check the presumption of those wicked men, and let them plainly see, that their malice had no power over thee, farther than thou wert pleased to let it prevail at that time. And who can hear, without a very sensible grief, how cruelly they treated thee, how they proceeded in their murderous violence, how they bound thy holy hands, and drew this meek Lamb of God, who opened not his mouth, to the slaughter, with all the contumehous indignities due to robbers and murderers? Yet, such was the overflowing sweetness of thy mercy, as even in that instance to diffuse itself upon thy bitterest adversaries. For, when the forward zeal of thy disciple had cut off an ear of one that rudely assaulted thee, thou by thy powerful touch didst heal the wound, and protect thy defender from the revenge of them who had thee in custody. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: fierce to the last degree, and inflexibly set upon cruelty, since neither the majesty of thy miraculous power could awe it, nor the astonishing goodness of thy no less miraculous mercy, could soften it into pity or re

morse.

CHAP. IX.

Our Lord buffeted, spit upon, and scourged.

IN

N pursuance of this implacable malice, my dearest Saviour was dragged to the highpriest's palace, and in the presence of the council, who thirsted for his blood, was adjudged to death, as a blasphemer, for confessing the truth, which he had taught through the whole course of his preaching. And, O my sweetest Jesus, how many barbarous insolences didst thou then undergo from thy own race and people? (Matt. xxvi.) That adorable face, which angels behold with reverence

and joy unspeakable, that sheds its bright beams of light, and fills all heaven with transport and triumph; that face, which all the rich and great ones of this world shall prostrate themselves be-. fore, with humble supplications, was then defiled and stained with the spittings of unhallowed lips; struck with the palms of sacrilegious hands, covered and blindfolded in derision; and the Lord of the universe made a laughing-stock to the rabble, and inhumanly buffeted, as if he had been the vilest of slaves. And was not this enough, ye barbarous wretches, to glut your fury? No: still he lives, and nothing but his blood can satisfy. Hence then he is forced away; and, that the gentiles too might bear a part in this black tragedy, the tongue of an uncircumcised dog must be made red with his blood. The next scene therefore presents him bound before Pilate, and all the people, by instigation of their wicked rulers, demanding vengeance, and requiring, that he should be crucified. See here, my soul, the blind perverseness of an enraged multitude. He, who had done no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth; (1 Pet. ii. 2.) nay, he who had gone about constantly doing good, and signalized himself by miracles of mercy without number: (Acts 10. 38.) this man is refused, and a thief, a murderer, a ring-leader of sedition preferred before him: the harmless Lamb is declared unworthy to live, and a ravening wolf is spared from the death his crimes deserved. Good God! how unequal was the comparison! How absurd the exchange! How infatuated the persons that made it! How corrupt the judge that allowed it? For that wicked imagistrate was sufficiently sensible, that envy was at the bottom of all these proceedings against thee; and yet that sense restrained him not from giving in to all their inhumanity: but he too, in despite of the checks of his own mind, lent a help

ing hand to thy afflictions, and vexed that soul which they had injuriously wounded. He sent thee bound to Herod, (Luke xxiii. 7.) that thou mightest be yet more exposed to scorn and contempt; and, after all the mockings of him and his men of war had passed upon thee, he received thee again, arrayed in a gorgeous robe, and conducted with all the formal state of a mock king. Then did he strip thee of thy purple ornaments; with which thou hadst been lately clothed in derision, and produce thee to the gazing crowd naked, that in this form too thou mightest be made a spectacle, and every way feed their malice and scorn. After this shame succeeded pains and tortures; thy holy flesh was torn with merciless scour ges, the plowers plowed upon thy back, and made long and deep furrows; and every cutting stripe, every bruise and scar, was so far from inclining thy persecutors to relent, that they only provoked fresh blows, and added to the triumphs of their cruelty.

B

CHAP. X.

Jesus in the Common-hall.

UT what, O best beloved Son of the great.God, (Matt. xxvii. 27.) what hadst thou done, that could deserve such sufferings? What, to provoke such contumelious treatment? Not any thing indeed could be laid to thy charge; but I, even I, and every wretched sinner, were the true cause of all thy anguish and reproach. Thou wert smitten of God, and afflicted; but they were our transgressions that wounded thee, and our iniquities that bruised thee. (Isai. liii. 4, 5.) I have eaten sour grapes, and thy teeth were set on edge. (Ezek. xviii. 2.) And in thy person said the prophet truly, I paid them the things that I never took. But still neither the

bitterness of thy sorrows, nor the unexampled meekness with which they were endued, made any impression at all upon the hard-hearted Jews. When they had even wearied themselves with inflicting all manner of ignominy and torture, thou wert turned over to the less relenting hands of uncircumcised soldiers, sentenced and delivered up to a most scandalous and painful death. And was it not enough, ye blood-thirsty monsters, to crucify this Lord of life and glory, unless ye also wreaked your malice on him, and prefaced it with a new scene of scorn? For thus the Scriptures have declared you did, as if you were concerned for nothing more, than not to come behind the. Jews in any manner of impious insolence and remorseless cruelty. Then, says the evangelist, The soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common-hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand, and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying Hail, King of the Jews. And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head,

CHAP. XI.

Jesus at Mount Calvary.

ND, after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him: and he went forth bearing his cross. And, when they were come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, the place of a skull, they gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall, and when he had tasted thereof he would not drink. And there they crucified him, and two thieves with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. Then said Je

sus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. And straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished! And when he had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And having said thus, he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. Then one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came thereout blood and water. (Matt. xxvii. 31; Luke xxiii. John xix.)

CHAP. XII.

Reflections upon the Mocking and Crucifixion of our Lord.

A

WAKE now, my soul, and shake thyself from the dust, read this account with due attention, weigh every circumstance nicely, and consider this excellent Person, whom the history of the gospel, like a glass, sets present before thy eyes. Think, O my soul, who this is, that appears in the habit and pomp of a king, and yet covered at the same time with the confusion and shame of the most abject slave. Observe this mixture of honour and reproach. He stands before thee crowned, but even that crown is an addition to his torments; and every pointed thorn, of which it is composed, pierces his Divine head, and besmears his beautiful face with blood: his body is clothed with royal purple, but even that robe contributes to his disgrace, and does not cominand respect, but was intended to provoke the contempt of the spectators. He holds indeed a sceptre in his hand, but such a one as is employ