their worldliness of mind, he had been afflicted at the weakness he foresaw in all, the perfidy the knew of in one. While instituting his Sacrament, his feelings would naturally be agitated, whether they were feelings of joy, at being permitted to apply, by anticipation, the benefits of his sacrifice, to his friends and followers, or whether they were feelings of sadness, at contemplating the sufferings, by which that sacrifice was to be effected. He then delivered a discourse, which yields in length, only to the Sermon on the Mount. After expounding some of the most important doctrines of the new covenant, he had to satisfy the doubts, to dispel the difficulties, and to elevate the minds, of his astonished, and disheartened disciples. Acutely sensitive to the sufferings of others, he found no sympathy under his own; but had to administer that consolation, which his human nature pined to receive. After this, came on his agony; that mental crucifixion, far more excruciating than all the pangs that seized him, on the accursed tree. That agony had been so awfully intense, that his sweat flowed from him, like drops of blood, if blood itself did not ooze, from the pores of his flesh. Yet, weakened and wearied as he was, no time was afforded to refresh his body, or to recruit his spirits. The agony was scarcely over,

when the traitor appeared, and he was apprehended in the garden. Although it was midnight, he was hurried back from Gethsemane to Jerusalem, amid the insults of the soldiery; and led up to the house of Annas, and from the house of Annas to the palace of the high priest. There ensued the examination, before Caiaphas; and, when morning dawned, the trial, before the Sanhedrim. From the Sanhedrim, he was dragged to the pretorium of Pilate; and from the pretorium of Pilate, when he had undergone another examination, to the abode of Herod; thence, back again to Pilate. Lacerated by stripes, faint with the loss of blood, exhausted in spirit, he had been compelled to bear his cross through the city, till, toiling up the height of Golgotha, he actually sunk beneath its weight. When we consider all this, we shall not, like Pilate, marvel that he was already dead, but, as I said before, our wonder will be, that life was not extinct, before he was nailed to the cross. (1)

The doubts of Pilate himself were easily and satisfactorily answered, on his referring to the centurion, whose duty it had been to superintend the execution. For certain circumstances had intervened, between the death of our Lord, and the application of Joseph, to which we will now advert.

According to the law of Moses, it had been expressly enjoined, that, when a man had been put to death, his body should not remain all night upon the tree. For, said the inspired lawgiver, as if predicting that Christ was to be made a curse for us, he that is hanged, is accursed of God.* Of this law, the Jewish rulers were, on this occasion, the more strictly observant, since the Sabbath, which would commence that evening, was a high day. These whited sepul chres, who had not scrupled to shed innocent blood, had a superstitious regard for the letter of that law, the spirit of which they feared not to violate. They were bigoted partisans, not conscientious religionists. Their object, as they supposed, had now been achieved. They had rid themselves of Him, whom, at the same time, they dreaded and despised. They had not been softened, by the events which had affected the deluded multitude, and melted the stern heart of the soldier; for, stiff-necked, like their ancestors, they would not have been persuaded to receive Jesus as their Messiah, even though one rose from the dead. On this subject, their eyes were blind, and their ears deaf, and they would heed neither Moses nor the prophets.

*Deut. xxi. 23.

We will not have this man to reign over us; we will not receive such a Messiah as this, though heaven and earth combine to prove him to be the prophet that was for to come;..this had been, all along, their feeling, their determination. On this subject, with that superstitious hardihood, so common, and yet so unaccountable, (which led the Heathen to endeavour to frustrate, that, which the oracle, believed to be infallible, had pronounced to be his destiny,) the Pharisees were prepared to contend with Omnipotence itself. But now, it appeared, that their end was accomplished. He was dead, who had troubled Israel: Jesus was no more. And, this point gained, the next object was, to dismiss from their minds all thought of the past; and to banish Him, whose wondrous works they could not deny, as soon as possible, from the recollection of the people. Accordingly, they besought Pilate, that the legs of the crucified might be broken, and their bodies taken away.

The order was, in consequence, given; and the Roman soldiers proceeded, to break the legs of the two malefactors.* But the legs of the Lord Jesus they did not break, because, when they came to him, they found that he was dead already.

* John, xix. 31.

Little did the Heathen soldier dream, that, while, with respect to the malefactors, strictly obeying the orders he received, he omitted to break a bone of Jesus, .. little did he imagine, that he was fulfilling an ancient prophecy, and accomplishing a yet more ancient type *; (2) little did he dream, when, perhaps, merely to save himself trouble, he pierced the side of Him whom they had crucified, in order to be fully assured, that it was as he surmised, and that the holy victim was really dead, little could he imagine, that this very deed had been predicted, five hundred years before.

Our Saviour tells us, that offences must needs come; though he denounces a woe, against those by whom they come. The reflecting mind will not fail to remark, throughout the transactions now under consideration, how marvellously die vine Providence overruled the designs of men; and, when they imagined only wickedness in their hearts, wrought out, through their instrument ality, his own wise ends, and the salvation of the just. We shall presently see, how the craft and subtilty of Scribe and Pharisee completely defeated their own object, by adding to, and confirming, the evidences of that religion, of

* Psalm xxxiv. 20. Zech. xii. 10.