Without denying that Judas of Kerioth may have contributed to the arrest of his Master, we still believe that the curses with which he is loaded are somewhat unjust.  There was, perhaps, in his deed more awkwardness than perversity.  The moral conscience of the man of the people is quick and correct, but unstable and inconsistent.  It is at the mercy of the impulse of the moment.  The secret societies of the republican party were characterized by much earnestness and sincerity, and yet their denouncers were very numerous.  A trifling spite sufficed to convert a partisan into a traitor.  But if the foolish desire for a few pieces of silver turned the head of poor Judas, he does not seem to have lost the moral sentiment completely, since when he had seen the consequences of his fault he repented,[1] and, it is said, killed himself.

[Footnote 1:  Matt. xxvii. 3, and following.]

Each moment of this eventful period is solemn, and counts more than whole ages in the history of humanity.  We have arrived at the Thursday, 13th of Nisan (2d April).  The evening of the next day commenced the festival of the Passover, begun by the feast in which the Paschal lamb was eaten.  The festival continued for seven days, during which unleavened bread was eaten.  The first and the last of these seven days were peculiarly solemn.  The disciples were already occupied with preparations for the feast.[1] As to Jesus, we are led to believe that he knew of the treachery of Judas, and that he suspected the fate that awaited him.  In the evening he took his last repast with his disciples.  It was not the ritual feast of the passover, as was afterward supposed, owing to an error of a day in reckoning,[2] but for the primitive church this supper of the Thursday was the true passover, the seal of the new covenant.  Each disciple connected with it his most cherished remembrances, and numerous touching traits of the Master which each one preserved were associated with this repast, which became the corner-stone of Christian piety, and the starting-point of the most fruitful institutions.

[Footnote 1:  Matt. xxvi. 1, and following; Mark xiv. 12; Luke xxii. 7; John xiii. 29.]

[Footnote 2:  This is the system of the synoptics (Matt. xxvi. 17, and following; Mark xiv. 12, and following; Luke xxii. 7, and following, 15.) But John, whose narrative of this portion has a greater authority, expressly states that Jesus died the same day on which the Paschal lamb was eaten (xiii. 1, 2, 29, xviii. 28, xix. 14, 31.) The Talmud also makes Jesus to die “on the eve of the Passover” (Talm. of Bab., Sanhedrim, 43 a, 67 a.)]