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further need have we of witnesses? Ye have heard the blasphemy. What is your opinion? And they all pronounced 65 him worthy of death. Then some began to spit on him; others to cover his face and buffet him, saying to him: Divine who it is. And the officers gave him blows on the cheeks.

66

Matt. 26: 69.

Now Peter being below in the court, one of the maid-ser- Lu. 22: 55. vants of the high-priest came thither, who seeing Peter warm- Jo 18: 17, & 25. 67 ing himself, looked on him, and said: Thou also wast with the 68 Nazarene Jesus. But he denied, saying: I know him not;

nor do I understand what thou meanest. Immediately he went 69 out into the portico, and the cock crew. The maid seeing him 70 again, said to the standers-by: This is one of them. Again he denied. And a little after, those who were present said to Peter; Thou art certainly one of them; for thou art a Galilean; 71 thy speech showeth it. Upon this he affirmed, with imprecations and oaths, that he did not know the man of whom they spake. 72 Then the cock crew the second time: and Peter recollected ch. 14; 30. the word which Jesus had said to him: Before the cock crow twice, thou wilt disown me thrice.' And reflecting thereon, he wept.

XV. EARLY in the morning, the chief-priests with the elders, Matt. 27; 1. the scribes, and all the sanhedrim, after consulting together, Jo. 18; 28. bound Jesus, carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate.

Lu. 23: 3.

2 Pilate asking him, said: Thou art the king of the Jews? Matt, 27; 11. 3 He answered: Thou sayest right. Now the chief-priests ac4 cused him of many things. Again Pilate asked him, saying: answerest thou nothing? Observe how many crimes they ar5 raign thee for. But Jesus answered no more, insomuch that Pilate was astonished.

6

Matt. 27: 15.

Now, at the festival, he always released to them any one L. 23:17. 7 prisoner whom they desired. And there was one Barabbas Jo. 18; 39. that had been imprisoned with his seditious associates, who in 8 their sedition had committed murder. And with clamor the 9 multitude demanded of Pilate what he used to grant them. He 10 answered them, saying: Shall I release to you the king of the Jews? (For he knew that through envy the chief-priests had 11 delivered him up.) But the chief-priests incited the multitude

to insist on the release of Barabbas, in preference to Jesus. 12 Pilate again interposed, saying: What then would ye have 13 me to do with him whom ye call king of the Jews? They 14 cried Crucify him. Pilate asked them: Why? What evil

hath he done? But they cried the more vehemently, Crucify 15 him. Then Pilate, desirous to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them, and having caused Jesus to be scourged, delivered him up to be crucified.

VOL. II.

24

Matt. 27; 27. 16

Jo. 19: 1.

And the soldiers brought him into the hall called pretorium,* 17 where, having convened all the band, they arrayed him in pur

ple, and crowned him with a wreath of thorns, and saluted him, 18 saying: Hail, king of the Jews! Then they struck him on 19 the head with a reed, and spat upon him, and paid him homage 20 on their knees. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple, and dressed him in his own clothes, and took him away to be crucified.

Matt. 27: 32. 21
Lu. 23: 36,

& 33:

Jo. 19: 17.

Jo. 19:23.

Isa. 53; 12.

And they constrained one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, in coming from the country, the father of Alexander and 22 Rufus, to carry the cross. And they brought him to Golgotha, 23 that is to say, the place of skulls, where they gave him wine to drink, mingled with myrrh, which he would not receive. 24 When they had nailed him to the cross, they parted his gar25 ments, dividing by lot what every man should take. Now it 26 was the third hourt when they nailed him to the cross. And

the inscription, bearing the cause of his death, was in these 27 words, THE KING OF THE JEWS. They likewise crucified two robbers with him, one at his right hand, the other at his 23 left. And that Scripture was fulfilled, which saith, He was ranked among malefactors.'

Matt. 27: 39. 29
Lu. 23: 35.

Ps. 22: 1.

Meantime they who passed by reviled him, shaking their heads, and saying: Ah! thou who demolishest the temple 30 and rebuildest it in three days; save thyself, and come down 31 from the cross. The chief priests likewise, with the scribes,

deriding him, said among themselves: He saved others; can32 not he save himself? Let the Messiah, the king of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. Even those who were crucified with him reproached him.

Matt. 27: 45. 33 Now from the sixth hour until the ninth,§ darkness covered Lu. 23:44. 34 all the land. At the ninth hour|| Jesus cried aloud, saying: Eloi, eloi, lamma sabachthani? which signifieth, "My God, 35 my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' Some who were pre36 sent, hearing this, said: Hark! he calleth Elijah. One at the same time ran and dipped a sponge in vinegar, and having fastened it to a stick, presented it to him to drink, saying: Let alone, we shall see whether Elijah will come to take him down. 37 And Jesus sending forth a loud cry, expired.

Matt. 27:51. 38
Lu. 23: 45.

Then was the vail of the temple rent in two, from top to 39 bottom. And the centurion who stood over against him, observing that he expired with so loud a cry, said: Surely this man was the Son of God.

*The governor's palace, or hall of audience.

† Nine in the morning.

§ Three, afternoon.

Twelve, Noon.

Three, afternoon.

40

Matt. 27: 55.

There were women also looking on at a distance, amongst L. 23:55. whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James Lu. 8: 2. 41 the younger, and of Joses and Salome (these had followed him, and served him, when he was in Galilee), and several others who came with him to Jerusalem.

42

SECTION X.-THE RESURRECTION.

Lu. 23; 50.

WHEN it was evening (because it was the preparation, Matt. 27: 57. 43 that is, the eve of the Sabbath),† Joseph of Arimathea, an Jo. 19; 38. honorable senator, who himself also expected the reign of God, taking courage, repaired to Pilate, and begged the body of 44 Jesus. Pilate, amazed that he was so soon dead, sent for the

centurion, and asked him whether Jesus had been dead any 45 time. And being informed by the centurion, he granted the 46 body to Joseph; who having brought linen, and taken Jesus down, wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a monument 47 hewn out of the rock, and rolled a stone to the entrance.

Now

Lu. 24; 1.

Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of Joses, saw where he was laid. XVI. WHEN the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary Matt. 28: 1. the mother of James and Salome, brought spices, that they Jo. 20: 1. 2 might embalm Jesus. And early in the morning, the first day 3 of the week, they came to the monument about sunrise. And they said among themselves: Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the monument? (for it was very 4 large). But when they looked, they saw that the stone had 5 been rolled away. Then entering the monument, they beheld

a youth sitting on the right side, clothed in a white robe, and 6 they were frightened. But he said to them: be not frightened; ye seek Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He is risen: he is not here: behold the place where they laid him. But go, say to his disciples, and to Peter, 'He is gone before you 8 to Galilee; where ye shall see him, as he told you.' The women then getting out, fled from the monument, seized with trembling and consternation; but said nothing to any one, they were so terrified.

9

Jesus having arisen early the first day of the week, appear- Jo. 20; 14. ed first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven 10 demons. She went and informed those who had attended him, 11 who were in affliction and tears. But when they heard that he was alive, and had been seen by her, they did not believe it. Afterwards he appeared in another form to two of them, Lu. 24; 13.

12

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Lu. 29; 36.
Jo. 20: 19.
Matt. 28: 18.

13 as they travelled on foot into the country. These being returned, acquainted the other disciples; but neither did they believe them.

14

At length he appeared to the eleven as they were eating and reproached them with their incredulity and obstinacy in disbelieving those who had seen him after his resurrection. 15 And he said unto them: Go throughout all the world, proclaim 16 the good tidings to the whole creation. He who shall believe

and be baptized, shall be saved; but he who will not believe, 17 shall be condemned. And these miraculous powers shall attend the believers. In my name they shall expel demons. Acts, 16: 18. 18 They shall speak languages unknown to them before. They shall handle serpents with safety. And if they drink poison, it shall not hurt them. They shall cure the sick by laying their hands upon them.

Acts, 2; 4.

& 10; 46.

Acts, 28; 5.
Acts, 28; 8.

Lu. 24: 51.

Heb. 2; 4.

19

NOW, after the Lord had spoken to them, he was taken up 20 into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. As for them, they went out and proclaimed the tidings every-where the Lord co-operating with them, and confirming their doctrine by the miracles wherewith it was accompanied.

NOTES

ON ST. MARK'S GOSPEL.

For the title, see the Note on the Title of the preceding Gospel.

CHAPTER I.

1. "The beginning of the Gospel." Some consider den here as the nominative of the verb éyéveto, ver. 4, and include the quotations from the Prophets, verses 2 and 3, in a parenthesis. But, abstracting from the awkwardness of so long a suspension of the sense in the very first sentence, the expression άoxn zou εvayyeλίου ἐγένετο Ιωάννης Βαπτίζων appears no wise agreeable to the style of the sacred writers: nor will it be found to answer better if we invert the order and say with Markland, Ιωάννης βαπτίζων ἐγένετο ἀρχὴ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου· whereas ἐγένετο Ιωάννης βαπτίζων, 'John came baptizing,' or simply John baptized, is quite in their idiom. See ch. 9: 7. L. 9: 35. The first verse, therefore, ought to be understood as a sentence by itself. It was not unusual with authors to prefix to their performance a short sentence, to serve both as a title to the book, and to signify that the beginning immediately follows. See Hos. 1: 1, 2. In this manner also Herodotus introduces his history, Ηρόδοτου Αλικαρνασσῆος ἱστορίης απόδει Es de. This usage probably gave rise to the custom afterwards adopted by transcribers, of putting, at the head of their transcript, incipit, followed by the name of the book or subject, and subjoining at the foot explicit, with the name repeated, as a testimony to the reader that the work was entire. This purpose it was with them the better fitted for answering, as the whole book was commonly written on one large and continued scroll, hence called a volume, and not, as with us, on a number of distinct leaves. So far, however, the custom obtains still, that we always prefex a short title on the page where we begin, and subjoin The End on the page where the work is concluded.

2 "Son of God," vioυ tou εou. As brevity is often studied in titles, the article before viov is probably on that account left out. Let it be noted in general, that the omission of the article in Gr. is not, like the insertion of the indefinite article in Eng. a positive expression that the word is to be understood indefinitely. The phrase vios rou cou, as was hinted before, (Matt. 27: 54.

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