he hand of sinners,' he said: 'Arise, let us go,
behold he is at hand that will betray me. It were better for him, if
that man had not been born.' The Apostles arose in much alarm, and looked
round with anxiety. When they had somewhat recovered themselves, Peter
said warmly: 'Lord, I will call the others, that so we may defend thee.'
But Jesus pointed out to them at some distance in the valley, on the
other side of the Brook of Cedron, a band of armed men, who were
advancing with torches, and he said that one of their number had
betrayed him. He spoke calmly, exhorted them to console his Mother, and
said: 'Let us go to meet them--I shall deliver myself up without resistance
into the hands of my enemies.' He then left the Garden of Olives with the
three Apostles, and went to meet the archers on the road which led from
that garden to Gethsemani.

When the Blessed Virgin, under the care of Magdalen and Salome,
recovered her senses, some disciples, who had seen the soldiers
approaching, conducted her back to the house of Mary, the mother of
Mark. The archers took a shorter road than that which Jesus followed
when he left the supper-room.

The grotto in which Jesus had this day prayed was not the one where
he usually prayed on Mount Olivet. He commonly went to a cabin at a
greater distance off, where, one day, after having cursed the barren
fig-tree, he had prayed in great affliction of spirit, with his arms
stretched out, and leaning against a rock.

The traces of his body and hands remained impressed on the stone,
and were honoured later. But it was not known on what occasion the
miracle had taken place. I have several times seen similar impressions
left upon the stone, either by the Prophets of the Old Testament, or by
Jesus, Mary, or some of the Apostles, and I have also seen those made
by the body of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai. These impressions do not
seem deep, but resemble what would be made upon a thick piece of dough,
if a person leaned his hand upon it.

CHAPTER II.

Judas and his band.

Judas had not expected that his treason would have produced such
fatal results. He had been anxious to obtain the promised reward, and
to please the Pharisees by delivering up Jesus into their hands, but he
had never calculated on things going so far, or thought that the
enemies of his Master would actually bring him to judgment and crucify
him; his mind was engrossed with the love of gain alone, and some
astute