Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And _Pilate_ saith unto them, Behold the man! When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify _him_, crucify _him_. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify _him_: for I find no fault in him.—And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified. When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but _that_ rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed _his_ hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye _to it_. Then answered all the people, and said, His blood _be_ on us, and on our children. Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered _him_ to be crucified.—_St. John xix: 4-6; St. Matt. xxvii: 23-26._ _NOTE BY THE ARTIST_ _Once more the scene is “Gabbatha”—the place where Pilate sat; and Jesus, his lacerated shoulders covered with a cast-off soldier’s cloak of scarlet, and wearing a crown of thorns, is exposed to the gaze of the rabble of Jerusalem, who now surged and thronged in the courtyard of the palace. Pilate vainly hoped that the sight of the sufferings the prisoner had already endured might satisfy the fury of his enemies; but the relentless hatred of the priests was voiced through the insensate yells of the ignorant and bloodthirsty mob, and their final argument was cunningly directed to the point of least resistance. Pilate’s sense of justice yielded to that of self-interest. “He released unto them one who (Barabbas), for sedition and murder, was cast into prison, whom they had desired; but he delivered Jesus to their will.”_ 66] _The second lesson that we may learn from the history of Christ’s trial is a lesson about—THE WICKED PRIESTS._