giving him his blessing, says:
"Thou wilt find mercy, for what thou has said did not come out from
thine own heart!" Then, addressing himself to the governor: "Why dost
thou lower thy dignity, and teach thy inferiors to tell falsehood, when
without doing so it is in thy power to condemn an innocent man?"

Words touching as sublime! Jesus Christ here manifests all the grandeur
of his soul by pardoning his betrayer, and he reproaches Pilate with
having resorted to such means, unworthy of his dignity, to attain his
end.

This keen reproach enraged the governor, and caused him to completely
forget his position, and the prudent policy with which he had meant to
evade personal responsibility for the crime he contemplated. He now
imperiously demanded the conviction of Jesus, and, as though he
intended to make a display of his power, to overawe the judges, ordered
the acquittal of the two thieves.

The judges, seeing the injustice of Pilate's demand, that they should
acquit the malefactors and condemn the innocent Jesus, refused to commit
this double crime against their consciences and their laws. But as they
could not cope with one who possessed the authority of final judgment,
and saw that he was firmly decided to rid himself, by whatever means, of
a man who had fallen under the suspicions of the Roman authorities, they
left him to himself pronounce the verdict for which he was so anxious.
In order, however, that the people might not suspect them of sharing the
responsibility for such unjust judgment, which would not readily have
been forgiven, they, in leaving the court, performed the ceremony of
washing their hands, symbolizing the affirmation that they were clean of
the blood of the innocent Jesus, the beloved of the people.

About ten years ago, I read in a German journal, the _Fremdenblatt_, an
article on Judas, wherein the author endeavored to demonstrate that the
informer had been the best friend of Jesus. According to him, it was out
of love for his master that Judas betrayed him, for he put blind faith
in the words of the Saviour, who said that his kingdom would arrive
after his execution. But after seeing him on the cross, and having
waited in vain for the resurrection of Jesus, which he expected to
immediately take place, Judas, not able to bear the pain by which his
heart was torn, committed suicide by hanging himself. It would be
profitless to dwell upon this ingenious product of a fertile
imagination.

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