with the utmost freedom as to themselves, yet exactly as the omniscience of God foreknew and foretold they would do. And having done thus, they sat down near the cross, and guarded him and the other two who were crucified with him, that none might come there to rescue them before they were quite dead.* And as the usual method was in cases of crucifixion, they put upon the cross over his head, a superscription, in capital letters,† containing the substance of his pretended crime, written in these remarkable words, This is Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. And indeed it was Pilate who wrote this title, and ordered them to put it on the cross-which, howsoever it was designed as a reproach to Jesus, was in effect a declaration of his real character; and by the secret providence of God was overruled in a remarkable and public manner to proclaim the kingdom of Christ, while it was only meant to expose and ridicule his title to it. Many of the Jews, therefore, who came up to the feast of the passover, read this inscription; because the

* 66 (That none might come to rescue them, &c.) This was the more necessary in this kind of execution, because the wounds given in crucifixion were not generally mortal; the person crucified died partly by the loss of blood, if any large vessel was pierced by the nails, when nails (as here) were used, but chiefly by the violent distortion of the limbs, which were stretched forth as on a rack; a circumstance which must no doubt occasion exquisite anguish."

+ " (They put over his head a superscription.) This Bishop Pearson (on the Creed, p. 205,) and Dr. Lardner, (Credibility, part i. book i. ch. 7, s. 10, vol. i. p. 347,) have abundantly proved to be usual, in cases of any extraordinary punishment."

place where Jesus was crucified was near to the city, and lay but just without the gates: and that the inscription might be generally understood, it was expressed, by Pilate's order, in three languages, and written both in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin letters; so that it might easily be read by Jews, Romans, and most other foreigners.

"Now, when this inscription was drawn up, the chief priests of the Jews were very much offended at the form in which it was expressed, and therefore objected against it, and said to Pilate, Do not write, The king of the Jews; for we entirely disown him under that character, as thou well knowest; but rather write that he said, I am the king of the Jews. But Pilate, who was very much displeased at the importunity by which, contrary to his inclination and judgment, they had extorted from him the sentence of death he had passed upon Jesus, answered with some warmth, What I have written I have writtenand whoever may object against it, I am determined it shall stand as it is.

"When therefore they were unable to procure any alteration, they were determined publicly to turn it into a jest ; and therefore some of them went in person to Calvary, to insult and scoff at Jesus,

*" (In Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin letters.) It was written in Latin for the majesty of the Roman empire; in Greek for the information of the vast numbers of Hellenists who made use of that language, as indeed most provinces of the Roman empire did; (See Brerewood's Inquiries, chap. i. iv.) and in Hebrew, as it was the vulgar language of the place. Thus the inscription set up in the temple to prohibit strangers from coming within those sacred limits, was written in all these three languages."

even in his last moments. And the common people, that stood beholding the execution, reviled him; and even they that passed by on the road, blasphemed him, shaking their heads at him, in an upbraiding scornful manner, and saying, Ah, thou vain boaster, that wouldst destroy the temple, and build it again in three days! let us now see if thou canst save thyself; and if thou art indeed the Son of God, give us a proof of thy power now, and come down from the cross; for in thy present circumstances that will be the most proper miracle thou canst work, in confirmation of thy pretended mission. And in like manner also the chief priests, together with the scribes and elders, and the rulers also themselves, the malice of whose hearts had made them forget the dignity of their characters, and to attend among the mob upon this base and barbarous occasion, joined with them in their scoffs, and with a scornful sneer derided him; and mocking, said one to another, Ay, this is he that saved others, and undertook to give them perfect deliverance, and everlasting happiness; but now you see he cannot save himself from the most infamous execution. If he be really the true Messiah, the elect of God; and in consequence of that divine choice, be the king of Israel, as he has so often pretended, let him now come down from the cross, and save himself from death, that we may see a demonstration of his saving power, and we will then believe him.*

* (He saved others, &c.) Nothing could be baser than thus to upbraid him with this saving power, which was not a vain pretence, but had produced so many noble and stupendous

Nay, they were at once so profane and so stupid, as to borrow on this occasion the words foretold by David, (Psal. xxii. 8,) and to say, He trusted in God, and boasted of his interest in him, let him deliver him now, if he will have him, or if he delighteth in him; for he has often said, I am the Son of God: the priests themselves not observing that this was the very language which the murderers of the Messiah are there described as using.

*

"And the soldiers also, who kept guard at that time, joined with the rest of the spectators, and mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar to drink, in the midst of his agonies, and saying, as the rulers and priests had done, If thou art really, as thou hast frequently pretended, the king of the Jews, before thou undertakest to deliver them, save thyself from our power, and so begin to assert thy claim to supreme authority." But Omnipotence was not to be dictated to by effects. And it was equally unreasonable to put the credit of his mission on his coming down from the cross; a vigorous spring might possibly have forced the nails from the hands and feet of a crucified person, so that he might have leaped from the What Christ had so lately done before their eyes, and in part on themselves, in the garden, was a far more convincing display of a divine power than merely to have descended now, could have been; and though they promise upon this to believe him, there is no room to think that they would have yielded to conviction; but all they meant was to insult him by it, as thinking it impossible he should escape out of their hands."

cross.

* 66 (If thou art the king of the Jews.) As this claim seemed to them the most derogatory to the Roman authority, it is no wonder that the soldiers grounded their insults on this, rather than on his professing himself the Son of God."

the impotent agents of the infernal power of darkness the Redeemer's erránd on our earth was to endure the cross, was to despise the shame; and on the termination of the glorious probation he passed on our globe, awful, miraculous, and astonishing were the evidences of the truth of his assertion, and showed that in very deed he was omnipotent-that in very deed he was the almighty Son of God.

"And one one of the malefactors also,* who húng on the cross with him, regardless of that innocence and dignity which Jesus manifested under all his sufferings; and unaffected with a sense of his own aggravated guilt, upbraided him with the same reproach, and scornfully blasphemed him as an impostor, saying, If thou art the Messiah, why dost thou not save thyself and us, who are now dying with thee? But the other, awakened to a sense of his sin, and convinced in his heart that Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah, answered his companion, and rebuked him, saying, Dost thou not fear God, even now, when thou thyself art in the same condemnation? In such an awful circumstance as

*❝(And one of the malefactors also.) We are told indeed by Matthew, in the plural number, that the thieves cast the same in his teeth; and Mark also says, that they that were crucified with him reviled him; and hence some infer that he who afterwards proved penitent, at first joined in the blasphemy; but had 'that been the case, surely Luke, in so particular a narrative as his, would not have omitted it. I therefore rather conclude, with most critics, that it is what is commonly called an enallage of numbers; the plural being (as elsewhere) put for the singular."