here charged with crucifying the _Christ_. It was their business to
have tested his claims, and to have welcomed the Messiah. The guilt
was shared by both, but the heavier part lay on the shoulders of the
Sanhedrin.

Mark, too, the bold proclamation of the Resurrection, the stone of
offence to the Sadducees. How easy it would have been for them to
silence the Apostle, if they could have pointed to the undisturbed
and occupied grave! That would have finished the new sect at once. Is
there any reason why it was not done but the one reason that it could
not be done?

Thus far Peter has been answering the interrogation legally put, and
has done as was anticipated. Now was the time for Annas and the rest
to strike in; but they could not carry out their programme, for the
fiery stream of Peter's words does not stop when they expected, and
instead of a timid answer followed by silence, they get an almost
defiant proclamation of the Name, followed by a charge against them,
which turns the accused into the accuser, and puts them at the bar.
Peter learned to apply the passage in the Psalm (v. 11) to the
rulers, from his Master's use of it (Matt. xxi. 42); and there is no
quaver in his voice nor fear in his heart when, in the face of all
these learned Rabbis and high and mighty dignitaries, he brands them
as foolish builders, blind to the worth of the Stone 'chosen of God,
and precious,' and tells them that the course of divine Providence
will run counter to their rejection of Jesus, and make him the very
'Head of the corner,'--the crown, as well as the foundation, of God's
building.

But not even this bold indictment ends the stream of his speech. The