stinging reproaches of his conscience, nor the shame which he had brought upon himself. He compared his sin with the ignominy which had resulted to himself from it, and not with the mercy of God. The spirit of pride which filled his heart, destroyed the good seed which faith and humility might have made fruitful. He probably judged of it according to the dictates of his own pride, and as he would have looked upon it had another man committed a like offence against himself; he would not have forgiven it, therefore he believed that the Lord would not forgive him, measuring the mercy of God by the narrow limits of his own corrupt heart.

There was an essential difference between the repentance of these two men; St. Peter outwardly did much less than Judas, but he wept the right sort of tears. Judas showed much outward grief, and even much courage, but he grieved for himself alone; he was only afflicted on account of his disgrace, and showed no inclination to turn to the paths of truth and righteousness. wept over his lost honour; but he still remained within the narrow circle of his own self-love. He was led on to despair, because his pride was

He

not brought low; in his repentance he continued to act on the same principles as before his crime; his heart remained unchanged; he ceased not to seek self in all he did; he sacrificed his duty to his shame, as he had before done to his avarice.

It is not enough to look upon the despair and dreadful end of Judas with horror, we must do more; we must carefully guard our hearts from the least approach to any of those feelings which were harboured by him, and place the foundation of all our repentance on that trust in Christ Jesus which is due to him alone. Above all, let us never separate the deep sense of our sins from that of the mercy of this compassionate Saviour; and look upon any doubt as to the efficacy of that mercy which is extended to all sinners, or as to the truth of that fact, that Jesus Christ put himself in the place of those sinners who believe in him,-let us look upon such a doubt as the greatest offence we can commit against him.

X.

JESUS BROUGHT BEFORE PILATE.

"THEN led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover," John xviii. 28.

After Augustus had banished to Vienne, in Gaul, Archelaus, the son and successor of the first Herod, he reduced Judea to a Roman province, and sent thither a governor, whose power was about equal to the generality of governors, though inferior to his who governed the whole of Syria. Pontius Pilate was the sixth of these governors. Like his predecessors, he had power of life and death, and on this account the council of the Jews delivered up Jesus to him.

* See Josephus, Book xviii. ch. 4.

over.

We may wonder at the weak consciences of these men, who were so careful to keep themselves from contracting any defilement, that they might participate in the approaching sacrifices, and not be excluded from the feast of the PassThey carried their precaution as far as it was possible to do. They were in great need of the assistance of the governor, and therefore it was their interest not to offend him, by letting him see that they should consider themselves as defiled if they did but enter his house, though it were only to ask for justice. Nevertheless they overcame this fear of man, and sacrificed it to the formality of an ordinance merely of human authority, and the origin of which might be traced to that pride which led them to set themselves above all other men, rather than to a sincere dread of contamination from associating with them. But while they fear, by entering the house of the governor, to render themselves unfit to offer their legal sacrifices to God, they are fully bent upon demanding from him the blood of that blessed Person of whom all their legal sacrifices were but types. They only thought of making the Roman magistrate an

accomplice of their crime, yet they affect to avoid any private intercourse with him. In their hearts they were meditating the most atrocious crime of which a creature could be guilty; and yet they add to this dreadful wickedness the puerile fear of not daring to enter the house of a stranger.

Pilate at first acted like an equitable judge. He knew that the accusers must clearly establish the guilt on which they desire judgment; and therefore, before addressing any questions to Jesus, he asks the Jews what accusation they brought against him, John xviii. 29.

This question disconcerted them. They had hoped that Pilate would not have entered upon any examination of the case they brought forward; and concealing their surprise under the garb of pride, they answered, "If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee," John xviii. 30.

"Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law," John xviii. 31. I do not intend to prevent your passing judgment on what you have so well examined into. You have laws; you are permitted to exercise them,