s necessary to find someone who would lead the authorities to him. Not only was he hiding out, but according to some of the testimony, it was at night that he was apprehended.
That Christ feared there might be some attempt to injure him is shown by his having left immediately after hearing rumors that an antagonistic group was gathering, and while his actions were perfectly proper from the standpoint of a prudent man, they cannot be said to be heroic, for it is told in Matthew 12:14 that "Then the Pharisees went out and held a counsel against him, how they might destroy him.
15: "But when Jesus knew it he withdrew himself from thence: And great multitudes followed him, and he held them off:"
16: "And charged them that they should not make him known." In other words, when he knew the religious leaders were opposed to him, he hid out and tried to keep his hiding place a secret.
Christ showed a considerable amount of caution, for it is related in Matthew 15 that when he heard of John the Baptist, his cousin, having been beheaded, he departed "thence, by ship, into a desert place apart."
In the 26th Chapter of Matthew, the story of Christ's being sorrowful, "even unto death shows that he was worried and frightened just like any other man would be in a similar case. It is also evident that besides hiding out, he and his disciples were watching to see that none came, for he chided them for going to sleep.
It is also quite evident from the difficulty of finding witnesses against him that he was not well known. And from Pilate's words it is clear that the Roman government considered him of no great danger to itself, and Pilate looked upon him much as any Judge would now look upon a religious fanatic claiming to be a King. His chief opponents appeared to be the priests and rabbis whom he had been roundly abusing for several years. It is also clear that Christ, before the crucifixion, believed that he would be able to call down the Powers of God to protect him, for he says: Matthew 26:53 -- "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of Angels?"
That Christ believed that he would be saved is also evident by his lamentation in Matthew 27:46 -- "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice saying: 'Eli, Eli, lame Sabachthani.' That is to say 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?'"
Now this may well be the mythological or the traditional story of a man, possibly a paranoiac (as stated by the eminent psychiatrist, Wm. Hirsch), who opposed the activities of the Jewish rabbis of his time, and who preached against them, incurring their enmity, and later being crucified at their behest by the civil authorities, who endeavored to keep the people they were governing in hand, by satisfying the religious elements of the land. As long as the religious rulers of a country can be appeased, and as long as they can have their own advantages, they tend to keep the people docile before foreign rulers. This is a method of governing people which has long been used by the British government, which in India and Africa and all of its far flung possessions permits its priests, preachers, and religious leaders to continue on with all of their fees and advantages as long as they do not interfere with the civil or military government.
But to claim the story of the crucifixion as the heroic death of a supreme being, or his son, or the third part of the trinity, is ridiculous.
Christ's Sayings Are
Garbled and Conflicting
It is said that the Bible is "all things to all men." Many rascals and many pious frauds use the Bible as a pretext for carrying on their activities. It is said that during two or three years Christ preached to the people, and many of his purported sayings are quoted in the Gospels, but judging from the conflicting philosophy, and the various reports of the sayings (which might have been made by a number of men), there is no consistency in them. Here we will examine many of the conflicting and garbled statements which have been the cause of confusion among Christia