The Trial and Death of Jesus Christ

Trial and Death of Jesus Christ,
by James Stalker

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Title: The Trial and Death of Jesus Christ A Devotional History of our
Lord's Passion
Author: James Stalker
Release Date: June 12, 2007 [EBook #21814]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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AND DEATH OF JESUS CHRIST ***

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THE TRIAL AND DEATH
OF

JESUS CHRIST
A Devotional History of our Lord's Passion.

BY
JAMES STALKER, D.D.

AUTHOR OF "LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST," "LIFE OF ST. PAUL,"
"IMAGO CHRISTI," ETC.

CRUX DOMINI PALMA, CEDRUS, CYPRESSUS, OLIVA.

HODDER & STOUGHTON
NEW YORK
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY

COPYRIGHT, 1894,
BY
A. C. ARMSTRONG & SON.

TO MY WIFE

PREFACE

Ever since I wrote, in a contracted form, The Life of Jesus Christ, the
desire has slumbered in my mind to describe on a much more extended
scale the closing passages of the Saviour's earthly history; and,
although renewed study has deepened my sense of the impossibility of
doing these scenes full justice, yet the subject has never ceased to
attract me, as being beyond all others impressive and remunerative.
The limits of our Lord's Passion are somewhat indeterminate.
Krummacher begins with the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, Tauler
with the Feet-washing before the Last Supper, and Rambach with
Gethsemane; most end with the Death and Burial; but Grimm, a Roman
Catholic, the latest writer on the subject, means to extend his
Leidensgeschichte to the end of the Forty Days. Taking the word
"passion" in the strict sense, I have commenced at the point where, by
falling into the hands of His enemies, our Lord was deprived of
voluntary activity; and I have finished with the Burial. No doubt the
same unique greatness belongs to the scenes of the previous evening;
and I should like to write of Christ among His Friends as I have here
written of Him among His Foes; but for this purpose a volume at least
as large as the present one would be requisite; and the portion here
described has an obvious unity of its own.
The bibliography of the Passion is given with considerable fulness in
Zöckler's Das Kreuz Christi; but a good many of the books there
enumerated may be said to have been superseded by the monumental
work of Nebe, Die Leidensgeschichte unsers Herrn Hesu Christi (2
vols., 1881), which, though not a work of genius, is written on so
comprehensive a plan and with such abundance of learning that nothing
could better serve the purpose of anyone who wishes to draw the
skeleton before painting the picture. Of the numerous Lives of Christ
those by Keim and Edersheim are worthy of special notice in this part
of the history, because of the fulness of information from classical
sources in the one and from Talmudical in the other. Steinmeyer
(Leidensgeschichte) is valuable on apologetic questions. On the Seven
Words from the Cross there is an extensive special literature.
Schleiermacher and Tholuck are remarkably good; and there are
volumes by Baring-Gould, Scott Holland and others.

In the sub-title I have called this book a Devotional History, because
the subject is one which has to be studied with the heart as well as the
head. But I have not on this account written in the declamatory and
interrogatory style common in devotional works. I have to confess that
some even of the most famous books on the Passion are to me
intolerably tedious, because they are written, so to speak, in oh's and
ah's. Surely this is not essential to devotion. The scenes of the Passion
ought, indeed, to stir the depths of the heart; but this purpose is best
attained, not by the narrator displaying his own emotions, but, as is
shown in the incomparable model of the Gospels, by the faithful
exhibition of the facts themselves.
GLASGOW, 1894.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I.
THE ARREST
Matt. xxvi. 47-56; Mark xiv. 43-50; Luke xxii. 47-53; John viii. 1-11.
II. THE ECCLESIASTICAL TRIAL
Matt. xxvi. 57-68; Mark xiv. 51-65; Luke xxii. 54-71; John xviii. 12-14,
19-24.
III. THE GREAT DENIAL
Matt. xxvi. 69-75; Mark xiv. 66-72; Luke xxii. 54-62; John xviii. 15-18,
25-7.
IV. THE CIVIL TRIAL
Matt. xxvii. 11; Mark xv. 2; Luke xxiii. 2-4; John xviii. 28-38.

V. JESUS AND HEROD
Luke xxiii. 5-12.
VI. BACK TO PILATE
Matt. xxvii. 15-23; Mark xv. 6-14; Luke xxiii. 13-25; John xviii. 39,
40.
VII. THE CROWN OF THORNS