are for it. This preparation was of an ethical sort and largely
ascetic in character.

Palestine was in a ferment at this time and his appearance and
preaching aroused great interest. Like all prophets he was called upon
to heal the sick and, accepting the customary views of sickness, he
proceeded to exorcise the evil spirits which possessed those who were
brought to him. I do not see how he could have escaped this task.
What part accident played in giving him confidence cannot be known, but
it was probably large. There is no reason to doubt that there is a
ground of fact for these stories of healing, although {81} they have
been grossly exaggerated by later tradition when he was viewed as
divine. We must always remember how late and biased our sources are.

As time went on, he gained more confidence in himself. Since he was
human, he could not help being moved by the confidence of the people.
He felt that reforms should be made; everywhere was poverty and
sickness and unhappiness. Could the thought help coming to him that
perhaps he was the one to inaugurate the kingdom? The idea kept coming
back, forced upon him by his own reflection and by the questions and
assumptions of his disciples. It may be that he never made up his mind
but was forced by the course of events to go to Jerusalem where his
career ended all too soon. Mankind will never know the details of his
inner life; his doubts, hopes, decisions, indecisions are hidden from
us in an obscurity that will never be completely lifted.

His preaching became more revolutionary. More and more he set himself
in opposition to the mechanical observance of the law and the fanatical
worship of forms and days. The opposition of the conservative members
of priesthood increased in bitterness. Soon it was war to the knife
between this new prophet, with his disregard for the law, and its
chosen representatives. Thus Jesus had drifted into a position which
he had probably not anticipated when he set out on his ministry. But
this is always the way. Mohammed began as a reformer, and the
antagonism of the keepers of Caaba led to his aggressive campaign;
Luther and Huss and Wycliffe changed their attitude and their ideas at
various moments in their career. No man's life is the working out of a
fixed and ready-made plan. At any rate, he determined to go to
Jerusalem--in all {82} likelihood, as Pfleiderer suggests, in order to
win a victory over the hierarchy and t