and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying: Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter: Get thee behind me, Satan; thou art an offence unto me, for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. Then said Jesus unto his disciples: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake, shall find it.. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels: and then he shall reward every man according to his works."* The actions of Christ perfectly tallied with his declarations. Not the least step did he take to promote any scheme of temporal aggrandizement. Instead of exhorting his countrymen to rise and throw off the Roman domination, when the captious political question was put to him, Is it lawful to give tribute unto Cæsar or not he rather taught them the two-fold duty of discharging their several obligations to God and their sovereign.† Instead of inculcating those fiery and vehement passions, which might best subserve the purposes of an impostor aiming at an earthly kingdom he rather enforced dispositions, which of all others would be the most prejudicial to such a scheme; meekness, humility, forgiveness, patience, submission, and non-resistance to injuries. Instead of eagerly availing himself of the golden opportunity, which once occurred, of acquiring the sovereignty of Israel he, unaccountably, on the supposition of his *Matt. xvi. 21---27. Matt. v. 3---12, 38---44. † Matt. xxii. 17---21, being an impostor, threw it away in mere wantonness; and thus lost it for ever. Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said: This is of a truth that prophet, that should come into the world. When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.* Now, for the present, whether the alleged fact of the miracle be admitted or rejected, the conduct of Christ, on the theory of his being an impostor, will be equally inexplicable. The train of thought, in consequence of which the people violently attempted to make him a king, is perfectly clear. They were led, for some reason or another, to believe him the Messiah. But the Messiah, according to their notions of him, was to be a mighty temporal prince. Hence they sought, forthwith, to invest him with the regal character. Had he been an impostor who sought an earthly kingdom, now was the favourable moment. He refused to be made a king, and withdrew himself to the solitude of an unfrequented mountain. It is utterly preposterous to believe, that such would, or could have been the conduct of an impostor. See, how Coziba acted under parallel circumstances: contrast him royally crowned by Akibha and advancing against the Romans at the head of two hundred thousand men, with Christ refusing the diadem and retiring into solitude and then say, which is the impostor, and which is the prophet sent from God. Equally unaccountable are other parts also of Christ's conduct, on the supposition of his being an impostor. No adventurer could reasonably have hoped for success, except by adopting a system of dexterous conciliation towards all the higher classes among the Jews. Hence he would have studiously flattered *John vi. 14, 15. their prejudices: and, by an adroit commendation both of their doctrine and their practice, would have endeavoured to win them over to the furtherance of his projects. Christ, however, instead of acting upon these obvious principles, took such an extraordinary course, that in a very short time he effectually alienated all the ruling powers and made them his bitterest enemies. Their favourite opinions he directly controverted; their hypocrisy he unceremoniously exposed; their corrupt practices he exhibited to the people in all their undisguised deformity; and themselves he stigmatized with a severity at once austere and contemptuous. Why do you transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? was the cutting question, which he put to the Scribes and Pharisees of Jerusalem. For God commanded, saying: Honour thy father and mother; and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say: Whosoever shall say to his father or mother, It is a gift by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, and honour not his father or his mother; he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying: This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.* Nor were reproofs of this description addressed to their subjects in private only: the multitude who had been wont to admire pharisaic piety as something preeminently strict and severe, were openly and unreservedly cautioned against their long venerated teachers; an affront of all others the most difficult to be digested or forgiven. "The Scribes and the Pharisees, (said Jesus to the crowds that surrounded him,) sit in Moses' seat; all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do. But do not ye Matt. xv. 3--9. 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 for to be seen of men. They make broad their phylacteries; and 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. But wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men ; for ye neither go in yourselves, nor suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. Wo unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and, when he is made, ye make him two-fold more the child of hell than yourselves. Wo unto you, ye blind guides, which say: Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! Ye fools, and blind; for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? And, whosoever shall swear by the altar it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty! Ye fools and blind; for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift. Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it and by all things thereon. And, whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it and by him that dwelleth therein. And he, that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God and by him that sitteth thereon. Wo unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin; 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. Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, 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. Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Wo 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 are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I 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 Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you: All these things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered together thy children, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings; and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate."* That the corrupt rulers of Israel should be vehemently enraged at the bold reformer, who * Matt. xxiii. |
