But it only served to increase the irritation of the chief priests, who thus saw themselves indirectly charged with being false accusers; and the less they felt themselves able to prove their false charges, the more they strove to increase the number of them, and the more earnest they became to give weight to them. Jesus, however, "answered nothing; and Pilate asked him again, saying, Answerest thou nothing? Behold, how many things they witness against thee!" Mark xv. 3, 4. Pilate began to question him again, and that was the origin of all the errors he committed afterwards. Instead of insisting upon his first judgment, he weakened and rendered it doubtful by proceeding to a fresh examination. raises the courage of the accusers, by giving them hope that in the end they might succeed; he gives importance to their calumnies, by considering them worthy of further inquiry; and infers that his verdict in favour of the accused was too hastily pronounced, since he considers himself obliged to commence a fresh investigation. But Jesus "answered him to never a word," Matt. xxvii. 14. He would not give weight to vain accusations by attempting seriously to refute

He

them. He knew the weakness of his judge, who did not so much want light as strength; and he did not wish to increase his guilt by a fruitless vindication of himself. He knew likewise the obstinacy of his accusers, their determination to shut their eyes against the clearest demonstration of the truth; and he desired to spare them from any fresh occasion of sin, in resisting the Holy Ghost. His infinite wisdom also told him, that nothing was so likely to impress the mind of the governor, as his own silence. This moderation, and this peaceful serenity, were more convincing than any argument of words could be. This determined resolution to remain satisfied with his own innocence, was something so opposed to the common ways of men, that to be silent under such circumstances was an eloquent appeal to the governor. And Pilate was indeed astonished, as St. Matthew and St. Mark inform us. having the power to distinguish all that was supernatural and divine in this silence, maintained with such quiet dignity, he nevertheless could not but recognise something great and sublime in it; and we are told that he "marvelled greatly," Matt. xxvii. 14.

Without

The chief priests were now "the more fierce, saying, He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place," Luke xxiii. 5—7. "When he heard of Galilee,” Pilate (who was perhaps beginning to be weary with the accusations which the chief priests insisted upon with so much perseverance and anger,) joyfully seized the first opportunity which offered to rid himself of their suit, and decided upon sending Jesus to Herod. In doing this, he followed the dictates of human policy, which teaches men to act in such a manner as not to compromise themselves, and to shun every step attended with probable danger to their own persons; but he left the path of strict justice, which would have led him to fulfil his duty himself, and not devolve the performance of it upon another.

XIII.

JESUS CHRIST. BROUGHT BEFORE HEROD.

"WHEN Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him. Then he questioned with him in many words; but he answered him nothing," Luke xxiii. 8, 9. The very circumstances which made Herod hope that he should fully discover what Jesus was, did but serve to conceal him. From a criminal presumption, he had desired a miracle to gratify his curiosity: this was denied him. From a vain confidence in his own discernment, he had thought, by questioning, to discover the secret mind of our Saviour; and he received no answer from him. He had imagined

that, like other men, he was alive to his own reputation and glory: judging of Christ by himself, he never doubted for a moment, that if he were endued with any extraordinary power, he would make a display of it; and because he refused to do so, he concluded that he possessed none, and that his silence proceeded from his incapacity. This appeared to him a certain consequence; and the more he attempted to judge Jesus Christ by earthly motives, the less he learnt to know him. Thus was the prince deceived, because he sought to judge of Divine wisdom by the rules of human wisdom. Instead of that humbleness of mind and docility which would have prepared him for the reception of the truth, his qualities were all of an opposite character; for he was but a curious and vain dissembler, wavering between religion and unbelief, and uniting in his own person the dispositions of many who, even in the midst of the Christian religion, believe only in their own wisdom; decide boldly on matters too high for them; reason about sacred things in a spirit which savours of earth; and constitute themselves masters and judges of what they are only called upon to believe.