e Hosannas of the
befooled populace. You have perceived how this ambitious man arrogates
to himself the office of the high priest. What now lacks for the
destruction of all civil and ecclesiastical order? Only a few steps
further, and the law of Moses is upset by the innovations of this
misleader. The sayings of our forefathers are despised, the fasts and
purifications abolished, the Sabbath desecrated, the priests of God
deprived of their office, and the holy sacrifices are at an end."

As Nathanael concluded, all the fathers of the council exclaimed with
one voice: "True--most true." As he had been speaking they had been
interchanging notes of appreciative and sympathetic comment. But it
was not until Caiaphas spoke that the Sanhedrin was roused to the
highest pitch of excitement. Caiaphas, who spoke with great fire and
fervor, thus addressed the rulers of Israel: "And more than all this.
Encouraged by the success of his efforts, he will proclaim himself King
of Israel (murmurs of alarm and indignation), then the land will be
distracted with civil war and revolt, and the Romans will come with
their armies and bring destruction upon our land and our people. Woe
is me for the children of Israel, for the Holy City, and for the temple
of the Lord, if no barrier is opposed to the evil while there is yet
time! It is indeed high time. We must be the saviors of Israel.
Today must a resolution be passed, and whatever is resolved upon must
be carried out without regard to any other consideration. Do we all
agree to this?"

And all the Sanhedrin as one man cried out: "We do."

Up sprang a priest to emphasize his vote:

"A stop must be put to the course of this misleader."

Caiaphas then said: "Give your opinion without reserve as to what
should be done."

And then a rabbi arose and said: "If I may be permitted to declare my
opinion unreservedly, I must assert that we ourselves are to blame that
things have come to such a pass. Against this onrushing ruin much too
mild measures have been employed. Of what avail have been our
disputations with him, or what has it profited that we have by our
questionings, put him in a dilemma; that we have pointed, out the
errors in his teaching and his violations of the law? Nay, of what use
has been even the excommunication pronounced on all who acknowledged
him as the Messiah? All this was labor in vain. Men turn their backs
on us, and all the world runs after him. To re