priests, when they had sent the servants to bring Jesus, wishing to put him to death, and when they said to the servants, "Hath any of the rulers believed on him or of the Pharisees? But this multitude that knoweth not the law are accursed"— then Nicodemus said to them: "Doth our law judge a man, except it first hear from himself and know what he doeth?" John 7:47–51. O blessed Nicodemus, thou didst accord such force to God's law; thou didst bear witness to the law that it should be the judge of man.
See, how inconvenient the statements of our doctors are when they pronounce the sentence that we wish to have the law as judge—a judge which judges most justly and does not judge otherwise than does God, the most just judge. Thou sayest, "Doth our law judge a man, except it first hear from him and know what he doeth?" as if he would say, No, because it judges justly. To that judge Christ referred the priests, Pharisees, scribes and Jews, who accused him of sin because he kept not the Sabbath day, and called God his Father, saying: "Ye search the Scriptures. These are they which bear witness of me," John 5:39. Did not, therefore, Christ wish the Scriptures to judge the Jews which believed not on Christ? Certainly, he wished it. In proportion, therefore, as the doctors wish that the Scriptures be not the judge, in that proportion they wish themselves to be believed that whatever they condemn should be condemned and that whatever they approve should be approved. For this they asked and begged in the city hall; for this they sought the signatures of the magisters who gainsaid heir opinions. But the counsel of the Pharisees, scribes and priests has come to naught, because the faithful who gainsaid them were not willing to agree without hearing the proof from the law, which holds wrapped up in itself all truth that is to be believed. If the pontiffs, Pharisees, priests and elders of the people had known this law they would not have condemned Christ—but they did condemn and blaspheme. More
