and SAVIOUR, JESUS CHRIST, and hir APOSTLES, &C. 24g the band, and the captain and officers of the Jews, took flits, and betend 'him. But it was not the cord which held him ; his im- menfe charity was by far a ftronger band : he could, with more eafe than Sampfon, have broken thofe weak ties, and exerted his divinity in a more wonderful manner; he could have firicken them all dead, with as much eafe as he had before thrown them on the ground: but he patiently fub- mìtted to this, as to every other indignity which they pleafed to offer him ; fo meek was he under the greaten injuries. Having thus fecured him, they led him away : And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cefi about his naked body ; . and the young mess laid hold on him: and he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked. This, perhaps, was the proprietor of the garden ; who, being awakened -with the noife, came out with the linen cloth, in which he had been ly- ing, call round his naked body; and for- getting the drefs he was in, and having a refpeft for Jesus, followed him. He was Grit led to Annas, father-in-law of Caiaphas, who Was high-prieft that year. Annas having himfelf difcharged the office ofhigh-prieft, was confequently a perfon of difiinguifhed charafter, which, together with his relation to the high-priefl, made him worthy of the refpelì they now paid him : but he refufed fingly to meddle iì the affair; they, therefore; carried Jesus to Caiaphas himfelf, at whole palace the chief priefts, elders, and Scribes were af- fembled, having laid there all night to fee the iffue of their firatagem. This Caiaphas was he that advifed the council to put Jesus to death, even admitting he was innocent, for the fafety of the whole Jewifh nation. He was advanced to the facer- dotal dignity by Valerius Gratus, Pilate's predeceffor, and was divefled of it by Vitéllius, governor of Syria, after he had depofed Pilate from his procuratorfhip ; and therefore feems to have enjoyed . it during the whole courfe of Pilate's govern- ment. C H A P T E R XXXIV. Peter thrice denies his having any Knowledge ofJisus. Fr H E trial of our bleffed Lord in the high-prieft's palace, and Peter's denying him, being co-temporary events, might be repeated by the evangelical hiflo- rians according to their pleafure. The evangelifls Matthew and Mark defcribe the trial fiai, as it is the principal fail ; but Luke after the denials of Peter. John has preferved the natural order here; for he begins with the firft denial, becaufe it happened immediately after Peter entered the palace : then gives the hifiory' of the trial as the principal fafa, concluding with the fubfequent denials. But though this be the natural order, we fhall view the No. 21, denials together, previous to the trial, in order to form a better idea of them. When JEsus was apprehended, the spoflles, in great conflernation, forfook him, and fled, according to the prediftion concerning them : fome ofthem, however, recovering out of the panic that had feized them, followed the band at a diflance, to fee what the ilfue 'tvould be. Of this num- ber was Peter, and another difciple, whom John has mentioned without giving his name, and who, therefore, is fuppofed to havebeen John himfelf. This difciple be- ing acquainted at the high-prieff's, got ad- mittance for himfelf fìrit, and loon after for 3 P Peter,
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