the past. Jesus was certain that the ancient Law had prepared for what he had come to do. The people also were preparing for the coming of the kingdom by the practice of the Law. And they must complete this preparation by continuing to practise it; but in order to complete and fulfil it they must go beyond the letter. The members of the kingdom to come were called from that moment to be sons of God, children of the Father; and entering with him into the relations of children with a father, they would be in new and higher relations with God. Formerly slaves, keeping the commandments literally and by compulsion, they would now be doing the will of God and filled with his Spirit, because they were in personal communion with him.1

Thus there resulted a new moral obligation for every disciple of Jesus. A son of the Father, he must serve him, obey him, do his will; but all this service must be done by love. He will obey because of his confidence; he has faith in his Father. The will of God toward him is an act of kindness. New motives unknown till then

1 Matt. v. 9, 45-48; vi. 6, 8, 9, 14, 26, 32; vii. 11.

will be born in his soul, love, confidence, submission, yielding to the Father's will.

In this Jesus created a truly new religion, and his supreme purpose in creating it was to save his people; that is, to prepare them for the coming of the kingdom of God. There was never any thought in these early teachings of a possible violent death in the future, by which Jesus purposed to accomplish salvation. He simply preached a new relation between God and man, a new covenant; and this is in fact a new religion. The way of salvation which he opened and offered was the Father's forgiveness. When the Father should have forgiven men, the age to come would begin. And the Father forgives those who forgive;1 he receives the penitent prodigal.

The conditions of entrance into the kingdom, then, were repentance, trust, a change of heart. He who fulfilled these would receive a great reward in the kingdom of heaven, provided he had done the

1 Matt. vi. 14; Mark xi. 25; Matt. xviii. 35; Luke vi. 37; etc. Jesus never attached any other condition to the forgiveness of God than the forgiveness which men extend to their brethren.

will of God and put Jesus' teachings into practice. The tree would be known by its fruit. Those who had loved, forgiven, done good to the poor and suffering would enter the kingdom. Upon this point Jesus' teaching never varied. In a parable of his latest days he declared that those who should be placed at his right hand and enter eternal life would be those who had fed the hungry, given drink to the thirsty, visited those who were sick and in prison. The Jews said, Practise the Law and you will be worthy of the kingdom. Jesus said, Do the will of God and you will be the son of God. The Lord's Prayer remains the loftiest expression of this high conception of the relations of man with God, which is the whole of the religion first taught by Jesus. We must bear in mind, when we study this prayer, that Jesus said at the same time that the Father knows what things we have need of before we ask for them.1

The teaching of Jesus in this early period is, then, not to be distinguished from a large, tolerant Pharisaism, taking a long step forward. Most of his aphorisms were

1 Matt. vi. 8.

borrowed from the Old Testament or from the Rabbis who preceded him. He was persuaded that true Pharisees would approve of his ideas of reform, just as Luther was at first persuaded that he was doing the work of a good Catholic, and would be approved of by the Church and its rulers. In the same way Jesus expected to be approved by every one, welcomed by every one; he deemed that he was doing nothing but what every true zealot of the Law could do and ought to do. Full of confidence himself, he inspired confidence. He had as yet very few disciples, properly so called, but he was reaching consciences, he was touching hearts; his word was sinking deep into men's souls.

IN

CHAPTER IV

THE MESSIAH AND HIS WORK

N our first volume we affirmed that from the beginning of his ministry Jesus believed himself to be the Messiah. He would not be a Messiah instigating a revolution, like Judas the Gaulonite or any other zealot, but he was the Messiah.

It would seem at first view as though the conviction of his Messianic dignity had been of slow growth. In fact, all that we have said of him up to this time shows simply the work of a Rabbi. He began by preaching, like John the Baptist. Would he have done so if at that time he had believed himself to be any other than also a forerunner? More than this, it is certain that he did not reveal himself to his apostles as Messiah until a much later time, only a year before his death.1 In these early days he was simply one of those

1 Matt. xvi. 13-20.