“The third levite gave way to a fourth.
“ ‘I testify that that man has broken the Sabbath in healing the sick on that day, and further that he has seduced others to break it. On the Sabbath I have heard him order a cripple to take up his bed and carry it to his home. I have heard him also declare that he could destroy the Temple and rebuild it, in three days, anew.’
“Caiaphas turned to the Master. ‘Do you still refuse to answer?’ he asked. ‘Do you think that silence can save you? Have you heard these witnesses?’
“And as the Master still made no reply, Caiaphas lifted his hand and cried, ‘I adjure you by the Eternal to answer, Are you the Messiah, the Son of God?’
“In the breathless silence Jesus raised his eyes. He looked at the high-priest, [pg 186]at the levites, the Scribes. ‘You have said it,’ he murmured, and smiled with that air he has.
“Caiaphas grew purple. He caught his gown at the throat and ripped it from neck to hem. The elders started. I heard them mutter, ‘Ish maveth.’ The high-priest glanced toward them. ‘You have heard this ragged blasphemy?’ he exclaimed; and, turning to where the Scribes stood, ‘What,’ he asked, ‘does the Law decree concerning the Sabbath-breaker?’
“One of them, the book unrolled in his hand, advanced and read:
“ ‘Ye shall keep the Sabbath holy. Whoso does any work thereon shall be cut off from his people.’
“ ‘And what of blasphemy?’
“The Scribe glanced at the roll and repeated from memory: ‘He that blasphemeth the name of the Lord shall be put to death. The congregation shall stone him, as well the stranger as he that was born in the land.’