398 clxxxviii Luke Reflections on the condemnation of Christ. 25 And he released to them [Barabbas,] that for sedition and 26. MARK XV. SECT it could be done no other way, pronounced sen- gave sentence that tence, that what they demanded should be done, should be as they required. [MARK XV. and that Jesus should be put to death. 15.-] XXIII. And, in pursuance of that sentence, he released 25 to them Barabbas, who (as was said before) was to thrown into prison for sedition and murder; but murder was cast into whom, aggravated as his crimes were, they had prison, whom they had importunately desired in preference to Christ: desired: [and when he had scourged Jesus,] and having (as we related above, John xix. 1, he delivered him to p. 390) already scourged Jesus, he did not re- their will [to be crucinew that torture; however, he delivered him fied.] [MAT. XXVII. to their will to be crucified, with such circum- JOHN XIX. 16.-] stances as they thought proper; and they soon shewed that their tender mercies were cruel. And when the Jewish mob had thus prevailed, 31 after they had mocked and insulted him for a while, And after that they just as the Roman soldiers had before done in the took the [purple] robe prætorium, deriding his pretences to a kingdom, off from him, and put and abusing him like the vilest slave, they took his own raiment on the purple robe off from him, and having dressed him, and led him him again in his own garments, they led him [MARK XV. 20.] away to be crucified, in the manner which we shall presently relate. Mat. XXVII. MAT. XXVII. 31. had mocked him, they away to crucity him. John IMPROVEMENT. LET us now, by a lively act of faith, bring forth the blessed xix. 13. Jesus to our imagination, as Puate brought him forth to the peo ple. Let us with affectionate sympathy survey the indignities Ver.1. which were offered him, when he gave his back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; and hid not his face from shame and spitting; (Isa. 1. 6.) Behold the man, wearing his Acts xxiv. 27. purple ment of God, he lost all the advantage It is observable, as we have seen above, q Having already scourged Jesus: payehhwoas. Many critics, and among the rest Elsner (Observ. Vol. I. p. 125), have shewn that scourging used to precede crucifirion; but as John, who is most exact in his account of this part of the story, mentions his having been scourged before, and says nothing of the repetition of it (which, considering Pilate's conviction of his innocence, he would probably spare), I choose to interpret the word in this manner, which the original will very well bear. They took the purple robe off from him.] • Leave Reflections on the condemnation of Christ. 399 clxxxviii. xxvii.29 purple robe and thorny crown, and bearing the reed which smote SECT. him in his right hand for a sceptre! Behold, not merely the man, but the Son of God, thus vilely degraded, thus infamously abused! Mat. Shall we, as it were, increase his sufferings, and, while we con- John demn the fury and cruelty of the Jews, shall we crucify him to xix. 5 ourselves afresh, and put him to an open shame? (Heb. vi. 6.) Or shall we overlook him with slight and contempt, and hide our faces from him, who for our sake thus exposed his own? (Isa. Jiii. 3.) Let the caution even of this heathen judge, who feared, when 7, S . he heard he so much as pretended to be the Son of God, engage us to reverence him, especially considering in how powerful a manner he has since been declared to be so; (Rom. i. 4.) Let Mat. us in this sense have nothing to do with the blood of this just Per- xxvii. 10 son.—Let his example teach us patiently to submit to those sufferings which God shall appoint for us, remembering that no enemies, and no calamities we meet with, could have any power John against us, except it were given them from above. xix. 11 How wisely was it ordered by Divine Providence that Pilate should be obliged thus to acquit Christ, even while he condemned Mat. him; and to speak of him as a righteous person, in the same breath xxvii. with which he doomed him to the death of the most flagitious 24, 26 malefactor! And how lamentably does the power of worldly interest over conscience appear, when, after all the convictions of his own mind, as well as the admonitions of his wife, he yet gave him up to popular fury. O Pilate, how gloriously hadst thou Luke fallen in the defence of the Son of God! and how justly did God afterwards leave thee to perish by the resentment of that people whom thou wast now so studious to obliges! xxiii. 24, 25 Mat. 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 accomplishment xxvii. 25 in that curse, which has pursued the Jews through seventeen hundred years. 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 s Leave thee to perish, &c.] Josephus (Antiq. lib. xviii. cap. 4 [al. 5], § 1, 2) expressly assures us that Pilate, having slain a considerable number of seditious Samaritans, was deposed from his government by Vitellius, and sent to Tiberius at Rome, who died before he arrived there. And Eusebius tells us (Hist. Eccles. lib. ii. cap. 7), that quickly after having, as others say, been banished to Vienne in Gaul) he laid violent hands upon himself, falling on his own sword. Agrippa, who was an as one who had been a man of a most in- a They 400 clxxxviii. Jesus taken to be crucified with two malefactors; SECT. 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! SECT. CLXXXIX. SECT. John Mat. XXVII. Jesus, being delivered up by Pilate to the rage of the people, bears JOHN XIX.-16. JOHN XIX.-16. sus, and led him away. NOW after Pilate had passed sentence upon AND they took JeJesus, to satisfy the restless clamour of the Jews, and had delivered him to the soldiers to XIX. 16 be crucified, his prosecutors, having gained their point, hastened his execution; and having insulted and abused him (as was said before), they took Jesus, and led him away to that terrible punishment. Luke XXIII. John 32 LUKE XXIII. 32. two other malefactors to death. And, to expose him to the greater ignominy and reproach, and to prejudice the people more And there were also strongly against him, there were also two other led with him, to be put [men, who were] condemned to die upon the cross for a robbery, and were well known to be great malefactors, that were led out of Jerusalem with him, to be executed at the same time; that in such company he might be thought to suffer for the worst of crimes. And Jesus, thus attended as a criminal, was XIX. 17 led through the city, carrying a heavy part of his cross on his shoulders, according to the custom of those who were to be crucified; and in this manner he went out of the city to a place which lay on the western side of Jerusalem, but a little without the boundaries of it, which a They took Jesus and led him away.] It is evident this text is parallel to Mat. xxvii. -31, and Mark xv.-20. But I have here, as in some other instances of two or more parallel passages, put one at the conclusion of a former section, and the other at the beginning of the next, for a better connection. I may also add that this seems to me the exact place of Mat. xxvii. 3---10, in which the evangelist relates the tragical end of Judas; but I hope I shall be indulged in transposing it, partly that I may preserve a better proportion in the ength of the sections, and chiefly that I may not in wus JOHN XIX. 17. And he bearing his cross, went forth into a place called the place of a scull, terrupt the important story of Christ's passion: and I more easily allow myself to do it, because probably the very same consideration engaged Matthew a little to anticipate it. Let it only here be observed, that the death of this traitor seems to have happened before that of his Master: so speedily did the Divine vengeance pursue his aggravated crime. b Carrying a heavy part of his cross, went out of the city, &c.] Dr. Lardner has abundantly proved, from many quotations, that it was customary not only for the Jews (Numb. xv. 35. 1 Kings xxi. 13. Acts And bearing his cross, is led away to Golgotha. 401 scull, which is called was called in the Hebrew language Golgotha, SECT. [or] the place of a scull; because the bodies of clxxxix. many criminals, having been executed on that John in the Hebrew, Golgotha. LUKE XXIII. 26. ander and Rufus, who : that he might bear it little eminence, were buried there. XIX. 17. And as they led him on, Jesus was now so faint Luke And as they led him with the loss of blood, so very sore with the XXIII. away, [they found a man of Cyrene, Simon lashes and bruises he had received, and so fa-26 by naine,] [MARK, tigued with the load of such a large piece of timthe father of Alex- ber, that he was not able to proceed so fast as passed by, coming out they desired, especially considering how little of the country, and] time they had before them to finish their work. they laid hold on him; And as he was advancing slowly to the place of [and him they compelled to bear his execution, they met on the road a poor African, cross] and on him who was a native of Cyrene, named Simon, the they laid the cross, father of Alexander and Rufus, who afterwards after Jesus. [MAT, became Christians, and were of some note in MARK the church: this Simon at that time was passing by, as he came out of the country to Jerusalem; [and] they immediately laid hold on [him] as one fit for their purpose, finding him a strong man, and it may be suspecting that he was a favourer of Jesus; [and] pretending that the authority of the Roman governor impowered them to press any they met for this service, they compelled him to carry at least one end of his cross, and accordingly on him they laid the cross, that he might carry it after Jesus. XXVII. 32. And a great multitude of people crowded after 27 him to see the crucifixion; and particularly a considerable number of women, who had attended his ministry with great delight, followed him on this sad occasion; who were so tenderly affected with the moving sight, that they not only pitied him in their hearts, but also vented their concern in tears, and bewailed and lamented him in a very affectionate manner. But Jesus 28 turning to them, said, Alas, ye daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, who am willing to submit to all the sufferings appointed for me, as what I know will issue in the salvation of my people, and in my exaltation to the highest glory; but rather weep for yourselves, and for your children, in consideration of the dreadful judgments Acts vii. 58), but also for the Sicilians, Ephesians, and Romaus, to execute their malefactors without the gates of their cities. (See his Credibility, part i. Vol. I. p. 354, 355.)-What our Lor! carried, was not the whole cross, but only that transverse piece of wood to which his arms were afterwards This fastened; and which was called antennæ, 402 Luke 29 For behold, the the paps which never The women weep for him, are bid to weep for themselves. SECT. judgments that these crimes will quickly bring clxxxix. upon this wretched people, whose calamities will be of much longer duration than mine. XXII. For, let it be remembered by you as my dying 29 words, behold the days are surely and quickly days are coming, in coming, and some of you may live to see them, say, Blessed are the in which the innocent blood which this people barren, and the wombs have imprecated upon themselves shall come that never bare, and down upon their heads in so terrible a manner, gave suck. that they shall have reason to say, Happy [are] the barren women, and the wombs which never bare children, and the breasts that never suckled them for as relations are multiplied, sorrows shall be multiplied with them, and parents shall see their children subject to all the miseries which famine, and pestilence, and sword, and 30 captivity can bring upon them. Then shall they who are now triumphing in my death be trem- mountains, Fall on us; bling with horror, in expectation of their own; and to the hills, Cover and, considering present calamities as the fore- us. runners of future, yet more intolerable miseries shall begin, in despair of the Divine mercy, to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us, from the more dreadful pressure of Mat. 30 Then shall they begin to say to the tree, what shall be 31 God's wrath, which is kindled against us. For 31 For if they do if they do these things in the green wood, what these things in a green shall be done in the dry? If such agonies as these done in the dry? fall upon me, who am not only an innocent person, but God's own Son, when I put myself in the stead of sinners, what will become of those wretches who can feel none of my supports and consolations, and whose personal guilt makes them as proper fuel for the Divine vengeance, as dry wood is to the consuming fire? 33 MAT. XXVII. 33. And when they were come to [the] place At length they arrived at the place of execuXXVII. tion: and when they were come thither, even to the place which (we before observed) was called called Golgotha, that in Hebrew Golgotha, that is to say, the place of a is to say, [the] place of scull, a little without the city [on] mount Cal- a scull [LUKE, or Calvary],[MARK XV. 22. vary (which was the usual place for executing LUKE XXIII. 33. 1 criminals, and seemed a proper spot of ground for the purpose, as on account of its eminence the malefactors crucified there might be seen at a considerable distance, and by a great number 34 of spectators); They proceeded to the fatal purpose for which they came: and as it was vinegar to drink, mincustomary to give to dying criminals a potion of strong wine mingled with spices, to cheer their spirits, and render them less sensible of their sufferings, the soldiers who attended him gave 34 They gave him gled him |