refresh himself; the vine and the
fig-tree under which he had reposed, and the young maidens who,
perhaps, would have consented to love him? Did he curse the hard
destiny which had denied him the joys conceded to all others? Did he
regret his too lofty nature, and, victim of his greatness, did he
mourn that he had not remained a simple artisan of Nazareth? We know
not. For all these internal troubles evidently were a sealed letter to
his disciples. They understood nothing of them, and supplied by simple
conjectures that which in the great soul of their Master was obscure
to them. It is certain, at least, that his divine nature soon regained
the supremacy. He might still have avoided death; but he would not.
Love for his work sustained him. He was willing to drink the cup to
the dregs. Henceforth we behold Jesus entirely himself; his character
unclouded. The subtleties of the polemic, the credulity of the
thaumaturgus and of the exorcist, are forgotten. There remains only
the incomparable hero of the Passion, the founder of the rights of
free conscience, and the complete model which all suffering souls will
contemplate in order to fortify and console themselves.

[Footnote 1: John xii. 27, and following. We can easily imagine that
the exalted tone of John, and his exclusive preoccupation with the
divine character of Jesus, may have effaced from the narrative the
circumstances of natural weakness related by the synoptics.]

[Footnote 2: Luke xxii. 43; John xii. 28, 29.]

[Footnote 3: Matt. xxvi. 36, and following; Mark xiv. 32, and
following; Luke xxii. 39, and following.]

[Footnote 4: This is the less to be understood, as John is affectedly
particular in noticing the circumstances which were personal to him,
or of which he had been the only witness (xiii. 23, and following,
xviii. 15, and following, xix. 26, and following, 35, xx. 2, and
following, xxi. 20, and following.)]

The triumph of Bethphage--that bold act of the provincials in
celebrating at the very gates of Jerusalem the advent of their
Messiah-King--completed the exasperation of the Pharisees and the
aristocracy of the temple. A new council was held on the Wednesday
(12th of Nisan) in the house of Joseph Kaiapha.[1] The immediate
arrest of Jesus was resolved upon. A great idea of order and of
conservative policy governed all their plans. The desire was to avoid
a scene. As the feast of the Passover, which commenced that year on
the Friday evening, was