Here, now, observe the deep perfidy of his accusers. “If thou let this man go, thou art not Cæsar's friend; whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Cæsar.” Ib.
It does not appear that Pilate was malignant; we see all the efforts he had made at different times to save Jesus. But he was a public officer, and was attached to his office; he was intimidated by the outcry which called in question his fidelity to the emperor; he was afraid of a dismissal: and he yielded. He immediately reascended the judgment-seat; (Matt. xxvii. 19), and, as new light had thus come upon him, he proceeded to make a second decree!
But being for a moment stopped by the voice of his own conscience, and by the advice which his terrified wife sent to him—“Have thou nothing to do with that just man”—(Matt. xxvii. 19)—he made his last effort, by attempting to influence the populace to accept of Barabbas instead of Jesus. “But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas unto them.” Mark xv. 11. Barabbas! a murderer! an assassin!
Pilate spoke to them again: What will ye then, that I should do with Jesus? And they cried out, Away with him, crucify him. Pilate still persisted: Shall I crucify your king? thus using terms of raillery, in order to disarm them. But here showing themselves to be more truly Roman than Pilate himself, the chief priests hypocritically answered: We have no king but Cæsar. John xix. 15.
The outcry was renewed—Crucify him, crucify him! And the clamour became more and more threatening; “and the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed.” Luke xxiii. 23.
At length Pilate, being desirous of pleasing the multitude, proceeds to speak. But can we call it a legal adjudication, a judgment, that he is about to pronounce? Is he, at the moment, in that free state of mind which is necessary for a judge, who is about to pass a sentence of death? What new witnesses, what proofs have been brought forward to change his conviction and opinion, which had been so energetically declared, of the innocence of Jesus?
“When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person; see ye to it. Matt. xxvii. 24. And Pilate gave sentence, that it should be as they required. Luke xxiii. 24. And he delivered him to them to be crucified.” Matt. xxvii. 26.
Well mayest thou wash thy hands, Pilate, stained as they are with innocent blood! Thou hast authorised the act in thy weakness; thou art not less culpable, than if thou hadst sacrificed him through wickedness! All generations, down to our [pg 566] own time, have repeated that the Just One suffered under Pontius Pilate. Thy name has remained in history, to serve for the instruction of all public men, all pusillanimous judges, in order to hold up to them the shame of yielding contrary to one's own convictions. The populace, in its fury, made an outcry at the foot of thy judgment-seat, where, perhaps, thou thyself didst not sit securely! But of what importance was that? Thy duty spoke out; and in such a case, better would it be to suffer death, than to inflict it on another.[416]
We will now come to a conclusion.
The proof that Jesus was not, as Mr. Salvador maintains, put to death for the crime of blasphemy or sacrilege, and for having preached a new religious worship in contravention of the Mosaic law, results from the very sentence pronounced by Pilate; a sentence, in pursuance of which he was led to execution by Roman soldiers.