and inhabited by a half-Jewish, half-heathen population. The Galilæans were as full of religious zeal as the men of Judæa themselves, and indeed were still more easily roused to action by the cry "for God and for Israel!" But they were nevertheless considered more or less "unclean." There was, moreover, a tolerably large class of persons who either did not observe the Law with sufficient strictness, or were too free in their intercourse with the heathen. They were known as "the peoples of the land," and were looked down upon as unclean. So, too, we meet with a class described as "sinners," who were excluded from the civil and ecclesiastical communion of the Jews. The sentence of excommunication had been pronounced upon them by the synagogue for some grave moral or religious offence. To the same class belonged the tax-collectors or publicans," who were branded as hirelings of the Roman conquerors and traitors to their fatherland and their religion, and were hated and cursed by their countrymen.

66

Ever since Shalmaneser and Nebuchadrezzar had carried away the Israelites into captivity, and still more since the successors of Alexander the Great had founded their kingdoms, a large proportion of the Jewish nation had been scattered all over the ancient world, and was called "Israel in the Dispersion." In Syria, Asia Minor, Macedonia, Greece, and Italy, but still more in Babylonia and Egypt, considerable communities of Jews were established. They retained their national and religious allegiance, formed little societies by themselves, studied the Law in their synagogues, kept up an intimate connection with their true fatherland, and at the Passover especially streamed by thousands to the temple. In Alexandria the Jews rose to a most distinguished position, and the more cultivated among them attempted to effect a union between the religion of Yahweh and the Greek philosophy and culture. It was there that the Old Testament was translated into Greek, and so made accessible to strangers. There, too, a new Jewish literature sprang up, and a curious school of Jewish philosophy flourished. The Jews were favored by the authorities almost everywhere, and, though they were hated by the heathen populace, they made numerous converts to their religion. These converts were known as 66 Proselytes."

Before long Israel was to yield to the heathen world the religious privilege of which it was so proud, the possession of the purest knowledge of God's nature and his will.

III.

SUCH was the scene upon which Jesus and his Apostles appeared. Jesus- whom three or four hundred millions of disciples so justly honor as the greatest of all who have ever lived on earth was born and bred in Nazareth, a secluded mountain village in Galilee. His parents were called Joseph and Mary, and belonged to the humbler class of citizens. They had a large family; but none of its members except James, and perhaps Judas, ever gained a place of distinction among the followers of Jesus. But little is known of the youth of Jesus, nor can we say with certainty how old he was when he entered upon public life.

But we do know the occasion of his leaving the narrow circle in which he lived. In the wilderness of Judah, not far from the Jordan, a prophet of the name of John had risen. The fact was remarkable enough in itself, for no prophet had appeared for four or five centuries past, and the gift of prophecy seemed to have vanished altogether. But the striking character of John himself, his severe mode of life, somewhat analogous to that of the Essenes, and still more the subject-matter of his preaching, all combined to make him the object, for a time at least, of universal attention. He preached that the deliverance was near at hand, that God was about to fulfil the hope of former generations, the promises of ancient oracles, and that the Messianic kingdom would be soon established. He called upon his countrymen to amend their lives, and so to hasten the dawn of this glorious day, and, above all, to escape the fearful judgment which God would bring upon all sinners. He collected a band of disciples round him, and, if any one listened to his preaching and gave evidence of true repentance, he baptized him in the Jordan. By means of this rite, the symbol of purity, he intended to proceed at once to the practical measure of inaugurating the Messianic kingdom, by forming a community of its future subjects.

The fame of John has found its way to Nazareth; and Jesus, whose soul burns for the coming of the kingdom of God, lays down his work, bids farewell to his family, and sets out from Nazareth towards the spot where John is preaching. He listens to him, is baptized by him, and remains some time with him.

But the career of John is brought to a sudden close. Herod Antipas has flung him into the dungeon whence he is never to come out alive. Is there no one to take up the task he has been compelled to leave unfinished, and prepare Israel for the approaching Messianic kingdom? Yes. The violent interruption of the work of John was the signal for Jesus to come forward. The subject-matter of his preaching was at first almost identical with that of his predecessor. But, as his character was widely different from John's, so he took up his task in quite another spirit, and cherished a far more exalted and spiritual conception of the Messianic kingdom. He did not withdraw into the desert, but returned to Galilee, mingled in the busy life of the people, preached when and where he could find the opportunity, and turned more especially to the outcasts of Jewish society. He looked upon it as his special task to teach the despised "peoples of the land" something of God and the way to serve him, and to raise the publicans and sinners out of their moral wretchedness. If he could succeed in this, the kingdom of God would no longer be delayed.

He established himself at Capernaum, a busy place by the sea of Galilee, on the great commercial road to Syria; for he knew that he would not find a ready hearing in his native place. When he did preach there, some time afterwards, his fellow-townsmen, who had never noticed any thing that marked him off from others, could not bring themselves to think of him as a prophet, and even his own family failed to understand him. Jesus let nothing discourage him, but went about through the different towns and villages of Galilee preaching of the kingdom of God, generally in figurative language, and in parables or stories; bearing witness to God's infinite and eternal love, and the holiness that he requires from his children; seeking out the lost with a patience that was never weary. The impression he produced was deep, especially when he had cured a certain number of persons subject to nervous diseases, whose sickness was attributed to evil spirits supposed to dwell in them. A host of disciples, some of them women, gathered round him, and wherever he went the people thronged to hear him. He chose twelve of his followers as his constant companions, to receive a more special training, and to be his trusted friends. He intended eventually to send them out to publish everywhere the approaching establishment of the kingdom of God.

How long he worked in Galilee is uncertain. The term

1*

of his preaching is usually estimated at three years, but without sufficient reason. Others think that it only lasted a little more than a year (A.D. 34-35), and there is much to be said in support of this opinion. But however long or short his ministry may have been, he was unwearied in his labors. He never allowed himself a moment's rest, and, since the hours of the day left him no time of leisure, it was no rare thing for him to sacrifice the hours of sleep in order to recover from the distractions of the daytime, to think over his work and his surroundings, and to strengthen himself by prayer.

His attitude towards the religion of Israel requires special explanation. He did not reject it, but in the spirit of the great prophets of the eighth and seventh centuries he endeavored to develop its higher aspects. Outward ceremonies, precepts about the Sabbath, Levitical "cleanness," prohibitions of certain kinds of food and all such things, though regarded by his contemporaries as the very essence of religion, had little value in his eye. The moral requirements of the Law, on the other hand, he placed in the foreground, at the same time extending their application. Irreproachable conduct was not enough for him; he required purity in the very dispositions of the heart, boundless love, mercy, humility, gentleness. He spoke of God as the Father in heaven, whose love embraces all and who desires that all should be saved. He rose above narrow national prejudices; felt the priceless worth of every human soul, and had such deep, firm faith in human nature that he threw open the gates of salvation to every one, even the most abandoned.

Jesus could not preach and work in this way without coming into collision with those who were still guiding the religious life of his people along the line of development it had followed ever since the time of Ezra. Indeed, he must eventually come into collision with the Government itself. At first there was nothing to bring him into contact with the Sadducees, and they took no notice of him. The Essenes, too, had so completely shut themselves off from social life that he never met them after his appearance in public. On the other hand, he was thrown into the closest relations with the Pharisees from the beginning to the end of his public life. No doubt he had been taught, as part of his religious education, to esteem them highly; it was from them, especially from the Galilæan Scribes, that he had gained in the synagogue his earliest knowledge of the Holy Scriptures of

his people and their zeal for the kingdom of God, their longing for its establishment, and their constant straining after "righteousness" had marked them out as his spiritual guides. And although he gradually became aware of much that offended him in their whole scheme of life, in their formality and worship of the letter, their self-righteousness and hardness towards the outcasts of church and society, yet at first he was willing to retain a favorable opinion of them. And they on their side regarded his appearance with interest, met him in no unfriendly spirit, and pointed out to him what they regarded as his mistakes. But gradually their relations became more strained. His intercourse with the unclean appeared to them a desecration of the service of Yahweh. Then they noticed again and again, and with ever-growing indignation, how careless he was in observing those precepts of the Law that referred to the outward life. At last, they saw clearly that he was attempting to establish the supremacy of a new principle of religious life, and that his preaching was coming into more and more direct conflict with the popular religion of his times. They now regarded him as a false prophet and a seducer of the people. And Jesus on his side came by this very opposition to understand the dark side of the Pharisaic teaching. He attacked it earnestly and emphatically, and strove to undermine its influence with the people. The conflict thus begun grew more and more violent as time went on, till at last the crash became inevitable.

IV.

MEANWHILE a change had taken place in the mind of Jesus himself, as his experiences of life deepened. His views as to himself, as to the fate that awaited him, and as to the future of his people had been greatly modified.

As for himself, he had never occupied a conspicuous place in his own thoughts. From first to last it was the work he had to do, and not his own person, that engaged his chief attention. At first he regarded himself simply as the herald of the kingdom of God, with the special mission of seeking out the "lost" of Israel. But he could not long remain unconscious that he had power to satisfy every religious want of the human heart. As he uttered the truths which his own soul had revealed to him, in communion with God, he