Evening journal., 1910-11-26


them, and. subsequently, by the Holy
Spirit, enabled them still more fully
to understand that thus it was writ
ten In the prophets and thus II be-
hooved the Son of Man to suffer be-
fore entering into his glory-before
beginning the work Of blessing Israel
and the world. Yea, to-day many
Christians are as deeply confused on
this matter as are the Jews. Many
have rejected entirely the thought of
! Messiah's glorious Kingdom reign for
the general blessing and uplifting
of Israel and all humanity. From
their standpoint, If "the sufferings of
Christ" We're intended to prepare the
way and usher in his Kingdom of
/ glory, then the program must have
failed, or else his Kingdom of glory
Is to be a heavenly one and not, as
they believe, in accord with the pray
! er taught by our Lord, Thy King
! dom come; thy will be done Oh
earth The trouble is that they will
not realize that where the sufferings
of Christ, the Head ended, the suf-
| ferings of the Body of Christ be-
gan the sufferings of "the Church,
which is his Body"-filling up the
measure Of the Affections of Christ,
which are behind (Colossians /, 24)
As soon as the Church, the Body of
| Christ" shall have finished the bear
ing of the cross, after him, following
in his steps to the end of the jour
ney, then the Kingdom glories will
be usheypd in. Israels blindness will
be turIied away and the blessing of
the Lord will begin to fill the whole
earth.
The Jews. who caused the cruel
fixion of Jesus, certainly did so In
much the same spirit which led st.
Paul-then Saul of Tarsus-to cause
the stoning of st. Stephen. AS Saul
was forgiven, so Israel is to be for
given; as the Scriptures declare, "The
Lord will pour upon them the spirit of
prayer and supplication," and then
they will see. with the eyes Of their
understanding. him whom they
pierced and they will all mourn for
| him" Zechariah xii, 10), and their
mourning will be turned into joy; for,
as Joseph forgave his brethren, so
will this great antitypical Joseph of
the throne of earth freely forgive those
who caused his crucifixion.
Politics and Seliishness as Religion.
The Jews are not so different from
other people now, nor were they then
History indicates that some of their
highest offices were held by irreligion-
lists for their political influence; thus
the chief-priest, at the first advent OF
our Lord, was a Sadducee, who wholly
disbelieved in the promises of God to
Israel, including a disbelief in the res
direction of the dead Similarly to-day
there are high-priests, both amongst
Jews and Christians, who disbelieve
and yet hold high positions. Amongst
Christians there are d. DIS who are
unbelievers and many Of the most no
table rabbis amongst the Jews also de
clare themselves thorough unbelievers
We are not claiming that such unbe
lieving Christians and Jewish minis
ters would lightly espouse and supper
an unjust procedure against an limo
cent man. We do not know about this
D II has yet to be tested, perhaps. w
5 lido know. however, that when fait
] in Divine Revelation and in DiVin
o. supervision Of human affairs is los
e the natural effect is that the losers O
{ the faith become more and NOR
4 POLICEMEN and consider policy the eX
{ treme Of human wisdom, particular
3 in the guidance of affairs of Churc
and State.
Taking history for it, that the lead
ers of Judaism at the time of ou
Lord were Higher Critical unbeliever
(Sadducees). we can readily see tina
their policy was to curry favor wit
the Roman Emperor and to seek {
hold the common people i'm subjectiO
TO themselves. To these, then, it mus
have seemed almost calamity that
D. poor man, although Of noble birth, {
the family Of David and the Tribe {
( Judah, should gather about him
handful OF nondescript fishermen. tar
gatherers, etc. that he should Pre-
nounce himself king and declare Oh
setting up of his Kingdom to be nea
and that by the exercise of some ST
pernatural power for the healing {
r their diseases he should attract tn
{ common people" to his standard, bI
not the learned. We can we'll imagin
= their reasoning that, If this thing, tn
] popularity of Jesus, continued to in
/ crease, fl would shortly reach the eal
n of the Roman Emperor and then a
s their claims for imperial favors woul
be discounted and they would be rate
= as q nation of rebels
d The riding of Jesus into Jerusalem
a lust before the Passover, on an as
! after the manner OF the kings of Il
e rael and surrounded by a nultituC
i shouting "Hosanna to the Son OF ID
j. yid who cometh in the name of Il
Lord" capped the climax, so to spea
o and convinced these unbelieving Jew
,, politicians, occupying religious office
d that Il would be far better that OF
inocent man should die than that Il
q whole nation should be turned I'M
. turmoil and wrecked by the Roman
= consequence. How many America
- preachers, judges, officials, etc, wou
in this enlightened day be incline
similarly to decide such a matter! Al
is not this the policy which alwa,
prevails in monarchies? Fancy such
commotion i'm the capital of German
Italy. France, Austria. Russia, Gre
Britain the United States. Fancy tn
after such a parade mimic though
might appear, the adored one shou
, 20 to the temple and execute a Ion
neglected law and. i'm thus eXercisii
n his religious rights. suppose that
" should drive out the money-change
and merchants from the outer pr
cincts of their chief religious Cath
drall What would be done to such
person to-day? DO we not know tn
in the most civilized lands he wou
be arrested and imprisoned, and in d
more savage lands he would be beat
or executed? When, therefore, '
view the situation from this standpoi
We lose any spirit Of antagonism viii
mighthave been ours; it turns to syl
pathy-that a religious nation shou