replied the priests sullenly.  ‘Take him,’ said Pilate, ’and judge you him according to your law.’  ‘Thou knowest well,’ replied they, ’that it is not lawful for us to condemn any man to death.’  The enemies of Jesus were furious—­they wished to have the trial finished off, and their victim executed as quickly as possible, that they might be ready at the festival-day to sacrifice the Paschal lamb, not knowing, miserable wretches as they were, that he whom they had dragged before the tribunal of an idolatrous judge (into whose house they would not enter, for fear of defiling themselves before partaking of the figurative victim), that he, and he alone, was the true Paschal Lamb, of which the other was only the shadow.

Pilate, however, at last ordered them to produce their accusations.  These accusations were three in number, and they brought forward ten witnesses to attest the truth of each.  Their great aim was to make Pilate believe that Jesus was the leader of a conspiracy against the emperor, in order that he might condemn him to death as a rebel.  They themselves were powerless in such matters, being allowed to judge none but religious offences.  Their first endeavour was to convict him of seducing the people, exciting them to rebellion, and of being an enemy to public peace and tranquillity.  To prove these charges they brought forward some false witnesses, and declared likewise that he violated the Sabbath, and even profaned it by curing the sick upon that day.  At this accusation Pilate interrupted them, and said in a jeering tone, ’It is very evident you were none of you ill yourselves—­had you been so you would not have complained of being cured on the Sabbath-day.’  ’He seduces the people, and inculcates the most disgusting doctrines.  He even says, that no person can attain eternal life unless they eat his flesh and drink his blood.’  Pilate was quite provoked at the intense hatred which their words and countenances expressed and, turning from them with a look of scorn, exclaimed, ’You most certainly must wish to follow his doctrines and to attain eternal life, for you are thirsting for both his body and blood.’

The Jews then brought forward the second accusation against Jesus, which was that he forbad the people to pay tribute to the emperor.  These words roused the indignation of Pilate, as it was his place to see that all the taxes were properly paid, and he exclaimed in an angry tone, ‘That is a lie!  I must know more about it than you.’  This obliged the enemies of our Lord to proceed to the third accusation, which they did in words such as these:  ’Although this man is of obscure birth, he is the chief of a large party.  When at their head, he denounces curses upon Jerusalem, and relates parables of double meaning concerning a king who is preparing a wedding feast for his son.  The multitude whom he had gathered together on a mountain endeavoured once to make him their king; but it was sooner than he intended: