the pride of life, and other vices. It is enough that we have spent the past years of our life in such ill courses. Let us now with tears and prayers approach the blessed Jesus, acknowledging, confessing, and bewailing our former disobedience. Let us intreat him to give us an attentive ear, and an obedient heart. Let us sincerely believe in the rewards of his promising voice; let us obey the precepts of his commanding voice; so that one day it may be our happiness to hear his affectionate voice, saying, 'Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom, prepared for you from the foundation of the world.'

THE PRAYER.

O FAITHFUL Saviour, whose merits äre infinite, thanks be to thee for the good confession of thy kingdom, which thou madest before Pilate! Praised be thy name for the instructions thou hast given us, that we may rightly understand the nature of that kingdom! Thou seest; O Lord, what gross conceptions and carnal ideas we are apt to entertain of thy spiritual kingdom, be pleased therefore to inspire us with a salutary knowledge of thy kingly office, and to impart to us that heavenly temper and disposition which is the distinguishing badge of thy true subjects. Make us, we beseech thee, truly attentive to thy voice, and real lovers of thy truth; so that by walking in the truth, and abhorring all false ways, and all the delusions of satan, we may be more and more convinced that we are thy subjects, and that consequently we may be joint-heirs of thy glorious kingdom. And as we here suffer with thee, and combat for thy truth by the confession of thy religion, grant that we may also eternally reign with thee, and sit on thrones, as thou hast overcome, and art exalted to the throne of thy Father. Amen.

CONSIDERATION VII.

THE CONSEQUENCE OF OUR BLESSED SAVIOUR'S GOOD CONFESSION BEFORE PILATE.

'PILATE saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out unto the Jews, and saith unto the chief Priests and the people, I find no fault in this man. And the chief Priests were the more fierce. And when he was accused of the chief Priests and Elders, he answered nothing. Then saith Pilate unto him; answerest thou nothing? behold, hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee? Jesus answered him to never a word, insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly.' (Matth. xxvii. 12, 13, 14. Mark xv. 3, 4, 5. Luke xxiii. 4. John xviii. 38.)

In the last consideration, we have enlarged upon the good confession, which our Saviour made concerning his kingdom before the tribunal of Pilate; we shall now farther consider what followed that good confession.

First, with regard to Pilate,

Secondly, to our Saviour's accusers,

Thirdly, to the Lord Jesus himself.

I. With regard to the Roman governor, two things followed our Lord's confession, namely, 1. A question, 2. An acknowledgment of our blessed Saviour's innocence.

1. The question is this: What is truth? Jesus, in his confession, had several times mentioned the word truth, viz. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one who is of the truth heareth my voice.' Upon this, Pilate starts the question, What is truth? At first one would; from these words, be inc ined to entertain a favourabie opinion of Pilate, and to admire his willingness

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to be instructed. We should be ant to think that the words of the blessed Jesus had kindled in him such a desire of knowing the truth, that he wished for nothing more passionately than to be thoroughly instructed by this divine Prophet, of whom he had already heard such a great character. But this good opinion, which might be conceived of Pilate from the sound of his words, is immediately effaced by his subsequent behaviour. For he had no sooner asked the question, than he turned his back on the Lord Jesus without staying for an answer, and went out to the Jews who were standing without the judgmenthall. Hence it is evident that he did not ask this question from any desire of information; it being probable that he thought it derogatory to his honour, to be taught by a contemptible Jew who stood bound before him as a prisoner; but that he asked it in an ironical manner, and with a mind filled with sceptical prejudices at least, if not with an aversion to, and contempt of, the truth.

If these words therefore be construed according to the temper from whence they proceeded, the meaning of the question will appear to be this: " Why dost thou talk of truth? Truth never made any man's fortune. It is no wonder, indeed, that the rulers of thy nation are so inveterate against thee, and are bent upon removing thee out of the way. I suppose thou hast told them the truth with too much freedom, and offended them by thy reproofs and public discourses. If it is thy sole business to tell the truth, thou wilt have but few adherents; so that the Emperor my master may be very easy about thy imaginary kingdom. Besides, if the whole quarrel between thee and the Jews be about the truth of religion, those affairs do not properly belong to my office; nor shall I throw away my time in the examination of these religious disputes: we Romans leave every one to teach and believe as he thinks fit, if he does but behave like a good citizen, and take care not to dis

turb the tranquillity of the state." To this ironical question Pilate subjoined.

2. A confession of the innocence of the blessed Jesus. For when Pilate had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, who were gathered together in great numbers in the area before his judgment-hall, and called out openly, or perhaps proclaimed by a herald, in the hearing of the chief Priests and all the people, 'I find no fault in this man.' As if he had said, I have examined this man apart concerning the things of which you accuse him, and have carefully sifted the whole matter; but I find him guilty of no manner of crime. You say, We found him perverting the people; but for my part, I can find no shadow of truth in this accusation. He, indeed, owns that he is a King; but, at the same time, he declares that he makes it his sole business to bear witness to the truth. This confession, by the Roman law, is no capital crime. If that were the case, all the philosophers throughout the whole Roman empire would deserve to be crucified; since every one of them thinks he teaches nothing but the truth. If this person has too high a conceit of his doctrines, and thinks that he alone is so quick-sighted as to see clearly into truth, this is a failing common to other philosophers, and rather deserves pity than any punishment. At least, with regard to the faults you charge him with, I find him entirely innocent. This, probably, was the opinion of Pilate; and this declaration of our Saviour's innocence he caused to be publicly declared before all the people; which, in some measure, was a political stratagem. For as he knew that the rulers of the people had delivered Christ to him out of envy, which opinion is afterwards confirmed by St. Matthew, (chap. xxvii. 18.) he thought it best publicly to declare his innocence to the people, who perhaps were better inclined towards Jesus, and thereby to give them an opportunity of taking the innocent prisoner under their protection.

This is the first testimony, which Pilate gave of our Lord's innocence, and is of great importance: For,

First, This witness of our Saviour's innocence was a person in a public character, and bore the office of a judge.

Secondly, He was the Roman emperor's vicegerent, and consequently it was incumbent on him by his post, capitally to punish all rebellious and seditious persons.

Thirdly, He was quite impartial in this affair, and acted without being prejudiced either by hatred or love to Jesus.

Fourthly, He gave this remarkable testimony of his innocence, after having heard his cause, and strictly examined the prisoner.

Fifthly, He did it voluntarily and freely from his own conviction, and not at the request of any other person.

Lastly, By this declaration of Christ's innocence, he at the same time represented the sentence of death which the Sanhedrim had already past on him as an act of cruelty and injustice. From these circumstances which followed Christ's good confession we shall deduce the following truths.

1. The doctrine of the regal dignity of Christ has always been ridiculed by the world.

Pilate thought it the height of extravagance, that a mean person, who was bound as a common criminal, without money or soldiers to execute any thing of importance, should set himself up for a king; and still more extraordinary, that he should expect to become the sovereign and conqueror of the world, by bearing witness to the truth. This the heathen governor laughed at in his heart, and thus ridiculed this noble confession of Christ concerning his kingly dignity. The followers of Christ, in imitation of their Saviour, must willingly suffer themselves to be ridiculed and despised; being assured that though