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ment;* and as some conceive of the linen garment of the young man, or St. John; which might be the same he wore the night before at the last supper.2

That they used this gesture at the passover, is more than probable from the testimony of Jewish writers, and particularly of Ben-Maimon recorded by Scaliger, De Emendatione temporum. After the second cup according to the institution, the son asketh, what meaneth this service?† then he that maketh the declaration, saith, how different is this night from all other nights; for all other nights we wash but once, but this night twice; all other we eat leavened or unleavened bread, but this only leavened; all other we eat flesh roasted, boiled, or baked, but this only roasted; all other nights we eat together lying or sitting, but this only lying along. And this posture they used as a token of rest and security which they enjoyed, far different from that at the eating of the passover in Egypt.

That this gesture was used when our Saviour eat the passover, is not conceived improbable from the words whereby the Evangelists express the same, that is, ἀναπίπτειν, ἀνακεῖσθαι, κατακεῖσθαι, ἀνακλιθῆναι,which terms do properly signify this gesture, in Aristotle, Athenæus, Euripides, Sophocles, and all humane authors; and the like we meet with in the paraphrastical expression of Nonnus.

Lastly, if it be not fully conceded, that this gesture was used at the passover, yet that it was observed at the last supper seems almost incontrovertible: for at this feast or cenatory convention, learned men make more than one supper, or at least many parts thereof. The first was that legal one of the passover, or eating of the paschal lamb with bitter herbs, and ceremonies described by Moses. Of this it is said, "Then when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve." This is supposed when it is said, that the supper being ended, our Saviour arose, took a towel and washed the disciples' feet. The second was common and domestical, consisting of ordinary and undefined provisions; of this it may be said, that our Saviour took his garment, and sat down again, after he had washed the disciples' feet, and performed * Matt. xxii. + Exod. xii. Matt. xxvi. § John xiii.

2 the consent of the Jews, &c.] First added in 2nd edition.

the preparative civilities of suppers; at this 'tis conceived. the sop was given unto Judas, the original word implying some broth or decoction, not used at the passover. The third or latter part was eucharistical, which began at the breaking and blessing of the bread, according to that of Matthew, "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it."

Now although, at the passover or first supper, many have doubted this reclining posture, and some have affirmed that our Saviour stood, yet that he lay down at the other, the same men have acknowledged, as Chrysostom,* Theophylact, Austin, and many more. And if the tradition will hold, the position is unquestionable; for the very triclinium is to be seen at Rome, brought thither by Vespasian, and graphiphically set forth by Casalius.3

Thus may it properly be made out, what is delivered, John xiii.; Erat recumbens unus ex discipulis ejus in sinu Jesu quem diligebat; "Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus loved;" which gesture will not so well agree unto the position of sitting, but is natural, and cannot be avoided in the laws of accubation.4 And the

*De Veterum Ritibus.

3 Lastly, if it be not, &c.] This and the next paragraph were first added in the 2nd edition.

4 which gesture, &c.] I am not aware whether our author had any authority for saying that "the back was advanced by some pillow or soft substance." If it was so, John could not very conveniently have leaned back upon the bosom of his master. It seems probable that each person lay at an acute angle with the line of the table (as seems implied in the following quotation), in which case the head of John, as our author observes, p. 19, would have attained to about his master's bosom. It must also (as it seems to me) be supposed that the table was scarcely, if at all, higher than the level of the couch. I subjoin Godwin's description of the table, &c. "The table being placed in the middest, round about the table were certain beds, sometimes two, sometimes three, sometimes more, according to the number of the guests; upon these they lay down in manner as followeth : each bed contained three persons, sometimes more,-seldom or never more (qu. fewer?) If one lay upon the bed, then he rested the upper part of his body upon the left elbow, the lower part lying at length upon the bed: but if many lay on the bed, then the uppermost did lie at the bed's head, laying his feet behinde the second's back in like manner the third or fourth did lye, each resting his head in the other's bosome. Thus John leaned on Jesus' bosom."-Moses and Aaron, p. 93, 4to. 1667.

very same expression is to be found in Pliny, concerning the emperor Nerva and Veiento whom he favoured; Conabat Nerva cum paucis, Veiento recumbebat propius atque etiam in sinu; and from this custom arose the word πiornoios, that is, a near and bosom friend. And therefore Casaubon* justly rejecteth Theophylact; who not considering the ancient manner of decumbency, imputed this gesture of the beloved disciple unto rusticity, or an act of incivility. And thus also, have some conceived it may be more plainly made out what is delivered of Mary Magdalen, that she "stood at Christ's feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head."+ Which actions, if our Saviour sat, she could not perform standing, and had rather stood behind his back than at his feet. And therefore it is not allowable, what is observable in many pieces, and even of Raphael Urbin, wherein Mary Magdalen is pictured before our Saviour washing his feet on her knees, which will not consist with the strict description and letter of the text.

Now, whereas this position may seem to be discountenanced by our translation, which usually renders it sitting, it cannot have that illation: for the French and Italian translations, expressing neither position of session nor recubation, do only say that he placed himself at the table; and when ours expresseth the same by sitting, it is in relation unto our custom, time, and apprehension. The like upon occasion is not unusual: so when it is said, Luke iv., TтÚžαs Tò Bibλiov, and the Vulgate renders it, cum plicásset librum, ours translateth it, he shut or closed the book; which is an expression proper unto the paginal books of our times, but not so agreeable unto volumes or rolling books, in use among the. Jews, not only in elder times, but even unto this day. So when it is said, the Samaritan delivered unto the host twopence + Luke vii.

*Not. in Evang.

5 Theophylact.] Theophylact, bishop of Bulgary, lived 930th yeare of Christe, in which time the empire being translated into Germanye, and the maner of lying at all meales translated into the maner of sitting, which was most used among the northern nations, gave the bishop occasion to taxe the Jewish and Roman forme of lying as uncouth and uncivil: every nation preferring their owne customes, and condemning all other as barbarians.- Wr.

for the provision of the Levite, and when our Saviour agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, in strict translation it should be seven-pence halfpenny, and is not to be conceived our common penny, the sixtieth part of an ounce. For the word in the original is onváptov, in Latin denarius, and with the Romans did value the eighth part of an ounce, which, after five shillings the ounce, amounteth unto seven-pence halfpenny of our money.

Lastly, whereas it might be conceived that they ate the passover, standing rather than sitting, or lying down, according to the institution, Exodus xii., "Thus shall you eat with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand;" the Jews themselves reply, this was not required of succeeding generations, and was not observed but in the passover of Egypt. And so also many other injunctions were afterward omitted: as the taking up of the paschal lamb from the tenth day, the eating of it in their houses dispersed, the striking of the blood on the door-posts, and the eating thereof in haste; solemnities and ceremonies primitively enjoined, afterward omitted; as was also this of station: for the occasion ceasing, and being in security, they applied themselves unto gestures in use among them.

Now in what order of recumbency Christ and the disciples were disposed, is not so easily determined. Casalius, from the Lateran triclinium, will tell us, that there being thirteen, five lay down in the first bed, five in the last, and three in the middle bed; and that our Saviour possessed the upper place thereof. That John lay in the same bed seems plain, because he leaned on our Saviour's bosom. That Peter made the third in that bed, conjecture is made, because he beckoned unto John, as being next him, to ask of Christ who it was that should betray him? That Judas was not far off, seems probable, not only because he dipped in the same dish, but because he was so near that our Saviour could hand the sop unto him.6

6 Now in what order, &c.] This paragraph was added in 2nd edit.

CHAPTER VII.

Of the Picture of our Saviour with Long Hair.

ANOTHER picture there is of our Saviour described with long hair, according to the custom of the Jews, and his description sent by Lentulus unto the senate.8 Wherein

7 Another picture, &c.] A very beautiful head of our Saviour has recently been engraved in mezzotint, by J. Rogers. It is a copy from a gem, said to have been executed by order of Tiberius Cæsar, and subsequently sent to Pope Innocent VIII. by the emperor of the Turks as a ransom for his brother.

Another error has been noticed by some commentators in representing our Lord with a crown of long thorns, whereas it is supposed to have been made of the acanthus, or bears-foot, a prickly plant, very unlike a thorn. See Dr. Adam Clarke, in loc.

8 his description sent by Lentulus, &c.] Or rather said to have been sent by Lentulus, &c.; for this letter is now known to have been a forgery. The supposed author was a Roman governor of Syria; of whom it was pretended that he was a follower of our Lord, and that he gave a description of his person in a letter to the senate. This was however obviously insupposable at a period when the governors of provinces addressed the emperor, and no longer the senate; to say. nothing of the style, which is by no means Augustan. The fact is, as has been remarked to me, that when publick opinion had been made up as to the probable appearance of our Lord's person, this letter comes out to settle the point. In No. 7026-4 of the Harleian MSS. is preserved a copy of this letter, on vellum, in the beautiful handwriting of the celebrated German dwarf Math. Buchinger, which he sent to his patron, Lord Oxford. It contains also a portrait agreeing with the description given in the letter. This letter has been translated into English, and occurs, Christ. Mag. 1764, p. 455, and other places.

Perhaps the most celebrated of the reputed original portraits of the Redeemer is that said to have been received by Abgarus, king of Edessa, mentioned by Evagrius. Eusebius gives a letter sent by the said Abgar to Jesus Christ, professing the conviction which the Redeemer's miracles had wrought in his mind of the divine character of our Lord, and entreating him to come to Edessa and cure a disease under which the king had long laboured ;-together with our Lord's answer, declining to come, but promising to send a disciple to heal the king. For these letters see Hone's Apocryphal New Testament. In his Every-Day Book, Jan. 13th, he gives a wood-cut of the portrait. In the London Literary Gazette of Nov. 29, 1834, is a much better account of the circumstance, in a review of Baron Hubboff's History of Armenia, published by the Oriental Translation Society. I subjoin his account of the picture. Abgar sent a painter to take the likeness of the Saviour,

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