The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-11-19

| trust magnate and plutocrat the most
 powerful person In JerusaleS not holding
 public office He was asked about his dis
 cipes and His teachings What Annas
 was seeking is made clear by Jesus an-
 swer to him that He ever taught openly in the synagogues and on the streets and in the temple where all the Jews came together and in secret He taught nothing. Clearly Annas thought he was instgating
 some secret reform or plot to take the | temple control out of the hands of his house; and Jesus resented this insinuation.
 It is very natural that trust which itself
 works under ground should suspect others
 of persuing the same tactics. But this suggestion of the sinister Jesus renounces
 in emphatic terms, so that the officer
 of the magnate who stood by balled up his fist and struck Jesus in the mouth
 saying: "Answerest though the high priest sop Jesus with mouth bleeding from the blow said: If I have spoken evil go to
 the courts and bear witness of the evil;
 but if well why smtest thou me?" This
 was practically an appeal to the courts,
 and Annas sent him to his son and asso- ciate, Caiaphas. the lawful high priest. | Caiaphas sought to make out the charge
 of conspiracy against the temple Ngime
 and called together his associates and
 sought witnesses. whether false or true he cared not. Conspiracy to destroy the temple was a charge he could make good l for the death penalty before Pilate, and hence he spent several hours In his efforts to get witnesses to 1t; but the nearest
 he could come was that some had heard
 him say on the day that he drove his
 clerks out of the temple: Destroy this
 temple made with hands and in three days l will build another made without hands,
 But he could not hope to affect convic-
 tion from witnesses so contradictory and
 evidence so far fetched as this seemed to be. While they were examining these
 witnesses Jesus sat in compaeent silence | and said not a word. This unnerved
 Caiaphas and he saw that if they were
 going to do anything they must do it before the day came and the people came again on the streets. So he shifted his line of prosecution to the charge of
 being the Messiah, which he could estab-
 fish as a charge of blasphemy before the | Sanhedrin and of Lese majeste. or treason
 against Caesar before Pilate. He sat on
 his seat as high priest and put Jesus
 on oath, saying: "I adiure Thee, tell us
 if Thou he the Messiah. the son of the
 blessed" Jesus must now answer or
 practically deny all messianic claims; so
 He answer, q am, ana you shall see Me,
 as is said of the Messiah in the book of
 Daniel and in our current messanic be-
 liefs, sitting at the right hand of God
 and coming on the clouds of heaven.
 This was what Caiaphas wanted and so he
 rent his garment and said; What need
 we further of witnesses? You have heard
 Him yourselves speak blasphemy. What say you?" And all his associates said
 He is worthy of death They give Him
 over to their henchmen. who in the service
 of their feudal lords of wealth blind folded Him, spit on Him, smite Him with
 their fists and mock Him, saying; Pro
 phecy unto us, Christ, who is he that | struck thee" And the Sanhedrn was
 called to order and conviction was duly voted with but two dissenting voices,
 Ncodemus and Joseph of Aramathla. | Let us learn some lessons from this nar-
 rative.
 Great Problem of Our Day.
 l 1. Men may incorporate their wicked l ness and it becomes the more a power for evil. just as when they incorporate them | selves for good 1t becomes a more power full agent for good The great problem of our day Is how to deal with incorporated l evil A corporation Is a great power be- cause it enables men to combine their | energies sar the accomplishment of ends which are beyond their reach as lndi- vduals. whether those ends be good or evil Jesus long ago that 1t was this
 wicked corporation which should have the craft and the power to put Him to | death. Men can combine for the work | of the devil as we'll as of God and the good of their fellow men.
 | Here was 8 set of men who had in- corporated themselves for the purpose of profaning the temple with sheep and oxen and money tables. making the house of prayer d place of merchandise and
 of robbng the people under the forms
 of law It was wickedness incorporated and legalized and patronized; wickedness
 which had in its employ a great army
 whom it could move according to it's be- nests on missions of evil. We are ac- customed to say that corporations have no souls, but if they do many of them