to eternal punishment with no
chance of forgiveness.

_Vituperation_

Jesus was often vehement in his language to an extent hardly compatible
with gentleness of character.

"O generation of vipers! how can ye, being evil, speak good things?"[7]

"Woe unto you, hypocrites, for ye compass sea and land to make one
proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him two-fold more the child of
hell than yourselves."[8]

"Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation
of hell?"[9]

"If I should say I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you."[10]

"All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers."[11]

"Ye fools and blind."[12]

This language may have been necessary, in Jesus' opinion, to convince
his hearers of their sins, but such vituperation does not become a
modern ethical teacher.

_Destruction of Property_

Two acts of Jesus, consistent with his disregard of worldly goods, were
destructive in character.

"And there was a good way off from them a herd of many swine feeding. So
the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go
away into the herd of swine. And he said unto them, Go. And when they
were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole
herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and
perished in the waters."[13]

Jesus did what the devils requested, cruelly killing two thousand
inoffensive valuable animals that belonged to other people.

"Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and found in the temple those that sold
oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: and when he
had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple,
and the sheep and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and
overthrew the tables."

Jesus has been defended for other acts on the ground that he was living
in less civilized times than our own, but here he is seen offending both
ancient and modern sensibilities. The destruction of the swine and the
routing of the merchants were sensational and erratic exhibitions. If
reformers today should destroy herds of animals, except to protect
public health by due process of law, or overthrow banks, they would be
liable to arrest in any city of Christendom. Therefore the consensus of
opinion denies exoneration to Jesus for his spasmodic resort to direct
action.

_Egotism_

If Jesus was not God, but merely the ideal man, his estimate of himself
was excessive. I