The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1906-11-15

IaDrlC or lies. ANY tribunal not
bent upon conviction would have
thrown the case out of court with
contempt. By His refusal to
plead, Jesus denied the validity of
the process and the jurisdiction of
the court as constituted. The
silent, dignifed accused is fast
throwing the court into confusion.
1t is at its wits end, when bold
and interruptions Caiaphas makes
his coup de main. He springs
from his red hassock, and, rushing
at Jesus with rage in look, gesture,
and tone, bids Him answer the
witnesses.
But before the vociferating
Judge, with his soiled ermine,
Jesus maintains His imperturbable
silence. A last expedient occurs
to the fertile mind of Caiaphas.
He will put Jesus in the dilemma
of denying His Messiahship by
persisting in his His silence, or
affording ground of conviction for
blasphemy by affirming it. BY
most solemn abjuration he puts
Him under oath, and then pro-
pounds his crucial question.
There is not moments hesita-
ton. The case against Him hay
ing utterly collapsed, He breaks
His silence. He furnishes them
with the ground of conviction,
which they had failed to find.
They do not stop to question
whether His testimony is true or
not. 1t might readily be shown
how His character and career full
fills the prophecies. There are
ten thousand witnesses of His
Messianic aud der-working
power who might have been sum-
moned. But, no! the case is pre-
JUDGED, the jury packed, the court
bent on conviction, not truth and
Justice With Oriental and dram
attic effect, Caiaphas tears his cost
ly robes into shreds from collar to
hem, precipitately finds verdict,
and then proceeds to poll the jury.
Thus Jesus, His hour having
come, surrenders Himself into the
hands of sinners, and voluntarily
lays down a life which no man
could have taken from Him.
The Teachers Lantern.
The canons of the Sanhedrim
court were that the accused was to
be esteemed innocent until proven
guilty; it was an axiom. The
Sanhedrim was set to save, not to
destroy life; the president was to
admonish witness of the value of a
human life; counsel was to be pro-
vlded for the accused; the young
est judges were to vote first, in
order that they might not be pre-
JUDGED by the voice Of the elders;
condemnation could only occur the
day after the trial had concluded;
capital trial could not begin the
day before a Sabbath or a feast;
no criminal trial could begin or
be continued at night; no one
could be executed on the same day
on which sentence was pronourc-
ed. Every rule was Aagrantly
broken in the trial of Jesus.
s.
To retrive the odium of the legal
homicide of Jesus, his enemies in
vented an es post facto law, and in
Corporated it in the Talmud; to-
wit, any one who gave himself out
as false Messiah could be tried
and condemned on the same day or
in the night. Thy also frame the
extraordinary story that a public
herald was sent out for forty con.
secutive days before Jesus con-
demnation to summon witnesses
in His favor; but none appeared.
K
Silence on the part of a defend
ant in all Oriental court is com.
plete anomaly. Profuse protesta-
tons of innocence, dramatic ap-
peal, wild gesture, copious tears
these are the rule. The silent
dignity of Tesus arrested the at