having been thus laid open to the search of a wicked spy, and that his religion derives advan tage from the scrutiny. And it is to be repeated, that the apostolic call did not make Judas a thief and a traitor; it found him one already; and if ever any man had the opportunity of reformation offered him, it certainly was he, who daily heard the instructions of heaven, and beheld the example of perfection. We may conclude, therefore, that it was for the satisfaction of all future ages, for our conviction of the faultlessness of Jesus Christ, that Judas was made an apostle.

Commentators and harmonists disagree upon the question, whether the supper at Bethany was the same as that mentioned by Matthew, as having been given in the house of Simon the leper. There are some circumstances common to both, and some peculiar to each. Macknight is confident that they were two distinct occurrences. A few of his arguments I will here repeat, which may lead the reader to further investigations.

"Although this supper (John xii. 2.) is supposed by many to have been the same with that mentioned in Matt. xxvi. 6., upon examination they will appear to have been different. This happened in the house of Lazarus; that, in the house of Simon the leper. At this, Mary, the

sister of Lazarus, anointed our Lord's feet, and wiped them with her hair; at that, a woman, not named, poured the ointment on his head. Here Judas only found fault with the action; there he was seconded by some of the rest. It seems all the disciples but Judas had let his first anointing pass without censure. But when they saw so expensive a compliment repeated, and that within a few days the one of the other, they joined with him in blaming the woman, and might think themselves warranted to do so, as they knew that their Master was not delighted with luxuries of any kind." Again he says: "The anointing, after which Judas bargained with the priests, happened only two days before the Passover, and consequently was different from that mentioned by John, which was six days before that solemnity."

"Thus it evidently appears," he proceeds, "that our Lord was anointed with spikenard threedifferent times during the course of his ministry; once in the house of Simon the Pharisee, once in the house of Lazarus, and once in the house of Simon the leper. That this honor should have been done him so often, needs not be thought strange; for in those countries it was common at entertainments to pour fragrant oils

on the heads of such guests as they designed to distinguish with marks of extraordinary respect. The custom is alluded to, Psal. xlv. 7. God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.' Where this piece of civility was showed, it was an expression of the highest complacency, and produced great gladness in the person who was the object of it."

The answer of our Lord to the covetous remark of his disciple, is narrated as follows. "Then said Jesus, Let her alone; against the day of my burying hath she kept this. For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always." That is, "Suffer this woman to perform her pious work, and molest her not. She is anointing me for my burial; for I know that my hour is at hand, and that the grave is ready for me. Let her alone; it is the last testimony of her gratitude; it is the last mark of affection and reverence which I shall receive on earth; why then should it be called too costly? The claims of the poor are just and strong; I, surely, have never taught you to slight them; but the poor remain with you, and you will have abundant opportunity to relieve them; I am about to depart from you, and go to my Father."

This rebuke was a mild and touching one; but it affected not the stubborn heart of Judas; it even incited him, perhaps, to execute immediately his before conceived purpose of betraying his Master into the hands of his enemies; for very soon after it had been uttered, he went unto -the chief priests, and bargained with them to deliver up Jesus into their power, for thirty pieces of silver; a sum not more than about a third of what the ointment had cost; and from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.

The value of the ointment was three hundred pence; the wages of treachery were thirty pieces of silver. The pence are supposed to be the Roman denarii, and a denarius is estimated at seven pence halfpenny, English money; at which rate the whole cost of the ointment would be over nine pounds sterling. The pieces of silver were probably the Jewish shekels, each of which was of a weight equivalent to about two shillings and three pence; amounting in all to between three and four pounds. A different reckoning, however, has been adopted by some, as appears from the following passage from Jeremy Taylor's Life of Christ, which I quote at length, as containing other opinions on this subject. It will be perceived that the bishop takes it for granted that

Mary Magdalen was the woman who anointed our Lord.

"It is not intimated, in the history of the life of Jesus, that Judas had any malice against the person of Christ; for when afterward he saw the matter was to end in the death of his Lord, he repented; but a base and unworthy spirit of covetousness possessed him; and the relics of indignation for missing the price of the ointment which the holy Magdalen had poured upon his feet, burnt in his bowels with a secret, dark, melancholic fire, and made an eruption into an act which all the ages of the world could never parallel. They appointed him for hire thirty pieces; and some say that every piece did in value equal ten ordinary current deniers; and so Judas was satisfied by receiving the worth of the three hundred pence at which he valued the nard pistick. But hereafter let no Christian be ashamed to be despised and undervalued; for he will hardly meet so great a reproach as to have so disproportioned a price set upon his life as was upon the holy Jesus. St. Mary Magdalen thought it not good enough to aneal his sacred feet; Judas thought it a sufficient price for his head; for covetousness aims at base and low purchases, whilst holy love is great and comprehensive as