they extorted the condemnation of him from his worldly minded judge by their loud and artful solicitations. Then was Jesus led away to be crucified his cross, or part of it, was laid on him, as the manner was; and he bare it till his exhausted strength sunk under it: "and two others also, who were 'malefactors, were led with him to be put to death." On the way, a great multitude of women bewailed and lamented him but he turned about to them, and, with a heart full of commiseration, bade them deplore their own impending sufferings, and not his; declaring at the same time, but in figurative and covert language, that, if the innocent suffered such calamities, much greater would befal those whose crimes made them ripe for destruction: "If they do these things in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry.” m When he came to the place of crucifixion, he was offered wine mingled with myrrh, which was designed to blunt the sense of pain by inducing a state of stupefaction but he received it not: he declined this office of humanity, that he might shew himself unappalled by the horrors of instant crucifixion; and that he might fully possess his reason, and thus display the virtues suitable to his high character in the season of so severe a trial. * We may account for Pilate's conduct from his knowledge of Tiberius's extreme jealousy and cruelty. So Luke xxiii. 32. should be translated and pointed. Sed oblitus sum Lucæ xxiii. 32. in xxx8gysz utrinque hypostigmen notare; says H. Stephens, in his curious preface to his Greek Testament, 12mo. 1576 m Luke xxiii. 27-31. He was A title, deriding his royal descent and dignity, was placed on the cross to which he was fixed. crucified between two malefactors; and, probably while the nails were piercing his hands and feet, when the sense and feeling of his ignominious sufferings were strongest, he thus prayed and pleaded for his murderers; " Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." In this situation, which might have excited the pity of the most unfeeling spectator, and of the bitterest enemy, our Lord was reviled and mocked, his power was questioned, his prophecies perverted, and his dignity blasphemed, by the Jewish people, by the Roman soldiers, and by the Chief Priests, Scribes and Elders; the rulers mixing themselves with the throng, to feast their eyes with his sufferings, and to insult him under them. But such conduct served only to display the greatness of the sufferer. The patience of Jesus remained unmoved. Here, as when he stood before his judges, he left his life and doctrine, his prophecies and miracles, the supernatural knowledge displayed by him, and the voices from heaven which bear him witness, to speak for him a stronger language than words could convey. As Origen observes, his silence, under all the indignities and reproaches which he met Luke xxiii. 34. ο Θέαμα δ ̓ ἦν Τοιότον οἷον καὶ συγέν ̓ ἐποικτίσαι. Oed. tyr. 1319. Such a sight Might raise compassion in an enemy. PL. 7. § 54, 5, 6, p. 368, 9. Lardner's Testimonies ii. 817 with, shewed more fortitude and patience than any thing said by the Greeks under their sufferings. г And again, when one of the malefactors reproached him, he answered him not: but when the other 1 said, "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom," he thus acknowledged himself to be a king, and one who had the keys of heaven and hell, “Verily, I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise;" in the state of those who are separated, as in a garden of delight, for God's acceptance. It is a remarkable instance of our Lord's composure, that, in the midst of his exquisite pains, he recommended his mother to that most benevolent apostle St. John. The next circumstance in the order of events is, that about the ninth hour our Lord cried with a loud voice, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" As the words in the original' psalm do not import a dereliction of the Deity, they cannot be thus understood when used by our Lord. In this strong language the Psalmist described imminent a distress and danger from the sword of scornful and mighty enemies. He did not mean that he was totally forsaken by Jehovah, whom he afterwards entreated not to be far from him, whom he called his strength, whom he characterized as not hiding his face from the afflicted, and to whom he promised e praise and thanksgiving in return for the mercies W d which he implored. In the same terms our Lord expressed the greatness of his anguish; when, in the prophetic words of the psalm, which is sometimes applicable to David and sometimes to the Messiah, " he was poured out like water, his bones were separated from each other, his heart was like wax, it was melted within him." Our Lord's language, I say, was dictated by extreme suffering, and not by distrust. In the style of the Hebrew scriptures, when God permitted individuals or nations to be oppressed and afflicted, he was said to hide his face from them, to forget, reject, or forsake them. Our Lord could not suppose that God had cast him off, because immediately before and after these words he reposed an entire confidence in him. During his crucifixion he twice called God his Father, he declared his assurance that he should enter into a state of happiness, and accordingly he resigned his departing spirit into his Father's hands. He likewise saw, during the space of three hours before he expired, that God miraculously interposed in his behalf, by diminishing the light of the sun and shedding a comparative darkness over the whole land, or, at least, that part of it which was adjacent to Jerusalem. When Jesus had thus poured forth his sorrows, in the words of a sacred hymn which foretold many circumstances of his death, God, who had, as it were, hidden his face from him for a moment, had mercy on him with everlasting kindness, and speedily closed the scene of his d Psal. xxii. 14. 10, 21, 22. xlii. 9. Luke xxiii. 34, 46. See Job xx. 19. xliii. 9. lxxi. 11, 12, 18. v. 46. Lib. 43 Psal. xxxvii. 25. xxxviii. Isai. liv. 7, 8. m sufferings. For, immediately after this, " Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.” This thirst was the natural consequence of his pains, and of that effusion of blood which was occasioned by piercing his hands and his feet. But, unless it had remained that the prophecy of the Psalmist should receive its full completion, it was a circumstance on which he would have observed a majestic silence : such was his command over himself, and so attentive was he that not one jot or tittle of the prophets should pass away. "Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar ;" the mean drink of the Roman soldiers; and one of the bystanders filled a sponge with vinegar, and placed it upon a bunch of hyssop, and by means of a reed advanced it to his mouth. "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished :" The prophecies concerning me, antecedently to my death, have had their accomplishment: I have finished my laborious and painful course I have thus far performed thy will, O God. Immediately after this, he expired with words expressive of a perfect reliance on God, and a firm persuasion of his acceptance: " Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." Thus did our Lord appear as great in his sufferings as in his actions, in his death as in his life; and thus did he exhibit a wonderful example of forgive * John. xix. 28. 1 See Lardner's Test. ii. 303, § 24. where Origen objects that Jesus was unable patiently to endure thirst. m See Psal. |