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"Spurreynge hys palfrie oere the watrie plaine
The Abbote of Scynte Godwynes convente came ;
Hys chapournette was drented with the reine,
And hys pencte gyrdle met with mickle shame;
He aynewarde tolde hys bederoll at the same;
The storme encreasen, and he drew aside,

With the miste

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almes-craver neere to the holme to bide."

A touching appeal is now addressed to the abbot for shelter within the convent-door :

"Helpless and ould am I, alass, and poor;

Ne house, ne friend, ne moneie in my pouche;

All yatte I call my owne is this my silver crouche." 5

The beggar, however, is driven away :

"And nowe the sonne with the blacke cloudes did stryve,

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And shettynge on the grounde hys glairie raie,

The Abbate spurrde hys steede, and eftsoones roadde awaie.”

At length a good Samaritan came up, in the person of a mendicant friar, who said in response to his appeal,

"Here take this silver, it maie eathe thie care;

We are Goddes stewards all, nete of oure owne we bare."

The following is a single stanza from "The Battle of Hastings." It is truly Homeric :—

"And now the greie-eyd morne with violets drest,
Shakyng the dewdrops on the flourie meedes,
Fled with her rosie radiance to the West:
Forth from the Easterne gatte the fyerie steedes
Of the bright sunne awaytynge spirits leedes:
The sunne, in fierie pompe enthrond on hie,
Swyfter than thoughte alonge hys jernie gledes,10
And scatters nyghtes remaynes from oute the skie:

He sawe the armies make for bloudie fraie,

And stopt hys drivinge steedes and hid hys lyghtsome raye."

(To be continued.)

THE CRUCIFIXION AND THE RESURRECTION:

ORDER OF EVENTS.

ST. PAUL, when writing to the Corinthians, declared that Christ died, and was buried, and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures; and these great truths, as we find them set forth in the Gospel narratives, the Apostle promulgated as the sum and substance of Christianity. The events which occurred during the few days before and subsequent to the

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crucifixion of our Lord have often been minutely examined, for the purpose of arranging them according to the days on which they took place. Had this been a matter of essential importance, we may be assured that the precise times would have been more clearly marked: still it is interesting to have a connected view of this most important period, so far as it can be obtained, by a careful arrangement of the records contained in the writings of the four evangelists.

Taking the events in their order, it appears that on the sixth day before the Crucifixion, or what may be called the Saturday, Christ came to Bethany, and was anointed in the house of Simon the leper. On the ifth day, or Sunday, Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem took place. He went into the Temple, healing the blind and the lame whom he found there. The Greeks came to Philip, desiring to see Jesus; and our Lord discoursed as recorded in John xii. In the evening of this and the following days He returned to Bethany. The fourth day, or Monday.—In the morning, on His way to Jerusalem, Christ pronounced a curse against the barren fig-tree. He again cast out the buyers and sellers from the Temple, and taught there. The third day, or Tuesday.-On their way to Jerusalem, the disciples saw that the fig-tree was dried up from the roots. Our Lord, when in the Temple, delivered the parables of the vineyard and the marriage-feast. He replied to the Herodians and Sadducees, as well as to the Pharisees, and questioned the latter concerning the Messiah. He then reproved the Pharisees, applauded the liberality of the poor widow, and, departing from the Temple, sat on the Mount of Olives, where He delivered His prophecy respecting the destruction of Jerusalem and IIis second coming, adding the parables of the virgins, the servants and talents, and of the sheep and goats. The second day, Wednesday.-Christ again informed His disciples of His approaching crucifixion, and declared that it should occur within two days. On this day, the chief priests and elders appear to have held their consultation at the palace of Caiaphas, respecting the taking of Christ, when Judas came to them, and offered to betray Him in the absence of the multitude. Most commentators suppose that our Lord remained this day at Bethany, probably in solemn contemplation of His approaching sufferings. The day before the Crucifixion, Thursday.Our Lord directed His disciples to make the preparation for the Passover, and in the evening came and partook of it with them, instituting the last supper. Early in the night Christ was betrayed. The day of the Crucifizion, Friday.-Christ, when apprehended in the garden, was led to Annas first, and then to the palace of Caiaphas,* where He was examined and

* Jerusalem at this time presented the singular spectacle of two high priests; Annas, who had been deposed by the Romans, but whose authority was still recognised by his countrymen, and his son-in-law Joseph, or Caiaphas, who had been appointed his successor. Before the former Christ was first brought; but Annas refused to receive the charge, and sent Him bound to Caiaphas. Here the blessed Saviour, after being mocked and derided, was detained as a prisoner, until the following morning, when the Sanhedrim, or Jewish Senate, assembled. The morning of

condemned as a blasphemer, and insulted by the servants of the high priest. As soon as it was day, a council was held how to dispose of Jesus; when, being questioned whether He was the Christ, He made the declaration implying that He was so. Judas came to this council, and, confessing that he had betrayed innocent blood, cast down the bribe he had received, and, going forth, hanged himself. The Jewish council caused Jesus to be taken before Pilate, being anxious to shelter themselves from the displeasure of the multitude, by the aid of the Roman power.* Pilate, after hearing the accusation, and examining Jesus, declared Him innocent. He then sent Him to Herod, who, having mocked our Lord, sent Him again to Pilate. Pilate again declared Jesus to be innocent, and sought to release Him; but the rabble, at the instigation of the chief priests and elders, preferred Barabbas, and insisted that Christ should be crucified. Pilate, after a final effort to deliver Jesus from their wrath, gave Him up to his soldiers, who led Him away to Golgotha, with two malefactors, who were also sentenced to die. The hours at which these several events took place are calculated to be as follows:-The apprehension in the garden about ten at night. About eleven Jesus was sent to Caiaphas. After midnight He was condemned, and abused by the officers and servants. About four the Sanhedrim met, and soon condemned Him. He was led away to Pilate about

Friday, the day of the Crucifixion, was about to dawn, when the Sanhedrim came together, and crdered Christ to be brought before them. An unexpected difficulty occurred; they had made their Lord a prisoner, but they had not found any person that could bring a charge against Him. At length two persons were procured, who deposed to His having declared, "I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days." What Jesus had said was misrepresented by the witnesses, and their statement was exaggerated. But if neither of these objections existed, the words are so perfectly harmless, that we may well be surprised how sane men could receive them as a charge. The high priest manifestly felt this difficulty; for he asked a question of our Lord utterly unconnected with this charge, the answer to which he endeavoured to turn into a new ground of accusation. He adjured Him, in the name of the living God, to declare "whether He was the Messiah, the Son of the living God, or not." To a question thus solemnly put, Jesus answered by a simple assertion of His claim. "Hereafter," said He, "shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven;" and the high priest, having obtained the acknowledgment he desired, rent his clothes, exclaiming, "What further need have we of witnesses ? behold, now ye have heard His blasphemy. What think ye ?" And with one voice they replied, "He is guilty of death." His claim to be the Son of God they plainly understood as a claim of a Divine character.

*Though the Sanhedrim had declared our Lord worthy of death, it was not in their power to pronounce a definitive sentence; this authority belonged solely to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judæa, and they now prepared to drag Jesus before his tribunal. History tells us that Pilate, after he had been recalled from the government of Judæa, was banished to Gaul, where he committed suicide.

"But thou upon a kingly couch reposed,

The judge of Jesus, could thy soul conceive
That, long as time's recorded truths endure,
Thy name, united to this awful day,

Would live, when all the Cæsars are forgot!"

five, and probably condemned finally about seven. Two hours more would be occupied in the trial of the malefactors, the scourging them as well as Jesus, the preparing of the titles, and in the slow procession to Calvary; so that the crucifixion took place about nine in the morning,* on the 15th of Nisan, about April 7th, in the thirty-fourth year of our Lord's life.

The circumstances connected with the crucifixion may here be very briefly enumerated, according to the order in which they occurred. When Christ was crucified, the soldiers cast lots for His garments. The rulers derided Him, the soldiers mocked, and they that passed by reviled Him, while one of the thieves joined therein; but the other, recognising and confessing the Saviour, and entreating His mercy, received a gracious assurance, that upon that very day he should be with Him in Paradise. Our Lord, then beholding His mother standing with other women near the eross, committed her to the care of His beloved disciple, who probably led her away to his abode in Jerusalem, and then returned to Calvary. Atnoon a darkness, which continued for three hours, spread over the land; and our Lord, after wrestling for a considerable time in the deepest agony of mind, as well as under great bodily sufferings, "cried with a loud voice, 'My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" Knowing that all His work was now accomplished, and that only one prophecy remained to be fulfilled, He gave occasion for its fulfilment by saying, "I thirst." Having received some vinegar, He said, "It is finished ;" and, commending His spirit into His Father's hands, He gave up the ghost, voluntarily resigning that life which no mortal power could have taken from Him against His will. Then the veil of the Temple was rent, and the earth "did quake;" the rocks were rent, and the graves gave up their dead. The hea then officer, who watched the execution, and the soldiers who had so lately mocked, bore testimony that the sufferer was indeed Divine; while the less hardened of the spectators withdrew, expressing their sorrow for the deed which had been perpetrated. A few faithful followers still remained on the spot, where the disfigured, lifeless remains of Him they had loved and revered hung upon the cross.

The day of the Crucifixion.-On Friday evening, when Joseph of Arimathæa had obtained permission to bury the body of Jesus, the women, both those who had approached the cross, (John xix. 25,) and those who stood afar off, (Mark xv. 40,) followed His remains to the sepulchre. This was similar to many burial-places among the Jews,-a small room about six feet by nine feet, excavated in the rock, the door closed with a stone slab, and having a small enclosed court before it. There the body was left, after it had been hastily wrapped in linen bandages, with the spices brought by Nicodemus. Most of the women then returned to the city without delay,

*It was the barbarous custom of that age to compel the person sentenced to the death of the cross, himself to carry the instrument of his punishment. Torture, however, had so weakened the frame of the suffering Saviour, that He sank beneath the load; and the multitude forced a stranger, Simon, a Cyrenian, to convey it to the place designed for the execution,

and prepared spices and ointments before the Sabbath came on ;* but Mary Magdalene, and Mary the wife of Cleopas, remained weeping near the tomb.

The day after the Crucifixion, or Saturday.-The chief priests and Pharisees, having obtained Pilate's leave, secured the sepulchre by fixing a seal upon the stone, and setting a guard of soldiers to watch it, of course satisfying themselves that the corpse was there. Mary Magdalene, and Mary the wife of Cleopas, with Salome, joined in purchasing spices, in the evening, as soon as the Sabbath was over. The words in Mark xvi. 1 signify that they then purchased the spices, which alone would be sufficient to distinguish them from the party mentioned, Luke xxiii. 56.

The first day of the week, Sunday.-Mary Magdalene and her companions set out to go to the sepulchre, very early, as it began to dawn. Before they arrived, there was a great earthquake; an angel descended, and rolled away the stone, and sat upon it; and the guards were terrified. Our Lord then arose, but none of the evangelists attempt to describe the particulars. The sun was rising when the first party of women already mentioned drew near, and saw the stone was removed, and that the door-way of the tomb was open. As the tomb fronted the east, the rising sun would shine upon it, so that this could be seen. Mary Magdalene, without examining further, ran to inform the apostles. Her two companions ventured into the apartment, or went to the entrance of the sepulchre, when they saw an angel, under the appearance of a young man, clothed with a white garment, sitting on the stone. The women being affrighted, the angel encouraged them to approach, saying, "Fear not ye;" from which some have supposed that the guards were still remaining on the spot, struck with terror. The angel told them to go and inform the disciples. They hastened quickly, but were so overcome with amazement, as not to be able to speak to those whom they first met. In the meantime, Mary Magdalene having told Peter and John that the body of Jesus was taken away, the two apostles ran to the sepulchre. John arrived first, and, standing on the floor of the ⚫ outer apartment, stooped down, and, looking into the cave, or tomb, saw the linen clothes lie. Peter, coming soon after, went into the tomb, and observed the orderly manner in which the clothes were laid, folded regularly, and not bearing any appearance of having been removed in haste, or with the trepidation which must have attended a stealthy removal in the presence of an armed guard, and on a moonlight night,-had such an attempt been probable, as it was not, for many reasons. John also went in, and began to believe that his Lord had risen. The apostles then returned to their own homes. Mary returned to the sepulchre, and stood weeping in the outer apartment; but, looking into the tomb, she saw two

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* On account of the near approach of the Sabbath, the rites of sepulture were performed in a hurried and imperfect manner; but an ample supply of ointment and spices was provided by Nicodemus and by the women, for preparing the body according to the Jewish custom, immediately after the Sabbath.

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