ion of Himself as "sitting on the right hand of power and
coming in the clouds of heaven"? Can He who is to be the Judge of men,
searching their hearts to the bottom, estimating the value of their
performances, and, in accordance with these estimates, fixing their
eternal station and degree, be a mere man? The greatest and the wisest
of men are well aware that in the history of every brother man, and
even in the heart of a little child, there are secrets and mysteries
which they cannot fathom. No mere man can accurately measure the
character of a fellow-creature; he cannot even estimate his own.

How this great confession lifts the whole scene! We see no longer
these small men and their sordid proceedings; but the Son of man
bearing witness to Himself in the audience of the universe. How little
we care now what the Jewish judges will say about Him! This great
confession reverberates down the ages, and the heart of the world, as
it hears it from His lips, says, Amen.

The high priest had achieved his end at last. As a high priest was
expected to do when he heard blasphemy, he rent his clothes, and,
turning to his colleagues, he said, "What need have we of witnesses?
behold, now ye have heard His blasphemy." And they all assented that
Jesus was guilty, and that the sentence must be death.

Sometimes good-hearted Bible-readers, in perusing these scenes, are
troubled with the thought that the judges of Jesus were conscientious.
Was it not their duty, when anyone came forward with Messianic
pretensions, to judge whether or not his claim was just? and did they
not honestly believe that Jesus was not what He professed to be? No
doubt they did honestly believe so. We must ascend to a much earlier
period to be able to judge their conduct accurately. It was when the
claims of Jesus were first submitted to them that they went astray.
He, being such as He was, could only have been welcomed and appreciated
by expectant, receptive, holy minds. The ecclesiastical authorities of
Judaea in that age were anything but expectant, receptive and holy.
They were totally incapable of understanding Him, and saw no beauty
that they should desire Him. As He often told them Himself, being such
as they were, they could not believe. The fault lay not so much in
what they did as in what they were. Being in the wrong path, they went
forward to the end. It may be said that they walked according to their
light; but the light that was i