the Baptist in prison; and none of his questions would He answer, though He answered Pilate's. But even Herod dared not condemn Him to death on charges so frivolous and false as those urged against Him. He had already exasperated his people by John's assassination, and he could not venture to return to Galilee stained with the blood of Jesus. Yet he would not offend the Sanhedrim by releasing the prisoner; and he determined to send Him again to Pilate. But to gratify his own paltry pique and disappointment, and to cast ridicule upon Christ, he arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe, and joined with his men of war in mocking Him, before sending Him back.

Pilate was troubled by the return of the prisoner and His accusers. He knew that the leading men of the nation were unfriendly to him. They had already succeeded in bringing him into difficulties with his emperor, and they were eager to have him disgraced and removed. Yet he shrank from the injustice of putting Jesus to death. There was one chance left in an appeal to the people, who had so lately assisted in His triumphal entry in Jerusalem. He called them together, with the chief priests and elders, and said, 'Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people, and, behold, I, having examined Him, find no fault in Him at all, concerning those things whereof ye accuse Him; no, nor yet Herod, for I sent you to him, and lo, nothing worthy of death is found in Him. I will therefore chastise Him and let Him go.'

It had of late years been the custom of the governor to allow the people at this feast to choose a prisoner, whom they would, who was immediately set free. There was a notorious man lying in prison at this time, guilty of robbery, sedition, and murder. The chief priests suggested to them that they should choose Barabbas. A loud uproar was made, all crying out at once, 'Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas.' But Pilate, still willing to save Jesus, yet desirous to sneer at the accusations made by the Sanhedrim, asked them, 'Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews?' The taunt irritated the mob, and they shouted, "Crucify Him; crucify Him.' 'Why, what evil hath He done?' pleaded Pilate. But they cried out the more exceedingly, with loud voices, 'Crucify Him.'

Yet still Pilate seems to have had a lingering hope that the punishment of scourging, which was at once most painful and degrading, might satisfy their enmity. He delivered Christ to His soldiers, who platted a crown of thorns, and put a reed into His hand as a sceptre; He was still wearing the gorgeous robe in which Herod had sent Him back to Pilate, and thus, after He had been scourged, He was brought forth for the mob to see Him. 'Behold the man,' said Pilate. It was He whom they had seen healing the lame and blind in the Temple, and to whom they had listened gladly not long ago; for it was amongst the poorest and most wretched of the people that His mighty works had been wrought. But at the

sight of Him a maddened yell arose, 'Away with Him! away with Him! crucify Him! crucify Him!' Their violence prevailed. But Pilate still shrank from taking upon himself the guilt of such a crime against justice. He had just received a message from his wife: 'Have thou nothing to do with that just man; for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of Him.' He may not have been superstitious, but he felt it would be painful to return to her stained with the blood of an innocent man for whom she had interceded, with no other excuse than that the people of Jerusalem were too strong for him. Take ye Him, and crucify Him, for I find no

fault in Him,' he said.

This did not suit the priestly party at all. Their law did not permit of crucifixion, and they were bent upon this degrading punishment. Neither did they wish to incur the odium of bloodshed, though they did not shrink from the guilt of it. In their anxiety to urge Pilate on, they forgot for a moment their political charge against Jesus, and returned to their religious accusation. 'He made Himself the Son of God,' they cried, and by our law He ought to die.' Upon this Pilate returned into the judgment-hall, and had Jesus brought again to Him. 'Whence art thou?' he asked. But He was silent; and Pilate, astonished and somewhat indignant at His silence, reminded Him that he had power to release Him or to crucify Him. This was no longer true. He had lost his power by not exerting it at once, and he felt it. He

could not let Jesus go now, without stirring up a riot of a desperate character in Jerusalem. Jesus answered him in words almost of sympathy, that he could have no power at all against Him, unless it had been permitted; and that His sin was small compared with that of the Sanhedrim.

Again Pilate sought to release Him. But the people cried out, 'If thou let this man go, thou art not Cæsar's friend whosoever maketh himself a king, speaketh against Cæsar.' This cry at once sealed the doom of Christ. Pilate ordered his judgment-seat to be set on the pavement before the judgment-hall. When Jesus came forth again, he said, 'Behold your King!' A wilder shout than ever rang in the ears of Christ: the shouts of those for whom He had spent His life. 'What, shall I crucify your King?' asked Pilate. We have no king but Cæsar,' answered the chief priests.

Then fearing, and seeing that he could not prevail against fanatics who could utter such an answer, Pilate took water, and washed his hands before the multitude.

'I am innocent of the blood of this just person,' he said; 'see ye to it.'

'His blood be on us, and on our children,' answered all the people.

CHAPTER VII.

CALVARY.

No time was lost between the passing of the verdict and the execution of it. The cross was ready; and two thieves were only waiting for this trial to close before they met their punishment. Calvary was not far from Pilate's palace; it was only just beyond the city walls, near the highway leading from one of the gates. Christ was in the hands of the Roman soldiers; but the chief priests and elders could not trust them to do their work unwatched. The cross was laid upon Him, but He was too feeble and worn-out to bear it; and when He sank under it, the soldiers seized upon a man, coming in from the country, and him they compelled to carry the cross to Calvary. Whether the man was a disciple or not, we are not told but no doubt there were many disciples by this time mingling with the crowd, who would willingly have borne the cross after Jesus. There were many women among the people, who bewailed and lamented Him openly; daughters of Jerusalem, who had not turned