Hi- .Ir.lM- h, .-..k -llir I-: :ill II.'
xyouM „ol aN„i,Ml„. plu.T. wl„.,,. Mm ,r nu.-t
likely to be found.
In this connexion it is interesting to note tliat the Talmud has the folloMing pa-ssage : ' In the time of the Messiah the people \vill be impudent, and be given to drinking ; public-
The reputation of inns seems to have been gener- ally bad ; they were very often houses of ill-fame, and hostesses were looked upon with suspicion.
Yet some of the larger inns would bear a better character and be centres of influence, and there is no reason why Jesus should not have visited them. In most countries and periods the itinerant preacher has found the public inn to be a soil where the word might readily take root. (Cf. Fox, Journal, 1901, vol. i. pp. li8, 261, 258 ; Wesley, Journal, under March 1738 ; Boitow, Bible in Spain, passim).
Literature.— Ramsay, art. 'Eoads and Travel (in NT)' in Hastings' DB, Ext. Vol., under Inns and Entertainment.
J. Ross Murray.
INNOCENCE.— Innocence, strictly speaking, de- notes the entire absence of sin in a human soul. A- sucli. in its primary meaning, we have no |HT-..ii:il e\|.i'rience of it in ourselves or in others. ' I'lir all ha\e sinned and come short of the glorj- of God' (Ro 3-^). We can, therefore, have no actual knowlege of what would be the efl'ect of this quality upon a human character. In this sense it is an attribute of Jesus Christ alone among men, who 'was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin' (He 4'^) ; 'who knew no sin' (2 Co 5-'); who could address to His watchful foes the challenge, ' Which of you con- victeth me of sin ? ' (Jn 8-"^). Tlie gulf l)etween innocence and tlie state of the soul that has once committed sin can be realized only as we com- prehend the nature of sin and its immeasurable depravity and consequences. See art. Sini.ess- NESS. (For the subject of our Lord's innocence of the charges which led to His crucifixion, see art. Trial of Jesus Christ).
Innocence in a comparative sense may be at- tributed to men who, though fallen, are yet, in respect of particular sins, innocent, or who from circumstances of upbringing, or by the special grace of God, are shielded from that" knowledge of sin by personal experience wliich is the common lot oi men. Such a man was John the Baptist, who ' was in the deserts until the day of his sliow- ing unto Israel ' (Lk 1"*). It lias been said that there are only two states of life open to the man wlio wishes to serve God. The one is the state of innocence, the other of penitence. John the Bap- tist may be taken as a type of the one, St. Peter of the other. It must not be supposed that innocence implies ignorance or weakness. If John the Baptist, in whose life no fall is recorded, the essence of whose career is one unbroken record of devotion to the service of God, be taken as a type of innocence, he is pre-eminently the stern mascu- line type of character, and he displays great knowledge of men and power of dealing witli the varied temptations of soldiers, publicans, and professors of religion.
The temptation specially addressed to inncicence is the knowledge of evil as well as good ((In :'.■), but the experience of evil which entails the irrecoverable loss of innocence is not wisdom in the true sense of the word. 'The knowledge of wickedness is not wisdom ' (Sir 19--). Innocence l)ossesses an intuitive perception of right and NMc.iij;, observable in the child, whicli becomes liliiiited by the indulgence of sin ; it also implies a s(iriiL;th which is lost by a fall. Each successive lapsi' friiin iiinoeence makes the soul weaker in that particuhu line, I mn iii w liicli tlie fall has taken place.
For fniii . ' ip; Ill 111 this subject the reader
may ben ) i ;■ i iih.ikhi the subject in lUing-
worth's r, ,. , ,/,,-:„,/ ( ullinlrtd Sermo7is, p. 99ii'. M. R. Newbolt.
INNOCENTS.— In Mt 2"'-'8 we find the narrative of what is called the Massacre of the Innocents. Adojiting the language of Jer 31''', the Evangelist represents Rachel, the ancestral mother of the people of Israel, as weeping over tlie cruel death of her children. Herod the Great, hearing from
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the Magi about the birth of a king of the Jews, foreshatiowed by the star in the East which they liad followed, inquired of the chief priests and scribes where this iironiised prince should lie horn. They quoted to hira tlie words of Micah (5-), who speaKs of the governor ruling Israel, who is to come out of Bethlehem in Judah, the city of David. When the Magi, having offered their ^'ifts before the young child at Bethlehem, re- fused to inform Herod, but returned to their own country anotlier way, the enraged king gave orders that all the children from two years old and under should be slain. This was done with much cruelty, .so that in Betlilehem and the surrounding country there was great lamenta- tion.
The truth of this story has been questioned. The chief gi'ound is tlie silence of Josephus on the subject. While he sjjeaks of many cruel deeds of Herod, he passes this one by. But it is plainly quite of a piece with Herod's well-known char- acter, and, indeed, compared witli his other deeds of monstrous cruelty, it would easily escape notice. The whole number of victims, probably not more than twenty or thirty, would not make a very great sensation at that time. Besides, the whole of Josephus' statements in regard to the Messianic e.xpectations and doings of his time are to be looked upon with some suspicion, for he seems to have been afraid to make many clear and direct allusions to those matters. See lNF.4Ncy.