brethren, He Himself" abode still in Galilee." He stayed behind, it might be two or three days, before He set out: and then He did not reveal His intentions, lest the multitude should throng Him. "But when His brethren were gone up, then went He also up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret."

This delay helps to explain the words of St. Luke, speaking of the present journey to Jerusalem;1 "It came to pass, when the time was come, [or drew near] that He should be received up, He stedfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. The

St. Luke and St. John speak of the same journey. Chemnitius, vol. i. cap. xciv. p. 102; Whiston, Harm., p. 351; Le Clerc, Harm., ch. xxxviii., p. 279; Lightfoot, vol. i. p. 242, and most of the Commentators are of this opinion.

"Evangelista non dicit illos dies completos fuisse, sed ponit eos in actu, dum complerentur, tanquam complerendos." Chemnitius, cap. xciv. p. 1020. "Factum est autem cum complerentur dies assumptionis Ejus,' hoc est appropinquaret tempus passionis seu ascensionis." Dionysius Carth., in Evang. Lucæ, art. xxv. fol. 188. "The words of St. Luke mean, that now being come within half a year of the time of His Death, He resolved to be more constant at Jerusalem than He had been." Lightfoot, vol. i. p. 242. See Calmet, Com. Litt., Luke, ix. 51.

This expression, "When the time was come that He should be received up," has led many learned Commentators to consider that after His departure for the Feast of Tabernacles, He never again returned to Galilee: and some would crowd all the events related by St. Luke, from ch. ix. 51, to xviii. 14, into the short space of one or two months. These opinions are wholly irreconcileable with many passages in the Gospel of St. Luke, and still more inconsistent with that of St. John. Indeed, from this point of the history, until the last public entry into Jerusalem, the harmonists and commentators have created many fanciful difficulties in the chronology, which do not really exist, if we keep close to the order of the Gospels, as they are handed down to us. The critical reader requires no explanation of the various discordant arrangements, which those writers have given; therefore, it will be sufficient to state the main principles on which the "ordo rerum" in this Narrative proceeds.

Doubtless the Evangelists (to say nothing of the Divine Inspiration which guided them) were best acquainted with the proper course of events, and wrote accordingly, as any other well-informed historians would do. St. Luke says, in the preface to his Gospel, "It seemed good to me, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed." St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. John would naturally follow the same general rule: no harmonist, therefore, is entitled to disarrange the links of the historical chain according to his own notions of fitness, and dot them about here and there in places different from the order pointed out by the Evangelists themselves. Such transpositions, so far from helping to a clear view of our Lord's ministry, have made confusion.

journey, having been delayed some days, would be made "stedfastly,"-if not in haste,-with full purpose to arrive in

The chronology of the future portion of this Narrative proceeds on the following data:

1. From the Messiah's Discourse with His Apostles in the house at Capernaum, until His last arrival at Bethabara, on the way to Jerusalem for the closing scene, a period of nearly six months elapsed; namely, from the Feast of Tabernacles, in October, till the Passover of the Crucifixion, at the end of the following March.

2. The events in that interval are related only by St. Luke and St. John: those which happened in Galilee, (also the Parable of the Good Samaritan, probably spoken near to Jericho, and the visit to Martha and Mary at Bethany,) are found in St. Luke: those which occurred in Jerusalem, are described by St. John.

3. In that interval of six months the Messiah went up from Galilee to Jerusalem three distinct times; namely, once to the Feast of Tabernacles, in October; again to the Feast of Dedication, in December; and lastly, after the fourth general Circuit through Galilee, and perhaps Peræa, which occupied nearly four months, beginning at Capernaum, and ending at "the further side of Jordan," opposite to "the coasts of Judæa," He went straight to Jerusalem for the Passover of the Crucifixion.

4. Those two journies, and general Circuit, are described in the Gospel of St. Luke, in regular succession, not requiring a single passage to be displaced or transposed. The first journey from Capernaum to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles, is given in ch. ix. 51-62. The sending forth the seventy disciples from Capernaum, and their return; and the second journey from thence to Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication, are described in ch. x. The last general Circuit through Galilee, once more "journeying towards Jerusalem," is detailed in eight chapters, from xi. 1 to xviii. 14. At that point St. Luke rejoins St. Matthew, xix. 1, and St. Mark, x. 1, "beyond Jordan," near to Bethabara, from whence they all three unite in describing (without any transposition) the circumstances which occurred on the way to Jerusalem for the last Passover; and the triumphal entry. Thus the regular order of these three Evangelists is unbroken.

5. So also St. John's Gospel proceeds in regular succession, for the same period of six months. From ch. vii. 2, to x. 21, he gives an account of all that transpired in connexion with our Lord's visit to the Feast of Tabernacles; from ch. x. 22-39, he describes what happened at the Feast of Dedication; ch. x. 40-42, His return from that feast to Bethabara, "beyond Jordan;" ch. xi. 1-54, the raising of Lazarus at Bethany; and then His going away to Ephraim, "because the Jews sought to kill Him;" ch. xi. 55-57, "when the Jews' Passover was near at hand," John mentions the expectations of the Jews regarding Him; xii. 1-11, the supper at Bethany, when Mary anointed Him; and at ch. xii. 12-19, he joins the other three in the account of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

Thus, by allowing the Evangelists to give their respective portions of the history, in their own way, all four are brought into harmony, without change or transposition in the order of their Gospels: and the regular chain of the history is preserved in true chronological succession.

time for the feast of Tabernacles, and by the shortest route; which was through Samaria. As He went, "not openly, but as it were in secret," He neither taught by the way, nor performed any miracle; therefore St. Luke gives but a short account of what occurred. No doubt the Twelve were with Him: some of whom He sent as "messengers before His face; and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for Him. And they did not receive Him, because His face was as though He would go to Jerusalem." These schismatical Samaritans were always jealous of the worship of the Temple in Jerusalem. Their rival altar was on Mount Gerizim; and seeing a company on their way towards the hated city for the feast, they refused them hospitality. "And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, 'Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?'" (2 Kings, i. 1—14.) It was love for their Master, which prompted the angry thought they would fain avenge the insult offered to Him, by destroying these villagers. But their mistaken zeal was one of many other proofs, that they had not yet learned the real nature of His law of love, or His intense pity and long-suffering towards sinners. "Jesus turned, and rebuked them, and said, 'Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them."" The law of Christ is unchangeably the same: on the Mount, in the house at Capernaum, before the Samaritan village, in His Church,-His word is ever against the presumptuous, unforgiving, and unmerciful. He had laid aside His Glory, that He might make a covenant of peace for all who were far off: and not long hence He would establish the faith of those unbelieving Samaritans, and then they should know WHOм it was they had denied. After His Death they were among the earliest converts to receive the Gospel with joy.'

Having been thus rudely rejected, "they went to another village." It does not appear in what direction that was, nor by what road Jesus went on to Jerusalem:

1 Acts, viii. 5-8.

probably He still proceeded straight through Samaria, by Shiloh and Bethel.' "And it came to pass, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto Him, 'Lord, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest.'" And another said, "Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father." And a third, "Let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house." Jesus made the same reply as before, when others offered themselves in like terms by the Sea of Tiberias. "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head." "Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou, and preach the Kingdom of God." And to the third He said, "No man having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God." The followers of the Cross are to take St. Paul for their example, and "forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,. press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."4

3

...

1 See chap. xi. of the Narrative, p. 90.

2 Matt. viii. 19-22.

3 On a like occasion at the Sea of Tiberias, Matt. viii. 22, the answer was, "Follow Me; and let the dead bury their dead:" but now, as He was going to Jerusalem "in secret," and desired to have no followers, He replied "Go thou, and preach the Gospel."

Phil. iii. 13, 14.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

JESUS AT THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES TEACHES IN THE TEMPLE -DIVERSE OPINIONS OF HIM AMONG THE PEOPLE-THE RULERS SEEK TO TAKE HIM; REBUKE THEIR OFFICERS FOR NOT BRINGING HIM BEFORE THEM; AND CHIDE NICODEMUS FOR DEFENDING HIM HE PASSES THE NIGHT IN THE MOUNT OF OLIVES.

John, vii. 11-53.

THE multitudes who thronged the Holy City at the three great Feasts-the Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, might be counted by hundreds of thousands. They came not only from all parts of Canaan, but from the great foreign cities, where they occupied themselves in commerce and arts. Never forgetting Sion, but longing for the happy returns of her appointed festivals, they prayed for the peace of Jerusalem, "whither the Tribes go up, the Tribes of the Lord unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord." At the feast of Tabernacles all was joyous. The visitors bring with them gifts of remembrance for friends, and offerings for the treasury of the Temple. Many a story they have to tell of Rome and her Emperor, of Athens, Corinth, Thebes, and Alexandria. But all other news yielded in interest to the great national questions regarding the Prophet of Nazareth, Who had been going about in Galilee, working wonders, supposed to be the Christ, Who should restore the departed sceptre of Judah, and the throne of David. No wonder "they sought Him at the Feast, and said, Where is He?' And there was much murmuring among the people concerning Him; for some said, He is a

1 Ps. cxxii. 4.

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