people, — he at last condemned one whom he himself called
"• a just person/' He rejected the strange and mysterious
j warning which his wife sent to him after her dream. He
stifled the remonstrances of his own conscience. He
/ " delivered Jesus to be crucified.''
Behold in this miserable man a lively emblem of many a ruler of this world ! How many there are, who know well that their public acts are wrong, and yet have not the courage to act up to their knowledge. They fear the people ! They dread being laughed at ! They cannot bear being unpopular ! Like dead fish, they float with the tide. The praise of man is the idol before which they bow down, and to that idol they sacrifice conscience, inward peace, and an immortal soul.
Whatever our position in life may be, let us seek to be "^guided by principle, and not by expediency. The praise of man is a poor, feeble, uncertain thing. It is here to- day, and gone to-morrow. Let us strive to please Grod, and then we may care little who else is pleased. Let us fear God, and then there is none else of whom we need be afraid.
Let us learn from the conduct of the Jews described in these verses, the desperate wickedness of human nature.
The behavior of Pilate afibrded the chief priests and elders an occasion of reconsidering what they were about. The difficulties he raised about condemning our Lord, gave time for second thoughts. But there were no second thoughts in the minds of our Lord's enemies. They pressed on their wicked deed. They rejected the compromise that Pilate offered. They actually preferred having a wretched felon, named Barabbas, set at liberty