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the riches of his goodness are displayed in his providing a ransom for the redemption of lost sinners, an awful proof is given of the severity of his justice, in his not sparing his own Son, nor exempting him from the sorrows and sufferings due to sin, when he came to put himself in the stead of sinners: and may we not in such a view tremble for fear of him, and be afraid of his judgments? (Psalm cxix. 120.) Who can support the weight of his indignation, especially when it shall come aggravated by the abuse of so much love? If these things be done in the green wood, what shall be done in the dry? And if such sufferings be inflicted, where there was not any personal guilt to kindle the flame, on one who only answered for the sins of others; what then will be the end of those who, by their own iniquities, are become as fuel prepared for the fire, and are as vessels of wrath fitted to destruction?

How shocking is it to behold the vile indignities that were put upon a suffering Jesus, and to reflect upon the cruel treatment that he met with from his insulting enemies! Yet have not we been verily guilty concerning this matter? (Gen. xlii. 21.) Are we not chargeable with despising Christ? and have we not crucified the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame? (Heb. vi. 6.) O may that apology be heard in our favour! Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do! For surely sinners do not know what they do, when they pierce Christ by their sins, and turn away their faces from him.-But under all his sufferings, how amazing was his meekness! and how compassionate the concern which he expressed for his most cruel persecutors? May we learn patience, and love to our enemies, from so bright an example of it! May we, like him, bless them that curse us, and pray for them that despitefully use us, and persecute us! (Matt. v. 44.) Instead of being ingenious to aggravate their faults, and to paint them in the most shocking colours, let us rather seek for the best excuses, which even the worst of causes will fairly bear; influenced by that charity which unconstrained believes no evil, and hopeth all things even against hope. (1 Cor. xiii, 5, 7.)

Gracious Saviour! thy dying prayer, and thy dying blood, were not like water spilt upon the ground; they came up in remembrance before God, when thy gospel began to be preached at Jerusalem and multitudes, who were now consenting to thy death, gladly received thy word, and were baptized, (Acts ii. 41,) and they are now in glory, celebrating that grace which has taken out the scarlet and crimson dye of their sins, and turned that blood which they so impiously shed into the balm of their wounds, and the life of their souls.

SECTION CXII.

JOHN XIX. 19-22.

AND Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross; and the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am the King of the Jews. Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.

MATT. XXVII. 35--38. MARK XV. 24-28. JOHN

XIX. 23, 24.

Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without a seam, woven from the top throughout.They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be. And they cast lots that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did; and sitting down they watched him there. And it was the third hour and they crucified him. And they set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left. And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors.

MATT. XXVII. 39-44. MARK XV. 29-32. LUKE XXIII. 35.

And they that passed by reviled him, and railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou

that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself, if thou be the Son of God, and come down from the cross. And the people stood beholding. Likewise also the chief priests mocking him said among themselves with the Scribes and elders, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be Christ, the King of Israel, the chosen of God, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God: let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth, and reviled him. And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar, and saying, If thou be the King of the Jews, save thyself.

How great and glorious does the Lord Jesus Christ appear in the midst of all those dishonours which his enemies were now heaping upon him! While these rapacious soldiers were dividing the spoils, parting his raiment among them, and casting lots for his vesture, God was working in all to crown him with a glory which none could take from him, and to make the lustre of it so much the more conspicuous by that dark cloud which now surrounded him.

His enemies upbraided him as an abandoned miscreant, deserted both by God and man; but he (though able to have come down from the cross in a moment, or by one word from thence to have struck these insolent wretches dead on the place, and to have sent their guilty spirits to accompany the fiends under whose influence they were), yet patiently endured all, and was as a deaf man, who heard not their reproaches, and as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth. (Psa. xxxviii. 13.)

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And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

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; for

we receive the due reward of our deeds: 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.

But as soon as the penitent thief addressed him with that humble supplication, the language of repentance, faith, and hope, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom, he immediately hears and answers him: and in how gracious and remarkable a phrase! This day shalt thou be with me in paradise! What a triumph was here, not only of mercy to the dying penitent, but of the strongest faith in God, that when to an eye of sense he seemed to be the most deserted and forgotten by him, and was on every side beset with the scorn of them that were at ease, and with the contempt of the proud, he should speak from the cross as from a throne, and undertake from thence, not only to dispense pardons, but to dispose of seats in paradise!

Most ungrateful and most foolish is the conduct of those who take encouragement from hence to put off their repentance perhaps to a dying moment: most ungrateful in perverting the grace of the Redeemer into an occasion of renewing their provocations against him, and hardening their hearts in their impieties and most foolish to imagine that what our Lord did in so singular a circumstance is to be drawn into an ordinary precedent. This criminal had, perhaps, never heard of the gospel before; and now how cordially does he embrace it? Probably there are few saints in glory who ever honoured Christ more illustriously than this dying sinner, acknowledging him to be the Lord of life, whom he saw in the agonies of death; and pleading his cause when his friends and brethren forsook him, and stood afar off. (Compare Matt. xxvi, 56, and Luke xxiii. 49.)

But such is the corruption of men's hearts, and such the artifice of Satan, that all other views of him are overlooked, and nothing remembered, but that he was a notorious offender, who obtained mercy in his departing moments. The Lord grant that none who read this story here may be added to the list of those who, despising the forbearance and long-suffering of God, and not knowing that his goodness leads to repentance, have been emboldened to abuse this scripture, so as to perish, either without crying for mercy at all, or crying for it in vain, after having treasured up an inexhaustible store of wrath, misery, and despair! (Rom. ii. 4, 5.)

SECTION CXIII.

MATT. XXVII. 45-54.
XXIII. 44-48.

MARK XLIV. 33-39. LUKE

JOHN XIX. 25—27.

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 saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And some of them that stood by, when they heard that, said, Behold, this man calleth for Elias?

After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: 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.

When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished.

And when Jesus had cried again with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

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