and may not a way of escape be found for him also? Alas! no prophet ever predicted the premature death of Isaac; he was not, therefore, inevitably doomed to die, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. Enoch speaks only of the Son of Man sitting upon the throne of his glory; why, therefore, should Isaiah destine him to pass through the portals of death to the possession of his kingdom? Alas! it is written; and what mortal can blot out Scripture? O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.'1 Hush! Is that a voice from heaven? the flutter of an angel's wings? No! it is but the sighing of the wind, which mocks him with one brief moment of reviving hope. He turns for human sympathy towards the men whom he has chosen as his companions in the Messianic career, but even this consolation is denied him. These poor simple-minded peasants, as incompetent for the conception or execution of a great design as a group of modern fishermen, slumber, with childlike indifference to the awful ordeal through which their Lord and Master is passing.

Again and again the predestined victim of the prophets vainly appeals for mercy to his Father in heaven; and at length recognising the impossibility of divine interference with Scripture, even to prevent the judicial murder of the innocent, he yields with pious and noble resignation to the forecast of Isaiah.

Jesus is arrested by the myrmidons of the chief priests and elders. One of the apostles having shown a disposition to resist violence, Jesus said, 'Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall pre

1 Matt. xxvi. 39.

sently give me more than twelve legions of angels? but how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?' Could language give us clearer insight into the nature of that pernicious superstition which lured Jesus into the interpretation and fulfilment of prophecy, under the fatal illusion that he was thus accomplishing the divine will and purpose? What limits can we place to the self-sacrifice of noble minds controlled by the fanaticism which hears the voice of God in the accents of priests and prophets?

Let us, however, assume, in justice to the unknown author of Isa. liii., that could he have anticipated the tragic consequences of his poetic rhapsodies, he would have thrust his right hand into the flames, rather than pen the lines which were to cause the martyrdom of Calvary.

"Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.' Other men of commanding genius have been happy in thẹ choice of friends faithful unto death; but Jesus failed to secure the fidelity of even one disciple in the hour of his desperate extremity. How unfortunate are the ancient Hebrews in their historians, whether Mosaic or evangelical, who so frequently depict them as destitute of the heroism so conspicuous in the annals of Aryan races!

Jesus stands in the presence of his sacerdotal judges, calmly resolute in his adherence to the programme of Isaiah He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.' The meaning of the pro

1 Matt. xxvi. 53, 54.

phet is clear. No word in self-defence may pass from his lips. False witnesses appear against him, but Jesus maintains the self-denial of unbroken reticence. The High Priest adjures him by the living God to declare whether he is the Messiah, the Son of God. Jesus at length answers in the affirmative, and adds, 'Nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.' Thus Jesus openly declares that he is the Hebrew Messiah; and as his pretensions are apparently irreconcilable with the humiliation of his position, he announces the glories of the second advent predicted by Enoch and Daniel. The words 'Son of God' from the lips of the high priest, if not an interpolation, can only be synonymous with the Messiah; for how could he have anticipated a divinity unheard of till the second century? or why should Jesus, claiming to be the Son of God, reply in words which referred to the Son of Man?

If the Sanhedrim were ignorant of the visions of Enoch, its Pharisaic members were at least familiar with the imagery of Daniel, and might well have listened with compassion to the visionary simplicity of the man who thus identified himself with the dreams of prophetic bards. But why expect compassion, or even justice, from the ministers of a theology prolific in pious. cruelty and sacred massacre? Sufficient that a Galilean peasant has proclaimed a kingdom of heaven unknown to Hebrew orthodoxy, and now thus blasphemously speaks of appearing in the clouds of heaven; -away with him to speedy execution! In our compassionate tenderness for the noble enthusiast thus un

justly sentenced to death, we naturally feel abhorrence of the men who sent him to the appalling ignominy of the cross; but judged impartially, they were doubtless quite as conscientious in their bigotry as the Christian priests of futurity, who piously consigned Jews and heretics to the flames as wicked opponents of the orthodox faith.

Condemned by hostile priests, he might yet find safety in an appeal to Roman justice; but the terrible ordeal of silent self-repression in the presence of his enemies had not shaken the devotion of Jesus to the prophetic superstition, and when arraigned before the judgment-seat of Pilate, he even courted Roman hostility as the self-appointed King of the Jews. But the powerful representative of an invincible empire, unmoved by Hebrew prejudices, could hear with calm indifference of claims to royalty, which to him were but the harmless dreams of an inoffensive visionary; and he would have gladly rescued this interesting enthusiast from the persecution of his enemies, but that, to his amazement, the eccentric prisoner obstinately refused to plead against the fictitious charges of his

accusers.

Luke is the only evangelist who records that Pilate referred the case of Jesus to the adjudication of Herod : 1 Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad, for he was of a long time desirous to see him, because he had heard concerning him, and he hoped to see some miracle done by him: and he questioned him in many words, but he answered him nothing.' Can we imagine a more convincing proof of his unreasoning adherence

1 Luke xxiii. 7-11.

to the programme of Isaiah? The refusal of the innocent to plead against the false accusations of perjured witnesses is a grave offence against society, for unmerited convictions necessarily encourage malicious. prosecutions; but Jesus places prophecy above ethics, and prefers yielding to injustice to casting the slightest doubt on the language of Isaiah.

Restored to the jurisdiction of the Roman governor, who can question that if the eloquent preacher of the Sermon on the Mount had appealed to Roman justice by demanding an impartial investigation into his blameless life, Pilate would have successfully resisted the judicial murder of an innocent man? But how then could the Scriptures have been fulfilled? What is the life of Jesus when weighed in the balance with the words of the great Nâbi, who speaks with the voice of God? Prepare, therefore, the crown of thorns, the purple robe of mockery; erect the cross, that Jesus may die a felon's death in vindication of the prophets !

Had Pilate been one of the noblest of the Romans, even yet he might have saved this silent, obstinate, mysterious Jew, who courts destruction as a phantom king; but being a mere ordinary official, fearing to incur responsibility, he vainly washes from his hands the stain of innocent blood, and surrenders Jesus to the martyrdom around which has gathered the legends, dogmas, and mysteries of ecclesiastical Christianity.

At length the appalling tragedy hastens to its conclusion. Religion nails Jesus to the cross--the future symbol of a new theology, whose priests shall also, in due time, torture and execute the victims of Christian intolerance; the nerves and tendons of his hands and