THE DAY OF THE LORD OF HOSTS SHALL BE UPON EVERY ONE THAT IS PROUD AND LOFTY, (G. 96.) On the morning of the sixth day of the week, Friday, the fourteenth of Nisan, Jesus is again examined in the usual council chamber of the Jewish council.*-Luke xxii. 66-71. In the temple. 66 [Ch. xxii. 65, p. 430.] And as-soon-as it-was day, the elders To TрEBUTEPLOV of-the people and the-chief67 priests and the-scribes came-together, and led him into their council, saying, Art thou 68 the Christ? tell us. And he said unto-them, If I-tell you, ye-will-not-believe: and if 69 I-also ask you, ye-will-not-answer me, nor let-me-go. Hereafter anо TOU VUV shall the 70 Son of-man sit eoтaι Ka@nuevos on the-right-hand of-the power of-God. Then said-they 71 all, Art thou then the Son of God? And he said unto them, Ye say that I am. And 1 they said, What need-we any-further witness? for we-ourselves -have-heard of his- (G.97.)-Jesus being condemned is taken from the council to Pontius Pilate. Judas (Ver. 75, p. 433.) When-themorning was-come, all the chief-priests and elders dof-the people' took counsel MARK XV. 1. the chief-priests LUKE Xxiii. 1. SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATIONS. Lu. xxii. 66. the elders, &c. see on Mt. xxvii. 7, infra; and comp. Ps. ii. 2; Je. xix. 7. 67. ye will not believe-Thus did our Lord in effect pronounce sentence upon his judges, by recognising them as being in that state, which was the declared ripeness for the fulness of judgment predicted, Je. xix. 8, 9-ver. 15, They have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.' 68. will not answer-Is. 1. 2, Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer?'--lxvi. 4, 'I also will choose their delusions, ..because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: ' 69. Hereafter, &c.-see Mt. xxvi. 64, supra, p. 429. 70, the Son of God-see Mt. xxvi. 63, supra, p. 428. Ye say that I am-Mt. xxvi. 61, p. 429, Thou hast said: 'Jno. xviii. 8, 'I am' JOHN Xviii. 28. (Ver. 27, ib.) 71. What need, &c.-Mt. xxvi. 65, p. 429, What further need,' &c. we ourselves have heard, &c.-They had heard him testify to the truth respecting himself, ver. 69, 70and for this he was adjudged worthy of death, Mk. xiv. 61, p. 429-All he had said and done since his appearance among men, abundantly bore witness to the truth of what he had now finally declared to themselves upon oath-see Jno. xv. 22-.5, § 87, p. 390. xv. 1, And straightway in the morning'-Lu. xxii. 66, Mt. xxvii. 1. When the morning was come-Mk. supra,As soon as it was day,'-Jno. xviii. 28, p. 435, And it was early;' Mk. xv. 1. held a consultation-When they had prejudged his case, and agreed upon his sentence, then, for form's sake, he was brought before them for judgment, as described, Lu. xxii. 66-71, supra. NOTES. [Lu. xxii. 67. Art thou the Christ? These words admit of being rendered in three different ways:-1. 'Art thou the Christ? tell us.' 2. If thou be the Christ, tell us [so].' 3. Tell us whether thou be the Christ (or not]." The first mode has far less to recommend it than the second and third, of which the latter seems, on account of its greater suitableness to the occasion and the context (especially the words of the answer), to be entitled to the preference.'-Bloomf] 67,.8. If I tell you, &c. The sense, then, may be thus expressed: If I simply tell you [that I am the Christ], ye will not believe me; and if I propose questions in argument [to support my claim], ye will not answer me, nor, though convinced, will you release me.' 69. Hereafter, &c. See on Mt. xxvi. 64, p. 429. 70. Arl thou then the Son of God? Both these, the Son of God, and the Son of man, were known titles of the Messiah, the one taken from his Divine, and the other from his human nature. Ye say that I am. The sense is, I am he of whom ye speak.'-Comp. Mt. xxvi. 64, p. 429.-See NOTE. 71. We ourselves have heard, &c. Comp. Mt. xxvi. 65; Mk. xiv. 63, .4, p. 429. From Mt. xxvii. 1. When the morning was come. ch. xxvi. 59, p. 427, it is evident that they had begun was contrary to all forms of law, and expressly this consultation the preceding evening. But as it forbidden in their own canons, to spend the night in judging of a capital cause, or to proceed against a person's life by night, they seem to have separated for a few hours, and then, at the break of day, to have come together again, pretending to conduct the business according to the forms of law. Took counsel. Their objects were, to obtain the confirmation of their sentence from Pilate; and by charges of sedition, to engage the Roman governor to carry into effect the Roman method of execution by crucifixion.'-So R. Watson. PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS. [Lu. xxii. 66-70. Peter fell, but our Foundation standeth sure. Jesus had before the high priest acknowledged himself to be the Christ, the Son of the living God.' He here again makes the same confession, and essentially the same he afterwards makes to Pilate-so that as often as Peter denies his Lord, Jesus affirms that truth on account of his confessing which Peter had before been pronounced blessed. But how comforting it that our blessedness does not depend upon Peter, but upon the Rock, THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD!] 71 ver. It was from a perverted application of a prophetic utterance through the high priest that these Jewish rulers had resolved upon their present evil course and now the words of Christ himself afford them, as they suppose, sufficient ground for carrying their purpose into effect. The second examination having been finished soon after three, it would begin to be day, as St. Luke expresses it, soon after four; and the third having been speedily completed, our Lord might be taken to Pilate soon after five; a time which St. John would naturally describe by mpata, because earlier than sunrise, or pwt, though much later than the dawn of day.'-Greswell, Vol. III. Diss. xlii. p. 216. 434] EXCELLENT SPEECH BECOMETH NOT A FOOL:-Prov. xvii. 7. [VOL. II. AND UPON EVERY ONE THAT IS LIFTED UP; AND HE SHALL BE BROUGHT LOW-Isa. ii. 12. BECAUSE TO EVERY PURPOSE THERE IS TIME AND JUDGMENT, THEREFORE THE MISERY OF MAN IS GREAT UPON HIM.-Eccles. viii. 6. and it-was early; [For remainder of ver. 28, see § 90, p. 440.] Judas repents.-Matt. xxvii. 3—10. In the temple. 3 Then Judas, which had-betrayed him, when-he-saw that he-was-condemned, repentedhimself μeтaueλnbeis, and-brought-again the thirty pieces-of-silver to-the chief-priests 4 and elders, saying, I-have-sinned in-that-I-have-betrayed the-innocent blood. 5 they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. And he-cast-down the pieces-of-silver SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATIONS. Mt. xxvii. 2. delivered him to, &c.-Jesus had forewarned his disciples that the chief priests, after condemning him to death, would deliver him to the Gentiles, to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify, Mt. xx. 18, .9, § 77, p. 235. Pontius Pilate-He was likely to take a willing part in a work of this kind-He had already mingled the blood of Galilæans with their sacrifices, Lu. xiii. 1, § 64, p. 173. 3. repented himself-Esau, after selling his birthright, found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears, Ge. xxv. 33, .4; xxvii. 30-.8; He. xii. 15-.7. And 4. I have sinned-see the confession of the brethren of Joseph, Ge. xlii. 21-Many have made such an acknowledgment of sin, whose repentance we do not know to have been unto life, as Pharaoh, Ex. ix. 27; x. 16, .7-Sanl, 1 Sa. xv. 24-Ahab, 1 Ki. xxi. 27-The guilt of Judas, as well as of the chief priests, &c., is charged upon the unbelieving Jews, Ac. vii. 52. innocent blood-Jerusalem already stood charged with the shedding of innocent blood, 2 Ki. xxiv. 4Je. xix. 4, Blood of innocents;' 5. cast down the pieces, &c.-Zec. xi. 13, 'And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.' NOTES. Mt. xxvii. 1. To put him to death. To devise some way by which he might be put to death under the authority of the Roman governor. 2. When they had bound him. Jesus had been before bound, for security, by the officers who apprehended him, see Jno. xviii. 12, p. 425; he was now bound as a condemned malefactor. Lu. xxiii. 1. The whole multitude of them. The whole of the elders, chief priests, and scribes, mentioned in ch. xxii. 66, p. 434, as composing the council-See Ac. xv. 12; xxiii. 7, where, as in this place, the word "multitude is applied not to a crowd of the common people, but to a deliberative assembly consisting of many persons in authority.'-L. & H. Mt. xxvii. 2. Pontius Pilate. See § 7, ADD., p. 55. 2. The governor. y. This title belonged to the proconsular or proprætorian governors of the Roman provinces; because, though only procurator of Judæa, which was an inferior dignity, he had the proconsular power of life and death, which was not unusual in the lesser provinces.'--R. Watson. the innocent, the persons he put to death without form or process, and affirms that he was a man who exercised excessive cruelty during his government. Jno. xviii. 28. The hall of judgment. To mрaitwρion, "The prætorium," the governor's palace. Properly speaking, the prætorium was that part of the palace where the soldiers kept guard, Mk. xv. 16, § 91, but in common language it was applied to the palace in general.'-Bens. Mt. xxvii. 3. Repented himself. St. Matthew expresses by this word the remorse which Judas had on account of his crime; but it was not a true repentance, since it was followed by despair; whereas true repentance is never without confidence in the mercy. of God, because it is never without faith and love. Judas began to be terrified in his conscience, but he had not a heart to beg forgiveness, nor to apply to Christ for a remedy. with BravoLTE, translated "repent," in ch. iii. 2, § 7, [The original word, usтausλns, is not the same p. 50, and in other similar places in the New Testament.'-Lonsdale and Hale.] The thirty pieces of silver. See on ch. xxvi. 15, $ 86, p. 357. 4. In that I have betrayed the innocent blood. That is, in betraying an innocent being to death. Blood is put here for life, or for the man. The meaning is, that he knew and felt that Jesus innocent.-A Hebrew idiom. was Properly there was but one president in Syria, of which Judea was a part, and he who had the superintendency of this part was styled imperatoris procurator. Pilate was a man of impetuous and obstinate temper, he disturbed the peace of Judea, and gave occasion to the troubles and revolt that followed. Philo, the Jew, describes Pilate as a judge accustomed to sell justice; and for money to pronounce any sentence that was desired. He mentions his rapines, his murders, the torments he inflicted on PRACTICAL [Mt. xxvii. 3, 4. It is not enough that, like Judas, as making atonement for our guilt. It is a dangerwe be convinced of sin, and of the innocence of ous matter to think of making worldly gain by Jesus; if we would have repentance unto life, and Christ. The gain which is made by the betrayal not like him unto death, we must regard that blood of Christ will be found to be but loss and ruin.] The abduction of Jesus to Pilate was not that he might be condemned afresh, but the necessary consequence of his being condemned already. The judgment of the council had pronounced him worthy of death, which, in the absence of the power of life and death, was the utmost it could do. But to give effect to the judgment, it was necessary to resort to the civil governor. The abduction to Pilate, therefore, might be justly considered the sign and seal of our Saviour's death.'-Ibid., p. 217. 5. Cast down the ...... silver in the temple. Naos, properly signifies the sanctuary or temple, round which REFLECTION. VOL. II.] WHOSO REMOVETH STONES SHALL BE HURT THEREWITH;-Eccles. x. 9. 435 FOR HE KNOWETH NOT THAT WHICH SHALL BE FOR WHO CAN TELL HIM WHEN IT SHALL BE?-Eccles. viii. 7. I WILL WASH MINE HANDS IN INNOCENCY: SO WILL I COMPASS THINE ALTAR, O LORD:-Psa. xxvi. 6. MATT. xxvii. 6-8. 6 in the temple, and-departed, and went and-hanged-himself. And the chief-priests took the silver-pieces, and-said, It-is-not-lawful for-to-put them into the treasury, because it7 is the-price of-blood. And they-took counsel, and-bought with them the potter's field, 8 to bury-strangers -in. Wherefore that field was-called, The-field of-blood, unto this SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATIONS. Mt. xxvii. 5. hanged himself-Ac. i. 18, Falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.'-His manner of death seems to have shadowed forth the miserable end of the Jews, who took upon them the responsibility of shedding the innocent blood, Mt. xxvii. 25, § 90, p. 453-The death of that generation was most suicidal, and multitudes of them had their bowels laid open and searched by the Roman soldiers for pieces of gold they were supposed to have concealed by swallowing: so literally was fulfilled in them the case of the hypocrite, Job xx. 15, He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.' 6. it is the price of blood-Zec. xi. 13, The LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them.' 7. took counsel-They who took counsel were the chief priests, ver. 6, with whom appear to have been the elders of the people, ver. 1, supra- The two parties of whom Jeremiah was to take witnesses, to his declaring that the Lord would, Je. xix. 7, 'make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place;' potter's field-Jeremiah, in the case above mentioned, was to take with him a potter's earthen vessel, Je. xix. 1, to a place in that neighbourhood, if not to the very spot afterwards called the potter's field, which was near the valley of the son of Hinnom, the courts were built; a place into which Judas, not temple. over against the sun-gate, and a little way up the hill 8. The field of blood-see on ver. 4-7, supra. NOTES. Mt. xxvii. 6. The treasury. The place whither the people brought their free-will offerings for the service of the temple. According to Josephus, there were several chests fixed in the courts of the temple to receive the gifts of the people. The unlawfulness of putting the thirty shekels into these repositories, arose from the circumstance, that they contained the treasure consecrated to God, and that they were prohibited by the law to deposit in the sacred treasury any money arising from base or unlawful gains; so they interpreted the precept.-See De. xxiii. 18, and Talmud, 112. It is true, that there it is only forbidden for the pretium stupri to be put into the sacred treasury; but in the Jewish law, idolatry, fornication, and murder, are crimes usually classed together. By so doing, however, they condemned themselves, since they execrated that in the seller, of which they were themselves the buyers. [To bury strangers in. It has been supposed that these strangers were Jews, who came from other parts of the world to attend the great feasts at JeruMr. Wilde, in his interesting narrative, has (vol. ii. salem. This, however, may be called into question. pp. 337--.57) given a description of what he supposes to be the place of burial here adverted to. He gives engravings of specimens of the skulls found in the three compartments of it, the dissimilarity of which to each other, and to the Jewish head, would seem to indicate that they were strangers not merely as to place, but also as to race, and that they were of the various families descended from the three sons of which are the Jews and the modern Europeans. Noah, but none of them of that improved race of Having described the different forms of the skulls found in the cave, he says, 'Now none of these curious heads belonged to the Jewish race, for not one single European or well-marked Caucasian head could I find among the numbers scattered in the chambers; and as all who did not belong to that family must have been strangers in Jerusalem, and as these heads belonged to races of mankind that we know did not inhabit Judæa for the last two thousand years, they must have been foreigners; and this PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS. The treasury. In the original this place is called 'corbanas,' a gift of the kind just mentioned being called 'corban.'-See NOTE, ch. xv. 5, § 44, p. 6; and comp. Lu. xxi. 1, § 85, p. 308. Judas, by throwing down the thirty shekels in the temple among the priests, meant it to be corban, and thus in some measure expiate his atrocity. 7. The potter's field. This plot of ground, which probably had been the site of a pottery, lay without the wall of the city, on the south-east corner, about a mile from the temple. The price may seem small; Mt. xxvii. 4, 5. Here is one of the most striking examples, if not the only example, which we find in scripture, of confession to the priests! but, although accompanied, to appearance, with all willingness to make restitution and do penance, we do not find that it was productive of the least advantage. Can we believe that if he had made confession to Jesus, and 436] sought his forgiveness, the end of Judas would have been so miserable? [6, 7.ver. It is worthy of remark that the priests were extremely scrupulous in avoiding what they called unlawful-as to putting into the treasury; at the same time their conduct was in direct opposition to the whole spirit of the law, and even to the very letter. WISDOM STRENGTHENETH THE WISE-Eccles. vii. 19. [VOL. II. THAT I MAY PUBLISH WITH THE VOICE OF THANKSGIVING, AND TELL OF ALL THY WONDROUS WORKS.-Psa. xxvi. 7. I COUNSEL THEE TO KEEP THE KING'S COMMANDMENT, AND THAT IN REGARD OF THE OATH OF GOD.-Eccles. viii. 2. MATT. XXVii. 9, 10. 9 day. Then was-fulfilled that which-was-spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they-took the thirty pieces-of-silver, the price of-him that-was-valued, whom they of the10 children of Israei did-value; and gave them for the potter's field, as the-Lord appointed [Ch. xxvii. 11, ? xc. p. 445.] me. SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATIONS. Mt. xxvii. 9. Jeremy-Although so intimately con- and Levi; and now in their profanity, they may have nected with the prophecy in Je. xix., the words follow-thought it appropriate to purchase with the price ing are not found among the writings of Jeremiah: of their King, a burying place for his subjects, the it does not, however, follow that they were not spoken estranged ten tribes, unto whom the inhabitants by him; for certainly we have not in writing all that of Jerusalem had said, xi. 15, Get you far from the prophets spoke Similar words, however, are the LORD:' &c., and who were, according to prorecorded by Zechariah, xi. 12, .3. phecy, lying in an unburied state, xxxvii. 11-That the tribes scattered abroad were really called strangers, comp. Ja. i. 1, with 1 Pe. i. 1; ii. 9-11That the Jewish priests, &c., really made his being the King of Israel a matter of jest, see Mt. xxvii. 41, .2, § 91, p. When the Jews do in truth begin to consider the prophetic word, so as to see its fulfilment in their own destroyed condition, then will it be found that Jesus did not say in vain, he was especially sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel-Je. xxxi. 1, 'At the same time, saith the LORD, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.' NOTES. the children of Israel-This sentence might more literally be rendered, whom they valued after the children of Israel, of whom Jesus, as being the promised Messiah, claimed to be King-Ten of the tribes were now lost, and were declared to be, in their estranged condition, like bones spread in the open valley, very many and very dry, Eze. xxxvii. 1, 2-It may have been in ridicule of his being the King of such a people, that the thirty, the three times ten pieces of silver, were at first given as his price by the representatives of the three tribes, Judah, Benjamin, has led me to conjecture that this tomb, which is situated in the acknowledged field of blood, may be one of those sepulchres of the actual Aceldama that was purchased by the priests to bury strangers in.' As accounting for the identification of the European head with the Jewish, above alluded to by Mr. Wilde, see Wilson on our Israelitish Origin, Pole's Remarks on the Destiny of the Ten Tribes, &c.] Mt. xxvii. 8. The field of blood. The field purchased by the price of blood. The name by which this field was called was Aceldama, Ac. i. 19. [9. Jeremy the prophet. The words here quoted are not found in Jeremiah, but in Zec. xi. 12. Among the various conjectures which have been formed upon this subject, it has been supposed that we ought either to admit that a trivial error had crept into the text (for a change of a single letter, according to the abbreviated manner in which names are written in the old MSS., would suffice to occasion the mistake); or, that the evangelist wrote only the prophet, without naming him, and that some person at an early period inserted, by mistake, in his manuscript, the name of Jeremiah instead of Zechariah, which mistake was afterward generally inserted in the text. See SCRIP. ILLUS., supra.] [They took the thirty pieces, &c. The manner in which the ingenious Knatchbull translates this passage, gives more perspicuity to it, than the common version conveys. It is as follows:- I took the thirty shekels (the price of him that was valued, whom they PRACTICAL There was a pretence of piety, but it is likely there was selfishness in their counsel. The priests lived in the neighbourhood of Tophet, where unburied bodies were cast, and by the measure proposed they may have expected to free themselves from a nuisance; but their wickedness caused the city itself to be made as Tophet, Jer. xix. It is possible also that by this use of the money they may have expected to connect with the last remembrance of Jesus the ideas of valued) from the sons of Israel (and they gave them REFLECTION. loathsomeness, and contempt. Soon were they to be themselves reduced to the utmost depths of degradation-and so in a great measure they have remained. Well had it been for them had they listened to the warning voice, Is. xxviii. 22, Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.'-Or, land.] ADDEND A. and OF THE TIMES OF THE DENIALS OF PETER, pp. 430-..3. With regard to the times of the denials of Peter, they synchronized with the first and the second of the above examinations of our Lord; that is, the first denial happened a little before the first examination, and the third a little before the close of the second. The second, therefore, came between the For St. John informs us that when Jesus was first conducted to the hall of the high priest, which must have been from the house of Annas, Peter and VOL. II.] himself followed him thither; and the other evangelists, so far as regards the attendance of Peter, unanimously confirm St. John. He informs us, also, that being personally known to the high priest, consequently to the keeper of his door, in this instance one of his female servants; nor was the prac tice of having female doorkeepers unusual among the Jews, but on the contrary of great antiquity, Mrs Thy Oupopov empnyopviau, Ant. Jud. vii., fi. 1; being a statement of Josephus' with reference to two. A GIFT DESTROYETH THE HEART.-Eccles. vii. 7. BE NOT HASTY TO GO OUT OF HIS SIGHT: STAND NOT IN AN EVIL THING; FOR HE DOETH WHATSOEVER PLEASETH HIM.-Eccles. viii. 3. [467 WHAT MAN IS HE THAT FEARETH THE LORD? HIM SHALL HE TEACH IN THE WAY THAT HE SHALL CHOOSE.-Psa. xxv. 12. the time of David, he spoke to her in behalf of Peter, who had not yet ventured to come in; and so brought him into the palace also. At this time, as each of the accounts attests, it was early in the morning; and, it being likewise the spring-time of the year, the night, always cold in Judæa, was perhaps more so than usual: and consequently a fire had been lighted in the lower part of the hall to warm the parties present: down by which Peter sat with the rest, to observe, as we are told, the event. 'Hereupon, as we are informed by St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke (and it is by no means inconsistent with the account of the same thing by St. John), the female who kept the door, and had recently let him in, and whose suspicions of the fact had perhaps been raised by the very circum stance of John's speaking to her in his behalf, challenged him as a disciple of Jesus. It is implied by her words that she knew John to be such a disciple; and, therefore, she would conclude that one of his friends must be so too. Or, at least, as Peter was obviously a stranger, and did not belong to the house, it was a natural inference that he would not have ventured to come in if he had not been, in some way or other, connected with Jesus; who had been recently brought thither, and who was still there. 'As to any difference in the terms of her address to him, this is of no moment in the harmony of the several accounts. The same fact is implied substantially under all its forms; and the simplicity of the gospels, prefers to convey the plainest matter of fact, relating to any person's conduct, in the shape of something said directly by him: which must yet be considered equivalent to indirect narration. The first denial now took place; and to judge from the course of circumstances, as it took place so soon after the arrival in the hall, it might be prior, but it could not be posterior, to the first examination. With regard to the second and the third denials, if there is any difficulty, it arises out of the conciseness of the several accounts. On each of these occasions, more parties than one simultaneously taxed Peter with his relation to Jesus; to whom, however, he made answer, in general terms, at once. 'After being challenged by the maiden, he withdrew from the centre of the hall to the poatov, where however, as St. John implies, he would not be altogether out of the reach of the fire. Here, according to St. Mark, the same maiden, whose proper station was also the porch; and according to St. Matthew another maiden, most probably one of her companions; and according to St. Luke and St. John others in general, whose curiosity, or whose suspicions, might have been excited by what had passed already; repeated the challenge, and the second denial took place. 'After this, and perhaps to avoid the vicinity of the woman who had recognised him twice, and whom he might leave at her post in the porch; or to support the character of a stranger with so much. the more confidence; he must have returned to his former station near the fire, and even mixed in the conversation passing around him; for which, as St. Luke shews, there would be ample time; until some of the company, remarking the peculiarity of his dialect, which was the Galilæan, according to the united testimony of the three evangelists taxed him on that very account with being a follower of the Galilæan; and one of them in particular, a kinsman of Malchus, charged him, according to St. John, with having seen him in the garden. If this man had witnessed the violence experienced by his relative, and that at the hands of Peter, his recognising him now was exceedingly natural and probable. To these general attacks Peter returned the most positive and the most aggravated denial of all: and now it was, that the look of Jesus, who was still present at the upper end of the hall, turning about critically at this moment, and steadily fixed upon We Peter, recalled him to a pungent sense of his misconduct; reviving the recollection of his Master's predictions, and overwhelming him with the consciousness of his own fulfilment of them. There is no circumstance in our Lord's examinations more picturesque than this, or by its moral beauty more calculated to illustrate the benignity of his own disposition, and the instinctive force of conscience. are indebted for it exclusively to St. Luke; and it shews that Jesus' second examination was now going on, and, to judge from what follows, almost arrived at a close. St. Mark, however, specifies in the liveliest manner the impression produced by the glance —¿πßadv Exλais-he drew his mantle over his head, so should the word be rendered (before, or while, doing which he must immediately have gone out), and wept. The account of these denials, then, is clearly interposed between the first and the second examination of Jesus: the times of the denials will consequently be the times of those examinations, or nearly so: and these times are ascertained by the crowing of the cock. Directly after the first, the cock crew for the first time, and directly after the third, for the second. The second denial, too, followed sooner after the first, than the third after the second; which we have seen was otherwise a probable effect for between the second and the third, Lu. xxii. 59, compared with Mk. xiv. 70, shews there was something less than one hour; which Lu. xxii. 58, alone must prove could not have been the case between the second and the first. Now, if Jno. xiii. 38, § 87, p. 375: Mt. xxvi. 34, 75, §§ 87, 9, pp. 406, .33; Lu. xxii. 34, 61, §§ ib., pp. 377, 433; be all compared with Mk. xiv. 30, 72, §§ 1b., PP. 406, .33; it will appear that whereas, in predict ing these denials, our Lord actually said, Before the cock crow twice thou shalt deny me thrice, which the event also proves to have been the case, but St. Mark only specifies accordingly; the other three say simply, Before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice. It follows, therefore, that they mean the second of the above cock-crowings, and by that second, the period of the night ordinarily known by the name of cock-crow; for none else could be specified either as a limit of time under any circumstances, or års in this particular instance, but that. They imply, then, that whensoever the three denials might begin they would be all over before the time of cock-crow drλas, which was a definite time of the night. The night being divided into four watches, of three hours each, beginning at sunset in the evening and ending at sunrise in the morning; a fact which is too notorious to require any proof; this time coincides with the end of the third, and the beginning of the fourth, watch of the night; or about the time of the vernal equinox with our three in the morning. Hence the propriety of the following divisions of time in St. Mk. xiii. 35, § 86, p. 342:—¿è, which stands for the close of the first watch; μscove Tíov (midnight), which stands for the close of the second; dλxтopoparías (or cock-crow), which denotes the end of the third; and pat, which is sunrise in the morning, and therefore the end of the fourth. At the equinox, the last cock-crow would, it may be supposed, be about four in the morning: and consequently the first about two, and the second about three for experience shews that between two successive cock-crows, as such, the interval is commonly one hour from which natural effect, too, the division of time itself, as founded upon it, must have been originally taken. The observation of experience would be confirmed by what happened in the present instance. Between the second and the third of Peter's denials, which means in fact between the first and the second of the cock-crowings in question, there was this interval.'- Greswell, Vol. III. Diss. xlii. pp. 207-.11, ..6. JUDAS' REPENTANCE.-Mt. xxvii. 3—10, p. 435. The repentance followed by the death of Judas is recorded by St. Matthew only.... That condemnation of our Lord, which is said to have produced this change of mind, is clearly referred by Sr. Matthew, xxvii. 3, [§ 89, p. 435,] to the condemnation by the sanhedrim, xxvi. 66, [§ ib. p. 429,] before it can have nothing to do with the condemnation by Pilate; first, because no such condemnation had yet taken place; and secondly, because that was not a distinct condemnation, independent of this, but merely the execution of the sentence of the sanhedrim in this.'See foot-note, p. 435. 438] 'If all this was known to Judas, that is, if he had been present, during the course of proceedings from the time of the seizure of the person of Jesus, until PRAY ONE FOR ANOTHER,-Jas. v. 16. [VOL. II. TURN THEE UNTO ME, AND HAVE MERCY UPON ME; FOR I AM DESOLATE AND AFFLICTED. Psa. xxv. 16. |