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come down from the cross, and we will believe him."

In the mean time nothing could be more false and hypocritical than this pretension of the stiff-necked Jews; for they continued in their unbelief, notwithstanding they well knew that he raised himself from the dead; a much greater miracle, than his coming down from the cross, would have been; a miracle attested by witnesses, whose veracity they could not call in question. It was told them by the soldiers whom they themselves placed at the sepulchre, to watch the body, and whom they were obliged to bribe largely to conceal the truth. It is therefore abundantly evident, that if the blessed Jesus had descended from the cross, the Jewish priests would have continued in their infidelity; and consequently that their declaration was made with no other intention, than to insult the Redeemer of mankind, thinking it impossible for him now to es cape out of their bands.

The soldiers also joined in this general scene of mockery, "If thou be the king of the Jews, (said they) save thyself." If thou art the great Messiah expected by the Jews, descend from the cross by a miracle, and deliver thyself from these excruciating torments.

Nor could even one of the thieves forbear mocking the great Lord of heaven and earth, though labouring himself under the most racking pains, and struggling with the ago. nies of death. But the other exercised a most extraordinary faith, at a time when our great Redeemer was in the highest affiction, mocked by men, and hanged upon the cross, as the most ignominious of malefactors. This Jewish criminal seems to have entertained a more rational and exalted notion of the Messiah's kingdom, than even the disciples themselves. They expected nothing but a secular empire: he gave strong intimations of his having an idea of Christ's spiritual dominions; for at

the very time when Jesus was dying on the cross, he begged to be remembered by him when he came into his kingdom. "Lord (said he) remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." Nor did he make this request in vain: The great Redeemer of mankind answered him, "Verily, I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise."

But let us attentively consider the history of our blessed Saviour's passion, as it offers. to our view events absolutely astonishing. For when we remember the perfect innocence of our great Redeemer, the uncommon love he bore to the children of men, and the many kind and benevolent offices he did for the sons and daughters of affliction : when we reflect on the esteem in which he was held all along by the common people, how cheerfully they followed him to the remotest corners of the country, nay, even into the desolate retreats of the wilderness, and with what pleasure they listened to his discourses; when we consider these particulars, I say, we cannot help being astonished to find them at the conclusion rushing all of a sudden into the opposite extremes, and every individual, as it were, combined to treat him with the most barbarous cruelty.

When Pilate asked the people if they desired to have Jesus released, his disciples, though they were very numerous, and might have made a great appearance in his behalf, remained absolutely silent, as if they had been speechless, or infatuated. The Roma man soldiers, notwithstanding their general had declared him innocent, insulted him in the most inhuman manner. The Scribes and Pharisees ridiculed him. The common people who had received him with Hosannas, a few days before, mocked him as they passed by, and railed at him as a deceiver. Nay, the very thief on the crossreviled him.

This sudden revolution in the humours

of the whole nation, may seem unaccountable. But if we could assign a proper reason for the silence of the disciples, the principles which influenced the rest might be discovered in their several speeches. The followers of the blessed Jesus had attached themselves to him in expectation of being raised to great wealth and power in his kingdom, which they expected would have been established long before this time. But seeing no appearance at all of what they had so long hoped for, they permitted him to be condemned, perhaps, because they thought it would have obliged him to break the Roman yoke by miracle.

With respect to the soldiers, they were angry that any one should pretend to royalty in Judea, where Cæsar had established his authority. Hence they insulted our blessed Saviour with the title of king, and paid him in mockery, the honours of a sovereign.

As for the common people, they seem to have lost their opinion of him, probably because he had neither convinced the council, nor rescued himself when they condemned him. They began, therefore, to consider the story of his pretending to destroy the temple, and build it in three days, as a kind of blasphemy, because it required divine power to execute such an undertaking.

The priests and scribes were filled with the most implacable and diabolical malice against him, because he had torn off their mask of hypocrisy, and shewed them to the people in their true colours. It is therefore no wonder that they ridiculed his miracles, from whence he derived his reputation.

In short, the thief also fancied that he might have delivered both himself and them, if he had been the Messiah; but as no such deliverance appeared, he upbraided him for making pretensions to that high character.

But now, my soul, take one view of thy dying Saviour, breathing out his soul upon the cross! Behold his unspotted flesh lacerated with stripes, by which thou art healed! See his hands extended and nailed to the cross; those beneficent hands, which were incessantly stretched out to unloose thy heavy burdens, and to impart blessings of every kind! Behold his feet rivetted to the accursed tree with nails! those feet which always went about doing good, and travelled far and near to spread the glad tidings of everlasting salvation! View his tender temples encircled with a wreath of thorns, which shoot their keen afflictive points into his bles sed head; that head which was ever meditating peace to poor lost and undone sinners, and spent many a wakeful night in ardent prayer for their happiness! See him labouring in the agonies of death! Breathing out his soul into the hands of his Almighty Father, and praying for his cruel enemies! Was ever love like this! was ever benevolence so finely displayed!

O my soul, put thou thy trust in that bleeding, that dying Saviour! Then, though the pestilence walketh in darkness, and the sickness destroyeth at noon-day; though thousands fall besides thee, and ten thousand at thy right hand, thou needest not fear the approach of any evil! Either the destroying angels shall pass over thee, or dispense the corrections of a friend, not the scourges of an enemy, which, instead of hurting, will work for thy good. Then, though profaneness and infidelity, far more malig nant evils, breathe their contagion, and taint multitudes around thee, thou shalt be safely hid in the hollow of his hand, and freed from every danger.

Come then, my soul, let us take sanctuary under that tree of life, the ignominious cross of thy bleeding Saviour, let us fly for safety to that city of refuge opened in his bleeding wounds. These will prove a sacred hiding-place, not to be pierced by the flames of Divine wrath, or fiery darts of

temptation. His dying merits, his perfect obedience, will be " as rivers of water in a dry place, or as the shadow of a great rock in a dreary land."

But particularly in that last tremendous day, when the heavens shall be rent asunder, and wrapped up like a scroll: when his Almighty arm shall arrest the sun in his career, and dash the structure of the universe to pieces; when the dead, both small and great, shall be gathered before the throne. of his glory, and the fates of all mankind hang on the very point of a final irreversible decision then, if thou hast faithfully trusted in him, and made his precepts thy constant directors, thou shalt be owned and defended by him. O reader, may both thou who peruseth, and he who hath written this for thy soul's advantage, be covered, at that unutterable important juncture, by the wings of his redeeming love; then shall we behold all the horrible convulsions of expiring nature with composure, with comfort! we shall even welcome the consummation of all things, as the "times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord."

But see the sun, conscious of the suffering of our Saviour, and as it were to hide its face from the detestable action of mortals, is wrapped in the pitchy mantle of chaotic darkness! This preternatural eclipse of the sun continued for three hours, to the great terror and astonishment of the people present at the crucifixion of our dear Redeemer. And nothing could be more proper than this extraordinary alteration in the face of nature, while the Son of -Righteousness was withdrawing his beams, not only from the promised land, but from the whole world for it was once a miraculous testimony given by the Almighty himself to the innocence of his Son, and a proper emblem of the departure of him who was the light of the world, at least, till his luminous rays, like the beams of the morning, shone out anew with addiNo. 16.

tional splendour, in the ministry of his apostles.

Nor was the darkness which now covered Judea and the neighbouring countries, beginning about noon and continuing till Jesus expired, the effect of an ordinary eclipse of the sun. It is well known that these phænomena can only happen at the change of the moon: whereas the Jewish passover, at which time our dear Redeemer suffered, was always celebrated at the full. Besides, the total darkness of an eclipse of the sun, never exceeds twelve or fifteen minutes, whereas this continued full three hours. Nothing, therefore, but the immediate hand of that Almighty Being, who placed the sun in the centre of the planetary system, could have produced this astonishing darkness. Nothing but God, who first lighted this glorious luminary of heaven, could have deprived it of its cheering rays. Now, ye scoffers of Israel, whose blood ye have so earnestly desired, and wished it might fall upon you and your children, behold, all nature is dressed in the sable veil of sorrow, and, in a language that cannot be mistaken, mourns the departure of its Lord and Master; weeps for your crimes, and deprecates the vengeance of heaven upon your heads! Happy for you that this suffering Jesus is compassion itself, and even, in the agonies of death, prays to his heavenly Father to avert from you the stroke of his injustice!

This preternatural eclipse of the sun, was considered as a miracle by the heathens themselves and one of them cried out, "Either the world is at an end, or the God of nature suffers." And well might he use the expression for never, since this planetary system was called from its primitive chaos, was known such a deprivation of light in the glorious luminary of day. Indeed, when the Almighty punished Pharaoh, for refusing to let the children of Israel depart out of his land, the sable veil of darkness was for three days drawn over Egypt. But this darkness was confined to a part of that king

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dom; whereas this that happened at our Saviour's crucifixion was universal.

When the darkness began, the disciples naturally considered it as a prelude to the deliverance of their Master. For though the chief priests, elders, and people, had sarcastically desired him to descend from the accursed tree, his friends could not but be persuaded, that he who had restored limbs for the maimed, and eyes for the blind; who had given speech to the dumb, and called the dead from the chambers of the dust, might easily have saved himself, even from the cross.

When, therefore, his mother, his mother's sister, Mary Magdalene, and the beloved disciple observed the veil of darkness begin to extend over the face of nature, they drew near to the foot of the cross, probably in expectation that the Son of God was going to shake the frame of the universe, unloose himself from the cross, and take ample vengence on his cruel and perfidious enemies.

The blessed Jesus was now in the midst of his sufferings. Yet when he saw his mother and her companions, their grief greatly af fected his tender breast, especially the distress of his mother. The agonies of death, under which he was now labouring, could not prevent his expressing the most affectionate regard both for her and for them. For that she might have some consolation to support her under the greatness of her sorrows, he told her, the disciple whom he loved, would, for the sake of that love, supply his place to her after he was taken from them, even the place of a son and therefore he desired her to consider him as such, and expect from him all the duties of a child. "Woman, said he, behold thy

son !"

Nor was this remarkable token of filial affection towards his mother the only instance the dying Jesus gave of his sincere

love to his friends and followers; the beloved disciple had also a token of his high esteem. He singled him out as the only person among his friends to supply his place with regard to his mother. Accordingly, he desired him expressly to reverence her in the same manner as if she had been his own parent. A duty which the favourite disciple gladly undertook, carried her with him to his house, and maintained her from that hour to the day of her death, her husband Joseph having, it seems, been dead some time.

Thus in the midst of the heaviest sufferings that human nature ever sustained, the blessed Jesus demonstrated a divine strength of benevolence. Even at the time when his own distress was at the highest pitch, and nature was dressed in the robe of mourning for the sufferings of the Redeemer of mankind; his friends had so large a share of his concern, that their happiness interrupted the sharpness of his pains, and, for a short time engrossed his thoughts.

But now the moment, when he should resign his soul into the hands of his heavenly Father approached, and he repeated part, at least of the twenty-second psalm, uttering with a loud voice these remarkable words, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabacthani ? (that is) My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me, (Or as the words may be rendered) My God, my God, how long a time hast thou forsaken me!"

Some believe that our blessed Saviour repeated the whole psalm; it having been the custom of the Jews, in making quotations to mention only the first words of the psalm or section, which they cited. If so, as this psalm contains the most remarkable particulars of our dear Redeemer's passion, being, as it were, a summary of all the prophecies relative to that subject, by repeating it on the cross, the blessed Jesus signified that he was now accomplishing the things that were predicted concerning the Messiah. And as the psalm is composed in the form

of a prayer, by pronouncing it, at this time, he also claimed of his Father the performance of all the promises he had made, whether to him, or to his people, the chief of which are recorded in the latter part of the psalm.

Some of the people who stood by, when they heard our blessed Saviour pronounce the first words of the psalm, misunderstood him; probably from their not hearing him distinctly, concluded that he called for Elias. Upon which one of them filled a sponge with vinegar, put it on a reed, and gave him to drink; being desirous to keep him alive as long as possible, to see whether Elias would come to take him down from the cross.

But as soon as Jesus had tasted the vineger, he said, "It is finished." That is, the work of man's redemption is accomplished; that great work which the only-begotten Son of God came into the world to perform, is finished. In speaking these words, he cried with an exceeding loud voice; and after the shout, he addressed his Almighty Father, in words which form the best pattern of a recommendatory prayer, at the hour of death, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." And having uttered these words, "he bowed his head, and yielded up the ghost."

But behold! at the very instant that the blessed Jesus resigned his soul into the hands of his heavenly Father, the vail of the temple was miraculously rent from the top to the bottom; probably in the presence of the priest, who burnt incense in the holy place, and who doubtless publ`d the account when he came out for our blessed Saviour expired at the ninth hour, the very time of offering the evening sacrifice.

Nor was this the only miracle that happened at the death of the great Messiah; the earth trembled from its very foundations, the flinty rocks burst asunder, and

the sepulchres hewn in them were opened; and many bodies of saints deposited there awakened after his resurrection, from the. sleep of death, left the gloomy chambers of the tomb, went into the city of Jerusalem, and appeared unto many.

And as the rending the vail of the temple intimated, that the entrance into the holy place, the type of heaven, was now laidopen to all nations; so the resurrection of a number of saints from the dead demonstrated, that the power of death and the grave, was broken; the sting was taken from death, and the victory wrested from the grave. In short, our dear Redeemer's conquests over the enemies of mankind were · shewn to be complete; and an earnest was given of the general resurrection of the dead.

Nor did the remarkable particulars which attended that awful period, when Jesus gave up the ghost, affect the natives of Judea only.-The Roman centurion, who was placed near the cross to prevent disorders of any kind, glorified the Almighty, and cried out,, "Truly this was the Son of God??? And all the people when they beheld heaven itself bearing witness of the truth of our great Redeemer's mission, smote their breasts, and retired.

They had been desirous with loud voices, to have him crucified; but when they saw the face of the creation wrapt in the gloomy mantle of darkness, during his crucifixion, and found his death accompanied with an earthquake, as if nature had been in an: agony when he died, they rightly interpreted: these prodigies to be so many testimonies from the Almighty, of his innocence; and their passions, which had been inflamed and exasperated against him, became quite calm, or rather exerted in his behalf. Some were angry with themselves for neglecting the opportunity the governor gave them of saving his life. Some were stung with remorse for having been active in procuring Pilate

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