asleep from fatigue and sorrow. Jesus aroused them, and informed them that the hour of his betrayal was arrived.

Scarcely had he spoken when Judas appeared at the head of a tumultuous and armed band; he advanced towards Jesus and gave him the treacherous kiss which was to be the signal for the rest, who immediately surrounded and secured him. Peter at first boldly prepared for resistance; he drew his sword and smote off the right ear of one of the servants of the High Priest, but he was severely rebuked by his master, who by a miraculous touch healed the wounded person, and then suffered himself to be bound and led away as a malefactor, merely saying, "Be ye come out as against a thief, with swords and staves? When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness." When the disciples heard this saying, they all forsook him and fled, as had been foretold by the prophet Zechariah, in words which Christ himself quoted, "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones."

The soldiers led Jesus to the house of Annas, the late High Priest, who was father-in-law to Caiaphas, "the actual possessor of the office. On the road they overwhelmed him with insults and indignities, as had been foretold by the prophet Isaiah. "He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not."

On their arrival at the house of Annas, they found the Sanhedrim sitting in anxious expectation of the result. When Jesus was brought in, the High Priest asked him several questions respecting his doctrine and discipline, trusting to found a charge of heresy on his answers. Jesus in reply stated that he had always taught his disciples publicly, saying, “I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing. Why askest thou me? ask them which heard me what I have said unto them: behold, they know what I said."

Notwithstanding the modesty and justice of this reply, one of the officers smote Jesus a blow with the

palm of his hand, exclaiming, " Answerest thou the High Priest so?" Our Lord meekly remonstrated, "If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou me?"

The Sanhedrim, unable to found any charge on the discreet answers of the prisoner, eagerly sought for some evidence against him, but for some time they were unsuccessful, until at length two witnesses. deposed, "This fellow said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days." " As this of itself proved nothing, Jesus made no reply. At length the High Priest put a question which, if answered in the affirmative, would afford a pretext for accusing him of blasphemy, and if in the negative, as an impostor and deceiver of the people. He said, "I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God."

Thus adjured, Jesus immediately asserted his divinity by answering in the affirmative, and saying, "Thou hast said; nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven."

The High Priest immediately exclaimed that "he had spoken blasphemy," and in an affected transport of rage rent his clothes, which it was not lawful for a

High Priest to do. The rest of the Sanhedrim imitated his violence; they pronounced Jesus guilty of death, commanded that he should be brought up the next morning to receive his sentence, and then left him to the mercy of the guard, who made it the cruel diversion of that night to use him with the vilest indignities and blasphemies.

Whilst these fearful scenes of cruelty and injustice were acted in the court, Peter and John, the latter of whom was known to some of the family, procured admittance into the hall, where they waited to see what was likely to be determined respecting their master. They were greatly terrified when they saw the insults and cruelties exhibited towards him, by the enraged Sanhedrim and their attendants; so that Peter, being thrice accused of having been his disciple, as often stoutly denied it, and, rather than not be believed, confirmed his last denial by a profusion of oaths. At this moment the crowing of the cock reminded him of the prediction of Jesus; but that which gave him a more vivid feeling of his cowardice and perfidy was a pitying look which he received at that instant from his gracious and forgiving Saviour; the tears gushed into his eyes, he was forced to leave the hall, to go and hide his grief and shame.

CHAPTER XVI.

PASSION WEEK.

Friday.

EARLY on the morning after the first examination of Jesus, the Sanhedrim, having assembled in their usual court, sent for our Lord, in order to ratify their sentence of the preceding night. Though they might have put him to death, as they did the first martyr Stephen, on their own authority; they resolved to have the sentence confirmed by the Roman governor, for the purpose of throwing the odium of his condemnation on Pilate, if they should ever be called to account for the glaring injustice of the trial, and also for the purpose of inflicting upon him a more cruel and ignominious death than their own law allowed. They had themselves sentenced him for blasphemy, but they were anxious that Pilate should convict him of treason.

Judas was not prepared for the consequences of his treachery; when he saw that the Sanhedrim had determined on the murder of his gracious master, he