The Mankato free press., 1910-11-18


day would consider such a person a
fraud. pretender, a deceiver, Ap-
pearances were against him.
Jesus declared that the Father sent
him and that he delighted to come in
obedience to Jehovah's will, to be his
agent and servant in the outworking
OF great plan for human redemption.
Those who deny all of this, and who
have awakened so much confusion
amongst Christians, and have made
the Gospel Of Christ impossible to the
Jew, should give an account of them
selves and explain by what authority
they cOntradicted the Great Teacher
THE Father is greater than l." And
when they claim that the death of
Jesus was merely q farce, and that he
as Jehovah merely stepped out Of the
body of Jesus and perpetrated fraud
and pretended to be dead and aroused
his disciples so to think and so to
teach, and pretended later to be raised
from the dead-those who thus teach
and who thus confuse the minds of all
Christendom and Jewry, should ex-
plain away. If they can. the plain state
ment of the Apostle that God raised
up Jesus from the dead by his own
)Ower on the third day.
"Art Thou King Them"
Picture the Great Teacher walking
with his twelve Apostles, nondescript
crowd of those who heard him gladly
not many great, not many learned,
not many rich, not many noble. Hear
him telling them-those who acknOwl-
edge themselves to be ignorant and un,
learned (Acts iv, 13)--that, if faithful
TO him. he would grant them to sit
with him in his Throne" Judging the
twelve tribes of Israel" The state
ment surely seemed fraudulent, and he
had not the heart to condemn the Jews
who so misinterpreted him. st. Peter
did not condemn them, but distinctly
said, I wot, brethren, that In igno-
rance We crucified the Prince of Life,
az did also your rulers (Acts ill. 1910.
Can we wonder that the learned
Jews of that day were confused? They
did, indeed, hear of his miracles-his
recovering of sight to the blind and of
strength to the withered hand OF the
impotent man; and, in the case of Lag
arus, at least, they had demonstration
OF his power over the dead. They per-
ceived that these miracles were having
an influence upon the masses-that
they detracted from their own esteem
amongst the people. They knew that
many Of Jesus sayings were wonder
fully wise and that his criticisms Of
their own inconsistencies were re-
markably sharp. Yet withal, they said,
we know that lie is fraud. because
Of his peculiar claim to be the Messiah
and the Son of God. This claim of his
discountenances all of his teachings
and mighty works. 1t cannot be true
that he is the Messiah that our nation
has waited for these more than sixteen
centuries God would surely send
Messiah Il sufficiency Of demonstration
of glory and power to convince the
most intelligent OF our nation. the
Scribes and Pharisees and Priests.
What they all dissent from, repudiate
and denounce. must be false.
For the Good Of the Nation.
The Jewish wise men Of eighteen
centuries ago concluded that man
who set the masses agog with antici-
patton Of himself as the Messiah-King,
yet was without an army and without
NJ stl hna y,,,ir
would present their nation to the Ro-
mans in 4 ludicrous light. AS result
they might have taken from them. at
the word of the Emperor. the civil and
religious privileges and rights they
were enjoying. They took counsel and
determined that in the interests Of the
peace of the nation this den-tongued
miracle-wOrker should either be ex-
posed rs a fraud or be killed They
tried first to expose him by trapping
him in his language in the presence OF
his followers and the multitude. But
his intellect was keener than theirs
and the thrusts they made at him re-
bounded to their own discomfort and
established his own standing in the
estimation of his followers and in the
eyes Of the people. One of these eff
forts to show up the hOllOwneSs of his
claims and their fraudulency aud to
discourage his followers is worthy OF
particular notice. as it furnishes us
the key to the sentiment of the rulers
and also the key to the real facts Of
the case which those rulers failed to
discern.
The Kingdom In Your Midst.
The influential Jews said. Let us
question this fraudulent Messiah re-
specting his pretentiOns, not with any
hope of correcting him, but with a
view to opening the eyes of his follow
ers to the weakness and fallacy Of his
teachings. Then they will see the hol-
lOwness Of the hopes they are enter
tanning and their foolishness in leav-
ing their various avocationS to be-
come his followers. in the hope of sit
ting with him in his Throne. They
will see that he has no prospect of ever
securing a Throne and that they are
merely deluded by him in such expec-
tations. They inquired of him, When
will your Kingdom appear? How long
will it be before you sit upon your
throne and have your followers with
you in the Throne? How long before
this Messianic Kingdom will rule in
Palestine and extend from its borders
to the ends of the earth? After you
have answered us these questions we
will ask you others respecting your