The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-11-17


Time tries out all things and all men
The builder must know the tensile
strength of every timber and iron
beam. The architect works days and
weeks to figure the exact weight which
the thirty-story skyscraper Will lay
upon each separate square inch of the
foundation. Chicago builds it's mas
Siye postofflce or courthouse, and then
shudders for fear 1t is founded on lake
mud rather than on rock. Not only
are materials on trial for their endur-
ing power, they are ever being tested
for performance How heavy a load
will the big derrick lift and swing
safely through the air2 The engines
of the huge battleship-how fast will
they push her PROV through the
waves 2 The electric battery that gives
power to your runabour@how long
can you rely upon it? Time tests all
things.
Much more does modern life test
men. What can you dO?" is the
challenge at every turn Of the road.
Promises are good for nothing. A bill
fly is not enough. Deeds must. tell.
On the sides of a great river men sink
shafts and push tunnels toward each
other The miles of intervening space
lessen TO rods and feet: how nearly
will the WOrkmen meet, down in the
dark depths beneath the Hudson's cur
rents and tides2 Only a fraction of
an inch out of the Wayi-such tests
men must face In the places of bust
ness responsibility and commercial
achievement. In all the testings and
trials OF men or things today there is
the loudest of cries for
s'The Square Deal"
The fighting chance must be fair
chance Struggle is joyous, the siren
uous life a keen delight, If only one is
sure that no trickery- or fraud will rob
endeavOr of its due reward. Judg-
he knows that it will be just.
The dramatic incident of today's
lesson gives US the worlds greatest
miscarriage of justice. where there
ness. Who is on trial? Jesus, the
carpenter of Nazareth, the teacher of
the multitudeS, the healer of suffer-
ing men and women. For what is He
on trial? For his life. The witnesses?
All who had met him in city street or
country highway; all who had heard
his words floating across the still wa
tiers Of Gennesaret or filing the sac
red courts of the Temple. Who are
his accusers? The leaders Of the Jew
ish church and nation. The scribes
who sat in Moses seat, who studied
with eagle eye the minutest marks on
every scroll, and argued with endless
debate the petty problems of mean
1ngless forms The Pharisees who
made broad their phylacteries and de-
voured widows houses The Saddu-
Gees who seoffed at a life to come and
cast doubt or denial upon the deepest
hopes of the human soul All these
were the accusers of Jesus Christ.
When was Jesus on trial? In the early
hours of the dawn, while Jerusalem
lay buried in sleep. and the multitudes
dreamed of nothing so horrible as that
the Great Teacher Of Nazareth
should suffer i'll or Injustice from the
Tevered and sanity Sanhedrim- Most
important of all, who was the judge in
this strange trial? In whose decision
lay the issues of life and death ?
When that court begins its session, a
STRANGE and startling Giyhr
The Prosecutor on the Bench.
Instead of the spotIess ermine of the
impartial nearer of facts and inter
prefer of law, we see the priestly robes
and insignia of Cafaphas, who but a
few weeks ago cried out in scorn and
nor do ye take account that it is ex-
pedient for you that one man should
die for the people, and that the whole
nation perish noti'' The incarnation
of hypocritical hatred and unhinching
purpose, the man in whom centers all
envy and resentment and malice to-
ward this WonderwOrker whom the
common people heard gladly,-Caia-
phas is at once accuser and condem-
ner, states attorney and judge of the
last appeal!
Amid all social unrest and discon-
tent of the present hour one phase of
things doubt whether the modern
court of law can be counted true and
pure and sure. Has the bandage
slipped from one eye Of the symbolic
goddess of justice, so that she can
catch the CLEAN of the golden bribe,
and tip the scale toward the hand that
proffers it2 Has 1t indeed become i'm
possible in our land to put behind
prison bars the man who has millions
of dollars? How keenly we fear such
travesties of justice. And yet He who
carried all the sorrows of mankind en-
dured in silence such superlatives of
injustice.
Was Jesus a Periurer?
Note the climax of this strange
court scene. Under the darkness of
night Caiaphas and his allies have