that is base and wrong. How could these paltry sacrilegious buyers and
sellers, conscious of wrongdoing, oppose that scathing rebuke, or face
the lightnings of those eyes that were enkindled by an outraged
holiness? When Phinehas the priest was zealous for the Lord of Hosts,
and drove through the bodies of the prince of Simeon and the Midianitish
woman with one glorious thrust of his indignant spear, why did not
guilty Israel avenge that splendid murder? Why did not every man of the
tribe of Simeon become a Goel to the dauntless assassin? Because Vice
cannot stand for one moment before Virtue's uplifted arm. Base and
grovelling as they were, these money-mongering Jews felt, in all that
remnant of their souls which was not yet eaten away by infidelity and
avarice, that the Son of Man was right.

"Nay, even the Priests and Pharisees, and Scribes and Levites, devoured
as they were by pride and formalism, could not condemn an act which
might have been performed by a Nehemiah or a Judas Maccabaeus, and which
agreed with all that was purest and best in their traditions. But when
they had heard of this deed, or witnessed it, and had time to recover
from the breathless mixture of admiration, disgust, and astonishment
which it inspired, they came to Jesus, and though they did not dare to
condemn what He had done, yet half indignantly asked Him for some sign
that He had a right to act thus."

6. Jewish Regard for the Temple.--The Jews professed high regard for the
temple. "An utterance of the Savior, construed by the dark-minded as an
aspersion upon the temple, was used against Him as one of the chief
accusations on which His death was demanded. When the Jews clamored for
a sign of His authority He predicted His own death and subsequent
resurrection, saying, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will
raise it up,' (John 2:19-22; see also Matt. 26:61; 27:40; Mark 14:58;
15:29). They blindly regarded this remark as a disrespectful allusion to
their temple, a structure built by human hands, and they refused to
forget or forgive. That this veneration continued after the crucifixion
of our Lord is evident from accusations brought against Stephen, and
still later against Paul. In their murderous rage the people accused
Stephen of disrespect for the temple, and brought false witnesses who
uttered perjured testimony saying, 'This man ceaseth not to speak
blasphemous words against this holy place.' (Acts 6:13.) And Stephen was
numbe