The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1901-10-17
plate was a coward. lie tried

willing to claim a mans preroga.
tive, II no other man objects, and de-
sirous Of showing friendship to the
abused prisoner il he may retain
Caesars friendship in doing SO. He
T. washes his hands, but not in limo.
cency, and then yields to the cIamor
Of the crowd. plate was d coward.
Look for a moment at Jesus. Con-
slider his courage. No tremor passes
over the white face OF the Saviour.
No tremble passes his hands. 1t
matters not that CaiaphaSis advanc.
ing such telling arguments, that a
scofler is so near, that Roman spears
are poised in the midst of uplifted
arms made doubly strong by angry
owners, or that he who SO inSolently
cries "Crucify Him" is close enough
to smite Him II he would. Christ
was patient, majestic, calm, coura-
geous.
Consider The potency Of his silence
Calm silence is far more eloquent
than vociferous speech, for hurried
defence and nervous speech may in.
dicate guilt, when unspeaking silence
would confirm right. BE sure you
are right-then don't say SO. He
can afford to be silent, who is sure OF
his point. Chrst,s silence was not
the silence Of anger, nor of fear, nor
despair, but the silence Of conscious
right and conscious power What a
weapon his power of eloquencc would
have been II he had used 1t. The
willy Calaphas would have been no
match for ''hlm who spake' il he
had summoned such power for his de.
fence. He cOcldi have spoken OF the
dead he had raised, the blind and
deaf and dumb, and palsied, and
lame, he had cured and Comfortcd,
and demanded to know if for these
good deeds he was forced to die. lie
could have reminded them Of the
miracle Of the iUayeS and fishes, and
have asked if this were crime and
by his wondrous power of defensive
speech could have confoundcd and
confused his crlrtrs, but no, he who
could have called legions of angels by
word, or summoned Heaven to his
defense, suffered tAunts and insolcn-
ces without 4 word, and bears it all
in silence. led hands are some.
times the strongest, and tied tongues
often speak best. Conscious right is
conscious power and such conscious.
ness is never strengthened by noisy
clamor and persistent cain.
Look at these two characters. .Je.
sus stands before PLATE, but PLATE
really stands before Jesus. One is a
governor, the other king. The
jurisdiction of Que was lmi ted to
Rome; that OF the other is limited
only by tina limits of the world. ri.
late IS u Gentle, Jesus jew The
hands of Jesus are tied with Roman
cords; Plates by political fear. l'i-
late will please the people though it
cost another's life: jesus viii save
the people at the cost of his own life.
PLATE said to the Jewish people
"Your will he donc;" Jesus said to
the Father "Thv will, not mine be
DONE The Roman governor was
an unscrupulous politician; the prison. |
er before him, carth's greatest prince
10 PLATE the "yoicc OF the pco.
pie" is the path of action; to Jesus
the "voice OF Cod is the path of |
duty. One drinks OF the cup Of |
public favor and its draughts are
aweet; the other drinks the cup
that wouldn't pass to its bitter ]
Gregs, Ono sits in the puzzllne
maizes OF mystery; the other stands
in the calmAiieace OF ma iestv. One
vainlv tries TO shift his responsi-
bility on the shoulders oi another;
the other faced ibis and died. Pi-
late act from policy; Jesus from
principle. Pilates hands NAV
thrust Jesus in a prison cell; Jesus
na,l-picrced hands can break the
prison bars of sin and set all cap.
tives free. Before PLATE stands
this one lone man; before Jesus all
nations at last shall assemble.
Jesus reccives his sentence and suf.
ters six hours; Pilates punishment
viii, last through eterney and Jesus
will be his Judge. Is It "Jesus be.
fore Plate" or "Pilate before
Jesus?"
Jesus will be the fin al Jesus. Two
LAWYERS PENNSYLVANIA were
brothers BY ties Of blood, One of
them was a dissipated fellow whose
shameful course was cause of
reprct and ANNOYANCE 10