before Pilate.

Jesus again And Herod 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.* And the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together: for before they were at enmity between themselves.

And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, 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 : for I sent you to him; and, lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him. I will therefore chastise him and release him.

Now, at the feast of the passover, the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whomsoever they desired. And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas, which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection. And the multitude, crying aloud, began to desire him to do as he had ever done unto them. But Pilate answered them, saying, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus the King of the Jews, who is called Christ?† For he knew that for envy the chief priests had delivered him.

When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man; for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him. But the chief priests and elders

*Herod perhaps meant to intimate by this profane treatment of Jesus that for such pretenders to the throne of David, neither the tetrarch of Galilee nor the procurator of Judea need reserve any heavier punishment than their ridicule and contempt.

† It is impossible to ascertain with any certainty the origin of the custom here mentioned. It was customary at Rome on certain holidays to set prisoners at liberty; and Augustus might commission the governors of Judea to exercise the same custom, as an expression of his respect for the passover festival.

The name of Pilate's wife was Claudia Procula. Only in the reign of Tiberius Cæsar were the wives of governors permitted to attend them in the provinces; and an incidental proof is furnished of the veracity of the Evangelist by the mention of this circumstance. No sooner had Pilate ascended his tribunal, formally to accept and ratify the judgment of the people, than the message of his wife was brought to him, which made him more than ever reluctant to condemn Christ, and more loud in his protestations of the innocence of the prisoner at his bar.

persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas. Pilate, therefore, willing to release Jesus, saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus, which is called Christ? But they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. And he said unto them the third time, Why, what evil hath he done? I have found no cause of death in him: I will therefore chastise him, and let him go. And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed.

When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this. just person: see ye to it. Then answered all the people and said, His blood be on us, and on our children. And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, whom they had desired; but he delivered Jesus to their will.*

SECT. XX. JESUS DELIVERED TO BE CRUCIFIED. (MATT. xxvii. MARK XV. JOHN Xix.)

Then Pilate took Jesus and scourged him.

And the soldiers of the governor took Jesus and led him away into the hall called Praetorium, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they stripped him, and put on him a purple robe, and they put a reed in his right hand, and bowed the knee before him, and mocking, began to salute him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they

* Pilate was false to his convictions, exhibited gross inconsistency and indecision, scourged and condemned a prisoner of whose innocence he was assured, and allowed worldly interest to predominate over his sense of duty.

smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him.*

Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him; for I find no fault in him. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid; and went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Cæsar's friend whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Cæsar. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him.

Pilate delivered Jesus to be scourged, as preliminary to crucifixion; after which Jesus had to endure the mockery and brutalities of the soldiers, the Gentile counterpart of the appalling scenes of fiendish derision in which the Jews had taken part about two hours before. Another and last attempt is then made by Pilate to arouse some feelings of pity in the priests and people. He hopes that the sight of one so meek, helpless, and wretched will touch the hearts of all.

† Pilate was determined to release Jesus, but the rulers would not surrender their victim. Step by step they were led to reject the Messiah, to prefer a robber and murderer before him, to insist mercilessly that he should be put to a most shameful death, and even to proclaim openly the Roman emperor as their king. The national apostacy had now reached its culminating point.

John's expression, "about the sixth hour," probably means that it was drawing on now toward noon, before which the execution had to be completed. In all likelihood it was only about 9 a.m., but many arrangements had yet to be made for the crucifixion.

Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Cæsar. Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified.

SECT. XXI. THE REPENTANCE AND DEATH OF JUDAS. (MATT. xxvii. Acts i.)

Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood.* And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself, and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood. And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in. Wherefore that field is called, in the proper tongue, Aceldama, that is, the field of blood, unto this day. And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem.

Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value and gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed me.

SECT. XXII. JESUS LED AWAY TO BE CRUCIFIED. (MATT. xxvii. MARK XV. LUKE Xxiii. JOHN xix.)

And when they had mocked Jesus they took off the purple robe from him and put his own raiment on him and led him away to crucify him. And as they led him away

* Judas seems to have repented when he witnessed Christ's condemnation by the Sanhedrim. In order, however, not to interrupt the narrative of the trial, the account of his repentance and death is for convenience inserted here.

The purchase of treason and the reward of covetousness was momentary in its possession, unsatisfying in its enjoyment, sudden in its departure, and horrid in

its remembrance.

they laid hold upon one Simon a Cyrenian, coming out Rom xvi. 13. of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, and him they compelled to bear the cross after Jesus.* And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus, turning unto them, said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. For if they do these things in a green tree what shall be done in the dry?

And there were also two others, malefactors, led with him to be put to death. And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary (in the Hebrew, Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull), they gave him vinegar to drink, mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.†

SECT. XXIII.

THE CRUCIFIXION.

(MATT. xxvii. MARK XV. LUKE XXiii. JOHN xix.)

And it was the third hour, and they crucified him there. And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left, and Jesus in the midst.‡ And

* Simon had come from Cyrene in Africa to keep the passover, and probably had no previous knowledge of Christ; but he is roughly pressed to undertake the menial service of bearing the cross in room of the now exhausted Jesus.

† Golgotha or Calvary was the ordinary place of public execution lying outside of Jerusalem. It was slightly elevated, but there is no proof of its being a hill or mount, as is commonly supposed.

It was customary, in order to stupefy the victim and deaden the pain of execution, to offer a mixture of vinegar and gall. Jesus, however, would not thus permit the clearness of his mind to be disturbed, and preferred to endure all the agonies of the cross in the full possession of consciousness.

The mode of execution was as follows:-The criminal, having carried th ) cross (which was formed of two beams in one of the following ways-X T+ to the place of execution, a hole was dug in the earth to receive the foot of it. The cross being laid on the ground, the person condemned was stripped and distended on it, and the soldiers fastened the hands and feet with nails fixed deeply into the wood. The cross, with the agonizing sufferer, was then raised; and, in order to fix it more firmly in the earth, was let fall violently into the hole dug to receive it, the fall giving the person nailed to it a most violent and convulsive shock. Pain, exhaustion, thirst, and hunger soon brought life to a termination; but the poignant anguish endured during the crucifixion can be more easily imagined than described.