The wretched traitor answered not, and it would seem that he shrunk back, and that the other men were afraid to advance, before the grave majesty of Him Who could work miracles. Had He willed it, He could have escaped amid the dark shadows of the olive trees, up the winding rocky valley; but, as St. John marks, He fully knew what should befall Him when He stood forth, and asked whom they sought. Most likely the reply was from the Roman officer, who did not know Him, and the answer was, “I am”—the name of His Eternity, JEHOVAH, as revealed to Moses.

Struck by an awe and terror they did not understand at that Face and those words, all the men went back and fell to the ground, with a foretaste of the dread that shall fall on His foes when His eye shall meet them at the Judgment Day.

He used their terror to secure the safety of His disciples, so as St. John observes, to be an earnest of the fulfilment of the words He had said in His intercession shortly before (John xvii.): “Of them that Thou gavest Me have I lost none." But the hearts of His disciples did not yet fail. They thought the time for fighting was come, and, encouraged by the terror of even the dreadful Roman soldiers, they drew their two swords, and Peter struck off the ear of a servant of the High Priest. (His name and that of the servant are given only by St. John after his death, perhaps lest some offence might be taken.) Our Lord rebuked Peter, declaring His own perfect submission, and using words that the truest Christians understand as forbidding them to use earthly weapons for their defence. If He did need defence, He says, could not His Father send Him twelve legions of Angels? "Suffer ye thus far," may either mean to prevent the guards from seizing Peter, or it may have been a request to them to free the Hand, with which, in His perfect forgiveness, He touched and healed the ear. Again, as the chief priests, who it seems had joined the throng, came forth, He rebuked the violence, tumult, and treacherous surprise by reminding them that He was daily before them in the Temple, so that they could have attacked Him openly and honestly. But Psalm and Prophecy had all spoken of this secret lying in wait, perhaps most fully Jeremiah, in his Lamentation, “The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits" (iv. 20). Only thus could the Serpent's Head be bruised, the whole fulfilled.

When the disciples saw Him thus yield Himself up, bound with violence, and refusing all rescue, they fled, as He had foretold; and especially St. Mark mentions one young man, wakened by the tumult, who ran out, scarcely clad, and escaped in sudden fright. Many have thought that this young man was Mark himself—a young Levite, living in his mother's house-and that the adventure is in accordance with the eager though timid nature, with which St. Peter had a special sympathy.

LESSON XXIII.

THE EXAMINATION BEFORE ANNAS, AND THE DENIALS OF ST. PETER.

FRIDAY, A.D. 30.-THE FOUR GOSPELS (collated).

Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus, and bound him,

And led him away to Annas first; for he was father in law to Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same year.

Now Caiaphas was he, which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people: and with him were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes.

And Peter followed him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest: And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple: that disciple was known unto the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest.

But Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other disciple, which was known unto the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter.

Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto Peter, Art not thou also one of this man's disciples? He saith, I am not.

And the servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals; for it was cold and they warmed themselves: and Peter stood with them, and warmed himself.

The high priest then asked Jesus of his disciples, and of his doctrine. Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort: and in secret have I said nothing.

Why askest thou me? ask them which heard me, what I have said unto them behold, they know what I said.

And when he had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Answerest thou the high priest so?

Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou me?

And a damsel came unto Peter, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee.

But he denied before before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest.

But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and said, 'This man was also with him.

And he denied him, saying, Woman, I know him not.

And after a little while another saw him, and said, Thou art also of them. And Peter said, Man, I am not.

And he went out into the porch; and the cock crew.

And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth.

And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man.

And about the space of one hour after another confidently affirmed, saying, Of a truth this fellow also was with him: for he is a Galilæan, and his speech agreeth thereto.

One of the servants of the high priest, being his kinsman whose ear Peter cut off, saith, Did not I see thee in the garden with him?

But he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this man of whom ye speak. And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew.

And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.

And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.

COMMENT. It was about midnight, or a little past, when our blessed Lord was seized and led away; and at first He was taken to the palace of the high priest, a large building built round a cloistered court near the Temple, where several families lived. According to the Roman policy of never allowing a high priest to be in office long enough to become powerful, Annas had been deposed, and his son-in-law, Caiaphas, was in office. It is believed that both lived in different parts of the same palace, and as the hour was not one at which to conduct a trial, our blessed Lord was taken thither first, while to all the chief priests and elders who had not come together to the capture, messages were sent to collect them to consider what charge could be brought against their Prisoner. The elders represented the original seventy, and the scribes were called for as being learned in the law. The scribes were for the most part of the tribe of Simeon, so that the prophecy of Jacob was wonderfully fulfilled :—

Simeon and Levi are brethren;

Instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.
O my soul, come not thou into their secret;

Unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united:
For in their anger they slew a man,

And in their selfwill they digged down a wall.
Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce :

And their wrath, for it was cruel.

I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

("The Man," as it should be translated.)

Two of the Apostles had followed: St. John, who had some acquaintances among the high priests' servants, and St. Peter, following afar off, but brought in by his friend. His first denial seems to have been spoken in the hurry and confused desire to obtain entrance, fearing he should be shut out if he were known as a disciple. It was such a lie as many would still have no hesitation in uttering, and it obtained him admission to the great open court, in the middle of which the servants had kindled a charcoal fire to keep off the chill of the morning; and there he stood warming himself, while his Master underwent what might be called a preliminary examination, in the hope of finding that He had brought Himself under the condemnation of the law. Therefore questions were asked Him; but as this was not a legally constituted court, He was not bound to reply, and He only told them that His teachings had been always public; in secret He had said nothing; and there were plenty of witnesses of what He had said. The officials insolently struck Him for His reply, and with calm dignity He simply rebuked the man for a blow, which was mere passion and insult, since He had spoken nothing amiss. This examination lasted above an hour, and while it was going on, the door-keeping maid seems to have followed St. Peter to the fire, and again looked at him by its light, taxing him with being one of those with Him of Galilee. He denied again, and then the cock crew for the first time. Peter presently moved away to the porch or cloister round the court, where he would be more out of sight; but another woman observed him, and this time he denied with an oath, as his terror grew on him. In his restlessness he seems to have returned again to the fire in the middle of the court, and tried to turn away suspicion by talking, but his Galilean dialect at once betrayed him, and, his alarm becoming uncontrollable, he began to curse and swear at the imputation.

At that moment there was a silence. The examination was over;

the Prisoner was being led across the court with His hands bound. The hush must have fallen on Peter's angry words. As they fell in shame, the crow of the cock resounded the second time, and the Lord turned and looked on Peter one appealing look of rebuke as He passed by. It brought all back in a rush—all the bold asseverations, all the ardent resolutions-all broken, all gone by, all failed! He went out and wept bitterly. "And when he thought thereon, he wept." It is said, whenever in after life he heard the sound of the cock-crow, he was broken-hearted, and though, even as when he had gone out into the waves and begun to sink, his Lord again raised him up, we trace his sense of the danger of giving way to hasty, bewildering terror in his exhortation to women, "not to be afraid with any amazement” (1 Pet. iii. 6).

Never was there a more touching picture of eager self-confidence and of weak failure, as well as of perfect repentance. It comes home to our hearts; and may it teach us, who have the strength, that as yet St. Peter lacked, never to deny for any alarm our allegiance to our Master's service, never to tamper with truth in anything, nor bring ourselves to that state of mind in which a lie seems our natural defence.

And so was carried out the prophecy (Ps. xxxviii.) :—

My lovers and my neighbours did stand looking upon my trouble: And my kinsmen stood afar off.

They also that sought after my life laid snares for me:

And they that went about to do me evil talked of wickedness, and imagined deceit all the day long.

As for me, I was like a deaf man, and heard not:

And as one that is dumb, who doth not open his mouth.

I became even as a man that heareth not:

And in whose mouth are no reproofs.

LESSON XXIV.

THE TRIAL BEFORE CAIAPHAS.

FRIDAY, A.D. 30.-JOHN xviii. 24; MATT. xxvi. 59-68.

Now Annas had sent him bound unto Caiaphas the high priest.

Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death;