The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1905-02-02

DESTROYS of being Caesars friend,
caring no more for Christ than any
other criminal, and yet Pilates
testimony from the record is. Il find
no fault in Him" The Judge who
tries the case is unusually unbiased.
He looks clearly at the evidence from
both sides. l place great weight on
Pilates judgment. Herod also ex-
amined Christ and said, 81 find
nothing worthy of death in this man.
Pilates wife also warned him, saying
Have nothing TO do with that Just
man." The next witness is Judas.
The prosecuting witness usually has
all the facts within his knowledge,
but Judas, though he betrayed his
master with kiss, returned to the
men from whom he had received the
thirty pieces of silver, and throwing
the silver down ON the stones. and
you can almost hear the ring of it in
your ears tonight, cried out in
bitterness of remorse, II have
betrayed innocent blood" Let me
call the sheriff, the Bible calls him
the Centurion. He had charge of a
hundred men, Roman soldiers, who
attended to the crucifxion of Jesus.
After witnessing the mailing of the
Son Of God TO the cross, and rudely
thrusting the cross with its victim
upon il into hole in the ground;
after hearing the cruel mockery and
jeering Of the mob, as in derision
they cried, Chou sayest Others.
Thyself Thou canst not save; if thou
be the Son of God, come down from
the cross and we will believe upon
Thee" after hearing these words
from the Savior, Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they
do and after the last sign of life
had gone from the Christ, the cen
turion exclaimed, Truly, this was
the Son of God" The next witness
is the thief upon the cross. With
his fellow thief he had reviled
Jesus, but something in the tone or
conduct of this Man of Sorrows
brought conviction 10 his soul, until
he exclaimed to his fellow thief,
I've indeed suffer Justly, but this
man hath done nothing amiss, and
then he cried out to the Son of God,
"Remember me when thou CONTEST
into Thy Kingdom" and upon his
waiting ear came quick the sweet
accents Of the Savior, "This day thou
shalt be with me in paradise" Now,
unless Christ was divine, there was
no paradise for Him; and if there
was no paradise for Him, He falsified
TO and deceived in death agonies the
thief who was also expiring. In law
statement of dying witness is
received the same as If he was under
oath. The devil may not usually be
an accredited witness, but we will
call him. When Jesus met them on
the way they cried out, "What have
we to do with Thee, Thou Son of the
most high GodS Let us alone"
Even the devils believed and trem-
bled, and that is more than some Of
you do. Now we have only to put on
the witness stand the enemies of
Christ. Let us briefly examine
some of His friends. "There was a
man sent from God whose name
was john Up to the time that he
saw Jesus, his one text was, Repent
for the kingdom of God was at hand"
After he had seen Jesus, he said to
his own disciples, Behold the Lamb !
of God" Peter was impetuous and |
denied his Lord and Master under
the gaze of servant girl; but after
the power of the Holy Spirit had |
descended upon him he became as
bold as a lion. When Christ said to |
him, "Whom say We that | am ?"
Peter replied, Thou art the Christ,
the son of the living God" Jesus
then said to him, Blessed art thou,
Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood |
hath not revealed it unto thee, but
My Father in Heaven" After the
day of Pentecost, God has made
this same Jesus when We crucifed |
both Lord and Christ" There is
none other name given under heaven
Or among men whereby we must be
saved"
We will call Thomas, the doubter,
to the stand. Thomas was not
with the other disciples when
Jesus appeared, and when they said
to him, eve have seen the Lord" he
believed them not; their words were
unto him as idle tales, and when they |
said again, but we have
seen the Lord" he replied, except
| shall put my fingers in the print of
the nails in his hands and thrust
my hand into the hole in his side,
will not believe" But when Jesus
said to Thomas, later, do this very
thing Thomas did not, but cried
out. my Lord, and my God
We might take the testimony of
the disciple of love-John: "Jesus
is the Light of the world" "He is