John: He delivered him to the Jews. "And he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! But they cried out, Away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led him away. And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of the skulls, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha; where they crucified him" (xix, 14-18). Matthew and Mark plainly state that Jesus was delivered to the Roman soldiers; John just as plainly states that he was delivered to the Jews. Matthew and Mark declare that he was crucified by the soldiers; John declares that he was crucified by the Jews. Were it not that John elsewhere (xix, 23) contradicts himself and states that the soldiers crucified him, the conclusion would be, after reading John, that he was crucified by the Jews. Peter declares that the Jews executed him. Addressing the Sanhedrim, he says: "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree" (Acts v, 30). 340 Who was compelled to carry the cross? Synoptics: "And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name; him they compelled to bear his cross" (Matt. xxvii, 32; Mark xv, 21; Luke xxiii, 26). John: The cross was borne by Jesus himself (xix, 17). 341 Where was Simon when they compelled him to carry the cross? Mark: "Coming out of the country" (xv, 21). The correct reading of this is, "coming from the field," i. e., "coming from his work." This is improbable as they did not work on the Passover. 342 The Synoptics agree in stating that Simon was compelled to carry the cross. Is this probable? It is not. In executions of this kind the criminal was always required to carry it himself as a mark of disgrace. 343 It is inferred from the Synoptics that the cross was too heavy for Jesus to bear, and Christian writings and paintings represent him bending with fatigue beneath the burden of the entire cross. What was the burden he was required to carry? Simply the patibulum, or cross piece, which was not heavy. The upright portion of the cross was a permanent fixture. 344 On his way to execution he made a speech to the women of Jerusalem who bewailed his fate. Alluding, as is alleged, to the coming destruction of Jerusalem, what did he declare they would say? "To the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us" (Luke xxiii, 30). Luke attempts to put into the mouth of Jesus a quotation from Hosea, but his memory was defective. What the prophet said was as follows: "To the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us" (Hosea x, 8). Renan pronounces this speech spurious. He says: "The speech to the women of Jerusalem could scarcely have been conceived except after the siege of the year 70." 345 Where was he crucified?