#143. The Trial.#--This was twofold. In the first place, it was an ecclesiastical trial. It was before Annas (informal), then before Caiaphas, and the Sanhedrin. Here the charges were all ecclesiastical. They were that he had spoken against the temple; that he had broken the Sabbath, and that he was guilty of blasphemy in calling himself the Son of God. These charges they could not prove, but that made no difference, for the issue was already determined in their minds. So they condemned him to death. But they had no power under the Roman government to inflict the death penalty. So they had to take him before the Roman Governor. This brings us to the second trial. This was political. Here the charges were entirely different from those on which they had condemned him to death. Now they charged him with forbidding to pay taxes, and with setting himself up to be a king, in rivalry with Cæsar. All this was false, and they knew it, but they cared nothing for that, so long as they could persuade Pilate to give them the desired verdict. Pilate repeatedly declared him innocent, as did also Herod, to whom Pilate sent him. But the ecclesiastics would take nothing but his death as their right. So at last Pilate weakly yielded, and gave sentence as they desired. #144. The scene at the cross# surpasses all description. Note who were there. Gentiles were there in the form of Roman soldiers. Jews were there in the persons of the ecclesiastics, who reviled on the cross him who for so long had gone about doing good. Even at this time they bore witness to his power, crying out, "He saved others; himself he cannot save." Had they put it, "He saved others, himself he _will not_ save," they would have been strictly within the truth. For he could have saved himself, since it lay within his power to call for twelve legions of angels, and they would have responded at once. Then where would the chief priests or even the Roman soldiers have been? #145.# There, too, were _the Apostles_, who were filled with despair at the fate of him who they had hoped would redeem Israel. Now their hope perished, and they gave way to dark despair. All his acquaintances from Galilee were there, the women beating their breasts for sorrow. Criminals were there as his companions in agony and shame. Yes, the scene at the cross was the most dramatic that the world had ever seen. For the time, the powers of darkness seem to have triumphed, and the best man in the world was nailed to the accursed cross.