Page:PracticalCommentaryOnHolyScripture.djvu/724

 Then Pilate  said  to  them  in  amazement:  “What  shall  I do then  with  Jesus  who  is  called  Christ?”  They  cried  out  with savage fury:  “Crucify  Him! Crucify Him!”  Pilate,  still  endeavouring to  save  Jesus,  asked  again:  “Why,  what  evil  hath  He  done? I find no  cause  of  death  in  Him. I will chastise  Him,  therefore, and let  Him  go.”

He then  caused  Jesus  to  be  scourged. Immediately the whole cohort was  assembled. They stripped  Jesus  of  His  clothes, tied Him  to  a pillar,  and  scourged  Him. Then, covering  Him in derision  with  a purple  garment,  they  plaited  a crown  of sharp  thorns,  placed  it  on  His  Head,  and  pressed  it  down,  so  that the thorns  pierced  the  flesh  and  entered  into  the  Sacred  Head.

Then, placing  a reed  in  His  right  Hand,  by  way  of  sceptre, they bent  the  knee  before  Him  in  mockery,  saying:  “Hail,  King of the  Jews!”  Others  spat  upon  Him,  and  took  the  reed  that