point—"To establish as a principle that we must recognise the legitimacy of a power by the inscription on its coins, to proclaim that the perfect man pays tribute with scorn, and without question, was to destroy Republicanism in the ancient form, and to favour all tyranny. Christianity, in this sense, has contributed much to weaken the sense of duty of the citizen, and to deliver the world into the absolute power of existing circumstances." But we are not surprised that he should so readily teach the payment of tribute, considering how easy he found it to pay tribute himself; for the ludicrous account given in Matthew, in the same chapter which describes the transfiguration, shows Jesus discharging his own liability and that of Peter in the most original manner imaginable. Not wishing to offend the tax collectors, he said to Peter—"Go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: take that, and give unto them for me and thee." If fish of this description swam in rivers now, they would be preserved to the exclusion of the most delicious members of the finny tribe. Every man would be an angler, and fishing-tackle making would be the most lucrative trade known. Take another instance of evasion. The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection, so they put a question to Jesus on that point. They instanced a woman who had been married to seven brothers in succession, all of whom had died. Therefore, in the resurrection, they asked whose wife she would be out of the seven when they met again. This was quickly disposed of, for "Jesus answered and said onto them, Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. For In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven." If this is so, what becomes of the hope which believers in immortality have that in heaven they will be joined again to those they have lost on earth? This great consolation of the Christian is founded on a delusion. Jesus also supplemented his statement with this remarkable declaration, "But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living," What then is the use of Catholic prayers for the souls of those in Purgatory? What is the utility of our burial service, which goes upon the supposition that God will attend to our requests as touching the dead we are about to consign to the grave? Freethinkers and rational thinkers discard the whole ceremony as a mockery. When once dead, the particles which composed our bodies are dissolved, and pass into new combinations—we never live again.

After he had done all his preaching, and had thoroughly aroused the ire of the authorities and most of the people of Jerusalem against him, he began to fear that he would have to suffer for it, and he told his disciples so. After they had supped together in the house of one of the friends, they departed to the Mount of Olives outside the city, and Jesus said they would all be offended with him because of that night. Peter the loquacious declared, that though all men might be offended because of him, he would never be. Jesus had no great opinion of Peter's steadfastness, and told him, notwithstanding his protestations of attachment, that before the cock crew he would deny him thrice. Peter asseverated again: "Though I should die with ye, yet will I not deny thee." Poor Peter's word, like his judgment, however, was not to be relied upon, for the very next day he denied all knowledge of Jesus, and when pressed for an answer, he began to curse and to swear that he had never seen him. Soon after this the Garden of Gethsemane, into which they had entered; was surrounded by a multitude with staves and with swords, and Jesus was arrested, Peter the dauntless did make some resistance, and cut off the ear of Malchus, a servant of the High Priest; but the loss was only temporary, for we are told that Jesus immediately "touched his ear, and healed him," and if this does not mean that he stuck the ear on again, what does it mean? When Jesus was arrested in the Garden, all the disciples, escaped as quickly as possible, but Peter followed at a distance; and when Jesus was taken to the house of Caiaphas the High Priest, Peter entered and mixed with the servants. He was soon recognised as a follower of Jesus; but when accused of the fact, he stoutly denied it three times, the last with oaths, like the low-bred man he was; for though he had been consorting with Jesus a long time, he had not learnt refinement of manners, which is not wonderful, as Jesus certainly did not set an example of choiceness of language, his favourite mode of speech being to call people fools, and to launch curses at them. But Peter had to fulfil a prophecy—namely, that he would deny his master thrice, before the cock crew twice, which he did before the cock crew once. And so that prophecy was fulfilled!

When Jesus was first examined on the charge of blasphemy he remained silent, and would not answer any questions put to him. Then Caiaphas said—"I adjure thee by the living God that thou tell us whether thou be Christ, the Son of God." Jesus at last replied—"Thou hast said," which may fairly be interpreted to mean, "You say I am, not I." This is in keeping with his usual evasive mode of answering, as before pointed out. Especially as he continued—"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." This was declared blasphemous, and we know how excited bigoted people get when that word is pronounced. So they struck the enthusiast, as he had struck others in the temple. In the morning he was bound and led before Pilate the governor, who asked him, "Art thou the king of the Jews?" He again answered, "Thou sayest" And when the Chief Priests and elders repeated their charges, he still refused to answer them, which surprised Pilate. However, Pilate saw no harm in what he had done, and was anxious to set him at liberty; but the priests, as is usual with them, persisted in their demands of vengeance against one who had offended them. Then Jesus was delivered over to the soldiers to be crucified, which was a very barbarous mode of execution. He was cruelly treated by the soldiers, who were incited thereto by the priests. He died the death of a malefactor, but his end was brought about by his own wild and extravagant conduct. In these days he would have been confined as a lunatic, but in that barbarous time, and under the influence of priests, he was tortured to death. No one can contemplate his fate, whatever his faults may have been, without feelings of sorrow. But if his death was to fulfil prophecy, and to save a lost and ruined world, we ought to regard it with exultation and great joy, and not only observe Good Friday as a national holiday, but every Friday as a public festival. But who, on calmly reading the narrative, and dismissing from his mind the fables taught him in his childhood, can see anything supernatural in Jesus' life and death? He displayed through life all the infirmities and littlenesses of a man, and he died like one who had brought about his own death by his own acts. When on the cross, and no doubt in mortal agony, he exclaimed, in the utterness of despair, like one who had long trusted to a delusion, and when too late had found out his mistake—"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" The Chief Priests and elders, the people about, and even the two thieves who were dying with him, jeered him for his folly, saying, "He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God." But there was no deliverance from heaven for him more than for any other man.

Jesus had acted so extravagantly from the time he entered on public life that it is not surprising that his followers were