Secondly, The circumstances with which it was accompanied.

Thirdly, What followed that iniquitous sentence. O blessed Jesus, thou Son of the most high God, we intreat thee by thy bitter passion, that thou wouldest assist us with thy grace, that we may continually obey thy precepts, shun all evil, and, to our great edification, meditate on thy meritorious death, and the cause of it! and in return for it, though we are poor and weak, deign to accept of our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving!

WE are, in the first place, to consider what preeeded the sentence of death, which was passed on the Prince of Life; and this was,

First, The deposition of the false witnesses, and, Secondly, The glorious confession made by Christ, the true and faithful witness.

First, As to the depositions of the false witnesses, we shall in the first place, enquire who the judges were, before whom those witnesses delivered their 'evidence. These, as the text informs us, were the chief priests and the elders, and the whole sanhedrim or great council, i. e. the whole ecclesiastical consistory of the Jews. This council was composed of the chief priests and the elders, to whom also were joined the scribes, or interpreters of the law; for in other passages of the gospel history they are expressly mentioned as composing part of the council, (Matt. xxvi. 57. Luke xxii. 66.) Of these members of the council, some were ecclesiastics, others were lay-men; but at that time both the priests and the laity among the Jews were extremely corrupt and depraved. As for the dispositions of the great council at the time of the Messiah, and their behaviour towards him whom the Lord anointed King in Sion,

it had long since been foretold by the prophet Zephaniah, (chap. iii. 3, 4.) That the princes of Jerusa lem,' i. e. the chief priests and president of the council, were roaring lions; that her judges,' . e. the other assessors and elders, were ravening wolves,' (and on this occasion, they assembled in the night like wolves.) The prophetic spirit likewise adds, "Her prophets, or scribes and lawyers, are light and treacherous persons; her priests have polluted the sanctuary,' i. e. they reviled the Messiah, the most sacred sanctuary of Israel, (Isaiah viii. 14.) and represented him as a blasphemer, and done violence to the law.' So degenerate and base was the sanhedrim or supreme council of the Jews, which had formerly been so highly reverenced, that their decrees were looked upon as the decrees of God. Thus the most sacred and respectable ordinances of God may be perverted and prophaned by impious men. Who now will suffer himself to be dazzled by the high stations of men, and to be awed by the authority of councils, synods, &c. Since the Son of God is here unanimously condemned to die as a blasphemer, by a very numerous and august assembly?

Before this spiritual tribunal witnesses are produced against the Lord Jesus; for the evangelist observes, that 'the whole council sought false witness against Jesus to put him to death,' (Matt. xxvi. 59.) These iniquitous judges were long before determined to destroy Jesus of Nazareth at any rate, who had so frequently disturbed their carnal security; who had reproached them for their hypocrisy, pride, and covetousness, and by driving the buyers and sellers out of the temple, had curtailed their profits. Besides, by his holy and exemplary life, he had disgraced their worldly, sensual, and sinful conversation.

In order to preserve the appearance of proceeding in all things according to the letter of the law of Moses, and consequently according to justice and equity, they indeed produced witnesses; especially as the bles

sed Jesus, at his examination, had himself insisted on this point, and required that they should ask them who heard him, concerning his doctrine, (John xviii. 21.) But St. Matthew stigmatizes the evidence by calling them 'false witnesses,' and their deposition a false testimony. It is therefore very probable, that they had either been subborned with money, or allured by promises; or perhaps they might, of their own accord, out of an inveterate malice against Jesus, or hopes of worldly advantages, come into court, and formally depose the impious fictions they had contrived. For where there are unjust rulers and judges, there will not be wanting abandoned wretches, who, for a morsel of bread, will be the tools of their iniquity, and lay aside all regard to truth and conscience. Of this the Messiah complains, by the mouth of the Psalmist in these words: (Psalm xxxv. 15, 16.) 'Yea, the ab jeets gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not; they did tear me [or wrested my words] and ceased not. With hypocritical mockers, they gnashed upon me with their teeth. Mine enemies speak evil of me: When shall he die and his name perish?' (Psalm xli. 5.) Thus it is said in the text,

They sought false witness against Jesus to put him to death. This is predicted in the 6th and 7th verses of this Psalm, the meaning of which seems to be this: "When they come to see and examine my cause judicially, they speak falsehood; they gather together to themselves iniquity in their hearts, and endeavour to collect a multitude of crimes, which are only the inventions of their own false hearts; then they appear in court, and openly declare them as certain truths." In which words, the spirit of propecy has given a lively representation of the iniquitous trial of our Saviour, in Caiaphas's house.

The law of Moses, indeed, required but two or three witnesses to give evidence in the trial of a person for a capital offence; but here whole troops of false witnesses rose up against the soul of the righteous,

(Psalm xciv. 21.) However, all their depositions afforded not so much as the appearance of any thing, by which Jesus could be legally condemned to death. For their testimony did not agree, and one witness immediately invalidated what another had just declared. Thus God here fulfilled what David, a lively type of Christ, had once prayed for: Divide their tongues, O Lord,' (Psalm lv. 9.) Thus the purity of our blessed Saviour's doctrine, and the sanctity of his life, shone out with superior lustre, notwithstanding all the vile practices and black calumnies of those who were for obscuring his character. Our blessed Lord might therefore say on this occasion also, 'Which of you convinceth me of sin ?' (John viii. 46.) Thus does innocence appear triumphant amidst its enemies; and it is a very difficult task for the persecutors of truth to oppress it, with any shadow of justice or equity. O the immense value of a good conscience, which braves the tempest like a firm and immoveable rock! for when the foaming waves beat against it, they only dash themselves to pieces.

However, it might be a just occasion of wonder, if hell should want engines for accomplishing any wicked design. At last, two false witnesses are found, (and these perhaps were members of the council) who confidently came forth, as if they had been sure of carrying their point. These miscreants depose, that they heard from our Saviour's own mouth, words, which contained a horrid blasphemy. They here alluded to the words that Christ had spoken soon after his entrance on his public ministerial office, which were still fresh in their memory; it being a saying which they could not well digest. Our blessed Lord's words to which they hinted at, were these: 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,' (John ii. 19.) Jesus, in these words, spoke of the temple of his body, in which dwelt the fulness of the Godhead. He had foretold, that the Jews would indeed destroy his body, by death; but that, on the third day, he would again

raise it up by his resurrection. But these flagitious witnesses treated our blessed Saviour's innocent words as, in our days, the world usually deals with those of the witnesses of the truth; they scandalously preverted them, wrested them from their true meaning, and quoted them without any regard to truth, justice, or equity. For,

1. Christ had said, 'Destroy this temple:' But they pretend that they had heard him say, 'I will destroy this temple.'

2. Jesus spoke of the temple of his body, and probably pointed to it with his hand, when he uttered these words; but they charge him with having spoken of the Jewish temple at Jerusalem.

3. They add, that is made with hands;' words which our blessed Saviour never uttered: For he spoke of his body, which St. Paul terms 'a tabernacle not made with hands,' (Heb. ix. 11.)

4. And lastly, They falsely pretend that Jesus said, he would erect another temple made without hands ;' whereas our blessed Lord only declared, that he would raise up the demolished temple of his own body in three days. This may be looked upon as a masterpiece of knavery and prevarication. However, even the fuliginous vapour of this black calumny, vented in a four-fold falsehood, could not obscure the innocence of the Eternal Truth. For after all, it is said by the Evangelist, (Mark xiv. 59.) 'But neither so did their witness agree together,' Their testimony did not agree with the sound and sense of the words, which Jesus had spoken; nor did they even agree with one another. But if they had absolutely agreed with each other, and proved that Jesus had spoken the very words according to the meaning they had affixed to them; yet that would not have been a sufficient cause to pass a capital sentence on Jesus, and consequently did not answer the purpose of the Jewish council: For they sought false witnesses against Jesus, to put him to death;' and for this the depositions