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Cæsar. Under such circumstances, how vain to assert his innocence! We may say with the prophet, Though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God!" But there are many ways. in which men deceive their own souls, and conceal their sin from themselves. Alas! how easily is the mind satisfied, when a strong worldly impulse is opposed to the line of duty!

That blood which Pilate was so anxious to be clear of, the Jews were no less ready to take upon themselves. His blood be on us and on our children! It did indeed fall on them, and not for that purpose for which it was mercifully shed-not to save, but to condemn.

Let us turn their impious prayer into one more conformable to God's will. Let us entreat that the blood of Christ may be upon us and upon our children, not to testify against us, but to cleanse us from all iniquity; to purify our thoughts and desires, to sanctify our life and actions.

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LECTURE CXI.

THE CRUCIFIXION.

MATT. xxvii. 27-44.

27. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him, the whole band of soldiers.

28. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.

29. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, king of the Jews!

30. And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.

31. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.

32. And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.

33. And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,

34. They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof he would not drink.?

Out of the city. Offenders were not executed within the walls. 1 Kings xxi. 13. "Then they carried Naboth forth out of the city, and stoned him with stones, that he died." See also Acts vii. 58. Hence St. Pauls's allusion, Heb. xiii. 12, 13.

2 It is supposed that this was usually given to diminish sensibility, and was on that account refused by Jesus. See Ps. Ixix. 21, and Mark xv. 23.

35. And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.

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36. And sitting down they watched him there;

37. And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

We cannot read this account, without inquiring why such things took place. More especially as the malice of the chief priests, and the cruelty of the soldiers, only accomplished what had been appointed by "the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God." Many things concurred, which if they had not concurred, Jesus might have been put to death, but it would not have been the death of the cross. He would have died by stoning, if, as Pilate wished, the Jews had taken him, and executed him according to their law.

But CRUCIFIXION was the punishment, which in the wisdom of God was chosen, to show that Christ suffered for sin-for the sin of the world. As St. Paul expresses it, "in that he died, he died unto sin." And because he died unto sin, he chose the death of the cross, the worst death of the vilest sinners. Had he died an ordinary death, he would have died indeed, as human nature must die; he would have borne our nature, but he would not have borne our sins. Had he died by the hands of the Jewish multitude, his death might have seemed the work of their enmity, rather than of God's judgment. But by choosing the death of the cross, he proved that he died unto sin; that the sin which

3 David is the prophet meant, Pŝ. xxii. 18.

he undertook to atone for, was the cause of his death; that he gave himself a sacrifice to the justice of his offended Father.

Consider then the cross of Christ as a monument raised once for all, and for ever standing, to show the consequences of sin. To show that sin is hateful to God as the governor of the world, because it is contrary to his will, contrary to his commands, and contrary to his nature. And to show that it is ruinous to man; and that whoso commits it, is liable to the eternal wrath of Him, " who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell."

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Here then is a lesson for all who are transgressors, wilful transgressors, of the divine law, and say with the infidels of old, "God careth not for it;" "God will not do good, neither will he do evil." To all such-nay, to all who have not applied to themselves the means of peace and reconciliation with God, and therefore are yet in their sins to all such, the picture which we are contemplating affords an awful warning. Let them behold the Lamb of God bearing the sin of the world, and so judge of its burthen. Behold him crowned with thorns; mocked with the emblems of royalty. Behold him smitten; sinking under the weight of the cross prepared for his own torture. Behold him fastened to it; lifted up upon it; reviled and mocked even by his companions in suffering; behold all this,

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5 Such is the probable explanation of verse 32, compared with John xix. 17, which says, Jesus, "bearing his cross, went forth." He was found incapable of bearing it far, or bearing it alone, and it was placed on Simon.

and so judge of the heinousness of sin, thus estimate the misery of its consequences. But who can behold this, and then return to that from which it was designed to deliver them: return to their carelessness, their worldliness, their sinfulness? Surely the cross of Christ is a sufficient testimony of the end awaiting those who forget, or who defy God.

38. Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.

39. And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads,

40. And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.

41. Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said,

42. He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.

43. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.

44. The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.

Thus was the prophecy accomplished, "Yet we did esteem him smitten, stricken of God, and afflicted!" 6 That God did not deliver Jesus, was thought to be the refutation of his pretensions, whilst really it confirmed them all. He saved others, himself he cannot save! This was most scripturally truc. In the sense intended by the revilers themselves, we know that it was not true. Even they could scarcely doubt our Lord's power

6 Isa. liii. 4.

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