The coming forth of the soldiers.

Apparent discrepancy.

of suffering which we can neither appreciate nor comprehend. And in some lurking place in the silent city, the rough soldiers were lighting their lanterns, and girding on their weapons, and forming their plans. Presently they issue forth, and pass on from street to street, now in light and now in shadow, stealing along probably in careful silence, lest they might arouse some of the people and provoke the interference which their masters dreaded. At this moment, what a spectacle must the whole scene have presented to any one who could have looked down upon the whole. The dark betrayer, walking in advance of his band with cautious steps, half fearing, and half rejoicing in his anticipated success;- the careless soldiers following, to execute a work which they probably did not distinguish from any other similar deed which they often performed; the disciples, scattered through the valley, and in the garden, some probably anxious and unhappy, and others, overcome with bodily and mental exhaustion, sunk in sleep; -Jesus Christ, struggling in solitude, under the pressure of sufferings which overwhelmed him with indescribable agitation, and almost unnerved his soul. There must have been something uncommon in an anguish, which could carry the Savior's fortitude to its utmost limit. On the cross he was calm.

But we must go on with the story. One of the most striking proofs of the genuineness and truth of the narratives of this transaction which are recorded in the New Testament, is the apparent discrepancy between the two accounts of the scene which occurred, when Judas and his band arrived at the place to which Jesus had retired. That this discrepancy may be the better understood, we place the two accounts in opposite col

umns

The two accounts.

Fearlessness of truth.

MATT. 26: 47-50. And while he yet spake, lo Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people.

Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he; hold him fast. And forthwith he came to Jesus and said, Hail Master, and kissed him.

And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? T'hen came they and laid hands on Jesus and took him.

Explanation.

JOHN 18: 3-8.

Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns, and torches and weapons.

Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye?

They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them.

As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground.

Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he. If therefore ye seek me, let these go their way.

Fabricators of a story would never have left such a discrepancy as this; and yet it is precisely such an one, as two original witnesses would have been almost certain to have fallen into, in narrating the circumstances of such a case. Scenes of calm and quiet action, where but few individuals are concerned, and incidents succeed each other with quiet regularity, may be described perhaps in nearly the same language by different and independent observers;—but in a scene of tumult and confusion, where many are acting and talking together, each in a great degree regardless of the rest, faithful witnesses who describe what they actually see, will tell very different stories. A large number of the discrepancies of the Bible are of this character, and they are the most striking proofs of the fearless honesty of the witnesses who recorded the facts.

The encounter.

Resistance.

Binding the prisoner.

Judas came with a preconcerted part to perform. He had arranged every thing beforehand, and probably he had, as it were, every look and action committed to memory. He had braced himself up to his work, and had fixed its details with so much minuteness, that he could perform his part almost mechanically, as soon as the proper moment should arrive. This is human nature as it shows itself on all such occasions. It learns its task, when it has one of an agitating nature to perform, or is to act in any extraordinary emergency; and then it comes up to the moment of action, with a sort of mental momentum which carries it through, right or wrong, and leaves it very little power to modify its course, or to adapt it to any new or unexpected circumstances. Judas came with his plan thus formed; Jesus had also his own course marked out, and the almost mechanical determination of the one, came into collision with the fearless and lofty energy of the other. The soldiers fell back; perhaps they did not know till they saw him, who it was whom they were sent to bring; and in the confusion of the encounter, each witness has recorded what struck most forcibly his own observation.

There was a slight resistance, but Jesus stopped it, and surrendered himself a prisoner. The soldiers regained their courage, after the momentary alarm excited by the Savior's sudden appearance, and began to secure their victim. There was enough in their rough ferocity to terrify the disciples, and they fled. The soldiers made perhaps some effort to secure them too. They certainly endeavored a short time after, to seize a young man, on their way, who came out in his night dress to ascertain the cause of the commotion which he heard At any rate the disciples fled, and the soldiers had nothing to do but to secure their prisoner.

They bound him;—and binding, under such circumstances, is a very different thing from what most of our

Jesus before the Priests.

Their two charges.

Blasphemy.

readers would suppose. The cords are not drawn lightly around the wrists of a military prisoner. They secured him, and returned towards the city. The priests were too deeply interested in the triumphs they were about to enjoy, to wait quietly for the regular time of trial. Some of them even came out with the soldiers toward the place where Jesus was taken, and others assembled in the palace of the High Priest, and Jesus was taken directly into the midst of them. Here they spent some time in collecting their testimony, and framing their charges, and urging on each other to a higher pitch of excitement, and to more determined and inveterate hostility.

There might possibly be a case in which men might be deceived in regard to the character of a good man, and might press him very severely with the effects of their displeasure, from honest, though mistaken convictions of his guilt. That this, however, was not the case here, is very certain from the nature of the charges brought against the Savior at the different tribunals where he was successively brought to trial. These charges were varied to suit circumstances, and therefore could not have been honest. In this case, he was before the Jewish priests, and the accusation brought against him was, irreverence in speaking of what their religion taught them to hold sacred;-they called it blasphemy. This charge they attempted to prove from some expressions, perfectly innocent in the sense in which he had used them, and almost perfectly so, even with the meaning which they pretended to attach to them. They found it difficult to establish their charges by any witnesses they could procure, but they were soon satisfied in another way. When he began to talk about himself, he uttered what they called blasphemy, enough to convince them fully; and the High Priest rent his clothes with affected horror. They spent some time in gratifying their resentment and hatred, by insulting and tormenting their

Political condition of the Jews.

Capital punishment.

He had pretended to be

victim in every possible way. a prophet, and they accordingly blindfolded him, and then beat him, asking him to prophesy who it was that struck the blow. Jesus suffered it all in silence.

The conclusion of their deliberation, if such treatment of a helpless prisoner could be called deliberation, was, that he ought to die. But in the way of his death there was a very formidable difficulty, which must be particularly described.

Judea was, at this time, a Roman province. It had been conquered by the armies of the empire some years before, and was accordingly now, under Roman government. Now the policy which the Romans seem to have pursued, in maintaining their power over the countries which they subdued, was to leave the inhabitants as much as possible to their own customs and laws, interfering only in those great and important subjects which could not safely be left to the vanquished people. The command of all the forts, and of all the soldiers, they of course assumed themselves. They took the direction of all the important public measures, and they reserved, too, a control over the higher criminal cases which might occur in the administration of justice. Inferior punishment, the Jews might inflict, themselves, but they were not permitted to take life in retribution for crime, without the permission of their conquerors. Of course, then, there was no way by which they could procure the execution of Jesus, but by carrying him to the Roman government, and obtaining the sentence of death there.

But how could they do this? Their charge against him was blasphemy, and what would a Roman officer care about blasphemy. The governor was comparatively a stranger there, having been in possession of the government only six or eight years. He was a Roman, not a Jew; he took consequently little interest