Father,
before the worlds were made, was yet prepared to exercise the functions
of the expected Prince of the House of Israel. This is the force of
_nevertheless_ in Matt. xxvi. 64--"I am Son of God: _nevertheless_, ye
shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power."

The words were very grateful to the ears of Caiaphas and his
confederates, as they afforded ground for the double charge they
needed. For a man to claim to be Son of God would make him guilty of
blasphemy, and he must be put to death according to Jewish law; whilst
if there was a prospect of his setting up a kingdom, the Romans'
suspicions would be at once aroused. But in their glee at having
entrapped their victim they must not forget to show a decorous horror
of His crime. In well-assumed dismay the High Priest rent his clothes,
saying, "He hath spoken blasphemy: what further need have we of
witnesses? Behold, now ye have heard the blasphemy." And then came
the decisive question which the judge was wont to put to his
co-assessors, "What think ye? And they all condemned Him to be guilty
of death."

Then ensued a brief interval, until the early formal session of the
Sanhedrim could be held: and during this recess the disgraceful scenes
were repeated which had already taken place in the hall of Annas. Luke
tells us that the men that held Jesus mocked Him, beat Him, and asked
Him to prophesy who it was that smote Him. Matthew adds that they spat
in His face. But Mark lets in still more light on the horror of the
scene, when he appears to distinguish between _some_ who began to spit
on Him, and to cover His face, and _the officers_ who received Him with
blows of their hands. And the expression some occurs so immediately
after the record of their condemning Him, that the suggestion seems
irresistible that several of these reverend dignitaries did not
hesitate to disgrace their grey hairs in personally insulting the meek
and holy sufferer, venting their spleen on one who gave no show of
retaliation, though one word from those pale compressed lips would have
laid them low in death, or withdrawn the veil of eternity, behind which
legions of angels were waiting impatient to burst upon the impious
scene. But do not condemn them as though they were sinners beyond all
others; remember that we have all the same evil human heart.

At last the morning broke, and as soon as it was day the assembly of
the elders of the people was gathered toge