eight days. This is easily reconciled when it is remembered that one of these accounts speaks inclusively and the other exclusively of the two additional days, which began and ended the interval.

In this whole transaction what a sublime and striking picture is presented of the Son of God, withdrawn from the commotion and tumult of ordinary life, amid the silence of the night, and the solitude of that mountain scene, holding intercourse with Heaven! All nature is hushed in still repose, as if unwilling to interrupt such sublime communion. The happy hours pass by, absorbed in an ecstasy too intense to endure. As to the disciples themselves, a glimpse of the eternal world had for a moment reached them through the darkness and gloom of earth. They had enjoyed a foretaste of the glories of Paradise; but even that had overwhelmed the too weak powers of frail humanity. But the impression produced by this scene on the minds of the apostles, was deep and lasting. The vision, indeed, soon passed by; the mysterious voice was hushed; and the glorified saints had returned to their heavenly homes. The rugged mount was still, the pure stars shone silently and sweetly on in their far-off homes; no sound was heard but the rustling breeze, and no object seen by the disciples save Jesus only. But when beset in distant lands by the persecutor and the foe; when a hostile world raged around the lonely missionary of the cross, threatening instant death and ruin, the glad memory of this illustrious interview with Heaven will cheer and support him on his perilous way. He will repose his trust more firmly in that glorified Redeemer, and view undismayed the opposing array of earth and hell. He will fight manfully his not unbloody fight of faith, and transported from the scene of his last victory on earth, by the power of God, he too will be transfigured on the plains of immortality.

443

CHAPTER XIII.

THE GUILT AND PUNISHMENT OF JUDAS EXAMINED.

CONSIDERABLE reference has been made in the writings of Modern Infidels, to the narratives of the Evangelists respecting Judas, his guilt and his punishment. They have said, that as Christ came into the world in order to be crucified, as this was an appointed and foretold end, the means to that end must also have been ordained. If God, therefore, ordained the means at all, they must have been those very means which were employed; else the purposes of God in this case would have been thwarted. They infer from this that the sin of Judas was absolutely necessary to the accomplishment of the divine purpose. From this fact, they infer farther, that Judas deserved credit and favor for his act of treachery; that God being the prime author of the act, it could not in itself have been sinful; and that the punishment of Judas was undeserved, because inflicted for the commission of an act, either meritorious in itself, or else unavoidable on his part.

They affirm that his act was highly meritorious as being the completion of God's purposes, as taught in the Bible. Yet they object that he is stated to have " gone to his own place," and he is represented as having fallen "by transgression." This is represented as an unaccountable and mysterious contradiction, whereby the Sacred Volume involves itself in an extricable difficulty. That the objections urged against the whole Scriptural narrative respect

ing the crime and punishment of Judas are acute and specious, is not denied. The following remarks may serve to show the weakness of those objections.

It is admitted, in the first place, that the prophecies of the Old Testament, as well as the declarations of Christ himself, rendered it absolutely necessary that he should have been betrayed and crucified by some means. The sufferings and death of Christ were the great object of his entrance into the world; so that by these means he might obtain salvation for fallen man. So minute and special are these prophecies, as recorded in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, that we must either deny the truth of prophecy, or else admit its distinct demands for the events which actually occurred. He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death." Christ most explicitly declared that he should be betrayed by men, and the third day rise again. He even designated the person who was to be the agent in compassing these events-he that dipped with him into the dish.

Now so important an event as the death of Christ would scarcely be overlooked by the prophets. As the design of prophecy was to furnish an evidence of the truth of the Bible, the most striking events would naturally be selected to accomplish that purpose. Such an event was the death of the Redeemer. Hence the prophets of the Old Testament made ample reference to it; and hence Christ himself took occasion to refer to it in the most distinct manner. There is no event more clearly demanded, by the most frequent and distinct prophecies, than the last scenes connected with the Saviour's abode on earth, preceding and accompanying his death.

All these distinct prophecies of course made it absolutely necessary for these events to occur precisely as foretold;

else the declarations of both prophets and Christ would have been chargeable with falsehood. As, now, the fulfilment of the prophecy is one of the strongest evidences of the divinity of the Scriptures, so the failure of its fulfilment would have afforded the most certain evidence of the imposture and deceit. It would have been a great point in itself, therefore, that Christ should be betrayed; aside from the immediate results which followed from that event. And supposing that the means which were employed to accomplish it had failed, some other means would inevitably have been employed to bring it to pass. If the treachery and faithlessness of Judas had not been the agent in the case, some other treachery and some other traitor would undoubtedly have been found, which would have led on successfully to the desired result. The end had been firmly decreed, and the means to produce that end, must be obtained; and the omnipotence of God would necessarily be employed to produce some means suited to the demand.

Yet we believe that Judas was perfectly free, when yielding to the temptation which induced him to betray his Master. That he was tempted in this case is plainly affirmed by the Evangelists, who say, that Satan entered into him. The nature of the temptation may, à priori, be assigned; for Satan adapts every temptation to the peculiar weakness of his victim. In this case we have reason to believe that he addressed himself to Judas' avarice, which seems to have been his besetting sin, from his willingness to carry the purse and handle the money of the Apostles. Therefore he bargained for the thirty pieces of silver, as the chosen fruit of his baseness. But that he was perfectly free in this case of temptation, we think is plain. By free, we mean that he possessed the power to resist this temptation, in view of other existing mo

tives which were present to his recollection. Hence Christ himself regarded him as free, and addresses him as such-" what thou doest, do quickly." Judas is here spoken of as a free actor, as an independent agent, who does a deed on his own responsibility, and by the employment of his own free faculties. Though he was the agent in bringing about an inevitable event, yet we are persuaded, that in acting as the agent in such a case, he was unconstrained and free. He could have remained faithful and upright, had he wished so to do. He could have continued a chosen apostle, and after the resurrection of Christ, have borne onward the standard of the cross through the world. And, on the contrary, he possessed the power of yielding to the tempter, of forsaking and be traying his noble friend, and thus aid in the consummation of an otherwise inevitable event. This latter choice he made, as his mournful history records.

This position is confirmed by the fact that Judas had always been treated by Christ and his apostles, as if he was expected to remain faithful. His treachery was never anticipated or presumed during the whole period previous to the Last Supper. He had received from Christ the exalted commission of the Apostleship. Chosen out from among the millions of his fellow Jews, to be the intimate and bosom companion of the Saviour of the world, nothing seemed more unnatural than that he should prove unworthy of his trust. He had been permitted to follow Christ, to hear his sublime instructions, to behold his astounding miracles, perchance to partake himself in the exercise of miraculous powers. Though Christ foreknew his defection, he seemed, as it were, to banish the dreadful truth from his thoughts; at least, to expel it entirely from his lips. He speaks to his disciples collectively, addresses them the richest and noblest consolations without restric