from evil but also do good. To compassionate our brethren in their sufferings, and to help them in their corporal and spiritual wants, is a Christian duty. They are the mystical members of Christ's body; whatever deeds of mercy we do, or refuse to them, Christ looks upon as done or refused to Himself. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall find mercy. The best grounds we can have to inspire confidence in the Divine mercy, is the exercise of charity towards our brethren.

The Last Supper.-Matt. xxvi.

The time fixed from eternity for the world's redemption was now at hand: it was now the middle of the seventieth week of years, when, according to the prophecy of Daniel,* Christ was to be denied by His people, and to be put to death. Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, had already agreed with the Pharisees to betray Him into their hands for a certain sum of money. Jesus perfectly knew what was to happen to Him; He foresaw the plots that were laid against His life, and He permitted them to take their course, for His time was now come: of His own free will, He encountered the danger, and therefore He no longer concealed Himself from His enemies.

But before He suffered, He would eat the Paschal lamb with His disciples for the last time. † He directed them to a certain house in the city, where He told them to prepare the supper in a large dining-room, which the man of the house should show them. They went, and having found every

* See p. 378.

+ While all writers of authority are agreed that the day of our Lord's Crucifixion was Friday, and that, consequently, His Last Supper took place on Thursday evening, it is a subject of much controversy whether the evening on which He thus celebrated His Last Passover, was the evening of the 13th, or of the 14th, day of the month Nisan.

The evening of the 14th, as we have seen (see Note, p. 115), was the time appointed in the Mosaic Law for the celebration of the Pasch. But in the opinion of many commentators, the legal period was, for special reasons, on this occasion anticipated by our Lord.

An interesting paper in explanation of this controversy, will be found in the Irish Ecclesiastical Record. Vol. ix., p. 445. (July, 1873.)

thing as He had said, they there prepared the Passover. At the appointed hour in the evening, Jesus sat down, and the Twelve Apostles with Him. "Most earnestly have I desired," said He, "to eat this Paschal supper with you, before I suffer. For from this time I will not eat it, till it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God." Then taking a chalice, or cup, of wine, He gave thanks and said: "Take ye this, and divide it amongst you; for I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God come."

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Then arising from table, and girding Himself with a towel, He poured water into a basin, and began to wash His disciples' feet. After he had washed them, and dried them with the towel with which He was girt, He took his ments, and sitting down again, said to them: "Do you know what I have done to you? If I, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet: for I have given an example for you to follow." After this He was troubled in spirit, and declared that one of them would betray Him. The Apostles were alarmed, and in their simple candour asked Him, one by one, "Lord, is it I ?" He did not answer them directly, but repeated generally that one of them, then sitting with Him at table, would betray Him. St. John, leaning on our Lord's bosom, was prompted by St. Peter to ask who it was. Our Lord said quietly, that it was the one to whom He would give a morsel of bread dipped in the dish. He then gave a morsel to Judas, who took it, and at once asked like the others, "Is it I?" Our Lord answered softly: "Thou hast said it;" and Judas having taken it, immediately went out.

After the departure of Judas, our Lord spoke with a certain air of relief, of the glorification of the Son of Man, and of His departure to His Father. St. Peter asked, how it was that they could not go whither He was going-he would lay down his life for Him! Then our Lord told him that before cockcrow he would deny Him thrice.

Then there was a contention among the Apostles which our Lord gently soothed down, promising them great honours in His kingdom. He added another warning to St.

Peter, telling him how Satan had begged to be allowed to sift him and his companions like wheat. "But I have prayed for thee," He added, "that thy faith fail not; and thou being once converted, confirm thy brethren." Peter again affirmed that he was ready to go with Him to prison and to death, and was again warned that he should deny his Master thrice before the cockcrow.'

Soon afterwards came the crowning act of our Lord's love the institution of the Blessed Eucharist. While they were at table, He took bread into His sacred and venerable hands, blessed, broke, and gave to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat, For this is My Body." Again, in like manner, He took a cup, which stood with wine in it upon the

table, and after blessing it, He bade them all to drink of it, saying: "This is My blood of the New Testament which shall be shed for many unto the remission of sins," and He added, "Do this for a commemoration of Me." By which last words He empowered His Apostles, and their successors in the Priesthood, to repeat what he had done, thus verifying the prediction of the Psalmist, who styled Him a Priest for ever, according to the Order of Melchisedech. The holy sacrifice thus instituted, is the clean oblation, which the prophet Malachy had foretold should be offered to God in every place, from the rising to the setting sun; for it is daily offered in the Church of Christ, throughout the world, by

JESUS IN THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANI.

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the ministry of His Priests, to whom He has given the power to do what He did at His last supper; that is, to consecrate the bread and wine in His name, and to change them into His Body and Blood.

The sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Lord, is a mystery so sublime and so incomprehensible to human weakness, that nothing but the clear and express word of God could induce us to believe it. But since Jesus Christ Himself so plainly tells us, This is My Body, This is My Blood, who, says St. Cyril of Jerusalem, will dare to call His word in question, or to doubt whether His Body and Blood be really there? At Cana, continues the holy Doctor, He had changed water into wine, and at His last supper He changed wine into blood: under the appearance of bread He gives us His Body, and under the appearance of wine He gives us His Blood.

What was bread before the consecration, says St. Ambrose, becomes the Body of Christ after consecration, and His Body is truly there. Before the words of consecration, the Body of Christ was not there; but He spoke, and there it was. For to God, who by His word made the world out of nothing, nothing is impossible. Hence, the chalice which we bless, says St. Paul, is it not the communication of the Blood of Christ? and the Bread which we break, is it not a participation of the Body of our Lord? Therefore, whosoever shall eat of this Bread, or drink of the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of our Lord.*

Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemani.—Matt. xxvi.

After Judas had gone out to concert measures with the Pharisees for the execution of his treacherous design, our

* Great diversity of opinion exists among commentators in regard to the order of the various events which are recorded by the Evangelists, in connexion with the Last Supper. Many commentators are of opinion that the disclosure of the traitor and his departure from the supper-room, occurred before the institution of the Blessed Eucharist.

A full explanation of this portion of the sacred narrative, will be found in the Irish Ecclesiastical Record. Vol. x., p. 109. (December, 1873.)

Blessed Saviour addressed the Eleven that remained, exhorting them to steadfastness in His service, and to a perfect love of their neighbour, as the distinctive mark of their being His disciples. "Let not your heart be troubled," said He; "because I go to the Father to prepare a place for you: for in My father's house there are many mansions. You believe in God, believe also in Me. I will not leave you orphans: I will come again, and will take you to Myself; that where I am, you also may be. If you love Me, keep my commandments; he that loveth Me, shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him; whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My name, that will I do. Peace I leave with you; My peace, such as the world cannot give, I give unto you. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, who shall abide with you, and teach you all things."

He then addressed a most fervent prayer to His eternal Father, not only for His Apostles, but also for all those who, through their preaching, should come to believe in Him; when this was concluded He went forth with His disciples, and passing over the brook of Cedron, He retired, according to His custom, to the Mountain of Olives.

His eleven disciples followed him to the place called Gethsemani,* where He bade them remain, while He went into the garden to pray, as He had often done before. He took with Him Peter, James, and John, his three favourite Apostles, to be the witnesses of this scene of His bitter passion. For then it was that He began more sensibly to feel the infirmities of human nature, and that all our griefs and miseries flowed in, as it were, in full tide upon Him. Overwhelmed with sadness, He told His disciples that His soul was sorrowful even unto death; He bade them stay there and pray, that they might not sink under the temptation. He then withdrew from them to the distance of a stone's throw, and kneeling down He prayed that the chalice of His Passion might pass from Him, but this prayer

By referring to the Map of Ancient, or of Modern, Jerusalem, in the Bible Atlas, it will be seen that Gethsemani lies somewhat to the east of the Valley of the Brook Cedron. As indicated on the Map of the modern city, two paths now meet there, both leading over the Mount of Olives.