n them was darkness. Their proceedings,
however, on this occasion will not tend to soften the heart of anyone
who looks into them carefully. They had hardly the least show of
justice. There was no regular charge or regular evidence, and no
thought whatever of allowing the Accused to bring counter-evidence; the
same persons were both accusers and judges; the sentence was a foregone
conclusion; and the entire proceedings consisted of a series of devices
to force the Accused into some statement which would supply a
colourable pretext for condemning Him.[7]

But it was by what ensued after the sentence of condemnation was passed
that these men cut themselves off forever from the sympathy of the
tolerant and generous. A court of law ought to be a place of dignity;
when a great issue is tried and a solemn judgment passed, it ought to
impress the judges themselves; even the condemned, when a death
sentence has been passed, ought to be hedged round with a certain awe
and respect. But that blow inflicted with impunity at the commencement
of the trial by a minion of the court was too clear an index of the
state of mind of all present. There was no solemnity or greatness of
any kind in their thoughts; nothing but resentment and spite at Him who
had thwarted and defied them, lessened them in the public estimation
and stopped their unholy gains. A perfect sea of such feelings had
long been gathering in their hearts; and now, when the opportunity
came, it broke loose upon Him. They struck Him with their sticks; they
spat in His face; they drew something over His head and, smiting Him
again, cried, "Christ, prophesy who smote Thee." [8] One would wish to
believe that it was only by the miserable underlings that such things
were done; but the narrative makes it too clear that the masters led
the way and the servants followed.

There are terrible things in man. There are some depths in human
nature into which it is scarcely safe to look. It was by the very
perfection of Christ that the uttermost evil of His enemies was brought
out. There is a passage in "Paradise Lost," where a band of angels,
sent out to scour Paradise in search of Satan, who is hidden in the
garden, discover him in the shape of a toad "squat at the ear of Eve."
Ithuriel, one of the band, touches him with his spear, whereat,
surprised, he starts up in his own shape,--

"for no falsehood can endure
Touch of celestial temper, but returns
Of fo