“In perils by mine own countrymen”

The Pharisees and Lawyers.

(The Gospel History, Section 97)

And when he was come out from thence, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press upon him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things; laying wait for him, to catch something out of his mouth.

“In perils by mine own countrymen”

(The Saviour of the World, Vol VI Book IV Poem XLII

Then left the Lord that cold unkindly house,
That Judas feast at which men would betray
The Lord of life,—men from Jerusalem
To catch Him in His speech sent down. A crowd
Surround the Prince of Peace with clamorous cries,
Rude menacing hands, faces unmeetly thrust
Close to the Face divine, the while they cry,
Tumultuous, vehement,—“What means this,
And this, that Thou hast said? ’tis blasphemy,
Rank blasphemy and treason! Mark our words,
A man’s condemned to die for less than this!
Think’st nameless Outcast may thus vilify
The rulers of the people, in the house,
The finely ordered house, of one of us,
Ruler in Israel, and cry fatuous ‘Woes’?
Who gave Thee authority we fain would know?”

He was alone, remote from all His friends,—
As some fair barque buffeted of the waves,
Torn by the winds,—none of the people there,
Stood Jesus in their midst. And yet, not thus
The Wrath of the Lamb constrained those violent men:
Their tongues were free to wag, pour insults sharp
As pointed hailstones wounding tender vine,
But no man dared lay hands on Him;—alone,
He went His way majestic through the storm.
The multitude, drawn thither by the noise,
Found Him again, hidden from them awhile;
Eager they press to hear, the loving crowd;
But know not through what peril He had passed,
Else sudden, “Woe” had fallen upon that house
Wherein Christ was dishonoured.

St. Luke xi. 53–54.

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