Chapter 8

♦“ap-approaching” replaced with “approaching”Gethsemane.——This place has already been alluded to in the description of Mount Olivet. [Note onp.96.] From the same source I extract a further brief notice of the present aspect of this most holy ground. “Proceeding along the valley of Kedron, at the foot of Mount Olivet, is the garden of Gethsemane: an even plat of ground, not above fifty-seven yards square, where are shown some old olive trees, supposed to identify the spot to which our Lord was wont to repair. Johnxviii.1, 2.” [Modern Traveler, Palestine,p.156.] It is also remarked byDr.Richardson, [p.78 of the same work,] that “the gardens of Gethsemane are still in the sort of a ruined cultivation; the fences are broken down, and the olive trees decaying, as if the hand that dressed and fed them was withdrawn.”The etymology and meaning of the name Gethsemane, is given by Lightfoot, (Centuria Chorographica in Matthew, chapter 41.) The name is derived from the product of the tree which was so abundantly raised there, and which gave name also to the mountain. Gethsemane is compounded ofגת, “a press,” andשמנא, “olive oil,”——“an oil-press;” because the oil was pressed out and manufactured on the spot where the olive was raised.Ten o’clock.——This I conclude to have been about the time, because (in Matthewxxvi.20) it is said that it was evening already, (that is, about 6 o’clock,) when Jesus sat down to supper with his disciples, and allowing time on the one hand for the events at the supper-table and on the walk, as well as those in the garden,——and on the other hand for those which took place before midnight, (cock crowing,) we must fix the time as I have above.The glare of torches.——John (xviii.3.) is the only evangelist who brings in this highly picturesque circumstance of the equipment of the band with the means of searching the dark shades and bowers of the garden.HIS THREE-FOLD DENIAL.Peter, however, had he not so soon forgot his zealous attachment to Jesus, as to leave him in such hands, without farther knowledge of his fate; but as soon as he was satisfied that the pursuitof the disciples was given up, he, in company with John, followed the band of officers at safe distance, and ascertained whither they were carrying the captive. After they had seen the train proceed to the palace of the high priest, they proceeded directly to the same place. Here John, being known to the high priest, and having friends in the family, went boldly in, feeling secure by his friendship in that quarter, against any danger in consequence of his connection with Jesus. Being known to the servant girl who kept the door, as a friend of the family, he got in without difficulty, and had also influence enough to get leave to introduce Peter, as a friend of his who had some curiosity to see what was going on. Peter, who had stood without the door waiting for the result of John’s maneuver, was now brought into the palace, and walked boldly into the hall where the examination of Jesus was going on, hoping to escape entirely unnoticed by keeping in the dimly lighted parts of the hall, by which he would be secure, at the same time that he would the better see what was going on near the lights. Standing thus out of the way in the back part of the room, he might have witnessed the whole without incurring the notice of anybody. But the servants and others, who had been out over the damp valley of the Kedron after Jesus, feeling chilled with the walk, (for the long nights of that season are in Jerusalem frequently in strong contrast with the warmth of mid-day,) made up a good fire of coal in the back part of the hall, where they stood looking on. Peter himself being, too, no doubt thoroughly chilled with his long exposure to the cold night air, very naturally and unreflectingly came forward to the fire, where he sat down and warmed himself among the servants and soldiers. The bright light of the coals shining directly on his anxious face, those who stood by, noticing a stranger taking such interest in the proceedings, began to scrutinize him more narrowly. At last, the servant girl who had let him in at the door, with the inquisitive curiosity so peculiarly strong in her sex, knowing that he had come in with John as his particular acquaintance, and concluding that he was like him associated with Jesus, boldly said to him, “Thou also art one of this man’s disciples.” But Peter, like a true Galilean, as ready to lie as to fight, thinking only of the danger of the recognition, at once denied him, forgetting the lately offensive prediction, in his sudden alarm. He said before them all, “Woman, I am not!——I know him not; neither do I understand what thou sayest.” Thisbold and downright denial silenced the forward impertinence of the girl, and for a time may have quieted the suspicions of those around. Peter, however, startled by this sudden attack, all at once perceived the danger into which he had unthinkingly thrust himself, and drawing back from his prominent station before the fire, which had made him so unfortunately conspicuous, went out into the porch of the building, notwithstanding the cold night air, preferring the discomfort of the exposure, to the danger of his late position. As he walked there in the open air, he heard the note of the cock sounding clear, through the stillness of midnight, announcing the beginning of the third watch. The sound had a sad import to him, and must have recalled to his mind some thought of his master’s warning; but before it could have made much impression, it was instantly banished altogether from his mind, by a new alarm from the inquisitiveness of some of the retainers of the palace, who, seeing a stranger lurking in a covert manner about the building at that time of night, very naturally felt suspicious enough of him to examine his appearance narrowly. Among those who came about him, was another of those pert damsels who seem to have been very numerous and forward about the house of the head of the Jewish faith. She, after a satisfactory inspection of the suspicious person, very promptly informed those that were there also about him, “This fellow also was with Jesus of Nazareth.” Peter’s patience being at last worn out with the pertinacious annoyances of these spiteful lasses, not only flatly contradicted the positive assertion of the girl, but backed his words with an oath, which seems to have had the decisive effect of hushing his female accusers entirely, and he considered himself to have turned off suspicion for a time so effectually, that, after cooling himself sufficiently in the porch, being distracted with anxiety about the probable fate of his beloved Master, he at last ventured again into the great hall of the palace, where the examination of Jesus was still going on. Here he remained a deeply interested spectator and auditor for about an hour, without being disturbed, when some of the bystanders who were not so much interested in the affair before them as to be prevented by it from looking about them, had their attention again drawn to the stranger who had been an object of such suspicion. There were probably more than one that recognized the active and zealous follower of the Nazarene, as Peter had been in such constant attendance on him throughout hiswhole stay in Jerusalem. But no one seems to have cared to provoke an irascible Galilean by an accusation which he might resent in the characteristic manner of his countrymen; till another of the servants of the high priest, a relation of Malchus, whose ear Peter had cut off, after looking well at him, and being provoked at the impudence of such a vagabond in thrusting himself into the home of the very man whom he had so shockingly mutilated and so nearly murdered, determined to bring the offender to punishment, and speaking to his fellow-servants, he indignantly and confidently affirmed, “This fellow also was with him, for he is a Galilean.” And turning to Peter, whom he had seen in Gethsemane, when engaged at the time of the capture of Jesus, he imperiously asked him, “Did I not see thee in the garden with him?” And others, joining in the charge, said decidedly to him, “Surely thou art one of them also: for thy very speech, thy accent, unquestionably, betrays thee to be a Galilean.” Peter began at last to see that his situation was growing quite desperate, and finding that his distress about his Lord had brought him within a chance of the same fate, determined to extricate himself by as unscrupulously using his tongue in his own defense as he had before used his sword for his Master. Besides, he had already told two flat lies within about three hours, and it was not for a Galilean in such a pass to hesitate about one more, even though seconded by a perjury. For he then began to curse and to swear, saying, “Man, I know not what thou sayest.——I know not the man of whom ye speak.” And immediately, while he was yet speaking, the cock crew the second time. At that moment, the Lord turned and looked upon Peter, and at the same sound the conscience-stricken disciple turning towards his Lord, met that glance. And what a look! He who cannot imagine it for himself, cannot conceive it from the ideal picture of another; but its effect was sufficiently dramatic to impress the least picturesque imagination. As the Lord turned and looked upon him, Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the cock shall crow twice this night, thou shalt deny me thrice.” And thinking thereon, he went out, and wept bitterly. Tears of rebuked conceit,——of self-humbled pride, over fallen glory and sullied honor,——flowed down his manly cheeks. Where was now the fiery spirit once in word so ready to brave death, with all the low malice of base foes, for the sake of Jesus? Where was that unshaken steadiness, that dauntlessenergy that once won him from the lips of his Master, when first his searching eye fell on him, the name of theROCK,——that name by which again he had been consecrated as the mighty foundation-ROCKof the church of God? Was this the chief of the apostles?——the keeper of the keys of the kingdom of heaven?——binding and loosing on earth what should be bound or loosed in heaven? Where were the brave, high hopes of earthly glory to be won under the warlike banners of his kingly Master? Where was that Master and Lord? The hands of the rude were now laid on him, in insult and abuse,——his glories broken and faded,——his power vain for his own rescue from sufferings vastly greater than those so often relieved by him in others,——his followers dispirited and scattered,——disowning and casting out as evil the name they had so long adored. The haughty lords of Judaism were now exulting in their cruel victory, re-established in their dignity, and strengthened in their tyranny by this long-wished triumph over their deadly foe. He wept for bright hopes dimmed,——for crushed ambition,——but more than all, for broken faith,——for trampled truth,——and for the three-fold and perjured denial of his betrayed and forsaken Lord. Well might he weep——“There’s bliss in tears,When he who sheds them inly feelsSome lingering stain of early yearsEffaced by every drop that steals.The fruitless showers of worldly woeFall dark to earth and never rise;But tears that from repentance flow,In bright exhalement reach the skies.”The soldiers,&c.——It has been supposed by some that this armed force was a part of the Roman garrison which was always kept in Castle Antonia, close by the temple; (see note on page95;) but there is nothing in the expressions of either of the evangelists which should lead us to think so; on the contrary, their statement most distinctly specifies, that those concerned in the arrest were from a totally different quarter. Matthew (xxvi.47) describes them as “a great throng, with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people.” The whole expression implies a sort of half-mob of low fellows, servants and followers of the members of the Sanhedrim, accompanying the ordinary temple-guard, which was a mere band of Levite peace-officers under the priests, whose business it was to keep order in the courts of the temple——a duty hardly more honorable than that of a sweeper or “doorkeeper in the house of the Lord,” from which office, indeed, it was probably not distinct. These watchmen and porters, for they were no better, were allowed by the Roman government of the city and kingdom, a kind of contemptuous favor in bearing swords to defend from profane intrusion their holy shrine, which Gentile soldiers could not approach as guards, without violating the sanctity of the place. Such a body as these men and their chance associates, are therefore well and properly described by Matthew, as a “throng with swords and clubs;” but what intelligent man would ever have thought of characterizing in this way, a regular detachment of the stately and well-armed legion which maintained the dignity and power of the Roman governor of Judea? Mark (xiv.43) uses precisely the same expression as Matthew, to describe them: Luke (xxii.52) represents Jesus as speaking to “the chief priests andcaptains of the templeand the elders, who had come against him, saying, ‘Have you come out as against a thief, with swords and clubs?’” John(xviii.3) speaks of the band as made up in part of the servants of “the chief priests and Pharisees,”&c.So that the whole matter, unquestionably, was managed and executed entirely by the Jews; and the progress of the story shows that they did not call in the aid of the heathen secular power, until the last bloody act required a consummation which the ordinances of Rome forbade to the Jews, and then only did they summon the aid of the governor’s military force. Indeed, they were too careful in preserving their few peculiar secular privileges still left, to give up the smallest power of tyrannizing, permitted by their Roman lords.The long nights in contrast with the heat of the day.——It should be remembered, that according to a just calculation, these events happened in the month of March, when the air of Palestine is uncomfortably cold. Conder, in his valuable topographical compilation, says, “during the months of May, June, July and August, the sky is for the most part cloudless; but during the night, the earth is moistened with a copious dew. Sultry days are not unfrequently succeeded by intensely cold nights. To these sudden vicissitudes, references are made in the Old Testament. Genesisxxxi.40: Psalmcxxi.6.” [Modern Traveler, Palestine,p.14.]The cold season, (קורQor,) immediately following the true winter, (חרפHhoreph,) took in the latter part of the Hebrew month Shebeth, the whole of Adar, and the former half of Nisan; that is in modern divisions of time,——from the beginning of February to the beginning of April, according to theCalendarium Palestinae, in the Critica Biblica,Vol. III: but according to Jahn, (Archaeologia Biblica§ 21,) from themiddleof February to themiddleof April, the two estimates varying with the different views about the dates of the ancient Hebrew months.Galilean, ready to lie as to fight.——This may strike some, as rather too harsh a sentence to pass upon the general character of a whole people, but I believe I am borne out in this seeming abuse, by the steady testimony of most authorities to which I can readily refer. Josephus, whom I have already quoted in witness of their pugnacity, (on page102,) seems to have been so well pleased with this trait, and also with their “industry and activity,” which he so highly commends in them, as well as the richness of the natural resources of the country, all which characteristics, both of the people and the region, he made so highly available in their defense during the war with the Romans, that he does not think it worth while to criticise their morals, to which, indeed, the season of a bloody war gives a sort of license, that made such defects less prominent, being apparently rather characteristic of the times than the people. But there is great abundance of condemnatory testimony, which shows that the Galileans bore as bad a character among their neighbors, as my severest remark could imply. Numerous passages in the gospels and Acts show this so plainly, as to convey this general impression against them very decidedly. Kuinoel (on Matthewii.23) speaks strongly of their proverbially low moral character. “Allthe Galileans were so despised by the dwellers of Jerusalem and Judea, that when they wished to characterize a man as a low and outcast wretch, they called him a Galilean.” On other passages also, (as on Johnvii.52, and Matthewiv.17,) he repeats this intellectual and moral condemnation in similar terms. Beza and Grotius also, in commenting on these passages, speak of Galilee as “contempta regio.” Rosenmueller also, (on Johnvii.52,) says “Nullus, aiunt, Galilaeus unquam a Deo donatus est spiritu prophetico:gens est Deo despecta.” That is, “It was a saying among them, that no Galilean was ever indued with a spirit of prophecy: they are a peopledespised by God.” I might quote at great length from many commentators to the same effect, but these will serve as a specimen. It should be remarked, however, that the Galileans, though they might be worse than most Jews in their general character, were not very peculiar in their neglect of truth; for from the time of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to the present moment, the Asiatic races, generally, have been infamous for falsehood, and there are many modern travelers who are ready to testify that an Oriental, generally, when asked an indifferent question, will tell a lie at a venture, unless he sees some special personal advantage likely to result to him from telling the truth.Yet in minute legal observances, the Galileans were, for the most part, much more rigid in interpreting and following the law of Moses, than the inhabitants of Judea, as is abundantly shown by Lightfoot in his numerous Talmudic quotations, (Centuria Chorographicachapter 86,) where the comparison is, on many accounts, highly favorable to such of the Galileans as pretended to observe and follow the Jewish law at all.Thy accent betrays thee.——Lightfoot is very rich in happy illustrations of this passage, (Centuria Chorographicachapter 87.) He has drawn very largely here from the Talmudicwriters, who are quite amusing in the instances which they give of the dialectic differences between the Galileans and the Judeans. Several of the puns which they give, would not be accounted dull even in modern times, and indeed, the Galilean brogue seems to have been as well marked, and to have given occasion for nearly as much wit as that of Ireland. The Galileans, thus marked by dialect as well as by manners, held about the same place in the estimation of the pure Judean race, as the modern Irish do among those of Saxon-English tongue and blood; and we cannot better conceive of the scorn excited in the refined Jews by the idea of a Galilean prophet with his simple disciples, than by imagining the sort of impression that would be made, by a raw Irishman attempting the foundation of a new sect in London or Boston, with a dozen rough and uneducated workmen for his preachers and main supporters.The bright light of the fire shining on his face,&c.——This incident is taken from Lukexxii.56, where the expression in the common version is, “a certain maid saw him as he sat by thefire.” But in the original Greek this last word isφῶς, (phos,) which means “light,” and not “fire;” and it is translated here in this peculiar manner, because it evidently refers to the light of thefire, from its connection with the preceding verse, where it is said that “Peter sat down among them ‘before’ thefirewhich they had kindled;” the word fire in this passage being in the Greekπυρ, (pur,) which is never translated otherwise. But the unusual translation of the wordφῶς, by “fire” in the other verse, though it gives a just idea of Peter’s position, makes a common reader lose sight of the prominent reason of his detection, which was, that the “lightof the fire” shone on his face.In speaking of Peter’s fall and its attendant circumstances, Lampius (in Gospel of Johnxviii.17,) seems to be most especially scandalized by themeansthrough which Peter’s ruin was effected. “Sed abancillaCepham vinci, dedecus ejus auget. Quanta inconstantia! Qui in armatos ordines paulo ante irruperat nunc ad vocem levis mulierculae tremit. Si Adamo probrosum, quod a femina conjuge seductus erat, non minus Petro, quod ab ancilla.” That is, “But that Cephas should have been overcome by agirl, increases his disgrace. How great the change! He who, but a little before, had charged an armed host, now trembled at the voice of a silly woman. If it was a shame to Adam, that he had been seduced by his wife, it was no less so to Peter, that he was by a girl.”The cock crew.——By this circumstance, the time of the denial in all its parts is well ascertained. The first cock-crowing after the first denial marked the hour of midnight, and the second cock-crowing announced the first dawn of day. As Lampius says, “Altera haec eratαλεκτροφῶνια,praenuncia lucis, non tantum in terra, sed et in corde Petri, tenebris spississimis obsepto, mox iterum oriturae.” “Thiswas the second cock-crowing, the herald of light, soon to rise again, not only on earth, but also in the heart of Peter, now overspread with the thickest darkness.”And thinking thereon, he wept.——This expression is taken from Markxiv.72, and accords with our common translation, though very different from many others that have been proposed. The word thus variously rendered, is in the original Greek,επιβαλων, (epibalon,) and bears a great variety of definitions which can be determined only by its connections, in the passages where it occurs. Campbell says, “There are not many words in scripture which have undergone more interpretations than this term;” and truly the array of totally diverse renderings, each ably supported by many of the most learned Biblical scholars that ever lived, is truly appalling to the investigator. (1.) Those who support the common English translation are Kypke, Wetstein, Campbell and Bloomfield, and others quoted by the latter.——(2.) Another translation which has been ably defended is, “he beganto weep.” This is the expression in the common German translation, (Martin Luther’s,) “ER HOB AN ZU WEINEN.” It is also the version of the Vulgate, (“Coepit flere,”) the Syriac, Gothic, Persian, and Armenian translations, as Kuinoel and Heinsius observe, who also maintain this rendering.——(3.) Another is, “He proceededto weep,” (“Addens flevit.”) which is that of Grotius, LeClerc, Simon, Petavius and others.——(4.) Another is, “covering his head, he wept.” This seems to have begun with Theophylact, who has been followed by a great number, among whom Salmasius, Wolf, Suicer, Macknight, and Krebs, are the most prominent.——(5.) Another is, “rushing out, he wept.” This is maintained by Beza, Rosenmueller, Schleusner, Bretschneider and Wahl.——(6.) Another is, “Having looked at him,” (Jesus,) “he wept.” This is the version of Hammond and Palairet.——“Who shall decide when” so many “doctors disagree?” I should feel safest in leaving the reader, as Parkhurst does, to “consider and judge”for himself; but in defense of my own rendering, I would simply observe, that thecommon English versionis that which is most in accordance with the rules of grammar, and is best supported by classic usage, while the second and third are justly objected to by Bloomfield and Campbell as ungrammatical, and unsupported bytrulyparallel passages, notwithstanding the array of classical quotations byBp.♦Bloomfield and others; and the fourth and fifth equally deserve rejection for the very tame and cold expression which they make of it, the fourth also being ungrammatical like the second and third. The sixth definition also may be rejected on grammatical grounds, as well as for lack of authorities and classic usage to support such an elliptical translation.——For long and numerous discussions of all these points, see any or every one of the writers whose names I have cited in this note.♦“Blomfield” replaced with “Bloomfield”CHRIST’S CRUCIFIXION.From that moment we hear no more of the humbled apostle, till after the fatal consummation of his Redeemer’s sufferings. Yet he must have been a beholder of that awful scene. When the multitude of men and women followed the cross-bearing Redeemer down the vale of Calvary, mourning with tears and groans, Peter could not have sought to indulge in solitary grief. And since the son of Zebedee stood by the cross during the whole agony of Jesus, the other apostles probably had no more cause of fear than John, and Peter also might have stood near, among the crowd, without any danger of being further molested by those whom he had offended, since they now looked on their triumph as too complete to need any minor acts of vengeance, to consummate it over the fragments of the broken Nazarene sect. Still, it was insilentsorrow and horror that he gazed on this sight of woe, and the deep despair which now overwhelmed his bright dreams of glory was no longer uttered in the violent expressions to which his loquacious genius prompted him. He now had time and reason enough to apprehend the painfully literal meaning of the oft-repeated predictions of Christ about these sad events——predictions which once were so wildly unheeded or perversely misconstrued as best suited the ambitious disciples’ hopes of power, which was to be set up over all the civil, religious, and military tyrants of Palestine, and of which they were to be the chief partakers. These hopes all went out with the last breath of their crucified Lord, and when they turned away from that scene of hopeless woe, after taking a last look of the face that had so long been the source of light and truth to them, now fixed and ghastly in the last struggle of a horrible death, they must have felt that the delusive dream of years was now broken, and that they were but forlorn and desperate outcasts in the land which their proud thoughts once aspired to rule. What despairing anguish must have been theirs, as climbing the hillsidewith sad and slow steps, they looked back from its top down upon the cross, that might still be seen in the dark valley, though dim with the shades of falling night! Their Lord, their teacher, their guide, their friend,——hung there between the heavens and the earth, among thieves, the victim of triumphant tyranny; and they, owing their safety only to the contemptuous forbearance of his murderers, must now, strangers in a strange land, seek a home among those who scorned them.TheVALEof Calvary.——This expression will no doubt excite vast surprise in the minds of many readers, who have all their lives heard and talked ofMountCalvary, without once taking the pains to find out whether there ever was any such place. Such persons will, no doubt, find their amazement still farther increased, on learning that noMountCalvary is mentioned in any part of the Bible, nor in any ancient author.The whole account given of this name in the Bible, is in Lukexxiii.33, where in the common translation it is said that Christ was crucified in “the place called Calvary.” In the parallel passages in the other gospels, the Hebrew name only is given, Golgotha, which means simply “a skull.” (Matthewxxvii.33: Markxv.22: Johnxix.17.) This particular place does not seem to be named and designated in any part of the Old Testament, but a very clear idea of its general situation can be obtained, from the consideration of the fact, that there was a place beyond the walls of Jerusalem, where all the dead were buried, and whither all the carcasses of slain animals were carried and left to moulder. This was that part of the valley of the Kedron which was called the valley of Tophet, or the vale of the son of Hinnom. This is often alluded to as the place of dead bodies. (Jeremiahvii.32,&c.) Besides, all reason and analogy utterly forbid the supposition, that dead carcasses would be piled up on a “mount” or hill, to rot and send their effluvia all over the city in every favorable wind; while on the other hand, a deep valley like that of Hinnom would be a most proper place for carrying such offensive matters. Josephus, in his description of the temple, very particularly notices the fact, that all the blood and filth which flowed from the numerous sacrifices, was conveyed by a subterraneous channel or drain to this very valley.THE RESURRECTION.With such feelings they returned to Jerusalem, where the eleven, who were all Galileans, found places of abode with those of Christ’s followers who were dwellers in the city. Here they passed the Sabbath heavily and sorrowfully, no doubt, and their thoughts must now have reverted to their former business, to which it now became each one of them to return, since he who had called them from their avocations could now no more send them forth on his errands of love. On the day after the sabbath, while such thoughts and feelings must still have distressed them, almost as soon as they had risen, some of them received a sudden and surprising call from several of the alarmed women, who having faithfully ministered to all the necessities of Jesus during his life, had been preparing to do the last sad offices to his dead body. The strange story brought by these was, that having gone early in the morning to the sepulcher, in the vale of Calvary, with this great object, they had been horror-struck to find the place inwhich the body had been deposited on sabbath eve, now empty, notwithstanding the double security of the enormous rock which had closed the mouth of the cave, and the stout guard of Roman soldiers who were posted there by request of the Jews, to prevent expected imposition. On hearing this strange story, Peter and John, followed by Mary of Magdala, started at once for the sepulcher. As they made all possible haste, the youth of John enabled him to reach the place before his older companion; but Peter arrived very soon after him, and, outdoing his companion now in prompt and diligent examination, as he had before been outdone in bodily speed, he immediately made a much more thorough search of the spot, than John in his hurry and alarm had thought of. He had contented himself with looking down into the sepulcher, and having distinctly seen the linen clothes lying empty and alone, he went not in. But when Simon Peter came following him, he went into the sepulcher and saw the linen clothes lie; and the napkin that was about his head, not lying with the other clothes, but folded up carefully in a place by itself. Having thus made a thorough search, as this shows, into every nook and corner, he satisfied himself perfectly that the body had in some way or other been actually removed, and on his reporting this to his companion, he also came down into the cave, and made a similar examination, with the same result. The only conclusion to which these appearances brought their minds, was that some person, probably with the design of further insult and injury, had thus rifled the tomb, and dragged the naked body from its funeral vestments. For, as yet, they understood not the scripture, nor the words of Christ himself, that he must rise from the dead. The two disciples, therefore, overwhelmed with new distress, went away again to their own temporary home, to consult with the rest of the disciples, leaving Mary behind them, lingering in tears about the tomb.Some time after their return, but before they had been able to explain these strange appearances, Mary followed them home, and as soon as she found them, added to their amazement immensely, by a surprising story of her actually having seen Jesus himself, alive, in bodily form, who had conversed with her, and had distinctly charged her to tell his disciples, and Peter especially, that he would go before them into Galilee, where he would meet them. When she came and told them this, they were mourning and weeping. But when they had heard that he wasalive, though the story was confirmed with such a minute detail of attendant circumstances, and though assured by her that she had personally seen him, they yet believed not. So dark were their minds about even the possibility of his resurrection, that afterwards, when two of their own number, who had gone about seven miles into the country, to Emmaus, returned in great haste to Jerusalem, and told the disciples that they too had seen Jesus, and had a long talk with him, they would not believe even this additional proof, but supposed that they, in their credulous expectation, had suffered themselves to be imposed on by some one resembling Jesus in person, who chose to amuse himself by making them believe so palpable a falsehood. Yet some of them, even then, suffering their longing hopes to get the better of their prudent scepticism, were beginning to express their conviction of the fact, saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared unto Simon.” Of this last-mentioned appearance, no farther particulars are any where given, though it is barely mentioned in 1 Corinthiansxv.5. and it is impossible to give any certain account of the circumstances. While assembled at their evening meal, and thus discussing the various strange stories brought to their ears in such quick succession, after they had fastened the doors for security against interruption from the Jews, all at once, without any previous notice, Jesus himself appeared standing in the midst, and said, “Peace be unto you.” They seeing the mysterious object of their conversation, so strangely and suddenly present among them, while they were just discussing the possibility of his existence, were much frightened, and in the alarm of the moment supposed that they were beholding a disembodied spirit. But he soon calmed their terrors, and changed their fear into firm and joyful assurance, that he was indeed the same whom they had so long known, and to prove that the body now before them was the same which they had two days before seen fastened expiring to the cross, he showed them his hands, his feet, and his side, with the very marks which the spear and nails had made in them. And while they yet could not soberly believe for joy, and stood wondering, he, to show them that his body still performed the functions of life, and required the same support as theirs, asked them for a share of the food on the table, and taking some from their hands, he ate it before them. He then upbraided them with their unbelief and stupidity in not believing those who had seen him after he was risen from the dead. He recalled to theirminds his former repeated warnings of these very events, literally as they had been brought to pass. He said to them, “These are the words which I spake to you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.” Then opened he their understandings, that they might understand the scriptures. Then it was, that at last burst upon them the light so long shut out; they knew their own past blindness, and they saw in the clear distinctness of reality, all his repeated predictions of his humiliation, suffering, death, resurrection, and of their cowardice and desertion, brought before them in one glance, and made perfectly consistent with each other and with the result. So that, amid the rejoicings of new hope born from utter despair, at the same time expired their vain and idle notion of earthly glory and power under his reign. Their Master had passed through all this anguish and disgrace, and come back to them from the grave; yet, though thus vindicating his boundless power, he did not pretend to use the least portion of it in avenging on his foes all the cruelties which he had suffered from their hands. They could not hope, then, for a better fate, surely, than his; they were to expect only similar labors, rewarded with similar sufferings and death.THE MEETING ON THE LAKE.After this meeting with him, they saw him again repeatedly, but no incident, relating particularly to the subject of this memoir, occurred on either of these occasions, except at the scene on lake Tiberias, so fully and graphically given by John, in the last chapter of his gospel. It seems that at that time, the disciples had, in accordance with the earliest command of Jesus after his resurrection, gone into Galilee to meet him there. The particular spot where this incident took place was probably near Capernaum and Bethsaida, among their old familiar haunts. Peter at this time residing at his home in Capernaum, it would seem, very naturally, while waiting for the visit which Christ had promised them, sought to pass the time as pleasantly as possible in his old business, from which he had once been called to draw men into the grasp of the gospel. With him at this time, were Thomas, or Didymus, and Nathanael, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples, whether of the eleven or not, is not known. On his telling them that he was going out a fishing, they, allured also by old habits and a desire to amuse themselves in a useful way, declaredthat they also would go with him. They went forth accordingly, and taking the fishing-boat, pushed off in the evening as usual, the night being altogether the best time for catching the fish, because the lake not then being constantly disturbed by passing vessels, the fish are less disposed to keep themselves in the depths of the waters, but feeling bolder in the stillness, rise to the surface within reach of the watchful fisherman. But on this occasion, from something peculiar in the state of the air or water, the fish did not come within the range of the net; and that night they caught nothing. Having given up the fruitless effort, they were towards morning heavily working in towards the shore, and were about a hundred yards from it, when they noticed some person who stood on the land; but in the gray light of morning his person could not be distinguished. This man called to them in a friendly voice, as soon as they came within hailing distance, crying out in a free and familiar way, “Boys! have you anything to eat?” To which they answered “No.” The unknown friend then called to them in a confident tone, telling them to cast the net on the right side of the ship, and they should find plenty. They cast accordingly, and on closing and drawing the net, were not able to pull it in, for the weight of the fishes taken in it. In a moment flashed on the ready mind of John, the remembrance of the former similar prodigy wrought at the word of Jesus near the same spot, and he immediately recognized in the benevolent stranger, his Lord. Turning to Simon, therefore, who had been too busy tugging at the net to think of the meaning of the miracle, he said to him, “It is the Lord.” Conviction burst on him with equal certainty as on his companion, and giving way to his natural headlong promptitude in action, he leaped at once into the water, after girding his great coat around him, and by partly swimming and partly wading through the shallows, he soon reached the shore, where his loved and long-expected Master was. At the same time, with as little delay as possible, the rest of them, leaving their large vessel probably on account of the shallows along that part of the coast, came ashore in a little skiff, dragging the full net behind them. In this they showed their considerate prudence, for had they all in the first transport of impatience followed Peter, and left boat and net together at that critical moment, the net would have loosened and the fishes have escaped; thus making the kind miracle of no effect by their carelessness. As soon as they were come to land they saw Jesus placed composedlyby a fire of coals which he had made, and on which he had designed to cook for their common entertainment, some fish previously caught, dished with some bread. Jesus without ceremony ordered them to come and bring some of the fish they had just caught. Simon Peter now mindful of his late heedless desertion of his comrades in the midst of their worst labor, stepped forward zealously, and, unassisted, dragged the heavy net out of the water; and though on opening it they found one hundred and fifty-three large fishes in it, notwithstanding the weight, the net was not broken. When they had obeyed his command, and supplied the place of the fish already cooked on the fire by fresh ones from the net, Jesus in a kind and hearty tone invited them to come and breakfast with him on what he had prepared. The disciples, notwithstanding the readiness with which they had come ashore to their Master, still seem to have felt somewhat shy; not, however, because they had any solid doubt as to his really being the person they had supposed him, for no man durst say to him “who art thou?” knowing him to be the Lord. Perhaps it was not yet full day-light, which may account for their shyness and want of readiness in accepting his invitation. But Jesus, in order fully to assure them, comes and takes bread, and puts it into their hands, with a share of fish likewise to each. They now took hold heartily, and without scruple sat down around the fire to breakfast with him. So when they had done breakfast, as men are usually best disposed to be social after eating, he on this occasion addressed himself to Peter in words of reproof, warning and commission. He first inquired of him, “Simon, son of Jonah, lovest thou me more than these?” To this Peter readily replied, “Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.” Jesus then said to him, “Feed my lambs.” Peter had learned some humility by his late fall from truth and courage. Before, he had boldly professed a regard for Christ, altogether surpassing in extent and permanency the affection which the other disciples felt for him, and had, in the fullness of his self-sufficiency, declared that though all the rest should forsake him, yet would he abide by him, and follow him even to prison and to death. But now that high self-confidence had received a sad fall, and the remembrance of his late disgraceful conduct was too fresh in his mind to allow him any more to assume that tone of presumption. He therefore modestly confined his expression of attachment to the simple and humble reference to the all-knowing heart of his Divine Master,to which he solemnly and affectingly appealed as his faithful witness in this assertion of new and entire devotion to him, whom he had once so weakly denied and deserted. No more high-toned boastings——no more arrogant assertion of superior pretensions to fidelity and firmness; but a humble, submissive, beseeching utterance of devoted love, that sought no comparisons to enhance its merit, but in lowly confidence appealed to the searcher of hearts as the undeceivable testifier of his honesty and truth. Nor was his deep and renewed affection, thus expressed, disregarded; but Jesus accepting his purified self-sacrifice, at once in the same words both offered him the consoling pledge of his restoration to grace, and again charged him with the high commission, which, while it proved his Lord’s confidence, gave him the means of showing to all mankind the sincerity and permanency of his change of heart. From the words of the Messiah’s reply, he learned that the solid proof of his deserved restoration should be seen in his devotion to the work which that Messiah had begun; that by guiding, guarding and feeding the young and tender of Christ’s flock, when left again without their Master, he might set forth his new love. Already had Jesus, before that sad trial of their souls, in his parting, warning words to his near and dear ones, told them, “If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” And here, in practical comment on that former precept, did he give his restored apostle this test of unchanged love. So harmoniously and beautifully does the sacred record make precept answer and accord with precept. In the minute detail of mere common incident, we may wander and stagger bewildered among insignificant differences and difficulties; but the rule of action, the guide of life, leads steadily and clearly through every maze, uneffaced by the changes of order, time and place.“Boys.”——The Greek word here (παιδιαpaidia) has a neuter termination, and is applicable to persons of both sexes, like the English word “children,” which is here given in the common version. But Jerome’s Latin translation (the Vulgate) gives “pueri,” “boys,” as the just meaning in this place, and I have preferred it, as more in accordance with our usual forms of familiar address in such cases, than the one given in the common English version.Great coat.——This I consider as giving a better idea of the garment called in the Greekεπενδυτην, (ependuten,) which is derived from a verb which means “putting on over another garment,” and is of course described with more justice to the original by the English “great-coat,” or “over-coat,” than by “fisher’scoat,” as in the common translation. I suppose it was a rough outer dress designed as a protection against rain and spray, and which he put on in such a way, that hemight wade in it without the inconvenience of its hanging about his legs. It must have been a sort of “over all,” that he had pulled off while at work, andput onto wade in the water; for the verbδιαζωννυμι(diazonnumi) has also that meaning as well as “gird about,” and his object in thus “putting on his over alls” may have been to keep himself dry, by covering both his legs and body from the water; for it may have come down over the legs like a sort of outside trowsers, and being tied tight, would make a very comfortable protection against cold water. See Poole and Kuinoel on this passage, Johnxxi.7.Luther in his German translation has very queerly expressed this word, “GUERTETE ER DAS HEMDE UM SICH,” “he girt hisshirtabout him;” being led into this error probably, by taking the following sentence in too strong a sense, concluding that he was perfectlynaked. But I have already alluded (note on page101) to the peculiar force of this word in the Bible, nor can it mean anything but that he was without his outer garments; and it implies no more indecent exposure than in the case of Christ, when laying aside his garments to wash his disciples’ feet. Besides, I have shown that the etymology ofεπενδυτης(ependutes) will not allow any meaning to it, but that of an “outergarment”worn overother clothes.A little skiff.——The Greek word here isπλοιαριον, (ploiarion,) and means “asmallboat,” and is the diminution ofπλοιον, (ploion,) the word used in the third verse of the same chapter, as the name of the larger vessel in which they sailed, and which probably drew too much water to come close to the shore in this part of the lake, where it was probably shallow, so as to make it necessary for them to haul the net ashore with this little skiff, which seems to have been a sort of drag-boat to the larger vessel, kept for landing in such places.“Come andBREAKFAST.”——This is certainly a vast improvement on the common English version, which here gives the word “dine.” For it must strike an ordinary reader as a very earlydinnerat that time of the morning, (Johnxix.4,) and what settles the question is, that the Greek word here isαριστησατε, (aristesate,) which primarily and almost always was applied only to the eating of the earliest meal, or breakfast, being derived fromαριστον, “breakfast,” the first meal in the day, according to Homer and Xenophon.

♦“ap-approaching” replaced with “approaching”

♦“ap-approaching” replaced with “approaching”

♦“ap-approaching” replaced with “approaching”

Gethsemane.——This place has already been alluded to in the description of Mount Olivet. [Note onp.96.] From the same source I extract a further brief notice of the present aspect of this most holy ground. “Proceeding along the valley of Kedron, at the foot of Mount Olivet, is the garden of Gethsemane: an even plat of ground, not above fifty-seven yards square, where are shown some old olive trees, supposed to identify the spot to which our Lord was wont to repair. Johnxviii.1, 2.” [Modern Traveler, Palestine,p.156.] It is also remarked byDr.Richardson, [p.78 of the same work,] that “the gardens of Gethsemane are still in the sort of a ruined cultivation; the fences are broken down, and the olive trees decaying, as if the hand that dressed and fed them was withdrawn.”

The etymology and meaning of the name Gethsemane, is given by Lightfoot, (Centuria Chorographica in Matthew, chapter 41.) The name is derived from the product of the tree which was so abundantly raised there, and which gave name also to the mountain. Gethsemane is compounded ofגת, “a press,” andשמנא, “olive oil,”——“an oil-press;” because the oil was pressed out and manufactured on the spot where the olive was raised.

Ten o’clock.——This I conclude to have been about the time, because (in Matthewxxvi.20) it is said that it was evening already, (that is, about 6 o’clock,) when Jesus sat down to supper with his disciples, and allowing time on the one hand for the events at the supper-table and on the walk, as well as those in the garden,——and on the other hand for those which took place before midnight, (cock crowing,) we must fix the time as I have above.

The glare of torches.——John (xviii.3.) is the only evangelist who brings in this highly picturesque circumstance of the equipment of the band with the means of searching the dark shades and bowers of the garden.

HIS THREE-FOLD DENIAL.Peter, however, had he not so soon forgot his zealous attachment to Jesus, as to leave him in such hands, without farther knowledge of his fate; but as soon as he was satisfied that the pursuitof the disciples was given up, he, in company with John, followed the band of officers at safe distance, and ascertained whither they were carrying the captive. After they had seen the train proceed to the palace of the high priest, they proceeded directly to the same place. Here John, being known to the high priest, and having friends in the family, went boldly in, feeling secure by his friendship in that quarter, against any danger in consequence of his connection with Jesus. Being known to the servant girl who kept the door, as a friend of the family, he got in without difficulty, and had also influence enough to get leave to introduce Peter, as a friend of his who had some curiosity to see what was going on. Peter, who had stood without the door waiting for the result of John’s maneuver, was now brought into the palace, and walked boldly into the hall where the examination of Jesus was going on, hoping to escape entirely unnoticed by keeping in the dimly lighted parts of the hall, by which he would be secure, at the same time that he would the better see what was going on near the lights. Standing thus out of the way in the back part of the room, he might have witnessed the whole without incurring the notice of anybody. But the servants and others, who had been out over the damp valley of the Kedron after Jesus, feeling chilled with the walk, (for the long nights of that season are in Jerusalem frequently in strong contrast with the warmth of mid-day,) made up a good fire of coal in the back part of the hall, where they stood looking on. Peter himself being, too, no doubt thoroughly chilled with his long exposure to the cold night air, very naturally and unreflectingly came forward to the fire, where he sat down and warmed himself among the servants and soldiers. The bright light of the coals shining directly on his anxious face, those who stood by, noticing a stranger taking such interest in the proceedings, began to scrutinize him more narrowly. At last, the servant girl who had let him in at the door, with the inquisitive curiosity so peculiarly strong in her sex, knowing that he had come in with John as his particular acquaintance, and concluding that he was like him associated with Jesus, boldly said to him, “Thou also art one of this man’s disciples.” But Peter, like a true Galilean, as ready to lie as to fight, thinking only of the danger of the recognition, at once denied him, forgetting the lately offensive prediction, in his sudden alarm. He said before them all, “Woman, I am not!——I know him not; neither do I understand what thou sayest.” Thisbold and downright denial silenced the forward impertinence of the girl, and for a time may have quieted the suspicions of those around. Peter, however, startled by this sudden attack, all at once perceived the danger into which he had unthinkingly thrust himself, and drawing back from his prominent station before the fire, which had made him so unfortunately conspicuous, went out into the porch of the building, notwithstanding the cold night air, preferring the discomfort of the exposure, to the danger of his late position. As he walked there in the open air, he heard the note of the cock sounding clear, through the stillness of midnight, announcing the beginning of the third watch. The sound had a sad import to him, and must have recalled to his mind some thought of his master’s warning; but before it could have made much impression, it was instantly banished altogether from his mind, by a new alarm from the inquisitiveness of some of the retainers of the palace, who, seeing a stranger lurking in a covert manner about the building at that time of night, very naturally felt suspicious enough of him to examine his appearance narrowly. Among those who came about him, was another of those pert damsels who seem to have been very numerous and forward about the house of the head of the Jewish faith. She, after a satisfactory inspection of the suspicious person, very promptly informed those that were there also about him, “This fellow also was with Jesus of Nazareth.” Peter’s patience being at last worn out with the pertinacious annoyances of these spiteful lasses, not only flatly contradicted the positive assertion of the girl, but backed his words with an oath, which seems to have had the decisive effect of hushing his female accusers entirely, and he considered himself to have turned off suspicion for a time so effectually, that, after cooling himself sufficiently in the porch, being distracted with anxiety about the probable fate of his beloved Master, he at last ventured again into the great hall of the palace, where the examination of Jesus was still going on. Here he remained a deeply interested spectator and auditor for about an hour, without being disturbed, when some of the bystanders who were not so much interested in the affair before them as to be prevented by it from looking about them, had their attention again drawn to the stranger who had been an object of such suspicion. There were probably more than one that recognized the active and zealous follower of the Nazarene, as Peter had been in such constant attendance on him throughout hiswhole stay in Jerusalem. But no one seems to have cared to provoke an irascible Galilean by an accusation which he might resent in the characteristic manner of his countrymen; till another of the servants of the high priest, a relation of Malchus, whose ear Peter had cut off, after looking well at him, and being provoked at the impudence of such a vagabond in thrusting himself into the home of the very man whom he had so shockingly mutilated and so nearly murdered, determined to bring the offender to punishment, and speaking to his fellow-servants, he indignantly and confidently affirmed, “This fellow also was with him, for he is a Galilean.” And turning to Peter, whom he had seen in Gethsemane, when engaged at the time of the capture of Jesus, he imperiously asked him, “Did I not see thee in the garden with him?” And others, joining in the charge, said decidedly to him, “Surely thou art one of them also: for thy very speech, thy accent, unquestionably, betrays thee to be a Galilean.” Peter began at last to see that his situation was growing quite desperate, and finding that his distress about his Lord had brought him within a chance of the same fate, determined to extricate himself by as unscrupulously using his tongue in his own defense as he had before used his sword for his Master. Besides, he had already told two flat lies within about three hours, and it was not for a Galilean in such a pass to hesitate about one more, even though seconded by a perjury. For he then began to curse and to swear, saying, “Man, I know not what thou sayest.——I know not the man of whom ye speak.” And immediately, while he was yet speaking, the cock crew the second time. At that moment, the Lord turned and looked upon Peter, and at the same sound the conscience-stricken disciple turning towards his Lord, met that glance. And what a look! He who cannot imagine it for himself, cannot conceive it from the ideal picture of another; but its effect was sufficiently dramatic to impress the least picturesque imagination. As the Lord turned and looked upon him, Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the cock shall crow twice this night, thou shalt deny me thrice.” And thinking thereon, he went out, and wept bitterly. Tears of rebuked conceit,——of self-humbled pride, over fallen glory and sullied honor,——flowed down his manly cheeks. Where was now the fiery spirit once in word so ready to brave death, with all the low malice of base foes, for the sake of Jesus? Where was that unshaken steadiness, that dauntlessenergy that once won him from the lips of his Master, when first his searching eye fell on him, the name of theROCK,——that name by which again he had been consecrated as the mighty foundation-ROCKof the church of God? Was this the chief of the apostles?——the keeper of the keys of the kingdom of heaven?——binding and loosing on earth what should be bound or loosed in heaven? Where were the brave, high hopes of earthly glory to be won under the warlike banners of his kingly Master? Where was that Master and Lord? The hands of the rude were now laid on him, in insult and abuse,——his glories broken and faded,——his power vain for his own rescue from sufferings vastly greater than those so often relieved by him in others,——his followers dispirited and scattered,——disowning and casting out as evil the name they had so long adored. The haughty lords of Judaism were now exulting in their cruel victory, re-established in their dignity, and strengthened in their tyranny by this long-wished triumph over their deadly foe. He wept for bright hopes dimmed,——for crushed ambition,——but more than all, for broken faith,——for trampled truth,——and for the three-fold and perjured denial of his betrayed and forsaken Lord. Well might he weep——“There’s bliss in tears,When he who sheds them inly feelsSome lingering stain of early yearsEffaced by every drop that steals.The fruitless showers of worldly woeFall dark to earth and never rise;But tears that from repentance flow,In bright exhalement reach the skies.”

HIS THREE-FOLD DENIAL.

Peter, however, had he not so soon forgot his zealous attachment to Jesus, as to leave him in such hands, without farther knowledge of his fate; but as soon as he was satisfied that the pursuitof the disciples was given up, he, in company with John, followed the band of officers at safe distance, and ascertained whither they were carrying the captive. After they had seen the train proceed to the palace of the high priest, they proceeded directly to the same place. Here John, being known to the high priest, and having friends in the family, went boldly in, feeling secure by his friendship in that quarter, against any danger in consequence of his connection with Jesus. Being known to the servant girl who kept the door, as a friend of the family, he got in without difficulty, and had also influence enough to get leave to introduce Peter, as a friend of his who had some curiosity to see what was going on. Peter, who had stood without the door waiting for the result of John’s maneuver, was now brought into the palace, and walked boldly into the hall where the examination of Jesus was going on, hoping to escape entirely unnoticed by keeping in the dimly lighted parts of the hall, by which he would be secure, at the same time that he would the better see what was going on near the lights. Standing thus out of the way in the back part of the room, he might have witnessed the whole without incurring the notice of anybody. But the servants and others, who had been out over the damp valley of the Kedron after Jesus, feeling chilled with the walk, (for the long nights of that season are in Jerusalem frequently in strong contrast with the warmth of mid-day,) made up a good fire of coal in the back part of the hall, where they stood looking on. Peter himself being, too, no doubt thoroughly chilled with his long exposure to the cold night air, very naturally and unreflectingly came forward to the fire, where he sat down and warmed himself among the servants and soldiers. The bright light of the coals shining directly on his anxious face, those who stood by, noticing a stranger taking such interest in the proceedings, began to scrutinize him more narrowly. At last, the servant girl who had let him in at the door, with the inquisitive curiosity so peculiarly strong in her sex, knowing that he had come in with John as his particular acquaintance, and concluding that he was like him associated with Jesus, boldly said to him, “Thou also art one of this man’s disciples.” But Peter, like a true Galilean, as ready to lie as to fight, thinking only of the danger of the recognition, at once denied him, forgetting the lately offensive prediction, in his sudden alarm. He said before them all, “Woman, I am not!——I know him not; neither do I understand what thou sayest.” Thisbold and downright denial silenced the forward impertinence of the girl, and for a time may have quieted the suspicions of those around. Peter, however, startled by this sudden attack, all at once perceived the danger into which he had unthinkingly thrust himself, and drawing back from his prominent station before the fire, which had made him so unfortunately conspicuous, went out into the porch of the building, notwithstanding the cold night air, preferring the discomfort of the exposure, to the danger of his late position. As he walked there in the open air, he heard the note of the cock sounding clear, through the stillness of midnight, announcing the beginning of the third watch. The sound had a sad import to him, and must have recalled to his mind some thought of his master’s warning; but before it could have made much impression, it was instantly banished altogether from his mind, by a new alarm from the inquisitiveness of some of the retainers of the palace, who, seeing a stranger lurking in a covert manner about the building at that time of night, very naturally felt suspicious enough of him to examine his appearance narrowly. Among those who came about him, was another of those pert damsels who seem to have been very numerous and forward about the house of the head of the Jewish faith. She, after a satisfactory inspection of the suspicious person, very promptly informed those that were there also about him, “This fellow also was with Jesus of Nazareth.” Peter’s patience being at last worn out with the pertinacious annoyances of these spiteful lasses, not only flatly contradicted the positive assertion of the girl, but backed his words with an oath, which seems to have had the decisive effect of hushing his female accusers entirely, and he considered himself to have turned off suspicion for a time so effectually, that, after cooling himself sufficiently in the porch, being distracted with anxiety about the probable fate of his beloved Master, he at last ventured again into the great hall of the palace, where the examination of Jesus was still going on. Here he remained a deeply interested spectator and auditor for about an hour, without being disturbed, when some of the bystanders who were not so much interested in the affair before them as to be prevented by it from looking about them, had their attention again drawn to the stranger who had been an object of such suspicion. There were probably more than one that recognized the active and zealous follower of the Nazarene, as Peter had been in such constant attendance on him throughout hiswhole stay in Jerusalem. But no one seems to have cared to provoke an irascible Galilean by an accusation which he might resent in the characteristic manner of his countrymen; till another of the servants of the high priest, a relation of Malchus, whose ear Peter had cut off, after looking well at him, and being provoked at the impudence of such a vagabond in thrusting himself into the home of the very man whom he had so shockingly mutilated and so nearly murdered, determined to bring the offender to punishment, and speaking to his fellow-servants, he indignantly and confidently affirmed, “This fellow also was with him, for he is a Galilean.” And turning to Peter, whom he had seen in Gethsemane, when engaged at the time of the capture of Jesus, he imperiously asked him, “Did I not see thee in the garden with him?” And others, joining in the charge, said decidedly to him, “Surely thou art one of them also: for thy very speech, thy accent, unquestionably, betrays thee to be a Galilean.” Peter began at last to see that his situation was growing quite desperate, and finding that his distress about his Lord had brought him within a chance of the same fate, determined to extricate himself by as unscrupulously using his tongue in his own defense as he had before used his sword for his Master. Besides, he had already told two flat lies within about three hours, and it was not for a Galilean in such a pass to hesitate about one more, even though seconded by a perjury. For he then began to curse and to swear, saying, “Man, I know not what thou sayest.——I know not the man of whom ye speak.” And immediately, while he was yet speaking, the cock crew the second time. At that moment, the Lord turned and looked upon Peter, and at the same sound the conscience-stricken disciple turning towards his Lord, met that glance. And what a look! He who cannot imagine it for himself, cannot conceive it from the ideal picture of another; but its effect was sufficiently dramatic to impress the least picturesque imagination. As the Lord turned and looked upon him, Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the cock shall crow twice this night, thou shalt deny me thrice.” And thinking thereon, he went out, and wept bitterly. Tears of rebuked conceit,——of self-humbled pride, over fallen glory and sullied honor,——flowed down his manly cheeks. Where was now the fiery spirit once in word so ready to brave death, with all the low malice of base foes, for the sake of Jesus? Where was that unshaken steadiness, that dauntlessenergy that once won him from the lips of his Master, when first his searching eye fell on him, the name of theROCK,——that name by which again he had been consecrated as the mighty foundation-ROCKof the church of God? Was this the chief of the apostles?——the keeper of the keys of the kingdom of heaven?——binding and loosing on earth what should be bound or loosed in heaven? Where were the brave, high hopes of earthly glory to be won under the warlike banners of his kingly Master? Where was that Master and Lord? The hands of the rude were now laid on him, in insult and abuse,——his glories broken and faded,——his power vain for his own rescue from sufferings vastly greater than those so often relieved by him in others,——his followers dispirited and scattered,——disowning and casting out as evil the name they had so long adored. The haughty lords of Judaism were now exulting in their cruel victory, re-established in their dignity, and strengthened in their tyranny by this long-wished triumph over their deadly foe. He wept for bright hopes dimmed,——for crushed ambition,——but more than all, for broken faith,——for trampled truth,——and for the three-fold and perjured denial of his betrayed and forsaken Lord. Well might he weep——

“There’s bliss in tears,When he who sheds them inly feelsSome lingering stain of early yearsEffaced by every drop that steals.The fruitless showers of worldly woeFall dark to earth and never rise;But tears that from repentance flow,In bright exhalement reach the skies.”

“There’s bliss in tears,When he who sheds them inly feelsSome lingering stain of early yearsEffaced by every drop that steals.The fruitless showers of worldly woeFall dark to earth and never rise;But tears that from repentance flow,In bright exhalement reach the skies.”

“There’s bliss in tears,

When he who sheds them inly feels

Some lingering stain of early years

Effaced by every drop that steals.

The fruitless showers of worldly woe

Fall dark to earth and never rise;

But tears that from repentance flow,

In bright exhalement reach the skies.”

The soldiers,&c.——It has been supposed by some that this armed force was a part of the Roman garrison which was always kept in Castle Antonia, close by the temple; (see note on page95;) but there is nothing in the expressions of either of the evangelists which should lead us to think so; on the contrary, their statement most distinctly specifies, that those concerned in the arrest were from a totally different quarter. Matthew (xxvi.47) describes them as “a great throng, with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people.” The whole expression implies a sort of half-mob of low fellows, servants and followers of the members of the Sanhedrim, accompanying the ordinary temple-guard, which was a mere band of Levite peace-officers under the priests, whose business it was to keep order in the courts of the temple——a duty hardly more honorable than that of a sweeper or “doorkeeper in the house of the Lord,” from which office, indeed, it was probably not distinct. These watchmen and porters, for they were no better, were allowed by the Roman government of the city and kingdom, a kind of contemptuous favor in bearing swords to defend from profane intrusion their holy shrine, which Gentile soldiers could not approach as guards, without violating the sanctity of the place. Such a body as these men and their chance associates, are therefore well and properly described by Matthew, as a “throng with swords and clubs;” but what intelligent man would ever have thought of characterizing in this way, a regular detachment of the stately and well-armed legion which maintained the dignity and power of the Roman governor of Judea? Mark (xiv.43) uses precisely the same expression as Matthew, to describe them: Luke (xxii.52) represents Jesus as speaking to “the chief priests andcaptains of the templeand the elders, who had come against him, saying, ‘Have you come out as against a thief, with swords and clubs?’” John(xviii.3) speaks of the band as made up in part of the servants of “the chief priests and Pharisees,”&c.So that the whole matter, unquestionably, was managed and executed entirely by the Jews; and the progress of the story shows that they did not call in the aid of the heathen secular power, until the last bloody act required a consummation which the ordinances of Rome forbade to the Jews, and then only did they summon the aid of the governor’s military force. Indeed, they were too careful in preserving their few peculiar secular privileges still left, to give up the smallest power of tyrannizing, permitted by their Roman lords.

The long nights in contrast with the heat of the day.——It should be remembered, that according to a just calculation, these events happened in the month of March, when the air of Palestine is uncomfortably cold. Conder, in his valuable topographical compilation, says, “during the months of May, June, July and August, the sky is for the most part cloudless; but during the night, the earth is moistened with a copious dew. Sultry days are not unfrequently succeeded by intensely cold nights. To these sudden vicissitudes, references are made in the Old Testament. Genesisxxxi.40: Psalmcxxi.6.” [Modern Traveler, Palestine,p.14.]

The cold season, (קורQor,) immediately following the true winter, (חרפHhoreph,) took in the latter part of the Hebrew month Shebeth, the whole of Adar, and the former half of Nisan; that is in modern divisions of time,——from the beginning of February to the beginning of April, according to theCalendarium Palestinae, in the Critica Biblica,Vol. III: but according to Jahn, (Archaeologia Biblica§ 21,) from themiddleof February to themiddleof April, the two estimates varying with the different views about the dates of the ancient Hebrew months.

Galilean, ready to lie as to fight.——This may strike some, as rather too harsh a sentence to pass upon the general character of a whole people, but I believe I am borne out in this seeming abuse, by the steady testimony of most authorities to which I can readily refer. Josephus, whom I have already quoted in witness of their pugnacity, (on page102,) seems to have been so well pleased with this trait, and also with their “industry and activity,” which he so highly commends in them, as well as the richness of the natural resources of the country, all which characteristics, both of the people and the region, he made so highly available in their defense during the war with the Romans, that he does not think it worth while to criticise their morals, to which, indeed, the season of a bloody war gives a sort of license, that made such defects less prominent, being apparently rather characteristic of the times than the people. But there is great abundance of condemnatory testimony, which shows that the Galileans bore as bad a character among their neighbors, as my severest remark could imply. Numerous passages in the gospels and Acts show this so plainly, as to convey this general impression against them very decidedly. Kuinoel (on Matthewii.23) speaks strongly of their proverbially low moral character. “Allthe Galileans were so despised by the dwellers of Jerusalem and Judea, that when they wished to characterize a man as a low and outcast wretch, they called him a Galilean.” On other passages also, (as on Johnvii.52, and Matthewiv.17,) he repeats this intellectual and moral condemnation in similar terms. Beza and Grotius also, in commenting on these passages, speak of Galilee as “contempta regio.” Rosenmueller also, (on Johnvii.52,) says “Nullus, aiunt, Galilaeus unquam a Deo donatus est spiritu prophetico:gens est Deo despecta.” That is, “It was a saying among them, that no Galilean was ever indued with a spirit of prophecy: they are a peopledespised by God.” I might quote at great length from many commentators to the same effect, but these will serve as a specimen. It should be remarked, however, that the Galileans, though they might be worse than most Jews in their general character, were not very peculiar in their neglect of truth; for from the time of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to the present moment, the Asiatic races, generally, have been infamous for falsehood, and there are many modern travelers who are ready to testify that an Oriental, generally, when asked an indifferent question, will tell a lie at a venture, unless he sees some special personal advantage likely to result to him from telling the truth.

Yet in minute legal observances, the Galileans were, for the most part, much more rigid in interpreting and following the law of Moses, than the inhabitants of Judea, as is abundantly shown by Lightfoot in his numerous Talmudic quotations, (Centuria Chorographicachapter 86,) where the comparison is, on many accounts, highly favorable to such of the Galileans as pretended to observe and follow the Jewish law at all.

Thy accent betrays thee.——Lightfoot is very rich in happy illustrations of this passage, (Centuria Chorographicachapter 87.) He has drawn very largely here from the Talmudicwriters, who are quite amusing in the instances which they give of the dialectic differences between the Galileans and the Judeans. Several of the puns which they give, would not be accounted dull even in modern times, and indeed, the Galilean brogue seems to have been as well marked, and to have given occasion for nearly as much wit as that of Ireland. The Galileans, thus marked by dialect as well as by manners, held about the same place in the estimation of the pure Judean race, as the modern Irish do among those of Saxon-English tongue and blood; and we cannot better conceive of the scorn excited in the refined Jews by the idea of a Galilean prophet with his simple disciples, than by imagining the sort of impression that would be made, by a raw Irishman attempting the foundation of a new sect in London or Boston, with a dozen rough and uneducated workmen for his preachers and main supporters.

The bright light of the fire shining on his face,&c.——This incident is taken from Lukexxii.56, where the expression in the common version is, “a certain maid saw him as he sat by thefire.” But in the original Greek this last word isφῶς, (phos,) which means “light,” and not “fire;” and it is translated here in this peculiar manner, because it evidently refers to the light of thefire, from its connection with the preceding verse, where it is said that “Peter sat down among them ‘before’ thefirewhich they had kindled;” the word fire in this passage being in the Greekπυρ, (pur,) which is never translated otherwise. But the unusual translation of the wordφῶς, by “fire” in the other verse, though it gives a just idea of Peter’s position, makes a common reader lose sight of the prominent reason of his detection, which was, that the “lightof the fire” shone on his face.

In speaking of Peter’s fall and its attendant circumstances, Lampius (in Gospel of Johnxviii.17,) seems to be most especially scandalized by themeansthrough which Peter’s ruin was effected. “Sed abancillaCepham vinci, dedecus ejus auget. Quanta inconstantia! Qui in armatos ordines paulo ante irruperat nunc ad vocem levis mulierculae tremit. Si Adamo probrosum, quod a femina conjuge seductus erat, non minus Petro, quod ab ancilla.” That is, “But that Cephas should have been overcome by agirl, increases his disgrace. How great the change! He who, but a little before, had charged an armed host, now trembled at the voice of a silly woman. If it was a shame to Adam, that he had been seduced by his wife, it was no less so to Peter, that he was by a girl.”

The cock crew.——By this circumstance, the time of the denial in all its parts is well ascertained. The first cock-crowing after the first denial marked the hour of midnight, and the second cock-crowing announced the first dawn of day. As Lampius says, “Altera haec eratαλεκτροφῶνια,praenuncia lucis, non tantum in terra, sed et in corde Petri, tenebris spississimis obsepto, mox iterum oriturae.” “Thiswas the second cock-crowing, the herald of light, soon to rise again, not only on earth, but also in the heart of Peter, now overspread with the thickest darkness.”

And thinking thereon, he wept.——This expression is taken from Markxiv.72, and accords with our common translation, though very different from many others that have been proposed. The word thus variously rendered, is in the original Greek,επιβαλων, (epibalon,) and bears a great variety of definitions which can be determined only by its connections, in the passages where it occurs. Campbell says, “There are not many words in scripture which have undergone more interpretations than this term;” and truly the array of totally diverse renderings, each ably supported by many of the most learned Biblical scholars that ever lived, is truly appalling to the investigator. (1.) Those who support the common English translation are Kypke, Wetstein, Campbell and Bloomfield, and others quoted by the latter.——(2.) Another translation which has been ably defended is, “he beganto weep.” This is the expression in the common German translation, (Martin Luther’s,) “ER HOB AN ZU WEINEN.” It is also the version of the Vulgate, (“Coepit flere,”) the Syriac, Gothic, Persian, and Armenian translations, as Kuinoel and Heinsius observe, who also maintain this rendering.——(3.) Another is, “He proceededto weep,” (“Addens flevit.”) which is that of Grotius, LeClerc, Simon, Petavius and others.——(4.) Another is, “covering his head, he wept.” This seems to have begun with Theophylact, who has been followed by a great number, among whom Salmasius, Wolf, Suicer, Macknight, and Krebs, are the most prominent.——(5.) Another is, “rushing out, he wept.” This is maintained by Beza, Rosenmueller, Schleusner, Bretschneider and Wahl.——(6.) Another is, “Having looked at him,” (Jesus,) “he wept.” This is the version of Hammond and Palairet.——“Who shall decide when” so many “doctors disagree?” I should feel safest in leaving the reader, as Parkhurst does, to “consider and judge”for himself; but in defense of my own rendering, I would simply observe, that thecommon English versionis that which is most in accordance with the rules of grammar, and is best supported by classic usage, while the second and third are justly objected to by Bloomfield and Campbell as ungrammatical, and unsupported bytrulyparallel passages, notwithstanding the array of classical quotations byBp.♦Bloomfield and others; and the fourth and fifth equally deserve rejection for the very tame and cold expression which they make of it, the fourth also being ungrammatical like the second and third. The sixth definition also may be rejected on grammatical grounds, as well as for lack of authorities and classic usage to support such an elliptical translation.——For long and numerous discussions of all these points, see any or every one of the writers whose names I have cited in this note.

♦“Blomfield” replaced with “Bloomfield”

♦“Blomfield” replaced with “Bloomfield”

♦“Blomfield” replaced with “Bloomfield”

CHRIST’S CRUCIFIXION.From that moment we hear no more of the humbled apostle, till after the fatal consummation of his Redeemer’s sufferings. Yet he must have been a beholder of that awful scene. When the multitude of men and women followed the cross-bearing Redeemer down the vale of Calvary, mourning with tears and groans, Peter could not have sought to indulge in solitary grief. And since the son of Zebedee stood by the cross during the whole agony of Jesus, the other apostles probably had no more cause of fear than John, and Peter also might have stood near, among the crowd, without any danger of being further molested by those whom he had offended, since they now looked on their triumph as too complete to need any minor acts of vengeance, to consummate it over the fragments of the broken Nazarene sect. Still, it was insilentsorrow and horror that he gazed on this sight of woe, and the deep despair which now overwhelmed his bright dreams of glory was no longer uttered in the violent expressions to which his loquacious genius prompted him. He now had time and reason enough to apprehend the painfully literal meaning of the oft-repeated predictions of Christ about these sad events——predictions which once were so wildly unheeded or perversely misconstrued as best suited the ambitious disciples’ hopes of power, which was to be set up over all the civil, religious, and military tyrants of Palestine, and of which they were to be the chief partakers. These hopes all went out with the last breath of their crucified Lord, and when they turned away from that scene of hopeless woe, after taking a last look of the face that had so long been the source of light and truth to them, now fixed and ghastly in the last struggle of a horrible death, they must have felt that the delusive dream of years was now broken, and that they were but forlorn and desperate outcasts in the land which their proud thoughts once aspired to rule. What despairing anguish must have been theirs, as climbing the hillsidewith sad and slow steps, they looked back from its top down upon the cross, that might still be seen in the dark valley, though dim with the shades of falling night! Their Lord, their teacher, their guide, their friend,——hung there between the heavens and the earth, among thieves, the victim of triumphant tyranny; and they, owing their safety only to the contemptuous forbearance of his murderers, must now, strangers in a strange land, seek a home among those who scorned them.

CHRIST’S CRUCIFIXION.

From that moment we hear no more of the humbled apostle, till after the fatal consummation of his Redeemer’s sufferings. Yet he must have been a beholder of that awful scene. When the multitude of men and women followed the cross-bearing Redeemer down the vale of Calvary, mourning with tears and groans, Peter could not have sought to indulge in solitary grief. And since the son of Zebedee stood by the cross during the whole agony of Jesus, the other apostles probably had no more cause of fear than John, and Peter also might have stood near, among the crowd, without any danger of being further molested by those whom he had offended, since they now looked on their triumph as too complete to need any minor acts of vengeance, to consummate it over the fragments of the broken Nazarene sect. Still, it was insilentsorrow and horror that he gazed on this sight of woe, and the deep despair which now overwhelmed his bright dreams of glory was no longer uttered in the violent expressions to which his loquacious genius prompted him. He now had time and reason enough to apprehend the painfully literal meaning of the oft-repeated predictions of Christ about these sad events——predictions which once were so wildly unheeded or perversely misconstrued as best suited the ambitious disciples’ hopes of power, which was to be set up over all the civil, religious, and military tyrants of Palestine, and of which they were to be the chief partakers. These hopes all went out with the last breath of their crucified Lord, and when they turned away from that scene of hopeless woe, after taking a last look of the face that had so long been the source of light and truth to them, now fixed and ghastly in the last struggle of a horrible death, they must have felt that the delusive dream of years was now broken, and that they were but forlorn and desperate outcasts in the land which their proud thoughts once aspired to rule. What despairing anguish must have been theirs, as climbing the hillsidewith sad and slow steps, they looked back from its top down upon the cross, that might still be seen in the dark valley, though dim with the shades of falling night! Their Lord, their teacher, their guide, their friend,——hung there between the heavens and the earth, among thieves, the victim of triumphant tyranny; and they, owing their safety only to the contemptuous forbearance of his murderers, must now, strangers in a strange land, seek a home among those who scorned them.

TheVALEof Calvary.——This expression will no doubt excite vast surprise in the minds of many readers, who have all their lives heard and talked ofMountCalvary, without once taking the pains to find out whether there ever was any such place. Such persons will, no doubt, find their amazement still farther increased, on learning that noMountCalvary is mentioned in any part of the Bible, nor in any ancient author.

The whole account given of this name in the Bible, is in Lukexxiii.33, where in the common translation it is said that Christ was crucified in “the place called Calvary.” In the parallel passages in the other gospels, the Hebrew name only is given, Golgotha, which means simply “a skull.” (Matthewxxvii.33: Markxv.22: Johnxix.17.) This particular place does not seem to be named and designated in any part of the Old Testament, but a very clear idea of its general situation can be obtained, from the consideration of the fact, that there was a place beyond the walls of Jerusalem, where all the dead were buried, and whither all the carcasses of slain animals were carried and left to moulder. This was that part of the valley of the Kedron which was called the valley of Tophet, or the vale of the son of Hinnom. This is often alluded to as the place of dead bodies. (Jeremiahvii.32,&c.) Besides, all reason and analogy utterly forbid the supposition, that dead carcasses would be piled up on a “mount” or hill, to rot and send their effluvia all over the city in every favorable wind; while on the other hand, a deep valley like that of Hinnom would be a most proper place for carrying such offensive matters. Josephus, in his description of the temple, very particularly notices the fact, that all the blood and filth which flowed from the numerous sacrifices, was conveyed by a subterraneous channel or drain to this very valley.

THE RESURRECTION.With such feelings they returned to Jerusalem, where the eleven, who were all Galileans, found places of abode with those of Christ’s followers who were dwellers in the city. Here they passed the Sabbath heavily and sorrowfully, no doubt, and their thoughts must now have reverted to their former business, to which it now became each one of them to return, since he who had called them from their avocations could now no more send them forth on his errands of love. On the day after the sabbath, while such thoughts and feelings must still have distressed them, almost as soon as they had risen, some of them received a sudden and surprising call from several of the alarmed women, who having faithfully ministered to all the necessities of Jesus during his life, had been preparing to do the last sad offices to his dead body. The strange story brought by these was, that having gone early in the morning to the sepulcher, in the vale of Calvary, with this great object, they had been horror-struck to find the place inwhich the body had been deposited on sabbath eve, now empty, notwithstanding the double security of the enormous rock which had closed the mouth of the cave, and the stout guard of Roman soldiers who were posted there by request of the Jews, to prevent expected imposition. On hearing this strange story, Peter and John, followed by Mary of Magdala, started at once for the sepulcher. As they made all possible haste, the youth of John enabled him to reach the place before his older companion; but Peter arrived very soon after him, and, outdoing his companion now in prompt and diligent examination, as he had before been outdone in bodily speed, he immediately made a much more thorough search of the spot, than John in his hurry and alarm had thought of. He had contented himself with looking down into the sepulcher, and having distinctly seen the linen clothes lying empty and alone, he went not in. But when Simon Peter came following him, he went into the sepulcher and saw the linen clothes lie; and the napkin that was about his head, not lying with the other clothes, but folded up carefully in a place by itself. Having thus made a thorough search, as this shows, into every nook and corner, he satisfied himself perfectly that the body had in some way or other been actually removed, and on his reporting this to his companion, he also came down into the cave, and made a similar examination, with the same result. The only conclusion to which these appearances brought their minds, was that some person, probably with the design of further insult and injury, had thus rifled the tomb, and dragged the naked body from its funeral vestments. For, as yet, they understood not the scripture, nor the words of Christ himself, that he must rise from the dead. The two disciples, therefore, overwhelmed with new distress, went away again to their own temporary home, to consult with the rest of the disciples, leaving Mary behind them, lingering in tears about the tomb.Some time after their return, but before they had been able to explain these strange appearances, Mary followed them home, and as soon as she found them, added to their amazement immensely, by a surprising story of her actually having seen Jesus himself, alive, in bodily form, who had conversed with her, and had distinctly charged her to tell his disciples, and Peter especially, that he would go before them into Galilee, where he would meet them. When she came and told them this, they were mourning and weeping. But when they had heard that he wasalive, though the story was confirmed with such a minute detail of attendant circumstances, and though assured by her that she had personally seen him, they yet believed not. So dark were their minds about even the possibility of his resurrection, that afterwards, when two of their own number, who had gone about seven miles into the country, to Emmaus, returned in great haste to Jerusalem, and told the disciples that they too had seen Jesus, and had a long talk with him, they would not believe even this additional proof, but supposed that they, in their credulous expectation, had suffered themselves to be imposed on by some one resembling Jesus in person, who chose to amuse himself by making them believe so palpable a falsehood. Yet some of them, even then, suffering their longing hopes to get the better of their prudent scepticism, were beginning to express their conviction of the fact, saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared unto Simon.” Of this last-mentioned appearance, no farther particulars are any where given, though it is barely mentioned in 1 Corinthiansxv.5. and it is impossible to give any certain account of the circumstances. While assembled at their evening meal, and thus discussing the various strange stories brought to their ears in such quick succession, after they had fastened the doors for security against interruption from the Jews, all at once, without any previous notice, Jesus himself appeared standing in the midst, and said, “Peace be unto you.” They seeing the mysterious object of their conversation, so strangely and suddenly present among them, while they were just discussing the possibility of his existence, were much frightened, and in the alarm of the moment supposed that they were beholding a disembodied spirit. But he soon calmed their terrors, and changed their fear into firm and joyful assurance, that he was indeed the same whom they had so long known, and to prove that the body now before them was the same which they had two days before seen fastened expiring to the cross, he showed them his hands, his feet, and his side, with the very marks which the spear and nails had made in them. And while they yet could not soberly believe for joy, and stood wondering, he, to show them that his body still performed the functions of life, and required the same support as theirs, asked them for a share of the food on the table, and taking some from their hands, he ate it before them. He then upbraided them with their unbelief and stupidity in not believing those who had seen him after he was risen from the dead. He recalled to theirminds his former repeated warnings of these very events, literally as they had been brought to pass. He said to them, “These are the words which I spake to you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.” Then opened he their understandings, that they might understand the scriptures. Then it was, that at last burst upon them the light so long shut out; they knew their own past blindness, and they saw in the clear distinctness of reality, all his repeated predictions of his humiliation, suffering, death, resurrection, and of their cowardice and desertion, brought before them in one glance, and made perfectly consistent with each other and with the result. So that, amid the rejoicings of new hope born from utter despair, at the same time expired their vain and idle notion of earthly glory and power under his reign. Their Master had passed through all this anguish and disgrace, and come back to them from the grave; yet, though thus vindicating his boundless power, he did not pretend to use the least portion of it in avenging on his foes all the cruelties which he had suffered from their hands. They could not hope, then, for a better fate, surely, than his; they were to expect only similar labors, rewarded with similar sufferings and death.THE MEETING ON THE LAKE.After this meeting with him, they saw him again repeatedly, but no incident, relating particularly to the subject of this memoir, occurred on either of these occasions, except at the scene on lake Tiberias, so fully and graphically given by John, in the last chapter of his gospel. It seems that at that time, the disciples had, in accordance with the earliest command of Jesus after his resurrection, gone into Galilee to meet him there. The particular spot where this incident took place was probably near Capernaum and Bethsaida, among their old familiar haunts. Peter at this time residing at his home in Capernaum, it would seem, very naturally, while waiting for the visit which Christ had promised them, sought to pass the time as pleasantly as possible in his old business, from which he had once been called to draw men into the grasp of the gospel. With him at this time, were Thomas, or Didymus, and Nathanael, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples, whether of the eleven or not, is not known. On his telling them that he was going out a fishing, they, allured also by old habits and a desire to amuse themselves in a useful way, declaredthat they also would go with him. They went forth accordingly, and taking the fishing-boat, pushed off in the evening as usual, the night being altogether the best time for catching the fish, because the lake not then being constantly disturbed by passing vessels, the fish are less disposed to keep themselves in the depths of the waters, but feeling bolder in the stillness, rise to the surface within reach of the watchful fisherman. But on this occasion, from something peculiar in the state of the air or water, the fish did not come within the range of the net; and that night they caught nothing. Having given up the fruitless effort, they were towards morning heavily working in towards the shore, and were about a hundred yards from it, when they noticed some person who stood on the land; but in the gray light of morning his person could not be distinguished. This man called to them in a friendly voice, as soon as they came within hailing distance, crying out in a free and familiar way, “Boys! have you anything to eat?” To which they answered “No.” The unknown friend then called to them in a confident tone, telling them to cast the net on the right side of the ship, and they should find plenty. They cast accordingly, and on closing and drawing the net, were not able to pull it in, for the weight of the fishes taken in it. In a moment flashed on the ready mind of John, the remembrance of the former similar prodigy wrought at the word of Jesus near the same spot, and he immediately recognized in the benevolent stranger, his Lord. Turning to Simon, therefore, who had been too busy tugging at the net to think of the meaning of the miracle, he said to him, “It is the Lord.” Conviction burst on him with equal certainty as on his companion, and giving way to his natural headlong promptitude in action, he leaped at once into the water, after girding his great coat around him, and by partly swimming and partly wading through the shallows, he soon reached the shore, where his loved and long-expected Master was. At the same time, with as little delay as possible, the rest of them, leaving their large vessel probably on account of the shallows along that part of the coast, came ashore in a little skiff, dragging the full net behind them. In this they showed their considerate prudence, for had they all in the first transport of impatience followed Peter, and left boat and net together at that critical moment, the net would have loosened and the fishes have escaped; thus making the kind miracle of no effect by their carelessness. As soon as they were come to land they saw Jesus placed composedlyby a fire of coals which he had made, and on which he had designed to cook for their common entertainment, some fish previously caught, dished with some bread. Jesus without ceremony ordered them to come and bring some of the fish they had just caught. Simon Peter now mindful of his late heedless desertion of his comrades in the midst of their worst labor, stepped forward zealously, and, unassisted, dragged the heavy net out of the water; and though on opening it they found one hundred and fifty-three large fishes in it, notwithstanding the weight, the net was not broken. When they had obeyed his command, and supplied the place of the fish already cooked on the fire by fresh ones from the net, Jesus in a kind and hearty tone invited them to come and breakfast with him on what he had prepared. The disciples, notwithstanding the readiness with which they had come ashore to their Master, still seem to have felt somewhat shy; not, however, because they had any solid doubt as to his really being the person they had supposed him, for no man durst say to him “who art thou?” knowing him to be the Lord. Perhaps it was not yet full day-light, which may account for their shyness and want of readiness in accepting his invitation. But Jesus, in order fully to assure them, comes and takes bread, and puts it into their hands, with a share of fish likewise to each. They now took hold heartily, and without scruple sat down around the fire to breakfast with him. So when they had done breakfast, as men are usually best disposed to be social after eating, he on this occasion addressed himself to Peter in words of reproof, warning and commission. He first inquired of him, “Simon, son of Jonah, lovest thou me more than these?” To this Peter readily replied, “Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.” Jesus then said to him, “Feed my lambs.” Peter had learned some humility by his late fall from truth and courage. Before, he had boldly professed a regard for Christ, altogether surpassing in extent and permanency the affection which the other disciples felt for him, and had, in the fullness of his self-sufficiency, declared that though all the rest should forsake him, yet would he abide by him, and follow him even to prison and to death. But now that high self-confidence had received a sad fall, and the remembrance of his late disgraceful conduct was too fresh in his mind to allow him any more to assume that tone of presumption. He therefore modestly confined his expression of attachment to the simple and humble reference to the all-knowing heart of his Divine Master,to which he solemnly and affectingly appealed as his faithful witness in this assertion of new and entire devotion to him, whom he had once so weakly denied and deserted. No more high-toned boastings——no more arrogant assertion of superior pretensions to fidelity and firmness; but a humble, submissive, beseeching utterance of devoted love, that sought no comparisons to enhance its merit, but in lowly confidence appealed to the searcher of hearts as the undeceivable testifier of his honesty and truth. Nor was his deep and renewed affection, thus expressed, disregarded; but Jesus accepting his purified self-sacrifice, at once in the same words both offered him the consoling pledge of his restoration to grace, and again charged him with the high commission, which, while it proved his Lord’s confidence, gave him the means of showing to all mankind the sincerity and permanency of his change of heart. From the words of the Messiah’s reply, he learned that the solid proof of his deserved restoration should be seen in his devotion to the work which that Messiah had begun; that by guiding, guarding and feeding the young and tender of Christ’s flock, when left again without their Master, he might set forth his new love. Already had Jesus, before that sad trial of their souls, in his parting, warning words to his near and dear ones, told them, “If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” And here, in practical comment on that former precept, did he give his restored apostle this test of unchanged love. So harmoniously and beautifully does the sacred record make precept answer and accord with precept. In the minute detail of mere common incident, we may wander and stagger bewildered among insignificant differences and difficulties; but the rule of action, the guide of life, leads steadily and clearly through every maze, uneffaced by the changes of order, time and place.

THE RESURRECTION.

With such feelings they returned to Jerusalem, where the eleven, who were all Galileans, found places of abode with those of Christ’s followers who were dwellers in the city. Here they passed the Sabbath heavily and sorrowfully, no doubt, and their thoughts must now have reverted to their former business, to which it now became each one of them to return, since he who had called them from their avocations could now no more send them forth on his errands of love. On the day after the sabbath, while such thoughts and feelings must still have distressed them, almost as soon as they had risen, some of them received a sudden and surprising call from several of the alarmed women, who having faithfully ministered to all the necessities of Jesus during his life, had been preparing to do the last sad offices to his dead body. The strange story brought by these was, that having gone early in the morning to the sepulcher, in the vale of Calvary, with this great object, they had been horror-struck to find the place inwhich the body had been deposited on sabbath eve, now empty, notwithstanding the double security of the enormous rock which had closed the mouth of the cave, and the stout guard of Roman soldiers who were posted there by request of the Jews, to prevent expected imposition. On hearing this strange story, Peter and John, followed by Mary of Magdala, started at once for the sepulcher. As they made all possible haste, the youth of John enabled him to reach the place before his older companion; but Peter arrived very soon after him, and, outdoing his companion now in prompt and diligent examination, as he had before been outdone in bodily speed, he immediately made a much more thorough search of the spot, than John in his hurry and alarm had thought of. He had contented himself with looking down into the sepulcher, and having distinctly seen the linen clothes lying empty and alone, he went not in. But when Simon Peter came following him, he went into the sepulcher and saw the linen clothes lie; and the napkin that was about his head, not lying with the other clothes, but folded up carefully in a place by itself. Having thus made a thorough search, as this shows, into every nook and corner, he satisfied himself perfectly that the body had in some way or other been actually removed, and on his reporting this to his companion, he also came down into the cave, and made a similar examination, with the same result. The only conclusion to which these appearances brought their minds, was that some person, probably with the design of further insult and injury, had thus rifled the tomb, and dragged the naked body from its funeral vestments. For, as yet, they understood not the scripture, nor the words of Christ himself, that he must rise from the dead. The two disciples, therefore, overwhelmed with new distress, went away again to their own temporary home, to consult with the rest of the disciples, leaving Mary behind them, lingering in tears about the tomb.

Some time after their return, but before they had been able to explain these strange appearances, Mary followed them home, and as soon as she found them, added to their amazement immensely, by a surprising story of her actually having seen Jesus himself, alive, in bodily form, who had conversed with her, and had distinctly charged her to tell his disciples, and Peter especially, that he would go before them into Galilee, where he would meet them. When she came and told them this, they were mourning and weeping. But when they had heard that he wasalive, though the story was confirmed with such a minute detail of attendant circumstances, and though assured by her that she had personally seen him, they yet believed not. So dark were their minds about even the possibility of his resurrection, that afterwards, when two of their own number, who had gone about seven miles into the country, to Emmaus, returned in great haste to Jerusalem, and told the disciples that they too had seen Jesus, and had a long talk with him, they would not believe even this additional proof, but supposed that they, in their credulous expectation, had suffered themselves to be imposed on by some one resembling Jesus in person, who chose to amuse himself by making them believe so palpable a falsehood. Yet some of them, even then, suffering their longing hopes to get the better of their prudent scepticism, were beginning to express their conviction of the fact, saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared unto Simon.” Of this last-mentioned appearance, no farther particulars are any where given, though it is barely mentioned in 1 Corinthiansxv.5. and it is impossible to give any certain account of the circumstances. While assembled at their evening meal, and thus discussing the various strange stories brought to their ears in such quick succession, after they had fastened the doors for security against interruption from the Jews, all at once, without any previous notice, Jesus himself appeared standing in the midst, and said, “Peace be unto you.” They seeing the mysterious object of their conversation, so strangely and suddenly present among them, while they were just discussing the possibility of his existence, were much frightened, and in the alarm of the moment supposed that they were beholding a disembodied spirit. But he soon calmed their terrors, and changed their fear into firm and joyful assurance, that he was indeed the same whom they had so long known, and to prove that the body now before them was the same which they had two days before seen fastened expiring to the cross, he showed them his hands, his feet, and his side, with the very marks which the spear and nails had made in them. And while they yet could not soberly believe for joy, and stood wondering, he, to show them that his body still performed the functions of life, and required the same support as theirs, asked them for a share of the food on the table, and taking some from their hands, he ate it before them. He then upbraided them with their unbelief and stupidity in not believing those who had seen him after he was risen from the dead. He recalled to theirminds his former repeated warnings of these very events, literally as they had been brought to pass. He said to them, “These are the words which I spake to you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.” Then opened he their understandings, that they might understand the scriptures. Then it was, that at last burst upon them the light so long shut out; they knew their own past blindness, and they saw in the clear distinctness of reality, all his repeated predictions of his humiliation, suffering, death, resurrection, and of their cowardice and desertion, brought before them in one glance, and made perfectly consistent with each other and with the result. So that, amid the rejoicings of new hope born from utter despair, at the same time expired their vain and idle notion of earthly glory and power under his reign. Their Master had passed through all this anguish and disgrace, and come back to them from the grave; yet, though thus vindicating his boundless power, he did not pretend to use the least portion of it in avenging on his foes all the cruelties which he had suffered from their hands. They could not hope, then, for a better fate, surely, than his; they were to expect only similar labors, rewarded with similar sufferings and death.

THE MEETING ON THE LAKE.

After this meeting with him, they saw him again repeatedly, but no incident, relating particularly to the subject of this memoir, occurred on either of these occasions, except at the scene on lake Tiberias, so fully and graphically given by John, in the last chapter of his gospel. It seems that at that time, the disciples had, in accordance with the earliest command of Jesus after his resurrection, gone into Galilee to meet him there. The particular spot where this incident took place was probably near Capernaum and Bethsaida, among their old familiar haunts. Peter at this time residing at his home in Capernaum, it would seem, very naturally, while waiting for the visit which Christ had promised them, sought to pass the time as pleasantly as possible in his old business, from which he had once been called to draw men into the grasp of the gospel. With him at this time, were Thomas, or Didymus, and Nathanael, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples, whether of the eleven or not, is not known. On his telling them that he was going out a fishing, they, allured also by old habits and a desire to amuse themselves in a useful way, declaredthat they also would go with him. They went forth accordingly, and taking the fishing-boat, pushed off in the evening as usual, the night being altogether the best time for catching the fish, because the lake not then being constantly disturbed by passing vessels, the fish are less disposed to keep themselves in the depths of the waters, but feeling bolder in the stillness, rise to the surface within reach of the watchful fisherman. But on this occasion, from something peculiar in the state of the air or water, the fish did not come within the range of the net; and that night they caught nothing. Having given up the fruitless effort, they were towards morning heavily working in towards the shore, and were about a hundred yards from it, when they noticed some person who stood on the land; but in the gray light of morning his person could not be distinguished. This man called to them in a friendly voice, as soon as they came within hailing distance, crying out in a free and familiar way, “Boys! have you anything to eat?” To which they answered “No.” The unknown friend then called to them in a confident tone, telling them to cast the net on the right side of the ship, and they should find plenty. They cast accordingly, and on closing and drawing the net, were not able to pull it in, for the weight of the fishes taken in it. In a moment flashed on the ready mind of John, the remembrance of the former similar prodigy wrought at the word of Jesus near the same spot, and he immediately recognized in the benevolent stranger, his Lord. Turning to Simon, therefore, who had been too busy tugging at the net to think of the meaning of the miracle, he said to him, “It is the Lord.” Conviction burst on him with equal certainty as on his companion, and giving way to his natural headlong promptitude in action, he leaped at once into the water, after girding his great coat around him, and by partly swimming and partly wading through the shallows, he soon reached the shore, where his loved and long-expected Master was. At the same time, with as little delay as possible, the rest of them, leaving their large vessel probably on account of the shallows along that part of the coast, came ashore in a little skiff, dragging the full net behind them. In this they showed their considerate prudence, for had they all in the first transport of impatience followed Peter, and left boat and net together at that critical moment, the net would have loosened and the fishes have escaped; thus making the kind miracle of no effect by their carelessness. As soon as they were come to land they saw Jesus placed composedlyby a fire of coals which he had made, and on which he had designed to cook for their common entertainment, some fish previously caught, dished with some bread. Jesus without ceremony ordered them to come and bring some of the fish they had just caught. Simon Peter now mindful of his late heedless desertion of his comrades in the midst of their worst labor, stepped forward zealously, and, unassisted, dragged the heavy net out of the water; and though on opening it they found one hundred and fifty-three large fishes in it, notwithstanding the weight, the net was not broken. When they had obeyed his command, and supplied the place of the fish already cooked on the fire by fresh ones from the net, Jesus in a kind and hearty tone invited them to come and breakfast with him on what he had prepared. The disciples, notwithstanding the readiness with which they had come ashore to their Master, still seem to have felt somewhat shy; not, however, because they had any solid doubt as to his really being the person they had supposed him, for no man durst say to him “who art thou?” knowing him to be the Lord. Perhaps it was not yet full day-light, which may account for their shyness and want of readiness in accepting his invitation. But Jesus, in order fully to assure them, comes and takes bread, and puts it into their hands, with a share of fish likewise to each. They now took hold heartily, and without scruple sat down around the fire to breakfast with him. So when they had done breakfast, as men are usually best disposed to be social after eating, he on this occasion addressed himself to Peter in words of reproof, warning and commission. He first inquired of him, “Simon, son of Jonah, lovest thou me more than these?” To this Peter readily replied, “Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.” Jesus then said to him, “Feed my lambs.” Peter had learned some humility by his late fall from truth and courage. Before, he had boldly professed a regard for Christ, altogether surpassing in extent and permanency the affection which the other disciples felt for him, and had, in the fullness of his self-sufficiency, declared that though all the rest should forsake him, yet would he abide by him, and follow him even to prison and to death. But now that high self-confidence had received a sad fall, and the remembrance of his late disgraceful conduct was too fresh in his mind to allow him any more to assume that tone of presumption. He therefore modestly confined his expression of attachment to the simple and humble reference to the all-knowing heart of his Divine Master,to which he solemnly and affectingly appealed as his faithful witness in this assertion of new and entire devotion to him, whom he had once so weakly denied and deserted. No more high-toned boastings——no more arrogant assertion of superior pretensions to fidelity and firmness; but a humble, submissive, beseeching utterance of devoted love, that sought no comparisons to enhance its merit, but in lowly confidence appealed to the searcher of hearts as the undeceivable testifier of his honesty and truth. Nor was his deep and renewed affection, thus expressed, disregarded; but Jesus accepting his purified self-sacrifice, at once in the same words both offered him the consoling pledge of his restoration to grace, and again charged him with the high commission, which, while it proved his Lord’s confidence, gave him the means of showing to all mankind the sincerity and permanency of his change of heart. From the words of the Messiah’s reply, he learned that the solid proof of his deserved restoration should be seen in his devotion to the work which that Messiah had begun; that by guiding, guarding and feeding the young and tender of Christ’s flock, when left again without their Master, he might set forth his new love. Already had Jesus, before that sad trial of their souls, in his parting, warning words to his near and dear ones, told them, “If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” And here, in practical comment on that former precept, did he give his restored apostle this test of unchanged love. So harmoniously and beautifully does the sacred record make precept answer and accord with precept. In the minute detail of mere common incident, we may wander and stagger bewildered among insignificant differences and difficulties; but the rule of action, the guide of life, leads steadily and clearly through every maze, uneffaced by the changes of order, time and place.

“Boys.”——The Greek word here (παιδιαpaidia) has a neuter termination, and is applicable to persons of both sexes, like the English word “children,” which is here given in the common version. But Jerome’s Latin translation (the Vulgate) gives “pueri,” “boys,” as the just meaning in this place, and I have preferred it, as more in accordance with our usual forms of familiar address in such cases, than the one given in the common English version.

Great coat.——This I consider as giving a better idea of the garment called in the Greekεπενδυτην, (ependuten,) which is derived from a verb which means “putting on over another garment,” and is of course described with more justice to the original by the English “great-coat,” or “over-coat,” than by “fisher’scoat,” as in the common translation. I suppose it was a rough outer dress designed as a protection against rain and spray, and which he put on in such a way, that hemight wade in it without the inconvenience of its hanging about his legs. It must have been a sort of “over all,” that he had pulled off while at work, andput onto wade in the water; for the verbδιαζωννυμι(diazonnumi) has also that meaning as well as “gird about,” and his object in thus “putting on his over alls” may have been to keep himself dry, by covering both his legs and body from the water; for it may have come down over the legs like a sort of outside trowsers, and being tied tight, would make a very comfortable protection against cold water. See Poole and Kuinoel on this passage, Johnxxi.7.

Luther in his German translation has very queerly expressed this word, “GUERTETE ER DAS HEMDE UM SICH,” “he girt hisshirtabout him;” being led into this error probably, by taking the following sentence in too strong a sense, concluding that he was perfectlynaked. But I have already alluded (note on page101) to the peculiar force of this word in the Bible, nor can it mean anything but that he was without his outer garments; and it implies no more indecent exposure than in the case of Christ, when laying aside his garments to wash his disciples’ feet. Besides, I have shown that the etymology ofεπενδυτης(ependutes) will not allow any meaning to it, but that of an “outergarment”worn overother clothes.

A little skiff.——The Greek word here isπλοιαριον, (ploiarion,) and means “asmallboat,” and is the diminution ofπλοιον, (ploion,) the word used in the third verse of the same chapter, as the name of the larger vessel in which they sailed, and which probably drew too much water to come close to the shore in this part of the lake, where it was probably shallow, so as to make it necessary for them to haul the net ashore with this little skiff, which seems to have been a sort of drag-boat to the larger vessel, kept for landing in such places.

“Come andBREAKFAST.”——This is certainly a vast improvement on the common English version, which here gives the word “dine.” For it must strike an ordinary reader as a very earlydinnerat that time of the morning, (Johnxix.4,) and what settles the question is, that the Greek word here isαριστησατε, (aristesate,) which primarily and almost always was applied only to the eating of the earliest meal, or breakfast, being derived fromαριστον, “breakfast,” the first meal in the day, according to Homer and Xenophon.

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