themeolvea. He w11ntecl something more dee.th, and yet tn be will.out true love than the eaorecl power of love to hie own (1 Ocr. xiii. 1, 2, 3). brethren : he ;yc11rned after more utter Ver. 38.-With infinite pathos ond pity iclentifloo.tion with hie MMter, re.ther the.n Christ took up the words of Peter: 1eB11s oloeer interclepcndenoe of love e.nd mutue.l a.nawereth, Wilt thou lay down thy life for ministries among the shattered group of my ■akel Verily, verily, I aay unto thee, he.If-taught disciples. Whither goest thou? The oook shall not have urowed, till thou If to the battle-field, to the condemned cell, hast denied me thrice.' In Matt. xxvi. to the martyr's death, I will go with thee. 81-35 and Mark xiv. 27-31 the announce- "Not now," is the reply, but "e.fterwe.rcls," ment of Pater's fo.te is made on the way after thou bast strengthened thy brethren to the garden of Gethsemane; Luke',i (see Luke xxii. 32), o.fter thou ho.et shep- account (xxii. 31, etc.) may h11rmonize herded my lambs and my sheep, and fed chronologically with this stntement of John; the sheep themselves with the finest pe.sture, but from all we know of Peter, it is probable then thou ehnlt come my we.y. It is very that, after his long silence maintained imp1·essive that, in the beautiful legend that during the discourse of eh. xiv.-xvii., his has been commemorated in the Church of love may he.ve been so quickened and "Domine, quo vedis?" in Rome, Peter deepened as t.o have once more induced the Bhould at the le.st he.ve been supposed to reiteration of his fidelity e.nd his willingness put his persona.I feelings before his Master's to die for and with his Ma.ater, only to receive will. Fleeing from persecution at Rome, he again a more explicit warning of his weak- is said to have met his Lord entering the ness. Towards the close of the sixteenth city, and, after putting this question, re- chapter of this Gospel, the Lord warns all ceived the reply, '' lbe.m ad urbem, iterum his disciples of their inability t.o stand the crucifigi." The disciple, after his wont, tremendous test to which they would eoon e.coepted the rebuke, immediately returned be exposed. If we reject the "harmony," t.o the city, and u then another bound him, and ref1Lse to donble the pre,lictiou, we and led him whither he would not" (eh. should be strongly io.clined, with Meyer e.nd ni.18, 19). Liicke, to accept the higher credibility of Ver. 37.-Peter saith unto him, Why John's chronology than that of Matthew or oannot I follow thee even now 1 I will lay Mark. The extraordinary character of this down my life for thy sake. Compare the prediction, recorded in all four Gospels, is one language of Thomas (eh. :xi. 16), "Let of the most vivid proofs of our Lord's super- us go, that we may die with him." Peter natural power, and in its detail and c!en- thought himself ready to die for hfa Lord, nitenes.s places him ru:nong those who claim before his Lord had died for him. He who attention from their absolute knowledge, had seen, the glory of the Transfiguration, aud not their ve.gue guess of the future. and the majesty of Christ's power, and the Yet there was no fate in this prediction; depth of an uttermost love, was reo.dy, o.s for Peter is afterwards warned, entreated, he thought, for any sacrifice, for the most prayed for even, by Immanuel. complete self-abandonment; but he mis- calculated his strength of will and the 1 'A1r01tplveTa., 'l77<Tou, is preferred by Ti-
tenacity of his purpose. "Quid in animo schendorf (8th edit.), Westcott and Hort, and ejus esset cupiditatis videbat, quid virium R.T., on the authority of ~. A, B, c•, L, to non videbat" (Augustine). St. Paul, long a.1r<KplO-,, a.imi d 'I71<Toiis, and 6.pvf,/T/1 for before St. John made this conversation a.1rcipJ17J<TJI· +c.Jf7J<TnofT.Rrests on C,D, E,H, known, must he.ve gathered from the known L, etc.; tf>'"Jf7JC1!10n te, A. B, C,and a vast num- teaching of Jesus the same sublime subtle ber of other authorities. The latter is adopted b-uth, that it is possible to dare a martyr's by R. T.,Tischendorf (8th edit.), Tregelles,eto.
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-3.-Farewell token of Chri>t's love to Ms disciples. We are now to trace the development of faith in the body of the disciples, responsive to the supreme mani- festations of his love to them during his earthly ministry. I. Otra LORD'S KNOWLEDGE OF HIS APPBOAOHING DEATH. "Jesus knowing that his hour was come." 1. This knowledge was strictly prophetic. It was no mere forecast, grounded on a calculation of the extremeness of Jewish hatred. lie had often evaded arrest, because "his hour was not yet come." 2, It is a solemn thing to know the hour oj our dealh. (1) It is not given to man to know it. The uncertainty respecting it enables man to follow the business of life without distraction. (2) 'l'hose who know their end is o.t hand see in death the most important crisis in their being, ending as it does their .a.98 'IIIE GOSPJ!.L AOCOBu11.'IG '1'0 ST. JOHN. [ClR, xm. 1-88.