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diff --git a/old/67486-h/67486-h.htm b/old/67486-h/67486-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 9d73a95..0000000 --- a/old/67486-h/67486-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,18358 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> - <title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Life of Christ, by Giovanni Papini</title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - <style type="text/css"> - body { margin-left: 8%; margin-right: 10%; } - h1 { text-align: center; font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.4em; } - h2 { text-align: center; font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.2em; } - h3 { text-align: center; font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.2em; } - .pageno { right: 1%; font-size: x-small; background-color: inherit; color: silver; - text-indent: 0em; text-align: right; position: absolute; - border: thin solid silver; padding: .1em .2em; font-style: normal; - font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; } - p { text-indent: 0; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify; } - .fss { font-size: 75%; } - .sc { font-variant: small-caps; } - .large { font-size: large; } - .xlarge { font-size: x-large; } - .xxlarge { font-size: xx-large; } - abbr { border-bottom-width: thin; border-bottom-style: dotted; } - abbr.spell { speak: spell-out; } - .lg-container-b { text-align: center; } - @media handheld { .lg-container-b { clear: both; } } - .linegroup { display: inline-block; text-align: left; } - @media handheld { .linegroup { display: block; margin-left: 1.5em; } } - .linegroup .group { margin: 1em auto; } - .linegroup .line { text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em; } - div.linegroup > :first-child { margin-top: 0; } - .index li {text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; } - .index ul {list-style-type: none; padding-left: 0; } - ul.index {list-style-type: none; padding-left: 0; } - div.pbb { page-break-before: always; } - hr.pb { border: none; border-bottom: thin solid; margin-bottom: 1em; } - @media handheld { hr.pb { display: none; } } - .chapter { clear: both; page-break-before: always; } - .figcenter { clear: both; max-width: 100%; margin: 2em auto; text-align: center; } - .figcenter img { max-width: 100%; height: auto; } - .id001 { width:530px; } - @media handheld { .id001 { margin-left:17%; width:66%; } } - .ig001 { width:100%; } - .nf-center { text-align: center; } - .nf-center-c1 { text-align: left; margin: 1em 0; } - .c000 { margin-top: 1em; } - .c001 { page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em; } - .c002 { margin-top: 4em; } - .c003 { margin-top: 2em; } - .c004 { page-break-before:auto; margin-top: 4em; } - .c005 { margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } - .c006 { margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } - .c007 { page-break-before: always; margin-top: 2em; } - .c008 { margin-left: 5.56%; margin-top: 1em; font-size: 95%; } - .c009 { margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } - .c010 { margin-top: .5em; } - .c011 { margin-left: 5.56%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } - .c012 { margin-left: 5.56%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } - div.tnotes { padding-left:1em;padding-right:1em;background-color:#E3E4FA; - border:1px solid silver;margin:1em 5% 0 5%;text-align:justify; } - abbr {border:none; text-decoration:none; font-variant:normal; } - </style> - </head> - <body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Life of Christ, by Giovanni Papini</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Life of Christ</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Giovanni Papini</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Translator: Dorothy Canfield Fisher</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: February 24, 2022 [eBook #67486]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Tim Lindell, David King, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF CHRIST ***</div> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_on'>on</span> -<img src='images/cover.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div> - <h1 class='c001'>LIFE OF CHRIST</h1> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='xxlarge'><b>LIFE OF CHRIST</b></span></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='large'><b><i>by</i></b></span></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='xxlarge'><b>GIOVANNI PAPINI</b></span></div> - <div class='c003'><span class='large'><b>Freely translated from the Italian</b></span></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='large'><b><i>by</i></b></span></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='xlarge'><b>DOROTHY CANFIELD FISHER</b></span></div> - <div class='c000'>NEW YORK</div> - <div>HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>COPYRIGHT, 1923, BY</div> - <div>HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY, INC.</div> - <div class='c000'>PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. BY</div> - <div>THE QUINN & BODEN COMPANY</div> - <div>RAHWAY, N. J.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c004'>TRANSLATOR’S NOTE</h2> -</div> -<p class='c005'>The King James English version has been followed in the Bible -quotations of this translation, except in a few cases where an alteration -in the Revised Version was evidently the result of a better -understanding of the original Greek or Hebrew text.</p> - -<p class='c006'>For the form of proper names, the spelling of the Century Dictionary -has been used as a rule; for names not given in the Century, -the form current in the usual standard works. Since this book is -intended to be popular rather than either scholarly or archæological, -it was thought best to use the name-forms best known to most -readers.</p> - -<p class='c006'>It will be noted that a number of the quotations are mosaics made -up of phrases taken from different parts of the Bible and put together -to make one passage. This not being the English usage in -such matters, it seems desirable to call the reader’s attention to the -character of such quotations.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The only other explanation which may be necessary is in connection -with the omission of occasional sentences, paragraphs and of -one or two chapters. In the case of individual sentences or phrases, -they were usually omitted because they contained an allusion sure -to be obscure to non-Italian readers. A characteristic example of -such omissions is in the scene of the crucifixion where Christ is -described as being nailed to the cross with outstretched arms like -an owl nailed with outstretched wings to a barn-door. This revolting -country-side custom being unknown to American readers, a reference -to it could only cloud the passage.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Since translators into English who omit passages are usually -accused of suppressing valuable material which might displease too-narrow -Anglo-Saxon readers, it is perhaps as well to explain that -the excision of paragraphs here and there, and of a few chapters, -is in no sense an expurgation, because this <i>Life of Christ</i> is very -much of the same quality throughout. It simply seemed to me that -such occasional lightening of the text would make it more acceptable -to English-speaking readers, so much less tolerant of long descriptions -and minute discussions than Italians.</p> - -<p class='c006'>I quite realize that this may seem a slight and arbitrary basis for -making actual excisions in an author’s work, and I understand that -the translator is not at all responsible for the matter which he -translates, but only for the truthfulness with which he presents the -text given him to set into another language. I was moved first by -the fact that the passages omitted are of no more importance than -any other passages in the book; and secondly by the author’s wish -expressly stated in his Introduction, to have this a readable book -which will hold those who pick it up, rather than to have it a book -of exact learning or great literature. This translation was made -with the purpose of allowing the general American reading-public to -form an opinion on a book which has aroused a great deal of discussion -in modern Italy; and to carry out this purpose, the occasional -omissions mentioned and a certain freedom in the rendering -of the Italian seemed to me justifiable.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Dorothy Canfield Fisher.</p> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_3'>3</span> - <h2 class='c004'>INTRODUCTION</h2> -</div> -<h3 class='c007'>1</h3> -<p class='c005'>For five hundred years those who call themselves free spirits -because they prefer prison life to army service have been trying -desperately to kill Jesus a second time—to kill Him in the -hearts of men.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The army of His enemies assembled to bury Him as soon as -they thought they heard the death-rattle of Christ’s second -death. Presumptuous donkeys mistaking libraries for their -stables, top-heavy brains pretending to explore the highest -heavens in philosophy’s drifting balloon, professors poisoned -by the fatal strong drink of philology and metaphysics, armed -themselves. Paraphrasing the rallying-cry of Peter the Hermit -to the crusaders, they shouted “Man wills it!” as they set -out on their crusade against the Cross. Certain of them drew -on their boundless imaginations to evolve what they considered -proof positive of a fantastic theory that the story of the Gospel -is no more than a legend from which we can reconstruct the -natural life of Jesus as a man, one-third prophet, one-third -necromancer, one-third demagogue, a man who wrought no -miracles except the hypnotic cure of some obsessed devotees, -who did not die on the cross, but came to Himself in the chill -of the sepulcher and reappeared with mysterious airs to delude -men into believing that He had risen from the dead.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Others demonstrated as certainly as two and two make -four that Jesus was a myth developed in the time of Augustus -and of Tiberius, and that all the Gospels can be reduced to a -clumsy mosaic of prophetic texts. Others conceived of Jesus as -a good, well-meaning man, but too high-flown and fantastic, -who went to school to the Greeks, the Buddhists, and the -Essenes and patched together His plagiarisms as best He could -<span class='pageno' id='Page_4'>4</span>to support His claim to be the Messiah of Israel. Others -made Him out to be an unbalanced humanitarian, precursor of -Rousseau and of divine democracy; an excellent man for his -time but who to-day would be put under the care of an alienist. -Others to get rid of the subject once for all took up the -idea of the myth again, and by dint of puzzlings and comparisons -concluded that Jesus never was born anywhere in any -spot on the globe.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But who could have taken the place of the man they were -trying to dispose of? The grave they dug was deeper every -day, and still they could not bury Him from sight.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Then began the manufacture of religions for the irreligious. -During the whole of the nineteenth century they were turned -out in couples and half dozens at a time: the religion of Truth, -of the Spirit, of the Proletariat, of the Hero, of Humanity, of -Nationalism, of Imperialism, of Reason, of Beauty, of Peace, -of Sorrow, of Pity, of the Ego, of the Future and so on. Some -were only new arrangements of Christianity, uncrowned, spineless -Christianity, Christianity without God; most of them were -political, or philosophic, trying to make themselves out mystics. -But faithful followers of these religions were few and their -ardor faint. Such frozen abstractions, although sometimes -helped along by social interest or literary passions, did not fill -the hearts which had renounced Jesus.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Then attempts were made to throw together facsimiles of -religion which would make a better job of offering what men -looked for in religion. Free-Masons, Spiritualists, Theosophists, -Occultists, Scientists, professed to have found the infallible -substitute for Christianity. But such mixtures of -moldy superstition and worm-eaten necromancy, such a hash -of musty rationalism and science gone bad, of simian symbolism -and humanitarianism turned sour, such unskillful rearrangements -of Buddhism, manufactured-for-export, and of betrayed -Christianity, contented some thousands of leisure-class -women, of condensers of the void ... and went no further.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In the meantime, partly in a German parsonage and partly -in a professor’s chair in Switzerland, the last Anti-Christ was -making ready. “Jesus,” he said, coming down from the Alps -<span class='pageno' id='Page_5'>5</span>in the sunshine, “Jesus mortified mankind; sin is beautiful, -violence is beautiful. Everything that says ‘yes’ to Life is -beautiful.” And Zarathushtra, after having thrown into the -Mediterranean the Greek texts of Leipzig and the works of -Machiavelli, began to gambol at the feet of the statue of -Dionysius with the grace that might be expected of a German, -born of a Lutheran minister, who had just stepped down from -a chair in a Swiss University. But, although his songs were -sweet to the ear, he never succeeded in explaining exactly what -he meant when he spoke of this adorable “Life” to which men -should sacrifice such a living part of themselves as their need -to repress their own animal instincts: nor could he ever say in -what way Christ, the true Christ of the Gospels, opposed Himself -to life, He who wanted to make life higher and happy. And -the poor syphilitic Anti-Christ, when insanity was close upon -him, signed his last letter, “The Crucified One.”</p> -<h3 class='c007'>2</h3> -<p class='c005'>And still Christ is not yet expelled from the earth either by -the ravages of time or by the efforts of men. His memory is -everywhere: on the walls of the churches and the schools, on -the tops of bell-towers and of mountains, in street-shrines, at -the heads of beds and over tombs, thousands of crosses bring -to mind the death of the Crucified One. Take away the frescoes -from the churches, carry off the pictures from the -altars and from the houses, and the life of Christ fills museums -and picture-galleries. Throw away breviaries and missals, and -you find His name and His words in all the books of literature. -Even oaths are an involuntary remembrance of His presence.</p> - -<p class='c006'>When all is said and done, Christ is an end and a beginning, -an abyss of divine mystery between two divisions of human -history. Paganism and Christianity can never be welded together. -Before Christ and After Christ! Our era, our civilization, -our life, begins with the birth of Christ. We can seek -out what comes before Christ, we can acquire information -about it, but it is no longer ours, it is signed with other signs, -limited by other systems, no longer moves our passions; it may -<span class='pageno' id='Page_6'>6</span>be beautiful, but it is dead. Cæsar was more talked about in -his time than Jesus, and Plato taught more science than Christ. -People still discuss the Roman ruler and the Greek philosopher, -but who nowadays is hotly for Cæsar or against him; and -where now are the Platonists and the anti-Platonists?</p> - -<p class='c006'>Christ, on the contrary, is still living among us. There are -still people who love Him and who hate Him. There is a -passion for the love of Christ and a passion for His destruction. -The fury of so many against Him is a proof that He is not -dead. The very people who devote themselves to denying His -ideas and His existence pass their lives in bringing His name -to memory.</p> - -<p class='c006'>We live in the Christian era, and it is not yet finished. If -we are to understand the world, our life, ourselves, we must -refer to Christ. Every age must re-write its own Gospel. -More than any other, our own age has so re-written its own -Gospel, and therefore the author ought perhaps to justify himself -for having written this book. But the justification, if -there is need of such, will be plain to those who read it.</p> - -<p class='c006'>There never was a time more cut off from Christ than ours, -nor one which needed Him more. But to find Him, the old -books are not enough. No life of Christ, even if it were written -by an author of greater genius than any who has ever -lived, could be more beautiful and perfect than the Gospels. -The candid sobriety of the first four stories can never be improved -upon by any miracle of style and poetry. And we -can add very little to the information they give us.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But who reads the Gospels nowadays? And who could -read them, even if he set himself at it. Glosses of philologists, -comments of the exegetical experts, varying readings of erudite -marginal editors, emendations of letters, such things can provide -entertainment for patient brains. But the heart needs -something more than this.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Every generation has its preoccupations and its thoughts, -and its own insanities. The old Gospels must be re-translated -for the help of the lost. If Christ is to remain alive in the life -of men, eternally present with us, it is absolutely necessary to -resuscitate Him from time to time; not to color Him with the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span>dyes of the present day, but to represent with new words, with -references to things now happening, His eternal truth and His -never-changing story.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The world is full of such bookish resuscitations of Christ, -learned or literary: but it seems to the author of this one that -many are forgotten, and others are not suitable. To write the -history of the stories of Christ would take another book and -one even longer than this one. But it is easy to divide into two -great divisions those which are best known and most read: -(1) Those written by orthodox authors for the use of the -orthodox; (2) and those written by scientists for the use of -non-believers. Neither the first nor the second can satisfy -those who are seeking in such lives for Life.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>3</h3> -<p class='c005'>The lives of Jesus written for pious readers exhale, almost -all of them, a sort of withered mustiness, the very first page of -which repels readers used to more delicate and substantial fare. -There is an odor of burnt-out lamp-wick, a smell of stale incense -and of rancid oil that sticks in the throat. You cannot -draw a long, free breath. The reader acquainted with the biographies -of great men written with greatness, and possessing -some notions of his own about the art of writing and of poetry, -who incautiously picks up one of these pious books, feels his -heart fail him as he advances into this flabby prose, torpid, -tangled, patched up with commonplaces that were alive a thousand -years ago, but which are now dead and petrified. It is -even worse when these worn-out old hacks try to break into -the lyric gallop or the trot of eloquence. Their faded graces, -their ornamentations of countrified purisms, of “fine writing” -fit for provincial academies, their artificial warmth cooled -down to tepidity by unctuous dignity, discourage the endurance -of the boldest reader. And when they are not engulfed -in the thorny mysteries of scholasticism, they fall into -the roaring eloquence of the Sunday sermon. In short, -these are books written for readers who believe in Jesus, that -is, for those who could, in a way, get along without them. But -<span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span>ordinary people, indifferent people, irreverent people, artists, -those accustomed to the greatness of Antiquity and to the novelty -of Modernity, never look at even the best of such volumes; -or if they pick them up, let them fall at once. And yet these -are the very people whom such a book should win because -they are those whom Christ has lost, they are those who to-day -form public opinion and count in the world.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Another sort of books, those written by the learned men for -the neutrals, succeed even less in turning towards Christ the -souls that have not learned the way to Christianity. In the -first place they almost never have any intention of doing this, -and in the second place they themselves, almost all of them, -are among those who ought to be brought back to the true and -living Christ. Furthermore, their method which is, as they say, -historical, scientific, critical, leads them to pause over texts -and external facts, to establish them or to eliminate them, -rather than to consider the meaning and the value and the -light which, if they would, they could find in those texts and -those facts. Most of them try to find the man in the God, the -actual external facts of the miracles, the legend in the tradition -and, above all, they are on the look-out for interpolations, -for falsifications and apocrypha in the first part of Christian -literature. Those who do not go so far as to deny that Jesus -ever lived, take away from the testimony about Him everything -they can, and by dint of “ifs” and “buts” and doubts -and hypotheses, so far from writing any definite story themselves, -succeed in spoiling the story contained in the Gospels. -In short, such historians with all their confusion of fret-work -and bunglings, with all the resources of textual criticism, of -mythology, of paleography, of archeology, of Greek and -Hebrew philology, only triturate and liquefy the simple life of -Christ. The most logical conclusion to draw from their rambling -incoherent talk is that Jesus never did appear on the -earth, or if by chance He really did appear, that we know -nothing certain about His life. Christianity still exists, of -course, in spite of such conclusions, and Christianity is a fact -not easily disregarded. To offset this fact the best these enemies -of Christ can do is to search through the Orient and Occident -<span class='pageno' id='Page_9'>9</span>for the origins, as they say, of Christianity, their intention -being quite openly to parcel it out among its predecessors, -Jewish, Greek, for that matter Hindu and Chinese, as -if to say: “You see, your Jesus at bottom was not only a man, -but a poor specimen of a man, since he said nothing that the -human race did not know by heart before his day.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>One might ask these deniers of miracles how they explain -the miracle of a syncretism of old traditions which has grown -about the memory of an obscure plagiarist, an immense movement -of men, of thoughts, of institutions, so strong, overwhelmingly -strong, as to change the face of the earth for centuries. -But this question, and many others, we will not put to -them, at least for the present.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In short, when in looking for light we pass from the bad -taste of the devotional compilers to the writers who monopolize -“historic truth” we fall from pietistic boredom into sterile confusion. -The pious writers are unable to lead men to Christ, -and the “historians” lose Him in controversy. And neither one -nor the other tempt men to read. They may differ from each -other in matters of faith, but they resemble each other in the -uncouthness of their style. And unctuous rhetoric is as distasteful -to cultivated minds, even superficially acquainted with the -divine idyll and divine tragedy of the Gospels, as is the cold-heartedness -of learned writers. So true is all this that even to-day, -after the passage of so many years, after so many changes -of taste and opinion, the only life of Jesus which is read by -many lay readers is that of the apostate priest, Renan, a book -which all true Christians dislike for its dilettante attitude, insulting -even in praise, and which every real historian distrusts -because of its compromises and its insufficient scholarship. -But although this book of Renan’s seems written by a skeptical -romancer, wedded to philology, or by a Semitic scholar -suffering from literary nostalgia, it has the merits of being -really “written,” that is, of getting itself read, even by those -who are neither believers nor specialists.</p> - -<p class='c006'>To make itself readily read is not the only value nor the -greatest which a book can have, and the writer who contents -himself with that alone and who thinks of nothing else shows -<span class='pageno' id='Page_10'>10</span>that vanity rather than ardor is his motive-power. But let us -admit that to be readable is a merit and not a small merit for -a book, especially when it is not intended as a tool for study, -but when it aims at the mark called, “moving the emotions,” -or to give it its real name, when its aim is to “transform human -beings.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The author of the present book finds—and if he is mistaken -he will be very glad to be convinced by any one who sees more -clearly than he—that in the thousands of books which tell the -story of Jesus, there is not one which seeks, instead of dogmatic -proofs and learned discussions, to give food fit for the -soul, for the needs of men of our time.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The book we need is a living book, to make Christ more living, -to set Christ the Ever-Living with loving vividness before -the eyes of living men, to make us feel Him as actually and -eternally present in our lives. We need a book which would -show Him in all His living and present greatness—perennial -and yet belonging intimately to us moderns—to those who have -scorned and refused Him, to those who do not love Him because -they have never seen His true face; which would show -how much there is of supernatural and symbolic in the human, -obscure, simple and humble beginning of His life, and how -much familiar humanity, how much simple-hearted plainness -shines out when He becomes a Heavenly Deliverer at the end -of His life, when He becomes a martyr and rises again divinely -from the dead. We need a book which would show in that -tragic epic, written by both Heaven and earth, the many teachings -suited to us, suited to our time and to our life, which can -be found there, not only in what Christ said, but in the very -succession of events which begin in the stable at Bethlehem -and end in the cloud over Bethany. A book written by a layman -for the laymen who are not Christians or who are only -superficially Christians, a book without the affectations of professional -piety and without the insipidity of scientific literature, -called “scientific” only because it perpetually fears to -make the slightest affirmation. A book, in short, written by a -modern writer who respects and understands his art, and -knows how to hold the attention even of the hostile.</p> -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span> - <h3 class='c007'>4</h3> -</div> -<p class='c005'>The author of this book does not pretend to have written -such a book; but at least he has tried as far as his capacities -can take him, to draw near to that ideal.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Let him state at once with sincere humility that he has not -written a “scientific history.” In the first place because he -could not; in any case because he would not, even if he had -possessed all the necessary learning. He warns the reader, -among other things, that this book was written (almost all of -it) in the country, in a distant and sparsely settled countryside -with very few books at hand, with no advice from friends -or revision from masters. It will, therefore, never be cited by -higher criticism or by those who scrutinize original sources -with a microscope; but that is of little importance compared -to the possibility of its doing a little good to a few souls, even -to one alone. For as he has explained, the author wishes this -book to be another coming of Christ and not another burial.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The author bases his book on the Gospels; as much, let it be -understood, on the synoptic Gospels as on the fourth. He -confesses that he has no interest in the endless dissertations -and disputes over the authority of the four Gospels, over their -dates and interpolations, over their mutual relationship, and -over their probabilities and sources. We have no older nor no -other documents, contemporaneous, Jewish or Pagan, which -would permit us to correct them or to deny them. He who -goes into all this minute investigation can destroy many doctrines, -but he cannot advance the true knowledge of Christ by -a single step. Christ is in the Gospels, in the apostolic tradition, -and in the Church. Outside of that is darkness and silence. -He who accepts the four Gospels must accept them -wholly, entire, syllable by syllable,—or else reject them from -the first to the last and say, “We know nothing.” To attempt -in these texts to differentiate what is sure from what is probable, -what is historic from what is legendary, what is original -from what has been added, the primitive from the dogmatic -is a hopeless undertaking, which almost always ends in defeat, -in the despair of the readers, who in the midst of this -<span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span>hubbub of contradictory systems, changing from one decade -to another, end by understanding nothing and by letting it all -drop. The most famous New Testament authorities agree on -only one thing, that the Church was able to select in the -great mass of primitive literature the oldest Gospels thought -up to that time to be the most reliable. No more need be -asked.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In addition to the Gospels, the author of this book has had -before his eyes “the Logia and the Agrapha,” which seemed to -have the most evangelical flavor, and also some apocryphal -texts used with judgment. And finally nine or ten modern -books which he had at hand.</p> - -<p class='c006'>It seems to him as well as he can judge, that he has departed -sometimes from ordinary ideas and that he has painted a -Christ who has not always the perfunctory features of the -ordinary holy picture, but he is not sure of this nor does he -value any new thing which may be in this book, written more -in the hope of having it a good book than of having it a beautiful -book. It is rather more likely that he has repeated things -already said by others, of which he in his ignorance has never -heard. In these matters, the subject, which is truth, is unchangeable -and there can be nothing new except the manner -of presenting it in a form more efficacious because it may be -more easily grasped.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Just as he has tried to avoid the thorns of erudite criticism -on the one hand, he has no pretensions, on the other, of going -too deeply into the mysteries of theology. He has approached -Jesus with the simple-heartedness of longing and of love, just -as during His life-time He was approached by the fishermen of -Capernaum, who were, fortunately for them, even more ignorant -than the author. Holding loyally to the words of the -orthodox Gospels and to the dogmas of the Catholic Church, -he has tried to represent those dogmas and those words in unusual -ways, in a style violent with contrasts and with foreshortening, -colored with crude and vividly felt words, to see if -he could startle modern souls used to highly colored error, into -seeing the truth.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The author claims the right to take to himself the words of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span><abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> Paul: “To them that are without law, I became as without -law that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak -became I as weak that I might gain the weak; I am made all -things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And -this I do for the Gospel’s sake.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The author has tried to present not only the Hebrew world, -but the world of antiquity, hoping to show how new and how -great Christ was compared to those who preceded Him. He -has not always followed the chronological order of events, because -it better suited his aims, which are not (as he has said) -entirely historical, to gather together certain groups of thoughts -and facts and to throw a stronger light on them instead of -leaving them to be scattered here and there in the course of -the narrative.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In order not to give a pedantic look to the book he has suppressed -all references to quotations and has used no foot-notes. -He did not wish to seem what he is not, a learned bibliographer, -and he did not wish to have his work smell, however faintly, of -the oil of the lamp of erudition. Those who understand these -things will recognize the un-named authorities, and the solutions -which the author has chosen when confronted with certain -problems of concordance. The others, those who are only -trying to see how Christ appeared to one of them, would be -wearied by the apparatus of textual learning and by dissertations -at the bottom of the pages. One word only must be said -here in connection with the sinning woman weeping at Jesus’ -feet: although it is generally understood from the Gospel story -that there were two different scenes and two different women, -the author for artistic purposes has allowed himself to treat -them as one, and he asks a pardon for this which he hopes -will be easily granted since there is no question of dogma -involved.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He must warn the reader that he refrained from developing -the episodes where the Virgin Mother appears, in order not to -lengthen too greatly a book already long, and especially because -of the difficulty of showing by passing allusions all the -rich wealth of religious beauty which is in the figure of Mary. -Another volume would be necessary for that, and the writer is -<span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>tempted to try if God grants him life and sight to “say of her -what was never said of any woman.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Those who are experienced in reading the Gospels will realize -that other things of lesser importance have been shortened and -some others, on the contrary, lengthened more than is customary. -Some have seemed to the writer more appropriate than -the others for his purpose, which is, to use an expression -now out of date and distasteful to sophisticated people, the -purpose of edification.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>5</h3> -<p class='c005'>This book is meant to be a book—the author knows how he -will be jeered at—of edification. Not in the meaning of mechanical -bigotry, but in the human and manly meaning of the -“refashioning” of souls.</p> - -<p class='c006'>To build, or as the old word expressed it, to edify a house, -is a great and holy action; to make a shelter against winter and -the night. But to build up or edify a soul, to construct it with -stones of truth! When there is talk of edification you see in it -only an abstract word worn out with use. To edify in the -original meaning was to construct walls. Who of you has ever -thought of all that goes into the making of a house, a house -firm on the earth, and honestly built, with well-plumbed walls, -with a good sheltering roof? Think of all that is needed to -build a house: well-squared stones, well-baked bricks, sound -beams, freshly-burned lime, fine, clean sand, cement that has -not lost its strength through age! And then patient, expert -workmen to put each thing in its place, to join the stones perfectly -one by one, not to put too much water or too much sand -in the mortar, to keep the walls damp, to know how to fill in -the chinks, to smooth the rough-cast plaster! All this so that -a house may go up day by day towards heaven, a man’s house, -the house where he will bring his wife, the house where his -children will be born, where he can invite his friends.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But most people think that to make a book it is enough to -have an idea and then to take so many words and put them -together. Not so. A kiln of tiles, a pile of rocks, are not a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>house. To build up a house, to build up a book, to build up a -soul, are undertakings which require all of a man’s power. -The aim of this book is to build up Christian souls because that -seems to the writer at this time in this country an urgent need. -He who has written it cannot now say whether he will succeed -or not. But readers will recognize, he hopes, that it is a real -book and not a collection of scraps, not an assemblage of little -pieces, a book that may be mediocre and mistaken, but which -is constructed: a work built up as well as edifying or building -up; a book with its own plan and its own architecture, a real -house with its atrium and its architraves, with its divisions and -its vaultings—and also with some openings towards heaven and -over the fields.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The author of this book is, or would fain be, an artist, and in -writing it he could not forget his own character. But he declares -here that he has not wished to create a work of Belles -Lettres, or as they say now, of “pure poetry,” because at least -for this time truth is dearer to him than beauty. But if his -powers as a writer, however feeble they may be, as a writer -loving his art, are sufficient to persuade one more soul, he will -be more thankful than ever in his life for the gifts which he has -received. His inclination towards poetry has perhaps been of -use to him in rendering fresher and more vivid the picture of -those things which seem petrified in the usual hieratic consecrated -wording.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The man of imagination sees everything as though it were -new: every great star, wheeling in the night, might lead you to -the house hiding the Son of God; every stable has a manger -which, filled with dry hay and clean straw, might become a -cradle; every bare mountain top flaming with light in the golden -mornings above the still somber valley, might be Sinai or Mt. -Tabor: in the fires in the stubble, or in the charcoal kilns shining -on the evening hills you can see the flame lighted by God to -guide you in the desert; and the column of smoke rising from -the poor man’s hearth shows the road from afar to the returning -laborer. The ass who carries the shepherdess just come -from her milking is the one ridden towards the tents of Israel, -or the one which went down towards Jerusalem for the feast of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span>the Passover. The dove cooing on the edge of the slate roof is -the same that announced the end of the great punishment to -the Patriarch, or the same that descended on the waters of the -Jordan. For the poet everything is of equal value and omnipresent, -and all history is sacred history.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The author begs the pardon of his austere contemporaries if -rather more than is fitting he lets himself go to what is nowadays -disdainfully dubbed eloquence, illegitimate issue of pompous -rhetoric and illegitimate mother of overemphasis and -other dropsical growths of elocution.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He knows very well that eloquence displeases moderns -as bright red cloth displeases the fine city lady, as the organ in -a church displeases minuet dancers, but he has not always succeeded -in dispensing with it. When it is not borrowed declamation, -eloquence is the ardent expression of faith, and in an -era which has no faith there is no place for eloquence. And -yet the life of Jesus is such a drama and such a poem that in -place of the words, worn thread-bare, which have at our disposition, -we should use only those “torn and sentient” words -of which Passavanti speaks. Bossuet, who knew something -about eloquence, once wrote: <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">“Plût à Dieu que nous puissions -détacher de notre parole tout se qui delecte l’esprit, tout ce qui -surprend l’imagination, pour ne laisser que la verité toute -simple, la seule force et l’efficace toute pure du Saint Esprit, -nulle pensée que pour convertir.”</span></p> - -<p class='c006'>Very true, but difficult to achieve.</p> - -<p class='c006'>At times the author of this book would have liked to possess -an eloquence vivid and powerful enough to shake all hearts, an -imagination rich enough to transport the soul by enchantment -into a world of light, of gold and of fire. Yet at other times he -almost regretted that he was too much the artist, too much the -man of letters, too much given to inlaying and chiseling, and -that he did not know how to leave things in their powerful -nudity.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Only when he has finished a book does an author know how -he ought to have written it. When he has set down the last -word, he ought to turn back, begin at the beginning, and do it -all over again with the experience acquired in the work. But -<span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span>who has, I do not say the energy to do this, but even the conception -that it ought to be done.</p> - -<p class='c006'>If on some of its pages this book sounds like a sermon, there -is no great harm done. In these days when for the most part -only women, and an occasional old man, go to listen to the -preaching in churches, where mediocre things are often said in -a mediocre manner, but where more often still, truths are repeated -which ought not to be forgotten, we must think of the -others, of the scholarly men, of “intellectuals,” of the sophisticated, -of those who never enter a church, but sometimes step -into a book-shop. For nothing in the world would they listen -to a friar’s sermon, but they condescend to read it when it -is printed in a book. And let it be said once and for all, this -book is specially written for those who are outside the Church -of Christ; the others, those who have remained within, united -to the heirs of the Apostles, do not need my words.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The author excuses himself for having written a book with -so many, with too many pages, on only one theme. Now that -most books—even his own books—are only bundles of pages -taken out of journals, or short-winded little stories, or short -notes taken from note-books, and generally do not go beyond -two or three hundred pages, to have written more than four -hundred pages on one theme will seem a tremendous presumption. -The book certainly will seem long to modern readers -used to light wafers rather than to substantial home-made -loaves. But books, like days, are long or short, according to -what you put into them. And the author is not so cured of -his pride as to think that this book will remain unread on -account of its length, and he flatters himself that it may be -read with less tedium than other books that are shorter. So -difficult it is to cure oneself of conceit—even for those whose -wish it is to cure others.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>6</h3> -<p class='c005'>Some years ago the author of this book wrote another to describe -the melancholy life of a man who wished for a moment -to become God. Now in the maturity of his years and of his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span>consciousness he has tried to write the life of a God who made -Himself man.</p> - -<p class='c006'>This same writer in those days let his mad and voluble humor -run wild along all the roads of paradox, holding that a consequence -of the negation of everything transcendental was the -need to despoil oneself of any bigotry, even profane and -worldly, to arrive at integral and perfect atheism; and he was -logical as the “black cherubim” of Dante, because there is only -one choice allowed man, the choice between God and nothingness. -When man turns from God there is no valid reason to -uphold the idols of the tribe or any other of the old fetiches of -reason or of passion. In those proud and feverish days he -who writes affronted Christ as few men before him have ever -done. And yet scarcely six years afterwards (but six years of -great travail and devastation without and within his heart), -after long months of agitated meditations, he suddenly interrupted -another work begun many years ago, and almost as if -urged and forced by a power stronger than himself, he began -to write this book about Christ which seems to him insufficient -expiation for his guilt. It has happened often to Christ that He -has been more tenaciously loved by the very men who hated -Him at first. Hate is sometimes only imperfect and unconscious -love: and in any case it is a better foundation for love -than indifference.</p> - -<p class='c006'>How the writer came to discover Christ again, by himself, -treading many roads, which all brought him to the foot of the -Mount of the Gospel, would be too long and too hard a story -to tell. But there is a significance not perhaps wholly personal -and private in the example of a man who always from his childhood -felt a repulsion for all recognized forms of religious faith, -and for all churches, and for all forms of spiritual vassalage -and who passed, with disappointments as deep as the enthusiasms -had been vivid, through many experiences, the most -varied and the most unhackneyed which he could find, who -had consumed in himself the ambitions of an epoch unstable -and restless as few have been, and who after so many wanderings, -ravings and dreamings, drew near to Christ.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He did not turn back to Christ out of weariness, because his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span>return to Christ made life become more difficult and responsibilities -heavier to bear; not through the fears of old age, for -he can still call himself a young man; and not through desire -for worldly fame, because as things go nowadays he would receive -more commendation if he continued in his old ideas. -But this man, turning back to Christ, saw that Christ is betrayed, -and, worse than any affront to Him, that He is being -forgotten. And he felt the impulse to bring Him to mind and -to defend Him.</p> - -<p class='c006'>For not only His enemies have left Him, and despoiled Him; -the very ones who were His disciples when He was alive only -half understood Him, and deserted Him at the end; and many -of those who were born in His church disobey His commands, -care more for His painted pictures than for His living example, -and when they have worn out their lips and knees in -materialistic piety, think they are quits with Him, and that -they have done what He asked of man,—what He still is asking, -what He has been asking desperately and always in vain -for nineteen hundred years.</p> - -<p class='c006'>A story of Christ written to-day is an answer, a necessary -reply, an inevitable conclusion. The balance of modern public -opinion is against Christ. A book about Christ’s life is therefore -a weight thrown into the scales, in order that from the -eternal war between love and hate there may result at least -the equilibrium of justice. And if the author is called a reactionary, -that is nothing to him. The man who is thought to -be behind the times often is a man born too soon. The setting -sun is the same which at that very moment colors the early -morning of a distant country. Christianity is not a piece of -antiquity now assimilated, in as far as it had anything good, -by the wonderful and not-to-be-improved modern consciousness; -but it is for very many something so new that it has not -even yet begun. The world to-day seeks for peace rather than -for liberty, and the only certain peace is found under the yoke -of Christ.</p> - -<p class='c006'>They say that Christ is the prophet of the weak, and on the -contrary He came to give strength to the languishing, and to -raise up those trodden under foot to be higher than kings. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>They say that His is the religion of the sick and of the dying, -and yet He heals the sick and brings the sleeping to life. They -say that He is against life, and yet He conquers death; that He -is the God of sadness, and yet He exhorts His followers to be -joyful and promises an everlasting banquet of joy to His friends. -They say that He introduced sadness and mortification into the -world, and on the contrary when He was alive He ate and -drank, and let His feet and hair be perfumed, and detested -hypocritical fasts, and the penitential mummeries of vanity. -Many have left Him because they never knew Him. This book -is especially for such readers.</p> - -<p class='c006'>This book is written, if you will pardon the mention, by a -Florentine, a son of the only nation which ever chose Christ -for its King. Savonarola first had the idea in 1495, but could -not carry it through. In spite of a threatening siege, it was -taken up in 1527 and approved by a great majority. Over the -door of the Palazzo Vecchio, between Michael Angelo’s David -and Bandinelli’s Hercules, a marble tablet was built into the -wall, with these words:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c008'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Jesus Christus Rex Florentini</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='fss'>POPULI P. DECRETO ELECTUS.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>Although changed by Cosimo, this inscription is still there; -the decree was never formally abrogated and denied, and even -to-day after four hundred years of usurpations, the writer of -this book is proud to call himself a subject and soldier of Christ -the King.</p> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span> - <h2 class='c004'>LIFE OF CHRIST</h2> -</div> -<p class='c005'>Jesus was born in a stable, a real stable, not the bright, airy -portico which Christian painters have created for the -Son of David, as if ashamed that their God should have lain -down in poverty and dirt. And not the modern Christmas-eve -“Holy Stable” either, made of plaster of Paris, with little -candy-like statuettes, the Holy Stable, clean and prettily -painted, with a neat, tidy manger, an ecstatic Ass, a contrite -Ox, and Angels fluttering their wreaths on the roof—this is not -the stable where Jesus was born.</p> - -<p class='c006'>A real stable is the house, the prison of the animals who -work for man. The poor, old stable of Christ’s old, poor country -is only four rough walls, a dirty pavement, a roof of beams -and slate. It is dark, reeking. The only clean thing in it is the -manger where the owner piles the hay and fodder.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Fresh in the clear morning, waving in the wind, sunny, lush, -sweet-scented, the spring meadow was mown. The green grass, -the long, slim blades were cut down by the scythe; and with the -grass the beautiful flowers in full bloom—white, red, yellow, -blue. They withered and dried and took on the one dull color -of hay. Oxen dragged back to the barn the dead plunder of -May and June. And now that grass has become dry hay and -those flowers, still smelling sweet, are there in the Manger to -feed the slaves of man. The animals take it slowly with their -great black lips, and later the flowering fields, changed into -moist dung, return to light on the litter which serves as -bedding.</p> - -<p class='c006'>This is the real stable where Jesus was born. The filthiest -place in the world was the first room of the only Pure Man -ever born of woman. The Son of Man, who was to be devoured -by wild beasts calling themselves men, had as His first cradle -<span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>the manger where the animals chewed the cud of the miraculous -flowers of Spring.</p> - -<p class='c006'>It was not by chance that Christ was born in a stable. What -is the world but an immense stable where men produce filth -and wallow in it? Do they not daily change the most beautiful, -the purest, the most divine things into excrements? Then, -stretching themselves at full length on the piles of manure, they -say they are “enjoying life.” Upon this earthly pig-sty, where -no decorations or perfumes can hide the odor of filth, Jesus -appeared one night, born of a stainless Virgin armed only -with innocence.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE OX AND THE ASS</h3> -<p class='c005'>First to worship Jesus were animals, not men. Among men -He sought out the simple-hearted: among the simple-hearted -He sought out children. Simpler than children, and milder, -the beasts of burden welcomed Him.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Though humble, though servants of beings weaker and -fiercer than they, the ass and the ox had seen multitudes -kneeling before them. Christ’s own people, the people of Jehovah, -the chosen people whom Jehovah had freed from -Egyptian slavery, when their leader left them alone in the -desert to go up and talk with the Eternal, did they not force -Aaron to make them a Golden Calf to worship? In Greece the -ass was sacred to Ares, to Dionysius, to Hyperborean Apollo. -Balaam’s ass, wiser than the prophet, saved him by speaking. -Oxus, King of Persia, put an ass in the temple of Ptha, and -had it worshiped. And Augustus, Christ’s temporal sovereign, -had set up in the temple the brazen statue of an ass, to commemorate -the good omen of his meeting on the eve of Actium -an ass named “The Victorious.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Up to that time the Kings of the earth and the populace -craving material things had bowed before oxen and asses. -But Jesus did not come into the world to reign over the earth, -nor to love material things. He was to bring to an end the -bowing down before beasts, the weakness of Aaron, the -superstition of Augustus. The beasts of Jerusalem will murder -<span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>Him, but in the meantime the beasts of Bethlehem warm Him -with their breath. In later years, when Jesus went up to the -city of death for the Feast of the Passover, He was mounted -on an ass. But He was a greater prophet than Balaam, coming -not to save the Jews alone but all men: and He did not turn -back from His path, no, not though all the mules of Jerusalem -brayed against him.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE SHEPHERDS</h3> -<p class='c005'>After the animals came those who care for animals. Even -if the Angel had not announced the great birth, they would -have gone to the stable to see the son of the stranger woman. -Shepherds live almost always alone and far away. They know -nothing of the distant world, nor of the feast-days of the earth. -They are moved by whatever happens near to them, even if it -is but a little thing.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But as they were watching their flocks in the long winter -night, they were shaken by the light and by the words of the -Angel. “Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great -joy.... Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to -men of good will.” In the dim light of the stable they -saw a beautiful young woman gazing silently at her son. And -as they saw the baby with His eyes just open, His delicate -rosy flesh, His mouth which had not yet eaten, their hearts -softened. The birth of a new man, a soul just become incarnate -taking upon itself to suffer with other souls, is always -a miracle so deep as to move to pity even the simple-hearted -who do not understand it. For the shepherds forewarned, this -new-born child was not just a baby, but He for whom their -suffering race had been waiting, for a thousand years.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The shepherds offered what little they had, that little which -is so great when offered with love. They carried the white -offerings of their craft, milk, cheese, wool, the lamb. Even to-day -in our mountains, where one finds the last dying traces of -hospitality and fraternal feeling, as soon as a wife is delivered -of a child, the sisters, wives and daughters of the shepherds -come hurrying to her; and not one of them empty-handed. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span>One has three or four eggs still warm from the nest, another a -cup of freshly drawn milk, another a little cheese, another a -pullet to make broth for the new mother. A new being has -begun his suffering: the neighbors hasten to carry their offerings -almost as though to console the mother.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Themselves poor the old-time shepherds did not look down -on the poor. Simple as children they loved children. They -came of a race born of the Shepherd of Ur, saved by the Shepherd -of Madian. Their first kings had been shepherds—Saul -and David—shepherds of herds before being shepherds of -tribes. But these shepherds of Bethlehem, “unknown to the -hard world,” were not proud. A poor man was born among -them and they looked on Him with affection and lovingly -brought Him their poor riches. They knew that this boy, -born of poor people in poverty, born of common people in the -midst of common people, was to be the redeemer of the humble, -of those men of good will, on whom the Angel had called -down peace.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE WISE MEN</h3> -<p class='c005'>Some days after this, three wise men came from Chaldea -and knelt before Jesus. They came perhaps from Ecbatana, -perhaps from the shores of the Caspian Sea. Mounted on their -camels with their full-stuffed saddle-bags, they had forded the -Tigris and the Euphrates, crossed the great desert of the nomad -tribes, followed along the Dead Sea. They were guided -to Judea by a new star like the comet which appears every -so often in the sky to announce the birth of a prophet -or the death of a Cæsar. They had come to adore a King, and -they found a nursing baby, poorly swaddled, hidden within a -stable. Almost a thousand years before this, a Queen of the -East had come on a pilgrimage to Judea, and she, too, had carried -gifts, gold, fragrant perfumes and precious stones; but -she had found on the throne the greatest king who had ever -reigned in Jerusalem and from him had learned what no one -else had been able to teach her.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The wise men found no king. They found a new-born -baby, a tiny boy, who could neither ask nor answer questions, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span>a boy who in His maturity was to disdain material treasures, -and the learning which is based on material things.</p> - -<p class='c006'>They were not kings, these wise men, but in Media and -Persia they were the masters of kings. The kings ruled over -the people, but the wise men directed the kings. They alone -could communicate with Alma Mazda, the good God. They -alone knew the future, and Destiny. They killed with their -own hands the enemies of men and of the harvests, snakes, -harmful insects, birds of prey. They purified souls, they purified -the fields. Except from their hands God accepted no sacrifices. -No king began a war without consulting them. Theirs -were the secrets of heaven and earth. In the name of science -and religion they held first rank in the nation. In the midst of -a people sunk in material things they represented the Spirit. -It was fitting that they should come to kneel before Jesus. -After the animals which are Nature, after the Shepherds which -are the common people, this third power which is knowledge -knelt at the manger in Bethlehem. The old priestly caste of -the Orient made its act of submission before the new Lord, who -was to send His Gospel to the west. The learned men knelt -before Him who was to set above the learning of words and -numbers the new wisdom of love.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Symbolizing the old theology bowing before the final revelation, -the wise men at Bethlehem knelt before Innocence: -Wealth prostrated itself at the feet of Poverty.</p> - -<p class='c006'>They offered gold to Jesus: gold which He was to tread under -foot. They offered it not because Mary in her poverty -might need it for the journey, but in anticipation of the command, -“Sell all that thou hast and give it to the poor.” They -offered Him frankincense, not to drown the stench of the stable, -but as a token that their own ritual was ended; that their -altars would need smoke and perfume no longer. They offered -Him myrrh knowing that this boy would die young, and His -mother, smiling now, would need spices to embalm the dead -body.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Kneeling in their pontifical robes upon the bedding of straw, -they, the mighty, the learned, the soothsayers, offered themselves -as pledges of the obedience of the world.</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>Jesus now had received all His rightful investitures. The -wise men had scarcely gone when persecutions were begun by -those who were to hate Him to the day of His death.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>OCTAVIUS AUGUSTUS</h3> -<p class='c005'>When Christ appeared upon the earth, criminals ruled the -world unopposed. He was born subject to two sovereigns, the -stronger far away at Rome, the weaker and wickeder close at -hand in Judea.</p> - -<p class='c006'>One lucky adventurer after wholesale slaughter had seized -the empire, another had murdered his way to the throne of -David and Solomon. Each rose to high position through trickery, -through civil wars, betrayals, cruelty, massacres. They -were born to understand one another, were, as a matter of fact, -friends and accomplices, as far as was possible between a subordinate -rascal and his rascal chief.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Son of the usurer of Velletri, Augustus showed himself cowardly -in war and vindictive in victory, false to his friends, cruel -in reprisals. To a condemned man who begged only for -burial he answered, “That is the business of the vultures.” -To the Perugians begging for mercy during the massacre he -cried, “Moriendum esse!” On a mere suspicion he wanted to -tear out the eyes of the Praetor Quintus Gallius before ordering -his throat cut. Possessed of the empire, with his enemies -crushed and scattered, with the power all in his own hands, he -put on a mask of mildness and of his youthful vices kept only -his lust. It was told of him, that in his youth, he had sold his -body twice, first to Cæsar, and again in Spain to Hirtius for -300,000 sestertia. Now he amused himself with the wives of -his friends, with almost public adulteries, and with posing as -the restorer of morality.</p> - -<p class='c006'>This filthy, sickly man was sovereign of the western world -when Jesus was born, nor did he ever know that One had been -born who would bring the dissolution of all that he had founded. -The facile philosophy of the plump little plagiarist Horace was -enough for him, “To-day let us enjoy wine and love: hopeless -death awaits us: there is not a day to be lost!” In vain Virgil, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>the man of the countryside, friend of woods, of quiet flocks -and golden bees, he who had gone down with Æneas to -see the sufferers in Avernus and poured his restless melancholy -into the music of poetry; in vain Virgil, the loving pious Virgil, -had foretold a new era, a new order and a new race, a kingdom -of heaven less spiritual, less brilliant than that which Jesus was -to announce, but infinitely nobler and purer than the kingdom -of Hell which was then making ready. In vain, because Augustus -saw in these words only a pastoral fancy and perhaps -believed that he, the corrupt master of the corrupt, was the -proclaimed Saviour and restorer of the reign of Saturn.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But his vassal of Judea, his great Oriental client, may have -had a presentiment of the birth of Jesus, of the true King, -who was coming to supplant the king of evil.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>HEROD THE GREAT</h3> -<p class='c005'>Herod was a monster, one of the most perfidious monsters -of the many which have sprung from the burning deserts of -the East. He was not a Jew, nor a Greek, nor a Roman. He -was an Idumean, a barbarian who prostrated himself before -Rome, and aped the Greeks the better to secure his dominion -over the Jews. Son of a traitor, he had usurped the kingdom -of his sovereign from the last unfortunate Hasmonæans. To -legalize his treachery he married their niece, Mariamne. Afterwards, -on a baseless suspicion, he had her killed. It was not his -first crime. He had had his brother-in-law, Aristobulus, -treacherously drowned. He had condemned his other brothers-in-law, -Joseph and Hyrcanus the Second (last of the conquered -dynasty). Not content with having killed Mariamne, he put -her mother, Alexandra, to death as well, and finally, the sons -of Baba, merely because they were distant relatives of the -Hasmonæans. In the meantime he amused himself with burning -alive Juda of Sarafaus and Matthew of Margoloth with -other heads of the Pharisees. Later, afraid that the sons he -had had by Mariamne would wish to avenge their mother, he -had them strangled. Himself at the point of death he gave the -order to kill a third son, Archelaus. Voluptuous, suspicious, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span>impious, greedy of gold and of glory, he never knew peace at -home, in Judea or in his own heart. In order that he might -bury the recollection of his assassinations he gave the Roman -people a present of three hundred talents to spend in festivals. -He humiliated himself before Augustus to make him the accomplice -of his infamies and, dying, left him ten thousand -drachmas and, in addition, a ship of gold and one of silver for -Livia.</p> - -<p class='c006'>This half-civilized Arab attempted to conciliate the Greeks -and the Jews. He succeeded in bribing the degenerate posterity -of Socrates so that in Athens they put up a statue to -him, but the Jews hated him to the day of his death. It did -him no good, in their eyes, to build up Samaria and restore the -temple of Jerusalem. He was always, for them, the heathen -and the usurper.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Apprehensive like all ageing evil-doers, and like all new-made -princes, he shivered at every fluttering leaf, every shifting -shadow. Superstitious like all Orientals, credulous of -presages and soothsayers, he readily believed the three wise -men when they said, that led by a star, they had come from -the interior of Chaldea towards the country which he had -fraudulently stolen. Any pretender to the throne, even a fantastic -one, could make him tremble, and when he knew from -the wise men that a King of Judea was born, his uneasy, barbarian’s -heart gave a great leap of fear. Seeing that the astrologers -did not come back to tell him the place where the -new nephew of David had appeared, he ordered that all the -boy babies of Bethlehem should be killed.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE INNOCENTS</h3> -<p class='c005'>Nobody ever knew how many children were sacrificed to the -terror of Herod. It was not the first time in Judea that even -nursing children had been put to the sword. This same Hebrew -people had punished in the olden times cities of their -enemies by the massacre of the old men, the wives, the young -men and the boys. They saved only the virgins to make them -slaves and concubines. God Himself, the jealous Jehovah, had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span>often given the order for the slaughter, and now the Idumean -applied to the people who had accepted him, the Mosaic law -of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.</p> - -<p class='c006'>We do not know how many of the Innocents there were, but -if we can believe Macrobius we know that among them was a -little son of Herod who was at nurse in Bethlehem. For the -old King, wife-killer and son-killer, who knows but that this -was a form of retribution: who knows but that he suffered when -they brought him news of the mistake? A short time after this -he also was to die, suffering from loathsome disease. His -body began to putrefy while still alive. Worms consumed his -organs. Burnt up with fevers, gasping, he could scarcely draw -his tainted breath. Disgusting to himself, he tried to kill himself -with a knife at table, and finally died, after having given -Salome orders to have many young prisoners killed.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The massacre of the Innocents was the last act of the reeking, -bloody old man. There is a prophetic meaning in this -immolation of the Innocents around the cradle of an Innocent, -this holocaust of blood for a new-born child, a child destined -to offer His blood for the pardon of the guilty, this human -sacrifice for One, who in His turn was to be sacrificed. After -His death thousands and thousands were to die for the sole -crime of having believed in His resurrection. He was born to -die for others and as if to expiate His birth, behold, here are -thousands born who die for Him.</p> - -<p class='c006'>There is a tremendous mystery in this blood-offering of the -pure, in the death of so many of His contemporaries. They -belonged to the generation which was to betray and crucify -Him. But those who were killed by the soldiers of Herod that -day did not see Him, did not grow up to see their Lord killed. -They saved Him with their death, and saved themselves forever. -They were innocent and they remained innocent for all -eternity. Their fathers and their surviving brothers avenged -them later, but they will be pardoned because “they know not -what they do!”</p> -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span> - <h3 class='c007'>THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT</h3> -</div> -<p class='c005'>A Christian poet, an Italian, sang this lullaby to the new-born -Jesus:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c008'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Sleep, baby, do not weep,</div> - <div class='line'>Sleep, heavenly babe.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Over your head, the tempests shall not dare to rage!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>But the son of Mary did not make Himself man in order to -sleep, and the tempests raged, but He was not afraid.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Better than Siddharta, He deserves the name of the Awakened -one. How can He sleep in the stable, where the donkey -brays, precursor of all donkeys who will bray against Him: -where the ox lows, waiting until the other oxen speak at His -presence; where the shepherds question Him; where the wise -men give Him their blessing? How can He sleep when the -shuffling steps of Herod’s assassins draw near? How can He -ever sleep up to that last night when He will agonize under the -olive trees, amid the sleeping bodies of the Eleven?</p> - -<p class='c006'>And Mary cannot sleep. In the evening as soon as the -houses of Bethlehem disappear in the darkness and the first -lamps are lighted, the mother steals away like a fugitive. She -is snatching a life away from the King, she is saving a hope for -the people as she presses upon her breast her man-child, her -hope, her sorrow.</p> - -<p class='c006'>She goes towards the west, she crosses the old land of Canaan -and comes by easy stages—the days are short—to the Nile, to -that country of Mizraim which had cost so many tears to her -ancestors fourteen centuries before.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus, who carried on the work of Moses and at the same -time demolished the work of Moses, goes back over the route -taken by the first redeemer. When the Jews were under the -whip of the Egyptian slaves, oppressed, mistreated, ill-used, -the Shepherd of Median made himself the Shepherd of Israel, -and led his hard-headed people across the desert till they were -in sight of the Jordan and of the miraculous vineyards. The -people of Jesus left Chaldea with Abraham and came with -<span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span>Joseph into Egypt. Moses led them from Egypt toward -Canaan. Now the greatest of the liberators, in danger of his -life, went back to the banks of that river where the first -Saviour had been saved from the water and had saved his -brothers.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Egypt, the rich spawning-bed of all the infamies and all the -magnificences of the first epoch, that African India, where the -waves of history broke and died, where but a few years before, -Pompey and Antony had finished the dream of Empire -and of life, this prodigious country, born of water, burned by -the sun, covered with the blood of many peoples, inhabited by -many animal-gods, this country, paradoxical and supernatural, -was by contrast the predestined asylum for the fugitive.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The wealth of Egypt was in mud, in the rich snake-breeding -mud which the Nile rolled out each year upon the desert. -Death was the obsession of Egypt. The soft, prosperous people -of Egypt would not accept death, denied death, thought -they could conquer death with graven images, with embalmings, -with sculptured representation of flesh-and-blood bodies. -The rich, portly Egyptian, son of mud, adorer of the sacred -bull, and the dog-headed god, could not resign himself to dying. -He manufactured for his second life immense necropolises full -of bandaged and perfumed mummies, of images of wood and -marble, and raised up pyramids over his corpses, as if stone -and mortar might save them from decay.</p> - -<p class='c006'>When Jesus could speak, He was to pronounce the verdict -against Egypt: the Egypt which is not only on the banks of the -Nile, the Egypt which has not yet disappeared from the face of -the earth along with its kings, its sparrow-hawks and its serpents. -Christ was to give the final and eternal answer to the -terror of the Egyptians. He was to condemn the wealth which -comes from mud and returns to mud, and all the fetiches of the -pot-bellied river-dwellers of the Nile, and He was to conquer -death without sculptured tombs, without mortuary kingdoms, -without statues of granite and basalt. His victory over death -is won by teaching that sin is greedier than worms and that -spiritual purity is the only aromatic which preserves from -decay.</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>The worshipers of mud and of animals, the servants of -riches and of the Beast, could not save themselves. Their -tombs, high as mountains though they be, decked out like -queens’ palaces, white and fair to see as those of the Pharisees, -guard only ashes, dust returning again to dust, even as the -dead bodies of animals. Death cannot be conquered by copying -life in wood and stone. Stone crumbles away and turns -to dust, wood rots and turns to dust, and both of them are -mud—eternal mud.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE LOST FOUND</h3> -<p class='c005'>But the exile in Egypt was short. Jesus was brought back, -held in His mother’s arms, rocked throughout the long journey -by the patient step of the ass, to His father’s house in Nazareth, -humble house and shop where the hammer pounded and -the rasp scraped until the setting of the sun.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The canonical gospels say nothing of these years: the Apocrypha -give many details but unworthy of belief. Luke, the -wise doctor, is content to set down that the boy grew and was -strong; that is, that he was not sickly and overworked. He -was a boy developed as he should be: healthy, a bearer of -health, as was fitting in one who was to restore health to others -by the mere touch of His hand.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Every year, says Luke, the parents of Jesus went to Jerusalem -for the feast of unleavened bread in memory of the escape -from Egypt. They went with a crowd of neighbors, friends, -and acquaintances to keep each other company on the journey. -They were cheerful like people going to a festival rather than -to a service in memory of a solemn crisis: for the Passover had -become at Jerusalem a great feast day, when all the Jews scattered -about the Empire came together.</p> - -<p class='c006'>On the twelfth Passover after the birth of Jesus, as the -group from Nazareth was returning from the holy city, Mary -found that her son was not with them. All day long she sought -for Him, asking every acquaintance, but in vain. The next -morning the mother turned back, retraced her steps over the -road and went up and down the streets and open places of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>Jerusalem, fixing her dark eyes on every boy she met, asking -the mothers standing in the open doors, begging her countrymen -not yet gone, to help her find her lost son. A mother who -has lost her son does not rest until she has found him; she -thinks no more of herself, she does not feel weariness, effort, -hunger. She does not shake the dust from her clothes nor arrange -her hair. She cares not for the curious glances of the -passers-by. Her distracted eyes see nothing but the image of -him, who is no longer beside her.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Finally on the third day she came to the Temple, looked -about in the courts, and saw at last in the shadow of a portico -a group of old men talking. She came up timidly, for those -men with long cloaks and long beards seemed people of importance -who would pay no attention to a plain woman -from Galilee, and discovered in the center of the circle the -waving hair, the shining eyes, the tanned face, the fresh lips -of her Jesus. Those old men were talking with her son of the -Law and the Prophets. They were asking Him questions and -He was answering; He put questions to them in His turn and -they marveled at Him, astonished that a boy should know the -words of the Lord so well. But He remembered the books -which He had heard read out in the little Synagogue of Nazareth: -and His memory had retained every syllable.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Mary remained for a few moments gazing at Him, hardly -believing her eyes. Her heart, a moment before beating fast -with fear, was now beating fast with astonishment. But she -could not restrain herself any more and suddenly in a loud voice -called Him by name. The old men took themselves off and the -mother snatched her son to her breast and silently clasped Him -to her, the tears which she had kept back till then raining down -on His face.</p> - -<p class='c006'>She clutched Him, took Him away, and then, certain that -she had Him with her, that she had not lost Him, the happy -mother remembered the despairing mother, “Son, why hast -thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought -thee sorrowing.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be -about my Father’s business?”</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>Weighty words, especially when said by a twelve-year-old -boy to a mother who had sought Him for three long days.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And, the Evangelist goes on, “And they understood not the -saying which he spake unto them.” But after so many centuries -of Christian experience we can understand those words, -which seemed at first sight to be hard and proud.</p> - -<p class='c006'>How is it that ye sought me? Do you not know that I can -never be lost, that I can never be lost by any one, even those -who will bury me under the earth? I will be everywhere where -any one believes in me, even if they do not see me with their -eyes. I cannot be lost from any man, by any man, provided -that he hold me in his heart. I shall not be lost alone in the -desert nor alone on the waters of the lake, nor alone in the garden -of olives, nor alone in the tomb.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“And who is this father of whom you speak to me? He is -the legal father, the human father, but my real Father is in -heaven. He is the Father who spoke to the patriarchs face to -face, who put words into the mouths of the prophets. I know -what He told them of me, His eternal wishes, the laws He has -given to His people, the covenant which He has signed with -all men. If I am to do what He has commanded me, I must -be busy about what is truly His. What is a legal, temporal -tie confronted with a mystic, spiritual and eternal bond?”</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE WOODWORKER</h3> -<p class='c005'>But the hour for really leaving His home had not come for -Jesus. The voice of John had not yet been heard; and with -His father and mother He once more went along the road to -Nazareth and returned to Joseph’s shop to help him in his -trade.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus did not go to school to the Scribes nor to the Greeks. -But He did not lack for teachers. Three teachers He had, -greater than all the learned: work, nature and the Book.</p> - -<p class='c006'>It must never be forgotten that Jesus was a working man -and the adopted son of a working man: that He was born poor, -among people who worked with their hands; before He gave -out His gospel He earned His daily bread with the labor of His -<span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>hands. Those hands which blest the simple-hearted, which -cured the lepers, which gave light to the blind, which brought -the dead to life, those hands which were pierced with nails -upon the cross, were hands which had been bathed with the -sweat of labor, hands which had known the numbness of work, -hands which were callous with work, hands which had held -the tools of work, which had driven nails into wood, the hands -of a working man.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Before being a workman of the spirit, Jesus was a man who -worked with material things. He was poor before He summoned -the poor to His table, to the festival of His Kingdom. -He was not born into a wealthy family, into the house of luxury -on a bed covered with purple and fine linen. Descendant of -kings, He lived in a woodworker’s shop: Son of God He was -born in a stable. He did not belong to the caste of the great, -to the aristocracy of warriors, to the circles of the rich, to the -Sanhedrim of the priests. He was born into the lowest class -of the people, the class which has below it only the vagabonds, -the beggars, the fugitives, the slaves, the criminals, the prostitutes. -When He became no longer a manual worker, He went -down lower yet in the eyes of respectable folk, and sought His -friends in that miserable huddle which is even below the common -people. But until that day when Jesus, before going -down into the Inferno of the dead, went down into the Inferno -of the living, His position was that of a poor working man and -nothing more, in the hierarchy of castes which eternally separates -men.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus’ trade is one of the four oldest and most sacred of -men’s occupations. The trades of the peasant, the mason, the -smith, and the carpenter are, among the manual arts, those most -impregnated with the life of man, the most innocent and the -most religious. The warrior degenerates into a bandit, the -sailor into a pirate, the merchant into an adventurer, but the -peasant, the mason, the smith, the carpenter do not betray, -cannot betray, do not become corrupt. They handle the most -familiar materials, and their task is to transform them visibly -into visible, solid, concrete creations, useful to all men. The -peasant breaks the clod and takes from it the bread eaten by -<span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span>the saint in his grotto and the murderer in his prison; the -mason squares the stone and builds up the house of the poor -man, the house of the king, the house of God. The smith -heats and fashions the iron to give a sword to the soldier, a -plowshare to the peasant, a hammer to the carpenter. The -carpenter saws and nails the wood to construct the door which -protects the house from the thieves, to make the bed on which -thieves and innocent people die.</p> - -<p class='c006'>These plain things, these common, ordinary, usual things, -so usual, common and ordinary that they pass disregarded under -our eyes used to more complicated marvels, are the simplest -creations of man, but more miraculous and essential than -any later inventions.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus, the carpenter, lived in His youth in the midst of these -things, made them with His hands, and for the first time by -means of these things manufactured by Him, entered into communion -with the daily life of men, with the most intimate and -sacred life, home life. He made the table around which it is so -sweet to sit in the evening with one’s friends, even if one of -them is a traitor; the bed whereon man draws his first and -last breath; the chest where the country wife keeps her poor -clothes, her aprons, her handkerchiefs for festivals, and the -starched white shirts for great days. He made the kneading -trough where the flour is put, and the leaven raises it until it -is ready for the oven; and the arm-chair where the old men -sit around the fire of an evening to talk of never-returning -youth.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Often while the thin, light shavings curled up under the steel -of His plane and the sawdust rained down on the ground, Jesus -must have thought of the promises of the Father, of the prophecies -of old time, of what He was to create, not with boards and -rules, but with spirit and truth.</p> - -<p class='c006'>His trade taught Him that to live means to transform dead -and useless things into living and useful things: that the meanest -material fashioned and shaped can become precious, -friendly, useful to men: that the only way to bring salvation -is to transform; and that just as a child’s crib or a wife’s bed -can be made out of a log of olive wood, gnarled, knotty and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span>earthy, so the filthy money-changer and the wretched prostitute -can be transformed into true citizens of the Kingdom of -Heaven.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>FATHERHOOD</h3> -<p class='c005'>In nature where the sun shines on the good and on the bad, -where wheat ripens and grows golden to give bread to Jew and -heathen, where the stars shine on the shepherd’s cabin and the -murderer’s prison; where grape clusters turn purple and swell -to give wine to the wedding banquet and to the orgies of assassins; -where the birds of the air freely singing find their food -without fatigue, where thieving foxes also have their refuge and -the lilies of the field are clad in more splendor than kings, -Jesus found the earthly confirmation of His eternal certainty -that God is not a Master who punishes one day of enjoyment -by a thousand years of reproach, nor a fierce war-like Jehovah -who commands the extermination of enemies, nor a kind of -grand sultan who delights in being served by satraps of high -lineage and keeps close watch that his servants execute to the -last detail the rigorous ritualistic etiquette of that Regia Curia, -which is the Temple.</p> - -<p class='c006'>As a Son, Christ knew that God is Father: Father of all -mankind and not only of the people of Abraham. The love of -a husband is strong but carnal and jealous. The love of a -brother is often poisoned with envy; that of a son stained with -rebellion; that of a friend spotted with deceit; that of a master -swollen with condescending pride; only the love of a father -towards his children is perfect love, pure, disinterested love. -The father does for his son what he would do for no one else. -His son is his creation, flesh of his flesh and of his bone, grown -up by his side day by day, a completion and a complement of -his own being. The old man lives again in the young man. -The past sees itself in the future. He who has lived sacrifices -himself for him who is to live. The father lives in the son, and -feels himself exalted. This child was born to him in a moment -of passion in the arms of the woman chosen from among all -other women, born through the divine anguish of this woman, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span>cared for and preserved by his own tears and sweat. He has -seen him grow up at his feet, he has warmed his cold little -hands between his own, he has heard his first words, eternal -miracle ever new! He has seen his first wavering footsteps on -the floor of his house. Little by little, he has seen a soul shine -out in that body created by him, a new human soul, unique -treasure beyond price! Little by little on that face he has -seen his own features and those of the child’s mother, of that -woman with whom only in this common fruit is he corporeally -identified. A human couple who long to become one body -through love, attain this unity only in a child. In the presence -of this new being, his creation, he feels himself a creator, beneficent, -powerful, happy. Because the son looks to his father -for everything, and in his childhood has faith only in his -father, feels safe only near his father, his father knows that -he must live for him, suffer for him, work for him. A father -is a God on earth for a son, and a son is almost a God for the -father.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In the love of a father there is no trace of a brother’s perfunctory -sense of duty, no trace of a friend’s self-interest and -rivalry, of a lover’s lustful desire, a servant’s pretense of faithfulness.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The love of a father is pure love, the only true love, the only -love rightly to be called love. Purged of any elements foreign -to its essence, it is the happiness of sacrificing oneself for the -happiness of others.</p> - -<p class='c006'>This idea of God as Father, which is one of the great new -ideas of the gospel of Christ, this profoundly renovating idea -that God is Father and loves us as a father loves his children, -not as a king loves his slaves; and gives daily bread to all his -children and has a loving welcome even for those who sin if -only they return to lean their heads upon his breast: this idea -which closes the epoch of the old covenant and marks the beginning -of the new covenant, Jesus found in nature. As Son of -God and one with the Father, He had always been conscious of -this paternity scarcely glimpsed by the most luminous of the -prophets. But now sharing all human experience He saw it reflected -and as it were revealed in the universe and He was to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span>use the most beautiful images of the natural world to transmit -to men the first of His joyful messages.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE COUNTRY</h3> -<p class='c005'>Jesus, like all great souls, loved the country. The sinner -craving purification, the saint moved to prayer, the poet eager -to create, take refuge on the mountains in green shadows, by -the sound of the water, in the midst of fields which perfume -heaven, or on steep desert hills parched by the sun. Jesus -took His language from the country: He hardly ever uses -learned words, abstract conceptions, drab and generalizing -terms. His talk blossoms with colors, is perfumed by odors -of field and of orchard, is peopled by the figures of familiar -animals. He saw in His Galilee the figs swelling and ripening -under the great, dark leaves: He saw the dry tendrils of the -vine greened over with leaves, and from the trellises the white -and purple clusters hanging down for the joy of the vintage; -He saw from the invisible seed, the mustard raise itself up with -its rich light branches, He heard in the night the mournful -rustle of the reeds shaken by the wind along the ditches: He -saw the seed of grain buried in the earth and its resurrection in -the form of a full ear; when the air first began to be warm, He -saw the beautiful red, yellow and purple lilies in the midst of -the tender green of the wheat: He saw the fresh tufts of grass, -luxuriant to-day and to-morrow dried and cast into the oven; -He saw the peaceful animals and the harmful animals, the dove -a little vain of its brilliant neck, cooing of love on the roof, the -eagle swooping down with widespread wings upon its prey; -the swallows of the air which like kings cannot fall if it is not -God’s wish: the crows tearing flesh from carrion with their -beaks; the loving mother-hen calling the chickens under her -wings when the sky darkens and thunders; the treacherous fox, -after its kill, slinking back into its dark lair; and the dogs under -the table of their masters begging for scraps that fall to the -ground. He saw the serpent writhing through the grass and -the dark viper hiding among the scattered stones of the tombs.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Born among the shepherds, He who was to become shepherd -<span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span>of men knew and loved the flocks; the ewes searching for the -lost lamb, the lambs bleating weakly, and sucking, almost hidden -under their mother’s woolly bodies, the flocks sweltering -on the thin hot pastures of their hills; He loved with equal love -the tiny seed which you can scarcely see on the palm of your -hand and the ancient fig tree, casting its shade over the poor -man’s house; the birds of the air which sow not neither do -they reap; the fish silvering the meshes of the nets to feed His -faithful; and raising His eyes in the sultry evenings of gathering -storm, He saw the lightning flashing out of the east and -shattering the darkness of the night, even into the west.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But Jesus did not read only in the open many-colored book -of the world. He knew that God spoke to men through angels, -patriarchs and prophets. His words, His laws, His victories -are written in the Book. Jesus knew the magic black signs by -which the dead pass on to those not yet born, the thoughts and -memories of olden times. Jesus read only the books where -His ancestors had set down the story of His people, the will of -the Lord, the vision of the Prophets, but He knew them in the -letter and spirit better than the scribes and the doctors: and -that knowledge gave Him the right to leave off being scholar -and to become teacher.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE OLD COVENANT</h3> -<p class='c005'>Among all peoples the Jew was the most happy and the most -unhappy. His story is a mystery which begins with the idyl in -the Garden of Eden and ends with the tragedy of the hill of -Golgotha. His first parents were molded by the luminous -hands of God, were made masters of Paradise, the country of -eternal, fertile summer, set in the midst of rivers, where the -rich Oriental fruits hung down ready to their hand, heavy with -pulp in the shade of the new young leaves. The new-created -sky, not yet sullied by clouds, not yet riven by lightning, or -harassed by winds, watched over the first two with all its stars.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The first couple had as their duty to love God and to love -each other. This was the First Covenant. Weariness unknown, -grief unknown, unknown death and its terror! The -<span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span>first disobedience brought the first exile; the man was condemned -to work, the woman to bring forth her young in pain. -Work is painful, but it brings the reward of harvests; to give -birth means suffering, but it brings the consolation of children. -And yet even these inferior and imperfect felicities passed -away like leaves devoured by worms. For the first time -brother killed brother: human blood fallen on the earth became -corrupt, gave forth an exhalation of sin: the daughters -of men united themselves with demons and from them were -born giants, fierce hunters and slayers of men, who turned the -world into a bloody hell.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Then God sent His second punishment: to purify the world -in an exterminating baptism He drowned in the waters of the -flood all men and their crimes. One only, a righteous man, -was saved and with him God signed the Second Covenant.</p> - -<p class='c006'>With Noah there began the happy days of antiquity, the -epoch of the patriarchs, nomad shepherds, centenarians who -wandered between Chaldea and Egypt searching for grazing -lands, for wells, and for peace. They had no fixed country, -no houses, no cities. They brought along in caravans, numerous -as armies, their fruitful wives, their loving sons, their docile -daughters-in-law, their innumerable descendants, obedient -man-servants and maid-servants, goring, bellowing bulls, cows -with hanging udders, playful calves, rams and strong smelling -he-goats, mild sheep laden with wool, great earth-colored -camels, mares with round cruppers, she-goats holding their -heads high and stamping impatiently; and hidden in the saddle-bags, -vases of gold and silver, domestic idols of stone and -metal.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Arrived at their destination, they spread their tents near a -cistern, and the patriarch sat out under the shade of the oaks -and sycamores contemplating the great camp from which rose -up the smoke of the fires, the sound of the bustling steps of the -women and herdsmen, the mooings, the brayings, the bleating -of the animals. And the patriarch’s heart was filled with content -to see all this progeny issued from his seed, all these, his -herds, the human increase and the animal increase multiplying -year by year.</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_42'>42</span>In the evening, he raised his eyes to greet the first punctual -star which shone like white fire on the summit of the hill; and -sometimes his curled white beard shone in the white light of -the moon, which for more than a century he was wont to see -in the sky at night.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Sometimes an angel of the Lord came to visit him, and before -giving the message with which he was charged, ate at his -table. Or, in the heat of the day, the Lord Himself, in the -garb of a pilgrim, came and sat down with the old man in the -shadow of the tent where they talked with each other, face to -face, like two old friends who come together to discuss their -affairs. The head of the tribe, master of the servants, became -a servant in his turn, listened to the commands and counsels -and promises and prophecies of his divine master. And -between Jehovah and Abraham was signed the Third Covenant, -more solemn than the other two.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The son of a patriarch, sold by his brothers as a slave, rises -to power in Egypt, and calls his race to him. The Jews -think that they have found a fatherland and grow great in -numbers and riches. But they allow themselves to be seduced -by the gods of Egypt, and Jehovah prepares the third punishment. -The envious Egyptians reduce them to abject slavery. -That the punishment may be longer, Jehovah hardens the heart -of Pharaoh, but finally raises up the second Saviour, who leads -them forth from their sufferings and from the mud of Egypt.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Their trials are not yet finished: for forty years they wander -in the desert. A pillar of cloud guides them by day and a pillar -of fire by night. God has assured them a Land of Promise, -with rich grazing lands, well-watered, shaded by grape-vines -and olives. But in the meantime they have neither water to -drink nor bread to eat, and they yearn for the flesh-pots of -Egypt. God brings water gushing from a rock; and manna -and quails fall from heaven; but tired and uneasy, the Jews -betray their God, make a calf of gold and worship it. Moses, -saddened like all prophets, misunderstood like all saviours, followed -unwillingly like all discoverers of new lands, falls back -of the restive and rebellious crowd and begs God to let him -lie down forever. But at any cost, Jehovah desires to sign the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span>Fourth Covenant with His people. Moses goes down from the -smoke-capped thundering mountain, with the two tables of -stone whereon the very finger of God has written the Ten -Commandments.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Moses is not to see the Promised Land, the new Paradise -to be reconquered in place of the lost Paradise. But the divine -pledge is kept: Joshua and the other heroes cross the Jordan, -enter into the land of Canaan, and conquer the people; the -cities fall at the breath of their trumpets; Deborah can sing her -song of triumph. The people carry with them the God of battles, -hidden behind the tents, on a cart drawn by oxen. But -the enemies are numerous and have no mind to give way to the -newcomers. The Jews wander here and there, shepherds and -brigands, victorious when they maintain the covenants of the -Law, defeated when they forget them.</p> - -<p class='c006'>A giant with unshorn hair kills, single-handed, thousands of -Philistines and Amalekites, but a woman betrays him; enemies -blind him and set him to turn a mill. Heroes alone are not -enough. Kings are needed. A young man of the tribe of -Benjamin, tall and well-grown, while looking for his father’s -strayed asses, is met by a Prophet who anoints him with the -sacred oil, and makes him king of all the people. Saul becomes -a powerful warrior, overcomes the Ammonites and Amalekites -and founds a military kingdom, dreaded by neighboring tribes. -But the same prophet who made him king, now aroused against -him, raises up a rival. David, the boy shepherd, kills the -king’s giant foe, tempers with his harp the black rages of the -king, is loved by the king’s oldest son, marries the daughter of -the king, is among the king’s captains. But Saul, suspicious -and unbalanced, wishes to kill him. David hides himself in -the caves of the mountains, becomes a robber chief. He goes -into the service of the Philistines, and when they conquer and -kill Saul on the hills of Gilboa, he becomes in his turn king of -all Israel. The bold sheep-tender, great as poet and as king, -yet cruel and lustful, founds his house in Jerusalem, and with -the aid of his gibborim, or body-guard, overcomes and subjugates -the surrounding kingdoms. For the first time, the -Jew is feared: for centuries after this he was to long for the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span>return of David, and to hope for a descendant of David to -save him from his abject subjugation.</p> - -<p class='c006'>David is the King of the sword and of song. Solomon is the -King of gold and of wisdom. Gold is brought to him as a -tribute: he decks with gold the first sumptuous house of Jehovah. -He sends ships to faraway Ophir in search of gold; -the Queen of Sheba lays down sacks of gold at his feet. But -all the splendor of gold and the wisdom of Solomon are not -enough to save the king from impurity and his kingdom from -ruin. He takes strange women to wife and worships strange -gods. The Lord pardons his old age, in memory of his youth, -but at his death the kingdom is divided and the dark and -shameful centuries of the decadence begin. Plots in the palace, -murders of kings, revolts of chiefs, wretched civil wars, periods -of idol-worship followed by passing reforms, fill the period of -the separation. Prophets appear and admonish, but the kings -turn a deaf ear or drive them away. The enemies of Israel -grow more powerful. The Phœnicians, the Egyptians, the Assyrians, -the Babylonians, one after another, invade the two -kingdoms, extort tribute and finally, about 600 years before -the birth of Jesus, Jerusalem is destroyed, the temple of Jehovah -is demolished and the Jews are led as slaves to the rivers -of Babylon. The cup of their infidelity and of their sins runs -over and the same God who liberated them from the slavery -of the Egyptians gives them over as slaves to the Babylonians. -This is the fourth punishment and the most terrible of all because -it is to have no end. From that time on, the Jews were -always to be dispersed among strangers and subject to foreigners. -Some of them were to return to reconstruct Jerusalem -and its temple, but the country, invaded by the Scythians, -tributary to the Persians, conquered by the Greeks, was after -the last attempt of the Maccabeans finally given over to the -hands of a dynasty of Arab barbarians, subject to the Romans.</p> - -<p class='c006'>This race, which for so many years lived rich and free in -the desert, and for a day was master of kingdoms and believed -itself, under the protection of its God, the first people of the -earth, was now reduced in numbers, spurned and commanded -by foreigners, was the laughing-stock of the nations, the Job -<span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span>among peoples. After the death of Jesus, its fate was to be -harder yet: Jerusalem destroyed for the second time: in the -devastated province only Greeks and Romans holding sway, -and the last fragments of Israel scattered over the earth like -dust of the street driven before the sirocco.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Never were people so loved nor so dreadfully chastised by -their God. Chosen to be the first, they were the servants of -the last. Aspiring to have a victorious country of their own, -they were exiles and slaves in other men’s lands.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Although more pastoral than warlike, they never were at -peace either with themselves or with others. They fought with -their neighbors, with their guests, with their leaders. They -fought with their prophets and with their God Himself.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Breeding-ground of corruption, governed by men guilty of -homicide, treachery, adultery, incest, robbery, simony and -idolatry, yet their women gave birth to the most perfect saints -of the Orient, upright, admonishing, solitary prophets; and -finally from this race was born the Father of the new saints, -He who had been awaited by all the Prophets.</p> - -<p class='c006'>This people which created no metaphysics nor science, nor -music, nor sculpture, nor art, nor architecture of its own, wrote -the grandest poetry of antiquity, glowing with sublimity in -the Psalms and in the Prophets, inimitably tender in the stories -of Joseph and Ruth, burning with voluptuous passion in the -Song of Songs.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Grown up in the midst of the cults of local rustic gods, they -conceived the love of God, the one universal Father. Rich in -gold and lands, they could boast in their prophets of the first -defenders of the poor, and they conceived of the negation of -riches. The same people who had cut the throat of human -victims on their altars, and massacred whole cities of guiltless -people, gave disciples to Him who preached love for our enemies. -This people, jealous of their jealous God, always betrayed -Him to run after other gods. Of their temple, three -times built and three times destroyed, nothing remains but a -piece of a wall, barely enough so that a line of mourners may -lean their heads against it to hide their tears.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But this perplexing and contradictory people, superhuman -<span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span>and wretched, the first and the last of all, the happiest and the -most unhappy of all, although it serves other nations, still dominates -other nations with its money and with its Bible. Although -without a country of its own for centuries, it is among -the owners of all countries. Although it crucified its greatest -Son with His blood, it divided the history of the world into two -parts: and the progeny of those god-killers has become the -most infamous but the most sacred of all the peoples.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE PROPHETS</h3> -<p class='c005'>Never was a people so warned as were the Jews, from the -beginning of the temporal kingdom to its dismemberment: in -the great days of the victorious Kings, in the sorrowful days of -exile, in the evil days of slavery, in the tragic days of the dispersion.</p> - -<p class='c006'>India has its ascetics, who hide themselves in the wilderness -to conquer the body and drown the soul in the infinite. China -had its familiar sages, peaceful grandfathers who taught -civic morality to working people and emperors. Greece had -her philosophers, who in their shady porticos contrived harmonious -systems and dialectic pitfalls. Rome had its lawgivers -who recorded on bronze for the peoples and the centuries -the rules of the highest justice attainable to those who command -and possess. The Middle Ages had their preachers, who wore -themselves out in the effort to arouse drowsy Christianity to a -remembrance of the Passion and the terror of Hell. The Jewish -people had the Prophets.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The Prophets did not give forth their prophecies in caves, -spitting out saliva and words together from their tripods. -They spoke of the future, but not merely of the future. They -foretold things not yet happened, but they also brought to -mind the past. They possessed time in its three phases; deciphering -the past, illuminating the present and threatening -the future.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The Jewish Prophet is a voice speaking, or a hand writing, -a voice speaking in the palace of the King or in the caves of -the mountains, on the steps of the Temple and in the precincts -<span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>of the capitol. He is a voice that prays, a prayer that threatens, -a threat that breaks out into divine hope. His heart is -afflicted, his mouth is full of bitterness, his arm is raised, pointing -out punishment to come; he suffers for his people; because -he loves his people, he vituperates them: he punishes them that -they may be purified; and after massacres and flames, he -teaches the resurrection and the life, triumph and blessedness, -the reign of the new David and the Covenant not to be broken.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The Prophet leads the idolater back to the true God, reminds -the perjurer of his oath, recalls charity to the oppressor, -purity to the corrupt, mercy to the fierce, justice to kings, -obedience to rebels, punishment to sinners, humbleness to the -proud. He goes before the king and reproaches him, he goes -down among the dregs of the people and scourges them: he -greets priests with blame; presents himself to the rich and -brings them to confusion. He announces consolation to the -poor, recompense to the afflicted, health to the sick, liberation -to enslaved peoples, the coming of the conqueror to the humiliated -nation.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He is not a king, nor a prince, nor a priest, nor a scribe: he -is only a man, a poor, unarmed man, without investitures and -without followers. He is a solitary voice, a lamenting voice -grieving, a puissant voice howling and calling down shame, a -voice which calls to repentance and promises eternity.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The Prophet is not a philosopher; it matters little to him -whether the world be made of water or of fire, if water and fire -cannot purify men’s souls.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He is a poet, but without will or consciousness that he is, -when the fullness of his indignation and the splendor of his -vision create powerful images which rhetoricians never could -invent. He is not a priest, for he has never been anointed in -the temple by the mercenary guardians of the Book; he is not -a King, for he does not command armed men, and as sword -has only the Word which comes from on high; he is not a soldier, -but he is ready to die for his God and his people.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The prophet is a voice speaking in the name of God; a hand -writing at God’s dictation; he is a messenger sent by God to -warn those wandering from the right path, who have forgotten -<span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span>the Covenant. He is the secretary, the interpreter, and the -delegate of God, and thus superior to the King who does not -obey God, superior to the priest who does not understand God, -to the people who have deserted God to run after idols of wood -and stone!</p> - -<p class='c006'>The Prophet is the man who sees with a troubled heart but -with clear eyes the evil which reigns to-day, the punishment -which will come to-morrow, and the kingdom of happiness -which will follow punishment and repentance.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He speaks in the name of the mute, he is a hand for him -who cannot write, a defender for the people scattered and oppressed, -an advocate for the poor, an avenger for the humble -who cry out under the heel of the powerful. He is not on the -side of those who tyrannize, but of those who are trodden under -foot. He does not seek out the satiated and the greedy, -but the hungry and the wretched.</p> - -<p class='c006'>A troublesome importunate and inopportune voice, hated by -the great, out of favor with the crowd, not always understood -even by his disciples. Like a hyena scenting from far the -stench of carrion, like a raven always croaking out the same -cry, like a hungry wolf howling on the mountain top, the -prophet goes up and down the streets of Israel followed by -suspicion and malediction. Only the poor and the oppressed -bless him; but the poor are weak and the oppressed can only -listen in silence. Like all loud truthtellers, who disturb the -slumbering majority, who unsettle the sordid peace of the masters, -he is avoided like a leper, persecuted like an enemy. -Kings can barely tolerate him, priests regard him as an enemy, -the rich detest him.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Elijah is forced to flee before the wrath of Jezebel, slayer of -prophets; Amos is banished beyond Israel by Amaziah, priest -of Bethel; Isaiah is killed by the order of Manesseh; Urijah -cut down by King Jehoiakim; Zacharias stoned between the -temple and the altar; Jonah thrown into the sea; the sword is -prepared for the neck of John, and the cross is ready from -which Jesus will hang. The Prophet is an accuser, but men -are not willing to admit that they are guilty. He is an intercessor, -but the blind are not willing to be guided by the enlightened. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span>He is an announcer, but the deaf do not hear his -promises. He is a saviour, but men rotting in fatal diseases -delight in their maladies and refuse to be cured. Yet the word -of the Prophets shall be the eternal testimony in favor of this -race which exterminated them but was capable of generating -them. And the death of a prophet, who is more than all the -prophets, shall suffice to expiate the crimes of all the other -peoples who grub about in the dirt of the earth.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>HE WHO WILL COME</h3> -<p class='c005'>In the house at Nazareth Jesus meditates on the Commandments -of the Law, and in the fiery laments of the Prophets He -recognizes His destiny. The promises are insistent like knocking -on obstinately closed doors. They are repeated, reiterated, -never denied, always confirmed. Precise, minute with irrefutable -testimony, they foretell the story. When Jesus at the beginning -of His thirtieth year presents Himself to men as the -Son of Man, He knows what awaits Him, even to the last: -His life to come is already set down day by day in pages written -before His earthly birth.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He knows that God promised Moses a new prophet, “I will -raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto -thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak -unto them all that I shall command him.” God will make a -new covenant with His people. “Not according to the -covenant that I made with their fathers ... but I will put -my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts.... -I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no -more.” A covenant inscribed upon souls and not upon stone; -a covenant of forgiveness and not of punishment!</p> - -<p class='c006'>The Messiah will have a precursor to announce Him. “Behold, -I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way -before me.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the -government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be -called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting -Father, the Prince of Peace.” But the people will be blind to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span>Him and will not listen to Him: “Make the heart of this people -fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes: lest -they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand -with their hearts, and convert, and be healed.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“And he shall be a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence -to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to -the inhabitants of Jerusalem.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>He will not magnify and flaunt Himself: He will not come in -proud triumph, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout -O daughter of Jerusalem, behold thy King cometh unto thee: -he is just and having salvation, lowly and riding upon an ass, -and upon a colt, the foal of an ass.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>He will bring justice and will lift up the unhappy; “... -because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto -the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to -proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison -to them that are bound; ... to comfort all that mourn.” -“The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the -poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. For -the terrible one is brought to naught, and the scorner is consumed, -and all that watch for iniquity are cut off.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears -of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap -as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“I, the Lord, have called thee in righteousness ... to open -the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and -them that sit in darkness from the prison-house.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>But He will be vilified and tortured by the very people He -comes to save: “he hath no form nor comeliness; and when -we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. -He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted -with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; -he was despised and we esteemed him not.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: -yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and -afflicted.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised -for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon -<span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span>him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep -have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; -and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not -his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a -sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his -mouth ... for he was cut off out of the land of the living: -for the transgression of my people was he stricken.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to -grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he -shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure -of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the -travail of his soul and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge -shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their -iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the -great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because -he hath poured out his soul unto death; and he was numbered -with the transgressors; and he bare the sins of many, and -made intercession for the transgressors.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>He will not draw back before the vilest insults. “I gave my -back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off -the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>All will be against Him in the supreme moment. “They -have spoken against me with a lying tongue. They compassed -me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me -without a cause. For my love they are my adversaries.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The son cries to the Father:</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my -dishonor: mine adversaries are all before thee.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: -and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; -and for comforters, but I found none.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they -gave me vinegar to drink.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>They pierce Him with nails and divide His clothes among -themselves.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked -have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span>“... they look and stare upon me. They part my garments -among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Too late they will understand what they have done and will -repent.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“... and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, -and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only -son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness -for his first born.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Yea, all kings shall bow down before him: all nations shall -serve him.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor -also, and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and -needy, and shall save the souls of the needy.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending -unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves -down at the soles of thy feet.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross -darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and -his glory shall be seen upon thee.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the -brightness of thy rising.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather -themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come -from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a -leader and commander to the people. Behold, thou shalt call -a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not -thee shall run into thee because of the Lord thy God.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>These and other words are remembered by Jesus in the vigil -before His departure. He foresees it all and does not turn -away from it. From now on He knows His fate, the ingratitude -of heart, the deafness of His friends, the hatred of the -powerful, the scourgings, the spittings, insults, scoffings, obloquy, -piercing of the hands and feet, tortures and death. He -knows that the Jews, carnal-minded materialists embittered -by humiliation, full of rancor and evil thoughts, are not awaiting -a poor, gentle, despised Messiah. They all, except a few of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span>clear and prophetic vision, are dreaming of a terrestrial Messiah, -an armed King, a second David, a warrior who will shed -real blood, the red blood of enemies, who will rebuild more -splendidly than ever the palace of Solomon and the Temple. -All the kings will bring tribute to Him, not tribute of love and -reverence, but of massy gold and silver coin. This earthly -King will revenge Himself on the enemies of Israel, on those -who make Israel suffer, who hold the people of Israel in slavery. -The slaves will be masters and the masters slaves, and all the -countries of the world will have their capital at Jerusalem and -crowned kings will kneel before the throne of the new king of -Israel. The fields of Israel will be more fertile than all the -others, their pastures richer, their flocks will multiply endlessly, -wheat and barley will be harvested twice a year, the -ears of wheat will be heavier than in the past, and two men -will bend under the weight of a single bunch of grapes. There -will not be enough wine-skins to contain the vintage nor -enough jars to hold all the oil, and honey will be found in the -hollows of the trees and in the hedges of the roads. The -branches of the trees will break under the weight of the fruit, -and the fruit will be pulpy and sweet as it never was before.</p> - -<p class='c006'>This is the Messiah expected by the Jews who surround -Jesus. He knows He cannot give them what they seek, that -He cannot be the victorious warrior and the proud king towering -up among subject kings. He knows that His kingdom -is not of this earth and that He will be able to offer only a -little bread, all His blood and all His love. They will not believe -in Him, will torture Him and will kill Him as a false pretender. -He knows all that. He knows it as if He had seen it -with His eyes and endured it with His body and soul. But He -knows that the seed of His word thrown into the earth among -thistles and thorns, trampled under foot by assassins, will start -into life when spring comes. At first beaten down by the -wind, little by little it will grow, until finally it becomes a tree -stretching its branches up to the sky, covering the earth with -the boughs. And all men can sit round about it, remembering -the death of Him who planted it.</p> -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span> - <h3 class='c007'>THE PROPHET OF FIRE</h3> -</div> -<p class='c005'>While Jesus, in the poor little work-shop at Nazareth, was -handling the ax and the square, a voice was raised in the desert -towards Jordan and the Dead Sea. Last of the Prophets, -John the Baptist called the Jews to repent, announced the approach -of the Kingdom of Heaven, predicted the coming of the -Messiah, reproved the sinners who came to him, and plunged -them into the water of the river, that this outer washing might -be the beginning of an inner purification.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In that dark age of the Herods, old Judea profaned by the -Idumean usurpers, contaminated by Greek infiltration, -scorned by the Roman soldiery; without King, without unity, -without glory; already half dispersed throughout the world; -betrayed by their own priests; always remembering the grandeur -of their earthly kingdom of a thousand years ago; always -obstinately hoping for a great vengeance, for a miraculous -resurrection, for a return of victory in a triumph of its God, in -the coming of a Saviour, of a liberator, of an anointed one who -should reign in a new Jerusalem stronger and more beautiful -than that of Solomon, and from Jerusalem dominate all the -peoples, overcome all other monarchs, conquer all empires and -bring happiness to its nation and to all men,—old Judea hating -its masters, robbed by the publicans, plagued by the mercenary -scribes and by the hypocritical Pharisees, old Judea divided, -humiliated, plundered and yet in spite of all its shame full of -faith for the future, willingly lent an ear to the voice of the -desert, and hastened to the banks of the Jordan.</p> - -<p class='c006'>John’s figure was one to conquer the imagination. A child -sprung by a miracle from parents of great age, he was set apart -from his birth to be Nazir—pure. He had never cut his hair, -had never tasted wine or cider, had never touched a woman -nor known any love except that for God. While he was still -young, he had left his parents’ home and buried himself in the -desert. There he lived for many years alone, without a house, -without a tent, without servants, with nothing of his own except -what he had on his back. Wrapped in his camel’s skin, -his flanks girt by a leather belt, tall, bony, baked by the sun, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span>his chest hairy, his hair hanging long on his shoulders, his long -beard almost covering his face, his piercing eyes flashed like -lightning from under his busy eyebrows when from his mouth -hidden by his beard burst out the tremendous words of his -maledictions.</p> - -<p class='c006'>This hypnotic wild man, solitary as a Yogi, despising pleasure -like a stoic, seemed to those whom he baptized the last -hope of a despairing people.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus heard the people talk of those “washed ones” who returned -from Jordan and took up their former lives, as in the -morning a garment is resumed which was thrown away with relief -the evening before; and He understood that His day grew -near. He was now in His thirtieth year, the right and destined -age. Before he is thirty, a man is only a sketch, an approximation, -dominated by the common sentiments and common -loves of all. He does not know men well, and hence cannot -love them with that love, sweet with compassion, with which -they should be loved. And without knowing them or knowing -how to love them, he cannot speak with authority, cannot make -himself heard, has not the power of saving them.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE FIRST ANNUNCIATION</h3> -<p class='c005'>The desert sun burned John’s body and his fiery longing -for the Kingdom burned like a flame in his soul. He was the -foreteller of fire. He saw in the Messiah, soon to appear, the -master of flame. The New King will be a fierce husbandman. -Every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down -and cast into the fire. He will thoroughly purge His floor and -gather His wheat into the garner, but He will burn up the chaff -with unquenchable fire. He will be a baptizer who will baptize -with fire.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Rigid, wrathful, harsh, shaggy, quick to insult, impatient -and impetuous, John was not gentle with those who came to -him. He took no satisfaction in having drawn them to take -this first step towards repentance. When Pharisees and Sadducees, -notable men, learned in the Scriptures, esteemed by the -crowd, of authority in the temple came to be baptized, he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span>shamed them more than the others. “O generation of vipers, -who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring -forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: And think not to -say within yourselves, We have Abraham for our father: for -I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up -children unto Abraham.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>You who lock yourselves up into houses of stone as vipers -hide themselves under the rocks, you Pharisees and Sadducees, -are harder than stone: your minds are petrified in the letter -and the rites of the law: your selfish hearts are stony: to the -hungry who ask bread of you, you give a stone, and you -throw the stone at him who has sinned less than you. You -Pharisees and Sadducees, you are haughty statues of stone -which only fire can conquer, since water poured over you is -quickly dried up. But God, who from a handful of earth made -Adam, could make from stones from the shore, with rocks from -the cliff, other men, other living beings, other sons for Himself. -He could change granite into flesh and soul, while you have -changed soul and flesh into granite. It is not enough therefore -to bathe in the Jordan. That ablution is holy and salutary. -Change your life, do the opposite of what you have done until -now, if you do not wish to be burned up by Him, who will baptize -by fire. “And the people asked him, saying, What shall we -do then? He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath -two coats, let him impart to him that hath none, and he that -hath meat, let him do likewise.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Then came also publicans to be baptized and said unto him, -Master, what shall we do? And he said unto them, Exact -no more than that which is appointed you.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And -what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no -man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your -wages.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Compelling, almost superhuman when he announced the terrible -separation of the good from the bad, John becomes commonplace -when he descends to particulars and falls, one might -say, exactly into the Pharisean tradition. His only advice is -to give alms, to give away the superfluous. From the publicans -<span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>he asks only strict justice: let them take what has been allotted -and nothing more. To the fierce, thieving tribe of soldiers, he -recommends only discretion! “Be satisfied with your pay and -do not rob.” This is nothing more or less than the Mosaic law. -Long before him, Amos and Isaiah had gone further.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Now is the time for the accuser of the Dead Sea to give way -to the liberator of the Sea of Tiberias. The lot of precursors -is hard: they know, but are not permitted to see; they arrive -on the banks of the Jordan, but do not enjoy the promised -land; they make plain the path for him who comes after them, -but will pass beyond them. They prepare the throne and do -not seat themselves on it. They are servants of the master -whom often they do not meet face to face. Perhaps the fierceness -of John is justified by this consciousness of being an ambassador -and nothing more. A consciousness which is never -envious, but which leaves a tinge of sadness, even in his humility. -They came from Jerusalem to ask him who he was, -“What then? Art thou Elias?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“No. I am not.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Art thou that Prophet?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“And he answered, No.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Art thou the Christ?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“No.... He said, I am the voice of one crying in the -wilderness.... He it is, who coming after me is preferred -before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to -unloose.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>At Nazareth, in the meantime, an unknown working man -was lacing up His shoes with His own hands to go out to the -wilderness, resounding with the voice which three times had -thundered, “No.”</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE VIGIL</h3> -<p class='c005'>John called sinners to wash in the river before repenting. -Jesus presented Himself to John to be baptized. Did He then -acknowledge Himself a sinner?</p> - -<p class='c006'>The texts are explicit: the prophet preached the baptism of -repentance in remission of sins. He who went to him acknowledged -<span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span>himself a sinner; he who goes to wash, feels himself -polluted.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The fact that we know nothing of the life of Jesus from His -twelfth to His thirtieth year, exactly the years of fallible -adolescence, of hot-blooded youth, has given rise to the idea -that He was in that period, or at least held Himself to have -been, a sinner like other men. The three remaining years of -His life are the most brightly lighted by the words of the -four Gospels because in thinking of the dead, what we most -vividly remember are their words and deeds during the last -days of their lives. Nothing of what we know of those three -years gives any indication of this supposed existence of sin in -Christ’s life between the innocence of its beginning and the -glory of its ending.</p> - -<p class='c006'>There is not even the appearance of a conversion in Christ’s -life. His first words have the same accent as the last. The -spring from which they run is clear from the first day; there -is no muddy sediment of evil. He begins with frank absolute -certainty, with the recognizable authority of purity. You can -feel that He has left nothing turbid back of Him. His voice -is clear and limpid, a melodious song not roughened by the -sour lees of voluptuous pleasure, or by the hoarseness of repentance. -The transparent serenity of His look, of His smile -and of His thought is not the calm which comes after the -clouds of the tempest, or the uncertain whiteness of the dawn -which slowly conquers the malign shadow of the night: it is -the clearness of Him who was born only once, and remained -a youth even into His maturity: the limpidity, the transparency, -the tranquillity, the peace of a day which ends in night, -but is not darkened until evening: eternal day, childhood -intact and untarnished until death.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He goes about among the impure with the natural simplicity -of the poor among sinners, with the natural strength of the -sound man among the sick, with the natural boldness of health. -On the other hand, the man who has been converted is always -at the back of his mind a little troubled. A single drop of bitterness, -a light shadow of impurity, a fleeting suggestion of -temptation is enough to drive him back into anguish. He -<span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span>always feels a doubt that he may not have rid himself wholly -of the old Adam, that he may not have wholly destroyed but -only stunned the Other, who lived in his body. He has paid -so much for his salvation, and it seems to him so precious but -so frail, that he is always afraid of putting it into jeopardy or -of losing it. He does not shun sinners, but he approaches them -with an involuntary shudder, with a scarcely confessed fear of -fresh contagion, a dread lest the sight of the vileness where he -also took delight will renew unbearably the recollection of his -shame, will drive him to despair of his ultimate salvation. -When a servant becomes a master he is never on familiar -terms with his servants. When a poor man becomes rich he -is not generous with the poor. A converted sinner is not always -a friend of sinners. That remnant of pride which sticks -fast in the hearts even of saints mingles with his compassion. -Why do sinners not do what he has done? The way is open -to all, even to the wickedest, the most hardened: the prize is -great, why do they remain down there, plunged in black Hell?</p> - -<p class='c006'>And when the converted sinner speaks to his brothers to convert -them, he cannot refrain from dwelling on his own experience, -his fall, his liberation. It may be only that he wishes to -be helpful, rather than to vaunt himself, but in any case he is -always eager to point to himself as a living and present example -of the sweetness of salvation.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The past can be renounced, but not destroyed. It reveals -itself almost unconsciously in the very men who begin life with -a second birth of repentance. In the story of Jesus no sign of -a different way of life before conversion ever shows itself in -any allusion or in any implicit meaning, is not recognizable in -the smallest of His acts, in the most obscure of His words. -His love for sinners has nothing of the feverish obstinacy of -the proselytizing penitent. It is a natural love, not a dutiful -love. It is brotherly love without any implications of reproach, -spontaneous friendly fraternity needing to make no -effort to overcome repugnance. It is the attraction towards the -impure of the pure who has no fear of being soiled and knows -that He can cleanse—disinterested love—love felt by the -saints in the supreme moments of their holiness—love beside -<span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span>which all other love seems vulgar—such love as no man saw -before Jesus! Love which is rarely found again, and only in -memory and in imitation of His love—love which will always -be called Christian, and by any other name—never! Divine -love—Christ’s love! Love!</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus came among the sinners, but He was no sinner. He -came to bathe in the water running before John, but He had -no inner stain. The soul of Jesus was that of a child, so childlike -as to outdo sages in wisdom and saints in sanctity.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He was no rigorous Puritan. He never felt the terror of -the morally shipwrecked man barely saved from destruction. -He was no overscrupulous Pharisee. He knew what was sin -and what was right and He did not lose the spirit in the labyrinth -of the letter. He knew life; He did not refuse life which -though not a good in itself is a prerequisite condition of all good -things. Eating and drinking are not wrong, nor looking at -people, nor sending a friendly look to the thief lurking in the -shade, nor to the woman who has colored her lips to hide the -traces of unasked kisses.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE BAPTISM</h3> -<p class='c005'>And yet Jesus came in the midst of a crowd of sinners to -immerse Himself in the Jordan. The problem is not mysterious -for him who sees something beyond the most familiar -meaning in the rite reinstituted by John. The case of Jesus is -unique. The baptism of Jesus is like others superficially, but -is justified in other ways. Baptism is not only a washing of -the flesh as a symbol of the will to cleanse the soul, a remnant -of the primitive analogy of water which washed away material -stains and can wash away spiritual stains. This physical metaphor -is useful to the symbolism of the crowd, is a necessary -ceremony for the carnal eye of the many who need a material -help to believe in the immaterial. But it was not made for -Jesus.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He went to John that the prophecy of the precursor might -be fulfilled. His kneeling down before the prophet of fire was -a recognition of John’s quality of true announcer, of his worth -<span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span>as a loyal ambassador who has done his duty who can say now -that his work is finished. Jesus submitting Himself to this -symbolical investiture really invests John with the legitimate -title of precursor.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus, about to begin a new epoch of His life, His true life, -bore witness by His immersion in water to His willingness to -die, but at the same time to His certainty that He would rise -again. He did not go down to the Jordan to cleanse Himself, -but to show that His second life was beginning and that He -will not die, but only seem to die, just as He only seemed to be -purified by the waters of the Jordan.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE DESERT</h3> -<p class='c005'>As soon as Jesus emerged from the water He went into the -desert. From the multitude to solitude! Until then He had -lived among the waters and the fields of Galilee and in the -green meadows along the Jordan. Now He went up on the -rocky mountains whence no springs arise, where no seed -sprouts, where the only living creatures are snakes. Until -then He had lived among the working men of Nazareth, among -John’s penitents; now He goes up on the solitary mountains -where no human face is seen, where no human voice is heard. -The New Man puts the desert between himself and humanity.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The person who says, “woe to the solitary!” only gives the -measure of his own cowardice. Society is a sacrifice, meritorious -in proportion to its hardness. For those rich in soul, solitude -is a prize and not an expiation, a period of sure value, a -time when inner beauty is created, a reconciliation with the -absent. Only in solitude do we live with our peers, with those -solitary souls who think the great-hearted thoughts which console -us in the absence of other consolations.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The people who cannot endure solitude are the mediocre and -the mean. They have nothing to offer, they are afraid of themselves, -of their own emptiness. They are condemned to the -eternal solitude of their own minds, a desolate inner desert -where the poisonous plants of waste lands are the only things -to grow. They are restless, unquiet, dejected when they cannot -<span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span>forget themselves in others, deafen themselves with the -words of others. They delude themselves with the factitious -life of others who are in their turn deluded by it. They cannot -live without mingling, a passive atom, in the streams which -overflow every morning from the sewers of the cities.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus lived among men and He was to return among men -because He loved them. But in the years to come He often -hid Himself, to be alone, far even from His disciples. To love -men, you need from time to time to depart from them: far -from them, we draw near to them. The small soul remembers -only the evil they have done him. His night is restless with -bitterness and his mouth poisoned with anger. The great soul -remembers benefits alone, and thankful for a few good deeds, -forgets the great evils he has endured. Even those which were -not pardoned at the moment are blotted out from his heart, -and having renewed his original love for his brothers, he goes -back to men.</p> - -<p class='c006'>For Jesus these forty days of solitude are the last of His -preparation. For forty years the Jewish people (prophetic -symbol of Christ) wandered in the desert before entering -into the kingdom promised by God. For forty days Moses remained -close to God to hear His laws; for forty days Elijah -wandered in the desert fleeing the vengeance of the wicked -queen.</p> - -<p class='c006'>So also the time allotted to the new liberator before announcing -the promised kingdom was forty days of close communion -with God to receive the supreme inspiration. But even in the -desert He was not to be entirely alone: about Him throughout -the vigil will be animals and angels; beings inferior to man -and beings superior; those who pull man down and those who -lift him up; beings all matter, beings all spirit.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Born an animal, man struggles to become an angel. He is -matter changing by slow transmutation into spirit. If the -animal gets the upper hand, man descends below the level of the -beasts because he puts the remnants of his intelligence at the -service of bestiality: if the angel conquers, man becomes the -equal of angels, and instead of being a mere soldier in the -army of God, partakes of divinity itself. But the fallen angel -<span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span>condemned to wear the form of a beast is the astute and tenacious -enemy of all men who wish to climb that height from -which he was cast down. Jesus is the enemy of the material -world, of the bestial life of the many. He was born into the -world in order that beasts should become men, and men become -angels. He was born to change the world and to conquer -it, to fight with the king of the world, that enemy of God and -of men, the malign, the suborner, the seducer. He was born to -drive Satan from the earth as His father drove him from -Heaven.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Therefore at the end of the forty days, Satan came into the -desert to tempt his enemy.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE ADVERSARY</h3> -<p class='c005'>Our slavery to matter is branded on our lives by the daily -need of our bodies for food, and Jesus wished to conquer our -slavery to matter. Whenever He shared human lives, He consented -to eat and drink, because His friends did, because it is -right to give to the flesh that which belongs to the flesh, and -finally as a visible protest against the hypocritical fasts of the -Pharisees. The last act of His earthly mission was a supper, -but the first after His baptism was a fast. Alone where His -abstinence could not shame His simple-hearted companions, -where it could not be confused with ostentatious piety, He forgot -to eat.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But after forty days He was hungry. Satan, tenacious and -invisible, was waiting for this moment of material need, and -seized on it. The Adversary spoke: “If thou be the Son of -God command this stone that it be made bread.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The reproof was prompt: “It is written that man shall not -live by bread alone, but by every word of God.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Satan did not admit a defeat, and from the top of a mountain -showed Him all the kingdoms of the earth: “All this power -will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered -unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore -wilt adore me, all shall be thine.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And Jesus answered, “Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is -<span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span>written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only -shalt thou serve.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Then Satan took Him to Jerusalem and set Him on the pinnacle -of the Temple, “If thou be the Son of God cast thyself -down from hence.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>But Jesus answered quickly: “It is written; thou shalt not -tempt the Lord thy God.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“And when the Devil had completed every temptation,” -Luke goes on, “he departed from him for a season.” We -shall see his return and his last effort.</p> - -<p class='c006'>This dialogue seems at first sight only a bandying about of -Scriptural texts. Satan and Jesus do not use their own words, -but compete by means of quotations from the Scriptures. We -seem to be listening to a theological dispute; but as a matter -of fact it is the first Parable of the Gospels acted out and not -put into words.</p> - -<p class='c006'>It is not surprising that Satan should have come with the -absurd hope of causing Jesus to fall. It is not surprising that -Jesus since He was a man should have undergone temptation. -Satan only tempts the great and pure. To the others he does -not need even to murmur a word of invitation. They are -already his, from their childhood on. He need give himself -no trouble to win their allegiance, they are in his arms before -he summons them. And yet many of them do not know that -he exists. He never has presented himself to them because -they obey him from a distance. Thus, not having known -him, they are ready to deny him. The devil’s cohorts do not -believe in the devil. It was said of old that the devil’s shrewdest -ruse was to spread abroad the rumor of his death. He -takes all forms, so beautiful sometimes that no one recognizes -him. The Greeks, for instance, marvels of intelligence and -elegance, had no place for Satan in their mythology, because -all their Gods, when closely examined, show the horns of Satan -under their crowns of laurel and grape leaves. Satanical is -tyrannical and lustful Jove, adulterous Venus, Apollo the -flayer, murderous Mars, drunken Dionysius. They were so -astute, the gods of Greece, that they gave the people love-potions -<span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>and distilled perfumes to keep them from detecting the -stench of the evil that consumes the world.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But if many do not know him and laugh at him as at a -specter invented in church for the needs of penitents, there are -some who cry out upon those who know him but do not follow -him. He seduced the innocence of the first two created beings, -he suborned David the strong, corrupted Solomon the wise, -accused Job the righteous before the throne of God. Satan -tempts and always will tempt all the saints who hide themselves -in the desert, all those who love God. The more we -go away from him the closer he is; the higher we are, the more -he rages to bring us low; he can soil only that which is clean -and he gives no care to the filth which spontaneously -ferments under the hot breath of animality. To be tempted -by Satan is a proof of purity, a sign of greatness, and shows a -man that he is on the upward path. He who has known Satan -and has seen him face to face, may well have hope for himself. -More than any other, Jesus merited this consecration. -Satan challenged Him twice and tempted Him once. He asked -Him to transform dead matter into matter that gives life and -to cast Himself down from a height so that God by saving -Him should proclaim Him as His true son. He offered Him -the possession and the glory of earthly kingdoms on condition -that instead of serving God Jesus should promise to serve the -Demon. He asks material bread and a material miracle of -Him and promises Him material power. Jesus does not take -up the challenge and refuses what is offered.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He is not the fleshly, temporal Messiah, desired by the -Jewish crowd, the material Messiah such as the Tempter in -his baseness imagines Him. He did not come to bring food to -bodies but food to souls,—truth, that living food. When His -brothers, far from home, lack bread enough for their hunger, -He will break the few loaves which His disciples bring and all -will have enough and they will fill baskets with the remnants. -But except in cases of necessity He will not be the distributor -of that bread which comes from the earth and returns to earth. -If He should change the stones of the street into bread, every -<span class='pageno' id='Page_66'>66</span>one would follow Him through love of his own body and -would pretend to believe everything He said. Even the dogs -would come to His banquet. But this He does not wish. Those -who follow Him must believe in His word in spite of hunger, -grief and poverty. Thus those who wish to follow Him must -leave behind them fertile fields, they must leave behind them -money which can be changed into bread. They must go with -Him without knapsack or payment, with one garment, and -live like the birds of the air, husking ears of grain in the fields, -or begging alms at house doors. One can live without terrestrial -bread: a fig left on the tree among the leaves, a fish drawn -from the lake can take the place of bread. But no man can -live without heavenly bread, if he wishes to escape eternal -death, which is the portion of those who have never tasted it. -Man does not live by bread alone, but by love, fervor, and -truth. Jesus is ready to transform the Kingdom of Earth into -the Kingdom of Heaven, furious bestiality into happy sanctity, -but He does not deign to transform stones into bread, matter -into other matter.</p> - -<p class='c006'>For similar reasons Jesus refused the other challenge. Men -love the wonderful, the visibly wonderful, the prodigy, the -physical impossibility made possible before their eyes. They -hunger and thirst after portents. They are ready to prostrate -themselves before the wonder-worker even if he is an evil man -or a charlatan. From Jesus they all asked for a Sign, meaning -by that, a gigantic juggling feat; but He always refused. He -did not wish to persuade by means of the miraculous. He -consented to cure the sick—especially those sick in spirit and -sinners—but He often avoided the occasion even for these -miracles, and He begged those cured not to speak the name of -their healer. And He never used this power for His own -safety, not even at Gethsemane when Satan tempted Him to -put away the cup of death from His lips, nor when He was -nailed to the cross and Satan repeated his challenge by the -mouth of the Jews. “If thou art the Son of God, come down -from the cross and save thyself.” In the night of His vigil -and in the high noon of His death, He resisted Satan and had -recourse to no miracle to save Himself. Men must believe -<span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span>Him in spite of all contrary evidence, believe in His divinity -even when confronted with what seems His common humanity. -It is no fit deed for Jesus needlessly to throw Himself down -from the Temple; to bring an end to the pain of another with -the sole purpose of conquering men, and fascinating them with -wonder and terror; to put God to a test, to force Him as it -were, to accomplish a rash and superfluous miracle, only in -order that Satan may not win the infamous wager founded -on sarcasm and on arrogance. Loving, it is to human hearts -He wishes to speak; sublime in character, He wishes to bring -sublimity into human lives; a pure spirit, He wishes to purify -other spirits; deep-hearted, to light the flame of love in others; -a great spirit, to bring greatness to little, mean, neglected souls. -Instead of throwing Himself like a vulgar magician from the -precipice which is below the Temple, He will go up from the -Temple upon the Mount to give out from on high the beatitudes -of the Kingdom of Heaven.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The offer of the Kingdoms of the Earth must have been -horrible to Him, and still more the price that Satan asked. -Satan has the right to offer what is his. The Kingdoms of the -Earth are founded on force and maintained with deceit. They -are Satan’s own country, they are his Paradise regained. -Satan sleeps every night on the pillows of the powerful. They -pay material tribute to him, and give him daily offerings in -thought and deed. But Jesus could have taken away their -Kingdoms from the Kings without bending knee to the Adversary. -He had only to offer men bread without work. If -like a juggling mountebank He had opened a public theater of -popular miracles, the multitude would have acclaimed Him. -Had He wished to seem the Messiah for whom the Jews had -been longing during their dreary slavery, He could have corrupted -them with plenty and with marvels, He could have made -of every land a country of grace and enchantment and He -could have occupied at once every seat of the procurators of -Satan.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But Jesus does not wish to be the restorer of the fallen kingdom, -the conqueror of hostile empires. Authority is of little -importance to Him and glory still less. The Kingdom which -<span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span>He announces and prepares has nothing in common with the -Kingdoms of the Earth. His Kingdom is destined rather to -bring to naught the Kingdoms of the Earth. The Kingdom of -Heaven is in us. Any day when a soul has turned to righteousness -the Kingdom of Heaven is enlarged because it has acquired -a new citizen, snatched from the Kingdom of Earth. -When every one is good and righteous, when all love their -brothers as fathers love their sons, when even enemies love one -another (if there still are enemies), when no one thinks of -amassing treasure, and instead of taking away from others, -every one gives bread to the hungry and clothing to those who -are cold,—where on that day will be the Kingdom of the -Earth? Where will be the need for soldiers when no one -wishes to enlarge his own land by stealing that of his neighbor? -What need will there be for Kings when every one has his law -in his conscience and when there are no armies to command -nor judges to select? What need will there be for money and -for tribute when every one is sure of his living and satisfied -with it, and there are no wages to be paid to soldiers and servants? -When every one’s soul is transformed, those so-called -foundations of life which are named Society, Country and Justice -will vanish like the hallucinations of a long night. The -word of Christ needs neither money nor armies. And if it -really becomes the universal life of the conscience, everything -that binds and blinds men, necessary unjust power, the criminal -glory of battles, will fall like morning mists before sunlight -and wind. The Kingdom of Heaven within is One and it will -take the place of the Kingdoms of Earth, which are many. The -liberated spirit will scarcely remember despotic matter. Men -will no longer be divided into Kings and subjects, masters and -slaves, rich and poor, the arrogantly virtuous, the humble -sinners, free and prisoners. The sun of God will shine on all, -the citizens of the Kingdom will be one family of fathers -and brothers and the gates of Paradise will be open again to -the sons of Adam become as gods.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus conquered Satan in Himself and now came out of the -desert to conquer him among men.</p> -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span> - <h3 class='c007'>THE RETURN</h3> -</div> -<p class='c005'>As soon as Jesus came again among men, He learned that -the Tetrarch (second husband of Herodias) had imprisoned -John in the fortress of Machaerus. The voice crying in the -wilderness was stilled and pilgrims to the Jordan saw no more -the long shadow of the wild Baptizer fall across the water.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He had done his work and was now to give way to a more -powerful voice. John waited in the blackness of the prison -until his bloody head was carried on a golden platter to the -banquet—almost the last dish served to that evil woman, betrayer -of men.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Now Jesus understands that His day is at hand, and crossing -Samaria He returns into Galilee to announce at once the coming -of the Kingdom. He does not go to Jerusalem, the city of the -great king, the capital. Jesus comes to destroy that Jerusalem -of stone and arrogance, proud on its three hills, hard of heart -like the stones. The men whom Jesus comes to combat are -precisely those who glory in great cities, in the capitals, in the -Jerusalems of the world.</p> - -<p class='c006'>At Jerusalem live the powerful of the world, the Romans, -masters of the world and of Judea, with their soldiers in arms. -Jerusalem is ruled by the representatives of the Cæsars; of -Tiberius, the drunken assassin, the perfidious heir of Augustus, -the hypocritical voluptuary, and of Julius the adulterous -spendthrift. At Jerusalem live the High Priests, the old custodians -of the Temple, the Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, the -Levites and their guards, the descendants of those who pursued -and killed the prophets, the petrifiers of the Law, the -bigots of the letter, the haughty depositories of arid fanaticism. -At Jerusalem are the treasurers of God, the treasurers of -Cæsar, the guardians of the treasure, the lovers of wealth; the -Publicans with their excisemen and parasites, the rich with -their servants and their concubines, the merchants with their -crowded shops; money bags clinking with shekels in the -warmth of the bosom above the heart.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus comes to combat all these. He comes to conquer the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span>masters of the earth—the earth which belongs to all; to confound -the masters of the word—the word which should be -spoken freely wherever God wishes; to condemn the masters -of gold, base, perishable and fatal element. He comes to overthrow -the kingdom of the soldiers of Rome who oppress -bodies; the kingdom of the priests of the Temple who oppress -souls; the kingdom of the heapers-up of money who oppress -the poor. He comes to save bodies, souls, the poor; He -teaches liberty, in opposition to Rome; setting at naught the -doctrines of the Temple, He teaches love; He teaches poverty -against all the ideals of the rich.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He does not wish to begin His message in Jerusalem where -His enemies, gathered together, are the strongest. He wishes -to surround the city, take it from the outside, arrive there -later with a following behind Him, when already the Kingdom -of Heaven has begun slowly to lay siege to it. The Conquest -of Jerusalem will be the last test, the supreme trial, the great -battle, the tremendous battle between the greater than the -Prophets and Jerusalem, slayer of Prophets. If He should go -to Jerusalem now (where He will enter presently as a king and -whence He will be buried as a criminal) He would be taken -prisoner at once and would not be able to sow His word on -less ungrateful, less stony soil.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jerusalem like all capitals—great sewers to which flow the -refuse, the outcasts, the rubbish of the nations—is inhabited -by a mob of frivolous, elegant, idle, skeptical and indifferent -people, by a ceremonious patrician class who have kept only -the tradition of ritual and the sterile rancor of their decadence; -by an aristocracy of property owners and speculators who belong -to the herd of Mammon, and by a rebellious, restless, ignorant -crowd, controlled only by the superstition of the Temple -and the fear of the foreigner’s sword. Jerusalem was not fit -soil for the sowing of Jesus.</p> - -<p class='c006'>A man from the provinces,—therefore healthy and solitary—He -goes back to His province. He wishes to carry the tidings -of good news to those who were to be the first to receive Him, -to the poor and the humble because the tidings are specially -for them, because they have long been waiting for them, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span>because more than any others, they will rejoice. Jesus’ coming -into the world is for the poor. Therefore leaving Jerusalem, -He arrives in Galilee, enters into the Synagogue and begins to -teach.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE REIGN OF GOD</h3> -<p class='c005'>The first words of Jesus are few and simple, very much like -those of John, “The time is accomplished; the Kingdom of -God is at hand; repent and believe the Gospel.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Bare words, incomprehensible to moderns by their very sobriety. -To understand them and to understand the difference -between the message of John and the message of Jesus, they -need to be translated into our language, filled again with their -eternally living meaning.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“The time has come!” The time for which men have been -waiting, which they have prophesied and announced. John -said that a King would come ready to found the new Kingdom, -the Kingdom of Heaven. The King has come and announces -that the doors of the Kingdom are open. He is the -guide, the path, the hand, before being King in all the splendor -of His celestial glory.</p> - -<p class='c006'>When Jesus says “The time is accomplished,” he does not -refer to the exact date, to the fact that it was the fifteenth -year of the reign of Tiberius. The time of Jesus is now -and always is eternity. The moment of His appearance, the -moment of His death, the moment of His return, the moment -of His perfect triumph, has not yet arrived, not even yet! -And yet, at every moment the time is accomplished, every -hour is the fullness of time, on condition that the workers are -ready. Every day is His; His era is not written down -in numbers: there is no chronology in eternity. Every time a -man tries to enter into the Kingdom, confirms the Kingdom -by believing, enriches the Kingdom, consolidates, defends, proclaims -its perpetual sanctity and its perpetual rightness in opposition -to all the inferior kingdoms (inferior because they are -human, not divine, earthly not heavenly) then always the time -is accomplished. This time is called the epoch of Jesus, the -Christian era, the New Covenant. Not quite two thousand -<span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span>years divides us from that time; not quite two days, because -for God, and for men of understanding, a thousand years are -as a day. The time is ripe; even to-day we are in the fullness -of time. Jesus calls us even now. The second day has -not yet expired, the foundations of the Kingdom are scarcely -begun. We who live to-day, this year, in this century (and -we shall not always be alive, and we shall perhaps not see the -end of this year, and certainly we shall not see the end of this -century), we, I say, the living, can take part in this Kingdom, -enter into it, live in it, enjoy it. The Kingdom is not the worn-out -fancy of a poor Jew nearly twenty centuries ago; it is not -an archaism, a dead memory, a bygone frenzy. The Kingdom -is of to-day, of to-morrow, of always; a reality of the future always -just-realized, alive, actual, ours; a work started a short -time ago, a work to which every one is free to put his hand to -take it up, to carry it on. The word seems old, the message -dim with antiquity repeated by the echoes of two thousand -years, but the Kingdom—as a fact, true, accomplished—is -new, young, born yesterday, still to grow, to flower, to prosper. -Jesus threw the seed into the earth, but the seed has -scarcely germinated in two thousand years passed like a -stormy winter, in the space of sixty human generations. Is it -perhaps possible that our own time after the flood of blood is -the divine and longed-for period?</p> - -<p class='c006'>What this Kingdom is, we shall learn page by page in the -words of Jesus; but we must not imagine it as a new Paradise -of Delight, as a wearisome Arcady of beatitude, as an immense -choir singing Hosannahs with their feet on the clouds and their -heads among the stars.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Christ describes the Kingdom of God as opposed to the Kingdom -of Satan, as the antithesis of the Kingdom of Earth. The -Kingdom of Satan is the Kingdom of evil, of deceit, of cruelty, -of pride, the Kingdom of baseness. Therefore the Kingdom of -God means the Kingdom of good, of sincerity, of love, of humility, -the Kingdom of the lofty.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The Kingdom of Earth is the Kingdom of matter and of -flesh, the Kingdom of gold, hatred, avarice, sensuality, the -Kingdom of all things loved by evil and distraught men. The -<span class='pageno' id='Page_73'>73</span>Kingdom of Heaven is to be the opposite of this: the Kingdom -of the spirit and of the soul, the Kingdom of renunciation and -of purity; the Kingdom of all things valued by men who know -the worthlessness of everything else in comparison. God is -Father and Goodness; Heaven is above the earth, hence it is -the spirit. Heaven is God’s home. The spirit is the dominion -of goodness. All that crawls on the earth, grubs in the earth, -takes pleasure in matter—that is bestiality; all that lives -with upraised eyes, desiring Heaven, wishing to live forever -in Heaven—that is Holiness. Most men are beasts. It is -Christ’s will that these beasts become saints. This is the -simple and ever-living meaning of the Kingdom of God, and -the Kingdom of Heaven.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The Kingdom of God is of men and for men. The Kingdom -of Heaven is in us. Begin at once: it is our work, for our -happiness in this life on this earth. It depends on our will, -on our response given or withheld. Become perfect and the -Kingdom will extend even on earth. The Kingdom of God -will be founded among men.</p> - -<p class='c006'>It is true that Jesus added “repent,” but the old word has -been distorted from its true and magnificent meaning. The -word of Mark—μετανοειτε—should not be translated “repent”; -μετανοια means rather the changing of the mind, the -transformation of the soul. Metamorphosis is a change of -form; “metanoia,” a changing of the spirit. It ought rather to -be translated “conversion,” that is, the renewing of the inner -life of man. The idea of “repentance” is only an illustration -of Christ’s command.</p> - -<p class='c006'>As one of the conditions of the arrival of the Kingdom and -at the same time as the very substance of the new order, Jesus -demands complete conversion, a revolution of life and of the -common values of life, a transmutation of feelings, of opinions, -of intentions. This He called, speaking to Nicodemus, “the -second birth.” Little by little He was to explain in what way -this total transformation of the ordinary human soul is to be -effected. All His life was devoted to this teaching and to setting -the example. But in the meantime, He contented Himself -with adding one conclusion, “Believe in the Gospel.”</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_74'>74</span>By “Gospel” men nowadays mean usually the book where -the quadruple story of Jesus is printed; but Jesus neither wrote -books nor thought of volumes. By “Gospel” He meant, according -to the plain and sweet meaning of the word, “good tidings.” -Jesus is a messenger (in Greek “angel”) who brings good -tidings: He brings the cheerful message that the sick will be -cured, that the blind will see, the poor will be enriched with -imperishable riches, that the sad will rejoice, that sinners -will be pardoned, the unclean purified, that the imperfect can -become perfect, that animals can become saints, and saints become -angels, like unto God.</p> - -<p class='c006'>If this Kingdom is to come, if everybody is to prepare himself -for its coming, we must believe in the message, believe -that the Kingdom is possible and near. If there is no faith in -this promise, no one will do what must be done to fulfill -the promise. Only the certainty of the truth of this good -tidings, only the conviction that the Kingdom is not the lie -of an adventurer or the hallucination of an obsessed zealot; -only the certainty of the sincerity and validity of the message -can arouse men to put their hands to the great work of its -foundation.</p> - -<p class='c006'>With those few words, obscure to the majority of men, -Jesus began His teaching. The fullness of time, the need to -begin at once! The coming of the Kingdom, victory of spirit -over matter; of good over bad, of the saint over the beast. -“Metanoia”—the total transformation of the soul. The -Gospel—the cheerful assurance that all this is true and eternally -possible.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>CAPERNAUM</h3> -<p class='c005'>Jesus taught His Galileans on the threshold of their shabby -little white houses, on the small shady open places of their -cities or the shore of the lake, leaning against a beached boat, -His feet on the stones, towards evening when the sun sank -red in the west, summoning men to rest.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Many listened to Him and followed Him because, says -Luke: “His word was with authority.” The words were not -wholly new, but the man was new, and new was the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span>warmth of His voice, and the good done by that voice, overflowing -from His heart and going straight to the hearts of others. -The accent of those words was new, and new the sense that -they took in that mouth, lighted by His look.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Here was no prophet of the mountains shouting in waste -places, far from men, solitary, distant, forcing others to come -to him if they wished to hear him. Here was a prophet living -like a man among other men, a friend of all, friendly to the -unfriended, an easy-going and companionable comrade, searching -out His brothers where they work in the houses, in the busy -streets, eating their bread and drinking wine at their tables, -lending a hand with the fisherman’s nets, with a good word for -every man, for the sad, for the sick, for the beggar.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The simple-hearted, like animals and children, know instinctively -who loves them, they believe him, are happy when -he comes (their very faces suddenly transfigured) and are sad -when he goes. Sometimes they cannot bring themselves to -leave him and follow him to the death.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus spent His time with them walking from one region to -another, or talking, seated among His friends. Always dear -to Him was the sunny shore of the lake, along the curve of -quiet clear water scarcely ruffled by the wind from the desert, -dotted with a few boats silently tacking back and forth. The -western coast of the lake was His real Kingdom; there He -found His first listeners, His first converts, His first disciples.</p> - -<p class='c006'>If He returned to Nazareth, He stayed there but a short -time. He was to go back later, accompanied by the Twelve -and preceded by the renown of His miracles, and they were to -treat Him as all the cities of the world,—even the most renowned -for amenity, Athens and Florence, have treated those -of their citizens who made them great above others. After -ridiculing Him (they had seen Him as a child, it is out of the -question that He can have become a great prophet) they tried -to cast Him down from the precipice.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In no city did He make a long stay. Jesus was a wanderer, -such a man as is called a vagabond by the pot-bellied and -sedentary citizen rooted to his threshold. His life is an eternal -journey. Before that other Jew who was condemned to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span>immortality by one condemned to death, He is the true Wandering -Jew. He was born on a journey. Still a baby at the -breast, He was carried along the sun-parched road to Egypt; -from Egypt He came back to the waters and greenness of -Galilee. From Nazareth He often went to Jerusalem for the -Passover. The voice of John called Him to the Jordan: an -inner voice drove Him out into the desert; and after the forty -days of hunger and the Temptation, He began His restless -vagabond life from city to city, from village to village, from -mountain to mountain, across Palestine. Most often we find -Him in Galilee, in Capernaum, Chorazin, in Cana, in Magdala, -in Tiberias, but often He crosses Samaria to sit down near -the well of Sychar. We find Him from time to time in the -Tetrarchy of Philip at Bethsaida, at Gadara, at Cæsarea, also -at Gerasa in the Perea of Herod Antipas. In Judah He often -stops at Bethany, a few miles away from Jerusalem, or at -Jericho, but He did not shrink from journeying outside the -limits of the old kingdom and from going down among the -Gentiles. We find Him in Phœnicia, in the regions of Tyre -and Sidon, and in Syria, if the transfiguration took place on -the summit of Mt. Hermon. After the resurrection He appears -in Emmaus, on the banks of His lake of Tiberias and finally -at Bethany near Lazarus’ house, where He leaves His friends -forever.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He is the traveler without rest, the wanderer with no home, -the wayfarer for love’s sake, the voluntary exile in His own -country; He says Himself that He has not a stone on which -to lay His head, and it is true that He has no bed where -He may lie down at night, nor a room that He can call His -own. His real home is the road which takes Him along with -His first friends in search of new friends. His bed is the -furrow in a field, the bench of a boat, the shadow of an olive -tree. Sometimes He sleeps in the houses of those who love -Him, but only for short periods.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In the early days we find Him most often at Capernaum, -His journeys began there and ended there. Matthew calls it -“His city.” Situated on the caravan route which from Damascus -crosses Iturea and goes towards the sea, Capernaum had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span>become little by little a commercial center of some importance. -Artisans, bargainers, brokers, and shopkeepers had come there -to stay. Men of finance—as flies swarm on rotten pears—had -come there; publicans, excise men and other fiscal tools. -The little settlement, half-rustic, half a fishing village, had -become a mixed and composite city where the society of the -times—even to soldiers and prostitutes—was fully represented. -And yet Capernaum, lying along the lake, freshened by the air -from the near-by hills and by the breeze from the water, was -not a prey to stagnation and decay like the Syrian cities and -Jerusalem. There were still peasants who went out to their -fields every day, and fishermen who every day went forth to -their boats. Good, poor, simple, warm-hearted people who -talked of other matters than money and gear. Among them -a man could draw his breath freely.</p> - -<p class='c006'>On the Sabbath Jesus went to the Synagogue. Everybody -had the right to enter there, to read aloud and also to expound -what had been read. It was a plain house, a bare room where -people went with their friends and brothers to reason together -and dream of God.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus stood up, had some one give Him one of the scrolls -of the Scriptures (more often the Prophets than the Law) and -recited in a tranquil voice two, three, four or more verses. -Then He commenced to speak with a bold and forceful eloquence -which put the Pharisees to confusion, touched sinners, -won the poor, and enchanted women.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Suddenly the old text was transfigured, became transparent, -belonged to their own times; it seemed a new truth, a discovery -they had made, a discourse heard for the first time; the words -withered by antiquity, dried up by repetition, took on life and -color; a new sun gilded them one by one, syllable by syllable; -fresh words coined at that moment, shining before their eyes -like an unexpected revelation.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>POOR PEOPLE</h3> -<p class='c005'>Nobody in Capernaum could remember having heard such -a Rabbi. The Sabbaths when Jesus spoke, the Synagogue was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span>full, the crowd overflowed out on the street, everybody was -there who could come. The gardener comes, who for that day -had left his spade, and no longer turned his water wheel to -irrigate the green rows of his garden, and the smith, the good -country smith, black with smoke and dust every day, but on -the Sabbath washed, neatly dressed, his face still a little dusky, -although scrubbed and rinsed in many waters like his hands, -with his beard combed and anointed with cheap ointment (but -still perfumed like a rich man’s beard), the smith all whose -days are spent before the fire, sweaty and dirty except this -day which is the Sabbath, when he comes to the Synagogue -to hear the ancient word of the Ancient of Days, the God of -his fathers. He comes devoutly, but he comes too because his -family, his friends, his neighbors come there, and he finds -them all together, and he comes also because the day is long -(all that long holiday without any work, without any hammer -in his hand, without the pincers) and in Capernaum there is -nothing to do on Sabbaths except go to the Synagogue. The -mason comes, he who has worked on this little house of the -Synagogue and made it small because the Elders—good, God-fearing -people, but inclined to be stingy—did not wish to spend -too much. The mason still feels his arms a little numb and -lame from his six days’ labor, no longer keeps track of the -stones which he has laid in courses and the trowels full of mortar -which he has thrown between the stones during the week. -The mason puts on his new clothes to-day and sits down on -the ground, he who on all other days stands upright, active, -watchful so that the work may go well, and the employer be -satisfied; the good mason too has come to the house which -seems to him partly his own.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The fishermen have come too, the young and the old, both -of them with faces tanned by the sun and with eyes half-shut -from the constant glare of sunlight reflected by the water. -(The old man is handsomer because of the contrast of his white -hair and white beard with his weather-beaten and wrinkled -face.) The fishermen have turned over their boats on the -sand, have left them tied to a stake, have spread the nets on -the roof and have come to the Synagogue, although they are -<span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span>not used to being within walls and perhaps continue to hear a -confused murmur of water lapping about the bow.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The peasants of the neighboring countryside are here too, -prosperous farmers who have put on a tunic as good as anybody’s, -who are satisfied with the harvest almost ready for -the scythe. They do not mean to forget God who brings -the grain to a head and makes the grape-vine to blossom. -There are shepherds come in to town that morning, shepherds -and goat-herds with the smell of their flocks still on them, -shepherds who live all the week in the mountain-pastures without -seeing a soul, without exchanging a word, alone with their -quiet animals peacefully grazing on the new grass.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The smaller property owners, the small business men, the -gentry of Capernaum, all have come. They are men of weight -and piety. They stand in the front row, serious, their eyes -cast down, satisfied with the business of the last few days -and satisfied with their conscience because they have observed -the law without failing and are not contaminated. The line -of their well-clad backs can be seen, bowed backs but broad -and masterful, employers’ backs, backs of people in harmony -with the world, and with God, backs full of authority and -of religion. There are also transient foreigners, merchants -going towards Syria or returning to Tiberias. They have come -from condescension or from habit, perhaps to try to pick up -a customer, and they stare into everybody’s face with the -arrogance which money gives to poverty-stricken souls.</p> - -<p class='c006'>At the back of the room (for the Synagogue is only a long -white-washed room a little larger than a school, than an inn, -than a kitchen) the poor of the countryside are huddled together -like dogs near a door, like those who always stand in -fear of being sent away. The poorest of all, those who live -by odd jobs, by ungracious charity and also—oh, poverty!—by -some discreet theft, the ragged, the vermin-ridden, the -timid, the wretched; old widows whose children are far away, -young orphans not yet able to earn a living, hump-backed old -men with no acquaintances, strengthless invalids, those who are -incurably sick, those whose wits no longer rightly serve them, -who have no understanding, who cannot work. The weak in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span>mind, the weak in body, the bankrupt, the rejected, the abandoned, -those who one day eat and the next day do not, who -never have enough to satisfy their hunger, those who pick -up what others throw away, the pieces of dry bread, fish-heads, -fruit-cores and skins; and sleep now here and now -there, and suffer from the winter cold and every year wait -for summer, paradise of the poor, for then there are fruits -to be plucked along the roads. They too, the beggars, the -wretched, the ragamuffins, the sickly and the weaklings, when -the Sabbath comes, go to the Synagogue to hear the stories -of the Bible. They cannot be sent away: they have as much -right to be there as any one, they are sons of the same Father -and servants of the same Lord. On that day they feel a -little comforted in their poverty because they can hear the -same words heard by the rich and the strong. Here they are -not served with another sort of food, poorer and coarser, as -happens in the houses where the owner eats the best and the -beggar on the threshold must content himself with scraps. -Here the fare is the same for the man of possessions and him -who has nothing. The words of Moses are the same, everlastingly -the same for him who owns the fattest flock and for -him who has not even a quarter of lamb on Passover day. But -the words of the Prophets are sweeter to them than those of -Moses, harder on the great of the world, but kinder for the -humble. The poverty-stricken throng at the back of the Synagogue -waits every Sabbath for somebody to read a chapter -from Amos or from Isaiah because the Prophets take the part -of the poor, and announce the punishment and the new world. -“And he who was clothed with purple shall be made to handle -dung.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And behold on that Sabbath there was One who came expressly -for them, who talked for them, who had come back -from the desert to announce good tidings for the poor and -the sick. No one had ever spoken of them as He did, no -one had shown so much love for them. Like the old prophets, -He had for them a special affection which offended more -fortunate men, but which filled their hearts with comfort and -hope.</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_81'>81</span>When Jesus had finished speaking they observed that the -elders, the bourgeois, the masters, lords, Pharisees, men who -knew how to read and make money, shook their heads forebodingly, -and got up, making wry faces and nodding among -themselves, half contemptuous, half scandalized; and as soon -as they were outside, muttered a grumbling of prudent disapprobation -through their great black and silver beards. But no -one laughed.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The merchants followed them, erect, already thinking of the -next day; there remained behind the working men, the poor, -the shepherds, the peasants, the gardeners, the smiths, the fishermen, -and all the herd of beggars, orphans without inheritance, -old men without health, homeless outcasts, friendless unfortunates, -penniless men, the diseased, the maimed, the worn-out, -the rejected. They could not take their eyes from Jesus, -they would have liked Him to go on speaking, to reveal the -day of the New Kingdom when they too would have their return -for all this misery, and see with their own eyes the -day of reckoning. The words of Jesus had made their bruised -and weary hearts beat faster. A gleam of light, a glimpse of -the sky and of glory, the hallucination of prosperity, of banquets, -of repose and abundance, sprang up from those great -words in the rich souls of the poor. Perhaps they scarcely -understood what the Master meant to say, and perhaps the -Kingdom glimpsed by them had some resemblance to a materialistic -Land of Cockaigne. But no one loved Him as they -did. No one will ever love Him like the poor of Galilee, -hungering after peace and truth. Even those who were less -destitute, the day-laborers, the fishermen, the working men, -though less hungry for bread, loved Him for the love of those -poor.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And when He came out from the Synagogue all those stood -waiting in the street to see Him again. They followed Him -timidly as if in a dream; when He entered into the house of -a friend to eat they were almost jealous and some waited outside -the door until He reappeared; then, grown more bold, they -accosted Him and went along together beside the shores of the -lake. Others joined them on the way, and now one and now -<span class='pageno' id='Page_82'>82</span>another (they were braver under the open sky and outside -the Synagogue) began asking questions. And Jesus paused -and answered this obscure crowd with words never to be forgotten.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE FIRST FOUR</h3> -<p class='c005'>Among the fishermen of Capernaum, Jesus found His first -disciples. Almost every day He was on the beach of the -lake; sometimes the boats were going out, sometimes they were -coming in, the sails swelling in the breeze; and from the barks -the barefooted men climbed down, wading knee-deep in water, -carrying the baskets filled with the wet silver of dead fish -piled together, good and bad, and with the old dripping nets.</p> - -<p class='c006'>They put out sometimes at nightfall when there was a moon, -and came back early in the morning just after the setting of -the moon and before sunrise. Often Jesus was waiting for -them on the strand and was the first to greet them. But the -fishing was not always good, sometimes they came back empty-handed, -tired and depressed. Jesus greeted them with words -which cheered them, and the disappointed men, although they -had not slept, listened to Him willingly. One morning two -boats came back towards Capernaum while Jesus standing by -the lake was talking to the people who had gathered around -Him. The fishermen disembarked and began to arrange the -nets; then Jesus entered into one of the boats and asked them -to put it out a little from the land so that He might not be -pressed upon by the crowd. Upright near the rudder He -taught those who had remained on the land, and when He -had left speaking He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep, -and let down your nets for a draught.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And Simon, son of Jona, owner of the boat, answered, “Master, -we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing, -nevertheless at thy word, I will let down the net.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>When they were only a short distance from the bank, Simon -and Andrew, his brother, threw out into the water a large net. -And when they drew it back it was so full of fish that the -meshes were almost breaking. Then the two brothers called -their partners in the other boat, that they should come to help -<span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span>them, and they threw out the net again and drew it up again -full. Simon, Andrew and the others cried out “a miracle!” -and thanked Jesus, who had brought them this good luck. -Simon, impulsive by nature, threw himself at the knees of -their guest crying, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, -O Lord.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>But Jesus, smiling, said, “Follow me, and I will make you -fishers of men.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>When they went back to the shore they pulled the boat -up on the land, and leaving their nets, the two brothers followed -Him. And a few days after this, Jesus saw the other -two brothers, James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were -partners of Simon and Andrew, and he called them, while they -were mending the broken nets; and they too said farewell to -their father, who was in the boat with the sailors, and leaving -the broken nets half-mended, followed Him. Jesus was no -longer alone: four men, two pairs of brothers more deeply -brothers in this common faith, were ready to accompany Him -wherever He wished to go, to break bread with Him, to repeat -His words, to obey Him as a father, and more than a father. -Four poor fishermen, four plain men of the lake, men who did -not know how to read, nor indeed how to speak correctly, four -humble men whom no one else would have been able to distinguish -from others, were called by Jesus to found with Him -a kingdom which was to occupy all the earth. For Him they -left their faithful boats which they had put out into the water -so many times, and so many times tied up to the wharf; -they left the old fish nets which had drawn from the water -thousands of fish; they left their father, their family, their -home. They left all that to follow this man who did not -promise money or lands and spoke only of love, of poverty -and perfection. Thus if their spirit always remained too low -to understand their master, always a little rustic and common, -and if sometimes they doubted and were uncertain and did -not understand His truths and His parables, and at the end -abandoned Him, all will be pardoned to them for the candid, -unquestioning promptness with which they followed Him at -the first call.</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span>Who among us to-day, among all those now living, would -be capable of imitating those four poor men of Capernaum? -If a prophet should come and say to the merchant, “Leave -your bank and your counter”; and to the Professor, “Come -down from your chair and throw away your books”; and to -the statesman, “Give up your portfolios and your lies which -are only nets for catching men”; and to the working man, -“Put away your tools for I will give you other work”; and to -the farmer, “Stop in the middle of the furrow and leave your -plow among the clods, for I promise you a more wonderful -harvest”; and to the factory hand, “Stop your machine and -come with me, for spirit is more precious than metal”; and to -the rich, “Give away all your goods, for you will acquire with -me an inestimable treasure”; ... if a prophet should speak -thus to us, men of the present day, how many would follow -him with the simple-hearted spontaneity of those fishermen of -old? But Jesus made no sign to the merchants who stood -trafficking in the open places, and in the shops, nor to those -who observed the tiniest commands of the law and could recite -by heart verses from the Bible, nor to the farmers rooted -to their land and their live-stock, and certainly not to the -affluent, surfeited, satisfied, who care nothing about any other -kingdoms because their kingdom has long since been realized.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Not by chance did Jesus select His first companions from -among fishermen. The fisherman who lives a great part of -his days in the pure solitude of the water is the man who -knows how to wait. He is the patient, unhurried man who -lets down his nets and leaves the rest to God. The water -has its caprices, the lake its fantasies, no day is like another -day; he does not know when he goes away if he will come -back with his boat full or without a single fish to cook for -his dinner. He commends himself into the hands of God, -who sends abundance and famine. He consoles himself for -bad days by thinking of the good days which have been and -which will come. He does not desire sudden riches, and is -glad if he can exchange the results of his fishing for a little -bread and wine. He is pure in soul and body. He washes his -hands in water and his spirit in solitude.</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span>Of these fishermen who would have died in the obscurity -of Capernaum without any one except their neighbors being -aware of them, Jesus made saints whom men even to-day remember -and invoke. A great man creates great men; from -a somnolent people he raises up prophets; from a debilitated -people, warriors; from an ignorant race, teachers. In any -weather fires are lighted if there is a hand capable of kindling -them. When David appears he finds at once his gibborim; -an Agamemnon finds his heroes, an Arthur his knights, -Charlemagne his paladins, Napoleon his Marshals. Jesus -found among the men of the people of Galilee, His apostles.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus did not seek armed warriors, men who would lay their -enemies low, conquerors of provinces. His apostles were to -fight, but the good fight of perfection against corruption, holiness -against sin, health against sickness, spirit against matter, -the happy future against the past, henceforth sterile. They -were to aid Him in bringing His joyous message to the heavy-hearted. -They were to speak in His name in places where -He could not go, and in His name to carry on His work after -His death.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE MOUNT</h3> -<p class='c005'>The Sermon on the Mount is the greatest proof of the right -of men to exist in the infinite universe. It is our sufficient -justification, the patent of our soul’s worthiness, the pledge -that we can lift ourselves above ourselves to be more than -men, the promise of that supreme possibility, the hope of our -rising above the beast.</p> - -<p class='c006'>If an angel come down to us from the world above should -ask us what our most precious possession is, the master-work -of the Spirit at the height of its power, we would not show -him the great wonderful oiled machines of which we foolishly -boast, although they are but matter in the service of -material and superfluous needs; but we would offer him the -Sermon on the Mount, and afterwards, only afterwards, a -few hundred pages taken from the poets of all the peoples. -But the Sermon would be always the one refulgent diamond -<span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>dimming with the clear splendor of its pure light the colored -poverty of emeralds and sapphires.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And if men were called before a superhuman tribunal and -had to give an account to the judges of all the inexplicable -mistakes and of the ancient infamies every day renewed, and -of the massacres which last for a thousand years, and of all -the bloodshed between brothers, and of all the tears shed by -the children of men, and of our hardness of heart and of our -perfidy only equaled perhaps by our stupidity; we should not -bring before this tribunal the reasonings of the philosophers, -however learned and fine-spun; not the sciences, ephemeral -systems of symbols and recipes; nor our laws, short-sighted -compromises between ferocity and fear. The only thing we -should have to show as restitution for so much evil, as atonement -for our stubborn tardiness in paying our debts, as apology -for sixty centuries of hideous history, as the one and supreme -attenuation of all those accusations, is the Sermon on -the Mount. Who has read it, even once, and has not felt at -least in that brief moment while he read, a thrill of grateful -tenderness, and an ache in his throat, a passion of love and -remorse, a confused but urgent longing to act—so that those -words shall not be words alone, nor this sermon mere sounds -and signs, but so that they shall be imminent hope, life, alive -in all those who live, present truth for always and for every -one? He who has read it, if only once, and has not felt all -this, he deserves our love beyond all other men, because -all the love of men can never make up to him for what he -has lost.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The Mount on which Jesus sat the day of the sermon was -certainly not so high as that from which Satan had shown -Him the Kingdoms of the earth. From it you could see only -the plain, calm under the loving sunset light; on one side -the silver-green oval of the lake, and on the other the long -crest of Carmel where Elijah overcame the scullions of Baal. -But from this humble mount which only the hyperbole of -the chroniclers called mountain, from this little rocky hill -scarcely rising above the level earth, Jesus disclosed that -Kingdom which has no confines or boundaries, and wrote not -<span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span>on tablets of stone like Jehovah, but on flesh-and-blood hearts, -the song of the new man, the hymn of glorification.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that -bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace!” Isaiah was -never more a prophet than at the moment when these words -poured from his soul.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>BLESSED ARE THE POOR</h3> -<p class='c005'>Jesus sat on a little hill in the midst of the first apostles -surrounded by hundreds of eyes that were watching His eyes; -and some one asked Him to whom would be allotted this -Kingdom of Heaven, of which He so often spoke. Jesus -answered with the nine beatitudes.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The beatitudes, so often spelled out even nowadays by -people who have lost their meaning, are almost always misunderstood, -mutilated, deformed, cheapened, distorted. And -yet they epitomize the first day of Christ’s teaching, that -glorious day!</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom -of heaven.” Luke leaves out the words “in spirit,” seeming -to mean the “poor” and nothing else; and many people after -him (some modern and malicious) have understood him to -mean the simple-minded, the silly. They see in the words -only a choice between the bankrupt and the imbecile.</p> - -<p class='c006'>When He spoke, Jesus was not thinking either of the first -or the second. Jesus had no friendship for the rich and detested -with all His soul the greedy desire for riches, the greatest -obstacle to the true enrichment of the soul; Jesus was friendly -to the poor and comforted them because they had less comfort -than other people; He kept them near Him because of -their greater need to be fed by loving words. But He was not -so foolish as to think that to be poor, materially poor in the -worldly sense of the word, is a sufficient title to enjoy the -Kingdom, without any other qualifications.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus never gave any sign of admiring that intelligence -which is solely the intelligence of abstraction and the memory -for phrases. Purely systematic philosophers, and metaphysical -<span class='pageno' id='Page_88'>88</span>sophists, gropers in nature, devourers of books, would -never have found grace in His eyes. But intelligence, the -power of understanding the signs of the future and the meaning -of symbols—enlightened and prophetic intelligence, the -loving mastery of the truth—was a gift in His eyes also, and -many times He grieved that His listeners and His disciples -showed so little of it. For Him supreme intelligence consisted -in realizing that the intelligence alone is not enough, that all -the soul must be changed to obtain happiness, since happiness -is not an absurd dream but eternally possible and within reach. -But he fully understood that intelligence ought to aid us in this -total transmutation. He could not therefore call to the fullness -of the Kingdom of God the dull and the imbecile. Poor in -spirit are those who are fully and painfully aware of their own -spiritual poverty, of the faultiness of their own souls, of the -smallness of the good that is in us all, of the moral indigence -of most men. Only the poor who realize that they are -really poor suffer from their poverty, and because they suffer -from it try to escape from it. Very different these from men -apparently rich, from those blind arrogant self-satisfied people -who believe themselves fulfilled and perfected, in good standing -with God and man, who feel no eagerness to climb upward -because they delude themselves with thinking they are already -on high, who will never enrich themselves because they do -not realize their own fathomless poverty.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Those therefore who confess themselves poor and undergo -suffering to acquire that veritable wealth named perfection, will -become holy as God is holy, and theirs shall be the Kingdom -of Heaven; those complacent people on the other hand who -drape themselves in self-satisfaction, taking no heed of the -foulness accumulated and hidden under their vainglory, will -not enter into the Kingdom.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>BLESSED ARE THE MEEK: FOR THEY SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH</h3> -<p class='c005'>The earth here promised is not the literal field of clods, -nor monarchies with built-up cities. In the language of the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_89'>89</span>Messiah, “to inherit the earth” means to partake of the New -Kingdom. The soldier who fights for the earthly earth needs -to be fierce; but he who fights within himself for the conquest -of the new earth and the new heaven must not abandon himself -to anger, the counselor of evil, nor to cruelty, the negation -of love. The meek are those who endure close contact with -evil men and with themselves—often harder to bear—who -do not break out into brutish rage when things go badly, -but conquer their inner enemies with that quiet perseverance -which more than sudden sterile furies shows the force of the -soul. They are like water which is not hard to the touch, -which seems to give way before other substances, but slowly -rises, silently attacks, and calmly consumes, with the patience -of the years, the hardest granites.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN</h3> -<p class='c005'>Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. -The afflicted, the weeping, those who feel disgust for themselves -and pity for the world, who do not live in the supine stupidity -of everyday life, who mourn over their own unhappiness and -that of their brothers, who grieve over failures, over the blindness -which delays the victory of light—because light for men -cannot come from the sky if their own eyes do not reflect it—who -grieve over the remoteness of that righteousness -dreamed-of again and again, promised a thousand times, and -yet always further away through our fault and every one’s -fault; those who mourn over an offense received instead of increasing -the wrong by revenge, and who weep over the wrong -they have done and over the good they might have done and -did not; those who care little about the loss of a visible treasure -but strain after the invisible treasure; those who mourn, -hasten with their tears the day of grace, and it is right that -they shall some day be comforted.</p> -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_90'>90</span> - <h3 class='c007'>BLESSED ARE THEY THAT HUNGER AND THIRST AFTER JUSTICE: FOR THEY SHALL BE FILLED</h3> -</div> -<p class='c005'>The justice which Jesus means is not the justice of men, -obedience to human law, conformity to codes, respect for -usage and for the established transactions of men. In the -language of the psalmists, the prophets, the saints, the just -man is he who lives according to the will of God, because God -is the supreme type of all perfection. Not according to the law -written by the Scribes set down in the Bible, diluted by Talmudic -casuistries, obscured by the subtleties of the Pharisees; -but according to the one simple Law which Jesus reduces to -one commandment, “Love all men near and far, your fellow -countrymen and foreigners, strangers and enemies.” Those -who hunger and thirst after this justice shall be filled in the -Kingdom of Heaven. Even if they do not succeed in being -perfect in all things, much will be pardoned for their endurance -of the long vigil.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL: FOR THEY SHALL OBTAIN MERCY</h3> -<p class='c005'>He who loves shall be loved, he who gives help shall find -help. The law of retaliation is nullified for evil but remains -valid for good. We constantly commit sins against the spirit -and those sins will be forgiven us only as we forgive those -committed against us. Christ is in all men and what we do -to others will be done to us. “Inasmuch as ye have done it -unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it -unto me.” If we have pity on others we may have pity for -ourselves; God can pardon the evil which we do to ourselves -only if we pardon the evil which others do to us.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART: FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD</h3> -<p class='c005'>The Pure of Heart are those who have no other wish than -for perfection, no other joy than victory over the evil which -hunts us down on every side. He who has his heart crammed -with furious desires, with earthly ambitions, with carnal pride -<span class='pageno' id='Page_91'>91</span>and with all the lusts which convulse this ant-heap of the earth, -can never see God face to face, will never know the sweetness -of His magnificent felicity.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS: FOR THEY SHALL BE CALLED THE SONS OF GOD</h3> -<p class='c005'>These peacemakers are not the meek of the second beatitude. -The meek refrain from answering evil with evil; the -peacemakers do more, they return good for evil, they bring -peace where wars are flaring up. When Jesus said He had -come to bring war and not peace, He meant war to evil, to -Satan, to the world, to evil which is wrong, to Satan who is -Death, to the world which is an eternal battle. He means, -in short, war against war. The peacemakers are those who -wage war upon war, those who placate, those who bring about -concord. The origin of every war is self-love, love which -becomes love of riches, pride of possession, envy of those more -wealthy, hatred for rivals; and the new law comes to teach -hatred for oneself, contempt for measurable goods, love for all -creatures, even for those who hate us. The peacemakers who -teach and practice this love cut at the root of all war. When -every man loves his brothers more than himself there will -be no more wars, neither great nor small, neither civil nor imperial, -neither of words nor of blows, between man and man, -between class and class, between people and people. The -peacemakers will have conquered the earth and they will be -called the true sons of God, and they will enter among the -first into His Kingdom.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>BLESSED ARE THEY WHO HAVE BEEN PERSECUTED FOR JUSTICE’ SAKE: FOR THEIRS IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN</h3> -<p class='c005'>I send you out to found this Kingdom, the Kingdom of -Heaven, of that higher justice which is love, of that fatherly -goodness whose name is God; I send you out therefore to fight -against those who uphold injustice, the servants of materialism, -the proselytes of the Adversary. They will defend themselves -<span class='pageno' id='Page_92'>92</span>when attacked, and to defend themselves they will attack you. -You will be tortured in body, crucified in soul, deprived of -liberty and perhaps of life; but if you accept this suffering -cheerfully to carry to others that justice which makes you -suffer, this persecution will be for you an incontestable title -to enter into the Kingdom which you have founded as far as -was in your power.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>BLESSED ARE YE WHEN MEN SHALL REPROACH YOU AND PERSECUTE YOU AND SAY ALL MANNER OF EVIL AGAINST YOU FALSELY FOR MY SAKE. REJOICE AND BE EXCEEDING GLAD: FOR GREAT IS YOUR REWARD IN HEAVEN: FOR SO PERSECUTED THEY THE PROPHETS WHICH WERE BEFORE YOU</h3> -<p class='c005'>Persecution is a material attack through physical, legal and -political means. The persecutors can take away your bread, -and the clear light of the sun, and divine liberty; they may -break your bones, but you must endure more than mere persecution. -You must expect insult and calumny. They will -condemn you because you wish to change bestial men into -saints. Wallowing in the foulness of their bestiality, they detest -the idea of leaving their filth. But they will not be satisfied -to strike only at your body, they will strike also at your -soul. They will accuse you of all crimes, they will stone you -with slander and contumely. Hogs will say that you are -filthy, asses will swear that you are ignorant, ravens will accuse -you of eating carrion, rams will drive you away as ill-smelling, -the dissolute will cry out upon the scandal of your -corruptness and thieves will denounce you for theft. But you -must always rejoice because the insult of evil men is the consecration -of your own goodness, and the mud thrown at you -by the impure is the pledge of your purity. This is, as <abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> -Francis says, “the perfect joy.” Beyond all the graces which -Christ gives to His friends is the grace of conquering oneself -and willingly enduring injury, opprobrium, pains, discomforts. -All the other gifts of God are not ours to glory in, because they -come not from us, but from God; but in tribulation and in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_93'>93</span>affliction we can glory because that is ours. All the prophets -who have ever spoken upon the earth were insulted by men, -and men will insult those who are to come. We can recognize -prophets by this, that smeared with mud and covered with -shame, they pass among men, bright-faced, speaking out what -is in their hearts. No mud can close the lips of those who -must speak. Even if the obstinate prophet is killed, they cannot -silence him. His voice multiplied by the echoes of his -death will be heard in all languages and through all the -centuries.</p> - -<p class='c006'>This promise brings the beatitudes to their end.</p> - -<p class='c006'>By means of the beatitudes, Christ fully explains who are -fit to be the citizens of His new Kingdom. Those citizens are -henceforth found and sealed; every one can recognize them. -The unwilling are warned, the uncertain are reassured. The -rich, the proud, the satisfied, the violent, the unjust, the warlike, -those who mock, those who do not hunger after perfection, -those who persecute and outrage, can never enter into -the Kingdom of Heaven. They cannot enter there until they -are altogether conquered and changed, and have become the -opposite of what they are now. Those who live happily according -to the world, those whom the world envies, imitates -and admires, are infinitely further from true happiness than -those others whom the world scorns and hates. In this exulting -beginning Jesus has turned upside down the human hierarchy; -now as He goes on He will turn upside down the values -of life, and no other revaluation will ever be so divinely paradoxical -as His.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE DIVINE PARADOX</h3> -<p class='c005'>Emasculated Gymnosophists and the cowardly sect of the -Saturnists,—these are serious-minded men who can understand -plain facts but cannot interpret those facts but merely repeat -and spoil them—have always looked with unfriendly eyes on -what is called the paradoxical. To save themselves the trouble -of distinguishing between sacred paradoxes and those which -are only a fatuous amusement, they make haste to pass judgment -<span class='pageno' id='Page_94'>94</span>on all paradox as nothing else than the overturning of -recognized old truths; hence, false and—they add, to clip the -wings of vanity—as easy as possible to invent. One would -suppose it seems to them more difficult to walk along the road -already laid out, and to spell over line by line what was written -before they were born by men who certainly had not their -cowardly temperament.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But if these priests of the already-said would consider -the few master ideas on which modern thought is living, or -rather on which it is dying, they would discover that they are -almost all overturnings, that is to say, paradoxes. When -Rousseau says that men are born good but that society makes -them bad, he turns inside out the accepted doctrine of original -sin; when the disciples of progress affirm that from the worse -comes the better; when the evolutionist affirms that the complex -springs out of the simple; and the monist that all diversities -are but manifestations of the One; and the Marxist that -economic history is the basis of spiritual development; when -the modern mathematical philosophers affirm that man is not -as he has always been believed, the center of the universe, but -a minute animal species on one of an infinite number of spheres -scattered in the infinite; when the Protestants cry, “The Pope -is of no account but only the Scriptures”; when the French -Revolutionists say, “The Third Estate is nothing and should -be everything”—what are all these people doing except overturning -old and commonly held opinions?</p> - -<p class='c006'>But Jesus is the greatest overturner, the supreme maker of -paradoxes, radical and without fear. This is His greatness, -His eternal freshness and youth, the secret of the turning -sooner or later of every great heart toward His Gospel.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He became incarnate to recreate men sunk in error and -evil; He found error and evil in the world; how could He fail -to overturn the maxims of the world? Read over again the -words of the Sermon on the Mount. At every step it proclaims -the desire of Jesus that what is low shall be recognized as -lofty; that the last shall be first; that the overlooked shall be -the preferred; that the scorned shall be reverenced, and finally, -that the old truth shall be considered as error, and ordinary -<span class='pageno' id='Page_95'>95</span>life as death and corruption. He has said to the past, benumbed -in its death agony, to Nature, too easily followed, to -universal and common opinion of mankind, the most decisive -“NO” in the history of the world.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In this He is faithful to the spirit of His race which in its -very downfall always found reasons for greater hope. The -most enslaved people dreamed of dominating other peoples -with the help of the Son of David. The most despised race -felt that glory was promised them, the people most punished -by God believed itself the most loved; the most sinful was -certain that it alone was to be saved. This absurd reaction of -the Hebrew conscience became in Christ a revision of values, -became, because of His superhuman origin, a divine renovation -of all the principles followed and respected by humanity.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Christ’s first discovery is like that of Buddha, “Men are -unhappy, all men—even those who seem happy.” Siddharta -to put an end to pain counseled the suppression of life itself. -Jesus had another hope, more sublime in that it appears absurd. -He taught that men are unhappy because they have not -found true life. Let them become the opposite of what they -are, let them do the contrary of what they do, and the festival -of happiness on earth will begin.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Until now they have followed Nature, they have let themselves -be guided by their instincts, they have accepted and -that only superficially a provisional and insufficient law, they -have worshiped lying gods, they have thought they could find -happiness in wine, in flesh, in gold, in authority, in cruelty, in -art, in learning; and the only result has been that their suffering -has become more intense. The explanation is that they -have lost the path, that they must turn straight around, renounce -what seemed good, pick up what was thrown away, -worship what was burned, and burn what was worshiped, -conquer the animal instincts instead of satisfying them, struggle -with their nature instead of justifying it, make a new law -and live by it, faithfully, in the spirit. If until now they have -not obtained what they looked for, the only possible cure is to -turn their present life upside down, that is, to transform their -souls.</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_96'>96</span>Our permanent unhappiness is a proof that the experiment -of the old world has failed, that Nature is hostile, that the past -is wrong, that to live like animals according to the elementary -instinct of animals, only slightly furbished up and varnished -with humanity, results in wretchedness and despair.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Those who have laughed at or wept over the infinite wretchedness -of man have seen clearly. The pessimists are right. -Those who denounce our boasting, those who scorn our -strengthlessness, those who despise our ignominy, how can they -be refuted?</p> - -<p class='c006'>Whoever is not born to wriggle contentedly in the worm -heap, eating his particle of earth, he who has not only a -stomach and two hands, but a soul and a heart; he whose soul -is of finer temper because it has been so beaten upon, is bound -to feel a horror of mankind. For hard, arid natures this horror -changes into repugnance and hate; for others richer and more -generous it turns to pity and love.</p> - -<p class='c006'>When we read Leopardi and consider how he lost (perhaps -because of the imperfect Christians surrounding him) his -youthful love of Christ and, eating his heart out in reasoning -despair, ended with the despairing lines, “Tiresome and bitter -is life, never aught but that”; who of us will have the insight -to reply, “Be quiet, unfortunate man! If you taste nothing -but bitterness, it comes from the wormwood you are eating; if -you find life tiresome the fault is yours; you yourself have -used the infernal stone of barren reasoning to cauterize those -feelings which would have made your life cheerful or at least -endurable”?</p> - -<p class='c006'>No, Leopardi was not mistaken, for when you see men as -they are and have no hope of saving them, or changing them, -and you cannot live like them because you are too different -from them, and cannot succeed in loving them because you believe -them condemned to eternal unhappiness and wickedness, -when you feel that the brutes will always be brutes and the -cowards always cowards and the foul always more sunk in their -foulness, what else can you do but counsel your heart to silence, -and hope for death? There is but one question: are men -<span class='pageno' id='Page_97'>97</span>unchangeable, not to be transformed, not capable of becoming -better? Or, on the other hand, can man rise above himself -and make himself holy? The answer is of terrible importance. -All our destiny is in that question. Among superior men -many have not been fully conscious of this dilemma. -Many have believed and still believe that the form of life can -be changed, but not the essence; and that to man everything -will be given except to change the nature of his spirit; that -man can become yet more master of the world, richer and more -learned, but he cannot change his moral structure. His feelings, -his primary instincts will always remain as they were in -the wild occupants of the caves, in the constructors of the lake -cities, in the first barbarians and in the peoples of the most -ancient kingdoms.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Others feel an equal horror of man as he has been and as -he is, but before they sink into the despair of moral nihilism -they look at man as he could be. They have a firm faith in -his perfectibility of soul and find happiness in the divine but -terrible task of preparing the happiness of their brothers.</p> - -<p class='c006'>For men who are truly men there is no other choice: either -the blackest anguish or the boldest faith; either death or salvation. -The past is horrible, the present is repellent; let us give -all our life, let us offer all our power of loving and understanding -in order that to-morrow may be better, that the future may -be happy. If up to now we have erred, and the irrefutable -proof is the black past from which we have come, let us work -for the birth of a new man and a new life. There are but two -possibilities: either happiness will never be given to men or, and -this Jesus believed firmly, if happiness could be our ordinary -and eternal possession there is no other price for attaining it -but to change our course, transform our souls, create new -values, deny the old, answer the “No” of holiness to the false -“Yes” of the world. If Christ <i>was</i> mistaken, nothing remains -but absolute and universal negation, resolute faith in nothing. -Either complete and rigorous atheism, not the maimed hypocritical -atheism of the cowardly sects of to-day; or active faith -in Christ who saves and resurrects us by His love.</p> -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_98'>98</span> - <h3 class='c007'>YE HAVE HEARD</h3> -</div> -<p class='c005'>The first prophets, the earliest legislators, the leaders of -young nations, the Kings, founders of cities and institutors of -justice, the wise masters, the saints, began the domination -of the beast. With spoken and sculptured word they tamed -wolfish men, domesticated the men of the woods, held barbarians -in restraint, taught those bearded children, softened -the violent, the vengeful, the inhuman. With the gentleness of -the word or the terror of punishment (Orpheus or Draco), by -promises or by threats, in the name of the gods of high heavens -or the gods under the earth, they trimmed the nails, which immediately -grew long again; put muzzles over the sharp-fanged -mouths; protected the defenseless, the victims, pilgrims, -women. The old law that is found with only a few variations -in the Manava Dharmasastra, in the Pentateuch, in the Ta-Hio, -in the Avesta, in the traditions of Solon and of Numa, in -the sententious maxims of Hesiod and the Seven Wise Men, -is the first attempt, rough, imperfect and inadequate, to mold -animality into a sketch, a beginning, a simulacrum of humanity.</p> - -<p class='c006'>This law reduced itself to a few elementary rules; not to -steal, not to kill, not to perjure, not to fornicate, not to tyrannize -over the weak, not to mistreat strangers and slaves any -more than was necessary. These are the social virtues, strictly -necessary for a common life, useful to all. The legislator contented -himself with naming the most ordinary sins, asked for -a minimum of inhibition. His ideal rarely surpassed a sort of -approximate justice. But the law took for granted the predominance -of evil, the sovereignty of instinct, earlier than the -law and still existing. Every precept implies its infraction, -every rule the practice of the opposite. For this reason the -old law, the law of the first peoples, is only an insufficient -channeling of the brute force eternal and triumphant. It is a -collection of compromises and half-measures between custom -and justice, between nature and reason, between the rebellious -beast and the divine model.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Men of ancient time, carnal, physical, hearty, lusty, muscular, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_99'>99</span>sanguine, sturdy, solid, hairy men with ruddy faces, eaters -of raw meat, ravishers, cattle-stealers, mutilators of their enemies, -fit to be called, like Hector the Trojan, “killers of men,” -strong, zestful warriors who, having dragged by the feet their -slaughtered antagonists, refreshed themselves with fat -haunches of oxen and of mutton, emptying enormous cups of -wine; these men ill-tamed, ill-subdued to the law such as we -see them in the Mahabharata, and in the Iliad, in the poem of -Izdubar, and in the book of the wars of Jehovah, such men -without the fear of punishment and of God would have been -still more unrestrained and ferocious. In times when a head -was asked for an eye, an arm for a finger, and a hundred lives -for a life, a law of retaliation which asked only an eye for -an eye and a life for a life was a notable victory of generosity, -appalling though it seems after the teaching of Jesus.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But the law was more often disobeyed than observed; the -strong endured it against their will, the powerful who ought -to have protected it, evaded it; the bad violated it openly; the -weak cheated it. And even if it had been entirely obeyed by -every man every day it would not have been enough to conquer -the evil perpetually boiling up, held down only for a -moment, rendered harder to enact but not impossible, condemned -but not abolished. It was a reduction of innate fierceness, -not its total extirpation. Men, shackled but reluctant, -had learned to pretend obedience, did a little good where every -one could see them in order to be more free to do wrong secretly, -exaggerated the observance of external precepts that -they might the better betray the foundation and spirit of the -law.</p> - -<p class='c006'>They had come to this point when Jesus spoke on the Mount. -He understood that the old law was doomed, drowned in the -stagnant swamps of formalism; the endless work of the education -of the human race was to begin over again, the ashes must -be brushed away, the flame of original enthusiasm must be -blown into it, it must be carried through to its original destination -which is always metanoia, the changing of the soul. -And for this it was necessary to terminate the old law, the -dried and burnt-out old law.</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_100'>100</span>With Jesus therefore begins the new law: the old is abrogated -and declared insufficient.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He begins at every example with the words—“Ye have heard -it said” ... and at once He substitutes for the old command, -which He purifies by paradox or actually overthrows, the new -command, “But I say unto you....”</p> - -<p class='c006'>With these “buts” a new phase of the human education begins. -It is not the fault of Jesus if we are still groping along -in the twilight of very early dawn.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>BUT I SAY UNTO YOU</h3> -<p class='c005'>“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou -shalt not kill ... but I say unto you, That whosoever is angry -with his brother ... shall be in danger of the judgment: -and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger -of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be -in danger of hell fire.” Jesus goes straight to the extreme. -He does not even consider the possibility of striking a brother, -much less of killing him. He does not conceive even the intention, -the wish to kill. A single moment of anger, a single -abusive word, a single offensive phrase, are for him the equivalent -of assassination. Unimaginative, mediocre people cry out, -“Exaggeration.” There can be no grandeur where there is -no passion and passion is exaggeration. Jesus has His own -logic and makes no mistake. Murder is only the final carrying -out of a feeling. From anger follow evil words, from evil -words, evil deeds; from blows, murder. It is not enough -therefore to forbid the final act, the material and external act. -That is only the result of an interior process which has made -it inevitable. The right thing to do is to cut at the root of the -evil to destroy the evil plant of hate which bears the poisonous -fruit.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Achilles, son of Peleus, that same Achilles who was wrathful -because they took away his concubine, and who begged the -Gods to let him become a cannibal so that he could set his teeth -in his dead enemies’ flesh, Achilles of the silver-footed mother -said: “Whether they come from Gods or from men, ill-omened -<span class='pageno' id='Page_101'>101</span>are quarrels and the anger which drives even a wise man to -wrath, wrath which sweeter than honey in the mouth grows -greater in men’s hearts.” Achilles, after the massacre of his -companions, after the death of his dearest friend, discovers -finally what a thing is wrath, which kindles and burns and not -even a river of blood can quench it. The wrathful hero knows -what an evil thing is wrath, but he is not converted. And he -foregoes his wrath against the king of men only to vent the -fury of his vengeance upon the murdered body of Hector.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Anger is like fire: it can be smothered only at the first spark; -afterwards it is too late. Jesus uttered the profoundest truth -when He decreed the same penalty for the first hot words as -for murder. When all men learn to conquer at the very start -their outbreaks of resentment and to curb their imprecations, -quarrels of words or of deeds will flame up no longer between -man and his brother man, and homicide will become only a -black memory of our wild-beast past.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time, thou -shalt not commit adultery, but I say unto you that whoever -looketh upon a woman to lust after her hath committed -adultery already in his heart.” Even here Jesus does not stop -with the material fact which seems of importance to gross men. -He always soars from the body to the soul, from flesh to will, -from the visible to the invisible. The tree is judged by its -fruit, but the seed is judged by the tree. Evil visible to all is -seen too late. In its maturity it can no longer be prevented. -Sin is the pustule which suddenly appears, but which would not -have appeared if the blood had been purged from its malignant -humors in time. When a man and another man’s wife desire -each other, the betrayal is complete, they have committed -adultery whether or not they are guilty in deed. A man marries -not only the body of his wife, but her soul. If her soul is -lost to him he has lost the greater part. To lose also the lesser -part may be unendurably painful, but it is not vital. -A woman overcome and forced without her consent by a -stranger not loved by her, does not commit adultery. What -counts is the intention, the feeling. He who wishes to maintain -himself pure must abstain also from the mere silent passing -<span class='pageno' id='Page_102'>102</span>look of desire, because the look of desire if not repressed -is repeated and a look passes into a word, into a kiss, and into -love which spares no lover. To think of, to imagine, to desire -a betrayal is already a betrayal. He alone who cuts the first -thread can save himself from the great net of perversity -which, starting from a glance, grows until not even death can -break it. And Jesus advises expressly to pluck out the eye and -cast it away if evil comes from the eye, and to cut off the hand -and throw it away if evil comes from the hand,—advice -which dismays the cowardly and even the strong. Yet even -the most cowardly, when threatened by cancer, have their -arms or legs cut off, and if a tumor grows in the bowels, are -ready to have their bodies cut open to save their lives. Men -are concerned to save the body, but grudge any sacrifice necessary -to keep in health the soul, without which the body is only -an insensate machine of flesh and blood.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of -old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform -unto the Lord thine oaths:</p> - -<p class='c006'>“But I say unto you, Swear not at all, neither by heaven; -for it is God’s throne:</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; -for it is the city of the great King.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst -not make one hair white or black.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for -whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>He who swears to the truth is afraid, he who swears to the -false is a traitor. The first believes that the power invoked -could punish him, the other is an impostor who profits by the -faith of others the more readily to deceive them. In both -cases swearing is wrong. For us impotent men to call on a -superior power to bear witness or to be a judge in our miserable -quarrels of opposed interest, to swear by our heads or by -our sons’ heads when we cannot change the appearance of the -smallest part of our body, is an absurd challenge, a blasphemy. -He who always speaks the truth not through dread of penalties, -but through natural desire of his soul, needs no oaths. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_103'>103</span>Oaths can almost always be called in question, and never -serve to give perfect security even to those who seem to be -satisfied with them. In the history of the world there are -more stories of broken oaths than of oaths kept, and he who -uses most words to swear is precisely the man who is already -thinking of breaking his oath.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Ye have heard it said, Honor thy father and thy mother, -but I say unto you, he that loveth his father and mother more -than me is not worthy of me.” And also, “If any man come -to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, -and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he -cannot be my disciple.” Here also the old precept which ties -the new order to the old order with the tether of reverence is -brusquely reversed.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus does not condemn filial love, but He puts it in its right -place, which is not first of all, as the people of antiquity -thought. For Him the greatest love, the purest is paternal -love. The father loves in the son the future, what is new; the -son loves in the father, the past, the old. But Jesus comes to -change the past, to destroy the old. Homage paid to parents, -shutting oneself up in tradition and in the family, is a barrier -to the renovation of the world. Love of all men is a greater -thing than love for those who gave us life. Salvation for all -men is infinitely preferable to the service of the few who make -up a family. To have the greater, one must needs abandon the -less. It would be more convenient to love only those of our -family and to make this love (often forced and simulated) an -excuse for not being friendly to any one else. But he who is -devoting his life to something which transcends him has a -great undertaking which takes all his strength and every moment -of his every hour until the last. He who wishes to serve -the universe with a broad spirit must give up, and if that is -not enough, deny the common affections. He who wishes to be -Father in the divine sense of the word, even without physical -paternity, cannot be merely a son. “Let the dead bury their -dead.” In the old law, and more than ever in the learned traditions, -there were hundreds of precepts for the purification of -the body, minute, tiresome, complicated precepts without any -<span class='pageno' id='Page_104'>104</span>true earthly or heavenly foundation. The Pharisees made the -best part of religion consist in the observance of these traditions -because it is much less trouble to wash a cup than your -own soul. For a dead thing like a cup a little water and a -towel are enough; for the soul there must be tears of love and -the fire of desire. “Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth -a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this -defileth a man. Do ye not understand that whatsoever entereth -in at the mouth goeth into the belly and is cast out into the -draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth -come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out -of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, -thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the -things which defile a man; but to eat with unwashen hands -defileth not a man.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The bath with water from the well or from the fountain, -the bodily and ritual bath, does not take the place of the essential -inner purification, and it is better to eat with hands soiled -with sweat than to repel a hungry brother with hands washed -in three waters. Filth issues from the body, disappears into -the vaults and enriches orchards and fields. But there are -many finely dressed gentlemen so full to the throat with another -sort of filth that the stench of it comes out with -the words from their mouths, vainly washed and rinsed. And -this filth does not disappear into underground vaults, but soils -every one’s life, poisons the air, befouls even the innocent. -From these excremental men we should stand far away, even -if they are washed twelve times a day; the soaping of the skin -is not enough if the heart sends up noisome thoughts. The -sewer-cleaner, if he thinks no evil, is certainly cleaner than -the rich man who, while splashing in the perfumed water of his -marble bath tub, is meditating some new fornication or fraud.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>NONRESISTANCE</h3> -<p class='c005'>But Jesus had not yet arrived at the most stupefying of His -revolutionary teachings. “Ye have heard that it hath been -said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say -<span class='pageno' id='Page_105'>105</span>unto you, That ye resist not evil: But whosoever shall smite -thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any -man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him -have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go -a mile, go with him twain.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>There could be no more definite repudiation of the old law -of retaliation. The greater part of those who call themselves -Christians not only have never observed this new Commandment, -but have never been willing to pretend to approve of it. -For an infinite number of believers this principle of not resisting -evil has been the unendurable and inacceptable scandal -of Christianity.</p> - -<p class='c006'>There are three answers which men can make to violence: -revenge, flight, turning the other cheek. The first is the barbarous -principle of retaliation, now smoothed over and emasculated -in the legal codes, but nevertheless prevailing in usage: -evil is returned for evil, either in one’s own person or by the -means of intermediaries, representatives of our tribal lack of -civilization, called judges or executioners. To the evil committed -by the first offender are added the evils committed by -the officers of justice. Often the punishment turns on the -punisher and the terrible chain of violence from one revenge -to another stretches out interminably. Wrong is two-edged; -it fails even if inflicted with the desire of doing good, in nations, -or families or individuals. A first crime brings after it a -train of expiations and punishments which are distributed with -sinister impartiality between offenders and offended. The law -of retaliation can give a bestial relief to him who is first struck, -but instead of lessening evil it multiplies it.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Flight is no better than retaliation. He who hides himself -redoubles his enemies’ courage. Fear of retaliation can on rare -occasions hold back the violent hand, but the man who takes -flight invites pursuit. He who hides invites his adversary to -make an end of him. His weakness becomes the accomplice -of the ferocity of others. Here also evil begets evil.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In spite of its apparent absurdity the only way is that commanded -by Jesus. If a man gives you a blow and you return -another blow, he will answer with his fists, you in turn with -<span class='pageno' id='Page_106'>106</span>kicks, weapons will be drawn and one of you may lose your -life, often for a trivial reason. If you fly, your adversary will -follow you and emboldened by his first experience will knock -you down. Turning the other cheek means not receiving the -second blow. It means cutting the chain of the inevitable -wrongs at the first link. Your adversary who expected resistance -or flight is humiliated before you and before himself. -He was ready for anything but this. He is thrown into confusion, -a confusion which is almost shame. He has the time -to come to himself; your immobility cools his anger, gives him -time to reflect. He cannot accuse you of fear because you are -ready to receive the second blow, and you yourself show him -the place to strike. Every man has an obscure respect for -courage in others, especially if it is moral courage, the rarest -and most difficult sort of bravery. An injured man who feels -no resentment and who does not run away shows more strength -of soul, more mastery of himself, more true heroism than he -who in the blindness of rage rushes upon the offender to render -back to him twice the evil received. Quietness, when it is not -stupidity, gentleness, when it is not cowardice, astound common -souls as do all marvelous things. They make the very brute -understand that this man is more than a man. The brute himself -when not incited to follow by a hot answer or by cowardly -flight, remains paralyzed, feels almost afraid of this new, unknown -puzzling force, the more so because among the greatest -exciting factors for the man who strikes, is his anticipated -pleasure in the angry blow, in the resistance, in the ensuing -struggle. Man is a fighting animal; but with no resistance -offered, the pleasure disappears; there is no zest left. There is -no longer an adversary, but a superior who says quietly, “Is -that not enough? Here is the other cheek; strike as long as -you wish. It is better that my face should suffer than my soul. -You can hurt me as much as you wish, but you cannot force -me to follow you into a mad, brutal rage. The fact that some -one has wronged me cannot force me to act wrongly.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Literally to follow this command of Jesus demands a mastery -possessed by few, of the blood, of the nerves, and of all the -instincts of the baser part of our being. It is a bitter and repellent -<span class='pageno' id='Page_107'>107</span>command; but Jesus never said it would be easy to follow -Him. He never said it would be possible to obey Him -without harsh renunciations, without stern and continuous -inner battles; without the denial of the old Adam and the birth -of the new man. And yet the results of non-resistance, even if -they are not always perfect, are certainly superior to those of -resistance or flight. The example of so extraordinary a spiritual -mastery, so impossible and unthinkable for common men, -the almost superhuman fascination of conduct so contrary to -usual customs, traditions and passions; this example, this spectacle -of power, this puzzling miracle, unexpected like all miracles, -difficult to understand like all prodigies, this example of -a strong, sane man who looks like other men, and yet who acts -almost like a God, like a being above other beings, above the -motives which move other men—this example if repeated more -than once, if it cannot be laid to supine stupidity, if it is accompanied -by proofs of physical courage when physical courage -is necessary to enjoy and not to harm—this example has -an effectiveness which we can imagine, soaked though we are -in the ideas of revenge and reprisals. We imagine it with difficulty; -we cannot prove it because we have had too few of such -examples to be able to cite even partial experiments as proofs -of our intuition.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But if this command of Jesus has never been obeyed or too -rarely obeyed, there is no proof that it cannot be followed, still -less that it ought to be rejected. It is repugnant to human nature, -but all real moral conquests are repugnant to our nature. -They are salutary amputations of a part of our soul—for some -of us the most living part of the soul—and it is natural that the -threat of mutilation should make us shudder. But whether it -pleases us or not, only by accepting this command of Christ -can we solve the problem of violence. It is the only course -which does not add evil to evil, which does not multiply evil -a hundredfold, which prevents the infection of the wound, -which cuts out the malignant growth when it is only a tiny -pustule. To answer blows with blows, evil deeds with evil -deeds, is to meet the attacker on his own ground, to proclaim -oneself as low as he. To answer with flight is to humiliate oneself -<span class='pageno' id='Page_108'>108</span>before him, and incite him to continue. To answer a furiously -angry man with reasonable words is useless effort. But -to answer with a simple gesture of acceptance, to endure for -three days the bore who inflicts himself on you for an hour, to -offer your breast to the man who has struck you on the shoulder, -to give a thousand to the man who has stolen a hundred -from you, these are acts of heroic excellence, supine though -they may appear, so extraordinary that they overcome the -brutal bully with the irresistible majesty of the divine. Only -he who has conquered himself can conquer his enemies. Only -the saints can charm wolves to mildness. Only he who has -transformed his own soul can transform the souls of his -brothers, and transform the world into a less grievous place -for all.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>AGAINST NATURE</h3> -<p class='c005'>Nonresistance to evil is profoundly repugnant to our nature, -but to obey the teachings of Christ means that our nature will -come to feel disgust for what now pleases us, and find happiness -in what now fills us with horror. His every word takes -for granted this total renovation of the human spirit: He fearlessly -contradicts our most ordinary inclinations and the deepest -of our instincts. He praises what every one avoids. He -condemns what all men seek. He not only gives the lie to -what men teach (often very different from what they really -think and do), but He contradicts what they actually think -and do every day.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus does not believe in the perfection of the natural soul, -of the original soul. He believes in its future perfection, only -to be reached by a complete overturning of its present nature. -His task is the reform of man; more than that, the making-over -of man. With Him begins the new race; He is the model, -the arch-type, the Adam of humanity remodeled and recast. -Socrates tried to reform the mind, Moses the law, others went -no further than altering a ritual, a code, a system, a science; -but Jesus did not aim at changing one part of man but the -whole man from top to bottom, changing the inner man who is -<span class='pageno' id='Page_109'>109</span>the motive-power and origin of all the facts and the words of -the world. Therefore we need not expect Him to compromise -or to wheedle. He will make no concessions to evil and imperfect -nature; He will not find specious reasons to justify it -as the philosophers do. You cannot serve Jesus and Nature. -He who stands with Jesus is against the old animal nature and -is working for the higher nature which must conquer it. -Everything else is idle talk, dust and ashes.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Nothing is more common among men than the thirst for -riches. To heap up money by any means, even the most infamous, -has always seemed the sweetest and most respectable -of occupations. But he who wishes to come with me, said -Jesus, must go and sell that which he has and give it to the -poor and he shall have treasures in Heaven. Poverty is the -first requisite for the citizenship of the Kingdom.</p> - -<p class='c006'>All men anxiously take thought for the morrow. They are -always afraid lest the ground give way under their feet, lest -there may not be enough bread to last to the next harvest. -They fear that they will not have enough clothes to cover their -bodies and the bodies of their children. But Jesus teaches us, -“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: sufficient unto -the day is the evil thereof.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Every man would like to stand first even among his equals. -He wishes to be superior to those who surround him, to command, -to dominate, to seem greater, richer, handsomer, wiser. -The whole history of men is only the terror of standing second; -but Jesus teaches us, “And whosoever of you will be the chiefest -shall be servant of all.” The greatest is the smallest, the -most powerful shall serve the weakest, he who exalts himself -shall be humbled, he who humbles himself shall be exalted.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Vanity is another universal curse of men. It poisons even -their good actions, because nearly always they perform those -insignificant good actions so that they may be seen. They do -evil secretly and good openly. Jesus commands us to do just -the opposite. “But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand -know what thy right hand doeth;... And when thou prayest, -thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to -pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_110'>110</span>streets, that they may be seen of men.... But thou, when -thou prayest, enter into thy closet.... Moreover when ye -fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they -disguise their faces, that they may appear to fast.... But -thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The instinct of self-preservation is the strongest of all those -which dominate us. No infamy, cruelty or cowardice is too -much for us to pay for the safety of this handful of animated -dust. But Jesus tells us: “For whosoever will save his life -shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake the -same shall save it.” For what we <i>call</i> life is not true life and -he who gives up his soul ruins also the flesh which houses it.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Every one of us has a hankering to judge his fellows. To -sit in judgment makes us feel that we are above those judged, -better, more righteous, innocent. To accuse others is like saying, -“<i>We</i> are not thus.” As a matter of fact it is always the -hunchbacks who first cry out on those whose shoulders are a -little bent. But Jesus says, “Judge not that ye be not -judged, condemn not and ye shall not be condemned, forgive -and ye shall be forgiven.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Every man boasts of being really manly, that is, a grave, -mature, wise, substantial, worthy person, who understands the -nature of things and who can reason and have an opinion on -all subjects. A speech that is too sincere is said to be childish; -a simple person is scornfully called childish. But when the -disciples asked Him who is the greatest in the Kingdom of -Heaven, Jesus answered, “Verily I say unto you, Whosoever -shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child shall in -no wise enter therein.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The serious-minded man, the devout, the pure, the Pharisee, -avoids if possible the company of sinners, of the fallen, of the -defiled, and receives as equals at his table only the righteous. -But Jesus tirelessly announces that He has come to seek for -sinners and not for the righteous, the bad and not the good, -and He feels no shame in sitting down to dinner in the house of -the publican, where a prostitute anoints his feet. The truly -pure man cannot be corrupted by the corrupt, and does not feel -<span class='pageno' id='Page_111'>111</span>that for fear of soiling his garments he needs leave them to die -in their own vileness.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The avarice of men is so great that every one tries to take -as much as he can from others and to give back as little. -Every one seeks to possess; praises of generosity are only an -attempt to cover professional beggary with a decent mask; but -Jesus affirms, “It is better to give than to receive.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>All of us hate most of the people we know. We hate them -because they have more than we, because they will not give -us all we would like to have, because they do not pay enough -attention to us, because they are different from us; in a word, -because they exist. We even go so far as to hate our friends, -even our benefactors. And Jesus commands us to love men, -to love them all, to love even those who hate us.</p> - -<p class='c006'>No one who disobeys this command can call himself a Christian; -though he is on the point of death if he does not love his -slayer, he has no right to call himself a Christian.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Love for ourselves, the origin of our hatred for others includes -all other tendencies and passions. He who conquers -self-love, and the hatred toward others, is already entirely -transformed; the rest flows from this as a natural consequence. -Hatred toward oneself and love for enemies is the beginning -and end of Christianity. The greatest victory over the fierce, -blind, brutal man of antiquity is this and nothing else. Men -cannot be born again into the happiness of peace until they -love those who have offended against them. To love your enemies -is the only way to leave not an enemy on earth.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>BEFORE LOVE</h3> -<p class='c005'>Those who refuse Christ have many easily understandable -reasons for not accepting Him: they would need to renounce -their old personalities and they cannot see that they would -gain much by this renunciation; and they are afraid of losing -the dusty rubbish which seems magnificence to them. People -who deny Christ as an excuse for not following His teachings -have justified themselves of late by another reason, a learned -<span class='pageno' id='Page_112'>112</span>reason: they claim that He said nothing new. His words can -be found in the Orient and in the Occident centuries earlier. -Either He stole them, or plagiarized unconsciously. If He said -nothing new, He is not great; if He is not great, there is no -need to listen to Him. Let the ignorant admire Him, the -stupid obey Him, the foolish respect Him!</p> - -<p class='c006'>However, these experts in the genealogy of ideas do -not say whether the ideals of Jesus, let them be new or old, -should be accepted or rejected; they do not dare to pretend -that Christ did nothing of value when He consecrated by His -death a great truth, a forgotten, unused truth. They do not -look carefully to see whether there is a real identity of sense -and of spirit between the ideas of Jesus and those other older -ideas, or whether there is merely a simple assonance and a distant -verbal resemblance. And in the meantime, in order to -avoid being misled in that matter, they reject Christ’s law -and that of the philosophers who, they pretend, were Christ’s -teachers, and they continue tranquilly to lead their filthy lives -as if the Gospels had not been addressed to them as to other -men.</p> - -<p class='c006'>After the promulgation of the old Law there was amity between -blood kin; and the citizens of the same city bore with -each other and did one another no harm; but for strangers, -if they were not guests, there was only hatred and extermination. -Inside the family a little love; inside the city an approximate -justice; outside the walls and the frontiers inextinguishable -hatred. Centuries later voices were heard which asked -a little love also for the neighbor, for those who were not of -the same household but of the same nation, which asked for a -little justice even for strangers, even for enemies. This would -have been a wonderful step forward; but these voices—they -were so few, so weak, so distant—were not heard, or, if heard, -were not heeded.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Four centuries before Christ a wise man of China, M’-Ti, -wrote a whole book, the Kie-Siang-Ngai, to say that men -should love each other. He wrote, “The wise man who wants -to improve the world can improve it only if he knows with -certainty the origin of disorders; if he does not know that, he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_113'>113</span>cannot improve it.... Whence come disorders? They -spring up because men do not love each other. Workmen and -children have no filial feeling for their employers and parents. -Children love themselves but do not love their parents; they -cheat their parents for their own purposes. Younger brothers -love themselves but do not love their older brothers; subjects -love themselves but do not love their princes; the father has no -indulgence for the son, the older brother for the younger -brother, the prince for his subjects. The father loves himself -and does not love his son; he wrongs his son to his own advantage -... thus, everywhere brigands love their own homes -and not their neighbors’ homes, and for this they sack other -men’s houses to fill their own. Thieves love their own bodies -and do not love men, wherefore they steal from men for the -good of their own bodies. If thieves considered the bodies of -other men as they do their own, who would rob? The thieves -would stay their hands.... If universal mutual love should -come, countries would not resort to blows, families would not -be troubled, thieves would hold their hands, princes, subjects, -fathers and sons would be respectful and indulgent and the -world would be better.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>For M’-Ti, love, or, to translate it more exactly, benevolence -composed of respect and indulgence, is the mortar to -hold citizens and the state more closely united. It is a remedy -against the evils of life-in-common, a social panacea.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Answer insults with courtesy,” suggests timidly the mysterious -Lao-Tse; but courtesy is prudence or mildness, not -love. His contemporary, old Confucius, according to his disciple -Thseng-Tse, taught a doctrine which consisted in uprightness -of heart, and in loving one’s neighbor as oneself -(neighbor and not the distant one, the stranger, the enemy) -as much as ourselves and not more than ourselves! Confucius -preached filial love and general benevolence, necessary to the -good ordering of kingdoms, but he did not dream of condemning -hate. In the same Lun-Yu, where the words of Thseng-Tse -are read, we find these other words, taken from the oldest -Confucian text, the Ta-Hio: “Only the just and human man is -capable of justly loving and hating men.”</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_114'>114</span>His contemporary Gautama recommends love for men, for -all men, even the most wretched and despised. And the same -love is to be felt for animals, for the smallest among animals, -for all living beings. In Buddhism love of man for man is -only a salutary exercise for the total eradication of self-love, -first and strongest prop of life. Buddha wishes to suppress -suffering; and to suppress suffering he sees no other way than -to drown personal souls and universal souls in Nirvana,—in -nothingness. The Buddhist does not love his brother out of -love for his brother, but out of self-love,—that is, to avoid -suffering, to overcome egotism, to approach absorption in the -stream of life. His universal love is cold and self-seeking, -egotistical, a form of indifference, stoical in grief as in joy.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In Egypt every dead body took with it into the tomb a -copy of the book of the dead, an anticipatory apology of the -soul before the tribunal of Osiris. The dead praises himself: -he has been righteous and has given to the needy, “I have -starved no one! I have made no one weep! I have not killed! -I have not commanded treacherous murder! I have defrauded -no one! I have given bread to the hungry, water to the -thirsty, clothes to the naked, a boat to the traveler halted on -his journey, sacrifices to the gods, funeral banquets to the -dead.” This is righteousness and these are works of mercy -(had they really as a matter of fact done all that they -claimed?) but we find no love here, much less love for enemies. -If we wish to know how the Egyptians treated their enemies -let us read an inscription of the great king, Phiops I Miriri: -“This army went in peace; it entered as it pleased into the -country of the Hirushaitu. This army went in peace; it laid -waste the country of the Hirushaitu. This army went in -peace; they cut down all their fig trees and their grape vines. -This army went in peace; they set on fire all their houses. -This army went in peace; it massacred their soldiers by -myriads. This army went in peace; it carried away their -men, women and children in great numbers, and for this, more -than for any other thing, did his Holiness rejoice.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Zarathushtra also leaves a law for the Iranians. This law -commands the faithful of Ahura Mazdâ to be kind to their -<span class='pageno' id='Page_115'>115</span>companions in the faith. They are to give clothes to the naked -and they are not to refuse bread to the hungry working man. -We are still concerned with material charity towards those who -belong to us, who serve us, who are our neighbors. There is -no talk of love.</p> - -<p class='c006'>It has been said that Jesus added nothing to the Mosaic law, -and only repeated the old Commandments. “Eye for eye, -tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, Burning for burning, -wound for wound, stripe for stripe.” Thus speaks Moses -in Deuteronomy, “And thou shalt consume all the people which -the Lord thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shalt have no -pity upon them.” Thus it is written in Deuteronomy: a step -further and we have reached Love, “Also thou shalt not oppress -a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye -were strangers in the land of Egypt.” This is a beginning: do -no wrong to strangers in memory of the time when you -also were a stranger; but the stranger who lives with us -is not an enemy, and to refrain from wronging him, does not -mean to do good to him. Exodus commands not to wrong him. -Leviticus is more generous, “And if a stranger sojourn with -thee in your land ye shalt not vex him. But the stranger that -dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, -and thou shalt love him as thyself....” Always the foreigner -who lives with you and has become your fellow-citizen, hence -like one of your friends. In the same book we read, “Thou -shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of -thy people.” This is another step forward. Do no harm to -him who offends you, provided that he is of your own nation. -We have come, if not to pardon, to generous forgetfulness, although -only for neighbors.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Neighbor, fellow-citizen, -the man who is your racial brother, who can help -you. But your enemy? There is also an admonition about -the treatment of your enemy: “If thou meet thine enemy’s ox -or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him -again. If you see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under -his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely -help with him.” Oh, great kindness of Jewish antiquity! It -<span class='pageno' id='Page_116'>116</span>would be so sweet to drive the ass further, so that his master -would have more trouble in finding him: and when you see the -ass fallen down under his pack-saddle, how amusing it would -be to smile in your beard and pass on; but the heart of the old -Jew was not hardened to this degree: an ass was too precious -in those times and those conditions: no one could live without -at least one ass in the stable, and every one had an ass. To-day -yours has escaped and to-morrow mine may run away. -Do not let us avenge ourselves on our animals even if the -master is a brute. Because if I am that man’s enemy he is my -enemy. Let us set him a good example, an example by which -we hope he will profit; let us lend him a hand to readjust the -pack-saddle of his ass; let us do to others what we hope others -will do to us, and above the crupper and the ears of the ass let -us, as merciful men, lay aside every evil thought.</p> - -<p class='c006'>This is rather too little: the old Jew has already made a tremendous -effort in caring for the animals of his enemy, but the -Psalms, to make up for it, resound at every step with outcries -against enemies and with violent demands to the Lord to -persecute and destroy them. “As for the head of those that -compass me about, let the mischief of their own lips cover -them; let burning coals fall upon them ... let them be cast -into the fire; into deep pits, that they rise not up again. Let -destruction come upon him unawares; and let his net that he -hath hid catch himself; into that very destruction let him fall. -And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord!”</p> - -<p class='c006'>In such a world it is natural that Saul should be astounded -that he was not killed by his enemy David, and that Job should -boast of not having exulted in the misfortunes of an enemy. -Only in the later proverbs do we find words which forecast -Jesus’ saying, “Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait -on the Lord, and he shall save thee.” The enemy is to be punished, -but by hands more powerful than thine. Then the -anonymous moralist of the Old Testament comes finally to -charity, “If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and -if he be thirsty, give him water to drink.” This is progress: -pity does not stop with the ox, but extends itself also to the -owner. But the marvels of love of the Sermon on the Mount -<span class='pageno' id='Page_117'>117</span>cannot have sprung from these timid maxims hidden away in -a corner of the Scriptures.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But there is, they say, Hillel, the Rabbi Hillel, the great -Hillel, master of Gamaliel, Hillel Hababli or the Babylonian. -This celebrated Pharisee lived a little before Jesus and taught, -they say, the same things which Jesus afterwards taught. He -was a liberal Judean, a rational Pharisee, an intelligent rabbi; -but was he therefore a Christian? It is true that he said these -words, “Do not do unto others what is displeasing to you; this -is the whole Law, the rest is only explanation of it.” These are -fine words for a master of the old law, but how far away they -are from those of the overturner of the ancient law! This is -a negative command, “Do not do.” He does not say, “Do -good to those who wrong you,” but “Do not do to others (and -these others are certainly companions, fellow-citizens, members -of the family and friends) what you feel to be evil.” He -mildly forbids harmfulness; he gives no absolute command to -love. As a matter of fact, the descendants of Hillel were those -Talmudists who mired the law in the great swamp of casuistry. -The descendants of Jesus were the martyrs who blessed their -torturers.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And Philo, the Alexandrian Jew, the Platonizing metaphysician, -some twenty years older than Jesus, left a treatise on the -love of men; but Philo, with all his talents and with all his -mystical and Messianic speculations, is, like Hillel, a theorist, -a man of pens and ink-pots, of learning, of books, of systems, -of abstractions, of classifications. His dialectic strategy brings -into the field thousands of words in parade formation, but he -is never inspired to pronounce the one word that burns up in -an instant all the past, the one word which brings hearts together. -He has talked of love more than Christ, but he could -never have said, and he would not have been able to understand, -what Christ said to his ignorant friends on the Mount.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>ACHILLES AND PRIAM</h3> -<p class='c005'>Is it possible that in Greece, that well-spring from whence all -have drunk, there was no love for enemies? Would-be modern -<span class='pageno' id='Page_118'>118</span>pagans, enemies of the “Palestine superstition,” claim that -Greek thought has everything in it. In the spiritual life of the -Occident, Greece is like China to the East, mother of all invention.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In the Ajax of Sophocles, famous Odysseus is moved to pity -at the sight of a fallen enemy reduced to misery. In vain -Athena herself, Hellenic wisdom personified in the sacred owl, -reminds him that “the most delightful mirth is to laugh at one’s -enemies.” Ulysses is not convinced. “I pity him, although he -is my enemy, because I see him so unfortunate, bound to an -evil destiny; and looking at him, I think of myself. Because I -see we are not other than ghosts, and unsubstantial shadows, -all we who live.... It is not right to do evil to a dying man -even if you hate him.” It seems to me that we are here still -very far away from love. Wily Ulysses is not wily enough to -conceal the motive of his unnatural softening. He pities his -enemy because he thinks of himself, remembers that evil could -happen also to him, and he pardons his enemy only because he -sees him dying and unfortunate.</p> - -<p class='c006'>A wiser man than Ulysses, the son of Sophroniscus, the stone -cutter, asked himself, among many other questions, how -the righteous man ought to treat his enemies. But reading the -texts, we discover with astonishment two Socrates, of different -opinions. The Socrates of the Memorabilia frankly accepts -the common feeling. Friends are to be treated well and enemies -ill, and thus it is better to anticipate one’s enemies in doing -ill: “The man most greatly to be praised,” he says to -Cherocrate, “is he who anticipates his enemies in hurtfulness -and his friends in helpfulness.” But Plato’s Socrates does not -accept the common opinion. He says to Crito, “Injustice -should be rendered to no one in return for injustice; nor evil -for evil whatever has been the injury that thou hast received.” -And he affirms the same principle in the Republic, adding in -support that the bad are not bettered by revenge. But the -ruling idea in Socrates’ head is the thought of justice, not the -feeling of love. In no case should the righteous man do evil, -out of self-respect (notice this), not out of affection towards -his enemy. The bad man must punish himself, otherwise the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_119'>119</span>judges in the lower world will punish him after death. Aristotle, -the disciple of Plato, turns tranquilly back to the old -idea: “Not to resent offenses,” he says in the Ethics to Nicomachus, -“is the mark of a base and slavish man.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>In Greece, therefore, there is little to the purpose for those -who are looking for precedents for Christianity.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But in order to make us believe that Christianity existed before -Christ, those who deny Jesus, have found a rival to Jesus -even in Rome, in the very palace of the Cæsars. Seneca, the -director of conscience to young gentlemen, leader of the fashionable -cult of reformed stoicism; the abstract aristocrat never -moved by the troubles of the poor; the proprietor who despises -riches, and clutches them tightly, who affirms the equality between -free and slave, and owns slaves; the talented anatomist -of scruples, of evils, of active vices, and complacent virtues; -he who canalized the old doctrine of Chrisippus, dull but clear, -towards the estuary of preciosity; moral Seneca they claim was -a Christian without knowing it during Christ’s very lifetime. -Thumbing over his works (many were written after the -death of Christ, for Seneca waited till he was sixty-five years -old before committing suicide), they have found that “the -wise man does not avenge but forgets affronts,” and that -“to imitate the Gods we should do good also to the ungrateful -because the sun shines equally on the wicked and the seas bear -up the pirate ship,” and finally that “We must succor our enemies -with a friendly hand.” But the “forgetting” of the philosopher -is not “forgiveness”; and “succor” can be philanthropy -but is not love. The imperious, the stoic, the Pharisee; the -philosopher proud of his philosophy, the righteous man complacent -over his righteousness, can despise the affronts of the -small, the pricks of enemies, and through pride of magnanimity -and to win admiration can deign to give a loaf to a hungry -enemy in order to humiliate him more harshly from the heights -of perfection. But that bread was prepared with the leaven of -vanity and that would-be friendly hand could never have -dried a tear or dressed a wound.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The world of antiquity did not know love. It knew passion -for a woman, friendship for a friend, justice for the citizen, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_120'>120</span>hospitality for the foreigner; but it did not know love. Zeus -protected pilgrims and strangers; he who knocked at the -Grecian door was not denied meat, a cup of wine, and a bed. -The poor were to be covered, the weak helped, the mourning -consoled with fair words; but the men of antiquity did not -know love, love that suffers, that shares another’s sorrow, -love for all who suffer and are neglected, love for the poor, the -lowly, the outlawed, the maligned, the downtrodden, the -abandoned; love for all, love which knows no difference between -fellow-citizens and strangers, between fair and foul, between -criminal and philosopher, between brother and enemy.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In the last canto of the Iliad we see an old man, a mourner, -a father who kisses the hand of his most terrible enemy, of the -man who has killed his sons, who has just killed his most loved -son. Priam, the old king, head of the rich, ruined city, father -of fifty sons, kneels at the feet of Achilles, the greatest hero, -and the most unhappy among the Greeks, son of the Sea-Goddess, -avenger of Patroclus, slayer of Hector. The white head -of the kneeling old man is bowed before the proud youth of -the victor, and Priam mourns for the slain, strongest, fairest, -most loved of all his fifty sons, and kisses the hand of the -slayer! “Thou also,” he says, “hast a grey-haired, failing, defenseless, -far-distant father. In the name of thy father’s love, -give me back at least the dead body of my son.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Achilles, the fierce, the wild, the slaughterer, puts the suppliant -gently on one side and begins to weep; and both of -them, the two enemies, the conqueror and the conquered, the -father bereft of his son and the son who will never see his -father again, the white-haired old man and the golden-haired -youth both weep, drawn together for the first time by sorrow. -The others round about gaze at them silent and astounded: we -ourselves after thirty centuries are shaken by their grief.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But in the kiss of Priam there is no pardon, there is no love. -This king humbles himself to obtain a difficult and unusual -favor. If a God had not inspired him he would not have -stirred from Ilium; and Achilles does not weep for dead Hector, -for weeping Priam, for the powerful man who is brought -to humble himself, for the enemy who is brought to kiss the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_121'>121</span>hand of the slayer. He weeps over his lost friend; over -Patrocles, dearer to him than all other men; over Peleus, left -at Phthia; over his father, whom he will never more embrace, -for he knows that his young days are numbered. And he gives -back to the father the dead body of his son—that body which -he has dragged for so many days in the dust—because it is the -will of Zeus, not because his hunger of vengeance is stilled. -Both of them weep for themselves; the kiss of Priam is a harsh -necessity, the restitution of Achilles is obedience to the Gods. -In the noblest heroic world of antiquity there is no place for -that love which destroys hate and takes the place of hate, for -love stronger than the strength of hate, more ardent, more implacable, -more faithful, for love which is not forgetfulness of -wrong, but love of wrong, because wrong is a misfortune for -him who commits it rather than for him who suffers. There -is no place for love for enemies in the world of antiquity.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus was the first to speak of such love, to conceive of such -love. This love was not known till the Sermon on the Mount. -This is the greatest and the most original of Jesus’ conceptions. -Of all His teachings this was the newest to men, this -is still His greatest innovation. It is new even to us, new because -it is not understood, not imitated, not obeyed; infinitely -eternal like truth.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THOU SHALT LOVE</h3> -<p class='c005'>“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy -neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your -enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate -you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute -you; That ye may be the children of your Father which -is in Heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and -on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. -For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do -not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren -only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans -so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which -is in Heaven is perfect.” A few bare, plain words! But they -<span class='pageno' id='Page_122'>122</span>are the Magna Charta of the new race, of the third race, of -men not yet born. The first race was that of the animal without -law, and its name was War; the second were barbarians -tamed by the Law, whose highest perfection was justice. This -is the race living now, and justice has not yet conquered War, -and the Law has not yet supplanted animality. The third is -to be the race of real men, not only upright but holy, not like -beasts but like God.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus had just one aim: to transform men from beasts to -saints by means of love. Circe, the enchantress, the Satanic -consort of the old mythologies, converted heroes into beasts -by means of animal pleasures. Jesus is the anti-Satan, the -anti-Circe, He who saves from animality by a force more -powerful than pleasure. This undertaking, which seems hopeless -to all animals barely risen above animality and to beings -just entering upon real humanity, must be based on the imitation -of God. To approximate sanctity one must look toward -divinity: “Be holy because God is holy. Be perfect because -God is perfect.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>This is not the first time that this appeal has been -made to the heart of man. Satan said in the Garden: -“You will be as gods.” Jehovah said to His judges: “Be -gods, be just as God is just.” But now there is no question of -being wise like God, nor is it even enough to be just, like God. -God is now more than wisdom and justice. With Jesus, He -becomes our Father, becomes love. His earth gives bread and -flowers even to the homicide; he who takes His name in vain -sees the glorious sun every morning, the same sun which warms -the clasped hands of the laborer praying in the field. A true -father loves the son who turns from him as he loves the son -who seeks him out; a father cherishes the child who obeys -him in his house, or who vomits him out with his wine. A father -can be saddened, can suffer, can mourn, but no sinning man is -capable of making a father become like to himself. No one -can induce a father to take revenge.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And we who are so much lower than God, poor finite -creatures, who are scarcely capable of remembering yesterday, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_123'>123</span>who do not know to-morrow, we unfortunate, inferior creatures, -have we not many more motives to feel for our brothers in -wretchedness what God feels for us? God is the supreme substance -of our ideal. To draw away from Him, not to be as we -pray that He may be with us, is this not to draw away from -our unique destination, to keep perpetually and despairingly -out of our reach that happiness for which we are created, which -we believe to be the aim of our lives, imagined by us, dreamed -of by us, longed-for, invoked and followed in vain through all -the false felicities which are not of God? “Let us be Gods,” -cries Bossuet. “Let us be Gods. He permits it, that we may -imitate His holiness.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Who will refuse to be like God? Dii estis. Divinity is in -us; animality hampers and constricts it, stunting our growth. -Who would not wish to be God? Oh, men, are you in very -truth content to be only men? Men as you are to-day, half-men, -half-beasts? Centaurs without robustness, sirens without -sweetness, demons with fauns’ muzzles and goats’ feet? Are -you so satisfied with your bastard and imperfect humanity, -with your animality scarcely held in leash, taking no step to -win holiness save to desire it? Does it seem to you that the -life of men as it has been in the past, as it is to-day, is so dear, -so happy, so contented that there should be no effort to make it -otherwise, entirely different, the opposite of what it is, more -like that which for thousands of years we have imagined in -the future and in Heaven? Is it not possible to make another -life out of this life, to change this world to a world more divine, -at last to bring down Heaven and the laws of Heaven upon -earth?</p> - -<p class='c006'>This new life, this earthly but celestial world is the Kingdom -of Heaven, and to bring about the Kingdom we must transfigure -and deify ourselves; become like God, imitate God. The -secret of the imitation of God is love, the certain way of the -transfiguration is love, love of man for man, love for friend -and enemy. If this love is impossible, our salvation is impossible. -If it is repugnant, it is a sign that happiness is repugnant -to us. If it is absurd, our hopes of redemption are -<span class='pageno' id='Page_124'>124</span>only absurdity. Common sense tells us that to love our enemies -is insanity, and to count such love as a prerequisite of our -salvation seems simple madness. Love for enemies is like -hatred for ourselves; hence it follows that we can only earn -beatitude by hating ourselves.</p> - -<p class='c006'>This conclusion should alarm no one, for it has been proved; -all the experiments have been tried. It is not true that there -has been no time to test it. For thousands of years we have -been proving and proving it, over and over. We have tried -the experiment of fierceness; and blood answered blood. We -have tried the experiment of lust; and lust has left in the -mouth the odor of corruption and a fiercer fever. We have -forced the body into the most refined and perverse pleasures -and found ourselves worn out and heavy-hearted, lying upon -filth. We have tried the experiment of the Law, and we have -not obeyed the Law; we have changed it and disobeyed it -again, and Justice has not satisfied our hearts. We have tried -the experiment of intellectualism, we have taken the census -of creation, numbered the stars, described the plants, the dead -things and the living things, we have bound them together -with the thin threads of abstract ideas, we have transfigured -them in the magic clouds of metaphysics; and at the end of -all this, things have remained the same, eternally the same; -they were not enough for us, they could not be renewed; -their names and their numbers did not quiet our hunger, and -the most learned men ended with weary confessions of ignorance. -We have tried the experiment of art and our feebleness -has brought the strongest to despair, because the Absolute -cannot be fixed in any form; the Many overflow from the One; -the carefully wrought work of art cannot arrest the ephemeral. -We have tried the experiment of wealth and have found ourselves -poorer; the experiment of force and have come to ourselves, -weaker. In no thing has our soul found quiet. We -have found no welcoming shade, where our bodies can lie down -and be at rest; and our hearts, always seeking, always disappointed, -are older, weaker, and emptier because in nothing have -they found peace, because no pleasure has brought them joy, -no conquest, happiness.</p> -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_125'>125</span> - <h3 class='c007'>THE LAST EXPERIMENT</h3> -</div> -<p class='c005'>Jesus proposes His experiment, the only remaining possibility, -the experiment of love, that experiment which no one -has made, which few have even attempted (and that for -only a few moments of their lives), the most arduous, the most -contrary to our instincts but the only one which can give what -it promises.</p> - -<p class='c006'>As he comes from the hand of Nature, Man thinks only of -himself, loves nothing but himself. Little by little, with tremendous -but slow efforts, he succeeds in loving for a while his -woman, and his children, in tolerating his accomplices in the -hunt, in assassination and in war. Very rarely is he able to -love a friend; more easily he hates the man who loves him. -He does not dream of loving the man who hates him.</p> - -<p class='c006'>All this explains why Jesus commands us to love our enemies. -To make over the entire man, to create a new man, the most -tenacious center of the old man must be destroyed. From self-love -come all the misfortunes, massacres and miseries of the -world. To tame the old Adam self-love must be torn out of -him, and in its place must be put the love most opposed to his -present nature, love for his enemies. The total transformation -of man is such a sublime paradox that it can be reached -only by fantastic means. It is an extraordinary undertaking, -wild and unnatural, to be accomplished only with an extraordinary -exaltation, opposed to Nature.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Until now man has loved himself and hated those who hate -him; the man of the future, the inhabitant of the Kingdom, -must hate himself and love those who hate him. To love one’s -neighbor as one’s self is an insufficient formula, a concession to -universal egotism. For he who loves himself cannot perfectly -love others, and finds himself perforce in conflict with others. -Only hatred for ourselves is sufficient. If we love ourselves, -we admire ourselves, we flatter ourselves too much. To overcome -this blind love, we need to see our nothingness, our baseness, -our infamy. Hatred of ourselves is humility, is the beginning -of improvement, of perfection. And only the humble -shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven because they alone -<span class='pageno' id='Page_126'>126</span>feel how far they are from it. We are angered at others because -our dear ego feels undeservedly offended, not sufficiently -served by others; we kill our brother because he seems an obstacle -to <i>our</i> good; we steal for the love of <i>our</i> body, we fornicate -to give pleasure to our body; envy, mother of rivalry and -of wars, is merely sorrow because another has more than we, -or has what we have not; pride is the expression of our certainty -of being of more account than others, of possessing more -than others, of knowing more than others. All the things -which religions, morals, and laws call sins, vices, and crimes -begin in self-love, in the hatred for others which springs out of -that one solitary, disordered love.</p> - -<p class='c006'>What right have we to hate our enemies, when we ourselves -have been guilty of the same fault for which we think we have -the right to hate them; when we ourselves have been guilty of -hatred? What right have we to hate them, even if they have -done wrong, even if we believe them wicked, when we ourselves -nearly always have done the same wrong actions, have been -defiled with the same pitch? What right have we to hate them -if nearly always we are responsible for their hate? We, who -with the endless errors of our monstrous self-love, have forced -them to hate us? And he who hates is unhappy, is the first to -suffer. We ought to respond with love to that hatred, with -gentleness to that harshness as reparation for the suffering of -which we are often the real cause, immediate or distant.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Our enemy is also our savior. We ought every day to be -grateful to our enemies; they alone see clearly and state openly -what is ignoble in us; they make us conscious of our moral -poverty, the realization of which is the only beginning for the -second birth. For this service we owe them love. For our -enemy needs love, and needs our love. He who loves us -already has his joy and reward in himself. He needs no reward -from us. But he who hates is unhappy; hates because he -is unhappy. His hatred is the bitter outlet for his sufferings. -We are partly guilty for this suffering, and even if, over-confident -in our innocence, we do not feel that we are responsible, -we ought nevertheless to comfort with love the unhappiness of -the man who hates, to calm him, make him better, convert him -<span class='pageno' id='Page_127'>127</span>also to the beatitudes of loving. We will know him better if -we love him, and knowing him better, we will love him more. -We only love heartily what we know well. If we love our -enemy, his soul will be transparent to us, and as we penetrate -further into it, we will discover much more to call forth our -pity and our love; because every enemy is an unrecognized -brother; we often hate in him what resembles our own natures. -Something of ourselves, unknown perhaps to us, is in our -enemy and is often the cause of our hostility. When we love -our enemies we purify our spirit by understanding and lift his -spirit upward. Hatred, instead of driving men apart, may thus -engender a light that liberates men’s souls. The worst of evil -may bring about the highest good.</p> - -<p class='c006'>This is the reason why Jesus commands us to reverse -the ordinary and customary relations of men. When man loves -what he now hates, and hates what he now loves, he will be -the opposite of what he is to-day. And if life now is made up -of evils and despair, the new, changed life being the opposite -of what we now have, will be all goodness and consolation. -For the first time we shall know happiness; the Kingdom of -Heaven will begin on earth. We will find that eternal Paradise, -lost because the first men wished to learn the difference -between good and evil. But for absolute love like the love of -God the Father, there is neither good nor evil. Evil is overwhelmed -by the good. Paradise was love, love between man -and God, between man and woman. The new earthly paradise, -the paradise regained, will be the love of every man for -all men. Christ is He who leads Adam back to the gates -of the garden, teaches him how he can enter and live there -always.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The descendants of Adam have not believed Christ; they have -repeated His words but have not obeyed them, and because -their hearts are stubborn, men are still groaning in an earthly -Hell, which century by century goes on becoming more infernal. -When the torments finally become unendurable, then -the damned themselves will suddenly learn to hate hatred, the -dying rebels in the extremity of their despair will learn to -love their executioners. Then, at last, from the depths of sorrowful -<span class='pageno' id='Page_128'>128</span>gloom will shine out the pure splendor of a miraculous -spring.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>OUR FATHER</h3> -<p class='c005'>The apostles asked Jesus for a prayer. He had told them -to pray briefly and secretly, but they were not satisfied with -any prayers recommended by the lukewarm, bookish priests -of the Temple. They wanted a prayer of their own which -would be like a countersign among the fraternity of Christ. -Jesus on the Mount taught for the first time the Pater-noster, -the only prayer which He ever taught. It is one of the simplest -prayers in the world, the most profound which goes up from -human homes to God, a prayer neither literary nor theological—neither -bold nor servile—the most beautiful of all -prayers. But though the Lord’s Prayer is simple, it is not -always understood. The century-old, mechanical reiteration -of tongues and lips, the formal ritual repetition, have made it -almost a string of syllables from which the original meaning -has been lost. Reading it over word for word to-day like a new -text, which we read for the first time, it loses its ritual banality, -and freshens into its first meaning.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Our Father”; for we have sprung from Thee and love Thee -as sons; from Thee we shall receive no wrong.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Which art in heaven”—in that which is opposed to the -earth, in the opposite sphere from matter, in spirit and in that -small but eternal part of the spirit which is our soul.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Hallowed be Thy name”; let us not only adore Thee with -words but be worthy of Thee, drawing nearer to Thee with -greater love, because Thou art no longer the avenger, the Lord -of Battles, but the Father who teaches the joyfulness of peace.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Thy Kingdom come”—the Kingdom of Heaven, of the -spirit of love, that of the Gospel.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven”—may Thy -law of goodness and of perfection rule both spirit and matter, -both the visible and invisible universe.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Give us this day our daily bread”; because our material -body, necessary support of the spirit, needs every day a little -<span class='pageno' id='Page_129'>129</span>material food to maintain it. We do not ask of Thee riches, -dangerous burden, but only that small amount which permits -us to live, to become more worthy of the promised life. Man -does not live by bread alone, and yet without a morsel of bread -the soul, living in the body, could not nourish itself on other -things more precious than bread.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” Pardon -us because we pardon others. Thou art our eternal and infinite -creditor. We can never pay our debt to Thee, but remember -that because of our weakness, it is more of an effort -for us to forgive one single debt of a single one of our debtors -than it is for Thee to sweep away the record of all that we owe -Thee.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Lead us not into temptation.” We are weak, still snared in -fleshliness in this world which at times seems so beautiful and -calls us to all the delights of faithlessness. Help us that our -struggling transformation may not be too difficult, and that -our entry into the Kingdom may not be too long delayed.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Deliver us from evil”—Thou who art in Heaven, who art -spirit, who hast power over evil, over stubborn and hostile matter -which surrounds us everywhere, and from which it is hard -to free ourselves, Thou enemy of Satan, negation of matter, -help us! Our true greatness lies in this victory over evil, over -evil which springs up constantly because it will not be truly -conquered until all have conquered it. But this decisive victory -will be less distant if Thou helpest us with Thy alliance.</p> - -<p class='c006'>With this appeal for aid, the Lord’s Prayer ends. In it are -none of the tiresome blandishments of Oriental prayers, rigmaroles -of adulation and hyperbole which seem invented by a -dog, adoring his master with his dog’s soul, because his master -permits him to exist and to eat. There are none of the -querulous, complaining supplications of the Psalmist who asks -God for every variety of aid, more often temporal than spiritual, -laments if the harvest has not been good, if his fellow-citizens -do not respect him, and calls down wounds and arrows -on the enemies whom he cannot conquer himself. In the -Lord’s Prayer the only word of praise is the word “Father”; -and that praise is a pledge, a testimony of love. From this -<span class='pageno' id='Page_130'>130</span>father we ask only for a little bread, and we ask in addition -the same pardon that we give our enemies; and at the last a -valid protection in our fight with evil, the enemy of all, the -great wall which hinders our entry into the Kingdom.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He who says “Our Father” is not proud but neither is he -humbled; he speaks to his Father with the intimate quiet accent -of confidence almost as from one equal to another. He is -sure of his love and he knows that his father needs no long -speeches to know his desires. “Your Father,” says Jesus, -“knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him.” -Thus the most beautiful of all the prayers is a daily calling to -mind of all that we need if we are to become like God.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>POWERFUL DEEDS</h3> -<p class='c005'>After He had given out the new law of the imitation of God, -Jesus came down from the Mount.</p> - -<p class='c006'>One cannot always remain on the heights. The moment we -arrive on the summit of a mountain we are fated to descend. -Every ascent is a pledge of descent, a promise to come down -again. He who has something to say must make himself -heard; if he always speaks on the summits, few will stay with -him; it is cold on the summits for those who are not all on -fire; and his voice will reach few. He who has come to give, -cannot ask men, weak lungs, tired hearts, nerveless legs, to -follow him upward, hobbling along to the heights. He must -follow them down to the plain, into their houses; he must -stoop to them if he is to lift them up.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus knew that exalted teaching on the heights would not -suffice to spread the good news to all. He knew that men need -less abstract words, picture-making words, narrated words, -words almost as tangible as facts. And He knew that even -these words would not be enough.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The simple, rustic, coarse, humble people who followed Jesus -were men whose lives were based on material things, men who -could only understand spiritual things slowly, with great -effort, through material proofs, signs and material symbols. -They could not understand a spiritual truth without its material -<span class='pageno' id='Page_131'>131</span>incarnation; without evidence simple enough for them to -weigh, evidence stated in the terms of the everyday world. -An illustrative fable can lead men to moral revelation; a -prodigy is to them confirmation of a new truth, of a contested -mission. Preaching, made up of abstract axioms and aphorisms, -left these imaginative Orientals unsatisfied. Jesus had -recourse to the marvelous and to poetry: he performed miracles -and spoke in parables. For many moderns the miracles -recounted by the Evangelists are a compelling reason for turning -away from Jesus and the Bible. Their shriveled brains -cannot take in the miraculous; therefore, they reason the Gospel -lies, and if it lies in so many places none of it can be believed. -It is out of the question that Jesus can ever have -raised the dead: therefore, His words have no value.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The people who reason in this way reason ill. They give to -miracles a weight and a meaning much greater than that which -Jesus gave them. If they had read the four Gospels they would -have seen that Jesus is always reluctant to perform miracles, -that He does not feel this divine power of His is of supreme -importance. Every time that He finds a fair reason for refusing, -He refuses; if He yields, it is to reward the faith of the -sorrowing man or woman who calls on Him; but the Gospels -show that for Himself, for His own salvation, He never performs -miracles. He performs no miracles in the wilderness -with Satan, none at Nazareth when they wish to kill Him, none -at Gethsemane when they come to arrest Him, nor on the cross -when they challenge Him to save Himself. His power is only -for others, to benefit His mortal brothers.</p> - -<p class='c006'>There are many who ask for a sign, a sign from Heaven, a -sign to persuade the unbelievers that His word is the true word: -“An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and -there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the Prophet -Jonas.” What is this sign? The writers of the gospel who -wrote after the resurrection thought that Jonah emerging -the third day from the whale symbolizes Jesus emerging -the third day from the tomb, but the rest of what Jesus says -shows that He meant something else. “The men of Nineveh -shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn -<span class='pageno' id='Page_132'>132</span>it: because they repented at the teaching of Jonas; and, behold, -a greater than Jonas is here.” Nineveh did not ask for prodigies: -it was converted by the word alone. Men whom Jesus -cannot convert by truths infinitely greater than those announced -by Jonah, are below the level of the men of Nineveh, -idolaters, barbarians. Faith must not rest on marvels alone, -nevertheless let us remember that faith—though it is higher -and more perfect when achieved without miracles—can by -its very fervor accomplish miracles. Hardened hearts, locked -shut against truth, are not converted even by the greatest -miracles. “If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither -will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” He -was neglected and rejected by the cities which were the scenes -of the greatest prodigies. “Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe -unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works which were done -in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented -long ago, in sack-cloth and ashes.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus never held that miracles were His exclusive privilege. -When they came to tell Him that some man was driving out -Demons in His name, He answered, “Forbid him not.” This -power was not denied to the disciples. “Heal the sick, cleanse -the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, -freely give.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Even charlatanical wizards could perform prodigies which -seemed miracles. In His time a certain Simon was doing -miracles in Samaria; even the disciples of the Pharisees performed -miracles. But miracles are not enough to enter into -the Kingdom. “Many shall say to Me in that day, Lord, -Lord, did we not prophesy in Thy name and in Thy name cast -out devils, and in Thy name do many mighty works? And then -will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from Me, -all ye workers of iniquity.” It is not enough to cast out devils, -if thou has not cast out the devil in thee, the devil of pride -and cupidity.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Even after His death men will see others perform miracles. -“For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and -shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were -possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” I have put you -<span class='pageno' id='Page_133'>133</span>on your guard: do not believe in these signs and these wonders -until thou shalt see the Son of Man. The miracles of false -prophets do not prove the truth of what they say.</p> - -<p class='c006'>For all these reasons, Jesus abstained, as often as possible, -from working miracles, but He could not always resist the -pleadings of the sorrowful, and often His pity did not wait -for the request. For a miracle is an attribute of faith, and -His faith is infinite, and that of the believers very great. But -often, as soon as the healing was complete, He asked the ones -He had healed to keep it secret. “See thou tell no man; Go -thy way.” Those who do not listen to the truth of Christ, -because they are troubled by the miracles, should remember -the profound saying which was addressed to Thomas, “Blessed -are they that have not seen and yet have believed.”</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE BLIND SEE</h3> -<p class='c005'>Men cannot live without three things, bread, health and -hope. Deprived of everything else men can—raging and -cursing—go on living. But if they have not at least these -three, they hasten to summon Death, because without them -life is like Death. It is death with suffering added, an aggravated, -embittered, envenomed death, without even the anæsthetic -of insensibility. Hunger is the wasting away of the -body; pain makes the body hateful; despair—not to expect -anything better, a relief, an alleviation—takes the savor out -of everything, takes away every reason to be, and every reason -to act. There are men who do not kill themselves because -suicide is an action.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He who wishes to draw men to him must give them bread, -health and hope. He must feed them, heal them and give -them faith in a more beautiful life.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus gives this faith. To those who followed Him into -the wilderness and upon the mountains, He distributed -material and spiritual bread. He was not willing to transform -stones into loaves, but He made the real loaves of bread sufficient -for thousands. And the stones which men carry in their -breasts He changed into loving hearts.</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_134'>134</span>And He did not reject the sick. Jesus is no self-tormentor, -no flagellant. He does not believe that pain is necessary to -conquer evil. Evil is evil and must be driven away, but -pain also is evil. Sorrow of the soul is enough for salvation: -why should the body suffer also, needlessly? The old Jews -thought of sickness as a punishment: Christians believe it -above all as an aid to conversion.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But Jesus does not believe in vengeance taken on the innocent, -and does not expect that true salvation can be won by -ulcers or by hair shirts. Render unto the body that which -is the body’s due, and unto the soul that which is the soul’s. -He likes the friendly supper-table; He does not refuse good -old wine; and He does not send away women who pour perfumes -on His head and on His feet. Jesus can fast many -days; He can be satisfied with a bit of bread, with half of a -broiled fish; and He can sleep on the ground with His head -on a stone; but till it is unavoidable He does not seek out -want, hunger and suffering. Health seems to Him a good thing -and the innocent pleasure of dining with friends; a cup of -wine drunk in good company, the fragrance of a vase of nard, -seem good and acceptable to Him also when such things cause -no suffering to others.</p> - -<p class='c006'>If a sick man accosts Him, He cures him. Jesus comes not -to deny life, but to affirm it, to institute a happier and more -perfect life. He does not purposely seek out the sick. His -mission is to drive away spiritual suffering, to bring spiritual -joy. But if, by the way, it happens to Him to drive out also -suffering of the flesh, to quiet pain, to restore, along with -the health of the soul, the health also of the body, He cannot -refuse to do it. He shows Himself adverse to it, for the most -part, because His aim is higher; and He would not wish to -appear in the eyes of the people like a vagabond wizard, or -like the worldly Messiah whom most men were expecting. -But since He wishes to conquer evil, and there are men who -know Him capable of conquering all evils, His love is forced -to drive out also those of the body.</p> - -<p class='c006'>When, on the road trodden by men of health, there come -towards Him groups of lepers, repellent, disfigured, horrible -<span class='pageno' id='Page_135'>135</span>lepers, and when He sees that swollen lividness, the scaly skin -showing through the torn clothes, that scabby, spotted, cracked -skin, the withered, wrinkled skin which deforms the mouth, -half-closes the eyes, and puffs up the hands; wretched, suffering -ghosts, shunned by every one, separated from every one, -disgusting to every one, who are thankful if they have a little -bread, a saucer for their water, the roof of an old shed for -a hiding-place; when painfully bringing out the words through -their swollen, ulcerated lips they beg Him, whom they know -to be powerful in word and deed, beg Him, their only hope -in their despair, for health, for a cure, for a miracle, how -could Jesus shun them, as other men did, and ignore their -prayer?</p> - -<p class='c006'>And the epileptics, who writhe in the dust, their faces twisted -in a set spasm, the froth on their lips; those possessed of devils -who howl among the ruined tombs, evil dogs of the night, disconsolate; -the paralytics, trunks which have just enough feeling -left to suffer, dead bodies inhabited by an imprisoned and suppliant -soul; and the blind, the awful blind, shut up from their -birth in the night—foretaste of the blackness of the tomb—stumbling -in the midst of the fortunate men who go their way -freely, the terrified blind, who walk with their heads held high, -their eyes staring, as if the light could reach them from the -depths of the infinite, the blind, for whom the world is only a -series of more or less harsh surfaces, among which they grope; -the blind, eternally alone, who know the sun only by its -warmth, by the heat on their bodies! How could Jesus answer -“No” to such wretchedness?</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE ANSWER TO JOHN</h3> -<p class='c005'>Jesus heals the sick, but He is in no way like a wizard -or an exorcist. He has no recourse to incantation, to amulets, -to smoke, veils and mystery. He does not call to His aid the -powers of Heaven or Hell. For Him a word is enough, a -strong cry, a gentle accent, a caress. His will is enough, and -the faith of the petitioner. To them all He puts the question, -“Dost thou believe I can do this?” and when the cure is accomplished, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_136'>136</span>“Go, thy faith hath made thee whole.” For Jesus -the miracle is the union of two wills for good, the living contact -between the faith of the healer and the faith of the one -healed. “Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain -of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove -hence, to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall -be impossible unto you. If ye had faith as a grain of mustard -seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked -up by the root and be thou planted in the sea; and it should -obey you.” Those who have no faith, not even as much as -the thousandth part of a grain of mustard seed, swear that no -man has this power, and that Jesus is an impostor.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In the Gospels the miracles are called by three names: -“Dunameis”—forces; “Terata”—marvels; “Semeis”—signs. -They are signs for those who remember the prophecies of the -Messiah; they are “marvels” for those who look for proofs -that Christ is the Messiah; but for Jesus and in Jesus there -are only “Dunameis,” mighty works, victorious lightning-flashes -from a superhuman power. The healings of Jesus are -two-fold; they are healings not only of bodies but of souls, -and it is soul-sickness which Jesus wishes especially to heal, -so that the Kingdom of Heaven may be founded also on the -earth.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Most sickness is two-fold, mental and physical, and lends -itself with singular exactitude to metaphors and allegory. Jesus -cured the maimed, the halt, the fevered, a man with the dropsy, -a woman with an issue of blood. He healed also a sword-wound—Malchus’ -ear struck off by Peter on the night of -Gethsemane—this only in order that His law ... “do good -to those who wrong you” ... might be observed to the -very last. But Jesus healed more often those possessed by -devils, the paralytics, the lepers, the blind, the deaf-mutes. -The old name for mental diseases is possession by devils; even -Professor Aristotle believed in possession by devils. It was -believed that lunatics, epileptics, hysterical patients, were invaded -by malign spirits. The contradictory and often merely -verbal explanations of the moderns does not invalidate the -fact that demoniacs, in many cases, are such in the real sense -<span class='pageno' id='Page_137'>137</span>of the word. This learned and popular explanation lent itself -admirably to that allegorical and figurative teaching of which -Jesus was so fond. He wished to found the Kingdom of God -and supplant that of Satan. It was part of His mission to -drive out demons. The difference between bodily disorders -and actual malign obsessions was of no importance: between -bodily infirmities and spiritual infirmities there is a parallelism -of nomenclature, based on real affinity. There is a likeness -between the maniac and the epileptic, between the paralytic -and the slothful, the vile and the leprous, the blind and he -who cannot see the truth, the deaf and he who will not listen -to the truth, the cured and the resurrected.</p> - -<p class='c006'>When John, shut up in prison, sent two disciples to ask -Jesus if He were the awaited prophet, or whether they should -await another, Jesus answered them, “Go your way, and tell -John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind -see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the -dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached.” Jesus -did not separate the gospel from miraculous cures. They are -similar deeds; by that answer he meant that he had cured -bodies in order that the souls might be better disposed to receive -the gospel.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Those who did not see the light of the sun can now see -the light of truth; those who did not hear even the words -of men can now hear the words of God; those who were -possessed of Satan are freed from Satan; those who were -foul and ulcerated are clean as children; those who could -not move, who were strengthless and shrunken, now follow -my footsteps; those who were dead to the life of the soul -have risen at a word from me ... and the poor, after the -Good News, are richer than the wealthy. These are my -credentials, my letters proving my legitimacy.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus, Healer and Liberator, is not what the bad faith of -His modern enemies wish to imagine Him, in order to gild once -more their comfortable paganism and to protect it against -asceticism. “He is the God,” they say, “of the sick, the weak, -the dirty, the wretched, the strengthless, the servants.” But -all that Christ does is to give health, strength, purity, wealth, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_138'>138</span>and liberty. He draws near to the sick precisely in order to -drive away their sickness; to the weak to lift them out of their -weakness; to the dirty in order to cleanse them; to slaves -in order to free them. He does not love the sick only because -they are sick: He loves health, just as the men of antiquity -did, and He loves it so greatly that He longs to give it back -to those who have lost it. Jesus is the prophet of happiness, -the promiser of life, of life that is worthier to be lived. The -miracles are only pledges of His promise.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>TALITHA QUMI</h3> -<p class='c005'>“The dead shall arise!” This is one of the signs which -are to suffice for John the Baptist in prison. To the good -sister, to the hard-working Martha, Jesus said, “I am the resurrection -and the life: he that believeth in me, though he -were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth, and believeth -in me, shall never die.” The resurrection is a rebirth -in faith, immortality is the permanent affirmation of this -faith.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The Evangelists know three resurrections, historical events -narrated with a sober but explicit statement of the evidence. -Jesus raised up three who were dead: a young lad, a little -girl, and a friend.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He was entering Nain, “the beautiful” set on a little hill -some miles from Nazareth, and met a funeral procession. -They were carrying to the grave the young son of a widow. -She had lost her husband a short time before; this son alone -had been left to her; now they were carrying away the son -in turn for burial. Jesus saw the mother walking among -the women, weeping with the amazed and smothered grief of -mothers which is so profoundly moving. She had only two -men in all the world who loved her; the first one was dead, -the second was now dead; one after the other, both of them -disappeared. She was left alone, a woman alone without a -man. Without a husband, without a son, without a help, a -prop, a comfort. Gone the love that was a memory of youth, -gone the love that was hope for declining years. Gone both -<span class='pageno' id='Page_139'>139</span>those poor, simple loves. A husband can console his wife -for the loss of their son; a son can make up for the loss of a -husband. If only one had been left! Now her lips were never -to know another kiss.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus had compassion on this mother; her grief was like -an accusation. “Weep not,” he said.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He went to the side of the cataleptic and touched him. The -boy was lying there stretched out, wrapped in his shroud, but -with his face uncovered, set in the stern paleness of the dead. -The bearers halted; all were silent; even the mother, startled, -was quiet.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.” And he that was -dead sat up, and began to speak. And He delivered him to -his mother. He “delivered” him because he was now hers. -Jesus had taken him from the land of death to give him back -to her who could not live without him, that a mother might -cease from weeping.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Another day as he was returning from Gadara, a father fell -at His feet. His only little daughter lay at the point of death. -The man’s name was Jairus, and although he was a leader -at the Synagogue he believed in Jesus. They went along together. -When they were half-way, a servant met them, saying, -“Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master.” But when -Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, “Fear not: believe -only, and she shall be made whole.” And when He came into -the house He suffered no man to go in, save Peter, and James, -and John, and the father and the mother of the maiden. And -all wept, and bewailed her: but He said, “Weep not; she is not -dead, but sleepeth.” And they laughed Him to scorn, knowing -that she was dead. And He put them all out, and took -her by the hand, and called, saying, “Maid, arise.” And her -spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and He commanded -to give her meat. She was not a visible spirit, a -ghost, but a living body, awakened a little weak, ready for a -new day after feverish dreams.</p> -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_140'>140</span> - <h3 class='c007'>LAZARUS AWAKENED</h3> -</div> -<p class='c005'>Lazarus and Jesus loved each other. More than once Jesus -had eaten in his house at Bethany with him and his sisters. -Now one day Lazarus fell ill, and sent word of it to Jesus. -And Jesus answered, “This sickness is not unto death.” Two -days went by. But on the third day He said to His disciples, -“Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake -him out of sleep.” He was near to Bethany when Martha -came to meet Him as if to reproach Him.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Lord, if Thou hadst been here my brother had not died.” -And a little later Mary too said, “Lord, if Thou hadst been -here, my brother had not died.” Their repeated reproach -touched Jesus, not because He feared He had come too late, -but because He was always saddened by the lack of faith even -of those dearest to Him.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“And he said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto -him, Lord, come and see.... Jesus therefore again groaning -in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave and a stone -lay upon it. Jesus said, Take ye away the stone.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Martha, the housekeeper, the practical, concrete character, -interrupted, “Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been -dead four days.” But Jesus did not heed her, “Take away -the stone.” And the stone was rolled away. Jesus made a -short prayer, His face lifted towards the sky, drew near to the -hole and called His friend in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come -forth.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And Lazarus came forth, stumbling, for his hands and feet -were shrouded and his face covered with a napkin.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Loose him, and let him go.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And all four, followed by the Twelve and by a throng of -thunderstruck Jews, returned to the house. Lazarus’ eyes grew -wonted again to the light. He walked on his feet, although -with pain, and used his hands. Martha, moving rapidly, got -together the best dinner she could in the confusion after four -days of demoralized sorrow—and the man come back to life -after death ate with his sister and his friends. Mary could -scarcely swallow a mouthful of food, nor take her eyes from -<span class='pageno' id='Page_141'>141</span>the conqueror of death, who, having wiped the tears from His -eyes, broke His bread and drank His wine as if this day were -like any other day.</p> - -<p class='c006'>These are the resurrections narrated by the Evangelists, and -from their account we can draw some observations which will -allow us to dispense with learned, that is to say with unsuitable, -commentaries. In all His life, Jesus raised from the dead -only three persons, and this He did, not to make a show of His -power and to strike the imagination of the people, but only -because He was touched by the sorrow of those who loved the -dead, to console a mother, a father, two sisters. Two of these -resurrections were public; one, that of the daughter of Jairus, -was accomplished in the presence of very few, and Jesus asked -those few to say nothing about it.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Another point, and the most important; in all these three -cases Jesus spoke to the dead person as if he were not dead -but only asleep. He had no time to say anything about the -condition of the son of the widow, because that decision was -taken too rapidly, but even to him, He said, as to a child, idly -oversleeping, “Young man, I say unto thee, arise.” When -they told Him that the daughter of Jairus was dead, He answered, -“Weep not, she is not dead but sleepeth.” When they -confirmed the news of the death of Lazarus, He insisted, “He -is not dead but sleepeth.” He made no claim to bring back -from the dead, only to awaken. Death for Him was only a -sleep, a deeper sleep than the common sleep of everyday, a -sleep only to be broken by a superhuman love. This love -was for the survivors more than for the dead; it was the love -of one whose tears flow at the sight of others’ tears.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE MARRIAGE AT CANA</h3> -<p class='c005'>Jesus liked to go to weddings. For the man of the people -who very seldom gives way to lavishness and gayety, who -never eats and drinks as much as he would like, the day of his -wedding is the most remarkable of all his life, a rich passage -of generous gayety in his long, drab, commonplace existence. -Wealthy people who can have banquets every evening, moderns -<span class='pageno' id='Page_142'>142</span>who gulp down in a day what would have sufficed -for a week to the poor man of olden times, no longer feel -the solemn joyfulness of that day. But the poor man in the -old days, the workingman, the countryman, the Oriental who -lived all the year round on barley-bread, dried figs and a few -fish and eggs, and only on great days killed a lamb or a kid, -the man accustomed to stint himself, to calculate closely, to -dispense with many things, to be satisfied with what is strictly -necessary, saw in weddings the truest and greatest festival of -his life. The other festivals, those of the people and those -of the Church, were the same for everybody, and they are -repeated every twelfth month; but a wedding was his very own -festival and only came once for him in all the cycle of his -years.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Then all the delights and splendors of the world were centered -around the bride and groom, to make the day unforgettable -for them. Torches went at night to meet the groom -with singers, dancers and musicians. The house was filled -with abundance, all sorts of meats cooked in all sorts of ways; -wine-skins of wine leaning against the walls, vases of unguents -for the friends; light, music, perfumes, gayety, dancing; nothing -was lacking for the gratification of the senses. On that one -day all the things which are the daily privilege of princes and -rich men triumphed in the poor man’s house.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus was pleased by this innocent joy, and touched by the -exultation of those simple souls, snatched for those few hours -from the gloomy, niggardly poverty of their everyday life. In -weddings He saw more than a mere festival. Marriage is the -supreme effort of the youth of man to conquer Fate with love, -with the union of two affections, with the joining of two loving -youths. It is the affirmation of a double faith in life, in the -continuity and stability of life. The man who marries is a -hostage in the hands of human society. Making himself the -head of a new society and father of a new generation, he frees -himself while he professes to bind himself. Marriage is a -promise of happiness, and an acceptance of suffering. Illusion -and conscience have their part in it. In the shadow of tragedy, -which sends over the future a trembling hope of joy, is the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_143'>143</span>heroic and holy greatness of marriage, which cannot be dispensed -with, and yet, in the light of selfish reason, should not -be accepted. Who has ever seen, except in this case, a condemnation -so eagerly longed for?</p> - -<p class='c006'>For Jesus marriage has a still deeper meaning: it is the -beginning of something eternal. Whom God hath joined, man -cannot put asunder. When hearts have been united and bodies -joined, no law nor sword can sever them. In this our human -life, changeable, ephemeral, evasive, failing, frail, there is only -one thing that ought to last forever till death and beyond death,—marriage, -the only link of eternity in the perishable chain.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus often speaks of weddings and banquets. Among the -most beautiful parables is that of the King who sent out invitations -to the wedding of his son, that other of the Virgins -who wait by night for the arrival of the bridegroom’s friend; -and that of the Lord who prepared a banquet. Christ compares -Himself to a bridegroom feasted by His friends when -He answers those who are scandalized because His disciples -eat and drink.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He did not despise wine, and when with His Twelve, He -drinks that wine which is His blood, He thinks of the new -wine of the Kingdom. It is not surprising therefore that He -should have accepted the invitation to the wedding at Cana. -Every one knows the miracle He wrought that day. Six jars -of water were changed by Jesus into wine, and into wine better -than that which had been drunk. Old rationalists say that this -was a present of wine kept hidden until then, a surprise of -Jesus at the end of the meal, in honor of the bride and groom. -And six hundred quarts of wine, they add, are a fine present, -showing the liberality of the Master.</p> - -<p class='c006'>These Voltairian vermin have not noticed that only John, -the man of allegories, the philosophizer, tells of the Marriage -at Cana. It was not a sleight-of-hand trick, but a true transmutation, -performed with the power of Spirit over matter, and -at the same time it is one of those Parables in fact, instead -of in words, a Parable told by actual deeds.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But whoever does not stop at the literal meaning of the -story, sees that the water turned into wine symbolizes the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_144'>144</span>new epoch which begins with the Gospel. Before the Annunciation -and the vigil in the desert, water was enough; the world -was left to sorrow. But now the joyful tidings are come, the -Kingdom is at hand, happiness is near. Men are about to -pass from sadness to joy, from the widowhood of the old law -to the new marriage with the new law. The Bridegroom is -with us. Now is no time for sadness, but for enthusiasm. -There will be no more fasting but rejoicings; no more water -but wine.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Remember the words of the steward to the Bridegroom, -“Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and -when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but Thou -hast kept the good wine until now.” Such was the old usage, -the usage of the Jews of old times and of the heathen. But -Jesus meant to overturn this old amphictyonic usage also. -The men of old gave the good and then the poor; He, after the -good wine, gives better. Sour, unripened wine, the poor quality -which was drunk at the beginning, symbolizes the wine of -the old law, the wine that has turned sour and can no longer -be drunk. Christ’s wine, finer and stronger, which cheers the -heart and warms the blood, is the new wine of the Kingdom, -wine intended for the marriage of Heaven and earth, wine -which gives that divine intoxication which will be called later, -“the foolishness of God.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The marriage of Cana, which in John is the first miracle, -is an allegory of the evangelical revolution.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE ACCURSED FIG-TREE</h3> -<p class='c005'>Another parable expressed in the form of a miracle is that -of the withered fig-tree. One morning towards Easter, returning -from Bethany to Jerusalem, Jesus was hungry. He -came up to a fig-tree and found only leaves. It was too early -to expect fruit, even from the earliest species. Yet Jesus, -according to Matthew and Mark, was angry at the poor tree -and cursed it.</p> - -<p class='c006'>According to Matthew, “Let no fruit grow on thee hence-forward -forever.” And presently the fig-tree withered away.</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_145'>145</span>According to Mark, “No man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever.... -And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw -the fig-tree dried up from the roots.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>In the Evangelists the account of the curse is followed -by a return to the thought many times expressed by Jesus, -that anything can be obtained if asked for with powerful faith.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Others instead see here a metaphorical lament which many -times returned to Jesus’ lips. The fig-tree is Israel, the old -Judaic religion, which from now on will bear only unnourishing -leaves of rites and ceremonies, leaves fated to shrivel -without nourishing men. Jesus, hungry for justice, hungry -for love, sought among the leaves for sustaining fruits of -mercy and holiness. He did not find them. Israel did not -feed His hunger nor fulfill His hope. From now on nothing -can be expected from the old trunk, leafy but sterile. May -it be dead to all eternity! Other races will henceforth be -fruitful.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The miracle of the cursed fig-tree is at bottom nothing more -than a very apparent gloss of the parable of the sterile fig-tree -in Luke. “A certain man had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard; -and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. -Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these -three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree and find none: -cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And he answering said unto him, “Lord, let it alone this -year also, till I shall dig about it and dung it: and if it bear -fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The tree was not condemned at first, but after three years -of sterility, and even then by the intercession of the workman, -was given a year’s respite, and in that year the plant was -handled and treated with loving care. That was to be the -final test: only if all care was unavailing was it to be hewn -down and burned.</p> - -<p class='c006'>For three years Jesus had preached to the Jews, and He -was thinking of giving them up, and announcing the Kingdom -to others. But one of His workers, a disciple still attached to -his people, asked for mercy; one respite more. We shall see -whether even great love could convert this adulterous and bastard -<span class='pageno' id='Page_146'>146</span>generation. But when they were on the road from Bethany, -Judaism had been put to the test, Christ had only His -Cross to expect. The evil fig-tree of Judaism deserved to be -burned and from that time on no one will eat its tardy, withered -fruit.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>BREAD AND FISHES</h3> -<p class='c005'>On two occasions there was a multiplication of bread, alike -in all details except the proportions of the quantities involved,—that -is, in exactly what give them their real spiritual meaning.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Thousands of poor people had followed Jesus into a place -in the wilderness, far from any settlements. For three days -they had not eaten, so hungry were they for the bread of life -which is His word. But on the third day, Jesus took pity on -them—there were women and children among them—and ordered -His disciples to feed the multitude. But they had only -a little bread and a few fishes, and there were thousands of -mouths. Then Jesus had them all sit down on the ground -on the green grass, in circles of fifty to a hundred, He blessed -the small amount of food they had; all were satisfied, and -baskets of the broken pieces were left.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The less there is of the true bread, the bread of truth, the -more it satisfies. The old law is abundant, copious, divided -into innumerable sections. There are hundreds of precepts -written in the books and thousands more invented by the -Scribes and Pharisees. At first sight it seems a gigantic table -where a whole race could be satisfied. But all these precepts, -these rules and formulas are only dry leaves, shavings, trash. -No one can live on such fare. The more numerous they are, -the less they satisfy. Humble and simple people cannot satisfy -their hunger for justice with these innumerable but inedible -viands. Instead, one Word alone sums up all the words and -transcends the petrified bigotry beloved by the complacent -and satiated; one Word which fills the soul, which reconciles -hearts, which calms the hunger for justice; the multitudes will -be satisfied and there will be enough to eat also for those who -<span class='pageno' id='Page_147'>147</span>were not present on that day. Spiritual bread is in itself -miraculous. A loaf of wheat bread is only enough for a very -few, and when they have finished it, there is no more for any -one! But the bread of truth, that mystic bread of Joy is never -finished, can never be finished. Give it out to thousands and -it is always there; distribute it to millions, and it is always -intact. Every one has taken his part as the men and women -in the wilderness did, and as much as was given out, so much -the more remains for those who are to come.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Another day when the disciples found themselves without -bread, Jesus admonished them to beware of the leaven of the -Pharisees and Sadducees. And the disciples, almost always -slow to understand Him, said among themselves, “It is because -we have taken no bread.” Which when Jesus perceived -he said unto them, “O ye of little faith, why reason ye among -yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? Do ye not -yet understand neither remember the five loaves of the five -thousand and how many baskets ye took up? Neither the -seven loaves of the four thousand and how many baskets ye -took up? How is it that ye do not understand that I spake -it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the -leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?” That is, of -the blind guardians of the degenerate law.</p> - -<p class='c006'>They are the Twelve, the chosen, the blest, the faithful, and -yet they cannot understand at once, do not sufficiently believe.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Again in the boat, the night of the tempest, Jesus was -obliged to reprove them. The Master had gone to sleep in -the stern, His head on the pillow of one of the rowers. Suddenly -the wind rose, a storm came down on the lake, the waves -beat against the boat and it seemed from one moment to -the next that they would be wrecked. The disciples, alarmed, -awakened Jesus, “Master, carest thou not that we perish?” -And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, -“Peace, be still.” And the wind ceased and there was a great -calm. And He said unto them, “Why are ye so fearful? how -is it that ye have no faith?” And they feared exceedingly, -and said one to another, “What manner of man is this, that -even the wind and the sea obey him?”</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_148'>148</span>There is one, Simon Peter, who has no fear. Not only does -his nature transcend the human, but great is his faith, great -his love, great his power of will. Nothing animate nor inanimate -can resist these three great qualities. A man who possesses -them has renounced all that is temporal and is victorious -over time. He has renounced the good things of the flesh, and -for this reason can save the flesh; he has renounced material -things and so is master of matter. Every one can partake of -this power. Faith is sufficient, but it must not be faith only in -oneself.</p> - -<p class='c006'>A few years before Christ, a great Italian, captain in many -wars, corrupt but a fitting ruler over the putrefaction of the Republic, -was on the sea, on a real sea, in a boat with a few -rowers, in search of an army which had not come up in time -to win the victory for him. The wind began to blow, the -tempest bore down on the boat and the pilot wished to turn -back to the harbor. But Cæsar, taking the hand of the pilot, -said to him, “Go forward, fear not, Cæsar is with thee and -his fortune sails with you.” These words of haughty self-confidence -heartened the crew; every one, as if a little -of Cæsar’s strength had entered into his soul, did his best to -overcome the opposition of the sea. But notwithstanding the -efforts of the seamen the ship was nearly sunk and was obliged -to turn back. Cæsar’s faith was only pride and ambition, faith -in himself: Christ’s faith was all love, love for the Father, love -for men.</p> - -<p class='c006'>With this love He could walk to meet the boat of the disciples -tacking against a contrary wind, and could step upon the -water as on the grass of a meadow. They thought in the darkness -that it was a specter, and once again He was obliged to -reassure them, “Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.” As -soon as He was in the boat, the wind fell and in a few minutes -they reached the shore. Once again they were astounded because, -says the honest Mark, “For they considered not the -miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>This comparison may seem ingenuous, but it is revealing, -for the miracle of the loaves is the foundation of all the others. -Every parable spoken in poetic words or expressed with visible -<span class='pageno' id='Page_149'>149</span>prodigies was as bread prepared in different manners, so that -His own followers, at least His very own, should understand -the one needful truth that the Spirit is the only fare worthy -of man, and that the man who is nourished on that fare is -master of the world.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>NOT SECRETIVE: A POET</h3> -<p class='c005'>Jesus seems at first sight secretive. He orders those affected -by miracles to say to no man who has cured them; He wishes -prayers and charity to be done secretly; when the disciples -recognize that He is the Christ, He charges them not to repeat -it; after the Transfiguration He bids the three keep silence, -and when He teaches He uses parables which all men are not -capable of understanding.</p> - -<p class='c006'>On further thought, on really considering the matter, it is -apparent that Jesus has nothing of the esoteric. He has no -secret doctrine to impart to a few acolytes. His words are -public and open. He always speaks in the public squares of -cities, on the beaches of lakes, in the Synagogue, in the midst -of the people. He forbids speaking of His miracles in order -that He may not be confused with wizards and exorcists; -He commands to do good secretly in order to keep -vainglory from destroying merit; He does not wish the Twelve -to proclaim Him the Christ before His entry into Jerusalem, -the public inauguration of His Messiahship; and He speaks -in parables to be better understood by the simple who listen -more willingly to a story than to a sermon, and remember a -narration better than an argument.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Three of the Evangelists report a speech of Jesus, which -seems to contradict this view. “Unto you,” He is speaking to -the disciples, “it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom -of God, but to others it is not given; therefore I speak to -them in parables that seeing they might not see, and hearing -they might not understand.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>But Jesus means only to say this, “You understand these -mysteries, but the many do not understand them, although -they have ears and spirits like yours. And to them that they -<span class='pageno' id='Page_150'>150</span>may understand I speak in parables,—that is, in a figurative -language of facts because it is easier and more familiar.” You -teach children with fables and the simple with stories, and “the -many” have remained like the simple and the childish. To -overcome the slowness of their minds I use words adapted to -their nature. They are all fancy, and little intellect; and the -parables are an appeal to the imagination more than to the -reasoning powers. I do not employ them therefore to hide the -truth, but the better to reveal it to those who could not see it -in a purely rational form. For if then they do not understand, -it is the fault of their obstinacy, which often closes the eyes -and ears of the soul.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus had no mysteries to dissemble. It was His wish that -all, even the most humble and ignorant, should understand -Him. The parables were not made to hide His teaching from -the profane, but to make it more explicit and understandable -to every one. That sometimes even the intelligence of the -Twelve is inferior to this task is a melancholy conclusion by -no means unknown to Jesus.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The marvelous content of His message has cast into the -shade His poetic originality, not less marvelous. Jesus never -wrote—once only He wrote on the sand, and the wind -destroyed forever His handwriting—but in the midst of a people -of powerful imagination, of the people who wrote the -Psalter, the story of Ruth, the book of Job, the Song of Songs, -He would have been one of the greatest poets of all times. -His victorious youthfulness of spirit, the racy, popular language -of the country where He grew up, the books He had -read, few but among the richest of all poetry—His loving communion -with the life of the fields and of animals and above all -His divine and passionate yearning to give light to those who -suffer in the dark, to save those who are being lost forever, -to carry supreme happiness to the most unhappy (because true -poetry does not catch its fire from the light of the lantern but -at the light of the stars and of the sun, is not found in the -writings left behind by great-grandfathers, but in love, in sorrow -in the deeply moved soul); these things combined made -of Jesus a poet, an inventor of living and eternal images with -<span class='pageno' id='Page_151'>151</span>which he achieved a miracle on which the Evangelists make no -comment,—the miracle of communicating the highest truth by -the means of stories so simple, familiar, full of grace that after -twenty centuries they shine with that unique youth which is -eternity. Some of these stories are only idyllic or epic restatements -of revelations which at other times He expounded in abstract -words; but there are some which express things never -said in any other form in His teaching. The parables are the -imaginative comments on the Sermon on the Mount, such as -could be made only by a poet who merits the title of divine -more truly than any other poet ever born.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>YEAST</h3> -<p class='c005'>City ladies do not make their own bread, but old countrywomen -and housewives know what yeast is. A handful of -dough from the last baking as big as a child’s hand, wet with -warm water and put into the new dough, raises even as much -as three measures of flour.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Among the seeds of plants that of the mustard is among the -smallest; it can hardly be seen, but from this tiny little seed, -if it is put into good earth, springs up a fine shrub, and -the fowls of the air lodge in the branches of it. The grain -of wheat is not large, the farmer throws it into the ground -and then goes on about his other affairs; he sleeps, he goes -away from home and comes back. Days pass and nights pass, -no thought is given to the seed, but underneath there in the -moist, plowed field the seed has germinated. There comes -out a blade of green and at the top of this blade an ear, at -first green and graceful, then little by little becoming golden -grain. Now the field is ready for the mowing and the farmer -can commence his harvesting.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Likewise with the Kingdom of Heaven and the first news -of it. A word seems nothing. What is a word? Syllables, -sounds, which come from the lips, enter with difficulty into -the ears and only when they come from the heart find other -hearts; it is a little thing, small, a breath, a sigh, a sound -which comes and goes and the wind carries it away. And yet -<span class='pageno' id='Page_152'>152</span>the word of the Kingdom is like yeast. If it goes into good -flour, clean honest flour not adulterated with other grains, it -ferments and grows. It is like the seed of the fields which germinates -deep under the ground, patient as the earth which -hides it, which, when Spring comes, grows green and strong -and with the beginning of summer, lo, the harvest is ready!</p> - -<p class='c006'>The gospel is made up of few words, “The Kingdom is at -hand, change your souls!” but if it falls into the heart of men -ready for it, of simple men who wish to become great, of -righteous men who wish to become holy, of sinners who seek -in good for that happiness which they have vainly sought in -evil, then those words take root in the depths, put out buds -and shoots, flourish up in clusters and ears, and luxuriate in a -summer never to be followed by the decay of Autumn.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Only a few men of those living about Christ believed in the -Kingdom and prepared themselves for the great day. Only a -few, insignificant men, scattered like tiny particles of yeast in -the midst of the divided nations and the immense Empires, but -these few dozen insignificant men gathered together in the -midst of a predestined people were to become, through the -contagion of their example, thousands upon thousands, and -only three hundred years after them, in the place of Tiberius, -ruled a man who bowed the knee before the heirs of the -Apostles.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But men must renounce everything else if they are to enjoy -the promised Kingdom. Worldly-minded men do the same in -their temporal affairs. If a man working in another’s field discovers -a treasure-store, he quickly hides it again and hurries -to sell all that he has to buy that field. If a merchant looking -for marvelous jewels worthy to be offered to monarchs, finds a -pearl larger and purer than any he has ever seen, he goes and -sells everything that he has, even the other pearls of less price, -to buy this unique and wonderful pearl.</p> - -<p class='c006'>If the workman and the merchant, material-minded men, -who are satisfied with frail acquisitions, are thus ready to sell -all their goods to acquire a treasure which seems to them more -precious than anything they possess, even though it is only a -material and perishable treasure, how much more reason there -<span class='pageno' id='Page_153'>153</span>is for men to renounce what they hold most dear, in order -to achieve the Kingdom of God. If the laboring-man and the -merchant for a money gain, likely to be stolen or destroyed, -thus consent to a provisional sacrifice which will give them a -hundred per cent profit, ought not we for an infinitely greater, -infinitely higher profit, throw away the best we have, even if it -has seemed until now of inestimable price?</p> - -<p class='c006'>But before we make this renunciation we must take thought -and be sure that what remains to us will be enough to take us -to the end of this new undertaking. We must measure the -forces of our soul, that it may not happen to us as to the man -who wished to build up a tower, a beautiful tower which would -soar up to the sky like that of Jerusalem. He took no account -of the cost but called the diggers, had the foundations excavated; -called the masons and had the four walls of the -foundations begun; but when the tower had scarcely been -raised above the level of the earth, and was not yet as high -as the roof of a house, he was obliged to stop because he had -no more money to pay for the mortar, the stones, the bricks -and the working men; and the tower remained thus, low and -unsightly, in memory of his presumption: and his neighbors -mocked at him.</p> - -<p class='c006'>A king who wants to make war on another king first takes -account of his soldiers, and if he can count only on ten -thousand and the other has twenty thousand, he puts off any -idea of war, and sends an embassy of peace before his enemy -can take the first hostile step. He who is not sure of himself, -of being able to conquer to the last, does not follow Christ. -For the foundation of the Kingdom is infinitely harder work -than the building of a tower, and the creation of the new man -is war not less harsh than external war, although silent and -inner.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE BANQUET</h3> -<p class='c005'>Only the clean of heart can enter into the Kingdom. The -Kingdom is an eternal feast, and only those dressed for a -feast can go there. There was a King who celebrated his son’s -wedding, and those whom he invited did not come. Then -<span class='pageno' id='Page_154'>154</span>the King called in the common people, the passers-by, the -beggars, every one; but when the King came into the banqueting -hall and saw one of the guests all filthy with grease -and mud, he had him cast outside the door, to gnash his teeth -in the coldness of night.</p> - -<p class='c006'>At the banquet of the Kingdom if the first called do not -come, all are accepted; even the wretched and the sinners. -The King had invited first the chosen people; but one had -bought a piece of ground, another five yoke of oxen, a third -had taken a wife that day. They were all deep in their affairs, -and some did not even trouble to send an excuse. Then the -King sent his servants to pick up out of the streets the blind, -the poor, the maimed and the halt, the lowest of the rabble; -and still there was room. Then he commanded that those -who passed in front of his palace should be forced to come -in, whoever they might be; and the banquet began. It was a -royal banquet, a rich and magnificent feast; but after all, it -consisted in enjoying lamb and fish, in getting drunk on wine -and cider. At the break of day the bonfire was burned -out, the tables were cleared, every one had to return to his -home and to his poverty. If some of those whom the King -first invited preferred another material pleasure to this material -pleasure it was pardonable.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But the invitation to the banquet of the Kingdom is a promise -of spiritual happiness, absolute, satisfying, perpetual. -Something else than the passing amusements of terrestrial life: -nauseating drunkenness, food that distends the stomach, sensual -pleasures that leave a man bone-weary and defiled. And -yet the men whom Jesus chose among all other men, and called -first of all to the divine feast of the reborn, did not respond. -They made wry faces, complained, slipped away and continued -their habitual low actions. They preferred the rubbish of -carnal goods to the splendor of high hope which is the only -reasonable reason for living.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Then all the others were called in their place: beggars -instead of the rich, sinners instead of Pharisees, women of the -streets instead of fine ladies, the sick and sorrowing instead -of the strong and happy.</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_155'>155</span>Even the latest arrivals if they come in time will be admitted -to the feast. The master of the vineyard saw in the marketplace -certain laborers who were waiting for work, sent them -out to prune his vines, and agreed on their wages. Later at -noon-day he saw others without work and sent also those; -and still later more again, and he sent them all. And they -all worked, some at pruning and some at hoeing, and when -the evening came the master gave the same pay to all. But -those who had begun in the morning early, murmured, “Why -do those who have worked less than we receive the same payment?” -But the master answered one of them and said, -“Didst not thou agree with me for a penny; why then dost -thou lament? If it is my pleasure to give the same to the -working men of the last hour, is that robbing you others?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The apparent injustice of the master is only a more generous -justice. To all he gives what he has promised, and he -who arrived last but works with equal hope has the same right -as the others to enjoy that Kingdom for which he has labored -until the night.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Woe to him who comes too late! No one knows the exact -day, but after that hour he who has not gone in will knock -at the door, and it will not be opened to him, and he will mourn -in outer darkness.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The master has gone to the wedding and the servants do not -know when he will come back. Fortunate are those who have -waited for him and whom he will find awake. The master -himself will seat them at the table and will serve them. But -if he find them sleeping, if no one is ready to receive him, -if they make him knock at the door before opening it, if -they come to meet him disheveled, tousled, half-clad, and if -he finds in the house no lamp lighted, no water warmed, he -will take the servants by the arm and drive them out without -pity.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Every one should be ready because the Son of Man is like -a thief in the night who sends no word beforehand when he -will come. Or like a bridegroom who has been detained by -some one in the street. In the house of the bride there are -ten virgins who are waiting to go to meet him with the light -<span class='pageno' id='Page_156'>156</span>of the procession. Five, the wise virgins, take oil for their -lamps, and wait to hear the voices and the steps of the approaching -bridegroom. The other five, the foolish, do not -think of the oil, and, tired of waiting, fall asleep. And suddenly -there is the sound of the nuptial procession arriving. -The five wise virgins light their lamps and run out into the -street joyfully to welcome the bridegroom. The other five -wake up with a start and ask their companions to give them -a little oil. But the others say, “Why did you not provide -for that sooner? Go and buy some.” And the foolish run -from one house to another to get a little oil; but everybody -is asleep, and nobody answers them, and the shops are closed -and the roaming dogs bark at their heels. They go back to -the house of the wedding, but now the door is closed. The five -wise virgins are already there and feasting with the bridegroom. -The five foolish virgins knock and beg and cry out, -but no one comes to open for them. Through the cracks in -the window casings they see the glowing lights of the supper. -They hear the clatter of the dishes, the clinking of the cups, -the songs of the young men, the sound of the musical instruments, -but they cannot enter. They must stay there until -morning, in the dark, and the wind. Shut out from the -pleasures of the evening festival, they tremble and shake in -terror.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE NARROW GATE</h3> -<p class='c005'>“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and -broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there -be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, narrow is the -way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” -Those who will try to enter will fail, because the master of -the house, when he has shut his door, will no longer recognize -any one.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Until the great day, until it is too late, “Ask and it shall be -given to you; seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be -opened unto you.” Even hard, slothful, obstinate men give -way to persistent entreaty. If even men are not always insensible -<span class='pageno' id='Page_157'>157</span>to pleadings how much surer will be the response -from a Father who loves us?</p> - -<p class='c006'>A man at midnight knocks at the door of a friend and wakens -him. Through the door he says to him, “Friend, lend me three -loaves; For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and -I have nothing to set before him.” But the other, still half -asleep, replies, “Trouble me not: for I am tired, and I do not -wish to arise. And here in my bed I have my children who -are asleep and if I get up I will wake them and chill them.” -But the other will not give up, and knocks again on the door -and raises his voice and begs with clasped hands that the -other one will do him this service, for he has no other friends -near, and the hour is late and his guest hungry and waiting -for him. And he storms so at the door that his friend gets -out of bed and lets him come in and gives him as many loaves -as he needs. The friend was weak, but good-hearted. And -even the bad-hearted do as he does. There was in a certain -city a judge who cared for no one, a morose and scornful man -who wanted to do everything as it suited him best. A widow -went every day before him and asked for justice, and although -her cause was just the judge always sent her away and would -not do what she wished. But the widow patiently endured -all his repulses and did not weary in her importunity. And -finally the judge to get rid of this woman who wore him out -with her supplications, pleadings, and prayers, gave the sentence -and sent her in peace.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But no more must be asked than can be expected. He -who has accomplished his task will eat and drink but will -not have any special place of honor, nor will he be better -served than his brother, and certainly not so well as his -superior. When the servant, having been in the field sowing -or pasturing the cattle, comes back to the house, the master -does not call him to eat at his own table, but first is served -himself and afterwards gives the servant the meal which is -due him. This is a Parable which Jesus meant for His Apostles, -who were already disputing about who would have the -highest place in the Kingdom. “Doth he thank that servant -because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow -<span class='pageno' id='Page_158'>158</span>not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things -which were commanded you, say: We are unprofitable servants: -we have done that which was our duty to do.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The only thing which counts is the actual doing. There -are those who say “yes” to orders but who after this do nothing. -Such men shall be condemned more severely than those -who refused openly and then afterwards, repentant, obeyed. -A father had two sons and said to the older, “Son, go work -to-day in my vineyard.” And the son answered, “I go, sir,” -but instead of going to work in the vineyard he lay down in -the shade to sleep. And the father said to the second, “Go -too and work with your brother.” But the son answered, “No, -to-day I wish to rest because I am not well.” But later, thinking -of the old man who could not do the work himself any -longer, he took back his refusal, overcame his indolence and -went to the vineyard and worked with a will till evening.</p> - -<p class='c006'>To listen to the word of the Kingdom is not enough. To -consent verbally and to live just as before, without effort to -change the heart, is less than nothing. “Whosoever cometh to -me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will show you -to whom he is like; He is like a man which built an house, and -digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock, and when the -flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and -could not shake it, for it was founded upon a rock. But he -that heareth and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation -built an house upon the earth; against which the stream -did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of -that house was great.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The same teaching is in the Parable of the Sowing, “A -sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell -by the wayside; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of -the air devoured it, and some fell upon a rock; and as soon -as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. -And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up -with it and choked it. And other fell on good ground, and -sprang up and bare fruit an hundredfold.” This is the Parable -which the Twelve were incapable of understanding. Jesus was -obliged to explain it Himself. The seed is the Word of God. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_159'>159</span>Those by the wayside are they that hear, then cometh Satan -and taketh the Word out of their hearts lest they should believe -and be saved. They on the rock are they which when they -hear receive the Word with joy, and these have no root which -for a while believe and in time of temptation fall away. And -that which fell among thorns are they which when they have -heard go forth and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures -of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. But that on -the good ground are they which in an honest and good heart -having heard the Word keep it and bring forth fruit with -patience. But it is not enough to hear it merely, to understand -it, to practice it. He who has received it should not -keep it to himself. Who is the man who having a lamp hides -it under the bed or covers it with a vessel? The light should -stand high in the center of the room that they which enter in -may see it and be lighted.</p> - -<p class='c006'>A Lord traveling into a far country left to each of his -servants ten talents with the understanding that they should -use the money to good purpose. And when he came back he -reckoned with them. And the first delivered to him twenty -talents, because with the first ten he had earned ten other -talents. And the Lord made him steward over all his goods. -And the second delivered him fifteen talents, for he had not -been able to earn more than five more. But the third presented -himself timorously and showed him, wrapped up in a napkin, -the ten talents which he had received. “Lord, I knew thee -that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, -and gathering where thou hast not strawed: And I was afraid, -and went and hid thy talents in the earth.” And the Lord -answered, “Thou wicked and slothful servant, I will judge -thee by thine own words. Take the talents and give them -to him who has twenty.” But he has already plenty. “I -say unto you,” answered the Lord, “For unto every one -that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but -from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which -he hath.” And the unprofitable servant was cast into outer -darkness, where there was weeping and gnashing of teeth. -He who has received the Word ought to double his wealth. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_160'>160</span>He has received so great a treasure that if he leaves it useless, -he deserves to have it taken away from him. From him who -does not add to it shall be taken away even that which he -has, and unto him who has doubled his treasures shall be given -even more. Those who do not use the treasure of the -Word are not poverty-stricken men who need gifts because -they are destitute, but faithless and slothful husbandmen, -to whom was entrusted the most fruitful field in all -the universe. Happy the steward whom the Master shall find -attentive to act justly and to give to all their rightful part -of the harvest. But if the steward begins to oppress the serving -men and women and thinks only of eating and getting -drunk he will be scourged and punished when the Master returns, -just punishment for the faithless!</p> - -<p class='c006'>The servant who does not know what the Master wishes -done, and so, not knowing, does not carry out His wishes, -shall be less punished than he who knew, and still does the -contrary, for he shall be driven out of the house where he -gave orders. The bearers of the Word have no excuse if -they are not the first to obey God’s wishes. From him -to whom much was given, much shall be required.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE PRODIGAL SON</h3> -<p class='c005'>A man had two sons. His wife was dead, but he still had -these two sons, only two. But two are always better than -one. If the first is away from home, the second is still there; -if the younger fall ill, the older works for two; if one should -die ... even children die, even the young die, and sometimes -before the old ... if one of the two should die, there is -at least one left who will care for the poor father.</p> - -<p class='c006'>This man loved his sons, not only because they were of his -blood but because he had a loving heart. He loved them both, -the older and the younger; perhaps the younger a little more -than the older, but so little that he did not realize it himself. -Fathers and mothers often have a weakness for the youngest -because he is the smallest, he is the sweetest, he is the last -baby, and after his birth there was never another one, so that -<span class='pageno' id='Page_161'>161</span>his boyhood, still so recent, so prolonged, stretches out to the -sill of his young manhood like a lingering halo of tenderness. -It seems only yesterday that he was a baby at the breast, -that he took his first stumbling steps, that he sprang up to -embrace his father, or sat astride his knees.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But this man was not partial. He loved his sons like his -two eyes and his two hands, equally dear, one at the left, -one at the right, and he saw to it that both were happy. Nothing -lacked for either one.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And yet, even in the case of sons of one father, it almost -never happens that two brothers have the same tastes or even -similar tastes. The older was a serious-minded young man, -sedate, settled, who seemed already grown up and mature, a -husband, the head of a family. He respected his father, but -more as master than as father, without any impulsive show -of affection. He worked faithfully, but he was hard and captious -with the servants; he went through all the religious -forms, but did not let the poor come about him. Although -the house was full of all possible good things, yet for them -there was never anything. He pretended to love his brother, -but his heart was full of the poison of envy. When people -say “to love like a brother” they say the contrary of what -ought to be said. Brothers very rarely love each other. Jewish -history, not to speak of any other, begins with Cain, -goes on with Jacob’s cheating Esau, with Joseph sold by his -brothers, with Absalom, who killed Amon, with Solomon who -had Adonijah killed: a long bloody road of jealousy, opposition -and betrayal. It would be more correct to say “a father’s -love,” rather than a brother’s.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The second son seemed of another race. He was younger -and was not ashamed to be young. He splashed about and -made merry in his youth as in a warm lake. He had all the -desires, the graces, and the defects of his age. He was fitful -with his father. One day he hurt him, the next, put him into -the seventh heaven; he was capable of not saying a word for -weeks together and then suddenly throwing himself on his -father’s neck in the highest spirits. Good times with his -friends were more to his taste than work. He refused no invitations -<span class='pageno' id='Page_162'>162</span>to drink, stared at women and dressed better than -other people. But he was warmhearted; he gave money to -the needy, was charitable without boasting of it, never sent -away any one disconsolate. He was seldom seen at the synagogue, -and for this and for other reasons the middle-class -people of the neighborhood, timid, colorless people, religious -and self-seeking, did not think well of him and advised their -sons to have nothing to do with him. So much the more because -the young man wanted to spend more than his father’s -resources allowed him—a good man, they said, but weak and -blinded—and because he talked recklessly and said things -which were not fitting for the son of a good family brought up -as he ought to be. The little life of that little country hole -was repugnant to him; he said it was better to look for adventure -in rich countries, populous, far away, beyond the -mountains and the sea, where the big, luxurious cities are, with -marble buildings and the best wines and shops full of silk and -silver, and women dressed in fine clothes like queens fresh -from aromatic baths who lightly give themselves for a piece -of gold.</p> - -<p class='c006'>There in the country you had to obey orders and work -hard, and there was no outlet for gypsy-like and nomadic -tastes. His father, although he was rich, although he was good, -measured out the drachma as if they were talents. His brother -was vexed if he bought a new tunic or came home a little tipsy; -in the family all they knew was the field, the furrow, the pasture, -the stock; a life that was not a life but one long effort.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And one day (he had thought of it many times before, but -had never had the courage to say it) he hardened his heart -and his face and said to his father, “Father, give me the portion -of goods that falleth to me, and I will ask nothing more -of thee.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>When the old man heard this, he was deeply hurt, but he -made no answer, and went away into his room that his tears -should not be seen, and for a while neither of them spoke any -more of this matter. But the son suffered, was sullen, and -lost all his ardor and animation even to the fresh color of his -face. And the father, seeing his son suffer, suffered himself, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_163'>163</span>and yet suffered more at the thought of losing him. But finally -paternal love conquered self-love. The estimations and -valuations of the property were made, and the father gave to -both his sons their rightful part and kept the rest for himself. -The young man lost no time, he sold what he could not carry -away, gathered together a goodly sum, and one evening, without -saying anything to any one, mounted his fine horse and -went away. The older brother was rather pleased by his departure; -the younger would never have the courage to come -back; so now he was the only son, first in command, and no -one would take away the rest of his inheritance from him.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But the father secretly wept many tears, all the tears of -his old wrinkled eyelids. Every line of his old face was washed -with tears, his aged cheeks were soaked with his grieving. His -son was gone and he needed all the love of the remaining son -to make up for the sorrow of the separation.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But he had an intuition that perhaps he had not lost his son -forever, his second-born, that before his death he would have -the happiness to kiss him again; and this idea helped him to -endure the loneliness.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In the meantime the young man drew rapidly near to the -rich city of revels where he meant to live. At every -turning of the road he felt of the money-bags which hung at -either side of his saddle. He soon arrived at the city of his -desire and began his feasting. It seemed to him that those -thousands of coins would last forever. He rented a fine house, -bought five or six slaves, dressed like a prince, and soon had -men and women friends who were guests at his table, and -who drank his wine till their stomachs could hold no more. -He did not economize with women and chose the most beautiful -the city contained, those who knew how to dance and sing and -dress with magnificence, and undress with grace. No presents -seemed too fine or too rich to please those bodies which abandoned -themselves with such voluptuous softness, and which -gave him the wildest, most torturing pleasure. The little provincial -lord from the dull country, repressed in the most sensual -period of his life, now vented his voluptuousness, his love of -luxury, in this dangerous life.</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_164'>164</span>Such a life could not go on forever: the money bags of the -prodigal son were not bottomless—no money bags are—and -there came a day when there was neither gold nor silver, and -not even copper, but only empty bags of canvas and leather -lying limp and flabby on the brick floor of his room. His -friends disappeared, the women disappeared, slaves, beds and -dining-tables were sold. With the proceeds he had enough to -buy food, but only for a short time. To complete his misfortune, -a famine came on the country and the prodigal son -found himself hungering in the midst of a famine-stricken -people. The women had gone off to other cities where the -situation was better; the friends of his drunken night-revels -had hard work to look out for themselves.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The unfortunate man, stripped and destitute, left the city, -traveling with a lord who was going to the country where -he had a fine estate. He begged him for work, till the lord -hired him as swine-herd because he was young and strong and -hardly any one was willing to be a swine-herd. For a Jew -nothing could be a greater affliction than this. Even in Egypt, -although animals were adored there, the only people forbidden -to enter the temples were swine-herds. No father would have -given his daughter to wife to a swine-herd and no man for all -the gold in the world would have married the daughter of a -swine-herd.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But the prodigal son had no choice and was forced to lead -the herd of swine out to the pasture. He was given no pay -and very little to eat, because there was only a little for any -one; but there was no famine for the hogs, because they could -eat anything. There were plenty of carob beans and they -gorged themselves on those. Their hungry attendant enviously -watched the pink and black animals rooting in the earth, chewing -beans and roots, and longed to fill his stomach with the -same stuff and wept, remembering the abundance of his own -home and his festivals in the great city. Sometimes overcome -with hunger he took one of the black bean-husks, from under -the grunting snouts of the pigs, tempering the bitterness of -his suffering with that insipid and woody food. And woe to -him if his employer had seen him!</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_165'>165</span>His dress was a dirty slave’s smock which smelt of manure, -his foot-gear a pair of worn-out sandals scarcely held together -with rushes; on his head a faded hood. His fair young face, -tanned by the sun of the hills, was thin and long, and had -taken a sickly color between gray and brown.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Who was wearing now the spotless home-spun clothes, which -he had left in his brother’s chests? Where now were the fair -silken tunics dyed purple which he had sold for so little? His -father’s hired servants were better dressed than he, and they -fared better than he.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Returned to his senses, he said to himself, “How many hired -servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and -I perish with hunger!” Until now he had brushed away the -idea of going home as soon as it had appeared. How could -he bear to go back in this condition and give in to his brother -after having despised his home, after having made his father -weep? To return without a garment, unshod, without a penny, -without the ring—the sign of liberty—uncomely, disfigured by -this famished slavery, stinking and contaminated by this abominable -trade, to show that the wise old neighbors were right, -that his serious-minded brother was right, to bow himself at -the knee of the old man whom he had left without a greeting, -to return with opprobrium as a ragged fellow to the spot from -which he had departed as a king! To come back to the soup-plate -into which he had spit—into a house which contained -nothing of his!</p> - -<p class='c006'>No, there was something of his always in his home, his -father! If he belonged to his father, his father belonged also -to him. He was his creation, made of his flesh, issued -from his seed in a moment of love. Though hurt, his father -would never drive away his own flesh and blood. If he would -not take him back as son, at least he would take him back -as a hired servant, as he would any stranger, like a man born -of another father. “I will arise and go to my father, and will -say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and -before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: -make me as one of thy hired servants.” I do not come back -as son but as servant, a worker, and I do not ask love from -<span class='pageno' id='Page_166'>166</span>you, for I have no more right to that, but only a little bread -from your kitchen.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And the young man gave back the hogs to his master, and -went towards his own land. He begged a piece of bread from -the country people, and wept salt tears as he ate this bread of -pity and charity in the shadow of the sycamores. His sore -and blistered feet could scarcely carry him. He was barefoot -now, but his faith in forgiveness led him homeward step by -step.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And finally one day at noon he arrived in sight of his -father’s house; but he did not dare to knock, nor to call any -one, nor to go in. He hung around outside to see if any one -would come out. And behold, his father appeared on the -threshold. His son was no longer the same, was changed, but -the eyes of a father even dimmed by weeping could not fail to -recognize him. He ran towards him and caught him to his -breast, and kissed him and kissed him again, and could not -stop from pressing his pale, old lips on that ravaged face, on -those eyes whose expression was altered but still beautiful, on -that hair, dusty but still waving and soft, on that flesh that -was his own.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The son, covered with confusion and deeply moved, did not -know how to respond to these kisses, and as soon as he could -free himself from his father’s arms he threw himself on the -ground and repeated tremulously the speech he had prepared. -“Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, And -am no more worthy to be called thy son.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>But if the young man had brought himself to the point of -refusing the name of son, the old man never felt himself more -father than at this moment; he seemed to become a father for a -second time, and without even answering, with his eyes still -clouded and soft, but with the ringing voice of his best days, -he called to the servants:</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a -ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The son of the master should not return home wretchedly -dressed like a beggar. The finest garment should be given -<span class='pageno' id='Page_167'>167</span>him, new shoes, a ring on his finger, and the servants must -wait on him because he, too, is a master.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“And bring hither the fatted calf; and kill it, and let us -eat and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive -again; he was lost, and is found.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The fatted calf was kept in reserve for great feast days: -but what festival can be greater for me than this one? I had -wept for my son as dead and here he is alive with me. I had -lost him in the world and the world has delivered him back to -me. He was far away and now is with me, he was a beggar -at the doors of strange houses, and now is master in his own -house; he was famished and now he shall be served with a banquet -at his own table.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And the servants obeyed him and the calf was killed, -skinned, cut up and put to cook. The oldest wine was taken -from the wine-cellar, and the finest room was prepared for the -dinner in celebration of the return. Servants went to call his -father’s friends and others went to summon musicians, that -there should be music. And when everything was ready, when -the son had been bathed, and his father had kissed him many -times more—almost as if to assure himself with his lips that -his true son was there with him and it was not the vision of a -dream—they commenced the banquet, the wines were mixed -and the musicians accompanied the songs of joy.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The older son was in the field, working, and in the evening -when he came back and was near to the house he heard shouts -and stampings and clapping of hands, and the footsteps of -dancers. And he could not understand. “Whatever can have -happened? Perhaps my father has gone crazy or perhaps a -wedding procession has arrived unexpectedly at our house.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Disliking noise and new faces, he would not enter and see -for himself what it was. But he called to a boy coming out -of the house and asked him what all that clatter was.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted -calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>These words were like a thrust at his heart. He turned pale, -not with pleasure, but with rage and jealousy. The old envy -<span class='pageno' id='Page_168'>168</span>boiled up inside. It seemed to him that he had all the right on -his side, and he would not go into the house, but stayed outside, -angry.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Then his father went out and entreated him: “Come, for -your brother has come back and has asked after you, and will -be glad to see you, and we will feast together.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>But the serious-minded young man could not contain himself, -and for the first time in his life ventured to reprove his -father to his face.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed -I at any time thy commandment; yet thou never gavest me -a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: But as soon -as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living -with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>With these few words he discloses all the ignominy of his -soul hidden until then under the Pharisaical cloak of good behavior. -He reproaches his father with his own obedience, he -reproaches him with his avarice. “You have never given me -even a kid”—and he reproaches him, he, a loveless son, for -being a too-loving father. “This thy son.” He does not say -“brother.” His father may recognize him as son, but he will -not recognize him as brother. “He hath devoured thy living -with harlots. Money that was not his, with women that were -not his; while I stayed with thee sweating on thy fields with -no recompense.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>But his father pardoned this son, as he did the other son. -“Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It -was meet that we should make merry, and be glad; for this -thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is -found.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The father is sure that these words will be enough to silence -the other. “He was dead and is alive again, was lost and is -found. What other reasons can be needed, and what other -reasons can be better than these—grant that he has done what -he has done, that he has spent my money on women; he has -dissipated as much as he could; he left me without a greeting; -he left me to weep. He could have done worse than that and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_169'>169</span>still would have been my son. He could have stolen on the -streets, could have murdered the guiltless, he could have offended -me even more, but I never could forget that he is my -son, my own blood. He was gone and has returned, was disappeared -and has reappeared, was lost and is found, was dead -and is alive again. This is enough for me and to celebrate this -miracle a fatted calf seems little to me. Thou hast never left -me, I always enjoyed thee, all my kids are thine if thou asketh -for them; thou hast eaten every day at my table; but he was -gone for so many days and weeks and months! I saw him -only in my dreams; he has not eaten a single piece of bread -with me in all that time. Have I not the right to triumph at -least this day?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus stopped here, He did not go on with His story. There -was no need of that, the meaning of the parable is clear with -no additions. But no story—after that of Joseph—that ever -came from human lips is more beautiful than this one or ever -touched more deeply the hearts of men. Interpreters are free -to comment and explain, that the prodigal son is the new man -purified by the experience of grief, and the older son, the -Pharisee who observes the old law but does not know love. Or -else that the older son is the Jewish people who do not understand -the love of the Father welcoming the pagan, although he -had wallowed in the foul loves of paganism and had lived in -the company of swine.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus was no maker of riddles. He Himself says expressly -that the meaning of this and similar parables is: “More joy -shall be in Heaven over one sinner who repents than over all -the righteous” who vaunt themselves in their false righteousness; -than for all the pure who are proud of their external -purity; than for all the zealots who hide the aridity of their -hearts by their apparent respect for the law.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The truly righteous will be received in the Kingdom, but no -one ever doubted them, they have made no one tremble and -suffer and there is no need to rejoice; but for him who has -been near perdition, who has gone through deep sufferings to -make himself a new soul, to overcome his bestiality, who merits -<span class='pageno' id='Page_170'>170</span>his place in the Kingdom the more because he has had to -deny all his past to obtain it, for him songs of triumph shall -arise.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“What man of you having an hundred sheep, if he lose one -of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, -and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he -hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And -when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and -neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have -found my sheep which was lost.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose -one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and -seek diligently till she find it? And when she hath found it -she calleth her friends and her neighbors together, saying, “Rejoice -with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And what is a sheep compared to a son returned to life, to a -man saved? And of what value is a piece of silver compared -to one astray, who finds holiness again?</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE PARABLES OF SIN</h3> -<p class='c005'>But forgiveness creates an obligation for which there are no -exceptions allowed. Love is a fire which goes out if it does not -kindle others. Thou hast burned with joy; kindle him who -comes near you if thou wilt not become like stone, smoky but -cold. He who has received must give; it is better to give -much, but it is essential to give a part at least.</p> - -<p class='c006'>A king one day wanted a reckoning with his servants and -one by one he called them before him. Among the first was -one who owed him ten thousand talents, but as he had not -anything to pay this, the king commanded that he should be -sold and his wife and his children and all that he had, in payment -of a part of the debt. The servant in despair threw himself -at the feet of the king. He seemed a mere bundle of garments -crying out sobs and promises. “Have patience with -me, wait a little longer and I will pay you all, but do not have -my wife and my children separated from me, sent away like -cattle, no one knows where.”</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_171'>171</span>The king was moved with compassion—he also had little -children—and he sent him away free and forgave him that -great debt. The servant went out and seemed another man; -but his heart, even after so much mercy shown to him, was -the same as before. And he met one of his fellow-servants -who owed him a hundred pence, a small thing compared with -ten thousand talents, and he sprang on him and took him by -the throat. “Pay me what thou owest and at once, or I will -have thee bound by the guards.” The unlucky man assaulted -in this way did what his persecutor had done a little while -before in the presence of the king. He fell down at his feet -and besought him and wept and swore that he would pay him -in a few days and kissed the hem of his garment, and recalled -to him their old comradeship and begged him to wait in the -name of the children who were waiting for him in his home.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But the oaf, who was a servant and not a king, had no compassion. -He took his debtor by the arm and had him cast into -prison. The news spread abroad among the other servants of -the palace. They were full of compassion, and it came -quickly to the ears of the king, who called that pitiless man -and delivered him to the tormentors: “I forgave you that great -debt, shouldst thou not have had compassion on thy brother, -for his debt was so much smaller? I had pity on thee, oughtest -thou not to have had pity on him?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Sinners when they recognize the evil which is in their hearts -and abjure it with true humility are nearer to the Kingdom -than pious men who daub themselves with the praise of their -own piety.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, -the other a Publican. The Pharisee, with his phylacteries -hanging upon his forehead and on his left arm, with the long, -glittering fringes on his cloak, erect like a man who feels himself -in his own house, prayed thus: “God, I thank thee that I -am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or -even as this Publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes -of all that I possess.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>But the Publican did not have the courage even to lift -his eyes and seemed ashamed to appear before his Lord. He -<span class='pageno' id='Page_172'>172</span>sighed and smote on his breast and said only these words: -“God be merciful to me a sinner.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather -than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be -abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>A lawyer asked Jesus who is one’s neighbor, and Jesus told -this story: “A man, a Jew, went down from Jerusalem to -Jericho through the mountain passes. Thieves fell upon him, -and after they had wounded him and taken away his clothes, -they left him upon the road half dead. A priest passed that -way, one of those who go to all the feasts and meetings, and -boast that they know the will of God from beginning to end. -He saw the unfortunate man stretched out but he did not stop, -and to avoid touching something unclean he passed by on the -other side of the road. A little after came a Levite. He also -was among the most accredited of the zealots, knew every detail -of all the holy ceremonies, and seemed more than a sacristan, -seemed one of the masters of the Temple. He looked -at the bloody body and went on his way. And finally came a -Samaritan. To the Jews the Samaritans were faithless, traitors, -only slightly less detestable than the Gentiles, because -they would not sacrifice at Jerusalem and accept the reform of -Nehemiah. The Samaritan, however, did not wait to see if the -unfortunate man thrown among the stones of the street were -circumcized or uncircumcized, were a Jew or a Samaritan. He -came up close to him, and seeing him in such an evil pass, he -was quickly moved to pity, took down his flasks from his saddle -and poured upon his wounds a little oil, a little wine, bound -them up as well as he could with a handkerchief, put the -stranger across his ass and brought him to an inn, had him put -to bed, tried to restore him, giving him something hot to drink, -and did not leave him until he saw him come to himself and -able to speak and eat. The next day he called the host apart -and gave him two pence: ‘Take care of him, do the best thou -canst and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, -I will repay thee.’</p> - -<p class='c006'>“The neighbor, then, is he who suffers, he who needs help, -whoever he is, of whatever nation or religion he may be; even -<span class='pageno' id='Page_173'>173</span>thine enemy, if he needs thee, even if he does not ask help, is -the first of ‘thy neighbors.’”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Charity is the most valid title for admission to the Kingdom. -The wealthy glutton knew this, he who was clothed in purple -and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. At the gate -of his palace there was Lazarus, a poor man, hungry, covered -with sores, who would have been glad to have the crumbs and -the bones which fell from the rich man’s table. The dogs took -pity on Lazarus and on his wretchedness, and did for him all -they could, which was to lick his sores. And he caressed these -gentle, loving animals with his thin hands. But the rich man -had no pity on Lazarus. It never once came into his head to -call him to his table, and he never sent him a piece of bread or -the leavings of the kitchen destined for the refuse heap, which -even the scullions refused to eat. It happened that both of -them, the poor man and the rich man, died, and the poor man -was welcomed into Abraham’s bosom, and the rich man was -cast into the fire to suffer. From afar off he saw Lazarus, who -was banqueting with the patriarchs, and from the midst of the -fire he cried: “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send -Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool -my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>He had not given Lazarus even a tiny morsel of food when -he was alive, and now he did not ask to be let out of the fire, -nor a cup of water, nor even a draught, nor even a drop, but -he was content with a little dampness which would cling on -the tip of a finger, of the smallest finger of the poor man. But -Abraham answered: “Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime -receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; -but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.” If thou -hadst given the smallest part of thy dinner to him, when thou -knewest he was hungered and was crouched at thy door in -worse plight than a dog, and even the dogs had more pity than -thou, if thou hadst given him a mouthful of bread only once, -thou wouldst not need now to ask the tip of his finger dipped -in water.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The rich man delights in his property and it grieves him to -have to give away even the smallest part of it because he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_174'>174</span>thinks that this life will never end and that the future will be -like the past. But death comes to him also, and when he expects -it least. There was once a landed proprietor who had an -especially profitable year in all his possessions. He had -fantastic imaginings about his new riches, and he said: “I will -pull down my barns and build greater, and there will I bestow -all my fruits and my goods, the wheat, the barley and the other -grains, and I will make other barns for the hay and the straw -and other stables for the oxen that I will buy, and still another -stable where I can put all my sheep and goats, and I will say -to my soul: Thou hast much goods laid up for many years; -take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And the idea did not come to him even for a moment that -from this largesse of the earth he could have put aside a portion -to comfort the poor of his country. But on that very night -when he had imagined so many improvements in his property, -the rich man died, and the day after, he was buried naked -and alone, under the earth, and there was no one to intercede -for him in Heaven.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He who does not make friends among the poor, who does not -use wealth to comfort poverty, must not think of entering into -the Kingdom. Sometimes the children of this world are in -their generation wiser than the children of light, understand -the management of their earthly affairs better than the children -of light understand their heavenly life. Like that -steward who was out of favor with his master and was obliged -to leave his position. He called one by one his lord’s debtors -to him, and canceled a part of the debt of every one, so that -when he was sent away he had made here and there with his -fraudulent stratagem so many friends that they did not let him -die of hunger. He had benefited himself and the others by -cheating and robbing his master. He was a thief, but a shrewd -thief. If men would use for the salvation of the spirit the -shrewdness which this man used for his bodily comfort, how -many more would be converted to faith in the Kingdom!</p> - -<p class='c006'>He who is not converted in time will be cut down like the -unfruitful fig-tree. And the conversion must be final, for falling -from grace injures a man’s soul a great deal more than repentance -<span class='pageno' id='Page_175'>175</span>helps him. A man had an unclean spirit in him and -succeeded in driving it away. The demon walked through -dry places seeking rest; and finding none, he said: “I will return -into my house whence I came out.” It happens that this -house, the soul of that man, is empty, swept and garnished so -that it is hard to recognize it. Then the demon takes to -him seven other spirits more wicked than himself and at the -head of the band he enters into his house so that the last state -of that man was worse than the first.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In the day of triumph laments and excuses will count less -than the whispering of the wind among the rushes. Then will -be made the last and irrevocable choice, like that of the fisherman -who, after having pulled up from the sea his net full of -fish, sits down on the beach and puts those fit for food into his -baskets and throws away the others. A long truce is given to -sinners, that they may have all the time necessary to change -their hearts, but when that day has come he who has not arrived -at the door, or is not worthy, will remain eternally -outside.</p> - -<p class='c006'>A good husbandman sowed good seed in his field, but while -men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares also among the -wheat. When the blade was sprung up, the servants of the -household saw the tares and came and told their master -of it.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?” But he -said, “Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares ye root up also -the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest; -and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, -Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to -burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Thus like a good husbandman Jesus waits for the day of the -harvest. One day an immense multitude was about Him to -listen to Him, and seeing all these men and these women who -were hungering after righteousness and thirsting after love, He -was moved with compassion and said to His disciples: “The -harvest truly is plenteous but the laborers are few; Pray ye -therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers -into this harvest.”</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_176'>176</span>His voice does not carry everywhere, not even the Twelve -are enough: others are necessary to proclaim the good news, -that it may be carried to all those who suffer and who await it.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE TWELVE</h3> -<p class='c005'>Fate knows no better way to punish the great for their greatness -than by sending them disciples. Every disciple, just because -he is a disciple, cannot understand all that his master -says, but at very best only half, and that according to the -kind of mind he has. Thus without wishing to falsify the -teaching of his master, he deforms it, vulgarizes it, belittles -it, corrupts it.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The disciple nearly always has companions and is jealous -of them; he would like to be at least first among those who are -second; and accordingly he maligns and plots against his fellows; -and each one believes that he is, or at least wishes others -to believe that he is, the only perfect interpreter of the master.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The disciple knows that he is a disciple and sometimes it -shames him to be one who eats at another’s table. Then he -twists and turns the master’s thought to make it seem that -he has a thought of his own, different and original. Or else, -and this is the most graceless and servile manner of being a -disciple, he teaches exactly the opposite of what he was taught.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In every disciple, even in those who seem most loyal, there -is the seed of a Judas. A disciple is a parasite, a middleman -who robs the seller and tricks the buyer; a dependent who, invited -to dine, nibbles at the hors d’œuvres, licks the sauces, -picks at the fruit, but does not attack the bones because he -has no teeth, or only milk teeth, to crack them and suck out -the meaty marrow. The disciple paraphrases sentences, obscures -mysteries, complicates what is clear, multiplies difficulties, -comments on syllables, travesties principles, clouds evidence, -magnifies non-essentials, weakens the essential, dilutes -the strong wine, and retails this hodge-podge as elixir distilled -and quintessence. Instead of a torch which gives light and -fire, he is a smoky wick giving no light even to himself.</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_177'>177</span>And yet no one has been able to dispense with these pupils -and followers, nor even to wish to. For the great man is so -foreign to the multitude, so distant, so alone, that he needs to -feel some one near him. He cannot teach without the illusion -that some one understands his words, receives his ideas, transmits -them to others far away before his death and after his -death. This wanderer who has no home of his own needs a -friendly hearth. To this uprooted man who cannot have a -family of his own flesh and blood, the children of his spirit are -dear. The prophet is a captain whose soldiers spring up only -after his blood has soaked into the ground, and yet he longs to -feel a little army about him during his life-time. Here is one -of the most tragic elements in all greatness: disciples are repugnant -and dangerous, but disciples, even false ones, cannot -be dispensed with. Prophets suffer if they do not find them; -they suffer, perhaps more, when they have found them.</p> - -<p class='c006'>A man’s thought is bound with a thousand threads to his -soul even more closely than a child to a parent’s heart. It is -infinitely precious, delicate, fragile, and the newer it is, the -harder it is for other men to understand. It is a tremendous -responsibility, a continued torture and suffering to confide it -to another, to graft it on another’s thought, to give it into the -hands of the man incapable of respecting it, this gift so rare, -a thought new in human life. And yet every great man longs -to share with all men what he has received; and to achieve this -sharing with humanity is more than he can do single-handed. -Then, too, vanity insinuates itself even in noble breasts: and -vanity needs caressing words, needs praise, even offensive -praise, needs assent, even verbal, consecration even from the -mediocre, victories even if they are only apparent.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Christ has none of this smallness of the great, and yet in order -to share all the burdens of mankind, He accepted with the -other trials of earthly life the burden of disciples. Before being -tormented by His enemies, He gave himself over to be tormented -by His friends. The priests killed him, once and -once only; the disciples made Him suffer every day of their -life with Him. The anguish of His passion would not have -<span class='pageno' id='Page_178'>178</span>been completely intolerable if it had not included the desertion -of the Apostles in addition to the Sadducees, the guards, -the Romans, the crowd.</p> - -<p class='c006'>We know who the Apostles were. A Galilean, He chose -them from among the Galileans. A poor man, He chose them -from among the poor; a simple man, but of a divine simplicity -transcending all philosophies, He called simple men -whose simplicity kept them like clods. He did not wish to -choose them from among the rich, because He had come to -combat the rich; nor among the scribes and doctors, because -He had come to overturn their law; nor among the philosophers, -because there were no philosophers living in Palestine, -and had there been, they would have tried to extinguish His -supernatural mysticism under the dialectic bushel.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He knew that these souls were rough but had integrity, were -ignorant but ardent, and that He could in the end mold -them according to His desire, bring them up to His level, fashion -them like clay from the river, which is only mud, and yet -when modeled and baked in the kiln, becomes eternal beauty. -But flame from the Holy Ghost was needed for that transformation; -until the day of the Pentecost their imperfect nature -had too often the upper hand. To the Twelve much should -be pardoned because almost always they had faith in Him; -because they tried to love Him as He wished to be loved; and, -above all, because after having deserted Him in the Garden of -Gethsemane, they never forgot Him and left to all eternity the -memory of His word and of His life.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And yet our hearts ache if we look at them closely in the -Gospels, those disciples of whom we have some knowledge. -They were not always worthy of their unique and supreme -felicity, those men who were so inestimably fortunate as to -live with Christ, to walk, to eat with Him, to sleep in the same -room, to look into His face, to touch His hand, to kiss Him, to -hear His words from His very mouth; those twelve fortunate -men, whom throughout the centuries millions of souls have secretly -envied.</p> - -<p class='c006'>We see them, hard of head and of heart, not able to understand -the clearest parables of the Master; not always capable -<span class='pageno' id='Page_179'>179</span>of understanding, even after His death, who Jesus had been -and what sort of a new Kingdom was proclaimed by Him; -often lacking in faith, in love, in brotherly affection; eager for -pay; envying each other; impatient for the revenge which -would repay them for their long wait; intolerant of those who -were not one with them; vindictive towards those who would -not receive them, somnolent, doubtful, materialistic, avaricious, -cowardly.</p> - -<p class='c006'>One of them denies Him three times; one of them delays -giving Him due reverence until He is in the sepulcher; one -does not believe in His mission because He comes from Nazareth; -one is not willing to admit His resurrection; one sells -Him to His enemies, and gives Him over with His last kiss to -those who come to arrest Him. Others, when Christ’s teachings -were on a too-lofty level, “went back and walked no more -with Him.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Many times Jesus was forced to reprove them for their slowness -of mind. He told them the parable of the sower, and they -did not understand its meaning. “Know ye not this parable, -and how then will ye know all parables?” He warns them -against the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and they -think that He is speaking of material bread. “Why reason ye -because ye have no bread, perceive ye not yet, neither understand? -Have ye your heart yet hardened? Having eyes see -ye not, and having ears hear ye not?” Like the common -people they constantly feel that Jesus should be the worldly -Messiah, political, warlike, come to restore the temporal throne -of David. Even when He is about to ascend into Heaven they -continue to ask Him: “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore -again the Kingdom to Israel?” And after the resurrection, -the two disciples of Emmaus say: “But we trusted that it had -been he which should have redeemed Israel.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>They disputed among themselves to know who should have -the chief place in the new Kingdom and Jesus reproved them: -“What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?” -But they held their peace, for by the way they had disputed -among themselves who should be the greatest. And He sat -down and called the Twelve and saith unto them: “If any man -<span class='pageno' id='Page_180'>180</span>desires to be first, the same shall be last of all and the servant -of all.” Jealous of their privileges they denounced to Jesus -one who was casting out devils in His name: “Forbid him -not,” answered Jesus, “for there is no man which shall do a -miracle in my name that can lightly speak evil of me. For -he that is not against us is on our part.” After a talk at Capernaum -many murmured at his words and said: “This is an hard -saying; who can hear it?” and they left Him.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And yet Jesus spared no warnings to those who wished to -follow Him. A Scribe said to Him that he would follow Him -everywhere. “And Jesus saith unto him: The foxes have -holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man -hath not where to lay his head.” Another who was a disciple -wished first to bury his father, “But Jesus said unto him, Follow -me; and let the dead bury their dead.” And still another, -“Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them -farewell which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto -him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking -back, is fit for the Kingdom of God.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>A rich young man came to Him who observed all the Commandments. -“Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said -unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever -thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure -in heaven: and come take up the cross, and follow me. -And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he -had great possessions.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>To be with Him, a man must needs leave his home, his dead, -his family, his money,—all the ordinary loves, all the ordinary -good things of life. What is given in exchange is so great that -it will repay every renunciation. But few are capable of this -renunciation, and some after they have believed, falter.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Renunciation was easier for the Twelve, almost all poor -men, yet even they did not always succeed in being as Jesus -wished them.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Simon, Simon,” He said one day to Peter, “behold, Satan -hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.” In -spite of the winnowing of Christ, some evil seeds remained -among his grain.</p> -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_181'>181</span> - <h3 class='c007'>SIMON, CALLED THE ROCK</h3> -</div> -<p class='c005'>Peter before the Resurrection is like a body beside a spirit, -like a material voice which accompanies the sublimation of the -soul. He is the earth which believes in Heaven but remains -earthy. In his rough man’s imagination the Kingdom of -Heaven still resembles rather too closely the Kingdom of the -Prophets’ Messiah.</p> - -<p class='c006'>When Jesus pronounced the famous words: “It is easier for -a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man -to enter into the kingdom of God,” Peter thought this sweeping -condemnation of wealth very harsh. “Then answered Peter -and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed -thee; what shall we have therefore?” He acts like a -money lender inquiring what interest he can expect. And -Jesus, to console him, promises him that he will sit upon a -throne to judge one of the tribes of Israel, that the other eleven -will judge the other eleven tribes, and adds that every one -shall have a hundred times what he has given up.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Again Peter does not understand what Christ means when -He asserts that only what comes from man himself can defile -men. “Peter then answered and said unto him: Declare unto -us this parable, and Jesus said: Are ye also without understanding? -Do ye not yet understand?” Among the disciples -so slow to understand, Peter is one of the slowest. His surname -“Cefa,” stone, piece of rock, was not given him only for -the firmness of his faith, but for the hardness of his head.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He was not an alert spirit in either the literal or the figurative -meaning of the word. He easily fell asleep even at supreme -moments. He fell asleep on the Mount of the Transfiguration. -He fell asleep on the night at Gethsemane, after -the last supper, where Jesus had uttered the saying which -would have kept even a Scribe everlastingly from sleep. And -yet his boldness was great. When Jesus that last evening announced -that He was to suffer and die, Peter burst out: “Lord, -I am ready to go with thee both, into prison, and to death. Although -all shall be offended, yet will not I. If I should die with -thee, I will not deny Thee in any wise.” Jesus answered him: -<span class='pageno' id='Page_182'>182</span>“Verily I say unto thee that this night before the cock crow, -thou shalt deny me thrice.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus knew him better than Peter knew himself. When he -stood in the courtyard of Caiaphas, warming himself at the -brazier while the priests were questioning and insulting his -God, he denied three times that he was one of His followers.</p> - -<p class='c006'>At the moment of the arrest he had made, against the teaching -of Jesus, an appearance of resistance: he had cut off the ear -of Malchus. He had not yet understood after years of daily -comradeship with Christ that any form of material violence -was repellent to Jesus. He had not understood that if Jesus -had wished to save Himself, He could have hidden in the -wilderness unknown to all, or escaped out of the hands of the -soldiers as He had done that first time at Nazareth. So little -did Jesus value this act, contrary to His teaching, that he -healed the wound at once and reproved His untimely avenger.</p> - -<p class='c006'>That was not the first time that Peter showed himself unequal -to great events. He had like all crude personalities a -tendency to see the material dross in spiritual manifestations, -the low in the lofty, the commonplace in the tragic. On the -mountain of the transfiguration, when he was awakened and -saw Jesus refulgent with white light, speaking with two others, -with two spirits, with two prophets, the first thought which -came to him, instead of worshiping and keeping silence, was -to build a tabernacle for these great personages. “Lord, it is -good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three -tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for -Elias.” Luke, the wise man, adds to excuse him, “not knowing -what he said.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>When he saw Jesus walking in all security on the lake, the -idea came to him to do the same thing. “And when Peter was -come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to -Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; -and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me” And -immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand, and caught him, -and said unto him, “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou -doubt?” Because he was familiar with the lake and with -<span class='pageno' id='Page_183'>183</span>Jesus, the good fisherman thought he could do as his master -did, and did not know that the storm could be mastered only -by a soul infinitely greater, a faith infinitely more potent -than his.</p> - -<p class='c006'>His great love for Christ, which makes up for all his weakness, -led him one day almost to rebuke Him. Jesus had told -His disciples how He must suffer and be killed. “Then Peter -took him and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from -thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned and -said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an -offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of -God, but those that be of men.” No one ever pronounced -such a terrible judgment on Simon, called Peter. He was -called to work for the Kingdom of God, and he <i>thought as men -do</i>. His mind, still occupied with the vulgar idea of the triumphant -Messiah, refused to conceive of a persecuted Messiah -condemned and executed. His soul had not yet kindled to the -idea of divine expiation, the idea that salvation cannot be secured -without an offering of suffering and blood, and that the -great should sacrifice His body to the ferocity of mean men in -order that the mean, after being enlightened by that life, may -be saved from that death. He loved Jesus, but although his -love was warm and potent, it still had something earthy in it, -and he grew angry at the thought that his king should be reviled, -that his God should die. And yet he was the first to recognize -Jesus as the Christ; and this primacy is so great that -nothing has been able to cancel it.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>SONS OF THUNDER</h3> -<p class='c005'>The two fishermen, the brothers James and John, who had -left their boat and their nets on the shore at Capernaum in order -to go with Jesus, form together with Peter a sort of favorite -triumvirate. They are the only ones who accompany Jesus -into the house of Jairus, and on the Mount of Transfiguration, -and they are the ones whom He takes with Him on the night -of Gethsemane. But in spite of their long intimacy with the -Master, they never acquired sufficient humility. Jesus gave -<span class='pageno' id='Page_184'>184</span>them the surname of “Boanerges—Sons of Thunder,” an ironic -surname, alluding perhaps to their fiery, irascible character.</p> - -<p class='c006'>When they all started together towards Jerusalem, Jesus sent -some of them ahead to make ready for Him. They were crossing -Samaria and were badly received in a village. “And they -did not receive him, because his face was as though he would -go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples, James and John, saw -this, they said: Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to -come down from heaven and consume them? But he turned, -and rebuked them.” For them, Galileans, faithful to Jerusalem, -the Samaritans were always enemies. In vain had they -heard the Sermon on the Mount: “Do good to them that hate -you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute -you.” In vain had they received instructions for their -mission among the peoples: “And whosoever shall not receive -you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or -city, shake off the dust from your feet.” Angry at an affront -to Jesus they presumed to be able to command fire from -Heaven. It seemed to them a work of righteous justice to reduce -to ashes the village guilty of inhospitality. And yet -far as they were from that loving rebirth of the soul which -alone constitutes the reality of the Kingdom of Heaven, these -men had the pretension to claim the first places on the day of -triumph.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came unto him, -saying: Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever -we should desire. And he said unto them: What -would ye that I should do for you? They said unto him: -Grant unto us that we may sit one on thy right hand and one -on thy left hand in thy glory. But Jesus said unto them: -Ye know not what ye ask. And when the ten heard it they -began to be much displeased with James and John. But Jesus -called them to Him and saith unto them: Whosoever will be -great among you let him be your minister; and whosoever will -be the chief among you, let him be your servant, for even the -Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Christ, the overturner of the old order, took this occasion to -repeat the master word to which all magnanimous souls respond. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_185'>185</span>Only the useless, the petty, the parasites, wish to be -served, even by their inferiors (if any one in the absolute meaning -of the word can be inferior to them), but any superior being -is always at the service of lesser souls precisely because he -is superior.</p> - -<p class='c006'>This miraculous paradox is the proof of the fire of genius. -It is repugnant to the egotism of the self-centered, to the pretensions -of would-be supermen, and to the poverty of the avaricious -because the little that they have is not even enough for -themselves. He who cannot or will not serve shows that he has -nothing to give, is a weakling, impotent, imperfect, empty. -But the genius is no true genius if he does not exuberantly -benefit his inferiors. To serve is not always the same as to -obey. A people can be served better sometimes by a man who -puts himself at their head to force them to be saved even if -they do not wish it. There is nothing servile in serving.</p> - -<p class='c006'>James and John understood this stimulating saying of Jesus. -We find one of them, John, among the nearest and most loving -of the disciples. At the Last Supper he leans his head on -Jesus’ breast; and from the height of the cross Jesus, crucified, -confides the Virgin to him, that he should be a son to her.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE OTHERS</h3> -<p class='c005'>Thomas owes his popularity to the quality which should be -his shame. Thomas, the twin, is the guardian of modernity, -as Thomas Aquinas is the oracle of medieval life. He is the -true patron saint of Spinoza and of all the other deniers of the -resurrection, the man who is not satisfied even with the testimony -of his eyes, but wishes that of his hands as well. And -yet his love for Jesus makes him pardonable. When they came -to the Master to say that Lazarus was dead, and the disciples -hesitated before going into Judea among their enemies, it was -Thomas alone who said: “Let us also go, that we may die with -him.” The martyrdom which he did not find then came to him -in India, after Christ’s death.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Matthew is the dearest of all the Twelve. He was a tax-gatherer, -a sort of under-publican, and probably had more -<span class='pageno' id='Page_186'>186</span>education than his companions. He followed Jesus as readily -as the fishermen. “And after these things he went forth, and -saw a publican named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: -and he said unto him, follow me. And he left all, rose up, -and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast in his -own house.” It was not a heap of torn nets which Matthew -left, but a position, a stipend, secure and increasing earnings. -Giving up riches is easy for a man who has almost nothing. -Among the Twelve Matthew was certainly the richest before -his conversion. Of no other is it told that he could offer a -great feast, and this means that he made a greater and more -meritorious sacrifice by his rising at the first call from the seat -where he was accumulating money.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Matthew and Judas were perhaps the only ones of the -Disciples who knew how to write, and to Matthew we owe the -first collection of Logia or memorable sayings of Jesus, if the -testimony of Papia is true. In the Gospel which is called by -his name, we find the most complete text of the Sermon on the -Mount. Our debt to the poor excise-man is heavy: without -him many words of Jesus, and the most beautiful, might have -been lost. This handler of drachma, shekels and talents, -whom his despised trade must have predisposed to avarice, has -laid up for us a treasure worth more than all the money coined -on the earth before and after his time.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Philip of Bethsaida also knew how to reckon. When the -famished multitude pressed about Him, Jesus turned to him -to ask what it would cost to buy bread for all those people. -Philip answered Him: “Two hundred pennyworth of bread -is not sufficient for them.” He was later to become a proclaimer -of his Master’s fame. He it was who announced to -Nathaniel the coming of Jesus, and it was to him that the -Greeks of Jerusalem turned when they wished to speak to the -new Prophet.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Nathaniel answered Philip’s announcement with sarcasm: -“Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” But -Philip succeeded in bringing him to Jesus, who as soon as He -saw him, exclaimed, “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is -no guile! Nathaniel saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? -<span class='pageno' id='Page_187'>187</span>Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called -thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathaniel -answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; -thou art the King of Israel. Jesus answered and said unto -him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, -believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Less enthusiastic and inflammable was Nicodemus, who, as a -matter of fact, never wished to be known as a disciple of Jesus. -Nicodemus was old, had been to school to the Rabbis, was a -friend of the Jerusalem Sanhedrin, but the stories of the miracles -had shaken him, and he went by night to Jesus to tell Him -that he believed that He was sent by God. Jesus answered -him, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born -again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus did -not understand these words, or perhaps they startled him. He -had come to see a miracle worker and had found a Sybil, and -with the homely good sense of the man who wishes to avoid -being taken in by a fraud he said, “How can a man be born -when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s -womb and be born?” Jesus answers with words of profound -meaning, “Except a man be born of water and of the -spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>But Nicodemus still did not understand. “How can these -things be?” Jesus answered, “Art thou a master of Israel and -knowest not these things?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Nicodemus always respected the young Galilean, but his -sympathy was as circumspect as his visit. Once when the -leaders of the priests and the Pharisees were meditating how to -capture Jesus, Nicodemus ventured a defense: “Doth our law -judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?” -He took his stand on a point of law. He spoke in the name of -“our” law, not at all in the name of the new man. Nicodemus -is always the old man, law-respecting, the prudent friend of the -letter of the law. A few words of reproof were enough to -silence him. “They answered and said unto him, Art thou -also of Galilee? Search and look: for out of Galilee ariseth -no prophet!” He belonged by right to the Sanhedrin, but -there is no record that he raised his voice in favor of the accused -<span class='pageno' id='Page_188'>188</span>when He was conducted to Caiaphas. The trial was at -night and probably to avoid the contempt of his colleagues and -his own remorse for the legal assassination, Nicodemus remained -in his bed. When he awoke Jesus was dead, and then, -forgetting his avarice, he bought a hundred pounds of myrrh -and aloes to embalm the body. He who brought others to life -was dead, but Nicodemus, although not literally dead, would -never know that second birth in which he could not believe.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Nicodemus is the eternal type of the luke-warm who will be -spewed out of the mouth of God on the day of wrath. He is -the half-way soul who would like to say “Yes” with his spirit, -but his flesh suggests to him the “No” of cowardice. He is the -man of books, the nocturnal disciple who would like to be a -follower of the Master, but not to appear as one; who would -not mind being born again, but who does not know how to -break the withered bark of his ageing trunk; the man of inhibitions -and precautions. When the man of his admiration -was martyred and killed and His enemies were satisfied, and -there was no more danger of being compromised, then he -comes with balsams to pour into those wounds which were inflicted -partly by his cowardice.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But the church to reward his posthumous piety has chosen -him to become one of her saints. And there is an old tradition -that he was baptized by Peter and put to death for having believed, -too late, in Him whom he did not save from death.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>LAMBS, SERPENTS, AND DOVES</h3> -<p class='c005'>Those whom Jesus sent out to the conquest of souls were -rustic countrymen, but they could be mild as sheep, wary as -serpents, simple as doves—sheep without cowardice, serpents -without poison, doves without lustfulness.</p> - -<p class='c006'>To be stripped of everything was the first duty of such soldiers. -Seeking the poor, they should be poorer than the poor. -And yet not beggars, for the laborer is worthy of his hire; the -bread of life which they were to distribute to those hungering -for justice deserved wheat bread in return. The laborers -should set out on their wonderful work destitute of possessions, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_189'>189</span>taking nothing for their journey save a staff only, no scrip, no -bread, no money in their purse. They should be shod with -sandals, clad in a single garment. The metals are a burden -which weighs down the soul. The sheen of gold makes men -forget the sun’s splendor; the sheen of silver makes them forget -the splendor of the stars; the sheen of copper makes them -forget the splendor of fire. He who deals with metals weds -himself to the earth and is bound fast to the earth. He does -not know Heaven, and Heaven does not recognize him.</p> - -<p class='c006'>It is not enough to preach love of poverty to the poor, or to -talk to them about the sumptuous beauty of poverty. The poor -do not believe the words of the rich until the rich willingly become -poor. The Disciples destined to preach the beauty of -poverty to both poor and rich were to set an example of happy -poverty to every man in every house on every day. They were -to carry nothing with them except the clothes on their backs -and the sandals on their feet. They were to accept nothing; -only the small piece of daily bread which they would find on -the tables of their hosts. The wandering priests of the goddess -Siria and of other Oriental divinities carried with them, along -with the sacred images, the wallet for offerings, the bag for -alms, because common people do not value things which cost -them nothing. The apostles of Jesus, on the contrary, were to -refuse any gift or payment, “Freely ye have received, freely -give.” And as one of the disguises of wealth is merchandise, -the messengers of the Kingdom were to renounce even a change -of garments, sandals and staff; were to dispense with everything -except the barest essentials.</p> - -<p class='c006'>They were to enter into the houses, open to all in a country -where the locks and bolts of fear were not yet known, and -which preserved some remembrance of nomad hospitality—they -were to speak to the men and the women who lived there. -Their duty was to announce that the Kingdom of Heaven was -at hand, to explain in what way the kingdom of earth could become -the Kingdom of Heaven, and to explain the one condition -for this happy fulfilling of all the prophecies,—repentance, -conversion, transformation of the soul. As a proof that they -were sent by One who had the authority to demand this change, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_190'>190</span>they had power to heal the sick, to drive away with their words -unclean spirits,—that is, the demons, and the vices which -make men like demons.</p> - -<p class='c006'>They commanded men to renew their souls and at once with -all the power which had been given them they aided them to -commence this renovation. They did not leave them alone -with this command, so difficult to execute. After the prophetic -word, “The Kingdom is at hand,” they began their labors; they -worked to restore, to cleanse, to make over these souls which -had been abandoned by their rightful shepherds. They explained -what it was necessary to do to be worthy of the new -Heaven on earth and they lent a hand at once to the work. In -short, to complete the paradox they assassinated and brought -to life. They killed the old Adam in every convert, but their -words were the baptism of the second birth. Pilgrims without -purses or bundles, they carried with them truth and life,—peace.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“And when ye come into an house salute it,” and this was -the salutation, “Peace be with you.” Those who received them -gained peace, those who rejected them continued their bitter -warfare. Coming away from the house or from the city which -had not received them, they were to shake the dust from their -feet, not because the dust of the houses and of the cities of -those who were not willing to hear them was contaminated, but -because shaking it from their feet is a symbolic answer to their -deafness and niggardliness of soul. You have refused all, and -we will not accept anything from you, not even the dust which -clings to our sandals. Because you, made of dust and fated to -return to dust as you are, will not give a moment of your time, -nor a piece of your bread, we leave behind us the dust of your -streets, down to the least grain.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>SPEAK YE IN LIGHT</h3> -<p class='c005'>In their faithfulness to the sublime paradox of Him who -sends them, the apostles bring peace and at the same time war! -All men are not capable of conversion. In the same family, in -the same house, there are some who will believe and others -<span class='pageno' id='Page_191'>191</span>who will not. And there will spring up between them division -and warfare, the hard price with which absolute and stable -peace can be secured. If all men should listen at the same moment -to the voice, if all could be transformed on the same day, -the Kingdom of Heaven would be founded in a twinkling of an -eye, with no bloody preface of battles.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Furthermore those who do not wish to change themselves, -because they do not understand the news, or believe themselves -already perfect, will attack the converters and accuse them before -tribunals. Representatives of wealth and of the old law -will be cruel to the poor who are teaching the new law to the -poor. The rich are not willing to concede that their wealth is -dangerous poverty; the scribes are not willing to admit that -their learning is only deadly ignorance.... “They will scourge -you in their synagogues.... But when they deliver you up, -take no thought of how or what ye shall speak.” Jesus is sure -that the poor fishermen, though they have never studied in the -schools of eloquence, will find for themselves great words in -their hour of accusation. One thought, when it is a great -thought and profoundly fixed in the heart, engenders of itself -all the derivatory and accessory thoughts, and with them perfect -form in which to express them. The arid-hearted man -who has nothing in himself, who has faith in nothing, who -does not feel, burn, and suffer, though he may have studied -long with the sophists of Athens and the rhetoricians of Rome, -is incapable of improvising one of those powerful and illuminating -answers which trouble the conscience of the hardest -judges.</p> - -<p class='c006'>They are to speak therefore without fear and without hiding -anything of what has been taught them. “What I tell you in -darkness that seek ye in light, and what ye hear in the ear, -preach ye upon the housetops.” With these words Jesus does -not ask his Disciples to be more daring than he has been. He -has spoken in the darkness, that is obscurity; He has spoken -to them, to His first faithful followers, but what He has said -to them along deserted roads and in solitary rooms they are to -repeat as He Himself has given them the example, on open -squares of cities before crowds of people. He has whispered -<span class='pageno' id='Page_192'>192</span>the truth into their ears, because the truth at first might alarm -those not prepared for it, and because there were so few of the -Disciples that there was no need to cry aloud. But this truth -must be cried out now from the heights, in order that all may -hear it, in order that there may be no one to say on that Day -that he has not heard it.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Men can kill the body of the man who spreads the truth -abroad, but they cannot kill his soul; from the death of a -single body thousands of new souls will be born into life. But -not even your body will die, because there is One who protects -it. “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of -them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But -the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not -therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.” The -birds of the air who do not sow, do not die of hunger; you who -do not carry even a staff shall not die at the hands of your -enemies.</p> - -<p class='c006'>They have with them a secret so precious that the flesh -which contains it will not be allowed to perish. Jesus is always -with them, even though from afar. What is done to -them is done to Him. A mystic identity is created for all -eternity between Him who sends them out and those disciples -who are sent. “And whosoever shall give to drink unto one -of these little ones, a cup of cold water only in the name of a -disciple, verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his -reward.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus is the fountain of living water destined to quench the -thirst of all the weary, and yet He will take account also of -the cup of water which shall have quenched the thirst of the -least among His friends. Those who carry with them the water -of truth, which purifies and saves, may need some day a cup -of the stagnant water buried at the bottom of village wells. -Any person who will give them a little of this ordinary, material -water will have in exchange a well-spring which intoxicates -the soul more than the strongest wine.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The apostles who go about with one garment, with a single -pair of sandals, without belts or wallets, poor as poverty, bare -as truth, simple as joy, are, in spite of their apparent poverty, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_193'>193</span>diverse forms of a king who has come to found a kingdom -greater and happier than all kingdoms, to bring to poor people -wealth which is worth more than all measurable riches, to -offer to the unhappy a joy more profound than any fleshly -pleasures. It suits this new King, as it did the kings of the -Orient, to show Himself under many forms, to appear to men -in diverse garments. But the disguises which He prefers even -to-day are these three: Poet, Poor Man, and Apostle.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>MAMMON</h3> -<p class='c005'>Jesus is the poor man, infinitely and rigorously poor. Poor -with an absolute poverty! The prince of poverty! The Lord -of perfect destitution! The poor man who lives with the poor, -who has come for the poor, who speaks to the poor, who gives -to the poor, who works for the poor! Poor among the poor, -destitute among the destitute, beggar among the beggars! The -poor man of a great and eternal poverty! The happy and -rich poor man, who accepts poverty, who desires poverty, who -weds himself to poverty, who chants of poverty! The beggar -who gives alms! The naked man who covers the naked! The -hungry man who feeds others, the miraculous and supernatural, -who changes the men owning false riches into poor men, -and poor men into those with real wealth.</p> - -<p class='c006'>There are poor men who are poor because they were never -capable of acquiring wealth. There are other poor men who are -poor because they give away every evening what they earned -that day; and the more they give the more they have. Their -wealth, the wealth of this second class of poor men, grows -greater in proportion as it is given away. It is a pile which -becomes greater as more is taken away from it.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus was one of these poor men. Compared to one of them, -men materially rich, rich as the world esteems wealth, rich -with their chests of talents, mina, rupees, florins, shekels, -crowns, francs, marks, and dollars, are only lamentable beggars. -The money-changers of the forum, the great feasters of -Jerusalem, the bankers of Florence and Frankfort, the lords -of London, the multi-millionaires of New York, compared to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_194'>194</span>these poor men are only unfortunate beggars, despoiled and -needy; unpaid servants of a fierce master; condemned every -day to assassinate their own souls. The wretchedness of such -indigence is so terrible that they are reduced to pick up the -stones that are found in the mud of the earth, and grope about -in filth. Theirs is a poverty so repugnant that not even the -poor succeed in bestowing on them the charity of a smile.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Richness is a curse like work, but a harder and more shameful -curse. He who is marked with the sign of wealth has committed, -perhaps unconsciously, an infamous crime, one of those -mysterious and unimaginable crimes which are nameless in -human language. The rich man is either under the burden of -the vengeance of God, or God wishes to put him to the test to -see if he can succeed in climbing up to divine poverty. For -the rich man has committed the greatest sin, the most abominable -and unpardonable. The rich man is the man who has -fallen because of an exchange: he could have had Heaven and -he chose Earth. He could have lived in Paradise and he has -chosen Hell. He could have kept his soul and he has exchanged -it for material things. He could have loved and he has preferred -to be hated. He could have had happiness and he has -desired power. No one can save him. Wealth in his hands is -a metal which buries him alive under its icy mass; it is the -tumor which consumes him still alive in his corruption; it is -the fire which burns him and reduces him to a terrible, black -mummy, a blind paralytic, black mummy, a ghostly carrion -which everlastingly holds out its empty hand in the cemeteries -of the centuries, begging in vain for the alms of charitable -remembrance.</p> - -<p class='c006'>For him there is only one salvation: to become a poor man, -a true and humble poor man; to throw away the horrible destitution -of wealth in order to enter again into poverty. But this -resolution is the hardest that the rich man can take. The rich -man by the very fact that he is sickened by wealth cannot even -imagine that the entire renunciation of wealth would be the beginning -of redemption, and because he cannot imagine such an -abdication, he cannot even deliberate on it, cannot weigh the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_195'>195</span>alternatives. He is a prisoner in the impregnable prison of -himself. To liberate himself he must first be free.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The rich man does not belong to himself, but belongs to inanimate -things. He has not the time to think, to choose. -Wealth is a pitiless master who allows no other masters near -him. The rich man cannot think of his soul, bowed as he is -under the care of his riches, under his thirst to increase his -riches, under the fear of losing his riches, under the material -joys which are offered to him by those pieces of matter which -are called wealth. He cannot even imagine that his sick, suffocating, -mutilated, worm-eaten soul needs to be cured. He has -taken up his abode in that part of the world which, according -to contracts and laws, he has the right to call <i>his</i>, and often -he has not even the time, the wish, or the power to enjoy it. -He must serve it and take care of it,—he cannot serve or take -care of his own soul. All his power of love is absorbed by -these material things, which order him about, which have taken -the place of his soul, which have robbed him of all his liberty. -The horrible fate of the rich man lies in this double absurdity: -in order to have the power to command men he has become -the slave of dead things; in order to acquire a part (and such -a very small part!) he has lost the whole.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Nothing is ours as long as it is ours alone. Outside of himself -man can possess, actually own, nothing. The absolute secret -of owning other things is to renounce them. Everything -is given to him who has refused everything. But he who wishes -to grasp for himself, for himself alone, a part of the goods of -this world, loses both what he has acquired and everything -else. And at the same moment he is incapable of knowing -himself, or possessing himself, making himself greater. -He has nothing more, not even the things which in appearance -belong to him, but to which in reality he belongs; and he has -never had his own soul, the one piece of property which is -worth possessing. He is the most destitute and despoiled beggar -of all the universe. He has nothing. How then can he -love others, give to others himself and that which belongs to -himself, exercise that loving charity which would conduct him -<span class='pageno' id='Page_196'>196</span>so soon to the Kingdom? He is nothing and he has nothing. -He who does not exist cannot change. He who does not possess -cannot give. How then can the rich man, who is no -longer his own, who has no longer a soul, transform a soul, the -only possession of mankind, into something nobler and more -precious?</p> - -<p class='c006'>“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole -world, and lose his own soul?” This question of Christ’s, simple -like all revelations, expresses the exact meaning of the prophetic -threat. The rich man not only loses eternity, but, pulled -down by his wealth, loses his life here below, his present soul, -the happiness of his present earthly life.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” The Spirit and Gold -are two masters who will not tolerate any division or sharing. -They are jealous; they insist on having the whole man. And -even if he wishes, the man cannot divide himself in two. He -must be all here, or all beyond worldly things. For the faithful -servant of the spirit, gold is nothing; for him who serves -gold, “spirit” is a word without meaning. He who chooses the -spirit throws away gold and all the things bought by gold; he -who desires gold puts an end to the spirit and renounces all -the benefits of the spirit: peace, holiness, love, perfect joy. -The first is a poor man who can never use up his infinite -wealth; the other is a rich man who can never escape out of his -infinite poverty. By the mysterious law of renunciation the -poor man possesses even that which is not his—the entire universe; -through the hard law of perpetual desire, the rich man -does not even possess that little which he believes to be his. -God gives immensely more than the immensity which He has -promised. Mammon takes away even that very little which -he promises. He who renounces everything has everything -given him; he who wishes a part for himself alone, finds himself -at the end with nothing.</p> - -<p class='c006'>When the horrible mystery of wealth is deeply probed, it is -easy to see why the masters of men have considered wealth the -kingdom of the Demon himself. A thing which costs less than -everything else is bought by everything else. A thing which -is nothing, the actual value of which is nothing, is bought by -<span class='pageno' id='Page_197'>197</span>giving up everything, is secured by exchanging for it the whole -of the soul, the whole of life. The most precious thing is exchanged -for the most worthless.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And yet even this infernal absurdity has its reason for being, -in the economy of the spirit. Man is so universally and -naturally drawn by that nothingness called wealth that he -could only be dissuaded from his insensate search for it by putting -a price so great, so high, so out of all proportion that the -very fact of paying it would be a valid proof of insanity and -crime. But not even the conditions of the bargain, the eternal -exchanged for the ephemeral, power for servitude, sanctity for -damnation, are enough to keep men away from the absurd bargain -with the powers of evil. Poor people do not rejoice that -they are poor. Their only regret is that they cannot be rich; -their souls are contaminated and in peril like those of the -wealthy. Almost all of them are involuntarily poor men, who -have not known how to make money and yet have lost the -spirit; they are only poverty-stricken rich people who have not -as yet any cash.</p> - -<p class='c006'>For poverty, voluntarily accepted, joyfully desired, is the -only poverty which gives true wealth, spiritual wealth. Absolute -poverty frees men for the conquest of the absolute. The -Kingdom of Heaven does not promise poor people that they -shall become rich, it promises rich people that they shall enter -into it when they become freely poor.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>SELL EVERYTHING</h3> -<p class='c005'>The tragic paradox implied in wealth justifies the advice -given by Jesus to those who wish to follow Him.</p> - -<p class='c006'>They all should give whatever they have beyond their needs -to those in want. But the rich man should give everything. -To the young man who comes up to ask Him what he ought -to do to be among His followers, Jesus answers: “If thou wilt -be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, -and thou shalt have treasure in heaven.” Giving away wealth -is not a loss or a sacrifice. Instead of this, Jesus knows and -all those know who understand mankind and wealth that it is -<span class='pageno' id='Page_198'>198</span>a magnificently profitable transaction, an incommensurable -gain. “Sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor and -thou shalt have treasure in heaven where neither moth nor -rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor -steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. -Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow -from thee, turn not thou away, for it is more blessed to give -than to receive.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Men must give and give without sparing, light-heartedly and -without calculation. He who gives in order to get something -back is not perfect. He who gives in order to exchange with -others, or for other material things, acquires nothing. The -recompense is elsewhere, it is in us. Things are not to be -given away that they may be paid for by other things, but -by purity and contentment alone. “When thou makest a -dinner or a supper call not thy friends nor thy brethren, neither -thy kinsmen nor thy rich neighbors, lest they also bid thee -again, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest -a feast call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind; and -thou shalt be blest, for they cannot recompense thee, for thou -shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Even before Jesus’ time men had been advised to renounce -wealth. Jesus was not the first to find in poverty one of -the steps to perfection. The great Vaddhamana, the Jain, or -triumpher, added to the commandments of Parswa, founder of -the Freed, the doctrine of the renunciation of all possessions. -Buddha, his contemporary, exhorted his disciples to a similar -renunciation. The Cynics stripped themselves of all material -goods to be independent of work and of men, and to be able -to consecrate their freed souls to truth. Crates, the Theban -nobleman, disciple of Diogenes, distributed his wealth to his -fellow-citizens and turned beggar. Plato wished the warriors -in his Republic to have no possessions. Dressed in purple -and seated at tables inlaid with rare stones, the Stoics pronounced -eloquent eulogies on poverty. Aristophanes puts -blind Pluto on the stage distributing wealth to rascals alone, -almost as though wealth were a punishment.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But in Jesus the love of poverty is not an ascetic rule, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_199'>199</span>nor a proud disguise for ostentation. Timon of Athens, who -was reduced to poverty after having fed a crowd of parasites -with indiscriminate generosity, was not a poor man as Christ -would have men poor. Timon was poor through the fault of -his vainglory, to feed his own desire to be called magnanimous -and liberal. He gave to everybody, even to those who were -not needy. Crates, who stripped himself of all his property -to imitate Diogenes, was the slave of pride: he wished to do -something different from others, to acquire the name of philosopher -and sage. The professional beggary of the Cynics is a -picturesque form of pride. The poverty of Plato’s warriors -is a measure of political prudence. The first republics conquered -and flourished as long as the citizens contented themselves, -as in old Sparta and old Rome, with strict poverty, -and they fell as soon as they valued gold more than sober and -modest living. But men of antiquity did not despise wealth -in itself. They held it dangerous when it accumulated in the -hands of the few, they considered it unjust when it was not -spent with judicious liberality. But Plato, who desires for his -citizens a condition half-way between need and abundance, -puts riches among the good things of human life. He puts -it last of all, but he does not forget it. And Aristophanes would -kneel before Pluto if the blind God should acquire his sight -again and give riches to worthy people.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In the Gospel, poverty is not a philosophical ornament nor -a mystic mode. To be poor is not enough to entitle one to -citizenship in the Kingdom. Poverty of the body is a preliminary -requisite, like humility of the spirit. He who is not convinced -that his estate is low never thinks of climbing high; -no one can feel a zest for true treasures if he is not freed -from all material property,—from that winding-sheet which -blinds the eyes and binds down the wings.</p> - -<p class='c006'>When he does not suffer from his poverty, when he glories -in his poverty instead of tormenting himself to convert it into -wealth, the poor man is certainly much nearer to moral perfection -than the rich man. But the rich man who has despoiled -himself in favor of the poor and has chosen to live side by -side with his new brothers is still nearer perfection than the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_200'>200</span>man who was born and reared in poverty. That he has been -touched by a grace so rare and prodigious gives him the right -to hope for the greatest blessedness. To renounce what you -have never had may be meritorious, because imagination magnifies -absent things; but it is the sign of supreme perfectibility -to renounce everything that you actually did possess, possessions -that were envied by every one.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The poor man who is sober, chaste, simple and contented -because he lacks means and occasions for anything else, is inclined -to look for a recompense in pleasures which do not cost -money, and as it were for a revenge in a spiritual superiority -where prosperous people cannot compete with him. But often -his virtues come from his impotence or from his ignorance; -he does not turn from the right course—he cannot afford to -do so—he does not pile up treasure because he possesses only -the strictly necessary; he is not drunken and licentious because -wine-sellers and women of the streets give no credit. His life, -often hard, servile, dark, redeems his faults. And his suffering -forces him to lift his eyes towards Heaven in search of -consolation. We do so little for the poor that we have no -right to judge them. As they are, abandoned by their brothers, -kept far from those who could speak to their hearts, avoided -by those who shrink from the proximity of their sweaty bodies, -excluded from those worlds of intelligence and the arts which -might make their poverty more endurable, the poor are, in the -universal wretchedness of mankind, the least impure. If they -were more loved, they would be better men. How can those -who have left them alone in their poverty have the heart to -condemn them?</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus loved the poor; He loved them for the compassion -which He felt for them; He loved them because He felt them -nearer to His soul, more prepared to understand Him than -other men. He loved them because they constantly gave Him -the happiness of service, of giving bread to the hungry, -strength to the weak, hope to the unhappy. Jesus loved the -poor because He saw that if they were justly treated they -would be the most legitimate inhabitants of the Kingdom. -He loved the poor because they rendered the renunciation of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_201'>201</span>the rich easier by the stimulus of charity; but most of all He -loved the poor men who had been rich and who for the love -of the Kingdom had become poor. Their renunciation was -the greatest act of faith in His promise. They had given that -which considered absolutely is nothing, but in the eyes of the -world is everything, for the certainty of sharing in a more perfect -life. They had been obliged to conquer in themselves one -of the most profoundly rooted instincts of man. Jesus, born -a poor man among the poor, for the poor, never left his -brothers. He gave to them the fructifying abundance of His -divine property. But in His heart He sought the poor man -who had not always been poor, the rich man ready to strip -himself for His love. He sought him, perhaps He never found -him. But He felt this longed-for, unknown brother man tenderly -nearer to his heart than all the docile seekers who -crowded about Him.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE DEVIL’S DUNG</h3> -<p class='c005'>Note well, you men who are yet to be born! Jesus was never -willing to touch a coin with His hand. Those hands of His -which molded the clay of the earth as a cure for blind eyes, -those hands which touched the contaminated flesh of lepers -and of the dead, those hands which clasped the body of Judas, -so much more contaminated than clay, than leprosy, than -putrefaction, those white pure healing hands which nothing -could sully, never suffered themselves to be touched by one -of those metal disks which carry in relief the profiles of the -proprietors of the world. Jesus could mention money in His -parables; He could see it in the hands of others, but touch it—no! -To Him who scorned nothing, money was disgusting. It -was repugnant to Him with a repugnance that was like horror. -All His nature was in revolt at the thought of a contact with -those filthy symbols of wealth.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But one day even Jesus was constrained to look at a piece -of money. They asked Him if it was permitted to the true -Israelite to pay the tribute, and He answered at once, “Show -me the tribute money.” They showed it to Him, but He would -<span class='pageno' id='Page_202'>202</span>not take it. It was a Roman coin stamped with the hypocritical -face of Augustus. But He wished to seem not to know whose -face it was. He asked, “Whose is this image and superscription?” -They answered, “Cæsar’s.” Then He threw into the -faces of the wily interrogators the answer which silenced them, -“Render therefore unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar’s; -and unto God the things that are God’s.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Give back that which is not yours, money does not belong -to us. It is manufactured by the powerful for the needs of -power. It is the property of kings and of the kingdom, of -that other kingdom which is not ours. The king represents -force and is the protector of wealth; but we have nothing to -do with violence and reject riches. Our Kingdom has no -potentates and has no rich men; the King of our Heaven does -not coin money. Money is a means for the exchange of -earthly goods, but we do not seek for earthly goods. What -little is necessary for us, a little sunshine, a little air, a little -water, a piece of bread, a cloak, will be given freely to us by -God and by God’s friends. Tire yourselves out, you other -people, all your lives to gather together a great pile of those -round minted tokens. We have no use for them. For us they -are definitely superfluous. Therefore we give them back; we -give them back to him who has had them coined, to him who -has had his portrait put on them, so that all should know -that they are his.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus never needed to give back any money because He -never possessed any. He gave the order to His disciples not -to carry bags for offerings on their journeys. He made one -single exception, and that a fearful one. The Gospel tells -us that one apostle kept the common purse. This disciple -was Judas, and even Judas felt himself forced to give -back the payment for his betrayal before disappearing in death. -Judas is the mysterious victim sacrificed to the curse of money. -Money carries with it, together with the filth of the hands -which have clutched and handled it, the inexorable contagion -of crime. Among the unclean things which men have manufactured -to defile the earth and defile themselves, money is -perhaps the most unclean. These counters of coined metal -<span class='pageno' id='Page_203'>203</span>which pass and repass every day among hands still soiled -with sweat or blood, worn by the rapacious fingers of thieves, -of merchants, of misers; this round and viscid sputum of the -Mint, desired by all, sought for, stolen, envied, loved more -than love and often more than life; these ugly pieces of -stamped matter, which the assassin gives to the cut-throat, -the usurer to the hungry, the enemy to the traitor, the swindler -to his partner, the simonist to the barterer in religious offices, -the lustful to the woman bought and sold, these foul vehicles -of evil which persuade the son to kill his father, the wife to -betray her husband, the brother to defraud his brother, the -wicked poor man to stab the wicked rich man, the servant to -cheat his master, the highwayman to despoil the traveler; this -money, these material emblems of matter, are the most terrifying -objects manufactured by man. Money which has been the -death of so many bodies is every day the death of thousands -of souls. More contagious than the rags of a man with the pest, -than the pus of an ulcer, than the filth of a sewer, it enters -into every house, shines on the counters of the money-changers, -settles down in money-chests, profanes the pillow of sleep, -hides itself in the fetid darkness of squalid back-rooms, sullies -the innocent hands of children, tempts virgins, pays the hangman -for his work, goes about on the face of the earth to stir -up hatred, to set cupidity on fire, to hasten corruption and -death.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Bread, already holy on the family board, becomes on the -table of the Church the everlasting body of Christ. Money -too is the visible sign of a transubstantiation. It is the infamous -Host of the Demon. He who loves money and receives -it with joy is in visible communion with the Demon. He who -touches money with pleasure touches without knowing it the -filth of the Demon. The pure cannot touch it, the holy man -cannot endure it. They know with unshakable certainty its -ugly essence, and they have for money the same horror that -the rich man has for poverty.</p> -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_204'>204</span> - <h3 class='c007'>THE KINGS OF THE NATIONS</h3> -</div> -<p class='c005'>“Whose is this image?” asks Jesus when they put the Roman -money before his eyes. He knows that face, He knows, as -they all do, that Octavius by a sequence of extraordinary good -luck became the monarch of the world with the adulatory -surname of Augustus. He knows that falsely youthful profile, -that head of clustering curls, the great nose that juts forward -as if to hide the cruelty of the small mouth, the lips rigorously -closed. It is a head, like those of all kings, cut off from the -body, cut off below the neck; sinister image of a voluntary -and eternal decapitation. Cæsar is the king of the past, the -head of the armies, the coiner of silver and gold, fallible administrator -of insufficient justice. Jesus is the King of the -future, the liberator of servants, the abdicator of wealth, the -master of love. There is nothing in common between -them. Jesus has come to overthrow the domination of -Cæsar, to undo the Roman Empire and every earthly -empire, but not to put Himself in Cæsar’s place. If men will -listen to Him there will never be any Cæsar again. Jesus -is not the heir who conspires against the sovereign to take his -place. He has come peaceably to remove all rulers. Cæsar -is the strongest and most famous of His rivals, but also the -most remote, because his force lies in the slothfulness of men, -in the weakness of peoples. But One has come who will -awaken the sleeping, open the eyes of the blind, give back -strength to the weak. When everything is fulfilled and the -Kingdom is founded—a Kingdom which needs no soldiers nor -judges nor slaves nor money, but only renewed and living souls—Cæsar’s -empire will vanish like a pile of ashes under the victorious -breath of the wind.</p> - -<p class='c006'>As long as Cæsar is there, we can give back to him what -is his. For the new man, money is nothing. We give back -to Cæsar, vowed to eternal nothingness, that silver nothingness -which is none of ours. Jesus is always looking forward with -passionate longing to the arrival of the second earthly Paradise -and He takes no heed of governors because the new land -which He announces will not need governors. A people of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_205'>205</span>holy men who love each other would have no use for Kings, -law-courts and armies. On one occasion only does He speak -of kings, and then only to overturn the common established -idea. “The Kings of the Gentiles,” He says to His disciples, -“exercise lordship over them, and they that exercise authority -upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so, -but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, -and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.” It is the theory -of perfect equality in human relationship. The great is small, -the master is servant, the King is slave. Since, according to -Christ’s teachings, he who governs must become like him who -serves, the opposite is true, and he who serves has the same -rights and honors as he who governs. Among the righteous, -there may be some more ardent than others; there may be -saints who were sinners up to the last day; there may be other -innocent ones who were citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven -from their birth. Different planes of spiritual greatness may -exist as variations of the perfection common to all; but to the -end of time every category of superior and inferior, of master -and subordinate, shall be abolished. Authority presupposes, -even if it is badly wielded, a flock to lead, a minority to punish, -bestiality to shackle; but when all men are holy, there will be -no more need for commands and obedience, for laws and punishments. -The Kingdom of Heaven can dispense with the -commands of Force.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In the Kingdom of Heaven men will not hate each other -and will no longer desire riches; every reason and need for -government will disappear immediately after these two great -changes. The name of the path which conducts to perfect -liberty is not Destruction but Holiness. And it is not found -in the sophistries of Godwin, or of Stirner, or Proudhon, or -of Kropotkin, but only in the gospel of Jesus Christ.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>SWORD AND FIRE</h3> -<p class='c005'>Every time that the sycophants of the powerful have desired -to sanctify the ambition of the ambitious, the violence of the -violent, the fierceness of the fierce, the pugnacity of the pugnacious, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_206'>206</span>the conquests of the conquerors, every time that the -paid sophists or frenzied orators have tried to reconcile pagan -ferocity with Christian gentleness, to use the Cross as the hilt of -the sword, to justify blood spilt through hatred by the blood -which flowed on Calvary to teach love; every time, in short, -that people wish to use the doctrine of peace to legitimatize -war, and make Christ surety for Genghis Khan or for Bonaparte -or even through refinement of infamy, the outrider of -Mahomet, you will see them quote, with the inexorable punctuality -of all commonplaces, the celebrated gospel text, which -everybody knows by heart and very few have ever understood.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came -not to send peace, but a sword.” Some more learned add, “I -am come to send fire on the earth.” Others rush forward to -present the decisive verse, “The kingdom of heaven suffereth -violence, and the violent take it by force.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>What angel of eloquence, what supernatural enlightener, -can ever reveal to these hardened quoters the true meaning of -the words which they repeat with such light frivolity? They -do not look at the words which come before and after; they -pay no attention to the occasion on which they were spoken. -They do not imagine for a moment that they can have another -meaning from the common one.</p> - -<p class='c006'>When Jesus says that He has come to bring a sword,—or -as it is written in the parallel passage of Luke, “Discord,” -He is speaking to His Disciples who are on the point of departing -to announce the coming of the Kingdom. And immediately -after having spoken of the sword, He explains with -familiar examples what He meant to say: “For I am come -to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter -against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. -And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. -For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, -three against two, and two against three.” The sword therefore -does not mean war; it is a figure of speech which dignifies -division. The sword is what divides, cuts in two, disunites; -and the preaching of the gospel shall divide men of the same -family. Because among men there are those deaf and those -<span class='pageno' id='Page_207'>207</span>who hear, those who are slow and those who are quick, those -who deny and those who believe. Until all are converted and -“brothers in the Word,” discord will reign on earth. But discord -is not war, is not massacre. Those who have heard and -believe—the Christians—will not assault those who do not -hear and do not believe. They will, it is true, take up arms -against their refractory and stubborn brothers, but these arms -will be preaching, example, pardon, love. Those who are not -converted perhaps will begin real warfare, the warfare of violence -and blood, but they will begin it exactly because they are -not converted, precisely because they are not yet Christians. -The triumph of the Gospel is the end of all wars, of wars between -man and man, between family and family, between caste -and caste, between people and people. If the Gospel at first -is the cause of separations and discord the fault is not in the -truths taught in the Gospel but in the fact that these truths -are not yet practiced by all.</p> - -<p class='c006'>When Jesus proclaims that he comes to bring fire, only a -literal-minded barbarian can think of murderous and destructive -fire, worthy auxiliary of human warfare. “What will I if -it be already kindled!” The fire desired by the Son of Man -is the fire of purification, of enthusiasm, the ardor of sacrifice, -the refulgent flame of love. Until all souls are burning and -consumed in that fire, the word of the Gospel will be but useless -sound, and the Kingdom still far away. To renew the contaminated -and hateful family of men, a wonderful outburst of -grief and of passion is needed. The complacent must suffer, the -cold must burn, the insensible must cry out, the tepid must -flame like torches in the night. All the filth accumulated in the -secret life of men, all the sediments of sin which make of every -soul an offensive sewer, all the corruption which shuts the ears -and suffocates the hearts, must be burned up in this miraculous -spiritual fire, which Jesus came to kindle in our hearts.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But to pass beyond this wall of flame there is need for -strength of soul and a boldness not possessed by all, possessed -only by the valorous; and thus Jesus can say, “The Kingdom -of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force.” -The word violent has as a matter of fact in the text the evident -<span class='pageno' id='Page_208'>208</span>meaning of “strong,” of men who know how to take doors -by assault without hesitating or trembling. “Sword,” “fire,” -“violence,” are words which are not to be taken in the literal -sense, so pleasing to the advocates of massacres. They are -figurative words which we are forced to use to reach the torpid -imagination of the crowds. The sword is the symbol of the -divisions between those first persuaded and those who are last -in believing; fire is purifying love; violence is the strength -necessary to make oneself over and to arrive on the threshold -of the Kingdom. Any one who understands this passage in -any other way either does not know how to read, or is determined -to misread.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus is the man of Peace. He has come to bring Peace. -The Gospels are nothing but proclamations and instructions -for Peace. The very night of His birth celestial voices sang -in the sky the prophetic augury: “Peace on Earth to men of -good will.” On the Mount one of the first promises which -flowed from the heart and from the lips of Christ is that -directed to the peacemakers, “Blessed are the peacemakers: -for they shall be called the children of God.” When the apostles -are ready to depart on their mission He commands them -to wish peace to all the houses where they enter. To the disciples, -to His friends, He counsels, “Have peace one with another.” -Drawing near to Jerusalem, He looks at it pityingly -and exclaims, “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in -this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace!” and the -terrible night on the Mount of Olives, while the mercenaries -armed with swords are binding Him, He pronounces the supreme -condemnation of violence, “For all they that take the -sword shall perish with the sword.” He understands the evils -of discord, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought -to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself -shall not stand.” And in His talk on the last things, in the -grand apocalyptic prophecy, He announces among the terrible -signs of the end together with famine, earthquakes and tribulation, -also wars. “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of -wars.... For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom -against kingdom.”</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_209'>209</span>For Jesus discord is an evil; war is a crime. His God is -not the old Lord of Battles. The apologists for great massacres -confuse the Old and the New Testament. But the New is new -exactly because it transforms the Old.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Only when considered as a punishment can war be thought -of as divine. War is the terrible retribution of men who have -recourse to war; it is the cruelest manifestation of the hatred -which broods and boils in human hearts, the hatred which -drives men to take up arms to destroy one another. War is -at the same time a crime and its own punishment.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But when hate is abolished in every heart, war will be incomprehensible: -our most terrible punishment will disappear -together with our greatest sin. Then at last will arrive the -day longed for by Isaiah when, “they shall beat their swords -into plow-shares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation -shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn -war any more.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>That day announced by Isaiah is the day on which the Sermon -on the Mount shall become the only law recognized on -earth.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>ONE FLESH ONLY</h3> -<p class='c005'>Jesus sanctions the union of man and woman even in the -flesh. As long as kings remain, we are to give back to them -the coins stamped with their names; as long as men are not -like angels the human race must perpetuate itself.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The Family and the State, imperfect expedients compared -with heavenly beatitude, are necessary during our terrestrial -probation; and since they are necessary they should at least -become less impure and less imperfect. As long as rulers -exist, at least the man who rules should feel himself the equal -of the man who serves. As long as marriage exists, the union -between man and woman should be eternal and faithful.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In marriage Jesus sees first of all the joining of two bodies. -On this point He ratifies the metaphor of the Old Law, “So -then they are no more twain, but one flesh.” Husband and wife -are one body, inseparable. This man shall never have another -<span class='pageno' id='Page_210'>210</span>woman; this woman shall never know another man until death -divides them. The mating of male and female, when it is -not the expression of careless wantonness, or furtive fornication, -when it is the meeting of two healthy virginities, when -it is preceded by free choice, by a chaste passion, by a public -and consecrated covenant, has an almost mystic character -which nothing can cancel. The choice is irrevocable, the passion -is confirmed, the compact is for eternity. Within the two -bodies clinging to each other with bodily desire, there are two -souls which recognize each other and find each other in love. -Their flesh becomes one flesh; their two souls become one soul.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The two have been fused into one, and from this communion -will be born a new creature formed of the essence -of both, which will be the visible form of their union. Love -makes them like God, creators of a new and miraculous creation.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But this Duality of the flesh and of the spirit—the most -perfect among imperfect human relations—should never be -disturbed or interrupted. Adultery corrupts it, divorce destroys -it. Adultery treacherously corrodes the union; divorce repudiates -it definitely. Adultery is a secret divorce founded upon -untruth and betrayal; divorce followed by another marriage -is sanctioned adultery.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus always condemns adultery and divorce in the most -solemn and absolute manner. His whole nature holds unfaithfulness -in horror. There will come a day, he warns people, -in speaking of heavenly life, in which men and women will -not marry; but up to that day marriage should have at least -all the perfections possible to its imperfection. And Jesus -who always goes below the surface of things does not call -adulterer only the man who robs his brother of his wife, but -also the man who looks at her in the street with lustful eyes. -The man who has underhand relations with another man’s -wife is an adulterer, but no less an adulterer is he who, having -put aside his own wife, marries another. On one occasion -alone, He seems to admit the possibility of divorce to the -husband of an adulteress; but the crime of the repudiated -<span class='pageno' id='Page_211'>211</span>wife could never justify the crime which the betrayed man -would commit in taking another wife.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Confronted with a law so absolute and so rigorous, even the -Disciples took alarm. “If the case of the man be so with his -wife, it is not good to marry. But he said unto them, All men -cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given. For -there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s -womb: and there are some eunuchs which were made eunuchs -of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves -eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is -able to receive it, let him receive it.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Marriage is a concession to human nature, and to the propagation -of life. “All men cannot receive this saying,” are not -capable of remaining chaste, virgin, and alone, but only “they -to whom it is given.” Perfect celibacy is a grace, a reward of -the victory of the spirit over the body.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Any man who wishes to give all his love to a great undertaking -must condemn himself to chastity. He cannot serve -both humanity and the individual. The man who has a difficult -mission to carry out, demanding all his strength up to the -last of his days, cannot tie himself to a woman. Marriage -means abandoning oneself to another being—but the Saviour -must abandon himself to all other beings. The union of two -souls is not enough for him—and it would make more difficult, -perhaps impossible, union with all other souls. The responsibilities -which come with the choice of a mate, the birth of -children, the creation of a little community in the midst of -the great community of the human race, are so heavy that they -would be a daily hindrance to undertakings infinitely more -serious. The man who wishes to lead other men, to transform -them, cannot bind himself for all his life to one being alone. -He would need to be faithless to his wife or to his mission. -He loves all his brothers too much to love one only of his -sisters. The Hero is solitary. Solitude is his penalty and his -greatness. He renounces the pleasures of marital love, but -the love which is in his heart, when communicated to all men, -is multiplied into a sublimation of sacrifice surpassing all -<span class='pageno' id='Page_212'>212</span>earthly joys. The man with no mate is alone, but is free; -his soul, unhampered by common and material thoughts, can -rise to the heights. He does not beget children of his own -flesh, but he brings to a second birth the children of his spirit.</p> - -<p class='c006'>It is not given to every one, however, to resist and abstain. -“He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.” The foundation -of the Kingdom needs all men who will give all their souls -to it; the lusts of the flesh, even when confined to legitimate -marriage, are weakening for him who should give all his attention -to the things of the spirit.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Those who will know the resurrection of the great day of -triumph will have no further temptations. In the Kingdom -of Heaven the joining of man and woman, even sanctified as -it is by the permanence of marriage, will exist no more. Its -real end is the creation of new human beings, but in that day -Death will be conquered and the everlasting renewing of the -generations will no longer be necessary. “For when they shall -rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; -but are as the angels which are in heaven.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>With this attainment of eternal and angelic life—the two -promises and the two certainties of Christ—what has seemed -endurable will become unthinkable, that which seemed pure -will become vile, that which was holy will become imperfect. -In that supreme and happy world all the trials of the human -race will be over. A hasty mating with a stolen woman was -enough for the primitive bestial man. Man rose to the higher -level of marriage, to union with one woman alone; the saint rose -higher yet, to voluntary chastity. But the man who has become -an angel in Heaven, who is all spirit and love, will have -conquered the flesh even in memory. In a world where there -will be no poor, sick, unhappy or enemies, his love will be -transfigured into a superhuman contemplation.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The cycle of births will then be closed. The Fourth Kingdom -will be forever established. The citizens of the Kingdom -will be eternally the same, themselves and no other through all -the centuries. Woman will no longer bring forth her young -with suffering. The sentence of exile will be revoked, the -Serpent will be conquered; the Father will joyfully welcome -<span class='pageno' id='Page_213'>213</span>his wandering son. Paradise will be found again and will -never more be lost.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>FATHERS AND SONS</h3> -<p class='c005'>Jesus was speaking in a house, perhaps at Capernaum, and -men and women, all hungering for life and justice, all needing -comfort and consolation, had filled the house, had pressed close -around Him, and were looking at Him as they would look -at their Father returned to them, their Brother healing them, -their Benefactor saving them. They were so hungry for His -words, these men and women, that Jesus and His friends had -not stopped to take a mouthful of food. He had spoken for -a long time, and yet they would have liked Him to go on -speaking till nightfall, without ever stopping for an instant. -They had been waiting for Him for so long! Their fathers -and their mothers had waited for Him in wretchedness and -dumb resignation for thousands of years. They themselves -had waited for Him, year after year, in dull wretchedness. -Night after night they had longed for a ray of light, a promise -of happiness, a loving word. And now before them was He -who was the reward of their long vigil. Now they could wait -no longer. These men and these women crowded about Jesus -like privileged and impatient creditors who finally have before -them the Divine Debtor, for whom they have been eternally -waiting; and they claimed their share down to the last penny. -He certainly should be able to get along without eating bread -just this one time—for centuries and centuries their fathers -had been forced to go without the Bread of Truth; for years -and years they themselves had not been able to satisfy their -hunger for the Bread of Hope.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus therefore went on talking to the people who had filled -the house. He repeated the most touching figures of His inspiration, -told the most persuasive stories of the Kingdom, -looked at them with those luminous eyes which shone down -into the soul as the morning sun penetrates the shut-in darkness -of a house.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Any one of us would give what remains of his life to be -<span class='pageno' id='Page_214'>214</span>looked at by those eyes, to gaze for a moment into those eyes -shining with infinite tenderness; to listen for a moment only -to that thrilling voice, changing the Semitic vernacular into -melodious music. Those men and women who are now dead, -those poor men, those poor women, those wretched people -who to-day are dust in the air of the desert, or clay under the -hoofs of the camels, those men and those women whom in -their lifetime no one envied, and whom we the living are -forced to envy after their remote and obscure death; those -men and those women heard that voice, saw those eyes.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But there came a stir and voices were heard at the door of -the house: some one wished to come in. One of those present -told Jesus, “Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek -for thee.” But Jesus did not stir, “Who is my mother or my -brethren?” And he looked round about on them which sat -about him, and said, “Behold my mother and my brethren! -For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, -and my sister, and mother.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>My family is all here and I have no other family. The -ties of blood do not count unless they are confirmed in the -spirit. My father is the Father who made me like unto Him -in the perfection of righteousness; my brothers are the poor -who weep; my sisters are the women who have left their loves -for Love. He did not mean with these words to deny the -Virgin of Sorrows, of whose womb He was the fruit; He meant -to say that from the day of His voluntary exile He belonged -no more to the little family of Nazareth, but only to His -mission as Saviour, to the great family of mankind.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In the new organization of salvation, spiritual affiliations surpass -the simple relationships of the flesh. “If any come to -me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, -and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot -be my disciple.” Individual love must disappear in universal -love. We must choose between the old affections of the old -mankind and the unique love of the New Man.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The family will disappear when men, in the celestial life, -shall be better than men. In the world as it is, the family is -an impediment for him who helps others to rise to higher -<span class='pageno' id='Page_215'>215</span>things. “And call no man your father upon the earth: for one -is your Father which is in heaven.” He who leaves his family -shall be infinitely rewarded. “And he said unto them, Verily -I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or -parents, or brethren, or wife, or children for the kingdom of -God’s sake, Who shall not receive manifold more in this present -time, and in the world to come life everlasting.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Your Heavenly Father will never forsake you, your brothers -in the Kingdom will never betray you; but the fathers and the -brothers of earthly life might become your assassins. “And -ye shall be betrayed both by parents and brethren and kinsfolks -and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be -put to death.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And yet fathers at least should be faithful, because, according -to Jesus, fathers have more duties toward their sons than -sons toward their fathers. The Old Law recognizes only the -first. “Honor thy father and thy mother,” said Moses. But -he does not add, “Protect and love thy children.” Children -seemed to Moses to be the property of those who had begotten -them. Life in those times seemed so fair and precious that -children were always thought to be in debt to their parents. -They were to remain servants forever, everlastingly submissive. -They should live only for old age, by the orders of old -age.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Here also the divine genius of the Overthrower sees what -is lacking in the old ideals and insists upon righting the balance. -Fathers should give without sparing and without rest; -even if the children are ungrateful, even if they abandon their -father, even if they are unworthy in the eyes of the platitudinous -sagacity of the world. The Paternoster is a prayer of -sons to a Father. It is the prayer which every child might address -to his father. He asks for daily bread; the remission -of sins, pardon for his failings, and daily protection against -evil.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And yet fathers, even when they give everything, are sometimes -forsaken. If their sons leave them to throw themselves -into evil ways, they must be forgiven as soon as they come -back, as the Prodigal Son in the parable was forgiven. If they -<span class='pageno' id='Page_216'>216</span>leave their fathers to seek out a higher and more perfect life—like -those who are converted to the Kingdom—they will be -rewarded a thousand times in this life and the next.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But from every point of view, fathers are debtors. The -tremendous responsibility which they have accepted in giving -life to a new human being must be met. Like the Heavenly -Father, they must give to those of their children who ask and -to those who keep silence, to the worthy and the unworthy, to -those who sit about the family board and to those who are -wanderers over the earth, to the good and to the bad, to the -first and to the last. They must never become weary, not even -with the children who flee from them, with those who offend -against them, with those who deny them.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, -will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him -a serpent?” Who will refuse to a son who departs asking -nothing, the supreme gift of a love which asks no requital?</p> -<h3 class='c007'>LITTLE CHILDREN</h3> -<p class='c005'>All men are children of the Son of Man, but no one could -call Him father in the flesh. Among the disappointing joys -of men perhaps the only joy which does not disappoint is to -hold in one’s arms or on one’s knees a child whose face is rosy -with blood which is also yours, who laughs at you with the -dawning splendor of his eyes, who stammers out your name, -who uncovers the springs of the lost tenderness of your childhood; -to feel against your adult flesh, hardened by winds and -the sun, this fresh smooth young flesh where the blood seems -still to have kept some of the sweetness of milk, flesh that -seems made of warm, living petals. To feel that this flesh -is yours, shaped in the flesh of your mate, nourished with the -milk of her breasts; to watch the birth and slow flowering -of the soul in this flesh; to be the sole father of this unique -creature, of this flower opening in the light of the world; -to recognize your own aspect in his childish eyes, to hear your -own voice through his fresh lips; to grow young again through -this child in order to be worthy of him; to be nearer to him; -<span class='pageno' id='Page_217'>217</span>to make yourself younger, better, purer; to forget all the years -which bring us silently nearer to death, to forget the pride -of manhood, the vanity of wisdom, the first wrinkles on -the face, the expiations, the ignominies of life and to become -a virgin again beside this virginity, calm beside this calmness, -good with a goodness never known before; to be in short -the father of a child of your own, this is certainly the highest -human pleasure given to a man who has a soul within his clay.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus, whom no one called Father, was drawn to children as -to sinners. Lover of the absolute, He loved only extremes. -Complete innocence and complete downfall were for Him -pledges of salvation. Innocence because it does not need to -be cleansed; abject degradation because it feels more keenly -the need to be cleansed. The people in danger are those midway; -men half depraved and half intact; men who are foul -within and wish to seem upright and just; those who have -lost with their childhood their native purity and do not yet -recognize the filthiness of their inner depravity.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus loved children with tenderness and sinners with compassion; -the pure and those who stood in dire need of purification. -His hand willingly caressed the floating hair of the -newly weaned child and did not draw back from the perfumed -tresses of the prostitute. He drew near to sinners because -they often had not the strength to come to Him; but He called -children to Him because children know by instinct who loves -them, and run willingly to him. Mothers brought their children -to Him to have Him touch them. The Disciples, with -their habitual roughness, cried out on them—and Jesus once -more was obliged to reprove them, “Suffer little children, and -forbid them not to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom -of heaven.” “Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive -the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter -therein.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The Disciples, bearded men, proud of their authority as -mature men and as lieutenants of their future Lord, could not -understand why their Master consented to waste time with -children who could not yet speak plainly and could not understand -the meaning of grown people’s words. But Jesus set in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_218'>218</span>their midst one of these children and said: “Verily I say -unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, -ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever -therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the -same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.... And whoso -shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. -But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in -me, it were better for him that a mill-stone were hanged about -his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Here, too, the transposition of values is complete. In the -Old Law, the child was to respect the grown man, to revere -and imitate the old man. The little child was to take the -grown person as his model. Perfection was supposed to lie -in years of maturity, or, better yet, in old age. The child -was respected only as containing the hope for future manhood. -Jesus reversed these ideas; grown people were to take their -example from little children, elders were to try to become like -infants, fathers were to imitate their sons. In the world as it -was, as it is, controlled by force, where the only valued art is -the art of acquiring riches and overcoming others, children are -at the most only human larvæ. In the New World announced -by Christ, which will be governed by fearless purity and innocent -love, children are the arch-types of happy citizens. The -child who seems an imperfect man is thus more perfect than -the grown man. The man who imagines that he has come -into the fullness of his time and of his soul is to turn back, -despoil himself of his complacent complexities and return to -his first youth. From having been imitated he becomes an -imitator, from his position as first he becomes last.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus reaffirms His own likeness to a child, and declares -with no hesitation that He is identical with the children who -seek Him out, “And whoso shall receive one such little child in -my name receiveth me.” The saint, the poor man, the poet, -present themselves under this new form which sums them all -up: the child, pure and candid as the saint, bare and needy -as the poor man, marveling and loving like the poet.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus loves children not only as unconscious models for those -who wish to attain the perfection of the Kingdom, but as the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_219'>219</span>actual mediums of truth. Their ignorance is more illumined -than the doctrines of learned men; their ingenuousness is more -powerful than the intellect which shows itself in reasoning -words. Only a clear and untarnished mirror can reflect the -images of the revelation.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because -thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast -revealed them unto babes.” Their own wisdom stands in the -way of the wise, because they think they understand everything. -Their own intelligence is an impediment for the intelligent, -because they are not capable of understanding any -other light than that of the intellect. Only the simple can -understand simplicity, the innocent, innocence, the loving, love. -The revelation of Jesus, open only to virginal souls, is all -humility, purification and love. But man, as he grows older, -becomes more complicated, more corrupt, prouder, and learns -the horrible pleasure of hatred. Every day he goes further -from Paradise, becomes less capable of finding it. He takes -pleasure in his steady downfall and glories in the useless learning -which hides from him the only needful truth.</p> - -<p class='c006'>To find the new Paradise, the Kingdom of innocence and -love, it is needful to become like children who have already -what others must strive and struggle to regain.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus seeks out the company of sinners, of men and women, -but He feels Himself with his true brothers only when He lays -His hands on the heads of the children whom the Galilean -mothers bring to Him as an offering.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>MARTHA AND MARY</h3> -<p class='c005'>Women also loved Jesus. He who had the form and flesh of -a man, who left His mother and never had a wife, was surrounded -all His life and after His death by the warmth of -feminine tenderness. The chaste wanderer was loved by -women as no man was ever loved, or ever can be loved again. -The chaste man, who condemned adultery and fornication, had -over women the inestimable prestige of innocence.</p> - -<p class='c006'>All women, who are not mere females, kneel before him -<span class='pageno' id='Page_220'>220</span>who does not bow before them. The husband with all his -legal love and authority, the satyr with all his mistresses, the -eloquent adulterer, the bold ravisher, have not so much power -over the spirit of women as he who loves them without touching -them, he who saves them without asking for even a kiss -as reward. Woman, slave of her body, of her weakness, her -desire and of the desire of the male, is drawn to him who frees -her, to him who cures her, to him who loves her and asks no -more from her than a cup of water, a smile, a little silent -attention.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Women loved Jesus. They stopped when they saw Him -pass, they followed Him when they saw Him speaking to His -friends, they drew near to the house where He had gone in, -they brought their children to Him, they blessed Him loudly, -they touched His garment to be cured of their ills, they were -happy when they could serve Him. All of them might have -cried out to Him, like the woman who raised her voice in the -midst of the multitude: “Blessed is the womb that bare ye, -and the paps which thou hast sucked.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Many followed Him to death. Salome, mother of the Sons -of Thunder; Mary, mother of James the less; Martha and -Mary of Bethany.</p> - -<p class='c006'>They would have liked to be His sisters, His servants, His -slaves; to serve Him, to set bread before Him, to pour Him -wine, to wash His garments, to anoint His tired feet and His -flowing hair. Some of them were fortunate enough to be -allowed to follow Him, and knew the still greater good fortune -of helping Him with their money ... “and the twelve were -with him, And certain women, which had been healed of evil -spirits and infirmities, Mary, called Magdalene, out of whom -went seven devils, And Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s -steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered -unto him of their substance.” Women, in whom piety is a native -gift of the heart before it is acquired through desire for -perfection, were, as they have always been, more generous -than men.</p> - -<p class='c006'>When He appears in the house of Lazarus, two women, the -two sisters of the man brought back from death, seem distracted -<span class='pageno' id='Page_221'>221</span>with joy. Martha rushes towards Him to see what He -needs, if He wishes to wash, if He wishes to eat at once, and, -bringing Him into the house, she leads Him to the couch that -He may lie down, puts over Him a blanket lest He be cold, -and runs with a pitcher to get fresh cool water. Then, on -her return, she sets to work to prepare for the pilgrim a fine -meal, much more abundant than the ordinary dinner of the -family. With all haste she lights a great fire, goes to get -fresh fish, new-laid eggs, figs and olives; she borrows from -one neighbor a piece of new-killed lamb, from another a costly -perfume, from another richer than she, a flowered dish. She -pulls out from the linen-chest the newest table-cloth, and brings -up from the wine-cellar the oldest wine. And while the wood -snaps and sparkles in the fire and the water in the kettle -begins to simmer, poor Martha, bustling, flushed, hurrying, sets -the table, runs between the kneading-trough and the fire, -glances at the waiting Master, at the street to see if her brother -is coming home, and at her sister, who is doing nothing at all.</p> - -<p class='c006'>For when Jesus passed the sill of their house, Mary fell -into a sort of motionless ecstasy from which nothing could -arouse her. She sees only Jesus, hears nothing but Jesus’ voice. -There is nothing else in the world for her at that moment. -She cannot have enough of looking at Him, of listening to -Him, of feeling Him there, living, close to her. If He glances -at her, she is happy to be looked at; if He does not look at -her, she fixes her eyes on Him; if He speaks, His words drop -one by one into her heart, there to remain to her death; if -He is silent, she draws from His silence a more direct revelation. -And she is almost troubled by the bustling and stepping -about of her sister. Why should Martha think that Jesus -needs an elaborate dinner? Mary is seated at His feet and -does not move even if Martha or Lazarus call her. She is at -the service of Jesus, but in another way. She has given Him -her soul, only her soul, but such a loving soul! And the work -of her hands would be inopportune and superfluous. She is a -contemplative soul, an adorer. She will take action only to -cover the dead body of her God with perfumes. She would -move quickly enough if He should ask of her all her life-blood. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_222'>222</span>But the rest, all this business of Martha, is only material activity -which is no concern of hers.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Women loved Him and He requited this love with compassion. -No woman who turned to Him was sent away disconsolate. -The sorrow of the widow of Nain made Him sorrow, -so that He brought to life her dead son; the prayers of the -Canaanite woman, although she was a foreigner to Him, -wrought on Him to cure her daughter; the unknown woman -which had a “spirit of infirmity” eighteen years, and was -bowed together and could in no wise lift herself, was cured, -although it was on the Sabbath day and the rulers of the synagogue -cried, “Sacrilege!” In the first part of His wanderings -He cured Peter’s wife’s mother of fever and the Magdalene of -evil spirits. He brought to life the daughter of Jairus, and -cured that unknown woman who had suffered for twelve years -from a bloody flux.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The learned men of His time had no esteem for women -in spiritual matters. They tolerated their presence at the -sacred festivals, but they never would have thought of teaching -high and secret doctrines to any woman. “The words -of the Law,” says a rabbinical proverb of that time, “rather -than teach them to a woman, burn them up!” Jesus on the -other hand did not hesitate to speak to them of the highest -mysteries. When He went alone to the well of Sichar, and the -Samaritan woman who had had five husbands came there, He -did not hesitate to proclaim His message to her, although she -was a woman and an enemy of His people. “But the hour -cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship -the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such -to worship him. God is a spirit: and they that worship him -must worship him in spirit and in truth.” His Disciples came -up, and could not understand what the Master was doing. -“And marvelled that he talked with the woman.” They did -not yet know that the Church of Christ would make a woman -the link between the sons and the Son—the woman who -unites in herself the two supreme possibilities of Woman: the -Virgin Mother who suffered for us from the night in Bethlehem -until the night of Golgotha.</p> -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_223'>223</span> - <h3 class='c007'>WORDS WRITTEN ON THE SAND</h3> -</div> -<p class='c005'>On another occasion at Jerusalem, Jesus found Himself before -a woman—the Adulteress. A hooting crowd pushed her -forward. The woman, hiding her face with her hands and -with her hair, stood before Him, without speaking. Jesus -had taught that wife and husband should be perfectly one, -and He detested adultery. But He detested still more the -cowardice of tale-bearers, the hounding by the merciless, the -impudence of sinners presuming to set themselves up as judges -of sin. Jesus could not absolve the woman who had brutally -disobeyed the law of God, but He did not wish to condemn -her, because her accusers had no right to be seeking her death. -And He stooped down and with His finger wrote upon the -ground. It is the first and last time that we see Jesus lower -Himself to this trivial operation. No one has ever known what -He wrote at that moment, standing there before the woman -trembling in her shame, like a deer set upon by a pack of -snarling hounds. He chose the sand on which to write expressly -that the wind might carry away the words, which would -perhaps frighten men if they could read them. But the shameless -persecutors insisted that the woman should be stoned. -Then Jesus lifted Himself up, looked deep into their eyes and -souls, one by one: “He that is without sin among you, let -him first cast a stone at her.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>We are all of us guilty of the faults of our brothers. From -the first to the last we are all daily accomplices, although too -often unpunished. The Adulteress would not have betrayed -her husband if men had not tempted her, if her husband had -made himself better loved; the thief would not rob if the -rich man’s heart were not so hard; the assassin would not kill -if he had not been harshly treated; there would be no prostitutes -if men knew how to mortify their wantonness. Only -the innocents would have the right to judge; but on this earth -there are no innocents, and even if there were, their mercy -would be stronger than justice itself.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Such thoughts had never occurred to those angry spies, but -Christ’s words troubled them. Every one of them thought -<span class='pageno' id='Page_224'>224</span>of his own betrayals, his own secret and perhaps recent sins -of the flesh. Every soul there was like a sewer which when -the stone is raised exhales a fetid gust of nauseous vapor. The -old men were the first to go. Then, little by little, all the others, -avoiding each other’s eyes, scattered and dispersed. The open -place was empty. Jesus had again stooped down to write upon -the ground. The woman had heard the shuffling of the departing -feet, and heard no longer any voice crying for her death, -but she did not dare to raise her eyes because she knew that -One alone had remained, the Innocent,—the only one who had -the right to throw against her the deadly stones. Jesus for -the second time lifted Himself up and saw no one.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man -condemned thee?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“No man, Lord.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Neither do I condemn thee: go and sin no more.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And for the first time the Adulteress dared to look in the -face of her liberator. She did not understand His words. -What she had done was evidently a sin in His eyes because he -commanded her to “sin no more”; and yet he had so acted that -the others did not condemn her. And now He also did not -wish to condemn her. What man was this so different from -all the others, who hated sin but forgave the sinner? She -would have wished to turn to Him with a question, to murmur -a word of thanks, to reward Him at least with a smile, because -her soul was weak and her lips beautiful. But Jesus had -begun again to write on the ground of the court, His head -lowered, and she saw only the silky waves of His hair shining -in the sun, and His finger moving slowly over the sunlit earth.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE SINNER</h3> -<p class='c005'>But no woman loved Him so much as the woman who -anointed Him with nard and bathed Him with her tears in -the house of Simon the Pharisee. Every one of us has seen -that picture in imagination; the weeping woman with her hair -falling over the feet of the Wanderer; and yet the true meaning -of the episode is understood by very few, so greatly has it -<span class='pageno' id='Page_225'>225</span>been disfigured by both the ordinary and the literary interpretations. -The decadents of the last century, careful workmen -in lascivious preciosity, who swarm to the scent of corruption -like flies to filth and crows to carrion, have sought out in the -Gospel those women who are redolent of sin. And they have -made such women their own, adorning them with the velvet of -adjectives, the silk of verbs, the jewelry and precious stones of -metaphors; the unknown repentant woman, named Mary Magdalene, -the unknown adulteress of Jerusalem, Salome the -dancer, the sinister Herodias.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The episode of this anointing has been profoundly misrepresented -by such writers. It is simpler and infinitely more -profound. The praise of Jesus for the woman who brought -Him nard is not praise of carnal sin, or of common love -as it is commonly understood by men.</p> - -<p class='c006'>This sinning woman who silently entered the house of Simon -with her box of alabaster was no longer a sinner. She had -seen Jesus, had known Him before that day. And she was -no longer a woman for hire; she had heard Jesus speak, and -was no longer the public woman, flesh on sale for masculine -desires. She had heard the voice of Jesus, had listened to -His words; His voice had troubled her, His words had shaken -her. The woman who had belonged to every one had learned -that there is a love more beautiful than lust, a poverty richer -than clinking coins. When she came to the house of Simon -she was not the woman she had been, the woman whom the -men of the countryside had pointed out sneeringly, the woman -whom the Pharisee knew and despised. Her soul was changed, -all her life was changed. Now her flesh was chaste; her hand -was pure; her lips no longer knew the bitter taste of rouge, -her eyes had learned to weep. From now on, according to the -promise of the King, she was ready to enter into the Kingdom.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Without taking all this for granted it is impossible to -understand the story which follows. The sinning woman -wished to reward her Saviour with a token of her gratitude. -She took one of the most costly things left to her, a sealed box -full of nard, perhaps the gift of a chance lover, thinking to -anoint her King’s head with this costly oil. Hers was an act -<span class='pageno' id='Page_226'>226</span>of public gratitude. The sinning woman wished publicly to -thank Him who had cleansed her soul, who had brought her -heart to life, who had lifted her up out of shame, who had -given her a hope more glorious than all joys.</p> - -<p class='c006'>She went into the house with her box of alabaster clasped -to her breast, timid and shrinking as a little girl on her first -day of school, as a released prisoner in his first moment outside -the prison. She went in silently with her little box of -perfume, raising her eyes for only a moment to see at a glance -where Jesus was reclining. She went up to the couch, her -knees trembling under her, her hands shaking, her delicate -eyelids quivering, because she felt they were all looking at -her, all those men’s eyes were fixed on her, staring at her -beautiful swaying body, wondering what she was about to do.</p> - -<p class='c006'>She broke the seal of the little alabaster flask, and poured -half the oil on the head of Jesus. The large drops shone on -His hair like scattered gems. With loving hands she spread -the transparent ointment on the curls and did not stay her -hand till every hair was softened, silky and shining. The whole -room was filled with the fragrance; every eye was fixed on -her with astonishment.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The woman, still silent, took up the opened box and knelt -by the feet of the Peace-bringer. She poured the remaining -oil into her hand and gently, gently rubbed the right foot and -the left with the loving care of a young mother who bathes -her first child, for the first time. Then she could control -herself no longer, she could restrain no longer the great burst -of tenderness which filled her heart, made her throat ache -and brought tears to her eyes. She would have liked to speak, -to say that this was her thanks, her simple, pure, heartfelt -thanks for the great help she had received, for the new light -which had unsealed her eyes. But in such a moment, with -all those men there, how could she find the right words, -words worthy of the wonderful grace, worthy of Him? And -besides, her lips trembled so that she could not pronounce two -words together; her speech would have been only a stammering -broken by sobs. Then not being able to speak with her lips, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_227'>227</span>she spoke with her eyes: her tears fell down one by one, swift -and hot on the feet of Jesus, like so many silent thank-offerings.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Weeping freed her heart of its oppression; the tears relaxed -the tension. She saw and felt nothing now but an inexpressible -delight which she had never known on her mother’s knees -or in men’s arms; it ran through all her blood, made her -tremble, pierced her with its poignant joy, shook all her being -in that supreme ecstasy in which joy is a pain and sorrow -a joy, in which pain and joy become one mighty emotion.</p> - -<p class='c006'>She wept over her past life, the miserable life of her vigil. -She thought of her poor flesh sullied by men. She had been -forced to have a smile for them all, she had been forced to -offer her luxurious bed and her perfumed body to them all. -With all of them she had been forced to pretend a pleasure -she did not feel. She had been forced to show a smiling face -to those whom she despised, to those whom she hated. She -had slept beside the thief who had stolen the money to pay her. -She had kissed the lips of the murderer and of the fugitive -from justice; she had been forced to endure the acrid breath -and the repellent fancies of the drunkard.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Never, on a kindly summer night when the eastern sky -is all a flashing splendor, had she known the welcoming kiss of -a husband who had chosen her, virgin among virgins, that she -should be one with him till death. She was outside the community -and the laws. She was cut off from her people. She -was separated from them all. Women envied her and detested -her; men desired her and defamed her.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE SECOND BAPTISM</h3> -<p class='c005'>But at the same time the tears of the weeping woman were -tears of joy and exaltation. She was weeping not only because -of her shame, now forever canceled, but because of the poignant -sweetness of her life beginning anew.</p> - -<p class='c006'>She was weeping for her virginity restored, for her soul -rescued from evil, her purity miraculously recovered, her condemnation -forever revoked. Her tears were the tears of joy -<span class='pageno' id='Page_228'>228</span>at the second birth, of exultation for truth discovered, of -light-heartedness for her sudden conversion, for the saving of -her soul, for the miraculous hope which had released her from -the degradation of the material and raised her to the illumination -of the spirit. The drops of nard and her tears were -so many thank-offerings for this incredible blessing.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And yet it was not alone for her own sorrow and her own -joy that she wept. The tears which bathed the feet of Jesus -were also shed for Him.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The unknown woman had anointed her King like a king -of olden times. She had anointed His head as the high priests -had anointed the kings of Judea; she had anointed His feet -as the lords and guests anointed themselves on festal days. -But at the same time the weeping woman had prepared Him -for death and burial.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus, about to enter Jerusalem, knew that those were the -last days of His life in the flesh. He said to His disciples, -“For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she -did it for my burial.” Still living, He was embalmed by a -woman’s compassion.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Christ was to receive before His death a third baptism, -the baptism of infamy, the baptism of the supreme insult; -prætorian soldiers were to spit upon his face. But He had -now received the baptism of glory and the baptism of death. -He was anointed like a king about to triumph in His celestial -kingdom. He was perfumed like a corpse about to be laid -in the tomb. This anointing unites the twin mysteries of -His Messiahship and of the crucifixion.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The poor sinning woman, mysteriously chosen for this prophetic -rite, had perhaps a confused presentiment of the appalling -meaning of this premonitory embalming. Love’s second-sight, -stronger in women than in men, the foresight of exalted -and deep emotion, may have made her feel that this body -perfumed and caressed by her was in a few days to be an -icy, blood-stained corpse. Other women, perhaps she herself, -were to go to the tomb to cover Him for the last time with -aromatics, but they would not find Him. He who was now -feasting with His friends was at that time to be at the doors -<span class='pageno' id='Page_229'>229</span>of another Hell. Feeling this presentiment, the weeping -woman let her tears fall on Jesus’ feet to the astonishment -of all the others, who did not know and did not understand.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Now the feet of the Saviour, the feet of the condemned one, -are all bathed with tears, the salt of the tears mingling with -the perfume of the nard. The poor sinning woman does not -know how to dry those feet, wet by her tears. She has no -white cloth with her, and her garment does not seem to her -worthy to touch her Lord’s flesh. Then she thinks of her -hair, her long hair which has been so much admired for its fine -silkiness. She loosens the braids, slips out the pins, unclasps -the fastenings. The blue-black mass of her tresses falls -over her face, hiding her flushed face and her compassion. -And taking up the masses of these flowing curls in her hands, -she slowly dries the feet which have brought her King into that -house.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Now her tears are ended. All her tears are shed and dried. -Her part is done, but only Jesus has understood her silence.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>SHE LOVED MUCH</h3> -<p class='c005'>Among the men who were present at this dinner there was -no one except Jesus who understood the loving service of the -nameless woman. But all, struck with wonder, were silent. -They did not understand, but they respected obscurely the -solemnity of the enigmatic ceremony. All except two, who -wished to interpret the woman’s action as an offense to the -guest. These two were the Pharisee and Judas Iscariot. The -first said nothing, but his expression spoke more clearly than -words. The second, the Traitor, presuming on his familiarity -with the Master, ventured to speak.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Simon thought to himself, “This man, if he were a prophet, -would have known who and what manner of woman this is -that toucheth Him, for she is a sinner.” The old hypocrite -had for the paid woman the scorn of those who have had -much to do with them, or of those who have never known them -at all. Like his brothers he belonged to the endless cemetery -of white sepulchers, which within are full of foulness. It is -<span class='pageno' id='Page_230'>230</span>enough for such men to avoid physical contact with what they -think is impure, even if their souls are sinks of iniquity. Their -morals are systems of ablutions and washings; they would -leave a wounded man to die, abandoned on the road, for -fear of staining themselves with blood; they would let a poor -man suffer hunger to avoid touching money on the Sabbath -day: like all men they commit thefts, adulteries, and murders, -but they wash their hands so many times a day that they -imagine them as clean as those of babes.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He had read the Law, and there were still ringing in his -ears the execrations and anathemas of Old Israel against prostitutes. -“There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel.... -Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of -a dog, into the house of the Lord thy God for any vow: for -even both these are abomination to the Lord thy God.” And -Simon, the wise burgher, remembered with equal satisfaction -the admonition of the author of the Proverbs: “For a whore is -a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.... For -by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of -bread.” The old Jew would perhaps not have felt so bitterly -about prostitutes, if they cost nothing! But they are capable, -those shameless women, of eating up a patrimony! The old -proprietor could not be reconciled to one of those dangerous -women in his house, to the fact that she had touched his -guest. He knew that the prostitute Rehab had made victory -possible for Joshua and that she was the only one to escape -from the massacre of Jericho, but he remembered that the invincible -Samson, terror of the Philistines, had been betrayed -by a worthless woman. The Pharisee could not understand -how a man acclaimed by the people as a prophet should not -have understood what sort of woman had come to bestow on -Him this discreditable honor; but Jesus had read in the heart -of the sinning woman and in the heart of Simon, and answered -with the parable of the two debtors. “There was a certain -creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred -pence and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, -he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of -them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose -<span class='pageno' id='Page_231'>231</span>that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto -him, Thou hast rightly judged.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon: “Seest -thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest -me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with -tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I -came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman -hath anointed my feet with ointment.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are -forgiven; for she loved much; but to whom little is forgiven, -the same loveth little.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.... Thy -faith hath saved thee; go in peace.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The parable and the comment of Jesus show how great, -even to-day, is the lack of understanding of this episode. -Every one or nearly every one remembers only those words: -“Her sins are forgiven, for she loved much.” An attentive -reading of the text shows that this ordinary interpretation -is the opposite of the truth. It is thought that Jesus -forgave her sins because she had loved many men, or because -she had shown her love for Him with her perfume and her -kisses. The parable of the two debtors makes it clear that -the meaning of Jesus’ words, badly quoted and even more -completely misunderstood, is entirely the contrary. The woman -had sinned greatly and because of her repentance she was -wholly pardoned; and because her pardon was great she greatly -loved Him who had saved her, who had forgiven her; the -nard and her tears and her kisses were the expression of that -grateful love. If before going into the house that evening the -sinning woman had not already become transformed by virtue -of her pardon, she would not have obtained from Jesus forgiveness -for her past life spent in evil, not by using all the -perfumes of India and Egypt nor by all the kisses of her lips, -nor by all the tears of her eyes. Christ’s forgiveness -was not the reward for those acts of homage; those acts were -her thank-offerings for her forgiveness already received; and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_232'>232</span>they were great because her forgiveness was great, as her forgiveness -had been great because great had been her sin.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus would not have repelled the sinning woman even if -she had still been a sinner, but if He had not been sure of -her conversion He would not perhaps have accepted those -tokens of love; from now on even the most rigorous Pharisaical -precepts permitted Him to speak with her: “Thy faith -hath saved thee; go in peace.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Simon could think of no answer; but from the side of the -disciples a rough, angry voice was raised, well known to Jesus. -It was the voice of Judas: “Why was this waste of the ointment -made, why was not this ointment sold for three hundred -pence and given to the poor?” And the other disciples, so -the Evangelists say, approved the words of Judas, and murmured -against the woman. Judas was the man who held the -purse; the basest of them all had chosen the basest element,—money.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Money was pleasing to Judas, pleasing in itself and pleasing -in its possibility of power. He spoke of the poor, but he did -not think of the poor, to whom Jesus had distributed bread -in the country-solitudes, as well as to his own companions, -too poor as yet to conquer Jerusalem and to found the empire -of the Messiah where Judas hoped to be one of the masters. -And he was envious as well as grasping; envious as all misers -are. That silent anointing which was the consecration of the -King and the Messiah, those honors offered by a beautiful -woman to his Leader, made him suffer; the everlasting jealousy -of man against man, when a woman is concerned, was mingled -with the disappointment of his cupidity.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But Jesus answered the words of Judas as He answered -the silence of Simon. He did not affront those who had -affronted Him, but he defended the woman at His feet. And -Jesus said, “Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath -wrought a good work on me. For ye have the poor with you -always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me -ye have not always. She hath done what she could: she is -come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying. Verily -I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached -<span class='pageno' id='Page_233'>233</span>throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall -be spoken of for a memorial of her.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The inexpressible sadness of this prophecy escaped perhaps -those who sat about Him. They could not be persuaded that -Jesus, in order to overcome, should be overcome: that in order -to triumph eternally He must die. But Jesus felt the day -drawing near, “But me ye have not always, she is come to -anoint my body to the burying.” The woman listened in terror -to this confirmation of her presentiment and another burst -of tears rained down from her eyes. Then with her face hidden -in her loosened hair, she went away as silently as she had come.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The disciples were silent, not convinced, but abashed. To -hide his chagrin Simon filled the guest’s cup with better wine, -but in the yellow light of the lamps the silent table seemed a -banquet of ghosts among whom had passed the shadow of -death.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>“WHO AM I?”</h3> -<p class='c005'>And yet the disciples knew. Those words of death were -not the first they had heard from Jesus’ lips. They should -have remembered that day, not long before, when on a solitary -road near Cæsarea, Jesus had asked what people said of -Him. They should have remembered the answer which flashed -out like sudden flame, the impetuous outcry of belief from -Peter’s heart; and the splendor which had shone on three of -them on the summit of the mountain; and the exact prophecies -of Christ as to the manner of His death.</p> - -<p class='c006'>They had heard and they had seen, and still they hoped -on,—all but one. The truth shone out in them at moments -like lightning-flashes in the dark. Then the night fell blacker -than ever. The new man in their hearts who recognized Jesus -as the Christ, the man born for the second time, the Christian, -disappeared to give way to the Jew, deaf and blind, who -saw nothing beyond the Jerusalem of bricks and stone.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The question which Jesus had put to the Twelve on the -road in Cæsarea must have been the beginning of their complete -conversion to the new truth. What need did Jesus have -<span class='pageno' id='Page_234'>234</span>to know what others thought of Him? Such a curiosity -springs up only in doubtful souls, in those who do not know -themselves, in the weak who cannot read in their own hearts, -in the blind who are not sure of the ground on which they -stand. For any one of us such a question is legitimate, but -not for Jesus. No one of us knows really who he is, no one -knows with any certainty what is his real nature, his mission, -and the name which he has a right to call his own, the eternal -name which fits our destiny. The name which was given to -us in infancy, together with the salt and water of baptism, the -name set down on the municipal register, and written in the -records of birth and of death, the name which the mother calls -with so much gentleness in the morning, which the sweetheart -murmurs with so much desire at night, the name which is cut -for the last time on the rectangle of the tomb, that is not our -real name. Every one of us has a secret name which expresses -our invisible and authentic essence, and which we ourselves -will never know until the day of the New Birth, until -the full light of the resurrection.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Few of us dare to ask ourselves, “Who am I?” and there -are still fewer who can answer. The question “Who art thou?” -is the most tremendous, the most weighty which man can put -to man. Other human beings are for each of us a sealed mystery -even in the moments of supreme passion, when two souls -desperately essay to become one. We are all of us a mystery -even to ourselves. Unknown to others, we live among others -unknown to us. Much of our wretchedness comes from this -universal ignorance. Here is a man who acts like a king and -believes himself a king and in the absolute he is really only -a poor servant, predestined from the beginning of time to dependent -mediocrity. Here is another dressed and acting like -a judge; look at him well; he is born a dry-goods dealer, his -real place is in the country fair. That man there who writes -poetry has not understood his inner voice; he should be a -goldsmith, because gold which can be turned into coin suits -his taste, and he is attracted by filigree, mosaics, chasing, -imitation jewels. This other man who is at the head of an -army ought to be teaching school. What an expert and eloquent -<span class='pageno' id='Page_235'>235</span>professor he might have become! And that fellow there, -shouting in the public places, heading a revolution, calling on -the people to revolt, is a gardener who has mistaken his calling; -the red of tomatoes, long lines of onions, garlic, and -cabbages would be the fit reward of his true mission. This -other man here, on the contrary, who, cursing his fate, prunes -his grape-vines and spreads the manure on the cultivated -earth, should have studied in law-books the art of quibbling: -no one can invent sophisms and verbal tricks as he can, and -even now, how much eloquence he pours out in humble duels -about money matters, this poor “leading lawyer” exiled to -barns and furrows.</p> - -<p class='c006'>These errors concern us because we do not know, because -we have not spiritual eyes strong enough to read in the heart -which beats inside our own breasts, and the hearts which beat -under the flesh of our neighbors, so irrevocably remote from -us. Everything is in confusion because of those Names which -we do not know, illegible for us, known to genius alone.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THOU ART THE CHRIST</h3> -<p class='c005'>But what did Jesus care what was said of Him by the men -of the lake and of the cities, Jesus who could read in their -souls the thoughts hidden even to themselves? Long before -that day Jesus alone knew with ineffable certainty what His -real name was, and what was his superhuman nature. As a -matter of fact He did not ask that He might know, but, now -that the end was near, that His faithful followers might know, -His real name, at last—even they.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and -others, Jeremias or, one of the Prophets.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>What were these things to Him, these rudimentary guesses -of the poor and the ignorant? He wished the definite answer -to come from His Disciples, destined as they were to follow -His work and to bear witness to Him among the peoples and -the centuries. Even at the last He did not wish to impose by -force a belief on those who had seen His life close at hand and -had heard Him speak. The recognition of His superb human -<span class='pageno' id='Page_236'>236</span>mission, that name which not one of them up to that time had -pronounced (as if they were afraid of it, as if it were too -dangerous a secret to speak aloud), that recognition on the -part of the Twelve should be free and spontaneous, should -burst out, an impetuous confession of love, from one of those -souls, should be pronounced by one of those mouths.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“But whom say ye that I am?” And then there came to -Simon Peter the great light that was almost too great for -him, and made him First to all eternity. He could not keep -back the words, they came to his lips almost involuntarily in -a cry of which he himself the moment before would have believed -himself incapable: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the -living God. Thou hast the word of eternal life, and we believe -and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the -living God.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>At last from Peter the Rock there sprang forth the wellspring -which from that day to this has quenched the thirst -of sixty generations of men. It was his right and his reward. -Peter had been the first to follow Christ in the divine wanderings: -it was for him to be the first to recognize in the -wanderer the Proclaimer of the Kingdom, the everlasting and -lawful sovereign of that Kingdom, the Messiah whom all men -had been awaiting in the desert of the centuries, who had -finally come and was there Himself, clothed in flesh, standing -before their eyes, with His feet in the dust of the road.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The pure King, the Son of Justice, the Prince of Peace, the -Son of Man sent by God, the Saviour, the Anointed, whom the -prophets had foretold in the twilight of sorrow and affliction; -who had been seen by apocalyptic writers descending upon the -earth like lightning, in the fullness of victory and glory; for -whom the poor, the wounded, the hungry, the afflicted, had -been waiting from century to century, as dry grass waits for -rain, as the flower waits for the sun, as the mouth awaits the -kiss, and the heart, consolation; the Son of God and of Man, -the Man who hid God in human flesh, the God who cloaked -His divinity in Adam’s clay, it is He, the dear Brother of -every day, who looks quietly into the astounded eyes of those -chosen ones!</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_237'>237</span>The period of waiting is done; ended is the vigil! Why -had they not recognized Him until that day? Whence did it -come in those simple souls, the first notion of the true name -of Him who so many times had taken them by the hand, and -had spoken for their ears to hear? They could never think -that one of them—a common man like them, a workman and -poor as they were—could be the Saviour Messiah announced -and awaited by saints and by the centuries. With the intellect -alone they could never have discovered Him, nor with the -mere bodily senses, nor with the teachings of the scriptures; -only with the inspiration, the intuition, the sudden flaming illumination -of the heart, as it happened that day in the soul of -Peter. “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona; for flesh and blood -hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in -Heaven.” Fleshly eyes would not have been able to see what -they saw without a revelation from on high.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But weighty consequences flow from the choice of Peter for -this proclamation. It is a reward which calls for other recompense, -“Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my -church; and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. And -I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and -whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven: -and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in -Heaven.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Weighty words from which have emerged, through the patient -germination of long centuries, helped by the fire of faith -and by the blood of witnesses, one of the greatest Kingdoms -which men have ever established upon the earth; the only one -of the old kingdoms which still lives on in the same city which -saw the rise and fall of the proudest and most pompous of -earthly kingdoms. For these words many men suffered, many -were tortured, many were killed. To deny or uphold, to interpret -or cancel these words, thousands of men have been killed -in city squares and in battles; kingdoms have been divided, -societies have been shaken and rent, nations have waged war, -emperors and beggars have given their all. But their meaning -in Christ’s mouth is plain and simple. He means to say, -“Thou, Peter, shalt be hard and staunch as a rock, and upon -<span class='pageno' id='Page_238'>238</span>the staunchness of thy faith in me, which thou wast the first -to profess, is founded the first Christian society, the humble -seed of the Kingdom. Against this Church which to-day has -only Twelve citizens but which will be spread to the limits of -the earth, the forces of evil cannot prevail, because you are the -Spirit and the Spirit cannot be overcome and dimmed by -Matter. Thou shalt close forever—and when I speak to thee -I am speaking to all those who shall succeed thee united in -the same certainty—the Gates of Hell; and thou shalt open to -all those who are chosen the Gates of Heaven. Thou shalt -bind and thou shalt unloosen in my name. What thou shalt -forbid after my death shall be forbidden to-morrow also for -that new humanity which I will find on my return; what thou -shalt command shalt be justly commanded because thou wilt -be only repeating in other words what I have told and taught -thee. Thou shalt be, in thy person and in that of thy legitimate -heirs, the shepherd of the interregnum, the temporary -and provisional guide who shalt prepare, together with comrades -obedient to thee, the Kingdom of God and of Love.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“In requital for this revelation and for this promise I lay -on you a hard command: to keep silence; for the present -you must tell no one who I am. My day is near, but has -not yet come; you will be witness to events which you do -not expect, which will even be the contrary of what you expect. -I know the hour in which I shall speak and in which -you shall speak. And when we break our silence, my cry and -your cry shall be heard in the most distant realms of Heaven -and Earth.”</p> -<h3 class='c007'>SUN AND SNOW</h3> -<p class='c005'>A man’s voice, the voice of Peter the Rock, had called Him -the Son of Man; another voice issuing from a cloud was to -call Him the Son of God.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Very high is the three-peaked mountain of Hermon, covered -with snow even in the hot season, the highest mountain of -Palestine, higher than Mount Tabor. The Psalmist says, “It is -the dew of Hermon that descends upon the mountains of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_239'>239</span>Zion.” Jesus became incarnate light on this mountain, the -highest mountain in the life of Christ, that life which marks -its different stages by great heights—the mountain of the -Temptation, the mountain of the Beatitudes, the mountain of -the Transfiguration, the mountain of the Crucifixion.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Three Disciples alone were with Him: he who was called -Peter, and the Sons of Thunder,—the man with the rugged, -mountainous character, and the stormy men—fitting company -for the place and hour. He prayed alone, apart from them, -higher than all of them, perhaps kneeling in the snow. All of -us have seen in winter how the snow on a mountain makes any -other whiteness seem dull and drab. A pale face seems -strangely dark, white linen seems dingy, paper looks like dry -clay. The contrary of all this was seen on that day up in -the gleaming, deserted height alone in the sky.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus prayed by Himself apart from the others. Suddenly -His face shone like the sun and His raiment became as white -as snow in the sunshine, white “as no fuller on earth can white -them.” Over the whiteness of the snow a more brilliant whiteness, -a splendor more powerful than all known splendors, outshone -all earthly light.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The Transfiguration is the Feast and the Victory of Light. -Jesus still in the flesh—for so short a time!—took on the most -subtle, the lightest and most spiritual aspect of matter. His -body awaiting its liberation became sunlight, the light of -Heaven, intellectual and supernatural light; His soul transfigured -in prayer shone out through the flesh, pierced with -its flaming whiteness the screen of His body and His garments, -like a flame consuming the walls which close it in, and flashing -through them.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But the light was not the same on His face and on His -raiment. The light of His face was like the sun; that of His -garments was like the brilliance of snow. His face, mirror -of the soul, took on the color of fire; His garments, mere -material stuff, were white like ice. For the soul is sun, fire, -love; but the garments, all garments,—even that heavy garment -which is called the human body,—are opaque, cold, -dead; and can shine only by reflected light.</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_240'>240</span>But Jesus, all light, His face gleaming with quiet refulgence, -His garments shining white—gold sparkling in the -midst of silver—was not alone. Two great figures, returned -from death, gleaming like Him, stood by Him, and spoke with -Him, Moses and Elias. The first of the Prophets, men of -light and fire, came to bear witness to the new Light which -shines on Hermon. All those who have spoken with God remain -radiant with light. The face of Moses when he came -down from Mt. Sinai had become so resplendent that he covered -it with a veil, lest he dazzle the others. And Elias was -caught up to Heaven in a chariot of fire drawn by fiery steeds. -John, the new Elias, announced the baptism of fire, but his -face was darkened by the sun and did not shine like the sun. -The only splendor which came into his life was the golden -platter on which his bloody head was carried, a kingly gift -to Herod’s sinister concubine. But on Hermon there was One -whose face shone more than Moses’ and whose ascension was -to be more splendid than that of Elias,—He whom Moses had -promised and who was to come after Elias. They had come -there beside him, but they were to disappear thereafter forever. -They were no longer necessary after this last revelation. -From now on the world can do without their laws and -their hopes. A luminous cloud hid the glorious three from -the eyes of the obscure three, and from the cloud came out -a voice: “This is my beloved Son: hear him.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The cloud did not hide the light, but increased it. As from -the tempest-cloud, the lightning darts out to light up suddenly -all the country; from this cloud already shining in itself, flamed -out the fire which burned up the Old Covenant and confirmed -to all eternity the New Promise. The column of smoke which -guided the fleeing Hebrews in the desert towards Jordan, the -black cloud which hid the ark in the day of desolation and -fear, had finally become a cloud of light so brilliant that it -hid even the sunlike splendor of the face which was soon to be -buffeted in the dark days, close at hand.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But when the cloud disappeared, Jesus was once more alone. -The two precursors and the two witnesses had disappeared. -His face had taken on its natural color. His garments had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_241'>241</span>their everyday aspect. Christ, once more a loving brother, -turned back to his swooning companions. “Arise, and be not -afraid.... Tell the vision to no man, until the son of man -be risen again from the dead.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The Transfiguration forecasts the Ascension; but to die in -shame always precedes rising in glory.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>I SHALL SUFFER MANY THINGS</h3> -<p class='c005'>Jesus had known that He must soon die a shameful death. -It was the reward for which he was waiting and no one could -have defrauded Him of it. He who saves others is ready to -lose himself; he who rescues others necessarily pays with his -person (that is, with the only value which is really his and -which surpasses and includes all other values); it is fitting -that he who loves his enemies should be hated even by his -friends; he who brings salvation to all nations must needs -be killed by his own people; it suits human ideas of the fitness -of things that he who offers his life should be put to death. -Every benefaction is such an offense to the native ingratitude -of men that it can be paid for only by the heaviest penalty. -We lend ears only to voices which cry out from the tombs, and -reserve our scanty capacity for reverence for those whom we -have assassinated. The only truths which remain in the fleeting -memory of the human race are the truths written in blood.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus knew what was awaiting Him at Jerusalem, and as -later was said by one worthy to portray Him, His every thought -was colored by the thought of death. Three times they had -already tried to kill Him; the first time at Nazareth when -they took Him up on the summit of the mountain where the -city was built and wished to cast Him down; the second time -in the Temple, the Jews, offended by His talk, laid their -hands on stones to stone Him; and a third time at the feast -of the Dedication in winter-time, they took up the stones of -the street to silence Him. But for these three times he escaped -because His hour was not yet come.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He kept His certainty of death in His own heart for Himself -alone until His last hours. For He did not wish to sadden His -<span class='pageno' id='Page_242'>242</span>Disciples who would have shrunk from following a condemned -man, a man who in His own heart knew Himself at the point -of death. But after the triple consecration as Messiah—Peter’s -cry, the light of Hermon, the anointing of Bethany—He -could no longer keep silence. He knew too well the ingenuous -complacency of the Twelve. He knew that when the rare -moments of enthusiasm and illumination were gone, their -thoughts were often the common thoughts of common people, -human even in their highest dreams. He knew that the Messiah -for whom they were waiting was a victorious restorer of -the Age of Gold and not the Man of Sorrows. They thought -of Him as a king on his throne and not as a criminal on the gallows; -triumphant, receiving homage and tribute, not spat -upon, beaten, and insulted; come to raise the dead and not to -be executed like an assassin.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Lest the Disciples should lose this new certainty of Christ’s -Messiahship on the day of His ignominy, Christ knew that He -must warn them. They must learn from His own mouth that -the Messiah would be condemned, that the Victorious One -would disappear in a dreadful downfall, that the King of -all kings would be insulted by Cæsar’s servants, that the Son -of God would be crucified by the ignorant, blind servants of -God.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Three times they had tried to put Him to death; three times -after Peter’s recognition He announced to the Twelve His imminent -death. And there were to be three kinds of men who -were to bring about His death: the Elders, the High Priests -and the Scribes. The Elders were the Patricians, the aristocrats, -the lay delegates of the Hebrew middle-classes, they represented -authority and wealth, and Christ had come to transform -authority into service and to condemn the rich and their -treasures. The High Priests represented the Temple, and He -had come to destroy the Temple. The Scribes were the doctors -of law, of theology, the interpreters of the Book, the masters -of the Scriptures, and represented the authority of word -and of tradition; and He had come to transform the Word -and to regenerate the tradition. These three orders of men -<span class='pageno' id='Page_243'>243</span>never could forgive Him even after they had sent Him to -Golgotha.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And there were to be three accomplices to His death: Judas -who betrayed Him, Caiaphas who sentenced Him, Pilate who -permitted the execution of the sentence. And there were to be -three sorts of men to execute the penalty: the guards -who arrested Him, the Hebrews who cried “Crucify Him!” -before the procurator’s house, the Roman soldiers who nailed -Him on the cross.</p> - -<p class='c006'>There were to be three degrees of His afflictions, as He Himself -told the disciples. First He was to be spurned and outraged, -then spit upon and beaten, and finally killed. But they -were not to fear nor to weep. As life has its reward in death, -death is the promise of a second life. After three days, He was -to rise from the tomb, never more to die. Christ was to be victorious -not over earthly kingdoms, but over death. He does -not bring golden treasures, nor abundance of grain, but immortality -to all those who obey Him, and the cancellation of all -sins committed by men. He was to buy this immortality and -this liberation by imprisonment and death. The price was -hard and bitter, but without those few days of His Passion and -burial He could not have secured centuries and centuries of -life and freedom for men.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The Disciples were troubled at this revelation and unwilling -to believe. But Jesus had already begun His Passion, foreseeing -those terrible last days of His life and describing them. -From now on the heirs of His work knew all, and He could go -on His way towards Jerusalem in order that His words should -be fulfilled to the very last.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>MARANATHA</h3> -<p class='c005'>And yet for one day at least He was to be like that King -awaited by the poor every morning on the thresholds of the -holy city.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Easter draws near. It was the beginning of the last week -which even now had not yet ended—since the new Sabbath -<span class='pageno' id='Page_244'>244</span>has not yet dawned. But this time Jesus does not come to -Jerusalem as in other years, an obscure wanderer mingled with -the crowd of pilgrims, into the evil-smelling metropolis -huddled with its houses, white as sepulchers, under the towering -vainglory of the Temple destined to the flames. This time, -which is the last time, Jesus is accompanied by His faithful -friends, by His fellow-peasants, by the women who were later -to weep, by the Twelve who were to hide themselves, by the -Galileans who come in memory of an ancient miracle, but with -the hope of seeing a new miracle. This time He is not alone; -the vanguard of the Kingdom is with Him, and He does not -come unknown: the cry of the Resurrection has preceded Him. -Even in the capital ruled by the iron of the Romans, the gold -of the merchants, the letter of the Pharisees, there are eyes -which look towards the Mount of Olives and hearts which beat -faster.</p> - -<p class='c006'>This time He does not come on foot into the city which -should have been the throne of His kingdom, and which was -to be His tomb. When He had come to Bethpage, He sent two -disciples to look for an ass, “Go into the village over against -you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with -her; loose them, and bring them unto me. And if any man -say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of -them.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Even up to our days it has been said that Jesus wished to -ride on an ass as a sign of humble meekness, as if He wished -to signify symbolically that He approached His people as the -Prince of Peace. It has been forgotten that in the robust -early periods of history asses were not the submissive beasts -of burden of to-day, weary bones in flogged and ill-treated skin, -brought low by many centuries of slavery, used only to carry -baskets and bags over the stones of steep hills. The ass of antiquity -was a fiery and warlike animal; handsome and bold as -a horse, fit to be sacrificed to divinities. Homer, master of -metaphors, intended no belittling of Ajax the robust, the -proud Ajax, when he likened him to an ass. The Jews moreover -used untamed asses for other comparisons: Zophar the -Naamithite said to Job, “For vain man would be wise though -<span class='pageno' id='Page_245'>245</span>man be born like a wild ass’ colt.” And Daniel tells how Nebuchadnezzar, -as expiation of his tyrannies, was driven from -the sons of men, and his heart was made like the beasts, and -his dwelling was with the wild asses.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus asked expressly for an ass not yet broken, never before -ridden, something like a wild ass, because on that day, the -animal chosen by Him was not a symbol of the humility of his -rider but was a symbol of the Jewish people, who were to be -liberated and overcome by Christ; the animal, unruly and -restive, stiff-necked, whom no prophet and no monarch had -mastered and who to-day was tied to a post as Israel was -tied with the Roman rope; vain and foolhardy as in the Book -of Job; fitting companion for an evil king; slave to foreigners, -but at the same time rebellious to the end of time, the Hebrew -people had finally found its master. For one day only: it revolted -against Him, its legitimate master in that same week; -but its revolt succeeded only for a short time. The quarrelsome -capitol was pulled down and the god-killing crowd dispersed -like the husks of the eternal Winnower over all the -face of the earth.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The ass’s back is hard, and Christ’s friends throw their -cloaks over it. Stony is the slope which leads from the Mount -of Olives and the triumphant crowds throw their mantles over -the rough stones. This, too, is symbolical of self-consecration. -To take off your mantle is the beginning of stripping -yourself, the beginning of that bareness which is the desire for -confession and the death of false shame; bareness of the body, -promising naked truth for the soul. The loving charity of supreme -alms-giving; to give what we have on our backs, “If any -man ... shall take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke -also.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Then began the descent in the heat of the sun and of glory; -in the midst of freshly cut branches and of songs of hope. It -was at the beginning of breezy April and of the spring. The -golden hour of noon lay about the city with its green vineyards, -fields and orchards. The sky, immense, deep blue, -miraculously calm, clear and joyful as the promise of divine -eyes, stretched away into the infinite. The stars could not -<span class='pageno' id='Page_246'>246</span>be seen, yet the light of our sun seemed augmented by the quiet -brilliance of those other distant suns. A warm breeze, still -scented with the freshness of heaven, gently swayed the tender -tree-tops and set the young, growing leaves a-flutter. It was -one of those days when blue seems bluer, green seems greener, -light more brilliant and love more loving.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Those who accompanied Christ in that descent felt themselves -swept away by the rapture of the world and of the moment. -Never before that day had they felt themselves so -bursting with hope and adoration. The cry of Peter became -the cry of the fervent little army winding its way down the -slope towards the queen-city. “Hosanna to the Son of David!” -said the voices of the young men and of the women, in the midst -of this impetuous exultation. Even the Disciples almost began -to hope, although they had been warned that this would -be the last sun, although they knew that they were accompanying -a man about to die.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The procession approached the mysterious, hostile city with -the roaring tumult of a torrent that has burst its banks. These -countrymen, these people from the provinces, came forward -flanked as by a moving forest, as if they had wished to carry -a little country freshness inside the noisome walls, into the -drab alleyways. The boldest had cut palm branches along -the road, boughs of myrtle, clusters of olives, willow leaves, -and they waved them on high, shouting out the impassioned -words of the Psalmist towards the shining face of Him who -came in the name of God.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Now the first Christian legion had arrived before the gates -of Jerusalem and the voices did not still their homage: -“Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: -peace in heaven, and glory in the highest!” Their shouting -reached the ears of the Pharisees, who arrived, haughty and -severe, to investigate the seditious noise. The cries scandalized -those learned ears and troubled those suspicious hearts, and -some of them, well wrapped up in their doctoral cloaks, called -from among the crowd to Jesus: “Master, rebuke thy disciples.” -And then He, without halting, “I tell you that, if these -<span class='pageno' id='Page_247'>247</span>should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry -out!”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The silent, motionless stones which, according to <abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> John, -God could have transformed into sons of Abraham; the hot -stones of the desert which Jesus was not willing to change into -loaves of bread at the challenge of the Adversary; the hostile -stones of the street which twice had been picked up to stone -Him; the hard stones of Jerusalem would have been less hard, -less icy, less insensitive than the souls of the Pharisees.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But with this answer, Jesus had asserted His right to be -called “the Christ.” It was a declaration of war. At the very -moment of His entrance into His city, the New King gave the -signal for the attack.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE DEN OF THIEVES</h3> -<p class='c005'>He went up to the Temple where all His enemies were assembled. -On the hill-top the sacred fortress sunned its new -whiteness in the magnificence of the day. The old Ark of the -nomads, drawn by oxen through sweltering deserts and over -battlefields, had halted on that height, petrified as a defense -for the royal city. The moveable cart of the fugitives had -become a heavy citadel of stone and marble, a pompous stronghold -of palaces and stairways, shady with colonnades, lighted -with courts, enclosed by walls, sheer above the valley, protected -by bastions and by towers, a fortress rather than a place -of worship. It was not only the precinct of the Holy of -Holies, and the sacrificial altar, it was no longer only the -Temple, the mystic sanctuary of the people. With its great -old towers, its guardrooms, its warehouses for offerings, its -strong-boxes for deposits, its open piazzas for trade and covered -galleries for meetings and amusement, it was anything -rather than a sanctuary for meditation and prayer. It was -everything, a fortress in case of assault, a bank-vault, a -market-place in time of pilgrimage and feast-days, a bazaar on -all days, a forum for the disputes of politicians, the wranglings -of doctors and the gossip of idlers; a thoroughfare, a rendezvous, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_248'>248</span>a business center. Built by a faithless King to win over -the favor of a captious and seditious people, to satisfy the -pride and avarice of the priestly caste, an instrument of war -and a market-place for trade, it must have seemed to the eyes -of Jesus the natural focus for all the enemies of His truth.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus goes up to the Temple to destroy the Temple. He -will leave to the Romans of Titus the task of literally dismantling -the walls, of scattering the masses of stone, of burning -down the buildings, of stealing the bronze and gold, of reducing -to a smoky and accursed ruin the great stronghold of -Herod; but He will destroy the values which the proud Temple -upheld with its piled-up blocks of ordered stone, its paved -terraces and its golden doors. Jesus goes up towards the Temple: -the Man transfigured on the mountain is set against the -scribes parched and withered among their scrolls; the Messiah -of the New Kingdom against the usurper of the kingdom defiled -by compromises, corrupt with infamy; the Gospel against -the Torah; the future against the past; the fire of love against -the ashes of the Letter. The day of battle is at hand. Jesus, -among the songs of His fervent band, goes up to the sumptuous -lair of His enemies. Well does He know the street. How -many times He had gone over it as a little child led along by -the hand in the crowd of pilgrims, in the midst of noise and -dust, in the band of Galileans! Later as an unknown boy, -confused by the dust and heat of the sun, tired and bewildered, -He used to look toward the walls desperately longing to arrive -at the summit, hoping to find up there in the sacred -precincts a little shade for His eyes, cool water for His mouth, -a word of consolation for His heart.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But to-day everything is transformed. He is not led along. -He leads along. He does not come to adore, but to punish. -He knows that there inside, behind the beautiful façades of -the sublime sepulcher, there are only ashes and corruption: -His enemies selling ashes and feeding themselves on corruption. -The first adversary who comes before Him is the demon -of greed.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He enters into the Court of the Gentiles, the most spacious -and most densely crowded of all. The great, sunny, well-paved -<span class='pageno' id='Page_249'>249</span>terrace is not the atrium of a sanctuary, but a dirty -market-place. An immense, roaring din rises up from the vermin-like -crowd of bankers, of buyers and sellers, of money-changers -who give and take money. There are herdsmen with -their oxen and their flocks of sheep; vendors of pigeons and -turtle doves, standing by the long lines of their coops; bird-sellers, -with cages of chirping sparrows; benches for money-changers, -with bowls overflowing with copper and silver. Merchants, -their feet in the fresh-dropped dung, handle the flanks -of the animals destined for sacrifice; or call with monotonous -iteration women who have come there after child-birth, pilgrims -who have come to offer a rich sacrifice, lepers who offer -living birds for their cure, obtained or hoped for. Money-changers, -with a coin hung at their ears as a mark of their -trade, gloatingly plunge their greedy talons into gleaming -piles; the go-betweens run about in the swarm of the gossiping -groups; niggardly, wary provincials hold excited conferences -before loosening the purse strings to change their cash -for a votive offering, and from time to time a restless ox drowns -out with his deep bellow the thin bleating of the lambs, the -thrill voices of the women, the clinking of drachma and -shekels.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Christ was familiar with the spectacle. He knew that -the house of God had been turned into the house of Mammon, -and that, instead of silently invoking the Spirit, material-minded -men trafficked there in the filth of the Demon, with the -priests as their accomplices. But this time He did not restrain -His scorn and His repugnance. To destroy the Temple, He -commenced with the destruction of the market-place. The -Eternal Mendicant, the poor man, accompanied by his poor -friends, flung Himself against the servitors of money. He had -in His hand a length of rope, which He knotted together like -a whip, and with it He opened a passage-way through the astonished -people. The benches of the money-changers crashed -down at the first shock. The coins were scattered on the -ground amid yells of astonishment and wrath; the seats of the -bird-sellers were overturned beside their scattered pigeons. -The herdsmen began to urge towards the doors the oxen and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_250'>250</span>the sheep. The sparrow-sellers took their cages under their -arms and disappeared. Cries rose to Heaven, some scandalized, -some approving; from the other court-yards other people -came running towards the disturbance. Jesus, surrounded by -the boldest of His friends, was brandishing His whip on high, -and driving the money-changers towards the door. And He -repeated in a loud voice, “My house shall be called the house -of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves!”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And the last money-handlers disappeared from the courts -like rubbish scattered by the wind.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>BUSINESS THE GOD</h3> -<p class='c005'>This action of Jesus was not only the righteous purification -of the sanctuary, but also the public manifestation of His detestation -for Mammon and the servants of Mammon. Business, -that modern god, was for Him a form of theft. A marketplace -was therefore a cave of obsequious brigands, of tolerated -thieves. Among all the elements of the legalized theft which -is called commerce, none is more detestable and shameful than -the use of money. If some one gives you a sheep in exchange -for money, you can be sure that he has made you pay more -money than the sheep really cost, but at least he gives you -something which is not a hateful mineral symbol of wealth. -He gives you a living being, which will furnish you wool in -the spring time, which will bear you a lamb, and which you -can eat if you like. But the exchange of money for money, -of coined metal for coined metal, is something unnatural, paradoxical -and demoniac. Everything that is known of banks, -rates of exchange, discount and usury, is a shameful and repellent -mystery which has always been the terror of simple -souls, that is, of upright and deep souls. The peasant who -sows his grain, the tailor who makes a garment, the weaver -who weaves wool or linen, have up to a certain limit a real right -that their wealth should increase, because they have added -something which before was not in the world, in cloth, in wool. -But that a mountain of money should bring forth other money -without labor or effort, without production by man of any object -<span class='pageno' id='Page_251'>251</span>to be seen, to be consumed, to be enjoyed, is a scandal -which goes beyond, and confounds human imagination.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Money-changers, bankers, amassers of silver and gold, are -slaves of the witchcraft of the Demon more than all others. -And it is to those men, the men of banks and of finance, that -the grateful Demon gives power on this earth: they are the -ones even to-day who rule nations, instigate wars, who starve -nations, and who, by an infernal system of their own, suck -out the life of the poor, transformed into gold, dripping with -sweat and blood.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Christ, who pitied the rich, but who hated and detested -wealth, the great wall which cuts off from men the vision of the -Kingdom of Heaven, had broken up the den of thieves and had -purified the Temple where He was to teach the last truths -which remained to Him to expound. But with that violent action, -He had antagonized all the commercial middle-class of -Jerusalem. The men He had driven away demanded that -their patrons should punish the man who was ruining business -on the Holy Hill. These men of money found ready hearing -with the men of Law, already embittered for other reasons, -so much the more because Jesus in disturbing the business of -the Temple had condemned and harmed the priests themselves. -The most successful bazars were the property of the sons of -Annas, that is, close relations of the High-Priest Caiaphas. -All the doves which were sold in the Court of the Gentiles -were raised on the property of Annas, and the priests who -did business in them made a good income every month out of -turtle-doves alone. The money-changers, who should not have -been allowed to stay in the Temple, paid the great Sadducee -families of the priestly aristocracy a goodly tithe on the thousands -of shekels brought in every year by the exchange of -foreign money into Hebrew money. Had not the Temple itself -perhaps become a great national bank with coffers and strong -boxes in treasure chambers?</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus had wounded the twenty thousand priests of Jerusalem -in their prestige and in their purses. He had overturned the -values of the falsified and mutilated Letter, in the name of -which they commanded and on which they fattened. More -<span class='pageno' id='Page_252'>252</span>than this, He had driven out their associates, the traffickers and -bankers. If He had His way, it would ruin them all. But the -two threatened castes drew together still more closely, to make -way with the dangerous intruder. It was perhaps that very -evening that priests and merchants agreed on the purchase of -a betrayer and a cross. The bourgeoisie were to give the small -amount of money necessary; the clergy to find the religious -pretext; the foreign government, naturally desiring to be on -good terms with clergy and bourgeoisie, would lend its soldiers.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But Jesus, having left the Temple, went His way towards -Bethany, passing by the Mount of Olives.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE VIPERS OF THE TOMBS</h3> -<p class='c005'>The next morning when he went back, the herdsmen and -merchants had squatted down outside, near the doors, but the -courts were humming with crowds of excited people.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The sentence pronounced and executed by Jesus against the -honest thieves had set gossiping Jerusalem all agog. Those -blows of the whip, like so many stones thrown into the Jerusalem -frog-pond, had awakened the poor to joyous hope and -had set the lords quaking with fear.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And early in the morning, all had gone up there from the -dark alleys and from the fine houses, from the work-shops and -from the public squares, leaving all their affairs, with the -restless anxiety of those who hope for miracles, or revenge. -The day-laborers had come, the weavers, the dyers, the cobblers, -the woodworkers, all those who detested the swindlers, -the stranglers, the shearers of poverty, traders who enriched -themselves at the expense of indigence. Among the first had -come the lamentable scum of the city, the dirty vermin-ridden -prisoners of eternal beggary, with leprous scabs, with their -sores uncared for, with their bones protruding through the -skin to testify to their hunger. There had also come pilgrims -from outside, those of Galilee, who had accompanied Jesus in -His festal entrance; and with them Jews from the Syrian and -Egyptian colonies, dressed in their best, like distant relatives -<span class='pageno' id='Page_253'>253</span>who reappear every once in so often at the family home for a -family festival.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But there came up also, in groups of four or five, the -Scribes and Pharisees. They were fraternal colleagues, fitting -companions for each other. The Scribes were the Doctors -of the Law; the Pharisees were the Puritans of the Law. -Nearly all the Scribes were Pharisees, many Pharisees were -Scribes. Imagine a professor adding religious pedantry to -his doctoral pedantry; or a religious hypocrite provided also -with the grave face of a casuistical pedagogue, and you will -have the modern equivalent of a Pharisaical Scribe, or of a -Pharisee who was also a Scribe. A Tartuffe with academic -honors; an Academician, who is at the same time a religious -hypocrite; a philosophizing Quaker, are other modern equivalents.</p> - -<p class='c006'>These men therefore went up that morning to the Temple -with much show of pride without and many evil intentions -within. They came up proudly wrapped in their long cloaks, -with their fringes fluttering, their chests thrown out, their eyes -clouded, their eyebrows raised, with sneering mouths and -quivering nostrils, with a step which announced their importance -and the indignation felt by them, God’s privileged -sheriffs.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus, in the midst of all these eyes turned on Him, waited -for those men. It was not the first time that they had come -about Him. How many discussions between Him and the provincial -Pharisees had taken place here and there in the country! -They were Pharisees who had demanded a sign from -Heaven, a supernatural proof that He was the Messiah—because -the Pharisees, unlike the skeptical Sadducees, sunk in -legalized Epicureanism, believed in the imminent arrival of the -Saviour.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But the Pharisees expected to see this Saviour as a Jew, -strictly observing all laws as they did, and they held that to -be worthy to receive Him it was enough to be clean on the -outside and to avoid any transgression of any of the trivial -rules of Leviticus. The Messiah, the son of David, would not -<span class='pageno' id='Page_254'>254</span>deign to save those who had not avoided all contact, even remote, -with foreigners and with heathens, who had not observed -the smallest detail of legal purification, who had not paid all -the tithes of the Temple, who did not respect at any cost the -sanctity of the Sabbath day. In their eyes Jesus could not -possibly be the Divine Redeemer. No spectacular and magic -signs had been seen: He had contented Himself with healing -the sick, with talking about love, and with loving. They had -seen Him dining with publicans and sinners, and, worse than -everything else, had heard with horror that His disciples did -not always wash their hands before sitting down to the table. -But the greatest horror, the unendurable scandal, had been -His lack of respect for the Sabbath. Jesus had not hesitated -to cure the sick, even on the Sabbath, and He held it no crime -on that day to do good to His unfortunate brothers. He even -shamelessly gloried in this, claiming blasphemously that the -Sabbath was made for man, rather than man for the Sabbath.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In the minds of the Pharisees there was only one doubt about -Jesus: was He a fool or an impostor? To put the matter to the -test, they had tried many times to trap Him by theological -tricks, or in dialectical subtleties, but to no avail. As long as -He went about in the provinces drawing after Him a few -dozen peasants, they had let Him alone, sure that some day -or other the last beggar, disillusioned, would leave Him. But -now the affair was becoming serious. Accompanied by a band -of excitable countrymen, He had gone so far as to enter into the -Temple as though it belonged to Him, and had seduced some -ignorant unfortunates to call Him the Messiah. More than -that, usurping the place of the priests, and almost giving Himself -the airs of a king, He had roughly driven out the honest -merchants, pious people who admired the Pharisees, even if -they did not entirely imitate them. Up to that time the -Pharisees had been too easy-going and merciful towards Him. -But from now on the unequaled goodness of heart of those extremely -mild and tolerant professors would be dangerous and -inopportune. The intolerable scandal, the reiterated profanation, -the public challenge, called for condemnation and punishment. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_255'>255</span>The false Christ must be disposed of and at once. -Scribes and Pharisees went up on the hill to see if He had had -the impertinence to go back to the place contaminated by -His boasting.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus was waiting for just those men. He wanted to say to -them publicly, with the open sky as witness, what He thought -of them, what God thought of them, the definite truth about -them. The day before, with His whip, He had condemned the -animal-sellers and money-changers. Now He was dealing with -the merchants of the Word, with the usurers of the Law, with -the swindlers of Truth. The condemnation of that day did not -exterminate them: with every generation such men spring up -again, innumerable, with new names; but their faces are -stamped forever with this condemnation wherever they are -born and command.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE DESCENDANTS OF CAIN</h3> -<p class='c005'>“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” Their -sins could be reduced to one, but that is the most poisonous, -the least pardonable of all sins: the sin against the Spirit, the -sin against Truth, the betrayal of Truth and Spirit, the laying -waste of the only pure wealth which the world possesses. -Thieves steal perishable goods, assassins kill the corruptible -body, prostitutes sully flesh destined to corruption; but the -hypocrites, the Pharisees sully the Word of the absolute, steal -the promises of eternity, assassinate the soul. Everything in -them is pretense: their dress and their talk, their teaching and -their practice. What they say is contradicted by what they -do. Their inner life does not correspond to what they choose -to show. Secret swinishness gives the lie to their every claim. -They are hypocrites because they cover themselves with fringed -mantles and with wide phylacteries, to be seen in public places, -and love to be called “Master,” and all the time they have -hidden the keys of knowledge and have shut the gates of the -Kingdom of Heaven, and neither go in themselves nor suffer -others to enter. Hypocrites because they make long prayers -in public and devour the houses of widows, and take advantage -<span class='pageno' id='Page_256'>256</span>of the weak and the desolate. Hypocrites because they wash -and clean the outside of the platter and the cup, and inside they -are full of rapine and extortion. Hypocrites because they give -their attention to minutiæ of rites and purifications and have -no care for greater things: they strain at a gnat and swallow -a camel. Hypocrites because they observe the smallest commandments -and do not obey the only one which is of value: -they pay punctually the tithe of mint and anise and cummin -and rue, but they have not justice, mercy and faith in their -hearts. Hypocrites because they build monuments to the -prophets and garnish the sepulchers of righteous men of old -times, but persecute the righteous men of to-day, and are preparing -to kill the prophets. “Ye serpents, ye generation of -vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, -behold I sent unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: -and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them -shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from -city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood -shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the -blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between -the temple, and the altar.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>They have accepted the inheritance of Cain. They are the -descendants of Cain. They kill brothers, execute saints, -crucify prophets. And, like Cain, God has stamped upon their -faces a Sign—the mysterious sign of immortality. They cannot -be killed because theirs are the hands which must kill. The -fugitive fratricide was saved by this sign among early men, -and the murderous Pharisees will be saved through all the centuries -because God needs them for the high works of His -justice which seems foolishness and madness to the eyes of -little-minded men. An eternal decree, not revealed to most -men, decrees death and the most atrocious death to all who -would be like God. But the simple man could never assassinate -a saint, nor even a sinner, a miraculous chrysalis of potential -sanctity. And the saint would no longer be a saint if he took -the life of another saint, the only brother given him by the -Father. So the indestructible race of the Pharisees was created -for all centuries and for all peoples, men who are never simple -<span class='pageno' id='Page_257'>257</span>like children and who never know the way of salvation, those -who are not visibly sinners, but who are from head to foot the -incarnation of the ugliest sin, those who wish to appear saints -and who hate real saints. God has made them fitting instruments -of an appalling and necessary massacre, to play the part -of executioners of perfect men. Faithful to this command, invulnerable -as inhabitants of Hell, marked like Cain, immortal -as hypocrisy and cruelty, they have survived all the empires -and all the overthrows of empire. With different faces, with -different garments, with different rules and pretexts, they have -covered the face of the earth, stubborn and prolific, up to the -present day. And when they have not been able to kill with -nails and with fire, with axes and with knives, they have used -tongue and pen with the utmost success.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus, while He spoke to them in the great open courtyard -crowded with witnesses, knew that He spoke to His Judges, -and to those who would be, through intermediate persons, the -real authors of His death. By speaking out on this day, He -justified His later silence before Caiaphas and Pilate. He had -condemned them and they would condemn Him; He had -judged them first and had nothing more to add when they -wished to judge Him.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Images of death came to His lips as He described them to -themselves: vipers and tombs, treacherous black vipers, which -as soon as you approach them pour into your blood all the -poison hidden in their fangs. Whited sepulchers, fair without -but within full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The Pharisees who stood before Jesus, and all those who -have legitimately descended from them, are glad to hide themselves -in the shadow of the dead, to prepare their venom. -Cold as a snake’s skin, as the stone of a tomb, neither the heat -of the sun, nor the warmth of love, nor the fires of Hell can -ever warm them. They know all the words save one, the word -of Life.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are -as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them -are not aware of them.” The only one aware of this was -Jesus—and it was because of this that He was not to remain -<span class='pageno' id='Page_258'>258</span>more than two days in the sepulcher which they were preparing -for Him.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>ONE STONE UPON ANOTHER</h3> -<p class='c005'>The Thirteen went down from the Temple to make their -daily ascent to the Mount of Olives. One of the Disciples -(who could it have been?—perhaps John, son of Salome, still -rather childish and naïvely full of wonder at what he saw? -Or Judas Iscariot, with his respect for wealth?) said to Jesus, -“Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are -here!”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The Master turned to look at the high walls faced with -marble which the ostentatious calculation of Herod had built up -on the hill and said, “Seest thou these great buildings? there -shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be -thrown down.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The admiring exclamation suddenly died. No one dared -answer, but perplexed and surprised, each of them continued -to turn over in his mind these words. Hard words for the ears -of those carnal-minded Jews, for the narrow hearts of those -ambitious provincials. He whom they loved had said in these -last days many other hard words, hard to hear, hard to understand, -hard to believe. But they did not remember any other -words so hard as these. They knew that He was the Christ -and that He was to suffer and die, but they hoped that He -would rise again at once in the glorious victory of the new -David, to give abundance to all Israel and to award the greatest -prizes and power to them, faithful to Him in the dangerous -wanderings of His poor days. But if the world was to be commanded -by Judea, Judea was to be commanded by Jerusalem, -and the seats of command were to be in the Temple of the -great King. It was occupied to-day by the faithless Sadducees, -the hypocritical Pharisees, the traitorous Scribes, but Christ -was to drive them away to give their places to His apostles. -How then could the Temple be destroyed, splendid memorial -of the kingdom in the past; hoped-for rock of the new Kingdom?</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_259'>259</span>This talk of stones was harder than a stone for Simon called -the Rock and for his companions. Had not John the Baptist -said that God could change the stones of the Jordan into sons -of Abraham? Had not Satan said that the Son of God could -change the stones of the desert to loaves of wheat bread? Had -not Jesus Himself said while He was passing the walls of -Jerusalem that those very stones, in place of men, would have -shouted out greetings and sung hymns? And was it not He -who had made the stones fall from the hands of His enemies, -the stones which they had taken up to kill Him? And had He -not made them fall from those who accused the adulteress?</p> - -<p class='c006'>But the Disciples could not understand this talk about the -stones of the Temple. They could not and they would not understand -that those great massive stones, quarried out patiently -from the mountains, drawn from afar by oxen, -squared and prepared by chisels and mallets, put one upon another -by masters of the art to make the most marvelous Temple -of the universe; that these stones, warm and brilliant in the -sun, should be torn apart once more and pulverized into -ruins.</p> - -<p class='c006'>They had scarcely arrived at the Mount of Olives, and -Christ had only had time to sit down opposite to the Temple, -when their curiosity burst out:</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be -the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The answer was the discourse on the Last Things, the second -Sermon on the Mount. At the beginning of His work, He had -explained how the soul must be transformed to found the Kingdom; -now at death’s door He taught what the punishment of -the stubborn would be and in what manner He would come -again.</p> - -<p class='c006'>This discourse, less understood than the other, and even -more forgotten, is not, as it is generally believed, the answer -to one question only. The Disciples had put two questions, -“When shall these things be?” That is, the ruin of the Temple; -and “What shall be the signs of Thy coming?” There are -two answers to these two questions. Jesus first describes the -events which will precede the destruction of Jerusalem, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_260'>260</span>then He describes the signs of His second appearance. The -prophetic discourse, although it is read all in one piece in the -Gospels, had two parts. The prophecies are two, quite distinct -from each other; the first was fulfilled before the end of -Jesus’ generation, about forty years after His death. The -second has not yet been fulfilled, but perhaps before the passing -of our own generation the first signs will be seen.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>SHEEP AND GOATS</h3> -<p class='c005'>Jesus knew the weakness of the Disciples, weakness of the -spirit, and perhaps also of the flesh, and He puts them on their -guard against two great perils: fraud and martyrdom.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come -in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. -Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or -there; believe it not. For false Christs and false prophets -shall rise and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it -were possible, even the elect. Go not after them, nor follow -them.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>But although they are to flee from the frauds of the false -Messiahs, they cannot escape the persecutions of the enemies -of the real Christ. “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, -and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations -for my name’s sake. But take heed to yourselves: for they -shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye -shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and -kings for my sake, for a testimony against them. . . . Now -the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father -the son; and the children shall rise up against their parents, -and shall cause them to be put to death. . . . And then shall -many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall -hate one another . . . and because iniquity shall abound, the -love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure to the -end, the same shall be saved.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Then shall begin the signs of the imminent punishment, -“And when ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, be ye not -troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not -<span class='pageno' id='Page_261'>261</span>be yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom -against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers -places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the -beginnings of sorrow.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>These are the preliminary warnings: the order of the world -shall be disturbed, the world, peaceful at the time when Christ -pronounced these words, shall see man set against man, nation -against nation, and the earth itself soaked with blood shall rise -against men; shall tremble under their steps; shall cast down -their houses; shall vomit out ashes, as if it cast out from the -mouth of its mountains all its dead, and shall deny to the -fratricides the food which ripens to gold every summer in the -fields.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Then when all this shall have come to pass, the punishment -will come upon those people who would not be born again in -Christ, who did not accept the Gospel; on the city which nailed -its Lord upon Golgotha and persecuted His witnesses.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, -then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. But when ye -shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel, -the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth -understand,) then let them that be in Judea flee to the mountains: -and let him that is on the housetop not go down into the -house, neither enter therein, to take anything out of his house: -And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to -take up his garment. But woe to them that are with child, and -to them who give suck in those days! And pray ye that your -flight be not in winter. For in those days shall be affliction, -such as was not from the beginning of creation which God -created unto this time, neither shall be. There shall be great -distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they -shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive -into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of -the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>This is the end of the first prophecy. Jerusalem shall be -taken and destroyed and of the Temple, defiled by the abomination -of desolation, there shall remain not one stone upon -another.</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_262'>262</span>But Jesus has not said all, until now has not spoken of His -second coming.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the -times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” What are these “tempi dei -Gentili, tempora nationum”? The words of the Greek texts -express it with greater precision than the other languages: -they are the times adapted to, fitting, and awaiting the Gentiles, -that is, those in which the non-Jews shall be converted -to the Gospel, announced to the Jews before all others. Therefore -that real end shall not come until the Gospel has been -carried into all nations, until the Gentiles, the faithless ones, -tread down the city of Jerusalem. “And this gospel of the -kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto -all nations; and then shall the end come.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The second coming of Christ from Heaven, the Parusia, -will be the end of this world and the beginning of the true -world, the eternal kingdom. The end of Judea was announced -by signs human and terrestrial; this other end will be preceded -by signs divine and celestial. “The sun shall be darkened, and -the moon shall not give her light. And the stars of heaven -shall fall. And upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; -the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing -them for fear, and for looking after these things which are -coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. -And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: -and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall -see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power -and great glory.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>For the end of Jerusalem only, the little earth was troubled; -but for this universal ending, Heaven itself is convulsed. In -the great sudden blackness only the roaring of water will be -heard, and screams of terror. It is the Day of the Lord, the -day of God’s wrath described in their times by Ezekiel, Jeremiah, -Isaiah and Joel. “The day of the Lord is at hand, and -as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. A day of -darkness and of gloominess! The land is as the garden of -Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness. -The people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_263'>263</span>Therefore shall all hands be faint and every man’s heart -shall melt. And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrow shall -take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that -travaileth; they shall be amazed one at another. Behold the -day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce -anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners -thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations -thereof shall not give their light: the heavens shall -be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, -as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from -the fig tree.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>This is the day of the Father, day of blackness in the Heavens -and of terror on earth. But the day of the Son follows -immediately after.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He does not appear this time hidden in a stable, but on -high in Heaven, no longer poor and wretched, but in power and -splendor of glory. “And he shall send his angels with a -great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his -elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the -other.” And when the celestial trumpets shall have awakened -all those sleeping in the tombs, the irrevocable division shall -be made.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the -holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his -glory:</p> - -<p class='c006'>“And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall -separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his -sheep from, the goats:</p> - -<p class='c006'>“And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats -on his left.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, -Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared -for you from the foundation of the world:</p> - -<p class='c006'>“For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, -and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: -I was in prison, and ye came unto me.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when -<span class='pageno' id='Page_264'>264</span>saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave -thee drink?</p> - -<p class='c006'>“When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, -and clothed thee?</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto -thee?</p> - -<p class='c006'>“And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I -say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the -least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart -from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the -devil and his angels:</p> - -<p class='c006'>“For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was -thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:</p> - -<p class='c006'>“I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye -clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw -we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or -sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, -Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did -it not to me.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but -the righteous into life eternal.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus, even in His glory as judge of the last Day, does not -forget the poor and unhappy whom He loved so greatly during -His life on earth. He wishes to appear as one of those “least” -who hold out their hands at the doors and on whom the “great” -look down. On earth, in the time of Tiberius, He was the -man who was hungering for bread and love, thirsting for water -and martyrdom, who was like a stranger in His own country, -not recognized by His own brothers, who stripped Himself to -clothe those shaking with cold, who was sick with sorrow and -suffering and no one comforted Him, who was imprisoned in -the base prison of human flesh, in the narrow prison of earthly -life. He was divinely hungering for souls, thirsting for faith, -He was the stranger come from the ineffable fatherland, defenseless -before whips and insults, the Man sick with the holy -<span class='pageno' id='Page_265'>265</span>madness of love. But on that great Day of final Judgment, -He will not be thinking of Himself, as He did not think of -Himself when He was a man among men.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The code of this dividing of good from evil men will be based -on one idea only: Compassion—Charity. During all the time -which lies between His first and second coming He has gone -on living under the appearance of the poor and the pilgrims, -of the sick and persecuted, of wanderers and slaves. And on -the Last Day He pays His debts. Mercy shown to those -“least” was shown to Him, and He will reward that mercy in -the name of all. Only those who did not receive Him when -He appeared in the innumerable bodies of the poverty-stricken -will be condemned to eternal punishment, because when they -drove away the unfortunate they drove away God. When they -refused bread, water and a garment to the poor man, they -condemned the Son of God to cold, thirst and hunger. The -Father had no need of your help, for all is His and He loves -you even during the moments when you curse Him. But you -must love the Father in the persons of His children. And -those who did not quench the thirst of the thirsty will themselves -thirst for all eternity; those who did not warm the -naked man will suffer in fire for all eternity; those who did -not comfort the prisoner will be prisoners of Hell forever; -those who did not receive the stranger will never be received -in Heaven, and those who did not help the fever-stricken patient -will shiver in the spasms of everlasting fever.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The Great Poor Man in the day of His glory will, as justice -dictates, reward every one with His infinite riches. He who -has given a little life to the poor will have life forever; he who -has left the poor in pain will himself be in pain forever. And -then the bare sky will be peopled with other more powerful -suns, with stars flaming more brightly in the heavens and there -will be a new Heaven and a new Earth, and the Chosen will -live not as we live now, like beasts, but in the likeness of -angels.</p> -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_266'>266</span> - <h3 class='c007'>WORDS WHICH SHALL NOT PASS AWAY</h3> -</div> -<p class='c005'>But when shall these things come to pass? These are the -signs, this is the manner in which it shall happen. But the -time? Shall we be still here, we who are now under the light -of the sun? Or shall the grandchildren of our grandchildren -see these events while we are dust and ashes under the earth?</p> - -<p class='c006'>Up to the very last, the Twelve understand as little as twelve -stones. They have the truth before them and they do not -see it: they have the Light in their midst and the Light does -not reach them. If only they had been among stones like -diamonds which send back, divided into reflected rays, the -light which strikes them. But these twelve men are rough -stones, scarcely dug out of the darkness of the quarry, dull -stones, opaque stones, stones which the sun can warm but not -kindle, stones which are lighted from without but do not reflect -the splendor. They have not yet understood that Jesus -is not a common diviner, a student of the Chaldeans and of the -Etruscans, and that He has nothing to do with the presumptuous -pretensions of astrology. They have not understood that -a definitely dated prophecy would not work on men to create -a conversion which needs perpetual vigilance. Perhaps they -have not even understood that the Apocalyptic sayings revealed -on the Mount of Olives form a double prophecy which -refers to two events, different and distant from each other. -Perhaps these provincial fishermen, for whom a lake was the -sea and Judea was the universe, confused the end of the -Hebrew people with the end of the human race, the punishment -of Jerusalem with the second coming of Christ.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But the discourse of Jesus, although it is presented as one -unit in the synoptic Gospels, shows us two distinct prophecies.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The first announces the end of the Jewish kingdom, the punishment -of Jerusalem, the destruction of the Temple; the second -the end of the old world, the reappearance of Jesus, the -judgment of the merciful and of the merciless, the beginning -of the New Kingdom. The first prophecy given is close at -hand—this generation shall not pass before these things shall -have arrived—and is local and limited, since it is concerned -<span class='pageno' id='Page_267'>267</span>only with Judea and especially with Judea’s metropolis. The -hour and the day of the second are not known because certain -events, slow to take place but essential, must precede this end, -which, unlike the other, will be universal.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The first, as a matter of fact, was fulfilled to the letter, detail -by detail, about forty years after the crucifixion, while many -who had known Jesus were still living; the second coming, the -triumphal Parusia, is still awaited by those who believe what -He said on that day, “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but -my words shall not pass away.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>A few years after Jesus’ death the signs of the first prophecy -began to be seen. False prophets, false Christs, false apostles, -swarmed in Judea, as snakes come out of their holes when dog-days -arrive. Before Pontius Pilate was exiled, an impostor -showed himself in Samaria, who promised to recover the sacred -vessels of the Tabernacle hidden by Moses on Mount Gerizim. -The Samaritans believed that such a discovery would be the -prelude to the coming of the Messiah, and a great mob gathered -threateningly on the mountain until it was dispersed by -Roman swords.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Under Cuspius Fadus, the procurator who governed from -44 to 66, there arose a certain Theudas, who gave himself out -for a great personage and promised great prodigies. Four -hundred men followed him, but he was captured and decapitated, -and those who had believed him dispersed. After him -came an Egyptian Jew, who succeeded in gathering four thousand -desperate men, and camping on the Mount of Olives announcing -that at a sign from him the walls of Jerusalem would -fall. The Procurator Felix attacked him and drove him out -into the desert.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In the meantime, in Samaria, arose the notorious Simon -Magus, he who bewitched people with his prodigies and incantations -and announced himself as the Power of God. This -man, seeing the miracles of Peter, wished to turn Christian, imagining -that the Gospel was only one of those Oriental mysteries -into which an initiation gave new powers. Repelled by -Peter, Magus became the father of heresies. He believed that -Ennœa first came from God and that it is now imprisoned in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_268'>268</span>human beings: according to him Ennœa (or, the first conception -of the Deity), was incarnate in Helen of Tyre, a prostitute -who followed him everywhere; and faith in him and in -Helen was a necessary condition of salvation. Cerinthus, the -first Gnostic, was one of his followers, against whom John -wrote his Gospel—and Menander, who boasted that he was -Saviour of the world. Another Elxai mixed up the old and new -Covenant, told stories of many incarnations besides those of -Christ, and swaggered about with his followers, boasting of -his magic powers. Hegesippus says that a certain Tebutis -through jealousy of Simon, second Bishop of Jerusalem, -formed a sect that recognized Jesus as Messiah, but in -everything else was faithful to the old Judaism. Paul, in the -Epistle to Timothy, puts the “Saints” on guard against Hymeneus, -and Phyletus and Alexander. For such are false -prophets, deceitful workers transforming themselves into the -apostles of Christ, “who twisted truth and sowed the evil seed -of heresy in the early church.” A Dositheus had himself called -Christ, and a certain Nicholas began with his errors the sect of -the Nicolaitans, condemned by John in the Apocalypse: and -the Zealots fomented incessant tumults, claiming that the Romans -and all the heathen should be driven out in order that -God might return to triumph with His own people.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The second sign, the persecution, arrived promptly. The -Disciples had scarcely begun to preach the Gospel in Jerusalem -when Peter and John were thrown into prison: freed, they -were captured again, and beaten and commanded to speak no -more in the name of Jesus. Stephen, one of the most ardent -of the neophytes, was taken by the priests outside the city -and stoned.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Under the rule of Agrippa the tribulations began afresh. In -42 Herod’s descendant had James the Greater, the brother of -John, killed by the sword; and for a third time Peter was imprisoned. -In 62 James the righteous, called the brother of -Our Lord, was thrown from the terrace of the Temple and -killed. In 50 Claudius exiled the Christian Jews from Rome, -“Impulsore Chrestus tumultuantes.” In 58, on account of the -conversion of Pomponia Græcina, the war against converts began -<span class='pageno' id='Page_269'>269</span>in the capital of the Empire. In 64 the burning of Rome, -desired and executed by Nero, was the pretext for the first -great persecution. An innumerable multitude of Christians -obtained their martyrdom in Rome and in the Provinces. -Many were crucified: others wrapped in the “tunica molesta” -lighted up the nocturnal amusement of the Cæsar: others -wrapped in animal skins were given as food to dogs: many, enforced -actors in cruel comedies, made a spectacle for amphitheaters -and were devoured by lions. Peter died on the cross, -nailed head downward. Paul ended under the ax a life -which since his conversion had been one long torment. Ten -years before his death in 57 he had been flogged five times -by the Jews, beaten three times with rods by the Romans, three -times imprisoned, three times shipwrecked, stoned and left -for dead at Lystra. The greater part of the other Disciples -met with similar fates. Thomas met a martyr’s death in India, -Andrew was crucified at Patras, Bartholomew was crucified in -Armenia. Simon the Zealot and Matthew, like their Master, -ended their lives on the cross.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Nor were there lacking wars and rumors of wars. When -Jesus was killed, the “peace of Augustus” still existed, but very -soon nations rise against nations and kingdoms against kingdoms. -Under Nero the Britons rebel and massacre the Romans, -the Parthians revolt and force the legions to pass under the -yoke; Armenia and Syria murmur against foreign government; -Gaul rises with Julius Vindex, Nero is near his end, the Spanish -and Gallic legions proclaim Galba Emperor; Nero, fleeing from -the Golden House, succeeds in being abject even in suicide. -Galba enters Rome, but brings no peace; Nymphidius Sabinus -at Rome, Capito in Germany, Clodius Macer in Africa, dispute -the power with him. All are dissatisfied with him: on the 15th -of January, 69, the Prætorians kill him and proclaim Otho. -But the German legions had already proclaimed Vitellius and -move on Rome. Conquered at Bedriacum Otho commits suicide, -but Vitellius does not rule long either; the Syrian legions -choose Vespasian, who sends Antonius Primus into Italy. The -followers of Vitellius are defeated at Cremona and at Rome; -Vitellius, the voracious hog, is killed on the <abbr title='twentieth'>20th</abbr> of December, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_270'>270</span>69. In the meanwhile insurrection breaks out in the north, -with the Batavians, with Claudius Civilus, and the insurrection -of the Jews is not stamped out in the east. In less than -two years Italy is invaded twice, Rome taken twice, two Emperors -kill themselves; two are killed. And there are wars -and rumors of wars on the Rhine and on the Danube, on the -Po and on the Tiber, on the banks of the North Sea, at the feet -of Atlas and of Tabor.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The other afflictions announced by Jesus accompany in -these years the upheaval of the Empire. Caligula the Mad -complained because in his reign nothing horrible happened: -he desired famines, pestilences and earthquakes. The degenerate -and incestuous epileptic did not have his wish, but in -the time of Claudius a series of poor crops brought famine even -to Rome. Under Nero pestilence was added to the famine, and -at Rome alone in one autumn the treasury of Venus Libitina -registered thirty thousand deaths.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In 61 and 62 earthquakes shook Asia, Achaia, and Macedonia: -especially the cities of Hierapolis, Laodicea and Colossæ -were greatly damaged. In 63 it was Italy’s turn: at Naples, -Nocera and Pompeii the earth shook. All the Campagna was -a prey to terror. And as if this were not enough, three years -later, in 66, the Campagna was devastated by cloudbursts, -which destroyed the crops and rendered more threatening the -prospects of famine. And while Galba was entering Rome -(68) the earth shook under his feet with a terrible roar. All -the signs were fulfilled: now had come the fullness of time for -the punishment of Judea.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>JUDEA OVERCOME</h3> -<p class='c005'>The earthquake which shook Jerusalem on the Friday of -Golgotha was like a signal for the Jewish outbreak. For forty -years the country of the god-killers had no peace, not even the -peace of defeat and slavery, up to the day, when of the Temple -not one stone was left upon another.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Pilate, Cuspius Fadus and Agrippa had been forced to disperse -the bands of the false Messiahs. Under the Roman -<span class='pageno' id='Page_271'>271</span>procurator, Tiberius Alexander, the conflict began with the -raging sect of the Zealots and ended with the crucifixion of -the leaders, James and Simon, sons of Judas the Galilean. The -procurator, Ventidius Cumanus, 48-52, did not have a day’s -peace: the Zealots and their allies, the Sicarii, did not lay -down their arms. Under the procurator Felix the disorders -knew no truce: under Albinus the flames of the revolt flared -out more boldly. Finally at the time of Gessius Florus, 64-66, -the last procurator of Judea, the fire, which for some time had -been flickering, spread all over the country. The Zealots took -possession of the Temple: Florus was obliged to flee, Agrippa, -who went as peace-maker, was stoned, Jerusalem fell into the -power of Menahem, another son of Judas the Galilean. -Zealots and Sicarii now in power massacred the non-Jews and -also those among the Jews who seemed tepid to their fanatic -eyes.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And then finally came the abomination predicted by Daniel -and recorded by Christ. The prophecy of Daniel had already -been fulfilled when Antiochus <abbr title='four'>IV</abbr> Epiphanes had profaned -the Temple by placing there the statue of Olympian Jove. In -39 Caligula the Mad, who had set himself up as God and had -himself adored as God in various places, had sent the order to -the procurator Petronius to put the imperial statue in the -Temple, but he died before the order was executed. But -Jesus was alluding to something quite other than statues. The -holy place during the great rebellion occupied by the Sicarii -had become a refuge for assassins, and the great courts were -soaked with blood, even with priestly blood. And the Holy -City underwent also the abomination of desolation, when in -December of 66 Cestius Gallus, at the head of forty thousand -men, came to crush the insurgents, camped around Jerusalem -with those imperial insignia which the Jews held in horror as -idolatrous, and which through a concession of the Emperors -had not till then been introduced into the city.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But Cestius Gallus, finding more resistance than he had anticipated, -retreated and the retreat was turned into flight to -the great jubilation of the Zealots, who saw in this victory a -sign of divine help.</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_272'>272</span>In those days, between the first and second assault, when -already the double abomination had contaminated the city, the -Christians of Jerusalem, obeying the prophecy of Jesus, fled -to Pela, beyond the Jordan. But Rome had no intention of -giving way to the Jews. The command of the punitive expedition -was given to Titus Flavius Vespasian, who, gathering an -army at Ptolemais in 67, advanced against Galilee and conquered -it. While the Romans were taking up winter quarters, -John of Gischala, one of the heads of the Zealots, having taken -refuge in Jerusalem at the head of a band of Idumeans, overturned -the aristocratic government and the city was full of uproar -and blood.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Vespasian, going to Rome to become Emperor, gave the -command to his son Titus, who on Easter Day in the year -70, came up before Jerusalem and began the siege. Horrible -days began. Even at the height of danger, the Zealots, carried -away by wild frenzy, quarreled among themselves, and -split up into factions, who fought for the control of the city.</p> - -<p class='c006'>John of Gischala occupied the Temple, Simon Bar Giora -the city, and their partisans cut the throats of those whom the -Romans had not yet killed. In the meantime Titus had taken -possession of two lines of wall and of a part of the city: on -the fifth of July the Tower of Antonia fell into his power. -To the horror of fratricidal massacre and of the siege was -added that of hunger. The famine was so great that mothers -were seen, so says Josephus, to kill their children and eat -them. On the 10th of August the Temple was taken and -burned, the Zealots succeeding in shutting themselves up into -the upper city, but conquered by hunger they were obliged -to surrender on the 7th of September.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The prophecies of Jesus had been fulfilled: the city by -Titus’ order was laid waste: and of the Temple already swept -by fire, there remained not one stone upon another. The Jews -who had survived hunger and the swords of the Sicarii were -massacred by the victorious soldiery. Those who still remained -were deported into Egypt to work in mines, and many -were killed for the amusement of the crowd in the Amphitheaters -of Cæsarea and Berytus. Some hundreds of the handsomest -<span class='pageno' id='Page_273'>273</span>were taken prisoners to Rome to figure in the triumphal procession -of Vespasian and Titus, and there Simon Bar Giora and -other heads of the Zealots were executed before the idols which -they hated.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till -all these things be fulfilled.” It was the seventieth year of the -Christian era and His generation had not yet gone down into -the tomb when these things happened. One at least of those -who heard Him on the Mount of Olives, John, was witness of -the destruction of Jerusalem and of the ruin of the Temple. -Within the destined time the words of Jesus were fulfilled, -syllable by syllable, with atrocious exactness, by a story of -blood and fire.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE PARUSIA</h3> -<p class='c005'>The end of the god-killing people, the partial and local ending, -had taken place. According to the sentence of Christ, the -statues of the Temple were scattered among the ruined walls -and the faithful of the Temple had met their death by torture -or were scattered among other nations.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The second prophecy is left. When shall the Son of Man -come on the clouds of Heaven, preceded by darkness, announced -by angels’ trumpets? Jesus says that no one can be -sure of the day of His coming. The Son of Man is likened to -lightning which flashes suddenly in the east, to a thief who -comes by stealth in the night, to a master who has gone far -away and returns suddenly to take his servants by surprise. -We must be vigilant and ready. Purify your hearts, because -you do not know when He may come; and woe to him -who is not ready to appear before Him. Take heed to yourselves -lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, -and drunkenness, and the cares of this life; and so that -day come upon you unawares, for as a snare shall it come upon -all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But if Jesus does not announce the day, He tells us what -things must be fulfilled before that day. These things are two: -the Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached to all the nations -<span class='pageno' id='Page_274'>274</span>and the Gentiles shall no longer tread down Jerusalem. -These two conditions are fulfilled in our own time and perhaps -the great day approaches. There are no longer in the -world any civilized nations or barbarous tribes where the descendants -of the Apostles have not preached the Gospel: since -1918 the Moslems have no longer trodden down Jerusalem -and there is talk of a reëstablishment of the Jewish State. According -to the words of Hosea, the end of the time shall be -near when the sons of Israel, left so long without altar and -without King, shall be converted to the Son of David and shall -turn, trembling, towards God’s goodness.</p> - -<p class='c006'>If the words of the second prophecy are true, as the words -of the first prophecy were shown to be true, the Second Coming -cannot be far distant. Once again in these years nations -have risen against nations, the earth has quaked, destroying -many lives, and pestilences, famines and seditions have decimated -nations. For more than a century the words of Christ -have been translated and preached in all languages. Soldiers -who believe in Christ, although they are not all faithful to the -heirs of Peter, are in command over that city, which after its -downfall was in the power of the Romans, the Persians, the -Egyptians and the Turks. And still men do not think of Jesus -and His promise. They live as if the world were always going -to continue as it has been, and they work and mortify -themselves only for their earthly and carnal interests.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“For as in the days that were before the flood, they were -eating and drinking, marrying and given in marriage, until the -day that Noah entered into the ark, And knew not until the -flood came, and took them all away: so shall also the coming of -the Son of man be. Likewise also, as it was in the days of -Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they -planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of -Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed -them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of -man is revealed.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The same thing happens in our day in spite of the wars and -the pestilences which have cut down millions of lives in a few -years. People eat and drink, marry and have children, buy -<span class='pageno' id='Page_275'>275</span>and sell, write and play. And no one thinks of the Divine -Thief who will come suddenly in the night, no one waits for -the Real Master, who will return unexpectedly, no one looks at -the sky to see if lightning is flashing from the east.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The apparent life of the living is like the delirious dream of -a fatal fever. They seem awake because they hurry about -without rest, occupied by those possessions which are clay and -poison. They never look up to Heaven—they fear only their -brothers. Perhaps they are waiting to be awakened in the last -hour by those dead of old, who will rise up at the approach of -the Resurrected Christ.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>UNWELCOME</h3> -<p class='c005'>While Jesus was condemning the Temple and Jerusalem, -those maintained by the Temple and the lords of Jerusalem -were preparing His condemnation.</p> - -<p class='c006'>All those who possessed, taught and commanded were waiting -only for the right moment to assassinate Him, without danger -to themselves. Every man who had a name, dignity, a -school, a shop, a sacred office, a little authority was against -Him. He came to oppose them and they opposed Him. With -the idiocy natural to those in power they believed that they -would save themselves by putting Him to death, and they did -not know it was exactly His death which was needed as the -beginning of their punishment.</p> - -<p class='c006'>To have an idea of the hatred which the upper classes of -Jerusalem felt towards Jesus, priestly hatred, scholastic hatred -and commercial hatred, we must remember that the Holy City -apparently lived by faith, but in reality on the Faithful. Only -in the Jewish metropolis could valid and acceptable offerings -be made to the Old God, and therefore every year, especially -on great feast days, streams of Israelites poured in there from -the Tetrarchates of Palestine and from all the provinces of the -Empire. The Temple was not only the one legitimate sanctuary -of the Jews, but for those who were attached to it and for -all the others who lived at its feet, it was the great nourishing -breast which fed the Capital with the products of the victims, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_276'>276</span>the offerings, the tithes and, above all, with the profits accompanying -the continual influx of visitors. Josephus says -that at Jerusalem on special occasions there were gathered together -as many as three million pilgrims.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The stationary population depended all the year round on -the Temple: business for the animal-sellers, dealers in victuals, -money-changers, inn-keepers, and even artisans depended on -the fortunes of the Temple. The priestly caste, which without -the Levites (and there were a great crowd of them) numbered -in Christ’s lifetime twenty thousand descendants of Aaron—got -their living from the tithes in kind, from the taxes of the -Temple, from the payments for the first-born—even the first-born -of men paid five shekels a head!—and got their food -from the flesh of the sacrificial animals, of which only the fat -was burned. They were the ones who had the pick of herds -and crops; even their bread was given them by the people, -for the head of every Jewish family was obliged to hand over -to the priests the twenty-fourth part of the bread which was -baked in his house. Many of them, as we have seen, made -money on the raising of the animals which the Faithful were -obliged to buy for their offerings; others were associated with -money-changers, and it is not impossible that some of them -were really bankers, because people readily deposited their -savings in the strong-boxes of the Temple.</p> - -<p class='c006'>A net-work of self-interest thus bound to the Herodian -edifice all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, down to the vendors at -fairs and the sandal-makers. The priests lived on the Temple -and many of them were merchants and rich men: the rich -needed the Temple to increase their profits and keep the common -people respectful: the merchants did business with the -rich people who had money to spend, with the priests who were -their associates and with the pilgrims from every part of the -world drawn towards the Temple: the working men and the -poor lived from the scraps and leavings which fell from the -tables of the rich, the priests, the merchants and the pilgrims.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Religion was thus the greatest and perhaps the only business -in Jerusalem: any one who attacked religion, its representatives, -its visible monument (which was the most famous and fruitful -<span class='pageno' id='Page_277'>277</span>seat of religion), was necessarily considered an enemy of the -people of Jerusalem, and especially of the prosperous and -well-to-do.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus with His Gospel threatened directly the positions and -fees of these classes. If all the prescriptions of the Law were -to be reduced to the practice of love, there would be no more -place for the Scribes and Doctors of the Law who made their -living out of their teachings. If God did not wish animal sacrifices -and asked only for purity of soul and secret prayer, the -priests might as well shut the doors of the Sanctuary and learn -a new profession: those who did business in oxen and calves -and sheep and lambs and kids and doves and sparrows would -have seen their business slacken and perhaps disappear. If to -be loved by God you needed to transform your life, if it were -not enough to wash your drinking-cups and punctually pay -your tithes, the doctrine and the authority of the Pharisees -would be reduced to nothing. If in short the Messiah had -come and had declared the Primacy of the Temple fallen and -sacrifices useless, the capital of the cult would, from one day -to the next, have lost its prestige and with the passage of time -would have become an obscure settlement of impoverished -men.</p> - -<p class='c006'>As a matter of course, Jesus, who preferred fishermen, if -they were pure and loving, to members of the Sanhedrin; who -took the part of the poor against the rich, who valued ignorant -children more than Scribes, blear-eyed over the mysteries of the -Scriptures, drew down on His head the hatred of the Levites, -the merchants and the Doctors. The Temple, the Academy -and the Bank were against Him: when the victim was ready -they would call the somewhat reluctant, but nevertheless acquiescent -Roman sword, to sacrifice Him to their peace of -mind.</p> - -<p class='c006'>For some time the life of Jesus had not been safe. The -Pharisees said that Herod had sought to kill Him from the -days of His last sojourn in Galilee. Perhaps it was the knowledge -of this that sent Him into Cæsarea Philippi, outside Galilee, -where He predicted His passion.</p> - -<p class='c006'>When He came back to Jerusalem the High Priests, the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_278'>278</span>Pharisees and the Scribes gathered about Him to lay traps for -Him and take down His words. The uneasy and embittered -crowd set on His track spies, destined to become false witnesses -in a few days. If we are to believe John, the order was -given to certain guards to capture Him, but they were afraid -to lay their hands upon Him. The attack with the whips on -the animal-sellers and money-changers, the loud invectives -against the Scribes and Pharisees, the allusion to the ruin of -the Temple, made the cup run over. Time pressed; Jerusalem -was full of foreigners and many were listening to Him. Some -disorder, some confusion might easily spring up, perhaps an uprising -of the provincial crowds who were less attached to the -privileges and interests of the metropolis. The contagion must -be stopped at the beginning and there seemed to be no better -way than to make away with the blasphemer. The wolves of -the Altar and of business arranged a meeting of the Sanhedrin -to reconcile law with assassination.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE HIGH PRIEST CAIAPHAS</h3> -<p class='c005'>The Sanhedrin was the assembly of the chiefs, the supreme -council of the aristocracy which ruled the capital. It was composed -of the priests jealous of the clientele of the Temple -which gave them their power and their stipends: of the Scribes -responsible for preserving the purity of the law and of tradition: -of the Elders who represented the interests of the moderate, -moneyed middle-class.</p> - -<p class='c006'>They were all in accord that it was essential to take Jesus on -false pretenses and to have Him killed as a blasphemer against -the Sabbath and the Lord. Only Nicodemus attempted a defense, -but they were able quickly to silence him. “What do -we? for this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus -alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come -and take away both our place and nation.” It is the Reason -of State, the Salvation of the Fatherland which political -cliques always bring out to screen with legality and ideality -the defense of their particular profit.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Caiaphas, who that year was High Priest, settled their -<span class='pageno' id='Page_279'>279</span>doubts with the maxim which has always justified in the eyes -of the world the immolation of the innocent. “Ye know nothing -at all nor consider that it is expedient that one man should -die for the people and that the whole nation perish not.” This -maxim in Caiaphas’ mouth, and on this occasion, and for what -it meant, was infamous, and hypocritical like all the speeches -made by the Sanhedrin. But transposed into a higher meaning -and transferred into the Absolute, changing nation into -humanity, the President of the circumcised patriciate was expounding -a principle which Jesus Himself had accepted and -which has become under another form the crucial mystery of -Christianity. Caiaphas did not know—he who had to enter -alone into the Holy of Holies to offer up to Jehovah the sins -of the people—how much his words, coarse in expression and -cynical in sentiment as they were, were in accord with his -victim’s thought.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The thought that only the righteous can pay for injustice, -that only the perfect can discount the crimes of the brute, that -only the pure can cancel the debts of the ignoble, that only -God in His infinite magnificence can expiate the sins which -man has committed against Him; this thought, which seems to -man the height of madness exactly because it is the height of -divine wisdom, certainly did not flash out in the corrupt soul -of the Sadducee when he threw to his sixty accomplices the -sophism destined to silence their last remorse. Caiaphas, who -together with the crown of thorns and the sponge of vinegar -was to be one of the instruments of the Passion, did not imagine -in that moment that he was bearing witness solemnly, -though involuntarily, to the divine tragedy about to begin.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And yet the principle that the innocent can pay for the -guilty, that the death of one man can be salvation for all, was -not foreign to the consciousness of ancient peoples. The -heroic myths of the pagans recognize and celebrate voluntary -sacrifices of the innocent. They record the example of Pilades, -who offered himself to be punished in place of the guilty -Orestes; Macaria of the blood of Heracles, who saved her -brother’s life with her own; Alcestis, who died that she might -avert from her Admetus the vengeance of Artemis; the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_280'>280</span>daughters of Erechtheus, who sacrificed themselves that their -father might escape Neptune’s blows. The old King Codrus, -who threw himself into the Ilissus, in order that his Athenians -might be victorious; and Decius Mus and his sons, who consecrated -themselves to the Manes that the Romans might triumph -over the Samnites; and Curtius, who, fully armed, cast -himself into the gulf for the salvation of his country; and -Iphigenia, who offered her throat to the knife that Agamemnon’s -fleet might sail safely towards Troy. At Athens during -the Thargelian feast two men were killed to save the city -from divine wrath; Epimenides the Wise, to purify Athens, -profaned by the assassination of the followers of Cylon, had -recourse to human sacrifice over the tombs; at Curium, in -Cyprus, at Terracina, at Marseilles, every year a man threw -himself into the sea as payment for the crimes of the community, -a man regarded as the Saviour of the people.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But these sacrifices, when they were spontaneous, were for -the salvation of one being alone, or of a restricted group of -men; when they were enforced they added a new crime to -those they were intended to expiate; they were examples of -individual affection or of superstitious crimes.</p> - -<p class='c006'>No man had yet appeared who would take upon his head -all the sins of men, a God who would imprison Himself in the -abject wretchedness of flesh to save all the human race and to -give it the power to ascend from bestiality to sanctity, -from earthly humiliation to the Kingdom of Heaven. The -perfect man, who takes upon himself all imperfections, the -pure man who burdens himself with all infamies, the righteous -man who shoulders the unrighteousness of all men, had appeared -under the aspect of a poor fugitive from justice in the -day of Caiaphas. He who was to die for all, the Galilean working-man -who was disquieting the rich and the priests of Jerusalem, -was there on the Mount of Olives only a short distance -from the Sanhedrin. The Seventy, who knew not what they -did, who did not know that they were obeying the will of -the very man they were persecuting, decided to have Him -captured before the Passover; but because they were cowardly, -like all men of possessions, one thing restrained them, the fear -<span class='pageno' id='Page_281'>281</span>of the people who loved Jesus. They consulted that they -might take Jesus by subtlety and kill Him. But they said, -“Not on the feast day lest there be an uproar among the -people.” To solve their difficulty, by good fortune, there came -to them the day after one of the Twelve, he who held the -purse, Judas Iscariot.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE MYSTERY OF JUDAS</h3> -<p class='c005'>Only two creatures in the world knew the secret of Judas: -Christ and the traitor.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Sixty generations of Christians have racked their brains -over it, but the man of Iscariot, although he has drawn after -him crowds of disciples, remains stubbornly incomprehensible. -His is the only human mystery that we encounter in the Gospels. -We can understand without difficulty the depravity of -Herod, the rancor of the Pharisees, the revengeful anger of -Annas and Caiaphas, the cowardly laxity of Pilate. But we -have no evidence to enable us to understand the abomination -of Judas. The Four Gospels tell us too little of him and -of the reasons which induced him to sell his King.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Then entered Satan into Judas.” But these words are -only the definition of his crime. Evil took possession of his -heart, therefore it came suddenly. Before that day, perhaps -during the dinner at Bethany, Judas was not in the power of -the Adversary. But why suddenly did he throw himself into -that power? Why did Satan enter into him and not into one -of the others?</p> - -<p class='c006'>Thirty pieces of silver are a very small sum, especially for -an avaricious man. In modern coinage it would amount to -about twenty dollars, and, granting that its effective value or -as the economists say its buying power were in those days ten -times greater, two hundred dollars seem hardly a sufficient -price to induce a man whom his companions describe as grasping -to commit the basest perfidy recorded by history. It has -been said the thirty pieces of silver was the price of a slave. -But the text of Exodus states on the contrary that thirty -shekels was the compensation to be paid by the owner of an -<span class='pageno' id='Page_282'>282</span>ox which had injured a slave. The cases are too far apart -for the doctors of the Sanhedrin to have had this early precedent -in mind.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The most significant indication is the office which Judas held -among the Twelve. Among them was Matthew, a former tax-collector, -and it would have seemed almost his right to handle -the small amount of money necessary for the expenses of the -brotherhood. In place of Matthew, we see the man of Iscariot -as the depository of the offerings. Money is insidious and -saturated with danger. The mere handling of money, even -if it belongs to others, is poisonous. It is not surprising that -John said of Judas the thief, that he, “having the bag, took -away what was put therein.” And yet it is not probable that -a man greedy for money would have stayed a long time with -a group of such poor men. If he had wished to steal, he -would have sought out a more promising position. And if -he had needed those miserable thirty pieces of silver, could -he not have procured them in another way, by running away -with the purse, without needing to propose the betrayal of -Jesus to the High Priests?</p> - -<p class='c006'>These common-sense reflections about a crime so extraordinary -have induced many to seek other motives for the infamous -transaction. A sect of heretics, the Cainites, had a legend that -Judas sorrowfully accepted eternal infamy, knowing that Jesus -through His will and the will of the Father was to be betrayed -to His death, that no suffering might be lacking in the -great expiation. A necessary and voluntary instrument of the -Redemption, Judas was according to them a hero and a martyr -to be revered and not reviled.</p> - -<p class='c006'>According to others, Iscariot, loving his people and hoping -for their deliverance, perhaps sharing the sentiments of the -Zealots, had joined with Jesus, hoping that he was the Messiah -such as the common people then imagined Him: the King of -the revenge and restoration of Israel. When little by little, -in spite of his slowness of comprehension, it dawned on him -from the words of Jesus that he had fallen in with a Messiah -of quite another kind, he delivered Him over to His enemies -to make up for the bitterness of his disappointment. But this -<span class='pageno' id='Page_283'>283</span>fancy to which no text either canonical or apocryphal gives -any support is not enough to explain Christ’s betrayer: he -could have deserted the Twelve and gone in search of other -company more to his taste, which certainly, as we have seen, -was not lacking at that time.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Others have said that the reason is to be sought in his loss -of faith. Judas had believed firmly in Jesus, and then could -believe no longer. What Jesus said about His end close at -hand, the threatening hostility of the metropolis, the delay -of his victorious manifestation, had ended by causing Judas to -lose all faith in Him whom he had followed up till then. He -did not see the Kingdom approaching and he did see death -approaching. Mingling with the people to find out the temper -of the day, he had perhaps heard a rumor as to the decisions -of the meeting of the Elders and feared that the Sanhedrin -would not be satisfied with one victim alone, but would -condemn all those who had long followed Jesus. Overcome -by fear—the form which Satan took to enter into him—he -thought he could ward off the danger and save his life by -treachery; unbelief and cowardice being thus the ignominious -motives of his ignominy.</p> - -<p class='c006'>An Englishman celebrated as an opium-eater, has thought -out a new apology for the traitor which is the opposite of this -theory. His idea is that Judas believed: he even believed too -absolutely. He was so persuaded that Jesus was really the -Christ that he wished by giving Him up to the Tribunal to -force Him finally to show Himself as the legitimate Messiah. -So strong was his hope that he could not believe that Jesus -would be killed. Or if He really were to die, he knew with -entire certainty that He would rise again at once to sit on -the right hand of the Father as King of Israel and of the world. -To hasten the great day, in which the Disciples were at last -to have the reward for their faithfulness, Judas, secure in the -intangibility of his Divine Friend, wished to force His hand -and, putting Him face to face with those whom He was to -cast out, to compel Him to show Himself as the true Son -of God. According to this theory the action of Judas was not -a betrayal but a mistake due to his misunderstanding of the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_284'>284</span>real meaning of his Master’s teaching. He did not betray -therefore through avarice or revengefulness or cowardice, but -through stupidity.</p> - -<p class='c006'>On the other hand others give revenge as the reason. No -man betrays another without hating him. Why did Judas -hate Jesus? They remember the dinner in the house of Simon -and the nard of the weeping woman. The reproof for his -stinginess and hypocrisy must have exasperated the disciple -who perhaps had been reproved for these faults on other occasions. -To the rancor of this rebuff was added envy which -always flourishes in vulgar souls. And as soon as he could revenge -himself without danger, he went to the palace of -Caiaphas.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But did he really think that his denunciation would bring -Jesus to His death or did he rather suppose that they would -content themselves with flogging Him and forbidding Him -to speak to the people? The rest of the story seems to show -that the condemnation of Jesus unnerved him as a terrible -and unexpected result of his kiss. Matthew describes his despair -in a way to show that he was sincerely horrified by what -had happened through his fault. The money which he had -pocketed became like fire to him: and when the priests refused -to take it back he threw it down in the Temple. Even after -this restitution he had no peace and hastened to kill himself. -He died on the same day as his victim. Luke in the Acts -sets down in another way the evil end of Judas, but the Christian -tradition prefers the story of his remorse and suicide.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In spite of all the unraveling of unsatisfied minds, mysteries -are still tangled about the mystery of Judas. But we -have not yet invoked the testimony of Him who knew better -than all men, even better than Judas, the true secret of the -betrayal. Jesus alone could give us the key to the mystery; -Jesus who saw into the heart of Judas as into the hearts -of all men, and who knew what Judas was to do before he -had done it.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus chose Judas to be one of the Twelve and to carry the -gospel to the world along with the others. Would He have -chosen him, kept him with Him, beside Him, at His table, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_285'>285</span>for so long a time if He had believed him to be an incurable -criminal? Would He have confided to him what was dearest -in the world to Him, the most precious thing in the world—the -prophecy of the Kingdom of God?</p> - -<p class='c006'>Up to the last days, up to that last evening, Jesus treated -Judas exactly like the others. To him, as to all others, He -gave His body, symbolized by bread, His soul, symbolized -by wine. He washed and wiped, with His own hands, the -feet of Judas, those feet which had carried him to the house -of Caiaphas—with those hands which, through Judas’ fault, -were to be nailed to the cross on the following day. And -when, in the red light of the flickering lanterns and the flashing -of swords, Judas, under the dark shadow of the olive -trees, came and kissed that face still wet with bloody sweat, -Jesus did not repel him, but said, “Friend, wherefore art thou -come?”</p> - -<p class='c006'><i>Friend!</i> It was the last time that Jesus spoke to Judas, and -even in that moment He would use none other than that -wonted word. Judas was not for Him the man of darkness -who came in the darkness to turn Him over to the guards, but -the friend, the same who a few hours before had been sitting -with Him before the dish of lamb and herbs, and had set his -lips to His cup: the same who, so many times in hours of -rest in leafy shade, or in the shadow of walls, had listened -with the others like a disciple, like a companion, like a friend, -like a brother, to the great words of the Promise. Jesus had -said at the Last Supper, “Woe unto that man by whom the -Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he -had not been born.” But now that the traitor was before -Him, that the treachery was complete, now that Judas had -added to that betrayal the outrage of the kiss laid on the lips -of Him who has commanded love for our enemies, He answered -him with the sweet and divine words of their habitual intercourse, -“Friend, wherefore art thou come?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Thus the testimony of Him who was betrayed increases our -bewilderment instead of raising the veil of the dreadful secret. -He knew that Judas was a thief and He gave him the purse: -He knew that Judas was evil and He confided to him a treasure -<span class='pageno' id='Page_286'>286</span>of truth infinitely more precious than all the money in the -universe: He knew that Judas was to betray Him and He made -him a participant of His divinity, offering him the mouthful -of bread and the sip of wine; He saw Judas leading His assailants -upon Him and He still addressed him as at first, as He -always had, with the holy name of friend.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“It had been good for that man if he had not been born.” -These words might have been, rather than a condemnation, -an exclamation of pity at the thought of a fate which could not -be escaped. If Judas hated Jesus, we see no signs that Jesus -was ever repelled by Judas, because Jesus knew that the base -bargain was necessary, as the weakness of Pilate was necessary, -the rage of Caiaphas, the insults of the soldiery, the timbers -and nails of the cross. He knew that Judas must needs do -what he did and He did not curse him, as He did not curse -the people who wished His death, or the hammer which drove -the nails into the cross. One prayer alone broke from him, -to beg Judas to shorten the dreadful agony, “That thou doest, -do quickly.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The mystery of Judas is doubly tied to the mystery of the -Redemption and we lesser ones shall never solve it.</p> - -<p class='c006'>No analogy can give us light. Joseph also was sold by one -of his brothers, who, like Iscariot, was called Judas, and was -sold to Ishmaelite merchants for twenty pieces of silver, but -Joseph, who prefigured Christ, was not sold to his enemies, -was not sold to be put to death: and as a compensation for -his betrayal, great good fortune was his and he became so -wealthy that he could enrich his father, and so generous that -he could pardon even his brothers.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus was not only betrayed, but sold, sold for a price, sold -for a small price, bought with coins. He was the object of -a bargain, a bargain struck and paid. Judas, the man of the -purse, the cashier, did not present himself as an accuser, did -not offer himself as a cut-throat, but as a merchant doing -business in blood. The Jews, who understood bartering for -blood, daily cutting the throats of victims, and quartering -them, butchers of the Most High, were the first and last customers -of Judas. The sale of Jesus was the first business -<span class='pageno' id='Page_287'>287</span>done by the merchant, just entering business; not very big -business, it must be admitted, but a real, true commercial -transaction, a valid contract of buying and selling, verbal, but -honestly lived up to by the contracting parties. If Jesus had -not been sold, something would have been lacking to the perfect -ignominy of His expiation: if He had been sold for more -money, for three hundred shekels instead of thirty, for gold -instead of silver, the ignominy would have been diminished, -slightly, but still diminished. It had been destined to all eternity -that He should be bought, but bought with a small sum. -In order that an infinite, supernatural but communicable value -should be made available to men, it was needful to buy it with -a small sum, and with a sum of metal, which has no real value. -Did Jesus bought by others not do the same, He who wished -to redeem with the blood of only one man all the blood shed -on the earth from the days of Cain to Caiaphas?</p> - -<p class='c006'>And if He had been sold as a slave, as so many living souls -were sold in those days in the public places, if He had been -sold as redeemable property, as human capital, as a living tool -for work, the ignominy would have been almost nothing, and -the Redemption put off. But He was sold as the calf is sold -to the butcher, as the innocent animals which the butcher buys -to kill, to sell again, to distribute in morsels to flesh-eaters. -The sacred butcher, Caiaphas, never in his most successful -days had a victim so prodigious. For more than two thousand -years Christians have been fed on that victim, and it is still -intact, and those who feed are not satiated.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Every one of us has contributed his quota, an infinitesimal -quota, to buy that victim from Judas. We have all contributed -towards the sum for which the blood of the Redeemer was -bought: Caiaphas was only our agent. The field of Aceldama, -bought with the price of blood, is our inheritance, our property. -And this field has grown mysteriously larger, has spread over -half the face of the earth: whole populous cities, paved, lighted, -well-ordered cities, of shops and brothels, shine resplendent on -it from north to south. And that the mystery should be even -greater, Judas’ money, also multiplied by the betrayals of so -many centuries, by the accumulation of interest, has become -<span class='pageno' id='Page_288'>288</span>incalculably great. Nothing is so fruitful and fecund as blood. -The statisticians, those soothsayers of modern days, can bear -witness to the fact that all the courts of the Temple could -not contain the money engendered from that day to this -by those thirty pieces of silver cast down there in a delirium -of remorse, by the man who sold his God.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE MAN WITH THE PITCHER</h3> -<p class='c005'>The bargain was struck, the price paid, the buyers were -impatient to finish the transaction. They had said “before the -Feast day.” The great feast day of the Passover fell on a -Saturday and this was Thursday.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus had but one more day of freedom, the last day.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Before leaving His friends, those who were to abandon Him -that night, He wished once more to dip His bread in the -same platter with them. Before the Syrian soldiery should -have spit upon Him, before He should be defiled by the Jewish -filth, He wished to kneel down and wash the feet of those who -until the day of their death were to travel all the roads of the -earth to tell the story of His death. Before the blood dropped -from His hands, His feet, His chest, He wished to give the -first fruits to those who were to be one soul with Him until -the end. Before suffering thirst, nailed upon the cross, He -wished to drink a cup of wine with His companions. This last -evening before His death was to be like an anticipation of the -banquet of the Kingdom.</p> - -<p class='c006'>On the evening of Thursday, the first day of unleavened -bread, the Disciples asked Him, “Where wilt thou that we go -and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The Son of Man, poorer than the foxes, had no home of -His own. He had left His home in Nazareth forever. The -home of Simon of Capernaum, which had been in the early -days like His own, was far away; and the home of Mary -and Martha in Bethany, where He was almost Master, was too -far outside the city.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He had only enemies in Jerusalem or shame-faced friends: -<span class='pageno' id='Page_289'>289</span>Joseph of Arimathea was to receive Him as his guest only the -next evening, in the dark cave, the banquet-hall of worms.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But a condemned man on his last day has a right to any -favor he may ask. All the houses of Jerusalem were rightfully -His. The Father would give Him the house best suited to -shelter His last joy. And He sent two Disciples with this -mysterious command, “Go ye into the city, and there shall -meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water; follow him. And -wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the good man of the -house, the Master saith, My time is at hand; where is the -guest chamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? -And he will show you a large upper room furnished -and prepared: there make ready for us.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>It has been believed that the master of that house was a -friend of Jesus and that they had arranged this beforehand. -But that cannot be. Jesus would have sent the two Disciples -straight to him, giving his name, and would not have had recourse -to the following of the man with the pitcher.</p> - -<p class='c006'>There were many men on the morning of that feast day who -must have been coming up from Shiloah with pitchers of water. -The two Disciples were to follow the first one whom they saw -before them. They did not know why they were not to stop -him instead of going after him to see where he went in. His -master, since he had a servant, certainly was not a poor man, -and in his house, as in all those of prosperous people, there -would certainly be a room suitable for serving a supper, and -he would know at least by hearsay who “the Master” was. -In those days at Jerusalem there was little talk of anything -else. The request was one which could not be refused. “The -Master saith, My time is at hand.” The time which was -“His” was the hour of death. No one could shut out from his -house a man at the point of death, who wished to satisfy his -hunger for the last time. The Disciples set out, found the man -with the pitcher, entered the house, talked with the master, -prepared there what was necessary for the supper: lamb cooked -on the spit, round loaves without leaven, bitter herbs, red -sauce, the wine of thanksgiving, and warm water. They set -<span class='pageno' id='Page_290'>290</span>the couches and pillows about the table and spread over it -the white cloth. On the cloth they set the few dishes, the -candelabra, the pitcher full of wine, and one cup, one cup only -to which all were to set their lips. They forgot nothing: both -were experienced in this preparation. From childhood up, in -their home beside the lake, they had watched, wide-eyed, the -preparations for the most heart-warming feast of the year. -And it was not the first time since they had been with Him -whom they loved, that they had thus eaten all together of the -feast of the Passover. But for that last day—and perhaps -their dull minds had at last understood the dreadful truth that -it was really the last—for this last supper which all the thirteen -were to have together, for this Passover which was the last -for Jesus and the last valid Passover for old Judaism because -a new covenant was about to begin for all countries and all -nations: for this festal banquet which was a memorial of life, -and a warning of death, the Disciples performed those humble -menial tasks with a new tenderness, with that pensive joy -that almost brings tears.</p> - -<p class='c006'>With the setting of the sun, the other ten came with Jesus -and placed themselves around the table, now in readiness. All -were silent as if heavy-hearted with a presentiment which they -were afraid to see reflected in their companions’ eyes. They -remembered the supper in Simon’s house, almost funereal, -the odor of the nard, the woman and her endless weeping, and -Christ’s words on that evening, and His words of those last -days; the repeated warnings of ignominy and of the end; the -signs of hatred increasing about them, and the indications, now -very plain, of the conspiracy, which with all its torches was -about to come out from the darkness.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But two of them—for opposite reasons—were more oppressed, -more moved than the others: the two for whom this -was the last of their lives, the two who were about to die: -Christ and Judas, the one sold and the seller; the Son of God -and the abortion of Satan.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Judas had finished his bargain, he had the thirty pieces of -silver on his person wrapped tightly so that they would not -clink. But he knew no peace. The Enemy had entered into -<span class='pageno' id='Page_291'>291</span>him, but perhaps the friend of Christ was not yet dead in his -heart. To see Him there in the midst of His friends, calm but -with the pensive expression of the man who is the only one -who knows a secret, who is aware of a crime, a betrayal; to see -Him, still at liberty in the company of those who loved Him, -still alive, all the blood still in His veins under the delicate -protection of the skin—and yet those bargainers who had paid -the price refused to wait any longer, the affair was arranged -for that very night!—and they were only waiting for Judas to -act. But suppose Jesus, who must know all, had denounced -him to the eleven? And suppose they, to save their Master, -had thrown themselves on Judas to bind him, perhaps to kill -him? Judas began to feel that to betray Christ to His death -was perhaps not enough to save himself from the death, which -he so greatly feared and yet which was near upon him.</p> - -<p class='c006'>All these thoughts darkened his somber face, more and more -blackly, and at times terrified him. While the more active -ones busied themselves with the last arrangements for serving -the supper, he looked furtively at the eyes of Jesus—clear -eyes scarcely veiled with the loving sadness of parting—as if -to read there the revocation of his fate, so close at hand. Jesus -broke the silence: “With desire I have desired to eat this -Passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will -not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom -of God.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Such great love had not up to that moment been expressed -by any words of Christ to His friends: such a longing for -the day of perfect union, for the feast, so ancient and destined -to so great a sublimation. They knew that He loved them; -but until this evening their poor bruised hearts had not felt -how poignant His love was. He knew that this evening was -the last respite of rest and cheer before His death, and yet He -had desired it ardently as though it were a boon, with that -fervor which is the mark of passionate souls, souls on fire, -loving souls, those who battle for the love of victory, who endure -all things for a high prize. He had ardently desired to -eat this Passover with them. He had eaten others: He had -eaten with them thousands of other times, seated in boats, in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_292'>292</span>their friends’ houses, in strangers’ houses, in rich men’s houses, -or seated beside the road, in mountain pastures, in the shadow -of bushes on the shore; and yet for so long He had ardently -desired to eat with them this supper which was the last! The -blue skies of happy Galilee, the soft winds of the spring just -passed, the sun of the last Passover, the waving branches of -His triumphant entry, did He think of them now? Now He -saw only His first friends and His last friends, the little group -destined to be diminished by treachery, and dispersed by cowardice. -Still, for a time they were there about Him in the -same room, at the same table, sharing with Him the same -overwhelming grief, but sharing also the light of a supernatural -certainty.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Up to that day He had suffered, but not for Himself; He -had suffered because of His ardent desire for this nocturnal -hour, when the air was already heavy with the tragedy of farewells. -And, when He had thus told them how great was His -love, Christ’s face, soon to be buffeted, shone with that noble -sadness which is so strangely like joy.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE WASHING OF THE FEET</h3> -<p class='c005'>Now that He was on the point of being snatched from those -whom He loved, He wished to give them a supreme proof of -this love. From the time they had begun to share His life, -He had always loved them, all of them, even Judas: He always -loved them with a love surpassing all other affections, a love -so bountiful that their narrow hearts could not always contain -it; but now about to leave them, knowing that He was -to be with them again only when transfigured after death, all -His hitherto unexpressed affection overflowed in a great wave -of tender sadness.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Before beginning the supper where He was the head of -the family, He wished to be kinder than a Father, humbler -than a servant. He was their King, and He would humble -Himself to the service performed by slaves: He was their -Master and He would put Himself below the level of His -disciples; He was the Son of God and He would accept a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_293'>293</span>position despised of men: He was the first and He would kneel -before His inferiors as if He had been the last. So many -times, to rebuke their pride and jealousy, He had told them -that the Master must serve his servants, that the Son of Man -was come to serve, that the first must be last. But His words -had not yet been assimilated by those souls, since even up -to the last, they continued to quarrel for priority and precedence.</p> - -<p class='c006'>For raw, untrained minds, action has more meaning than -words. Jesus prepared Himself to repeat, with the symbolic -aspect of a humiliating service, one of His most important instructions. -John tells us, “He riseth from supper, and laid -aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. -After that he poureth water into a bason and began to wash -the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith -he was girded.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Only a mother or a slave would have done what Jesus did -that evening. The mother would have done it for her little -children, but for no one else: the slave for his masters, but -for no others. The mother would have served joyfully because -of her love, the slave would have been resigned through obedience. -But the Twelve were neither Christ’s children nor His -masters. Son of Man and of God, His love was above that of -all earthly mothers,—King of a kingdom existing in the future, -but more legitimate than all existing monarchies, He was the -unrecognized Master of all masters.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And yet He was willing to wash and wipe those twenty-four -callous and sweaty feet, in order to engrave on those unwilling -hearts, still swollen with vanity, the truth which His lips had -so long vainly pronounced; “And whosoever shall exalt himself -shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall -be exalted.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>So after He had washed their feet and taken His garments -and was set down again He said unto them, “Know ye what -I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye -say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have -washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. -For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have -<span class='pageno' id='Page_294'>294</span>done to you. Verily, verily I say unto you, The servant is -not greater than his lord; neither is he that is sent greater -than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye -if ye do them.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus had not only given them a memory of complete humility, -but an example of perfect love. “A new commandment -I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, -that ye also love one another. Greater love hath no man than -this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are -my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>But this action, with its deep meaning hidden under the -appearance of menial service, signifies purification as well as -love. “He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, -but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The eleven, although not of lofty character, had some right -to this cleansing service from Jesus. For many months those -feet had trodden the dusty, muddy, filthy roads of Judea to -follow Him who brought life; and after His death, year by -year, they were to tread longer and harder roads in countries -the very names of which they then did not know; and foreign -clay would soil the sandaled feet of those who were to go as -pilgrims and strangers to repeat the call of the Crucified -One.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>TAKE—EAT</h3> -<p class='c005'>These thirteen men had apparently come together to perform -the old social rite in memory of the liberation of their -people from Egyptian slavery. They seemed to be thirteen -devout men of the people, waiting about a white table redolent -of roasted lamb and wine, for the signal to begin an intimate -and festal supper.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But this was only in appearance. In reality it was a vigil -of leave-taking and separation. Two of these thirteen, He into -whom God had entered and he into whom Satan had entered, -were to die terrible deaths before the next nightfall. The very -next day the others were to be dispersed, like reapers at the -first downfall of hail.</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_295'>295</span>But this supper which was the viaticum of an ending, was -also a wonderful beginning. In the midst of these thirteen -Jews the observance of the Jewish Passover was about to be -transfigured into something incomparably higher and more -universal, into something unequaled and ineffable; into the -great Christian mystery. The simple eating of bread was to -become actual communion with God.</p> - -<p class='c006'>For the Jews, Easter is only the feast in memory of their -flight from Egypt. They never forgot their victorious -escape from their slavery, accompanied by so many prodigies, -so manifestly under God’s protection, although they were to -bear on their necks the yokes of other captivities, and to -undergo the shame of other deportations. Exodus prescribed -an annual festivity which took the name of the Passover; -Pasch, the paschal feast. It was a sort of banquet intended -to bring to mind the hastily prepared food of the fugitives. -A lamb or a goat should be roasted over the fire, that is, -cooked in the simplest and quickest way; bread without leaven, -because there was no time to let yeast rise. And they were -to eat of it with their loins girded, their staves in their hands, -eating in haste, like people about to set out upon a journey. -The bitter herbs were the poor wild grasses snatched up as -they went along by the fugitives, to dull the hunger of their -interminable wanderings. The red sauce, where the bread -was dipped, was in memory of the bricks which the Jewish -slaves were obliged to bake for the Pharaohs. The wine was -something added: the joy of escape, the hope of the land of -promise, the exaltation of thanksgiving to the Eternal.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus changed nothing in the order of this ancient feast. -After the prayer He had them pass from hand to hand the -cup of wine, calling on God’s name. Then He gave the bitter -herbs to each one and filled a second time the cup which was -to be passed around the table for each to sip.</p> - -<p class='c006'>What taste did that wine have in the mouth of the traitor, -when Jesus in that deep silence pronounced those words of -longing and hope which were not for Judas, but only for those -who could ascend to the eternal banquet of the Father: Take -this and divide it among yourselves, “but I say unto you I -<span class='pageno' id='Page_296'>296</span>will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that -day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>A sad farewell; but nevertheless the confirming of a solemn -promise. Perhaps they felt only the promise, and perhaps -there flashed before their poor men’s eyes a vision of the great -Heavenly feast. They did not believe that they would have -a long time to mourn: after that other vintage-time, after -the fruit of the vine had fermented, and the sweet wine had -been poured into the flasks, the Master would return, as He -had promised, to summon them to the great wedding of Heaven -and Earth, to the everlasting banquet. They must have -thought, “We are men growing old, elderly men, more than -mature, within sight of old age; if the Bridegroom tarries too -long He will not find us among the living, and those who have -believed Him will be mocked at.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Comforted by the certainty of an early and glorious reunion, -they chanted together, as the custom was, the Psalm of the first -Thanksgiving, a chant of praise to the Father from Him who -served Him. “Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the -Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob; which turned the -rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.—He -raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy -out of the dung-hill; that he may set him with princes, even -with the princes of his people.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>These old words, colored at that moment with a new meaning, -were sung with a joyful conviction of their truth. They, -too, the Disciples, were poor men and they would be raised -out of the dust of poverty by the intercession of the Son -of God: they too were poor men and He would soon raise -them out of the misery of their beggary, to make them masters -of inconsumable wealth.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Then Jesus, who saw how insufficiently they understood, -took the loaves, blessed them, broke them and, as He gave -them each a piece, set the dreadful truth before their eyes. -“Take, eat; This is my body which is given for you: this -do in remembrance of me.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>So He was not to return as quickly as they thought! After -His brief stay during the Resurrection, His second coming was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_297'>297</span>to be delayed, so long that it might be possible to forget Him -and His death.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“This do in remembrance of me.” The breaking of bread at -the common table among those who await Him shall be the signal -of a new brotherhood. Every time that you break bread, -I will not only be present among you, but by that means -you will be intimately united with me. Because, as this bread -is broken in my hands, my body will be broken by my enemies. -As this bread eaten to-night will be your food until to-morrow, -my body which I will offer in death to all men shall -satisfy the hunger of those who believe in me, until the day -when the great granaries of the Kingdom shall be open to all, -when you shall be angels in the presence of your Father whom -you shall have found again. I will leave you therefore not -merely a memory; I will be present with a mystic but real -presence in every particle of bread consecrated to me and -this bread shall be a living necessary food for souls, and my -promise to be with you shall be fulfilled till time shall be no -more.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In the meantime, this evening, eat this unleavened bread, -this bread made by the hand of man, made of water and grain, -these loaves which have felt the heat of the oven and which -my hands, not yet cold in death, have divided amongst you—and -which my love has changed into my flesh so that it may -be your everlasting food. It is sweet to the heart of a friend -to see his friends eating bread at his table, bread born of the -earth, bread which was green blades with flowering lilies among -them, and then the ripe ear bending down the tall stalk with -its golden weight. You know how many efforts, how much -anxiety, how much trouble, are contained in a piece of bread; -how the great oxen cultivated the earth, how the countrymen -threw great handfuls of the grain into the fallow land in -winter, how the first blade softly penetrated the damp darkness -of the earth, how the reapers all day long cut down the ripened -stalks, and then the sheaves were bound, and carried to the -threshing floor and beaten so that the ears let fall the grain. -The workers must wait for a little wind, neither too gentle -nor too violent, to winnow out the good grain from the chaff. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_298'>298</span>Then they grind it, sift out the bran from it, make a dough -with warm water, heat the oven with dry grass or twigs. All -this must be done with love and patience before the father -may break a piece with his children, the friend with his friends, -the host with strangers. Plowers, sowers, reapers, winnowers, -millers and bakers sweat in the heat of the sun, in the heat -of the oven, before the golden wheat can be transformed into -well-baked golden bread for our table.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Truly it is sweet to eat good wholesome bread with friends: -the soft white crumb, covered with the crisp crust. So many -times with me you have begged bread in poor men’s houses; -and all your lives you are to beg it in my name: you will -have the moldy hard crusts which dogs refuse, the dry bits -left at the bottom of the dish, the crusts gnawed by children -and old people which they have let fall upon the hearth. But -you know want, and nights of fasting and the pale face of -poverty. But you are strong; you have the powerful jaws of -those who eat hard bread. You will not lose courage, if no -place is made for you at the tables of the well-to-do.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But verily it is infinitely sweeter for Him who loves you -to transform the bread which comes from the hard earth and -from hard labor into the Body which will be eternally offered -for you, into the Body which every day will come down from -Heaven as the visible means of grace.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Remember the prayer which I taught you: “Give us this -day our daily bread—” For to-day and for always your -bread is this bread, my Body. He shall never know hunger -who shall eat my Body, which every morning throughout endless -centuries shall be changed into endless morsels of transubstantiated -bread. But whosoever shall refuse it, shall be -anhungered to all eternity.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>WINE AND BLOOD</h3> -<p class='c005'>As soon as they had eaten the lamb with the bread and -the bitter herb, Jesus filled the common cup for the third -time and gave it to the Apostle nearest Him, “Drink ye all of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_299'>299</span>it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed -for many.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>His blood, mixed with sweat, had not yet fallen on the -ground, under the olives, and had not yet dropped from the -nails upon Golgotha. But His desire to give life with His -life, to redeem with His suffering all the sorrows of the world, -to transmit at least a part of His substance to His immediate -heirs; this desire to give Himself up wholly for those whom -He loves is so great that from this moment on, He feels the -immolation complete and the gift possible. If bread is the -body, blood is in a certain sense the soul. The Lord said to -Noah: “But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood -thereof, shall ye not eat.” With blood as visibly representing -life, the God of Abraham and of Jacob had established the -covenant with His own people. When Moses had received -the law, he had sacrificed oxen, took half of the blood and put -it in basins, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar: -“And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, -and said, Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord -hath made with you concerning all these words.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>But after a trial of many centuries, God had announced -by the voice of the prophets that the Old Covenant was obliterated -and abrogated, and that another was henceforth necessary. -The blood of animals sprinkled upon stubborn heads -and upon blaspheming faces had lost its virtue; another Blood, -purer and more precious, was needed for the New Covenant, -for the Last Covenant of the Father with His perjured children. -In many ways He had already tried to lead His first-born towards -the narrow door of salvation; the rain of fire on Sodom, -the washings of the waters of the flood, the Egyptian slavery, -hunger in the desert, had terrified them without reforming -them.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And now there had come a Liberator at once more divine -and more human than the old Captain of Exodus. Moses -also saved a people, spoke upon a mountain, announced a -promised land. But Jesus saves not only His people, but -all peoples; writes His laws not upon stone, but upon human -<span class='pageno' id='Page_300'>300</span>hearts; and His promised land is not a country of rich grazing-land -and vineyards, with great clusters of grapes, but a Kingdom -of holiness and eternal joy. Moses had killed a man, -and Jesus brought the dead to life; Moses changed water -into blood and Jesus, after having changed water into wine -at the wedding banquet, changed wine into blood, into His -own blood, at the melancholy last supper of His marriage with -death. Moses died full of years and honors on a solitary -mountain top, glorified by his people; and Jesus was to die -among the insults of those whom He loved.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The blood of oxen, the impure blood of earthly animals, -involuntary and inferior victims, is no longer sufficient. The -New Covenant was established that night with the words of -Christ, who under the appearance of wine shed His own blood -and His own soul: “This cup is the new testament in my -blood, which is shed for you.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>It was shed not merely for the Twelve who were there; -they represent in His eyes all of humanity alive at that time -and all those to be born thereafter. The blood which was to -be shed the next day, on Golgotha, was real blood, actual, warm -blood congealing on the cross in clots which all the tears shed -by Christians can never wash away. But the blood of the -Last Supper symbolizes a soul which gave itself up to make -over into His own likeness, the souls shut up in the bodies -of men: which was given to those who asked for it and to -those who fled away from it, which had suffered for the sake -of those who had received it and for those who had blasphemed -it. This baptism of blood which came after the baptism of -water by John, after the baptism of tears by the women of -Bethany, after the baptism of spitting by the Jews and by -the Romans, this baptism of blood, red as the baptism of -fire announced by the prophet of fire, and mixed with the -tears shed by women over His blood-stained body, this -is the greatest sacrament, revealed to His betrayers, by Him -who was betrayed.</p> - -<p class='c006'>I have broken bread for you, daily bread for which you -pray every day to the Father, as my body will be broken -to-morrow, and I offer you now my blood in this wine which -<span class='pageno' id='Page_301'>301</span>I drink for the last time on earth. If you always do this in -memory of me, you will feel no hunger, no thirst. There -is no food better than wheat-bread, and no drink better than -wine, but the bread and wine which I have given you to-night -will feed you and quench your thirst for all your lives, by -virtue of my sacrifice and of that love which makes me seek -for death and which reigns beyond death.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Ulysses advised Achilles to give the Achaians, before they -went into battle, “bread and wine that they should have -strength and courage.” For the Greek the strength of his -members came from bread and homicidal courage from wine. -Wine was to intoxicate men so that they should destroy each -other and bread was to strengthen their arms so that they -could battle without weakness. The bread given by Christ -does not strengthen the flesh, but the soul, and His wine -gives that divine intoxication which is Love, that Love which -the Apostle, scandalizing the descendants of Ulysses, was to -call in his Epistle to the Corinthians, “the foolishness of God.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Judas also ate that bread and swallowed that wine, partook -of that body, in which he had trafficked, drank that blood -which he was to help shed, but he had not the courage to -confess his infamy, to throw himself down weeping at the feet -of Him who would have wept with him. Then the only -friend remaining to Judas warned him, “Verily I say unto -you, that one of you shall betray me.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The eleven were capable of leaving Him alone in the midst -of Caiaphas’ guards, but they never could have brought themselves -to sell Him for money, and at this they shuddered. -Every one looked in his neighbor’s face, almost dreading to -see in his companion the livid look of guilt, and all, one after -the other, said, “Lord, is it I?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Even Judas, hiding his increasing confusion under the appearance -of offended astonishment, was able to force his voice -to say, “Lord, is it I?” But Jesus, who the next day would -not defend Himself, would not even bring an accusation and -only repeated the sad prophecy in more definite words, “He -that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall -betray me.” And while they all still gazed at Him in painful -<span class='pageno' id='Page_302'>302</span>doubt, for the third time He insisted, ... “The hand of him -that betrayeth me is with me on the table.” He added no -more, but to follow the old customs up to the last, He filled the -cup for the fourth time and gave it to them to drink. And -once more the thirteen voices rang out in the old hymn, the -“great hallel” which ended the liturgy of the Passover. Jesus -repeated the vigorous words of the Psalmist which were like -a prophetic funeral oration for Him, pronounced before His -death. “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear; what can -man do unto me?... They compassed me about like bees: -they are quenched as the fire of thorns.... I shall not die, -but live.... The Lord hath chastened me sore: but he hath -not given me over unto death. Open to me the gates of -righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord:... -The stone which the builders refused is become the headstone -of the corner.... Bind the sacrifice with cords, even -unto the horns of the altar.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The victim was ready and the next day the inhabitants of -Jerusalem were to see a new altar of wood and iron. But -perhaps the Disciples, sleepy and confused, did not understand -the new meaning both melancholy and triumphant of -the old canticles.</p> - -<p class='c006'>When the hymn was ended they left the room and the -house, at once. As soon as they had emerged from the house -Judas disappeared into the night. The remaining eleven -silently followed Jesus, who, as was His wont, made His way -to the Mount of Olives.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>ABBA FATHER</h3> -<p class='c005'>On the Mount there was a garden, and a place where olives -were crushed, which gave it its name, Gethsemane. Jesus -and His friends had been spending the nights there, either -to avoid the odors and noise of the great city, distasteful to -them, country-bred as they were, or because they were afraid -of being treacherously captured in the midst of their enemies’ -houses.</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_303'>303</span>And when He was at the place, He said to His disciples, -“Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>But He was so heavy-hearted that He dreaded being alone. -He took with Him the three whom He loved the best, Simon -Peter, James and John. And when they had gone a little way -from the others, He began to be sorrowful and very heavy. -“My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death; tarry ye -here, and watch with me.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>If they answered Him no one knows what they said. But -we know that they did not comfort Him with the words which -come from the heart when it shares the suffering of a loved one, -for He withdrew Himself from them alone, and went further -on, to pray. He fell on the ground on His face and prayed, -saying, “Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; O -my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>He was alone now, alone in the night, alone in the midst -of men, alone before God, and He could show His weakness -without shame. After all, he was a Man, too, a man of flesh -and blood, a living, breathing man, who knew that His destruction -was at hand, that His body would be destroyed, that -His flesh would be pierced, that His blood would be poured -out on the ground.</p> - -<p class='c006'>This was the second temptation. After the defeat of Satan -in the desert, the Evangelist says: “he departed from him -for a season.” He had left Him till this moment. Now He -was in a new desert, terribly alone in the darkness, more alone -than in the desert where the wild beasts served Him. -Cloaked and learned wild beasts were at hand now, but only -to tear Him to pieces. In that terrible nocturnal desert, Satan -returned to tempt his enemy; at first he had promised Christ, -kingdoms, victories, and prodigies, he had tried to draw Him -by the bait of power. Now, on the contrary, he counted on -His weakness. At the beginning of His life, Christ burning -with confident love had not fallen into his trap, but Christ -near His end, abandoned by those nearest to Him, encompassed -by His enemies, might be conquered by fear, even though He -had risen above cupidity. The prayer to the Father was at -<span class='pageno' id='Page_304'>304</span>the instigation of Satan, was a beginning of cowardice. Jesus -knew He must die, that His death was necessary, that He had -come to give life by His death, to confirm by His death that -greater life which He announced. He had made no effort to -avoid death, He had been willing to die for His friends, for -all men, for those who did not know Him, for those who -hated Him, for those not yet born. He had predicted His -death to His friends, had already given them the rewards of -His death, the bread of His body, the blood of His soul; and -He had no right to ask the Father that the cup might pass -from His lips or that His death might be delayed. He had -written His words on the dust of the public place, and the -wind had quickly obliterated them. He had written them on -the hearts of a few men, but He knew how easily effaced are -words written on the hearts of men. If His truth were to -remain forever on the earth so that no one could ever forget -it He must write it with His blood. Only with the blood in -our veins can truth be written permanently on the pages of -earth so that it will not fade under men’s footsteps or under -the rainfall of centuries. The Cross is the rigorously necessary -consequence of the Sermon on the Mount. He who brings -love is given over to hatred, and He can only conquer hatred -by accepting condemnation. Everything must be paid for, the -good at a higher price than evil; and the greatest good, which -is love, must be paid for by the greatest evil in men’s power, -assassination.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But all that faith and revelation tell us of His divinity rises -up against the idea that He can ever have been subjected to -temptation. If the torture and the end of His body had really -terrified Him, was there not yet time to save Himself? For -many days He had known that they were trying to take Him -captive, and even on that night there were ways of escaping -the pack of hounds ready to fall upon Him. He would have -been safe if, either alone or with His most faithful friends, -He had taken the road back to the Jordan, and thence by -hidden paths have passed across Perea into the Tetrarchy of -Philip, where He had already taken refuge to escape the ill-will -of Antipas. The Jewish police were so few and primitive -<span class='pageno' id='Page_305'>305</span>that they could scarcely have found Him. The fact that He -did not do this, did not flee, shows that He did not try to -escape death and the horrors that were to accompany it. From -the point of view of our coarse human logic His death was a -suicide—a divine suicide by the hand of others, not unlike -that of the heroes of antiquity who fell upon the sword of a -friend or a slave. What sort of a life would He have had -after such a flight? To grow old obscurely, the timorous master -of a hidden sect, to die at the last, worn out, the death-rattle -in His throat like any other man! Better, infinitely -better to finish the sowing of the Gospel on the Cross and to -water it with His blood. He had spoken out His truths and -now, that those truths should be everlastingly remembered He -must needs link with them the horror of His unforgettable -death. Perhaps this blood, like a stinging drink, would arouse -His disciples forever.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But if the cup that Jesus wished to pass from Him was -not fear of death, what else could it have been? Betrayal by -him whom He had chosen and loved, by the disciple whose -hunger He had fed that very evening with His body, whose -thirst He had quenched with His soul? Or the denial close -at hand of the other disciple in whom after his cry at Cæsarea -He had the greatest hope? Or the desertion of all the others -who would flee like scattered lambs when the wolf sets his -fangs into their mother’s body? Or was it grief for that greater -denial, the refusal of His own people, the Jews, of the people -from whom He was born and who now despised Him like one -born out of His time, and suppressed Him like a child of -shame, and did not know that the blood of Him who came -to save them would never be wiped from their foreheads? -Perhaps in the darkness of this last vigil He had a glimpse -of the fate which would befall His children later on, the -bewilderment of the first saints, the dissensions between them, -the desertions, the martyrdoms, the massacres, and after the -hour of triumph the weakness of those who should have guided -the multitude, the irrepressible schisms, the dismemberment -of the Church, the wild dreaming of heretical pride, the growth -of innumerable sects, the confusion of false prophets, the boldness -<span class='pageno' id='Page_306'>306</span>of rebellious reformers, the simony and dissoluteness of -those who deny Him in their actions while glorifying Him in -word and gesture: the persecutions of Christians by Christians, -the neglect of the lukewarm and the arrogant, the dominion of -new Pharisees and new Scribes, distorting and betraying His -teachings, the misunderstanding of His words, when they fall -into the hands of the hair-splitters, weighers of the immaterial, -separators of the inseparable, who, with learned vanity, eviscerate -and cut to pieces the living things they pretend to bring -to life.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The cup that Jesus wished to pass from Him might therefore -have been not at all any wrong done to Him, but wrongs -committed by others, those alive then and close to Him, or -those not yet born and far-distant. What He was asking from -His Father might have been not His own safety from death, -but safety from the evils, which, then and later, were to overwhelm -those who claim to believe in Him. The origin of His -sadness would have been thus not fear for Himself, but love -for others.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But no one will ever know the true meaning of the words -cried out by the Son to the Father, in the black loneliness of -the Olives. A great French Christian called the story of this -night the “Mystery of Jesus.” The “Mystery of Judas” is -the only human mystery in the Gospels; the prayer of Gethsemane -is the most inscrutable, divine mystery of the story -of Christ.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>BLOOD AND SWEAT</h3> -<p class='c005'>And when He had prayed, He turned back to find the Disciples, -who were perhaps waiting for Him to return. But the -three had gone to sleep. Crouching on the ground, wrapped -as best they could in their cloaks, Peter, James and John, the -faithful, the specially chosen, had allowed themselves to be -overcome with sleep. The obscure apprehensions, the repeated -agitations of those last few days, the oppressive melancholy -of the Supper, accompanied by words so grave, by presentiments -so sad, had plunged them into that prostration which -<span class='pageno' id='Page_307'>307</span>is more like torpor than sleep. The voice of the Master—who -of us has the spiritual acuteness to realize that the accent of -that voice in the sinister black silence is speaking also to our -own hearts now?—called them: “What, could ye not watch -with me one hour? Watch and pray that ye enter not into -temptation. The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak.” -Did they hear these words in their sleep? Did they answer, -shamefaced, putting their hands to their confused eyes which -could not bear even the dim light of the night? What could -they answer, startled, only half awake, to the Sleepless One -who was to sleep no more?</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus went away again, more heavy-hearted than ever. Was -the temptation against which He had put them on guard in -them alone or also in Him? Was it the temptation to escape? -To deny Himself as others were to deny Him? To oppose -violence to violence? To pay with the lives of others for -His own life, or to beg once more with a more despairing -supplication that the peril might be averted from His head?</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus was once more alone, more alone than ever, in a -solitude complete as infinite desolation. Until that hour He -might have thought that there, close at hand, His loved friends -were keeping vigil with Him. Now they had reached the limit -of their endurance and had deserted Him spiritually before -deserting Him bodily.</p> - -<p class='c006'>They had left Him alone; they were not men enough to -grant Him the last favor which He asked, they who had received -so many. In return for His blood, and His soul, for -all His promises, for all His love, He had asked one thing -only, that they should not fall asleep. And this small favor -had not been granted Him. And yet He was suffering and -struggling at that moment for the sake of those who slept. -He who gave all was to receive nothing. During that night -of refusals His every prayer was denied; both His Father and -His fellow-men refused Him.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Satan also had disappeared into the darkness which is his -own kingdom, and Christ was alone, utterly alone, alone as -men are alone who raise themselves above other men, who suffer -in the darkness to bring light to all. Every hero is always -<span class='pageno' id='Page_308'>308</span>the only one awake in a world of sleepers, like the pilot watching -over his ship in the solitude of the ocean and of the night, -while his companions rest.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus was the most solitary of all these eternally solitary -souls. Everything slept about Him. The city slept, its white, -shadow-checkered mass sprawling beyond the Kedron; and in -all the houses, in all the cities in the world, the blind race of -ephemeral men were sleeping. The only ones awake at that -hour were perhaps some woman waiting for the call of her -lover; perhaps a thief in ambush in the dark, his hand on the -hilt of his knife; perhaps a philosopher pondering the problem, -“Does God exist?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>But the leaders of the Jews and their guards were not asleep -that night. Those who should have defended Jesus, who might -at least have consoled Him, those who claimed to love Him -and who in their way at times did really love Him, were -stretched in sleep. But those who hated Him, who wished to -kill Him, did not sleep. Caiaphas was not asleep and the only -Disciple awake at that moment was Judas.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Until the arrival of Judas His Master was alone with His -death-like sadness. That He might feel less alone He began -to pray to His Father, and once more those imploring words -rushed to His lips. The effort to keep them back, the conflict -which convulsed His whole being—because the divinity which -was in Him accepted joyfully what it had willed, while the -ruddy clay which clothed it shuddered—this human and superhuman -effort brought to Him at last the victory. He was -racked with suffering, but He was triumphant; He was utterly -spent, but He had conquered.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The spirit had once more overcome the flesh; but from -now on His body was merely a trunk which bled and died. -The tension of the terrible struggle had done so great a violence -to all that was earthly in Him that the sweat stood out on -Him, as though He had achieved an impossible task, had endured -the unendurable. The sweat poured from all His person; -but not merely the natural sweat which runs down the -face of the man walking in the sun, or working in the fields or -raving in fever. The blood which He had promised to shed -<span class='pageno' id='Page_309'>309</span>for men was shed first on the grass of the garden of Gethsemane. -Great drops of blood mixed with sweat fell on the -earth as a first offering of His conquered flesh. It was the -beginning of liberation, almost a relief to that humanity which -was the greatest burden of His expiation.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Then from His lips wet with tears, wet with sweat, wet -with blood, arose a new prayer: “O my Father, if this cup -may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be -done. Not my will, but thine, be done.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Gone now was any trace of cowardly shrinking; the will, -that is the individual, abdicated in the obedience which alone -can assure the freedom of the universal. He is no longer a -man, but Man; the Man one with God, “I wish that which -Thou wisheth.” From that moment His victory over death -is assured, because he who gives himself wholly to the Eternal -cannot die. “For whosoever will save his life shall lose -it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>He stood up calmed, and turned back towards His Disciples. -His sad reproof had been vain; worn out and exhausted, the -three were again sleeping. But this time Jesus did not call -them. He had found a consolation greater than any which -they could give Him—and He kneeled down once more to repeat -to the Father those great words of abnegation, “Not my -will, but thine, be done.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>God was no longer to be asked to be the servant of man. -Up to that time men had asked Him to satisfy their particular -wishes in exchange for canticles and offerings. I wish for -prosperity, said the man who prayed, for safety, for strength, -for flowering fields, for the ruin of my enemies. But now -Christ, the Over-turner, has come to transpose the common -prayer, “Not what is pleasing to me, but what is pleasing to -Thee. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” Blessedness -can only come as a result of perfect harmony between -the sovereign will of the Father and the subordinate will of -man, as a result of the convergence and identity of those two -wills. What if the will of God give me into the hands of the -torturers and fastens me like an evil and malignant beast upon -two crossed beams of wood? If I believe in the Father as a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_310'>310</span>Father, I know that He loves me more than I could love myself, -and that He knows more than I could know, therefore -He can wish only for what is best for me even if that best to -human eyes seems the most dreadful evil; and I wish for what -the Father wills. If His foolishness is unimaginably more wise -than our wisdom, martyrdom given by Him will be incomparably -better than any earthly pleasures.</p> - -<p class='c006'>What if the Disciples slept? What if all men slept? Christ -was no longer alone. He was content to suffer, content to die. -He had found His peace under the hammer-stroke of anguish.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Now He can listen almost longingly for the footsteps of -Judas.</p> - -<p class='c006'>For a time He hears only the beating of His own heart, so -much calmer than at first, now that the horror is nearer. But -after some moments, He hears approaching the sound of -cautious shuffling, and there among the bushes which border -the road red flickerings of light appear and disappear in the -darkness. They are the servants of the assassins who are following -Iscariot along the path.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus turns to the Disciples, still asleep, “Behold the hour -is come; rise, let us go. Lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The eight other Disciples, sleeping farther away, are already -aroused by the noise, but have no time to answer the Master -because while He is still speaking the crowd comes up and -stops.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE HOUR OF DARKNESS</h3> -<p class='c005'>It was the rabble who swarmed around the Temple, paid -by the Sanhedrin; bunglingly made over for the time being -into warriors; sweepers, and door-keepers, the lower parasites -of the sanctuary, who had taken up swords in place of brooms -and keys. There were many of them, a great multitude, so -the Evangelists say, although they knew they were going out -against only twelve men, who had only two swords. It is not -credible that there were Roman soldiers among them and certainly -not “a captain,” as John says, an officer over a thousand -men. Caiaphas wished to make Christ a prisoner before he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_311'>311</span>presented Him to the procurator, and the few forces at his -disposition (the last vestiges of David’s army) with the addition -of some clients and relatives were enough to carry out -the far-from-dangerous capture.</p> - -<p class='c006'>This haphazard mob had come with torches and lanterns almost -as if out for an evening celebration. The pallid faces -of the disciples, the livid face of Judas seemed to flicker in -the red lights. Christ offered His face, stained with blood -but more luminous than the lights, to Judas’ kiss. “Friend, -wherefore art thou come? Betrayest thou the Son of Man -with a kiss?” He knew what Judas came to do, and He knew -that this kiss was the first of His tortures and the most unendurable. -This kiss was the signal for the guards who did -not know the delinquent by sight. “Whomsoever I shall kiss, -that same is He: take Him and lead Him away safely,” the -merchant of blood had told the rough crowd who followed him -as they came along the road. But that kiss was at once the -first and the most horrible sullying of those lips which had -pronounced the most heavenly words ever spoken here in the -inferno of our earth. The spitting, the buffeting, the blows of -the Jewish rabble and of the Roman soldiers, and the sponge -dipped in vinegar, were to be less intolerable than that kiss, the -kiss of a mouth which had called Him friend and Master, -which had drunk from His cup, which had eaten from His -dish.</p> - -<p class='c006'>As soon as the sign was given the boldest came up to their -enemy.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Whom seek ye?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Jesus of Nazareth.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“I am he.” He had scarcely said “I am he” when the -curs fell backward, either at the sound of His tranquil voice -or at the light of those divine eyes. But even at such a moment -Jesus took thought for His friends “I have told you that I -am He, if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>At the moment, profiting by the confusion of the guards, -Simon, coming suddenly to himself from his sleep and from -his panic, laid his hand to a sword and cut off the ear of -Malchus, a servant of Caiaphas. Peter on that night was full -<span class='pageno' id='Page_312'>312</span>of contradictory impulses; after the supper he had sworn that -no matter what happened he would never leave Jesus; then -in the garden he fell asleep and could not keep himself awake; -after that, tardily he set himself up as a militant defender; -and a little later he was to deny that he had ever known his -Master. Simon’s untimely and futile action was at once repudiated -by Christ: “Put up thy sword into the sheath, for -all they that take the sword shall perish by the sword. The -cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?” -And He offered His hands to the nearest rogues who made all -haste to tie them with the rope which they had brought. While -they were busy tying Him, the prisoner accused them of cowardice. -“Are ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and -staves to take me? When I was daily with you in the temple -ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour -and the power of darkness.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>He is the Light of the world, and the powers of darkness -seek to extinguish it; but they can obscure it only for a short -time, as on a July noon when the sun is suddenly covered -by a dark storm-cloud but an hour afterwards shines out -again, higher and more majestic than ever. The guards, eager -to return triumphantly and to receive their fees, did not trouble -to answer; they dragged Him by the rope towards the road -to Jerusalem as butchers drag the ox to the slaughter-house. -Then, confesses Matthew, “... all the disciples forsook him, -and fled.” Their Master forbade them to defend Him; instead -of blasting His enemies the Messiah offered His hands to be -bound; the Saviour was powerless to save Himself. What -could they do but disappear so that they might not also be -brought before those powers which yesterday they had boasted -of overthrowing, but which now, in the flickering of the lanterns -and the swords, seemed suddenly very formidable to their -distracted minds? And only two followed the infamous procession, -and they from a safe distance. We shall see them -later in the court-yard of Caiaphas’ house.</p> - -<p class='c006'>All this bustle awakened a young man who had been sleeping -in the house in the grove of olives. Inquisitive like all -young men, he did not take the time to dress, but wrapping -<span class='pageno' id='Page_313'>313</span>a sheet about him, stepped out to see what was happening. -The guards thought him a disciple who had not had time to -escape, and laid hands on him, but the young man, casting -off the sheet, left it in their hands and fled from them naked.</p> - -<p class='c006'>No one has ever known the identity of this mysterious man -awakened from his sleep, who appeared suddenly in the night, -and as suddenly disappeared. Perhaps he was the youthful -Mark, the only one of the Evangelists who tells this story. If -it were Mark, it is possible that on that night the involuntary -witness of the beginning of the Passion first conceived the -impulse to become, as Mark did, its first historian.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>ANNAS</h3> -<p class='c005'>In a short time the criminal was taken to the house which -Annas shared with his son-in-law, the High Priest Caiaphas. -Although the night was now well advanced, and although the -assembly had been warned the day before, that Caiaphas -hoped to capture the blasphemer early in the morning, many -of the Jews were still in bed and the prosecution could not -begin at once. In order that the common people might not -have time to rise in rebellion, nor Pilate to take thought, the -leaders were in haste to finish the affair that very morning. -Some of the guards who returned from the Mount of Olives -were sent to awake the more important Scribes and Elders, -and in the meantime old Annas, who had not slept all that -night, set himself on his own account to question this false -Prophet.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Annas, son of Seth, had been for seven years High Priest, -and though deposed in the year 14 under Tiberius, he -was still the real primate of the Jewish Church. A Sadducee, -head of one of the most aggressive and wealthy families of -the ecclesiastical patriarchate, he was still, through his son-in-law, -leader of his caste. Five of his sons were afterwards -High Priests, and one of them, also called Annas, caused James, -the brother of the Lord, to be stoned to death.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus was led before him. It was the first time that the -wood-worker of Nazareth found Himself face to face with the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_314'>314</span>religious head of His people, with His greatest enemy. Up -to that time He had met only the subalterns in the Temple, -the common soldiers, the Scribes and Pharisees; now He was -before the head, and He was no longer the accuser but the -accused. This was the first questioning of that day. In the -space of a few hours, four authorities examined Him; two -rulers from the Temple, Annas and Caiaphas; and two temporal -rulers, Antipas and Pilate.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The first question Annas put to Jesus was to ask Him who -His disciples were. The old political priest who like all the other -Sadducees gave no credence to the foolish stories about the -coming of a Messiah, wished to know first of all who were the -followers of the new Prophet, and from what rank of society -He had picked them up, so that he might determine how far -the seditious ulcer had progressed. But Jesus looked at Him -without answering. How could that dove-huckster have -thought that Jesus could betray those who had betrayed Him?</p> - -<p class='c006'>Then Annas asked about His doctrine. Jesus answered that -it was not for Him to explain: “I spake openly to the world; -I ever taught in the synagogue and in the temple, whither the -Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing. Why -askest thou me? ask them which heard me, what I have said -unto them: behold, they know what I said.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>This was the truth. Jesus was not esoteric. Even if He -sometimes said to His Disciples words that He did not repeat -in the open places of the city, He exhorted them to cry out -on the housetops what He told them in the house. But Annas -must have made a wry face at an answer which pre-supposed -an honest trial, for one of the officers standing by struck Jesus -with the palm of his hand, saying, “Answerest thou the high -priest so?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>This blow from the quick-tempered attendant was the beginning -of the insults which were henceforth rained upon Christ -up to the cross. But He who had been struck, with His cheek -reddened by the boor, turned towards the man who had struck -Him, “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if -well, why smitest thou me?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The rogue, abashed by such calm, found no answer. Annas -<span class='pageno' id='Page_315'>315</span>began to see that this Galilean was no common adventurer, -and he was all the more eager to get Him out of the way. -Seeing, however, that he was not succeeding in extracting anything -from Him, he sent Him bound to Caiaphas, the High -Priest, so that the fiction of a legal prosecution might begin -at once.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE COCK CROWS</h3> -<p class='c005'>Only two of the fleeing Disciples repented of their cowardice, -and trembling in the shadow of the walls, followed from -afar the swaying lanterns which accompanied Christ to the -den of fratricides: Simon, son of Jonas, and John, son of -Zebedee.</p> - -<p class='c006'>John, who was known in the household of Caiaphas, went -into the courtyard of the building with Jesus, but Simon, more -shamefaced, or not so bold, did not enter and stood at the -door without: then after a few moments John, not seeing his -companion, and wishing to have him at hand for sympathy -or defense, went out and persuaded the suspicious doorkeeper -to let Peter also come in. But as he stepped through the -door, the woman recognized him: “Art not thou also one of -his disciples?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>But Peter took on an offended air, “I know not, neither -understand I what thou sayest. I know him not.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And he sat down with John near the brazier which the servants -had kindled in the courtyard because, although it was -in April, the night was cold. But the woman would not give -up her idea, and coming to the fire and looking at him earnestly, -said, “Thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth,” and he -denied again with curses, “Woman, I know him not!”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The gate-keeper, shaking her head, turned back to her gate, -but the men aroused by these heated denials looked at him -more closely and said, “Surely thou art one of them: for thou -art a Galilean, and thy speech agreeth thereto.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Then Simon began to curse and to swear, but another, a -kinsman of Malchus whose ear Peter had cut off, cut short his -testimony: “Did I not see thee in the garden with him?”</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_316'>316</span>But Peter, now hopelessly involved in lies, began again to -protest that they had mistaken him for another and that he -was not one of the friends of the Man.</p> - -<p class='c006'>At this very moment Jesus, bound among the guards, crossed -the courtyard after His colloquy with Annas, passing to the -other part of the palace, where Caiaphas lived: and He heard -the words of Simon and looked at Him. For just one moment -He turned His eyes upon Simon, those eyes where Simon, -denying Him now, had once recognized the gleam of divinity. -For an instant only He looked at him with eyes whose gentleness -was more unendurable than any contempt. And this look -pierced for all time the pitiable, distracted heart of the fisherman. -To the day of his death he could never forget those sad, -mild eyes fixed on him in that terrible night; those eyes which -in one flash expressed more and moved him more than a thousand -words.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Thou also who wast the first, of whom I hoped most, the -hardest but the most zealous, the most ignorant but the most -fervent, thou also, Simon, the same who cried out my true -name near Cæsarea, thou also who knowest all my words and -hast slept with thy head on my cloak and hast kissed me so -many times with those lips which now deny me, thou also, -Simon Peter, son of Jonas, deny me before those who are -about to kill me! I was right that day when I called thee -a stumbling block and reproached thee with thinking not like -God but like men. Thou mightest at least have fled away -as the others did if thou hadst not the strength to drink with -me the cup of infamy which I had foretold to thee. Flee away -now that I may see thee no more until the day when I shall -be truly free and thou shalt be truly made over by faith. If -thou fearest for thy life why art thou here? If thou fearest -not, why dost thou deny me? Even Judas at the last has been -more faithful than thou: he came with my enemies, but he -did not deny that he knew me. Simon, Simon, I foretold that -thou wouldst leave me like the others, but now thou art more -cruel than the others. I have pardoned thee from my heart. -I am about to die, and I pardon him who brings me to death, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_317'>317</span>and thee also; and I love thee as I have always loved thee, -but canst thou forgive thyself?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Under the weight of this look, Simon hung his head and his -heart beat furiously in his breast. Not for his very life could -he have brought out another “No.” His face burned with an -intolerable heat as if the brazier before him had been the -mouth of Hell. He was torn by an unbearable tumult of passion -and of remorse; in one breath he seemed frozen, in the -next all his body flamed. A moment before he had said that -he had never known Jesus, and now it seemed to him that -he had spoken truly, that at this moment he knew Him for the -first time: that he finally understood who He was, as if those -eyes full of loving grief had pierced him with a flash like an -archangel’s sword.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He was scarcely able to drag himself to his feet and to -stumble out to the door. As he went out into the street in -the silent, solitary darkness a distant cock crew. This gay, -bold note was for Peter like the cry which awakens a sleeper -from his nightmare. Then in the dim light of dawn the last -stars saw a man staggering along like a drunkard, his head -hidden in his cloak, his shoulders shaken by the sobs of a -despairing lament.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Weep, Peter, now that God mercifully grants you the grace -of tears, weep for yourself and for Him, weep for Judas, your -traitor brother; weep for your fleeing brothers, weep for the -death of Him who is dying to save your poor soul, for all those -who will come after you and who will do as you have done, -deny their Saviour, and who will not pay for their redemption -by repentance. Weep for all the apostates, for all the others -who will deny Him, all those who will say as you have said, -“I am not one of His disciples!” Who of us has not done -at least once what Simon Peter did? Who of us, born in -the Church of Christ, having prayed to Him with our childish -lips, having knelt before His blood-stained face, has not said, -fearing a mocking smile, “I never knew Him.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Thou at least, unfortunate Simon, although thou wast Peter -the rock, wept bitterly and hid in thy cloak thy face convulsed -<span class='pageno' id='Page_318'>318</span>with remorse. And before many days Christ risen from the -dead will kiss thee once more because thy perjured mouth -has been washed clean forever by thy tears.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THEN THE HIGH PRIEST RENT HIS CLOTHES</h3> -<p class='c005'>Caiaphas’ real name was Joseph. Caiaphas is a surname and -is the same word as Cephas, Simon’s surname, that is to say, -Rock. On that Friday morning’s dawn, the Son of Man -was caught between those two rocks like a grain of wheat between -two millstones. Simon Peter is the type of the timid -friends who knew not how to save Him: Joseph Peter, -of His enemies, determined at any cost to destroy Him. -Between the denial of Simon and the hatred of Joseph, between -the head of the church about to disappear and the head of the -Church just coming into existence, between those two rocks -Jesus was like wheat between the mill-stones.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The Sanhedrin had already come together and was awaiting -Him. Together with Annas and Caiaphas who presided, -there were John, Alexander, and all the reeking scum of the -upper classes. As a rule the Sanhedrin was composed of -twenty-three priests, twenty-three Scribes, twenty-three Elders, -and two Presidents, in all, seventy-one. But on this occasion -some were absent, those who had more fear of an uprising of -the people than hatred for the blasphemer, and those few who -would not lift a finger to condemn Him, but would not defend -Him openly: among these last were certainly Nicodemus, the -nocturnal disciple, and Joseph of Arimathea, who was devoutly -to lay Jesus in His tomb.</p> - -<p class='c006'>They had come together to ratify with a cloak of legality -the decree of murder already written on their hearts. These -delegates from the Temple, from the School and the Bank, -burned with impatience to confirm, each for his own reasons, -their revengeful sentence. The great room of the council already -full of people was like a den of werewolves. The new -day showed itself hesitatingly: the orange-colored tongues of -the torches were scarcely visible in the dim light of dawn. -In this sinister half-shadow the Jews were waiting: aged, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_319'>319</span>portly, hook-nosed, harsh, beetle-browed, wrapped in their -white cloaks, their heads covered, stroking their venerable -beards, with choleric eyes, seated in a half circle, they seemed -a council of sorcerers awaiting a living offering. The rest of -the hall was occupied by the clients of the seated assembly, by -guards with staves in their hands, by the domestic servants -of the house. The air was heavy and dense as in a charnel -house.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus, His wrists still tied with ropes, was thrust into the -midst of this kennel like a condemned man thrown to the -beasts of the Imperial amphitheater. Annas had gathered together -in all haste from among the rabble some false witnesses -to make an end of any discussion or defense. The pretense -of a trial began with calling these perjurers. Two of them -came forward and swore that they had heard these words: -“I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and -within three days I will build another made without hands.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>At the time and for those hearers this accusation was a -very grave one, meaning nothing less than sacrilege and blasphemy. -For in the minds of its upholders the Temple of -Jerusalem was the one intangible home of the Lord. And to -threaten the Temple was to threaten their real Master, the -Master of all the Jews. But Jesus had never said these words -or at least not in this form, nor with this meaning. It is -true that He had announced that of the Temple not one stone -would remain upon another, but not through any action of -His. And the reference to the Temple not made with hands, -built up in three days, was part of another discourse in which -He had spoken figuratively of His resurrection. The false -witnesses could not even agree about these words confusedly -and maliciously repeated, and one statement from Jesus would -have been enough to confound them utterly. But Jesus held -His peace.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The High Priest could not endure this silence, and standing -up, cried out, “Answerest thou nothing? What is it which -these witness against thee?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>But Jesus answered nothing.</p> - -<p class='c006'>These silences of Jesus were so weighty with magnetic eloquence -<span class='pageno' id='Page_320'>320</span>that they enraged His judges. He held His peace at -the first questioning of Annas. He was silent now at the -outcry of Caiaphas and He was to be silent with Antipas and -Pilate.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He had made already, a thousand times, the statements He -might have made now, and any other answers He might have -made would either have been misunderstood by His judges, or -have been used by them as new pretexts for attacking Him. -Superhuman truths are in their very nature ineffable, and only -a shadow of them can be grasped, through a loving effort by -those who already have a faint divination of that shadow; and -even to them this comes more through the heart than through -faulty and defective words.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus did not speak, but looked about Him with His great -calm eyes, at the troubled and convulsed faces of His assassins, -and for all eternity judged these phantom judges. In a flash -every one of them was weighed and condemned by that look -which went straight to the soul. Were they worthy to hear -His words, those flawed, self-seeking souls, empty and inane, -those of them that are not ulcerous and moribund? How could -He ever, by the most unthinkable prodigy, stoop to justify -Himself before them?</p> - -<p class='c006'>Such self-justification was attempted by the son of the midwife, -the flat-nosed student and rival of the Sophists! The -seventy-year-old arguer, who for so many years had bored -the artisans and the idlers on the market-place, was capable -of reciting to the judges of Athens an eloquent and carefully -arranged oration of excuses, which, from the limits of dialectics, -descended little by little to the sophistries of law courts. It -is true that the ironical old man who had set himself to reform -the art of thinking rather than the art of living, who had not -been above usury, who, not having his fill with Xantippe, had -had two children by his concubine Myra, and who amused -himself with caressing handsome young men more than was -becoming for the father of a family, was ready to die, and knew -how to die with noble firmness; but at the bottom of his -heart he would have preferred to descend into Hades by the -more natural road. Towards the end of his specious defense, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_321'>321</span>he tried to placate his judges by recalling his old age to them. -“It is useless to kill me because I will die very soon anyhow”—and -offered to pay thirty greater minæ if they would let -him go in peace.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But Christ was neither a sophist nor a lawyer, Christ whom -so many posthumous Pilates have tried to belittle by comparing -Him to Socrates, so inferior to Him. Like Dante’s angel, -He disdained human discussions. He answered with silence, -or if He was forced to speak, spoke candidly and briefly. -Caiaphas, exasperated by this disrespectful taciturnity, finally -hit on a way to make him speak. “I adjure thee by the living -God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son -of God.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>As long as they conducted His trial with the usual insidious -procedure, adducing falsities or asking Him about perfectly -well-known truths, Jesus said no word; but even in the infamous -mouth of the High Priest, the invocation to the living -God was irresistible. Jesus could not deny Himself to the -living God, to the God who will live eternally, and who lives -in all of us, and who was present there even in that lair of -demons. And yet He hesitated a moment before dazzling those -bleared eyes with the splendor of His formidable secret.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“If I tell you, ye will not believe: And if I also ask you, ye -will not answer me.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Now Caiaphas was not alone in putting the question; all -of them, excited, sprang to their feet and cried out, their -clawing fingers stretched towards Him, “Art thou then the -Son of God?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus could not, like Peter, deny the irrefutable certainty -which was the reason for His life and for His death. He was -responsible towards His own people and towards all men. -But, as at Cæsarea, He wished others to be the ones to pronounce -His real name, and when they had said it He did not -refuse it, even though death were the penalty.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Ye say that I am. I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see -the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming -in the clouds of heaven.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>He had condemned Himself out of His own mouth. The -<span class='pageno' id='Page_322'>322</span>snarling pack about Him was frothing at the mouth with delight -and anger. In the presence of His assassins He had proclaimed -what He had secretly admitted to His most loving -friends. Although they might betray Him, He had not betrayed -Himself or His father. Now He was ready for the last -degradation. He had said what He had to say.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Caiaphas was triumphant. Pretending a shocked horror -which he did not feel—because like all the Sadducees he had -no faith whatever in the apocalyptic writers and cared about -nothing but the fees and honors of the Temple—he rent his -priestly garments, crying out, “He hath spoken blasphemy! -What further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have -heard his blasphemy. What think ye?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And all the noisy kennel bayed out their answer, “He is -guilty of death.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And without any further examination, without a single protest, -they all condemned Him to death as a blasphemer and -false prophet.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The comedy of legal pretense was played to an end, and -the cloaked ghosts felt themselves relieved of an immense -weight. It had cost the High Priest a garment and he let the -torn pieces hang like glorious symbols of victorious battle. -He did not know that on that very day a garment more -precious than any of his was to be torn, and he did not dream -that his gesture was a symbolic recognition of another death-sentence. -The priesthood of which he was the head was -henceforth disqualified and abolished forever. His successors -were to be mere semblances of priests, spurious and illegitimate, -and in a few years the sumptuous garment of marble -and masonry of the Jewish sanctuary was to be rent by the -Roman rabble.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>AND WHEN THEY HAD BLINDFOLDED HIM</h3> -<p class='c005'>When the tragi-comedy acted by the masters had -ended in a death-sentence, the devils’ band of subalterns -had their turn. While the high officials went apart to take -counsel on the manner of securing the ratification from the Procurator -<span class='pageno' id='Page_323'>323</span>and executing the death sentence with all speed, Jesus -was thrown as prey to the rabble in the Palace, as the offal -of the slain animal is thrown to the pack which has taken -part in the hunt. The ruffians who lived upon the leavings -of the Temple felt that they had as their perquisite the right -to some amusement. Man, the beast, when he is certain of -impunity, knows no more pleasing recreation than to wreak -himself upon the defenseless, especially if the defenseless is -innocent. Our bestial nature, crouching untamed at the bottom -of every human heart, rushes out bold and snarling; the -face becomes a muzzle, teeth are tusks, hands appear what -they really are, claws, the articulate sounds of human speech -vanish in snarlings and growlings. If a drop of blood reddens -to the view, they jostle each other to lick it up: there is no -more intoxicating liquor than blood: it is far more stimulating -than wine, and far fairer to see, red as it is, than the water of -Pilate.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But tigerishness breaking loose readily takes the form of -play; even tigers are sportive, even children, as soon as they -begin to grow strong at all, are tigerish. The captors of Christ, -waiting for foreign authority to confirm the death sentence of -the most innocent of their brothers, meant to give Christ a -humorous foretaste of His sufferings. They had permission -to jest with their King, to divert themselves with their God. -And they felt that they really deserved some amusement; they -had been awake all night long, and the night had been cold: -and then the march up to the Mount of Olives, fearing resistance, -a well-grounded fear, since one of them had had his -ear stricken off; and then the long wait, till dawn, a very tiring -business especially on those festal days when the city and the -Temple were full of foreigners and there was so much more -for every one to do.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But they did not know how to begin. He was tied and his -friends had disappeared. But this man who looked at them -with an expression they had never seen till then, with a steady -look which seemed beyond all earthly things and yet searched -them out within like a ray of troublesome sunshine—this man, -bound, exhausted, the fresh sweat on His face softening the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_324'>324</span>drops of dried blood on His cheeks, this insignificant man, -this defenseless provincial with no protecting patrons, condemned -to death by the highest and holiest tribunal of the -Jewish people, this human rubbish destined to the cross of -slaves and thieves, this laughingstock whom the authorities -had given over to their abuse like a puppet at the saturnalia, -this man who did not speak nor complain nor weep, but who -looked on them as if He had compassion on them, as a father -might look at his sick child, as a friend might look at a delirious -friend, this man, mocked by all, inspired in their worthless -souls a mysterious reverence.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But one of the Scribes or the Elders gave the example, and -spat at Jesus as he passed by Him. He was too careful of -His ritual cleanliness to contaminate His newly washed hands, -ready for the Passover, by touching an enemy of God, who, -near to death, was already impure like a corpse. But saliva: -what is saliva? Refuse of the body, contempt materialized in -a liquid.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And on that face illumined by the early morning sun and -by imprisoned divinity, on that face transfigured by the light -of the sun and by love’s light, on the golden face of Christ, -the spittle of the Jews covered the first blood of the Passion. -But for the rabble of the servants and the guards spitting was -not enough, nor were they afraid of sullying their hands. The -example of the leaders had overcome the impression made on -them by the condemned man’s sad and brotherly look. The -guards who were nearest Him struck Him in the face; those -who could not strike His face rained down blows and threats, -and the words which came from the mouths of those insensate -men wounded Him more cruelly than blows.</p> - -<p class='c006'>That face, which had been white as a hawthorn blossom -and shining like sunlight, darkened into the livid purple of -beaten flesh. The fair, gracious body, reeling with blows, staggered -in the midst of the heaving crowd. Christ said no word -to those who vomited out on Him the appalling contents of -their souls. He had answered the guard who had struck Him -in the presence of Annas, asking him to correct Him if He -had spoken ill; for this ribald mob let loose He had no answer. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_325'>325</span>But one of them more quick-witted or more childish -than the others had an idea: he took a dirty cloth and with -it covered the bleeding, buffeted face, tying the corners behind. -And he said: “Let us play blind man’s buff. This man boasts -of being a prophet; let us see if he can guess which of us is -striking him.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Christ’s face was covered. Was there, in the action of the -ruffians, an unconsciously compassionate desire to spare Him, -at least, the sight of His brothers become like beasts? Or was -that look of suffering love really unendurable to them? With -childish cruelty, they arranged themselves in a circle about -Him and first one and then another twitched a fold of His -garment, gave Him a blow on the shoulder, thrust Him in the -back, struck Him with a staff over the head: “Prophesy! Who -is it that smote thee?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Why did He not answer? Had He not predicted the ruin -of the Temple, wars and earthquakes, the coming of the Son -of Man on clouds and many other idle stories? How was it -that now He could not make such an easy guess, give the -name of a person so close at hand? What sort of a prophet -was this? Had he lost His power all at once, or had He never -had it? He might be able to make those poor countrified -Galileans believe His stories, but here we are in Jerusalem, -the city which understands prophets and kills them when they -do not show a proper spirit. Luke adds, “And many other -things blasphemously spake they against him.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>But Caiaphas and the others were in haste and thought that -the servile pack had amused itself long enough. The false -king must be taken to Pilate that his sentence be confirmed: -the Sanhedrin could pronounce judgment, but since Judea -was under Roman rule, it had no longer, unfortunately, the -Jus Gladii. And the High Priests, Scribes and Elders, set out -for the Palace of the Procurator, followed by the guards leading -Jesus with ropes, and by the yelling horde which grew -larger as they went along the street.</p> -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_326'>326</span> - <h3 class='c007'>PONTIUS PILATE</h3> -</div> -<p class='c005'>Since <abbr class='spell'>A. D.</abbr> 26, Pontius Pilate had been Procurator in the -name of Tiberius Cæsar. Historians know nothing of him -before his arrival in Judea. If the name comes from Pileatus -it may be supposed that he was a freedman or descendant -of freedmen, since the Pileo, or skull cap, was the head gear -of freed slaves.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He had been in Judea only a few years, but long enough to -draw upon himself the bitterest hate of those over whom he -ruled. It is true that all our information about him comes -from Jews and Christians, who were, of course, his declared -enemies; but it appears that he finally lost favor even with his -masters, since in <abbr class='spell'>A. D.</abbr> 36 the Governor of Syria, Lucius -Vitellius, sent him to Rome to justify himself before Tiberius. -The Emperor died before Pilate arrived in the metropolis, but -according to tradition, he was exiled by Caligula, exiled into -Gaul, where he killed himself.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In the first place the hatred of the Jews came from the profound -scorn which he showed from the start for this stiff-necked, -indocile people, who must have seemed to him, brought -up in Roman ideas, like a snake pit of venomous serpents—a -low, dirty crowd, scarcely worthy to be tamed by the cudgels -of the mercenaries. To have an idea of Pilate’s personality, -make a mental picture of an English Viceroy of India, a subscriber -to the <i>Times</i>, a reader of John Stuart Mill and Shaw—with -Byron and Swinburne on his bookshelves—destined to -administer the government over a ragged, captious, hungry -and turbulent people, wrangling among themselves over a -confusion of castes and mythologies and superstitions for -which their ruler feels in his heart the profoundest -aversion, looking down on them from the height of his dignity -as a white man, a European, a Briton and a Liberal. Pilate, -as shown by his questions put to Jesus, was one of those -skeptics of the Roman decadence corrupted with Pyrrhonism, -a devotee of Epicurus, an encyclopedist of Hellenism without -any belief in the gods of his country, nor any belief that any -real God existed at all. The idea certainly can never have -<span class='pageno' id='Page_327'>327</span>occurred to Pilate that the true God could be found in this vermin-ridden, -superstitious mob, in the midst of this factious and -jealous clergy, in this religion which must have seemed to him -like a barbarous mixture of Syrian and Chaldean oracles. The -only faith remaining to him, or which he needed to pretend to -hold because of his office, was the new Roman religion, civic -and political, concentrated on the cult of the Emperor. The -first conflict with the Jews arose in fact from this religion. -When he had changed the guard of Jerusalem, he ordered the -soldiers to enter the city by night, without taking off from -their ensigns the silver images of Cæsar. In the morning, as -soon as the Jews were aware of this, great was the horror and -the uproar. It was the first time that the Romans had lacked in -external respect for the religion of their subjects in Palestine. -These figures of the deified Cæsar planted near the Temple -were for them an idolatrous provocation, the beginning of the -abomination of desolation. All the country was in an uproar; -a deputation was sent to Cæsarea to have Pilate take them -away. Pilate refused; for five days and nights they stormed -about him day and night. Finally the Procurator, to get himself -out of the trouble, convoked them in the amphitheater and -treacherously had them surrounded with soldiers with naked -swords, assuring them that no one would escape if they did not -make an end of their clamor. But the Jews, instead of asking -for mercy, offered their throats to the swords, and Pilate, conquered -by this heroic stubbornness, ordered that the insignia -be carried back to Cæsarea.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But if this clemency did not diminish the hatred of the Jews -for the new Procurator, neither did it lessen Pilate’s distaste -nor his desire to do them an ill turn. A little while after this, -he introduced into Herod’s palace, where he lived when he -stayed at Jerusalem, votive tablets dedicated to the Emperor. -But the priests heard of it and once more the people were -aroused to outraged and furious anger. He was asked to take -away the idolatrous objects at once. An appeal to Cæsar was -threatened, an appeal supported by evidence of the impositions -and cruelties committed by Pilate. Pilate this time also -did not yield. The Jews then made the appeal to Tiberius, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_328'>328</span>who decreed that the tablets should be sent back to Cæsarea.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Twice Pilate had had the worst of a dispute. But the third -time he was triumphant. Coming from the city of public -baths and aqueducts, a friend, as is well known, of ablutions, -he noticed that Jerusalem lacked water and he planned to have -a fine large reservoir constructed and an aqueduct several -miles long. But the undertaking was expensive and to pay -for it he used a goodly sum taken from the treasury of the -Temple. The treasury was rich, for all the Jews scattered -about in the Empire came there to bring offerings, and when -they could not come in person sent them from a distance—but -the priests cried out on the sacrilege, and the people incited by -them made such a commotion that when Pilate came for the -Feast of the Passover to Jerusalem, thousands of men gathered -in a tumultuous crowd in front of his Palace. But this -time he sent among the multitude a large number of disguised -soldiers who at a given signal began to lay about them so -vigorously, among the most furious of the crowd, that in a -short time they all fled away, and Pilate could enjoy in peace -the water of the reservoir paid for with the Jews’ money, and -make use of it for his various ablutions.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Only a short time had passed since this last encounter and -now these very priests who three times had risen against his authority, -the very ones who had tried to obtain his deposition, -the very ones who hated him heartily, hated him as a Roman, -as a symbol of the foreign dominion and of their slavery, and -hated him still more personally as Pontius Pilate, as plotter -against their religion and thief of their money—these very -High Priests were forced to have recourse to him in order to -vent another hatred, which for the moment was more bitter -in their wicked hearts. Only hard necessity drove them to it, -because death sentences could not be carried out if they were -not confirmed by Cæsar’s representative.</p> - -<p class='c006'>That Friday, at dawn, Pontius Pilate, wrapped in his toga, -still sleepy and yawning, was waiting for them in Herod’s -palace, very ill-disposed towards those tiresome trouble-makers, -whose contentions had forced him to rise earlier than usual.</p> -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_329'>329</span> - <h3 class='c007'>WHAT IS TRUTH?</h3> -</div> -<p class='c005'>The crowd of the accusers and of the rough populace finally -came out into the open place which was before Herod’s palace, -but they stopped outside, because if they went into a house -where there was leaven and bread baked with leaven, they -would be contaminated all day long and could not eat the -Passover. Innocent blood does not pollute, but leaven does.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Pilate, warned of their coming, went out on the door-sill and -asked abruptly: “What accusation bring ye against this man?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Those who were before him were his enemies. It appeared -that this man was their enemy and Pilate instinctively took -his part. Not that he had any pity for him—was he not a Jew -like the others, and poor into the bargain? But if he were by -any chance innocent, Pilate had no mind to lend himself to a -whim of those detestable vermin.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Caiaphas answered at once as if offended: “If he were not -a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto you.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Then Pilate who wished to lose no time with ecclesiastical -squabbles, and did not think that there was any question of a -capital crime, answered dryly: “Take ye him, and judge him -according to your law.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Already in these words appears his wish to save the man -without being forced to take sides openly. But the concession -of the Procurator, which in any other case would have delighted -Caiaphas and his party, this time did not suit them, -because the Sanhedrin could inflict only light sentences and -now they desired the most extreme sentence of all and could -not dispense with the Roman arm. They answered: “It is not -lawful for us to put any man to death.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Pilate suddenly understood what sentence they wished -passed on the wretched man who stood before him, and he -wished to find out what crime He had committed. What -might seem worthy of a death sentence to those bigoted rabbis -might seem a venial fault in the eyes of a Roman.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The foxes of the Temple had thought of this difficulty before -taking action. They knew very well that Pilate would -not be satisfied if they told him that this man attacked the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_330'>330</span>religion of their fathers and announced the Kingdom of God. -They were prepared therefore to lie. For a man about to commit -a base action, one more accessory and subordinate infamy -seems of little consequence. Pilate could be conquered only -with his own weapons, by appealing to his loyalty to Rome -and to the Emperor and to the basis of his office-holding. It -was already agreed that they would give a political color to -the accusation. If they told him that Jesus was a false Messiah, -Pilate would smile. But if they said that He was a -seditious inciter of revolt, that He was trying to rouse the -common people against Rome, Pilate could not do less than -put Him to death.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding -to give tribute to Cæsar, saying that he himself is Christ, a -King.... He stirreth up all the people, teaching throughout -all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Every word was a lie. Jesus had commanded men to render -unto Cæsar that which was Cæsar’s. He paid no attention -whatever to the Romans. He said that He was Christ but -not in the coarse, political meaning of a King of the Jews: -and He did not stir up the people but wished to make of an -unhappy and degraded people a blessed kingdom of saints. -However grave these accusations might have seemed to Pilate -if they had been true, they only increased his suspicions of the -priests. Was it probable that those treacherous vipers who detested -him and Rome, and who had tried to overturn him so -many times and whose one dream was to sweep away the -governing pagans and foreigners, should suddenly be kindled -with so much zeal to denounce a rebel of their own nation?</p> - -<p class='c006'>Pilate was not convinced and he wished to find out for himself, -by questioning the accused man in private. He went back -into the palace and commanded that Jesus be brought to him. -Disregarding the less important accusations, he went at once -to the essential: “Art thou the King of the Jews?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>But Jesus did not answer. How could He ever make this -Roman understand! This Roman who knew nothing of God’s -promises, misinformed by His assassins, a Pyrrhonic atheist, -whose only religion was the artificial and diabolical cult of a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_331'>331</span>living man—and of what a man—Tiberius!—how could He -ever explain to this freedman, a pupil of the lawyers and rhetoricians -of Rome in the most decadent of all the degenerate -foulness of that time; how could He explain that He was the -King of a Kingdom not yet founded, of a spiritual Kingdom -which would abolish all human kingdoms?</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus read the depths of Pilate’s soul and made no answer, -as He had kept silent at first before Annas and before Caiaphas. -The Procurator could not understand this silence on -the part of a man over whom hung the threat of death. “Hearest -thou not how many things they witness against thee?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>But Jesus answered him never a word. Pilate, who at all -costs wished to triumph over those who hated him as much -as they hated this man, insisted, hoping to extract a denial -which would permit him to set Him at liberty: “Art thou the -King of the Jews?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>If Jesus denied this He would betray Himself. He had said -to His disciples and to the Jews that He was Christ. He had -no wish to lie and save Himself. The better to sound the -Roman’s mind He answered Him, as was his wont, with another -question: “Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did -others tell it thee of me?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Pilate answered, as if offended, “Am I a Jew? Thine own -nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me. Art -thou the King of the Jews?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>With the exception of this contemptuous beginning, this answer -of Pilate was conciliatory. “For whom do you take me? -Do you not know that I am a Roman, that I do not believe -what your enemies believe? Your accusers are priests, not I; -but they are obliged to give you into my hands: your safety -rests with me: tell me that what they say is not true and you -shall be free.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus had no wish to escape death, but still He determined -to try to shed more light on this pagan. Everything is possible -to the Father: was it not possible that Pilate might be the last -convert of the dying man?</p> - -<p class='c006'>“My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of -this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be -<span class='pageno' id='Page_332'>332</span>delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from -hence.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The servant of Tiberius did not understand. The difference -between “of this world” and “my kingdom is not from hence” -was obscure to him. Pilate thought that what is the phrase -“not of this world” meant the gods above if there were really -any, gods favorable or malignant to men, and below in Hades -the shadows of the dead if really there was anything remaining -of us when the body had been consumed by fire or worms: the -only reality for such a man as Pilate was “this world,” the -great world with all its kingdoms. And once more he asked: -“Art thou a king then?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>There was no longer any reason to deny. He would say to -this blinded man what He had proclaimed to the others: -“Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and -for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness -unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my -voice.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Then Pilate, annoyed by what seemed to him truculent mystification, -answered with the celebrated question: “What is -truth?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And without waiting for an answer, he rose to go out. The -skeptical Roman had many times been present at the endless -disputes of philosophers, and because he had heard so many -contradictory metaphysical contentions and so many sophistical -quibblings, had become convinced that truth did not exist, -or if it did exist, could never be known by men. He did not -dream for a moment that this obscure Jew who stood before -him as a malefactor could tell him the truth. It was Pilate’s -destiny on that one day of his life to contemplate the face of -truth, supreme truth made man, and he could not see it. Living -truth, the truth which could have made him a new man, -was before him clothed with human flesh and rough garments, -with buffeted face, and hands tied. But in his arrogance he -did not guess what prodigious good fortune was his, a good -fortune which millions of men have envied him after his death. -If any one had told him that because of this one encounter, -because to him was vouchsafed the overwhelming honor of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_333'>333</span>having spoken to Jesus and having sent Him to the cross, his -name would be known, although in infamy and malediction, -through all the centuries and by all the human race, such a -prophecy would have seemed to him like the frenzied ravings -of a madman. Pilate was blind with an appalling and incurable -blindness, but Christ on that very day was to pardon even -him because the blind, even less than others, know what they -do.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>CLAUDIA PROCULA</h3> -<p class='c005'>Just as Pilate was preparing to go out and give his answer -to the Jews, who were muttering restlessly and impatiently before -the door, a servant sent by his wife came up to him, giving -him this message: “Have thou nothing to do with that just -man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because -of him.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>No one in the four Gospels tells us what impression was -made on the Procurator by this unexpected intercession from -his wife. We know nothing of her except her name. According -to the Gospel of Nicodemus her name was Claudia Procula, -and if this name was really hers she may have belonged to the -Gente Claudia, distinguished and powerful at Rome. We may -thus suppose that she was by birth and connections of a higher -social rank than her husband, and that Pilate, a mere freedman, -may have owed to her and her influence in Rome his post -in Judea.</p> - -<p class='c006'>If all this was true, certainly the request of Claudia Procula -must have made some impression on Pilate, especially if he -loved her; and that he loved her, at least as a man of his nature -could love, seems proved by the fact that he had asked to take -her with him into Asia. The Lex Oppia, although mitigated by -a decree of the Senate in the consulship of Cethegus and Varro, -forbade the pro-consuls to take their wives with them, and -Pontius Pilate had a special permit from Tiberius allowing -Claudia Procula to accompany him to Palestine.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The motives for this intercession, so briefly stated, are mysterious. -The words of Matthew refer to a dream in which she -<span class='pageno' id='Page_334'>334</span>had suffered because of Jesus: it is probable that she had heard -people talking for some time of the new Prophet; perhaps she -had seen Him, and found Him very different from the other -Jews. The fact that He was neither a vulgar demagogue nor -a hypocritical Pharisee must have been pleasing to the -imagination of a fanciful Roman woman. She did not understand -the language spoken in Jerusalem, but some interpreter -of the law courts might have repeated to her some of Jesus’ -words, words which would have convinced her that He was -not, as they said, a dangerous criminal.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In those days the Romans, especially Roman women, were -beginning to feel the attraction of Oriental myths and cults, -which gave more satisfaction to the longing for personal immortality -than the old Latin religion, a cold, legal, businesslike -exchange of sacrifices to obtain utilitarian and political -ends. Many patrician women, even in Rome, had been initiated -into the mysteries of Mithra, Osiris and of Isis, the -Great Mother, and some showed a certain leaning towards -Judaism. In that very reign of Tiberius many Jews living in -Rome were exiled from the Capital because, according to -Josephus, some of them had deceived a matron Fulvia—converted -to Judaism—and Fulvia, as we see from a reference of -Suetonius, was not the only one.</p> - -<p class='c006'>It is not impossible that Claudia Procula, living in Judea, -had been curious to know more in detail about the religion of -the people governed by her husband, and that, curious like all -women about new things, she had tried to find out what new -doctrines were being preached by the Galilean prophet of whom -every one in Jerusalem was talking. It is certain that she had -become convinced that Jesus was a “just man” and hence innocent. -The dream of that night, the terrible dream—for she -had “suffered many things” in it—had confirmed her in this -conviction, and it is not surprising that relying on the influence -which women have with their husbands, even if their husbands -love them no longer, she sent this imploring message to Pilate.</p> - -<p class='c006'>It is enough for us that she called Him “That just man”—the -man whom the Jews wished to assassinate. Together with -the Centurion of Capernaum and with the Canaanite woman, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_335'>335</span>Claudia Procula is the first pagan who believed in Christ, and -the Greek Church has good reason to revere her as a Saint.</p> - -<p class='c006'>This message from his wife strengthened Pilate’s reluctance, -inclined as he already was to neutrality, if not to clemency, -through his animosity to Caiaphas, and perhaps through the -words of the Accused. Claudia Procula had not said, “Save -Him”—but: “Have thou nothing to do with that just man.” -This was Pilate’s idea, also; as if he had a confused divination -of the importance of this mysterious beggar who called Himself -King. At the very first he had ordered the Jews to judge -Him, themselves, but they had not been willing to do this. -Then another way to evade the responsibility occurred to him. -He went back to Jesus and asked whether He were a Galilean.</p> - -<p class='c006'>This evasion seemed to promise success. Jesus did not belong -to his jurisdiction, but to that of Herod Antipas. By good -luck Herod was there at Jerusalem at that very time, come -as was his wont for the Passover. The Procurator had found -a legitimate subterfuge to satisfy his wife—and to free himself -from this troublesome perplexity. With one stroke he -would ingratiate himself with the Jews, leaving to one of their -own race the decisive judgment, and at the same time he would -do a bad turn to the patriarch whom he hated with all his -heart because he suspected him with good reason of spying on -him and tale-bearing to Tiberius. So, losing no time, he ordered -the soldiers to take Jesus before Herod.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE WHITE CLOAK</h3> -<p class='c005'>The third judge before whom Jesus was led was a son of -that bloody-minded hog, Herod the Great, by one of his five -wives. He was the true son of his father because he wronged -his brothers as his father had wronged his sons. When his -brother Archelaus, his own half-brother, was accused by his -subjects, he managed to have him exiled. He robbed his other -brother Herod of his wife. When he was seventeen years old -he began to reign as Tetrarch over Galilee and over Berea, -and to ingratiate himself with Tiberius, offered himself as -a secret tale-bearer of the sayings and doings of his brothers -<span class='pageno' id='Page_336'>336</span>and of the Roman officials in Judea. On a voyage to Rome he -fell in love with Herodias, who was both his niece and his sister-in-law, -since she was the daughter of his brother Aristobulus, -and wife of his brother Herod, and not shrinking from the -double incest, he persuaded her to follow him, together with -Salome, the daughter of the adulteress. His first wife, daughter -of Aretas, king of the Nabatei, went back to her father, -who declared war on Antipas and defeated him.</p> - -<p class='c006'>This happened while John the Baptist was beginning to be -talked about among the people. The prophet let slip some -words of condemnation against these two incestuous adulterers, -and this was enough for Herodias to persuade her new husband -to have him taken and shut up in the fortress of Machærus. -Every one knows how the foul Tetrarch, inflamed by cruel -Salome’s lascivious arts, and perhaps meditating a new incest, -was forced to offer her the bearded head of the Prophet of Fire -on a golden platter.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But even after his decapitation John’s shade disturbed -Herod, and when he began to hear talk of Jesus and of His -miracles he said to his courtiers, “This is John the Baptist; -he is risen from the dead.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>It seems that he kept his eye on the new prophet, and that -at one time he thought of serving Him as he had his precursor; -but either for political or superstitious reasons, deciding that -he would have no more to do with prophets, he saw that the -best way was to force Jesus to leave his Tetrarchy. One day -some Pharisees, very probably acting on Herod’s instructions, -went to say to Jesus: “Get thee out, and depart hence: for -Herod will kill thee.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“And he said unto them, Go ye and tell that fox ... -nevertheless I must walk to-day, and to-morrow, and the day -following; for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of -Jerusalem.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And now at Jerusalem near His death, He appeared before -that fox. That traitor and spy, incestuous adulterer, assassin -of John and enemy of the prophets was the most fitting person -to condemn innocence. But Jesus had named him well: he -was more fox than tiger, and he shrank from being a substitute -<span class='pageno' id='Page_337'>337</span>for Pilate. Luke tells us, “When Herod saw Jesus he was -exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, -because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped -to have seen some miracle done by him.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The son of the Idumean and the Samaritan woman had -scorched himself in John’s fire, and he received Jesus as an -old tamer of animals, with the marks of the lion’s teeth still on -his arm, looks at a new wild animal brought for him to see. -But, like all Oriental barbarians, his mind was obsessed by -prodigies, and he imagined Jesus to be a wandering wizard who -could, whenever He wished, repeat some of His sorcery. Herod -hated Him as he had hated John, but he hated Him partly because -he feared Him; the prophets had a power which Herod -did not understand and which intimidated him: perhaps the -beheading of John had brought him bad luck. He too wished -Jesus to be killed, but he had no mind to be in any way responsible -for His death.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Seeing that there were no miracles to be expected, he began -to put many questions, to which Jesus made no answer. He -had broken His silence for Annas, for Caiaphas, for Pilate, -but He would not for this crowned rascal! Annas and Caiaphas -were His declared enemies, Pilate was a blind man groping -along, thinking that he was saving Him, but this Herod was -a cowardly fox and did not deserve even an insult. The High -Priests and the Scribes, fearing that John’s assassin would be -too cowardly to kill Jesus, as in fact he was, had followed their -victim there and vehemently accused him. These furious accusations -and the silence of the accused man deepened the hidden -rancor of Antipas, who, together with his soldiers, abused -the Man of divine silences, threw over his shoulders a gorgeous -robe, and sent Him again to Pilate.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Like Pilate, but for other reasons, he was not willing to condemn -the man baptized by John, and who perhaps was John -himself returned from the dead to avenge himself. But when -he sent Him away he made Him a gift which bears unconscious -witness to the rank of the man about to die. The mantle, -shining with whiteness, was, so Josephus says, the garment of -the Jewish Kings, and Jesus was accused of wishing to make -<span class='pageno' id='Page_338'>338</span>Himself King of the Jews. Antipas, the astute, wished to -ridicule the pretensions of Jesus by ironically making him a -present of the regal robe; but when he covered Him with that -whiteness, which is the symbol of innocence and of sovereignty, -the ignoble fox sent to Pilate a symbolical message which involuntarily -confirmed the message of Claudia Procula, the accusation -of Caiaphas, and what Christ Himself had said.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>CRUCIFY HIM!</h3> -<p class='c005'>Pilate had thought that he had succeeded in extracting himself -from the troublesome position in which his adversaries had -tried to place him. But when he saw Jesus return wrapped -in that regal white garment he understood that he must at any -cost get the matter settled.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The bitter fury of those who for so many reasons were objects -of suspicion to him, his wife’s compassion, the answers -of Christ, the fact that Antipas had refrained from action, all -inclined him to refuse to give the Jews the life for which they -were asking. Perhaps while Jesus was with the Tetrarch, Pilate -had asked some one of his followers about the pretended King, -and the information confirmed him in his decision. Jesus had -never said anything that would be offensive to Pilate: rather -there was much in what He said calculated to please the Roman, -or at least that would seem advantageous to the authority -of Rome.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus taught love for enemies, and in Judea the Romans -were considered enemies; He called the poor blessed, hence He -exhorted them to resignation and not to revolt; He advised -men to render unto Cæsar that which was Cæsar’s, that is, to -pay tribute to the Emperor; He was opposed to the Pharisaical -formalism which made the relations of the Romans with -their subjects so difficult; He did not respect the Sabbath; He -ate with publicans and with Gentiles; and finally He announced -that His Kingdom was not of this world, but of a world so -metaphysical and remote that it could never endanger Tiberius -or his successors. If Pilate knew these things, he must have -said to himself with the superficiality of all skeptics, especially -<span class='pageno' id='Page_339'>339</span>when they think themselves expert politicians, that it would -be a good thing for him and for Rome if many Jews followed -Jesus, rather than fomented rebellion in the councils of the -Zealots.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He had therefore decided to save Jesus, but in this indulgence -he wanted to put a sarcastic note, something that would -be offensive to the High Priests, who three times had set themselves -against him and now were importuning him to be their -hangman. Up to the last he would pretend to treat Jesus like -the King of the Jews. Here is your King, the King that you -deserve, wretched and perfidious people! A village carpenter, -a vagabond, a beggar, who vapored of reigning beyond earthly -life, and who as a matter of fact had as followers only a few -fishermen and peasants and a few silly women. See how -wretched He is, how miserable! Why do you want to kill -Him? Keep Him; you deserve no better King than He. I -will follow your example, will amuse myself a little by tormenting -Him, and then I will let Him go.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And causing Jesus to be led out, Pilate went to the door and -said to the High Priests and the others who crowded about, -their faces thrust forward to hear the sentence given at last, -“Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth -the people: and, behold, I, having examined him before you, -have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof -ye accuse him: No, nor yet Herod: for I sent you to him; and -lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him. I will therefore -chastise him and release him.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>This was not the answer awaited by the ravening hounds, -yelling in the square before the Procurator’s house. A bestial -cry burst out from those gaping mouths, “Kill Him!”</p> - -<p class='c006'>A flogging would be too light a punishment for this dangerous -enemy of the God of Armies and the God of Business. -Something quite different from that was necessary to satisfy -these butchers of the Temple. They had come to ask for -blood and not for pardon.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Kill Him!” yelled Annas and Caiaphas, and with them the -Pharisaical vipers hissed, the sellers of the holy animals -shrieked, the money-changers, the men who rented beasts of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_340'>340</span>burden, the porters of the caravans. “Kill Him!” howled the -Scribes, wrapped in their theological cloaks, the vendors of the -Passover fair, the tavern-keepers of the upper city, the Levites, -the servants of the Temple, the hired helpers of the usurers, -the errand boys of the priests, all the servile horde assembled -before the Procurator’s house.</p> - -<p class='c006'>As soon as this uproar was a little quieted, Pilate asked, -“What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call -King of the Jews?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And they all answered, “Crucify him!”</p> - -<p class='c006'>But the Procurator resisted, “Why, what evil hath he -done?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And they cried out the more exceedingly, “Crucify him!”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus, pale and calm in the whiteness of the mocking cloak, -looked quietly at the crowd, which desired to give Him what -in His heart He had been seeking. He was dying for them, -with the divine hope of saving even them by His death, and -they were assailing Him, howling as if He had wished to -escape His accepted fate. His friends were not there, were -hidden; all His people wished to pierce His flesh with nails, -and only a foreigner, an idolater, defended His life. Why was -Pilate not moved to compassion? Why did He not give Him -at once to the crucifiers? Did he not realize that his false pity -only lengthened and embittered the anguish? He loved and -it was fitting that He should be hated; He brought men back -from death and it was fitting that He should be killed; He -wished to save others and it was fitting that all men should -wish to destroy Him; He was innocent and it was fitting that -He should be sacrificed.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But obstinate Pilate did not surrender to the howls of the -Jews nor to Jesus’ silent prayer. At any cost he wanted to -win his point. He would not give in once more to that fierce, -filthy mob. He had not succeeded in transferring to Antipas -the disagreeable responsibility of a death-sentence; he had not -succeeded in persuading this tigerish and mulish people of the -innocence of their wretched king. What they wanted was to -see a little blood; on these festival days they wanted to enjoy -the spectacle of a crucifixion. He would satisfy them with a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_341'>341</span>bargain, giving them the carcass of a murderer in exchange -for the body of an innocent man.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>BARABBAS</h3> -<p class='c005'>“I find in him no fault at all. But ye have a custom, that I -should release unto you one at the passover. Whom will ye -that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called -Christ?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Taken by surprise, the people did not know what to answer. -Until then there had been but one name, one victim, one punishment -asked for; everything was as clear as the sky on that -mid-April morning. But now, in order to save that scandal-maker, -this impertinent pagan brought into question another -name which confused the whole matter. Pilate wanted to flog -Him only, instead of crucifying Him: and now he wanted to -crucify another delinquent in His place. By good fortune the -Elders, Scribes and Priests were still there and they had no -intention of letting Jesus escape. In a flash they suggested -the right reply. So that when Pilate asked them a second time -which of the two they wished him to free, they answered with -one voice, “Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas!”</p> - -<p class='c006'>He was not an ordinary delinquent, the man whom the Procurator -offered as blood-ransom to those men with such a morbid -relish for crucifixions. The common tradition has preserved -his memory as a street ruffian, a criminal by profession. -But his surname—Bar Rabban, which means Son of Rab, or -rather disciple of the Master, since the scholars of the Rabbis -were called their sons—shows us that through birth or through -study he belonged to the caste of Doctors of Law. Mark and -Luke say expressly that he was accused of having committed -murder during a sedition, hence a political assassin. Jesus -Barabbas, a student in the school of the Scribes, lamenting -over the loss of the Jewish Kingdom, and hating Judea’s pagan -masters, was probably a Zealot and had been captured in one -of the unsuccessful revolts, so common at that time. Was it -likely that such an absurd bargain would satisfy the Sadducee -<span class='pageno' id='Page_342'>342</span>and Pharisee assembly which shared the sentiments of the -Zealots, even if for reasons of state they hid them, or out of -weakness of soul forgot them?</p> - -<p class='c006'>Barabbas, although an assassin, and indeed precisely because -he was an assassin—was a patriot, a martyr, persecuted -by the foreigners. Jesus, on the other hand, although He had -never killed any one, had wished to overturn the law of Moses, -and to ruin the Temple. The first, in short, was a sort of national -hero, the other an enemy of the nation: there could be -no doubt about their choice. “Free Barabbas! Let this man -die!” Once more Pontius Pilate had failed to save Christ or -himself. He ought to have realized before this, that the leaders -of the Jews would not loose their hold on the flesh into -which they had already set their teeth, the only flesh which -could stay their hunger. Their need for it that day was like -their need for bread and air. They would not have left that -spot, not even to eat, until they had seen that Bastard Messiah -fastened with four nails upon two beams.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Pontius Pilate was cowardly. He was afraid that he was -committing an injustice; he was afraid of displeasing his wife; -he was afraid of giving satisfaction to his enemies; but at the -same time he was afraid to put Jesus in a place of safety; he -was afraid to have his soldiers disperse that sullen, arrogant -crowd; he was afraid to decide with a clear-cut act of authority -that Jesus, the innocent man, should be released, and not -Barabbas, the assassin. A real Roman, a Roman of antiquity, -of the true Roman stock, would either at once have satisfied -the demands of that turbulent crowd and would not have -wasted a moment in defending an obscure visionary; or would -at once have decreed, from the beginning, that this man was -innocent and was under the august protection of the Empire.</p> - -<p class='c006'>By his stratagems, half-measures, indolent questionings, -hesitations and partially executed maneuvers Pilate found -himself slowly pushed towards a decision he did not wish to -make. The fact that he had not at once decided the question -with a yes or no had increased the insolence of the High -Priests and the excitement of the people. Now there were only -two alternatives: either to give in shamefully after resisting -<span class='pageno' id='Page_343'>343</span>so long, or to risk starting a tumult which on those days, when -Jerusalem included almost a third of the population of Judea, -might become a perilous uprising.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Undone by his cowardly wavering, deafened by the yells, -the only thing that came into his mind was to ask once more -the advice of men to whom he should have issued orders.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Crucify him, let him be crucified!”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Why, what evil hath he done?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Crucify him! Crucify him!”</p> - -<p class='c006'>What affair is it of this odious foreigner if Jesus had done -evil or not? According to our faith He is an impostor, a -blasphemer, an enemy of the people and deserves death. Even -if He has done no evil He deserves death because His words -are more dangerous than any wicked actions.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Crucify him! Crucify him!”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Take ye him and crucify him,” cried Pilate, “for I find no -fault in him.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he -made himself the Son of God.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The silence of Jesus was more potent than this bestial outcry. -They were fighting for the possession of His body, and -He seemed scarcely to be aware of it. He knew that from the -beginning of time His destiny was sealed and that this was -His day. The battle was so uneven! On one side a Gentile, -who knew nothing and understood nothing of Him, who did -not defend Him through love but through Hate, who did not -defend Him openly but with tricks and quibbles, who was -more afraid of a revolt than of an injustice, who was stubborn -through punctilio and not because of his certainty of Christ’s -innocence. On the other hand, a threatened clergy, a vindictive -bourgeoisie, a crowd, like all crowds, easily incited to evil -deeds. It was easy enough to foresee the outcome.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But Pontius Pilate would not yield the point. He would restore -Barabbas to his accomplices, but he would not give up -Jesus. His first idea came into his head again: to have Him -scourged; perhaps when they saw the bruises and the blood -dripping from His back they would be satisfied with that punishment -<span class='pageno' id='Page_344'>344</span>and would leave in peace the innocent man who looked -with equal pity on the cowardly shepherd and the unruly -wolves.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The Procurator had said that he found no fault with Him, -and yet he was to have Him scourged with rods. This contradiction, -this half-injustice, this compromise, is characteristic -of Pilate. But it was to be of no avail; like his other efforts, -it was merely to add one more shame to his final defeat.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The Jews were still shrieking, “Let him be crucified!” But -Pilate went back into his house and gave Jesus over to the -Roman soldiers to be flogged.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>A CROWNED KING</h3> -<p class='c005'>The mercenaries, who (in the provinces) were the majority -in the legions, had been waiting for this decision. Throughout -the long dispute the soldiers of the Procurator’s guard had -been obliged to look on, silent and motionless, at this mysterious -colonial uproar, of which only one thing seemed clear -to them, that their commanding officer was not cutting the best -figure. For a while they had been amused by watching the -sinister faces, the excitability and the gesticulation of that -Jewish swarm; and they had become aware that the Procurator, -somber and perplexed, was vainly trying to unravel the -tangled threads of this early-morning quarrel. They kept -their eyes on him, as dogs watch an unskillful hunter, circling -about without making up his mind to fire, although the quarry -is close at hand.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Now at last something to their taste happened. They were -to have their turn at amusing themselves. To flog a Jew, -hated by the Jews themselves, was an amusement neither dangerous -nor very tiring,—just enough to exercise their arms, to -stretch the muscles contracted by the morning chill, and to -start the blood circulating.</p> - -<p class='c006'>All the company was ordered into the court-yard of the -palace, and the white cloak given by Antipas was taken from -Jesus’ back—the first spoils of the enterprise—together with -part of His other clothes. The lictors chose the rods, and the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_345'>345</span>strongest among the soldiers snatched at them. They were -practical people who knew how to flog energetically and according -to the rules.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus, half of His body bared, tied to a pillar, that He might -not lessen the force of the blows by bending forward, silently -prayed to the Father for the soldiers about to scourge Him. -Had He not said: “Love those who hate you, do good to those -who persecute you, offer the left cheek to him who has struck -the right”? At that moment He could reward his scourgers -only by interceding with God for their forgiveness. These -soldiers were prisoners as much as He, and they knew not -whom they were flogging with such innocent heartiness. They -themselves had been flogged sometimes for small breaches of -discipline, and they saw nothing out of the way in the fact -that the Procurator, a Roman officer, had them scourge a delinquent -belonging to a subject and inferior race.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Strike hard, O legionaries, for of this blood which now begins -to flow, some drops are shed for you. This was the first -blood drawn by men from the Son of Man. At the Last Supper -His blood had been symbolized by the wine, on the Mount -of Olives the blood which mixed with the sweat, stood in drops -on His face, came from a suffering altogether spiritual and -inner. But now, at last, men’s hands shed blood from the -veins of Christ; knotty hands of soldiers in the service of -the rich and the powerful, hands which wield the scourge before -taking up the nails. That livid back, swollen and bloody, was -ready for the cross; torn and raw as it was, it would add to -the suffering of crucifixion when they stretched it out on the -rough wood of the cross. Now they could stop, the courtyard -of the cowardly stranger was stained with blood. Servants -that very day might wash away those spots, but they -would start out again on the well-washed white hands of Pontius -Pilate.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The number of blows prescribed had been duly administered, -but now, after their taste of amusement, the legionaries did not -wish to let their plaything escape at once. All they had done -so far was to execute an order; now they wished to have some -entertainment of their own. This man, so said the Jews howling -<span class='pageno' id='Page_346'>346</span>out there in the public square, pretended to be a king. Let -us give Him His wish, this madman, and thus we will enrage -those who refuse Him His royal dignity.</p> - -<p class='c006'>A soldier took off his scarlet cloak, the red chlamys of the -legionaries, and threw it over those shoulders, red with blood; -another took up a handful of dry thorns, kindling for the -brazier of the night-watch, twisted a couple of them together -like a crown and put it on His head; a third had a slave give -Him a reed and forced it into the fingers of His right hand; -then, roaring with laughter, they pushed Him upon a seat. -One by one, passing before Him, they bent their knees awkwardly, -crying: “Hail, King of the Jews!”</p> - -<p class='c006'>But some were not satisfied with this burlesque homage, and -one of them struck a blow at the cheek, still showing the marks -of the fingers of Caiaphas’ servants; one, snatching the reed -out of His hand, gave Him a blow on the head, so that the -thorns of His crown pierced the skin and made about His -forehead a border of drops red as His cloak.</p> - -<p class='c006'>They would perhaps have thought of some other amusing -diversion if the Procurator, coming up when they were making -merry, had not ordered them to lead the scourged King -outside. The jocose disguise invented by the legionaries fitted -in with the sarcastic intention of Pilate. He smiled, and taking -Jesus by the hand, led Him to the crowd of wild animals -there, and cried: “Behold the man!”</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE WASHING OF THE HANDS</h3> -<p class='c005'>“Behold the man!”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And he turned Christ’s shoulders towards that expanse of -yelling muzzles that they might see the welts left by the rods, -red with oozing blood. It was as if he said: Look at Him, -your King, the only King that you deserve, in His true majesty, -tricked out as befits such a King. His crown is of sharp -thorns; His purple cloak is the chlamys of a mercenary; His -scepter is a dry reed. These are the ornaments merited by -your degraded King, unjustly rejected by a degraded people -like yourselves. Was it His blood you desired? Here is His -<span class='pageno' id='Page_347'>347</span>blood; see how it drops from the thorns of His crown. There -is not much of it, but it ought to be enough for you, since it is -innocent blood. It is shed as a great favor to you—to satisfy -you. And now be off from here, for you have troubled me -long enough!</p> - -<p class='c006'>But the Jews were quieted neither by these words nor by -that spectacle. They demanded something quite other than a -flogging and a masquerade before they would go their ways. -Pilate thought that he could make mock of them, but he would -realize that this was no time for feeble jokes. They had had -the best of him twice already and they would again. A few -bruises and a practical joke played by the soldiery were not -enough to punish this enemy of God as He deserved; there -were trees in Judea and nails to nail Him to them. And their -hoarse voices shouted all together, “Let him be crucified! -Let him be crucified!”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Too late Pilate realized that they had driven him into a -tangle from which he could not disengage himself. All his -decisions were combated with a pertinacity he had not foreseen. -By a flash of inspiration he had pronounced the great -words, “Behold the man!” But he himself did not understand -that proclamation which transcended his base soul. He -did not realize that he had found the truth he was seeking: -a half-truth, but deeper than all the teachings of the philosophers -of Rome and Greece. He did not understand how Jesus -was really Man, the symbol of all humanity, sorrowing and -humiliated, betrayed by its rulers, deceived by its masters, -crucified every day by the Kings who oppress their subjects, -by the rich who cause the poor to weep, by priests who think -of their bellies rather than of God. Jesus is the Man -of Sorrows announced by Isaiah, the man without form -or comeliness, despised and rejected of men, who was to -be killed for all men; He is God’s only son who had taken -on man’s flesh, and who would ascend in the glory of power -and of the new sun, in the midst of the blaring of the trumpets -calling the dead to life. But now to the eyes of Pilate, to the -eyes of Pilate’s enemies, He was only a wretched, insignificant -man, flesh for rods and for nails, a man and not Man, a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_348'>348</span>mortal and not a God. Why did Pilate lose time with those -sibylline remarks before delivering Him to the executioner?</p> - -<p class='c006'>And yet Pilate still did not yield. Standing beside that silent -man, the Roman felt his heart heavy with an oppression he -had never known before. Who could this man be whom all -the people wished to kill, and whom he could neither save nor -sacrifice? He turned once more to Jesus, “Whence art thou?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>But Jesus gave him no answer.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have -power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Then the insulted King raised His head, “Thou couldest -have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from -above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the -greater sin.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Caiaphas and his associates were the guilty ones; the others -were dogs incited by Caiaphas, mere tools of Caiaphas. Even -Pilate was only an indocile instrument of priestly hatred and -of the Divine will.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But the Procurator in his perplexity found no new expedient -to free himself from the net about him, and returned to his -fixed idea, “Behold your King!”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The Jews, infuriated by this repeated insult, burst out, enraged, -“If thou let this man go, thou art not Cæsar’s friend; -whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Cæsar.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>At last they had hit on the right words to bring pressure on -weak, cowardly Pilate. Every Roman magistrate, no matter -how high his rank, depended on Cæsar’s favor. Pilate’s reputation -might be ruined by an accusation of this sort, presented -with ability, by malicious advocates—and there were plenty of -those among the Hebrews, as was shown later by the memorial -of Philo. But in spite of the threat, Pilate cried out his last -and weakest question, “Shall I crucify your king?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The High Priests, feeling that they were on the point of winning, -answered with their last lie, “We have no king but -Cæsar.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Pilate surrendered. He was forced to yield unless he wished -to start an uproar which might set all Judea on fire. His conscience -<span class='pageno' id='Page_349'>349</span>did not disturb him: had he not tried everything possible -to save this man who did not wish to save Himself?</p> - -<p class='c006'>He had tried to save Him by referring the matter to the -Sanhedrin, which could not pronounce a death sentence; he -had tried to save Him by sending Him to Herod; he had tried -to save Him by affirming that he found no fault in Him; he -had tried to save Him by offering to free Him in the place of -Barabbas; he had tried to save Him by having Him scourged -in the hope that this ignominious punishment would pacify -them; he had tried to save Him by seeking to arouse a little -pity in those hardened hearts. But all his maneuvers had -failed, and he certainly did not wish the whole province to rise -on account of that unfortunate Prophet; and even less was he -willing that on His account they should accuse him before -Tiberius and have him deposed.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Pilate thought himself innocent of the blood of this innocent -man. And in order that they might all have a visible -representation of that innocence which they would not forget, -he had a basin of water brought to him and washed his hands -there before them all, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of -this just person: see ye to it.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Then answered all the people and said, “His blood be on us, -and on our children.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had -scourged Jesus he delivered him to be crucified.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>But the water which flowed over his hands was not enough -to cleanse them. His hands are still blood-stained, and will be -to all eternity. He might have saved Christ if he had really -wished. Jesus was sent to Golgotha by Pilate’s subterfuges, -by the multiple forms taken by the cowardice of Pilate’s soul, -poisoned by the irony of skeptics. He would have been less -base if he had really believed Christ guilty and had given his -consent to the assassination. But he knew that there was no -fault in Jesus, that Jesus was a just man as Claudia Procula -had said, as he himself had repeated after her. There is no -excuse for a man in authority who, fearing for himself, allows -a just man to be killed: he holds office in order to protect the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_350'>350</span>just against assassins. But Pilate said, “I have done everything -that I could to save Him from the hands of the unjust.” -That was not true; he had tried many ways, but not the only -way which could have succeeded. He had not offered himself, -had not sacrificed himself, had not been willing to risk his -dignity and his fortune. The Jews hated Jesus, but they also -hated Pilate, who had harassed and derided them so many -times. Instead of proposing the seditious Barabbas in exchange -for Jesus, he ought to have proposed himself, Pontius -Pilate, Procurator of Judea, and perhaps the people might -have accepted the bargain. No other victim except himself -would have satisfied the rage of the Jews. It would not have -been necessary for him to die. It would have been enough to -let them denounce him to Cæsar as Cæsar’s enemy. Tiberius -would have deposed him and perhaps have banished him, but -he would have taken into exile and into disgrace a comforting -certainty of innocence. Little did his shifts avail him; for -the fate he now sought to avert by giving Jesus over into the -hands of his adversaries fell upon him a few years later. The -Jews and the Samaritans accused him; the Governor of Syria -deposed him, and Caligula banished him to the frontiers of -Gaul. But he was followed into his exile by the shade of that -great, silent man, assassinated with his consent. In vain had -he constructed in Jerusalem the great reservoir full of water, -in vain had he washed himself with that water before the multitude. -That water was Jewish water, turbid and ill-omened -water that did not cleanse. No washing will ever cleanse his -hands from the stains left on them by the divine blood of -Christ.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>GOOD FRIDAY</h3> -<p class='c005'>The sun rose higher in the clear April sky and now it was -near to noon. The contest between the flaccid defender and -the furious assailants had wasted most of the morning, and -there was no time to lose. According to Mosaic law, the bodies -of executed criminals could not remain after sunset on the -place of punishment, and April days are not as long as June -days.</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_351'>351</span>Moreover, Caiaphas, reënforced though he was by so many -furiously enraged partisans, could not draw a tranquil breath -until the Vagabond’s feet were forever halted, fastened with -iron nails on the cross. He remembered how, a few days before, -Jesus had entered the city surrounded with waving -branches and joyful hymns. He was sure of the city itself, -but at this period it was full of provincials come from everywhere, -who had not the same interests and the same passions -as the clientele dependent on the Temple. Those Galileans -especially, who had followed Him until now, who loved Him, -might make some effort at resistance and put off, even if they -did not actually prevent, the real votive offering of that day.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Pilate, too, was in haste to have that troublesome, innocent -man taken away. He did not wish to think of Him again. He -hoped that he would forget after His death that look, those -words and, above all, his own corroding uneasiness, so painfully -like remorse. Although he had washed and dried his -hands, that man in His silence, it seemed to him, was sentencing -him to a penalty worse than death itself. Before that scourged -man, at the point of death, he felt himself the guilty one. To -vent his uneasiness on those who really caused it, he dictated -the wording of the titulus or superscription, which the condemned -man was to wear about His neck until it was fastened -above His head at the top of the cross, as follows: “Jesus of -Nazareth the King of the Jews.” The Scribe wrote these -words three times in three languages in clear, red letters on the -white wood.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The leaders of the Jews, who had remained there, craning -their necks, to hasten the preparations, read this sarcastic inscription -and protested. They said to Pilate, “Write not, The -King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>But the Procurator cut them short with a dry brevity: -“What I have written I have written.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>These are the last words recorded of him, and the most profound! -I am forced to make you a present of the life of this -man, but I do not deny what I have said. Jesus is a Nazarene, -which means also, saint. And He is your King, the wretched -King who fits your wretchedness. I wish all men to know -<span class='pageno' id='Page_352'>352</span>how your ill-born race treats saints and kings. It is for this -I have written these words in Latin and Greek as well as in -Hebrew. And now be off, for I have endured you long enough, -“Quod scripsi, scripsi.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>In the meantime the soldiers had put back on the King His -poor man’s garments and had tied the notice about His neck. -Others had brought out from the storerooms three massive -crosses of pine, the nails, the hammer and the pincers. The -escort was ready. Pilate pronounced the usual formula: “I -lictor, expedi crucem.” And the sinister procession moved -forward.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The Centurion rode at the head, he whom Tacitus calls with -terrible brevity, “exactor mortis.” Immediately after him -came, in the midst of the armed legionaries, Jesus and the two -thieves who were to be crucified with Him. Each of them carried -a cross on his shoulders, according to the Roman rule. -And behind them, the shuffling steps and the uproar of the excited -crowd, increased at every step by accomplices and idle -sight-seers.</p> - -<p class='c006'>It was Parasceve, the day of preparations, the last night before -the Passover. Thousands of lambs’ skins were stretched -out on the sunlit roofs; and from every house rose a column -of smoke, delicate as a flower-bud, which opened out in the air -and then was lost in the clear, festal sky. Old women with -malignant faces, mumbling anathemas, emerged from the -dark alley-ways; dirty-faced little children trotted along with -bundles under their arms; bearded men carried on their shoulders -a kid or a cask of wine; drovers were dragging along asses -with hanging heads; children stared with impudent and melancholy -eyes at the foreigners who were walking about circumspectly, -impeded by this festal bustling. In every home -the house-mother was busy, preparing everything needful for -the next day, because with the setting of the sun every one was -exempt for twenty-four hours from the curse of Adam. The -lambs, skinned and quartered, were all ready for the fire; the -loaves of unleavened bread were piled up fresh from the oven; -men were decanting the wine, and the children to lend a hand -somewhere were cleaning the bitter herbs.</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_353'>353</span>There was no one idle, no one whose heart was not rejoicing -at the thought of that festal day of repose, when all families -would be gathered about the father, when they would eat in -peace and drink the wine of Thanksgiving from the same cup; -and God would be witness of this cheer because the psalms of -the grateful would go up to Him from every house. On that -day even the poor felt themselves almost rich; and the rich, -because of their unusual profits, felt themselves almost generous; -and children whose hopes had not yet been dashed -by experience of life felt themselves more loving; and women -more loved.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Everywhere there was that peaceful confusion, that good-natured -tumult, that joyous bustle which goes before a great, -popular feast-day. An odor of hope and of Spring purified -the old filth of the Jewish ant-heap. And the great eastern sun -sent down a flood of light upon the four Hills.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>SIMON OF CYRENE</h3> -<p class='c005'>Under that festal sky, through that festal crowd, slow as a -funeral procession, the sinister column of the bearers of the -cross made its way. About them everything spoke of joy and -of life, and they were going to burning thirst and to death. -About them all men were waiting joyfully to spend the evening -with their loved ones, to sit down at the well-garnished table, -to drink the bright, genial wine served on feast-days, to stretch -themselves out on their beds to wait for the most longed-for -Sabbath morning of the year. And the three, cut off forever -from those who loved them, would be stretched upon the cross -of infamy, would drink only a sip of bitter wine, and, cold -in death, would be thrown into the cold earth.</p> - -<p class='c006'>At the sound of the Centurion’s horse, people stepped to -one side and stopped to look at the wretched men toiling and -sweating under their terrible burden. The two thieves seemed -more sturdy and callous, but the first, the Man of Sorrows, -seemed scarcely able to take another step. Worn out by the -terrible night, by His four questionings, by the buffetings, by -the beatings, by the flogging, disfigured with blood, sweat, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_354'>354</span>saliva, and by the terrible effort of this last task set Him, He -did not seem like the fearless young man who a few days before -had scourged the vermin out of the Temple. His fair, -shining face was drawn and contracted by the convulsions of -pain; His eyes, red with suppressed tears, were sunken in their -sockets; on His shoulders, torn by the rods, His clothes clung -to the wounds, increasing His sufferings; His legs, more than -His other members, felt this terrible weakness, and they bent -under His weight and under that of the cross. “The spirit is -willing but the flesh is weak.” After the vigil, which had been -the beginning of His agony, how many blows had been struck -upon that flesh! Judas’ kiss, the flight of His friends, the -rope on His wrists, the threats of the judges, the blows of the -guard, the cowardice of Pilate, the howling demands for His -death, the insults of the legionaries, and now this weight of the -cross, carried along amid the sneers and scoffing of those whom -He loved!</p> - -<p class='c006'>Those who saw Him pass took no notice of Him, or at the -most, those who knew how to read tried to make out the inscription -which hung down on His chest. Many, however, -knew Him by sight and by name, and pointed Him out to their -neighbors with learned and complacent airs. Some of them -mingled with the crowd, following behind to enjoy to the end -the spectacle, always new, of a man’s death; and more would -have followed if it had not been a day when there was much -to do at home. Those who had begun to hope in Him now -despised Him because He had not been stronger, because He -had let Himself be taken like any sneak-thief; and to ingratiate -themselves with the Priests and Elders mingled with -the crowd, they cast out at the false Messiah as He went by -some neatly phrased insult. Very few were those who felt -any movement of pity to see Him in that situation and among -those few were some who did not know who He was, who were -moved merely by the natural pity which any crowd feels for -condemned men. Some few there were who still felt a little love -in their hearts for the Master who had loved the poor, who had -healed the sick, who had announced the Kingdom so much -more righteous and holy than the kingdoms then in existence -<span class='pageno' id='Page_355'>355</span>and ruining the earth. But these were few, and they were -almost ashamed of that secret tenderness for one whom they -had believed to be less hated or more powerful. The greater -part laughed, satisfied and contented, as if this funeral procession -had been a part of the feast-day.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Only some women, their heads wrapped in their cloaks, came -behind all the rest, weeping, but trying to hide this seditious -grief.</p> - -<p class='c006'>They had not yet come to the Gate of Gardens, but they -were almost there when Jesus, His strength utterly exhausted, -fell to the ground and lay there stretched under His cross. His -face had suddenly gone white as snow; the reddened eyelids -were dropped over His eyes; He would have seemed dead if it -had not been for the painful breath coming and going through -His half-open mouth.</p> - -<p class='c006'>They all stopped, and a dense circle of jeering men stretched -out their faces and hands towards the fallen man. The Jews, -who had followed Him from Caiaphas’ house, would not listen -to reason.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“He is only pretending,” they cried. “Lift Him up! He is a -hypocrite! He ought to carry the cross to the last! That is the -law! Give Him a kick, as you would to an ass, and let Him get -along!”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Others said, “Look at the great King who was to conquer -Kingdoms. He cannot manage even two sticks of wood, and -yet He wanted to wear armor. He said that He was more -than a man, and see, He is a womanish creature who faints -away at the first work given Him. He made paralytics walk -and He Himself cannot stand up. Give Him a cup of wine to -bring back His strength.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>But the Centurion who, like Pilate, was in great haste to -finish his distasteful task, was experienced in the handling of -men, and saw clearly that the unfortunate Jesus would never -be able to drag the cross along all the way to Golgotha. He -cast his eyes about to find some one to carry that weight. Just -at that moment there came in from the country a Cyrenian -called Simon, who, at the sight of so many people, had stepped -into the crowd and was looking with an astonished and pitying -<span class='pageno' id='Page_356'>356</span>expression at the body prostrate and panting under the two -beams. The Centurion saw that he had a kindly look, and furthermore -that he was strongly built, and called to him, saying, -“Take this cross and come after us.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Without a word the Cyrenian obeyed, perhaps out of goodness -of heart, but in any case from necessity, because the Roman -soldiers in the countries which they occupied had the right -to force any one to help them. “If a soldier gives you some -task to do,” wrote Arrian, “be careful not to resist him and not -to murmur, otherwise you will be beaten.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>We know nothing more of the merciful-hearted man who lent -his broad countryman’s shoulders to lighten Jesus’ load, but -we know that his sons, Alexander and Rufus, were Christians, -and it is extremely probable that they were converted by their -father’s telling them of the death of which he was an enforced -witness.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Two soldiers helped the fallen man up on His feet, and -urged Him forward. The procession took up its way again -under the noon-day sun, but the two thieves muttered between -their teeth that no one thought of them, and that it was not -right that that other man by pretending to fall should be freed -of His burden while they still were forced to carry theirs. It -was favoritism, nothing less, especially as that fellow, to hear -what the priests said about Him, was much more guilty than -they. From that moment His two companions in punishment, -jealous of Him, began to hate Him, and were to insult Him -even when they were nailed at His side on the crosses which -they were then carrying on their backs.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>FORGIVE THEM</h3> -<p class='c005'>The Centurion halted outside the old walled city, in the -midst of the young verdure of the suburban gardens. The city -of Caiaphas did not allow capital punishment within its walls; -the air perfumed with the virtue of the Pharisees would be -polluted; and the soft hearts of the Sadducees would be distressed; -hence, condemned prisoners were expelled from the -city before their death.</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_357'>357</span>They had stopped on the summit of a rounded mound of -limestone resembling a skull. This resemblance might seem -to be the reason for choosing this place for executions, but the -real reason was rather because the two great roads from Jaffa -and Damascus crossed each other close at hand, and it was -well that the cross should show its terrible warning to the -traveling multitude of pilgrims, merchants and provincials.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The sun, the benign sun of the solstice, the high noon-day -sun, shone on the white mound and on the mattocks ringing -sonorously in the rock. In the nearby gardens the spring -flowers expanded in the mild air; singing birds, hidden in the -trees, rent the sky with the silver arrows of their warblings; -doves flew about in pairs in the warm, pastoral peace. It would -be sweet to live there in some well-watered garden beside a -well, in the perfume of the earth awakening and clothing itself, -awaiting the harvest moon, in company with loving friends! -Days of Galilee, days of peace, days of sunshine and friendship -among the vineyards, beside the lake, days of light and liberty, -wandering with friends who listened understandingly, days -drawing to a close with the well-earned cheerfulness of supper, -days which seemed eternal, although they were so short!</p> - -<p class='c006'>Now Thou hast no one with Thee, Jesus, called the Christ. -These soldiers preparing that appalling bed, these thieves insulting -Thee, those hounds awaiting Thy blood, are only shadows, -cast by the great shadow of God. Thou art alone as Thou -wert alone at night; the sun that warms Thy assassins is not -for Thee. Before Thee lies no other day, no other journey; -ended are Thy wanderings and now at last Thou canst rest; -this skull of rock is Thy goal. A few hours hence, Thine imprisoned -spirit shall be torn from its dungeon.</p> - -<p class='c006'>God’s human face is wet with cold sweat. The blows of the -mattocks ring in His head, as if they struck at Him; the sun -which He loved so much, symbol of the Father, just even to the -unjust, now falls harshly on His aching eyes and swollen eyelids. -His whole body aches with weariness, trembles in a -yearning for rest which He resists with all His soul. Has He -not promised to suffer as much as is needful up to the very -last? At the same time it seems to Him that He loves with a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_358'>358</span>more intimate tenderness those whom He is leaving, even those -who are working for His death. And from the depths of His -soul, like a song of victory over the torn and weary flesh, rise -up the words, never to be forgotten by men, “Father, forgive -them; for they know not what they do.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>No more divine prayer was ever raised to Heaven since men -have lived and prayed; it is not the prayer of a man, but of a -God to a God. Men, who cannot pardon even the innocence of -an innocent man, had never before that day dreamed that a -man might pray for the forgiveness of those who were putting -him to death.</p> - -<p class='c006'>For they know not what they do! Wrongs consciously -wrought cannot be absolved without assurance of repentance. -But the ignorance of men is so appallingly great that only a -few really know what they do.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus had taught what men should know; but how many -knew it? Even His own Disciples, the only ones to know that -Jesus was Christ, had been overcome by the fear of losing this -last remnant of their lives; even as they fled away, they had -shown that they did not know what they did. And even more -ignorant of what they really did were the Pharisees, fearful of -losing their preëminence; the Doctors, fearful of losing their -privileges; the rich, fearful of losing their money; Pilate, fearful -of losing his office; and most ignorant of all were the Jews, -misled by their leaders, and the soldiers obedient to orders. -None of them knew who Christ was and what He came to do, -and why He was killed. Some of them were to know it, but -afterwards, and they came to know it only through the intercession -of the Man whom they were killing.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Now, at the point of death, He had confirmed His most difficult -and divine teaching, “Love for enemies,” and He could -now hold out His hands to the hammer. The crosses had been -raised; now they were piling stones about them to steady them -under the weight, and were filling the holes with earth, stamping -it down with their feet.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The women of Jerusalem approached the condemned Man -with a pitcher. It contained a mixture of wine, incense and -myrrh, which the executioners, out of the goodness of their -<span class='pageno' id='Page_359'>359</span>hearts, imagined would dull consciousness. Those very people -who were making Him suffer pretended as a last insult that they -had mercy on that suffering, and by reducing it by the merest -trifle they thought they had the greater right to demand that -the rest of the cup of suffering be drained. But Jesus, as -soon as He had tasted this mixture, bitter as gall, pushed it -away. He would have accepted a single word in place of the -wine, but the only one on that day who could find the word to -say was one of the thieves whom they had dragged up to the -place of the skull with Him.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The incense and the myrrh which they offered Him on that -day were not perfumed like that incense and myrrh brought -to Him in the stable by the Wise Men from the distant Orient. -And in place of the gold which had lighted the dingy darkness -of the stable, there was the iron of the nails, gray now, waiting -to be reddened. And that wine which seemed poisoned so bitter -was it, was not the genial nuptial wine of Cana, nor that -which He had drunk the evening before, warm and dark as -blood dripping from a wound.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>FOUR NAILS</h3> -<p class='c005'>On the top of the hill of the Skull the three crosses, tall, -dark, with outspread beams like giants with outstretched arms, -stood out against the great sweep of the sweet spring sky. -They threw no shadow, but they were outlined by brilliant -reflections from the sun. The beauty of the world on that day -in that hour was so great that tortures were unthinkable; could -they not, those wooden branches, blossom out with field flowers, -and be wreathed with garlands of tender green, hiding the -scaffold with verdure, in the shade of which reconciled and -friendly brothers might sit down?</p> - -<p class='c006'>But the Priests, the Scribes, the Pharisees, those who gloated -over suffering and over revenge, who had come there to satisfy -their morbid appetites with the spectacle of three deaths, were -stamping with impatience, and jeeringly hastening on the -Romans.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The Centurion gave an order. Two soldiers approached -<span class='pageno' id='Page_360'>360</span>Jesus and with rapid, rough gestures removed all His clothes. -The criminal condemned to crucifixion must be entirely naked.</p> - -<p class='c006'>As soon as He was stripped, they passed two ropes under His -armpits, and hoisted Him up on the cross. Half-way up on -the upright was a rough wooden peg like a seat where the -body was to find a precarious and painful support. Another -soldier leaned the ladder against one of the arms of the cross, -climbed up on it, hammer in hand, seized the hand which had -cured lepers and caressed little children’s hair, spread it out on -the wood and drove a nail into the middle of the palm. The -nails were long, and with a wide head so that they could be -easily hammered. The soldier struck a vigorous blow, which -pierced the flesh at once, and then another and a third so that -the nail would hold firmly and so that only the head would -remain outside. A little blood spurted out from the pierced -hand upon the hammering hand, but the diligent workman -paid no attention to it, and continued to hammer away vigorously -until his work was properly done. Then he came down -the ladder and did the same to the other hand.</p> - -<p class='c006'>All the spectators had fallen silent, hoping to hear screams -from the condemned man. But Jesus was silent before His -executioners as He had been silent before His judges.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Now they turned their attention to the feet. This was work -which could be done standing on the ground, for the Roman -crosses were set so low that, if the bodies of the executed criminals -were left on them too long, prowling dogs and jackals -could tear out their bowels and eat them.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The soldier who was nailing Christ on the cross now lifted -up His knees so that the soles of His feet should be flat against -the wood, and taking the measure so that the iron nail should -be long enough to go through the instep, he pierced the -first foot, and drove the nail home. He did the same to the -other foot, and at the end glanced up, still with his hammer in -his hand, to see if he had finished his work, and if anything -was lacking. He remembered the scroll which they had taken -from Jesus’ neck and flung down on the ground. He picked it -up, climbed again up the ladder, and with two nails fastened -it on the upright of the cross, above the thorn-crowned head.</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_361'>361</span>Then he came down the ladder for the last time, threw away -his hammer, and looked to see if his companions had finished -their work. The thieves, too, were now in place and all three -crosses had their flesh-offerings. The soldiers could rest and -divide the garments which henceforth the men up there on the -crosses needed no more. This was the perquisite of the executioners -and came to them by law. Four soldiers had a right to -Jesus’ clothes and they divided them into four parts. This left -the tunic, which was without seam, woven all in one piece. It -would be a sin to cut it, for after that it would be of no use -to any one; but one of them, an old gambler, took out his dice, -threw them, and the tunic was awarded by luck. From now -on the only possession of the King of the Jews was the thorns -of His crown which, as a greater insult, they had left on His -head.</p> - -<p class='c006'>All was finished: the drops of blood fell slowly from His -hands on the ground and the blood from His feet reddened the -cross. From now on He was to flee no more; His blaspheming -mouth was soon to be gaping in agony, but it was to teach no -more forever. The assassins might be satisfied with themselves -and with the foreign executioners. The poisoner of the -people, the enemy of the Temple and of business, was fastened -with four solid nails on the tree of ignominy. From that night -on the lords of Jerusalem could sleep more peacefully.</p> - -<p class='c006'>A clamor of demoniac laughter, of exultant exclamations, of -ferocious jests rose from the crowd about Golgotha. There He -was, the bird of ill-omen, nailed with outspread wings. The -poor man, satisfied if He had but a tunic, now was altogether -naked; the vagabond, who had only a stone on which to lay -His head, now had a fine pillow of wood; the impostor who -deceived with His miracles, no longer had His hands free to -mold the clay which restored sight to the blind; the throne of -the King was a hard wooden peg; the hater of Jerusalem was -hung up in sight of the Holy City; the Master with so many -disciples now had as companions only two thieves who insulted -Him, and four bored soldiers. “Call on the Father now to -save Thee, ask for a legion of angels to take Thee away from -there and disperse us with flaming swords. Then even we will -<span class='pageno' id='Page_362'>362</span>believe that Thou art the Christ, and we will fall down with -our faces in the dust to adore Thee.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And some of the priests, shaking their heads, said: “Thou -that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save -thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the -cross.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>This challenge recalls that of Satan in the desert. They, -like Satan, wished for a prodigy. They had asked so many -times for a sign! “It would be a fine sign if Thou couldst -loosen the four nails and come down from the cross, and if -the power of the Father should flame out in the Heavens destroying -us as God-killers. But Thou seest well that the nails -are strong and are not loosened, and that no one appears to aid -Thee from heaven or from earth.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The Scribes, the Elders, mocked Him in the same way, and -so did even the soldiers, although the affair was none of theirs, -and even the thieves also, suffering though they were in anguish -with Him.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the -King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we -will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now -if he will have him: ... for he said, I am the Son of God.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>He had announced that He came to give life, but now He -could not save Himself from death! He had boasted that He -was the Son of God, but God did not move to save His firstborn -from the scaffold. Therefore, He had always lied; it was -not true that He had ever saved any one. It was not true that -God was His Father, and if He had lied about that, He had lied -about everything, and deserved this fate. There was no need -of proof, but the proof was there so clear that all could see it, -and their consciences were perfectly at rest. If any miracle -were possible, He would no longer be crucified there to agonize; -but the sky was empty and the sun, God’s light, shone -clearly that all men might see more clearly the contractions of -His face and the painful heaving of His chest.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“What a pity that the Romans do not allow our old punishment -for blasphemers, for it would have relieved us to have -<span class='pageno' id='Page_363'>363</span>stoned Thee one by one. Thus every one would have had his -share of pleasure, taking aim at the head with well-directed -stones, and covering Thee with bruises, clothing Thee in a tunic -of stones. Once before when the adulteress was brought before -Thee we put down our stones, but to-day no one would be -backward, and Thou wouldst have paid for Thee and for her! -The cross is well enough, but how much less satisfying for the -spectators! If only these foreigners had permitted us to give -a blow of the hammer on the nails! Thou answerest not? -Hast Thou no longer any desire to preach? Canst Thou not -come down? Why dost Thou not deign to convert us also? -If we ought to love Thee, show us first that God loves Thee -enough to do a great miracle to save Thee from death!”</p> - -<p class='c006'>But the divine Sacrifice was silent. The torture of the fever, -which had begun already, was not so terrible as those words of -His brothers who were crucifying Him a second time on the -cross of their appalling ignorance.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>DISMAS</h3> -<p class='c005'>The thieves who had been crucified with Jesus had begun to -be hostile to Him in the street when He was liberated from the -weight of His cross. They felt aggrieved because no one -thought of them; they were to die the same death, but no one -seemed to think of this; people abused Him, but at least they -recognized that He was there, they were all thinking about -Him, running along for His sake as if He had been alone. It -was for Him that all those people were following along—important -people, educated and wealthy—it was for Him that -the women were weeping and that even the Centurion was -moved to pity. He was the King of the occasion, this country -cheat, and He drew every one’s attention as if He had -really been a King. Who knew, perhaps the wine with myrrh -would never have been offered to them, if He had not been so -fastidious as to refuse it.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But one of them, when he heard the great words of his envied -companion, “Forgive them; for they know not what they -<span class='pageno' id='Page_364'>364</span>do,” suddenly fell silent. That prayer was so new for him, -summoned him to emotions so foreign to his nature and all his -life, that it carried him back at one stroke to his almost forgotten -childhood, when he also was innocent, and when he knew -there was a God of whom one could ask for peace as poor men -beg for bread at the rich man’s door. But in no canticle could -he remember hearing any such prayer as this, so extraordinary, -so paradoxical in the mouth of one who was at that moment -being killed. And yet those impossible words found in the -thief’s withered heart an echo of something he would have liked -to believe, above all at that moment when he was about to appear -before a Judge more awful than those of the law-courts. -This prayer of Jesus’ found an unexpected echo in his own -thought, a thought beyond his power to formulate or express, -but which now seemed to him luminous in the darkness of his -fate. Had he really known what he was doing? Had other -men ever thought of him? Had they ever done for him what -they could to turn him from evil? Had there ever been any -one who really loved him? Had any one given him food when -he was hungry and a cloak when he was cold, and a friendly -word when suddenly temptations laid siege to his lonely and -dissatisfied soul? If he had had a little more bread and love, -would he have committed the actions which had brought him -to Golgotha? Was he not also among those who knew not what -they do, distraught by poverty, abandoned among ambushed -passions? Were they not thieves like him, the Levites who -trafficked in the offerings of the faithful, the Pharisees who -cheated widows, the rich men, who by their usury drained dry -the veins of the poverty-stricken? Those were the men who -had condemned him to death; but what right had they to kill -him if they had never done anything to save him, and if they, -too, were tainted with his guilt?</p> - -<p class='c006'>All these thoughts went through his distracted heart while -he waited to be fastened to the cross. The nearness of death—and -what a death!—this unheard-of prayer of the man who was -not a thief, but who was suffering the penalty of thieves, the -hate which deformed the faces of the men who had condemned -him also, moved his poor, maimed soul, and inclined him to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_365'>365</span>emotions unfelt since his boyhood, to emotions the very name -of which he did not know, but which were very like to tenderness -and repentance.</p> - -<p class='c006'>When they were all on the cross, the other thief, although -suffering terribly from his pierced hands and feet, began again -to insult Jesus. He also began to vomit out the challenge of -the Jews, “If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>If He were really the Son of God would He not have thought -of freeing also His companions in misery? Why was He not -moved to compassion? Hence, they were right, those men -down there: He was a deceiver, a man of no account, an execrated -outcast. And the anger of the raging thief was intensified -by his fury over a lost hope, an abortive hope, an impossible -dream of miraculous salvation; but a despairing man -hopes even for the impossible, and this hope withdrawn seemed -to him a betrayal.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But the Good Thief who had been listening to him, and to -the other raging voices shrieking down below, now turned to -his companion. “Dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art in -the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive -the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing -amiss.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The thief had passed from the doubt of his own blameworthiness -to the certainty of the innocence of that mysterious -Pardoner at his side. “We have committed deeds (he was not -willing to call them crimes) which men punish, but this man -has done nothing amiss, and yet He is punished as we are; -why, therefore, insult Him? Hast thou no fear that God will -punish thee for having humiliated an innocent man?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And he turned over in his mind what he had heard told about -Jesus—only a few things and those not at all clear to him—but -he knew that Jesus had spoken of a Kingdom of Peace and -that He himself was to be at the head of it. Then with impetuous -faith as if he invoked the blood which fell at the same -moment from his criminal hands and from those guiltless -hands, he cried out these words, “Lord, remember me when -thou comest into thy kingdom.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>We have suffered together; wilt Thou not recognize the man -<span class='pageno' id='Page_366'>366</span>who was beside Thee on the cross, the only man who defended -Thee when all were attacking Thee?</p> - -<p class='c006'>And Jesus, who had answered no man, turned His head as -well as He could towards the pitying thief and answered him, -“Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in -paradise.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>He could promise him nothing earthly: what would it have -availed him to be unnailed from the cross and to drag himself -along the roads of the earth a few years more, crippled and -needy? And unlike the other thief he had not asked to be -saved from death: he had asked only to be remembered after -his death, if Jesus should return in glory. Jesus instead of -fleshly and uncertain life promised him the eternal life of Paradise, -and that without delay—“to-day.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>He had sinned; in the eyes of men, he had gravely sinned, -he had taken away from the rich a little of their riches, perhaps -he had also stolen a little from the poor, but for sinners -ailing with an illness worse than any bodily weakness, Jesus -had always a tenderness of which He made no show, but which -He was never willing to hide. Had He not come to bring back -to the warmth of the stable the flock lost among the thorns of -the countryside? Were not the wicked already sufficiently -punished with their own wickedness? And those who thought -themselves righteous, were they not perhaps often more corrupt -than the wicked they condemned? Jesus does not pardon -all men. That would be injustice, holier than the injustice of -the world, but still unjust. But a single motion of repentance, -a single word of regret is enough. The prayer of the thief was -enough to absolve him.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The Good Thief was Jesus’ last convert in His corporeal existence. -He was the last Disciple and at the same time the -first of the martyrs, for Peter’s Gospel tells us that when they -heard his words, the Jews were angered against him and -demanded that his legs should not be broken, in order that he -might die in greater torment. The legs of crucified men were -broken out of mercy that their sufferings might end sooner; -this shortening of his torture was refused to him because he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_367'>367</span>had defended Christ and believed in Him: like his Master, -he was forced to drink his cup to the dregs.</p> - -<p class='c006'>We know nothing more of him; only his name preserved -in an apocryphal manuscript. The Church has received him -among her saints because of this promise of Christ, with the -name of Dismas.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE DARKNESS</h3> -<p class='c005'>Jesus’ breathing was more and more like the death-rattle. -His chest heaved with convulsive efforts to breathe; loud, painful -pulses hammered at His temples. His heart beat so rapidly -and so violently that it shook Him as if it would tear Him -loose; the feverish thirst of crucified men flamed all over His -body, as if His blood had become a raging molten fire in His -veins. Stretched in that painful position, nailed to the -beams and not able to move, held up by His hands, which -were lacerated if He let Himself hang by them, but which, -if He held them up, exhausted His weak and worn-out frame, -that young and divine body which had suffered so many times -because it contained too great a soul, was now a funeral pyre -of suffering where all the sufferings of the world burned -together.</p> - -<p class='c006'>As ancient writers admitted, crucifixion was the cruelest -and blackest of punishments. It gave the greatest torture for -the longest time. If tetanus set in, a merciful torpor hastened -death; but there were men who held out, suffering always -more and more, until the second day after crucifixion, and -even longer. The thirst of their fever, the congestion of their -hearts, the rigidity of their veins, their cramped muscles, the -dizziness and terrible pains in the head, the ever-greater -agony—all these were not enough to make an end of them. -But most men died at the end of twelve hours.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The blood from the four wounds of Jesus had clotted about -the nail-heads, but every movement made fresh blood gush -out, which fell slowly along the cross and dripped upon the -ground. His head drooped on His weary neck; His eyes, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_368'>368</span>those mortal eyes, whence God had looked out upon the earth, -were glazing over in the death stupor; and His livid lips, -parched with suffering and thirst, drawn by His painful breathing, -were withered by that last kiss, the poisonous kiss of -Judas.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Thus died a God, who had cooled the blood of the feverish, -had given the water of life to the thirsty, who had raised up -the dead from their tombs, who had quickened the paralyzed, -cast out demons from obsessed souls, who had wept with the -weeping, who, instead of punishing the wicked, had made them -to be born again into a new life, who had taught with poetic -words and proved by miracles that glorious aspiration—the -life of perfect love—which raging beasts sunk in stupor and -in blood would never have been capable of discovering for -themselves. He had healed wounds and they wounded all -His perfect body; He had pardoned evildoers, and evildoers -nailed Him, an innocent man, between two criminals; He had -infinitely loved all men, even those unworthy of His love, and -hatred had nailed Him there where hatred punished and was -punished; He had been more righteous than righteousness and -they had wreaked upon Him the most iniquitous unrighteousness; -He had called mean souls to holiness and He had fallen -into the hands of vilifiers and demons. He had brought life, -and in return they gave Him the most ignominious death.</p> - -<p class='c006'>All this was necessary that men should learn again the road -to the earthly Paradise; that they should mount above drunken -bestiality and attain the exaltation of the saints; that they -should be resurrected from their sluggish folly which seems -life and is death, to the magnificence of the Kingdom of Heaven.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The mind may bow before the dreadful mystery of this -necessity, but the heart of men can never forget the price -exacted as payment of our debts. For nineteen hundred years, -men born again in Christ, worthy to know Christ, to love -Christ, and to be loved by Him, have wept, at least once in -their lives, at the memory of that day and of that suffering. -But all our tears gathered together like a bitter sea do not -compensate for one of the drops which fell, red and heavy, -on Golgotha.</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_369'>369</span>A barbarous king of barbarians pronounced the most vigorous -words ever spoken by Christian lips about that blood. -They were reading to Clovis the story of the Passion, and the -fierce King was sighing and weeping when suddenly, no longer -able to contain himself, clapping his hand to the hilt of his -sword, he cried out, “Oh, that I had been there with my -Franks!” Ingenuous words, words of a soldier and of a -violent man, opposed to Christ’s words, spoken to Peter among -the olives, but words beautiful with all the naïve beauty of -a candid and virile love. For it is not enough to weep over -Christ who gave more than tears; we must fight, fight in us -everything that divides us from Christ, fight in our midst all -of Christ’s enemies.</p> - -<p class='c006'>For, although millions of men have since wept when thinking -of that day, on that Friday around the cross, all except the -women were laughing, and those men who laughed have left -sons and grandsons, many of them baptized, and they still -laugh and their descendants will continue to laugh until the -day when One alone will be able to laugh. If weeping cannot -cancel that blood, what punishment can ever expiate that awful -laughter?</p> - -<p class='c006'>Look at them therefore once more, those who are laughing -about the cross where Jesus hangs pierced by the most agonizing -pain. There they are, clustered on the slopes of Golgotha, -dehumanized by hate! Look at them well, look them in the -face, one by one; you will recognize them all, for they are -immortal.</p> - -<p class='c006'>See how they thrust out their twitching muzzles, their -scrawny necks, their noses humped and hooked, their rapacious -eyes, gleaming under their bristling eyebrows. See how hideous -they are, branded with the mark of Cain. Count them -over well, for they are all there, just like the men whom -we now know, brothers of the men whom we meet every day -in our streets. Not one is missing.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In the front row there are the priests, with crammed -paunches, with arid hearts, with great hairy ears, with thick-lipped, -gaping mouths, craters of blasphemy. And elbow to -elbow with them, the arrogant Scribes, blear-eyed and scrofulous, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_370'>370</span>their faces of an excremental yellow, piecers-together of -lies, belching out pus and ink. And the Epulones, thrusting -out before them the obscene heaviness of their stuffed bellies, -brutes who trade on hunger, who fatten on famines, who convert -into money the patience of the poor, the beauty of virgins, -the sweat of slaves. And the money-changers, expert in illicit -traffic and in oppression, who live to wrest unlawfully from -others; and the knotty lawyers skillful at turning the law -against the innocent. And behind these high pillars of society, -there is the mob of cheating scullions, of overbearing rascals, -of foul-mouthed rogues, of whining beggars, of filthy knaves, -the lower dregs of the population, famished hounds who eat -under the tables and snarl between the legs of whoever does -not give them either a mouthful or a kick.</p> - -<p class='c006'>They are the eternal enemies of Christ—they who celebrated -on that day their infamous Saturnalia; and they have vomited -out on Christ’s face their poisonous saliva, the muddy lees of -their souls. This miry dross of humanity, foul and polluted, -vomited out from their filthy hearts their hatred for Him who -was saving them; they howled against Him who was forgiving -them; they insulted Christ who was agonizing for them, Christ -who was dying for them. The antithesis of good and evil, -innocence and infamy, light and darkness, was never presented -with such a dramatic and utter contrast as on that irreparable -day.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Nature itself seemed to wish to hide the horror of that sight: -the sky, which all the morning had been clear, suddenly grew -dark. A thick cloud, dark as though it came from the marshes -of hell, rose above the hills and little by little spread to every -corner of the horizon. Black clouds gathered about the sun, -that sweet, clear April sun, which had warmed the hands of -the murderers, encircled it, laid siege to it, and finally covered -it with a thick curtain of darkness ... “and there was a -darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.”</p> -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_371'>371</span> - <h3 class='c007'>LAMA SABACHTHANI</h3> -</div> -<p class='c005'>Many, alarmed by the falling of that mysterious darkness, -fled away from the Hill of the Skull, and went home, silenced. -But not all; the air was calm; no rain fell as yet, and in the -obscurity, the three pallid bodies shone out whitely; many -of the spectators wished to sate themselves to the very last -on His agony; why go away from the theater until the tragedy -is finished to the last scream?</p> - -<p class='c006'>And those who remained listened in the darkness to hear if -the hated protagonist would break by some word His groaning -death-rattle. Christ’s sufferings constantly became more -intolerable. His body, sensitive and delicate by nature, exhausted -by the tension of these last days, convulsed by the -struggle of the last night, worn out by the tortures of the -last hours, could endure no more. And His spirit suffered -even more than the tortured body which still for a short time -was its prison. It seemed to Him that His divinely youthful -soul had become suddenly aged, and that He was old beyond -memory. Everything seemed far-distant from Him, the companions -of His happy days, the confidants of His tenderness, -the poor who looked lovingly at Him, the children whose heads -He had caressed, the healed men and women who could not -bring themselves to leave Him, His Disciples for whom He -had created a new soul—they were all far away. Close to -Him there were only a gang of cannibals, possessed by the -devil, eager for Him to die.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Only the women had not deserted Him. On one side at -some distance from the cross, through fear of the howling men, -Mary, His mother, Mary Magdalene, Mary of Cleofa, Salome, -mother of James and John—and perhaps also Joanna of Cusa, -and Martha—were present, terrified witnesses of His death. -He still had the strength to confide to John, the dearest and -most sacred inheritance which He left on earth—the Virgin -of Sorrows. But after this, through the veil of His suffering, -He saw no one and believed Himself alone with death, as -He had ever been alone at the most solemn moments of His -life. Even the Father seemed suddenly remote, inexplicably -<span class='pageno' id='Page_372'>372</span>absent. Where was that loving Father to whom He was wont -to speak, sure that He would be answered, would be helped? -Why did the Father not help Him, give some sign of His presence, -or at least show Jesus the mercy of calling Him to God -without cruel delay?</p> - -<p class='c006'>And then there was heard in the thick air, in the silence -of the darkness, these words, “Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthani?” -that is to say: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken -me?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>This was the first verse of a psalm which He had repeated -to Himself many times because He had found there so many -presages of His life and of His death. He no longer had the -strength to cry it all aloud as He had in the desert, but now -into His troubled spirit those sorrowing invocations came back -one by one, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? -why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of -my roaring?... Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted -and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee, and were -delivered: ... but I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of -men, and despised of the people. All that see me laugh me -to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, -He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him -deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. But thou art he that -took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I -was upon my mother’s breasts. Be not far from me: for trouble -is near; for there is none to help. Many bulls have compassed -me: ... they gaped upon me with their mouths, as -a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, -and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is -melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up -like a potsherd: and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou -hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed -me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they -pierced my hands and my feet ... they look and stare upon -me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon -my vesture. But be thou not far from me, O Lord: O my -strength, haste thee to help me.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The supplications of this prophetic psalm, which recall so -<span class='pageno' id='Page_373'>373</span>closely the Man of Sorrows of Isaiah, rose from the wounded -heart of the crucified Man as the last expression of His dying -humanity. But certain of the brutes nearest to the cross -thought that He was calling Elias, the immortal prophet, who -in the popular imagination was to appear with Christ. “Behold, -He calleth Elias.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>One of the soldiers now took a sponge, soaked it in vinegar, -put it on a reed and held it to the lips of Christ. But the -Jews said, “Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to -take him down.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The legionary, not wishing to make trouble, laid down the -reed. But after a little—and the time seemed infinitely long -in that darkness, in that suspense, that painful tension—Christ’s -voice came down as if from a great distance, “I -thirst.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The soldier took up the sponge again, dipped it once more -in the vessel full of the mixture of water and vinegar and -once more held it to the parched mouth which had prayed for -his forgiveness. And Jesus when He had taken the vinegar -said, “It is finished.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Christ, who had satisfied so many times the thirst of others, -and who left in the world an ever-springing fountain of life, -where the weary find strength, the corrupt find their youth, -and the restless find peace, Christ had always suffered with an -unsatisfied thirst for love. And even now in the terrible burning -of His fever, His thirst was not for water but for a pitying -word which would break the oppression of His desolate solitude. -Instead of the pure water of the Galilean brooks, instead -of the heart-warming wine of the Last Supper, the Roman soldier -gave Him a little of his acid drink, but the prompt and -kindly act of that obscure slave quenched His thirst, because, -although reeling in the darkness of death, He felt that a human -heart had pitied His heart.</p> - -<p class='c006'>If a stranger who had never seen Him before that day had -done this, although so small a thing, through compassion for -Him, it was a sign that the Father had not abandoned Him. -The cup was finished: all the bitterness was drunk. Eternity -began. With His last strength He cried with a loud voice -<span class='pageno' id='Page_374'>374</span>in the darkness: “Father, into thy hands I commend my -spirit!”</p> - -<p class='c006'>I called Thee because it seemed to me in the darkness of my -suffering that Thou hadst left me. But now Thou hast answered. -Thou hast answered by means of this poor soldier; -Thou hast answered with the peace which dulls the last pangs -of my death, the death which brings me to my awakening with -Thee. It is not true that Thou hadst abandoned me. When -I called Thee it was not I who spoke but that human blood -burning in my veins, and dropping from the nails. I know -that Thou art present with me, one with me to all eternity: -Thou art my Father and I Thy Son. Into what dearer and -surer hands could I commend my soul?</p> - -<p class='c006'>And Jesus, after he had cried out with a loud voice, bowed -His head and gave up the spirit. That loud cry, so powerful -that it freed the soul from the flesh, rang out of the darkness -and lost itself in the furthermost ends of the earth. Matthew -tells us that “the veil of the temple was rent in twain from -the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks -rent; And the graves were opened, and many bodies of the -saints which slept arose, and appeared unto many.” But the -hearts of the spectators were harder than rocks; none of those -dead souls who wore the outward aspect of life were reanimated -at that supreme summons.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Nineteen hundred years have passed from the day when -the earth echoed to that cry, and men have intensified the -tumult of their lives that they may drown it out. But in the -fog and smoke of our cities, in the darkness, ever more profound -where men light the fires of their wretchedness, that despairing -cry of joy and of liberation, that prodigious cry which -eternally summons every one of us, still rings in the heart of -every man who has not forced himself to forget.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Christ was dead. He had died on the cross in the manner -which men had willed, which the Son had chosen, to which the -Father had consented. The death-struggle was over and the -Jews were satisfied. He had expiated all up to the last, and -now He was dead. Now our own expiation begins—and it is -not yet finished.</p> -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_375'>375</span> - <h3 class='c007'>WATER AND BLOOD</h3> -</div> -<p class='c005'>Christ was dead, as the leaders of His people had wished, -but not even His last cry had awakened them. Some of them, -says Luke, went away smiting their breasts; but were there -within those breasts hearts which truly felt for the great heart -which had stopped beating? They did not speak, they hurried -home to their supper,—perhaps it was more terror than love -which they were feeling.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But a foreigner, the Centurion, Petronius, who had been the -silent witness of the execution, was moved, and from his pagan -mouth came the words of Claudia Procula, “Certainly this was -a righteous man.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>He did not even know the true name of the man who was -dead, but he was sure at least that He was no evildoer. He -was the third Roman witness in favor of the innocence of -Christ, who was to become, through the Apostles, eternally -Roman.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The Jews had no thought of recantations. What was in -their minds was the thought that the Passover would be spoiled -if the bloody corpses were not carried away at once. Evening -was close at hand and with the setting of the sun the great -Sabbath began. Therefore they sent word to Pilate to have -the condemned men’s legs broken at once and to have them -buried. The breaking of the legs was one of the cruel discoveries -of cruelty to shorten the sufferings of crucified men,—a -sort of grace useful in cases of haste. The soldiers, when -they had received the order, came up to the bad thief, who, -more robust than his companions, was still alive, and they -broke his legs with a club.</p> - -<p class='c006'>They had seen Jesus die, and they could save themselves -the trouble of using the club, but John says that one of them, -to make quite sure, pierced His side with a spear, and -saw with astonishment that water and blood came out from -the wound. The name of this soldier according to an old -tradition was Longinus, and it is said that some drops of that -blood fell upon his eyes which had been infected, and immediately -cured them. The history of martyrs tells of him that -<span class='pageno' id='Page_376'>376</span>Longinus believed in Christ from that day on, and was a -monk for twenty-eight years at Cæsarea until he was murdered -because of his faith. Claudia Procula, the pious legionary, -who for the last time wet the lips of the dying man, the -Centurion, Petronius, and Longinus were the first Gentiles who -accepted Jesus on the very day when Jerusalem had cast Him -out.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But not all the Jews had forgotten Him. Now that He was -dead, really dead, now that He was cold like all dead men, -and motionless like any other corpse, now that He was a silent, -harmless, quiet corpse, a body with no soul, a silent mouth, a -heart which beat no more, see how they come out from the -houses where they had shut themselves in, the friends of the -twenty-fifth hour, the tepid followers, the secret disciples, the -anonymous admirers, who at night hide their light under a -bushel, and when the sun shines, disappear. We have all known -friends like these, cautious souls, trembling at the idea of -what people will say, who follow you but from afar; receive -you—but when no one can see you together; esteem you—but -do not so much as admit this esteem to others; love you—but -not so much as to lose a single hour of sleep or a single miserable -penny to help you! But when death comes, even when -it comes through the fault or the avarice, or the cowardice of -such despicable men, then their celebration begins. They are -the ones who weep more tears and more glittering tears than -any one else. They are the ones who weave together with -busy hands the flowers of the wreaths and the flowers of -funereal rhetoric; and with enthusiasm and ardor become -necrologists, epitaph writers, and memorialists. To see them -you would think that the deceased had had no more faithful, -no more loving companions than they, and good-hearted people -are moved to compassion for those unfortunate survivors who -seem to have lost a half, or at the very least, a quarter of -their souls.</p> - -<p class='c006'>To His sorrow in life and in death Christ had many friends -of this sort, and two of them stepped forward in that Good -Friday twilight. They were two serious and worthy citizens, -two notables of Jerusalem and of the Council, two rich lords, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_377'>377</span>in short two members of the Sanhedrin; Joseph of Arimathea -and Nicodemus.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In order not to stain their hands with the blood of Jesus, -they had kept away from the meeting of the Sanhedrin and -had hidden themselves in their houses, heaving regretful sighs, -perhaps, and thinking that they could thus save their reputation -and their conscience. But they did not reflect that even passive -complicity was active help to the assassins, and that to -abstain from opposition, not even to voice their opposition, -was equivalent to consenting. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus -had therefore taken part in the murder of Christ, although -they had been absent and invisible, and their posthumous -grief can diminish but by no means cancel their responsibility.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But in the evening when they ran no risk of offending their -colleagues, when the Elders had received full satisfaction and -had left Golgotha, when there was no danger of compromising -themselves in the eyes of high clerical and middle-class society, -since the dead man was dead and could harm no one, the two -nocturnal disciples, hidden, “for fear of the Jews,” thought -that they would diminish their remorse by providing for the -burial of the executed man.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The bolder of the two, Joseph, “... went in boldly unto -Pilate” (Mark noted the fact as remarkable for that toga-clad -rabbit) and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate was astonished -that He should already be dead, since crucified men often -lived for two days—and called in Petronius, who had been -charged with the execution. After Pilate had heard his report, -he “gave” the body to the Sanhedrist. The Procurator was -generous on that day because as a rule the Roman officers -forced the families of condemned men to pay for the corpses. -He could not say no to a person so respectable, and rich into -the bargain. Possibly, too, this free gift came as much from -weariness as from generosity. They had annoyed him all the -morning with that troublesome King, and now he had no peace -even when He was dead!</p> - -<p class='c006'>When Joseph had received permission he took a fine white -winding-sheet and linen bands, and went towards the Hill of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_378'>378</span>the Skull. There, or on the way there, he met Nicodemus, -who, having the same character, may have been his friend, and -who had come with the same thought. Nicodemus also had -not spared expense, and had brought with him on the shoulders -of a servant a hundred pounds of a mixture of myrrh and aloes.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And when they came to the cross, while the soldiers were -taking down the two thieves to throw them into the common -grave of condemned men, they prepared themselves to take -down the body of Jesus.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>PERFUMES IN THE ROCK</h3> -<p class='c005'>What little light had penetrated the dark cloud disappeared -with the setting of the sun. The darkness was thick and -sinister. A black night was shutting down on the world which -on that day had lost the only Being which could give it light. -Against the scarcely visible whiteness of the Hill of the Skull, -the naked corpses glimmered dimly. They were obliged to -work by the red light of torches, flaming without smoke in -that windless air, and by that blood-red light they could see -clearly, even to the long streaks of blood which had run down -the foot of the cross, to the newly stirred earth.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Joseph, aided by Nicodemus and by a third helper, was -scarcely able to draw out the deep-driven nails which held the -feet. The ladder was still there. One of them, climbing up -on it, took out the nails from the hands, supporting the loosened -body with his shoulder. The others helped him to lower down -the corpse, and the body was placed on the knees of the Virgin -of Sorrows who had borne Him. Then they all made their -way towards a garden near by where there was a sepulcher -destined for Jesus. The garden belonged to the rich Joseph, -who had had the sepulcher hewn out of the stone for himself -and his family, for in those days every well-to-do Jew had -a family sepulcher far from all the others, and the dead were -not condemned to the promiscuity of our administrative cemeteries; -temporary, geometric, and democratic like all our modern -magnificent barbarisms.</p> - -<p class='c006'>As soon as they had arrived at the garden, the two bearers -<span class='pageno' id='Page_379'>379</span>of the dead had water brought from the well, and washed the -body. Until then the women, the three Marys—the Virgin -Mary, the contemplative Mary, the liberated Mary—had not -moved from the place where He whom they loved had died. -Now, defter and more skillful than men, they began to help -in order that this burial, performed thus at night and in haste, -would not be unworthy of Him for whom they wept. They -lifted from His head the insulting crown of Pilate’s legionaries, -and plucked out the thorns which had penetrated the skin: -they were the ones to smooth and arrange the hair clotted with -blood; and to close the eyes into which they had looked so -many times with pure tenderness, and that mouth which they -had never kissed. Many loving tears fell upon that face where -in the calm paleness of death the old sweetness shone once -more, and their tears washed it with water purer than that -from Joseph’s well.</p> - -<p class='c006'>All His body was sullied with sweat, with dust, with blood; -bloody serum oozed out from the wounds of the hands, of the -feet, of the chest. When the washing was finished, the corpse -was sprinkled with Nicodemus’ spices, and that without sparing, -for they were abundant; even the black wounds left by -the nails were filled with spices. The body of Jesus had received -nothing but insults and blows after the evening when -the sinning woman with a premonition of this day had poured -nard upon the feet and upon the head of the Pardoner. But -now, as then, the murdered white body was covered with perfumes -and with tears sweeter than perfumes.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Then, when the hundred pounds of Nicodemus had covered -Jesus with a fragrant pall, the winding sheet was tied about -the body with long linen bands, the head was wrapped in a -napkin and another white cloth was spread over the face, after -they had all kissed Him on the forehead.</p> - -<p class='c006'>There was space but for one body in the open sepulcher. -Recently made, it had never been used. Joseph of Arimathea, -not able to save Christ alive in any of his houses, now that -the fury of the world had died down, gave up to Him the -dark subterranean habitation hewn in the rock, and intended -for his own dead body. According to the ritual the two Sanhedrists -<span class='pageno' id='Page_380'>380</span>recited aloud the mortuary psalm, and finally, after -they had placed the white-wrapped body in the cave, they -closed the opening with a great stone and went away silently, -followed by the others.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But the women did not follow them. They could not bring -themselves to leave that rock which separated them forever -from Him whom they loved more than their beauty. How -could they leave Him alone in the darkness, doubly black, -of the night and of the tomb, He who had been so desperately -alone in His long death agony? They whispered prayers, and -recalled to each other the memory of a day, or a gesture, or -a word of the loved one, and if one of them tried to comfort -another, the second but sobbed more bitterly. Sometimes they -called Him by name as they leaned against the rock, and spoke -lovingly to Him now that His ears were closed in death, as -they had not dared while He was alive. They poured out, at -last in the damp black shade of the garden, that love greater -than love, which their poor, limited human hearts could no -longer hold back.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Then finally, chilled and terrified by the night’s blackness, -they too went away, their eyes burning, stumbling amid the -bushes and the stones, promising one another to return there -as soon as the feast-day had passed.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>HE IS NOT HERE</h3> -<p class='c005'>The sun had not yet risen on the day which for us is Sunday, -when the women once more drew near to the garden; but over -the eastern hills a white hope, light as the distant reflection -of an earth clothed with lilies and silver, rose slowly in the -midst of the throbbing constellations, vanquishing little by -little the sparkling brilliance of the night. It was one of those -calm dawns, suggesting innocents asleep, and the clear benign -air seemed stirred as by a recent stir of angels’ wings. It -seemed one of the virginal days, ushered in with transparent -pallor, shy and cheerful with cool breezes.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In the half light, the women advanced, breathed upon by -<span class='pageno' id='Page_381'>381</span>wandering airs, lost in their sadness, under the spell of an -emotion they could not have explained. Were they returning -to weep upon the rock? Or to see Him once more, He who -had captured their hearts without laying them waste? Or to -put about the body of the Immaculate One spices stronger -than those of Nicodemus? And speaking among themselves, -they said, “Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of -the sepulchre?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>There were four of them, since Joanna of Cusa and Salome -had joined Mary of Magdala and Mary of Bethany, but they -were women and weakened by their sorrow.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But when they came to the rock they stood still, astounded. -The opening into the sepulcher showed black against the darkness. -Not believing her eyes, the boldest of them touched the -sill with her trembling hands. In the daylight, brightening -now with every moment, they saw the stone there beside them, -leaning against the rocks.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The women, struck into silence by their fright, turned around -as if expecting some one to come to tell them what had happened -in those two nights which had passed. Mary of Magdala -feared at once that the Jews, not satisfied with what they had -made Him suffer when He was alive, had stolen away the body -of Christ; or perhaps, unwilling to have the honorable sepulcher -used by a heretic, they had thrown Him into the shameful -common grave used for men stoned and crucified.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But this was no more than a presentiment. Perhaps Jesus -was still lying inside in His perfumed wrappings. Enter they -dared not, yet they could not bear to go away, not knowing -what had happened. As soon as the sun, risen at last above -the summit of the hills, shone into the opening of the sepulcher, -they took courage and entered.</p> - -<p class='c006'>At first they saw nothing, but they were shaken by a new -fear. At their right, seated, was a young man clothed in a long -white garment, showing in that darkness like snow. He seemed -to be awaiting them.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Be not affrighted: he is not here: for he is risen. Why -seek ye the living among the dead? Remember how he spake -<span class='pageno' id='Page_382'>382</span>unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, The Son of man -must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, -and the third day rise again.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The women listened, terrified and trembling, not able to answer, -but the youth went on, “Go quickly, and tell his disciples -that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before -you into Galilee; there shall ye see him.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>All four of them, quivering with terror and joy, left the grotto -to hasten where they had been sent. But after a few steps, -when they were almost outside the garden, Mary of Magdala -stopped, and the others went along the road towards the city -without waiting for her. She herself did not know why she -had remained behind. Perhaps the words of the unknown -youth had not convinced her, and she remembered that they -had not even made sure that the sepulcher was really empty; -perhaps the youth in white was an accomplice of the priests -who wished to deceive them?</p> - -<p class='c006'>Suddenly she turned and saw a man near her, outlined -against the green of the garden, and the sunlight; but she -did not recognize Him even when He spoke. “Woman, why -weepest thou? whom seekest thou?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Mary thought that it might be Joseph’s gardener come early -to his work. “Because they have taken away my Lord, and -I know not where they have laid him. Sir, if thou have borne -him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take -him away.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The unknown man, touched by this impassioned candor, by -this child-like simplicity, answered only one word, spoke only -one name, her name, pronounced longingly, wistfully in the -touching and unforgettable voice which had called her so many -times: “Mary!”</p> - -<p class='c006'>At this, as if awakened with a start, the despairing woman -found her lost Master: “Rabboni, Master!” And she fell at -His feet in the dewy grass and clasped in her hands those -bare feet still showing the two red marks of the nails.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But Jesus said to her, “Touch me not; for I am not yet -ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto -<span class='pageno' id='Page_383'>383</span>them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my -God, and to your God.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And at once, He withdrew from the kneeling woman, and -moved away among the plants, crowned with sunshine.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Mary watched Him until He had disappeared; then she -lifted herself up from the grass, her face convulsed, wild, blind -with joy, and ran after her companions.</p> - -<p class='c006'>They had but just come to the house where the Disciples -were in hiding and they had told hastily and breathlessly the -incredible news: the sepulcher opened, the youth clad in white, -the things which he had said, the Master risen, the message to -His brothers.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But the men, still stunned by the catastrophe, and who in -these dangerous days had shown themselves more torpid and -passive than the weaker women, were not willing to believe this -wildly improbable news. Hallucinations, women’s dreams, -they said. How could He be risen from the dead after only -two days? He had said that He would return, but not at once: -so many terrible things were to be seen before that day of -His return!</p> - -<p class='c006'>They believed in the resurrection of the Master, but not -before the day when all the dead would rise again, and He -would come in glory to rule His kingdom. But not now: it -was too soon, it could not be true: waking dreams of hysteric -women!</p> - -<p class='c006'>But in the meantime, Mary of Magdala rushed in, breathless -with haste and agitation. What the others had said was all -true. But there was more: she herself had seen Him with -her own eyes, and He had spoken to her, and she had not -known Him at once, but had recognized Him as soon as He -had called her by name: she had touched His feet with her -hands, had seen the wounds on His feet; it was He, alive once -more; and He had told her, as had the unknown youth, to -go to His brethren, so that they should know that He had risen -from the dead as He had promised.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Simon and John, finally aroused, rushed out of the house -and began to run towards Joseph’s garden. John, who was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_384'>384</span>younger, outran Peter and came first to the sepulcher. He -looked through the door, saw the linen cloths lying on the -ground, but did not go in. Simon came up panting and rushed -into the grotto. The linen cloths were lying on the ground, -but the napkin which had been about the head of the corpse -was folded and wrapped together in a place by itself. John -also went in, saw, and believed. And without another word -they returned in all haste towards the house, still running, -as if they expected to find the Risen One in the midst of the -others whom they had left.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But Jesus, after He had left Mary, withdrew from Jerusalem.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>EMMAUS</h3> -<p class='c005'>After the solemn interval of the Passover, plain, ordinary -everyday life began again for all men.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Two friends of Jesus, among those who were in the house -with the Disciples, were to go that morning on an errand to -Emmaus, a hamlet about two hours’ journey from Jerusalem. -They left as soon as Simon and John had returned from the -sepulcher. All these amazing tales had shaken them somewhat, -but had not really convinced them of an event so portentous -and unexpected. Serious-minded men, they could not -understand or believe what they had heard: if the body of -the Master was no longer there, might it not have been taken -away by men’s hands?</p> - -<p class='c006'>Cleopas and his companion were good Jews, men who left -a place for the ideal in their minds, burdened with many -material cares. But this place for the ideal was not to be too -large, and this ideal must be commensurate with their own -natures if it were not to be expelled as an unwelcome guest. -Like almost all the Disciples, they too expected the coming -of a Liberator, but of one who would come to liberate Israel -first of all,—a Messiah, in short, who should be the son of -David rather than the Son of God, a warrior on horseback -rather than a poor pedestrian, a scourge of His enemies and -not a lover of sick people and children. The words of Christ -<span class='pageno' id='Page_385'>385</span>had almost given them a glimpse of higher truths, but the -crucifixion disheartened them. They loved Jesus, and they -suffered in His suffering, but this sudden, shameful ending -without glory and without resistance was too great a contrast -to what they had expected, and especially to much of what -they had hoped. They could understand that He might be -a humble Saviour, riding on gentle asses instead of on warlike -chargers, and a little more spiritual and gentle than they -would have liked; they could understand this, although with -difficulty, and endure it although grudgingly. But that the -Liberator had not known how to free either Himself or others, -that the Messiah of the Jews should have died through the will -of so many Jews on the scaffold of murderers and parricides, -was too great a disappointment,—an inexcusable scandal. -They pitied the crucified leader with all their hearts, but at -the same time they were tempted to believe that they had -been deceived about His real nature. His death—and what -a death!—looked to their narrow, practical minds sadly like -a failure.</p> - -<p class='c006'>They were reasoning together of all these things as they -went along under the warm noonday sun and at times the discussion -grew hot, for they did not always agree. Then suddenly -they caught a glimpse of a shadow on the ground near -them. They turned around. The shadow was that of a man -who was following as if he wished to hear what they were -saying. They stopped, as was the custom, to greet him, and -the traveler joined them. His did not seem an unknown face -to the two men, but look at him as they might, they could -not think who it was. The newcomer, instead of answering -their silent questions, asked them, “What manner of communications -are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Cleopas, who must have been the older, answered with a -wondering gesture, “Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, -and hast not known the things which are come to pass there -in these days?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“What things?” asked the unknown man.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty -in deed and word before God and all the people: And how -<span class='pageno' id='Page_386'>386</span>the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned -to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had -been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all -this, to-day is the third day since these things were done. Yea, -and certain women also of our company made us astonished, -which were early at the sepulchre; And when they found not -his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision -of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them -which were with us went to the sepulchre and found it even -so as the women had said: but him they saw not.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“O fools, and slow of heart,” exclaimed the stranger, “to -believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ -to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?” -Do you not remember how He was predicted from Moses down -to our own time? Have you not read Ezekiel and Daniel? -Do you not even know our songs of the Lord and His promises?</p> - -<p class='c006'>And almost indignantly He recited the old words and the -prophecies, recalled the description of the Man of Sorrows -given by Isaiah. The two listened, docile and attentive, without -answering, because the newcomer spoke with so much heat, -and the old admonitions in His mouth took on new warmth -and a meaning so clear that it seemed almost impossible that -they had not understood them before. The talk of the newcomer -gave them the impression of being the echo of other -talks like those heard in times past, but confusedly, like a voice -from the other side of a wall.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In the meantime they had arrived at the entrance of Emmaus, -and the pilgrim made as though He would have gone -further. But now the two friends were not willing to part -with their mysterious companion, and they begged Him to -stay with them. The sun was going down, throwing a warmer -golden light on the countryside, and their three shadows had -lengthened on the dusty road.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Abide with us,” they said, “for it is toward evening, and -the day is far spent.” Also thou art tired and it is the hour -for food. And they took Him by the hand and made Him -come into the house where they were going.</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_387'>387</span>When they were at table, the guest who sat between them -took bread, and broke it and gave a little to one of His friends. -At this action, the eyes of Cleopas and the other man were -opened, as when we are suddenly wakened and find the sun -shining. Both of them sprang to their feet, trembling with -emotion, pale, amazed, and finally knew Him, the murdered -man whom they had misunderstood and slandered. But they -had no time even to run to kiss Him, for Jesus vanished out -of their sight.</p> - -<p class='c006'>They had not recognized Him when they had seen Him, not -even by His speech, although that was so like His speech in -His lifetime; they had not recognized Him even by the light -of His eyes while He spoke, nor by the sound of His voice! -But when He took the bread in His hands, like a father who -shares it with His children in the evening after a day of work -or of travel, in that loving action which they had seen Him -perform so many times in their hastily arranged intimate suppers, -they had recognized His hands, His blessed and wounded -hands, and the cloud lifted and they found themselves face -to face with the splendor of Christ risen from the dead. In -His first life when He was their friend they had not understood -Him; when on the road to Emmaus He had taught them, -they had not recognized Him, but at the moment when He -became the loving Master, serving His servants and giving -them bread which is life and the hope of life, then for the -first time they saw Him.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And tired and fasting as they were, they went back over -the road which they had come, and after nightfall arrived at -Jerusalem.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And as they went along they said almost shamefacedly, -“Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by -the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The Disciples were still awake. Without drawing breath -the newcomers told of their encounter and what had been -said along the way, and how they had recognized Him only -at the moment when He broke the bread. And in answer to this -new confirmation, three or four voices cried out together, “The -Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon!”</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_388'>388</span>But not all the Apostles were convinced even by these four -appearances, by the fourfold testimony. To some, this prompt, -this extraordinary resurrection, which had taken place by night -in a secret and suspicious manner, seemed more the hallucination -of grief and of yearning than actual truth. Who were -the people who claimed to have seen Him? A hysterical -woman who had been possessed by a devil; a distraught man -who had not seemed himself from the moment when he had -denied his Master; and two plain fellows who were not even -His real Disciples, and whom Jesus had thus chosen, no one -knew why, in preference to His closer friends. Mary might -have been deceived by a phantom; Simon, to win back his -self-respect after his baseness, was determined to do no less -than Mary; the others were perhaps impostors or, at the most, -visionaries. If Christ were really risen, would not He have -been seen by them all while they were together? Why these -preferences? Why this appearance at three-score furlongs from -Jerusalem?</p> - -<p class='c006'>They believed in His resurrection, but they thought of it -as one of the signs of the ending of the world, when everything -would be fulfilled. But now that they found themselves -confronted with the fact that He alone had risen from the -dead while everyday life went on as usual, they realized that -the return into life of human flesh (and of human flesh which -had not gone to sleep peacefully in the last sleep, but whose -life had been torn away by violence), that this idea of rising -from the dead not in the distant future but in the immediate -present, contradicted all the other concepts which made up -the tissue of their minds. They realized that this contradiction -had always existed, but their doubt had not risen to consciousness -until this brusque encounter of two impossible elements: -a remote miracle and an actual fact.</p> - -<p class='c006'>If Jesus had risen from the dead, that would mean that He -was really God; but would a real God, a Son of God, ever -have been reconciled to allow Himself to be killed, and in so -shameful a way? If He could conquer death, why had He not -stricken down the judges, put Pilate to confusion, paralyzed -the arms of those about to nail Him to the cross? Through -<span class='pageno' id='Page_389'>389</span>what paradoxical mystery had the Omnipotent allowed Himself -to be dragged through the ignominy of the weak?</p> - -<p class='c006'>They were reasoning thus among themselves, some of the -Disciples who had heard but had not understood. Prudent -like all sophists, they did not venture openly to deny the -resurrection in the presence of those exalted hearts, but they -reserved judgment, turning over in their minds the reasons -for its possibility and impossibility, wishing for a manifest -confirmation, but unable to hope for one.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In the excitement of the day no one had eaten. But the -women had prepared supper, and now all sat down to the -table. Simon remembered the Last Thursday: “This do in -remembrance of me.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And a flood of tears dimmed his eyes while he broke the -bread and gave it to his friends.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>HAVE YE HERE ANY MEAT?</h3> -<p class='c005'>They had scarcely eaten the last mouthfuls when Jesus -appeared in the doorway, tall and pale. He looked at them -one by one, and in His melodious voice greeted them: “Peace -be unto you.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>No one answered. Their astonishment overcame their joy, -even for those who had already seen Him since His death. -On their faces the Man risen from the dead read the doubt -which He knew they all felt, the question which they did not -dare express in words, “Art Thou really Thyself a living man, -or a spirit which comes from the caverns of the dead to -tempt us?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Why are ye troubled?” said the Man who had been betrayed, -“and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold -my hands and my feet, that it is I, myself: handle me, and -see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me -have.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And He stretched out His hands towards them, showed them -the marks still bloody left by the nails, opened His garment -over His breast so that they could see the mark of the lance -in His side. Some of them, rising from their couches, knelt -<span class='pageno' id='Page_390'>390</span>down and saw on His bare feet the two deep wounds, each -with its livid ring around it.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But they could not bring themselves to touch Him, for they -feared to see Him disappear suddenly as He had come suddenly. -If one of them had embraced Him, would he have -felt the warm solidity of a body, or would his arms have passed -through the emptiness of a mere shadow?</p> - -<p class='c006'>It was He with His face, with His voice, with the irrefutable -traces of the crucifixion, and yet there was something changed -in His aspect which they could not have described, even if -they had been calm. The most reluctant were forced to believe -that the Master stood before them with all the appearance -of life begun anew, but their thoughts whirled in the last -of their doubts and they were silent as if they were afraid to -believe in their senses, as if they expected to wake up, from -one moment to another. Even Simon was silent. What could -he have said without betraying himself by tears to Him who -had looked at him with those same eyes in the courtyard of -Caiaphas while he swore that he had never known Him?</p> - -<p class='c006'>To make an end of their last doubts, Jesus asked, “Have -ye here any meat?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>He needed no longer any food except that for which He -had vainly asked all His life. But these men of the flesh -needed a fleshly proof, a material demonstration as was befitting -those who believed only in matter and nourished themselves -only on matter. They had eaten together on their last -evening; this evening also, now that they were again together, -He would eat with them. “Have ye here any meat?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>A piece of broiled fish was left in a dish. Simon put it -before the Master, who sat down at the table and ate the -fish with a piece of bread while they all stared at Him as -though it were the first time they had ever seen Him eat.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And when He had finished, He raised His eyes towards -them, and, “Are you convinced now, or do you still not understand: -does it seem possible to you that a spirit can eat as I -have eaten here in your presence? So many times I have been -forced to reprove your hardness of heart, and your little faith! -And behold you are still as you were at first, and you were -<span class='pageno' id='Page_391'>391</span>not willing to believe those who had seen me, and yet I had -hid nothing of what was to happen in these days. But you, -deaf and forgetful, hear and then forget, read and do not -understand. When I was with you, did I not tell you that -all things which were written and which I announced must -be fulfilled; that it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from -the dead on the third day, and that repentance and remission -of sins should be preached in His name among all -nations, beginning at Jerusalem? Now you are witnesses of -these things, and behold I send the promise of my Father -upon you. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel -to every creature. All power is given unto me in heaven and -on earth, and as the Father sent me, I send you. Go ye therefore -and teach all nations, teaching them to observe all things -whatsoever I have commanded you. He that believeth and is -baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be -damned. I will remain here a little and we shall meet again -in Galilee, but I am with you always even unto the end of the -world.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Little by little as He spoke, His Disciples’ faces lighted up -with a forgotten hope, and their eyes shone with exaltation. -This was the hour of consolation after the gloom of those -dreadful days just passed. His indubitable presence showed -that the impossible was assured, that God had not abandoned -them and never would abandon them. Their enemies, apparently -victorious, were conquered; the visible truth bore -out all the prophecies. It was true that they had known already -everything He was then saying, but those truths really -lived in them only when His lips repeated them.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Their King had come back, the Kingdom was near at hand, -and His brothers, instead of being derided and persecuted, -would reign with Him through all eternity. These words had -fired again the most tepid, had brightened the memory of other -words, of other sunnier days, and suddenly they felt an exaltation, -an ardor, a greater desire to embrace each other, to -love each other, never more to be separated from each other. -If the Master was risen from the dead, they themselves could -not die; if He could leave the sepulcher, His promises were -<span class='pageno' id='Page_392'>392</span>the promises of a God and He would fulfill them to the uttermost. -Their faith was not in vain, and they were no longer -alone: the crucifixion had been the darkening of one day in -order that the light might shine out more splendidly for all -the days to come.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THOMAS DIDYMUS</h3> -<p class='c005'>Thomas, called Didymus, was not present when Jesus appeared, -but the day after, his friends ran to seek him, still -agitated by what Jesus had said. “We have seen the Lord!” -they said. “It was really He. He talked with us. He ate -with us like a living man.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Thomas was one of those who had been profoundly shaken -by the shame of Golgotha. He had said once that he was ready -to die with his Master, but he had fled away with the others -when the lanterns of the guard had appeared on the Mount of -Olives. His faith had been darkened by the gloom which had -shut down on Golgotha. In spite of Christ’s warnings, he had -never once thought that the end of his Master could be thus. -To think of the shame into which Jesus let himself be led, with -the passivity of a feeble sheep, made him suffer, almost more -than the loss of Him who had loved him. This disappointment -of all his hopes had shocked him almost as though he had -discovered that he had been cheated, and in his eyes his disappointment -excused even the shame of their abandoning Him. -Thomas, like Cleopas and his comrades, was a sensualist, whom -the exalted example of Christ had lifted high into a world -which was not his own. Faith had taken him unawares, like -a contagious fervor. But as soon as the flame which had -kindled him anew every day was buried, or seemed buried, -under the shameful stoning of hate, the light of his soul burned -low, and grew cold. He took on again his first character, his -real character, which sought tangible things with the senses, -hoped for material changes in matter, and expected to find -only in material things material certainties and consolations. -His eyes refused to look at the things which his hands could -not touch, and for this he was condemned never to see the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_393'>393</span>invisible,—a grace reserved only for those who believe it possible. -He hoped for the Kingdom, especially when the words -and the presence of Jesus brightened his earthly heart with the -light of Heaven, but not for a purely spiritual Kingdom floating -in the firmament among the unsubstantial islands of the -clouds, but a kingdom where living, warm-blooded men might -have eaten and drunk at solid and tangible tables, might govern -with new laws a fairer earth assigned to them by God.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Thomas, after the scandal of the crucifixion, was not at all -disposed to believe a hearsay report of the resurrection. He -had seen his first beliefs too roughly disabused to put any -faith now in his equally deceived companions. And he answered -to those who joyfully brought him the news, “Except I -shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger -into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, -I will not believe.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>He had said at first, “Except I shall see.” But he corrected -himself at once: even his eyes could deceive him, and many -men were cheated by visions. And his thoughts went on to a -material test, to the coarse, brutal proof of fact,—to put his -finger there where the nails had been, to put his hand, his -whole hand, where the lance had penetrated. To do as a blind -man does who sometimes is less mistaken than men who see.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He rejected faith which is the higher vision of the soul. -He even refused to have faith in the sight of his eyes, the -most divine of our bodily senses. He put his faith only in his -hands, flesh handling flesh. This double denial left him in -the dark, groping like a blind man, until the Light made Man, -through a supreme loving concession, gave him back light for -his eyes and for his heart.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But this answer of Thomas has made him one of the most -famous men in the world: for it is Christ’s eternal characteristic -to immortalize even those men who affronted Him. All -those afraid to touch spiritual concepts for fear of breaking -them, all cheap skeptics, all the misers in academic chairs, all -tepid half-wits stuffed with prejudices, all the faint-hearted, -sophists, the cynics, the beggars and the retort-cleaners of science; -in short all rush-lights jealous of the sun, all geese hissing -<span class='pageno' id='Page_394'>394</span>at the flight of soaring falcons, have chosen for their protector -and patron Thomas called Didymus. They know nothing -of him except this: he does not believe in what he cannot -touch. This answer seems to them the sum-total of perfect -good sense. Let anybody who wishes claim that he sees in the -darkness, hears in the silence, speaks in solitude, lives in -death; the followers of Thomas can get no such idea into their -thick, dense heads. So-called “reality” is their stronghold, and -they will not budge from it. They prefer to fill their lives with -gold which satisfies no hunger, with land in which they will -occupy so small a cavity, with glory so fleeting a whisper in -the silence of eternity, with flesh which is to become worm-eaten -corruption, and with those noisy, magic discoveries which -after enslaving men hurry them towards the formidable discovery -of death. These and other things like them are “real -things,” beloved by the devotees of Thomas. But perhaps if -they had ever had the idea of reading what happened after -that answer made by Thomas, they would have their doubts -even of him who doubted the resurrection.</p> - -<p class='c006'>A week later, the Disciples were in the same house as on -the first occasion and Thomas was with them. He had hoped -all that week that he also might be permitted to see the risen -Master, and sometimes he had trembled, thinking that his answer -might be the reason for Christ’s absence; but suddenly -there came a voice at the door, “Peace be unto you.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus entered, his eyes seeking out Thomas: He came for -Thomas, for him alone, because Christ’s love for him was -greater than any affront. And He called him by name and -came up to him so that he could see Him clearly, face to face, -“Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach -hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, -but believing.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>But Thomas did not obey Him. He dared not put his -finger in the nail print nor his hand in the wound. He only -said to him: “My Lord and my God.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>With these words which seemed an ordinary greeting, -Thomas admitted his defeat, fairer than any victory; and from -that moment he was wholly Christ’s. Up to that time he had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_395'>395</span>revered Him as a man more perfect than others, now he recognized -Him as God, as his God.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Then Jesus, who could not forget Thomas’ doubt, answered, -“Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: -blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>This is the last of the Beatitudes and the greatest: blessed -are they that have not seen and yet have believed, for in spite -of the theories of the dissectors of corpses, the only truths -which have an absolute value in reality are those which the -eyes of the flesh cannot see and hands of flesh and blood can -never handle. These truths come from on high and reach -the soul directly: the man whose soul is locked shut cannot -receive them, and will see them only on the day in which his -body, with its five limited doorways, is like a shabby worn-out -garment left upon a bed, in the interval before men hide it -underground like a noisome afterbirth.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Thomas is one of the saints and yet he was not one of those -blest by that Beatitude. An old legend relates that up to the -day of his death his hand was red with blood, a legend true -with all the truth of a terrible symbolical meaning, if we understand -from it that incredulity can be a form of murder. -The world is full of such assassins who have begun by assassinating -their own souls.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE REJECTION OF THE RESURRECTION</h3> -<p class='c005'>Christ’s first companions were at last convinced that His -second and eternal life had begun. He who had been killed, -who had slept as a corpse sleeps, covered with the perfumes -of Nicodemus and the winding-sheet of Joseph, had after two -days awakened like a God. But how long it took them to admit -the reality of His return!</p> - -<p class='c006'>And yet the enemies of Christ, to make an end to the greatest -obstacles in the way of their other negations, have accused -those very astonished, perplexed Disciples with having willingly -or unwillingly invented the myth of the resurrection. -Caiaphas and his followers claimed that the Disciples carried -off the body by night and then spread around the news of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_396'>396</span>the empty sepulcher in order that weak-headed mystics might -more readily believe that Christ was risen and thus allow those -cheats to continue their pestiferous trickery in the name of the -dead Trickster. And Matthew says that the Jews bought some -witnesses with “large money” that if needful they should report -that they had seen Simon and his accomplices violate the sepulcher -and carry away on their shoulders a heavy burden -wrapped in white.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But His modern enemies, through a last remnant of respect -for those who founded with their blood the indestructible -Church, or rather through their profound conviction of the -simple-mindedness of the first martyrs, have given up this -idea of deceit. Neither Simon nor the others could have acted -out such a deception; they never could have kept such a piece -of trickery straight in their poor thick heads. But if they -were not consciously deceiving, they were certainly stupid victims -of their own fancy or of the knavery of others.</p> - -<p class='c006'>These enemies of Christ affirm that the Disciples hoped so -vividly to see Jesus rise from the dead as He had promised, -and that the resurrection was so urgently needed to counteract -the disgrace of the crucifixion, that they were induced, almost -forced, to expect it and to announce it as imminent. Then -in that atmosphere of superstitious suspense, the vision of a -hysterical woman, the hallucination of a dreamer, the delusion -of an unbalanced man sufficed to spread the news of the appearance -of Christ about the little circle of the desolate survivors. -Some of them, unable to believe that the Master had -deceived them, easily put their faith in the affirmations of those -who claimed to have seen Him after His death. And, by dint -of repeating the fantasies of these wild dreams, they ended by -taking them seriously themselves and by convincing the more -candid souls. Only on condition of such a posthumous confirmation -of the divinity of the dead man was it possible to -hold together those who had followed Him and to create the -first stable organization of the universal Church.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But those who with their accusations of stupidity or fraud -try to undermine the certainty of the first Christian generation, -forget too many things and too many essential things.</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_397'>397</span>First of all is the testimony of Paul. Saul the Pharisee had -been to school to Gamaliel, and might have been present, even -though at a distance and as an enemy, at Christ’s death, and -certainly knew all the theories of his early teachers, the Jews, -about the pretended resurrection. But Paul, who received the -first Gospel from the lips of James, called the brother of the -Lord, and from Simon, Paul famous in all the churches of -the Jews and the Gentiles, wrote thus in his first letter to -the Corinthians: “Christ died for our sins according to the -scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again -the third day according to the scriptures; and that he was -seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that he was seen -of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater -part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.” The -Letter to the Corinthians is recognized as authentic even by the -most disdainful and suspicious nosers-out of falsification. The -first Letter to the Corinthians cannot have been written later -than the spring of the year 58, and hence it is older than the -oldest Gospel. Many of those who had known the living Christ -were still living at that time and could easily have contradicted -or undeceived the Apostle. Corinth was at the gates of Asia, -inhabited by many Asiatics, in close relation with Judea; Paul’s -letters were public messages which were publicly read at gatherings, -and copies of them were made to send to other churches. -The solemn and specific testimony of Paul must have come to -Jerusalem, where the enemies of Jesus, many of them still -alive, would have found some way to controvert them by other -witnesses. If Paul could have thought a valid confutation -possible, he never would have dared write those words. That -he was able therefore, so short a time after the event, publicly -to affirm a prodigy so contrary to ordinary beliefs and -to the interests of Christ’s watchful enemies, shows that the -resurrection was not merely a phantasy of a few fanatics, but -a certainty denied with difficulty, easily proved. We have -no other record except this letter of Paul’s of the appearance -of Christ to the five hundred brothers, but we cannot even -for a moment imagine that Paul, one of the greatest and purest -souls of early Christianity, could have invented it,—he who -<span class='pageno' id='Page_398'>398</span>had so long persecuted those who believed in the reality of the -resurrection. It is extremely probable that the appearance of -Christ to the five hundred happened in Galilee on the mountain -spoken of by Matthew, and that the Apostle had known one -of those who had been present at that memorable meeting.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But this is not all. The Evangelists, who set down with -some incoherence, but with the greatest frankness, the recollections -of Jesus’ first companions, admit, perhaps without -wishing to, that the Apostles themselves did not expect the -resurrection and found it hard to believe. When we read the -four Gospels with attention we see that they continued to -doubt even with the risen Christ before them. When on Sunday -morning the women ran to tell the Disciples that the sepulcher -was empty and Christ alive, the Disciples accused them -of raving. When later He appeared to many in Galilee: “And -when they saw him, they worshipped him:” said Matthew; -“but some doubted.” And when He appeared at evening in the -room where they were taking supper, there were some who -could not believe their own eyes and hesitated until they had -seen Him eating. Thomas still doubted after this, until the -moment when his Lord’s body was actually before his own.</p> - -<p class='c006'>So little did they expect to see Him rise again that the first -effect upon them of His appearance was fright. “They were -affrighted and supposed that they had seen a spirit.” They -were therefore not so credulous and easily fooled as their defamers -would have them. And they were so far from the idea -of seeing Him return a living man among the living that when -they first saw Him they mistook Him for another. Mary of -Magdala thought that He was the gardener of Joseph of -Arimathea; Cleopas and his companions were not able to recognize -Him all along the road; Simon and the others when -He came to them upon the shore of the lake, “knew not that -it was Jesus.” If they had really been expecting Him, Himself, -their minds on the alert, burning with longing, would they -have been frightened, would they not have known Him at -once? When we read the Gospels, we get the impression that -Christ’s friends, far from inventing His return, accepted it -almost because they were forced, by external coercion, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_399'>399</span>after much hesitation; the exact contrary, in short, of what -is desired to be proved by those who accuse Christ’s friends of -being deceived or of having deceived.</p> - -<p class='c006'>But why this hesitation? Because the warnings of Christ -had not been able to dislodge from those slow and indocile -minds the old Jewish repugnance to the idea of immortality. -The belief in the resurrection of the dead was for centuries -and centuries foreign to the wholly material mentality of the -Jews. In a few prophets like Daniel and Hosea there are -some passing traces of the idea, but it does not appear explicitly -except in one passage of the story of the Maccabees. -At the time of Christ the common people had a confused idea -of it as a distant miracle, a part of the conceptions of the Apocalyptic -writers, but they did not think it possible before the -final upheaval of the great day: the Sadducees denied it firmly -and the Pharisees admitted it as the remote and common reward -of all righteous men. When the superstitious Antipas -said that Christ was John risen from the dead, he meant to -say with a vigorous figure of speech that the new Prophet -was like a second John.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Reluctance to admit such an extraordinary infraction of -the laws of death was so profoundly rooted in the Jewish people -that the very Disciples of Christ were not disposed to admit -the possibility of the resurrection without reiterated proofs, -although they had seen Him raise others from the dead and -had heard Him predict His own resurrection. And yet they -had seen Him bring to life with His powerful summons the -son of the Widow of Nain, the daughter of Jairus, the brother -of Martha and Mary: the three sleepers whom Jesus had -awakened because of His compassion for the grief of a mother, -of a father, of a sister. But it was the habit and the fate -of the Twelve to misunderstand and to forget. They were too -set upon their material thoughts to be ready to believe at once -such a victory over death. But when they were convinced, -their certainty was so firm and strong that from the sowing -of those first enforced witnesses has sprung up an enormous -harvest of men born again in the faith of the resurrected One—which -the centuries have not yet mowed down.</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_400'>400</span>The calumnies of the Jews, the accusations of false witnesses, -the doubts of the Disciples, the plots of implacable enemies, -the fallacious sophistry of the progeny of Thomas, the fantasies -of heresiarchs, the distorted conceptions of men eager to -prove Christ definitely dead, the turns and twists of -the myth-spinners, the mines and assaults of the higher and -lower criticism have not availed to wrench from the millions -of human hearts the certainty that the body taken down from -the cross of Golgotha reappeared on the third day to die no -more. The people chosen by Christ condemned Him to death, -hoping to have done with Him, but death refused Him as the -Jews had refused Him, and humanity has not yet finished its -accounting with that assassinated Man who came out from -the sepulcher to show that breast where the Roman lance had -forever made visible the heart which loves those who hate -Him.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The cowardly souls who will not believe in His first life, -in His second life, in His eternal life, cut themselves off from -true life: from life which is generous acceptance, spontaneous -love, hope in the invisible, certainty of the truth which passeth -understanding. They themselves are dead, although they seem -living, those who refuse Him, as death refused Him. Those -who drag the weight of their still warm and breathing corpses -over the patient earth laugh at the resurrection. The second -birth in the spirit will not be granted to those who reject life, -but an appalling and inevitable resurrection will be granted -to them on the last day.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE RETURN BY THE SEA</h3> -<p class='c005'>When the tragedy had drawn to a close with its greatest -sorrow, its greatest joy, every one turned again to his own -destination, the Son to the Father, the King to His Kingdom, -the High Priest to his basins of blood, the fishermen to their -nets.</p> - -<p class='c006'>These water-soaked nets, with broken meshes, torn by the -unaccustomed weight of the great draughts, so many times -mended, patched, knotted together again, which had been left -<span class='pageno' id='Page_401'>401</span>by the first fishers of men without one backward look, on the -shores of Capernaum, had finally been mended and laid on -one side, by some one with the prudence of the stay-at-home -who knows that dreams are soon over and hunger lasts for all -one’s lifetime. The wife of Simon, the father of James and -John, the brother of Thomas, had saved the casting nets and -the drag-nets as tools which might be useful, in memory of the -exiles, as if a voice had said to those who had remained at -home: “They too will come back; the Kingdom is fair, but -far distant, and the lake is fair now, to-day, and full of fish. -Holy is holiness, but no man lives by the spirit alone. And a -fish on the table now is worth more to a hungry man than a -throne a year from now.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And for a time the wisdom of the stay-at-homes, taken -root in their native countryside like moss on a stone, was vindicated. -The fishermen returned. The fishers of men appeared -again in Galilee and once more took the old nets into -their hands. They had received the order of Him who had -drawn them away from there that they should be witnesses -to His shame and to His glory. They had not forgotten Him -and they could never forget Him: they always talked of Him -among themselves and with all those who were willing to listen -to them. But Christ on His return had said, “We will meet -again in Galilee.” And they had gone away from ill-omened -Judea, from the mercenary city ruled by its murderous -masters, and they had trod once more the road back to -their sweet, calm fatherland, whence the loving ravisher of -souls had snatched them away. The old houses had a mellow -beauty, with the white banners of newly washed linen, and -the young grass greening along the old walls, and the tables -cleaned by humble old hands, and the oven, which every week -spat out sparks from its flaming mouth. And the quiet fishing-town -had beauty, too; with its tanned naked boys, the sun -high over the level market-place, the bags and baskets in -the shadow of the inns, and the smell of fish which at dawn -was wafted over it, with the morning breeze. But more beautiful -than all was the lake: a gray-blue and slate-colored expanse -on cloudy afternoons: a milky basin of opal with lines -<span class='pageno' id='Page_402'>402</span>and patches of jacinth on warm evenings; a dark shadow -flecked with white on starry nights: a silvery, heaving shadow -in the moonlight. On this lake which seemed the very spirit -of the quiet, happy countryside, the fishermen’s eyes had for the -first time discovered the beauty of light and of water, nobler -than the heavy unlovely earth and kinder than fire. The boat -with its slanting sails, its worn seats, the high red rudder, had -from their childhood been dearer to them than that other -home which awaited them, stationary, whitened, four-square -on the bank. Those infinitely long hours of tedium and of -hope as they gazed at the brilliant water, the swaying of the -nets, the darkening of the sky, had filled the greater part of -their poor and homely lives.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Then came the day when a Master, poorer and more powerful -than they, had called them to Himself to be workers with -Him in a supernatural, perilous undertaking. The poor souls -uprooted from their usual surroundings had done their best to -be lighted by that flame, but the new life had trodden them -out like grapes in the wine-press, like olives in the olive crusher -in order that their rough hearts should yield up tears of love -and pity.</p> - -<p class='c006'>It was only after the Cross had been raised on Golgotha -that they had wept with true sorrow: and only after the Crucified -Leader had returned to break bread with them that they -had been kindled anew to hope.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And now they had come home, bringing back only a few -recollections, and yet those recollections were enough to transform -the world. But before beginning the work which He had -commanded, they were waiting to see Him whom they loved in -the place which He had loved. They were different men from -the men who had gone away, more restless, sadder, almost -estranged, as if they had come back from the land of the -lotus-eaters and saw from beyond with purer eyes a new earth -indissolubly united with Heaven. But the nets were there, -hung up on the walls, and the boats at anchor swayed up and -down on the water. Once more the fishers of men, perhaps -out of nostalgia, perhaps out of material need, began to be -lake fishermen.</p> - -<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_403'>403</span>Seven Disciples of Christ were together one evening in the -harbor of Capernaum, Simon called Peter, Thomas called -Didymus, Nathanael of Cana, James, John and two others. -Simon said, “I go afishing.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>His friends answered, “We also go with thee.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>They went into the boat and put off, but all that night they -caught nothing. When day came, a little depressed because -of the wasted night, they came back towards the shore. And -when they were near they saw in the faint light of the dawn -a man standing on the shore, who seemed to be waiting for -them. “But the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Children, have ye any meat?” called the unknown man.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And they answered, “No.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>They obeyed and in a moment the net was so full that -they were scarcely able to draw it in. And they all began to -tremble because they had guessed who it was awaiting them.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“It is the Lord,” said John to Simon.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Peter answered nothing, but hastily drew on his fisher’s -coat (for he was naked), and cast himself into the sea that he -might be first on shore. The boat was scarcely two hundred -cubits from the land and in a few moments the seven Disciples -were about their Lord. And no one asked Him, “Who art -thou?”—because they had recognized Him.</p> - -<p class='c006'>On the shore there were bread and a lighted brazier with -fishes broiling on it, and Jesus said, “Bring of the fish which -ye have now caught.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And for the last time He broke the Bread and gave to them -and the fish likewise. After they had finished eating Jesus -turned to Simon and under His look the unhappy man, silent -till then, turned pale: “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me -more than these?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The man who had denied Him, when he heard this question -full of tenderness, but for him so cruel, felt himself carried -back to another place beside another brazier with other questions -put to him, and he remembered the answer he had made -then, and the look from Christ about to die and his own great -lamentation in the night. And he dared not answer as he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_404'>404</span>wished: “Yes” in his mouth would have been boasting and -shamelessness: “No” would have been a shameful lie.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>He made no claim for himself but “thou knowest that I love -thee,” Thou who knowest all and seest into the most hidden -hearts. “I love thee”: but he had not the courage to add -“more than these” in the presence of the others, who knew -what he had done.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Christ said to him, “Feed my lambs.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And for the second time He asked him: “Simon, son of -Jonas, lovest thou me?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And Peter in his trouble found no other answer than, “Yea, -Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Why dost Thou still make me suffer? Dost Thou not know -without my telling Thee that I love Thee, that I love Thee -more than at first, as I have never loved Thee, and that I will -give up my life to affirm my love?</p> - -<p class='c006'>Then Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And for the third time He insisted, “Simon, son of Jonas, -lovest thou me?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>He was drawing from Peter three affirmations, three new -promises to cancel his three denials at Jerusalem. But Peter -could not endure this repeated suffering. Almost weeping, He -cried out, “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that -I love thee!”</p> - -<p class='c006'>The terrible ordeal was over, and Jesus went on, “Feed my -sheep. Verily, verily I say unto thee, When thou wast young, -thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but -when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, -and another shall gird thee, and carry whither thou wouldest -not.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>That is, to the cross, like the cross where they nailed me. -Know, therefore, what it means to love me. My love is brother -to death. Because I love you, they have killed me: for your -love for me, they will kill you. Think, Simon, son of Jonas, -what is the covenant which you make with me, and the fate -which is before you. From now on, I shall not be at hand to -take you back, to give you the peace of forgiveness, after -<span class='pageno' id='Page_405'>405</span>coward fallings from grace. From now on defections -and desertions will be a thousand times more serious. -You must answer for all the lambs which I leave in your care -and as reward at the end of your labors you will have two -crossed beams, and four nails as I had, and life eternal. -Choose: it is the last time that you can choose and it is a choice -for all time—irrevocable. For an account will be asked of -you as a servant left in the place of his master: and now that -you know all and have decided, come with me.</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Follow me!”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Peter obeyed, but turning about saw John coming after him -and said, “Lord, and what shall this man do?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Jesus said to him, “If I will that he tarry till I come, what -is that to thee? follow thou me!”</p> - -<p class='c006'>For Simon the primacy and martyrdom; for John immortality -and endless waiting. He who bore the same name as -the precursor of Christ’s first coming was to prophesy His -second coming. The historian of the end was to be persecuted, -a solitary prisoner, but he was to live longer than all the others -and to see with his own eyes the crumbling of the stones, not -one left upon another, of the ill-omened hill of Jerusalem. -In his sonorous blue desert, in the midst of the blinding light -and the immense blackness of the midnight sea, in his vision -of the great deeds of the last day he will rejoice and suffer. -Peter followed Christ, was crucified for Christ and left behind -him the eternal dynasty of the Vicars of Christ: but John was -not permitted to find rest in death: he waits with us, the contemporary -of every generation, silent as love, eternal as hope.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>THE CLOUD</h3> -<p class='c005'>Once more they returned to Jerusalem, leaving their nets, -this time forever, travelers setting out upon a journey, the -stages of which were to be marked by blood.</p> - -<p class='c006'>In the same place where He had gone down to the city -glorified by men, in the shade of blossoming branches, -He was to rise again after the interval of His dishonor -and His resurrection, in the glory of Heaven. He remained -<span class='pageno' id='Page_406'>406</span>in the midst of men, for forty days after the resurrection, -for as long a time as He had remained in the desert -after His symbolic death by water. Although His body seemed -human, His life was transfigured into the ultimate sublimination -of humanity and He was ready to enter as pure spirit, -into the spirit of the Father from whom He had been separated -thirty years before, that He might cast a gleam of heavenly -light upon the shadow-darkened world.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He did not, as before, lead a life in common with the Disciples, -because He was separated now from the life of living -men; but He reappeared to them more than once to confirm -His great promises, and perhaps to explain to those most capable -of receiving them those mysteries which were not written -down in any book but were passed on, under the seal of secrecy, -through all the apostolic period and the following periods, and -were imperfectly set down later under the title of Arcana Disciplina.</p> - -<p class='c006'>The last time they saw Him was on the Mount of Olives, -where before His death He had prophesied the ruin of the -Temple and of the city and the signs of His return, and where, -in the darkness of night and of anguish, Satan, before his final -defeat, had left Him wet with sweat and blood. It was one -of the last evenings of May and the clouds in that golden -hour, like golden celestial islands in the gold of the setting -sun, seemed to rise from the warm earth towards near-by -Heaven, like incense from great fragrant offerings. In the -fields of grain, the birds began to call back the fledglings -to the nests, and the cool breeze lightly shook the -branches and their drooping, unripened fruit. From the distant -city, still inact, from the pinnacles, the towers and the -white squares of the Temple rose a smoky cloud of dust.</p> - -<p class='c006'>And once again the Disciples asked Jesus the question which -they had put to Him in the same place on the evening of the -two prophecies. Now that He had come back as He had -promised, what else were they to await?</p> - -<p class='c006'>“Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to -Israel?”</p> - -<p class='c006'>They may have meant the Kingdom of God, which in their -<span class='pageno' id='Page_407'>407</span>minds, as in the minds of the Prophets, was one with the -Kingdom of Israel, since the divine restoration of the earth -was to begin with Judea.</p> - -<p class='c006'>Christ answered: “It is not for you to know the times or the -season, which the Father hath put in his own power. But -ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come -upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, -and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost -parts of the earth.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>And having said this, He lifted up His hands and blessed -them. And while they beheld, He was taken up from the -earth and suddenly a shining cloud as on the morning of the -Transfiguration wrapped Him about and hid Him from their -sight. But they could not look away from the sky and continued -to gaze steadfastly up in their astonishment, when two -men in white apparel spoke to them: “Ye men of Galilee, -why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which -is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner -as ye have seen him go into heaven.”</p> - -<p class='c006'>Then having prayed in silence, they returned to Jerusalem, -glowing with melancholy joy, thinking of the day just begun: -the first day of a task which, after two thousand years, is -not yet accomplished. They were alone now, alone against -that innumerable enemy called the World. But Heaven is not -so cut off from the earth as before the coming of Christ; -the mystic ladder of Jacob is no longer a lonely man’s dream, -but is set up on the earth, on this earth which we tread, and -above there is an Intercessor who does not forget the ephemeral -beings destined to eternal life who, for a time, were His -brothers. “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of -the world” had been one of His last promises and the greatest. -He had ascended into Heaven, but Heaven was no longer -merely the barren dome where swift, tumultuous storm-clouds -appear and disappear; where the stars shine out silently, like -the souls of saints.</p> - -<p class='c006'>He is still with us, the Son of Man, who to be nearer -Heaven ascended mountains, who was light made manifest, -who died, raised above the earth towards the blackness of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_408'>408</span>Heaven, and rose from the dead to ascend into Heaven in the -peacefulness of evening, and who will return again on the -clouds of Heaven. He is still present in the world which He -meant to free. He is still attentive to our words, if they truly -come from the depths of our hearts, to our tears if they are -tears of blood in our hearts before being salt drops in our -eyes. He is with us, an invisible, benignant guest, never more -to leave us, because by His wish our earthly life is an anticipation -of the Kingdom of Heaven, and is a part of Heaven from -this day on. Christ has taken to Himself as His eternal possession -that rough foster-mother of us all, that sphere which -is but a point in the infinite and yet contains hope for the -infinite; and to-day He is closer to us than when He ate the -bread of our fields. No divine promise can be blotted out: -the May cloud which hid Him from sight, still hovers near -the earth, and every day we raise our weary and mortal eyes -to that same Heaven from which He will descend in the terrible -splendor of His glory.</p> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c004'>INDEX</h2> -</div> -<ul class='index c003'> - <li class='c010'>Abba, Father, <a href='#Page_302'>302</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Abnegation, <a href='#Page_309'>309</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Abraham, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Achilles, <a href='#Page_100'>100</a>; - <ul> - <li>Priam and, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a>, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Adam, <a href='#Page_127'>127</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Adulteress, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Adultery, <a href='#Page_101'>101</a>, <a href='#Page_210'>210</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Adversary. <i>See</i> <a href='#index-satan'>Satan</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Agrapha, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Aim of this book, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a>, <a href='#Page_17'>17</a>, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Ajax of Sophocles, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Alabaster box, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Alms, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Andrew, <a href='#Page_82'>82</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Angels, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Anger, <a href='#Page_100'>100</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Animality, <a href='#Page_98'>98</a>, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Animals, <a href='#Page_22'>22</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Annas, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a>, <a href='#Page_313'>313</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Anointing, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Anti-Christ, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Anxiety for the morrow, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Apostles, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>. <i>See also</i> <a href='#index-disciples'>Disciples</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Aquinas, Thomas, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Arcana Disciplina, <a href='#Page_406'>406</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Aristophanes, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a>, <a href='#Page_199'>199</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Aristotle, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>, <a href='#Page_136'>136</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Art, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Ascension, <a href='#Page_241'>241</a>, <a href='#Page_405'>405</a>, <a href='#Page_407'>407</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Asking and receiving, <a href='#Page_156'>156</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Ass, <a href='#Page_22'>22</a>, <a href='#Page_116'>116</a>; - <ul> - <li>Jesus riding on, <a href='#Page_244'>244</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Augustus, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Author of this book, his coming to Christ, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Authority, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Avarice, <a href='#Page_111'>111</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Awakened one, <a href='#Page_30'>30</a></li> - <li class='c003'>Babylon, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Balaam, <a href='#Page_22'>22</a>, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Banks and bankers, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Banquet of the Kingdom, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Baptism, of blood, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>; - <ul> - <li>of Jesus, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>;</li> - <li>John the Baptist, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a>;</li> - <li>second baptism of Jesus—the tears of the woman who was a sinner, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Barabbas, <a href='#Page_341'>341</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Barns, new, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Beatitudes, <a href='#Page_87'>87</a>, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>; - <ul> - <li>last and greatest, <a href='#Page_395'>395</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Beauty, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Beggars, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>, <a href='#Page_193'>193</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Behold the man!, <a href='#Page_346'>346</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Belief, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a>, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>, <a href='#Page_395'>395</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Benevolence, <a href='#Page_113'>113</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Bestiality, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a>, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a>, <a href='#Page_323'>323</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Bethany, <a href='#Page_140'>140</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Bethlehem, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>; - <ul> - <li>babies, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Bethpage, <a href='#Page_244'>244</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Betrayal, <a href='#Page_281'>281</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Betrayal of women, <a href='#Page_102'>102</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Birth of Jesus, <a href='#Page_21'>21</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Blasphemy, <a href='#Page_322'>322</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Blindfolding Jesus, <a href='#Page_325'>325</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Blindness, <a href='#Page_133'>133</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Blood, scourging of Jesus, <a href='#Page_345'>345</a>; - <ul> - <li>sweat and blood of Jesus in Gethsemane, <a href='#Page_306'>306</a>;</li> - <li>water and, from body of Jesus, <a href='#Page_375'>375</a>;</li> - <li>wine and, <a href='#Page_298'>298</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Blood-offering, <a href='#Page_29'>29</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Boyhood, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Bread, as the body of Christ, <a href='#Page_296'>296</a>, <a href='#Page_298'>298</a>; - <ul> - <li>breaking, <a href='#Page_297'>297</a>;</li> - <li>eating, as communion with God, <a href='#Page_295'>295</a>;</li> - <li>fishes and, <a href='#Page_146'>146</a>;</li> - <li>material and spiritual, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a>, <a href='#Page_133'>133</a>, <a href='#Page_146'>146</a>;</li> - <li>unleavened, <a href='#Page_295'>295</a>, <a href='#Page_297'>297</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Bridegroom, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Brothers, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a>, <a href='#Page_168'>168</a>, <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>; - <ul> - <li>anger toward, <a href='#Page_100'>100</a>;</li> - <li>love for, <a href='#Page_114'>114</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Buddha, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a>, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Buddhism, <a href='#Page_114'>114</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Burial of Jesus, <a href='#Page_379'>379</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Business as a God, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Business men, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a></li> - <li class='c010'>But I say unto you, <a href='#Page_100'>100</a></li> - <li class='c003'>Cæsar, faith, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>; - <ul> - <li>images, <a href='#Page_327'>327</a>;</li> - <li>things which are Cæsar’s, <a href='#Page_202'>202</a>, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a>, <a href='#Page_330'>330</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Cæsarea, <a href='#Page_233'>233</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Cain, descendants of, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Cainites, <a href='#Page_282'>282</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Caiaphas, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a>, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a>, <a href='#Page_278'>278</a>, <a href='#Page_287'>287</a>, <a href='#Page_310'>310</a>, <a href='#Page_315'>315</a>, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a>, <a href='#Page_348'>348</a>; - <ul> - <li>adjuration of Jesus, <a href='#Page_321'>321</a>;</li> - <li>rends his garment, <a href='#Page_322'>322</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Caligula, <a href='#Page_270'>270</a>, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Camel and needle’s eye, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Cana, <a href='#Page_141'>141</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Canaan, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Capernaum, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Capital punishment, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Carpenter, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a>; - <ul> - <li>Jesus as, <a href='#Page_36'>36</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Catalepsy, <a href='#Page_139'>139</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Catholic Church, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Celibacy, <a href='#Page_211'>211</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Centurion, <a href='#Page_352'>352</a>, <a href='#Page_355'>355</a>, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Cerinthus, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Chaldea, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Charity, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a>, <a href='#Page_265'>265</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Chastity, <a href='#Page_211'>211</a>, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Children, <a href='#Page_216'>216</a>; - <ul> - <li>Bethlehem, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a>;</li> - <li>Jesus’ love of, <a href='#Page_217'>217</a>;</li> - <li>Moses and, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>;</li> - <li>old law and its reversal by Jesus, <a href='#Page_218'>218</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'><a id='index-christ'></a></li> - <li class='c010'>Christ, Jesus declares himself, <a href='#Page_247'>247</a>; - <ul> - <li>living to-day, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a>, <a href='#Page_408'>408</a>;</li> - <li>memory, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>;</li> - <li>modern opinion of, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>;</li> - <li>second coming, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>;</li> - <li>Thou art the Christ, <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>.</li> - <li><i>See also</i> <a href='#index-jesus'>Jesus</a>; - <ul> - <li><a href='#index-second-coming'>Second coming</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Christian era, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a>, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Christian martyrs, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Christianity, precedents for, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Christs, false, <a href='#Page_260'>260</a>, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Church, <a href='#Page_396'>396</a>; - <ul> - <li>Catholic, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>;</li> - <li>Peter and, <a href='#Page_237'>237</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Circe, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Claudia Procula, <a href='#Page_333'>333</a>, <a href='#Page_376'>376</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Cleopas, <a href='#Page_384'>384</a>, <a href='#Page_385'>385</a>, <a href='#Page_387'>387</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Cloud, Jesus’ glorification, <a href='#Page_405'>405</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Clovis, <a href='#Page_369'>369</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Cock crow, <a href='#Page_315'>315</a>, <a href='#Page_317'>317</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Commerce, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Communion with God, <a href='#Page_295'>295</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Confucius, <a href='#Page_113'>113</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Conversion, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a>; - <ul> - <li>in Jesus’ life, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Converted sinner, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Corinthians, letter to the, <a href='#Page_397'>397</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Cost, counting, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Country, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Courage, <a href='#Page_106'>106</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Court of the Gentiles, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Courtesy, <a href='#Page_113'>113</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Covenants, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Crates, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a>, <a href='#Page_199'>199</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Criticism, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Cross, <a href='#Page_304'>304</a>, <a href='#Page_305'>305</a>, <a href='#Page_352'>352</a>; - <ul> - <li>Jesus and the two thieves carrying, <a href='#Page_353'>353</a>;</li> - <li>Jesus nailed to, <a href='#Page_360'>360</a>;</li> - <li>superscription, <a href='#Page_351'>351</a>.</li> - <li><i>See also</i> <a href='#index-crucifixion'>Crucifixion</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Crown of thorns, <a href='#Page_346'>346</a></li> - <li class='c010'><a id='index-crucifixion'></a></li> - <li class='c010'>Crucifixion, <a href='#Page_359'>359</a>, <a href='#Page_367'>367</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Crucify him!, <a href='#Page_338'>338</a>, <a href='#Page_340'>340</a>, <a href='#Page_343'>343</a>, <a href='#Page_347'>347</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Cynics, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Cyrenian, <a href='#Page_353'>353</a>, <a href='#Page_355'>355</a></li> - <li class='c003'>Daniel, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Darkness, at the crucifixion, <a href='#Page_367'>367</a>, <a href='#Page_370'>370</a>; - <ul> - <li>Jesus’ hour of, <a href='#Page_310'>310</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>David, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>, <a href='#Page_116'>116</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Day of the Lord, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Dead, raising, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Death, <a href='#Page_133'>133</a>; - <ul> - <li>Egypt’s obsession, <a href='#Page_31'>31</a>;</li> - <li>Jewish views, <a href='#Page_399'>399</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Death of Jesus, authors and accomplices, <a href='#Page_242'>242</a>, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a>; - <ul> - <li>foreknowledge, <a href='#Page_241'>241</a>;</li> - <li>His prayer, Abba, Father, <a href='#Page_302'>302</a>.</li> - <li><i>See also</i> <a href='#index-crucifixion'>Crucifixion</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Deborah, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Debts, forgiving, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Defilement, <a href='#Page_104'>104</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Demons, <a href='#Page_137'>137</a>, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Desert, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a>, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Devil. <i>See</i> <a href='#index-satan'>Satan</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Didymus, <a href='#Page_392'>392</a></li> - <li class='c010'><a id='index-disciples'></a></li> - <li class='c010'>Disciples, <a href='#Page_176'>176</a>; - <ul> - <li>duty, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>;</li> - <li>earliest, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>;</li> - <li>first four, <a href='#Page_82'>82</a>;</li> - <li>foretold of Jesus’ death, <a href='#Page_242'>242</a>;</li> - <li>instructions to, <a href='#Page_188'>188</a>;</li> - <li>mystic identity with Jesus, <a href='#Page_192'>192</a>;</li> - <li>persecutions, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a>;</li> - <li>reappearance of Jesus to, after the resurrection, <a href='#Page_403'>403</a>;</li> - <li>at resurrection of Jesus, <a href='#Page_388'>388</a>, <a href='#Page_389'>389</a>;</li> - <li>speaking in the light, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>;</li> - <li>warnings to, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Discord, <a href='#Page_206'>206</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Dismas, <a href='#Page_363'>363</a>, <a href='#Page_367'>367</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Divinity, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Divorce, <a href='#Page_210'>210</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Doing versus hearing, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Dositheus, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Doubt of Thomas, <a href='#Page_392'>392</a></li> - <li class='c003'>Earthly kingdoms, <a href='#Page_63'>63</a>, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Earthquakes, <a href='#Page_270'>270</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Easter, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a>, <a href='#Page_295'>295</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Edification, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Education of the human race, <a href='#Page_98'>98</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Egypt, character, <a href='#Page_31'>31</a>; - <ul> - <li>death and mud, <a href='#Page_31'>31</a>;</li> - <li>exile in, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>;</li> - <li>flight into, <a href='#Page_30'>30</a>;</li> - <li>Jews in, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Egyptians, <a href='#Page_114'>114</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Elder son, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>, <a href='#Page_169'>169</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Elders, <a href='#Page_242'>242</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Elias, <a href='#Page_240'>240</a>, <a href='#Page_373'>373</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Eloquence, <a href='#Page_16'>16</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Elxai, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Emmaus, <a href='#Page_384'>384</a></li> - <li class='c010'>End of the world, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Enemies, Egyptians and, <a href='#Page_114'>114</a>; - <ul> - <li>Greeks and, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a>;</li> - <li>hatred of, <a href='#Page_126'>126</a>;</li> - <li>Jewish treatment of, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a>;</li> - <li>love of, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Ennœa, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Entreaty, <a href='#Page_156'>156</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Epileptics, <a href='#Page_135'>135</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Erudition, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Eternal life, <a href='#Page_264'>264</a>, <a href='#Page_400'>400</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Eternal punishment, <a href='#Page_264'>264</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Eternity, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Evangelists on the Resurrection, <a href='#Page_398'>398</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Evil, flight from, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a>; - <ul> - <li>root of, <a href='#Page_100'>100</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Evil for evil, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Exaggeration, <a href='#Page_100'>100</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Exile in Egypt, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Expiation, <a href='#Page_279'>279</a></li> - <li class='c003'>Faith, <a href='#Page_132'>132</a>, <a href='#Page_133'>133</a>, <a href='#Page_136'>136</a>, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a></li> - <li class='c010'>False Christs, <a href='#Page_260'>260</a>, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a></li> - <li class='c010'>False witnesses, <a href='#Page_319'>319</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Family, <a href='#Page_103'>103</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Farmers, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Father, real, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a>; - <ul> - <li>universal, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Fatherhood of God, <a href='#Page_37'>37</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Father’s business, <a href='#Page_33'>33</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Fathers and sons, <a href='#Page_213'>213</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Fatted calf, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Feast, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Feed my sheep, <a href='#Page_404'>404</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Feet, washing of, <a href='#Page_292'>292</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Fig tree, accursed, <a href='#Page_144'>144</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Fire, <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>; - <ul> - <li>from heaven, <a href='#Page_184'>184</a>;</li> - <li>prophet of fire, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>First and last, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a></li> - <li class='c010'>First covenant, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Fishermen, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a>; - <ul> - <li>earliest disciples, <a href='#Page_82'>82</a>, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a>;</li> - <li>return to the sea, <a href='#Page_400'>400</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Fishers of men, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Flesh, conquest of, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>; - <ul> - <li>one flesh, <a href='#Page_209'>209</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Flight from evil, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Flight into Egypt, <a href='#Page_30'>30</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Flogging, <a href='#Page_343'>343</a>, <a href='#Page_344'>344</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Flood, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Florence, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Forgive them, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a>, <a href='#Page_358'>358</a>, <a href='#Page_363'>363</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Forgiveness, <a href='#Page_170'>170</a>; - <ul> - <li>of sin, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Forsaken, on the cross, <a href='#Page_372'>372</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Forty days, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Fourth Covenant, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Frankincense, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Friends, Jesus and Judas, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a>; - <ul> - <li>laying down life for, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>;</li> - <li>posthumous, <a href='#Page_376'>376</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Friendliness, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Fulvia, <a href='#Page_334'>334</a></li> - <li class='c003'>Galilee, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Gardeners, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Garments of Jesus, division, <a href='#Page_361'>361</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Gate, narrow, <a href='#Page_156'>156</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Gentiles and Jerusalem, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Gethsemane, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a>, <a href='#Page_302'>302</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Gnostics, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a></li> - <li class='c010'>God, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>; - <ul> - <li>as Father, <a href='#Page_37'>37</a>;</li> - <li>imitation of, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>;</li> - <li>likeness to, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>;</li> - <li>reign of, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>;</li> - <li>will of, <a href='#Page_309'>309</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Gods of Greece, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Gold, frankincense and myrrh, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Golgotha, <a href='#Page_357'>357</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Good Friday, <a href='#Page_350'>350</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Good thief, <a href='#Page_363'>363</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Good tidings, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Gospel, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Gospels, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a>; - <ul> - <li>authenticity, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Greatness, <a href='#Page_177'>177</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Greek gods, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Greeks, treatment of enemies, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a></li> - <li class='c003'>Happiness, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a>, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a>, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Harvest, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Hasmonæans, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Hatred, of enemies, <a href='#Page_126'>126</a>; - <ul> - <li>of others, <a href='#Page_111'>111</a>;</li> - <li>of ourselves, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>He is risen, <a href='#Page_381'>381</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Health, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a>, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>; - <ul> - <li>of soul, <a href='#Page_102'>102</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Hearing versus doing, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Heaven, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a>, <a href='#Page_407'>407</a>. - <ul> - <li><i>See also</i> <a href='#index-kingdom-of-heaven'>Kingdom of Heaven</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Heights, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Heresies, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Hermon, Mount, <a href='#Page_238'>238</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Herod Antipas, <a href='#Page_335'>335</a>; - <ul> - <li>Jesus before, <a href='#Page_337'>337</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Herod the Great, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a>, <a href='#Page_325'>325</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Herodias, <a href='#Page_336'>336</a></li> - <li class='c010'>High Priests, <a href='#Page_242'>242</a>; - <ul> - <li>plot against Jesus, <a href='#Page_277'>277</a>, <a href='#Page_278'>278</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Hillel, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Holiness, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>, <a href='#Page_205'>205</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Horace, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Hosannas, <a href='#Page_246'>246</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Hosea, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a></li> - <li class='c010'>House on a rock, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Human nature, mystery, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Human race, education, <a href='#Page_98'>98</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Humility, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a>, <a href='#Page_172'>172</a>, <a href='#Page_293'>293</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Hungering after justice, <a href='#Page_90'>90</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Husbandman, good, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Hypocrites, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a></li> - <li class='c003'>Ideas of Jesus, antiquity of, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Imagination, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a>, <a href='#Page_16'>16</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Immortality, <a href='#Page_399'>399</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Inasmuch, <a href='#Page_264'>264</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Incest, <a href='#Page_336'>336</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Inferno, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Inheriting the earth, <a href='#Page_88'>88</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Injustice, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Innocents, slaughter of, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Insults, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a>, <a href='#Page_314'>314</a>, <a href='#Page_324'>324</a>, <a href='#Page_354'>354</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Intellectualism, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Intelligence, <a href='#Page_87'>87</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Introduction, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a></li> - <li class='c003'>Jairus’ daughter, <a href='#Page_139'>139</a></li> - <li class='c010'>James, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a>, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a>, <a href='#Page_184'>184</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Jericho, <a href='#Page_172'>172</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Jerusalem, desolation, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a>; - <ul> - <li>destruction, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a>, <a href='#Page_272'>272</a>;</li> - <li>last journey to, <a href='#Page_244'>244</a>;</li> - <li>Passover <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>;</li> - <li>worldly, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'><a id='index-jesus'></a></li> - <li class='c010'>Jesus, attempts on his life, <a href='#Page_241'>241</a>; - <ul> - <li>baptism of, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>;</li> - <li>birth, <a href='#Page_21'>21</a>;</li> - <li>blindfolded, <a href='#Page_325'>325</a>;</li> - <li>as the Christ, <a href='#Page_233'>233</a>;</li> - <li>condemnation, <a href='#Page_322'>322</a>;</li> - <li>crucifixion, <a href='#Page_359'>359</a>, <a href='#Page_367'>367</a>;</li> - <li>deeds, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>;</li> - <li>foreknowledge, <a href='#Page_49'>49</a>;</li> - <li>foreknowledge of death, <a href='#Page_241'>241</a>;</li> - <li>friendliness, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>;</li> - <li>hatred and condemnation for, <a href='#Page_275'>275</a>;</li> - <li>healer, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>;</li> - <li>Herod Antipas and, <a href='#Page_334'>334</a>;</li> - <li>liberator, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a>, <a href='#Page_384'>384</a>;</li> - <li>nailed to the cross, <a href='#Page_360'>360</a>;</li> - <li>nature, <a href='#Page_233'>233</a>;</li> - <li>Pilate and, <a href='#Page_329'>329</a>, <a href='#Page_338'>338</a>;</li> - <li>Pilate’s question, <a href='#Page_330'>330</a>, <a href='#Page_332'>332</a>;</li> - <li>poverty, <a href='#Page_193'>193</a>;</li> - <li>prosecution, <a href='#Page_315'>315</a>;</li> - <li>resurrection, <a href='#Page_381'>381</a>;</li> - <li>road to Emmaus, <a href='#Page_384'>384</a>;</li> - <li>second crucifixion, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a>;</li> - <li>sinlessness, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>;</li> - <li>spat on and struck, <a href='#Page_324'>324</a>;</li> - <li>under the cross, <a href='#Page_353'>353</a>;</li> - <li>the wanderer, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>;</li> - <li>what men said of him, <a href='#Page_233'>233</a>, <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>.</li> - <li><i>See also</i> <a href='#index-christ'>Christ</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Jewish State, reëstablishment, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Jews, dispersal, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>, <a href='#Page_272'>272</a>; - <ul> - <li>history, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>;</li> - <li>in Egypt, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a>;</li> - <li>wanderings, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Job, <a href='#Page_116'>116</a></li> - <li class='c010'>John, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a>, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a>, <a href='#Page_184'>184</a>, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>, <a href='#Page_315'>315</a>, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a>; - <ul> - <li>at the crucifixion, <a href='#Page_371'>371</a>;</li> - <li>at the sepulcher, <a href='#Page_383'>383</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>John the Baptist, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a>; - <ul> - <li>beheading of, <a href='#Page_336'>336</a>;</li> - <li>imprisonment and death, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>;</li> - <li>Jesus’ answer to him in prison, <a href='#Page_137'>137</a>, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Jonah, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Jordan and John the Baptist, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Joseph, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a>, <a href='#Page_286'>286</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Joseph of Arimathea, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a>, <a href='#Page_377'>377</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Joshua, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Judas, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a>, <a href='#Page_202'>202</a>, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a>; - <ul> - <li>Jesus’ understanding of, <a href='#Page_284'>284</a>;</li> - <li>kiss of, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a>;</li> - <li>at the Last Supper, <a href='#Page_290'>290</a>, <a href='#Page_301'>301</a>;</li> - <li>mystery of, <a href='#Page_281'>281</a>;</li> - <li>sinning woman and, <a href='#Page_229'>229</a>;</li> - <li>wasted ointment and, <a href='#Page_232'>232</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Judea, outbreak, <a href='#Page_270'>270</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Judging others, <a href='#Page_110'>110</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Judgment Day, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>, <a href='#Page_265'>265</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Justice, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>; - <ul> - <li>hunger for, <a href='#Page_90'>90</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c003'>King of the Jews, <a href='#Page_330'>330</a>, <a href='#Page_346'>346</a>, <a href='#Page_351'>351</a></li> - <li class='c010'><a id='index-kingdom-of-heaven'></a></li> - <li class='c010'>Kingdom of Heaven (of God), <a href='#Page_66'>66</a>, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>; - <ul> - <li>chief places in, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a>, <a href='#Page_184'>184</a>;</li> - <li>children—of such is the Kingdom, <a href='#Page_217'>217</a>;</li> - <li>definition, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a>;</li> - <li>force and, <a href='#Page_205'>205</a>;</li> - <li>like mustard seed, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Kingdom of Satan, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a>, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Kingdoms of the earth, <a href='#Page_63'>63</a>, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Kings, at the birth of Jesus, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>; - <ul> - <li>of the nations, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Kiss of Judas, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Knowledge, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a></li> - <li class='c003'>Lama sabachthani, <a href='#Page_372'>372</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Lamps, <a href='#Page_156'>156</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Land of Promise, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Lao-Tse, <a href='#Page_113'>113</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Last and first, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Last judgment, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>, <a href='#Page_265'>265</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Last Supper, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Last things, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Law, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>; - <ul> - <li>old and new, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Lazarus, <a href='#Page_140'>140</a>, <a href='#Page_220'>220</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Lazarus, the beggar, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Legs, breaking, <a href='#Page_366'>366</a>, <a href='#Page_375'>375</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Leopardi, Giacomo, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Lepers, <a href='#Page_135'>135</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Liberator, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a>, <a href='#Page_384'>384</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Life, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>; - <ul> - <li>eternal, <a href='#Page_264'>264</a>, <a href='#Page_400'>400</a>;</li> - <li>Jesus’ knowledge of, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>;</li> - <li>revaluation of, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>;</li> - <li>true, <a href='#Page_110'>110</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Light, Jesus’ Transfiguration, <a href='#Page_239'>239</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Lives of Christ, kind we need, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>; - <ul> - <li>two kinds, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Logia, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Longinus, <a href='#Page_375'>375</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Lord’s Prayer, exposition, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Losing one’s soul, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Lost found, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Lost sheep, <a href='#Page_170'>170</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Love, antiquity and, <a href='#Page_111'>111</a>-121; - <ul> - <li>Christ’s command, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a>;</li> - <li>Christ’s for sinners, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>;</li> - <li>experiment of, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a>;</li> - <li>filial, <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>;</li> - <li>mutual and universal, <a href='#Page_113'>113</a>;</li> - <li>for one another, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>;</li> - <li>perfect, <a href='#Page_37'>37</a>;</li> - <li>self, <a href='#Page_111'>111</a>, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a>;</li> - <li>woman who loved much, <a href='#Page_229'>229</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Lovest thou me?, <a href='#Page_403'>403</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Luke-warmness, <a href='#Page_188'>188</a></li> - <li class='c003'>Malchus, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Mammon, <a href='#Page_193'>193</a>, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>; - <ul> - <li>Temple at Jerusalem and, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Man, early rules, <a href='#Page_98'>98</a>; - <ul> - <li>perfectibility, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Manger, <a href='#Page_21'>21</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Maranatha, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Mariamne, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Mark, <a href='#Page_313'>313</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Marriage, <a href='#Page_142'>142</a>, <a href='#Page_209'>209</a>; - <ul> - <li>Cana, <a href='#Page_141'>141</a>, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Martha, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>, <a href='#Page_140'>140</a>, <a href='#Page_219'>219</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Martyrs, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Mary (of Bethany), <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>, <a href='#Page_140'>140</a>, <a href='#Page_219'>219</a>, <a href='#Page_379'>379</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Mary (Virgin Mother), <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a>, <a href='#Page_371'>371</a>, <a href='#Page_378'>378</a>, <a href='#Page_379'>379</a>; - <ul> - <li>flight into Egypt, <a href='#Page_30'>30</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Mary Magdalene, <a href='#Page_220'>220</a>, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>, <a href='#Page_379'>379</a>; - <ul> - <li>risen Lord and, <a href='#Page_382'>382</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Masons, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Massacre of the Innocents, <a href='#Page_29'>29</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Matthew, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a>, <a href='#Page_282'>282</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Meander, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Meekness, <a href='#Page_88'>88</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Memory of Christ, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Mental diseases, <a href='#Page_136'>136</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Merciful, <a href='#Page_90'>90</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Mercy, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>, <a href='#Page_265'>265</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Messiah, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a>; - <ul> - <li>material, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a>, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Messiahship, <a href='#Page_49'>49</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Messianic prophecies, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Metals, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Miracles, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a>, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a>, <a href='#Page_136'>136</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Money, banks, exchange, etc., <a href='#Page_250'>250</a>; - <ul> - <li>curse of, <a href='#Page_220'>220</a>;</li> - <li>Jesus and, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>, <a href='#Page_202'>202</a>;</li> - <li>Judas and, <a href='#Page_282'>282</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Money-changers, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Mosaic law, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Moses, <a href='#Page_30'>30</a>; - <ul> - <li>deliverance of Jews from Egypt, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a>;</li> - <li>law and love, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a>;</li> - <li>sprinkling of blood, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a>;</li> - <li>with Christ on Hermon, <a href='#Page_240'>240</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Moslems, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Mount, Sermon on the, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>, <a href='#Page_94'>94</a>, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Mountain, Jesus praying on, <a href='#Page_239'>239</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Mourning, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a></li> - <li class='c010'>M’-Ti, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a>, <a href='#Page_113'>113</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Mud, <a href='#Page_31'>31</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Murder, <a href='#Page_100'>100</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Mustard seed, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Myrrh, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Mysteries, <a href='#Page_406'>406</a>; - <ul> - <li>Gethsemane, <a href='#Page_306'>306</a>;</li> - <li>human nature, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a>;</li> - <li>of the Kingdom, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c003'>Nails, four, <a href='#Page_359'>359</a>, <a href='#Page_361'>361</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Names, secret and real, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Nard, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Narrow gate, <a href='#Page_156'>156</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Nathaniel, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Nature, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a>; - <ul> - <li>antagonism of Jesus and, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>;</li> - <li>Jesus and, <a href='#Page_38'>38</a>;</li> - <li>overturning, <a href='#Page_108'>108</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Nazarene, <a href='#Page_351'>351</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Nazareth, any good thing out of?, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a>; - <ul> - <li>boyhood of Jesus, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>;</li> - <li>foreknowledge of Jesus, <a href='#Page_49'>49</a>;</li> - <li>Joseph’s shop, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Nazir, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Negative command, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Neighbor, <a href='#Page_172'>172</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Nero, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a></li> - <li class='c010'>New Covenant, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Nicodemus, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>, <a href='#Page_278'>278</a>, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a>, <a href='#Page_377'>377</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Nicolatians, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Nirvana, <a href='#Page_114'>114</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Noah, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Nomads, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Nonresistance, <a href='#Page_104'>104</a>, <a href='#Page_107'>107</a></li> - <li class='c003'>Oaths, <a href='#Page_103'>103</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Octavius Augustus, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Old Adam, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Old Covenant, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Old ideas, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Old law, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Old Testament morality, <a href='#Page_116'>116</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Older son, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>, <a href='#Page_169'>169</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Olives, Mount of, <a href='#Page_244'>244</a>, <a href='#Page_245'>245</a>, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#Page_302'>302</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Ophir, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Opinion of Christ, modern, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Other cheek, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a>, <a href='#Page_106'>106</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Overturnings of opinion, <a href='#Page_94'>94</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Ox, <a href='#Page_22'>22</a></li> - <li class='c003'>Paganism, <a href='#Page_169'>169</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Palazzo Vecchio, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Palm branches, <a href='#Page_246'>246</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Parables, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a>, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Paradise, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>, <a href='#Page_127'>127</a>, <a href='#Page_213'>213</a>, <a href='#Page_219'>219</a>; - <ul> - <li>for the penitent thief on the cross, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Paradox, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Parasceve, <a href='#Page_352'>352</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Parusia, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a>, <a href='#Page_273'>273</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Passion, beginning, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Passover, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a>, <a href='#Page_295'>295</a>; - <ul> - <li>night before, <a href='#Page_352'>352</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Paternoster, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Patriarchs, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Paul, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>; - <ul> - <li>testimony as to the resurrection, <a href='#Page_397'>397</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Peace, <a href='#Page_208'>208</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Peace and war, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>, <a href='#Page_205'>205</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Peacemakers, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Peasants, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Persecutions, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a>, <a href='#Page_260'>260</a>, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Peter, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a>, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>; - <ul> - <li>the Rock, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>, <a href='#Page_237'>237</a>.</li> - <li><i>See also</i> Simon Peter</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Petronius, <a href='#Page_375'>375</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Pharaoh, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Pharisees, <a href='#Page_55'>55</a>, <a href='#Page_104'>104</a>, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a>, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a>; - <ul> - <li>condemnation in the Temple, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>;</li> - <li>at Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, <a href='#Page_246'>246</a>;</li> - <li>prayer of, and Publican, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Philip, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Philo, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Pilate, Pontius, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a>, <a href='#Page_325'>325</a>; - <ul> - <li>fate, <a href='#Page_350'>350</a>;</li> - <li>Jesus before, <a href='#Page_329'>329</a>, <a href='#Page_338'>338</a>;</li> - <li>last recorded words, <a href='#Page_351'>351</a>;</li> - <li>personality, <a href='#Page_326'>326</a>;</li> - <li>subterfuges, <a href='#Page_342'>342</a>, <a href='#Page_347'>347</a>, <a href='#Page_348'>348</a>, <a href='#Page_349'>349</a>;</li> - <li>washing of hands, <a href='#Page_346'>346</a>, <a href='#Page_349'>349</a>;</li> - <li>wife’s dream, <a href='#Page_333'>333</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Pitcher, man with, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a>, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Pity, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>, <a href='#Page_265'>265</a>, <a href='#Page_354'>354</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Plato, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a>, <a href='#Page_199'>199</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Pluto, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a>, <a href='#Page_199'>199</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Poet, Jesus as, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Poetry, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Poor, the, Jesus’ love of, <a href='#Page_200'>200</a>; - <ul> - <li>Jesus’ teaching, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a>;</li> - <li>rich and, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a>, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>, <a href='#Page_194'>194</a>;</li> - <li>in spirit, <a href='#Page_87'>87</a>.</li> - <li><i>See also</i> <a href='#index-poverty'>Poverty</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Possession by devils, <a href='#Page_136'>136</a></li> - <li class='c010'><a id='index-poverty'></a></li> - <li class='c010'>Poverty, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a>; - <ul> - <li>disciples, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>;</li> - <li>Jesus, <a href='#Page_193'>193</a>;</li> - <li>voluntary, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Prayer, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>; - <ul> - <li>Father, forgive them, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a>, <a href='#Page_358'>358</a>, <a href='#Page_363'>363</a>;</li> - <li>Jesus in Gethsemane, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a>, <a href='#Page_309'>309</a>;</li> - <li>Jesus on the mountain, <a href='#Page_239'>239</a>;</li> - <li>Lord’s prayer, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>;</li> - <li>Pharisee and Publican, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Priam, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a>, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Priestly caste, <a href='#Page_276'>276</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Primacy, <a href='#Page_405'>405</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Prodigal son, <a href='#Page_160'>160</a>-169</li> - <li class='c010'>Prophecy of Jesus on Last Things, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Prophets, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>; - <ul> - <li>character, <a href='#Page_47'>47</a>;</li> - <li>definitions, <a href='#Page_47'>47</a>, <a href='#Page_48'>48</a>;</li> - <li>description, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Prostitutes, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Proverbs, <a href='#Page_116'>116</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Psalms, imprecations on enemies, <a href='#Page_116'>116</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Publicans, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a>; - <ul> - <li>prayer of Publican and Pharisee, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Punishment, eternal, <a href='#Page_264'>264</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Pure in heart, <a href='#Page_90'>90</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Purification, <a href='#Page_104'>104</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Purity, <a href='#Page_110'>110</a>; - <ul> - <li>of Jesus, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c003'>Rabboni, <a href='#Page_382'>382</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Readiness, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Reed, <a href='#Page_346'>346</a>, <a href='#Page_373'>373</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Religion, as a business in Jerusalem, <a href='#Page_276'>276</a>; - <ul> - <li>Roman, <a href='#Page_327'>327</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Religions for the irreligious, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Renan, J. E., <a href='#Page_9'>9</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Renunciation, <a href='#Page_152'>152</a>, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>, <a href='#Page_200'>200</a>, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Repentance, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a>, <a href='#Page_363'>363</a>, <a href='#Page_366'>366</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Resurrection, <a href='#Page_381'>381</a>; - <ul> - <li>doubts about, <a href='#Page_388'>388</a>;</li> - <li>Evangelists’ testimony, <a href='#Page_398'>398</a>;</li> - <li>Paul’s testimony, <a href='#Page_397'>397</a>;</li> - <li>rejection, <a href='#Page_395'>395</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Resurrections from the dead, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Retaliation, <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>; - <ul> - <li>Jesus’ repudiation of the old law, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Revenge, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Rich and poor, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a>, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>, <a href='#Page_194'>194</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Rich man, <a href='#Page_194'>194</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Righteousness, <a href='#Page_114'>114</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Risen from the dead, <a href='#Page_381'>381</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Rock, Caiaphas and Peter, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a>; - <ul> - <li>house built on, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a>;</li> - <li>Peter, <a href='#Page_237'>237</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Roman Emperor, <a href='#Page_327'>327</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Roman Empire, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a>; - <ul> - <li>upheaval, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Roman soldiers, <a href='#Page_344'>344</a>, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Rome and the Christian martyrs, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a></li> - <li class='c003'>Sabbath, Jesus and, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a>; - <ul> - <li>Jesus at Capernaum, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Sacrifice, of the innocent for the guilty, <a href='#Page_279'>279</a>; - <ul> - <li>pagan examples, <a href='#Page_279'>279</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Sadducees, <a href='#Page_55'>55</a>, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Saints, <a href='#Page_256'>256</a>, <a href='#Page_351'>351</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Salome, <a href='#Page_336'>336</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Salvation, <a href='#Page_194'>194</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Samaritan, the good, <a href='#Page_172'>172</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Samaritans, <a href='#Page_172'>172</a>, <a href='#Page_184'>184</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Sanhedrin, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>, <a href='#Page_278'>278</a>; - <ul> - <li>Jesus before, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'><a id='index-satan'></a></li> - <li class='c010'>Satan, Jesus and, <a href='#Page_63'>63</a>; - <ul> - <li>Jesus and—Gethsemane, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Saul, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>, <a href='#Page_116'>116</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Savonarola, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Scarlet cloak, <a href='#Page_346'>346</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Scourging, <a href='#Page_343'>343</a>, <a href='#Page_344'>344</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Scribes, <a href='#Page_242'>242</a>, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a>; - <ul> - <li>condemnation in the Temple, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Second birth, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a>, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>, <a href='#Page_188'>188</a></li> - <li class='c010'><a id='index-second-coming'></a></li> - <li class='c010'>Second coming, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a>; - <ul> - <li>date, <a href='#Page_273'>273</a>;</li> - <li>imminence, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Second covenant, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Secret name, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Secretiveness, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Self-justification, Socrates and Jesus, <a href='#Page_320'>320</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Self-love, <a href='#Page_111'>111</a>, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a>, <a href='#Page_126'>126</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Self-preservation, <a href='#Page_110'>110</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Sell all, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Selling Jesus, <a href='#Page_286'>286</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Seneca, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Sepulcher, Jesus and, <a href='#Page_378'>378</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Sepulchers, <a href='#Page_257'>257</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Sermon on the Mount, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>, <a href='#Page_94'>94</a>, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Sermon on the Mount, second, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Sermons, <a href='#Page_17'>17</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Servant of all, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Service, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Sheba, Queen of, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Sheep, lost, <a href='#Page_170'>170</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Sheep and goats, <a href='#Page_260'>260</a>, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Shepherds, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Sickness, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Signs, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Simon of Cyrene, <a href='#Page_353'>353</a>, <a href='#Page_355'>355</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Simon Magus, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Simon Peter, <a href='#Page_82'>82</a>, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>; - <ul> - <li>confession of Christ, <a href='#Page_236'>236</a>;</li> - <li>contradictory acts, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a>, <a href='#Page_312'>312</a>;</li> - <li>denial, <a href='#Page_315'>315</a>;</li> - <li>primacy and martyrdom granted to, <a href='#Page_403'>403</a>, <a href='#Page_405'>405</a>;</li> - <li>at the sepulcher, <a href='#Page_383'>383</a>;</li> - <li>sinning woman and, <a href='#Page_229'>229</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Simplicity, <a href='#Page_110'>110</a>, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>, <a href='#Page_219'>219</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Sin, <a href='#Page_101'>101</a>, <a href='#Page_126'>126</a>; - <ul> - <li>against the spirit, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>;</li> - <li>forgiveness of, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>;</li> - <li>he that is without sin, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>;</li> - <li>in Jesus’ life, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>;</li> - <li>parables of, <a href='#Page_170'>170</a>;</li> - <li>sacrifice of the innocent for, <a href='#Page_279'>279</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Sinlessness of Jesus, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Sinners, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>; - <ul> - <li>converted, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Skull, Hill of the, <a href='#Page_357'>357</a>, <a href='#Page_359'>359</a>, <a href='#Page_371'>371</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Sleep, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>; - <ul> - <li>infant Jesus and, <a href='#Page_30'>30</a>;</li> - <li>of the three disciples on the Mount of Olives, <a href='#Page_306'>306</a>, <a href='#Page_310'>310</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Smiths, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Snow and sun, <a href='#Page_238'>238</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Socrates, <a href='#Page_320'>320</a>; - <ul> - <li>on enemies, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Solitude, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a>; - <ul> - <li>of Jesus, <a href='#Page_307'>307</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Solomon, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Son of David, <a href='#Page_246'>246</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Son of God, <a href='#Page_236'>236</a>, <a href='#Page_238'>238</a>; - <ul> - <li>question put to Jesus, <a href='#Page_321'>321</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Son of Man, <a href='#Page_236'>236</a>, <a href='#Page_238'>238</a>, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>, <a href='#Page_273'>273</a>, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Sons, <a href='#Page_160'>160</a>; - <ul> - <li>fathers and, <a href='#Page_213'>213</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Sons of Thunder, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Sonship, <a href='#Page_37'>37</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Soul, losing, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Sower, parable of, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Spinoza, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Spirit, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>, <a href='#Page_406'>406</a>; - <ul> - <li>sin against, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>;</li> - <li>victory over the flesh, <a href='#Page_308'>308</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Spitting on Jesus, <a href='#Page_324'>324</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Sponge soaked in vinegar, <a href='#Page_373'>373</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Stable, <a href='#Page_21'>21</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Stephen, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Steward, <a href='#Page_160'>160</a>, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Stoics, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Stones, crying out, <a href='#Page_247'>247</a>; - <ul> - <li>disciples compared to, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>;</li> - <li>not one upon another, <a href='#Page_258'>258</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Suffering, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Sun and snow, <a href='#Page_238'>238</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Sunday, <a href='#Page_380'>380</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Superiority, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Supper, last, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Swearing, <a href='#Page_102'>102</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Sweat of Jesus, <a href='#Page_306'>306</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Swine-herds, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Sword, fire and, <a href='#Page_205'>205</a>, <a href='#Page_208'>208</a>; - <ul> - <li>not peace but a sword, <a href='#Page_206'>206</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c003'>Talents, parable of, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Talitha qumi, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Tares and wheat, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Teachers of Jesus, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Teaching of Jesus, at Capernaum, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a>; - <ul> - <li>earliest, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Tebutis, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Temple, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>; - <ul> - <li>description, <a href='#Page_247'>247</a>;</li> - <li>destruction, <a href='#Page_272'>272</a>;</li> - <li>destruction foretold, <a href='#Page_258'>258</a>, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a>;</li> - <li>Jesus’ entry and purpose, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a>;</li> - <li>Jesus lost and found in, <a href='#Page_33'>33</a>;</li> - <li>place of business in Jewish life, <a href='#Page_275'>275</a>;</li> - <li>ramification, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a>;</li> - <li>veil, <a href='#Page_374'>374</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Temptations of Jesus, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Ten Commandments, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Theology, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Theudas, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Thief on the cross, penitent, <a href='#Page_363'>363</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Thieves, two, <a href='#Page_352'>352</a>, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a>, <a href='#Page_363'>363</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Third Covenant, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Thirst of Jesus on the cross, <a href='#Page_373'>373</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Thomas, <a href='#Page_133'>133</a>, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>; - <ul> - <li>doubts, <a href='#Page_392'>392</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Thomas Aquinas, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Thorns, <a href='#Page_346'>346</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Tiberius, <a href='#Page_326'>326</a>, <a href='#Page_331'>331</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Time, fullness of, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Titus, <a href='#Page_272'>272</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Too late, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>, <a href='#Page_156'>156</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Transfiguration, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a>, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a>, <a href='#Page_239'>239</a>, <a href='#Page_241'>241</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Transformation of soul, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a>, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a>, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a>, <a href='#Page_108'>108</a>, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Truth, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a>; - <ul> - <li>sin against, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>;</li> - <li>what is truth?, <a href='#Page_329'>329</a>, <a href='#Page_332'>332</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Turning the other cheek, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a>, <a href='#Page_106'>106</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Twelve, the, <a href='#Page_176'>176</a>. <i>See also</i> <a href='#index-disciples'>Disciples</a></li> - <li class='c003'>Ulysses, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a></li> - <li class='c003'>Vaddhamana, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Vagabondage of Jesus, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Vanity, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>, <a href='#Page_177'>177</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Veil of the temple, <a href='#Page_374'>374</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Vespasian, <a href='#Page_272'>272</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Vinegar, <a href='#Page_373'>373</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Vineyard, laborers in, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Violence, <a href='#Page_205'>205</a>, <a href='#Page_208'>208</a>; - <ul> - <li>possible ways of meeting, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a>;</li> - <li>solving the problem, <a href='#Page_107'>107</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Vipers, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>, <a href='#Page_256'>256</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Virgil, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Virgin Mother, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a>, <a href='#Page_371'>371</a>, <a href='#Page_378'>378</a>, <a href='#Page_379'>379</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Virgins, wise and foolish, <a href='#Page_156'>156</a></li> - <li class='c003'>Walking on the water, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Wandering Jew, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a></li> - <li class='c010'>War, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a>, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>, <a href='#Page_206'>206</a>, <a href='#Page_209'>209</a>; - <ul> - <li>wars and rumors of wars, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Warnings, <a href='#Page_260'>260</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Washing of the feet, <a href='#Page_292'>292</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Washing of the hands, <a href='#Page_346'>346</a>, <a href='#Page_349'>349</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Watch and pray, <a href='#Page_307'>307</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Water, blood and, from body of Jesus, <a href='#Page_375'>375</a>; - <ul> - <li>of truth, <a href='#Page_192'>192</a>;</li> - <li>turned into wine, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>;</li> - <li>walking on, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Wealth, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#Page_194'>194</a>; - <ul> - <li>ancient feeling toward, <a href='#Page_199'>199</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Weddings, <a href='#Page_141'>141</a></li> - <li class='c010'>What I have written, <a href='#Page_351'>351</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Wheat and tares, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a></li> - <li class='c010'>White cloak, <a href='#Page_335'>335</a>, <a href='#Page_337'>337</a>, <a href='#Page_344'>344</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Whited sepulchers, <a href='#Page_257'>257</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Who am I?, <a href='#Page_233'>233</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Will of God, <a href='#Page_309'>309</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Wind and sea obedient, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Wine, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>, <a href='#Page_295'>295</a>, <a href='#Page_301'>301</a>; - <ul> - <li>as the blood of Christ, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a>;</li> - <li>mixture offered Jesus on the cross, <a href='#Page_358'>358</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Wise men, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Witnesses, false, <a href='#Page_319'>319</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Women, Jesus and, <a href='#Page_219'>219</a>; - <ul> - <li>with Jesus on Golgotha, <a href='#Page_371'>371</a>;</li> - <li>old law and, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a>;</li> - <li>Roman, <a href='#Page_334'>334</a>;</li> - <li>at the sepulcher, <a href='#Page_380'>380</a>;</li> - <li>woman who was a sinner, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c010'>Woodworker, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Work, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Writing on the sand, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a></li> - <li class='c003'>Ye have heard, <a href='#Page_98'>98</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Yeast, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a></li> - <li class='c003'>Zarathushtra, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_114'>114</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Zealots, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a>, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a>, <a href='#Page_272'>272</a>, <a href='#Page_341'>341</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Zebedee’s sons, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a></li> - <li class='c010'>Zeus, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a></li> -</ul> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c004'>THE EUROPEAN LIBRARY <br /> Edited by J. E. SPINGARN</h2> -</div> -<p class='c005'>This series is intended to keep Americans in touch with the -intellectual and spiritual ferment of the continent of Europe -to-day, by means of translations that partake in some measure of -the vigor and charm of the originals. No attempt will be made -to give what Americans miscall “the best books,” if by this is -meant conformity to some high and illusory standard of past -greatness; any twentieth-century book which displays creative -power or a new outlook or more than ordinary interest will be -eligible for inclusion. Nor will the attempt be made to select -books that merely confirm American standards of taste or -morals, since the series is intended to serve as a mirror of -European culture and not as a glass through which it may -be seen darkly. All forms of literature will be represented, -and special attention will be paid to authors whose works have -not hitherto been accessible in English.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The first organized effort to bring into English a series of the -really significant figures in contemporary European literature.... -An undertaking as creditable and as ambitious as any of its kind on -the other side of the Atlantic.”—<i>New York Evening Post.</i></p> -<p class='c012'>THE WORLD’S ILLUSION. By <span class='sc'>Jacob Wassermann</span>. Translated by -Ludwig Lewisohn. Two volumes.</p> - -<p class='c009'>One of the most remarkable creative works of our time, revolving -about the experiences of a man who sums up the wealth and culture -of our age yet finds them wanting.</p> -<p class='c012'>PEOPLE. By <span class='sc'>Pierre Hamp</span>. Translated by James Whitall. With -Introduction by Elizabeth Shepley Sergeant.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Introducing one of the most significant writers of France, himself a -working man, in whom is incarnated the new self-consciousness of -the worker’s world.</p> -<p class='c012'>DECADENCE, AND OTHER ESSAYS ON THE CULTURE OF -IDEAS. By <span class='sc'>Remy de Gourmont</span>. Translated by William -Aspenwall Bradley.</p> - -<p class='c009'>An introduction to Gourmont’s theory of the “disassociation of -ideas,” which has been called “the most fruitful and provocative -theory since Nietzsche.”</p> -<p class='c012'>HISTORY: ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE. By <span class='sc'>Benedetto Croce</span>. -Translated by Douglas Ainslie.</p> -<p class='c009'>A new interpretation of the meaning of history, and a survey of -the great historians, by one of the leaders of European thought.</p> -<p class='c012'>THE NEW SOCIETY. By <span class='sc'>Walter Rathenau</span>. Translated by -Arthur Windham.</p> - -<p class='c009'>One of Germany’s most influential thinkers and men of action presents -his vision of the new society emerging out of the War.</p> -<p class='c012'>THE REFORM OF EDUCATION. By <span class='sc'>Giovanni Gentile</span>. With -an Introduction by Benedetto Croce. Translated by Dino -Bigongiari.</p> - -<p class='c009'>An introduction to the philosophy of a great contemporary thinker -who has an extraordinary influence on Italian life to-day.</p> -<p class='c012'>THE REIGN OF THE EVIL ONE. By <span class='sc'>C. F. Ramuz</span>. Translated -by James Whitall. With an Introduction by Ernest Boyd.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“A rural fantasia comparable to Synge’s ‘Playboy,’” introducing an -interesting French-Swiss novelist.</p> -<p class='c012'>THE GOOSE MAN. By <span class='sc'>Jacob Wassermann</span>, author of “The World’s -Illusion.” Translated by Allen W. Porterfield.</p> - -<p class='c009'>A novel which raises the question whether genius can ignore the -common rules of humanity without self-destruction.</p> -<p class='c012'>RUBÈ. By <span class='sc'>G. A. Borgese</span>. Translated by Isaac Goldberg.</p> - -<p class='c009'>A novel which has had a sensational success in Italy, centering on -the spiritual collapse since the War.</p> -<p class='c012'>THE PATRIOTEER. By <span class='sc'>Heinrich Mann</span>. Translated by Ernest -Boyd.</p> - -<p class='c009'>A German “Main Street,” describing the career of a typical product -of militarism, in school, university, business, and love.</p> -<p class='c012'>MODERN RUSSIAN POETRY: AN ANTHOLOGY. Translated -by Babette Deutsch and A. Yarmolinsky.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Covers the whole field of Russian verse since Pushkin, with the -emphasis on contemporary poets.</p> -<p class='c012'>LIFE OF CHRIST. By <span class='sc'>Giovanni Papini</span>. Translated by Dorothy -Canfield Fisher.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The first biography of Christ by a great man of letters since Renan’s.</p> -<p class='c012'>CONTEMPORARY GERMAN POETRY: AN ANTHOLOGY. -Translated by Babette Deutsch and A. Yarmolinsky. <i>In -preparation.</i></p> - -<p class='c009'>Covers the whole field of twentieth century poetry in Germany down -to the latest “expressionists.”</p> -<p class='c012'>SONATAS. By <span class='sc'>Ramòn del Valle-Inclàn</span>. <i>In preparation.</i></p> - -<p class='c009'>A romance by the most finished artist of modern Spain.</p> -<h3 class='c007'>OTHER BOOKS ON FOREIGN LITERATURE BY THE SAME PUBLISHERS</h3> -<p class='c012'>BENEDETTO CROCE: AN INTRODUCTION TO HIS PHILOSOPHY. -By <span class='sc'>Raffaello Piccoli</span>.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The first adequate account of Croce’s life and thought.</p> -<p class='c012'>A GUIDE TO RUSSIAN LITERATURE. By <span class='sc'>M. J. Olgin</span>.</p> - -<p class='c009'>A popular handbook describing the life and works of some sixty -Russian authors.</p> - -<p class='c006'>HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY</p> - -<p class='c006'>Publishers New York</p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF CHRIST ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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