proclaimed that the Kingdom of God was already among men,1 and that the least in the Kingdom of Heaven was greater than he.2 His public career, however, did not last long. Herod put an end to it by confining him in the stronghold of Machaerus,3 and afterward condemning him to death. The Gospels tell us that this was done to satisfy the crafty vengeance of the offended Herodias; but Josephus affirms that the true cause of his death was the apprehension Herod felt of his influence with the people. His last moment on earth was assuredly the dawn of a bright eternity in the Kingdom of Heaven, for his mind dwelt steadily and continuously upon Him whose precursor he himself was. He was buried by his faithful disciples, who brought the news of his death to Jesus. 4 Although John, when instructing these, had insisted with great distinctness that Jesus was the Messiah and the Lamb of God,3 still many among them failed to fully seize the truth conveyed by his words-were slow to acknowledge Jesus, and continued disciples of John. Their conduct was analogous to what takes place in nature. The signs of a lower existence do not at once disappear when a higher degree is reached, and there remain indications of an intermediate state after other formations which have grown out of it have attained their most perfect development. § 37. Temptation of Jesus-Sermon on the Mount-His Fixed Purpose. Jesus, after He had been baptized by John, which was, so to speak, the inaugural act of His mission as Messiah, was led 1 The same idea is expressed in the hymn of the Church for the feast of St. John the Baptist: 2 Matt. xi. 11. Caeteri tantum cecinere vatum Tu quidem mundi scelus auferentem Joseph. antiqq. XVIII. 5, 2. †Gams, John the Baptist in Prison. Tübg. 1853. Bax, de Joanne Bapt. Lugd. Batav. Winer, Biblical Cyclopedia, Vol. I., p. 690 sq. * Matt. xiv. 2-12; xxi. 23–27. 5 John i. 29, 36. 6 John iii. 26; Luke v. 33; Matt. ix. 14, xi. 2; Acts xviii. 25, xix. 2, 7. by the Holy Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He, like Moses on Mount Sinai, spent forty days in perpetual conflict with the prince of darkness, but was ever victorious. He, the Second Adam, was exposed to the temptations common to all His brethren of the human family,' but, unlike the First Adam, He overcame instead of being overcome.2 This temptation was, in the ordinary course of things, indispensably necessary to prove that He was essentially a being endowed with reason and free will, who, because the first created man had yielded to the tempter, should submit to the same trial. This parallel is the more striking when we consider that the temptation of both the First and Second Adam was threefold, viz., the concupiscence of the flesh, the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, and that these are the sources of all the sins of the world.3 4 He commenced His work of public teaching after the manner of a Jewish rabbi, passing in the eyes of the public for a son of Joseph. His first precept, like that of St. John the Baptist, was "do penance," but he shortly afterward, in a more lengthy discourse, the Sermon on the Mount, fully declared His divine mission, and laid down the fundamental principles of His doctrine." "Think not," said He, "that I am come to destroy the Law and the Prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill;" and, like John, He caused His disciples to be baptized unto penance. He enjoined the people to sanctify themselves by becoming clean of heart and single-minded, and assured them that they should be rewarded by seeing God. A reward in its nature so spiritual was in striking contrast with the ambitious and worldly hopes they had fancied would be realized in the Messiah. Nevertheless, at the close of the Sermon, the astonished multitude declared 1 Heb. ii. 18, iv. 15. 2 Matt. iv. 1–12. 31 John ii. 16. 4 Luke iii. 23. 5 Matt. iv. 17. 6 Matt. v.-vii. 7 Matt. v. 17. 8 John iv. 2. that He taught as One having authority, and not as their Scribes and Pharisees.1 Every word and act of Christ gave evidence of a marvelous and sustained earnestness, whose high aim, if we may judge from the manifestations which it prompted, was, from the very beginning, perfectly clear and distinct before His mind. He proclaimed that His unalterable purpose was to unite in one religious and moral society all mankind of every age and clime, and afford the facilities for every member of the human family, who would follow His directions and comply with His commands, to free himself from sin and be reconciled to God, to grow in purity and increase in holiness, and by this means enter into eternal life. Never were the expressions of which He made use in His public teaching, to give to His hearers a clear idea of His heavenly kingdom, at variance with this great and all-embracing aim. He spoke always and everywhere in language the most clear and explicit of this note of universality, as one peculiar to His kingdom.3 2 His religion, being purely spiritual, was of a character no less universal; and the same may be said of all the prophecies relating to the Messiah, which spoke of the whole human race as the true flock of Christ, whose Kingdom founded among the Jews was to extend its bounds "till it embraced all Pagan nations.” 4 § 38. The Divine Doctrine of Jesus-Its Scope and Character. The doctrine of Jesus was in every sense in keeping with the sketch just drawn. He insisted, above everything else, on the worship of the One true and only God, whom He represented as personally distinct in the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and these as absolutely one in essence and dignity. He said that He Himself, the Messiah promised to the Jews, was also the Son of God, that the Father and He would send the Holy Ghost, who would teach them all truth and sanctify 1 Matt. vii. 28. 2 Matt. xix. 28; Luke xxii. 30; Mark vii. 27. 3 John x. 16; Matt. xxviii. 19. Matt. xv. 24; Conf. Matt. xxviii. 19, and Ps. cix. 2. 2 their souls;1 that the earth and all things upon it were created out of nothing, and are continually governed by the power and wisdom of God; that man had no Creator but God, who created the first man, and that his descendants peopled the whole face of the earth; that man consists of a body of clay, which is perishable, and a soul made in the image and likeness of God, which is immortal; that sin, which came into the world by the disobedience of man and his apostasy from God, is the cause of all evil; that man still bears within himself the consciousness of this disobedience; and that He Himself, in obedience to the will of His Eternal Father, came down from Heaven, and graciously took upon Himself human nature, for the purpose of reconciling man with God, raising him from death to life, and working his redemption. The moral code of Christ aimed at true holiness and genuine morality. He declared that Christian perfection in its highest sense consists in becoming like to God; that its motive is a wish to comply with the will of God and obey His laws; that man should love God above all things with his whole heart and with his whole soul, and his neighbor, nay even his enemy, as himself; and that the highest reward man can receive as the price of victory in this spiritual conflict is to be taken up into Heaven and enjoy there forever the intuitive vision of God.3 The doctrine of Jesus was as truly popular in character as the Gnomes and Parables,* equally intelligible to the learned and the unlearned, rich in suggestion, and destined to endure. It was, moreover, by reason of its inherent divine power,5 admirably adapted, both as regards its nature and form, to the varying wants and vicissitudes of human life. It was a doctrine that had the sanction of both prophecies and miracles, came as a divine revelation to the soul naturally disposed toward 1 John xiv. 26. 2 Ex uno fecit omne genus humanum. Acts xvii. 26. 3 When the defective and imperfect knowledge of God, of man and his destiny, possessed by man in pre-Christian times, is compared with the great body of Christian doctrine, the superiority of the latter and the sublimity of its meaning become instantly and fully apparent. 4 Matt. xiii. 34. 5 Rom. i. 16. Christianity, and was everywhere accompanied by works of love and mercy,' verifying the words of St. John, "The divine Word appeared full of grace and truth," and proving the teaching of Christ to have been that of the Father who sent Him." Hence the people cried out with joy that Jesus taught them as One having authority, and not as the Scribes and Pharisees.4 Jesus preferred, while on earth, to call Himself the "Son of Man," a name made use of long before by the prophet Daniel," when foretelling His coming in the clouds of Heaven. He certainly intended by this to convey the idea that He was by excellence "The Man," the archetype of the human race, or the Second Adam, in whom were realized all the attributes of the most perfect ideal of humanity. § 39. Jesus Establishes a Visible Church. As Jesus had affirmed that the doctrine which He taught should be absolutely the one religion of all mankind, and declared that He was the Savior of the world, whose office it was to lift from man the curse of sin and restore the living intercourse which once existed between him and his God, it became necessary to establish one religious society, which should be a bond of union among men for all time and in every country. The nature of the work to be done, embracing all ages and nations, required such a society. For Christ, in His character of Savior of the World, was obliged to afford to man everywhere and at all times the same facilities of participating in divine grace and of approaching nearer and nearer to its Source that those enjoyed who gathered around Him during His stay on earth. 1 The very life of Christianity and its complete realization depend 1 Full of meaning is the repeated remark of St. Matthew, "Jesus went about teaching in the synagogues, and healing all diseases and infirmities among the people, ,"-iv. 23; ix. 25. So, likewise, Luke, Acts x. 38. 2 John i. 17. 3 John vii. 16. 4 Matt. vii. 28, 29. 5 Dan. vii. 13, 14. 6 Luke xiv. 28. |