he was overborne by the uproar of the Jews; yet is he not wholly free from guilt; for he knew that they had delivered Him up out of envy. Better, surely, would it have been to have sacrificed high place, and the honours of this world, than to have condemned One Who was innocent, and Whom the Governor knew to be such. More profitable had it been to have lost the whole world, than to have sinned against God, and to have put Christ to death!
How terrible, at the last day, will be the judgement of the ungodly and unbelieving, when God the Judge, Who is now condemned unjustly, shall have come in His glorious Majesty! Then shall all the godly and faithful rejoice, who now mourn over, and lament, the unjust condemnation of Jesus Christ, their Lord. Then shall they be joyous and free from care, who now patiently bear the hardships of this world, and submit to being wronged and despised.
O my sweet and loving Lord, Who wast unjustly condemned by Pilate the Governor, and sentenced to the shameful death of the Cross, grant that, whatever sentence may be passed against me in Chapter for my faults, I may humbly submit to it, and may never rashly judge my Superior, nor reply angrily to my accusers; but, after the example of Thy patience, may keep that silence which becomes me. Grant that I may not take unduly to heart being put upon by one who is above me, but may always leave my cause in Thy hands: for the servant is not greater than his Lord; and if Thou, Who art the Judge of all men, and wast absolutely guiltless, didst make no resistance to the violence of Thy adversaries, but didst submit to be unjustly condemned, how much more ought I to be ready to bear; and how cheerfully
