should give way to public, good : this, he said, common policy required ; and therefore it was expe- dient to destroy the author of this benevolent act, lest the popularity which he had acquired by means of it, should excite the jealousy of the Roman govern- ment, and call down their vengeance on the whole nation. This advice was immediately, though not unanimously b, agreed to; (for any argument will suffice, when prejudice is the judge;) and means were instantly adopted for executing the decree. But the text informs us, that this advice, pronounced as it was with oracular authority, was indeed an oracle ; though it was dictated by God in a very different sense from that in which it was intended by Caiaphas. We shall therefore illustrate it in both points of view:
I. As intended by Caiaphas —
Caiaphas meant only, that, as the state would be (in his apprehension) endangered by the popularity of Jesus, common policy required that they should destroy him at once. But what advice was this to come from a minister of religion, yea, from God's high-priest !
1. How unjust!
[Here was nothing criminal laid to the charge of our blessed Lord ; yet was he to be treated as a criminal, and to be put to death as a malefactor. On what principle could this be justified. We do not hesitate to say, that nothing can warrant such a procedure. If a man think that he can benefit the State by exposing his own life, he is at liberty to do it; yea, every true Christian ought to be willing to " lay down his life for the brethren :" he should even account the sacrificing of his life in such a cause, to be rather a source of exultation and triumph, than of dread and sorrow0. But no tribunal under heaven can take away the life of an innocent man: nor ought that which is radically unjust, ever to be sanctioned by legal authority.]
2. How impious !
[It was acknowledged by Caiaphas himself, that Jesus had wrought "miracles," "many" miracles; and miracles of such a nature as to carry conviction with them to every beholder d.
b Luke xxiii. 51. c Ljohniii. 1G. Phil. ii. 17. d ver. 47, 48.