{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_22735/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_22735","id":"gutenberg_22735","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22735","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Plays/Films/Dramas","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Jesus Christ -- Last days"],"text":"Produced by Al Haines\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Cover art]\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE KING\n\nOF THE JEWS\n\n\n\nA STORY\n\nOF CHRIST'S LAST DAYS\n\nON EARTH\n\n\n\n_ADAPTED FROM THE OBERAMMERGAU PASSION PLAY_\n\n\nBy\n\nWILLIAM T. STEAD\n\n\n\nCHICAGO:\n\nThe Church Press\n\n104 LaSALLE AVENUE\n\n\n\n\nCopyright 1900 and 1902\n\nBy George T. B. Davis.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n    I--JESUS DRIVES OUT MONEY CHANGERS\n   II--JESUS' LAST JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM\n  III--THE LAST SUPPER\n   IV--BETRAYED BY A KISS\n    V--PETER COMMITS PERJURY\n   VI--JUDAS HANGS HIMSELF\n  VII--JESUS, PILATE AND HEROD\n VIII--\"JESUS OR BARABBAS\"\n   IX--THE CRUCIFIXION\n    X--CONCLUSION\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS.\n\n\nThe entry into Jerusalem\n\n\"Knelt down and anointed Jesus' feet.\"\n\n\"Drinking of it he passed the cup to Peter.\"\n\n\"He reached over and kissed him.\"\n\n\"What accusation have you to bring against this man?\"\n\n\"Jesus staggered under the cross.\"\n\n\"It is finished.\"\n\nHe is risen.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nJESUS DRIVES OUT THE MONEY-CHANGERS.\n\n  Cast thyself down in adoring love,\n    Race bowed down by the curse of God!\n  Peace and grace out of Zion above!\n    He is not wroth forever,\n  Though his wrath be just--though uplifted his rod.\n    Thus saith he, who changeth never:\n  \"I will not the death of a sinner--I will forgive--\n      Let him live!\"\n  And he gave up his son the world from sin to free,\n  Praise and thanks we give, Eternal, to thee!\n\n\nSuddenly there was heard a noise of singing.  A great multitude came\npouring down the narrow street that runs past Pilate's house, chanting\nas they came, \"Hail to thee, O Son of David!\"  Little children, old men\nand maidens ran forward, some raising palm branches, but all ever\nlooking backward to one who should come.  More and ever more streamed\ndown the street into the open space in front of the temple, but still\nthe Hosanna song went on.\n\n[Illustration: The entry into Jerusalem.]\n\nAt last, in the midst of the jubilant throng, Jesus appeared, clad in a\nlong garment of gray, over which was cast a flowing robe.  His face was\ncomposed and pensive.  His long black hair and beard surrounded\nfeatures somewhat swarthy from the rays of the hot sun, and he rode on\nthe side of the ass's colt that seemed almost too small to support his\nweight.\n\nJohn, the beloved disciple, dressed in green raiment with a red mantle,\nled the little ass, carrying in his hand a long pilgrim staff.  The mob\npressed tumultuously around, singing and crying: \"Hosanna to the Son of\nDavid!\"  Jesus blessed them as he rode through their midst.  After\npassing the house of Pilate he suddenly dismounted.  Then Jesus\nadvanced to the front of the temple.  The hosannas died away as he\ncontemplated the busy scene.  There were the priests busily engaged\nwith the money-changers.  Nathanael, chief orator of the Sanhedrin,\nstood conspicuous among the chattering throng.  There were baskets with\npigeons for sale as sacrifices.  There were the tables of the dealers.\nBuying and selling, haggling and bargaining were in full swing in the\nmarket-place.\n\nFor a moment Jesus, who was above the average height, and whose mien\nwas dignified and commanding, stood as if amazed and indignant, then\nsuddenly burst out upon the astonished throng of priests and merchants,\nwith the following protest: \"What see I here?  Shall my Father's house\nbe thus dishonored?  Is this the house of God, or is it a market-place?\nHow can the strangers who come from the land of the Gentiles to worship\nGod perform their devotions in this tumult of usury?  And you,\" he\ncontinued, advancing a step toward the priests, who stared at him in\namazement, \"You priests, guardians of the temple, can you see this\nabomination and permit it to continue?  Woe be unto you!  He who\nsearches the heart knows why you encourage such disorder.\"\n\nThe crowd, silent now, watched with eager interest the money-changers\nand priests, who but imperfectly understanding what had been said to\nthem, stared at the intruder.\n\n\"Who can this man be?\" they asked.\n\nAnd then from the lips of all the multitude there went up the\nsimultaneous response, as if the whole throng had but one voice: \"It is\nthe great prophet from Nazareth, in Galilee!\"\n\nJesus, then moving forward into the midst of the astonished merchants\nin the temple, exclaimed, in words of imperious authority: \"Away with\nyou from here, servants to Mammon!  I command it.  Take what belongs to\nyou and quit the holy place!\"\n\nOne of the traders exclaimed in terror: \"Come, let us go, that his\nwrath destroy us not.\"\n\nThen the priests, recovering somewhat their self-possession, stepped\nforward to remonstrate.  \"Why troublest thou this people?\" they asked.\n\"Everything here is for sacrifice.  How canst thou forbid that which\nthe council has allowed?\"  And then the traders, led by one Dathan,\nchimed in, in eager chorus: \"Must there then be no more sacrifices?\"\n\nFor answer Jesus stood forth and exclaimed: \"There is room enough\noutside the temple for your business.  'My house,' says the Lord,\n'shall be called a house of prayer for all nations;' you have made it a\nden of thieves.\"\n\nAnd then crying, \"Away with all this!\" with one vigorous movement he\noverturned the tables of the money-changers.\n\nA rabbi exclaimed: \"This must not be--thou darest not do this!\" but his\nvoice passed unheeded in the tumult.  The earthenware vessels fell\ncrashing to the ground, the money was scattered over the floor.  Some\nof the dismayed merchants crying, \"My money, oh! my money,\" scrambled\nfor the glittering coins.  Others stared in fury at the unceremonious\nintruder.  Half a dozen doves, released from their wicker baskets, took\nto flight amid the despairing lamentation of their owners: \"Oh, my\ndoves; who will compensate me for this loss?\"\n\nTheir lamentations were rudely cut short.  A small rope was hanging\nnear by.  Seizing it in the middle and twisting it once or twice round\nhis hand, Jesus converted it into a whip of cords, with which he drove\nout the traders.  \"Away! get you hence.  I will that this desecrated\nplace be restored to the worship of the Father!\"\n\nThe traders fled, but the priests remained, and, after muttering\ntogether, they asked in angry tones: \"By what miraculous sign dost thou\nprove that thou hast the power to act in this wise?\"\n\nJesus answered them: \"You seek after a sign; yea, a sign shall be given\nunto you.  Destroy this temple, and in three days I will have built it\nup again.\"\n\nThe priests replied, contempt mingling with indignation in their tones:\n\"What a boastful declaration!  Six and forty years was this temple in\nbuilding, and thou wilt build it up again in three days!\"\n\nAt this point the children who had been standing around watching the\naltercation with the dealers, cried out in unison with their elders:\n\"Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord!\"\n\nThe priests, shocked at their homage, were sorely displeased, and\nappealed to Jesus, saying: \"Hearest thou what they say?  Forbid them!\"\n\nThey paused for his reply.\n\nThen Jesus answered and said unto them: \"I say unto you, if they were\nsilent the very stones would cry out.\"\n\nEncouraged by this emphatic approval, the children cried out once more,\nlouder than ever, the sound of their childish voices filling the\ntemple: \"Hosanna to the Son of David!\"\n\nThen the Pharisees, who stood by the overthrown tables of the\nmoney-changers, spoke up and said angrily to the little ones: \"Silence,\nyou silly children!\"\n\nJesus turned to them and said: \"Have you never read 'Out of the mouths\nof babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise.'  That which is\nhidden from the proud is revealed unto babes?\"  And as the priests and\nPharisees muttered in indignation among themselves, he continued: \"For\nthe Scripture must be fulfilled.  The stone which the builders rejected\nis become the headstone of the corner.  The Kingdom of God shall be\ntaken from you and it shall be given to a people which shall bring\nforth the fruits thereof.  But that stone, whosoever shall fall upon it\nshall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall it shall grind him to\npowder.  Come, my disciples, I have done what the Father has commanded\nme, I have vindicated the honor of his house.  The darkness remains\ndarkness, but in many hearts it will soon be day.  Let us go into the\ninner court of the temple that we may there pray unto the Father.\"\nThereupon Jesus, followed by his disciples, disappeared in the interior\nof the temple, while the people cried aloud as with one voice: \"Praise\nbe to the anointed one!\" and the priests said angrily: \"Silence,\nrabble!\"  The Pharisees adding: \"Ye shall all be overthrown with your\nleader.\"  To which the crowd responded by crying louder than ever:\n\"Blessed be the Kingdom of David which again appears!\"\n\nThen Nathanael, a leading man in the Sanhedrin, tall and well favored,\nwearing a horned mitre, and possessing the tongue of an orator, stood\nforth, and seeing Jesus had departed and that there was now no one to\nwithstand him in the hearing of the people, lifted up his voice and\ncried: \"Whosoever holds with our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, let\nhim stand by us!  The curse of Moses upon all the rest!\"\n\nThen a rabbi in blue velvet apparel, sprang forward and declared with a\nloud voice: \"He is a deceiver of the people, an enemy of Moses, an\nenemy of the Holy Law!\"  The people answered mockingly: \"Then, if so,\nwhy did you not arrest him?  Is he not a prophet?\"\n\nSeveral of the multitude followed Jesus into the temple, but the rest\nremained listening to the priests, who cried more vehemently than ever:\n\"Away with the prophet!  He is a false teacher.\"\n\nBut Nathanael, seizing the opportunity, thus addressed the remainder of\nthe multitude: \"Oh, thou blinded people, wilt thou run after the\ninnovator, and forsake Moses, the prophets, and thy priests?  Fearest\nthou not that the curse which the law denounces against the apostate\nwill crush thee?  Would you cease to be the chosen people?\"\n\nThe crowd shaken by this appeal, responded sullenly: \"That would we\nnot.\"\n\nNathanael pressed his advantage.  \"Who,\" he asked, \"has to watch over\nthe purity of the law?  Is it not the holy Sanhedrin of the people of\nIsrael?  To whom will you listen; to us or to him?  To us or to him who\nhas proclaimed himself the expounder of a new law?\"\n\nThen the multitude cried all together: \"We hear you! we follow you!\"\nNathanael continued: \"Down with him, then, this man full of deceit and\nerror!\"\n\nThe people replied: \"Yes, we stand side by side with you!  Yes, we are\nMoses' disciples!\" and the priests answered, speaking all together:\n\"The God of your fathers will bless you for that.\"\n\nAt this moment loud and angry voices were heard approaching down the\nnarrow street that led to the house of Annas, the high priest.  The\npriests and Pharisees listened eagerly.  As they caught the word\n\"revenge\" they turned to each other with exultant looks.  Meanwhile\nDathan, a merchant, the chief of the traders who had been driven from\nthe temple, was seen to be leading on his fellow merchants, who were\nlifting up their hands and weeping as they recounted their losses.\nThey shouted confusedly as they came: \"This insult must be punished!\nRevenge!  Revenge!  He shall pay dearly for his insolence.  Money, oil,\nsalt; doves--he must pay for all.  Where is he, that he may experience\nour vengeance?\"\n\nThe priests replied: \"He has conveyed himself away.\"\n\n\"Then,\" cried the traders, \"we will pursue him.\"\n\nBut Nathanael, seeing what advantage might result from the discontent\nof the merchants, arrested their pursuit.  \"Stay friends,\" he said;\n\"the faction that follows this man is at present too large.  If you\nattacked them it might cause a dangerous fight, which the Roman sword\nwould finish.  Trust to us.  He shall not escape punishment.\"\n\nAnd the priests who stood around Nathanael cried: \"With us and for us:\nthat is your salvation!\"  Then Dathan and his friends exclaimed\ntriumphantly:  \"Our victory is near.\"\n\nNathanael assured of the control of the multitude, continued: \"We are\nnow going to inform the council of the Sanhedrin of today's events.\"\n\nThe traders impatiently exclaimed: \"We will go with you.  We must have\nsatisfaction.\"\n\nBut Nathanael dissuaded them, saying: \"Come in an hour's time to the\nforecourt of the high priest.  I will plead your cause in the council,\nand bring forward your complaint.\"\n\nAnd as Nathanael and the priests and the Pharisees went out, the\ntraders and the people cheered them, crying aloud: \"We have Moses!\nDown with every other!  We are for Moses' law to the death!  Praise be\nto our fathers!  Praise to our father's God!\"\n\n      *      *      *      *      *      *\n\nThen the high priests and the rulers and the elders gathered together\nlate in the night in the council of the Sanhedrin.  In the highest\nplace sat Caiaphas with his jewelled breast-plate, in robes of white\nembroidered with gold.  A vestment of green and gold covered his\nshoulders, and on his head he wore a white-horned mitre adorned with\ngolden bells, which added to the majesty of his aspect.  Annas, the\naged high priest, sat on his left.  Nathanael, also on the raised dais,\nwas on the right.  Below him sat the rabbis in blue velvet, while\nseated around were Pharisees, scribes and doctors of the law.\n\nCaiaphas, whose white hair and beard showed that he was well stricken\nin years, was still in the full vigor of life.  As president of the\nSanhedrin, he briefly opened the session:\n\n\"Honored brothers, fathers and teachers of the people, an extraordinary\noccurrence is the occasion of the present extraordinary assembly.\nListen to it from the mouth of our worthy brother.\"\n\nThen Nathanael arose, and standing on the right hand of Caiaphas, said:\n\"Is it allowed; O, fathers, to say a word?\"\n\nAll answered: \"Yes, speak! speak!\"\n\nThen said Nathanael:  \"Marvel not, O fathers, that you should be called\ntogether at so late an hour for the transaction of business.  It must\nbe only too well known to you what we have with shame been compelled to\nsee today with our own eyes.  You have seen the triumphal progress of\nthe Galilean through the Holy City.  You have heard the Hosannas of the\nbefooled populace.  You have perceived how this ambitious man arrogates\nto himself the office of the high priest.  What now lacks for the\ndestruction of all civil and ecclesiastical order?  Only a few steps\nfurther, and the law of Moses is upset by the innovations of this\nmisleader.  The sayings of our forefathers are despised, the fasts and\npurifications abolished, the Sabbath desecrated, the priests of God\ndeprived of their office, and the holy sacrifices are at an end.\"\n\nAs Nathanael concluded, all the fathers of the council exclaimed with\none voice: \"True--most true.\"  As he had been speaking they had been\ninterchanging notes of appreciative and sympathetic comment.  But it\nwas not until Caiaphas spoke that the Sanhedrin was roused to the\nhighest pitch of excitement.  Caiaphas, who spoke with great fire and\nfervor, thus addressed the rulers of Israel: \"And more than all this.\nEncouraged by the success of his efforts, he will proclaim himself King\nof Israel (murmurs of alarm and indignation), then the land will be\ndistracted with civil war and revolt, and the Romans will come with\ntheir armies and bring destruction upon our land and our people.  Woe\nis me for the children of Israel, for the Holy City, and for the temple\nof the Lord, if no barrier is opposed to the evil while there is yet\ntime!  It is indeed high time.  We must be the saviors of Israel.\nToday must a resolution be passed, and whatever is resolved upon must\nbe carried out without regard to any other consideration.  Do we all\nagree to this?\"\n\nAnd all the Sanhedrin as one man cried out: \"We do.\"\n\nUp sprang a priest to emphasize his vote:\n\n\"A stop must be put to the course of this misleader.\"\n\nCaiaphas then said: \"Give your opinion without reserve as to what\nshould be done.\"\n\nAnd then a rabbi arose and said: \"If I may be permitted to declare my\nopinion unreservedly, I must assert that we ourselves are to blame that\nthings have come to such a pass.  Against this onrushing ruin much too\nmild measures have been employed.  Of what avail have been our\ndisputations with him, or what has it profited that we have by our\nquestionings, put him in a dilemma; that we have pointed, out the\nerrors in his teaching and his violations of the law?  Nay, of what use\nhas been even the excommunication pronounced on all who acknowledged\nhim as the Messiah?  All this was labor in vain.  Men turn their backs\non us, and all the world runs after him.  To restore peace to Israel,\nthat must be done which ought to have been done long ago--we must\narrest him and throw him into prison.  That is the only way to put an\nend to his evil influence.\"\n\nThe suggestion was hailed with enthusiasm, and springing to their feet\nthey cried: \"Yea, that must be done!\"\n\nThen a third priest stood up and said: \"Once he is in prison, the\ncredulous people will no longer be attracted by the fascination of his\nmanner or the charm of his discourse.  When they have no more miracles\nto gape at; he will soon be forgotten.\"\n\nAnd a fourth priest exulted as he added: \"In the darkness of his\ndungeon let him make his light shine and proclaim his Messiahship to\nthe walls of the jail.\"\n\nThen it was the turn of the Pharisees.  The first said: \"He has been\nallowed long enough to lead the people astray and to denounce as\nhypocrisy the strict virtue of the Holy Order of the Pharisees.  Let\nhim suffer in fetters for his contempt.\"\n\nA second Pharisee added complacently: \"The enthusiasm of his hangers-on\nwill soon cool down when he who has promised them freedom is himself in\nchains.\"\n\nBy this time it was evident all the council was of one mind.  Then\nAnnas, the venerable high priest, arose and addressed the Sanhedrin\nwith much emotion: \"Now, venerable priests, a ray of confidence and joy\npenetrates to my breast when I see your unanimous resolution.  Alas! an\nunspeakable grief has weighed down my soul at the sight of the onward\nprogress of the false teachings of this Galilean.  It seemed as if I\nhad lived to old age but in order to have the misfortune of seeing the\ndownfall of our holy law.  But now I will not despair.  The God of our\nfathers still lives, and he is with us.  If you have the courage to act\nboldly, and to stand firmly and faithfully together, there is safety at\nhand.  Take courage, steadfastly pursue the aim in view, and be the\ndeliverer of Israel, and undying fame will be your reward.\"\n\nWith one accord all answered and said: \"We are of one mind,\" while the\npriests added, shouting eagerly, \"Israel must be saved!\"\n\nThen Caiaphas began: \"All honor to your unanimous resolution, worthy\nbrethren, but now let me have the benefit of your wise counsels how we\ncan most safely bring this deceiver into our power.\"\n\n\"It might be dangerous,\" remarked the first Pharisee, \"to seize him now\nat the time of the feast.  In the streets or in the temple he is\neverywhere surrounded by a mob of infatuated followers.  It could\neasily lead to an uproar.\"\n\nThen cried all the priests together with a loud voice, as if impatient\nthat one should speak at a time: \"But something must be done at once.\nThe matter brooks no delay.  Perhaps at the feast he might raise a\ncommotion, and then it might come to pass that we should be consigned\nto the place which we have destined for him.\"\n\n\"No delay;\" cried some other priests, \"no delay!\"\n\nThen the second Pharisee stood up and said: \"We cannot now seize him\nopenly with the strong hand.  We must carry out our scheme cunningly\nand in secret.  Let us find out where he usually spends the night; then\nwe could fall upon him unobserved and take him into custody.\"\n\nNathanael sprang to his feet, for the auspicious moment had come,--the\nfurious merchants from the temple were without in the courtyard.  \"To\ntrack the fox to his lair will not be difficult.  We could then soon\nfind someone to help, if it should please the high council to offer a\nlarge reward.\"\n\nCaiaphas at once put the resolution to the Sanhedrin.  Rising from his\nseat he said, \"If you, assembled fathers, agree, then in the name of\nthe high council I will issue notice that whoever knows of his nightly\nresort, and will inform us of the same, will be rewarded for his pains.\"\n\nWith one voice the rulers and chief priests and scribes cried out,\nrising from their seats, \"We are all agreed.\"\n\nThen said Nathanael, \"Without doubt we could secure the services, as\ninformers, of those men whom the Galilean today has injured so deeply\nin the sight of all the people, driving them with a scourge out of the\ntemple.  From of old they were zealous of the law, but now they are\nthirsting for revenge against him who has made so unheard-of an attack\nupon their privileges.\"\n\n\"But where,\" said Caiaphas, \"are these traders to be found?\"\n\n\"They are waiting,\" said Nathanael, \"in readiness in the outer court.\nI have promised them to be the advocate of their cause before the holy\nSanhedrin, and they await our decision.\"\n\n\"Worthy priest,\" said Caiaphas, \"inform them that the high council is\ndisposed to listen to their grievance, and bring them in.\"\n\nNathanael as he went said, \"This will be a joy to them and of great use\nto us.\"\n\nWhen Nathanael left the hall, Caiaphas addressed the council with words\nof cheer: \"The God of our fathers has not withdrawn his hand from us.\nMoses still watches over us.  If only we can succeed in gathering\naround us a nucleus of men out of the people then I no longer dread the\nresult.  Friends and brethren, let us be of good courage, our fathers\nlook down upon us from Abraham's bosom.\"\n\n\"God bless our high priest!\" rang through the hall as Nathanael,\nfollowed by Dathan and the other traders, returned to his place.  He\nintroduced them thus: \"High priests and chosen teachers!  These men,\nworthy of our blessing, appear before this assembly in order to lodge a\ncomplaint against the notorious Jesus of Nazareth, who has today\ninsulted them in the temple in an unheard-of fashion and brought them\nto grief.\"\n\nThen with one voice the traders, led by Dathan, cried out, \"We beseech\nthe council to procure us satisfaction.  The council ought to support\nour righteous demands.\"\n\nThe priests and Pharisees responded eagerly, \"You shall have\nsatisfaction, we will answer for that.\"\n\nThen ensued the following dialogue between the traders and the\nSanhedrin:\n\nThe Traders: \"Has not the council authorized us to display openly in\nthe court of the temple all things useful for the sacrifice?\"\n\nA Priest: \"Yes, that has been sanctioned.  Woe be to those who disturb\nyou in the exercise of this right!\"\n\nThe Traders: \"And the Galilean has driven us out with a scourge.  And\nthe tables of the money changers has he overturned, and released the\ndoves.  We demand satisfaction.\"\n\nCaiaphas: \"That you should have satisfaction the law decrees.  Your\nlosses will be made good in the meantime out of the temple treasury\"\n(joy among the traders).  \"But that the offender himself may be duly\npunished it is necessary for us to have your help.  What can we do so\nlong as he is not in our power?\"\n\nThe Traders: \"He goes daily to the temple; there he can easily be\narrested and carried off.\"\n\nCaiaphas: \"That will not do.  You know that as he has a multitude of\nexcited followers such a course might lead to a dangerous uproar.  The\nthing must be done quietly.\"\n\nThe Traders: \"That could be done best at night-time.\"\n\nCaiaphas: \"If you could find out where he retires at night he would\nsoon be without tumult in our hands.  Then would you not only have the\ndelight of seeing him chastised, but also a considerable reward would\nfall to your lot.\"\n\nNathanael: \"And you would also have rendered good service to the law of\nMoses if you assist in this.\"\n\nThen all the traders cried out together: \"You can depend upon us, we\nwill spare no trouble.\"\n\nAnd all the priests and Pharisees congratulated themselves that the\nbusiness was going well.  Dathan, conspicuous by his apparel, then\nvolunteered a statement.  He said: \"I know one of his followers from\nwhom I could easily gain some information if I could offer him a\nsufficient reward.\"\n\nCaiaphas at once authorized him, \"If thou findest such a one make all\nnecessary promises in our name.  Only don't loiter; we must attain our\nend before the feast.\"\n\nAnnas enjoined the strictest silence, to which with one voice the\ntraders responded, \"We swear it,\" and then Caiaphas proceeded to urge\nupon them the need of creating a party on their side among the people.\n\"If, my good fellows, you really desire fully to glut your longing for\nrevenge, then take care and use every means to kindle in others the\nsame holy zeal which glows in you.\"\n\nThey answered that they had not waited for his prompting, but had\nalready brought several others over to their side.  \"We will not rest\nuntil the whole populace is roused against him.\"\n\nAnnas and Caiaphas applauded their zeal.  \"You will thereby merit the\ngreatest gratitude from the council,\" said Annas, and Caiaphas chimed\nin, \"Openly will ye then be honored before all the people as you have\nbeen today put to shame before them by this presumptuous man.\"\n\n\"Our life for the law of Moses and the holy Sanhedrin,\" then cried the\ntraders.  \"The God of Abraham guide you,\" said Caiaphas dismissing\nthem, and they left the hall crying aloud, \"Long live Moses! long live\nthe high priests and the Sanhedrin!  Even today may the role of the\nGalilean be played out!\"\n\nThen Caiaphas addressed these parting words to the council: \"As though\nrefreshed by sweet slumbers, I live once more.  With such men as these\nwe can put everything through.  Now we shall see who will triumph,--he\nwith his followers to whom he is always preaching love,--a love which\nis to include publicans and sinners and even the Gentiles also,--or we\nwith this troop inspired by hate and revenge which we are sending\nagainst him.  There can be no doubt to which side the victory will\nincline.\"\n\n\"The God of our fathers give us the victory!\" said Annas; \"joy in my\nold age will renew my youth!\"\n\nThen said Caiaphas, \"Let us now break up, looking forward with\nconfidence to the joy of victory.  Praised be our fathers!\"\n\nAnd all the assembly with a deep, sonorous voice exclaimed, \"Praised be\nthe God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nJESUS' LAST JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM.\n\n  People of God behold; thy Savior is nigh to thee!\n  He is come who was promised thee long ago.\n    Oh! hear him, follow his guidance\n    Blessing and life will he bring to thee.\n\n  But blind and deaf Jerusalem has shown herself;\n  She has thrust back the hands held out to her in love;\n    Therefore also the Highest has turned away his face,\n    And lets her sink to destruction.\n\n\nJesus, accompanied by all his disciples, set out to pay his last visit\nto Bethany.  Peter, with his staff in hand, walked with John beside the\nmaster.  Judas was present, with disheveled locks and haggard look,\nJames the Greater and James the Less, and Andrew and Thomas, and the\nrest of the disciples.\n\nThen Jesus spoke unto them and said: \"You know, dear disciples, that\nafter two days is the feast of the Passover.  So now let us make one\nlast visit to our friends in Bethany, and then go to Jerusalem, where\nin these days all will be fulfilled which has been written by the\nprophets concerning the Son of Man.\"\n\nThe disciples understood not his saying, and after some questioning\namong themselves Philip ventured to address Jesus, saying unto him,\n\"Has the day then really come at last when thou wilt restore the\nkingdom to Israel?\"\n\nJesus looked upon Philip with tender compassion, and said unto him,\n\"Then shall the Son of Man be delivered up to the Gentiles, and shall\nbe mocked and spat upon and they will crucify him; but on the third day\nhe will rise again.\"\n\nThen said John in a voice that trembled with emotion, as the other\ndisciples gazed at each other in horror, \"Dear master, what dark and\nterrible words thou speakest.  What are we to understand by them?  Make\nit clear unto us.\"\n\nThen Jesus answered and said unto him, \"The hour is now come when the\nSon of Man shall be glorified.  Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a\ncorn of wheat does not fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone,\nbut if it die it bringeth forth much fruit.  Now is the judgment of the\nworld.  Now shall the prince of this world be cast out.  And I, if I be\nlifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.\"\n\nThen were the breasts of the disciples troubled, for they could not\nunderstand what these things meant.  Thaddeus said to Simon, \"What does\nhe mean by this speech?\"\n\nSimon replied with a puzzled air, \"Why does he compare himself to a\ngrain of corn?\"\n\nThen said Andrew unto him, \"Lord, thou speakest at once of shame and of\nvictory.  I know not how to reconcile those ideas in my mind.\"\n\nJesus said, \"That which is now dark to you as the night will be as\nclear as the day.  I have told you before that you may not lose courage\nwhatever may happen.  Believe and hope.  When the tribulation is\npassed, then you will see and understand.\"\n\nThomas answered and said unto him, \"What I cannot understand is that\nthou shouldst speak of suffering and of death.  Have we not heard from\nthe prophets that the Messiah shall live forever?  What can thine\nenemies do unto thee?  One single word from thee would annihilate them\nall.\"\n\nJesus said unto him, \"Thomas, reverence the secret counsels of God\nwhich thou canst not fathom.\"\n\nThen, turning to the others, he said, \"Yet a little while is the light\nwith you.  Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you.\"\n\nBy this time they had approached near the village of Bethany, and there\nmet them one Simon, after whom there came Lazarus, who was raised from\nthe dead, with Martha, his sister, and Mary Magdalene, the latter tall,\ndark, with long black hair, in dark blue dress with a yellow mantle.\n\nSimon pressed forward; he was an old man and he hastened to meet Jesus.\n\"Welcome, best of teachers, O what joy that thou shouldst honor my\nhouse with thy entrance.  Dear friends, be also welcome,\" he exclaimed;\nbut he was startled to hear the reply, \"Simon, for the last time I,\nwith my disciples, lay claim to thy hospitality.\"\n\nSimon replied in grief, \"Say not so, Lord.  Often still shall Bethany\nafford thee brief repose.\"\n\nBy this time Lazarus drew near; he was of less than middle stature and\nsilent, as if his sojourn in the other world left him little to speak\nof in this.  \"See,\" said Jesus, \"there is our friend Lazarus.\"\n\n\"My Lord,\" cried Lazarus, embracing him, \"the vanquisher of death,\nlifegiver and Lord, I see thee once again and hear the voice that\ncalled me from the grave.\"\n\nThen hastened the Magdalene to his side, and kneeling down, \"Rabbi,\"\nshe exclaimed; Martha also said, \"Welcome, Rabbi.\"\n\nThen Jesus blessed them, saying, \"God's blessing be upon you!\"\n\nThen Martha asked, \"Wilt thou Lord, grant me the happiness of serving\nthee?\" while the Magdalene timidly inquired, \"Wilt thou despise a token\nof love and gratitude from me?\"\n\nAnd Jesus replied with tenderness, \"Do, good souls, that which you\npurpose to do.\"\n\nThen said Simon, \"Best of masters, come under my roof and refresh\nthyself and thy disciples.\"\n\nSo Jesus entered into Simon's house, exclaiming, \"Peace be upon this\nhouse,\" to which the disciples added, speaking together, \"And to all\nthat dwell therein.\"  Then said Simon, \"Lord, all is ready, set thee\ndown at table and bid thy disciples sit down also.\"\n\nThen Jesus sat down to meat, saying, \"Let us now, beloved disciples,\nenjoy with thanks the gifts which our Father in heaven bestows upon us\nthrough Simon, his servant.  O Jerusalem, would that my coming were as\ndear to thee as it is to these, my friends!  But thou are stricken with\nblindness.\"\n\n\"Yes, Lord,\" remarked Lazarus; \"O best of masters, dangers threaten\nthee.  The Pharisees are anxiously wondering whether thou wilt come up\nto the Passover.  They are eagerly watching for thy destruction.\"\n\nSimon said, \"Stay here, Lord; here thou art safe.\"\n\nThen Peter interposed with an entreaty, \"Lord, it is good to be here.\nRemain here, in the seclusion of this house, served by faithful love,\ntill the gathering storm be passed.\"\n\nBut Jesus rebuked him sternly, saying: \"Get thee behind me, tempter.\nThou savorest not of the things that are of God, but those that be of\nmen.  Can the reaper tarry in the shade while the ripe harvest awaits\nhim?  The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister\nand to give his life a ransom for many.\"\n\nThen the dark-browed Judas spoke, uttering this time the thought of\nall.  \"But, master, what will become of us if thou givest up thy life?\"\n\nA chorus of approval burst from all the disciples, \"Ah, all our hopes\nwould then be destroyed.\"\n\n\"Trouble not yourselves,\" said Jesus, \"I have power to lay down my life\nand I have power to take it up again.  This commandment have I received\nof my Father.\"\n\nAnd lo, while they were yet speaking, Mary Magdalene silently\napproached Jesus, carrying in her hand a bottle of ointment of\nspikenard, very precious, which she poured over his head as she\nmurmured but one word, \"Rabbi.\"  And Jesus also said but one word,\n\"Mary,\" but his tone was full of tenderness and love.\n\nAs the perfume of the ointment filled the room the disciples spoke\namong themselves.  \"What an exquisite odor!\" said Thomas, leaning past\nthe others to look.\n\n\"It is real oil of spikenard, very costly,\" said Bartholomew.\n\nThaddeus added, \"Such an honor has never been shown to our master.\"\n\nBut Judas could not contain himself.  He growled from his distant seat,\n\"To what purpose is this waste?  The money might have been much better\nexpended.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said Thomas, \"I almost think so, too.\"\n\nThen Magdalene, heedless of the murmurs of the disciples, knelt down\nand anointed Jesus' feet and wiped them with her long black tresses.\nJesus, after a little while, noticing the muttering down the table,\nasked, \"What are you saying to each other?  Why do you condemn that\nwhich is done only from grateful love.\"\n\n[Illustration: \"Knelt down and anointed Jesus' feet.\"]\n\nThe Magdalene knelt back, sheltering herself as it were behind her Lord.\n\nJudas blurted out impetuously his dissatisfaction.  \"To pour out so\nmuch costly ointment, what wasteful extravagance!\"\n\n\"Friend Judas,\" said Jesus, \"look at me.  Is what is done for me, thy\nmaster, waste?\"\n\nJudas said, \"I know that thou lovest not useless expense; the ointment\nmight have been sold and the poor helped with the money!\"  Hearing\nJudas' answer he half turned away and looked wearily upward, folding\nhis hands.\n\n\"Judas,\" said Jesus somewhat sternly, \"hand upon thy heart now.  Is it\nonly pity for the poor which moves thee so much?\"\n\nJudas replied, \"At least three hundred pence could have been got for\nit.  What a loss both for the poor and for us.\"\n\nThen Jesus answered and said, \"The poor you have always with you, but\nme ye have not always.\"  Then he said, \"Let her alone, she has wrought\na good work on me, for in that she has poured out the ointment upon me,\nshe has anointed me for my burial.  Verily I say unto you, wheresoever\nthe gospel will be preached through the whole world, there shall also\nthis which she hath done be told for a memorial of her.\"\n\nHe then said to the disciples, \"Let us arise\"--and then turning to\nSimon, his host, he said, \"I thank thee, benevolent man, for thy\nhospitality, the Father will repay it unto thee.\"\n\n\"Say nothing of thanks, master,\" said Simon; \"I know what I owe to\nthee.\"\n\nThen Jesus arose and said, \"It is time to go hence.  Farewell all ye\ndwellers in this hospitable house.  My disciples, follow me.\"\n\nPeter said unto him, \"Lord, wherever thou wilt, only not to Jerusalem.\"\n\nJesus answered, \"I go where my Father calls me.  If it please thee to\nremain here, Peter, do so.\"  Then Peter declared, \"Lord, where thou\nabidest there will I also abide; whither thou goest there go I also.\"\n\nJesus said, \"Come then.\"\n\nThe disciples arose and clasping their staffs were ready to depart.\nThen Jesus turned to Mary Magdalene and Martha and said, \"Remain here,\nbeloved!  Once more, fare ye well.  Dear, peaceful Bethany, never more\nshall I tarry in thy quiet vale.\"\n\nSimon, sore troubled in speech as he heard these words, said unto him,\n\"Then wilt thou really depart hence forever?\"\n\nMary Magdalene threw herself at his feet and said, \"Alas, I am filled\nwith terrible forebodings.  Friend of my soul!  My heart--oh! my\nheart--it will not let thee go!\"\n\nJesus said unto her, \"Stand up, Mary.  The night cometh and the winter\nstorms come blustering on.  But be comforted.  In the early morning in\nthe garden of spring, thou wilt see me again.\"\n\nLazarus exclaimed, \"Oh! my friend, my benefactor!\"\n\n\"Alas!\" cried Martha, \"thou art going; and comest thou back nevermore?\"\n\nJesus said, \"The Father wills it, beloved.  Wherever I am I bear you\never with me in my heart, and wherever you are, my blessings will\nfollow you.  Farewell.\"\n\nAnd behold as they turned to go, there met them Mary, the mother of\nJesus, with her companions.  Mary had a white mantle round her head,\nfrom beneath which her long dark hair hung down.  She hastened to her\nson, crying, \"Jesus, dearest son, I hastened after thee with my\nfriends, in eager longing to see thee once more before thou goest, all\nwhither?\"\n\nJesus clasped her hands gently and replied, \"Mother, I am on the way to\nJerusalem.\"\n\n\"To Jerusalem,\" said his mother.  \"There is the temple of Jehovah,\nwhither I once carried thee in my arms to offer thee to the Lord.\"\n\n\"Mother,\" said Jesus in solemn sadness, \"the hour is come when\naccording to the will of the Father I shall offer myself.  I am ready\nto complete the sacrifice which the Father demands from me.\"\n\n\"Ah,\" cried Mary with bitter and piteous cry, \"I foresee what kind of a\nsacrifice that will be.\"\n\nJohn and Mary Magdalene had joined the mother of Jesus, and the two\nMarys standing together united their lament.\n\n\"How much we had wished,\" said the Magdalene, \"to keep back the master\nand make him remain with us.\"\n\n\"It is of no use,\" said Simon gloomily, \"his purpose is fixed.\"\n\nThen said Jesus to his mother, tenderly beholding her, \"My hour is\ncome.\"\n\nAll the disciples cried, \"Oh, ask the Father that he should let it pass\nby.\"\n\nThen all the women said, \"The Father has always listened to thee.\"\n\nBut Jesus said: \"How is my soul troubled, and what shall I say?\nFather, deliver me from this hour!  But for this hour came I into the\nworld.\"\n\nBut Mary hearing him, exclaimed as in a trance, \"Oh, venerable Simon,\nnow will be fulfilled that which thou once prophesied to me, 'A sword\nshall pierce through thine own soul!'\"  And as she spoke Mary Magdalene\ngently supported her from falling.\n\nJesus said in terms of gentle reproach, \"Mother, the will of the Father\nwas also ever sacred to thee.\"  His word rallied her courage and she\nreplied, \"It is so to me still.  I am the handmaid of the Lord.  What\nhe requires of me I will bear patiently.  But one thing I beg of thee,\nmy son.\"\n\n\"What desirest thou, my mother?\"\n\n\"That I may go with thee into the fierce conflict of suffering, yea,\neven unto death!\"\n\n\"Oh, what love!\" exclaimed John, who stood tearfully beside the two\nMarys, wistfully looking for some ray of hope to illumine the darkness\nbeyond.\n\nJesus embraced her lovingly.  \"Dear mother, thou wilt suffer with me,\nthou wilt fight with me in my death struggle, but thou wilt also\nrejoice with me in my victory, therefore be comforted.\"\n\n\"Oh, God!\" she cried in heartrending accents, \"give me strength that my\nheart may not break.\"\n\n\"We all weep with thee, thou best of mothers,\" said the holy women,\nadding their tears to those of the mother of Jesus.\n\n\"I will go with thee, my son, to Jerusalem,\" said Mary.\n\nAnd the holy women declared they also would go with her.\n\nBut Jesus, holding her hand, tenderly forbade her: \"Later you may go\nthither, but not now.  For the present stay with our friends at\nBethany.  I commend to you, O faithful souls, my beloved mother, with\nthose who have followed her here.\"\n\nEagerly the Magdalene accepted the charge.\n\n\"After thee,\" she exclaimed, \"there is no one dearer to us than thy\nmother.\"\n\nBut even at the eleventh hour Lazarus interposed one last word of\nentreaty: \"If only thou, O master, couldst remain!\"\n\nNot noticing this, Jesus said, \"Comfort ye one another.  After two days\nyou may come up together to Jerusalem, to be there on the great day of\nthe feast.\"\n\nMary said: \"As thou wilt, my son.\"\n\nBut the holy women said: \"How sadly will the hours pass when thou art\nfar from us.\"\n\nThen Jesus spoke to his mother and said, \"Mother, mother, for the\ntender love and motherly care which thou hast shown to me for the three\nand thirty years of my life, receive the warmest thanks of thy son.\"\nAnd stooping down he kissed her.  Then raising his head, he said, \"The\nFather calls me.  Fare thee well, best of mothers.\"\n\nMary asked him: \"My son, where shall I see thee again?\"\n\nAnd Jesus replied: \"There, beloved mother, where the Scripture shall be\nfulfilled: 'He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and he opened not\nhis mouth.'\"\n\nMary sobbing, cried aloud, \"Jesus, thy mother, oh!  Oh, God, my son!\"\n\nHalf fainting she was held up by the holy women, who exclaimed, \"O\nbeloved, faithful mother!\"\n\nThe disciples departed, muttering, \"We cannot endure it.  What will be\nthe end of all this?\"\n\nThen burst from their lips the despairing cry, \"Alas, what affliction\nlies before us all?\"\n\nBut Jesus said, \"Sink not in the first conflict.  Hold fast by me.\"\n\nAnd the disciples repeated, \"Yea, master, fast by thee.\"\n\nLazarus and the women looking back after Christ as he passed out of\nsight, exclaimed, \"Ah! our dear teacher,\" while Simon said, \"He brought\nhappiness to my house.\"\n\nSimon then turned tenderly to Mary and said: \"Come, mother, and\ncondescend to enter in.\"  \"One consolation remains to us in\ntribulation,\" said Mary Magdalene, and Martha added, \"To have the\nmother of our Lord with us.\"  Turning to the other women, Lazarus said,\n\"And you, beloved ones, come with us, we will share our woe and tears\ntogether.\"\n\nAll then together went into the house, Mary Magdalene supporting the\nmother of Jesus.\n\n    *    *    *    *    *    *\n\nNow as they came unto Jerusalem they looked down upon the whole city\nwhich lay before them.  Then said John unto Jesus, \"Master, behold what\na splendid view of Jerusalem from this spot!\"\n\nMatthew said, \"The majestic temple, how splendidly it is built.\"\n\nJesus was troubled in spirit, and after gazing for a moment over the\ncity, clasped his hands in grief and cried, \"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, O\nthat thou hadst known even in this thy day the things that belong unto\nthy peace! but now they are hidden from thine eyes!\"\n\nJesus wept.\n\nHis disciples beholding him weep were amazed.  At last Peter ventured\nto say, \"Master, why grievest thou so sorely?\"\n\nJesus answered, \"My Peter, the fate of this unhappy city goes to my\nheart.\"\n\nThen said John, \"Lord, tell us what shall this fate be?\"\n\nJesus answered and said unto them, \"The days will come when her enemies\nwill make a trench about her walls and close her in on every side, and\nlay her even with the ground.  She and her children within her walls\nwill be dashed to the earth, and not one stone will be left upon\nanother.\"\n\nAndrew, giving expression to the general consternation, asked,\n\"Wherefore shall the city have so sad a doom?\"\n\nJesus said, \"Because she hath not known the day of her visitation.\nAlas! she who hath slain the prophets will kill the Messiah himself.\"\n\nThen spoke all the disciples together, \"What a terrible deed!\"\n\nJames, the elder, said, \"God forbid that the city of Jehovah should\nbring such a curse upon herself.\"\n\nAnd John with pleading voice added, \"Dearest master, for the sake of\nthe holy city and the temple, I beg of thee go not thither, so that the\nopportunity may be wanting to those evil men to do the worst.\"\n\n\"Or,\" said Peter, \"go thither and display thyself in all thy majesty,\nso that the good may rejoice and the evil tremble.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" cried all the twelve eagerly, \"do that.\"\n\nPhilip said, \"Strike down thine enemies!\" and all added earnestly, \"And\nset up the kingdom of God among men!\"\n\nJesus answered, \"Children, that which you desire shall come to pass in\ndue time, but my ways are appointed to me by my father, and thus saith\nthe Lord, 'My thoughts are not as your thoughts, and my ways are not as\nyour ways.'\"\n\nThen, as if to cut short a useless discussion, he said, \"Peter!\"  Peter\nreplied, \"What wilt thou, Lord?\" and the Lord continued, \"It is now the\nfirst day of unleavened bread, in which the law commands that we should\neat the Passover; you, both Peter and John, go forward and prepare the\nPassover that we may eat it in the evening.\"\n\nPeter and John, who stood the one on the left and the other on the\nright, asked, \"Where wilt thou, Lord, that we prepare the Passover?\"\n\nJesus said, \"When you come into the city there shall meet you a man\nbearing a pitcher of water, follow ye him and wheresoever he shall go\nin, say ye to the good man of the house, 'The master says, Where is the\nguest-chamber that I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' and he\nwill show you a large upper chamber furnished and prepared; there make\nready the Passover.\"\n\n\"Thy blessing, O best of masters!\" said Peter.  He and John knelt on\neither side of their Lord, Jesus placed his right hand on the head of\nJohn and his left hand on the head of Peter, exclaiming, \"God's\nblessing be with you!\"\n\nPeter and John having departed, Jesus said to the others, \"Accompany me\nfor the last time to the house of my Father.\"\n\nThen Judas, who had for some time past stood apart, came forward and\nsaid, \"But, master, allow me; if thou wilt really leave us, make some\narrangement for our future support.  Look here,\" he added, pointing to\nthe small bag almost empty of coin, which he carried in his girdle,\n\"there is not enough here for one day more.\"\n\nJesus looked upon him and said, \"Judas, do not be more anxious than is\nneedful.\"\n\nBut Judas went on muttering and looking not at his Lord, but at the\nbag, \"How well the value of that uselessly wasted ointment would have\nlain therein! how long we could have lived on it without care!\"\n\nJesus reproved him, saying, \"You have never lacked anything hitherto\nand, believe me, that what is necessary will not fail you in time to\ncome.\"\n\nJudas said, \"But, master, when thou art no longer with us our good\nfriends will soon draw back, and then we shall be left in sore\ndistress.\"\n\nJesus said unto him, \"Friend Judas, beware lest thou fall into\ntemptation.\"\n\nThe other disciples who had listened to this conversation then\ninterrupted, saying altogether, \"Judas, trouble not the master so much.\"\n\nJudas retorted, \"Who will take thought if I do not?  Have I not been\nappointed by the master to carry the bag?\"\n\n\"Thou hast,\" said Jesus, \"but I fear----\"\n\n\"And I also fear,\" interrupted Judas, \"that soon it will be empty and\nremain so.\"\n\nThen Jesus went close up to him and said gravely and gently, \"Judas,\nforget not thy warning.  Arise, now let us go hence, I desire to be in\nthe house of my Father.\"\n\nJesus then, followed by his disciples, excepting Judas, passed on to\nthe city.\n\nJudas, being left alone, said to himself, \"Shall I follow him any\nlonger.  I do not much care to do so.  The master's conduct to me is\nvery inexplicable.  His great deeds allowed us to hope that he would\nrestore again the kingdom to Israel.  But he does not seize the\nopportunities that offer themselves, and now he constantly talks of\nparting and dying, and puts us off with mysterious words about a future\nwhich lies too far off in the dim distance for me.  I am tired of\nhoping and waiting.  I can see very well, that with him there is no\nprospect of anything but continued poverty and humiliation,--and\ninstead of the sharing, as we expected, in his glorious kingdom, we\nshall perhaps be persecuted and thrown into prison with him.  I will\ndraw back.  It was a good thing that I was always prudent and cautious,\nand have now and then laid aside a trifle out of the bag in case of\nneed.  How useful I should find those 300 pence now which the foolish\nwoman threw away on a useless mark of respect.  If, as seems likely,\nthe society is about to dissolve, they would have remained in my\nhands--then I should have been safe for a long while to come.  As it\nis, I must consider the question, where and how I can find subsistence.\"\n\nAs he stood alone under the trees, perplexed and troubled, Dathan\nappeared in the distance, and, spying Judas, said to himself, \"The\noccasion is favorable.  He is alone and seems much perplexed.  I must\ntry everything in order to secure him.\"\n\nThen stepping forward he laid his hand upon the shoulder of Judas,\nexclaiming, \"Friend Judas!\"\n\nJudas started as if a serpent had stung him and striking his head with\nhis hand cried, \"Who calls?\"\n\n\"A friend,\" said Dathan; \"has anything sad happened to thee?  Thou art\nso absorbed in thought?\"\n\nJudas, staring wildly, asked, \"Who art thou?\"\n\n\"Thy friend, thy brother,\" cried Dathan.\n\nJudas, staring backward, exclaimed: \"Thou art my friend, my brother?\"\n\n\"At least,\" said Dathan, \"I wish to be so.  How is it with the master?\nI also would like to become one of his disciples.\"\n\nJudas said, \"One of his disciples?\"\n\n\"Why?\" said Dathan, \"hast thou then forsaken him?  Are things not well\nwith him?  Tell me that I may know how to act.\"\n\nThen Judas said unto him, \"Canst thou keep silence?\"\n\n\"Be assured of that,\" said Dathan.\n\n\"Then,\" answered Judas, \"it is no longer going well with him.  He says\nhimself his last hour has come.\"  And then Judas rapidly ran over the\nvarious predictions of disaster which he had heard from the lips of\nJesus.  \"I intend to forsake him, for he will yet bring us all to ruin.\nSee here,\" said he, producing the almost empty purse, \"I am treasurer,\nsee how it stands with us.\"\n\n\"Friend,\" said Dathan, shrugging his shoulders, \"I shall remain as I\nam.\"  At this moment six of Dathan's companions came up.\n\nJudas, alarmed, asked, \"Who are these?  I will not say another word.\"\n\n\"Stay, friend,\" said one of the newcomers, \"you will not regret it.\"\n\n\"Why have you come here?\" asked Judas.\n\n\"We were going back to Jerusalem and we will bear thee company if it\nplease thee.\"\n\nJudas, suspiciously eyeing them, asked, \"Do you also perhaps wish to go\nafter the master?\"\n\nThen said the traders, \"Has he gone to Jerusalem?\"\n\n\"For the last time,\" said Judas, \"so he says.\"\n\n\"What!\" said they, \"for the last time?  Is he then never going to leave\nthe land of Judea again?\"\n\n\"Why do you ask me this so eagerly?\" said Judas, \"do you wish to become\nhis followers?\"\n\n\"Why not?\" said the traders with a laugh, \"if the prospects are good;\"\nand Dathan added, \"Explain to us, Judas, the meaning of thy words that\nhe would bring you all to ruin.\"\n\nAnd Judas replied: \"He tells us always to take no thought for the\nmorrow, but if today anything happened we should all be as poor as\nbeggars.  Does a master care thus for his own?\"\n\n\"Truly,\" said the traders, \"the lookout is bad.\"\n\nThen Judas related once more the story of Mary Magdalene's waste of\nprecious ointment.  \"And at the same time this very day he permitted\nthe most senseless waste which a foolish woman was guilty of, thinking\nto obtain honor; and when I found fault with this I only met with\nreproachful words and looks.\"\n\n\"And thou canst still care for him after that?\" said the traders\ncontemptuously, \"and art still willing to remain with him?  Thou\nshouldst take thought for thine own future; it is high time.\"\n\n\"So I have been thinking,\" said Judas, \"but how can I find a good\nopening?\"\n\nThen said Dathan, \"Thou hast not long to seek, for the fairest\nopportunity is awaiting thee.\"\n\n\"Where?  How?\" said Judas eagerly.\n\n\"Hast thou not heard,\" said the traders, \"of the proclamation of the\ncouncil?  Such a good opportunity of making thy fortune thou wilt never\nfind again thy whole life long.\"\n\nJudas' eyes gleamed.  \"What proclamation?\" he asked.\n\nThe traders said, \"Whosoever gives information as to the nightly resort\nof Jesus of Nazareth shall receive a large reward.\"\n\n\"A large reward!\" said Judas.\n\n\"Now who,\" said they, \"can earn it easier than thou?\"\n\nDathan muttered to himself, \"We have nearly attained our end.\"\n\nThe traders pressed Judas anew, \"Brother, don't neglect this good\nfortune.\"\n\nJudas said hesitatingly, \"A fair opportunity.  Shall I let it slip?\"\n\nThen struck in Dathan, \"The reward is not all.  The council will look\nafter thee in the future.  Who knows what might not yet come of it for\nthee!\"\n\n\"Consent, friend!  Strike the bargain,\" cried all the traders together.\n\nJudas hesitated one moment and then clasped Dathan's hand, saying,\n\"Well, be it so.\"\n\n\"Come, Judas,\" said Dathan, \"we will bring thee straightway to the\ncouncil.\"  But Judas said, \"No, I must first go after the master, and\nso obtain information in order to make things sure.\"\n\nDathan said, \"Well, then, we will go to the council and report you in\nthe meantime.  But when and where shall we meet?\"\n\n\"In three hours you will find me in the street of the temple,\" replied\nJudas.\n\nJudas then shook hands all around with the traders.  \"Done!\" exclaimed\nJudas, as Dathan and the traders left him.\n\nJudas was now alone.  He walked to and fro under the trees and said to\nhimself: \"My word is given; I shall not repent of it.  Shall I avoid\nthe good fortune which is coming to meet me?  Yes, my fortune is made.\nI will do what I promised, but will make them pay me in advance.  If\nthen the priests succeed in taking him prisoner, if his reign is\nover--I have assured my own prospects and will besides become famous\nthroughout all Judea, as a man who has helped to save the law of Moses,\nand shall reap praise and glory.  But if the master should gain the\nvictory, then--yes, then I will cast me down repentant at his feet, for\nhe is good.  I have never seen him drive the penitent from him.  He\nwill take me back again and then I shall have the credit of bringing\nabout the decision.  Anyhow, I'll take good care to leave a bridge\nbehind so that should I be unable to go forward I can return.  The plan\nis well thought out.  Judas, thou art a prudent man.  And yet I feel a\nlittle afraid to meet the master, for I shall not be able to bear his\nkeen, searching look, and my comrades will see by my face that I am\na----No, I will not be that.  I am no traitor!  What am I going to do\nbut let the Jews know where the master is to be found?  That is no\nbetrayal.  Betrayal is something more than that.  Away with these\nfancies!  Courage, Judas, thy future is at stake.\"\n\nJudas, who had started with horror when he first mentioned the word\ntraitor, resolved to play his appointed role and departed to find Jesus.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nTHE LAST SUPPER.\n\n  O Judas, art thou blinded quite\n  By untamed greed of gold and gear?\n  And would thou sell thy master dear\n  For base gain?  Shudders not thy soul in dire affright?\n  Thy lot has passed into the night,\n  Already doth thy doom appear.\n\n  \"'Tis one of you that shall betray,\"\n  Three times the Lord thus spoke to him--\n  Who's purposed his own soul to slay--\n  Yet is his conscience dull and dim,\n  For Satan rules his heart within\n  And lust for gold that's won by sin.\n\n  \"Oh Judas! but one moment stay.\n  Oh! finish not this foulest deed!\"\n  But no! for deaf and blind with greed,\n  To the council Judas hastes away,\n  And there repeats in evil trade,\n  The bargain once with Dathan made.\n\n\nAnd it came to pass that when Peter and John were still on their way to\nJerusalem, Baruch, the servant of Mark, came out into the street with a\npitcher of water, which he went to get filled at the well.\n\nAs he went he said to himself, \"There is a great deal of business\ntoday, there will be no lack of work this Passover; from the great\ncrowd of pilgrims we can expect nothing else.  My master must expect\nmany guests as he is already making so much to-do in the house.\"  When\nhe was drawing the water John and Peter came upon him.\n\n\"See,\" said they, \"there is someone at the well.\"\n\nBaruch, not noticing them, went on drawing the water, saying, \"There\nmust be something exceptional at this Passover, seeing the way in which\nthe rulers of the council hasten about hither and thither.\"\n\nAs he lifted the pitcher and turned to go Peter said, \"This is he who\ncarries the pitcher of water that our master gave us for a sign.\"\n\nThen said John, \"Let us follow him.\"\n\nBaruch looked around as he came to the door of his master's house, and,\nseeing the disciples, said, \"Will you come in with me, friends?  You\nare welcome.\"\n\n\"We wish,\" said John, \"to speak with your master.\"\n\n\"Perhaps,\" said Baruch, \"you desire to take the Passover with us?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said Peter, \"the master desired us to bring this request to your\nmaster.\"\n\nThen said Baruch, \"Come with me.  It will be a joy to my master to take\nyou into his house.  There, see,\" he said as Mark came out of his\nhouse, \"there he is himself.  See, master, I bring guests.\"\n\n\"Welcome, strangers,\" said Mark, \"how can I serve you?\"\n\nThen said Peter unto him, \"Our teacher sent us to say unto thee, 'My\ntime is at hand.  Where is the hall where I can eat the Passover with\nmy disciples, for my time is at hand.  I will keep the Passover in thy\nhouse with my disciples.'\"\n\n\"Oh, joy!\" exclaimed Mark, \"now I recognize you as the disciples of the\nmiracle-worker who restored to me the light of my eyes.  How have I\ndeserved that he should choose my house before all others that are in\nJerusalem in which to celebrate the Passover?  Oh, fortunate man that I\nam, that it should be my house which he honors with his presence.\nCome, dear friends, I will at once show you the hall.\"\n\nPeter and John replied, \"Good friend, we follow thee.\"  And they went\ninto the house and found all things as Jesus had said unto them.\n\n      *      *      *      *      *      *\n\nIn the upper chamber which Mark had prepared for the Passover Jesus and\nhis disciples stood around a long table.  Jesus stood in the center\nwith Peter on his right hand and John on his left.  Judas, sullen and\nscowling, sat next to Peter, and the other disciples were arranged in\ntheir order.  The table was covered with a white cloth with embroidered\nedges.  On the cloth stood a flagon of wine and several cups, and a\nplate on which lay a loaf of bread.  Jesus, standing in the midst, said\nunto them, \"With longing have I desired to eat this Passover with you\nbefore I suffer, for I say unto you I will not any more eat thereof\nuntil it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.\"  Jesus then took the cup,\nand lifting it with both hands, looked up to heaven and said, \"I thank\nthee for this fruit of the vine.\"  Then drinking of it he passed the\ncup to Peter, who also drank and passed it to Judas, who in his turn,\nafter drinking, passed it to the next disciple, and so on until it went\nall around.  \"Take this,\" said Jesus, as he passed the cup to Peter,\n\"and divide it amongst yourselves, for I say unto you, I will not drink\nhenceforth of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.\"\n\n[Illustration: \"Drinking of it he passed the cup to Peter.\"]\n\nThen exclaimed all the disciples together, \"Alas, Lord, is this then\nthe last Passover?\"\n\nJesus said unto them, \"There is a cup which I will drink with you in\nthe kingdom of God my Father.  As it is written, 'Thou shalt make them\ndrink of the river of thy pleasures.'\"\n\nThen said Peter unto him, \"Master, when this kingdom shall appear, how\nwill the offices be portioned out?\"\n\n\"Who amongst us,\" said James the elder, \"will have the first place?\"\n\nThen Thomas said, \"Will each one of us have lordship over a separate\nland?\"\n\n\"That would be the best,\" said Bartholomew; \"then no dispute would\narise amongst us.\"\n\nThen Jesus looked upon them and said, \"So long a time have I been\namongst you and you are still entangled in earthly things?  Verily, I\nappoint unto you, which have continued with me in my temptations, the\nkingdom which my Father has appointed unto me, that you may eat and\ndrink with me in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve\ntribes of Israel.  But, remember, the kings of the Gentiles exercise\nlordship over them, and they that exercise authority over them are\ncalled benefactors, but ye shall not be so.  He that is greatest among\nyou, let him be as the least, and the chief as your servant.  For\nwhether is greatest he that sitteth at meat or he that serveth?  Is not\nhe that sitteth at meat; but I am among you as one that serveth.\"\n\nThereupon John removed the long purple robe from the shoulders of\nJesus, and handed him a white linen towel, with which he girded himself\nround the middle.  Then came Baruch in, carrying a ewer of water and a\nbasin.  As they looked in amazement one at another, Jesus said unto\nthem, \"Now sit down, beloved disciples.\"\n\nThen said the disciples one to another, \"What is he going to do?\"\n\nJesus, turning to Peter, said, \"Peter, reach me thy foot.\"\n\nPeter, starting backward in amazement, said, \"Lord, dost thou wash my\nfeet?\"\n\nThen said Jesus, \"What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know\nhereafter.\"\n\nPeter replied stoutly, \"Lord, thou shalt never to all eternity wash my\nfeet!\"\n\nBut Jesus said, \"If I wash thee not thou shalt have no part with me.\"\n\nPeter said, \"Lord, if it be so, then not my feet only, but also my\nhands and my head.\"\n\nBut Jesus answered, \"He that is washed needeth not save to wash his\nfeet, but is clean every whit.\"  Then stooping down Baruch poured the\nwater over the feet of Peter, and Jesus dried them with a towel.  The\nother disciples took the sandals off their feet, whispering to\nthemselves in wonder as to what this meant.  Jesus washed the feet of\nJudas as those of the others.  Last of all he washed the feet of John\nalso.  Then he washed his hands, Baruch pouring the water over them.\nAfter which he took off the towel, and John placed his mantle once more\nupon his shoulders.  Looking round upon the twelve, he said, \"Ye are\nnow clean, but not all.\"  Jesus then seated himself in the midst of\nthem.\n\nThen said Jesus unto them, \"Do you know what I have done unto you?  Ye\ncall me master and Lord, and ye do well, for so I am.  If I then, your\nLord and master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one\nanother's feet.  For I have given you an example that ye should do as I\nhave done unto you.  Verily, verily, the servant is not greater than he\nthat sent him.  If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.\"\nThen Jesus stood up again and said, \"Children, but for a little while\nshall I be with you.  That my memory may never perish from among you, I\nwill leave behind an everlasting memorial, and so I shall ever dwell\nwith you and amongst you.  The old covenant which my Father made with\nAbraham, Isaac and Jacob has reached its end and I say unto you, a new\ncovenant begins, which I solemnly consecrate today with my blood, as\nthe Father has commanded me, and this covenant will last until all be\nfulfilled.\"  Jesus then took the bread, lifted it up before him, and\nreplacing it on the table, looked up to heaven and blessed it.  Then,\nlifting it up again, he broke it in two, saying, \"Take, eat, this is my\nbody which was broken for you.\"  Then passing around the table, he\nplaced a morsel of bread with his own hand in the mouth of each of his\ndisciples.  All took it reverently, but Judas bit at it almost as a dog\nsnatcheth meat from its master's hands.  After Jesus had returned to\nhis place, he said, \"This do in remembrance of me.\"  In like manner he\ntook the cup and blest it and said, \"Take this, and drink ye all of it;\nfor this is the cup of the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for\nyou and for many for the remission of sins.\"  Then passing round the\ntable again he gave each of them to drink, and returning to his place\nhe said, \"As often as ye do this, do it in remembrance of me.\"  During\nthe time Jesus went round the table administering the bread and wine to\nhis disciples, there was heard in the distance a chorus of angels\nsinging:\n\n  Oh! the lowly love and tender!\n    See the Saviour kneeling still\n  At the feet of his disciples\n    Loving service to fulfil.\n  Oh! this love remember ever!\n    Love as he has loved, and so\n  Unto others render service\n    As your Lord has done to you.\n\n\nThen John in an ecstacy of affection exclaimed, \"Oh, best of masters,\nnever will I forget thy love!  Thou knowest that I love thee,\" and\nleaning forward he laid his head on the breast of Jesus.\n\nThe rest of the twelve, who were sitting with clasped hands with the\nexception of Judas, who sat apart moody and sullen, exclaimed together,\n\"O, Master, who art so full of love for us, ever will we remain united\nwith thee.\"\n\nThen said Peter, \"This holy meal of the new covenant shall ever be\ncelebrated amongst us according to thy commandment.\"\n\nAnd Matthew added, \"And as often as we shall keep it, we will remember\nthee!\"\n\nThen cried they all, \"O, best teacher, O divine one!  O best friend and\nteacher!\"\n\nAnd Jesus looking upon them said, \"My children, abide in me, and I in\nyou!  As the Father has loved me, so have I also loved you, continue ye\nin my love.  But, alas, must I say it! the hand of him who betrays me\nis with me at the table!\"  Judas started, but the confusion of the\ndisciples caused his guilty look to be unnoticed.\n\nSeveral of the disciples exclaimed, \"What! a traitor amongst us!\"\n\n\"Is it possible?\" said Peter.\n\nThen Jesus said, \"Verily, verily, I say unto you, one of you shall\nbetray me.\"\n\n\"Lord,\" said Andrew, \"one of us twelve?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" replied Jesus, \"one of the twelve who dipped his hand in the\ndish with me shall betray me.  So the Scriptures shall be fulfilled.\nHe that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.\"\n\nThomas and Simon, speaking together with the same thought and same\nwords, asked, \"Who can this faithless one be?\" while Matthew said,\n\"Lord, thou seest all hearts, thou knowest that it is not I\"--and the\ntwo James cried, \"Name him publicly, the traitor!\"  Then while these\nwords were on their lips, Judas, fearing lest his silence should be\nobserved, started forward and asked furtively, \"Lord, is it I?\" but\nexcepting by Jesus his words passed unnoticed.\n\nThaddeus exclaimed, \"I would rather give my life for thee than that\nsuch a deed should be done;\" and Bartholomew, \"I would rather sink into\nthe earth with shame.\"\n\nJesus, looking toward Judas said, \"Thou hast said it.\"  Turning to the\nrest, Jesus continued, \"The son of man goeth indeed as it is written of\nhim, but woe unto that man by whom the son of man is betrayed; better\nwere it for him that he had never been born!\"\n\nPeter, leaning over to John, whispered to him to ask Jesus who it was.\nThen John whispered to Jesus, saying, \"Lord, who is it?\"\n\nJesus answered, speaking so low as to be heard by John alone, \"He it is\nto whom I shall give a sop after having dipped it.\"\n\nThe other apostles who had not heard this kept on asking, \"Who can it\nbe?\"\n\nJesus, taking a piece of bread, dipped it into a cup, and placed it in\nthe mouth of Judas, saying, \"What thou doest, do quickly.\"\n\nThen Judas arose and hurried from the room.  The disciples seeing his\ndeparture wondered among themselves, and Thomas said to Simon, \"Why\ndoes Judas go away?\"\n\nSimon replied, \"Probably the master has sent him to buy something,\"\nwhile Thaddeus added, \"Or to distribute alms to the poor.\"\n\nJudas being now gone, Jesus spoke to the eleven, saying, \"If God be\nglorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself and shall\nstraightway glorify him.  Little children, yet a little while I am with\nyou.  Ye shall seek me; but as I have said to the Jews, whither I go\nyou cannot come, even so now I say unto you.\"\n\nThen said Peter unto him, \"Lord, whither goest thou?\"\n\nJesus answered, \"Whither I go thou canst not follow me now, but thou\nshalt follow me later.\"\n\nPeter passionately cried, \"Why can I not follow thee now?  I will lay\ndown my life for thy sake.\"\n\nThen Jesus looked upon him with compassion and said, \"Wilt thou lay\ndown thy life for my sake?  Simon!  Simon!  Satan hath desired to have\nthee that he may sift thee as wheat, but I have prayed for thee that\nthy faith fail not; and when thou art converted, strength thy brethren!\nThis night all ye shall be offended because of me, for it is written,\n'I shall smite the shepherd and the sheep of his flock shall be\nscattered abroad.'\"\n\nPeter answered, \"Although all shall be offended, yet will not I.  Lord,\nI am ready to go with thee to prison and to death.\"\n\nJesus said unto him, \"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Peter, today,\neven this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice.\"\n\nThen said Peter, rising and clasping his hands, \"Even if I should die\nwith thee, I would never deny thee,\" and the other ten disciples said\naltogether with a loud voice, \"Master, we also will always remain\nfaithful to thee; none of us will ever deny thee.\"\n\nThen said Jesus unto them, \"When I sent you out without purse or scrip,\nor shoes, lacked ye anything?\"\n\nAll replied with one voice, \"No, nothing.\"\n\nThen Jesus said, \"But now I say unto you, let everyone take his purse\nand likewise his scrip, and whosoever hath not a sword, let him sell\nhis coat and buy one, for now begins a time of trial; and I say unto\nyou that thus it is written, and it must yet be accomplished in me,\n'And he was reckoned among the transgressors!'\"\n\nPeter then and Philip each drew a sword from the scabbard which hung at\nhis side under his cloak, exclaiming, \"Lord, see here are two swords.\"\n\nThen said Jesus, \"It is enough.  Let us stand up and give thanks.\"\nThen standing, Jesus and all the disciples said together with a loud\nvoice, \"Praise the Lord, all ye people!  Praise him, all ye nations!\nfor his merciful kindness is everlasting; the truth of the Lord\nendureth forever.\"\n\nThen Jesus, leaving the table, advanced to the foreground and stood for\nsome time with his eyes raised to heaven, the disciples standing on\neither side watching him with troubled faces.  Shortly after he said\nunto them, \"Children, why are ye so sad and why look ye on me so\nsorrowfully?  Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God,\nbelieve also in me.  In my father's house are many mansions.  I go to\nprepare a place for you; and I will come again and receive you unto\nmyself, that where I am there ye may be also.  I leave you not as\norphans.  Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.  Keep my\ncommandment.  This is my commandment, that ye love one another as I\nhave loved you!  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples,\nif ye love one another.  Hereafter I will not talk much to you, for the\nprince of this world cometh, although he hath nothing in me.  But that\nthe world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me\ncommandment, so do I.  Let us go hence.\"\n\n      *      *      *      *      *      *\n\nThe Sanhedrin was again in session.  Caiaphas presided, Annas as before\nsat on his left hand and Nathanael on his right.  No sooner had all the\nmembers of the assembly taken their seats than Caiaphas rose and with\nradiant countenance began, \"Assembled fathers, I have a joyful piece of\nnews to impart to you.  The supposed prophet from Galilee will soon, we\nhope, be in our hands.  Dathan, the zealous Israelite, has won over one\nof the most trusted companions of the Galilean, who will let himself be\nemployed as a guide, so that we may surprise him by night.  Both are\nhere, only waiting a summons to appear before us.\"\n\n\"Bring them in,\" cried with eager voices the priests and Pharisees.\n\nJosue volunteered, \"I will call them.\"\n\n\"Yes, call them,\" said Caiaphas.  When Josue left the room Caiaphas\nasked their counsel as to the price which should be given for the\nbetrayal of Jesus.\n\nNathanael stood up and said, \"The law of Moses gives direction for such\na case; a slave is valued at thirty pieces of silver.\"\n\nThe priests laughed thereat and said, \"Yea, yea, it is just the price\nof a slave that the false Messiah is worth.\"\n\nThen came in Dathan and Judas, Josue conducting them into the presence\nof the Sanhedrin.  Dathan stood forward and said, \"Most learned\ncouncil, I here fulfil the task entrusted to me, and present to the\nfathers a man who is determined for a suitable reward to deliver our\nand your enemy into our power.  He is a trusted friend of the notorious\nGalilean and knows his ways and his secret abiding places.\"\n\nThen said Caiaphas to Judas, \"Knowest thou the man whom the council\nseeks?\"\n\nJudas answered, \"I have now been a long time in his company and know\nwhere he is accustomed to abide.\"\n\nThen said Caiaphas, \"What is thy name?\"\n\nHe replied, \"My name is Judas, and I am one of the twelve.\"\n\n\"Yes, yes,\" cried several of the priests, \"we saw thee often with him.\"\n\nCaiaphas asked him, \"Art thou steadfastly resolved to do our will?\"\n\nJudas answered firmly, \"I give you my word.\"\n\n\"But,\" continued Caiaphas, \"wilt thou not repent of it?  What induced\nthee to take this step?\"\n\nJudas answered, \"The friendship between him and me has been cooling\ndown for some time, and now I have quite broken with him.\"\n\n\"What has led to this?\" asked Caiaphas.\n\nJudas replied, \"There is nothing more to be got from him and indeed I\nam resolved to remain loyal to lawful authority, that is always the\nbest.  What will you give me if I deliver him up to you?\"\n\nThen Caiaphas, speaking as if they were promising great things, said,\n\"Thirty pieces of silver, which shall be at once paid over to thee!\"\n\n\"Hear that, Judas?\" cried Dathan, \"thirty pieces of silver, what a\ngain!\"\n\nBefore Judas could reply, Nathanael sprang to his feet, saying, \"And\nmark thee well, Judas, this is not all!  If thou executest this work\nright well thou shalt be cared for still further.\"\n\n\"And thou mayest become a rich and famous man,\" added a priest.\n\nJudas said aloud, \"I am contented,\" and added to himself, \"Now the star\nof hope is rising for me.\"\n\nThen said Caiaphas to the rabbi who sat below the judgment seat arrayed\nin blue velvet and gold, \"Bring the thirty pieces of silver out of the\ntreasury, and pay it over in the presence of the council.\"\n\n\"Is this your will?\" he added, putting the question to the Sanhedrin.\n\nA great shout went up of \"Yes, yes, it is.\"\n\nBut some there were present who did not join in that cry.  One of\nthese, Nicodemus, stood up and asked the Sanhedrin, \"How can you\nconclude so godless a bargain?\"  Then turning to Judas, he said, \"And\nthou, abject wretch, dost thou not blush to sell thy Lord and master,\nthou God-forgetting traitor whom the earth shall swallow up?  For\nthirty pieces of silver wouldst thou now sell that most loving friend\nand benefactor?  O, pause while there is yet time.  That blood-money\nwill cry to heaven for vengeance, will burn like hot iron thy\navaricious soul!\"\n\nJudas, surprised by this sudden outburst, stood trembling and amazed.\nDathan, Caiaphas and the rest of the Sanhedrin displayed unmistakable\nindignation at this unexpected intervention on the part of Nicodemus.\n\nJosue said: \"Don't trouble yourself, Judas, about the speech of this\nzealot; let him go and be a follower of the false prophet.  Thou dost\nthy duty as a disciple of Moses in serving the rightful authorities.\"\n\nThen came in the rabbi with the silver in a dish.  \"Come, Judas,\" said\nhe, \"take the thirty pieces of silver and play the man,\" counting the\ncoins out on a stone table so that they chinked merrily as they fell.\n\nJudas snatched them up eagerly, testing them now and then to see if\nthey were genuine, and then transferred them piece by piece with\nfeverish haste to his bag, which he tied up when filled and replaced in\nhis girdle.  Then, resuming his place on the left of the judgment seat,\nhe exclaimed: \"You can rely upon my word.\"\n\n\"But,\" said the priests, \"the work must be accomplished before the\nfeast.\"\n\nJudas answered and said: \"Even now the fairest opportunity offers\nitself.  This very night he shall be in your hands.  Give me an armed\nband so that he can be duly surrounded and every road of escape cut\noff.\"\n\nThen said Annas, who up to now had not broken silence: \"Let us send\nwith him the Temple Watch.\"\n\n\"Yes, yes,\" cried all the priests, \"let us order them to go.\"\n\nCaiaphas said: \"It would also be advisable to send some members of the\nHoly Sanhedrin with them.\"\n\nHalf the assembly sprang to their feet crying: \"We are ready.\"\n\nCaiaphas said: \"If the choice is left to me I appoint Nathan, Josaphat,\nSolomon and Ptolomaus.\"  Each of the four, as he was named, rose and\nbowed low.\n\nThen, Caiaphas, turning to Judas, said: \"But, Judas, how will the band\nbe able to distinguish the Master in the darkness?\"\n\nJudas answered: \"They must come with torches and lanterns and I will\ngive them a sign.\"\n\n\"Excellent, Judas,\" cried the priests in approving chorus.\n\n\"Now,\" said Judas, \"I will hasten away to spy out everything.  Then I\nwill come back to fetch the armed men.\"\n\n\"I will go with you, Judas,\" said Dathan, \"and will not leave your side\nuntil this work is finished.\"\n\n\"At the gate of Bethpage I will meet your people,\" said Judas, as he\ndeparted, taking with him Dathan and the four priests to accompany him.\n\nWhen they had left the Sanhedrin Caiaphas addressed the assembly: \"All\ngoes admirably, venerable fathers, but now we are called to look the\ngreat question frankly in the face.  What shall we do with this man\nwhen God has delivered him into our hands?\"\n\nThen: said Zadok: \"Let us throw him into the deepest and darkest of\ndungeons and keep him well watched and laden down with chains.  Let him\nbe buried while still alive.\"\n\nThis, however, did not please Caiaphas, so using the full might of his\neloquence and authority he continued: \"Which of you would guarantee\nthat his friends would not raise a tumult and free him, or that the\nguard might not be corrupted, or could he not break his fetters with\nhis abhorred magic arts?\"  The priests were silent.  Caiaphas replied\nin tones of the deepest conviction: \"I see that ye neither know nor\nunderstand.  Then listen to the high priest.  It is better that one man\nshould die and the whole nation perish not.  He must die!\"  And as the\nfatal words fell from the lips of Caiaphas the whole Sanhedrin was\nmoved.  Caiaphas continued: \"Until he is dead there is no peace in\nIsrael, no security for the law of Moses, and no quiet hours for us.\"\n\nHardly had Caiaphas ended than the rabbi sprang to his feet exclaiming\nin excited tones: \"God has spoken through our high priest!  Only by the\ndeath of Jesus of Nazareth can and must the people of Israel be\ndelivered!\"\n\nNathanael exclaimed: \"Long has the word lain upon my tongue!  Now is it\nuttered.  Let him die, the foe of our fathers!\"  Then sprang all the\npriests from their seats and with uplifted hands and eager voices\nexclaimed: \"Yes, he must die; in his death is our salvation!\"  When\nthey sat down, Annas, the aged high priest arose, and speaking with\nintense bitterness, declared: \"By my gray hairs let it be sworn, I will\nnever rest until our shame is washed out in the blood of this deceiver.\"\n\nThen stood up Nicodemus and said: \"O, fathers, is it allowed to say one\nword?\"  And all cried: \"Yes, yes, speak, speak!\"  Then said Nicodemus:\n\"Is the sentence already pronounced upon this man before there has been\nan examination or hearing of the witnesses?  Is this a proceeding\nworthy of the fathers of the people of God?\"  Nathanael said: \"What!\nWilt thou accuse the council of injustice?\"  Zadok exclaimed: \"Dost\nthou know the holy law?  Compare----\"  Nicodemus replied: \"I know the\nlaw; therefore also I know that the judge may not pass sentence before\nwitnesses are heard.\"  \"What need we any further witnesses?\" cried\nJosue.  \"We ourselves have often enough been witnesses to his speech\nand his actions, by which he blasphemously outraged the law.\"\nNicodemus answered, unmoved by the clamor of the assembly: \"Then you\nyourselves are at once the accusers, the witnesses and the judges.  I\nhave listened to his sublime teachings; I have seen his mighty deeds.\nThey call for belief and admiration; not for contempt and punishment.\"\n\n\"What,\" exclaimed Caiaphas indignantly, \"this scoundrel deserves\nadmiration!  Thou wilt cleave to Moses and yet defendest thou that\nwhich the law condemns?  Ha!  Fathers of Israel, the impious words call\nfor vengeance.\"\n\nThe priests shouted: \"Out with thee from our assembly, if thou persist\nin this way of speaking!\" when another voice is heard.\n\nJoseph of Arimathea stood forth on the opposite side of the hall and\nsaid: \"I must also agree with Nicodemus.  No one has imputed any deed\nto Jesus which makes him worthy of death; he has done nothing but good.\"\n\nThen said Caiaphas: \"Dost thou also speak in this wise?  Is it not\nknown everywhere how he desecrated the Sabbath; how he has misled the\npeople by his seditious speeches?  Hath he not also as a deceiver\nworked his pretended miracles by the aid of Beelzebub?  Has he not\ngiven himself out as a God, when he is nothing but a man?\"\n\n\"You hear that?\" cried the priests to Joseph.  He remained standing and\ncontinued saying: \"Envy and malice have misrepresented his words and\nimputed evil motives to the noblest acts.  That he is a man come from\nGod his God-like acts testify.\"\n\n\"Ha,\" cried Nathanael, with a laugh of scorn, \"now we know thee.\nAlready for a long time hast thou been a secret follower of this\nGalilean!  Now, thou hast shown thyself in thy true colors!\"\n\nAged Annas, without leaving his seat, remarked:  \"So, then, we have in\nour very midst traitors to our holy law, and even here has the deceiver\ncast his net.\"\n\n\"What do ye here, apostates?\" cried Caiaphas.  \"Be off to your prophet,\nto see him once more, before the hour strikes when he must die, for\nthat is irrevocably determined.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" cried all the priests.  \"Yes! die he must; that is our resolve.\"\n\nThen said Nicodemus, \"I curse this resolution; I will neither have part\nnor lot in this shameful condemnation.\"\n\n\"And I also,\" said Joseph of Arimathea, \"will quit this place where the\ninnocent are condemned to death.  By God, I swear that my hands are\nclean!\"\n\nGathering their robes together, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea\nwalked slowly out of the Sanhedrin.\n\nThen said Josue, \"At last we are rid of these traitors.  Now we can\nspeak out freely.\"  Caiaphas, however, profiting by the protests of\nNicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, said to the assembly: \"It will\ncertainly be necessary that we should sit formally in judgment upon\nthis man, to try him and to bring forth witnesses against him,\notherwise the people will believe that we have only persecuted him from\nenvy and hatred.\"\n\nThen said one Jacob, \"Two witnesses at least the law requires,\" and\nSamuel answered: \"These shall not be lacking; I will provide them\nmyself.\"\n\nThen said Dariabbas, \"Our decision stands firm, but in order not to\noffend the weak it would be well to observe the usual forms of justice.\"\n\n\"And,\" added Ezekiel complacently, \"should these forms not suffice the\nstrength of our will we must supply what is lacking.\"\n\nAnd a rabbi said, \"A little more or less guilty matters little, since\nonce for all the public weal demands that he should be removed.\"\n\nThen Caiaphas said, \"In securing the execution of our sentences it\nwould be safest if we could so contrive that the sentence of death\nshould be pronounced by the governor; then we should be clear of all\nresponsibility.\"\n\n\"We can try,\" said Nathanael.  \"If it miscarries, it is still always\nopen to us to have our sentence carried out by our trusty friends in\nthe commotion of a great tumult, without ourselves being openly\nresponsible for anything.\"\n\n\"And then,\" said the rabbi, \"if the worst come we should have him in\nour hands, and in the silence of a dungeon it will not be difficult to\nfind a more sure hand to deliver the Sanhedrin from its enemy.\"\n\nThen Caiaphas arose and said, \"Circumstances will teach us what should\nbe done.  Now let us break up.  But hold yourselves ready at any hour\nof the night to be called together.  There is no time to be lost.  Our\nresolution is, he must die.\"\n\nAnd all the members of the high council cried tumultuously: \"Let him\ndie!  Let him die!  The enemy of our holy land!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nBETRAYED BY A KISS.\n\n  The foulest deed will soon be done\n  That earth or hell displays--\n  Alas! ere this night's course be run\n  Judas his Lord betrays!\n\n  Come now, ye faithful souls draw nigh\n  See Jesus suffer, bleed and die,\n  Now has begun the anguished fight\n  Beyond in dark Gethsemane.\n  O, sinners never let this night\n  For evermore forgotten be!\n\n  For your salvation this has been\n  Which on the mountain we have seen,\n  When, sorrowing unto death, he sank\n  To earth, it was for you--\n  'Twas for your sake the damp turf drank\n  Those drops of crimson dew.\n\n\nIn the twilight of the same day there were gathered together in the\nneighborhood of the Mount of Olives those appointed by the Sanhedrin to\nseize Jesus.  Judas was there with Dathan and the other traders, as\nwell as the four priests sent by Caiaphas to see that all things went\nwell.  With them came the Temple Watch under the command of one Selpha,\nin steel helmet and steel-embossed leather cuirass.  The watch\nconsisted of twenty men in armor, two of whom carried long clubs set\nwith spikes, two bore braziers of burning coals, while the rest carried\nspears.  Conspicuous among the watch were Malchus, the high priest's\nservant, and Balbus.  They approached stealthily, and Judas addressed\nthem, saying, \"Now be careful!  We are now approaching the place\nwhither the Master has withdrawn himself.\"\n\nThen said Solomon, one of the priests, \"I suppose the disciples will\nnot perceive us too soon.\"\n\n\"No,\" said Judas, \"they rest unconcerned and dream nothing of any\nattack.  As to any resistance, there is nothing of that to fear.\"\n\nThen cried the Temple Watch aloud, \"Should they try it they shall feel\nthe weight of our arms.\"\n\n\"You will seize him,\" said Judas, \"without a single sword stroke.\"\n\n\"But,\" said Josue, \"how shall we know him in the darkness so as not to\narrest another in place of the one we desire?\"\n\n\"I shall give you a sign,\" said Judas, \"when we are in the garden; then\nlook out.  I will hasten up to him, and the man whom I shall kiss; that\nis he; bind him!\"\n\nThen said Korah, \"Good, this sign will prevent us from making any\nmistake.\"\n\nPtolomaus, the priest, then turned to the watch and said, \"Do you hear?\nYou will know the master by a kiss!\"\n\n\"Yes, yes,\" cried the soldiers, \"we shall not miss him.\"\n\n\"Now,\" said Judas, \"let us make haste; it is time.  We are not far from\nthe garden.\"\n\nThen said Josue to Judas, \"Judas, if tonight brings us good fortune,\nthou wilt profit by the fruit of thy work.\"\n\nThe traders added, \"We, too, will recompense thee richly.\"\n\nThen cried all the soldiers together, \"Now look out, thou stirrer-up of\nthe people, thou wilt soon have thy reward.\"  Thereupon the whole\ncompany moved off into the darkness and remained hidden in an ambush\nuntil the signal should be given.\n\nAfter a time Jesus and his disciples entered the garden of Gethsemane.\nJesus spoke unto them, saying, \"Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye\nshall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice; ye shall be\nsorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy, for I will see you\nagain and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no one taketh from\nyou.  I came forth from the Father and am come into the world.  I leave\nthe world again and go unto the Father.\"\n\n\"Lo,\" said Peter, \"now thou speakest plainly and no more in parables.\"\n\nThen said James the Greater, \"Now we see that thou knowest all things,\nand hast no need that one should ask thee anything.\"\n\nAnd Thomas added, \"Therefore we believe that thou comest forth from\nGod.\"\n\nJesus answered them saying, \"Do ye now believe?  Behold the hour\ncometh, yea, is already come, when ye shall be scattered every man to\nhis own and leave me alone.  Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with\nme.  Yes, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son that thy Son also\nmay glorify thee.  I have finished the work which thou hast given me to\ndo.  I have manifested thy name to those thou gavest me out of the\nworld.  Holy Father, keep them in thy name; sanctify them in the truth.\nNeither pray I for these alone, but for them also who shall believe on\nme through their word; that they may all be one, as thou, Father, art\nin me, and I in thee.  Father, I will pray that they also whom thou\nhast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory\nwhich thou hast given me, for thou lovedst me before the foundation of\nthe world.\"  Then turning to the disciples who were following him into\nthe garden he said in a voice which was broken with sorrow: \"Children,\nsit down here while I go and pray yonder.  Pray that ye enter not into\ntemptation; but you, Peter, James and John follow me.\"  Eight of the\ndisciples then sat down on the ground under the trees, while Jesus went\nforward with the three.\n\nBartholomew said, \"Never have I seen him so sad;\" and James the Less\nreplied, \"My heart is also laden down with sadness;\" while Matthew\ncried, \"Ah, that this night were passed with its weary hours.\"  And\nanother apostle exclaimed, \"Not in vain has our master prepared us for\nthis.\"\n\nPhilip said, \"Dear brothers, we will sit down here and rest until he\ncomes back.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said Thomas, \"that we will, for I am utterly worn out and weary.\"\n\nThen Jesus, who had come forward with Peter, James and John, said unto\nthem, \"Ah, beloved children, my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto\ndeath.  Tarry ye here and watch with me.\"  Then after a pause he added,\n\"I will go a little further apart in order to strengthen myself by\ncommunion with the Father.\"\n\nAs Jesus with slow and staggering steps went toward the grotto, Peter\ncried, looking after him, \"Ah, dear good master,\" and John exclaimed,\n\"My soul is suffering with our teacher.\"\n\nAs they sat down Peter said, \"I am very anxious.\"\n\nJames said, \"Why does our dear master thus separate us from one\nanother?\"\n\nJohn replied, \"Alas, we are to be witnesses,\" and Peter continued, \"Ye\nknow, brethren, we were the witnesses of his transfiguration on the\nmountain, but now, what is it that we have to see?\"\n\nSlowly Peter, James and John, who were sitting apart, fell asleep.\n\nJesus having reached the grotto, said, \"This hour must come upon\nme--the hour of darkness.  For this it was that I came into the world.\"\nThen falling upon his knees he clasped his hands, and looking up to\nheaven cried, with a great and pitiful voice, \"Father, my Father!  If\nit be possible, and with thee all things are possible, let this cup\npass from me!\"  Then Jesus fell upon his face on the ground and\nremained silent for a while.  Then again he rose upon his knees and\ncried, \"Yes, Father, not as I will, but as thou wilt!\"  Then standing\nup, he looked toward heaven and slowly returned to the three disciples.\n\nAnd lo, when he approached he found them asleep.  \"Simon,\" he said.\n\nSimon Peter, as in a dream, rubbed his head and said, \"Alas, my master.\"\n\nJesus said, \"Simon, dost thou sleep?\"\n\nPeter, rousing himself, said, \"Master, here I am.\"\n\nJesus said, \"Could you not watch with me one hour?\"\n\nPeter cried, \"O, Master, forgive.\"\n\nThe apostles said, \"Rabbi, sleep has overpowered us.\"\n\nThen said Jesus, \"Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation.\"\n\nThe apostles answered, \"Yes, Lord, we will watch and pray.\"\n\nThen said Jesus unto them; \"The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh\nis weak.\"  So saying he turned from them, and again slowly walked\ntoward the grotto.\n\nPraying he said, \"My Father, thy demand is just, thy decrees are holy,\nthou claimest this sacrifice.\"  Then falling upon his knees, he prayed,\nsaying, \"Father, the strife is hot.\"  Falling upon his face he remained\nsilent for a time, then raising himself again he cried, \"Yes, Father,\nif this cup may not pass from me unless I drink it, Father thy will be\ndone.\"  Then standing up he said, \"Holy One, it will be completed by me\nin righteousness.\"\n\nThen once more he came back to his sleeping disciples; this time he did\nnot rouse them.\n\n\"Are also your eyes so heavy that you could not watch?\" he said.  \"Ah,\nmy most trusted ones, even among you I find no consolation.\"\n\nThen returning over the rocky road which led to the grotto he paused\nfor a moment in sorrow, while a great sorrow overwhelmed him.  \"Oh, how\ndark it grows around me; the anguish of death encompasses me!  The\nburden of God's judgment lies upon me!  Oh, the sins!  Oh, the sins of\nmankind!  They weigh me down.  Oh, the fearful burden; oh, the\nbitterness of this cup!\"  Then coming to the grotto again, he cried,\n\"My Father!\" and falling down he prayed, \"If it is not possible that\nthis hour pass away from me, thy will be done!  Thy holiest will!\nFather!  Thy son!  Hear him!\"\n\nThen from out of the darkness a bright and shining angel in white\napparel and with radiant wings descended upon him.  And out of the\nsilence were heard these words, \"O, Son of Man, sanctify the Father's\nwill!  Look upon the blessedness which will proceed from thy struggles.\nThe Father has laid it upon thee to become the sacrifice for sinful\nman.  Carry it through to the end.  The Father will glorify thee!\"\n\nThen said Jesus, \"Yes, most Holy Father, I adore thy Providence; I will\ncomplete the work--to reconcile--to save, to bless!\"  Then standing up\nhe cried in a more joyous tone, \"Strengthened by thy word, O Father!  I\ngo joyfully to meet that to which thou hast called me, as the\nsubstitute for sinful man.\"\n\nWith lighter step he returned to the place where the three disciples\nlay slumbering peacefully.  He looked upon them and said, \"Sleep now\nand take your rest.\"\n\nPeter, hearing his voice, said, \"What is it, master?\"\n\nThen all three answered, \"Behold, we are ready.\"\n\nThen said Jesus, \"The hour is come; the son of man is betrayed into the\nhands of sinners.  Rise, let us be going.\"\n\nEven as he spoke these words the tramp of armed men was heard in the\nimmediate neighborhood of the garden mingled with loud cries of\ndenunciation and vengeance.\n\n\"What is that uproar?\" said the apostles.\n\n\"Come,\" said Philip, who hurried from behind with the rest of the\neight, \"Come, let us gather around the master.\"  At that word the\ndisciples hastened forward.\n\n\"Behold,\" said Jesus, \"he who betrayeth me is at hand.\"  The disciples\nlooked in the direction which Jesus indicated, and there by the flaring\nlight of the braziers carried by the Temple Watch, they saw Judas\nadvancing at the head of his band.\n\n\"What does this multitude want?\" said Andrew.\n\nFor an answer all the disciples cried as with one voice, \"Alas! we are\nundone!\"\n\n\"And see,\" cried John, \"Judas is at their head.\"\n\nEven as he said this, Judas, with long and stealthy steps, sprang\nforward, looking from side to side as he came, until he stopped\nimmediately behind Jesus; then standing on tiptoe he reached over the\nshoulder of Jesus and kissed him, saying, \"Hail, Master.\"\n\n[Illustration: \"He reached over and kissed him.\"]\n\nJesus answered, \"Friend, wherefore art thou come?  Betrayest thou the\nson of man with a kiss?\"  Then stepping forward to meet the armed band,\nhe faced them fearlessly and said, \"Whom seek ye?\"\n\nA loud and angry shout went up from the soldiers: \"Jesus of Nazareth!\"\n\nJesus said, \"I am he.\"\n\nAs he uttered these word the soldiers fell backward to the ground,\ncrying, \"Woe unto us!  What is this?\"\n\nThe disciples exultantly cried, \"One single word from him casts them to\nthe ground.\"\n\nBut Jesus said to the soldiers, \"Fear not; arise.\"\n\nAs they regained their feet the disciples whispered eagerly to Jesus\nsaying, \"Lord, cast them down so that they shall never rise again.\"\n\nBut Jesus a second time asked, \"Whom seek ye?\"\n\nAgain the crowd replied, \"Jesus of Nazareth.\"\n\nThen Jesus said, \"I have already told you that I am he; if therefore,\nye seek me, let these go their way.\"\n\nSelpha, the leader of the band, cried, \"Seize him!\"  The soldiers\napproached Jesus, Malchus and Balbus carrying in their hands a small\ncord, and grasped him by the wrists in order to bind him.\n\nPeter and Philip asked Jesus, saying, \"Lord, shall we smite with the\nsword?\"  Before Jesus replied, Peter's sword flashed from its sheath\nand descended on the head of Malchus.  The helmet turned the descending\nblade, and instead of splitting his skull it only sliced off his ear.\n\n\"Alas!\" cried Malchus, \"I am wounded; my ear is off.\"\n\nThen said Jesus to the disciples, \"Suffer ye thus far,\" and reaching\nforward to Malchus he said, \"Be not troubled; thou shalt be healed.\"\nAnd touching his ear, that moment it was made whole.  Malchus felt his\near with astonishment.  His comrades satisfied themselves that the ear\nwas as the other and stood motionless, while Jesus turned to Peter and\nsaid, \"Put up thy sword into its sheath, for all they who take the\nsword shall perish with the sword.  The cup which the Father hath\ngiven, shall I not drink it?  Thinkest thou I cannot now pray to my\nFather, and he would presently give me more than twelve legions of\nangels?  But how, then, would the Scriptures be fulfilled that thus it\nmust be?\"  Then turning to the Pharisees he said, \"Are ye come out as\nagainst a thief with swords and staves to take me?  I sat daily with ye\nin the temple teaching, and ye took me not.  But this is your hour and\nthe power of darkness.  Behold, I am here!\"\n\n\"Surround him!\" cried Selpha; \"bind him fast that he escape not.\"\n\nThen said Nathanael, whose eager zeal to destroy Jesus had led him to\njoin the soldiers, \"You are responsible to the council that he does not\nescape.\"  At Selpha's command Malchus and Balbus had seized Christ, and\nwere busily engaged in tying his hands together with cords.  Slowly,\none by one, the disciples stole away, leaving Jesus alone in the midst\nof his captors.\n\nIn reply to Nathanael, the soldiers said, \"Out of our hands he will not\nescape.\"\n\nThen cried with a loud voice the traders, with Dathan at their head,\n\"Now, we will wreak our vengeance.\"  And Dathan added, \"Dost thou still\nremember what thou didst to us in the temple?\"\n\nJosaphat said to the other Pharisees, \"We will hasten on into the city.\nThe Sanhedrin will be awaiting our arrival with impatience.\"\n\nThe traders replied, \"But we will not leave this scoundrel for an\ninstant.\"\n\n\"First,\" said Nathanael, \"we must go to the High Priest Annas.  Lead\nhim thither!\"\n\nSelpha said, \"We follow thee!\"\n\nAs the band prepared to obey the word of command a trader came up to\nJudas and said approvingly, \"Thou art a man, indeed.  Thou knowest how\nto keep thy word.\"\n\nJudas complacently answered, \"Did I not tell you that he would be in\nyour power today?\"\n\nThe Pharisees said, \"Thou hast placed the whole council under an\nobligation to thee.\"\n\nThe procession then went off, leading Jesus to the palace of Annas.\nThe Temple Watch formed behind Jesus, who with his hands bound before\nhim, was thrown violently forward by Malchus and Balbus, who held the\nother ends of the cords which bound him, and marched behind him.  They\ncried, \"On with thee!  In Jerusalem they will settle your affair!\"\n\nSelpha, who marched at the head of his band, cried, \"Let us hasten;\nlead him away carefully.\"\n\nAnd all the band shouted, \"Ha, run now as thou hast hitherto run to and\nfro about the land of Judea.\"\n\n\"Spare him not!\" said Selpha, \"drive him on!\"\n\n\"Forward,\" shouted the soldiers, shouting together; \"otherwise thou\nshalt be driven on with staves.\"\n\nAnd as they marched away, driving Jesus before them the traders derided\nhim, saying, \"Doth Beelzebub, then, aid thee no longer?\"\n\n      *      *      *      *      *      *\n\nIt was dark night and there was silence in the street before the house\nof Annas, the high priest, when his door opened and Annas, attended by\nEsdras, Sidrach and Missel, came upon the balcony.  \"I can find no rest\nthis night,\" said Annas, looking impatiently down the street, \"until I\nknow that this disturber of the peace is in our hands.  Oh, if he were\nonly safe, and in fetters.  Full of longing and anxiety I await the\narrival of my servants with the joyful news.\"\n\nThen said Esdras, \"They cannot be much longer, for it is a good while\nsince they went away.\"\n\n\"In vain has my troubled gaze looked up and down the street of Kedron.\nBut nothing can I see and nothing hear.  Go, my Esdras, go toward the\nKedron gate and see.\"\n\n\"I will hasten out,\" said Esdras, hurrying away as quickly as his\nshort, squat figure would allow.\n\nAnnas, walking about impatiently, tormented by misgivings as to the\nsuccess of the enterprise, began: \"It would be a blow to the Sanhedrin\nif this time the work should not succeed.\"\n\nSidrach said, \"Do not give away to anxiety, high priest,\" and Missel\nadded, \"There is no doubt of our success.\"\n\nAnnas, heeding not the consolation of his priests, said, \"They may have\naltered their way and returned through the Siola Gate.  I must send to\nsee also on that side.\"\n\nSidrach said, \"If the high priest wishes it I will go to the Siola\nGate.\"\n\n\"Yes, do,\" said Annas, \"but first see whether anyone comes through the\nstreet of the Sanhedrin.\"\n\n\"I will not loiter, my lord,\" said Sidrach, as he disappeared in the\ndarkness.\n\nAnnas resumed his troubled thoughts.  \"The night is going by, and still\nthe old uncertainty.  Every minute of this weary waiting time is as an\nhour to me.  Hark, I think some one comes running!  Yes, he comes.\nSurely there will be good tidings.\"\n\nSidrach, bursting into the presence of the high priest, exclaimed, \"My\nlord, Esdras comes in haste.  I saw him just now running down the\nstreet with rapid foot.\"\n\nThen said Annas, \"Surely it is joyful news that he brings since he\nhastens so.  Truly, I long for nothing now but the death of this\nmalefactor.\"\n\nThen came Esdras, breathless with haste, crying, \"Hail to the high\npriest.  I have seen the fathers who were sent to Judas.  All has gone\naccording to your wish.  The Galilean is in bonds.  I heard it from\ntheir mouth, and hurried as fast as I could to bring the joyful news in\nhaste to thee.\"\n\nAnnas cried, \"Oh, heavenly message!  Auspicious hour!  A stone is\nlifted from my heart; I feel as if I were born again.  Now for the\nfirst time can I rejoice to call myself high priest of the chosen\npeople.\"\n\nThen came in to Annas, Judas and the four Pharisees, who had been sent\nby the council to accompany him, crying, \"Long live our high priest!\"\n\nNathanael exclaimed, \"The wish of the council is accomplished.\"\n\nAnnas said, \"Oh, I must embrace you for joy.  So, then, our plan has\nsucceeded.  Judas, thy name shall take an honorable place in our\nannals.  Even before the feast shall the Galilean die.\"\n\nJudas, whom the Pharisees had brought in with the prisoner, startled by\nthat word, sprang back, repeating incredulously, \"Die!\"\n\n\"His death is declared!\" said Annas.\n\n\"For his life and blood,\" cried Judas, \"I will not be responsible.\"\n\n\"That is unnecessary,\" said Annas coolly, \"he is in our power.\"\n\n\"But,\" persisted Judas passionately, \"I have not delivered him over to\nyou for that.\"\n\n\"Thou hast delivered him over,\" said the Pharisees, \"and the rest is\nour business.\"\n\nRepulsed on every side, Judas, striking his forehead with his hand,\ncried, \"Woe is me; what have I done?  Shall he die?  No!  That I did\nnot wish.  That I will not have.\"\n\nAs he hurried into the street the Pharisees laughed at him and said,\n\"Whether thou wilt have it or not, die he must.\"\n\nThen said the priests to Annas, \"High priest, the prisoner is at the\nthreshold.\"\n\nAnnas said, \"Let Selpha, with as many of the watch as are necessary,\nbring him up here, while the rest await him below.\"  Then was Jesus\nbrought before Annas on the balcony in custody with Selpha, the leader\nof the Temple Watch and the two servants of the temple, Malchus and\nBalbus, holding the cords by which Jesus was bound.  The rest of the\nwatch remained in the street below.\n\nSelpha bowed low as he entered and said, \"High priest, in accordance\nwith thy command the prisoner now stands at thy bar.\"\n\nWhen Annas saw Jesus he said, \"Have you brought him alone as prisoner?\"\n\nBalbus answered, \"His disciples dispersed like timid sheep.\"\n\nSelpha said, \"We did not find it worth the trouble to arrest them.\nNevertheless Malchus almost lost his life.\"\n\n\"How did that happen?\" asked Annas.\n\n\"One of his followers,\" said Selpha, \"with a drawn sword smote him and\ncut off his ear.\"\n\n\"How could that be?\" said Annas, looking first at one side of Malchus'\nhead and then at the other.  \"It has left no mark; there is nothing to\nbe seen.\"\n\n\"Oh,\" said Balbus, mocking, \"the magician has conjured it back again.\"\n\n\"What sayest thou to that?\" asked Annas.  Malchus replied seriously, \"I\ncannot explain it.  It is a miracle that has happened to me.\"\n\nAnnas frowned, \"Has the deceiver also bewitched thee?\" he asked, and\nthen turning to Jesus said to him, \"Say, by what power hast thou done\nthis?\"  Jesus did not answer.\n\n\"Speak,\" said Selpha, \"when the high priest asks thee.\"\n\n\"Speak,\" said Annas.  \"Give an account of thy disciples and thy\nteaching, which thou hast spread abroad over the whole land of Judea\nand with which thou hast corrupted the people.\"\n\nThen Jesus answered and said unto him, \"I spake openly to the world, I\never taught in the synagogue and in the temple, and in secret I taught\nnothing.  What askest thou me?  Ask them that heard me what I have\nspoken.  Behold, they know what I have said.\"\n\nBalbus, who was standing on the left hand of Jesus holding one end of\nthe cord by which his hands were bound, struck him over the face a\nresounding blow, saying, \"Answerest thou the high priest so?\"\n\nJesus answered, \"If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil, but\nif I have spoken well why smitest thou me?\"\n\nThen Annas exclaimed, \"Wilt thou even now defy us, when thy life and\ndeath are in our power?  I am weary of this villain!\" and gave the\nsignal for Jesus to be removed.\n\n\"Oh,\" said Balbus, as he roughly thrust him forward, \"wait a little.\nThy obstinacy will vanish.\"\n\nAs Jesus was being led down the steps Annas exclaimed, \"I will go in\nnow for a little while to rest, or rather to meditate quietly as to how\nthe work so happily begun may be brought to an end.  In any case the\nsummons to the Sanhedrin will reach me at an early hour in the\nmorning.\"  Annas then entered into his own house, leaving Jesus in the\nstreet below in the midst of the soldiers.  As Selpha appeared bringing\nJesus into the street the watch cried out loudly, \"Ha, is this business\nalready over?\"\n\nSelpha said, \"His defense has turned out badly,\" and Balbus added,\n\"After all it gained him a smart slap over the face.\"\n\nSelpha said, \"Take him now and away with him to the palace of Caiaphas.\"\n\n\"Off with him,\" cried the soldiers tumultuously.\n\n\"Lift up thy feet.  Cheer up!\" said Balbus, mocking, \"Thou wilt have a\nstill better reception from Caiaphas,\" and the soldiers shouted as they\nmarched, \"There will be the raven's croak about thine ears!\"\n\nWhen Jesus was taken from the house of Annas he was led through the\nstreets, the band accompanying him, shouting as they went.  On their\nway to the Sanhedrin they led Jesus down the street which passed\nPilate's house, and as they went they cried to him with riotous\nlaughter, \"Thou shalt become a laughing stock for the whole nation!\"\n\nBalbus said unto him scoffingly, \"Make haste!  Thy disciples are quite\nready to proclaim thee King of Israel.\"\n\nAnd the soldiers laughed as they said, \"Thou hast often dreamed of\nthis; is it not so?\"\n\nThen said Selpha, \"Caiaphas will soon explain this dream to him.\"\n\nAnd Balbus, seeing that Jesus opened not his mouth, and was silent,\nshouted in his ear, \"Dost thou hear?  Caiaphas will announce to thee\nthy exaltation to a high position!\"\n\nA great burst of hoarse laughter from the watch followed, as they\nshouted, \"An exalted position between heaven and earth!\"\n\n\"Look out, you fellows!\" cried Selpha, \"there through the hall of\nPilate's lies our nearest way to the palace of Caiaphas.  There,\nstation yourselves in the courtyard until further orders.\"\n\nThe soldiers answered, \"Thy command shall be fully obeyed!\"\n\nHardly had the noisy soldiery passed with their prisoner out of the\nstreet than Peter and John appeared before the house of Annas.  Then\nsaid Peter, \"How will it fare here with our good master?  Oh, John, how\nanxious I am about him!\"\n\nJohn answered, \"He is certain to have to suffer here scorn and ill\ntreatment.  I am very much afraid of approaching the house.\"\n\nPeter said, \"But it is so silent about here.\"\n\nJohn replied, \"One hears not a sound in the place.  Could they have\ntaken him away again?\"\n\nAs they were talking Esdras came out from the house of Annas and asked,\n\"What do you want at the palace at this time of night?\"\n\nJohn answered, \"Forgive us; we saw a number of people from afar come\nhither from the Kedron Gate, and we came here in order to see what had\nhappened.\"\n\nEsdras answered, \"They have brought in a prisoner, but he has already\nbeen sent to Caiaphas.\"\n\n\"To Caiaphas,\" said the disciples, \"then we will go away at once.\"\n\n\"You had better, otherwise I will have you taken, up as night\nbrawlers,\" said Esdras.\n\n\"We will go away quietly and make no disturbance,\" said Peter, meekly.\n\nAs they went the priest, looking after them, said, \"Perhaps they are\nfollowers of the Galilean.  If I only knew.  However, they will not\nescape our people if they go to the palace of Caiaphas.  The whole of\nhis following must be destroyed.  Otherwise the people will never be\nbrought into obedience.\"  He then returned into the house.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nPETER COMMITS PERJURY.\n\n      How bleeds my heart!\n  The Holiest stands before the judgement seat.\n  The malice of sinners he must bear,\n  Betrayed and outraged, bound and beaten there.\n  O, sons of men, your faces veil this day!--\n  The scarred form is touched by impious hands,\n  From Annas dragged to Caiaphas away,\n  What's here foreshadowed, see, fulfilled it stands.\n        See Jesus, how in silence he\n        Bears outrage, blows and mockery!\n          O! what a man!\n      Oh, hearts of men who now draw near,\n        Melt with compassion when you see\n        Bowed down in deepest misery!\n          O! what a man!\n\n\nCaiaphas, in his bed chamber, wearing a dressing gown, surrounded by\npriests, exulted over the news which had been brought him of the arrest\nof Jesus.\n\n\"This happy capture,\" said he, \"promises us a fortunate realization of\nour wishes.  I thank you, noble members of the Sanhedrin, for zealous\nand prudent co-operation.\"\n\nBut the priests with one voice cried, \"The greatest share of praise\nbelongs to our high priest!\"\n\n\"Now,\" said Caiaphas, \"let us pursue our path without delay.\nEverything is ready!  The council will immediately be assembled.  The\nnecessary witnesses have already been brought along.  I shall now\nwithout losing a moment, at once begin the trial of the prisoner.  Then\njudgment shall be pronounced and provision made that it shall be\nexecuted.  The quicker the execution the surer the result!\"\n\nDathan said, \"It would be advisable to get everything over before our\nadversaries recover their senses.\"\n\nCaiaphas replied, \"I have encountered this necessity.  Trust me, my\nfriends.  I have thought of a plan.  I hope to carry it out.\"\n\nAt this Zadok said, \"The wisdom of our high priest deserves our fullest\nconfidence,\" and then cried they all, \"the God of our fathers bless all\nhis measures!\"\n\nThen Selpha, the leader of the band, brought Jesus into the chamber of\nCaiaphas, the high priest, Balbus and Malchus holding the cords by\nwhich his hands were bound.\n\n\"Illustrious High Priest, here is the prisoner,\" said Selpha.\n\n\"Bring him nearer,\" said Caiaphas, \"so that I may look him in the face\nand question him.\"\n\n\"Step forward,\" said Selpha, \"and show respect here to the head of the\nSanhedrin.\"\n\nThen Caiaphas, having looked into the face of Jesus, said to him\ndisdainfully, \"Thou art he then who dreamed of bringing about the\ndestruction of the synagogue, and the law of Moses?\"  Then assuming a\nmore judicial tone, he said, \"Thou art accused that thou hast stirred\nup the people to disobedience, that thou hast despised the holy\ntraditions of the fathers, that thou hast transgressed the divine\ncommand for the keeping of the Sabbath day, and that thou hast even\nbeen guilty of many blasphemous speeches and acts.  Here,\" Caiaphas\ncontinues, pointing to five Jews who had entered the chamber at the\nsame time as Selpha brought in Jesus, and had taken their stand on the\nleft of the high priest, confronting the accused, \"Here stand honorable\nmen who are prepared to prove the truth, of these accusations by their\ntestimony.  Hear them and then thou mayest answer if thou canst.\"\n\nThen stood forth the first witness and spoke, saying, \"I can testify\nbefore God that this man has stirred up the people by openly denouncing\nthe members of the council and the scribes as hypocrites, ravening\nwolves in sheeps' clothing, blind leaders of the blind, and has\ndeclared that no one shall follow their work.\"  At this the members of\nthe Sanhedrin smiled approvingly one to another.\n\nThe second witness said, \"I can also testify to this, and can still\nfurther declare that he has forbidden the people to pay tribute to\nCaesar.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" interrupted the first witness, \"at any rate he has dropped words\nof double meaning about that.\"\n\nThen Caiaphas turned to Jesus and said, \"What sayest thou unto this?\"\nHe paused for a reply, but Jesus opened not his mouth.  Then said\nCaiaphas, \"Art thou silent?  Hast thou nothing to answer?\"  But Jesus\nnever answered a word.\n\nThe third witness took up his testimony.  \"I have often seen how he\nwith his disciples, in defiance of the law, has eaten with unwashed\nhands; how he has become accustomed to hold friendly intercourse with\npublicans and sinners and go into their houses to eat with them.\"\n\n\"That we have also seen,\" cried the other witnesses together.  \"I have\nheard many credible people say that he has even spoken with Samaritans,\nand indeed has lived with them for days together.\"\n\nThen the first witness began to speak again: \"I was a witness how he\nhas done on the Sabbath what is forbidden by God's law, in that he\nhealed sick and infirm people without fear on that day.  He has seduced\nothers to break the Sabbath; he ordered a man to take up his bed and\ncarry it to his house.\"  The second witness joined in, \"I also can\ntestify to this.\"\n\nAgain Caiaphas turned to Jesus and said, \"What has thou to say against\nthis evidence?\"  And after a pause, seeing that Jesus still spoke not,\nhe said, \"Hast thou nothing to say in reply?\"  But Jesus spoke not.\n\nThen said the third witness, addressing himself to Jesus, \"Thou hast,\nfor I was present, taken upon thyself to forgive sins, which belongs to\nGod alone.  Thou hast, therefore, blasphemed God.\"\n\nThen again spoke the first witness, \"Thou hast called God thy Father,\nand hast dared to declare that thou art one with the Father.  Thou hast\ntherefore made thyself equal to God.\"\n\nThe second witness added, \"Thou hast exalted thyself above our father\nAbraham.  Thou didst say, 'Before Abraham was, I am.'\"\n\nThen spoke the fourth witness, who said, \"Thou hast said, 'I can\ndestroy the temple of God, and in three days build it up again.'\"\n\nThe fifth witness, who had not hitherto spoken, stood forward and said,\n\"I have heard thee say, 'I will destroy this temple which is made with\nhands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.'\"\nThis concluded the testimony of the witnesses.\n\nThen Caiaphas, turning to Jesus, spoke to him with indignation: \"So\nthou hast claimed to possess a superhuman divine power?  These are\nserious accusations, and they are legally proved; answer if thou\ncanst.\"  Jesus remaining silent, Caiaphas resumed, \"Thou thinkest that\nby silence thou canst save thyself.  Thou darest not to admit before\nthe fathers and judges of the people what thou hast taught before the\npeople.  Or dost thou dare?\"  Then rising to his utmost height, and\nstretching his hand on high, Caiaphas continued, \"Hear, then, I, the\nhigh priest, adjure thee by the living God.  Say--art thou the Messiah,\nthe Son of the Most High?\" and as he uttered the sacred name Caiaphas\ncrossed his arms and dropped his head on his breast.\n\nFor a moment there was silence, then Jesus answered and said, \"Thou\nhast said it, and so I am.  Nevertheless, I say unto you, hereafter ye\nshall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of God in power and\ncoming in the clouds of heaven.\"\n\nAs Jesus spoke these words, the members of the council started in\nhorror, and Caiaphas rending his robe, exclaimed with a loud voice, \"He\nhas blasphemed God!  What need have we of any further witnesses?  You\nyourselves have heard the blasphemy.  What think ye?\"\n\nAnd all the members of the council cried together, \"He is worthy of\ndeath.\"\n\nThen said Caiaphas, \"He is thus unanimously declared worthy of death.\nBut not I, not the council, but the law of God pronounces the death\nsentence upon him.  You teachers of the law, I call upon you to answer;\nwhat does the holy law say of him who is guilty of disobedience to the\nauthorities appointed by God?\"  Then stood up Josue, and unrolling the\nbook of the law read therefrom: \"The man that will do presumptuously\nand will not hearken to the priest that standest to minister there\nbefore the Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shalt die,\nand thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.\"\n\nThen again said Caiaphas, \"What does the law decree concerning him who\nprofaneth the Sabbath?\"\n\nThen Ezekiel stood up and read, \"Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore,\nfor it is holy unto you.  Every one that defileth it shall surely be\nput to death; for whosoever doeth any work therein that soul shall be\ncut off from his people.\"\n\nThen asked Caiaphas, \"How does the law punish the blasphemer?\"\n\nThen stood up Nathanael, and unrolling the book of the law, read:\n\"Speak unto the children of Israel saying, whosoever curseth his God\nshall bear his sin.  And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord he\nshall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly\nstone him, as well the stranger as him that is born in this land.\"\n\n\"Thus,\" said Caiaphas, \"is the judgment pronounced upon this Jesus of\nNazareth--pronounced according to law, and shall be carried out as\nspeedily as possible.  Meanwhile I will have the condemned placed under\nsafe guard.  Lead him forth, guard him, and by the safe dawn of the\nmorning bring him to the Great Sanhedrin.\"\n\n\"Come, then, Messiah,\" said Selpha, roughly, \"we will show thee thy\npalace.\"\n\n\"There thou shalt receive due homage,\" said Balbus, as he placed his\nhand on the shoulder of Jesus, and marched him out of the chamber.\n\nThen said Caiaphas exultingly, \"We are approaching the goal.  Now,\nhowever, resolute steps are necessary.\"\n\nThe priests and Pharisees cried together, \"We will not rest until he is\nbrought to death.\"\n\nThen said Caiaphas, \"With the break of day let us come together again.\nThis must be announced to the High Priest Annas and the rest.  Then\nshall the sentence be confirmed by the whole assembled council, and the\nprisoner will immediately be brought before Pilate in order that he may\nconfirm it and have it executed.\"\n\nThe priests then departed, crying as they went, \"God deliver us soon\nfrom our enemy.\"\n\nWhen the council had been dismissed and all was still, Judas, moving as\none distracted, came down the street in front of the high priest's\npalace; as he went he muttered to himself: \"Fearful forebodings drive\nme hither and thither.  That word of Annas' 'He must die!'  Oh, that\nword pursues me everywhere.\"  Then, as if he remembered all that had\nhappened, Judas cried, \"No, it cannot come to that; they will not carry\nthings so far!  That would be too terrible if my Master--no!--and\nI--guilty of it?  No!  Here in the house of Caiaphas, I will inquire\nhow things stand.  Shall I go in?  I can no longer bear this\nuncertainty, and it terrifies me to ascertain the certainty.  My heart\nthrobs with terror--surely I shall not have to hear the worst.  Yet it\nmust come some time.\"  And thereupon he went into the house of the high\npriest.\n\nMeanwhile in the hall of Caiaphas the Temple Watch was standing waiting\nthe result of the examination of Jesus before Caiaphas.  In the hall\nwere the servant maids, Sarah and Hagar, who seeing the soldiers\nstanding outside, went to the door, and said, \"You may come in here.\"\nIt was Hagar who spoke first, and Sarah added, \"It is more comfortable\nin here.\"\n\n\"True for you, good people,\" said Melchi, one of the soldiers.  Then\ncalling out, \"Ho, comrades, come in!  It is better for us to lie down\nin the hall.\"\n\nThen said a soldier named Arphaxad, \"I like this; I wish we had come in\nlong ago; how stupid we are, always standing outside in the open air\nand shivering.  But where is there any fire?\"\n\n\"Sarah,\" added another soldier, \"go and bring us fire, also wood to lay\nthereon.\"\n\n\"Willingly,\" said Hagar.\n\n\"That you shall have,\" said Sarah.  They went out together to comply\nwith the soldier's wish.\n\n\"Will the trial soon come to an end?\" asked several of the soldiers.\n\n\"It will last,\" said Melchi, \"until all the witnesses are examined.\"\n\n\"And,\" added Panther, \"the accused will also use all his eloquence to\nget himself out of the scrape.\"\n\n\"That will help him nothing,\" said Arphaxad; \"he has offended the\npriests too much.\"  Then returned the serving maids with a brazier in\nwhich there was a little fire and some wood, which they placed thereon,\nmaking a great smoke.\n\n\"Here is your fire,\" said Hagar, \"wood and fire tongs.\"\n\nThen cried the soldiers together, \"Thanks, you good girls.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said Panther, stooping down over the brazier, \"that is good.\nNow take care that the fire does not go out.\"  Several of the soldiers\nstooped over the fire, piled on wood, and Sarah busied herself with\nbringing in meat and bread.\n\nPeter and John, who had been wandering about the streets seeking for\ntidings, came to the door, John preceding Peter.  Hagar, who saw John\nstanding in the entrance of the door, said, \"John, comest thou also\nhither in the middle of the night?  Come in here, then, thou must warm\nthyself.  Could you make a little room for this young man here?\" said\nHagar addressing the soldiers.\n\n\"Yes, indeed,\" cried the band together.\n\nThen said John, \"Good Hagar, I have a companion with me; can he not\nalso come in?\"\n\n\"Where is he?\" said Hagar.  \"Let him come in; why does he stand out in\nthe cold?\"\n\nJohn went to where Peter was standing, but came back alone.\n\n\"Where is he?\" said Hagar.\n\n\"He stands on the threshold, but does not trust himself to come in,\"\nreplied John.\n\nThen Hagar went to the door and said, \"Come in, good friend; do not be\nafraid.\"\n\nAll the soldiers cried, \"Friend, come also in here to us and warm\nthyself!\"  Peter without saying a word timidly drew near to the fire\nand warmed his hands in the smoke.\n\nThe men went on talking round the fire and Arphaxad said, after a\npause, \"We still see and hear nothing of the prisoner.\"\n\nSeveral then asked together, \"How much longer must we wait here?\"\n\nThen said Panther, \"Probably he will come out from the trial as a man\ncondemned to death.\"\n\n\"I wonder,\" said Arphaxad, \"whether his disciples will be sought after?\"\n\nPeter trembled as the band with hoarse laughter cried aloud, \"That\nwould be a fine piece of work if they all had to be captured!\"\n\nThen said Panther, \"It would not be worth the trouble.  If the Master\nis once out of the way, then the Galileans will fly and never let\nthemselves be seen again in Jerusalem.  But,\" said Panther, \"one at\nleast ought to receive sharp punishment; he who in the garden drew his\nsword and cut off Malchus' ear.\"\n\n\"Yes, yes,\" cried the band, laughing, \"that should be, as it is said,\nan ear for an ear!\"\n\n\"Ha, ha, ha, a good idea!\" laughed Panther, \"but that rule would here\nfind no application, for Malchus has his ear back again.\"\n\nDuring this time, while the soldiers were laughing and talking, Hagar\nwas curiously looking at Peter.  Immediately a pause took place, Hagar\nsaid to Peter, \"I have been observing thee for some time.  Now, if I do\nnot mistake, thou art one of the disciples of the Galilean.  Yes, yes,\nthou wert with Jesus of Nazareth.\"\n\nPeter started up from the fire over which he had been warming his hands\nand stammered out, \"I?  No, I am not.  Woman, I know him not, neither\nknow I what thou sayest.\"\n\nWhen Hagar thus spoke all the soldiers looked at Peter, who fearing his\nattack on Malchus might be resented, tried to slip through the band and\nescape unobserved.  Passing the fire, he came close to the other\nwaiting maid, Sarah, who, looking him full in the face, said in a\nshrill voice, \"See, this man was also with Jesus of Nazareth.\"\n\nThe attention of the whole band being aroused, they all clustered\naround Peter, asking, \"Art thou also one of the disciples?\"\n\nLevi said, \"Thou art one of them, quite certainly.\"\n\nPeter in the midst of armed and violent men, looked confusedly from\nside to side and declared, \"Upon my soul--I am not--I do not know the\nman.\"\n\nEven as he spoke the cock crew, but the rattle of the weapons of the\nsoldiers and imminent menace of a violent death left him no leisure to\nattend to anything but his own safety, for a soldier at the same moment\nexclaimed, \"Look at this man.  Of a truth he was also with him.\"\n\nThen said Peter stoutly, \"I know not what ye have to do with me.  What\ndoes this man matter to me?\"\n\nBut the soldiers crowding round him said, \"Yes, yes, thou art one of\nthem.  Thou art also a Galilean; thy speech betrayeth thee.\"\n\nThen Peter, raising his hands on high, said with a troubled voice, \"God\nbe my witness that I do not know the man of whom ye speak;\" and the\ncock crew a second time.\n\nThen Melchi, pressing forward, looked Peter full in the face and said,\n\"Did I not see thee in the garden with him, when my cousin Malchus had\nhis ear cut off?\"\n\nAt this moment, when the situation was getting very serious for Peter,\nattention was called off from him by a cry from the soldiers round the\nfire.  \"Make ready, they are bringing in the prisoner.\"  Selpha then\nbrought in Jesus bound between Malchus and Balbus.\n\n\"Now, how have things gone?\" eagerly inquired Arphaxad.\n\n\"He is condemned to death,\" said Selpha.\n\nThe soldiers mocking, cried, \"Poor king!\"\n\nAt this moment Jesus met Peter, and looked upon him with a gaze full of\nsorrow.  Peter smote his head with his hand and went out into the night.\n\n\"Come,\" said Arphaxad, \"he will help us to pass the time.\"\n\n\"Forward, comrades,\" said Selpha, \"we must guard him till morning.\"\nThereupon they all went out.\n\nPeter, when he had left the hall of the high priest, went out into the\nstreet weeping bitterly and suffering anguish of soul.  \"Oh, my\nMaster,\" he cried, \"how deeply have I fallen!  Oh, woe unto me, weak\nand wretched man!  I have three times denied my dearest friend and\nteacher.  I cannot understand how I could so forget myself.  A curse\nupon my shameful faithlessness!  How my heart will repent of it--this\ncontemptible cowardice.  My dearest Lord, hast thou still grace for\nme--grace for a faithless, one--oh! send it me!  This once more hear\nthe voice of my repentant heart.  Alas! the sin is committed.  I cannot\nundo it, but ever, ever, will I weep for it and repent of it--and now\nnevermore will I leave thee!  Oh, thou most loving one!  Thou wilt\nsurely not cast me off!  Thou wilt not despise my bitter, repentance.\nNo! the gentle pitying look which thou didst cast upon thy deeply\nfallen disciple promises it--thou wilt forgive me.  I have this hope\nfrom thee, best of teachers, and the whole love of my heart shall from\nthis moment be given to thee.  I will cling closely to thee and\nnothing, nothing shall ever be able to separate thee from me again!\"\n\nAnd with a face beaming with hope of forgiveness, even for his\nthreefold denial, he went away.\n\nHardly had he gone, when John entered at the other end of the street,\nasking anxiously, looking on either side, \"Where, then, can Peter have\ngone?  In vain my eyes have sought him in the crowd.  Surely nothing\nevil can have befallen him.  Perhaps I still may meet him upon the\nroad.  I will now go to Bethany.  Dearest mother, if I bring thee the\ntidings of these terrible things which have happened--the innocent one\nill-treated and condemned by sinners, what wilt thy heart feel?  O,\nJudas, Judas, what hast thou done?\"\n\nNow it came to pass that the soldiers having taken Jesus into the\nguardroom of Caiaphas' palace, mocked him and despitefully used him\nuntil it was day.  They seated him on a stool with a bandage over his\neyes, and surrounded him mockingly, saying, \"Is not this throne too\nmean for thee, great king?  Hail to thee, thou new-born sovereign!  But\nsit more firmly,\" said one, seizing Jesus from behind and pressing him\ndown on his chair.  \"Thou mightest otherwise fall down.  Thou art\nverily also a prophet.  So say, O great Elias, say who it is who has\nstruck thee,\" and with that he dealt Jesus a blow on the face.\n\nOthers came in and also struck him, saying, \"Was it I?\" but Jesus\nanswered nothing.\n\nThen one of the band went up to him and shouted, \"Hearest thou\nnothing?\" and shook him violently by the shoulders.  \"Art thou asleep?\"\nThen turning to his comrades he exclaimed, \"He is deaf and dumb; a fine\nprophet indeed.\"  And thereupon he roughly pushed Jesus forward so that\nhe fell from the stool upon the ground upon his face.\n\n\"Alas! alas!\" they cried.  \"Our king has fallen from his throne.  What\nis to be done now?  We have no longer any king.  Thou art to be pitied,\nsuch a great magician and now so weak and weary!  Come, help us to put\nhim again upon his throne.\"\n\nAnd then they seized him where he lay on the ground with his eyes\nbandaged and his hands tied, and lifted him again upon his seat.\n\"Raise thyself, O mighty king; receive anew our homage.\"\n\nAs they were kneeling around him in scorn a messenger of Caiaphas\nentered saying, \"How goes it now with the king?\" and the band shouted,\n\"He speaks and prophesies not; we can do nothing with him.\"\n\n\"Then,\" said the messenger, \"the high priest and Pilate will soon make\nhim speak.  Caiaphas sends me to bring him.\"\n\n\"Up, comrades,\" said Selpha.\n\nThereupon, taking Jesus again by the cords which bound his hands, they\nled him off, saying, \"Stand up; thou hast been king long enough.\"  And\nall shouted, \"Away with thee.  Thy kingdom has come to an end.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nJUDAS HANGS HIMSELF.\n\n  The guilty deed fails not to win its wages,\n  The guiltless blood he sold cries from the ground;\n    Driven to madness by the worm that rages\n  And scourged by furies, Judas ranges round\n      Wildly, and finds no rest\n      From the fire in his breast,\n  Till swept away by bitterest despair\n  He flings away in reckless haste\n  The load of life he can no longer bear.\n\n\nWhen Jesus was being mocked and ill-treated by the soldiers in the\nguardroom of Caiaphas' palace, Judas wandered to and fro in despair.\n\"Now my fearful foreboding has become a terrible certainty.  Caiaphas\nhas sentenced the Master to death, and the council has concurred in his\nsentence.  All is over.  There is no hope, no way of escape.  Had the\nMaster wished to save himself he would have made them feel his might a\nsecond time in the garden.  As he did not do it then, he will now do so\nno more.  What can I do for him, I, a miserable wretch who have\ndelivered him into their hands?  They shall have the money back, that\nblood money.  They must give me my Master back again.  I will go at\nonce and make the demand.  But, oh, will he be saved by that?  Oh,\nvain, foolish hope.  They will mock me, I know it.  O cursed synagogue,\nthou hast tempted me through thy messengers, thou hast hidden from me\nthy bloody designs until thou hadst him in thy clutches.  I will\ntorture thee with bitter reproaches, ye unjust judges.  I will have\nnothing to do with your devilish decision.  I will have no share in the\nblood of this innocent.  Oh, what tortures, what pains of hell, tear my\ninmost soul!\"  So saying he departed.\n\nNow within the hall of the Sanhedrin were assembled the high priests,\nthe scribes and the leaders.  Caiaphas and Annas arrayed in their\nrobes, sat in the high place of the council, and all the seats were\nfilled except those of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus.  Caiaphas\nspoke, saying, \"I thought, fathers, that I could not wait till the\nmorning to send the enemy of the synagogue to death.\"\n\nAnd Annas said, \"I could not get a moment's rest for eagerness to hear\nthe sentence pronounced.\"\n\nThen cried they all, \"It is pronounced.  He shall and must die.\"\n\nCaiaphas said, \"I did not wish to trouble all the members of the\nSanhedrin to come hither in the night time.  But there was present the\nnecessary number of judges to pronounce as the law prescribes.  All as\nwith one mouth declared the accused worthy of death, for all had heard\nwith their own ears how this man blasphemed God in the most terrible\nway, and was impious enough to call himself the Son of God.\"\n\nThe priests and Pharisees who had previously been present answered,\n\"Yea, we bear witness to it.  We have ourselves heard the impious\nblasphemy from his lips.\"\n\n\"Then,\" said Caiaphas, \"I will have the criminal brought before you\nonce more, so that you may be convinced of his being worthy of death.\nThen may the whole council pronounce the just sentence.\"\n\nAs he was speaking, Judas, looking haggard and distracted, rushed into\nthe midst of the council, crying wildly, \"Is it true?  Have you\ncondemned my Master to death?\"\n\nThen said the rabbi unto him, \"Why dost thou force thyself uncalled for\nin this assembly?  Be off.  We will call thee if we have need of thee.\"\n\nBut Judas took no heed.  \"I must know it,\" he said.  \"Have you\ncondemned him?\"\n\nThen all in the council cried aloud, \"He must die.\"\n\n\"Woe, woe!\" said Judas.  \"I have sinned.  I have betrayed innocent\nblood.  Oh, you blood-thirsty judges, to condemn the innocent blood.\"\n\n\"Peace, peace, Judas,\" cried the council.\n\n\"There will never, never more be peace for me,\" said Judas, bitterly,\n\"and none for you.  The blood of the innocent cries aloud for\nvengeance.\"\n\n\"What has driven you crazy?  Speak, but speak with reverence--thou\nstandest before the Sanhedrin,\" said Caiaphas.\n\nThen said Judas passionately: \"You are determined to deliver him up to\ndeath; him who is free from all guilt.  You must not do it.  I have a\nprotest to make against it.  You have made me a traitor.  Your accursed\npieces of silver!\"\n\nAnnas interrupted him, saying, \"Thou didst propose it thyself and close\nthe bargain.\"\n\nThen said the priest unto him, \"Recollect thyself, Judas, thou hast\nreceived what thou didst desire; and if thou behavest thyself decently\nthou canst still----\"\n\nJudas interrupted him.  \"I will have nothing more.  I tear up your\nshameful bargain.  Let the innocent go.\"\n\n\"Be off, madman,\" said a rabbi angrily.\n\nBut Judas, taking no heed, knelt and stretched his hands toward\nCaiaphas.  \"I demand the release of the innocent.  My hands shall be\nfree from his blood.\"\n\n\"What,\" said the rabbi, \"thou contemptible traitor, wilt thou dictate\nto the Sanhedrin?  Know this, thy Master must die, and thou hast\ndelivered him to death.\"\n\nAnd all the priests and Pharisees cried aloud, \"He must die.\"\n\nAnd Judas, with staring eyes, as one demented, repeated, \"Die?  Then I\nam a traitor.  I have given him up to death!\"  He sank down like a man\ncrushed by a blow, and then springing up and breaking out into wild\npassion, he shouted aloud:  \"May ten thousand devils from hell tear me\nin pieces!  Let them grind me to powder!  Here, ye bloodhounds, take\nyour accursed blood money!\"  And with that he snatched the bag from his\ngirdle and flung it violently before the seat of the high priest.\n\n\"Why didst thou let thyself be made the tool for a transaction which\nthou didst not weigh beforehand?\" said Caiaphas.\n\n\"Yes,\" cried several, \"it is your own business.\"\n\nThen shouted Judas wildly, \"May my soul be damned, my body burnt\nasunder, and ye--\"\n\n\"Silence and out from here,\" cried all the priests together.\n\n\"And you,\" shouted Judas, above them all, \"you will sink with me into\nthe lowest hell!\"  He then rushed from the hall.\n\nAfter a pause, during which the chief priests and rulers looked at each\nother in silence, the money lay unnoticed on the floor.  Caiaphas said,\n\"What a fearful man!\"\n\n\"I had some foreboding of this,\" said Annas.\n\n\"It is his own fault,\" remarked a priest.\n\nThen said Caiaphas, \"Let him expiate that fault himself.  He has\nbetrayed his friend, we pursue our enemy.  I remain steadfast by my\ndetermination, and if anyone here should be of another opinion, let him\nstand up.\"\n\n\"No,\" cried they all with one voice, \"what has been resolved upon, let\nit be carried out.\"\n\nThen said Caiaphas, \"What shall we do with this money?  It is blood\nmoney; it can no longer be put into the treasury of God.\"\n\nAnnas said, \"It might be used for some useful purpose under the\nsanction of the high council.\"\n\nAll agreed to this, and a priest said, \"A burying place for strangers\nis much wanted.  With this money a field may be purchased for that\npurpose.\"\n\n\"Is there such a one in the market?\" asked Caiaphas.\n\n\"Yes,\" said a priest, \"a potter in the city has offered a piece of\nground for sale at just this price.\"\n\n\"Let Saras conclude the purchase,\" said Caiaphas.  They then picked up\nthe money which had lain untouched on the floor.\n\n\"But now we will no longer delay to pronounce the capital sentence upon\nthe prisoner,\" continued Caiaphas.\n\nThen said a rabbi, \"I will have him brought in at once.\"\n\n\"I shall see,\" said Annas, \"whether the scorn which he showed toward me\nhas not yet left him.  A real satisfaction will it be to me to share in\nthe sentence.  Let him die.\"\n\nJesus then was brought in a second time before Caiaphas.  Selpha, as\nbefore, preceded him, and Balbus and Malchus led him bound by the hands\nwith a cord.\n\n\"Stand there,\" said Selpha, \"and show more respect to the council than\nthou didst before.\"  Then he added, \"Venerable fathers, here we bring\nthe prisoner.\"\n\nThen said Caiaphas, \"Lead him into the middle.\"\n\nBalbus, laying his hand on the shoulder of Jesus, thrust him forward\nsaying, \"Step forward.\"\n\nThen Caiaphas spake unto Jesus, saying, \"Jesus of Nazareth, dost thou\nstand by the words which thou hast pronounced this night before thy\njudges?\"\n\nAnnas added, \"If thou be the Christ, tell us!\"\n\nThen Jesus answered and said, \"If I tell you ye will not believe; if I\nalso ask you, ye will not answer me nor let me go.  But hereafter shall\nye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of Almighty God.\"  A\nshudder ran through the Sanhedrin, and all cried excitedly, \"Art thou\nthe Son of God?\"\n\nJesus answered, \"Ye say it and so I am.\"\n\nAnnas exclaimed, \"It is enough; what need have we of any further\nwitnesses?\"\n\nThe priests and Pharisees who had not attended the night council, said,\n\"We have now heard it out of his own mouth.\"\n\nThen said Caiaphas, \"Fathers of the people of Israel, it is now your\nduty to come to a final decision as to the guilt and punishment of this\nman.\"\n\nThen cried they all, \"He is guilty of blasphemy.  He hath deserved\ndeath.\"\n\nCaiaphas said, \"We will therefore lead him before the judgment seat of\nPilate.\"\n\nAnd they all answered and said, \"Yes, away with him.  Let him die.\"\n\n\"Pilate,\" said Caiaphas, \"must first be informed in order that he may\nproclaim the sentence before the feast.\"\n\nA rabbi said, \"Could some one be sent from the council in order to give\nhim timely information?\"\n\n\"Thou thyself,\" said Caiaphas, \"together with Dariabbas and Rabinth\nshalt go before.  We will speedily come after.\"\n\nWhen these three had departed Caiaphas said, \"This day, then, will save\nthe religion of our fathers, and exalt the honor of the synagogue, so\nthat the echo of our fame shall reach our latest descendants.\"\n\nAll shouted, \"Men will speak of us centuries hence!\" and Caiaphas\nresumed, \"Lead him away; we follow.\"\n\nOnce more they cried, \"Down with the Galilean!\" and departed.\n\nThe three messengers sent by the Sanhedrin drew near to the house of\nPilate, and as they went they spoke among themselves.  The rabbi said:\n\"At last we breathe more freely again; we have been insulted long\nenough.\"\n\nDariabbas replied, \"It was indeed high time; his following was becoming\nvery large.\"\n\n\"Now,\" said the rabbi, \"there is nothing more to be feared from him.\nThe traders have in these days displayed the most creditable activity,\nto have gained for us a crowd of determined people.  You will see if it\ncomes to anything, they will effectively take the lead.  The waverers\nwill concur with them, and the followers of the Nazarene will find it\nwell to be silent, and take themselves off.\"\n\nThen said Rabinth, seeing they had approached the place of Pilate, \"How\nshall we bring our message to Pilate?  We dare not enter the house of\nthe Gentile today, as in that case we should become unclean and could\nnot eat the Passover?\"\n\n\"We will send a message through one of his own people,\" said the rabbi,\nand going up the stairs to the balcony of Pilate's house, he knocked\ngently at the door.\n\nStanding and listening, he said, \"Surely, there is some one there?\nYes, there is some one coming,\" and retired a little way down the\nsteps, so as to avoid any contact with the Gentile.\n\nA servant of Pilate opened it and said, \"Welcome, rabbi, will you not\ncome in?\"\n\n\"The precepts of the law will not allow us so to do today,\" said the\nrabbi.\n\nThe servant said, \"Is that so?  Can I carry your message?\"\n\n\"The high priest sends us to bring a petition to the viceroy of Caesar\nto ask if he will allow the council to appear before him and to bring\nbefore him a malefactor for the confirmation of his sentence.\"\n\n\"I will deliver the message at once to my lord; wait here in the\nmeantime,\" said the servant, and went into Pilate.\n\nThe rabbi returning down the steps joined Dariabbas and Rabinth, who\nstood below.  \"It is very sad,\" said Dariabbas, \"that we must knock at\nthe door of a Gentile in order to get the behests of our holy law\nexecuted.\"\n\n\"Take courage,\" said the rabbi, \"when once this domestic enemy is\nremoved out of the way, who knows whether we might not soon free\nourselves from the foreign foe?\"\n\nRabinth exclaimed, \"Oh, may I live to see the day which will bring\nfreedom to the children of Israel!\"\n\nPilate's servant returned and spoke unto them saying, \"The governor\ngreets you.  You are to inform the high priest that Pilate is ready to\nreceive the petition of the Sanhedrin.\"\n\n\"Accept our thanks for thy kindness,\" said the rabbi.  \"Now let us\nhasten to report to the high priest the result of our errand.\"  The\nservant then returned and closed the door behind him.\n\nThe three messengers then returned.  Rabinth remarked anxiously,\n\"Pilate will surely agree to the demand of the council.\"\n\n\"He must,\" said the rabbi, \"how could he resist it when the Sanhedrin\nand the whole people demand with one voice the death of this man?\"\n\n\"And besides,\" said Dariabbas, \"what does the governor care about the\nlife of a single Galilean?  Were it merely to please the high priest,\nwho is of great importance to him, he would not hesitate to permit the\nexecution.\"\n\nNow, Judas, being distracted by remorse, found himself, after wandering\nto and fro, in the potter's field, purchased with the thirty pieces of\nsilver, in the midst of which stood a blasted tree.  Then after wildly\nlooking around to see if anyone was near, he said: \"Oh, where, where\ncan I go to hide my shame, to escape the torments of conscience?  No\nforest is dark enough!  No rocky cavern deep enough!  O, earth, open\nand swallow me up!  I can no longer exist.  O, my dear Master!  Him,\nbest of all men, have I sold, giving him up to ill treatment, to a most\npainful death of torture.  I, detestable betrayer--oh! where is there\nanother man on whom such guilt of blood doth rest?  Alas! nevermore can\nI appear before the face of the brethren.  An outcast, hated and\nabhorred everywhere--branded as a traitor by those who led me astray--I\nwander about alone with this burning fire in my heart.  There is still\none left.  Oh! might I look on the Master's face once more, I would\ncling to him as my only anchor.  But he lies in prison, has perhaps\nbeen already slain by the rage of his enemies, although by my guilt, by\nmy fault.  I am the abhorred one who has brought him to prison and to\ndeath.  Woe to me, the scum of men!  There is no hope for me, my crimes\ncan be expiated by no penance.  For he is dead--and I, I am his\nmurderer!  Thrice unhappy hour in which my mother gave me to the world!\nMust I still drag on this life of agony and bear these tortures about\nwith me?--as one pest stricken, flee from men, and be despised and\nshunned by all the world?  No!  I can bear it no longer!  Not one step\nfurther!  Here, O life accursed, here will I end thee!  On these\nbranches let the most disastrous fruit hang!\"  He untwined his girdle\nand twined it about his neck.  \"Ha, ha! come, thou serpent, entwine my\nneck and strangle the betrayer!\"\n\nAs Judas spoke the last words he tied with convulsive and feverish\nagony the long girdle around his neck, fastened it to the branch of the\ntree, and swung himself off.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nJESUS, PILATE AND HEROD.\n\n  Thus before Pilate's judgment seat\n  The council, full of passion's heat,\n    Come to demand Messiah's blood.\n  Oh, what has made them mad and blind?\n  And what has kindled in their mind\n    Of fury such a fiery flood?\n\n  'Tis envy which no mercy knows\n  In which hell's flame most fiercely glows--\n    Lights this devouring fire,\n  All's sacrificed unto its lust--\n  Nothing too sacred, good or just\n    To fall to its desire.\n  Oh, woe to those whom passion sweeps\n  Helpless and bound into the deeps.\n\n\nThen went the high priests and the scribes, together with the rulers\nand traders of the temple, and the witnesses, to the house of Pilate.\nJesus was led forth in front of them by Balbus and Malchus as before,\nSelpha being in command of the band of soldiers.  As they went the\nsoldiers shouted aloud, \"Away with thee to death, thou false prophet!\nHa! doth it dismay thee that thou wilt not go forward?\"\n\n\"Drive him on,\" said Selpha.  But Jesus being weary walked with slow\nfootsteps.\n\nThen the soldiers thrust him forward, crying, \"Shall we have to carry\nthee in our arms?  Go on!  Thou hast not far to go, only to Calvary;\nthere upon the cross thou canst rest in comfort.\"\n\nBy this time they had approached the precincts of Pilate's house.  Then\nsaid Caiaphas to the soldiers, \"Be still; we have to announce our\ncoming.\"  And they were still.\n\nThe rabbi said, \"Go to the door and knock.\"\n\nIt was done, and Quintus came out, saying, \"What does this crowd of\npeople want here?\"\n\nThe rabbi replied that the council had assembled there.  Quintus\npromised to announce them at once, and the rabbi turning to the members\nof the Sanhedrin, said, \"Do you hear?  He will announce our presence\nwithout delay.\"\n\nCaiaphas addressed those who were following him: \"Ye members of the\nSanhedrin, if you have at heart the holy traditions, our honor, the\ntranquility of the whole land, then consider well this moment.  It\ndecides between us and that deceiver.  If you are men in whom flows the\nblood of your fathers, then listen to us.  An imperishable monument you\nwill set up for yourselves.  Be firm in your resolve.\"\n\nThen cried the priests, \"Our fathers forever; death to the enemy of the\nnation!\"\n\n\"Do not rest, then,\" said Caiaphas, \"until he is blotted out of the\nnumber of the living!\"\n\nAnd they cried again, \"We will not rest, we demand his death, his\nblood.\"\n\nThen the soldiers turned to Jesus and said, \"Hearest thou that, O king\nand prophet?\"\n\nThen came Pilate out with his attendants upon the balcony of the house;\ntwo spearmen on either side advanced to the foot of the steps of the\nbalcony, and stood spear in hand whilst the audience listed.  Then\nCaiaphas stepped forward in front of the crowd, and, bowing low, thus\nbegan, \"Governor and representative of the great Caesar, health and\nblessing to thee.\"  Then Caiaphas continued: \"We have brought here\nbefore thy judgment seat a man of the name of Jesus that thou mayest\nconsent to the execution of the death sentence pronounced against him\nby the Sanhedrin.\"\n\nPilate answered, \"Bring him forth,\" and the soldiers led Jesus, out\nbefore Pilate so that he stood on the right hand of the balcony.\nPilate having looked upon him asked, \"What accusations have you to\nbring against this man?\"\n\n[Illustration: \"What accusations have you to bring against this man?\"]\n\nCaiaphas, speaking with some surprise, said, \"If he were not a great\nmalefactor we would not have delivered him over to thee, but have dealt\nwith him ourselves according to the direction of our holy law.\"\n\n\"Well, of what evil deeds has he been guilty?\" asked Pilate.\n\nCaiaphas answered, \"He has in many ways grievously offended against the\nholy law of Israel.\"\n\nPilate answered, \"Then take him away and judge him according to your\nlaw.\"\n\nThen said Annas, \"He has already been judged by the Sanhedrin and has\nbeen declared to be worthy of death.\"\n\nThen all the priests cried aloud, \"For according to our law he has\ndeserved death.\"\n\nBut Caiaphas explained: \"It is not lawful for us to execute the\nsentence of death upon any one; therefore we bring the application for\nthe execution of the sentence to the representative of Caesar.\"\n\nThen Pilate having looked upon Jesus and upon Caiaphas asked, with\nindignation, \"How can I deliver a man over to death unless I know the\ncrime, and before I have satisfied myself that his crime is worthy of\ndeath?  What has he done?\"\n\nThen said the rabbi, \"The sentence of the council upon this man was\nunanimously pronounced, and grounded upon a careful investigation into\nhis crimes.  It seems therefore unnecessary that the illustrious\ngovernor should take upon himself the trouble of a second investigation.\n\n\"What,\" said Pilate, hotly, \"do you dare to suggest to me, the\nrepresentative of Caesar, that I should be a blind instrument for the\nexecution of your orders?  Be that far from me!  I must know what law\nhe has broken, and in what way.\"\n\nCaiaphas, Annas and the members of the Sanhedrin waxed wroth and spoke\nwarmly among themselves on hearing the words of Pilate.  Caiaphas\nanswered and said, \"We have a law and by our law he ought to die\nbecause he made himself the Son of God,\" while all the people shouted,\n\"We all have heard the blasphemy from his own lips,\" and Annas added,\n\"And upon that account we must insist that he suffers the legal\npunishment.\"\n\nThen Pilate said scornfully unto them, \"On account of such a speech,\nwhich at the most is only the outcome of an enthusiastic imagination, a\nRoman can find no one guilty of death.  Who knows also,\" he added, with\na glance at Jesus, \"whether this man may not be the son of some god!\nIf you have no other crime to lay to his charge you need not think that\nI will fulfil your desires.\"\n\nCaiaphas answered and said, \"Not only against our holy law, but also\nagainst Caesar himself has this man been guilty of serious offences.\nWe have found him to be an insurgent and deceiver of the people.\"\n\nThen cried all the priests and Pharisees together tumultuously, \"He is\nan agitator and a rebel.\"\n\nPilate answered, \"I have heard of one Jesus who was said to go about\nthe country and teach and do extraordinary works, but I have never\nheard of any sedition stirred up by him.  Were anything of that kind to\nhappen I should have heard of it before you, who am appointed for the\nmaintenance of peace in the land, and am perfectly well informed\nconcerning the words and deeds of the Jews.  But tell me, when and\nwhere has he stirred up any commotion?\"\n\nThen Nathanael stood forward and said unto Pilate, \"He brings together\nmultitudes by thousands around him and he has quite recently,\nsurrounded by such a crowd, made a solemn entry into Jerusalem itself.\"\n\n\"O I know that,\" said Pilate contemptuously, \"but nothing took place on\nthat occasion to disturb the public peace.\"\n\nBy this time Caiaphas and the priests were in a state of indignation\nwhich they did not care to conceal, and Caiaphas asked angrily, \"Is it\nnot sedition if he forbid the people to pay tribute to Caesar?\"\n\nPilate asked, \"Where have you proof of that?\"\n\n\"Proof enough,\" retorted Caiaphas, \"for he gives himself out as the\nMessiah, the king of Israel.  Is not that to challenge the imperial\nauthority?\"\n\nPilate replied, sarcastically, \"I admire your suddenly awakened zeal\nfor the authority of Caesar.\"\n\nThen turning to Jesus, who had stood silent during the altercation, he\nasked him, saying, \"Hearest thou what serious accusations these bring\nagainst thee?  What answerest thou?\"  Jesus remained silent.\n\n\"See,\" said Caiaphas, eagerly, \"He cannot deny it.  His silence is an\nadmission of his crime.\"\n\nThen cried all the multitude, stretching out their hands toward Pilate,\n\"Sentence him then!\"\n\n\"Patience,\" said Pilate, \"there is time enough for that.  I will take\nhim apart for a private hearing.\"\n\nPilate, speaking to his attendants, said, \"Perhaps when he is no longer\nconfused by the crowd and the fury of his accusers he will answer me.\"\nThen, speaking to his servants he said, \"Lead him into the court.\"  And\nturning to Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin, he said, \"Go! my guard shall\ntake charge of him, but do you examine the justice or injustice of your\ncomplaints, and be careful to investigate whether they do not perhaps\ncome from a polluted source.  Then let me know the result of your\nreflections.\"\n\nAt this Caiaphas turned his back upon Pilate and looked with\nindignation upon his followers, who showed the liveliest manifestations\nof disgust.  Josue said, \"Everything has been well considered and\nexamined already.  The law pronounces him worthy of death.\"  The Jews,\nturning to go, angrily discussed this reverse.\n\n\"This is a troublesome delay,\" said the rabbi.\n\nBut Caiaphas encouraged them, saying, \"Do not lose heart, victory\nbelongs to the steadfast.\"\n\nThen was Jesus brought before Pilate's judgment seat, and Pilate said\nunto him, \"Thou hast heard the complaint of the council against thee.\nGive me an answer thereto.  Thou hast, they say, called thyself a Son\nof God.  Whence art thou?\"  But Jesus made no answer.  Then Pilate said\nunto him with some surprise, \"Dost thou not speak even unto me?\nKnowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee and to release thee?\"\n\nThen Jesus turned to him and said, \"Thou couldst have no power at all\nagainst me except it were given unto thee from above.  Therefore he\nthat delivereth me unto thee hath the greater sin.\"\n\n\"Frankly spoken,\" said Pilate, aside.  Then, speaking to Jesus he said,\n\"Art thou the king of the Jews?\"\n\nJesus answered, \"Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or only because\nothers have told it to thee?\"\n\nPilate answered, \"Am I a Jew?  Thine own nation and the chief priests\nhave delivered thee unto me.  They accuse thee that thou hast desired\nto be the king of Israel.  What ground is there for this?\"\n\nThen answered Jesus and said unto him, \"My kingdom is not of this\nworld.  If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight,\nso that I should not be delivered unto the hands of the Jews; but now\nis my kingdom not from hence.\"\n\nThen said Pilate, \"Art thou a king then?\"\n\nJesus answered, \"Thou sayest that I am a king.  To this end was I born\nand for this cause came I into the world, that I might bear witness\nunto the truth.  Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.\"\n\nWhen Pilate heard this he said, \"What is truth?\"\n\nHardly had he asked this question when the servant Quintus entered\nhastily from the door behind.  \"Lord, thy servant Claudius is here; he\nhas to bring thee a pressing message from thy wife.\"\n\nPilate said, \"Let him come in.  Lead the man hence for a moment into\nthe hall.\"  The attendants having led Jesus out, Claudius entered.\nPilate asked him, \"What bringest thou from my dear spouse?\"\n\n\"My lord,\" said Claudius, \"thy wife greeteth thee and prays thee from\nher heart, for thine own sake and for hers, that thou wouldst have\nnothing to do with this just man who has been accused before the\njudgment seat.  She has suffered anguish and terror on his account last\nnight, owing to a fearful dream.\"\n\nPilate answered, \"Go back and tell her that she need not disturb\nherself.  I will have nothing to do with the proposals of the Jews, but\ndo all that I can to save him.\"  Saluting Pilate, the messenger\ndeparted.\n\nPilate then said to his attendants, \"Would that I had nothing to do\nwith this business!  What do you think, my friends, of the complaint of\nthe Jewish priests?\"\n\nThen said the courtier Mela, \"It seems to me that they are only\ninspired by envy and jealousy.  The most passionate hatred appears in\ntheir words and countenances.\"\n\nAnd the courtier Sylvius added, \"The hypocrites pretend that they have\nthe authority of Caesar at heart, whereas the matter concerns only\ntheir own authority, which they believe endangered by this famous\nteacher of the people.\"\n\nPilate answered, \"I agree with you.  I cannot believe that this man\nentertains any criminal schemes in his mind.  There is so much that is\nnoble in his features and in his demeanor.  His speech displays so\nnoble a candor and such high natural gifts that he seemed much more to\nbe a very wise man, perhaps only too wise for these gloomy fanatics to\nbe able to bear the light of his countenance.  And then the dream which\ntroubled my wife on his account!  If he were really of higher origin?\nNo,\" said Pilate decidedly, arriving at a resolution, \"I will not let\nmyself be induced to comply with the wishes of the priests.\"  Then he\nordered his servants, saying, \"Let the chief priests appear here again,\nand let the accused be led out again from the judgment hall.\"\n\nThen came Caiaphas, Annas and the chief priests, and the scribes and\nrulers of the people once more before Pilate to receive his decision.\nThen Pilate spoke unto them as follows: \"Here you have your prisoner\nagain; he is without guilt.\"  Consternation and fury were displayed on\nthe faces of all the Jews.\n\nThen Annas said, \"We have Caesar's word that our law shall be upheld.\nHow can he be without guilt who treads this very law beneath his feet?\"\n\nThen cried all the council, saying, \"He is worthy of death!\"\n\nCaiaphas, who stood before the council, asked, \"Is he not punishable by\nCaesar when he maliciously injures that which Caesar's will has\nguaranteed us?\"\n\nPilate said, \"I have told you already, if he hath done anything against\nyour law, then punish him according to your law, in so far as you are\nauthorized so to do.  I cannot pronounce the death sentence upon him,\nbecause I find nothing in him which according to the laws upon which I\nhave to act is deserving of death.\"\n\nThen were the Jews vexed beyond measure and muttered among themselves\nin hot displeasure, but Caiaphas replied, \"If any one proclaims himself\nas king, is he not a rebel?  Does he not deserve the death punishment\nof high treason?\"\n\n\"If,\" said Pilate, \"this man has called himself a king it seems to me\nthat so ambiguous a word is not sufficient to condemn him.  For it is\nopenly taught among the Romans that every wise man is a king.  But you\nhave brought forward no facts to prove that he has usurped kingly\nauthority.\"\n\nThen said Nathanael, \"Is it not a sufficient fact that through him the\nwhole people are stirred up; that he fills the whole of Judea with his\nteaching, beginning from Galilee, where he first attracted followers to\nhimself, until here in Jerusalem?\"\n\nThen asked Pilate in surprise, \"Has he come out of Galilee?\"\n\nThen cried they all, \"Yes, he is a Galilean,\" and the rabbi added, \"His\nhome is in Nazareth, in the jurisdiction of King Herod.\"\n\n\"If that be so, then am I relieved of the jurisdiction.  Herod, King of\nGalilee, has come hither for the feast; he can now judge his own\nsubject.  Take him away and bring him unto his own king.  He shall be\nconducted thither by my body guard.\"  Then Pilate with his attendants\nleft the judgment hall.\n\nCaiaphas exclaimed, \"Off, then, to Herod!  With Herod, who professeth\nthe faith of our fathers, we shall find better protection for our holy\nlaw.\"\n\nAnnas said, \"And if a thousand hindrances were to oppose themselves,\nthe criminal must meet with the deserved punishment.\"\n\nThen they cried to Christ, as they went off to the palace of Herod,\n\"One hour sooner or later, what matters it?  Thou must come to die, and\nthis very day!\"\n\n      *      *      *      *      *      *\n\nKing Herod stood beside his throne, arrayed in scarlet robes, wearing a\ngolden crown upon his head, and holding a golden scepter in his hand.\nOn either side were his courtiers.  He said unto them, \"What! have they\nthe famous man from Nazareth?  And are they bringing him a prisoner\nhere to me?\"\n\n\"Yes, my Lord,\" said Zabulon, \"I saw him and recognized him at the\nfirst glance.\"\n\nThen said Herod, \"I have for a long time desired to see this man, with\nwhose wondrous works the whole land rings, to whom, as if by magic,\npeople run in crowds.  Can he be John, risen from the dead?\"\n\n\"Oh, no,\" said Naason, \"John worked no miracles; whereas they relate\ndeeds done by this man which in truth are wonderful if they are not\nexaggerated.\"\n\n\"As I have,\" said Herod, \"so unexpected an opportunity of seeing him, I\nam impatient to put his magic skill to the proof.\"\n\n\"He will be very willing,\" said Manasses, \"to oblige you in that\nrespect in order to obtain your favor and protection.\"\n\nThen said Herod, who had seated himself, to Zabulon: \"Tell the\npriesthood they may bring their prisoner in.\"\n\n\"They are probably coming with complaints against this man,\" said\nManasses, \"as they are forsaken by all the people.\"\n\nHerod replied, \"Let them do that before Pilate--here I have nothing to\ndo--no judgment to pronounce.\"\n\nManasses remarked: \"Perhaps they have met with a refusal from the\ngovernor and are now siding another way.\"\n\nHerod replied, \"I do not enter into their pious quarrels.  I will see\nhim for myself and test his alleged miraculous powers.\"\n\nThen came into the presence of Herod, Caiaphas, Annas, the rabbi,\nNathanael and four priests, bringing Jesus with them led by the\nsoldiers of Herod.  Caiaphas bowed before King Herod, saying \"Most\nmighty king,\" and all the priests cried, \"Prosperity and blessing upon\nthee from the Almighty!\"\n\nThen said Caiaphas, \"A criminal is brought before thee here from the\nSanhedrin, that thou mayest execute on him the judgment of the law.\"\n\n\"The law,\" said Nathanael, \"decrees his death;\" and Annas added, \"May\nit please the king to confirm the sentence of the synagogue.\"\n\n\"But,\" said Herod, \"how can I be a judge in a foreign territory?  Go to\nyour own governor; he will do justice.\"\n\nThen said Caiaphas.  \"Pilate sent him hither, because being a Galilean\nhe is thy subject.\"\n\n\"Then this man belongeth to my jurisdiction?  Who is he?\"\n\nThe priests said, \"Jesus of Nazareth.\"\n\nCaiaphas added, \"Pilate himself said, 'Go to King Herod; let him\npronounce sentence upon his own subject.'\"\n\n\"Did Pilate say that?  Wonderful!\" said Herod.  And turning to his\ncourtiers he remarked, \"Pilate sends him to me!  Allows me to act as\njudge in his own province!\"\n\nA courtier replied, \"It seems as if he wished to make approaches to\nthee again.\"\n\nHerod replied, \"I will accept it as a proof of his friendly feeling.\"\n\nThen turning to Jesus Herod said, \"I have heard very much of thee by\ncommon report and have longed to see the man that has created such a\nsensation in this country.\"\n\n\"He is a deceiver,\" said the rabbi; \"an enemy of the holy law.\"\n\n\"I have heard,\" said Herod, taking no notice of the interruption, \"that\nthou canst interpret all mysteries and achieve feats which set at\ndefiance the laws of nature.  Let us have an example of thy skill and\nmighty power; then we will honor thee like the people and believe in\nthee.\"\n\n\"O king,\" said Zadok, \"do not let him lead thee astray, for he is in\nleague with Beelzebub.\"\n\n\"That is all the same to me,\" said Herod.  Then, addressing Jesus, he\nsaid, \"I had last night a wonderful dream.  If thou canst tell me what\nI have dreamed of I will esteem thee as a first-class reader of hearts.\"\n\nHerod paused, but Christ remained motionless and silent.  \"Thou canst\nnot do so much as that,\" continued Herod, \"but perhaps thou\nunderstandest how to explain the dream if I tell thee what it was.  I\ndreamt I stood upon the battlements of my palace at Herodium and saw\nthe sun go down.  There stood suddenly a man who stretched out his hand\nand pointed to the setting sun and said, 'See there, there is Hesperia\nin thy bedchamber.'  Hardly had he said this when his form melted into\nmist.  I started and woke up.  If thou desirest to be like Joseph when\nhe stood before the King of Egypt interpret to thy king this dream.\"\nChrist remained silent, looking sadly at Herod.\n\n\"Art thou not experienced in this branch of the business?  Well, then,\nshow some of thy famous magic art.  Cause it suddenly to become dark in\nthis hall, or raise thyself and depart from us without touching the\nground, or convert the roll on which thy death sentence is written into\na snake.  Thou wilt not, or thou canst not?  Any of these things ought\nto be easy to thee; they relate much more wondrous miracles of thine.\"\nThen turning to the courtiers Herod said, \"He does not stir.  Ah, I see\nwell that what has made him so notorious was only idle tittle-tattle.\nHe knows nothing and can do nothing.\"\n\n\"It is easy,\" said Naason, \"to make believe before the foolish mob; it\nis another thing to stand before a wise and powerful king.\"\n\nThen said Manasses to Jesus, \"Why should you not display your wisdom\nhere?  Why should your power vanish before the eyes of the king, even\nas a soap bubble?\"\n\nThen said Herod scornfully, \"There is nothing remarkable about him.  He\nis a conceited fellow whom the applause of the people hath made crazy.\nLet him go.  It is not worth while making so much trouble on his\naccount.\"\n\n\"O, King,\" said Caiaphas, \"do not trust this sly and crafty rogue.\nIndeed, he only makes himself out to be a fool in order to obtain a\nmilder sentence from thee.\"\n\nAnnas said, \"If he be put away, then would the peace of the kingdom\nalso stand in danger, for he has presumed to exalt himself to be king.\"\n\n\"What!\" said Herod, \"to be a king!  To be a king of fools, that is more\ncredible.  As such he deserves to receive homage, therefore will I give\nhim as a present a king's mantle, and do formally install him as the\nking of all fools.\"\n\nThen cried the priests aloud, \"Not this; he has deserved death.\"\n\nCaiaphas said, \"O, King, protector of our holy law, remember thy duty\nto punish the transgressor as the law ordains.\"\n\nThen said Herod, \"What have you really against him?\"\n\n\"He hath profaned the Sabbath,\" said the rabbi.\n\nNathanael added, \"He is a blasphemer.\"\n\nAnd all the priests cried, \"And as such the law declares him worthy of\ndeath.\"\n\nThen said Ezekiel, \"He has also spoken contemptuously of the Temple,\nwhich thy father so gloriously rebuilt; he has declared that he would\nrebuild a more beautiful one in three days.\"\n\nThen Herod laughed and said, \"Now that proves indeed that he is a king\nof fools.\"\n\nThen said Jonas, \"He has also spoken insultingly of thee.  He has\npresumed to call thee, his lord and king, a fox.\"\n\n\"Then he has attributed to me a quality which he cannot certainly claim\nhimself,\" replied Herod.  \"Clothe him--wrapped in this splendid robe he\nwill play his part well before the people.\"\n\nThen came in a servant bringing a white robe, which he put on the\nshoulders of Jesus, and after Jesus had been robed, Zabulon said to\nhim, \"Now for the first time thou wilt create a real sensation, thou\ngreat wonder-worker.\"\n\nThe priests cried, \"He must die!\"\n\nHerod said, \"No, I will not be guilty of the blood of so exalted a\nking; rather lead him forth before the people in this his proper\napparel, that they may admire him to their heart's content.\"\n\nThen said the first soldier to Jesus, \"Come, thou miraculous king, and\nallow us to accompany thee!\"\n\nThe second soldier said, \"What good luck for me to walk by the side of\nso illustrious a lord!\"  And so saying, they led away Jesus, wearing\nthe white robe which Herod had put on him.\n\nThen said Caiaphas, \"Thou hast convinced thyself that his alleged great\nworks were nothing but lies and deceit, whereby the people were\ndefrauded by him.  Give, then, thy sentence!\"\n\nAnd all the priests cried, \"Pronounce the sentence of death upon him,\nas the law demands!\"\n\nHerod replied, \"My opinion is, he is a simple fellow and not capable of\nthe crime of which you accuse him.  If he has perchance done or spoken\nanything against the law it is to be attributed to his simplicity.\"\n\n\"O, King,\" said Caiaphas, \"take care that thou dost not err!\"\n\n\"I fear,\" said Annas, \"thou wilt repent if thou allowest him to escape\npunishment.\"\n\n\"I fear nothing of the kind,\" said Herod.  \"A fool one must treat as a\nfool.  He has already suffered by his follies and will avoid them in\nthe future.  With that the trial is at an end.\"\n\nThen said the rabbi, \"Then it is all over with our law, our religion,\nMoses and the prophets!\"\n\nHerod said, \"I abide by my decision.  I am weary and will not concern\nmyself further about this affair.  Pilate may decide according to his\nofficial duty.  Offer to him duty and friendship from King Herod.\"\n\nThen went the priests out, sorely dissatisfied with the decision of the\nking.  Then Herod rose from his seat and said, \"This time the result\nhas not corresponded to our expectations.  I expected to find a great\nwonder-worker and eloquent orator, and behold, there is only quite an\nordinary man with never a word to say for himself.\"\n\n\"Ah,\" said Manasses, \"how lying rumor exaggerates that which, when more\nclosely examined, is shown to be nothing.\"\n\n\"Friends,\" said Herod, \"that is not John.  John at least spoke, and\nspoke with wisdom, and an eloquence which one must esteem, but this one\nis as dumb as a fish.  I am less than ever purposed to put him out of\nthe way, now that I have seen him for myself.  Pilate would not have\nsent him to me if he had been found guilty of any serious crime against\nthe state.  To revenge oneself on such a man would be the greatest\nfolly.  We have occupied ourselves about this wearisome business long\nenough.  Let us now go and make up for lost time by seeking more\nagreeable amusement.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\n\"JESUS OR BARABBAS.\"\n\n  See! what form of woe standeth the Saviour there!\n  Even Pilate himself's touched with compassion now\n    Foolish people and blinded,\n    Have you no hearts to pity him?\n\n  No, for seized with madness they cry, \"To the cross with him!\"\n  Cry for torture and death upon the holiest.\n    For Barabbas, the murderer,\n    Pardon asking, and liberty.\n\n  Oh, how otherwise once 'fore the Egyptian folk\n  Joseph!  Around him shouts echoed, and songs of joy\n    As the Savior of Egypt\n    He was solemnly shown to them.\n\n  But round the world's deliverer rages a nation in wrath,\n  Blinded, maddened with hate, no man among them will rest\n    Till the judge all unwilling\n    Says, \"Then take ye and crucify him.\"\n\n      *      *      *      *      *      *\n\n  Ah, see the king that's crowned in scorn,\n  What monarch such a crown has worn\n    Or scepter borne, and he so great?\n  Ye see him decked with purple shreds,\n  They laugh and jeer and shake their heads,\n    Is this the royal robe of state?\n        Ah! what a man!\n      Where is the trace of deity?\n        Ah! what a man--\n      The sport of the rude hangman he.\n\n\nCaiaphas and Annas and the chief priests and rulers, and the council\nand the traders of the temple, and the witnesses accompanied the\nsoldiers, who once more led Jesus to Pilate's house.  Then said\nCaiaphas, \"Now Pilate must be challenged more imperiously; and if he\ndoes not do according to our will then shall the authority of Caesar\nextort the sentence from him.\"\n\n\"Shall I now,\" said Annas, \"in my gray old age see the synagogue\noverthrown?  No! with stammering tongue I will cry for the blood and\ndeath of this criminal, and then descend to the bosom of my fathers,\nwhen I have seen this evil-doer die upon the cross.\"\n\n\"We would sooner,\" cried the rabbi, speaking with great animation, \"be\nburied in the ruins of the temple than to go back upon our resolution.\nWe shall never leave off until he is dead.\"\n\nThen proclaimed Caiaphas, \"Whosoever goes back on this decision, let\nhim be cast out of the synagogue.\"\n\nAnd Annas added, \"Let the cross of the fathers fall upon him.\"\n\nThen said Caiaphas, \"Time presses, the day is advancing; now we must\nemploy all the means at our disposal in order to carry out our will\nbefore the feast.\"  At this time the Jews and the soldiers leading\nJesus stood once more before the house of Pilate.\n\nPilate, attended by his servants, soon appeared on the balcony.\n\n\"We bring the prisoner once more before thee and earnestly desire his\ndeath,\" said Caiaphas.\n\nAll the priests cried aloud, \"We insist upon it, he must die.\"\n\nThen said Pilate, \"Ye brought me this man as an agitator and see, I\nhave heard your complaints, and I have myself examined him, and have\nnot found anything in him touching those things whereof you accuse him.\"\n\nThen said Caiaphas angrily, \"We abide by our accusation; he is a\ncriminal worthy of death.\"\n\nAnd the priests cried, clamorously, \"He is an offender against our law\nand against Caesar.\"\n\nThen said Pilate, \"I have sent him because he is a Galilean to Herod.\nHave you brought forward your complaints before him?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said Caiaphas, \"but Herod would not judge the case because thou\nart in authority here.\"\n\nThen said Pilate, \"He, too, has found nothing in the man that deserves\ndeath, but in order to meet your desire I will have this man scourged\nand let him go.\"\n\nBut Annas said, \"That sufficeth not,\" and Caiaphas said, \"The law\nprescribes for such a criminal not the punishment of scourging, but the\npunishment of death.\"\n\nThe priests cried again, \"To death with him.\"\n\nThen Pilate, hearing the clamor of the Jews and seeing how bitter they\nwere against Jesus, said unto them, \"Is your hate so deep and bitter\nunto the man that it cannot be satisfied by the blood from his wounds?\nYou compel me to tell you frankly what I think.  Driven by ignoble\npassion ye persecute him because the people are more devoted to him\nthan they are to you.  I have heard enough of your hateful accusations.\nI will now hear the voice of the people.  An innumerable number will\nnow assemble here in order to demand, according to old custom, the\nrelease of one prisoner at the Passover festival.  Then it will be seen\nwhether your complaint is the outcome of popular sentiment or only of\nyour personal revenge.\"\n\nCaiaphas, smiling to himself, bowed low before Pilate and said, \"The\nresult will show, O governor, that thou thinkest evil of us unjustly.\"\n\nThen the priests cried, \"It is not vengeance, but zeal for the holy law\nof God which compels us to demand his death.\"\n\nPilate said, \"You know of the murderer, Barabbas, who lies in chains,\nand of his evil deeds.  Between him and Jesus of Nazareth I will let\nthe people choose.  The one whom they ask for, him will I release.\"\n\nThen cried all with one voice, \"Release Barabbas and to the cross with\nthe other.\"\n\n\"You are not the people,\" said Pilate haughtily, \"the people will speak\nfor themselves.  Meanwhile I will have this one scourged.\"  Then\nspeaking to his servants, he said, \"The soldiers will lead him hence\nand scourge him according to the Roman law.\"  Then turning to his\ncourtiers, he said, \"Whatever he has done amiss will be sufficiently\natoned for and perhaps the spectacle of the scourging may soften the\nblind wrath of his enemies.\"\n\nWhen Pilate quitted the balcony and entered his house Caiaphas\naddressed a stirring speech to the Jews.  His opportunity had come.\n\"Pilate,\" said Caiaphas, \"appeals to the voice of the people.  All\nright; we appeal to it also.  Now,\" said he, turning to the traders and\nwitnesses, \"now, true-hearted Israelites, your opportunity has arrived.\nGo hence into the streets of Jerusalem, summon your friends to come\nhither, unite them in masses, kindle in them the most glowing hatred\nagainst the enemy of Moses.  The waverers seek to win by the strength\nof your words and by promises, but terrify the followers of the\nGalilean by an overwhelming outcry against them, by insult and mockery,\nby threats, and if necessary by ill-treatment, so that none of them may\ndare to let himself be seen here, much less to open his mouth.\"\n\nThen cried the traders and witnesses together, \"We will go hence and\nsoon return again, everyone at the head of an excited mob.\"\n\nCaiaphas said, \"Let us all meet in the street of the Sanhedrin.\"\n\nThe traders bowed, and as they went the priests cried after them, \"Hail\nto you, faithful disciples of Moses.\"\n\nThen said Caiaphas, \"Let us not lose a single moment.  Let us go\ntogether to the crowds to encourage them, to inflame them.\"\n\nAnnas added, \"From all the streets of Jerusalem will we lead the\nexasperated people before the judgment seat.\"\n\nThe rabbi said complacently, \"If Pilate wishes to hear the voice of the\npeople, let him hear it!\"\n\n\"Let him hear,\" said Caiaphas, \"the unanimous cry of the nation;\nrelease Barabbas; the Galilean to the cross!\"\n\nThen all the Jews cried aloud, with an exceeding loud voice, \"Release\nBarabbas; the Galilean to the cross!\"\n\nThen the soldiers led Jesus away to the Pretorium and took off his robe\nand tied his hands to a low pillar and scourged him.  When they were\nweary with scourging they said, \"He has had enough, he is all running\ndown with blood.\"\n\n\"Thou pitiable king of the Jews,\" said one of the soldiers as they\nknelt and mockingly did homage to him, \"what kind of a king can this\nbe?  He has no scepter in his hand, no crown upon his head.  That can\nbe mended.  I will at once bring the insignia of the Jewish\nsovereignty.\"  And then going out he brought a scarlet mantle, a crown\nof thorns and a reed.  They were laid upon a cushion, and together with\nthem were laid iron gloves, so that they might handle the crown of\nthorns without suffering therefrom.\n\n\"Here,\" cried they, \"this is certainly the most lovely attire for a\nking of the Jews.  Is it not true that thou hast never expected such an\nhonor?  Come, let us hang this purple robe about thee.  But sit down, a\nking should not stand.  Here is a beautiful pointed crown.\"  And a\nsoldier, taking the crown of thorns with the iron gloves, placed it\nupon the head of Jesus.\n\n\"Let us look at you.\"  Then they laughed aloud for joy.\n\n\"But,\" said one, \"if it is not to fall off your head then must we set\nit in firmly.  Come, brothers, help me.\"  Then four of the soldiers\nseized in their hands two staves, and, crossing them over his head,\npressed the crown heavily down upon the brow of Jesus.  Jesus shuddered\nin agony.\n\n\"Here,\" cried the soldiers, \"is the scepter.\"  And taking the reed they\nplaced it in his hands.  \"Now nothing more is wanted.  What a king!\"\n\nThen all knelt before him crying, \"Hail to thee, most mighty king of\nthe Jews!\"  When they were mocking him a servant entered from Pilate,\nsaying that the prisoner mast be brought immediately into the judgment\nhall.\n\nThen said the soldiers, \"Thou comest at the wrong time.  Thou hast\ndisturbed us in the middle of our demonstrations of reverence.\"\n\nThen they said to Jesus, \"Stand up, we will lead thee about as a\nspectacle.  There will be rejoicing among the Jewish people when their\nking appears before them in full splendor!\"\n\n      *      *      *      *      *      *\n\nThen was Jerusalem in an uproar; the traders and the priests ran\neverywhere hither and thither, stirring up the people against Jesus.\nOn all sides the crowds were mustered, and directed by the priests to\nassemble in the streets of the Sanhedrin, and from this to proceed to\nPilate's house to demand the release of Barabbas and the crucifixion of\nJesus; from four sides the tumultuous mobs came pouring down to the\nplace of assembly.  Their hoarse cries of \"To the cross with him!  To\nthe cross with him!\" were heard in the distance before the foremost\nleaders came in sight.  At the head of one mob came Nathanael,\nfervently exhorting the multitude to demand the death of Jesus.\n\n\"Moses, your prophet,\" said he, \"calls upon you.  His holy law demands\nyou should avenge it.\"\n\nAnd the multitude cried together, \"We belong to Moses.  We are and\nremain followers of Moses and of his teaching.  We hold fast by our\npriests and teachers.  Away with him who would rise against them.\"\nAnother multitude poured down from the right into the central\nthoroughfare.  Caiaphas was leading them proudly, exulting in the\nmanifestations of their zeal.\n\nInto the same central place came a third band led by Annas, whose\nfollowers shouted aloud, \"Ye are our fathers, and we will answer for\nyour honor!\"\n\nAnnas answered, \"Come, children, throw yourselves into the arms of the\nholy Sanhedrin.  It will save you.\"  While the clamorous multitudes\nfrom these three quarters were pouring down confusedly into the main\nstreet, the shouting of a fourth mob was heard down Pilate's street.\n\nEzekiel marched at the head of this new company crying, \"Shake it off;\nthe yoke of the deceiver!\" and they cried in answer, \"We will have\nnothing more to do with him; we follow you!\"  As the four contingents\nof the populace collected thus in the open space it could be seen how\nsuccessfully they had been organized.  Each of the four divisions was\nled by a ruler of the people and had in its ranks a number of the\ntraders of the temple, the witnesses and the priests, whose violent\nzeal gave movement and direction to the whole crowd.  Various cries\nburst forth from the multitude and each section as it saw the strength\nof the others exulted and greeted their leaders with shouts of joy.\n\"The whole people applauds you!\" cried one part of the multitude.\n\n\"We will be free from that false teacher, the Nazarene!\" answered\nanother section of the crowd.\n\nThen Caiaphas, Annas, Nathanael and Ezekiel, meeting together, cried\nwith a loud voice, \"Your fathers' God will receive you again!  You are\nagain to him a holy people!\"\n\nThe crowd now massed together in the main street cried, \"You are our\ntrue friends.  Long live the great Sanhedrin!  Long live our teachers\nand priests!\" and Annas answered, \"Death to the Galilean!\"\n\n\"Up,\" said Caiaphas, \"let us now hasten to Pilate,\" and Nathanael and\nEzekiel added, \"Let us demand his death, his blood.\"\n\nThen all the people answered, \"On to Pilate; the Nazarene shall die!\"\n\nAs they came tripping forward their leaders addressed them from time to\ntime to incite their zeal.\n\n\"He hath falsified the law,\" cried the leaders.  \"He has contemned\nMoses and the prophets!\"  \"He hath blasphemed God!\"\n\nThen all the people cried again, \"To death with the false prophet!\"\n\nThe section led by Ezekiel shouted, \"Death by the cross!\" and the other\nsections took it up, \"Pilate must let him be crucified!\"\n\nThen said the leaders, \"On the cross he shall atone for his crimes!\"\n\n\"We will not rest,\" cried the crowd, \"until his sentence is\npronounced.\"  The whole multitude was now moving rapidly toward the\njudgment seat of Pilate.\n\nCaiaphas, who lorded it over the whole assemblage with look and\ngesture, thus addressed them, \"Hail to you, children of Israel!  You\nare indeed still true descendants of your father Abraham!  Oh, rejoice\nthat you have escaped the nameless destruction which this deceiver\nwould bring upon you and your children!\"\n\n\"Only,\" said Annas, \"by the untiring efforts of your fathers has this\nnation escaped the abyss.\"\n\nThen cried the people, \"Long live the council!  Death to the Nazarene!\"\nand the priests and Pharisees cried out, \"Curse him who does not vote\nfor his death!\"\n\nThe people responded, \"We demand his death!\"\n\nThen for some time there was nothing heard but a confused clamor, but\nthe voice of Caiaphas rang out notwithstanding, while the people\nresponded to his appeals.  It sounded from afar in this wise: Caiaphas:\n\"Let him be cast out from the heritage of our fathers,\" and all the\npeople cried, \"Let him be cast out.\"\n\nCaiaphas said, \"The governor will give you the choice between this\nblasphemer and Barabbas.  Let us insist upon the release of Barabbas.\"\n\nThen the people cried, \"Let Barabbas go free, and down with the\nNazarene.\"\n\nThen said Annas, \"Let the fathers be praised who have heard our wishes.\"\n\nThen all cried out, \"Pilate must consent, the whole nation demands it\nof him.\"\n\nCaiaphas walked backward and forward with excited mien, but proud and\ntriumphant step, and said, \"Oh, most glorious day of the people of\nIsrael.  Children, be steadfast!\"\n\nThe priests and Pharisees:  \"This day brings back honor to the\nsynagogue and freedom to the people.\"\n\n\"Now,\" said Caiaphas, as they approached the house of Pilate, \"let us\ndemand the sentence with uproar and threaten him with universal revolt!\"\n\nThen cried the whole multitude tumultuously, \"We demand the blood of\nour enemy!\"\n\nSo loud was the cry, so savage the emphasis, that two servants of\nPilate started out of the house and looking down on the turbulent\nthrong cried out, \"Uproar!  Insurrection!\"\n\nAnd the people answered, \"The Nazarene shall die!\"\n\nCaiaphas, hastening hither and thither in the crowd to excite them to\nstill further violence, said, \"Show courage.  Stand out undismayed.  A\nrighteous cause defends us.\"\n\nThen the people called out clamorously; \"Pilate--pronounce the sentence\nof death!\"\n\nPilate's servant from the balcony said, \"Silence! be quiet!\" but the\ncrowd shouted at him louder than before, \"No, we will not be quiet\nuntil Pilate consents.\"\n\nThen said the servant, \"Pilate will come out immediately.\"\n\nThen cried all once more, \"We demand the death of the Nazarene.\"\n\nAnd Caiaphas, listening to the shouts of the people, said to the\npriests, \"Now let Pilate, as he wished, learn the opinion of the\npeople.\"\n\nThen came Pilate with his followers out upon the balcony, and with them\ncame Jesus, led by two soldiers, with the crown of thorns upon his head\nand the scarlet robe about him.  The crowd instead of shouting, \"Hail,\nall hail,\" as before, shouted violently, \"Give judgment!  Pass sentence\nupon him!\"\n\nThen Pilate spoke, pointing to Jesus, who, with bound hands and the\nscarlet robe upon his bleeding shoulders, stood between the soldiers,\n\"Behold the man!\"\n\nThe priests and Pharisees answered, \"To the cross with him.\"\n\nPilate pleaded, \"Cannot even this pitiful sight awake any compassion in\nyour hearts?\"\n\nBut the multitude answered, \"Let him die!  To the cross with him!\"\n\nThen Pilate said, \"Take him and crucify him at your own risk--I will\nhave nothing to do with it, for I find no fault in him.\"\n\nThen Caiaphas said with a loud voice, \"Hear, O governor, the voice of\nthe people.  It concurs in our complaint and demands his death.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" shouted the crowd again, \"we demand his death.\"\n\nThen said Pilate to his soldiers, \"Lead him down and let Barabbas be\nbrought out of prison.  The jailer must at once deliver him up to the\nchief lictor.\"\n\nWhen Annas heard Pilate's commands he cried, \"Let Barabbas live.\nPronounce the death sentence on the Nazarene!\"\n\nThen the people cried, \"To death with the Nazarene!\"\n\nThen said Pilate, \"I do not understand this, people.  Only a few days\nago with rejoicing and joyful clamor you accompanied this man through\nthe streets of Jerusalem.  Is it possible that the same people this day\ncall for death and destruction upon him?  That is indeed contemptible\nfickleness.\"\n\n\"The good people,\" said Caiaphas, \"have at last learned that they have\nbeen deceived by an adventurer who pretended to be the Messiah, the\nking of Israel!\"\n\n\"And now,\" said Nathanael, \"the eyes of this people are fully opened,\nand they see that he cannot help himself--he who promised to bring\nfreedom and blessing to the nation.\"\n\n\"Israel,\" said Ezekiel, \"will recognize no Messiah who allows himself\nto be taken and bound and treated with scorn.\"\n\n\"Let him die, the false Messiah, the deceiver,\" cried the crowd.\n\nThen Pilate spoke unto the people and said: \"Men of Judea, it is\ncustomary that I liberate to you a prisoner at the feast.  Look upon\nthese two.  One with mild countenance and dignified demeanor, the ideal\nof a wise teacher, whom you have long honored as such, convicted of no\nsingle evil deed and already humiliated by the severest chastisement.\nThe other, a vicious, savage man, convicted of robbery and murder, a\nhorrible image of a perfect scoundrel.  I appeal to your reason, to\nyour human feelings--choose!  Which will ye that I shall release unto\nyou, Barabbas or Jesus, who is called the Christ?\"\n\nThen the priests and people cried out together, \"Let Barabbas go free.\"\n\n\"Will ye not that I release unto you the king of the Jews?\" asked\nPilate.\n\nThen the priests and people cried, \"Away with him, release unto us,\nBarabbas.\"\n\nThen said Caiaphas, \"Thou hast promised to release him whom the people\ndemand.\"\n\nPilate answered shortly to Caiaphas, \"I am accustomed to keep my\npromise without needing a reminder.\"  Then said he to the people, \"What\nshall I do with the king of the Jews?\"\n\nAnd the priests and the people cried, \"Crucify him!\"\n\n\"What,\" said Pilate, \"shall I crucify your king?\"\n\nAnd the people cried, \"We have no king but Caesar.\"\n\nPilate said, \"I cannot condemn this man, for I find no fault in him.\nHe has been sufficiently chastised; I will let him go free.\"\n\nThen said the priests, \"If thou let him go free thou art no friend of\nCaesar's.\"\n\nCaiaphas added, \"He has proclaimed himself king\"; and the priests said,\n\"Who proclaims himself king is a rebel against Caesar.\"\n\nAnd Nathanael said, \"And is this rebel still to remain unpunished,\nstill to scatter abroad the seed of revolt?\"\n\nThen cried the people, \"It is the duty of the governor to put him out\nof the way.\"\n\nCaiaphas seeing that Pilate answered not, pressed more vehemently upon\nhim, saying, \"We have done our duty as subjects of Caesar and delivered\nthis rebel to thee.  If thou payest no attention to our accusation and\nthe desire of the people, then are we free from guilt.  Thou alone, O\nGovernor, art responsible to Caesar for the consequences.\"\n\nAnd Annas said, \"If on account of this man universal disorder and\nrevolt ensues, then we know who must bear this guilt, and,\" he added\nsignificantly, \"Caesar shall know it also.\"\n\nThen cried the people again, \"The matter must be brought before Caesar.\"\n\nThen Ezekiel said to Pilate, \"They will be astonished when they hear at\nRome that Caesar's viceroy has taken under his protection a traitor\nwhose death the whole people desired.\"\n\nAnd the crowd cried, \"Thou must execute him, or otherwise there would\nbe no peace in the land.\"\n\nThen said Pilate, \"Why, what evil hath he done?  I cannot, I dare not,\ncondemn the innocent to death.\"\n\nThen said Caiaphas, \"Permit me to ask one question.  Why shouldst thou\njudge this man so carefully when quite recently thou hast allowed thy\nsoldiers to massacre hundreds without judgment or sentence, merely on\naccount of some rebellious outcries?\"\n\nAs Pilate heard the question of Caiaphas he was dismayed, and the crowd\nshouted: \"Thou canst not show favor to this man; if thou wilt be a\nfaithful servant to Caesar.\"\n\nThen Pilate's resolution forsook him, and turning to his servants he\nsaid, \"Bring water.\"\n\nCaiaphas said unto him, \"The people will not go away from this place\nuntil thou hast pronounced sentence of death upon the enemy of Caesar.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" cried the multitude, \"we will not go from this place until\nsentence is pronounced.\"\n\nThen said Pilate sorrowfully, \"Your violence compels me to yield to\nyour desire.  Take him hence and crucify him.  But see,\" said he as he\nwashed his hands in the basin which had been brought at his command.\n\"I wash my hands; I am innocent of the blood of this just man.  See ye\nto it.\"\n\nThen arose from the excited multitude a great and awful cry, in which\npriests and people joined, speaking as with one voice, \"We take it upon\nourselves!  His blood be upon us and upon our children!\"\n\nThen said Pilate, \"Let Barabbas be set free at the demand of the\npeople.  Lead him outside the city gate and let him never tread this\nground again.\"  The soldiers then led Barabbas away.\n\nThe priests and people cried: \"Now hast thou justly judged.\"\n\nPilate said unto them, \"I have given way to your violent demands in\norder to avoid a great evil.  But in the blood-guiltiness I will have\nno share.  Let it fall upon you and your children as you have so loudly\ncried.\"\n\nThen again the priests and people cried, \"It is good; let it fall upon\nus and upon our children.\"\n\nAnnas said, \"We and our children will bless this day and with thankful\njoy cry, 'Health and wealth to the governor!'\"\n\n\"Long live our governor,\" cried the crowd.  \"Long live Pontius Pilate!\"\n\nThen said Pilate, \"Bring hither the two murderers who are kept in gaol.\nLet the chief lictor give them over without delay to the guard.  They\nhave deserved death much more than the accused.\"\n\nBut the priests and people cried, \"He has deserved death more than any.\"\n\nPilate said, \"The sentence of death must be written out and will be\nread publicly before all the people.\"\n\nThe scribe began to write, and as he wrote, from the street were heard\nthe voices of the soldiers who were bringing the thieves, driving them\nforward: \"Will you not move on, you wretches?  Have you not long ago\ndeserved your fate?  Thrust them on, these outcasts of mankind.\"  When\nthe thieves driven by the soldiers came to the foot of the balcony they\nwere halted on the other side of the steps to that where Jesus stood.\n\nThen said the rabbi, pointing to the thieves, \"That is worthy company\nfor the false Messiah on his last journey.\"\n\nPilate said to the thieves, \"Of you and your misdeeds the earth shall\ntoday be free.  You shall die upon the cross.  Let the sentence of\ndeath be now read.\"\n\nThen the scribe stood forward and read thus: \"I, Pontius Pilate,\nviceroy in Judea of the mighty Caesar Claudius Tiberius, pronounce at\nthe desire of the high priests and the Sanhedrin and the people of the\nJews, the sentence of death upon a certain Jesus of Nazareth, who is\naccused of having stirred up the people to revolt, of having forbidden\nto pay tribute to Caesar, and of having proclaimed himself king of the\nJews.  The same shall be crucified outside the city between two\nmalefactors who have been likewise condemned to death for many\nrobberies and murders, and be brought from life to death.  Given at\nJerusalem on the eve of the Passover.\"\n\nWhen the scribe had read the sentence Pilate broke a staff, flung it\namong the people, saying in tones of great bitterness, \"Now take him\nhence and crucify him!\" and went rapidly into the house, leaving Jesus\nin the hands of the Jews.\n\n\"Triumph!\" cried Caiaphas in wild exultation.  \"The victory is ours!\nThe enemy of the synagogue is destroyed!\"\n\nThe priests and people shouted, \"Away with him to Golgotha!  Long live\nthe synagogue!  Long live the nation!\"\n\nThen said Annas, \"Hasten, that we may come home in time to eat the\nPassover.\"\n\nThe priests and Pharisees said, \"We will keep this Passover with joy,\nas did our fathers in Egypt.\"\n\n\"Now,\" said Caiaphas, \"let our triumphal procession go through the\nmidst of Jerusalem.\"\n\n\"Where,\" asked the rabbi, \"are his disciples?  They are invited to cry\nHosanna!\"\n\nThen rushed the multitude away, crying, \"Up and away off to Golgotha!\nCome and see him perish on the cross!  O delightful day, the enemy of\nMoses is overthrown!  Ha! now he has his reward!  So be it done to\neveryone who despises the law!  He deserves the death on the cross!  O\nhappy Passover!  Now joy will return to Israel!  There is an end of the\nGalilean!\"  And so crying, with wild and savage clamor, they swept back\nto the street of the Sanhedrin.\n\n[Transcriber's note: A line seems to be missing from the book at this\npoint.  All that appears is a blank line followed by the single word:]\n\"me?\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nTHE CRUCIFIXION.\n\n  Ye pious souls rise up and go,\n  With grateful penitence aglow\n  With me to Golgotha, and see\n  What shall be done your souls to free\n  See how the Mediator dies\n  The atoning death of sacrifice.\n\n  O, who can know the love that lives\n    In this heart now laid bare,\n  That kindness back for hatred gives\n    And saves us from despair?\n    Offer this love of His\n    Your heart's best impulses,\n      His cross before,\n      For evermore.\n\n\nThus they took Jesus and led him away, and a great multitude followed\nhim.  And when Jesus, bearing the cross, with the thieves also bearing\ntheir cross, was entering the street of Annas, Mary, the mother of\nJesus, with Mary Magdalene and John and Joseph of Arimathea, came down\nthe street by Pilate's house.\n\nAnd Mary said to John, \"O beloved disciple, how will it have gone with\nJesus since thou didst last see him in the house of Caiaphas?\"\n\nThen answered John, \"If the priests could do as they wish, then sure\nenough he would be already among the dead.  But they could not carry\nout the sentence without permission of the governor.  But Pilate, I\nhope, will not condemn him, as he has never done anything bad, but only\nwhat is good.\"\n\nThen prayed Mary Magdalene, \"O Almighty God, incline the ruler's heart\nto justice, that he may protect the innocent against the wiles of the\nwicked.\"\n\nThen said Mary, the mother of Jesus, \"Whither shall we go, O friends,\noh, whither, that I may but once more see my beloved son?  I must see\nhim, but where can I find him?  Perhaps, O perhaps, he lies buried in\nthe deepest dungeon.\"\n\nMary Magdalene said, \"Alas! the most loving of teachers in prison!\"\n\nJoseph answered, \"There is one to be seen from whom we can inquire.\"\n\nJohn said, \"The best thing will be to go to Nicodemus; he surely knows\nwhat is happening to our dear Master.\"\n\n\"Yes, let us go,\" said Mary.  \"Every moment increases my grief in this\nuncertainty about the fate of my son.\"\n\n\"Be strong in faith, dear mother,\" said John.  \"Whatever happens it is\nGod's will.\"  Suddenly a horrible noise of confused voices and tramping\nfeet was heard in the distance.  From the tumult could be heard the\nwords: \"On, on with him!\"  Mary started and they all stood listening\nwhile the noise came nearer and nearer.\n\n\"What terrible noise is that?\" said Joseph.  Then stood they all still\nlistening to hear what it might signify.\n\nSalome said, \"As if of a thousand voices.  What can it be?\"\n\nAs they listened the procession to Golgotha was already half way down\nthe street of Annas.  In front marched the centurion holding in one\nhand the staff of authority, followed by Jesus, staggering painfully\nunder the burden of his cross.  Around Jesus stood four executioners\nwho brutally goaded him forward.  Behind Jesus came the thieves, each\nbearing his own cross.  Behind them came soldiers carrying spears, in\nthe midst of whom on a white horse rode a horseman carrying the Roman\nbanner on which were the letters S. P. Q. R.  By the side of the\nsoldiery walked Annas and Caiaphas followed by all the council of the\nSanhedrin.  All around crowded a numerous multitude, whose shouts were\nheard almost without intermission.  \"Let him die!\" they cried, \"and all\nwho hold with him.\"  Jesus, who had already fallen under the cross,\nwalked slowly and with difficulty.\n\nOne of the executioners said unto him, \"Is the burden already too\nheavy?\" and the people shouted, \"Drive him with violence, that we may\nget to Golgotha.\"\n\nThe second executioner cried, \"Take care, or he will be down.\"\n\nThe progress was so slow that not even the head of the procession could\nbe seen from where the two Marys and John were standing, wondering what\nthe noise might mean.\n\nJoseph said, \"What shall we do?  In this commotion we cannot venture\ninto the city.\"\n\nBut Mary said, \"What may this noise signify?  Surely it does not\nconcern my son.\"\n\nAs the noise waxed ever louder, Joseph said, \"It seems as if an\ninsurrection had broken out.\"\n\nThen said John, \"We had better stop here till the storm passes over.\"\n\nWhile they stood waiting and wondering Simon of Cyrene came hastily\ninto the street that lay between those of Pilate and Annas.  He carried\na basket, and looking anxiously around him, said, \"I must hasten in\norder to get into the city.  The eve of the feast is coming, and I have\nonly a short time left in which to make my purchases and get everything\nready, so that I may get home in time.\"  Hardly had he said this than\nhe heard the sound of a great outcry, and amidst which he could only\ndistinguish the words, \"Let him not rest!  Urge him on with blows!\"\n\nSaid Simon, \"I hear a tumult--an outcry of a crowd--what has happened\nin the city?  I will keep quiet a little--perhaps my ears have deceived\nme.\"  Jesus had fallen faint and had staggered against the house of\nAhasverus and was there endeavoring to support himself.\n\nThe third executioner said to him roughly, \"It is no use thy fainting.\nThou must keep on to Golgotha.\"\n\nThen Ahasverus came out of his house and said, \"Be off from my house;\nhere is no place for resting.\"  Simon, who was listening without being\nable to see the cause of the commotion, said, \"The noise waxes louder.\nI must hasten to see what it is.  What comes there?  Ah, I cannot get\nin here.  I will wait and see what happens.\"\n\nThen, as the procession turned the corner of Annas' street, Joseph of\nArimathea, listening, said, \"I think the crowd is coming out of the\ncity gates,\" and John, seeing the cross said, \"It appears that someone\nis being led out to Golgotha for execution.\"\n\nMary, the mother of Jesus, saw him and cried out with a piercing wail,\n\"It is he.  Oh God! it is my son.\"\n\nJesus meanwhile staggered under the cross, but was forced forward by\nthe executioners grumbling as they did so, \"He will drop on the road.\"\n\n[Illustration: \"Jesus staggered under the cross.\"]\n\nThe centurion, seeing that Jesus from sheer exhaustion had again\nfallen, reached him a bottle, saying, \"Here, strengthen thyself.\"\nJesus took it, but did not drink of it.\n\nMary cried, weeping, \"Ah, there, I see him led to death even as a\nmalefactor!\"\n\nThen said John, as he tenderly supported her, \"Mother, it is the hour\nof which he has told us before.  Such is the will of the Father.\"\n\nThen said the centurion to Jesus, \"Wilt thou not drink?  Then you must\ngo on!\"\n\nThen one of the executioners shook him, saying, \"Rouse thyself, lazy\nking of the Jews!\"\n\nAnother of the executioners said, \"Forward!  Pull thyself together!\"\nThe third said, \"Do not act thus weakly; we must get on.\"\n\nThen Mary cried as she looked on the scene, \"Oh where is any sorrow\nlike unto my sorrow?\"\n\nThe third executioner, seeing that all the efforts to compel Jesus to\nmove forward had failed, said, \"He is too much exhausted; someone must\nhelp him, otherwise--\"\n\nThen the rabbi, seeing Simon of Cyrene, pointed him out, saying, \"Here,\nthis stranger--\"\n\nThe Pharisees said, \"Just seize him!\"\n\nThen said the centurion, \"Come hither, thou hast broad shoulders that\ncan carry something.\"\n\nSimon, protesting, said, \"I must--\"\n\n\"Truly you must,\" said one of the executioners, \"otherwise there will\nbe blows.\"\n\nSimon began again, \"I do not know,\" but the centurion interrupted him,\nsaying, \"You will find out soon enough--do not refuse.\"\n\n\"Flog him if he refuses to go!\" said the Pharisee.\n\nSimon struggled crying, \"Indeed I am innocent; I have committed no\ncrime.\"\n\n\"Silence!\" said the centurion.\n\nSimon replied, \"Only not by force like this,\" and then beholding Christ\nhe said, \"What is this I see?  This is the holy man from Nazareth.\"\n\n\"Place thy shoulders here,\" said an executioner.\n\nThen said Simon, \"For the love of thee I will carry it.  O, could I\nthereby make myself useful to thee.\"\n\nChrist, who stood exhausted on one side, looked upon Simon and said,\n\"God's blessing be upon thee and thine!\"\n\n\"Now, forward,\" said the centurion; \"follow thou with the beam of the\ncross!\"\n\nThe first priest advancing, said, \"Thou canst come quickly enough now.\"\n\nThe third executioner, seeing that Jesus still stood unable to move,\nseized him by the neck and shook him saying, \"See with what\nconsideration we treat thee; even the cross has been taken from thee.\"\n\n\"Dost thou need anything else?\" said another of the men.\n\n\"Let him be,\" said the centurion.  \"We will now halt a little that he\nmay recover before we ascend the hill.\"\n\nWhile the procession halted Veronica and the women of Jerusalem\napproached.  Caiaphas meanwhile, chafing with vexation at the delay,\nexclaimed, \"What!  Still another stoppage!  When shall we come to\nCalvary?\"\n\nVeronica, coming up to Christ, kneeled before him, and offering him her\nhandkerchief, said, \"O Lord, how is thy face covered with blood and\nsweat.  Wilt thou not wipe it off?\"\n\nJesus took the handkerchief and wiped his face and gave it back to her,\nsaying, \"Compassionate soul, the Father will reward thee for this.\"\n\nThen spoke the women of Jerusalem, who drew near to the Lord with their\nlittle ones, \"Thou good teacher; never to be forgotten benefactor;\nnoblest friend of men, thus art thou rewarded.  How we pity thee!\"\nThen they wept.\n\nChrist looking upon them in their tears said: \"Daughters of Jerusalem,\nweep not for me, but for yourselves and your children.  For behold the\ndays are coming in which they shall say 'Blessed are the barren and the\nwombs that never bare, and the paps that never gave suck.'  Then shall\nthey call to the mountains, fall on us and to the hills, cover us.  For\nif they do these things in the green tree, what will be done in the\ndry?\"\n\nThe women answered, \"Alas, how will it be in the future for us and our\nchildren?\"\n\nBy this time the patience of the centurion was exhausted, and he cried\nout, \"Clear out now, these womenfolk.\"\n\nThe third executioner, pushing them roughly away, said, \"What use are\nyour women's tears?  Back!\"  While the other executioners cried as they\npushed Jesus forward, \"On with thee to the hill of death!\"\n\nThe crowd took up the cry and said, \"Quick; forward to Calvary!\"\n\n\"Are we really going forward again?\" said the rabbi, and Nathanael\nsaid, shrugging his shoulders, \"The centurion is far too mild.\"\n\n\"Do not spare him so much,\" said a priest.\n\nThe long procession was once more in motion when there appeared a\nservant from Pilate.  The man cried, \"Halt!\" and the procession\nstopped.  \"By command of the governor the centurion must appear before\nhim as quickly as possible and receive further orders.\"\n\nCaiaphas exclaimed, \"What does this mean?  What new orders are\nrequired?  The death sentence is pronounced and must be carried out\nwithout delay.\"\n\nThen said the centurion bluntly, \"No, this will not happen until I have\nreceived the further orders of my lord.\"  Then turning to the soldiers\nhe said, \"Keep watch meanwhile and go with the condemned to Golgotha.\nThen dismiss this man (Simon) and await my arrival.\"  The centurion\nthen went with the servant to Pilate and the procession set forth again.\n\nThe people cried wildly, \"Up to Golgotha, to the cross with him.  Hail\nto Israel.  The enemy is vanquished.  We are free.  Long live the\nSanhedrin.\"\n\nJesus looked upon his mother as the procession passed the corner of\nAnnas' street, but spoke not.\n\nThen said John, when the dolorous procession had passed, \"Mother, shall\nwe not go back to Bethany?  Thou wilt not be able to bear the sight?\"\n\nBut Mary answered, \"How can a mother leave her child in the last and\nbitterest need?\"\n\nCleophas objected, \"But evil might befall thee, if they recognized thee\nas his mother.\"\n\nMary replied, \"I will suffer with him, bear scorn and shame with him;\ndie with him.\"\n\n\"Only,\" said John, \"if the strength of thy body does not give way.\"\n\n\"Fear not,\" said Mary.  \"I have asked strength of God and he has heard\nme.  Let us go after them.\"\n\nAll answered, \"Best of mothers, we follow thee,\" and they slowly\nfollowed the procession to Calvary.\n\n      *      *      *      *      *      *\n\nAnd when they reached Golgotha, which is by interpretation the place of\na skull, they crucified him there.  But first they hanged the two\nthieves on the crosses, the one on the left, the other on the right.\nTheir arms were tied over the cross at the wrists, and their feet were\ntied with cord to the beam.  But Jesus was nailed to the central cross\nwhile it yet lay with the head slightly raised upon the ground.  One\nnail was driven through the palms of each hand, and one through the two\nfeet, which were placed the one above the other.  Jesus lay silent\nwithout moving.  On his head was the crown of thorns, from which a\nlittle blood trickled over his brow.  His hands and his feet bled a\nlittle, but the rest of his body was pale and colorless, a light cloth\nonly being cast around his loins.\n\nThe centurion who had returned from Pilate, stood on the right of the\ncross giving orders.  The lictor, mounted on a white horse, stood near\nthe soldiers, who held on high the Roman standard with the letters S.\nP. Q. R.  Caiaphas, Annas and all the members of the Sanhedrin stood on\nthe left exulting.  A great crowd of sightseers thronged the place.\nAmong them, coming from behind the centurion, were the holy women from\nBethany, with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and John, and Joseph of\nArimathea and Nicodemus.\n\nThen said the executioners to the centurion, \"We have finished with\nthese,\" pointing to the thieves, \"Now must the king of Jews be exalted\nupon his throne.\"\n\nWhich, hearing, the priests cried angrily, \"Not king!  Deceiver,\ntraitor!\"\n\nThe centurion, who held in his hand a scroll or escutcheon, said,\n\"First, by command of the governor, this writing must be fastened to\nthe cross.  Faustus,\" he added, turning to one of the hangmen named\nFaustus, \"make fast this title over the cross.\"  Faustus took the\nscroll from the centurion, and going to the cross, nailed it with one\nhammer stroke over the head of Jesus, saying, \"Ah, an escutcheon\ndisplayed; this is right royal!\"  When this was done according to the\ncommand of the governor, the centurion said to the executioners, \"Now,\nup with the cross!  Not carelessly, but lay hold firmly.\"  Then two\nhangmen, taking the cross by the arms, lifted it up so that its foot\nfell into the hole prepared for it.  But as the cross bearing the body\nof Jesus was heavy, the third hangman placed his back under it near to\nthe feet of Jesus, saying, \"Come, now, all together,\" and so helping\nraised it on high.  The fourth then filled in the hole at the foot\nsaying when he finished, \"All right, the cross stands firm.\"\n\nThen said the centurion, addressing the chief priests, \"The execution\nis accomplished.\"\n\n\"Quite admirably so,\" said Caiaphas with a radiant face.  \"Thanks and\napplause from us all!\"  \"Yea, thanks, and applause from us all,\" echoed\nthe Pharisees, looking up at the cross.\n\nCaiaphas then declared, \"This shall be a feast day forever.\"\n\nAnd the Pharisees said, \"Yes, for all time to come it shall be kept\nevery year with grateful jubilation.\"\n\n\"And now,\" said the aged Annas, \"now gladly will I go down to my\nfathers since I have lived to have the joy of seeing this wretch on the\ncross.\"  And as he gazed long as if exultingly drinking in the pleasure\nof satisfied vengeance, he saw for the first time the writing on the\ncross, but his old eyes could not decipher the words.  Turning to\nCaiaphas he said, \"The superscription seems to be very short.\"  Then\nthe Jews drew nearer to see what was written.  The hangmen seated\nthemselves on the ground at the foot of the cross and looked up at\nJesus.\n\nThen the rabbi, reading the words written by Pilate exclaimed, \"That is\nan insult, an outrage upon the people and the Sanhedrin!\"\n\nCaiaphas, hearing him, asked, \"What is written?\"\n\nAnnas, who had also looked at the inscription, said, \"The rabbi is\nright.  The Sanhedrin cannot allow this to pass.\"\n\nThen said the rabbi, \"It is written, 'Jesus of Nazareth, king of the\nJews!'\"\n\nCaiaphas as if incredulous, approached the cross and reading it\nhimself, started back with indignation.  \"Verily,\" he cried, \"that is\nan affront upon the honor of our nation.\"\n\n\"Down with it at once,\" cried the priest.\n\nBut Caiaphas said, \"We dare not touch it ourselves, but do you two,\"\naddressing the rabbi and Saras, \"hasten at once to the governor to\ndemand from him, in the name of the Sanhedrin and the assembled people\nthat the superscription shall be altered.  Say to him, 'Write not the\nking of the Jews, but that he said, I am king of the Jews?'\"\n\n\"We are off at once,\" said the rabbi and Saras.\n\n\"Stay,\" said Caiaphas, \"also request from the governor that he may\norder the bones of the crucified to be broken and their bodies taken\ndown from the cross before the eve of the Passover.\"\n\nWhen the rabbi and Saras departed on their mission, the hangmen, who\nhad been sitting at the foot of the cross, bethought themselves, and\nthe first, who was named Agrippa, standing up, said, \"Now, comrades,\nlet us divide our share.\"  Taking the mantle of Jesus, they seized each\none corner, and then pulling all together, rent it into four parts.\nThe coat remained.  Agrippa held it up, \"The mantle has made just four\npieces; shall we rip up the coat also?  See, it is without seam.\"\n\n\"No,\" said Faustus, who had fastened the superscription over the head\nof Jesus, \"it would be better to cast lots for it.\"\n\n\"Look,\" said Agrippa, as he went to the foot of the cross and took up\nthe basket, \"see, here are dice.\"  Then the four hangmen, standing at\nthe feet of Jesus threw the dice, Agrippa threw them first, saying, \"I\nwill try my luck first.  Alas, that is too little,\" he added, as he\ncounted up the result of his throw, \"I have lost.\"\n\nCatiline, the third hangman, as he rattled the dice in his hand, looked\nup at Jesus and said, \"Hi! you up there, if you can still work miracles\non the cross, give me good luck.\"  The others shrugged their shoulders\nand said, \"What does he care about us?\"  Catiline's throw was not high.\n\nThen Nero said, \"I ought to have had better luck,\" and throwing the\ndice he counted fifteen.  \"Nearly enough; now, Faustus, it is your\nturn.\"\n\nFaustus threw the dice, saying, \"I ought to get it.\"  They all bent\nover to see the result.\n\n\"Eighteen!\" cried Catiline; \"that is the best yet.\"\n\nThen said Agrippa, \"Take it,\" handing him the mantle, \"it is thine;\ntake it away.\"\n\nAnd Nero consoled himself by saying, \"You are not to be envied.\"\n\nFaustus gathered up the coat, and folding it up put it away.\n\nBy this time the rabbi and Saras returned from Pilate, and coming back\nto Caiaphas they said, \"Our mission was in vain.  The governor would\nnot listen to us.\"\n\nCaiaphas indignantly asked, while the priests and Pharisees crowded\naround, \"Did he give you no answer at all?\"\n\n\"This only,\" said the rabbi.  \"What I have written I have written.\"\n\n\"Intolerable,\" said Annas.\n\nCaiaphas also was much perturbed.  But collecting himself he asked,\n\"What did he order about the breaking of the bones?\"\n\n\"About this matter he said he would give his orders to the centurion,\"\nanswered the rabbi.\n\nThen seeing that no more could be done, the Jews began to revile Jesus,\ngoing up to the cross and wagging their heads and scoffing at him.\nJosue, the priest, went up first and said, \"So then it remains written,\nking of the Jews.  Behold, if thou art king of Israel, come down now\nfrom the cross, that we may see and believe.\"  And all the Jews laughed\ntogether.\n\nThen said Eliezer, \"Thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it\nagain in three days, save thyself!\"\n\nAnd Caiaphas said, \"Ha! thou that savest others, thyself thou canst not\nsave.\"\n\n\"Come down,\" cried one of the witnesses, \"Art thou not the Son of God?\"\n\nAnd Annas said, \"He trusted in God; let him deliver him now if he will\nhave him.\"\n\nThen cried the hangmen, \"What!  Don't you hear?  Show thy power, mighty\nking of the Jews,\" and so the sport went on.\n\nThen Jesus, who all this time had hung motionless and silent, raised\nslowly and with pain, his head, which had been bowed down, and said,\n\"Father, forgive them, they know not what they do!\"\n\nHearing Jesus speak, the thief who was crucified on his left said unto\nhim, \"Hearest thou?  If thou be Christ save thyself and us.\"\n\nBut the other thief who was crucified on the right, answered and said,\n\"Dost thou not fear God, seeing that thou art in the same condemnation?\nAnd we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but\nthis man hath done nothing amiss.\"  Then turning to Jesus he said,\n\"Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom?\"\n\nThen Jesus looked upon him and said, \"Verily, I say unto thee, today\nshalt thou be with me in Paradise.\"\n\n\"Listen to that,\" said Caiaphas scornfully, \"he speaks as if he had\npower over the gates of Paradise.\"\n\n\"What,\" said the rabbi.  \"Have not his pride and presumption deserted\nhim even as he hangs helpless on the cross?\"  And they were wroth with\nJesus.\n\nDuring all this time Mary, the mother of Jesus, and John had been\nslowly approaching the cross, and now they stood immediately below\nJesus, Mary on the right, John on the left.  Then Jesus beholding them,\nsaid to Mary, \"Mother, behold thy son.\"  And slowly and with difficulty\nturning his head to see John, Jesus added, \"Son, behold thy mother.\"\n\nThen Mary cried in ecstacy of love and adoration, \"Even in dying thou\ncarest still for thy mother.\"\n\nAnd John tenderly supporting Mary, but looking above to Jesus,\nexclaimed, \"Thy last request is sacred to me.\"\n\nAnd then to Mary he said, \"Thou my mother, I thy son.\"\n\nThen Jesus in a hollow voice, cried hoarsely, \"I thirst.\"\n\nThe centurion hearing him said, \"He thirsts and calls for drink.\"\n\n\"Then,\" said Faustus, \"I will reach him some at once.\"  Then taking the\nreed with the sponge, he filled it with vinegar and passed it to the\ncenturion, who, taking a small phial from his dress, poured hyssop on\nthe sponge.  Faustus then reached the sponge up to the lips of Jesus.\nBut Jesus turned away his head and would not drink.  \"Here, drink,\"\nsaid Faustus.  \"What, wilt thou not?\" and seeing that Jesus would not\ntouch the sponge he took it away.\n\nThen Jesus cried in agony, \"Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani!\"\n\nBut those hearing him did not understand, but imagined he cried for\nElias.\n\n\"Hark!\" said they.  \"He cried for Elias.\"\n\nThen Caiaphas laughed and said, \"Let be; let us see whether Elias will\ncome to save him.\"\n\nThen Jesus raising his head with a great effort to heaven, and\nbreathing heavily cried with a loud voice and said, \"It is finished.\nFather, into thy hands I commend my spirit!\"  And as Jesus spoke these\nwords his head fell forward on his breast and he gave up the ghost.\nThen suddenly the earth rocked and shook violently--thunder\npealed--fierce lightnings flashed--darkness fell like a pall over the\nscene--the people stood trembling with fear.\n\n[Illustration: \"It is finished.\"]\n\nThe priests and the people cried out in terror, saying: \"What a\ndreadful earthquake!  Do you hear the crash of falling rocks?  Woe, woe\nbe to us!\"\n\nBut the centurion said, \"Certainly, this was a righteous man.\"\n\nAnother soldier replied, \"God himself bears witness by these\nconvulsions of nature.\"\n\nThe centurion said, \"Oh, his patience in the worst agony, his noble\ncalm, this last loud cry to heaven at the moment before death, all\nbetoken his divine origin.  Verily, he is a Son of God!\"\n\n\"Come neighbors,\" said Oziel, \"I will remain no longer in this terrible\nplace.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" cried Helen, \"let us go home and may God have mercy on us.\"\n\nAnd others smiting their breasts cried, \"Almighty God, we have sinned!\nForgive us.\"\n\nAnd so it came to pass that no one remained round the cross but the\nholy women and John, and the friends of Jesus with the hangmen.\n\nThe chief priests and the rulers still stood together marveling near\nthe cross of the repentant thief, when suddenly a temple servant came\nrushing into their midst, breathless with haste.\n\n\"High priests and assembled council!\" he exclaimed, \"a fearful thing\nhas occurred in the holy place.  I tremble in every limb.\"\n\n\"What is it?\" cried Caiaphas in alarm.  \"Not the temple?\"\n\n\"Has it fallen?\" said Annas.\n\n\"No,\" said the servant, \"not that, but the veil of the temple has been\nrent in twain from the top to the bottom.  I hastened hither with\nstaggering feet, and feared the whole world was bursting asunder with\nthe shock!\"\n\n\"Dreadful!\" exclaimed the priests and Pharisees, throwing up their\nhands.\n\nBut Caiaphas said, \"It is that wretch who has done this by his magic\narts.  What a blessing it is that he is out of the world!  Otherwise he\nwould bring all the elements into disorder.\"\n\nThen all the priests and Pharisees raised up their voices and cried,\nshaking their fists against Jesus, \"Cursed be the ally of Beelzebub!\"\n\n\"Now,\" said Caiaphas, \"let us hurry home and see what has happened;\nthen we will come back at once.  For I cannot rest until I have seen\nthis fellow's bones broken and the corpse flung into the grave of the\ntransgressors.\"\n\nWhen Caiaphas and Annas and all the rulers of the Jews had departed,\nNicodemus said to Joseph of Arimathea, having overheard the parting\nword-of Caiaphas, \"Shall the holy body of the Son of God be delivered\nover to such dishonor as to be flung into the grave of the evil-doers?\"\n\n\"Listen, friends,\" said Joseph, \"what I have decided to do.  I will go\nstraightway to Pilate, and will implore him to give me the body of\nJesus.  He can hardly refuse me this favor.\"\n\n\"Do so, by all means,\" said Nicodemus.  \"Hasten hither, and I will\nbring the spices for him.\"  They having departed, the holy women\ntremblingly drew round the cross.\n\n\"Fear not, good women,\" said the centurion, \"no harm shall happen to\nyou.\"\n\nThen Mary Magdalene clasped the cross with both her arms, pressed it to\nher breast and cried through her tears as she looked up at the silent\nand lifeless form above, \"O dearest Master, my heart hangs with thee on\nthe cross!\"\n\nThen entered a servant of Pilate, and addressing the centurion, said\nunto him, \"This is the command of my lord: Break the legs of the\ncrucified and take down their bodies.  Everything must be over before\nthe eve of the Passover begins.\"\n\nThe centurion said: \"It shall be done at once.  Men, first break the\nlegs of these two.\"\n\nCatiline said, \"Come, let us put this business through without more\ndelay.\"  Then all the hangmen took ladders and placed them against the\ncrosses of the thieves.  Catiline, seizing a strong club, then mounted\nthe ladder against the cross on the right hand.\n\n\"Strike,\" said Faustus, \"so as to kill him.\" Then Catiline smote the\npenitent thief heavily over each of the thighs and then across the\nshoulder bone.  As the blow fell the man's head fell forward and he\ngave up the ghost.\n\n\"There,\" said Catiline, \"he wakes no more.\"\n\nIn like manner did Nero to the thief on the left hand, saying, \"I will\nhasten the other out of the world.\"\n\nWhen the blows were falling upon the body of the thief, Mary, the\nmother of Jesus, who had watched with terror the blows of the hangman,\ncried out, shuddering, \"O my Son, they will surely not deal so cruelly\nwith thy holy body!\"\n\nNero called out to the thief, \"Movest thou no more?  No, thou hast had\nenough.  I have given thee thy wages.\"  Then coming down from the\nladder they made ready to break the legs of Jesus.\n\nBut as the hangman approached the foot of the cross with the ladder and\nthe club, Mary Magdalene sprang before him, and thrusting him back with\nher slender arm, cried piteously, \"Oh, spare him, spare him!\"\n\nThen Catiline looking up at Jesus said, \"Behold, he is already dead.\nThere is no need therefore to break his legs.\"\n\n\"But,\" said Faustus, \"in order to make sure, I will pierce his heart\nwith a spear.\"  Then grasping a lance he thrust it into the right side\nof Jesus, and forthwith there spurted out blood and water.  John, who\nwas looking up at the holy women, shuddered as the spear entered the\nside of Jesus.\n\nMary Magdalene turning to Mary said, \"Oh, mother, that thrust hast\npierced thy own heart also.\"\n\nThen said the centurion, \"Now, take down the bodies from the cross.\"\n\n\"Where,\" said one of the hangmen, \"shall we put them?\"\n\nThe centurion replied, \"As ordered, into the grave of the malefactor.\"\n\nThen said Mary, with a terrible sob: \"What a word; it pierces my heart\nanew.\"\n\n\"Ladders here,\" said the hangmen, \"we shall soon have them down.\"  Then\nthe hangmen unfastened the cords which bound the thieves to their\ncrosses, and mounting the ladder received their bodies in their arms\nand bore them away.\n\nWhile they were busy Mary Magdalene went out to the centurion and said\nto him: \"May we not even pay the last honors to our friend?\"\n\n\"Alas,\" said the centurion, \"it is not within my power to permit this.\"\n\nThen came back Caiaphas and Annas and all the rulers of the Sanhedrin\nfrom the temple to Golgotha.  Caiaphas, speaking as they approached,\nsaid, \"It will be all the more delightful to see the body of this\nevil-doer cast into the pit of shame, because we have witnessed the\ndestruction he has brought to pass within the temple.\"\n\nAnnas answered, \"What joy it would be if my eyes could see him torn\nlimb from limb by wild beasts.\"\n\n\"Ha,\" said Caiaphas, as they saw the hangman bearing off the bodies of\nthe thieves, \"they are already being taken down.  Now we shall soon see\nour ardent desires fulfilled.\"\n\nHardly had Caiaphas and the priests approached the cross when from the\nother side there came Joseph of Arimathea and with him a servant of\nPilate.  The servant said to the centurion, \"The governor has sent me\nto inquire of thee whether it can really be true that Jesus of Nazareth\nis already dead as this man has informed me.\"\n\n\"It is so, indeed,\" replied the centurion, pointing to the cross.\n\"Look for yourself.  Besides, for a complete certainty, his heart has\nbeen thrust through with a lance.\"\n\nThen said the servant, \"I have orders to inform you that the body is to\nbe delivered over to this man as a gift from Pilate.\"  And having said\nthis he departed.\n\n\"Oh, blessed tidings!\" cried the holy women still gathered together\naround the foot of the cross.\n\nBut the Jews hearing the message, waxed furious and the rabbi, speaking\nof Jesus, said to the other priests and rulers, \"The traitor of the\nsynagogue, he has fooled us again.\"\n\n\"And spoiled our triumph,\" said Annas.\n\nBut Caiaphas would not submit and said haughtily, \"We shall not\ntolerate it that his body be laid anywhere else than in the grave of\nthe transgressors.\"\n\nThe centurion replied, \"As the body is given to this man, it is obvious\nthat he can bury it where and how he will.  There is no disputing that.\"\n\nThen he said to the soldiers and executioners, \"Men, our work is done.\nWe will return.\"\n\nThen the hangmen gathered up their basket and their cord, their dice\nand the fragments of Christ's mantle and departed.  With them went the\ncenturion and his band, leaving Caiaphas and the Jews face to face with\nthe holy women and their friends at the foot of the cross.  The Jews\nwere exceedingly wroth and raged amongst themselves at the centurion.\n\nAnnas cried out to Joseph of Arimathea, \"Dost thou still persist in thy\nheadstrong obstinacy?  Art thou not ashamed to do honor to the very\ncorpse of an executed malefactor?\"\n\nJoseph replied, \"I indeed honor this noblest of men, the teacher sent\nfrom God, whom being innocent you have murdered.\"\n\nAnd Nicodemus added, \"Envy and pride were the motives of his\ncondemnation.  The judge himself was forced to bear witness to his\ninnocence, and swore he would have no part in his death.\"\n\nThen said Caiaphas furiously, \"The curse of our law will destroy you,\nye enemies of our fathers.\"\n\nThe rabbi said, \"Do not excite thyself about them, O, high priest; they\nare smitten with blindness.\"\n\nBut Caiaphas, refusing to be silenced, cried, \"Cursed are ye by the\nholy council.  Deprived of all your honors, never more shall ye dare to\ntake your seats in our midst.\"\n\n\"Neither do we desire to do so,\" said Nicodemus.\n\nThen said Annas, \"As the body is now in the hands of his friends, we\nmust be on our guard, for this deceiver, while he was yet alive said\nthat in three days he would rise again.\"\n\nThe rabbi said, \"They could easily practice a new deception on the\npeople and make fresh trouble for us.  His disciples might take his\nbody away secretly and then give out that he had risen from the dead.\"\n\n\"In that case,\" said Caiaphas, \"the last error would be worse than the\nfirst.  Let us therefore go at once to Pilate and ask him for a guard\nof soldiers to keep watch over the grave until the third day.\"\n\n\"A prudent thought,\" cried Annas, and the rabbi added, \"Thus their\nschemes will be foiled.\"  Then they departed to go to Pilate.\n\nHis enemies having left his friends alone around the cross, Nicodemus\nand Joseph set about taking down the body of Jesus.  Bringing the\nladders Joseph mounted on the shorter one that was placed in front,\nwhile Nicodemus ascended the longer one behind.  Joseph had with him a\nroll of linen so long that after putting it around the body of Jesus,\nthe ends hanging over the cross reached to the ground, where they were\nheld by Simon of Bethany and Lazarus.  Then, after taking off the crown\nof thorns Nicodemus took the pincers and began to pull out the nails\nfrom the hands of Jesus and bent the stiffening arms lovingly away from\nthe cross.  While they were thus engaged the Magdalen and Mary talked\ntogether.  \"At last,\" said Mary Magdalene, \"the madmen have departed.\nBe comforted, beloved mother, now we are alone with our friends; the\nmockery and blasphemy are past and a holy evening stillness surrounds\nus.\"\n\nMary said, \"O, my friends!  What my Jesus suffered this mother's heart\nsuffered with him.  Now he has finished his work and entered into the\nrest of his Father.  Peace also and trust from Heaven fills my soul.\"\n\nMary Magdalene comforted her, saying, \"He is not taken from us forever;\nthat he promised.\"\n\n\"O, noble men,\" said Mary to Joseph and Nicodemus, \"make haste and\nbring me the body of my beloved son.\"\n\nThe Magdalene said, \"Mother, wilt thou not rest a little here, while we\nprepare his resting place?\"  Then seating herself on a stone a little\nto the right of the cross, Mary waited while her friends made ready to\nreceive the body of Jesus.\n\n\"Come, my companions,\" said Salome, \"and help me to prepare the winding\nsheet to receive the body.\"  They spread the linen on the ground at\nMary's feet, placing one end upon her lap.\n\nBy this time Nicodemus had extracted the second nail which was in his\nleft hand, and Joseph had taken the nail from the feet of Jesus.  Then\nSimon and Lazarus, holding the ends of the linen roll, slowly lowered\nthe body into the arms of Joseph of Arimathea.\n\n\"O, come,\" said Joseph, \"thou sweet and holy burden; let me take thee\nupon my shoulders.\"  Then with the body of Jesus resting upon his\nshoulders Joseph began to descend the ladder.\n\nNicodemus had already come down and awaited him at the foot of the\ncross.  Spreading out his arms to receive the body of Jesus, he said,\n\"Come thou holy body of my only friend, let me embrace thee.\"  Then\nthey carried the body of Jesus and placed it on the linen winding sheet\nthat was prepared for it on his mother's lap.  Nicodemus, looking at\nhis wounds sighed, \"How the rage of thy enemies hath torn thy flesh.\"\n\n\"Now,\" said John, \"the best of sons rests once more on the bosom of the\nbest of mothers.\"\n\nMary looked down upon the pale, blood-spotted face of Jesus, and then\nsighing heavily she said, \"O, my Son, how is thy body covered with\nwounds!\"\n\n\"Mother,\" said John, \"from these wounds flowed salvation and blessing\nfor mankind.\"\n\n\"See, mother,\" said the Magdalene, who stood on her right hand, \"how\nthe peace of heaven rests in death upon his face.\"\n\nThen said Nicodemus who had brought some ointment, \"Let us anoint him\nand then wrap him in this new linen.\"  He then poured the ointment into\nall the wounds on the body of Jesus.\n\n\"He shall be laid,\" said Joseph of Arimathea, \"in my new grave which I\nhave prepared in the rock in my garden.\"\n\nBut before they could wrap him in the winding sheets, Salome came near,\nand kneeling, raised to her lips the pierced left hand of Jesus saying,\n\"O, best of Masters!  One more loving tear upon thy lifeless body.\"\n\nThen came the Magdalene on the right hand, and kneeling down, stooped\nlow and kissed the right hand, saying, \"O, let me once more kiss the\nhand which has so often blessed me.\"\n\nThen said John, \"We shall see him again.\"\n\n\"Help me,\" said Joseph to Nicodemus, \"to bear him into the garden.\"\n\n\"Blessed am I,\" said Nicodemus, \"that I may lay to rest the remains of\nhim who was sent from God.\"  Then taking up the body they bore it away.\n\nThen said John to Mary and the other woman, \"Let us follow the dear,\nthe divine friend.\"\n\n\"It is the last honor,\" said Mary, \"that I can do my Jesus.\"\n\n      *      *      *      *      *      *\n\nOn the morning of the third day since Jesus had been crucified, before\nthe sun had arisen, the four soldiers who were appointed to watch the\ngrave sat outside the tomb where the body of Jesus had been laid.  One\nof them awaking, cried, \"Brothers, is not the night nearly over?\"  Then\nsaid Titus, \"The sky is already reddening in the east; a beautiful\nspring day is beginning to dawn.\"\n\nHardly had he said these words when there was a great earthquake.\nPedius springing up exclaimed, \"Immortal Gods!  What a fearful shock!\"\n\"The earth is splitting,\" cried Rufus.  Then there was a peal of\nthunder.  Titus called out, \"Away from the rock; it is tottering; it is\nfalling!\" and the stone which had been rolled up into the mouth of the\nsepulcher fell down with a crash.\n\nJesus arose.  For a moment he appeared at the mouth of the sepulchre,\nradiant in white apparel, while the watch fell on their faces to the\nground crying out, \"Ye gods, what do we see?  A fire from heaven is\nblinding our eyes!\"\n\nJesus then passed out through the door of the sepulchre and went down\ninto the garden and out of sight.\n\nAfter awhile the soldiers, who were lying prostrate on the ground said\nto each other, \"Brother, what has happened to us?\"  Then said one of\nthe soldiers, \"I will not stop here another moment.\"\n\nBut Titus looking up said, \"The apparition is vanished,\" and grasping\nhis spear he rose to his feet saying, \"Brothers, take heart; we have\nnothing to fear, as we have done no wrong.\"  They then stood up and saw\nthe open door of the sepulchre from which the stone had fallen.  Then\nsaid Titus, \"The stone is rolled away from the grave.  The grave is\nopen.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said another, \"and the garden door is bolted.\"  Then they went\nwith fear and trembling to the door of the sepulchre, and one looking\nin, said, \"I do not see the corpse.\"\n\nThen another going farther inside said, \"Here is the linen cloth lying\nin which the body was wrapped.  He has gone out of the grave.\"\n\nTitus said, \"He must have risen again, as no one came into the garden.\"\n\nThen said the third soldier, \"It has happened thus as the priests\nfeared.\"\n\nAnd Titus answered, \"He has fulfilled his word!\"  \"Now, what shall we\ndo?\" said the soldiers.\n\n\"There is nothing else to be done,\" said one, \"excepting to hasten to\nthe Pharisees and tell them what has happened.\"\n\nAll replied at once, \"That we will,\" and they hastened away.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nCONCLUSION.\n\nI.--THE STORY THAT TRANSFORMED THE WORLD\n\nWritten by Mr. Stead at Ober-Ammergau the night after witnessing the\nperformance of the Passion Play.\n\nThis is the story that transformed the world!\n\nThis is the story that transformed the world!\n\nYes, and will yet transform it!\n\nYes, thank God, so the answer comes; and will yet transform it until\nthe kingdom comes!\n\nThis is the story that transformed the world.  I awoke shortly after\nmidnight, after seeing the Passion Play at Ober-Ammergau, with these\nwords floating backward and forward in my head like a peal of bells\nfrom some distant spire.  Backward and forward they went and came, and\ncame and went.\n\nThis is the story that transformed the world!\n\nThis is the story that transformed the world.  And then in the midst of\nthe reiterated monotone of this insistent message came the glad\nresponse from I know not where, \"Yes, and will yet transform it!\"  And\nthen the two met and mingled, strophe and anti-strophe, one answering\nthe other, \"This is the story that transformed the world.  Yes, and\nwill yet transform the world!\"\n\n[Illustration: He is risen.]\n\nI tried to sleep, but could not.  It was as if church bells were\npealing their sweet but imperious music within my brain.  So I got up\nand wrote.\n\nAll is silent save the ticking of the watch by my bedside; silent as\nthe stars which gleam down from the blue sky above the cross-crowned\ncrag, which stands like some giant sentinel keeping watch over the\nvillage, at its foot.  Herod, our host, sleeps soundly, and Johannes,\nwearied by his double service of waiter at the hotel and his role in\nthe sacred play, is oblivious of all.  The crowded thousands who\nwatched for hours yesterday the unfolding of the passion of Christ\nJesus of Galilee have disappeared, and I am alone.\n\nBut not alone.  For as real and as vivid as that same crowd of\nyesterday seem to me the thronging memories of other days, of the\ncenturies that rise between the time when Jesus really lived on earth,\nand today.  Nineteen hundred years have gone since all that we saw\nrepresented yesterday was no mere mimic show but deadly tragic fact;\nnineteen hundred years during which the shaping power of the world has\nbeen that story.  The old, old, story never before so vividly realized\nin all its human significance and its Divine import.\n\nIts human significance, for thank God, we have at last seen Jesus as a\nman among men, a human being with no halo round his brow, no radiance\nnot of this world marking him off apart from the rest of his\nfellow-men, but simply Jesus, the Galilean, gibbeted on the gallows of\nhis time, side by side with the scum of mankind.\n\nAnd it was this story that transformed the world.  \"Thou hast\nconquered, O pale Galilean!\"  Over how many tribes and nations and\nkindreds of men?\n\nOh, the wonder of it all, the miracle of miracles surely is this.  That\nthis story should have transformed the world.  For after all, what was\nthe passion?  Looked at as we looked at it yesterday, not from the\nstandpoint of those who see the sacred story through the vista of\ncenturies that have risen in splendor and set in the glory of the\ncross, but from the standpoint which the actors on the stage assumed\nyesterday, what was the passion?  It was merely a passing episode in\nthe unceasing martyrdom of man.  Think you that of the thirty thousand\nJews whom the humane Titus by a mere stroke of his stylus condemned to\nbe crucified round the walls of Jerusalem forty years after that scene\non Calvary, none suffered like this!  For them, also, was reared the\nhorrid cross, nor were they spared the mockings and the scourgings, the\ncruel thirst, and the slow-drawn agony of days of death.  And among all\nthat unnamed multitude how few were there but had some distracted\nmother to mourn for him, some agonized mother to swoon at the news of\nhis death?  Jews they were, as was he.  Hero souls, no doubt faithful\nunto death, and now, let us hope, wearing a crown of life; patriots who\nknew how to die in the service of the land which their fathers had\nreceived from God, and of the temple in which was preserved his holy\nlaw.  But their self-sacrifice availed not even to save their names\nfrom oblivion.  Their martyrdom was as powerless to avert the doom of\nthe chosen people as the bursting of the foam-flakes on the sand is to\narrest the rush of the returning tide.\n\nWhy, then, should the death of one Jew have transformed the world,\nwhile the death of these uncounted thousands failed even to save the\nsynagogue?\n\nWhy?  That is the question that the Passion Play forces home--a\nquestion which never even comes to the mind of those who are accustomed\nfrom childhood to regard this Jew as mysteriously Divine, not so much\nman as God, cut off from us and our daily littleness by the\nimmeasurable abyss that yawns between the finite and the infinite.\nThis greatest of all the miracles, the coming of Christendom into\nbeing, has become so much a matter of course that we marvel as little\nat it as we do at the sunrise--which also in its way is a wonder worthy\nenough.  Think for a moment of the many myriads of fierce heathen,\nworshipping all manner of proud ancestral gods, that have gone down\nbefore the might of that pale form.  Civilizations and empires have\ngone down into the void; darkness covers them over and oblivion is fast\nerasing the very inscriptions which history has traced on their tombs.\nBut the kingdom which this man founded knoweth no end.  The voice that\nechoed from the hills of Galilee is echoing today from hills the Romans\nnever trod, and the story of that life is rendered in tongues unknown\nat Pentecost.  The more you look at it from the standpoint of the\ncontemporaries of the carpenter of Nazareth the more incredibly\nmarvelous it appears.\n\nAnd this is the great gain of the Passion Play.  It takes us clear back\nacross the ages to the standpoint of those who saw Jesus, the Galilean,\nas merely a man among men.  It compels us to see him without the\naureole of Divinity, as he appeared to those who knew him from his\nboyhood, and who said, \"Are not his brethren still with us?\"  It is\ntrue that it is still not real enough.  The dresses are too\nbeautiful--everything is conventional.  We have here not the real\nChrist, the Jew, the outcast and the vagabond.  For him we must wait\ntill Vereschagin or some other realist painter may bring us reality.\nBut even behind all the despisers of conventional Christian art, we\nhave at least a sufficiently human figure to elicit sympathy,\ncompassion and love.  We get near enough to Christ to hear the blows\nthat fall upon his face, to appreciate the superior respectability of\nthe high priests, and to understand the contempt of Herod for the \"king\nof fools.\"  Not until we start low enough do we understand the heights\nto which the crucified has risen.  It is only after realizing the\ndepths of his humiliation we can even begin to understand the miracle\nof the transformation that he has wrought.\n\nNor is that all.  It is the greatest thing, but it does not stand\nalone.  For besides enabling us to realize the story which transformed\nthe world, it enables us to understand the agency by which that story\neffected its beneficent revolution.\n\nI learned more of the inner secret of the Catholic church in\nOber-Ammergau than ever I learnt in Rome.  Yet there is nothing\ndistinctively Roman about the Passion Play.  With the exception of the\nlegend of St. Veronica with which Gabriel Maxs' picture has\nfamiliarized every Protestant who looks into a photograph shop and sees\nthe strange face on the handkerchief, whose eyes reveal themselves\nbeneath your gaze, there is nothing from first to last to which the\nProtestant Alliance could take exception.  And yet it is all there.\nThere, condensed into eight hours or less, is the whole stock-in-trade\nof the Christian church.  It was in its effort to impress that story\nupon the heart of man that there came into being all that is\ndistinctively Roman.  To teach truth by symbols, to speak through the\neye as much as the ear, to leave no gate of approach unsummoned by the\nbearer of the glad tidings of great joy, and above all in so doing to\nuse every human element of pathos, of tragedy, and of awe that can\ntouch the heart or impress the imagination--that was the mission of the\nchurch; and as it got further and further afield and had to deal with\nrude and ruder barbarians the tendency grew to print in still larger\ncapitals.  The Catholic church, in short, did for religion what the new\njournalism has done for the press.  It has sensationalized in order to\nget a hearing among the masses.\n\nProtestantism that confines its gaze solely to the sublime central\nfigure of the gospel story walks with averted face past the beautiful\ngroup of the holy women.  Because others have ignorantly worshiped,\ntherefore we must not even contemplate.  But plant a competent\nProtestant dramatic critic in the theater of Ober-Ammergau, let him\nlook with dry eyes if he can upon the leave-taking at Bethany, and then\nas the universal sob rises from thousands of gazers, he will realize\nperhaps for the first time how intense is the passion of sympathy which\nthey have sealed up, how powerful the emotion to which they are\nforbidden to appeal.  The most pathetic figure in the Passion Play is\nnot Christ, but his mother.  There is in him also sublimity.  She is\npurely pathetic.  And after Mary the mother comes Mary Magdalene.\nProtestantism will have much leeway to make up before it can find any\ninfluence so potent for softening the hearts and inspiring the\nimagination of men.  Even in spite of all the obloquy of centuries of\nsuperstition, and of the consequent centuries of angry reaction against\nthis abuse, these two women stand out against the gloom of the past\nradiant as the angels of God, and yet the true ideals of the womanhood\nof the world.\n\nYes, this was the story that transformed the world!  This and no other.\nThis it was which to make visible, men carved it in stone and built it\nin the cathedral, and then, lest even the light of heaven should come\nto the eye of man without bearing with it the story of the cross, they\nfilled their church windows with stained glass, so that the sun should\nnot shine without throwing into brighter relief the leading features of\nthe wonder-working epoch of his life and death.  Wherever you go in\nChristendom you come upon endless reproductions of the scenes which\nyesterday we saw presented with all the vividness of the drama.  The\ncross, the nails, the lance, have been built into the architecture of\nthe world, often by the descendants of the men who crucified their\nRedeemer--not knowing what they did.  For centuries art was but an\nendless repetition in color or in stone of the scenes we witnessed\nyesterday, or of incidents in lives which had been transformed by these\nscenes.  The more utterly we strip the story of the Passion of all\nsupernatural significance the more irresistibly comes back upon the\nmind the overwhelming significance of the transformation which it has\naffected in the world.\n\nWhy?--I keep asking why?  If there were no divine and therefore natural\nlaw behind all that, why should that trivial incident, the crucifixion\nof one among the unnumbered host of vagabonds executed every year in\nthe reign of Tiberius and the Caesars that followed him, how comes it\nthat we are here today?  Why are railways built and special trains\norganized and six thousand people gathered in curiosity or in awe to\nsee the representation of this simple tale?  How comes it if there were\nno dynamo at the other end of that long coil of centuries, that the\nlight should still be shining at our end today?  Shining alas! not so\nbrightly as could be wished, but to shine at all, is that in itself not\nmiraculous?\n\nThrough all the ages it has shone with varying luster.  And still it\nshines.  The dawn of a new day as I write is breaking upon this\nmountain valley.  The cocks are crowing in the village, recalling the\napostle who in the midst of the threatening soldiery denied his Lord.\nAnd even as Peter went out and wept bitterly, and ever after became the\nstoutest and bravest disciple of the Master, may it not yet be with\nthose of this generation who also have denied their Redeemer?\n\nWho knows?  The transformation would be far less startling than that\nwhich converted the Coliseum from the shambles of imperial Rome into\nthe gigantic monument of triumphant martyrdom, far less violent than\nthat which made the German forbears of these good Ammergauers into\nChristian folk.\n\nBut if the transformation is to be effected, and the light and warmth\nof a new day of faith, and hope, and love, are to irradiate the world,\nthen may it not be confidently asserted that in the old, old story of\nthe cross lies the secret of the only power which can save mankind?\n\n\nII.--THE INTERPRETATION OF THE STORY.\n\nWherein does it modify orthodox opinions?  Chiefly in humanizing them,\nin making the gospel story \"palpitate with actuality\" to quote the\nFrench phrase which Matthew Arnold loved to use.  These people on the\nstage at Ober-Ammergau are not lay figures, mere abstract\nrepresentations of the virtues or the opposite.  They live, breathe and\nact just as if they were actors in a French or Russian novel.  That is\nthe great difference.  These poor players have brought our Lord to life\nagain.  In their hands he is no mere influence of abstraction, no\ninfinite and almighty ruler of the universe.  He may be and no doubt\nevery one of the Ober-Ammergauers would shrink with horror from the\nsuggestion that he was any other than the second person of the trinity.\nBut they have done more than repeat the Athanasian creed.  They have\nshown how it came to be believable.  If that poor carpenter's son by\ngetting himself crucified as one part fool and three parts seditious\nadventurer could revolutionize the world, then the inference seemed\nirresistible that he must have been divine.  If the illegitimate son of\na Bengalese peasant hanged by order of our lieutenant-governor in the\nnorthwest provinces because of the mischief he was making among the\nMoslems of Lahore were to establish his faith on the ruins of\nWestminster Abbey, and install the successor of his leading disciple on\nthe throne of the British empire, we should not wonder at his\napotheosis.  To do so much, with so little material, compels the\ninference that there is the infinite behind.  Nothing but a God could\ncontrol such a machine.  It needed a fulcrum in eternity to make such a\nchange in the things of time with so weak a lever as the life of this\nGalilean.\n\nBut it is not only Christ himself who becomes real to us, but what is\nalmost as important, we see his contemporaries as they saw themselves,\nor as he saw them.  Caiaphas--who that has seen Burgomaster Lang in\nthat leading role can feel anything but admiration and sympathy for the\nworthy chief of the Sanhedrin?  He had everything on his side to\njustify him.  Law, respectability, patriotism, religious expediency,\ncommon sense.  Against him there was only this poor vagabond from\nNazareth--and the Invisible.  But Caiaphas, like other men, does not\nsee the Invisible and he acts, according to his lights, as he was bound\nto act.  He is the great prototype of the domineering and intolerant\necclesiastic all the world over.  Since the crucifixion he has often\nchanged his clothes.  But at heart he is the same.  He has worn the\nthree-crowned hat of the successor of Peter; he has paraded in a\nbishop's miter; he has often worn the gown and bands of Presbyterian\nGeneva.  Caiaphas is eternal.  He produces himself in every church and\nin every village, because there is a latent Caiaphas in every heart.\n\nPerhaps the character who comes out best is Pilate.  He is a noble\nRoman, whose impartiality and rectitude, coupled with an anxious desire\nto take the line of least resistance and find out some practical middle\ncourse, is worthy of that imperial race to whose vices, as well as to\nmany of their virtues, we English have succeeded.  Pilate did his best\nto save Jesus up to a point--beyond that point he did not go, and\naccording to the accepted ethics of men in his position, it would have\nbeen madness to have gone.  Why should he, Pontius Pilate, procurator\nof Judea, risk his career and endanger the tranquillity of Jerusalem\nmerely to save a poor wretch like that Galilean?  What Englishman who\nhas ever ruled a province in India, where religious ferment was rife,\nwho would not have felt tempted to act as Pilate acted--nay, would not\nhave acted as he acted without even the hesitation he showed, if the\nlife of some poor devil of a wandering fakir stood between him and the\npeace of the empire?  Would to God that British magistrates, even at\nhome in our own land, would give the despised and unpopular poor man\nthe same number of chances Pilate gave to Jesus.  With Downing street\neager for the conviction of a socialist agitator, and the whole of\nsociety and the mob savage against him, a man would be a fool who would\nnot appeal from Bow street or old Bailey to so just a judge as Pilate.\nTo the last Pilate never made himself the willing instrument of popular\nfrenzy.  He argued against it, he denounced it, he resorted to every\nsubterfuge by which he could save the prisoner's life, and it was only\nwhen the Sanhedrin threatened to denounce him to Caesar as an enemy of\nthe emperor that he unwillingly gave way.  Here and there no doubt\nthere are among our latter day magistrates and judges fanatical\nbelievers in abstract right, who would have risked the empire rather\nthan let a hair of Christ's head be touched; but the average English or\nAmerican magistrate--especially if the accused was \"only a\nnigger\"--would shrug his shoulders at such Quixotism as folly and\nworse.  It is better, they would say, that one man should die, even\nunjustly, than that everything should be upset.\n\nAnother person who comes out better than might be expected is Judas.\nThe conception of his character is very fine and very human.  Judas, as\nthe treasurer of the little band, naturally felt indignant at the\napparent wanton extravagance which led Mary Magdalene to pour ointment\nworth 300 pence upon the head of her master.  There is real human\nnature and sound practical common sense in his reply to those who told\nhim not to worry about the money, when he retorted, \"Who is there to\ntake care about it if I don't?\"  Judas never really from first to last\nmeditates betraying his master to death.  The salves which he lays to\nhis conscience when consenting to identify Jesus at night are very\ningenious.  Judas was a smart man who calculated he stood to win in any\nevent.  He got the indispensable cash; all that he did was to indicate\nwhat could perfectly well have been discovered without his aid; if\nJesus were what he believed him to be he could easily have baffled his\nenemies; if he were not, well, then, he had deceived them.  But the\nmoment Judas learns that he has really endangered his master's life,\nhis whole demeanor changes.  He flings back the blood money at the feet\nof those who had given it to him, and in the madness of despair he\nhangs himself.  So far from Judas being callous to Christ's fate, his\nsuicide was a proof that his penitence was far more agonizing than that\nof Peter.\n\nSimon Peter also comes in for a share in the general rehabilitation.\nIt was impossible not to feel sympathy for the hasty old man, hustled\nfrom side to side by a pack of violent soldiery.  Knowing moreover that\nhe had cut off one of their ears but a few hours before, and that if\nthey recognized him his own ears would have been cropped, even if he\ndidn't share the fate of the crucified, his denial is so natural under\nthe circumstances that you cease to marvel that even the cock crow on\nthe roof failed to remind him of his master's warning.\n\nThe Passion Play has at least done this--it sets us discussing the\nconduct of Caiaphas and Pilate and Judas, as if they were our\ncontemporaries, as if they were statesmen at Westminster or at\nWashington or administrators in India or Canada.  And this, no doubt,\nis no small service, for these men are types of human character who are\neternally re-embodied among us.\n\n\nIII.--THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE.\n\nThe story of the Passion Play has ever been real to me in another than\na Catholic sense.  It has been the perpetual re-incarnation of the\ndivine story in the history of our own times that has absorbed my\nattention.  These ancient figures on the stage of New Testament history\nwere but of importance in so far as they lived again in our own life.\nOf their mystical theological significance I am, of course, not\nspeaking.  This is a thing apart.  But the perpetual re-incarnation of\nGod's Messiah in the great causes of justice, freedom and humanity, it\nis that which has made the gospel story ever new to me.\n\nLeaving Ober-Ammergau I returned by Switzerland to London.  At Lucerne\nwhile waiting for the train, I turned over the book in the waiting-room\nthat describes the construction of the Gotthard railway.  About one\nthousand tons of dynamite, it is said, had sufficed to pierce the\ntunnels through the mountain barrier that separated Italy from\nSwitzerland.  Blasting powder could never have done the work.  That\nhelped to level the military roads for the legions of Suwarrow.  It\nneeded dynamite to tunnel the St. Gotthard--dynamite directed by\nscience--and as I read this I fell a-thinking.  The old story, that\nmediaeval Christ in magenta and pearl gray, with his disciples in\nartistic symphonies of harmonious and contrasted color, no doubt\ntransformed the world.  But a new world has arisen which sorely needs\ntransforming again, and is it not possible that the conventional\nChrist, who no doubt did mighty things in the past, may have become as\nobsolete as blasting powder.  May we not hope that if the conventional\nChrist did so much, the real Christ may do much more; that the\nrealization of the Christ as he actually lived and died among us may be\nas much superior in its transforming efficacy as the dynamite of the\nmodern engineer is to the powder sack of the soldiers who marched under\nold Suwarrow?  Of one thing we may at least be certain, and that is, if\neveryone of those who call themselves by the Christian name would but\nsay one Christ-like word, and do one Christ-like deed between every\nsunrise and sunset, it would lift a very Alpine mass of sorrow and\nanxiety from the weary heart of the world.  What then might not be done\nif in very truth, and with all sincerity, we, each of us, tried to be a\nreal Christ in his or her sphere, the sent of God in the midst of those\nwith whom we pass our lives?\n\nOne more word and I have done.  The actors play different parts as they\ngrow old.  They begin with being children in the tableaux and they pass\nin turn from one role to another.  The Judas of 1890 was the apostle\nJohn in 1880.  When the Christ was selected in 1870, he was chosen out\nof four competitors.  One of the unsuccessful today plays King Herod,\nthe other Pontius Pilate.  So it is ever in real life.  Few, indeed,\nare those who are always Christs.  When Christians ceased to be martyrs\nthey martyred their enemies.  The church came from the catacombs to\nestablish the inquisition.  In our own lives we may be Christs today\nand atheists tomorrow.  Power and authority destroy more Christs than\nthe dungeon and the stake.  And perhaps one reason why the\nOber-Ammergauers have been able to give us the Christ we see this year\nis because in their secluded valley they have remained poor and humble\nin spirit, and have never ceased to remember the story that transformed\nthe world.","title":"King of the Jews: A story of Christ's last days on Earth","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":45781}