of this dreadful insult against God you have great reason to kneel before your Maker and to implore pardon for so shamefully abusing His mercy. Or did you perhaps argue: No man could keep altogether clear from sin any way, and it would do no harm to yield a little? Did you say: What of it, though a man did get drunk off and on, or take advantage in trade, or tell an untruth? for none could be without sin. If your thoughts have been on this line, let me ask you: Is that keeping the promise to amend your sinful life? Is that keeping the commandment to break it a little here and a little there? Did the Holy Ghost teach you to argue after this fashion? or is it the wisdom of the prince of darkness? Surely, you have reason to repent and to recover yourself out of the snare of the devil, whose captive you have been. But if you can candidly say that it has been your endeavor to keep your feet clean, make no boast about it, or you might deceive yourself. The Scriptures testify: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." Jer. 17, 9. In every one's heart are nooks and crooks of which he is himself not aware, and instead of saying much about our honesty we should rather pray: Search my heart, O my God, and try my reins, and lead me in the land of uprightness. Wash me in the fountain of Israel, the blood of Thy Son, and deny me not grace unto godliness, but 18 Grant that, according to Thy Word, I henceforth godly live, O Lord. GOOD FRIDAY. TEXT: Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, and said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands. Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! John 19, 1-5. We have gathered together to-day for a service of sorrow and mourning. Every heart loving the Lord Jesus Christ and knowing the signification of this day is downcast and sad, and yet at the same time filled with exceeding great joy. We to-day remember the death of our Redeemer, the one true Friend of our souls; therefore are our hearts sad. But His death awakens in us the hope of eternal life; therefore are our souls glad. On the Jewish preparation day for the festival of Easter in the 33d or 34th year of the Christian era, Jesus of Nazareth died the shameful death of crucifixion on the top of Mt. Calvary, but He died willingly, giving His life for the life of the world. How could a Christian heart be able to pass by this day unnoticed? Should we not observe it with great solemnity and sadness? There are fanatics who say that there is nothing in the day, and that it is wrong for Christians to keep days which God has not instituted. We are aware that Good Friday is a day like other days, and we seek nothing in the day, but we do think that the dying-day of our Lord is worthy of commemoration. We remember the dying-day of our parents, and should we not remember the dying-day of Jesus who is more to us than father or mother, sister or brother? What! pass by unnoticed that day of the year on which my Lord died for me? I could not, though I would. As often as it recurs sadness possesses my heart, and I am constrained to say: Bridegroom of my soul, my love, my hope, my all, art Thou dead? Rose of Sharon, how art Thou torn by the fangs of the whirlwind? "Where Lily of the Valley, how art Thou trampled down? fore art Thou red in thine apparel, and Thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine-fat?" Is. 63, 2. Alas! my blood has stained Thy beauty; my sins have pierced Thee through with mary sorrows. Why such sadness? Is not His death our life and, therefore, a cause of rejoicing? His death is truly the source and the only source of our hope for a blessed life beyond the grave, but let me remind you of the fact that I and you are amongst the number of His crucifiers. True, four Roman soldiers did the work; they nailed Him to the cross; but if man had not sinned, those spikes would never have pierced His members. It is this which comes home to us forcibly when we earnestly ponder His suffering and death. We should to-day consider both that His works are our salvation, and our works His torment. To assist you in this permit me to speak to you on the words of Pilate: "BEHOLD THE MAN." I. Behold the Man of suffering; II. Behold the man that caused Him suffering. I. In front of the judgment hall at Jerusalem was a wide, paved place called Gabbatha, that is, the Pavement. It will compare with our American courthouse square. On this public square the citizens assembled at stated times to hear the decrees of the governor and the publication of the laws. Very early in the morning of the day already mentioned, the high priests, the members of the high council, a large number of scribes and Pharisees and a multitude of people had flocked together on the Pavement. They stood there demanding of Pilate the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth and awaiting his decision; but Pilate, finding no fault in Jesus and knowing Him innocent of the charges brought against Him, was loath to yield to their demands. But the longer he hesitated the more clamorous did their cries become. Then Pilate thought, perhaps, if he would chastise Jesus and then show Him to the multitude, they would be moved to compassion and would consent to let Him go. Therefore, when Jesus had been scourged, the governor brought Him out of the judgment hall and presented Him to the people with the words: "Behold the man." He meant to say: Behold the miserable, the plagued, the tormented, the pitiable man! Look and see Him made like unto a crushed worm. Behold His woeful condition and demand no more, but let your hearts be softened towards Him. Pilate thought that the aspect of the Lord's woeful condition would soften the hearts of His enemies and, verily, in human calculation Pilate might justly expect that the sight of Him must move the Jews to compassion. What a woeful, pitiable spectacle the Lord presented, standing on the steps of the judgment hall, we can to some extent picture to our minds by remembering what He had already suffered. Since the eating of the passover neither meat nor drink had passed His lips, nor had sleep rested on His eyelids. Bound and watched by slaves, He had spent the night in the palace of the high priest. At and after His trial before the high council He had been struck in the face with fists by the servants; He had been spitted on and maltreated in other ways. Hungry, thirsty, weary He was brought to the judgment hall. From there He was sent to king Herod, where He was mocked, and clad in a white garment, the costume of fools and charlatans. When He was brought back again Pilate delivered Him into the hands of the barbarian soldiers to be scourged. Of that dreadful instrument of torture, the scourge, we know nothing in our time and country. What a fearful instrument of torture it was, we understand, when we read that many a strong man breathed his last under the strokes of the Roman scourge. The scourge consisted of a number of leather thongs or whipcord fastened to the end of a cane or strong stick, and for severe torture little lumps of lead or small hooks were matted into the thongs. To strike a Roman citizen with the scourge was strictly forbidden by law, because every one who was struck with the scourge was disgraced and branded with infamy. It was used only for the punishment of slaves and criminals, and it was applied on the bare body. As a matter of course such an in strument lacerated the skin at the first stroke and swung by a strong man it laid bare the bones in a very short time. No wonder that many expired under the torture of the scourge. So Jesus was scourged, and that it was done in the severest manner is evident from the circumstances. It was Pilate's object to have Him brought into such a dreadful plight that the sight of Him would move even the flinty hearts of the scribes and Pharisees to pity. He was delivered into the hands of Roman soldiers, and the Roman army at that time was mainly composed of hirelings from barbarian tribes. Those men who were accustomed to scenes of carnage and knew nothing of mercy took Jesus, and did their work as it was customary with the Romans. Taking Jesus into the inner court they undressed Him, baring His back and breast till to the hips. Then they most likely bound His hands to a low post or stake, so that He' had to stand in a stooping posture. And now, behold how the sinewy arm of a soldier swings the scourge. The strokes clash on the holy body of the Lord; every sinew and nerve quivers; His flesh is torn and lacerated; His Divine blood springs from the wounds and trickles to the earth; particles of red are splashed into the face of him who is swinging the scourge. It is a bloody piece of work. Who could picture that frightful transaction to his mind without a shudder? Yet not a groan was heard and, bending low to look into the face of Jesus, you would have found it perfectly calm, perhaps contorted with pain, but without a trace of anger. After this Jesus was mocked and taunted by the unfeeling soldiery. Because He had said: "I am a king," they dressed Him in a purple robe, in antiquity the badge of sovereignty, platted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, put a reed into His right hand to serve for a scepter and bent the knee unto Him, greeting Him: "Hail, King of the Jews!" They spat on Him, smote Him with their hands and took the reed. and struck on the crown of thorns on His head. In this condition Pilate presented Him to the people, saying: "Behold the man." Behold this pitiable object of commiseration on whom barbarians have spent all their cruelty. His whole body covered |