that of Sinai. In this he gives no theological explanation of his death, but he does affirm its importance.

Jesus, however, never considered his death as a sacrifice in the Levitical sense. He had found his sufferings predicted by the prophets, but he never said that his death was prefigured by the sacrifice of the Law, or in general by the Temple sacrifices.

We have already had occasion to remark that we never saw Jesus offering sacrifices in the Temple, except that of the Passover out of respect to a national custom, and at a patriotic festival which he much loved. He commended the Scribe who said that to love God is more than all whole burntofferings. We have several times cited the word of God in Hosea, "I will have mercy and not sacrifice;" for Jesus often repeated it, entirely making his own this idea, which was much disseminated in his time and which came in a straight line from the first chapter of Isaiah, that God asks of us, above all things, the gift of ourselves, and that the rites of the Temple and the lamb offered upon the altar are not essential.

When his resolution to go up to Jerusalem was taken, Jesus made haste to put it into execution. Many of his utterances of that time show a holy impatience to be done with it all as soon as possible. Did he hope thus to bring nearer the moment of the coming of the kingdom? Did he expect something new? It is certainly the case that, comparing his death to a baptism of blood, he declared himself in haste to receive it. It was at Jerusalem that he must receive it; let him hasten thither as fast as possible. With "his face steadfastly set," as St. Luke says, he set out for the Holy City. He quitted the North of Galilee, passing by way of Capernaum, returning for a few days to his own home, — that home where he was leaving so many memories, seeing again his mother and brothers, who had left Nazareth and established themselves in Capernaum. They urged him to perform some Messianic act. Let him hesitate no longer; let him go to Jerusalem, do some startling thing. Jesus refused, and the chasm that separated him from his own grew yet deeper. Some startling thing! "A sign from heaven !"

1 Luke xii. 50.

2 Luke ix. 51.

as the Pharisees had often said to him; then not one of his brothers nor even his mother understood him. No doubt he was to do a startling thing, but a very different one from what they thought!

To his mind, it was essential to go to Judea, and because of Herod he considered it important that no one should suspect his presence in Galilee. He therefore left Capernaum incognito, never again to see this village. Without being observed, he went down the Jordan valley, taking once more that road so often traversed, which follows the eastern frontier of Samaria. He had passed along it for the first time at the age of twelve years, and how often in the interval! But this time he did not immediately follow the road to its end; he would not yet give himself up to his enemies. He wanted a few days of liberty, and so he crossed the river. On the other shore he would be at rest: it was Perea; no one would disturb him.

But this stay was short, and toward the middle of autumn in the year 29 (we may indicate this date without too much temerity) he recrossed the Jordan, arrived at Jericho, and once more began openly his

public life, without the least allusion to its probable issue. He appeared at Jerusalem in the early days of October, at the Feast of Tabernacles. There we shall find him again in our last volume.

CHAPTER XIII

THE NAMES ASSUMED BY JESUS

THAT “HAT we may penetrate yet more deeply into the mind of Jesus, we have now to study the names which he gave himself or permitted others to give him, seeking to know in what sense he took them. Faithful to our method, we shall confine ourselves to interrogating and ascertaining the facts.

In our first volume we showed that Jesus believed himself to be the Messiah from the time of his baptism. To follow the development of his thought about himself from that day forward, we must rest upon this historic basis: he believed himself to be the Messiah. This is the starting-point. He was born at the very time when men were expecting the Messiah; and this wholly external historic fact certainly had its influence upon his first decision.

He had been arriving at it little by little, and at his baptism it became definitive.