JAMES DAVID GILLILAN SUPERINTENDENT BOISE DISTRICT, BOISE, IDAHO James David Gillilan was born May 19, 1858, in Jackson, Ohio. He had the advantages of the public schools and academy, but did not complete his college course. In 1883 he became a member of the Utah Mission under appointment of Bishop Wiley, and in 1898 he began work in Idaho. In 1892 Bishop Hurst appointed him presiding elder in Utah. In 1904 Bishop Spellmeyer appointed him presiding elder of La Grande District, Idaho Conference, and in 1912 Bishop Luccock appointed him to the superintendency of the Boise District, which position he holds at present. He was a delegate to the General Conference at Los Angeles in 1904 and again in 1912 at Minneapolis. In 1910 the Willamette University conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. His book, Trail Tales, will be issued by the Methodist Book Concern this fall. BEHOLD THE MAN! JAMES DAVID GILLILAN "Behold the man!"-John 19. 5. THOSE Words which contain the advice calculated to do the most good are great words. Those pointing to life are the best and the greatest. The universal world has been looking for life, and it has been asking for it in all the ages. Too often when the world's children have asked for bread they have been given the hard stone of traditional dogma; they have had to take or refuse the old serpent when they desired meat. The only bread is Jesus: the only fish, Ichthus, Jesus Christ, Saviour of Men. (Iesous Christos, Theou Uios, Soter.) Dogmatism may have been good theology once, yet it may be out of date; for theology is a progressive science. If the advice tending to give one life and safety is the greatest, then the three greatest expressions known to mankind are the utterance of three men: Isaiah, when he said, "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth" (Isa. 45. 22); John the Baptist, "Behold the Lamb of God!" (John 1. 36); and Pilate, most unchristian, in the text quoted. The seeker for the tragic need not go to Euripides or Shakespeare for inhuman acts and scenes of human suffering. For meaningful truth the Bible cannot be surpassed. To mention them would for the student of the Word be waste of time. But this scene herein depicted is the most stupid and at once the most stupendous ever painted on the canvas scroll of the history of man; the Creator of the race being judged by his creatures as a criminal. Climax and anti-climax are shown in one act. Some years ago, accompanied by my wife, I stepped into the courtroom in a small town in southern Utah. It was the judgment day of that term. After a number of cases had been disposed of, the judge, turning to the high-booted sheriff, said in a very calm tone of voice, "Bring in the next prisoner." We heard his heavy footfall on the steel steps as he descended to the cage where lay the accused. We could hear the jingle of the keys, the clack of the thrown bolt, the creak of the iron door on its rusty hinges, and the sound of two ascending the stairs. The man, pale from excitement and long imprisonment, was seated in the presence of the judge. "Mr. C, you have been found guilty of murder in the first degree and the jury has made no recommendation for mercy. That jury was made up of your peers, and has carefully brought in this verdict. Have you anything to say as to why the judgment of the court should not now be pronounced upon you?" said the judge. "No, sir,” replied the prisoner. "By the laws of this Territory, you are permitted to choose the manner by which you be brought to your death, either hanging by the neck or by shooting. Which do you prefer?" "I prefer to be shot, sir." The judgment of the court is that you be confined in this jail in the custody of the sheriff of this county until August —, at which time you will be taken to some convenient place and there shot until you are dead. And may God Almighty have mercy on your soul!" "Thank you, sir," said the culprit. When we saw the condemned stand before that mild-mannered little man from West Virginia our attention was fixed on him; but when we heard a speech so short and so terrible in its extension, we naturally looked on the speaker. He seemed to have the power of life or death in his possession. We then beheld the men. I would call your attention to the men in this case Jesus and Pilate. Here are two who are in some respects similar. The bloody Roman and the bleeding Jew are facing each other. Pilate is said to have been compelled hastily to leave sunny Italy because of his desire to escape the avenger of blood, he having committed the crime of murder there. His hands were imbrued with the blood of vengeance-blood not his own. |