Introduction.

xlix

No. 5.

The Ministry of Jesus in North Peraa.

I. In April, u.c. 782, at the time Jesus sent the twelve disciples on a mission into Judæa, He Himself visited North Peræa. It is recorded that

a

Jesus "taught and preached in their cities," Matt. xi. 1. Some of this teaching is given in detail, but no mention is made of miracles being then performed. The manner also in which Jesus rejoices at the success of His teaching (Matt. xi. 25-30) indicates that up to this time in North Peræa it belonged to the first section.

II. The next recorded visit of Jesus to North Peræa was after the feast of the Dedication (John x. 40), where He proceeds with teaching and miracles (Luke xiii. 25-xiv. 6) according to the second section.

b

III. The conduct of the Pharisees soon brought on the application of parables here also, and the further teaching was according to the third section, Luke xiv. 7-24. Jesus was called away to raise Lazarus.

IV. There is no evidence that He ever proceeded to the fourth section of His system at this place, which had few opponents to His ministry. The order of the three sections is the same as it has been in Galilee, Jerusalem, Judæa, and South Peræa.

V. Thus the four sections of the missionary labour of Jesus have been kept distinct at each place of residence, and proceed in one and the same order; but at each place the progress of the system was different; in Central Galilee it was complete a year before it was complete at Jerusalem, seven months before complete in South Peræa, and ten months before complete in Judæa. Thus the whole nation of the Jews, according to the degree of opposition which they offered, passed through the sieve in different places of the fourfold system', and the wheat was

1 So truly is this fourfold system of teaching an integral part of the Gospel of Jesus, that it has become the heritage of the Church in all ages. For all mankind are in a fourfold order submitted to the same system. First, Men who at once obey the Gospel message when delivered in preaching and plain discourse. Secondly, Men who hold back from obedience to their baptismal vows until the supernatural or special intervention of God's providence awakens their ears or touches their heart. Thirdly, Men who rebel against the laws of God and the ordinances of the Church, and from whom the deeper mysteries of Divine truth are veiled, appearing as parables, lest they should add to their other sins that of blasphemy. Fourthly, Men

gathered into His garner, who "had the fan in His hand and thoroughly purged His floor," in order to burn "the chaff with unquenchable fire."

Chapter vii.

A Repetition of similar Facts and Narratives a necessary Consequence of a Fourfold System carried out at different Places of Residence.

IT has been shown that a fourfold system of teaching went on simultaneously in different degrees of advancement at different places, and was completed at one place earlier than at another. In Galilee in April, u.c. 782; in Perea in December, U.c. 783; in Judæa in March, U.c. 784; and at Jerusalem, only two days before the crucifixion, in April, U.c. 784. Consequently if the several events of the ministry be taken down in strict chronological order as they transpired, the record will result in a confused mass of repetitions

against whom the sentence of denunciation under the spiritual discipline of the Church goes forth, or ought to go forth, in this life, in order that in the next life the sentence of condemnation may not overtake them unawares from Him out of whose "mouth proceeds the two-edged sword."

occurring at different places, unless the time and place of the several incidents be affixed with great precision. Indeed the confusion from the absence of such precision has been so great as practically to defy every attempt to unravel in any separate Gospel the true thread of the story. In the combination of the four only has the system of teaching been detected, and the true chronology of each Gospel has been maintained, whilst the repetitions of the same or similar sayings, miracles, or parables are found to be fewer than under many other methods of interpretation. Reasons a priori showed the probability of Jesus teaching by a system. The circumstances of His mission suggested that the system would be fourfold. The analysis proved that He did in fact adopt such a system, and did apply it at four places in a mixed order.

These premises suggest an expectation (if all had been recorded which He did or said) of very numerous repetitions. The Evangelists however have not registered a large number of similar facts, and those which are registered have some marked peculiarity and difference; so that though they be similar, they are obviously not identical". It has been shown that one mind, in many

instances, supplied the Evangelists with materials which did not fall within their own observation and knowledge, and that they selected from a system of teaching which was "line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little."

Further, it cannot be supposed that the character of the Jews, their ignorance and want of spiritual enlightenment, was different in the mass of the population in Galilee, Judæa, or Peræa. Consequently if He who "knew what was in man employed the best teaching for the souls of those in Galilee, He employed the same also with little variation for souls in Judæa or Peræa. It will therefore not be surprising that a combined record which gives a true account of the mission of Jesus should contain similar miracles or voyages repeated at intervals. It will not be surprising that a denunciation in Galilee, and a second in Judæa, should precede a third at Jerusalem, or that truths in the Sermon on the Mount should reappear in the Sermon on the Plain.

The combined record indeed faithfully exhibits the complete beauty of the whole mission, as far as it is on record. Discrepancies and contradictions disappear, and a few well ascertained repetitions adorn rather than disfigure its pages.