whom he had hitherto shunned, thinking that if they had yielded, the whole nation would immediately have submitted, and the disciples have been raised forthwith to the summit of their expections.

This account of Judas' conduct is by no means calculated to lessen the foulness of his crime, which was the blackest imaginable. For even in the light above mentioned, it implied both an insatiable avarice, and a wilful opposition to the counsels of Providence; and so rendered the actor of it a disgrace to human nature. But it is calculated to set the credibility of the traitor's action in a proper light, and to shew that he was not moved to it by any thing suspicious in the character of his Master; because, according to this view of it, his perfidy, instead of implying that he entertained suspicions of his Master's integrity, plainly proves that he had the fullest conviction of his being the Messiah. And, to say the truth, it was not possible for any one intimately acquainted with our Lord as Judas was, to judge otherwise of him, having seen his miracles, which were great and true beyond exception, and having experienced his power in the ability of working miracles, which, along with the rest of the apostles he had received from him, and no doubt exercised with extraordinary pleasure. However, 28 the motives of men actions, at such a distance of time, must needs be intricate, especially where history is in a great inrās sure silent concerning them, we ought to be very modest in our attempts to unravel them. For which cause, the above account of Judas' conduct is proposed only as a conjecture worthy of farther inquiry.

CXXVI. Peter and John are sent to prepare the passover. Matt. xxvi. 17,—19. Mark xiv. 12,--16. Luke xxii, 7,——13. OUR Lord intending to celebrate the passover with his disciples once more before he died, sent Peter and John from Bethany to make it ready. Luke xxii. 7. Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed. See Chronological Dissertation, vi. 8. And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover. Go buy a lamb for us, and get it killed and roasted, and make the other preparations, that we may eat. Matt. xxvi. 17. Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, (Mark, when they killed the passover) the disciples, Peter and John, whom he had ordered to prepare the passover, came to Jesus, saying unto him, in answer to his command, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover ? Mark xiv. 13. And he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city. Matt. xxvi. 18. To such a man. This implies that Jesus named the person to whom they were sent, though the evangelists have not thought it of importance to mention

Luke 7. The day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed.] They called the day on which the passover was killed, one of the days of unleavened bread, and the first day thereof, because it was preparatory to that feast; though, properly speaking, the first day began with the passover supper. This appears likewise from Josephus, who, making use of the vulgar computation, tells us, that the feast of unleavened bread lasted eight days; whereas, in the law, it is ordered to be kept only seven days. Exod. xii. 19. "Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses." See Chron. Dissert. vi.

mention his name. He told them farther that on their entrance into the city they should find one of the man's servants in the street bearing a pitcher of water. This servant he ordered them to follow, without saying any thing to him, because as he was carrying the water home, he would lead them straight to his master's house, which it seems the disciples were not acquainted with. For that the person bearing the water, whom they were to meet in the street, was not the master of the house, is plain from Mark xiv. 14. Luke xxii. 10. And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in. If our Lord meant that the man should be coming out of the city as his disciples were going in, his order implied that they were to turn back with him, the house whither he was carrying the water, being somewhere in the suburbs; but if he meant that the man would meet them at the crossing of a street, or the turning of a corner, they were to go with him perhaps farther into the city. The word made use of by Luke seems to favour this supposition, συναντήσει υμιν. Mark xiv. 14. And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the good man of the house, The Master saith (Luke, unto thee). Matt. xxvi. 18. My time is at hand, my time of eating the passover; or, as others interpret it, the time of my sufferings and death is at hand: I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples, Luke xxii. 11. Where is the guest-chamber where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? Commentators on this passage tell us from the Talmudists, that in Jerusalem, at the passover, the houses were not to be let, but were of common right for any one to eat the passover in them. Luke xxii. 12. And he shall shew. you a large upper room furnished (gwperor, stratum, Mark, and prepared) that is, spread with a carpet, and having beds placed to lie upon; for the easterns did not sit at table as we do, but lay on beds called triclinia, because they commonly contained three persons. There make ready the passover (Mark, for us). Jesus gave his disciples these directions, either because they were not acquainted with the master of the house, or did not know what part of the city he lived in. However, the principal reason was, to shew them how completely he foreknew every thing that should befal him, and to convince them that his sufferings were all predetermined of God; and that on his own part they were all submitted unto voluntarily. Matt. xxvi. 19. And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them. Luke xxii. 13. And they went and found as he had said unto them. (Mark, his disciples went forth, and came into the city and found as he had said unto them) and they made ready the passover. On their entrance into the city they met the man bearing a pitcher of water of whom Jesus spake, they followed him home, and upon delivering their Ma

ster's

ter's message to the good man of the house, he shewed them an upper chamber, into which they entered, and immediately began to make ready the passover.

FIFTH PASSOVER.

§ CXXVII. Jesus washes his disciples feet at the passover-supper, and speaks of his sufferings the eighth time. See § 125, 129. Matth. xxvi. 20. Mark xiv. 17. Luke xxii. 14,-18. John xiii. 1,-20.

WHEN the evening approached, Jesus left Bethany; and every thing being prepared by the time he came into the city, they all sat down at the appointed hour. Mark xiv. 17. And in the evening he cometh with the twelve. Luke xxii. 14. And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. The observation with which John ushers in this part of his history, may be considered as a kind of preface to the five subsequent chapters of his gospel. John xiii. 1. Now before the feast of the passover, that is, before they began the passover-supper, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world, unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end, viz. of his life. Knowing that his sufferings were at hand, the prospect of them did not make him forget his disciples. They rather quickened his friendship; for he indulged the tenderest feelings of love on this occasion, and after the manner of a departing friend, expresed his kindness in the most affectionate manner. I have longed greatly, said he, to eat this passover with you before I suffer, because it is the last I shall ever celebrate with you, and because I desire before my death, to give you the strongest proofs of my love. The proofs he had in view were his setting them a pattern of humility and charity, by washing their feet; his instructing them in the nature of his death, as a propitiatory sacrifice; his instituting the sacrament of the supper in commemoration of his sufferings; his comforting them by the tender discourses, recorded John, chapters xiv, xv, xvi. in which he gave them a variety of excellent advices, and many gracious promises; last of all, his recommending them solemnly by prayer to the kind protection and direction of his Father. Luke xxii. 15. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired, i. e. I have greatly desired, to eat this passover with you before I suffer. 16. For I 16. For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it it be fulfilled in the kingdom

The particle until

Luke 16. Until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. used here and in ver. 18. does not imply that after the accomplishment of the salvation of men, our Lord was to eat the passover. It is an Hebrew form of expression, signifying that the thing mentioned was no more to be done for ever.

kingdom of heaven, i. e. until the deliverance of mankind from the bondage of sin is accomplished in the gospel-dispensation; a deliverance typified by that of our fathers from the Egyptian bondage, to keep up the memory of which the passover was instituted. Having thus spoken, Jesus took a cup of wine in his hand, and gave thanks to Almighty God for his great goodness to men, mentioning no doubt some of the principal instances thereof; then began the solemnity as usual, by drinking to his family. Luke xxii. 17. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18. For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come, i. e. till the gospel-dispensation shall begin. This remark is made to shew his disciples how near at hand the kingdom of God was. See Mark xiv. 25. John xiii.

*

2. And supper being come (so dumru yerouevu should be translat

ed;

* John 2. And supper being come.] That this was the passover supper, and consequently that the interpretation given of the first verse above, is just, may be proved by four arguments:

1. In John's history of this supper we are told, when Jesus washed the disciples feet, he sat down again to table, and explained the meaning of the action, ver. 12. Then declared that one of them should betray him, ver. 18,-21. This occasioned the beloved disciple first, and after him all the disciples, to inquire which of them should do the horrid deed, ver. 23. But by the consent of all the evangelists, that declaration and enquiry was first made while they were eating the last passover.

2. At the supper mentioned by John, Jesus declared that Peter should deny him, John xiii. 38. “ Verily, verily, I say unto thee, the cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice." Now all the evangelists agree, that Peter denied his Master the night in which he celebrated the last passover. Wherefore seeing the words of the declaration are not, "The cock shall not crow the next, the third, or the fourth day," but " the cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice," the declaration must have been made on the night of the denial, consequently the supper at which it was made, must have been the paschal supper.

3. The connection in which John's supper stands with the subsequent facts mentioned by him, shews plainly that it was the paschal supper. For the discourse, John xiv. being intended to give the disciples consolation, was delivered immediately after Peter's denial and the cowardice of the rest were foretold. Having ended that discourse Jesus went out of the house, John xiv. 31. and delivered the allegorical sermon, John xv. which from the subject of it, seems to have been preached in a place where there were many vines prowing; probably on the mount of Olives, whither, as the other evangelists inform us, he retired after the paschal supper. For it was customary with our Lord to preach from the sensible objects that were nearest at hand. Immediately after the allegorical sermon, he spake that which is contained in the xvith and xviith chapters of John, then went with his disciples over the brook Cedron into the garden of Gethsemane, where he was apprehended. From this series of facts it appears, that the supper, John xiii. 2. was the paschal supper, because between it and Jesus' crucifixion, there is not the least chasm in John's history, where the passower can be brought in.

4. We are told, John xiii. 27, 30, that after Jesus had ordered Judas to

do

ed; or in time of supper, as is plain from verses 4. and 26. compared) (the devil having now put it into the heart of Judas Isca riot, Simon's son, to betray him.) John xiii. 3. Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God. By the knowledge he possessed of men's hearts, and particularly of what was passing in the heart of Judas, who was contriving how to betray him, as well as by the other evidences of his mission, he was sensible that the Father had put all power into his hands for the salvation of men, and was assured that he had come from God, and went to God. Nevertheless, though he was thus sensible of his own high dignity, and though one of his disciples was a monster of ingratitude, he performed to them all, without distinction, an office of a servile kind, for their instruction, which will obtain the applause of endless ages. Determined to teach his disciples and mankind the lovely virtue of humility by his own example, he arose from table; he, their Master, who was the only begotten Son of God, and Lord of all arose, and girded himself with a towel, after the manner of a servant, then poured water into a bason, and began to wash his disciples feet, and to dry them with the towel wherewith he was girded; see on Matt. xviii. 2. § 74. 4. He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments, and took a torvel, and girded himself. 5. After that, he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. But when it came to Peter's turn to receive that favour he modestly declined it. 6. Then cometh he to Simon Peter, and Peter said unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? 7. Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now, thou dost not know what I intend by this ac tion, but thou shalt know hereafter. 8. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me: If thou dost not submit to all my orders implicitly, thou art not my disciple; or, as others understand

do quickly what he was about to do, he went out. Upon which Jesus mentioned the near prospect he had of being glorified, to insinuate that he knew Judas was gone out to betray him. From this time forth, there is nothing said of Judas by John, till he appeared with the armed band. Nevertheless, by the accounts of the other evangelists, Judas was present at the institution of the sacrament of the supper after the passover. Wherefore the passover being celebrated before Judas went out, the supper mentioned by John must have been that solemnity.

But it is objected, that the opinion I am contending for is inconsistent with John xiii. 27, where we are told, that when Jesus ordered Judas to do quickly that which he was about to do, the rest thought that he order, ed him to buy the things they had need of against the feast; plainly importing that the supper they were then eating was not the passover. But the answer is easy; the feast of passover, properly speaking, lasted seven days, wherefore it was of the provisions necessary to the whole festival, and not of those requisite to the paschal supper which the disciples then spake.