ill they were in to the heads. And they
raised upright the cross in a hole in the ground, but it would not stand
firm and straight, and they moved it from one side to the other, and
drove wedges and posts all around, and those who did this pulled down
the brims of their hats so that the blood from His hands might not drop
into their eyes. And He on the cross looked down on the soldiers, who
were casting lots for His unstitched garment and down on the whole
turbulent mob, for whose sake He suffered, that they might be saved; and
in all the multitude there was not one pitiful eye.

"And those below looked up toward Him, who hung there suffering and
weak; they looked at the tablet above His head, whereon was written
'King of the Jews,' and they reviled Him and called out to Him: 'Thou
that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself.
If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.' Then He, the only
begotten Son of God was taken with anger, and saw that they were not
worthy of salvation, these mobs that fill the earth. He tore free His
feet over the heads of the nails, and He clenched His hands round the
nails and tore them out, so that the arms of the cross bent like a bow.
Then He leaped down upon the earth and snatched up His garment so that
the dice rolled down the slope of Golgotha, and flung it round himself
with the wrath of a king and ascended into heaven. And the cross stood
empty, and the great work of redemption was never fulfilled. There is
no mediator between God and us; there is no Jesus who died for us on the
cross; there is no Jesus who died for us on the cross, there is no Jesus
who died for us on the cross!"

He was silent.

As he uttered the last words he leaned forward over the multitude and
with his lips and hands hurled the last words over their heads. A groan
of agony went through the church, and in the corners they had begun to
sob.

Then the butcher pushed forward with raised, threatening hands, pale
as a corpse, and shouted: "Monk, monk, you must nail Him on the cross
again, you must!" and behind him there was a hoarse, hissing sound:
"Yea, yea, crucify, crucify Him!" And from all mouths, threatening,
beseeching, peremptory, rose a storm of cries up to the vaulted roof:
"Crucify, crucify Him!"

And clear and serene a single quivering voice: "Crucify Him!"

But the monk looked down over this wave of outstretched hands, upon
these distorted faces with the dark open