earth and fix them on the things of heaven. We find him, however, again at Jerusalem, on the anniversary of the dedication*, where, by giving sight to a man who had been born blind, he drew down upon himself an increased amount of hatred from the Pharisees. Indeed, so threatening was their language, that he felt himself compelled to withdraw from Judæa altogether, and to travel into Petræa. Here tidings reached him that his friend Lazarus was ill, and his disciples urged him to go and raise the patient from his sick bed; but he took no notice of their request. At last it was told him that Lazarus was dead, and then he said, "Let us go to Bethany." They went. He found the house of their friends filled with mourners, and the bereaved sisters heart-broken; indeed, so touching was the spectacle, that it is recorded of Jesus himself, that "he wept." But Jesus came to make more and more known the power of God, and the object of his own mission. He called to Lazarus to come forth from the grave, where for four days he had lain, and restored him to the society of his kindred. It was, indeed, a marvellous act; and all the country rang with it; but it brought no favour to the Lord from the Pharisees. On the contrary, they forced him again to escape to Ephraim, a little town in the territory of Benjamin; where, until the season of the Passover returned, he seems to have resided.

* The anniversary of the dedication of the Temple by Ezra was kept as a national festival.

A. D. 33. - THE Lord knew that his hour was come, and he plainly informed his disciples of the fate that awaited him. They heard him with surprise and incredulity, for to the last they expected that he meant to seize and mount the throne of David. They therefore followed him still, nowise distrustful of the issue, except in one solitary case. Among the twelve, afterwards called apostles, there was one, who appears, earlier than the rest, to have discovered that Jesus was swayed by no views of worldly ambition; and who, therefore, in disgust, made up his mind, about this time, to leave him. His name was Judas, and he had the surname of Iscariot. The names of the others were Peter, Andrew, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James the son of Alpheus, Libbeus or Thaddeus, and Simon, a native of Cana of Galilee. Still Judas went with the rest, and became, together with his master, a guest in the house at Bethany, where an incident befel which seems to have converted his disappointment into personal rancour. While they sat at meat, Mary, their hostess, brought a box of very costly ointment, and, breaking it, anointed therewith the head of Jesus. "Why was this waste of the ointment made?" exclaimed Judas; "For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and given to the poor." But Jesus rebuked him, and vindicated the woman's act by saying, "Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she

hath wrought a good work on me. For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good; but me ye have not always. She hath done what she could: She is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying." From that hour Judas became the bitter enemy of Christ, and he embraced the earliest opportunity of bargaining with the chief priests for his Lord's betrayal.

After spending the night at Bethany, Jesus took the road to Jerusalem, attended by a dense crowd which had collected in the town, partly to greet him, and partly to see Lazarus, the living man, who had once been dead. He travelled by Bethphage, a village on the side of the mount of Olives, which was inhabited principally by the families of the priests, and surrounded by groves of date and figtrees. Near this place the Lord halted, till his disciples should bring from it a young ass, on which man had never before ridden; and when they cast a garment over it, he mounted and rode on. His progress was a triumph. Multitudes greeted him with loud hosannahs. Boughs and garments were strewed in his way; and thus he approached the temple. Here the priests met and reviled him. But while he mourned over Jerusalem as lost, because "she knew not her day," he told these bad men, that "If the people held their peace, the stones would immediately cry out."

The Lord spent his days in the temple preaching righteousness, and prophesying of events to come. His evenings were passed among his friends at Bethany. But towards the end of the festival he again so exercised his authority as to rouse the angry feelings, not of rulers only, but of many among the giddy multitude. For the second time, he drove out of the courts of God's house them who bought and sold. Meanwhile the Sanhedrim

had met to consult what was to be done; and Judas being called in, engaged, for thirty pieces of silver, to betray his Master. It was agreed, however, in order to avoid the danger of a tumult, that the arrest should not take place till after the paschal lamb had been eaten. The arrangement, as the conspirators imagined, was kept profoundly secret. Yet the Lord, who knew all things, knew what was in progress; and with the feeling on his mind that the dark hour of his own sacrifice was come, he prepared to celebrate, for the last time, the great national festival with his disciples. The holy company assembled in an upper room, where the meal was eaten; and then the Lord, breaking bread and giving it with wine to his followers, instituted, in the most solemn manner, the sacrament of his own last supper. After this he rose, and, girding himself with a towel, began to wash his disciples' feet, though not till he had warned them that one of their number should betray him. And now Judas, having his treason distinctly declared, quitted the apartment and went on his frightful business; while Jesus, taking the rest with him, walked to the garden of Gethsemane, that they might breathe the fresh and cool night air once more together. There a horrible agony overpowered him. Separating himself from the rest, he retired with Peter, James, and John, to a place apart; and, desiring them to keep watch, he went a little farther into the recesses of the garden and prayed. There is no power in language to describe the scene that followed. Large drops as of blood were forced through his pores in his agony, while he cried "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." The bitter cup was not removed. It could not be removed. He had como into the

world to save the world by drinking it, and hé drank it to the dregs. For already while his followers, overcome by preternatural drowsiness, slept upon their posts, Judas, with a guard from the chief-priests, drew near. It was to no purpose that Peter drew his sword and smote with it one of the servants of the high-priest, and cut off his ear. Patient as a lamb that is led to the slaughter, Jesus gave himself up to his captors, and after healing the wounded man, was conducted to the house of Caiaphas, the high-priest's father-in-law, where the Sanhedrim had assembled to examine him.

When his disciples saw that their Lord yielded without resistance, a panic seized them, and they fled. Anxiety, however, and an earnest desire to watch the issue, induced Peter and John to overmaster their fears, and, following at a distance, they entered the house of Caiaphas, -Peter, as it would seem, stealthily. Now Peter had been warned by Jesus, while they sat together at the last supper, that ere the cock crew on the morrow he would deny him. But being full of zeal and quite intending to keep his promise, he declared that though he might die with his Lord,-deny him would he never. know not what we do when we make rash protestations such as these; and Peter stands out for ever as a beacon to guard us against the sin of venturing upon them. He was charged with being a follower of Jesus thrice, and thrice he denied it. And then the cock crew, and Jesus, turning round, looked at him, and memories of the past came upon him with exceeding power, and he felt his own degradation. "He went out," says St. Luke," and wept bitterly."

We

The Lord expected no justice before this tribunal, and he received none. Buffeted, spit upon, and