Evening capital., 1905-05-20

10 DC BNlil4 Oh cfiLlle- IL uOeS uOS
follow that because a man has been
arraigned at the bar of justice he has
broken the law. Many a man has been
unjustly accused. Many a man has
had a trial which has been farce.
a sentence which has been unjust, a
punishment which has been undeserv-
ed.
Rascals have sat on the bench and
sentenced innocent men to prison.
Scoundrels have been set at liberty,
and their pure victims have been
hung The judicial ermine has been
worn by men who. for their crimes
should have been breaking rocks on
the prison stone-pile, and men have
endured years of confinement behind
penitentiary walls who were as much
out of place there as an angel would
be in perdition. The history of law
courts are filled with travesties Of
justice, in which every sense of honor
has been outraged, and equity and
fairness have been trampled under
foot
1t is not an unheard of thing for
judges to wink at iniquity, for jurors
to be bribed. for petifogging lawyers
to sell out their principles, for ver-
diets to be rendered directly contrary
to the evidence, for criminals to es-
cape their just deserts by the use of
most outrageous methods, and for the
weak and helpless to be remorsely
ground to powder.
We have all seen that wonderful
picture, Christ Before Plate" II
is as realistic as though every figure
was living man. There are however
two great central personages that
stand out conspicuously-Pila and
Christ. One is the judge and the 9th
er is the prisoner But which is the
Judge, and which is the prisoner? The
painting is entitled Christ Before
Pilate!" but it should more approprf-
ately be designated Plate before
Christi Looking into their faces it is
easy enough to place them. PLATE is
hustered. up against the mightiest
problem he has ever confronted, not
alone Jesus of Nazareth, but Plate
himself-his conscience, his political
future, his cowardly vacilating spirit,
his subservience to the mob. Christ
is not disturbed. He is as calm as the
morning that is just dawning over
the hills. He hears not the shouts OF
the riotous assemblage. In the dig
nifty of innocence he stands there his
mild eyes searching the soul of the
Roman Judge wriggling on the benSh.
1t is a parody on law. II is a farce
of a trial Everything is reversed.
PLATE is being judged, Plate is get
ting his sentence. And when that
day ended Christ was victor on a
throne, and Plate was expiating his
guilt in the pillory of the worlds ex-
ecration. Christ hung on cross six
hours, and that cross was transformed
by Him into the mightiest engine of
the redemption of the race; PLATE
went out from that judgment hall a
condemned criminal, his very name
becoming more and more detestable
as the centuries roll away. 1t is easy
to see which was the prisoner and
which was the Judge in this case
To Pilates announcements, 'sEcce
Homo!" Behold the man, faith an
swers "Ecce Deus!" Behold the God
And this is not solitary case. His
tory, both sacred and profane is full
of illustrations of the same thing
Multitudes of the worlds brightest
and best have been in Jail. 1t would
take a volume to write the story of
the men and women and innocent
children who have been arrested,
dragged to the judgment seat, charged
with all manner of offenses, their lib
erty sworn away by lying witnesses;
no one 70 speak in their defense, no
one to appear in their behalf, sem
fenced to prison, to dungeon, to exile
or to death.
If the ministers of religion got
themselves put in Jail now as often
as the apostles did what an outcry.
there would be. The New Testament
does not attempt to hide the fact that
the apostles went from one prison to
another with astonishing regularity.
The story is written without any at
tempt to suppress those particulars.
A preacher who had had several terms
in Jail in these days would not be
likely to be embarrassed with num-
erous calls" even though he might
be entirely innocent But in the New
Testament times it certainly was moth
ing against the apostles character
that they had been arrested. scourged,
imprisoned, driven out of town, mob
bed by the populace again and again.
The name of John Bunyan is shrin-
ed in the loving memory of tens OF
thousands, while mis- judges and per-
secutors are forgotten, or remembers
only with ridicule and shame. His
spirit blanched not with the lapse of
time. though he lay for twelve years
in Bedford Jail. They told him that
If he would promise 10 preach no
more he might be set at liberty, but
he replied, Il will stay here till the
moss grows over my eyebrows, rather
than violate my faith and principles.
The fact is persecution never stop
ped anything. The days when the
church was being pounded by the fail
of her enemies was the time of her
greatest advancement Many Chris
tians are dull and stupid and useless
because they have not had disaster
enough to wake them up. You CANNOT
raise the finest crops with sunshine
alone. The grandest things that have
ever happened to you have been your
trials. Pilgrims Progress never could