CHAPTER XXVI.

THE PASSOVER-ENMITY OF PRIESTS-PRECIOUS PERFUME POURED ON THE HEAD OF JESUS-RICH AND POOR-PROPHECY OF BETRAYAL -THE LORD'S SUPPER-TRANSUBSTANTIATION-THE AGONY PRAYER.

Ir appears from the commencement of the chapter, that the period of the Passover, the great anniversary festival of the Jews, had arrived; and that Jesus, to fulfil all righteousness, and to make that Passover the preface to a yet more precious festival, said to his disciples-"Ye know that after two days is the feast of the Passover, and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified." His death did not come upon him by surprise; he anticipated it every hour; he knew that it must be, and made ready for that great sacrifice, in which is the remission of our sins.

It appears next, that the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, "assembled together unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him." What a terrible apostasy was here! The high priest, the type, did not recognise the true High Priest, the great substance of all the institutions, types, and shadows of the ancient law; but, instead of hailing him as the advent of that which he typified, he joined with other conspirators amongst the Jews, in putting him to death, as if he could extinguish that

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precious truth, by which the whole earth is yet destined to be enlightened.

It appears that at this season Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon, who once was a leper, but afterwards was healed; and a woman, recognising him as he who should come in the name of the Lord, brought "an alabaster box of very precious perfume," as it ought to be rendered, "and poured it on his head as he sat at meat." She did it, not because this could consecrate him, but because this was the only expression that she possessed adequate to convey the intensity of her love, attachment, and devotedness to Jesus. Some of the disciples, partaking of the false economy that prevails in every age, could not understand that things that seem entirely ornamental are often useful, and with a narrow-mindedness which characterised them in too many of their own proceedings before the day of Pentecost, they said "To what purpose is this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor." So it might; but it would be found that this woman, who thus expressed her love to Jesus, would be among the very foremost to express her sympathy with the poor; and thus they who clamour most about the demands of the poor often least express their sympathy by practical goodness and liberality. Benevolence expressed in words is one thing; beneficence contained in acts is a very different and far more precious thing.

"Ye have the poor," he says, "always with you." Then plainly the distinction between rich and poor is part and parcel of the providential arrangement of the present world. You may mitigate, but you never can extinguish poverty. It seems to me that as this world

is, there will be hills and valleys, high places and lowly. places, rich and poor, learned and ignorant, to the end. But why is one man rich and another man poor? That the rich man may see the duty of beneficence, and that the poor man, receiving that beneficence, may feel the ennobling emotion of gratitude and love,

Jesus explains to them-"For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this. Gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her." Jesus, then a sufferer, thus predicts the everlasting spread and universal triumph of his Gospel. What calmness, composure, and certainty of ultimate triumph! And here also indirectly there is evidence that this Gospel was to be written; because the fact that this memorial was to be told in every land and through the lapse of every age, conveys the fact that a record of it was to be, from which the intimation of her love should be spread to all the ends of the earth.

Judas Iscariot went to the chief priests, and covenanted to betray Jesus for about 31. or 41, sterling; "and from that time he sought opportunity to betray him." That opportunity soon presented itself.

The Passover was then prepared according to the Jewish economy, only Jesus specially prescribed the place, and predicted the response that would be made to the disciples when they asked for a house in which to celebrate the feast. We have the record of the Passover, and of the institution of the Eucharist, or Lord's Supper, upon it. First, it was celebrated at even: it was celebrated on the night prior to his betrayal. Secondly, it was celebrated by the twelve,

according to the Evangelist, sitting down. It may have been that they leant each upon the left elbow, or that they literally sat, but certainly it was celebrated in the form of a festival meal, and not with the special and distinctive accompaniments of an act of adoration, worship, and praise. I state these things, not to find fault with others, but to show that while the ceremonial changes like the varied clouds that are above us; the great truth that is beyond it endures like the stars, bright and permanent for ever. Those who insist upon everything being rigidly according to apostolic precedent, are bound to celebrate the Lord's Supper at night, and sitting, not kneeling; or probably still more, to celebrate it leaning upon the left elbow. These things are the mere accompaniments, or the form; they are not the substance. We have each our preferences; but when that preference, as it relates to form, is exalted into a vital principle, then we leave Scripture, or Protestant ground, and go over to Popish, or superstitious ground. We may prefer, as in the Church of England, to receive the communion kneeling; or, as in the Church of Scotland, sitting,-Scottish Churchmen thinking that they have the most scriptural precedent, English Churchmen thinking that kneeling most becomes them as engaging in an act of solemn devotion; only remember that the kingdom of God is neither sitting, nor kneeling, nor standing, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

Jesus predicted-"One of you shall betray me." What a startling announcement! One of you, my favourite twelve, my own selected apostles, the little college in which I have lived, where I have taught, with whom I have sympathised, to whose weaknesses

and ignorances I have ministered,- one of you shall betray me.

And then notice, every one of the eleven, as we gather from the passage, suspected himself, before Judas, the guilty one. What a remarkable proof is this of the delicacy of true Christian feeling, that the most suspicious of themselves were the innocent, that the most satisfied in his own mind, at least the most silent, was the only guilty one! Each of the eleven said "Is it I?" and in the 25th verse we read, that after an interval-"Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I?" Thus, true Christians may suspect themselves; they may doubt their own persistency in well-doing; they may suspect their own love. That does not prove that they are not true Christians, but the contrary. Wherever there is the loftiest ideal of the Christian standard, there will be the greatest and most constant suspicions lest we fail, and come not up to it.

Our Lord told Judas-"Thou hast said," which expression denotes in Scripture-"It is so." And then"Jesus took bread, and blessed it,”-in another Gospel it is, "and gave thanks"-" and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body." How very simple is this! Just read the statement contained in the Roman Missal, with all its rubrics, its forms, and ceremonies; and after you have done so, read the severe and simple statement contained in the chapter we have read; and then say whether, if the Missal be Christianity, the record in this chapter be not something else. The two are not in the least connected the one with the other. They seem to be coùtrasts, and in no respect, as far as I can see, coincident