democrat agreeing on this point with Judas the Gaulonite,
and admitting no master but God, was hurt at the honors
with which they surrounded the persons of sovereigns,
and the frequently mendacious titles given to them.
With this exception, in the greater number of instances
in which he comes in contact with pagans, he shows
great indulgence to them; sometimes he professes to
conceive more hope of them than of the Jews.[4] The
kingdom of God would be transferred to them.
“When the lord, therefore, of the vineyard cometh,
what will he do unto these husbandmen? He will
miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out
his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render
him the fruits in their seasons."[5] Jesus adhered
so much the more to this idea, as the conversion of
the Gentiles was, according to Jewish ideas, one of
the surest signs of the advent of the Messiah.[6]
In his kingdom of God he represents, as seated at
a feast, by the side of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
men come from the four winds of heaven, whilst the
lawful heirs of the kingdom are rejected.[7] Sometimes,
it is true, there seems to be an entirely contrary
tendency in the commands he gives to his disciples:
he seems to recommend them only to preach salvation
to the orthodox Jews,[8] he speaks of pagans in a
manner conformable to the prejudices of the Jews.[9]
But we must remember that the disciples, whose narrow
minds did not share in this supreme indifference for
the privileges of the sons of Abraham, may have given
the instruction of their master the bent of their
own ideas. Besides, it is very possible that
Jesus may have varied on this point, just as Mahomet
speaks of the Jews in the Koran, sometimes in the
most honorable manner, sometimes with extreme harshness,
as he had hope of winning their favor or otherwise.
Tradition, in fact, attributes to Jesus two entirely
opposite rules of proselytism, which he may have practised
in turn: “He that is not against us is
on our part.” “He that is not with
me, is against me."[10] Impassioned conflict involves
almost necessarily this kind of contradictions.
[Footnote 1: I believe the pagans of Galilee
were found especially on the frontiers—at
Kedes, for example; but that the very heart of the
country, the city of Tiberias excepted, was entirely
Jewish. The line where the ruins of temples end,
and those of synagogues begin, is to-day plainly marked
as far north as Lake Huleh (Samachonites). The
traces of pagan sculpture, which were thought to have
been found at Tell-Houm, are doubtful. The coast—the
town of Acre, in particular—did not form
part of Galilee.]
[Footnote 2: Chap. XIII. and following.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xx. 25; Mark x. 42; Luke xxii.
25.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. viii. 5, and following, xv.
22, and following; Mark vii. 25, and following; Luke
iv. 25, and following.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. xxi. 41; Mark xii. 9; Luke
xx. 16.]
[Footnote 6: Isa. ii. 2, and following, lx.;
Amos ix. 11, and following; Jer. iii. 17; Mal. i.
11; Tobit, xiii. 13, and following; Orac.
Sibyll., iii. 715, and following. Comp.
Matt. xxiv. 14; Acts xv. 15, and following.]