condemned him; and speak of him as a righteous person, in the same breath with which he doomed him to the death of the most flagitious malefactor! And how lamentably does the power of worldly interest over conscience appear, when, after all the convictions of his own mind, as well as the admonitions of his wife, he yet gave him up to popular fury. O Pilate, how gloriously hadst thou fallen in the defence of innocence-in the defence of the Almighty Son of God! And how justly did God afterwards leave thee to perish by the resentment of that people whom thou didst forfeit thy innocence to oblige! Who can, without trembling, read that dreadful imprecation, May his blood be on us, and on our children! Words which even to this day have their remarkable and terrible accomplishment in that curse which has pursued the Jews through seventeen hundred years. Lord, may it at length be averted, and even turned into a blessing! May they look on him whom they have pierced, and mourn till all the obstinacy of their hearts be subdued-till they bow down in glad submission to that King whom God has set on his holy hill; and thus are brought themselves to reign with him in everlasting honour and joy!

"Now, after Pilate had passed sentence upon Jesus, to satisfy the restless clamour of the Jews, and had delivered him to the soldiers to be crucified, his prosecutors having gained their point, hastened his execution; and having insulted and abused him, (as was said before,) they took Jesus and led him away to that terrible punishment..

And to expose him to the greater ignominy and reproach, and to prejudice the people more strongly against him, there were also two other men who were condemned to die upon the cross for a robbery, and were well known to be great malefactors, that were led out of Jerusalem with him to be executed at the same time, that in such company He might be thought to suffer for the worst of crimes.

"And Jesus thus attended as a criminal, was led through the city, carrying a heavy part of his cross on his shoulders, according to the custom of those who were to be crucified. And in this manner He went out of the city to a place which lay on the western side of Jerusalem, but a little without the boundaries of it, which was called in the Hebrew language Golgotha, or the place of a skull, because the bodies of many criminals, having been executed on that little eminence, were buried there.

"And as they led him on, Jesus was now so faint with the loss of blood, so very sore with the lashes

* "6 (Carrying a heavy part of his cross, went out of the city, &c.) Dr. Lardner has abundantly proved from many quotations, that it was customary not only for the Jews, (Numb. xv. 35; 1 Kings xxi. 13; Acts vii. 58,) but also for the Sicilians, Ephesians, and Romans, to execute their malefactors without the gates of their cities. (See his Credibility, part 1. vol. i. page 354, 355.) What our Lord carried was not the whole cross, but only that transverse piece of wood, to which his arms were afterwards fastened, and which was called antennæ, or furca, going across the stipes or upright beam, which was fixed in the earth. This the criminal used to carry, and therefore was called furcifer. See Bishop Pearson on the Creed, page 203, 204."

and bruises He had received, and so fatigued with the load of such a large piece of timber, that He was not able to proceed so fast as they desired, especially considering w little time they had. before them to finish their work. And as He was advancing slowly to the place of execution, they met on the road a poor African, who was a native of Cyrene, named Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, who afterwards became Christians, and were of some note in the church; this Simon at that time was passing by, as he came out of the country to Jerusalem, and they immediately laid hold on him as one fit for their purpose, finding him a strong man, and it may be, suspecting that he was a favourer of Jesus, and, pretending that the authority of the Roman governor empowered them to press any they met for this service, they compelled him to carry at least one end of his cross: and, accordingly, on him they laid the cross that he might carry it after Jesus.

"And a great multitude of people crowded after him to see the crucifixion, and particularly a considerable number of women, who had attended his ministry with great delight, followed him on this sad occasion, who were so tenderly affected with the moving sight, that they not only pitied him in their hearts, but also vented their concern in tears, and bewailed and lamented him in a very affectionate manner. But Jesus turning to them, said, Alas! ye daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but for yourselves, and for your children, (no torture of body, or agony of mind, for a moment diminishing his perfect benevolence.)

"At length they arrived at the place of execution and when they were come thither, even to the place which is called Golgotha, a little without the city, on Mount Calvary, which was the usual place for executing criminals, and seemed a proper spot of ground for the purpose, as on account of its eminence the malefactors crucified there might be seen at a considerable distance, and by a great number of spectators, they proceeded to the fatal purpose for which they came and as it was customary to give to dying criminals a potion of strong wine mingled with spices to cheer their spirits, and render them less sensible of their sufferings, the soldiers who attended him, that they might embitter his sufferings by every aggravation their cruelty could invent, gave him, as foretold by the noble. Sufferer's earthly progenitor they would, gall to eat, and when thirsty, (as the torments He was now enduring probably made him in the extremest degree,) gave him vinegar to drink, and when He tasted thereof He would not drinkthereby giving an everlasting blow to that gloomy superstitition (infused by the power of darkness into the darkened mind of man, in direct opposition to the word of God,)* which appears to harbour a confused supposition that the Father of all mercies would approve and reward as meritorious, the endurance of self-inflicted sufferings. The cup which was given the glorious vindicator of his great Father's honour, by his Almighty Father, He drank to the deepest dregs. But the

* We shall in a future page abundantly prove the truth of this assertion.

cup that man mixed for him, and which He possessed the power to refuse, He would not or did not drink. On the other hand, when they gave him to drink generous wine mingled with myrrh and other spices, He would not receive this cordial cup; it is supposed it was provided by some of his friends to support him on this sad occasion.* But He did not receive it, determining to bear the full force of his pains unallayed by any such preparation, and to maintain his thoughts in the most vigorous exercise." Besides, had He drank it, artful insinuations may have been circulated that He thereby had had his feelings blunted and his death accelerated. Though He would not increase his sufferings when He could avoid it, He rejected mitigation from the hand of man.

"And it was now the third hour of the day, or nine o'clock in the morning, when they thus brought him to Mount Calvary; and there, when all things were made ready, they nailed his hands and his feet to the cross and crucified him. And

*"(They gave him wine to drink mingled with myrrh.) Some think this was sour wine, called vinegar by Matthew; but I apprehend the reasons which Dr. Edwards has produced sufficiently prove that this wine, mingled with myrrh, was a different mixture from the vinegar and gall which He received so far as to taste it. Probably those pious women, some of them (as the story shows) persons in plentiful circumstances, whose zeal engaged them to follow him to Calvary, and afterwards so liberally to prepare unguents and aromatic drugs for his embalming, had provided on this sad occasion some rich wine tempered with choice spices, which with perfect propriety He refused to taste, lest malice should insinuate He intended thereby to render himself insensible of the terrors of death."