l forms of law were outraged and trampled under
foot in the proceedings instituted against Him." (p. 216.)

5. "His Blood be on us, and on Our Children."--Edersheim (vol. 2, p.
578) thus forcefully comments on the acknowledgment of responsibility
for the death of Christ: "The Mishna tells us that, after the solemn
washing of hands of the elders and their disclaimer of guilt, priests
responded with this prayer: 'Forgive it to thy people Israel, whom thou
hast redeemed, O Lord, and lay not innocent blood upon thy people
Israel.' But here, in answer to Pilate's words, came back that deep,
hoarse cry: 'His blood be upon us,' and--God help us!--'on our
children.' Some thirty years later, and on that very spot, was judgment
pronounced against some of the best in Jerusalem; and among the 3,600
victims of the governor's fury, of whom not a few were scourged and
crucified right over against the Pretorium, were many of the noblest of
the citizens of Jerusalem. (Josephus, Wars, xiv, chap. 8:9). A few years
more, and hundreds of crosses bore Jewish mangled bodies within sight of
Jerusalem. And still have these wanderers seemed to bear, from century
to century, and from land to land, that burden of blood; and still does
it seem to weigh 'on us and on our children'."

6. "We Have no King but Caesar."--"With this cry Judaism was, in the
person of its representatives, guilty of denial of God, of blasphemy, of
apostasy. It committed suicide; and ever since has its dead body been
carried in show from land to land, and from century to century,--to be
dead and to remain dead, till He come a second time, who is the
resurrection and the life."--Edersheim, vol. 2, p. 581.

7. The Underlying Cause of Pilate's Surrender to the Jewish
Demands.--Pilate knew what was right but lacked the moral courage to do
it. He was afraid of the Jews, and more afraid of hostile influence at
Rome. He was afraid of his conscience, but more afraid of losing his
official position. It was the policy of Rome to be gracious and
conciliatory in dealing with the religions and social customs of
conquered nations. Pontius Pilate had violated this liberal policy from
the early days of his procuratorship. In utter disregard of the Hebrew
antipathy against images and heathen insignia, he had the legionaries
enter Jerusalem at night, carrying their eagles and standards decorated
with the effigy of the emperor. To the Jews this act was a defilement of
the Holy City. In vast