When our Lord was instituting his last supper, he said unto his disciples, I have chosen you twelve, but one of you is a devil. And again, Verily I say unto you, one of you this night shall betray me, and he it is unto whomsoever I shall give a sop: then giving a sop unto Judas, he said unto him what thou dost do quickly. With the sop the devil entered into Judas, and he went out from amongst them.—Judas then went to the chief priests, and received the thirty pieces of silver; so taking with him an armed band of men, to apprehend his master, He led them to the Garden, of Gethsemane where Jesus was wont to retire for his devotion; he went telling them, that whomsoever he should kiss, the same was he, hold him fast. There our Lord beheld his adversaries coming with burning torches and lanterns, and weapons to apprehend him; then spake he to his disciples, and said, “Rise let us go; behold he is at hand that will betray me.” And while he was speaking, came Judas the traitor, saying, Hail, Master, and kissed him. For it is written, that it was the manner and custom of our Lord Jesus towards his disciples, that when at any time he had sent them out, at their return again, he would receive them with a loving kiss. Then they laid hands on the Lord, and bound him as a thief and a murderer, and led him away to the high Priest and Elders, who asked him many questions; to which our Lord gave them no answer, but stood like a lamb dumb before his shearers. And here let us behold our Lord Jesus, how patiently and meekly he receives that false and treacherous kiss from that unfaithful disciple, whose feet he had vouchsafed to wash with his own hands, and whom out of his unspeakable charity he refused not to feed with the precious food of his blessed body. Consider likewise how meekly he suffered himself to be taken, bound, struck, and furiously dragged away, as if he had been a thief, or the most wicked person in the world, void of power to help himself. Contemplate also the great sorrow and inward affliction he had of his disciples, who fled and left him in the hands of those ravenous wolves. And on the other side, consider the grief of their hearts, since the cause of their leaving him was not the perversity of their will, but the frailty of their weak nature: for which they heartily mourn and sigh, like poor orphans that know not what they do, or whither to go; and their sorrow was so much the greater, as they knew in what villanous manner their Lord and master would be treated and abused. Nevertheless, the whole assembly, though they found nothing worthy of death in him, one by one passed the following sentences on him.
JERUSALEM’S
BLACK TRIBUNAL;
OR THE
BLOODY SENTENCE OF THE JEWS,
AGAINST
OUR BLESSED LORD AND SAVIOUR,
JESUS CHRIST.
CAIPHAS.
Better one man should die, than all perish.
JEHOSOPHAT.
Let him be bound, and kept fast in chains.
RAPHAR.
Let us put him to death.
FAREAS.
Let us banish him, or he will destroy our country.
DIARRHIAS.
He is worthy of death, because he seduceth the people.
RABINTH.
Guilty or not, let the seducer die.
LESSA.
Let us banish him for ever.
CHIERIES.
If he be innocent he shall die, because he stirreth up the people.
PTOLEMEUS.
Guilty or not guilty, let us sentence him to death or punishment.
TERAS.
Either banish him, or send him unto Cæsar.
LEMECH.
Punish him with death.
POTIPHARES.
Let him be banished for seducing the people.
The mob also cried out to Pontius Pilate, if you let this man go, you are not Cæsar’s friend; therefore, crucify him! crucify him!
THE
SENTENCE OF DEATH
PASSED ON
JESUS CHRIST
BY
PONTIUS PILATE.
I Pontius Pilate, Judge in Jerusalem under the most potent Tiberius, happy and prosperous be his reign, having heard and known the accusation of Jesus of Nazareth, whom the Jews brought bound, to pronounce his sentence; seeing he, by presumptuous expressions, called himself the Son of God and the King of the Jews, and said he would destroy the Temple of Solomon. Let him be condemned to the cross with the two Thieves.