JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. This title then read many of the Jews; for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Then said the chief Priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not the King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews. Pilate answered, What I have written, I have written. Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts (to every soldier a part) and also his coat: Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said, therefore, among themselves, Let us not rent it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be. And they cast lots upon it what every man should take; 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. And sitting down, they watched him there; and it was about the third hour when they crucified him.' (Matt. xxvii. 36, 37. Mark xv. 24, 25, 26. Luke xxiii. 34-38. John xix. 19-24.)

In these words we have an account of two remarkable occurrences, which happened at our blessed Saviour's crucifixion; and these are,

First, The putting up a title or superscription on the cross.

Secondly, The dividing our Saviour's garments. I. Concerning the title of our crucified Saviour, the following circumstances are mentioned by the Evangelists:

1. The author of it; and this was Pilate. ' Pilate wrote a superscription,' i. e. he gave orders that it should be written and affixed to the cross. Thus it is said above, Pilate took Jesus and scourged him,' (John xix. 1.) i. e. he gave orders to the soldiers to Scourge him; and the same evangelist afterwards says, (verse 19.) that l'ilate put the title on the cross; but this St. Matthew expresly imputes to the soldiers,

(Matt. xxvii. 27-37.) Thus Pilate is made the author of this superscription, as it was done by his order, and dictated by him. Pilate in this particular acted according to the Roman custom. Among the the Jews, it was usual for a crier to go before persons who were led to execution, and at certain intervals to proclaim publicly to the people the cause of their condemnation. This was sometimes also done among the Romans. But, for the most part, the cause of the male factor's punishment was written in black-letters on a piece of whitish wood; as the soldiers did on this occasion by Pilate's order.

2. The place where this superscription was put is spc cified; for it was set up over his head on the cross. This is likewise agreeable to the Roman custom.For the tablet, containing the cause of the criminal's death, was usually carried before him when he was led to his execution; and after the malefactor was fastened on the cross, the superscription was set up just above the transverse beam, directly over the head of the criminal.

3. The words of the superscription are mentioned; and these specified the pretended crime for which Christ suffered death. Our blessed Saviour had, indeed, been charged with many crimes, not one of which could be proved, both before the spiritual court and the civil judge; but Pilate, in the superscription, confined himself to that article of accusation, which the Jews had mostly insisted on before his judgmentseat. Now the capital crime alledged against the Lord Jesus before Pilate was, that he said he was Christ, a king, (Luke xxiii. 2.) and when Pilate afterwards went about to release him, being sufficiently convinced of his innocence, the Jews upbraided him with these words: 'If thou let this man go, thou art not Cesar's friend; whosoever maketh himself a king, speaketh against Cesar.' When Pilate afterwards brought Jesus out, and exhibited him to the public view of the people, saying unto them,

Behold your king; the Jews publicly declared that they had no king but Cesar, and insisted with loud voices, that he should be crucified, as a mere pretender to the sovereign power. Pilate at last delivered Jesus to be crucified; and at the same time, gave orders for writing on a tablet the cause of his crucifixion, which afterwards was placed over his head on the cross. The superscription, according to St. John who stood by the cross, and may be supposed to have seen and read it, was this: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS, which in substance agrees with St. Matthew's account, namely, THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Pilate's design by this title was only to expose the Jews, and ridicule their folly; since they were always in expectation of a king, and when he appeared, they would not rest till they caused him to be crucified. But, that God had other views in permitting this superscription to be set up, I shall endeavour to shew in the sequel.

4. The languages are specified in which the su. perscription was written. For, according to St. Luke and St. John, it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. It was written in Hebrew, because it was the vernacular tongue of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, where our Saviour was crucified; though the dialect then used by the Jews, was something different from the pure, ancient Hebrew. It was written in Greek, because that language was become very common all over the East since the time of Alexander, and was particularly spoken by those Jews, who were dispersed among the Gentiles, and of whom great numbers were now at Jerusalem, on account of the feast. Lastly, it was also written in Latin, because Judea was then a Roman province, and consequently under the dominion of the Roman emperors, who in their laws and edicts made use of that language. Hence it is very probable, that there was no person then at Jerusalem who could not read this superscription in one of these three languages. And this was Pilate's

chief design in causing the title to be written in these different languages, that those who did not under. stand one language, might by means of another see on what account this celebrated prophet, Jesus of Nazareth, had been put to death, at the urgent solicitations of the Jews, his own people.

5. Lastly, A dispute is mentioned, which arose be. tween Pilate and the Jews concerning this title. This was occasioned by the following accident. As the place where Jesus was crucified was near Jerusalem, a great number of Jews resorted thither, and read the superscription of our Saviour's accusation, which was fixed over his head. It may be supposed that when so famous a prophet, the fame of whose doctrines and miracles was spread all over the country, was hanging on the cross as a criminal betwixt two malefactors; it must have occasioned a great many surmises, and awakened in the minds, both of foreigners and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, a curiosity to know the cause of so strange a catastrophe. The chief Priests, observing that various remarks were made on the title by the spectators, immediately dispatched a person of note into the city to Pilate, in order to protest against the superscription, and to desiro the governor would be pleased to order it to be taken down, and another to be set up in its room. They could not digest the form of the title, viz. This is Jesus, the King of the Jews;' for they were ashamed of such a king, and concluded, that to stile a crucified malefactor their king was an affront to the whole Jewish nation. Therefore, they requested that the superscription might be altered, and instead of the king of the Jews,' it should be written, He said, I am king of the Jews,' i. e. Jesus did indeed pretend to be the king of the Jews; but we are so far from acknowledging him as such, that, as loyal subjects to the Roman emperor, we have caused him to be crucified.

However, the chief Priests met with a repulse on this occasion. Pilate, who was not only by nature a churlish and implacable man, but was also chagrined and disgusted at the tumult raised by the Jews, refused to comply with their demands, and made this abrupt answer: What I have written, I have written.' As if he had said, What has been written by my command, I will abide by; I shall not alter a single tittle of it to humour you; who ought to be very well satisfied with having obtained your principal de sign. The rulers of the Jews thought that they had now got the power into their own hands, and as they had teased and awed Pilate into a compliance with their former demand, he would always be their submissive servant. But on this occasion, Pilate once more puts on the imperious air of a governor, and would no longer be dictated to by the Jews. This resolution, he ought to have shewn before. This is the way of the great ones of this world. When Christ, in his members, has been just fastened to the cross, and the sentence of death has been executed on them, at the instigation of Antichrist; then wicked statesmen, who were the persecutor's tools before, reassume all their superciliousness and scorn to be the dupes of envious ecclesiastics any longer. But the hand of God was in this transaction; who already began to reduce the enemies of Christ to order, and to embitter their carnal exultations at his death by this. disappointment. Here these words of the Psalmist were fulfilled: The wicked shall see it, and be griev-. cd; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish,' (Psalm cxii. 10.)

Hitherto we have considered this superscription only in an historical light. Let us now look something deeper into the counsel of God, which overruled this circumstance; and even from the title which was placed over the head of our crucified Saviour, we may learn the following wholesome doc

trines: