which would disgrace a schoolboy or a ballad-singer, let these abuses, too, be corrected forthwith. Let them manifest, in all their proceedings, a spirit of promptness and activity, of fearlessness and superiority to prejudice, and then we shall see less reason than we do now to regret that some of the noblest geniuses that ever adorned the sacred profession, should be confined within the pale of an established church, instead of exulting in the free range, and inhaling the invigorating atmosphere, of religious liberty.

ON THE CHRONOLOGY AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE GOSPEL NARRATIVES.

(Continued from p. 457.)

We now resume our chronological arrangement of our Lord's Ministry, with the third of those parts into which (p. 454) we divide our Monotes

saron.

PART III.

Transactions connected with the Feast of Tabernacles: about which time, probably, the Baptist was imprisoned.

This part of our Lord's Ministry is recorded exclusively by the Apostle John; and his account of it forms a remarkable portion of his Gospel. With the exception of ch. vij. 1, it occupies the whole of the viith and following chapters, to the 21st verse of the xth,-the preceding part of which chapter should not have been separated from the ixth. The vivid and indeed graphic narration which the Evangelist has given of the leading occurrences at the Tabernacles, indicates the pen of an eye-witness, and gives us a strong impression of the importance of them in the history of our Lord's conduct towards the Jews. Considering that all the Jews of Palestine were under a general obligation to attend this Festival-as well as the Passover and the Pentecost-it is an inadmissible supposition that the transactions recorded by St. John could have occurred after the call of Matthew, without that Evangelist giving some account of them, or at least referring to them as having actually taken place: and as none of the first three Evangelists have made any allusion to them, and the train of their narrations does not supply any suitable position for the occurrence of them

We must beg the reader to make the following corrections in our last article. In the middle of p. 450, read (ch. viii. 18—ix. 26); and in line 12 from the bottom, know for knew. In p. 451, read ch. i. 16—ii. 22, and ch. iv. 35-v. 43. And at the end of the note in p. 453, read, "as it must have been, if on the same day," (that is, if delivered on the same day,) "with the miracle at Peter's house." The accidental omission of the if destroys the sense.

after the commencement of our Lord's public preaching in Galilee, there is full and adequate reason to conclude that they occurred before that period -in other words, about the time of the Baptist's being imprisoned by Herod. For more detail as to the reasons of this opinion, and the consideration of the objections against it, (arising particularly from the position of the miracle of the Five Thousand in St. John's Gospel,) we must refer the reader to our former articles, especially to pp. 171-173, 305-307. And for the causes of his long-continued retirement in Galilee, and comparative privacy, we request him to consult p. 457.

When the Feast of Tabernacles was approaching, the brethren (or cousins) of Christ, oi adeλpos aute, who had not yet become convinced of his claims, urged him to go into Judea, and shew himself to the world. This, however, our Lord might have thought likely, in the circumstances of the case, to lead to tumult, and perhaps afford a reasonable pretext for the charge of sedition against the Roman government; and he expressed his purpose of not going up to the Feast. When, however, the crowds had disappeared, and he saw that the roads were become solitary, and that there ceased to be any fear of interrupting the progress of his doctrine, by exciting the worldly expectations of a misguided populace, or of involving them in ruin and in guilt, he determined again to try if he could save the Jews from impending ruin. About the middle of the Feast he entered the temple and taught publicly. The Rulers sent officers to seize him; but they were confounded by the authority with which he taught, and returned with their commission unperformed. He still continued his public discourses; but his declarations excited the rage of the Jews; and they endeavoured to take away his life. He escaped, however, from them; and, as he went away from the Temple, he gave sight to a man who had been born blind †-a miracle which was investigated with the utmost strictness, by our Lord's bitter enemies. After this he delivered his discourse respecting the Good Shepherd, which concludes St. John's account of the transactions at the Feast of Tabernacles.

Having thus been openly rejected by the Jews, at three successive national festivals, and knowing that the ministry of his forerunner was finally closed, our Lord returned to Galilee to proclaim the near approach of the

The common translation of John vii. 8, is "I go not up yet (vw) to this feast;" but the most ancient reading was ovx, not-" I go not up." The addition of yet is made by Archbishop Newcome; and not yet is the force of the Syriac translation. The present reading arose probably through the alteration of some early transcriber, who thought that our Lord must from the first have intended to go up at a later part of the Feast.

+ In John ix. 2, the expression "his disciples" occurs. This may denote some of those who had already been recognized as such (see ch. i.). John and Andrew, Peter, Philip, and Nathanael: it by no means requires us to suppose that the Twelve had been chosen.

Messiah's kingdom, and to commence that series of wonderful miracles, and public teaching, which we denominate his Public Preaching in Galilee.*

PART IV.

Christ's Public Preaching in Galilee, as far as the Mission of the Twelve, shortly before the Feast of Dedication.

This Part occupies from the 12th verse of the ivth chapter of Matthew, to the end of the xth.-Immediately on returning to Galilee our Lord called Peter, Andrew, James, and John, to be regular attendants on his ministry; and on the ensuing Sabbath cured a demoniac in the synagogue at Capernaum, healed the mother of Peter's wife, (see p. 453,) and wrought many other miracles. The next day, after retiring to a solitary spot to hold communion with God, he commenced his first progress through Galilee, that is, Galilee Inferior-a very populous district, but not larger than Monmouthshire. During this progress the miracles of our Lord were peculiarly numerous and striking; and the immediate effect was to draw round him a large concourse of those who were eagerly expecting the approach of the Messiah. The absence of Herod, the return of the people from the Tabernacles, the completion of the husbandman's labours, and the settled mildness of the weather, must all have contributed to promote the publicity of our Lord's progress; but his inestimable discourse at the close of it must have disappointed those who followed him from merely worldly motives; and embarrassed the better disposed, whose notions of the Messiah's kingdom were founded on a literal interpretation of the splendid predictions of their ancient prophets. After delivering the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus healed a leper: and, on entering into Capernaum, cured the centurion's servant.

If the true reading in Luke vii. 11, is εv ty eng (sc. μspa), then our Lord went the next day to Nain, in the south-western part of Galilee, about twenty miles from Capernaum. If Luke wrote & tw e§nç, in order, in the course of events, still, as there is no improbability in the present situation of the fact, our subsidiary principle (p. 453) would lead us to arrange it here. St. Mark informs us (ch. i. 45) that, after the cure of the leper, our Lord was for some time absent from Capernaum, in the more retired parts of the country. A few days after, in the evening, he crossed the southern part of the Lake. It was at this time that he stilled the storm, and, on landing in the region of Gadara, healed the demoniacs, and caused their phrensy to take possession of the herd of swine. On his return to Caper

* By the expression" these three years," in Luke xiii. 7, our Lord is usually supposed to denote the "three years" of his ministry. If it were the fact that his ministry lasted three years, this reference would be natural: But it may with great propriety refer to the three great festivals, at each of which our Lord proposed his claims to the Jews at Jerusalem.

naum, he found many of the Pharisees and Doctors of the Law assembled from various parts of Palestine; and in their presence he healed a paralytic, who was let down from the roof into the court near the place where he was sitting. The same day he called Matthew to attend upon his ministry; and shortly after dined at his house, where he conversed with some of the Pharisees, and with John's disciples. While there, Jaïrus solicited his aid in behalf of his daughter; and on his way to the house, a poor woman was healed of her infirmity on touching his garment. After raising the daughter of Jaïrus, he returned to Matthew's house, and restored sight to two blind men; and, immediately after, healed a dumb demoniac.

Supposing the Feast of Tabernacles to have begun a little before the middle of September, the events already summarily related may have occurred by the latter part of October. About that time, probably, our Lord began a second progress through Galilee; at the commencement of which he appears to have chosen the Twelve; and about a fortnight after to have sent them out on their mission, from near Capernaum.

PART V.

Occurrences between the Mission of the Twelve and the Death of the Baptist, which caused the complete Return of the Twelve.

In this part of our Lord's Ministry, we are left much to conjecture; and yet, allowing the general correctness of our arrangement, there can be little hesitation respecting the real course of events during the absence of the Twelve. After sending them forth, we learn from St. Matthew (ch. xi.) that our Lord departed to teach in their cities; and soon after two of the disciples of the Baptist came to him, from their Master, to ask whether he were the promised Messiah. Immediately after St. Luke's record of this circumstance (ch. vii. 18—35), we find his account of our Lord's visit to Simon the Pharisee, with the interesting occurrence at his house; and for the same reasons as have been given in reference to the raising of the widow's son at Nain, we place this visit immediately after the departure of John's disciples.-Comparing the situation of our Lord's reproof to the unbelieving cities, in St. Luke's Gospel (ch. x. 13), where it follows the mission of the Seventy, with its place in Matthew's, (ch. xi. 20,) where it follows the message of the Baptist-and perceiving nothing inconsistent with the probable order of events-we consider the mission of the Seventy as following the message of the Baptist, and occurring before the upbraiding of the cities. It is probable that our Lord purposed to spend some time in the Perea, as he actually did; and that he sent the Seventy, two and two, to the various cities and places which he expected to visit. According to our subsidiary principle (p. 453), we suppose that it was not long after that

* The reader may find it convenient to refer to the observations in p. 384.

our Lord, on being accosted by the Jewish Doctor, delivered the parable of the Good Samaritan; and that he visited Martha and Mary. (Luke x. 25 -42.) They resided, there is no room for reasonable doubt, at Bethany, on the eastern side of the Mount of Olives; and as it is certain that our Lord was at Jerusalem at the Feast of Dedication, we presume that his visit to Bethany preceded his short visit at Jerusalem at that time. Again the Jews sought to kill him; but he immediately withdrew from their jurisdiction, and went into the Perea, residing principally at Bethabara, or Bethany east of the Jordan. (John x. 22-42.) In that region he appears to have spent the whole of December, and the greater part of January; and during his abode there, probably delivered several of those discourses and parables which are recorded by St. Luke in his Gnomology. (See pp. 382-384.) While there, too, we suppose that the Seventy rejoined him, after having executed their ministry in the Perea; either in the northern part of Herod's portion, or in the southern part of that portion which belonged to Philip— probably in both. Some also of the Apostles rejoined him while in the Perea; as appears from the record of the resurrection of Lazarus.

At the close of the January preceding his crucifixion, our Lord, knowing that Lazarus was dead, set out again for Bethany, near Jerusalem; and after having restored his friend to life, he retired, with those of his disciples who had attended him, to the neighbourhood of Ephraim. (John xi. 1— 54.) There was a town of this name about eight miles north of Jerusalem; but as there was another, further north, in Samaria, out of the jurisdiction of the Jews, it seems most probable that it was to this our Lord retired.

Our Lord's visit to Jerusalem at the Dedication, his sojourn in the Perea, his return to the house of Martha, and his retirement at Ephraim, all took place, we conclude, between the occurrences recorded in the xith chapter of Matthew, and those in the xiith (the Walk through the Corn-field excepted). At the period of the miracle of the Withered Hand, our Lord began his last abode in Galilee; and since, from some unknown cause, this was associated with the Walk through the Corn-fields, St. Matthew begins the new portion with the narrative of the latter. Wherever it was

* Mr. Greswell thinks it certain that Martha and Mary resided in Galilee: there appears to be no foundation for the opinion, except his own theories; and the narrative of St. John decidedly opposes it.

+ According to our calculation of the date of the first Passover, this visit of our Lord at Jerusalem must have been near the end of November. John, however, (ch. x. 22,) says that it was winter, xav ny. The short winter of Palestine was about the end of December; but at the end of November there was sometimes stormy weather; and this is all which μ necessarily implies. It seems to assign the reason why our Lord walked in Solomon's Portico, which was on the east side of the Temple court.

On the position of this narrative, we have already offered some remarks in the note in pp. 455, 456.