Jesus had spoken before the council of the Jews. He had spoken to Pilate. He refused to do so before the spirit of hypocrisy, artifice, curiosity, and that desire of tempting God to give a sign, which he saw united in Herod. Then did this prince, together "with his men of war, set him at nought, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate," Luke xxiii. 11.

What occurred to Christ Jesus will often happen to his true disciples. They will sometimes be the objects of much contempt and derision; for Christian wisdom and the policy of the world are two very opposite things. The one will ever accuse the other of folly; and this is in accordance with the principles of each; for on either side, it must be looked upon as madness to act without an end in view, or without using means to attain one. The wisdom of the world confines itself to enjoyment in this life, which appears to it the only solid and real good; Christian wisdom builds its hopes on nothing in this world, considering all that it contains as unworthy of its attention. The one must therefore necessarily tax the other with folly; and it will

always be impossible to reconcile them, since they are absolutely opposed to each other in their end and in their means. In exposing himself to the contempt and derision of Herod, Jesus atoned for our inordinate desire of seeking the approbation of our fellow-men; our anxiety to obtain consideration among them by such natural qualities as birth, fortune, etc.; our eagerness to display the gifts we have received from God, making use of them to fix the attention of others upon ourselves; our mad desire to try and join together Christ and his enemy the world. To atone for all these offences, the Son of God bore the burden of them when he appeared before Herod and his court.

XIV.

BARABBAS PREFERRED TO JESUS.

By sending Jesus again to Pilate, Herod plunged the latter into all the difficulties from which he thought he had extricated himself. He would have escaped this had he but continued firm in the first instance. In such circumstances much depends on decision of character. In this new perplexity, the governor "called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, and said unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and, behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him: no, nor yet Herod," Luke xxiii. 13-15. Jesus is thus declared guiltless in the most explicit manner, without his

speaking, or defending himself. We cannot dwell too much upon this fact. "I will therefore chastise him," continued Pilate, "and release him," Luke xxiii. 16. Who would have looked for this conclusion? If he were not guilty, why chastise him? Why punish him for being falsely accused?

But his accusers were powerful, implacable in their hatred, and in a condition to make themselves feared by the judge himself. Pilate thought that a judgment which favoured them in any way would appease them he feared to irritate them by refusing them every thing; he wished to conciliate them, and therefore ordered the scourge to be administered, where he could not order death. But this concession was all in vain, and this unjust sentence led him on, in spite of himself, to commit the crime he deprecated.

"And the multitude crying aloud, began to desire Pilate to do as he had ever done unto them,” Mark xv. 8; that was, to release unto them at the feast of the Passover, "a prisoner, whomsoever they desired." The Roman governor thought that (thanks to this custom) he should be released from the cruel necessity of causing

Jesus to be scourged, as he had promised, and escape from passing any further judgment. He therefore said to the people, "I find no fault in him at all: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews?" John xviii. 38, 39. "Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus, which is called Christ?" Matt. xxvii. 17. "But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas unto them," Mark xv. 11. "And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas," Luke xxiii. 18. We have beheld the fruits of the timid policy of Pilate. He was master, but he feared to exercise his rights. He was the judge, and he allows the people to usurp his office. Because he had not dared to pronounce decidedly on the side of justice, he sacrifices it to the basest passions. This is the result of that fear of man which worketh a snare, and of that doubtful mind which dreads consequences. Unless we are firm in the exercise of our duty, we shall always be governed by the opinions of others, and constrained to do the very things we most condemn.