whose edge he stood. All his unmanly weakness and wretched fear rose in his thoughts, and, with them, the remembrance of his boastings, so miserably belied.1 Christ's words, which he had so warmly repudiated-that, before the cock crew, he would deny Him thrice-had come true. What a contrast between the grand strength of his Master, and his own weakness! Shame and sorrow, mingled on the moment with a yearning hope of forgiveness, overpowered him, and he did. now, what he should have done earlier, went out, and wept bitterly. It is a touching, and beautiful tradition, true to the sincerity of his repentance, if not as a historical reality, that, all his life long, the remembrance of this night never left him, and that, morning by morning, he rose at the hour when the look of his Master had entered his soul, to pray once more for pardon. Towards the close of the fourth watch, and before daybreak, the heads of the theocracy, true to precedent, which required that the whole Sanhedrim, while it existed, should meet to ratify a sentence of death, had extemporized a semblance of the old High Court of the Nation, in some suitable building. Thither Jesus was now led, under escort of Temple police and retainers of the high priest, to appear before the notables of Israel. The chiefs of the priestly courses, and other dignitaries of the Temple, with a number of elders and Rabbis, had gathered in the fading darkness, old though most of them were, to take part in the condemnation of the Hated One. The proceedings were, however, only formal-to hear the sentence of the Commission and to endorse it. This done, the way was clear for handing Him over to Pilate. In the eyes of those who thus unanimously confirmed the fatal sentence, He was a criminal of the worst dye; for, in their opinion, He had blasphemed with audacious boldness, by claiming to be the King Messiah, the Son of God, the long-expected Deliverer of the nation, sent to it from heaven. No one had ever before laid claim to the sacred name; for, though many Messiahs rose in later years, no one, as yet, had assumed the tremendous dignity. Proof more than enough to establish His highest claims, offered itself in His life and words and works; but passion and prejudice had 1 Matt. xxvi. 57, 58, 69-75. Mark xiv. 53, 54, 66-72. Luke xxii. 54– 62. John xviii. 13-18, 25-27. 66 WILFUL BLINDNESS. 499 hardened their hearts and blinded their judgments. The worst among them would never have dared to proceed against Him, had they believed Him really the Messiah. I know," says St. Peter, "that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers." But it was the ignorance that had refused the light. Had they been honest and honourable, the first point to have been settled would have been, at least to hear what the Accused had to say in His own favour. They had constituted themselves the vindicators of the Law and the Prophets, and it was their elementary duty to hear the prisoner's exposition of the statements of both, respecting the matter in hand. He had owned Himself the Messiah, and for doing so, without giving Him the opportunity of supporting His claim, they voted the sentence of death by noisy acclamation. Law and tradition demanded a second full hearing of the case, but they thrust both aside in their zeal to get Him condemned. 1 Acts iii. 17. 2 Keim, vol. iii, p. 346. CHAPTER LXII. BEFORE PILATE. THE HE decision of the Jewish authorities having been duly signed and scaled, and Jesus once more securely bound, He was led off, strongly guarded from rescue, to the official residence of Pilate, on Mount Zion. It was still early, but Eastern life anticipates the day, for the heat of noon requires rest during the hours busiest with us. The way ran from the West Hall of the Temple over the Tyropoon, by a bridge, and across the open space of the Xystus, with its pillared porches. The palace of Herod, now Pilate's head-quarters, lay just beyond the proud residence of the Roman knight who held the government for the Emperor Tiberius. It was inhabited for only a few weeks or days at a time; but now, during the Passover, the procurator took care to be present, to repress at once any popular movement for national freedom, which the spring air, the feast itself, and the vast gathering of the nation, might excite. Now, for the first time, Jesus entered the gates of a king's palace-the home of "men in soft raiment "-entered it as a prisoner. He was to stand before a man who has come down to us as one of the most unrighteous, cruel, arbitary, and hateful; a man rightly named Pilate, the "Javelin-man,' for it seemed his delight to launch cruelties and scorns on every side, like javelins, among the oppressed people. What had Jesus to expect from one who hated the nation from his soul, and sported with their lives and possessions as if they were not men, but a lower race of despised slaves and fanatical Helots? It might, indeed, be of benefit to Him that the hatred of Pilate towards the Jews, might regard Him as a welcome instrument, in the absence of a better, for playing off his bitterness against them and their leaders. To favour a Man who was in opposition to them, was, itself, a pleasure. 1 Matt. xxvii. 1, 2, 11-14. Mark xv. 1-5. Luke xxiii. 1-5. John xviii. 28-38. THE PALACE OF THE HIGH PRIEST. 501 Calm, temperate and impartial, compared to Jewish passion and bitterness, and in some respects in sympathy with the accused, the hard, proud, heathen Roman was more open than the Jews or their leaders, to the impression of Christ's innocence or harmlessness. That he did not permanently protect Him, rose, partly, from his character, and, partly, from his past history as procurator. Morally enervated and lawless, the petty tyrant was incapable of a strong impression or righteous firmness, and, besides, he dreaded complaints at Rome from the Jewish authorities, and insurrections of the masses in his local government. He had, in the past, learned to fear the unconquerable pertinacity of the Jews and the rebukes of the Emperor, so keenly, that he would permit, or do, almost anything, for quiet. This showed itself in his course towards Jesus. Protecting Him for a time, half in sympathy, half in mockery, he gave Him up in the end, rather than brave the persistent demand of a people he hated and feared. He would have set Him free, but for the popular clamour, and a bitter remembrance of the trouble it had already given him in Jerusalem and at Rome.1 There was a hall in the palace, in which trials were generally conducted, but the Jewish notables, who had condemned Jesus, were much too holy to enter a heathen building during the feast, since there might be old leaven in it. It was Friday, and the Sabbath began that night, and in the evening, at this season, the priests and people universally held a supplementary feast on the flesh of the freewill offerings. It had, for centuries, been associated with the Passover, of which it was reckoned a part, and Levitical uncleanness would prevent the accusers joining in it. They were still true to the character given them by Jesus; careful of the outside of the bowl and platter, but willing that, within, it should be filled with wickedness. They had effected their end, Jesus was in the hands of the Romans before Jerusalem awoke. Knowing the people with whom he had to do, Pilate made no attempt to overcome their scruples. Trials in the open air were common, for Roman law courted publicity. Roman governors, and the half Roman Herod and his sons, erected their tribunals, indifferently, before the palace, in the marketplace, in the theatre, in the circus, or even in the highways." 1 Keim, vol. iii. pp. 362, 363. 990 Pilate, therefore, caused his official seat to be set down on a spot known in Jerusalem as Gabbatha, "the high place,' from its being raised above the crowd, and as "The Pavement," because, as was the custom with the spot on which Roman judges sat, it was laid with a mosaic of coloured stones. It was, very possibly, a permanent erection, square, or of crescent shape, of costly marble, in keeping with the splendour so dear to Herod, its builder, and seems to have been raised in front of the "Judgment Hall," a doorway connecting the two. It was a maxim of Roman law that criminal trials should be held on a raised tribunal, that all might see and be seen.1 The ivory curule chair of the procurator-his seat of state and sign of office-or, perhaps, the old golden seat of Archelaus, was set down on the tesselated floor of the tribunal, which was large enough to allow the assessors of the courtRoman citizens-who acted as nominal members of the judicial bench, to sit beside Pilate, for Roman law required their presence. On lower elevations, sat the officers of the court, friends of the procurator, and others whom he chose to honour. The priests and elders who appeared against Jesus, now led Him up the steps of the tribunal, to the procurator, and placed Him before him.2 Chairs were generally set near that of judge for the accusers, and there was also, usually, a seat for the accused; but in Judea, despised and insulted, this custom was not now observed, at least so far as regarded Jesus, for He had to stand through the trial. An interpreter was not needed, as the Jewish officials doubtless spoke Greek, and Jesus, brought up in Galilee, where the presence of foreigners made its use general, necessarily understood it. A strong detachment of troops from the garrison guarded the tribunal and kept the ground, for a vast crowd of citizens and pilgrims speedily gathered, as the news of the arrest spread. Roman law knew nothing of the inquisitorial system by which a prisoner might be forced to convict himself; it required that a formal accusation of a specific offence should be made against him. This office of accuser, Caiaphas, under 1 Tholuck, Ev. Johan., p. 813. Art. Gabbatha. Luthardt, Evan. Johan., vol. ii. p. 487. Winer, Art. Lithostrōton. Bibel Lex. 2 Dict of Ant., Art. Basilica. Keim, vol. iii. p. 366. 8 Matt. xxvii. 27. See Bell. Jud., ii. 14. 8, 9. 4 Matt. xxvii. 20. |