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 6 
 
 32X 
 
V 
 
 r^:v 
 
 /,i- 
 
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 '-i- I 
 
 
 
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 4 
 
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 I 
 
 Is THER 
 
 St. John 
 
 IN HIS Go 
 TAKEN WI 
 
 Last Sur 
 
 
 
 kf 
 
 Among t 
 tion of the 
 to the Pass 
 thoroughly 
 Christ." B 
 of commen 
 ■ Lust Suppe 
 ^<s. S i Paschal me 
 fication, an 
 portant, th< 
 and Christ 
 memories c 
 identified, 
 Jewish Pa 
 corrected tl 
 had come t 
 This hy] 
 Evangelist 
 himself as 
 think, be s 
 ciple of in 
 
 
 
 ^J 
 
 ^ if 
 
 
is there sufficient evidence to show, that 
 St. John designed to declare or to intimate, 
 IN his Gospel, that the Synoptists were mis- 
 taken when they related that Jesus at the 
 Last Supper kept the Jewish Passover ? 
 
 .y 
 
 /V^i 
 
 I 
 
 if 
 
 
 iXH 
 
 ■<f..\ 
 
 
 
 Among those who, of late years, have considered the ques- 
 tion of the peculiar character of the Last Supper relatively 
 to the Passover, no one, probably, has investigated it more 
 thoroughly than the author of the latest written "Life of 
 Christ." He has, after stating succinctly the opposite views 
 of commentators, expressed his own opinion thus : "That the 
 Last Supper was not, and was not intended to be, the actual 
 Paschal meal," . . . . " but that by a perfectly natural identi- 
 fication, and one which would have been regarded as unim- 
 portant, the Last Supper, which was a quasi Passover, a new 
 and Christian Passover, and one in which, as in its antitype, 
 memories of joy and sorrow were strangely blended, got to be 
 identified, even in the memory of the Synoptists, with the 
 Jewish Passover, and that 8t John silently hut deliberately 
 corrected this erroneous impression, which, even in his time, 
 had come to he generally i>revalent!' 
 
 This hypothesis of error existing in the minds of the three 
 Evangelists — error designed to be corrected by the fourth, 
 himself assumed to be under no misapprehension — cannot, I 
 think, be sustained, in view of the facts, on any sound prin- 
 ciple of interpretation of the sacred word. He who accepts 
 
2 
 
 thi conclusion that expressua it must believe thai all the 
 Synoptists — one of them being an Apostle — who confes- 
 sedly concur in representing the Last Supper to have been 
 identical with the Paschal feast, related, as and for a fact, — a 
 fact of deep interest to Christians — a fact involving a ques- 
 tion whether a remarkable Jewish typo was or was not accom- 
 plished in and by it, — that which was not a fact. He must 
 believe, also, that, years after the Synoptists had given the 
 erroneous statement to the world, St. John designed to place, 
 and placed himself in direct conflict with another Apostle, and 
 with St. Mark and St. Luke, in regard to a circumstance, of 
 the existence or non-existence of which he and St. Matthew 
 at least, — to say nothing of inspiration as affecting them 
 all, — had exactly equal means of knowledge. 
 
 It will appear, presently, that, if St. John designed to correct 
 the statements of the Synoptists, he did so with the fullest 
 knowledge, derived from the most authentic source, that there 
 was no error to be corrected. The Synoptists show — to say 
 nothing at present of what the fourth gospel itself indicates — 
 that St. Matthew could not podaibly have b<"en under the 
 assumed misapprehension. As to ascribing the supposed error 
 to a defect of memory, I have never heard or read of a reason- 
 able theory of inspiration that would admit of that suppo- 
 sition, although Canon Farrar attributes the mistake of the 
 Synoptists, in a measure, to that defect. If that element of 
 human weakness enters essentially into a right idea of inspi- 
 ration, it will be impossible to draw a line between the reli- 
 able and the unreliable, relatively to what is written on the 
 so-called inspired page. 
 
 On the assumption of the mistake, there are revealed state- 
 ments that must be ignored. He who adopts the conclusion 
 must explain, consistently with his own view, our Lord's 
 assertion, — for such, in eflect, it was, — that at a particular 
 time when He spoke, the Last Supper was designed by Him to 
 be the actual Paschal meal. He must furi^her explain how 
 his view will stand with the fact, that our Lord kept the 
 
 Passover in 
 
 ascribe eiTor 
 
 We read i 
 
 ciples, said, ' 
 
 Passover." 
 
 cannot ascer 
 
 John were ( 
 
 that, after c 
 
 the owner ol 
 
 only unders 
 
 the Pasaove 
 
 Luke (xxii. 
 
 Last Suppe 
 
 was then ac 
 
 That St. 
 
 that very I 
 
 the fact th*! 
 
 by the circi 
 
 ence of St. 
 
 respecting 
 
 the case be 
 
 closely. S 
 
 unleavenec 
 
 was this ir 
 
 no intellig 
 
 indicate tl; 
 
 was requi 
 
 tioned as 
 
 follows in 
 
 " And he « 
 
 i twelve — " 
 
 eat." "T 
 
 stances, hi 
 
 within th 
 
 over laml 
 
 „ forSt. Li 
 
liat all the 
 who confes- 
 have been 
 a fact, — a 
 [ving a ques- 
 not accom- 
 1^ He must 
 I given the 
 led to place, 
 'Apostle, and 
 instance, of 
 St. Matthew 
 acting them 
 
 ed to correct 
 1 the fullest 
 e, that there 
 •w — to say 
 
 indicates — 
 under the 
 pposed error 
 of a reason - 
 that suppo- 
 take of the 
 
 element of 
 ea of inspi- 
 »en the reli- 
 bten on the 
 
 ealed state - 
 
 conclusion 
 
 our Lord's 
 
 particular 
 
 by Him to 
 
 cplain how 
 
 1 kept the 
 
 I 
 
 Passover in pursuanco of that design, an(V unless we can 
 ascribe eiTor to Him, at the regular time. 
 
 W« read in Matthew xxvi. 2, that Jesus, addressing His dis- 
 ciples, said, "Ye know that after two days is (the feast of) the 
 Passover." The precise day on which this was spoken we 
 cannot ascertain ; but we know that it was before Peter and 
 John were despatched on their mission. We know, further, 
 that, after our Lord had informed, by His special messengers, 
 the owner of the guest-chamber, in words that he, a Jew, could 
 only understand in a Jewish sense, that He intended to keep 
 the Paaaover at his house, He kept the Passover there. St. 
 Luke (xxii. 15, 16) gives us our Lord's words uttered at the 
 Last Supper, declaring, in terms entirely unqualified, that He 
 was then actually keeping the Passover. 
 
 j That St. John had actual knowledge that our Lord kept 
 that very feast is placed beyond question by St. Luke, whilst 
 the fact that St. John possessed that knowledge is confirmed 
 by the circumstance that he, writing when aware of the exist- 
 ence of St. Luke's statement, has sanctioned it by hi§ silence 
 respecting it. This is a point of importance in my view of 
 the case before me, and therefore I shall look at it somewhat 
 closely. St. Luke wrote (xxii. 7) : " Then came the day of 
 unleavened bread when the passover must he killed." Why 
 was this introduced into the Evangelist's narrative ? It has 
 no intelligible aspect, unless the object of the writer was to 
 indicate that the thing necessary to be done on the day named 
 was required, in order to something else that was to he men- 
 tioned as a purport of the narrative. Mention of this last 
 follows immediately, in the very next verse. And what if: it ? 
 " And he sent Peter and John," — the two most eminent of the 
 
 I twelve — " saying. Go and prepare us the passover, that we may 
 eat." "To prepare ths passover" could, under the circum- 
 stances, have but one meaning, namely, to procure and kill, 
 within the temple precincts, according to the ritual, the pass- 
 over lamh referred to in the seventh verse. This was done, 
 for St. Luke tells us in verse 13, "and they" (Peter and John) 
 
" made ready the paafiover.'' It in absolutely certain, there- 
 fore, what the mission of Peter an<l John wax, and the very 
 fact is really, of itself, conclusive to show that the regular 
 Jewish Passover was kept by our Lord. We gather, more- 
 over, from the narratives, that tlio lamb and the cup of wine, 
 two ingredients of the Paschal feast, weie before Jesus when 
 He eat the Last Supper. 
 
 Wlien our Lord addressed to the twelve, St. John being ont; 
 of them, the words, " Ye know that after two days is the feast 
 of the yassover" all who lioard His address would understand 
 a reference, not to a " quasi passover," — an idea excluded by 
 the facts of the case — but :o the regular Jewish Feast, 
 When He superadded the words, " and the Son of man is 
 delivered up to be crucified," He referred to matters within 
 their common knowledge as things to he. When they saw the 
 happening of the two events sinmltaneously* — as they all 
 witnessed it — they had ])ofore their eyes the full accomplish- 
 ment of the subject and the predicate jf our Lord's address, — 
 "the day of th^ passover" and " the delivery up of the Son of 
 man." St. John, therefore, knew that our Lord kept the Jew- 
 ish Passover, and it is inconceivable that he could entertain a 
 doubt as to its being celebrated at the proper time. No evi- 
 dence exists to show that the slightest intimation was ever 
 given to him, that when our Lord eat the Last Supper He was 
 observing a Feast substituted for the Jewish Passover. 
 
 It will appijar, presently, that when Jests kept the last pas- 
 sover, He regarded the type as designed by Him to be fulfilled, 
 primarily and in part, by an act of His enemies that would 
 necessarily lead to His death, but ultimately and completely, 
 in that kingdom where the assembled «lisciples were to cele- 
 brate another feast, and, under very dift'orent circumstances 
 " to eat and to drink at our Lord's table." It was to a then 
 future passover, in that kingdom, that oui' Lord referred — St 
 John being present — when, after having said, " With desire 
 I ha^'e desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer," 
 (such is a true rersion of the Qreek ; with conjectural Aramaic. 
 
 ♦See p. 12. 1. 2. 
 
 WO have no 
 not any moi 
 of God." N^ 
 Did St. Jo 
 entered froi 
 couhl not I 
 pu'pose to I 
 aion that Jt 
 Canon F 
 '• memories 
 Supper. T 
 
 " SOITOW " c 
 
 in a few he 
 ( ' design, 
 dav on whi 
 its fulfilmei 
 marriage si 
 This is the 
 earthly fes 
 I have 
 the questio 
 ' fic'ent evi( 
 gospel, he 
 error of th 
 Farrar, im 
 that he co 
 him to dis 
 all the fa( 
 correct a 
 is patent 
 other nan 
 design as 
 It is C( 
 opposed t 
 ly, that, h 
 by words 
 
ftairi, thero- 
 lul the very 
 [the regular 
 ith«»r, more- 
 tip of wine, 
 Jeau« when 
 
 |n being one 
 is the feast 
 undoratand 
 xcluded by 
 vish Feast, 
 of man is 
 tters within 
 ley Haw the 
 as they all 
 accomplish- 
 s address, — 
 the Son of 
 pt the Jew- 
 entertain a 
 16. No evi- 
 )n was ever 
 pper He was 
 ►ver. 
 
 >he last pas- 
 be fulfilled, 
 that would 
 completely, 
 Bre to cele- 
 •cumstances 
 I to a then 
 ferred — St 
 ^ith desire 
 e I suffer," 
 3.1 Aramaic. 
 
 we have no concern) H»' added, " For I say unto you, I will 
 not any more eat iheirof until it be fulHlled in the kingdom 
 of God." Was it a " (iiuiHi passover " of which He thu« spoke ? 
 l)id St. John, into whose ears and heart tliene words had 
 entered from the lips of his Lord, an<l in whose memory they 
 could not but have dwelt while memory lasted, delilwratdy 
 pu'poae to diHdhitt^e (^hrUtian iiutuls of an erroneoua tmpr««- 
 aion that Jei^ua o})H(>,rvf(l thf Jevn^h Puffffover ? 
 
 Canon Farrar, with lis usual elocpionce, has written of 
 " memories of ioy and sorrow strangely blended " in the Last 
 Supper. The idea is based on an interesting truth, for all the 
 " 801TOW " connected with the ancient feast — which was tl»on 
 in a few hours to be realised in fact — was, and wo shall see 
 
 i (/ design, fulfilled virtually on earth, on that very Jewish 
 day on which the Last Supper was eaten ; the "joy" awaits 
 its fulfilment and consummation until the celebration of "the 
 marriage supper of the Lamb " in " the kingdom of heaven." 
 This is the only passover that Jesus anticijjated in His last 
 earthly f(\stival. 
 
 I have now, as I think, prepared the way for asking 
 the question stated at the head of my paper: Have we suf- 
 
 ' fic'ent evidence for believing that, when St. John wrote his 
 gospel, he had a deliberate purpose of correcting the assumed 
 error of the Synoptists ? The assumption, as stated by Canon 
 
 I Farrar, implies that St. John, not only perceived the error, but 
 that he considered it of a nature sufficiently grave to require 
 him to disabuse the world of it. The assumption, in view of 
 all the facts, necessarily supposes an intention in his mind to 
 correct a misapprehension on the part of his Lord. To me it 
 is patent from a view of his narrative, read with the three 
 other narratives, that the Apostle did not entertain any such 
 design as Canon Farrar supposes. 
 
 I It is certain, first, that the purpose assumed would be 
 
 ■ opposed to what St. John knew to be the truth ; and, second- 
 ly, that, had he entertained it, he would have accomplished it 
 by words that would have conveyed to every mind of ordinary 
 
6 
 
 intelligence, with certainty, his own conviction, that, while thn 
 BynoptistA had written under an inipreNsion that tho l*anchal 
 Meal wa« eaten with the La«t Supper, the fact wan not no. 
 When Canon Farrar wrote " St. John ttilently but dt'libcrat»*ly 
 corrected, Ac," he wrote, an it sooinH to nie,that which involvcH 
 a contradiction in the nature of thinj^.s, as W(>11 an in terniH. 
 
 I am not prepared to believe, in view of the whole truth 
 posnensed by St. John, that he, with tho fact befon? Win oy^n, 
 that he had been represented by St. Luke to have been .sent, 
 with Peter, by our Lord, commissioned to ;iay to the owner of 
 the guest-chamber '' where is the guest-chamber where I shall 
 eat the 'pasaover with my disciples ? " and " to prepare the 
 paaaover," nevertheless doUl)erately permitted that statement, 
 with the antecedent, the accompanying and the subsequent 
 circumstances detailed in connection with it, to stand in the 
 Synoptist reports unchallenged and unnoticed, and so left it 
 to convey forever an erroneous impression ! 
 
 The state of the facts of the case imperatively, then, de- 
 mands, that the concurrent views of the Synoptists must be 
 regarded as be3'ond question ; and that if there bo, aa many 
 very learned men think there ia not, an essential variance 
 between the three first Gospel narratives and the fourth, some 
 means must be sought for of accommodating the report of St« 
 John in the points of difference to the narratives of the other 
 three Evangelists. We know what constructions have been 
 put on St. John's words with a view to a harmony of all the 
 narratives. Some of those have been accepted by competent 
 judges, as not necessarily involving violence to any statement 
 in the Gospels, nor to any established fact or circumstance in 
 Jewish or other history. If there were a discrepancy, it would 
 be wiser, perhaps, to leave it as it is, than to try to get rid of 
 it by a hypothesis that the facts of the case will not support- 
 To my mind a view of St John's Gospel is suggested which, 
 although it will not remove all difficulties, will, in the matter 
 of the seeming discrepancy, present his narrative as not 
 necessarily inconsistent with those of the Synoptists. 
 
 Before sti 
 ciple of coir 
 in relation t 
 that one of 
 an* I the ot 
 AccDi'diiig t 
 view to HU] 
 fthould if p 
 language, y» 
 propriety o 
 observe the 
 ccmtrast wi 
 now dualin, 
 read that v 
 alone. Th( 
 that on wh 
 stated to hi 
 that it govi 
 /east. Bui 
 imported, 
 related to 
 by Him a< 
 Having 
 be read, cc 
 tives and < 
 considerin 
 reference 
 served sin 
 portions, 
 with the 
 \ the feast 
 1 and, afte 
 supper " 
 it, I have 
 twenty-n 
 understoc 
 
t, while tho 
 th« FfiAohal 
 
 VUH not HO. 
 
 <l»'liborRt»*ly 
 ich involvcN 
 in turiiiH. 
 hole truth 
 r»! his ey«»ii, 
 5 been .sent 
 ho owner of 
 hero I shall 
 prepare the 
 t statement, 
 subsequent 
 tand in the 
 id so left it 
 
 ly, then, de- 
 ists must be 
 }*i, aa many 
 'Aa.\ variance 
 fourth, some 
 report of St. 
 jf the other 
 I have been 
 J of all the 
 y competent 
 y statement 
 iimstance in 
 icy, it would 
 to get rid of 
 lot support* 
 isted which, 
 I the matter 
 iive as not 
 sts. 
 
 I 
 
 w Before Rtntln^f it, T would obsnrvo, that the following prin- 
 ciple of coiiHtruction oti^dit to ^ovi^rn the casd bofore ut : If, 
 ill relation to four ilocuiiii>ntM of iM|ual authority, it be found 
 that t»nn of tluMii shows an apparont diMcrcpancy Imtween it 
 and the otliiM' three, the former HhouM not Imj construed 
 »ccordin>( to tho strictest rules of literary criticism, with a 
 view to support its variant readings, but its construction 
 fthould if poHsililu, bo such, as without doin^ violence to 
 lauj^uage, will brin^ it into harmony with the latter. The 
 propriety of adopting that rule in this case will appear, if we 
 observe the way in which sumo commentators have dealt, in 
 ccmtrast with the way in which others have dealt and are 
 now dealing with the text of John xiii. 1. The former have 
 read that verso strictly, as it would properly be read if it stood 
 alone. They have supposed it to refer to a day anterior to 
 that on which the feast that is the subject of the chapter is 
 stated to have been kept, the Greek preposition with the noun 
 that it governs being understood to mean before tfie day of the 
 feast. But the latter have considered a point of time to be 
 imported, immediately antecedent to that when our Lord is 
 related to have risen from the reclined posture first assumed 
 
 ^ by Him at the supper table. 
 
 I Having regard to the rule indicated, the whole chapter may 
 be read, consistently with all that we find in the four nana- 
 tives and all that we know of the Jewish ceremonial law, as 
 considering the word " feast," occurring in it, to have exclusive 
 reference to the Last Supper and to the Jewish Passover ob- 
 served simultaneously therewith. Omitting the parenthetical 
 portions, the chapter may be read, and to prevent inconsistency 
 with the Synoptic narrative muat he read thus : " Now, before 
 
 ^ the feast of the passover began, when supper was prepared, 
 
 1 and, after Jesus had reclined at the couch, He riseth from 
 supper " (and so on, to the end). V^hile proposing thus to read 
 it, I have not overlooked the words " against the feast " of the 
 twenty-ninth verse, which all the old commentators probablj* 
 understood to refer to a feast of the passover to take place on 
 
 ) 
 
\ 
 
 tho thon following J«»wiMh day. So lonj^ as thiy coniHl<l«'r«Ml 
 thu wonlH "tho frant of tho |>aH^4()Vl•r " <K*riirrin^ in tlio fliit 
 wno, to havi) no rofiM-uncc to tli<« LiHt 8ii|i|)« ;', it was iiatuml 
 to conHtruu tho words "a^ainnt tho foant " of tlio twonty- 
 ninth vnrHo in tlio naiiiM N«*nNo ; hut whon for th<> nako of 
 harmony, it iH found n«'coJi.sary to road thf word " foa«t ' of 
 ihn firnt vorno an intportirtg a foaHt idriitioal, as to time of 
 celebration, with tho La.it Suppor, it would soon> tr) follow that 
 tho word •' foast" of tlu! other verno should have tho .sanio con- 
 itruction, Moreover, ah I think it will appear, tho contoxt of 
 the latter verHo hIiown MUch to \m itH natural moaning. No 
 difficulty in adopting it relatively to tho (ireok lan^^uaj^e, iu 
 proHonted. 8t John's words in the ori^dtuil an; o<juivalent to 
 tho Latin words "in feMtuui." Neither "ad dioni festuin " of 
 tho Vulgate, nor " against tho" — -in expectation of the — " feast " 
 of our version, is a necessary reading. 
 
 Lot those who suppose a reference to a futuro feast, look at 
 the them surroun«ling circumstances. The hour was " night. " 
 It is not reasonable to suppose that our Lord's woids addressed 
 to Judas suggested to the min<l of one of the twelve then 
 present, he being, alike, ignorant of .Tudas's puj-pose and of 
 Jesus* knowledge of it, — that Ju«la.s was sent out, in the night, 
 to buy somotliing that would not bo rocjuired before the close 
 of tho following natural day : But it is reasonable, that a 
 surmise should have aiisen in the breast of that disciple, on 
 hearing tho words " that thou doest, do quickly, " to the effect, 
 that Judas was despatched, in order that he might go out and 
 purchase " quickly " some thing supposed by the hearer of 
 the words to have been perceived by our Lord to be wanting, 
 or likely to be required, for that feast, then in its second course, 
 and which was to continue for a considerable period. The 
 Iamb, and, no doubt, the unleavened bread and tho bitter herbs 
 were there; but there existed nothing which would preclude a 
 supposition, that Jesus had observed or anticipated a defi- 
 ciency of some other things, that were not unusual subordinate 
 ingredients of a Jewish passover feast. It must be borne in 
 
 mind, too, t 
 
 have Im'ou i 
 
 ,wa.H actual I 
 
 Oiavo inti-n 
 I 
 jnrt'otjnim' a 
 
 .bwish law 
 aio Itesido t 
 hav¥ Iw'on i 
 i lion to Jut 
 I " the Mast*' 
 charge* I to 
 guost-cham 
 
 Vory loa 
 
 attend an 
 
 inquiry. I 
 
 in relation 
 
 Lant Supp 
 
 notice the i 
 
 satisfactory 
 
 that ration 
 
 I as corollari 
 
 ! Passover ii 
 
 .secondly, t 
 
 thirdly, tl 
 
 His desigi 
 
 that He di 
 
 I a.ssum 
 during th 
 Last Supp 
 |Cordanco ^ 
 Ifrom some 
 ''observed 
 \;orrectly 
 probably 
 . right by ( 
 
ill till) flist 
 
 was nil til ml 
 
 tli«» twonty- 
 
 tll«> Hftko of 
 
 I " fi'ast ' of 
 s to tiiiio of 
 
 follow tlint 
 ln' Miimo con 
 )<• context of 
 «!ftninj(. No 
 lanj^ua^o, iu 
 
 •Mjuivalent to 
 
 1 ft'Ntuin " of 
 Hio— " feaat " 
 
 PeuHt, look at 
 WRH " night. " 
 kIh addresHud 
 
 twelve then 
 i-pose and of 
 ., in the night, 
 ore the close 
 able, that a 
 
 disciple, on 
 
 to the effect, 
 it go out and 
 be hearer of 
 
 be wanting, 
 econd course, 
 period. The 
 I bitter herbs 
 d preclude a 
 ated a defi- 
 
 subordinate 
 be borne in 
 
 ssengoi 
 
 cliar^^ed to iism that phrase, and how the aNNH colt and the 
 ^'ueHt-chaMib4>r hu<l been prociiicd. 
 
 Very learned ooiiiiiientators have felt grave perploxition to 
 atten<l an exe^'e.sis of St. John's (lospel, in the points of 
 in(|uiry. If my rationale of interpretation of his narrative, 
 in relation to the (question of identity or otherwise of the 
 Lapt Slipper with the Paschal Meal, in those passages that 
 notice the acts and sentiments of the Jews, can l>e accepted as 
 satisfactory, those perplexities will be lessened. In stating 
 that rationale, I cannot but deal with as established truths, or 
 as corollaries therefrom, first, that Jesus designed to keep the 
 Passover in question at what He knew to be the proper time ; 
 secondly, that that time was known by every one of the twelve ; 
 thirdly, that our Lord kept the Passover in accordance with 
 His design ; fourthly, that every one of the twelve knew 
 that He did so. . 
 
 I assume that the Jewish Council, and the Jews generally, 
 
 during the whole period between the commencement of the 
 
 Last Supper and the death of Jesus, did design to keep in ac- 
 
 |Cordance with their law, the feast of the Passover, but that , 
 
 Ifrom some miscalculations or misconceptions, they erroneously 
 
 ^observed it on the evening which succeeded that when Jesus 
 
 *correctly kept the same feast — a mistake of theirs that would 
 
 probably have been shared by St. John, if he had not been set 
 
 .right by our Lord. Observe now, in view of this, that from 
 
 1 
 
. I 
 
 10 
 
 the moment when Jesus was in the custody of the Jewish Band, 
 more especially when St. John wrote, the question of aeon acy 
 or inaccuracy of the Jews as to the time, had ceased, and for- 
 ever to have any, the slightest interc^^t for Christians. I can, 
 therefore, understand how what St. John wrote respecting acts 
 and impressions of the Jews, can be explained, without 
 any contradiction between his knowledge and his statements 
 being involved in his narrative. No reason existed for his 
 correcting the misapprehension of the Jews in those respects. 
 He therefore contented himself with noticing their conduct, 
 and the reasons which he knew to have influenced it, so far as 
 the purposes of his narrative required, and that, without any 
 comment. In the light of this the Synoptists may also be read. 
 
 As regards those passages in St. John's Gospel where he seems 
 to express, independently of the Jews, his own sentiments^ as 
 for instance, " And it was the preparation of the passover," it 
 is sufficient to remark, tFat men oF great' intellects, high cul- 
 ture and exact scholarship, seeing that there exist three inde- 
 pendent concurring narratives of equal authority with the 
 fourth Gospel, which deal with the same subject, read, and 
 most properly, St. John in the light of those narratives, and 
 interpret him accordingly. How they have done this every- 
 body knows. That they have done so satisfactorily under all 
 the circumstances, most men of intelligence feel and acknow- 
 ledge. 
 
 While contem' ating the events of our Lord's life, as briefly 
 stated by St. MattheW; that happened between the close of 
 His discourse, suggested by the stones of the Temple, and His 
 arrest by the Jews, I draw two inferences, that seem to me 
 important, as indicating motives which influenced His utter- 
 ances and His acts, during that period. A key to these is fur- 
 nished by Matt. xxvi. 2 and verse 20 of that chapter. I read 
 these verses, of course, in the light of all the narratives and of 
 Jewish type and prophecy. It appears to me that we have 
 indicated, first, the particular manaer in which, relatively to 
 the impending Sacrifice, Jesus designed to appear to the twelve^ 
 
 Is the anti- 
 objects to 
 iTould seoi 
 beforrcd 'j 
 rossed : 
 is arrest i 
 lite men t, ^ 
 lient of Hi 
 leturmined 
 is sitting 
 'cwish Guf 
 g the grc 
 ielated bv ! 
 ^0 knew t 
 lu hilling in 
 foreshadow 
 ielivery u] 
 iacrifice ci 
 ; And was 
 I apprehen 
 ipat suppos 
 ion to the 
 ifc mind t 
 |fi the natii 
 iusly with 
 
Jewish Band J 
 
 n of accu acy 
 
 laed, and for- 
 
 tiana. I can, 
 
 espectinj^ acts 
 
 ned, without 
 
 is statements 
 
 xisted for his 
 
 lose respects. 
 
 their conduct, 
 
 d it, so far as 
 
 without any 
 
 y also be read. 
 
 irhere he seems 
 
 sentiments^ as 
 
 B passover," it 
 
 icts, high cul- 
 
 :ist three inde- 
 
 ^rity with the 
 
 ;ject, read, and 
 
 narratives, and 
 
 Dne this every- 
 
 orily under all 
 
 ;1 and acknow- 
 
 ; life, as briefly 
 en the close of 
 ample, and His 
 lat seem to me 
 aced His utter- 
 to these is fur- 
 hapter. I read 
 rratives and of 
 e that we have 
 h, relatively to 
 r to the twelve' 
 
 U 
 
 the anti-type of the Paschal Lamb; secondly, certain special 
 
 ibjects to which Ho made that dosi},'n subservient. There 
 
 ould seem to have boon in that Divine breast, at the time 
 
 ■cfeircd , a motive and a purpose that might be thus ex- 
 
 •rt'ssed : Our Lord foi'osaw that the period to commence with 
 
 is arrest and end with His death would be one of great ex- 
 
 litement, while it would be marked by an entire abandon- 
 
 |ient of Himself by all the <liscipl('s, save Peter and John. He 
 
 [etermined, therefore, to employ the calm interval between 
 
 h sitting down to the Last Supper and the arrival of the 
 
 fewish Guard, in accomplishing the double purpose of institut- 
 
 ig the great Christian Feast, and of delivering the discourse 
 
 flBlated by St. John. He observed the Jewish festival at what 
 
 {[o knew to be the proper time. But He determined, while 
 
 luliilling in the feast all of type and prophecy that had been 
 
 iDreshadowed, to regard, for the purpose of fulfilment, " the 
 
 ielivery up to be slain " of the Lamb of God, as the actual 
 acrifice of the Lamb of God, that was shortly to succeed it. 
 A.nd was there no " inherent and symbolical fitness" in this? 
 I apprehend there was, and one more real and significant than 
 |hat supposed by a popular writer of the present day, in relat- 
 ion to the time of the actual Sacrifice. Here, we should bear 
 fei mind the obvious fact, that the Passover Feaat could not, 
 j^ the nature of things, have been kept by our Lord simultane- 
 ously with the very Sacrifice of the Lamb of God. 
 f Was there not in the pre-arrangement assumed, when rf ;;;ard- 
 in the light of Genesis, xxii., a correspondence between 
 pe and anti-type ? There we learn, that a short, but definite 
 iterval elapsed between the binding of Isaac for sacrifice, 
 id the actual Sacrifice of the provided Lamb. 
 Now recall the words of Matt. xxvi. 2 " Ye know that 
 iter two days is the feast of the passover, and " — and then — 
 [the Son of Man is delivered up to he crucified." There we 
 ive the predetermined design indicated. In verse 20 of the 
 tme^ chapter we read : " Now, when even was come, He sat 
 >wn with the twelve." There begins the accomplishment of 
 
 ? 
 
 b 
 
\ 
 
 12 
 
 that purpose of which the conclusion waH the " deliveiing up 
 of the Son of Man" — an event that took place before the follow- 
 ing day dawned on that Passover night. We may note, also, 
 " the hour is come," and the frequent recun-ence of the word 
 " now" in John xvii ; the use of the present tense by Jesus 
 at the institution of the Eucharist, as related in the other narra- 
 tives, while these last show the word " passover " to have been 
 often on the lips of our Lord, and always used w'thout any 
 qualification to intimate that it was not used in its natural, 
 Jewish senue. All these circumstances harmonize with the 
 design of Jesus that I have assumed. In connection ^vith 
 them observe especially, Luke xxii. 15, noting and emphasis- 
 ing the words " before I suffer." The idea of anticipation by 
 our Lord of the regular time for keeping the passover is, not 
 only no where intimated, but it is inconsistent with His own 
 words and acts. 
 
 It will be perceived that I have not confined myself to the 
 subject proposed at the commencement of my paper. I have 
 found some of its incidents so full of interest, that I could not 
 refrain from briefly adverting to them, though I fear that 
 what I have observed in relation to them is unworthy of the 
 sacred theme on which I have meditated. 
 
 L. M. W. 
 
 Windsor, 
 
 Nova Scotia, 
 
 Canada.