The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1906-05-05
HON. ALLAN L.
McDERMONT'S SPEECH
CONTINUED from page -,

Il
repented for having taught men that
they should murder their children If
the latter made the slip of getting on
bowling terms with the gods in the
next country. The Christian religion
amended the old law; it taught new
rules, but it never declared that the
rules laid down in Deuteronomy were
unconstitutional, and today the Chris
tan churches teach that the old law
was all right in its day. If this is 50.
then, for over a thousand years the
Jews were taught, under divine m
spiration. that they had no higher
duty than to kill whoever attempted
To teach them new religion. Il
| do not believe that a sane god |
ever dictated any such directions, or
that Moses ever wrote them. But
Renan is wrong in saying that Christ
was crucified under this law. He was
put to death, not for assailing the
Mosaic law, but because he was ac-
cused of treason to Tiberius. Accord !
ing to Matthew, the Roman soldiers
set over the head of Christ his &C
cusation-NThis is Jesus, the KING OF
the Jews
Mark says: "And the superscrip-
ton of his accusation was written,
The King of the Jews.
Luke says: And superscription
also was written over him IN letters
of Greek and Latin and Hebrew,
This is the King OF the Jews.
John is said to have heard OF 1t IN
this fashion: "And Plate wrote a
title and put it on the cross. And the
writing was, Jesus of Nazareth, King
of the Jews Then said the cher
priests OF the Jews to PLATE. Write
not the King of the Jews, but that
| he said. | am the king of the Jews.
Plate answered, What / have written
| I have written
Christ was not stoned to death
under the Mosaic law. He was cru
cited under the Roman law. Accord
ing to John, Plate said to the &C
cusers: Take We Him and judge
Him according to your law. The
lJews answered: at is not lawful
for US TO put any man to death
Matthew says that the mob cried.
l"His blood be on US and on Our enh-
Idren." Neither Mark, Luke nor John
ever heard of this invocation, and it
was probably interpolated IN the
i"Gospel according to ST. Matthew
after the Christian religion had been
preached to the Romans. Tacltus
lhad written that, in the reign of II
lberius, Christ was brought to pun
lishment by Pontius PLATE, the pro
curator" Some one may have
thought it would be easier to estab-
Ilish the Christian religion at Rome
Iif the Roman governor and his army
could be relieved from the stain OF
the crucihxion.
| If Christ was mortal, His cruel
hxion was one of the regrettabie IN
cidents of this world. If He was q
mortal, He was a martyr, and this
whether He suffered death because
He desired to reform the manage
ment of the Temple, or was intent
upon removing the Roman yoke from
, 1.-THE neck of His people.
| But it is. not because a human be-
ing was crucifed that the Jews are
lpersecuted 1t is because they are
charged with having crucihed the
Son of God. The words and spirit
: of the New Testament the whole
theory of the Christian religion =
| prove that this miserable charge
should be abandoned. God created
and peopied the world; man was
weak and fell, and continued in his
wicked ways until God drowned all
living things, except few and the
. fishes. 1t would probably have been
better if Noah and his family had
! taken. The saved generated wicked
ness, and the accountability OF the
human race for original sin continu-
: ing, God ordained a scheme of sal
walton which included the crucifixior
of His Son Accepting this as true
: how can the Jews be held account
able for the death of that Son? II
. an omnipotent God orders anything
done, the human instruments selected
. to carry out His orders cannot be
charged with the acts commanded
The doctrine Of repondeat superior
applies.
If what happened could have beer
t prevented by the Romans or by the
, Jews, then the New Testament IS
: worthless Let us assume that the
5 have done otherwise? Were they
! greater than God? According to the
; Bible the cruciixion was arranged
for by the Father. Why blame the
( Jews or the Romans or any Other
mortals? They did not know wha,
they were doing. The Roman sol
! diers did not believe they were cru
cifying the Son of God; they did not
know that they were crucifying God
himself Why blame the instruments
) Why prosecute the descendants?
: According TO the synoPtic gospeis
4 and according to John. the arrange
/ ments for the crucifixion-every de-
tai1-were made by Almighty God
and were known to Christ.
According to Matthew, Christ pre-
dicted His death, entombment, and
resurrection. saying, For as Jonas
was three days and three nights in
the whales belly, SO shall the Son Of
Man be three nights in the heart of
the earth"
4 Christ told His disciples that He
must go unto Jerusalem and suffer
many things and be crucifed. He
told Peter, James and John not to
publish the details of His transhgura-
ton until the Son of Man be risen
from the dead" He said: THE Son
of Man shall be betrayed into the
hands of men and they shall kill
Him. He said that He "came NOT
to be ministered unto. but to minis
ter, and to give His life, a ransom
for many He fell on His face and
prayed. 20. my Father, if it be pos
sible. let this cup pass from me: new
Iertheless, not as l will, but as Thou
wilt
/