worthy of remark, that Jesus never visited the region where the main body of these hermits dwelt, which was along the western coast of the Dead Sea.* This small sect excepted, which did not number over 4,000 members, we do not find the least trace of a secret order among the people with whom Jesus lived, or any indications of an inclination for such fraternities. It is certain, therefore, that the external connexions of Jesus did not favor the formation of such an order. Any other nation and country would have presented him with far more inducements and far greater facilities for the purpose.† $ 46. Moreover, had Jesus intended to operate in this way, we should undoubtedly find something indicative of it in his institutions of instruction; something from which we might infer, with an appearance of probability, that he was either a member or the founder of a secret society. We search here also in vain for circumstances in confirmation of the one or the other. For how can it be proved that Jesus was directed or impelled in the performance of his work by a secret society? Would not the whole supposition, that Jesus found such a society in existence of which to become a public tool, be altogether destitute of historical foundation? Do the enterprises of Jesus exhibit the least traces of his ever having acted otherwise than according to his own independent will, or ever having been obliged in the first place, to hold consultation with some other person? Did he not in every instance decide all alone and upon the spot? Does not every step that he took bear such marks of resolute determination as to convince any one, that he did not regulate his conduct by others, nor look to others for direction, nor feel responsible to man? Does he ever hint that he * Vid. Pliny, His. Nat., 1. IV. c. 13. The Egyptian Therapeutae, of whose mysteries and regulations Philo so frequently speaks, do not belong to this place, as it cannot be proved that they had the least connexion with Jesus, and they did not possess even the constitution of a regular secret society. Eichhorn, Bibliothek der biblischen Litteratur, Bd. IV. S. 775 ff. [Comp. Neander's K. G., I. 1. 78—80.] had been endowed with full powers and sent on his message by any other being than God? From his institutions of instruction, it is equally hard for us to show that he was even the founder of such an order. It is true that he made various distinctions among his followers. When he taught in public, all men had access to him. He never hesitated to speak before those assemblies which contained his enemies. He had a large number of pupils, however, in close contact with his person, whom he could commission at any time for the performance of his work. Among these were seventy men, whom, when about to make his last journey to Jerusalem, he sent before him, for the purpose of exciting the attention of the people to the important change which he was soon to effect. Still more intimate was he with the company of the twelve apostles, whom he chose at the very commencement of his public ministry, and destined to be the future executors of his purposes, and hence, kept always about his person, and made acquainted with almost every step that he took. Even in this little company, however, there was a distinction. Three of the twelve, Peter, John, and James the elder, were his most intimate disciples and friends, and often permitted to accompany him, where he thought it not advisable to have the rest of his apostles present. Will the historical fact, however, that Jesus made such distinctions among his disciples and friends, authorize us to conclude that he engaged in the formation of a secret society? Is it possible for us to compare these distinctions with the degrees of an order, without sporting with words? In making these distinctions, did Jesus do any thing more than intelligent teachers of every age have been obliged to do, and what circumstances particularly required? What sage has not introduced certain distinctions among his pupils, permitted a select number to have near access to him, and put perfect confidence in a few, and associated them with him as his most intimate friends? Does not the great difference between the powers, dispositions, and future destinations of men, always render such distinctions necessary? As Jesus had but little time to spend in imparting instruction himself, was it not particularly necessary for him to think upon this subject, and, out of the great mass of men, rough, ignorant, and usually blinded by prejudice, with whom he was surrounded, to select a small number as soon as possible, and prepare them for continuing his great work, by holding constant intercourse with them and giving them a more careful education? Was it not the prevailing custom for other Jewish teachers to do so, and was he ever noticed by his countrymen as singular in this respect? Should any one, however, assume that Jesus had other friends in addition to those now called confidants, who kept behind the curtain, and had to act silently in advancing his cause, and away from the view of the world, he takes up with a fiction in every respect destitute of proof. Were it lawful to treat history in such a manner, it might be shown with far more appearance of certainty, that Socrates, for instance, was at the head of such a band, and it would be easy to transform every great man into the director or founder of some secret order. The mode of instruction employed by Jesus, was indeed regulated according to the different characters of his hearers, to which allusion has already been made; but it never bears any marks of that intentional obscurity and reserve to be noticed in the manner of those, who wish to have it understood, that they are in the possession of secrets which cannot be imparted to all. That Jesus often clothed the truths which he delivered in interesting parables,* is readily admitted. He did so, however, because the people were accustomed to this mode of instruction, and more easily excited by it to due reflection upon what they heard ; but especially, because it enabled him to say many things * Vid. Vitringa, De Synag. Vet., 1. III. p. 1. c. 5. [Compare also the excellent treatise by the worthy pupil and friend of Reinhard, Superint. Wilh. Christ. Gottl. Weise, of Hertzberg, Diss. de more Domini acceptos a magistris Judaicis loquendi ac disserendi modos sapienter emendandi, quam praeside Reinhardo publ. def., Viteb., 1792, ab auctore recognita et multis augmentis locupleta in Velthusen etc. Commentatt. Theolog., Vol. V. nr. 8. p. 117-197.] in a way perfectly intelligible to the attentive and unprejudiced listener, but which the great mass of the people, did not understand,* and would have misapprehended and abused, had they been uttered in plain language. These parables, however, concealed no meaning with which it was not every man's business to become acquainted. They merely embodied the instructions, views, and representations, to which the men of that age were unaccustomed, and which stood in strong opposition to prevailing prejudices. These were the secrets of the kingdom of God, which the mixed multitude were as yet unable to receive without the disguise of imagery, and which were therefore laid by Jesus in the first place, before his intimate disciples. However attentively we examine the figurative narratives of Jesus which have been preserved by the Evangelists, not one of them will be found to contain any traces of mysterious references to secret enterprises and institutions, or any thing more than those doctrines, which, as soon as his entire history was sufficiently developed, and a multitude of the vain expectations entertained by the Jewish nation had been corrected, were delivered in public, and imparted to every adherent of Christianity. It would be very unjust in any one to blame Jesus for accommodating himself to the circumstances and necessities of his fellow citizens and friends, by letting himself down to their weak capacities, and passing over many things in silence, which, in the progress of his great work, would become intelligible of themselves. The wisest men of every age have looked upon such a benevolent condescension as necessary, and practised it, in imparting truth. He, however, who, from Christ's condescension in this respect, should infer that he taught in this way, out of compliance with the laws and regulations imposed upon him by a secret society, would evidently allow himself to jump at a conclusion, as every thing peculiar to his mode of teaching, can be rendered perfectly intelligible without this supposition. * Comp. Hess, Ueber die Lehren, Thaten und Schichsale unsers Herrn, Abschn. VI. S. 175 ff., [according to the edition of 1806, B. II. Abschn. VII. S. 3--46;] and Storr, Opuscula Academica, Tom. I. diss. II. p. 89 seqq. Finally, some have endeavored to explain away the miracles connected with Christ's institutions of instruction, of which accounts are given by the Evangelists, by considering them as the effects of certain physical secrets, which he is said to have possessed, and is conjectured to have obtained from some secret order, and declaring them the contrivances of his most private friends, who, by various preparations unknown to the apostles, may, it is thought, have accomplished that, which, though perfectly natural, would have appeared miraculous to those who saw not the machinery. None of this conjecturing, however, is worth the trouble of an answer. The fictitious means, which, in this case, Jesus is said to have employed for restoring health to the sick, must have possessed a power, no less wonderful than that which this supposition is designed to obviate. But what kind of a heart and judgement and what views must that man have, who can think it probable that even Jesus, devoted as his life was to the accomplishment of the exalted and divine object, the character of which I have described, should descend to juggling, who can attempt to explain away a great part of his miracles by supposing them to have been performed by the secret machinery of an intimate order of brotherhood, and dare to think him capable of degrading himself so far as to engage in the miserable artifices of legerdemain! So senseless and constrained is the entire representation which some late writers have given of Christ's miracles in this respect, and the manner in which they have endeavored to explain them away, that not another word need be said upon the subject.* Enough! there is noth - *[So judged Reinhard in 1789 and 1798; and so he judged also after the appearance of Paulus' Commentary. I here give his opinion in this respect as it was printed from a letter in his own handwriting: "What shall I say of the fat commentary of the PseudoPaul? Knoll and Spinoza, the most boyish remarks respecting the Greek text, and the most audacious and childish mode of reasoning respecting the contents of the N. Test., are, in this work, connected and mingled together in so curious a manner, as to leave the whole circle of literature no chance of ever again producing the like. The tone in which the praise of this monster of philology and philosophy has been trumpeted, is one of the signs of the times, and affords |