The day was now rapidly dawning, and the Sanhedrin, which had been hastily summoned, had begun to assemble. Annas therefore sent the Saviour, who was still in bonds, to the official judgment-hall of Caiaphas (Jn. xviii. 24), and it was not improbably as He was crossing the court[514], that He _turned and looked upon_ the Apostle, who now for the third time denied that he had ever known Him. Recognised at the porch, Peter, it would seem, had returned again to the fire, and there mingling with the group of soldiers and servants (Jn. xviii. 25), conversed with them freely in his rough uncouth Galilæan dialect[515]. This excited suspicion, and an hour had scarcely elapsed (Lk. xxii. 59) before certain of the bystanders began to express their opinions. _Surely_, said one, _this fellow was one of them. Thou art a Galilæan_, said another (Mk. xiv. 70). _Thy speech bewrayeth thee_, added a third (Mtt. xxvi. 73). _Did I not see thee in the garden with Him?_ broke in a fourth, a kinsman of the servant whose ear the Apostle had cut off (Jn. xviii. 26). Thus attacked on all sides he fell deeper still. With oaths and curses (Mtt. xxvi. 74; Mk. xiv. 71) he declared, _I know not the Man_, and for the second time the cock crew (Mk. xiv. 72). It was this base denial that the Holy One now overheard. _Turning round He looked upon Peter_ (Lk. xxii. 61). The remembrance of all that He had said rushed to the Apostle’s recollection. He could not linger a moment in that Presence. His faith indeed had not _utterly[516] failed_, but Satan had _sifted him as wheat_. _He went forth and wept bitterly_ (Mtt. xxvi. 75; Lk. xxii. 62)[517]. CHAPTER VI. _THE JEWISH TRIAL――REMORSE AND SUICIDE OF JUDAS._ A.D. 30. BY this time the entire body of the Sanhedrin had assembled in the palace of Caiaphas, and the Redeemer was placed before them. The first object was to secure the agreement of two witnesses on some specific charge (Mtt. xxvi. 59; Mk. xiv. 55). But this was found to be a matter of the utmost difficulty. Many indeed were at hand suborned to utter any falsehood, but their testimony was so confused and contradictory (Mk. xiv. 56), that the council could not receive it. At length two were found who could testify to the words the Holy One had uttered on the occasion of His first visit to the Temple[518]. _This fellow said_, was their charge, _I will destroy this Temple made with hands, and in three days I will raise up another made without hands_ (Mk. xiv. 58). But besides the fact that their allegations were exaggerated, they themselves did not agree in their statements (Mk. xiv. 59), and though eager to pronounce the capital sentence, the council felt themselves unable with any decency to do so on such evidence.