find no fault in him;" and when Jesus appeared wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said, "Behold the man!" But the chief priests and scribes would be satisfied with nothing less than his death, and they cried out, "Crucify him, crucify him." Pilate said, "Take ye him and crucify him, for I find no fault in him." But the Jews said, “If thou let this man go, thou art not Cæsar's friend whosoever maketh himself a king, speaketh against Cæsar." This terrified Pilate, because he knew that they would accuse him to the Emperor, and that if Cæsar believed that he had favoured a man who set up for king, he should lose his favour, and perhaps be put to death himself. Pilate therefore at last reluctantly gave judgment that Jesus should be crucified. "And they took Jesus and led him away; and he bearing his cross went forth into a place, called the place of a scull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha."

It was usual at that time among the Romans, to put criminals to death by nailing them by the hands and feet to a cross, and the soldiers thought to add to the humiliation of Jesus, by forcing him to carry on his shoulders the very cross on which he was to

suffer; but the ill treatment which he had gone through, had rendered him unable to bear it, and he fainted under its weight. They then seized upon a man called Simon, a Cyrenian, who happened to be passing at the time, and forced him to bear the cross after Jesus.

When they had come to Calvary, a mount on the eastern side of Jerusalem, they crucified Jesus with two others who had been condemned to suffer for their crimes, the one on each side of him. "And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom; And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise." The soldiers continued to mock him, even upon the cross, and offered him vinegar to drink ; calling out, If thou be King of the Jews, save thyself; but in the midst of his sufferings Christ gave a bright example of gentleness and forgiveness of

injuries. He cried out, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Another of the striking incidents of the crucifixion, is the affectionate care with which Jesus gave his mother into the charge of his best-loved disciple, John. "Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then he saith unto his disciple, Behold thy mother! and from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home."

"Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. And straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him."