The Pictvre of Iesvs BETHLEHEM LEE YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 1942 Christ cmb (Djvistianity. THE PICTURE OF JESUS (THE MASTER). # * # In five vols., crown 8vo, price $s. each. Each volume sold separately, and complete in itself. CHRIST AND CHRISTIANITY. By the Rev. H. R. HAWEIS, M.A., Incumbent of St. James's, Marylebone. I. — The Story of the Four. (Evangelists.) Now Ready. II. — The Picture of Jesus. (The Master.) Now Ready. III. — The Picture of Paul. (The Disciple.) In February. IV. — The Conquering Cross. (The Church.) At Easter. V. — The Light of the Nations. (Asia, Africa, Europe.) In May. CHARLES BURNET & CO., g, Buckingham Street, Strand. Cfyrtst anb (Christianity, C-V,3j THE PICTURE OF JESUS (THE MASTER) REV. H. R. HAWEIS, M.A., INCUMBENT OF ST. JAMES'S, MARYLEBONE. AUTHOR OF "MUSIC AND MORALS," " THOUGHTS FOR THE TIMES," "SPEECH IN SEASON," " WINGED WORDS," ETC. * * * LONDON CHARLES BURNET & CO., g, Buckingham Street, Strand. 1886. Novello, Ewer & Co., Printers, tg & 70, Dean Street, Soho, London, W. FOREWORDS. "The Picture of Jesus" must speak for itself. No strict chronology nor rigid sequence of events has been affected, no exhaustive narrative has been aimed at, nor any com plete account of speeches and parables. But the Figure of Jesus has been all in all. To realise Him, not as He may have been drawn by the devout imagination of the Middle Ages, but as He actually lived and moved and had His Being in Galilee, at Nazareth, and at Jerusalem — that has been my aim. His atmosphere, His local surroundings, the elements of His teaching — these I have attempted to seize and fix in the following series of Pictorial Studies. vi Forewords. The Pictures have a certain peculiarity. Each is more or less homiletic in ten dency. I have not cared to suppress even modern and sermonesque applications — the warning, reproof, guidance, and consolation flowing from that Divine life I feel to be too inseparably entwined with our own. Dogmatic Christianity I have allowed to creep into these Studies almost as little as it does into the Gospels. The want of definition which Paul, the disciple, already begins to feel, does not seem to have troubled the Master, or, indeed, His followers, during His lifetime. Definitions — explana tions suitable to the times, intelligible to the catechumens, naturally enough came later — and no one need object to definitions in creeds or articles which aim at embodying sound and teachable truth for a time — for that is doctrine. Everyone has a right to object to the definitions of truth framed in one age being rivetted without apology or Forewords. vii explanation upon another — for so doctrine is petrified into dogma. In this "Picture of Jesus " we are still happily in the morning light — the dew is on the grass, the mist is in the valley, and a golden radiance from the eastern sky suffuses the Divine form of the Son of Man. He walks with His disciples among the Galilean hills, with the red lilies breaking about His feet. His Father's voice seems to roll on the summer thunder, the wind that " bloweth where it listeth " is full of whispers of the heavenly realm, Moses and Elias stand with Him on the shining mount, a strong angel descends to comfort Him in Gethsemane. The eye of faith sees Him after the cruci fixion in the cool of the day at Emmaus, the hand of doubt touches the nail-prints, the heart of love is quick to discern Him in the dim morning by the quiet lake. In that viii Forewords. ineffable Presence no one felt any mis givings — all found rest. The disciples see and believe, the Lord raises His hands in blessing, He is suddenly parted from them, and a bright cloud receives Him out of their sight ! No time seems able to blur that Vision Beautiful, no scepticism can wither its attractive power. After nineteen centuries of assault and misrepresentation, we can still look on the Picture of Jesus, as it stands out in the Gospel Story, and adore without idolatry; for " the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of Grace and Truth." Note. — I desire to acknowledge, in the fullest way, my indebtedness to many previous writers on the life of Christ, especially the more modern scholars and historians — Strauss, Neander, Renan and Farrar. In almost every case I have learned most from the writers with whom I agree least. In the general preface to the preceding Vol., " Story of the Four," a more detailed statement on the subject of my obligations will be found. CONTENTS. I.— BORN OF A WOMAN No. i. Documents and Monuments . 2. The Constructive Method 3. The Transitory and the Eternal 4. St. Angelo . . 5. Gospel sources 6. Genealogies .... 7. Two Views .... 8. Angelic Appearances g. The Hymns .... 10. The matter sifted . 11. God manifest in the Flesh 12. Mischief of fixed definitions . 13. The Divinity of Jesus explained 14. God in the Man — Man in the God PAGE I 2 3 4 5 689 9 10 11 121215 II.— FOUND IN THE TEMPLE 15. The Massacre 17 16. The Flight 18 17. The Journey 19 18. Lost 20 19. In the Temple ....... 21 20. About His Father's business 22 21. At Home '24 22. " Is not this the Carpenter ? " .... 25 23. Gospel of Manual Labour ..... 26 x CONTENTS. III.— BAPTISED IN THE JORDAN. No. PAGE 24. Signs 29 25. The Augustan and Victorian ages ... 30 26. The man of the Crowd and the Cloister . . 32 27. What shall we do 32 28. The Pulpit in Politics 33 29. The People, The Publican, The Soldier . . 34 30. John muses 35 31. The Master is come 36 32. The Friend of Man 37 IV.— TEMPTED OF THE DEVIL. 33. Order of the Temptation 34. The Dream theory 35. "These Stones " . 36. The Pinnacle of the Temple 37. The High Mountain 38. " Get thee hence, Satan '' 3940 42 44 45 49 V.— MIRACLES. 39. " Come and see " 51 40. The Call, and its consequences .... 52 41. The Marriage Feast 53 42, Miracles and their solutions ..... 54 43. Wine or water ....... 56 44. A natural explanation ...... 57 45. " With water ? " 58 46. The water exchanged ...... 59 47. Our Insular Bigotry 60 48. Innocent Happiness . . . . 62 49. Glory-manifested 63 505i 5253'54 VI.— THE INTERRUPTED Money Changers in the Temple Fever healed .... Casting out Devils The Synagogue at Nazareth . The Storm bursts . SERMON. 65 6668 6971 CONTENTS. No. 55- 56. 57-53.59- 60. VII.— NICODEMUS. PAGE Christ's personal method 75 Nicodemus taught ...... 76 Water and the Spirit — no simultaneity . . 78 Born of the Spirit 80 The wind bloweth 80 Conversion . . . . . . . .81 VIII.— THE GREAT SERMON. 61. The Scene 62. He opened His mouth 63. The Audience 64. The Inner Life 65. The Law 66. Rules and Principles 67. Some Oaths . 68. Perfection 69. Undogmatic Christianity 70. Almsgiving 71. Prayer . 72. The Lord's Prayer 73. Maurice's Sermons 83 8485 8787899091 92 93 94 95 97 IX.— THE MISSIONERS. 74. Matthew x. and xi. 75. Mission Method 76. Form Transitory . 77. " They also serve " 78. Gospel for the Rich 79. Fidelity . 80. Simplicity 81. Consolation . 99 100101102I03104 105105 X.— PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM. 82. The Kingdom 83. Fact, Form, Spirit 84. The Sower . 107 108109 Xll CONTENTS. No. 85- Second Seed Parable .... PAGE . no 86. Parables combined .... . no 87. The Mustard Seed and the Leaven . 112 88. The Winding River .... . 112 XL— THE CRISIS. 89. An Eternal Attraction . "5 90. Keynotes 116 91. The approach of a Crisis 117 92. Jesus Inflexible . 117 93. Transubstantiation 118 94. " To whom shall we go ? " 119 95. Asceticism not of Jesus 120 96. Christ and Stylites 121 97. The Ascetic, Formalist, Sceptic . 122 98. Ritualism and Ceremonialism 123 99. Sham Fasting .... 123 00. The Sabbath 124 01. Dogma and Life . 125 XII.— THE COLLISION. 102. Growing Discords . 127 103. Two Points ..... . 128 104. By Beelzebub .... . 129 105. A Sign • 131 106. The Sin against the Holy Ghost . ¦ 133 107. A State • i34 108. The Case of Paul ¦ 135 109. A Conspiracy .... • 136 no. Jesus meets the attack • 136 in. Jesus thrust out .... • • 138 112. With the People .... ¦ 139 113. Words of Consolation . ¦ i39 114. The Eternal Sympathy . 140 115. From Storm to Calm . . 142 CONTENTS. XIll XIII.— THE STRUGGLE AT JERUSALEM. No.116. A pause 117. Family Scepticism 118. Jesus misunderstood . 119. Only six months to live 120. Rumours at Jerusalem 121. Jesus speaks 122. Goodness enthroned 123. Ancient and Modern opinion 124. The Battle, inch by inch 125. The order of arrest out 126. The Great Awe . 127. "That Great Day" 128. The Son makes us free PAGE 143 144144145 I46I46147 I48 149150 151 r52153 XIV.— BETWEEN TWO FEASTS. 129. The Beginning of the End 155 130. Unpopularity 156 131. Menace 156 132. Farewell to Galilee 158 133. Changed times 159 134. Vast activity 159 135. Triflers dealt with 161 136. Christ and the Lawyer 162 137. Jesus puts the question 165 XV.— DAYS OF JUDGMENT. 138. Old Words and New Thoughts 167 139. The Kingdom of God . 168 140. The "Kingdom" explained 169 141. Jesus imperfectly understood 171 142. Within .... 171 143. Without observation . 172 144. The Judgment come . 173 145. The Eternal " Now ! " 175 146. " Where, Lord ? " 176 CONTENTS. XVI.— MARRIAGE. No. 147. A Living Worship 148. Son of God . 149. Is Jesus quite orthodox ? 150. The Simplicity which is in Christ 151. The Divorce Question 15a. Jesus firm on Marriage 153. Yet Divorce is Universal 154. Sweeping statements . 155. Our Marriage and Divorce Laws absurd 156. We must have Charity 157. Jesus and Children 177178179180 181182183 184 185186 187 XVII.— THE KING. 158. Revival of Popularity 189 159. Caiaphas also among the Prophets . . . 190 160. The Cross in sight 191 161. Great activity 192 162. Great serenity 193 163. The Dark Shadow 193 164. Policy of Judas 194 165. The King's Progress 195 166. 167. 168. 169. 170.171.172.173- XVIII.— THE KING AND HIS QUESTIONERS. Thieves in the Temple By what Authority ? A Staggering Rejoinder The Defeat . A Parable in Season . Compunction and Rage Tribute to Csesar The Heart to God 197199 200202 202 203 204205 CONTENTS. xv XIX.— FOOTSTEPS TO CALVARY. No. PAGE 174. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday . . . 207 175. At Supper 208 176. Who is the Traitor ?...... 209 177. Judas takes the sop ... . . 210 178. The Bread and Wine 211 179. Paul's Fragment 211 180. What did Christ mean ?..... 213 181. How Administered ...... 214 182. Perversion 214 183. A Second Century MS. 214 184. The First Celebration Rules .... 216 XX.— IN GETHSEMANE. 185. Supper ended . 217 186. Talk by the Way 218 187. " Watch with Me" . .... 219 188. The Prayer 220 189. The Agony . . .... 220 190. Rise ! 221 XXL— JUDAS. igi. The Art of Whitewash ..... 223 192. Judas and Pilate 224 193. New Treatment of Judas ..... 224 194. Judas to himself ....... 224 195. Was Judas a. Thief ? 225 196. Judas Acts . ( 226 197. Judas, a low Intelligence 226 198. Judas soliloquizes ...... 227 ig9. Judas and Jesus 229 200. The Surprise in the Garden . . . -231 201. A Blow for Judas 232 202. One chance more 233 203. All hope over 234 204. Judas heartbroken 234 CONTENTS. No. 205. What Judas might have been 206. He repented 207. He hanged himself 208. Son of Perdition . PAGE 235236 237 238 XXII.— PILATE. 209. Four Trials .... . 241 210. Annas .... • 241 211. Caiaphas .... . 242 212. Pilate as he was . ¦ 243 213. Pilate begins ¦ 244 214. Pilate faces Jesus . 246 215. To Herod and Back . 248 216. Pilate's Plea for Jesus 249 217. Ecce Homo ! . . . • 249 218. Last Interview . 251 219. Pilate's Last Passionate Plea for Jesus . 252 220. Pilate's Character • 254 XXIII.— CRUCIFIXION. 221. A Green Hill far away 222: Good Friday Morning . 223. " Jesus maketh His Will " . 224. " Truly this Man was a Son of God 225. Dead 257258259260261 XXIV.— OUTRE-TOMBE. 226. Stricken Hopes .... 227. Difficulties of the Resurrection . 228. Various Appearances . . 229. His Re-Appearance a Fixed Point 230. A thought 263 264 26526726S BORN OF A WOMAN. i. Documents and monuments. — 2. The constructive method. — 3. The transitory and the eternal. — 4. St. Angelo. — 5. Gospel sources. — 6. Genealogies. — 7. Two views. — 3. Angelic appearances. — g. The hymns. — 10. The matter sifted. — ¦ n. God manifest in the flesh. — 12. Mischief of fixed definitions. — 13. The divinity of Jesus explained. — 14. God in the man — man in the God. I wish to stand by the wayside as Jesus of Nazareth passes by — to look on — to lay to heart — to write down what I see and hear. DOCUMENTS I do this with the help of documents, AND maps, monuments, traditions, and his- monuments. torical criticisms. Of writings, I prefer the earliest, such as Paul and Mark — of monuments, also the. oldest, first and second centuries if possible, the- stones, coins, inscriptions, etc., of Jerusalem, Ephesus, Rome, and the Catacombs — of traditions,. also the oldest, not later, when attainable, than the second century, such as Irenasus, and the Muratori fragment — of maps and historical criticisms, I 2 Born of a Woman. prefer the most recent, because these alone embody the results of the most extensive learning and research. Some idea of our favourable position in the nineteenth century, for judging of the events which took place in the first, or even before the first, may be gathered from the fact that our eyes behold the excavated walls of Romulus, which were hidden even from the eyes of Paul, whilst in the British Museum we can also look upon the marbles of Diana's temple at Ephesus, which have been buried for centuries. Such excavation triumphs of the nineteenth century are only paralleled by those other triumphs of historical criticism, and archaeological discovery, which have, in these last days, laid bare the social and political state of the world in the time of Christ with an altogether photographic minuteness, whilst im parting to the events which then took place (a.d. i — ioo) a vivid colouring of life beyond all photography. To obtain a true picture of Jesus it is evident that the Gospels must be read in a sympathetic 2. mood, and with a scientific method. constructive The ^ mood implies the historical method, imagination which reconstructs — The Transitory and the Eternal. 3 the method implies the historical criticism which condenses and sifts. I wish to spare my reader as much as possible the dust, heat, and toil of the studio or laboratory. My object is to bring him into the gallery and show him the finished work. But I cannot spare him a general preliminary statement of the principle upon which that work has been wrought out — or, in other words, the general method which I have adopted in painting " The Picture of Jesus." I will call it the " sifting " or condensing method. Take a portion, say a chapter or more, and ask what it means — not what it 3. can be made to mean. Separate the n" TRANSITORY Transitory, rescue the Historical, AND THe bring out and apply to the present the eternal. Spiritual, Permanent, and Eternal elements. This is to condense — not dilute. To collect your gold grains and weld them into nuggets — not to ham mer them out into thin flakes. Seek for the Transitory, the Historical, and the Eternal every where. The method is as good for ecclesiastical as for scriptural history. Here is a specimen or test treatment. b 2 4 Born of a Woman. In the sixth century, when the plague was raging at Rome, Gregory the Great organised the whole population into penitential processions. st. an'gelo. They Paraded the streets singing a solemn Litany. When they came to the bridge over the Tiber, which led to the fortress of Hadrian, there appeared, so runs the story, a bright Angel — the Angel Michael — on the summit of the tower, sheathing his sword, and so the plague was stayed. That is the origin of the statue that now stands on the fortress of St. Angelo. Here you will probably agree the Transitory element is the appearance of the Angel Michael, the Historical element is the processional Litany about the time of the abatement of the plague, and the Spiritual element is the awakening of the people's hearts and the stirring up the religious consciousness of a whole city under the pressure of an awful national calamity. Now I will show how this method may be ap plied to the Gospel history.* *As each volume aims at being complete in itself, an occasional brief summary or recapitulation of previous matter is indispensable. See Vol.* * "The Story of the Four." Gospel Sources. 5 The Gospel documents ! Where did they come from ? Who wrote them ? Christ, like Buddha, Confucius, Socrates, wrote nothing. All comes second-hand, and gospel not often even that. The records S0URCES- are later than the Crucifixion — a.d. 33 ; later than the flight of the Christians from Jeru salem — a.d. 65. The traditions remained with the Saviour's Apostles and Evangelists, and the little group of saintly personages who, after the siege of Jerusalem, 70 a.d., lived at Pella, beyond Jordan. About a.d. 70 Mark, the companion and aman uensis of Peter, probably at Rome, worked up some of the floating traditions which he may have had by him for twenty years or more. His was the earliest Gospel. About a.d. 80 we get a Palestinian Gospel, bearing Matthew's name, reflecting the traditions current at Jerusalem and the memories of Pella. About A.D. 90-4 Luke gathers up from many sources, as he himself says, a fuller Gospel for the Roman Gentiles, reflecting the Gospel preached by Paul, and embodying nearly the whole of Mark, which no doubt lay before him, but containing nothing of what is peculiar to Matthew, which he probably had not 6 Born of a Woman. seen. The materials of John's Gospel came together towards the close of the first and the first half of the second century. So, then, before the documents reach us in any thing like their present form, " they have already passed through half-a-century of oral tradition and more than one written account " (Mr. Matthew Arnold). The Transitory element connected with them generally is the imported theory of verbal inspira tion. The Historical element is the nucleus of Mark's, Matthew's, and John's collection of say ings and doings, and the contributions of Luke. The Spiritual and Permanent element is the figure of Jesus Christ, which shines out equally in all four : the significance of His mission ; the moral and spiritual thrust of His teaching, and the divine type of human life resulting therefrom. Now, I will take a portion of Luke — say Chap ters i. and ii. to verse 39 — and seek further in detail for the Transitory, the His- 6. J genealogies, torical, and the Spiritual and Per manent elements. First, let us consider the circumstances con nected with the birth of Jesus Christ, such as Genealogies. 7 the Genealogies of Joseph, the Miraculous Con ception, the Angelic Appearances, the Three Hymns, Benedicite, Magnificat, and Nunc dimittis. We have to do here with the synoptics or first three Evangelists only. I take Mark (a.d. cir. 70), the earliest, and Matthew (a.d. cir. 80) and Luke (a.d. cir. 90), and I find two distinct streams of tra dition about the birth of Christ. Mark says nothing of the miraculous conception or the angelic ap pearances. They were, it may be, not currently reported in his day, for had he heard of them he could not have passed, them over. Matthew and Luke came later, and embody the later tradition of the miraculous conception, but they also embody the earlier view of Joseph's paternity, and accordingly give the genealogy of Joseph. Matthew traces Joseph's lineage to David ; Luke goes up to Adam, and plainly says that the current opinion was that Jesus was the son of Joseph — "being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph." From Matthew's and Luke's point of view Joseph's pedigree could have been of no consequence at all. The miraculous conception blots him out ; his pedigree is merely the record of what was the early Christian belief, possibly up to the death of Mary. Whatever she herself knew about the 8 Bom of a Woman. miraculous conception, it was probably one of the things which she kept secret and pondered in her heart. The records of a.d. 70, which represent the family traditions of a.d. 33, do not deal with it at all. It only occurs in the records of a.d. 80 and 90. I will put it clearly thus : Towards the close of the first century there were two sects of Christians, the Jewish and the Gentile. The earlier sect, who followed Mark and TWO VIEWS. Peter (for Mark's Gospel is, in fact, Peter's) ; the later sect, who followed Luke and Paul (for Luke's Gospel is, in fact, Paul's). Matthew represents a state of transition thought between Mark and Luke. Both sects spoke of Jesus as Son of God ; both saw in Him in some sense a divine presence. But the earlier Jewish Christians represented by Mark seem to have known nothing of the miraculous conception, and believed the divine life in Jesus to be a spiritual influence transfusing His humanity; whilst the later Gentile Christians represented by Luke considered the divine life in Jesus to be due to a certain physical but miraculous Angelic Appearances. 9 influence, wholly independent of Joseph, and operant at the time of Mary's conception. Next as to the angelic appearances. They also belong to the later tradition. They are found in Matthew and Luke, not in Mark. 8. An angel announced the birth of angelic T , , _ , . , . APPEARANCES. John to Zacharias; another an nounced the birth of Jesus to Mary. The heavenly hosts sang to the shepherds who kept their flocks by night around Bethlehem — ¦" Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and good will towards men." These angelic visita tions were either of the nature of visions or appa ritions ; it is equally useless and impossible, from the scanty records before us, to try and determine which. Now as to the hymns. Every great event in Hebrew story was heralded or accompanied by such bursts of prophetic and poetical psalmody, and it were rash to say '-'' r J THE HYMNS. that Zacharias, or Simeon, or Mary may not have used some such form of words as afterwards got to be embodied in the beautiful "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel," " My soul io Born of a Woman. doth magnify the Lord," and " Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace." The ground being thus cleared we are ready to consider the Transitory, the Historical, and the Spiritual and Permanent in this whole the matter account of the Incarnation of our sifted. Lord jesuS Christ. Transitory will very likely be found certain details in Joseph's genealogy, especially that of Luke, who traces him up to Adam. Transitory will possibly be thought certain details of the miraculous conception belonging to the later record of Luke, but not to be found in Mark. Transitory may be some of the details connected with the angelic appearances, especially such as regard their objective nature ; and Transitory the notion that Zacharias, Mary, or Simeon uttered precisely the finished and elegant compositions set down for them in the first and second chapters of Luke. But Historical will be found the general fact, important or unimportant, that Joseph claimed to be of the Blood Royal, and dwelt at Bethlehem, the City of David. The Roman government ad- God Manifest in the Flesh. ii mitted his claim, and sent him up to his native city to be taxed. Historical is also the fact that Jesus was born at Bethlehem of Judsea in the reign of Augustus Csesar, and historical also is probably the fact that a burst of Hebrew song and certain Angelic Visions accompanied the birth of One who was not only the King of the Jews, but the Son of God as well as the Son of Man — the Saviour of the World and the Author and Finisher of our Faith. Now, lastly, stands out the Spiritual and Per manent truth of the Incarnation — the Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Whether, with Mark, you know nothing of the miraculous conception, and simply believe the Divine Nature of Jesus to have "• been a spiritual influence transfusing ,,.v„_„„ rM His humanity ; or whether you the flesh. hold, with Luke, that the Divine Nature of Jesus was due to a miraculous operation at the time of conception ; yet with Jewish and Gentile Christians of the first century — with Mark and Luke, with Peter and Paul — you equally hold that in Jesus and through Mary God was 12 Born of a Woman. " manifest in the flesh." That is the Spiritual and the Permanent element in the doctrine ot the Incarnation. You ask me to define further. I will not define. For the first century and a-half there was no J2- definition. The Apostles preached the Gospel without definition, al- FIXED r ' definitions, though they defined more than Christ. For the first three hundred years there was no authoritative definition, of Christ's Divinity. Most of the schisms and nicknames and heresies and theological miseries in Christendom — much that has sinned against the Life and denied the Gospel of Christ, has come from man's wrongheaded passion for having a fixed definition of Christ's Divinity. Therefore I will not define the Divinity of Christ. You ask me to explain as far as I can what I mean by the Divinity of Christ. That do I 13. willingly ; but not like Arius or THE Athanasius, with the desire to make DIVINITY OF jesus mine or any one else's explanation a explained. finai definition, to be rivetted on the Church for ever. The Divinity of Jesus explained. 13 This is my explanation ; this is what I believe, sb far as I can understand myself. I believe that in Jesus a special use was made of human nature for the purpose of revealing to man as much as could be revealed of God under the limitations of humanity. Whether the theory of pre-na.ta.1 transfusion by the Deity, as we are at liberty to infer from Matthew and Luke, or the theory of post-na.ta.1 transfusion of Deity, to which Mark inclines, be accepted as the method of the Incarnation, seems to me a matter of comparative unim portance. The ^>os£-natal theory will perhaps commend itself to some as the most reverent of the two ; but the same style of theology which has for centuries perceived nothing inhuman or derogatory to the Divine Being in the doctrine of everlasting punishment, has also found nothing degrading to the Deity in the pre-na.ta.1 transfusion theory. To me all spiritual inhabitation, however accomplished, is in the highest degree mystic and miraculous, and I who believe that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, hold that the post-na.ta.1 transfusion of Himself into human nature is no whit less miraculous than the pre-na.ta.1 transfusion, and to some I repeat the 14 Born of a Woman. post-nata\ theory may seem the more reverent belief of the two. The root of the matter lies, after all, not in the physical machinery, but in the spiritual fact, and the spiritual fact is this : — One side of God, the only side intelligible to man — His humanity — that which had moral and spiri tual as well as fleshly affinity with us, came forth and was bond fide expressed in the Person of Jesus. You ask me whether all God was in Jesus. I say, No ; Jesus says, No. Sides of the Almighty, of the Invisible, the Eternal — aspects incon ceivable to man — never could be revealed through man's nature. God overlaps Jesus ; " My Father," He says, " is greater than I." You ask me of Torbay or Barmouth Creek whether it is the sea ? I say, Yes. You ask if it is the whole of the sea ? I say, No. Yet a cupful or a pailful, and every part of the bay or creek, is true sea — the sea, having its own mighty range and infinite potencies, has verily and indeed flowed into that earthbound creek. All that is in Torbay is sea, but all the sea is not in Torbay ; so all that is in Jesus is God, but all God is not in Jesus. Jesus is, then, God manifest in the flesh. The significance — the lifting power — the salvation of it lies here. Henceforth doubt not ; plant your God in the Man — Man in the God. 15 foot on the rock. Man's love is God's love, only not so good ; man's justice is God's justice, only not so impartial ; man's right and wrong is God's right and wrong — it is in the direction of it, although not so infallible ; man's power is God's power, only not so great. " His ways are not our ways " ; not because they are different in kind, but because they are all-wise and all-good, whereas our best attempts are mixed. But henceforth we know Him — because He was manifest in the flesh. Jesus Christ is a true presentation and explana tion of God's moral and spiritual nature, as far as that can be grasped by man. We do not any longer grope, or wonder, or puzzle about His will, His purpose to us-ward, or His character. The lowliest Christian is at last in a position to answer that ancient and bitter cry, " 0 that I knew where I might find Him ! " with " I know in whom I have believed." One side, therefore, of the Permanent and Spiritual Truth of the Incarnation is God in the Man, the other side is Man in the 14- God. Tesus, the Divine Represen- J ' r MAN — MAN IN tative of Human Nature ! Every the god. one of us in Him ! That's the good news. A 1 6 Born of a Woman. High Priest indeed He is, but not separated from us, not ignorant of our infirmities. The assurance of God's sympathy for us in Him is of the closest and most personal kind. No state, no mood, no friend or enemy — not timid Apostles, not ignorant crucifiers — not sinful women nor any aliens from the commonwealth of Israel — can escape from the Lord of Humanity. The meshes of God's net are woven too close for that. Saints are caught and sinners not let through. This is why the Gospel hath such subduing and universal fragrance. No position too low, for He was laid in a manger ; no sorrow too deep, for behold and see whether there was any sorrow like unto His sorrow ; no sin too dark, for was He not tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin ? no suffering too intense, for did He not take up the cup of agony brimful in Gethsemane, and drain it to the dregs upon the Cross ? no pilgrims of the night so weary and forlorn but His voice reaches them in the dark ness — " Come unto Me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden." 0 Christus Consolator ! 0 Salvator Mundi ! 0 inexhaustible Humanity of God ! 0 great heart of Jesus ! " Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee ! " II. FOUND IN THE TEMPLE. 15. The massacre. — 16. The flight. — 17. The journey. — 18. Lost. — ig. In the Temple. — 20. About His Father's business. — 21. At home. — 22. " Is not this the Carpenter?" — 23. Gospel of manual labour. I have taken the birth and incarnation of Jesus, mainly as they stand in Luke. I will now take the infancy and boyhood. These may be summed up in the Massacre of the the Innocents, the Flight into Egypt, and MASSACRE- Christ in the Temple at twelve years of age. Massacre of the Innocents. Suetonius and Tacitus, not to mention the famous Fourth Eclogue of Virgil, all allude to a prevalent belief throughout the East in the appearance of Orie who was to rule the world with righteousness — and who was to arise in Judaea. Herod was naturally on the qui vive, especially 1 8 Found in the Temple. as his own claims to sovereignty were questionable, when he understood that Bethlehem was the favoured spot, and that there was some talk of a child being born who might correspond to a certain definite prophecy. He therefore slew all the infants at Bethlehem. Just like him — indeed, here we seem to deal with a very brutal, but common place act, entirely in harmony with all we know of the Idumean tyrant. The Flight into Egypt preceded this massacre. It was the simplest thing in those days to, step over the frontier round the corner of l6' the Mediterranean into Egypt — just THE flight. as we slip over to Boulogne or Paris ; the road from ancient times was so beaten a track, that the very cab and horse fares are mentioned (see i Kings x. 29). I find here no question of a legendary element. We seem to be dealing with simple elements of history, unless, indeed, we range ourselves with those who adopt the theory- — that " out of Egypt have I called my son," and " In Rama there was a cry heard, Rachel weeping for her children " — actually gave rise to the stories of the massacre and the flight, instead of being fitted on and applied The Journey. ig to real events by the Hebrew writers. I have little sympathy with that sort of gratuitous scepticism — though the Old Testament allusions to the life of Christ do sometimes seem rather strained, and the fitting-on process one more in harmony with a past age than with our own. I now come to the third episode of the childhood — Christ, aged twelve, in the Temple. It is given only in Luke. It is the one glimpse of His boyhood that we have, if received L ' ' THE JOURNEY. as authentic — one glimpse in twelve years ! And not a glimpse of Him for the next eighteen. Here again we may be dealing with at least a nucleus of history — and even the details of the tradition are as much in harmony with Christ's character and His surroundings as the massacre of the Innocents by Herod was with that tyrant's. Once a year Joseph and the Virgin went up to the Passover at Jerusalem — about 80 miles from Nazareth. They were evidently both serious and earnest-minded people, willing to spend time, money, and trouble on their religious duties. At the age of twelve, when the Jewish boy entered upon legal manhood, Jesus went up with them. On the way He had to pass all the historical sites, c 2 20 Found in the Temple. no doubt familiar to Him as household words. Shunem, where Elisha had lodged, Jezreel, where the dogs ate Jezebel, Taanach, and Megiddo, where Sisera was routed and assassinated ; Jacob's well, where years afterwards Jesus Him self was to meet the woman of Samaria ; Shechem, the ancient burial place of His race. On the third day He would come in sight of Jerusalem — through the olive trees across the valley rose the rock-like walls of David's city, gleaming white in the rising, and red in the setting sun, and in her midst the world-famed sanctuary — the Jewish Temple. The feast was ended, the travellers from all sides threaded their way down the steep declivi ties, dispersing homewards, Mary and Joseph amongst them, but not the LOST. . child Jesus. They went a day's journey, supposing Him to be in the company, before or behind. Observe this tribute to His character. They were not anxious — they knew He was in good] company somewhere — that He could be trusted out of their sight. Irresistible, multitudinous are the lessons which leap from the life of Jesus at every turn. Here is a lesson for the young. Children ! see that In the Temple. 21 your parents feel about you as Mary and Joseph felt about Jesus; "If we leave Him," said his parents, "He will be good; if wc send Him away, He will come to no harm, He will bring no disgrace upon us ; if He absents Himself for a time, we need not be very anxious — we can trust Him." But at last they turn back to search for Him. They find Him somewhere about the Temple — where else ? Absorbed, eager, His soul aflame with excitement. At in the length He breathes congenial air ; this TEMPLE- meditation of the law — this questioning of the sacred records, this attention to the venerable instruction of the Hebrew scribes and priests, these survivals of an olden dispensation — He sounded them to their depths — He assimilated all that was valuable, living, and edifying in their teaching — and there was much that was beautiful and to the point in the teaching of such men as Hillel and Gamaliel — and for the rest He asked and answered questions. New vistas opened before Him — was it a dream of the future ? — there was doubtless a rush of emotion on His divine soul — a ferment of new ideas — confused and vague aspirations, a growing 22 Found in the Temple. in wisdom, consciously growing — flashes of intui tion—perhaps a dawning sense of His future mission, yet twenty years distant — certainly a sense of a spirit within Him working — even the Spirit of a heavenly Father conversing with His Son in His Holy Temple. Suddenly Joseph and Mary appear — the mother with tender reproach — Son, why hast Thou dealt so with us ? He turns, He lifts His 20. about his dreamy eyes towards her — eyes that father's have been only intent on the sacred BUSINESS. . ... scroll before Him, and raised only to the grave faces of the official teachers around Him. For the first time He is aware of His own absorp tion. It seems incredible to Him that those nearest and dearest should be out of sympathy with Him at such a moment — unconscious of the spiritual influences which to Him were all in all — oi the fascination of the law — of the solemnities of the Temple, from which He had not been able to tear Himself. He stands still, rooted to the spot ; He has one more question to ask, not of the priests, but of his parents — Wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business ? It sounded like a simple home appeal — had He not always been About His Father's business. 23 zealous about the carpentering business in the workshop of His reputed father at Nazareth — should He be less zealous about the work the heavenly Father was carrying on in Him at Jerusalem ? A call so distinct — an opportunity so unique — a combination so complete — In the Temple — sitting in the midst of Doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions ; there was indeed business — more profitable beyond compare than anything to be found at Nazareth ; there was at last edification beyond all human handiwork. He could not choose but be there — until called back. I must, he said — such moments of spiritual con straint fashion our lives. I must speak out, I must give it up, I must strike the blow, make the sacrifice, sound the matter to its depths, be alone in prayer, search out one who can teach or guide me, if only for a single brief hour, or for one fugitive day at a certain crisis — under the con straint of guiding events, a spiritual voice, a divine leading. I must sit in the Temple, hear, enquire. I feel this leap into the future, this sudden growth in wisdom. I can make no mistake — the revelation is too cogent, too inward, too harmonious. I am being dealt with. I cannot choose, but hear and be as I am. I must be about My Father's business. 24 Found in the Temple. But the earthly call found Him too. It was His duty, when found, to go with His parents, and He went. Ponder that. Hint of universal significance. Never trust AT HOME. ° a heavenly call which bids you neglect your obvious duties whilst they remain such. The things that lie near to your hand, round about you, are as much the Father's business as anything else. Don't think that being off to early communion and neglecting your children and your husband and your housework is doing your Father's business. Don't suppose that charity out of the house, and dancing attend ances on the clergyman to the neglect of hearth and home, is your Father's business. Learn of the Saviour — when the home claim came, He immediately left what, at the moment, was of absorbing interest to Him — He left the excitement of Jerusalem — the high-pressure atmosphere of religious emotion — with its thrills of new know ledge, and its vistas of new thought — and went quietly back eighty miles to the little rustic hamlet in the north, and the carpenter's shop at Nazareth. What divinity lies here ! What divine philo sophy and divine life, which is also a most human, " Is not this the Carpenter ?" 25 a most simple, a most homely life. Si vis Divinus esse late ut Deus (If you would be divine, hide yourself like God). Do we know nothing of the next eighteen years ? Yes, we know this, Jesus was a carpenter. The early manuscript has these words 22. (Markiv. 3): " Is not this the Carpenter ?" «IS NOtthis It is only the later manuscript which, THE . . r . , , CARPENTER?" in a spirit of mistaken reverence, has altered "Carpenter" into " Son of a Carpenter." Jesus, from earliest boyhood — for, say twenty-five years — lived in utter obscurity — handling planes, saws, and mallet, in a poor little Nazarene work shop — making tables and chairs, and mending carts, and repairing stables. Such human learning as could be acquired from the local teacher of the village — from the oc casional visits of priest or scribe — from the perusal of the sacred scrolls and commentaries — this He acquired. For the rest — the shop — the village — the fields — the hill side sufficed Him — along with that annual visit to Jerusalem — and there must have been sixteen such visits of which we hear nothing. Such was Christ's early life. Si vis Divinus esse late ut Deus. 26 Found in the Temple. Yet was it a time of momentous preparation, and especially of manual labour. Depend upon 23- it, there is something sacred about this working with the hands ; some- MANUAL ° labour, thing ennobling and purifying. I think that every one is the better for doing something with the hands, if it be only knitting, or handling pen or pencil, or spade or hoe, or fingering an instrument. When Mr. Ruskin advised the undergraduates at Oxford to go and make an honest bit of road, and they were accordingly seen sallying forth with axe and spade — instead of lolling about the grounds and college gardens with their hands in their pockets — he was not far out of the divine method. Our gilded youth obey the same instinct when they spend days and nights after the deer in Scotland, and come home exhausted with bodily toil, voluntarily under taken, though scarcely in the noblest of occu pations. He went down to Nazareth and was subject unto them. Mark what followed on this strange " subjection " of Christ to the homely rule of the two Nazarene peasants. He learned obedience, and He learned to work, and the only other thing Gospel of Manual labour. 27 we are told is that as a final and undoubted result, " He grew in stature and in wisdom, and in favour both with God and man." An orderly develop ment ; none of your monstrous athletes ; none of your mere intellectual bookworms ; none of your emaciated hysterical saints and ascetics ; none of your hermits or fanatical anti-social visionaries. He grew in body, in mind, in soul, and heart ; stature, wisdom, favour — human and divine. Is not that parable of childhood writ clear ? Is not the message to you and to your children ? Follow the lines, not of your crushed but of your re strained, controlled, and regenerate nature. Learn, like Him, by "the things that you suffer," undergo, have to put up with. Learn before you teach ; obey before you command ; going in and out amongst men, toil hand and heart about the Father's business, and with an ear ever attuned to the " voices in the upper air," " until we all come in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." t0gmk - k-< \ ,"v'*'5sp'ivb' •-' - <» '- -» III. BAPTIZED IN THE JORDAN. 24. Signs. — 25. The Augustan and Victorian ages. — 26. The Man of the crowd and the cloister. — 27. " What shall we do?" — 28. The pulpit in politics. — 29. The people, the publican, the soldier. — 30. John muses. — 31. The Master is come. — 32. The Friend of man. The time approaches. The forerunner is at hand. In the narrative of (Luke iii. 3 — 23) John baptising in Jordan — his encounter with, and advice to, all sorts and conditions of ' SIGNS. men, the arrival of Jesus, the descent of the Spirit like a dove and the voice from heaven — in these incidents the student of history sees nothing unusual or necessarily un- historical. Even the shining dove and the heavenly voice need not disturb us, since most people gifted with common sense, following St. Jerome and Theodoret, explain that we need suppose nothing more than a light — probably a 30 Baptized in the Jordan. sunbeam — through a cloud, which, to the spiritual eye, was the holy dove, and a peal of thunder from the cloud, which, to the spiritual ear, was a heavenly voice. The permanent and spiritual elements cluster round : (i) The transition time of Tiberius ; (2) the man who dealt with them, John ; and (3) the divine Person to whom he pointed and whose fore runner he was. The age of Tiberius, spiritually speaking, was not unlike the Victorian age. Some people were 2<. still satisfied with the old religious the forms. Their piety still flowed through the time-worn channels of and ° victorian creeds and catechisms. There will AGES" always be these survivals, what we call " old fashioned people " ; they belong to the past, let them alone, they will get to heaven in their own way. Others — in the days of Tiberius and Victoria — respectable but heartless formalists, really without religion but apparently full of it, cling to the orthodox forms. You will always find such wooden-headed, stony-hearted supporters of things as they are, without a breath of the new life in them, boasting that they are Abraham's The A gust an and Victorian Ages. 31 children. But a surging crowd of restless, eager spirits, sons of the new time, impatient of worn- out creeds, churches, establishments, orthodoxies, what shall I say of these ? Ah ! these are the disciples of John. These wait for the inner per sonal appeal, " repent " ; the fresh symbol, " bap tism " ; the spiritual emancipation, "remission of sins " ; the new Divine man ; the holy effluence ; the fiery chrism. " Say not to yourselves, ' we have Abraham to our father,' of these stones God can raise up children unto Abraham." Don't boast of bishops, churches, creeds, catechisms, establishments. Life may or may not be in them, but essential they are not. Any Moody and Sankey will do, any Salvation Army is good enough, any wayside preacher ; the stones will cry out, "the voice of one crying in the wilderness," the man among the rocks, with the hair shirt and the skin girdle, is more than a match for all your Sanhedrims and temples and choral services ; and his one shout of " repent " puts all your sermons out of court. Notice, the man of the crowd goes to the man of the desert. The publican, the soldier, even the Pharisee. Strange attraction this, yet recurrent. 32 Baptized in the Jordan. He who knows most of himself, he who has 26. learned himself in solitude, will know man of mos{. 0£ others. It has ever been THE crowd and the thus. The world has gone to the cloister. ci0;ster, not the cloister to the world ; the city finds solace in the desert, never the desert in the city. A few years ago all Paris flocked to the Cur6 D'Ars — an obscure provincial priest without much learning or preaching power either — but they found in him the fresh springs of comfort, the word of prophecy, the call to repentance, which in every soul's solitude is the cry most certain to pierce. " What shall we do ? " each says in turn. Observe the Baptist's method in reply. He was 27- able to answer that question because " WHAT c„,rr ,„„ he had a firm hold of a few funda- SHALL WE do ? " mental principles — righteousness, equity, love. That was his charm, his power, his resource. He was not political, but he dealt with politicians ; nor mercantile, but he dealt with finance ; nor military, but he dealt with soldiers ; hence we may learn, by the way, the relation of the pulpit to politics. Unless the preacher can raise politics out of the sphere of party spirit let The Pulpit in Politics. 33 him keep silence ; but when a Government policy infringes on the moral plane, when and where it can be tested by common principles of righteous ness, equity, and love, then its policy is as much the preacher's sphere of comment as murder, theft, or selfishness. If any Government, for instance, is culpably indifferent for years to the state of Ireland, and can only be roused to activity by 28_ Parnellism : when I observe that the THE pulpit IN POLITICS Indian Budget, upon which hangs the well-being of distant millions, is pro verbially discussed by an apathetic group in an empty House: when I seethe men of Parliamentary authority combine to crush out the risings of freedom in Egypt with brute force, simply because influential speculators want a high rate of interest for their money on an iniquitous loan, why, it is time to ask, " ought the pulpit to keep silence " ? Certainly not. The policy infringes on the moral sphere, and has to be judged by the same divine principles to which the Baptist invariably appealed. Aye, and I will go further and say that the temper of political debate is also a matter for pulpit comment. When public time is wasted, crises 34 Baptized in the Jordan. at home and abroad neglected, and the whole tone of the House lowered because two political gladiators want to have a stand-up fight, and the honourable members are content to form a ring_, is such wanton fooling as that in high places not to be arraigned by those who profess to view party conduct by the light of a morality which seems unknown to party politics ? John the Baptist's touch was throughout light but firm, and quite infallible in particulars, just 29. because he appealed to simple and the ' universally intelligible principles of publican, right an(j wr0ng. Listen to his answer soldier, to the people generally (Luke iii. n). " You want to know what to do ? Do the right thing now. There's a man without a cloak, the sun's going down, he's over-heated, he'll catch fever — you've got an extra wrap, give it him. That woman yonder is fainting for a little food, she was so eager to be baptized she forgot her provision basket — you have more than you want, give her some." To the publican, or portitor, who paid so much to the Government for the right of collecting the taxes, and then got as much more as he could by John muses. 35 squeezing the people: "you tyrants, you extor tioners, everyone knows your trade, and is willing to give you your margin of profit ; well, don't exact more." To the soldiers : " You Jacks in office, don't levy blackmail by threatening to accuse innocent persons. Don't use the prestige of the Roman arms to oppress the civilian in the provinc.es, and don't mutiny and keep striking for higher pay ; respect the people whom you ought to protect and the master whom you profess to serve." This was pretty smart and practical teaching. The Man of the crowd could not go home and say that the Man of the desert knew 30. nothing about him. He could go home J°HN MUSES- and " repent ! " The people, I read, " mused," wondering if John were the expected Messiah. John, too, mused, we may be sure. " Words ! words ! words ! " at the end of each long sultry day, as he .laid him down in some rocky cave what time the sun sank suddenly and the stars hung like balls of fire in the purple sky, and the cry of the wild beast was heard as he stole forth to drink at the fords of the Jordan. " I can baptize them with d2 36 Baptized in the Jordan. water, I can tell them to repent. Poor forlorn sheep upon the mountains — where shall they find their shepherd ? I am the voice crying in the wilderness — where is the Divine prophet ? I baptize with water — who will give- them the fiery baptism of the soul ? who will help them to seek and nerve them to act ? " And then came one on a certain still morn, early, it may be, before the heat of the day, with 3I. only a few zealous stragglers about, the master waiting for baptism, and John met Him by the Jordan river. Need less to explain. Soul met soul. John knew his Master as surely as did frail Peter when he cried out, " Depart from me, for I am a sinful man," or doubting Thomas when, heart-struck, he murmured, "My Lord and my God!" "I have need," were John's first words — yea, we all have need face to face with Jesus — " I have need to be baptized of thee." And then came the first words of Christ's ministry, they struck the key note of the Gospel, " Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." The heart of Christianity lies there ; Christ the Companion of man, the Example of man. The The Friend of Man. 37 Saviour because the Revelator of a divine union between God and man, a spiritual life in man. And on the morrow the Baptist saw Him walking by the river, and pointing Him out, exclaimed, " Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world." Message to the Ages ! call to every Pilgrim of the night. Be of good cheer, thy help is nigh. God in Christ is your Saviour, because Christ in human nature means Christ in you, the divine power revealed in every man, as he is able to receive and use it. Let that vision remain with us. Blessed gleam of the morning light ! Behold Jesus going down into the Jordan to be baptized, one with us, never more to be separated the friend from us — Great elder brother, dear 0F MANl friend ! Close to us in the waters of purification, close to us in the burden and heat of the day, close to us in the shadow of our Gethsemane, close to us in the Calvary of our pain, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. IV. TEMPTED OF THE DEVIL. 33. Order of the temptation. — 34. The dream theory. — 35. " These stones." — 36. The pinnacle of the Temple. — 37. The high mountain. — 38. " Get thee hence, Satan." The Temptation is given in some detail in Matt. iv. and Luke iv. ; there is a bare notice of it in Mark, and none in John. In Luke 33- the Pinnacle of the Temple episode order of precedes that of the High. Mountain. THE t r . 1 p ,r 1 TEMPTATION. I preler the order 01 Matthew — I. Stones to be made into bread; II. The Pinnacle of the Temple; III. The High Mountain. I read that Jesus increased "in wisdom and stature " ; that He " learned " by the things that He suffered. This brings Him near us in ex perience. I love such a Christ better than the mediaeval 40 Tempted of the Devil. Christ — far from man in power, far in experi ence, far in love, far in sacrifice— a mere minister to arrange between the Father and the Devil for the punishment of man by bearing it Himself. But Jesus subject to Joseph and Mary — Jesus baptized by John — Jesus under the ascetic disci pline with John in the desert — Jesus tempted with pleasure and power and the dread of pain — that is our Jesus ; and a very ready help too in time of trouble. On the threshold of life the tempter met Him as he meets each one of us — when our senses are eager — when we are armed for the the dream fray, by the education and discipline theory. of youth? and fuU of confidence— then we are tempted chiefly (i) by the lust of pleasure or power ; (2) by the hope of escaping pain or misfortune. So was Christ tempted in His human capacity — in all points like as we are. But exactly what may you believe about this strange and dramatic interview between the Devil and the Saviour, recorded by Matthew and Luke? The black figure with horns and spiky wings standing by the white-robed Jesus on the top of a steeple, as represented in numberless pictures, is The Dream theory. 41 out of the question. From Origen to Schleier- macher and Neander, church writers have agreed that the whole story is symbolical — a kind of parable, yet a bond fide spiritual experience as well. How so ? The account can only have come from Jesus Himself, and without a parable he taught not the people. This temptation, I believe, is His account of suggestions offered to His mind. The imagery, the sudden and unlooked for transi tions, seem to suggest a dream — a prophetic dream, summing up in a figure the typical temp tations of human life. " Methought," He may have said, " as I lay under the stars in the rocky wilderness by the accursed (Dead) sea, the Evil One came, did thus, spake thus, and that I met him thus, replied thus." Now, the dream theory, mark it well, leaves the moral significance, the force and reality of the temptation unchanged, because dreams leave the moral nature unchanged. In your dreams some of your powers — such as the power of comparison — are confused, but never the moral sense ; that is as alive and active as when you are awake. In your wicked dreams you are bad, in your good dreams you are good. You act very much as you would act when awake, and Christ bore Himself 42 Tempted of the Devil. all through His prophetic dream just as He bore Himself all through His waking life on earth. Now to the vision itself. Jesus has been fasting and is hungry. The tempter points to the round loaf-like looking stones and 35- . " these bids Him change them into bread. stones." ,Tig a direct appeai t0 the senses. There is nothing wrong in hunger, nor in getting food by any fair means in our power. Why did not Christ eat at the bidding of Satan? Well, consider. A person of vile character comes to you and offers you benefits, begs you to accept his advice and please yourself thereby. If you have any self-respect you will reply, " No, not in your company ; I am not ' Hail, fellow, well met,' with you. Frankly, I suspect your overtures." And if that person were, in the same breath, to sneer at your most cherished convictions, laugh at your sense of duty, and try to undermine your highest trust, what would you say? " Be off. I wouldn't break bread with you for worlds." Notice how completely Mephistophelian is the tone of the Devil — daring, scoffing, sneering, ap pealing to appetite, all in one. " You say you are " These Stones." 43 the Son of God ; well, it is not likely God would allow His Son to hunger. If you are — which really without some proof I cannot quite believe — test the truth of your conviction by a miracle most justifiable, to save yourself from starvation. After all, this fasting is a little beneath your dig nity, if you are what you think yourself to be ; and, then, supposing you are deluded — at all events you might set the matter at rest by a miracle, and gratify your hunger as well." To this appeal there came the sharp, swift answer — " Man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." The Word of God regulates the gratification of the senses— this is the universal lesson. Appetite is good, the joy of its gratification is lawful, but only under conditions defined as moral — by the moral law, which is of God. Let the senses have their own — but not at wrong times, in wrong places, in excess with wrong people — not with you, not here, not now ; the word from the mouth of God forbids it — '"for man doth not live by bread alone." The Pinnacle of the Temple. "Well, let us talk about your mission then. You say you 44 Tempted of the Devil. are the Messiah — good. You expect some protec tion, I suppose, from above ; your life, you know, will soon be in danger ; if you won't THE sustain your life with bread, test your pinnacle of p0Wer to save it. Cast yourself down thetemple. ,, . , . . , TT t 77 • from this dizzy height, for He shall give His angels charge over Thee' — just see if He will ; it would be as well, would it not, to try? only another miracle, and that is a light matter with you — the Son of God, and the Messiah too!" Ah, Satan, the scoff is idle again. You cannot hit the mark so ; He has not come to save His life, but to lay it down for His friends ; He works no miracles for Himself, only for others. He will have Divine protection for His mission ; not for Himself — He will not suffer before His time — but no legion of angels will dash the cup of agony from His lips ; one angel to comfort Him in the garden, that is all — a Father to receive His spirit on the cross, that is enough. Majestic is the reply to this invitation to cast Himself down — " Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Universal precept again ! You may rely upon God for protection, solace, help, but not if you are foolhardy. No miracle will do for you what you can do for yourself. Jesus might have come down The high Mountain. 45 by the staircase ; there was no need to get down the other way — tempt Providence, and Providence will fail you to a certainty. If you are idle and feckless, no philosopher's stone will turn your dross into gold. If you have weak lungs and expose yourself recklessly to chill, God's icy wind will slay you in spite of your prayers — if you neglect the laws of health and live fast, you will soon sink from the heaven of health into the hell of disease. If from the pinnacle of desire you leap into the pit of lust, you shall die mangled ; if from the pinnacle of greed you plunge into the gulf of peculation, you fall crushed. The moral order of the universe will not be suspended for you — " Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." The High Mountain. " Well, sooner or later, as you are the Son of God, incarnate in a human body, I suppose you will condes cend to eat. Sooner or later, as the high you are the Messiah, you will pro- M0UNTAIN- bably have recourse to a miracle, for without it you cannot convince a nation that seeks after a sign, and without a sign you are not likely to remain alive long. But, as Son of God, you are more than a provincial Saviour — a mere Jewish 46 Tempted of the Devil. Messiah. You claim, it seems, a world-wide empire. You are King of the world as well as King of the Jews ; a modest claim enough for one who proceeds from the bosom of the Father — the Creator of all worlds. Still you may find it rather difficult to make good your claim, being in the form of man. Look ! yonder are the kingdoms and the glory of them. You propose to toil on earth for a few years — to suffer poverty and all sorts of reverses — to be betrayed, perhaps crucified. You will never see of the travail of your soul. Your kingdom, being a spiritual one, will not come at all in your human lifetime. Do you feel quite sure at this moment that you are anything but an inspired sort of man? The spread of your power will be slow. After nineteen centuries the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them will be yours only in name. Is not all this rather vague and visionary ? Well, but if you realise your historical mission as King of the Jews and pose as a tem poral Prince merely, I will add to it ; I will give you all the other kingdoms ; your power as long as you live shall be dazzling — greater than Solomon's. You shall have it all without the pain, and failure, and martyrdom, and shall have it now, only you must worship me." The high Mountain. 47 Was this a fanciful suggestion ? Nay, it was the one recurring, pressing suggestion forced upon Jesus all through His career. They would take Him by force and make Him a King. They urged Him to claim His rights. Peter rebuked Him for speaking of His temporal doom. Judas tried to force Him to do just what the Devil wanted Him to do when He stood on the temple pinnacle — to work a miracle to save Himself. They jeered at Him on the Cross almost in the Devil's own words : " If Thou, be the Son of God, save Thyself, and come down from the Cross." And suppose the clouds of human sorrow and depres sion sometimes did sweep over His divine spirit ; suppose He leaned sometimes on the sympathy of human friends ; liked them near Him in Gethsemane when He prayed ; felt exceeding sorrowful even unto death ; fainted on the Cross, whilst the Father's face seemed hid for a moment — who shall say that the temptation to something like a temporal sovereignty may not have had a moment of reality for such an one so con stituted? Impossible to succumb to it; granted — but not beyond the range of its appeal. Ah, whatever the appeal meant to Him, to 48 Tempted of the Devil. us it comes home again and again throughout life. The voice of the tempter to us is a syren voice full of terrible seductiveness. " You shall have it all now, only you must worship me ; give up your ideal ; throw up the long struggle ; abandon the high effort; give in to the lower nature ; use all your remarkable and peculiar gifts for self-aggrandisement only ; you shall have present pleasure, only you must sink to the level of those around you; grasp the temporal, which is certain and satisfying ; put aside the eternal, which is spiritual, " another word," saith the scoffing voice, " for fanciful ; the kingdom is yours, only fall down and worship me." The appeal is at once of universal reach and terribly personal. When it comes let the figure of Jesus rise before you, standing with His back to the tempter, with His face to the Cross, with the " Retro Satanas " — " get thee behind Me, Satan " — on His lips, and His eyes fixed on the everlasting Crown beyond. No, the stones must not be made bread for you. No miracle in this world is to save you from the consequences of presumptuous folly. The kingdom to which you belong is not " Get thee hence, Satan." 49 Satan's to give, and he caVi never take it away from you, for you belong to the king dom of Christ. " ' Get thee hence, » get thee Satan ' ; for it is written, ' Thou shalt HENCE> SATAN ¦" worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.' " v. MIRACLES. 39. " Come and see." — 40. The call, and its consequences.— 41. The Marriage Feast. — 42. Miracles and their solutions. — 43. Wine or water ? — 44. A natural explanation. — 45. " With water ? " — 46. The water exchanged. — 47. Our insular bigotry. — 48. Innocent happiness. — 4g. Glory manifested. I now come to the call of the Disciples, and the first of those remarkable acts generally called the Miracles of Tesus Christ — the water . . 39- changed to wine at the Marriage of "come and Cana in Galilee. SEE-" John the Baptist had pointed Jesus out, and two young men, James and John, followed Him as He walked by the Jordan. " What seek ye ? " saith Jesus — " Rabbi ! where dwellest thou ? " — " Come and see." That's the way to get infor mation or any other benefit — follow after the master. Things will not fall into your mouth if you sit still — but go, seek, follow, and the master E 2 52 Miracles. will soon turn — then you shall find what you seek when He saith, " Come and see." They went, they saw, and were conquered. Andrew calls Simon Peter, his brother — fishermen both, who had come down all that distance to superintend the selling of their fish, no doubt, at Jerusalem, for during the feast, quantities of fish went from the sea of Galilee to the Capital. On their way back to Galilee they fall in with Philip. Philip brings Nathaniel, known to us as Bartholomew. Jesus marks out Peter as the rock foundation of His church, and Nathaniel as the guileless single- minded man, whom he had taken note of praying under a fig tree. Soon after this He calls Levi, or Matthew, the tax collector, and proceeds to make up the number of the twelve. Thomas, who doubted, and Judas, who betrayed Him, being the only others of mark. The account so far is contained in John i. 35-47 ; Luke iv. 15, and v. 3 — 10, 11, 27 ; Matthew iv. 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, and the only the call, remark I make is that in John, the and its caii 0f the first two takes place by the CONSEQUENCES. Jordan, whilst in the synoptics the event occurs by the Sea of Galilee. We may say The Marriage Feast. 53 the one is their selection, the other their confirma tion, and presently they will receive their mission. So this handful of peasants and fishermen, taken in the midst of their humble occupations, set out to revolutionise the world — and in less than four centuries Paganism had received its deathblow throughout the Empire, and the Vicar of Christ, the successor of Peter the fisherman, was practically installed upon the vacant throne of the Imperial City of Rome. On reaching Nazareth Jesus hurried on to Cana with His disciples to be in time for the marriage of an intimate friend of the 41- family, perhaps one of his half-sisters. •" r r marriage There was a great crowd at what we feast. should call the marriage breakfast, and presently — although all the invited guests had doubtless brought their own wine (according to custom) — the wine ran short. The Virgin is evidently a little discomposed. The run on the wine is, no doubt, due to the people who came in the retinue of her son. She cannot bear that members of her own family should put to shame the giver of the feast and so close a friend. " They have no wine, my dear 54 Miracles. Son — you see there are too many, in consequence of " — " Hush ! " Jesus stops her, with exquisite sensibility and gentle courtesy — He will not have attention called to the fact of there being any deficiency. " Woman, what have I to do with thee " — a proverbial saying it seems, merely checking further talk. He leaves the company, goes to the door where are certain empty vessels, has them filled {with water ?) by the servants, and from them good wine is borne to the guest table. Now, a word on Miracles. You may say that all miracles are impostures — as when a man 42- dresses up like a ghost ; or that they MIRACLES , . . , , „ are natural events, mistaken for AND THEIR solutions, supernatural — as when thunder is considered a divine interposition ; or that they , take place through the exercise of occult powers latent in human nature, but abnormal and phenomenal — such as the second-sight of the Scotch Highlander, or the mesmeric healing power of some people, or the alleged phenomena of spiritualism ; or you may say simply a miracle is by Divine fiat. Which of all these explana tions will fit Christ's alleged miracles ? The imposture theory I dismiss at once in the Miracles and their solutions. 55 case of Jesus. Come we to the mistake theory ? Certainly some of the so-called miracles may have been natural events, which afterwards received a miraculous colouring from the reverence, exaggera tion, or credulity of the narrator. The Gospel accounts of the miracles, we must remember, are all long posterior to their occurrence — those in John, at least fifty years after the events. The occult power theory : There is a great deal to be said in favour of that. There are doubtless latent powers vested in humanity (given in measure to us — " without measure " to " the Son of Man ") enabling people to impress the minds of others — to believe that they see, hear, taste, and handle what exists only in their own imagina tions. That anything approaching to a cheat of the senses was ever practised by Christ we could not admit ; but spiritualists would of course go further, and say that exceptional powers may be exceptionally stimulated in certain people, and that through them matter itself may be strangely acted on. Sir Richard Burton, the great, and, I may add, sceptical traveller, has often told me that such phenomena are not uncommon in the East, and undoubtedly genuine, being produced by experts 56 Miracles. and adepts who have gone through the needful discipline. Jesus greatly countenances the theory of occult power variously exercised, when He points out that not only He, but their own sons, had power to cast out devils, that, through faith — which here probably implies a certain concentration of will combined with mental and spiritual discipline — others besides Himself should work miracles, and even greater ones than He worked ; and note lastly that it is as the " Son of Man " that he heals the sick and has power given Him to work other miracles. Now, as to the miracle at the marriage feast — the water turned into wine. To which class does it belong ? If you are satisfied with wine or the Divine fiat theory — then I have water . nothing to say. But suppose you are not. There is the occult power theory. Some theologians — Neander, for instance — have sug gested that when He returned with the servants He magnetized the water — or that He cast some such spell over the company as we may have seen employed by an electro-biologist when he has handed a glass of water to some one duly manipu lated, who has taken it for wine or vinegar. Such A natural Explanation. 57 spells are said to be cast over crowds of people simultaneously by Eastern adepts, and they are made to see water surging into a room, or a man rising into or sitting in mid-air, and so forth. This theory may be thought trivial and dishonouring to Christ, I think it is so, and I reject it on those grounds ; but others might urge plausibly, and, perhaps, from their point of view even reverently, that the object was to tide over a difficulty, to spare the feelings of the host, and I have heard it added, with a touch of homilectic unction, that temperance people at least would regard it as a real blessing if all winebibbers could be got to believe that pure water tasted as good as the best wine. " Thou," said the ruler of the feast, " hast kept the good wine until now." But, lastly, there is a natural explanation. I do not ask anyone to accept it. I do not hold a brief for explaining away the miraculous either in or out of the Bible. Per- a natural sonally, I believe in a phenomenal EXPLANATI0N- element running through all history, sacred and profane ; a phenomenal element sufficiently promi nent in the present day. Still, and in the cause 58 Miracles. of truth, I merely repeat, there is a natural expla nation of this so-called miracle of Cana. Have you ever noticed that if you take out two words — "with water" (John ii. 7) — the narrative explains itself without recourse to miracle ? In brief, this theory supposes that a simple event has been magnified by the devout imaginations of the country people, and, passing from mouth to mouth, has been duly added on by the Greek scribe who copied out or edited St. John's memoir to the number of the miracles of Jesus. Now, if we open our Bibles at John ii., the reasonableness of what I have advanced will be tolerably evident. On hearing that "with wine runs short, Jesus checks the re- water . ' p0rt) goes to the door, is surrounded by the servants, whom He presently commands to fill certain empty pots — with what ? The narrative, assuming a miracle, naturally says with water — a casual observer would, of course, think so, knowing that those pots always contained water. But suppose the empty pots were filled with wine — why not ? No doubt Jesus and His disciples had brought wine enough, at least for themselves, according to custom. But now, is it not possible — even likely and The Water exchanged. 59 Christlike — that with loving thoughtfulness, and knowing the extra concourse in consequence of His presence, Jesus may have said to His dis ciples — " If we go, we must not be burdensome to our friends ; they are not rich ; many will follow us ; the sacred rites of hospitality, by which at such a season none may be excluded, must not be put to shame ; take plenty of wine, and let it be good — the best wine. But don't let it be known ; we must not do a kindness to get praised by others, at the expense of wounding bur host's feelings — let us so manage that, if possible, he may not even know that his wine ran short — let us leave our supply outside — it need only be used if called for, and then served up out of the host's own pots. The water pots at the door are sure to be empty by that time, it will be most convenient to put our wine in them at the right moment and no one will be likely to notice that it is not the host's own wine." So when the wine " runs short," Jesus Himself steals away from the feast — the servants quickly get in the wine, fill up the water pots 6 under His directions — and the whole the water has been done so quietly that the first thing noticed is that wine is being poured out of 60 Miracles. pots usually containing water. Some noticed that, the servants, we are told, knew about it, and could have given the real explanation ; but the ruler of the feast did not even know that the wine had failed — he only noticed that what was now served was the best wine. Had a miracle been sus pected at the time, he and the host would have been the first to be told of it, and no such speech as " thou hast kept the good wine until now " could possibly have been made. Quite naturally, too, would the rumour of a miracle begin to run after the feast, contradicted no doubt, but the popular account would still be likely to make way and get itself accepted as one of the many wonderful works of the new Prophet. I do not ask my readers to accept this or any other explanation ; it is my duty in studying the Scriptures to state the various theories which may account for the narrative, and leave people free to judge for themselves. In conclusion, observe the spiritual elements of permanent interest. First, the reverence paid by Jesus to the rites of hospitality — the our insular customs He found, especially when bigotry. ... . . . T, religious, genial, or innocent, He res- Our Insular Bigotry. 61 pected. I wish we all of us did likewise. We go down to Scotland ; we trample on the preju dices of people who keep the Sabbath in a way different from ourselves. We go abroad and carry our own insular prejudices with us, to the neglect of the commonest forms of. current courtesy, such as saluting those whom we meet on the stairs, or the raising a hat on entering and leaving a shop. I have known an English clergyman at an Italian hotel on Sunday rise from dinner because a poor harp player was admitted to perform for what he could get during the meal, and he would not resume his seat until the hapless Sabbath- breaker (!) had been turned penniless and dinner- less away ! I have known Protestants strut about foreign cathedrals, chatting and laughing in the midst of people on their knees, whilst the solemn services of the Catholic ritual were in progress. I have also known guests sneer openly at some social entertainment provided for them, remark ing loudly that the wine had been poor, or had run short ! How different all this from the res pect for hospitality — the delicate thoughtfulness and consideration for the feelings of others, shown by Jesus at the Marriage Feast of Cana ? 62 Miracles. Secondly, I notice that Jesus smiles on the simple natural joy of two young people about to „ be married. He is not there only at innocent- " the church," and, we should say, like happiness. „the ciergymanj» t0 give the rite a religious character, but we find Him at the "wedding breakfast." It is the altogether secular side — the joyful, even convivial side of the marriage upon which He smiles. Hence I learn that any view of married life which proclaims it a little wrong — not so good as celibacy — is not a Christian one. Whatever ascetic religionists. taught afterwards in the name of a higher (?) Christianity, Christ Himself, at any rate, thought that friends were right to enjoy themselves at social gatherings, and young people were right to marry. If your Christianity and your dinner parties do not harmonise, there is something wrong about your Christianity or your dinner parties. Either your religious theory places a ban upon innocent enjoyments — in which case it is not the religion of Christ — or your enjoyments are not innocent — in which case Christ has no place at your board. I think of the many scenes in the life of Christ, Glory Manifested. 63 this scene at Cana is one of the most helpful. My Christ here is not the Divine . . . ¦ . 49- victim crucified for the sins of the glory world on Calvary— nor the Prophet manifested. declaring authoritatively the relations between God and man ; but the sweet, reasonable, and not less Divine, human friend, going in and out amongst men, doing good — showing us a pattern, " not too good for human nature's daily food." Here at Cana in Galilee is no conventional or monastic ideal — no asceticism of the desert — no pharisaical " stand apart " — but the simple acceptance of life as it is, with its innocent wants, its warm feelings, its social sympathies, a gentle consideration for the sensitiveness of others, a ten der respect for their social customs, together with a certain delicate effacement of self. Was " His. glory," I ask, "manifested forth" less in such things as these than in such a phenomenon as " the first miracle " which it was afterwards rumoured He had wrought at the Marriage Feast of Cana in Galilee ? VI. THE INTERRUPTED SERMON. 50. Money changers in the Temple. — 51. Fever healed. — 52. Casting out devils. — 53. The synagogue at Nazareth. — 54. The storm bursts. The first alleged miracle and the first sermon of Jesus strike the keynotes of all His miracles and sermons. The miracle keynote was 50. Beneficence; the sermon keynote was money -T . ,. . . ,. . , . CHANGERS Universality with a distinctly demo- IN THE cratic tendency. " The Gospel was temple. preached to the poor." Purify the waters at their source; make firm the foundations of society; all the rest will follow. After the marriage feast of Cana, Jesus went to Capernaum, taught and worked wonders there ; but St. John records an early Pass over visit to Jerusalem, upon which occasion Jesus casts out of the Temple those that sold doves. A 66 The Interrupted Sermon. similar incident is recorded in St. Matthew towards the close of Our Lord's ministry; probably these are two different accounts of the same event, but it is an event more likely to have happened towards the end, when He was known and influential, than at the beginning, when He was still obscure. Canon Farrar and others, I think unnecessarily, are in favour of the two events. I have elsewhere alluded to the double narrations constantly occurring in the Gospels, as probably due to the sacred scribes who collated different accounts of the same event with different details from many MSS., and unwilling to sacrifice anything, sometimes inserted both accounts in the same Gospel as they stood. So here, in the case of John and Matthew, we find an event in the one slipped in early and in another late, with a variation in the reading. The chrono logy of the Gospels is quite hopeless in detail, though the rough outline of the three years of Divine ministry is not hard to trace. Several miracles lie quite on the threshold of His career, and were wrought chiefly, it would seem, at Capernaum, whither Jesus fever went after the marriage feast, and healed, whither He returned after preaching Fever Healed. 67 His first sermon and being rejected at Nazareth. Devout-minded exaggeration, occult power resident in human nature and dwelling exceptionally in the person of Jesus, may account for some of these events, whilst others seem altogether beyond the reach of such explanations. The feeble body of the palsied man may have been mesmerically restored by the "Virtue," as Jesus called it, perchance magnetic emanations, which at times Jesus said He felt streaming "out of Him." The same influence may have healed the fever of Simon's wife's mother. Fever is an indefinite term, and has before now been shaken off under strong mental excitement. Towards the close of 1847, Garabaldi, who was conducting his campaign in Northern Italy against the Austrians, was attacked with the marsh fever, which soon turned to typhus, and there seemed little chance of his recovery. He lay prostrate and almost insensible at Lerino. Suddenly he heard as he lay dying a wild shout- — "The Austrians!" In the confusion and panic caused by the chief's illness, a body of twelve hundred Austrians had rushed into the little town, and the slaughter had already commenced in the streets. The fever was forgotten — the dying man sprang from f 2 68 The Interrupted Sermon. his couch — in another moment he was at the head of his electrified legion, and the Austrians were flying before him. The casting out of devils was a feat not un known at the time and performed, as Jesus says, by their own " sons," as well as by casting out Himself. I was told the other day of devils. a curi0us case in the experience of a magnetic healer who was concerned with what seemed like an instance of demoniacal possession in the present day. The magnetic influence seemed to pass out of the patient- into the healer and back again, each being torn by convulsions in turn until the demoniacal force seemed worn out and the man was healed. A living statesman of great intelligence witnessed this and vouched to me for it ; but such cases are as familiar to all students of mesmerism and spiritualism as they appear to be incredible to others who have never witnessed anything of the kind. In the course of His first preaching tour, Jesus came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. It was the Sabbath. He entered the syna- The Synagogue at Nazareth. 6g gogue "according to His custom." Observe, for the greatest religious revolutionist the world had ever seen, the current forms and 53. church services of the day sufficed. He THE synagogue was even willing to pour the new AT wine into the old bottles till the nazareth. old bottles burst. He enters the village syna gogue — His parish church. He offers to read the lesson ; He ascends the pulpit ; the clerk hands up a roll of the Prophet Isaiah ; before Him are a curious medley of faces — the Eastern women veiled behind lattice work on one side, the men of the village, with a sprinkling of the trades' folk and gentry on the other. He unrolls the scroll and "finds" the place, Isaiah lxi. i. I wish our clergy would always take care to find the right place — the suitable text — the passage in season. In this case it was actually the lesson for the day. So out of routine the Lord brings life. He reads —"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me." Ah, without that spiritual concentration in the pulpit as well as in the pew, priest may preach and people may hear in vain. " He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor." Yes, you neglected suffering people, the Saviour of the world places you on a level with the favoured of 70 The Interrupted Sermon. the earth. The permanent and the spiritual belongs to you as much as to them ; the same Father ; the same love revealed ; the same Com forter; the same heaven beyond — are for you. " To heal the broken-hearted." What a lift there is for the sorrowful in the sympathy of God, that steals like summer light into a darkened room ; no despair can ever quite keep it out. "Recovery of sight to the blind." The mists of passion — the clouds of prejudice — the veil of selfishness — the pall of spiritual ignorance — lo, at a touch the scales fall off — you see yourself as others see you — you know as you are known — your heart grows pure — you see God. " To preach the acceptable year of the Lord." There he stopped. The next words of Isaiah are "The day of the vengeance of our God." He would not break into that new train of thought which might clash with the spirit of His sermon. The last words of the text should be words of peace, though the end was to be tumult. " He closed the book and sat down " to deliver His sermon We shall never know what the sermon was. It began with a searching application ; no beating about the bush. " This day is this Scripture The Storm bursts. 71 fulfilled in your ears." It ended with that fierce storm of invective which was the . . 54- Lord's dauntless reply to the rage of the storm 1 ¦ •. BURSTS. an envenomed minority. He had fascinated the majority. They "won dered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth"; but the conceited gentry could not bear to be lectured by " a Carpenter," and they soon let Him know it. " Enough of that," they cried. " A sign ! a sign ! You can do wonders at Capernaum ; give us a taste of your quality here. A miracle is worth all this talk — unwholesome democratic talk about the poor, and a message for all men, and pray what is to become of us if we are to be mixed up with the rabble ?" It was all over with the sermon. The knot of malcontents expressed their dissent loudly, and were resolved to break up the meeting. A preacher should conciliate if possible. His object is to persuade, but he can only hope for a majority. Some will always be in silent or open opposition. If the malcontents in any meeting are determined to break it up the speaker can but deliver his message and go. So Christ cast His bread upon the waters. His last words maddened His adversaries, but they 72 The Interrupted Sermon. struck the second keynote of His ministry. The first was peace on earth and good will towards men. A gospel of healing, liberty, illumination, and comfort for all, beginning with the lowest of the people. The second keynote was an implacable opposition to bigotry, hcartlessness, and formalism. " You want a sign ? You shall have none. My signs are the seals of My teaching. Those who accept My teaching get My signs. You will have none of My message, you shall have none of My miracles. You are no better than your fathers, who persecuted the prophets. Were they not out casts and rejected wanderers ? There were many widows in Israel, but Elias only healed the Gentile woman's son at Sarepta. There were many lepers in those days, but Eliseus only healed Naaman the Syrian. Syrian lepers and Gentiles go into the kingdom before you." They would hear no more ; they rose in their fury — hustled Him out of the building — hurried Him up the steep rocky path to the summit of the hill, and would have cast Him down, but His friends, doubtless some of those sturdy Galilean fishermen, rallied round Him and got Him clear of the village. In one way or other He passed through the midst of the crowd, on His way back to The Storm bursts. 73 Capernaum and the Galilean shore. He left Nazareth — never apparently to return. The secluded mountain village had indeed cast Him out — the world received Him. VII. NICODEMUS. 55. Christ's personal method. — 56. Nicodemus taught. — 57. Water and the Spirit — no simultaneity. — 58. Born of the Spirit. — sg. " The wind bloweth." — 60. Conversion. I have called attention to Christ's method with crowds. He persuaded men ; He won the majority, but when the minority would not be 55- CHRISX's won, He simply delivered His message ' r J ° PERSONAL and went His way. Now observe His method. method with individuals. In every case' a divine principle is announced — an application made — a character moulded. Consider the woman taken in adultery. What was taught ? That no sin, however heinous, could separate the sinner from the heart of Jesus. Or take the woman at the well, whose only idea of religion seemed temple or shrine ritual — 76 Nicodemus. and what was taught ? That no ritual, however splendid, "established" or " endowed," had any business to proclaim itself as indispensable to the life of the Spirit. Then we have the young man who went away sad because he was rich — lesson, that no riches might stand between the man and his duty — the Soul and its Saviour. And now to Nicodemus (John iii.). He comes to the new Teacher by night, and he is taught g the spiritual secret of the heart, and nicodemus the true doctrine of Christian Baptism. taught. „ Rabbij" says Nicodemus, " no man can do such miracles except God be with him." Some of the healing miracles were no doubt similar to the wonders worked by the therapeutic healers of the day, as Jesus Himself admitted their " sons " could do them ; but others seemed to Nicodemus, as they seem to us, to be quite special, and belonging to a diviner order of things. Jesus quickly caught the mood of the new disciple. He was going to lead him through it to a higher one. " Miracles ! I will tell you a secret more wonderful still. It is this — a man must be born again; and that wonder must happen to every child of the new Kingdom of God, which you Nicodemus Taught. 77 seem to think is to take its stand upon the physi cal wonders that you have seen." Nicodemus was staggered. The thing now proposed — a new birth — seemed to him impossible. How could it take place ? The inquiry of doubt is just what Christ had waited for. That was His way to arrest, to excite attention — to add line upon line, precept upon precept — and here a little, and there a little ; thus the Saviour built up the Spiritual life. " Born again ; impos sible ! " "Ay," adds Christ, "born of water; you have heard of that, Nicodemus ; 'tis a common thing. Even Moses had a baptism of water. You admit proselytes by it into the Jewish covenant. Come ! you a master in Israel and know not these things ? " Ah, yes, Nico demus knew about the natural birth. Men came that way into the kingdom of this world. And he also knew about the ceremonial and symbolical birth by water ; men came that way into the Jewish Church. But with gentle and winning irony Jesus affects to believe his ignorance greater than it really is. " Art thou a master in Israel and knowest not these things ? If I have told you of earthly things and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things ? 78 Nicodemus. But I will nevertheless. The water of baptism is enough for the Jew; it is not enough for My disciples of the new kingdom. They must be born of the Spirit ; the symbolical washing of water is of no use to them without that. ' Of water and of the Spirit.' " Then, as the disciple's face kindles with a rush of new thought, the Lord's words mount up on the wings of a fresh poetic symbolism. Water was the symbol of ceremonial purification — a blowing, breathing wind, something more subtle than water is the finer symbol of the new life. " The wind bloweth where it listeth — so is every one that is born of the Spirit " ; and here observe Jesus does not even mention the water. There is, then, no necessary simultaneity between the Water and the Spirit. No doctrine of Baptismal regeneration is here 57. water and anY more than there is a doctrine the spirit— no 0f Transubstantiation in the first SIMULTANEITY. . institution ot the Lord s Supper. Water was the symbol of a spiritual fact — nothing more. The emotions which actually accompanied the administration of the right to adults would no Water and the Spirit — no Simultaneity. 79 doubt be spiritual, but not because the Spirit was or could be infused through any water. In those days the sign followed the Spirit, not the Spirit the sign. Philip baptized the Eunuch, not to give him the Spirit, but because he had received it ; and Peter baptized the household of Cornelius for the same reason, because the Spirit was clearly there already. Those who have the reality, give them the symbol. He is heir, let him have the title-deeds. She is married, put on the ring: the ring does not make marriage; it witnesses to the pre-existing fact. So does water in Baptism, and Infant Baptism instead of rivetting any necessary connection between water and the Spirit, really snaps it for ever ; so thoroughly the new figment of baptismal regene ration had to be invented to reconnect it. There can be no action of the Spirit on an unconscious child, for nothing is spiritually discerned until long after. The adult receives the Spirit before the sign; the infant receives the sign before the Spirit. In neither case is there simultaneity. Nor does Jesus countenance any such doctrine. He merely says, to be born of water is not enough for His children ; they must certainly be born of the Spirit as well. 80 Nicodemus. What, then, is this new birth ? It comes, says Jesus, like the wind — the events of life — the inner ,.g_ developments of time and chance. born of the These seem to be its occasions. The new birth is simply the awaking of the spirit to a sense of spiritual things. It may come to the child with the first real prayer, which is more than a form to be rattled through. Suddenly — far from home — at school— amongst strangers — or, full of a bitter child-grief, at the mother's knee at night, for the first time the " Our Father " becomes real — the heart is melted — the invisible Presence is felt, and that child is " born of the Spirit " ; six, seven, eight years before, it had been born of water in baptism. It may come, this spiritual awakening, to the young man who has got himself into difficulties. Troubles close around him — he loses 59- "the wind his own money, trifles with other bloweth. ' people's — gets hemmed in on every side — sits down and faces ruin, nothing but ruin ; at that moment there is a rift in the black cloud above him — he looks up — a word, a chance word, has fallen from some pulpit or the lips of a friend — he goes home — his heart seeks Conversion. 8 1 refuge for the first time in the bosom of the One Friend that sticketh closer than a brother — he prays. A way of escape is made for him — like the lamb for the sacrifice caught in the thicket, which stood between Abraham and his awful sorrow — like the Angel who stood between the people and the pestilence — that man is changed, his prayer has been heard, he knows he will fight through ; the earth sorrow may remain — the earth life, with its old snares and temptations is still about him, but the new life is also opened up ; he is buoyant now — he feels the reality of a spiritual world — the wind has blown upon him — he has been born of the Spirit. And the revelation — the first realised point of contact between the soul and God may also come through the sorrow of loss and the heart's wound ¦ — or in the midst of joy, when the cup runneth-. over, for the "wind bloweth where it listeth." But the effect is always the same ; always there is the sense of purification — of washing — clean ness — a fresh start, a new impulse — a life within a life — and, mark! once conversion. born of the Spirit, always born; you can never be born over again ; you may grow in G 82 Nicodemus. grace or fall away from grace, but the inner life once awakened, no subsequent stirring can ever be equivalent to that sovereign and unique event — " Conversion," as it is called in the revival dialect. The first time the eye takes in light — the first time the baby limbs stand and totter — the first glow of a poetic thought — the first thrill of pas sionate love or friendship — the first kindling of the spirit to the breath of God — " born of water " — poor, cold, ceremonial rite— good for the order of an outward and visible Church, good for nothing else — " and of the Spirit." Oh, sacred baptism of fire ! — oh, loving gift ! — oh, deep refreshing life, irue regeneration of the soul ! This is indeed the spiritual secret of the heart — this is the true doctrine of baptism which Jesus imparted to Nicodemus, a man of the Pharisees — a ruler of the Jews " who came to Him by night." VIII. THE GREAT SERMON. 6r. The scene. — 62. " He opened His mouth." — 63. The audience. — 64. The inner life. — 65. The law. — 66. Rules and principles. — 67. Some oaths. — 68. Perfection. — 6g. Undogmatic Chris tianity. — 70. Almsgiving. — 71. Prayer. — 72. The Lord's Prayer. — 73. Maurice's sermons. After a night of prayer on the mountain top — a place overlooking the Galilean lake, tolerably well identified — Jesus came down to a lower level — a kind of raised plateau. ljI' THE SCENE. At dawn of day the multitude met Him there, bringing their sick to be healed. How long the divine Physician was engaged in the active alleviation of suffering we are not told. There came at last a pause in the work of mercy. Jesus raised His eyes and saw that the eager people had scaled the slope that rose in front of Him like a rude amphi theatre. There they sat, crowding tier above g 2 84 The Great Sermon. tier, all expectant. He stood on the green turf, sown with red lilies and the rank profusion of Palestinian flowers : beneath Him opened a wooded gorge, beyond which gleamed the waters of the shining lake ; above Him was the unbroken blue. How different this scene of the great sermon from the terrors of rocky Sinai and the thunder and lightning which accompanied the deliverance of the Mosaic Law. I read that " He opened His mouth and taught the people." Some preachers are small in great , things. They be-little their subjects he opened both in matter and manner. Jesus his mouth. was great in eyen small things. " He opened His mouth " — took care to pronounce His words so as to be heard. What a lesson to all preachers ! How many of the clergy mumble the lessons and mangle the sermon ! Whether this Sermon on the Mount is the same as that recorded in Luke vi., or only one like it, is of little consequence. Jesus no doubt often repeated the same things ; if He had not, they would never have remembered, recorded, and handed them down to us. He used repetitions, but not vain repetitions. We have at best The Audience. 85 but fragments of His sermons — a text here — an illustration there — but in the Sermon on the Mount we have an Undoubted specimen of His general method and admirable arrangement. The glowing and sympathetic opening; the relations between the law and the Gospel ; the ideal standard ; the practical application to charity, prayer, and the general conduct of life. There you have a method at once concise and exhaustive. At a glance ; the glance of one who " knew what was in man," Jesus took in the outward condition ; the inward capacities of his 6 audience — mostly poor villagers with the a sprinkling of well-to-do idlers from the lake farms. Suddenly He broke into blessing all the most unblest. The poor in spirit — too crushed to assert their own rights, too hopeless to struggle, with nothing to do apparently but to be still and suffer ; the mourners, who were not looking for any comfort, and whose tears but embittered their grief; the weak, who were passed by in the struggle for wealth and fame, despised for want of enterprise or scorned because of low degree. In the new 86 The Great Sermon. kingdom none of these wayfarers, mourners, outcasts, were frowned upon or rejected. And then the note of the inner life was struck loudly — clearly. Those who longed, who hungered and thirsted amidst the dead forms for the religion of the heart — their time was coming. The merciful, who felt for the tragedy of human pain around them and were laughed at as sentimentalists ; the pure in heart, whose inner simplicity of goodness and rectitude counted for nothing in a money-making, sensual world ; the peace-makers, who were as sunshine in the house, but whose virtues worked silently and were often unacknowledged ; and lastly, with a prophetic glance, He blessed the " persecuted for righteousness' sake." He bade them even rejoice ; not merely be resigned, but jubilant, and here he struck that keynote of re sounding triumph and exhilaration which remains to this day the most original and characteristic sign of the Christian life. Inextinguishable joy in the dungeon — at the stake — amidst ruin and physical pain and loss ; that is Christianity. The Stoic bears — the Epicurean submits — the Christian alone exults — "sorrowful and yet always rejoicing." The Inner Life. 87 More startling and paradoxical still is what follows. Jesus tells these poor people — these ob scure villagers, the very sweepings , of the suburbs of Decapolis and the inner Jerusalem — that they are the " salt LIFE* of the earth, the light of the world." That is the way to lift men. Don't tell them they are sinners ; tell them they are saints. Look at men as God looks at them ; " in Christ," as Paul has it. Talk to them always as if they were what they were meant to be; they will then become so. Next, teach them to despise the outward ; deliver them from the tremendous empire of the senses throw them straight back on the solitary supre macy of the soul. What you are, not who you are ; what you do, not what you've got — matters in the new kingdom. " Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven." Hitherto not a word of the law. To a Jew no sermon would be worth anything without a good deal about the law in it — as some people now-a-days think no sermon THE L'AW worth much without a good season ing of dogmatic theology. Jesus knew all that ; 88 The Great Sermon. He was not likely to leave out the law — He knew its power, as a natural orator knows the power of commonplace, and so He was careful to add that He came not to destroy but to fulfil the law. How the Gospel fulfilled the law He proceeded to show by six instances. The law attacked the murderer, the Gospel went for subduing anger, murder's herald, in the heart. The law punished the adultery, the Gospel controlled the wandering eyes which led up to it. The law admitted swearing for confirming a word or a vow, the Gospel was against oaths and in favour of that clear sincerity and habitual truth-telling which would make oaths superfluous. I notice here that the objection of Jesus to oaths, was not so much because of their violence, or even profanity, but because they weakened the truth-telling spirit — a man who swore habitually was generally understood not to speak the truth unless he swore to it, whilst the man who so swore could not be long trusted even to swear the truth ; so, said Jesus, "swear not at all," yet Jesus, when adjured by Pilate, Himself swore — took the oath — from which we may infer that the most unconditional assertions, such as " swear not at all," statements Rules and Principles. 8g apparently most hard and fast concerning the in dissolubility of marriage, the absolute duty of reconciliation, non-resistance to injuries, the im possibility of rich men entering the kingdom of Heaven, and other sweeping assertions of Jesus, point to principles of conduct which must on occasions be applied and sometimes limited ac cording to common sense. Jesus gave divine principles ; He did not go into details ; He expects us to use our common sense. Here and there, when pressed, o6_ He Himself would stoop to qualify His rules and . , , . principles. own sweeping statements ; in so many words, He did so when He explained that trusting in riches, not the mere possession of them, is what barred the kingdom to rich men ; in practice, He did so when He person ally took the oath under special circumstances — but generally the qualification and application of divine principles of action — the transla tion of them into special rules of conduct — is left to us. For instance, the modern policeman is our commonsense qualification of the injunction to offer the right cheek to one who smites us on the left, yet the policy of non-resistance and the go The Great Sermon. quiet bearing of affronts remains one of the most powerful and subtle forces in society — in the person of Christian workers and missionaries it even subdued and brought to the foot of the Cross the wildest barbarians of mediaeval Europe. Before leaving the subject of oaths, I will give some curious examples of the folly of modern swearing. If a man really prays the 67. Almighty to curse his fellow man some oaths. b ¦> whenever he says damn, it is indeed most criminal and wicked ; but in most cases little or nothing is meant. The practice, then, is foolish, coarse, and vulgar, but scarcely cri minal — unless the intention is criminal. In many cases people have no idea what the oath means. The adjuration, " My eye and Betty Martin ! " for instance, was simply the old Catholic swearing by a popular saint — " O mihi beate Martine ! " (" O blessed St. Martin, hear me ! ") "By our Lady," the old adjuration by the Virgin Mary, with the provincial brr, once universal — Brrlady, is another instance of the same kind of senseless transformation of words — which, without being the fittest, have unhappily survived. Perfection. gi In conclusion, Jesus points to an ideal standard of perfection — " Be ye perfect even as the Father in Heaven is perfect." Observe that Tesus does not say that we can be PERFECTION. as perfect as the Father, but only perfect as, or after the manner of, God's per fection. We know what that is — we have the Divine framework defined — the Divine example, as far as it is imitable, clearly sketched for us in the life, character, and teaching of Jesus. It con sists in perfect energy of mind, body, and spirit — "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work"; perfect love to man — the new commandment being that "we love one another," as He has loved us ; perfect righteousness — "for every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, as He is pure." The outline is quite firm — the framework is quite definite — the ideal is at once intensely practical and irresistibly inspiring. This is at once the Ideal and the Real Christianity of the Sermon on the Mount. If they do not meet there they meet nowhere. I suppose every theologian will admit that the Sermon on the Mount contains the purest Chris tianity, and yet all the favourite dogmas of g2 The Great Sermon. the church have, somehow, been left out of it. , I find there no Trinity, no Eternal undogmatic Punishment, no Atonement, no Justi- christianity. fication by faith, no doctrine concern ing the Inspiration of the Bible — the nature of the Sacraments, or Church Government. I am not saying that the church's dogmas are not true. I say they are not to be found in the Sermon on the Mount — and hence I draw the distinction between Christianity and the religion of Christ. No doubt every dogma which at one or another time has been deemed indispensable to Christianity aims at some truth — but what is not to be found set down in Christ's teaching, only deduced from it or evolved — why that is derived doctrine, and may be re-defined and re-stated. If you want to know what Christ taught, I do not advise any one to go first to the Catechism, or even to St. Paul's Epistles, but straight to the Sermon on the Mount. I will now take some more points in this great sermon. The sixth chapter of Matthewcontains the doctrine of Almsgiving — of Prayer and of Trust in God. Almsgiving is degraded in two ways, when it is done to be seen of men and when it is done to A hnsgiving. g3 save your soul. You can't tender to God is. 6d. or £i for a sin committed. You can't wipe out guilt with half-a-crown. The Jews thought you could. The Catholic almsgiving. church, in its worst days, at least, openly taught that you could. The priests invited the dying to insure against Hell or Purgatory by leaving their property to the church or the poor. The fallacy is not yet quite extinct. The other day a witty ecclesiastic was listening to a rich merchant who, after dinner, boasted that, although no better than he should be, he gave £2,000 away to the poor every year. He didn't know, nor apparently care, who got it, but it went. " Well,' said his clerical listener, " that's the largest insurance against fire I ever heard of!" Now, mark this, if in almsgiving the donor is thinking more of himself than of the recipient of his gift, his act is not Christian charity, but selfishness. If he gives, in order to be praised, or to save his soul, or merely to relieve his own feelings, without regard to the effect of his gift, that is not Christian charity. The impulse is good, but not alone. It does more harm than good, without reflection, commonsense, and even wisdom. Every penny given to a knave robs 94 The Great Sermon. a deserving person. There are plenty such, find them out, and when you find them, do not pauperise them. Help them to help themselves. Every Christmas we are deluged with circulars ; choose the right Institutions and pleas to support ; avoid the professional beggars of this world, in print or out of print, who prey on the credulous and impulsive, and can give no satisfactory account of their stewardship. I am not against extras at Christmas. If we brighten our homes for our friends, God forbid that we should forget the poor; but again I say, be careful. Let us comfort the sick, seek out the deserving poor, cheer the aged, think of poor dependents, old servants, the people in our own neighbourhood ; let us do all we can to lighten the burden of unobtrusive sufferers, helping the thrifty poor, the sick, the aged ; but let us avoid bolstering up the blatant impostor ! The doctrine of prayer laid down by Christ, un encumbered with any speculation, is extremely simple. "Ask, and it shall be given 7I' you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, PRAYER. _ J ' ' and it shall be opened unto you." It is true that in other places the promise The Lord's Prayer. g5 is considerably qualified. We shall receive, not whatever we ask, but the Holy Spirit — i.e., we are to spread out our case, our needs, our desires, before God, for that is the way to come into close relations with Him ; He will do the rest. The answer shall be the gift we ask for, and our demand shall be the needful link in the chain of causes which brings us and our hearts' desire to gether ; in other words, this answer shall be the "Holy Spirit," who shall mould our wills into accord and illuminated acquiescence with His good will. In any case, prayer is seen to be the ways and means of bringing us into communication with One who is above all, and over all, and through all. Direct demands are the most obvious, simple, childlike forms of prayer ; but the spiritual value of prayer is, after all, not this : to get exactly what we want when we want it, like the magic ring in the fairy tale ; but this : to bring the human into close relation with the Divine. The Lord's Prayer is given in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew vi.) ; it is also given in Luke xi. Matthew says it was given in the midst of a crowd whilst Jesus the lord's was preaching. Luke says it was pRAYEK- g6 The Great Sermon. given in solitude to His disciples when Jesus was praying. The fragment stands much the same in both documents ; but the setting, the editing, or placing of it, is only one more illustra tion of the way in which these evangelic frag ments were combined and recombined ; set, or as we should say, edited, according to the taste or information of the special scribe, collector, or evangelist. The Lord's Prayer (or Pater Noster) is commonly rattled off much as the Burmese turn their prayer-wheels ; but that is not the way to use it. The disciples did not say "teach us a. prayer," but " teach us how to pray." The clauses are not to be reeled off, but used and expanded according to our individual wants. They are so many texts — the sermon has to be produced by everyone for himself. The petitions. are simple, rudimentary, and altogether general. They must be made particular, unfolded and developed by us. The " daily bread "¦ — bread for the body; bread for the soul. "Trespasses" — What ? and how many ? " Temptation " — What ? and from whence ? and how ? — for we are most vari ously tempted. " Evil " — vast, vague, and terrible term! — but "deliver us from evil!" the one constant cry of the Spirit. From evil, known Maurice's Sermons. gy and unknown, not from the punishment of sin, not from sin only ; we might have in our blindness prayed for life to be made easy that way, but Jesus teaches us better. "Deliver us from evil," from physical and moral disorders, from all that exalts itself within and without against the king and His kingdom. " For Thine is the kingdom," &c, is a kind of doxology added on, merely the liturgical close to the Lord's Prayer, or any other prayer, like our " Glory be to the Father," which we use at the end of the Psalms when they are chanted. Frederick Denison Maurice's " Six Sermons on the Lord's Prayer " may be read with profit by all who wish to enter deeply and practi cally into the meaning, beauty, and maurice's power of that matchless utterance, SERMONS- which has taught not only Apostles, but millions of disciples for nineteen centuries — "how to pray." "It came to pass," I read, "when Jesus had ended these sayings (on the Mount), the people were astonished at His doctrine : for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the Scribes." H IX. THE MISSIONERS. 74. Matthew x. and xi. — 75. Mission method. — 76. Form transitory. — 77. " They also serve." — 78. Gospel for the rich.— 79. Fidelity. — 80. Simplicity. — 8r. Consolation. The tenth chapter of St. Matthew contains the story of Christ and His missioners and the directions they receive, The eleventh ... 74- contains His opinion of John the matthew Baptist— His rebuke to the cities who x" AND XI" rejected His own preaching — His assertion that the essential truths of religion were often hid from the wise and revealed to babes, and the chapter closes with that incomparable and level ling invitation to all the weary and heavy laden to come and find rest in Him. Here is plentiful matter of fact, of form, and of spirit. H 2 ioo The Missioners. Fact. — Twelve poor men, not outwardly re markable, but chosen for special aptitudes and 75. charged with special gifts, especially mission 0f teaching, are sent forth to deliver METHOD. their message. They are to go un provided with money, or food, or even shoes, and when arrested their speech was to be wholly un premeditated. These men fitted with a mission — these hardy pioneers — to proclaim the heavenly kingdom and the divine Lord of it, were to have no care for creature comforts and no anxiety about answering their opponents. Enough would be given them — board and lodging by grateful hearers, and a fitting answer to all questions put into their mouth by the Holy Ghost. They were not to be ascetic, but to eat and drink what was set before them ; they were not to be aggressive, but when repulsed they were to go off and preach elsewhere. All this is simple history, and it has been paralleled again and again in the history of Christ's Church by other missioners in other ages. Form. — Now observe what was transitory or accidental about the method. Poverty, mendi cancy — ill-provided life — unpremeditated speech Form Transitory . 101 — are not the only, nor are they invariably the best, methods of evangelisation. Later ' these same missioners of Jesus them- form selves abandoned the method, which transitory. has been exalted all through the middle ages as the only correct one, and parodied in our own. As the popularity of Jesus and His followers waned, danger came upon them, their instructions were suddenly altered, they were told to provide what was needful — nay more, to sell their clothes and buy swords to defend themselves, on occasion. Learn from this that there is no one best form of doing Christ's work. He is the best missioner who knows best how to adapt himself to circumstances. Enlarge your ideas of true mission work. There are many types, not one only. Your gentleman in black, who goes about in a long cloak and slouch hat, looking as much like a mediaeval monk as he dares, is not the only, or always the best, missioner. Such efforts, excellent in intention, have an unwholesome tendency to cheapen other forms of evangelisation by exalting what is, after all, a rather narrow and somewhat antiquated type. They affect to copy the first apostles and evan gelists, but they are on a very different footing. 102 The Missioners. Your modern missioner is paid, and not always by the people to whom he preaches ; and he is paid whether the people he ministers to accept him or not. Obviously it is one thing for A to pay B to go and talk to C whether C likes it or not, and another for B to go to C unpaid and be received or rejected, fed or left unfed, according to C's good will or pleasure. The modern mission, by subscription, with its staff of salaried evangelists, may be all very well in its way, and do good. Per- " they also sonally, I am in favour of people supporting the ministry they value, but if others choose to pay and send out preachers to go from house to house or open special services, I have nothing to say against it ; only don't tell me it is the primitive method, nor the only method. It is one method. Here is another. The layman who goes over to the East-end of London, lives amongst the poor unostentatiously, without the long cloak and slouch hat, devotes himself to improving their condition in mind, body, and estate. He, too, is doing Christ's work. The clergyman in Whitechapel or Stepney who tries to recreate and brighten the lives of his poor Gospel for the Rich. 103 people — not incessantly to the tune of tract and Bible — but with music, and pictures, and social gatherings, and simple, hearty religious services — he, too, is a real missioner. The men, like Maurice and Kingsley, who try to sympathise with the difficulties of the working men — try to lead them, raise them, and inspire them with noble ideals — theirs is not exactly the slouch-hat and long-cloak religion, but it is Christ's, and they are His true missioners. But other people want missioners — the rich, who have such difficulty in getting into the kingdom of heaven. The men of g art, of science, of literature — all gospel for these want religion in some form. THE RICH" The men who supply them are, probably, not of the slouch-hat, or house-to-house, or tract doctrine or method. They must know something beyond catechism and penny theology — love something beside prayer-meetings, understand something beyond the shibboleth of the sects. The Stanleys, the Robertsons, the earnest journalist, painter, or poet, are often as true missioners to the cultivated classes as are Moody and Sankey, or any long- cloak revivalist to the masses. Nay, the man who 104 The Missioners. thoughtfully and prayerfully in his study tries to re-formulate Christian theology and adapt it to the new wants, the thoughts, and feelings of the age, bringing its formulas up to date and grappling bravely and honestly with the new questions of science, art, and philosophy, with a view to harmonising men's week-day thoughts with their Sunday meditations — these men, although they visit no penitential alleys — hear no formal con fessions — wear no slouch hats — are, nevertheless, Christ's true missioners. Christianity is larger than any of its forms, yet it comprehends them all ; wider than the systems of any of its missioners, yet it uses them all ; there is a diversity of gifts, but the same spirit. To all, howsoever endowed, wheresoever at work in the vineyard, Christ says: "Freely ye have received, freely give." We must be careful not to miss the spiritual and eternal elements contained in these tenth and eleventh chapters. I will sum them 79- up in three words — Fidelity, Simpli- FIDELITY. J ' r city, Consolation. Fidelity. — Not family ties nor worldly advance ment, nor fear of death, must stand between the Simplicity. 105 allegiance of the disciple to his master. What are you prepared to suffer for the right ? That, in all ages, to all sorts and conditions of men, is Christ's question. How much will you bear for your convictions ? " He that endureth to the end shall be saved." Simplicity. — The best things in religion are, after all, the universally accessible, revealed to babes — not the wise in head but the pure in heart; not the keen intellect, SIMPLIcITy but the single eye is full of spiritual light. Jesus demands a certain inner simplicity, like that of a child, an unspoiled or rehabilitated nature, qualities which are for the poor as well as for the rich ; for babes equally with the wise and learned ; these are the conditions for all, the promises to all, to you and to your children. Consolation. — Great invitation to the weary and heavy-laden. Sorrow and pain levels us all. Eternal is the human need of comfort ; eternal is the source from whence it CONSOLATION. flows- The rich man may be selfish, the poor ignorant, the student disappointed, the aesthete sensual, the philosopher sceptical, but 106 The Missioners. there is not one of them who does not in lonely and bitter moments crave for divine sympathy ; and who does not thrill to the voice of the " Man of Sorrows " as He stands in the dusty thorough fares of life, crying aloud to all the ages, " Come unto Me, all ye that travail and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." X. PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM. 82. The kingdom. — 83. Fact, form, spirit. — 84. The sower. — 85. Second seed - parable. — 86. Parables combined. — 87. The mustard seed and the leaven. — 88. The winding river. Let us now listen to some parables of the king dom, reported briefly enough in Matthew xiii. The Papists are right when they say it is hazardous for the unlearned to read the Bible. Papists are over cautious, Protestants g2_ perhaps over rash. " Understandest the thou what thou readest ? " — Aye, that is the question. For instance, take this phrase, " Kingdom of God." Many people seem to suppose it means some realm after death, where those who have done nothing but mortify them selves here shall do nothing but enjoy themselves hereafter. But what Christ meant by the kingdom 108 Parables of the Kingdom. of heaven was a life begun here, passing through the grave and gate of death without any breach of spiritual continuity. Unchanged in essence was the life of His kingdom — changeable only in out ward accidents. Its essence depended always not on where — but on what you were. The kingdom of heaven was always a state within, not a place, though it worked itself out here below in a visible Church, " which is the company of all faithful people." Take now the parable of the seed sown, followed by that group differently illustrative, and known 8 as the Mustard seed, the Leaven, the fact, form, Pearl, the hid Treasure, and the Net in SPIRIT the sea. According to my method, I ask what are fact, form, spirit in these teachings. The fact is that Jesus spoke a certain parable of a sower, that His disciples did not understand Him : that He explained the parable, and added six more parables. The form is tinged with allusions to the Jewish people, in which the end of their history as a nation and their national judgment sometimes get mixed up with the universal judgment upon all. The Sower. iog And the spiritual and permanent element in all these parables — what is it ? Take the first parable of the Sower. The seed sown is good influence, the soil is the heart. The wayside heart takes no heed of the seed-words that come and go — in 4' THE SOWER. at one ear, out at the other. Any bird passing catches away seed-words, heard but not listened to. The stony heart is often covered with thin soil. Impulsive, shallow, but really insensible people receive all with a gush — " so sorry — so glad ! " — so glib ! All that comes their way springs up at once — and at once withers. And the thorn-choked heart I need not dwell upon, for we know how apt are pleasures and riches to choke goodness and purity, and love. And the evidences of a good heart also, like a " city set upon a hill," cannot be hid. Now the disciples could not understand this parable, strange as it may appear to us after our nineteen centuries of interpretation. Then came the second seed-parable — much coarser, less accurate, but bolder — the colours laid on thick no Parables of the Kingdom. and all primaries, just as we paint for children. Seed, which meant influence, germinating in the 8 heart, was too subtle for them. The second heart, a field where good and bad in fluences strove together, left but a hazy PARABLE. j impression. So suddenly, instead of an influence within, the seed is incarnated — becomes actually men and women ; God sows the good in the world, the devil sows the bad. That is definite enough — not accurate but at least definite- — noth ing but wheat and tares. The good all good, the bad all bad. In this parable influences have become persons ! Now put the two parables side by side, and read a double truth from this double presentation. First I observe the separation of sin from the sinner. Bad influence as well as good is not in the g6 heart — it is sown there. To the sin parables in us Christ says, " Come out of combined. himj thou unclean spirit». t0 the sinner, " Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more. " Of sin Paul says, " Then it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me, " the law in the members ever separate from Paul — a tyrant warring against his mind. Of himself Parables combined. 1 1 1 he says, " O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from (this carnal law) the body of this death ? " Here then is consolation and hope for all. You are not identified with the evil, neither are you identified with the good seed. The heart is the soil in which both may germinate, in which either may perish. You can fight evil, you can welcome good only when you look upon both as separate from you — you, the ego, who are placed there to choose between them. Then coming to the second seed-parable, Jesus turns round and says, " But you are tares — you are wheat." Indication here of an awful truth. You may so identify yourself with evil, as it were, as to become wholly corrupt. "The corrupt tree," says Christ, painting with the same broad touch, " cannot bring forth good fruit." There are, indeed, moments in the life of each one of us when he or she seems to be utterly vile — no spark of goodness left. Christ in this second parable describes such a state — He paints you as you appear to others — nay, as you feel at times — all good or all bad. Now, if you would still find refuge from this terrible identification with evil, you will find it in 112 Parables of the Kingdom. that lovely group of parables, beginning with the mustard seed. The mustard seed and the leaven hidden in the lump reveal to you a triumphant, spiritual power 87. working itself out in history, or typi- THE cally in an outward and visible MUSTARD seed and Church. This is really the kingdom the leaven, of heaven set up on earth. All the weary birds of the air take refuge in the spreading branches ; all plague-smitten creatures are to be gradually permeated by this health-giving leaven. And then from the kingdom without the parable changes to the kingdom within, the divine presence 8g welcomed, realised. This is the hid thewinding Treasure, this is the Pearl of great river. price ; no labour is too prolonged to find it ; no sacrifice too great to win it ; no journey too tedious or too perilous to reach it ! And thus the discourse of Jesus seems to flow on like a winding beautiful river, the scenery on its banks ever changing ; now studded with hamlets and towns, now coursing through green pastures, the labourer in the field, the merchantman in the city, the way-worn traveller with the glow of expecta- The Winding River. 113 tion in his eyes, intent still upon the pearl of great price ! Cannot we imagine how the en tranced disciples hung upon the Master's lips as picture after picture rose vividly before their mind's eye ? Eternal, permanent, spiritual, parables of the kingdom of God. XI. THE CRISIS. 3. An eternal attraction.— go. Keynotes. — gi. The approach of a crisis. — 92. Jesus inflexible.- — 93. Transubstantiation. — g4- " To whom shall we go ? " — g5. Asceticism not of Jesus. — 96. Christ and Stylites. — g7. The ascetic, formalist, sceptic. — g8. Ritualism and ceremonialism. — gg. Sham fasting. — 100. The Sabbath. — 101. Dogma and life. One reason why the life of Christ is so eternally interesting is because in Christ Divinity is seen to be human, and Humanity divine. Not only does He present the real an eternal character of God to us-ward, as that of attraction. an affectionate and moral being, but He represents man before God, made perfect like God, our ex pectation and hope being that " we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." In previous sections I have drawn out certain Aspects of Christ's life and teaching, each with its keynote entirely practical and imitable. His 1 2 1 1 6 The Crisis. Preparation, which consisted in concentration and self-knowledge ; His Sermons, which clung closely to the facts of life in precept and 9°" parable, and reacted alike against KEYNOTES. the current dogma and the fashion able ritualism of the day ; His Miracles, which were grounded on mercy, being chiefly thera peutic, and wrought in alleviation of pain ; His Missionaries, who were not salaried, but went forth with their lives in their hands, supported only by those who wanted them, and to whom they could commend their gospel ; and, lastly, I noticed a certain Individual Treatment which every one who came to Jesus received. The divine Master-Workman ever built upon what He found ; the Trust of the disciples ; the Eager ness of the rich young man ; the Penitence of the out-cast woman ; the Enquiring Spirit of the ruler ; the Willing Ear of the publican, even the Curiosity of a Zacchaeus. So He reached the heart, knowing what was in man. If you want to smite between the joints of the harness, you must find out the vulnerable point. By all these methods alone, Jesus, in a few months, could not have failed to reach a high pitch of popularity and power. The Approach of a Crisis. 117 I will now show that the teaching which pre saged His fall, and drove the nails into His cross, was equally divine and fruitful. But first comes a crisis. Such crises come the to us all; they are the turning-points approach of A CRISIS. in life. You have risen to wealth, or you have won influence, or your opportunity has arrived after years of waiting. What use will you make of it ? Sooner or later choose you must where the paths divide, it may be between ignoble success and noble failure, pleasure and duty, dis grace and honour, or, like Khartoum Gordon, be tween safety with dishonour and death in the cause to which life and honour have been pledged ; but long before the last act, comes the real turning- point. Gordon's death-warrant was signed when he refused to fly before Khartoum was surrounded ; Christ's, when He refused to countenance the movement on foot to take Him by force and make Him a king. We can almost date the moment. It was just after the feeding of the 5,000. They followed Him about with acclamations, ex pecting more signs and wonders, more 92. food. Then came a saying which jesus staggered them ; His body and His inflexible. n 8 The Crisis. blood were to be their food ; His kingdom was not of this world ; the bread of life was that which came down from heaven. In other words, Jesus refused to materialise the gospel of the kingdom, He stood by His spiritual mission. For this they cared nothing. If He was not a temporal king, or even a dogmatic rabbi, with a new cut-and-dried theology, what had they to do with Jesus ? Nothing — less than nothing. The link between them was soon snapt. They pretended to mis understand His saying about eating His flesh, although the phrase " eating," for " appropri ating," or " assimilating," was one freely used by their own prophets, as when Ezekiel the prophet eats the sacred scroll. But when we wish to break with a person, any pretext will do. In vain Jesus, seeing that they persist in giving to His words the transubstan- meaning of iransubstantiation, cor- tiation. rects the error. " The flesh profiteth nothing, the words I speak unto you they are spirit, and they are life." One would suppose that a chapter which contains at once the pretext for transubstantiation and the refutation of it would have preserved the Christian church from " To whom shall we go ? " ng so monstrous a delusion, but the mediaeval theo logian was no wiser than, although quite as cunning as, the Jew of that period, in twisting the words of Jesus to suit his own purpose. The Jew used transubstantiation to break with Jesus, the Roman church employed it to thrust priestcraft upon the people, by making the priest indispensable as the transubstantiator. In the mouth of the Catholic priest the words " flesh and blood " struck the keynote of that gross materialism dear to the Jew. In the mouth of Jesus, " flesh and blood" struck the keynote of that inner life, and that spiritual kingdom, the proclamation of which signed His death-warrant. Many, after this saying, followed Him no more. Then, turning to His disciples, He said " Will ye also go away ? " "To whom shall we 94- go?" says Peter, "Thou hast the "to whom words of eternal life." The outlook SHALL WE go ?" was not hopeful. The twelve were no doubt disappointed. Peter himself could not believe that the end was coming on a cross, or, as we should say, a criminal-scaffold outside Jerusalem. This might well stagger a stouter heart than Peter's, but Jesus was the highest, 120 The Crisis. and "we needs must love the highest when we see it." The light was not over clear, the words were hard to understand ; but even so, nothing that Peter had ever heard could compete with Jesus and His words for power and grip of inspira tion — " To whom shall we go ? " And now see the divine radiance which streams from that inex orably unpopular teaching of a spiritual kingdom and a bread from heaven, which drove the nails into His cross. Jesus broke with the religious world of His day chiefly on three grounds : Asceticism, Cere monialism, and Sanctimoniousness. In these days we are little in danger of Asceti cism. Perhaps a little more of it would do some of us no harm. But what does it 95- asceticism mean ? It means the crushing instead not of 0f the controlling of our desires. Its JESUS. standpoint is outside instead of inside the normal life, and Jesus, who came not to des troy but to save men's lives, would have none of it, so He came eating and drinking. He mingled freely with the people. He was to them the " Carpenter " or the Carpenter's son with a gift of utterance and a therapeutic power. Now, ob- Christ and Stylites. 121 serve, as a protest against a wholly corrupt state of society, as against unbridled indulgence — per sonal isolation, and total abstinence, may be effec tive in the way of a justifiable reaction, but as a type of life, Asceticism is at best a noble error, and it is false and disastrous to the best human ideal. To live amongst men and do right, and if necessary to die for right on the Cross, that is Christianity. To forsake every one and every thing, think only of yourself and your soul, live alone in a cave, and starve and never wash, or rot on the top of high pillars like St. Simeon Stylites, that is Asceticism. And the difference between Christ on His cross and Stylites on his pillar is as wide as the poles asunder. Both suffered, but Christ 5 was crucified for others after minis- christ and tering to them all His life; Stylites died for his own sake, after living a life of self-centred isolation, absorption, and utter spiritual selfishness. Self-denial is good as a means to an end, not a good end in itself; excel lent as a discipline, not as an ideal of life ; not to shirk responsibility and pleasures and business 122 The Crisis. and the cares of life, not to crush the natural desires, but to rule them for the development of the mind and spirit, and in the midst of the provocations, trials, temptations, and worries of family or business or professional life, to steer a straight course, and maintain a temper calm, serene, and sweet — that is Christianity. But this was not the Jew's view — it is not the formalist's view at any time — nor is it the worldly 97- man's view of religion in any age. ' The formalist and the worldling alike FORMALIST, ° sceptic, prefer to stand by and applaud the ascetic life as the true religious life, for this enables them both to divorce religion from their lives altogether. The formalist gets rid of it with a few mechanical rites and penances, and the worldling admits Ascetic Religion to be the best, but far above what such a sinner as himself dare aspire to ; so he makes the false religious ideal an excuse for giving up all attempts to be.religious at all. Now we can see in all ages the recurrent mischief wrought by the ascetic theory of life. This is why Jesus broke with the religious world of His day on asceticism. Ritualism and Ceremonialism. 123 He also broke with Ritualism and Ceremonial. He was not only, in the eyes of the Pharisee or religionist of the period, a drunken 98- RITUALISM man and a wine-bibber, but He and and His followers ate with unwashed aL1SM. hands, refused to fast, and profaned the Sabbath- day. Exactly so ; fasting is good. If you are in the habit of eating too much you cannot do better than fast a little. Get your body under at all cost ; control your appetite, and try the experiment by all means in Lent ; but don't forget to resort to such abstinence all the year round, as long as you are a victim to that indi gestion and sluggishness, or drunkenness, or confusion of brain, which comes from too much food and too many stimulants in the middle of the day, when your mind should be free and alert for business. But avoid the ascetic plan of ordering extra egg sauce with your salt fish, and good puddings on Wednesdays and Fridays, under the „_ impression that you are fasting, for sham then you are like the children who look forward to Good Friday because of the hot cross buns. No ; call things by their right 124 The Crisis. names. Don't make such a fuss about the form of abstinence, and make the thing itself a little more real — so shall ye be Christ's disciples. Ceremonial washing — in our time and country — is no longer practised, but might be similarly I00_ treated, and so might church going on the Sunday. Stringent as were the Mosaic Sabbatical rules, there came a time (vide Isaiah ch. i.) when the sacred day with all its observances had grown profane and empty, through formalism and hypocrisy. Nothing can make holy a day or a rite which has lost the spiritual savour of a contrite spirit and a broken heart. On the other hand, a measure of reason able and healthful recreation or even needful business, such as an open chemist's shop, cannot really profane Sunday, especially for those who have prayed well in the great congregation. Abstinence from the usual week-day pleasure and toil is readily and rightly accepted as the symbol of a religious life ; but the Christian is left, at all events, as free as were the disciples of Jesus, who still acknowledged the Sabbath of Moses (so far more rigid than our Lord's day), and yet learned from Christ that even the Dogma and Life. 125 " Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." And, lastly, Jesus broke with the sanctimonious men of the religious world of His day. The same spirit is abroad now. Your so- I0I_ called religious folk — with narrow dogma beliefs— who stand by shibboleths of men's invention, and excommunicate those who differ from them ; the church or chapel coterie that denounces and calumniates other church or chapel coteries ; the wicked and wanton misrepre sentations made of opinions that are distasteful to us, or that we do not give ourselves the trouble even to understand ; the utter indifference to lives in comparison with opinions — in the teeth of Christ's warning, "By their fruits ye shall know them." All this belongs to no age or country. Depend upon it, whatever a man does or does not believe about Baptismal Grace, or the Inspiration of the Bible, or the Athanasian Creed, if he is good and honest and kind and devout and reverent and trying to do his work, he is not far from the kingdom of God. Christ would have called him a disciple, and have looked on him and loved him, in spite of the 126 The Crisis. dogmatists or ritualists of the day. And, if we search the Scriptures carefully, I do not think we shall find a single instance in the Four Gospels where belief in any doctrine of Atonement, or Bible Inspiration, or Baptismal Regeneration, or Apostolical succession, was required by Christ. All He said was "Follow Me." That's not enough for some theological folk — that's not theology at all to their taste : they knew far better than Jesus then — they know far better than Jesus now, they were blind with conceit, choked with ritualism, mad for the praise of men, and without a spark of love, therefore He turned upon them with this short but vigorous and rigorous sentence — ¦" Verily I say unto you the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of heaven before you." So they crucified Him. XII. THE COLLISION. 102. Growing discords. — ro3. Two points. — 104. By Beelzebub. — 105. A sign. — 106. The sin against the Holy Ghost. — 107. A state. — 108. The case of Paul. — 109. A conspiracy. — no. Jesus meets the attack. — nr. Jesus thrust out. — 112. With the people. — 113. Words of consolation. — 114. The eternal sympathy. — ri5. From storm to calm. It was easy to see that a collision between Jesus and the accredited teachers of religion was imminent (Luke xi.). Men of the world do not lightly break with a growing popular leader. They try to bribe, frighten, or cajole him first. But when the points of difference are fundamental, the separation must come. There had been a good deal of skirmishing about Asceticism, Ceremonialism, and the outward costume and sanctimonious appear ance of religious teachers. The Pharisees' love of such things might indeed be defended. For self- indulgent people a little Asceticism is certainly 128 The Collision. not amiss. Ritualism too, and stated observ ances, are found religiously helpful by all sorts and conditions of men. To dress like, and to look like, a religious teacher is generally thought proper and desirable if you are a clergyman. Jesus did not look like or dress like a Rabbi. He wore peasant's clothes— had no phylacteries upon the hem of His garments. He produced on the religious world of the day much the same effect that a clergyman does now-a-days when he goes about without the regulation coat and white tie and high waistcoat of his office. The modern pew dearly loves the white tie and straight waistcoat, indeed, hardly believes in a clergyman who refuses to wear these reverend insignia of office. Jesus refused to wear them : did not conform to the regulation apparel ; kept company with the poor and outcast ; sat down with unwashen hands to meat ; and so they called Him " a drunken man and a winebibber." On two points Jesus seemed essentially vulner able from the Pharisees' point of view — indiffer ence to the strict observance of the two 'points. Sabbath and disregard of the cere monial washings. He could not be By Beelzebub. i2g a religious man, or why did He and His disciples do that which it was not lawful to do on the Sabbath ? He could not be a moral man, or why did He sit down to meat with unwashen hands, and in such company ? He was tried by the fashionable shibboleths and found wanting, as who should say now-a-days, "Such an one was seen at the theatre, therefore he cannot be moral"; "He is a Dissenter," or, "he ate not salt fish on Good Friday, therefore he cannot be religious." All such judgments have a show of sense, and even piety. But the false Asceticism, the sham Ceremony, the hypocritical gait and demeanour adopted by the Pharisees were seen through and exposed, nay, they exposed themselves. These men, who had already determined to destroy Jesus, had yet to display that open moral obliquity which deliberately called white black. Their moment came (Luke xi.), Jesus had been casting out a deaf and dumb devil. The work was one of divine goodness and mercy. The religious world of the by period looked on and called it bad. He cast out devils, they said, through Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. Let us beware of thus 130 The Collision. giving the lie to the moral sense, for it is the very sin against the Holy Ghost, and we may be terribly near it without knowing it. The tendency is a common one. If goodness, or truth, or mercy touch my pocket, or my honour, or my interest, my pleasures, or even my prejudices, I will destroy and deny them, when and how I can. That is the tendency. These are spots in our feasts of charity, blots on our professions. I have known medical men deny cures not wrought by the accredited methods. The disease has been cast out by fraud, by quackery, or not cast out at all, say they. When I was in Italy, and the regular Piedmontese army arrived at Naples after Gari baldi and his irregular volunteers had done all the work down south, one heard nothing but abuse of Garibaldi and his men by the king's officers. They hated them, they cheapened their valour, they sneered at their sacrifices, even denied their exploits, attributing all to chance, luck, even to mistake. General Garibaldi had won, well, in spite of his stupidity. Such interested lying is not confined to the doctor or the soldier ; it is found in the church. I have heard clergymen deny the good work and righteous fruits of congregations opposed to them. A Sign. 131 I have seen in the country war between the orthodox rector, who could not fill his church, and the dissenting Baptist, whose church over the way was crowded. The fruits of the spirit were there, the devils were defeated, but the rector still stood out that it was by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. And now mark, at this point, the critics of Jesus thought that they had Him in their trap. He laid Himself freely open to attack ; it was His way, but it always turned ' out that not He but they were the ones to fall into the trap. He had said, " If I, by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out ? " Then arose shouts of " A sign, a sign ! " You confess then 'tis no miracle after all. We can do it. We have our exorcists, our mesmerists, our medical rubbers. Where is your miracle ? Give us a sign that you come from God ! Then it was that Jesus poured out upon them that flood of eloquent instruction, showing up their glaring insincerity in the light of reason, and paralleling their conduct by an appeal to the past history of the Jews. A sign ! indeed, had not their whole history been full of K 2 132 The Collision. signs and wonders and prophets, and how had they treated them ? How, indeed ! Elijah, im mediately after the sign on Carmel, found himself a lonely fugitive, fleeing for his life. Jeremiah had been put in prison ; Isaiah sawn asunder ; Jonah, ah ! there indeed was a sign and a caution to them. God had worked out His purposes in spite of shipwreck and peril through Jonah, and the men to whom he had preached, and who repented, would rise up and condemn the religionists of the day, who had corrupted their consciences and did not know light from darkness. Those poor Ninevites, degraded as they might have been, at least confessed the good and the true when they saw it. It came to them ; their hearts. were simple and unspoiled enough to receive it. Oh the people ! the people ! the Pharisees could not away with this people, to whom Jesus seemed always appealing. The people were cursed and knew not the law ; no, but they knew the Christ when they saw Him. But stay, there was the Queen of Sheba. She too would condemn these cavillers. Her ways and thoughts were foreign, different from those of Solomon, but her soul too was receptive ; she was sincere ; she knew and loved wisdom ; she would go a long way to hear The Sin against the Holy Ghost. 133 it, even from a foreigner like Solomon, perhaps a rival. Her eye was single, she too, the cultivated and refined, though alien, princess would rise up and condemn the Scribe and Phari see at the day of judgment, for she came from afar to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and, behold, a greater than Solomon was there. O for the grace to lie open and receptive to God. Look to the light, love the light. Paul, or Cephas, or some one else may bring it to us ; it matters not. Jonah or Solomon, ask not so curiously who ? But ask what ? You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free, and, if your eye be single, your whole body shall be full of light, but if the light that is in you be darkness, how great is that darkness ! A word here on the sin against the Holy Ghost. In one place Jesus seems to speak of it as an action, at another He calls 106. it speaking a word against the Holy r ° " J AGAINST THE Ghost. Is there any one word or holy ghost. action that a man or woman can perpetrate which will for ever cut them off from God's mercy and pardon ? Not one ! Study this phrase of the scribes, that Jesus cast out devils by Beelzebub, 134 The Collision. for it was the phrase which brought them under sentence for sin against the Holy Ghost, and you will understand what that sin of theirs really was. The word spoken is nothing apart from the state of heart which it reveals. It has only power to save or damn, because out of the fulness of the heart the mouth speaketh. It bears witness to that. The sin is not a word or an action then, but a state — a state of heart ; the state which sees good and denies it ; which turns the light into darkness ; which can look on A STATE. , ' Jesus and still lie. Such a state is the unforgiven and unforgivable sin in this world — in the Eternity that now is or in that which is to come. Pardon is between two parties ; he who will not be forgiven cannot be forgiven. In the hardened state above described — the state which is sin against the Holy Ghost — you will not, therefore you cannot be forgiven. As long as you are so, that will be so, but it is nowhere said that you shall never be lifted out of that state; converted — awakened — aroused — saved — just as a man lying down with the snow torpor upon him, which The Case of Paul. 135 means coming death, may be kept walking about, or lifted out of that torpor and saved ; but as long as he is in it he cannot be saved — he must die. Paul sinned against the Holy Ghost when he beheld the stoning of Stephen, whom he knew, and every one knew, to be a just lo8_ man ; but Paul was lifted out of that the case of PAUL state when the voice, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me ? " rang in his ears on his way to Damascus, and he was smitten down to the ground. Having first turned the light which was in him into darkness, and emptied himself of the Holy Ghost, he was smitten blind ; but his eye became again single and his whole body full of light when the voice of Ananias pro claimed his pardon in these words : " Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou earnest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost" (Acts ix. 17). And now to return to Jesus and His enemies. After the utterance about the sin against the Holy Ghost, some well-wisher of Jesus seems to 136 The Collision. have stolen up to Him with a word in season — " Knowest Thou that the Pharisees were offended 10 when they heard these things?" a No doubt. And what is the next conspiracy. ., . , , ™, , ., , • thing we read ? That now, it being about mid-day or lunch time, a Pharisee, who had been listening to the bitter condemnation of his class, asked Jesus to come in out of the crowd in the streets and lunch with him. A conspiracy. He came in — His friends were not asked to meet Him. There were none but Scribes and Pharisees present, and they watched Him. He was very careless about being watched. Just what they expected, hoped for, happened. He came in hurriedly, quite ready to sit down to meat with any one, anywhere — Publican, Scribe, or Pharisee — but He had no time for ceremony. He wanted to be back again amongst the listening, eager people ; once more He sat down with unwashed hands. The Pharisee had gained his point of attack, "Pray explain this irreligious proceeding: this open defiance of the law." Then jesus meets to the half-cynical, mock-respectful, THE attack. , . . ... , .... , but bitterly antagonistic lunch party, Jesus meets the Attack. 137 Jesus poured out one of those molten streams of eloquence in which invective, exhortation, in struction, illustration, parable, and argument were so strangely yet sublimely mingled together. The time for compromise was past ; He looked round ; there was not one friendly face. The time was come to tell them the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. They had complained of His unwashen hands. They were careful to clean the outside of the platter, so full of inward wickedness. Fools, did not the same God make the inside and the outside ? Fools, to suppose that a speck of dirt defiled them, but not a lie ! Hypocrites, who made the law of God of none effect through their traditions ; who cursed the people, and were worse than the people they cursed ; who neglected the poor and prated about the law of Moses, and commuted their family and social duties for an ecclesiastical fine — at which point a lawyer present or a legist, a man well up in the Talmudical codes, felt himself aggrieved, " so saying, Master, Thou condemnest us." Yes, woe unto you lawyers who know but do not, and prevent the people from knowing for fear they should find you out ; entering not in yourselves, nor suffering others to enter in; laying upon them 138 The Collision. burdens which you will not touch with one finger. Just like your fathers, who slew the prophets and hated reality and truth ; even so ye yourselves are liars and hypocrites, and all the blood of the ancient saviours of Israel is on your heads and on those of your children ! We can see the anger gathering. They could not stop Him. One after another rises with T1I flashing eyes and interrupts; calls jesus for an explanation. The clamour of THRUST out. . TT. . . voices grows; His own is at last drowned. Perhaps a rough hand is laid on His arm. At all events, Jesus too has risen from meat. The room is in an uproar, and He is rudely hustled to the entrance. The swarthy faces of an eastern crowd are already peering in. The eastern houses are open and easy of access. All are anxious to know what has become of the popular Teacher in such a nest of Pharisaic hornets. " In the mean time, there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode upon one another" (Luke xii.). The beloved Rabbi was back amongst them ; With the People. i^q now He would speak to them ; tell them what the Pharisees had said. With the evident signs on His robes perchance of rough hand- _ ling in the recent crowding and hustling with the — His divine face still glowing with holy indignation — He opened His lips with a caution, " Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy." But in another minute the cloud had passed from His brow. There was nothing in the world to Him but the poor sheep scattered upon the mountain without a shepherd. They were looking up to Him for food — hungry and thirsty for a gospel. The dark and scowling faces of the Pharisees have all vanished. Jesus is alone with those who love Him ; who hang upon His lips, and are very attentive to hear Him ; alone with them and His Father, and reality, and love. They want to hear about all that. No one else can tell them or bring them the message they are dying for — we are all dying for. _ Jesus will. " Five sparrows," He words of ,, u r . r j_\.- consolation. says, are sold for two farmings, and yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Ye are of more value than many sparrows. 14° The Collision. Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Perfect rest for you all in God. Perfect trust in the love and care that reaches across Time and Space, and comprehends all things, past, present, and to come, the sameyesterday, to-day, and for ever. It is the indispensable recurrent note of all living religion, this personal trust in the individual love of the infinite for the finite ; a belief in the human side of God ; an experience of a power sympathetic, unseen though felt, o'ershadowing us and all human creatures, and capable of giving forth a human response above all that we can ask or think ! This is what Christ told the people. This is the gospel — the hope — the trust — what we, all of 114- us, cling to in our best moments the ... — believe in our truest moments. eternal sympathy. This is what came to Carlyle as he walked beneath the stars; a gloomy suffering mortal, and yet with a sense that athwart those pitiless cold fires and that iron-bound system of inflexible universal law, there reached a spirit and a presence that knew our petitions before we asked, and our ignorance in asking, and was able to " lift us up for ever." The Eternal Sympathy. 141 With such a trust all cares grew light. Men, said Jesus, who believed this, need not be anxious about the eating and drinking, dressing and toiling and moiling side of life at all. They could go through it and master it, but it could never master them. They had only to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all that was good for them would be sure to come to them — so seeking — so labouring — so loving. What ? no priests — no Talmud — no ecclesias tical fines — no ceremonies ! No ! Nothing, only the " kingdom of God and His righteousness." Was the kingdom far, difficult to get at ; barred with iron and locked with golden keys, with a Pharisee to examine credentials, a Sadducee to unlock the gate, and a lawyer to sign the pass port ? No, the kingdom was for the people ; they, the poor — the sorrowful — the meek — the unlearned — the pure in heart — the little children — and even any outcast who would have it might seek and find it. For it was nothing outside any one. They had had enough of the outside — the kingdom of God was within— eternally within to be found everywhere. It belonged to those who discovered it in themselves. The. righteousness was not expensive or cere- 142 , The Collision. monial ; that too was within. It belonged to those children who gave up their spirits to Christ — who loved goodness — could tell it anywhere — whose eyes were single and whose whole bodies were full of light. What a change, this flood of celestial and limpid eloquence, from that molten lava torrent II5- of wrath and judgment which had so from storm lately burst forth upon the Scribes and Pharisees as they sat at meat. It was like the calm sunrise in a cloudless sky after a midnight streaked with lightning and wild with the terror of the storm. XIII. THE STRUGGLE AT JERUSALEM. 116. A pause. — 117. Family scepticism. — ri8. Jesus misunder stood. — ng. Only six months to live. — 120. Rumours at Jerusalem. — r2i. Jesus speaks. — 122. Goodness enthroned. — r23. Ancient and modern opinion. — 124. The battle inch by inch. — 125. The order of arrest out. — 126. The great awe — 127. " That great day." — 128. The Son makes us free. Again there came one of those pauses in the life of Jesus which come to all lives. Foes were mustering thick on one side, friends drawing closer on the other, around b ' a pause. Him at Capernaum in Galilee clustered a devoted little group who followed Him wher ever He went, whilst everywhere the accredited teachers of religion were ranged in opposition. Peter had made the great confession, " Thou art the Christ," and had been permitted, .with James and John, to experience a few moments of ineffable ecstasy on the Mount of Transfiguration. 144 The Struggle at Jerusalem. But another " green hill far away " was now full in the Saviour's sight — the Hill of Calvary. Peter would bear no allusion to that, although Moses and Elias in the Vision had spoken plainly with the Lord of His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem. Jesus had just six months more to live. It was the autumn of the year 32. His family urged Him to go up to the Feast of family Tabernacles at Jerusalem, half in scorn and doubt, " If Thou doest these things, show Thyself at Jerusalem." His family did not believe in Him. They argued, no doubt like others, that He had not convinced the authorities. Trifling with the provinces was easy ; let Him see where He would be in the metropolis, and there let His pretensions be acknowledged for ever. All His life He had been misunderstood — called madman by His brethren, and accounted no 118. prophet in His own country, though " deluding the people." We are all misunder- ° r r stood. misunderstood sometimes. When we are misunderstood let us remember Jesus, and Only Six Months to Live. 145 take care that it is because we are above instead of below our fellows in excellence and high aim. The misunderstood people whom I meet with every day are mostly poor self-centred sort of creatures, who go whining about life think ing of nothing but themselves and their grievances — not at all like Jesus, who pleased not Himself, but went "in and out amongst men doing good." How did Jesus take His home treatment ? To all attempts to force His hand, to dictate, to all taunts and sneers, He offered a calm 119. and patient front. He simply says, r r J J > MONTHS TO "Go ye up to the feast; I go not up live. yet." If we had only six months to live and knew it, we should not allow people to order our ways. We alone could judge what to do, to say, to be, and where to go, and when ; the time being so short. And it is certain that some one in every crowded assembly has not even six months to live; certain, by statistical laws, that in some hundreds of people one or more will drop before the year is out. Not the oldest nor the weakest either. But to return to Jesus. Jerusalem was full of rumours about Him. By 146 The Struggle at Jerusalem. this time every one had at least heard of Him, though He had never yet come face to face with I20_ the Sanhedrim in its official capacity. rumours at Now culminated the antagonism which for the last few months had been growing at such a pace. Where is He ? Would He come at all ? No ! He wouldn't dare ; had He not been put to silence by the Scribes up in Galilee ? No one but the dregs of the people would have anything to say to Him. Nay, but one ruler here, Nicodemus, has spoken for Him. Pshaw ! Nicodemus ; always Nicode mus. Unsound man ; suspected Neologian. No ; depend upon it, the Nazarene will not, after what has passed, show Himself at the Feast. Nay, but He is a good man, said some. No such thing; He deceiveth the people, said others. And suddenly Jesus Himself enters the Temple Courts, takes His seat in one of the free and open corridors, where any one might sit and teach. A crowd gathers about Him ; He teaches. At first the spell of His eloquence seems to prevail ; I2I_ cavilling is silenced. He makes no jesus attack on Scribe or Pharisee. The burden of His'discourse is a doctrine of Goodness Enthroned. 147 simple goodness. The method of it, the secret of it ? The method, " If any man will do His will" (Obedience); the secret, "He shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God" (the Knowledge of God). Not many things, but much did Jesus teach. This was His simplicity. The love of God ; the need man has of it ; the way man comes to enjoy it; the duty of trust, and allegiance; the readiness of divine love : the feality of heart man owes in consequence. These things were revealed even to babes, said Jesus, through Himself, the Way, the Life, and the Truth. That was all any of us wanted — all that we need know. This is Chris tianity. Despite your fusty and unintelligible tomes of theology, Christianity means simply the doctrine of the unspoiled heart. How to get it ? How to keep it ? How to regain it when lost ? The pure in heart shall see God: trust Jesus — love God — be good to man — that is the religion of Jesus. This enthronization of simple goodness — an attainment — a possession — open to the high and low, rich and poor, learned and 122_ unlearned — set above the power of goodness ,, t, . • , ., ¦ ENTHRONED. the Roman Armies — above the genius L 2 148 The Struggle at Jerusalem. of the Greeks — above Jewish ceremonies — above even the wisdom of the ancients — this was the divine originality of Jesus. It rang clear and true to the deepest thoughts and feelings of human beings in the most hypocritical and arti ficial city in the world — Jerusalem. It rings true to our best convictions in this nineteenth century London — as artificial and as corrupt. The same high thought of goodness enthroned occurs in our modern literature. All true hearts 123. re-echo it. Oliver Wendell Holmes ANCIENT AND ,.~ . , ... . mod says • ° weiSn a great brain against opinion, a true heart seems to me like weighing an air bubble against a solid wedge of gold." Kingsley says : " Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever, Do noble things, not dream them all day long ; And so make life, death, and that vast Forever, One grand, sweet song." Tennyson says : " How ere it be, it seems to me, 'Tis only noble to be good ; Kind hearts are more than coronets, And simple faith than Norman blood." St. Paul says : " Though I speak with the tongues The Battle, Inch by Inch. i4g of men and of angels and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal." Jesus says : " Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness"; and "This is life eternal, to know Thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom Thou has sent." Opposed to this fundamental simplicity and clearness of thought and utterance, Jesus found two classes ranged in the streets and 124. . T , , THE BATTLE, temple courts at lerusalem — ¦ the r J inch by Scribes and the city Roughs. The inch. Scribes and Pharisees, steeped in sophistry and ceremony, hated His divine and sincere simplicity ; the Rough (something like the Paris communard) hated the purity and elevation of Jesus. After the first shock of curiosity and surprise, it left his coarse temper untouched save by scorn. Note the pathetic patience of Jesus face to face with such elements. His cause was lost — He knew it — yet He was ready to argue with all comers to the end ; to answer His oppo nents ; to explain His doctrine. The weary old question of the Sabbath came up for the hundredth time. Jesus argues unanswerably that if a cere monial like circumcision may be performed on the 150 The Struggle at Jerusalem. Sabbath, how much more may a man be healed every whit on that day. He could not convince the Pharisee — He knew it — and then turning on the street rough — the communard — He exposed the situation. " I can see through you all, high and low. I teach to the end — to-morrow and next day — but I know the sentence is out against me ; I know the conspiracy is hatched. Why go ye about to kill Me." Says the rough, with his coarse laugh, " Thou hast a devil who goeth about to kill Thee," and so turns contemptuously on his heel. Meanwhile the order of arrest is out. The Sanhedrim sitting in an adjacent court has sent 125. officers to take Jesus and bring Him before the council. Nicodemus OF ARREST out. speaks up feebly and asks for a sus pension of judgment, but he is soon silenced. The officers return. " Why have ye not brought Him ? " " Never man spake like this Man." They could not. They had watched Him; slunk behind a pillar perhaps, and listened to Him ; been spell bound ; their purpose had failed. Such scenes have repeated themselves in The Great Awe. 151 history. Great awe has stayed the hand of many a would-be assassin. I do not say that the coarse and ignorant Arab who struck 6 down poor Gordon at Khartoum paused the great or faltered. He probably knew not in AWE- his fanaticism what he was about, but with the Jewish officials who were sent to take Jesus, as with those soldiers who later on accompanied Judas and " fell back " in the garden, it was different. We read that before Rienzi was struck down by the mob there was a fateful pause, broken only by the brutal violence of one man. How many hands lifted to strike at Garibaldi wavered in fight after fight ? How was it that out of fifty carbines raised to fire at him point blank at Aspramonte but one bullet, and that falling almost short, struck him in the ankle ? Jesus was no doubt in the utmost peril, the spell of His holiness, the charm of His speech, was not always destined to save Him, but this time He was saved. No one could touch Him in the street or in the Temple, His ascendancy for the moment was decisive. On the last day of the feast the splendour of 152 The Struggle at Jerusalem. the ceremonies culminated, the people went down to the pool of Siloam to draw water. A golden I2_ ewer full was taken into the Temple "that and poured into a golden bowl, and GREAT day." . , .. , , , wine into a silver bowl, one on each side of the altar ; whilst from the ranks of priests burst forth the joyous psalm, " 0 give thanks unto the Lord, for He is gracious, and His mercy endureth for ever." This "joy of the drawing of water " was followed by festivities, which reached far into the night. It was a day to be remembered and looked forward to — like our Christmas Day. It was called that Great Day. And Jesus standing in the street, weaving the scenes and the spirit of them into His dis course, cried, " If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and I will give him drink." Arrested by these gracious words, the Jews that believed "on Him" gathered more closely about Him, and then it was that He turned to the sympathetic throng and said, " If ye continue in My words, then are ye indeed My disciples," adding, "ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." The truth as it is in Jesus, will draw the sting The Son makes us Free. 153 from all religious dogma. He who grasps the humanity of God as it is revealed in Jesus, can sympathize with the religious 128. ... r 11 i. j THE SON strivings of all sects, and can say 0 J MAKES US his own prayers in mosque, or taber- free. nacle, or synagogue, or church, or chapel, not because he regards all religious doctrines and forms as equally true and beneficial, but because the Son has made him free. And Jesus frees us morally as well as intellectually. He is the great deliverer too from sensuality. As we stand and contemplate Him, the fetters of lust and selfish ness fall off. He preaches deliverance to the captives, and all who are tied and bound with the chain of their own sins. We absorb His spirit, and our nature is changed by His nature, and through Him brought into close contact with God. We rise out of the bondage of self into the glorious liberty of the children of God. " In a service which Thy love appoints There are no bonds for me ; For my secret heart is taught the Truth Which makes Thy children free: And a life of self-renouncing love Is a life of liberty." XIV. BETWEEN TWO FEASTS. I2g. The beginning of the end. — 130. Unpopularity. — 131. Menace. — 132. Farewell to Galilee. — 133. Changed times. — 134. Vast activity. — 135. Triflers dealt with. — 136. Christ and the lawyer. — 137. Jesus puts the question. We now come to the period between the Feast of Tabernacles, in the autumn of A.D. 32, and the Feast of Dedication, two months ^g. later. Ever since the collision with BEGINNING the authorities and His narrow escape of the end. during the Feast of the Tabernacles at Jeru salem, Christ's unpopularity with the upper classes had been growing. And, depend upon it, a man who is known to be unpopular with the Upper Ten, whether of rank or culture, will find enemies on every rung of the social ladder. In this world reputations are largely taken on trust, for better for worse. Jesus found 156 Between two Feasts. it so — He knew it would be so — " He knew what was in man." At Jerusalem they had taken up stones to cast at Him — He had been hustled in the streets, con demned in the Sanhedrem, hunted I3°' by the police. At Gaddara the UNPOPULARITY. j r people of a whole village rose as one man and thrust Him out of their borders. At Nazareth He had met with open insult. At Chorazin and Bethsaida, where He had done so much good, the ingratitude of the people was most coarse. On His way up to Jerusalem the Samaritans went the unheard of length in the East of refusing Him and His followers the rights of hospitality. Before He started for Jerusalem Jesus stayed at Capernaum. There the faithful few drew more closely about their Master. Peter had made his memorable avowal, " Thou MENACE. art the Christ ! " — James and John seem never to have left Him. This fanatical devotion to His person alarmed the Pharisees, and, with mock solicitude for His welfare, they begged Him to leave Capernaum, because Herod Menace. 157 Antipas wanted to kill Him. It was probably a lie, for when Herod a few months later had the chance, he refused the responsibility, and sent Christ back to Pilate. Herod's name, however, called forth from Jesus the only words of pure contempt which, as far as we know, ever passed His sacred lips. " Go tell that jackal (fox)," He said, "I cast out devils and do cures to day and to-morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected (or, I shall have finished my business here) " ; and He added, with that touch of bitter irony which played at times like' forked lightning about His speech, " But I must walk to-day and to-morrow and next day, for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem " — that city has too great a reputation for killing the prophets ; it seems indeed the only fit place for their execu tion ; it would never do for Herod's or Pilate's emissaries to take Me anywhere else. This would indeed be cheating the bloody city of her prey ! Still He would not hurry, He would take his own time — three days — then He would start, not before. The Pharisees could not drive Him up to the Feast of Dedication nor His family hurry Him to the Feast of Tabernacles one hour sooner than He chose. And this time He has 158 Between two Feasts. certain significant arrangements to make. He will not go up secretly any more — the end is approaching — the King will be declared — His coming must be announced — He sends out seventy heralds to raise the country before Him. They go to prepare His way ; then He starts. Last farewell to Galilee, with its yellow lilies and oleanders — its quiet hamlets and sheepwalks — its busy fishing towns — -its blue farewell lake. Last farewell to the simple TO GALILEE. , • ,1 ,-t , , peasants in the north, who hung upon His lips. He goes from the provinces to the metropolis. His face is towards Jerusalem, but His heart and speech never waver for a moment ; they are towards the people. His back is finally turned upon the Pharisee and the Priest — His teaching becomes, as we should say, more and more democratic — popular, addressed to the poor, publicans, harlots, and all sorts of sinners — He is even Communistic, as it seems His fol lowers must, at the outset at least, have all things in common. He has done with compromise — no rulers come to Him now by night — no one invites Him into Changed Times. i5g the synagogue or asks Him to explain the Scriptures, though Moses and the Prophets are constantly being thrown in His face ; and as He turns His back changed upon centuries of sophistry, and shuts His ears to the learned gabble of Scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites, He seems to heave a sigh of infinite relief. The eager, suffering, sinful, people are around Him ; He can help them — He can be their Saviour, and as He gazes on them a strange kindling of spirit takes place. " At that time," we are told, " Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank Thee, 0 Father of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes ; even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight"; and, turning to the wondering crowds, " Come unto Me," He says, not for the first time and not for the last, " all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." From this time — full in sight of Calvary — I note a singular detachment from all merely per sonal concerns ; a certain exalted serenity — almost lightness of heart ; vast a fecundity of thought — a fulness of 160 Between two Feasts. illustration which seizes every occasion as fit, and all people and experiences as equally suitable for discourse. What less spiritually sug gestive than the money-grubbing, trimming, time serving creature who schemes, swindles, and sweats, to win in the race for gold or power ? Yet upon this too common spectacle Jesus founds the subtle parable of the Unjust Steward, and tells us that we the children of light are not half so eager or so clever in securing ourselves against the loss of honour, conscience, peace, and purity as was a certain steward who expected to be turned out of his situation for malpractices and took steps accordingly ; and He bids all those who deal with money (a thing so much oftener abused than used properly, and therefore called the Mammon of Unrighteousness) to make to themselves friends of this same Mammon, by so wisely, charitably, unselfishly, thriftily using it as to be able to give a good account of every pound and unit — the spending of it with that discipline of heart which, when we at last come to be turned out of the pre carious possession of life here below, may leave us heirs to the treasures of Heaven, " where neither the rust nor moth doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal." Triflers dealt with. 161 There is an inquisitive, light - minded, worrying sort of folk who are always asking questions and insisting on an answer, " Yes," or " No." Jesus knew how to deal triflers with them too. "Are there few that be saved ? " asks some curious busybody, who perhaps hardly waits for the answer. That was just a question which could not be answered with " Yes " or " No," and which did not concern the asker. It would have been more to the point for him to ask " Shall I be saved ? " — but he was simply inquisitive ; he wanted to pick up a bit of general information about the new Teacher's doc trine, just for chit-chat : and what does Christ say ? Put the case first. An idle boy lifts up his head from his book and asks the master, " Shall I get a prize ? " " Get on with your work, my boy," says the master. The tired Alpine traveller sits down by the road as night comes on, and says to the guide, " I'm so tired ; do you think we've got much farther to go — shall we get there in half-an- hour ? " " You won't get there at all at this rate," says the guide. Now then, some one comes to Christ and asks, " Master, are there few that be saved ? " Says Christ, in precisely the same vein as the schoolmaster or the Alpine guide, M 1 62 Between Two Feasts. " Strive to enter in at the strait gate ! " That was the business that alone concerned him — or you, or me, or any of us here below — as long as it is evident enough to all who keep their eyes open that most people are going down the broad way that leads to destruction, and few taking the narrow one that leads to eternal life. But a lawyer has been watching Jesus, and now proposes to shine a little at His expense. 136- He evidently comes forward, in the CHRIST AND .... r ¦ , ,. ,, bullying, forensic, and altogether lawyer, superior manner of his class, to pose the peasant Prophet and browbeat Him before the stupid people, who are staring open- mouthed around and swallowing all they hear as manifest inspired doctrine. The lawyer stood up, tempting Him. "Master," says he — with perhaps a side look to the crowd, as who should say you'll see now there is nothing much in it all when a skilled debater, who has read books and knows the law, takes this mob orator in hand — " Now, Master, you've told these people what to do, but look at me. What do you say to me? What shall I do to inherit eternal life ? Let's see if you will have the face to lecture Christ and the Lawyer. 163 such an one as I am ! " Jesus turns upon him a little coldly, without sympathy but without disrespect or anger, and refers him at once to the commandments. He knew them — the people knew them — every one knew them. The lawyer repeats the two first — Love to God and love to your neighbour. Quite enough ! Says Jesus shortly — not looking for much edification in a prolonged talk with a man who stands up only to tempt Him — " This do and thou shalt live." And the Master probably turned away from the man with this curt but not uncivil answer, and is for continuing His discourse to the people when the lawyer, too old a hand to be set aside, says, " Stop a bit — one moment more, Master — I want to ask another question — Pray, who is my neighbour ? " The crowd are now looking hard at this anxious enquirer, then at the Master, perhaps they too are getting interested in the questions and wondering how they will be answered. The momentis ripe — it is, as usual, seized, and in language clear and graphic, tender and at last pathetic, Jesus tells the tale of the man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell amongst thieves. Every point of the story was too familiar. Many a travellerM 2 164 Between Two Feasts. had been stripped and wounded and left half-dead upon that lonely perilous road ; many a trembling coward — perchance a priest, perchance a Levite — men who, professing religion, might have been expected to rise above the selfish temptations to which others succumb — many trembling cowards had looked, even felt compassion, on one and another victim of the bandit, but passed by quickly on the other side for fear of the lurking thieves, when suddenly — in Christ's story — bye comes a Samaritan. Great emotion amongst the crowd now — growing wonder and half unwilling interest and curiosity of the lawyer. It was too notorious that Jesus had been lately repulsed by the Samaritans, and there was an ancient historical feud between them and the Jews — but still — in Christ's story — bye comes a Samaritan and catches sight of the poor wounded Jew, as he lies bleeding by the roadside and friendless. O, he makes haste — thoughtless of himself, oblivious of the national grudge, careless of the thieves, reckless of his own food supply — he has " compassion," but more, he gives personal attention ; binds up his wounds and offers wine and sets him on his own beast and takes him to an inn. But more — forethought — he takes out money and leaves it with Jesus puts the Question. 165 the innkeeper. But more — sustained interest — he promises to come again and pay the bill, whatever it may amount to. Turning to the lawyer, Jesus then puts the question which will enable that astute person to answer his own enquiry, " Who is 137- my neighbour ? " for has He not j a THE preached to him the Brotherhood question. of Man ? " Which now of these three was neighbour to him that fell among thieves ? " I can see that lawyer start — he has been surprised out of himself by the magic interest of the narrative — his hectoring, bullying courage has somehow ebbed away — he has lost all idea of showing off before the crowd — he stands humbly enough now in the presence of the gentle but irresistible Teacher, whose eyes are full upon him, whose low, persuasive, and now altogether sympathetic, voice repeats the enquiry, " Which now of these three thinkest thou was neighbour to him that fell among thieves ? " Thoughtfully, slowly, and in a subdued voice — very different from the first loud appeal — " Master, what shall I do ? " etc. See how that lawyer draws a little closer to Jesus— as though he would fain now 1 66 Between Two Feasts. be heard by Him alone. Truly his spirit has met its ruler, and he murmurs almost inaudibly, perchance like one speaking to himself, " He that showed mercy on him." And Jesus — it may be in equally low tones, unwilling to expose the man who had stepped forward so lately with loud bluster, expecting an easy victory — Jesus, now that the lawyer has learned his lesson — finds him worthy of its moral, and crowns the interview with that counsel of perfection — " Go thou and do likewise ! " XV. DAYS OF JUDGMENT. 138. Old words and new thoughts. — i3g. The Kingdom of God. — 140. The "Kingdom" explained. — 141. Jesus imperfectly understood. — 142. Within. — 143. Without observation. — T44. The judgment come. — 145. The Eternal "Now!" — T46. " Where, Lord ? " Two things must be remembered in listening to Christ. (1.) The familiar phrases and precon ceived ideas of the Jews. (2.) The 138. use Jesus made of them. Son of God, .„„ „_.,„ -J ' AND NEW of Man, Baptism, Regeneration, King- thoughts. dom of God — He took them all and gave them a new meaning. Is it wonderful if His hearers, in listening to the old familiar words, the old pro phetical references, sometimes put their old mean ing into the discourse of Jesus, and left unheeded or unrecorded the new application or spiritual thrust of His teaching? It was so in the case of this phrase, " The Kingdom of God." 1 68 Days of Judgment. The Pharisees about this time — just before the Feast of Dedication — asked impatiently enough i39- when the " Kingdom," which the new Prophet spoke of, should come. Those KINGDOM OF r r god. Jews who believed in Him at all took Him for the promised Messiah. Daniel (vii. 13, 14) had told them exactly how the Messiah should come — in the clouds of heaven with all His holy angels, and how dominion over all the nations of the earth should be given Him. "When," asked the Pharisees, "are you going to make this display ? When are you going .to judge the earth in righteousness?" The perplexing answer of Jesus is found in Luke xvii. 20, " The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation," or with such a show as you expect ; and in Matt. xxiv. 30, " Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven coming in the clouds of heaven, and He shall send His angels with a great.sound of a trumpet," etc. A quotation, in fact, applied to His own advent in judgment from Dan. vii. 13, 14 ; and it is added that all this should take place in the lifetime of the people before Him, and yet on the same occasion He is reported as saying to those who expected this sort of thing that " the King- The " Kingdom " Explained. i6g dom of God came not with observation," for it was " within them " as a spiritual kingdom. Now, if Jesus really foretold His own coming in the clouds, as one passage implies, within a few years, He was mistaken, for in that way i4°- THE He has not yet come. But suppose, „ KINGD0M ., in speaking to those who expected this, explained. He said, " No prophetical imagery, no glory of angels and trumpets, can overpaint the real glory of My Kingdom and the certainty of its judg ments ; for although My Kingdom is inward and spiritual, and you look only for an outward one, • it is worthy of all that Daniel ever told of the Messiah's"; and suppose the people who heard Him merely reported Him as applying Daniel's description literally to His own advent, and de claring that it would be almost immediately — why then we have one half of the explanation ; and supposing further that, looking forward some forty years to the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jews, Jesus turned the propheti cal language of Daniel into yet another parable, and by one of those quick flashes of immediate application went on to declare that every symbol of judgment to be found in the Old Testament would 170 Days of Judgment. very shortly be needed over again to describe the catastrophe even then hanging over Jerusalem ; that history was about to repeat itself; that as it was in the days of Noe and of Sodom and Go morrah, so it would be in those of Titus and Vespasian and within the lifetime of that genera tion ; that those who lived to see the Temple in flames and the city a smoking heap would look up through that awful conflagration by day and see the sun red as blood, and by night and see no moon at all ; and that at such a time they would perceive that God had once more vindicated His eternal righteousness in this destruction of the great unbelieving city, and scattered a people who had been weighed and found wanting — why, it seems to me that the other half of the explanation then emerges, Jerusalem, as well as every other city and every other age, being inevitably judged by the Son of Man according to the laws of His spiritual Kingdom. If this is what He really said and meant in such utterances as are recorded in a confused manner by those who only half understood and scarcely half reported them, there will be little difficulty in reconciling the apparent contradic tions. Jesus Imperfectly Understood. 171 If Jesus had constantly to complain of being misunderstood and misreported by His nearest disciples as well as by His enemies, is 141. it wonderful if we, in dealing with mp]^TLY records which have passed through understood. half-a-century of oral tradition and more than one written account, should have to complain of the same thing ? Now let us read Luke xvii. and Matthew xxiv. again in the light of these remarks. Next I would observe — the Kingdom of God is within you, but the crises of judgment are periodical and outward. The Kingdom is within the individual — the Kingdom of habit, which eludes observation ; silently formed day by day, growing as 142. seed grows in the earth, full of slow, within. secret developments ; the Kingdom of impressions received — no change on the face showing the inner working ; the Kingdom of life discipline — lessons quietly, privately learned — experiences which only you know of laid to heart — memories hoarded ; the Kingdom of prayer, aspiration, spiritual communion, into which you enter alone, none knowing how or when you pray — the Divine 172 Days of Judgment. Host coming in silently, " without observation," as Jesus saith, " If any man love Me, My Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him." It comes also, this Spiritual Kingdom, to nations, "without observation"; slowly beneath its in visible sway slavery disappears ; the without place of woman is secured ; human observation. kw brought int0 nearer affinity with divine law ; the brotherhood of man gradually acknowledged, in theory at least ; even the horrors of war alleviated. Thus slowly, " without observation," do the kingdoms of the world tend to become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ. But, oh, how much remains to be done ! Philosophers talk of the military and barbarous phase giving place to the industrial phase in civilization, and we enter the Inventions Ex hibition, 1885 — that late product of the nineteenth century — and the first things which meet our gaze are certain awful cannons and war imple ments for the destruction of human life, and the unfraternal torture of human beings. Cold steel, gunpowder, and the big battalions have it all their own way in a world which laughs at The Judgment come. 173 Arbitration — sneers at Right, and still swears by Christ. How long, 0 Lord, how long ! And now see how the judgment crises of this Kingdom within work themselves out, and are as startling and as terrible as any 144- appearance of the Son of Man in the rif judgment clouds, surrounded by His angelic come. heralds of judgment. Every time the measure of a nation's iniquity is full, there comes such a judgment crisis. It came to Jerusalem when the armies of Vespasian, in the year 70, trampled out the heartless and effete ecclesiastical system of the old Judaism. It came to Rome when the unparalleled cor ruption of the Cassars had spread to the provinces, and in due time the empire went to pieces, under the weakness of its head, and was broken up to be re-constituted in the Christian nations of modern Europe. It came to England when the Reformation stamped the authority of the Pope out of the kingdom. It came again when huge popular oppression and political wrong nerved the people to strike for justice in the execution of an English king. 174 Days of Judgment. It came to France after centuries of organised selfishness and robbery of the poor by the rich, in the French Revolution and Reign of Terror, 1793. It came again with the overthrow of an adven turer who in our times rose to power by treachery and massacre, and wielded the sceptre of France for more than twenty years until the Judgment fell upon him at Sedan and hurled him from the throne. People were taken in by Napoleon III. and the glitter of his empire. They thought that he at all events had outdone Providence, but neither he nor any one else can do that. One Frenchman at least saw clear — stood firm for the permanence of spiritual principle, and waited for the " Kingdom of God which cometh not with observation." That was Victor Hugo. Nothing could induce him to enter France whilst Antichrist was on the throne. The day after Sedan he presented himself at the ticket office in Brussels, and left that night for Paris. " Be those men praised of us Who have loved, and wrought, and sorrowed, and not sinn'd For fame, or fear, or gold, Nor waxed for winter cold, Nor changed for changes of the worldly wind ; Praised above man be these, Till this one world and work we know shall ceass. The Eternal " Now ! " 175 And now you can turn to the great judgment parables and be delivered from the perplexities and narrow bondage of the letter in i45> them all. They become to you no J - ETERNAL longer the description of any special " now ! " events in the future, but a summary in the language of sublime allegory of fixed and eternal principles which belong to " the Kingdom which cometh not with observation." The truths announced are majestic in their reach and inevit able universality and permanence. The sheep and the goats are eternally ranged on the right hand and on the left. They have been — they are — they will be. The king is now upon His throne, the books are even now open before Him, and you are daily inscribing the details of your lives in them, and upon the summary of those details the Judge will pronounce for good or evil. The Foolish Virgins are always without, and the cry of " Too late ! too late !" is forever ringing through the lonely and desolate night. Between the rich selfish man and Father Abraham there is eternally that great gulf fixed, for nothing so inevitably ends in self-torment — nothing so separates from man and cuts off from God — as selfishness and selfish indulgence. 176 Days of Judgment. And are we, when we read these parables of judgments, still in this nineteenth century asking with the Pharisees, "Where, Lord; when, Lord?" Poor purblind race of mortals ! " Where, Lord ? " indeed ! when our great cities are T.6 reeking with lust — tried with fierce " where, extremes of wealth and poverty ; when scandals of unheard-of proportions are hushed up for gold, and the weak and helpless are systematically betrayed and outraged, appar ently without redress ; when selfishness, malice, hatred, and all uncharitableness riddles social life and professional life through and through ; whilst colossal trade swindles are openly carried on, and still more openly defended by those who practise them, in the name of speculation and enterprise — and in good sooth ask we still : " Where, Lord ? " I tell you that the armies of God and Satan are even now gathering for the great battle of Armageddon. The sky is dark and lowering — the horizon is even now growing black with the wheeling vultures — for "where the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together." XVI. MARRIAGE. 147. A living worship. — 148. Son of God. — I4g. Is Jesus quite orthodox? — 150. The simplicity which is in Christ. — 151 The divorce question. — 152. Jesus firm on marriage. — 153. Yet divorce is universal. — 154. Sweeping statements. — 155. Our marriage and divorce laws absurd. — 156. We must have charity. — 157. Jesus and children. Late in the autumn of a.d. 32 Jesus found Himself again at Jerusalem. It was the Feast of Dedication — not a mosaic feast, but T.„ instituted by Judas Maccabseus, B.C. A living , „ ,, WORSHIP 146, as a re-consecration 01 the Temple, desecrated by Antiochus Epiphanes. Jesus countenanced that feast ; it reflected some thing true and loving in the hearts of the people. That is the only justification of any Church fes tival or celebration. Unless we can make our Church Services alive, what shall it profit a man ? Public prayers for the clerk and pew-openers in an empty Church ; celebrations attended by the 178 Marriage. clergy and a stray pensioner ; Saints' Days, un- honoured and out of date ; better than such ecclesiastical performances is some occasional or modern invention — a midnight service — a service of song — a mission — any kind of dedication that is alive against any sort of ecclesiastical function that is dead. As Jesus walked in Solomon's Porch the Pharisees were upon Him. " Who was He ? " T48. Let Him say plainly if He claimed to son of god. be Messiah. Jesus answered as usual by an appeal to facts. What was His life ? What were His acts ? Did they bear witness to one who came from God ? He claimed that. He even said, " I and My Father are one." No sooner were those words out of His lips than they took up stones to cast at Him, but He defeated them by a direct appeal to their own Scriptures. " You understand that I claim to be the Son of God. You seem scandalized. Have, then, none of your prophets claimed to be that ? Do I not read in your Scriptures, ' I said ye are gods ' ? If you have called those ' gods ' unto whom the word of God came, say ye of Him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world, ' Thou 7s Jesus quite Orthodox ? iyg blasphemest,' because I said I am a Son of God ? " I call your attention to the way in which our Lord spoke of and described His own Divinity. So very different is it, I think, from 149- IS TESUS the language of the Nicene or Atha- b b QUITE nasian creeds. In Jesus, God made orthodox ? a special use of human nature, to reveal to man the moral and affectional — in a word, the human side of His own Being. That human side came forth under the limitations of humanity in Jesus Christ. That human side was true God — all of God that could be so expressed was expressed. Jesus describes this in various ways, but always with a complete absence of any such definition as the Church has attempted. Hear Him — e.g., in John xiv. 16, "I," said Christ (there is one Per son of the Trinity), "will pray the Father (there is another Person), and He shall send you another Comforter " (there is another Person) ; and further on He adds, " I will not leave you comfortless ; I will come unto you"; so He, the Second Person, suddenly becomes the Third Person, whom He had said He would pray the Father, or the First Person, to send, which is surely, according to N 2 180 Marriage. the Athanasian creed, rank heresy, for it is certainly confounding the Persons if not dividing the substance. But take Christ's words simply without precon ceived definitions, and they explain themselves ; 150. nay, they need no explanation. He is THE in the Father ; yes, as representing SIMPLICITY , . . which is in man before God. The Father is in christ. Him ; yes, when He reveals God to man. He is the Comforter too, as witnessing to the spiritual fact of communion between God and man. " He who hath seen Me hath seen the Father," are words equally simple if viewed un- theologically, for our best idea of God is fitly embodied in human nature raised to its highest power of goodness. The human side of God — the only side we can understand or are spiritually concerned with — is seen in Jesus, and " No man comes to the Father but through Him," for we are forced to think of Him and pray to Him as human, or not at all — through human conceptions — through a Jesus of some sort — a God under human limitations : through a Son, we could alone understand or approach the Father. It is eternally true, no one The Divorce Question. 181 can come to God except through true divine humanity. " I and My Father are one." This was enough. No good could come of further wranglings at Jerusalem. Nay, probable death might come of it, as it did come a few months the divorce later. But His time was not yet, so He <2UESTI0N- passed from Jerusalem to Percea, beyond Jordan. For rest ? No ! The Son of Man had not where to lay His head. He was hunted and beset by His old enemies. They had failed in their theo logical attack. They now tried to pose Him with one of those burning questions which sepa rated the Jews themselves into opposing factions. They asked Him about Marriage and Divorce. Might a man put away his wife for every cause ? Moses had said, " Give her a writing of divorce ment and put her away if she bear a blemish that can be objected to." Hillel, one great authority, said this meant a physical blemish, and he was for light divorce. Shammai, another authority, said Moses meant a moral blemish, and he was for a difficult divorce. If, now, Christ sided with the Hillelites, He would have Shammai's faction against Him ; if with the 1 82 Marriage. Shammaites, He would fall out with Hillel's faction ; and if He was severe about divorce, there was Herod Antipas, who had beheaded John because he forbade his irregular marriage with his brother Philip's wife. We see what a nest of hornets Jesus found Himself in at Percea, beyond Jordan. And, now, what were his views on Marriage and Divorce ? He answered, as usual, indirectly. 152- Marriage, He said, was between one JESUS FIRM , £ 1 J IT man and one woman — final and lue- ON marriage, long — the two united in body and soul, fulfilling each other — and those whom God had joined let no man put asunder. That was broad, sweeping, and ideal. But Moses had allowed divorce. Well, the best thing could not always be realised. An imperfect social state demanded provisional legislation; for the hardness of men's hearts in the old days, when the best thing could not be done the next best thing was not only permitted but enjoined. That was a great and fertile thought. Man is progressive — progressive in his statement of truth — in his habits — social conditions — laws ; in every depart ment, in every age, the inspired dictum holds good; Yet Divorce is Universal. 183 " He taketh away the old that He may establish the new." Jesus, then, in the teeth of the lax Jewish and heathen practice all around Him, draws hard and fast the marriage tie in a couple of verses, in which He says, in the most definite and decided manner, that, except for infidelity on the part of the wife, no separation of people once married was lawful. Against this we have to set the universal divorce practices of all countries, including Jewish and Christian. The common experience J53- , , ...... YET DIVORCE and the common sense 01 mankind clearly point to the fact that other universal. causes beside the one here specified by Christ may render divorce justifiable, and moral, and even necessary. Now, whenever the words of Jesus come into collision with common sense and common morality, I infer one of two things — either He has been misunderstood and misreported, or some qualifying statements, exceptions, etc., have not been reported at all. Put the case. We have a sweeping statement about the rich man not being able to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven ; but elsewhere the 184 Marriage. qualification is recorded — "they that trust in riches." We know the sweeping statement that we shall get what we ask for; but else- sweeping where the explanation is recorded — statements. thatwe shall have «the Holy Spirit" in answer to prayer. So here we can hardly sup pose that a couple of verses contain all that Jesus ever said about divorce. Nay ; I hold that here is rather recorded the sweeping statement — here is the general principle ; but some qualifying cases — modification, adaptation to particular circumstances, such as our Lord was continually making — these have been left unrecorded. Is there no trace of such qualifications — of some admitted exception to the indissolubility of the marriage tie ? Certainly ; look at Matt. xix. n and 12. About this same hardness and fastness of the tie He just hinted, " All men cannot receive this — save they to whom it is given. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it." And is it not conceivable that on such a text as that He would have had a great deal more to say ? Remem ber, in nine cases out of ten we have the text of Jesus, not His sermon, and the text was often, and advisedly, a paradox — a bone of contention to raise enquiry and interest — to provoke the questions Our Marriage & Divorce Laws A bsurd. 185 which the sermon was to resolve. Alas! how seldom we have those sermons, and how imperfectly re ported — hours of glowing and divine oratory condensed into half-a-dozen verses, and no more ! As to our own marriage laws, they are (1886) as absurd as our divorce laws. People married in Scotland are not married in England. J55- OUR You might take an Australian return MARRiAGe ticket, and, having married your and divorce laws deceased wife's sister (1886), you absurd. would be living in open sin while you used one half of your ticket from Melbourne to London ; but you would be all right, morally, directly you used the other half, and set sail from London to Melbourne. Then, as to divorce. Married to a hopeless lunatic or drunkard the law gives you no relief. If people agree to differ and wish to separate without sin, the law will not help them, but it invites them to commit sin and then it will separate them. The divorce laws are most one-sided ; they leave the woman at the mercy of the man ; whilst she has to prove his " cruelty " as well as his infidelity before she can get free, he may do pretty well as he likes, and she can get no remedy. 1 86 Marriage. I am not anxious to see divorce made over-easy, but it should not be dependent upon crime and made next to impossible for the poor. Still, we may be sometimes deeply indebted to this same difficulty in getting free. The law stands between people and their own fickleness. Let them not be over hasty. Let them not trust their moods. With patience and forbearance a modus vivendi may often be found, and people who would have got divorces if they could, in a fit of passion, may learn to live long and happily together, in spite of grave quarrels, especially in the earlier days of married life. Still, let us be charitable ; let us make allow ances for others who are miserable in their married 156- life. Those who are happily married may find it difficult to estimate the HAVE j charity, misery of incompatible tempers and ill- assorted pairs. The law is no doubt at fault, but meanwhile there is great scope for human forbear ance and charity up and down the social scale. There was one thing about Jesus which no one could fail to notice. His great popularity with children. A certain fulness of humanity Jesus and Children. 187 always seems to attract children. In Jesus this constituted an irresistible attraction. They ran after Him — they clung to Him — they shouted for Him. His must have jesus and , . T-v-xr L CHILDREN. been a joyous presence. Different from your sour-faced Puritan (who has his merits notwithstanding) : your dried up Theologian (who is needful too, in season) : your emaciated Ascetic (whose protest against sensuality is some times necessary and even noble). I think this power of attracting and interesting the little ones is one of the hall - marks of good men. The children's Unspoiled natures seem to cling to unspoiled souls — as like cleaves to like. "They brought young children to Christ." Ah ! there was no need of that, for they came to Him of their own accord — nor did He ever repulse them. How shall we bring the children to Christ— how shall we win them to love and follow Him ? The best way of bring ing our children to Christ is by being Christ-like our selves. Let them see in us nothing but His kindness, wisdom, strength, tenderness, and sympathy, and they will learn to love their religion, and grow close to Jesus, as in the days when " He took them up in His arms, laid His hands upon them, and blessed them." XVII. THE KING. 158. Revival of popularity. — isg. Caiaphas also among the pro phets. — 160. The cross in sight. — 161. Great activity. — 162. Great serenity. — 163. The dark shadow. — 164. Policy of Judas. — 165. The King's progress. Nothing is more remarkable than the sudden increase of Our Lord's popularity with the people, just at the close of His life. That T,g popularity had suffered a momentary revival of eclipse — the whole ecclesiastical and much of the aristocratic influence had been un scrupulously used against Him. He had met this with the heraldic Mission of the 70, and such a marvellous burst of parable, miracle, and prophecy, as seemed for the moment to carry all before it. The climax was reached with the recovery of Lazarus from the very jaws of the grave. This event was directly connected, even by the Jews in Jerusalem, with the power of Christ. He could i go The King. not, it was clear, be put down with a priestly sneer or a magisterial threat. There was a reserve of power in Him upon which Caiaphas and his crew had scarcely counted. What was it ? It was the breadth and clearness and heat and simpli city of His Divine teaching. That captivated the heart. Every one understood it. The people had never before heard what He told them ; but when He said it, it seemed self-evident. All great truth is simple truth. We listen, and wonder that what is so obvious and natural should not have occurred to us sooner. Equally convincing was He when negative — denouncing the religious shams of the day ; or positive — when assuring the people of the divine and present sympathy of a heavenly Father. The one assertion commended itself to the meanest intellect — -the other found rest in the simplest heart. Caiaphas saw that the time for immediate action was come. " The whole world was gone 159. after Him " — nineteen centuries have caiaphas proved that to be true—" the Romans ALSO AMONG the would come and take away their name prophets. and nation" — that also would come The Cross in sight. igi true, in spite of the crucifixion ; for the religion of the Crucified was the one faith, destined to strike down all national barriers and weld the Roman Empire — the then civilized " world " — into one creed under the Bishop of Rome, just as the nations had been welded together, for a time at least, under the secular government of the Imperial head at Rome. Caiaphas certainly had the gift of prophecy, and not least when he wound up by saying that it was expedient that one man should die , for the people. There was then im- the cross in minent danger. But Jesus was not to ''"¦'"" be taken an hour before His time. He left Jeru salem suddenly, and hid away at Ephraim, a re mote Gentile village. But the Feast of the Passover was at hand. His seclusion was pre cautionary, but brief. As He passes out on His way to Jericho, His face is again set towards Jerusalem, and His discourse is coloured by the vision of Calvary, now to His mind's eye full in view. He spoke for the first time in detail of His betrayal and crucifixion. It made little impres sion upon those who should have best understood Him. They only thought that His kingdom was at 192 The King. hand, and that in the coming struggle and betrayal He would surely come out an easy victor ; the delusion was shared by James and John and Judas Iscariot. Hard is it to be misunderstood by those nearest and dearest to you ; yet was that the daily lot of Jesus, and He took it most patiently. James and John chose this moment to ask for high seats in the coming kingdom — on His right hand and on His left. " They were thinking only of the twelve thrones, He only of the three crosses." He answers gently but gravely, and asks them if they will suffer with Him ? " We are able." Yes ! they are ignorant and stupid, but they are noble enough for that. The cloud passes. In another moment Jesus has put aside Himself and His coming sorrow, 6 and is again all care and solicitude for great His friends ; not a sufferer by the way- ACTIVITY -i side escapes His attention — not an inquirer is turned away. Bartimeus is healed — Zacchaeus is openly favoured, and through him is taught the Christ-like lesson that goodness of heart may be found everywhere, even amongst unpopu lar people, and that sincerity is in all the passport to divine favour. Great Serenity. 193 So, without haste and without delay, with a word for everyone, and a healing presence from which virtue comes forth, Jesus passes on towards Jerusalem. At Bethany He found moments of solace and refreshment, with Martha and Mary and Peter and Simon the leper. The doom was very close, and He knew it. When great the woman anointed His feet with SERENITY- precious ointment He said plainly that she had done it for His approaching entombment. His mind was running on death, but with a certain serenity. God give us such calmness and peace when we come to the verge of the dark valley ! A terrible shadow now flits for a moment across the quiet scene at Bethany. It is that of Judas, who eyes jealously what he calls the , waste of the ointment. " It might," the dark he remarked, "have been sold and SHAD0W- given to the poor." Not a bad idea, but entirely out of place. Had our Lord been asked before hand whether He would have the ointment Himself or let the poor have it, He would probably have said the same as Judas — for " He ig4 The King. pleased not Himself" — but when once the act had been consecrated by spontaneous love, all was different. Judas could not see that. He lived on a low moral and affectional plane — he was a commonplace and vulgar person, who loved money first and foremost ; and St. John, who loved Christ first and foremost, goes so far as to say that Judas was not over honest — that he was a thief and had the bag. I do not think that Judas meant to betray Jesus to death. He sold Him for about £3 16s. , He meant, no doubt, to force His 164. ' ' policy of hand ¦ — to compel Him to declare judas. Himself and bring on His kingdom at once. Things, he thought, ought now to come to a crisis ; there could be no doubt that the great miracle-worker would win if He could only be pushed into action, and if just a little money could also be made it would be smart, especially as it would come out of the enemy's pocket. That was Judas all over, and I will later on devote a section to him. His character is very interesting, and I think much misunderstood. The direct lesson to be learnt is generally the danger of living on a low moral plane. It is The King's Progress. 195 like a low state of the body — it is not exactly disease, but it is the condition favourable to all kinds of disease. Dulness to fine feeling, religion, truth — leads to self-deception — which leads to blindness of the worst kind and then on to crime. Nothing is safe but a high Ideal, and it cannot be too high. Aim at the best always, and keep honour bright. Don't tamper with truth — don't trifle with affection — and, above all, don't be continually set on getting money at all risks and at any sacrifice. We may all look at Judas and learn that. And now the time is ripe. . The King is on His way. Jesus leaves Bethany. A short walk through the groves of Olivet will bring Him in sight of Jerusalem. An ass the king's is found — an escort forms itself— PR0GEESS- another crowd comes trooping out of the City amidst shouts of " Who is this ? " and answers rend the air, "This is Jesus of Nazareth, the Prophet ! " And the people wave palm branches and spread their garments in the way. As the King comes riding towards His own City, He pauses on a height and surveys across the valley — the ramparts so scon to be levelled — the 0 2 ig6 The King. domes and pinnacles of " gold and snow " so soon to be laid even with the dust — the crowds so soon to be confounded in one indiscriminate massacre — and He weeps aloud. "If thou had'st known," He cries, " even thou, in this thy day the things which belong to thy peace : but now are they hidden from thy eyes." Words which reach through the ages, falling on the dull un- awakened ear of Nations, Churches, Individuals. Who can read history — who can think of his own past life — who can look on the lives of others without' hearing the echo of Christ's sad words — such and such things have been — are — will be — because warning, experience, opportunity have all been neglected — and men and nations " have not known the time of their visitation ! " XVIII. THE KING AND HIS QUESTIONERS. 166. Thieves in the Temple. — 167. By what authority? — 168. A staggering rejoinder. — i6g. The defeat. — 170. A parable in season. — 171. Compunction and rage. — 172. Tribute to Caesar. — 173. The heart to God. The King enters His Temple. No more conceal ment, or hiding away, or attempt to persuade or conciliate. His hour has come, and ,, ' 166. He will be royal in authority. He thieves in overturns the money-changers, and THETEMPLE- casts out those that sell doves. Religion must not be exploited for money. The Church is not a shop. The kind of spiritual outrage attacked by Christ is one that repeats itself. There was nothing wrong in selling outside the Temple, or any other Church, things which were necessary for the Temple service. Wer" sell hymn-books in our Vestries ; abroad they sell candles and ig8 The King and His Questioners. breviaries and crosses at the doors of the Cathe drals. It is a question of degree and intention. But I have seen, at the time of a Church Celebration abroad, the whole street blocked with booths. Noisy sellers of sweetmeats, toys, and provisions pushing their bargains, and touting even in the Church porch, and on the threshold of the Sanctuary. There was the den of thieves. Your miracle-mongers, who set up their winking statues and healing-saints' bones with the one view of fleecing the people — are thieves. Your idle clergy, especially certain Roman cathedral clergy, who fatten on the sins of the faithful, never preach, seldom hear confessions, never visit the sick; simply do nothing but mumble Mass on Saints' Days — they are thieves. Your English clergy, who are hale and hearty non-residents on £500 a-year, and put in a man at £80 to look after their parishes — are thieves. Wherever or whenever God's Church and Service is made the pretext first and foremost for getting money, then and there the spiritual outrage chastised by Christ with whip and expulsion is committed afresh. The House of Prayer has been made a den of thieves, and at such an hour as they wot not of, the Lord will suddenly come to His Temple and purify it. By what Authority ? igg The Scribes and Pharisees looked on in a white rage at the scene of confusion. The doves and animals scattered — the money tables fi overturned — the angry hawkers cower- by what ing but revengeful— the mingled ap- AUTH0EITY ? plause and murmurs of the Jerusalem roughs — the communard rabble, always ready to join in a raid or to side with anyone who promises them the sport or the profit of a free fight in the street. " By what authority ? " cries out an official teacher and leader of the people, re covering from his astonishment — " by what authority doest Thou these things ? " It was well put. The crowd falls back; Jesus turns upon the questioner and takes his measure in a moment. These two stand in the presence of an excited but expectant multitude. The official Religionist challenges the Prophet on a point of order. That method is always popular — plausible ; it appeals to every commonplace instinct, and is flattering even to the lowest intelligence. " By what authority ? " Who shall fathom the depth of divine scorn in the Saviour's glance ere He replied. In truth, by what authority did Nathan stand in the presence of David, and, after arraigning before him in his tale a black criminal, 200 The King and His Questioners. cry " Thou art the man " ? By what authority did Elijah confront Ahab and denounce him as the " troubler of Israel " ? By what authority did Paul, the prisoner at the bar, stand before Felix and reason with him " concerning righteousness, tem perance, and judgment to come" ? By what autho rity in all ages and everywhere does the spiritual man judge the carnal man ; the heavenly assert supremacy over the earthly, sensual, and devilish ? Before we listen to the question which Jesus in His turn puts to His questioner by way of 168. answer, read the situation between -~ „„„„,„„ the lines ; let us pause to take in the staggering r rejoinder, full meaning of His searching, in dignant gaze. " You," it seems to say, "you who question my authority, then, are the religious teachers. It is your business to know about spiritual things; to judge between the things of God and the things of man ; to judge spiritual and carnal conduct ; to protect religion ; to guard the Temple ; to be the ministers and stewards of the mysteries. Is that so ? Well, let Me see if you are fit for such duties — if you in the least understand them. If you do, you will have a right to question My action, not otherwise. Prove A Staggering Rejoinder. 201 to Me your authority, I will prove to you Mine. ' The Baptism of John, was it from Heaven or of men ? ' " A silence — dead silence. The eyes of the crowd are on the Pharisees ; they notice them whispering together. They are overheard muttering, " If we say ' of Heaven,' He will say, ' Why then did you not believe him ? ' if ' of men,' all the people will stone us, for they be persuaded that John was a prophet." Then at last these teachers, these judges of spiritual action, reply out loud, " We cannot tell." Cannot tell — great doctors of the law — whether John was a charlatan or not ; cannot tell the difference between true and false teaching — real and sham religion ! Well, if they cannot tell about John, what is the value of their opinion about Christ ? They are not ashamed to dub themselves imbe ciles — incapables. Had they expressed an adverse opinion it would have still been respectable ; had they proclaimed John and Christ fanatics, en thusiasts, or impostors, they would have found supporters, as every one does who has the courage of his opinions. But no, " We cannot tell." It was enough ; they were answered out of their own mouths. There are some things it is quite useless to tell people who " cannot tell," 202 The King and His Questioners. there are some things which, if not felt, can never be explained. The encounter, begun so briskly in perfect order, with an official flourish of trumpets, 169. collapses suddenly. Every one present the defeat. — ^he meanest rough in that listening throng — felt with whom the victory rested, when, in answer to " we cannot tell," the Lord turned from His questioners with the contemptuous and crushing rejoinder, "Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things." But Jesus, however hard pressed, never remained long in the debating mood — His thoughts flowed out more spontaneously in sublime a parable in allegory and burning parable, and season, scorching indeed were the parables He now uttered in the audience of the people and their official teachers. It was the story of a husbandman who handed over a vineyard to responsible guardians, and sent from time to time to see how they had kept what was committed unto them. The sphere of religion was the vineyard — for centuries the Jews had been the husbandmen — the prophets whom they Compunction and Rage. 203 had beaten, persecuted, and killed, were the messengers sent from time to time — Fle Himself was the Son, who came at last, concerning whom the wicked husbandmen, closeted with Caiaphas, were even now muttering, " This is the heir ; come, let us kill Him," that we may have it all our own way — remain in undisturbed supremacy — lord it over the stupid people as before, and the " vineyard shall still be ours ! " " What shall the Lord of the Vineyard do " to such false and perfidious guardians ? He will assuredly " destroy them " (as He did a few years later by the armies of Titus), and give their vineyard to others (even as the religious supremacy and privilege passed from that century forwards from the Jew to the European Gentile)- They seem to have followed closely enough the sense of the narrative, fascinated in spite of them selves by the story, and with ill- suppressed excitement and perhaps a compunction < . . , and rage. gleam 01 passing compunction and conviction, murmured out loud, " God forbid ! " But the emotion passed quickly. It gave place to covert rage. His enemies were silenced. They could not take hold of Him before the 204 The King and His Questioners. people — " but from that same hour they sought to lay hands on Him " (Luke xx. 19). A tact and presence of mind — an absolute mastery of events are displayed again and again T„„ in our Lord's controversies with His tribute to adversaries. Never for a moment is He taken at a disadvantage, and if ever He stands without reply His silence is even more overwhelming than His speech. A final attempt seems to have been made to place Him on the horns of a dilemma. They ask Him a simple question with a view of eliciting Yes or No. 'Tis a common and discreditable device used sometimes to intimidate witnesses in court, but it always looks plausible. " Master," they say " is it lawful to pay tribute to Csesar, or not ? " If He said Yes, the people, His supporters — who hated Csesar as a foreign oppressor — would turn against Him. If He said No, the arm of the Roman law would smite Him as a seditious person. With one piercing glance and one scathing word—" Hypocrites ! " — they were again judged before ever the question was answered — and this time it was answered. " Shew Me the tribute money. Whose image ar.d superscription The Heart to God. 205 is this?" "Caesar's." "Good; then it is the taxes you ask about. All must pay taxes. Your own people, by assenting to a special coinage which the Romans have struck for you, admit that ; for better for worse, you are under Roman government — protected and governed at the public expense, to which all must contribute. Whoever does this for you, whether you like him or not, has to be paid — you have to pay him." Common sense and simplicity could go no further — " Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's." Is that all ? — if so, there would be little in His reply to affect us in our nineteenth-century England. We may not like taxes ; but we are agreed as to their necessity and as to their general justice. Since we have a representative government, and levy taxes on ourselves, through our representatives in Parliament, we have little to complain of. But suddenly the whole plane of controversy is lifted, and there rolls out one of those inspired sentences which speak to Time and Eternity—" And unto God the things the heart that are God's." What can we give T0 G0D- unto God? "The cattle on a thousand hills are His." " He dwells not in temples made with 206 The King and His Questioners. hands." " Heaven is His throne, earth is His footstool " — or will He take " the fruit of our body for the sin of our soul?" Of all this will He nothing. Yet can we give what He will love to receive, and what it shall be joy for us to part with — the allegiance of the heart — the work of busy hands — mental labour, devoted to the service of humanity and to the conscientious discharge of our duty. All these things He requires of us — they are the things of the Spirit. " My son," He says, " give Me thy heart " ; and the answer of the Well-Beloved must be ours too — " Lo, I come to do Thy will, 0 God ! " XIX. FOOTSTEPS TO CALVARY. 174. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. — 173. At supper.— 176. — Who is the traitor? — 177. Judas takes the sop. — r78. The bread and wine. — r7g. — Paul's fragment. — 180. What did Christ mean ? — 181. How administered. — 182. Perver sion. — 183. A second century MS. — 184. The first celebra tion rules. I now enter upon the last four days of our Lord's life on earth before the crucifixion. On Tuesday He seems to have spoken of I74. the Passover, and Himself as the ap- TUESDAY> WEDNESDAY, pointed victim. It made hardly any AND impression on His friends ; they did not Thursday. yet realise the possibility of His death. On Wednesday He did not go into town (Jeru salem) as usual. His ministry on earth was over. He remained at Bethany — alone perhaps on the uplands around the village, or in company with Mary, and Martha, and Lazarus, and Peter, and James, and John. On Wednesday night He lay down to sleep for the last time on earth. On 208 Footsteps to Calvary. Thursday he woke to sleep no more, for there is no conceivable moment between Thursday morn and the betrayal on Thursday night, or between the mocking and scourging, and the Friday after noon's scene on Calvaiy, in which His wearied body could have had any rest. On Thursday morning He sent His disciples into Jerusalem with orders to engage a room for supper that night. It was not strictly the Passover meal, but He called it AT SUPPER. His Passover ; it was the only Pass over He was destined to eat — His last supper — His memorial feast — and every movement, word, and incident was closely watched, and has been pathetically recorded. I take the general order of events to have been this : They sit down as to an ordinary meal. The conversation is genera], Jesus alluding to their fidelity in the past, and hinting at the coming doom; but their thoughts are set on the coming triumph. They will not believe in disaster. They ask eagerly who should be greatest in the kingdom, the immediate triumph of which they expect to see. Then Jesus rises from the table and teaches the lesson of lowly and loving service. The greatest in the spiritual Who is the Traitor ? 209 kingdom is he who best, most tenderly, most constantly, serves his fellow-men. The Lord and Master girds Himself with a towel and washes the disciples' feet. He comes to Peter, who starts back, "Thou shalt never wash my feet." Wrong again, impulsive, self-confident, but most unstable man ! Jesus explains that if He washes him not he has no part with Him, and Peter cries out at once, " Not my feet, but my hands and my head." Wrong again ! Wrong in what you resist ; wrong in what you demand. No, Peter, the feet are enough. 'Tis a symbol, not a fetish ; not a magic spell. Learn the spirit of the act. " Know ye what I have done unto you ? " says Christ. " This is no ceremonial cleansing, which might be more thorough were it carried out all over the body, but simply a teaching by parable and example. As I have washed your feet, so ought ye also to wash one another's feet." Once more Jesus checks materialism — literal ism — distinguishing between the " outward and visible sign and the inward and . spiritual grace." He then sits down, who is the and His marvellous serenity is clouded for a moment. 210 Footsteps to Calvary. He looks round, marks the traitor Judas, whose feet He has washed, yet without making him clean. "Ye are clean," He says, " but not all," for He knew who should betray Him, therefore He said, " Ye are not all clean." In another moment the secret is disclosed. " One of you shall betray Me. "Did they not all spring to their feet ? No, they were half- incredulous, but puzzled, bewildered, and sad, all at the same time. Then they began to ask who it was who should betray Him. Yet one more significant action. Jesus hands the sop to Judas. Judas takes it before them all, so Jesus marks out quietly the traitor, judas takes and presently Judas goes out into the the sop. darkness There seems an indes cribable gloom and horror in those three short words — " It was night." No one stopped Judas as he passed out. Jesus turned to him, " What thou doest, do quickly." They all thought that he was sent out to buy something. The most awful tragedy was going on before their very eyes. Their attention is actually called to it. The two chief actors, the victim and the The Bread and Wine. 211 traitor, are both there together, yet not one of the disciples realized what was on hand at the moment, and the next it was too late. Judas went out, and " it was night." But with the disappearance of the traitor the scene changes, and the atmosphere of gloom in part gives way to one of strange peace g and tenderness. It is then that Jesus the bread ... . r r , , r AND WINE. takes up a loat of common bread irom the supper table and breaks and gives to His disciples, and after supper likewise the cup of common red wine of the country and calls it, in the New Testament, My blood. It is then that the memorial feast is instituted in all its brevity, depth, and simplicity, with the words, " This do in remembrance of Me." Now we may gather all the books that have been written about the Lord's Supper for 1800 years ; pile them up ; set fire to them and burn them. All these disqui- paul's ... ,- , , FRAGMENT. sitions are comparatively useless — many of them grossly misleading. We know as much as all the church-doctors when we have read just four verses in 1 Corinthians xi. 23-26. p 2 212 Footsteps to Calvary. We may indeed read the short accounts in Matthew, Mark, and Luke (John does not give the Institution), but it is not necessary to read these to know all that can be known. Read simply Paul's fragment. It is earlier than any thing in the Evangelists. You cannot place Mark much before a.d. 75, or Matthew before a.d. 80, or Luke before A.D. 80 — go, or John before a.d. go — 100, but Paul's fragment, recording the Institu tion of the Lord's Supper, may be as early as 60, and it is undoubtedly authentic. It is the earliest bit of evangelic history extant. Those four verses (" The Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed took bread," etc.) just show us what were the sort of materials out of which the gospels came to be framed. Floating fragments of oral tradition learnt off; little written slips ; bunches of sentences on parchments or "libelli," handed about with "acta" (doings), and " Logia " (words) of Jesus. These words ol Paul are reproduced and woven into three of the gospels. They contain all that will ever be known about the Eucharist. We can judge of Christ's meaning when we have read them through, and we may thus be delivered forever from transubstan- tiation, consubstantiation, and all other delusions What did Christ mean ? 213 and errors, which have since grown round this simple memorial rite and corrupted it. Let us judge for ourselves, what did Christ mean ? As He had used water just before and washed their feet to teach the dis- 180. • -1 ,1 1 , • r ¦ WHAT DID ciples the doctrine 01 service, so now r CHRIST He takes bread and wine to teach mean? them the doctrine of life and sacrifice, of union with Himself and each other, and He said, "This is My Body and Blood," just as He said, " I am the Door — the Shepherd — the Vine." Was He a Door, a Shepherd, or a Tree? Was it His Body and Blood? Certainly not. It was the sign, the symbol, and the outward rite was given as a memorial of Himself as a means of realizing spiritually the life imaged in the nourish ing bread ; the sacrifice imaged in the sign of the blood red wine ; the union imaged in the common food, uniting the Christian group to Himself and to one another in the common fellowship of a common meal. No more than this and no less did the Lord signify in the breaking of bread and pouring forth of wine. All that is here set forth in exposition 214 Footsteps to Calvary. of the Lord's Supper is borne out by the primitive manner of taking that meal and celebrating that l8l memory. In every Christian house- now hold it was usual for the head of ADMINISTERED. ,, r. ., . .. ¦ . the family, at the evening meal, to hand round bread and wine "in remembrance" of Him. Note that Jesus Himself did not administer to each one separately ; He gave them the elements and said "Divide it amongst yourselves." I have elsewhere traced how from a social usage this act at the family supper grew into an ecclesiastical sacrament, administra- 182. perversion ilon being only valid after consecration by the priests, and thus became, in the hands of the Church, a sort of magical rite of mysterious efficacy, to be granted or withheld at the goodwill and pleasure of the clergy.* Singularly enough it has been reserved for the last quarter of the nineteenth century to destroy l83_ the last vestage of Transubstantiation, a second by the discovery of a second century CENTURY MS. j , ¦ • r -1 record, containing an account of the * In "Speech in Season," Sermon on the Lord's Supper. A Second Century MS. 215 primitive method and ritual of celebration. This extraordinary document was found by Philotheos Bryennios, in the Jerusalem Manuscript at Con stantinople, only a year or two ago. In the opinion of the best scholars it is as old as the first half of the second century. It is called " The teaching of the Lord by the Twelve Apostles," and a translation of it, by Canon Farrar, appeared in the May number of the Contemporary Review for 1884. This, then, for the enlightenment of Romanist and Ritualist alike is the proper form of celebration : — Chapter ix. "As regards the Eucha rist, celebrate it thus : First, for the cup, ' We thank Thee, 0 Father, for the Holy Vine of David, Thy servant, which Thou makest known to us by Jesus, Thy servant. To Thee be glory for ever ! ' And for the broken bread : ' We thank Thee, our Father, for the light of knowledge, which Thou madest known to us by Jesus, Thy servant. To Thee be glory for ever. As this broken bread was scattered (in corn grains) on the mountains, and being brought together became one, so let Thy Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into Thy Kingdom.' " Chapter x. "After being satisfied . . . ." [so it was a real meal, not a merely symbolical rite, still less, as St. 216 Footsteps to Calvary. Chrysostom called it, a dreadful sacrifice] . "After being satisfied . . . . " Then follows a prayer of thanksgiving — devout, but not otherwise re markable. What is remarkable is, that in an Apostolical direction, which begins — "As regards the Eucharist — celebrate it as follows" — the words flesh and blood do not once occur — nor are they even implied or suggested — -nor is there the least suggestion that any change whatever takes place or is expected to take place in the bread and wine. Far may we have travelled from the simplicity which is in Jesus, but if we wish to know what 184. He meant we must go back and assist THE FIRST , , , . . , celebration at the first celebration in that upper rules. room after the departure of Judas, and then all forms will be equally good for us ; or, at least, tolerated by us. We shall be free ; we shall see the Lord's intent, simple and pure, through every mist and veil of man's invention, and we shall use the rite as an intense and earnest form of prayer, summing up the great cardinal points of Christianity, Christ's life, Christ's sacrifice, our union with each other, Christ's union with us and ours with Him. XX. IN GETHSEMANE. r85. Supper ended. — 186. Talk by the way. — 187. " Watch with Me."— 188. The prayer.— r8g. The agony.— igo. Rise ! Sounds of male voices in an upper chamber intoning some Psalm of David float out into the night. Suddenly the lights are ex- g tinguished, " after they had sung an supper hymn " ; and, one by one, twelve silent figures emerge into the streets of Jerusalem — but four only, Jesus, Peter, James, and John, pass out of the city gate, down the slope of the hill and over the brook Kedron. No doubt a heaviness of spirit, hardly lifted by the hymn,, fell on the devoted little group. On their way they may have passed a sheepfold — the 2i 8 In Gethsemane. sheep all peacefully resting in the valley. Did one of them salute the shepherd as he kept watch lg5- over his flock by night ? and did the talk by the Lord then say, " It is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad " ?— did Peter here protest that he would stand by the Good Shepherd to the end, and did the Lord turn, not for the first time, upon him in solemn warning, with " Simon, Simon — Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat — sr.yest thou, I will die with Thee, but I will not deny Thee — yet I say unto thee before the cock crow thou shalt deny Me thrice." We shall never know the exact setting of these sayings any more than we shall be able to recover the immediate circum stances which gave rise to those last memorable discourses in St. John. It may be before they entered into that fatal enclosure on the slopes of Olivet, known as the "oil press" (Gethsemane), where the trees grew thick, and where the olive oil was chiefly made — some straggling wild vine by the wayside caught in the foot of an Apostle, and served to give a new turn to their thoughts — suggesting to the Saviour His immortal simile : " I am the True Vine and My Father is the husband- " Watch with Me" 219 man — I am the Vine, ye are the branches." Such a sudden detachment from self concern and sorrow would be most characteristic of Jesus — but the hour, no longer to be postponed, was now at hand — " And they came to a place that is called Gethsemane." There are times when we can hardly bear to be with — or without our friends. In this last hour Jesus leaned for sympathy upon Peter, g James, and John. It was little they "watch could do, but that little He required WITH ME'" of them — it was to " watch with Him one hour." But the strain put upon their emotions had been already too great — they were drowsy. Jesus withdraws Himself about a stone's cast — not near enough for conversation, but still not quite out of sight and hearing. He would be alone — yet not quite alone — within call — able to feel that whilst He prayed His friends were with Him in heart — praying perchance too, at any rate watching to give Him the first warning of danger — but they went to sleep. His own prayer, thrice repeated, has become the model of all prayers: "Father, let the cup 220 In Gethsemane. pass ; but not My will, but Thine be done." But the cup was not to pass, and so the prayer was not granted ; but presently He was the prayer, strengthened to drain it to the dregs, and so the prayer was answered. In the pauses between each utterance the silent agony culminated, and great drops of blood were forced from'the veins and fell down to the ground. Who shall say what was present at that hour to the soul of Jesus ! — the treachery of Judas — the horrors of Calvary — the long travail the agony. of the ages — the Church's betrayal of her trust- — -centuries of crime — the inhumanity of man to man — a denial worse than Simon's — a betrayal worse than Iscariot's — an apathy worse than the sleep of Peter, James, and John. Around Him the silence of the warm spring night ¦ — the moonlight struggling through the netted branches, and scarce a rustle of the silvery olive leaves amid the shadows — but over His soul the sins of the whole world seemed to be globing themselves out into a black, satanic thunder cloud, on which the prince of the power of the air came riding, with all his attendant fiends, pro claiming the agony and death of the beloved Son Rise! 221 to be, after all, in vain to heal the misery of human life, or take away the sins of the world. The pressure at last becomes too fearful — Jesus rises — He approaches the disciples and finds them asleep ! — alone He has entered the valley of the shadow, alone must He remain there. He re turns and prays yet again, twice— and then comes a swaying in the trees and the flash of swords, and the time for watching, praying, and sleeping is over. He bends above the three for the last time and awakens them with the only words of divine irony He ever addressed to them: "Sleep on now and take your rest, behold 9 ', J RISE ! the hour is at hand, the Son of Man is betrayed. Rise, let us be " going ! " Judas steps suddenly out of the shadow. The betrayer and the betrayed are face to face — we seem to stand with the three disciples, startled and amazed at the hideous contrast. The soldiers, it is said, at first fell back, apparently unwilling to act — Jesus advances, pleads for the safety of His friends, and gives Himself up— but our eyes must now be fixed steadily upon Judas. u\ -|- i, , - * XXI. JUDAS. igi. The art of whitewash. — ig2. Judas and Pilate. — ig3- New treatment of Judas. — ig4- Judas to himself. — ig5. Was Judas a thief? — ig6. Judas acts. — ig7. Judas, a low intelligence. — igS. Judas Soliloquizes.- — igg. Judas and Jesus. — 200. The surprise in the garden. — 201. A blow for Judas. — 202. One chance more. — 203. All hope over. — 204. Judas heartbroken. — 205. What Judas might have been. — 206. He repented. — 207. He hanged himself. — -208. Son of Perdition. It is hardly a good plan, as a rule, to attempt to white-wash historical personages of evil repute, but popular estimate of character is not r r 191. always accurate or exhaustive. Within the art of our own time Oliver Cromwell has been WHITEWASH- alternately cursed as a regicide and deified as a deliverer, whilst Charles I. has been canonized as a martyr in our Prayer-book and exposed as a lying oppressor in our school-manuals. Judas Iscariot and Pontius Pilate are about the two most blackened characters in history. From both Judas and Pilate we may at least learn 224 Judas. three things, (i) That bad, like good men, are less so than they seem ; (2) that in all actions there is a great mixture of motives ; 192. ° judas and (3) that some blunders, though in telligible, if not pardonable, may be more appalling in their consequences than de liberate crimes. In painting Judas nothing but primary colours, hard and crude, have hitherto been used. I want to J93- put in some of the middle-tints in con sidering his (1) office, (2) character, TREATMENT ° K ' > \ / > of judas. (3) conduct, (4) fate, and the general warning for us all in his life and ending, and by the close of this section some people may find themselves a good deal nearer to Judas than they may once have imagined. Office. — Judas carried the bag, chosen no doubt because he was a good man of business ; a man ig4_ of Kerioth, near Jerusalem, not a simple judas to Galilean ; a man who knew life, sharp himself. at moneyt a capital treasurer. All that was to his credit — he was evidently the right man in the right place. He was always thinking about how to make both ends meet; managing for Was Judas a Thief ? 225 the wandering group, rather close and economical no doubt ; but then money is hard to get, and goes quickly enough, and the dear Master, Judas might have thought, gave too much away to the poor. If they must be always relieved — pity that it were not done out of windfalls instead of the scanty common purse. If a rich woman be willing, for instance, to spend a round sum on ointment, better not waste that, but give him, Judas, the money, it might go to the poor — wouldn't be missed from the store. Surprised the dear Master shouldn't see that, but He is so unworldly wise, as He says, " The children of this world are wiser," etc. That's quite true ! So reasoned Iscariot. " That Judas was a thief," that he " cared not for the poor," are both statements to be received with caution, occurring as they do in the late Gospel of St. John, compiled was judas probably more or less from the Apostle's A THIEF ¦ dictation by a good Greek secretary of St. John at Ephesus, who has evidently "edited" the narrative in places, and inserted little home thrusts, glosses, and explanations, as I have shown. (See " Story of the Four," p. 116, sec. 72.) Had Judas really been a thief would he have 226 Judas. been left with the bag and trusted as almoner as he was down to the last day of Jesus' life — the day before the crucifixion ? Not likely. In fairness to the poor, if not to His own Apostles, Jesus would not have allowed that. No, the blot on Judas so far is not that he carried the bag and filched, but that incessant care about money bred in him avarice and insensibility to the spiritual side of life, the opposites.of which were manifested so touchingly by the woman who broke the alabaster vase full of precious ointment for love of the Lord. Character. — Jesus was already marked. He had to die, but the chief priests and elders were for putting it off till Jerusalem had emptied 196. judas acts. a^ter t^ie Feast, when suddenly on Tuesday Judas comes and offers for money, thirty pieces of silver, to betray Him. What passed through his mind when he did this ? Consider. Judas, although cunning, and, as we should say, " acute " in judas, a low business, was otherwise a man of intelligence. ]ow intelligence, of coarse, but I do not think wicked, nature. He had joined Jesus Judas soliloquizes. 227 like others, had been very useful no doubt, taken off all the care and worry of buying and making shift for the wandering group to get housed and fed. He had not understood Jesus, but then no more had the others. He was attracted by the promise of a kingdom, in which the twelve were to be seated on thrones. He never dreamed, any more than did Peter, of an ultimate reverse. To the words of Jesus, speaking of crucifixion at Jerusalem, none of the disciples attached a literal significance down to the last; they were all thinking of the kingdom close at hand, and disputing on the very eve of the crucifixion which of them should be greatest. But to this general mood Judas added his own, "I'm tired of this incessant wandering, I fear our Master will play too long with the situation, He's not so popular judas now as He was, He missed one S0LIL0Q-UIZES- opportunity when they wanted to take Him by force and make Him king. (Perhaps Judas was at the bottom of that movement too.) It is time His friends again took the initiative, these things have to be managed, popularity is not everything, and won't last for ever, it has to be Q 2 228 Judas. worked. He doesn't know anything about business, we must help Him through ; as for these other eleven, mostly Galileans — poor fishermen — they are not half sharp. I'm the business man — I'll manage it. They look askance upon me, even the Master doesn't like me as much as He does them. Natural enough. All of them came together from the same part of the country, but I'll turn the tables yet. I'll show them who's their friend. The Master is always victorious when He puts out His strength, no one has ever been able to answer Him or put Him to silence. We've seen some wonderful things. He's never yet been beaten face to face with His enemies. He cures diseases and deals with devils — those vile priests and elders who talk with Him are little better than devils. Let us force on a contest, He'll soon settle them, and (here lurks the ruling passion) I shall get money in my purse. (This was a refinement of cleverness. This was too delicious.) I offer them the bait ; they take the bait, I get their money, and they get the hook, for did He not say, ' What shall the Lord do ? ' (when it comes to the push, and were they not fierce and angry when they heard it), ' Why, He will miserably destroy those murderers,' and I shall be there Judas and Jesus. 229 with my purse full to see it all. I ought to get the best throne in the kingdom after that." So he hurried off on Tuesday, and at all events made sure of the money. Conduct. — Jesus did not go into Jerusalem on Wednesday — His enemies got no chance. On Thursday Judas re-appears in the group, just to see what is going on. judas and He took his seat at the last supper. JESUS- Heard the discussion (perhaps started it with much inward gusto and pluming of himself) about being the greatest in the kingdom. (They don't know I shall be the greatest; I, the some time disparaged man of Kerioth — I, the one to place the crown on His head, and bring about the discomfiture of His enemies. The Master probably knows this well enough, for He knows our thoughts somehow, but He can't exactly appear to know. He will connive and won't be very angry when it's all over.) Suddenly Jesus, amidst this talk about " the greatest in the kingdom of heaven," girds Himself with a towel, and teaches humility by washing the disciples' feet. " Ye are clean," He says, but coming to Judas, significantly, "not all," and He then 230 Judas. presumably washes his feet too. He sits down again, saying one of them shall betray Him. Peter gets John to ask which. Jesus dips a sop and hands it to Judas — even then they don't understand. Perhaps a good deal goes on in a semi-whisper after the question, " Lord, is it I ?" Judas leans forward, he wants to put them all off their guard, " Master," he says, not " Lord," not the term of reverent endearment, the more distant word (I must not let the others think there is any understanding between me and the Lord — I did not want to commit Him in any way, this last move of His in talking about a traitor and one of us is a little rash and pointed ; it is quite evident He knows what I am about, and half approves, though He at all events does not mean to stop me. I'll mystify the others though). "Master, is it I?" And they were so well mystified, that even after Jesus had replied, " Thou hast said," not a hand was lifted to stop Judas. They merely thought, perhaps hearing indistinctly what took place, that when Jesus said to Judas, "That thou doest, do quickly," He was bidding His almoner buy something for the poor at once, to be in time for the Paschal Feast, as it was getting late. The Surprise in the Garden. 231 And so Judas — trembling with excitement and elation, but feeling that if he stayed another moment the dear unworldly-wise Master 200. might say or do something to mar the 0 J ° SURPRISE in whole scheme — quickly rose and went the garden. out, " and it was night." Up to this point you will admit that every line in the evangelic narrative bears out my view of Judas. What follows absolutely clinches the argument. That night whilst Jesus, after the prayer and the agony of bloody sweat, is engaged in rousing the sleeping disciples in Gethsemane, Judas, the only one of them thoroughly awake, appears threading his way amidst the olive groves, followed by the soldiers. The glare of the torches lights up the dim and distant group seen through the trees, the Saviour and Peter, James and John. Judas falls back — the hour of his triumph has come. He points to the group, " You can't make Him out ? Of course not ; it's too dark. And then you don't know Him, perhaps ? Follow me, watch me. I'll go up to Him and kiss Him. Then you must rush forward — seize Him — and (here is the one burst of triumphant passionate irony) mind you hold Him fast." (If you can, 232 Judas. poor dupes ! as if any one could take the King who is about to mount His throne ! Perhaps we shall now in a minute see the legion of angels ! Come ! come ! ye glorious host, annihilate this vile crew ! and that moment the money clinked in the bag.) Jesus moves calmly to meet Judas. (Judas to himself — " He's quite composed. He evidently expects this. He's not so angry after all.") Jesus speaks. " Friend," He says to Judas, "wherefore art thou come?" (Judas — I "thought so. He's not angry' at all. He 201. b J a blow for knows His ' friends.' He calls me judas. ( friencj > an(j comes f0 meet mSm We two are now going to play a pretty part. The others are nowhere at last ; they had better retire. Henceforth Jesus and Judas will walk side by side. There is no doubt now, I suppose, as to who will be the greatest in the kingdom !") Wild with elation and presumptuously familiar, he usurps the tender prerogative of the beloved disciple who leaned upon Jesus' bosom. He kissed Him. If Jesus said Friend ! after instead o" before the kiss, this does but confirm Judas in One Chance more. 233 his delusion. But Jesus immediately adds, " Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss ? " That was the first shock Judas got. He staggers under the blow, no doubt. " Betrayest, betrayest ? No, Master, not that, surely," but there is no time for explanation — the soldiers seize Jesus and proceed to lead Him away unresisting. " Ye Heavens ! where are the angels ? Ye stars, fall — fall from your spheres ! Ye thunders and lightnings, smite these impious soldiers ! Earth open thy mouth one chance in the heart of Olivet and swallow them up ! " Judas watched breathless, bewildered, amidst the shades. Peter alone draws the sword and smites off a man's ear. Is it the signal for the angelic legion army to appear — is it accepted by Jesus as such ? No. " Suffer ye thus far," and He heals the wound ! And they lead Him away unresisting. Judas is appalled ; but he does not give it up. He follows from court to court, sees the bitter humiliation of the Lord of Glory. At 234 Judas. last he arrives, pushing his way through the crowd, which is now yelling at Pilate as he comes forth with Tesus and presents 203. J r all hope Him to the infuriated mob with " Behold OVEE- the man ! " and " Shall I crucify your King?" How intense must have been the sus pense and agony of Judas, looking at each turn for a sudden crowning miracle ! But none comes. " Then Pilate delivered Him to be crucified, and they took Jesus and led Him away." Judas staggers out of the court a despairing maniac. He appears suddenly, wild and haggard, 204. in the presence of the high priests \_ and elders — empties his purse on H*EART- r r broken, the Temple flag-stones. Read St. Matthew's account. " When Judas saw that Jesus was condemned, he repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver, saying, ' I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood,' and he cast the pieces down in the Temple and went out and hanged himself." Why should he ? If he had throughout been nothing but a black villain, as commonly reputed, his line was clear. He had perfectly succeeded. What Judas might have been. 235 Henceforth in Jerusalem he would pose in the eyes of the " best people " as a righteous and very sensible and shrewd fellow. The 205. ranks of all the orthodox would wel- MIGHT HAVE come him as a social deliverer, and been. he would be applauded by the entire religious world of the day and all the respectable folk in good society ; and no doubt henceforth he would have as much money as he wanted. He would make a very good figure and have a very good case. " I thought," he would say, " that this unworldly preacher was really some God-sent deliverer, and that He would free our nation from the Roman yoke. He kept saying He was a King and would do great things, and He certainly had remarkable powers, but when He fell foul of the good Pharisees, spoke against our holy priest hood, and talked wild heresy against the law of Moses, and said the Temple itself at Jerusalem must come down, why, I was forced to give Him up. That's worse talk than the Romans'. I knew then He was either mad or a seditious person, and a very dangerous conspirator. You see, I came to the conclusion — a painful one for me — that for the good of the people it was best that one man should suffer. I felt it my duty, in short, to help you 236 Judas. to put Him down and make an example of Him., In fact, I am heartily sorry I ever connected myself with Him ; but it's all over now — we have done the right thing, and if you think my humble services (and here the money clinked in the bag again) in the cause of my nation and true religion and all that worthy of the reward, why I'm a poor man, and I'm not in a position to say No ! — Yes, you are right. I've had the courage of my opinions. I'm an honest man, though I don't boast of it ; but when I believed in Him I followed Him and served Him ; when I gave Him up I did my best to put Him down, and you see, with your help, I have succeeded." Now I should like to know who in the religious world of Jerusalem, who amongst the Scribes 2o6 and Pharisees, who of the Chief Priests he and Elders would have wagged a tongue against Judas had he taken that line ? But no ! he had got the money (for which he is supposed deliberately to have betrayed his Lord), and " When he saw that Jesus was condemned," instead of being gratified at the success of his scheme as he ought to have been, according to the usual theory of him, he was so He Hanged Himself. 237 dumbfounded and appalled at the blunder which he had made that he not only found his ruling passion, " avarice," paralysed, and threw the money away, but he felt absolutely unable to face existence any longer. The collapse of Jesus and His kingdom was a disappointment which drove him simply mad. The death of Jesus took from him all desire to live. "He repented." Yes; so says Matthew. His action was reckless, his nature coarse, his policy mistaken, but let no man dream but that his repentance was sincere. There was nothing left for Judas here below — but he had, at least, so much grace of nature latent within him that he went and 207. hanged himself. Had he been utterly he hanged base he might have lived and grovelled HIMSELF- in the pleasures of the capital, solaced by a respect able public opinion. That's been done before now, and is being done by many worse than Judas in our midst. But Judas being what he was, bore this last passionate witness of personal feeling for his Lord and Master, which lay deeper down than his avarice, and so, having failed to crown Him King of kings and Lord of lords, he went and hanged himself. Poor Judas ! thou hast been 238 Judas. plentifully cursed for nineteen hundred years, but there was no such curse levelled against thee as this thine own self-condemnation — " he went and hanged himself 7 " A great deal has been built upon the words of our Lord — recorded only in St. John — in which Judas is spoken of by implication as son of " lost," and is called the Son of Per- PERomoN. diUmh and that it would haye been better for him had he never been born (a remark which, F. D. Maurice once said to me, " seems appropriate to a vast number of people beside Judas ") ; but in the absence of a fuller con text, and in view of the violent animosity of the friends of Jesus — who naturally hated Judas and were disposed to take a purely adverse and one-sided view of his character — we must not lay too much stress upon such reported utterances even when attributed to Christ — especially in view of the very considerable and late "editing" to which St. John's "memorabilia" have been subjected. Those who presided over the issue of St. John's Gospel, at least seventy years after the events recorded in it took place, probably knew little of Judas except the last Son of Perdition. 239 black blunder of his life — and all estimates of him should be received with due caution — especially by those who have read the " Story of the Four," vide " John the Fisherman's Cryptograph." But the great lesson to be derived from Judas' character cannot be too often dwelt upon. The character is so human in its frailty and of such almost universal significance, and its lesson is this : the danger of living on a low moral plane. It is like the danger of a low state of physical health — not necessarily disease, but a condition laying the body open to all kinds of disease, especially that one to which it is constitutionally predisposed. So a low plane of moral health causes a man first to lose the keen edge of sensibility to right and wrong, then to become a prey to his besetting weakness (avarice in the case of Iscariot), then to rush headlong through blunder and moral obliquity to ruin. Leaving this solemn warning behind him, Judas may now fitly disappear from the Evangelic history. XXII. PILATE. 2og. Four Trials. — 210. Annas. — 211. Caiaphas. — 212. Pilate as he was. — 213. Pilate begins. — 214. Pilate faces Jesus. — 215 To Herod and back. — 216. Pilate's plea for Jesus. — 217. Ecce Homo! — 218. Last interview. — 2ig. Pilate's last passionate plea for Jesus 220. Pilate's character. Deep in the night they met — Jesus face to face with His judges. Four times He was tried — in the first two trials, before Annas, ' 209. Caiaphas and the Sanhedrim, his four sentence was a foregone conclusion. TR1ALS- In the last two, before Pilate and Herod, incom parably the most interesting and momentous, His fate seemed to hang for a while in the balance. Before the aged Sadducee Annas, Jesus had been questioned concerning His doctrine. The old Sceptic, who pocketed the Priest's 2io. salary, and believed in neither Re- annas. surrection, nor Angel, nor Spirit, and was no R 242 Pilate. doubt a subtle dialectician, well read in the Halachah, and able to catch out an unorthodox teacher with any doctor of the law — he chose his own ground when he questioned Jesus con cerning His doctrine. But the prisoner refused to enter the lists with him. His ministry was now over, there was nothing left for Him to do now but to die. His words remained with those who had heard them, and to them He appealed. He had taught openly, this was all He had to say to Annas — every one knew what He had taught. The coarse rejoinder that followed only proved how accurately the King had taken the measure of His questioners^ They smote Him on the face. Presently the old Priest got tired of the judicial farce, and the apparently apathetic prisoner was hurried across the courtyard of the Palace into the presence of Caiaphas, who carried the outrage on justice one step further. It was now necessary, in view of the growing notoriety of the affair, to get up some show of a definite charge. In a great city you 211. can always buy perjury. A couple of ' CAIAPHAS. casual bystanders were thus induced to go into the witness-box and swear to some Pilate as he was. 243 perversion of Christ's words which sounded dishonouring to the Temple. The best answer of Innocence to Perjury is silence. When the majesty of the law breaks down before brazen lies, justice is at an end and self-defence becomes useless. But down to the last there must be no mistake about the main issue — so when adjured to answer concerning Himself and His mission, " Art Thou the Christ the Son of God ? " Jesus hesitates not for a moment. He at once takes the oath — the " I am " rings out clear, brief, decisive, and that true word — called by His blasphemers blasphemy — Pie repeats shortly after wards unfalteringly before the Sanhedrim. In another hour He stands in the presence of Pilate, His last judge ; and the last protracted but decisive trial begins. As we enter the Roman Law Court, we instantly become aware of a changed atmosphere. Here if anywhere on earth Justice will be J J 212. done, and here in truth a good brave pilate as (but not brave enough) stand for HE WAS' Justice was made by Pilate. Nothing can be more clear and cumulative than is the evi dence for this. The Evangelists, in spite of R 2 244 Pilate. their feelings, affections, prejudices, refuse to blacken Pilate. Succeeding ages have done that for them. In the sacred page Pilate stands before us in his true colours. A justly disposed — not unfriendly — but at worst a weak, and altogether unheroic personage, who, under tremendous pressure and in a moment of irresolution due to very justifiable terror, ends (how many are like him!) in acting along the lines of the least resistance, and sacrifices a troublesome prisoner to please a still more troublesome political faction — and save himself. That was Pilate — a fair magistrate under ordinary circumstances — hard, perhaps, and even somewhat cruel, no doubt, and a time-server under pressure. There is something strangely dramatic and fateful about Pilate's absolutely unconscious view of the situation — his growing con- pilate sciousness — his aroused interest — his begins. strUggie wjth the Jews— his terror— his rage — his burst of impetuous pleading for Jesus, hard Roman as he was — his fear — his failure. But the prisoner awaits His trial. A great noise outside the Court. Thinks Pilate, " Seven o'clock in the morning ! — tis full early to begin with those Pilate begins. 245 worrying Jews — always taking up the time of the Roman Law Courts with their sectarian quarrels, Paschal Feasts, Tabernacles, Atonements, and whatnot!" " Is the magistrate sitting ? " "No, not yet." " We can't go in because it's Passover time, and we should be defiled ; but we've got a prisoner here outside — a seditious man — worse than a bandit — a madman, perhaps — so say His family — but with a method in His madness — not mad enough to be locked up, and just sane enough to be dangerous — the magistrate should see Him at once — won't he come out to us." Then follow loud cries of " Pilate ! Pilate ! Pilate ! " With a certain irritable tact born of forbearance and a rather rough experience of Jewish peculiarities, Pilate at last comes out, sits down quietly with the Clerk of the Court and his shorthand writer, and, as the babel of voices subsides, begins dryly, stylus (or pen) in hand, to dispose of the charge in the usual form. " What's the accusation ? " "A malefactor ¦ — sent here by the Sanhedrim." "Is that all? Some sectarian spite as usual," mutters Pilate. The magistrate's time could not be wasted. These most unpractical people must be got rid of, and the sooner the better. " Good people," says Pilate, veiling his contempt, " there's no 246 Pilate. charge before the Court — take your prisoner away — if your Sanhedrim know anything against Him, let it deal with Him." First attempt of Pilate to get rid of the case. But the cries of the rabble now grow deafening, and Pilate's practised ear catches 214. r pilate the words " King of the Jews." faces jesus. 0 ho, a seditious ringleader after all. " The Nazarene, you know," whispers some secretary, " mob orator — great following — unbounded pretensions ! " This seems a grave matter, so Pilate calls Jesus into the Judgment Hall, leaving His accusers in the Court without. For the first time Pilate stands face to face with Jesus. The prisoner seems a weary worn- out man, blood-stained and covered with dust, but still evidently in the prime of life. He has been a good deal bruised and knocked about — in fact, shamefully treated, but His is a Presence which after all made the question, " Art Thou King of the Jews ? " not altogether a mockery. The perfectly clear and penetrating answer of Jesus — "Sayest thou this of thyself" — the apparent indifference to consequences in the sudden personal appeal, and that placing, as it were, of Pilate himself Pilate faces Jesus. 247 on his trial— staggers the cool Roman and excites his curiosity, and it seems that he resolved from this moment, with a sort of unreasoning impulse, to get Him off. His contempt at the very idea of his taking any personal interest in the contro versy, is tempered with a sort of tender pity as he answers, " I'm not a Jew — your pretensions don't appeal to me except in so far as they are dangerous to the public order, for which I'm responsible. Your own people accuse you, I don't accuse you — tell me all about it." It is the conciliatory tone of a wise and not unkind magistrate trying to avoid extremities. He would much rather leave the case alone judicially and settle the matter with common sense and good feeling. Perhaps Pilate — who could be severe and hasty enough at times — never appeared to more advantage than in this first interview with Jesus. He even listens indulgently to what probably appeared to him the vaguest dreams of religious enthusiasm, about a kingdom not of this world, and of one who came to bear witness to the truth, and a strange unaccustomed feeling seems for a moment to come over him — a faint longing to know the truth — to believe something — as with a sigh, half regretful and more than half 248 ' Pilate. sceptical, he mutters, " What is truth ! " Unusual talk this between a " malefactor " and His Judge surely — but with one result for Pilate. " Here is a perfectly sincere, and, I should say, a very good man, and His delusion is, at any rate, harmless — He seems to me a much better man than these noisy cantankerous Jews who have brought Him here — perhaps that's why they hate Him so." And then Pilate goes out and delivers himself as bravely and distinctly in favour of Jesus as any Daniel come to Judgment. " I find no fault in Him at all." The groans which followed led no doubt to the legal status of the prisoner being looked into more closely, and then it turned out that He was a Galilean, and therefore Herod the Tetrarch, not Pilate, ought to deal with Him. This was excellent, and Pilate seized acutely upon the technical point of law, and made a second attempt to get rid of what to herod promised to be an exceedingly em- and back. Darrassing case. This leads directly to an exchange of courtesies between the Galilean Tetrarch and the Roman Governor at Jerusalem (who were not on very good terms), which ended in the return of Jesus to Pilate. Pilate's Plea for Jesus. 249 And now began that momentous struggle be tween Pilate and the Jews which resulted in the defeat of Pilate and the crucifixion 216. of the Saviour. First Pilate had said pLEA F0R — He is innocent. Now Pilate says, jesus. " Well, drop that discussion as we can't agree — take Barabbas instead — that's quite according to your own (' senseless ' contemptuously to himself) custom, and let me release this Jesus." Second attempt to save Jesus. " Not this man, but Barabbas," they yell frantically ; and so the second attempt is foiled. Pilate now, as it were, turns and doubles like a hunted hare, as one device after another breaks down. He tries compromise. He 217. scourges Jesus — a terrible punishment ECCE H0M0 : — but one short of death. He next tries irony. The worn-out blood-stained Victim is brought back from Herod arrayed in a purple robe of mock royalty. " You Jews," Pilate seems to say, " are a people of singular dignity and high pretensions, but you are too easily alarmed. I have seen and questioned this pretender — I confess I am not afraid of Him. I have just had Him scourged, perhaps that is enough. Lo, here He 250 Pilate. comes — a poor, broken-down creature, almost too faint to walk, and utterly in our power — ' Behold the Man ! ' You can't be serious in wishing to crucify such a helpless, and, as far as I see, harmless person ! " But Pilate's merciful and well-meant ridicule is only met with still more rabid demands for the prisoner's instant death. The Judge's judicial voice is drowned in the clamour, " Crucify ! crucify ! " " Take Him and crucify Him," exclaims Pilate in scorn. He knew they had no power of capital punishment. His words were ill chosen — he was losing patience and tact — this haughty reminder of their sub jection to Rome maddened them, and charges of blasphemy and sedition were now hurled more violently than before. " How now, Pilate — you, a Roman magistrate, a countenancer of sedition, and indifferent to the honour of Rome ? — how will that charge show when dressed up before Tiberius Caesar, and you know that there are those at Rome who will make the most of it to the Emperor ?" Poor Pilate ! it seems to me you are the trembling prisoner at the bar, not your sublime blood-stained victim, crowned even before the Cross — though with thorns. "Pilate was afraid." Last Interview. 251 At that moment one came to him from his wife — she had dreamed a dream. " Have thou nothing to do with this just man " — it g was the very echo of his own thoughts last —willingly would he have had nothing ™terview. to do with Him — but it was too late — the die was cast — yet one more effort must be made to save Him. He again interviewed the prisoner alone, and for the last time. There did not seem much life left in Him. He seemed hardly worth crucifying, so weak, and worn-out, and faint — unable almost to speak. " Whence art Thou ? " — whence, indeed. Was it for Jesus to reply ? — No ! Pilate's time of torment was now come — he was ill at ease. " Power to release Thee," he muttered almost pitifully — " power to crucify Thee !¦" Suddenly rousing Himself from deathly torpor saith the Saviour to His startled Judge — " You have no power at all except from above." Then follows, sublime and strangely full of mercy, a word of comfort from Jesus to poor perplexed vacillating Pilate — " He that delivered Me unto thee hath the greater sin." At that supreme moment the Lord and Master, who knew what was in man, gauged with exact and merciful justice the crime of Pilate. His action 252 Pilate. was bad, but not the worst — Pilate too was a victim. " What! He thinks of me, not of Himself, at such a time as this!" "Even so, Pilate — the divine pity has reached you, but the divine love itself cannot save you, if you dare not at this eleventh hour be true to yourself ! " Shaken in purpose, with a sincere and ardent longing to save Jesus, Pilate goes out for the last 219. time and fronts the yelling rabble. LAST He pleads passionately for Jesus — so passionate earnestly, indeed, that the furious Jews plea for j j jesus. feel they are on the point of losing their prey. But his voice is at last drowned — he dares not be just in the teeth of unpopularity and personal danger — the persistent cry, " Let this man go, and you are no friend of Ccesar," was too much for him. He strikes one last blow for Jesus and the Right, and then all is over. The fainting prisoner, deplorable to look upon, soiled, mangled — with the tattered purple robe still hanging about Him — is again brought forth. " Behold your king ! " "No king but Cassar!" That is final. Pilate yields. Jesus is led away to be crucified. Is that all ? No. Pilate calls for water, and washes his Pilate's Last Passionate Plea for Jesus. 253 hands before the people. " Out, damned spot !" Nay, but it will not out. Through the long ages of eternity it cleaves to thee, unhappy Pilate. " Innocent of the blood of that just person ! " But you are not — you cannot be. Jesus is your best apologist. He has said all that can ever be said for you. You are not so bad as some — those others who goaded you on to commit the great crime. You separate yourself. He has separated you from them, Pilate. Thousands act daily as you acted, without your temptations, and without consequences so appalling. " You had not the courage of your opinions " — simply that ; no more have thousands. You wanted at each stage to shift your responsibility — first to the Sanhedrim, then to Herod, then to the people — likewise do others. When you have succumbed you pretended youwereforced into it— sodo thousands. Youwould now fain wash your hands of a disgraceful action — so would many a criminal when it is too late ! too late ! But, after all, you made a fight for it. No Evangelist has missed that — you would not eat your own words — you never said He was guilty — you would not alter the inscription which declared Him to be King — you would not side in opinion with the enemy, although you dared not defeat a 254 Pilate. scandalous conspiracy by a free act. " I, Pilate, change the inscription writ so that all can read, which says He is your King — never! He is your King! Better than any of you — greater than any of you know." Pilate may well have felt this much ; and it may be implied in his short, sharp, irritable ""O yiypadja ytypcHpa." When Nicodemus went in boldly to Pilate to beg the body of Jesus, Pilate ordered it at once to be given up. There was not a man in Jerusalem but knew that the Roman Governor had favoured the strange Nazarene. Pilate had no mind to withhold one last act of tardy grace. He gave up willingly the dead — who had not dared to rescue the living. The analysis of Pilate's character comes out in the Evangelists with singular and fatal, and, at times, almost pathetic completeness ; pilate's and it perfectly justifies Christ's calm character. and judicial estimate of him. The Governor begins his magisterial day totally unconscious of what lies before him — a little annoyed, perhaps, at being called out so early — not a little disgusted when he finds the Jews squabbling, as usual, amongst themselves ; but resolved to do justice and uphold the integrity Pilate's Character. 255 of the Roman law. With a trained official's dislike of unbusinesslike people, when he finds there is no real charge he tries to dismiss the case. When he can't do that, he is for passing it on to Herod. When obliged, at last, to deal with it himself, he acquits the prisoner in the plainest possible language. Finding his decision extremely un popular, he tries a loophole of the law, and pro poses to crucify Barabbas and let Jesus go. Then he aims at a compromise and scourges Jesus, hoping that will satisfy His accusers. Then he calls ridicule to his aid. The charge was not only unjust, it was an absurd one. The Romans had a keen sense of the ridiculous, but unfor tunately the Jews had none. Then, for a moment, he yields to clamour. Then he trembles at a dream. Then he pleads almost passionately for the prisoner's release. Then, in a fit of terror himself, he succumbs petulantly. Then, with the weakest inconsistency, he proceeds to stultify his own action by declaring his abhorrence of his own sentence. Then he chafes bitterly under his personal defeat by posting over the cross an inscription which the Jews felt to be intended as an insult. And, lastly, he atones inadequately by treating the victim's friends with courtesy, and 256 Pilate. handing over to them the innocent and beloved dead. Judas and Pontius Pilate are names black and deservedly black in history, but after an impartial consideration of the facts, we shall, perhaps, lean to the conclusion that they were, after all, primary Blunderers and only secondary Criminals. XXIII. CRUCIFIXION. 221. A green hill far away. — 222. Good Friday morning. — 223. " Jesus maketh His will." — 224. " Truly this Man was a Son of God." — 225. Dead. " There is a green hill far away, without a city wall ; where the dear Lord was crucified " — and nearer than that we shall never be able 221. to identify Golgotha amongst the various mounds and rubbish heaps away. around Jerusalem — fair city set upon a hill, so often and so hopelessly ruined. It was towards midday — there were three execu tions that morning — two thieves, besides Jesus. Through the streets the condemned prisoners were hurried, followed by a hooting mob — a picture very different from Gustave Dor6's melodramatic 258 Crucifixion. travestie of the scene. It was Friday morning, since Wednesday Jesus could have had no sleep — 222. and probably only just so much food as friday was nee(lIul to keep Him in a condition morning, to walk. This He could only just do — but no more. The attempt to lift the transverse beam of His cross proved too much for Him, and one of the crowd, Simeon of Cyrene, was com pelled by the soldiers to bear it for Him. In this terrible state of exhaustion, with the extreme of torture close at hand, I notice in every act and word that extraordinary detachment from self — that fulness of humanity, that trust and that ineffable restfulness after Gethsemane that seems for ever to separate the Passion of our Lord from the suffer ings of all other men. " Daughters of Jerusalem," He says, turning to the women weeping along the road to Calvary, "Weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children." At His trial He had thought chiefly of Pilate's terrible position, not His own ; on the road to execution He thinks of the anguish of the tired women ; when they nail Him to the Cross He thinks with pity of, and prays for, His ignorant executioners ; on the cross He thinks of His mother, whom He provides for, then of the poor thief, whom He consoles ; one " Jesus maketh His Will." 259 cry of seeming despair alone escapes Him, but the Psalm which contains those words " My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me," also adds, "For He hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted— neither hath He hid His face from Him, but when He cried unto Him He heard " — and who shall say that the peaceful close of the Psalm was not rather in the Lord's mind, although His lips had strength to utter none but the opening words. The good women who wept for Jesus on the road, waited for Him at the cross with a decoction of narcotic herbs ; but He who was to 223. " TESUS "taste death for every man " resolved „,TrT,_TT TTTO •* MAKETH HIS to meet His last enemy face to face, will." and He refused to drink the anaesthetic. The great religious painters — often monks and devotees themselves, like Fra Angelico — had a notable faculty for reading between the lines of the . sacred narrative. Giotto especially, famous for his impressive and striking situations, has seized two strangely touching moments of the crucifixion in one of his panel painted pictures in the Uffizzi Gallery at Florence. The cross lies flat on the earth. The friends of Jesus crowd s 2 260 Crucifixion. round Him to kiss the hands about to be pierced, and touch Him for the last time. The executioner stands with a large nail and ham mer, ready to nail down the victim ; so it is, as Giotto informs us, that " Jesus bids farewell to His friends." In the next panel Jesus is seen hanging on the cross, in the act of turning towards the beloved disciple and committing His mother to his care, and so, as Giotto again in forms us, it is thus "Jesus maketh His will." As the afternoon wears on, the Saviour seems to fall into a succession of deep and deathly swoons, 224. from which He only occasionally " TRULY rouses Himself, to utter those fugitive THIS MAN WAS a son of °u* eternally memorable sentences as god." spoken from the cross. Beneath and round Him the crowd surges to and fro — some mocking, some weeping, some overawed by a sudden darkness or eclipse that seems to have taken place, and a slight shock of earthquake. One at least, a centurion, who had watched Him to the last, was smitten with sudden conviction, which he thus frankly avowed — " Truly, this Man was a Son of God." Every word and incident of the crucifixion has Dead. 261 been dwelt upon by preachers and writers, but, after all, it is but the crowning of the King — King and Saviour He was by His life — King and Saviour He is by His death. The death summed up the spirit and the power of His whole life. Pathetic and appalling as are the incidents of His crucifixion, they are of less moment than the life divine in Galilee that pre ceded them. Both His life and death were Divine sacrifices. The death of Jesus was the inevitable consequence of His life. Such an one must needs have suffered a Divine martyrdom in such a world as ours — for it became Him in bringing many sons to glory to make the Captain of their salva tion perfect through suffering. Jesus hung for six hours only on the cross. Pilate wondered that He should have died so soon — but the prisoner was well-nigh physi- cally worn-out before He was nailed DEAd. to the cross. As to the reality of His death, there could be no doubt. A soldier pierced His side, and any consciousness that may still have lingered in the body immediately ebbed out along with the life-blood that flowed from His heart. XXIV. OUTRE-TOMBE. 226. Stricken hopes. — 227. Difficulties of the resurrection. — 228. Various appearances. — 22g. His re-appearance a fixed point. — 230. A thought. Down to the last cry upon the cross there were those looking on who, like Judas, expected some miracle to take place — some Elias r 226. or angel to intervene. But when stricken the heart of the Sacred Victim had hopes. been pierced, when Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathaea had laid His body in the rock-hewn sepulchre, we may safely infer no one ever expected to see Him alive again. They had indeed trusted " it had been He who should have redeemed Israel," but now they could trust no more. Did He ever re-appear ? He did. With what body did He re-appear ? Was it the crucified, 264 Outre-Tombe. mangled body, changed or unchanged ; was it a vision subjective, or a materialization objective ? 227- Theologians, in attempting to answer difficulties ,. ,. . , , „„ ,,„„ these questions, have noticed no less Or THE x resurrection, than ten discrepancies in the Evan gelic narrative. Perhaps Paul's general reply to a general question about the resurrection may have some bearing, even upon the "Resurrection" of Christ — especially as His resurrection is claimed in that same famous xv. of 1 Corinthians as an earnest of our own. If so, the more and not the less like unto us He is in His human body and soul, the better for Paul's argument. " But some man will say," he exclaims, " with what body do they come ? Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die." Of what kind was the quickening of the dead Christ ? We are immediately con fronted with those " ten discrepancies " — irrecon cilable statements in the accounts of His re appearance. One fact alone is constant through them all — established upon evidence as conclusive as it is possible at this distance of time to imagine that it could be. It is the fact of His re-appearance. But what does that amount to ? If the re appearance was not His actual body — what Various Appearances. 265 became of the body ? If it was in any intelligible sense the crucified body, how could it pass through doors, or vanish into thin air, or ascend beyond breathing height. If it was not an intelligible human body, how could it assimilate broiled fish ? We may weary ourselves in asking these questions — we may weary ourselves still further with the usual explanations that the resurrection body of Jesus was a changed, glorified body ; at all events, after He had ascended to the Father, and subsequent to His appearance to Mary Magdalene. For common sense cannot but reply — a body constituted to eat is a body like ours ; a body that floats and passes through matter and vanishes is not a body like ours. In view of these difficulties, I ask — What is the general impression left upon the reader after calling up before him the various appearances of Jesus after His entombment ? Let us see. A figure appears in the garden to Mary Magdalene — whether it could or could not be touched — it might not be and was not Z2g_ touched, " Noli me tangere "—but it various appearances speaks. The'same figure appears on the same day to 266 Outre-Tombe. eleven disciples, as they sit at meat ; it speaks, it breathes upon them — and vanishes. Soon after it is somewhere and somehow recognisable by James. It meets two disciples going to Emmaus, converses at length, goes in to sup with them — vanishes. It invites the touch of doubting Thomas, and exhibits the nail prints and the pierced side. It is seen on the shores of Galilee, through the morning mist — recognised by Peter and John. This account is singularly circumstantial — full of little eye-witness touches — as that Peter was naked — that he girt his fisherman's coat about him — that there were just 153 fishes (counted with the routine instinct of a fisherman) in the boat when they landed, that the fish was broiled — that Peter was grieved at being thrice asked whether he loved his Master. It is impossible to shake off the impression that we are here dealing with a narrative of facts. Afterwards He appeared to about 500 brethren at once, the greater part of whom were alive in a.d. 57, and many of whom Paul seems to have known and conversed with ; then He appeared to a group of disciples whom He led out as far as Bethany, and ascending into His Re-appearance a Fixed Point. 267 the air, a cloud received Him out of their sight. After that He "appeared" to Paul "as to one born out of due time " ; nor does Paul draw any distinction, or seem to recognise any difference between such an "appearance" as was vouchsafed to Thomas and Peter, and the Vision which he encountered on the road to Damascus. From these perplexing narratives I gather how extremely uncritical and vague are the records — - circumstantial and minute in places, 229. as some of them undoubtedly are. RE.APPEARANCE At one time we seem to be dealing a fixed point. with a vision, at another with an objective appearance. Now the figure is shadowy, and now it is more or less substantial ; and the only stable point in all the narratives, I repeat, seems to be this : His re-appearance. In other words, such a manifestation of Christ's person ality was made after the crucifixion to those who knew Him best, and were not likely to mistake His individuality, as sufficed to convince His intimate friends, and, at least, 500 brethren besides, that He who had been crucified was indeed alive and able to make His Presence seen, and on certain occasions even felt. 268 Outre-Tombe. Appropriately enough, He was seen objectively only by His contemporaries, and chiefly by those who had known Him in the flesh, and were prepared to identify Him. His Presence has been felt as the life of the Christian Church for nineteen centuries, and His promise, " Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world," remains the abiding and unspeakable consolation and good hope of all Christian people for all time to come. Throughout this volume, in endeavouring to give a Picture of Christ from within as well as from without, whatever use I may have 230. ' J a made of the historical imagination in thought. re-constructing the scenes of Christ's ministry, I have avoided speculation and steered as clear as possible of dogmatic theology ; but if I might hazard a suggestion concerning the Resurrection of Jesus I would say — may He not have died as we die in His human nature, and be alive as we believe we shall live after death ? " As He was in this world so are we"; the mighty works that He did were done by Him as the Son of Man, and others were privileged to do likewise — and according to Him A Thought. 269 even " mightier works should they do." If by virtue of His human nature He had His being, did His mighty works, died even as we live, work, and die — why may He not have "re-appeared " in accordance with some occult law of human nature, as a Son of Man — even as others are said, on evidence at least as strong, to have re-appeared ? If being alive in the spirit though dead in the flesh, He was able to manifest Himself to the senses and spirits of His friends, may He not have done so in the same order of nature, and by the same mysterious conditions which have ruled the alleged re-appearances of other human beings ? That death is the bourne from which no traveller has ever returned, has always seemed to me a poetic but unwarranted assumption. Still, whether this be so or not, we must always remember that the re-appearances of Jesus rest, and only can rest, historically, upon precisely the same kind of evidence as the alleged re-appearance of any of the departed. There was probably never a time in the history of the world when thousands of people, by no means lunatics, were not convinced that the dead were alive — that they were able by thought, word, or deed to make their existence felt — 270 Outre-Tombe. that they occasionally had appeared. Such beliefs, founded it is often said on imposture or delusion, have been smitten by modern science with paralysis, and are fast dying out amongst educated people — which reads extremely well, only facts are against the theory, since it would be difficult to point to any past age in which there were so many thousands of educated people who are at the present moment convinced that the dead are alive, that they are able by thought, word, and deed to make their existence felt, and that they have occasionally " appeared." No one who has even a rudimentary acquain tance with the annals of the Catholic church in the past, or with what is called psychical re search in the present, can fail to have noticed that the evidence for the re-appearances of some who have passed away is logically as strong, perhaps stronger, than the evidence attainable for any of the New Testament miracles, including the re-appearance of the Saviour. These being simple matters of fact need offend no one ; indeed, I have long made up my mind that if we are to accept an element of the supernatural in the Bible at all, we cannot stop there, for a supernatural vein will be found running through A Thought. 271 all history, sacred and profane. vVe must accept both or reject both ; and for my part, with the obvious limitation — suggested by the prevalence of imposture, the human liability to err, and the equally human propensity to be deceived — I find it easier to admit the occurrence of some so-called supernatural events in history, sacred and profane, both in times past and present, than to deny it with the superficial, ignore it with the scientific, or explain it away with the sceptical. Even if you cannot prove absolutely that Jesus re-appeared, you certainly cannot prove that He did not re appear ; and the explanations which are put for ward to get rid of such evidence as there is, have always seemed to me quite as wonderful and not quite as credible as the alleged occurrences which they are intended to get rid of. Novello, Ewer & Co., Printers, 6g & 70, Dean Street, Soho, London, W. 3 9002 08540 0241