eath, and that the two robbers should be
declared guiltless.

24. The judges, after consulting among themselves, said to Pilate: "We
cannot consent to take this great sin upon us,--to condemn an innocent
man and liberate malefactors. It would be against our laws.

25. "Act thyself, then, as thou seest fit." Thereupon the priests and
elders walked out, and washed their hands in a sacred vessel, and said:
"We are innocent of the blood of this righteous man."

XIV.

1. By order of the governor, the soldiers seized Issa and the two
robbers, and led them to the place of execution, where they were nailed
upon the crosses erected for them.

2. All day long the bodies of Issa and the two robbers hung upon the
crosses, bleeding, guarded by the soldiers. The people stood all around
and the relatives of the executed prayed and wept.

3. When the sun went down, Issa's tortures ended. He lost consciousness
and his soul disengaged itself from the body, to reunite with God.

4. Thus ended the terrestrial existence of the reflection of the eternal
Spirit under the form of a man who had saved hardened sinners and
comforted the afflicted.

5. Meanwhile, Pilate was afraid for what he had done, and ordered the
body of the Saint to be given to his relatives, who put it in a tomb
near to the place of execution. Great numbers of persons came to visit
the tomb, and the air was filled with their wailings and lamentations.

6. Three days later, the governor sent his soldiers to remove Issa's
body and bury it in some other place, for he feared a rebellion among
the people.

7. The next day, when the people came to the tomb, they found it open
and empty, the body of Issa being gone. Thereupon, the rumor spread that
the Supreme Judge had sent His angels from Heaven, to remove the mortal
remains of the saint in whom part of the divine Spirit had lived on
earth.

8. When Pilate learned of this rumor, he grew angry and prohibited,
under penalty of death, the naming of Issa, or praying for him to the
Lord.

9. But the people, nevertheless, continued to weep over Issa's death and
to glorify their master; wherefore, many were carried into captivity,
subjected to torture and put to death.

10. And the disciples of Saint Issa departed from the land of Israel and
went in all directions, to the heathen, preaching that they should
abandon their gross errors, think of the salvation of their souls and
earn the perfect bliss which awaits human