22 And he said unto them the third time, Why, what evil hath he done? I have found no cause of death in him I will therefore chastise him, and let him go.

23 And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the Chief Priests prevailed.

24 And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required.

25 And he released unto them him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they had desired; but he delivered Jesus to their will.

26 And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus. (U)

27 And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him.

[to execution.

28 But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.

29 For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.

30 Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us.

31 For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?

32 And there were also two other malefactors, led with him to be put to death.

33 And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.

34 Then said Jesus, Father, for

(U) Ver. 13-26. Pilate delivers Jesus to the Jews, with an order for his crucifixion. Much of this section corresponds with the accounts of the other Evangelists, but we have continued the text for the purpose of preserving the connexion of this very important narrative. We shall confine our remarks, however, to two points only; Pilate's surrender of Jesus to the hands of the Jews, and the address of Jesus to the spectators on his being led forth to execution.

1. That neither Pilate nor Herod considered Jesus as a criminal, is most certain from Pilate's own words (ver. 14, 15), "I find no fault in him; nor yet Herod:" but what apology can be offered for a judge that should deliver a prisoner to be executed under such circumstances? There is no doubt but he was influenced by the fear of the Jews, either as to their offering him some personal violence, or accusing

him to his imperial master. But "the fear of man bringeth a snare ;" and "He that justifieth the wicked, and condemn eth the just, even they both are an abomination to the Lord." (Prov. xvii. 15.) Pilate virtually did both. He justified the wicked priests and scribes, by giving sentence against the innocent Jesus accord. ing to their wishes, but against the judg ment of his own conscience. Ab, Pilate! circumstances must be one day reversed; and when the Son of Man shall ascend his throne of judgment, and thou shalt be placed at his bar, can he then say of thee, "I find no fault in him?" Alas, no! Pilate had condemned the innocent, and released the guilty; and both to oblige an abandoned priesthood, who afterwards pursued him with their accusations and curses till they drove him to commit suicide. (See Doddr. Note s.)

2. But let us turn to the conduct of the

Ver. 24. Pilate gave sentence.-Margin, sented," namely, "to their request."

66 as

Ver. 31. If they do these things in a green tree, &c.-Camp. gives the sense, "For if it fare thus with the green tree, how shall it fare with the dry?" "Our Lord (here) makes use of a proverbial expression frequent among the Jews, who compare a good man to a green tree, and a bad man to a dead one: as if he had said, 'If an innocent person suffer thus [for sins not his own], what will become of the wicked, who are ready [prepared for destruction, as dry wood for the tire."-Wesley.

Ver. 32. Two other malefactors-An unhappy translation, certainly, since it represents Jesus himself also as a malefactor. Doddr. reads, two other [men, who were] malefactors;" Drs. Priestley and Symonds (with the slightest alteration)," Two others, malefactors." Camp." Two malefactors were also led with him to execution."

Ver. 33. Calvary-from the Latin, Calvaria; but the Gr. is, Kranion (whence Cranium), of nearly the same import with Golgotha, See Note on Mali. xxvii, 33,

patient and illustrious Sufferer, who is now led to crucifixion, followed by "" a great number of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him." Some of these women are distinctly mentioned by St. Matthew (chap. xxvii. 55), and we have there remarked the honourable testimony borne to female tenderness and piety. We have here to notice the compassionate language of our Lord to the multitude of the spectators, and especially to the women. For though the term "daughters of Jerusalem," as well as "the daughters of Zion," certainly includes the inhabitants of both sexes (See 1 Kings xix. 21; Lam. ii. 13; Zeph. iii. 14), yet as the softer sex were undoubtedly distinguished by their weeping, so the following words (ver. 29), "Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bear," were doubtless addressed to them in reference to the predicted destruction of Jerusalem, respecting which our Lord had said, "Woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!" (Matt. xxiv, 19); language paral. lel in effect with that before us. The proverbial expression of calling upon "rocks and hills to cover" us "and hide" us, implies an extreme of approaching misery, which would not pass away with the sufferings of a few hours, but last through many generations; and, as respected many of the guilty individuals, we fear through everlasting ages.

The expression is (we believe) applied only to this event, and to that of which this was a type-the day of judgment, "Weep not for me: as if he had said, my sufferings, extreme as they be, will soon come to a termination, and will end in infinite and everlasting felicity, both to me and multitudes for whom I suffer; but for the judgments coming upon Jerusalem, alas! weep for yourselves, and for your children!" Our Lord Jesus, amidst all the pain and ignominy he suffered, was more affected by the approaching calami

ties of others, than by any thing which he himself either foresaw or felt.

(X) Ver. 27-38. Jesus crucified between two malefactors.-Every circumstance attending the crucifixion of our Saviour was calculated to excite pity towards himself and to provoke execrations from him upon his enemies. But behold the reverse! 'instead of pity from his persecutors, they revile and blaspheme him. "He saved others (say they), himself he cannot save." True, indeed, had he saved himself, they and we must have been lost for ever. But what says the illustrious sufferer? Does he imprecate curses upon them? On the contrary: he prays for them-"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Who is it that offers up this prayer? It is not the language of one....on whom good or bad treatment makes little impression.... The Son of Man had a heart peculiarly soft and tender. .... It is not the prayer of an angel hovering by the cross-a being superior to human weakness and passions; but of one who was in all things made like unto his brethren, yet without sin; and who hath shown himself as glorious in the generosity of his prayers as in the lessons of his wisdom, and in the miracles of his power.

"This prayer he addresses to his Father, Jesus was at this moment enduring the wrath of God, as well as the cruelty of man; yet faith and hope operate strongly within him. Not all the sorrows of death that were compassing him about, not all the pains of hell that were taking hold on him, could shake his confidence in God."

......

......

"The blessing which Jesus asks is forgiveness. Father, forgive them. If the murder of a fellow-creature is considered as a most heinous offence-if to kill a monarch brings on a traitor the severest tortures which man can inflict-what vengeance must not they have deserved who

....

The time when our Lord put up this prayer demands our notice. In the first moments after we have been injured, resentment is strong. But it was immediately after our Lord was fixed to the cross that he offered up this prayer. The hills around Jerusalem had scarcely ceased echoing back the cry, Away with him, when Jesus cried, Father, forgive them. Nor was this a transient impulse of generosity in the Saviour's bosom; it mingled with the last throbbings of his heart; and it was among the last of his injunctions be fore he went to heaven, "that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." The conversion of many of his murderers shows the efficacy of this prayer. The three thousand Jews, who on the day of Pentecost gladly received the word, were charged by Peter with having crucified his Master. The victim of their fury they now honour as the author of their salvation.

"Our Lord urges as a reason for the forgiveness of his enemies, that they knew not what they did. Deceived by the artful misrepresentations of their leaders, and disappointed in their favourite hope of a temporal Messiah, which our Lord's miracles had raised to the highest pitch, they now considered him as an impostor, and were eager to destroy him, as one who had cruelly sported with the feelings of an oppressed people. Christ pitied their delusion, and.. offers for the cruelty of his murderers the only extenuation of which their conduct admitted .... Instead of the

language of rebuke and execration, he utters that only of apology and forgiveness." (Dr. Belfrage's Sacram. Addresses, No. xxvii.)

This prayer, however, had so little effect upon the miscreants around him, that the cruel executioners coolly sat down at the foot of the cross to part his garments; and the rulers who were present, and ought to have suppressed the excesses of the multitude, were the first to deride him: "He saved others! let him save himself if he be the Christ, the chosen of God!" Thus shared our divine Master in the reproach of ridicule too often poured upon his peo ple as "the elect of God"-which is also one of the peculiar characters of Messiah, as well as of his people. (See Isa.xlii. 1.)

Upon some individuals, however, this painful scene had a most salutary effect; namely, upon one of the malefactors, and upon the centurion who commanded the guard which attended the execution, as we shall see in the next section.

(Y) Ver. 39-43. The base conduct of one malefactor, and the conversion of the other.

"It is a great comfort to dying persons to have their friends near them;" but our Lord's sufferings were aggravated by the company of two thieves in his dying mo ments, who at first, as it should seem by Matthew's Gospel (chap. xxvii. 44), united with his enemies to reproach aud blaspheme him. The other, whether convinced by the meekness and piety of our Saviour's conduct, or overawed by the awful darkness which accompanied his last hours, is satisfied both of his personal innocence, and his divine mission. He therefore, in the first place, reproves his obdurate fellow-sinner, and in the next place confesses his own guilt, and implores the mercy of our Saviour: "Lord, Remember me, when thou comest into thy kingdom."

A question here arises, What ideas could this man have of Christ's kingdom? It is not impossible that, before he committed

the crime for which he was apprehended (or at least before his apprehension), he might have heard some of our Lord's public discourses, in which he declared him self the Son of God, aud the King of Israel. It is not improbable that he might be (as a prisoner) in Pilate's judgment-hall when Jesus avowed himself to be a King, and for that end expressly born; or, perhaps, in the palace of Caiaphas, when he said, "Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of God." It is not to be doubted that he heard the Jews, in mockery, stile him king, or that he heard the inscription on the cross read by passengers and spectators; yet all this might give him but a very imperfect idea of the nature of Messiah's kingdom. He might, however, have been blessed with a religious education, and accustomed in youth to read the Scriptures. We know also the advantages which many persons, similarly circumstanced, have derived from early instruction, when these things have been brought to their recollection, and applied to their consciences, by the influences of the Holy Spirit, under whose instructions this privileged criminal was now placed. Yet we cannot pretend to determine how far his views were enlightened or correct.

Our Lord had been wont, in speaking of his second coming, to describe himself as "coming in the clouds of heaven," and attended by the heavenly hosts (see Matt. xvi. 27; xxiv. 30, &c.) ; we think it probable, therefore, that the penitent thief might allude to this, without any very distinet idea of the nature of our Redeemer's kingdom; for even his most intimate disciples at this time seem to have had very confused notions on this subject. (See next chap. ver. 21.)

Most certain it is, however, that he looked not for secular honours, nor rewards, for

he was now entering the eternal world, as was also Jesus, whom he addressed as his Lord and Saviour. It was in another state, therefore, that he looked for an answer to his prayers: it was to sit down with him on his throne-to eat and drink with him in his kingdom. May we all be enabled to adopt the same prayer in dying circumstances; but, alas! there are many, very many, who would rather be forgotten than remembered by their judge!

This brief but very interesting narrative furnishes us with a caution against presumption, and a caveat against despair. An ancient writer has observed, that the Scriptures present us with one instance, and but one, of conversion in the article of death, to the end that no person may presume upon the like grace; nor any one despair in like circumstances. To presume is madness; for who knows that death will give the warning of an hour, or even a moment? To despair is folly; for who can allege circumstances more desperate or alarming than these-a criminal dying by the hand of justice, with no friendly hand to direct him to the hope of mercy; yet mercy finds him, with a pardou perfectly gratuitous and free.

But we must attend to our Lord's gracious answer, with the when and where implied in it. 1. When shall the penitent be remembered? Not merely at a future period-in the day of judgment-but this day, which not only implies an intermediate state between death and judgment, but entrance on it in the day that closes our mortal life-this day of salvation. Now, though we would not contend for a rigid construction of the term day in all cases (for we know it is often used with much latitude of interpretation), yet here it is necessarily confined to a literal interpretation. Our Lord, who probably died a

Joseph of Arimathea]

51 (The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them ;) he was of Arimathea, a city of the Jews: who also himself waited for the kingdom of God.

52 This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus.

53 And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid.

[buries Jesus, 54 And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on.

55 And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid.

56 And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment. (Z)

few moments before his fellow-sufferers (see John xix. 32, 33), committed his soul into the hands of his heavenly Father, who doubtless instantly received it; and by the morning of the third day it returned to reanimate his mortal frame; it must, therefore, have been within this, or another day at most, that the supplicant could be with Christ in Paradise, or we shall not be able to give it any definite import.

But where is Paradise? The same place and state, we apprehend, as in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, is called "Abraham's bosom." (Chap. xvi. 19-31.) Whither Paul was taken up, and heard and saw things indescribable; and whither, at death, he desired to depart and be with Christ, as "far better" than the present state. (2 Cor. xii. 4; Phil. i. 23.) None of which things can surely be asserted respecting a state of utter insensibility, and non-exertion- - a state, assuredly, which no good man would desire in preference to activity in the service of God and man upon the earth,

(Z) Ver. 44—56. The death and burial of Christ.-The darkness and other prodigies which attended the death of our Saviour have been already noticed, with his subsequent interment, and the conversion of the Centurion. (See Matt. xxvii. 45-60.) The darkness here mentioned appears to have lasted from noon till about three in the afternoon, when our Saviour died, immediately after which it began to disperse. Might not this intimate that, by his death, "life and immortality" were 66 brought to light? However that be, the darkness itself must have made an awful impression on the spectators. Many of the enemies of Jesus were perhaps driven thereby from the awful scene, which made even the Roman soldiers tremble; and upon some of them, particularly on their commanding

officer, a salutary effect appears to have been produced. The spectators also smote their breasts with anguish, and silently withdrew; but the faithful women, the beloved John, and others of his acquaintance, stood and viewed the scene unto the last. The following circumstances also remain to be here observed :-

I. The dying words of Jesus-"Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit, and, having said thus, he gave up the ghost," i. e. his immortal spirit into the hands of God. On this we remark, 1. That Jesus died with the utmost calmness and resignation, an example to all his followers; but, 2. he died a voluntary death; so himself tells us (John x. 17, 18): "I lay down my life that I might take it again." This was peculiar to himself: "This commandment" (or commission), says he, "have I received of my Father:' implying that, as "Christ died for our sins," so also "he rose again for our justification." (Rom. iv. 25.) 3. On comparing this address to the Father of Mercies, with the complaint uttered just before (Matt, xxvii. 46), it is evident that that complaint was not uttered under any apprehensions of our Saviour's being abandoned by his heavenly Father to his enemies; but only that while bearing our sins, and making atonement for them, those smiles of approbation-that comfortable sense of the divine presence with which Jesus had been supported throughout his arduous ministry, had been withdrawn. The sun of divine approbation had set in obscurity, to arise in fairer skies, where darkness is never felt, and where clouds are never seen. "If (says Bp. Horne) the Master thus underwent the trial of a spiritual desertion (while he suffered for our sins), why doth the disciple think it strange, unless the light of heaven shiue continually upon his tabernacle? Let us comfort ourselves in

Ver. 54. The sabbath drew on.--Camp. " ap. proached." Vulg. "began to shine," so the Gr. is allowed to mean literally; and some think it refers

to the lighting of the sabbath lamp, which is done at sunset. See Orient. Cust. No. 1283.