Reflections on the Zeal of CHRIST, and the Treachery of Judas. 417 LUKE XXII, 6. And he promifed, and [from that Time] fought Opportunity to betray him unto them in the Abfence of the Multitude. [MAT. XXVI. 16. MARK XIV.-11.] W Mark XIV. covetous as he was, to acquiefce in that mean and Sect. 167. II. And he promised to take a punctual Care in the Luke XXII. Affair: And accordingly from that Time he dili- 6. gently fought a proper Opportunity to betray him unto them, that they might come upon him privately, and apprehend him in the Abfence of the Multitude: Nor was it long before this happened, as we shall quickly relate in its Place. IMPROVEMENT. E fee with what unremitting Vigour the great Author and Fi- Luke xxi. 37. nifher of our Faith preffed forward towards the Mark, and how he quickened his Pace, as he faw the Day approaching; fpending in Devotion the greatest Part of the Night, which fucceeded to his most laborious Days, and refuming his Work early in the Morning? How much happier were his Difciples in thefe early Lectures, than the Slum- Ver. 38. bers of the Morning could have made them on their Beds? Let us not fcruple to deny ourselves the Indulgence of unneceffary Sleep, that we may come Morning after Morning to place ourselves at his Feet, receiving the Inftructions of his Word, and feeking those of his Spirit. But while his gracious Heart was thus intent on doing Good, the Chief Mat. xxvi. Priefts and Rulers of the People were no less intent on Mischief and Mur- 3, 4. ther. They took Counsel together, how they might put him to Death: They ob fet upon his Head the Price of a Slave, and find an Apoftle base enough Ver. 14, 15. to accept it. Blush, oh ye Heavens, to have been Witnefs to this; and be ashamed, ob Earth, to have fupported fo infamous a Creature! Yet this was the Man, who but a few Days before was the foremost to appear as an Advocate for the Poor, and to cenfure the pious Zeal of Mary, which our Lord vindicated and applauded. (John xii. 4,-8. pag. 285.) Let the fatal Fruits of his covetous Difpofition, inftigated by Satan, be Luke xxii. marked with Abhorrence and Terror; and if we fee this base Principle 3, 4, 6. harboured in the Breasts of those, who call themselves the Disciples and Minifters of Chrift, let us not wonder, if by GoD's righteous Judgment they are given up to thofe Exceffes of it, which bring upon them lafting Infamy and endless Perdition. VOL. II. Ggg SECT. 7. 418 JESUS fends Two of his Difciples to prepare the Pallover. SECT. CLXVIII. CHRIST having directed his Difciples where to prepare the 12,----- 17. LUKE XXII. 7. Sect. 168. NOW after this infamous Bargain, which Judas made with the Chief Priests to betray into Luke XXII. their Hands his innocent and Divine Mafter, on the Fifth Day of the Week before the Evening drew on, when the First Day of unleavened Bread came (a), in which, according to the Precept of the Law, which had exprefsly limited the Time of it, the Paffover must be killed, or the Pafchal Lamb be flain, in Commemoration of the Ifraelites being preferved from the deftroying Angel, and delivered out of Egypt, Jefus determined to keep 8 the Paffover with his Difciples. And that he might celebrate it with them in a regular and exact Manner, he fent Two of his Difciples, Peter and John, from the Place where he had spent the Night before in Retirement with them, and faid, Go to Jerufalem, and prepare the Paffover for us, that we may once more eat [it] together. 9 And they faid to him, Lord, we are ready to perform the Charge, and only defire thou wouldst be pleafed more particularly to tell us, Where, or at what House, wilt thou have us go and prepare for thy eating the Palover with us? And LUKE XXII. 7. THEN came the [firft]. must be killed. [Mat. Bread, when the Paffover XXVI. 17.-MARK XIV. 12.—] 8 And he fent [Two of his Difciples,] Peter and John, faying, Go and prepare us the Paflover, that we may eat. [MARK XIV. 13.—]. 9 And they faid unto him, Where wilt thou that we [MAR. go and] prepare [for thee to eat the Pallover?] [MAT. XXVI.-17. MARK XIV.-12.] (a) The First Day of unleavened Bread came.] There is no Room to queftion, that the Time when Chrift fent his Difciples to prepare the Paffover, was on the Thurfday of the Week in which he fuffered; and tho' the First Day of unleavened Bread moft ftrictly fo called, was the Fifteenth Day of Nifan, and began with the Evening that the Paffover was eaten; yet it is not improbable, that the Evangelifts might fometimes speak according to the usual Way of reckoning Days among other Nations; and fo, as the Ufe of Leaven among them was to ceafe by Sun-fet at fartheft, and they were obliged to eat their Supper, which was the chief Aleal, with unleavened Cakes, it might naturally enough be called by this Name. (b) A They find a Room by his Direction, and make all Things ready. 10 And he said unto them, [Go into the City to fuch a Man, and] behold, when ye are entred into the City, there fhall a Man meet you, bearing a Pitcher of House where he entreth in. my Luke XXII. II 419 And he faid to them I will give you a Sign, Sect. 168. which fhall put the Matter out of Doubt: Go di-xx rectly into the City, [and] behold, as foon as ever 10. you are entered into it, a Man will meet you in the Street carrying a Pitcher of Water in his Hand; follow him immediately into the House where he en[MAT. XXVI. 18. ters; for I know it will be a Place very fit for MARK XIV.-13.] our Accommodation (b). And wherefover he II And [MAR. wherefoever he shall go in] ye fhall goes in, you shall fay to the Mafter of the Family, fay unto the Good-Man of We are come to thee with a Meffage from Jefus the House, The Mafter faith the Teacher, and he fays to thee by us, My Time unto thee, [My Time is at hand, I will keep the Paff is now near (c), and before I make laft Reover at thy House,] where is move, I will celebrate the Paffover at thy House: the Gueft-Chamber where I Where then is the Dining-Room? or what conveThall eat the Paffover with nient Chamber haft thou to fpare, where I may Disciples ? [MAT. XXVI.—18. MARK XIV. come and eat the Passover with my Difciples, and be fecure from the Interuption of any other Company? And this be will take you up 12 upon Stairs, and fhew you a large upper Room, which will conveniently hold us all; and you will find it furnished will all proper Utenfils, and prepared by all neceffary Circumftances of Purification of every Kind, fo as to be, on the whole, in very good Order: There provide the unleavened Bread, the Lamb, and the bitter Herbs, and make all Things ready for us against the Time of our Coming; for we fhall be able to find the House without any Direction from you (d). my 14.] 12 And he fhall fhew you a large upper Room furnished [and prepared:] there make ready [for us. ] [MARK XIV. i5.] And (b) A Man will meet you, &c.] As Samuel, having anointed Saul, for the Confirmation of his Faith gave him feveral Predictions, relating to fome very contingent Occurrences he was to meet with in his Journey: (See 1 Sam. x. 2,7.) So our Lord seems by these Predictions to have intended the fame with regard to his Difciples, and also to give them a moft important Hint, that he forefaw all the particular Circumftances, which were to befal him at Jerufalem, when he went up thither for the next, and laft Time, before his Sufferings. The fending them to Jerufalem in this Manner feems to intimate, that he did not go thither himself that Morning; fo that it is very probable he spent most of the Day in Retirement for Meditation and Prayer. (c) My Time is near.] Every Body knew that the Time for eating the Passover was near; fo that these Words must be supposed to have a further View. And I am therefore ready to believe, that the Owner of this House, to whom our Lord fent this Meffage by the Name of the Teacher, might be a Perfon, who (tho' unknown to Peter and John,) was in his Heart at least a Difciple of Chrift; and our Lord might give this Intimation, that it was to be a Time of more than ordinary Importance to him, that it might be fome secret Support to this Man's Faith, under that violent Shock it was to receive by his approaching Sufferings. (d) We fhall be able to find the Houfe &c.] The fame Prophetic Gift, which enabled Christ to predict these Circumftances, would, no doubt, guide him thither; and it is a beau Ggg 2 tiful CHRIST comes in the Evening, and fits down with the Twelve. And after he had given these particular Inftructions to his Two Difciples, they went out from thence, and came into the City, and found the Man carrying the Water, whom they followed into a House, where there was, juft as he had faid to them, a commodious Dining-Room at Liberty, and well furnished: And as the Mafter of the House was free to let them have it, they did as Jefus bad appointed them, and made the Paffever ready against the Time when he should come to eat it. And in the Evening, when the proper Hour for eating the Paffover was come, he came directly to the Houfe where his Meffengers were, and fate down to the Table with all the Twelve Apoftles around him, to taste (according to the Ufage of thofe Days,) the unleavened Bread, and the bitter Herbs, before the Lamb was ferved up (e). Now it is here to be observed, that before he began to eat the Feast of the Paffover, as Jefus knew that his Hour was come, when he should depart from this calamitous World, in which he had fojourned for a while, to return to the Bosom of the Father, in which he originally dwelt; he was folicitous to order every Circumftance of his Conduct in this laft Intercourse with his Difciples, fo as might moft MARK XIV. 16. And his Disciples went forth, and came into the City, and found as he had faid unto them and they did as Jefus had appointed them, and] made ready the Paffover. [MAT. XXVI, 19. LUKE XXII. 13.] 17 And in the Evening [LUK. when the Hour was down] with the Twelve [LUK. Apoftles.] [MAT, XXVI. 20. LUKE XXII. come,] he cometh, [and fat 14.] JOHN XIII. 1. Now be fore the Feaft of the Paffohis Hour was come, that he ver, when Jefus knew that fhould depart out of this World unto the Father, having tiful Modesty in the Sacred Hiftorian only to hint obliquely at it; but I apprehend it the Part of a Paraphraft, to set these Particulars in a fuller and ftronger Light. () To tafte the unleavened Bread, &c.] I muft here intreat my Reader, if he has an Opportunity, to confult Ainsworth's excellent Note on Exod. xii. 8. where he has collected from authentic Jewish Writers the beft Account I have any where seen in fo little Room, of the various Ceremonies with which the Passover was eaten, by which the fubfequent Story is greatly illuftrated. Among others the following Circumftances fhould be recollected:That the Master of the Family began the Feaft with a Cup of Wine, which, having folemnly blessed, i. e. having adored the Name of GOD over it, he divided among the Guests; (Luke xxii. 17.) and afterwards washed his Hands:Then the Supper began with the unleavened Bread and bitter Herbs, which when the Mafter and the reft of the Company had tafted, one of the younger Perfons prefent, generally a Child, afked the Reafon of what was peculiar in that Feaft, (according to Exod. xii. 26.) which introduced the Haggadah, i. e. the Shewing forth, or Declaration of it; (in Allufion to which we read of fhewing forth the Lord's Death: 1 Cor. xi. 26.)-Then the Mafter rofe up, and took another Cup, and washed his Hands again, before the Lamb was tafted: And in this Interval, I fuppofe, Chrift alfo washed the Feet of his Difciples:Then after eating the Paffover, followed another Cup, which, after having delivered to each a Piece of Bread, was the Sacramental Cup at this Supper:-Then after fome pious and friendly Difcourfe, the whole Family, after having drank at least a fourth Cup, fang fome Pfalms of Praife; and fo the Solemnity ended.Agreeable to this is the Account given in The Religious Ceremonies of all Nations, Vol. i. pag. 215,-217. He takes the Cup before the Passover, and divides it among them. having loved his own, which LUKE XXII. 15. And he faid unto them, With Defire I have defired to eat this Paffover with you be fore I fuffer. 16 For 1 fay unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of GOD. 17 And he took the Cup, and gave Thanks, and faid, Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 421 most effectually promote their Edification and Sec. 168. I. And to exprefs the Fervency and Strength of Luke XXII. this Affection, he said to them, as they fate together 15. before Supper was brought in, I affure you, that I have moft earnestly defired to eat this Paffover with you, tho' I know it will be the Laft I fhall celebrate with you, and we fhall rife from it but a few Hours before I am to fuffer from mine Enemies the most cruel Infults, and Torments, which shall end in my Death: Yet fuch is my Love to my People, and fuch my Defire to glorify my Heavenly Father, that no Paffover was ever fo welcome to me as this: For now I fee the 16 Days of my Humiliation almost finished; and I Jay unto you, that after this I will not celebrate any other Paffover with you, nor eat of it any more, till it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of GOD, or till the Institutions of the Gospel shall have perfected those of the Law, and the Ordinances of both are fuperfeded by the more perfect Enjoyments of the Heavenly World. And then having took the Cup, with which it 17 was ufual for them to begin the Feaft, he gave Thanks to GOD for the Redemption of Israel, in Commemoration of which the Paffover was inftituted, and for giving them this Opportunity of celebrating this holy Banquet together; and then faid, Take this Cup, and let it go round, and divide [it] among yourselves, and bless the GoD 18 For I fay unto you, I of your Fathers. And fee that you do it with 18 will a (f) He loved them to the End.] I fhall afterwards hint at my Reasons, for agreeing with thofe Criticks, who place the Story of Chrift's washing his Difciples Feet, at the Beginning of the Pafchal Supper, rather than a Night or two before.--At prefent I would only obferve, that this Verfe feems intended by John to introduce, not merely the Story which immediately follows it, but the whole Account of Chrift's Behaviour to his Friends in thefe laft Scenes of his Life: And therefore, as he prefixes it to the firft Circumstance that he has mentioned of this Passover, I apprehend it proper to begin the whole Story with it; especially fince the Words which I have placed next after it, are full of that Love, which he expreffed to them even to the laft. |