The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1894-11-03

it must have been.
For period therefore Jesus had boat
at his command. 1t was row boat; yet
probably had sail for propitious breezes.
While distinguished as "little," in distinc-
ton from others on the lake, it must never
theless have been of such size as would
safely carry quite company through the
foaming waves, when sudden gusts de-
scended from the mountains and lashed
the face of the lake. With his small craft
always at hand, he could, when any ext
gency arose, escape from the throng across
the lake ard find rest in solitude.
In this manner, with his surroundings
tinged with romance, Jesus for season
continued his ministry of healing and
teaching.
But his work had already grown beyond
his power, in his own person, to completely
master.
2. Jesus Selects and Ordains
the Twelve,-vs. 1915.
As preliminary to the next important
step in the ful6lment CT his plan, that of
delegating his work to a chosen company
of followers, Jesus g0eM nb into the noun
tain and calleth unto him aVL0m he him
self qyowla. What mountain this was,-a
mountain so generally known in the Evan
gelists' day as to be spoken of as tile
mountain,-we cannot now with entire GER
tainty determine. But we are not disposed
to quarrel with those who so earnestly con-
tend that this mountain, where Jesus chose
his Twelve and afterward preached to
them and the accompanying multitude his
Sermon on the Mount, is identical with
the modern Mount of Beattudes, or Horns
of Hattin,-which is described as "a large
ridge running east and west, about quar-
ter of a mile in length and sixty in height,
at each end of which is small cone or
horn, located near the center of the west
coast of the lake three miles from the shore
and seven southwest from Capernaum."
The place is named from the village of
Hattin at its base Farrar says: at is
the only conspicuous hill on the western
side of the lake, and it is siagularly adapted
by its conformation both to form place
for short retirement and rendezvous for
gathering multitudes."
" lillo pldIC,-Ot W SOIliC pleCC III Tic
vicinity, Jesus summoned a company
selected from the great number which now,
in general way, believed in him. He did
not welcome all who desired to come. He
ealleth 7OkoM he 70oNla.
The Importance Jesus himself assigned
to his act of calling the Twelve, we can
infer from the fact which Luke states: He
zvent out into q mountain to pray, and
continued all night in prayer to God.
The words which Jesus addressed to the
Parent Spirit may have been but few. But
he now needed to be alone He needed
to feel the influence of the lonely hills
about him. He needed the Fathers spe-
cial guidance. He was about to perform
an act of far-reaching consequence. He
was obedient to we'll known psychological
law when he preferred to make choice of
his interpreters in the quiet of solitude.
In the morning, with the larger company
Of his followers before him, he a16Ointed
t7velae, that they might be qVith him, and
that he might send them forth TO preach,
and to haze authority to cast out aeViks.
What ceremonies attended the announce
ment of the names of the Twelve we are
not told. The men he had chosen and
now appointed,-the two acts are distinct
Uohn IS were now men set apart.
They were to be qVith him, his constant
companions. This was necessary, that he
might send them forth TO preach, as we'll
instructed heralds of his Gospel. They
were furthermore to haze authority TO cast
out aevtls; that is, they were endowed
with degree of the healing power which
had characterized his own ministry. The
simplest announcement of these things to
the Twelve before the other believers
the summons to the Twelve to become his
daily companions, the announcement of
their commission to be his preachers, and
bespeaking for them power to bring men
to sanity,-this must, even in the absence
of all other ceremonies, have made to those
who participated in it, the appointment of
the Twelve an event never to be forgotten.
3. The Personality of the
Twelve,-vs. 1919
ellis CHOICE" says Geikie, twas neces-
sarily made from a comparatively small
number, for the majority must have lately
joined him and must have been as yet little
known. So far as possible he made his
selection from those who had been longest
with him, and whom he had in some meas
ure proved. But they were as whole
simple, unlearned, plastic men of the peo-
pie; for Jesus had already seen that the
spiritual regeneration of Israel must rise
from the humber classes. He knew that
the educated men of the nation, the rabbis
and priests, were perverted and prejudiced;
and he could not look to the officials or
authorities of any grade, or to the prevail
ing religious schools. The commonal:ty
were sounder, freer from the errors of the
age, more open to the eternal truths he
came to announce, and more ready to &C
cept the spiritual kingdom he came to
found.
'He laid no stress on their former social
position or religious party; for they in
cluded on the one side publican, who
was also Levite, and on the other one
who had belonged to the ultra-puritan
zealots, the fanatical party of Judas the