The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 401

which make it ensily to be nccounted for that some should reckon it the choicest of the Gospels. It has whRt the others have not; but when we compare the otherH with it, to look for their pecnlinr excellences, then we find how the others have what this Gospel lacks. One would have thought beforehand the.t John would have enlarged on t~e mysteries and sorrows of Gethsemane, but, strangely enough, he passes theri1 over without e. word. Here is one of the illustrations of how real e. thing inspiration is, these Gospels being not written e.fter the fashion of human books, though they came through human minds. If John had been Rsked why he omitted to enlarge on the, Passion, he could hardly have told. But though John says nothing of how Jesus began to be sorrowful and very heavy even unto death, though he says nothing al" thllt sweat which was like great drops of blood falling to the ground, yet we are sure all these dreadful experiences must have been often in his grateful recollection. Gethsemane was the last place where Jesus and his disciples had free speech before his death, and it wae well that they should have the recollection of it as a place where they had often been. Many things at many times Jesus must have told them there, and the remembrance of the place would bring up the remembrance of the words. We must not make too much of this mere locality, even if we were quite certain of it. Every Christian must have his own hallowed places. Every Christain must have places, the recollection of which is sweeter far to him than ever the mere sight of traditional spots in Palestine can be. We must have holy, memorable places in our own experience, and then perhaps we me.y get some good from considering the so-called holy places of the sercalled Holy Land.-Y. Ver. 10.-The vanity of violence. Here we have e. peculiarly valuable illustration of the vanity of violence. Over and above the wickedness of violence, there is the useless- ness of it. Men arm themselves with all sorts of deadly weapons, and go out against each other; and what is the good of it all? Man was not made for anything requiring violence or extraordinary exertion. He has neither the muscles, the claws, nor the fangs of the beast of prey, Man gains his proper results by the industrious hand, directed by the God-glorifying brain. Nothing of the highest has ever been gained by brute force. I. LooK AT THOSE ATTA.OKING JEBUB. They act after their kind and according to their light. They know no weapons but force and stratagem. The whole appearance of this multitude, going out with swords, e.nd sticks, and lamps, and torches, has some- thing ridiculous and despicable about it. This array of forces wonld have been all right if a lion or a bear from the wilderness bad been seen skulking a.bout the Mount of Olives. The weapons would have corresponded against a murderer or a brigand in hiding there. But it was J~sus against whom they were going out--Jesus, who did t1verything in bis work by persuasion and spiritual energy. Of course, all this showed great ignorance, but that is what the enemies of Christ and bis Church always do show. The opposition of the world, being completely ignorant of what has to be conquered, has no astuteness in it. What can all the combined efforts of the world do against a man who is ready, if need be, to die for bis religion? Jesus in the hands of his enemies is the grand illustration of how little the enemies of the body of Christ can do, or rather the particular enemies who make physical pain their weapon. Such are not the worst enemies. It is not the wolf, confessed in all his natural ferocity, that we have most to fear, but the wolf in sheep's clothing, the foe who comes with the look and language of the friend. II. LooK AT THE METHODS OF DEFENCE. 1. The way of Peter. Peter had very likely made himself possessor of Cine of the two swords mentioned in Luke xxii. 38. Of course, this shows an utter misunderstanding of the meaning of Jesus in Luke x.xii. 86. If we act on some wrong meaning of a word of Jesus, we shall suffer for the blunder, sooner or later. Peter got a weapon into his hands that, to a. man of his rash, impetuous ways, was just the thing to bring him into trouble. Peter should have done the ri!(ht thing at the right time. Jesus put him and others to watch and pray, to act as sentinels. The sentin6"s fell asleep at their posts, and reckless lunging with a sword could nat mend matters afterwards. Notice, too, how the effects of this rash act were worst tn, the mnn who committed it. Here surely is the secret of the sub- sequent denials. z. The way of Jesus. Je~ns yields. He defends and conquers by  TUE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN, [oH, xvm. 1-40.