The Newtown bee., 1898-10-21

tunity to place himself at the head OF
such kingdom, Judas hopes of all flu
ture emolument are wholly shattered.
The authorities of the city are seeking to
take Jesus. Here is Judas decisive OPP
portunity, his final test. What will
he do? The question is quickly
settled. Like Easau, present advantage
blinds his eyes to every future good, and
he covenants with the rulers of Jerusa-
lem to deliver up his Master for thirty
pieces of silver.
Then comes the betrayal, the arrest at
midnight in the Garden, the trial before
an ecclesiastical court which passed on
Jesus the sentence of death, but had not
jurisdiction to carry the decree iRtO effect !;
and then last Of all, the trial before the
civil court, with the Roman governor OF
Judea upon the bench. 1t Is Pilates
turn now. By his own statement, made
in a spirit OF boastful pride, PLATE has
power to release and power to cruelty.
The final disposition of the case OF Jesus
rests with him. And he, weak, vacillat-
hood and devoid of scruple, preferring
diplomacy to righteousness, and putting
expediency in the place of duty, seeks to
leave the decision of his course to the
expression of popular opinion. PLATE,
like the authorities Of Judea of whom we
have spoken, has not the manliness and
the courage to do his duty and let the re-
suit take care Of itself. Tennyson had
not yet written tbose words which ring
as gospel and betoken an inspiration
hardly less than divine:
because right is right, to follow right
We're wisdom in the scorn OF consequence"
PLATE knows the right. He has made
a full examination of Jesus claims and
the verdict of his conscience is, II find
no fault In this Man" But instead Of
following the clear course which his
sober Judgment approves, in most abject
cowardice he asks the people what be
shall do. Will they have Jesus set at
liberty, or Barabbas? And when they
answer "Bara bas," he Immediately tries
to lead them on o take all guilt for the
action and TO settle for him the question,
what shall do then with Jesus which
Is called Christi" What q base craven
PLATE shows himself to be! What right
has he to shift responsibility from his
own shoulders by casting 1t upon the
Jews? IL was for him, not the populace,
to decide Whist was to be done with Je
sus. But how wretchedly does he fall
short Of his duty! In the crisis of HE
life, in the aupreme moment of history,
in one of the grandest opportunities God
ever gave to man for moral great
ness, PLATE solutely failed. He allows
the furious cries of a frenzied mob to
drown the whisperings of conscience, and
to stand across the path of plain duty :;
and in answer to that mob he delivers
Jesus to their will.
have gone over as briefly as possible,
and in barest outline, the leading details
Of an event which dyed with deepest
crimson the pages of history in the dawn
ing days of the Christian era. The story
is familiar to as all. Not one In this
church is stranger to it. And venture
to 60 farther and say that there ia not
one of us this morning who, when the
case ia presented to his sober Judgment,
does not condemn udqualifiedly the action
of the chief participants in the affsir.
Not one OF US who as he examines into
the evidence and makes every possible
allowance for the weaknesses OF human
nature, -! o. one of us who does not say
to himself, "It had been among those
at Jerusalem when Jesus offered himself
for their acc ptance, gladly would /
have acknowledged Him and claimed
Him as my ri5htful Lord. liz had been
in JUDAH place, holding in one hand the
liberty OF this Man jesus, I would not
have extended nv other hand for the
paltry coin of the kingdom to dribble in
Bit by BIT, until had proved false to my
sacred trust, and st the thirtieth piece,
justice and equity are Lost sight Of, and
truth and Righteousness are overbalanced
by treachery and fraud. If had sat on
Pilates Judgment seat, exercising an au-
thority from which there was no appeal,
having as he himself confessed, power to
release and power to cruelty, would
not have printed on my hands with
Jesus blood that spot which all
the centuries cannot wash outl''
Let us hope that we would not.
And yet after al, the thing for us to
exercise ourselves about is, not what
would we have done then and there; but
what are we doing here and now? The