"'You have brought this man before me, men of Jerusalem; of what do you accuse him? Let those who have accusations come forward and make them. He is a Jew, and shall have justice by our laws.'
"'Ye Jews have no power to try a man for his life, most noble Caiaphas,' said Æmilius. 'The lives of all your nation are in the hand of Cæsar and of his tribunals. You can put no man to death.'
"Æmilius had spoken in hopes that if Jesus could be brought before Pilate, the Procurator, he might be by him released, for he knew Pilate had no envy or feeling against the Prophet.
"'Thou sayest well, noble Roman,' answered Caiaphas, 'but for the crime of blasphemy against the Temple we are permitted by Cæsar to judge our people by the laws of Moses. And this man, if rumor comes nigh the truth, has been guilty of blasphemy. But we will hear the witnesses.'
"Hereupon several of the chief priests and scribes who had been going in and out among the crowd, brought forward certain men whose very aspect showed them to be of the baser sort. One of these men testified that he had heard Jesus say that he would destroy the Temple and could again in three days rebuild it more magnificently than it was in the days of Solomon the Mighty.
"Upon this testimony all the priests shouted, 'Blasphemer!' and called for Jesus to be stoned to death.
"A second witness was now produced by Abijah, the most passionate of the scribes, who testified that Jesus had taught in Samaria that men would soon no longer worship in the Temple, but that the whole earth would be a temple for Jews and Gentiles.
"This was no sooner heard than some of the men gnashed at Jesus with their teeth, and but for the gestures and loud voice of the High Priest, they would have made an attempt to get him into their power.
"A third witness, a man who had been notorious for his crimes, now came up. He carried on his wrist a cock, with steel gaffs upon the spurs, as if he had just been brought up from the cock-pit to bear testimony, for such were the sort of fellows suborned by the priests. He testified that Jesus said that the day would soon come when not one stone should be left upon another of the Temple; that he had called it 'a den of thieves,' the priests 'blind guides' and 'deceivers,' the scribes 'foxes,' and the Pharisees 'hypocrites.'