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shall we hope that a carnal heart shall prefer God to Cæsar. Pilate hastes into the judgment-hall: he sentences, "Let him be crucified !" Yet how foul soever his soul shall be, his hands shall be clean; "He took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it." This is expiation enough! Protest thou art innocent, and thou canst not be guilty! Vain hypocrite! Is the guilt of the blood of the Son of God to be wiped off with such ease? What poor shifts do foolish sinners make to beguile themselves!

BISHOP HALL.

"Who shall declare his generation ?" His manner of life who would declare? My learned friend, Dr. Kennicott, has communicated to me the following passages from the Mishna, and the Gemara of Babylon, as leading to a satisfactory explication of this difficult place. It is said in the former, that, before any one was punished for a capital crime, proclamation was made before the prisoner by the public crier in these words: "Whosoever knows anything concerning his innocence, let him come and declare it concerning him." On which passage the Gemara of Babylon adds, that, "before the death of Jesus, this proclamation was made for forty days; but no defence could be found." On which words Lardner observes, "It is truly surprising to see such falsities, contrary to well-known facts." The report is certainly false; but this false report is founded on the supposition that there was such a custom, and so far confirms the account above given from the Mishna. The Mishna was composed in the middle of the second century, according to Prideaux.

Now it is plain from the history of the four Evangelists, that in the trial and condemnation of Jesus no such rule was observed (though, according to the account of the Mishna, it must have been in practice at that time); no proclamation was made for any person to bear witness to the innocence and character of Jesus; nor did any one voluntarily step forth to give his attestation to it. And our Saviour seems to refer to such a custom, and to claim the benefit of it, by his answer to the high priest, when he asked him of his disciples, and of his doctrine: "I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing. Why askest thou me? — ask them which heard me what I have said unto them: behold, they know what I said."―John xviii. 20, 21. This, therefore, was one remarkable instance of hardship and injustice, among others, predicted by the prophet, which our Saviour underwent in his trial and sufferings.

Paul likewise, in similar circumstances, standing before the judgmentseat of Festus, seems to complain of the same unjust treatment,-that no one was called, or would appear to vindicate his character. My manner of

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life, from my youth, which was at the first among my own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews; which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify; that after the straitest sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee."-Acts xxvi. 4, 5. BISHOP LOWTH.

During these transactions, Pilate received a message from his wife, then with him at Jerusalem, and who had that morning been informed of something in a dream which gave her great uneasiness. Perhaps it presaged the vengeance of the Almighty pursuing her husband and family on account of the injustice he was going to commit. But, whatever the dream was, it had so great an effect on this Roman lady, that she could not rest till she had sent an account of it to her husband, who was then sitting on the tribunal in the Pavement, and begged him to have no hand in the death of the righteous person who was then brought to his bar.

As the people had not yet determined whether they should have JESUS or Barabbas released to them, Pilate therefore, when he received the message from his wife, called the chief priests and rulers together, and, in the hearing of the multitude, made a speech to them, in which he gave them an account of the examination which JESUS had undergone both at his own and Herod's tribunal, declaring that in both courts it had turned out honourably to his character; for which reason he proposed to them that he should be the object of the people's favour and be acquitted. They cried out all at once," Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas." Finding it therefore in vain to struggle with their prejudices, Pilate called for water, and washed his hands before the multitude, crying out at the same time, that the prisoner had no fault, and that he himself was not accessary to his death complying with the institutions of Moses, which orders, in case of an unknown murder, the elders of the nearest city to wash their hands publicly, and say, "Our hands have not shed this blood." Pilate therefore made this most solemn and public declaration of the innocence of our dear Redeemer. But the Jews continued inflexible, and cried out with one voice," His blood be on us, and on our children." Dreadful imprecation!

Pilate released unto them Barabbas: and the soldiers having scourged the blessed Jesus, carried him into the Pretorium, where they dressed him in a purple robe, in derision of his being the King of the Jews. Having dressed him, they put a reed in his hand instead of a sceptre, and a wreath of thorns they put on his head for a crown, so forcing it down that his face was besmeared with his most precious blood. To the Son of God, in this condition, the rude soldiers bowed the knee, giving him severe blows on the head, and then spit on him to express their highest contempt.

Jesus now appeared on the Pavement, with his hair, his face, his shoulders, all clotted with blood, and the purple robe bedaubed with spittle; and that the sight of Jesus in this distress might make the greater impression on the people, Pilate cried out, "Behold the man!" As if he had said, Will nothing make you relent? Have ye lost all the feelings of humanity and bowels of compassion for an innocent son of Abraham thus injured? The priests, whose malice had extinguished the sentiments of justice and feelings of piety, and also that love which countrymen bear to each other, no sooner saw Jesus than, fearing the fickle populace might relent, laying decency aside, they led the way to the multitude, crying out with all their might," Crucify him! crucify him! Release not this man, but Barabbas !" DR. WRIGHT.

Behold how all imaginable circumstances seem to conspire to increase the infamy thrown on that sacred head, which now most worthily wears a crown of eternal glory! "Of a truth, O Lord, against thy holy child Jesus, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the chief priests, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel had determined before to be done."-Acts iv. 27, 28. The wisest person on earth was by Herod and his soldiers derided as a fool; the most deserving was condemned by the chief priests; and the most innocent was treated as a criminal by Pilate, and furiously demanded as a public victim by the Jews. All the proofs of his innocence are overborne by a loud and senseless cry; and those Hosannas with which the streets and temple were so lately echoing, are exchanged into "Crucify him! crucify him!" So uncertain is human applause, and so unrighteous may human judgments be!

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 fulfilment in that curse which has pursued the Jews! 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!

DR. DODDRIDGE.

How shocking is it to think that there should ever be such perverseness, obstinacy, and inhumanity in the heart of man, as were found among the high priests, populace, and soldiers, against so innocent, meek, and divine a person as our blessed Lord! The hideous nature of sin may be seen in the treachery of Judas, in the invidious, false accusation of the high priest and others, in the unrighteous judgment of Pilate against the convictions of his own conscience, in the vile abuses of the officers, soldiers, and mob, all combining against our blessed Saviour, and in the whole of the complicated sufferings he endured to "make reconciliation for iniquity." Oh! what is man! how fickle, wicked, and vain! one day crying, "Hosanna to the Son of David !" and a few days after, " Crucify him! crucify him! Release to us not this man, but Barabbas!" But whoever were the criminal instruments of cruelty, and whatsoever were the righteous terrors of God against him, the transgressions of his people were the procuring cause of all. Had it not been for their sins, he had never been falsely accused, reproached, insulted, crowned with thorns, scourged, spit upon, and crucified, and had never been filled with bitter anguish under his Father's desertions. But the prophecies of a suffering Saviour were then to be fulfilled in him; and God overruled and ordered all things, to accomplish the eternal counsels of his own will, for the redemption of the church, and, at the same time, to give an honourable testimony to Christ's personal innocence and excellence, and to his character as his Son, and the true Messiah !

DR. GUISE.

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