CHRIST AND THE PHARISEES 133 



Judas with hatred, malice and all uncharitableness, and 

 he betrayed his Master, 



Thomas was equally hopeless, but his disappointment 

 led him to say to his fellows : *' Let us also go, that we 

 may die with Him ** ; and this is surely the kind of faith 

 that Jesus demands from His followers to-day. Not the 

 faith that will lead a forlorn hope to the cannon's mouth, 

 but the faith that will say, with Thomas of old, ** Let us 

 also go that we may die with Him/' 



Now the difference between Christ's ideal and that 

 of the Pharisees was not so much the end in view, as the 

 means towards that end. The end that the Pharisees 

 had in view was a ** Kingdom of God," and it would be 

 a gross injustice to the Pharisees, to suppose that it was 

 a political kingdom, pure and simple, without anything 

 ethical or spiritual about it. It was to be a Kingdom of 

 Righteousness, Justice and Truth : a Kingdom in 

 which the Law of God would be universally respected 

 and obeyed. The end was noble, but it was to be 

 achieved by the sword, 



Christ's ** Kingdom of God " was very similar. It 

 was to be a Kingdom of Universal Righteousness and 

 Love, But Love was to be the only weapon used in 

 its establishment. And so these two ** Ideals " came 

 into collision, and the result was the Crucifixion, 



Do not imagine for a moment that the Crucifixion 

 was the result of the clash of evil with good, of right 

 with wrong. It was the result of the clash of two ideals 

 — both of them high ; both of them magnificent ; but 

 absolutely irreconcilable. Many years ago I heard 

 William Littleboy exclaim : ** People say that the world 

 crucified Christ, It was not the world, it was the 

 Church," And so it was, Christ was crucified by the 

 most religious and earnest men of His day. And 

 history has repeated itself. Once again the two ideals 

 have come into collision. On the one hand there is the 



