The work of the Holy Spirit - pagina 655

!

CHRIST OR SATAN

615

And when

bibber."

all this was of no avail, and Jesus continued few with still greater love, and the number of the Johns and Marys increased, then they judged that severer meas-

to inspire the

ures should be taken; then the hatred became persecution; then women of Jerusalem cried, " His blood be upon us and upon our children"; and, thirsting after His blood, the mob cried, ' Crucify Him " and the tempest of unholy passion abated not until the honest

!

they saw

Him

dying upon the cross. Hence by the cross stood John and Mary, whose love for Jesus was never surpassed, side by side with the leaders of Jerusalem, who dare mock and defy Him even in His dying moments, while they almost suffocate with their

own

rage.

Jesus had not come and openly testified of the Father, Jerusalem's grave gentlemen would never have been guilty of such base and dishonorable passions. In fact, His public appearance If

in

Jerusalem and in Judea was the spark which ignited these passions. Without Him the rabbis would never have committed such heinous sin if Jesus had not come from heaven, the earth would never have looked upon a hatred so base, bitter, and violent. ;

Why,

He not rather stay away? Why did He come on For He knew what hatred His coming would arouse. He knew that— indirectly— He would cause Iscariot to become then, did

the earth?

a

Judas, a child of the devil.

He knew

that

He would become

a

fall

and a rising again of many; a stone of stumbling; a sign that should be spoken against. He knew that by contact with Him thousands would become transgressors, and some even

would commit

the sin against the

Holy Ghost.

He knew

all this, for

He

suffered

by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. And yet He came. He spoke. He executed His awful task upon the all

earth, to be a Savior to thousands of souls,

but also a rock of

offense to thousands of others.

And why was He

not prevented from coming, that

ble evil might be avoided?

For

the sake

Kingdom

of Love,

O

all this terri-

children of the

For Love \^ greatest ; Love is the highest right; and Love, and divine, could not be shed abroad in the

rich,

hearts of

men

full,

but

at this price. violent. ^^'holly

Love less great would have stirred up hatred less If this Love had not come at all. hatred would have been quenched. This Love alone aroused that hatred. In-

rfamed by the perfection of this Love,

it

broke forth into such de-

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