the way, and said unto them, Behold we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man shall be betrayed unto the Chief Priests, and unto the Scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles, to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him; and the third day he shall rise again.”* St. Mark states that "They were in the way going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went before them, and they (the disciples) were amazed, and as they followed they were afraid."+ And this seems to have been the cause, according to this Evangelist, of Jesus's repeating to them again the sufferings that awaited him; that they might be enabled to endure the sight of his agonies, being forewarned, and also be endued with fortitude to resist the persecutions which themselves would meet with from the adversaries of the gospel, for his name's sake. "If the world hate you," said he to his disciples, "Ye know that it hated me before it hated you.”—“ Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you."+

* Matt. xx: 17-19. + Mark x. 32.

There is a remarkable observation in St. John, relative to the description Jesus gives of the manner of his death, in the passage just now quoted, in which he says that the Chief Priests and Scribes "shall condemn him to death, and deliver him to the Gentiles, to crucify him." When our Saviour as a criminal stood before the governor, Pilate, willing to release him, said unto the Jews, "Take ye him, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, it is not lawful for us to put any man to death: that the saying of Jesus," observes the Evangelist, might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying what death he should die."* The fact also, that the power of life and death was not then possessed by the Jews, shews our Lord's meaning in saying that he should be delivered to the Gentiles, because in Pilate, the Gentile governor alone, that power resided.

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We have seen, on a former occasion, that the soul of Jesus was troubled in the anticipation of his sufferings; and now, going up to Jerusalem, where the things concerning him were to be

* John xviii. 31.32.

accomplished, we can easily conceive that his mind must have been filled with anxieties of various kinds, relative to the arduous work he had undertaken. It is evident that, being in his human nature like unto his brethren, sin only excepted, he was subject to the same infirmities; and it appears from the passage just quoted, as well as from his conduct in the garden of Gethsemane, that he deeply felt the gloomy prospect that was before him. "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, said he, even unto death; tarry ye here and watch with me. And he went a little farther, and fell on his face and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt." It appears also that he was extremely anxious about his disciples, lest, as they had shewn fears already, their resolution might fail them in the day of trial. This is confirmed by the ardent prayer that he put up for them to his Father, a little before his death. "I pray for them; I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. And all mine are thine,

* Matt. xxvi. 38, 39.

and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are.' ""* He then seems to triumph in his Apostles. "While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled."+

Now it may be asked, what was it that enabled this" man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief," to support this heavy burden of suffering that was laid upon him? This we are told by the Apostle: "who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." The joy that was set before him was the power and glory to which he was about to be exalted. But we cannot conceive that this most benevolent of beings, who came down from heaven that, united to human nature, he

* John xvii. 9-11.

Heb. xii. 2.

+ John xvii. 12.

might suffer for the salvation of mankind-we cannot imagine that he valued glory and power for its own sake. No; it was that his Father, in consequence of his death, would put all things in subjection under his feet;* that by his death he would "destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their life time subject to bondage." He looked forward with joyful expectation to a dying world raised to immortality; to those myriads who, in future time, would believe in him, and, through that faith and obedience to his laws, become partakers with him of eternal glory, singing praise to Him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever.

In the same 20th chapter, Jesus takes occasion, from the request of the mother of Zebedee's children that her two sons might sit "the one on his right hand, and the other on his left, in his kingdom," to allude again to his death, and this, probably, for the purpose of checking their ambition, and of showing them again that his kingdom was not of this world. "Jesus called