give thee every chance of expressing thy love! How He is pleased to claim thee His own before the whole world!

CLAUDIA PROCULA.

WOMAN UPHOLDS JUSTICE.

E now have come to the saddest hour in the world's history: the Truth and the Justice is persecuted

in the name of justice and truth; God is accused and condemned by men; the Messiah is to be put to death by those He

came to save.

The princes of the priests and the doctors, the ancients, the Scribes, and the Pharisees, have succeeded in getting hold of Jesus by an armed mob. Bound with chains and ropes He is brought into the city of Jesusalem; their great council is assembled, and they condemn Him to death.

But will their judgment be confirmed? Will they obtain the permit for execution? Pilate,*) no doubt, will hold a personal enquiry, according to the forms of the Roman law; and, if he finds no ground for condemnation, may reverse the sentence.-His wife, too, may have prejudiced his views, since she belongs to the Judaizers.-What, if he heard favorable reports about Him?-What will the people do that loved Him, that had cheered Him as their prophet and the King of Israel? It was not impossible that Pilate would deliver Him out of their hands.

After the first interrogatory, the Sanhedrin is assembled, at an unusual hour, in the court of Gabbatha, before the house of the Pretor. **) Pilate consents to open his court. *) The

***

*) Pontius Pilate was the sixth Roman governor, (A. D. 26-37) under the emperors Tiberius and Caligula. Philo represents him as haughty and obstinate.

**) There the Roman pretors held court. The name pretorium was also applied to the residence of the provincial government. During the Easter days, Pilate stayed at thẻ castle Antonia, a fortified place, strong enough to resist any revolt and joined to a sumptuous palace. It was situated on the hill of Sion, north-east of the Temple, which, with all its enclosures and dependencies, was dominated by it.

***) Roman judges did not open court before the third hour, i. e., 9 o'clock A. M.

miracles attributed to Jesus, the Nazarean, His new doctrine, the life of His disciples, His many friends and enemies, all compel the Governor to hear this extraordinary case as soon as possible.

He even condescends to wait outside on the accusers, who, from religious scruples, did not want to enter the pretorium for fear of defilement. What do they ask? The confirmation of their sentence, the death of Jesus.

"What evil has He done?" asks the Governor. They bring forward vague accusations. Having re-entered the hall with his prisoner, he questions Him, and comes out again to tell them: "I find no guilt in Him."

"He is guilty of death," all cry, as with one voice.

But he

Pilate is astonished and hesitates. has heard that Jesus is from Galilee and he thinks it best to send Him to Herod, the Governor of that province, who happens to be at Jerusalem for the Easter celebration. Vain hope! Herod, in his turn, sends back the prisoner. For a second time, the Saviour appears before Pilate, who begins another interrogatory, and again declares to His

accusers:

"I find no cause in this man in those things wherein you accuse Him. No, nor Herod either."*) Futile efforts of a wavering will, of a weakness that increases the audacity of hatred.

Meanwhile, the crowd before the pretorium had swelled considerably. Pilate thinks an appeal to the people might be effective to deliver Jesus from the chiefs. "For upon the solemn day the Governor was accustomed to release to the people one prisoner, whom they would. And he had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. They, therefore, being gathered together, Pilate said: Whom will you that I release to you, Barabbas or Jesus?" And having said these words, he ascends the steps to the tribunal placed before the pretorium - a platform with a curulian chair. But the crowd, worked up by the chiefs, demands the release of the thief and murderer and the death of the Just. Not a man, not one in that multitude, rises in defense of the Saviour. Of all whom He had taught, consoled, cured, not one dares to plead His cause.

A woman alone, a heathen, at this hour, *) Luke, XXIII. 14. seq.