ance of a hypocritical sorrow, "rent his garments (26), saying: He hath blasphemed; what further need have we of witnesses? Behold, now you have heard the blasphemy; what think you? They all answering, said: He is guilty of death (27)."

CHAPTER LXIV.

INSULTS AND OUTRAGES.-DENIAL OF SAINT PETER, AND HIS TEARS.-JESUS INTERROGATED A SECOND TIME BY THE PRIESTS.-REPENTANCE OF JUDAS, AND HIS DESPAIR.

AFTER this first examination they withdrew, postponing till the following morning the conclusion of this affair-the successful issue of which appeared no longer doubtful. Jesus was left in the custody of the servants and domestics. These satellites would have thought that they served their masters badly if they contented themselves with guarding him. They believed that it was part of their duty to outrage him. (a) "Some began to spit on him. The men that held him mocked him and struck him. They blindfolded him (1), and smote his face, saying: Prophesy unto us, O Christ,

(a) St. Mark, xiv. 65; St. Luke, xxii. 63-65; St. Matthew, xxvi. 68.

(26) This was a wretch who acted the religious man; but his action serves to show us that the Jews, when they heard blasphemy, rent their garments, whilst we see Christians hear without emotion the blasphemies of the impious. We shall not say that they applaud, for could those who applaud such language be still called Christians?

(27) In a numerous assembly of judges, the most iniquitous of all judgments was unanimous. After that, there is no iniquity that need cause surprise.

Were all these judges, then, equally wicked? No; amongst the wicked there were some weak, and the weak were hurried away by the wicked. The latter were, without doubt, the most culpable, which does not prevent sentence of death from being pronounced against the others, by these words of Saint Paul (Rom. i. 32): They who do such things are worthy of death; and not only they that do them, but they also that consent to them that do them.

(1) This insolence is imitated as closely as possible by those who, in order to offend God with hardihood, persuade themselves that he does not see them, and who say, at least in their heart, these words which the prophet places in their mouth: The Lord shall not see; neither shall the God of Jacob understand (Psalm xciii. 7).

who is he that struck thee: and blaspheming, many other things they said against him."

This scene occupied the rest of the night, and during all that time he whom the angels adore served as a butt for the ridicule of this low rabble. We do not read in the history of our Saviour's passion that he opposed one single word to so many outrages, because, in point of fact, he did not utter one. If the evangelists do not always directly say so, the prophets assure us of it; and this miracle of patience is contradicted by no one. But what renders the fact still more wonderful, and what we shall here remark with reference to all the Saviour endured during the whole course of his passion is, that he suffered nothing which was not felt on his part as exquisitely as it could be felt. We speak not only of his corporal pains to which the perfect constitution of his body rendered him so sensitive. All that is most humiliating in contempt, most insulting in derision, most contumelious in injury-all the most revolting details of the outrages which he endured, penetrated to the innermost depths of his soul. He tasted this accumulation of bitterness, and filled himself with it even unto satiety, according to what is written that he should be saturated with opprobrium. We may judge, therefore, what he had to suffer during that fearful night-the mere remembrance of which produces in pious souls such lively compassion, and calls forth such an abundance of tears. But what But what gave the finishing stroke to his sorrow, and what was to him the most painful of all outrages, is, that while he was thus in the power of his cruel enemies, the first and the most favored of his disciples, the chief of his apostles, chose to renounce him.

We have seen that Peter, after having entered through the interference of one of the disciples, (a) "sat without in the court below, warming himself. There cometh one of the maid-servants of the high priest, and when she had seen Peter warming himself, looking on him, she saith: Thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth; but he denied before them all (2), saying: Woman, I know him (a) St. Matthew, xxvi. 69–72; St. Mark, xiv. 66-68; St. John, xviii. 25; St. Luke, xxii. 57, 58.

(2) The weakest being in nature, and the least imposing in worldly estimation—a fe

not ; I neither know nor understand what thou sayest. And," wishing to avoid a second interrogation, "he went forth before the court, and the cock crew. As he went out of the gate, another maid saw him, and she saith to them that were there: This man also was with Jesus of Nazareth; and after a little while another, seeing him, said: Thou also art one of them. They said, therefore, to him: Art not thou also one of his disciples ?"

per

The fear of Peter increased with his danger, and his crime with his fear. His first denial was but a lie; to the second he added jury. "Again he denied with an oath [saying]: I am not: I know not the man."

It appears that they believed him, inasmuch as they did not insist, and he should have availed himself of this opportunity in order to withdraw unperceived. The very fear which had made him renounce his Master was an urgent motive for him to quit a place where he might be recognized at any moment for one of his chief disciples. But Peter still loved him whom he renounced: he loved him, I say, less than his life; and in this did his crime consist; but still he loved him too well to make up his mind to go away from him, in the uncertainty in which he was as to what might be his fate. Therefore, as he thought that he had dissipated all suspicion, he flattered himself that he might remain with impunity, and he may have entertained this notion for a short time, while they appeared to forget him. But (a)" after the space as it were of one hour, one of the servants of the high priest, a kinsman to him whose (a) St. Luke, xxii. 59-61; St. John, xviii. 26, 27; St. Matthew, xxvi. 73-75; St. Mark, xiv. 70-72.

male-slave-succeeds in overthrowing an apostle, nay, the chief of the apostles, and he who of all others had hitherto evinced the greatest courage.

Her condition would have been of no consequence, and beauty alone would have been all-powerful-if the object were to seduce him by her attractions; but it is by fear alone. that she overpowers him--and one word suffices. Nothing is weaker than the presump

tuous man.

When Peter subsequently undertook to plant the cross upon the Capitol, and to bring idolatrous Rome to adore, instead of its gods, a Jew crucified by the Romans, he never could be tempted to believe that his courage could have inspired him with such a project, or that he could surmount all obstacles by his own strength.

(3) He did not internally disown him, but he renounced him externally. This it was which constituted his crime.

ear Peter cut off, saith to him: Did I not see thee in the garden with him? Another certain man affirmed, saying: Of a truth this man was also with him, for he is also a Galilean." The matter being thus debated, "they came that stood by, and said to Peter: Surely thou also art one of them, for thou art also a Galilean; thy speech doth discover thee. Again, therefore, for the third time, Peter denied. He began to curse (4) and to swear, saying: I know not the man of whom you speak. Immediately, as he was yet speaking, the cock crew again [for the second time], and the Lord turning, looked on Peter (5). Peter remembered the word that Jesus said unto him: Before the cock crow twice thou shalt thrice deny me; and going forth, he wept bitterly."

We know not how it was that the Saviour happened to be in the court, where he cast upon his apostle this saving glance. But as we know nothing positive as to the place where the servant of the high priest inflicted upon him the outrages which we have related, it may possibly have been the case that, in order to diversify their entertainment, they might have led Jesus into this court at the very moment when Peter denied him for the third time. For, although it has been said that this glance of Jesus was purely spiritual, the most common opinion is, that Jesus looked upon Peter with the eyes of the body, and this meaning is that which the text naturally presents to the mind.

Whilst Peter bewailed his sin, the servants went on with their sacrilegious sport, which continued all the rest of the night. (a)" As soon as it was day, all the ancients of the people and the chief priests and Scribes came together, and took counsel against Jesus, that they might put him to death." His confession of the preceding evening sufficed them for that purpose. Apparently they considered it ne

(a) St. Luke, xxii. 66–72.

(4) It is not stated whether Peter made these imprecations against himself or against Jesus Christ. As we are in ignorance with reference to this matter, we would do best to believe that he directed them against himself, and that he apparently made use of some fashion of speech similar to these: May I be crushed with thunder, or, may the earth swallow me up, if I know him.

(5) It was this look, and the grace wherewith it was accompanied, which wrought the conversion of Peter.

cessary that he should repeat it, in order to establish the guilt and the obstinacy of the pretended criminal. They well knew, moreover, that they had no need to fear lest the Saviour should embarrass them by retracting. Besides that this was, perhaps, the very thing which they most desired, they knew him too well-we might say they esteemed him too highly in the depth of their hearts-to apprehend that he could ever retract what he had once declared. Thus, well assured of the answer, (a) "they brought him into their council, saying," with a false show of moderation, "If thou be the Christ, tell us. He saith to them: If I shall tell you, you will not believe me; and if I shall ask you" by what marks, according to the Scriptures, the Christ is to be recognized, "you will not answer me, nor let me go. But hereafter the Son of man shall be sitting on the right hand of the power of God." All present understood what was meant by this "sitting." For this reason "then said they all: Art thou, then, the Son of God (6)? Who said: You say that I am.” This was the same answer which he had already given to the same question. The inference was also the same: "What need we any further testimony," they said like Caiphas, "for we ourselves have heard it from his own mouth ?"

The sentence of death was already pronounced; it now only remained to carry it into execution, and in this they lost no time.

(a) St. Luke, xxii. 66–69.

(6) Grave authors have thought that this examination and that of Caiphas had taken place at the same time, and on the same morning. We prefer the opinion of those who separate the occasions, and who place that of Caiphas on the evening before, putting off this until the following morning. Here are the reasons which have led us to believe this the most probable opinion; all agree as to two things: 1st. That the interrogatory which we are actually reporting took place in the morning. 2d. That it was during the night preceding that morning that the Saviour was outraged by the officers and the servants of the high priest. Now, the examination by Caiphas preceded these outrages. Two reasons prove this: 1st. After Saint Matthew has related the confession of Jesus before Caiphas, and the sentence which followed, he presently adds: Then (tunc) did they spit in his face and buffet him, &c. Now, this word then connects so closely what follows with what precedes, that to detach it therefrom would seem to be offering violence to the text. 2d. Who is there that does not see that these words, Prophesy unto us, O Christ, who is he that struck thee? make allusion to the confession which Jesus Christ had just made, and for which they had condemned him? consequently, that the confession had preceded the mockery.