of repentance and they prepared the way for pardon
and for peace. To many a fallen follower of Christ there has come some
minute providence recalling hours of glad fellowship and messages of
solemn warning, and the heart has been turned toward the Master, and true
repentance has been felt in realizing the pain which the disloyalty has
brought to the loving Lord.

The consciousness has brought bitter tears and hours of regret and of
anguish, but they have been followed by a brighter morning, by a meeting
with the risen Christ, by a new confession of love, by words of peace, and
by a truer life of deeper devotion to his cause.

F. Jesus Before The Jewish Rulers. Ch. 22:63-71

63 And the men that held _Jesus_ mocked him, and beat him. 64 And
they blindfolded him, and asked him, saying, Prophesy: who is he
that struck thee? 65 And many other things spake they against him,
reviling him.

66 And as soon as it was day, the assembly of the elders of the
people was gathered together, both chief priests and scribes; and
they led him away into their council, saying, 67 If thou art the
Christ, tell us. But he said unto them, If I tell you, ye will not
believe: 68 and if I ask _you_, ye will not answer. 69 But from
henceforth shall the Son of man be seated at the right hand of the
power of God. 70 And they all said, Art thou then the Son of God?
And he said unto them, Ye say that I am. 71 And they said, What
further need have we of witness? for we ourselves have heard from
his own mouth.

After Jesus had been denied by Peter, he was grossly insulted and abused
by his captors. He was mocked and beaten and reviled. Those responsible
for these indignities were the Jewish rulers, the most cultured and
refined and professedly religious men of their day; but the beast within
man is more powerful than we commonly suppose. When Christ is rejected,
when his teachings are despised, when his Spirit is opposed, then it is
only a question of time and of occasion when hatred or malice or lust or
anger awaken in man the passions and ferocity of the brute.

When the morning dawned, Jesus was led away to be arraigned formally
before the sanhedrin, the supreme ecclesiastical court of the Jews. He was
supposed to be on trial for his life; in reality the council was being
judged, and in its guilt the entire nation was involved. The rulers
convicted themselves of prejudice, disho