The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1914-10-28

the slaughter, and as a sheep before its
shearers Is dumb, so he opened not his
mouth.-Isa. 55:7 r. ".
The golden text selected for sthis
lesson Is apt to convey to US a wrong
idea of the closing days OF our Lords
life. Jesus did not die as q sheep In
the shambles. His was not the death
Of one slaughtered in weakness. He
was led" that is true; he was
Slaughtered" but not until hts hour
had arrived and he permitted It to be
so. His death was a victory, not 9
defeat.
In, Gethsemane Jesus made his final
dedication Of himself. to his victorious
work Of redemption
1. Tho B%etrayins Judas, w. ~
so. In this hour Of. conservation Judas
enters. guiding the mob into the
cred precincts Of our Lords retreat
It has been suggested that perhaps
this act of betrayal was In order to-
~pSecipitate the Messianic claims Of
Jesus and compel him to assume an
earthly triumph. II 80, was not the
motive of Judas a selfish one, that he
might profit thereby? The abaseness
Of his unholy compact ts soon TO be
revealed to Judas and to the world
The kiss of Judas delivered Jesus into
the hands OF lawless men according
to the determinate counsel and fore
knowledge Of God, Acts 2:2S. This
furnishes US the background the att
mosphere, in which to consider this
the first Of his several trials. 3
WIekedness Of JUDAS,
II. The BIunderinga Peter, W. 5t.sa;
~ Peter and the sword, Wv. 5dy553
Peter had knowledge and zeal, hut
used his zeal not according % knoWl.
edge. Jesus had warned him; only to
receive the assurance that he g
mistaken. The words OF Jesus here
recorded are Z calm assurance of fhes
fact@that these events are not being
controlled by manSbu BY Cod The
wickedness Of Judas is being worked
out in the plan of redemption. Hfs
lighting were the program, what would
Peters puny sword amount to- Fol
the asking Jesus could command IL
legtons of angels, yet even such
force could not be- used In human re-
demption. One man. the Goldman;
must die, Rom. Sis. Notice the Mas
ter's acceptance Of the Scriptures. Y
"a. If by the sword he were toes
cape, how could these be fufflleds
Matthew adds ". Soy that all OF thiss
Come to pass" that the words OF the
prophets be fulfilled. 2} Peter and
the maid, w. 56-58. That Peter should
follow "afar" or at all, Is evidence Of
his affection for Jesus and OF his de-
termination to see the end. There
was perhaps an element OF. pride also
in his going, for the others had s"tfors
sock him and fed" They seem to-
have realized that his enemies would
now surely destroy Jesustand further:
that he was determined not to accept
any deliyerance. Let us recall that
witnesses against Christ were at q
premium that night wv. So SOD, and
yet Peter did not witness against him,
nor is there any suggestion thatt he
was so asked to testify tsee notes on
Lesson for November Isl.
III. The Biased. Brutal Judges, w.
1858. This is one Of earth's most
irregular and illegal trials. The
priests and the councilfhad one single
determination, which was to find
Jesus guilty. They did not seek to-
discover the truth, but rather to car.
ny out the sentence OF death. prevt-
ously determined upon, Hence the
devilish business Of discovering a pre-
text whereby to carry out their pure
pose. Finally two are found, w. IS,
60, willing to ".bear false witness" lEx.
20:16) for the purpose Of currying the
favor of the rulers. What a spectacle!
Gods supposed representatives and
the leaders of Gods chosen people /.
suborning witnesses whereby to con-
denim an innocent man and to carry
out their devilish designs. !
False Testimony. ...
A careful reading Of what Christ
really did say and what these wit
uesses swore that he said reveals tha
~falseness Of their testimony, v. 81.
see also John 2:9. Il am able to de-
stroy the temple Of God, and to rebuild
1t in three days" were not his words.
What he did say was, Destroy. this .
temple and 1 will raise 1t up" He
spoke these words of himself about
those who should destroy him-his
body-and claimed the power to raise
that body again within three days. ,
Grant, for the sake Of argument, that
he spoke of the Jerusalem temple and.
still the testimony Is false, as anyone
can plainly see. To such lying accusa-
tons Jesus "held his peace" There
could be no possible change wrought
by answering.
At this point the high priest did
another illegal thing in administering
the legal oath, Il adjure thee" ". 63(. I
Not alone was the time and place of
this trial illegal, but 80 was this act
on the part of the high priest. But,
that all might once more know the
truth, Jesus replied Thou hast SAID
and adds, "Henceforth We shall see
the son Of man sitting at the right
hand of power and coming on the
clouds of heaven" (v. 64). This addi-