keep in remembrance the reproach which Thou didst endure for my sake, who am unworthy of the least of all Thy mercies.
CHAPTER XIII
☙ Concerning the savage clamour of the Jews,—
Away with Him! Crucify Him!
BLESS Thee, and give thanks to Thee,
O Lord Jesus Christ, perpetual Joy of
Saints, for the great and insolent uproar with which the Jews raged against
Thee, crying out in their fury: — "Away with
Him! Away with Him! Crucify Him!" Alas, how
great was the savagery of those miserable Jews;
how inhuman was the cruelty of the Priests and
of the Pharisees, who felt no fear at putting Thee
to death, who felt no compunction at shedding
innocent blood! The heathen Judge is moved to
some sort of pity; but the hearts of the Jews are
hardened to yet more cruel malice. Pilate would
discharge Thee, he seeks to release Thee, he declares that he finds no cause of death in Thee;
but the Jews, forgetting all the good works Thou
hadst wrought among them, will not listen to him,
crying out again: — "If thou release this man, thou
art not Caesar's friend: for whosoever maketh himself a king, speaketh against Caesar"
Alas, with what utter falseness do they allege these things against Thee, Who never, either by word or deed, soughtest earthly honours; Who, when the people — whom, by working a miracle, Thou hadst fully satisfied with food — were anxious to make Thee a King, didst at once go forth alone to a mountain to pray, and to hide Thyself from them!
