The life of Jesus

THE

LIFE OF JESUS

BY

ERNEST RENAN

MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE

COMPLETE EDITION

7

mew l!)ork

Paris BR, ENTANO'S London

Chicago Washington

T:;e in: ■■.'YORK

PUBLIC LIBRARY

591786A

ASTOP?, LENOX AND

TILDEN FOUNDATIONS

H 1932 L

MY SISTER HENRIETTA,

WHO DIED AT EYBLUS, ON THE 24TH SEPTEMBER 1861.

Dost thou recall, from the bosom of God where thou reposest,
those long days at Ghazir, in which, alone with thee, I wrote
these pages, inspired by the places we had visited together?
Silent at my side, thou didst read and copy each sheet as soon as
I had written it, whilst the sea, the villages, the ravines, and the
mountains were spread at our feet. When the overv/helming
light had given place to the immmerable army of stars, thy shrewd
and subtle questions, thy discreet doubts, led me back to the
sublime object of our common thoughts. One day thou didst tell
me that thou wouldst love this book — first, because it had been
composed with thee, and also because it pleased thee. Though at
times thou didst fear for it the narrow judgments of the frivolous,
yet wert thou ever persuaded that all truly religious souls would
ultimately take pleasure in it. In the midst of these sweet medi-
tations, the Augel of Death struck us both with his wing : the sleep
of fever seized us at the same time — I awoke alone ! . . .
^TTliou sleepest now in the land of Adonis, near the holy Byblus
land the sacred stream where the women of the ancient mysteries
neame to mingle their tears. Reveal to me, 0 good genius, to me
^hom thou lovedst, those truths which conquer death, deprive
■lit of terror, and make it almost beloved.

PREFACE.

It? presenting an Eiigllsli version of the celebrated work of M.
Eenan, tlie translator is aware of the difficulty ot adequately render-
ing a work so admirable for its style and beauty of composition. It
is not an easy task to reproduce ttie terseness and eloquence which
characterize the original. Whatever its success in these respects
may be, no pains have been spared to give the author's meaning.
The translation has been revised by highly competent persons ; but
although great care has been taken in this respect, it is possible
that a few errors may still have escaped notice.

The great problem of the present age is to preserve the religious
spirit, whilst getting rid of the superstitions and absurdities that
deform it, and which are alike opposed to science and common sense.
The works of Mr. F. AY. Newman and of Bishop Colenso, and the
" Essays and Eeviews," are rendering great service in this direction.
The work of M. Eenan will contribute to this object ; and, if its
utility may be measured by the storm which it has created amongst
the ohscurantists in Erance, and the heartiness with which they have
condemned it, its merits in this respect must be very great. It
needs only to be added, that whilst warmly sympathising with the
earnest spirit which pervades the book, the translator by no means
wishes to be identified wdth all the opinions therein expressed.

December 8, 1863.

CONTENTS.

INTEODUCTION,

LN Wllicri THE SOUP^^ES OF THIS IIISTOilY ARE PIUNCirALLT
TREATED. .....

CHAPTER I.

PLACE OF JESUS IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD, . . 35

CHAPTER II.

INFANCY AND YOUTH OF JESUS : HIS FIRST IMPRESSIONS, 46

CHAPTEPv III.

EDUCATION OF JESUS, . , , . , 53

CHAPTER IV.

THE ORDEk of THOUGHT WHICH SURROUNDED THE DEVELOPMENT

OF JESUS, , 62

CHAPTER V.

THE FIRST SAYINGS OF JESUS : HIS IDEAS OF A DIVINE FATHER

AND OF A PURE RELIGION— FIRST DiyCHLES, . . 79

CHAPTER VI.

JOHN THE 2APTIST— VISIT OF JESUS TO JOHN, AND HIS ABODE
IN THE DESERT OF JUDEA — ADOPTION OF THE BVPTr^SM OF
^OHN, ....... 03

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VII.

PA.OS

DEVELOPMENT OF THE IDEAS OF JESUS RESPECTING THE lilliO-

DOM OF GOD, ...... 104

CHAPTER Vlir.

JESUS AT CAPERNAUM, . , , , ,114

CHAPTER IX.

THE DISCIPLES OF JESUS, . . , • ,125

CHAPTER X.

THE PllEACHINGS ON THE LAKE. . . . ,134

CHAPTER .VI.

THE KINGDOM OF GOD CONCEIVED AS THE INHERITANCE OF THK

POOiC, ....... ii'J

CHAPTER XII.

EMBASSY FROM JOHN IN PRISON TO JESUS DEATH OF JOHN

RELATIONS OF HIS SCHOOL WITH THAT OF JESUS, . . 152

CHAPTER XIIL

FIRST ATTEMPTS ON JERUSALEM, . , . ,158

CHAPTER XIY.

INTERCOURSE OF JESUS WITH THE PAGANS AND THE SAMARI-
TANS, . . . , . . .170

CHAPTER XY.

COMMENCEMENT OF THE LEGENDS CONCERNING JESUS — HIS OWN

IDE 4: OF HIS SUPERNATURAL CHARACTER, . . 177

CONTENTS. x\

CHAPTER XVI

PAOK

MTKAOLEh, ....... 168

CHATTI-.R XVIL

DEFINITIVE FORM OF TKE IDEAS OF JESUS EESPECT.NG THE 1

KIXGDOM OF GOD, , . , , .107

CHAPTER XYIII.

INSTITUTIONS OF JESUS, ..... 209

CHAPTER XIX.

INCREASING PROGRESS OF ENTHUSIASM AND EXCITEMENT. , *Zld

CHAPTER XX
nPrOSTTIOK TO JESUS, . . . . ^ 2127

CHAPTER XXI.

LAST JOURNEY OF JESUS TO JERUSALEM, , . , 2.36

CHAPTER XXII.

MACHINATIONS OF THE ENEMIES OF JESUS, . . , 248

CHAPTER XXIII.

LAST WEEK OF JESUS, . . . , , 2o7

CHAPTER XXIV.

ARREST AND TRIAL OF JESUS, .... 270

CHAPTER XXV.

DEATH OF JESUS, * • . , . 284

ni CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXVI.

paor

JESUS IN THE TOMB, .,,.,» 2i]*2

CHAPTER XXYIL

FATE OF THE ENEMIES OF JF.SUS.. . . i • 297

CHAPTER XXVIII.

ESSENTIAL CUAKACTER OF THE WOIIK OF JESUS» , ^ 30*

INTRODUCTIOl^

IN WHICa THE SOURCES OF THIS HISTORY ARE PRINCIPALLY
TREATED.

A HISTORY of the " Origin of Christianity " ought to embrace all
the obscure, and, if one might so speak, subterranean periods which
extend from the first beginnings of this religion up to the moment
when its existence became a public fact, notorious and evident to
the eyes of all. Such a history would consist of four books. The
first, which I now present to the public, treats of the particular
fact which has served as the starting-point of the new religion ;
and is entirely filled by the sublime person of the Founder. The
second would treat of the apostles and their immediate discii)les,
or rather, of the revolutions which religious thought underwent in
the first two generations of Christianity. I would close this about
the year 100, at the time when the last friends of Jesus were
dead, and when all the books of the New Testament were fixed
almost in the forms in which we now read them. The third would
exhibit the state of Christianity under the Antonines. AVe should
see it develop itself slowly, and sustain an almost permanent war
against the empire, which had just reached the highest degree of
administrative perfection, and, governed by philosophers, combated
in the new-born sect a secret and theocratic society which obsti-
nately denied and incessantly undermined it. This book would

2 INTRODtrcTlON.

cover the entire period of the second century. Lastl}?-, the foui'th
book would shew the decisive progress which Christianity made
from the time of the Syrian emperors. We should see the learned
system of the Antonines crumble, the decadence of the ancient
civilisation become irrevocable, Christianity profit from its ruin,
Syria conquer the whole West, and Jesus, in company with the
gods and the deified sages of Asia, take possession of a society for
which i^hilosophy and a purely civil government no longer sufficed.
It was then that the religious ideas of the races grouped around the
Mediterranean became profoundly modified ; that the Eastern reli-
gions everywhere took precedence ; that the Christian Church,
having become very numerous, totally forgot its dreams of a mil-
lennium, broke its last ties with Judaism, and entered completely
into the Greek and Roman world. The contests and the literary
labours of the third century, which were carried on without conceal-
ment, would be described only in their general features. I would
relate still more briefly the persecutions at the commencement of the
fourth century, the last effort of the empire to return to its former
principles, v/hich denied to religious association any place in the
State. Lastly, I would only foreshadow the change of policy
which, under Constantine, reversed the position, and made of the
most free and spontaneous religious movement an official worship,
subject to the State, and persecutor in its turn.

I know not whether I shall have sufficient life and strength to
complete a plan so vast. I shall be satisfied if, after having
written the Life of Jesus, I am permitted to relate, as I understand
it, the history of the apostles, the state of the Christian conscience
during the weeks which followed the death of Jesus, the formation
of the cycle of legends concerning the resurrection, the first acts of
the Church of Jerusalem, the life of Saint Paul, the crisis of the time
of Nero, the appearance of the Apocalypse, the fall of Jerusalem,
the foundation of the Hebrew-Christian sects of Batanea, the com-
pilation of the Gospels, and the rise of the great schools of Asia
Minor originated by John. Everything pales by the side of that
marvellous first century. By a peculiarity rare ir. history, we see

INTEODDCTION. :$

much better what passed in the Christian world from the year 50
to the year 75, than from the year 100 to the year 150.

The plan followed in this history has prevented the introduction
into the text of long critical dissertations upon controverted points.
A continuous system of notes enables the reader to verify from the
authorities all the statements of the text. These notes are strictly
limited to quotations from the primary sources; that is to say,
the original passages upon which each assertion or conjecture
rests. I know that for persons little accustomed to studies of this
kind many other explanations would have been necessary. But it
is not my practice to do over again what has been already done
w^ll. To cite only books written in French, those who will con-
sult the following excellent writings l will there find explained a
number of points upon which I have been obliged to be very
brief.

Mudes Critiques sur VEvangile de saint Ifaithieu, par M. Albert R6ville,
pasteur de I'eglise Wallonne de Rotterdam. 2

Histoire de la Theologie Chretienne au Siecle Apostolique, par M. Reuss,
professeur k la Faculte de Theologie et au Seminaire Protestant de Stras-
bourg. 3

Des Doctrines Religieuses des Juifs jjendard les Deux Si^cles Antirieurs
a VEre Chrkienne, par M. Michel Nicolas, professeur h. la Faculte de Th6o-
logie Protestante de Montauban. *

Vie de Jesus, par le Dr Strauss; traduite par M. Littr6, Membre da
I'Institut. 5

Revue de Theologie et de Fhilosophie Chretienne, publi6e sous la direo-
tion de M. Colani, de 1850 £L lQbl.—-Nouvelle Revue d^ Theologie, f&issiut
suite ^ la precedente depuis 1858.^

The criticism of the details of the Gospel texts especially,

^ While this work was in the press, a book has appeared which I do not hesitate
to add to this list, although I have not read it with the attention it aeserves
^-Les Evangiles, par M. Gustave d'Eichthal. Premibre Partie : Examen Critique
et Comparatif des Trois Premiers Evangiles. Paris, HacheUe, 1863.

' Leyde, Noothoven van Goor, 1862. Paris, Cherbuliez. A work crowned by
the Society of The Hague for the defence of the Christian religion.

=* Strasbourg, Treuttel and WurtK. 2nd edition, 1860. Paris, Cherbuliefc

* Paris, Michel Ldvy frores, 1860.

* Paris, Ladrange. 2nd edition, 1856.
Strasbourg, Trcmitel and Wurtz. Paris, Cherbiiliet

INTRODUCTION.

has been done by Strauss in a manner which leaves little to be
desired. Although Strauss may be mistaken in his theory of
the compilation of the Gospels ; l and although his book has,
in my opinion, the fault of taking up the theological ground
too much, and the historical ground too little,2 it will be neces-
sary, in order to understand the motives which have guided me
amidst a crowd of minutice, to study the always judicious, though
sometimes rather subtle argument, of the book, so well translated
by my learned friend, M. Littre.

I do not believe I have neglected any source of information as
to ancient evidences. Without speaking of a crowd of other
scattered data, there remain, respecting Jesus, and the time in
which he lived, five great collections of writmgs— 1st, The Gospels,
and the writings of the New Testament in general ; 2nd, The com-
positions called the '' Apocrj^ha of the Old Testament ;" 3rd, The
works of Philo ; 4th, Those of Josephus ; oth, The Talmud. The
writings of Philo have the priceless advantage of shewing us the
thoughts which, in the time of Jesus, fermented in minds occupied
with great religious questions. Philo lived, it is true, in quite a
different province of Judaism to Jesus, but, like him, he was very
free from the littlenesses which reigned at Jerusalem ; Philo is truly
the elder brother of Jesus. He was sixty-two years old when the
Prophet of Nazareth was at the height of his activity, and he sur-
vived liim at least ten years. What a pity that the chances of life did
not conduct hmi into Galilee ! What would he not have taught us!

Josephus, writing specially for pagans, is not so candid. His
short notices of Jesus, of John the Baptist, of Judas the Gaul-

1 The great results obtained on this point have only been acquired since the
first edition of Strauss's work. The learned critic has, besides, done justice to
them with much candour in his after editions.

2 It is scarcely necessary to repeat that not a word in Strauss's work justifies the
strange and absurd calumny by which it has been attempted to bring into dis-
repute with superficial persons, a work so agreeable, accurate, thoughtful, and
conscientious, though spoiled in its general parts by an exclusive system. Not
only has Strauss never denied the existence of Jesus, but each page of his book
implies this existence. The truth is, Strauss supposes the individual character of
Jesua less distinct for us tJian it perhaps is in reaUty.

INTEODUCTIOX. 5

onite, are dry and colourless. We feel that he seeks to pre-
sent these movements, so profoundly Jewish in character ami
spirit, under a form which would be intelHgible to Greeks and
Romans. I believe the passage respecting Jesus i to be authentic
It is perfectly in the style of Josephus, and if this historian has made
mention of Jesus, it is thus that he must have spoken of him. We
feel only that a Christian hand has retouched the passage, has
added a few words, — without which it would almost have been
blasphemous,2 — has perhaps retrenched or modified some expres-
sions.3 It must be recollected that the literary fortune of Josephus
was made by the Christians, who adopted his writings as essentisi
documents of their sacred history. They made, probably in the
second century, an edition corrected according to Christian ideas. *
At all events, that which constitutes the immense interest of
Josephus on the subject which occupies us, is the clear light which
he throws upon the period. Thanks to him, Herod, Herodias,
Antipas, Philip, Annas, Caiaphas, and Pilate, are personages whom
we can touch with the finger, and whom we see living before us
with a striking reality.

The Apocryphal books of the Old Testament, especially the Jewish
part of the Sibylline verses, and the Book of Enoch, together with
the Book of Daniel, which is also really an Apocrypha, have a pri-
mary importance in the history of the development of the Messianic
theories, and for the understanding of the conceptions of Jesus
respecting the kingdom of God. The Book of Enoch especially,
which was much read at the time of Jesus,^ gives us the key to
the expression " Son of Man," and to the ideas attached to it. The
ages of these difierent books, thanks to the labours of Alexander,

^ Ant., XVIII. iii. 3.

^ " If it be lawful to call him a man."

' In place of ;(pio-Toy ovtos T]*>, he certainly had these xpi-^^^s ovros eXeyero,
— Cf. Jnt., XX. ix. 1.

* Eusebius {Hist. Eccl., i. 11, and Demonstr. Evang., iii. 5) cites the passage
respecting Jesus as we now read it in Josephus. Origen {Contra Celsus, i. 47; ii. 13)
and Eusebius {Hist. EccL, ii. 23) cite another Christian interpolation, which is not
found in any of the manuscripts of Josephus which have come down to us,

• Jude Epist. 14.

INTRODUCTION.

Ewald, Dillmann, and Reuss, is now beyond doubt. Every one is
agreed in placing tbe compilation of the most important of them
in the second and first centmries before Jesus Christ. The date
of the Book of Daniel is still more certain. The character of
the two languages in which it is written, the use of Greek words,
the clear, precise, dated announcement of events which reach even
to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, the incorrect descriptions
' of Ancient Babylonia, there given, the general tone of the book,
which in no respect recalls the writings of the captivity, but, on
the contrary, responds, by a crowd of analogies, to the beliefs, the
manners, the turn of imagination of the time of the Seleucidse ;
the Apocalyptic form of the visions, the place of the book in the
Hebrew canon, out of the series of the prophets, the omission of
Daniel in the panegyrics of chapter xlix. of Ecclesiasticus, in
which his position is all but indicated, and many other proofs
which have been deduced a hundred times, do not permit of a doubt
that the Book of Daniel was but the fruit of the great excitement
produced among the Jews by the persecution of Antiochus. It is
not in the old prophetical literature that we must class this book,
but rather at the head of Apocalyptic Hterature, as the first model
of a kind of composition, after which come the various Sibylline
poems, the Book of Enoch, the Apocalypse of John, the Ascension
of Isaiah, and the Fourth Book of Esdras.

In the history of the origin of Christianity, the Talmud has
hitherto been too much neglected. I think with M. Geiger, that
the true notion of the circumstances which surrounded the de-
velopment of Jesus must be sought in this strange compilation,
in which so much precious information is mixed with the most
insignificant scholasticism. The Christian and the Jewish theo-
logy having in the main followed two parallel ways, the his-
tory of the one cannot well be understood without the history of
the other. Innumerable important details in the Gospels find,
moreover, their commentary in the Talmud. The vast Latin collec-
tions of Lightfoot, Schoettgen, Buxtorf, and Otho, contained already
a mass of"" information on this point. I have imposed on myself

TNTItODUCTTON. 7

the task of verifying in the original all the citations which I have
admitted, without a single exception. The assistance which has
been given me for this part of my task by a learned Israelite, M.
Neiibauer, well versed in Talmudic literature, has enabled me to go
further, and to clear up the most intricate parts of my subject
by new researches. The distinction of epochs is here most im-
portant, the compilation of the Talmud extending from the year
200 to about the year 500. We have brought to it as much dis-
cernment as is possible in the actual state of these studies. Dates
so recent will excite some fears among persons habituated to
accord value to a document only for the period in which it was
written. But such scruples would here be out of place. The
teaching of the Jews from the Asmonean epoch down to the
second century was principally oral. We must not judge of this
state of intelligence by the habits of an age of much writing. The
Vedas, and the ancient Arabian poems, have been preserved for
ages from memory, and yet these compositions present a very
distinct and delicate form. In the Talmud, on the contrary, the form
has no value. Let us add that before the Mishnah of Judas the
Saint, which has caused all others to be forgotten, there were
attempts at compilation, the commencement of which is probably
much earlier than is commonly supposed. The style of the Tal-
mud is that of loose notes ; the collectors did no more probably
than classify under certain titles the enormous mass of writings
which had been accumulating in the different schools for genera-
tions.

It remains for us to speak of the documents which, presenting
themselves as biographies of the Founder of Christianity, must
naturally hold the first place in a Life of Jesus. A complete trea-
tise upon the compilation of the Gospels would be a work of itself.
Thanks to the excellent researches of which this question has
been the object during thirty years, a problem which was formerly
judged insurmountable has obtained a solution which, though
it leaves room for many uncertainties, fully suffices for the
necessities of l^i^jtory. We shall have occasion to return to

8 INTRODUCTION.

this in our Second Book, the composition of the Gospels having
been one of the most important facts for the future of Christi-
anity in the second half of the first century. We will touch here
only a single aspect of the subject, that which is indispensable
to the completeness of our narrative. Leaving aside all which
belongs to the portraiture of the apostolic times, we will inquire
only in what degree the data furnished by the G-ospels may be em-
ployed in a history formed according to rational principles.^

That the Gospels are in part legendary, is evident, since they are
full of miracles and of the supernatural ; but legends have not all the
same value. No one doubts the principal features of the life of
Francis d'Assisi, although we meet the supernatural at every step.
No one, on the other hand, accords credit to the " Life of Apollo-
nius of Tyana," because it was written long after the time of the
hero, and purely as a romance. At what time, by what hands,
under what circumstances, have the Gospels been compiled ? This
is the primary question upon which depends the opinion to be
formed of their credibility.

Each of the four Gospels bears at its head the name of a
personage, known either in the apostolic history, or in the Gospel
history itself. These four personages are not strictly given us
as the authors. The formulae " according to Matthew," " ac-
cording to Mark," " according to Luke," " according to John," do
not imply that, in the most ancient opinion, these recitals were
written from beginning to end by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
John ; 2 they merely signify that these were the traditions pro*
ceeding from each of these apostles, and claiming their autho-
rity. It is clear that, if these titles are exact, the Gospels, with-
out ceasing to be in part legendary, are of great value, since
they enable us to go back to the half century which followed the

1 Persons who wish to read more ample explanations, may consult, in addition
to the work of M, Reville, previously cited, the writings of Reuss and Scherer in
the Revue de Theologie, vol. x., xi., xv. ; new series, ii., iii., iv. ; and that of
Nicolas in the Revue Germanique, Sept. and Dec. 1862; April and June 1863.

2 In the same manner we say, " The Gospel according to the Hebrews," " Th«
Gk>8pel according to the Egyptians."

INTEODUOTION. 9

death of Jesus, and in two instances, even to the eye-wicnesses of
his actions.

Firstly, as to Luke, doubt is scarcely possible. The Gospel of
Luke is a regular composition, founded on anterior documents.!
It is the work of a man who selects, prunes, and combines.
The author of this Gospel is certainly the same as that of the
Acts of the Apostles.2 Now, the author of the Acts is a com-
panion of St Paul,3 a title which applies to Luke exactly.^ I
know that more than one objection may be raised against this
reasoning ; but one thing, at least, is beyond doubt, namely, that
the author of the third Gospel and of the Acts, was a man of the
second apostolic generation, and that is sufficient for our object.
The date of this Gospel can moreover be determined with much
precision by considerations drawn from the book itself. The 21st
chapter of Luke, inseparable from the rest of the work, was cer-
tainly written after the siege of Jerusalem, and but a short time
after.5 We are here then upon solid ground ; for we are con-
cerned with a work written entirely by the same hand, and of the
most perfect unity.

The Gospels of Matthew and Mark have not nearly the same
stamp of individuality. They are impersonal compositions, in
which the author totally disappears. A proper name written at the
head of works of this kind does not amount to much. But if the
Gospel of Luke is dated, those of Matthew and Mark are dated also ;
for it is certain that the third Gospel is posterior to the first two
and exhibits the character of a much more advanced compilation.
We have, besides, on this point, an excellent testimony from a
writer of the first half of the second century — namely, Papias,
bishop of Hierapolis, a grave man, a man of traditions, who was all

1 Luke i. 1-4.

' Acts i. 1. Compare Luke i, 1-4.

' From xvi. 10, the author represents himself as eye-witness.

* 2 Tim. iv. 11 ; Philemon 24; Col. iv. 14. The name of Lucas (contraction
of Lucanus) being very rare, we need not fear one of those homonyms which cauM
BO many perplexities in questions of criticism relative to the New Teatament.

» Verses 9, 20, 24, 28, 32. Comp. xxii. 36.

10 INTRODUCTION.

his life seeking to collect whatever could be known of the person
of Jesus.l After having declared that on such matters he pre-
ferred oral tradition to books, Papias mentions two writings on the
acts and words of Christ: first, a writing of Mark, the interpreter oi
the apostle Peter, written briefly, incomplete, and not arranged in
chronological order, including narratives and discourses, (XexOevra
^ irpaxOevra) composed from the information and recollections
of the apostle Peter ; second, a collection of sentences (Xo^ia)
written in Hebrew 2 by Matthew, " and which each one has trans-
lated as he could." It is certain that these two descriptions
answer pretty well to the general physiognomy of the two books
now called " Gospel according to Matthew," " Gospel according to
Mark;"— the first characterised by its long discourses; the second,
above all, by anecdote,— much more exact than the first upon small
facts, brief even to dryness, containing few discourses, and indiffer-
ently composed. That these two works, such as we now read
them, are absolutely similar to those read by Papias, cannot be
sustained : fii'stly, because the writings of Matthew were to Papias
solely discourses in Hebrew, of which there were in circulation
very varying translations ; and, second^, because the writings of
Mark and Matthew were to him profoundly distinct, written with-
out any knowledge of each other, and, as it seems, in different lan-
guages. Now, in the present state of the texts, the ''Gospel according
to Matthew" and the ''Gospel according to Mark" present parallel
parts so long and so perfectly identical, that it must be supposed,
either that the final compiler of the first had the second under his
eyes, or vice versa, or that both copied from the same prototype.
That which appears the most likely, is, that we have not the entirely
original compilations of either Matthew or Mark ; but that our first
■ two Gospels are versions in which the attempt is made to fill up

1 In Eusebius, Hist. Eccl, iii. 39. No doubt whatever can be raised as to
tbe authenticity of this passage. Eiisebius, in fact, far from exaggerating tho
authority of Papias, is embarrassed at ids simple ingenuousness, at his gross mil-
lenarianism, and solves the difficulty by treating him as a man of little mind.
Comp. Iren£Bus, Adv. Hosr., iii. 1.

^ That is to say, in the Semitic dialect.

INTRODTJCTIOir. H

the gaps of the one text by the other. Every one wished, iu fact, to
possess a complete copy. He who had in his copy only discourses,
wished to have narratives, and vice versa. It is thus that " the
Gospel according to Matthew" is found to have included almost all
the anecdotes of Mark, and that " the Gospel according to Mark "
now contains numerous features which come from the Logia of
Matthew. Every one, besides, drew largely on the Gospel tra-
dition then current. This tradition was so far from havins: been
exhausted by the Gospels, that the Acts of the Apostles and the
most ancient Fathers quote many words of Jesus which appear
authentic, and are not found in the Gospels we possess.

It matters little for our present object to push this delicate analy-
sis further, and to endeavour to reconstruct in some manner, on
the one hand, the original Logia of Matthew, and on the other, the
primitive narrative such as it left the pen of Mark, The Logia are
doubtless represented by the great discourses of Jesus which fill a
considerable part of the first Gospel These discourses form, in fact,
when detached from the rest, a sufficiently complete whole. As
to the narratives of the first and second Gospels, they seem to have
for basis a common document, of which the text reappears some-
times in the one and sometimes in the other, and of which the
second Gospel, such as we read it to-day, is but a slightly modified
reproduction. In other words, the scheme of the Life of Jesus, in
the synoptics, rests upon two original documents — first, the dis-
courses of Jesus collected by Matthev/ ; second, the collection of
anecdotes and personal reminiscences which Mark wrote from the
recollections of Peter. We may say that we have these two docu-
ments still, mixed with accounts from another source, in the two
first Gospels, which bear, not without reason, the name of the
" Gospel according to Matthew " and of the " Gospel according
to Mark."

What is indubitable, in any case, is, that very early the discourses
of Jesus were written in the Aramean language, and very early
also his remarkable actions were recorded. These were not texts
defined and fixed dogmatically. Besides the Gospels which have

X2 INTRODUCTION.

come to us, there were a number of others professing to represent
the tradition of eye-witnesses. ^ Little importance was attached to
these writings, and the preservers, such as Papias, greatly preferred
oral tradition.2 As men still believed that the world was nearly
at an end, they cared little to compose books for the future ; it
was sufficient merely to preserve in their hearts a lively image of
him whom they hoped soon to see again in the clouds. Hence
the little authority which the Gospel texts enjoyed during one
hundred and fifty years. There was no scruple in inserting addi-
tions, in variously combining them, and in completing some by
others. The poor man who has but one book wishes that it maj
contain all that is dear to his heart. These little books were lent,
each one transcribed in the margin of his copy the words, and
the parables he found elsewhere, which touched him.3 The most
beautiful thing in the world has thus proceeded from an obscure
and purely popular elaboration. No compilation was of absolute
value. Justin, who often appeals to that which he calls "The
Memoirs of the Apostles,""* had under his notice Gospel documents
in a state very different from that in which we possess them. At
all events, he never cares to quote them textually. The Gospel
quotations in the pseudo-Clementinian writings, of Ebionite origin,
present the same character. The spirit was everything ; the letter
was nothing. It was when tradition became weakened, in the
second half of the second century, that the texts bearing the
names of the apostles took a decisive authority and obtained ihe
force of law.

Who does not see the value of documents thus composed of
the tender remembrances, and simple narratives, of the first two
Christian generations, still full of the strong impression which

1 Luke i. 1, 2 ; Origen, Eom. in Luc. 1 init. ; St Jerome, Comment, in Matt.,
prol.

' Papias, in Eusebius, ff. E., iii. 39. Comp. Irenoeus, Adv. Hoer., ill. ii. and iii.

'^ It is thus that the beautiful narrative in John viii. 1-11 has always floated,
without finding a fixed place in the framework of the received Gospels.

* la aTTOfiVTiiJLOvevixaTa rcov diroaToXcov, a KaXurai tvayyeXia. Justin, Apol

—- - I

INTRODUCTION. 13

the illustrious Founder had produced, and which seemed long to
survive him ? Let us add, that the Gospels in question seem to
proceed from that branch of the Christian family which stood
nearest to Jesus. The last work of compilation, at least of the
text which bears the name of Matthew, appears to have been
done in one of the countries situated at the north-east of Pales-
tine, such as Gaulonitis, Auranitis, Batanea, where many Christians
took refuge at the time of the Roman war, where were found rela-
tives of Jesus 1 even in the second century, and where the first
Galilean tendency was longer preserved than in other parts.

So far we have only spoken of the three Gospels named the
synoptics. There remains a fourth, that which bears the name of
John. Concerning this one, doubts have a much better foundation,
and the question is further from solution. Papias — who was con-
nected with the school of John, and who, if not one of his auditors,
as Irenasus thinks, associated with his immediate disciples, among
others, Aristion, and the one called Preshyteros Joannes — says not
a word of a " Life of Jesus" written by John, although he had zeal-
ously collected the oral narratives of both Aristion and Preshyteros
Joannes, If any such mention had been found in his work,
Eusebius, who points out everything therein that can contribute to
the literary history of the apostolic age, would doubtless have
mentioned it.

The intrinsic difficulties drawn from the perusal of the fourth
Gospel itself are not less strong. How is it that, side by side
with narration so precise, and so evidently that of an eye-
witness, we find discourses so totally different from those of
Matthew ? How is it that, connected with a general plan of the
life of Jesus, which appears much more satisfactory and exact than
that of the synoptics, these singular passages occur in which we
are sensible of a dogmatic interest peculiar to the compiler, of
ideas foreign to Jesus, and sometimes of indications which place us
on our guard against the good faith of the narrator? Lastly, how is
it that, united with views the most pure, the most just, the most truly

* Juli'ia African us, in Eusebius, Hist. Bed., L 7.,

14! INTEODUCTIOir.

evangelical, we find these blemishes which we would fain regard
as the interpolations of an ardent sectarian ? Is it indeed John,
son of Zebedee, brother of James, (of whom there is not a single
mention made in the fourth Gospel,) who is able to write in Greek
these lessons of abstract metaphysics to which neither the synop-
tics nor the Talmud offer any analogy ? All this is of great im-
portance ; and for myself, I dare not be sure that the fourth Gospel
has been entirely written by the pen of a Galilean fisherman.
But that, as a whole, this Gospel may have originated towards
the end of the first century, from the great school of Asia
Minor, which was connected with John, that it represents to us
a version of the life of the Master, worthy of high esteem, and
often to be preferred, is demonstrated, in a manner which leaves
us nothing to be desired, both by exterior evidences and by exami-
nation of the document itself.

And, firstly, no one doubts that, towards the year 150, the
fourth Gospel did exist, and was attributed to John. Explicit
texts from St Justin,l from Athenagorus,^ from Tatian,3 from
Theophiius of Antioch,^ from Irenoeus,^ shew that thenceforth
this Gospel mixed in every controversy, andsei ved as corner-stone
for the development of the faith. Irenseus fs explicit ; now,
Irenseus came from the school of John, and I ^tween him and
the apostle there was only Polycarp. The part played by this
Gospel in Gnosticism, and especially in the system of Valentinus,^
in Montanism,7 and in the quarrel of the Quartodecimans,^ is not less
decisive. The school of John was the most influential one
during the second century ; and it is only by regarding the origin
of the Gospel as coincident with the rise of the school, that the

» Apol, i. 32, 61 ; Dial cum Trijph., 88.
' Legatio pro Christ., 10.

Adv. Grac, 5, 7 ; Cf. Eusebius, H. E., ir. 29 ; Tlieodoret, Rceretic. Fabul, i. 20.
* Ad Autolycum, ii. 22.

Adv. Hcer., ii. xxii. 5, iii. 1. Cf. Eus., E. E., v. 8.
' Iren^eus, Adv. Hcer., i. iii., G; in,, xi, 7; St Hippolytus, PJiilosophumena
Tl, ii., 29, and following.
' Irenaeiis, Adv. Hcbt., ni. xi., 9. « Eusebius Hist. Eccl., v. 24.

iKTRODtJCTIOS'. 1 5

existence of the latter can be understood at all. Let us add that
the first epistle attributed to St John is certainly by the same author
as tlie foiu'th Gospel ; ^ novf, this epistle is recognised as from John
by Polycarp,2 Papias,3 and Irenseus.^

But it is, above all, the perusal of the work itself which is calcu-
lated to give this impression. The author always speaks as an
eye-witness ; he wishes to pass for the apostle John. If, then, this
work is not really by the apostle, we must admit a fraud of which
the author convicts himself. Now, although the ideas of the time
respecting literary honesty differed essentially from ours, there
is no example in the apostolic world of a falsehood of this kind.
Besides, not only does the author wish to pass for the apostle
John, but we see clearly that he writes in the interest of this
apostle. On each page he betrays the desire to fortify his
authority, to shew that he has been the favourite of Jesus ; 5 that
in all the solemn circumstances (at the Lord's supper, at Calvary,
at the tomb) he held the first place. His relations on the
whole fraternal, although not excluding a certain rivalry with
Peter ; 6 his hatred, on the contrary, of Judas,7 a hatred, prob-
ably anterior to the betrayal, seems to pierce through here and
there. We are tempted to believe that John, in his old age,
having read the Gospel narratives, on the one hand, remarked
their various inaccuracLes,^ on the other, was hurt at seeing that
there was not accorded to hun a sufficiently high place in the
Jiistory of Christ ; that then he commenced to dictate a number of
things which he knew better than the rest, vsdth the intention of

^ 1 Johu, i. 3, 5. The two writings present the most complete identity of stylo,
the same peculiarities, the same favourite expressions.

2 Epist. ad Philipp., 7.

^ In Eusebius, Hist. EccL, iir. 39.

* Adv. Hcer., in. xvi. 5, 8; Cf. Eusebius, Hist. Eccl, v. 8.

» John xiii. 23, xix. 26, xx. 2, xxL 7, 20.

6 John xviii. 15-16, xx. 2-6 xxi. 15-19. Comp. i. 35, 40, 41.

^ John vi. 65, xii. 6, xiii. 21, and following.

^ The manner in which Ai'istion and Preshyteros Joannes expressed themselves
on the Gospel of Mark before Papias (Eusebius, H. E., iir. 39) implies, in effect, a
ii'.endly criticism, or, more properly, a sort of excuse, indicating that John'a
disciples had bett«j information on the same subject.

16 INTEODTJCTION.

shewing tnat in many instances, in which only Peter was spoken
ot; he had figured with him and even before him.l Already during
the life of Jesus, these trifling sentiments of jealousy had been mani-
fejH^ed between the sons of Zebedee and the other disciples .2 After
the death of James, his brother, John remained sole inheritor of
the intimate remembrances of wliich these two apostles, by the
common consent, were the depositaries. Hence his perpetual
desire to recall that he is the last surviving eye-witness,^ and the
pleasm-e which he takes in relating circumstances which he alone
could know. Hence, too, so many minute details which seem like
the commentaries of an annotator — " it was the sixth hour ;" " it
was night ;" "the servant's name was Malchus ;" " they had made
a fire of coals, for it was cold;" "the coat was without seam."
Hence, lastly, the disorder of the compilation, the irregularity of
the narration, the disjointedness of the first chapters, all so many
inexplicable features on the supposition that this Gospel was but a
theological thesis, without historic value, and which, on the con-
trary, are perfectly intelligible, if, in conformity with tradition, we
see in them the remembrances of an old man, sometimes of re-
markable freshness, sometimes having undergone strange modifi-
cations.

A primary distinction, indeed, ought to be made in the Gospel
of John. On the one side, this Gospel presents us with a rough
draft of the hfe of Jesus, which differs considerably from that
of the synoptics. On the other, it puts into the mouth of Jesus
discourses of which the tone, the style, the treatment, and the doc-
trmes, have nothing in common with the Logia given us by the syn-
optics. In this second respect, the difference is such that we must
make choice in a decisive manner. If Jesus spoke as Matthew re-
presents, he could not have spoken as John relates. Between these
two authorities no critic has ever besitated, or can ever hesitate.

1 Compare John xviii. 15, and following, with Matthew xxvi. 68 ; John xx. S to
o, with Mark xvi. 7. See also John xiii. 24, 25.

* See page 131.

- Chap. i. 14, xix. 35, xxi. 24, and following. Compare the First Epistlo of SI
John, chap. i. 3, 5.

INTEODTJCTION. 17

Far removed from the simple, disinterested, impersonal tone of the
8)moptics, the Gospel of John shews incessantly the pre-occupation
of the apologist, — the mental reservation of the sectarian, the desire
to prove a thesis, and to convince adversaries, l It was not by pre-
tentious tirades, heavy, badly written, and appealing little to the
moral sense, that Jesus founded his divine work. If even Papias
had not taught us that Matthew wrote the sayings of Jesus in
their original tongue, the natural, ineffable truth, the charm beyond
comparison of the discourses in the synoptics, their profoundly He-
braistic idiom, the analogies which they present with the sayings of
the Jewish doctors of the period, their perfect harmony with the
natural phenomena of Galilee, — all these characteristics, compared
with the obscure Gnosticism, with the distorted metaphysics, which
fill the discourses of John, would speak loudly enough. This by no
means implies that there are not in the discourses of John some
admirable g]eams, some traits which truly come from Jesus. '^
liut the mystic tone of these discourses does not correspond at all
to the character of the eloquence of Jesus, such as we picture it
according to the synoptics. A new spirit has breathed ; Gnosticism
has already commenced ; the Galilean era of the kingdom of God
is finished ; the hope of the near advent of Christ is more distant ;
we enter on the barrenness of metaphysics, into the darkness of
abstract dogma. The spirit of Jesus is not there, and, if the son
of Zebedee has truly traced these pages, he had certainly, in writing
them, quite forgotten the Lake of Gennesareth, and the charming
discourses which he had heard upon its shores.

One circumstance, moreover, which strongly proves that the
discourses given us by the fourth Gospel are not historical, but
compositions intended to cover with the authority of Jesus certain
doctrines dear to the compiler, is their perfect harmony with the

^ See, for example, chaps, ix. and xi. Notice especially, the effect which such
passages as John xix. 35, xx. 31, xxi. 20-23, 24, 25, produce, when we recall the
absence of all comments which distinguishes the synoptics.

* For example, chap. iv. 1, and following, xv. 12, and following. Many words
ramembered by John are found in the synoptic^, Ccha,p. xii. 16, xv. 20;)

E

Ig :~ INTEODUCTION.

intellectual state of Asia Minor at the time when they were written.
Asia Minor was then the theatre of a strange movement of syncreti-
cal philosophy; all the germs of Gnosticism existed there already.
John appears to have drunk deeply from these strange springs. It
may be that, after the crisis of the year 68 (the date of the Apoca-
lypse) and of the year 70 (the destruction of Jerusalem), the old
apostle, with an ardent and plastic spirit, disabused of the belief in
a near appearance of the Son of man in the clouds, may have
inclined towards the ideas that he found around him, of which
several agreed sufficiently well with certain Christian doctrines.
In attributing these new ideas to Jesus, he only followed a very
natural tendency. Our remembrances are transformed with our
circumstances ; the ideal of a person that we have known changes
as we change. 1 Considering Jesus as the incarnation of truth,
John could not fail to attribute to him that which he had come to
consider as the truth.

If we must speak candidly, we wiU add that probably John himself
had little share in this ; that the change was made around him rather
than by him. One is sometimes tempted to believe that precious
notes, coming from the apostle, have been employed by his dis-
ciples in a very different sense from the primitive Gospel spuit.
In fact, certain portions of the fourth Gospel have been added
later; such is the entire twenty-first chapter,2 in which the author
seems to wish to render homage to the apostle Peter after his
death, and to reply to the objections which would be drawn, or
already had been drawn, from the death of John himself, (ver.
21-23.) Many other places bear the trace of erasures and correc-
tions.3 It is impossible at this distance to understand these
singular problems, and without doubt many surprises would be in
store for us, if we were permitted to penetrate the secrets of that
mysterious 'school of Ephesus, which, more than once, appears to

1 It Avas thus that Napoleon became a liberal in the remembrances of his com-
panions in exile, when these, after their return, found themselves thrown m the
midst of the political society of the time.

2 The verses, chap. xx. 30, 31, evidently form the original conclu»ion.
- Chap. vi. 2, 22, vii. 22.

mTRODucnoiT. 1 1?

have delighted in obscure paths. But there is a decisive test.
Every one who sets himself to write the life of Jesus without any
predetermined theory as to the relative value of the Gospels, letting
himself be guided solely by the sentiment of the subject, will be
led in numerous instances to prefer the narration of John to that
of the synoptics. The last months of the life of Jesus especially
are explained by John alone ; a number of the features of the passion,
miintelligible in the synoptics,^ resume both probability and possi-
bility in the narrative of the fourth Gospel. On the contrary, I dare
defy any one to compose a Life of Jesus with any meaning, from the
discourses which John attributes to him. This manner of inces-
santly preaching and demonstrating himself, this perpetual argu-
mentation, this stage-effect devoidof simplicity, these long arguments
after each miracle, these §tiff and awkward discourses, the tone
of which is so often false and unequal,^ would not be tolerated by
a man of taste compared with the delightful sentences of the
synoptics. There are here evidently artificial portions,^ which
represent to us the sermons of Jesus, as the dialogues of Plato
render us the conversations of Socrates. They are, so to speak,
the variations of a musician improvising on a given theme.
The theme is not without some authenticity ; but in the exe-
cution, the imagination of the artist has given itself full scope.
We are sensible of the factitious mode of procedure, of rhe-
toric, of gloss,4 Let us add that the vocabulary of Jesus cannot
be recognised in the portions of which we speak. The expression,
"kinsfdom of God," v/hich was so familiar to the Master ,5 occurs
there but once.6 On the other hand, the style of the discourses

^ For example, that which concerns the announcement of the betrayal by
Judas.

2 See, for example, chaps, ii. 25, iii. 32, 33, and the long disputes of chapters
vii., viii., and ix.

'^ "We feel often that the author seeks pretexts for introducing certain discourses,
f;haps. iii., v., viii., xiii., and following.)

^ For example, chap.xvii.

^ Besides the synoptics, the Acts, the Epistles of St Paul, and the Apocalypse,
confirm it.

• John iii. 3, 5.

20 INTRODUCTION.

attributed to Jesus by the fourth Gospel, presents the most com-
plete analogy with that of the Epistles of St John ; we see that in
writing the discourses, the author followed not his recollections,
but rather the somewhat monotonous movement of his own thought.
Quite a new mystical language is introduced, a language of which the
synoptics had not the least idea, ("world/' "truth,'' "life," ''light,"
*' darkness," &c.) If Jesus had ever spoken in this style, which
has nothing of Hebrew, nothing Jewish, nothing Talmudic in it,
how, if I may thus express myself, is it that but a single one of his
hearers should have so well kept the secret ?

Literary history offers, besides, another example, which pre-
sents the greatest analogy with the historic phenomenon we have
just described, and serves to explain it. Socrates, who, like
Jesus, never wrote, is known to u^ by two of his disciples,
Xenophon and Plato ; the first corresponding to the synoptics in
his clear, transparent, impersonal compilation ; the second recall-
ing the author of the fourth Gospel, by his vigorous individuality.
In order to describe the Socratic teaching, should we follow the
"dialogues" of Plato, or the "discourses" of Xenophon? Doubt,
in this respect, is not possible; every one chooses the "discourses,"
and not the " dialogues." Does Plato, however, teach us nothing
about Socrates? Would it be good criticism, in writing the
biography of the latter, to neglect the " dialogues ?" Who would
venture to maintain this ? The analogy, moreover, is not complete,
and the difference is in favour of the fourth Gospel. The author
of this Gospel is, in fact, the better biographer ; as if Plato, who,
whilst attributing to his master fictitious discourses, had known im-
portant matters about his life, which Xenophon ignored entirely.

Without pronouncing upon the material question as to what
hand has written the fourth Gospel, and whilst inclined to believe
that the discourses, at least, are not from the son of Zebedee, we
admit still, that it is indeed " the Gospel according to John," in the
same sense that the first and second Gospels are the Gospels
•♦ according to Matthew," and "according to Mark." The historical
Kketct of the fourth Gospel is the life of Jesus, such as it was

INTKODUCTION. 21

known in the school of Jolm ; it is the recital which Aristion and
Presbyter OS Joannes made to Papias, without telling him that it
was written, or rather attaching no importance to this point. I
must add, that, in my opinion, this school was better acquainted
with the exterior circumstances of the life of the founder, than
the group whose remembrances constituted the synoptics. It had,
especially upon the sojourns of Jesus at Jerusalem, data which
the others did not possess. The disciples of this school treated
Mark as an indifferent biographer, and devised a system to explain
his omissions.i Certain passages of Luke, where there is, as it
were, an echo of the traditions of John,2 prove also that these
traditions were not entirely unknown to the rest of the Christian
family.

These explanations will suffice, I think, to shew, in the course of
my narrative, the motives which have determined me to give the
preference to this or that of the four guides whom we have for the
Life of Jesus. On the whole, I admit as authentic the four cano-
nical Gospels. All, in my opinion, date from the first century,
and the authors are, generally speaking, those to whom they are
attributed ; but their historic value is very diverse. Matthew evi-
dently merits an unlimited confidence as to the discourses ; they
are the Logia, the identical notes taken from a clear and lively
remembrance of the teachings of Jesus. A kind of splendour at
once mild and terrible — a divine strength, if we may so speak,
emphasises these words, detaches them from the context, and renders
them easily distinguishable. The person who imposes upon him-
self the task of making a continuous narrative from the gospel
history, possesses, in this respect, an excellent touchstone. The

^ Papias, loc. cit.

^ For example, the pardon of the adulteress ; the knowledge which Luke has of
the family of Bethany ; his type of the character of Martha responding to the
hLr)x6vfi of John, (chap. xii. 2;) the incident of the woman who wiped the feet ol
Jesus with her hair; an obscure notion of the travels of Jesus to Jerusalem; the
idea that in his Passion he was seen by three witnesses ; the opinion of the author
that some disciples were present at the crucifixion; the knowledge which he has
of the part played by Annas in aiding Caiaphas ; the appearance of the angel io
the agony, (conap. John xii 28, 29.)

22 INTEODUCTION.

real words of Jesus disclose themselves ; as soon as we toucli them
in this chaos of traditions of varied authenticity, we feel them
vibrate ; they betray themselves spontaneously, and shine out of
the narrative with unequalled brilliancy.
), The narrative portions grouped in the first Gospel around this
primitive nucleus, have not the same authority. There are many
not well defined legends which have proceeded from the zeal of
the second Christian generation.! The Gospel of Mark is much
firmer, more precise, containing fewer subsequent additions. He is
the one of the three synoptics who has remained the most primi-
tive, the most original, the one to whom the fewest after-elements
have been added. In Mark, the facts are related with a clearness
for which we seek in vain amongst the other evangelists. He likes
to report certain words of Jesus in Syro-Chaldean.2 He is full of
minute observations, coming doubtless from, an eye-witness. There
is nothing to prevent our agreeing with Papias in regarding this
eye-witness, who evidently had followed Jesus, who had loved
him and observed him very closely, and who had preserved a lively
image of him, as the apostle Peter himself.

As to the work of Luke, its historical value is sensibly weaker.
It is a document which comes to us second-hand. The narrative is
more mature. The words of Jesus are there, more deliberate,
more sententious. Some sentences are distorted and exaggerated.3
Writing outside of Palestine, and certainly after the siege of Jeru-
salem,4 the author indicates the places with less exactitude than
the other two synoptics ; he has an erroneous idea of the temple,
which he represents as an oratory where people went to pay their
devotions.5 He subdues some details in order to make the differ-

^ Chaps, i., ii., especially. See also chap, xxvii. 3, 19, 51, 53, 60, xxviii. 2, and
following, in comparing Mark.

* Chap. V. 41, vii. 34, xv. 34. Matthew only presents this peculiarity once,
(chap, xxvii. 46.)

3 Chap. xiv. 26. The rules of the apostolate (chap, x.) have there a peculiar
character of exaltation.

^ Chap. xix. 41, 43, 44, xxi. 9, 20, xxiii. 29.

'^ Chap. ii. 37, xviii. 10, and following, xxiv. 53.

iJ^rl:lioDiJCTioN. <!f]

ent narratives agree ;!■ he softens the passages which had bpxoine
embarrassing on account of a more exalted idea of the divinity
of Chrkt;2 he exaggerates the marvellous; 3 commits errors in
chronology; 4 omits Hebraistic comments ;S quotes no word of
Jesus in this language, and gives to all the localities their Greek
names. We feel we have to do with a compiler — with a man who
has not himself seen the witnesses, but who labours at the texts
and wrests their sense to make them agree, Luke had probably
under his eyes the biographical collection of Mark, and the Logia
of Matthew. But he treats them with much freedom ; sometimes
he fuses two anecdotes or two parables in one ;^ sometimes he
divides one in order to make two,7 He interprets the docu-
ments according to his own idea ; he has not the absolute impas-
sibility of Matthew and Mark. We might affirm certain things
of his individual tastes and tendencies ; he is a very exact devo-
tee ;8 he insists that Jesus had performed all the Jewish rites ;9
he is a warm Ebionite and democrat, that is to say, much opposed
to property, and persuaded that the triumph of the poor is approach-
ing ;10 he likes especially all the anecdotes shewing prominently the
conversion of sinners — the exaltation of the humble ;ll he often
modifies the ancient traditions in order to give them this meaning ;12

^ For example, chap. iv. 16.

2 Chap. iii. 23. He omits Matt. xxiv. 36.

3 Chap. iv. 14, xxii. 43, 44.

* For example, in tlmt which concerns Quirinius, Lysanias, Theudaa.

^ Compare Luke i. 31 with Matt. i. 21.

•* For example, chap. xix. 12-27.

^ Thus, of the repast at Bethany he gives two narratives, chap. vii. 36-48, and
X. 38-42.

^ Chap, xxiii, 5(i.

^ Chap, ii, 21, 22, 39, 41, 42. This is an Ebionitish feature. Of. Philosophumena
VII. vi. 34.

^^ The parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Compare chap. vi. 20, and follow-
ing, 24, and following, xii. 13, and following, xvi. entirely, xxii. 35. Acts ii. 44, 45,
V. 1 , and following.

^^ The woman who anoints his feet, Zaccheus the penitent thief, the parable of
the Pharisee and the publican, and the prodigal son.

^^ For example, Mary of Bethany is represented by him as a sinner who oecomes
converted.

24 II?TEOi)tJCfIOK.

lie admits into his first pages the legends about the infancy of
Jesus, related with the long amplifications, the spiritual songs, and
the conventional proceedings which form the essential features of
the Apocryphal Gospels. Finally, he has in the narrative of the
last hours of Jesus some circumstances full of tender feeling,
and certain words of Jesus of delightful beauty,l which are not
found in more authentic accounts, and in which we detect the pre-
sence of legend. Luke probably borrowed them from a more recent
collection, in which the principal aim was to excite sentiments of
piety.

A great reserve was naturally enforced in presence of a docu-
ment of this nature. It would have been as uncritical to neglect
it, as to employ it without discernment. Luke has had under his
eyes, originals which we no longer possess. He is less an evan-
gelist than a biographer of Jesus, a " harmoniser," a corrector after
the manner of Marcion and Tatian. But he is a biographer of the
first century, a divine artist, who, independently of the information
which he has drawn from more ancient sources, shows us the cha-
racter of the founder with a happiness of treatment, with a uni-
form inspiration, and a distinctness which the other two synoptics
do not possess. In the perusal of his Gospel there is the greatest
charm ; for to the incomparable beauty of the foundation, common
to them all, he adds a degree of skill in composition which singu-
larly augments the effect of the portrait, without seriously injuring
its truthfulness.

On the whole, we may say that the synoptical compilation has
passed through three stages : first, the original documentary state,
{Xor^ia of Matthew, XexO^vra 9^ irpaxOevra of Mark,) primary
compilations which no longer exist ; second, the state of simple
mixture, in which the original documents are amalgamated with-
out any effort at composition, without there appearing any per-
sonal bias of the authors, (the existing Gospels of Matthew and

1 Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, the bloody sweat, the meetmg of the holj
women, the penitent thief, &c. The speech to the women of Jerusalem (xxiii
28, 29) could scarcely have been conceived except after the siege of the year 70.

INTEODUCTION. 25

Mark;) third, the state of combination or of intentional and
deliberate compiling, in which we are sensible of an attempt tc
reconcile the different versions, (Gospel of Luke.) The Gospel of
John, as we have said, forms a composition of another order, and
is entirely distinct.

It will be remarked that I have made no use of the Apocryphal
Gospels. These compositions ought not in any manner to be put
upon the same footing as the canonical Gospels. They are insipid
and puerile amplifications, having the canonical Gospels for their
basis, and adding nothing thereto of any value. On the other
hand, I have been very attentive to collect the shreds preserved by
the Fathers of the Church, of the ancient Gospels which formerly
existed parallel with the canonical Gospels, and which are now lost,
— such as the Gospel according to the Hebrews, the Gospel accord-
ing to the Egyptians, the Gospels styled those of Justin, Marcion,
and Tatian. The first two are principally important because they
were written in Aramean, like the Logia of Matthew, and appear
to constitute one version of the Gospel of this apostle, and because
they were the Gospel of the Ebionim, — that is, of those small
Christian sects of Batanea who preserved the use of Syro-Chaldean,
and who appear in some respects to have followed the course
marked out by Jesus. But it must be confessed that in the
state in which they have come to us, these Gospels are inferior, as
critical authorities, to the compilation of Matthew's Gospel which
we now possess.

It will now be seen, I think, what kind of historical value I attri-
bute to the Gospels. They are neither biographies after the manner
of Suetonius, nor fictitious legends in the style of Philostratus ; they
are legendary biographies. I should willingly compare them wdth
the Legends of the Saints, the Lives of Plotinus, Proclus, Isidore,
and other writings of the same kind, in which historical truth and
the desire to present models of virtue, are combined in various
degrees. Inexactitude, which is one of the features of all popular
compositions, is there particularly felt. Let us suppose that ten or
tTfelve years ago, three or four old soldiers of the Empire had each

26 INTEO^UCTION.

undertaken to write the iiie of Napoleon from memory. It is cleai
that their narratives would contain numerous errors, and great
discordances. One of them v/ould place Wagram before Marengo ;
another would write without hesitation that Napoleon drove the
government of Robespierre from the Tuileries ; a third would omit
expeditions of the highest importance. But one thing would cer-
tainly result with a great degree of truthfulness from these simple
recitals, and that is the character of the hero, the impression which
he made around him. In this sense such popular narratives would
be worth more than a formal and official history. We may say as
much of the Gospels. Solely attentive to bring out strongly the
excellency of the Master, his miracles, his teaching, the evangelists
display entire indifference to everything that is not of the veiy
spirit of Jesus. The contradictions respecting time, place, and
persons, were regarded as insignificant ; for the higher the degree
of inspiration attributed to the words of Jesus, the less v/as
granted te the compilers themselves. The latter regarded them-
selves as simple scribes, and cared but for one thing, — to omit
nothing they knew.l

Unquestionably certain preconceived ideas associated themselves
with such recollections. Several narratives, especially in Luke,
are invented in order to bring out more vividly certain traits of
the character of Jesus. This character itself constantly underwent
alteration. Jesus would be a phenomenon unparalleled in history
if, with the part which he played, he had not early become idea-
lised. The legends respecting Alexander were invented before the
generation of his companions in arms became extinct ; those re-
specting St Francis d'Assisi began in his lifetime. A rapid meta-
morphosis operated in the same manner in the twenty or thirty years
which followed the death of Jesus, and imposed upon his biography
the peculiarities of an ideal legend. Death adds perfection to the
most perfect man ; it frees him from all defect in the eyes of those
who have loved him. With the wish to paint the Master, there
was also the desire to explain him. Many anecdotes were con-

^ See the passage from Papias, before cited.

INTRODUCTIOK 27

ceived to prove tliat in him tiie prophecies regarded as Mes-
sianic Lad had their accomplishment. But this procedure, of
which we must not deny the importance, would not suffice to ex-
plain everything. No Jewish work of the time gives a series of
prophecies exactly declaring what the Messiah should accomplish.
Many Messianic allusions quoted by the evangelists are so subtle,
so indirect, that one cannot believe they all responded to a
generally admitted doctrine. Sometimes they reasoned thus :
" The Messiah ought to do such a thing ; now Jesus is the Mes-
siah ; therefore Jesus has done such a thing." At other times,
by an inverse process, it Vv'as said : " Such a thing has happened
to Jesus ; now Jesus is the Messiah ; therefore such a thing was
to happen to the Messiah."! Too simple explanations are always
false when analysing those profound creations of popular sentiment
which baffle all systems by their fulness and infinite variety.
It is scarcely necessary to say that, with such documents, in
order to present only what is indisputable, we must limit
ourselves to general features. In almost all ancient histories,
even in those which are much less legendary than these, details
open up innumerable doubts. When we have two accounts of
the same fact, it is extrenaely rare that the two accounts agree.
Is not this a reason for anticipating many difficulties when we
have but one ? We may say that amongst the anecdotes, the
discourses, the celebrated sayings which have been given us by the
historians, there is not one strictly authentic. Were there steno-
graphers to fix these fleeting words ? Was there an annahst always
present to note the gestures, the manners, the sentiments, of the
actors ? Let any one endeavour to get at the truth as to the way
in which such or such contemporary fact has happened ; he wiU not
succeed. Two accounts of the same event given by diff"erent eye-
witnesses differ essentially. Must we, therefore, reject aU the
colouring of the narratives, and limit ourselves to the bare facts
only ? That would be to suppress history. Certainly, I think that
if we except certain short and almost mnemonic axioms, none of the

^ See, for example, John six. 23 -24.

28 INTEODUCTION.

discourses reported by Matthew are textual ; even our stenographic
reports are scarcely so. I freely admit that the admirable account
of the Passion contains many trifling inaccuracies. Would it, how-
ever, be writing the history of Jesus to omit those sermons which
give to us in such a vivid manner the character of his discourses, and
to limit ourselves to saying, with Josephus and Tacitus, " that he
was put to death by the order of Pilate at the instigation of the
priests?" That would be, in my opinion, a kind of inexactitude
worse than that to which we are exposed in admitting the details
supplied by the texts. These details are not true to the letter,
but they are true with a superior truth, they are more true than
the naked truth, in the sense that they are truth rendered expres-
sive and articulate — truth idealised.

I beg those who think that I have placed an exaggerated con-
fidence in narratives in great part legendary, to take note of the
observation I have just made. To what would the life of Alexan-
der be reduced if it were confined to that which is materially cer-
tain ? Even partly erroneous traditions contain a portion of truth
which history cannot neglect. No one has blamed M. Sprenger for
having, in writing the life of Mahomet, made much of the hadith
or oral traditions concerning the prophet, and for often having
attributed to his hero words which are only known through
this source. Yet the traditions respecting Mahomet are not su-
perior in historical value to the discourses and narratives which
compose the Gospels. They were written between the year 50
and the year 14:0 of the Hegira. When the history of the
Jewish schools in the ages which immediately preceded and fol-
lowed the birth of Christianity shall be written, no one will make
anv scruple of attributing to Hillel, Shammai, Gamaliel, the maxims
ascribed to them by the Mishnah and the Gemara, although these
great compilations were written many hundreds of years after the
time of the doctors in question.

As to those who believe, on the contrary, that history should
consist of a simple reproduction of the documents which have
come down to uS;, I beg to observe that such a course is not allow-

INTRODUCTION. 29

able. The four principal documents are in flagrant contradiction
one with another. Josephus rectifies them sometimes. It is ne-
cessary to make a selection. To assert that an event cannot take
place in two ways at once, or in an impossible manner, is not to
impose an a 'priori philosophy upon history. The historian ought
not to conclude that a fact is false because he possesses several
versions of it, or because credulity has mixed with them much
that is fabulous. He ought in such a case to be very cautious, — to
examine the texts, and to proceed carefully by induction. There
IS one class of narratives especially, to which this principle must
necessarily be applied. Such are narratives of supernatural
events. To seek to explain these, or to reduce them to legends, is
not to mutilate facts in the name of theory ; it is to make the ob-
servation of facts our groundwork. None of the miracles with which
the old histories are filled took place under scientific conditions.
Observation, which has never once been falsified, teaches us that
miracles never happen but in times and countries in which they
are believed, and before persons disposed to believe them. No
miracle ever occurred in the presence of men capable of testing
its miraculous character. Neither common people nor men of the
world are able to do this. It requires great precautions and long
habits of scientific research. In our days have we not seen
almost all respectable people dupes of the grossest frauds or
of puerile illusions ? Marvellous facts, attested by the whole
population of small towns, have, thanks to a severer scrutiny, been
exploded. 1 If it is proved that no contemporary miracle will bear
inquiry, is it not probable that the miracles of the past, which
have all been performed in popular gatherings, would equally
present their share of illusion, if it were possible to criticise them
in detail ?

It is not, then, in the name of this or that philosophy, but m
the name of universal experience, that we banish miracle from his-
tory. We do not say, "Miracles are impossible." We say, "Up
to this time a miracle has never been proved." If to-morrow a

* See the Gazette des Trilunaux, 10th Sept. and 11th Nov, 1851. 28th May 18.'>7.

so INTRODUCTION.

thaumaturgus present himself with credentials sufficiently im*
portant to be discussed, and announce himself as able, say. to raise
the dead ; what would be done ? A commission, composed oC
physiologists, physicists, chemists, persons accustomed to historic
cal criticism, would be named. This commission would choose a
corpse, would assure itself that the death was real, would select
the room in which the experiment should be made, would arrange
the whole system of precautions, so as to leave no chance of doubt.
If, under such conditions, the resurrection were effected, a prob-
ability almost equal to certainty would be estabhshed. As, however,
it ought to be possible always to repeat an experiment, — to do over
again which has been done once ; and as, In the order of miracle,
there can be no question of ease or difficulty, the thaumaturgus would
be invited to reproduce his marvellous act under other circum-
stances, upon other corpses, in another place. If the miracle suc-
ceeded each time, two things would be proved : first, that super-
natural events happen in the world ; second, that the power of
producing them belongs, or is delegated to, certain persons. But
who does not see that no miracle ever took place under these con-
ditions ? but that always hitherto the thaumaturgus has chosen
the subject of the experiment, chosen the spot, chosen the public ;
that, besides, the peo]3le themselves — most commonly in conse-
quence of the invincible want to see something divine in great
events and great men — create the marvellous legends after-
wards? Until a new order of things prevails, we shall main-
tain then, this principle of historical criticism — that a super-
natural account cannot be admitted as such, that it always implies
credulity or imposture, that the duty of the historian is to ex-
plain it, and seek to ascertain what share of truth, or of error, it
may conceal.

Such are the rules which have been followed in the composition of
this work. To the perusal of documentary evidences, I have been able
to add an important source of information — the sight of the places
where the events occurred. The scientific mission, having for its
object the exploration of ancient Phoenicia^ which I directed in 1860

INTEODUCTION. SI

and 1861,1 led me to reside on the frontiers of Galilee, and to travel
there frequently. I have traversed, in all directions, the country
of the Gospels ; I have visited Jerusalem, Hebron, and Samaria ;
scarcely any important locality of the history of Jesus has escaped
me. All this history, which at a distance seems to float in the
clouds of an unreal world, thus took a form, a solidity, which
astonished me. The striking agreement of the texts with the
places, the marvellous harmony of the Gospel ideal with the
eountry which served it as a framework, were like a revelation to
me. I had before my eyes a fifth Gospel, torn, but still legible, and
henceforward, through the recitals of Matthew and Mark, in place
of an abstract being, whose existence might have been doubted,
I saw living and moving an admirable human figure. During the
summer, having to go up to Ghazir, in Lebanon, to take a little
repose, I fixed, in rapid sketches, the image which had appeared to
me, and from them resulted this history. When a cruel bereave-
ment hastened my departure, I had but a few pages to write. In
this manner the book has been composed almost entirely near the
very places where Jesus was born, and where his character was
developed. Since my return, I have laboured unceasingly to verify
and check in detail, the rough sketch which I had written in haste
in a Maronite cabin, with five or six volumes around me.

Many will regret, perhaps, the biographical form which my work
has thus taken. When I first conceived the idea of a history of the
origin of Christianity, what I wished to write was, in fact, a history
of doctrines, in which men and their actions would have hardly
had a place. Jesus would scarcely have been named ; I should
have endeavoured to shew how the ideas which have grown under
his name took root and covered the world. But I have learned
since, that history is not a simple game of abstractions; that
men are more than doctrines. It was not a certain theory on jus-
tification and redemption which brought about the Eeformation ;
it was Luther and Calvin. Parseeism, Hellenism, Judaism, migh!;
have been able to have combined under every form ; the doctrines

1 The work which will contain the resulta of this mission is in the press.

32 INTRODUCTION.

of the Eesurrection and of the Word might have developed them-
selves during ages without producing this grand, unique, and
fruitful fact, called Christianity. This fact is the work of Jesus,
of St Paul, of St John. To write the history of Jesus, of St
Paul, of St John, is to write the history of the origin of Chris-
tianity. The anterior movements belong to our subject only in
BO far as they serve to throw light upon these extraordinary men,
who naturally could not have existed without connexion with that
which preceded them.

In such an effort to make the great souls of the past live again,
some share of divination and conjecture must be permitted. A
great life is an organic whole which cannot be rendered by the
simple agglomeration of small facts. It requires a profound sen-
timent to embrace them all, moulding them into perfect unity.
I'he method of art in a similar subject is a good guide ; the ex-
quisite tact of a Goethe would know how to apply it. The essen-
tial condition of the creations of art is, that they shall form a
living system of which all the parts are mutually dependent and
related.

In histories such as this, the great test that we have got the
truth is, to have succeeded in combining the texts in such a man-
ner that they shall constitute a logical, probable narrative, har-
monious throughout. The secret laws of life, of the progres-
sion of organic products, of the melting of minute distinctions,
ought to be consulted at each moment ; for what is required tc
be reproduced, is not the material circumstance, which it is impos-
sible to verify, but the very soul of history ; what must be sought is
not the petty certainty about trifles, it is the correctness of the
general sentiment, the truthfulness of the colouring. Each trail
which departs from the rules of classic narration ought to warn us
to be careful ; for the fact which has to be related, has been living,
natural, and harmonious. If we do not succeed in rendering it such
by the recital, it is surely because we have not succeeded in seeing
it aright. Suppose that, in restoring the Minerva of Phidias
according to the texts, we produced a dry, jarring, artificial

whole ; what must we conclude ? Simply that the texts want
an appreciative interpretation ; that we must study them quietly
until they dovetail and furnish a whole in which all the parts are
happily blended. Should we then be sure of having a perfect
reproduction of the Greek statue ? No ; but at least we should
not have the caricature of it ; we should have the general spirit of
the work — one of the forms in which it could have existed.

This idea of a living organism we have not hesitated to take
as our guide in the general arrangement of the narrative. The
perusal of the Gospels would suffice to prove that the compilers,
although having a very true plan of the Life of Jesus in their
minds, have not been guided by very exact chronological dnta ;
Papias, besides, expressly teaches this.l The expressions : " At this
time . . . after that . . . then . . and it came to pass . . ." &c.,
are the simple transitions intended to connect different narratives
with each other. To leave all the information furnished by the
Gospels in the disorder in which tradition supplies it, would only
be to write the history of Jesus as the history of a celebrated man
would be written, by giving pell-mell the letters and anecdotes of
his youth, his old age, and of his maturity. The Koran, which
presents to us, in the loosest manner, fragments of the diifferent
epochs in the life of Mahomet, has yielded its secret to an
ingenious criticism ; the chronological order in which the frag-
ments were composed has been discovered so as to leave little room
for doubt. Such a rearrangement is much more difficult in the
case of the Gospels, the public life of Jesus having been shorter and
less eventful than the life of the founder of Islamism. Meanwhile,
the attempt to find a guiding thread through this labyrinth ought
not to be taxed with gratuitous subtlety. There is no great abuse
of hypothesis in supposing that a founder of a new religion com-
mences by attaching himself to the moral aphorisms already in cir-
culation in his time, and to the practices which are in vogue ; that,
when riper, and in full possession of his idea, he delights in a kind
of calm and poetical eloquence, remote from all controversy, sweet

1 Loe. eii.
C

S4j inteoduction.

and free as pure feeling; that he warms oy degrees, becomes ani-
mated by opposition, and finishes by polemics and strong invec-
tives. Such are the periods which may plainly be distinguished in
the Koran. The order adopted with an extremely fine tact by the
synoptics, supposes an analogous progress. If Matthew be atten-
tively read, we shall find in the distribution of the discourses, a
gradation perfectly analogous to that which we have just indicated.
The reserved turns of expression of which we make use in unfold-
ing the progress of the ideas of Jesus will also be observed. The
reader may, if he likes, see in the divisions adopted in doing this,
only the indispensable breaks for the methodical exposition of a
profound and complicated thought.

If the love of a subject can help one to understand it, it will also,
I hope, be recognised that I have not been wanting in this con-
dition. To write the history of a religion, it is necessary, firstly, to
have believed it (otherwise we should not be able to understand how
it has charmed and satisfied the human conscience); in the second
place, to believe it no longer in an absolute manner, for absolute
faith is incompatible with sincere history. But love is possible
without faith. To abstain from attaching one's self to any of the
forms which captivate the adoration of men, is not to deprive our-
selves of the enjoyment of that which is good and beautiful in
them. No transitory appearance exhausts the Divinity ; God was
revealed before Jesus — God will reveal Himself after him. Pro-
foundly unequal, and so much the more Divine, as they are grander
and more spontaneous, the manifestations of God hidden in the
depths of the human conscience are all of the same order. Jesus
cannot belong solely to those who call themselves his disciples.
He is the common honour of all who share a common humanity.
His glory does not consist in being relegated out of history ; we
render him a truer worship in shewing that all history iis in-
comprehensible without him.

LIFE OF JESUS.

CHAPTER L

PLACE OF JESUS IN THE HISTOEY OF THE WORLD.

The great event of the history of the world is the revolution "by
which the noblest portions of humanity have passed from the
ancient religions, comprised under the vague name of Paganism,
to a religion founded on the Divine Unity, the Trinity, and the In-
carnation of the Son of God. It has taken nearly a thousand years
to accomplish this conversion. The new religion had itself taken
at least three hundred years in its formation. But the origin of
the revolution in question is a fact which took place under the
reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. At that time there lived a
superior personage, who, by his bold originality, and by the love
which he was able to inspire, became the object and fixed the
starting-point of the future faith of humanity.

As soon as man became distinguished from the animal, he became
religious, that is to say, he saw in nature something beyond the phe-
nomena, and for himself something beyond death. This sentiment,
during some thousands of years, became corrupted in the strangest
manner. In many races it did not pass beyond the belief in sorcerers,
under the gross form in which we still find it in certain |)ajta of

;7^ LIFE OF JESUS.

Oceania. Among some, the religious sentiment degenerated into
the shameful scenes of butchery which form the character of the
ancient religion of Mexico. Amongst others, especially in Africa,
it became pure F^tichism, that is, the adoration of a material object,
to which were attributed supernatural powers. Like the instinct
of love, which at times elevates the most vulgar man above him-
self, yet sometimes becomes perverted and ferocious, so this
divine faculty of religion during a long period seems only to be
a cancer which must be extirpated from the human race, a cause of
errors and crimes which the wise ought to endeavour to suppress.

The brilliant civilisations which were developed from a very
remote antiquity in China, in Babylonia, and in Egypt, caused a
certain progress to be made in religion. China arrived very early
at a sort of mediocre good sense, which prevented great extrava-
gances. She neither knew the advantages nor the abuses of the
religious spirit. At all events, she had not in this way any in-
fluence in directing the great current of humanity. The religions of
Babylonia and Syria were never freed from a substratum of strange
sensuality ; these religions remained, until their extinction in the
fourth and fifth centuries of our era, schools of immorality, in which
at intervals glimpses of the divine world were obtained by a sort
of poetic intuition. Egypt, notwithstanding an apparent kind of
Fetichism, had very early metaphysical dogmas and a lofty sym-
bolism. But doubtless these interpretations of a refined theology
were not primitive. Man has never, in the possession of a clear
idea, amused himself by clothing it in symbols : it is oftener after
long reflections, and from the impossibility felt by the human mind
of resiernino; itself to the absurd, that we seek ideas under the
ancient mystic images whose meaning is lost. Moreover, it is not
from Egypt that the faith of humanity has come. The elements
which, in the religion of a Christian, passing through a thousand
transformations, came from Egypt and Syria, are exterior forms ot
little consequence, or dross of which the most purified worships
always retain some portion. The grand defect of the religions of
which we speak was their essentially superstitious character. They

LIFE OF JESTJS. 37

only threw into the world millions of amulets and charms. No
great moral thought could proceed from races oppressed by a secular
despotism, and accustomed to institutions which precluded the
exercise of individual liberty.

The poetry of the soul, faith, liberty, virtue, devotion, made
their appearance in the world with the two great races which, in
one sense, have made humanity, viz., the Indo-European and the
Semitic races. The first religious intuitions of the Indo-Euro-
pean race were essentially naturalistic. But it was a profound and
moral natiu'alism, a loving embrace of nature by man, a delicious
poetry, full of the sentiment of the Infinite, — the principle, in fine,
of all that which the Germanic and Celtic genius, of that which a
Shakspeare and a Goethe, should express in later times. It was
neither theology nor moral philosophy — it was a state of melancholy,
it was tenderness, it was imagination ; it was, more than all, ear-
nestness, the essential condition of morals and religion. The faith
of humanity, however, could not come from thence, because these
ancient forms of worships had great difficulty in detaching them
selves from Polytheism, and could not attain to a very clear symbol.
Brahminism has only survived to the present day by virtue of the
astonishing faculty of conservation which India seems to possess.
Buddhism failed in all its approaches towards the West. Druidism
remained a form exclusively national, and without universal capacity.
The Greek attempts at reform, Orpheism, the Mysteries, did not
suffice to give a solid aliment to the soul. Persia alone succeeded
in making a dogmatic religion, almost Monotheistic, and skilfully
organised ; but it is very possible that this organisation itself was
but an imitation, or borrowed. At all events, Persia has not
converted the world ; she herself, on the contrary, was converted
when she saw the flag of the Divine unity as proclaimed by Mo-
hammedanism appear on her frontiers.

It is the Semitic racel which has the glory of having made the

^ I remind the reader that this word means here simply the people who speak
or have spoken one of the languages called Semitic. Such a designation is entirely
defective ; but it is one of those words, like " Gothic architecture/' " Araoian

38 Lli^E 0^ JEStTS.

religion of humanity. Ear beyond the confines of history, resting
under his tent free from the taint of a corrupted world, the
Bedouin patriarch prepared the faith of mankind. A strong
antipathy against the voluptuous worships of Syria, a grand
simplicity of ritual, the complete absence of temples, and the idol
reduced to insignificant theraphim, constituted his superiority.
Among all the tribes of the nomadic Semites, that of the Beni-Israel
was already chosen for immense destinies. Ancient relations with
Egypt, whence perhaps resulted some purely material ingredients,
did but augment their repulsion to idolatry. A " Law " or Thora,
very anciently written on tables of stone, and which they attri-
buted to their great liberator Moses, had become the code of Mono-
theism, and contained, as compared with the institutions of Egypt
and Chaldea, powerful germs of social equality and morality. A
chest or portable ark, having staples on each side to admit of
bearing poles, constituted all their religious maUriel; there were
collected the sacred objects of the nation, its relics, its souvenirs,
and lastly the " book," l the journal of the tribe, always open, but
which was written in with great discretion. The family charged
with bearing the ark and watching over the portable archives, being
near the book and having the control of it, very soon became im-
portant. Erom hence, however, the institution which was to con-
trol the future did not come. The Hebrew priest did not differ
much from the other priests of antiquity. The character which
essentially distinguishes Israel among theocratic peoples is, that
its priesthood has always been subordinated to individual inspira-
tion. Besides its priests, each wandering tribe had its nabi or
prophet, a sort of living oracle who was consulted for the solu-
tion of obscure questions supposed to require a high degree of
clairvoyance. The nobis of Israel, organised in groups or schools,
had great influence. Defenders of the ancient democratic spirit,
enemies of the rich, opposed to all political organisation, and to

numerals," which we must preserve to be understood, even after we have demon-
Btrated the error that they imply,
1 1 Sam. X. 25.

lltE OF jEStTS. 39

whatsoever might draw Israel into the paths of other nations, they
were the true authors of the religious pre-eminence of the Jewish
people. Very early they announced unlimited hopes, and when
the people, in part the victims of their impolitic counsels, had been
crushed by the Assyrian power, they proclaimed that a kingdom
without bounds was reserved for them, that one day Jerusalem
would be the capital of the whole world, and the human race be-
come Jews. Jerusalem and its temple appeared to them as a city
placed on the summit of a mountain, towards which all people
should turn, as an oracle whence the universal law should pro-
ceed, as the centre of an ideal kingdom, in which the human race,
set at rest by Israel, should find again the joys of Eden.l

Mystical utterances already make themselves heard, tending to
exalt the martyrdom and celebrate the power of the "Man of
Sorrows." Respecting one of those sublime sufferers, who, like
Jeremiah, stained the streets of Jerusalem with their blood, one of
the inspired wrote a song upon the sufferings and triumph of the
" servant of God," in which all the prophetic force of the genius
of Israel seemed concentrated.2 " For he shall grow up before him
as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground : he hath no
form nor comeliness. He is despised and rejected of men : and
we hid as it were our faces from him ; he was despised, and we
esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried
our sorrows ; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, an
affficted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was
bruised for our iniquities : the chastisement of our peace was upon
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 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

1 Isa. ii. 1-4, and especially chaps, xl., and following, Ix., and following; Micah
iv. 1, and following. It must be recollected that the second part of tlie book of
Isaiah, beginning at chap, xl., is not bj-^ Isaiah.

* Isa. lii. 13, and following, and liii. entirely.

40 LIFE OF JESUS.

dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. And he made his grave
with the wicked. When thou shalt make his soul an ofFerinff for
sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the plea-
sure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand."

Important modifications were made at the same time in the
Thora. New texts, pretending to represent the true law of Moses,
such as Deuteronomy, were produced, and inaugurated in reality a
very different spirit from that of the old nomads. A marked fa-
naticism was the dominant feature of this spirit. Furious believers
unceasingly instigated violence against all who wandered from the
worship of Jehovah, — they succeeded in establishing a code of
blood, making death the penalty for religious faults. Piety brings,
almost always, singular contradictions of vehemence and mildness.
This zeal, unknown to the coarser simplicity of the time of the
Judges, inspired tones of moving prophecy and tender unction,
which the world had never heard till then. A strong ten-
dency towards social questions already made itself felt; Utopias,
dreams of a perfect society, took a place in the code. The Penta-
teuch, a mixture of patriarchal morality and ardent devotion,
primitive intuitions and pious subtleties, like those which filled the
souls of Hezekiah, of Josiah, and of Jeremiah, was thus fixed in
^he form in which we now see it, and became for ages the absolute
rule of the national mind.

This great book once created, the history of the Jewish people
unfolded itself with an irresistible force. The great empires which
followed each other in Western Asia, in destroying its hope of a
terrestrial kingdom, threw it into religious dreams, which it cher-
ished with a kind of sombre passion. Caring little for the national
dynasty or political independence, it accej)ted all governments
which permitted it to practise freely its worship and follow its
usages. Israel will henceforward have no other guidance than that
of its religious enthusiasts, no other enemies than those of the
Divine unity, no other country than its Law.

And this Law, it must be remarked, was entirely social and
moral. It was the work of men penetrated with a high ideal of

LIFE OF JESU3. 41

the present life, and believing that they had found the best means
of realising it. The conviction of all was, that the Thora, well
observed, could not fail to give perfect felicity. This Thora has
nothing in common with the Greek or Eoman "Laws," which,
occupying themselves with scarcely anything but abstract right,
entered little into questions of private happiness and morality.
We feel beforehand that the results which will proceed from it
will be of a social, and not a political order, that the work at
which this people labours is a kingdom of God, not a civil re-
public ; a universal institution, not a nationality or a country.

Notwithstanding numerous failures, Israel admirably sustained
this vocation. A series of pious men, Ezra, Nehemiah, Onias,
the Maccabees, consumed with zeal for the Law, succeeded each
other in the defence of the ancient institutions. The idea that
Israel was a holy people, a tribe chosen by God and bound to
Him by covenant, took deeper and firmer root. An immense
expectation filled their souls. All Indo-European antiquity had
placed paradise in the beginning ; all its poets had wept a vanished
golden age. Israel placed the age of gold in the future. The
perennial poesy of religious souls, the Psalms, blossomed from this
exalted piety, with their divine and melancholy harmony. Israel
became truly and specially the people of God, while around it
the pagan religions were more and more reduced, in Persia and
Babylonia, to an official charlatanism, in Egypt and Syria to a
gross idolatry, and in the Greek and Eoman world to mere parade.
That which the Christian martyrs did in the first centuries
of our era, that which the victims of j)ersecuting orthodoxy have
done, even in the bosom of Christianity, up to our time, the Jews
did during the tw^o centuries v/hich preceded the Christian era.
They were a Living protest against superstition and religious
materialism. An extraordinary movement of ideas, ending in the
most opposite results, made of them, at this epoch, the most strik-
ing and original people in the world. Their dispersion along all
the coast of the Mediterranean, and the use of the Greek lanouaae,
which they adopted when out of Palestine, prepared the way for a

42 LW^ OF JEStrS.

projoagandism, of which ancient societies, divided into small nation-
alities, had never offered a single example.

Up to the time of the Maccabees, Judaism, in spite of its per-
sistence in announcing that it would one day be the religion of
the human race, had had the characteristic of all the other wor-
ships of antiquity, it was a worship of the family and the tribe.
The Israehte thought, indeed, that his worship was the best, and
spoke with contempt of strange gods ; but he believed also that
the religion of the true God was made for himself alone. Only
when a man entered into the Jewish family did he embrace the
worship of Jehovah.l No Israelite cared to convert the stranger
to a worship which was the patrimony of the sons of Abraham.
The development of the pietistic spirit, after Ezra and Nehemiah,
led to a much firmer and more logical conception. Judaism be-
came the true religion in a more absolute manner; to all who wished,
the right of entering it was given 2 ; soon it became a work of
piety to bring into it the greatest number possible.3 Doubtless
the refined sentiment which elevated John the Baptist, Jesus, and
St Paul above the petty ideas of race, did not yet exist ; for, by a
strange contradiction, these converts were little respected and were
treated with disdain.4 But the idea of a sovereign rehgion, the
idea that there was something in the world superior to country, to
blood, to laws — the idea which makes apostles and martyrs — was
founded. Profound pity for the pagans, however brilliant might
be their worldly fortune, was henceforth the feeling of every
Jew.5 By a cycle of legends destined to furnish models of im-
movable firmness, such as the histories of Daniel and his cCxTi-

1 Ruth i. 16. 2 Esther ix. 27.

3 Matt, xxiii. 15; Josephus, Vita, 23 ; B. J., ii. xvii. 10, vii. iii. 3; Ant, xx.
ii. 4; Horat., Sat. i., iv., 143; Juv., xiv. 96, and following; Tacitus, Ann., ii.
85; Hist, v. 5; Dion Cassius, xsxvii. 17.

^ Mishnah, Shebiit, x. 9; Talmud of Babylon, Niddah, fol. 13 h, Jebamotk, 47 h;
Kiddushim 70, &..• Midrash, JalJcut Ruth, fol. 163 d.

^ Apocryphal letter of Baruch, in F^briciiis, Co^, pseud, v. t, ii., 147, and fol-
lowing.

LIFE OF JESITS. 43

panions, the mother of the Maccabees and her seven sons,l the
romance of the race-course of Alexandria 2 — the guides of the
people sought above all to inculcate the idea, that virtue consists
in a fanatical attachment to fixed religious institutions.

The persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes made this idea a pas-
sion, almost a frenzy. It was something very analogous to that
vrhich happened under Nero, two hundred and thirty years later.
Rage and despair threw the believers into the world of visions and
dreams. The first apocalypse, " The Book of Daniel/' appeared.
It was like a revival of prophecy, but under a very different form
from the ancient one, and with a much larger idea of the destinies
of the world. The Book of Daniel gave, in a manner, the last ex-
pression to the Messianic hopes. The Messiah was no longer a
king, after the manner of David and Solomon, a theocratic and
Mosaic Cyrus ; he was a " Son of man " appearing in the clouds 3
— a supernatural being, invested with human form, charged to rule
the world, and to preside over the golden age. Perhaps the Sosi-
osh of Persia, the great prophet who was to come, charged with
preparing the reign of Ormiizd, gave some features to this new
ideal.4 The unknown author of the Book of Daniel had, in any
case, a decisive influence on the religious event which was about
to transform the world. He supplied the mise-en-sclne, and the
technical terms of the new belief in the Messiah ; and we might
apply to him what Jesus said of John the Baptist, — Before him,
the prophets ; after him, the kingdom of God.

It must not, however, be supposed that this profoundly religious
and soui-stirring movement had particular dogmas for its primary
impulse, as was the case in all the conflicts which have disturbed

^ ir. Book of Maccabees, oh. vii. and the De Maccabccis, attributed to Joseph. ua,
Cf. Epistle to the Hebrews xi. 33, and following.

^ III. Book (Apocr.) of Maccabees; Eufin, Suppl. ad Jos., Contra A2noncvi, ii. 5.

^ Chap. vii. 13, and following.

* Vendidad, chap. xix. 18, 19; Minokhircd, a passage published in the " Zeils-
chrift dcr deutschcn morgenldndlschen Geselhchaft," chap. i. 263; Boundehesch,
cuap, xxxi. The want of certain chronology for the Zend and Pehlvis texts
leaves much doubt hovering over the relations between the Jewish and Persian
beliefs.

44 LIFE OF JESTTS.

the bosom of Christianity. The Jew of this epoch was as little
theological as possible. He did not speculate npon the essence
of the Divinity; the beliefs about angels, about the destinies of
man, about the Divine personality, of which the first germs might
already be perceived, were quite optional — they were meditations,
to which each one surrendered himself according to the turn of
his mind, but of which a great number of men had never heard.
They were the most orthodox even, who did not share in these
particular imaginations, and who adhered to the simplicity of the
Mosaic law. No dogmatic power analogous to that which ortho-
dox Christianity has given to the Church then existed. It was
only at the beginning of the third century, when Christianity had
fallen into the hands of reasoning races, mad with dialectics and
metaphysics, that that fever for definitions commenced which
made the history of the Church but the history of one immense
controversy. There were disputes also among the Jews — excited
schools brought opposite solutions to almost all the questions
which were agitated ; but in these contests, of which the Talmud
has preserved the principal details, there is not a single word of
speculative theology. To observe and maintain the law, because
the law was jugt, and because, when well observed, it gave happi-
ness— such was Judaism. No credo, no theoretical symbol. One
of the disciples of the boldest Arabian philosophy, Moses Mai-
monides, was able to become the oracle of the synagogue, because
he was well versed in the canonical law.

The reigns of the last Asmoneans, and that of Herod, saw the
excitement grow still stronger. They were filled by an uninter-
rupi>3d series of religious movements In the degree that power
became secularised, and passed into the hands of nnbelievers, the
Jewish people lived less and less for the earth, and became more
and more absorbed by the strange fermentation which was operat-
ing in their midst. The world, distracted by other spectacles, had
little knowledge of that which passed in this forgotten corner of
the East. The minds abreast of their age were, however, better in-
formed. The tender and clear-siirhted Virgil seems to answer, a-s

LIFE 01? JESUS. 46

by a secret echo, to tlie second Isaiah. The birth of a child throwa
him into dreams of a universal palingenesis. ^ These dreams
were of every day occurrence, and shaped into a kind of literature
which was designated Sibylline. The quite recent formation of
the empire exalted the imagination ; the great era of peace on
which it entered, and that impression of melancholy sensibility
which the mind experiences after long periods of revolution, gave
birth on all sides to unlimited hopes.

In Judea expectation was at its height. Holy persons — among
whom may be named the aged Simeon, who, legend tells us, held
Jesus in his arms ; Anna, daughter of Phanuel, regarded as a
prophetess 2 — passed their life about the temple, fasting, and pray-
ing, that it might please God not to take them from the world
without having seen the fulfilment of the hopes of Israel. They
felt a powerful presentiment ; they were sensible of the approach
of something unknown.

This confused mixture of clear views and dreams, this alternation
of deceptions and hopes, these ceaseless aspirations, driven back by
an odious reality, found at last their interpretation in the incom-
parable man, to whom the universal conscience has decreed the
title of Son of God, and that with justice, since he has advanced
religion as no other has done, or probably ever will be able to do.

^ Egl. iv. The Cwmcsum carmen (v. 4) was a sort of Sibylline apocalypi'e,
borrowed from the philosophy of history familiar to the East. See Servius oa
this verse, and Carmina Sibyllina, iii. 97-817; cf. Tac, Uistf v. 13.

2 Luke ii. 25, and following.

CHAPTEE IL

INFANCY AND YOUTH OF JESUS— HIS FIRST IMPEESSKWa

Jesus was born at Nazareth,^ a small to-wn of Galilee, which before
his time had no celebrity.2 All his life he was designated by
the name of " the Nazarene," 3 and it is only by a rather embar-
rassed and round-about way,4 that, in the legends respecting him, he

^ Matt. xiii. 54, and following ; Mark vi. 1, and following ; John i. 45-46.

' It is neither named in the writings of the Old Testament, nor in Joaephus,
nor in the Talmud.

* Mark i. 24 ; Luke xviii. 37 ; John xix. 19 ; Ads ii. 22, iii. 6. Hence the name
of Nazarenes for a long time applied to Ciiristians, and which still designates them
in all Mohammedan countries.

^ The census effected by Quirinus, to which legend attributes the journey
from Bethlehem, is at least ten years later than the year in which, according to
Luke and Matthew, Jesus was born. The two evangelists in effect make Jesus to
be born under the reign of Herod, (Matt. ii. 1, 19, 22; Luke i. 5.) Now, the
census of Quirinus did not tdke place until after the deposition of Archelaus,
i.e.y ten years after the death of Herod, the 37tli year from the era of Actium,
(Josephus, Ant., xvii. xiii. 5, xviii. i. 1, ii. 1.) The inscription by which it was
formerly pretended to establish that Quirinus had levied two censuses is recog-
nised as false, (see Orelli, Inscr. Lat, No. 623, and the supplement of Henzen in
this number; Borghesi, Pastes Consulaires, [yet unpublished,] in the j^ear 742.) The
census in any case would only be applied to the parts reduced to Roman pro-
vinces, and not to the tetrarchies. The texts by which it is sought to prove that
some of the operations for statistics and tribute commanded by Augustus ought
to extend to the dominion of the Herods, either do not mean what they have been
made to say, or are from Christian authors who have borrowed this statement
from the Gospel of Luke. That which proves, besides, that the journey of the
family of Jesus to Bethlehem is not historical, is the motive attributed to
it. Jesus was not of the family of David, (see Chap, XV.,) and if he had been,
Tve should still not imagine that his parents should have been forced, for an
operation purely registrative and financial, to come to enrol themselvea in the

LIFE OF JESUS. " 47

IS made to be born at Bethlehem. We shall see laterl the motive for
this supposition, and how it was the necessary consequence of the
Messianic character attributed to Jesus.2 The precise date of
his birth is unknown. It took place under the reign of Augustus,
about the Roman year "750, probably some years before the year 1
of that era, which all civilised people date from the day on which
he was born. 3

The name of Jesus, which was given him, is an alteration from
Joshua. It was a very common name ; but afterwards, mysteries,
and an allusion to his character of Saviour, were naturally sought
for in it.4 Perhaps he, like all mystics, exalted himself in this
respect. It is thus that more than one great vocation in history
has been caused by a name given to a child without premeditatioa
Ardent natures never bring themselves to see aught of chance in
what concerns them. God has reg-ulated everything for them,
and they see a sign of the supreme will in the most insignificant
circumstances.

The population of Galilee was very mixed, as the very name of

place whence their ancestors had proceeded a thousand years before. In imposing
Buch an^ obligation, the Roman authority would have sanctioned pretensions
threatening her safety.

^ Chap. XIV.

5 Matt. ii. 1, and following; Luke ii. 1, and foUowing. The omission of this
narrative in Mark, and the two parallel passages, Matt. xiii. 54, and Mark. vi. 1,
where Nazareth figures as the " country " of Jesus, prove that such a legend was
absent from \he primitive text which has furnished the rough draft of the present
Gospels of Matthew and Mark. It was to meet oft-repeated objections that there
were added to the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew reservations, the con-
tradiction of which with the rest of the text was not so flagrant, that it- was
felt necessary to correct the passages which had at first been written from
quite another point of view. Luke, on the contrary, (chap. iv. 16,) writing more
carefully, has employed, in order to be consistent, a more softened expression.
As to John, he knows nothing of the journey to Bethlehem ; for hii", Jesus is
merely " of Nazareth " or " Galilean," in two circumstances in which it would have
been of the highest importance to recall his birth at Bethlehem, (chan i 45 4G
«i. 41, 42.) ' ' ' ' '

* It is known that the calculation which serves as basis of the common era waa
made in the sixth century by Dionymis the Less. This calculation impligs oej^
tain purely hypothetical data.

* Matt. i. 21 ; Luke i. 31.

48 LIFE OF JEtiV6.

the country 1 indicated. This province counted amongst its in-
hcabitants, in the time of Jesus, many who were not Jews, (Phoeni-
cians, Syrians, Arabs, and even Greeks.) 2 The conversions to
Judaism were not rare in these mixed countries. It is there-
fore impossible to raise here any question of race, and to seek to
ascertain what blood flowed in the veins of him who has contri-
buted most to efface the distinctions of blood in humanity.

He proceeded from the ranks of the people.3 His father Joseph
and his mother Mary were people in humble circumstances, arti-
sans living by their labour,^ in the state so common in the East,
which is neither ease nor poverty. The extreme simplicity of life
in such countries, by dispensing with the need of comfort, renders
the privileges of wealth almost useless, and makes every one
voluntarily poor. On the other hand, the total want of taste
for art, and for that which contributes to the elegance of
material life, gives a naked aspect to the house of him who
otherwise wants for nothing. Apart from something sordid and
repulsive which Islamism bears everywhere with it, the town of
Nazareth, in the time of Jesus, did not perhaps much differ from
what it is to-day. 5 We see the streets where he played when a
child, in the stony paths or little cross ways which separate the
dwellings. The house of Joseph doubtless much resembled those
poor shops, lighted by the door, serving at once for shop, kitchen,
and bed-room, having for furniture a mat, some cushions on the
ground, one or two clay pots, and a painted chest.

The family, whether it proceeded from one or many marriages,

1 Gelil hagr/oyim, " Circle of the Gentiles."

s Strabo, xvi. ii. 35 ; Jos., Vita, 12.

3 We shall explain later (Chap. XIV.) the origin of the genealogies intended to
connect him with the race of David. The Ebionites suppressed them, (Epiph.,
Adv. HcBT., XXX. 14.)

•* Matt, xiii. 55; Mark vi. 3; John vi. 42.

5 The rough aspect of the ruins which cover Palestine proves that the towns
which were not constructed in the Roman manner were very badly built. As to
the form of the houses, it is, in Syria, so simple and so imperiously regulated by
the climate, that it can scarcely ever have changed.

LIFE OP JESUS. 49

was rather numerous. Jesus liad brothers and sisters;! of vhom
he seems to have been the eldest.^ All have remained obscure,
for it appears that the four personages who were named as his
brothers, and among whom one, at least, — James, nad acquired
great importance in the earliest years of the development of Clnns-
tianity, were his cousins-german. Mary, in fact, had a sister also
named Mary,3 who married a certain Alpheus or Cleophas (these
two names appear to designate the same person ^), and was the
mother of several sons who j^layed a considerable part among the
first disciples of Jesus. These cousins-german who adhered to the
young Master, while his own brothers opposed him,5 took the title
of " brothers of the Lord." ^ The real brothers of Jesus, like their
mother, became important only after his death.7 Even then they do

* Matt. xii. 46, and following, siii, 55, and following ; Mark iii. 31, and following,
vi. 3 ; Luke viii. 19, and following; John ii. 12, vii. 3, 5, 10; Acts i. 14.

2 Matt. i. 25.

^ That these two sisters should bear the same name is a singular fact. There
Is probably some error arisin'g from the habit of giving the name of Mary indis-
criminately to Galilean women.

* They are not etymologically identical. 'AX^palos is the transcription of the
Syro-Chaldean name Halphai; KXcoTray or KAeoVay is a shortened form of
KXeoTrarpoy. V^^t there might have been an artificial substitution of one for the
other, just as Joseph was called " Hegissippus," the Eliakim " Alcimus," &c.

^ John vii. 3, and following.

^ In fact, the four personages who are named (Matt. xiii. 55, Mark vi. 3) as sons
of Mary, mother of Jesus, Jacob, Joseph or Joses, Simon, and Jude, are found
again a little later as sons of Mary and Cleophas. (Matt, xxvii. 56 ; Mark xv. 40 ,
Gal. i. 19 ; Ejnst. James i. 1 ; Hpist. Jade 1 ; Euseb., Chron. ad, ann. R. dcccx. ; Hist.
Eccl., iii. 11, 32; ConMit. Apost.,Yn. 46.) The hypothesis we offer alone removes
the immense difficulty which is found in supposing two sisters having each three
or four sons bearing Ihe same names, and in admitting that James and Simon,
the first two bishop.'; of Jerusalem, designated as brothers of the Lord, may have
been real brothers of Jesus, who had begun by being hostile to him and then
were converted. The evangelist, hearing these four sons of Cleophas called
" brothers of the Lord," has placed by mistake their names in the passage 3Iatt.
xiii. 5 = 3Iark vi. 3, instead of the names of the real brothers, which have always
remained obscure. In this manner we may explain how the character of the
personages called "brothers of the Lord," of James, for instance, is so different
from that of the real brothers of Jesus as they are seen delineated in John vii. 3
.•»jid following. The expression " brother of the Lord " evidently constituted, in
the primitive CLurch, a kind of order oimilar to that of the apostles. Seo especiallv
1 Cor. U. 5. ^ Aci9 i. 14.

D

50 LIFE OF JESUS.

not appear to have equalled in importance their cousins, whose
conversion had been more spontaneous, and whose character seems
to have had more originality. Their names were so little known,
that when the evangelist put in the mouth of the men of Nazareth
the enumeration of the brothers according to natural relationship,
the names of the sons of (^leophas first presented themselves to
him.

His sisters were married at Nazareth,! and he spent the first
years of his youth there. Nazareth was a small town in a hollow,
opening broadly at the summit of the group of mountains which
close the plain of Esdraelon on the north. The population is now
from three to four thousand, and it can never have varied much.2
The cold there is sharp in winter, and the climate very healthy.
The town, like all the small Jewish towns at this period, was a
heap of huts built without style, and would exhibit that harsh and
poor aspect which villages in Semitic countries now present.
The houses, it seems, did not differ much from those cubes of
stone, without exterior or interior elegance, which still cover the
richest parts of the Lebanon, and which, surrounded with vines
and fig-trees, are still very agreeable. The environs, moreover, are
charming; and no place in the world was so well adapted for
dreams of perfect happiness. Even in our times Nazareth is still
a delightful abode, the only place, perhaps, in Palestine in which
the mind feels itself relieved from the burden which oppresses
it in this unequalled desolation. The people are amiable and
cheerful ; the gardens fresh and green. Anthony the Martyr, at
the end of the sixth century, drew an enchanting picture of the
fertility of the environs, which he compared to paradise.^ Some
valleys on the v/estern side fully justify his description. The
fountain, where formerly the life and gaiety >of the little town were
concentrated, is destroyed ; its broken channels contain now only a

^ Mark vi. 3.

* According to Joseplius, {B. /., iir. iii. 2,) the smallest town of Galilee had
more than five thousand inhabitant* This is probably an exaggeration.

* Itiner., § 5.

LIFE OF JESUS. 51

muddy stream. But the beauty of the women who meet there in
the evening, — that beauty which was remarked even in the sixth
century, and which was looked upon as a gift of the Virgin Mary,l
— is still most strikingly preserved. It is the Syrian type in
all its languid grace. No doubt Mary was there almost every
lay, and took her place with her jar on her shoulder in the
file of her companions who have remained unknown. Anthony the
Martyr remarks, that the Jewish women, generally disdainful to
Christians, were here full of affability. Even now religious animo-
sity is weaker at Nazareth than elsewhere.

The horizon from the town is limited. But if we ascend a
little, the plateau, swept by a perpetual breeze, which overlooks the
highest houses, the prospect is splendid. On the west are seen
the fine outlines of Carmel, terminated by an abrupt point which
seems to plunge into the sea. Before us are spread out the double
summit which towers above Megiddo ; the mountains of the country
of Shechem, with their holy places of the patriarchal age ; the hills
of Gilboa, the small picturesque group to which are attached the
graceful or terrible recollections of Shunem and of Endor; and
Tabor, with its beautiful rounded form, which antiquity compared
to a bosom. Through a depression between the mountains of
Bhunem and Tabor, are seen the valley of the Jordan and the high
plains of Persea, which form a continuous line from the eastern side.
On the north, the mountains of Safed, in inclining towards the sea
conceal St Jean d'Acre, but permit the Gulf of Khaifa to be dis-
tinguished. Such was the horizon of Jesus. This enchanted
circle, cradle of the kingdom of God, was for years his world.
Even in his later life he departed but little beyond the familiar limits
of his childhood. For yonder, northwards, a glimpse is caught,
almost on the flank of Hermon, of Coesarea-Philippi, his furthest
point of advance into the Gentile world ; and here southwards,
the more sombre aspect of these Samaritan hills foreshadows tho
dreariness of Judea beyond, parched as by a scorching v/ind of
desolation and death.

^ Ant. Martyr, Itiner^ § 5.

52 LIFE OF JESUS.

If the world, remaining Christian, but attaining to a better iaea
of the esteem in which the origin of its religion should be held,
should ever wish to replace by authentic holy places the mean and
apocryphal sanctuaries to whicli the piety of dark ages attached
itself, it is upon this height of Nazareth that it will rebuild its
temple. There, at the birthplace of Christianity, and in the centre
of the actions of its Founder, the great church ought to be raised
in which all Christians may worship. There, also, on this spot
where sleep Joseph the carpenter and thousands of forgotten
Nazarenes who never passed beyond the horizon of their valley,
would be a better station than any in the world beside for the
philosopher to contemplate the course of human affairs, to console
himself for their uncertainty, and to reassure himself as to the
Divine end which the world pursues through countless talterings*
and m spite of tue universal vanity.

CHAPTER III

EDUCATION or JESUS.

This aspect of nature, at once smiling and grand, was the whole
education of Jesus. He learnt to read and to write,l doubtless,
according to the Eastern method, which consisted in putting in
the hands of the child a book, which he repeated in cadence with
his little comrades, until he knew it by heart.2 It is doubtful,
however, if he understood the Hebrew writins^s in their original
tongue. His biographers make him quote them according to the
translations in the Aramean tongue ; 3 his principles of exegesis,
as far as we can judge of them by those of his disciples, much
resembled those which were then in vogue, and which form the
spirit of the Targums and the MidrashimA

The schoolmaster in the small Jewish towns was the hazzan,
or reader in the synagogues.5 Jesus frequented little the higher
schools of the scribes or sopherim, (Nazareth had perhaps none of
them), and he had none of those titles which confer, in the eyes of
the vulgar, the privileges of knowledge.^ It would, nevertheless,
be a great error to imagine that Jesus was what we call ignorant.
Scholastic education among us draws a profound distinction, iu
respect of personal worth, between those who have received and

* John viiL 6.

^ Testam. of the Twelve Patriarchs, Levi, 6.
' Matt, xxvii. 46 ; Mark xv. ?)L

* Jewish translations and commentaries ot the Talmudic epoch.
" Miahnah, Shabbath, i. 3.

' Mafct. xiiL 54, and following ; John viL Ifi.

M LIFE OF JEST7S.

those w!io have been deprived of it. It was not so in the East,
\ior, in general, in the good old times. Tlie state of ignorance in
which, among us, owing to our isolated and entirely individual
life, those remain who have not passed through the schools, was
unknown in those societies where moral culture, and especially the
general spirit of the age, was transmitted by the perpetual inter-
course of man with man. The Arab, who has never had a teacher,
is often, nevertheless a very superior man ; for the tent is a kind
of school always open, where, from the contact of well-educated
men, there is produced a great intellectual and even literary
movement. The refinement of manners and the acuteness of the
intellect have, in the East, nothing in common with what we call
education. It is the men from the schools, on the contrary, who
are considered badly trained and pedantic. In this social state,
ignorance, which, among us, condemns a man to an inferior rank,
is the condition of great things and of great originality.

It is not probable that Jesus knew Greek. This language was
very little spread in Judea beyond the classes who participated in
the Government, and the towns inhabited by pagans, like Csesarea.!
The real mother tongue of Jesus was the Syrian dialect mixed
with Hebrew, which was then spoken in Palestine.2 Still less
probably had he any knowledge of Greek culture. This culture
was proscribed by the doctors of Palestine, who included
in the same malediction " he who rears swine, and he who

1 Mislinah, SJieJcaUm, in. 2 ; Talmud of Jerusalem, McffUla, balaca xi ; Sola,
vii. 1 ; Talmud of Babylon, Baba Kama, 83 a; Megilla, 8 6, and following,

2 Matthew xxvii. 46 ; Mark iii. 17, v. 41, vii. 34, xiv. 36, xv. 34. The
expression rj Trdrpios (fioovf] in the writers of the time, always designates the
Semitic dialect, which was spoken in Palestine, (ii. Mace. vii. 21, 27, xii. 37; Acts
xxi. 37, 40, xxii. 2, xxvi. 14; Josephus, Ant., xviii., vi., 10, xx. sub fin; B,
J., prooem 1 ; v. vi., 3, v. ix. 2, vi. ii. 1 ; Against Appian, i, 9 ; Be Mace, 12,
1§.) We shall shew, later, that some of the documents which served as the basis
for the synoptic Gospels were written in this Semitic dialect. It was the same
with many of the Apocrypha, (iv. Book of Mace. xvi. ad calcem, &c.) In fine, the
Beets issuing directly from the first Galilean movement, (Nazarenes, Ehionim, &c.,)
which continued a long time in Batanea and Hauran, spoke a Semitic dialect,

Eusebius, De Situ et Nomin Loc. Hehr., at the word Xco/3a ; Epiph., Adv. Hcer., xxix.
7, 9 XXX. 3; St Jerome, in Matt. xii. 13 ; Dial. adv. Pelag., iii. 2.)

LIFE OF JESUS. 55

teaches liis son Greek science."! At all events it had not pene-
trated into little towns like Nazareth. Notwithstanding the
anathema of the doctors, some Jews, it is true, had already em-
braced the Hellenic culture. Without speaking of the Jewish school
of Egypt, in which the attempts to amalgamate Hellenism and
Judaism had been in operation nearly two hundred years, a Jew,
Nicholas of Damascus, had become, even at this time, one of the
most distinguished men, one of the best informed, and one of the
most respected of his age. Josephus was destined soon to furnish
another example of a Jew completely Grecianised. But Nicholas
was only a Jew in blood. Josephus declares that he himself was
an exception among his contemporaries; 2 and the whole schismatic
school of Egypt was detached to such a degree from Jerusalem
that we do not find the least allusion to it either in the Talmud or
in Jewish tradition. Certain it is, that Greek was very littk
studied at Jerusalem, that Greek studies were considered as dan-
gerous, and even servile, that they were regarded, at the best, as a
mere womanly accomplishment.3 The study of the Law was the
only one accounted liberal and worthy of a thoughtful man.'*
Questioned as to the time when it would be proper to teach child-
ren " Greek wisdom," a learned Eabbi had answered, " At the time
when it is neither day nor night ; since it is written of the Law,
Thou shalt study it day and night." ^

Neither directly nor indirectly, then, did any element of Greek
culture reach Jesus. He knew nothing beyond Judaism ; his
mind preserved that free innocence which an extended and varied
culture always weakens. In the very bosom of Judaism he re-
mained a stranger to many efforts often parallel to his own. On
the one hand, the asceticism of the Essenes or the Therapeutae ; ^

1 Mishnah, Sanhedrim, xi. 1 ; Talmud of Babylon, Baba Kama, 82 h and 83 a ;
Sota, 49 a and b; Menachoth, 64 6 ; comp. ii. Mace. iv. 10, and following.
^ /os., Aoit. XX. xi., 2.
'' Talmud of Jerusalem, Peak, i. 1.

* Jos., Ant., loc. cit. ; Orig., Contra Celsum, ii. 34.

^ Talmud of Jerusalem, Peah, i. 1 ; Talmud of Babylon, Menachoth, 99 6.

• The Therapeutce of Pbilo are a branch of the Essenes. Their name appcnre

56 « tiFE OF JESUS.

on the other, the fine efforts of religious philosophy put forth
by the Jewish school of Alexandria, and of which Philo, his con-
temporary, was the ingenious interpreter, were unknown to hiiu.
The frequent resemblances which we find between him and Philo,
those excellent maxims about the love of God, charity, rest in
God,l which are like an echo between the Gospel and the writings
of the illustrious Alexandrian thinker, proceed from the common
tendencies which the wants of the time inspired in all elevated
minds.

Happily for him, he was also ignorant of the strange scholasti-
cism which was taught at Jerusalem, and which was soon to
constitute the Talmud. If some Pharisees had already brought
it into Galilee, he did not associate with them, and when, later, he
encountered this silly casuistry, it only inspired him with disgust.
We may suppose, however, that the principles of Hillel were not
unknown to him. Hillel, fifty years before him, had given utter-
ance to aphorisms very analogous to his own. By his poverty,
so meekly endured, by the sweetness of his character, by his oppo-
sition to priests and hypocrites, Hillel was the true master of
Jesus,2 if indeed it may be permitted to speak o.f a master in con-
nexion with so high an originality as his.

The perusal of the books of the Old Testament made much im-
pression upon him. The canon of the holy books was composed
of two principal parts — the Law, that is to say, the Pentateuch,
and the Prophets, such as we now possess them. An extensive alle-
gorical exegesis was applied to all these books ; and it was sought
to draw from them something that was not in them, but which
responded to the aspirations of the age. The Law, which repre-
sented not the ancient laws of the country, but Utopias, the fac-
titious laws and rious frauds of the time of the pietistic kings,

to be but a Greek translation of that of the Fssenes, (Ecro-oiot, asaya, " doctors.")
Cf. Philo, De Vita Contempl., init.

^ See especially the treatises Quis Eerum Divinai'um Hceres sit and De Philaiif
ikropia of Philo.

2 Pirhe Aboth, chap. i. and ii. ; Talm. of Jerus., Pesachim, vi. 1 ; Talm.of Bab,
Pesachim, QQ a ; Shahhath, 30 6 and 3] a ; Joma^ 35 &.

LIFE OF JESUS. 57

had become, since the nation had ceased to govern itself, an inex-
haustible theme of subtle interpretations. As to the Prophets and
the Psahns, the popular persuasion was that almost all the some-
what mysterious traits that were in these books, had reTerence to
the Messiah, and it was sought to find there the type of him who
should realise the hopes of the nation. Jesus participated in the
taste which every one had for these allegorical interpretations.
But the true poetry of the Bible, which escaped the puerile exe-
getists of Jerusalem, was fully revealed to his grand genius. The
Law does not appear to have had much charm for him ; he
thought that he could do something better. But the religious
lyrics of the Psalms were in marvellous accordance with his poetic
soul ; they were, all his life, his food and sustenance. The pro-
phets— Isaiah in particular, and his successor in the record of the
time of the captivity — with their brilliani dreams of the future,
their impetuous eloquence, and their invectives mingled with
enchanting pictures, were his true teachers. He read also, no
doubt, many apocryphal works, — i.e., writings somewhat modern,
the authors of which, for the sake of an authority only granted to
very ancient writings, had clothed themselves with the names of
prophets and patriarchs. One of these books especially struck
him, namely, the book of Daniel This book, composed by an
enthusiastic Jew of the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, under
the name of an ancient sage,l was the resume of the spirit of
those later times. Its author, a true creator of the philosoj»hy
of history, had for the first time dared to see in the march of
the world and the succession of empires, only a purpose subor-
dinate to the destinies of the Jewish people. Jesus was early pene-
trated by these high hopes. Perhaps, also, he had read the books
of Enoch, then rever(id equally with the holy books,2 and the other

' The legend of Daniel existed as early as tbe seventh century B.C., (Ezekiel
xiv. 1 4 and following, xxviii, 3.) It was for the necessities of the legend that ho
was made to live at the time of the Babylonian captivity.

2 Epist. Jude, 14 and following; 2 Peter ii. 4, 11 ; Testam. of the Twelve Patri'
tirchs, Simeon, 5; Levi, 14, 16 ; Judah, 18; Zab., 3; Dan, 5; Naphtali, 4. The
*'Book of Enoch" still forms an integral part of the Ethiopian Bible. Such ai

58 LIFE OF JESUS,

writings of the same class, wliicli kept up so mucli excitement
in the popular imagination. The advent of the Messiah, with his
glories and his terrors, — the nations falling down one after another,
the cataclysm of heaven and earth, — were the familiar food of his
imagination ; and, as these revolutions were reputed near, and a
great number of persons sought to calculate the time when they
should happen, the supernatural state of things into which sucl
visions transport us, appeared to him from the first perfectly na-
tural and simple.

That he had no knowledge of the general state of the world is
apparent from each feature of his most authentic discourses. The
earth appeared to him still divided into kingdoms warring with
one another ; he seemed to ignore the " Roman peace," and the
new state of society which its age inaugurated. He had no precise
idea of the Roman power ; the name of " Caesar " alone reached
him. He saw building, in Galilee or its environs, Tiberias, Julias,
Diocsesarea, Ctesarea, gorgeous works of the Herods, who sought,
by these magnificent structures, to prove their admiration for Ro-
man civilisation, and their devotion towards the members of the
family of Augustus, structures whose names, by a caprice of fate,
now serve, though strangely altered, to designate miserable hamlets
of Bedouins. He also probably saw Sebaste, a work of Herod
the Great, a showy city, whose ruins would lead to the belief that it
had been carried there ready made, like a machine which had only
to be put up in its place. This ostentatious piece of architecture
arrived in Judea by cargoes ; these hundreds of columns, all of
the same diameter, the ornament of some insipid " Rue de Rivoli'*
these were what he called " the kingdoms of the world and all their
glory." But this luxury of power, this administrative and ofl&cial
art, displeased him. What he loved were his Galilean villages^

we know it from the Ethiopian version, it is composed of pieces of different dates,
of which the aiost ancient are from the year 130 to 150 B.C. Some of these
pieces have an analogy with the discourses of Jesus. Compare chaps, xcvi.-xcix,
with Luke vi. 24, and following.

LIFE OF JESUS. 59

confused mixtures of huts, of nests and holes cut in the rocks, of
wells, of tombs, of fig-trees, and of olives. He always clung close
to nature. The courts of kings appeared to him as places where
men wear fine clothes. The charming impossibilities with which
his parables abound, when he brings kings and the mighty ones
on the stage,2 prove that he never conceived of aristocratic society
but as a young villager who sees the world through the prism of
his simplicity.

Still less was he acquainted with the new idea, created by Grecian
science, which was the basis of all philosophy, and which modern
science has greatly confirmed, to wit, the exclusion of capricious
gods, to whom the simple belief of ancient ages attributed the
government of the universe. Almost a century before him,
Lucretius had expressed, in an admirable manner, the unchange-
ableness of the general system of nature. The negation of miracle,
—the idea that everything in the world happens by laws in v/hich
the personal intervention of superior beings has no share, was uni-
versally admitted in the great schools of all the countries which had
accepted Grecian science. Perhaps even Babylon and Persia were
not strangers to it. Jesus knew nothing of this progress. Although
born at a time when the principle of positive science was already
proclaimed, he lived entirely in the supernatural. Never, per-
haps, had the Jews been more possessed with the thirst for the
marvellous. Philo, who lived in a great intellectual centre, and
who had received a very complete education, possessed only a
chimerical and inferior knowledge of science.

Jesus on this point differed in no respect from his companions.
He believed in the devil, whom he regarded as a kind of evil
genius,3 and he imagined, like all the world, that nervous maladies
were produced by demons who possessed the patient and agitated
him. The marvellous was not the exceptional for him ; it was his
normal state. The notion of the supernatural, with its impossi-
bilities, is coincident with the birth of experimental science.

' See, for example. Matt. xxii. 2, an-l following. 3 ly^.^tt. vi. 13.

60 LIFE OF JESIig

The man who is strange to all ideas of physical laws, who believes
that by praying he can change the path of the clouds, arrest dis-
ease, and even death, finds nothing extraordinary in miracle, inas-
much as the entire course of things is to him the result of the free
will of the Divinity. This intellectual state was constantly that of
Jesus. But in his great soul such a belief produced effects quite
opposed to those produced on the vulgar. Among the latter, the
belief in the special action of God led to a foolish credulity, and
the deceptions of charlatans. With him it led to a profound idea of
the familiar relations of man with God, and an exaggerated belief
in the power of man -beautiful errors, which were the secret of his
power; for if they were the means of one day shewing his defi-
ciencies in the eyes of the physicist and the chemist, they gave
him a power over his own age of which no individual had been
possessed before his time, or has been since.

His distinctive character very early revealed itself. Legend

delights to shew him even from his infancy in revolt against

paternal authority, and departing from the common way to fulfil

his vocation.1 It is certain, at least, that he cared Httle for the

relations of kinship. His family do not seem to have loved him,2

and at times he seems to have been hard towards them.3 Jesus,

like ail men exclusively preoccupied by an idea, came to think little

of the ties of blood. The bond of thought is the only one that

natures of this kind recognise. "Behold my mother and my

brethren," said he, in extending his hand towards his disciples; '' he

who does the will of my Father, he is my brother and my sister."

The simple people did not imderstand the matter thus, and one

day a woman passing near him cried out, "Blessed is^ the womb

that bare thee, and the paps which gave thee suck!" But he

said, "Yea, rather blessed are they that hear the word of God,

1 Luke ii. 42 and following. The Apocryphal Gospels are full of similar historiea
carried to the grotesque. ,no x c

2 Matt xiii. 57 ; Mark vi. 4 ; John vii. 3, and following. See page 128, note 5

3 Matt. xii. 48; Mark iii. 33; Luke viii. 21; John ii. i; Gospel according tc
the Hebrews, in St Jerome, Dial. adv. Pclag:, lii. 2

LIFE OF JESUS. 5j

and keep it/'l Soon, in his bold revolt against nature, he went
still further, and we shall see him trampling under foot everything
that IS human, blood, love, and country, and only keeping soul and
heart for the idea which presented itself to him as the absojuse
^rm of goodness and truth.

Luke xi 27, and foilowuw.

CHAPTEE IV.

TITE ORDER OP THOUGHT WHICH SURROUNDED I'HE
DEVELOPMENT OF JESUS.

As the cooled earth no longer permits us to understand the phe-
nomena of primitive creation, because the fire which penetrated it
is extinct, so deliberate explanations have always ajjpeared some-
what insufficient, when applying our timid methods of induc-
tion to the revolutions of the creative epochs which have de-
cided the fate of humanity. Jesus lived at one of those times
when the game of public life is freely played, and when the
stake of human activity is increased a hundredfold. Every
great part, then, entails death ; for such movements suppose
liberty and an absence of preventive measures, which could not
exist without a terrible alternative. In these days, man risks
little and gains little. In heroic periods of human activity, man
risked all and gained all. The good and the wicked, or at least
those who believe themselves and are believed to be such, form
opposite armies. The apotheosis is reached by the scaffold ; char-
acters have distinctive features, which engrave them as eternal
types in the memory of men. Except in the French Kevolution,
no historical centre was as suitable as that in which Jesus was
formed, to develop those hidden forces which humanity holds as
in reserve, and which are not seen except in days of excitement
And peril.

If the government of the world were a speculative problem, and
llie greatest philosopher were the man best fitted to tell his fellows

LIFE OF JESUS. 6S

what they ought to believe, it would be from calmness and reflec-
tion that those great moral and dogmatic truths called religions,
would proceed. But it is not so. If we except Cakya-Mouni, the
great religious founders have not been metaphysicians. Buddhism
itself, whose origin is in pure thought, has conquered one-half of
Asia by motives wholly political and moral. As to the Semitic re-
ligions, they are as little philosophical as possible. Moses and
Mahomet were not men of speculation : they were men of action.
It was in proposing action to their fellow-countrymen, and ta
their contemporaries, that they governed humanity. Jesus, in
like manner, was not a theologian, or a philosopher, having
a more or less well-composed system. In order to be a disciple
of Jesus, it was not necessary to sign any formulary, or to pro-
nounce any confession of faith ; one thing only was necessary — >
to be attached to him, to love him. He never disputed about
God, for he felt Him directly in himself. The rock of meta-
physical subtleties, against which Christianity broke from the
third century, was in no-wise created by the founder. Jesus had
neither dogma nor system, but a fixed personal resolution, which,
exceeding in intensity every other created will, directs to this
hour the destinies of humanity.

The Jewish people had the advantage, from the captivity of
Babylon up to the Middle Ages, of being in a state of the greatest
tension. This is why the interpreters of the spirit of the nation,
during this long period, seemed to write under the action of an
intense fever, which placed them constantly either above or below
reason, rarely in its middle path. Never did man seize the problem
of the future and of his destiny with a more desperate courage, more
determined to go to extremes. Not separating the lot of humanity
from that of theii' little race, the Jewish thinkers were the first who
sought for a general theory of the progress of our species. Greece,
always confined within itself, and solely attentive to petty quarrels,
has had admirable historians ; but before the Eoman epoch, it
would be in vain to seek in her a general system of the philosophy
ot history^ embracing all humanity. The Jew, on the contrary,

64 LIFE OF JESUS.

thanks to a kind of prophetic sense which renders the Semite at
times marvellously apt to see the great lines of the future, has
made history enter into religion. Perhaps he owes a little of this
spirit to Persia. Persia, from an ancient period, conceived the
history of the world as a series of evolutions, over each of which a
prophet presided. Each prophet had his hazar, or leigji of a thou-
sand years (chiliasm), and from these successive ages, analogous to
the Avatar of India, is composed the course of events which prepared
the reign of Ormuzd. At the end of the time when the cycle of
chiliasms shall be exhausted, the complete paradise will come.
Men then will live happy ; the earth will be as one plain ; there
will be only one language, one law, and one government for
all But this advent will be preceded by terrible calamities.
Dahak (the Satan of Persia) will break his chains and fall upon
the world. Two prophets will come to console mankind, and to
prepare the great advent.i These ideas ran through the world,
and penetrated even to Ptome, where they inspired a cycle of pro-
phetic poems, of which the fundamental ideas were the division of
the history of humanity into periods, the succession of the gods cor-
responding to these periods, — a complete renovation of the world,
and the final advent of a golden age.2 The book of Danielj the
book of Enoch, and certain parts of the Sibylline books,S are the
Jewish expression of the same theory. These thoughts were cer-
tainly far from being shared by all, they were only embraced at
first by a few persons of lively imagination, who were inclined to-
wards strange doctrines. The dry and narrow author of the book
of Esther never thought of the rest of the world except to despise
it, and to wish it evil.^ The disabused epicurean who wrote Eccle-

^ Yagna, xiii. 24; TLeopoinpus, in Pint., De Jside et Osiride, sec, 47; MinoJcldredy
a passage publislied in the Zdtschrift der deutschen morgenldndischen Gesellr
schaft, i., p. 263.

" Virg., Eel. iv. ; Servius, at v. 4 of thiB Eclogue ; Nigidius, quoted by Ser-
vius, at V. 10.

« Book iii., 97-817.

* Esther vi. 13, vii. 10, viii. 7, 11-17, ix. 1.22; ani in the apocryphal parfca.
ix, 10, 11, siv. 13, and following, xvi. 20. 24.

LIFE OF JESUS. 65

siastes, thought so little of the future, that he considered it even
useless to labour for his children ; in the eyes of this egotistical
celibate, the highest stroke of wisdom was to use his fortune for
his own enjoyment.l But the great achievements of a people are
generally wrought by the minority. Notwithstanding all their en-
ormous defects, hard, egotistical, scoffing, cruel, narrow, subtle, and
sophistical, the Jewish people are the authors of the finest move-
ment of disinterested enthusiasm which history records. Opposi-
tion always makes the glory of a country. The greatest men of
a nation are those whom it puts to death. Socrates was the
glory of the Athenians, who would not suffer him to live amongst
them. Spinoza was the greatest Jew of modern times, and the
synagogue expelled him with ignominy. Jesus was the glory of
the people of Israel, who crucified him.

A gigantic dream haunted for centuries the Jewish people,
constantly renewing its youth in its decrepitude. A stranger
to the theory of individual recompense, which Greece diff'used
under the name of the immortality of the soul, Judea concentrated
all its power of love and desire upon the national future. She
thought she possessed divine promises of a boundless future ; and
as the bitter reality, from the ninth century before our era,
gave more and more the dominion of the world to physical force,
and brutally crushed these aspirations, she took refuge in the
union of the most impossible ideas, and attempted the strangest
gyrations. Before the captivity, when all the earthly hopes of the
nation had become weakened by the separation of the northern
tribes, they dreamt of the restoration of the house of David, the
reconciliation of the two divisions of the '■)eople, and the triumph
of theocracy and the worship of JehovaVi over idolatry. At the
epoch of the captivity, a poet, full of harmony, saw the splendour
of a future Jerusalem, of which the peoples and the distant isles
should be tributaries, under colours so charming, that one might

1 Eccl. i. 11, ii. 16, 18-24, iii. 19-22, iv. 8, 15, 16, v. 17, 18, vi. 3, 6, viii. Id. u^
9, 10.

ft

66 LIFE OF JESUS.

say a glimpse of the visions of Jesus had reached him at a dis-
tance of six centiiries.l

The victory of Cyrus seemed at one time to realise all that had
been hoped. The grave disciples of the Avesta and the adorers
of Jehovah believed themselves brothers. Persia had begun by
banishing tlie multiple devas, and by transforming them into
demons (divs), to draw from the old Arian imaginations (essen-
tially naturalistic) a species of Monotheism. The prophetic tone
of many of the teachings of Iran had much analogy with certain
compositions of Hosea and Isaiah. Israel reposed under the
Achemenidae,2 and under Xerxes (Ahasuerus) made itself feared
by the Iranians themselves. But the triumphal and often cruel
entry of Greek and Koman civilisation into Asia, threw it back
upon its dreams. More than ever it invoked the Messiah as
judge and avenger of the people. A complete renovation, a
revolution which should shake the world to its very foundation,
was necessary in order to satisfy the enormous thirst of ven-
geance excited in it by the sense of its superiority, and by the
sight of its humiliation, 3

If Israel had possessed the spiritualistic doctrine, which divides
man in two parts — the body and the soul — and finds it quite
natural that while the body decays, the soul should survive, this
paroxysm of rage and of energetic protestation would have had
no existence. But such a doctrine, proceeding from the Grecian
philosophy, was not in the traditions of the Jewish mind. The
ancient Hebrew writings contain no trace of future rewards or
punishments. Whilst the idea of the solidarity of the tribe existed,
it was natural that a strict retribution according to individual
merits should not be thought of. So much the worse for the
pious man who happened to live in an epoch of impiety ; he
^>uffered like the rest the public misfortunes consequent on the

1 Isaiah Ix., &c.

2 The whole book of Esther breathes a great attachment to this dynasty.

^ Apocryphal letter of Baruch, in Fabricius, Cod. pseud., V.T., ii. p. 147, aj)d
following

LIFE OF JESUS. G7

general irreligion. This doctrine, bequeathed by the sages of the
patriarchal era, constantly produced unsustainable contradictions.
Already at the time of Job it was much shaken ; the old men of
Teman who professed it were considered behind the age, and the
young Elihu, who intervened in order to combat them, dared to utter
as his first word this essentially revolutionary sentiment, "Great men
are not always wise ; neither do the aged understand judgment/' 1
With the complications which had taken place in the world since
the time of Alexander, the old Temanite and Mosaic principle
became still more intolerable.2 Never had Israel been more faith-
ful to the Law, and yet it was subjected to the atrocious per-
secution of Antiochus. Only a declaimer, accustomed to repeat
old phrases denuded of meaning, would dare to assert that these
evils proceeded from the unfaithfulness of the people. 3 What !
these victims who died for their faith, these heroic Maccabees,
this mother with her seven sons, will Jehovah forget them eter-
nally ? Will he abandon them to the corruption of the grave ? ^
Worldly and incredulous Sadduceeism might possibly not recoil
before such a consequence, and a consummate sage, like Antigonus
of Soco,5 might indeed maintain that we must not practise virtue
like a slave in expectation of a recompense, that we must be vir-
tuous without hope. But the mass of the people could not be con-
tented with that. Some, attaching themselves to the principle of
philosophical immortality, imagined the righteous living in the
memory of God, glorious for ever in the remembrance of men,
and judging the wicked who had persecuted them>6 " They live in

^ Job xxxiii. 9.

2 It is nevertheless remarkable that Jesus, son of Sirach, adheres to it strictly,
(chap. xvii. 26-28, xxii, 10, 11, xxx. 4, and following, xli. 1, 2, xliv. 9.) The author
of the book of Wisdom holds quite opposite opinions, (iv. 1, Greek text).

^ Esth. xiv. 6, 7, (apocr.) ; the apocryphal Epistle of Baruch (Fabricius, Cod,
pseud., V. T., ii. p. 147, and following).

^ 2 Mace. vii.

= Perke Ahoth., I 3.

« Wisdom ii.-vi.; De JRationia IinperiOf attributed to Josephus, 8, 13, 16, 18,
Still we must remark that the author of this last treatise estimates the mo-
tive of personal recompeiv*<« 7*1 a secondary degree. The primary iinpulfift of

68 LIFE OF JESUS.

the sight of God; .... they are known of God."! That was
their reward. Others, especially the Pharisees, had recourse to the
doctrine of the resurrection.2 The righteous will live again in
order to participate in the Messianic reign. They will live again
in the flesh, and for a world of which they will be the kings and
the judges ; they will be present at the triumph of their ideas and
at the humiliation of their enemies.

We find among the ancient people of Israel only very indecisive
traces of this fundamental dogma. The Sadducee, who did not be-
lieve it, was in reality faithful to the old Jewish doctrine ; it was
the Pharisee, the believer in the resurrection, who was the innovator.
But in religion it is always the zealous sect which innovates,
which progresses, and which has influence. Besides this, the
resurrection, an idea totally different from that of the immortality
of the soul proceeded very naturally from the anterior doctrines and
from the position of the people. Perhaps Persia also furnished
some of its elements.3 In any case, combining with the belief in
the Messiah, and with the doctrine of a speedy renewal of all things,
it formed those apocalyptic theories which, without being articles
of faith, (the orthodox Sanhedrim of Jerusalem does not seem to
have adopted them,) pervaded all imaginations, and produced an
extreme fermentation from one end of the Jewish world to the
other. The total absence of dogmatic rigour caused very contra-
dictory notions to be admitted at one time, even upon so primary
a point. Sometimes the righteous were to await the resurrection ;4
sometimes they were to be received at the moment of death into
Abraham's bosom ;5 sometimes the resurrection was to be general ;6

martyrs is the pure love of the Law, the advantage which their death will
procure to the people, and the glory which will attach to their name. Comp.
Wisdom iv. 1, and following; JSccl. xliv., and following; Jos., J5. J,, ii. viii. 10,
III. viii. 5.

1 Wisdom, iv. 1 ; Be Eat. Imp., 16, 18.

2 2 Mace, vii. 9, 14, xii. 43, 44.

3 Theopompus, in Diog. LaerL, Proem, 9. Boundehesch, xxxi. The traces of
the doctrine of the resurrection in the Avesta are very doubtful.

* John xi. 24,

» Luke xvi. 22. Cf. De Rationis Imp., 13, 16, 18. » Dan xil 2.

LIFE OF JESUS. 69

sometimes it was to be reserved only for the faithful ; 1 sometimes
it supposed a renewed earth and a new Jerusalem ; sometimes it
implied a previous annihilation of the universe.

Jesus, as soon as he began to think, entered into the burning
atmosphere which was created in Palestine by the ideas we have
just stated. These ideas were taught in no school ; but they were
in the very air, and his soul was early penetrated by them. Our
hesitations and our doubts never reached him. On this summit
of the mountain of Nazareth, where no man can sit to-day with-
out an uneasy, tliough it may be a frivolous, feeling about his des-
tiny, Jesus sat often untroubled by a doubt. Free from selfish-
ness— that source of our troubles, which makes us seek with eager-
ness a reward for virtue beyond the tomb — he thought only of
his work, of his race, and of humanity. Those mountains, that
sea, that azure sky, those high plains in the horizon, were for
him not the melancholy vision of a soul which interrogates nature
upon her fate, but the certain symbol, the transparent shadow, of
an invisible world, and of a new heaven.

He never attached much importance to the political events of
his time, and he probably knew little about them. The court of
the Herods formed a world so different to his, that he doubtless
knew it only by name. Herod the Great died about the year in
which Jesus was born, leaving imperishable remembrances —
monuments which must compel the most malevolent posterity to
associate his name with that of Solomon ; nevertheless, his work
was incomplete, and could not be continued. Profanely am-
bitious, and lost in a maze of religious controversies, this astute
Idumean had tlie advantage which coolness and judgment, strip-
ped of morality, give over passionate fanatics. But his idea of a
secular kingdom of Israel, even if it had not been an anachronism
in the state of the world in which it was conceived, would inevit-
ably have miscarried, like the similar project which Solomon
formed, owing to the difficulties proceeding from the character of
the nation. His three sons were only lieutenants of the Romans,
^ 2 Mace. vii. 14.

7(1 LWE of JEStJIS.

analogous to the rajahs of India under the English dominion,
Antipater, or Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee and of Peraea, of whom
Jesus was a subject all his life^ was an idle and useless prince,"^ a
favourite and flatterer of Tiberius,2 and too often misled by the
bad influence of his second wife, Herodias.3 Philip, tetrarch of
Gaulonitis and Batanea, into whose dominions Jesus made fre-
quent journeys, was a much better sovereign. ^ As to Archelaus,
ethnarch of Jerusalem, Jesus could not know him, for he was
about ten years old when this man, who was weak and without
character, though sometimes violent, was deposed by Augustus .^
The last trace of self-government was thus lost to Jerusalem.
United to Samaria and Idumea, Judea formed a kind of depend-
ency of the province of Syria, in which the senator Publius StJ-
plcius Quirinus, well known as consul,^ was the imperial legate.
A series of Roman procurators, subordinate in important matters
fjo the imperial legate of Syria — Coponius, Marcus Ambivius,
Annius Rufus, Valerius Gratus, and lastly, (in the 26th year of
our era,) Pontius Pilate 7 — followed each other, and were constantly
occupied in extinguishing the volcano which was seething beneath
their feet.

Continual seditions, excited by the zealots of Mosaism, did not
cease, in fact, to agitate Jerusalem during all this time. 8 The death
of the seditious was certain ; but death, when the integrity of the
Law was in question, was sought with avidity. To overturn the
Homan eagle, to destroy the works of art raised by the Herods, in

^ Jos., Ant, xviii. V. 1, vii. 1 and 2; Lxike iii. 19.
2 Ibid., XVIII. ii. 3, iv. 5, v. 1.
2 Ibid., XVIII. vii. 2.

* Ibid., XVIII. iv. 6.

* Ibid., XVII. xii. 2 ; and B. J., n. vii. 3.

'' Orelli, Inscr. Lat, No. 3693; Henzen, Suppl, No. 7041; Fasti prccneitinl, on
the 6th of March, and on the 28th of April, (in the Corpus Inscr. Lat, i. 314, 317);
Borghesi, Fastes Consulaires, (yet unedited,) in the year 742 ; R. Bergmann, De
Inscr. Lat. ad. P. S. Quirinium, ut videtur, referenda (Berlin, 1861). Cf. Tac,
Ann., ii. 30, iii. 48 ; Strabo, xii. vi. 5.

' Jos., Ant., 1, XVIII.

^ Ibid., the books xvi • and sviii. entirely, and B. J., books i. and n.

LIFE OF JESUS. 71

which the Mosaic regulations were not always respected l — to rise
up against the votive escutcheons put up by the procurators, the in-
scriptions of which appeared tainted with idolatry 2 — were perpetual
temptations to fanatics, who had reached that degree of exaltation
which removes all care for life. Judas, son of Sariphea, Matthias,
son of Margaloth, two very celebrated doctors of the law, formed
against the established order a boldly aggressive party, which con-
tinued after their execution.3 The Samaritans were agitated by
movements of a similar nature.^ The Law had never counted a
greater number of impassioned disciples than at this time, when
he already lived who, by the full authority of his genius and of
his great soul, was about to abrogate it. The "Zelotes," (Kenaim),
or "Sicarii," pious assassins, who imposed on themselves the
task of killing whoever in their estimation broke the Law, began
to appear.5 Eepresentatives of a totally different spirit, the Thau-
maturges, considered as in some sort divine, obtained credence in
consequence of the imperious want which the age experienced for
the supernatural and the divine.6

A movement which had much more influence upon Jesus was
that of Judas the Gaulonite, or Galilean. Of all the exactions
to which the country newly conquered by Eome was subjected, the
census was the most unpopular. 7 This measure, which always
astonishes people unaccustomed to the requirements of great cen-
tral adminstrations, was particularly odious to the Jews. We see
that already, under David, a numbering of the people provoked
violent recriminations, and the menaces of the prophets. 8 The
census, in fact, was the basis of taxation ; now taxation, to a pure

^ Jos., A7it., XV. X. 4. Compare Book of Enoch, xcvii. 13, 14.

^ Philo, Ler/. ad Ca'ium, § 38.

2 Jos,, Ant, XVII. vi. 2, and following ; B. J., i. xxxiii. 3, and following.

* Jos., Ant, XVIII. iv. 1, and following.

^ Mishnah, Sanhedrim, ix. 6j John xvi. 2; Jos., B. J., book iv., and following.

* Acts viii. 9. Verse 11 leads us to suppose that Simon the magician was
already famous in the time of Jesus.

^ Discourse of Claudius at Lyons, Tab, ii, sub £a. De Boisseau, Inscr. Ant d*
Lyon, p. 136.
8 2 Sam. xxiv.

72 LIFE OF JESUS.

theocracy, was almost an impiety. God being the sole Master
whom man ought to recognise, to pay tithe to a secular sovereign
was, in a manner, to put him in the place of God. Completely
ignorant of the idea of the State, the Jewish theocracy only acted
up to its logical induction — the negation of civil society and of
all government. The money of the public treasury was accounted
stolen money. 1 The census ordered by Quirinus (in the year 6
of the Christian era) powerfully reawakened these ideas, and
caused a great fermentation. An insurrection broke out in the
northern provinces. One Judas, of the town of Gamala, upon the
eastern shore of the Lake of Tiberias, and a Pharisee named
Sadoc, by denying the lawfulness of the tax, created a numer-
ous party, which soon broke out in open revolt.2 The funda-
mental maxims of this party were — that they ought to call no man
" master," this title belonging to God alone ; and that liberty was
better than life. Judas had, doubtless, many other principles,
which Josephus, always careful not to compromise his co-re-
ligionists, designedly suppresses ; for it is impossible to under-
stand how, for so simple an idea, the Jewish historian should
give him a j^lace among the philosophers of his nation, and
should regard him as the founder of a fourth school, equal to
those of the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes. Judas
was evidently the chief of a Galilean sect, deeply imbued with the
Messianic idea, and which became a political movement. The
procurator, Coponius, crushed the sedition of the Gaulonite ;
but the school remained, and preserved its chiefs. Under the
leadership of Menahem, son of the founder, and of a certain
Eleazar, his relative, we find them again very active in the last
contests of the Jews against the Romans.3 Perhaps Jesus saw this
Judas, whose idea of the Jewish revolution was so different from

1 Talmud of Babylon, Baha Kama, 113a; Shabbath, 336.

^ Jos., Ant, XVIII. i. 1 and 6 ; B. J., ii. viii. 1 ; Acts v. 37. Previous to Judas the
Gaulonite, the Acts place another agitator, Theudas; but this is an anachronism,
the movement of Theudas took place in the year 44 of the Christian era, (Jos.,
A It., XX. V. 1.)

^ Jos,^ L.. /., IJ. srii. 8, and follov,-ing.

LIFE OF JESUS. 73

his own ; at all events he knew his school, and it was probably
to avoid his error that he pronounced the axiom upon the penny
of Caesar. Jesus, more wise, and far removed from all sedition,
profited by the fault of his predecessor, and dreamed of another
kingdom and another deliverance.

Galilee was thus an immense furnace wherein the most diverse
elements were seething.l An extraordinary contempt of life, or,
more properly speaking, a kind of longing for death,2 was the
consequence of these agitations. Experience counts for nothing
in these great fanatical movements. Algeria, at the commence-
ment of the French occupation, saw arise, each spring, inspired
men, who declared themselves invulnerable, and sent by God to
drive away the infidels ; the following year their death was
forirotten, and their successors found no less credence. The
Roman power, very stern on the one hand, yet little disposed
to meddle, permitted a good deal of liberty. Those great brutal
despotisms, terrible in repression, were not so suspicious as
powers which have a faith to defend. They allow^ed everything
up to the point when they thought it necessary to be severe. It
is not recorded that Jesus was even once interfered with by the
civil power, in his wandering career. Such freedom, and, above all,
the happiness which Galilee enjoyed in being much less confined
in the bonds of Pharisaic pedantry, gave to this district a real
superiority over Jerusalem. The revolution, or, in other words,
the belief in the Messiah, caused here a general fermentation.
Men deemed themselves on the eve of the great renovation ; the
Scriptures, tortured into divers meanings, fostered the most
colossal hopes. In each line of the simple writings of the Old
Testament they saw the assurance, and, in a manner, the pro-
gramme of the future reign, which was to bring peace to the
righteous, and to seal for ever the work of God.

1 Luke xiii. 1. The Galilean movement of Judas, son of Hezekiah, does not ap-
pear to have been of a religious character; perhaps, however, its character han
been misrepresented by Josephns, (Ant,, XVII. x. 5.)

H Jos. Ant., XVI. vi. 2, 3; xviu. i. 1.

74 LIFE OF JESUS.

From all time, this division into two parties, opposed in interest
and spirit, had been for the Hebrew nation a principle which
contibuted to their moral growth. Every nation called to high des-
tinies ought to be a little world in itself, including opposite poles.
Greece presented, at a few leagues' distance from each other,
Sparta and Athens — to a superficial observer, the two antipodes ;
but, in reality, rival sisters, necessary to one another. It was the
same with Judea. Less brilliant in one sense than the develop-
ment of Jerusalem, that of the North was on the whole much
more fertile ; the greatest achievements of the Jewish people have
always proceeded thence. A complete absence of the love of
nature, bordering upon something dry, narrow, and ferocious, has
stamped all the works purely Hierosol3rmite with a degree of
grandeur, though sad, arid, and repulsive. With its solemn
doctors, its insipid canonists, its hypocritical and atrabilious de-
votees, Jerusalem has not conquered humanity. The North has
given to the world the simple Shunammite, the humble Canaanite,
the impassioned Magdalene, the good foster-father Joseph, and the
Virgin Mary. The North alone has made Christianity ; Jerusalem,
on the contrary, is the true home of that obstinate Judaism, which,
founded by the Pharisees, and fixed by the Talmud, has traversed
the Middle Ages, and come down to us.

A beautiful external nature tended to produce a much less
austere spirit — a spirit less sharply monotheistic, if I may use the
expression, which imprinted a charming and idyllic character on
all the dreams of Galilee. The saddest country in the world is
perhaps the region round about Jerusalem. Galilee, on the con-
trary, was a very gi-een, shady, smiling district, the true home of
the Song of Songs, and the songs of the well-beloved, i During the

^ Jos., B. /., ni. iii. 1. The horrible state to which the country is reduced,
especially near Lake Tiberias, ought not to deceive us. These countries, now
Bcorched, were formerly terrestrial paradises. The baths of Tiberias, which are
now a frightful abode, were formerly the most beautiful places in Galilee, (Jos.,
Ant, XVIII. ii. 3.) Josephus {Bell, Jud., iii. x. 8) extols the beautiful trees of the
plain of Gennesareth, where there is no longer a single one. Anthony the Martyr,
about thr year 600, conseauently fifty years before the Mussulman invasion, still

LIFE OF JESUS. 75

two months of March and April, the country forms a carpet of
flowers of an incomparable variety of colours. The animals are
small, and extremely gentle : — delicate and lively turtle-doves,
blue-birds so light that they rest on a blade of grass without
bending it, crested larks which venture almost under the feet of
the traveller, little river tortoises with mild and lively eyes, storks
with grave and modest mien, which, laying aside all timidity,
allow man to come quite near them, and seem almost to invite his
approach. In no country in the world do the mountams spread
themselves out with more harmony, or inspire higher thoughts.
Jesus seems to have had a pecuhar love for them. The most
important acts of his divine career took place upon the mountains.
It was there that he v/as the most inspired ; i it was there that he
held secret communion with the ancient prophets; and it was
there that his disciples witnessed his transfiguration ^

This beautiful country has now become sad and gloomy
through the ever-impoverishing influence of Islamism. But still
everything which man cannot destroy breathes an air of freedom,
mildness, and tenderness, and at the time of Jesus it over-
flowed with happiness and prosperity. The Galileans were con-
sidered energetic, brave, and laborious. ^ If we except Tiberias,
built by Antipas in honour of Tiberius, (about the year 15,) in
the Roman style,^ Galilee had no large towns. The country
was nevertheless well peopled, covered with small towns and
large villages, and cultivated in all parts with skiU.^ From the
rums which remain of its ancient splendour, we can trace an
agricultural people, no way gifted in art, caring little for luxury,
indifterent to the beauties of form, ana exclusively idealistic. The

found Galilee covered witk delightful plantations, and compares its fertility to
that of Egypt, {Itin., § b.)

^ Matt. V. 1, xiv. 23; Luke vi. 12.

2 Matt. xvii. 1, and following; Mark ii. 1, and following; Luke ix. 2S, and fol-
lowing.

3 Jos., B. J., m. iii. 2. ,

* Jos., Ant, xvm. ii. 2; B. /., II. ii. 1 ; Vita, 12, 18, 64
^' Job,, B. J., III. iii. 2.

7() LIFE OF JESUS.

country abounded in fresh streams and in fruits; the large
farms were shaded with vines and fig-trees ; the gardens were
filled with trees bearing apples, walnuts, and pomegranates, l The
wine was excellent, if we may judge by that which the Jews still
obtain at Safed, and they drank much of it.2 This contented and
easily satisfied life was not like the gross materialism of our
peasantry, the coarse pleasures of agricultural Normandy, or
the heavy mirth of the Flemish. It spiritualised itself in ethereal
dreams — in a kind of poetic mysticism, blending heaven and
earth. Leave the austere Baptist in his desert of Judea to preach
penitence, to inveigh without ceasing, and to live on locusts in the
company of jackals. Why should the companions of the bride-
groom fast while the bridegroom is with them ? Joy will be
a part of the kingdom of God. Is she not the daughter of the
humble in heart, of the men of good will ?

The whole history of infant Christianity has become in this
manner a delightful pastoral. A Messiah at the marriage festival,
— the courtezan and the good Zaccheus called to his feasts, — the
founders of the kingdom of heaven like a bridal procession ,
— that is what Galilee has boldly offered, and what the world
has accepted. Greece has drawn pictures of human life by sculp-
ture and by charming poetry, but always without backgrounds
or distant receding perspectives. In Galilee were wanting the
marble, the practised workmen, the exquisite and refined language.
But Galilee has created the most sublime ideal for the popular
imagination ; for behind its idyl moves the fate of humanity,
and the light which illumines its picture is the sun of the king-
dom of God.

^ We may judge of this by some enclosures in the neighbourhood of Nazareth.
Cf. Song of Solomon ii. 3, 5, 13, iv. 13, vi. 6, 10, vii. 8, 12, viii. 2, 5; Anton.
Martyr, I. c. The aspect of the great farms is still well preserved in the south
of the country of Tyre, (ancient tribe of Asher.) Traces of the ancient Pales-
tinian agriculture, with its troughs, thrashing-floors, wine-presses, mills, &c., cut
in the rock, are found at every step.

'Matt. ix. 17, xi. 19; Mark ii. 22; Luke v. 37, vii. 34; John ii, 3, and follow-
ing.

LIFE OF JESUS. 77

Jesus lived and grew amidst these enchanting scenes. From his
iiifancy, he went ahnost annually to the feast at Jerusalem.^ The
pilgrimage w\as a sweet solemnity for the provincial Jews. Entire
series of psalms were consecrated to celebrate the happiness of
thus journeying in family companionship 2 during several days in
the spring across the hills and valleys, each one having in prospect
the splendours of Jerusalem, the solemnities of the sacred courts,
and the joy of brethren dwelling together in iinity.3 The route
which Jesus ordinarily took in thfse journeys was that which is
followed to this day through Gincsa and Shechem.^ From Shechem
to Jerusalem the journey is very toilsome. But the neighbourhood
of the old sanctuaries of Shiloh, and Bethel, near which the travellers
pass, keep their interest alive. Ain-el-Haramie,^ the last halting-
place, is a charming and melancholy spot, and few impressions equal
that experienced on encamping there for the night. The valley is
nairow and sombre, and a dark stream issues from the rocks, full
of tombs, which form its banks. It is, I think, the " valley of tears,"
or of dropping waters, which is described as one of the stations on the
way in the delightful Eighty-fourth Psalm,^ and which became the
emblem of life for the sad and sweet mysticism of the Middle Ages.
Early the next day they would be at Jerusalem ; such an expec-
tation even now sustains the caravan, rendering the nic^ht short
and slumber light.

These journeys, in which the assembled nation exchanged its
ideas, and which were almost always centres of great agitation,
placed Jesus in contact with the mind of his countrymen, and
no doubt inspired him whilst still young with a lively antipathy
for the defects of the official representatives of Judaism. It is

1 Luke ii. 41. 2 Luke ii. 42-44.

^ See especially Pa. Ixxxiv., cxxii., cxxxiii. (Vulg., Ixxxiii., exxi., cxxxii.)

* Luke ix. 51-53, xvii. 11 ; John iv. 4 ; Jos., Ant., xx. vi. 1 ; B. J., ir. xii. 3;
Vita, 52, Often, however, the pilgrims came by Persea, in order to avoid Samaria,
where they incurred dangers ; Matt. xix. 1 ; Mark x. 1.

* According to Josephus {Vila, 52) it was three days* journey. But the stage
from Shei;hem to Jerusalem was generally divided into two.

* Ixxxiii. according to the Vulgate, v. 7.

78 LIFE OP JESUS.

supposed that very early the desert had great influence on his
development, and that he made long stays therej But the God
he found in the desert was not his God. It was rather the God
of Job, severe and terrible, accountable to no one. Sometimes
Satan came to tempt him. He returned, then, into his beloved
Galilee, and found again his heavenly Father in the midst of the
green hills and the clear fountains — and among the crowds of
women and children, who, with joyous soul and the song of angela
in their hearts, awaited the salvation of Israel

» Luko 17. 42. V. 16

CHAPTER V.

TKF FIRST SAVINGS OF JESUS — HIS IDEAS OF A DIVINE PATHEB
AND OF A PURE RELIGION — FIRST DISCIPLES.

Joseph died before his son had taken any public part. Mary
remained, in a manner, the head of the family, and this explains
why her son, when it was wished to distinguish him from others
of the same name, was most frequently called the " son of Mary." l
It seems that having, by the death of her husband, been left
friendless at Nazareth, she withdrew to Cana,2 from which she
may have come originally. Cana^ was a little town at from two
to two and a half hours' journey from Nazareth, at the foot of the
mountains which bound the plain of Asochis on the north.4 The
prospect, less grand than at Nazareth, extends over all the plain,
and is bounded in the most picturesque manner by the mountains
of Nazareth and the hills of Sepphoris. Jesus appears to have
resided some time in this place. Here he probably passed a part
of his youth, and here his greatness first revealed itself.5

He followed the trade of his father, which was that of a carpen-

^ This is the expression of Mark vi; 3 ; cf. Matt. xiii. 55. Mark did not know
Joseph. John and Luke, on the contrary, prefer the expression " son of Joseph,"
Luke iii. 23, iv. 22 ; John i. 45, iv. 42.

2 John ii. I, iv. 46. John alone is informed on this point.

^ I admit, as probable, the idea which identifies Cana of Galilee with Kana el
Djelil. We may, nevertheless, attach value to the arguments for Kefr Kenna, a
place an hour or an hour and a half's journey N.N.E. of Nazareth.

* Now El-Buttauf.

° John ii. 11, iv. 46 One or two disciples were of Cana, John xxi. 2 ; Matt,
X. 4; Mark iii, 18.

80 LIFE OF JESUS.

ter.l This was not in any degree humiliating or grievous. The
Jewish customs required that a man devoted to intellectual work
should learn a trade. The most celebrated doctors did so ; 2 thus
St Paul, whose education had been so carefully tended, was a tent-
maker.3 Jesus never married. All his power of love centred upon
that which he regarded as his celestial vocation. The extremely
delicate feeling towards women,^ which we remark in him, was
not separated from the exclusive devotion which he had for
his mission. Like Francis d'Assissi and Francis de Sales, he
treated as sisters the women who were loved of the same work
as himself; he had his St Clare, his Frances de Chnntal.
It is, however, probable that these loved him more than the
work ; he was, no doubt, more beloved than loving. Thus, as
often happens in very elevated natures, tenderness of the heart
was transformed in him into an infinite sweetness, a vague
poetry, and a universal charm. His relations, free and intimate,
but of an entirely moral kind, with women of doubtful character,
are also explained by the passion which attached him to the glory
of his Father, and which made him jealously anxious for all
beautiful creatures who could contribute to it. 5

What was the progress of the ideas of Jesus during this obscure
period of his life ? Through what meditations did he enter upon
the prophetic career ? We have no information on these points,
his history having come to us in scattered narratives, without
exact chronology. But the development of character is every-
where the same ; and there is no doubt that the growth of so
powerful individuality as that of Jesus obeyed very rigorous lawa
A high conception of the Divinity — which he did not owe to
Judaism, and which seems to have been in all its parts the crea-
tion of his great mind — was in a manner the source of all his

* Mai'k vi. 3 ; Justin, Dial, cum Tryph., 88.

2 For example, " Rabbi Johanan, the shoemaker, Rabbi Isaac, the blacksmith."
^ Acts xviii. 3.

* See pp. 126, 127.

' Luke vii. 37, and following; John iv. 7, and following; viii. 3, and following.

LIFE OF JESUS. 81

power. It is essential here that we put aside the ideas familiar to
us, and Mie discussions in which little minds exhaust themselves.
In order properly to understand the precise character of the piety
of Jesus, we must forget all that is placed between the gospel and
ourselves. Deism and Pantheism have become the two poles of
theology. The paltry discussions of scholasticism, the dryness of
spirit of Descartes, the deep-rooted irrehgion of the eighteenth cen-
tury, by lessening God, and by limiting Him, in a manner, by the
exclusion of everything which is not His very self, have stifled in
the breast of modern rationalism all fertile ideas of the Divinity.
If God. in fiict, is a personal being outside of us, he who believes
himself to have peculiar relations with God is a " visionary," and
as the physical and physiological sciences have shewn us that all
supernatural visions are illusions, the logical Deist finds it im-
possible to understand the great beliefs of the past. Pantheism,
on the other hand, in suppressing the Divine personality, is as far
as it can be from the living God of the ancient religions. Were
the rnen who have best comprehended God — pakya-Mouni,
Plato, St Paul, St Francis d'Assissi, and St Augustine (at some
periods of his fluctuating life) — Deists or Pantheists ? Such a
question has no meaning. The physical and metaphysical proofs
of the existence of God were quite indifferent to them. They felt
the Divine within themselves. We must place Jesus in the first
rank of this great family of the true sons of God. Jesus had no
visions; God did not speak to him as to one outside of Himself ;
God w^as in him ; he felt himself with God, and he drew from
his heart all he said of his Father. He lived in the bosom of
God by constant communication with Him; he saw Him not, but
he understood Him, without need of the thunder and the burn-
ing bush of Moses, of the revealing- tempest of Job, of the oracle
of the old Greek sages, of the familiar genius of Socrates, or of the
an;rel Gabriel of Mahomet. The imaoination and the hallucina-
tion of a St Theresa, for example, are useless here. The intoxi-
cation of the Soufi proclaiming himself identical with God is also
'i^uite another thing. Jesus never once ffave utterance to the sac-

82 LIFE OF JESUS.

rilegious idea that he was God. He believed himself to be in
direct communion with God; he believed himself to be the Son
of God. The highest consciousness of God which has existed in
the bosom of humanity was that of Jesus.

We understand, on the other hand, how Jesus, starting with
such a disposition of spirit, could never be a speculative philoso-
pher like Cakya-Mouni. Nothing is further from scholastic theo-
logy than the Gospel, l The speculations of the Greek fathers on
the Divine essence proceed from an entirely different spirit. God,
conceived simply as Father, was all the theology of Jesus. And
this was not with him a theoretical principle, a doctrine more or
less proved, which he sought to inculcate in others. He did not
argue with his disciples ;2 he demanded from them no effort of
attention. He did not preach his opinions ; he preached himself.
Very great and very disinterested minds often present, associated
with much elevation, that character of perpetual attention to them-
selves, and extreme personal susceptibility, which, in general, is
peculiar to women. 3 Their conviction that God is in them, and
occupies Himself perpetually with them, is so strong, that they
have no fear of obtruding themselves upon others ; our reserve,
and our respect for the opinion of others, which is a part of our
weakness, could not belong to them. This exaltation of self is not
egotisL: ; for such men, possessed by their idea, give their lives
freely, in order to seal their work ; it is the identification of self
with the object it has embraced, carried to its utmost limit. It
is regarded as vain, glory by those who see in the new teaching
only the personal phantasy of tijC founder ; but it is the finger of
God to those who see the result. The fool stands side by side
here with the iiispired man, only the fool never succeeds. It has

^ The discourses which the fourth Gospel attributes to Jesus contain some
germs of thei^logy. But these discovirses being in absol;;te contradiction with those
of the synoptical Gospels, which represent, without any doubt, the primitive
Login, ought to count simply as documents of apostolio history, and not as ele-
ments of the life of Jesus.

- See Matt. ix. 9, and other analogous accounts.

^ See, for example, John xxi. 15, and following.

LIFE OF JESU3. SS

not yet been given to insanity to influence seriously the progress
of liumanity.

Doubtless, Jesus did not attain at first this high affirmation of
himself. But it is probable that, from the first, he regarded his
relationship with God as that of a son with his father. This was
his great act of originality ; in this he had nothing in common
with his race.l Neither the Jew nor the Mussulman has under-
stood this delightful theology of love. The God of Jesus is not
that tyrannical master who kills us, damns us, or saves us, accord-
ing to His pleasure. The God of Jesus is our Father. We hear
Him in listening to the gentle inspiration which cries within us,
"Abba, rather."2 The God of Jesus is not the partial despot who
has chosen Israel for His people, and specially protects them. He is
the God of humanity. Jesus was not a patriot, like the Maccabees ;
or a theocrat, like Judas the Gaulonite. Boldly raising himself
above the prejudices of his nation, he established the universal
fatherhood of God, The Gaulonite maintained that we should
die rather than give to another than God the name of " Master • "
Jesus left this name to any one who liked to take it, and reserved
for God a dearer name. Whilst he accorded to the powerful of the
earth, who were to him representatives of force, a respect full of
irony, he proclaimed the supreme consolation— the recourse to the
Father which each oue has in heaven — and the true kingdom of
God, which each one bears in his heart.

This name of ''kingdom of God," or ''kingdom of heaven," 3
Was the favourite term of Jesus to express the revolution which
he brought into the world.4 Like almost all the Messianic terms,

^ The great soul of Pliilo is in sympathy here, as on so many other points, with
that of Jesus. De Confas. Ling., § 14 ; De Miyr. Ahr., %\; De Sornnila, ii., § 41 ;
De Ar/ric. NoS, § 12 ; Dc Mutatione Nominum, § 4. But Philb is scarcely a Jew-
in spirit.

2 Galatians iv. 6.

' The word "heaveh" in the rabbinical language of that time is synonymous
t(hth the name of " God," which they avoided pronouncing. Compare Matt. xxi.
25; Luke XV. 18, xx. 4.

^ This expression occurs on each page of the synoptical Gospels, the Acts of
the Apostlw Rud St Paul. If it only appears once in John, (ill. 3, 5,) it is be-

84 LIFE OF JESUS.

it came from the book of Daniel. According to the author
of this extraordinary book, the four profane empires, destined to
fall, were to be succeeded by a fifth empire, that of the saints,
which should last for ever.* This reign of God upon earth natu-
rally led to the most diverse interpretations. To Jewish theology,
the "kingdom of God" is most frequently only Judaism itself —
the true religion, the monotheistic worship, piety.* In the later
periods of his life, Jesus believed that this reign would be realised
in a material form by a sudden renovation of the world. But
doubtless this was not his first idea.* The admirable moral
which he draws from the idea of God as Father, is not that of
enthusiasts who believe the world is near its end, and who pre-
pare themselves by asceticism for a chimerical catastrophe; it
is that of men who have lived, and still would live. "The
kingdom of God is within you," said he to those who sought
with subtilty for external signs.* The realistic conception of
the Divine advent was but a cloud, a transient error, which
his death has made us forget. The Jesus who founded the true
kingdom of God, the kingdom of the meek and the humble, was
the Jesus of early life,^ — of those chaste and pure days when
the voice of his Father re-echoed within him in clearer tones.
It was then for some months, perhaps a year, that God truly
dwelt upon the earth. The voice of the young carpenter suddenly
acquired an extraordinary sweetness. An infinite charm was ex-
haled from his person, and those who had seen him up to that time
no longer recognised him.® He had not yet any disciples, and the
cause the discourses related in the fourth Gospel are far from representing the true
words of Jesus.

1 Dan ii. 44, vii. 13, 14, 22, 27.

2 Mishnah, Berahoth, ii. 1, 3 ; Talmud of Jerusalem, BeraTcoth, ii. 2 ; Kiddus
Mn, i. 2 ; Talm. of Bab., Berakoth, 15 a ; Mekilta, 42 b; Siphra, 170 b. The ex-
pression appears often in the Medrashim.

» Matt. vi. 33, xii. 28, xix. 12; Mark xii. 34; Luke xii. 31.

« Luke xvii. 20,21.

" The grand theory of the revelation of the Son of man is in fact reserved, in
the synoptics, for the chapters which precede the narrative of the Passion^ The
first discourses, especially in ]\Iatthe\v, are entirely moral.

« Matt. xiii. Ci and foliowiuj Maik vi, 2 aud following John v. 42.

LIFE OF JESUS. 85

group which gathered around hiin was neither a sect nor a school;
but a common spirit, a sweet and penetrating influence was felt.
His amiable character, accompanied doubtless by one of those
lovely faces 1 which sometimes appear in the Jewish race, threw
around him a fascination from which no one in the midst of these
kindly and simple populations could escape.

Paradise would, in fact, ho,ve been brought to earth if the ideas
of the young Master had not far transcended the level of ordinary
goodness beyond which it has not been found possible to raise the
human race. The brotherhood of men, as sons of God, and the
moral consequences which result therefrom, were deduced with
exquisite feeling. Like all the rabbis of the time, Jesus was little
inclined toward consecutive reasonings, and clothed his doctrine in
concise aphorisms, and in an expressive form, at times enigmatical
and strange.2 Some of these maxims come from the books of the
Oid Testament. Others were the thoughts of more modern sao-es
especially those of Antigonus of Soco, Jesus, son of Sirach, and
Hillel, which had reached him, not from learned study, but
as oft repeated proverbs. The synagogue was rich in very hap-
pily expressed sentences, which formed a kind of current proverbial
literature.3 Jesus adopted almost all this oral teaching, but imr
bued it with a superior spirit.^ Exceeding the duties laid down
by the Law and the elders, he demanded perfection. All the
virtues of humility, — forgiveness, charity, abnegation, and self-

1 The tradition of the plainness of Jesus (Justin, Dial, cum Tryph., 85, 88,
100) springs from a desire to see realised in him a pretended Messianic trait, (Tsa.
liii. 2.)

^ The Logia of St Matthew joins several of these axioms together, to form
lengthened discourses. But the fragmentary form makes itself felt notwithstand-
ing.

^ The sentences of the Jewish doctors of the time are collected in the little
book entitled, Plrl:6 Ahoth.

* The comparisons will be made afterwards as they present themselves. It has
been sometimes supposed that — the compilation of the Talmud being later than
that of the Gospels— parts may have been borrowed by the Jewish compilers from
the Christian morality. But this is inadmissible— a wall of separation existed
between the Church and the Synagogue. The Christian and Jewish literature had
scarcely any influence on one another before the thirteenth century.

86 LIFE OF JESUS.

denial — virtues which with good reason have been called Christian,
if we mean by that that they have been truly preached by Christ, —
were in this first teaching, though undeveloped. As to justice, he
was content with repeating the well-known axiom — " Whatsoever
ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." l
But this old though somewhat selfish wisdom did not satisfy him.
He went to excess, and said — " 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 cloak
also." 2 " If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it
from thee." 3 '' Love your enemies, do good to them that hate
you, pray for them that persecute you."'* '' Judge not, that ye be
not judged." 5 '' Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven." 6 " Be ye
therefore merciful as your Father also is merciful." 7 " It is more
blessed to give than to receive." 8 " Whosoever shall exalt him-
self shall be abased ; and he that shall humble himself shall be
exalted." 9

Upon alms, pity, good works, kindness, peacefulness, and
complete disinterestedness of heart, he had little to add to the
doctrine of the synagogue. lO But he placed upon them an em-
phasis full of unction, which made the old maxims appear new.

^ Matt. vii. 12; Luke vi. 31. This axiom is in the book of Tohit, iv. 16.
Hillel used it habitually, (Talm, of Bab., Shahhath, 31 a,) and declared, like Jesus,
that it was the sum of the Law.

2 Matt. V. 39, and following ; Luke vi. 29. Compare Jeremiah, Lamentations
iii. 30.

'^ Matt. V. 29, 30, xviii. 9 ; Mark ix. 46.

* Matt, V. 44 J Luke vi. 27. Compare Talmud of Babylon, Shahhath, 88 b;
Joma, 2'i a.

5 Matt. vii. 1 ; Luke vi. 37. Compare Talmud of Babylon, Kethuboth, 105 h.

* Luke vi. 37. Compare Lev. xix. 18; Prov. xx. 22; Ecdesiasticus xxviii. 1,
and following.

7 Luke vi. 36; Siphre, 51 h, (Sultzbach, 1802.)

* A saying related in -Acts xx. 35.

^ Matt, xxiii. 12; Luke xiv, 11, xviii. 14. The sentences quoted by St Jerome
from the " Gospel according to the Hebrews," (Comment, in Epist ad Ephes., v.
4; in Ezek. xviii.; Dial. adv. Pelag., iii. 2,) are imbued with the same spirit.

^^ Deut. xxiv., XXV., xxvi., &c.; Isa. Iviii. 7 ; Prov. xix. 17; Pirke Aboth, i;;
Talmud of Jerusalem, Peah, i. 1 ; Talmud of Babylon, Shahhath, 63 a.

LIFE OF JESUS. 87

Morality is not composed of more or less well- expressed prin-
ciples. The poetry whicli makes tlio precept loved, is more
than the precept itself, taken as an abstract truth. Now
it caimot be denied that these maxims borrowed by Jesus
from his predecessors, produce quite a different effect in the
Gospel to that in the ancient Law, in the Firhe Aboth, or in the
Talmud. It is neither the ancient Law nor the Talmud which
has conquered and changed the world. Little original in itself —
if we mean by that that one might recompose it almost entirely
by the aid of older maxims — the morality of the Gospels remains,
nevertheless, the highest creation of human conscience — the most
beautiful code of perfect life that any moralist has traced.

Jesus did not speak against the Mosaic law, but it is clear that
he saw its insufficiency, and allowed it to be seen that he did so.
He repeated unceasingly that more must be done than the ancient
sages had commanded.i He forbade the least harsh word ;2 he pro-
hibited divorce,^ and all swearing ; 4 he censured revenge ; 5 he con-
demned usury ; 6 he considered voluptuous desire as criminal as
adultery ; 7 he insisted upon a universal forgiveness of injuries. 8
The motive on which he rested these maxims of exalted charity

was always the same " That ye may be the children of

your Father which is in heaven : for he maketh His sun to rise on
the evil and the good. 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." 9

A pure worship, a religion without priests and external ob-
servances, resting entirely on the feelings of the heart, on the

1 Matt. T. 20, and following. = Matt, v. 22.

5 Matt, V. 31, and following. Compare Talmud of Babylon, Sanhedrim, 22 a,
* Matt, V. 83, and following. ^ Matt. v. 38, And following,

' Matt, V, 42. The Law prohibited it also, {Deut. xv. 7, 8,) but less formally>

»nd custom authorised it, (Luke vii. 41, and following.)
7 Matt, xxvii. 28. Compare Talmud, MassSket Kalla, (edit. Fiii'th, 1793,) fol.

Uh. 8 Matt. V. 23, and following.

^ Mfttt. V. 45, and following. Compare Lev. 3d. 44, xix. 1.

88 LIFE OF JESUS.

imitation of God,l on the direct relation of the conscience
with the heavenly Father, was the result of these princi-
ples. Jesus never shrank from this bold conclusion, which
made him a thorough revolutionist in the very centre of Judaism.
Why should there be mediators between man and his Father?
As God only sees the heart, of what good are these purifica-
tions, these observances relating only to the body ? 2 Even
tradition, a thing so sacred to the Jews, is nothing compared to
sincerity.3 The hypocrisy of the Pharisees, who, in praying,
turned their heads to see if they were observed, "s^o gave their
alms with ostentation, and put marks upon their garments, that
they might be recognised as pious persons — all these grimaces of
false devotion disgusted him. " They have their recompense," said
he ; '* but thou, when thou doest thine alms, let not thy left hand
know what thy right hand doeth, that thy alms may be in secret,
and thy Father, which seeth in secret, himself shall reward thee
openly." 4 " 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 streets, that they may be seen of men.
Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when
thou prayest, enter into thy closet ; and when thou hast shut thy
door, pray to thy Father which is in secret ; and thy Father, which
seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use
not vain repetitions, as the heathen do : for they think that they
shall be heard for their much speaking. Your Father knoweth
what things ye have need of before ye ask him." 5

He did not affect any external signs of asceticism, contenting
himself with ]3raying, or rather meditating, upon the mountains
and in the solitary places, where man has always sought God.^
This high idea of the relations of man with God, of which so few

^ Compare Philo, De Mirjr. Ahr., § 23 and 24 ; De Vita Contemp., the whole.
^ Matt. XV. 11, and following; Mark vii. 6, and following.
"^ Mark vii. 6, and following.

* Matt. vi. 1, and following. Compare Ecclesiastkvz xvii. 18, xxix. 15; Talm.
of Bab., Chagigah, 5a; Bala Bathra, 9 h.
5 Matt. vi. 5-8. ^ Matt. xiv. 23; Luke iv. 42, v. 16, vi. 12.

LIFE OP JESUS. 89

minds, even after him, have been capable, is summed up in a
prayer which he taught to his disciples : — 1

" Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name ; thy
kingdom come ; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses, as
we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temp-
tation ; deliver us from the evil one." 2 He insisted particularly
upon the idea, that the heavenly Father knows better than we
what we need, and that we almost sin against Him in asking Him
for this or that particular thing.3

Jesus in this only carried out the consequences of the great
principles which Judaism had established, but which the official
classes of the nation tended more and more to despise. The
Greek and Roman prayers were almost always mere egotistical
verbiage. Never had Pagan priest said to the faithful, '' If thou
bring thy offering to the altar, and there rememberest that thy
brother hath aught against thee ; leave there thy gift before the
altar, and go thy way ; first be reconciled with thy brother, and
then come and offer thy gift." * Alone in antiquity, the Jewish
prophets, especially Isaiah, had, in their antipathy to the priesthood,
caught a glimpse of the true nature of the worship man owes
to God. " To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices
unto me : I am full of the burnt-offerhigs of rams, and the
fat of fed beasts ; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks,
or of lambs, or of he-goats. . . . Incense is an abomination
unto me : for your hands are full of blood ; cease to do evil,
learn to do well, seek judgment, and then come." 5 In later
times, certain doctors, Simeon the just,^ Jesus, son of Sirach,7
Hillel,8 almost reached this point, and declared that the sum

^ Matt. vi. 9, and follo^Yillg; Luke xi, 2, and following.

2 i.e., the devil. ^ Luke xi. 5, and following. * Matt. v. 23, 24.

^ Isaiah i. 11, and following. Compare ibid,, Iviii. entirely; Hosea vi. 6;
Malachi i. 10, and following.

* Pirhe AbotJi, i. 2. ' Ecclesiasticm xxxv. 1, and following.

^ Talm. of Jerus., Pcsachim, vi. 1 • Talm. of Bab., the same treatise 66 a; Shab-
hath, 31 a.

?70 LIFE OF JESUS.

of the Law was righteousness. Philo, in the Jud?eo-Egyptian
world, attained at the same time as Jesus ideas of a high
moral sanctity, the consequence of which was the disregard of the
observances of the Law.i Shemaia and Abtalion also more than
once proved themselves to be very liberal casuists.2 Rabbi Johanan
ere long placed works of mercy above even the study of the Law ! 3
Jesus alone, however, proclaimed these principles in an effective
manner. Never has any one been less a priest than. Jesus, never
a greater enemy of forms, which stifle religion under the pretext
of protecting it. By this we are all his disciples and his suc-
cessors ; by this he has laid the eternal foundation-stone of true
religion ; and if religion is essential to humanity, he lias by this
deserved the Divine rank the world has accorded to him. An
absolutely new idea, the idea of a worship founded on purity of
heart, and on human brotherhood, through him entered into the
world — an idea so elevated, that the Christian Church ought to
make it its distinguishing feature, but an idea which, in our days,
only few minds are capable of embodying.

An exquisite sympathy with nature furnished him each moment
with expressive images. Sometimes a remarkable ingenuity, whicli
we call wit, adorned his aphorisms ; at other times, their liveliness
consisted in the happy use of popular proverbs. ** How wilt thou
say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye ;
and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye ? Thou hypocrite, first
cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then thou shalt see
clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." ^

These lessons, long hidden in the heart of the young Master,
soon gathered around him a few disciples. The spirit of the time
favoured sm-all churches; it was the period of the Essenes or

1 Quod Deus Immut, § i. and 2 ; De Ahrahamo, § 22 ; Quis Rerum Divin. Hceres,
% 13, and following; 55, 58, and following; De Profugis, § 7 and 8; Quod
Omnis Probus Liber, entirely ; De Vita Contemp., entirely,

- Talm. of Bab., PesacUm, 67 6.

3 Talmud of Jerus., Peak, i. 1.

* Matt, vii. 4, 5. Compare Talmud of Babylon, Baba Bathra, 15 5, Emchint
16 6.

LIFE OF JESUS. 91

Therapeutse. Rabbis, each having his distinctive teaching, She-
maia, Abtahon, Hillel, Shammai, Judas the Ganlonite, Gamaliel,
and many others, whose maxims form the Talmud,i appearea
on all sides. They wrote very little ; the Jewish doctors of this
time did not write books; every thing was done by conversa-
tions, and in public lessons, to which it was sought to give
a form easily remembered.2 The proclamation by the young
carpenter of Nazareth of these maxims, for the most part already
generally known, but which, thanks to him, were to regenerate the
world, was therefore no striking event. It was only one Rabbi
more (it is true, the most charming of all), and around him some
young men, eager to hear him, and thirsting for knowledge. It
requires time to command the attention of men. As yet there
were no Christians ; though true Christianity was founded, and,
doubtless, it was never more perfect than at this first period.
Jesus added to it nothing durable afterwards. Indeed, in one
sense, he compromised it ; for every movement, in order to
triumph, must make sacrifices; we never come from the contest
of life unscathed.

To conceive the good, in fact, is not sufficient ; it must be made
to succeed amongst men. To accomplish this, less pure paths must
be followed. Certainly, if the Gospel was confined to some chapters
of Matthew and Luke, it would be more perfect, and would not
now be open to so many objections; but would Jesus have con-
verted the world without miracles ? If he had died at the period
of his career we have now reached, there would not have been in his
life a single page to wound us ; but, greater in the eyes of God, he
would have remained imknown to men ; he would have been lost
in the crowd of great unknown spirits, himself the greatest of all ;
the truth would not have been promulgated, and the world would
not have profited from the great moral superiority with which his
Father had endowed him. Jesus, son of Sirach, and Hillel, had

^ See especially Plrlce Ahoth, ch. i.

' The Talmud, a resume of this vast movement of the schools, was scarcely
commenced till the ispcond century of our era,

93 LIFE OF JESUS.

attered aphorisms almost as exalted as those of Jesus. Hillel,
however, will never be accounted the true founder of Christianity.
In morals, as in art, precept is nothing, practice is everything.
The idea which is hidden in a picture of Raphael is of little
moment; it is the picture itself which is prized. So, too, in
morals, truth is but little prized when it is a mere sentiment, and
only attains its full value when realised in the world as fact.
Men of indifferent morality have written very good maxims.
Very virtuous men, on the other hand, have done nothing to
perpetuate in the world the tradition of virtue. The palm is his
who has been mighty both in words and in works, who has dis-
cerned the good, and at the price of his blood has caused its
triumph. Jesus, from this double point of view, is without equal;
his glory remains entire, and will ever be renewed.

COIAPTER VL

JOHN THE BAPTIST— VISIT OF JESUS TO JOHN, AND HIS ABODE IN
THE DESERT OF JUDEA — ADOPTION OF THE BAPTISM OF JOHN.

An extraordinary man, whose position, from the absence of do-
cumentary evici'.'nce, remains to us in some degree enigmatical,
appeared about this time, and was unquestionably to some extent
coimected with Jesus. This connexion tended rather to make the
young prophet of Nazareth deviate from his path ; but it sug-
gested many important accessories to his religious institution, and,
at all events, furnished a very strong authority to his disciples in
recommending their master in the eyes of a certain class of Jews.

About the year 28 of our era, (the fifteenth year of the reign of
Tiberius,) there spread throughout Palestine the reputation of a
certain Johanan, or John, a young ascetic full of zeal and en-
thusiasm. John was of the priestly race,i and born, it seems, at
Juttah near Hebron, or at Hebron itself.^ Hebron, the patriarchal
city par excellence, situated at a short distance from the desert of
Judea, and within a few hours' journey of the great desert of
Arabia, was at this period what it is to-day — one of the bulwarks
of Semitic ideas, in their most austere form. From his infancy,
John was Nazir — that is to say, subjected by vow to certain

^ Luke i. 6 ; passage from the Gospel of the Ebiouites, preserved by Epiphaniua,
[Adv. Ilcsr., XXX. 13.)

2 Luke i. 39. It has been suggested, not without probability, that "the city
of Juda" mentioned in this passage of Luke, is the town of Jatta, (Josh. xv. 65,
xxi. 16.) Kobinson {Biblical Researches, i. 494, ii. 206) has discovered tliis Jutla^
Btill bearing the same name, at two hours' journey south of HeV^run.

9* LQE OF JESUS.

abstinences. 1 The desert by which he was, so to speak, sur-
rounded, early attracted him. 2 He led there the life of a Yogi of
India, clothed with sldns or stuffs of camels' hair, having for food
only locusts and wild honey.^ A certain number of disciples were
grouped around him, sharing his life and studying his severe
doctrine. We might imagine ourselves transported to the banks
of the Ganges, if particular traits had not revealed in this recluse
the last descendant of the great prophets of Israel.

From the time that the Jewish nation had begun to reflect
upon its destiny with a kind of despair, the imagination of the
people had reverted with much complacency to the ancient
prophets. Now, of all the personages of the past, the remem-
brance of whom came like the dreams of a troubled night to
awaken and agitate the people, the greatest was Elias. This giant
of the prophets, in his rough solitude of Carmel, sharing the life
of savage beasts, dwellin.^' in the hollows of the rocks, whence he
came like a thunderbolt, to make and unmake kings, had become, by
successive transformations, a sort of superhuman being, sometimes
visible, sometimes invisible, and as one who had not tasted death.
It was generally believed that Elias would return and restore
Israel.'* The austere life which he had led, the terrible remem-
brances he had left behind him, — the impression of which is
still powerful in the East,^ — the sombre image which, even in
our own time, causes trembling and death, — all this mythology,
full of vengeance and terror, vividly struck the mind of the
people, and stamped as with a birth-mark all the creations of the
popular mind. Whoever aspired to act powerfully upon the

1 Luke i. 15. 2 Luke i. 80.

' Matt. iii. 4; Mark i. 6; fragm. of the Gospel of the Ebionites, in Epiph.,
Adv., Hcer., xxx. 13.

■* Malachi iv. 5, 6; (iii. 23, 24, according to the Vulg.;) Ecclesiasticus xlviii.
10 ; Matt. xvi. 14, xvii. 10, and following; Mark vi. 15, viii. 28, ix. 10, and follow-
ing; Luke ix. 8, 19; John i. 21, 25.

5 The ferocious Abdallah, pacha of St Jean d'Acre, nearly died from fright
at seeing him in a dream, standing erect on his mountain. In the pictures of
the Christian churches, he is surrounded with decapitated heads. The Mussul-
mans dread hina.

LIFE OF JESUS. m

peoDle. must imitate Ellas ; and, as solltai7 life had been the
essential characteristic of this prophet, they were accustomed to
conceive " the man of God " as a hermit. They imagined that all
the holy personages had had their days of penitence, of solitude, and
of austerity.i The retreat to the desert thus became the condition
and the prelude of high destinies.

No doubt this thought of imitation had occupied John's mind.2
The anchorite life, so opposed to the spirit of the ancient Jewish
people, and with which the vows, such as those of the Nazirs and
the Eechabites, had no relation, pervaded all parts of Judea. The
Essenes or Therapeutse were grouped near the birthplace of John,
on the eastern shores of the Dead Sea.^ It was imagined that
the chiefs of sects ought to be recluses, havins; rules and institutions
of their own, like the founders of religious orders. The teachers of
the yoimg were also at times species of anchorites,^ somewhat re-
sembhng the goitrous^ of Brahminism. In fact, miglit there not
in this be a remote influence of the mourns of India ? Perhaps,
some of those wandering Buddhist monks who overran the world,
as the first Franciscans did in later times, preaching by their
actions and converting people who knew not their language,
might have turned their steps towards Judea, as they certainly
did towards Syria and Babylon? 6 On this point we have no
certainty. Babylon had become for some time a true focus of
Buddhism. Boudasp (Bodliisattva) was reputed a wise Chaldean,
and the founder of Sabeism. Saheism w^as, as its etymology
indicates,^ baptism — that is to say, the religion of many bap-
tisms,— the origin of the sect still existing called " Christians
of St John," or Mendaites, which the Arabs call el-Mogtasila,
"the Baptists." 8 It is difficult to unravel these vague analo-

' Isaiah ii. 9-11. = Luke i. 17.

2 Pliny, Hist. Nat, v. 17; Epiph., Adv. Hcer., xix. 1 and 2.

* Jc'sephus, Vita, 2. ^ Spiritual preceptors.

* I have developed this point elsewhere. Hist. Gener. des Lanffues Simitiqucs,
III. iv. 1 ; Journ. Asiat, February-March, 1856.

" The Aramean word seha, origin of the name of Saltans, is synonymous with

" I have treated of this at greater leniith in the Journal Asiati^ue, Nov.-Dea

96 LIFE OF JESUS.

gies. The sects floating between Judaism, Christianity, Baptism,
and Sabeism, which we find in the region beyond the Jordan
during the first centuries of our era,i present to criticism the
most singular problem, in consequence of the confused accounts
of them which have come down to us. We may beheve,
at all events, that many of the external practices of John, of
the Essenes,2 and of the Jewish spiritual teachers of this time,
were derived from influences then but recently received from the
far East. The fundamental practice which characterised the sect
of John, and gave it its name, has always had its centre in lower
Chaldea, and constitutes a religion which is perpetuated there to
the present day.

This practice was baptism, or total immersion. Ablutions were
already familiar to the Jews, as they were to all religions of the
East.3 The Essencs had given them a peculiar extension.^ Bap-
tism had become an ordinary ceremony on the introduction of
proselytes into the bosom of the Jewish religion, a sort of initiatory
rite.^ Never before John the Baptist, however, had either this im-
portance or this form been given to immersion. John had fixed the
scene of his activity m that part of the desert of Judea which is in
the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea.^ At the periods when he ad-
min isteied baptism, he went to the banks of the Jordan,^ either to
Bethany or Bethabara,8 upon the eastern shore, probably opposite

18o3, and August-Sept. 1855. It is remarkable that the Elchasaites, a Sabian or
Baptist sect, inhabited the same district as the Essenes, (the eastern bank of the
Dead Sea,) and were confounded with them, (Epiph. Adv. Hcer., xix. 1, 2, 4, xxx.
16, 17, liii. 1, 2; Pliilosophumcna, ix. iii. 15, 16, x. xx. 29.)

^ See the remarlcs of Epiphanius on the Essenes, Hemero-Baptists, Nazaritea,
Ossenes, Naz^renes, Ebionites, Samsonites, (Adv. Hccr., books i. and ii.,) and those
of the author of the Philosophumena on the Elchasaites, (books ix. and x.)

2 Epiph., Adv. Ucer., xix., xxx., liii.

^ Mark vii. 4; Jos., Ant, xviil v. 2; Justin, Dial, cum TrypJi., 17, 29, 80;
Epiph., Adv. Hcer., xvii.

4 Jos., B. J., II., viii. 5, 7, 9, 13.

^ Mishnah, Pcsachim, viii. 8; Talmud of Babylon, Jebamoth, 46 h ; Kerilhuth,
da; Ahoda, Zara, 57 a; Massflcet Gerim, (edit. Kirchheini, 1851,) pp. 38-40.

« Matt. iii. 1 ; Mark i. 4. 7 Luke iii. 3.

8 John i. 28, iii. 26. All the manuscripts say Bethany ; but, as no one knows of
Bethany in these places, Origen {Comment, in Joann., vi. 24) has proposed to aubsti*

LIFE OF JESUS. 97

to Jericho, or to a place called jEnon, or ''the fountains," i
near Salim, wherp. there was much water. 2 Considerable crowds,
especially of the tribe of Judah, hastened to him to be bap-
tized. 3 In a few months he thus became one of the most influen-
tial men in Judea, and acquired much importance in the general
estimation.

The people took him for a prophet,^ and many imagined that
it was Elias who had risen again. 5 The belief in these resurrec-
tions was widely spread ;6 it was thought that God would raise from
the tomb certain of the ancient prophets to guide Israel towards
its final destiny.7 Others held John to be the Messiah himself,
although he made no such pretension.8 The priests and the
scribes, opposed to this revival of prophetism, and the constant ene-
mies of enthusiasts, despised him. But the popularity of the Bap-
tist awed them, and they dared not speak against him.9 It was
a victory which the ideas of the multitude gained over the jDriestly
aristocracy. When the chief priests were compelled to declare
themselves explicitly on this point, they were considerably embar-
rassed.!^

Baptism with John was only a sign destined to make an impres-

tute Btihahara., and his correction has been generally accepted. The two words
have, moreover, analogous roeanings, and seem to indicate a place where there was
a ferry-boat to cross the river.

^ JEnon is the Chaldean plural, uEnawan, '*' fountains."

2 John iii. 23. The locality of this place is doubtful. The circumstance
mentioned by the evangelist would lead us to believe that it was not very near the
Jordan. Nevertheless, the synoptics are agreed in placing the scene of the bap-
tisms of John on the banks of that river, (Matt. iii. 6; M?rk i. 5; Luke iii. 3.)
The comparison of verses 22 and 23 of chap. iii. of John, and of verses 3 and 4 of
chap. iv. of the same Gospel, would lead us to believe that Salim was in Judea,
and consequently in the oasis of Jericho, near the mouth of the Jordan ; since it
would be difficult to find in any other district of the tribe of Judah a single na-
tural basin in which any one might be totally immersed. Saint Jerome wishes to
place Salim much more north, near Beth-Schean or Scythopolis. But Robinson
{Bibl. Res., iii. 333) has not been able to find anything at these places that justifies
this assertion.

3 Mark i. 5 ; Josephua, Ant., xvin. v. 2. ■* Matt. xiv. 5, xxi. 26.

' Matt, vi, 14; Mark vi, 15; John i. 21. « Matt. xiv. 2; Luke ix, 8.

' See ante, p. 94 note 4. * Luke iii. 15, and following; John L 20.

» Matt. xxi. 25, and following ; Luke vii. 30. i" Matt., loc. cit.

O

93 "^ LIFE OF JESUa

sion, and to prepare the minds of the people for some great move-
ment. No doubt he was possessed in the highest degree with the
Messianic hope, and that his principal action was in accordance
with it. '• Eepent/' said he, '' for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand." "i He announced a ''great wrath," that is to say, terrible
calamities which should come to pass,^ and declared that the axe was
already laid at the root of the tree, and that the tree would soon
be cast into the fire. He represented the Messiah with a fan in
his hand, collectino; the gfood wheat and burniiio^ the chaff. Ee-
pentance, of v/hich baptism was the type, the giving of alms, the
reformation of habits, 3 were in John's view the great means of
preparation for the coming events, though we do not know exactly
in what light he conceived them. It is, however, certain that he
preached with much power against the same adversaries as Jesus,
against rich priests, the Pharisees, the doctors, in one word, against
official Judaism ; and that, like Jesus, he was specially welcomed
by the despised classes. ^ He made no account of the title " son
of Abraham." and said that God could raise up sons unto Abraham
from the stonea of the road.5 It does not seem that he possessed
even the germ of the great idea which led to the triumph of
Jesus, the idea of a pure religion ; but he powerfully served this
idea in substitutmg a private rite for the legal ceremonies which
required priests, as the Flagellants of the Middle Ages were the
precursors of the Eeformation, by depriving the official clergy of
the monopoly of the sacraments and of absolution. The general
tone of his sermons was stern and severe. The expressions which
he used against his adversaries appear to have been most violent.6
It was a harsh and continuous invective. It is probable that he
did not remain quite a stranger to politics. Josephus, who, through
his teacher Banou, was brought into almost direct connexion with
John, suggests as much by his ambiguous words,7 and the catas-
trophe which put an end to John's life seems to imply this. His

^ Matt. iii. 2. ^ Matt. iii. 7. ^ Luke iii. 11-14 ; Josephus, Ant., xviii. v. 2-
* Matt' xxi. 32; Luke iii. 12-14. * Matt. iii. 9. « Matt. iii. 7; Luke iii. 7.
' Ant. XVIII. V. 2. We must observe that, when Josephus described the secret

LIFE OF JESUS. 99

disciples led a very austere life.l fasted often, and affected a sad
and anxious demeanour. We have at times glimpses of com-
munism— tlie ricli man being ordered to share all that he had
nth the poor. 2 The poor man appeared as the one who would
be specially benefited by the kingdom of God.

Although the centre of John's action was Judea, his fame
quickly penetrated to Galilee and reached Jesus, who, by his first
discourses, had already gathered around himself a small circle of
hearers. Enjoying as yet little authority, and doubtless impelled
by the desire to see a teacher whose instruction had so much in
common with his own, Jesus quitted Galilee and repaired with
his small group of disciples to JcJin,3 The newcomers were
baptized like every one else. John welcomed this group of Gali-
lean disciples, and did not object to their remaining distinct from
his own. The two teachers were young ; they had many ideas in
common ; they loved one another, and publicly vied with each
other in exhibitions of kindly feeling. At the first glance, such a
fact surprises us in John the Baptist, and we are tempted to call
it in question. Humility has never been a feature of strong Jew-
ish minds. It might have been expected that a character so stub-

fcnd more or less seditious doctrines of his countrymen, he suppressed everything
which had reference to the Messianic beliefs, and, in order not to give umbrage to
the Romans, spread over these doctrines a vulgar and commonplace air, which
made all the heads of Jewish sects appear as mere professors of morals or stoics.

1 Matt.ix. 14. 2 Luke iii. 11.

3 Matt. iii. 13, and following; Mark i. 9, and following; Luke iii. 21, and fol-
lowing ; John i. 29, and following ; iii. 22, and following. The synoptics make
Jesus come to John, before he had played any public part. But if it is true, as
they state, that John recognised Jesus from the first and welcomed him, it must
be supposed that Jesus was already a somewhat renowned teacher. The fourth
Gospel brings Jesus to John twice, the first time whikt yet unknown, the second
time with a band of disciples. Without touching here the question of the precise
journeys of Jesus, (an insoluble question, seeing the contradictions of the docu-
ments and the little care the evangelists had in being exact in such matters,) and
without denying that Jesus might have made a journey to John when he had as
yet no notoriety, we adopt the information furnished by the fourth Gospel, (iii.
22, and following,) namely, that Jesus, before beginning to baptize like John, had
formed a school. We must remember, besides, that the first pages of the fourth
Gospel are notes tacked together without rigorous chronological arrangement.

591786A

100 LIFE OF JESUS.

born, a sort of Lamenimis ahvays irritated, would be very passionate,
and suffer neither rivalry nor lialf adhesion. But this manner of
viewing things rests upon a false conception of the person of John.
We imagine him an old man ; he was, on the contrary, of the
same age as Jesus,l and very young according to the ideas of the
time. In mental development, he was the brother rather than the
father of Jesus. The two young enthusiasts, full of the same
hopes and the same hatreds, were able to make common cause,
and mutually to support each other. Certainly an aged teacher,
seeing a man without celebrity approach him, and maintain
towards him an aspect of independence, would have rebelled ; we
have scarcely an example of a leader of a school receiving with
eagerness his future successor. But youth is capable of any sacri-
fice, and we may admit that John, having recognised in Jesus a
spirit akiu t^ his own, accepted him without any personal
reservation. I'hose good relations became afterwards the start-
ing-point of a whole system developed by the evangelists, which
consisted in giving the Divine mission of Jesus the primary
basis of the attestation of John. Such was the degree of autho-
rity acquired by the Baptist, that it was not thought possible to
find in the world a better guarantee. But far from John abdi-
cating in favour of Jesus, Jesus, during all the time that he passed
with him, recognised him as his superior, and only developed his
ov/n genius with timidity.

It seems, in fact, that, notwithstanding his profound originality,
Jesus, during some weeks at least, was the imitator of John. His
way as yet was not clear before him. At all times, moreover,
Jesus yielded much to opinion, and adopted many things which
were not in exact accordance with his own ideas, or for which he
cared little, merely because they were popular ; but these accessories
never injured his principal idea, and were always subordinate to it.
Baptism had been brought by John into very great favour ; Jesus
thought himself obliged to do like John : therefore he baptized, and

1 Luke i., although indeed all the detains 2f the ^sjr^ative, especially those which
refer to the relationship of John with Jesus, are legendary,

LIFE OF JESUS. 101

his disciples baptized also.i No doubt he accompanied baptism with
preaching, similar to that of John. The Jordan was thus covered
on all sides with Baptists, whose discourses were more or less suc-
cessful. The pupil soon equalled the master, and his baptism
was much sought after. There was on this subject some jealousy
among the disciples; 2 the disciples of John came to complain to
him of the growing success of the young Galilean, wdiose baptism
would, they thought, soon supplant his own. But the two teachers
remained superior to this meanness. The superiority of John
was, besides, too indisputable for Jesus, still little known, to think
of contesting it. Jesus only wished to increase under John's
protection ; and thought himself obliged, in order to gain the mul-
titude, to employ the external means which had given John such
astonishing success. When he recommenced to preach after John's
arrest, the first words put into his mouth are but the repetition of
one of the familiar phrases of the Baptist.3 Many other of John's
expressions may be found repeated verbally in the discourses of
Jesus. 4 The two schools appear to have lived long on good
terms with each other; 5 and after the death of John, Jesus, as
his trusty friend, was one of the first to be informed of the event.^
John, in fact, was soon cut short in his prophetic career. Lilie
the ancient Jewish prophets, he Avas, in the highest degree, a
censurer of the established authorities.^ The extreme vivacity
with which he expressed himself at their expense could not fail
to bring him into trouble. In Judea, John does not appear to
have been disturbed by Pilate ; but in Perea, beyond the Jordan,
he came into the territory of Antipas. This tyrant was uneasy
at the political leaven which was so little concealed by John in his
preaching. The great assemblages of men gathered around the
Baptist, by religious and patriotic enthusiasm, gave rise to sus-
picion. 8 An entirely personal grievance was also added to these

1 John iii. 22-26, iv. 1, 2. The parenthesis of ver. 2 appears to be an inter-
polation, or perhaps a tardy scruple of John correcting himself.

2 John iii. 26, iv. 1. ^ jyi^tt. iii. 2, iv. 17. ^ Matt. iii. 7, xii. 'ii, xxiii. S3.
» Matt. xi. 2-13. « Matt. xiv. 12. ? Luke iu. 19.

* Jos.. Ant., xviii. V 2.

102 LIFE 0^ JEStTS.

motives of state, and rendered the death of the austere censor
inevitable.

One of the most strongly marked characters of this tragical
family of the Herods was Herodias, grand-daughter of Herod the
Great. Violent, ambitious, and passionate, she detested Judaism,
and despised its laws.l She had been married, probably against
her will, to her nncle Herod, son of Mariamne,2 whom Herod
the Great had disinherited,^ and who never played any public
j)art. The inferior position of her husband, in respect to the
other persons of the family, gave her no peace ; she determined
to be sovereign at whatever cost. 4 Antipas was the instrument
of whom she made use. This feeble man having become despe-
rately enamoured of her, promised to marry her, and to repudiate
his first wife, daughter of Hareth, king of Petra, and emir of the
neighbouring tribes of Perea. The Arabian princess, receiving a
hint of this design, resolved to fly. Concealing her intention, she
pretended that she wished to make a journey to Machero, in her
father's territory, and caused herself to be conducted thither by
the officers of Antipas.^

Makaur,6 or Machero, was a colossal fortress built by Alexander
Jannaeus, and rebuilt by Herod, in one of the most abrupt wadys
to the east of the Dead Sea.7 It was a wild and desolate country,
filled with strange legends, and believed to be haunted by demon s.8
The fortress was just on the boundary of the lands of Hareth and
of Antipas. At that time it was in the possession of Hareth.9
The latter having been warned, had prepared everything for the

^ Jos., AnU, xviii. V. 4.

2 Matthew (chap. xiv. 3, in the Greek text) and Mark (chap. vi. 17) have it
that this was Philip ; but this is certainly an inadvertency (see Job., Anti, xviii
V. 1, 4.) The wife of Philip was Salome, daughter of Herodias.

3 Jos., Ant, XVII. iv. 2. ^ Ibid., xviii. vii. 1, 2; B. /., ii. is. 6.

5 Ibid,, xviii. V. 1.

6 This form is found in the Talmud of Jerusalem, {Sheliit, ix, 2,) and in the
I'argums of Jonathan and of Jerusalem, {Numb. xxii. 35.)

' Now Mkaur, in the wddy Zerka Main. This place has not been visited sinca
Seetzen was there

8 Josephus, De Bell. Jud., vii. vi. 1, and following^
» Jos., Ant., xviii. V. 1.

LIFE OF JEStrS. 103

flight of Ills daughter, who was conducted from tribe to tribe to
Petra.

The almost incestuous ^ union of Antipas and Herodias then
tooii place. The Jewish laws on marriage were a constant rock
of offence between the irreligious family of the Herods and the
strict Jews. 2 The members of this numerous and rather isolated
dynasty being obliged to marry amongst themselves, frequent
violations of the limits prescribed by the Law necessarily took
place. John, in energetically blaming Antipas, was the eclio of
the general feehno-. 3 This was more than sufficient to decide
the latter to follow up his suspicions. He caused the Baptist to
be arrested, and ordered him to be shut up in the fortress of
Machero, which he had probably seized after the departure of the
daughter of Hareth.4

More timid than cruel, Antipas did not desire to put him to
death. According to certain rumours, he feared a popular sedi-
tion.5 According to another version,^ he had taken pleasure in
listening to the prisoner, and these conversations had thrown him
into great perplexities. It is certain that the detention was pro-
longed, and that John, in his prison, preserved an extended in-
fluence. He corresponded with his disciples, and we find him
again in connexion with Jesus. His faith in the near approach
of the Messiah only became firmer ; he followed with attention
the m.ovements outside, and sought to discover in them the signs
favourable to the accomplishment of the hopes which he cherished.

' Lev. xviii. 16. ^ jgg^^ Ant, XV. vii. 10.

' Matt. xiv. 4 ; Mark vi. 18 ; Luke iii. 19.

* Jos., Ant, XVIII. V. 2. ^ Matt. xiv. 5.

• Mark vi. 20. I read rjTropei} and not inoiti.

CHAPTER Ylf.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE IDEAS OF JESUS EESPECTING THE
KINGDOM OF GOIf.

Up to the arrest of Jolm, which took place about the summer of
the year 29, Jesus did not quit the neighbourhood of the Dead
Sea and of the Jordan. An abode in the desert of Judea was
generally considered as the preparation for great things, as a sort
of " retreat" before public acts. Jesus followed in this respect the
example of others, and passed forty days with no other compa-
nions than savage beasts, maintaining a rigorous fast. The dis-
ciples speculated much concerning this sojourn. The desert was
popularly regarded as the residence of demons.l There exist in
the world few regions more desolate, more abandoned by God,
more shut out from life, than the rocky declivity which forms the
western shore of the Dead Sea. It was believed that during the
time which Jesus passed in this frightful country, he had gone
through terrible trials ; that Satan had assailed him with his illu-
sions, or tempted him with seductive promises ; that afterwards, in
order to recompense him for his victory, the angels had come to
minister to him. 2

1 Tohit viii. 3 ; Luke xi. 24.

2 Matt. iv. 1, and following; Mark i. 12, 13 ; Luke iv. 1, and following. Cer-
*%inly, the striking similarity that these narratives present to the analogous legends
of the Yendidad (farg. xix.) and of the Lalitavistara (chap, xvii., xviii,, xxi,) would
lead us to regard them only as myths. But the meagre and concise narrative of
Mark, which evidently represents on this point the primitive compilation, leada
us to' suppose a real fact, which furnished later the theme of legenuary ueveiop.
ujenta.

LIFE OF JESUS. 105

It was probably in coming from the desert that Jesus learnt of
the arrest of John the Baptist. He had no longer any reason to
prolong his stay in a country which was partly strange to him.
Perhaps he feared also being involved in the severities exercised
towards John, and did not wish to expose himself, at a time in
which, seeing the little celebrity he had, his death could in no way
serve the progress of his ideas. He regained Galilee,! his true
home, ripened by an important experience, and having, through
contact with a great man, very different from himself, acquired a
consciousness of his own originality.

On the whole, the influence of John had been more hurtful than
useful to Jesus. It checked his development ; for everything leads
us to believe that he had, when he descended towards the Jordan,
ideas superior to those of John, and that it was by a sort of con-
cession that he inclined for a time towards baptism. Perhaps if
the Baptist, whose authority it would have been difficult for him to
escape, had remained free, Jesus would not have been able to throw
off the yoke of external rites and ceremonies, and would then, no
doubt, have remained an unknown Jewish sectary; for the world
would not have abandoned its old ceremonies merely for others of
a different kind. It has been by the power of a religion, free from
all external forms, that Christianity has attracted elevated minds.
The Baptist once imprisoned, his school was soon diminished, and
Jesus found himself left to his own impulses. The only things he
owed to John, were lessons in preaching and in popular action.
From this moment, in fact, he preached with greater power, and
spoke to the multitude with authority.2

It seems also that his sojourn with John had, not so much by
the influence of the Baptist, as by the natural progress of his own
thought, considerably ripened his ideas on "the kingdom of
heaven." His watchword, henceforth, is the " good tidings," th^
announcement that the kingdom of God is at hand.3 Jesus is no
Jonger simply a delightful moralist, aspiring to express sublime

' Matt. iv. 12 ; Mark i. 14 ; Luke iv. 14 ; John iv. 3.

• Matt. vii. 29; Mark i. 22 ; Luke iv. 32. » Mark L 14, 15.

J Ob LIFE OF JESUS.

lessons in short and lively aphorisms ; he is the transcendent
revolutionary, who essays to renovate the world from its very
basis, and to establish upon earth the ideal which he had con-
ceived. " To await the kingdom of God" is henceforth synony-
mous with being a disciple of Jesus.i This phrase, " kingdom of
God," or " kingdom of heaven," was, as we have said,2 already
long familiar to the Jews. But Jesus gave it a moral sense, a social
application, which even the author of the Book of Daniel, in his
apocalyptic enthusiasm, had scarcely dared to imagine.

He declared that in the present world evil is the reigning power.
Satan is '' the prince of this world," 3 and everything obeys him.
The kings kill the pro^Dhets. The priests and the doctors do not
that which they command others to do ; the righteous are perse-
cuted, and the only portion of the good is weeping. The "world" is
in this manner the enemy of God and His saints ;4 but God will
awaken and avenge His saints. The day is at hand, for the
abomination is at its height. The reign of goodness will have
its turn.

The advent of this reign of goodness will be a great and sudden
revolution. The world will seem to be turned upside down ; the
actual state being bad, in order to represent the future, it suffices
to conceive nearly the reverse of that which exists. The first
shall be last.5 A new order shall govern humanity. Now the
good and the bad are mixed, like the tares and the good grain in
a field. The master lets them grow together ; but the hour of
violent separation will arrive.^ The kingdom of God will be as
he casting of a great net, which gathers both good and bad fish ;
the good are preserved, and the rest are thrown away.7 The germ
of this great revolution will not be recognisable in its beginning.

1 Mark xv. 43. 2 See ante, pp, 83, 84.

3 John xii. 31, xiv. 30, xvi. 11. (Comp. 2 Cor. iv. 4 ; Ephes. ii. 2.)

* John i. 10, vii. 7, xiv. 17, 22, 27, xv. 18, and following; xvi. 8, 20, 83, xviL
9, 14, 16, 25. This meaning of the word "world" is especially applied in the
wri<;ings of Paul and John.

= Matt. xix. 30, XX. 16 ; Mark x. 31 ; Luke xiii. 30.

' Matt. xiii. 2t, and following. ' Matt. xiii. 47, and following.

LIFE OF JESUS. 107

It Will be like a grain of mustard-seed, wbicli is the smallest of
seeds, but which, thrown into the earth, becomes a tree under the
foliage of which the birds repose;! or it will be like the leaven
which, deposited in the meal, makes the whole to ferment. 2 A
series of parables, often obscure, was designed to express the sud-
denness of this advent, its apparent injustice, and its inevitable
and final character.3

Who was to establish this kingdom of God? Let us remember
that the first thought of Jesus, a thought so deeply rooted in
him that it had probably no beginning, and formed part of his
very being, was that he was the Son of God, the friend of his
Father, the doer of his will. The answer of Jesus to such a
question could not therefore be doubtful. The persuasion that he
was to establish the kingdom of God took absolute possession of
his mind. He regarded himself as the universal reformer. The
heavens, the earth, the whole of nature, madness, disease, and
death, were but his instruments. In his paroxysm cf heroic will,
he believed himself all powerful. If the earth would not submit to
this supreme transformation, it would be broken up, purified by
fire, and by the breath of God. A new heaven would be created,
and the entire world would be peopled with the angels of God.-*

A radical revolution,^ embracing even nature itself, was the
fundamenta lidea of Jesus. Henceforward, without doubt, he
renounced politics ; the example of Judas, the Gaulonite, had
shewn him the inutility of popular seditions. He never thought
of revolting against the Romans and tetrarchs. His was not the
unbridled and anarchical principle of the Gaulonite. His sub-
mission to the established powers, though really derisive, was in
appearance complete. He paid tribute to Caesar, in order to avoid

Matt. xiii. 31, and following; Mark iv. 31, and £ollov;iug; Luke zlii. 19, and
folloy»^ing.

2 Matt. xiii. 33 ; Luke xiii. 21.

3 Matt. xiii. entirely; xviii. 23, and following; xx. 1, and following; Luke
xiii. 18, and following.

* Matt. xxii. 30.

^ ^A/TToxy-Tda-Taa-is ndvTcov, Acts iii. 2i.

1 08 LIFE OF JESUS.

disturbaaice. Liberty and right were not of this world, why should
he trouble his life with vain anxieties ? Despising the earthy and
convinced that the present world was not worth caring for, he
took refuge in his ideal kingdom ; he established the great doc-
trine of transcendant disdain,! the true doctrine of liberty of
souls, which alone can give peace. But he had not yet said, " My
kingdom is not of this world." Much darkness mixed itself with
even his most correct views. Sometimes strange temptations
crossed his mind. In the desert of Judea, Satan had oflered him
the kingdoms of the earth. Not knowing the power of the Roman
empire, he might, with the enthusiasm there was in the heart
of Judea, and which ended soon after in so terrible an outbreak,
hope to establish a kingdom by the number and the daring of his
partisans. Many times, perhaps, the supreme question presented
itself, — will the kingdom of God be realised by force or by gentle-
ness, by revolt or by patience ? One day, it is said, the simple
men of Galilee wished to carry him away and make him king,2 but
Jesus fled into the mountain and remained there some time alone.
His noble nature preserved him from the error which would have
made him an agitator, or a chief of rebels, a Theudas or a Bar-
kokeba.

The revolution he wished to effect was always a moral re-
volution ; but he had not yet begun to trust to the angels and
the last trumpet for its execution. It w^as upon men and by the
aid of men themselves that he wished to act. A visionary who
had no other idea than the proximity of the last judgment, would
not have had this care for the amelioration of man, and would not
have given utterance to the finest moral teaching that humanity
has received. Much vagueness no doubt tinged his ideas, and it
was rather a noble feeling than a fixed design, that urged him to
the sublime work which was realised by him, though in a very
different manner to what he imagined.

It was indeed the kingdom of God, or in other words, the king-
dom of the Spirit, which he founded ; and if Jesus, from the bosom

^ Matt. xvii. 23-26; xxii. 16-22. " John vi. 15.

LIFE OF JESUS. 109

of 111'* Father, sees his work bear fruit in tlie world, he nitay in-
deed say with truth, "This is what I have desired." That which
Jesus founded, that which will remain eternally his, allowing for the
imperfections which mix themselves with everything realised by
humanity, is the doctrine of the liberty of the soul. Greece had
already had beautiful ideas on this subject.! Various Stoics had
learnt how to be free even under a tyrant. But in general the
ancient world had regarded liberty as attached to certain political
forms; freedom was personified in Harmodius and Aristogiton,
Brutus and Cassius. The true Christian enjoys more real free-
dom ; here below he is an exile ; what matters it to him who
is the transitory governor of this earth, which is not his home ?
Liberty for him is truth.2 Jesus did not know history suffi-
ciently to understand that such a doctrine came most opportunely
at the moment when republican liberty ended, and when the small
municipal constitutions of antiquity were absorbed in the unity
of the Roman empire. But his admirable good sense, and the
truly prophetic instinct which he had of his mission, guided
him with marvellous certainty. By the sentence, *' Render unto
CcGsar the things which are Caesar's, and to God the things
which are God's," he created something apart from politics, a
refuge for souls in the midst of the empire of brute force. As-
suredly, such a doctrine had its dangers. To establish as a prin-
ciple that we must recognise the legitimacy of a power by the
inscription on its coins, to proclaim that the perfect man pays
tribute with scorn and without question, was to destroy republi-
canism in the ancient form, and to favour all tyranny. Chris-
tianity, in this sense, has contributed much to weaken the sense
of duty of the citizen, and to deliver the world into the absolute
power of existing circumstances. But in constituting an immense
free association, which during three hundred years was able to
dispense with politics, Christianity amply compensated for the
wio^g it had done to civic virtues. The power of the statue

■* See StobfEus, Florilegium, ch. Ixii., Ixxvii., Ixxxvi., and following.
" John viii. 32, and following.

110 LIFE OF JESUS.

was limited to tlie things of earth ; the mind was freed, or at
least the terrible rod of Eoman omnipotence was broken for
ever.

The man who is especially preoccupied with the duties of public
life, does not readily forgive those who attach little importance to
his party quarrels. He especially blames those who subordinate
political to social questions, and profess a sort of indifference for
the former. In one sense he is right, for exclusive power is pre-
judicial to the good government of human affairs. But what
progress have " parties" been able to effect in the general morality
of our species ? If Jesus, instead of founding his heavenly
kingdom, had gone to Kome, had expended his energies in
conspiring against Tiberius, or in regretting Germanicus, what
would have become of the world ? As an austere republican, or
zealous patriot, he would not have arrested the great current
of the affairs of his age, but in declaring that politics are insigni-
ficant, he has revealed to the world this truth, that one's country
is not everything, and that the man is before, and higher than, the
citizen.

Our principles of positive science are offended by the dreams
contained in the programme of Jesus. We know the history of
the earth ; cosmical revolutions of the kind which Jesus expected
are only produced by geological or astronomical causes, the con-
nexion of which with spiritual things has never yet been demon-
strated. But, in order to be just to great originators, they must
not be judged by the prejudices in which they have shared.
Columbus discovered America, though starting from very errone-
ous ideas ; Newton believed his fooHsh exi3lanation of the Apoca-
lypse to be as true as his system of the world. Shall we place an
ordinary man of our time above a Francis d'Assissi, a St Bernard,
a Joan of Arc, or a Luther, because he is free from errors which
these last have professed ? Should we measure men by the correct-
ness of their ideas of physics, and by the more or less exact know-
ledge which they possess of the true system of the world ? Let us
understand better the position of Jesus and that which made his

LIFE OF JESUS. Ill

power. The Deism of the eighteenth century, and a certain kind of
Protestantism, have accustomed us to consider the founder of the
Christian faith only as a great moralist, a benefactor of mankind.
We see nothing more in the Gospel than good maxims ; we throw
a prudent veil over the strange intellectual state in which it was
originated. There are even persons who regret that the French
Revolution departed more than once from principles, and that
it was not brought about by wise and moderate men. Let
us not impose our petty and commonplace ideas on these ex-
traordinary movements so far above our everyday life. Let us
continue to admire the '' morality of the gospel" — let us suppress
in our religious teachings the chimera which was its soul ; but
do not let us believe that with the simple ideas of happiness, or
of individual morality, we stir the world. The idea of Jesus
was much more profound ; it was the most revolutionary idea
ever formed in a human brain ; it should be taken in its totality,
and not with those timid suppressions which deprive it of pre-
cisely that which has rendered it efficacious for the regeneration of
humanity.

The ideal is ever a Utopia. When we wish now-a-days to repre-
sent the Christ of the modern conscience, the consoler, and the
judge of the new times, what course do we take ? That which
Jesus himself did eighteen hundred and thirty years ago. We
suppose the conditions of the real world quite other than what they
are; we represent a moral liberator breaking without weapons
the chains of the negro, ameliorating the condition of the poor,
and giving liberty to oppressed nations. We forget that this im-
plies the subversion of the world, the climate of Virginia and that of
Congo modified, the blood and the race of millions of men changed.
our social complications restored to a chimerical simplicity, and the
political stratifications of Europe displaced from their natural
order. The "restitution of all things"! desii'ed by Jesus was not
more difficult. This new earth, this new heaven, this new Jeru-
salem which comes from above, this cry : " Behold I make all

1 Acts iii. 21.

J 7 2 LIFE OF JESUS.

things new T'l are the common characteristics of reformers. The
contrast of the ideal with the sad reality, always produces in man-
kind those revolts against unimpassioned reason which inferior
minds regard as folly, till the day arrives in which they triumph,
and in which those who have opposed them are the first to re-
cognise their reasonableness.

That there may have been a contradiction between the beliet in
the approaching end of the world and the general moral system ot
Jesus, conceived in prospect of a permanent state of humanity,
nearly analogous to that which now exists, no one will attempt to
deny. 2 It was exactly this contradiction that insured the success
of his work. The millenarian alone would have done nothing last-
ing ; the moralist alone would have done nothing powerful. The
millenarianism gave the impulse, the moralist insured the future.
Hence Christianity united the two conditions of great success in
this world, a revolutionary starting point, and the possibility of
continuous life. Everything whixjh is intended to succeed ought
to respond to these two wants ; for the world seeks both to
change and to last. Jesus, at the same time that he announced
an unparalleled subversion in human affairs, proclaimed the prin-
ciples upon which society has reposed for eighteen hundred years.

That which in fact distinguishes Jesus from the agitators of his
time, and from those of all ages, is his perfect idealism. Jesus,
in some respects, was an anarchist, for he had no idea of civil
government. That government seemed to him purely and simply
an abuse. He spoke of it in vague terms, and as a man of the
people who had no idea of politics. Every magistrate appeared
to him a natural enemy of the people of God ; he prepared his dis-
ciples for contests with the civil powers, without thinking for a
moment that there was anything in this to be ashamed of. 8 But
he never shews any desire to put himself in the place of the rich and

» Rex. xxi. 1, 2, 5.

2 The millenarian sects of England present the same contrast, I mean the belief
in the near end of the world, notwithstanding much good sense in the conduct of
^^1% and an extraordinary understanding of commercial affairs and industry,

» Matt. y. 17, 18; Luke xii. 11.

LIFE OF JESUS. 113

the powerful. He wishes to annihilate riches and power, but not
to appropriate them. He predicts persecution and all kinds of
punishment to his disciples;! but never once does the thought
of armed resistance appear. The idea of being all-powerful by
suffering and resignation, and of triumphing over force by purity
of heart, is indeed an idea peculiar to Jesus. Jesus is not a
spiritualist, for to him everything tended to a palpable realisa-
tion ; he had not the least notion of a soul separated from the
body. But he is a perfect idealist, matter being only to him the
sign of the idea, and the real, the living expression of that which
does not appear.

To whom should we turn, to whom should we trust to establish
the kingdom of God ? The mind of Jesus on this point nevei*
hesitated. That which is highly esteemed among men, is abom-
ination in the sight of God. 2 The founders of the kingdom of
God are the simple. Not the rich, not the learned, not priests ;
but women, common people, the humble, and the young.3 The
great characteristic of the Messiah is, that " the poor have the
gospel preached to them."-^ The idyllic and gentle nature of Jesus
here resumed the superiority. A great social revolution, in which
rank will be overturned, in which all authority in this w^orld will
be humiliated, was his dream. The world will not believe him ;
the world will kill him. But his disciples will not be of the
world. 5 They will be a little flock of the humble and the simple,
who will conquer by their very humility. The idea which ha.*:
made " Christian "' the antithesis of "worldly," has its fuD justi-
fication in the thoughts of the master.^

1 Matt. V. 10, and following; x. entirely; Luke vi. 22, and following; JoLn xv
g, and following ; xvi. 2, and following, 20, 33; xvii. 14.
^ Lukw xvi. 15.

3 Matt. V. 3, 10, xviii. 3, xix. H, 23, 24, xxi. 81, xxii. 2, and foUowingl
Mark x. 14, 15, 23-25 ; Luke iv. 18, and following ; vi. 20, xviii. 16, 17, 24, 25.

4 Matt. xi. 5. ° John xv. 19, xvii. 14, IG.

^ See especially chapter xvii. of St John, expressing, if not a real discourse
delivered by Jesus, at least a sentiment which was very deeply rooted in his
disciples, and which certainly came from him.

H

OHAPTEE Vm.

JESUS AT CAPERNAUM.

Beset by an idea, gradually becoming more and more imperi-
ous and exclusive, Jesus proceeds henceforth with a kind of fatal
impassibility in the path marked out by his astonishing genius
and the extraordinary circumstances in which he lived. Hitherto
he had only communicated his thoughts to a few persons secretly
attracted to him; henceforward his teaching was sought after
by the public. He was about thirty years of age.l The little
group of hearers who had accompanied him to John the Baptist,
had, doubtless, increased, and perhaps some disciples of John had
attached themselves to him.2 It was with this first nucleus of a
church that he boldly announced, on his return into Galilee, the
"good tidings of the kingdom of God." This kingdom was
approaching, and it was he, Jesus, who was that '' Son of Man "
whom Daniel had beheld in his vision as the divine herald of
the last and supreme revelation.

We must remember, that in the Jewish ideas, which were averse
to art and mythology, the simple form of man had a superio-
rity over that of Cherubs, and of the fantastic animals which the
imagination of the people, since it had been subjected to the in-
fluence of Assyria, had ranged around the Divine Majesty. Already
in Ezekiel,8 the Being seated on the supreme throne, far above the

1 Luke iii. 23; Gk>spel of the Ebionites, in Epiph., Adv. Ilcer., xxx. 13.
« John i. 37, and following. ' Chap. i. 5, 26, and followiny

LIFE OF JESUS. 115

monsters of the mysterious chariot, the great revealer of prophetic
visions, had the figure of a man. In the book of Daniel, in the
midst of the vision of the empires, represented by animals, at
the moment when the great judgment commences, and when
the books are opened, a Being "like unto a Son of Man,"
advances towards the Ancient of days, who confers on him the
power to judge the world, and to govern it for eternity.l Son of
Man, in the Semitic languages, especially in the Aramean dialects,
is a simple synonym of man. But this chief passage of Daniel
struck the mind ; the words, Son of 3Ian, became, at least in
certain schools,2 one of the titles of the Messiah, regarded as judge
of the world, and as king of the new era about to be inaiigurated.3
The application which Jesus made of it to himself was therefore
the proclamation of his Messiahship, and the affirmation of the
coming catastrophe in which he was to figure as judge, clothed
with the full powers which had been delegated to him by the
Ancient of days.^

The success of the teaching of the new prophet was this time
decisive. A group of men and women, all characterised by the
same spirit of juvenile frankness and simple innocence, adhered
to him, and said, " Thou art the Messiah." As the Messiah was
to be the son of David, they naturally conceded him this title,
which was synonymous with the former. Jesus allowed it with
pleasure to be given to him, although it might cause him
some embarrassment, his birth being well known. The name
which he preferred himself was that of " Son of Man," an ap-
parently humble title, but one which connected itself directly

1 Daniel vii. 13, 14; comp. viii. 15, x. 16.

2 In John xii. 34, the Jews do not ai)pear to be aware of the meaning of thie
word.

^ Book of Enoch, xlvi. 1-3, xlviii. 2, 8, Ixii. 9, 14, Ixx. 1 (division of Dihnann);
Matt. X. 23, xiii. 41, xvi. 27, 28, xix. 28, xxiv. 27, 30, 37, 39, 44, xxv. 31, xxvi. 64 ;
Mark xiii. 26, xiv. 62; Luke xii. 40, xvii. 24, 26, 30, xxi. 27, 36, xxii. 69; Acts
vii. 55. But the most significant passage is John v. 27, compared with Iif,v.
i. 13, xiv. 14. The expression "Son of woman," for the Messiah, occurs once in
the book of Enoch, Ixii. 5.

" John V. 22, 27.

116 LIFE OF JESUS.

with the Messianic hopes. This was the title by which he design
nated himself,! and he used " The Son of Man " as synony-
mous with the pronoun "I," which he avoided. But he was
never thus addressed, doubtless because the name in question
would be fully applicable to him only on the day of his futuri/
appearance.

His centre of action, at this epoch of his life, was the little
town of Capernaum, situated on the shore of the lake of
Gennesareth. The name of Capernaum, containing the w^ord
caphar, '' village," seems to designate a small town of the ancient
character, in opposition to the great towns built according to the
Eoman method, like Tiberias.2 That name was so little known,
that Josephus, in one passage of his writings,^ takes it for the
name of a fountain, the fountain having more celebrity than the
village situated near it. Like Nazareth, Capernaum had no his-
tory, and had in no way participated in the profane movement
favoured by the Herods. Jesus was much attached to this town,
and made it a second home.'* Soon after his return, he at-
tempted to commence his work at Nazareth, but without success.^
He could not perform any miracle there, according to the simple
remark of one of his biographers.^ Tiie knowledge which existed
there about his family, not an important one, injured his authority
too much. People could not regard as the son of David, one whose
brother, sister, and brother-in-law they saw every day, and it is
remarkable besides, that his family were strongly opposed to him,
and plainly refused to believe in his mission.7 The Nazarenes,

^ This title occurs eighty-three times in the Gospels, and always in the dis-
courses of Jesus.

^ It is true that TeU-Houm, which is generally identified with Capernaum, con-
tains the remains of somewhat fine monuments. But, besides this identification
being doubtful, these monuments may be of the second or third century after
Christ.

3 B. /., III. X. 8. 4 Matt. ix. 1 ; Mark ii. 1.

^ Matt. xiii. 54, and following; Mark vi. 1, and following; Luke iv. 16, and fol-
lowing, 23-24 ; John iv. 44.

« Mark vi. 6; of. Matt. xii. 58; Luke iv. 23.

' Matt, atiii. 67; Mark vi. 4; John vii. 3, and following.

LIFE OF JESUS. 117

much more violent, wished, it is said, to kill him by throwing
him from a steep rock.^ Jesus aptly remarked that this treat-
ment was the fate of all great men, and applied to himself the
proverb, " No one is a prophet in his own country/'

This check far from discouraged him. He returned to Caper-
naura,2 where he met with a much more favourable reception,
and from thence he organised a series of missions among the
small surrounding towns. The people of this beautiful and fertile
country were scarcely ever assembled except on Saturday. This
wa* the day which he chose for his teaching. At that time
each town had its synagogue, or place of meeting. This was a rec-
tangular room, rather small, with a portico, decorated in the Greek
style. The Jews not having any architecture of their own, never
cared to give these edifices an original style. The remains of
many ancient synagogues still exist in Galilee. 3 They are all con-
structed of large and good materials ; but their style is somewhat
paltry, in consequence of the profudo i of floral ornaments, foliage,
and twisted work, which characterise the Jewish buildings.^ In
the interior there were seats, a chair for public reading, and a
closet to contain the sacred rolls.5 These edifices, which had
nothing of the character of a temple, were the centre of the whole

^ Luke iv. 29. Probably the rock referred to here is the peak which is very
near Nazareth, above the present church of the Maronites, and not the pretended
Mount of Precipitation, at an hour's journey from Kazareth. See Robinson, ii. 335
and following.

2 Matt. iv. 13 ; Luke iv. 31.

2 At Tell-Houm, Irbid (Arbela,) Meiron (Mero,) Jisch (Giscala,) Kasyoun,
Nabartein, and two at Kefr-Bereim.

* I dare not decide upon the age of those buildings, nor consequently affirm
that Jesus taught in any of them. How great would be the interest attach-
ing to the synagogue of Tell-Houm were we to admit such an hypothesis ! The
great synagogue of Kefr-Bereim seems to me the most ancient of all. Its style
i6 moderately pure. That of Kasyoun tears a Greek inscription of the time of
Septimus Severus. The great importance which Judaism acquired in Upper
Galilee after the Roman war, leads us to believe that several of these edifices
only date back to the third century, — a time in which Tiberias became a sort of
capital of Judaism.

^ 2 Esdras\\\\. 4; Matt, xxiii.6; Epist. James ii. 3; Mishnah, Megilla, iii. 1;
Rosh Hasshana, iv. 7, &c. See especially the curious description of the syna*
gogue of Alexandria in the Talmud of Babylon, SuJcJca, 51 b.

IIS LIFE OF JESUS.

Jewish life. There the people assembled on the Sabbath for
prayer, and readino; of the law and the prophets. As Judaism,
except in Jerusalem, had, properly speaking, no clergy, the first
comer stood up, gave the lessons of the day, {parasha and hajpli-
tara,) and added thereto a midrash, or entirely personal com-
mentary, in which he expressed his own ideas.l This was the
origin of the '' homily," the finished model of which we find in
the small treatises of Philo. The audience had the right of
making objections and putting questions to the reader ; so that
the meeting soon degenerated into a kind of free assembly. It
had a president,2 " elders," ^ a hazzan, i. e., a recognised reader, or
apparitor,^ deputies,^ who were secretaries or messengers, and con-
ducted the correspondence between one synagogue and another,
a shammash, or sacristan.^ The synagogues were thus really
little independent republics, having an extensive jurisdiction.
Like all municipal corporations, up to an advanced period of the
Roman empire, they issued honorary decrees,^ voted resolutions,
which had the force of law for the community, and ordained
corporal punishments, of whicli the hazzan was the ordinary
executor. 8

With the extreme activity of mind which has always charac-
terised the Jews, such an institution, notwithstanding the arbitrary
rigours it tolerated, could not fail to give rise to very ani-
mated discussions. Thanks to the synagogues, Judaism has been
able to sustain intact eighteen centuries of persecution. They

^ Philo, quoted in Eusebius, Prcep, Evang., viii. 7, and Quod Omnis Prohus
Liber, § 12; Luke iv. 16 ; Acta xiii. 15, xv. 21; Mishnah, Megllla, in. 4, and fol-
lowing.

^ ^Apxt-o-vvdycoyos. ' Upea^vrepoi.

* 'YirrjpeTTjs. ^ 'ATrocrroXot, or ayyeXoi.

^ AiaKovos. Mark v. 22, 35, and following ; Luke iv. 20, vii, 3, viii. 41, 49,
xiii. 14; Acts xiii. 15, rviii. 8, 17; Hev. ii. 1; Mishnah, Joma, vii. 1; liosh
Hasshana, iv, 9 ; Talm. of Jerus., Sanhedrim, i. 7; Epiph., Adv. liar., xxx, 4, 11

^ Inscription of Berenice, in the Corpus Inscr. Grcec, No. 5361 ; inscription of
Kasyoun, in the Mission de Phenicie, book iv. [in the press.]

' Matt. V. 25, X. 17, xxiii. 34; Mark xiii. 9; Luke xx. 11, xxi. 12; Acts xxii.
19, xxvi. 11 ; 2 Cor. xi. 24; Mishnah, Maccoth, iii. 12; Talmud of Babylon, Mc
gilla, 7 &; Epiph., Adv Hcer., xxx. 11.

LIFE OF JESUS. 119

were like so many little separate worlds, in wliich the national
spirit was preserved, and which offered a ready field for intestine
struggles, A large amount of passion was expended there. The
quarrels for precedence were of constant occurrence. To have a
seat of honour in the first rank was the reward of great piety, or
the most envied privilege of wealth.! On the other hand, the
liberty, accorded to every one, of instituting himself reader and
commentator of the sacied text, atibrded marvellous facilities
for the propagation of new ideas. This was one of the great
instruments of power wielded by Jesus, and the most habitual
means he employed to propound his doctrinal instruction.^ He
entered the synagogue, and stood up to read; the hazzan offered
him the book, he unrolled it, and reading the paraslia or the
haphtara of the day, he drew from this reading a lesson in
conformity with his own ideas.^ As there were few Pharisees in
Galilee, the discussion did not assume that degree of vivacity,
and that tone of acrimony against him, which at Jerusalem would
have arrested him at the outset. These good Galileans had never
heard discourses so adapted to their cheerful imaginations.'* They
admired him, they encouraged him, they found that he spoke well,
and that his reasons were convincing. He answered the most
difficult objections with confidence; the charm of his speech and
his person captivated the people, whose simple minds had not
yet been cramped by the pedantry of the doctors.

The authority of the young master thus continued increasing
every day, and, naturally, the more people believed in him, the more
he believed in himself. His sphere of action w\as very limited. It
was confined to the valley in which the Lake of Tiberias is situated,
and even in this valley there was one region which he preferred.
The lake is five or six leagues long and three or four broad ;
although it presents the appearance of an almost perfect oval, it

1 Matt, xxiii. G; Epist. James ii. 3; Talmud, of Bab., Suhlca, 51 I.

2 Matt. iv. 23, ix. 35; Mark i. 21, 39, vi. 2; Luke iv. 15, IG, 31, U, xili- !0
John xviii. 20

2 Luke iv. IG, and following. Comp. Miehnab, Joma, vii. 1.
* Matt. vii. 28, xiii. 54; Mark 1. 22, vi. 1 ; Luke iv. 22, 32.

120 LIFE OF JESUS.

forms, commencing from Tiberias up to the entrance of the Jordan,
a sort of gulf, the curve of which measures about three leagues.
Such is the field in which the seed sown by Jesus found at last a
well-prepared soil. Let us run over it step by step, and endeavour
to raise the mantle of aridity and mourning with which it has been
covered by the demon of Islamism.

On leaving Tiberias, we find at first steep rocks, like a mountain
which seems to roll into the sea. Then the mountains gradually
recede ; a plain {El Ghoueir) opens ahnost at the level of the
lake. It is a delightful copse of rich verdure, furrowed by abun-
dant streams which proceed partly from a great round basin of
ancient construction (Ain-Medaiuara) At the entrance of this
plain, which is, properly speaking, the country of Gennesareth, there
is the miserable village of Medjdel. At the other extremity of the
plain (always following the sea,) we come to the site of a town
(Khan-Minyeh,) with very beautiful streams (Ain-et-Tin,) a pretty
road, narrow and deep, cut out of the rock, which Jesus often
traversed, and which serves as a passage between the plain of
Gennesareth and the northern slopes of the lake. A quarter of
an hour's journey from this place, we cross a stream of salt water
{Ain-Tabiga) issuing from the earth by several large springs
at a little distance from the lake, and entering it in the midst of
a dense mass of verdure. At last, after a journey of forty minutes
further, upon the arid declivity which extends from Ain-Tabiga to
the mouth of the Jordan, we find a few huts and a collection of
monumental ruins, called Tell-Houm.

Eive small towns, the names of which mankind will remember
as long as those of Rome and Athens, were, in the time of Jesus,
scattered in the space which extends from the village of Medjdel
to Tell-Houm. Of these five towns, Magdala, Dalmanutha, Caper-
naum, Bethsaida, and Chorazin,"! the first alone can be found at
the present time with any certainty. The repulsive village of
Medjdel has no doubt preserved the name and the place of the

^ The ancient Kinnereth had disappeared or changed its name.

LIFE OF JESUS. 121

little town wliich gave to Jesus his most faithful female friend.l
Dalmanutha2 was probably near there. It is possible that Chorazin
Tas a little more inland, on the northern side.3 As to Bethsaida
and Capernaum, it is in truth almost at hazard that they have
been placed at Tell-Houm, Ain-et-Tin, Khan-Minyeh, and Ain-
Medawara.4 We might say that in topography, as well as in
history, a profound design has wished to conceal the traces of the
great founder. It is doubtful whether we shall ever be able, upon
this extensively devastated soil, to ascertain the places where man-
kind would gladly come to kiss the imprint of his feet.

The lake, the horizon, the shrubs, the flowers, are all that re-
main of the little canton, three or four leagues in extent, where
Jesus founded his Divine work. The trees have totally disappeared.
In this country, in which the vegetation was formerly so brilliant
that Josephus saw in it a kind of miracle, — Nature, according to
him, being pleased to bring hither side by side the plants of cold
countries, the productions of the torrid zone, and the trees of tem-
perate climates, laden all the year with flowers and fruits, 5 — in this
country travellers are obliged now to calculate a day beforehand
the place where they will the next day find a shady resting-place.
The lake has become deserted. A single boat in the most miser-
able condition now ploughs the waves once so rich in life and joy.

^ We know in fact that it was very near Tiberias. — Talmud of Jerusalem,
Maasaroth, iii. 1 ; Shcbilt, ix, 1 ; Ei'ubin, v. 7.

2 Mark viii. 10. Comp. Matt. xv. 39.

^ In the place named Khorazi or Bir-kerazeh, above Tell-Houm.

* The ancient hypothesis which identified Tell-Houm with Capernaum, though
strongly disputed some years since, has still numerous defenders. The best argu-
ment we can give in its favour is the name of Tell-Houm itself. Tell entering into
the names of many villages, and being a substitute for Caphar. It is impossible,
on the other hand, to find near Tell-Houm a fountain corresponding to that men-
tioned by Josephus {B. J., in. x. 8.) This fountain of Capernaum seems to be Ain-
Medawara, but Ain-Medawara is half an hour's journey from the lake, whilst
Capernaum was a fishing town on the borders of the lake (Matt. iv. 13 ; John vi.
17.) The difficulties about Bethsaida are still greater; for the hypothesis, some,
what generally admitted, of two Bethsaidas, the one on the eastern, the other on
the western shore of the lake, and at two or three leagues from one another, is
vather ein^iular. * B. J., in. x. 8.

122 LIFE OF JESUS.

But the waters are always clear and transparent.! The shore,
composed of rocks and pebbles, is that of a little sea, not that of
a pond, like the shores of Lake Hiileh. It is clean, neat, free
from mud, and always beaten in the same place by the light move-
ment of the waves. Small promontories, covered with rose laurels,
tamarisks, and thorny caper bushes, are seen there ; at two places,
especially at the mouth of the Jordan, near Tarichea, and at the
boundary of the plain of Gennesareth, there are enchanting parterres,
where the waves ebb and flow over masses of turf and flowers. The
rivulet of Ain-Tabiga makes a little estuary, full of pretty shells.
Clouds of aquatic birds hover over the lake. The horizon is daz-
zling with light. The waters, of an empyrean blue, deeply im-
bedded amid burning rocks, seem, when viewed from the height
of the mountains of Safed, to lie at the bottom of a cup of gold.
On the north, the snowy ravines of Hermon are traced in white
lines upon the sky ; on the west, the high undulating plateaux of
Gaulonitis and Perea, absolutely arid, and clothed by the sun with
a sort of velvety atmosphere, form one compact mountain, or rather
a long and very elevated terrace, which from Csesarea Philippi runs
indefinitely toward the south.

The heat on the shore is now very oppressive. The lake lies in
a hollow six hundred and fifty feet below the level of the Mediter-
ranean,2 and thus participates in the torrid conditions of the Dead
Sea.3 An abundant vegetation formerly tempered these excessive
heats ; it would be difficult to understand that a furnace, such as
the whole basin of the lake now is, commencing from the month
of May, had ever been the scene of great activity. Josephus, more-
over, considered the country very temperate.^ No doubt there
has been here, as in the campagna of Eome, a change of climate
introduced by historical causes. It is Islamism, and especially the

1 B. J., III. X. 7 ; Jac de Vitri, in the Gesta Dei per Francos, i. 1075.

2 This is the estimate of Captain Lynch (in Ritter, ErdTcunde xv., 1st part,
p. 20.) It nearly agi-ees with that of M. de Bertou {Bulletin de la Soc. de Ge^cjr.
2d series, xii., p. 146.)

^ The depression of the Dead Sea is twice as much.
* B. /., III. X. 7 and 8.

LIFE OF JESUS, 123

Mussulman reaction against the Crusades, wliich has withered as
with a blast of death the district preferred by Jesus. The beautiful
country of Gennesareth never suspected that beneath the brow of
this peaceful wayfarer its highest destinies lay hidden.

Dangerous countryman ! Jesus has been fatal to the country
which had the formidable honour of bearing him. Having become a
universal object of love or of hate, coveted by two rival fanaticisms,
Galilee, as the price of its glory, has been changed to a desert. But
who would say that Jesus would have been happier, if he had lived
obscm-e in his village to the full age of man ? And who would
think of these ungrateful Nazarenes, if one of them had not, at the
risk of compromising the future of their town, recognised his
Tatlier, and proclaimed himself the Son of God ?

Four or five large villages, situated at half an hour's journey
from one another, formed the little world of Jesus at the time of
which we speak. He appears never to have visited Tiberias, a
city inhabited for most part by Pagans, and the habitual residence
of Antipas.l Sometimes, however, he wandered from his favourite
region. He went by boat to the eastern shore, to Gergesa, for in-
stance.2 Towards the north we see him at Paneas or Csesarea
Philippi,3 at the foot of Mount Hermon. Lastly, he journeyed
once in the direction of Tyre and Sidon,^ a country which must
have been marvellously flourishing at that time. In all these

1 Jos., Ant., xviii. ii. 3 ; Vita, 12, 13, 64.

^ I adopt the opinion of Dr Thomson {The Land and the Bool:, ii. 34, and fol-
lowing), according to which the Gergesa of Matthew viii. 28, identical with the
Canaanite town of Girgash {Gen. x. 16, xv, 21; Deut. vii. 1; Josh. xxiv. 11,)
would be the site now named Kersa or Gersa, on the eastern shore, nearly opposite
Magdala. Mark v. 1, and Luke viii. 26, name Gadara or Gerasa instead of Ger-
gesa. Geraga is an impossible reading, the evangelists teaching us that the town
iu question was near the lake and opposite Galilee. As to Gadara, now Om-Keis,
at a journey of an hour and a half from the lake and from the Jordan, the local
circumstances given by Mark and Luke scarcely suit it. It is possible, moreover,
that Gergesa may have become Gerasa, a much more common name, and that the
topographical impossibilities which this latter reading oflfered may have caused
Gadara to be adopted. — Cf. Orig., Comment, in Joann., vi. 24, x, 10 ; Eusebius and
St Jerome, De situ et nomin. loc hcbr., at the words Fepyf o-a, Fepyacrei.

3 Matt. xvi. 13; Mark viii. 27. * Matt. xv. 21] Mark vii. 24. 31.

] 24 LIFE OF JESUS.

countries he was in the midst of Pagamsm.l At Csesarea, he saw
the celebrated grotto of Panium, thought to be the source of tlie
Jordan, and with which the popular belief had associated strange
legends; 2 he could admire the marble temple which Herod had
erected near there in honour of Augustu.« ;^ he probably stopped
before the numerous votive statues to Pan, to the Nymphs, to the
Echo of the Grotto, which piety had already begun to accumu-
late in this beautiful place.^

A rationalistic Jew, accustomed to take strange gods for deified
men or for demons, would consider all these figurative representa-
tions as idols. The seductions of the naturalistic worships, which
intoxicated the more sensitive nations, never affected him. He was
doubtless ignorant of what the ancient sanctuary of Melkarth, at
Tyre, might still contain of a primitive worship more or less ana-
logous to that of the Jews.5 The Paganism which, in Phoenicia,
had raised a temple and a sacred grove on every hill, all this aspect
of great industry and profane riches,^ mterested him but little.
Monotheism takes away aU aptitude for comprehending the Pagan
religions ; the Mussulman, thrown into polytheistic countries,
seems to have no eyes. Jesus assuredly learnt nothing in these
journeys. He returned always to his well-beloved shore of Gen-
nesareth. There was the centre of his thoughts ; there he found
faith and love.

1 Jos., Vita, 13.

2 Jos., Ant., XV. X. 3 ; B. J., i. xxi. 3, III. x. 7 ; Benjamin of Tudela, p. 46, edit
^sher.

2 Jos., Ant., XV. X. 3.

4 Corpus inscr. gr., Nos, 4537, 4538, 4538 I, 4539,

5 Lucianus (lit fertur,) De Dea Syria, 3.

^ The traces of the rich Pagan civilisation of that time still cover all the Beled-
Besharrah, and especially the mountains which form the group of Capo Blanc and
Cape Nakoura.

CHAPTER IX.

THE DISCIPLES OF JESUS.

In tMs terrestrial paradise, which the great revolutions of history
had till then scarcely touched, there lived a population in perfect
harmony with the country itself, active, honest, joyous, and ten-
der-hearted. The Lake of Tiberias is one of the best supplied
with fish of any in the world. l Very productive fislieries were
established, especially at Bethsaida, and at Capernaum, and had
produced a certain degree of wealth. These families of fishermen
formed a gentle and peaceable society extending by numerous ties
of relationship through the whole district of the lake which we
have described. Their comparatively easy life left entire freedom
to their imagination. The ideas about the kingdom of God found
in these small companies of worthy people more credence than
anywhere else. Nothing of that which we call civilisation, in the
Greek and worldly sense, had reached them. Neither was there
any of our Germanic and Celtic earnestness ; but, although good-
ness amongst them was often superficial and without depth, their
habits were quiet, and they were in some degree intelligent and
shrewd. We may imagine them as somewhat analogous to the
better populations of the Lebanon, but with the gift, not possessed
by the latter, of producing great men. Jesus met here his true
family. He installed himself as one of them ; Capernaum became
" his own city ; "2 in the centre of the little circle which adored him,

^ Matt. iv. 18 ; Luke v. 44, and following ; John i. 44, xxi. 1, and following; Job.,
B. /., III. X. 7; Jac. de Vitri, in the Gcsta Dei per Francos, i. p. 1075.
2 Matt. ix. 1; Mark ii. 1, 2.

126 LIFE OF JESUS.

he forgot Ms sceptical brothers, ungrateful Nazareth and its
mocking incredulity.

One house especially at Capernaum offered him an agreeable
refuge and devoted disciples. It was that of two brothers, both
sons of a certain Jonas, who probably was dead at the period when
Jesus came to stay on the borders of the lake. These two brothers
were Simon, surnamed Cephas or Peter, and Andrew. Born at
Bethsaida,! they were established at Capernaum when Jesus com-
menced his public life. Peter was married and had children; his
mother-in-law lived with him.2 Jesus loved this house and dwelt
there habitually.3 Andrew appears to have been a disciple of John
the Baptist, and Jesus had perhaps known him on the banks of
the Jordan. 4 The two brothers continued always, even at the
period in which it seems they must have been most occupied with
their master, to follow their business as fishermen.5 Jesus, who
loved to play upon words, said at times that he would make them
fishers of men.6 In fact, among all his disciples he had none more
faithfully attached.

Another family, that of Zabdia or Zebedee, a well-to-do fisher-
man and owner of several boats,7 gave Jesus a welcome reception.
Zebedee had two sons : James, who was the elder, and a younger son,
John, who later was called to play so prominent a part in the his-
tory of infant Christianity. Both w^ere zealous disciples. Salome,
wife of Zebedee, was also much attached to Jesus, and accompanied
him until his death. 8

Women, in fact, received him with eagerness. He manifested
towards them those reserved manners which render a very sweet
union of ideas possible between the two sexes. The separation

^ Johni. 44.

2 Matt. viii. 14; Mark i. 30; Luke iv. 38; 1 Cor. ix. 5; 1 Peter v. 13 ; Clem.
Alex,, Strom., iii. 6, vii.'l 1 ; Pseudo-Clem,, Recogn., vii. 25; Eusebius, H. E., iii. 30
'^ Matt. viii. 14, xvii. 24 ; Mark i. 29-31 ; Luke iv. 38.
^ John i. 40, and following.

^ Matt. iv. IS ; Mark i. 16 ; Luke v. 3 ; John z2i. 8-
« Matt. iv. 19 ; Mark i. 17 ; Luke v. 10.
'' Mark i. 20; Luke v. 10, viii. 3 ; John xix. 27
* Matt, xxvii. 56 ; Mark xv. 40, xvi. 1.

LIFE OF JESUS. (.21

of men from women, wliich has prevented all refined development
among the Semitic peoples, was no doubt then, as in our days,
much less rigorous in the rural districts and villages than in the
large towns. Three or four devoted Galilean women always ac-
companied the young master, and disputed the pleasure of listening
to and of tending him in turn.i They infused into the new sect
an element of enthusiasm and of the marvellous, the importance of
which had already begun to be understood. One of them, Mary
of Magdala, who has rendered the name of this poor town sa
celebrated in the world, appears to have been of a very enthusiastic
temperament. According to the language of the time, she had
been possessed by seven demons.2 That is, she had been affected
with nervous and apparently inexplicable maladies. Jesus, by
his pure and sw^eet beauty, calmed this troubled nature. The
Slagdalene was faithful to him, even unto Golgotha, and on the
day but one after his death, played a prominent part ; for, as we
shall see later, she was the principal means by which faith in the
resurrection was established. Joanna, wife of Chuza, one of the
stewards of Antipas, Susanna, and others who have remained un-
known, followed him constantly and ministered unto him.3 Some
were rich, and by their fortune enabled the young prophet to live
without following the trade which he had until then practised.'*

Many others followed liim habitually, and recognised him as
their master : — a certain Philip of Bethsaida ; Nathanael, son of
Tolmai or Ptolemy, of Cana, perhaps a disciple of the first period; 5
and Matthew, probably the one who w^as the Xenophon of the
infant Christianity. The latter had been a publican, and, as such,
doubtless handled the Kalam more easily than the others. Per-
haps it was this that suggested to him the idea of writing the
Logia,^ which are the basis of what we know of the teachings of

1 Matt, xxvii. 55, 56 : Mark xv. 40, 41 ; Luke viii. 2, 3, xxiii. 49.

2 Mark xvi. 9 ; Luke viii. 2 ; cf . Tobit iii. 8, vi. 14.

* Luke viii. 3, xxiv. 10. ^ Luke viii. 3.

' John i 44, and following; xxi. 2. I admit the identification of Nathanaal
with the apostie who figures in the lists under the name of Bartlicloraew.
" Papias, in Euscbius, Hist. Eccl.t iii. 39.

128 LIFE OF JESUS.

Jesus. Among the disciples are also mentioned Thomas, or Didy
mus,i who doubted sometimes, but who appears to have been a
man of warm heart and of generous sympathies ; 2 one Lebbfeus
or Thaddeus ; Simon Zelotes,3 23erhaps a disciple of Judas ^-nc^
Gauionite, belonging to the party of the Kenaim, which was
formed about that time, and which was soon to play so great a
part in the movements of the Jewish people. Lastly, Judas, son
of Simon, of the town of Kerioth, who was an exception in the
faithful flock, and drew upon himself such a terrible notoriety.
He was the only one who was not a Galilean. Kerioth was a
town at the extreme south of the tribe of Jadah,^ a day's
journey beyond Hebron.

We have seen that in general the family of Jesus were little
inclined towards him.5 James and Jude, however, his cousins
by Mary Cleophas, henceforth became his disciples, and Mary
Cleophas herself was one of the women who followed him to
Calvary.6 At this period we do not see his mother beside him.
It was only after the death of Jesus that Mary acquired great
importance,7 and that the disciples sought to attach her to them-
selves.8 It was then also that the members of the family of the
founder, under the title of "brothers of the Lord," formed
an influential group, which was a Jong time at the head of the
church of Jerusalem,^ and which, after the sack of the city, took
refuge in Batanea.'^o The simple fact of having been familiar

^ This second name is the Greek translation of the first.

2 John xi. 16, xx. 24, and following.

3 Matt. X. 4; Mark iii. 18; Luke vi. 15; Acts i. 13; Gospel of the Ebionites,
\n Epiphanes, Adv. Ecer., xxx. 13.

■* Now Kuryetcin, or Kcreitein.

^ The circumstance related in John xix. 25-27 seema to imply that at no
period of the public life of Jesus did his own brothers become attached to him.

^ Matt, xxvii. 5(j ; Mark xv, 40 ; John xix. 25.

"^ Acts i. 14. Compare Luke i. 28, ii. 35, already implying a great respect foi
Mary.

« John xix. 25, and following. * Ante, p. 49, note 6,

^'^ Julius Africanus, in Eusebius, H. E., i. 7.

LIFE OF JESUS. 129

with hira became a decisive advantai^e, in the same manner as,
after the death of Mahomet, the wives and daughters of the
prophet, who liad no importance in his life, became great autho-
rities.

In this friendly group Jesus had evidently his favourites, and, so
to speak, an inner circle. The two sons of Zebedee, James and
John, appear to have been in the first rank. They were full
of fire and passion. Jesus had aptly surnamed them " sons of
thunder," on account of their excessive zeal, which, if it could
have controlled the thunder, would often have made use of it.i
John, especially, appears to have been on very familiar terms with
Jesus. Perhaps the warm affection which the master felt for this
disciple has been exaggerated in his Gospel, in which the personal
interests of the writer are not sufficiently concealed.2 The most
significant fact is, that, in the synoptical Gospels, Sin:ion Bar-
jona, or Peter, James, son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, form
a sort of intimate council, which Jesus calls at certain times, when
he suspects the faith and intelligence of the others.3 It seems,
moreover, that they were all three associated in their fishing.4
The affection of Jesus for Peter was strong. The character of the
latter — upright, sincere, impulsive — pleased Jesus, who at times
permitted himself to smile at his resolute manners. Peter, little
of a mystic, communicated to the master his simple doubts, his
repugnances, and his entirely human w^eaknesses,5 with an honest
frankness which recalls that of Joinville towards St Louis. Jesus
chided him, in a friendly manner, full of confidence and esteem.

^ Mark iii. 17, ix. 37, and following, x. 35, and following; Luke ix. 49, and
following ; 54, and following.

- John xiii. 23, xvili. 15, and following, xiy.. 26, 27, xx. 2, 4, xxi. 7, 20, and
following.

•^ Matt, xvii 1, xxvi. 37 ; Mark v. 37, ix. 1, xiii. 3, xiv. 33 ; Luke ix. 28. Tho
idea that Jesus had couununicated to these three disciples a Gnosis, or secret
doctrine, was very early spread. It is singular that John, in his Gospel, does not
once mention James, his brother.

■* Matt. iv. 18-22 ; Luke v. 10; John xxi. 2, and following.

5 Mutt. xiv. 28. xvi. 22 ; Mark viii. .S'J, and following.

I

1 30 LIFE OF JESUS.

As to John, his yoiith,^ his exquisite tenderness of heart,^ and his
lively imagination,^ must have had a great charm. The person-
ality of this extraordinary man, who has exerted so peculiar au
influence on infant Christianity, did not develop itself till after-
wards. When old, he wrote that strange Gospel,^ which contains
such precious teachings, but in which, in our opinion, the character
of Jesus is falsified upon many points. The nature of John was
too powerful and too profound for him to bend himself to the
impersonal tone of the first evangelists. He was the biographer
of Jesus, as Plato was of Socrates. Accustomed to ponder over
his recollections with the feverish restlessness of an excited mind,
he transformed his master in wishing to describe him, and some-
times he leaves it to be suspected (unless other hands have altered
his work) that perfect good faith was not invariably his rule and
law in the composition of this singular writing.

No hierarchy, properly speaking, existed in the new sect. They
v/ere to call each other " brothers ;" and Jesus absolutely proscribed
titles of superiority, such as rahhi, " master," father, — he alone be-
ing master, and God alone being father. The greatest was to be-
come the servant of the others. ^ Simon Bar-jona, however, was
distinguished amongst his fellows by a peculiar degree of impor-
tance. Jesus lived with him, and taught in his boat;^ his house
was the centre of the Gospel preaching. In public he was regarded
as the chief of the flock; and it is to him that the overseers of the
tolls address themselves to collect the taxes which were due from
t^>e community. 7 He was the first who had recognised Jesus as the
Messiah.8 In a moment of unpopularity, Jesus, asking of his dis-

^ He appears to have lived till uear the year 100. See hia Gospel, xxi. 15-23.
and the ancient authorities collected by Eusebius, II. E., iii. 20, 23.

2 See the epistles attributed to him, which are certainly oy the same wuth w
as the fourth Gospel.

2 Nevertheless we do not mean to affirm that the Apocalypse is by him.

* The coramon tradition seems sufficiently justified to me on this point. It is
evident, besides^ that the school of John retouched his Gospel, (see the whole of
thap. xxi.)

:Jatt. xviii. i, xx. 25-26, xxiii, 8-12; Mark ix. 34, x. 42-46.

I.ukft v. '?, ' Matt. svii. 23. » jj^^^t xvi. 16, 17.

LIFE OF JESUS. 131

ciples, "Will ye also go away?" Simon ansv/ered, "Lord, to whom
should we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life."i Jesus, at
various times, gave him a certain priority in his church ;2 and gave
him the Syrian surname of Kepha, (stone,) by which he wished to
signify by that, that he made him the corner-stone of the edifice. ^
At one time he seems even to promise him '' the keys of the king-
dom of heaven," and to grant him the right of pronouncing upon
earth decisions which should always be ratified in eternity^

No doubt, this priority of Peter excited a little jealousy. Jeal-
ousy was kindled especially in view of the future, — and of this
kingdom of God, in which all the disciples would be seated upon
thrones, on the right and on the left of the master, to judge the
twelve tribes of Israel.^ They asked who would then be nearest
to the Son of man, and act in a manner as his prime minister and
assessor. The two sons of Zebedee aspired to this rank. Pre-
occupied with such a tl) ought, they prompted their mother Salome,
who one day took Jesus aside, and asked him for the two places of
honour for her sons. 6 Jesus evaded the request by his habitual
maxim that he who exalte th himself shall be humbled, and that the
kingdom of heaven v/ill be possessed by the lowly. This created some
disturbance in the community ; there was great discontent against
James and John. 7 The same rivalry appears to shew itself in the
Gospel of John, where the narrator unceasingly deckres himself
to be " the disciple whom Jesus loved," to whom the master in
dying confided his mother, and seeks systematically to place him-
self near Simon Peter, and at times to put himself before him, in
important circumstances where the older evangelists had omitted
mentioning him.^

1 John vi. 68-70.

2 Matt. X. 2; Luke xxii. 32 ; John ixi. 15, and following; Acts i. ii. v., &c. ;
Gal. i. 18, ii. 7, 8. 3 jj^tt. xvi. IS ; John i. 42.

* Matt. xvi. 19. Elsewhere, it is true, (Matt, iviii. 18,) the same power it
granted to all the apostles.

' Matt, xviii. 1, and following; Mark ix. 33 ; Luke ix. 46, xxii. 30.

^ Matt. XX. 20, and following; Mark x. 35, and following. ^ Mark x. 41.

• John xviii. 15, and following, xix. 26, 27, xx. 2, and following, xxi. 7, 21.
Comp. i. 35, and following, in which the disusinla rA^vred to is probably John.

132 LIFE OF JESUS.

Among the preceding personages, all those of whom we know any-
thing had begun by being fishermen. At all events, none of them
belonged to a socially elevated class. Only Matthew or Levi, sou
of Alpheus,! had been a publican. But those to whom they gave
this name in Judea were not the farmers -general of taxes, men of
elevated rank (always Roman patricians), who werp called at Rome
jmhliccmi^ They were the agents of these contractors, employ6s
of low rank, simply officers of the customs. The great route from
Acre to Damascus, one of the most ancient routes of the world,
which crossed Galilee, skirting the lake,^ made this class of em-
ploye very numerous there. Capernaum, which was perhaps on
the road, possessed a numerous staff of them.^ This profession
is never popular, but with the Jews it was considered quite criminal.
Taxation, new to them, was the sign of their subjection ; one school,
that of Judas the Gaulonite, maintained that to pay it was an act
of paganism. Tlie customs-officers, also, were abhorred by the
zealots of the law. They were only named in company with
assassins, highway robbers, and men of infamous life.^ The Jews
who accepted such offices were excommunicated, and became inca-
pable of making a will ; their money was accursed, and the casuists

1 Matt. ix. 9, X. 3; Mark ii. 14, iii. 18; Luke v. 27, vi. 15; Acts i. 13. Gospel
of the Ebionites, in Epipli., Adv. JJccr., xxx. 13. We must suppose, however
strange it may seem, that these two names were borne by the same person-
age. The narrative. Matt. ix. 9, conceived in accordance with the ordinary model
of legends, describing the call to aposlleship, is, it is true, somewhat vague, and
has certainly not been written by the apostle in question. But we must remember
that, in the existing Gospel of Matthew, the only part which is by the apostle
consists of the Discourses of Jesus. See Papias, in Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., ill. 39.

^ Cicero, De Frovlnc. Consular., 5; Fro Plancio, 9; Tac, Ann.^iy. 6; Pliny,
Hist. Nat., XII. 32; Appian, Bell. Civ., ii. 13.

^ It remained celebrated, up to the time of the Crusades, under the name of
Via Maris. Cf. Isaiah ix. 1 ; Matt. iv. 13-15; Tobit, i. 1. I think that the road
cut in the rock near Aiu-et-Tin formed part of it, and that the route was directed
from thence towards the Bridge of tlie Daughters of Jacob, just as it is now. A
part of the road from Ain-et-Tin to this bridge is of ancient construction.

■* Matt. ix. 9, and following,

» Matt. V. 43, 47, ix. 10, 11, xi. 19, xviii. 17, xxi. 31, 32; Mark ii. 15, 16 ; Luk«
v. 30, vii. 34, xv. 1, xviii. il, xix. 7 ; Lucian, Necyomant, ii. ; Dio Chrysost., orat.
Iv., p. S5, orat. xiv., p. 2^59, (edit. Emperius); IJ^Iisbnah, N^daritn, iii- 4.

LIFE Of JEStrS. 133

forbade the changing of money with thcm.i Tiiese poor men,
placed under the ban of society, visited amongst themselves. Jesus
accepted a dinner offered him by Levi, at which there were, according
to the language of the time, " many publicans and sinners." This
gave great offence,^ In these ill-reputed houses there was a
risk of meeting bad society. We shall often see hiin thus, caring
little to shock the prejudices of well-disposed persons, seeking to
elevate the classes humiliated by the orthodox, and thus exposing
himself to the liveliest reproaches of the zealots.

Jesus owed these numerous conquests to the infinite charm of
his person and his speech. A penetrating w^ord, a look falling
upon a simple conscience, wdiich only wanted awakening, gave him
an ardent disciple. Sometimes Jesus employed an innocent arti-
fice, which Joan of Arc also used : he affected to know something
intimate respecting him whom he wished to gain, or he would
perhaps recall to him some circumstance dear to his heart. It was
thus that he attracted Nathanael,3 Peter, 4 and the Samaritan
woman.5 Concealing the true source of his strength, — his superi-
ority over all that surrounded him, — he permitted people to believe
(in order to satisfy the ideas of the time — ideas which, moreover,
fully coincided with his own), — that a revelation from on high re-
vealed to him aU secrets and laid bare all hearts. Every one
thought that Jesus lived in a sphere superior to that of humanity.
They said that he conversed on the mountains with Moses and
Elias;^ they believed that in his moments of solitude the angels
came to render him homage, and established a supernatural in-
tercourse betw^ecn him and heaven.7

^ Mishnali, Baba, Kama, x. 1 ; Talmud of Jerusalem, Dcmai, ii. 3; Talmud of
Bab., Sanhedrim, 25 h.

2 Luke V. 29, and following. " John i. 48, and following.

* John i. 42. ° John iv. 17, and following.

• Matt. xvii. 3; Mark ix. 3 ; Luke ix. 30-31 " Matt. iv. 11 ; Mark i. 13.

CHAPTER X

THE PREACHIXGS ON THE LAKE.

Sucil was tlie group which, on the borders of the lake of Tiberias,
gathered around Jesus. The aristocracy was represented there by
a customs-officer and by the wife of one of Herod's stewards. The
rest were fisliermen and common people. Their ignorance was
extreme; their intelligence was feeble; they believed in appari-
tions and spirits.! Not one element of Greek culture had pene-
trated this first assembly of the saints. They had very little
Jewish instruction ; but heart and good- will overflowed. The
beautiful climate of Galilee made the life of these honest fisher-
men a perpetual delight. They truly preluded the kingdom of
God, — simple, good, and happy, — rocked gently on their delight-
ful little sea, or at night sleeping on its shores. We do not realise
to ourselves the intoxication of a life which thus glides away in
the face of heaven, — the sweet yet strong love which this per-
petual contact with nature gives, and the dreams of these nights
passed in the brightness of the stars, under an azure dome of
infinite expanse. It was during such a night that Jacob, with
his head resting upon a stone, saw in the stars the promise of
an innumerable posterity, and the mysterious ladder by which
the angels of God came and went from heaven to earth. At the
time of Jesus the heavens were not closed, nor the earth grown
cold. The cloud still opened above the Son of man ; the angela

1 Matt. xiv. 2G ; ^Ma/k vl 49 : Luke xxiv, 39 ; John vi. 19.

LW^ OF JEiSUS. 1 oo

u;,.jendod and descended upon his head;i tlie visions of tlic king-
dom of God were everywliere, for man carried tliem in liis lieart
The clear and mild eyes of these simple souls contemplated
the universe in its ideal source. The world unveiled perhaps its
secret to the divinely enlightened conscience of these happy chil-
dren, whose purity of heart deserved one day to behold God.

Jesus lived with his disciples almost always in the open air.
Sometimes he got into a boat, and instructed his hearers, who were
crowded upon the shore.^ Sometimes he sat upon the mountains
which bordered the lake, w^here the air is so pure and the horizon
so luminous. The faithful band led thus a joyous and wander-
ing life, gathering the inspirations of the master in their first
bloom. An innocent doubt was sometimes raised, a question
slightly sceptical ; but Jesus, with a smile or a look, silenced the
objection. At each step, — in the passing cloud, the germinating
seed, the ripening corn, — they saw the sign of the E^ngdom draw-
ing nigh, they believed themselves on the eve of seeing God, of
being masters of the world ; tears were turned into joy ; it was
tlie advent upon earth of universal consolation,

" Blessed," said the master, " are the poor in spirit : for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven.

" Blessed are they that mourn : for they shall be comforted.

" Blessed are the meek : for they shall inherit the earth.

" Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after rigi^teous*
ness : for they shall be filled.

" Blessed are the merciful : for they shall obtain mercy.

" Blessed are the pure in heart : for they shall see God.

"Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called the
children of God.

" Blessed are they which are pel'secuted for righteojsness' sake :
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." 3

His preaching was gentle and pleasing, breatliing natnrj
and the perfume of the fields. He loved the flowers, and too'c

^ John i. 51. 2 ^att. xiii. 1, 2; IMark iii. 9, iv, 1 ; Luke v. 3;

8 Malt. V. 3-10; Luke vi. 20-25.

1*36 LIFE OF JESUS.

from tlicm his most charming lessons. The birds of heaven, the
sea, the mountains, and the games of children, furnished in turn the
subject of his instructions. His style had nothing of the Grecian
in it, but approached much more to that of the Hebrew para-
bolists, and especially of sentences from the Jewish doctors,
his contemporaries, such as we read them in the " Pirke Ahoih.'*
His teacliings were not very extended, and formed a species
of sorites in the style of the Koran, which, joined together,
afterwards composed tliose long discourses which were writ-
ten by Matthew. 1 No transition united these diverse pieces ;
generally, however, the same inspiration i:)enetrated them and
made them one. It was, above all, in parable that the master
excelled. Nothing in Judaism had given him the model of this
delightful st3de.2 He created it. It is true that we find in the
Buddhist books parables of exactly the same tone and the same
character as the Gospel parables ; ^ but it is difficult to admit
that a Buddhist influence has been exercised in these. The spirit
of gentleness and the depth of feeling which equally animate
infant Christianity and Buddhism, suffice perhaps to explain these
analogies.

o

A total indifference to exterior life and the vain appanage of
the " comfortable," which our drearier countries make necessary
to us, was the consequence of the sweet and simple life lived
in Galilee. Cold climates, by compelling man to a perpetual con-
test with external nature, cause too much value to be attached
to researches after comfort and luxury. On the other hand, the
countries which awaken few desires are the countries of idealism
and of poesy. The accessories of life are there insignificant com-
pared with the pleasure of living. The embellishment of the
house is superfluous, for it is frequented as little as possible. The

^ This is what the Ao'yta KvpiaKci were called. Papiaa, in Eusebius, ZT. F., iii.

dd.

2 The apologue, as we find it in Judges ix. S, and following, 2 Sam. xii. 1, and
following, only resembles the Gospel parable in form. The profound originaUty
of the latter is in the thought with which it is filled.

=* See especially the Lotus of the Good Law, chap. iii. and iv.

LIFE OF JESUS. 1 37

strong and regular food of less generous climates, would be con-
sidered heavy and disagreeable. And as to the luxury of gar-
' nients, what can rival that which God has oriven to the earth and
the birds of heaven ? Labour in climates of this kind appears
useless ; what it gives is not equal to what it costs. The
animals of the field are better clothed than the most opulent
man, and they do nothing. This contempt, which, when it is not
caused by idleness, contributes greatly to the elevation of the soul,
inspired Jesus with some charming apologues : — " Lay not up for
yourselves treasures upon earth," said he, " where moth and rust
doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal , but lay
up for yourselves treasures 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.l No man
can serve two masters : for either he will hate the one and love
the other ; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other.
Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.2 Therefore I say unto you,
take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall
drink ; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the
life more than meat, and the body than raiment ? Behold the
fowls of the air : for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor ga-
ther into barns ; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye
not much better than they? Which of you by taking though c
can add one cubit unto his stature ? And why take ye thought
for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow;
they toil not, neither do they spin ; and yet I say unto you. That
even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is,
and to-morrow is cast into the oven, snail he not much more clothe
you, 0 ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying,
What shall we eat ? or. What shall we drink ? or, Wherewithal
shall we be clothed ? For after all these things do the Gentiles
seek ; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all

^ Compare Talm. of Bab., Baba Bathra, 11 a,

' The god of riches and hidden treasures, a kind of Plutua in the Phoouician
and Syrian mythology.

f o8 LIFE OF JESUS.

these things. But seek ye first the Idngclom of God,! and liis
righteousness ; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Take therefore no thought for the morrow : for the morrow shall
take thought of the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the
evil thereof." 2

This essentially G-aliliean sentiment had a decisive influence on
the destiny of the infant sect. The happy flock, rfelying on the
heavenly Father for the satisfaction of its wants, had for its first
principle the regarding of the cares of life as an evil which choked
the gerni of all good in raan.3 Each day they asked of God the
bread, for the morrow. * Why lay up treasure? The kingdom
of God is at hand. " Sell that ye have and give alms," said the
master. " Provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in
the heavens that faileth not." 5 What more foolish than to heap
up treasures for heirs whom thou wilt never behold ?6 As an
example of human folly, Jesus loved to cite the case of a man
who after having enlarged his barns and amassed wealth for long
years, died before having enjoyed it! 7 The brigandage which
Was deeply rooted in Galiree,^ gave much force to these views.
The poor, who did not suffer from it, would regard them-
selves as the favoured of God ; whilst the rich, having a less sure
possession, were the truly disinherited. In our societies, estab-
lished upon a very rigorous idea of property, the position of the
poor is horrible ; they have literally no place under the sun.
There are no floWets, no grass, no shade, except for him who pos-
sesses the earth. In the East, these are gifts of God which belong
to no one. The proprietor has but a slender privilege ; nature is
the patrimony of all.

^ I hete adopt the reading of Lachmann and Tischendorf .

2 Matt. vi. 19-21, 24-34. Luke xii. 22-31, 33, 34, xvi, 13. Compare tLa
precepts in Lule x. 7, 8, full of the same simple sentiment, and Talmud of Baby-
lon, Sola, 48 h.

3 Matt. xiii. 22; Mark iv. 19; Luke viii. 14.

" Matt. vi. 11 ; Luke xi. 3. This is the meaning of the word eniovaios.

« Luke xii. 33, 34. <" Luke xii. 20. ^ ^^^\q xii. 16, and following,

* Job., Ant., xvii. x. 4, and following; Vita, 11, &c.

LIFE OF JESUS. 159

The infant Christianity, moreover, in this only followed the
footsteps of the Essenes, or Therapeutge, and of the Jewish sects
founded on the monastic life. A communistic element entered into
all these sects, which were equally disliked by Pharisees and Saddu-
cees. The Messianic doctrine, which was entii^ely political among
the orthodox Jews, was entirely social amongst them. By means of
a gentle, regulated, contemplative existence, leaving its share to
the liberty of the individual, these little churches thought to inau-
gurate the heavenly kingdom upon earth. Utopias of a blessed
life, founded on the brotherhood of men and the worship of the
true God, occupied elevated souls, and produced from all sides bold
and sincere, but short-lived attempts to realise these doctrines.

Jesus, whose relations with the Essenes are difficult to deter-
mine (resemblances in history not always implying relations), was
on this point certainly their brother. The community of goods
was for some time the rule in the new society.l Covetousness
was the cardinal sin. 2 Now it must be remarked that the sin of
covetousness, against which Christian morality has been so severe,
was then the simple attachment to property. The first condition of
becoming a disciple of Jesus, was to sell one's property and to give
the price of it to the poor. Those who recoiled from this ex*
tremity, were not admitted into the community .^ Jesus often re-
peated that he who has found the kingdom of God ought to buy it
at the price of all his goods, and that in so doing he makes an ad-
vantageous bargain. " The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure
hid in a field ; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and
for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that
field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman
seeking goodly pearls ; who, when he had found one pearl of great
price, went and sold aU that he had and bought it."* Alas ! the
uiconveniences of this plan were not long in making themselves

1 Ada iv. Z% 34-37 ; v. 1, and following.

' Matt. xiii. 22; Luke sii. 15, and following,

2 Matt. xix. 21 ; Mark x. 21, and following, 2:9, 30 ; Luke itiii. 22. 23, 23.

* Matt. xiii. 44--4G

1 4-0 LIFE OF JfStll.

felt. A treasurer was wanted. They chose for that office Judas
of Kerioth. Eightly or wrongly, they accused him of stealing
from the common purse ;1 it is certain that he came to a bad end.
Sometimes the master, more versed in things of heaven than
those of earth, taught a stiil more singular political economy.
In a strange parable, a steward is praised for having made him-
self triends among the poor at the expense of his master, in order
that the poor might in their turn introduce him into the kingdom
of heaven. The poor, in fact, becoming the dispensers of this
kingdom, will only receive those who have given to them. A
prudent man, thinking of the future, ought therefore to seek to
gain their favour. " And the Pharisees also," says the evangelist,
" who were covetous, heard all these things : and they derided
him." 2 Ditl they also hear the formidable parable which follows?
" There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and
fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day : and there was a
certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of
sores, and desirinix to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the
rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the
angels into Abraham's bosom : the rich man also died, and Avas
buried ; 3 and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and
seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried
and said. 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. But Abraham said. Son, re-
member that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things ; and
likewise Lazarus evil things : but now he is comforted and thou
art tormented." 4 What more just ? Afterwards this parable was
called that of the " wicked rich man." But it is purely and simply

1 John xii. 6. » Lukexvi. 1-14. ^ gge the Greek text.

* Luke xvi. 19-25. Luke, I am aware, has a very decided communistic tendency,
(comp. vi. 20, 21, 25, 26,) and I think he has exaggerated this shade of the teach-
ing of Jesus. But the features of the Xoyta of Matthew are sufficiently sigpal-
ficaut.

LIFE OF JESUS. 141

the parable of the " rich man." He is in hell because he is rich,
because he does not give his wealth to the poor, because he dines
well, while others at his door dine badly. Lastly, in a less ex-
travagant moment, Jesus does not make it obligatory to sell one's
goods, and give them to the poor except as a suggestion towards
greater perfection. But he still makes this terrible declaration :
" Ic 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." 1-

An admirable idea governed Jesus in all this, as well as
the band of joyous children who accompanied him and made
him for eternity the true creator of the peace of the soul, the
great consoler of life. In disengaging man from what he called
"the cares of this world," Jesus might go to excess and injure
the essential conditions of human society ; but he founded that
high spiritualism which for centuries has filled souls with joy in
the midst of this vale of tears. He saw with perfect clearness
that man's inattention, his want of philosophy and morality, come
mostly from the distractions which he permits himself, the cares
which besiege him, and which civilisation multiplies beyond mea-
sure.2 The Gospel, in this manner, has been the most efncient
remedy for the weariness of ordinary life, a perpetual sursum
corda, a powerful diversion from the miserable cares of earth, a
gentle appeal like that of Jesus in the ear of Martha, — " Martha,
Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things ; but
one thing is needful." Thanks to Jesus, the dullest existence, that
inost absorbed by sad or humiliating duties, has had its glimpse
of heaven. In our busy civilisations the remembrance of the free
life of Galilee has been like perfume from another world, like the
" dew of Hermon," 3 which has prevented drought and barrenness
from entirely invading the field of God.

^ Matt. xix. 24 ; Mark x. 25; Luke xviii. 25. This proverbial phrase is found
In the Talmud (Bab., BeraJcoth, 55 h, Baha metsia, 38 b) and in the Koran, (Sur.,
vii. 38.) Origan and the Greek interpreters, ignorant of the Semitic proverb»
I bought that ii meant a cable, [KUfuXos.)

e Matt. xiii. 22 » I'salin cixiiii. 3.

CHAPTER XX.

THE KINGDOM OF GOD CONCEIVED AS THE INHEKITANCE Of
THE POOE.

These maxims, good for a country where life is nourished by
the air and the light, and this delicate communism of a band
of children of God reposing in confidence on the bosom of their
Father, might suit a simi)le sect constantly persuaded that its
Utopia was about to be realised. But it is clear that they could
not satisfy the wliole of society. Jesus understood very soon, in
fact, that the official world of his time would by no means adopt
his kingdom. He took his resolution with extreme boldness.
Leaving the world, with its hard heart and narrow prejudices on
one side, he turned towards the simple. A vast substitution of
classes would take place. The kingdom of God was made, — 1st, For
children, and those who resemble them ; 2nd, For the outcasts of
this world, victims of that social arrogance which repulses the good
but humble man ; ord, For heretics and schismatics, publicans,
Samaritans, and Pagans of Tyre and Sidon. An energetic parable
explained this appeal to the people, and justified it.^ A king has
prepared a wedding feast, and sends his servants to seek those
invited. Each one excuses himself ; some ill-treat the messengers.
The king, therefore, takes a decided step. The great peoj^le have
aot accepted his invitation. Be it so. His guests shall be the
first comers ; the people collected from the highways and byeways,

■* Matt. xxii. 2, and following ; Luke xiv. 16, and following. Comp. Matt. viil.
II, 12, xxi. 33, and following.

ijli^i^ Ui< oiliObO.

the poor, tlie beggars, and the lame ; it matters not who, the
toom must be fiiled " For I say unto yon;"' said he, " that none
of those nien which were bidden shall taste of my supper."

Pure Ehio.nism — that is, the doctrine that the poor (ehionim)
alone shall be saved, that tlie reign of the poor is approaching —
was, therefore, the doctrine of Jesus. '•' Woe unto you that are
rich,'' said he, " for ye have received your consolation. Woe
unto you that are full, for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you
that laugh now, for ye shall mourn and weep."l "Then said
he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a
supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen,
nor thy rich neighbours, lest they also bid thee again, and a recom-
pense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor,
the maimed, the lame, the blind : and thou shalt be blessed ; for
they cannot recompense thee ; for thou shalt be recompensed at
the resurrection of the just." 2 It is perhaps in an analogous sense
that he often repeated, " Be good bankers," ^ — that is to say, make
good investments for the kingdom of God, in giving your wealth
to the poor, conformably to the old proverb, " He that hath pity
upon the poor, lendeth unto the Lord."*

This, however, was not a new fact. The most exalted demo-
cratic movement of which humanity has preserved the remem-
brance (the only one, also, which has succeeded, for it alone has
maintained itself in the domain of pure thought), had long dis-
turbed the Jewish race. The thought that God is the avenger
of the poor and the weak, against the rich and the powerful,
is found in each page of the writings of the Old Testament.
The history of Israel is of all histories that in which the popular
spirit has most constantly predominated. The prophets, the true,
and, in one sense, the boldest tribunes, had thundered incessantly
against the great, and established a close relation, on the one hand,

1 Luke vi. 24, 25. = Luke xiv. 12, 14.

■^ A saying preserved by very aacient tradition, and much used, CJement of
Alexandria, Strom, i. 28. It is also found in Origen, St Jerome, and a great nu^u^
ber of the fathers of the Cluirch.

* Prov. XIX. 17.

144 LIFE OF JESUS.

between the words "rich, impious, violent, wicked," and, on the
other, between the words "poor, gentle, humble, pious. "^ Under
the Seleucidse, the aristocrats having almost all apostatised ard
gone over to Hellenism, these associations of ideas only became
stronger. The Book of Enoch contains still more violent male-
dictions than those of the Gospel against the world, the rich, and
the powerful. 2 Luxury is there depicted as a crime. The " Son
of man," in this strange Apocalypse, dethrones kings, tears them
from their voluptuous life, and precipitates them into hell.^ The
initiation of Judea into secular life, the recent introduction of an
entirely worldly element of luxury and comfort, provoked a furious
reaction in favour of patriarchal simplicity. "Woe unto you
who despise the humble dwelling and inheritance of your fathers !
Woe unto you who build your palaces with the sweat of others !
Each stone, each brick, of which it is built, is a sin."^ The name
of " poor " (ehion) had become a synonym of " saint," of " friend of
God." This was the name that the Galilean disciples of Jesu«!
loved to give themselves ; it was for a long time the name of the
Judaising Christians of Batanea and of the Hauran (Nazarenes, He-
brews) who remained faithful to the tongue, as well as to the pri-
mitive instructions of Jesus, and who boasted that they possessed
amongst themselves the descendants of his family.5 At the end
of the second century, these good sectaries, having remained be-
yond the reach of the great current which had carried away all
the other churches, were treated as heretics (Ehionites) and a
pretended heretical leader {Ehion) was invented to explain their
name.^

^ See, in particular, Amos ii. 6; Isa. Ixiii. 9; Ps, xxv. 9, xxxvii. 11, Ixix, 83;
and, in general, the Hebrew dictionaries, at the words :

.ynor ,ubbT\ ,tw ^tdh ,w ^''^v ^^'^ ,|V:l^*

* Ch. Ixii., Ixiii., xcvii., c, civ.

' Enoch, ch. xlvi. 4-8. ■* Enoch, xcix. 13, 14.

' Julius Africanus in Eusebius, II. E., i. 7 ; Eus., De situ et nam. loc hehr., at
the word Xa)/3a ; Orig., Contra Cdsus, ii. 1, v. 61 ; Epiph., Adv. Hcer., xxix. 7, 9, xxx.
2, 18.

* See especially Origen, Contra Cchus, ii. 1 ; Be Prlncipiis, iv. 22. Compare
Epiph., Adv. Ilcer., xxx. 17. Irenscus, Origen, Eusebius, and the apostolic ConsLi-

LIFE OF JESUS. I'i'O

We may see, in f:ict, wiQiout difficulty, that this exaggerated
taste for poverty could not be very lasting. It was one of those
Utopian elements which always mingle in the origin of great move-
ments, and which time rectifies. Thrown into the centre of human
society, Christianity very easily consented to receive rich men into
her bosom, just as Buddhism, exclusively monkish in its origin,
soon began, as conversions multiplied, to admit the laity. But the
mark of origin is ever preserved. Although it quickly passed aw^ay
and became forgotten, Ehionism left a leaven in the whole history
of Christian institutions which has not been lost. The collection
of the Logia, or discourses of Jesus, was formed in the Ebionitish
centre of Batanea.i "Poverty" remained an ideal from which the true
followers of Jesus were never after separated. To possess nothing,
was the truly evangelical state ; mendicancy became a virtue, a holy
condition. The great Umbrian movement of the thirteenth cen-
tury, which, among all the attempts at religious construction,
most resembles the Galilean movement, took place entirely in the
name of poverty. Francis d'Assissi, the man who, more than any
other, by his exquisite goodness, by his delicate, pure, and tender
intercourse with universal life, most resembled Jesus, was a poor
man. The mendicant orders, the innumerable communistic sects
of the middle ages {Fauvres de Lyon, Begards, Bons- Homines,
Fratricelles, Humilies, Fauvres evangeliques, &c.) grouped under
the banner of the " Everlasting Gospel," pretended to be, and in
fact were, the true disciples of Jesus. But even in this case the
most impracticable dreams of the new religion were fruitful in re-
sults. Pious mendicity, so impatiently borne by our industrial and
well-organised communities, was in its day, and in a suitable climate,
full of charm. It offered to a multitude of mild and contemplative
souls the only condition suited to them. To have made poverty an
object of love and desire, to have raised the beggar to the altar,

tutions, ignore the existence of such a personage. The author of tlie Philosophu-
mena seems to hesitate, (vii. '6i and 35, x. 22 and 23.) It is by Tertullian, and
especially by Epiphanes, that the fable of one Ebion has been spread. Besides, all
the Fathers are agreed on the etymology, 'Ej3iaji'=7rrco;(os-.
* Epiph., Adv. Hcer., xix., xxix., and xxx., especially xxix. 9.

1 U) LIFE Ot JEStTS.

and to have sanctified tlie coat of the poor man, was a master-
stroke which political economy may not appreciate, but in t]ie
presence of which the true moralist cannot remain indifferent.
Humanity, in order to bear its burden, needs to believe that it is
not paid entirely by wages. The greatest service which can be
rendered to it is to repeat often that it lives not by bread alone.

Like all great men, Jesus loved the people, and felt himself at
home with them. The Gospel, in his idea, is made for the poor ;
it is to them he brings the glad tidings of salvation.^ All the
despised ones of orthodox Judaism were his favourites. Love of
the people, and pity for its weakness, (the sentiment of the demo-
cratic chief, who feels the spirit of the multitude live in him, and
recognise him as its natural interpreter,) shine forth at each
moment in his acts and discourses.^

The chosen flock presented, in fact, a very mixed character,
and one likely to astonish rigorous-moralists. It counted in its fold
men with Avliom a Jew, respecting himself, would not have asso-
ciated.^ Perhaps Jesus found in this society, unrestrained by
ordinary rules, more mind and heart than in a pedantic and formal
middle-class, proud of its apparent morality. Tlie Pharisees, ex-
aggerating the Mosaic j^rescriptions, had come to believe them-
selves defiled by contact with men less strict than themselves ; in
their meals they almost rivalled the puerile distinctions of caste in
India. Despising these miserable aberrations of the religious senti-
ment, Jesus loved to eat with those who suffered from them ;4 by
his side at table were seen persons said to lead wicked lives, j^cr-
haps only so called because they did not share the follies of the
false devotees. The Pharisees and the doctors protested again
the scandal. " See," said they, "with what men he eats !" Jesus
returned subtle answers, which exasperated the hypocrites : " They
that be whole need not a physician." 5 Or again : " What man of
you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not

"^ r.Ibitt. xi. 5; Luke vi. 20, 21. = Matt. ix. 36; Mark vL 34.

^ Matt. ix. 10, and following; Lvike xv. entirely.

* Matt. ix. 11 ; IMark ii. ](3 ; Lr.ke v. 30. ^ jj-^tt. ix. 12.

LIFE OF JESUS. 1^?

leave the iiiiiety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that
which is lost nntil he find it ? And when he hath found it, he
layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing." i Or again : " The Son of
man is come to save that which was lost."^ Or agaii?. t " I am not
come to call the righteous, but sinners. "3 Lastly, tha5 delightful
parable of the prodigal son, in which he who is fallen is repre-
sented as having a kind of privilege of love above him who has
always been righteous. Weak or guilty women, surprised at so
much that was charming, and reahsing, for the first time, the at^
tractions of contact with virtue, approached him freely. People
were astonished that he did not repulse them. " Now when the
Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself,
saying, 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." Jesus replied by the parable of a creditor who forgives
his debtors' unequal debts, and he did not hesitate to prefer the
lot of him to whom was remitted the greater debt. 4 He appre-
ciated conditions of soul only in proportion to the love mingled
therein. Women, with tearful hearts, and disposed through their
sins to feelings of humility, were nearer to his kingdom than
ordinary natures, who often have little merit in not having fallen.
We may conceive, on the other hand, that these tender souls, find-
ing in their conversion to the sect an easy means of restoration,
would passionately attach themselves to him.

Far from seeking to soothe the murmurs stirred up by his dis-
dain for the social susceptibilities of the time, he seemed to take
pleasure in exciting them. Never did any one avow more loftily
this contempt for the " world," which is the essential condition of
great things and of great originality. He pardoned the rich man,

1 Luke XV. 4, and following. ^ j^att. xviii. 11 ; Luke six. 10. ' Matt. ix. 13.

* Luke vii. 36, and following. Luke, who likes to bring out in relief everything
that relates to the forgiveness of sinners, (comp. x. 30, and following, xv. entirely,
xvii. 16, and following, xix. 2, and following, xxiii. 39-43,) has included in this
narrative passages from another history, that of the anointing of feet, which took
place at Bethany some days before the death of Jesus. But the pardon of linful
women was undoubtedly one of the essential features of the anecdotes of the life of
Jesus. — Cf. John viii. 3, and following; Papia.3, in Eusebiua, Hist. Ecd.x iii. 32.

148 LIFE OF JESUS.

but only wlien the rich man, in consequence of some prejudice,
was disliked by society. 1 He greatly preferred men of equivocal
life and of small consideration in the eyes of the orthodox leaders.
"The publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God be-
fore you. For John came unto you and ye believed him not : but
the publicans and the harlots believed him." 2 We can under-
stand how galling the reproach of not having followed the good
example set by prostitutes must have been to men making a pro-
fession of seriousness and rigid morality.

He had no external affectation or show of austerity. He did
not fly from pleasure ; he went willingly to marriage feasts. One
of his miracles was performed to enliven a wedding at a small
town. Weddings in the East take place in the evening. Each
one carries a lamp ; and the lights coming and going produce a
very agreeable effect. Jesus liked this gay and animated aspect,
and drew parables from it.3 Such conduct, compared with
that of John tlie Baptist, gave olfence.4 One day, when the
disciples of John and the Pharisees were observing the fast,
it was asked, " Why do the disciples of John and of the Phari-
sees fast, but thy disciples fast not ? And Jesus said unto
them, Can the children of t>.e bridechamber fast, v/hile the bride-
groom is with them ? As long as they have the bridegroom with
them, they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bride-
groom shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast
in those days." ^ His gentle gaiety found expression in lively
ideas and amiable pleasantries. " But whereunto," said he, " shall
I liken this generation ? It is like unto children sitting in the
markets, and calling unto their fellows, and saying, We have piped
unto you, and ye have not danced ; we have mourned unto you,
and ye have not lamented.6 Eor John came neither eating nor
drinking, and they say. He hath a devil The Son of man came

^ Luke xix. 2, and following. « Matt. xxi. 81, 32.

3 Matt. XXV. 1, and following. * Mark ii. 18; Luke v. 33.

^ Matt. ix. 14, and following: Mark ii. 18, and fullowing; Luke v. 33, and fol*
lowing.
* An allusion to some children's game,

LIFE OF JESUS. 149

eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and
a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But Wisdom is
justified of her children." i

He thus traversed Galilee in the midst o.f a continual feast.
He rode on a mule. In the East tins is a good and safe mode of
travelling; the large black eyes of the animal, shaded by long eye-
lashes, give it an expression of gentleness. His disciules sometimes
surrounded him with a kind of rustic pomp, at the expense of
their garments, which they used as carpets. They placed them
on the mule which carried him, or extended them on the earth
in his path.2 His entering a house was considered a joy and a
blessing. He stopped in the villages and the large farms, where
he received an eager hospitality. In the East, the house into
which a stranger enters becomes at once a public place. All the
village assembles there, the children invade it, and though dispersed
by the servants, always return. Jesus could not permit these simple
auditors to be treated harshly ; he caused them to be brought to him
and embraced them.^ The mothers, encouraged by such a recep-
tion, bronght him their children in order that he might touch
them.4 "Women came to pour oil upon his head, and perfume on
his feet. His disciples sometimes repulsed them as troublesome ;
but Jesus, who loved the ancient usages, and all that indicated
simplicity of heart, repaired the ill done by his too zealous friends.
He protected those who wished to honour him.^ Thus children
and women adored him. The reproach of alienating frdin their
families these gentle creatures, always easily misled, was one of
the most frequent charges of his enemies.^

1 Matt. xi. If), and following; Luke vii. 34, and following. A proverb which
means " The opinion of men is blind. The wisdom of the works of God is only
I.roclaimed by his works themselves," I read (pyccv, with the manuscript B. of
tho Vatican, and not TCKvav.

* Matt. xxi. 7, 8.

^ Matt. xix. 13, and following; Mark ix. 35, x. 13, and following; Luke xviii.
15. IG. ' I^-'.

5 Matt. xxvi. 7, and following; Mark xiv. 3, and following; Luke vii. 37, and
fellowiug.

Gospel of M/^rcion adtlition to ver. 2 of chnn xxiii «<" Luke, (Epix)h., Adv.

150 LIFE OF JESUS.

The new religion was thus in many respects a movement of
women and children. The latter were like a young guard around
Jesus for the inauguration of his innocent royalty, and gave him
little ovations which mucli pleased him, calling him " son of David,"
crying Hosanna} and bearing palms around him. Jesus, like
Savonarola, perhaps made them serve as instruments for pious
missions ; he was very glad to see these young apostles, who did
not compromise him, rush into the front and give him titles which
he dared not take himself. He let them speak, and when he
was asked if he heard, he replied in an evasive manner that the
praise which comes from young lips is the most agreeable to God.2

He lost no opportunity of repeating that the little ones are
sacred beiugs,^ that the kingdom of God belongs to children,^ that
we must become children to enter there,^ that we ought to receive
it as a child, (> that the heavenly Father hides his secrets from the
wise, and reveals them to the little ones.7 The idea of disciples
is in his mind almost synonymous with that of children.8 On
one occasion, when they had one of those quarrels for prece-
dence which were not uncommon, Jesus took a little child, placed
him in their midst, and said to them, " Whosoever therefore shall
humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the
kingdom of heaven." ^

It was infancy, in fact, in its divine spontaneity, in its simple
bewilderments of joy, which took possession of the earth. Every
Dne believed at each moment that the kingdom so much desired
was about to appear. Each one already saw himself seated on a

[leer., xlii. 11.) If the suppressions of Marcion are without critical vahie, snch is
Mot the case with his additions, when they proceed, not from a special view, biit
trom the condition of the maniiscripts which he used.

^ A cry which was raised at the feast of tabernacles, amidst the waving of palm:^.
Mishnah, Salcka, iii. 9. This custom still exists amongst the Israelites.

2 Matt. xxi. 15, IG. ^ Matt, xviii. 5, 10, 14; Luke xvii 2.

4 Matt, xix. 14; Mark x. 14; Luke xviii. 10.

* Matt, xviii. 1, and following; Mark ix. 33, and following; Luke ix. A^.

« Mark s. iS. '' Matt. xi. 25 ; Luke x. 21.

8 Matt. x. 42, xviii. 5, 14; Mark ix. 36; Luke xvii. 2,

» Matt, xviii. 4; Mark ix. 33-36 ; Luke ix. 46-48.

LIFE OF JESUS. 151

throne 1 beside tlie master. They divided amongst themselves
the positions of honour in the new kingdom ,2 and strove to reckon
the precise date of its ad^ev.t. This vjiw doctrine was called the
"Good Tidings;" it had no other name. An old word, "_para-
du-e'" which the Hebrew, like all the lan2:uao'es of the East, had
borrowed from the Persian, and wliich at first designated the parks
of the Achosnienidoe, summed up the general dream ; a delight-
ful garden, where the charming life which was led here below
would be continued for ever.3 How long this intoxication lasted
we knov/ not. No one, during the course of this magical appari-
tion, measured time any more than we measure a dream. Dura-
tion was suspended ; a week was an age. But whether it filled
years or months, the dream was so beautiful that humanity has
lived upon it ever since, and it is still our consolation to gather its
weakened perfume. Never did so much joy fill the breast of man.
For a m.oment humanity, in this the most vigorous effort she ever
made to rise above the world, forcrot the leaden weio'ht which
binds her to earth and the sorrows of the life below. Happy he
who has been able to behold this divine unfolding, and to share,
were it but for one day, this unexampled illusion ! But still more
happy, Jesus would say to us, is he who, freed from all ilhision,
shall reproduce in himself the celestial vision, and, with no mil-
•enarian dream, no chimerical paradise, no signs in the heavens,
but by the uprightness of his will and the poetry of his soul, shall
be able to create anew in his heart the true kino:dom of God !

1 Luke xsli. 30.

2 Mark X. 37, 40, 41.

■' Luke xzvh. 43 : 2 €■:■.

. xii. 4.

Conip. C'/rm. Sibtjil., vroxm- 8G ;

T:ilm of

Ikib., Ohagir/uh, 14 6.

CflAPTER Xil

EMBASSY FROM JOHN IN rmSON TO JESUS— DEATH OP JOHN —
RELATIONS OF HIS SCHOOL WITH THAT OF JESUS,.

Whilst joyous Galilee was celebrating in feasts the coming of the
well-beloved, the sorrowful John, in his prison of Machero, was
pining away with expectation and desire. The success of the
young master whom he had seen some months before as his auditor
reached his ears. It was said that the Messiah predicted by the
prophets, he who was to re-establish the kingdom of Israel, was
come, and was proving his presence in Galilee by marvellous
works. John wished to inquire into the truth of this rumour,
and as he communicated freely with his disciples, he chose two of
them to go to Jesus in Galilee.l

The two disciples found Jesus at the height of his fame. The
air of gladness which reigned around him surprised them. Accus-
tomed to fasts, to persevering prayer, and to a life of aspiration,
they were astonished to see themselves transported suddenly into
the midst of the joys attending the welcome of the Messiah.^ They
told Jesus their message : " Art thou he that should come ? Or
do we look for another?" Jesus, who from that time hesitated no
longer respecting his peculiar character as Messiah, enumerated
the works which ought to characterise the coming of the kingdom
of God, — such as the healing of the sick, and the good tidings of
a speedy salvation preached to the poor. He did all these works-

^ Matt. xi. 2, and following ; Luke vii. 18, and following,
« Matt, iz 14, and following.

LIFE OF JESUS. 153

" And blessed is he" said Jesus, " whosoever shall not be offended
in me." We know not whether this answer found John the Bap-
tist living, or in what temper it put the austere ascetic. Did he
die consoled and certain that he whom he had announced already
lived, or did he remain doubtful as to the mission of Jesus ? There
is nothing to inform us. Seeing, however, that his school con-
tinued to exist a considerable time parallel with the Christian
churches, we are led to think that, notwithstanding his regard
for Jesus, John did not look upon him as the one who was to
realise the divine promises. Death came, moreover, to end his per-
plexities. The untamable freedom of the ascetic was to crown his
restless and stormy career by the only end which was worthy of it.

The leniency which Antipas had at first shewn towards John
was not of long duration. In the conversations which, according
to the Christian tradition, John had had with the tetrarch, he did
not cease to declare to him that his marriage was unlawful, and
that he ought to send away Herodias.l We can easily imagine
the hatred which the grand- daughter of Herod the Great must
have conceived towards this importunate counsellor. She only
waited an opportunity to ruin him.

Her daughter, Salome, born of her first marriage, and like her
ambitious and dissolute, entered into her designs. That year, (pro-
bably the year 30), Antipas was at Machero on the anniversary
of his birthday. Herod the Great had constructed in the interior
of the fortress a magnificent palace, where the tetrarch frequently
resided. 2 He gave a great feast there, during which Salome exe-
cuted one of those dances in character which were not considered
in Syria as unbecoming a distinguished person. Antipas being
much j)leased, asked the dancer what she most desired, and
she replied, at the instigation of her mother, "Give me here
Joiin Baptist's head in a charger." 3 Antipas was sorry, but

^ Matt. xiv. 4, and following ; Mark vi. 18, and following; Luke iil. 19.

' .fos., De Bellojud., vir. vi. 2.

' A purt^iLle di:ih on which liiiuors and vianda are lerved in the East.

151 J^TFE OF JESUS.

lie did not like to refuse. A o-iiard took tlie dish, went and cut
Dff the bead of the prisoner, and brought it.^

The disciples of the Baptist obtained his body and placed it in
a tomb, but the people were much displeased. Six years after,
Hareth, having attacked Antipas, in order to recover Machero
and avenge the dishonour of his daughter, Antipas was completely
beaten ; and his defeat v/as generally regarded as a punishment for
the murder of John.2

The news of John's death was brought to Jesus by the disciples'
of the Baptist.3 John's last act towards Jesus had effectually
united the two schools in the most intimate bonds. Jesus, fearing
an increase of ill-will on the j^art of Antipas, took precautions and
retired to the desert,'^ where many people followed him. By exer-
cising an extreme frugality, the holy band was enabled to live
there, and in this there was naturally seen a miracle.5 From this
time Jesus always spoke of John with redoubled admiration. He
declared unhesitatingly (^ that he was more than a prophet, that the
Law and the ancient prophets had force only until he came,7
that he liad abrogated them, but that the kingdom of heaven
would displace him in turn. In fine, he attributed to him a spe-
cial place in the economy of the Christian mystery, which consti-
tuted him the link of union between the Old Testament and the
advent of the new reign.

The prophet ]\'Ialachi, whose opinion in this matter was soon
brouglit to bear,8 had announced wdth much energy a precursor of
the Messiah, wdio was to prepare men for the final renovation, a
messenger who should come to make straight the paths before the
elected one of God. This messenger was no other than the pro-
phet Eiias, v/ho, according to a widely-spread belief, was soon

^ Matt, xiv, 2, and lollowuig ; Mark vi. 14.-29; Jos., Ant, xviii. v. ?,.
2 Josephvis, Ant., xviii. v. 1, 2. ^ jj^^^.^ ^^^^ 12. '^ M;itt. xiv. M..

'5 Matt. xiv. 15, and following; Mark vi. 35, and following; Luke ix. 11, and
following; John vi. 2, and following.

" Matt. xi. 7, and following ; Luke vii. 24, and following.

' Matt. xi. 12, 13 ; Luke xvi. IC.

^ jyialachi iii. and iv.; Ecclesiasilcus xlviii. 10. See ante, CboB. VI.

LIFE OF JESUS. 155

to descend from liecaven, whither he had been carried, in order
to prepare men by repentance for the great advent, and to re-
concile God with his people.^ Sometimes they associated with
Elias, either the patriarch Enoch, to whom for one or two centu-
ries they had attributed high sanctity ;2 or Jeremiah, 3 whom they
considered as a sort of protecting genius of the people, constantly
occupied in praying for them before the throne of God.4 This
idea, that two ancient prophets should rise again in order to serve
as precursors to the Messiah, is discovered in so striking a form in
the doctrine of the Parsees, that we feel much inclined to believe
that it comes from that source.^ However this may be, it formed
at the time of Jesus an integral portion of the Jewish theories
about the Messiah. It was admitted that the appearance of " two
faithful witnesses," clothed in garments of repentance, would be
the preamble of the great drama about to be unfolded, to the
astonishment of the universe. ^

It will be seen that, with these ideas, Jesus and his disciples
could not hesitate about the mission of John the Baptist. When
the scribes raised the objection that the Messiah could not have
come because Elias had not yet appeared,^ they replied that Elias
was come, that John w^as Elias raised from the dead.^ By his
manner of life, by his opposition to the established political au-
thorities, John in fact recalled that strange figure in the ancient
history of Israel.^ Jesus was not silent on the merits and excel-
lences of his forerunner. He said that none greater was born
among the children of men. He energetically blamed the Phari-

^ Matt. xi. 14, xvii. 10; Mark vi. 15, viii. 28, ix. 10, and following; Luke
ix 8,19.

2 Jicclemisticiis x'lw.lQ. ^ Matt, xvi. 14. * 2 Mace. v. 13, andfollowing_

° Texts cited by Anquetil-Duperron. Zend-Avesta, i., 2d part, p. 46, corrected
by Spiegel, in the Zcitschrift der deutscTien morgenlcendisclien Gesellschaft, i. 2G1,
and following ; extracts from the Jamasp-Namch, in the Avesta of Spiegel, i., p.
34. Kone of the Parsee texts, which truly imply the idea of resuscitated pro-
ohets and of precursors, are ancient ; but the ideas contained in them appear to
De much anterior to the time of the compilation itself.

^ Rev. xi. 3, and following. ^ Mark ix. 10.

8 Matt. xi. 14, xvii. 10-13 ; Maj-k vi. 15, ix. 10-12 ; Lukoix. 8 ; John i. 21 25.

» Lake i. 17.

lo6 LIFE OF JESUS.

sees and the doctors for not having accepted his baptism, and for
not being converted at his voice. "^

The disciples of Jesus were faithful to these principles of theii
master. This respect for John continued during the whole of
the first Christian generation.2 He was supposed to be a relative
of Jesus. 3 In order to establish the mission of the latter upon
testimony admitted by all, it was declared that John, at the first
sight of Jesus, proclaimed him the Messiah ; that he recognised
himself his inferior, unworthy to unloose the latcliets of his shoes ;
that he refused at first to baptize him, and maintained that it was
he who ought to be baptized by Jesus. ^ These were exaggera-
tions, which are sufficiently refuted by the doubtful form of
John's last message.5 But, in a more general sense, John re-
mains in the Christian legend that which he was in reality, — the
austere forerunner, the gloomy j)reaclier of repentance before the
joy on the arrival of the bridegroom, the prophet who announces
the kino-dom of God and dies before beholding; it. This iriant in
the early history of Christianity, this eater of locusts and wild
honey, this rough redresser of wrongs, was the bitter which pre-
pared the lip for the sweetness of the kingdom of God. His
beheading by Herodias inaugurated the era of Christian martyrs ;
he was the first witness for the new faith. The worldly, who
recognised in him their true enemy, could not permit Lim to
live ; his mutilated corpse, extended on the threshold of Chris-
tianity, traced the bloody path in which so many others were to
follow.

The school of John did not die with its founder. It lived some
time distinct from that of Jesus, and at first a good understanding
existed between the two. Many years after the death of the two
masters, people were baptized with the baptism of John. Certain
persons belonged to the two schools at the same time, — for example,
the celebrated Apollos, the rival of St Paul, (towards the yean 50,)

^ Matt. xxi. 32; Luke vii. 29, 30. ^ Acts xix. 4. ^ Luko i.

* Matt. iii. 14, and following; Luke iii. 16 ; John i. 15, and following, v. 32, 33.
' Matt, xi 2, aud following; Luke vii. IS, and following.

LIFE OF JEStJS. 157

and a large number of the Christians of Ephesus.^ Josephua
placed himself (year 53) in the school of an ascetic named Banou,2
who presents the greatest" ''resemblance to John the Baptist, and
who was perhaps of his scliool. This Banou^ lived in the desert,
clothed with the leaver of trees ; he supported himself only on wild
plants and fruits, and baptized himself frequently, both day and
rijqlit, in cold water, in order to purify himself. James, he who
was called the ''brother of the Lord," (there is here perhaps some
confusion of homonyms), practised a similar asceticism.^ After-
wards, towards the year SO, Baptism was in strife with Christianity,
especially in Asia Minor. John the evangelist appears to combat
it in an indirect manncr.5 One of the Sibylline 6 poems seems to
proceed from this school. As to the sects of Hemerobaptists, Bap-
tists, and Elchasaites, {Sabiens Mogtasila of the Arabian writers,^)
who, in the second century, filled Syria, Palestine, and Babylonia,
and whose representatives still exist in our days among the
Mendaites, called "Christians of St John;" they have the same
origin as the movement of John the Baptist, rather than an au-
thentic descent from John. The true school of the latter, partly
mixed with Christianity, became a small Christian heresy, and died
out in obscurity. John had foreseen distinctly the destiny of the
two schools. If he had yielded to a mean rivalry, he would to-day
have been forgotten in the crowd of sectaries of his time. By his
self-abnegation, he has attained a glorious and unique position in
the religious pantheon of humanity.

^ Ads xviii. 25, six. 1-5. Cf. Epipb., Adv. Ucer., xiz. IG.
« Vita, 2.

' Would this be the Bounai who is reckoned by the Tnkiiud (Bab., Sauhcdnm,
43 a) amoDgst the disciples of Jesus?

* He^osippus, in Eusebius, JI. E., il. 2'3.

^ Go pel, i. 2d, 33, iv. 2 ; 1st ivpisllc, \. 0', Cf. Acts x. 17

• Book iv. See especially v. 157, and following'

^ Sablcna is the Araraean equivalent of the wora " Baptists." Mogtoiila ha« the
same meanincr in Arabic.

CHAP:rEK xiii.

FIKST ATTEMPTS ON JEK'J.SALEAl.

JesUs, almost every year, went to Jerusalem for tlie iea.it of tlic
passover. The details of these journeys are little known, for the
synoptics do not speak of them, i and the notes of the fomth Gospel
are very confused on this point. 2 It was, it appears, in the year
31, and certainly after the death of John, that the most important
of the visits of Jesus to Jerusalem took place. Many of the disciples
followed him. Although Jesus attached from that time little value
to the pilgrimage, he conformed himself to it in order not to wound
Jewish opinion, with which he had not yet broken. These jour-
neys, moreover, were essential to his design ; for he felt already that
in order to play a leading part, he must go from Galilee, and attack
Judaism in its stronghold, which was Jerusalem.

1 They, however, imply them oTcscurely, (Matt, xxiii. 37; Luke xiii. 34.) They
knew as well as John the relation of Jesus with Joseph of Arimathea. Luke even
(x. 38-42) knew the family of Bethany. Luke (ix. 51-54) has a vague idea of the
system of the fourth Gospel respecting the journeys of Jesus. Many discourses
against the Pliarisees and the Sadducees, said by the synoptics to have been de-
livered in Galilee, have scarcely any meaning, except as having been given at Jeru-
salem. And again, the lapse of eight days is much too short to explain all that
happened between the arrival of Jesus in that city and his death.

- Two pilgrimages are clearly indicated, (John ii. 13, and v. 1,) without speaking
of his last journey, (vii. 10,) after which Jesus returned no more to Galilee. The
first took place whilst John was still baptizing. It would belong consequently to
tlie Easter of the year 29. But the circumstances given as belonging to this
journey are of a more advanced period. (Comp. especially John ii. 14, and follow-
ing, and Matt, xxl 12, 13 ; Mark xi. 15-17; Luke xix. 45, 46.) There are evidently
transpositions of dates in these cliapters of John, or rather Le has uns,ed tiie ciz-
ciMjjfitar;ce3 of diHerer.t jouraavs

LIFE OJ' JESUS. 159

The little Galilean community were here far from being at home.
Jerusalem was then nearly what it is to-day, a city of pedantry,
acrimony, disputes, hatreds, and littleness of mind. Its fanati-
cism was extreme, and religious seditions very frequent. The
P]:)arisees were dominant ; the study of the Law, pushed to the most
insignificant minutiae, and reduced to questions of casuistry, was
th.e only study. This exclusively tlieological and canonical culture
contributed in no respect to refine the intellect. It was something
analogous to the barren doctrine of the Mussulman fakir, to that
empty science discussed round about the mosques, and Vvdiich is a
great expenditure of time and useless argumentation, by no means
calculated to advance the right discipline of the mind. The theo-
logical education of the modern clergy, altlioiigh very dry, gives us
no idea of this, for the Eenaissance has introduced into all our
teachings, even the most irregular, a share of helles lettres and
of method, which has infused more or less of the humanities into
scholasticism. The science of the Jewish doctor, of the sofer or
scribe, was purely barbarous, unmitigatedly absurd, and denuded
of all moral element, i To crown the evil, it filled with ridiculous
pride those who had wearied themselves in acquiring it. The
Jewish scribe, proud of the pretended knov/iedge which had cost
him so much troubl-e, had the same contempt for Greek culture
which the learned Mussulman of our time has for European civili-
sation, and which the old catholic theologian had for the know-
ledge of men of the world. The tendency of this scholastic cul-
ture was to close the mind to ail that v/as refined, to create esteou
only for those difficult triflings on which they had wasted their
lives, and which were regarded as the natural occupation of per-
sons professing a degree of seriousness. 2

This odious society could not fail to weigh heavily on the tender
and susceptible minds of the north. The contempt of the Hicro-
eolyraitos for the Galileans rendered the separation still more com-

^.Vc :xiz.rf jua-e of it by the Talixvad. the echo oi U £ Jewhih ^v.-hoIuvu-Msia >/
rn:it v.'A-.^.
2 Jos., Anf., XX, xL Ji,

1 GO LIFE OP JESUS.

|)lete. In the beautiful temple wliicii was the object of all their
desires, they often only met with insult. A verse of the pilgrim's
psalm,! "I had ratlier be a doorReeper in the house of my God/'
seemed made expressly for them. A contemptuous priesthood
laughed at their simple devotioii, as formerly in Italy the clergy,
familiarised with the sanctuaries, witnessed coldly and almost
jestingly the fervour of the pilgrim come from afar. The Ga-
lileans spoke a rather corrupt dialect ; their pronunciation was
vicious ; they confounded the different aspirations of letters, which
led to mistakes which were much laughed at.2 In religion, they
were considered as ignorant and somewhat heterodox; 3 the ex-
pression, "foolish Galileans," had become proverbial.* It was be-
lieved (not without reason) that they were not of pure Jewish
blood, and no one expected Galilee to produce a prophet.^ Placed
thus on the confines of Judaism, and almost outside of it, the poor
Galileans had only one badly interpreted passage in Isaiah to
build their hopes upon. ^ " Laud of Zebulon, and land of Naphtali,
way of the sea, 7 Galilee of the nations ! The people that walked
in darkness have seen a great light : they that dwell in the land of
the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined." The
reputation of the native city of Jesus was particularly bad. It
was a popular proverb, " Can there any good thing come out of
Nazareth? "8

The parched appearance of nature in the neighbourhood of
Jerusalem must have added to the dislike Jesus had for the place.
The valleys are without water ; the soil arid and stony. Looking
into the valley of the Dead Sea, the view is somewhat striking ;
elsewhere it is monotonous. The hill of Mizpeh, around which
clusters the most ancient historical remembrances of Israel, aionp

' Jt's. Ixxxiv. (Vulg. Ixxxiii.) 11.

2 Matt. xxvi. 73 ; Mark xiv. 70 ; Acts ii. 7 ; Tl^lra. of Bab,, EruUn, 53 a, and
following ; Bereschitli llabba, 20 c.

^ Passage from the treatiso Erubln, loc. cit.

* Erubin, loc. cit., 53 b. ^ John vii. 52.

^ Isa. ix. 1, 2 ; Matt. iv. 13, and following. ? Ante p. 132, note 3,

* John i, 46.

LIFE OP jEsua 161

3Blieves the eye. The city presented, at the time of Jesus, nearly
the same form that it does now. It had scarcely any ancient monu-
ments, for, until the time of the Asmoneans, the Jews had remained
strangers to all the arts. John Hyrcanus had begun to embellish it,
and Herod the Great had made it one of the most magnificent cities
of the East. The Herodian constructions, by their grand character,
perfection of execution, and beauty of material, may dispute supe-
riority with the most finished works of antiquity. ^ A great num-
ber of superb tombs, of original taste, were raised at the same time
in the neighbo'Thood of Jerusalem. 2 The style of these monu-
ments was Grecian, but appropriate to the customs of the Jews,
and considerably modified in accordance with their principles. The
ornamental sculptures of the human figure which the Herods had
sanctioned, to the great discontent of the purists, were banished,
and replaced by floral decorations. The taste of the ancient inha-
bitants of Phoenicia and Palestine for monoliths in solid stone,
seemed to be revived in these singular tombs cut in the rock,
and in which Grecian orders are so strangely applied to an archi-
tecture of troglodytes. Jesus, who regarded works of art as a
pompous display of vanity, viewed these monuments with dis-
pleasure. 3 His absolute spiritualism, and his settled conviction
that the form of the old world was about to pass away, left him
no taste except for things of the heart.

The temple, at the time of Jesus, was quite new, and tlie
exterior works of it were not completed. Herod had begun its
reconstruction in the year 20 or 21 before the Christian era, in
order to make it uniform with his other edifices. The body of the
temple was finished in eighteen months ; the porticoes took eight
years ;^ and the accessory portions were continued slowly, and

^ Jos., Ant., XV. viii. xi. ; B. /., v. v. 6; Mark xiii. 1, 2.

* Tombs, namely, of the Judges, Kings, Absalom, Zechariah, Jehoshaphat, and
of St James. Compare the description of v^e tomb of the Maccabees at Modia
(1 Mace. xiii. 27, and following.)

^ Matt, xxiii. 27, 29, xxiv. 1, and following; Mark xiii. 1, and following; Luke
xix. 44, xxi. 5, and following. Compare Book of Enoch, xcvii. 13, 14; Talmud of
Babylon, Skabbath, 33 6.

* Job., Ant., z\. si. 5, 6

162 LIFE OF JEStTS.

were only finished a short time before the taking of Jerusalem.-^
Jesus probably saw the work progressiQg, not without a degree of
secret vexation. These hopes of a long future were like an insult
to his approaching advent. Clearer-sighted than the unbelievers
and the fanatics, he foresaw that these superb edifices were des-
tined to endure but for a short time.2

The temple formed a marvellously imposing whole, of which
the present haram,^ notwithstanding its beauty, scarcely gives
us any idea. The courts and the surrounding porticoes served
as the daily rendezvous for a considerable number of per-
sons,— so much so, that this great space was at once temple,
forum, tribunal, and university. All the religious discussions of
the Jewish schools, all the canonical instruction, even the legal
processes and civil causes, — in a word, all the activity of the nation
was concentrated there. ^ It was an arena where arguments were
perpetually clashing, a battle-field of disputes, resounding with
sophisms and subtle questions. The temple had thus much ana-
logy with a Mahometan mosque. The Romans at this period
treated all strange religions with respect, when kept within proper
rimits,^ and carefully refrained from entering the sanctuary ;
Greek and Latin inscriptions marked the point up to which those
who were not Jews were permitted to advance.^ But the tower
of Antonia, the headquarters of the Roman forces, commanded
the whole enclosure, and allowed all that passed therein to be
seen. 7 The guarding of the temple belonged to the Jews ; the
entire superintendence was committed to a captain, who caused

1 Jo."?., Ant., XX. ix. 7 ; John ii. 20.

2 Matt. xxiv. 2, xxvi. 61, xxvii. 40 ; Mark xiii. 2, xIt. 68, xv. 29 ; Luke xxi.
6; John ii. 19, 20.

^ The temple and its enclosure doubtless occupied the site of the mosque of
Omar and the Jiaram, or Sacred Court, which surrounds the mosque. The foun-
dation of the haram is, in some parts, especially at the place where the Jews go to
weep, the exact base of the temple of Herod.

^ Luke ii. 46, and following; Mishnah, Sanhedrim, 2. 2.

^ Suet., Aug., 93.

* Philo, Legatio ad Caium, § 31 ; Jos., B. J., V. v. 2, vi. ii, 4 ; AcCs xxi. 28.

' Conaideiable traces of this tower are still seen in the northern part of ths
haraoxL.

LIFE OF JESUS. i 63

the gates to be opened and shut, and prevented any one from cross-
ing the enclosure with a stick in his hand, or with dusty shoes, or
when carrying parcels, or to shorten his path.i They were espe-
cially scrupulous ill watching that no one entered within the inner
gates in a state of legal impurity. The women liad aix entirely
separate court.

It was in the temple that Jesus passed his days, whilst he
remained at Jerusalem. The period of the feasts brought an
extraordinary concourse of people into the city. Associated in
parties of ten to twenty persons, the pilgrims invaded everywhere,
and lived in that disordered state in which Orientals delight.^
Jesus was lost in the crowd, and his poor Galileans grouped
around him were of small account. He probably felt tbat he was
in a hostile world which would receive him only with disdain.
Everything he saw set him against it. The temple, like much-
frequented places of devotion in general, offered a Lot very edify-
ing spectacle. The accessories of worship entailed a number of
repulsive details, especially of mercantile operations, in conse-
quence of which real shops were established wdthin the sacred
enclosure. There were sold beasts for the sacrifices ; there were
tables for the exchange of money ; at times it seemed like a
bazaar. The inferior officers of the temple fulfilled their func-
tions doubtless with the irreligious vulgarity of the sacristans
of all !p:es. This profane and heedless air in the handling of
holy inings wounded the religious sentiment of Jesus, which
was at times carried even to a scrupulous excess. 3 He said
that they had made the house of prayer into a den of thieves.
One day, it is even said, that, carried away by his anger, he
scourged the vendors with a *' scourge of small cords," and over-
turned their tables.^ In general, he had little love for the temple.
The worship which he had conceived for his Father had nothing

^ Mishnah, Berakoth, ix. 5; Talm. of Babyl., Jebamoth, 6 6; Mark xi. 16.
^ Jo3., B. J., II. xiv. 3, VI. ix. 3. Coinp. Ps. cxxxiii. (Vulg. cxxxii.)
3 Markxi. 16.

* Matt. xxi. 12, and following; Mark xi. 15, and following; Lukr xlx. 45, and
followinK; John ii. 14, and followirg

164j life of JESUS.

in common with scenes of butchery. All these old Jewish institu-
tions displeased him, and he suffered in being obliged to conform
to them. Except amongst the Judaising Christians, neither the
temple nor its site inspired pious sentiments. The true dis-
ciples of the new faith held this ancient sanctuary in aversion.
Constantine and the first Christian emperors left the pagan
construction of Adrian existing there,! and only the enemies of
Christianity, such as Julian, remembered the temple.2 When
Omar entered into Jerusalem, he found the site designedly polluted
in hatred of the Jews.3 It was Islamism, that is to say, a sort of
resurrection of Judaism in its exclusively Semitic form, which
restored its glory. The place has always been antichristian.

The pride of the Jews completed the discontent of Jesus,
and rendered his stay in Jerusalem painful. In the degree that
the great ideas of Israel ripened, tlie priesthood lost its power.
The institution of synagogues had given to the interpreter of the
Law, to the doctor, a great superiority over the priest. There
were no priests except at Jerusalem, and even there, reduced to
functions entirely ritual, almost, like our parish priests, excluded
from preaching, they were surpassed by the orator of the syna-
gogue, the casuist, and the sofer or scribe, although the latter was
only a layman. The celebrated men of the Talmud were not
priests ; they were learned men according to the ideas of the time.
The high priesthood of Jerusalem held, it is true, a very elevated
rank in the nation ; but it was by no means at the head of the
religious movement. The sovereign pontiff, whose dignity had
already been degraded by Herod,^ became more and more a Ro-
man functionary,^ who was frequently removed in order to divide
the profits of the office. Opposed to the Pharisees, who were
very warm lay zealots, the priests were almost all Sadducees, that
IS to say, members of that unbelieving aristocracy which had been

1 Itin. a Burditj. Uierus., p. 152, (edit. Schott;) S. Jerome, in /». i. 8, and is
Matt, xxiv, 15.

2 Ammianus Marcellinus, xxiii. 1.

3 EutychiuB, Ann., ii, 286, and following, (Oxford, 1659.)
* Jos., Ant, XV. iii. 1, 3. ^ Ibid., xviii. ii

LIFE O? JESUS. 1G5

formed around the temple, and which lived by the altar, whilst
they saw the vanity of it.i The sacerdotal caste was separated to
such a degree from the national sentiment and from the great
religious movement which dragged the people along, that the
name of " Sadducee," (sadoki,) which at first simply designated a
member of the sacerdotal family of Sadok, had become synony-
mous with ''Materialist" and with "Epicurean/'

A still worse element had be^jun, since the reiojn of Herod ths
Great, to corrupt the high-priesthood. Herod having fallen in
love with ^lariamne, daughter of a certain Simon, son of Boethus
of Alexandria, and having wished to marry her, (about the year
28 B.C.,) saw no other means of ennobling his father-in-law
and raising him to his own rank, than by making him higli-
priest. This intriguing family remained master, almost without
interruption, of the sovereign pontificate for thirty-five years. 2
Closely allied to the reigning family, it did not lose the office
until after the deposition of Archelaus, and recovered it (the year
42 of our era) after Herod Agrippa had for some time re-enacted
the work of Herod the Great. Under the name of Boethusim,^
a new sacerdotal nobility was formed, very worldly, and little
devotional, and closely allied to the Sadokites. The Boethusim,
in the Talmud and the rabbinical writings, are depicted as a
kind of unbelievers, and always reproached as Sadducees.4 From

^ Actsiv. 1, and following, v. 17; Jos., Ant, xx. ix. 1 ; PirJce Ahoth, i. 10.

2 Jos., Ant., XV. ix. 3, xvii. vi. 4, xiii. 1, xviii. i. 1, ii. 1, xix. vi, 2,
viii. 1.

^ This name is only found in the Jewish documents. I think that the " Hero*
dians " of the gospel are the J3oelhusim.

* The treatise of Aboth Nathan, 5; Soferim, iii., hal. 5; Mishnah, Menachoth, x.
3 ; Talmud of Babylon, Shahhath, 118 a. The name of Boethusim is often changed
in the Talmudic books with that of the Sadducees, or with the word Minimy
(heretics.) Compare Thosiphta, Joma, i., with the Talm. of Jerus., the same
treatise, i. 5, and Talm. of Bab., same treatise, 19 h ; Thos. Suhka, iii. with the
Talm. of Bab., same treatise, 43 b ; Thos. ibid., further on, with the Talm. of Bab.,
same treatise, 48 b ; Thos. liosh hasshana, i. with Mishnah, same treatise ii. 1 ;
Talm. of Jerus., same treatise, ii. 1 ; and Talm. of Bab., same treatise, 22 b ; Thos,
Menachoth, x. with Mishnah, same treatise, x. 3 ; Talm. of Bab., same treatise, 65 a;
Mishnah. Chagigah, ii. 4; and Megillath Taanith, i.; Thos. lobdmrn, ii. with Talqj.

16G LIFE OF JESUS.

all this there resulted a miniature court of Rome around the temple,
living on politics, little inclined to excesses of zeal, even rather
fearing them, not wishing to hear of holy personages or of inno-
vators, for it profited from tlie established routine. These epi-
curean priests had not the violence of the Pharisees ; they only
wished for quietness ; it was their moral indifference, their cold
irreligion, which revolted Jesus. Although very different, the
priests and the Pharisees were thus confounded in his antipathies.
But a stranger, and without influence, he was long compelled to
restrain his discontent -within himself, and only to communicate
his sentiments to the intimate friends who accompanied him.

Before his last stay, which was by far the longest of all that he
made at Jerusalem, and wliich was terminated by his death, Jesus
endeavoured, however, to obtain a hearing. He preaclied ; people
spoke of him ; and they conversed respecting certain deeds of his
which were looked upon as miraculous. But from all that, there
resulted neither an established church at Jerusalem nor a group
of Hierosolymite disciples. The charmmg teacher, who forgave
every one provided they loved him, could not find much sympathy
in this sanctuary of vain disputes and obsolete sacrifices. The
only result was that he formed some valuable friendships, the
advantage of v*'hich he reaped afterwards. He does not appear
at that time to have made the acquaintance of the family of
Bethany, which, amidst the trials of the latter months of his life,
brought him so much consolation. But very early he attracted
the attention of a certain Nicodemus, a rich Pharisee, a member
of the Sanhedrim, and a man occupying a high position in Jeru-
salem.! This man, who appears to have been upright and sincere,
felt himself attracted towards the young Galilean. Not wishing

of Jcrus. ; Baba BatJira, viii. 1 ; Talm. of Bab., same treatise, 115 h ; and Megillatb
Taauitb, v.

^ It seems that Le is referred to in the Talmud. Talm. of Bab., Taanith, 20 a;
Gittin, 56 a; Ketvhoth, 66 h\ treatise AhoiJi Nathan, vii.; Midrash Rabba, -E7i;a,
64 a. The passage Taanith identifies him with Bounai, who, according to San-
hedrim, (see ante, p. 157, note 3,) was a disciple of Jesus. But if Bounai is the
Biinou of Josephus, this identification will not hold good.

LiFE OF JESUS. 1 67

to compromise himself, he came to see Jesus by night, and had a
long conversation with him.1 He doubtless preserved a favourable
impression of him, for afterwards he defended Jesus against the
prejudices of his colleagues,2 and, at the death of Jesus, we shall
find him tending with pious care the corpse of the master.3
Nicodemus did not become a Christian ; he had too much regard
for his position to take part in a revolutionary movement which
as yet counted no men of note amongst its adherents. But he
evidently felt great friendship for Jesus, and rendered him service,
though unable to rescue him from a death which even at this
period was all but decreed.

As to the celebrated doctors of the time, Jesus does not appear
to have had any connexion with them. Hillel and Shammai
were dead ; the greatest authority of the time was Gamaliel,
grandson of Hillel. He was of a liberal spirit, and a man of the
world, not opposed to secular studies, and inclined to tolerance by
his intercourse with good society. 4 Unlike the very strict Pharisees,
who walked veiled or with closed eyes, he did not scruple to gaze
even upon Pagan women. 5 This, as well as his knowledge of
Greek, was tolerated because he had access to the court.6 After
the death of Jesus, he expressed very moderate views respecting
the new sect.7 St Paul sat at his feet,8 but it is not probable that
Jesus ever entered his school.

One idea, at least, which Jesus brought from Jerusalem, and
which henceforth appears rooted in his mind, was that there was
no union possible between him and the ancient Jewish religion
The abolition of the sacrifices which had caused him so much dis-
gust, the suppression of an impious and haughty priesthood, and,
in a general sense, the abrogation of the law, appeared to him

^ .John iii, 1, and following, vii. 50. We are certainly free to believe that the
exact text of the conversation is but a creation of John's,
2 John vii. 60, and following. ^ John xix. 39.

" Mishnah, Baha Metsia, v. 8; Talm. of Bab., Sota, 49 6.
' Talm. of Jerus., Berahoth, ix. 2.
^ Passage Sota, before cited, and Baha Kama, 83 a.
Ar.tsx. 34, and fullo'«vins ^ Acts xxii. 3.

168 LIFE OF JESUS

absolutely necessary. From this time he appears no more as a
Jewish reformer, but as a destroyer of Judaism. Certain advocates
of the Messianic ideas had already admitted that the Messiah would
bring a new law, which should be common to all the earth.l The
Essenes, who were scarcely Jews, also appear to have been indif-
ferent to the temple and to the Mosaic observances. But these
were only isolated or unavowed instances of boldness. Jesus was
tlie first who dared to say that from his time, or rather from that
of John,2 the Law was abolislied. If sometimes he used more
measured terms,3 it was in order not to offend existing prejudices
too violently. When he was driven to extremities, he lifted the
veil entirely, and declared that the Law had no longer any force.
On this subject he used striking comparisons. " No man putteth
a piece of new cloth into an old garment, neither do men put
new wine into old bottles." * This was really his chief charac-
teristic as teacher and creator. The temple excluded all except
Jews from its enclosure by scornful announcements. Jesus had
no sympathy with this. The narrow, hard, and uncharitable Law
was only made for the children of Abraham. Jesus maintained
that every well-disposed man, every man who received and loved
him, was a son of Abraham.5 The pride of blood appeared to him
the great enemy which was to be combated. In other words,
Jesus was no longer a Jew. He was in the highest degree revo-
lutionary ; he called all men to a worship founded solely on the
fact of their being children of God. He proclaimed the rights
of man, not the rights of the Jew ; the religion of man, not the
religion of the Jew ; the deliverance of man, not the deliverance

^ Orac. Sib., book iii. 573, and following, 715, and following, 756-58. Compare
the Targum of Jonathan, Isa. xii. 3.

^ Luke xvi. 16. The passage in Matt. xi. 12, 13, is less clear, but can have no
other meaning.

=* Matt. V. 17, 18, (Cf. Talm. of Bab., Shabhath, 116 h.) This passage is not in
contradiction with those in which the abolition of the Law is implied. It only sig-
nifies that in Jesus all the types of the Old Testament are realised. Cf. Luke
vvi 17.

** Matt. ix. 16, 17; Luke v. C6, and following.

' Luke xix. 9.

LIFE OF JESUS. 1G9

of the Jew.i How far removed was this from a Gaulonite Judas
or a Matthias Margaloth, preaching revolution in the name of the
Law ! The religion of humanity, established, not upon blood, but
uDon the heart, was founded. Moses was superseded, the temple
was rendered useless and was irrevocably condemned.

* Matt. xiiv. 14, Xiviii. 19 ; Mark xiii. lU. xvi 15; Luke xxir. iJI.

CHAPTEK XIV.

rNTERCOUKSE OF JESUS WITH THE PAGANS AND THE SAMARITANS.

Following out these principles, Jesus despised all religion which
was not of the heart. The vain practices of the devotees,^ the
exterior strictness, which trusted to formality for salvation, had in
him a mortal enemy. He cared little for fasting.^ He preferred
forgiveness to sacrifice.^ The love of God, charity and mutual
forgiveness, were his whole law.'* Nothing could be less priestly.
The priest, by his office, ever advocates public sacrifice, of which
he is the appointed minister ; he discourages private prayer, which
has a tendency to dispense wath his office.

We should seek in vain in the Gospel for one religious rite
recommended by Jesus. Baptism to him was only of secondary
importance ;5 and with respect to prayer, he prescribes nothing,
except that it should proceed from the heart. As is always the
case, many thought to substitute mere good- will, for genuine
love of goodness, and imagined they could win the kingdom of
heaven by saying to him, "Eabbi, Kabbi." He rebuked them,
and proclaimed that his religion consisted in doing good.^ He
often quoted the passage in Isaiah, which says : " This people honour
me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." 7

1 Matt. XV. 9, 2 Matt. ix. 14, xi. 19.

3 Matt. V. 23, and following, ix. 13, xii. 7.

* Matt. xxii. 37, and following ; Mrxk xii. 28, and following; Luke x. 25
follf wing.
3 Matt. iii. 15; 1 Cor. i. 17. ° Matt. vii. 21 ; LiiKe vi. *o.

' Matt. XV. 8; Mark vii. G. Cf. Isaiah xxix. 13.

LIFE OP JESUS, 171

Tlie observance of the Sabbath was the principal point n])on
which was raised the whole editico of Pharisaic scruples and sub-
tleties. This ancient and excellent institution had become a pre-
text for the miserable disputes of casuists, and a source of super-
stitious beliefs.l It was believed that nature observed it; all
intermittent springs were accounted "Sabbatical. "2 This was the
point upon which Jesus loved best to defy his adversaries. 3 He
openly violated the Sabbath, and only replied by subtle raillery
to the reproaches that were heaped upon him. He despised still
more a multitude of modern observances, which tradition had added
to the Law, and which were dearer than any other to the devotees
on that very account. Ablutions, and the too subtle distinctions
between pure and impure things, found in him a pitiless opponent :
" There is nothing from without a man," said he, " that entering
into him can defile him : but the tilings which come out of him,
those are they that defile the man." The Pharisees, who were the
propagators of these mummeries, were unceasingly denounced
by him. He accused them of exceeding the Law, of inventing
impossible precepts, in order to create occasions of sin : " Blind
leaders of the blind," said he, '' take care lest ye also fall into the
ditch." " 0 generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak
good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth
speaketh."4

He did not know the Gentiles sufficiently to think of founding
anything lasting upon their conversion. Galilee contained a great
number of pagans, but, as it appears, no public and organised wor-
ship of false gods. ^ Jesus could see this worship displayed in all

See eKpecially the treatise Shahhath of the Mislmah and the Lhre des Juliles,
('translated from the Ethiopian in the Jahrhiicher of Ewald, years 2 and 3,) chap.l.

2 Jos., B. J., VII. V. 1 ; Pliny, II. N., xxxi. 18. Cf. Thomson, The Land and
%e Booh, i. 40G, and following.

3 Matt. xii. 1-14; Mark ii. 23-28; Luke vi. 1-5, xiii. 14, and following, xiv. 1,
tod following.

■* Matt. xii. 34, xv. 1, and following, 12, and following, xxiii. entirely; Mark vii,
I, and following, 15, and following; Luke vi. 45, xi. 39, and following.

^ I believe the pagans of Galilee were found especially on the frontiers — at
Kcdes, for exo^^^'^le; but that the very heart of tlie country, the city of Tiberiaa

K'2 LIIE OF JESUS.

its splendour in the country of Tyre and Sidon, at Caesarea Philippi
and in the Decapolis,! but he paid little attention to it. We never
find in him the wearisome pedantry of the Jews of his time, those
declamations against idolatry, so familiar to his co-religionists
from the time of Alexander, and ^Yhich fill, for instance, the book
of " Wisdom." 2 That which struck him in the pagans was not
their idolatry, but their servility.3 The young Jewish democrat
agreeing on this point with Judas the Gaulonite, and admitting
no master but God, was hurt at the honours with which they
surrounded the persons of sovereigns, and the frequently men-
dacious titles given to them. With this exception, in the greater
number of instances in which he comes in contact with pagans,
he shews great indulgence to them ; sometimes he professes to
conceive more hope of them than of the Jews.* The kingdom of
God would be transferred to them. " When the lord, therefore,
of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto these husbandmen ?
He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his
vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the
fruits in their seasons." 5 Jesus adhered so much the more to this
idea, as the conversion of the Gentiles was, according to Jewish
ideas, one of the surest signs of the advent of the Messiah.^
In his kingdom of God he represents, as seated at a feast, by the
side of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, men come from the four winds
of heaven, whilst the lawful heirs of the kingdom are rejected.7

excepted, was entirely Jewish. The line where the ruins of temples end, and
those of synagogues begin, is to-day plainly marked as far north as Lake.Huleh,
(Samachonites.) The traces of pagan sculpture, which were thought to have been
found at Tell-IIoum, are doubtful. The coast — the town of Acre, in particular —
did not form part of Galilee.

1 See ante, p. 124. 2 Chap. XIII. and following.

=* Matt. XX. 25 ; Mark x. 42 ; Luke xxii. 25.

* Matt. viii. 5, and following, xv. 22, and following; Mark vii. 25, and following;
Luke iv. 25, and following.

5 Matt. xxi. 41 ; Mark xii. 9 ; Luke xx. 16.

6 Isa. ii. 2, and following, Ix. ; Amos ix. 11, and following; Jer. iii. 17; Mai. L
11; Tobit, xiii. 13, and following; Orac. SlhylL, iii. 715, and following. Comp,
Matt. xxiv. 14; Acts xv. 15, and fallowing.

' Matt. viii. 11, 12^ xxi. 33, and following, xxii. 1, and following.

LIFE OF JESUS. 173

Sometimes, it is true, there seems to be an entirely contrary ten-
dency in the commands he gives to his disciples : he seems to
recommend them only to preach salvation to the orthodox Jews ;1
he speaks of pagans in a manner conformable to the prejudices
of the Jews.2 But we must remember that the disciples, whose
narrow minds did not share in this supreme indifierence for the
privileges of the sons of Abraham, may have given the instruc-
tion of their master the bent of their own ideas. Besides, it is
very possible that Jesus may have varied on this point, just as
Mahomet speaks of the Jews in the Koran, sometimes in the most
honourable manner, sometimes with extreme harshness, as he had
hope of winning their favour or otherwise. Tradition, in fact,
attributes to Jesus two entirely opposite rules of proselytism,
which he may. have practised in turn : " He that is not against
us, is on our part." " He that is not with me, is against me."^
Impassioned conflict involves almost necessarily this kind of con-,
tradictions.

It is certain that he counted among his disciples many men
whom the Jews called "Hellenes."^ This word had in Palestine
divers meanings. Sometimes it designated the pagans ; sometimes
the Jews, speaking Greek, and dwelling among the pagans ;5 some-
times men of pagan origin converted to Judaism. (> It was pro-
bably in the last-named category of Hellenes that Jesus found
sympathy. 7 The affiliation with Judaism had many degrees ; but
the proselytes always remained in a state of inferiority in regard
to the Jew by birth. Those in question were called " prose-
lytes of the gate," or " men fearing God," and were subject to the
precepts of Noah, and not to those of Moses.8 This very inferiority

1 Matt. vii. 6, x. 5, 6, xv. 24, xxi. 43.

2 Matt. V. 46, and following, vi. 7, 32, xviii. 17; Luke vi. 32, and following,
xii. 30.

' Matt. xii. 30 ; Mark ix. 39; Luke ix. 50, xi. 23.

* Josepbus confiz'ms this, {A.U., xviii. iii. 3.) Comp. John vii. 35, xii. 20, 21.

° Talm. of Jerus., Soia, vii. 1.

' See in particular, John vii. 35, xii. 20; Ads xiv. 1, xvii. 4, xviii. 4, xxi. 28.

7 John xii. 20 ; Acts viii. 27.

8 Mishnah, Baba Metsia, ix. 12; Talm. of Bab,, Sank., 50 b; Acts viii, 27,

iT4 LIFE OF JESUS.

was doubtless the cause which drew them to Je.^us, and iiained
them his favour.

He treated the Samaritans in the same manner. Shut in,
like a small island, between the two great provinces of Jadaisni,
(Judea and Galilee,) Samaria formed in Palestine a kind of en-
closure in which v/as jjreserved the ancient w^orship of Gerizim,
closely resembling and rivalling that of Jerusalem. This poor
sect, which had neither the genius nor the learned organisation of
Judaism, properly so called, was treated by the Hierosolymites
with extreme harshness.^ They placed them in the same rank as
pagans, but hated them niore.2 Jesus, from a feeling, of oppo-
sition, was well disposed towards Samaria, and often preferred
the Samaritaiis to the ortliodox Jews. If, at other times, he
seems to forbid his disciples preaching to them, confining his
gospel to the Israelites proper,^ this was no doubt a precept
arising from special circumstances, to which the apostles have
given too absolute a meaning. Sometimes, in fact, the Samaritans
received him badly, because they thought him imbued with the
prejudices of his co-religionists; 4 — in the same manner as in our
days the European free-thi]iker is regarded as an enemy by the
Mussulman, who always believes him to be a fanatical Christian.
Jesus raised himself above these misunderstandings.^ He had
many disciples at Shechem, and he passed at least two days there.^
On one occasion he meets with gratitude and true piety from a
Samaritan only.7 One of his most beautiful parables is that of
t/i^ man wounded on the way to Jericho. A priest passes by and
©ecs him, but goes on his way ; a Levite also passes, but does not
stop; a Samaritan takes pity on him, approaches him, and pours
oil into ids wounds, and bandages them.8 Jesus argues from this

X. 2, 22, 35, xiii. 16, 2G, 43, 50. svi. 14, xvii. 4, 17, xviii. 7; Gal. ii. 3; Jo3., AnL,
XIV. vii. 2.

EcclcsiasticuA 1. 27, 28 ; John viii. 48 ; Jos., AnL, ix. xiv. 3, XL viil (4
XII. V. 5; Talm. of Jerus., Ahocla zara, v. 4 ; Pesacldm, i. 1.

^ Matt. X. 5 ; Luke xvii. 18. Comp. Talra. of Bab., Cholln, 6 a.
^ Matt. X. C, G. 4 Luke ix. 53.

Luke ix. St). *' John iv. 39-43.

^ Luke xvii. IG, and * Luke x, 30, and lollowliig.

Ltm OP JEStTS. 175

that true brotheiiioocl is established among men by charity, and
not by creeds. The ''neighbour" who in Judaism was specially
the co-religionist, was in his estimation the man who has pity on
his kind without distinction of sect. Human brotherhood in its
widest sense overflows in all his teaching.

These thoughts, which beset Jesus on his leaving Jerusalem,
found their vivid expression in an anecdote which has been pre-
served respecting his return. The road from Jerusalem into
Galilee passes at the distance of half-an-hour's journey from
Shechem,! in front of the opening of the valley commanded by
mounts Ebal and Gerizim. This route was in general avoided by
the Jewish pilgrims, who preferred making in their journeys the
long detour through Perea, rather than expose themselves to the
insults of the Samaritans, or ask anything of them. It was for-
bidden to eat and drink with them. 2 It v/as an axiom of certain
casuists, that '' a piece of Samaritan bread is the flesh of swine." 3
When they followed this route, provisions were always laid up
beforehand; yet they rarely avoided conflict and ill-treatment.^
Jesus shared neither these scruples nor these fears. Having come
to the point where the valley of Shechem opens on the left, he felt
fatigued, and stopped near a well. The Samaritans were then as
now accustomed to give to all the localities of their valley names
drawn from patriarchal reminiscences. They regarded this well
as having been given by Jacob to Joseph ; it was probably the
same which is now called Bir-Iakouh. The disciples entered the
valley and went to the city to buy provisions. Jesus seated him-
self at the side of the well, having Gerizim before him.

It was about noon. A woman of Shechem came to draw water.
Jesus asked her to let him drink, which excited great astonishment
in the woman, the Jews generally forbidding all intercourse with
the Samaritans. Won by the conversation of Jesus, the woman
recognised in him a prophet, and expecting some reproaches abou»
her worship, she anticipated him : — " Sir," said she, " our fathers

^ Now Nabious. ^ l^jj-^ ix. 53 ; John iv. 9. • Mishnah, Shchiit, viii. 10.
* Jos.; A->\t,.j XX. V. 1 ; B. /., II, xii. o ; Vita, 52;

176 LIFE OF JESUS.

worshipped in this mountain, and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the
place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman,
believe ine, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this moun-
tain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. But the hour
cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the
Father in spirit and in truth." i

The day on which he uttered this saying, he was truly Son of
God. He pronounced for the first time the sentence upon which
will repose the edifice of eternal religion. He founded the pure
worship, of all ages, of all lands, that which all elevated souls will
practise until the end of time. Not only was his religion on this
day the best religion of humanity, it was the absolute religion ;
and if other planets have inhabitants gifted with reason and
morality, their religion cannot be different from that which Jesus
proclaimed near the well of Jacob. Man has not been able to
maintain this position ; for the ideal is realised but transitorily-
This sentence of Jesus has been a brilliant light amidst gross
darkness ; it has required eighteen hundred years for the eyes
of mankind (what do I say ! for an infinitely small portion of
mankind) to become accustomed to it. But the light will become
the full day, and, after liaving run through all the cycles of error,
mankind will return to this sentence, as the immortal expression
of its faith and its hope.

^ John iv. 21-23. Verse 22, at least the latter clause of it, which expresses an
idea opposed to that of verses 21 and 23, appears to have been interpolated. We
ijiust not insist too much on the historical reality of such a conversation, since
Jesus, or his interlocutor, alone would have been able to relate it. But the anec-
dote in chapter iv. of John, certainly represents one of the most intimate
thoughts of Jesus, and the greater part of the circumstances have ^ atrikinu
appearance of truth.

CHAPTER XV.

COrHMENCEMEXT OF THE LEGENDS CONCERNIXG JESUS — HIS 0W7'
IDEA OF HIS SUPEENATHEAL CHAEAOTER.

Jesus returned to Galilee, having completely lost his Jewish faith,
and filled with revolutionary ardour. His ideas are now expressed
with perfect clearness. The innocent ajjhorisras of the first part
of his prophetic career, in part borrowed from the Jewish rabbis
anterior to him, and the beautiful moral precepts of his second
period, are exchanged for a decided policy. The Law would be
abolished ; and it was to be abolished by him. 1 The Messiah had
come, and he was the Messiah. The kingdom of God was about
to be revealed; and it was he who would reveal it. He knew
well that he would be the victim of his boldness ; but the kingdom
of God could not be conquered without violence ; it was by crises
and commotions that it was to be established.2 The Son of man
w^ould reappear in glory, accompanied by legions of angels, and
those who had rejected him would be confounded.

The boldness of such a conception ought not to surprise us.
Long before this, Jesus had regarded his relation to God as that of
a son to his father. That which in others would be an insupport-
able pride, ought not in him to be regarded as presumption.

^ The hesitancy of the immediate disciples of Jesus, of whom a considerable
portion remained attached to Judaism, might cause objections to be raised to this.
But the trial of Jesus leaves no room for doubt. We shall see that he was there
treated as a " cornipter." The Talmud gives the procedure adopted agaiust him
as an example of that which ought to be followed against " corrupters," who sn-k
CO overturn the Law of Moses. (Talm. of Jcrus., Sanhedrim, xiv. 16; Talm. oJt
Bab., Sanhedrim, 43 a, 67a.)

> Matt. xi. 12: Luke xvi. IG.

M

178 LIFE OF JESCia,

The title of " Son of David " was tlie first which he accepted,
probably without being concerned in the innocent frauds by which
it was sought to secure it to him. The family of David had, as it
seems, been long extinct ;i the Asmoneans being of priestly origin,
could not pretend to claim such a descent for themselves ; neither
Herod nor the Romans dreamt for a moment that any representa-
tive whatever of the ancient dynasty existed in their midst. But
from the close of the Asmonean dynasty the dream of an unknown
descendant of the ancient kings, who should avenge the nation of
its enemies, filled every mind. The universal belief was, that the
Messiah would be son ot David, and like him would be born at
Bethlehem 2 The first idea of Jesus was not precisely this. The
remembrance of David, which v/as uppermost in the minds of the
Jews, had nothing in common with his heavenly reign. He believed
himself the Son of God, and not the son of David. His kingdom,
and the deliverance which he meditated, were of quite another
order. But public opinion on this point made him do violence
to himself. The immediate consequence of the proposition, "Jesus
is the Messiah," was this other proposition, " Jesus is the son of
David." He allowed a title to be given him, without which he
could not hope for success. He ended, it seems, by taking plea-
sure therein, for he performed most willingly the miracles which
were asked of him by those who used this title in addressing him.3
In this, as in many other circumstances of his life, Jesus yielded to
the ideas which were current in his time, although they were not
precisely his own. He associated with his doctrine of the " king-
dom of God " all that could warm the heart and the imagination.
It was thus that we have seen him adopt the baptism of John,
although it could not have been of much importance to him.

^ It is true tl)at certain doctors— such as Hillel, Gamaliel — are mentioned as
being of the race of David. But these are very doubtful allegations. If the
family of David still formed a distinct and prominent group, how is it that we
never see it figure, by the side of the Sadokites, Boethusians, the Asmoneans,
And Herods, in the great struggles of the time?

2 Matt. ii. 5, 6, xxii. 42; Luke i. 32; John vii. 41, 42; Acts ii. 30.

3 Matt. ix. 27, xii. 23, xv. 22, xx. 30, 31 ; Mark x. 47, 52 ; Luke xviii. 3S.

LIFE OF JESTJ3. 179

One great difficulty iDresented itself — bis birth at Nazareth,
which was of public notoriety. We do not know whether Jesus
strove against this objection. Perhaps it :lid not present itself in
Galilee, where the idea that the son of David should be a Beth-
lehemite was less spread. To the Galilean idealist, moreover, the
title of "son of David" was sufficiently justified, if he to whom ifc
was given revived the glory of his race, and brought back the great
days of Israel. Did Jesus authorise by his silence the fictitious
genealogies which his partisans invented in order to prove his
royal descent ? i Did he know anything of the legends invented
to prove that he was born at Bethlehem ; and particularly of the
attempt to connect his Bethlehemite origin with the census whicn
had taken place by order of the imperial legate, Quirinus ? 2
We know not. The inexactitude and the contradictions of the
genealogies 3 lead to the belief that they were the result of
popular ideas operating at various points, and that none of
them were sanctioned by Jesus.4 Never does he designate him-
self as son of David. His discii)les, much less enlightened than
he, frequently magnified that which he said of himself; but, as
a rule, he had no knowledo-e of these exao-o-erations. Let us
add, that during the first three centuries, considerable portions of
Christendom^ obstinately denied the royal descent of Jesus and
the authenticity of the genealogies.

The legends about him were thus the fruit of a great and

* Matt. i. 1, and following; Luke iii. 23, and following.

^ Matt. ii. 1, and following; Lukeii. 1, and following.

^ The two genealogies are quite contradictory, and do not agree with the lists
of the Old Testament, The narrative of Luke on the census of Quirinus implies
an anachronism. See ante, p. 46, note 4. It is natural to suppose, besides, that
the legend may have laid hold of this circumstance. The census made a great im^
pression on the Jews, overturned their narrow ideas, and was remembered by theu.s
for a long period. Cf. Acts v. 37.

^ Julius Africanus (in Eusebius, B. B., i. 7) supposes that it was the relations
pf Jesus who, having taken refuge in Batanea, attempted to recompose the
genealogies.

^ The Ehionites, the " Hebrews," the " Nazarcnes," Tatian, Marcion. Cf. Epiph.,
Adv. Hcer., xxix. 9, xxx. 3, 14, xlvi. 1 ; Theodoret, Uwret. fab., i. 20 ; Isidore of
Pelusium, Epist. i, 371, ad Pansophiuzn.

180 LIFE OF JESUS.

entirely spontaneous conspiracy, and were developed around him
during his lifetime. No great event in history has happened with-
out having given rise to a cycle of fables ; and Jesus could not
have put a stop to these popular creations, even if he had wished
to do so. Perhaps a sagacious observer would have recognised
from this point the germ of the narratives which were to attribute
to him a supernatural birth, and which arose, it may be, from the
idea, very prevalent in antiquity, that the incomparable man could
not be born of the ordinary relations of the two sexes ; or, it may be,
in order to respond to an imperfectly understood chapter of Isaiah, i
which was thought to foretell that the Messiah should be born of
a virgin ; or, lastly, it may be in consequence of the idea that the
" breath of God," already regarded as a divine hypostasis, was a
principle of fecundity .2 Already, perhaps, there was current more
than one anecdote about his infancy, conceived with the intention
of shewing in his biography the accomplishment of the Messianic
ideal ;'^ or, rather, of the prophecies which the allegorical exegesis
of the time referred to the Messiah. At other times they con-
nected him from his birth with celebrated men, such as John
the Baptist, Herod the Great, Chaldean astrologers, who, it was
said, visited Jerusalem about this time,^ and two aged persons,
Simeon and Anna, who had left memories of great sanctity. 5
A rather loose chronology characterised these combinations, which
for the most part were founded upon real facts travestied. 6 But
a singular spirit of gentleness and goodness, a profoundly populai
sentiment, permeated all these fables, and made them a supplement
to his preaching.7 It was especially after the death of Jesus that
such narratives became greatly developed ; we may, however, be-

^ Sratt. i. 22, 23.

'^ Gen. i. 2. For the analogous idea among the Egyptians, see Herodotua, iiL
28 ; Pomp. Mela, i. 9 ; Plutarch, Qucest. symp., viii. i. 3 ; De hid. et Odr., 43.

^ Matt. i. 15, 23; Isa. vii. 14, and following.

* Matt. ii. 1, and following. * Luke ii. 25, and following.

•* Thus the legend of the massacre of the Innocents probably refers to some
cruelty exercised by Herod near Bethlehem. Comp. Jos., Ant., Xiv, ix. 4.

^ Matt, i., ii. ; Luke i., ii.; S. Justin., Dial, cum Tryjan., 78, lOGj Protocvang- Ojf
James, (Apocr.,) 18, and following.

LIFE OF JESUS. l61

lieve that they circulated even during liis life, exciting only a pioua
credulity and simple admiration.

That Jesus never dreamt of making himself pass for an incar-
nation of God, is a matter about which there can be no doubt.
Such an idea was entirely foreign to the Jewish mind ; an. I
there is no trace of it in the synoptical gospels ;i we only find
it indicated in portions of the Gospel of John, which cannot be
accepted as expressing the thoughts of Jesus. Sometimes Jesus
even seems to take precautions to put down such a doctrine.^ The
accusation that he made himself God, or the equal of God, is pre-
sented, even in the Gospel of John, as a calumny of the Jews.^
In this last Gospel he declares himself less than his Father.^
Elsewhere he avows that the Father has not revealed everything
to him. 5 He believes himself to be more than an ordinary man,
but separated from God by an infinite distance. He is Son of
God, but all men are, or may become so, in divers degrees. ^
Every one ought daily to call God his father ; all who are raised
again will be sons of God.7 The divine son-ship was attributed in
the Old Testament to beings whom it was by no means pretended
were equal with God.8 The word " son" has the widest meanings in
the Semitic lansjuao-e, and in that of the New Testament. 9 Besides,
the idea Jesus had of man was not that low idea which a cold
Deism has introduced. In his poetic conception of nature, one

^ Certain passages, such as Acts ii. 22, expressly exclude this idea.

2 Matt. xix. 17 ; Mark x. 18; Luke xviii. 19.

3 John V. 18, and following, x. 33, and following.

* John xiv. 28. ^ Mark xiii. 35.

6 Matt. V. 9, 45; Luke in. 38, vi. 35, xx. 36; John i. 12, 13, x. 34, 35. Coinp.
Acts xvii. 28, 29; Rom. viii. 14, 19, 21, ix. 26; 2 Cor. vi. 18; Gal. iii. 26; and ia
the Old Testament, Dcut. xiv. 1; and especially Wisdom, ii. 13, 18.

7 Luke XX. 36.

8 Gen. vi. 2; Job i. 6, ii. 1, xxviii. 7 ; Ps. ii. 7, Ixxxii. 6; 2 Sam. vii. 14.

» The child of the devil, (Matt. xiii. 38; Ads xiii. 10;) the children of this
world, (Mark iii. 17; Luke xvi. 8, xx. 34;) the children of light, (Luke xvi. 8;
John xii. 36 ;) the children of the resurrection, (Luke xx. 36 ;) the children of tlie
kingdom, (Matt. viii. 12, xiii. 38;) the children of the bride-chamber, (Matt. ix.
15 ; Mark ii. 19; Luke v. 34;) the children of hell, (Matt, xxiii. 15 ;) the children
of peace, (Luke x. 6,) &c. Let iis remember that the Jupiter of paganism ia
iraTTjp dydpcov re Oeo^v re

18^ LIFE ojp Jt:sus.

breatli alone penetrates the universe : the breath of man is that of
God; God dwells in man, and lives by man, the same as man
dwells in God, and lives by God.l The transcendent idealism of
Jesus never permitted him to have a very clear notion of his own
personality. He is his Father, his Father is he. He lives in his
disciples; he is everywhere with them; 2 his disciples are one, as
he and his Father are one.^ The idea to him is everything; the
body, which makes the distinction of persons, is nothing.

The title " Son of God," or simply " Son," * thus became for
Jesus a title analogous to " Son of man," and, like that synony-
mous with the " Messiah," with the sole difference that he called
himself " Son of man," and does not seem to have made the same
use of the phrase, "Son of God."^ The title. Son of man, ex-
pressed his character as judge; that of Son of God his power
and his participation in the supreme designs. This power had
no limits. His Father had given him all power. He had the
power to alter even the Sabbath.^ No one could know the Father
except through him.7 The Father had delegated to him ex-
clusively the right of judging.^ Nature obeyed him ; but she obeys
also all who believe and pray, for faith can do every thing.9 We
must remember that no idea of the laws of nature marked the
limit of the impossible, either in his own mind, or in that of his
hearers. The witnesses of his miracles thanked God " for having
given such power unto men." 10 He pardoned sins ; H he was
superior to David, to Abraham, to Solomon, and to the prophets. 12
We do not know in what form, nor to what extent, these affirmations

1 Comp. Acts xvii. 28. ^ Matt, xviii. 20, xxviii. 20.

^ John X. 30, xvii. 21. See in general the later discourses of John, especially
chap, xvii., which express one side of the psychological state of Jesus, though W3
eannot regard tliem as true historical documents.

'^ The passages in support of this are too numerous to be referred to here.

' It is only in the Gospel of John that Jesus iises the expression " Son of God,"
or " Son," in speaking of himself.

« Matt. xii. 8 ; Luke vi. 5. ^ ^att. xi. 27. ^ John v. 22.

» Matt. xvii. 18, 19 ; Luke xvii. 6. ^" Matt. ix. 8.

^^ Matt. ix. 2, and following; Mark ii. 5, and following; Luke v. 20, vh.
47, 48.

^2 Matt, xii. 41, 42, xxii. 43, and following; John viii. 52, and following.

LIFE OF JEStJS. 1 SS

of himself were made. Jesus ought not to be judged by the law of
our petty conventionalities. The admiration of his disciples over-
whelmed him, and carried him away. It is evident that the title of
Rahhi, with which he was at first contented, no longer sufficed him ;
even the title of prophet or messenger of God responded no longer
to his ideas. The position which he attributed to himself was
that of a superhuman being, and he wished to be regarded as
sustaining a higher relationship to God than other men. But
it must be remarked that these words, ''superhuman" and "super-
natural," borrowed from our petty theology, had no meaning
in the exalted religious consciousness of Jesus. To him nature
and the develo23ment of humanity were not limited kingdoms
apart from God — paltry realities subjected to the laws of a hope-
less empiricism. There was no supernatural for him, because
there was no nature. Intoxicated with infinite love, he forgot the
heavy chain which holds the spirit captive; he cleared at one
bound the abyss, impossible to most, which the weakness of the
human faculties has created betv^^een God and man.

We cannot mistake in these affirmations of Jesus, the germ of the
doctrine which was afterwards to make of him a divine hypostasis,!
in identifying him with the Word, or '' second God," 2 or eldest Son
of God,3 or Angel Metathronos,'^- which Jewish theology created
apart from him.5 A kind of necessity caused this theology, in order
to correct the extreme rigour of the old Monotheism, to place
near God an assessor, to whom the eternal Father is supposed
to deleg'ate the s;overnment of the universe. The belief that

^ See especially John xiv., and following. But it is doubtful whether wc hai
here the authentic teaching of Jesus.

2 Philo cited in Eusebius, Prccp. Evang., vii. 13.

'^ Philo, De migr. Abraham, § 1 ; Quod Deus immuf., % 6; De confus. ling., § ^
14 and 28; De profugis, § 20; De somniis, i. § 37; De agric. No€, § 12; Quls
rerum divin. hceres, § 25, and following, 48, and following, &c,

* Mera^poi/oy, that is, sharing the throne of God ; a kind of divine gecretary,
keeping the register of merits and demerits; Bcrcsliith Rahha, \. Q c ; Tilm. of
Lab., Sanhcdr., 28 b; ChagigaJi, 15 a; Targum of Jonathan, Gen., v. 2i.

' This theoiy of the Aoyo? contains no Greek elements. The comparison.* which
have been made between it and the Ilonozcr of the Parsces are also without foun-

184 LIFE OF JESUS.

certain men are incarnations of divine faculties or " powers,**
was wide-spread ; the Samaritans possessed about the same time
a tliaumaturgus named Simon, whom they identified with the
" great power of God." l For nearly two centuries, the speculative
minds of Judaism had yielded to the tendency to personify the
divine attributes, and certain expressions which were connected
with the Divinity. Thus, the " breath of God," which is often
referred to in the Old Testament, is considered as a separate being,
the " Holy Spirit." In the same manner the " Wisdom of God "
and the "Word of God" became distinct personages. This was
the germ of the process which has engendered the Sephiroth of
the Cabbala, the jEons of Gnosticism, the hypostasis of Chris-
tianity, and all that dry mythology, consisting of personified ab-
stractions, to which Monotheism is obliged to resort when it wishes
to pluralise the Deity.

Jesus appears to have rcm.ained a stranger to these refinements
of theology, which were soon to fill the -world with barren disputes.
The metaphysical theory of the Word, such as we find it in the
writings of his contemporary Pliilo, in the Chaldean Targums,
and even in the book of " AVisdom," 2 is neither seen in the Logia
of Matthew, nor in general in the synoptics, the most authentic in-
terpreters of the words of Jesus. The doctrine of the Word, in fact,
had nothing in common with Messianism. The " Word " of Philo,
and of the Targums, is in no sense the Messiah. It was Jo^:n the

dation. The MinoIcMred or "Diviue Intelligence," has much analogy with the
Jewish Aoyos. (See the fragments of the book entitled Minohhired in Spiegel,
Parsi-GrammatiJc, pp. 161, 162.) But the development which the doctrine of the
MinoTchired has taken among the Parsees is modern, and may imply a foreign
influence. The "Divine Intelligence," {Malyu-KhratU,) appears in the Zend
books ; but it does not there serve as basis to a theory ; it only enters into some
invocations. The comparisons which have been attempted between the Alex-
andrian theory of the Word and certain points of Egyptian theology, may not be
entirely without value. But nothing indicates that, in the centuries which pre^
?eded the Christian era, Palestinian Judaism had borrowed anything from Egypt

^ Acts viii. 10.

2 ix. 1, 2, xvi. 12. Comp, vii. 12, viii. 5, and following, ix., and in general ix.-
xi. These prosopopoeia of Wisdom personified are found in much older books.
Prov. viii., ix. ; Job xxviii.; Bev. xix. 13.

LIFE OF JESUS. 185

Evangelist, or his scliool, who afterwards endeavoured to prove
that Jesus was the Word, and wdio created, in this sense, quite a
new theology, very different from that of the " kingdom of God." 1
The essential character of the AVord was that of Creator and of
Pruvidence. Now, Jesus never pretended to have created the
world, nor to govern it. His office was to judge it, to renovate it.
The position of president at the final judgment of humanity, was
the essential attribute which Jesus attached to himself, and tho
character which all the first Christians attributed to him.2 Until
the great day, he will sit at the riglit hand of God, as his Meta-
thronos, his first minister, and his future avenger.3 The super-
human Christ of the Byzantine apsides, seated as judge of the
w^orld, in the midst of the apostJes in the same rank wdth him, and
superior to the angels who only assist and serve, is the exact
representation of that conception of the " Son of man," of wdiicli
we find the tirst features so strongly indicated in the book of
Daniel.

At all events, the strictness of a studied theology by no means
existed in such a state of society. All the ideas we have just
stated, formed in the mind of the disciples a theological system
so little settled, that the Son of God, this species of divine dupli-
cate, is made to act purely as man. He is tempted — he is ignorant
of many things — he corrects himself* — he is cast down, dis-
couraged— he asks his Father to spare him trials — he is sub-
missive to God as a son.S He wlio is to judge the world does
not know the day of judgment.^ He takes precautions for his
safety.7 Soon after his birth, he is obliged to be concealed to avoid

1 John, Gospel, i, 1-14 ; 1 Epistle v. 7 ; moreover, it will be remarked, that, in
the Gospel of John, the expression of " the Word " does not occur except in the
prologue, and that the narrator never puts it into the mouth of Jesus.

2 Acts X. 42.

3 Matt. xxvi. G4 ; Mark xvi. 19; Luke xxii. 6D ; Acts vii. 55; Kom, viii. S4;
Ephes. i. iO; Coloss. iii. 1; Heb. i. 3, 13, viii. 1, x. 12, xii. 2; 1 Peter iii. 22.
See the passages previously cited on the character of the Jewish Metathronos.

■* Matt. X. 5, compared with xsviii. 19.

5 Matt. xxvi. 39; John xii. 27. ^ Markxiii. 32.

7 Matt. xii. 1 ^-IC), xiv. 13; Mark iii. 6, 7, ix. 29, 30 ; John vii. l,and following.

\

l^G LIFE OF JESUS.

powerful men who wish to kill hiin.- In exorci&ms, the devil
cheats him, and does not come out at the first command .2 In his
miracles we are sensible of painful effort — an exhaustion, as if
something went out of him.3 All these are simply the acts of a
messenger of God, of a man protected and favoured by God>
We must not look here for either logic or sequence. The need
Jesus had of obtaining credence, and the enthusiasm of his dis-
ciples, heaped up contradictory notions. To the Messianic be-
lievers of the millenarian school, and to the enthusiastic readers of
the books of Daniel and of Enoch, he was the Son of man — to the
Jews holding the ordinary faith, and to the readers of Isaiah and
Micah, he was the Son of David — to the disciples he was the Son
of God, or simply the Son. Others, without being blamed by the
disciples, took him for John the Baptist risen from the dead, for
Elias, for Jeremiah, confonnable to the popular belief that the
ancient prophets ' were about to reappear, in order to prepare the
time of the Messiah. 5

An absolute conviction, or rather the enthusiasm, which freed him
from even the possibility of doubt, shrouded all these boldnesses.
We little understand, wdth our cold and scrupulous natures, how any
one can be so entirely possessed by the idea of which he has made
himself the apostle. To the deeply earnest races of the West,
conviction means sincerity to one's self. But sincerity to one's
self has not much meaning to Oriental peoples, little accustomed
to the subtleties of a critical spirit. Honesty and imposture are
words which, in our rigid consciences, are opposed as two irre-
concilable terms. In the East, they are connected by number-
less subtle links and windings. The authors of the Apocryphal
books, (of "Daniel" and of "Enoch," for instance,) men highly
exalted, in order to aid their cause, committed, without a shadow
of scruple, an act which w^e should term a fraud. The literal

1 Matt. ii. 20. 2 -^j^^^t. xvii. 20 ; Mark ix. 25.

3 Luke viii. 45, 46 ; John xi. 33, 38. * Acts ii. 22.

^ Matt. xiv. 2, xvi. 14, xvii. 3, and following ; Mark vi. 14, 15, viii. 28 ; Luke
ix. 8, and following, 19.

tmih. has little value to the Oriental ; he sees everything through
the irieclium of his ideas, his interests, and his passions.

History is imj^ossible, if we do not fully admit that there are
many standards of sincerity. All great things are done through the
people ; now we can only lead the people by adapting ourselves to
its ideas. The philosopher who, knowing this, isolates and fortifies
himself in his integrit}', is highly praiseworthy. But he who takes
humanity with its illusions, and seeks to act with it and upon it,
cannot be blamed. Caesar knew well that he was not the son of
Venus ; Trance would not be what it is, if it had not for a thousand
years believed in the Holy Ampulla of Eheiins. It is easy for us,
who are so powerless, to call this falsehood, and, proud of our timid
honesty, to treat vrith contempt the heroes who have accepted the
battle of life under other conditions. When we have effected by
our scruples what they accomplished by their falsehoods, we shall
have the right to be severe upon them. At least, we must make
a marked distinction between societies like our own, where every-
thing takes place in the full light of reflection, and simple and
credulous comnmnities, in which the beliefs that have governed
aoes have been born. Nothino; o-rcat has been established which
does not rest on a legend. The only culprit in such cases is the
humanity which is willing to be deceived

CHAPTER XVL

MIRACLES.

Two means of proof — miracles and tlie accomplishment of pro-
pliccics — could alone, in the opinion of the contemporaries of Jesus,
establish a supernatural mission. Jesus, and especially his dis-
ciples, employed these two processes of demonstration in perfect
good faith. For a long time, Jesus had been convinced that the
prophets had written only in reference to him. He recognised
himself in their sacred oracles -, he regarded himself as the mirror
in which all the prophetic spirit of Israel had read the future.
The Christian school, perhaps even in the lifetime of its founder,
endeavoured to prove that Jesus responded perfectly to all that
the prophets had predicted of the Messiah.l In many cases,
these comparisons were quite superficial, and are scarcely appreci-
able by us. They were most frequently fortuitous or insignificant
circumstances in the life of the master which recalled to the
disciples certain passages of the Psalms and the Prophets, in which,
in consequence of their constant preoccupation, they saw images
of him.2 The exegesis of the time consisted thus almost entirely
in a play upon words, and in quotations made in an artificial and
arbitrary manner. The synagogue had no officially settled list of
the passages which related to the future reign. The Messianic
references were very liberally created, and constituted artifices of
style rather than serious reasoning.

1 For example, Matt. i. 22, ii. 5, 6, 15, 18, iv. 15.

^ Matt. i. 23, iv. 6, 14, xxvi. 31, 54, 5Q, xxvii. 9, 35; Mark xiv. 27, xv. 28;
John xii. 14, 15, xviii. 9. xix. 19, 24, 28, 36.

LIFE OF JESUS. lS9

As to mii'acles, they were regarded at tlii» pcricd as the indis-
pensable mark of the divine, and as the sign of the prophetic
vocation. The legends of Elijah and Elisha were full of them. It
was commonly believed that the Messiah would peiform many.i
In Samaria, a few leagues from where Jesus was, a magician,
named Simon, acquired an almost divine character by his illii-
sions.2 Afterwards, when it was sought to establish the repu-
tation of ApoUonius of Tyana, and to prove that his life had
been the sojourn of a god upon the earth, it was not thought
possible to succeed therein except by inventing a vast cycle of
miracles.3 The Alexandrian philosophers themselves, Plotinus
and others, are reported to have performed several^ Jesus was,
therefore, obliged to choose between these two alternatives — either
to renounce his mission, or to become a thauraaturgus. It must
be remembered that all antiquity, with the exception of the great
scientific schools of Greece and their Roman disciples, accepted
miracles ; and that Jesus not only believed therein, but had not
the least idea of an order of nature regulated by fixed laws. His
knowledge on this point was in no way superior to that of his
contemporaries. Nay, more, one of his most deeply- rooted opinions
was, that by faith and prayer man has entire power over nature. 5
The faculty of performing miracles was regarded as a privilege
frequently conferred by God upon men,^ and it had nothing
surprising in it.

The lapse of time has changed that which constituted the power
of the great founder of Christianity into something offensive to
our idea,s, and if ever the worship of Jesus loses its hold upon
mankind, it will be precisely on account of those acts which
originally inspired belief in him. Criticism experiences no em-
barrassment in presence of this kind of historical phenomenon.

' John vii. Zi;IV. Esdras, xiii. 50. " Acts viii. 9, and following.

^ See his biography by rhilostratus.

* See the Lives of the Sophists, by Eunapius; the Life of Plotinus, by
Porphyry; that of Proclus, by Marinus; and that of Isidorus, attributed to
Damascius.

5 Matt. xvii. 19, xxi. 21, 22 ; Mark xi. 23, 24. " Matt. ix. 8.

\

190 LIFE OF JESUS.

A thauraaturgus of our days, unless of an extreme simplicity, like
tliat manifested by certain stigmatists of Germany, is odious ; for
he performs miracles without believing in them ; and is a mere
charlatan. But, if we take a Francis d'Assissi, the question be-
comes altogether different ; the series of miracles attending the
origin of the order of St Francis, far from offending us, affords us
real pleasure. The founder of Christianity lived in as complete a
state of poetic ignorance, as did St Clair and the tres socii. The
disciples deemed it quite natural that their master should have
interviews with Moses and EKas, that he should command the ele-
ments, and that he should heal the sick. We must remember,
besides, that every idea loses something of its purity, as soon as it
aspires to realise itself. Success is never attained without some
injury being done to the sensibihty of the soul. Such is the feeble-
ness of the human mind that the best causes are ofttimes gained
only by bad arguments. The demonstrations of the primitive
apologists of Christianity are supported by very poor reasonings.
Moses, Christopher Columbus, Mahomet, have only triumphed over
obstacles by constantly making allowance for the weakness of men,
and by not always giving the true reasons for the truth. It is
probable that the hearers of Jesus were more struck by his miracles
than by his eminently divine discourses. Let us add, that doubtless
popular rumour, both before and after the death of Jesus, exag-
gerated enormously the number of occurrences of this kind. The
types of the gospel miracles, in fact, do not present much variety ;
they are repetitions of each other, and seem fashioned from a very
small immber of models, accommodated to the taste of the country.
It is impossible, amongst the miraculous narratives so tediously
enumerated in the Gospels, to distinguish the miracles attributed
to Jesus by public opinion from those in which he consented
to play an active part. It is especially impossible to ascertain
whether the offensive circumstances attending them, the groan-
ings, the strugglings, and other features savouring of jugglery,!
are really historical, or whether they are the fruit of the belief
^ Luke viii. 45, 4G ; Joho tlL 33 astid 38.

LIFE OF JESUS. JOl

of the compilers, strongly imbued with theurgj?", and living,
in this respect, in a world analogous to that of the "spiritual-
ists" of our times.i Almost all the miracles which Jesus thought
he performed, appear to have been miracles of healing. Medi-
cine was at this period in Judea, what it still is in the East,
that is to say, in no respect scientific, but absolutely surren-
dered to individual inspiration. Scientific medicine, founded by
Greece five centuries before, was at the time of Jesus imknown to
the Jews of Palestine. In such a state of knowledge, the presence
of a superior man, treating the diseased with gentleness, and giving
him by some sensible signs the assurance of his recovery, is often
a decisive remedy. Who would dare to say that in many cases,
always excepting certain peculiar inj aries, the touch of a superior
being is not equal to all the resources of pharmacy ? The mere
pleasure of seeing him cures. He gives only a smile, or a hope,
but these are not in vain.

Jesus had no more idea than his countrymen of a rational
medical science ; he believed, like every one else, that healing w^as
to be effected by religious practices, and such a belief was perfectly
consistent. From the moment that disease was regarded as the
punisnment of sin,2 or as the act of a demon,^ and by no means
as the result of physical causes, the best physician was the holy
man who had power in the supernatural world. Healing was
considered a moral act ; Jesus, who felt his moral power, would
believe himself specially gifted to heal. Convinced that the touch-
ing of his robe,4 the imposition of his hands ^ did good to the sick,
he would have been unfeeling, if he had refused to those who
suff'ered, a solace which it was in his power to bestow. The heal-
ing of the sick was considered as one of the signs of the kingdom

■^ Acts ii. 2, and following, iv. 31, viii. 15, and following, x. 44, and following.
For nearly a century, the apostles and their disciples dreamed only of miracles.
5ee the Acts, the Avritings of St Paul, the extracts from Papias, in Eusehiua
flist. Eccl, iii. 39, &c. Comp. Mark iii. 15, xvi. 17, 18, 20.

2 John V. 14, ix. 1, and following, 34.

■■^ Matt. ix. 32, 33, xii. 22 ; Luke xiii 11, 16.

♦ Luke viii. 45, 46. ' Luke iv. 40.

ID-

LIFE OF JESUS.

of God, and was always associated with the emancipation of the
poor."*- Both were the signs of the great revohition which was to
end in the redress of all infirmities.

One of the species of cure which Jesus most frequently per-
formed, was exorcism, or the expulsion of demons. A strange
disposition to believe in demons pervaded all minds. It was a
universal opinion, not only in Judea, but in the whole world, that
demons seized hold of the bodies of certain persons and made
them act contrary to their will, A Persian div, often named in
the Avesta.,2 Aeschma-daeva, the "div of concupiscence," adopted
by the Jews under the name of Asmodeus,^ became the cause of
all the hysterical afflictions of women.* Epilepsy, mental and
nervous maladies,^ in which the patient seems no longer to
belong to himself, and infirmities, the cause of which is not
apparent, as deafness, dumbness, ^5 were ex[»lained in the same
manner. The admirable treatise, " On Sacred Disease," by Hip-
pocrates, which set forth the true principles of medicine on this
Gubject, four centuries and a half before Jesus, had not banished
from the world so great an error. It was supposed that there
were processes more or less efficacious for driving away the demons;
and the occupation of exorcist was a regular profession like that
of physician.7 There is no doubt that Jesus had in his lifetime
the reputation of possessing the greatest secrets of this art. 8
There were at that time many lunatics in Judea, doubtless in
consequence of the great mental excitement. These mad persons,
who were permitted to go at large, as they still are in the same

1 Matt. si. 5, XV. 30, 31 ; Luke ix. 1, 2, 6.
* Vendidad, xi. 26; Yagna, x. 18.

3 Tohit, iii. 8, vi. 14 ; Talra. of Bab., G'ltiin, &S a.

4 Comp. Mark xvi. 9 ; Luke viii. 2 ; Gospel of the Infancy, 16, 33 ; Syrian Code,
published in the Anecdota Syriaca of M. Land, i., p. 152.

^ Jos., Bell. Jud., VII. vi. 3 ; Lucian, Philopseud., 16; Philostratus, Life of Apoll,
iii. 38, iv. 20 ; Aretus, De causis morb. chron., i. 4.

« Matt. ix. 33, xii. 22; Mark ix. 16, 24; Luke xi. 14.

7 Tobit, viii. 2, 3; Matt. xii. 27; Mark ix. 38; Acta xix. 13; Josephus, Ant.^
Vui. ii. 5 ; Justin, Dial, cum TrypJt,, 85. ; Lucian, Kpigr., xxiii. (xvii. D.indor(,J

« Matt. xvii. 20 ; Mark is, 24, an^ following.

LIFE OF JESUS. 1 9 j

districts, inhabited the abandoned sepulcbral caves, which were the
ordinary retreat of vagrants. Jesus had great influence over tliesc;
unfortunates. 1 A thousand singuUir incidents were related in con-
nexion with his cures, in v/hich the credulity of the time gave
itself full scope. But still these difficulties must not be exagger-
ated. The disorders which were explained by " possessions." were
often very slight. In our times, in Syria, they regard as mad or
possessed by a demon (tliese two ideas were expressed by the same
word, medjnoun^) people who are only somewdiat eccentric. A
gentle word often suffices in such cases to drive away the demon.
Such were doubtless the means employed by Jesu?. Who knows
if his celebrity as exorcist was not spread almost without his own
knowledge ? Persons who reside in the East are occasionally sur-
prised to find themselves, after some time, in possession of a great
reputation, as doctors, sorcerers, or discoverers of treasures, with-
out being able to account to themselves for the facts which have
given rise to these strange fancies.

Many circumstances, moreover, seem to indicate that Jesus only
became a thaumaturgus late in life and against his inclination.
He often performs his miracles only after he has been besought
to do so, and with a degree of reluctance, reproaching those who
asked them for the grossness of their minds.3 One singularity,
apparently inexplicable, is the care he takes to perform hiv
miracles in secret, and the request he addresses to those whom he
heals to tell no one. 4 When the demons wish to proclaim him
the Son of God, he forbid? them to open their mouths; but they
recognise him in spite of himself 5 These traits are especiail

^ Matt. viii. 28, ix. 34, xii. 43, and following, xvii. 14, and following, 20; Mar
V. 1, and foUowiug ; Luke viii. 27, and following.

- The phrase, Dcemonium haOes ^ilatt. xi. 18; Luke vii. 33; John vii. 20, viii
48, and following, x. 20, and following,) should be translated by : "Thou art mad,"
as we shoukl say in Arabic : Mcdjnoun cnte. The verb hai^ovav has also, in all
classical antiquity, the meaning of ''to be mad."

^ Matt. xii. 39, xvi. 4, xvii. 16 ; Mark viii. 17, and following, ix. 18 : Luke ix. 4L

* Matt. viii. 4, ix. 30, 31, xii. 16, and following; Mark i. 44, vii. 24, and follow-
ing, viii. 26.

» Mark i. 24, 25, 34, iii 12 i Luke iv. il.

N

\

194) LIFE OP JEStJS.

characteristic in Marls, who is pre-eminently the evangelist of
miracles and exorcisms. It seems that the disciple, who has
furnished the fundamental teachings of this Gospel, impor-
tuned Jesus with his admiration of the wonderful, and that the
master, wearied of a reputation which weighed upon him, had
often said to him, " See thou say nothing to any man/' Once thiy
discordance evoked a singular outburst,! a fit of impatieiiv'.e. in
which the annoyance these perpetual demands of weak minds
caused Jesus, breaks forth. One would say, at times, that the
character of thaumaturgus was disagreeable to him, and that he
sought to give as little publicity as possible to the marvels which,
in a manner, grew under his feet. When his enen}ies asked a
miracle of him, especially a celestial miracle, a " sign from heaven,"
he obstinately refused.2 We may therefore conclude that his repu-
tation of thaumaturgus was imposed upon him, that he did not
resist it much, but also that he did nothing to aid it, and
that, at all events, he felt the vanity of popular opinion on this
point.

We should neglect to recog-nise the first principles of history
if we attached too much importance to our repugnances on this
matter, and if, in order to avoid the objections which might
be raised against the character of Jesus, we attempted to suppress
facts which, in the eyes ef his contemporaries, were considered of
the greatest importance.^ It would be convenient to say that
these are the additions of disciples much inferior to their Master
who, not being able to conceive his true grandeur, have sought to
magnify him by illusions unworthy of him. But the four narrators
of the life of Jesus are unanimous in extolling his miracles ; one of
them, Mark, interpreter of the apostle Peter,^ insists so much on
this point, that, if we trace the character of Christ only acctjrdirii^
to this Gospel, we should represent him as an exorcist in possession
of charms of rare efiicacy, as a very potent sorcerer, who inspired

^ Martt. xviL 16 ; Mark ix, 18; Luke is. 41.

- Matt. xii. 38, and following, xvi. 1, and following; Mark viii. 11.

• Jojypluia, Ant., xviii. iii. 3. * Papias, in Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., iii. 39.

LIFE OF JESUS. x95

fear, and whom the people wished to get rid of.l We will admit,
then, without hesitation, that acts which would now be considered,
as acts of illusion or folly, held a large place in the life of Jesus.
Must we sacrifice to these uninviting features the sublimer aspect
of such a life ? God forbid. A mere sorcerer, after the manner
of Simon the magician, would not have brought about a moral
revolution like that effected by Jesus. If the thaumaturgus had
effaced in Jesus the moralist and the religious reformer, there
would have proceeded from him a school of theurgy, and not
Christianity.

The problem, moreover, presents itself in the same manner with
respect to all saints and religious founders. Things now considered
morbid, such as epilepsy and seeing of visions, v/ere formerly
principles of power and greatness. Physicians can designate the
disease which made the fortune of Mahomet.^ Almost in our own
day, the men who have done the most for their kind (the excellent
Vincent de Paul himself!) were, whether they wished it or not,
thaumaturgi. If we set out with the principle that every
historical personage to whom acts have been attributed, which
we in the nineteenth century hold to be irrational or savouring
of quackery, was either a madman or a charlatan, all criticism
is nullified. The school of Alexandria was a noble school, but,
nevertheless, it gave itself up to the practices of an extravagant
theurgy. Socrates and Pascal were not exempt fr m hallucina-
tions. Facts ought to explain themselves by proportionate causes.
The weaknesses of the human mind only engender weakness;
great things have always great causes in the nature of man,
although they are often developed amidst a crowd of littlenesses
which, to superficial minds, eclipse their grandeur.

In a general sense, it is therefore true to say that Jesus was

1 Mark iv. 40, v. 15, 17, 33, 36, vi. 60, x. 32; cf. Matt. viii. 27, 34, ix. 8, xiv. 27,
xvii. 6, 7, xxviii. 6, 10 ; Luke iv. 36, v. 17, viii. 25, 35, 37, ix. 34. The Apocryphal
Gospel, said to be by Thomas the Israelite, carries thia feature to the morit
ofFensive absurdity. Compare the Miracles of the Infancy, in Thilo, Cc/c?. Apocr,
N, T., p. ex.. note.

' Hysteria Muscularis of Shceiileif

1.96 LIFE OF JESUS.

only thaumaturgus and exorcist in spite of himself. Miracles are
ordinarily the work of the public much more than of him to whom
they are attributed. Jesus persistently shunned the performance of
the wonders which the multitude would have created for him ; the
greatest miracle would have been his refusal to perform any;
never would the laws of history and popular psychology have
suffered so great a derogation. The miracles of Jesus were a
violence done to him by his age, a concession forced from him by
a passing necessity. The exorcist and the thaumaturgus have
alike passed away ; but the religious reformer will live eternally.

Even those who did not believe in him were struck with these
acts, and sought to be witnesses of them.l The pagans, and per-
sons unacquainted with him, experienced a sentiment of fear, and
sought to remove him from their district.^ Many thought perhaps
to abuse his name by connecting it with seditious movements.3
But the purely moral and in no respect political tendency of the
character of Jesus saved him from these entanglements. Hia
kingdom was in the circle of disciples, whom a like freshness of
imagination and the same foretaste of heaven had grouped and
retained around him.

* Matt. xlv. 1 . and following ; Mark vi. H ; Luke ix. 7, xxiii, 8.

• lUtt. viiL oi ; Mark v. 17, viii 8/, • John ri. 14, 16.

CHAPTER XVII.

DEFINITIVE FOEM OF THE IDEAS OF JESUS RESPECTING THE
KINGDOM OF GOD.

We suppose that this last phase of the activity of Jesus continued
about eighteen months from the time of his return from the Pass-
over of the year 31, until his journey to the feast of tabernacles
of the year 82.1 During this time, the mind of Jesus does not
appear to have been enriched by the addition of any new element ;
but all his old ideas grew and developed with an ever-increasing
degree of power and boldness.

The fundamental idea of Jesus from the beginning, was the
establishment of the kingdom of God. But this kingdom of God
as we have already said, appears to have been understood by
Jesus in very different senses. At times, we should take him for
a democratic leader desiring only the triumph of the poor and the
disinherited. At other times, the kingdom of God is the literal
accomplishment of the apocalyptic visions of Daniel and Enoch.
Lastly, the kingdom of God is often a spiritual kingdom, and the
approaching deliverance is a deliverance of the spirit. In this
last sense, the revolution desired by Jesus was the one which has
really taken place ; the establishment of a new worship, purer
than that of Moses. All these thoughts appear to have existed at

^ John V. 1, vii. 2. We follow the system of John, according to whom the
public life of Jesus lasted three years. The synoptics, on the contrary, group all
the facts within the space of one year.

IDS LIFE OF JESUS.

the same time in the mind of Jesus. The first one, however — that
of a temporal revolution— does not appear to have impressed him
much ; he never regarded the earth or the riches of the earth, or
material power as worth caring for. He had no worldly ambition.
Sometimes by a natural consequence, his great religious importance
was in danger of being converted into mere social importance.
Men came requesting him to judge and arbitrate on questions
affecting their material interests. Jesus rejected these proposals
with haughtiness, treating them as insults.l Full of his heavenly
ideal, he never abandoned his disdainful poverty. As to the other
two conceptions of the kingdom of God, Jesus appears always to
have held them simultaneously. If he had been only an enthusiast,
led away by the apocalypses on which the popular imagination
fed, he would have remained an obscure sectary, inferior to those
whose ideas he followed. If he had been only a puritan, a sort of
Channing or " Savoyard vicar," he would undoubtedly have been
unsuccessful. The two parts of his system, or, rather, his two con-
ceptions of the kingdom of God, rest one on the other, and this
mutual support has been the cause of his incomparable success.
The first Christians were dreamers, living in a circle of ideas which
we should term visionary ; but, at the same time, they were the
heroes of that social war which has resulted in the enfranchisement
of the conscience, and in the establishment of a religion from
which the pure worship, proclaimed by the founder, will eventually
proceed.

The apocaljrptic ideas of Jesus, in their most complete form,
may thus be summed up. The existing condition of humanity is
approaching its termination. This termination will be an immense
revolution, " an anguish " similar to the pains of child-birth ; a
imlingenesis, or, in the words of Jesus himself, a "new birth," 2
preceded by dark calamities and heralded by strange phenomena.3

A Luke xiL 13, 14. a Matt. xix. 28.

^ Matt. xxiv. 3, and following; Mark xiii. 4, and following; Luke xvii. 22, and
following, xxi. 7, and following. It must be remarked that the picture of the end
of time attributed to Jesus by the synoptics, contains many features which relate

LIFE OF JESUS. 199

In the great day, there will apj^ear in the heavens the sign of the
Son of man ; it will be a startling and luminous vision like that
of Sinai, a great storm rending the clouds, a fiery meteor flashing
rapidly from east to west. The Messiah will appear in the clouds,
clothed in glory and majesty, to the sound of trumpets and sur-
rounded by angels. His disciples will sit by his side upon thrones.
The dead will then arise, and the Messiah will proceed to judgment. 1
At this judgment men will be divided into two classes accord-
ing to their deeds.^ The angels will be the executors of the sen-
tences.3 The elect will enter into delightful mansions, which have
been prepared for them from the foundation of the world ; * there
they will be seated, clothed with light, at a feast presided over by
Abraham,^ the patriarchs and the prophets. They will be the
smaller number.6 The rest will depart into Gehenna. Gehenna
was the western valley of Jerusalem. There the worship of fire
had been practised at various times, and the place had become a
kind of sewer. Gehenna was, therefore, in the mind of Jesus, a
gloomy, filthy valley, full of fire. Those excluded from the king-
dom will there be burnt and eaten by the never-dying worm,
in company with Satan and his rebel angels, 7 There, there will be

to the siege of Jerusalem. Luke Avrote some time after the siege, (xxi. 9, 20, 24.)
The compilation of Matthew, on the contrary (xxvi. 15, 16, 22, 29,) carries us back
exactly to this precise period, or very shortly afterwards. There is no doubt, how-
ever, that Jesus predicted that great terrors would precede his reappearance. These
terrors wei-e an integral part of all the Jewish apocalypses. Enoch, xcix., c, cii.,
ciii., (division of Dillman;) Carm. sibyll., iii. 334, and following, 633, and follow-
ing, iv. 168, and following, v. 511, and following. According to Daniel also, the
reign of the saints will only come after the desolation shall have reached its
height. Chap. vii. 25, and following, viii. 23, and following, ix. 26, 27, xii. 1.

1 Matt. xvi. 27, xix. 28, xx. 21, xxiv. 30, and following, xxv. 31, and following,
xxvi. 64; Mark xiv. 62; Luke xxii. 30; 1 Cor. xv. 52; 1 Thess. iv. 15, and
following.

2 Matt. xiii. 38, and following, xxv. 33. ^ j^^tt. xiii. 39, 41, 49.
* Matt. xxv. 34. Comp. John xiv. 2.

° Mau. viii. 11, xiii. 43, xxvi. 29 ; Luke xiii. 28, xvi. 22, xxii. 30.

^ Luke xiii. 23, and following.

7 Matt, xxv. 41. The idea of the fall of the angels, detailed in the Book of
Enoch, was universally admitted in the circle of Jesus. Epistle of Jude 6, and
following; 2d Epistle attributed to Saint Peter, ii. 4, 11 ; Revelation xii. 9;
Gospel of John viii. 44.

200 LIFE OF JESUS,

wailing and gnashing of teeth. i The kingdom of neaven will be
as a closed room, lighted from within, in the midst of a world of
darkness and torments.2

This new order of things will be eternal. Paradise and Gehenna
will have no end. An impassable abyss separates the one from
the other.3 The Son of man, seated on the riglit hand of God,
will preside over this final condition of the world and of
humanity.4

That all this was taken literally by the disciples and by the
master himself at certain moments, appears clearly evident from
the writings of the time. If the first Christian generation had
one profound and constant belief, it was that the world was near
its end,5 and that the great " revelation "^ of Christ was about to
take place. The startling proclamation, "The time is at hand" 7
which commences and closes the Apocalypse ; the incessantly
reiterated appeal, " He that hath ears to hear let him hear !"8 were
the cries of hope and encouragement for the whole apostolic age.
A Syrian expression, Maran atha, "Our Lord cometli !"9 became
a sort of password, which the believers used amongst themselves
to strengthen their faith and their hope. The Apocalypse, written
in the year 68 of our era,iO declares that the end will come in three

1 Matt. V. 22, viii. 12, x. 28, xiii. 40, 42, 50, xviii. 8, ixiv. 51, xxv. 30 ;
Mark ix. 43, &c.

' Matt. viii. 12, xxii. 13, xxv. 30. Comp. Jos., B. /., in. viii. 5,

=5 Luke xvi. 28. ^ Mark iii. 29; Luke xxii. 69 ; Acts vii. 55.

5 Acts ii. 17, iii. 19, and following; 1 Cor. xv. 23, 24,52; 1 Thesa. iii. 13, ir.
14, and following, v. 23; 2 Tliess. ii. 8; 1 Tim. vi. 14; 2 Tim. iv. 1; Tit. ii.
13; Epistle of James v. 3, 8; Epistle of Jude 18; 2d Epistle of Peter, iii. entirely;
Tlevelatien entirely, and in particular, i. 1, ii. 5, 16, iii. 11, xi. 14, xxii. 6, 7, 12,
20. Comp. 4th Book of Esdras, iv. 26.

« Luke xvii. 80; 1 Cor. i. 7, 8; 2 Tliess. i. 7; 1 Peter i. 7, 13; lievelatlom
LL

'' Revelations i. 3, xxii. 10.

8 Matt. xi. 15, xiii. 9, 43; Mark iv. 9, 23, vii. IC ; Luke viii. 8, xiv. 35; Revela-
tions ii. 7, 11, 27, 29, iii. 6, 13, 22, xiii. d.

» 1 Cor. xvi. 22.

'" Itevelations xvii. 9, and following. The sixth emperor, whom the autlior repre-
sents as reigning is Galba. The dead emperor, who was to return, is '^J'oro, whose
name is given in figure?, (xiii. 18.!)

LIFE OP JESUS. 201

years and a half.i The •' Ascen&ion of Isaiah;' 2 adopts a calcula-
tion very similar to this.

Jesus never indulged in such precise details. When he was
interrogated as to the time of his advent, he always refused to
reply ; once even he declared that the date of this great day was
known only by the Father, who had revealed it neither to thft
ano;els nor to the Son.^ He said that the time when the kingdom
of God was most anxiously expected, was just that in which it
would not appear.* He constantly repeated that it would be a
surprise, as in the times of Noah and of Lot ; that we must be
on our guard, always ready to depart ; that each one must watch
and keep his lamp trimmed as for a wedding procession, which
arrives unforeseen ; 5 that the Son of man would come like a
thief, at an hour when he would not be expected ;6 tliat he would
appear as a flash of lightning, running from one end of the heavens
to the other. 7 But his declarations on the nearness of the catas-
trophe leave no room for any equivocation.8 " This generation,"
said he, " shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. There be
some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see
the Son of man coming in his kingdom."^ He reproaches those
who do not believe in him, for not being able to read the signs
of the future kingdom. '' When it is evening, ye say. It will be fair
weather ; for the sky is red. And in the morning. It will be foul
weather to-day ; for the sky is red and lowering. 0 ye hypocrites,
ye can discern the face of the sky ; but can ye not discern the
signs of the times? "10 By an illusion common to all great reformers,

^ Revelation xi, 2, 3, xii. 14. Comp. Daniel vii. 25, xii. 7.

2 Chap, iv., V. 12 and 14. Comp. Cedrenus, p. 68, (Paris, 1647.)

3 Matt. xxiv. 36 ; Mark xiii. 32.

* Luke xvii. 20. Comp. Talmud of BabyL SanJiedrim, 97 a.

' Matt. xxiv. 36, and following; Mark xiii. 32, and following; Luke xii. 35, and
following, xvii. 20, and following.

6 Luke xii. 40 ; 2 Peter iil 10. ^ Luke xvii. 24.

^ Matt. X. 23, xxiv., XXV. entirely, and especially xxiv. 29, 34; Mark xiiL 30;
Luke xiii. £5, xxi. 28, and following.

3 Matt. xvi. 28, xxiii. 36, 39, xxiv. 34; Mark viii. 39; Luke ix. 27, xxL 32.

^^'Matt. xvi. 2-4; Luke xii. 54-66.

202 LIFE OF JESUS.

Jesus imagined the end to be mucli nearer than it really was ;
he did not take into account the slowness of the movements of
humanity ; he thought to realise in one day that which, eighteen
centuries later, has still to be accomplished.

These formal declarations preoccupied the Christian family for
nearly seventy years. It was believed that some of the disciples
would see the day of the final revelation before dying. John, in
particular, was considered as being of this number ; l many be-
lieved that he would never die. Perhaps this was a later opinion
suggested towards the end of the first century, by the advanced
age which John seems to have reached ; this age having given rise
to the belief that God wished to prolong his life indefinitely until
the great day, in order to realise the words of Jesus. However
this may be, at his death the faith of many was shaken, and his
disciples attached to the prediction of Christ a more subdued
meaning. 2

At the same time that Jesus fully admitted the Apocalyptic
beliefs, such as we find them in the apocryphal Jewish books, he
admitted the doctrine, which is the complement, or rather the
condition of them all, namely, the resurrection of the dead. This
doctrine, as we have already said,3 was still somewhat new in
Israel; a number of people either did not know it, or did not
believe it.4 It was the faith of the Pharisees, and of the fervent
adherents of the Messianic beliefs. ^ Jesus accepted It unre-
servedly, but always in the most idealistic sense. Many imagined
that in the resuscitated world they would eat, drink, and marry.
Jesus, indeed, admits into his kingdom a new passover, a table,
and a new wine; 6 but he expressly excludes marriage from it.

1 John xxi. 22, 23.

^ John xxi. 22, 23. Chapter xxi. of the fourth Gospel is an addition, as ia
proved by the final clause of the primitive compilation, which concludes at verse
SI of chapter xx. But the addition is almost contemporaneous with the publication
of the Gospel itself.

3 See ante, p. 68. * Mark ix. 9; Luke xx. 27, and following.

^ Dan. xii. 2, and following; 2 Mace. vii. entirely, xii. 45, 46, xlv. 46; Acit
xxiii. 6, 8; Jos., Ant., xviii. i. 3; B. J., ii. viii. 14, in. viii. 5.

« Matt. xxvi. 29 : Luke ixii. 30.

LIFE OF JESUS. £03

The Sadducees had ou this subject an apparently coarse argument.
but one which was really in conformity with the old theology. It
will be remembered that according to the ancient sages, man sur-
vived only in his children. The Mosaic code had consecrated this
patriarchal theory by a strange institution, the levirate law.
The Sadducees drew from thence subtle deductions against the
resurrection. Jesus escaped them by formally declaring that in the
life eternal there would no longer exist difTerences of sex, and that
men would be like the angels. l Sometimes he seems to promise
resurrection only to the righteous,^ the punishment of the wicked
consisting in complete annihilation. 3 Oftener, however, Jesus
declares that the resurrection shall bring eternal confusion to the
wicked.4

It will be seen that nothing in all these tlieories was absolutely
new. The Gospels and the writings of the apostles scarcely con-
tain anything as regards apocalyptic doctrines but what might
be found already in " Daniel," 5 "Enoch,'' 6 and the "Sibylline
Oracles," 7 of Jewish origin. Jesus accepted the ideas, which
were generally received among his contemporaries. He made
them his basis of action, or rather one of his bases ; for he had too
profound an idea of his true work to establish it solely upon such
fragile principles, — principles so liable to be decisively refuted by
facts.

It is evident, indeed, that such a doctrine, taken by itself in a
literal manner, had no future. The world, in continuing to exist,
causod it to crumble. One generation of man at the most was the
limit of its endurance. The faith of the first Christian generation
is intelligible, but the faith of the second generation is no longer

^ Matt. xxii. 24, and following; Luke xx. 34-38; Ebionito Gospel, entitled, " Of
the Egyptians," in Clem, of Alex., Strom, ii. 9, 13; Clem. Rom., Epist. ii. 12.

2 Luke xiv. 14, xx. 35, 36. This is also the opinion of St Paul : 1 Cor. xv. 23,
and following; 1 Thess. iv. 12, and following. See ante, p. 69.

^ Comp. 4th book of Esdras, ix. 22. * Matt. xxv. 32, and following.

^ See especially chaps, li., vi.-viii., x.-xiii.

• Chaps, i., xlv., lii., Ixii., xciii. 9, and following.

" Book iii. 573, and following; 652, and following; 766, and following; 795,
and following.

204 LIFE OF JESUS.

SO. After the death of John, or of the last survivor, whoever he
might be, of the group which had seen the master, the word of
Jesus was convicted of falsehood.^ If the doctrine of Jesus had
been simply belief in an approaching end of the world, it wculd
certainly now be sleeping in oblivion. What is it, then, which has
saved it ? The great breadth of the Gospel conceptions, which
has permitted doctrines suited to very different intellectual con-
ditions to be found under the same creed. The world has not
ended, as Jesus announced, and as his disciples believed. But it
has been renewed, and in one sense renewed as Jesus desired. It
is because his thought was two-sided that it has been fruitful
His chimera has not had the fate of so many others which have
crossed the human mind, because it concealed a germ of life which
having been introduced, thanks to a covering of fable, into the
bosom of humanity, has thus brought forth eternal fruits.

And let us not say that this is a benevolent interpretation,
imagined in order to clear the honour of our great master from
the cruel contradiction inflicted on his dreams by reality. No,
no ; this true kingdom of God, this kingdom of the spirit, which
makes each one king and priest ; this kingdom which, like the
grain of mustard-seed, has become a tree which overshadows the
world, and amidst whose branches the birds have their nestS)
was understood, wished for, and founded by Jesus. By the side of
the false, cold, and impossible idea of an ostentatious advent, he
conceived the real city of God, the true "palingenesis," the
Sermon on the Mount, the apotheosis of the weak, the love of the
people, regard for the poor, and the re-establishment of all that is
humble, true, and simple. This re-establishment he has depicted
as an incomparable artist, by features which will last eternally.
Each of us owes that which is best in himself to him. Let us
pardon him his hope of a vain apocalypse, and of a second coming
in great tnumph upon the clouds of heaven. Perhaps these were
the errors of others rather than his own ; and if it be true that he

^ These pangs of Christian conscience are rendered with simplicity in the second
epiistle attributed to St Peter, iii. 8, and following. ,

LIFE OF JESUS. 203

niiiiself shared the general iUusion, what matters ic, since his dream
rendered him strong against death, and sustained him in a struggle,
to which he might otherwise have been unequal ?

We must, then, attach several meanings to the divine city con-
ceived by Jesus. If his only thought had been that the end of
time was near, and that we must prepare for it, he would not
have surpassed John the Baptist. To renounce a world ready to
crumble, to detach one's self little by little from the present life,
and to aspire to the kingdom about to come, would have
formed the gist of his preaching. The teaching of Jesus had
qlways a much larger scope. He proposed to himself to create a
new state of humanity, and not merely to prepare the end of that
which was in existence. Elias or Jeremiah, reappearing in order
to prepare men for the supreme crisis, would not have preached
as he did. This is so true, that this morality, attributed to the
latter days, is found to be the eternal morality, that which has
saved humanity. Jesus himself in many cases makes use of modes
of speech which do not accord with the apocalyptic theory. He
often declares that the kingdom of God has already commenced ;
that every man bears it within himself ; and can, if he be worthy,
partake of it ; that each one silently creates this kingdom by the
true conversion of the heart.l The kingdom of God at such times
is only the highest form of good.2 A better order of thiiigs than
that which exists, the reign of justice, which the faithful, according
to their ability, ought to help in establishing; or, again, the
liberty of the soul, something analogous to the Buddhist " deliver-
duce," the fruit of the soul's separation from matter and absorption
in the divine essence. These truths, which are purely abstract to us,
were living realities to Jesus. Everything in his mind was concrete
and substantial. Jesus, of all men, believed most thoroughly in
the reality of the ideal

In accepting the Utopias of liis time and his race, Jesus thus
was able to make high truths of them, thanks to the fruitful mis-

1 Matt. vi. 10, 33; Mark xii. 34; Luke xi. 2, xii. 31, xvii. 20, 21. and following.
' See especially Mark xii. 34.

206 LIFE OF JESUS.

tonceptions of their import. His kiDgdom of God was no doubt
the approaching apocalypse, which was about to be unfolded in the
lieavens. But it was still, and probably above all the kingdom of
the soul, founded on liberty and on the filial sentiment which the
virtuous man feels when resting on the bosom of his Father. It
was a pure religion, without forms, without temple, and without
priest ; it was the moral judgment of the world, delegated to the
conscience of the just man, and to the arm of the people. This is
what was destined to live ; this is what has lived. When, at the
end of a century of vain expectation, the materialistic hope of a
near end of the world was exhausted, the true kingdom of God
became apparent. Accommodating explanations threw a veil over
the material kingdom, which was then seen to be incapable of
realisation. The Apocalypse of John, the chief canonical book of
the New Testament,!- being too formally tied to the idea of an im-
mediate catastrophe, became of secondary importance, was held to
be unintelligible, tortured in a thousand ways and almost rejected.
At least, its accomplishment was adjourned to an indefinite future.
Some poor benighted ones who, in a fully enlightened age, still
preserved the hopes of the first disciples, became heretics, (Ebionites,
Millenarians) lost in the shallows of Christianity. Mankind had
passed to another kingdom of God. The degree of truth con-
tained in the thought of Jesus had prevailed over the chimera
which obscured it.

Let us not, however, despise this chimera, which has been the
thick rind of the sacred fruit on which we live. This fantastic
kingdom of heaven, this endless pursuit after a city of God, which
has constantly preoccupied Christianity during its long career, has
been the principle of that great instinct of futurity which has
animated all reformers, persistent believers in the Apocalypse, from
Joachim of Flora, down to the Protestant sectary of our days. This
impotent effort to est.ablish a perfect society, has been the source
of the extraordinary tension which has always made the true
Christian an athlete struggling against the existing order of things

^ Justiu, Dial, cum Tr^jpk.S'^.

LIFE OF JESUS. 207

Tlie idea of tlie " Idiigclom of God," and the Apocalypse, wliicli is
the complete image of it, are thus, in a sense, the highest and most
poetic expressions of human progress. But they have necessaril**
given rise to great errors. The end of the world, suspended as a
perpetual menace over mankind, was, by the periodical panics
which it caused during centuries, a great hindrance to all seculai
development. Society being no longer certain of its existence, con-
tracted therefrom a degree of trepidation, and "-^^ose habits of servile
humility, which rendered the Middle Ages so inferior to ancient
and modern times.l A profound change had also taken place in
the mode of regarding the coming of Christ. When it was first
announced to mankind that the end of the world was about to
come, like the infant which receives death with a smile, it expe-
rienced the greatest access of joy that it has ever felt. But in grow
ing old, the world became attached to life. The day of grace, so long
expected by the simple souls of Galilee, became to these iron ages
a day of wrath : Dies tree, dies ilia ! But, even in the midst of
barbarism, the idea of the kingdom of God continued fruitful. Ik-
spite of the feudal church, of sects, and of religious orders, holy
persons continued to protest, in the name of the Gospel, against
the iniquity of the world. Even in our days, troubled days, in
which Jesus has no more authentic followers than those who seem
to deny him, tlie dreams of an ideal organisation of society, which
have so much analogy with the aspirations of the primitive Chris-
tian sects, are only in one sense the blossoming of the same idea.
They are one of the branches of that immense tree in which ger-
minates all thought of a future, and of which the '' kingdom of
God '' will be eternally the root and stem. All the social revolu-
tioB; of humanity wiU be grafted on thi? phrase. But, tainted by
a coarse materialism, and aspirmg to the impossible, that is to say,
to found universal happiness upon political and economical mea-
sures, the " socialist " attempts of our time will remain unfruitful,

^ See, for example, the prologue of Gregory of Tours to his Histoirc Ecdesias-
tique des Francs, and the numerous documents of the first half of the Middle Ages,
beginning by the formula* " On fho. approach of the night of t'le ^Vorld~ . . . ."

208 LIFE OF JESUS.

unt~.^ %]\Qy VdKe as their rule the true spirit of Jesus, I mean absolute
idealism — the principle that, in order to possess the world, we must
renounce it.

The phrase, " kingdom of God," expresses also, very happily^
the want which the soul experiences of a supplementary destiny, of
a compensation for the present life. Those who do not accept the
definition of man as a compoimd of two substances, and who regard
the Deistical dogma of the immortality of the soul as in contra-
diction with physiology, love to fall back upon the hope of a final
reparation, which under an unknown form shall satisfy the wants
of the heart of man. Who knows if the highest term of progress
after millions of ages may not evoke the absolute conscience of the
universe, and in this conscience the awakening of all that has
livfr^ ? A sleep of a million of years is not longer than the sleep
of p.n hour. St Paul, on this hypothesis, was right in saying,
In ictu oculi ! l It is certain that moral and virtuous humanity
will have its reward, that one day the ideas of the poor but honest
man will judge the world, and that on that day tbe ideal fignre of
Jesus will be the confusion of the frivolous who have not believed
in virtue, and of the selfish who have not been able to attain to it.
The favourite phrase of Jesus continues, therefore, full of an eter-
nal beauty. A kind of exalted divination seems to have main-
tained it in a vague sublimity, embracing at the same time varioua
order*; of truths.

CHAPTER XVm.

INSTITUTIONS OF JESUS.

That Jesus was never entirely absorbed in his apocalyptic idfea^
IS proved moreover by the fact that at the very time he was most
preoccupied with them, he laid with rare forethought the foun-
dation of a church destined to endure. It is scarcely possible to
doubt that he himself chose from among his disciples those who
were pre-eminently called the " apostles," or the " twelve," since on
the day after his death w^e find them forming a distinct body, and
filling up by election the vacancies that had arisen in their midst.l
They were the two sons of Jonas , the two sons of Zebedee ; James,
son of Cleophas ; Philip ; Nathaniel bar-Tolmai ; Thomas ; Levi,
or Matthew, the son of Alphaeus ; Simon Zelotes ; Thaddeus or
Lebbaeus ; and Judas of Kerioth.2 It is probable that the idea of
the twelve tribes of Israel had had some share in the choice of this
number.3

The "twelve," at all events, formed a group of privileged disciples;
among whom Peter maintained a fraternal priority,* and to them
Jesus confided the propagation of his work. There was nothing,
however, which presented the appearance of a regularly organised
sacerdotal school. The lists of the ''twelve," which have been
preserved, contain many uncertainties and contradictions ; two or

■^ Acts L 15, and following; 1 Cor. xv. 5; Gal. i. 10.

' Matt X. 2, and following; Mark iii. 16, and following; Luke vi. 14, *nd foV
•wing; Actsi. 13; Papias, in Eusebius, Hist. EccL, iii. 39.
» Matt. xix. 28 ; Luke xxii. 30.
* Acts i. 15, ii. 14, v. 2, 3. 29, viii. 19. xv. 7; Gal. i. 18;

O .

210 " I^IFE OF JEST7S.

three of those who figure in them have remained completely
obscure. Two, at least, Peter and Philip^l were married and had
children.

Jesus evidently confided secrets to the twelve, which he forbade
them to communicate to the world.2 it seems as if his plan at
times was to surround himself with a degree of mystery, to post-
pone the most important testimony respecting himself till after his
death, and to reveal himself completely only to his disciples, con-
fiding to them the care of demonstrating him afterwards to the
world.3 '' What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light ;
and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops."
This spared him the necessity of too precise declarations, and created
a kind of medium between the public and himself. It is clear
that there w^ere certain teachings confined to the apostles, and that
he explained many parables to them, the meaning of which was
ambiguous to the multitude.^ An enigmatical form and a degree
of oddness in connecting ideas, were customary in the teachings of
the doctors, as may be seen in the sentences of the Firk^ Ahoth.
Jesus explained to his intimate friends whatever was peculiar in
his apothegms or in his apologues, and shewed them his meaning
stripped of the wealth of illustration which sometimes obscured
it.5 Many of thes3 explanations appear to have been carefully
preserved.^

During the lifetime of Jesus, the apostles preached,7 but without
ever departing far from him. Their preaching, moreover, was
limited to the announcement of the speedy coming of the kingdom
of God.8 They went from town to town, receiving hospitality, or

1 For Peter, see ante, p. 126 ; for Philip, see Papias, Poly crates, and Clement of
Alexandria, quoted by Eusebius, Hist. Eccl, iii. 30, 31, 39, v. 24.

2 Matt. svi. 20, xvii. 9 ; Mark viii. 30, ix. 8.

a Matt. X. 26, 27; Mark iv. 21, and following; Luke viii. 17, xii. 2, and follow-
ing ; John xiv. 22.

4 Matt. xiii. 10, and following, 34 and following; Mark iv. 10, and following,
33, and following; Luke viii. 9, and following, xii. 41.

s Matt. xvi. 6, and following; Mark vii. 17-23.

6 Matt. xiii. 18, and following; Mark vii. 18, and following.

7 Luke ix. &• " Luke x. 11.

LIFE OF JESUS. 21 1

rather taking it themselves, according to the custom of the country
The guest in the East has much authority ; he is superior to the
master of the house, who has the greatest confidence in him. This
fireside preaching is admirably adapted to the propagation of new
doctrines. The hidden treasure is communicated, and payment is
thus made for what is received ; politeness and good feeling lend
their aid; the household is touched and converted. Eemove
Oriental hospitality, and it would be impossible to explain the
propagation of Christianity. Jesus, who adhered greatly to good
old customs, encouraged his discijDles to make no scruple of pro-
fiting by this ancient public right, probably already abolished in
the great towns where there were hostelries.^ " The labourer,"
said he, "is worthy of his hire!" Once installed in any house,
they were to remain there, eating and drinking what was offered
them, as long as their mission lasted.

Jesus desired that, in imitation of his example, the messengers
of the glad tidings should render their preaching agreeable by
kindly and polished manners. He directed that, on entering into a
house, they should give the salaam or greeting. Some hesitated ;
the salaam being then, as now, in the East, a sign of religious com-
munion, which is not risked with persons of a doubtful faith.
" Fear nothing," said Jesus ; " if no one in the house is worthy of
your salute, it will return unto you." 2 Sometimes, in fact, the
apostles of the kingdom of God were badly received, and came to
complain to Jesus, who generally sought to soothe them. Some of
them, persuaded of the omnipotence of their master, were hurt at
this forbearance. The sons of Zebedee wanted him to call down
fire from heaven upon the inhospitable towns.^ Jesus received
these outbursts with a subtle irony, and stopped them by saying : —
" The Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save
them."

^ The Greek word navSoKelov, in all the languages of the Semitic East, desig-
nates an hostelry,

^ Matt. X. 11, and following; Mark vi. 10, and following; Luke x. 5, and fol-
lowing. Comp. 2 Epistle of John 10, 11.

'* Luke ix. 52, and foUowiHg.

212 LIFE OF JESUS.

He sought in every way to establish as a principle that his
apostles were as himself.l It was believed that he had communi-
cated his marvellous virtues to them. They cast out demons,
prophesied, and formed a school of renowned exorcists,^ although
certain cases were beyond their power. 3 They also wrought cures,
either by the imposition of hands, or by the anointing with oil,^
one of the fundamental processes of Oriental medicine. Lastly,
like the Psylli, they could handle serpents and could drink deadly
potions with impunity.5 The further we get from Jesus — the
more offensive does this theurgy become. But there is no doubt
that it was generally received by the primitive Church, and
that it held an important place in the estimation of the world
around.^ Charlatans, as generally happens, took advantage of this
movement of popular credulity. Even in the lifetime of Jesus,
many, without being his disciples, cast out demons in his name.
The true disciples were much displeased at this, and sought to
prevent them. Jesus, who saw that this was really an homage
paid to his renown, was not very severe towards them. 7 It must
be observed, moreover, that the exercise of these gifts had to some
degree become a trade. Carrying the logic of absurdity to the
extreme, certain men cast out demons by Beelzebub,^ the prince of
demons. They imagined that this sovereign of the infernal
regions must have entire authority over his subordinates, and that
in acting through him they were certain to make the intruding
spirit depart.® Some even sought to buy from the disciples of
Jesus the secret of the miraculous powers which had been con-
ferred upon them.io The germ of a church from this time began
to appear. This fertile idea of the power of men in association
(ecclesia) was doubtless derived from Jesus. Full of the purely

^ Matt. X. 40, 42, xxv. 35, and following; Mark ix. 40; Luke x. 16; John xiii.
20.

2 Matt. vii. 22, X- 1 ; Mark iii. 15, vi. 13; Luke x. 17. =» Matt xvii. 18, 19.

* Mark vl. 13, xvL 18; Epist. Jas. v. 14. * Mark xvi. 18; Luke x. 19.
« Mark xvi. 20. 7 M^rk ix. 37, 38 ; Luke ix, 49, 50.

" An ancient god of the Philistines, transformed by the Jews into a demon.
" Matt. xii. 24, and following. ^ Act^ viii. 18, and following.

Life of jksus. ^13

idealistic doctrine tluit it is the union of love which brings souls
together, he declared that whenever men assembled in his name,
he would be in their midst. He confided to the Church the right
to bind and to unbind, (that is to say, to render certain things
lawful or unlawful), to remit sins, to reprimand, to warn with
authority, and to pray with the certainty of being heard favour-
ably.l It is possible that many of these words may have been
attributed to the master, in order to give a warrant to the collective
authority which was afterwards sought to be substituted for that
of Jesus. At all events, it was only after his death that particular
churches were established, and even this first constitution was
made purely and simply on the model of the synagogue. Many
personages who had loved Jesus much, and had founded great
hopes upon him, as Joseph of Arimathea, Lazarus, Mary Magdalen,
and Nicodemus, did not, it seems, join these churches, but clung to
the tender or respectful memory which they liad preserved of him.
Moreover, there is no trace, in the teaching of Jesus, of an
applied morality or of a canonical law, ever so slightly defined.
Once only, respecting marriage, he spoke decidedly, and forbade
divorce.2 Neither was there any theology or creed. There were
indefinite views respecting the Father, the Son, and the Spirit,^
from which, afterwards, were drawn the Trinity and the Incarna-
tion, but they were then only in a state of indeterminate imagery.
The later books of the Jewish canon recognised the Holy Spirit,
a sort of divine hypostasis, sometimes identified with Wisdom or
the Word 4 Jesus insisted upon this point,^ and announced to
his disciples a baptism by fire and by the spirit,^ as much prefer-
able to that of John, a baptism which they believed they had
received, after the death of Jesus, in the form of a great wina and

1 Matt, xviii. 17, and following; John xx. 23.
' Matt. xix. 3, and following.

3 Matt, xxviii. 19. Conrp. Matt. iii. 16, 17 ; John xv. 26.

* Sap. i. 7, vii. 7, ix. 17, xii. 1 ; Eccle. i. 9, xv. 6, xxiv. 27, xxxix. S ; Jidilh
xvi. 17.

•' Matt, X. 20 ; Luke xii. 12, xxiv, 49 ; John xiv. 26, xv. 26.

^ Matt. iii. 11 ; Mark i. 8 ; Luke iii. IG ; John i. 26, iii. 5 ; Acts '.. u, 8. x. 47.

214 LIFE OF JESUS.

tongues of fire.l The Holy Spirit thus sent by the Father was to
teach them all truth, and testify to that which Jesus himself had
promul^ated.2 In order to designate this Spirit, Jesus made use of
the word Peraldit, which the Syro-Chaldaic had borrowed from
the Greek, (7rapd/cX7]To<^,) and which appears to have had in liis
mind the meaning of "advocate," 3 " counsellor, "•^^ and sometimes
that of " interpreter of celestial truths," and of " teacher charged
to reveal to men the hitherto hidden mysteries." 5 He regarded
himself as a Peraklit to his disciples,^ and the Spirit which was to
come after his death would only take his place. This was an appli-
cation of the process which the Jewish and Christian theologies
would follow during centuries, and which was to produce a whole
series of divine assessors, the Metathronos, the Synadelphe or
SandalpJwn, and all the personifications of the Cabbala. But in
Judaism, these creations were to remain free ,and individual
speculations, whilst in Christianity, commencing with the fourth
century, they were to form the very essence of orthodoxy and of
the universal doctrine.

It is unnecessary to remark how remote from the thought of Jesus
was the idea of a religious book, containing a code and articles of
faith. Not only did he not write, but it was contrary to the spirit
of the infant sect to jDroduce sacred books. They believed them-
selves on the eve of the great final catastrophe. The Messiah came
to put the seal upon the Law and the Prophets, not to promul-
gate new Scriptures. With the exception of the Apocalypse,
which was in one sense the only revealed book of the infant Chris-
tianity, all the other writings of the apostolic age were works
evoked by existing circumstances, making no pretensions to fur-
nish a completely dogmatic whole. The Gospels had at first an
entirely personal character, and much less authority than tradition.^

1 Acts ii. 14, xi. 15, xix 6. Cf. Jolin vii. 39. = John xv. 26, xvi. 13.

^ To Perahlit was opposed Katigor, {KaTTjyopo^,) the " accuser."

* John xiv. 16 ; 1st Epistle of John ii. 1.

* John xiv. 26, xv. 26, xvi. 7, and following. Comp. Philo, De Mundi (ypificio, % 6.

* John xiv. 16. Comp. the epistle before cited, I. c.
' Papias, in Eusebius, Hist. EccL, iii. 39,

LIFE OF JESUS 215

Had the sect, however, no sacrament, no rite, no sign of union 1
It had one which all tradition ascribes to Jesus. One of the
favourite ideas of the master was that he was the new bread, brea(f
very superior to manna, and on which mankind was to live.
This .idea, the germ of the Eucharist, was at times expressed by
him in singularly concrete forms. On one occasion especially, in
the synagogue of Capernaum, he took a decided step, which cost
him several of his disciples. "Verily, verily, 1 say unto you,
Moses gave you not that bread from heaven ; but my Father giveth
you the true bread fram heaven." l And he added, " I am the
bread of life : he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and
he that believeth on me shall never thirst." 2 These words excited
much murmuring. '' The Jews then murmured at him because he
said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. And they
said, Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother
we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?"
But Jesus insisting with still more force, said, " I am that bread of
life ; your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead.
This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man
may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came
down from heaven ; ii any man eat of this bread, he shall live for
ever : and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give
for the life of the world." 3 The offence was now at its height :
*' How can this man give us his flesh to eat ? " Jesus going still
further, said, " Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the
flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in
you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal
life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat
indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh
and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the

^ John vi. 32, and following.

^ We find an analogous form of expression provoking a similar misunderst;aud-
ing, in John iv. 10, and following.

^ All these discourses bear too strongly the imprint of the Bijle peculiar to
John, for them to he regarded as exact. The anecdote related in chapter vi. of
the fourth Gospel cannot, however, be entirely stripped of historical reality.

216 lilFE OF JESVS.

living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father : so he that
eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which
came down from heaven : not as your fathers did eat manna, and
are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever/*
Several of his disciples were oftended at such obstinacy in paradox,
and ceased to follow him. Jesus did not retract ; he only added :
"It is the spirit that quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing.
The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are
life." The twelve remained faithful, notwithstanding this strange
preaching. It gave to Cephas, in particular, an opportunity of
shewing his absolute devotion, and of proclaiming once more,
"Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living- God.''

It is probable that from that time, in the common repasts of
the sect, there was established some custom which was derived
from the discourse so badly received by the men of Capernaum.
But the apostolic traditions on this subject are very diverse and
probably intentionally incomplete. The synoptical gospels sup-
pose that a unique sacramental act, served as basis to the mys-
terious rite, and declare this to have been "the last supper."
John, who has preserved the incident at the synagogue of Caper-
naum, does not speak of such an act, although he describes the
last supper at great length. Elsewhere we see Jesus recognised
in the breaking of bread,l as if this act had been to those who
associated with him the most characteristic of his person. When
he was dead, the form under which he appeared to the pious
memory of his disciplee, was that of president of a mysterious
banquet, taking the bread, blessing it, breaking and presenting it
to those present.2 It is probable that this was one of his habits,
and that at such times he was particularly loving and tender.
One material circumstance, the presence of fish upon the table,
(a striking indication, which proves that the rite had its birth
on the shore of Lake Tiberias, 3) was itself almost sacramental,

1 Luke xxiv. 30, 35. « Luke /. c. ; John xxi. 13.

^ Comp. Matt. vii. 10, xiv. 17, and following, xv. 34, and following; Mark vi.
88, and following ; Luke ix. 13, and following, xi. 11, xxiv 42; John vi. 9, and

LIFE OF JESUS. 217

and became a necessary part of the conceptions of the sacred
feast.l

Their repasts were amongst the sweetest moments of the
infant community. At these times they all assembled ; the master
spoke to each one, and kept up a charming and lively conversation.
Jesus loved these seasons, and was pleased to see his spiritual
family thus grouped around him. 2 The participation of the same
bread was considered as a kind of communion, a reciprocal bond.
The master used, in this respect, extremely strong terms, which
were afterwards taken in a very literal sense. Jesus was, at the
same time, very idealistic in his conceptions, and very materialistic
in his expression of them. Wishing to express the thought that
the believer only lives by him, that altogether (body, blood, and
soul) he was the life of the truly faithful, he said to his disciples,
" I am your nourishraent," — a phrase which, turned in figurative
style, became, " My flesh is your bread, my blood your drink."
Added to this the modes of speech employed by Jesus, always
strongly subjective, carried him still further. At table, pointing
to the food, he said, " I am here " — holding the bread — '' this is
my body ; " and of the wine, " This is my blood," — all modes of
speech which were equivalent to, " I am your nourishment."

This mysterious rite obtained great importance in the lifetime
of Jesus. It was probably established some time before the last
journey to Jerusalem, and it was the result of a general doctrine
much more than a determinate act. After the death of Jesus, it
became the great symbol of Christian communion,^ and it is to
the most solemn moment of the life of the Saviour that its estab-
lishment is referred. It was wished to see, in the consecration of

following, xx.i. 9, and following. The district round Lake Tiberias is the only
place in Palestine where fish forms a considerable portion of the diet.

^ John xxi. 13 ; Luke xxiv. 42, 43. Compare the oldest representations of the
Lord's Supper, related or corrected by M. de Rossi, in his dissertation on the
IX0Y2, {Spicilegium Solesmense de dom Pitra, v. iii., p. 568, and following.) The
meaning of the arhagram which the word 1X0Y2 contains, was probably com
bined with a more ancient tradition on the place of fish in the Gospel repasts.

« Luke xxii. 15. ^ Acts u. 42. 46.

218 LIFE OF JESUS.

bread and wine, a farewell memorial which Jesus, at the moment
of quitting life, had left to his disciples.^ They recognised Jesus
himself in this sacrament. The wholly spiritual idea of the pre-
Bence of souls, which was one of the most familiar to the Master,
which made him say, for instance, that he v»^as personally with his
disciples 2 when they were assembled in his name, rendered this
easily admissible. Jesus, we have already said,3 never had a very
defined notion of that which constitutes individuality. In the
degree of exaltation to which he had attained, the ideal surpassed
every thing to such an extent that the body counted for nothing.
We are one when we love one another, when we live in depen-
dence on each other ; it was thus that he and his disciples were
one.'* His disciples adopted the same language. Those who for
years had lived with him, had seen him constantly take the bread
and the cup "between his holy and venerable hands," ^ and thus
offer himself to them. It was he whom they ate and drank ; he
became the true passover, the former one having been abrogated
by his blood. It is impossible to translate into our essentially
determined idiom, in which a rigorous distinction between the
material and the metaphorical must always be observed, habits of
style the essential character of which is to attribute to metaphoij
or rather to the idea it represents, a complete reality.

^ 1 Cor. xi. 20, and following. ^ Matt, xviii. 20.

* See acte, p. 182. * John xii., entirely,

* Cauon of the Qreek Masses and the Latin Mass, (very ftaoiesc.)

CHAPTER XIX.

INCREASING PEOGRESSION OF ENTHUSIASM AND OP EXALTATION.

It is clear that such a religious societ}^ founded solely on the
expectation of the kingdom of God, must be in itself very incom-
plete. The first Christian generation lived almost entirely upon
expectations and dreams. On the eve of seeing the world come to au
end, they regarded as useless everything which only served to pro-
long it. Possession of property w^as interdicted. ^ Everything
which attaches man to earth, everything which draws him aside
from heaven, was to be avoided. Although several of the disciples
were married, there was to be no more marriage, on becoming a
member of the sect.2 The celibate was greatly preferred ; even in
marriage continence was recommended.^ At one time the master
seems to approve of those who should mutilate themselves in
prospect of the kingdom of God.* In this he was consistent with
his principle, — " If thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off,
and cast them from thee; it is better for thee to enter into life
halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be
cast into everlasting fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it
out, and cast it from thee ; it is better for thee to enter into life
with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell*

^ Luke xiv. 33; Acts iv. 32, and following, v. 1-11.
^ Matt. xix. 10, and following ; Liike xviii. 29, and following.
^ This is the constant doctrine of Paul. Comp. Rev. xiv. 4.
* Matt. xix. 12.

220 LIFE OF JESUS.

fire."i The cessation of generation was often considered as the
sign and condition of the kingdom of God. ^

Never, we perceive, would this primitive Church have formed a
lasting society but for the great variety of germs deposited by Jesus
in his teaching. It required more than a century for the true
Christian Church — that which has converted the world — to dis-
engage itself from this little sect of " latter-day saints," and to
become a framework applicable to the whole of human society.
The same thing, indeed, took place in Buddhism, which at first
was founded only for monks. The same thing would have hap-
pened in the order of St Francis, if that order had succeeded in
its pretension of becoming the rule of the whole of human society.
Essentially Utopian in their origin, and succeeding by their very
exaggeration, the great systems of which we have just spoken have
only laid hold of the world by being profoundly modified, and by
abandoning their excesses. Jesus did not advance beyond this
first and entirely monachal period, in which it was believed that the
impossible could be attempted with impunity. He made no con-
cession to necessity. He boldly preached war against nature, and
total severance from ties of blood. " Verily I say unto you," said
he, " there is no man that hath left house, or parents, or bretliren, or
wife, or children, for the kingdem of God's sake, who shall not
receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to
come life everlasting." 3

The teachings which Jesus is reputed to have given to his dis-
ciples breathe the same exaltation.4 He who was so tolerant to
the world outside, he who contented himself sometimes with
half adhesions,^ exercised towards his own an extreme ri^rour. He
would have no " all buts." We should call it an " order," consti-

1 Matt, xviii. 8, 9. Cf. Talmud of Babylon, Niddah, 13 6.

^ Matt. xxii. 30; Mark xii. 25; Luke xx. 35; Ebionite Gospel, entitled, "Of
the Egyptians,"^ in Clem, of Alex., Strom, iii. 9, 13, and Clem. Rom., Epist. ii. 12.

=* Luke xviii. 29, 30.

* Matt. X., entirely, xxiy. 9 ; Mark vi. 8, and following, ix. 40, xiii. 9-13 ; Luke
X. 3, and following, x. 1, and following, xii. 4, and following, xxi. 17; John xv.
18, and following, xvii. 14.

' Mark ix. 38, and following.

LIFE OF JESUS. 221

tuted by the most austere rules. Faithful to his idea tliat tlie
cares of life trouble man, and draw him downwards, Jesus required
from his associates a complete detachment from the earth, an abso-
lute devotion to his work. They were not to carry with them
either money or provisions for the way, not even a scrip, or change
of raiment. They must practise absolute poverty, live on alms
and hospitality. " Ereely ye have received, freely give/' 1 said he,
in his beautiful language. Arrested and arraigned before the
judges, they were not to prepare their defence ; the Peraklit, the
heavenly advocate, would inspire them with what they ought to
say. The Father would send them his Spirit from on high, which
would become the principle of all their acts, the director of their
thoughts, and their guide through the world.^ If driven from any
town, they were to shake the dust from their shoes, declaring
always the proximity of the kingdom of God, that none might
plead ignorance. " Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel,"
added he, *' till the Son of man be come."

A strange ardour animates aU these discourses, which may in
part be the creation of the enthusiasm of his disciples,^ but which
even in that case came indirectly from Jesus, for it was he who
had inspired the enthusiasm. He predicted for his followers
severe persecutions, and the hatred of mankind. He sent them forth
as lambs in the midst of wolves. They would be scourged in the
synagogues, and dragged to prison. Brother should deliver up
brother to death, and the father his son. When they were per-
secuted in one country, they were to flee to another. "The
disciple,'' said he, " is not above his master, nor the servant above
his lord. Fear not them which kill the body, but are not abk
to kill the soul. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing?
and one of them shall not fall to the ground without your Father.
But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not

^ Matt. X. 8. Comp. Midrash lalkout, Deut, sect. 824.
* Matt. X. 20 ; John xiv. 16, and following, 26, xv. 26, xvi. 7, 13.
' The expressions in Matt. x. 38, xvi. 24 ; Mark viii. 34 ; Lirke xiv, 27, can only
have been conceived after the death of Jesus.

222 LIFE OF JESUS. . -

therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows." 1 *' Who-
soever, therefore," continued he, " shall confess me before men,
him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny
before my Father which is in heaven." 2

In these fits of severity he went so far as to abolish all natural ties.
His requirements had no longer any bounds. Despising the healthy
limits of man's nature, he demanded that he should exist only for
him, that he should love him alone. *' If auy man come to me,'*
said he, " and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and chil-
dren, and brethren, and sisters, and his own life also, he cannot
be my disciple." ^ " So likewise, whosoever he be of you that for-
saketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." 4 There
was, at such times, something strange and more than human in
his words ; they were like a fire utterly consuming life, and
reducing everything to a frightful v/ilderness. The harsh and
gloomy feeling of distaste for the world, and of excessive self-abne-
gation which characterises Christian perfection, was originated,
not by the refined and cheerful moralist of earlier days, but by the
sombre giant whom a kind of grand presentiment was withdraw-
ing, more and more, out of the pale of humanity. We should
almost say that, in these moments of conflict with the most
legitimate cravings of the heart, Jesus had forgotten the pleasure
of living, of loving, of seeing, and of feeling. Employing still
more unmeasured language, he even said, " If any man will come
after me, let him deny himself and foUow me. He that loveth
father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he
that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
He that findeth his life, shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for
my sake and the gospel's, shall find it. What is a man profited
if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"^ Two

1 Matt. X. 24-31 ; Luke xii. 4-7.

2 lilatt. X. 32, 33 ; Mark viiL 38 ; Luke ix. 26, xii. 8, 9.

•* Luke xiv. 26. "We must here take into account the exaggeration of Luke's
style. 4 L^^ke ^j^^ 33^

' Matt. X. 37-39, xvi. 24, 25; Luke ix. 23-25, xiv. 26, 27, xvii. 33; John xii. 25.

LIFE OF JESUS. 523

anecdotes of the kind we cannot accept as historical, but which,
although they were exaggerations, were intended to represent a
characteristic feature, clearly illustrate this defiance of nature.
He said to one man, "Follow me!" — "But he said. Lord, suffer
me first to go and bury my father." Jesus answ^ered, " Let the
dead bury their dead : but go thou and preach the kingdom of
God.'* Another said to bim, " Lord, I will follow thee ; but let
me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.''
Jesus replied, " No man, having put his hand to the plough, and
looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."l An extraordinary
confidence, and at times accents of singular sv/eetness, reversing all
our ideas of him, caused these exaggerations to be easily received.
**Come unto me," cried he, "all ye that labour and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and
learn of me : for I am meek and lowly in heart : and ye shall
find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is
light.'' 2

A great danger threatened the mmre of this exalted morality,
thus expressed in hyperbolical language and with a terrible energy.
By detaching man from earth, the ties of life were severed. The
Christian would be praised for being a bad son, or a bad patriot,
if it was for Christ that he resisted his father and fought against his
country. The ancient city, the parent republic, the state, or the
law common to all, were thus placed in hostility with the kingdom
of God. A fatal germ of theocracy was introduced into the
world.

From this point, another consequence may be perceived. This
morality, created for a tenaporary crisis, when introduced into a
peaceful country, and in the midst of a society assured of its own
duration, must seem impossible. The Gospel was thus destined to
become a Utopia for Christians, which few would care to realise.
These terrible maxims would, for the greater number, remain in
profound oblivion, an oblivion encouraged by the clergy itself ; the
Gospel man would prove a dangerous man. The most selfish,

I Matt. viii. 21, 22 ; Luke ix. 59-62. ' ^^tt. xi. 28-30.

224 LIFE OF .rpsus.

proud, hard, and worldly of all human beings, a Louis XIV. for
instance, would find priests to persuade him, in spite of the Gos-
pel, that he was a Christian. But, on the other hand, there would
always be found holy men who would take the sublime paradoxes
of Jesus literally. Perfection being placed beyond the ordi-
nary conditions of society, and a complete Gospel life being
only possible away from the world, the principle of asceticism
and of monasticism was established. Christian societies would
have two moral rules ; the one moderateiy heroic for common
men, the other exalted in the extreme for the perfect man ; and
the perfect man would be the monk, subjected to rules which pro-
fessed to realise the gospel ideal It is certain that this ideal, if
only on account of the celibacy and poverty it imposed, could not
become the common law. The monk would be thus, in one sense,
the only true Christian. Common sense revolts at these excesses :
and if we are guided by it, to aemand the impossible, is a mark
of weakness and error. But common sense is a bad judge where
great matters are in question. To obtain little from humanity, we
must ask much. The immense moral progress which we owe to
the Gospel is the result of its exaggerations. It is thus that it has
been, like stoicism, but with infinitely greater fulness, a living
argument for the divine powers in man, an exalted monument of
the potency of the will.

We may easily imagine that to Jesus, at this period of his life,
everything which was not the kingdom of God had absolutely dis-
appeared. He was, if we may say so, totally outside nature :
family, fiiendship, country, had no longer any meaning for him.
No doubt, from this moment he had already sacrificed his life.
Sometimes, we are tempted to believe, that, seeing in his own
death a means of founding his kingdom, he deliberately determined
to allow himself to be killed.l At other times, although such a
thought only afterwards became a doctrine, death presented itself to
him as a sacrifice, destined to appease his Father and to save man-

1 MiH. xvi. 21-33 xvii. 12, 21, 22.

LIFE OF JESUS. 225

kiiid.l A singular taste for persecution and torments 2 possessed
him. His blood appeared to him as the water of a second bap-
tism with which he ought to be baptized, and he seemed possessed
by a strange haste to anticipate this baptism, which alone could
quench his thirst.3

The grandeur of his views upon the future was at times sur-
prising. He did not conceal from himself the terrible storm
he was about to cause in the world. "Think not," said he,
with much boldness and beauty, " that I am come to send peace on
earth : I came not to send peace, but a sword. There shall be
five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.
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 house-
hold." ^ " I am come to send fire on the earth ; and what will I,
if it be already kindled ? " ^ " They shall put you out of the syna-
gogues," he continued ; " yea, the time cometh, that whosoever kill-
eth you, will think that he doeth God service." 6 " If the world hate
you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. Remember
the word that I said unto you : The servant is not greater than
his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute
you.'' 7

Carried away by this fearful progression of enthusiasm, and
governed by the necessities of a preaching becoming daily more ex-
alted, Jesus was no longer free ; he belonged to his mission, and,
in one sense, to mankind. Sometimes one would have said that his
reason was disturbed. He suffered great mental anguish and agita-
tion.8 The great vision of the kingdom of God, glistening before
his eyes, bewildered him. His disciples at times thought him
mad.^ His enemies declared him to be possessed. 10 His exces-

* Mark x. 45. ^ Luke vi. 22, and following.
' Luke xii. 50.

* Matt. X. 34-36 ; Luke xii. 51-53. Compare Micah vii. 5, 6.

* Luke xii. 49. See the Greek text. * John xvi. 2.
7 John XV. 18-20. " John xii. 27.
9 Mark iii. 21, and following.

** Ma*k iii. 22 ; John vii. 20j viii. 48, and following, x. 20^ and following

P

226 LIFE OP JESUS.

sively impassioned temperament carried him incessantly beyond the
bounds of human nature. He laughed at all human systems, and
his work not being a work of the reason, that which he most im-
periously required was '' faith."! This was the word most fre-
quently repeated in the little guest-chamber. It is the watchword
of all popular movements. It is clear that none of these move-
ments would take place, if it were necessary that their autlior
should gain his disciples one by one by force of logic. Reflection
leads only to doubt. If the authors of the French Revolution, for
instance, had had to be previously convinced by lengthened medi-
tations, they would all have become old without accomplishing
anything ; Jesus, in like manner, aimed less at convincing his
hearers than at exciting their enthusiasm. Urgent and imperative,
he suffered no opposition : men must be converted, nothing less
would satisfy him. His natural gentleness seemed to have aban-
doned him ; he was sometimes harsh and capricious.^ His dis-
ciples at times did not understand him, and experienced in his
presence a feeling akin to fear.^ Sometimes his displeasure at
the slightest opposition led him to commit inexplicable and ap-
parently absurd acts.4

It was not that his virtue deteriorated ; but his struggle for the
ideal against the reality became insupportable. Contact with the
world pained and revolted him. Obstacles irritated him. His
idea of the Son of God became disturbed and exaggerated. The
fatal law which condemns an idea to decay as soon as it seeks to
convert men, applied to him. C(jntact with men degraded
him to their level. The tone he had adopted could not be sustained
more than a few months ; it was time that death came to liberate
him from an endurance strained to the utmost, to remove him
from the impossibiKties of an interminable path, and by delivering
him from a trial in danger of being too prolonged, introduce him
henceforth sinless into celestial peace.

i Matt. viii. 10, ix. 2, 22, 28, 29, xvii. 19 ; John vi. 29, &C.

2 Matt. xvii. 16 ; Mark iii. 5, ix. 18; Luke viii. 45, ix. 41.

^ It is iu Mark especially that this feature is visible : iv. 40, v. 15, ix. 31, x. 3i

* Mark xi. 12-14, 20, and following.

CHAPTER XX.

OPPOSITION TO JEStrS.

During the first period of his career, it does not appear that Jesus
met with any serious opposition. His preaching, thanks to the
extreme liberty which was enjoyed in GahJee, and to the number
of teachers who arose on all hands, made no noise beyond a
restricted circle. But when Jesus entered upon a path brilliant
with wonders and public successes, the storm began to gather.
More than once he was obliged to conceal himself and fly.l Anti-
pas, however, did not interfere with him, although Jesus expressed
himself sometimes very severely respecting him.2 At Tiberias,
his usual residence, the Tetrarch was only one or two leagues dis-
tant from the district chosen by Jesus for the centre of his
activity ; he heard speak of his miracles, which he doubtless took
to be clever tricks, and desired to see them.3 The incredulous
were at that time very curious about this class of niusions."* With
his ordinary tact, Jesus refused to gratify him. He took care not
to prejudice his position by mingling with an irreligious world,
which wished to draw from him an idle amusement ; he aspired
only to gain the people ; he reserved for the simple, means suitable
to them alone.

On one occasion, the report was spread that Jesus was no other
than John the Baptist risen from the dead. Antipas became anxious

^ Matt. xii. 14-16 ; Mark iii. 7, ix. 29, 30. ^ jfj^^k viii. 15; Luke xiil 32.
* Luke ix. 9, xxiiL 8. * ^^-umu ; attributed to Lucian, 4

228 LIFE OF JESUS.

and uneasy; I and employed artifice to rid his dominions of the
new prophet. Certain Pharisees, under the pretence of regard for
Jesus, came to tell him that Avitipas was seeking to kill him.
Jesus, notwithstanding his gxeat simplicity, saw the snare, and
did not depart.2 His peaceful manners, and his remoteness from
popular agitation, ultimately reassured the Tetrarch and dissipated
the danger.

The new doctrine was by no means received with equal favour
hi all the towns of Galilee. Not only did incredulous Nazareth
continue to reject him who was to become her glory ; not only did
his brothers persist in not believing in him,^ but the cities of the
lake themselves, in general well-disposed, were not all converted.
Jesus often complained of the incredulity and hardness of heart
which he encountered, and although it is natural that in such
reproaches we make allowance for the exaggeration of the preacher,
although we are sensible of that kind of convicium seculi which
Jesus affected in imitation of John the Baptist,* it is clear that
the country was far from yielding itself entirely a second time to
the kingdom of God. " Woe unto thee, Chorazin ! woe unto thee,
Bethsaida ! " cried he ; '' for if the mighty works, which were done
in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have re-
pented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you. It
shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment
than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto
heaven, shalt be brought down to hell ; for if the mighty works,
which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would
have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall
be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment
than for thee." 5 " The queen of the south," added he, "shall rise
up in the judgment of this generation, and shall condemn it : for
she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom

^ Matt. xiv. 1, and following; Mark vi. 14, and following; Luke ix. 7, and
following.

2 Luke xiii. 31, and following. ' John vii. 5.

* Matt. xii. 39, 45, xiii. 15, xvi. 4; Luke xi. 29.

• Matt. xi. 21-24; Luke x. 12-15.

LIFE OF JESUS. ^9

of Solomon ; and behold, a greater than Solomon is here. The
men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and
ahall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of
Jonas ; and behold, a greater than Jonas is here." "^ His wander-
ing life, at first so full of charm, now began to weigh npon
him. " The foxes," said he, '' have holes, and the birds of the air
have nests ; but the Son of man hath ^ot where to lay his head." 2
Bitterness and reproach took more and more hold upon him. He
accused unbelievers of not yielding to evidence, and said that, even
at the moment in which the Son of man should appear in his
celestial glory, there would still be men who would not believe in
him. 3

Jesus, in fact, w^as not able to receive opposition with the cool-
ness of the philosopher, who, understanding the reason of the
various opinions which divide the world, finds it quite natural that
all should not agree with him. One of the principal defects of
the Jewish race is its harshness in controversy, and the abusive
tone which it almost always infuses into it. There never w^ere in the
world such bitter quarrels as those of the Jews among themselves.
It is the faculty of nice discernment which makes the polished and
moderate man. Now, the Jack of this faculty is one of the most con-
stant features of the Semitic mind. Subtle and refined works, the
dialogues of Plato, for example, are altogether unknown to these
nations. Jesus, who was exempt from almost all the defects of his
race, and whose leading quality was precisely an infinite delicacy, was
led in spite of himself to make use of the general style iiipolemics.4
Like John the Baptist,^ he employed very harsh terms against his
adversaries. Of an exquisite gentleness with the simple, he was
irritated at incredulity, however little aggressive.6 He was no
longer the mild teacher who delivered the " Sermon on the Mount,"
who had met with neither resistance nor difficulty. The passion
that underlay his character led him to make use of the keenest

1 Matt. xii. 41, 42 ; Luke xi. 31, 32. ^ ^j^tt. viii. 20 ; Luke ix. 58.

3 Luke xviii. 8. ■* Matt. xii. 34, xv. 14, xxiii. 83.

» Matt. iii. 7 • Matt. xii. 30 ; Luke xxi. 23.

^30 Li^ OF jEsm

invectives. This singular mixture ought not to surprise us. M.
de Lamennais, a man of our own times, has strikingly presented the
same contrast. In his beautiful book, the " Words of a Believer,"
the most immoderate anger and the sweetest relentings alternate,
as in a mirage. This man, who was extremely kind in the inter-
courge of life, became madly intractable toward those who did not
agi-ee with him. Jesus, in like manner, applied to himself, not
without reason, the passage from Isaiah :^ " He shall not strive,
nor cry ; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A
bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not
quench." 2 And yet many of the recommendations which he
addressed to his disciples contain the germs of a true fanaticism,^
germs which the Middle Ages were to develop in a cruel manner.
Must we reproach him for this ? No revolution is effected without
some harshness. If Luther, or the actors in the French Revolu-
tion, had been compelled to observe the rules of politeness, neither
the Reformation nor the Revolution would have taken place. Let
us congratulate ourselves in like manner that Jesus encountered
no law which punished the invectives he uttered against one class
of citizens. Had such a law existed, the Pharisees would have
been inviolate. All the great tilings of humanity have been
accomplished in the name of absolute principles. A critical
philosopher would have said to his disciples : Respect the opinion
of others ; and believe that no one is so completely right that his
adversary is completely wrong. But the action of Jesus has
nothing in common with the disinterested speculation of the
philosopher. To know that we have touched the ideal for a mo-
ment, and have been deterred by the wickedness of a few, is a
thought insupportable to an ardent soul. What must it have been
for the founder of a new world ?

The invincible obstacle to the ideas of Jesus came especially
from orthodox Judaism, represented by the Pharisees. Jesus
became more and more alienated from the ancient Law. Now,

1 Isa. xlii. 2, 3. 3 Matt. xii. 19-20.

3 Matt, X. 14, 15, 21, and following, ?*, and following; Luke xix. 27.

LIFE OP JESUS. 231

the Pharisees were the true Jews ; the nerve and sinew of
Judaism. Althougli this party had its centre at Jerusalem, it had
adherents either established in Galilee, or who often came there.i
They were, in general, men of a narrow mind, caring much for
externals ; their devoutness was haughty, formal, and self- satisfied. 2
Their manners were ridiculous, and excited the smiles of even
those who respected them. The epithets which the people gave
them, and which savour of caricature, prove this. There was the
"bandy-legged Pharisee," (Nilcfi,) who walked in the streets
dragging his feet and knockiMg them against the stones ; the
" bloody-browed Pharisee,' (Kizai) who went with his eyes shut
in order not to see the women, and dashed his head so much
against the walls that it was always bloody ; the " pestle Phari-
see," (MedinJcia,) who kept himself bent double like the handle
of a pestle ; the " Pharisee of strong shoulders/' (Shikmi,) who
walked with his back bent as if he carried on liis shoulders
the whole burden of the Law ; the " Wkat-is-there-to-do ?-I-dO'
it Pharisee," always on the search for a precept to fulfil ; and,
lastly, the " dyed Pharisee," whose externals of devotion were but
a varnish of hypocrisy.^ This strictness was, in fact, often only
apparent, and concealed in reality great moral laxity.^ The people,
nevertheless, v/ere duped by it. The people, whose instinct is
always right, even when it is most astray respecting individuals,
is very easily deceived by false devotees. That which it loves in
them is good and worthy of being loved ; but it has not sufficient
penetration to distinguish the appearance from the reality.

^ Mark viL 1 ; Luke v. 17, and following, vii. 36.

2 Matt. vi. 2, 5, 16, ix. 11, 14, xii. 2, xxiii. 5, 15, 23; Luke v. 30, vi. 2, 7,
xi. 39, and iillowing, xviii. 12; John ix. 16; Pirke Ahoth, i. 16; Jos., Ant.,
XVII. ii. 4, xviii. i. 3; Vita, 38 ; Talra. of Bab., Sola, 22 h.

* Talmud of Jerusalem, Btrdkoth, ix., sub. fin. ; Sota, v. 7 ; Talmud of Babylon,
Sola, 22 6. The two compilations of this curious passage present considerable differ-
ences. We have, in general, followed the Babylonian compilation, which seems
most natural. Cf. Epiph., Adv. Hccr., xvi. 1. The passages in Epiphanes, and
several of those of the Talmud, may, besides, relate to an epoch posterior to Jesus,
an epoch in which " Pharisee" had become synonymous with *' devotee."

■* Matt. V. 20, XV. 4; xxiii. 0, 16, and following; John viii. 7; Jos., Ant., xir
ix, 1 ; XIII. X. 5,

232 LIFE OF JESUS.

It is easy to understand the antipathy which, in such an impas-
sioned state of society, must necessarily break out between Jesus
and persons of this character. Jesus recognised only the religion
of the heart, whilst that of the Pharisees consisted almost exclu-
sively in observances. Jesus sought the humble and outcasts
of all kinds, and the Pharisees saw in this an insult to their
religion of respectability. The Pharisee was an infallible and
faultless man, a pedant always right in his own conceit, taking
the first place in the synagogue, praying in the street, giving alms
to the sound of a trumpet, and caring greatly for salutations.
Jesus maintained that each one ought to await the kingdom of
God with fear and trembling. The bad religious tendency repre-
sented by Pharisaism did not reign without opposition. Many
men before or during the time of Jesus, such as Jesus, son of
Sirach, (one of the true ancestors of Jesus of Nazareth,) Gamaliel,
Antigonus of Soco, and especially the gentle and noble Hillel, had
taught much more elevated, and almost Gospel doctrines. But
these good seeds had been choked. The beautiful maxims of
Hillel, summing up the whole law as equity,! those of Jesus, son
of Sirach, making worship consist in doing good,2 were forgotten
or anathematised.3 Shammai, with his narrow and exclusive
spirit, had prevailed. An enormous mass of "traditions" had
stifled the Law,4 under pretext of protecting and interpreting
it. Doubtless these conservative measures had their share of use-
fulness; it is well that the Jewish people loved its Law even to
excess, since it is this frantic love which, in saving Mosaism under
Antiochus Epiphanes and under Herod, has preserved the leaven
from which Christianity was to emanate. But taken in themselves,
all these old precautions were only puerile. The synagogue, which
was the depository of them, was no more than a parent of error.
Its reign was ended ; and yet to require its abdication was to re-

^ Talm. of Bab., Shabhath, 31 a ; Joma, 35 b.

' Eccle. xvii. 21, and following, xxxv. 1, and following.

' Talm. of Jerus., Sanhedrim, xi 1 ; Talm. of Bab., Sanhedrim, 100 6.

* Matt. XV. 2.

LIFE OF JESUS. 233

quire the impossible, that which an established power has never
done or been able to do.

The conflicts of Jesus with official hypocrisy were continual.
The ordinary tactics of the reformers who appeared in the reli-
gious state which we have just described, and which might be called
" traditional formalism," were to oppose the " text " of the sacred
books to " traditions." Eeligious zeal is always an innovator, even
when it pretends to be in the highest degree conservative. Just as
the neo-Catholicsof our days become more and more remote from
the Gospel, so the Pharisees left the Bible at each step more and
more. This is why the Puritan reformer is generally essentially
*' biblical," taking the unchangeable text for his basis in criticising
the current theology, which has changed with each generation.
Thus acted later the Karaites and the Protestants. Jesus applied
the axe to the root of the tree much more energetically. We see
him sometimes, it is true, invoke the text against the false Masores
or traditions of the Pharisees.l But in general he dwelt little on
exegesis — it was the conscience to which he appealed. With one
stroke he cut through both text and commentaries. He shewed
indeed to the Pharisees that they seriously perverted Mosaism by
their traditions, but he by no means pretended himself to return
to Mosaism. His mission was concerned with the future, not
with the past. Jesus was more than the reformer of an obsolete
religion ; he was the creator of the eternal religion of humanity.

Disputes broke out especially respecting a number of external
practices introduced by tradition, which neither Jesus nor his
disciples observed.2 The Pharisees reproached him sharply for
this. When he dined with them, he scandalised them much by
not observing the customary ablutions. " Give alms," said he, " of
such things as ye have; and behold, all things are clean unto
you." 3 That which in the highest degree hurt his refined feeling
was the air of assurance which the Pharisees carried into religious

1 Matt. XV. 2, and following ; Mark vii. 2, and following.

' Matt. XV. 2, and following; Mark vii. 4, 8 ; Luke v. sub. fin., and vi. init,
xi. 38. and following. ^ Luke xi. 41.

234 LIFE OF JESUS.

matters ; their paltry worship, which ended in a vain seeking after
precedents and titles, to the utter neglect of the improvement of
their hearts. An admirable parable rendered this thought with
infinite charm and justice. " Two men," said he, " went up into
the temple to pray ; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 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. And the publican, standing afar
off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote
upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I telZ
you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the
other." 1

A hate, which death alone could satisfy, was the consequence
of these struggles. John the Baptist had already provoked enmi-
ties of the same kind.2 But the aristocrats of Jerusalem, who
despised him, had allowed simple men to take him for a prophet.3
In the case of Jesus, however, the war was to the death. A new
spirit had appeared in the world, causing all that preceded to pale
before it. John the Baptist was completely a Jew ; Jesus was
scarcely one at all. Jesus always appealed to the delicacy
of the moral sentiment. He was only a disputant when he
argued against the Pharisees, his opponents forcing him, as gene-
rally happens, to adopt their tone.^ His exquisite irony, his arch
and provoking remarks, always struck home. They were ever-
lasting stigmas, and have remained festering in the wound. This
Nessus-shirt of ridicule which the Jew, son of the Pharisees, has
dragged in tatters after him during eighteen centuries, was woven
by Jesus with a divine skill Masterpieces of fine raillery, their
features are written in lines of fire upon the flesh of the hypocrite
and the false devotee. Incomparable traits, worthy of a son of
God ! A god alone knows how to kill after this fashion. Socrates

^ Luke xviii. 9-14; comp. ibid., xiv. 7-11.

^ Matt. iii. 7, and following, xvii. 12, 13.

'^ Matt. xiv. 5, xxi. 26 ; Mark xi. 32 ; Luke xx. d-

* Matt xii. 3-8, xxiii. 16, and following.

tWE OF JEstrs. 235

and Moli^re only touched the skin. He carried fire and rage to
the very marrow.

But it was also just that this great master of irony should
pay for his triumph with his life. Even in Galilee, the Pharisees
sought to ruin him, and employed against him the manoeuvre
which ultimately succeeded at Jerusalem. They endeavoured
to interest in their quarrel the partisans of the new politica'
faction which was established.! The facilities Jesus fount .
for escape in Galilee, and the weakness of the government of
Antipas, baffled these attempts. He ran into danger of his own
free will. He saw clearly that his action, if he remained confined
to Galilee, was necessarily limited. Judea drew him as by a
charm ; he wished to try a last effort to gain the rebellious city ;
and seemed anxious to fulfil the proverb — that a prophet must not
die outside Jerusalem.2

* Mari Ui d. « Luke xiiL *3.

CHAPTER XXL

LAST JOUENEY OF JESUS TO JERUSALEM.

Jesus had for a long time been sensible of the dangers that
surrounded him.l During a period of time which we may estimate
at eighteen months, he avoided going on a pilgrimage to Jerusa-
lem.2 At the feast of Tabernacles of the year 32, (according to
the hypothesis we have adopted,) his relations, always malevolent
and incredulous,3 pressed him to go there. The evangelist John
seems to insinuate that there was some hidden project to ruin him
in this invitation. " Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy
disciples also may see the works that thou doest. For there is no
man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh
to be known openly. If thou do these things, show thyself to the
world.'' Jesus, suspecting some treachery, at first refused ; but
when the caravan of pilgrims had set out, he started on the
journey, unknow^n to every one, and almost alone.4 It was the
last farewell which he bade to Galilee. The feast of Tabernacles
fell at the autumnal equinox. Six months still had to elapse before
the fatal denouement. But during this interval, Jesus saw no
more his beloved provinces of the north. The pleasant days
had passed away ; he must now traverse, step by step, the painful
path that will terminate only in the anguish of death.

His disciples, and the pious women who tended him, met him
again in Judea.5 But how much everything was changed for him

1 Matt. xvi. 20, 21 ; Mark viii. 30, 81. = John vil. 1.

' John vii. 5. * John viL 10.

• Matt, xivii. 55: M^rk xv. 41 : Luke xxiiL 49, 56.

LITE OF JESUS. 237

ch«-Te ! Jesus was a stranger at Jerusalem. He felt that there
was a wall of resistance he could not penetrate. Surrounded
by snares and difficulties, he was unceasingly pursued by the
ill-will of the Pharisees, l Instead of that illimitable faculty of
belief, happy gift of youthful natures, which he found in Galilee, —
instead of those good and gentle people, amongst whom objections
(always the fruit of some degree of ill-will and indocility) had no
existence, he met there at each step an obstinate incredulity, upon
A^hich the means of action that had so well succeeded in the
north had little effect. His disciples were despised as being
Galileans. Nicodemus, who, on one of his former journeys, had
had a conversation with him by night, almost compromised him-
self with the Sanhedrim, by having wished to defend him. " Art
thou also of Galilee V they said to him. " Search and look : for
out of Galilee ariseth no prophet." ^

The city, as we have already said, displeased Jesus. Until then
he had always avoided great centres, preferring tor his action the
country and the towns of small importance. Many of the precepts
which he gave to his apostles were absolutely inapplicable, except
in a simple society of humble men.^ Having no idea of the world,
and accustomed to the kindly communism of Galilee, remarks
continually escaped him, whose simplicity would at Jerusalem
appear very singular.4 His imagination and his love of nature
founu themselves constrained within these walls. True relio-ion

o

does not proceed from the tumult of towns, but from the tran-
quil serenity of the fields.

The arrogance of the priests rendered the courts of the temple
disagreeable to him. One day some of his disciples, who knew
Jerusalem better than he, washed him to notice the beauty of the
buildings of the temple, the admirable choice of materials, and
the richness of the votive offerings that covered the walls.
" Seest thou these buildings ?" said he ; " there shall not be left

* John vii. 20, 25, 30, 32. » John vii. 50, and following.
» Matt. X. 11-13; Mark vi. 10; Luke x. 5-8.

* Matt. xxi. 3, xxvi. 18; Mark xi. 3, xiv, 13^ U; Luke xix. 31> xxii. 10-12.

2.75 LIFE OF JESUS.

one stone upon another." 1 He refused to admire anything, except
it was a poor widow who passed at that moment, and threw a
small coin into the box. " She has cast in more than they all,"
said he ; '' for all these have of their abundance cast in unto
the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all
the living that she had." 2 This manner of criticising all
he observed at Jerusalem, of praising the poor who gave little,
of slighting the rich who gave much,^ and of blaming the opulent
priesthood who did nothing for the good of the people, naturally
exasperated the sacerdotal caste. As the seat of a conservative
aristocracy, the temple, like the Mussulman haram which suc-
ceeded it, was the last place in the world where revolution could
prosper. Imagine an innovator going in our days to preach the
overturning of Islamism round the mosque of Omar ! There,
however, was the centre of the Jewish life, the point where it was
necessary to conquer or die. On this Calvary, where certainly
Jesus suffered more than at Golgotha, his days passed away in
disputation and bitterness, in the midst of tedious controversies
respecting canonical law and exegesis, for which his great moral
elevation, instead of giving him the advantage, positively unfitted
him.

In the midst of this troubled life, the sensitive and kindly heart
of Jesus found a refuge, where he enjoyed moments of sweet-
ness. After having passed the day disputing in the temple,
towards evening Jesus descended into the valley of Kedron, and
rested a while in the orchard of a farming establishment (probably
for the making of oil) named Gethsemane,* which served as a
pleasure garden to the inhabitants. Thence he proceeded to pass
the night upon the Mount of Olives, which limits the horizon of
the city on the east.5 This side is the only one, in the environs

1 Matt. xxiv. 1, 2; Mark siii. 1, 2; Luke xis. 44, xxi. 5, 6. Cf. Mark ad. 11.

2 Mark xii. 41, and following; Luke xxi. 1, and following.
' Mark xii. 41.

^ Mark xi. 19; Luke xxiL 39; John xviii. 1, 2. This orchard could not be verj
far from the place where the piety of the Catholics has surrounded some old olive-
trees by a wall. The word Gethsemane seems to signify " oil-press."

^ Luke xxi. 37, xxii. 39; John viii. 1, 2.

LIFE OP JESUS. 239

of Jerusalem, which offers an aspect in any degree pleasing and ver-
dant. The plantations of olives, figs, and palms, were numerous there,
and gave their names to the villages, farms, or enclosures of Beth-
phage, Gethsemane, and Bethany.^ There were upon the Mount
of Olives two great cedars, the memory of which v/as long pre-
served amongst the dispersed Jews ; their branches served as an
asylum to clouds of doves, and under their shade were established
small bazaars.2 All this precinct was in a manner the abode of
Jesus and his disciples ; they knew it field by field and house by
house.

The village of Bethany, in particular,^ situated at the summit of
the hill, upon the incline which commands the Dead Sea and the
Jordan, at a journey of an hour and a half from Jerusalem, was the
place especially beloved by Jesus> He there made the acquaintance
of a family composed of three persons, two sisters and a brother,
whose friendship had a great charm for him.^ Of the two sisters,
the one, named Martha, was an obliging, kind, and assiduous
person; 6 the other, named Mary, on the contrary, pleased Jesus
by a sort of languor,7 and by her strongly-developed speculative
instincts. Seated at the feet of Jesus, she often forgot, in listen-
ing to him, the duties of real life. Her sister, upon whom fell all
the duty at such times, gently complained. " Martha, Martha,"
said Jesus to her, " thou art troubled, and carest about many
things; now, one thing only is needful. Mary has chosen the
better part, which will not be taken away." 8 Her brother, Eleazar,
or Lazarus, was also much beloved by Jesus.^ Lastly, a certain
Simon, the leper, who was the owner of the house, formed, it
appears, part of the family.lO it w^s there, in the enjoyment of a
pious friendship, that Jesus forgot the vexations of public life.

1 Talm. of Bab., Pesachim, 53 a. » Talm. of Jerus,, Taanith, iv. 8.

* Now El-Azerie, (from El-Azir, tlie Arabic name of Lazarus;) in the Christian
texts of the Middle Ages, Zazarium.
4 Matt. xxi. 17, 18; Mark xi. 11, 12. « John xi. 5.

« Luke X. 38-42; John xii. 2. 7 John xi. 20.

8 Luke X, 38, and following. » John xi. 35, 36,

^" Matt. xxvi. 6; Mark xiv. 3; Luke vii, 40-43; John xii. 1, and following.

240 LIFE OF JESUS.

In this tranquil home he consoled himself for the bickerings with
which the scribes and the Pharisees unceasingly surrounded him.
He often sat on the Mount of Olives, facing Mount Moriah,i hav-
ing beneath his view the splendid perspective of the terraces of
the temple, and its roofs covered with glittering plates of metal.
This view struck strangers with admiration ; at the rising of the
sun, especially, the sacred mountain dazzled the eyes, and appeared
like a mass of snow and of gold.2 But a profound feeling of sad-
ness poisoned for Jesus the spectacle that filled all other Israelites
with joy and pride. He cried out, in his moments of bitterness,
" 0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and
stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have
gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens
under her wings, and ye would not." «*

It was not that many good people here, as in Galilee, were not
touched ; but such was the power of the dominant orthodoxy, that
very few dared to confess it. They feared to discredit themselves
in the eyes of the Hierosolymites by placing themselves in the
school of a Galilean. They would have risked being driven from
the synagogue, which, in a mean and bigoted society, was the
greatest degradation.* Excommunication, besides, carried with it
the confiscation of all possessions.^ By ceasing to be a Jew, a man
did not become a Eoman ; but remained without protection, in the
power of a theocratic legislation of the most atrocious severity.
One day, the inferior officers of the temple, who had been present
at one of the discourses of Jesus, and had been enchanted with it,
came to confide their doubts to the priests : " Have any of the
rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?" was the reply to
them; "but this people who knoweth not the Law are cursed."^
Jesus remained thus at Jerusalem, a provincial admired by pro-
vincials like hunself, but rejected by all the aristocracy of the
nation. The chiefs of schools and of sects were too numerous for

^ Mark xiii. 3. ^ Josephus, B. J., v. v. d.

» Matt, xxiii. 37; Luke xiii. 34. * John vii. 13, xii. 42, 43, xix. 38.

• 1 Esdr. X. 8 ; Epistle to Hebrews x» 34 ; Talmud, of Jerua., MoSdkaton, iii. 1,

• Johti till 45; and f billowing;

LIFE or JESUS. 241

nny one to be stirred by seeing one more appear. His voice made
little noise in Jerusalem. The prejudices of race and of sect, the
direct enemies' of the spirit of the Gospel, were too deeply rooted
there.

His teaching in this new world necessarily became much modified
His beautiful discourses, the efi'ect of which was always observable
upon youthful imaginations and consciences morally pure, here fell
t<.pon stone. He who was so much at his ease on the shores of
his charmino; little lake, felt constrained and not at home in the
company of pedants. His perpetual self-assertion appeared some-
what fastidious.l He was obliged to become controversialist,
jurist, exegetist, and theologian. His conversations, generally so full
of charm, became a rolling fire of disputes,2 an interminable train
of scholastic battles. His harmiOnious genius was wasted in
insipid argumentations upon the Law and the prophets,3 in which
we should have preferred not seeing him sometimes play the part
of aggressor.'* He lent himself with a condescension we cannot
but regret to the captious criticisms to which the merciless
cavillers subjected him.5 In general, he extricated himself from
difficulties with much skill. His reasonings, it is true, were often
subtle, (simplicity of mind and subtlety touch each other ; when
simplicity reasons, it is often a little sophistical ;) we find
that sometimes he courted misconceptions, and prolonged them
intentionally ;6 his reasoning, judged according to the rules of
Aristotelian logic, was very weak. But when the unequalled
charm of his mind could be displayed, he was triumphant. One
day it was intended to embarrass him by presenting to him an
adulteress and asking him what was to be done to her. We know
the admirable answer of Jesus.7 The fine raillery of a man of

1 John viii. 13, and following. 2 jji^tt. xxi. 23-37.

3 Matt. xxii. 23, and following, * Matt. xxii. 42, and following.

° Matt. xxii. 3G, and following, 46.

" See especially the discussions reported by John, chapter viii., for example ; it
is true that the authenticity of such passages is only relative.

7 John viii, 3, and following. This passage did not at first form part of thfl
Gospel of St John ; it is wanting in the more ancient manuscripts, and the teat

a

242 LIFE 0^ JEStTS.

the world, tempered by a divine goodness, could not be expressed
in a more exquisite manner. But the wit which is allied to mora\
grandeur is that which fools forgive the least. In pronouncing
this sentence of so just and pure a taste : " He that is without sin
among you, let him first cast a stone at her," Jesus pierced hypo-
crisy to the heart, and with the same stroke sealed his own death-
warrant.

It is probable, in fact, that but for the exasperation caused by
so many bitter shafts, Jesus might long have remained unnoticed,
and have been lost in the dreadful storm which was soon about to
overwhelm the whole Jewish nation. The high priesthood and
the Sadducees had rather disdained than hated him. The great
sacerdotal families, the Boethusim, the family of Hanan, were
only fanatical in their conservatism. The Sadducees, like
Jesus, rejected the ''traditions" of the Pharisees.^ By a very
strange singularity, it was these unbelievers who, denying
the resurrection, the oral Law, and the existence of angels, were
the true Jews. Or rather, as the old Law in its simplicity no
longer satisfied the religious wants of the time, those who strictly
adhered to it, and rejected modern inventions, were regarded by
the devotees as impious, just as an evangelical Protestant of the
present day is regarded as an unbeliever in Catholic countries.
At all events, from such a party no very strong reaction against
Jesus could 23roceed. The official priesthood, with its attention
turned towards political power, and intimately connected with it,
did not comprehend these enthusiastic movements. It was the
middle class Pharisees, the innumerable soferim, or scribes, living
on the science of " traditions," who took the alarm, and whose
prejudices and interests were in reality threatened by the doctrine
of the new tc/iicher.

ia rather unsettled. Nevertheless, it is from tb*> primitive Gospel traditions,
as is proved hy the singular peculiarities of verses t5 and 8, which are not in the
style of Luke, and compilers at second hand, who admitted nothing that does not
explain itself. This history is found, as it seems, in the Gospel according to the
Hebrews. (Papias, quoted by Eusebius, Hist. Ecd.^ iii. 39.)
^ Jos., Ant., XIII. X. 6, XVIII. i. 4.

LIFE OF JESUS. 243

One of the most constant efforts of the Pharisees was to involve
Jesus in the discussion of political questions, and to compromise
him as connected with the party of Judas the Gaulonite. These
tactics were clever ; for it required all the deep wisdom of Jesus
to avoid collision with the Koman authority, whilst proclaiming
the kingdom of God. They wanted to break through this am-
biguity, and compel him to explain himself. One day, a group of
Pharisees, and of those politicians named " Herodians," (probably
some of the Boethusim,) approached him, and, under pretence of
pious zeal, said unto him, " Master, we know that thou art true,
and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any
man. Tell us, therefore, what thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give
tribute unto Csesar, or not?" They hoped for an answer, which
would give them a pretext for delivering him up to Pilate. The
reply of Jesus was admirable. He made them shew him the
image on the coin : " Eender," said he, " unto Csesar the things
which are Csesar's ; and unto God the things that are GodV'i
Profound words, which have decided the future of Christianity !
Words of a perfected spiritualism, and of marvellous justness,
which have established the separation between the spiritual and the
temporal, and laid the basis of true liberalism and civilisation !

His gentle and penetrating genius inspired him when alone
with his disciples, with accents full of tenderness I " Verily,
verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the
sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief
and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd
of the sheep. The sheep hear his voice : and he calleth his own
sheep by name, and leadeth them out. He goeth before them, and
the sheep follow him ; for they know his voice. The thief
cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. But he
that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep
are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth.
I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of

^ Matt, xxii, 15, and following; Mark xii, 13, and following; Luke sx 20, and
following. Coinp. Talm, of Jerua., Sanhcdrlvi, ii. 3.

S44 LIFE OF JESUS.

mine ; and I lay down my life for the sheep."! The idea that the
crisis of humanity was close at hand frequently recurred to him :
*' Now," said he, " learn a parable of the fig-tree : When his branch
is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is
nigh. Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields ; for they are
white already to harvest." 2

His powerful eloquence always burst forth when contending
with hypocrisy. " The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.
All, therefore, whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and
do ; but do not ye after their works : for they say and do not.
For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay
them on men's shoulders ; but they themselves will not move them
with one of their fingers.

*' But all their works they do to be seen of men ; they make
broad their phylacteries,^ enlarge the borders of their garments,^
and love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the
synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men,
Rabbi, Rabbi. Woe unto them!

' ' Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye have
taken away the key of knowledge, shut up the kingdom of heaven
against men l^ for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye
them that are entering to go in. Woe unto you, for ye devour
widows' houses, and, for a pretence, make long prayers : therefore
ye shall receive the greater damnation. Woe unto you, for ye
compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is
made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves !

1 John X. 1-16.

« Matt. xxiv. 32; Mark xiii. 28; Luke xxi. 30; Jolin iv. 35.

3 Totafdth or tefillin, plates of metal or strips of parchment, containing passages
of the Law ; which the devout Jews wore attached to the forehead and left arm,
in literal fulfilment of the passages, {Ex. xiii. 9; Dcut. vi. 8, xi. 18.)

* Zizith, red borders or fringes which the Jews wore at the corner of their cloaks
to distinguish them from the pagans, {Num. xv. 38, 39 ; Deut. xxii. 12.)

^ The Pharisees excluded men from the kingdom of God by their fastidioud
casuistry, which rendered entra^ice into it too difficulty and diticouraged the
fuilearned.

LIFE OF JESUS. il*i5

Woe unto you, for ye are as graves whicli appear not ; and the
men that walk over them are not aware of them.i-

" Ye fools, and blind ! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and
'jummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law,
judgment, mercy, and faith : these ought ye to have done, and not
to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a
gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you !

" Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye make
clean the outside of the cup and of the platter; 2 but within they
are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee,^ cleanse
first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of
them may be clean also.*

" Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye are
like unto whited sepulchres,^ which indeed appear beautiful out-
ward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all unclean-
ness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but
within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

" Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! because ye
build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the
righteous, and say, ' If we had been in the days of our fathers,
we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the
prophets.' Wherefore, ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye

^ Contact with the tombs rendered any one impure. Great care was, therefore,
taken to mark their extent on the ground. Talm. of Bab., Baba Bathra, 58 a;
Baha Metsia, 45 b. Jesus here reproached the Pharisees for having invented a
number of small precepts which might be violated unwittingly, and which only
served to multiply infringements of the law,

^ The purification of vessels was subjected, amongst the Pharisees, to the most
complicated laws, (Mark vii. 4.)

' This epithet, often repeated, (Matt, xxiii, 16, 17, 19, 24, 26,) perhaps contains
an allusion to the custom which certain Pharisees had of walking with closed eyes
in affectation of sanctity. See ante, p, 231.

* Luke (xi. 37, and following) supposes, not without reason, that this verse waa
uttered during a repast, in answer to the vain scruples of the Pharisees,

^ The tombs being impure, it was customary to whiten them with lime, to
warn persons not to approach them. See above, note 1, and Mishnah, Maasar
hensi, v, 1; Talm. of Jerus., Shekalim, i, 1; Maasar sheni, v, 1; Moid Tcaton, L
2; Sota, ix, 1; Talm, of Bab,, Mogd katon, 5 a. Perhaps there is an allusion to
the " dyed Pharisees" in this comparison which Jesus uses. (See ante, p. 231.^

246 LIFE OF JESUS.

are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up
then the measure of your fathers. ' Therefore, also/ said the Wis-
dom of God,l 'I will send 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 Zacbarias, son of Barachias^2 whom ye slew between
the temple and the altar." Verily, I say unto you, all these
things shall come upon this generation." 3

His terrible doctrine of the substitution of the Gentiles, — the
idea that the kingdom of God was about to be transferred to others,
because those for whom it was destined would not receive it,^ is used
as a fearful menace against the aristocracy. The title " Son of
God," which he openly assumed in striking parables,^ wherein his
enemies appeared as murderers of the heavenly messengers, was
an open defiance to the Judaism of the Law. The bold appeal
he addressed to the poor was still more seditious. He declared
that he had " come tliat they which see not might see, and that
they which see might be made blind." 6 One day, his dislike of the
temple forced from him an imprudent speech : " I will destroy this
temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build
another made without hands." 7 His disciples found strained alle-

1 We are ignorant from what book this quotation is taken.

2 There is a slight confusion here, which is also found in the Targum of Jonathan,
{Lament, ii. 20,) between Zacharias, son of Jehoiadas, and Zacharias, son of Bara-
chias, the prophet. It is the former that is spoken of, (2 Parol, xxiv. 21.) The
book of the Paralipomenes, in which the assassination of Zacharias, son of Je-
hoiadas, is related, closes the Hebrew canon. This murder is the last in the list
of miirders of righteous men, drawn up according to the order in which they are
presented in the Bible. That of Abel is, oa the contrary, the first.

3 Matt, xxiii. 2-36 ; Mark xii. 38-40 ; Luke xi. 39-52, xx. 46, 47.

*Matt. viii. 11, 12, xx. 1, and following xxi. 28, and following, 33, and fol-
lowing, 43, xxii. 1, and following; Mark xii. 1, and following; Luke xx. 9, and
following.

Matt. xxi. 37, and following; John x. 36, and following.

« John ix. 39.

' The most authentic form of this sentence appears to be in Mark xiv. 58,
jcv. 29. Cf. John ii. 19; Matt. xxvi. 61, xxvii, 40.

LIFE OP JESUS. 2i7

gories in this sentence ; but we do not know wliat meaning Jesus
attached to it. But as only a pretext was wanted, this sentence
was quickly laid hold of. It reappeared in the preamble of his
death-warrant, and rang in his ears amidst the last agonies of
Golgotha. These irritating discussions always ended in tumult.
The Pharisees threw stones at him ;l in doing which they only
fulfilled an article of the Law, which commanded every prophet,
even a thaumaturgus, who should turn the people from the ancient
worship, to be stoned without a hearing.2 At other times they
called him mad, possessed, Saniaritan,^ and even sought to kill
him. 4 These words were taken note of in order to invoke ag-ainst
him the laws of an intolerant theocracy, which the Roman e^overn-
ment had not yet abrogated.^

1 John viii. 39, x. 31, xi. 8.

^ Deutcr. xiii. 1, and following. Comp, Luke xx. 6 ; John x. 33; 2 Cor, li, 25.
s John X. 20. * John v. 18, vii. 1, 20, 25, 30, viii 37 iO.

< TA^e il 53, S4,

CHAPTER XXII.

MACHINATIONS OF THE ENEMIES OF JESUS.

Jesus passed the autumn and a part of the winter at Jerusalem.
This season is there rather cold. The portico of Solomon, with
its covered aisles, was the place where he habitually walked.1
This portico consisted of two galleries, formed by three rows of
columns, and covered by a ceiling of carved wood.2 It com-
manded the valley of Kedron, which was doubtless less covered
with debris than it is at the present time. The depth of the
ravine could not be measured, from the height of the portico ;
and it seemed, in consequence of the angle of the slopes, as if an
abyss opened immediately beneath the wall. 3 The other side of
the valley even at that time was adorned with sumptuous tombs.
Some of the monuments, which may be seen at the present day,
were perhaps those cenotaphs in honour of ancient prophets * which
Jesus pointed out, when, seated under the portico, he denounced
the official classes, who covered their hypocrisy or their vanity
by these colossal piles.5

At the end of the month of December, he celebrated at Jeru-
salem the feast established by Judas Maccabeus in memory of the

1 John X. 23.

2 Jos., B. J., V. V. 2. Comp. Ant., xv. xi, 5, xx. ix. 7.
■ Jos., places cited.

* See ante, p. 245. I am led to suppose that the tombs called those of Zacharia!i
and of Absalom were monuments of this kind Cf. Itin o Burdig. Hierus., p. 163
(edit. Schott.)

5 Matt, xjdii. 29 : Luke xi. 47.

LIFE O*' JESDS. 240

purification of the temple after the sacrileges of Antiochus Epi-
phanes.i It was also called the " Feast of Lights," because, during
the eight days of the feast, lamps were kept lighted in the houses.2
Jesus undertook soon after a journey into Perea and to the banks
of the Jordan, — that is to say, into the very country he had visited
some years previously, when he followed the school of John,^ and
in which he had himself administered baptism. He seems to have
reaped consolation from this journey, specially at Jericho. This
oity, as the terminus of several important routes, or, it may be, on
account of its gardens of spices and its rich cultivation,^ was a
customs station of importance. The chief receiver, Zaccheus, a
rich man, desired to see Jesus.^ As he was of small stature, he
climbed a sycamore tree near the road which the procession had
to pass. Jesus was touched with this simplicity in a person of
consideration, and at the risk of giving offence, he determined to stay
with Zaccheus. There was much dissatisfaction at his honouring
the house of a sinner by this visit. In parting, Jesus declared his
host to be a good son of Abraham ; and, as if to add to the vexation
of the orthodox, Zaccheus became a Christian ; he gave, it is said,
the half of his goods to the poor, and restored fourfold to those
whom he might have wronged. But this was not the only pleasure
which Jesus experienced there. On leaving the town, the beggar
Bartimeus 6 pleased him much by persisting in calHng him " son
of David,'' although he was told to be silent. The cycle of Gali-
lean miracles appeared for a time to recommence in this country,
which was in many respects similar to the provinces of the nortL
The delightful oasis of Jericho, at that time well watered, must
have been one of the most beautiful places in Syria. Josephus

^ John X. 22. Comp. 1 Mace, iv. 52, and following; 2 Macc.x. 6, and following.

2 Jos., Ant., XII. vii. 7.

^ John X. 40. Cf . Matt, xix, 1 ; Mark x. i. This journey is known to the
Bynoptics. But they seem to think that Jesus made it by coming from Galilee to
Jerusalem through Perea.

* Eccles. xxiv. IS; Strabo, xvi. ii. 41 ; Justin., xxxvi. 3; Jos., Ant, lY. yi. 1
XIV. iv. 1, XV. iv. 2.

^ Luke xix. 1, and following.

* Matt. XX. 29; Mark x. 46, and following; Luke xviii. 35.

250 LIFE OF JESUS.

speaks of it with tlie same admiration as of Galilee, and calls it,
like the latter province, a " divine country." i

After Jesus had completed this kind of pilgrimage to the scenes
of his earliest prophetic activity, he returned to his beloved abode
in Bethany, where a singular event occurred, which seems to have
had a powerful influence on the remaining days of his life.2 Tired
of the cold reception which the kingdom of God found in the
capital, the friends of Jesus wished for a great miracle which
should strike powerfully the incredulity of the Hierosolymites.
The resurrection of a man known at Jerusalem appeared to them
most likely to carry conviction. We must bear in mind that the
essential condition of true criticism is to understand the diversity
of times, and to rid ourselves of the instinctive repugnances which
are the fruit of a purely rational education. We must also remem-
ber that in this dull and impure city of Jerusalem, Jesus was
no longer himself. Not by any fault of his own, but by that of
others, his conscience had lost something of ite original purity.
Desperate, and driven to extremity, he was no longer his own
master. His mission overwhelmed him, and he yielded to the
torrent. As always happens in the lives of great and inspired
men, he suffered the miracles oj^inion demanded of him rather
than performed them. At this distance of time, and with only
a single text, bearing evident traces of artifices of composition,
it is impossible to decide whether in this instance the whole is
fiction, or whether a real fact which happened at Bethany has
served as basis to the rumours which were spread about it. It
must be acknowledged, however, that the way Jolm narrates the
the incident differs widely from those descriptions of miracles,
the oflfspring of the popular imagination which fill the synoptics.
Let us add, that John is the only evangelist who has a precise
knowledge of the relations of Jesus with the family of Bethany,
and that it is impossible to believe that a mere creation of the
popular mind could exist in a collection of remembrances so

^ B. J., IV. viii. 3. Comp. ibid., i. vi. 6, i. xviii. 5, and Antiq^., xv. iv. 2.
^ John xi. 1, and following.

LIFE OF JESUS. 251

entirely personal. It is, then, iDrobable that the miracle in question
was not one of those purely legendary one* for which no one is
responsible. In other words, we think that something really
happened at Bethany which was looked upon as a resurrection,

Fame already attributed to Jesus two or three works of this
kind.! The family of Bethany might be led, almost without sus-
pecting it, into taking part in the important act which was desired.
Jesus was adored by them. It seems that Lazarus was sick, and
that in consequence of receiving a message from the anxious
sisters Jesus left Perea.^ They thought that the joy Lazarus
would feel at his arrival might restore him to life. Perhaps, also,
the ardent desire of silencing those who violently denied the divine
mission of Jesus, carried his enthusiastic friends beyond all bounds.
It may be that Lazarus, still pallid with disease, caused himself to
be wrapped in bandages as if dead, and shut up in the tomb of
his family. These tombs were large vaults cut in the rock, and
were entered by a square opening, closed by an enormous stone.
Martha and Mary went to meet Jesus, and without allowing him
to enter Bethany, conducted him to the cave. The emotion which
Jesus experienced at the tomb of his friend, whom he believed to
be dead,3 might be taken by those present for the agitation and
trembling^ which accompanied miracles. Popular opinion re-
quired that the divine virtue should manifest itself in man as an
epileptic and convulsive principle. Jesus (if we follow the above
hyp(Tthesis) desired to see once more him whom he had loved ;
and, the stone being removed, Lazarus came forth in his ban-
dages, his head covered with a winding-sheet. This reappearance
would naturally be regarded by every one as a resurrection. Paith
knows no other law than the interest of that which it believes to
be true. Regarding the object which it pursues as absolutely holy,
it makes no scruple of invoking bad arguments in support of its

^ Matt. ix. 18, and following; Mark v. 22, and following; Luke vii. 11, and foJ
lowing, viii. 41, and following.

2 John xi. 3, and following. ^ John xl. 35, and following.

* John xi. 33. 38.

252 LIFE OF JESUS.

thesis when good ones do not succeed. If such and such a proof
be not sound, many others are ! If such and such a wonder be
not real, many others have been! Being intimately persuaded
that Jesus was a thaumaturgus, Lazarus and his two sisters may
have aided in the execution of one of his miracles, just as many
pious men who, convinced of the truth of their religion, have
sought to triumph over the obstinacy of their opponents by means,
of whose weakness they were well aware. The state of their con-
science was that of the stigmatists, of the convulsionists, of
the possessed ones in convents, drawn, by the influence of the
world in which they live, and by their own belief, into feigned
acts. As to Jesus, he was no more able than St Bernard or St
Francis d'Assisi to moderate the avidity for the marvellous, dis-
played by the multitude, and even by his own disciples. Death,
moreover, in a few days would restore him his divine liberty, and
release him from the fatal necessities of a position which each day
became more exacting, and more difficult to sustain.

Everything, in fact, seems to lead us to believe that the miracle
of Bethany contributed sensibly to hasten the death of Jesus.^
The persons who had been witnesses of it, were dispersed through-
out the city, and spoke much about it. The disciples related the
fact, with details as to its performance, prepared in expectation of
controversy. The other miracles of Jesus were transitory acts,
spontaneously accepted by faith, exaggerated by popular fame, and
were not again referred to after they had once taken place. This
was a real event, held to be publicly notorious, and one by which
it was hoped to silence the Pharisees.2 The enemies of Jesus were
much irritated at all this fame. They endeavoured, it is said, to
kill Lazarus. 3 It is certain, that from that time a council of the
chief priests 4 was assembled, and that in this council the question
was clearly put : " Can Jesus and Judaism exist together ? " To
raise the question was to resolve it ; and without being a prophet^

^ John xi. 46, and following, xii. 2, 9, and following, 17, and following.

2 John xii. 9, 10, 17, 18.

» John xii. 10. * John xi. 47, and following.

LIFE OF JESUS. 253

as thought by the evangelist, the high priest could easily pronounce
his cruel axiom : " It is expedient that one man should die for
the people."

" The high priest of that same year," to use an expression of
the fourth Gospel, which well expresses the state of abasement to
which the sovereign pontificate was reduced, was Joseph Ka'iapha,
appointed by Valerius Gratus, and entirely devoted to the Eonians.
From the time that Jerusalem had been under the government of
procurators, the office of high priest had been a temporary one ;
changes in it took place nearly every year.l Kaiapha, however,
held it longer than any one else. He had assumed his office in
the year 25, and he did not lose it till the year 3G. His character
is unknown to us, and many circumstances lead to the belief that
his power was only nominal In fact, another personage is always
seen in conjunction with, and even superior to him, who, at the
decisive moment we have now reached, seems to have exercised a
preponderating power.

This personage was Hanan or Annas,2 son of Seth, and father-
in-law of Kaiapha. He was formerly the high priest, and had in
reality preserved amidst the numerous changes of the pontificate
all the authority of the office. He had received the high priest-
hood from the legate Quirinius, in the year 7 of our era. He lost
his office in the year 14, on the accession of Tiberius ; but he
remained much respected. He was still called " high priest,'*
although he was out of office,^ and he was consulted upon all
important matters. During fifty years the pontificate continued
in his family almost uninterruptedly; five of his sons succes-
sively sustained this dignity,* besides Kaiapha, who was his son-
in-law. His was called the " priestly family," as if the priesthooa
had become hereditary in it.^ The chief offices of the temple

^ Jos., Ant, XV. iii. 1, xviri. ii. 2, v. 3, xx. is. 1, 4.

* The Ananus of Josepbus. It is thus that the Hebrew name Johanan became
in Greek Joannes or Joannas.

2 John xviii. 15-23 ; Acta iv. 6.

* Jos., Ant.y XX. ix. J.

* Jos., Ant., XV. iii. 1 ; B. J., iv. v. 6 and 7; Acti iv. «,

25-4 LIFE OF JESTJS.

were almost all filled by tliem.l Another family, that of Boethus,
alternated, it is true, with that of Hanan's in the pontificate. 2 But
the Boethusim, whose fortunes were of not very honourable origin,
were much less esteemed by the pious middle class. Hanan was
then in reality the chief of the priestly party. Kaiapha did
nothing without him ; it was customary to associate their names,
and that of Hanan v/as always put first.3 It will be understood,
in fact, that under this regime of an annual pontificate, changed
according to the caprice of the procurators, an old high priest,
who had preserved the secret of the traditions, who had seen many
younger than himself succeed each other, and who had retained
sufficient influence to get the office delegated to persons who were
subordinate to him in family rank, must have been a very im-
portant personage. Like all the aristocracy of the temple,^ he
was a Sadducee, " a sect," says Josephus, " particularly severe in
its judgments." All his sons also were violent persecutors.^ One
of them, named like his father, Hanan, caused James, the brother
of the Lord, to be stoned, under circumstances not unlike those
which surrounded the death of Jesus. The spirit of the family
was haughty, bold, and cruel ; ^ it had that particular kind of
proud and sullen wickedness which characterises Jewish politicians.
Therefore, upon this Hanan and his family must rest the responsi-
bility of all the acts which followed. It w^as Hanan (or the party
he represented) who killed Jesus. Hanan was the principal
actor in the terrible drama, and far more than Kaiapha, far more
than Pilate, ought to bear the weight of the maledictions of man-
kind.

It is in the mouth of Kaiapha that the evangehst places the
decisive words which led to the death of Jesus.7 It was sup-
posed that the high priest possessed a certain gift of prophecy ;
his declaration thus became an oracle full of profound meaning to

^ Jos., A7it., XX. ix. 3.

* Jos., Ant, XV. ix. 3, xix. vi. 2, viii. 1.

* Luke iii. 2. * Acts v. 17-

' Jos., Ant, XX. ix. ).. • Jos., AiU., Xi- ix. 1,

» John xi. 49, 50. Cf. ibid., xviii. li.

LIFE OF JESta 2.^^

the Christian community. But such an expression, whoever he
niight be that pronounced it, was the feeling of the whole sacer-
dotal party. This party was much opposed to popular seditions.
It sought to put down religious enthusiasts, rightly foreseeing that
by their excited preachings they would lead to the total ruin of
the nation. Although the excitement created by Jesus was in no-
wise temporal, the priests saw, as an ultimate consequence of this
agitation, an aggravation of the Roman yoke and the overturning
of the temple, the source of their riches and honours.^ Cer*
tainly the causes which, thirty-seven years after, were to effect
the ruin of Jerusalem, did not arise from infant Christianity.
They arose in Jerusalem itself, and not in Galilee. We camiot,
however, say that the motive alleged in this circumstance by the
priests was so improbable that we must necessarily regard it as
insincere. In a general sense, Jesus, if he had succeeded, would
have really effected the ruin of the Jewish nation. According
to the principles, universally admitted by all ancient polity,
Hanan and Kaiapha were right in saying : " Better the death of
one man than the ruin of a people ! " In our opinion this reason-
ing is detestable. But it has been that of conservative parties from
the commencement of all human society. Tlie "party of order" (I
use this expression in its mean and narrow sense) has ever be<?n
the same. Deeming the highest duty of government to be the
prevention of popular disturbances, it believes it performs an act
of patriotism in preventing, by judicial murder, the tumultuous
effusion of blood. Little thoughtful of the future, it does not
dream that in declaring war against all innovations, it incurs the
risk of crushing ideas destined one day to triumph. The death
of Jesus was one of the thousand illustrations of this policy.
The movement he directed was entirely spiritual, but it was still
a movement ; hence the men of order, persuaded that it was
essential for humanity not to be disturbed, felt themselves bound
to prevent the new spirit from extending itself. Never was seen
A more striking example of how much such a course of procedure

* .ToUn xl 45.

2o6 ' ^ LIFE OF JESXTSL

defeats its o\^-n object. Left free, Jesus would have exhaustoi
himself in a desperate struggle with the impossible. The unin-
telligent hate of his enemies decided the success of his work, and
sealed his divinity.

The death of Jesus was thus resolved upon from the month of
February or the beginnino^ of March. 1 But he still escaped for
a short time. He withdrew to an obscure tovm called Ephraim or
Ephron, in the direction of Bethel, a short day's journey from
Jerusalem. 2 He spent a few days there with his disciples, letting
the storm pass over. But the order to arrest him the moment he
appeared at Jerusalem, was given. The feast of the Passover was
drawing nigh, and it was thought that Jesus, according to his
custom, would come to celebrate it at Jeru.salem.3

^ John xi. 53.

' John XI. 54. Cf. 2 Chron. xiii. 19; Joa,, B. /., iv. ix. 9 ; Eusebius and St
Jerome, De situ et nom loc. Jtehr., at the words Ecppajv and Ecfipaifi.

•^ John xi. 55, 56. For the order of the events, in all this part we follow the
system of John. The synoptics appear to have little information as to the period
of tlie life of Jesus which precedes the Fiwiion.

CIIAPTEE XXIHL

LAST WEEK OF JESUS.

Jesus did in fact set out with his disciples tc see once mere, and
for the last time, the unbelieving city. The hopes of his com-
panions were more and more exalted. All believed, in going up
to Jerusalem, that the kingdom of God was about to be realised
there. 1 The impiety of men being at its height, was regarded as
a great sign that the consummation was at hand. The persuasion
in this respect was such, that they already disputed for precedence
in the kingdom. 2 This was, it is said, the moment chosen by
Salome to ask, on behalf of her sons, the two seats on the
right and left of the Son of man. 3 The Master, on the other hand,
was beset by grave thoughts. Sometimes he allowed a gloomy
resentment against his enemies to appear ; he related the parable
of a nobleman, who went to take possession of a kingdom in a far
country ; but no sooner had he gone than his fellow-citizens
wished to get rid of him. The king returned, and commanded
those Avho had conspired against him to be brought before him.
and had them all put to death. ^ At other times he summarily
destroyed the illusions of the disciples. As they marched along
the stony roads to the north of Jerusalem, Jesus pensively pre-
ceded the group of his companions. All regarded him in silcnc^

Lute xix. 11. ^ Luke xxiL tH, and fol-r-w'-oy.

Matt. XX. 20, ai
* Luke xix 12-2;

258 LIFE OF JESUS.

experiencing a feeling of fear, and not daring to interrogate lilm.
Already, on various occasions, lie had spoken to tliem of his
future sufferings, and they had listened to him reluctantly.l Jesus
at last spoke to them, and no longer concealing his presentiments,
discoursed to them of his approaching end.2 There was great
sadness in the whole company. The disciples were expecting soon
to see the sign appear in the clouds. The inaugural cry of the
kingdom of God : " Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the
Lord/'3 resounded already in joyous accents in their ears. The
fearful prospect he foreshadowed, troubled them. At each step of
the fatal road, the kinodom of God became nearer or more remote

' CD

in the mirage of their dreams. As to Jesus, he became confirmed
in the idea that lie was about to die, but that his death would
save the world.* The misunderstanding between him and his dis-
ciples became greater each moment.

The custom was to come to Jerusalem several days before the
Passover, in order to prepare for it. Jesus arrived late, and at one
time his enemies thought they were frustrated in their hope of
seizing him.^ The sixth day before the feast (Saturday, 8th of
Nisan, equal to the 28th March) G he at last reached Bethany. He
entered, according to his custom, the house of Lazarus, Martha
and Mary, or of Simon the leper. They gave him a great recep-
tion. There was a dinner at Simon the leper's,^ where many
persons were assembled, drawn thither by the desire of seeing
him, and also of seeing Lazarus, of whom for some time so many
things had been related. Laz'arus was seated at the table, and
attracted much attention. Martha served, according to her
custom.8 It seems that they sought, by an increased show of

^ Matt. xvi. 21, and following ; Mark viii. 31, and following.
2 Matt. XX. 17, and following; Mark s. 31, and following; Luke xviii. 81, and
following.

2 Matt, xxiii. 39 ; Luke xiii. 35.

* Matt. XX. 23. c JoJ^q ^i. 56.

^ The Passover was celebrated on the I4tli of Kisan. Kow in the year 33, the
3st of Nisan corresponded with Saturday, 21st of March.
" Matt. xxvi. 6 ; Mark xiv. 3. Cf. Luke vii. 40, 43, 44.

* It iacuatrrrory. in the east, for a person who is attached to any one bj a tie

LIFE OF JESUS. 2.*)0

vespect, to overcome tiie coolness of the public, aiul to assert the
high dignity of their guest. Mary, in order to give to the event a
more festive apjDcarance, entered during dinner, bearing a vase of
perfume which she poured upon the feet of Jesus. She afterwards
broke the vase, according to an ancient custom by which the vessel
that had been employed in the entertainment of a stranger of dis-
tinction was broken. 1 Then, to testify her worship in an extraor-
dinary manner, she prostrated herself at the feet of her Master
and wiped them with her long hair.2 AH the house was filled with
the odour of the perfume, to the great delight of every one except
the avaricious Judas of Kerioth. Considering the economical habits
of the community, this was certainly prodigality. The greedy
treasurer calculated immediately how much the perfume might
have been sold for, and what it would have realised for the
poor. This not very affectionate feeling, which seemed to place
something above Jesus, dissatisfied him. He liked to "be honoured,
for honours served his aim and established his title of Son of
David. Therefore, when they spoke to him of the poor, he replied
rather sharply : " Ye have the poor always with you ; but me ye
have not always." And, exalting himself, he promised immortality
to the woman, who in this critical moment gave him a token of love.3
The next day, (Sunday, 9th of Nisan,) Jesus descended from
Bethany to Jerusalem.^ When, at a bend of the road, upon the
summit of the Mount of Olives, he saw the city spread before him,
it is said he wept over it, and addressed to it a last appeal.5 At
the base of the mountain, at some steps from the gate, on entering
the neighbouring portion of the eastern wall of the city, which was
called Betliphage, no doubt on account of the fig-trees with which

of affection or of domesticity, to attend upon biin when he goes to eat at the
house of another.

' I have seen this custom still practised at Sour, (Zoar.)

2 We must remember that the feet of the guests were not, as amongst us, cou-
cealed under the table, but extended on a level with the body on the divan, oc
triclinium.

" Matt. xxvi. 6, and following; Mark xiv. 3, and following; John xi. 2, xii. 2,
and following. Compare Luke vii. 36, and following.

* John xii. 12. ^ Luke xix. 41, and f.»Ilawing.

S6() LIFE OF JESUS.

it was planted,! he had experienced a momentary pleasm'e.2
His arrival was noised abroad. The Galileans who had come to
the feast were highly elated, and prepared a little triumph for
him. An ass was brought to him, followed, according to custom, by
its colt. The Galileans spread their finest garments upon the back
of this humble animal as saddle-cloths, and seated him thereon-
Others, however, spread their garments upon the road, and strewed
it with green branches. The multitude which preceded and fol-
lowed him, carrying palms, cried : " Hosanna to the son of David !
Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord !" Some
persons even gave him the title of king of Israel. 3 " Master,
rebuke thy disciples," said the Pharisees to him. "If these should
Aold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out/' replied
Jesus, and he entered into the city. The Hierosolymites, who
scarcely knew him, asked who he was : *' It is Jesus, the prophet
of Nazareth, in Galilee,'^ was the reply. Jerusalem was a city of
about 50,000 souls.4 A trifling event, such as the entrance of a
stranger, however little celebrated, or the arrival of a band of
provincials, or a movement of people to the avenues of the city,
could not fail, under ordinary circumstances, to be quickly noised
about. But at the time of the feast, the confusion was extreme.^
Jerusalem at these times was taken possession of by strangers. It
was amongst the latter that the excitement appears to have been

^ Mislmah, Me7iachoth, xi. 2; Tcalm. of Bab., Sanhedrim, lib; Pesachim, 63 b,
91 a ; Sola, 45 a ; Baba metsia, 85 a. It follows from these passages that Beth-
phage was a kind oi ponnvrium, which extended to the foot of the eastern base-
ment of the temple, and which had itself its wall of inclosure. The passages
Matt, xxi. 1, Mark xi. 1, Luke xix. 29, do not plainly imply that Bethphage was a
village, as Eusebius and St Jerome have supposed.

2 Matt. xxi. 1, and following; Mark xi. 1, and following; Luke xix. 29, and
following ; John xii. 12, and following.

3 Luke xix. 38 ; John xii. 13.

^ The number of 120,000, given by Hecatajus, (in Josephus, Contra Apinn, i. xxii.,)
appears exaggerated. Cicero speaks of Jerusalem as of a paltry little town, {A d
^i-iclcam, II. ix.) The ancient boundaries, whichever calculation we adopt, do not
rJJow of a population quadruple of that of the present time, which does not reach
1.^,000. See Eobinson, Pyibl. Pes., i. 421, 422, (2nd edition ;) Fergusson, Topo(/r. o/
icrus., p. 51 ; Forster, Syria and Palestine, p. 82.

^ Jos., B.J, n. xiv. 3, vr. ix. ?

LIFE OF JESUS. 261

niost lively. Some proselytes, speaking Greek, who had come to the
feast, had their curiosity piqued, and wished to see Jesus. They
addressed themselves to his disciples ;l but we do not know the
result of the interview. Jesus, according to his custom, went to
pass the night at his beloved village of Bethany .2 The three fol-
lowing days, (Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday,) he descended
regularly to Jerusalem ; and, after the setting of the sun, he
returned either to Bethany, or to the farms on the western side
of the Mount of OHves, where he had many friends.^

A deep melancholy appears, during these last days, to have
filled the soul of Jesus, who was generally so joyous and serene.
All the narratives agree m relating that, before his arrest, he
underwent a short experience of doubt and trouble ; a kind of
anticipated agony. According to some, he suddenly exclaimed,
"Now is my soul troubled. 0 Father save me from this hour."^
It was believed that a voice from heaven was heard at this mo-
ment : others said that an ansjel came to console him.5 Accordinir
to one widely-spread version, the incident took place in the garden
of Gethsemane. Jesus, it was said, went about a stone's throw
from his sleeping disciples, taking with him only Peter and the
two sons of Zebedee, and fell on his face and prayed His soul
was sad even unto death , a terrible anguish weighed upon him ;
but resignation to the divine will sustained him.6 This scene,
owing to the instinctive art which regulated the compilation of
the synoptics, and often led them in the arrangement of the narra-
tive to study adaptability and effect, has been given as occurring
on the last night of the life of Jesus, and at the precise moment
of his arrest. If this versicn were the true one, we should scarcely

^ John xii. 20, and following. ^ Matt. xxi. 17 ; Mark xi. 11.

3 Matt. xxi. 17, 18 ; Mark xi. 11, 12, 19 ; Luke xxi. 37, 38.

^ John xii. 27, and following. We can easily imagine that the exalted tone of
John, and his exclusive pre-occupation with the divine character of Jesus, may
have effaced from the narrative the circumstances of natural weakness related l)y
the synoptics.

5 Luke xxii. 43 ; John xii. 28, 29.

^ Matt. xxvi. 36, and following ; Mark xiv. 32, and following ; Luke xxii. 39,
an<l following.

262 LIFE OF JESUS.

understand why John, who had been the intimate witness of so
touching an episode, should not mention it in the very circumstan-
tial narrative which he has furnished of the evening of the Thurs-
rhy.'^ All that we can safely say is, that, during his last days, the
enormous weight of the mission he had accepted pressed cruelly
/.pen Jesus. Human nature asserted itself for a time. Per-
haps he began to hesitate about his work. Terror and doubt
took possession of him, and threw him into a state of exhaustion
worse than death. He who has sacrificed his repose, and the
legitimate rewards of life, to a great idea, always experiences a
feeling of revulsion when the image of death presents itself to him
for the first time, and seeks to persuade him that all has been in
vain. Perhaps some of those touching reminiscences which the
strongest souls preserve, and which at times pierce like a sword,
came upon him at this moment. Did he remember the clear
fountains of Galilee where he was wont to refresh himself ; the
vine and the fig-tree under which he had reposed, and the young
maidens who, perhaps, would have consented to love him ? Did
he curse the hard destiny which had denied him the joys conceded
to all others ? Dia lie regret his too lofty nature, and, victim of
his greatness, did he mourn that he had not remained a simple
artizan of Nazareth ? We know not. For all these internal
troubles evidently were a sealed letter to his disciples. They
understood nothing of them, and supplied by simple conjectures
that which in the great soul of their Master was obscure to them.
It is certain, at least, that his divine nature soon regained the
supremacy. He might still have avoided death; but he would
not. Love for his work sustained him. He was willing to drink
the cup to the dregs. Henceforth we behold Jesus entirely him-
self; his character unclouded. The subtleties of the polemic, the
creduhty of the thaumaturgus and of the exorcist are forgotten.

^ This is the less to be understood, as John is aflfectedly particular in noticing
tiie circumstances which were personal to him, or of which he had been the oiJy
witness, (xiii. 23, and following, xviii. 15, and following, xix. 26, and following,
35, XX. 2, and following, xxi. 20, and following.)

JAFK OF JEbUS. ?j3

There remains only the incomparable hero of the Passion, the
founder of the rights of free conscience, and the complete model
which all suffering souls will contemplate in order to fortify and
console themselves.

The triumph of Bethphage — that bold act of the provincials in
celebrating at the very gates of Jerusalem the advent of their
Messiah- King — completed the exasperation of the Pharisees and
the aristocracy of the temple. A new council was held on the Wed-
nesday (12th of Nisan) in the house of Joseph Kaiapha.l The
immediate arrest of Jesus was resolved upon. A great idea of
order and of conservative policy governed all their plans. The
desire was to avoid a scene. As the feast of the Passover, which
commenced that year on the Friday evening, was a time of bustle
and excitement, it was resolved to anticipate it. Jesus being
popular,2 tliey feared an outbreak ; the arrest was therefore fixed
for the next day, Thursday. It was resolved, also, not to seize
him in the temple, where he came every day,3 but to observe his
habits, in order to seize him in some retired place. The agents of
the priests sounded his disciples, ho]_3ing to obtain useful informa-
tion from their weakness or their simplicity. They found what
they sought in Judas of Kerioth. This wretch, actuated by
motives impossible to explain, betrayed his Master, gave all the
necessary information, and even undertook himself (although such
an excess of vileness is scarcely credible) to guide the troop which
was to effect his arrest. The ren;embrance of horror which the
folly or the wickedness of this man has left in the Christian
tradition has doubtless given rise to some exaggeration on this
point. Judas until then had been a disciple like the others ; he
had even the title of apostle ; and he had performed miracles and
driven out demons. Legend, which always uses strong and decisive
language, describes the occupants of the little supper-room as eleven
saints and one reprobate. Eeality does not proceed by such abso-
lute categories. Avarice, which the synoptics give as tlie motive

1 IMatt. xxvi. 1,5; Mark xiv. 1, 2 ; Luke xxii. 1, 2.
- Matt. xxi. 4ti. '^ Matt xxvi r,r).

264 LIFE OF JESUS.

of the crime in question, does not suffice to explain it. It would
be very singular if a man who kept the purse, and who knew what
he would lose by the death of his chief, were to abandon the profits
of his occupation^ in exchange for a very small sum of money.2
Had the self-love of Judas been wounded by the rebuff which he
had received at the dinner at Bethauy? Even that would not
explain his conduct. John would have us regard him as a thief,
an unbeliever from the beginning,^ for which, however, there is no
probability. We would rather ascribe it to some feeling of jealousy
or to some dissension amongst the disciples. The peculiar
hatred John manifests towards Judas^ confirms this hypothesis.
Less pure in heart than the others, Judas had, from the very
nature of his office, become unconsciously narrow-minded. By a
caprice very common to men engaged in active duties, he had
come to regard the interests of the treasury as superior even to
those of the work for which it was intended. The treasurer had
overcome the apostle. The murmurings which escaped him at
Bethany seem to indicate that sometimes he thought the Master
cost his spiritual family too dear. No doubt this mean economy
had caused many other collisions in the little society.

Without denying that Judas of Kerioth may have contributed
to the arrest of his Master, we still believe that the curses with
which he is loaded are somewhat unjust. There was, perhaps,
in his deed more awkwardness than perversity. The moral con-
science of the man of the people is quick and correct, but
unstable and inconsistent. It is at the mercy of the impulse of
the moment. The secret societies of the republican party were
characterised by much earnestness and sincerity, and yet their
denouncers weie very numerous. A trifling spite sufficed to con-
vert a partisan into a traitor. But if the foolish desire for a few
pieces of silver turned the head of poor Judas, he does not seem

^ John xii. 6.

' Johu docs not even speak of a payment in money.

3 .T(jhn vi. 6o, xii. 0.

•» John vi. G5. 71. 7-. xii. C. xili. 2. 27. and following.

LIFE OF JESUS. 265

to have lost the moral sentiment completely, since when he had
seen tlie consequences of his fault he repented,"^ and, it is said,
killed himself.

Each moment of this eventful period is solenm, and counts
more than whole ages in the history of humanity. We have ar-
rived at the Thursday, 13th of Nisan, (2nd April.) The evening of
the next day commenced the festival of the Passover, begun by
the feast in which the Paschal lamb was eaten. The festival con-
tinued for seven days, during which unleavened bread was eaten.
The first and the last of these seven days were peculiarly solemn.
The disciples were already occupied with preparations for the feast.2
As to Jesus, we are led to believe that he knew of the treachery of
Judas, and that he suspected the fate that awaited him. In the
evening he took his last repast with his disciples. It was not the
ritual feast of the passover, as was afterwards supposed, owing to
an error of a day in reckoning,3 but for the primitive church
this supper of the Thursday was the true passover, the seal of the
new covenant. Each disciple connected with it his most cherished
remembrances, and numerous touching traits of the Master which
each one preserved were associated with this repast, which became
the corner-stone of Christian piety, and the starting-point of the
most fruitful institutions.

Doubtless the tender love which filled the heart of Jesus for the
little church which surrounded him overflowed at this moment,^
and his strong and serene noul became buoyant, even under the
weight of the gloomy preoccupations that beset him. He had
a word for each of his friends ; two among them especially, John
and Peter, were the objects of tender marks of attachment. John

^ Matt, xxvii. 3, and following.

" Matt. xxvi. 1, and following ; Mark xiv. 12 ; Luke xxii. 7 ; John xiii. 29.

2 This is the system of the synoptics, (Matt. xxvi. 17, and following; Mark
xiv. 12, and following; Luke xxii. 7, and following, 15.) But John, whose narra-
tive of this portion has a greater authority, expressly states that Jesus died the
Bame day on which the Paschal lamb was eaten (xiii. 1,2, 29, xviii. 28, xix. 14, 31.)
The Talmud also makes Jesus to dia " on the eve of the Passover," (Talm. of Bab ,
Sanhedrim, 43 a <J7 a.\

" John xiii. 1, :u:(' follow irg.

26G LIFE OF JESUS.

(at least according to liis own account) was reclining on the divan,
by the side of Jesus, his head resting upon the breast of the Master.
Towards the end of the repast, the secret which weighed upon the
heart of Jesus almost escaped him : he said, " Verily I say unto
you, that one of you shall betray me."l To these simple men this
was a moment of anguish ; they looked at each other, and each
questioned himself. Judas was present ; perhaps Jesus, who had
for some time had reasons to suspect him, sought by this expres-
sion to draw from his looks or from his embarrassed manner the
confession of his fault. But the unfaithful disciple did not lose
countenance ; he even dared, it is said, to ask with the others :
" Master, is it I V

Meanwhile, the good and upright soul of Peter was in torture.
He made a sign to John to endeavour to ascertain of whom the
Master spoke. John, who could converse with Jesus without
being heard, asked him the meaning of this enigma. Jesus having
only suspicions, did not wish to pronounce any name ; he only
told John to observe to whom he was going to offer a sop. At
the same time, he soaked the bread and offered it to Judas. John
and Peter alone had cognizance of the fact. Jesus addressed to
Judas words which contained a bitter reproach, but which were
not understood by those present ; and he left the company. They
thought that Jesus was simply giving him orders for the morrow's
feast. 2

At the time, this repast struck no one; and apart from the
apprehensions which the Master confided to his disciples, who only
half understood them, nothing extraordinary took place. But
after the death of Jesus, they attached to this evening a singularly
solemn meaning, and the imagination of believers spread a colour-
ing of sweet mysticism over it. The last hours of a cherished
friend are those we best remember. By an inevitable illusion, we

^ Matt. xxvi. 21, and following; Mark xiv. 18, and following; Luke xx. 21,
and following; John xiii. 21, and following, xxi. 20.

- John xiii. 21, and following, which shews the improbabilities of the narrative
of the synoptics.

LIFE OF JESrS. 207

attribute to tlie conversations we have then had with him
a meaning which death alone gives to ihem ; we concentrate into
a few hours the memories of many years. The greater part of
the disciples saw their Master no more after the supper of which
we have just spoken. It was the farewell banquet. In this
repast, as in many others, Jesus practised his mysterious rite of
the breaking of bread. As it was early believed that the repast
in question took place on the day of the Passover, and was the
Paschal feast, the idea naturally arose that the Eucharistic institu-
tion was established at this supreme moment. Starting from the
hypothesis that Jesus knew beforehand the precise moment of his
death, the disciples were led to suppose that he reserved a number
of important acts for his last hours. As, moreover, one of the
fundamental ideas of the first Christians was that the death of
Jesus had been a sacrifice, replacing all those of the ancient
Law, the '' Last Supper," which was supposed to have taken place,
once for all, on the eve of the Passion, became the supreme sacri-
fice— the act which constituted the new alliance — the sign of the
blood shed for the salvation of all.i The bread and wine, placed
in connexion with death itself, were thus the image of the new
testament that Jesus had sealed with his sufferings — the com-
memoration of the sacrifice of Christ until his advent. 2

Very early this mystery was embodied in a small sacramental
narrative, which we possess under four forms,3 very similar to one
another. John, preoccupied with the Eucharistic ideas, 4 and who
relates the Last Supper with so much prolixity, connecting with it
^0 many circumstances and discourses,^ — and who was the only
one of the evangelists whose testimony on this point has the value
of an eye-witness, does not mention this narrative. This is a proof
that he did not regard the Eucharist as a peculiarity of the Lord's
Supper. Eor him the special rite of the Last Supper was the washing
of feet. It is probable that in certain primitive Christian families

1 Luke xxii. 20. ^ i Cor. xi. 2G.

■^ Matt. xxvi. 2G-2S: Mark ^iv. 22-21; Luke xxii. 19-21 ; 1 Cor. xi. 23-25.

* Chap, vi, ^ Chaps, xiij-xvij.

208 LIFE OF JESUS.

this latter rite obtained an importance which it has since lost^
No doubt, Jesus, on some occasions, had practised it to give his
disciples an example of brotherly humility. It was connected
with the eve of his death, in consequence of the tendency to
group around the Last Suppcir all the great moral and ritual re-
commendations of Jesus.

A high sentiment of love, of concord, of charity, and of mu-
tual deference, animated, moreover, the remembrances which were
cherished of the last hours of Jesus.2 It is always the unity of
his Church, constituted by him or by his Spirit, which is the soul of
the symbols and of the discourses which Christian tradition
referred to this sacred moment: "A new commandment I give
unto you," said he, " that ye love one another ; as I have loved
you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know
that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. Hence-
forth I call you not servants ; for the servant knoweth not what
his lord doeth : but I have called you friends ; for all things that
I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. These
things I command you, that ye love one another." 3 At this last
moment there were again evoked rivalries and struggles for
precedence.'* Jesus remarked, that if he, the Master, had been in
the midst of his disciples as their servant, how much more ought
they to submit themselves to one another. According to some,
in drinking the wine, he said, "I wUl not drink henceforth of
this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you
in my Father's kingdom." 5 According to others, he promised

1 Joliu xiii. 14, 15. Cf. Matt. xx. 26, and following; Luke xxii. 26, and fol-
lowi':g.

2 John xiii. 1, and following. The discourses placed by John after the narrative
of the Last Supper cannot be taken as historical. They are full of peculiarities and
of expressions which are not in the style of the discourses of Jesus ; and which,
on the contrary, are very similar to the habitual language of John. Thus the ex-
pression "little children" in the vocative (John xiii. 33) is very frequent in the
First Epistle of John. It does not appear to have been familiar to Jesvis.

2 John xiii. 33-35, xv. 12-17.

* Luke xxii. 24-27. Cf. John xiii. 4, and folio. ving.

* M;iU. XXV i. 29: ]\rark xlv. 25; Luke xxii 18.

LIFE OF JESUS. 2G9

them soon a celestial feast, where they woukl be seated on thrones
at his side.l

It seems that, towards the end of the evening, the presentiments
of Jesus took hold of the disciples. All felt that a very serious
danger threatened the Master, and that they were approaching a
crisis. At one time Jesus thought of precautions, and spoke of
swords. There were two in the company. " It is enough," sai(/
he.2 He did not, however, follow out this idea ; he saw clearly
that timid provincials would not stand before the armed force
of the great powers of Jerusalem. Peter, full of zeal, and feeling
sure of himself, swore that he would go with him to prison and to
death. Jesus, with his usual acuteness, expressed doubts about
him. According to a tradition, which probably came from Peter
himself, Jesus declared that Peter would deny him before the
crowing of the cock. All, like Peter, swore that they would
remain faithful to him. 3

1 Luke xxii. 29, 30. ^ Luke sxU. 36-?8.

* Matt. xxvi. 31. and following; Mark xiv. 29, and followiDg; Luke xxiL S3
txid following ; John xiii. 36, and folio wiiu*

CHAPTER XXIV.

ARREST AND TRIAL OF JESUS.

It was iiiglitfall ^ when they left the room.2 Jesus, according w
his custom, i3assed through the valley of Kedron ; and, accom-
panied by his disciples, went to the garden of Gethsemaue, at the
foot of the Mount of Olives,^ and sat down there. Overawing his
friends by his inherent greatness, he watched and prayed. They were
sleeping near him, when all at once an armed troop appeared bearing
lighted torches. It was the guards of the temple, armed with
staves, a kind of police under the control of the priests. They
were supported by a detachment of Koman soldiers with their
swords. The order for the arrest emanated from the high priest
and the Sanhedrim.'* Judas, knowing the habits of Jesus, had
indicated this place as the one where he might most easily be sur-
prised. Judas, according to the unanimous tradition of the earliest
times, accompanied the detachment himself; 5 and according to
some,6 he carried his hateful conduct even to betraying him
by a kiss. However this may be, it is certain that there was some

1 John xiii. 30.

- Th3 singing of a religious bymn, related by Matt. xxvi. 30, and Mark xiv. 26,.
proceeds from the opinion entertained by these two evangelists that the last repast
of Jesus .was the Paschal feast. Before and after the Paschal feast, psalms were
Bung. Talra. of Bab., Pcsachim, cap. ix. hal. 3, and fol. 118 a, &c.

- Matt. xxvi. 3C; Mark xiv. 32; Luke xxii. 39; John xviii. ], 2.
* Matt. xxvi. 47; Mark xiv. 43; John xviii. 3, 12.

5 ]\ratt. xxvi. 47; Mark xiv. 43 ; Luke xxii. 47 ; John xviii. 3; Acts i. 16,
" This is the tradition of the gyuoptics. In the narrative of Johr, Jesus declares
blinselt.

LltE OP JESUS. Z71

show of resistance on the part of the discijoles.l One of them
(Peter, according to eye-witnesses 2) drew his sword, and wounded
the ear of one of the servants of the high priest, named Malchus.
Jesus restrained this opposition, and gave himself up to the
soldiers. Weak and incapable of effectual resistance, especially
against authorities who had so much prestige, the disciples took
flight, and became dispersed ; Peter and John alone did not
lose sight of their Master. Another unknown young man followed
him, covered with a light garment. They sought to arrest him,
but the young man fled, leaving his tunic in the hands of the
guards.3

The course which the priests had resolved to take against Jesus
was quite in conformity with the establislied law. The procedure
against the "corrupter," (mesitli,) who sought to injure the purity
of religion, is explained in the Talmud, with details, the naive
impudence of which provokes a smile. A judicial ambush is there
made an essential part of the examination of criminals. When a
man was accused of being a " corrupter," two witnesses were sub-
orned who were concealed behind a partition. It was arranged to
bring the accused into a contiguous room, where he could be heard
by these two without his perceiving them. Two candles were
lighted near him, in order that it might be satisfactorily proved
that the witnesses " saw him."''* He was then made to repeat his
blasphemy, and urged to retract it. If he persisted, the witnesses
who had heard him conducted him to the tribunal, and he was
stoned to death. The Talmud adds, that this was the manner in
which they treated Jesus ; that he was condemned on the faith of
two witnesses who had been suborned, and that the crime of
" corruption " is moreover the only one for which the witnesses
are thiis prepared, s

^ The two traditions are agreed on this point. 2 John xviii. 10.

« Markxiv. 51, 52.

•* In criminal matters, eye-witnesses alone were admitted. !Mishnah, Sanhedrim,
lv.5.

* Talin. of Jcrus., Sanhedrim, xiv. 16; Talm. of Bab., same treatise, 43 a, 67 a.
Ct Shabhath, lOih.

■«.

27 2 LIFE OF JESTJS.

We learn from the disciples of Jesus themselves that the crime
with which their Master was charged was that of " corruption ; " ^
and apart from some minutise, the fruit of the rabbinical imagina-
tion, the narrative of the Gospels corresponds exactly with the pro-
cedure described by the Talmud. The plan of the enemies of Jesus
was to convict him, by the testimony of witnesses and by his own
avowals, of blasphen\y, and of outrage against the Mosaic religion, to
condemn him to death according to law, and then to get the con-
demnation sanctioned by Pilate. The priestly authority, as we have
already seen, was in reality entirely in the hands of Hanan. The
order for the arrest probably came from him. It was before this
powerful personage that Jesus was first brought. 2 Hanan questioned
him as to his doctrine and his disciples. Jesus, with proper pride, re-
fused to enter into long explanations. He referred Hanan to his
teachings, which had been public; he declared he had never held any
secret doctrine ; and desired the ex-high priest to interrogate those
who had listened to him. This answer was perfectly natural ; but
the exaggerated respect with which the old priest was surrounded
made it appear audacious ; and one of those present replied to ifc,
it is said, by a blow.

Peter and John had followed their Master to the dwelling of
Hanan. John, who was known in the house, was admitted with-
out difficulty ; but Peter was stopped at the entrance, and John
was obliged to beg the porter to let him pass. The night was
cold. Peter stopped in the antechamber, and approached a brasier,
around which the servants were warming themselves. He was
soon recognised as a disciple of the accused. The unfortunate
man, betrayed by his Galilean accent, and pestered by questions
from the servants, one of whom, a kinsman of Malchus, had
seen him at Gethsemane, denied thrice that he had ever had
the least connexion with Jesus. He thought that Jesus could not
bear him, and never imagined that this cowardice, which he sought

^ Matt, xxvii, 63; John vii. 12, 47.

^ John xviii. 13, and following. This circumstance, which we only find in John,
ii the Btrcjigest uroof of the historic value of the fourth Gospel

LIFE OF JESUS. 273

to hide by his dissimulation, was exceedingly dishonourable. But
his better nature soon revealed to him the fault he had com-
mitted. A fortuitous circumstance, the crowing of the cock,
recalled to him a remark that Jesus had made. Touched to the
heart, he went out and wept bitterly.!

Hanan, although the true author of the judicial murder
about to be accomplished, had not power to pronou^ice the
sentence upon Jesus ; he sent him to his son-in-law, Kaiapha, who
bore the official title. This man, the blind instrument of his
father-in-law, would naturally ratify everything that had been
done. The Sanhedrim was assembled at his house.2 The inquiry
commenced; and several witnesses, prepared beforehand accord-
ing to the inquisitorial process described in the Talmud, ap-
peared before the tribunal. The fatal sentence which Jesus
had really uttered : *' I am able to destroy the temple of God
and to build it in three days," was cited by two witnesses. To
blaspheme the temple of God was, according to the Jewish law,
to blaspheme God himself.3 Jesus remained silent, and refused
to explain the incriminated speech. If we may believe one version,
the high-priest then adjured him to say if he were the Messiah ;
Jesus confessed it, and proclaimed before the assembly the near
app'oach of his heavenly reign.^ The courage of Jesus, who had
resolved to die, renders this narrative superfluous. It is probable
that here, as when before Hanan, he remained silent. This was
in ireneral his rule of conduct durinG: his last moments. The
sentence was settled ; and they only sought for pretexts. Jesus
felt this, and did not undertake a useless defence. In the light of
orthodox Judaism, he was truly a blasphemer, a destroyer of the
established worship. Now these crimes were punished by the law
with death.5 With one voice, the assembly declared him guilty

^ Matt. xxvi. 69, and following; Mark xiv. 66, and following; Luke xxii. 54,
and following; John xviii. 15, and following, 25, and following.

" Matt. xvi. 57 ; Mark xiv. 53 ; Luke xxii. 66.

^ Matt, xxiii. 16, and following.

■* Matt. xxvi. 64; Mark xiv. 62; Luke xxii. 69. John knows notliir.g of thia
iiceud. * Levit. xxlv. 14, and following; Deut. xiii. 1, and i'oll.avlug.

M.

274 LIFE OF JESUS.

of a capital crime. The members of the council who secretly
leaned to him, were absent or did not vote.l The frivolity whicli
characterises old established aristocracies, did not permit -the
judges to reflect long upon the consequences of the sentence
they had passed. Human life was at that time very lightly sacri-
ficed ; doubtless the members of the Sanhedrim did not dream
that their sons would have to render account to an angry posterity
for the sentence pronounced with such careless disdain.

The Sanhedrim had not the rioht to execute a sentence of

o

death.2 But in the confusion of powers which then reigned in
Judea, Jesus was, from that moment, none the less condemned.
He remained the rest of the night exposed to the ill treatment
of an infamous pack of servants, who spared him no indignity.3

In the morning the chief priests and the elders again assembled.^
The point was, to get Pilate to ratify the condemnation pronounced
by the Sanhedrim, which, since the occupation of the Eomans,
was no longer sufficient. The procurator was not invested, like
the imperial legate, with the disposal of life and death. But
Jesus was not a Eoman citizen ; it only required the authorisation
of the governor in order that the sentence pronounced against
him should take its course. As always happens, when a political
people subjects a nation in which the civil and the religious
laws are confounded, the Romans had been brought to give to the
Jewish law a sort of official support. The Roman law did not
apply to Jews. The latter remained under the canonical law
which we find recorded in the Talmud, just as the Arabs in
Algeria are still governed by the code of Islamism. Although
neutral in religion, the Romans thus very often sanctioned penalties
inflicted for religious faults. The situation was nearly that of the
sacred cities of India under the English dominion, or rather that
which would be the state of Damascus if Syria were conquered by
a European nation. Josephus asserts, though this may be doubted,

1 Luke xxiii, 50, 51. ^ John xviii. 31 ; Jos., Ant., xx. ix. 1.

^ Matt. xxvi. 67, 68 ; Mark xiv. 65 ; Luke xxii. 63-65.

* Matt, xxvii. 1 ; Mark xv. 1 ; Luke xxii. 66, xxiii. 1; John xviii. 28.

LIFE OF JESUS. 27 o

that if a lloman trespassed beyond the pillars which bore inscrip-
lions forbidding pagans to advance, the Eomans themselves would
have delivered him to the Jews to be put to death.l

The agents of the priests therefore bound Jesus and led him to
the judginent-liall, which was the former palace of Herod,2 adjoinin:*
the Tower of Antonia.3 It was the morning of the day on which the
Paschal Iamb was to be eaten, (Friday the 14th of Nisan, our 3d of
April.) The Jews would have been defiled by entering the judg-
ment-hall, and would not have been able to share in the sacred
feast. They therefore remained without.^ Pilate being informed
of their presence, ascended the bima ^ or tribunal, situated in the
open air,^ at the place named Gabhatha, or in Greek, Lithostrotos,
on account of the pavement which covered the ground.

He had scarcely been informed of the accusation, before he
displayed his annoyance at being mixed up with this affair.7 He
then shut himself up in the judgment-hall with Jesus. There a
conversation took place, the precise details of which are lost, no
witness having been able to repeat it to the disciples, but the tenor
of which appears to have been well divined by John. His narra-
tive, in fact, perfectly accords with what history teaches us of the
mutual position of the two interlocutors.

The procurator, Pontius, surnamed Pilate, doubtless on account
of the pilum or javelin of honour with which he or one of Iris
ancestors was decorated,^ had hitherto had no relation with the
now sect. Indifferent to the internal quarrels of the Jews, he only
saw in all these movements of sectaries, the results of intemperate

Jos., Ant., XV. xi. 5 ; B. J., vi. ii. 4.

Philo, Legatio ad Ca'ium, § 38. Jos., B. J., ii, xiv. 8.

* The exact place now occupied by the seraglio of the Pacha of Jerusalercu

* John xviii. 28.

^ The Greek word Brjfia had passed into the Syro-Chaldaic,

* Jos., B. J., II. ix. 3, xiv. 8; Matt, xxvii. 27 ; John xviii. 33.
' John xviii. 29.

•^ Yirg., -^n., XII. 121; Martial, Bingr., i. xxxii., x. xlviii.; Plutarch, Life of
RottmIus, 29. Compare the hciiita I'iura, a military decoration. Orelli and Ilcnzen,
laser. Lat., Nos. 3574, 6852, &c. Pilatus is, on this hypothesis, a word of the
same form as TorquatVA

^76 LIFE OF JESirs.

imaginations and disordered brains. In general, he did not like the
Jews, but the Jews detested him still more. They thought him
hard, scornfid, and passionate, and accused him of improbable

crimes

Jerusalem, the centre of a great national fermentation, was
a very seditious city, and an insupportable abode for a fo-
reigner. The enthusiasts pretended that it was a fixed design of
the new procurator to abolish the Jewish law.2 Their narrow
fanaticism, and their religious hatreds, disgusted that broad sen-
timent of justice and civil government which the humblest
Eoman carried everywhere with him. All the acts of Pilate
which are known to us, shew him to have been a good adminis-
crator.3 In the earlier period of the exercise of his office, he had
difficulties with those subject to him which he had solved in a very
brutal manner ; but it seems that essentially he was right. The
Jews must have appeared to him a people behind the age ; he
doubtless judged them as a liberal prefect formerly judged the
Bas-Bretons, who rebelled for such trifling matters as a new road,
or the establishment of a school. In his best projects for the
good of the country, notably in those relating to public works,
he had encountered an impassable obstacle in the Law. The Law
restricted life to such a degree that it opposed all change, and all
amelioration. The Eoman structures, even the most useful ones,
were objects of great antipathy on the part of zealous Jews.^ Two
votive escutcheons with inscriptions, which he had set up at his
residence near the sacred precincts, provoked a still more violent
storm.5 Pilate at first cared little for these susceptibilities ; and
he was soon involved in sanguinary suppressions of revolt,6 which
afterwards ended in his removal.7 The experience of so many
Conflicts had rendered him very prudent in his relations with this
intractable people, which avenged itself upon its governors by

^ Philo, Leg. ad Caium, § 38. * Jos., Ant., xviii. iii. 1, init.

3 Jos., Ant, xviii. ii.-iv. * Talm. of Bab., Shabbath, 33 b.

^ Pbilo, Lcrf. ad Caium, § 38,

" Jos^ Ant, xvin. iii. 1 and 2 ; L'ell. Jud. ix. 2, and following; Lui'.exiii. 1»
^ Jos., Ant., XYiii. iv. 1, 2.

t.lFE OV JEStTS. 277

compelling tliciu to use towards it hateful severities. The pra
curator saw himself, with extreme displeasure, led to play a cruei
part in this new aftair, for the sake of a law he hated.l He
knew that religious fanaticism, w^ien it has obtained tlie sanction
of civil governments to some act of violence, is afterwards the first
to throw the responsibility upon the government, and almost accuses
them of being the author of it. Supreme injustice ; for the traa
culprit is, in such cases, the instigator !

Pilate, then, would have liked to save Jesus. Perhaps the digni-
fied and calm attitude of the accused made an impression upon
him. According to a tradition,2 Jesus found a supporter in
the wife of the procurator himself. She may have seen the gentle
Galilean from some window of the palace, overlooking the courts
of the temple. Perhaps she had seen him again in her dreams ;
and the idea that the blood of this beautiful young man was about
to be spilt, weighed upon her mind. Certain it is that Jesus found
Pilate prepossessed in his favour. The governor questioned him
with kindness, and with the desire to find an excuse for sending
him away pardoned.

The title of *' King of the Jews," which Jesus had never taken
upon himself, but which his enemies represented as the sum and
substance of his acts and pretensions, was naturally that by
which it was sought to excite the suspicions of the Eoman autho-
rity. They accused him on this ground of sedition, and of treason
against the government. Nothing could be more unjust ; for
Jesus had always recognised the Roman government as the estab-
lished power. But conservative religious bodies do not generally
shrink from calumny. Notwithstanding his own explanation, they
drew certain conclusions from his teaching ; they transformed him
into a disciple of Judas the Gaulonite; they pretended that he
forbade the payment of tribute to Caisar.3 Pilate asked him if
be was really the king of the Jews.4 Jesus concealed nothing of
what he thought. But the great ambiguity of speech which bad

' John xviii. 35. " Matt, xxvii. 19. " Luke xxiii 2, 5.

* Matt, xxvii. 11 ; Mark xv. 2; Luke xxiii. 3; JJau xv'.'n. oo

278 LIFE OF JESUS.

been the source of his strength, and which, after his death, was to
establish his kingship, injured him on this occasion. An ideahst
that is to say, not distinguishing the spirit from the substance, Jesus,
whose word.«, to use the image of the Apocalypse, were as a two-edged
sword, never completely satisfied the powers of earth. If we may
believe John, he avowed his royalty, but uttered at the same time
this profound sentence : " My kingdom is not of this world." He
explained the nature of his kingdom, declaring that it consisted
entirely in the possession and proclamation of truth. Pilate under-
stood notliiiig of this grand idealism. 1 Jesus doubtless impressed
him as being an inoffensive dreamer. The total absence of reli-
gious and philosophical proselytism among the Eomans of this
epoch made them regard devotion to truth as a chimera. Such
discussions annoyed them, and appeared to them devoid of mean-
ing. Not perceiving the element of danger to the empire that
lay hidden in these new speculations, they had no reason to em-
ploy violence against them. All their displeasure fell upon those
who asked them to inflict punishment for what appeared to them
to be vain subtleties. Tv/enty years after, Gallio stiU adopted the
same course towards the Jews.2 Until the fall of Jerusalem, the
rule which the Romans adopted in administration, was to remain
completely indifferent to these sectarian quarrels.^

An expedient suggested itself to the mind of the governor by
which he could reconcile his own feelings with the demands of the
fanatical people, whose pressure he had already so often felt. It
was the custom to deliver a prisoner to the people at the time of
the Passover. Pilate, knowing that Jesus had only been arrested
in consequence of the jealousy of the priests,^ tried to obtain for

^ John xviii. 38. 2 ^^^^ ^^m ^4^ 15

^ Tacitus {A7in., xv. 44) describes the death of Jesus a? a political execution by
Pcntius Pilate. But at the epoch in which Tacitus "wrote, the Roman policy ti>-
wards the Christians was chan^^ed ; they were held guilty of secretly conspiring
against the state. It was natural that the Latin historian should believe that
Pilate, in putting Jesus to death, had been actuated by a desire for the public
safety. Josephus is much more exact, {Ant, xviii. iii. 3.)
* Mark xv. 10

LTFE OF JESUS. 279

iiim the benefit of this custom. He appeared again upon the
bima, and proposed to the multitude to release the " King of the
Jews.'' The proposition made in these terms, though ironical,
"was characterised by a degree of liberality. The priests saw the
dang?.r of it. They acted promptly, i and in order to combat the
proposition of Pilate, they suggested to the crowd the name of a
prisoner w^ke enjoyed great popularity in Jerusalem. By a singu-
lar coincidence, he also was called Jesus, 2 and bore the surname
of Bar- Abba, or Bar-Kabban.3 He was a well-known personage, 4
and had been arrested for taking part in an uproar in which
murder had been committed. 5 A general clamour was raised,
" Not this man ; but Jesus Bar-Eabban;" and Pilate was obliged to
release Jesus Bar-Rabban.

His embarrassment increased. He feared that too much indul-
gence shown to a prisoner, to whom w^as given the title of " King
of the Jews," might compromise him. Fanaticism, moreover,
compels all powers to make terms mth it. Pilate thought him-
self obliged to make some concession ; but still hesitating to
shed blood, in order to satisfy men whom he hated, wished to
turn the thing into a jest. Affecting to laugh at the pompous
title they had given to Jesus, he caused him to be scourged.^
Scourging was the general preliminary of crucifixion.7 Perhaps
Pilate wished it to be believed that this sentence had already been
pronounced, hoping that the preliminary woidd suffice. Then
took place (according to all the narratives) a revolting scene. The
soldiers put a scarlet robe on his back, a crown formed of
branches of thorns upon his head, and a reed in his hand. Thus
attired, he was led to the tribunal in front of the people. The

^ Matt, xxvii. 20; Markxv. 11.

" The name of Jesus has disappeared in the greater part of the manuscripts
This reading has, nevertheless, very great authorities in its favour.

^ Matt, xxvii. IG. "* Cf. St Jerome. In Matt, xsvii. 16.

^ Mark xv. 7; Luke xxiii. 19. John, (xviii. 40,) who makes him a robber, ap-
pears here too much further from the truth than Mark.

" Matt, xxvii. 26; Mark xv. 15 ; John xix. 1.

" Jos., B. /., ir. xiv. 9, v. xi. 1, vii. vi 4 ; Titus-Livy, xxxiii r.t" ; QuintiLg
Curtius, VII. xi. 28.

-■^^ LIFE OF JESUS.

soldiers defiled before him, striking him in turn, and knelt to liim
saying, " Hail ! King of the Jews."l Others, it is said, spit upon
him, and struck his head with the reed. It is difficult to under-
stand how Roman dignity could stoop to acts so shameful. It is
true that Pilate, in the capacity of procurator, had under his com-
mand scarcely any but auxiliary troops.2 Roman citizens, as the
legionaries were, would not have degraded tliemselves by such
conduct.

Did Pilate thhik by tliis display tiiat he freed himself from
responsibility? Did he hope to turn aside the blow which
threatened Jesus by conceding something to the hatred of the
Jews,3 and by substituting for the tragic denouement a grotesque
termination, to make it appear that the alFair merited no other
issue ? If such were his idea, it was unsuccessful. The tumult in-
creased, and became an open riot. The cry " Crucify him ! Crucify
him !" resounded from all sides. The priests becoming increas-
ingly urgent, declared the law in peril if the corrupter were not
punished with death.4 Pilate saw clearly that to save Jesus lie
would have to put down a terrible disturbance. He still tried
however, to gain time. He returned to the judgment-hall, and
ascertained from what country Jesus came, with the hope of
finding a pretext for declaring his inability to adjudicate.5 Ac-
cordmg to, one tradition, he even sent Jesus to Antipas, who it is
said, was then at Jerusalem.6 Jesus took no part in these weU-

M.-,tt. Hvii, 2?, and following; Mark kv. 16, and following; Luke xxiii 11 •
Johniix. 2, and following. ^ ^^uiie mm. ll,

' See Iiucrlpt. Itom. of Algei-ia, No. 5, fragm. B,

^ Luke xxiii. 10, 22. 4 t i • -

. T 1 . John XIX. 7.

John XIX. 9. Cf, Luke .^xiii. 6, and following.
"It IS probable that this is a first attempt at a "Harmony of the Gospel, "
Luke must have had before him a narrative in which the death of J„s
e^oneously attributed to Herod. In order not to sacrifice this vers on J: tr ;

he TobarrVT ""^ *'", '"° '"''"™=- ^''■■" »=''=- ">- ■"»« likely is, that
he probably had a vague knowledge that Jesus (as John teaches us) appeared

ot the facts wh,ch are peculiar to the narration of John. Moreover the third
gospel eontan. in it. history of the Crucifixion a series of addilrivlich tt^

LIFE OF JESUS. 281

meant efforts; lie maiiiiaiiied, as he had done before Kai'apha, a
grave and dignified silence, which astonished Pilate. The cries
from without became more and more menacing. The people had
already begun to denounce the lack of zeal in the functionary who
protected an enemy of Ccesar. The greatest adversaries of the
Eoman rule were suddenly transformed into loyal subjects of
Tiberius, that they might have the right of accusing the too tole-
rant procurator of treason. " We have no king," said they, " but
Caesar. If thou let this man go, thou ait not Caesar's friend:
whosoever maketh liimself a king speaketh against Csesar/'l The
feeble Pilate yielded ; he foresaw the report that his enemies would
send to Kome, in which they would accuse him of having pro-
tected a rival of Tiberius. Once before, in the matter of the votive
escutcheons,2 the Jews had written to the emperor, and had
received satisfaction. He feared for his ofiice. By a compliance,
which was to deliver his name to the scorn of history, he yielded,
throwing, it is said, upon the Jews all the responsibility of what
was about to happen. The latter, according to the Christians,
fully accepted it, by exclaiming, " His blood be on us and on our
children !"3

AVere these words really uttered ? We may doubt it. But they
are the expression of a profound historical truth. Considering the
attitude which the Eomans had taken in Judea, Pilate could
scarcely have acted otherwise. How many sentences of death
dictated by religious intolerance have been extorted from the civil
power ! The king of Spain, who, in order to please a fanatical
clergy, delivered hundreds of his subjects to the stake, was more
blameable than Pilate, for he represented a more absolute power
than that of the Romans at Jerusalem. When the civil power
becomes persecuting or meddlesome at the solicitation of the
priesthood, it proves its weakness. But let the government that

author appears to have drawn from a more recent document, and which had
evidently been arranged with a special view to edification.

^ John xix. 12, ]5. Cf. Luke xxiii. 2. In order to appreciate the exactitude of
tlie description of this scene in the evangelists, see Philo, Leg. ad Caium, § 38.

' See ante, p. 27G, ^ Matt. X7;vii. 2i, 25.

282 LIFE OF JESUS.

is without sin in this respect tlirow the first stone at Pilate. The
" secular arm/' behind which clerical cruelty shelters itself, is not
the culprit. No one has a right to say that he has a horror of
blood when he causes it to be shed by his servants.

It was, then, neither Tiberius nor Pilate who condemned Jesus.
It was the old Jewish party ; it was the Mosaic Law. According
to our modern ideas, there is no transmission of moral demerit
from father to son ; no one is accountable to human or divine
justice except for that which he himself has done. Consequently^
every Jew who suffers to-day for the murder of Jesus has a right
to complain, for he might have acted as did Simon the Cyrenean ;
at any rate, he might not have been with those who cried " Crucify
him !" But nations, like individuals, have their responsibilities, and
if ever crime was the crime of a nation, it was the death of Jesus.
This death was ^' legal" in the sense that it was primarily caused
by a law which was the very soul of the nation. The Mosaic law,
in its modern, but still in its accepted form, pronounced the penalty
of death against all attempts to change the established worship.
Now, there is no doubt that Jesus attacked this worship, and
aspired to destroy it. The Jews expressed this to Pilate with
a truthful simplicity : *' We have a law, and by our law he
ought to die ; because he has made himself the Son of God." ^
The law was detestable, but it was the law of ancient ferocity;
and the hero who offered himself in order to abrogate it, had first
of all to endure its penalty.

Alas ! it has required more than eighteen hundred years for the
blood that he shed to bear its fruits. Tortures and death have
been inflicted for ages in the name of Jesus, on thinkers as noble
as himself Even at the present time, in countries which call them-
selves Christian, penalties are pronounced for religious offences.
Jesus is not responsible for these errors. He could not foresee
that people, with mistaken imaginations, would one day imagine
him as a frightful Moloch, greedy of burnt flesh. Christi-
anity has been intolerant, but intolerance is not essentially a

^ John xix. 7.

LIFE OF JESXJS. 2S'j

Christian fact. It is a Jewish fact in the sense that ii was Judaism
Iv'hich first introduced the theor}^ of the iibsohite in religion, and
laid dow^n the principle that every innovator, even if he brings
iuiracles to support his doctrine, ought to be stoned without trial. l
The pagan world has also had its religious violences. But if it
kad had this law, how would it have become Christian ? The
Pentateuch has thus been in the world the first code of religious
terrorism. Judaism has given the example of an immutable
dogma armed with the sword. If, instead of pursuing the Jews
with a blind hatred, Ohristiauity had abolished the regime which
killed its founder, how much more consistent w^ould it have been '
■ — how much better would it have deserved of the human race J

* DtVti. ziii. 1, ind fcUcwiag.

CHAPTEll XXV.

DEATH OF JESUS.

Although the real motive for the death of Jesus was entirely
religious, his enemies had succeeded, in the judgment-hall, in repre-
senting him as guilty of treason against the state ; they could not
have obtained from the scej^tical Pilate a condemnation simply on
the ground of heterodoxy. Consistently with this idea, the priests
demanded, through the people, the crucifixion of Jesus. This
punishment was not Jewish in its origin ; if the condemnation of
Jesus had been purely Mosaic, he would have been stoned.^ Cruci-
fixion was a Roman punishment, reserved for slaves, and for cases
in which it was wished to add to death the aggravation of igno-
miny. In ap^ying it to Jesus, they treated him as they treated
highway robbers, brigands, bandits, or those enemies of inferior
rank to whom the Romans did not grant the honour of death by
the sword.2 It was the chimerical '' King of the Jews," not the
heterodox dogmatist, who was punished. Tollowing out the same
idea, the execution was left to the Romans. We know that amongst
the Romans, the soldiers, their profession being to kill, performed
the office of executioners. Jesus was therefore delivered to a

^ Jos., Ant., XX. ix. 1. The Talmud, which represents the condemnation of
Jesus as entirely religious, declares, in fact, tliat he was stoned; or, at least, that
after having been hanged, he was stoned, as often happened, (Mishnah, Sanhedrim,
vi. 4.) Talmud of Jerusalem, Sanhedrim, xiv. 16. Talm. of Bab., same treatise,
43 a, 67 a.

2 Jos., Ant, XVII. I. 10, XX. vi. 2; B. /., v. xi. 1 ; Apuleius, Metam,., iii. 9;
Suetonius, Galha, 9; Lampridius. Alex. Set:, 26.

LITE OF JESUS. 285

cohort of auxiliary troops, and all the most hateful features of
executions iutroduced by the cruel habits of the new conquerors,
were exhibited towards him. It was about noon.^ They re-clothed
him with the garments which they had removed for the farce
enacted at the tribunal, and as the cohort had already in reserve
two thieves who were to be executed, the three prisoners were
taken together, and the procession set out for the place of exe-
cution.

The scene of the execution was at a place called Golgotha,
situated outside Jerusalem, but near the walls of the city.2 The
name Golgotha signifies a skull ; it corresponds with the French
word Chaitmont, and probably designated a bare hill or rising
ground, having the form of a bald skulL The situation of this
hill is not precisely known. It was certainly on the north or
north-west of the city, in the high irregular plain which extends
between the walls and the two valleys of Kedron and Hinnom,3
a rather uninteresting region, and made still worse by the objec-
tionable circumstances arising from the neighbourhood of a gxeat
city. It is difficult to identify Golgotha as the precise place
which, since Constantine, has been venerated by entire Christen-
dom.* This place is too much in the interior of the city, and we
are led to believe that, in the time of Jesus, it was comprised
within the circuit of the walls.^

^ JoLn xix. 14. According to Mark xv. 25, it could scarcely have been eight
o'clock in the morning, since that evangelist relates that Jesus was crucified at nine
o'clock.

2 Matt, xxvii. 33; Mark xv, 22; John xix. 20; Ileh. xiii. 12.

■^ Golgotha, in fact, seems not entirely unconnected with the hill of Gareb and
the locality of Goath, mentioned in Jeremiah xxxi. 39. Now, these two places
appear to have been at the north-west of the city. I should incline to fix the
])lace where Jesus was crucified near the extreme corner which the existing wall
makes towards the west, or perhaps upon the mounds which command the valley
of Hinnom, above Birlcct-Mamilla.

■* The proofs by which it has been attempted to establish that the Holy
Sepulchre has been displaced since Constantine are not very strong.

^ M. de Vogiid has discovered, about 83 yards to the east of the traditional
jsite of Calvary, a fragment of a Jewish wall analogous to that of Hebron, which,
if it belongs to the inclosure of the time of Josujj, would leave the abovo-meu«

-36 LIFE OF JESUS.

He who was condemned to the cross, had himself to carry the
instrument of his cxecution.l But Jesus, physically weaker than
his two companions, could not carry his. The troop met a certain
Simon of Gyrene, who was returnin,[v from the country, and the
soldiers, witli tlie off-hand procedure of forei^^^n garrisons, forced
him to carry the fatal tree. Perhaps they made use of a recog-
nised right of forcing labour, the Romans not being allowed to
carry the infamous wood. It seems that Simon was afterwards of
tlie Christian community. His two sons, Alexander and Rufus,2
were well known in it. He related perhaps more than one circum-
stance of which he had been witness. No disciple was at this
moment near to Jesus. 3

tioned site outside the city. The existence of a sepulchral cave (that which ia
called " Tomb of Joseph of Arimathea,") under the wall of the cupola of the
Holy Sepulchre, would also lead to the supposition that this place was outside the
walls. Two historical considerations, one of which is rather strong, may, more-
over, be invoked in favour of the tradition. The first is, that it would be singular
if those who, under Constantine, sought to determine the topogi-aphy of the'oos-
pels, had not hesitated in the presence of the objection which results from John
xix. 20, and from Ilch. xiii. 12, Why, being free to choose, should they have
wantonly exposed themselves to so grave a difficulty? The second consideration
is, that they might have had to guide them, in the time of Constantine, the
remains of an edifice, the temple of Venus on Golgotha, erected by Adrian. ' We
are, then, at times led to believe that the work of the devout topographers of the
time of Constantine was earnest and sincere, that they sought for indications, and
that, though they might not refrain from certain pious frauds, they were guided by
analogies. If they had merely followed a vain caprice, they might have placed
Golgotha in a more conspicuous si'.uation, at the summit of some of the neigh-
])ouring hills about Jerusalem, in accordance with the Christian imagination,
which very early thought that the death of Christ had taken place on a mountain!
But the difficulty of the inclosures is very serious. Let us add, that the erection
of the temple of Venus on Golgotha proves iittle. Eusebius, ( Vita Const, iii. 26 )
Socrates, {H. E., i. 17,) Sozomen, {H. E., ii. 1,) St Jerome, {Epist. xlix., ad Paulin.,')
say, indeed, that there was a sanctuary of Venus on the site which they imagined
to be that of the holy tomb ; but it is not certain that Adrian had erected it; or
that he had erected it in a place which was in his time called " Golgotha;'' or
that he had intended to erect it at the place where Jesus had suffered death.'

1 Plutarch, De Sera Num. Vinci, 19; Artemidorus, Onirocnt., ii. 5Q.

2 Mark xv. 21.

-•^ The circumstance, LuJce xxiii. 27-31, is one of those in which we are sensible
of the work of a pious and loving imagination. The words which are there attri-
buted to Jesus could only have been written after the siege of Jerusalem.

LIFE OF JESUS. 287

The place of execution was at last readied. According to
Jcudsh custom, the sufferers were offered a strong aromatic wine,
an intoxicating drink, which, through a sentiment of pity, was
given to the condemned in order to stupify him.l It appears
that the ladies of Jerusalem often brought this kind of wine to
the unfortunates who were led to execution ; when none was pre-
sented by them, it was purchased from the public treasury. 2 Jesus,
after having touched the edge of the cup with his lips, refused to
drink.3 This mournful consolation of ordinary sufferers did not
accord with his exalted nature. He preferred to quit life with
perfect clearness of mind, and to await in full consciousness the
death he had willed and brought upon himself. He was then
divested of his garments,^ and fastened to the cross. The cross
was composed of two beams, tied in the form of the letter f-^
It was not much elevated, so that the feet of the condemned
almost touched the earth. They commenced by fixing it,6 then
they fastened the sufferer to it by driving nails into his hands ;
the feet were often nailed, though sometimes only bound with
cords.7 A piece of wood w^as fastened to the upright portion of
the cross, towards the middle, and passed between the legs of
the condemned, wmo rested upon it.8 Without that, the hands
w^ould have been torn and the body would have sunk down. At
other times, a small horizontal rest was fixed beneath the feet, and
sustained them.9

Jesus tasted these horrors in all their atrocity. A burning

^ Talm. of Bab., Sanhedrim, fol. 43 a. Comp. Prov. xxi. 6.

2 Talm. of Bab., Sanhedrim, 1. c.

^ Mark xv. 23; Matt, xxvii. 34, falsifies this detail^ in order to create a Messianic
allusion from Ps, Ixix, 20.

Matt, xxvii. 35 ; Mark xv. 24 ; John xix. 23. Cf. Artemidorus, Onirocr,, ii.53.

^ Lucian, Jud. Voc, 12. Compare the grotesque crucifix traced at Eome on a
wall of Mount Palatine. Civilta Cattolica, fasc. clxi. p. 529, and following.

'' Jos,, B. J., VII. vi. 4; Cic, In Verr., v. 6Q ; Xenoph. Ephes., Ejihesiaca, iv. 2.

7 Luke xxiv. 39; John xx. 25-27; Plautius, Mostellaria, ii. i, 13; Lucat.
Phars., vi. 543, and following, 547; Justin, Died cum Tryph., 97: Tertu'inau,
Adv. Marcionem, iii. 19.

^ Irenseus, Adv. Ncer., ii, 24; Justin, Bial. cum, Tryphone, 91.

* See the graffito quoted before.

288 LIFE OF JESUS.

thirst, one of the tortures of crucifixion,^ devoured liiin, and he
asked to drink. There stood near, a cup of the ordinary drink of
the Eoman soldiers, a mixture of vinegar and water, called jriosca.
The soldiers had to carry with them their posca on all their expe-
ditions,2 of which an execution was considered one. A soldier
dipped a sponge in this drink, put it at the end of a reed, and
raised it to the lips of Jesus, who sucked it.3 The two robbers
were crucified, one on each side. The executioners, to whom were
usually left the small effects (panmcularia) of those executed,*
drew lots for his garments, and, seated at the foot of the cross,
kept guard over him.5 According to one tradition, Jesus pro-
nounced this sentence, which was in his heart if not upon his lips :
"Patker, forgive them, for they know not what they do." 6

According to the Roman custom, a writing was attached to the
top of the cross, bearing, in three languages, Hebrew, Greek, and
Latin, the words : " The King of the Jews." There was
something painful and insulting to the nation in this inscrip-
tion. The numerous nassers-by who read it were offended. The
priests complained to Pilate that he ought to have adopted an
inscription which would have implied simply that Jesus had
called himself King of the Jews. But Pilate, already tired of the
whole affair, refused to make any change in what had been
written. 7

His disciples had fled. John, nevertheless, declares himself to
have been present, and to have remained standing at the foot of

^ See the Arab text published by Kosegarten, direst. Arab., p. 64.

" Spartianus, Life of Adrian, 10; Vulcatius Gallicanus, Life of Aviduis
Cassius, 5.

'^ Matt, xxvii. 48; Markxv. 3G; Luke xxiii. 36; John xix. 28-80.

^ Dig., SLVir. XX., De honls damnat., 6. Adrian limited this custom.

** Matt, xxvii. 36. Cf. Tetronius, Sai7jr., cxi. cxii.

^ Luke xxiii. 34, In general, the last words attributed to Jesus, especially such
as Luke records, are open to doubt. The desire to edify or to shew the accomplish-
ment of prophecies is perceptible. In these cases, moreover, every one hears in
bis own way. The last words of celebrated prisoners, condemned to death, arc
always collected in two or three entirely different shapes, by even the nearest
witnesses.

^ John xix. 19-22

LIFE OF JESUS. 289

the cross during the whole time.l It may be affirmed, with more
certainty, that the devoted women of Galilee, who had followed
Jesus to Jerusalem and continued to tend him, did not abandon
him. Mary Cleophas, Mary Magdalen, Joanna, wife of Khouza,
Salome, and others, stayed at a certain distance,2 and did not lose
sight of him.3 If w^e must believe John,* Mary, the mother of
Jesus, was also at the foot of the cross, and Jesus seeing his
mother and his beloved disciple together, said to the one, '* Behold
thy mother ! " and to the other, " Behold thy son ! " But we do
not understand how the synoptics, who name the other women,
should have omitted her whose presence w^as so striking a fea-
ture. Perhaps even the extreme elevation of the character of
Jesus does not render such personal emotion probable, at the
moment when, solely pre-occupied by his work, be no longer existed
except for humanity.5

Apart from this small group of women, whose presence
consoled him, Jesus had before him only the spectacle of the

^ John xix. 25, and following.

^ The synoptics are agreed in placing the faithful group "afar off" the cross.
John says, " at the side of," governed by the desire which he has of representing
himself as having approached very near to the cross of Jesus.

^ Matt, xxvii. 55, 5Q ; Mark xv. 40, 41 ; Luke xsiii. 49, 55 ; xxiv, 10 ; John xix.
25. Cf. Luke xxiii. 27-31.

* John xix. 25, and following. Luke, who always adopts a middle course
between the first two synoptics and John, mentions also, but at a distance, " all
his acquaintance," (xxiii. 49.) The expression, yvcoo-Toi, may, it is true, mean
"kindred." Luke, nevertheless, (ii. 44,) distinguishes the yvuxTTol from the
(TvyyeveTs. Let us add, that the best manuscripts bear oi yvcoarol avrco, and not
ol yvcocTTol avTov. In the Acts, (i. 14,) Mary, mother of Jesus, is also placed in
company with the Galilean women; elsewhere, (Gospel, chap. ii. 35,) Luke predicts
that a sword of grief will pierce her soul. But this renders his omi.saion of her at
the cross the less explicable,

^ This is, bx my opinion, one of those features in which John betrays his per-
sonality and the desire he has of giving himself importance. John, after the
death of Jesus, appears in fact to have received the mother of his master into hia
house, and to have adopted her, (John xix. 27.) The great consideration which
Hary enjoyed in the early church, doubtless led John to pretend that Jesus,
•H'hose favourite di.sciple he wished to be regarded, had, when dying, recommended
to his care all that was dearest to him. The presence of this precious trust
near John, insured him a kind of precedence over the other apostles, and gave hia
doctrine a high authority.

2ijO LIFE OF JESUS.

baseness ur stupidity of humanity. The passers-by insulted
him. He heard around liim foolish scoffs, and his greatest cries
of pain turned into hateful jests : " He trusted in God ; let him
deliver him now, if he will have him : for he said, I am the Son
of God. He saved others," they said again; "himself he cannot
save. If he be the king of Israel, let him now come down from
the cross, and we will believe him ! Ah, thou that destroyest the
temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself."^ Some,
vaguely acquainted with his apocalyptic ideas, thought they heard
him call Elias, and said, " Let us see whether Ellas will come to
save him." It appears that the two crucified thieves at his side
also insulted him.2 The sky was dark; 3 and the earth, as in all
the environs of Jerusalem, dry and gloomy. For a moment,
according to certain narratives, his heart failed him ; a cloud hid
from him the face of his Father ; he endured an agony of despair
a thousand times more acute than all his torture. He saw only
the ingratitude of men ; he perhaps repented suffering for a vile
Hsice, and exclaimed : " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me ? " But his divine instinct still prevailed. In the degree that
the life of the body became extinguished, his soul became clear,
and returned by degrees to its celestial origin. He regained the
idea of his mission ; he saw in his death the salvation of the
world ; he lost sight of the hideous spectacle spread at his feet,
and, profoundly united to his Father, he began upon the gibbet
the divine life which he was to live in the heart of humanity
Ihrough infinite ages.

The peculiar atrocity of crucifixion was that one might live
diree or four days in this horrible state upon the instrument
of torture.4 The hiemorrhage from the hands quickly stopped,
and was not mortal. The true cause of death was the unnatural

Matt, sxvii. 40, and following; Mark xv. 29, and following.

^ Matt, xxvii. 44 ; Mark xv. 32. Luke has here modified the tradition, in ac
cordance with his taste for the conversion of sinners.

^ Matt, xxvii. 45 ; Mark xv. o3 ; Luke xxiii, 44.

" Petronius, -S'cti., cxi., and following; Origen, In Matt. Comment. %.ir:'t KO
Arab text published in Kosegarten, op. cit., p. 63, and followinfl'.

LIJ'E OF JESUS. 291

position of the body, which brought on a frightful disturbance
of the circulation, terrible pains of the head and heart, and,
at length, rigidity of the limbs. Those who had a strong consti-
tution only died of hunger. 1 The idea which suggested this cruel
punishment was not directly to kill the condemned by positive
injuries, but to expose the slave, nailed by the hand of which he
had not known how to make good use, and to let him rot on the
wood. The delicate organization of Jesus preserved him from
this slow agony. Everything leads to the belief that the instan^
taneous rupture of a vessel in the heart brought him, at the end
of three hours, to a sudden death. Some moments before yielding
up his soul, his voice was still strong.^ All at once, he uttered a
terrible cry,^ which some heard as : " Father, into thy hands I
commend my spirit!" but which others, more pre-occupied with
the accomplishment of prophecies, rendered by the words, " It is
finished !" His head fell upon his breast, and he expired.

Rest now in thy glory, noble initiator. Thy work is completed ;
thy divinity is established. Fear no more to see the edifice of thy
efforts crumble through a flaw. Henceforth, beyond the reach of
frailty, thou shalt be present, from the height of thy divine peace,
in the infinite consequences of thy acts. At the price of a few
hours of suS*ering, which have not even touched thy great soul,
thou hast purchased the most complete immortality. For thousands
of years, the world will extol thee. Banner of our contradictions,
thou wilt be the sign around which will be fought the fiercest
battles. A thousand times more living, a thousand times more
loved since thy death than during the days of thy pilgrimage here
below, thou wilt become to such a degree the corner-stone of
humanity, that to tear thy name from this world would be to shako
it to its foundations. Between thee and God, men will no lonoe?
distinguish. Complete conqueror of death, take possession of thy
kingdom, whither, by the royal road thou hast traced, ages of
adorers will follow thee.

^ Eiiscbiu.s. Tlhit. Eccl, viii. 8. = jj^^^ xxvii. 46; Mark xv 34-

2 Matt. swii. i30; Mark xv. o7 ; Luke xxiii. 4G ; John xix. 30.

OHArTEK XXVT.

JESUS IN THE TOMB.

It was about three o'clock in the aftenioon, accoiuing to om
maimer of reckoning,^ when Jesus expired. A Jewish law 2 for-
T>ade a cor2:)se suspended on the cross to be left beyond the evening
of the day of the execution. It is not probable that in the execu-
tions performed by the Komans this rule was observed ; but as the
next day was the Sabbath, and a Sabbath of peculiar solemnity,
the Jews expressed to the Roman authorities^ their desire that
this holy day should not be profttned by such a spectacle. ^ Their
request was granted; orders were given to hasten the death of
the three condemned ones, and to remove them from the cross.
The soldiers executed this order by applying to the two thieves a
second punishment much more speedy than that of the cross, the
trurifragium, or breaking of the lcp;s,5 the usual punishment of
slaves and of prisoners of w^ar. As to Jesus, they found him dead,
and did not tliiidc it necessary to break his logs. But one of them,
to remove all doubt as to the real death of the third victim, and to

^ Matt, xxvii. 46; Slark xv. 37; Luke xxiii. 44. Corop. John xix. 14.

2 Deut. xxi. 22, 23; Josh. viii. 29, x. 26, and following. Cf. Jos., B.J., iv. r.
2 ; IMishnah, Sanhedrim, vi. 5.

^ John says, "To Pilate;" but that cannot be, for Mark (xv. i\, 45) states tliat
at night Pilate was still Ignorant of the death of Jesus,

*■ Compare Philo, In Flaccum, § 10.

° There is no other example of the crurifragium applied after cnjcifixion. But
«-rten, in order to shorten the tortures of the sufferer, a fiu.oJiing stroke was given
'\n. See the passage from Ibn-Hischa.m, translated in the Zcitscknfl fur dU
Kaadc dcs Morrjcnlan^f J . « on io(^

LIFE OF JESUS. 293

complete it, if any breath remained in him, pierced his side with
a spear. They thought they saw water and blood flow, which was
regarded as a sign of the cessation of life.

John, who professes to have seen it,l insists strongly on this
circumstance. It is evident, in fact, that doubts arose as to the
reality of the death of Jesus. A few hours of suspension on the
cross appeared to persons accustomed to see crucifixions entirely
insufficient to lead to such a result. They cited many instances
of persons crucified, who, removed in time, had been brought to
life again by powerful remedies.2 Origen afterwards thought ib
needful to invoke miracle in order to explain so sudden an end.^
The same astonishment is found in the narrative of Mark.^ To
speak truly, the best guarantee that the historian possesses upon.
a point of this nature is the suspicious hatred of the enemies of
Jesus. It is doubtful whether the Jews were at that time pre-
occupied with the fear that Jesus might pass for resuscitated ; but,
in any case, they must have made sure that he was really dead.
Whatever, at certain periods, may have been the neglect of the
ancients in all that belonged to legal proof and the strict conduct
of affairs, we camiot but believe that those interested here had
taken some precautions in this respect.^

According to the Roman custom, the corpse of Jesus ought to
have remained suspended in order to become the prey of birds.6
According to the Jewish law, it would have been removed in
the evening, and deposited in the place of infamy set apart for the
burial of those who were executed.7 If Jesus had had for disciples
only his poor Galileans, timid and without influence, the latter

1 John xix. 31-35. = Herodotus, vii. 191; J c^., Vita, 75.

' Tn Matt. Comment, scries, 140, * Mark xv. 44, 45.

• The necessities of Christian controversy afterwards led to the exaggeration of
these precautions, especially when the Jews had systematically begun to maintain
that the body of Jesus had been stolen. Matt, xxvii. 62, and following, xxviii.
11-15.

^Horace, Epistles, i. xvi. 48; Juvenal, xiv. 77; Lucan, vii. §44; Plautus
Miles glor.,11. iv. 19; Artemidorus, Omr., ii. 53; Pliny, xxxvi. 24; Plutarch,
Life of Cleomenes, 39 ; Petronius, Sat., cxi.-cxii.

' Mishnah. Sanhedrim, vi. 5-

\

-Si LIFE OF JESUS.

course would have been adopted. But we have seen that, in spite
of his small success at Jerusalem, Jesus had gained the sympathy
of some important persons who expected the kingxiom of God, and
wdio, without confessing themselvas his disciples, were strongly
attached to him. One of these persons, 3osei3h, of the small town
of Arimathea, (Ha-ramatha'im,^) went in the evening to ask the
body from the procurator.2 Joseph was a rich and honourable
man, a member of the Sanhedrim. The Roman law, at this
period, commanded, moreover, that the body of the person exe-
cuted should be delivered to those who claimed it.3 Pilate, who
was ignorant of the circumstance of the crurifragium, was
astonished that Jesus was so soon dead, and summoned the cen-
turion who had superintended the execution, in order to know how
this was. Pilate, after having received the assurances of the
centurion, granted to Joseph the object of his request. The body
probably had already been removed from the cross. They delivered
it to Joseph, that he might do with it as he pleased.

Another secret friend, Nicodemus,4 whom we have already seen
employing his influence more than once in favour of Jesus, came
forward at this moment. He arrived bearing an ample provision
of the materials necessary for embalming. Joseph and Nicodemus
interred Jesus according to the Jewish custom— that is to say,
they wrapped him in a sheet with myrrh and aloes. The Galilean
women w^ere present,^ and no doubt accompanied the scene with
piercing cries and tears.

It was late, and all this was done in great haste. The place
had not yet been chosen where the body would be finally deposited.
The carrying of the body, moreover, might have been delayed to
a late hour, and have involved a violation of the Sabbath— now
Uie disciples still conscientiously observed the prescriptions of the

1 Probably identical with the ancient Rama of Samuel, in the tribe of Ephraim.
niatt. xxvii. 57, and following; Mark xv. 42, and following; Luke xxiii. 50,
iiid following; John xix. 38, and following.
^ Dig,, XLViir. xxiv.,Z)e cadaveribus punitorum.
* John xix. 39, and following.
" Matt, xxvii. 61 ; Mark xv. 47; Luke xxiii. 5S.

LIFE OF JESUS. 295^

Jewish law. A temporary interment was determined upon.l
There was at hand, in the garden, a tomb recently dng out in the
rock, w^hich had never been used. It belonged, probably, to one
of the believers.2 Tlie funeral caves, when they were destined for
a single body, were composed of a small room, at the bottom of
which the place for the body was marked by a trough or couch
let into the wall, and surmounted by an arch. 3 As these caves
were dug out of the sides of sloping rocks, they were entered
by the floor ; the door was shut by a stone very difficult to move.
Jesus was deposited in the cave, and the stone was rolled to the
door, as it was intended to return in order to give him a more
complete burial. But the next day being a solemn Sabbath, the
labour was postponed till the day following.^

The women retired after having carefully noticed how the body
was laid. They employed the hours of the evening which re-
mained to them in making new preparations for the embalming.
On the Saturday all rested.^

On the Sunday morning, the women, Mary Magdalen the first,
came very early to the tomb.^ The stone w^as displaced from the
opening, and the body w^as no longer in the place where they had
laid it. At the same time, the strangest rumours were spread in
the Chiistian community. The cry, " He is risen ! " quickly spread
amongst the disciples. Love caused it to find ready credence every-
where. What had taken place ? In treating of the history of the

1 John xlx. 41, 42.

- One tradition (Matt, xxvii. 60) designates Joseph of Arimathea himself as
ov/ner of the cave.

' The cave which, at the period of Constantino, was considered as the tomb of
Cln-ist, was of this shape, as may be gathered from the description of Arculphus,
(in Mabillon, Acta SS. Ord. S. Bened., sec. iii., pars ii., p. 504,) and from the
va^ue traditions which still exist at Jerusalem amongst the Greek clergy on the
state of the rock now concealed by the little chapel of the Holy Sepulchre. But
the indications by which, under Constantine, it was sought to identify this tomb
with that of Christ, were feeble or worthless, (see especially Sozomen, H. E., ii. 1.)
Even if we were to admit the position of Golgotha as nearly exact, the Holy
St'i^michre would still have no very reliable character of authenticity. At all
events, the aspect of the places has been totally modified.

* Luke xxiii. 56. ^ Luke xxiii. &i-6^

® Matt, xxviil. 1 ; T^Iark xvi. 1 ; Luko xtIt. 1 ; John x:^. 1.

296 I-IFE OF JESUS.

apostles we shall have to examine this point and to make inquiry
into the origin of the legends relative to the resurrection. For
the historian, the life of Jesus finishes with his last sigh. But
such was the impression he had left in the heart of his disciples
and of a few devoted women, that during some weeks more it was
as if he were living and consoling them. Had his body been taken
away,^ or did enthusiasm, always credulous, create afterwards the
group of narratives by which it was sought to establish faith in
the resurrection ? In the absence of opposing documents this can
aever be ascertained. Let us say, however, that the strong ima-
gination of ]\Iary Magdalen 2 played an important part in this
circumstance.^ Divine power of love ! Sacred moments in which
the passion of one possessed gave to the world a resuscitated God!

^ See Matt, xxviii. 15; John xx. 2.

^ She hael been possessed by seven demons, (Mark xvi. 9 ; Luke viii. 2.)
^ This is obvious, especially in the ninth and following verses of chap. xvi. of
Mark. These verses form a conclusion of the second Gospel, different from the
conclusion at xvi. 1-8, with which many manu.scripts teiminate. In the foiirth
Gospel, (xx. 1, 2, 11, and following, 18,) Mary Magdaleu is also the only origiua/
witness of the reBiurty.'tion.

CHAPTER XXVII.

FATE OF THE ENEMIES OF JESU3.

According to the calculation we adopt., iiie death of Jesus hap-
pened in the year 33 of our era.^ It could not, at all events, be
either before the year 29, the preaching of Jolm and Jesus having
commenced in the year 28,2 or after the year 35, since in the year
86, and probably before the passover, Pilate and Kaiapha both lost
their offices.'^ The death of Jesus appears, moreover, to have had
no connexion whatever with these two removals.* In his retire-
ment, Pilate probably never dreamt for a moment of the forgotten
episode, which was to transmit his pitiful renown to the most
distant posterity. As to Kaiapha, he was succeeded by Jonathan,
his brother-in-law, son of the same Hanan who had played the
principal part in the trial of Jesus. The Sadducean family of
Hanan retained the pontificate a long time, and more powerful
than ever, continued to wage against the disciples and the family
of Jesus, the implacable war which they had commenced against the
Founder. Christianity, which owed to him the definitive act of its

^ The year 33 corresponds well with one of the data of the problem, namely,
that the 14th of Nisan was a Friday. If we reject the year 33, in order to find a
year which fulfils the above condition, we must at least go back to the year 29, or
go forward to the year 36.

2 Luke iii. 1. ^ j^g^ j„^^ xviii. iv. 2 and 3,

^ The contrary assertion of Tertullian and Eusebius arises from a worthlesa
apocrj-^phal writing, (See Thilo, Cod. Apocr., N.T., p. 813, and following.) The sui-
cide of Pilate (Eusebius, HE., ii. 7 ; Chron. ad annl. Caii) appears also to be de-
rived from leijondary records.

29S LIFE OF JESUS.

fuu]iJation, owed to iiim also its first martyrs. Hanan passed for
one of the happiest men of his age.^ He who was truly guilty of
the death of Jesus ended his life full of honours and respect, never
having doubted for an instant that he had rendered a great service
to the nation. His sons continued to reign around the temple.
kept down with difficulty by the procurators," oft-times dispensing
with the consent of the latter in order to gratify their haughty and
violent instincts.

Antipas and Herodias soon disappeared also from the political
scene. Herod Agrippa having been raised to the dignity of king
by Caligula, the jealous Herodias swore that she also would be
queen. Pressed incessantly by this ambitious woman, who treated
him as a coward, because he suffered a superior in his family,
Antipas overcame his natural indolence, and went to Rome to
solicit the title which his nephew had just obtained, (the year 39
of our era.) But the affair turned out in the worst possible man-
ner. Injured in the eyes of the emperor by Herod Agrippa,
Antipas was removed, and dragged out the rest of his life in exile
at Lyons and in Spain. Herodias followed him in his misfortunes.3
A hundred years, at least, were to elapse before the name of their
obscure subject, now become deified, should appear in these remote
countries to brand upon their tombs the murder of John the
Baptist.

As to the wretched Judas of Kerioth, terrible legends were
current about his death. It was maintained that he had bouo-ht
a field in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem with the price of his
perfidy. There was, indeed, on the south of Mount Zion, a place
named Hakeldama, (the field of blood.)4 It was supposed that this
was the property acquired by the traitor.^ According to one tra-

'^3o^.,Ant,x.x.\x.l, »Jos., Z. <?.

3 Jos., Ant., xvin. vii, 1, 2 ; B. J., ii, ix. 6.

* St Jerome, De situ et nom. loc. hebr. at the word Acheldama. Eu&ehiuB (-hid)
eays to the north. But the Itineraries confirm the reading of St Jerome. The
tradition which styles the necropolis situated at the foot of the valley of Hinnonj
llaceldama, dates back, at least, to the time of Constantiae.

^ Actsi 18, 19. Matthew, or rather his interpolator, has here given a less satis-

LIFE OF JESUS. 200

dition,^ he killed himself. According to another, he had a fall in
his field, in consequence of which his bo^Yeis gushed out.2 Ac-
cording to others, he died of a kind of dropsy, accompanied by
repulsive circumstances, v/hich were regarded as a punishment
from heaven. 3 The desire of shewing in Judas the accomplish-
ment of the menaces which the Psalmist pronounces against the
perfidious friend* may have given rise to these legends. Perhaps,
in the retirement of his field of Hakeldama, Judas led a quiet and
obscure life ; wdiile his former friends conquered the world, and
spread his infamy abroad. Perhaps, also, the terrible hatred
which was concentrated on his head, drove him to violent acts, in
which were seen the finger of heaven.

The time of the great Christian revenge was, moreover, far dis-
tant. The new sect had no part wliatever in the catastrophe"
which Judaism was soon to undergo. The synagogue did not
understand till much later to what it exposed itself in practising
laws of intolerance. The empire was certainly still further from
suspecting that its future destroyer was born. During nearly three
hundred years it pursued its path without suspecting that at its
side principles were growing destined to subject the world to a com-
plete transformation. At once theocratic and democratic, the idea
thrown by Jesus into the world was, together with the invasion of
the Germans, the most active cause of the dissolution of the empire
of the Caesars. On the one hand, the right of all men to parti-
cipate in the kingdom of God was proclaimed. On the other,
religion was henceforth separated in principle from the state. The
rights of conscience, withdrawn from political law, resulted in the
constitution of a new power, — the " spiritual power." This power
has more than once belied its origin. For ages the bishops

factory turn to the tradition, in order to connect with it the circumstance of a
cemetery for strangers, which was found near there.

^ Matt, xxvii. 5.

^ Acts, I. c. ; Papias, in (Ecumenius, Enarr. in Act. Apcst., ii., and in Fr. Miinter
Fragm. Patrum Grcec. (Hafnise, 1788) fasc. i. p. 17, and following; Theophylactu*,
in Matt, xxvii. 5.

•* Papias, in Miinter, I. c. ; Theopljylactus, I. c,

** Prfalms Ixis. and cix.

300 LIFE OF JESUb,

have been princes, and the Pope has been a king. The pretended
empire of souls has shewn itself at various times as a frightful
tyranny, employing the rack and the stake in order to maintain
itself. But the day will come when the separation will bear its
fruits, when the domain of things spiritual will cease to be called
a '* power/' that it may be called a '"' liberty.'* Sprung from the
conscience of a man of the people, formed in the presence of the
people, beloved and admired first by the people, Christianity was
impressed with an original character which will never be effaced.
It was the fii^st triumph of revolution, the victory of the popular
idea, the advent of the simple in heart, the inauguration of the
beautiful as understood by the people. Jesus thus, in the aristo-
cratic societies of antiquity, opened the breach through which all
will pass.

The civil power, in fact, although innocent of the death of
Jesus, (it only countersigned the sentence, and even in spite of
itself,) ought to bear a great share of the responsibility. In pre-
siding at the scene of Calvary, the state gave itself a serious blow.
A legend full of all kinds of disrespect prevailed, and became uni-
versally known, — a legend in which the constituted authorities
played a hateful part, in which it was the accused that was right,
and in which the judges and the guards were leagued against the
truth. Seditious in the highest degree, the history of the Passion,
spread by a thousand popular images, displayed the Eoman eagles
as sanctioning the most iniquitous of executions, soldiers executing
it, and a prefect commanding it. What a blow for all established
powers ! They have never entirely recovered from it. How can
they assume infallibility in respect to poor men, when they have
on their conscience the great mistake of Gethsemane ? 1

^ This popular sentiment existed in Brittany in the time of my childhood. The
gendarm.e was there regarded, like the Jew elsewhere, with a kind of pioiia
aversion, for it was he who arrested Jesus 1

CHAPTER XXVIIL

ESSENTIAL CHAEACTER OF THE WORK OF JESUS.

Jesus, it will be seen, limited his action entirely to tlie Jews.
Although his sympathy for those despised by orthodoxy led him
to admit pagans into the kingdom of God, — although he had re-
sided more than once in a pagan country, and once or twice we
surprise him in kindly relations with unbelievers,^ — it may be said
that his life was passed entirely in the very restricted world in
which he was born. He was never heard of in Greek or Roman
countries ; his name appears only in profane authors of a hundred
years later, and then in an indirect manner, in connexion with
seditious movements provoked by his doctrine, or persecutions of
which his disciples were the object.^ Even on Judaism, Jesus
made no very durable impression. Philo, v/ho died about the
year 50, had not the slightest knowledge of him. Josephus, born
in the year 37, and writing in the last years of the century, men-
tions his execution in a few lines,^ as an event of secondary
importance, and in the enumeration of the sects of his time, he
omits the Christians altogether.^ In the Mishnah, also, there is no
trace of the new school ; the passages in the two Gemaras in
ivhich the founder of Christianity is named, do not go further

^ Slatt. viii. 6, and following; Luke vii. 1, and following; John xii. 20, and
following. Comp, Jos., Ant., sviir. iii. 3.

^ Tacitus, Ann., xv. 45 ; Suetonius, Claudius, 25.

^ Ant., xviir. iii. 3. This passage baa been altered by a Christian hand

^ Ant., xvrii. 1. ; B. J., ii. viii. ; Vita, 2.

502 Lii'E OF JEStlS.

back than the fourth or fifth centuiy.l The essential work of
Jesus was to create around hira a circle of disciples, whom he
inspired with boundless affection, and amongst whom he deposited
the germ of his doctrine. To have made himself beloved, *' to
the degree that after his death they ceased not to love him,"
was the great work of Jesus, and that wliich most struck his
contemporaries.2 His doctrine was so little dogmatic, that he
never thought of writing it or of causing it to be written. Men
did not become his discijDles by believing this thing or that thing,
but in being attached to his person and in loving him. A few sen-
tences collected from memory, and especially the type of character
he set forth, and the impression it had left, were what remained
of him. Jesus was not a founder of dogmas, or a maker of creeds ;
he infused into the world a new spirit. The least Christian men
were, on the one hand, the doctors of the Greek Church, who,
beginning from the fourth century, entangled Christianity in a path
of puerile metaphysical discussions, and, on the other, the scho-
lastics of the Latin Middle Ages, who wished to draw from the
Gospel the thousands of articles of a colossal system. To follow
Jesus in expectation of the kingdom of God, was all that at first
was implied by being Christian.

It will thus be understood how, by an exceptional destiny, pure
Christianity still preserves, after eighteen centuries, the character
of a universal and eternal religion. It is, in fact, because the reli-
gion of Jesus is in some respects the final religion. Produced by
a perfectly spontaneous movement of souls, freed at its birth from
all dogmatic restraint, having struggled three hundred years for
liberty of conscience, Christianity, in spite of its failures, still reaps
the results of its glorious origin. To renev/ itself, it has but to
return to the Gospel. The kingdom of God, as we conceive it,

' Talm. of Jerusalem, Sanhedrim, siv. 16; Ahoda zara, ii. 2; SKaUath, xiv. 4^
Talm. of Babylon, Sanhedrivi, 43 a, 67 a; Shabbath, 104 h. 116 h. Comp. Chagiga^
4:h; Gittin, 57 a, 90 a. The two Gemaras derive the greater part of their data
respecting Jesus from a burlesque and obscene legend, invented bv the adver-
Raries of Chiistianity, and of no historical value.

^ Jos., A'/it., XYiii. iii. 3.

LIFE OF JESUS. 303

differs notably from the supernatural apparition which the first
Christians hoped to see appear in the clouds. But the sentiment
introduced by Jesus into the world is indeed ours. His perfect
idealism is the hiohest rule of the unblemished and virtuous life.
He has created the heaven of pure souls, where is foimd what we
ask for in vain on earth, the perfect nobility of the children of
God, absolute purity, the total removal of the stains of the world;
in fine, liberty, which society excludes as an impossibility, and
which exists in all its amplitude only in the domain of thought.
The great Master of those who take refuge in this ideal kingdom
of God is still Jesus. He was the first to proclaim the royalty
of the mind; the first to say, at least by his actions, "My kingdom
is not of this world." The foundation of true religion is indeed
his work : after him, all that remains is to develop it and render it
fruitful.

" Christianity'' has thus become ahnost a synonym of "'reli-
gion." All that is done outside of this great and good Christian
tradition is barren. Jesus gave religion to humanity, as Socrates
gave it philosophy, and Aristotle science. There was philosophy
before Socrates and science before Aristotle. Since Socrates and
since Aristotle, philosophy and science have made immense pro-
gress ; but all has been built upon the foundation which they laid.
In the same way, before Jesus, religious thought had passed
through many revolutions; since Jesus, it has made great con-
quests : but no one has improved, and no one will imiprove upon
the essential principle Jesus has created; he has fixed for ever
the idea of pure worship. The religion of Jesus in this sense is
not limited. The Church has had its epochs and its phases ; it has
shut itself up in creeds which are, or will be but temporary: but
Jesus has founded the absolute religion, excluding nothing, and
determining nothing unless it be the spirit. His creeds are not fixed
dogmas, but images susceptible of indefinite interpretations. We
should seek in vain for a theological proposition in the Gospel
All confessions of faith are travesties of the idea of Jesus, just as
the scholasticism of the middle ages, in proclaiming Aristotle the

804 LIFE OF JESTJS.

sole master of a completed science, perverted the thought of
Aristotle. Aristotle, if he had been present in the debates of the
schools, would have repudiated this narrow doctrine; he would
have been of the party of progressive science against the routine
which shielded itself under his authority; he would have applauded
his opponents. In the same way, if Jesus were to return among us.
he would recognise as disciples, not those who pretend to enclose
him entirelv in a few catechismal phrases, but those who labour
to carry on his work. The eDernal glory, m all great things, is
to have laid the first stone. It may be that in the " Physics," and
in the '^ Meteorology " of modern times, we may not discover a
word of the treatises of Aristotle which bear these titles; but
Aristotle remains no less the founder of natural science.
Whatever may be the transformations of dogma, Jesus will ever
be the creator of the pure spirit of religion; the Sermon on the
Mount will never be surpassed. Whatever revolution takes place
will not prevent us attaching ourselves in religion to the grand
intellectual and moral line at the head of which shines the name
of Jesus. In tliis sense we are Christians, even when we separate
ourselves on almost all points from the Christian tradition which
has preceded us.

And this great foundation was indeed the personal work of
Jesus. In order to make himself adored to this degree, he must
have been adorable. Love is not enkindled except by an object
worthy of it, and we should know nothing of Jesus, if it were not
for the passion he inspired in those about him, which compels
us still to affirm that he was great and pure. The faith, the
enthusiasm, the constancy of the first Christian generation is
not explicable, except by supposing at the origin of the whole
movement, a man of surpassing greatness. At the sight of the
marvellous creations of the ages of faith, two impressions equally
fatal to good historical criticism arise in the mind. On the one
hand we are led to think these creations too impersonal ; we
attribute to a collective action, that which has often been the work
of one powerful will, and of one superior mind. On the olher

LIFE OF JESUS. 305

hand, we refuge to see men like ourselves in the authors of
those extraordinary movements which have decided the fate of
humanity. Let us have a larger idea of the powers which nature
conceals in her bosom. Our civilisations, governed by minute
restrictions, cannot give us any idea of the power of man at
periods in which the originality of each one had a freer field wherein
to develop itself. Let us iuiagine a recluse dwelling in the
mountains near our capitals, coming out from time to time in
order to present himself at the palaces of sovereigns, compelling
the sentinels to stand aside, and, with an imperious tone, announc-
ing to kings the approach of revolutions of which he had been the
promoter. The very idea provokes a smile. Such, however, was
Elias ; but Elias the Tishbite, in our days, would not be able to
pass the gate of the Tuileries. The preaching of Jesus, and his
free activity in Galilee, do not deviate less completely from the
social conditions to Vt^hich we are accustomed. Free from our
polished conventionalities, exempt from the uniform education
which refines us, but which so greatly dwarfs our individuality,
these mighty souls carried a surprising energy into action.
They appear to us like the giants of an heroic age, which could
not have been real. Profound error ! Those men were our
brothers; they were of our stature, felt and thought as we do.
But the breath of God was free in them ; with us, it is restrained
by the iron bonds of a mean society, and condemned to an irre-
mediable mediocrity.

Let us place, then, the person of Jesus at the highest summit of
human greatness. Let us not be misled by exaggerated doubts in
the presence of a legend which keeps us always in a superhuman
world. The life of Francis d'Assisi is also but a tissue of miracles.
Has any one, however, doubted of the existence of Francis d'Assisi,
and of the part played by him? Let us say no more that the
glory of the foundation of Christianity belongs to the multitude
of the first Christians, and not to him whom legend has deified.
The inequality of men is much more marked in the East than
with us. It is not rare to see arise there, in the midst of »

306 ' LIFE OF JESUS.

general atmosphere of wickedness, characters whose greatness
astonishes ns. So far from Jesus having been created by his
disciples, he appeared in everything as superior to his disciptes.
The latter, with the exception of St Paul and St John, were
men without either invention or genius. St Paul himself bears
no comparison with Jesus, and as to St John, I shall shew
hereafter, that the part he played, though very elevated in one
sense, was far from being in all respects irreproachable. Hence
the immense superiority of the Gospels among the writings of
the New Testament. Hence the painful fall we experience in
passing from the history of Jesus to that of the apostles. The
evangelists themselves, who have bequeathed us the image -of
Jesus, are so much beneath him of whom they speak, that they
constantly disfigure him, from their inability to attain to his
height. Their writings are full of errors and misconceptions.
We feel in each line a discourse of divine beauty, transcribed by
narrators who do not understand it, and who substitute their own
ideas for those which they have only half understood. On the
whole, the character of Jesus, far from having been embellished
by his biographers, has been lowered by them. Criticism, ir
order to find what he was, needs to discard a series of misconcep-
tions, arising from the inferiority of the disciples. These painted
him as they understood him, and often in thinking to raise him,
they have in reality lowered him.

I know that our modern ideas have been offended more than
once in this legend, conceived by another race, under another sky,
and in the midst of other social wants. There are virtues which,
in some respects, are more conformable to our taste. The virtuous
and gentle Marcus Aurelius, the humble and gentle Spinoza, not
having believed in miracles, have been free from some errors
that Jesus shared. Spinoza, in his profound obscurity, had an
advantage which Jesus did not seek. By our extreme delicacy in
the use of means of conviction, by our absolute sincerity and our
disinterested love of the pure idea, we have founded — all we who
have devoted our lives to science — a new ideal of morality r>ut

LIJ-E OF JESUS. 307

the judgment of general history ought not to be restricted to con-
siderations of personal merit. Marcus Aurelius and his noble
teachers have had no permanent influence on the world. Marcus
Aurelius left behind him delightful books, an execrable son, and a
decaying nation. Jesus remains an inexhaustible principle of
moral regeneration for liumanity. Philosophy does not suffice for
the multitude. They must have sanctity. An Apollonius of
Tyana, with his miraculous legend, is necessarily more success-
ful than a Socrates with his cold reason. " Socrates," it was said,
" leaves men on the earth, Apollonius transports them to heaven ;
Socrates is but a sage, Apollonius is a god." i Keligioii, so far,
has not existed without a share of asceticism, of piety, and of
the marvellous. When it was wished, after the Antonines, to make
a religion of philosophy, it was requisite to transform the philoso-
phers into saints, to write the "Edifying life" of Pythagoras or
Plotinus, to attribute to them a legend, virtues of abstinence,
contemplation, and supernatural powers, without which neither
credence nor authority were found in that age.

Preserve us, then, from mutilating history in order to satisfy our
Detty susceptibilities ! A^Hiich of us, pigmies as we are, could do
what the extravagant Francis d'Assisi, or the hysterical saint Theresa
has done ? Let medicine have names to express these grand errors
of human nature ; let it maintain that genius is a disease of the
brain; let it see, in a certain delicacy of morality, the commencement
of consumption ; let it class enthusiasm and love as nervous accidents
— it matters little. The terms healthy and diseased are entirely
relative. Who would not prefer to be diseased like Pascal, rather
than healthy like the common herd ? The narrow ideas which are
spread in our times respecting madness, mislead our historical
judgments in the most serious manner, in questions of this kind.
A state in which a man says things of which he is not conscious,
in which thought is produced without the summons and con-
trol of the will, exposes him to being confined as a lunatic.

- Philostratus, Life of Apollonius, i. 2, vii. 11, viii. 7, Unapius, Lives of tJu
Sophists, iiagcs 454, 500, (edition Didot>

SOS LIFE OF JEi50S.

Formerly this was called prophecy and inspiration. The most
beautiful things in the world are done in a state of fever ; every
great creation involves a breach of equilibrium, a violent state of
the being which draws it forth.

We acknowledge, indeed, that Christianity is too complex to have
been the work of a single man. In one sense, entire humanity
has co-operated therein. There is no one so shut in, as not to
receive some influence from without. The history of the human
mind is full of strange coincidences, which cause very remote por-
tions of the human species, without any communication with each
other, to arrive at the same time at almost identical ideas and
imaginations. In the thirteenth century, the Latins, the Greeks,
the Syrians, the Jews, and the Mussulmans, adopted scholasticism,
and very nearly the same scholasticism from York to Samarcand ;
in the fourteenth century every one in Italy, Persia, and India,
yielded to the taste for mystical allegory ; in the sixteenth, art was
developed in a very similar manner in Italy, at Mount Athos, and
at the court of the Great Moguls, without St Thomas, Barhebrseus,
the Eabbis of Narbonne, or the MotecalUmin of Bagdad, having
known each other, without Dante and Petrarch having seen any
sofi, without any pupil of the schools of Perouse or of Florence
having been at Delhi We should say there are great moral
influences running through the world like epidemics, without
distinction of frontier and of race. The interchange of ideas in
the human species, does not take place only by books or by direct
instruction. Jesus was ignorant of the very name of Buddha, of
Zoroaster, and of Plato ; he had read no Greek book, no Buddhist
Sudra, nevertheless there was in him more than one element,
which, without his suspecting it, came from Buddhism, Parseeism,
or from the Greek wisdom. All this was done through secret
channels and by that kind of sympathy which exists among the
various portions of humanity. The great man, on the one hand,
receives everything from his age ; on the other, he governs his
age. To shew that the religion founded by Jesus was the natural
consequence of that which had gone before, does not diminish its

Li Ft: OF JESUS. SOSj

excellence ; but only proves that it Imd a reason for its existence
that it was legitimate, that is to say, conformable to the instinct
and wants of the heart in a given age.

Is it more just to say that Jesus owes all to Judaism, and that
his greatness is only that of the Jewish people ? No one is more
disposed than myself to place high this unique people, whose par-
ticular gift seems to have been to contain in its midst the extremes
of good and evil. No doubt, Jesus proceeded from Judaism ; but
he proceeded from it as Socrates proceeded from the schools of the
Sophists, as Luther proceeded from the Middle Ages, as Lamennais
from Catholicism, as Eousseau from the eighteenth century. A man
is of his age and his race even when he reacts against his age and his
race. Far from Jesus having continued Judaism, he represents
the rupture with the Jewish spirit. The general direction of
Christianity after him does not permit the supposition that his
idea in this respect could lead to any misunderstanding. The
general march of Christianity has been to remove itself more and
more from Judaism. It will become perfect in returning to Jesus,
but certainly not in returning to Judaism. The great originality
of the founder remains then undiminished ; his glory admits no
legitimate sharer.

Doubtless, circumstances much aided the success of this mar-
vellous revolution ; but circumstances only second that which is
just and true. Each branch of the development of humanity has
its privileged epoch, in which it attains perfection by a sort of
spontaneous instinct, and without effort. No labour of reflection
would succeed in producing afterwards the masterpieces which
nature creates at those moments by inspired geniuses. That which
the golden age of Greece was for arts and literature, the age
of Jesus was for religion. Jewish society exhibited the most
extraordinary moral and intellectual state which the human species
has ever passed through. It was truly one of those divine hours
in which the sublime is produced by combinations of a thousand
hidden forces, in which great souls find a flood of admiration
and sympathy to sustain them. The world, delivered from the

310 LIFE OF JESUS.

very narrow tyranny of small municipal republics, enjoyed great
liberty. Roman despotism did not make itself felt in a dis-
astrous manner until much later, and it was, moreover, always
less oppressive in those distant provinces than in the centre of the
empire. Our petty preventive interferences (far more destructive
than death to things of the spirit) did not exist. Jesus, during
three years, could lead a life which, in our societies, would have
brought him twenty times before the magistrates. Our laws upon
the illegal exercise of medicine would alone have sufficed to cut
short his career. The unbelieving dynasty of the Herods, on the
other hand, occupied itself little with religious movements ; under
the Asmoneans, Jesus would probably have been arrested at his
first step. An innovator, in such a state of society, only risked
death, and death is a gain to those who labour for the future.
Imagine Jesus reduced to bear the burden of his divinity until
his sixtieth or seventieth year, losing his celestial fire, wearing
out little by little under the burden of an unparalleled mission !
Everything favours those who have a special destiny; they become
glorious by a sort of invincible impulse and command of fate.

This sublime person, who each day still presides over the destiny
of the w^orld, we may call divine, not in the sense that Jesus has
absorbed all the divine, or has been adequate to it, (to employ an
expression of the schoolmen,) but in the sense that Jesus is the
one who has caused his fellow-men to make the greatest step
towards the divine. Mankind in its totality ofiers an assem-
blage of low beings, selfish, and superior to the animal only
in that its selfishness is more reflective. From the midst of this
uniform mediocrity, there are pillars that rise towards the sky,
and bear witness to a nobler destiny. Jesus is the highest of
these pillars which shew to man whence he comes, and whither
he ought to tend. In him was condensed all that is good and
elevated in our nature. He was not sinless ; he has conquered
the same passions that we combat; no angel of God comforted
him, except his good conscience ; no Satan tempted him, except
that which each one bears in his heart. In the same way that

LIFE OF JESUS. Hll

many of his great qualities are lost to us, tlirougli the fault of
his disciples, it is also probable that many of his faults have been
concealed. But never has any one so much as he made the
interests of humanity predominate in his life over the littlenesses of
self-love. Unreservedly devoted to his mission, he subordinated
everything to it to such a degree that, towards the end of his life,
the universe no longer existed for him. It was by this access of
heroic will that he conquered heaven. There never w^as a man,
pakya-Mouni perhaps excepted, who has to this degree trampled
under foot, family, the joys of this world, and all tempoml care.
Jesus only lived for his Father and the divine mission which he
believed himself destined to fulfil.

As to us, eternal children, powerless as we are, we who labour
without reaping, and who will never see the fruit of that which
we have sown, let us bow before these demi-gods. They were
able to do that which we cannot do : to create, to affirm, to act.
Will great originality be born again, or will the world content
itself henceforth by following the ways opened by the bold creators
of the ancient ages? We know not. But whatever may be the
unexpected phenomena of the future, Jesus will not be surpassed.
His worship will constantly renew its youth, the tale of his life
will cause ceaseless tears, his sufi'erings will soften the best hearts ;
all the ages will proclaim that, among the sons of men, there i?
none born who is greater than Jesus.

THE F.^^J.

NOV 1 6 1956

FLIX BHTDllfa