The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1894-11-17
LESSON STORY.

After the Sermon on the Mount, even
at the base of the mountain, Jesus cured a
leper (Matt. 8: 10. Coming to Caper-
naum, he healed a Roman centurlan's SER
want and praised the Gentiles faith. (Matt.
8: SIG Luke7: I-1o) The day after, he
with his disciples, started on preaching
tour, and coming to the Galilean village
of Main, raised from the dead a widow
son,-his first miracle of this kind luke
MP. About this time Jesus received a
deputation from John the Baptist, who had
been several months state prisoner, in
the Castle of Macherus. (Matt. II: PIG;
Luke 1850. (Christs Testimony to
John will be the subject of our next lesson)
We find him soon afterward, in company
with the Twelve and certain believing
women, on another preaching tour to every
city and village of Galilee duke 8:I-3).
Returning to Capernaum, (Matt. IL: 22,
az: There 7Vas brought to him one thai
VaS Possessed of a d'e0H (margin, demo
niac), 6Aina, and d,nm6.' and he healed
him, fnS0mnch that the duu6 man Sbake
and SaqV. ANd Tie mUltitudes acre
amazed, and said, Is not this tie Son Of
David? This amazing cure is the immedi-
ate clue to our less on-passage.
The popular interest was now at white
heat. Mark tells us :Io, coy: They
7Oenf into a house. and tie multitude COM
eth together again, SO that they could not
so much as eat bread. There was such an
eager beseiging of the house where Jesus
was,-each person of the throng having
his own request to prefer, that privacy
and rest were impossible. Mark further
tells us g: 2I): When his friends heard
eft, they aOent out to lay held on him:
for they said, He is beside himself. We
are not told who these friends" were.
They were not his disciples, evidently.
They were probably not his mother and
brethren; for these are subsequently men,
toned as forming distinct company.
We conjecture that they were certain per-
sons in Capernaum, who were friendly to
Jesus, but who had been latterly counsel
ling with the scribes. The fact must not
be overlooked, that the popular acclaim
which could not be questioned, was the
very gall of bitterness to the forsaken and
revengeful scribes.
L. An Accountable Charge by
the Scribes,-vs. ~.
And Tie Scri6es qVhich came DOM from
Jerusalem said, lie hath BeekgebH6, ana,
BY tie prince of the deVfks caStekh he out
tie devils.
This was not an altogether new charge.
Tie Pharisees, before the appointment of
Of the Twelve, had begun to say Matt. 9:
34), BY tie Prince of tie devilS he cast
eth oI deOizs. At his own Nazareth, we
remember, duke 4 10 3o) certain of his
townsmen, becoming incensed at his I'M
Pharisaic Gospel, charged him with bias
phemy, and even attempted to execute the
penalty by casting him over precipice.
But the charge was now for the first
time officially made. In its present form
it carried with it the sanction OF ecclesias-
teal law. Through the Herodians, who
had become accessories of the scribes, the
indictment was likely to secure approval
of the Roman authorities, and be tried I'M
der the civil law. 1t was therefore
charge against Jesus which threatened ap-
palling consequences.
The frightfulness of this charge against
Jesus can be partially realized when were
call its similarity to the charge of witch
craft in the recent Christian centuries. To
charge witchcraft against person, even
without the shadow of proof being adj
duced, was to thrust the suspect beyond
the pale of human sympathy. Jesus was
now charged with being wizard. The
Mosaic law (Lev. 20 ~, was still in force:
Il 7Vigard ShaH6e Put TO death. Jesus.
was declared by the scribes, who repre-
sented the great council at Jerusalem, not
only to be demoniac, but it was declared
that he was under control of the Philistine
god Beelzebub, the god of diseasei the god
whose name the Jewish rabbis had con-
temptuously twisted to make it synonymous
with the Lord of Flies.