University of Virginia Library

Defamatory accusations

The accusations of the Pharisees were as self-contra- dictory as their religion. The bigot, the deb- auchee, the hypocrite, called Jesus a glutton and a wine-bibber. They said: "He casteth out devils

through Beelzebub," and is the "friend of publicans and sinners." The latter accusation was true, but not in their meaning. Jesus was no ascetic. He did not fast as did the Baptist's disciples; yet there never lived a man so far removed from appetites and passions as the Nazarene. He rebuked sinners pointedly and unflinchingly, because he was their friend; hence the cup he drank.