1. All the circumstances of the superscription on the cross of Christ were directed by the predetermined counsel and will of God.

We are not to imagine that, because it was agreeable to the Roman customs, God looked on the whole transaction as an unconcerned spectator. If Pilate had his political views in this affair, God had much more exalted motives, agreeable to his infinite wisdom, to permit it. For it is said concerning the passion of Christ in the Acts of the Apostles, (chap. iv. 27, 28.) that Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, did against Jesus what the hand and counsel of God had before determined to be done. We may therefore be well assured that the hand of God was also concerned in this title or superscription. God directed Pilate in drawing up the form of it; but at the same time restrained him from making any alteration in the title.

First, The hand of God directed Pilate in drawing up the title agreeably to the secret views of the Divine wisdom. This superscription was designed partly to be a remarkable testimony of our Saviour's innocence; hence Pilate could not charge him with any crime in this superscription, as no guilt appeared in this most holy and innocent High Priest, who hung on the cross between two murderers. It was likewise designed to be a testimony of the dignity and glory of the person who was hero crucified. Here JESUS hung on the cross; that Jesus who was to save his people from their sins; the Saviour of whom all the prophets testified, that they who believed in him should by his name obtain remission of their sins, and of whom, they, among other things, predicted that he should be called a Nazarene, (Matt. ii. 23.) He was therefore to bear this title on the cross, JESUS OF NAZARETH.He was thus stiled not only because he was brought up in Nazareth, but as he was the antitype of all the Nazarites of the Old Testament; and sacrificed himself for us, and by the strictest vow had bound him

self to the Father as our surety. JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. This last title was given to the blessed Jesus in allusion to the writings of the prophets, where the promised Messiah is described as the King of the Jews: Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a KING shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is the name whereby he shall be called, The LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, (Jer. xxiii. 5, 6.) Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion! shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, thy KING cometh unto thee: He is just and having salvation, &c.' (Zach. ix. 9.) Therefore, according to the stile of the prophets, this title was the same as if it had been thus expressed: This is Jesus the Messiah. Moreover, as this royal title of the blessed Jesus was set upon the cross, it also denotes that his kingdom is not a worldly kingdom, but the kingdom of the cross; and that the preaching of the cross should be the means, by which the kingdom of Jesus Christ was to be established among the Jews and Gentiles. Other sovereigns, at their demise, are deprived of their dignity, and leave their power to others; but this king obtained even in death a most glorious triumph over his enemies; and of him it may be said, that he did not take full possession of his kingdom till after his decease. Lastly, as this title was written in the three languages which were then most known in the world, we are to understand that this Jesus of Nazareth was not only the king of the Jews, who were the descendants of Abraham; but was to be a king over the whole Israel of God, which was to be gathered together from all people, nations, and languages. To all these particulars which the wisdom of God had in view, Pilate was an utter stranger; but he was made the instrument, who unknowingly acted in subservience to the Divine decrees. But

Secondly, That same omnipotent hand which directed Pilate in drawing up the superscription to be fixed on the cross, also restrained him from giving way to the Jews, who were for making a great alteration in the title. For, since it was to serve as a testimony of our Saviour's innocence, the Jews were by no means to be gratified; who were for charging him with a crime by requesting Pilate to write, That he said, I am the King of the Jews.' For, though this was, in some measure, true; Christ having openly declared that he was king of Israel; yet most readers would have annexed quite another meaning to these words, and concluded that Jesus had falsely pretended to be king of the Jews, in opposition to the Roman emperor; and by this means a cloud would have been cast over his innocence. Besides, as this superscription was to be a testimony of the transcendent dignity and glory of Jesus Christ, the title could not undergo any alteration; the kingly dignity of Christ being not subject to any change or diminution no more than his kingdom, which is everlasting and unchangeable. Though the world exert itself in noise and tumult, and though the Jews and Gentiles join together in council, and use their united efforts to shake off the yoke of this almighty king; yet, as the Psalmist prophesies, their combined endeavours to dethrone the king, which God has anointed, will at last turn to their own confusion.

Moreover, the circumstances attending this superscription, or title of Christ, comprehended several mysterious traces of future transactions in the king. dom of Christ, which the hand of Divine Providence, has, as it were, delineated therein.

That Pilate, a person of distinction, and the Roman governor of the province, should himself cause the superscription to be thus written, 'Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews,' and then to be set on the cross, was a prophetic intimation that Pagan sovereigns, rulers, and governors, would acknowledge Christ to be the Lord.

This title was not put at the feet of Jesus, but over his head, to signify, that he was a king who was to be looked on as the head of his church, and whose power was not from below but from above; and that a name should be given him, which was above every

name.

This superscription was written in three different languages as a presage of the gift of tongues, imparted at the feast of Pentecost to the Apostles, the heralds of those days; and shews that all languages would soon acknowledge Jesus to be the Lord, to the glory of God the Father; that his dominion would be extended more particularly among the Jews, Greeks, and Romans.

The objection, which the Jewish rulers made against this title, was a sign of the opposition, which the doctrine of Jesus being the Messiah and King of Israel, should afterwards meet with from the unbelieving Jews.

Lastly, no alteration was made in the title out of complaisance to the Jews; this serves to shew that God's decree of exalting Christ to be head and king of the Church would ever remain unchangeable. Thus the wisdom of God may be traced in all the circumstances attending this superscription.

2. The title which was placed on the cross of Jesus Christ is a table from which we may learn several useful lessons.

1. We may learn from it, that the vain fondness for empty titles must be renounced in following the crucified Jesus.

As glorious as this title appears according to God's secret decrees, it was no less scandalous, at the same time, in the eyes of carnal reason. There was not at that time so despicable a nation under the sun as the Jews were; so that to be stiled the king of the Jews, was looked upon by the haughty Romans as far from being any honour. Besides, it must appear very strange for a person who was a king to hang on the

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cross stripped naked like a slave. Now as the Lord of Glory did not disdain a title, which seemed so reproachful in the eye of the world, should not this dispose us willingly to renounce our fondness for titles, which is grounded on vanity and pride?

Secondly, whoever will acknowledge Jesus to be his Saviour, and expects to be saved by him, must resolve to take up his cross.

It was certainly for a wise end, that the name of Jesus was set on his cross. For by this circumstance the secret counsel of God designed to intimate, that they who would look on the blessed Jesus as their Saviour and Redeemer, must take on them the cross. Christ and the cross are, as it were, inseparably connected; and what God has joined together let no man put asunder. But alas! how many are unhappily industrious in finding means to separate Christ and the cross. A Saviour they readily embrace; but few choose a Saviour who will lay the cross on them. How few assume the same motto with St. Paul, 'God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,' (Gal. vi. 14.) The cross is now sweetened, and rendered honourable; since Christ our Saviour hung on it, with his glorious title fastened to it over his sacred head.

Thirdly, whoever owns the blessed Jesus for his king must also be willing to enter into the fellowship of his reproach.

Jesus is, in the title, termed a king; yet behold him in the most disgraceful reproach hanging betwixt heaven and earth. Thus believers likewise are kings and priests to God; and yet how despicable does their kingly dignity appear to the eyes of the world, as it is now hidden under the cross? during the Pagan persecutions it was usual, when they led a martyr to execution, to carry before him a table on which was written the cause of his death, in these words: "This isa Christian." If we lived in those times should we, when asked about our profession, have readily