office was one of peculiar sanctity, and entailed peculiar responsibilities. And yet these very men were the mur- derers of Christ !
Let us beware of regarding any minister of religion as infallible. His orders, however regularly conferred, are no guarantee that he may not lead us astray, and even ruin our souls. The teaching and conduct of all minis- ters must be tried by the Word of God. They are to be followed so long as they follow the Bible, but no longer. The maxim laid down in Isaiah must be our guide : ^' To the law and the testimony : if they speak not ac- cording to this word, it is because there is no light in them." (Isai. viii. 20.)
Let us observe, in the second place, how fully our Lord declared to the Jewish council His own Messiahship, and His future corning in glory.
The unconverted Jew can never tell us at the present day, that his forefathers were left in ignorance that Jesus was the Messiah. Our Lord's answer to the solemn ad- juration of the high priest is a sufficient reply. He tells the council plainly that He is ^^ the Christ, the Son of God."" He goes on to warn them that though He had not yet appeared in glory, as they expected Messias would have done, a day would come when he would do so. '^ Hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of ^^ower, and coming in the clouds of heaven." They would yet see that very Jesus of Naza- reth, whom they had arraigned at their bar, appear in all majesty as King of kings. (Rev. i. 7.)
It is a striking fact which we should not fail to nos tice, that almost the last word spoken by our Lord to
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the Jews, was a warning prediction about His own second advent. He tells tlicm plainly that tlicy would yet see Him in glory. No doubt he referred to the seventh chapter of Daniel, in the language that he used. But He spoke to deaf ears. Unbelief, prejudice, self-right- eousnoss covered them like a thick cloud. Never was there such an instance of spiritual blindness. Well may the Church of England litany contain the prayer, ^' From all blindness, — and from hardness of heart, Good Lord deliver us."
Let us observe, in the last place, hoiv much our Lord endured before ihe council , from false ivitness and mockery.
Falsehood and ridicule are old and favorite weapons of the de\dl. " He is a liar, and the father of it." (John viii. 44.) All through our Lord's earthly ministry we see these weapons continually employed against Him. He was called a glutton, a winebibber, and a friend of publicans and sinnei-s. He was held up to contempt as a Samaritan. The closing scene of His life was only in keej)ing with all the past tenor of it. Satan stirred up his enemies to add insult to injury. No sooner was He pronounced guilty, than every sort of mean indignity was heaped upon Him. " They spit in his face, and buffeted him." " They smote him with the palms of their hands." They said, mockingly, "Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, who is he that smote thee ?"
How wonderful and strange it all sounds ! How won- derful that the Holy Son of God should have voluntarily submitted to such indignities, to redeem such miserable sinners as we are ! How wonderful, not least, that every tittle of these insults was foretold seven hundred years
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