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The Sanhedrim confult how they should deal with Jesus.

SE C T. CXLI.

S

The Sanhedrim being informed of the Resurrection of Laza-
rus, by the Advice of Caiaphas agree, that JESUS fhould
be put to Death.
He retires to Ephraim, and they iffue
an Order for apprehending him. John XI. 47, to the End.

JOHN XI. 47.

THEN gathered the Chief

Priefts and the Pharifees

a Council, and faid, What

many Miracles.

I

JOHN XI. 47.

259

T was before obferved, (at the Clofe of the Sect. 141. laft Section,) that fome who had been prefent

do we? for this Man doth at the Refurrection of Lazarus, instead of being John XI. 47. duly wrought upon by the Miracle, went away and made an invidious Report of it to the Pharifees: The Chief Priests therefore and the Pharifees, who were united in their Enmity to Chrift, being exceedingly alarmed at fo astonishing an Information, convened the Sanhedrim, which was the great Council of the Jewish Nation; and faid, What are we doing in this ftrange Conjuncture of Affairs and why do we feem to be dreaming, when Things are come to fuch a Crifis? It is of abfolute Neceffity, that fome effectual Method fhould immediately be taken; for it is not to be denied, that by fome Means or other, this Man, whom we have been fo folicitous to fupprefs, does many of the most furprizing Miracles that were ever feen or heard of: And if we fuffer him 48 [to go on] thus uncontrolled, all the Populace will believe on him as the promised Meffiah, and will acknowledge him as the King of Ifrael; and what can we expect will be the Confequence of this, but that the Power of the Romans, fo vaftly fuperior to ours, will be armed against us, and their Legions will come, and take away both our Place and Nation; they will deftroy Jerufalem, and this facred Temple where we are now affembled, and will extirpate all the People who are committed to our Guardianship and Care.

48 If we let him thus alone, all Men will believe

on him; and the Romans fhall come and take away both our Place and Nation.

49 And one of them

amed Caiaphas, being the High

And while fome of the Council feemed appre- 49 henfive of the Danger of attempting any thing against Jefus, one of them, [even] Caiaphas, who

Kk 2

among

260 Sect. 141. among the many fudden Revolutions which happened in the Government about that Time, was John XI. 49. High-Prieft that Year in which Chrift was crucified (a), faid to them, while they were thus deliberating, You feem to know nothing at all of what the prefent Urgency of Affairs requires, or you would easily find out a Remedy, in the Death of this Jefus, who occafions fuch an Alarm : Nor is this to be fcrupled, because he does not appear to have committed any Crime which is made Capital by our Law; for do you not confider, that the extream Danger of a State will juftify fuch extraordinary Steps as are neceffary for its Prefervation; and that it is undoubtedly much better for us, that One innocent Man Should die for the Security of the People, than that the whole Nation he belongs to fhould perish by our fcrupling to take away his Life?

Caiaphas advises, that One should die for the People.

50

51

Now this, by the Way, was a very remarkable Saying; and it is to be obferved, that he spake it not merely of himself, but being High-Priest that Year, and fo a Perfon of the greatest Dignity and Authority, he was moved by a secret Impulse from GOD to utter thefe Words, which might be efteemed as an Oracle, and were capable of a much higher Şenfe than he apprehended; and by them he in Effect prophefied (b), that Jefus fhould fhortly die for the Security, Redemption, and Hap52 piness of the Jewish Nation: And indeed, not for the Jewish Nation alone, but for all the Nations of the Earth, even that he also might gather

together

High-Prieft that fame Year,

faid unto them, Ye know nothing at all,

is

50 Nor confider that it expedient for us, that one ple, and that the whole Nation perish not.

Man fhould die for the Peo-

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(a) Was High-Prieft that Year.] It is well known, that the High-Priesthood among the Jews was not Annual; but the many Revolutions about that Time might juftify fuch a Manner of speaking, which fignifies no more than in thofe Days, or at that Time. (Compare Deut. xxvi. 3. Joh. xx. 6. Ezek. xxxviii. 8. and Mal. iii. 4.) See Mr. Lardner's Credibility, Vol. i. pag. 512, 513.

(b) Being High-Prieft that Year, he prophesied.] The Jewish High-Priests had in former Ages been often under the Infpiration of a Prophetic Spirit: There was therefore fome peculiar Congruity in putting this Oracle into his Mouth, and the Dignity of his Office would add fome peculiar Weight and Regard to what he faid.It is a ftrange Fancy of Dr. Lightfoot, that Caiaphas knew Jefus to be the Meffiah, and that the Sanhedrim founded their Apprehenfion of Danger from the Romans, in Confequence of the Regard fhewn to him, on a ridiculous Interpretation of Ifa. x. ult. and xi. I. whence they inferred, that the Deftruction of the Temple should quickly fucceed the Coming of the Meffiah. See his Hor. Hebr. on John xi. 48, 51.

(c) To

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Death, and JESUS retires to Ephraim.

261

together into one glorious and happy Society all the Sect. 141.
chofen Children of GOD, that are difperfed a-
broad in the moft diftant Places and Ages, among
John XI. 52.
the Gentiles as well as the Jews.

From that very Day therefore, the Members 53
of the Sanhedrim in general, (tho' fome parti-
cular Perfons were averfe to their Proceedings,)
having thus refolved upon the Death of Jefus,
fought for an Opportunity to execute the Purpose
they had formed, and united their Counfels, that
they might find out fome convenient Method to
play him.

For this Reafon Jefus, who knew the fecret 54
Refolution they had formed to take away his
Life, walked no more openly among the Jews in
thofe Parts, till the appointed Hour for his Suffer-
ing was come; but instead of vifiting Jerufalem,
he went away from thence, even from Bethany
where he now was, into the Country near the Wil-
derness of Judea, to a little City called Ephraim (c),
which lay not far from Bethel on the Confines of
the Tribe of Benjamin; and there he continued.
a while with a few of his felect Difciples, and
afterwards took a little Journey Eaftward, towards
the Banks of the River Jordan (d), from whence
he had lately come to Bethany on Account of
Lazarus's Death.

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(c) To a City called Ephraim.] This City (which is mentioned with Bethel, 2 Chron. xiii. 19.) is by fome called Ephrem, and is generally fuppofed to have lain in the North-East Part of the Lot of Benjamin. See Reland's Paleftin. pag. 376. and compare Note (a) on Luke xiii. 23. pag. 138.

(d) Took a little Journey Eastward, &c.] This we have Reafon to fuppofe, or Jericho would not have lain in his Way to Jerufalem, which yet we find that Jefus passed thro' in his Return. See Luke xix. 1. Sect. 143.

(e) That they might purify themselves by fome preparatory Sacrifices.] Dr. Lightfoot (in his Hor. Hebr. on this Place,) has fhewn, that as a Variety of Circumftances might happen to Multitudes which would require Purification, so some fort of Cleansing required no less than Seven Days.

John XI. 56.

The Sanhedrim give Orders to all to discover him.

Jefus, and fpake among themfelves as they flood in the Temple, What think ye, that he will not come to the Feaft?

262 Sect. 141. came together, they diligently fought for Jefus there, being fome of them defirous to fee and hear him, and others wanting to discover him to his avowed Enemies the Pharifees; and as it could not but be generally known, that the furprizing Miracle, which he had lately wrought, had very much inflamed the Rage and Envy of his Perfecutors, they were fufpicious whether he would venture to appear in Publick, and faid one to another, as they flood in the Temple, What think ye of his coming to the Paffover? Do you fuppofe, that after this Alarm he will not have the Courage to 57 come to the Feast? But both the Chief. Priests and the Pharifees, concluding that he would not fail to come according to his ufual Custom, no longer diffembled their Malice, but publifhed a Mandate, by which they had given an exprefs that they might take him. Command, that if any one knew where he was, he fhould immediately declare [it] to them; that they might apprehend, and bring him to his Trial, as a Disturber of the publick Peace, and a Perfon dangerous to the State.

prits and the Pharifees had 57 Now both the Chief Priefts

given a Commandment, that if any Man knew where he were, he fhould fhew it,

John xi. 47.

Ver. 47,-50.

W

IMPROVEMENT.

HERE fhall we find such restlefs, fuch causeless, such incorrigible Malice, as was in the Hearts of these Rulers against our Bleffed Saviour? What but Divine Grace can reclaim Men, when to have heard of the Refurrection of Lazarus from their own Friends and Confidents, who had just been Eye-witneffes of it, inftead of conquering their Hearts, ferved only to inflame their murtherous Rage?

This is an Inftance, where we evidently fee the Place of Judgment, that Wickedness was there; and the Place of Righteousness, that Iniquity was there. (Ecclef. iii. 16.) The High-Priest lays down a most dangerous, tho' plaufible Maxim, which is in Effect no other than this, "That the Mur"ther of an Innocent Perfon by Forms of Law," (which, as a noble Sufferer obferved, is furely the worft Kind of Murther,) nay, even of a "Perfon who by Miracles demonftrated that he was an Embaffador from "GOD, was to be chofen, rather than by protecting and obeying him, "to give Umbrage to an Earthly Power, which feemed fuperior to their "own." When will the Politicians of this Earth learn to trust GOD in his own Ways, rather than to truft themfelves, and their own Wifdom, in Violation of all the Rules of Truth, Honour, and Confcience? Till then,

263

Reflections on the Rage and Folly of CHRIST's Enemies. then, like this foolish Ruler, they will be caught in their own Craftiness; Sect. 141. and it is more than poffible, that they may, in many Instances, haften the very Distress, they are contriving to avoid. For this was here the Event: The Romans (called therefore the People of Meffiah the Prince, Dan. ix. 26.) were fent as Executioners of the Divine Vengeance, and the Jervs were given up to a Spirit of Difcord and Madness, the terrible Effects of which were fuch as cannot be read without Horror, till their Place and Nation were taken away; nor could even the Roman General forbear declaring, that the Hand of GOD was apparent in their Destruction.

Let us attend to this Divine Oracle, which GOD faw fit to put into Ver. 51, 52, the Mouth of fo wicked a Man. Jefus has actually died for the People, even for all the Children of GOD that are scattered abroad. His Death is substituted instead of theirs; and by it they are redeemed and delivered, and shall e'er long be incorporated together, and all the happy Colony be raised to an Abode of eternal Glory. Bleffed Harvest, which springs up from Redeeming Blood! Heroic Love of the dear Redeemer, which at the proper Time brought him to Jerufalem, where he knew that Evil Ver. 56, 57was determined against him! Let us follow him in a couragious Adherence to GOD, and our Duty, in the Midft of Danger and Oppofition; and not wonder, if we are fet up as the Marks of Infamy and Reproach, when we fee Jefus marked out by a publick Mandate, as if he had been. a Robber or a Murtherer; and find fo numerous and grand a Court of Judicature, requiring their Subjects to feize this moft generous Friend of the whole World, as the grand Enemy of GoD and his Country.

SE C T. CXLII.

CHRIST fetting out on his last Journey to Jerufalem, prophefies of his Sufferings there; rebukes the Ambition of James and John; and renews his Exhortations to Humility.. Mat. XX. 17,---28. Mark X. 32,---46.- Luke XVIII. 31,---34

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MARK X. 32..

Mat. X. 32

T length our Lord departed from the Place Sect: 142. of his Retreat, and tho' he knew the Refolution that his Enemies had formed against him, yet he fet out with his Difciples, and (taking Jericho in his Road,) was determined to make his Appearance in the Temple at the approaching

Paffover:

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