could not have partaken in the rite at a later period, we might have inferred that he anticipated the time of celebration, had we not, from the statements of Matthew (ch. xxvi. 17) and Mark (ch. xiv. 12), clear reason to believe, that it was extensively, if not commonly, celebrated by the people at the same time with himself. Now it is from St. John alone (ch. xviii. 28) that we learn when the enemies of Christ were to eat the Passover; and as he mentions no other time, it seems reasonable to consider his "six days before the Passover" (ch. xii. 1), as dating from the Friday evening. The sixth day before it would include from Saturday evening to Sunday evening; and our Lord's arrival at Bethany in any part of that twenty-four hours, would accord with the date assigned by this Evangelist.

Further, it is most probable that the supper at Bethany occurred before our Lord's public entry into Jerusalem.* If the house of Zacchæus were at some distance from Jericho, on the road to Jerusalem, or if, while our Lord himself remained at the house of Zacchæus, the apostles or other disciples went on to Bethany, so as to prepare his friends for the reception of him at a late hour on the evening after the sabbath,-the supper might have taken place on the Saturday evening; and the entry into Jerusalem might have taken place on the Sunday. The common opinion is that it occurred on the Sunday; and hence the appellation Palm-Sunday. There is, however, no ground for decision which we do not possess in the Gospels; and they leave us quite at liberty to place our Lord's entry into Jerusalem either on the Sunday or the Monday. On the whole, the Monday seems somewhat best to accord with the train of events. Whether our Lord arrived at Bethany on the Saturday evening or Sunday morning, the feast might have been on the Sunday evening; but it was during Sunday that many persons came from Jerusalem to see Jesus and Lazarus also.

On the Monday our Lord entered Jerusalem as the Messiah, with the exulting acclamations of his disciples and the multitude; himself, however, not elated, but manifesting, when in sight of the city, (Luke xix. 41-44,) the most affecting anticipations of its ruin through its sinful rejection of his

From St. John's narrative alone (ch. xii. 1—12), scarcely any other conclusion could be drawn. Matthew and Mark both relate the fact in connexion with the events of the Wednesday before the Passover; but Matthew and Mark may have introduced it, solely to shew why Judas went to the Sanhedrim; and there is less difficulty in admitting such a reference, than in supposing that St. John inserted the event so completely out of place, without any intimation of it, and even without any assignable reason for so doing.

We here accord with Mr. Greswell, who, though he places the supper on the Saturday evening, thinks that our Lord did not enter Jerusalem till the Monday. Supposing the supper to have occurred on the Saturday evening, our Lord might have entered Jerusalem on the Sunday afternoon, and yet time be given for the circumstances recorded in John xii. 9-11, which then, however, must be taken parenthetically.

claims. When arrived at the Temple, he healed many blind and lame persons; and it is not improbable that, on this first day, occurred that solemn scene which followed the application of the Gentile proselytes. (John xii. 20-26.) After this, without making further stay in the Temple, he withdrew with the Twelve to Bethany, where he passed the succeeding nights till the Thursday.

Early on the day following his public entry-say on the Tuesday-he devoted the barren fig-tree; and on arriving at the Temple, with comparatively few attendants, he drove out those who were trafficking there. This excited the anger of the Chief Priests and their adherents; and they sought to destroy him; but the people listened, with admiration, to his instructions; and the chief men found no means of executing their purposes.

On the second morning after his public entry-that is, probably, on the Wednesday-as he was returning to Jerusalem, the disciples observed that the fig-tree had been withered from the roots. The circumstances of the day before seem to have aroused the various enemies of our Lord; and from his entrance into the Temple, till he left it, no more to return, every effort was made to harass and to ensnare him. First, a body of the Sanhedrim came and demanded his authority for the measures he had taken; which led him to deliver several parables fitted to shew to them, and to the people, their guilt and their danger. Next, a party of the Herodians, sent by the Pharisees with some of their own disciples, put to him the question respecting the Roman tribute-money. When their crafty and malicious designs had been defeated, the Sadducees came to propose their paradox concerning the resurrection, by which, probably, they had often perplexed their opponents, the Scribes, some of whom (Luke xx. 39), as it appears, were greatly pleased with our Lord's reply. Lastly, one of the Scribes (Mark xii. 28-34) proposed that inquiry by which the Pharisees so much confounded the plain dictates of conscience-" Which is the great commandment of the Law :" and this led our Lord to give the most unequivocal sanction to that fundamental declaration of the Jewish legislator, respecting the Oneness and Supremacy of Jehovah, and the exclusive direction to HIM of the highest affections of the heart, which must one day be the common faith and directory of the Christian world, as it still is of the Jews wherever they are found, both in their public and in their private worship. Our Lord then himself proposed a question to the Pharisees respecting the superiority of the Messiah to David, his progenitor by natural descent, which confounded and silenced them. Perhaps it was at this interval that, while sitting opposite the Treasury, near the entrance into the Inner Court of the Temple, the Divine Teacher uttered that most encouraging expression respecting the Widow's Mite; and made, still more publicly, the solemn declaration as to the authority of his words, because enjoined by the Father who sent him, which is recorded at the end of the xiith chapter of St. John. Soon after, he must have delivered those awful

denunciations of the extreme wickedness and hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees, and of the fearful evils which were impending over them and his guilty nation, which Matthew alone has recorded in detail, and with which our Lord closed his public instructions, and then finally quitted the Temple.

If the occurrences of the last paragraph took place on the Wednesday, then as he went back to Bethany, (or if on the Tuesday, then on the day following,) he delivered, on the Mount of Olives, in the presence of Peter, James, and John, the remarkable predictions respecting the destruction of the Temple, which were so signally fulfilled" before that generation passed away;" and those also which yet remain to be fulfilled respecting the universal and final retribution—the former recorded, in much detail, by each of the first three Evangelists; the latter by St. Matthew alone, and principally in the xxvth chapter, which is unfortunately separated from the xxivth.

It does not form a part of our present object to enter into the detail of those most interesting circumstances which now occurred in rapid succession, displaying the tenderness of the Man of Sorrows, in conjunction with the dignity of the Son of God-the strength of his private affections, with the most complete and devout exercises of faith and trust, and the most elevated devotement to the all-important and all-comprehensive purposes for which he came-the distress, the darkness, and the anguish, which, for the perfection of his own character, and as an encouragement and example to his followers, in all ages, his Heavenly Father appointed for him, as well as those most impressive demonstrations of the Divine love and favour, which attended and followed his expiring agonies on the cross. They must be familiar to all our readers; and, as was natural, they are circumstantially recorded by the Evangelists. In some minute points, it is not easy to ascertain the precise order of occurrence; but, in general, the course of events is easily followed; and, at any rate, the vividness and distinctness of the records, in the separate parts, enable us to picture each to ourselves, so as to feel its reality and its impressive influence.-A view of those occurrences, to which we have here nothing to add, will be found in the little work, heretofore referred to, which is probably accessible to most of our readers-Dr. Carpenter's Introduction to the Geography of the New Testament, Part II. § 38-42.*

We might have satisfied ourselves with a reference to the Chronological View of our Lord's Ministry in the above-mentioned volume; but as the arrangement here given somewhat differs from that which is there exhibited, it seemed best to give a separate outline, more especially as a more summary view was desirable for our present purpose.

PART X.

From the Death of Christ to his Ascension.

At the very time of our Lord's death, the Pharisees, and probably the greater part of the Jews of Judea, were preparing for the celebration of the Passover, which that year occurred, according to their traditional system, at the commencement of the sabbath. To prevent what they regarded as a violation of the sabbath-that the persons crucified should remain on the cross after the sabbath had begun-the chief men requested Pilate to have their legs broken. The Roman soldiers charged with the execution of this request, found, on coming to Jesus, that he was already dead; but one of them so pierced his side with a spear—from what motive we can only conjecture-that if life had not been extinct, death must have followed. Two of the Jewish rulers now came forwards to shew their respect for Jesus, and their attachment to his cause, by hastily, yet expensively, embalming him, and then laying him in the sepulchre of Joseph, near the place of crucifixion. Mary Magdalene, and other female disciples, observed the place of burial; and then withdrew to prepare spices and ointments for a more complete embalment after the sabbath was ended. The feelings of that day, in the minds of the enemies of Christ, of his friends and disciples, and of the people at large, may be in some measure imagined; and if we take single individuals, whose character is more or less known to us, we may find abundance to exercise the imagination in such a way as to increase the vividness of the conviction that all recorded was reality. The next day, though the sabbath still continued, the Jewish rulers sealed the sepulchre, and at the entrance set a guard of Roman soldiers, given them for the purpose by the Governor. But "God raised up Jesus." On the following morning, the third day from his burial, our Saviour rose triumphantly from the tomb to an everlasting life; and thus became the first fruits of those who sleep.

The succession of the events which occurred soon after the resurrection of Christ, connected with the first disclosure of it, is attended with much difficulty but the following account appears the most accordant with the records. The views and reasonings on which it is founded, may be seen in the little tract from which it is taken.*

"The sepulchre in which the Lord lay' was in a garden, near the place of crucifixion. This spot is within the present walls of Jerusalem, but it was without the ancient wall on the west. It was a cave hollowed out in

See Dr. Carpenter's Observations on the Order of the Events which occurred on the Morning of the Resurrection, in the Christian Reformer for May last; to be had, as a separate tract, at Mr. Hunter's.

"This is written advisedly, after a careful consideration of the objections of some modern travellers, and particularly of Dr. Richardson, whose accuracy of observation deserves great praise. If he had had, as well, Mr. Carne's power of

the side of a rock, with a low and narrow door-way into it. The sepulchre appears to have been about twelve feet long and seven broad, and about seven high. Mary Magdalene came to the garden while it was yet dark;' and if (as may be inferred from the narratives of the first three Evangelists) she went to the sepulchre in company with the other women, she probably waited their arrival before she entered the garden. It is a reasonable supposition, that the entrance to the garden was the appointed place of meeting. Mary may have come from some house at no great distance, on the side of Mount Zion, where also Peter and John abode at this point of time. Besides Mary Magdalene, there appear to have been two companies of women. Joanna with her companions would, of course, come from near the residence of Herod, which was on Bezetha, the northern part of the city, about a quarter of a mile from the sepulchre: the other Mary,' if the sister of Lazarus, would have to come over the Mount of Olives, and cross the city south of the Temple. Bethany was about two miles and three quarters from the sepulchre; and as our Lord, during this last visit to Jerusalem, went out to Bethany, with his disciples, and lodged there; and as it was the residence of Lazarus and his sisters, it is reasonable to suppose that most of the Apostles and the Galilean women would now be lodging there. The other Mary' with her companions, and Joanna with hers, joined Mary Magdalene sufficiently early for them all to be approaching the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.' Not long, probably, before this, the Angel of the Lord' had rolled back the stone, and the terrified soldiers had left their station. The women were obviously not aware of the setting of the guard, and were only apprehensive respecting their power of rolling away the stone; but, on coming near the sepulchre, they found that it had been removed. Mary Magdalene at once, inferring from this that the body of the Lord had been taken away, ran to tell Peter and John. In the mean time the other women entered the sepulchre, received the heaven-sent tidings, and quickly left the garden of Joseph. At the entrance into the city the two parties would of course divide; Joanna and her companions proceeding towards the north of the city; and the other Mary' with hers, across it towards Bethany. The former, then, knew no more than what the angels had communicated: and before more was known among their acquaintance, those two disciples set out for Emmaus, (Luke xxiv. 22-24,) who in the later part of the day saw Jesus. After the other women had left the spot, Peter and John arrived, in consequence of what Mary Magdalene had told them. The Apostles left the sepulchre without knowing more than that the body was not there;† and

vivid description, and more of simple sentiment, there would have been nothing to desire."

* "Vast numbers of Jews, it is well known, came to Jerusalem at the Passover; and many lodged in the adjoining villages. Bethany was, on various accounts, the place most likely to be chosen by our Lord's followers.—See Mark xi. 11, Luke xxi. 37."

"The words saw and believed' (John xx. 8) obviously refer to the report of Mary (v. 2), that the Lord had been taken away. For as yet they knew not the Scripture, (adds the Evangelist,) that he must rise again from the dead.'"