THE LIFE OF CHRIST.

XIII. HIS BETRAYAL.

ST. MATT. xxvi. 21-25.

"And as they did eat, He said, Verily I say unto you, That one of you "shall betray me. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began 66 every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I? And he answered 'and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same "shall betray me. The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but 66 woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born. Then Judas, which "betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, "Thou hast said."

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As the hour of the Redeemer's death approaches we find the events of the sacred Narrative crowd upon us, and His history become more and more circumstantial; as if to impress us with the surpassing importance of the occasion, and to rivet our attention upon it. Thus we have seen the last evening of His Life signalized by His keeping the Passover and instituting the Holy Communion: and in the space of the one remaining day we read of His Betrayal by Judas-His Agony in the Garden-His

Denial by Peter-His Arrest and Trial-and His Crucifixion.

Resuming then from the Paschal Supper at which we left Him and His disciples assembled, His Betrayal next engages our thoughts: and on comparing the several notices of it in Scripture to ascertain the instruction to be derived from it, we can see two purposes in particular to which it was overruled and made subservient-the one as it affected the Saviour Himself at the time: and the other as it prospectively affected His Church, and left on record a lesson for after ages.

I. First-As it respects the Saviour, the question may occur to us, Why the Chief-Priests and Rulers of the Jews who sought His destruction should have been obliged to compass it in this way? What need had they to arrest Him thus stealthily by night, and to bribe a person to betray His retreat? And very important is the question and very material its bearing on the events that followed-on the sufferings which the Saviour endured at their hands. For, it confirms the inference already drawn from the circumstances which had attended His entrance into the city a few days before, the fact, namely, thatas He said to Pilate, "Thou couldst have no power "at all against Me, except it were given thee from

"above," His sufferings from the beginning were altogether voluntary; that He laid down His life of Himself. It was the time of the Passover when the greatest number of the people were collected in the city, and we have seen how the multitudes received Him-in such a way as completely to intimidate His enemies, and prove that, had He pleased, He could without a miracle have defied their power: and this they now acknowledge and proclaim by their own act, as we read ver. 3-5 of this chapter:"Then assembled together the Chief-priests, and "the Scribes, and the Elders of the people, unto the 66 palace of the High-priest who was called Caiaphas, "and consulted that they might take Jesus by "subtilty and kill Him. But they said, Not on the "feast (day),"—rather "not during the feast,-lest "there be an uproar among the people."

It was necessary, however, that (independent of this-apart from this apprehended interference of the people to defeat their object-) not only they but those whom they sent to arrest Him should be made to feel that He was able to deliver Himself out of their hands. These, we learn, consisted of a detachment of Roman troops accompanied by a mixed multitude of the retainers of the Sanhedrim, who, armed with swords and staves, carrying lanterns and torches, proceeded to the place of His retirement

led by His betrayer. So verse 47, " 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:" and St. John xviii. 3, "Judas then, having received a band "of men and officers" (rather "the band"-the Roman cohort on duty, "and the officers) from the "Chief-Priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with "lanterns and torches and weapons." "Jesus there

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fore," (continues the latter Evangelist), "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 back"ward and fell to the ground." Observe,-soldiers and people, Jews and Heathens, the whole multitude, and they armed, are confounded in the presence of one man, and struck to the ground on His merely uttering the words "I AM HE"! And who does not now expect to see His Divine power put forth as of old in the destruction of the hosts of a Pharaoh and a Sennacherib? or, as in the instance of the companies sent to arrest the Prophet, the fire of heaven falling on them and consuming them? But no: His power was proved, and that was enough.

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His

reproof addressed to the disciple who drew a sword in His defence tells us why it was not as we expect:

-“And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus "stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and "struck a servant of the high-priest, and smote off "his ear. Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again "thy sword into his place: for all they that take the "sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou "that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He shall "presently give me more than twelve legions of

angels? But how then shall the scriptures be "fulfilled, that thus it must be ?" (Matt. xxvi. 51— 54). "The cup which my Father hath given me "shall I not drink it?" (John xviii. 11.)

2. Again, viewing His Betrayal as it affected Himself, it was no small part of His suffering-a bitter ingredient in that cup of affliction; as we may see from the words of the Prophecy of the Event,-His own language in anticipation of it-Ps. xli. 9, "Yea, "mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted, which "did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against "me:" and, Ps. lv. 12-14, "For it was not an

enemy that reproached me; then I could have "borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did "magnify himself against me; then I would have "hid myself from him: but it was thou, a man mine

equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. We took