45. Sleep on now, and take your rest. A clearer sense is given by putting it into an interrogatory form. Are you still sleeping and resting, even in this hour of peril?-Behold, the hour is at hand, &c. Lo, the moment has arrived when I shall be betrayed into the hands of sinners, i. e. be delivered to the power of the Gentiles, who are called sinners indiscriminately.

46. Rise, let us be going. As if filled with perfect courage, and impatient of any longer suspense, he would even go to meet his approaching enemies. This whole narration is stamped with indescribable naturalness and reality.

47-56. Compare Mark xiv. 43 -52, Luke xxii. 47-53, John xviii. 2-12. Carpenter here makes an important remark, applicable also to other parts of the history:-"The agitating and hurried nature of the occurrences is impressed in the characters of reality on the different records. We need only to realize them to our conceptions, to perceive how all might take place, and yet be only partially seen by different witnesses."

47. One of the twelve. A circumstance which enhanced his guilt.-A great multitude. John says, "a band

of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees.” It wa sprobably a miscellaneous collection, part soldiers, and part servants, headed by Judas, but under the command of Roman officers and Jewish priests. Luke xxii. 52.—Staves. Clubs.

48, 49. As Jesus was personally unknown to the men, or could with difficulty be recognized in the night, if known, the traitor points him out by the usual mode of salutation between friends in the east, thus aggravating his treachery with hypocrisy.

50. Friend. Rather, companion or associate, for no particular attachment is necessarily implied in the original.-Laid hands on Jesus, and took him. Dupin has shown conclusively, in his able work on the Trial of Jesus, that he was seized illegally, or without any judicial order for his arrest.

51. One of them, i. e. Peter, ever the most forward to speak and act. He had that rash valor which, in the moment of danger, led him to fight for his Master; but he was wanting in that calmer and loftier moral courage which would sustain him in the palace of the high priest, and enable him to confess his Mas

ter in the face of his triumphant enemies.-A servant. John calls him Malchus. It had been already mentioned by Luke, xxii. 38, that there were two swords among the disciples. These were rather knives, or cutlasses, than long weapons, and perhaps were used to defend them against robbers in their travels. Luke informs us that Jesus, with a divine compassion towards his enemy, healed the wound by his miraculous power.

52. Our Saviour, after the agony in the garden of Gethsemane, appears to have entirely recovered his fortitude and self-possession. He rebukes his treacherous disciple, heals his wounded foc, restrains the impetuous Peter, and remonstrates with the priests and captains.—His. Old English for its.-They that take the sword, &c. A proverbial expression, that those who resorted to violence would be likely to perish by violence. The sword devours those who resort to its arbitration. The history of the whole world is but a comment upon this text.

53, 54. Now. Even at this crisis of danger.-Twelve legions of angels. Spoken, perhaps, in allusion to his twelve Apostles. The Roman legion consisted, at this period of the empire, of about 6000 men. The sense is, an indefinitely large number. If resistance were my duty, should

I not be aided, not merely by these few disciples, but by the armies of God? Would not the arm of infinite power be stretched out in my defence at my supplication? This showed that the self-sacrifice of Jesus was voluntary. He laid down his life of his own accord. He says, that only by submitting to his fate would the great purposes of his religion be fulfilled. The Scriptures, in their intimations of a suffering Messiah, and the love and self-sacrifice which were to prevail under his reign, were thus to be accomplished. It is usual to refer to Is. liii. in this connection. Nothing could better quiet the consternation of the disciples, than to inform them that the Divine predictions of old were now to receive their fulfilment.

55. In that same hour. Or, at that time. A thief. Rather, a robber, a desperate character, against whom force was necessary. Jesus expostulates with the crowd, because they had listened peacefully to his instructions in the temple, but had now rushed out with weapons of violence to seize him as if he were a man of blood.

affection of John gave way at this exigency. They had perhaps supposed that Jesus would exert his miraculous power in self-defence. But when they see him in the hands of his enemies, an unresisting victim, they flee panic-struck.

57-68. Mark xiv. 53-65. Luke xxii. 54, 55, 63-65. John xviii. 13-24.

57. John, xviii. 13, informs us that Jesus was first led to the house of Annas, who had formerly been high priest. This might have been done as a mark of honor, or to gratify his curiosity. He was father-in-law to Caiaphas, who was then acting high priest, or, as John says, "high priest that same year;" for at that period the office frequently changed hands.—The scribes and the elders. The Jewish Sanhedrim met at the house of Caiaphas. Their malignity against Jesus was manifested by their being assembled in the night, contrary to law, to try him, probably in order to guard against a popular tumult, and to forward the matter so far as to turn the enthusiasm of the people against him on the morrow.

58. The high priest's palace. Or, hall or court, which was open above.-Servants, i. e. the inferior officers attendant upon the occasion. The other Evangelists add, that Peter warmed himself with them at a fire they had kindled, for the night air in Judea was cold at that season of the year. The same

vehemence of character, which had often before exposed the Apostle to temptation, now led him unprepared into the midst of danger. The very uneasiness of such a mind would naturally betray itself, whilst the calmer, but more feeling John escaped unobserved.

59. All the council. The whole Sanhedrim had prejudged the case, and wished not for a fair trial, but for sentence of death against the prisoner. Such were the hands that held the scales of justice among God's chosen people!-Sought false witness. They would have preferred true testimony, of course, if it was to be found, and would be equally favorable to their wishes; but otherwise they were ready to resort to false evidence.—John relates more particularly the words which passed between the high priest and Jesus, previously to the calling of witnesses, and the indignities which Jesus suffered. John xviii. 19-23.

60. Found none, i. e. no testimony of any sort which was to their purpose. Mark says, "their witness agreed not together."

61. Fellow. This is a needless and inappropriate addition of the translators.—I am able to destroy the temple of God. They put a false construction upon, and misquoted, language which Jesus had actually used, John ii. 19, in reference to the destruction of his body, and its resurrection from the dead after

three days. They perverted his declaration so as to involve him in a crime of speaking blasphemy against the holy temple. But, as Mark, xiv. 59, states, their testimony was still contradictory and inconclusive.

62. It would appear, notwithstanding the opposite opinion of some critics, that the Sanhedrim was now in session, and that the high priest was presiding as usual over it. Answerest thou nothing? It seems to have been his aim to extort a reply, and to find matter of accusation in it against Jesus.What is it which these witness against thee? How great a crime are you charged with in their evidence! It is observable that the high priest had arisen from his seat in his state of excitement, and was now seemingly trying by threatening words to overawe his prisoner.

63. But Jesus maintains a dignified silence as to the charges, and gives his reasons, Luke xxii. 67, 68, why he did not reply. He saw the futility of their charges, and the craft of the high priest to torture his words into proofs against him. But the ground is now changed; we hear no more of blasphemy against the temple. Nothing could be made of the false and contradictory witnesses. I adjure thee, &c. Unable to effect their guilty purpose by the testimony of others, they now resort to the most illegal method of compelling the prisoner to criminate himself. The high priest in the Jewish form adminis

ters an oath to which there was no innocent alternative, but to answer. Lev. v. 1.—The Christ, the Son of God. In other words, Art thou the Messiah? As Dupin has remarked, the adjuration of the high priest was a gross infraction of that rule of morals and jurisprudence which forbids our placing an accused person between the danger of perjury and the fear of inculpating himself, and thus making his situation more hazardous.

64. Thou hast said, i. e. I am the Messiah, Mark xiv. 62. Jesus felt under obligation, when put under oath, to answer the high priest, and he could only answer in the affirmative, be the consequences what they would. His declaration was important, as he had forborne hitherto to declare himself the Messiah. But now, before the highest assembly of his nation, under oath, and in the most public and solemn manner, he asserts his great office. He puts his foes into the dilemma of freeing him, or condemning one whom they now know to be the Messiah.-Nevertheless. Or, moreover, in addition.-Hereafter. Better, henceforth.-The Son of Man, &c. This language was used of the Messiah, Dan. vii. 13, 14, to describe his conspicuous, powerful coming.-The right hand of power. Luke xxii. 69. Literally, the right hand of the power, i. e. of the Almighty. Clothed with Divine authority. They had been asking for signs from heaven. They would

soon, either at the crucifixion or at the destruction of Jerusalem, be furnished with such powerful and ocular proofs of his Messiahship, as might be likened to his coming visibly in the clouds of heaven, invested with a divine majesty and glory. Prisoner as he was, Jesus rises at this time into the grandeur of his office, and awes them by the sublimity of his prophecies.

65. Rent his clothes. This was done with affected horror at Jesus' assertion of his high authority. The customs of the east tolerate more violent expressions of feeling than are usual among us. Explicit prohibitions were made in the Mosaic law, Lev. x. 6, xxi. 10, that the priests should not rend their garments upon funeral occasions. Frequent allusions are found, both in the Classics and the Scriptures, to this singular usage. Gen. xxxvii. 29, 34. 2 Kings xviii. 37, xix. 1. Job i. 20. Acts xiv. 14.-Blasphemy. As that he had spoken against God by claiming to be the Messiah, his Son. It was not that he had claimed to be God, or equal to God, for this he never did.-Ye have heard, &c. There was no further occasion for witnesses, for they had predetermined to condemn Jesus, guilty or not guilty. They wrested what had been illegally extorted from him by an oath into grounds of condemnation. In truth, the whole scene before the Sanhedrim was an absolute mockery of justice.

66. He is guilty of death. Deserves to die. The council but too much resembled their president, in their injustice and fury against Jesus. So overwhelming was the popular feeling, that not one appears to have dared to lift his voice in behalf of the innocent and grossly injured prisoner, though we have reason to believe that at least Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus disapproved of such proceedings. Luke xxiii. 51. John xix. 39. The Sanhedrim could not, however, execute their sentence, for the Romans had reserved in their hands the power of life and death.

67, 68. Spit in his face. An act of the grossest abuse. Job xxx. 10. Isa. 1. 6.—Buffeted. Good grammar requires buffet, i. e. struck with the fist, inflicting heavy blows such as would cause bruises and pain.-Palms of their hands. Rods, according to some.-Prophesy unto us, thou Christ. This they said in derision of his pretensions to the office of prophet and Messiah. Mark states, that they had blindfolded him, and then required him to designate who struck him. What a hideous picture is here drawn of the highest Jewish tribunal, that would allow such outrages upon a prisoner who had not been so much as legally convicted or sentenced! When too we consider the spotless conduct of Jesus, his truth, benevolence, meekness, Divine origin and office, where shall we find words to describe the abominations of the