by, This is one of them; and he again denied it, with an oath, I know not the man:" adding perjury to falsehood.

After Peter had been thus attacked without doors, he thought proper to return and mix with the crowd at the fire. "And Simon Peter stood and warmed himself." From this circumstance, it is clear, that the ensuing was the third denial; and that Peter left the porch, where the second denial happened, and was come again into the hall. "Here one of the servants of the high priest (being his kinsman, whose ear Peter cut off,) saith, Did not I see thee in the garden with him? Peter then denied again, and immediately the cock crew." The words of Malchus's kinsman bringing to Peter's remembrance what he had done to that man, threw him into such a panic, that when those who stood by repeated the charge, he impudently denied it: "He even began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this man of whom you speak." For, when they heard Peter deny the charge, they supported it by an argument drawn from the accent with which he pronounced his answer. Surely thou art one of them; for thou art a Galilean, and thy speech agreeth thereto; so, that being pressed on all sides, to give his lie the better color, he profaned the name of God, by imprecating the bitterest curses on himself, if he was telling a falsehood. Perhaps he hoped, by these acts of impiety, to convince them effectually that he was not the disciple of the holy Jesus.

Thus the apostle denied his Master three distinct times, with oaths and asservations, totally forgetting

the vehement protestations he had made a few hours before, that he would never deny him. He was, probably, permitted to fall in this manner, to teach us two lessons; first, that the strongest resolutions, formed in our own strength, cannot withstand the torrent of temptation; secondly, that the true disciples of Christ, though they fall, may be brought to a conviction of their sin; for he no sooner denied his Master the third time, than the cock crew, and first awakened in him a consciousness of his sin. "And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter; and Peter remembered the words of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out and wept bitterly "

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CHAPTER XXIX.

The Saviour of the World is arraigned at the Bar of the Sanhedrim, and tried by the Jewish Council.

WHEN the band of soldiers arrived at the high priest's with Jesus, they found there all the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders, assembled: "And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people, and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led him into their council. And the high priest asked Jesus of his disciples, and his doctrine." He inquired of him what his disciples were? for what end he had gathered them? whether it was to make himself a king? and what the doctrine was which he taught them? In these questions there was a great deal of art; for, as the crime laid to our Saviour's charge, was, that he had set up for the Messiah, and deluded the people, they expected that he would claim that dignity in their presence, and so would, on his own confession, have condemned him without any farther progress. This was unfair, as it was artful and ensnaring. To oblige a prisoner, on his trial, to confess what might take away his life, was a very inequitable method of proceeding; and Jesus expressed his opinion thereof with very good reason, and complained of it, bidding them prove what they had laid to his charge, by witnesses. "Jesus

answered him, I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whether the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing. Why askest thou me? ask them which heard me, what I have said unto them: behold, they know what I said." It was greatly to the honor of our blessed Redeemer, that all his actions were done in public, under the eye even of his enemies; because, had he been carrying on any imposture, the lovers of goodness and truth had thus abundant opportunities of detecting him with propriety; he, therefore, in his defence, appealed to that part of his character, but his answer was construed to be disrespectful; "for, when he had thus spoken, one of the officers, which stood by, struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Answerest thou the high priest so?" To which he meekly replied, with the greatest serenity, "If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou me?” Show me, prove before this court, wherein my crime consists, or record it on the evidence on the face of my trial; which if you cannot, how can you answer for this inhuman treatment to a defenceless prisoner, standing on his trial before the world, and in open court?

Thus Jesus became an example of his own precept, "Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also," (Matt. v. 39,) bearing the greatest injuries with a patience that could not be provoked.

When the council found that Jesus declined answering the questions, whereby they expected to

have drawn from him an acknowledgment of his being the Messiah, they proceeded to examine many witnesses to prove his having assumed that character; as they considered such a pretension as blasphemy in his mouth, who being only a man, according to their opinion, could not, without the highest affront to the divine Majesty, pretend to the title of the Son of God, as it belonged to the Messiah.

But, in this examination, they acted like interested and enraged persecutors, rather than as impartial judges, forming their questions in the most artful manner, in order, if possible, to draw expressions from him, which they might pervert into suspicions of guilt, as some foundation for condemning Jesus, who had so long and faithfully labored for their salvation.

Their witnesses, however, disappointed them, some of them disagreeing in their story, and others mentioning things of no manner of importance. At last, two persons agreed in their depositions ; namely, in hearing him say, that he was able to destroy the temple of God, and to raise it in three days. But this testimony was absolutely false; for our great Redeemer never said he could destroy and build the temple of Jerusalem in three days, as they had affirmed. It is true, that after banishing the traders from the temple, when the Jews desired to know by what authority he undertook to make such reformation, he referred them to the miracle of his resurrection; bidding them "destroy this temple," pointing probably to his body, "and in three days he would raise it up." The witnesses, therefore,