Jesus cried, "I thirst," there was no mockery offered, but a sponge was filled with vinegar, and put on a reed and applied to his lips, with remarkable alacrity; "one ran" and did it, Mark, xv. 31: and, from the misunderstanding of the words

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Eli, Eli," it is clear that the spectators had some suspicion that Elias might come to take him down. Do not, then, these circumstances accord remarkably well with the alleged fact, that "there was darkness over all the land from the sixth to the ninth hour?" Matt. xxvii. 45. Mark, xv. 33. Is not this change of conduct in the merciless crew that surrounded the cross very naturally explained, by the awe with which they contemplated the gloom that prevailed? and does it not strongly, though undesignedly, confirm the assertion, that such a fearful darkness there actually was?

XVI.

LUKE, ix. 53.--" And they did not receive him because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem."

CHRIST was then going to the passover at Jerusalem, and was therefore plainly acknowledging that men ought to worship there, contrary to the practice of the Samaritans, who had set up the Temple at Gerizim in opposition to that of the Holy City. That this was the cause of irritation is implied in the expression, that they would not receive him, "because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem." Let us observe, then, how perfectly this

account harmonizes with that which St. John gives of Christ's interview with the woman of Samaria at the well. Then Christ was coming from Judea, and at a season of the year when no suspicion could attach to him of having been at Jerusalem for devotional purposes, for it wanted "four months before the harvest should come," and with it the passover. Accordingly, on this occasion, Christ and his disciples were treated with civility and hospitality by the Samaritans. They purchased bread in the town without being exposed to any insults, and they were even requested to tarry with them.

I cannot but think that the stamp of truth is very visible in all this. It was natural that at certain seasons of the year (at the great feasts) this jealous spirit should

be excited, which at others might be dormant; and, though it is not expressly stated by the one Evangelist, that the insult of the villagers was at a season when it might be expected, yet, from a casual expression, (v. 51,) such may be inferred to have been the case. And, though it is not expressly stated by the other Evangelist, that the hospitality of the Samaritans was exercised at a more propitious season of the year, yet, by an equally casual expression in the course of the chapter, (v.35.) that, too, is ascertained to have been the fact. Surely it is beyond the reach of the most artful imposture, to observe so strict a propriety even in the subordinate parts of the scheme; especially where less distinctness of detail would scarcely have excited suspicion; and surely it is a circum

stance most satisfactory to every reasonable mind to discover, that the evidence of the truth of that Gospel (on which our hopes are anchored) is, not only the more conspicuous the more minutely it is examined, but that, without such examination, full justice cannot be done to the variety and pregnancy of its proofs.

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