The Martyrdom of Man, Winwood Reade [best book club books TXT] 📗

hours and deepened

the gloom of the Sabbath day, and increased the taxes which it had been

ordered should be paid upon the altar.

 

On the other hand, there had been among the Puritans many men of pure

and gentle lives, and a similar class existed among the Pharisees. The

good Pharisee, says the Talmud, is he who obeys the law because he

loves the Lord. They addressed their god by the name of “Father” when

they prayed. “Do unto others as you would be done by” was an adage

often on their lips. That is the law, they said; all the rest is mere

commentary. To the Pharisees belonged all that was best and all that was

worst in the Hebrew religious life.

 

The traditions of the Pharisees related partly to ceremonial matters which

in the written law were already diffuse and intricate enough. But it must

also be remembered that without traditions the Hebrew theology was

barbarous and incomplete. Before the captivity the doctrine of rewards

and punishments in a future state had not been known. The Sheol of the

Jews was a land of shades in which there was neither joy nor sorrow, in

which all ghosts or souls dwelt promiscuously together. When the Jews

came in contact with the Persian priests they were made acquainted with

the heaven and hell of the Zend-Avesta. It is probable, indeed, that

without foreign assistance they would in time have developed a similar

doctrine for themselves. Already in the Psalms and Book of Job are signs

that the Hebrew mind was in a transition state. When Ezekiel declared

that the son should not be responsible for the iniquity of the father nor the

father for the iniquity of the son, that the righteousness of the righteous

should be upon him, and that the wickedness of the wicked should be

upon him, he was preparing the way for a new system of ideas in regard

to retribution. But as it was, the Jews were indebted to the Zend-Avesta

for their traditional theory of a future life, and they also adopted the

Persian ideas of the resurrection of the body, the rivalry of the evil spirit,

and the approaching destruction and renovation of the world.

 

The Satan of Job is not a rebellious angel, still less a contending god: he

is merely a mischievous and malignant sprite. But the Satan of the

restored Jews was a powerful prince who went about like a roaring lion,

and to whom this world belonged. He was copied from Ahriman, the

God of Darkness, who was ever contending with Ormuzd, the God of

Light. The Persians believed that Ormuzd would finally triumph, and

that a prophet would be sent to announce the gospel or good tidings of his

approaching victory. Terrible calamities would then take place; the stars

would fall down from heaven; the earth itself would be destroyed. After

which it would come forth new from the hands of the Creator; a kind of

Millennium would be established; there would be one law, one language,

and one government for men, and universal peace would reign.

 

This theory became blended in the Jewish minds with certain

expectations of their own. In the days of captivity their prophets had

predicted that a Messiah or anointed king would be sent, that the kingdom

of David would be restored, and that Jerusalem would become the

headquarters of God on earth. All the nations would come to Jerusalem

to keep the feast of tabernacles and to worship God. Those who did not

come should have no rain; and as the Egyptians could do without rain, if

they did not come they should have the plague. The Jewish people would

become one vast priesthood, and all nations would pay them tithe. Their

seed would inherit the Gentiles. They would suck the milk of the

Gentiles. They would eat the riches of the Gentiles. These same

unfortunate Gentiles would be their ploughmen and their vine-dressers.

Bowing down would come those that afflicted Jerusalem, and would lick

the dust off her feet. Strangers would build up her walls, and kings would

minister unto her. Many people and strong nations would come to see the

Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem. Ten men in that day would lay hold of the

skirt of a Jew saying, “We will go with you, for we have heard that God

is with you.” It was an idea worthy of the Jews that they should keep the

Creator to themselves in Jerusalem, and make their fortunes out of the

monopoly.

 

In the meantime these prophecies had not been fulfilled, and the Jews

were in daily expectation of the Messiah—as they are still, and as they

are likely to be for some time to come. It was the belief of the vulgar that

this Messiah would be a man belonging to the family of David, who

would liberate them from the Romans and become their king; so they

were always on the watch, and whenever a remarkable man appeared they

concluded that he was the son of David, the Holy One of Israel, and were

ready at once to proclaim him king and to burst into rebellion. This

illusion gave rise to repeated riots or revolts, and at last brought about the

destruction of the city.

 

But among the higher class of minds the expectation of the Messiah,

though not less ardent, was of a more spiritual kind. They believed that

the Messiah was that prophet, often called the Son of Man who would be

send by God to proclaim the defeat of Satan and the renovation of the

world. They interpreted the prophets after a manner of their own: the

kingdom foretold was the kingdom of heaven, and the new Jerusalem was

not a Jerusalem on earth but a celestial city built of precious stones and

watered by the Stream of Life.

 

Such were the hopes of the Jews. The whole nation trembled with

excitement and suspense; the mob of Judea awaiting the Messiah or king

who should lead them to the conquest of the world; the more noble-minded Jews of Palestine, and especially the foreign Jews, awaiting the

Messiah or Son of Man who should proclaim the approach of the most

terrible of all events. There were many pious men and women who

withdrew entirely from the cares of ordinary life, and passed their days in

watching and in prayer.

 

The Neo-Jewish or Persian-Hebrew religion, with its sublime theory of a

single god, with its clearly defined doctrine of rewards and punishments,

with its one grand duty of faith or allegiance to a divine king, was so

attractive to the mind on account of its simplicity that it could not fail to

conquer the discordant and jarring creeds of the pagan world as soon as it

should be propagated in the right manner. There is a kind of natural

selection in religion; the creed which is best adapted to the mental world

will invariably prevail, and the mental world is being gradually prepared

for the reception of higher and higher forms of religious life. At this

period Europe was ready for the reception of the one-god species of

belief, but it existed only in the Jewish area, and was there confined by

artificial checks. The Jews held the doctrine that none but Jews could be

saved, and most of them looked forward to the eternal torture of Greek

and Roman souls with equanimity, if not with satisfaction. They were not

in the least desirous to redeem them; they hoarded up their religion as

they did their money, and considered it a heritage, a patrimony, a kind of

entailed estate. There were some Jews in foreign parts who esteemed it a

work of piety to bring the Gentiles to a knowledge of the true God, and as

it was one of the popular amusements of the Romans to attend the service

at the synagogue a convert was occasionally made. But such cases were

very rare, for in order to embrace the Jewish religion it was necessary to

undergo a dangerous operation and to abstain from eating with the

pagans—in short, to become a Jew. It was therefore indispensable for the

success of the Hebrew religion that it should be divested of its local

customs. But however much the Pharisees and Sadducees might differ on

matters of tradition, they were perfectly agreed on this point, that the

ceremonial laws were necessary for salvation. These laws could never

be given up by Jews unless they first became heretics, and this was what

eventually occurred. A schism arose among the Jews: the sectarians were

defeated and expelled. Foiled in their first object, they cast aside the law

of Moses and offered the Hebrew religion without the Hebrew

ceremonies to the Greek and Roman world. We shall now sketch the

character of the man who prepared the way for this remarkable event.

 

It was a custom in Israel for the members of each family to meet together

once a year that they might celebrate a sacred feast. A lamb roasted

whole was placed upon the table, and a cup of wine was filled. Then the

eldest son said, “Father, what is the meaning of this feast?” And the

father replied that it was held in memory of the sufferings of their

ancestors, and of the mercy of the Lord their God. For while they were

weeping and bleeding in the land of Egypt there came his voice unto

Moses and said that each father of a family should select a lamb without

blemish from his flock, and should kill it on the tenth day of the month

Abib, at the time of the setting of the sun; and should put the blood in a

basin, and should take a sprig of hyssop and sprinkle the door-posts and

lintel with the blood; and should then roast the lamb and eat it with

unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They should eat it as if in haste, each

one standing with his loins girt, his sandals on his feet, and his staff in his

hand. That night the angel of the Lord slew the first born of the

Egyptians, and that night Israel was delivered from her bonds.

 

When the father had thus spoken the lamb was eaten, and four cups of

wine were drunk, and the family sang a hymn. At this beautiful and

solemn festival all persons of the same kin endeavoured to meet together,

and Hebrew pilgrims from all parts of the world journeyed to Jerusalem.

When they came within sight of the Holy City and saw the Temple

shining in the distance like a mountain of snow, some clamoured with

cries of joy, some uttered low and painful sobs. Drawing closer together,

they advanced towards the gates singing the Psalms of David, and

offering up prayers for the restoration of Israel.

 

At this time the subscriptions from the various churches abroad were

brought to Jerusalem, and were carried to the Temple treasury in solemn

state; and at this time also the citizens of Jerusalem witnessed a

procession which they did not like so well. A company of Roman

soldiers escorted the lieutenant-governor, who came up from Caesarea for

the festival that he might give out the vestments of the High Priest,

which, being the insignia of government, the Romans kept under lock and

key.

 

It was the nineteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. Pontius Pilate

had taken up his quarters in the city, and the time of the Passover was at

hand. Not only Jerusalem, but also the neighbouring villages, were filled

with pilgrims, and many were obliged to encamp in tents outside the

walls.

 

It happened one day that a sound of shouting was heard; the men ran up

to the roofs of their houses, and the maidens peeped through their latticed

windows. A young man