„ „ The Witness of the Passion, 1.
Macintosh (W.), Rabbi Jesus, 1. M'Intyre (D. M.), Life in His Name, 49. Macleod (D.), Christ and Society, 95, Peabody (F. G.), Mornings in The College CJutpel, i. 159 ; iii. 185.
„ „ Sunday Evenings in The College Chapel, 197.
Porter (N.), Yale College Sermons (1871-1886), 34, 76. Ragg (L.), Christ and Our Ideals, 93. Ridgeway (F. E.), Calls to Service, 223. Smith (W. C), Sermons, 182. Vaughan (B.), Society, Sin and the Saviour, 89. Walker (W. L.), The True Christ, 9. WUliams (T. R.), God's Open Doors, 47,
The Kingdom of Truth.
Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then ? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end have I been born, and to this end am I come into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth ?— John xviii. 37, 38.
1, Jesus was on trial for His life on a charge of sedition in claiming to be a king. The charge was expressed in the question, " Art thou a king then ? " His answer to this charge was a puzzle to His judge. His kingdom was not of this world, and yet it was to be supreme and universal. Pilate could understand an authority which was enforced by Eoman legions, and maintained by Eoman bribes, but could not comprehend his prisoner when He rested His claims simply upon the truth to which He was to bear witness. " ' What is truth ? ' said jesting Pilate, and would not stay for an answer." The severe assurance of the prisoner brings into bold relief the frivolous scepticism of the judge. It would almost seem that in the two were represented the extremes of modern thought and character.
2. They were standing face to face in the splendid hall of a palace in Jerusalem. It was adorned with vessels of gold and silver : the floor was of rich mosaic, the columns were of many- coloured marble. The speaker was a Eoman Governor, seated on his tribunal in all his pomp. On either side were the Eoman soldiers, in full armour, with spear and shield. Behind his gilded chair stood the lictors with their fasces. Politically, he repre- sented the mightiest power on all the earth — the power of Imperial Eome. Personally, he wielded an almost irresponsible despotism. Before him, worn and wasted. His visage marred more than any man — the agony of long hours of struggle, and torment, and sleeplessness in His eyes, the marks of blows and insult on His face — stood a Jewish prisoner. His hands were bound behind His back; His garb was the humble dress of a
312 THE KINGDOM OF TRUTH
Galilean peasant. The burning sunlight of an early Syrian spring streamed through the lattices, and the deep silence which hangs over an Eastern city at early dawn would ordinarily have been broken only by the plashing of fountains in the green spaces of the garden, or by the cooing of innumerable doves which sunned their white bosoms over the marble colonnades. It was broken now by far other sounds. The voices of the two speakers were almost drowned by the savage yells of a Jewish mob — all raging against that toil-worn prisoner, all demanding that the Koman Governor should shed His blood.
^ On the north-east of the Temple in Jerusalem, in menacing attitude, stood the great Herodian Citadel called, after Mark Antony, Turris Antonia. The perpendicular sides of the hill on which this palatial fortress was reared were faced with polished marble so as to defy all attempts to scale its walls. On the platform immediately above this impregnable rampart was planted the square-built Citadel itself. At each angle of it there shot up a tower, the one to the south side being conspicuous by a turret from which the Roman garrison, much to the annoyance of the priests, could command an unbroken view of the interior of the Holy Temple. To render this marble camp an abode suitable for the Roman Governor in times of danger, Herod had built, on a lower platform hewn out of the living rock, a sumptuous residence, embodying Grecian taste and Oriental luxury. The praetorium, of which the Gospel speaks, was approached on its western side through an open court or forum, leading to a noble Roman archway flanked by two others on a smaller scale. This triple archway opened into an area paved with red flagstones, called by Greeks, Lithostrotos, and by Jews, Gabbatha. Here at right angles with the archway stood the white marble Tribune or Bema from which the Governor was wont to administer justice. Beyond it sprang a grand staircase sloping up to the balcony or loggia sweeping to the right and left of the Governor's hall. From this point Pilate probably surveyed the accusers of Jesus.^
I.
The Kingdom of Truth.
Truth is a kingdom. It is the kingdom of the Spirit. Its Divine authority was distinctly enunciated by Jesus in reply to ^ B. Vaughan, Society, Sin and the Saviour, 89.
ST. JOHN XVIII. 2>7, 38 313
Pilate : " My kingdom is not of this world," therefore its sway is inevitable, its passage cannot be prevented. Men may try to distort its outlines, but its essential power they cannot control. It does not change with the political boundaries or military dominance of earth's kingdoms. "If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight." Kings cannot prevent its growth. Your Csesar shall be forgotten, and his throne over- turned— while My Kingdom shall be spreading over the world and absorbing all other kingdoms. Priests cannot defile it, however much they may seek to interpret truth for their own ends. When the ecclesiastics brought Jesus to Pilate, they would not enter into the palace themselves, " lest they should be defiled" — and the Passover was yet to be eaten. It was an admission from false ceremonialism of its own weakness. The living truth had gone out of their system; they had only the outward forms to rely upon, and they did not dare relinquish one of these, for they had no other authority.