ed on the Lord's left, and John
upon His right, so that the beloved disciple could lean back his head
on the bosom of his Friend. When all were settled, Jesus exclaimed,
with a sigh of innermost satisfaction, "With desire I have desired to
eat this Passover with you before I suffer"; and as He uttered the
words, Judas must have felt a thrill passing through his nature, as he
realized more clearly than any around that table, what was approaching.
Evidently, then, the Master had guessed what was being prepared for
Him! Did He also know the share that he had had in preparing it? In
any case, it was clear that, so far from resisting, He was prepared to
suffer. Apparently, He would not take the opportunity of asserting His
claims; but would allow events to take their course, yielding Himself
to the will of His foes!

When He had given thanks, the Lord passed round the first cup; then
followed the washing of the disciples' feet, in the midst of which He
looked sorrowfully toward Judas, exclaiming, "Ye are clean, but not
all"; for He knew from the first who would betray Him. It was with a
strange blending of awe and wonder that the little group saw the dark
cloud of anguish gather and rest on the beloved face when, on resuming
His place, He was troubled in the spirit, and testified, and said,
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray Me." The
disciples looked at one another, doubting of whom He spoke, and Peter
beckoned to John to ask. But Judas knew. And when He went on to say,
"The Son of Man goeth, even as it is written of Him; but woe unto that
man through whom the Son of Man is betrayed! good were it for that man
if he had not been born"--again Judas' heart smote him. It may be that
he asked himself whether he might not even now draw back.

For three years he had played his part so well that, in spite of his
constant pilfering from the bag which held the slender resources of the
little band, no one suspected him. His fellow-disciples might contend
for the first places at the table, but all felt that Judas, at any
rate, had a prescriptive right to sit near Jesus. All round, in
sorrowful tones, the question passed, "Lord, is it I?" Each, conscious
of the unfathomed evil of his own nature, thought himself more likely
to be the traitor than that the admirable Judas should do the deed. It
was terrible to know that the Shepherd should be smitten, and the flock
scattered; but more, that the Mast