THIS Magazine does not concern itself with politics, but the title of this paper will be recognized as a phrase that has been very frequently used of late.
It is impossible for the ordinary person to discover whether or not the Government bad really intended to provoke the Ulster Unionists to strike the first blow in order that they might be speedily crushed by superior force.
Many believe, with apparent sincerity, that this was the case, and that only the threatened wholesale resignation of army officers in Ireland caused the plot to miscarry. Be that as it may, the situation has been summed up concisely—and perhaps correctly—under the title of “The Plot that Failed.”
But we would direct the reader’s attention to another plot much more skillfully laid, and that was for a time thought to have been completely successful.
The mighty, crafty Devil it was who devised the plot, the scene of operations was the most religious city in the world, and the object of attack was none other than the Christ of God. So far as could be seen He had played into the hands of His cunning foe by becoming Man. Prior to incarnation He was out of the devil’s reach, but now He was human and tangible. And yet His life was blameless, and He had spent His days in doing good. Would it be possible to attack Him successfully, when thousands of people in Judæa owed their health to His touch of power, and thousands more had been ad charmed by His words of grace and deeds of mercy that it could be said, “Behold, the world is gone after Him?”
Strange to relate, though He went about doing good, the religious leaders of the day were merciless in their opposition to Him. They dogged His footsteps, laid traps for Him in their subtle questions, and would have openly attacked Him had they not “feared the people.” The only ground for this inveterate hatred was that His pure and holy life rebuked them, and His transparent reality exposed the hollow sham of their formality and proved hypocrisy.
With malicious cunning and unholy skill the devil saw and seized his opportunity. Knowing by long experience that religious bigotry and intolerance had ever been more cruel and merciless than any other motive lurking in the basest heart, he laid his plans accordingly.
First, from the innermost circle of the Lord’s acquaintances, he chooses Judas, “one of the twelve,” to betray His Master into the hands of sinners. The page of human history has no blot so dark as this—that one who had been admitted to close and constant companionship with the Son of God should volunteer to be “guide to them which took Jesus.”
And his motive for this act of treachery? That he might be rewarded with thirty pieces of silver, which, in bitter remorse, he afterward cast down in the temple before he hanged himself!
Grievously as Judas sinned, we must not forget the positive statement that “Satan entered into Judas.” It was part of the plan for the overthrow of Jesus.
The next move was more cunning still. Using the chief priests and elders of the people—into whose hands the Saviour had now fallen—as his instruments, Satan raised the cry of “Blasphemy!” against the peerless Prisoner. Thus were the worst passions of the people roused, and madly they clamored for His blood. The mock trial, the persistent pressure, the cowardly, unrighteous sentence, the scourging, the mournful procession, the crucifixion—all follow with bewildering rapidity, and the plot had, alas! too well succeeded. So at least it seemed.
Hanging upon a Roman gibbet, with a common malefactor right and left of him, bruised and bleeding, friendless, forsaken by man and God, behold the victim of Satan’s malice and malignant hatred! What now of the hopes of His deluded followers? What now of the truth of His own brave words? All is over, the Sufferer dies, the Body is buried, the evening falls, the crowd disperses, the disciples depart, and
“On His grave with shining eyes
The Syrian stars look down.”
And yet the plot had failed!
With all his almost infinite cunning, ably supported by the religious leaders and the political power, the master mind of Satan apparently overlooked one all-important factor in the case— “DEATH could not keep his prey.”
On the third day the stone that sealed the grave was rolled away. Ere this, in stately dignity, the Victim of Calvary came forth as the Victor over death. The hosts of hell were baffled, the faltering disciples cheered and comforted, and the triumph of good over evil finally assured.
The resurrection of Christ had spoiled the plot, and turned what looked like an overwhelming defeat into the most glorious victory in the annals of time or eternity.
And we who by grace believe in the Lord Jesus Christ share the spoils of. His conquest, and have been delivered from the bondage of sin and Satan. More than that, we are justified in Him who rose from the dead, and, with all the redeemed, are now His brethren. His God is our God, His Father our Father, and if we are left in a hostile world it is but to proclaim the great salvation offered to all men through the Saviour’s death and resurrection.
And now let all men know that He who lay in death is head of all principality and power, and will presently put all His foes beneath His feet.
In the brief interval there is an opportunity for repentance and submission, and they who wisely seize shall be forgiven, and translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s dear Son.
“Oh! sinner confess Him, the Throne-seated Lord,
And Oxtail shalt be with Him where He is adored.”
W. B. W.