appear utterly contemptible. LiUle did he dream how in course of time a vMt multi- tude of llll notions, and kindred, and pooplo, and tongues, would respond to this summonR, end count Jcsu~ King 1111 the more, just because of the crown of thorns nnd the purple robe. It was P1late, not Jesus, who was to become ultimately contemptible. The very Jews tho~eelvee .could not look on things with Pilate's eyes, and Pilate even co11ld not ke?p strn1~ht on m the tone of scorn and contempt. A few versM later we read of him bemg afraid. .And we, ns we look back on tbis scene with all its manifestation ,;f l1011utiful ch1Lrncter, mny almost feel as if we owed Pilate~s memory n. debt of gratitude. The solt.liers dlrl something which no disciple of Jesus would wish to have been done; but, being done, every disciple of Jesus is glad for what it showetl. Tl,e work of coronation, if looked at in the proper light, was a mo8t real one. III. WE MUST BEHOLD, NOT JESUS ONLY, BUT THE MEN wrro TREATED DIM so. The men into whose hands Jesus was delivered up were to have their own way witho11t let. or hindrance. Men had full opportunity to show how bad they could be. Pilato points to Jesus and says," Behold the Man I" God points to Pi late and the priests, and ~ays, "Behold mankind!" These men were not specially bad specimens of humanity, but just average expressions of the spirit of the world. But in the very contrast between Jesus and his tormentors there is hope and joy. For if the tormentors arc of the same flesh and blood as we are, so also is Jesus. Jesus, the thorn-crowned, always gentle, always harmless, always beneficent, always far above everything that is selfi,h and resentful, is of our race. We should never look at any of the degrading specimens of humanity without looking also at Jesus. For then we keep the just mean between saying too much and too little. We shall both remember how much better Jesus is than the best, and how patient and pitiful he is with the worst. IV. WE MUST BEHOLD THE MAN IN ALL ms MANIFESTATIONS. On the cross. After his resurrection. To Paul on his way to Damascus. To John in Patmos. In gbry, as in humiliation, the man is still evident. With whatever brightness the Divinity may shine, it cannot conceal the humanity. Here is the man we ought to be; here is the man we shall be. There can be no true knowledge of human nature without the knowledge of Jesus; and the more we know of him, the more shall W<J know of ourselves.-Y.
Vers. 10, 11.-Human power Heaven-bestowed. Human judges see all sorts of people brought before them to be dealt with. Some prisoners, in the most critical situations, betray the utmost coolness and indifference; others are beside themselves in the agonies of despair. And Pilato doubtless had had a large experience of all sorts of prisoners. But now at last Jesus makes his appearance, and Pilate is profoundly rerplexed how to deal with him. If Pilato had been a perfectly just man, and dealing with Jesus under a perfectly definite code of laws, he would have had no difficulty. But because the man thought of his own interests first, and was left to pe1iectly arbitrary methods, he found himself in the utmost difficulties. Every additional question he asks only lands him in greater puzzlement. "Whence art thou?" he says to Jesus; and what use was it for Jesus to reply? Pilate would have understood no explanation; he was too far from the kingdom of heaven for that. Canaan cannot be seen from Egypt; one must reach Mount Pisgah first. And so Jesus stood in gentle, patient silence. I. PILATE18 ASSERTION OF AUTHORITY. It was very natural for Pilate to speak so. He mistook the spirit of Jesus; but he made no vain boast in speaking of his power to crucify and to release. He hnd troops of obedient soldiers at his disposal, to effect whatever he decided. This exhibition of Pilate's power had its good side. Bad. as Pilato may have been, he held a necessary and a beneficial office. Brutal as the sol~iers wcro they made the last barrier aO'ainst anarchy and lawlessness. The office of P1late is ev~r honoured in all true Christian teaching. A strong executive is a. thing . to be thankful for. Judges and magistrates have to ~e w~tc_hed, fo: t~e mere wrapping; of a man in scarlet and ermine cannot take away his frailties, prejudices, and antipathies. But the office is good, and the man that fills it is often good. We are not wild ~east~. There must be something to restrain the v!olent and predatory hand. ~f the l10_n m the desert sees the ante!ope, he springs on hun at once; no afte~-powcr w1ll come _m to demand of the lion wherefore he slew the helpless beast. Bnt if a man m a c1vi.l1zcJ 4.68 THE GOSPEL ACOORDING TO ST. ,tOHN, [ou. xu.1-42.