They shall look upon me whom they have pierced.-Zech. xii. 10. My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?-Psal. xxii. 1. SACRED NARRATIVE. PILATE saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief-priests answered, We have no king but Cæsar. Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away. And he bearing his cross, went forth into a place called in the Hebrew Golgotha; where they crucified him, and two others with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.-John xix. 1518. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.-Luke xxiii. 34. And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. This title then read many of the Jews; for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. Then said the chief-priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews. Pilate answered, What I have written, I have written. John xix. 19. 22. And one of the malefactors which were hanged said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.-Luke xxiii. 39, 42, 43. M Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat,-woven without seam. They said, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. John xix. 23, 24. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.-John xix. 25-27. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. And straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.-Matt. xxvii. 46-49. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came thereout blood and water.—These things were done, that the Scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. And again another Scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.-John xix. 30. 32, 33, 34. 36, 37. ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SACRED NARRATIVE. When the Redeemer was suspended in agony upon the cross, the assembled rabble had a full view of the innocent victim; and from the position of the muscles of the body, and the great consumption of flesh which had taken place, by reason of continual grief, they could easily number the protruding bones. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. It appears from the gospel history, that there were four soldiers more immediately concerned in the act of Christ's crucifixion.—John xix. 23, 24. Though it was customary to strip the victim naked before placing him upon the cross, yet it was not till after he had expired, that the executioners of the dreadful sentence were entitled to receive their wonted perquisite. When, therefore, Jesus was crucified, the soldiers parted equally amongst themselves his upper garments; and, because they perceived the superior value of his seamless robe, they determined to cast lots, in order to decide who should be its future possessor. In all this they were guided by the influence of their own feelings, and were altogether unconscious of any agency acting upon them, save the dictates of their own rational minds: but who does not perceive that they were chosen instruments of God for the fulfilment of Scripture; and, though they were ignorant of it, they were verifying that sure and unerring word of prophecy, the minutest parts of which shall in no way pass till all be fulfilled. DR. MORISON. This probably was the first time that this thief had the knowledge of Christ. He improved his time at last, in that extraordinary manner, as perhaps no man ever did before, or will hereafter. He then believed Christ to be the Saviour of the world, when one of his disciples had betrayed, another had denied him, and all of them had forsaken him; to be the Son of God, the Lord of life, when he was hanging on the cross, suffering the pangs of death, and seemingly deserted by his Father: he proclaims him the Lord of Paradise, when all the Jews condemned him, and the Gentiles crucified him as an impostor and a malefactor. He feared God, acknowledged the justice of his punishment, and did with patience submit to it: he condemned himself, and justified the holy Jesus, declaring that " he had done nothing amiss." He was solicitous, not for the preservation of his body, but the salvation of his soul; not only for his own, but the salvation of his brother-thief, whom he so charitably reprehends, so earnestly requests not to proceed in his blasphemous language, so lovingly inviteth to the fear of God. So that the glory which he did to Christ, by his faith and piety on the cross, seems such as the whole series of a pious life in other men can hardly parallel. DR. WHITBY. How great and glorious does the Lord Jesus Christ appear in the midst of all those dishonours which his enemies were now heaping upon him! While these rapacious soldiers were dividing the spoils, parting his raiment among them, and casting lots for his vesture, God was working in all, to crown him with a glory which none could take from him. His enemies upbraided him as an abandoned miscreant, deserted both by God and man. But as soon as the penitent thief addressed him with that humble supplication, the language of repentance, faith, and hope, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom," he immediately hears and answers him; and in how gracious and remarkable a phrase! "This day shalt thou be with me in paradise!" What a triumph was here, not only of mercy to the dying penitent, but of the strongest faith in God, that, when to an eye of sense he seemed to be the most deserted and forgotten by him, and was on every side beset with the scorn of them that were at ease, and with the contempt of the proud, he should speak from the cross as from a throne, and undertake from thence, not only to dispense pardons, but to dispose of seats in Paradise ! DR. DODDRidge. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, Christ, Jehovah's shepherd: for these are the words of Jehovah, the Father, concerning his Son, whom he calls My Shepherd. By the sword awakened against him, is meant, the glittering sword of justice, which is called upon to awake, it seeming as though it was asleep; it having been a long time since the first sin of Adam was committed, for which satisfaction to Divine justice must be made. Against the Man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts. The human nature of Christ is expressed by being the fellow of the LORD of hosts; not only being near to him in place and affection, but his equal, being truly a Divine person. Smite the Shepherd: the order is given to the sword of justice by the LORD of hosts, to smite the Messiah, the Shepherd, even unto death! DR. GILL. Christ suffered in such a manner as a being perfectly holy could suffer. Though, animated by the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross and despised the shame, yet there appeared to have been seasons in the hour of his deepest extremity, in which he endured the entire absence of Divine joy and every kind of comfort or sensible support. What, but a total eclipse of the sun of consolation, could have wrung from him that exceedingly bitter and piercing cry, "My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me?" The fire of heaven consumed the sacrifice. The tremendous effects of God's manifested displeasure against sin he endured, though in him was no sin: and these he endured in a manner of which even those unhappy spirits who shall drink the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God, will never be able to form an adequate idea! DR. J. P. SMITH. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. He dismissed his spirit. He himself willingly gave up that life which it was impossible for man to take away. It is not said that he hung on the cross till he died through pain and agony; nor is it said that his bones were broken, the sooner to put him out of pain, and to hasten his death; but that himself dismissed the soul, that he might thus become, not a forced sacrifice, but a free-will offering for sin. Every man, since the fall, has not only been liable to death, but has deserved it; as all have forfeited their lives because of sin. Jesus Christ, as born immaculate, and having never sinned, had not forfeited his life, and therefore may be considered as naturally and properly immortal. No man, says he, taketh it, my life, from me, but I lay it down of myself: I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again.-John x. 17, 18. We translate Luke xxiii. 46. O Father, into thy hands I commit my Spirit: that is, I place my soul in thy hand: proving that the act was his own; that no man could take his life away from him; that he did not die by the perfidy of his disciple, or the malice of the Jews, but by his own free act. Thus HE LAID DOWN his life for the sheep. Of Ananias and Sapphira, Act. v. 5, 10, and of Herod, xii. 23, our translation says, They gave up the ghost; but the word in both places simply means to breathe out, to expire, or die: but in no case, either by the Septuagint in the Old, or any of the sacred writers in the New Testament is, he dismissed his spirit, or delivered up his spirit, spoken of any person but Christ. Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, &c. breathed their last; Ananias, Sapphira, and Herod expired; but none, Jesus excepted, gave up the ghost, dismissed, or delivered up his own spirit, and was, consequently, free among the dead. DR. A. CLARKE. I asked the heavens ;- "What foe to God had done My waves in panic at his crime recoiled, ""Twas man ;— Disclosed the abyss,- -and from the centre ran." I asked the earth;-the earth replied, aghast, " 'Twas man ;—and such strange pangs my bosom rent, -To man, gay, smiling, thoughtless man I went, "Father, the hour is come!" This was the hour in which Christ atoned for the sins of mankind, and accomplished our eternal redemption. It was the hour when that great sacrifice was offered up, the efficacy of which reaches back to the first transgression of man, and extends forward to the end of time; the hour when, from the cross, as from an high altar, the blood was flowing, which washed away the guilt of the nations. In this hour, the long series of prophecies, visions, types, and figures were accomplished. You may behold the Law and the Prophets standing, if we may speak so, at the foot of the cross, and doing homage. You behold Moses and Aaron bearing the ark of the covenant; David and Elijah presenting the oracle of testimony. You behold all the priests and sacrifices, all the rites and ordinances, all the types and symbols assembled together to receive their consummation. Without the death of Christ, the worship and ceremonies of the Law would have remained a pompous, but unmeaning institution. In the hour when he was crucified, every rite assumed its significancy; every prediction met its event; every symbol dis |