tract it. If he
persisted, the witnesses who had heard him conducted him to the
tribunal, and he was stoned to death. The Talmud adds, that this was
the manner in which they treated Jesus; that he was condemned on the
faith of two witnesses who had been suborned, and that the crime of
"corruption" is, moreover, the only one for which the witnesses are
thus prepared.[2]

[Footnote 1: In criminal matters, eye-witnesses alone were admitted.
Mishnah, _Sanhedrim_, iv. 5.]

[Footnote 2: Talm. of Jerus., _Sanhedrim_, xiv. 16; Talm. of Bab.,
same treatise, 43 _a_, 67 _a_. Cf. _Shabbath_, 104 _b_.]

We learn from the disciples of Jesus themselves that the crime with
which their Master was charged was that of "corruption;"[1] and apart
from some minutiae, the fruit of the rabbinical imagination, the
narrative of the Gospels corresponds exactly with the procedure
described by the Talmud. The plan of the enemies of Jesus was to
convict him, by the testimony of witnesses and by his own avowals, of
blasphemy, and of outrage against the Mosaic religion, to condemn him
to death according to law, and then to get the condemnation sanctioned
by Pilate. The priestly authority, as we have already seen, was in
reality entirely in the hands of Hanan. The order for the arrest
probably came from him. It was before this powerful personage that
Jesus was first brought.[2] Hanan questioned him as to his doctrine
and his disciples. Jesus, with proper pride, refused to enter into
long explanations. He referred Hanan to his teachings, which had been
public; he declared he had never held any secret doctrine; and desired
the ex-high priest to interrogate those who had listened to him. This
answer was perfectly natural; but the exaggerated respect with which
the old priest was surrounded made it appear audacious; and one of
those present replied to it, it is said, by a blow.

[Footnote 1: Matt. xxvii. 63; John vii. 12, 47.]

[Footnote 2: John xviii. 13, and following. This circumstance, which
we only find in John, is the strongest proof of the historic value of
the fourth Gospel.]

Peter and John had followed their Master to the dwelling of Hanan.
John, who was known in the house, was admitted without difficulty; but
Peter was stopped at the entrance, and John was obliged to beg the
porter to let him pass. The night was cold. Peter stopped in the
antechamber, and approached a brasier, around which the servants were
warming themselves. He was soo