1

good :' but if he go beyond this, he is no follower of Christ, who has already forbidden his rashness and pronounced his condemnation, saying, "They that take the sword, shall perish by the sword.”

48. And Jesus answered and said unto them, Are ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and with staves to take me?

49. I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and ye took me not but the scriptures must be fulfilled.

50. And they all forsook him, and fled.

51. And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body: and the young men laid hold on him.

52. And he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked.

This circumstance seems to be related as a proof of the general confusion, and of the violence of those who apprehended Jesus. We may suppose that this young man living near the spot, and hearing the tumult, had risen suddenly from his bed and having perhaps received benefits from the Lord, and desiring to be of his company, would not be separated from him till it was no longer possible to remain: till even his apostles all forsook him, and fled. And these words imply, that they forsook him in a faithless spirit. This was not the Lord's will concerning them but neither was it his will that they should be involved in his danger, or meet with an untimely end. Else how should the scriptures be fulfilled, that the gospel should be preached throughout all nations? Therefore the Lord, when he surrendered

1 Rom. xiii. 4.

2 It has been conjectured, and not without probability, that this was Mark himself, thus testifying what he had seen.

himself, provided for their safety, and said: I have told you that I am he: if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way; that the saying might be fulfilled which he spake, of those which thou gavest me have I lost none.

Still they left him, prompted by their own minds, and yielding to their own fears. The Spirit was not yet given, which should raise them above themselves, and make them proof against perils still more imminent. They were allowed to experience the weakness of the flesh; and to prove the difference between resolutions made in the absence of temptation, and resolutions kept when temptation is at hand.

Let those condemn them, who have themselves a conscience clear of like failures: who have not broken their promises or departed from their purposes, under circumstances of far less trial. Yet such, if there be such, will not be forward to condemn the apostles, though they all forsook their Lord and fled: for such, if there be such, will be the first to say, "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name be all the praise," if we have been "kept from falling," and preserved from sinning against thee, and bringing reproach upon our pro

fession.

3 John xviii. 9.

LECTURE LXXXIX.

JESUS IS ARRAIGNED BEFORE THE HIGH-PRIEST.

MARK XIV. 53-65.

53. And they led Jesus away to the high-priest and with him were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes.

54. And Peter followed him afar off, even into the palace of the high-priest: and he sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire.

Thus the Psalmit's wordsw ere accomplished; The kings of the earth stand up, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed." 1 That their proceedings might seem to have the countenance of law, they had prepared a council at this unusual hour. And Peter followed him afar off. Though with the rest he had fled from the officers, he was too much interested to leave the scene of action: and the same union of eagerness and faithfulness which led him to draw his sword in his Master's cause, now carried him into the palace of the high-priest, where he might learn tidings concerning him. He went in, and mingled among the servants, little knowing his own weak

1 Ps. ii. 2

G G

ness. Had he reflected, he would have seen that he was running into the face of danger; placing himself in the most likely situation to prove the truth of Jesus's words, "Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice." But he did not reflect: he yielded to the impulse of his natural disposition: and learnt, as many others have learnt, by fatal experience, how weak the flesh is, and unable to resist temptation, even when the spirit is ready, and the mind resolved to obedience.

55. And the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death; and found none.

56. For many bare false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together.

57. And there arose certain, and bare false witness against him, saying,

58. We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.

59. But neither so did their witness agree together.

The proceedings of the council here had in their history a precedent which they did not well to follow. 2 When Ahab's queen determined in herself that he should possess the vineyard of Naboth, she too desired to have a lawful pretext, and gave orders that a solemn assembly should be called, when Naboth should be "set on high before the people;" and two false witnesses be prepared "to bear witness against him, saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king." So they adjudged him to be worthy of death, having already decreed his sentence in their minds. And now in the case

2 1 Kings xxi. 7—13.

3

of Jesus, the chief priests and council though resolved upon his death, call to their aid the forms of law, and try to frame some allegation against him which might give the colour of justice to their proceedings. Certain witnesses bore testimony to words anbiguously spoken, on the first occasion when the Lord drove out the money changers from the temple. The Jews had asked of him, "What sign showest thou, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." He spoke of the temple of his body, which being destroyed, and raised again the third day, became to them the sign which they had required. It would have been an idle boast, if spoken by an ordinary person concerning the temple at Jerusalem, which "had been forty and six years in building." But even then, it furnished no subject of serious accusation they could not find in it occasion to condemn him. If such pretext was to be found at all, Jesus himself must furnish it. They deemed it blasphemy that he should acknowledge himself to be the Son of God, and this he would not deny.

60. And the high-priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee?

61. But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high-priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?

62. And Jesus said, I am : and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

'John ii. 18.