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warned the Disciples against the doctrine of the Pharisees. From this place, where Mary may have still commonly resided, he went on to Bethsaida, the native place of several of his Apostles; and there gave sight to a blind man.

Without, as it appears, making any stay in the region west of the Lake, our Lord now set out towards Cæsarea, in Philip's dominions in the very north of Palestine. In the way to that city, (which we have no reason to think that he entered), Peter, for himself and for the other Apostles, expressly avowed, for the first time, the conviction that Jesus was 'the Messiah, the Son of the living God;' but our Lord immediately, and thenceforwards repeatedly, acquainted his Apostles with his approaching sufferings, and stated the necessity of their undergoing sufferings for his sake. About six days afterwards, while still in the north of Palestine, the glorious scene of the Transfiguration occurred, in the presence of Peter, John, and James. The next day, on returning to the rest of the Apostles, our Lord healed the epileptic child. He then traveled southwards through Galilee; and on arriving at Capernaum, application was made to him for the half-shekel annually paid by every adult Jew for the service of the Temple. This contribution was collected in the last month of the Jewish year, preparatory to the Passover; and this fact, which decides the time of our Lord's leaving Galilee, perfectly accords with the date assigned by John to the Miracle of the Five Thousand. After delivering to the Apostles some important admonitions on the duty of humility, of mutual aid in spiritual improvement, and of a forgiving disposition, Jesus left Capernaum, and set out on his Final Journey towards Jerusalem.

PART VII.

Our Lord's Final Journey from Galilee, through the Peræa, to his Arrival at Bethany shortly before the Passover.

From Capernaum our Lord went southwards, probably passing through Magdala, Bethsaida, Cana, and Nain, (leaving Tiberias on the east), with the intention of going through Samaria, rather than through the territory of Herod on the east of the Jordan. While he was crossing, we may suppose, the Plain of Esdraelon, he sent messengers forward to prepare for his coming. The first town in Samaria was Ginæa, and, not improbably, it was here that he purposed to pass the second night after his leaving Capernaum;-having spent the first, we may suppose, at Cana. Some preparation was necessary, for he was attended by his Apostles at least; and, from Mark xv. 40, we may conclude that, as he came along, he was also joined by Mary of Magdala, and Salome of Bethsaida, (the Mother of James and John), as well as by Mary his own Mother, and Mary the Mother of James and Joses, and 'many other women.' Having been refused a reception at the Samaritan village, he went eastwards along the Plain towards Scythopolis, thus passing through the confines of Samaria and Galilee; * and as he was in this part of his journey, he healed the Ten Lepers, of whom one only, a Samaritan, returned to give thanks to his benefactor, and to glorify God. Our Lord then entered the Perea, crossing the Jordan, either at the bridge above Scythopolis, or at the ford below it; and then passed through the Peræa, along the Plain of the Jordan, teaching as he proceeded. In this course he may have occupied two days: and besides the Discourses recorded by Matthew and Mark, respecting divorces, we may place here the Discourses and Parables which St. Luke has recorded after the Miracle of the Ten Lepers; -the circumstances respecting the Children and the Young Ruler; -the Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard; and the Observations of our Lord when asked as to the number that should be saved, and when told that Herod purposed to kill him, which are recorded by St. Luke alone.

The discourses in the Peræa are marked by a peculiarly earnest tone of spiritual instruction, which could not fail to impress the minds of his Disciples; especially if taken in connection with the declared purposes of Herod, and the known intentions of the great Council of their nation: and when, at last, they crossed the Jordan and entered Judæa, and saw their Master going before them on the way towards Jerusalem, it is said (Mark x. 32) that they were amazed, and, as they followed, they were afraid.' He then again informed the Twelve of his approaching sufferings; yet, even then, the Mother of James and John came to him, apparently at their desire, to request for them a distinguished place in his kingdom.

Jericho was nineteen miles from Jerusalem, and seven from the Ford of the Jordan. I presume that it was on the Saturday before his Crucifixion that our Lord entered that town; and that he had spent the preceding night in the immediate neighbourhood. While passing through the city, he saw Zacchæus, and went to his house, where he delivered the Parable of the Ten Pounds. Whether he left the house of Zacchæus that evening, after sunset, or, as is more probable, on the following morning, on going out of the city, attended by a great multitude, he gave sight to blind Bartimæus and his companion. He then proceeded on his way towards Jerusalem.

* If, as I think probable, the district belonging to Scythopolis was not properly a part of Galilee, then the words in Luke xvii. 11 would mean, 'through the country lying between Samaria and Galilee.'

+ The diversities in the accounts of this occurrence, are fully considered in the Note on this Section, in p. 195.

PART VIII.

From our Lord's Arrival at Bethany, till the Day on which he ate the Passover.

When Jesus went to the house of Zacchæus, many of his attendants would go on towards Jerusalem; and these would reach Bethany, and some of them the city itself, long before he came to the Mount of Olives; so that at Bethany preparations would have been made for him at Simon's house, and also great numbers of the people of Jerusalem would have heard of his approach sufficiently early to come out to see him and Lazarus.

At the end of Part VIII., p. 233, I have stated the conclusion to which I have come as to the time when the Passover was celebrated, in the week of the Crucifixion;-viz. that the Scripturalists killed the lamb after sunset on the Thursday, and ate the Passover that evening; but that the Traditionalists killed the lamb in the afternoon of the Friday, and ate it on the Friday evening. St. John speaks of the Passover as it was kept by the Pharisees; the other Evangelists speak of it as it was kept by the bulk of the people the more distant ones especially. The necessity of the case, if no other reason, required that our Saviour should eat the Passover, which he did, on the Thursday evening: but it is clear, from several passages, that St. John reckoned from the Passover as kept by the Pharisees. The information he had obtained respecting their proceedings suppose from Nicodemus-referred to their time of keeping the Passover; and his reckoning was decided accordingly. 'Six days before the Passover', on this calculation, brings us to the twenty-four hours preceding sunset on the Sunday evening: and I suppose that our Lord reached Bethany about noon on Sunday; and that on the evening of that day occurred the very interesting circumstance at the house of Simon, which seems to have led Judas to the purpose of betraying his Master.

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, the most affecting anticipations of its ruin through its sinful rejection of his 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, when there came a Voice from Heaven.' After this, without making further stay in the Temple,

* The common opinion is that it was on the Sunday that our Lord went publicly to Jerusalem; and the day kept in commemoration of it, is termed Palm Sunday. This opinion, Mr. Gresswell observes, "rests upon no better authority than prescription"; and I follow him in placing the procession to Jerusalem on the Monday. See his Dissertations, VOL. III. p. 19.

he withdrew with the Twelve to Bethany, where he passed the succeeding nights till the Thursday.

Early on the day following his public entry-that is, on the Tuesdayhe wrought the miracle on 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 enemies of Christ found no means of executing their purposes.

On the second morning after his public entry-that is, on the Wednesday -as he was returning to Jerusalem, the Disciples observed that the Figtree had been withered from the roots. The circumstances of the preceding day, 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 show 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, as it appears, were greatly pleased with our Lord's reply. Lastly, one of the Scribes 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 his sanction to the fundamental declaration of the Jewish Legislator. 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 period 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. It must have been soon after, but probably in the Outer Court, that he 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

* See Note in Harm. p. 202.

+ About this time he may have uttered the solemn declaration in John xii. 44-50, as to the authority of his words: but it may have been uttered on the first day in the Temple. See p. 204.

guilty nation, which Matthew alone has recorded in detail, and with which our Lord closed his public instructions. He then quitted the Temple, and as he went out, predicted its utter destruction.

Soon after, on the Mount of Olives, probably as he was returning to Bethany, in reply to an inquiry made by Peter and others, our Lord delivered to the Apostles, 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.

On the same evening, or the following day, many of the Sanhedrim assembled at the Palace of the High Priest, to consider how they might take Jesus by stratagem, in order to put him to death; and Judas, by some unknown means aware of the purpose of their meeting, went to them, and, for a small sum of money, undertook to deliver him up to them, when apart from the multitude.

PART IX. The Last Day of the Saviour's Mortal Life-from sunset on Thursday to sunset on Friday.

It does not form a part of my 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 our Lord's 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 darknesss, 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. These are recorded by the Evangelists in much detail. 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 scene to ourselves, so as to feel its reality and its impressive influence. The following sketch is given merely for the purpose of connecting together, in the probable order of occurrence, the leading facts of this eventful day.

Late in the evening of Thursday, our Lord went to Jerusalem, with the

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