Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1883-11-15
@eadiuq fur the Sabbath.
CONDUCTED BY
REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
[Orlginal.I
TRIAL OF JESUS.

is full of interest. His birth was miraculous
his life humble, but spent in going about
doing good, and his death startled all nature
The trial which preceded his condemnation
and execution is the most remarkable in the
annals of civilized nations. Every thing
connected with it serves only to portray the
innate depravity and deep-seated malice OF
the human heart. The Jews, by whom ne
was dragged before Roman Proc,~ator, to
whom had been granted the powers OF a
Presses, were the most humane people, on
earth at that time. Notwithstanding thls'
they were a very degraded and God-for-
saken people. Their country, once the
home Of free and prosperous people, was
reduced to the position of Roman province,
governed by a Roman procurator, and the
people who boasted that they were the free
born sons of Abraham, were the miserable
vassalS of Rome.
For period of about three years Jesus
had been publicly engaged in doing good.
No one ever charged him with immortality,
no one ever charged him with treating
with even apparent neglect, the ceremonial
law. He was good citizen: He loved the
Jews, and he was obedient to the Romans,
by whom the Jews had been reduced to a
state of miserable vassalage. With the mass
of the people Jesus was, to use a common
expression, exceedingly popular. How could
it have been otherwise? Jesus had cured
their sick, raised their dead and fed the
hungry multitudes. With the leaders OF
the people, and especially with the priests,
he was unpopular.
The Jews, at the time Jesus was here upon
earth, were divided into two sects--the
Pharisees and Sadducees. There were other
sects, but these was the most important.
The Sadducees were kind Of sceptics who
| &c ,Go,, fal
doctrines of the Bible. To this class the
rich generally belonged. The Pharisees
were more numerous, and generally loyal to
their country and violently opposed to the
Roman government.
The Pharisees and Sadducees were the
open and avowed enemies of each other, but
the leaders of both parties set themselves
against Jesus. The Pharisees asked him il
it were lawful to pay tribute to Caesar, and
the Sadducees asked him whose wife in the
resurrection, a woman would be who had
been the wife of seven husbands, while here
on earth. To the Pharisees he replied :
"Give to Cesar the things that are Cesar's
and to God the things that are Gods" TIC
the Sadducees he replied, "In the resurrec'
ton they neither marry nor are given in
marriage" Had Jesus said that it was un'
lawful to pay tribute to Caesar, then the
Pharisees would have reported. him to the
authorities as rebelliouS person; and had
he given any other answer to the Sadducees
he would have been involved in difficulty
His answers, in both cases, stopped the
mouths of his enemies.
During the whole three years of the pub.
lie ministry of Jesus, the rulers of the Jews
madecontinual efforts to involve him either
in a political or ceremonial difficulty. In
all their efforts they signally failed. He ac,
cepted the political condition of the Jewish
nation as a dispensation of Divine provi:
dence, in perfect harmony with the moral
perfectiOns of God. AS a nation, the Jews
had forsaken God and forfeited every claim
upon him. Hence he paid tribute to Caesar,
recognizing Caesar as the agent appointed by
God to chastise the nation for their sins.
No matter what was the political condition
| of the Jews, Jesus was in no sense accOunta-
BILE for that condition. He had done moth
ing to involve the nation in political degra-
dation. The Jews were the vassals Of the
Romans when Jesus was born and had been
for more than half century. The rulers OF
the Jews having failed to involve Jesus in
political difficulties with the Romans, their
masters, and having failed to ALLEVIATE the
affections Of the mass of the common people,
they determined to resort to measures which
had not even the semblance Of either law or
justice.
In all criminal cases, the laws of the Jews
required the exercise of great prudence. 1t
was the privilege of every citizen to judge
and be judged. The law required that eve
ry trial in which the life of the accused was
involved, should be public and that the ac-
cused should have full liberty of defense.
In addition to this, the law afforded the ac-
cused every guaranty against false witnesses
or defective testimony. So favorable were
the laws toward the accused that it was diff
ticult, according to law, to find any one
death. The followil were some of the diff
fculties which attended bringing in YER
dict of guilty. At least two witnesses were
required to prove the guilt of another. One
witness was no witness. The confession OF
the accused, when unsupported by the testi-
mOny of other witnesses, amounted to moth
ing. The witnesses who furnished the tes-
timony on which the condemnation of the
accused was based, was required to cast the
first stone at the condemned on the day OF
execution; and the witness who was found
to have testified falsely was himself con,
demned to suffer the same punishment to
which the accused would have been subject
ed had he been proven guilty.
AS accusation and apprehension necessari
ly precede trial and condemnation, it may
be we'll to consider these for a moment. On
the night of the fourth and last Passover
which occurred during the public ministra
tion of Jesus, he and his disciples observed
that feast in large upper room in the house
of some one in the city. Previous to this il
would seem from the accountgiven by Luke
Satan entered into Judas Iscariot, and he
went and engaged with the chief priests and
captains, to betray his master. Having
made his bargain, Judas again joined Jesus
and his disciples in the Large upper room,
and participated in the paschal feast. The
Passover feast being finished, Jesus with
drew from his disciples, passed over the Vale
of Jehoshaphat and across the Brook Cedror
to the Mount Of Olives. Here Jesus was
followed him, overtaking him before he
reached the place. On reaching this spot
selected for secret prayer, Jesus said to his
disciples, "Pray that We enter not into temp.
tation"; but he retired from them short
distance, and began to pour out his soul in
prayer to his Father. The night was fa1
advanced. The disciples were worn out and
exhausted by the labors and tolls of the past
day and previous part of the night, and in
addition to this, sorrow and anguish in an
ticipation of coming events, they knew not
what, preyed upon their hearts. Overcome
by these things they fell asleep. Having
concluded his supplications, Jesus returned
to his disciples, woke them up and announ-
ced that his betrayers were at hand. a
mixed multitude composed of chief priests,
with the servants of the chief priests acting
as soldiers, with Judas, the traitor, as their
guide, now appeared in sight. They car
ried in their hands lanterns and torches and
were armed with swords and slaves. Judas
approached Jesus and said, "hail master, and