Death Sentence Passed Upon Jesus Christ!
The following is a copy of the most memorable judicial sentence which has ever been pronounced in the annals of the world, that of death against Jesus Christ, the knowledge of which must be interesting to every Christian. The sentence reads:
Sentence pronounced by Pontius Pilate, intendant of the Province of Lower Galilee, that Jesus of Nazareth shall suffer death by the Cross, in the Seventeenth Year of the Reign of the Emperor Tiberius and on the 25th of the Month of March, in the Most Holy City of Jerusalem, during the Pontificate of Annas and Caiaphas, Pontius Pilate, Intendant of the Province of Lower Galilee, sitting in Judgment in the Presidential Seat of the Praetors, sentences Jesus Christ of Nazareth to Death on a Cross between Two Robbers, as the numerous and notorious testimonials of the people prove: (1) Jesus is a misleader. (2) He has excited the people to sedition. (3) He is an enemy of the law. (4) He calls himself the Son of God. (5) He calls himself falsely the King of Israel. (6) He went into the Temple followed by a multitude carrying palms in their hands. Orders: The First Centurion, Quintus Cornelius, to bring Him to the place of execution, forbids all persons, rich or poor, to prevent the Execution of Jesus.
The sentence is engraved on a plate of brass in the Hebrew language, and on its sides are the following words: "A similar plate has been sent to each tribe." It was discovered in the year 1280 in the city of Aquill (Aquilla) in the kingdom of Naples, in a search made for the discovery of Roman antiquities, and remained there until it was found by the Commissaries of Art in the French army of Italy. Up to the time of the campaign in southern Italy it was preserved in the sacristy of the Carthusians, near Naples where it was kept in a box of ebony. Since then the relic has been kept in the chapel of Caserta. The Carthusians obtained permission to keep the plate as an acknowledgment of the sacrifices which they made for the French army. The French translation was made literally by members of the Commission of Arts.
GEO. L. HOGLAND