THE MERCY OF ISRAEL.
The light which streamed in from the single window high up in the
massive wall revealed a square room, ceiled and paved with stone. It
was empty save for an oaken table, behind which in a high-backed chair
sat an old man of severe and reverend aspect. On either side of him
stood two officers of the temple police, motionless as statues and armed
with long spear-pointed staves. All this Anat, who was the first of the
women to pass into the chamber, saw with a single timid glance. She
shrank back before the stern eyes of the man in the chair, and reaching
out one manacled hand touched the robe of Mary, who was just behind her.
The mother of Jesus took the little trembling hand and held it firmly.
Saul advanced to the table and laid upon it a slip of parchment, at the
same time whispering a few words into the ear of the old man, who
frowned slightly and nodded once or twice as his eye passed slowly from
one to the other of the four prisoners.
"Where is the man John?" he demanded suddenly.
No one answered.
"Can ye not speak?" he cried, striking the table with his clenched fist,
"or hath it come to pass that your scurrilous tongues are already
withered in your mouths?"
"If thou art questioning me," said Seth calmly, "I wot not where the
apostle is; he went forth on some errand of mercy early this morning,
leaving me in charge of the house. We be law-abiding citizens, dwelling
in a law-abiding city, wherefore hath it come to pass that we are thus
dragged through the streets in chains?"
"That shalt thou shortly hear," replied Annas grimly. "Hast thou
examined these prisoners?" he asked, turning to Saul.
"I examined them briefly before making the arrests, according to my
custom," answered Saul. "For I would not that I transgress the law in
this work of purging the holy city of them that blaspheme. I found all
of these prisoners obstinate and stiff-necked, unwilling to renounce
their sins and to make confession of their unrighteousness, therefore I
have brought them before thee for further examination and sentence."
"This being so, the law must take its course with them," said Annas
sternly. "Do thou, Mary of Nazareth, stand forth. Remove the veil from
off thy face."
With a firm step the mother of Jesus advanced and stood before the
table; she threw back the shrouding mantle, her beautiful, pallid face
shining forth as if illumined with a strange inward radiance.
Annas looked at her for an instant, then he dropped his eyes and fell to
turning over the parchments which lay before him.
"Art thou the mother of the Man of Nazareth?"
"I am."
"Thou didst teach him to believe unholy and blasphemous things regarding
himself when he was a child," said Annas, still looking down at the
table; "therefore did he continue to delude himself and others when he
was grown, and at the last perished miserably on the accursed tree.
Hath not God punished thee sufficiently for thy presumptuous sin that
thou dost still persist in pretending that thy son is the Messiah of
Israel?"
"He is the Messiah of Israel," said Mary, her deep eyes shining.
"Wherefore my soul doth magnify the Lord, for he hath regarded the low
estate of his hand-maiden; behold from henceforth all generations shall
call me blessed. He is the Messiah of Israel, but he is also much more,
he is the Prince of Peace, the Saviour of the world. For the Lord hath
shewed strength with his arm, he hath scattered the proud in the
imaginations of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their
seat, and exalted them of low degree. And God hath delivered his holy
child Jesus from death and from the power of the grave, and hath set him
down at the right hand of power for ever more."
"Daughter of Abraham," said Annas, lifting his shaking hand, "thou hast
blasphemed. Thou knowest the penalty."
"Father," cried an agonized voice, "forbear this last awful sin, lest
God smite thee in his wrath and consume thee to ashes!"
At the sound of this voice the face of Annas changed. He rose to his
feet and stared for a moment at the shrouded figure which knelt before
him.
"Who--who is it that speaks to me?" he said, and his voice trembled.
"It is I--thine own daughter, Anna; dost thou not know me? I beseech
thee by the mercies of Jehovah that thou raise not thy hand against the
mother of the Christ."
"Woman, I know thee not. Get thee up and stand back. Out of thine own
mouth art thou already condemned."
"I care not for myself--death were welcome. But take heed to thyself, I
beseech thee, before thou layest violent hands upon this holy woman."
Annas laughed contemptuously. "Have we not crucified the carpenter?" he
said, "and are unscathed; is the mother of the carpenter more exalted?
Nay, we shall deal with her after the law; the law is just."
At this Seth started forward. "Prate not of the law who art a
murderer!" he said in a choked voice. "The man Jesus was guiltless and
ye did condemn him. Guiltless also are these women; release them, but
do with me as thou wilt--the servant is not greater than his lord."
Annas trembled with rage. He essayed to speak, but the words died on
his lips.
"Now seest thou what manner of perverse and pestilent apostates these
are," said Saul. "Furthermore, the man is an alien. There is no need
that we continue to argue this matter with them. Israel is ever merciful
and just, according to the commands of Jehovah, therefore let them be
publicly scourged without the gates; if the stripes be wholesome to
bring them back to their right minds and to a knowledge of the truth,
well. They will then confess right gladly that the man of Nazareth and
all his works are of the devil. After this shall a blood offering be
made for them; so shall they be cleansed from their iniquities. But and
if they will not so confess, let their sin abide upon them; let them die
the death appointed in the law of Moses for such as are blasphemers."
"Justice and mercy are in the words of thy mouth," said Annas slowly.
Then he turned to the prisoners: "Forty stripes save one shall be laid
upon each and every one of you to-morrow at about this hour, according
to the magnitude of your offences and the law of Moses, who thus
appointed it for the peace of Israel. Afterward--if ye will not
confess--ye shall die the appointed death."
"Mercy--have mercy!" cried Anna, laying hold of his robe. "We cannot
but believe the things which we have seen and heard. Nay, thou wouldst
thyself believe if the Lord should reveal himself to thee."
Annas drew away with a gesture of abhorrence. "Unhand me, woman," he
said sternly. "Satan hath blinded thee to the truth; I will pray for
thee that thou be undeceived at the last. Take them away."
"Thrust these blasphemers into the inner prison," commanded Saul a
half-hour later, "and remember that thou answerest for them with thine
own life. Come not to me on the morrow with any whining tale of angel
or devil, and think thus to excuse thyself for their escape. Let them
be missing at the third hour to-morrow, and thou thyself shalt suffer in
thine own body the penalty to which these are condemned. Thou hast
heard."
The chief jailer shrugged his shoulders. "I have heard, my lord. This
night at every watch will I inspect the prisoners. But I pray thee send
also additional guards, for life is precious to me, and I have not
forgotten what hath happened more than once when these Nazarenes have
been imprisoned; peradventure the man himself might appear."
"Coward!" growled Saul. "The man hath perished off the face of the
earth, so likewise shall perish all who believe on him. If thou art one
of these, room shall be made for thee within."
"Nay, my lord, nay," cried the jailer trembling. "I do not believe--I
swear it; but there have been strange things of late, and the devil
himself hath powers----"
"I will send a guard," interrupted Saul shortly. "Hold thy peace and do
thy duty, and all shall be well with thee. Admit no one."
The chief jailer bowed himself almost to the ground before the Pharisee,
whose renown had by this time spread throughout Jerusalem, and in whose
presence the temple officials from the highest unto the lowest trembled.
"I will admit no one," he said, and he again made obeisance as Saul
strode through the prison gate.
"Lock the gate and double bar it," he cried irritably to the guard.
"Then stand there for your lives; if these prisoners get away, and I
have to die for it, be sure that not one of you shall escape. Thrust the
man into the stocks," he added to the turnkey, who stood at his elbow;
"as for the women, chain them to the floor. I will come after a little
and look to them. Food? No; let them fast. Give them water."
In the inner prison, where the darkness seemed only the more intense
because of the feeble rays of daylight which struggled through the
little square of grating above the door, were the four who were
condemned to death. The young man Seth made fast in the stocks, the
three women chained to heavy rings which were riveted into the stone
floor.
"Dost think that He will deliver us?" whispered Anat, laying hold of the
robe of Mary and pressing it to her lips.
"He will deliver us, beloved, in his own best way," answered Mary
tenderly. "If the way lie through the dark valley, then will the end
thereof be only the more glorious."
"But the scourging--the shame, how--how shall we endure it?" wailed
Anat piteously.
"He also endured--being divine," said Mary, her voice trembling; "and
shall we who are but mortal shrink back? Think not of the morrow, save
as thou dost think that to-morrow we shall stand before Him in clothing
of immortality."
"But if we fail, deny him?" faltered Anat. "I know not my own
heart--whether I can endure unto the end."
"He will give thee grace when the need comes. Wouldst thou at this
moment deny him?"
"No--ah, no."
"Neither wilt thou deny him on the morrow. He giveth his strength in due
season, and to-morrow is in his hand."
As for Anna, the wife of Caiaphas, she sat silent, her head bowed upon
her knees. Mary thought that perhaps she slept, and in her tender heart
she hoped that this was so.
Every hour the chief jailer flashed the light of his torch into their
prison. "Where now is he that delivereth?" he cried tauntingly. And
again, "If angels visit thee during the night watches cry aloud, for I
have sworn by my life to deliver thy bodies to judgment on the morrow."
Being insensible--as indeed are most mortals to celestial sights and
sounds--he did not perceive that the whole place was filled with the
airs of heaven and with the rustling of angelic pinions.
At midnight the drowsy guards were awakened by a loud knocking upon the
outer gate of the prison.
"Open!" cried a voice. "Open at once, in the name of the Sanhedrim."
The governor of the prison looked out, and beholding by the light of the
lantern that it was Caleb himself who knocked, he opened cautiously and
admitted him.
"I have orders," said Caleb, "to speak a word in private with one of the
women who are in ward here; this is the token of my authority," and he
displayed before the eyes of the chief jailer the signet ring of Annas.
"But the Pharisee Saul--" began the jailer.
Caleb waved his hand impatiently. "Fetch the woman out to me and at
once," he said.
"They are chained to the floor," grumbled the jailer, "and I will not
fetch out any one of them, were it by the order of Herod himself. Go
thou in."
So Caleb went into the prison, the jailer following close upon his
heels. "Which is the woman called Anna?" he said. "I have here a
message for her."
And when the daughter of Annas had been pointed out to him, he thrust
into her hand a packet. "Use what is within to save the honor of thy
house," he whispered. "It is sent thee in mercy by the hand of Annas."
Then he turned swiftly and went out.
Anna opened the packet, a vague hope stirring at her heart; but she
shrank back with a shiver as the flash of the departing light fell upon
the blade of a dagger.