qual, none can, with justice, complain; since whatever is bestowed, be it more or less, is a favor entirely unmerited.

Each then should be thankful, and satisfied with his portion; and, instead of envying the more liberal endowments of others, apply himself to the improvement of his own. And it should be observed, that the difficulty of the task is in proportion to the number of talents committed to each. He who had received five, was to gain other five; and he who had received two, was to account for other two.

Surely, then, we have no reason to complain, if our Master has laid on us a lighter burthen, a more easy and less service, than he has on others; especially, as our interest in the favor of the Almighty does not depend on the number of our talents, but on our diligence and application in the management of them: so that the moral design of this parable is, to engage our utmost attention to improve such talents as our heavenly Father has thought proper to bestow upon us.

CHAPTER XXV.

Our blessed Lord is anointed by a poor but pious Woman. The perfidious Judas consents to betray his Master. --The humble Jesus washes the Feet of his Disciples, and foretells that Disciple who was to betray him into the hands of his inveterate Enemies.

THE blessed Jesus used frequently to retire in the evening from the city to the Mount of Olives, and there spend the night, either in some village or the gardens, either to avoid falling into the hands of his enemies, or for the sake of a little retirement. They did not, indeed, presume to attack him, while he was surrounded by his followers, in the day-time; but, in all probability, had he lodged within the city, they would have apprehended him during the darkness and silence of the night.

When our blessed Saviour had finished these parables, he added a short account of his own death, in order to fortify his disciples against a greater trial than they had yet met with; namely, the sufferings of their Master. "And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples, Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified. Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, into the

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, lest there be an uproar among the people." Matt xxvi. 1, &c.

When the evening approached, our blessed Saviour, with his disciples, repaired to Bethany, and entered the house of Simon the leper, probably one who experienced the healing efficacy of his power. But while he sat at meat, a woman, who had also, doubtless, been an object of his mercy, came and poured a box of precious ointment upon his head.

This action displeased his disciples, who knew that their Master was not delighted with luxuries of any kind and therefore they rebuked the woman, imagining that it would have been more acceptable to the Son of God, if the ointment had been sold, and the money distributed among the sons and daughters of poverty and affliction.

To reprove the disciples, Jesus told them, that it had pleased the divine Providence to order that there should always be persons in necessitous circumstances, that the righteous might never want occasions for exercising their charity; but that those who did not testify their love to him, would never more have the opportunity of doing it, as the time of his ministry was near its period, when the king of terrors should enjoy a short triumph over his body; and therefore this woman had seasonably annointed him for his burial. And to make them sensible of their folly, in blaming the woman for this expression of love to him, he assured them, that she should be

highly esteemed for this action, in every part of the world, and her memory live to the latest period of time.

Judas Iscariot, (one of the twelve, having been more forward than the rest in condemning the woman, thought the rebuke was particularly directed to him,) stung with the guilt of his own conscience, arose from the table, and went immediately into the city, to the high priest's palace, where he found the whole council assembled. His passion would not suffer him to reflect on the horrid deed he was going to commit: he immediately promised, for the reward of thirty pieces of silver, to betray into their hands his Lord and Master.

Having thus engaged with the rulers of Israel, to put into their hands a person who had often invited them, in the most pathetic manner, to embrace the gracious terms of the gospel offered by the Almighty, sought an opportunity to betray him in the absence of the multitude.

Our Lord, who well knew that the time of his suffering drew nigh, desired, therefore, to celebrate the passover with his disciples. He was now going to finish the mighty work for which he came into the world; and therefore would not neglect to fulfil the smallest particular of the law of Moses. He therefore sent two of his disciples into the city to prepare a lamb, and make it ready, for eating the passover; telling them that they should meet a man, bearing a pitcher of water, who would conduct them to his house, and show them a large upper room, furnished, where they were to make ready for him. He was

willing, in this last transaction, to convince his disciples, that he knew every thing that should befall him; that his sufferings were all foretold by the Almighty; and that they were all, on his own account, submitted unto voluntarily.

When night approached, Jesus left Bethany, and every thing being ready for him at the time he entered into the city, he sat down at the appointed hour. But knowing that his sufferings were now near, he told his disciples, in the most affectionate manner, that he had greatly longed to eat the passover with them before he suffered, in order to show them the strongest proofs of his love. These proofs were, to give them a pattern of humility and love, by washing their feet; instructing them in the nature of his death, and a propitiatory sacrifice; instituting the sacrament, in commemoration of his sufferings; comforting them by the tender discourses recorded John xiv., xv., xvi., in which he gave them a variety of excellent directions, together with many promises; and recommending them to the kind protection of his heavenly Father. "With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer. For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God."

Having thus spoken, he rose from the table, laid aside his garments, like a servant, and with all the officiousness of a humble minister, washed the feet of his disciples, without distinction, although one of them, Judas Iscariot, was a monster of impiety; that that they might at once behold a conjunction of love and humility, of self-denial and indifference repre