Jesus." At his feet the boy Jesus may have sat and learned lessons
of wisdom and liberality. It gives us a reassurance of spiritual
continuity to think that the teachings of Hillel may have "helped
to inspire the humane and tender counsels of the founder of
Christianity."

In grouping the glowing words of Renan, with their fine spiritual
interpretations and descriptive eloquence, the judgments of an
eminent contemporary Jewish scholar, and Newman's learned yet
simple portrayal of the Church as it took form in its early
environment, and as it was seen through the media of contemporary
governments, customs, and criticisms, it is believed that readers
will derive satisfaction, and will be aided in their own inquiries,
through this threefold presentation. On so vast a subject, with its
momentous implications, no single author, however profound his
genius, can do more than contribute a partial essay toward the
many-sided truth.

JOSEPH ERNEST RENAN

From the moment of the arrest of Jesus, and immediately after his death,
it is probable that many of the disciples had already found their way to
the northern provinces. At the time of the Resurrection a rumor was
spread abroad, according to which it was in Galilee that he would be
seen again. Some of the women who had been to the sepulchre came back
with the report that the angel had said to them that Jesus had already
preceded them into Galilee. Others said that it was Jesus himself who
had ordered them to go there. Now and then some people said that they
themselves remembered that he had said so during his lifetime.

What is certain is that at the end of a few days, probably after the
Paschal Feast of the Passover had been quite over, the disciples
believed they had a command to return into their own country, and to it
accordingly they returned. Perhaps the visions began to abate at
Jerusalem. A species of melancholy seized them. The brief appearances of
Jesus were not sufficient to compensate for the enormous void left by
his absence. In a melancholy mood they thought of the lake and of the
beautiful mountains where they had received a foretaste of the kingdom
of God. The women especially wished, at any cost, to return to the
country where they had enjoyed so much happiness. It must be observed
that the order to depart came especially from them. That odious city
weighed them down. They long