Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1899-05-25
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
INTERESTING AND INSTRUCTIVE
LESSON.


Reflections Of an Eievs ting charactes
-wholesome Food for Thought-
studying the scriptursi Lssson In.
teiiissntay and Probably.
y Rs, esE
ut was early: what PROCLAMATION Of the
holy hour OF dawn, when the freshness of
the air and the glow of the sky seem to
forbid oil dark deeds, when the thirst for
blood gets hold of a mob, daylight and
dark are all alike to them. Nothing can
stay their hate or delay their cruelty.
How characteristic of the fierce fanatical
temper Of this crowd that, while they were
doing their utmost to murder an innocent
man, they were careful not to transgress
the ceremonial regulation that made it a
deflement to enter Gentle house during
passover week.
"What accusation: the relation be-
tween the ecclesiastical and the civil au-
thorities of Judea was a peculiar one.
Rome followed the policy of leaving the
people of her provinces to retain their own
religion and settle their own small relig
ious quarrels, intervening only when civil
authority was in question or when the
DuDAit Dtdtt TtQuiTcQ lhtIt-
fore the Sanhedrin had authority to decide
all ordinary offenses against the canon
law, and to punish them. But the infiic'
ton of the death penalty was prohibited
to this body. For this they must apply to
PLATE. But he would listen to no secta.
rian disputes. If they charged Jesus with
blasphemy, he would laugh, as the Rom
ans of his day laughed at everything sac
red, and send the accusers off in contempt
Therefore they must produce some charge
that would touch the civil law.
The subject of the lesson for May % is
"Christ Before Plate" the portion OF
Scripture selected being John Is: 2S-4O
From the house of Caiaphas, where Jesus
had been held guilty of blasphemy, he was
led to the pretorium or palace. This was
the executive mansion" of the Roman
governor, where he lived when in the city
Jerusalem was not the political capital
Caesaera, on the coast, being the seat OF
the imperial government. But the gov
ernor spent q good deal of time in Jeru'
salem, and Of course would be there at the
busiest time Of the year, passover week
The pretorium was probably an imposing
and beautiful building, joining the solidity
of a castle to the ormamentation of O
mansion, and was near the tower of An
tonia, outside the northwest corner Of the
temple enclosure. PLATE was cruel anC
oppressive ruler, whom the Jews hated
and feared, though they were at this time
planning to take a truly Jewish revenge
by accusing him before Caesar. This fac
helps to explain his yielding to their de-
mands in the trial of Jesus.
Explanatory.
Judge him according to your law"
Here speaks the contemptuous man Of the
world. He wants nothing to do with theil
racial and ecclesiastical quarrels. He asks
to be relieved of the petty details of Q
| matter which interests him not at all, thai
he may give his attention to weightiel
things. But the Jews would not be pu
off so. They knew the limits Of their pow
er, and nothing less than the death OF
Jesus would satisfy them. Notice through
out this lesson the curious mingling of OBJ
stinacy and yielding in Pilates character
He gave way in spite of his own prefer
ences before the violence of the mob. This
was because he had q bad record behind
him.
The preceding conversation had takeI
place on the steps or in the outer court Of
the pretorium. Now Plate returned tC
the judgment hall, doubtless, a stately
spacious room with Roman soldiers stand
ing on guard. The question of PLATE may
be spoken in different ways, each infection
OF the voice giving new meaning. Is il
sarcasm, or surprise, or wonder, or milo
curiosity, or Indifference? The reason fol
the question is found in Luke %: 2. The
, multitude had brought against Jesus be
| fore PLATE this accusations: I'VE found
| this man perverting our nation, and for
bidding to give tribute to Caesar, and say
ing that he himself Is Christ a king
These were the political charges which
they hoped would be sufficient to arouse
| Pilates interest, and would compel him a.
the governor to take prompt action. per
verting the nation" melting to sedition
was serious offense in the Roman EN-
pire, as it naturally would be since il
| threatened the imperial authority. For
| bidding to give tribute to Caesar" was al
most equally serious; and the claim to b,
king would if proved to be capital Of
Tense. How false all these charges wer,
any one may see who recalls the teaching
| of Jesus.
Pilates inquiry must be answered &C
COrulllS 10 It's lulcut. IL Ut WAS lueTely
| speaking as the tool of the fanatical mol
| outside, Jesus would answer him accord
ingly; if he spoke as an interested out
sider the answer must be different. Bu
| Jesus, who knew the intent without ask
| ing. must have framed this question to re
veal Pilates own motive to himself.
Am l JewY' The Romans despiset
Jews almost as much as large part Of
| Christendom--to its shame-dcspises then
| to-day. They were the butt of the comic
poets, the basis of the stock jokes in the
| theaters, the victims, on occasion, of the
Roman rabble. PLATE naturally conceal
ed most of this feeling when he was ruler
of a Jewish province; but the contemp
would come out sometimes.
Jesus admitted directly that he was
| king (see Matt 81: IL; Mark 10: 2; Johr
IS: 81. He could hardly expect PLATE
| to comprehend what he meant by king
| dom mot of this world" The Roman
/ had his mythology, it is true, with it.
kings and heroes 'not of this world" bu
nobody in that age dreamed of takini
| those things seriously. PLATE was en-
| titled to be puzzled.
"To this end was / born: n kingdom
| of truth. This again is a new kind OF
kingdom. The governor was on unfamil
| lar ground. He seems to have felt mix
| ture of curiosity and contempt, with per
haps a shade of regret. When he asked
! what is truth?" he hardly expected al
| answer. But the answer stood befor,