The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1920-03-29
.GHR|ST'S TRIAL. WAS
IRAVESTY0NJUSTICE
Hon. E. M. showaIter Dis.
cusses Case From Law
yer's Standpoint.

Christ was condemned to death with
out due process OF law and the laws
OF the Jews were violated in many de-
tails TO secure the death through cru:
ciffxion OF the Son OF God.
The trial of Jesus Christ before
Plate was the most important case TO
be found on any docket in any tribunal
OF Christendom.
Plate consented to the execution of
Jesus against his better judgment and
the dictates Of his conscience-he
yielded to the mob to make more Sc.
cure his own position, after, having
tried the prisoner and having found no
guilt in him and having absolved. him
from all wrong doing
These were some Of the truths
brought home last night by Hon. E. NJ.
Showalter in an address before the
congregation of the First Presbyterian
church, the subject of his discourse
being The Trial of Jesus from a Law.
yer's Viewpoint 1t was masterful
presentation OF facts. Giving the law
an dprocedure as prescribed in those
days for man on trial for his life, Mr..
Showalter clearly made his case that
the spirit and the latter of the law had
been violated to secure verdict pleas.
ing to the enraged mob who sought
the death of Christ, and that in the ii.
nal analysis Plate could not hold to
the truth as he knew 1t to be and gave
way to the demands of the crowd when
they threatened to bring charges
against Plate before the emperor.
In ending his address MIR. Showalter
made a modern application when he
said:
And now after the lapse of nineteen
centuries, with all our boosted civil.
cation, men will inquire, what is
truth?" AS though 1t were coin dis.
used. Avarice and greed malice and
envy, still ranlle in human hearts.
Priests and elders OF the people yet
practice eXtortion and usury. Those
who hold public trusts still sacrifice
the public interests for their personal
aggrandizement, and sometimes even
those vested with the power of judy
ment, for the scake of ambition, or
through mercenary motives, or yield
ing to the influence and power of
wealth and popular clamor, will prosti-
tute their high office by sacrificing the
innocent through judicial dictum or
decree. And all these are of those who
stand at the gate and cry, His blood
be upon us and on eur children" and
in thei revery ignoble act do they press
the thorns deeper into the blow OF
their crucified Savior. :
And justice will ever mfscarry; and
craftsmanship will eyer be at fault;
and international compacts will ever
be a farce; and human society will
never attain unto the ideal until men
and nations shall discover the royal Sc
cret of life; the secret of universal
equilibrium; that which Christ came
into the world to establish and which
is promulgated in all His teachings;
that the laws of compensation pervade
all nature and all social order; that
for every evil there is a corresponding
good; that the centrifugal and centrl-
petal forces that hold in equal poise
the heavenly planets, balance also the
deeds of men; that reciprocal OF evil
is the one attribute that will free men
from the domination OF evil passions
so that he may reflect that character
for which he was created, the image
OF his Maker. And however much we
may toll and plan. there is only one
solution for all our industrial prob
lens, for our class pdablems, our race
problems, and all the complicated
problems for weary world; and that
solution for for its basis, applied
Christianity; and for its inspiration,
the Cross OF Calvary.