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mixed with a gracious apology for the weakness and infirmity of the animal part of human nature. See Vol. II. p. 3, &c. And he affectionately recommended vigilance and prayer, as the only safeguards against temptation: His special address to Peter, indicating surprise, that he, in particular, could be found remiss, after the forwardness of his professions of zeal and attachment. Departing again, he prayed a second time, saying, ' MY FATHER, if this cup cannot pass away from me, unless I drink it, Thy will be done!

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"Then coming, he findeth them again sleeping; for their eyes were oppressed [with sleep] and they knew not what to answer him, embarrassed and ashamed. And leaving them, he departed again, and prayed a third time, saying the same words.

"Then cometh he, the third time, to his disciples, and saith unto them, Do ye sleep on, and take your rest * ?-Lo, the hour is at hand; and THE SON OF MAN is to be delivered up into the hands of sinners.-Rise, let us go, to join the rest; lo, he that is to deliver me up is at hand."

42-46, Mark xiv. 39-42.

Matt. xxvi.

Our Lord's second prayer breathes a firmer tone of acquiescence in his decided doom. And after the third, his serenity and composure of mind was perfectly restored.

"And while he was yet speaking, lo, Judas came to the Garden, (for the traitor knew the place to which JESUS was accustomed to resort with his disciples,) accompanied by the cohort ↑ of Roman soldiers, and a party of attendants of the chief priests, Pharisees, and elders, armed with swords and staves, and carrying torches and lamps, to dispel the darkness, we may presume, that hid the moon, and overspread the land, during the awful scene of our Lord's agony, as the next day, the sun at noon,

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VATION, who went forth, conquering by sufferings, and to conquer," till the end of time.

This judicious rendering interrogatively, proposed by Mr. Moore, (and before him by Bowyer) seems to be warranted by the corresponding phrase in the parallel passage, TI KAOεVÕETE; Why sleep ye? Luke xxii. 46. And it entirely removes the weighty objection of Archdeacon Churton, "that any appearance of irony ill comported with the state of our blessed and affectionate Saviour's mind at that sad hour."

† την σπειραν. "This is spoken of definitely, as being the particular cohort, which by order of the procurator attended on the Sanhedrim, at the great festivals, to preserve tranquillity." Middleton, p. 374. A cohort consisted of nearly 500 men, and ten cohorts made a legion. See Vol. I. p. 430.

during the crucifixion.

xxii. 47, John xviii. 2, 3.

Matt. xxvi. 47, Mark xiv. 43, Luke

Then JESUS, knowing beforehand all the sufferings that were coming upon him, went forth boldly, of his own accord, and enquired of them, Whom seek ye? They answered, Jesus of Nazareth. JESUS said, I am he. And when he had so said, struck with the commanding dignity of his presence and voice, they drew back, and fell to the ground. Such was the power and spirit of a far greater than Elijah; who could with infinitely more ease have called down fire from heaven to consume them all, than that prophet in similar circumstances. Again, he calmly enquired, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. He answered, I told you that I am he; if then ye seek me, let these [my disciples] withdraw. (This he said to fulfil the saying in his Intercession, Of those whom Thou gavest me, have I lost none, xvii. 12.) John xviii. 4-9.

Then, that "son of perdition," seeing the irresolution of the wavering band, who, as on a former occasion, could not bring themselves to arrest him who spake as never man spake, in order to quicken their resolves, and urge them to execute their commission, immediately gave them the preconcerted signal of seizure; for quitting them with whom he had hitherto stood, he went up to JESUS, and said, Hail Rabbi, and kissed him. But JESUS reproved his hypocrisy with this mild rebuke, Friend *, wherefore art thou come? Judas, deliverest thou up the SON OF MAN with a kiss! In the term "friend" there seems to be a tacit reprobation of his treachery, as foretold, Psalm xli. 9, and in the "SON OF MAN," a reference to his own dignity, which required to be truly reverenced as the SON OF GOD also. "Kiss THE SON," &c. Psalm ii. 12; Matt. xxi. 37; Matt. xxvi. 48-50; Mark xiv. 44, 45; Luke xxii. 47, 48.

CHRIST APPREHENDED.

And now the Roman cohort, and their commander, and the Jewish attendants came up, and laid hands on JESUS, and apprehended him. But when the disciples about him saw what would follow, they said, Lord, shall we smite with the sword?

Eraupe, "companion," as distinguished from piλe, "friend." The former intimating only association, the latter affection. In English, the word friend ambiguously denotes both. See the foregoing article on the style of the Gospels.

and, not waiting for permission, one of them Simon Peter, drew his sword, and smote Malchus, a servant of the high-priest, and cut off his right ear. But JESUS checked this intemperance of zeal, and desired Peter to sheath his sword again, for that all who used the sword to maintain his cause should perish by the sword, and that so far from wanting the assistance of twelve puny Apostles, his FATHER, at his desire, could presently send more than twelve legions of angels to his assistance, but that this would be to counteract the Scripture prophecies, foretelling his sufferings, and to prevent him from drinking the cup appointed him by HIS FATHER. Then he said to them that held him, Suffer ye thus far *, or permit me so far as to touch the wounded person, and he touched his ear, and healed him. Then JESUS freely expostulated with the chief priests, captains of the temple, and elders, who had come along with the armed force; Are ye come forth as against a robber, with swords and staves, thus in the dead of the night! Why did ye not apprehend me in the day? I was with you daily in the temple, appearing openly among you, but then ye laid no hands on me. But this is your hour of persecution, and the authority of the [Ruler of darkness prevails over innocence. When he thus meekly surrendered himself to his foes, all the disciples forsook him and fled † ; for all were offended at him, as he foretold, this disastrous night, Matt. xxvi. 31, because he refused the aid of the sword, and declined to extricate himself by a miracle; fulfilling prophecy also, I will smite THE SHEPHERD, and the sheep of the fold shall be scattered. (Zech. xiii. 7,) Matt. xxvi. 55, 56; Mark xiv. 48-50.

Then his enemies, without reply, seized him, and, perhaps, to prevent his escape, as on former occasions, by rendering himself

Some commentators, following the Syriac version, think that this was addressed to the disciples, to restrain them from further violence, but it was rather addressed to the soldiers, earε [μɛ] Ewg Tovrov, Let me alone, so far. The phrase occurs elsewhere, wc TIVOS OUR εas μɛ; Job vii. 18, Sept. ɛaσarɛ avrovc, Acts v. 38; Exod. xxxii. 9; Judg. xi. 37.

† Mark alone records, that after the flight of the Apostles, some young man followed him, having only a wrapper on his body, who perhaps might have been rouzed from sleep in the village of Gethsemane, and led on by curiosity to see what was the matter. But the attendants seized him, and he leaving his wrapper with them fled away naked. This young man evidently was not an Apostle, and least of all, St. John, as imagined, from some of the ancients, by Wells, Gilpin, &c. For John attended the examination and trial.

invisible, at the suggestion of Judas ("hold him fast,") they bound him, and led him away prisoner, and brought him first to Annas, who was the coadjutor and father-in-law of the highpriest Caiaphas, and a person of the highest rank and authority in the state; probably for his advice how to act in this juncture. See Vol. I. p. 89, 90. But Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high-priest, to be examined by him, and tried before the whole council, as soon as they could be collected and assembled, at the judgment-hall, in his palace, John xviii. 13, 14; Matt. xxvi. 57; Mark xiv. 53; Luke xxii. 54.

What became of the rest of the panic-struck Apostles we are not informed by these most candid and impartial of all historians, recording their own disgrace. Two, however, of the number, and two only, John and Peter, soon recovering from their fright, returned to see the issue. Peter followed him afar off, but "the other disciple" (as John, who never mentions his own name, modestly styles himself, and who was the intimate friend of Peter, see John xx. 2, 3, 4, 8, xxi. 20, 21,) being known to the high-priest, entered into the hall † of his palace along with JESUS, while Peter stood without at the door. Then John went out, and spoke to the maid that kept the door, and brought in Peter. And the servants of the high-priest, and the attendants, made a fire of charcoal, at the lower end of the hall, because it was cold, at this advanced hour of the night, (near three in the morning ;) especially so early in spring as about the twenty-fifth of March, A.D. 31. (See this proved, Vol. I. p. 67-70.) And Peter stood with them, and warmed himself. Matt. xxvi. 57, 58; Mark xiv. 53, 54; Luke xxii. 54, 55; John xviii. 15—18.

The return of these two favourite disciples was not only a

• ¿ aλoç μaðηrns. The authenticity of the article, here, is ably proved by Middleton, p. 374-378. Various have been the guesses of commentators, who this other disciple could be. Some suppose him to have been a disciple of higher rank; others, the master of the Conaculum; others, even Judas himself! They idly object to John, as a fisherman, and therefore not likely to be acquainted with the high-priest; forgetting that John was a man of property, who had a house in the city, as well as substance in Galilee.

"the

Luke critically distinguishes between ǹ avλn, "the hall," and o οικός, house," or palace of the high-priest, xxii. 54, 55. The hall was divided into two parts, the upper and the lower, Mark xiv. 66; of which, the lower was the larger, Luke xxii. 55; and it had a porch (wvλwv), Matt. xxvi. 71, or vestibule (πроavλiov), Mark

xiv. 68.

proof of their stronger attachment to their adored Lord, of whom it has been remarked, that Peter reverenced him in his public character as the MESSIAH, John loved him in his private, as JESUS, with stronger personal affection; but it was also providentially ordained to furnish eye-witnesses among the Apostles of this iniquitous, but most interesting trial, of which John attended the whole throughout, while the return of Peter, especially, was further necessary for the minute accomplishment of his predicted denials.

PETER'S FIRST DENIAL.

While JESUS stood before the high-priest, at the upper end of the spacious hall of judgment, and Peter was standing, and afterwards sitting among the servants and attendants, at the fire in the lower, the maid who kept the door, coming up to the fire, and looking attentively at Peter, said, Thou also wast with Jesus the Galilean; art thou one of his disciples? But he denied, before them all, saying, Woman, I neither know, nor understand what thou sayest. I know him not. I am not. Then, to avoid further questions, he went out into the porch, and the cock crew. This circumstance marks the course of the third night watch, or the cock crowing. (Mark xiv. 40. See Vol I. p. 14.) Matt. xxvi. 69-71; Mark xiv. 66-68; Luke xii. 56, 57; John xviii. 7.

PETER'S SECOND DENIAL.

Shortly after, while Peter remained without, in the porch, the same maid, seeing him again, began to say to the bystanders, This is one of them; another maid said, This man also was with Jesus of Nazareth; but he denied again. Another man seeing him, said, Thou also art one of them; but Peter said, Man, I am not. Others then said to him, Art not thou also one of his disciples? He denied, with an oath, and said, I am not. Matt. xxvi. 71, 72; Mark xiv. 69, 70; Luke xxii. 58; John xviii. 25.

In enumerating these different accounts of the four Evangelists, shewing how closely Peter was questioned by several of the bystanders, we have assigned the first place to Mark, who wrote from the information of Peter himself, whose attention naturally was most strongly excited by the door-keeper renewing

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