Secondly , Against whom doth Pilate give sentence? against % malefactor ? No, his own mouth once and again acknowledged him innocent. Against a common prisoner? No, but one whose fame no doubt had often reached Pilate's ears, even the wonder- ful things wrought by him, which none but God could do : one that stood before him as the picture, or rather as the body, of in- nocency and meekness. Ye have condemned and killed the just, and he resisteth you not, Jam. v. 6. Now was that word made good, Psal. xciv. 21. " They gather themselves together against " the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.''1
Thirdly , But what was the sentence that Pilate gave ? We have it not in the form in which it was delivered: but the sum of it was, that it should be as they required. Now what did they require ? why, crucify him, crucify him. So that in what formalities soever it was delivered, this was the substance and effect of it, / adjudge Jesus of Nazareth to he nailed to the crass, and there to hang till he be dead. Which sentence against Christ was,
1. A most unjust and unrighteous sentence : the greatest perver- sion of judgment and equity that was ever known to the civilized world, since seats of judicature were first set up. What ! to condemn him before one accusation was proved against him ? And if what they accused him of (that he said he was the Son of God) had been proved, it had been no crime, for he really was so ; and there* fore no blasphemy in him to say he was. Pilate should rather have come down from his seat of judgment, and adored him, than sat
* Having heard the name of the Son of God, his mind was smitten with a re- ligious awe ; and being struck with the fear of a Deity, he was perplexed and in suspense, thinking himself in present danger, as at the brink of » pit. Marlot. in lou
•ERM. XXIT. THE FOUNTAIN OP LIFE. 303
there to judge him. O it was the highest piece of injustice that ever our ears heard of !
% As it was an unrighteous, so it was a cruel sentence, delivering up Christ to their wills. This was that misery which David so earnestly deprecated, Psal. xxvii. 12. " O deliver me not over to u the will of mine enemies." But Pilate delivers Christ over to the will of his enemies, men full of enmity, rage, and malice, whose greatest pleasure it was to glut themselves with his blood, and to satiate their revengeful hearts with such a spectacle of misery. For lo, as soon as these wolves had gripped their prey, they were not satisfied with that cursed, cruel, and ignominious death of the cross, to which Pilate had adjudged him, but they are resolved he shall die over and over ; they will contrive many deaths in one ; now they say as a tyrant did once, moriatur, ut sentiat se morl ; " let him die, so as he may feel himself to die.'" To this end they presently strip him naked ; scourge him cruelly ; array him in scarlet, and mock him ; crown him with a bush of plaited thorns ; fasten that crown upon his head by a blow with a cane, which set them deep into his sacred temples ; sceptered him with a reed, spat in his face, stript off his mock-robes again ; put the cross upon his back, and compelled him to bear it. All this, and much more, they express their cruelty by, as soon as they had him de- livered over to their will. So that this was a cruel sentence.
3. As it was a cruel, so it was a rash and hasty sentence. The Jews are all in haste ; consulting all night, ?nd early up by the break of day in the morning, to get him to his trial. They spur on Pilate, with all arguments they can to give sentence. His trial took up but one morning, and a great part of that was spent in sending him from Caiaphas to Pilate, and from Pilate to Herod, and then back again to Pilate ; so that it was a hasty and headlong sentence that Pilate gave. He did not sift and examine the matter, but handles it very slightly. The trial of many a mean man hath taken up ten times more debates and time than was spent about Christ. " * They that look but slightly into the cause, easily pro- " nounce and give sentence."" But that which was then done in haste, they have had time enough to repent for since.
4. As it was a rash and hasty, so it was an extorted, forced sen*- tencef. They squeeze it out of Pilate by mere clamour, importu- nity, and suggestions of danger. In courts of judicature, such arguments should signify but little ; not importunity, but proof, should carry it : but timorous Pilate bends like a willow at this
* Qui id pauca respiciant, facile pronunciont.
f By menaces they extort from him the condemnation of Cbrist. Calvin,
304 THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 3ERM. XXIV.
breath of the people : he had neither such a sense of justice, nor spirit of courage, as to withstand it.
5. As it was an extorted, so it was an hypocritical sentence, mask- ing horrid murder under a pretence and formality of law. It must look like a legal procedure to palliate the business. Loth he was to condemn him lest innocent blood should clamour in his con- science ; but since he must do it, he will transfer the guilt upon them, and they take it ; " his blood be on us, and on our children " for ever,"" say they. Pilate calls for water, washes his hands before them, and tells them, " I am free from the blood of this " just person." But stay ; free from his blood, and yet condemn a known innocent person ? Free from his blood, because he wash- ed his hands in water ? No, no, he could never be free, except his soul had been washed in that blood he shed. O the hypocrisy of Pilate ! Such juggling as this will not serve his turn, when he shall stand as a prisoner before him, who now stood arraigned at his bar.
6. And lastly, As it was an hypocritical, so it was an unrevoked sentence : it admitted not of a reprieve, no, not for a day ; nor doth Christ appeal to any other judicature, or once desire the least delay ; but away he is hurried in haste to the execution. Blush, O ye heavens ! and tremble, O earth ! at such a sentence as this ! Now is Christ dead in law ; now he knows whether he must be carried, and that presently. His soul and body must feel that, the very sight of which put him into an agony but the night before.