Expository Thoughts on the Gospels

(c) Some say, as Augustine does in one place, and Bullinger, " that at tlie third hour the Lord was crucified by the tongues of the Jews, and at the sixth by the hands of the soldiers." This, however, to say the least, is a weak and childish explana tion. Moreover, it is open to the grave objection that it would make out our Lord to have been only three hours on the cross, and all that time in the dark, and not seen consequently by any one! At this rate, the inscription over His head on the cross would certainly not have been read by many! " There was darkness over all the land from the sixth to the ninth hour."

(d) Some say that Mark reckoned time on the Jewish plan, by which the hours began to count from the morning, and their seven o'clock answered to our one; while John reckoned time on our English plan, which is the same as the Roman one, and John's sixth hour meant literally about six in the morning. According to this theory Jesus was condemned, in John's account of the passion, at six o'clock in the morning, and crucified, in Mark's account, at nine o'clock.

This explanation is very commonly adopted, and is supported by Wordsworth, Lee, and Biirgon, But it is open to very serious objections. I see no proof whatever that John reckons time on the Rom-an and English plan, and not on the Jewish plan. The passage in the story of the Samaritan woman, which is commonly quoted as a proof, is no proof at all, and on reflection will cut directly the other way. If the " sixth hour," when Jesus sat on the well (see John iv. 6), meant really our English six o'clock in the evening, it makes it impossible to understand how the conversation with the woman, her return to her native village, the telling of the men to come and see Jesus, the coming of the men, the return of the disciples with meat, could all be brought into the short space of one evening! The thing would have been impossible. — Moreover, it is an additional objection, that if Jesus was condemned at six o'clock in the morning, there are left three long hours between the condemnation and the crucifixion unaccounted for and unexplained. I am obliged to say tliat in my judgment this way of explaining the difficulty completely fails.

(e) Some think, as Calvin, Bucer, Gaulter, Brentius, Muscuius, Gerhard, Lampe, Hammond, Poole, Jansenius, Burkitt, Hengstenberg, and Ellicott, that John's sixth hour means any time after our nine o'clock in the morning; any time, in fact, within the space begun by the Jewish third hour. They say that the Jews divided the twelve hours of their day into four great portions: from six to nine, from nine to twelve, from twelve to three, and from three to six. They also say that any part of the time after our six in the morning would be called the third hour, and any time after our nine in the morning would be called the sixth hour. And they conclude that both the condemnation and the crucifixion took place soon after nine o'clock, — Mark calling it the third hour, because it was near our nine o'clock; John calling it the sixth hour, because it was Bome time between our nine and twelve.

Grotius says, in Parkhurst, that the third, sixth, and ninth hours, which were most esteemed for prayer and other services, were marked by the sounding of a trumpet, and that after the trumpet sounding at the third hour, the sixth hour was considered to be at hand. Glass and Lampe support this opinion; and Lampe shows from Maimonides, a famous Jewish writer, that the Jews really divided the day into four quarters. Hengstenberg also remarks that the fourth and fifth hours are never mentioned in the New Testament.

This theory undoubtedly brings the two Evangelists near to one another, if it does not quite reconcile them.

(/) Some think, as Augustine in a second place suggests, and Harmer, quoted in Parkhurst, following him, that the " sixth hour here does not refer to the time of day, but to the preparation of the passover;" — and that the meaning is, " It was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour after that preparation began." But as that preparation often began very early indeed in the morning, or about our three o'clock, six hours counted from that time would bring us down to Mark's third hour, or our nine o'clock. Lightfoot supports this view, which is certainly very ingenious, and would clear away all difficulty. But it may fairly be objected that plain readers would hardly attach such a meaning as Harmer sug gests to " the sixth hour."

The difficulty is one of those which will probably never be solved. God has been pleased to leave it in Scripture for the trial of our faith and patience, and we must wait for its solution. Questions of time and date, like this, are often the most puzzling, from our inability to place ourselves in the position of the writer, and from the widely different manner in which measures and points of time are expressed in the language of different nations and in difFerent ages. This very difficulty before us, perhaps, i^resented no difficulty whatever to the Apostolic Fatliers, such as Poly carp and Clement. Perhaps they possessed some simple clue to its solution of which we know nothing. It is our wisdom to be patient, and to believe that it admits of explanation, tliough we have not eyes to see it.

If I must venture an opinion, I think there is more to be said for the fifth of the six solutions I have given than for any other. But I allow that it is incomplete. In any case we must in fairness remember that St. John does not say, distinctly and expressly, " it was the sixth hoar," but " about the sixth hour." Tlvis shows that some latitude may be allowed in interpretation, and that the. acknowledged discrepancy between John and Mark, must not bo too far pressed, or made of too much importance. One thing, at all events, appears to me quite inadmis- sible. We cannot allow ourselves to suppose that Jesus was not crucified till twelve o'clock in the day, when the miraculous darkness began, and that He only hung on the cross three hours.

[And he saith...Be7iold your King!'\ These words must have been spoken in bitter irony, anger, and contempt. " Behold the Man whom you accuse of setting Himself up as a King and being an enemy to Csesar! Behold this bleeding, weak, humble, meek, helpless prisoner! — this wretched, harmless Person, you pretend to be afraid of, and want me to crucify! You wish your own King to be put to death? This, I am to understand, is what you desire. Look at Him, and say I "

15. — [But they cried...away... crucify Him.^ As oe former occasions, Pilate's public appeal had not the slightest efi'ect on the Jews. Once more they raised their fierce, relentless, obstinate, cry, and demanded the Prisoner's death by crucifixion. Nothing but His blood would satisfy them. The horrible excesses of the Parisian mob, during the infamous Reign of Terror in the first French revolution, give us some faint idea of the savage spirit which can run through a crowd, by a kind of infection, when their hatred is stirred up against an individual.

The Greek word rendered " away with him," is literally, " take him away; " and often means, " take him away to execution or destruction."

Henry remarks, that this public rejection of Christ fulfilled two prophecies of Isaiah: " Him whom the nation abhorreth " (Isa. xlvii. 7); and " We hid as it were our faces from Him." (Isa. liii. 2.)

[Pilate saitli... crucify your King.?] For the last time Pilate put the question to the Jews, and gave them a last chance of relenting. In bitter irony he asked, — " Shall 1 then really crucify your own King? Shall I, a Roman, order a King of the Jews to be put to an ignominious death? Is this your wish and desire? "

[The chief priests... no king "but Ccesar.'] These memorable words inflicted indelible disgrace on the leaders of the Jews, and stamped the Jews forever as a fallen, blinded, God-forsaking, God-forsaken, and apostate nation. They, who at one time used to say, " The Lord God is our King," renounced the faith of their forefathers, and publicly declared that Caesar was their king, and not God. They stultified themselves, and gave the lie to their own boasted declaration of independence of foreign powers. Had they not said themselves, " We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man "? (John viii. 33.) Had they not tried to entrap our Lord into saying something in favor of Caesar, that they might damage His reputation? " Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar? " (Matt. xs. 17.) And now, forsooth, they shout out, " We have no king but Caesar! " Above all tliey madly proclaimed to the world, though they knew it not, that " the sceptre had departed from. Judah," and that Messiah must have come. (Gen. xlix. 10.) Truly the sceptre had departed, when chief priests could say, " We have no king but Caesar."

Cyril remarks, that " while other nations, all over the world, cling tenaciously to their own religion, and honor those whom they call gods, and will not forsake them, Israel revolted from God; cast ofE His authority, and claimed Caesar as their king. Justly therefore they were delivered over into Caesar's hands, and endured the heaviest calamities."

Henry remarks, — " They would have no king but Caesar, and never have they had any other to this day, ' but have been many days without a king, and without a prince ' (Hos. iii. 4), that is, without any of their own, and the kings of the nations have ruled over them. Since they will have no king but Caesar, 60 shall their doom be: themselves have decided it."

Lampe compares the conduct of the priests in this place to that of the trees in Jotham's parable, who said to the bramble, " Come and reign over us." (Judges ix. 14.) The very men who ought to have taught the people to hope for the Messiah, here publicly renounce the Messiah's kingdom, and declare themselves contented with Caesar!

I cannot but think that Pilate's public washing of his hands before the people, and saying, " I am innocent of the blood of this just person " (Matt, xxvii. 24), must come in at this part of St. John's narrative.

16. — [The7i delivered, etc.] This verse describes the conclusion of the most unjust trial of our blessed Lord, when, " in His humiliation, His judgment was taken away." (Acts viii. 33.) All was now over. The last appeal had been made to the Jews, and for the last time they had rejected it. What happened is described by Luke, but passed over by John. " Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required." (Luke xxiii, 24.) He then formally delivered over our Lord into the hands of the chief priests, and formally gave them permission to put Him to death by crucifixion. These hardened and wicked men at once " took Jesus and led Him away." — Of course we must not suppose that the *' chief priests " themselves laid hands on our Lord, and with their own hands led Him away. No doubt the Koman soldiers of Pilate were the executioners, and a centurion had charge of all the bloody transaction of the execution. But inasmuch as the soldiers only carried out the wishes of the priests, the priests were the responsible persons and prime agents in this judicial murder. Luke says, " He delivered Jesus to their wilL" (Luke xxiii. 25.)

Let us remember, when we read that word " delivered," that it is expressly written. He was " delivered for our offences,"

and that God " spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all." (Rom. iv. 25; viii. 30.) Christ was delivered to death, that we might be delivered from death and set free. Here is substitution.

Let us remember, as we read the word " led," that Isaiah expressly foretold that Messiah should be brought, or led, as a Lamb to the slaughter." (Isaiah liii. 7; Acts viii. 33.)

Alford thinks it possible that at this point the scourging of our Lord was repeated. But I see no satisfactory proof of this. Considering what a Roman scourging was, it is not probable that any body could have endured it twice in one day.

Let us note, that according to the narrative of John, there seems no delay between the condemnation of our Lord and His crucifixion. He went at once from Gabbatha to Golgotha, and from the judgment to execution. At this rate the theory, supported by Burgon and others, that there was a delay of three hours, between six o'clock and nine, after condemnation, is completely overthrown. If we looked at Matthew and Mark alone, we might fancy that Pilate saw nothing more of our Lord after He had been scourged and mocked by the soldiers. But it appears plain to me, if we carefully compare John's account with that of Matthew and Mark, that they have not recorded our Lord's last appearance before Pilate, which John relates. Nor can I feel surprised at this, when I remember that throughout John's Gospel, he supplies what the other evangelists have omitted. In particular he supplies our Lord's examination before Annas, and His private conversation with Pilate, when the Jews would not enter Pilate's palace, and entirely omits the examination before Caiaphas. So likewise I think he supplies the last scene in our Lord's trial, which Matthew and Mark entirely omit, for some wise reason. Holding this theory, which to me seems the most natural account of the order of things, I cannot see any room for an interval of time between the final condemnation and the crucifixion.

Henry remarks with much shrewdness, " Judgment was no

sooner pronounced, than with all possible expedition the prosecutors, having gained their point, resolved to lose no time, lest Pilate should change his mind and order a reprieve, and also lest there should be an uproar among the people."

How St. John became acquainted with all the details of our Lord's trial, and the private conversations between Him and Pilate, is a question which none can answer satisfactorily who do not hold the doctrine of plenary inspiration. That John was in and about the palace of the high priest, and not far from our Lord all the time, from the seizure in Gethsemane up to His death, we may well believe; but that he could have overheard the private conversations between Jesus and Pilate, seems simply impossible. How then could he know anything about them, and write them down? There is but one answer. He wrote them by inspiration of the Holy Ghost.

Why the common people, who always •' heard Jesus gladly," permitted our Lord's crucifixion so easily, and made no resistance, is at first sight rather hard to understand. The Galileans, who would have made Jesus King at one time, were of course at Jerusalem in great numbers, on account of the passover feast. The triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when an immense multitude cried, " Hosanna to the Son of David! — blessed is the King that Cometh! " had happened only a few days before. The priests themselves were afraid of an uproar among the " people," Yet there is not a symptom of any opposition to the judicial murder which was arranged, and carried into execution, How was this?

In reply, we must probably take into account the following considerations. (.1) There was a superstitious reverence for the priests among all Jews. The mere fact that the high priests accused Jesus would have immense weight. (2) The fear of the Roman garrison kept the people back. (3) The followers and friends of Jesus were almost entirely the poor and lower orders. (4) All multitudes are fickle and capricious

17 And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called tTie place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:

18 Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.

19 And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.

20 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.

21 Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not. The King of the Jews; but that he said, 1 am King of the Jews.

22 Pilate answered. What I have written I have written.

23 Then the soldiers when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to ev-

ery soldier a part; and also hi$ coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout,

24 They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it sliall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith. They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.

25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.

26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standiu'Z by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!

27 Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto hia own home.

He that can read a passage like this without a deep sense of man's debt to Christ, must have a very cold, or a very thoughtless heart. Great must be the love of the Lord Jesus to sinners, when He could voluntarily endure such sufferings for their salvation. Great must be the sinfulness of sin, when such an amount of vicarious suffering was needed in order to provide redemption.

We should observe, first, in this passage, hoxo our Lord had to hear His cross lohen He went forth from the city to Golgotha.

We need not doubt that there was a deep meaning in all this circumstance. For one thing, it was part of that depth of humiliation to which our Lord submitted as our substitute. One portion of the punishment imposed on the vilest criminals, was that they should carry their own cross when they went to execution; and this portion was laid upon our Lord. Li the fullest sense He was reckoned a sinner, and counted a curse for our sakes. — For another thing, it was a fulfilment of the great type of the sin-offering of the Mosaic law. It is written, that " the bullock for the sin-ofiering, and the goat for the sin-oftering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall one carry forth without the camp." (Lev. xvi. 27.) Little did the blinded Jews imagine, when they madly hounded on the Romans to crucify Jesus outside the gates, that they were unconsciously perfecting the mightiest sin-offering that was ever seen. It is written, " Jesus, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate." (Heb. xiii. 12.)

The practical lesson which all true Christians should gather from the fact before us, is one that should be kept in continual remembrance. Like our Master, we must be content to go forth " without the camp," bearing His reproach. We must come out from the world and be separate, and be willing, if need be, to stand alone.

Like our Master, we must be willing to take up our cross daily, and to be persecuted both for our doctrine and our practice. Well would it be for the Church if there was more of the true cross to be seen among Christians! To wear material crosses as an ornament, to place material crosses on churches and tombs, all this is cheap and easy work, and entails no trouble. But to have Christ's cross in our hearts, to carry Christ's cross in our daily walk, to know the fellowship of His suiferings, to be made conformable to His death, to have crucified affections, and live crucified lives, — all this needs self-denial; and Christians of this stamp are few and far between. Yet, this, we may be sure, is the only cross-bearing and cross-carrying that does good in the world. The times require less of the cross outwardly and more of the cross within.

We should observe, secondly, in this passage, hoxo our Lord was crucified as a Kijig.

The title placed over our Lord's head made this plain and unmistakable. The reader of Greek, or Latin, or Hebrew, could not fail to see that He who hung on the central cross of the three on Golgotha, had a royal title over His head. The overruling hand of Goi so ordered matters, that the strong will of Pilate overrode for once the wishes of the malicious Jews. In spite of the chief priests our Lord was crucified as " the King of the Jews."

It was meet and right that so it should be. Even before our Lord was born, the angel Gabriel declared to the Virgin Mary, " The Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David: and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end." (Luke i. 32, 33.) Almost as soon as He was born, there came wise men from tlie East, saying, " Where is He that is born King of the Jews? " (Matt, ii. 2.) The very week before the crucifixion, the multitude who accompanied our Lord at His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, had cried, " Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord." (John xii. 13.) The current belief of all godly Jews was, that when Messiah, the Son of David came. He would come as a King. A kingdom of heaven and a kingdom of God was continually proclaimed by our Lord throughout His ministry. A King indeed He was, as He told Pilate, of a kingdom utterly unlike the kingdoms of this world, but for all that a true King of a true kingdom, and a Ruler of true subjects. As such He was born. As such He lived. As such He was crucified. And as such He will come again, and reign over the whole earth, King of kings and Lord of lords.

Let us take care that we ourselves know Christ as our King, and that His kingdom is set u^) within our hearts. They only will find Him their Saviour at the last day, who have obeyed Him as King in this world. Let us cheerfully pay Him that tribute of faith, and love, and obedience, which He prizes far above gold. Above all, let us never be afraid to own ourselves His faithful subjects, soldiers, servants and followers, however much He may be despised by the world. A day will soon come when the despised l^azarene who hung on the cross, shall take to Himself His great power and reign, and put down every enemy under His feet. The kingdoms of this world, as Daniel foretold, shall be swept aside, and become the kingdom of our God and of His Christ. And at last every knee shall bow to Him, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

We should observe, lastly, in these verses, how tenderly our Lord took thougJit for Mary^ His mother.

We are told that even in the awful agonies of body and mind which our Lord endured, He did not forget her of whom He was born. He mercifully remembered her desolate condition, and the crushing effect of the sorrowful sight before her. lie knew that, holy as she was, she was only a woman, and that, as a woman, she must deeply feel the death of such a Son. He therefore commended her to the protection of His best-loved and bestloving disciple, in brief and touching words: " Woman," He said, '^ behold thy son! Then saith He to the disciple. Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home."

We surely need no stronger proof than we have here, that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was never meant to be honored as divine, or to be prayed to, worshipped, and trusted in, as the friend and patroness of sinners. Common sense points out that she who needed the care and protection of another, was never likely to help men and women to heaven, or to be in any sense a mediator be tween God and man! It is not too much to say, however painful the assertion, that of all the inventions of the Church of Rome, there never was one more utterly devoid of foundation, both in Scripture and reason, than the doctrine of Mary- worship.

Let us turn from points of controversy to a subject of far more practical importance. Let us take comfort in the thouglit that we have in Jesus a Saviour of matchless tenderness, matchless sympathy, matchless consideration for the condition of His believing people. Let us never forget His words, " Whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother." (Mark iii. 35.) The heart that even on the cross felt for Mary, is a heart that never changes. Jesus never forgets any that love Him, and even in their worst estate remembers their need. No wonder that Peter says, " Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you." (1 Pet. v. 7.)

17. — [And He hearing His cross.'] It was the Roman custom to compel criminals, sentenced to crucifixion, to carry tlieir own cross. Our Lord was thus treated like the vilest felon. " Furcifer," was the Latin name of ignominy and contempt given to the worst criminals. It means, literally, " cross-bearer."

Besser observes that our Lord, when a workman in the carpenter's shop at Nazareth, had willingly carried pieces of timber in the service of His foster-father. Here, with no less cheerfulness, He bears to Golgotha the timber of the cross, in order to raise the altar on which He is to be sacrificed, and to do the will of his Father in heaven.

Whether the " cross " that our Lord bore, was a straight piece of timber, with another transverse piece fixed across it, for the hands of the criminal to be nailed to, — or whether it was a tree with two forked arms, admits perhaps of some little doubt. The almost universal tradition of the Churches is that it was the former: viz., a cross made of two pieces. Yet it is worth remembering that it was very common to crucify on a tree such as I have described, — that the Latin word for " crossbearer," means, literally, " forked-tree-bearer," — and that our Bible translators have four times spoken of the " wood " on which our Lord was crucified as " the tree." (Acts v. 30; x. 89; xiii. 29; 1 Peter ii. 24.) The matter therefore is not quite BO clear as some may think, though of course it is one of no consequence. The cross of two pieces at right angles, is certainly more picturesque than a common tree shaped like the letter Y, and the habitual use of the cross in Christian art, and the general tradition of ecclesiastical history, have combined to make most people regard the question as a settled one. Yet tha undeniable use of forked trees in crucifying criminals, and the equally undeniable difficulty of carrying a cross of two transverse pieces, compared with a forked tree, are points that really ought not to be ov^erlooked. The matter, after all, is one of pure conjecture. But, to say the least, it is quite a disputable point whether the cross Avith which Christendom is so familiar, on the gable ends of churches, on tombs, in painted windows, in crucifixes, or in the simple ornamental form which ladies are so fond of wearing, — the cross, I say, of two transverse pieces at right angles, is really and truly the kind of cross on which Christ was crucified 1 There is no proof positive that the whole of Christendom is not mistaken. Of course, if the cross itself had been preserved and found, it would settle the dispute. But there is not the slightest reason to suppose that it was preserved, or treated with any respect, either by Jews, Romans, or disciples. The famous story of the " discovery or invention of the cross " by the Empress Helena in 326 A. D., is a mere apocryphal legend invented by man, and deserves no more attention than the many pretended pieces of the true cross, which are exhibited in Romish churches as sacred relics.

Ambrose says, quaintly enough, that the form of the cross is that of a sword with the point downward; above is the hilt toward heaven, as if in the hand of God; below is the point toward earth, as if thrust through the head of the old serpent the devil.

One thing only is very certain. Whatever was the shape of the cross on which Jesus was crucified, it could not have been the huge, tall, heavy thing which painters and sculptors have continually represented it to be. To suppose that any man could carry such an enormous weight of timber, as the cross is made to be in Rubens' famous picture of the " Descent from the Cross," is preposterous and absurd. A cross was manifestly not a larger thing than could be lifted and borne on the shoulders of one person. Some get over the difficulty by maintainiug the theory that the trsnsverse piece was the only part of the cross which the criminal carried. But there is no suificient evidence that this was the case.

It is noteworthy that John is the only Evangelist who says that our Lord bore His own cross. Matthew, Mark and Luke, all say that Simon the Cyrenian was compelled to bear it. The explanation is probably this. Our Lord bore the cross for a short part of the way from the judgment-seat to Golgotha. Weakness and physical exhaustion, after all the mental and bodily suffering of the last night, rendered it impossible for Him to carry it all the way. Just at the moment when His strength failed, perhaps at the city gate, the soldiers saw Simon coming into the city, and pressed him into the service. As on other occasions, John records a fact which the other Evangelists for wise reasons passed over. It is interesting to remember that the circumstance is one which John must have Been in ail probability with his own eyes.

That our blessed Lord, who had a body like our own, and not a body of superhuman vigor, should have been unable to carry the cross more than a little way, need not surprise us at all, if we consider all that He had gone through to try His physical strength, and tax His nervous system to the uttermost, in the eighteen hours preceding His crucifixion.

It is hardly necessary to remark that the type of Isaac bearing the wood for the sacrifice on Moriah, in which he himself was to be the victim, was here fulfilled by our Lord. It is moreover a c&rious circumstance, mentioned by Bishop Pearson, that a Jewish commentator on Gen. xxii. 6, speaks of Isaac carrying the wood for the burnt oflering, " as a man carries his cross upon his shoulders."

went oat of the city to be crucified. He was condemned in tlie open air, and " went forth " cannot mean out of Pilate's house, but went outside of Jerusalem, without the gates. Trifling- as this incident may seem to a careless reader, it as a strikingfulfilment of one of the great types of the Mosaic law. Tiie sin offering on the great day of atonement was to be carried forth " without the camp," (Lev. xvi. 27.) Our Lord came to be the true sin offering, to give His soul an offering for our sins. Therefore it was divinely overruled of God, that, in order to fulfil the type perfectly. He should suffer outside the city. (See also Lev. vi. 12 — 21.) St. Paul specially refers to this when he tells the Hebrew Christians, who were familiar with the law of Moses, that " Jesus suffered without the gate." (Heb. xiii. 12.) The minutest details of our Lord's passion have a deep meaning.

[Into a place...skull...Golgotha.] The precise position of this place is not known certainly, and can only be conjectured. We only know (from verse twenty) that it was *' nigh to the city " that it was " outside " the walls of Jerusalem at the time of our Lord's crucifixion, and that it was near some public road, as there is mention in one Gospel of them " that passed by." (Matt, xxvii. 39.) So many changes have taken place, during the long period of 1800 years, in the boundary walls and the soil of Jerusalem, that no wise man will speak positively as to the exact whereabouts of Golgotha at this day. Though outside the walls 1800 years ago, it is far from unlikely that it is within the walls at this time.

(a) Some maintain, as most probable, that Golgotha was a place between the then existing wall of Jerusalem, and the descent into the valley of the Kidron, oq the east side of the city, near the road leading to Bethany. In this case the cross must have been in full view of any one standing on the tower of Antonia, in the temple courts, on the Mount of Olives, or upon the eastern wall of the city. If this is correct, the crucifixion might have been seen by hundreds of thousands of people at once with perfect ease; and from the sufferer being lifted up, as it were, in the air, must have been an event of extraordinary publicity. According to the advocates of this theory, the traditional site now assigned to the Holy Sepulchre is the true one.

(5) Others, however, who have carefully examined the topography of Jerusalem, and are extremely likely to be wise and impartial judges, are decidedly of opinion that Golgotha was on the north side of Jerusalem, near the Damascus gate; and they repudiate altogether the site commonly assigned to the holy sepulchre at the present time. An old and valued friend, who has walked repeatedly over this " debateable land," says,

" 1 think the crucifixion took place on the north side of the city, near the present Damascus gate, on a platform of rock, just above a valley which runs on in endless tombs nearly two

miles. Beneath, tliis platform is a garden of olives still, full of excavations. In one of these, I think, was the sepulchre."

(c) Others, and among them another friend, who has travelled much in Palestine, and published the results of his travels, inclined to think that Golgotha was on the west side of Jerusalem, near the Jaffa gate. The friend I refer to says, in a letter to me on this subject, " When I was first in Jerusalem in 1857, I visited some extraordinary fissures and cracks in the rocks west of the city, reminding me of the expression, the rocks rent. (Matt, xxvii. 51.) These fissures are now all filled up." Much, lie adds, depends on the question whether Pilate resided in the tower of Antonia, and had his judgment hall there, or in the tower of Hippicus. This, however, we have no means of ascertaining.

In the face of sucb conflicting opinions I dare not speak positively, and I must leave my readers to judge for themselves. The question is one about which no one, it is clear, has any right to be heard, unless he has actually seen Jerusalem.

Why the place was called " the place of a skull " we are not told, and are left entirely to conjecture.

{a) Some think, as Gualter, Bullinger, Musculus, Gerhard, Burgon, Alford, Besser, and others, that the verse points to the bones, skeletons, and skulls, of executed criminals, which were lying about on Golgotha, as the common place of execution. This theory, however, is open to the grave objection, that it is most unlikely that dead men's bones would be left lying above ground, so near the city, when, according to the Mosaic law, they made any Jew unclean who touched them. The Pliari sees, with their excessive scrupulosity about externals, were not likely to tolerate such a source of defilement close to the holy city! — Moreover, John expressly says, that in the place where Jesus was crucified " there was a garden." (John xix. 41.) This does not look like a place where dead men's bones and the skulls of criminals would be left lying about! The very mention of this " garden " would suggest the idea that the place was not ordinarily used for execution, and that the Pharisees chose it only for its singular publicity. If it was on the east side, we can well believe that they felt a diabolical pleasure in tormenting our Lord to the last, by making Him die with the temple, the Mount of Olives, and His favorite Gethsemane before His eyes.

(&) Some think, as Lampe, Ellicott, and others, that the name, " place of a skull," arose from the shape of the small rising ground, like a skull, on which the cross was fixed. That such small elevations of limestone rock are to be found in that vicinity, is asserted by some travellers. To me there seems more prolmbility in this theory than in the other. The name " Cal vary," we should remember, is never used in the Greek; and the marginal reading in Luke xxiii. 33 ought certainly to be in the text.

One thing alone is very certain. There is not the slightest authority for the common idea, that the place where our Lord was crucified was a hill, or mountain. The common expression in hymns and religious poetry, " Mount Calvary," is utterly incorrect and unwarrantable, and the favorite antithesis, or comparison between Mount Sinai and Mount Calvary, is so completely destitute of any Scriptural basis, that it is almost profane. Anything more unlike, as a matter of fact, than Sinai and Golgotha, cannot be conceived.

Origen, Cyprian, Epiphanius, Augustine, Jerome, and Theophylact, all mention an old tradition, that Golgotha was the place where the first Adam, our forefather was buried, and that the second Adam was buried near the first! This of course is a ridiculous, lying fable, as Noah's flood must have swept away all certainty about Adam's grave.

18. — [ Where they crucified Him.] This famous mode of execution is so well known to every one that little need be said of it. The common mode of inflicting it, in all probability, was to strip the criminal, — to lay him on the cross on his back, — to nail his hands to the two extremities of the cross-piece, or fork of the cross, — to nail his feet to the upright piece, or principal stem of the cross, — then to raise the cross on end, and drop it into a hole prepared for it, — and then to leave the suflferer to a lingering and painful death. It was a death which combined the maximum of pain with the least immediate destruction of life. The agony of having nails driven through parts so full of nerves and sinews as the hands and feet, must have been intense. Yet wounds of the hands and feet are not mortal, and do not injure any great leading blood-vessel. Hence a crucified person, even in an eastern climate, exposed to the sun, might live two or three days, enduring extreme pain, without being relieved by death, if he was naturally a very strong man and in vigorous health. This is what we must remember our blessed Lord went through, when we read " they crucified Him." To a sensitive, delicate-minded person, it is hard to imagine any capital punishment more distressing. This is what Jesus endured willingly for us sinners. Hanging, as it were, between earth and heaven. He exactly filled the type of the brazen serpent, which Moses lifted up in the wilderness. (John iii. 14.)

Whether the person crucified was bound to the cross with ropes, to prevent the possibility of his breaking off" from the nails in convulsive struggling, — whether He was stripped completely naked, or had a cloth round His loins, — whether each foot had a separate nail, or one nail was driven through both feet, — are disputed points which we have no means of settling. Some think, following Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Justin Martyr, that there was a kind of seat or projection in the middle of the stem of the cross, to bear up the weight of the body, and also a place for the feet to rest on. Jeremy Taylor thinks, in support of this view, that the body of a crucified person could not rest only on the four wounds of hands and feet. Bishop Pearson also quotes a passage from Seneca, which seems to favor the idea. — As tD the nails, Nonnus and Gregory Nazianzen say there were only three, and that one was driven through both feet at once. Cyprian says there were four. — But these are matters about which we really know nothing, and it is useless to guess and speculate about them. Of one thing however we may be very sure. The feet of a crucified person were much nearer the ground than is commonly supposed, and very likely not more than a foot or two from the earth. In this, as in other points, most pictures of the crucifixion are grossly incorrect, and the cross is made out to be a piece of timber so long and so thick that no one mortal man could ever have carried it.

Concerning the precise amount of physical suffering, and the precise effect on the human body in a crucifixion, the following medical account by a German physician, named Richter, quoted in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, can hardly fail to interest a

Bible reader. He says, "(1) The unnatural position and violent tension of the body caused a painful sensation from the least motion. (2) The nails being driven through parts of the hands and feet which are full of nerves and tendons, and yet at a distance from the heart, created the most exquisite anguish. (3) The exposure of so many wounds and lacerations brought on inflammation, which tended to become gangrene, and every moment increased the poignancy of suffering. (4) In the distended parts of the body more blood flowed through the arteries than could be carried back into the veins: and hence too much blood found its way from the aorta into the head and stomach, and the blood vessels of the head became pressed and swollen. The general obstruction of circulation caused an internal excitement, exertion, and anxiety, more intolerable than death itself. (5) There was the inexpressible misery of gradually increasing and lingering anguish. (6) To all this we may add burning and raging thirst." (Smith's Dictionary of the

Bible: article. Crucifixion.) On the whole subject of the cross, and the sufferings connected with crucifixion, " Lipsius de Cruce " (published in 1595) is a most exhaustive book.

When we remember, beside all this, that our Lord's head was crowned with thorns. His back torn with savage scourging, and His whole system weighed down by the mental and bodily agony of the sleepless night following the Lord's Supper, we may have some faint idea of the intensity of His sufferings.

When we read " they " crucified, we are left to conjecture who it can refer to. It cannot be the Jews, because they could only stand by, and superintend at the most, as the Roman soldiers would certainly not let the punishment be inflicted by any other hands than their own. It must either be the four soldiers who were the executioners, or else it must be interpreted generallyafter the manner of other places, for " He was crucified." Thus in John xvi. 2, "They shall put you out of the synagogues." In that sentence " they " cannot refer to any person in particular. The simplest plan is to refer it generally to the whole party, — Jews and Gentiles together.

[And two others with Him, etc.] We know from the other Gospels that these other two were malefactors and thieves. The object of crucifying our Lord between them is plain. It was intended as a last indignity and injury. It was a public declaration that He was counted no better than the vilest crim inals.

Little as our Lord's enemies meant it, this very crucifixion between two thieves did two great things. One was, that it precisely fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy about Messiah: " He was numbered with the transgressors." (Isai liii. 12.) The other was, that it gave our Lord the opportunity of working one more mighty miracle, even in His last hours, — the miracle of converting the penitent thief, forgiving his sins, and opening to him paradise. If His enemies had been content to crucify Him alone, this last trophy could not have been won, and our Lord's power over sin and the devil would not have been exhibited. So easy is it for God to bring good out of evil, and to make the malice of His enemies work round to His praise.

Augustine remarks, that three very different persons hung together on the three crosses on Golgotha. One was the Saviour of sinners. One was a sinner about to be saved. One was a sinner about to be damned. (On Psa. xxxiv.)

Cyril sees in the two malefactors a type of the Jewish and Gentile Churches: the one rejected, impenitent, and lost; the other believing at the eleventh hour, and saved.

Many pious commentators remark, that even on the cross our Lord gave an emblem of His kingly power. On His right hand was a saved soul whom He admits into His kingdom; on His left hand, a lost soul whom He leaves to reap the fruit of his own Avays. There was right and left on the cross, even as there will be right and left, saved and unsaved, when He sits on the judgment-seat, wearing the crown at the last day.

It only remains to add that the cruel punishment of crucifixion was formally abolished by the Emperor Constantino, tov/ards the end of his reign. It is an awful historical fact that when Jerusalem was taken by Titus, he crucified so many Jews around the city, that Josephus says that space and room failed for crosses, and crosses could not be found in sufficient number for bodies! Reland well remarks, " They who had nothing but ' crucify ' in their mouths, were therewith paid home in theil bodies."

19. — [And Pilate wrote a title...cross.'] To fix a board witli an inscription over the head of the person cracified, appears to have been a well-known custom, and is mentioned as such by classical writers. Some vsay it was a board covered with white gypsum, with letters of black, and others say that the letters were red. Pilate therefore did nothing unusual. In our Lord's case it served two ends, whether Pilate meant them or not. For one thing, it proclaimed to all passers-by, all who saw the crucifixion, that Jesus did really suffer, that He was not at the last moment released, and another punished in His stead, and that He was not taken away by miraculous interference from His enemies' hands. For another thing, it drew the attention of all witnesses and passers-by to our Lord, and made it quite certain on which of the three crosses He huug. Without this, a person looking at three naked figures hanging on their crosses, from a little distance off, might well have doubted which of the three was Jesus. The title made it plain. That our Lord was regarded as no common e very-day criminal, and that it was thought right to call special attention to Him, is evident from this title being put on His cross.

[Jesus...N'azaretli... King...Jews.] Pilate's reasons for choosing to place this description of our Lord over His cross, we are left to conjecture. My own decided opinion is that he worded the title as he did, in anger and vexation, and with an intention to annoy and insult the Jews. He publicly held up to scorn their King, as a poor criminal from a mean village in Galilee, a fitting king for such a people! — Whatever his motive may have been, it was curiously overruled by God that even on the cross our Lord should be styled a " King." He came to be a King, and as a King He lived and suffered and died, though not acknowledged and honored by His subjects. " Nazarene " identified our Lord as the well-known Teacher from Galilee, who for three years had stirred the Jewish mind, " King " identified Him as the Person accused by the chief priests for claiming a kingdom, and formally rejected by them, on the plea that they had no king but Caosar. It was a very full and significant title.

A careful reader of the Gospels will not fail to observe, that each Gospel writer gives this title in a slightly different form, and that there are in fact four versions of it. The question naturally arises. Which is correct? The versions do not at all contradict one another; but that of Mark, " the King of the Jews," is much shorter than that of John. No two, in a word, are exactly alike. — In reply, it is fair to remind the reader, that the inscription was written in three languages; and that it is far from unlikely that it was in one form in one language, and in another form in another. The one common point in all the four versions is, " the King of the Jews," and this was probably the only point that Mark, in his brief and condensed history, was taught to record. John gives the whole inscription, because he alone narrates the dispute between the priests and

Pilate about it. If I may venture a conjecture, I stould guess that Mark gives the Latin inscription, Luke the Greek, and Matthew and John the Hebrew one. But wliy it seemed good to the Holy Ghost that Matthew should omit the expression "of Nazareth," which John mentions, I do not pretend to say. It is precisely one of those things in which it is wisest to confess our ignorance, and to be willing to wait for more light.

St. John alone records that Pilate " wrote " and " put " on the cross this title. We are not obliged to suppose that he did both with his own hands. The writing was almost certainly his own act. The putting the title on the cross he probably left to the soldiers.

The common pictures of the crucifixion, showing a kind of scroll, or parchment over our Lord's head on the cross, are most probably in this, as in other details, most incorrect representations of the real facts. Moreover most painters seem to forget that it was written three times over, being in three languages I

20. — [TJiis title then read many, etc.'] This seems to be one of John's parenthetical comments. It also reads like the report of an eye-witness; and this we know John was. He stood by and saw all that happened. It is as though he said, " I can testify that many of the Jews saw and read this title, — some as they passed along the road which ran by, — some from the walls of the city, for the place was near the walls. It was an inscription moreover so contrived, that hardly any one in Jerusalem could fail to understand it; for it was written in the three languages most likely to be known, — in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin."

It is almost needless to say that the title was in Hebrew, because every Jew would know it, the oldest language in the world, and the language of the Old Testament, — in Greek, be cause this was the language most known in all eastern countries, and the language of all literary and educated people, — in Latin, because this was the language of the Romans, the ruling nation in the world. The Roman soldiers would all understand the Latin; the Greek proselytes and Hellenistic Jews would all understand the Greek; and the pure Jews from Galilee and Judaea, and every part of the earth, assembled for the passover, would all understand the Hebrew. All would go away to spread the tidings that one Jesus, the King of the Jews, had been put to death by crucifixion at the passover feast.

Henry remarks, " In the Hebrew, the oracles of God were recorded; in Greek, the learning of the philosophers; and in Latin, the laws of the empire. In each of these languages Christ is proclaimed King, in whom are hid all the treasures of revelation, wisdom and power."

To this very day it is certain that no three languages can be more useful for a Christian minister to know, if he would be familiar with his Bible, than Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.

The last day alone, perhaps, will disclose the effect this title had on those who read it. When the priests and their companions saw it, they mocked and scoffed: " King indeed I Let Christ the King of Israel descend from the cross, and we will helieve." (Mark xv. 32.) But there was one man who saw the title probably with very different eyes. The penitent thief perhaps grasped at the word " King," and believed. Who can tell that this was not tlie root of his cry, " Lord remember me, when Thou comest into Thy kingdom." (Luke xxiii. 42.) Perhaps Pilate's title helped to save a soul!

Brentius remarks, that when we think of the cross of Christ, and tlie title on it, which so many read, we should remember there was another handwriting nailed to that cross spiritually, which no mortal could read. Jesus Christ, by His vicarious death for us, " Blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to.us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross." (Col, ii. 14.)

21. — {Then said the chief priests, etc.] This verse brings out the feeling which the sight of Pilate's title excited in the minds of the chief priests. They were annoyed and angry. They did not like tlie idea of this crucified criminal being publicly declared " the King of tlie Jews." They detected the latent scorn and irony which guided Pilate's hands, and lay at the bottom of his mind. They did not like so public an announcement that they had crucified their own King, and wanted " no King but Caesar." They were vexed at the implied reflection on themselves. Besides this, they were probably uncomfortable in conscience. Hardened and wicked as they were, they had, many of them, we may be sure, a secret conviction which they vainly tried to keep down, that they were doing a wrong thing, and a thing which by and by they would find it hard to defend either to themselves or others. Hence they tried to get Pilate to alter the title, and to make it appear that our Lord was only a pretended King, — an impostor who " said that He was King." This, they doubtless thought, would shift some of the guilt off their shoulders, and make it appear that our Lord was crucified for usurping a title to which He was legally proved to have no claim.

When and where the chief priests said this to Pilate does not appear. It must either have been when the whole party was leaving the judgment-seat for Golgotha, or after our Lord was nailed to the tree, or while the soldiers were nailing Him. Looking at St. John's account, one might fancy that the centurion sent word to Pilate that the prisoner was being nailed to the cross, and asked for a title to put over His head, before the cross was reared. If we do not suppose this, we must believe that Pilate actually accompanied the party outside the walls, and was only at a little distance off during the last horrible preparations. In that case he might easily write a title, and the priests might easily be standing bj. The difficulty is to understand where the parties could be, when the priests said " write not; " and it is one which must be left unsettled. It seems, however, certain that once put over our Lord's head, the title was not expected to be taken down; and the request was not to alter it, after being put up, but to write a different title before it was put up.

Bengel observes, that this is the only place in St. John's Gospel where the chief priests are called " the chief priests of the Jews." He thinks it is intended to mark emphatically the bitter hatred with which the priests of the Jews regarded the King of the Jews.

We may well believe that even the wickedest men at their worst, are often more sore and uncomfortable inwardly than they appear outwardly. This it was that probably lay at the bottom of the cliief priests' remonstrance about the title. Herod's cry, " It is John the Baptist," after John was dead, is another case in point.

22. — \_Pilat6 answered...! have written.'] The hard, haughty, imperious character of the wicked Roman Governor comes out forcibly in these words. They show his contempt for the Jews: — " Trouble me not about the title: I have written it, and I shall not alter it to please you." — They suggest the idea that he was willing enough to be revenged on them for their obstinate refusal to meet his wishes, and consent to our Lord's release. He was glad to hold them up to scorn and contempt, as a people who crucified their own king. It is likely enough that between his wife and his own conscience and the chief priests, the Roman Governor was vexed, worried, and irritated, and savagely resolved not to gratify the Jews any further in any matter. He had gone as far as he chose, in allowing them to murder an innocent and just person. He would not go an inch further. He now made a stand, and showed that he could be firm and unyielding and unbending when he liked. It is no uncommon thing to see a wicked man, when he has given way to the devil and trampled on his conscience in one direction, trying to make up for it by being lirm in another.

Calvin observes that Pilate, by publishing in three languages Christ's title, was " by a secret guidance made a herald of the Gospel." He contrasts his conduct with that of the Papists who prohibit the reading of the Gospel and the Scriptures by the common people. Gualter says much the same.

Bullinger remarks that Pilate acted like Caiaphas when he said, " It is expedient that one die for the people, not knowing what he said." Just so Pilate little knew what testimony he was bearing to Christ's kingly office.

Leigh quotes a saying of Augustine: "If a man like Pilate can say, what I have written I have written, and will not alter,

23. — [Then the soldiers, etc.] The soldiers having now finished their bloody work, having nailed our Lord to the cross, put the title over His head and reared the cross on end, proceeded to do what they probably always did, — to divide the clothes of the crucified criminal among themselves. In most countries the clothes of a person put to death by the law are the perquisite of the executioner. So it was with our Lord's clothes. They had most likely first stripped our Lord naked, before nailing his hands and feet to the cross, and had laid his clothes on one side till they had finished their work. They now turned to the clothes, and, as they had done many a time on such occasions, proceeded to divide them. All four Evangelists particularly mention this, and evidently call our special attention to it.

The division into four portions shows clearly that there were four soldiers employed, beside the centurion, in the work of crucifixion. Many commentators see in them emblems of the four quarters of the Gentile world. This, however, seems to me fanciful. A quaternion, a small party of four, was a common division of soldiers in those days, just as " a file " of men is among ourselves. (See Acts xii. 4.)

What the four portions of garments were we are left to conjecture. Hengstenberg thinks that they consisted of the covering of the head, the girdle, the shoes, and the under garment fitting to the body. Matthew's report of the Sermon on the Mount contains a clear distinction between a coat and a cloak. (Matt. V. 40.) For these four portions the soldiers probably cast lots, in order that each one might have his part decided, and to prevent wrangling about the unequal value of the portions.

Others tliink that the language of St. John about the coat which was " not rent," is strong evidence that all the rest of our Lord's clothes were rent into four pieces, and that Hengstenberg's division of them v/ill not stand. It must be admitted that there is much probability in this. It seems very unlikely that so much should be said about this seamless garment being not rent, if the other garments had not been torn in dividing them.

Concerning the " coat " here mentioned, it is not easy to say positively what part of our Lord's dress it was.

(a) Most commentators say that it was the long inner tunic, girt about the wjiist, and reaching almost to the feet, which was the i)rincipal garment of an inhabitant of the East, — a kind of loose smock-frock with sleeves, such as any one may Bee a pattern of, in Leonardo da Vinci's famous picture of the Lord's Supper. The objection to this view, to my mind, is the grave difiiculty of explaining how such a garment could be seamless and woven throughout, — though I doubt not our Lord wore it, and it was the hem of such a garment the woman touched.

(b) Some few commentators think it was the outer garment, a loose mantle or cape, thrown over the shoulders, which many wore above the tunic. Such a garment, having no sleeves, might easily be made in one piece without any seam, and perhaps was only drawn together or clasped about the shoulders. It is fair, nevertheless, to say that the Greek word here rendered " coat," ordinarily means the inward garment or tunic. (See Suicer and Parkhurst.) Becker's Charicles, however, on this Greek word, shows some reason for thinking it sometimes means the outward coat.

The reader must judge for himself. The question is one which cannot be settled positively either way, and happily is not of any moment. To my own mind, the objection to the first and common view is very serious indeed, if not insuperable; but it may not appear so to others. The only thing we know for certain is that one portion of our Lord's dress was not rent, but made the subject of casting lots as to who should have it. As to the ancient fable that our Lord's coat was woven by his mother Mary when He was a child, grew with His growth, and never waxed old or wore out, it is a foolish apocryphal legend.

On the incident recorded in this verse, Luther remarks,

** This distribution of garments served for a sign that everything was done with Christ, just as with one who was abandoned, lost, and to be forgotten forever." Even among our

selves, the division, sale, or giving away of a man's clothes, is a plain indication of his being dead, or given up for lost, just as among soldiers and sailors, when dead or missing, the effects are sold or distributed.

Henry thinks that " the soldiers hoped to make something more than ordinary out of our Lord's clothes, having heard of cures wrought by the touch of the hem of His garment, or expecting that His admirers would give any money for them." But this seems unlikely and fanciful.

Our Lord was treated, we should observe, just like all com mon criminals, — stripped naked, and His clothes sold under His eyes, as one dead already and cast off by man.

It is noteworthy that in this, as in many other things, our Lord was, in a striking manner, our substitute. He was stripped naked, and reckoned, and dealt with as a guilty sinner, in order that we miglit be clothed with the garment of His perfect righteousness and reckoned innocent.

24. — [Thet/ said therefore among themselves, etc.] In this verse we are told that the conduct of the soldiers was a precise fulfilment of a prophecy delivered a thousand years before. (Ps. xxii. 18.) That i)ropliecy foretold not only that Messiah's garments should be parted and distributed, but that men should " cast lots for His vesture." Little did the four rough Roman soldiers think that they were actually supplying evidence of the truth of the Scriptures 1 They only saw that our Lord's " coat " was a good and serviceable garment, which it was a pity to rend or tear and therefore they agreed to cast lots who should have it. And yet, in so doing, they added to the great cloud of witnesses who prove the divine authority of the Bible. Men little consider that they are all instruments in God's hand for accomplishing His purposes.

. The importance of interpreting prophecy literally, and not figuratively, is strongly shown in this verse. The system of interpretation which unhappily prevails among many Christians— I mean the system of spiritualizing away all the plain statements of the prophets, and accommodating them to the Church of Christ — can never be reconciled with such a verse as this. The plain, literal meaning of words should evidently be the meaning placed on all the statements of Old Testament prophecy. This remark of course does not apply to symbolical prophecies, such as those of the seals, trumpets, and vials in Kevelation.

The typical meaning of this seamless and unrent coat of our Lord is a point on which fanciful theological writers have loved to dwell in every age of the Church of Christ. It represented, we are told by Augustine and many others, the unity of the Church, and it was an allusion to the priesthood of the Divine wearer! I frankly confess that I am unable to believe such notions, and I doubt extremely whether they were intended by the Holy Ghost. But it is a fact mentioned by Henry, that " those who opposed Luther's separation from the Church of Rome, urged much this seamless coat as an argument, and laid BO much stress on it, that they were called luconsutilistae, — the seamless ones! "

As to the lying legend that this seamless coat was preserved and handed down to the Church as a precious relic, it is scarcely worth while to mention it, except as a melancholy illustration of the corruption of man, and the apostacy of the Church of Rome. The holy coat of Treves, and its exhibition, are a scandal and disgrace to Christianity. Suffice it to say, that any one who can seriously believe that our Lord's seamless coat, after falling into the hands of a heathen Romish soldier, was finally treasured up as a relic, or that the cross itself was kept safe and escaped destruction, must be so credulous a person that argument is thrown away on him.

It is wortli remembering, that when the first Adam fell hy Bin and was cast out of Eden, God mercifully clothed him and covered his nakedness. When the second Adam died as our substitute, and was counted " a curse " for us on the cross. He was stripped naked and His clothes sold.

The object for which John concludes the verse with the words, " These things therefore the soldiers did," is not very apparent. Burgon suggests it may mean, " Such was the part which the soldiers played in this terrible tragedy. Uninfluenced by the Jews, without any direction from Pilate, these things the soldiers did." This however seems hardly satisfactory, because this was not all that the soJdiers did, — I prefer thinking that St. John means to say, that he was actually an eye-witness of the soldiers unconsciously fulfilling an ancient prophecy: " I myself saw, with mine own eyes, the four soldiers casting lots on my Lord's coat; and I can testify that I saw the words of the Psalmist literally fulfilled."

Lampe thinks that St. John makes this remark, in order to show how literally Scripture was fulfilled by men who were totally ignorant of Scripture. The Roman soldiers of course knew nothing of the Psalms, yet did the very things predicted in the Psalms.

25. — [Hoio there stood hy the cross, etc.] A wonderfully striking incident is recorded in this and the two following verses, which is not found in the other three Gospels. St. John tells us that at this awful moment, Mary, the mother of Jesus, and other women, two if not three, stood by the cross on which our Lord hung. " Love is strong as death; " and even amidst the crowd of taunting Jews and rough Roman soldiers, these holy women were determined to stand by our Lord to the last, and to show their unceasing aflection to Him, When we remember that our Lord was a condemned criminal, peculiarly hated by the chief priests, and executed by Roman soldiers, the faithfulness and courage of these holy women can never be sufiiciently admired. As long as the world stands they supply a glorious proof of what grace can do for the weak, and of the strength that love to Christ can supply. When all men but one forsook our Lord, more than one woman boldly confessed Him. Women, in short, were the last at the cross and the first at the tomb.

It is interesting to consider who and what they were, that stood by our Lord's cross as He hung upon it. John, the beloved disciple, was there, we know; though with characteristic modesty he does not directly name it. But the twenty-sixth verse shows clearly that he was one of the party. He might well be the one that " Jesus loved." No Apostle seems to have had such deep feeling towards our Lord as John. — Mary, the mother of our Lord {netier called the Virgin Mary in Scripture) was there. We must suppose that she had come up f j-om Gali- lee to tlie feast of tlie passover, in company witli the other women who ministered to our Lord. She must now have been comparatively old, at least forty-eight years old. To represent her in pictures as a beautiful young woman at the time of the crucifixion is absurd. Who can doubt that when she saw her Son hanging on the cross, she must have realized the truth of old Simeon's prophecy, " A sword shall pierce through thine own soul also," (Luke ii. 35.) Very striking and instructive is it to observe how very rarely she is named in the Gospel history.— Mary, the wife of Cleophas, or Alpheus, was there. The Greek leaves it uncertain whether it means daughter or wife; but nearly all think it must be wife. She seems to Jiave been the mother of James and Jude the Apostles, and to have been related in some way to the Virgin Mary, either as sister or sister-in-law. Hence James is called the " Lord's brother." She too must have been nearly as old as the Virgin Mary, if we may judge by her having two sons who were Apostles. — Mary of Magdala, in Galilee, commonly called Mary Magdalene, was also there. Of her we only know that Jesus had cast out of her seven devils, and that none of all the women who ministered to our Lord, seem to have felt such deep gratitude to our Saviour, and to have demonstrated such deep affection. The common doctrine that she had once been a notorious breaker of the seventh commandment has no foundation in Scripture. She probably was the youngest of all the party, and as such had to risk more, and sacrifice her own feelings more than any, in pressing through a crowd of enemies to the foot of the cross.

But were there only three women at the cross? This is a disputed question, and one which will probably never be settled, since the Greek wording of the verse before us leaves the poiDt open either way.

(a) Most commentators think that the words, " His mother's sister," belongs to " Mary the wife of Cleophas," and are meant to define the relationship between that Mary and Mary the mother of our Lord.

(b) Others, as Pearce, Bengel, and Alford, think that " His mother's sister " means a fourth woman, and that this woman was Salome, the mother of James and John. The strongest argument in favor of this view is the distinct statement in Matthew's account of the crucifixion, that many women beheld the sight, " among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children,"— that is, Salome. (Matt, xxvii. 5"6.) If she stood with Mary Magdalene looking on, why should we doubt that she stood with her at the cross? The suppression of her name is quite characteristic of John. She was his own mother, and he modestly keeps back her name, as he keeps back his own. In what way she was the " sister " to the mother of our Lord we do not know. But there is no reason against it, that I know of. According to this view, the women at the foot of the cross were four: viz, (1) Mary, the mother of Jesus. (2) The sister of our Lord's mother: i.e., Salome, the mother of John, who wrote this Gospel. (3) Mary, the wife of Alpheus and mother of two Apostles. (4) Mary Magdalene.

The reader must decide for himself. The question happily is not one affecting our salvation. For myself I must frankly declare my belief that the second view is the right one, and that there were four women, and not three only, at the foot of the cross. The objection that the word " and " is omitted before " Mary the wife of Cleophas" is worthless. In almost every catalogue of the Apostles the same omission may be noticed. (See Acts i. 13; Matt. x. 2; Luke vi. 14.)

Whether all Christian women should always come forward and put themselves in such public and prominent positions as these holy w^omen took up, is a grave question, about which each Christian woman must judge for herself. Considerations of physical strength and nervous self-command must not be overlooked. The four women who stood by the cross neither fainted nor went into hysterics, but were self-controlled, and calm. Let every one be persuaded in their own minds. Some women can do what others cannot.

Why the fierce enemies of our Lord among the Jews, and the rough Roman soldiers, permitted these holy women to stand undisturbed by the cross, is a question we have no means of deciding. Possibly the Romans may have thought it only fair and reasonable to let a criminal's relatives and friends stand by him, when he could do the State no more harm, and they could not rescue him from death. Possibly the centurion who superintended the execution, may have felt some pity for the little weeping company of weak women. Who can tell but his kindness was a cup of cold water Avhich was repaid him a hundredfold? He said before the day ended, " Truly this was the Son of God." (Matt, xxvii. 54.) Possibly John's acquaintance with the high priest, already mentioned, may have procured him and his companions some favor. All these, however, are only conjectures, and we cannot settle the point.

The Greek word rendered " stood " is literally " had stood." Does not this mean from the beginning of the crucifixion?

26, 27.— [ When Jesus therefore saw His Mother, etc.] The incident recorded in these two verses is wonderfully touching and affecting. Even in this trying season of bodily and mental agony, our blessed Lord did not forget others. — He had not forgotten His brutal murderers; but had prayed for them: " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." — He had not forgotten His fellow- sufferers by His side. When one of the crucified malefactors cried to him, " Lord, remember me," He had at once answered him, and promised him a speedy entrance into Paradise. — And now He did not forget His mother. He saw her standing by the cross, and knew well her distress, and felt tenderly for her desolate condition, left alone in a wicked world, after having lost such a Son. He therefore commended her to the care of John, His most loving and tender-hearted and faithful disciple. He told John to look on her as his mother, and told His mother to look on John as her son. No better and wiser arrangement could have been made in every way. None would care so much for the mother of Jesus as the disciple whom Jesus loved, and who lay in His bosom at the last supper. No home could be so suitable to Mary, as the home of one who was, according to the view maintained above, son to her own sister Salome.

{a) We should mark the depth and width of our Lord's sympathies and affections. The Saviour on whom we are bid to repose the weight of our sinful souls is one whose love passeth knowledge. Shallow, skin-deep feelings in others, we all know continually chill and disappoint us on every side in this world. But there is one whose mighty heart affection knows no bottom. That one is Christ.

(6) We should mark the high honor our Lord puts on the fifth commandment. Even in His last hour He magnifies it, and makes it honorable, by providing for His mother according to the flesh. The Christian who does not lay himself out to honor father and mother — both one and the other parent, is a very ignorant religionist.

(c) We should mark that when Jesus died Joseph was probably dead, and that Mary had no other children beside our Lord. It is absurd to suppose that our Lord would have commended Mary to John, if she had had a husband or son to support her. The theory of some few writers, that Mary had other children by Joseph after Jesus was born, is very untenable, and grossly improbable.

{d) We should mark what a strong condemnation the passage supplies to the whole system of Mary- worship, as held by the Roman Catholic Church. Tliere is not here a trace of the doctrine that Mary is patroness of the saints, protectress of the Church, and one who can help others. On the contrary, we see her requiring protection herself, and commended to the care and protection of a disciple! Hengstenberg remarks, "Our

Lord's design was not to provide for John, but to provide for His mother." Alford observes, " The Romanist idea that the Lord commended all His disciples, as represented by the beloved one, to the patronage of His mother, is simply absurd."

{e) Finally, we should mark how Jesus honors those who honor and boldly confess Him. To John, who alone of all the eleven stood by the cross. He gives the high privilege of taking charge of His motlier. As Henry pleasantly remarks, it is a sign of great confidence, and a mark of great honor, to be made a trustee and a guardian by a great person, for those lie leaves behind at his death. To the women Jesus gives the honor of being specially named and recorded for their faithfulness and love, in a Gospel which is read all over the world in 200 languages.

The Greek words rendered " his own home," mean literally, "his own things." It is a thoroughly indefinite expression. We can only suppose it means, that in future, from that day, wherever John abode the mother of our Lord abode also. Hi3 home, in a word, became her home. There is no evidence whatever that John had any home in Jerusalem. If he had any home at all, it must have been in Galilee, near the lake of Gennesaret.

Bengel, Besser, Ellicott, and Alford, from the phrase " hour," suggest that John took Mary home immediately, so that she did not see our Lord die, and then returned to the cross. This, however, seems to me very improbable. The mother of our Lord would surely stay by the cross to the last, if any woman did. John would not leave the cross, in my opinion, for a minute. His narrative of the crucifixion reads like that of an eyewitness from first to last.

The word " woman " in the twenty sixth verse, is noteworthy. It must not be pressed too far as implying the slightest disrespect or want of affection. The whole transaction here narrated overthrows such an idea. But I think it is remarkable that our Lord does not say " Mother." And I cannot help thinking that, even at this awful moment. He would remind her that she must never suffer herself or others to presume on the relationship between her and Him, or claim any supernatural honor on the ground of being His mother. Henceforth she must daily remember, that her first aim must be to live the life of faith as a believing woman, like all other Christian women. Her blessedness did not consist in being related to Christ according to the flesh, but in believing and keeping Christ's Word. I firmly believe that, even on the cross, Jesus foresaw the future heresy of " Mary- worship." Therefore he said " Woman," and did not Bay " Mother."

Besser remarks, " Some old writers, as Bonaventura, say that Christ perhaps avoided the sweet name of mother, that He might not lacerate Mary's heart with such a tender word of farewell. Others see in Christ's manner of speaking a reference to the seed of the looman who was to bruise the serpent's head. The most obvious view is, that the Lord, through this name woman, would direct His mother into that love which knows Christ no more after the flesh (2 Cor. v. 16), and would also declare to us that in the midst of His work of atonement He felt Himself equally bound close to all sinners, and that He was not nearer to His mother than He was to thee and me."

28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, Baith, I thirst.

29 Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.

30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished: and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost.

31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies Bhould not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken; and that they might be taken away.

32 Then came the soldiers and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.

33 But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:

34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.

35 And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.

36 For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.

37 And again another scripture saith, they shall look on him whom they pierced.

This part of St. John's narrative of Christ's passion, contains points of deep interest, which are silentlypassed over by Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The reason of this silence we are not told. Suffice it for us to remember that, both in what they recorded and in what they did not record, all four Evangelists wrote by inspiration of God.

Let us mark, for one thing, in these verses, the frequent fulfilments of prophetic Scripture throughout every part of Chrisfs crucifixion. Three several predictions are specially mentioned, in Exodus, Psalms, and Zechariah, which received their accomplishment at the cross. Others, as every well-informed Bible-reader knows, might easily be added. All combine to prove one and the same thing. They prove that the death of our Lord Jesus Christ at Golgotha was a thing foreseen and predetermined by God. Hundreds of years before the crucifixion, every part of the solemn transaction was arranged in the Divine counsels, and the minutest particulars were revealed to the Prophets. From first to last it was a thing foreknowiij and every portion of it was in accordance with a settled plan and design. In the highest, fullest sense, when Christ died, He " died according to the Scriptures." (1 Cor. xv. 3.)

We need not hesitate to regard such fulfilments of prophecy as strong evidence of the Divine authority of God's Word. The Prophets foretell not only Christ's death, but the particulars of His death. It is impossible to explain so many accomplishments of predicted circumstances upon any other theory. To talk of luck, chance, and accidental coincidence, as sufficient explanation, is preposterous and absurd. The only rational account is the inspiration of God. The Prophets who foretold the particulars of the crucifixion, were inspired by Him who foresees the end from the beginning; and the books they wrote under His inspiration ought not to be read as human compositions, but Divine. Great indeed are the difficulties of all who pretend to deny the inspiration of the Bible. It really requires more unreasoning faith to be an infidel than to be a Christian. The man who regards the rej^eated fulfilments of minute prophecies about Christ's death, such as the prophecies about His dress. His thirst. His pierced side, and His bones, as the result of chance, and not of design, must indeed be a credulous man.

We should mark, secondly, in these verses, the peculiarly solemn saying which came from, our LorcVs lii^s just before He died. St. John relates that " when He had received the vinegar. He said, it is finished; and He bowed His head and gave up the ghost." It is surely not too much to say, that of all the seven famous sayings of Christ on the cross, none is more remarkable than this, which John alone has recorded.

The precise meaning of this wondrous expression, '•' It is finished," is a point which the Holy Ghost has not thought good to reveal to us. There is a depth about it, we must all instinctively feel, which man has probably no line to fathom. Yet there is perhaps no irreverence in conjecturing the thoughts that were in our Lord's mind, when the word was spoken. The finishing of all the known and unknown sufferings which He came to endure, as our Substitute, — the finishing of the ceremonial law, which He came to wind up and fulfil, as the true Sacrifice for sin, — the finishing of the many prophecies, which He came to accomplish, — the finishing of the great work of man's redemption, which was now close at hand, — all this, we need not doubt, our Lord had in view when He said, "It is finished." There may have been more behind, for aught we know. But in handling the language of such a Being as our Saviour, on such an occasion, and at so mysterious a crisis of His history, it is well to be cautious. "The place whereon we stand is holy ground."

One comfortable thought, at all events, stands out most clearly on the face of this famous expression. We rest our souls on a " finished work," if we rest them on the work of Jesus Christ the Lord. We need not fear that either sin, or Satan, or law shall condemn us at the last day. We may lean back on the thought, that we have a Saviour who has done all, paid all, accomplished all, performed all that is necessary for our salvation. We may take up the challenge of the Apostle, " Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died: yea, rather that is risen again; who is even at the right hand of God; who also maketh intercession for us." (Rom. viii. 34.) When we look at oar own works, we may well be ashamed of their imperfections. But when we look at the finished work of Christ, we may feel peace. We " are complete in Him," if we believe. (Colos. ii. 10.)

"We should mark, lastly, iji these verses, the reality and truth of Chrisfs death. We are told that " one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith came there out blood and water." This incident, small as it may seem at first sight, supplies probable proof that the heart of our blessed Lord was pierced, and that life was consequently extinct. He did not merely faint, or swoon away, or become insensible, as some have dared to insinuate. His heart actually ceased to beat, and He actually died. Great, indeed, was the importance of this fact. We must all see, on a moment's reflection, that without a real death there could be no real sacrifice; that without a real death there could be no real resurrection; and that without a real death and real resurrection, the whole of Christianity is a house built on sand, and has no foundation at all. Little indeed did that reckless Roman soldier dream that he was a mighty helper of our holy religion, when he thrust his spear into our Lord's side.

That the " blood and water " mentioned in this place had a deep spiritual meaning, we can hardly doubt. St. John himself seems to refer to them in his first Epistle, as highly significant. " This is He that came by water and blood." (1 John v. 6.) The Church in every age has been of one mind in holding that they are emblems of spiritual things. Yet the precise meaning of the blood and water is a subject about which Christians have never agreed, and perhaps will never agree until the Lord returns.

The favorite theory that the blood and water mean the two Sacraments, however plausible and popular, may be reasonably regarded as somewhat destitute of solid foundation. Baptism and the Lord's Supper were ordinances already in existence when our Lord died, and they needed no reappointing. It is surely not necessary to drag in these two blessed Sacraments on every occasion, and to insist on thrusting them forward, as the hidden sense of every disputed text where the number " two " is mentioned. Such pertinacious application of hard places in Scripture to Baptism and the Lord's Supper does no real good, and brings no real honor to the Sacraments. It is questionable whether it does not tend to vulgarize them, and bring them into contempt.

The true meaning of the blood and water is probably to be sought in the famous prophecy of Zechariah, where he says, " In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and uncleanness." (Zech, xiii. 1.) When was that fountain so truly and really opened as in the hour when Christ died? What emblem of atonement and purification was so well known to the Jews as blood and water? Why then should we hesitate to believe that the flow of " blood and water " from our Lord's side was a significant declaration to the Jewish nation, that the true fountain for sin was at length thrown open, and that henceforth sinners might come boldly to Christ for pardon, and wash and be clean? Tills interpretation, at any rate, deserves serious thought and consideration.

Whatever view we take of the blood and water, let us make sure that we ourselves are " washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb." (Rev. vii. 14.) It will matter nothing at the last day, that we held during life the most exalted view of the sacraments, if we never came to Christ by faith, and never had personal dealings with Him. Faith in Christ is the one thing needful. " He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." (1 John v. 12.)