e 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 p