V. the zeal of the Pharisees, appear at least to have CHAP. been unmoved by their angry remonstrances. They heard without disapprobation, if they did not openly testify their admiration, both of the power and goodness of Jesus; and listened to the simple argument with which he silenced his adversaries, by appealing to their own practice in extricating their own property, or delivering their own cattle from jeopardy, on the sacred day.* withdraws Galilee. The discomfited Pharisees endeavoured to enlist in their party the followers, perhaps the magistracy of Herod, and to organise a formidable opposition to the growing influence of Jesus. So successful Jesus was their hostility, that Jesus seems to have thought beyond the it prudent to withdraw for a short time from the sea of collision. He passed towards the lake, over which he could at any time cross into the district which was beyond the authority both of Herod and of the Jewish Sanhedrin.t A bark attended upon him, which might transport him to any quarter he might desire, and on board of which he seems to have avoided the multitudes, which constantly thronged around, or seated on the deck addressed, with greater convenience, the crowding hearers who lined the shores. Yet concealment, or at least Jesus reless frequent publicity, seems now to have been public his object, for when some of those insane persons, the dæmoniacs as they were called, openly address him by the title of Son of God, Jesus enjoins their * Matt. xii. 15-21.; Mark, iii. 7-12. † Mark, iii. 7. Matt. xii. 16. tires from view. V. CHAP. silence*, as though he were yet unwilling openly to assume this title, which was fully equivalent to that of the Messiah; and which, no doubt, was already ascribed to him by the bolder and less prudent of his followers. The same injunctions of secrecy were addressed to others, who at this time were relieved or cured by his beneficent power; so that one evangelist considers that the cautious and unresisting demeanour of Jesus, thus avoiding all unnecessary offence or irritation, exemplified that characteristic of the Messiah, so beautifully described by Isaiaht, "He shall neither strive nor cry, neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets; a bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory." Re-appears at Caper naum. ation of his followers. This persecution, however, continues but a short time, and Jesus appears again openly in Capernaum and its neighbourhood. After a night passed in solitary retirement, he takes the decided step of Organis- organising his followers, selecting and solemnly inaugurating a certain number of his more immediate disciples, who were to receive an authoritative commission to disseminate his doctrines.‡ Hitherto he had stood, as it were, alone: though doubtless some of his followers had attended upon him with greater zeal and assiduity than others, yet he could scarcely be considered as the head of a regular and disciplined community. The twelve apostles, whether selected with that view, could not but call to mind the number of the tribes of Israel. Of the * Mark, iii. 11—12. Matt. xii. 19-20. Mark, iii. 13—19.; Luke, vi. 12-19. V. earlier lives of these humble men little can be CHAP. gathered beyond the usual avocations of some among them; and even tradition, for once, preserves a modest and almost total silence. They were of the lower, though perhaps not quite the lowest, class of Galilean peasants. What previous education they had received we can scarcely conjecture; though almost all the Jews appear to have received some kind of instruction in the history, the religion, and the traditions of the nation. First The twelve apostles. among the twelve appears Simon, to whom Jesus, in allusion to the firmness of character which he was hereafter to exhibit, gave a name, or rather, perhaps, interpreted a name by which he was already known, Cephas*, the Rock; and declared that his new religious community was to rest on a foundation as solid as that name seemed to signify. Andrew his brother is usually associated with Peter. James and Johnt received the remarkable name of Boanerges, the Sons of Thunder, of which it is not easy to trace the exact force; for those who bore it do not appear remarkable among their brethren, either for energy or vehemence: the peculiar gentleness of the latter, both in character and in the style of The equivocal meaning of the word was, no doubt, evident in the original Aramaic dialect, spoken in Galilee. The French alone of modern languages exactly retains it. "Vous êtes Pierre, et sur cette pierre." The narrative of St. John ascribes the giving this appellative to an earlier period. See suprà, P. 159. ↑ John must have been extremely young when chosen as an apostle, VOL. I. Q there is so constant a tradition V. CHAP. his writings, would lead us to doubt the correctness of the interpretation generally assigned to the appellation. The two former were natives of one town, Bethsaida, the latter, either of Bethsaida or Capernaum, and obtained their livelihood as fishermen on the lake of Gennesareth, the waters of which were extraordinarily prolific in fish of many kinds. Matthew or Levi, as it has been said, was a publican. Philip was likewise of Bethsaida; Bartholomew, the son of Tolmai or Ptolemy, is generally considered to have been the same with Nathaniel, and was distinguished, before his knowledge of Jesus, by the blamelessness of his character, and, from the respect in which he was held, may be supposed to have been of higher reputation as of a better instructed class. Thomas or Didymus, (for the Syriac and Greek words have the same signification,) a twin, is remarkable in the subsequent history for his coolness and reflecting temper of mind. Lebbeus, or Thaddeus, or Judas, the brother of James, are doubtless the same persons; Judas in Syriac is Thaddai. Whether Lebbaios is derived from the town of Lebba, on the seacoast of Galilee, or from a word denoting the heart, and therefore almost synonymous with Thaddai, which is interpreted the breast, is extremely doubtful. James, the son of Cleophas or Alpheus, concerning whom and his relationship to Jesus there has been much dispute. His father Cleophas was married to another Mary, sister of Mary the mother of Jesus, to whom he would therefore be cousin-german. But whether he is the same with V. the James, who in other places is named the brother CHAP. of the Lord, the term of brother by Jewish usage, according to one opinion, comprehending these closer ties of kindred; and whether either of these two, or which, was the James who presided over the Christian community in Jerusalem, and whose cruel death is described by Josephus, must remain among those questions on which we can scarcely expect further information, and cannot therefore decide with certainty. Simon the Canaanite was so called, not, as has been supposed, from the town of Cana, still less from his Canaanitish descent, but from a Hebrew word meaning a zealot, to which fanatical and dangerous body this apostle had probably belonged, before he joined the more peaceful disciples of Jesus. The last was Judas Iscariot, perhaps so named from a small village named Iscara, or more probably Carioth, a town in the tribe of Judah. of the It was after the regular inauguration of the twelve in their apostolic office, that, according to St. Luke, the Sermon on the Mount was delivered, or some second outline of Christian morals repeated in nearly similar terms. Immediately Healing after, as Jesus returned to Capernaum, a cure centurion's was wrought, both from its circumstances and servant. its probable influence on the situation of Jesus, highly worthy of remark.* It was in favour of a centurion, a military officer of Galilean descent, probably in the service of Herod, and a proselyte to Judaism, for he could scarcely have built a syna * St. Matthew as well as St. Luke places this cure as immediately following the Sermon on the Mount. |