 
 sanna," " Save, Lord, we beseech thee." Those among 
 the multitudes who had not witnessed these things 
 had heard them repeated in their ears so often, and 
 with so much of the eastern enthusiasm of manner, 
 that they had caught the same feeling : — and now ! 
 Now the rumor went, that he had been condemned, 
 at a formal meeting of the Sanhedrim, for blasphemy ; 
 that witnesses had sworn to his saying that he would 
 destroy their temple ; that he had been sentenced to 
 death, and was at present before the Eoman governor, 
 whither their rulers had taken him, in order to have 
 the sentence confirmed ! 
 
 Those of the multitudes who hastened towards the 
 judgment-seat of Pilate, found there that the rumor was 
 true ; and found the Roman soldiers by the gates and 
 in the judgment hall. The great Roman power had 
 hemmed him in on every side. A shudder, as if their 
 own dissolution were at hand, crept through the 
 crowds ; among whom, however, the agents of the 
 Sanhedrim were now also at work, infusing doubts, 
 and uttering anathemas against him whom the rulers 
 had condemned for blasphemy. 
 
382 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 Pilate is described by Philo, a learned Jewish 
 writer* of that age, as a man " with a nature inflexi- 
 ble and implacable in its arrogance :" he had been 
 appointed Procurator of Judea, a. d. 26, and had 
 made himself odious to the Jews by his cruelty and 
 savage nature, a specimen of which is given in Luke 
 xiii, 1. After ruling for ten years, being accused by 
 the Jews before the Governor-general in Syria, he 
 was deposed and sent to Rome to answer the charges; 
 whence he was banished to Yienne, where he is said 
 to have died by his own hands. 
 
 Before this man,the Messiah, still bound, now stood 
 for trial, his accusers, who were the whole Sanhe- 
 drim, having followed him and being now there also 
 with their charges and their fully settled plans. 
 
 Judgment among the Romans was always public, 
 and sub dio ; (in the open air ;) and, in order to make 
 their decrees more solemn, officers of high rank took 
 with them a tesselated pavement (in Heb. Gabbatha, 
 John xix, 13,) which was placed on an elevated spot : 
 on this pavement was put the Bema or judgment 
 seat ; and on this the judge took his place, when a 
 trial was about to be commenced. This was, in the 
 present case, in front of the Governor's palace, and 
 about it, the elders were now standing for accusation : 
 but they refused to enter the palace itself, that being 
 a Gentile's residence, entering which would defile 
 them till evening, and prevent their joining in the 
 Chagigah ceremonies on that day.t Pilate, however, 
 
 * Born in Alexandria, where he wrote about the year A. D. 40. 
 
 •j- The reader will observe that thi3 removes the seeming diffi- 
 culty in John xviii, 28, which has sometimes puzzled commenta- 
 tors. The passover mentioned there must have been the Chagigah, 
 eaten during the day, and from which any defilement in the morn- 
 
The Trial before Pilate. 383 
 
 could take the accused person within the palace for 
 private examination there. The hall, back of the 
 judgment-seat, had its guard of soldiers and officers ; 
 and the Governor had also his officers at the Bema, 
 where he took his seat. 
 
 Pilate, according to the Roman legal usage, de- 
 manded of the accusers what charges they had to 
 bring : but they tried to evade the question, and to 
 see what their own authority could effect. 
 
 " If he were not a malefactor, we would not have 
 delivered him up unto thee," they said. The Gover- 
 nor rejoined with a sneer, 
 
 " Take ye him and judge him according to your 
 law :" and they now showed their object : 
 
 " It is not lawful for us to put any man. to death."* 
 
 He saw their purpose : and saw the calm and digni- 
 fied face before him, the noble expression of features! 
 the grandeur even yet marked upon that brow, How 
 unlike a culprit ! How strange that such a person 
 should be brought before him as a malefactor to be 
 put to death ! He looked on the countenances of the 
 crowd of accusers, malignant amid all their attempts 
 at hypocrisy ; fierce, though under the assumptions of 
 rank and justice : wrathful in their very first words be- 
 fore him ; and lighted up with eagerness for revenge. 
 They were dark, scowling faces, though their owners 
 stood in robes of office around the bound individual 
 
 ing would have debarred them. Such defilement continuing only 
 till sunset, could not exclude them from any religious duty aftej 
 eunset ; but they wanted to share the Chagigah feast. The whole 
 seven days' feast of unleavened bread was often called the Pass 
 over, (as in Josephus, Belli, 1, §3, also Ant. xi, 4. §8;) and In 
 2 Chron. xxxv, 7, 8, bullocks are called the Passover offerings. 
 --' John xviii, 28-31. 
 
384 Life-scenes from the Fouii Gospels. 
 
 before him, whose features expressed, even then, only 
 benignity and kindness, mingled with calmness and 
 resignation. 
 
 He again demanded of them an accusation, and they 
 now brought forward a political charge, " "We found 
 this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to 
 give tribute unto -Csesar, saying that he himself is 
 Christ, a king."* The Governor gazed at him, and 
 felt a wish for a private interview : he would not have 
 such a person maligned helplessly by those hypocritical 
 men. So Pilate withdrew to the hall in the rear, and 
 had Christ brought there to him. 
 
 " Art thou the king of the Jews ?" he asked. The 
 Messiah did not answer to this, but himself put the 
 a question, 
 
 " Sayest thou this thing thyself, or did others tell it 
 thee of me ?" — The reply to that was indignant, 
 
 lt Am I a Jew ? — Thine own nation and the chief 
 priests have delivered thee to me : what hast thou 
 done ?" The Messiah replied : 
 
 " My kingdom is not of this world : then would my 
 servants fight that I should not be delivered to the 
 Jews :t but now is my kingdom not from hence." 
 
 " Art thou a king, then ?" 
 
 " Thou sayest that I am a king [equivalent to Yes, 
 I am a king.] To this end was I born, and for this 
 came I into the world, that I should bear witness to 
 the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my 
 
 s Luke xxiii, 2. 
 
 + It is observable that here also the distinction is kept up between 
 the people and the rulers, the latter obviously meant by the word 
 Jews , it ic well to bear it in mind in the further readiog of Jobn 
 respecting the trial and crucifixion. 
 
The Trial before Pilate. 385 
 
 "What is truth?" said Pilate, a sceptic probably 
 as regards all truth, as a Roman courtier might well 
 be ; and still more so, surrounded as he was with such 
 hypocritical faces as were those of the accusers ; for he 
 had immediately seen that " for envy " they had deliv- 
 ered Christ.* 
 
 He did not wait for an answer to his question, but 
 went out before the expectant crowds, who were eager 
 for his return. The Sanhedrim had felt that there 
 was good reason to dread such an interview : and 
 they stood now, with ill-disguised anxiety on their 
 faces, and in alarm. Pilate's words confirmed their 
 fears. 
 
 " I find no fault in him at all,"t Filled now with 
 open fierceness, they pressed warmly once more the 
 accusation, which they believed must ultimately alarm 
 the Governor. 
 
 " He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all 
 Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place. ;: J — From 
 Galilee ! thought Pilate : and he was glad ; for it 
 would give him an opportunity to throw the trouble 
 and the odium that might arise from this trial on 
 Herod, Tetrarch of Galilee, who was now in Jerusalem. 
 He probably also expected some gratification of spite 
 in the perplexity it would occasion Herod : for these 
 two governors were at enmity at this time. He there- 
 fore sent the Messiah to Herod, who was pleased ; for 
 now, at last, this ruler had an opportunity of seeing 
 one of whom he had so often heard ; and rumors of 
 whose miracles were so astonishing that he had even 
 taken him to be John risen from the dead. He hoped 
 now to see some miracle performed. 
 
 % Matt, xxvii, 18. f John xvii, 38. J Luke xxiii, 5. 
 
 17 
 
386 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 Before this monster of lust and cruelty, the Messiah 
 was now standing : the accusers having accompanied 
 him there. They might hope for better success before 
 such a mixture of meanness, and weakness and barbar-* 
 ity, as Herod had shown himself to be in the case of 
 the Baptist : and they now urged their accusation with 
 new vehemence ; while the Tetrarch himself put Ques- 
 tion after question, with greater and greater bitter- 
 ness and savage feeling, as he found himself unan- 
 swered in any one of .them. The Saviour opposed to 
 the contemptible ruler and his insolent questions, as he 
 had previously done to his accusers before Pilate * 
 only the calm dignity of silence ; until the Tetrarch, 
 irritated by receiving no reply, turned on him his sol- 
 diers, who, with the ruler, " set him at naught, and 
 mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe :" 
 after which he was sent back to Pilate. These mis- 
 sions between the two governors brought about a re- 
 conciliation between them, and they now became 
 friends.f 
 
 The governor of Judea was perplexed ; for on the 
 one hand was the Sanhedrim, with the weight of its 
 position, and its official condemnation in this case, 
 with accusations also of a political nature, which, if 
 disregarded, might bring him into trouble ; and, on 
 the other, he believed in the Messiah's innocence, and 
 saw their motive in all this malignant action j and he 
 had been also cautioned by his wife, warned in a 
 dream."]: a to have nothing to do with that just man." 
 He made an effort at extricating himself, through an 
 old custom, which was to yield up to the people's 
 clemency on this day, any malefactor whom they 
 
 * Matt, xxvii, 12. f Luke xxiii, 6-12. % Matt, xxvii, 19. 
 
The Trial before Pilate. 387 
 
 might demand ; and now, as they were becoming 
 clamorous for this favor, a hope sprang up in the 
 governor that they might judge differently from their 
 ■fculers, and might require of him the accused. He 
 said to them, 
 
 " Will ye that I release unto you the King of the 
 Jews?"* 
 
 The rulers were startled ; but they were not to be 
 readily foiled. They immediately mingled with the 
 multitude ,f repeating charge after charge against the 
 Messiah ; sustaining these with all the authority of 
 their office ; appealing to the people's reverence for 
 their temple, there in full view ; and using such 
 other devices as their malignity could invent ; and 
 soon there were symptoms of disapprobation at Pi- 
 late's suggestion. There was in prison a notorious 
 felon, Barabbas by name, put there for robbery and 
 murder, and attempt at sedition ; and from those 
 crowds — probably many of them of a base sort, such 
 as could sympathize with that culprit — after a while, 
 arose a demand : 
 
 " Away with this man, and release unto us Bar- 
 abbas.'^ 
 
 " What will ye then that I shall do unto him ye 
 call the King of the Jews ?" And they answered with 
 the terrific cry, 
 
 " Crucify him !" 
 
 Pilate was horror-struck, and attempted to remon- 
 strate : 
 
 " Why, what evil hath he done ?" But the cry was 
 only vociferated more fiercely, 
 
 « Mark xv, 9. f Matt, xxvii, 20. % Luke xxiii, 18; 
 
3S8 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 " Crucify him ! "* 
 
 They were going far beyond their own law, which 
 ordered stoning to death, as the severest punishment 
 for the greatest crime known among them, namely; 
 blasphemy : but this did not satisfy them now. They 
 demanded, the most cruel and the most painful of all 
 Roman punishments, one exciting such horror among 
 the Romans themselves, that Cicero says of it, " Ah 
 oculis, auribusque et omni cogitatione hominum remov- 
 endum est :"t it should be banished from eyes and ears, 
 and even from the very thoughts of men : — so igno- 
 minious also, that it was inflicted, as the last mark of 
 detestation, on the vilest of people, — the punishment 
 of robbers and. murderers, provided, that they were 
 slaves ; but if they were free, it was thought too in- 
 famous a punishment for such, let their crimes be 
 what they might. £ 
 
 One word from the governor, — an order for ac- 
 quittal — would have been decisive ; and we may won- 
 der that it was not given, when he heard their hor- 
 rible demand, especially as he had just said, to them, 
 " Behold, I having examined him before you, have 
 found no fault in this man touching the things where- 
 of ye accuse him : no, nor yet Herod : for I sent you 
 to him, and lo nothing worthy of death is done unto 
 him : ?? § — but we must remember, not as an exculpa- 
 tion, but as one of the facts in the case, that Pilate was 
 amenable to Rome, to which their accusations against 
 himself, could easily be sent. He thought he would 
 try whether their malice might not be satisfied if the 
 object of their vengeance should be degraded and 
 
 e Mark xv, 12-14. f In Verrem. J Adam Clarke. 
 
 § Luke xxiii, 14, la. 
 
The Trial before Pilate. 389 
 
 punished before their eyes ; his claims of kingship 
 being made the badges of his disgrace. He, there- 
 fore, had the Messiah scourged ; and delivered him 
 into the hands of his soldiers, who platted a crown of 
 thorns and put it on his head, and put on him a pur- 
 ple robe, and said, " Hail, King of the Jews I" and- 
 next struck him with the palms of their hands ; they 
 smote him on the head with a reed, and spit upon 
 him, and bowed their knees in mock worship ;* and 
 Pilate now came out and said, 
 
 " Behold I bring him forth to you that ye may 
 know that I find no fault in him." Jesus was led 
 before them wearing the crown of thorns and the 
 purple robe. Mockery it was, but, even still, there 
 was a dignity in his manner which they could not 
 tear from him or disguise, and a strange Presence 
 recognized by Pilate even there, as if the kingship 
 thrust forward in mockery was felt to be actual truth. 
 He said to them, 
 
 u Behold the Man!" — and there broke out again 
 that fierce demand : 
 
 " Crucify him, crucify him." The governor saw 
 that all efforts at conciliation were fruitless ; there 
 was now only one shout from them, and that for 
 blood ; he looked down on the fierce, and determin- 
 ed faces, and saw no relenting there, only malice, and 
 now but half-suppressed rage against himself. He 
 quailed before what this might effect against himself; 
 it would be the easiest and safest thing for him to 
 yield. But, even in yielding, he put in a protest : — ■ 
 "Take ye him and crucify him ; for I find no fault 
 in him. ; ' In their triumph now at success, and at-. 
 * John ix, 1-3 ; Mark xv, 18, 19. 
 
390 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels.. 
 
 tempts at justification, they overshot their mark. 
 i; We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, 
 because he made himself the Son of God." — The gov- 
 ernor was startled and amazed : it was a new aspect 
 in the affair ; for hitherto they had been pressing it 
 upon him on political grounds. The strange dignity 
 of the accused had before impressed him ; — his calm- 
 ness, truly like that of a God, while all were raging 
 around him for his destruction ; — the majesty which 
 no mocking could put down. He went back to the 
 hall again, and summoned the Messiah. " Whence 
 art thou ?" he said. 
 
 There was no reply. Pilate was urgent for an 
 answer, and tried to bring the terrors of his power to 
 his aid. 
 
 " Speakest thou not unto me ? Knowest thou not 
 that I have power to crucify thee and have power to 
 release thee ?" The answer was : 
 
 u Thou couldst have no power against me, except 
 it were given thee from above ; therefore, he that de- 
 livered me unto thee hath the greater sin." 
 
 Outside, there was a feeling of impatience becom- 
 ing strong among the rulers. They dared not come 
 to the hall, for that would defile the hypocrites ; but 
 these interviews and colloquies in it were always 
 subjects to them of distrust and fear. Previously 
 they had found their cause suffer from such an exami- 
 nation by Pilate ; and now, when lie appeared again 
 before them, he made still further efforts for the re- 
 lease of Christ. But they had one powerful means 
 kept in reserve for extremities, and such an extremity 
 seemed now to have come. Of all the Roman empe- 
 rors, Tiberius (then ruling) was the most jealous and 
 
The Trial before Pilate. 391 
 
 implacable ; and, in nis eyes, majestatis crimen omnium 
 accusationum complementum est (Tacitus, Ann. iii, 
 38 :) " the crime of treason is the climax of all accusa 
 tio?is. 7 ' They cried out loudly to Pilate : 
 
 " If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's 
 friend : whosoever maketh himself a king, speaketh 
 against Cassar,"* 
 
 — Thou art not well affected towards Ccesar : 
 
 He resisted no more. They had conquered ; and 
 they knew now that, with the threat of accusing the 
 governor, whose soul crouched with fear before the 
 bloody tyrant, their triumph was secured. 
 
 The governor seated himself on the judgment-seat 
 at the tesselated pavement, and the Messiah was 
 brought before them once more. He said, 
 
 " Behold your king ;" and there arose a storm of 
 wrath, with shouts, 
 
 " Away with him ! away with him !" 
 
 " Shall I crucify your king ?" he asked. 
 
 — They were now mad with rage ; — for they cried, 
 the chief priests leading in it, 
 
 " We have no Icing but Ccesar ."t 
 
 The rulers must have felt a thrill of horror in 
 their hearts, as the words burst from them ; for it 
 had always been their boast that they had no king 
 but God, and would acknowledge no other ; and this 
 they had always put forward as their grounds of re- 
 sistance to the Eoman power and its claims. But 
 madness filled them now. Their words were blasphe- 
 my and treason against God, according to all that they 
 had ever professed before : they were making them- 
 selves contemptible in their own eyes and abhorrent to 
 * John xix, 4-12. f John xix, 13-16. 
 
392 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 nil the nation ; and faces in the multitude there 
 showed horror at the cry ; but there was no open 
 protest ; and the blasphemy and treason stand yet 
 against the rulers in the madness of that hour. 
 
 Pilate, on the judgment-seat, called for water, and 
 performed a significant act. He washed his hands, 
 publicly, so that all might see it, and declared before 
 them, " I am innocent of the blood of this just man : 
 see ye to it." An answering cry came from the whole 
 assembly there ; and it contains, under the circum- 
 stances, the most frightful words ever uttered by hu- 
 man lips : " His blood be on us and on our children /"* 
 
 " Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they re- 
 quired, "t He had Barabbas released then, and deliv- 
 ered into their hands. 
 
 What were the feelings of the multitudes in Jerusa- 
 lem, all this while ? — the people who had cried their 
 hosarmas, the admiring throngs that had gazed on his 
 miracles, the men cured, the blind men of Siloam and 
 of Jericho, and the halt and blind healed in the tem- 
 ple. Lazarus, the disciples, where were they? was 
 there no voice from any one of them ? There must 
 have been a sickening sensation throughout the city, a 
 feeling that a dark, hellish deed was being done, and 
 a resistance in men's hearts to the whole proceeding 
 of the Sanhedrim. " Why," the people must have 
 thought, " why, the secret stealing upon- the party in 
 Gethsemane ? why the night-council ? why the viola- 
 tion of all precedents and of all Jewish law ? why this 
 indecent haste ?" The hellish malice of the Pharisees 
 and chief priests was manifest ; the instigations of the 
 crowd to demand Barabbas, a robber and murderer, 
 c Matt, xxvii, 25. f Luke xxiii, 24. 
 
The Trial before Pilate. 393 
 
 and to demand crucifixion as regards Jesus ; their 
 goadings on of the unwilling Governor ; — all this was 
 too transparent not to be seen through and under- 
 stood ; and the hearts of alltrue men must have re- 
 coiled from it in horror and disgust. But what could 
 they do ? It was now but three hours after sunrise ; 
 and, already, Pilate had pronounced the sentence, and 
 Jesus was in the hands of the Roman soldiers ; and 
 the power of that colossal Roman empire had closed 
 around him, and he was hemmed in by it to his death. 
 True, it was reported that the Sanhedrim had, in formal 
 conclave, condemned him for blasphemy, even on his 
 own words before them ; but men, through the city, 
 still recoiled with a sickening sensation from the 
 whole thing, as a dark, hellish work. Those who 
 thought of God's justice, even if they did not believe 
 in Christ, trembled ; those who believed in him, felt 
 crushed to the earth, and knew the truth of their Mas- 
 ter's word, — that a woe was gathering, to burst over 
 all their land. 
 
 There was one man among tnem amiost pnrenzied. 
 It was Judas. He had probably hoped that there 
 would be some way of escape for the Messiah, some 
 miracle from him perhaps for his own deliverance : and 
 he had scarcely anticipated such an end. He had the 
 money : Christ, he had hoped, would escape. Thus he 
 had doubtless reasoned : and the Pharisees, he had 
 thought, would be doubly overmatched. Therefore, 
 the keenest man in all Jerusalem in watching the pro- 
 ceedings of the council, and at the Prastorium, was, 
 doubtless, this traitor, in whose heart remorse was tak- 
 ing its everlasting hold. Now the end had come, and 
 with it came recollections and anticipations, and a 
 
391 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 Tearfulness of horror ; for hell was already lighted up 
 in his heart. He saw the flashing of triumph in the 
 Pharisees' eyes ; remorse was blazing in a frenzy from 
 his own. He hurried to their council, which seems to 
 have adjourned from the Praetorium to the temple pre- 
 cincts, and entered it with the cry, 
 
 " I have sinned in that I have betrayed the inno- 
 cent blood." There was only a cold-blooded, sneer- 
 ing answer : 
 
 « What is that to us ? See thou to that." He 
 flung down their money, and rushed out. Was the 
 woe at the Paschal supper pursuing him ? Had it 
 not rung in his ears all the night and all the morn- 
 ing ? " Woe unto the pian by whom the Son of man 
 was betrayed ; it had been better for that man if he 
 had not been born."* Remorse and the woe were 
 upon him, and the wretch immediately committed 
 suicide by hanging. t 
 
 The Sanhedrim gathered up the -money : it was 
 not lawful, they said, to put it into the treasury of the 
 temple, as it was the price of blood ; so they bought 
 with it a field for burying strangers, and called the 
 place " The Field of Blood." 
 
 * Matt, xxvi, 24. f.Matt, xxvii, 5. 
 
The Crucifixion. 395 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 THE CRUCIFIXION. 
 
 Pilate had yielded. As soon as he had discovered 
 the motive of the Jewish leaders, il that for envy 
 they had delivered him ;"* and saw that they propos- 
 ed making himself the instrument of their malice ; 
 and moreover saw the greatness of the Messiah, 
 under these trying circumstances, "he determined 
 to let him go ;"t but his own nature was too pusil- 
 lanimous to allow him to hold unflinchingly to the 
 right amid dangers to himself ; and at that argw 
 menium ad hominem^ at the last, he had withered and 
 lost his manhood. We can almost see him, as, in the 
 symbolical act, he was washing his hands ; ashamed 
 of himself ; trying thus, but unsatisfactorily to his 
 own heart, to shake off the responsibility of the con- 
 demnation ;. warm in admiration of the wonderful 
 being whom he had delivered to the leaders to be 
 crucified ; and despising and hating them. What a 
 contempt he must have felt for men, who, while so 
 instigated by deadly malice, and urging him to cruci- 
 fy an innocent person, had yet refused to enter his 
 hall, lest they should be defiled by crossing the 
 threshold of a Gentile, amd so should be unfitted for 
 the religious ceremonies of the day. 
 
 He was glad to see them go at last and vacate his 
 premises ; but, as he turned from them, it must have 
 
 « Matt, xxvii, 18. f Acts iii, 13. 
 
396 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 been with many compunctions as to nis own conduct, 
 and a sense of meanness and degradation in himself. 
 He felt however that he had obtained one great tri- 
 umph over these base men ; and that was, when they 
 had given the lie to all their former pretensions, and 
 had lowered their pride, and had abjured all that they 
 had ever declared sacred and inviolable, and in that 
 mad cry from them, " We have no king but Csesar." 
 
 Before they left the Prsetorium, there had been the 
 usual prelude to capital punishment among the Ro- 
 mans, which was a scourging by whips in the case of 
 milder death-penalties ; by the flagella when it was 
 to be by crucifixion. Horace terms the latter scourg- 
 ings horribilia ; and persons often died under this in- 
 fliction alone ;* as well they might, for the lashes to 
 the whip used in this case were knotted with bones 
 or heavy indented circles of bronze, or terminated 
 with hooks. t 
 
 It' was against all Jewish law to examine a cause, 
 pass sentence, and put it in execution the same day,J 
 but law and usage were nothing to their leaders on 
 this occasion. They wanted the life-blood, no matter 
 at what cost or how procured. 
 
 The movement from the judgment hall was onward 
 towards the place of crucifixion ; the Saviour, as 
 was customary on such occasions, bearing his 'cross ; 
 though soon, owing to his exhaustion, the soldiers com- 
 pelled a man, coming from the country, to assist in 
 supporting its weight. The crowds had gathered in 
 large numbers ; some of them stupefied, amazed, stun- 
 ned, and, all helpless now ; for any resistance, if 
 
 '■■- Jahn's Archaeology. 
 
 f Anthon's Die. of Greek and Ro. Antiquities. \ Jahn. 
 
The Crucifixion. 397 
 
 they so felt disposed, would be insurrectionary, and 
 would only bring on them the quick vengeance of 
 Rome : some were exultant and noisy in their demon- 
 strations of triumph and joy. As the company moved 
 onward to the place of crucifixion, weeping was heard 
 in the crowd ; and the Saviour j turned toward the 
 sounds. — Sympathy, kindness, commiseration at last, 
 and in that company ; people wailing and lamenting 
 aloud ! They were women, and their, voices sounded 
 strangely among those mixed, discordant noises, where 
 tauntings and rcvilings and rejoicings were the gen- 
 eral manifestations of feeling. He turned sadly to- 
 wards the women : exhaustion and pain showed them- 
 selves in his tones : but he thought, even then, more of 
 these mourners than of himself. 
 
 " Daughters of Jerusalem," he said, " weep not for 
 me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For 
 behold the days are coming, in the which they shall 
 say, Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never 
 bare, and the paps that never gave suck. Then shall 
 they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us ; and 
 to the hills, Cover us. For if they do these things in 
 a green tree, what shall be done in the dry ?"* 
 
 Once more onward, towards the place of execution ,* 
 the crowds half-awed by the solemn words, and by the 
 indefinite danger foreshadowed in the language of one 
 always so prophet-like ; but the leaders were there 
 applying fresh stimulants to rage and to' tauntings and 
 obloquy. A Roman officer ; Roman soldiers ; Jesus 
 with his burden ; two malefactors also, with their 
 crosses, bearing him company, as if an additional deg- 
 radation was attempted to be forced upon him by their 
 
 » Luke xxiii, 27-30. 
 
398 Life-scenes prom the Four Gospels. 
 
 companionship ; the rulers of the Jews still unwearied 
 and determined to see the end fully accomplished ; the 
 crowds, some awed and silent, some vociferous and in- 
 sulting ; the women, their voices of wailing mingling 
 with the harsh sounds of bold, fierce men ; — such was 
 the company that advanced along the thoroughfares of 
 Jerusalem from the Governor's palace to Calvary. 
 
 A spot called Golgotha, signifying " the place of a 
 skull," being a slight elevation with its summit in full 
 view, was to be the scene of the crucifixion : and they 
 soon arrived there ; for it was not far from the Pras- 
 torium, and just outside of the city walls. There the 
 preparations were quickly made. The garments of 
 the person to be executed were always the perquisites 
 of the Roman guards ; and those of our Saviour were 
 now divided among the quaternion or four soldiers, 
 the outer one falling to one of them by lot. The pre- 
 parations for nailing him to the cross were soon com- 
 pleted. It was customary, in respect to the very hor- 
 rible pains suffered in this first act, to give, previously, 
 to the individual, a stupefying potion : and such an one 
 was now handed to the Messiah : but after tasting it, 
 lie refused to drink.* 
 
 He was then nailed to the cross. 
 
 u Father, forgive them," he said, as tney did this, 
 "for they know not what they do."t 
 
 The company had been painfully attentive, even 
 the most hardened and cruel ; a deep horror, a so- 
 lemnity, a shrinking in their nerves, as they heard 
 the grating sounds of the nails : a shuddering 
 through the crowd ; sobs, and sounds of weeping here 
 and there ; and then a shout of derision and scorn, 
 
 «Matt. xvii,, 31. f Luke xxiii, 34. 
 
The Crucifixion. 399 
 
 with bitter tauntings, drowning all other sounds ; 
 such was the scene. What fiends men can be when 
 under wicked leaders, and stimulated by hellish pas- 
 sions ! and devils seemed to have a terrible power 
 there, in that hour of the crucifixion of Christ. The 
 cross now had been put in its place, and elevated j 
 and it stood there, with its burden bloody from the 
 stripes and the nailing, and with its inscription in 
 Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, '■ Jesus of Nazareth 
 the King of the Jews"* The Jewish leaders had 
 requested Pilate to change it to a different form, 
 declaring a pretension to be king ; but he refused. 
 The chief priests, and scribes, and elders were there, 
 leading on -the tauntings : " He saved others ; him- 
 self he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let 
 him come down from the cross, and we will believe 
 him. He trusted in God ; let him deliver him now 
 if he will have him ; for he said, I am the Son of 
 God." Their action, their language, their feelings 
 were hellish : there seemed to be nothing human left 
 in them ; and yet these men were the rulers of the 
 nation. 
 
 The crowds joined mostly in these cries, and in 
 their own peculiar way. They had followed on ; 
 some in the interest of the rulers and their creatures, 
 some from idle curiosity, some from better motives ; 
 but there had doubtless been in many the expectation 
 of some great phenomena, — a great miracle, perhaps 
 some supernatural effort at release, some struggle by 
 that strange power in him for deliverance ; and now 
 
 G Latin was tho official language ; Greek was the one usually- 
 spoken in that country hy the learned ; and Hebrew, or rather its 
 cognate, Aramean by the common people. 
 
400 Life-scenes from tiie Four GosrELs. 
 
 that there had been none, they were angered, and 
 would feel that there was some revenge due them for 
 their disappointment. They tried to have it, led, 
 too, as they were by men in authority ; the soldiers 
 also, and even the two crucified malefactors, or, at 
 least, one of them, joined in their mockings and taunt- 
 ing cries. The shouts of the people showed how the 
 cunning device of the priests in suborning witnesses 
 to say that they had heard him threaten to destroy 
 their temple, had succeeded in revolutionizing their 
 feelings ; for their cry was, " Ah, thou who destroy- 
 est the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thy- 
 self, and come down from the cross. "* The priests 
 sneered at him, in their own peculiar way, — "He 
 saved others ; himself he cannot save." One of the 
 malefactors by and by, struck to the heart by the 
 strange scene ; — the revilings cast on one so innocent ; 
 the gentleness and forgivingness of the sufferer in his 
 greatest pains ; — the contrast between the raging, ven- 
 omous people and Christ, — rebuked his companion as 
 he was saying, " If thou be the Christ, save thyself 
 and us." 
 
 " Dost thou not fear God," he said, " seeing that 
 thou art in the same condemnation ? And we indeed 
 justly ; for we receive the due rewards of our deeds, 
 but this man hath done nothing amiss." He added 
 to Jesus himself, 
 
 " Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy 
 kingdom." 
 
 It was but a simple prayer : it was the first appeal 
 ever made to the Cross of Christ ; and it was an- 
 
 e Mark xv, 29. 
 
The Crucifixion. 401 
 
 swered in kindness : " To-day shalt thou be with me 
 in Paradise."* 
 
 There stood near to the cross a group, — a singular 
 one it was amid that scene of scoffing, and malice, 
 and triumph at Christ's sufferings ; — for the faces 
 and actions of these persons gave demonstration how 
 deeply they sympathized with the sufferer. They 
 were his mother ; her sister, wife of Cleophas ; Mary 
 Magdelene j and the faithful John. Best love is ever 
 bravest ; and these loved the most. They stood 
 there, true to him ; their souls writhing under those 
 tauntings, and those scornful, insulting cries. They 
 looked towards the cross ; and there they saw the 
 marks of agony ; the anguish apparent in his face 
 and in the spasms and convulsions of his body ; — that 
 face, so gentle and calm, and so God-like always, but 
 now also clouded with the pain expressing itself in 
 every line and feature ; — the eyes now bloodshot ; — 
 the brow and form wounded and bloody ; — the lan- 
 guor of exhaustion stealing over the limbs and 
 frame. Not one word, however, of complaint from 
 him ; his eyes still showed love to them and to all. 
 His voice and tone when he spoke, were now, as 
 always, in mercy, and kindness and love. 
 
 He addressed them ; but his words were few, in 
 consequence of his spasms of agony : 
 
 " Woman, behold thy son !" and to John, 
 
 " Behold thy mother :'" 
 
 Those tones had the marks of pain in them ; but 
 yet how true they were to his strong, undying love ! 
 John took her from that hour, as his own mother, to 
 his home.f 
 
 ° Luke xxiii, 39-43. f John xix, 25-27. 
 
402 Life-scenes from the Four Gosfels 
 
 The hours dragged on ; and the agony increased. 
 In one of our best authorities we have the following 
 account of the effects of crucifixion : 
 
 " 1. — The position of the body is unnatural, the arras 
 being extended back and almost immovable. In case 
 of the least motion an extremely painful sensation is 
 experienced in the hands and feet,* which are pierced* 
 with nails, and the back, which is lacerated with 
 stripes. 2. — The nails being driven through the parts 
 of the hands and feet which abound in nerves and 
 tendons, create the most exquisite anguish. 3. — The 
 exposure of his many wounds to the open air brings 
 on an inflammation whieh every moment increases 
 the poignancy of the suffering. 4. — In those parts of 
 the body which are distended or pressed, more blood 
 flows through the arteries than can be carried back 
 into the veins. The consequence is that a greater 
 quantity of blood finds its way from the aorta into 
 the head and stomach than would be carried there by 
 *a natural and undisturbed circulation. The blood- 
 vessels of the head become pressed and swollen, 
 which, of course, causes pain and redness of the face. 
 The circumstance of the blood being impelled in more 
 than ordinary quantities into the stomach, is an un- 
 favorable one also, because it is that part of the sys- 
 tem which not only admits of the blood being sta- 
 tionary, but is peculiarly exposed to mortification. 
 The aorta not being at liberty to empty, in a free and 
 undisturbed way as formerly, the blood which it re- 
 
 * Gregory of Nazianzan has asserted that one nail only was driven 
 through them ; but Cyprian, (De passione,) who had been a personal 
 witness to crucifixions, and is, consequently, in this case, a better 
 authority, states, on the contrary, that two nails or spikes were 
 driven, one through each foot. — Jahris Archeology. 
 
The Crucifixion. 403 
 
 ceives from the left ventricle of the heart, is unable 
 to receive its usual quantity. The blood of the lungs 
 is, therefore, unable to find a free circulation. This 
 general obstruction extends its effects likewise to the 
 right ventricle, and the consequence is an internal ex- 
 citement and exertion and anxiety, which are more 
 intolerable than the anguish of death itself. All the 
 large vessels about the heart, and all the veins and 
 arteries in that part of the system, on account of the 
 accumulation and pressure of blood, are a source of 
 inexpressible misery. 5. — The degree of anguish is 
 gradual in its increase, and the person crucified is 
 able to live under it, commonly till the third, and 
 sometimes even till the seventh day."* 
 
 The group of friends felt all the bitterness of those 
 still continued gibes and tauntings, and the wag- 
 ging of heads at him, by the passers by ; for the spot 
 was at some thoroughfare, probably near the angle 
 where the walls of Acra agd of Zion met, and by the 
 gate Gcnnath, in the latter. They were themselves a 
 marked object ; with their deep sympathy depicted 
 in their faces ; and many a look of contempt was di- 
 rected at them ; but no violence dared be offered in 
 the presence of the Roman officer and his soldiers : 
 and the elders and rabble felt too much engrossed 
 with their tauntings of Christ to give much time to 
 others of less note. Was there not one sentiment of 
 compassion in the revilers ? no feeling for the anguish 
 shown on that brow and in the convulsed limbs, the 
 agony manifesting itself as it shot through all that 
 frame? Their words show only malignity, and spite, 
 and triumph. 
 
 ~- Jabn's Archeology. 
 
401 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 — But, after a while, as this was going on, every 
 one in Jerusalem and in the region about it, became 
 conscious of a singular gloom darkening the air and 
 settling down over all objects ; becoming deeper and 
 deeper; coming silently and enwrapping everything, 
 — the city, and temple, and mountains around. Peo- 
 ple stopped, and looked at each other in wonder ; and 
 presently in alarm : for it was becoming night, al- 
 though the time was at full mid-day. The crucifix- 
 ion had been at nine o'clock :* it was now twelve ; 
 but soon there was no sun to be seen in the sky, only 
 the blackness of darkness everywhere. Men groped 
 along in uncertainty of motion ; deep horror now in 
 every heart. The Chagigah cer monies had been go- 
 ing on in the city, and at the temple, and the great 
 altar fires were blazing on Moriah with the sacrifices 
 there. Very many of the people, it is true, had, from 
 early morning, felt uo heart for the festivities of 
 this, their great day of rej#icing : for they had been 
 stunned by the announcement of the seizure and bind- 
 ing, and condemnation of Christ, and by the scenes 
 at the Praetorium ; and a sickening sensation had 
 crept through them, when they heard of the crucifix- 
 ion : but others, deceived by the artful proceedings 
 of the Sanhedrim, or callous, or fickle, or unwilling 
 to lose the rejoicings that had always made this day 
 so gay an one, were proceeding with the Chagigah 
 festivity, when this darkness came settling down over 
 
 ° Third Lour, (nine o'clock,) according to Mark xv, 25, which 
 agrees with Matthew and Luke. The Gospel of John says at the 
 sixth hour, (or noon,) which is evidently an error by transcribers ; 
 the Greek letter representing six being very similar to that for 
 three. In some of the best ancient Greek readings in John also 
 we find the third hour. 
 
The Crucifixion. 405 
 
 their mirth, and substituted for it, horror and alarm. 
 They left their feasts untouched : they sat in silence, 
 or whispered to each other, or hastened to secret 
 places, as if fearful that, m this blackening gloom, 
 some mighty Avenger was coming through the air 
 ready to strike, — they could not tell where, or whom, 
 or how. Some ascended rapidly to the sacred pre- 
 cincts of the temple, thinking that perhaps there 
 might be more safety or less alarm in that place ; and 
 found the priests, with pallid faces, looking, in their 
 white dresses about the altar lighted, up by the strong 
 glare from its fires, more like unwilling spirits of an 
 angry Jehovah aghast at their work, than like paci- 
 ficators between God and man, and the ministers of 
 joy on this festive day. There was universal horror, 
 and a momentarily increasing fear amid these mil- 
 lions congregated at Jerusalem. The words of 
 Christ to the women, on the way to GoJgotha, were 
 spreading among tj,ie crowds, u Daughters of Jerusa- 
 lem, weep not for me, but for yourselves and for your 
 children," &c. : and people also remembered his fre- 
 quent prophecies as to the city and the terrible doom 
 it might expect. "Had the time now come?' 7 they 
 thought. " Was this the beginning ?" Men sat down, 
 covering their faces in the horror that was chilling 
 them through ; or stood like statues, as if turned to 
 marble in this fear that was paralyzing every faculty : 
 women clasped their children to their hearts, and shed 
 over them their silent tears, or broke into wailings at 
 what seemed to be the doom already arrived. 
 
 All nature was mourning as at some horrible event : 
 and all thoughts were turned towards the scenes at 
 Golgotha, 1 — the cross, the victim, the deepening ago- 
 
406 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 nics there. That spot was involved in the darkness, 
 as if heaven would not look upon it, and was shroud- 
 ing it from all sight ; — or, perhaps, as if heaven was 
 sympathizing with the sufferings there, and veiling 
 itself in gloom. 
 
 So the hours passed on, in this unnatural and fright- 
 ful darkness, until the ninth hour (three o'clock) was 
 near at hand. The anguish of Christ had been in- 
 creasing, with all the peculiar mental as well as 
 bodily distress belonging to that mode of suffering. 
 Death was approaching, a death in which all the 
 powers are strained into the fullest agony before they 
 finally give way. The mind is fearfully affected; 
 and the writhings and distortions of the higher, intel- 
 lectual nature, form the greatest of the horrors which 
 precede the dissolution. 
 
 Such a spasm came now. There was a cry, ex- 
 torted by its anguish — 
 
 "Eli! Eli! lama Sabasthani UMy God, my God, 
 why hast thou forsaken me ?" 
 
 Men with hearts steeled against all sympathy, and 
 full of malignity, were still about the cross ; and 
 they said, — mistaking the words — 
 
 " Let be : let us see whether Elias will come to 
 save him." 
 
 The mental spasm, however, was soon over ; and 
 the Godlike nature in him had again the supremacy ■ 
 but what a horrible darkening there had been to 
 bring forth that desponding cry ! 
 
 During these pains, the body is parched by a burn- 
 ing sensation ; and to his complaint of thirst now, 
 the soldiers filled a sponge with their vinegar, or sour 
 
The Crucifixion. 407 
 
 wine (their common drink,) and it was handed to 
 him on the extremity of a hyssop stalk. 
 
 — The end had come. He said, 
 
 " It is. finished."* — "Father, into thy hands I com- 
 mit my spirit."t 
 
 — One cry, a piercing, anguished cry, drawn from 
 him by the death agony, and it was over.J The suf- 
 ferings had ceased. 
 
 Nature, as if in sympathy, was convulsed. The 
 earth shock as if it were in terror : the rocks were 
 rent in sunder ; the veil of the temple, hiding the 
 holy of holies from the eyes of all but the high priest, 
 was rent in twain from top to bottom, as by unseen 
 hands ; graves opened of their own accord, and 
 bodies of the dead appeared moving about, as though 
 the grave were resigning its power, — its dominion 
 gone. The centurion who had been superintending 
 the execution exclaimed, "Truly this was the Son of 
 God."§ A fear had come on all watching there, and 
 others joined the officer in the exclamation : they 
 smote on their breastsjl and returned to the city, 
 fear, sadness, remorse filling their hearts. * The physi- 
 cal darkness had now passed away, and light was 
 restored to the earth once more.T 
 
 * John xix, 30. f Luke xxiii, 4G. $ Matt, xxvii, 59. 
 
 § Matt, xxvii, 54. || Luke "xxiii, 48. 
 
 *[[ This darkness was undoubtedly miraculous ; but there was a 
 singular case of darkness, from natural, though still unexplained 
 causes, on what is called iu New England "The Dark Day," which 
 occurred on the 19th of May, 1780. President Dwight, in speak- 
 ing of it, says : ' ' Candles were lighted in many houses ; the birds 
 were silent and disappeared, and the fowls retired to roost. The 
 legislature of Connecticut was then in session at Hartford. A 
 very general opinion prevailed that the day of judgment was at 
 hand. The House of Representatives beirur unable to transact their 
 
408 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 The group of friends by the cross had not oeen the 
 only sympathizers watching these sad events. There 
 were others further off — people true to him still* in 
 their hearts, some of whom had followed him from 
 Galilee,* but powerless to help. To them the former 
 group had retired towards the last of these scenes. 
 In addition to their sympathies, there were many very 
 sad thoughts among his friends on that day, under- 
 standing, very imperfectly as they did, the nature of 
 the kingdom which he had come to establish among 
 men. Their love for him had given rise to many 
 hopes of seeing him aggrandized in the world ; some 
 hopes there had also been for themselves ; all such 
 hopes were quenched now. 
 
 Life in the malefactors still lingered on : and it was 
 customary with the Romans, when this was the case, 
 longer than they wished in any sufferer on the cross, 
 to hasten death by breaking the bones of the legs with 
 a mallet ; or. by plunging a spear into the heart ; or, 
 by kindling a fire below, thus to hasten the end by 
 suffocation. The day following this would be the 
 Jewish Sabbath ; and it was important to have the 
 bodies removed before sunset, when their holy day 
 would commence : so the soldiers came and broke the 
 bones of the malefactors, but there was no necessity 
 for this violence on Saviour's body, and it was 
 
 business adjourned. A proposal to adjourn the Council was under 
 consideration. "When the opinion of Col. Davenport was asked, he 
 answered, ' I am against an adjournment. The day of judgment 
 is either approaching, or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause 
 for an adjournment ; if it is, I choose to be found doing my duty ; 
 I wish therefore that candles may be lighted." This darkness, like 
 that at Jerusalem, seems to have been local. 
 • ;; Luke xxii i , 49. 
 
The Crucifixion. 409 
 
 spared: one of them, however, to try whether- there 
 might not still be life, thrust a spear into his side, and 
 there came out blood and water, decisive evidence 
 that death had taken place.* 
 
 Silence had fallen gradually upon this scene ; as the 
 leaders, fully sated in their revenge, had left ; and the 
 people had dropped off towards their homes in fear 
 and remorse. A few remained, watchers from affec- 
 tion ; and the Roman guard was still on duty there. 
 
 We turn to gaze on that spectacle ; — the cross, the 
 body, the bloody marks on brow and limbs, the stamp 
 Of death on the victim slain ; — slain for us. 
 
 " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away 
 the sin of the world." 
 
 ° Serum and blood, showing that the blood had resolved itself 
 into its constituent principles, as it always does after death. 
 
 "The researches of modern surgery have established the fact that 
 an effusion of blood would have taken place in any case, being the 
 natural consequences of such a wound, and is, under the circum- 
 stances, decisive evidence of the actual death of Christ." — Bloomfield, 
 in loco. 
 
 " In order to ascertain whether Christ was really dead or not, or 
 whether he had merely fallen into a swoon, a soldier thrust his 
 lance into his side (undoubtedly his left side,) but no signs of life 
 appeared. If he had not been previously dead, a wound of this 
 kind in his side would have put a period to his life, as has been 
 shown by the physician Eschenbach and by Gruncr. The part 
 pierced was the pericardium ; hence lymph and blood flowed out." — 
 John's Archaeology. 
 
 18 
 
410 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 THE BURIAL. 
 
 Tele supernatural darkness had passed ; but the 
 hearts of the multitudes were still palpitating with the 
 fear and awe which the recent events had produced ; 
 — the pall over all nature, the earthquake, the signifi- 
 cant rending of the veil of the Holy of Holies, the 
 dead moved from their graves. They felt that a hor- 
 rible deed had been done, for which they might look 
 for some avenging hand : and, when the people who 
 had been at the crucifixion, and had joined in the 
 derisions there, now returned, smiting their breasts in 
 horror and remorse, reporting the words of the Cen- 
 turion and others who had witnessed the end, " Cer- 
 tainly this was a righteous man," " Truly this was the 
 Son of God/ ; a deep dejection fell on the city, a gloom 
 of the spirit darker than that which had just before 
 been filling their sky. 
 
 Sunset was approaching. After that they were 
 bound to go out and cut the first fruits with festivity : 
 — they had no heart for it now. 
 
 As the morrow would be the Sabbath, the hours from 
 three till sunset were called "the preparation ; ,; being 
 given to cooking and preparing their food for the holy 
 day : sometimes the whole of Friday was called the 
 day of preparation. The Jewish law also directed 
 that the bodies of persons executed should be buried 
 before sunset of the day of execution ; and those at 
 Calvary must now be removed. 
 
The Burial. 411 
 
 There were members of the Sanhedrim believing on 
 Jesus ; but that horrible punishment of excommuni- 
 cation, decreed a year before, on any one who might 
 confess him, and the rancorous spirit of that body, had 
 kept them in a craven fear ; but two of their number 
 now broke through this feeling ; — Joseph of Arima- 
 thea ; and also Nicodemus, who had, three years pre- 
 viously, come to Jesus by night. They had taken no 
 part in the deliberations and the condemnation at the 
 house of Caiaphas ; and the Sanhedrim had, probably, 
 used the precaution to keep all doubtful persons from 
 the councils on these occasions. Joseph had been, at 
 heart, a disciple : and is spoken of as a good man and 
 just, waiting for the kingdom of God : and although 
 it would have been more creditable to him to have 
 shown his discipleship earlier, we must remember that 
 the heroic spirit of Christianity had not yet taken a 
 decided form, except in the Lord himself ; and, also, 
 how dark and cramped the minds of the Jews were, 
 respecting the Messiah. The eleven themselves had 
 all fled, when their Master was seized at Gethsemane. 
 
 Joseph now went boldly to Pilate, and asked that 
 the body of Christ might be delivered up to him. The 
 governor sent for the centurion having it in charge, 
 to inquire whether death had taken place so soon ; 
 and, being satisfied of this, gave orders that it should 
 be given to the applicant ; who now, assisted by Nico- 
 demus, took it from the cross. The former was a 
 wealthy men, and possessor of a garden close to the 
 place of crucifixion, having in it a new tomb, in which 
 no one had ever yet been laid.* Thither they trans- 
 
 * It was an ancient custom for families to have burial places in 
 their garden. See 2 Kings xxi, 18-26. 
 
412 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 ported the body of the Messiah ; having wrapped, 
 also, in the clean linen of its shroud, a very large 
 quantity of spices, (aloes and myrrh,-*) which would 
 absorb the juices, and keep it in preservation for 
 embalmment when the Sabbath should have passed. 
 They laid it thus in the new tomb, and rolled a very 
 large stone against the mouth of the sepulchre. t The 
 faithful women from Galilee, had never, through all 
 this day, deserted their Lord : they had now followed 
 the body to the sepulchre ; and when it had been re- 
 moved from all human eyes, they still sat down op- 
 posite the spot, gazing there tearfully ; still faithful 
 to him in death4 
 
 It was, however, only fidelity to the strong affec- 
 tion produced by the past ; for all hopes in them re- 
 specting Christ on this earth were now extinct. He 
 had often spoken of his resurrection from the tomb 
 on the third day ; but, what is now familiar to us, 
 through history, was, at that time, to them an un- 
 known future, with foretellings concerning it so 
 strange and foreign to their ideas as to bring to the 
 mind no comprehension of their meaning ; and ail his 
 followers had believed, when he foretold his rising 
 again, that he spoke of the final resurrection at the 
 end of the world. Kicodemus and Joseph had so 
 little expectation of a near rising again that they had 
 enveloped the body in spices, so as to preserve it for 
 embalmment after their Sabbath ; these women them- 
 selves, when they afterwards came to the sepulchre, 
 on the resurrection morning, had with them spices§ 
 for the embalming ; and the eleven themselves, on 
 
 « John xix, 38-42. f Matt, xxvii, GO. 
 
 J Luke xxiii, C5 ; Mutt, xxvii, Gl. § Luke xxiv, 1. 
 
The Burial. 413 
 
 that third day, when they heard that he had arisen, 
 treated the report as an idle tale. 
 
 So, at this time, in all the followers of the Messiah 
 hope was dead, except what there might be in a far-' 
 distant day, when the end of all things should 
 come. The world was a blank to those who had 
 trusted in him as the Messiah that was to do so much 
 for the nation and for himself, and, perhaps, for them. 
 Crucified ; dead ; what was there to hope for now ? 
 How longingly had friends, how tremblingly had 
 enemies, all through that day, been in a half-expecta- 
 tion as of some miracle for his own deliverance ! but 
 none had come. It was ended now : the closed se- 
 pulchre, and the huge stone* rolled against its mouth, 
 seemed forever to shut out these watchers at the 
 grave from all the hopes they had entertained. So 
 they felt ; but affection still remained ; and they sat 
 there, tearfully, by the sepulchre, as the sun went 
 down, and the evening shadows began to gather 
 around. 
 
 But they were startled soon by the martial tread 
 of armed men, and by numerous irregular footsteps 
 of others, advancing along the alleys of the garden. 
 On they came ; and presently a company of soldiers 
 filed up, and stood in array before the sepulchre ; 
 while chief priests and Pharisees busied themselves 
 to make sure that the body was still safe within the 
 tomb. 
 
 Hatred had been more keenly observant of Christ's 
 words than affection ; and was now more attentively 
 revolving them ; and the fears of these rulers had 
 pictured to them a possible surreptitious disposal of 
 
 e Mark xvi, 4. 
 
414 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 the body * and especially were they alarmed when 
 they found that two of the Sanhedrim itself, one of 
 them a man of large pecuniary resources, — were the 
 leaders in taking the body from the cross, and de- 
 positing it in a sepulchre belonging to one of these 
 now acknowledged disciples, — men of rank. They 
 had hoped that in the death of Christ their troubles 
 would cease ; but a worse one had suddenly started 
 up. The body in the tomb and garden belonging to 
 Joseph, now courageous, as he had just shown him- 
 self to be, in going to Pilate for it, and a man of means 
 sufficient to enable him to hire men for any purpose ; 
 — he and Nicodemus also able to give the protec- 
 tion of their rank to subordinates ; while in the Sanhe- 
 drim were others, also, secretly favorable ; — how easy, 
 they thought, would it be, and under these circum- 
 stances — (judging others by themselves) — how likely, 
 to steal the body away, and to start then the report 
 of an actual resurrection ! So, when they heard the 
 particulars of the burial, they hastened to Pilate. 
 
 "Sir," they said, "we remember that the deceiver 
 said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will 
 rise again. Command, therefore, that the sepulchre 
 be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples 
 come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the 
 people, He is risen from the dead : so the last error 
 shall be worse than the first." — Pilate answered curtly, 
 
 " Ye have a watch : go your way, make it as sure 
 as ye can."* 
 
 The Roman garrison in Antonia could easily fur- 
 
 s Matt, xxvii, 63-C5. Pilate's words, ''E^ste xoucrcoStav, may 
 mean either ye have or have ye, the word, v E^fT£ being both in the 
 indicative present and imperative. 
 
The Burial. 415 
 
 nish men, with officers to take command : * and, with 
 this power from the Governor, they found themselves 
 immediately provided with what they needed : and a 
 sufficient guard,'!' with the Pharisees and chief priests in 
 company, were quickly on their way to the sepulchre. 
 The number of their watch was large, but these leaders 
 were resolved that no precautions should be wanting ; 
 and that all secret plottings by the disciples, or vio- 
 lence from any revulsion of feeling among the populace 
 should be equally guarded against. They took care 
 
 * It is obvious, from Matt, xxviii, 12-15, that the guard was 
 composed of Roman soldiers ; for, had they been Jewish watchmen 
 from the temple there would have been no occasion to bribe them 
 to secresy, or to offer to stand between them and Pilate, if their 
 unfaithfulness should reach his ears. 
 
 f Bishop Porteus, in his lectures on Matthew, gives sixty as the 
 number of men composing this guard. He says: "The chief 
 priests went to Pilate as soon as the sun was set on Friday, the day 
 of the preparation and crucifixion ; for then began the following 
 day or Saturday, as the Jews always began to reckon their day from 
 the preceding evening. They had a guard as soon as they possibly 
 could after the body was deposited in the sepulchre ; and one can- 
 not help admiring the goodness of Providence in so disposing 
 events, that the extreme anxiety of these men, to prevent collu- 
 sion, should be the means of adding sixty unexceptionable witnesses 
 (the number of the Roman soldiers on guard,) to the truth of the 
 resurrection, and of establishing the reality of it beyond all power 
 of contradiction." The writer of the present work united with 
 a friend, — a professor in a theological seminary, himself a library 
 in erudition, — in a search among numerous ancient folios and 
 quartos for the Bishop's authority for stating so large a number ; 
 and we both were surprised to find how little, on this subject, could 
 be found among commentators and other writers. All that we 
 could discover was a quotation in Poole's Synopsis, from Theophy- 
 lact (10th century), xovatuBla h%r(x.ovta 'sgtc tfrpar'ttortov, a 
 guard consists of sixty soldiers. The rulers would take care that, on 
 this occasion, the guard should be a large one. 
 
416 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 to see, at the sepulchre, that the body was yet there, 
 safe ; and then, drawing a cord across the stone which 
 filled the entrance, and sealing the ends of this cord 
 with their seals to the rock on each side, they felt now 
 satisfied, that, with the soldiers in addition stationed 
 about the place, they had made all secure. They 
 thought, as they retired from the garden to their 
 homes, that they might now have rest. 
 
 But, with such remembrances as were theirs, men 
 cannot calmly and quietly rest. Night came down 
 silently over the city, stealing on so imperceptibly 
 that it might seem as if trying, as it always does, to 
 soothe, and to invite to quiet and repose ; but there 
 was a seething of many feelings, all through Jerusa- 
 lem, and through the country around, that was hos- 
 tile to rest. 
 
 The rulers themselves felt that- the day's acts had 
 written up against them a terrible record, which they 
 had, sometime or other, to meet. The excitement of 
 the previous night and of the day was over, and they 
 could now reflect : the strong tension on the nervous 
 system was past, and left them exhausted. They sat 
 down to think. Tired and worn as they were, many 
 thoughts in them, enemies to peace were harassing 
 them, and were to harass them forever. Conscience 
 is never dead ; and it now asked them pertinaciously, 
 whether their earnest zeal in all this was not masked 
 revenge ? Why their night assemblage, if truth and 
 justice only were required ? Why the suborning of 
 witnesses ? Why their actual breaking through all 
 the old rules for trial although preserving the forms? 
 Why their untiring persistence ? Why the forcing 
 of things to this terrible end ? Was not all this 
 
The Burial. 417 
 
 course a tacit acknowledgment in themselves that 
 their cause was not good ? that they were fighting 
 against truth and right? Suppose that this wonder- 
 ful bein^ should be the Messiah after all ? and should 
 be their future judge ? Whatever doubts there might 
 be on that subject, there was one which had in it a 
 terrible certainty ; for, to gain their ends this day, 
 they had humiliated themselves before the Roman 
 governor, a Gentile, as they had never done before. 
 Their own cry, " We have no king but Caesar," was 
 still ringing in their ears. It was to ring there for- 
 ever. It had always been their proud boast before 
 their countrymen and the world, that they did not, 
 and would not, bow to the Roman yoke. Had they not ' 
 bowed their necks, and themselves put the yoke on, 
 this day, before Pilate and before the public? But 
 far worse than that ; — they had forsworn God. Their 
 opposition to Rome had always been on the ground 
 that God was their King, and that they could have 
 no other. But the mad cry, " We have no king but 
 Cassar," was casting off God, and was swearing fealty 
 to the bloody, despicable- monster at Rome in place 
 of Jehovah ; was blasphemy ; was shutting themselves 
 out from God. And was not the very fact that they 
 could be induced to do this, in that persecution to death, 
 a proof that their cause was the devil's cause, and 
 that they were only his dupes ? So their consciences 
 whispered, as they laid down to rest. 
 
 But they slept at last. Nature, wearied out and 
 exhausted, gave way at length, and they slept, wrapped 
 up in such dreams as proud men utterly humiliated, 
 and men feeling that they had just publicly abjured 
 God, and substituted for him the vilest of all earthly 
 18* 
 
418 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 tyrants, may have; to wake again to a frightful con- 
 sciousness on the morrow. 
 
 The night, settling clown, found the disciples crushed 
 in heart ; and with no consciousness of noble, heroic 
 conduct as a relief. They knew, and felt, how pusil- 
 lanimous their course had been. John only had pos- 
 sessed courage enough to stand near the cross, an 
 acknowledged follower of Christ. Their hopes of 
 earthly glory were now gone : their Master had met 
 a felon's death ; they, themselves, might soon be seized 
 by the same relentless Sanhedrim and dragged to pun- 
 ishment : what a vista had Christ's oft repeated pre- 
 dictions as to themselves opened to their view ! Yet 
 •their recollections of him were precious. Faithless as 
 they had been ; one of them false ; they clung, with 
 deep affection, to the memories of his kindnesses, his 
 counsels, his gentleness in their mistakes and way- 
 wardness, his constant love to them ; and their affec- 
 tion to his memory still constituted a bond among 
 themselves, saddened, dispirited, borne down by a con- 
 sciousness of their baseness in deserting him in his 
 hour of need ; humbled ; and, although unconsciously 
 to themselves, having, in this humility and this feeling 
 of self-accusation, and in their affection to the memory 
 of Christ, the elements which would yet be worked 
 into greatness of life. They slept at last, — worn out 
 wit! i long agitation ; — slept such a sleep as the 
 sorrowing and despondent have. 
 
 As twilight spread over the vast throngs in the city 
 and on the hills around, these talked uneasily and 
 gloomily of what they had, that day, seen and heard. 
 A great many of them remembered the crucified, as 
 he had moved among their hills and valleys in Galilee 
 
The Burial. 419 
 
 and Perea ; the crowds following and shouting their 
 gratitude at his healings ; the whole world there 
 glorifying God, for what their eyes beheld of his won- 
 derful greatness and goodness. Some of these multi- 
 tules bad cried Hosanna to him here at Jerusalem, 
 only a few days before ; and they remembered how 
 full their hearts had then been of admiration and love. 
 They remembered his stopping, amid the joy of the 
 shouting train, to weep over Jerusalem ; and his 
 lamentation then, and on the following day, over the 
 city. Many in their hearts' deep convictions still 
 hailed him with Hosannas as the Messiah. But, if lie 
 were the Messiah, then what must be thought of 
 their country's sin that clay ! So they queried sadly 
 and anxiously, as night sunk down upon them, and 
 they retired to their rest. 
 
 The city and country slept ; — the rulers from the 
 exhaustion of the previous night and day ; the disci- 
 ples worn out with sorrow and self-reproach ; the 
 people weighed down with gloomy thoughts. They 
 slept ; and, penetrating with its fangs deeper and 
 deeper in the nation's vitals, so as to hold, with a sure 
 and unrelenting grasp ; and beginning already its de- 
 vourings, to be continued till the life of that people 
 should all be like a quivering nerve, wherever they 
 might be found, — ivas the doom intensified by that 
 hideous p?'ayer, 
 
 " His blood be on us and on our children." 
 
 Jesus had prayed that they might be forgiven ; but 
 forgiveness is not forced on those who do not ask for 
 it themselves, and who persist in wrong ; and the 
 Jews still insist on the justice of that condemnation. 
 
 That prayer has never yet been canceled. 
 
420 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 THE RESURRECTION. 
 
 The hours passed heavily by, over those guards at 
 the sepulchre ; and morning came, the Jewish Sab- 
 bath, with its long hoars of entire rest ; only the 
 most necessary duties of life being allowed on their 
 holy day. But people through these hours rested un- 
 easily ; for their thoughts were ever turning towards 
 that body lying in the sepulchre, and to the events of 
 the preceding day ; and many discussions now took 
 place ; often renewed, always unsatisfactory ; some- 
 times greatly exciting, generally of a gloomy kind. 
 Sunset came again at last, closing their wearisome 
 Sabbath, to which day even the temple solemnities 
 could give no relief; for the voices of the multitude, 
 even in their sacred melodies, were dulled by an un- 
 defined dread. For, had not a mysterious power, on 
 the previous day, rent, from top to bottom the veil 
 shutting the Holy of Holies from common eyes ? — a 
 fact of portentous significance, especially combined 
 as it was with the numerous other terrors and unna- 
 tural events. Even their Most Holy Place had not 
 escaped. 
 
 The night settled down again on Jerusalem ; the 
 moon, still near the full, and a mild light shed on 
 every object ; — the city, the garden, the sepulchre, 
 and the guards pacing back and forth in their watch 
 in front of its sealed door. At the previous sunset 
 
The Resurrection. 421 
 
 had been the beginning' of the third day since the 
 crucifixion; and twenty-four hours from that period 
 would relieve the guard from this duty, and the San- 
 hedrim from their fears ; for the specified time for his 
 rising would then be past. The grave had not yet 
 been invaded ; the seals had not been broken ; the. 
 guard were cautioned to particular vigilance in the 
 short remaining time ; though, indeed, scarcely was 
 caution necessary ; for the Roman discipline was the 
 severest ever known, and was particularly and prop- 
 erly so respecting the vigiliae or watches at night. 
 
 Hour after hour passed on in quietude ; the plea- 
 sant, mellow moonlight lying on the sleeping city, on 
 the crests of Moriah and temple pinnacles, on battle- 
 mented walls and castles, on the garden, on the hel. 
 mets, and breast-plates, and spears of the guards, giv- 
 ing a charm to the scene, heightened by the entire 
 silence around, which was broken only by the pace 
 of the watch in front of the tomb. It had got at last 
 to.be near morning ; in a little while the dawn would 
 begin to creep upward in the eastern sky. — 
 
 — Suddenly the earth shook, and the whole garden 
 was illuminated by an unnatural light, so dazzling as 
 almost to blind the beholder ; — and the guards stood 
 paralyzed and trembling at what they beheld. An 
 angel was there; "his countenance like lightning, 
 his raiment white as snow." He had descended 
 suddenly and was among them, in the overwhelming 
 glory of the heavenly world, compared with which all 
 earthly beauty in the scene around was blank and 
 drear ; — except the glory of the tomb, by which he 
 now stood, and which reflected back the dazzling 
 brightness from his face. The glare lighted up all 
 
422 Life-scenes from the Four GosrELs. 
 
 objects around, and made distinct to the eye every- 
 thing which now occurred. 
 
 The angel rolled away the stone from the mouth of 
 the tomb. 
 
 Jesus came forth alive. 
 
 The resurrection had come. 
 
 There was no mistaking that form standing in the 
 blaze of the heavenly light : — the hands and feet 
 pierced by the nails of the crucifixion ; the wounded 
 side ; the brow marked by the thorns ; that majesty 
 of countenance, each feature and mark clear and 
 easily recognized ; and all manifest to the returning 
 senses of the guard. 
 
 Christ, the crucified unto death, was before them ; 
 and had come out from the sealed and carefully 
 guarded tomb. 
 
 The guard recovered from their stupor of amaze- 
 ment and fear : it was in vain to contend with the 
 supernatural, and with power such as was before 
 their eyes : their work of guarding was, indeed, over, 
 and it was manifest had all been in vain. No seal, 
 no bars, the millions of the world to guard such a 
 place and keep the dead there, would not have 
 availed. 
 
 Early, on that morning, a hasty admission was 
 demanded into the houses of some of the high 
 priests ; and these men were astonished to see several 
 of the soldiers before them, agitated and still show- 
 ing marks of alarm. They brought the news that 
 Christ had risen, and described the circumstances at- 
 tending his coming forth among the living, himself 
 alive again. 
 
 The intelligence was astounding. The rulers had 
 
The Resurrection. 423 
 
 provided against the surreptitious taking of the body 
 by the disciples ; but here was an account, which, if 
 it should spread abroad, would bring the whole 
 Jewish people upon them in a tempest of excited and 
 angry feeling, demanding punishment on the abettors 
 of the crucifixion : and the numerous guard, which 
 they had placed there in order to make sure that 
 there should be no fabricated story of a resurrection, 
 would now, every one of them, be evidence that a 
 resurrection had actually occurred. 
 
 The danger of that terrible reaction among the 
 vast multitudes was imminent ; and to prevent it, 
 the guards must, at once, be bought over, if possible ; 
 no matter what the cost might be. They were all 
 quickly sent for ; and, in the mean time, swift mes- 
 sengers through the city brought the Sanhedrim to- 
 gether, to an exciting consultation about this amazing 
 news. The soldiers were brought before them : and 
 the ample pecuniary means at the command of the 
 rulers were turned to account. 
 
 " Say ye," — this was the injunction — " Say ye, His 
 disciples came by night, and stole him away while 
 we slept. And if this come to the governor's ears, 
 we will persuade him and secure you." 
 
 The soldiers knew that the same golden means 
 could be made effectual with the governor likewise ; 
 and consequently little danger would accrue to them ; 
 so they took the bribe, and spread abroad the pre- 
 scribed report,* which the Sanhedrim took care to 
 have repeated by their special messengers sent out 
 
 * Matt, xxviii, 11-15. 
 
42-i Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 for that purpose, through the city and country 
 around.* 
 
 The story was a bold one : for every person knew 
 that the punishment to any Roman soldier sleeping on 
 his post was death ; and these guards were circulating 
 a report, which showed, on the face of it, a gross infi- 
 delity to their trust, and a clear violation of all mili- 
 tary law ; and therefore stamped the authors of the 
 story as unworthy of belief. Every one, too, would 
 ask, how could it be possible for the number of per- 
 sons necessary to such a stealing as this, to come and 
 remove the. heavy stone and carry away the body, 
 without waking such sleepers by the noise which 
 they must necessarily make ; — the guard being -so 
 numerous as it was ? But the report, though carrying 
 such improbabilities on its front, had its intended 
 effect upon many of the people, backed as it was by 
 the emissaries of the Sanhedrim ; and took a perma- 
 nent hold on the public mind. 
 
 But the Sanhedrim never dared to join issue with 
 the apostles on this subject ; although, soon after 
 this event, the latter were preaching the doctrine of 
 the resurrection in Jerusalem itself, and making- 
 thousands of converts by this preaching. These 
 eleven men, so timid lately, after they had under- 
 gone the wonderful change produced by the descent 
 of the Holy Ghost on them on the day of Pentecost, 
 preached boldly and publicly the resurrection, of 
 which they offered themselves as evidence. Peter 
 and John proclaimed this, at the temple, in Solo- 
 mon's Porch, before the multitudes and priests : 
 
 o The authority for this last is Justin Martyr, a cotemporary 
 with the apostle John. 
 
The Resurrection. 425 
 
 charging on them that they " killed the Prince of 
 Life, whom God hath raised from the dead ; whereof 
 we are witnesses."* The rulers heard them, and were 
 " grieved that they taught the people through Jesus, 
 the resurrection of the dead ;" but although they 
 laid hands on them and confined them till the next 
 day, they dared not dispute the fact itself, and bring 
 to issue the question, on which friends and ene- 
 mies all saw that the whole fabric of their new reli- 
 gion was resting. f Why did they not, for consisten- 
 cy's sake, and for their own cause, prosecute the dis- 
 ciples ; and have an official investigation before the 
 Sanhedrim, if they had dared to do so ; especially 
 now when their story of the stealing had the lie pub- 
 licly given to it, in the very temple precincts, the 
 apostles offering themselves as witnesses? On the 
 next day after this seizing of Peter and John, " the 
 rulers and elders and Scribes, and Annas, the high 
 priest, and Caiaphas, and John and Alexander, and as 
 many as were of the kindred of the high priest," as- 
 sembled ; and the two disciples, Peter and John, 
 were brought out and placed before them, a deter- 
 mined and formidable assembly indeed. But there 
 was no charge made there, of preaching falsehood ; 
 simply the question asked ; 
 
 " By what power, or by what name, have ye done 
 this?" Peter replied to them, and in his reply reit- 
 erates, — 
 
 " Jesus of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God 
 raised from the dead :" and the rulers dared not there 
 dispute the fact of the resurrection. They only, 
 after the apostles had been removed to give oppor- 
 
 ° Acts iii, 15, f 1 Cor. xv, 14-17. 
 
426 LlFMCEKES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 tunity for consultation, decided,— " But that it spread 
 no further among the people, let us straitly threaten 
 them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this 
 name :"* and this was done ; but still there was no 
 attempt to make any issue on the question of the re- 
 surection. 
 
 Again, soon after this threat and charge to the 
 apostles, a large number of the latter were in the tem- 
 ple preaching as before. They had been in prison, 
 but were released by supernatural interposition : 
 in the morning the prison door was found open and 
 the room empty ; and the apostles were obeying the 
 words of their delivering angel, " Go stand and 
 speak in the temple to the people all the words of 
 this life.' 7 The multitudes were around them in this 
 preaching, captivated by their words ; and the mes- 
 sengers of the Sanhedrim, sent to bring the teachers 
 again before that body, had to do it without violence, 
 lest the crowd should stone the messengers them- 
 selves. The Sanhedrim were almost humble in their 
 appeal : " Did we not straitly command you, that ye 
 should not teach in this name ? and behold ye have 
 filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to 
 bring this man's blood upon us." 
 
 But there was no denial of the resurrection by 
 these leaders, which, in every contest with the apos- 
 tles, they felt must be conceded as an admitted fact. 
 o Acts iv, 17. 
 
After the Besurrection. — Ascension. 427 
 CHAPTER XLIY. 
 
 AFTER THE RESURRECTION. — THE ASCENSION. 
 
 The hearts of the disciples and of the followers of 
 Christ, had, through that Jewish Sabbath, been bur- 
 dened with a heavy load. They had all mistaken his 
 prediction concerning his rising again ; a circum- 
 stance that seems strange to us, looking as we do, at 
 this event through the light of history : but to their 
 minds it was a truth too great to be fully comprehend- 
 ed, and was mingled with visions of a general resur- 
 rection at the end of the world. Any dim idea that 
 they might have received from the plainness of his 
 words, was swept away by the horrors at Calvary, 
 where their Master seemed to have been deserted of 
 God and man. 
 
 Consequently, on this night, they had not been 
 watching ; but Christ's enemies, for other purposes, 
 had watched. They did not see the glory of the 
 resurrection ; but strangers did. They were left to 
 sleep ; though the Lord had risen from the dead. 
 
 The assembling of the Sanhedrim and the calling 
 of the matter before that council, had all been very 
 early ; for, when some women came to the sepulchre, 
 at dawn,* they found no one there. On the way, 
 these followers of Christ had been querying how they 
 
 ° Matthew says, "as it began to dawn ;" Mark, " very early*" 
 " at the rising of the sun ;" Luke, " very early ;" John, " when 
 it was yut dark." For such metonomy of sunlight, see Judges ix, 
 33 ; Ps. civ, 12 : 2 Kings iii, 22. 
 
428 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 should get the great stone removed from the en- 
 trance ; for they were bringing spices, with the inten- 
 tion of having the body embalmed. No thought in 
 them of his rising again, as the object of their errand 
 very clearly proved. 
 
 These women were the ones who had, at the cruci- 
 fixion, stood watching the scene ; some near, some 
 further off ; and who had, afterward, followed the 
 body to the tomb ; Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and 
 Mary the mother of James * and other followers from 
 Galilee. 
 
 They came into the garden with their burden of 
 spices. They found that the stone had been rolled 
 away : the tomb was open ! They ran to look in : 
 it was empty ! 
 
 Amazement was their first feeling ; then alarm. 
 " Who had taken the body ? For what purpose ? 
 Where was- it ? There had been such a hate shown 
 by the ruling powers during the last three days, that 
 nothing was too dark for them, no act that they 
 might not perpetrate ; — or had friends taken the body 
 from some mistaken motive V Thought, at such 
 moments, is far quicker than words, and these queries 
 were flashing through their minds, only however 
 creating perplexities. Mary Magdalene, having given 
 a glance to assure herself that the sepulchre was 
 empty, turned and ran back to the city, to where 
 Feter and John were lodging there ; whom, on reach- 
 ing their house, she saluted with the lamentation, 
 
 kt They have taken away the Lord out of the sep- 
 ulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.' 7 
 
 ■■' Luke xxiv, 10. 
 
After the Resurrection. — Ascension. 429 
 
 These two disciples started immediately for the 
 tomb.-* 
 
 In the mean time, the women left behind had 
 entered the sepulchre. Two men suddenly appeared 
 now beside them, — angelic messengers they were 
 quickly seen to be ; — and the women, trembling with 
 fear, bowed down their faces before them.f 
 
 One of the angels said, " Fear not ye : for I know 
 that ye seek Jesus which was crucified. He is not 
 here : for he is risen, as he said. Come, sec the 
 place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell 
 his disciples that he is risen from the dead ; and 
 behold he goeth before you into Galilee ; there shall 
 ye see him : lo, I have told you. ":£ 
 
 They hurried off, trembling still at the thought of 
 what they had just seen and heard, but filled with 
 an extatic joy. What glorious tidings were these 
 of which they were the messengers ! Risen ; alive 
 again ; soon to meet them once more ; they should see 
 him again, now far more glorious and more wonder- 
 ful even than before ! They stopped not ; but were 
 hurrying back to the city, full of eagerness to com- 
 municate the news, when, on the way, they met the 
 Saviour himself ! 
 
 He stood before them ! What was he like ? The 
 same to all outward senses as previously, except 
 that he now bore, in his hands and feet, the marks 
 never, never, we may believe, in the glorified body to 
 be erased ;— the marks from that sacrifice of himself 
 made for the redemption of the world. 
 
 Q John xx, 1-8. . f Luke xxiv, 4, 5. 
 
 t Matthew xxviii, 5-7. Matthew and Mark .speak of one angel ; 
 Luke of two. The same criticism applies here as in a former case, 
 Qui plura narrat pauciora compleciitur. 
 
430 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 They knew him, at once, and at his salutation, " All 
 bail ! ' ; they fell at his feet, embracing them, and wor- 
 shiping him. He said, "Be not afraid: go tell my 
 brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they 
 see me. 1 ' 
 
 He left them ; and, hurrying on their mission, they 
 soon reached the house where all, except Peter and 
 John, were staying ; but here they received a terrible 
 chesk to their eagerness and joy. The disciples 
 treated their story as an idle tale !* 
 
 The nine listened to their earnest words, which were 
 almost incoherent through their haste and agitation ; 
 looked at them ; saw how they trembled still from 
 excitement, and how pale their looks ; heard their 
 confused voices in the earnestness of their assevera- 
 tions, the tones of joy, and earnestness, and dis- 
 appointment intermixed : and concluded that some 
 strange phantom in their confused senses had bewil- 
 dered them. The disciples were never disposed to 
 credulity ; and. throughout this day. they showed an 
 amount of the opposite feeling which seems strange to 
 us with our present means of judging of these things. 
 But the resurrection was, to them, a new thought : 
 even to us now it is an amazing one, though familiar 
 to our minds. They had been weepingt at their loss : 
 the other feeling was too great a joy to suddenly find 
 admittance amid such gloom. 
 
 Peter and John, on the report of Mary Magdalene, 
 had started from their home in another part of the 
 city ; and John's warm affection brought him the 
 first to the sepulchre ; where he stooped and looked 
 reverently in, not venturing to enter. Peter, arriving 
 Luke xxiv, 11. t Mark xvi, 10. 
 
After the Resurrection. — Ascension. 431 
 
 soon, had greater boldness, and went in ; and John 
 also entered now. The empty tomb betrayed no 
 signs of a rapid and confused departure ; for the 
 linen clothes used for enveloping the body were 
 folded, and the napkin for the head had been wrapped 
 up and laid by itself. * They queried, as they stood 
 there, — now joined by Mary Magdalene, who had fol- 
 lowed them, — and were perplexed by what they saw. 
 Thieves had not taken the body, for the spices were 
 there, and, in that case, would not have been left be- 
 hind ; friends had not done it, for they would have 
 taken the grave-clothes also. No account of a resur- 
 rection had yet reached these two, and "they knew 
 not the Scripture ;; about his rising. f Their eyes con- 
 firmed what they had heard concerning the removal of 
 the body ; but the rest was still to them a dark per- 
 plexing mystery. They returned to the city, leaving 
 Mary Magdalene still at the tomb. 
 
 She was left there alone, weepings outside the se- 
 pulchre ; but presently stooping down, she looked in 
 to see the spot where the body had just been lying. 
 She was startled at seeing two angels sitting .there, 
 one at each end of the tomb ; the heavenly visitants, 
 their robes of white, and their meditative posture, 
 harmonizing with the sacred place. They addressed 
 her : 
 
 " Woman, why weepest thou ?" 
 
 " Because they have taken away my Lord, and I 
 know not where they have laid him," was the reply ; 
 her simple language evidence of the Ml strength of 
 her grief. 
 
 She turned as she said this ; — some other person was 
 
 ° John xx, 4-7. f ID. verses 9, 10. 
 
432 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 standing near her ; but her eyes, — holdcn, as was 
 afterwards the case with the two disciples going to 
 Emmaus, or overflowing with grief, — failed to recog- 
 nize who it was. A voice, also unrecognized, said, 
 
 " Woman, why weepest thou ? whom seekest thou ?" 
 Her mind was full of the one thought, of the abstrac- 
 tion of the body ; and, seemingly with scarcely a 
 glance at the questioner, whom she supposed to be 
 the gardener, she replied, 
 
 H Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where 
 thou hast laid him, and I will take him away." 
 
 There was but one word in reply to this ; but it 
 was in that tone so well known to her — 
 
 " Mary ! ,? — She turned : — 
 
 " Eabboni \" (Master ;) and she fell at his feet. — 
 It was Jesus himself. 
 
 Her joy, and love, and reverence were making de- 
 monstration in the act of worship, as she lay there, 
 her heart overflowing with gladness. Alive ! re- 
 stored to them ! The marks in the feet showed that 
 it was no phantom, but the same ! JSTot a spirit, but 
 himself! In her reverence and joy, she would have 
 clung to these feet, and would have been willing to 
 lie there in her deep happiness ; but there was not 
 time for such demonstrations now. He said, 
 
 " Touch mc- not, for I am not yet ascended to my 
 Father ; but go to my brethren, and say unto them, 
 I aseend unto my Father, and your Father ; and to 
 my God, and your God."* 
 
 She went to deliver the message ; her soul all full 
 of gladness, and of that one thought that the Lord 
 was among them again, living, speaking ; that face, 
 
 * John xx, 11-17. 
 
After the Kesurrection. — Ascension. 433 
 
 so grand always, glorious still in its benignity and 
 kindness ; that voice, still full of its old intonations 
 of mercy and goodness : Jesus was alive again ! her 
 thoughts gave swiftness to her movements ; and she 
 was soon before the apostles in their city home. But 
 the manner in which they received her message gra- 
 ted on all her sensibilities. They refused to believe 
 that it could be so ;* the very enthusiam of her feel- 
 ings was to them a proof that an excited imagination 
 had deceived her. The announcement, they thought, 
 was too astounding to be believed : they wanted the 
 evidence of their own senses ; indeed, they argued, 
 could they even then believe ? 
 
 Our knowledge of the Saviour, after his resurrec- 
 tion, is but fragmentary. In the history of the gos- 
 pels he comes before us suddenly, and without prepa- 
 ration of circumstances ; and then disappears ; to be 
 revealed again, without explanation or cause given : 
 his earthly ministrations always so mysterious to us, 
 must indeed be doubly so to mortals in that space 
 lying between earth and heaven : the interval be- 
 tween' the resurrection and his ascension. 
 
 At this place, however, the inquiry may suggest 
 itself to the reader, what was the nature of the body 
 in which he now appeared ? There have been three 
 opinions started by learned and good men : 1st — ■ 
 That it was a spiritual tody, such as the dead shall 
 have after the resurrection ;f 2d — That it was the 
 same body as before, but glorified, or as the earlier 
 writers express it, changed in its qualities and attri- 
 butes : and 3d — That it was the same body as before, 
 but which was to be spiritualized and glorified at the 
 
 * Mark xvi, 9-11. f 1 Cor. xv, 43, 44. 
 
 19 
 
434 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 ascension. It will be best only to remark here, that 
 the last of these opinions seems to be the correct one. 
 The body of Elijah was also spiritualized at the mo- 
 ment of its ascension from the earth. As respects the 
 sadden transportation from place to place, or a sud- 
 den appearance or disappearance, all difficulties in 
 any of the above views cease in comparison with the 
 resurrection itself. We are among the supernatural 
 agencies ; and admitting the power of the resurrec- 
 tion, we must admit power for the rest. 
 
 Christ thought it best to remain, after the res- 
 urrection, forty days* on earth. It was important 
 to give full proof of his having risen again ; not 
 only immediately after that event, but at different 
 times and places ; and those occasions, also, at 
 periods when men's minds would be recovered 
 from the first surprise, and a cooler judgment be 
 exercising itself. It was important also that the 
 disciples, whose mission was to be so extensive 
 and dangerous, should not have a feeling of sudden 
 and entire desertion ; but should have a sense of a 
 nearness to them, a care and affectionate regard, all 
 open to their outward senses, and giving an assur- 
 ance to their mind and heart that their Lord had not 
 forsaken them, would not forsake them, in this new 
 relative condition between him and themselves. Be- 
 ing with them, as he was for forty days ; not continu- 
 ously, in which case familiarity might have lessened 
 reverence ; but at intervals, and under circumstances 
 to give assurance of his identity, his deep affection, 
 and his continued supernatural powers, and also, 
 with these powers, of a greatness in his Presence 
 * Acts i, 3. 
 
After the Resurrection. — Ascension. 435 
 
 more wonderful even than before, he could thus make 
 them have a fulness of faith in his final parting 
 words — "Behold 1 am with you alway, even unto 
 the end of the world." They would, indeed, need the 
 consciousness of that presence in many a scene of 
 their after life, — the arena with the wild beasts 
 ready to tear them to pieces, and the rage of men 
 more savage than beasts ;— and they could have it all 
 the stronger, from the feeling that he had, in his af- 
 fection, lingered with them these forty days, to afford 
 them proof of his care and attachment in his new 
 state, and to give words of kindness and love, uttered 
 in their ears, — manifestations of his closeness with 
 them which they could fully understand. With such 
 a feeling, not of forsakenness, but of the Presence 
 derived from the forty days, and the demonstration 
 to their senses that they were not, and to their hearts 
 that they never could be, forsaken, they could go 
 forth into the world, as they did. to meet all its rage, 
 and amid that rage to persevere. 
 
 On this day of the resurrection, two disciples were 
 going to Emmaus, a village seven and a half miles 
 from Jerusalem ; and were talking sadly as they 
 went, about what they had recently seen and heard. 
 They were joined on the way by the Saviour himself, 
 who inquired the cause of their sadness and the sub- 
 ject of their conversation. " Their eyes were holden 
 that they should not know him."* One of them asked 
 him in surprise, — 
 
 " Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast 
 not known the things which are come to pass in these 
 days ? " And, in answer to his question, they spoke of 
 
 * Luke xxiv, 16. 
 
436 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 the Messiah as " a prophet mighty in deed and word 
 before God and the people," and gave a statement of 
 the trial and crucifixion. " But we trusted that it had 
 been he which should have redeemed Israel ;" and 
 they added that they had been astonished by the 
 reports of the women : and that the sepulchre was 
 certainly empty, as some of their own number had 
 seen. He said, in reply : 
 
 "0 unintelligent and slow of heart to believe all 
 that the prophets have spoken ;" and he proceeded 
 t&en to explain the prophecies relating to himself. 
 
 Coming to the village, he was invited to go with 
 them to their home : where, then, at table, assuming 
 the office of host, instead of guest, he took bread and 
 blessed it, and brake and gave to them to eat. They 
 knew him now, for the restriction was taken from 
 their sight : but he vanished, as they became aware 
 who he was. They said, 
 
 " Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked 
 with us by the way, and while he opened to us the 
 Scriptures ? " 
 
 They returned to the city immediately, and hastened 
 to the room where the apostles (except Thomas,") 
 with others, were assembled ; — the doors carefully 
 closed through fear of their Jewish enemies ;t — but, as 
 they entered, full of the joyful news, they were met, 
 at once, by the no less joyful annunciation that he had 
 appeared to Peter that day4 These two described 
 
 ° Luke calls them " the eleven," (though lhonias was absent,) 
 just as Paul in 1 Cor. xv, 5, says "he was seen of the twelve," 
 though Judas was then dead. 
 
 f John xx, 19. 
 
 X Luke xxiv, 341 ; Cor. xv, 5. The circumstances of this ap- 
 pearing are no where described. 
 
After the Resurrection. — Ascension. 437 
 
 their meeting with him ; but, while they were yet 
 speaking, Christ himself stood in the midst of the 
 assembly, with the salutation, 
 
 " Peace be unto you." 
 
 The suddenness of his appearance overcame all who 
 were present. How could any but a spirit enter 
 through that closed door, and stand so suddenly in 
 their midst ? They shrunk terrified from before so 
 dreaded an object, a spirit of unknown nature, as he 
 seemed to them to be ; but he hastened to re-assure 
 them. 
 
 " Why are ye troubled ? and why do thoughts arise 
 in your hearts ? Behold my hands and my feet, that 
 it is I myself; handle me, and sec ; for a spirit hath 
 not flesh and bones as ye see me have :" and he show- 
 ed them his hands and feet. 
 
 There was a whirl of sensations in their hearts ; 
 a joy that longed to be full, — for it was mixed with 
 doubts ; — a belief struggling for ascendency — and yet 
 the truth seemed to be too great for belief ; hope, 
 mixed with doubts ; love, that longed to clasp the 
 feet of the Master, and yet fear ; a full recognition 
 of the features with their grand and gentle, and now 
 pitying expression ; — and yet how could it be that 
 he was the same ? The crucified, the dead, how could 
 it be? 
 
 — How different from this doubtfulness, in the 
 strong yet shrinking natures of these men, was the 
 quick and full belief of the weaker, and yet more 
 courageous because more loving, natures of the 
 women, as shown that day ! — 
 
 The company had been at supper, when lie entered. 
 To assure them fully he asked for meat, and he ate 
 
438 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 before them ; and afterwards he gave explanations 
 of the prophecies, and counsel respecting themselves 
 after he should have left the earth. ;* and also a 
 symbol of the future descent of the Holy Ghost on 
 them, after which they would have the power of 
 knowing hearts, and of forgiving sins.f 
 
 Eight days subsequently he showed himself again 
 to the disciples in their room in Jerusalem, Thomas, 
 on this occasion, being present ; and to this doubter, 
 who had openly expressed his requirements of clearer 
 demonstrations before he would believe, he gave tan- 
 gible evidences of his identity. — 
 
 " Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands ; 
 and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my 
 side ; and be not faithless, but believe." Thomas 
 exclaimed on this — 
 
 " My Lord and my God I" The Saviour replied, 
 
 "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast 
 believed : blessed are they who have not seen, and 
 yet have believed.":]: 
 
 There was to be a great occasion in Galilee, to which 
 the Saviour, in the meeting with the women on the 
 morning of his resurrection, had adverted ; and 
 whither they were told to direct the disciples to pro- 
 ceed. Galilee had always been the favored region : 
 and here, accordingly, the number of disciples was 
 greatest ; while also in Galilee the Messiah must have 
 found, to the last, much that was genial to himself. We 
 never read of that country, its scenery or its people, and 
 especially of Christ's actions there, without having 
 pleasant thoughts rise up in our minds. 
 
 « Luke xxiv, 36-39. t John xx > 22 « 
 
 t John xx, 26-29. 
 
After the Resurrection. — Ascension. 439 
 
 Not only was Galilee not neglected by the Saviour 
 after the resurrection, but there was to be in that 
 region the most impressive manifestation of himself, 
 and to the largest number ; and, there also, the grand 
 commission to preach the Gospel to all the world. 
 
 First, however, there was a more private interview 
 with his disciples on the borders of its lake. Some of 
 them tiad again resorted to their former means of 
 livelihood ; and, while they were employed in fishing, 
 the Saviour appeared on the shore, and invited them 
 to a meal already there prepared. They were Simon 
 Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, James, and John, with two 
 others not specified by name. 
 
 Could Peter ever see the Saviour, now, without 
 thinking of the scene in the house of Caiaphas, and of 
 his own sin and shame ? The dawn after that night 
 had beheld him in the streets bowed down with re- 
 morse, and convulsed with grief; but no tears, and no 
 remorse, could ever efface from his memory the ter- 
 rible sin of that denial of his Lord. But his bitter 
 repentance had brought forgiveness. The Saviour 
 had, through all that sin, seen a warm-hearted, gene- 
 rous nature, whose very impulsiveness might, under 
 the great influences of the Spirit, yet bring out the 
 grandest results. Christ pitied the weak, and loved 
 the good, that he saw in him. 
 
 On this occasion he must have shrunk from his Lord 
 almost with a hatred of himself ; ashamed to look into 
 the face still so winning in its expressions, with such 
 gentleness and kindness still mixed with its grandeur. 
 After the meal, the Saviour, as if to lift up this fallen 
 disciple from that despairing consciousness of his de- 
 
440 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 gradation, and to reinstate the penitent in the eyes of 
 his companions, turned to him especially : — 
 
 " Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than 
 [thou dost] these ?" 
 
 He used the word dya^a (agapas.) which signifies a 
 strict union of affection, a feeling of strong love ; and 
 Peter, on hearing it, seems to have shrunk into a hor- 
 ror at his unwor thin ess to respond in the same expres- 
 sive terms. There is another word, $aw (philo) sig- 
 nifying an affection of less endearment, a warm friend- 
 ship ; and the convicted and now modest, though still 
 ardent disciple, resorted to it. He answered, " Yea, 
 Lord, thou knowest that $t*w as (philo se) I have affec- 
 tion for thee." " Feed my lambs,' 7 was now the injunc- 
 tion of Christ, by which Peter was publicly reinstated 
 in his apostleship. 
 
 But there was such a hiatus between the Saviour's ex- 
 pressive word and that of the apostle, that Christ, 
 wishing, in his great tenderness and kindness, to place 
 the fallen man, even in the language of his regard, on 
 the same level as the others, tried to draw him to it ; 
 and he asked once more, 
 
 * Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me (agapas me) V 
 
 " Yea, Lord," said the remorseful man •again, $aZ as 
 (philo se,) I have affection for thee." 
 
 " Be a shepherd to my sheep," was the injunction 
 now. 
 
 Christ then, as if to put himself on a level with the 
 disciple, and thus enwrap him in his heavenly regards, 
 to be carried in them upward, used the same term as 
 that of Peter, and said, 
 
 "Simon, son of Jonas, $t,%he (phileis) me? Hast 
 thou affection for me 'V 
 
After the Resurrection. — Ascension. 441 
 
 The disciple, grieved because he asked him this 
 third time, phUeis me ? answered warmly, 
 
 " Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest 
 philo se, I have affection for thee." Christ gave the 
 injunction, 
 
 "Feed my sheep." 
 
 What a history of Peter's heart there is manifesting 
 itself in this dialogue ; — the long remorse, the pros- 
 tration from his former confidence in himself ; affec- 
 tion, ardent yet all enveloped in shame ; days and 
 nights of mourning ; a heart now chastened by his 
 grief ! 
 
 What a tenderness and depth. of love in Christ is 
 also here made manifest ! 
 
 The Saviour addressed some further remarks to him, 
 signifying the trials before him, and what death he 
 should die; adding, then, to him, ".Follow me.' 7 * 
 
 Peter turned and saw John close by. The affec- 
 tionate, gentle, brave man, and the rash, impetuous, 
 but really timid one, had, by the magnetism of oppo- 
 sites, which we often see in life, formed a mutual at- 
 tachment ; and Peter said, in his old, impulsive man- 
 ner, 
 
 " Lord, and what shall this man do?" 
 
 " If I will that he tarry till I come, what is' that to 
 thee ? follow thou me."t and these words being mis- 
 
 ** John xxi, 15-19. The author has in this, endeavored to give 
 the force of tbe original, though regretting to mar, in doing so, 
 the simplicity of the dialogue. In our common translation it loses 
 its meaning and force. The first and last of Christ's injunctions are 
 66axs, feed ; the second one is iroifxcuvs, be a shepherd. See Bloom- 
 field and Alford in loco. In this dialogue the vernacular of the 
 country (Arame^n) was of course employed ; but it is doubtless faith- 
 fully rendered in the Greek given as above, by St. John xxi, 15-17. 
 
 f John xxi, 15-23. 
 
 19* 
 
442 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 taken, a report was spread, from that time, that John 
 was not to die, confirmed seemingly for a while, in 
 after periods, by the very advanced age to which 
 that apostle lived. 
 
 The mountains of Galilee had ever been the favor- 
 ite resort of Christ ; and through all that region he 
 had left the chief marks of his goodness and love, and 
 of his divine power ; and therefore we might have 
 expected here something peculiar in these last mani- 
 festations of himself. It was so. He had directed 
 the eleven to meet him here ; on this occasion, doubt- 
 less, we must place the meeting with the five hundred 
 brethren, alluded to in another part of the Scrip- 
 tures. 45 ' Here was the great mission for an universal 
 Gospel given to his followers. Some of those present 
 at this meeting doubted their own senses, so amazing 
 was the fact of the resurrection ; but others wor- 
 shiped, their hearts full of mingled sentiments, awe, 
 reverence, wonder, tenderness, and deep and cling- 
 ing love. For there were in him the marks of the 
 wounds at Calvary ; and all remembered his words 
 about. the meaning of the sacrifice of himself there 
 made. 
 
 Standing among them, on the mountain-top, where 
 they had met, he said : ■ 
 
 " All power is given unto me in heaven and in 
 earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, bap- 
 tizing them in the name of the Father, and of the 
 Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; teaching them to ob- 
 serve all things whatsoever I have commanded you : 
 and lo, I am with you ahvay, even u^fco the end of 
 the world. J f 
 
 ° 1 Cor. xv, 6. f Matt, xxviii, 16-20. 
 
After the Resurrection. — Ascension. 443 
 
 The eleven then returned to Jerusalem ; and he 
 met them, now, on the Mount of Olives, and went 
 with them along on the road to Bethany, by spots to 
 them full of recollections of recent, stirring events. 
 Was it the memory of the late triumphal passage 
 across that mountain, and the loud Hallels of the peo- 
 ple, which started the query, 
 
 ''Lord, wilt thou, at this time, restore again the 
 kingdom of Israel ?" 
 
 It was indeed necessary that these men, so persis- 
 tent in. the old Jewish errors, should have supernatu- 
 ral enlightenment before going on their wide mission 
 to the world ; and he now again promised it to them. 
 He directed them to remain at Jerusalem till it should 
 come. u For John truly baptized with water ; but 
 ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many 
 days hence." 
 
 The party were now approaching Bethany. He 
 knew that in a few minutes thai last separation would 
 take place. In his presence they had felt confi- 
 dence, strength, comfort. Very soon they would be 
 left ; and what a fight there was before them in the 
 World ! and what a duty to be performed ! But they 
 were to be strengthened for it, as, indeed, all men 
 are for duty. He said to them, " Ye shall receive 
 power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you ; 
 and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, 
 and in Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost 
 part of the earth." 
 
 He lifted up his hands and blessed them. — They 
 must have trembled at the significancy of the act. — 
 There might well be a rush of all tender emotions 
 as he ended, for they were losing him. He was as- 
 
444 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 cending — floating upward, as if heaven were drawing 
 its owu to itself. It was at a season when the sky of 
 Palestine is usually cloudless ; but as the disciples 
 gazed, a cloud formed, and gathered around him, and 
 shut him from their sight. 
 
 Two angels stood beside them. :t Ye men of Gaii- 
 lee," they said, " why stand ye gazing up into heaven ? 
 This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into 
 heaven shall come again in like manner as ye have 
 seen him go into heaven."* 
 
 He icill appear again, but it will be in the majesty of 
 the Judgment Bay. 
 
 CHAPTER XLY. 
 
 WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 
 
 " "What think ye of Christ ?" It was a question- 
 once put by him to his disciples ; and we put it here, 
 now, to ourselves. 
 
 We have been endeavoring, in this work, to 
 bring fully to our minds the scenes of his earthly 
 ministry ; but there was still a part of his being 
 which we could not reach, and which we could only 
 glance at in these pages ; feeling, in the mean time, 
 how grand and glorious was that which was beyond 
 our sight. 
 
 But what we did see was wonderful. We say, as 
 we follow Jesus in all the phases of his life here, 
 
 * See Luke xxiv. 5U-53 ; Acts ii. 4-11. 
 
What think ye of Christ? 445 
 
 Never could such a character have been invented by 
 man. It must have been real, for it could not other- 
 wise have been portrayed. It rises so high in its 
 grandeur of outline (so far as we can trace it), as to 
 be far beyond any previous human conception ; — to 
 be lost to us in the infinities, such as belong to God : 
 while also its influence reaches our minutest thoughts 
 and actions in an operative, practical form. It is 
 God infinitely extended ; and yet God with us, in 
 our heart and life. 
 
 We have, in these pages, seen him common amojig 
 men, yet perfect ; subject to our infirmities, yet sin- 
 less ; in actual power elevated above all around him, 
 holding nature's laws in his grasp, yet bearing him- 
 self in quietude of manner ; insulted, subjected to 
 violence, treated with bitterest scorn, yet, "in it all, 
 only becoming the more sublime and Godlike, by for- 
 giveness, and tenderness, and mercy. 
 
 His teachings have been, ever since they were 
 uttered, like a purifying healthful atmosphere, sweep- 
 ing moral pestilence and death before them, wherever 
 they have gone. At the same time he was the 
 Example as well as Teacher, however impossible, 
 when we consider his Godhead, this might have 
 appeared. "The first shall be last," he said ; and 
 he, the God, became so ; even in lowest humiliations, 
 and lowest services to men. He wins our hearts by 
 showing himself humble as the humblest can be : 
 taking our affections, he carries them up toward 
 heaven, to be there imbued with the grandeur of his 
 own infinities. 
 
 We cannot compare him with others, whether as 
 teacher or example ; for he stands all alone in the 
 
446 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 world, incomparably beyond all else that the world 
 has seen. Lie fills our sight as we gaze, and we feel 
 that there is nothing else ; and that we want nothing 
 else. The infinities of our soul, both in intellect and 
 emotion, all are satisfied in him. Our need for the 
 practical is satisfied ; our aspirations after the ideal 
 are satisfied. Sinners that we are ; — he is sufficient : 
 when we are bowed down with guilt, he lifts us up : 
 most unworthy as we feel ourselves to be, we know 
 that he loves us still : our hearts, made to love the 
 true, the good, the great, find all they can need 
 ready for them in him : our souls want a Gr.od, whom 
 we can altogether love, and whom, at the same time, 
 we may worship as the infinite, and they have it all 
 in him : in our present fleeting state we long for the 
 eternal, and yet do not wish it, unless, with it, may 
 be that affection which gives life to our souls here, 
 which only grows stronger with time and more beau- 
 tiful by experience, and which, strongest of all feel- 
 ings and most expansive, wants infinites for its 
 object ; towards Christ we may let all our love pour 
 out, now and forever ; for he is worthy, and hath 
 first loved us with an infinite love. 
 
 Such is Christ. 
 
 We have been reading of his miracles, and have 
 wondered : and they are so amazing that people also 
 sometimes doubt. But there is a miracle now actually 
 before our eyes, which no one can doubt, and which 
 must be convincing. It is a far greater miracle than 
 any which he performed on earth. It is the miracle 
 of himself as portrayed in the Scriptures. xVmid all 
 incredulity and every disposition to scepticism, still 
 no one can doubt that we have, in the New Testa- 
 
What think ye of Christ ? 447 
 
 merit, a character delineated, winch, as a mere de- 
 lineation, is beyond all ever thought of before, and 
 all else imagined since. Regarded fully, it is itself 
 a miracle beyond anything described in the Gospels ; 
 and it is now clearly before our minds and open to 
 our apprehension. Theodore Parker says of Christ, 
 " Try him as we try other teachers. They deliver their 
 word, find a few waiting for the consolation, who 
 accept the new tidings, follow the new method, and 
 soon go beyond thtir teacher, though less mighty 
 minds than lie. Though humble men, we see what 
 Socrates and Luther never saw. But eighteen cen- 
 turies have passed, since the Sun of humanity rose 
 so high in Jesus ; what man, what sect has mastered 
 his thought, comprehended his method, and so fully 
 applied it to his life?"* 
 
 If, with our present enlightenment and our vast 
 means for knowledge, we feel that this character of 
 Christ rises so high above all that can be conceived 
 of by human beings, how much more must this have 
 been the case in those ancient times of darkness and 
 superstition ? Who in heathen lands could have in- 
 vented such an ideal as this ? Who in Judea ? Espe- 
 cially, who among the unlettered men who wrote 
 those Gospels ? 
 
 The reader, while perusing these pages, may, per- 
 haps, have sometimes felt in his mind the query, how 
 do I know that those four books were actually written 
 by the men whose names they bear? Although, even 
 if they were not written by them, still the undenia- 
 ble miracle of such a character would remain, for the 
 fact of its delineation is before us, and must have 
 
 Discourses of Religion, p. 303. 
 
448 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 had its origin somewhere ; yet, as it may be satis- 
 factory to know the evidence for the authorship 
 claimed, we give here the chain of proofs, — for our 
 space will allow only of this — showing with what 
 confidence our minds, on this subject, may feel at 
 rest. 
 
 We begin with men hostile to Christianity, tracing 
 the evidence backward, from the times when this re- 
 ligion was fully engrafted on national forms and in- 
 stitutions, and became a part of the world's widest 
 histories. 
 
 Julian (surnamed the Apostate, A. D. 331-363,) 
 wrote against Christianity ; he referred to the gene- 
 alogies of Matthew and Luke by name, and recited 
 the sayings of Christ in the very words of the Scrip- 
 tures. He also bore testimony to the Gospel of John 
 being composed at a time when great numbers in 
 Greece and Italy had been converted to the Chris- 
 tian faith. He admitted the miracles of Christ. 
 
 PorpJiyry wrote (about A. D. 270) a work against 
 Christianity. 'His learning was extensive. His 
 writings contain references to the Gospels of Mat- 
 thew, Mark and John. He did not deny the truth 
 of the Gospel history, and conceded the miracles of 
 Christ as real facts. 
 
 The Talmuds (about A. D. 230 ; see ante, p. 90) refer 
 to the nativity of Christ, and his journey into Egypt, 
 and agree that he performed numerous miracles, 
 which they ascribed to his having acquired the 
 Shemmaphoresh, or the ineffable name of God, which 
 they say he clandestinely stole out of the temple : or 
 they impute his power to magic arts. 
 
 Celsus flourished A. D. 176, or about seventy -six 
 
What think ye of Christ? 449 
 
 years after the death of Saint John. His works 
 have about eighty quotations from the books of the 
 New Testament or references to them. " Among 
 these there is abundant evidence that he was ac- 
 quainted with the Gospels of Matthew, Luke and 
 John. His whole argument proceeds upon the con- 
 cession that the Christian Scriptures were the works 
 of the authors to whom they are ascribed. Such a 
 thing as a suspicion to the contrary is not breathed ; 
 and yet no man ever wrote against Christianity with 
 greater virulence."* 
 
 The younger Pliny, in a letter to Trajan, written 
 A. D. 107, (or seventy-four years after the crucifixion,) 
 from Bythinia, where he was pro-consul, says : " For 
 this superstition is spread like a contagion, not only 
 into cities and towns, but into country villages also ;." 
 and " that there are many, of every age, of every rank, 
 and of both sexes," adhering to it. He put many to 
 torture, and could learn from them, only " that they 
 were wont, on a stated day, to meet together before 
 it was light, and to sing a hymn to Christ, as to a 
 god, alternately ; and to oblige themselves by a sa- 
 crament [or oath] not to do anything that was ill ; 
 but that they would commit no theft, or pilfering, 
 or adultery ; that they would not break their promise, 
 or deny what was deposited with them, when it was 
 required back again ; after which it was their custom 
 to depart, and to meet again at a common but inno- 
 cent meal,"t probably their feast of charity. It 
 may be as well to quote his account of the manner of 
 treating those brought before him : " I asked them 
 
 ° Hell vain' s Lectures. 
 
 f Quoted from his letter to the Emperor. 
 
450 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 whether they were Christians or not? If they con- 
 fessed that they were Christians, I asked them again, 
 and a third time, intermixing threatening with the 
 questions. If they persevered in their confession, I 
 ordered them to be executed ; for I did not doubt 
 but, let their confession be of any sort whatsoever, 
 this positiveness and inflexible obstinacy deserved to 
 be punished." The Christians had already become 
 so numerous in Bythinia, (a region bordering north- 
 wardly on the Black Sea and Sea of Marmora,) that, 
 as this letter says, the heathen temples had been al- 
 most forsaken, and " few purchasers for the sacrifices 
 had of late appeared."* 
 
 Tacitus, who wrote about the same time as Pliny, 
 speaking of the Christians, says : " The name was 
 derived from Christ, who in the reign of Tiberius suf- 
 fered under Pontius Pilate, the procurator of Judea. 
 By that event, the sect of which he is the founder, 
 received a blow which for a time checked the growth 
 of a dangerous superstition ; but it revived soon after 
 and spread with recruited vigor, not only in Judea, 
 the soil that gave it birth, but even in the city of 
 Rome ;"t and he then describes the persecutions of 
 the Christians under Nero (thirty-one years after the 
 death of Christ,) in a manner which shows that they 
 must then have been very numerous in that city. 
 
 We may perhaps be allowed to add, 
 
 Josephus, (born A. D. 37, perhaps not hostile, but 
 indifferent.) He says, " Now there was, at this time, 
 [government of Pilate,] Jesus, a wise man, if it be 
 lawful to call liim a man, a doer of wonderful works — 
 a teacher of such men as receive the truth "with plea- 
 
 5 Epist Lib. x, ch. 97. f Anna]. Lib. xv. §44. 
 
What think ye of Christ? 451 
 
 sure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, 
 and also many of the Gentiles. This was the Christ ;" 
 and Josephus then speaks of his crucifixion and re-" 
 surrection ; and of the sect of Christians subsisting 
 to the writer's time, (Antiq. xxiii, 3, § 3.) The pas- 
 sage has such force that opposers have, " contrary to 
 all evidence, affirmed it to be spurious." (See Home's 
 " Introduction.") 
 
 We proceed now to Christian writers, of whom we 
 have an unbroken series, extending back into the 
 times of the apostles themselves : Jerome, (about 
 A. D. 378,) who wrote many works, and whose cata- 
 logue of the New Testament Scriptures, is exactly 
 like our own : Origen, (A. D. 185 to 253,) bears" testi- 
 mony to the authenticity of the New Testament as we 
 now have it : his pupils, Gregory, bishop of Nco- 
 Cassarea, and Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, did 
 the same : Cyprian, a martyr, (A. D. 258,) quotes 
 largely from our sacred books : Tertullian (A. D. 
 160-220,) recognizes the four Gospels, as written by 
 the Evangelists to whom we ascribe them, and has 
 large extracts from their works : Clement of Alexan- 
 dria, preceptor of Origen, quotes largely from most of 
 the books of the New Testament : Athenagora* (A. D. 
 180,) indisputably quotes from Matthew and John : 
 Irenceus (A. D. 170,) wrote treatises from which we 
 learn that he received as authentic and canonical 
 Scripture the four Gospels, the authors of which he 
 describes, and the occasions on which they were writ- 
 ten : Melito, bishop of Sardis, Hegesippus, and Ta- 
 tian, all of about the same period, have left us similar 
 testimony : Justin, (born about 89, suffered martyr- 
 dom about 164.) who studied first the Grecian philos- 
 
452 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 pphies, and then embraced Christianity, has left us 
 numerous quotations from the four Gospels, which 
 lie uniformly represents as containing the genuine and 
 authentic accounts of Jesus Christ and of his doc- 
 trine ; and says that lie was read and expounded in. 
 the Christian assemblies for public worship : Papias, 
 bishop of Hierapolis (about A. D. 110.) bears express 
 testimony to the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, which 
 he ascribes to these evangelists : Polycarp, an immediate 
 disciple of St. John and bishop of Smyrna, (suffered 
 martyrdom about A. D. 166,) has, in the very small 
 portion of his writings now remaining, about forty 
 allusions to the different books of the New Testa- 
 ment : Ignatius (bishop of Antioch, A. D. 70, suffered 
 martyrdom about 110,) distinctly quotes the epistles of 
 Matthew and Mark, and cites, or alludes to, the Acts 
 and most of the Epistles : Her mas, eo temporary with 
 St. Paul, (see Epistle to the Romans xvi. 14,) has left 
 a work in three books, which contains numerous allu- 
 sions to the New Testament : Clement, bishop of Rome, 
 and fellow-laborer of Paul, (see Philippians iv, 3,) 
 wrote an epistle, several passages in which exhibit the 
 words of Christ as they stand in the Gospels, and cites 
 most of the Epistles: Barnabas, fellow-laborer with 
 Paul, (Acts xiii, 2, 3, <fcc.) is the author of an epistle 
 still extant, in which are expressions identically the 
 same as some occurring in the Gospel of Matthew, 
 and one in particular which is introduced with the 
 formula it is v:ritten, which was used by the Jews 
 when they cited their sacred books. He quotes most- 
 ly from the Old Testament, as he was arguing chiefly 
 with Jews. But his epistle contains the exact words 
 of several texts in the New Testament, in addition to 
 
What think ye of Christ? 453 
 
 those noticed above, and allusions to some others, -with 
 many phrases used by the Apostle Paul. 
 
 In the writings of these last jfive, (called the Apos- 
 tolic Fathers, because co temporary with the apos- 
 tles,) although they are often only fragmentary, there 
 is scarcely a book of the New Testament which one 
 or other of them has not quoted or referred to ; and 
 they uniformly speak of them as ' c Scriptures," " Sa- 
 cred Scripture/' and as the " Oracles of God." 
 
 We have thus an unbroken chain of testimony, 
 running up to the apostolic period, showing that the 
 Gospels and other books of the New Testament were 
 written at the time, and by the persons, when and by 
 whom they profess to have been composed. 
 
 And now, holding by this testimony, there stands 
 out before us, again, the miracle of Christ himself in 
 the world ; such a character, such a teacher, such a 
 being as those Gospels exhibit to us ; not a myth, 
 not an ideal, not an abstraction, but a reality, living, 
 acting, suffering, dying, and yet perfect and sinless, 
 and giving us doctrines such as might be let down 
 from the highest place in heaven itself. 
 
 We quote here from Mr. Parker again : ?* Mea- 
 sure," he says, " the religious doctrine of Jesus by 
 that of the time and place he lived in, or that of any 
 time or any place ; yes, by the doctrine of eternity. 
 Consider what a work his words and deeds have 
 wrought in the world. Remember that the greatest 
 minds have seen no farther, and added nothing to the 
 doctrine of religion ; that the richest hearts have felt 
 no deeper, and added nothing to the sentiment of 
 religion ; have set no loftier aim, no truer method 
 than his, of perfect love to God and man. Measure 
 
*u4 Life-scenes from the Four Gospels. 
 
 him by the shadow he has cast into the world — no, 
 by the light he has shed upon it. Shall we be told 
 such a man never lived ? the whole story is a lie ? 
 Suppose that Plato and Newton never lived. But 
 who did their wonders, and thought their thoughts ? 
 It takes a Newton to forge a Newton. What man 
 could forge a Jesus ? None but a Jesus. ,; * 
 
 Of similar import is a passage in the writings of J. 
 J. Rousseau : " Shall we suppose the evangelical his- 
 tory a mere fiction ? Indeed, my friend, it bears not 
 the marks of fiction ; on the contrary, the history of 
 Socrates, which no body presumes to doubt, is not so 
 well attested as that of Jesus Christ. Such a suppo- 
 sition, in fact, only shifts the difficulty, without obvi- 
 ating it. It is more inconceivable that a number of 
 persons should agree to write such a history, than 
 that only one should furnish the subject of it. Ihe 
 Jewish writers were incapable of the diction and 
 strangers to the morality contained in the Gospel, 
 the marks of whose truth are so striking and inimit- 
 able, that the inventor would be a more astonishing 
 character than the hero." 
 
 What shall we say, then, in answer to the question, 
 "What think ye of Christ ?" His own character be- 
 fore us, as the greatest of possible miracles ; his 
 teachings, felt by all the world to be like the breath 
 of heaven on its wretchedness and guilt ;' his ex- 
 ample perfect, and yet with a perfection that does 
 not repel, but attracts us ; his love to us so great 
 that, when the majesty of God's unchangeable law over 
 the universe was about to pour vengeance on us the 
 guilty, that love brought him to earth as the sacri- 
 ° "Life of Jesus," p. 363. 
 
What think ye of Christ ? 455 
 
 fice, that " with his stripes we might be healed/' arid 
 that " on liirn might be laid the iniquity of us all :"* — 
 this is the Christ and God, trying to draw us to him- 
 self. In reply to the question, we bow in faith, and 
 gratitude, and adoration, and love, exclaiming in the 
 words of one of the Apostles, " My Lord and my 
 God !" 
 
 e Isaiah liii, 5, 6. 
 
 THE END 
 
INDEX 
 
 A. 
 
 Acra, mount, 302: altar of the temple, 120; Anna's house, 
 366: Antiochus Epiphanes, 57 ; Antonia, tower of, 3 06; 
 Aramean language, 55 ; apostles chosen, 180 : do- sent forth, 
 204 ; da. return, 206 ; ArcheJaus, 61 ; argumentum ad homi- 
 nem, 391 ; ascension of Christ, 443 ; attempt to seize Christ, 
 240 ; authenticity of the Scriptures — heathen, &c. testimony, 
 448, &c. : Christian do., 451, &c.. 
 
 B. 
 Baptism among the Jews, 23 ; beautiful gate of the temple, 119 ; 
 Bethabara,22 ; Bethany, 246 ; Bethesda, pcol of, 1G9 ; heal- 
 ing there, 170 ; Bezetha, 302 ; blind man healed, 202 : do. 
 (born blind) healed, 253 ; do. Bartimeus, 297 ; bloody sweat, 
 cases of, 364, note ; body of Christ after the resurrec- 
 tion, 433. 
 
 C. 
 Csesarea Philippi, 214 ; Caiapha3' hall, and the trial there, 368 ; 
 C.jna, marriage feast there. 111 ; do., C hrist's second visit to 
 it, 140 ; calmed, sea of Galilee, 200 ; Capernaum, its probable 
 situation, 150 ; do , healings there, 156, 176, 180 ; centu- 
 rion's servant healed, 183 ; Chagigali rej icing, 378 ; Chel, 
 119 ; children as a model, 221 : received ad blessed by 
 Christ, 279 ; cleansing of the temple, 130, 319 : cloisters of 
 the temple, 117 ; Colbonists, 128 ; court of the Gentiles, 
 118 : do. of the women, 119 : do. of Israel, 120 ; crucifixion, 
 how regarded by the Bomans, 388 : do., it3 action on body 
 and mind, 402. 
 
 D. 
 Dancing, religious, in the temple court, 230 ; darkness, super- 
 natural, 404 ; Decapolis, 4000 fed there, 212 ; dedication, 
 
458 INDEX. 
 
 fea^t of, 258 ; demoniacs healed, 200 ; deputation from the 
 Sanhedrim to John, 41, &c. ; desecration of the temple by 
 the Jews, 129, 318 ; desert of Judea, 35, &c. ; dinner with a 
 Pharisee, 197, 273 : do. with publicans and sinners, 201 ; 
 disciples, the first attached 107 : do., the 70 sent out, 222 ; 
 do., they return and report their mission, 2G2 ; do , dispute 
 amo ng, 221 ; divinity or its altriUit s claimed by Christ, 1G6, 
 172, 261, 371,380 ; dress of the Jews, 70; dropsy healed, 274. 
 
 E. 
 Education among the Jews, 68 ; Ephraim, city of, 273 ; Esdrae- 
 lon, plain of, 142 ; Essenes, 93 ; excavations und r the tem- 
 ple, 125 : do. under ^he c'ty, 307 ; excommunication, kinds 
 of, 251 ; expectations concerning the Messiah, 20. 
 
 F. 
 
 Festivals, 73 : do., journey ing3 to arid from, 81 ; feast of Dedi- 
 cation, 253 : da. of Penteeost, 86 : do. of Taberoasles, 226, 
 &c. : do. of Passover, 345, &e. : do. do , posture at, 347 : do. 
 do , order of, 353 ; feeding of 5,000, p. 200 : do. of 4,000, p. 
 212 ; first fruits, ceremony of cutt'ng, 378 ; flagella, 396 ; force 
 of character in Christ, 171 ; funeral ceremonies, 189. 
 
 G. 
 
 Gabbatha, 382 ; Galilee de-cribed, 109 ; Gemara, 90 ; Gennesa- 
 ret, plain of , 151 ; Ge hsemane, 261 ; Gilboa, Mount, 142; 
 Golgotha, 398 ; good Samari an- parable, 249 ; govcrm rs cf 
 Judea, CI ; guards at the tomb, 414 : do. do. bribed, 423. 
 
 H. 
 
 Hallels, 229 ; beamings, miraculous, 140, 156, 158. 162, 166, 170, 
 173, 176, 194, 197, 2C0, 2C2, lb., 2C4, 207, 211, 212, lb., 220, 
 225, 253, 271, 273, 274, 297, 316, 365 ; H brew language, its 
 changes, 54; h'er-d the Great, 58, &c. ; Herod Ant'pas. Gl : 
 do, wishes to see Jesus, 206 ; ( hr!st bef re him, 385 ; Hero- 
 dians, who ihey were, 93 ; do and Pharisees conspire again t 
 Christ, 174, 321 ; heroism of Christianity, 135, 329 ; high 
 priests, li t of, 337, &c. ; Hillel, 98 ; history of Palestine, 53, 
 Horns of Hattin, 178 ; hosannas to Christ, 312, 317 ; houses 
 in Palestine, 163. 
 
INDEX. 459 
 
 J. 
 
 Jacob's well, Christ there, 138 ; James and John, their ambi- 
 tious request, 292 ; Jericho described, 280, &c. ; Jeru c alem 
 described, 300, &c. ; Jewish teachings, 182 ; do. manners, 62, 
 69 ; Jews, how regarded by foreigners, 95 ; John at the Jor- 
 dan, 17 : his teachings, 25 : his history, 28 : is imprisoned, 
 136: sends messengers to Christ, 193: is bi headed, 195; 
 Jordan ds cribed, 18 ; Joseph of Arimathea, 411 ; Jost, a 
 modern Jewish historian extracts from, 96, &c, ; Judas, 
 where from probably, 110 : determines to betray Christ, 341 : 
 is unmasked, 351 : hangs himself, 394. 
 
 K. 
 
 King — they would make Christ king, 209. 
 
 L. 
 
 Lake of Galilee described; 148 ; Lazarus restored to life, 271 ; 
 leper healed, 162 : ten others, 223 ; leprosy described, 160, 
 224 ; L : ghtfoot, 90 ; Little Hermon, mo.. 142 ; loneliness of 
 Christ, 177 ; Lord's supper instituted, 354; Lulabb, 228. 
 
 M. 
 
 Maccabees, 57 ; Manifestations of Christ after the resurrection, 
 429,432,435,436,437,438, 439,442, 443; manners of the 
 Jews, 69 ; Mazzuroth, 73 ; Messiah, expectations concerning, 
 20; Messiahship claimed by Christ, 140, 146 ; Mishna, 89; 
 rnoDey chests and money changers at the temple, 127 ; Moriah, 
 115 ; mount, the sermon on, 176, &c. ; Mount of Olives, 115, 
 246,311. 
 
 N. 
 
 Xain— dead man restored to life, 190 ; Nathanael, 108 ; Naza- 
 reth described, 142 ; do. visited by Christ and scene there, 
 145 ; do. do. a second time, 202 ; Nicodemus, 133, 245, 411; 
 nobleman of Capernaum — his son healed, 140. 
 
 P. 
 
 Palestine described, 50, &c. ; paralytic healed, 166 ; Parker, 
 Theodore, quotations from, 447, 453 ; Passover supper, how 
 observed. 353 ; Perea, 222; Peter, his want of faith, 210 ; do 
 at the Passovei supper, 352 ; do. denies his Lord, 374 ; Pha- 
 risees described, 43 : phylacteries described, 46 ; Pilate, his 
 
460 INDEX. 
 
 character, 3S2 ; pilgrims in Austria. 75 ; plot against Christ, 
 335 : priests, ranks of. 241 ; prophecies respecting Christ, 30 ; 
 proseuchae, 64 ; Publicans, 21. 
 
 B. 
 Resurrection of Christ, 422 : do. not disputed by the Sanhe- 
 drim. 424. &c. : Roman governors, 61 ; do. standards in Je- 
 rusalem. 21 ; Eousseau, J. J., quotations from, 454 ; ruler's 
 daughter healed, 202 ; rumor that the kingdom of heaven 
 should immediately appear, 296. 
 
 Sadducees described. 43 ; Samaria described, 52. kc. ; Sanhedrim 
 how composed, 40 : do., their council room, 110; Scribes, 
 who they were 92 ; sepilchre, 411 : do. found open, 428 : 
 sermon on the mount, ISO ; Shammed, 93 ; simlah. 70 ; Sole- 
 mon"s porch, 117, 259 ; supper at Bethany. 340 ; synagogues 
 described. 64. 
 
 T. 
 
 Tabernacles, feast of, 226, &c. ; Tabor, Mount, 142 ; talith, 67 ; 
 Talmuds, 90 ; temptations of Christ, 37 ; temple — first tem- 
 ple, 114: second do., 114: third do., (Herod's.y 115: do. 
 edifice, 120 : do. cleans-id, 130 : do. do. second time 
 318 ; traditions, S3 ; trafficking in the temple, 129 ; transfigu- 
 ration of Christ, 217 ; trials in Judea, rules for, 331, kc. ; 
 trial in the house of Caiaphas, 369, 379 : do. before Pilate, 
 332, Arc. ; triumphal entry into Jerusalem, 312. kc. ; Tyro- 
 peon vallev, 300. 
 
 U. 
 
 Unwritten law, 88. 
 
 V. 
 
 Veil of the temple, 123: do. do. rent in twain, 407; vine of 
 gold, 121. 
 
 W. 
 
 Christ walks on the water, 210 : washing of ha-:ds, 19S ; weep- 
 ing over Jerusalem, 314 ; Wilderness of Judea, 35, kc. : do 
 do. road across, from Bethany. 243 ; wine among the ancients, 
 112 ; woes denounced, 323, kc. 
 
 7 ' > 
 
 Zaccheos, 293. 
 
°^ ^ oI^BC- *^r P'eservationTechnologies 
 
 A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 
 
 ^S 111 Thomson Park Drive 
 
 Cranberry Township. PA 16066 
 ■G- 1 (724)779-2111 
 
 Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
 Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
 Treatment Date: July 2005 
 
 J- "*. 
 
 < v ; 
 
^°- 
 
 
 ST. AUGUSTINE ggU g|i|> • 
 
 D0B6S BROS. 
 
 LIBRARY BINDING 
 
 FLA. 
 
 32084 
 
 - 
 
 ft 
 
LIBRARY