at the same time to throw around him all the protection of the law. Caiaphas, too, was culpable as the master of the house (for every thing took place in his house), even if he should not be responsible as high priest and president of the council for having permitted excesses, which, indeed were but too much in accordance with the rage he had himself displayed upon the bench.

These outrages, which would be inexcusable even towards a man irrevocably condemned to punishment, were the more criminal towards Jesus, because, legally and judicially speaking, there had not yet been any sentence properly passed against him according to the public law of the country; as we shall see in the following section, which will deserve the undivided. attention of the reader.

SECTION VIII.- THE POSITION OF THE JEWS IN RESPECT TO THE ROMANS.

We must not forget, that Judea was a conquered country. After the death of Herod-most inappropriately surnamed the Great— Augustus had confirmed his last will, by which that king of the Jews had arranged the division of his dominions between his two sons: but Augustus did not continue their title of king, which their father had borne.

Archcläus, on whom Judea devolved, having been recalled on account of his cruelties, the territory, which was at first intrusted to his command, was united to the province of Syria. (Josephus, Antiq. Jud. lib. 17, cap. 15.)

Augustus then appointed particular officers for Judea. Tiberius did the same; and at the time of which we are speaking, Pilate was one of those officers. (Josephus, lib. 18, cap. 3 & 8.)

Some have considered Pilate as governor, by title, and have given him the Latin appellation, Præses, president or governor. But they have mistaken the force of the word. Pilate was one of those public officers, who were called by the Romans, procuratores Cæsaris, Imperial procurators.

With this title of procurator, he was placed under the superior authority of the governor of Syria, the true præses, or governor of that province, of which Judea was then only one of the dependencies.

To the governor (præses) peculiarly belonged the right of taking cognizance of capital cases.* The procurator, on the contrary, had, for his principal duty, nothing but the collection of the revenue, and the trial of revenue causes. But the right of taking cognizance of capital cases did, in some instances, belong to certain procurators, who were sent into small provinces to fill the places of governors (vice præsides), as appears clearly from the Roman laws.t† Such was Pilate at Jerusalem.‡

The Jews, placed in this political position-notwithstanding they were left in the enjoyment of their civil laws, the public exercise of their religion, and many things merely relating to their police and municipal regulations-the Jews, I say, had not the power of life and death; this was a principal attribute of sovereignty, which the Romans always took great care to reserve to themselves, even if they neglected other things. Apud Romanos, jus valet gladii; cætera transmittuntur. TACIT. What then was the right of the Jewish authorities in regard to Jesus? Without doubt the scribes, and their friends the Pharisees, might well have been alarmed, as a body and individually, at the preaching and success of Jesus; they might be concerned for their worship; and they might have interrogated the man respecting his creed and his doctrines,they might have made a kind of preparatory proceeding, they might have declared, in point of fact, that those doctrines, which threatened their own, were contrary to their law, as understood by themselves.

* De Crimine præsidis cognitio est. Cujas, xix. Observ. 13.

+ Procurator Cæsaris fungens vice præsidis potest cognoscere de causis criminalibus. Godefroy, in his note (letter S) upon the 3rd law of the Code, Ubi causæ fiscales, &c. And he cites several others, which I have verified, and which are most precise to the same effect. See particularly the 4th law of the Code, Ad leg. fab. de plag., and the 2nd law of the Code, De Panis.

Procuratoribus Cæsaris data est jurisdictio in causis fiscalibus pecuniariis, non in criminalibus, nisi quum fungebantur vice præsidum; ut Pontius Pilatus fuit procurator Cæsaris vice præsidis in Syria, Cujas, Observ. xix. 13.

But that law, although it had not undergone any alteration as to the affairs of religion, had no longer any coercive power as to the external or civil regulations of society. In vain would they have undertaken to pronounce sentence of death under the circumstances of the case of Jesus; the council of the Jews had not the power to pass a sentence of death; it only would have had power to make an accusation against him before the governor, or his deputy, and then deliver him over to be tried by him.

Let us distinctly establish this point; for here I entirely differ in opinion from Mr. Salvador. According to him, (p. 88), "the Jews had reserved the power of trying, according to their law; but it was in the hands of the procurator alone, that the executive power was vested; every culprit must be put to death by his consent, in order that the senate should not have the means of reaching persons that were sold to foreigners."

No; the Jews had not reserved the right of passing sentence of death. This right had been transferred to the Romans by the very act of conquest; and this was not merely that the senate should not have the means of reaching persons who were sold to foreign countries; but it was done, in order that the conqueror might be able to reach those individuals who should become impatient of the yoke; it was, in short, for the equal protection of all, as all had become Roman subjects; and to Rome alone belonged the highest judicial power, which is the principal attribute of sovereignty. Pilate, as the representative of Cæsar in Judea, was not merely an agent of the executive authority, which would have left the judiciary and legislative power in the hands of the conquered people-he was not simply an officer appointed to give an exequatur or mere approval (visa) to sentences passed by another authority, the authority of the Jews. When the matter in question was a capital case, the Roman authorities not only ordered the execution of a sentence, but also took cognizance (cognitio) of the crime; it had the right of jurisdiction à priori, and that of passing judgment in the last resort. If Pilate himself had not had this power by special delegation, vice præsidis, it was vested in the governor, within whose territorial jurisdiction the case occurred;

but in any event we hold it to be clear, that the Jews had lost the right of condemning to death any person whatever, not only so far as respects the execution but the passing of the sentence. This is one of the best settled points in the provincial law of the Romans.

The Jews were not ignorant of this; for when they went before Pilate, to ask of him the condemnation of Jesus, they themselves declared, that it was not permitted to them to put any person to death: "It is not lawful for us to put any man to death." John xviii. 31.

Here I am happy to be able to support myself by the opinion of a very respectable authority, the celebrated Loiseau, in his treatise on Seigneuries, in the chapter on the administration of justice belonging to cities. "In truth," says he, "there is some evidence, that the police, in which the people had the sole interest, was administered by officers of the people; but I know not upon what were founded the concessions of power to some cities of France to exercise criminal jurisdiction; nor why the Ordinance of Moulins left that to them rather than civil cases; for the criminal jurisdiction is the right of the sword, the merum imperium, or absolute sovereignty. Accordingly, by the Roman law, the administration of justice was so far prohibited to the officers of cities, that they could not punish even by a simple fine. Thus it is doubtless that we must understand that passage of the Gospel, where the Jews say to Pilate, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death; for, after they were subjected to the Romans, they had not jurisdiction of crimes." Let us now follow Jesus to the presence of Pilate.

SECTION IX.-THE ACCUSATION MADE BEFORE PILATE.

Ar this point I must entreat the particular attention of the reader. The irregularities and acts of violence, which I have hitherto remarked upon, are nothing in comparison with the unbridled fury, which is about to display itself before the Roman Judge, in order to extort from him, against his own conviction, a sentence of death.

"And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders, and scribes, and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate." Mark xv. 1.

As soon as the morning was come; for, as I have observed already, every thing which had been done thus far against Jesus was done during the night.

They then led Jesus from Caiaphas unto the Hall of Judgment of Pilate.* It was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover. John xviii. 28.

Singular scrupulousness! and truly worthy of the Pharisees! They were afraid of defiling themselves on the day of the passover by entering the house of a heathen! And yet, the same day, only some hours before presenting themselves to Pilate, they had, in contempt of their own law, committed the outrage of holding a council and deliberating upon an accusation of a capital crime.

As they would not enter, "Pilate went out to them." John xviii. 29. Now observe his language. He did not say to them, Where is the sentence you have passed; as he must have done, if he was only to give them his simple exequatur, or permission to execute the sentence; but he takes up the matter from the beginning, as would be done by one who had plenary jurisdiction; and he says to them: What accusation bring ye against this man ? Ib.

They answered, with their accustomed haughtiness: If he were not a malefactor we would not have delivered him up to thee. John xviii. 30. They wished to have it understood, that, being a question of blasphemy, it was the cause of their religion, which they could appreciate better than any others could. Pilate, then, would have been under the necessity of believing them on their word. But this Roman, indignant at their proposed course of proceeding, which would have restricted his jurisdiction by making him the passive instrument of the wishes of the Jews, answered them in an ironical manner :

To carry one from Caiaphas to Pilate" has since become a proverb.