Page:Lazarus, a tale of the world's great miracle.djvu/269



NCE more Jerusalem was the scene of wild excitement, and once more Caiaphas and his colleagues were seized with the dread of whether, after all, power was not going to be wrenched from them. If, in truth, this was the Son of God, if really Lazarus had died and been restored to life, what was to prevent more miracles, and might it not be that Caiaphas would ultimately be torn to pieces by the followers of the Nazarene? These were the High Priest's inward thoughts; but, outwardly, he and his supporters admitted only that, if such trickery as the removal of the body of Lazarus could take place, there was no knowing what dupes might yet be made. At a private meeting of the heads of the Synagogue at the house of Caiaphas, a meeting from which all who did not share the High Priest's views had been excluded, they had come to the unanimous conclusion that the execution of the Nazarene, unless accompanied by that of Lazarus, would be useless bloodshed.

For Lazarus will be, to all intents, a second Galilean," said one, "and who knoweth but that, having been a ruler and one learned in the law of Moses, he will still more pervert the people by his wisdom, so that, perchance, even the rich will follow him? For this Nazarene hath that good in Him