appear to his
opponents so dangerous that they asked the question, "Can Jesus and
Judaism exist side by side?" It does not do to assert with Renan: "The
other miracles of Jesus were passing events, repeated in good faith and
exaggerated by popular report, and they were thought no more of after
they had happened. But this one was a real event, publicly known, and
by means of which it was sought to silence the Pharisees. All the
enemies of Jesus were exasperated by the sensation it caused. It is
related that they sought to kill Lazarus." It is incomprehensible why
this should be if Renan were right in his opinion that all that
happened at Bethany was the getting up of a mock scene, intended to
strengthen belief in Jesus. "Perhaps Lazarus, still pale from his
illness, had himself wrapped in a shroud and laid in the family grave.
These tombs were large rooms hewn out of the rock, and entered by a
square opening which was closed by an immense slab. Martha and Mary
hastened to meet Jesus, and brought him to the grave before he had
entered Bethany. The painful emotion felt by Jesus at the grave of the
friend whom he believed to be dead (John xi. 33, 38) might be taken by
those present for the agitation and tremors which were wont to
accompany miracles. According to popular belief, divine power in a man
was like an epileptic and convulsive element. Continuing the above
hypothesis, Jesus wished to see once more the man he had loved, and the
stone having been rolled away, Lazarus came forth in his grave-clothes,
his head bound with a napkin. This apparition naturally was looked upon
by every one as a resurrection. Faith knows no other law than the
interest of what it holds to be true." Does not such an explanation
appear absolutely naive, when Renan adds the following opinion:
"Everything seems to suggest that the miracle of Bethany materially
contributed to hasten the death of Jesus"? Yet there is undoubtedly an
accurate perception underlying this last assertion of Renan. But with
the means at his disposal he is not able to interpret or justify his
opinion.

Something of quite special importance must have been accomplished by
Jesus at Bethany, in order that such words as the following may be
accounted for: "Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a
council, and said, 'What do we? for this man doeth many miracles'"
(John xi. 47). Renan, too, conjectures something special: "It must be
acknowledged," he says, "that John