Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/657

 JESUS CHRIST 63 T synagogue, was scornfully rejected on account of his humble parentage and family connec- tions, and took up his abode in Capernaum, where he healed a demoniac and other sick persons; on the sea of Galilee he lulled a tempest, and on the shores of the sea he performed many wonderful cures ; and, as the number of those seeking help from him in- creased, he chose and ordained twelve disci- ples who should be with him continually. It was probably on another journey through Gal- ilee that he delivered before a numerous con- course the sermon on the mount, in which lie set forth the spirit of his doctrine, the condi- tions of participation in the kingdom of God, and gave in the Lord's prayer an example op- posed to the long prayers of the Pharisees. He afterward healed the palsied servant of a centurion of Capernaum, and restored a wid- ow's son at Nam to life. While performing such deeds as exemplifications and in attestation of his doctrines, the second feast of the pass- over came. He attended it, and gave occasion for the hostility of the Pharisees by healing on the sabbath day, at the pool of Bethesda, a man who had suffered from an infirmity for 88 years. Leaving Jerusalem for a third circuit in Galilee, he instructed and sent forth the twelve apos- tles, and miraculously fed 5,000 persons with five loaves and two small fishes. His numer- ous miraculous cures, and the increasing num- ber of believers in him as the Messiah, deep- ened the enmity of the Pharisees, who -sought to do violence to him. At this period the third passover in his ministry occurred. He, however, left Judea, and passed along the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, repeating his mira- cles. The transfiguration, the foreshadowing of his own sufferings, and the choice of 70 disciples, whom he sent two by two into all the places which he intended to visit, preceded his journey to Jerusalem to the feast of taber- nacles. After his public teaching there, he went to Perrea ; at Bethany he raised from the dead Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary, and on his way toward the capital he cured at Jer- icho blind Bartimfflus. He made his entry into Jerusalem, riding on an ass, and was received in triumph by the people. Returning after a night spent in Bethany, he blighted with a word the barren fig tree, foiled the insidious attempt to ensnare him on the subject of trib- ute, and denounced their hypocrisy and the guilt and doom of the city. At the fourth and Last feast of the passover with his disciples, he washed their feet as a lesson of love and hu- mility; announced that on that night one of them would betray him, and designated Judas Iscariot as the traitor ; and instituted the Lord's supper. Afterward with great agony of spirit he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane. Thith- er Judas came with an armed band, and be- trayed to them the object of their search by saying, "Hail, master! " and kissing him. Re- fusing the offers of assistance, Jesus freely sur- rendered himself, when his disciples fled. He was brought before the court of the sanhe- drim ; and as he did not deny that he was the Christ, the Son of God, he was adjudged guilty of blasphemy, and condemned to death. He was brought thence, on the charge of sedition, before the tribunal of Pontius Pilate, the Ro- man procurator of the province, who was in- duced by the clamor of the people and by threats to condemn him, although he declared him to be innocent. He was scourged, a scar- let robe and a crown of thorns were put on him in mockery, and he was led away to be crucified. At Golgotha (Calvary) vinegar mingled with gall was offered him to drink. He was crucified between two thieves, one of whom became peni- tent and was forgiven by the suffering Saviour. The cross on which he hung bore the inscription, in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, " Jesus of Naza- reth, the King of the Jews." He committed his mother to the care of his beloved disciple John, according to which evangelist his last words were, " It is finished." At his death the sun was darkened, the earth quaked, and the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. In the evening came Joseph of Arimathsea, a disciple of Christ, and begged the body and buried it. This was on the after- noon of Friday. On the third day, i. e., early on the morning of the day thence called the Lord's day, he rose from the dead ; he appeared to his 11 remaining disciples, and to many oth- ers; remained with them 40 days, instructing them in the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, and blessing them ; and then visibly ascended to heaven. His last charge to his dis- ciples was to go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. The person and work of Jesus Christ have been the subject of ex- tended discussion from many points of view. The Lebensgeschichte Jem of J. J. Hess (Zu- rich, 1781) is one of the earlier general works on this subject. The " Life of Christ and the Lives of the Apostles, John the Baptist, and the Virgin Mary," by John Fleetwood (Glas- gow, 1813 ; many times reprinted), attempts from the four gospel narratives to give the con- nected history. Mention may be made also of the " Life of the Saviour," by H. Ware, jr. (Boston, 1832; new ed., New York, 1868). The results of German rationalistic criticism appear in the works called Das Leben Jesn, by II. II. E. G. Paulus (Heidelberg, 1828), D. F. Strauss (Tubingen, 1835 ; revised and abridged in 1864; English translation, London, 1846), and C. F. von Ammon (Leipsic, 1842-'7). The work of Strauss, the most destructively critical of the three, made a great impression, and called out many replies. That of Karl Hase (Leipsic, 1829 ; English translation, Boston, 1860) was prior to it in date, and the ablest answer to Strauss was the work of J. A. W. Neander (Hamburg, 1837; English translation, New York, 1848), which was followed by those of J. P. Lange (Heidelberg, 1844-'5; English translation, Edinburgh, 1864), J. A. Dorner