708 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
“likens Christ to a testator—not only because the author regards 
eternal blessedness as an inheritance bequeathed by Christ, but 
also because he is endeavoring to show, both that the attainment 
of eternal salvation is made possible for the disciples of Christ 
by his death (IX, 15) and that even the Mosaic creed had been 
consecrated by blood (verses 18 and following). This appar¬ 
ently led the Latin Vulgate to render the word wher¬ 
ever it occurred in the Bible, i. e. in the Hew Testament. . . . 
by the word Testamentum. ** 1 The use of this word, occur¬ 
ring as it does several times, enforced on the Mediaeval mind 
the idea that this was Jesus* last Will. 1 2 Moreover they easily 
saw features of this document that carried out the idea of a 
testament. The entire life of Christ was a confession of his 
faith. He called his disciples around him on the last night 
to bid them farewell. He even went so far as to use on this 
occasion the word in question, “This is the blood of the new tes¬ 
tament which is shed for many.’* He also takes this oppor¬ 
tunity to give them certain moral advice, and later, at the as¬ 
cension, he gives directions for the future work of his disciples. 3 
More than once in the book he refers to his death and burial. 
His gifts may easily be thought of as bequests. He died leav¬ 
ing us eternal life and his very words, “Peace I leave with you; 
my peace I give unto you,** strongly suggest the bequest of the 
Last Will. 4 On the cross he bequeaths his miother.to John, 5 
and finally he bequeaths his soul to God, “Father, into thy 
hands I commend my spirit.** 6 
It is no wonder then that the people of the Middle Ages 
thought of the Hew Testament as Christ’s Last Will, and it is 
not unreasonable to suppose that when they parodied the Will 
as an institution of the church they sometimes had in mind the 
Testament of Jesus. 
A marked feature of many of the testaments which we shall 
1 Thayer, s. v. SiaQyuy 
2 Mark, XIV, 24 and Luke, XXII, 20. 
3 Luke, XXIV, 49. 
*John, XIV, 27. ! ' f 
5 John. XIX, 27. 
QLuke, XXIII, 46. 
