to life, which had lain dead four days in the earth; and our Lord Jesus, by the virtue of his words, raised him out of his grave, and brought him alive amongst us, and his sisters, and made him sit at the table. When Pilate heard this, he was much abashed for fear, and cried with a loud voice to the Jews, and said, Men, what is this that ye will do; I see, that without guilt, ye will shed the blood of him that hath wrought nothing amiss. Then Pilate rose up and took Nichodemus to him, and those twelve men which said that our Lord was not born by fornication, and thus he said unto them ;-Sirs, I have great affiance in you, tell me what I shall do with him: and they said, Sir, we cannot tell, but we will never assent to the will of the Masters of the law, and the other Jews. And he said unto them, Ye know well, that it is a custom among us to deliver a prisoner to the people, for the honor of our sabbath, that high day of sacrifice; and ye know well that I have in my prison a notable prisoner, a man-slayer, who is wor◄ thy of death, whose name is Barabbas, will ye that, I deliver him, or else Jesus, which is without guilt, and not worthy to die? The Princes, and the Bishops, and the old men, said with one voice, We will that thou deliver to us Barabbas. Then said Pilate, What will ye then that I do with Jesus, which is called Christ? Then said the Jews with a high voice, Let him be crucified! And some said, If thou let him go thus, thou art not Cesar's friend, since that he speaketh this blasphemy, that he is God's son, and thereto a King; for whosoever saith that he is a King, speaketh against Cesar. And when that Pilate heard this, he was wondrous heavy, and thus he said to the Jews; Every day from the beginning ye have been contrary to them that have done well to you, and to him ye have done much harm and much tormenting. Then said the Jews, What, is he that hath done so much good for us? Then said Pilate, Our God which hath holpen

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you, and delivered you out of the hands of Egypt-which drowned your enemies in the deepness of the Red Sea, and led you through the waters of the sea, as dry as upon the land; and also in the desert he rained upon you manna, and made water come out of the hard rock in the desert, which ye drank of, and all your beasts; and he gave you also the ten commandments of the law, and in all these commandments he hath charged you with, ye have been contrary to your God, as when ye made a calf to be your God, who would have disinherited you and destroyed you, had not Moses your master been that prayed to your God for you, for the peril that ye were in. And now ye say to me, that I hate my King, and am not his friend, if I deliver this man Jesus, who hath cured much of your people of many infirmities, who is your King, that never did evil, but ever much good. When the Jews heard this, they were full of anger and melancholy, and thus they cryed altogether, and said, Our King is Cesar, Emperor of Rome, for we know well that Jesus is no King, though Kings sought him in Bethleem, and said, that they sought the King of the Jews, and offered to him gifts, but yet is not he therefore a king. We know well, that when Herod heard say, that they sought the King of the Jews, he would therefore have slain him. And so did he slay thousands of children in Bethleem, and all the country about for his sake, as we told you before. When Pilate had beard this, he commanded them to be still, and then said he unto them, A, and is this he then, whom Herod sought to slay? And the Jews answered and said that this was he; and anon Pilate commanded water to be brought unto him, and before them all he washed his hands saying, I am guiltless of the spilling of this righteous man's blood, but the blood of him be upon you and upon your children. But they spake earnestly with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified; and their voices prevailed. When

Pilate saw that it availed not to speak, but that there would be more tumult, he gave sentence that their request should be fulfilled, and so he let loose unto them him that was laid in prison for man-slaughter and insurrection, whom they required; but gave Jesus over to them to do with him what they pleased.

CHAPTER VI

How Pilate commanded the Jews that no villains should put Jesus Christ to his passion, but only knights.

Then commanded Pilate that a great company of knights should be brought afore him into his parlour. And then Pilate gave the sentence upon our Lord Jesus Christ, and thus he said unto him;-Thine own people hath disapproved all that ever I have spoken for thee, and therefore do I command that no man lay hands on him, unless he be a knight, or of gentle blood, for it is not fitting that a King should be slain of villains; and therefore I command, that first he be scourged, to the pleasure of the chief princes, and then lift him up on the cross, and with him two thieves which have been evil doers, one Dismas, and the other Gesmas, and let them be slain by villains, and let no nobles touch them. Then our Lord Jesus was led out of the parlour, and the two thieves with him, and they led them into another parlour, wherein there was a pillar of white marble, and there they dispoiled our Lord Jesus of his clothes, and bound him naked unto the pillar, and there they beat him, and scourged him with yerds and whips, in so much that there was no skin left whole upon him: and this was a pityful sight to behold that blessed body standing naked before all the people, scorning, and

saying thus to our Lord God in his scourging, Do gladly our King, for this is our first beginning. And then the Masters of the law said unto the knights, Put on our King a soft garment, and let us crown him for our King. And then the knights did upon him cloth of silk, which for the abundance of blood was so clung to him, that at the pulling off, it was an hundred-fold more pain to him than was his scourging. And when they had pulled off this garment, they did on him a red mantle of silk and after that they set a garland of thorns upon his head that the thorns pierced into his brain, and so at the last they led him to the cross and there they crucified him between two thieves, Dismas on the right side and Gesmas on the left; and then they put to his mouth a sponge full of eysel and gall that he might drink thereof, and thus that blessed Lord Jesus suffered all that ever they would do unto him. And then our Lord Jesus looked up to the father and said thus, O Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. And then the knights cast lots upon his vesture, to wit who should have it; and then the Princes of the law with Bishops and many others cried unto our Lord Jesus, and thus they said ;-Thou hast healed many other, and canst thou not heal thyself. If thou be God's son, come down from the cross, and we will believe in thee. And then said the knights in scorn, If thou be the King of the Jews, deliver now thyself. And then Pilate wrote a bill, upon which was written, "Jesus Nazarenus Rex Judeorum"; that is to say, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. And this was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin; and this title they put above his head upon the cross. Then Gesmas the thief that did hang on the left side of our Lord, said thus to our Lord Jesus ;→If thou be God, deliver both thyself and us. Then Dismas that hung on the right side of our Lord Jesus, blamed him for his words, and thus he said unto him ;-It seemeth by thy

words that thou dreadest not God, nor believest in him, and therefore art endlessly damned; for well thou knowest, that we have deserved to suffer death, but he hath right nought forfeited nor misdone, and undeservedly is brought hitherto. And when Dismas had said these words, he looked upon Jesus, and thus he said ;—Lord Jesus, be mindful of me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Then answered Jesus unto him and said, This day shalt thou be with me in paradise. And it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour, and the sun lost his light, and the veil of the temple was rent down to the ground in two parts; some say, that an angel did it with a trace of fire and this angel said, (many hearing) I am witness of the pas sion of Jesus Christ. After this our Lord Jesus Christ cryed with a loud voice, and said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit; and he bowed his head, and yielded up his soul unto his father. And then the Jews commanded that a knight should be brought forth whose name was Longinus, and him they made to put a spear to Jesus's side. This Longinus was blind, and so the princes of the law made him to pierce our Lord's side, and there came out of his side both blood and water; and the blood ran down by the spear's shaft, unto Longinus's hand, and he by adventure wiped his eyes with his hand, and anon he did see. And when Centurio, that was Prince over the knights, saw the tokens that were befallen, he glorified God and said, Of a truth this man was righteous and God's son indeed, and that is well seen by the tokens that are befallen. And so all the people that were there when they saw the works of the power of our Lord, they smote their breasts with their hands and returned.