And they that had laid hold on Jesus led _him_ away to Caiaphas the
high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. But
Peter followed him afar off unto the high priest's palace, and went
in, and sat with the servants, to see the end. Now the chief priests,
and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus,
to put him to death. But found none: yea, though many false witnesses
came, _yet_ found they none. At the last came two false witnesses,
And said, This _fellow_ said, I am able to destroy the temple of God,
and to build it in three days. And the high priest arose, and said
unto him, Answerest thou nothing? what _is it which_ these witness
against thee? But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered
and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us
whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto him,
Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see
the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the
clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He
hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses?
behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy. What think ye? They answered
and said, He is guilty of death.--_St. Matt, xxvi: 57--66._
* * * * *
_NOTE BY THE ARTIST_
_The outward ceremonial of the hastily convoked and Irregular
tribunal before which Jesus underwent the mockery of a trial was
similar to that of the ancient Sanhedrim. The members sat on a
semi-circular divan, the president in the centre, and a scribe at
each extremity, who recorded the evidence and the decisions of the
court. It may be noted, that while laws had been carefully formulated
for the conduct of such trials, almost every one of them was
flagrantly violated on the present occasion in order to ensure a
pre-arranged condemnation. For example, these rules provided that
witnesses should be summoned, and that an advocate should plead on
behalf of the accused; and they forbade that criminal trials should
be conducted at night, that condemnation should be pronounced on the
day of trial or on a holy day; and, if the crime were capital, that
execution should follow on the day of sentence_.