useless and vain, for it may have been the means of exciting that caution which preserved his life; or, if he was indeed in any danger, it may have been the means of turning his attention more effectually to the escape he made, and of deepening his gratitude. Suppose, again, that a man should dream, himself, that he was in danger of committing some crime, or should be told, as a warning, that a friend had had such a dream concerning him, it would be a mark, not of a weak, but of a wise man, to be very much on his guard against the crime in question; and, if he should fall into that crime, he would be more to blame than if he had had no such warning. With regard to the dream under consideration, we have, simply, the two statements that Pilate's wife had the dream, and that she told it to her husband; and we are not informed how far it was out of the ordinary course of nature; but when the great importance of the circumstances is considered, it is natural to regard this dream as the result of special divine suggestion. In the morning of that day, she had had a very distressing dream, probably referring to the cruelties exercised and meditated against Christ, and to the calamities which would befall those who had a hand in his death. She seems to have known something of what was passing, and of the attempts making to prevail on Pilate to take part against him; and, as duty and kind attention required, she warned her husband of the danger, and entreated him to do nothing against that just person. At all events, this was another testimony to the innocence of our Lord, given in a solemn manner, while Pilate was sitting as judge. We are not told how Pilate turned off this warning. He may have laughed at it, as the result of silly fear, though he could hardly do that, considering his own misgivings. Faithless to his own convictions, and regardless of this caution, he was driven on by the incensed multitude, whose urgency prevailed. And now, Pilate adopted another, and a still more striking way of declaring that Jesus was a good man, and that he was not to blame for his death.* "When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person; see ye to it." This action was a natural way of expressing innocence, and also of denoting the washing * Matt. xxvii. 24. * It away of any guilt which might adhere to a person.* was enjoined by the law of Moses, in the case of uncertain murder; as we find in the 21st chapter of Deuteronomy. Hence, too, the language of the Psalmist, "I will wash mine hands in innocency; so will I compass thine altar, O Lord." But, did this action clear Pilate? By no means. If he had really acted as he ought, he would have been free from blame; but it was absurd, and utterly vain in him, to protest that he was innocent of Christ's blood, when he was consenting to its being shed. He failed to interpose his authority to preserve Christ's life; and, therefore, he was guilty. "If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain: if thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?" But Pilate did worse than forbear to deliver Jesus-he was so weak and so wicked as to condemn him; still more evident, therefore, is it, that he was answerable for the consequences. He flattered himself that the guilt lay entirely with others. But guilt is not so easily transferred. There never was a real transference of guilt but one; and, in that case, he to whom the transference was made had no guilt of his own. The Lord will not accept the responsibility of one sinner for another, any more than a creditor will accept the security of one bankrupt for another. The priests endeavoured to lay the blame entirely on Judas, and now Pilate sought to lay the blame entirely on the priests and the multitude; but they were all guilty together. The symbolical action, and the words accompanying it, implied that Pilate considered the Jews at least as chiefly responsible; and though he could not thereby be cleared, they immediately undertook to be answerable for the consequences of Christ's death. So infatuated were they, and so convinced that there was neither sin nor danger in the case, that they readily agreed to abide the result. "Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children." Awful impre Among the other ceremonies at a solemn league, Homer (Iliad. iii. 270) says, "They poured water on the hands of the kings," · Αταρ βασιλευσιν ὕδωρ ἐπι χειρας έχευαν. "Tu genitor, cape sacra manu, patriosque penates. Abluero." -Eneid, II. 717. cation! How tremendous the temporal judgments which soon befell them as a nation, and which continue to press on them to the present day! Far more dreadful still is the thought that those murderers of the Son of God who repented not, and obtained not forgiveness through his blood, perished for ever. The cry of the rabble prevailed. “And,” Luke adds, "Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required." This was anything but the deliberate verdict of justice. It was extorted by violence, and yielded by wicked pliancy, in despite of conviction. But here several affecting circumstances, which are omitted by Luke, may be supplied. It was the custom of the Romans to scourge persons before crucifying them;* and this custom was cruelly followed in the case of the holy Jesus. The other three evangelists expressly state that he was scourged by Pilate, that is, by Pilate's order; and in this, as in other cases, the scourging would be a very severe punishment, to the effusion of blood, and the cutting and laceration of the body. Jesus was thus scourged in the open outer court, in the sight, and, doubtless, highly to the gratification, of his persecutors. After this, he was taken into the prætorium, and there subjected to various indignities and cruelties, in mockery of his claim as a king. The following is Matthew's account of this part of the appalling history: "Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand; and they bowed the knee before him, saying, Hail, king of the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.' While these impious atrocities were perpetrating, Pilate must have been very uneasy; and, though he had passed sentence against our Lord, he thought that if he were shown to the multitude in his now abused condition, they would relent. Here Pilate makes his fourth attempt to save Christ's life. He resolves to carry him out a spectacle which might be enough to soften the hardest heart; and, that the effect might be stronger, he resolved to go and speak to the people himself. In the words of John,+ " Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple *Josephus, Wars, II. xiv. 9. John xix. 4. robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!" As if he had said, "See his wretched condition. Have you no compassion? Is not this enough?" But this appeal to their pity was in vain. Lest the multitude should relent, those who were at their head took the lead in renewed calls for Christ's crucifixion. "When the chief priests and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him.” On this, Pilate, somewhat irritated by their obstinacy, told them that if they were determined to have Jesus crucified, they must crucify him themselves. "Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him, for I find no fault in him." But the Jews would not undertake to crucify him themselves, afraid, no doubt, of the odium and responsibility which they would incur, should they put to death a person whom many of their countrymen believed to be the Messiah, and whom the Roman governor had declared to be innocent. In this dilemma, they bethought themselves of another plea, and asserted that Jesus, at all events, deserved to die according to one of the laws of Moses. "We have a law," said they, "and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God"-alluding to the law against blasphemers and false prophets,* and taking it for granted that his claim was false. "When Pilate, therefore, heard that saying, he was the more afraid," either lest he should be obliged to yield to their demand in order to avoid an insurrection, or, lest Jesus should really be a divine person, whom it would be extremely impious and dangerous to crucify. Following still John's account, we find that Pilate, resolving to act cautiously, went again into the judgment hall with Jesus, to examine him once more, apart from the Jews, and "said unto him, Whence art thou?" "With the confused notions of a heathen, he wished to know Christ's origin; that is, probably, whether he was of heaven, or of earth, of the gods, or of men. "But Jesus," knowing that "the hour was come," and that Pilate had already yielded so far, and would yield entirely to the Jews, "gave him no answer. Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above; therefore, he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin." This gentle and respectful reply (in which our Lord asserted the doctrine of providence, and, though * Lev. xxiv. 16; Deut. xviii. 20. he did not exculpate Pilate, yet declared that the guilt of the high priest with his associates was much greater, inasmuch as a Jew had better means of judging than a Gentile) so affected Pilate as to lead him to make a fifth attempt to alter the purpose of the persecutors. "And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him. But the Jews," perceiving that Pilate was still bent on setting him at liberty, "cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Cæsar's friend. Whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Cæsar." Here, at last, they found what Pilate had not courage to withstand. Roman historians show that the reigning emperor, Tiberius, was always most suspicious of the fidelity of those who were under him, and often visited unsupported accusations of disaffection with instant death. The very thought of being accused of disloyalty filled Pilate with dismay. "When Pilate, therefore, heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat," "and saith unto the Jews, Behold your king! But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Cæsar. Then delivered he him, therefore, unto them to be crucified;" or, as it is in Luke, "And Pilate gave sentence, that it should be as they required. And he released unto them him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they had desired; but he delivered Jesus to their will." How shockingly and perversely criminal this decision! "He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord;" and here both these crimes were committed at once. Barabbas was let loose to do more mischief, and to harden in his crimes; and the holy Jesus was barbarously given up to the will of those who thirsted for his blood. Let us now take an improving glance at what is here exhibited of the character of the three principal parties concerned-Pontius Pilate, the Jewish rulers and multitude, and Jesus Christ. 1. Pilate. In him judges and magistrates may behold, in several respects, a beacon. He seemed, it is true, to observe, in some things, the forms of justice; but he soon disregarded both its forms and its substance; and he allowed himself to be prevailed on by malicious importunity, and t be borne away by violence, instead of being guided by evidence, and maintaining the cause that was just. |